Arizona republican., 1900-10-16
Late Gossip Of
 Foreign Capitals


Lord Elphinstone's nephew, Gun ninghame Graham, IS So well known or both sides of the Atlantic as d great traVelcr, a brilliant writer. as a mem Der of parliament and as the champion Of all kinds of causes, which ara some times monarchical, but more often ul- ra-socialistic, that the news that he has sold the last remaining vestige of his formerly extensive ancestral estates in Scotland, caEot fail to prove of in- terest.
 Ardoch, in Dumbart0nshire. he caus- ed to be sold by auction in 1889. Tive years later he disposed of Arnbsrg to a Glasgow soda manufacturer, and now he has got rid of h.s grand old place of GartmOre, which has been purchased by Sir Charles Cayzer, NJ F.. principal owner of the Clan line of steamers. It was Sir Charles son, Capt Jack" Cayzer, by the by, who, having made hobby of signaling work prior to the South African war, was able at a con siderable risk, to open up and maintain regular heliographic communication between Sir Redvcrs Buffers army and Ladysmith throughout the long siege of the latter
 MT. CUnninghame Graham. who mar ried in South Africa the daughter of Chilean Spaniard. Don Francesca de la Balmondiere, is claimant to the earl dom of Montieth and Airth. and this pretension On his part differs from most other claims to peerages. in that if ii Is acknowledged by the committee of privileges of the house of lords. it will Y 1aY, +p would be the lawful heir to the throne of Great Britain were it not for the zo- called act of settlement which two cen turies ago gave the British Crown to the. Hanoverian house of Guelph in preference to less remote kinsfolk of the Stuart Kings. For whereas Queen Victoria is the descendant of the ille- -gitimate issue of King Robert II of Scotland, the earls of Montieth. whose peerage has been dormant since the reign Of Charles I. were the legitimate descendants of King Robert.
 The latter was first married 60 a girl of the name of Elizabeth Muie, of Ro- wallan. He had no children after his marriage. But there Were no less than eight born previously 10 the ceremony. that is to say, out of wedlock At no
 
 such a marriage, not even with the pa pal dis2ensation, have been held by the laws of Scotland to legitfmatize the birth of offspring previously born. Yet il is from these illegitimatz children O. King Robert II of Scotland and of Elizabeth Mure of RowalIan that all the Stuarts and Guelphs who subse- quently reigned in Scotland and Great Britain are descended.
 King RJ1,rt's second marriage with the wiGoWuI Countess O. Moray was in good order, and David. earl of Strath- ern, was it's lawful issue. The Grand son of this earl of Strathern was made earl of Montieth. Before dying King Robert executed a settlement entailing the crown of Scotland on the sons of both his wives according to priority and their heirS male. Thus. even ad- hitting King Roberts legitimizing of his elder children, the fourth carl of Montieth should by virtue of this set tlement have succeeded to ths throne as next male heir on the death of King James V, instead of that of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was beheaded at Fotheringay castle.
 This fourth earl of Montieth was q i'''-'''o- 44A A%Aito ieiAIu at lIlt tune or Queen Mary's accession, which may ac- count for his making no claim to the Scottish crown, and the first Lord Mon tieth 10 put forth his pretentions to the throne, not only of Scotland, but also of England. occupied at the time by King James I, the son of Mary Queen CT Scots, was the seventh earl, who. according to contemporary history, was the proudCst aEl grandest Scotch peer of his day"
 The great Sir Francis Bacon. in his capacity of lord high chancellor and keep-r of the United Kingdom. report ci in an official document which is still on record, to King James l. that the earl of MOntieth's "claim to the throne was so just in point of law that ali that was needed to set him on the throne was a sharp sword Bacon $ successor on the WoOlsack made d simi- lar report to King Charles l, and it was in consequence of these warnings that the latter monarch fought, perse- cUted and at last reduced the' seventh earl to ruin, after charging him with high treason for publicly stating that he. the earl. had the reddest blood in Scotland" and that King Charles was beholden to him for the crown"
 Since, the earldom of Monteith hasre-