The semi-weekly Republican. (St. Francisville, La.) 1872-1872, 1872-03-08
The Royal Ghost ut Antwerp,
lFrom TIC st. Louis Republican,

tfle ROy:.l Ghost at Antwerp
From tic ST. Louis Republican,
/ Never was the keynote of char.
acter more accurately struck than
tfwbcn the first Bonnpalte spoke thos,
words concerning the Bourbo,.s,
which have now passed into !; pro-
vcrl'-" Th'y neither learn nor for
get anything" Il was true then
when the blood of Louis XVI had
hardly dried upon the knife of the
guillotine and his Successors were
intriguing ;ol tie crown they had
not brains enough to wear it was
true later. when Louis XVIII and
Charles \ ;sccndea the throne and
played the same fantastic tricks
which bnt II littlo while before La |
Turned it nto u scaiiold +; it has been
true since, when amid vortex of
revolutions some feeble representa-
tive of the ancient f1nrly has at
tempted to slip through the ranks of
contendms factions and plant the
historic lilies i'll the halls Of his an
cestors and it is true to-,!av when
the Count dc Cllambor,l has set ND
his minnie court at Antwerp, and
looking thence toward paris, really
believes himself OH the point of re-
gaining the empire once ruled by
Louis lc Grand.
Poor, weak, foolish old man! To
hln the France of tEe seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries is still /, re-
ality the France OF tho 1.iuetecnth
century only IL myth, a shadow with
ont substance. Gazjng across the
gulf OF years, he sees the saloons and
gardens OF Versailles crowded with
ohs4ir'ics court'ers, l'owiny and
c,lngin.5 before q mnniki,l urrayr,l
in velvet aud gold lace he secs the
cowradIy parliament crooAins tic
knee to this mallillin when he struts
INTO the assembly chamber, riding
whip in hand, crying out /: "TLe
State !! l am the State y He hears
thc feeble moaning Of q milton of
slaves Sroaning beneath the weight
Of tyranny and debt, and before his
eyes sli,ters that ring of sovereignty
which the divine right of kings once
heh! npon the brows of too.s and
sco',narels. lie docs not seem to
understand on realize, that between
then and now un ocean rnlls--un
orra', OF blood arl tears, Of nw:nl
suffering ;nl terrible trial, of deadly
ht;Trd and Fl rcust wrath ;,l ocean
whore his fl;t!l boat could not live nn
instant. !n so tins feeble offspring
Of a vanished era sit, ilnpaticntiy III
that venerable city, SO rich with
memories Of Il glorious past, mustcrs
ms lutte group of rct;tl4crs about
him, listens to their VOWS of alicyi-
ance, s!.iles at their thrcalbare fiat
trrits, and promises honors and re-
wards "whcn the king sE,l! come
TO his own again" What - mel.n-
cAoly farce to be played in the face
of IL world which newspapers, steam
and lightning have rcvoiution;zed -
What IL spectacle Of human folly, OF
insane ambition. Of ulreasonins and
faith, OF credulity which
neither sharp experience non hard
facts can shake !
The telegram tells us that Ant.
werp is full Of french detectives, and
the mob gather around the Cham
bora headquarters, intin;stiny i'll un-
nlist;sll;sbjc language tI;tt the illus
triots cXilc''s room is better than his
company. Detectives and mobs may
calm their pertarbed sol1ls--Henri
Dieudonne is as harmless as IL suck
ing dove. He has nothing of the
heroic in his composition F; he does
not belong to u race who know how
to make circumstances, or to i'm
prove circumstances when made
His heart is weak, his friends are
few, his purse is short, and child |
less man, he holds, ut best, ga
barren scoptre in his grippe, no heir
of his succeeding. And he is a
Bourbon of the strictest sect
earning nothing, forgetting moth
ng."
President Theirs can call home his
spies, and the burghers of Antwegpt |
llivc off their rabbie. for this scion
If dead royalty, this ghost of Il dc
'unct dynasty, will do no manner OF
mischief ii given full scope. Let
lim alone with his pasteboard ,lia-
lem, his moth-eaten robes, his wood
N sword, his toys and trickeries of
Empty state. He Injuries no one,
his Count dc Chalnbord-he is
simply a tottering monument of
)uricd greatness, which we may con-
emplate with smile or sigh to be
oitied, perhaps, but certainly not to
)e feared.