THE TRAITOROUS DUKES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16300, 5 August 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE TRAITOROUS DUKES.

TITLES DISGRACED.

FIGHTING WITH THE GERMAN'S. In view of the announcement by Mr. Agquith that steps would bo taken regarding the British honours held by the Buke of Cumberland, the Duke of Albanv and Prince Albert of Schleswig. Holbein, the following extracts from an article bv Mr" J. C- Swift MacXeill, K C , MP., are rf interest:—

The Dukes of Cumberland and of Albanv take rank in the scale of general or social precedence immediately alter the King's younger sons. These enemies of the throne take precedence immediately before the Archbishop of Canteil.ury. the Lord Than, cellor. the Archbishop of Y. ik. and the Prime Minister.

On December 2. 1905. Kir,; Edward VII.. bv sign manual wan am. nave to the Prime Minister place and precedence next after the Archbishop if York, but a ion siderable distance behind tb" r>iik*"« ri Cumberland and Albany. Whv should these traitors take precedence ...j the Prime Minister? Why has ni.t the Soveieurn been advised to deprive •>• their precedence the Dukes of Cumbei!pn<] a!! Albany bv sign manual warrant exactly bv the same method in which prerr-d'-n--e v.-a< pven to the Prime Mini.-t-ei himself a precedency far inferior to that < i there traitorous )Cr . sonages. A Long List of Honours. The honours of th» Dnkes of Cumberland and Albany befo.p the w. j n i nese countries ran as follow:—The Duke of Cumberland «a- Duke ■ f I'nmUrland and Teviotdale in the p«-er.i t v <•; Great Britain and Earl of Anna,!, in the P eer ace of Ireland. K.i .. -.-as .-» p r ; n .. e of t L United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and general in the Rritish \rmv The Duke of Albany was Duke of Albanv' Earl of Clarence, and ISaron Vrklow' Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. KG.. G.C V 0 Colonel in Chief of the Seaforth Hiehland! ers. ~ What Has Been Done. The name of the Duke of Cumberland , no longer appears as a "genera! of il. e British Army." The Duke of Albanv is no longer " Colonel-in< "hief of the M . forth Highlanders." who have fourrht with such conspicuous bravery and gallants against the enemies of their country, with whom their late. " Colonel in-Chief" i* I now in arms.

But these dukes have still precedent of the Prime Minister of England a-e still princes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, have still six newaces—three «*-while one—the Duke of Albany—is still a G.C.V.O It is true that on Mnv 13. 1915 they were deprived of the Knighthood of th* Garter Why. if the Duke of Albany has been deprived of the Knighthood 0 the Garter, should he still remain a Kni<-M Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order ? Might Have Been King. If the Crown of England had been limited in its descent to the male line the present traitor Duke of Cumberland would be the British Sovereign. The Crown of Hanover was so limited, and it parsed on the death of William IV. to his eldest sur. riving brother. Edward Duke of Cumber land, whose signature was the very first attached to the Act of Allegiance presented to Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace on her accession to the Throne. He was, however, anything but a loyal subject. The ."Memoirs of Greville" and the "Life of the Prince Consort." hy Sir Theodore Martin, record the duke's personal insults to Queen Victoria, while there is no doubt of a conspiracy in the interests of the Tory reactionists and Orange section of the Ascendancy Partv formed for the purpose of passing over Queen Victoria in his favour for the Throne. His name was the symbol of the darkest and fiercest passions and even crimes. He was profligate, selfish, overbearing, and quarrelsome. His son. who died m 1878. was deposed in 1866 from the Throne of Hanover when Prussia annexed Hanover. Reconciliation with Kaiser. The present duke and the Kaiser have, however, become reconciled. The Kaiser's only daughter is married to the duke's eldest son. who is also in arms against this country, and will, if matters are a] lowed to take their course, he the holder of three peerages and a prince of tie United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Duke of Albany was horn in this country a posthumous* child .- his mother, a German princes.*, lived in this coun&y, and has a pension of £6000 per annum from its public funds. The duke was educated here, was an Eton hov brought no amid English surroundings, and a member of the English Established Church, la 1900 he became reigning Duke of SaxeCoburg and Gotha, and is now in arrni against the country of his birth- From this country his mother draws a maenis- - pension.