Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-09-15
ApoCRYpHAL ROYALTY.
From the St. Louis Rspublieanl.

Emperor Napoleon, IN winch nc WA
given the title Of Napoleon the Second
Under this name he is an excellen
specimen of what may be called apocry
phal royalty. From his fifth year to hi
death he lived in exile, and his body wal
laid to rest in foreign soil; he nesel
occupied the throne of France, nevel
exercised single act of sovereignty; h'
lived and died an Austrian nobleman
and to all appearances seemed destined
to be known in history simply as thu
Duke de Reichstadt. But twenty years
after death he put term to all hi
hopes and ambitions, his cousin, Louis
Bonaparte, re-established the Empire
and, calling himself Napoleon iii, tho
Duke of necessity became the second O
the name, and was presupposed to have
reigned, from the death Of his father, il
1921, to his own demise in 1882. This
is very charming fiction, a little limo
cent forgetfulness on the part Of royalty
but such has ever been the custom
among unfortunate and exiled monarchs
1t was surely delightful piece of pleas
antry in his ex-Majesty, the late ruler
of France, to ignore the very existence
of such very palpable personages as
Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis
Philippe d'0rleans. But what would
you have? All these eminently respect
able gentlemen themselves we're apocry'
phal kings at one period or the other
Of their lives, and spent many years in
foreign parts, either dwelling on the
brightness of yesterday glory, or treas
uring hopes in clear dawn of to-mor'
row.
When Louis XVI was beheaded in
1898, the Dauphin of France was close
prisoner in the temple, and survived his
royal father about two years. AT the
restoration of the monarchy in l8l4-l5,
this unfortunate boy was entered on the
roll of the kings Of France as Louis
XVII, and his uncle, the Count de Pro
vence, assumed the title OF the eighteenth
Louis. The position of the young Dau-
phin and that of the younger Napoleon
we're identical; they were never crowned,
nor did either claim the privileges or
exercise any of the functions pertaining
to this posthumous rank of sovereign.
This same Louis XVIII carried his as
sumption of the kingly dignity to ridic-
ulous and preposterous. extent; affecting
to consider the government of Napoleon
as radically illegal and, treating the EN-
peror himself as cypher, he issued
magniloquent DEGREES styling himself
Louis, by the grace of God, King OF
France" and dated these worthless docu-
ments in the tenth or twelfth, or some
other "year of my reign" during all
which time the French people were go
irg forward under the great soldier on a
marvellous career Of power and glory,
and he himself was homeless fugitive,
seeking safety and hospitality wherever
it could be obtained But Waterloo
came, and as its sequence Louis and
Napoleon changed places Little is
known of kings in this land of republi-
can liberty, but if it be true of them as
it is of ordinary mortals, that he laughs
loudest who laughs last, certainly Louis
had the best of it. He mounted his an
cestral throne, and, reigning for ten years,
died in 1924 the first sovereign of the
country who for period of fifty years
had come to peaceful end in undis-
puted possession of the reins of govern
ment. Nor has any subsequent monarch
to this day been as fortunate. Louis
XIV died in l774, and during the century
that has since elapsed the eighteenth
Louis alone has lived, reigned and died
as King of France.
He was succeeded on the throne by
his younger brother, the Count d Artois,
as Charles \. After stormy reign of
six years this Prince also and perforce
went upon his travels, and finally died
in 1886, an exile from the land of his
forefathers. Upon the dethronement of
Charles, his cousin, the Duke Of Orleans,
received the throne under the style of
Louis Philippe. He maintained his as
tendency for eighteen years, but evil
days were in store for him; indeed it
seemed fitting chat haying sown in the
tempest, he should reap the whiriwind.
His intrigue with the malcontents
against his sovereign and the head of
his family was sa unnatural conspiracy;
at the best of times but little can be said
in favor Of the domestic traitor; nothing
when the reward of that treason is his
own advancement to place and power.
The treason of Gen. de Lafayette, in
1880, was yistne taught him hy his
friend and model, Gen Washington,
fifty years before; it was the offspring of
pure loye Of country, seeking no per
sonal gain; bpt the trsasqB Of the Duke
d0rleaps was q crime that aifer good
conduct might palliate, but never com
pletely ohlileFqle: In ls4s he fell, and,
hastily abdioating the monarchy In favor
of his grandson, the Count de Paris,
took the first opportunity to cross the
channel for England, His after life was
one of many trials and privations, and
engages the sympathies of all who have
heart 10 tsei tbf the exile and The gRtnr-
tunate. 't''
There are now no less than three apoc-
ryphal sovereigns Of France besides the
government de fdct0 which appears TO
be Of an anomalous charaetbf, some
what democratic and all revolutionary.
Napoleon is Emperor in view Of certain
powers delegated to him at the ballot
box, and as YEP pprepesleqi the SELF
STYLED Henry V, the Count de Cham
borg, son of Charles X, is King de jure,
by right of the family inheritance, since
he Is the lineal descendant Of the ancient
line, Hugh 'capet, Of ~. Louis, Of Henry
" the lII.eat Of le Grand Monarque,
Louis XIV. The Count de Paris, or
Louis Philippe II is sovereign by no par
ticular right, unless popularity and the
record of an unblemished life gives
valid and substantial claim to prince
of the royal blood. II has been well
said that that government is best
which governs least" it is then favora-
BILE to the people Of France that all of
her ralsrs DO not pass laws at the same
time; one by one seeas more than
enough, and these potentates IN posse
are a sore vexation and bring much tra-
vail Of soul 10 the ruler IA esse.
But these reluctant travelling monarchs
are by no means confined 10 the lively
Gallic people; their sober neighbors
across the Straits Of Dover have pro-
duced a hiF stock Of similar gentry.
When the head Of Charles ! fell upon
the scaffold in l6l9, the Prince of Wales
was in unwilling exile, and upon his as
Of Che throne IN 1860, as
Charles III, he ignored all knowledge of
the stubborn fact that Lord Protector,
in the person Of Oliver Cromwell, had
governed England for ten years, while
he, G wanderer in foreign countries, was
nlavinu the rafs Of q Eovproirn nm