Princess in the prime of life,* particularly when we contemplate, that it is not beyond the limits of pos * The subject has been so very judiciously considered, and so very intelligibly explained by a cotemporary writer, that we are confident our readers will be pleased to peruse the passage at length. "Turning from the painful recollection of her whom we have lost, to the consideration of the public interests affected by this sad event, the first, the weightiest in political importance, that indeed which seems to absorb and swallow up all others, is the SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE. In a monarchy like ours, this circumstance is of paramount interest. We had fondly hoped that the promising union of the youthful Pair had removed all apprehensions on that head. We had pictured to ourselves a family of English Princes, brought up under our own eyes in English habits and principles, succeeding, without doubt or disturbance, to the throne of their ancestors, and wielding the sceptre, as we have seen it wielded, for above half a century, by our venerable MONARCH, and his son the REGENT. But now that the Mother and her Child are both at once taken from us, the prospect is, we regret to say, by no means so clear and satisfactory as we would wish. The common Ancestor of all the Heirs, whom it is at all necessary to include in our calculation, was FREDERICK Prince of Wales, the Father of our revered Sovereign GEORGE III, and of the late Duke of GLOUCESTER, the late Dutchess of BRUNSWICK, and the late Queen of DENMARK, all of whom have left representatives still surviving. The Act of Settlement, it is well known, limits the succession to the Heirs (being Protestant) of the Electress SOPHIA of HANOVER, Grandaughter of King JAMES I. Her Son GEORGE I. came to the throne in virtue of this Act, and Royal Descendants. 11 sibility that the blood of BUONAPARTE may, at some not very remote period, put forth a claim to the from him it descended to GEORGE II. Father of the Prince of WALES, whom we have mentioned. The Crown descends lineally to the issue of the reigning Monarch, with a right of primogeniture first among sons, and then among daughters, and the lineal descendant of any person deceased stands in the same place as their ancestor if living, would have done. With this short explanation, we apprehend that the subjoined scheme will be easily understood, as bringing under one view the existing individuals in succession to the Throne. (Vide Appendix A.) TREDE- Wales. Duke of 15. Duke of Gloucester, b. 1776. 14. Princess Sophia of Gloucester, b. 1773. Duke of (15) Duke Charles of Brunswick, b. 1804. Brunswick (16) Duke William of ditto, b. 1805. ((17) King of (19) Prince Paul of Do. | (22) Princess ? b. 1817. (20) Pr. Frederick, b. 1808. (23) Jerome Napoleon, b. 1814. (24) Princess of Wales, b. 1768. (25) King of Denmark, (26) Princess Caroline, b. 1793. Queen of (27) Princess Wilhelmina, b. 1808. (28) Princess Louisa, b. 1771. 12 Anticipated Legislation. Throne of Great Britain; since the issue of the Princess of Wirtemberg would be strictly (if Protestant and legitimate) within the line of succession in failure of the young Brunswick Princes, of the present King of Wirtemberg and of his brother Prince Paul: unless, indeed, that the British Legislature should add an additional clause to the Act of Settlement, forbidding all such progeny to have any hopes of an interest in the succession. "Thus it appears, that there are Twelve Children surviving of the KING; Two Children of the Duke of GLOUCESTER, One Child, Five Grand-Children, and Four Great GrandChildren of the Dutchess of BRUNSWICK: and Two Children and Two Grand-Children of the Queen of DENMARK. Supposing the PRINCE REGENT and the other English Princes and Princesses, merely to succeed each other in the order of their respective ages, and to leave no issue, the inconvenience of such short reigns and such numerous successions must be immense; whilst on the other hand, if we look to the contingency of some of those foreigners, now in their cradles and nurseries, coming at a distant period to reign over us, the evil will be incalculably augmented. We have included in the list the son of JEROME BUONAPARTE, by the Princess FREDERICA of WIRTEMBERG; although we consider him to be in fact spurious; since his Father has another lawful wife still living, formerly Miss Paterson of America; but, perhaps, his claim may be very differently viewed on the Continent; nor is it one of the least evils of the present state of the succession, that it leaves openings for more than one discussion on the legality of certain unions, through which claims may hereafter be made.” Future Prospects. 13 A circumstance so alarming presses heavily upon the public mind: for, though it is true, that including the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER and his Sister, there are no less than fourteen English Princes and Princesses in the line of succession; yet, in general, their age, and the circumstances in which some of them are at the present moment placed, leave room for some uneasy reflection. If again we look beyond them to their contingent successors, (Vide Appendix A. for the List, with the ages of the several persons,) we find no one born in England, no one brought up with English prospects, no one conversant with our Constitution, our Laws, or what is perhaps of more importance, our peculiar habits and feelings, especially those which stamp with such decided superiority all over the world, the character of an English Gentleman, (with the exception indeed of the young Brunswick Princes,) unless future marriages in Our own Royal Family should secure to us a line of true British Princes, bred up and educated amongst ourselves; identified with our own national feelings of liberty and independence; habituated to the study and the practice of our complicated government; and fitted, by an early obedience to our laws, to rule over a free, high-spirited, but loyal nation. In illustration of these remarks, we must not forget that there are Catholic claimants to our Crown, 14 Protestant Succession. who, in the strict line of descent, if the Acts respecting the Protestant Succession should ever, by` any unhappy policy, be repealed, would actually have a prior right. In such a case, the first Catholic claimant would be found in the House of Savoy, as descended from HENRIETTA Dutchess of Orleans, and daughter of Charles I.; which family branches again into three several lines of the HOUSE OF BOURBON. The Protestant line, however, is 'fixed in SOPHIA, daughter of ELIZABETH, sister of Charles I. wife of the Elector Palatine, the elected King of Bohemia. But Sophia had two brothers, whose descendants, Catholics, are to be found in the Orleans and Austrian families, in that of Condé, in the Dukes of Modena, and the present Royal Saxon family. As Protestants, SOPHIA's line runs through the present Royal Family, the royal houses of Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Orange, Hesse Cassel, Brunswick, and, most unfortunately, WIRTEMBERG; for the first wife of the late King of Wirtemberg, as already detailed in a note, was an elder sister of the present Princess of Wales, being Augusta Caroline Frederica Louisa, who left three children— the present King, Prince Paul, and the Princess Frederica Catharine Sophia Dorothy, considered as the wife of JEROME BUONAPARTE! Before, indeed, that the chance of succession could possibly come to her issue, many years, in the natural course of |