THE BREED OF KINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16326, 23 August 1913, Page 16

THE BREED OF KINGS.

A MONOPOLY OF RULING,

(By HENRY SMITH "WILLIAMS, in “ Harper’s Weekly.”)

For the past thousand years the destiny of Europo has been largely in tho hands of one pedigreed stock or the human family. It is called the breed of kings. This breed lias had a monopoly or ruling by right of birth, somewhat as tho thoroughbred horse has had a monopoly of racing by the same right. At this moment, three pedigreed individuals rule over empires that jointly circle tho world and invade both hemispheres, nnd that are peopled by more than six hundred million souls—-one-third of the total population of the globe. It is not correct to say that tho rule of those monarchs is merely nominal. They still exercise, or refrain at will from exorcising, great power, and William 11., or George V., or Nicholas 11. could personally plunge the world into war any day ljy a few ill-timed utterances. So the immediate future of tho royal stock of Europe must be of compelling interest to everyone who pays tho slightest attention to world politics. But, quite asido from this, the pedigrees of kings havo importance for us all, becauso they are the only comprehensive human pedigrees that aro availablo. A study of royal pedigrees enables ono to test the laws of heredity in a unique way, and to draw inferences for tlie application of eugenic jjrinciplas to Immunity at large. THE SEVEN DUKES’ RACESUICIDE PACT.

Fitly to introduce the subject, let me toll tho story of how, through tho practice of eugenics, an obscuro Gorman bishop became tho father of kings. At the outset the tale concerns seven brothers who along in the sixteenth century inherited a small ducal estate on the borders of tlio Black Forest. Tho estato included tbo free Hanseatic city of Luneburg, and was large enough to havo some significance in German politics, if undivided. But the brothers realised that if each were to claim a share in the estato its divided fragments would have little importance, either severally or collectively. So tlioy held a family conclave, apd decided that only one of their number should marry. The lot fell on the sixth brother, who accordingly chose a wife, and in duo course had a family of children. Those children made among themselves the same compact that their father and uncles had made. Tlie duty of transmitting tho family name devolved upon one Ernest Augustus. Bishop of Osnabruck. The growing influence and success of the Bishop of Osnabruck enabled him to win for his wife a very extraordinary woman, Sophia of Palatine. And the son born of this union inherited tho original estate, with sundry accretions. But a brother of the Osnabruck bishop had brolcon his compact and also married, and ho had a daughter whose advent brought consternation to tho family. Sophia of Palatine never forgave her niece for being born; but sbo solved the dilemma by marrying her own son to tbo offending niece, his cousin. So tho family interests wore again united. What the ambitious brothers and their successors had dono was to practise. the t art of eugenics in three important phases: (1) They lmd restricted tlio number of descendants, by preventing the birth of supernumerary children. (2) They had wisely selected able mates for the procreating member of tlie family. (,3)_ And they had concentrated tlio family estates and talents by judicious inbreeding—that is to say, by the union of cousins. Now noto tho sequel of this remarkable practice of eugenic principles. The son of the erstwhile Bishop of Osnabruck and his brilliant wife became king of ono country (George I. of England), and tlic-ir daughter became queen of another (Sophia Charlotte of Prussia). Their direct lineal descendants today occupy the thrones of England, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Greece, and numerous minor principalities.

Now, tho great majority of other lilies of tho developers of tho royal breed havo to adopt a different and loss radical moans of accomplishing tbo same end. This is tho expedient of descent through primo-goiiiture—that is to say, passing oil the chief family honours and estates, undivided, to tlio eldest son. This familiar plan lias the obvious disadvantage that the oldest brother may not bo tho ablest—a. fact that has led to the overthrow of many a dynasty. But, in general, tho rule lias justified tho end. FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OF lIOF-IKNZOLLERNS.

Kaiser Wilhelm II unveiled a few years ago at Brandenburg tho statuo of his Holienzollern ancestor, Frederick T, in commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary of tho day when tho hero first made official entry into tlio territory as Margrave of Brandenburg, and thus laid the small foundations for the future greatness of that extraordinary family. In the five hundred intervening years there lias been no time when the male descendants of this first of the important Holienzollenis havo not occupied

positions of almost steadily growing influence. j Out in the Tiergarton in Berlin you may see a long double row of statues of thoso successful princes of the evorwaxing dynasty of Hohenzollorn. There aro thirty-two of them, including such names as Albort Achilles, John Sigismund, the Great Elector, and Frederick the Groat. They aro an illustrious company. Nearly all wero men of talent; some were men of extraorj dinary genius. I But,_ wliilo Kaiser Wilhelm of Getmany is amply justified in extolling his ancestors of tho House of Hohonzollern the student of heredity must instantly recall that in so doing tho emperor is giving an utterly distorted impression of tile totality of his heritage. Kaiser Wilhelm, lilco every other individual, is, ancestrally speaking, at ; tho apex of a converging line of doj' jf ont that includes more than two thousand individuals within ten generations. And each one of these had, in tho biological view, as direct and as potent a snare as any other one in determining the personality of their common descendant who to-day proclaims himself a Hohonzollern. Were the Kaiser to do full justice to his ancestors, he must place in the Tiergarten, along with tho statues of the great Holicnzollerns, effigies, among others, of William the Silent, founder of the Dutch Republic, and Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange; of Mary Queen of Scots, of the remarkable Eleanor d’Oibreuzo and the amazing Catherine 11. of Russia; and of the man who is perhaps his own closest prototype in personality, Peter the GreatINBREEDING COUSINS FOR GENIUS. . It will be recalled that one of the important eugonio principles practised by the family of the soven brothers consisted in the mating of cousins. There is a popular impression that a tendency to degeneration results from this inbreeding. A study of royal pedigrees enables us to distinguish what share of truth and what of falsity there is in this impression, for there is an extraordinary amount of inbreeding in tho royal families of Europe. Let us tako as an illustration tho pedigreo of that most illustrious of ‘ Hohcnzollerns, Frederick the Great, traced through four or fivo generationsThera is a double interest in this selection, not only because of the greatness of tho subject, but because it includes tho pedigreo of tho family of the seven brothers which supplied "our text and. by tho same token, a main stem of tho ancestral tree of the chief rulers of present-day Europe. Tho father and mother of Frederick tho Great were cousins. Both pairs of his grandparents, in turn, wero cousins; and his paternal grandmother was the sister of his maternal grandfather and the cousin of his maternal grandmother. In tho third generation of the four pairs of ancestors, ono pair appears in both paternal and maternal strains, so that there are only six persons, and two of tho six are brothers’; so that there aro only fivo ancestral strains of blood represented, instead of eight. The same sort of duplication occurred in earlier generations. Tho diverse strains thus blended and interblondod represent an amazing aggregation of talent. Frederick’s maternal grandmother was known as the “ Philosophical Queen.” Her mother, Sophia of Brunswick, has been named as one of the greatest women of modern times. In tho third generation we find also Frederick William, known as tho Groat j Elector, tho true founder of tho great- I ness of Prussia; and Louisa Henriotte I of Orange, descendant of the GreatWil-l liam the Silent and the only less cole- ! b rated Gaspqrd 11. The blood of William tho Silent appears in three other strains of the pedigreo, and tliaii of Mary Queen of Scots in two strains. In a word, there is scarcely an undistinguished name among tho forty individuals who represent an- I ecstors within five generations; and the . fact that these are hut forty, instead of i tho normal sixty-two individuals, in it- j self reveals graphically tho extent to ! which the various strains of this distin- ' guished ancestry are interwoven through j an intricate web of inbreeding. I But note the result. Tho progeny of i this extraordinary experiment in eu- I ponies reveal, in the generation upon - which our attention is focussed, not only : Frederick 11., one of, that small select company of all time who by common j consent aro surnamed “ Tho Great.” • but a brother Henry and a sister Amelia almost equally gifted, and another sister, Sophia Ulrica, who may be said to stand fully on a par in intellectual endowment with her illustrious brother, and who as Queen of Sweden was known as “ the Minerva of tho North,” and heeanm t.he mother of the famous Gus- i tavus lIT. Here, then, is an adequate and con- 1 vincingr demonstration that even the closest inbreeding does not of necessity produce degeneration; but that, on the contrary, it may be possible by sticb inbreeding to accentuate and bring to the surface characteristics of the highest and most desirable quality in the humax breed, just as special qualities are ao contacted and brought to tho surface by tho same method in the special breeds of domestic animals. INBREDING FOR DEGENERACY. But, lest too sweeping a conclusion bo drawn from this example of inbreeding for genius, it is desirable that we should at onco turn to another royal j pedigree and observe tho effects of inbreeding where the traits combined and actuated are not chiefly desirable ones, as in the case of Frederick the Great, but include also those of mental aberration and physical and moral de- ; generacy. Such a pedigree is supplied in the im- | mediate ancestry of Don Carlos, the! “madly depraved and cruel” scion of tho Spanish royal house, a man who has ; been characterised as the most heart- ! less and depraved individual in modern I history. A glance at the chart showing tho ' ancestry of Don Carlos reveals that his father, Philip 11., and his mother, Mary of Portugal, were at onco first and second cousins, and that each ancestral stream leads quickly back to ancestors characterised as weak or cruel or mad. Joana, “the mad,” appears twice in] the third generation; and tho insane ; Isabella four times in tho fifth genera- j tion. i Tho interbreeding is so clcso and in- ! tricato that it would he difficult to characterises the relationship. In four generations there are only twenty-eight individuals instead of sixtv-two ! Thus a profoundly neurotic strain is allowed to become overwhelmingly preponderant by repetition. As Dr F. A. Woods has said, it was as if the sovereigns of that time were breeding mental monstrosi- ; ties for a bench show. Their experi- I ment shows the eugonio principle inverted. There is one feature of the pedigree of tho depraved Don Carlos, however, that must instantly attract attention and excite surprise. This is tho fact that there appear in the table, mingled with the names of the weaklings, tho mentally unbalanced, and the morally depraved, tho names of several famous characters, including Charles tho Bold of Burgundy, Maximilian I. of the Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholics, and tho Emperor Charles V. What further excites sur- i pris®_ is that the names of Ferdinand ■

and Isabella appenr again and again in tlie fourth generation, and that in the case of Isabella there seems to bo alternation of generations between in- j sanity and genius. | This suggests a valid foundation for • tho popular notion that there is all affinity between mental aberration and ; genius of a certain type. It suggests ; further that genius and mental impairment follow the same laws of lnheritanci*-

HOW TO FORECAST YOUR CHILDREN.

The great central lesson to be drawn from such tables of royal genealogy as those just presented is that the individual is only a link in a chain, and that the all-important tiling is the family stock as a whole. Individuals must differ among themselves in the same fraternity. The offspring must sometimes be in many ways different from his parents. But, rare mutations of “sports” aside, no trait can appear in any individual that was not patent in some direct ancestor. Moreover, we may fairly assume that the main body of characteristics of any individual are manifest in some, at least, of his ancestors within at most four or five generations. Granted full knowledge of both maternal and paternal as far back, let us say, as the great-great-grandparents, the student of eugenics may attempt with some confidence to cast the horoscope for the descendants of any given marital union, always remembering that it is fraternities as a whole, rather than individual members, to whom the predictions must bo applied. EMPEROR WILLIAM'S BRILLIANT INHERITANCE.

With these limitations in mind, let us very briefly view the more important contemporary monarchs of Europo in the light of their pedigrees. As to Emperor William IT. of Germany, enough lias already been said to reveal the extraordinary character of

his family history. His parental stock is full of genius, for the most part unmarred by neurosis. The maternal stock brought through the daughter of Queen Victoria a strain of neurotic taint which had manifested itself in the insanity of George 111. and the imbecility of two children of a sister of that monarch. Mixed with the stable Hohenzollern strain, this neurotic strain should he subordinated. On the other hand, the daughter of Victoria brought through a new channel elements of the genius of Sophia of Brunswick, which might very well serve as the detonating spark to ignite the genius of the- Hohenzollerns latent in Frederick HI. So William 11. lias every hereditary warrant for his acknowledged abilities, and it would be strange if he were not the ablest prince upon any throne in Europo to-day. He is assuredly possessed of that almost abnormal fund of energy which is the substratum of genius, but which, if ill coordinated, so often leads to mental overthrow. In the case of George V. of England, we have to do with the German houses of Saxe-Goburg-Gotha and of Hanover —for, of course, there is no English blood in the royal house that now occupies the throne of Britain . The house of Hanover, of which Queen Victoria was

the last reigning sovereign, is often characterised as essentially dull. Yet it had a strain of genius and a strain of insanity, the latter revealing itself with full force in the person of George 111., the grandfather of Queen Victoria. Tho house of Saxo-Coburg-Gotha. from which both Victoria’s mother and her royal consort sprang, is remarkable for its virtues and its bent towards

literature, science and art. It-has little true genius but almost no degeneracy. Its seat is a little Duchv in North Germany, comprising two or three tiny islands of territory the total area of which is only about nine miles square. Yet for two hundred and fifty years tho family has maintained much tho same traits for which Ernest the Pious was famed in the seventeenth century. The virtues of the family might he said to he bourgeois virtues, not without certain regal x>ossibilities. »

Tho Prince Consort Albert was typical of his race. His son, Edward VII., would have been in private life a highly successful merchant or business or professional man.

THE BANGERS FOR KING GEORGE AND THE CZAR IN INSANE ANCESTORS.

Tho consort of Edward VII., Queen. Alexandra, came ol : mixed Danish and German stock, in the main fairly sound, but undistinguished. But there is one very bad spot in her pedigree, as revealed by tho presence of Christian VII. of Denmark, in the fourth generation. Of him. Dr F. A. Woods says: “ Among all modern royalty there is scarcely a feebler specimen of the human race than this poor little, half-made, debauched king. His type of inind was so puerile, and his self-restraint so weak, that it seems only charity to consider him among tho irrcsponsibles.” Christian VII. was the son of George 11. of England, and thus was first cousin to the insane George 111., and second sons of George’s sister Augusta, Princess of Brunswick. He had another first cousin of the House of HesseCassel, who also died insane. This obviously introduces a very undesirable neuropathic strain into the pedigree of tho Danish princess who became Queen of England. Nothing tangible would perhaps be likely to come of it, however, unless blending occurred with a like strain from the other side of tho house.' But there was obvious opportunity for this in the offspring of Alexandra and Edward VII., great-grandson of the insane George ill. What gives further significance to tho matter is the fact that George V., child of this union, inherits his predominant physical traits largely from his mother, as is proved by his close similarity in personal appearance to His cousin, the Czar of Russia, who is the son of Queen Alexandra’s sister.

In the case of the Czar himself, there aro perilous possibilities in the fact that his paternal strain is markedly neurotic, tracing back through his grandsiro, Alexander “the mystic.” to tho degenerate Paul I. Yet the descendant of Catherine the Great might also have tho potentialities of genius. So far as can be judged, both George V. and Nicholas 11. have escaped the worse possibilities of their heritage. In general, the most striking thing revealed by the pedigrees of tho rulers of the three great European empires is their close similarity. If wo print in parallel columns the names of the direct ancestors in the- fifth generation of George V. of England, William IT. of Germany, and Nicholas 11. of Russia, it will bo evident at a glance that tho three stocks are all but identical. All threo are typically and characteristically German. THE RIDDLE IN THE KING OF SPAIN.

Alpbonso XTII. of Spain doubtless presents the greatest riddle to the student of eugenics of any present-day monarch. His paternal heredity, beyond the second generation, is almost unqualifiedly bad. His paternal grandfather has been characterised as “ a degenerate little fool.” Ho married his cousin Isabella 11., a woman notoriously dissolute. The four paternal grandparents of Alphonse wore inter-related in the most curious and intricate fashion. In the case of each, couplo not only were the mates cousins, but they also bore to each other the still more intimate relation of uncle and niece. Add that each of the four was individually either

mentally weak or vicious and profligate and that tho ancestors of the fourth, generation—who were actually only , four individuals instead of eight!—mav j be described in the same terms, and wo ! see that we arc piling up an experiment j in bad breeding that compares with the ' efforts in fins direction of tho earlier i monarhs of the same line.

Yet it must bo recalled that, in spite of this appalling pedigree, Alpbonso XII., tho father of the present'Kinowas a fairly normal man mentally, though a consumptive. • But the mother of Alpbonso XIII.. Maria Const in a of Austria, transmits to him the best strains of Austrian

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blood, traced back through the Aroivd duke Charles to the famous Mariai Theresa. That Alphonso inherits phy-| sical traits of his mother’s family is de- 1 monstrated in that he has the famous | Hapsburg lip, which may be traced; through eighteen generations of Haps-1 burg descent from a fourteentli-centuryj duchess. This strong infusion of good; blood, from tho Austrian sire might be ! expected to preponderate over the bad Spanish blood, producing in the person of Alphonso XIII. a fairly normal individual, with latent possibilities of good or evil that might be realised in his offspring.

ROYAL BREEDING FOR STABILITY

1 I have not space to consider in any detail the minor principalities of Europe,' nor even tho great empire of AustriaHungary and the kingdom of Italy. I cannot pass the latter, however, without mention of the marriage of King Victor Emmanuel III.; himself a worthy grandson _ of tho rejuvenator' of the Italian kingdom, to the rugged and lusty offspring of the warlike rulers of Moutonegro. This constitutes a wide outcross, bringing in altogether new* blood, and can scarcely fad to give; added vigour to"the strain. The result* will be awaited with interest by those students of present-day politics who look for a rejuvenescence of Italia® power in south-eastern Europe. As to tho future monarchs of tho chief principalities of Northern Europe, whose.pedigrees we have all along considered, it is obvious'that their hereditary potentialities must depend in full measure upon their mothers, about whom nothing has thus far been said. Iho ali-important question, then, is, what manner of mates have the present rulers chosen as royal consorts P When we turn to tho royal pedigrees to answer this question, the first glance seems to reveal a very favourable answer. It seems obvious that the consorts of practically all the reigning monarchs have been selected witli an eye to eugenic principles. The basis for selection has seemingly been the idea that what is required of tho monarchs of the future is not brilliancy, but stability; not capacity for great deeds, but sound judgment and commonsense.

In proof that such has been the ideal that has actuated the royal matings, it appears that the mothers of the future rulers have been selected, without exception, from tho North crorman strains of royalty, the stable character of which has been referred to. William 11. married a Princess of Schleswig-Holstein; George V. a Princess of the House of Teck ; Nicholas 11. a Princess of Hesse; and Alphonso XIII. a Prinoess of Battenberg. In each case the maternal blood haa the same main origins. If we print hi parallel columns the names of the respective ancestors of the fourth genera-’ tion of the royal consorts, no one but an expert in genealogy would be likely to guess which list is which, and not even an expert could say which list, is more preponderantly German. Nor would the case be greatly different were we to carry the analysis of specific pedigrees into the lines of tho minor sovereigns of Northern Europe. “THE QUEEN’S BREED.”

The most striking single feature of such an analysis is the amazing frequency with which the direct descendants of the late Queen Victoria appear in these pedigrees. So noticeablo ia this that the entire strain of contemporary royalty throughout Europe haa been picturesquely referred to as “ ha Queen’s breed.”

It appears that more than three hundred near relatives of Queen Victoria' are living, and that more than one-hun-dred of these are her direct descendants*; Vo find these direct descendants not) 1 only on the thrones of Great Britain,' Germany, and Spain; but married also in the royal or ducal houses of Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig-Meinin-gen, HessOj Greece, Denmar-, Battenberg, Russia, Roumania, Orleans, An-. halt-Dessau and Sweden. The Queen, breed is everywhere. j

This wide diffiusion of the blood of Queen Victoria has been considered amatter of gratulation for the institution of royalty in Europe. And, indeed, it has elements of favourabla augury, both political and eugenic. But, on the other hand, there are elements of danger in it, which the engenist can-! not well overlook. '■ For the blood of Queen Victoria, it must not be forgotten, was half Hanoverian, and her grandfather was tho insane George lit. From the American point of view, monarchy, in this age of science and progress, seems an anachronism at best.The attainment of the same point ol view in Europe will be accelerated or re* tarded by the personal characteristics ol the sovereigns that come to the throne in the ensuing generation. So the re* suit of the most recent royal mating* must be watched by the wisest anions the statesmen of Europe, with interest not unmixed with solicitude.