Descendants of the Stuarts

228 THE DESCENDANTS
legitimate heir, or of her aunt, the Parliamentary
heiress, is almost equally certain, as a passage in
her writings seems corroborative of this opinion.
She says, " I wish the King, James III., was in
possession of England, because the kingdom belongs
to him, whilst I would rather the Elector (George I.)
was Emperor of Germany, knowing well the desire
he had to be king of that country."* Not a word,
it will be perceived, of her own claims. In truth,
on James III. and George I., the representatives of
a principle and a faith, public opinion was so con-
centred, that the pretensions of the other members
of the Royal Eamily remained in abeyance, scarcely
remembered even by themselves. And yet it is
matter of interesting conjecture, " What would have
been Great Britain's destiny under Elizabeth II. ?"
for as such the Duchess of Orleans would have
reigned, had she been called to ascend the throne of
her forefathers. It is strange that this princess,
the representative of the once idolized Queen of
Bohemia, and the daughter of the ultra-Protestant
Charles Louis, who so signalized himself by his
adhesion to the Parliamentary cause, should have
been so quietly abandoned by the party of the
Revolution, though no doubt can exist that had
the Elector himself been living, a very different
course of policy would have been pursued. With his
daughter, however, other considerations prevailed ;
for in the first place she had abandoned her father's
* Duchess of Orleans.