The Lippe-Detmold affair threatens to have serious develop- ments. The
claim to the sovereignty of the little State, which, though it contains only one hundred and forty thousand in- habitants, is in theory as independent as Prussia, has long been contested between two families, Lippe-Biesterfeld and Schaumburg-Lippe, the former being in actual possession. The reigning Prince, however, is a lunatic ; and the Regent being just dead,_ the Schaumburg-Lippe family have again advanced their pretensions, which, as their head is the brother- in-law of the Emperor, are formidable. The local Diet, how- ever, supported by the whole population, insist that the Biesterfeld family, though it has twice married below its rank, is legitimately possessed of the principality, and has therefore declared Count Leopold, who is next-of-kin, Regent.
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