Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1868-11-05
THE BOURBONS.

III DOUQDONOs
As IL may now be regarded as Ger
tain that Queen Isabella and her chill
dren will be excluded from the throne
Of Spain, we have in her expulsion
another example of that retributiv,
Justice which has followed the race 70
which she belongs for the last eighty
years. The question of who is TO be
her successor being yet unsettled, il
would be premature to say at present
that she will be the last reigning Bour.
bon sovereign; but in the meantime
We give brief sketch of that celebra.
ted royal house, the history of which
events taking place in Spain invest
Just now with peculiar interest.
ORIGIN OF THE BoURBoNs.
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 cen.
turics ago held very large landed pos.
sessions in the former province Of
Bourbonnais 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 a
throne, in the person of Antoine dc
Bourbon, King of Navarro. Antoine
was the father of the gallant and re.
nowned Henry of Navarro, who after
wards became King of France under
the title Of Henry ". With this eel
ebrated prince begins the history OF
THE BOURBON DYSAsTY IN FRANCE. :
And what history! Extending
from 1889, when Henry ". ascended
the French throne, TO 1880, when
Charles Y was driven out Of his king
dom by the revolution of July, it EN-.
braces a period filled with events of
the deepest interest and of the high.
est possible interest TO the human
family. From the accession Of Henry
~. up 10 the time of the first French
revolution, there was no break in the
royal succession of the Bourbon line
in France. Louis XIII, LoHis XIV.
Louis XIV, and Louis XVI. were all
Bourbons but, taking the first and
the last of these FIVE kings as regards
their qualities as rulers, nothing could
present sharper contrast than the
character Of the fret French Bourbon
sovereign, Henry "the great" and "the
good" as his people delighted TO style
him, and that Of tho unfortunate "son
Of st. Louis" who fell by the guillo-
tine Whatever the original virtues
of the House might have been, by the
time that the volcanic outburst of the
revolutionary spirit first shook Franco
and tumbled dishonored throne into
the dust, the race had become woiully
degenerate. The guiilotine did not,
however, finish it in France. From
the stormy days of the Revolution,
and through those of the Consulate
and Empire, the two brothers OF the
unfortunate Louis lived in exile but
when Napoleon fell the elder Of them
was placed on the French throne by
the Allies under the title OF Louis
XVIII. a son Of Louis XVI. who
died while yet n child, in 1895, had
been the seventeenth of that name.
Louis XVIII. had no children, and on
bis death, which took place in 1924,
he was succeeded by his brother,
Charles Y. But experience had ut.
terly failed 10 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 revolutionary
outbreak occurred in July, 1880, com
pelling the King TO foe IRON France,
and finally to abdioatc. The latter
he did, in favor of his grandson Hen.
ry, Duke of Bordeaux but the act
came too late TO save his house.
Louis Philippe had already been
chosen King Of the French, and the
Bourbons were, 10 all human appear.
ance, forever excluded from the throne
of France The only surviving de.
scendant of Charles, and representa-.
tive Of the alleged claims Of the Dour.
bons TO the French throne, is that
same grandson, now known as the
Count de Chambord, who is As years
of age. He is, of course, an exile. but
is regarded as the lawful King OF
France by the legitimists, whose hopes
of a restoration he feeds by occasion.
ally holding levecs in kingly style.
THE BouRDoNs IN SPAIN.
The establishment Of the Spanish
Bourbon dynasty originated with
Louis XIV. of France, who, in the
year 100 succeeded in placing hi.
grandson, Philip, Duke Of Ainou, on
the throne of Spain, as Philip /. The
descendants Of Philip ruled without in.
terruption until, in 1908, Napoleon
compelled King Charles " TO resign
and nominated successor 10 him in
tho person of Joseph Bonaparte, the
Emperor'e brother Charles died al
Rome in 1911, and after the overthrow
of Napoleon the eldest son of Charles
assembled the Spanish throne, as Fer.
dinand VII. Dying, in 1880, Fcrdi.
nand leit the crown 10 bis daughter
Isabella, in whose favor ho had SET
aside by royal decree the salic law
forbidding a female to sit upon the
throne. The claims Of Isabella were
contested by Ferdinands brother
Don Carlos, which gave rise to the
Carlist war, but Don Carlos, havinn
failed IN aafahlish hi. ,..o..,...a.,s =