Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1910 — LAST OF THE JACOBITES. [ARTICLE]

LAST OF THE JACOBITES.

Theodore Napier Still Ready to Defend the Stuart Ca&ae. Here is a stanch supporter of the Scotch claims to the throne of Britain, who despite the fact that he is failing fast in health makes* an annual pilgrimage to* the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots. ■ T So firmly does King Edward and his line seem settled on the British throne that it is startling to find an ardent remnant of Scottish Jacobites declaring he is a base usurper. They still cling to the claims of the Stuarts, though over 200 years have passed since the last of that bad family of rulers fled from British soil. To them Mary Queen of Scots is the “martyr queen,” and their contention is that the lawful ruler of England is an obscure Mary, who, resident abroad, i 3 all unconscious of her phantom dignity. Most fiery of them all is Theodore Napier, a picturesque figure often to be seen in the streets of Edinburgh, says the Cincinnati Enquirer. Every February, clad in highland garb, he journeys to Fortheringay castle, the scene of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, to lay on the tomb of that queen of- romance a floral offering as a symbol of his fealty to the Stuarts. Ridicule or argument breaks upon him without effect. He proclaims himself a Jacobite of the Jacobites; though all else bow the knee to the English king, still will he refuse. Many Scotsmen declare there is no King Edward VII. of Scotland, for former Edwards did not rule the north ern half of Britain. But their objection is not pressed hard, and they are loyal enough to the house of .Guelph'. Not so this venerable Jacobite. Whenever there is a celebration of a Scottish national event, there he is to plead for the glorification of Scotland as distinct from England. At a recent dinner in Edinburgh, when the toast ol “The King” was proposed, he refused to join, and when remonstrances rained upon him, the hoary Scotsman leaped to his feet and challenged any “traitor to the Stuart cause” to meet him “with claymore, battle-ax or dirk," at the same time casting a gauntlet at their feet, in his best dramatic manner. Nowadays, when the highlands are overrun every day by English and American financial magnates, who sport themselves in kilt and bonnet, Scotsmen are loath to wear the garb of their forefathers. But Theodore Napier regards it as “the only wear." In no other costume would he consent to appear in -p«blie T lest he should be taken for*a mere Englishman, so inferior, in his opinion, to the men of brawn and bravery, reared on sound oatmeal, north of the Tweed.