It is reported that the Czar intends, should his next
child be a daughter, to publish a new Law of Succession, under which, on a failure of sons, the eldest daughter of the reigning Sovereign would, as in England, succeed to the throne. The decree will, it is said, greatly irritate the Princes of the Imperial house, who will thus be pushed back or superseded; but there can be no doubt that it is within the prerogative of the Czars, who have repeatedly decreed rules of succession. The new scheme is, moreover, in full accordance with the history of Russia, where women have so often reigned ; and there is no reason to believe that it would be unpopular. The arrangement seems to Englishmen the one most in accordance with the principle of hereditary Monarchy, the Salic Law involving the risk that a. dynasty may perish. Male heirs have never been wanting in France; but they failed in Austria when Maria Theresa mounted the throne, and they have failed entirely in our own time in Holland. It is quite possible that the consent of the next heir has been obtained, as he is in ill health, and his chance of surviving his brother is but a doubtful one.
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