192 EMINENT FAMILIES. 



EFFECT OF PRIMOGENITURE. 



The English aristocracy is governed by the law of primogeni- 

 ture, which is a strict selection of the eldest of the eldest to inherit 

 the title. Great care and pains are always taken to train and 

 educate the heir to fill the position to which the law entitles him. 

 When he grows to man's estate he has wealth, social position and 

 political influence to assist him in any career he may choose. From 

 this class England draws the majority of those persons who hold 

 official positions at home or abroad. Many of these men have 

 become prominent, some have become eminent and a few have be- 

 come great, but in no case has the English nobility produced great 

 men from the eldest of the eldest when that means successive repro- 

 ductions at 25 years or less. In every case in which the nobility has 

 produced a great man, or a man of more than ordinary ability, such 

 production has been either an exceptional case of late reproduction 

 or a break in the line of succession that brings in a collateral and 

 younger branch. This is not because of any lack of early reproduc- 

 tion on the part of the nobility. A glance at "Burke's Peerages" 

 will show that there is a plentiful supply. While I have not tabu- 

 lated these men I have satisfied myself that a large part, if not the 

 majority, of these eldest sons are born before the fathers are 30. I 

 observed quite a number of cases in which the father was less than 

 25, and some in which he was less than 20. If, after all of the cen- 

 turies during which the law of primogeniture 1 has held sway, and 

 all of the advantages accruing to the men benefited by it, the 

 English nobility cannot produce a great man except in the rare in- 



(i) Primogeniture was recognized by the Hebrews, the Greeks and the 

 Romans. In France it first appeared when the Capets came to the throne, but 

 was abolished in 1789. In England it was first established at the time of the 

 Norman conquest. 



