The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-24
TIE HonsE OF RonRRoN.

II length of descent is thing to be proud
Of, there ought 70 be no prouder family in
FL rope than that of the Bourbon. Not only
cAn they trace q line unbroken to Hugh
apet, the strong-handed putter-down of
degenerate dynasty, but it leads through
thirty generations of kings, interrupted here
and there where stream breaks off, to run
through banks studded with castles Of honor
only just short Of royal. Hugh Oapet is
the first From him the line runs un-
interruptedly till we come to Louis TX, the
Saint. The direct trunk here carries on
the race of kings, which terminated in the
children of Philip the Fair, and gave place
to the House of Valois. After their failure
of male issue, the Bourbons come in.
Robert, sixth son of Louis the TX, married
Beatrix, heiress of that noble fief of Bour-
bon which lay in the centre of France, north
of Auvergne and Guienne. From him sprang
eight Dukes of Bourbon-a stalwart hard
listed race, who were ever to the fore when
fighting was going on, and always loyal to the
crown, in good times and bad.
J. Antoine de Bourbon poor, irfesolute
creature, the prince sans gLOtre, who never
knew which side he was fighting for, nor
which religion he belonged to-had the great
good luck to marry Jeanne d'Albret, daugh-
ter to the King of Navarro and his wife,
Margaret of Valois. By great luck still,
he had for an only son the iolliest if
not greatest, of French kings-their fourth
Henry-whose succession put the Bour-
bon family, for the trst time, on the
throne of France. His claims were three
fold. Through his father, he sprang direct
from Louis TX; through his mother, from
Charles V; and through his maternal great
grandfather, from Louis X. In the next
generation but one, the race splits up again.
The brother of Louis XIV, the Duke of Or
leans was the first of the Orleans branch,
which now survives in the children and
grandchildren of Louis Philippe. The
representative of the direct line is the
Count de Chanbord, who is now fifty years of
age, and has been long married, without chill
dren. He is supported by very small fol-
lewiDg in France, who adhere to him from
principle, and who will transfer their allie
glance to the Orleans family as soon as he is
out of the way. From time to time he puts
his name to document, which is drawn up
and published to let people know he is still
alive, and their king by divine
right; and it may very reasonably be
supposed that he has long since given
up all hopes of succeeding to the crown. He
seems to have inherited that character which
is occasionally reproduced in the Bourbon
family, of which the type is the indecisive
and vacillatinP Antoine de Bourbon, father of
Henry ~. Such was Louis XIII; such Louis
the Dauphin; such Louis XVI. Their energy
and bravery are dashed by fatal hesitation;
they dare, but they think too long about
daring; they resolve, but too late; they act,
when the time for action is past
One word on the Orleans family. They
began, as has been said, with the brother of
Louis XIV. He chiefly distinguished himself
by trying to spoil the grand old castle of
Blois. Three more dukes followed him, in
cluding that prince of debauchery, the regent.
And then we come to Philippe Egalite, the
has been in exile for twenty-five years, has
shown how adversely may be borne without
loss of dignity. They have been guilty of no
conspiracies and no intrigues. Probably their
conduct has never excited single suspicion
in the breast of the Emperor. They have
spent their time in travel, in study, in writ
ing; and they have shown that, in intellect at
least, there is one branch of the grand old
house which is still ready to go to the 'front.'
ADDLet0n'S Journal