§ 52. Mr. S. MacNEILLasked the Prime Minister on what grounds are the Dukes of Cumberland and Albany, now in arms against the Sovereign and people of this country, who so far back as the 13th May, 1915, have been struck off the roll of the Knights of the Garter, still permitted to retain the rank, style, and dignity of Royal Highness Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and in the case of the Duke of Albany, G. C.V.O., of which they can be deprived by the exercise of the prerogative on the advice of a responsible Minister of the Crown; whether he is aware of the sinister construction placed on the retention of these traitorous personages in possession of the highest honours in the gift of the Crown when contrasted with the severity with which treason has been visited in the case of traitors in humbler walks of life; and whether he will immediately advise the exercise of the Royal prerogative for the divesting of these persons of honours whose retention by them is a standing insult to the Sovereign 975 and people of these countries and calculated to create a belief in the lack of moral earnestness in the prosecution of the War and the issues involved therein?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe Bill in which the hon. Member is interested is now ready and will be introduced in another place next week. I think, therefore, the whole subject had better be postponed until the Bill has been discussed.
§ Mr. MacNEILLDoes not the right hon. Gentleman understand that a Bill can have no force whatever in depriving these people of the title of Royal Highness and Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which, like the Order of the Bath, is a simple act of the prerogative, and why has the Prime Minister not stated, as is his imperative duty, that these people would be struck off the Rolls?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWNo, I am not aware of that, and my legal advisers tell me some of the cases have to be dealt with by Bill.
§ Mr. MacNEILLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that a contrast is being drawn between the treatment accorded to these highly-placed Royal personages and that accorded to Captain Riepenhausen, who has been persecuted for being a Hanoverian, as George I. and George II. Were?