New-York tribune., 1901-07-28
~, THE EARL OF MORAYrv
OFT REPEATED CLAIM OF THE SCOTCH
PEER JUST DEAD-A ROMANTIC
HISTORY.

From The London Mail.
Lying dead in his least important seat of
Doune Lodge, near Stirling, is Edmund Archi-
bald Stuart, fifteenth Earl of Moray. Lord
Doune, St. Colme and Abernethy and Lord
Stuart of Castle Stuart.
The words quoted in the title of this article
refer to a claim the deceased earl used to make
at every meeting Of the Scottish peers when
Il, the Earl of Moray" used to declare that the
Right Hon. Walter John Francis, Earl of Mar
and kelle, cannot be called or admitted to
vote in this election of peers next in order to
the Earl OF C2ithness and prior in order to
me. the Earl of Moray"
This declaration, 4 the Earl of Moray" has
been heard in Holyrooi House again and again
for many years. The origin of the claim is to
be found in the fact that the original earl. the
great Regent Moray was created Earl of Moray
by Queen Mary two years before the creation
Of the title of Earl Of Mar. The claim. how
ever, has always been disputed, and the Earl
Of Mar still retains his prior position on the
roll Of the peers Of Scotland.
There is no title of nobility, either in England
or Scotland around which a greater web Of
romance has been woven than that Of the earl
dom Of Moray. The mere fact that they are
Stuarts with the royal but irregular blood of
the great Scottish house in their veins would
alone invest the scions of this great house with
historic interest-an interest which they share
with other Stuarts Stewarts, repre-
scented by the Marquis of Butte, the Earl Of
Galloway, the Earl Of Castle Stuart, and other
noble lines
But the eardom of Moray is peculiar in the
manner OF its descent. The first earl, the Re
gent, murdered by Hamilton of Boutwell,
haugh, and the earldom descended. not to any
direct issue OF his, but TO his son -ln-laW, known
the Bonnie Earl Of Moray, who was muir
dered in his turn. The third earl healed the
feud by marrying the daughter Of his fathers
murderer. And then come to the singular
fact that a second son and afterward two
brothers succeeded as fifth. sixth and seventh
earls. from which point the succession con-
tinues in the direct line to Francis the ninth
earl.
From this point the earldom descended to
George Philip, fourteenth earl, and then. all the
Intervening members of the family who could
have succeeded TO the title having died, it
verted back to the nobIeman now deceased,
who had descended from the ninth earl, and
who was the eldest Of a country parson
holding a living Of lbs year
The new Earl Of Moray was already ffty-five
years of age; he had been married for fifteen
years to the daughter of a clergyman of Clap
ham, and he suddenly raised from a posi-
ton almost of indigence to one Of the highest in
the Scottish peerage, to a seat in the House Of
Lords, TO the ownership of Donibriste, in Fife
shire; Of Castle Stuart, in Inverness-shre; Of
Darnaway Castle, in Elginshire, and Of Doune
Lodge, in Perthshire, together with vast terri
tories in all of these counties and large part Of
the faShona bic quarter Of the city Of Edinburgh.
It is difficult to imagine a greater change IN
the fortunes of family than that which was
effected by the failure of the direct line Of the
earls Of Moray Such things have. Of course,
frequently happened in many noble families, and