New-York tribune., 1868-06-30

macy must fail to impress can hardly De
arrested by doctrine for which 1t has In the
nature of things no respect The Bourbons
have nothing left but their pedigrees,
and they fancy in their forced seclusion
that pedigrees will overcome the repugnance
which has been strengthened by two distinct
and separate expulsions. We are amusp. Civ
reminded of this intellectual blindnes,, by
letter lately written by the Count d.. Chambord
Henri de Bourbon) 10 the exE.ing Francis l.,
on the occasion of the marriage of Maria
Isabella of Spain. In discussing the Bourbon
destinies In general, and those of the French
Bourbons in particular, the Count dc Chambord
declares that "the French people begins to
comprehend that the sole race under which
" flourished the glory of France. and popular
"liberty was promoted, was that of my great
"ancestor, Henry w." Now, when the student
of history remembers that " the popular liberty
here so confidently referred to was promoted
and enjoyed by the French people under
Louis Kill, and the fourteenth, fifteenth,
sixteenth, and eighteenth monarch of that
name, concluding with the liberty
vouchsafed by Charles X, one Is puzzled
to comprehend precisely what the Count
means by liberty" at all The verdict OF
history, which it will be impossible success
fully to disturb, is that during the whole pc
riod referred to, the French people were
crushed by an intOierable weight OF despotism.
OF course, there was not always a uniformity
of pressure and Louis XVIII. was more
liberal monarch than Louis XIV; but what
ever amelOration might be experienced was
extorted by tho increasing intelligence or the
people and confirmed by the waning authority
of the nobility. When we consider the facts OF
the case, we are filed with speeches. astOnlsh-
ment at the assertion, even by a member of the
family, that tho BOurbOns were thei sole race
under which French liberty was promoted: the
simple truth being that it was the sole race
under which liberty was not promoted at all;
and we can only rooal our equanimity by re-
peatng the lines of Mr.. Walter Savage Landor:
within the circle of six hundred years
Show me Bourbon on whose brow appears
No brand OF traitor Change Change the the tree ,Hsro no
The same foul cankcr, the same bitter fruit"
And vet writes the Count de ChambOrd,
mine was the sole race under which hOulished
"the glory of France" The glory of Napoleon
was brief and "delusive," and followed by
/" the most cruel disenchantment and the deep
"est humiliation :" but the glory acquired
by Louis XIV. as religious prosecutor, the
glory" of his successors harem, the glory"
of the mbecile martyrking, the "glOry" of
the fugitive Charles X.-all this glory" we
suppose, is eternal, and not brief" is real,
and not "delusive" One hardly knows what
to say, when any person, be he prince or
plebeian, who ia ablcito write at all. not merely
writes stupidities like these, but permits them
70, In ,,,ll fn fnf al
lack of comprehension il hardly calculated to
intensity our faith in the virtues of royal
blood.
The most astonishing thing, however is that
the Count de Chambord actually anticipates
the restoration of his family. under the aus
picious rule Of which France, again possessing
4" its legitimate king, will recover its felicity
its glory, and its liberty 1t would hardly
be prudent TO make any prediction respecting
the future occupants of the French throne;
but 80 far az mortal vision can fairly and
naturally extend, il must be admitted that no
future event seems less probable than the re-
turn of the Bourbons The race which has
done so much TO make itself hated, and so
little to make itself beloved by the French
people and which has twice been driven from
the throne-thc family which by reason of its
Spanish and Italian connections must inevta-
bly, lend its authority and influence TO reaction
airy enterprises, should they be undertaken-is
not the race TO rule, is not the family to in
spre the respect or to fix the loyalty of
France. Great changes we certainly expect in
that most mobile of mOnarchies, but second
expulsion, which was fatal to the English
Stuarts, will equally conclude the career of
tho descendants of Henry the Fourth.