The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-12
lone VOTE RECEIVED
BY LORD FAIRFAX: !
His Friends Say He Must Have
Cast That for Him
EPISODE OF LATE ELECTION
Lord Clinton One of Oldest Peers
and Largest Landowners
in England.


ny In DIARQUIsE DE FONTENOY.
ORD FAIRFAX. the only british
peer who was born as an Alnert-
- can citizen, received ono solitary
vote at the election of the SIX
teen representative peers of Scotland.
which took place. with old-timc ponp
and ceremony. in the Palace OF Holy
rood the other day, and LORD FAIRFAX
friends are banterng him a good deal
about that one vote. insisting that he
must have cast ii himself. The scotch
peers. on the occasion of each genera
election, choose, in obedience TO
summons from the crown, sixteen OF
their members to represent the SCOT
fish peerage in the House OF Lords
at Westminster. The sixteen VINO nave
just been selected are: me Earis ID NJ
kellie. of Haddinston. OF Lauderaa!e,
OF Carnwath, of Northesk and OF Dun
donald Viscount Falkland, and the
Lords Saltoun. Sinclair. Bor.h VICE. ',!I
Sempill the latter defeating Lore
Torphichen. who has hitherto figured
as one of the representative peers.
The honors of all these peers are eS-
do not carry with them, ipso facto.
seats in the House of Lords, ana lnelr
place there during the new Parlia-
iment now about to be opened, VIII ne
entirely owing TO thelr elee ,aa,... ,,,,n
the election, however, Scotch peers WIZ
have already seats in the House u
Lords through their possession Oh rms
lish peerages. or so-caileu p pee =,
the United Kingdom, are perIllitlcu "
take part, and among those VINO Notea
at Holyrood the other day We're tne
Duke Of NIontrosc. who presided; inc
Dukes of Buccleuch. of Roxhurghe =. i ana
of Atholl. Lord Rosebcry, LORD ul as,
gov, Lord Breadalbane. and several
! others. Eighteen peers were in at,
tendance, and thirty-seven others mao
| sent their votes In writing; that Is W
| say, there were less than three-scorc
peers represented, which bears striking
| eyideuce of the fact often pointed out
in these letters that the Scotch peer!
age is diminishing in numbers ana ID
gradually disappearing as suctit owlhs
to the fact that the sovereign eve.
| since the act of union, some 2oO years
ago, has been precluded from creating
any Scotch peeraSes.
The election took place in the pres
ence of the principal judges ana law
and of the Lord Provost and chief
city officers of Edinburgh. The dean
of the Chapel Royal opened the pro
ceedings with prayer. and they were
pronounced By the dean of the Scotch
| order of the Thistle. There was the
customary protest during the roll call
J to the Earl of Mar and Kellie being
called before the Earl OF Moray. or
the ground that tho earldom of Moray
was of prior creation. and there was
Il also the customary protest OF the EAR
of Mar against the Earl OF Mar ano
Kellie being called by the former tite
These protests were duly entered or
the minutes of the proceedings, and did
mot lead to any further trouble or dis
turbance. In fact, they never do.
A Big Landowner.
Lord Clinton, who has just rented
his Bicton Park estate in Devonshlrs
to William Northrup Mcmillan, of st
Louis, for a term of years, place
extending over some 1000 acres, VIII
which traverses the estate, Is one o.
the biggest landowners in England
besides holding one of the oldest peer
ages in the United Kingdom. Indeed
! there are only four that are senior tt
{ his barony, which was created in 1925
: and of which he is the twenty-iirs
+ holder. AS is the case with the very
few other pecraEes by writ, 1t descend
, through the female line, and in this
way has passed through marriage from
: the original house of Clinton into thu
: Trefusis family, to which Lord Clinton
9 belongs Lord Clinton has no son. bu
= only two daughters. the elder or whom
. the Hon. Harriet Trefusis. has Just be
come engaged to young II. N. Fame. o
: the Coldstream Guards. son of the lat,
i Sir Edmund Fame. who was British
: minister at Copenhagen.
\ If the Hon. Elizabeth were an onl,
I child she would inherit her father
q barony of Clinton at his death withou
y any trouble. But as she has a sister
3 the barony will fall into allegiance an
: remain there until the so-called abey
n ance is terminated. This is done il
Il the following fashion. If there is on
y person who through successive death
o ends by representing the claims of tn
e various sisters, he can claim from tn
o crown a termination of the abeyanc
y as a. matter of right. Or else the soy
: ereiSn can, at any moment that n
: chooses, bring the allegiance 70 a clos
i by issuing patent, vesting me non
x ors in one or another of the sisters 9
g Of their heirs, without regard to pr
Z mogeniture, Just according as he see
hit. In almost every case, hoWeve
such as these, the monarch waits fo
N all the heirs to unite in regarding on
. person as their representative befol
s. calling the pcerage in question out {
- allegiance in his or her favor.
- There are pcerages which have bee
~ In allegiance for centuries. such as, fc
= : instance, the barony Of Camoys, whic
=, =. was in allegiance from 1926 until 1873
\. These allowances are restricted to tt
J. ancient English baronies by writ, an
~ olden times the sovereign depende
10 upon the baron to attend him in II
st wars a the head of his retainers. Snt
d. women We're unable to fulfil this in
ID portant duty the monarch as a ru
Ill preferred TO wait In the case of
la baron who had left no son until or
ry or the other of the daughters had
to son or grandson who was qualified 4
ar fulfil the military duties OF a peer
s. the realm. This is why formerly IL
III crown sometimes ignored the cid
Us daughter of a peer more especial
VS. II her progeny was restricted to girl
81 and terminated the allegiance In fav'
90 of the son of one OF her younger 81
=. - ters. This question OF allegiance
- restricted exclusively to the ancie
- English baronles by writ in which ca
alone feminine primogeniture counts I
nothing, although 1t determines tt
!, succession Of the British crown, al
. also of all the older Scottish peerage
= In fact, where feminine primoGenitu
- exists, there can be no allegiance.
~ II I have dwelt at some length up,
- this question of allegiance OF EnGli
al peerases, it is because 1t is a matt
Nv about which most English people ther
as selves are singularly Ignorant, a.
,at. concerning which the utmost mlsa
ed prehension prevails.
on With regard to Bicton, which Ii
ho now been leased by tho McN1illans,
I'm was for many years the home OF Lo
~ Clinton's aunt. old Lady Role, fro
I1l1n ha