The cruel disappointment which has befallen the Queen of Holland
and the Dutch people owing to the failure of her Majesty's hopes of giving an heir to the house of Orange has a significance more than national. It is still quite possible, no doubt, that a son or daughter may be born to Queen Wilhelmina, but until that happy event is accomplished the succession to the Throne of Holland must be a matter of international anxiety. At present the heir is a Gertulai reigning Prince, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and if he should refuse to resign his own duchy, the next heirs are also German Princes. The succession of a German Prince need not, of course, involve the fate which the people of Holland so greatly dread, absorption into the German Empire, but it would certainly bring it nearer. In view of this danger, the Daily Mail's correspondent at Berlin states in a telegram in Friday's issue that there is a well-organised Republican move- ment in Holland which would take shape should the house of Orange disappear. The Daily Mail correspondent also notes that during the past six months there have been "specially active efforts" in Germany to induce Holland to enter a Customs and Postal Union, "as a first step in the direction of political amalgamation."
