The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-16
PRETENDED DAUPHINS.

From the " Y. Times.
There is strong fascination for some
minds in discovering noble blood languish-
ing in obscurity, and august lineage disguised
under commonplace name. The novelists
work this vein with great industry; and the
art of revealing at the fitting moment that
Smith or Brown is the long-lost Montmorency
has been brought to high perfection. There
is a pleasure in finding that Robinson is in
reality the representative of the injured
Stuarts, and we all remember the rapture
with which Rev. Mr.. Williams was hailed a
veritable scion of the Bourbons. 1t is not
difficult to point out the source of this graft
fication. 1t psrtakes in measure of the ex-
citement of a lottery. There is no absolute
certainty whose turn may come next. Per-
haps the very first roll of the wheel may
bring merited glory to others. If Smith or
Brown is prince in disguise, why may not
their next door neighbor turn out to be
lineal descendant of some discrowned king?
The story that Louis XVII did not die has
been the parent of all manner of romances.
That about our own Rev. Mr.. Williams was
good in its way, but it was by no means the
choicest of the number. A novel said to be
founded on fact" has lately appeared in
Europe, which, if we accept its implications
with the gravity due to their interest and pro-
bability, quite puts our Bourbon into the
background. This new Dauphin, or, rather,
King, was much more ruffiing sort of GUS
toner than the worthy American missionary
He escaped from the Temple, of course,
by the substitution of a boy who looked
very much like him. Making for the coast,
he reached it in safety, and got
on board an English smuggler. Well
crammed with laces and brandy, this friendly
craft put out to sea, and was soon in sight of
the white cliffs of Kent. The gallant Nelson
happened, however, to be cruising along in
the neighborhood of the Isle of Thanet, and
he straghtway overhauled the smuggler, and
soon had the son of st. Louis safe on his quar-
ter.deck. In accordance with a well-known
custom of the British navy, the youthful pri-
soner was Immediately made q midshipman,
and in that capacity proceeded with the Ad-
miral to Naples. Here Nelson left him in
charge of signal station, and sailed up the
Mediterranean to bring about that famous
day when 'huge LOrient blew up at once in
the thckest of the fight" and the designs of
Bonaparte in the East were forever frustrated.
While this was going on the royal sailor amused
himself by falling in love with Ida Carrac-
sciol, niece to the unlucky prince of that
name, who persuaded him in the most natural
manner imaginable to abandon all pretensions
to the crown of France. Consequently,
without issuing any manifesto, OF even an
appeal for pIedtScjte he started for London,
in charge of dispatches for Mr.. Pitt. Ship
wrecked on the French coast, he fell into the
hands of Napoleon. That great man at once
recognized his prize, and as was his invari-
able habit with people who were likely to be
future stumbling blocks, permitted young
Louis to go about his business. This, he being
q Frenchman and a Bourbon clearly was
war. SO he went to the Polytechnic, came
thence with commission, fought in the
campaign of Wagram, was at the passage
of the Boresina and did almost as many
wonderful things as "Claude Melnotte''
when that ingenious person became the ''hero
of Lodi" So remarkable, indeed, was his
military skill, that it is almost surprising not
TO find our adventurer Unidentified at last with
General Won Moltke, since only in achieve
ments as splendid as that great soldiers could
the promise of young Louis find adequate full
fillment, while the climax of hurting the
usurper from the ancestral throne would have
been equally dramatic and appropriate.
In the absence of so fitting and reasonable
a crowning point in his career, we fear this
new Daupbin will be considered as spurious
as his numerous predecessors 1t is not
agreeable to disturb pleasing illusions, but
we suspect this regal Crichton was no "true
Prince" after all. We apprehend that Rev.
EleaZer Williams came at least as near to that
proud distinction as this fresh and more
snowy candidate, and that the real Louis
XVII, if, indeed, he was delivered out of the
hands of his enemies, must be sought for
elsewhere than on the quarterback of Lord
Nelson, or at the feet of the niece of Prince
Carraccioli. Possibly he may be found in
much more humble company; and the wishes
of the fierce Republicans who sought to de-
grade the hated ''Capet" may have been
carried out by congenial fortune after he was
out of their clutch.