The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-01


German confederation, being the first issue
of this kind ever submitted to any trl-
ounal The judgment rendered, wnile II
cupants of most of the thrones IN Ger
many, cannot but seriously modify the
succession to the crown in certain in
stances, notably the case of that of Wur-
| temburg. II morganatic marriages on the
part of ancestors does not constitute par,
then il is not the Catholic Duke Albert of
Wurtemberg who is heir-presumptiYe TO
King William, but the Protestant Duke of
Teck. married to Princess Mary of Cam
| bridge and of Great Britain. and father CT
the Duchess of York.
The King of Wurtemberg, as every one
knows, has no son. Next 10 him in point
of kinsmanship comes the Duke of Teck,
VINO IS the son of the lats royal Duke
Alexander of Wurtemberg and of his NOR
ganatic wife the Hungarian Countess of
Rheday and of Hohenstein. Hitherto the
Duke of Teck has been regarded as dis
qualified from succession to the thone in
consequence OF the nonroyal birth of his
mother and their heir-presumptive 10 the
crown mas been recognized of1cially in the
person OF far more remote KnSman or
the King, namely, the Catholic Duke AL
bert of Wurtemberg, whose mother and
whose wife are both Austrian archducn-
esses. Inasmuch as four-fifths of the popu-
latlon of Wuftemberg are Lutherans OF
particularly bgoted character, who view
regard the Pontin at Rome as the Scarlet
Woman and as the Apocalyptic Beast Of
the Book of Revelation, it can hardly be
imagined that the prospect OF being event
ually ruled over by king who is a de-
Vout Catholic, and who has received his
training and education from the Jesuits, is
calculated to fill them with anything else
IMAM sentiments of apprehension.
The possibility of excluding the Catholic
Dranch OF the house of Wurtemberg from
the succession has already been discussed
both in the national legislature and in the
press pr SIS OF add the kingdom The one obstacle
sence of any other male heirs, since the
Duke OF Teck was considered to be out of
running on account OF his mothers birth.
But the recent decision no
sided over by the King of SaXony has the
erect of entirely altering his status, and in
a5much as King William is fond of the
Duke of Teck and cordially dislikes and
dlstrusts young Duke Albert, whose ideas
are Numerically opposed to his own on al
most every conceivable question it is by
nc means improbable that, yielding to the
wishes of his people and of the various
Lutheran states of the German confedera-
tlon, ms Majesty may now proclaim the
of Wurtemberg.
The Duke of Teck has a daughter and
three sons. by his royal English consort, the
daughter being destined to be the wife of
the Duke of York, eventually to become the
queen of England and Empress of India,
while of the three sons the eldest, Prince
Adolphus of Teck, captain of the Royal
horse Guards, is the husband of the daugh-
ter OF the multi-mllionaire British Duke of
Westminster. 1t is just possible, therefore,
that the Duke of Westminster may yet live
to blossom forth as the father-in-law of
the King of Wurtemberg, a prospect which
ne certainly never anticipated when he
gave the hand OF his daughter in marriage
to the good-natured and somewhat stupid
Prince Dolly of Teck.
THE MORAL STATUS
Morganatic marriages are regarded by
many in this country in the light OF some
thing immoral. This is far from being the
case. The position of morganatic wife is
perfectly respectable. Her union receives
the sanction and blessing of the Church,
and the only way in which it differs from
the ordinary marriage is that the left in
stead of the right hand is given at the
altar, and that, as stated above the rights
of the inferior of two contracting parties
are limited. Indeed, the word "morganatic"
derived from the Scandinavian words
morgan" Ito limit, implies as much
The people who until now have been per-
ana TO assign so altogether an unjust a
status to their wives ara to their children,
have been not only IT, yrinces and prin-
cesses OF the now rel ing house of Ger
many Italy, Austria, >ussia, Denmark,
Spain and Portugal bur also the members
| of what are known as the mediatized fam
| lilies of central Europe. These figure in
Part II of the "Amanach de Gotha." The
heads of these houses-some of them dukes.
some princes, others merely marquises, and
counts (such as, for instance, Count Pap
penheim, who married Miss Wheeler, of
hlladelphia)-formerly enjoyed the rank
however, to his apostolic Majesty, the EN-
ptIOF OF the HOLY roman Empire, at
Vienna. The Napoleonic wars swept the
majority of these small states away, and
the treaty of Vienna set it's seal upon their
disappearance. 1t was felt however, that
they required some sort of compensation
for the loss of their domnions. Accordingly
they and their lineal descendants were in
vested with a number of extraordinary
privileges, such as are enjoyed by the mem
bers of actually reigning houses and con-
spicuous among which was the right to
contract morganatic marriages.
These unions are entirely out of keeping
with the democratic spirit of the present
age, and are not appropriate to the condi-
lions of modern life. They are no longer
tolerated by French law, which regards
all marriages as equally binding upon both
parties. the failure of Mile. De Clinchamps
to assume the title of her husband the late
Due d'Aumale, who has bequeathed the
bulk of his enormous fortune to her SON.
being solely due to a private agreement
between them. The King of Saxony and
his fellow-judges constituting as they do
a court the supremacy of which is acknowl-
edged by Emperor William and by all the
sovereign families and States of Germany
have now adopted the sensible French view,
and have declared that left-handed mar
riages can no longer be regarded as a bar
to succession to the throne-ergo, that they
are just as valid, as binding and as COM
plete as ordinary matrimonial alliances.
That is equivalent to the death knell of the
morganatlc marriage system.