New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-11

Of succession would come Sergius's younger
brother the widowed Grand-duke Paul. d ma" "o
tall that he is obliged always to carry nlS oe1
about with him, none that he finds IN inc ho'e''
being sufficiently long to accommodate ms ~
normally gigantic stature. HIS wire was INC
eldest daughter OF the King and Queen OF Greece
and on her tragic death. the result OF carriase
accident at Moscow. she left him with TWO chill
dren a girl and boy, the latter OF whom pears
the name of Demetrius, and was crea'eo
colonel In the army and invested Win the GULF
mand of the celebrated SOuvorow HrehauieA
Regiment at the time of his baptism when oni'
q few days old. These two motherless chi'ofen
are being brought up as II they were heF o".
offspring by the Grand-duchess Sergius' anu
1t is the little six-year-old Demetrius VINO "ouio
therefore follow his father in the line OF sue
cession.
After him there would come at least twenty or
thirty more -and-dukes Of the Imperial house'
who would all have to die without leaving any
male issue before the rights of succession Oh the
present Cars two little daughters could. be
brought tn the throne They would, however,
come before their aunts, the Grand-duchesses
Xenia and Olga, daughters of the late Car. ana
sisters consequently Of the present Emperor
Russia has not always had the succession 10
its throne governed by this system. Indeed, IL
was discarded by Peter the Great in order 10
enable him to dsinherit his disobedlent son
Alexis and he decreed that the succession should
be determined by a testamentary disposition OF
the sovereign. This plan was followed until the
early part of the present century. Alexander
bequeathing his throne to his youngest brother
Nicholas l. dsinheriting the latters senior. Con-
stantine until Nicholas himself, taking note OF
the fact that Emperors In beGueathing an heir
to the throne invariably beQueathed civil war
at the same time, reverted to the system dis
carded by Peter the Great. which Is In force
to-day.
THE SALIC LAW.
The Salic system, which governs the rights OF
succession in Prussia. Sweden and Norway,
Italy. Denmark Belgium and the Balkan States,
as we'll as Saxony. completely excludes all
women from the line of succession. and to such
an extent is this carried that were the King or
Belgium to lose his only surviving nephew
Prince Albert he would be compelled by the
terms of the Belgian Constitution to adopt some
foreign prince with the consent OF the national
legislature. although he has three daughters. one
of them still unmarried, and several nleces'
This Salic law prevailed in Spain until abrogated
in the third decade Of the present century by
King Ferdinand ' III III IdNOT Vi TIC SobH"'0 ~
CASTLE system, in order to permit his infant
daughter to succeed, under the title OF Queen
Isabella H. instead Of his younger brother, Don
Carlos grandfather Of the present Spanish pre-
tender Of that name 1t likewise was in force
in Austria until the reign Of Emperor Charles
VI the las: sovereign of the male line of Haps-
burg. who, by means of what is known in his
tory as the Pragmatic Sanction. instituted an
order OF succession analogous to the Russian
system, for the purpose Of rendering possible the
beouest of the throne to his daughter Empress
Maria Theresa This same Pragmatic Sanction
provided for the dynastic union of the Crown
Of Hungary and Austria, a very necessary agree
ment seeing that up to that time it was the Cog
nate. CASTLE or English system which ordered
the succession to the throne of Hungary.
Much mystery prevails with regard to this
Pragmatic Sanction and it is a peculiar and not
penerally known fact that neither the original
Of the document nor even any authenticated
copv thereof. can be found among the govern
ment and crown archives either at Vienna or at
Pestb the Hungarian we'll as the Austrian
Ministers of State having been compelled re-
,uctantly to admit to their respective parlia-
ments that no trace of the treaty can be discov-