The Hawaiian gazette., 1868-12-09
The Bourbons.

she belongs for the last 50 years. The ques-
! ton Of who is 10 be her successor being yet
unsettled, II would be premature to say at
present that she would be the last reigDing
Bourbon sovereign; but in the meantime we
give a brief sketch Of that celebrated royal
house, the history Of which the events taking
place In Spain invest just now with peculiar
interest
ORIGIN OF THE BoURBoSs.
The House of Bourbon. which has given
so many sovereigns to France, Spain and
Italy, Is of French origin, deriving its name
from the old lords of Bourbon, noble family
which, centuries ago, held very large landed
possessions in the former province Of Bour-
bonnais, situated in the center Of France.
Through the marriage Of a member OF the
Capet family with a Bourbon heiress, the
noble house became allied TO royalty in the
thirteenth century, and about the middle Of
the sixteenth We find the first Of the race on
throne, In the person of Antoine de Bour-
bon, King of Navarro. Antoine was the
father of the gallant rnd renowned Henry Of
Navarro, who afterwards became King of
France under the title of Henry ". With
this celebrated prince begins the history Of
THE BOURBON DYNASTY IN FRANCE.
And what history Extending from 1889
when Henry " assembled the French throne,
to 1880, when Charles X was driven oul of
embraces period filed with events of the
deepest interest and of the highest possible
importance to the human family. From the
accession Of Henry ". up to the time of the
first French revolution, there was no break
in the royal succession of the Bourbon line
in France. Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis
XIV. and Louis XVI. were all Bourbons;
but, taking the first and last of these five
kings as regards their qualities rs rulers,
nothing could present q sharper contrast
than the character of the first French Bour-
bon soveregn, Henry the great y and sthe
good" as his people delighted to style him,
and that Of the unfortunate son of st. Louis
who fell by the guillotine. Whatever the
original virtues of the House might have
been, by the time that the volcanic outburst
of the revolutionary spirit firstshook France
and tumbled dishonored throne into the
dust, the race had become wofully degen-
crate. The guillotine did not, however, fin
ISL it in France. From the stormy days of
the Revolution, and through those of the
Consulate and the Empire, the two brothers
of the unfortunate Louis lived in..exile; but
when Napoleon fell, the elder of them was
placed on the throne by the Allies under the
title OF Louis XVIII, a son of Louis XVI,
who died while yet child In 1895, Lad been
the seventeenth of that name. Louis XVIII.
had no children, and on his death, which
took place in 1924, he was succeeded by his
brother, Charles Y. But experience had ut
terly failed to teach wisdom to this obstinate
and tyrannical ruler, who sought TO restore
the absolutism of the French monarchy,
the consequence of which was that a revolu-
tionary outbreak occurred In July, 1880,
compelling the King to flee from France, and
finally to abdicate. The latter he did, In ia
vor of his grandson Henry, Duke OF Bor-
deaux; but the act came too late to save his
house. Louis Philippe had already been
oh .f q AL.
were, to all human appearance, forever ex-
cluded from the French throne. The only
surviving descendant of Charles, and repre-
sentative of the alleged claims Of the Bour-
bons to the French throne, is that same
grandson, known as the Count de Chambord,
who Is 48 years of age. BE is, of course, an
exile, but is regarded as the lawful King of
France by the legitimists, whose hopes of q
restoration he feeds by occasionally holding
levees in hngly style.
THE BoURBoNs IN SPAIN.
The establishment of the Spanish Bour-
bon dynasty originated with Louis XIV. of
France, who, in the year 100, succeeded in
placing his grandson, Phillip, Duke of An
jou, on the throne of Spain, as Phillip l.
The descendants of Phillip ruled without in
terruption, until, in 1905, Napoleon compel
led King Charles ". to resign, and nominal
ed successor to him in the person of Joseph
Bonaparte, the Emperor's brother Charles
died at Rome in 1911, and after the overthrow
of Napoleon, the eldest son of Charles as
cended the Spanish throne, as Ferdinand
VII Dying, in 1880, Ferdinand left the
crown to his daughter Isabella, in whose
favor he had set aside, by royal decree, the
salic law forbidding female TO sit upon the
throne. The claims of Isabella were con-
tested by Ferdinand's brother Don Carlos,
which gave rise to the Carlist war, but Don
a. 10. r. Ii.
sions eventually resigned them, and died in
1885 His son, the Count Montemolin, in
1860 renowned all >elaim to the throne of
Spain. The Bourbon princes of Spain have
invariably exhibited the worst characteristics
of their race-foremost among which are a
passion for absolute power, and proneness
TO sensual self-indulgence-and under their
pernicious rule every interest, the prosperity
of which constitutes the strength and glory
of nation, has dwindled away.
THE BouRBoNs IN ITALY.
The late Bourbon dynasties of the Kingdom
OF Naples and the Duchies of Parma and Pa
cenza were founded by Phillip V. of Spain
in the early part of the 18th century. They
were overthrown for the time by the first
Napoleon, but after his downfall the Bour-
bous were restored to the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies, which they continued TO govern
till the revolution of 1860 drove Francis II.
to Gaeta as a refuge. This prince still lives.
an exile and murderer, and it does not seem
probable that he will ever recover his posses
sions- The Bourbons of Parma and Piacen-
"a lost those ducbies in 1859, which were
to Sardinia, and now-form part of
the Kingdom Of Italy.
THE YOUNGER BRANCH OF THE FAMILY.
The branch of the Royal Family of France,
known as the House of Orleans, is younger
branch of the Bourbon family, and was
founded by Phillip, Duke Of Orleans, the
younger brother of Louis XIV. From him
the Duke of Orleans who played
10 remarkablea part in the FIRST French revo-
ution as Citizen Egalite, and met so tragical
ate, periShing by the guilIotine in 1873.
Louis Philippe, chosen King of the French
n the Revolution of July, 1890, was the son
If Egalite; and the Count Of Paris, grand
ION OF Louis Philippe, is the present repre-
Of the Orleans branch Of the Bour-
bon family. II will be remembered that this
prince and his younger brother, the Duke of |
Charities, were with our army for some time
Turing the late war. The Count of En- an
,theT of Louis Ph;llippe's grandsons, is the |
husband of the eldest daughter OF the EN-
oeror of Brazil, the beiress of the throne of |
Brazil; and the Duke of Montpensier the
son of Louis Philippe, Is married
o Maria Isabella, infante of Spain, and sister
If Queen Isabella The party In Spain, /
Known as the Liberal Union, is supposed TO
,e in favor of his election to the Spanish
hrone, in the room Of Isabella-N 7. TIT
uHe.
TIE WHALING MOVEMENT A meeting
las been held at the store Of Z. Marvin, ESQ.,,
or the purpose of considering maturely the
Il rfea hftifv of zuuOorfinU Our Whaffnor fnfar-