George V., the last King of Hanover, and grandson of
our own George III., died in Paris on the 12th inst. Though unhappily blind, he was not a bad King, as kings go; he was fairly popular, and made in 1866 a brave stand for his throne. His subsequent refusal to recognise accomplished events was according to the etiquette of kings, who always think it their duty to plead that they are beyond dismissal, and the consequent sequestration of his private fortune was an act of oppression. It is stated that his son, the Crown Prince Ernest, will surrender his claims to Hanover, and call himself "Duke of Cumberland," if his property is restored, but other arrangements may be made. if the Hohenzollern do not intend to take the Dukedom of Brunswick for themselves, they may be willing to let Prince Ernest, who is the next heir, inherit on the death of the present Duke, and so allow the second oldest line in Germany to remain regnant. The oldest is the Mecklenburg family, which indeed can claim precedence, according to its own annals, of any Prince in the world, except the Mikado and the Maharana of Oodeypore.
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