THE SUCCESSION TO THE ENGLISH CROWN.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 183, 6 February 1896, Page 2

THE SUCCESSION TO THE ENGLISH CROWN.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— l observe, with some surprise (because I have been under the impression that you agreed with rue in think- ( ing that the matter was unworthy of notice) by a paragraph in last evening's Star, that yon have drawn attention to that most absurd, scandalous, and libel- . loas article which appeared in the Rangitikei Advocate about a week, or ten days, ago, as copied from an Ade- , laide paper drawing attention to an * article winch had been published in a • German newspaper, stating that public ' attention had been drawn to a statement, or suggestion, strongly supported by the late Mr Froude, and Mr Stead— the editor of the Review of Reviews, that the German Emperor, on the death of his mother, the Princess Royal of England, as the eldest child of the Queen, would be the rightful heir to the English Crown in accordance (as was stated) with the English law of inheritance. Now, sir, it is impossible to imagine : a more ridiculous and absurd statement, and I cannot for a moment believe that either Mr Froude, Mr Stead, or any other save person, would dream of countenancing it. There is no law better understood, or more clearly defined, than the English law of inheritance, nnder which the eldest son succeeds to all landed estates, and, on the failure of male issue, all the daughters succeed jointly as co-heiresses and co-parcener 3. The succession to the Grown follows the law of inheritance as above stated, except that on failure of male issue the eldest daughter succeeds alone, and also that a relation by the half -Mood can succeed to the Crown, which is not the case, in common descents, and, further, the reigning monarch must be a Protestant, I should have thought it advisable to take no notice whatever of this incred- ',: ible story as published in Germany "and . copied into English newspapers, except: that I find many persons putting faith ' in its credibility, and I, therefore, think , it very desirable to state rather fully the ' English law of succession to the Grown, as is so ably expounded by Sir William Blackstone, that great and well-known commentator on the laws of England. / He commences his observations on - the king's title by stating that the supreme executive power of theee- kingdoms is ■ • vested by, our laws in a single person— : the king or queen— that being sovested by the general consent of the people it became necesaary to mark with precision who is that single person, and our con-" stitntion has not left us in the dark as to, , this. The grand fundamental maxim upon which the right of succession to the Throne of these kingdoms depends is as follows i — "That the Crown is by common - law and constitutional custom ' hereditary, and this in a manner peculiar to itself; but that the right of inheritance may from time to time be changed or limited by Act of Parliament under which limitation the Crown shall cpn-' . tinue hereditary." He then treats upon these four points somewhat as f ollo^:^First. It is hereditary because as there is no instance wherein the Crown, ybf England has ever been asserted; to be' : elective "except by the regicides at the infamous and unparalleled trial ; of Charles the I. it must consequently be hereditary. Secondly. As to the particular mode of inheritance it corresponds with the common law of England . in the succession to landed estates— the preference of males to females and the right of primogeniture among the. males be strictly adhered to like landed estate* and on failure of the male line descends to the female issue, but among 'the females to the eldest daughter only, and her issue. Thirdly. The doctrine .■ of hereditary right does not imply an indefeasible right to the Throne as itis';. unquestionably in the power of Parliament to defeat it by vesting the inherit-* ance in any one else. Fourthly. -However the Crown may be limited or transferred it still retains its descendable quality and becomes hereditary in the wearer of it. Blackstone then gives a short but very; interesting historical view of the succession to the Crown of England— clearly proving the correctness of the above four propositions or maxims. Commencing with Egbert who was King of the West Saxons about the year 800 and afterwards (on the Union of the Heptarchy) of the whole Kingtom, and ending with the limitation of the Crown as sealed by Statute 12 and 13, W 3 CT. nnder which George the I, being a Protestant, ascended the Throne and through whom our present Queen . by a regular line of descent as above set forth, became heiress of the Throne as the eldest daughter of the Duke of Kent on failnre of the Duke's male issue. ' I trust you will not find this letter too long for your columns, but hope that the information I have given will deter • all those who peruse it from putting the slightest faith in the absurd German tale upon which I have commented. I am, &c, . Saml. Goodbehebe. Feilding, February sth, 1896.