The weekly Arizona miner., 1873-02-22
FRENCH HISTORY.


 lture of France, may turn our mind to | etrospect of the history of that nation. a
 In 4sG, Clovis, leader of the Franks, Ger T nan tribe, invaded Gaul part of which was :. r till subject to the Romans. He dccated he Roman general at Soissons, the Alemannl II .t Zulpich. the Goths al Putters, thus estab- | ishing his power all over Gsul, and founding a he Franks or France.
 His descendants are known as the Merovin- ,, ,ian line of kings. None of them possessed any marked ability, and the government was administered by the prime ministers and { Mayors of the Palace.
 In 752 Pepin the Short, Mayor of the Pal ace, dethroned the feeble king, whose minis ter he was, and placed himself on the throne. Pepin was a man of great ability and his son Charlemange was still greater. But the sue ceeding kings were of much less strength.
 From Clovis to Charlemange the country | of the Frankish morarchs had included both | France and Germany. By the great battle | of Fontenoy, between the grandsons of Char lemange, by the succeeding treaty of Verdun in S43, Germany and France became separate nations.
 ] In 0s7 the now degenerate Carlovingian 1 line was overthrown and Hugh Capet became | King His descendants held the throne 10
 the time of the Napoleons.
 Philip Augustus went to the Crusadcs and
 afterward wrested from King John of En-
 gland his continental possessions. <
 Louis IX--Saint Louis-was a man of the
 highest personal character of statesmanship.
 He died of an epidemic in the last crusade.
 Philip " (the Fair) had contest with | Pope Boniface, and with cruel energy sup
 pressed the Knights Templars.
 The death of Charles ". closed the direct
 line of the Capets, and the crown went to
 the House of Falois, the descendants of
 Charles, Count of Valois, younger son of one
 of the earlier kings of the line, heir of Capet. Edward TIT. of England claimed the throne | by right of his mother, and thus commenced ] the long series of wars between France and
 England, and the claim, by virtue of which the English monarchs held the name of King of France, down to tho year 1900. The ] French were terribly defeated at Crecy, and
 at Poittiers King John was taken prisoner ! by the Black Prince. The French received
 another terrible defeat at Apincourt, and by the treaty of Troyes, Henry vof England,
 regent, during the life of the insane Charles | VI, heir to the crowd. But Henry V. dy- ing and Joan of Arc arising to head the Frence, the English were driven out of the | country.
 i Charles VIII, by his invasion of Italy. Francis l., the contemporary of Charles V of Germany and Henry VIII of England was one of tho most renowned of the French kings. In the reign of his son. Henry IT,, the fortresses of Metz, Toul and Verden, be- longing to Germany, were seized and annexed to France. In his reign the Reformation gained power in France, and in the reign of Charles TX, his son, the Massacre of St. Bar tholomew occurred.
 With the assassination of Henry IT. the Housa pf Nnlnia tA anI ,l crown reverted to the Bourbons, descended | from younger son of St. Louis The first of this line was Henry of Navarro, or Henry w. who was a Protestant, but to secure his throne become Catholic. The minister of his son, Louis XIII, was the renowned Richeleu. The next monarch was Louis | XIV, who ascended the throne at five years of age, and regned for seventy-two years. This reign, so we'll knowr for its grandeur, is the longest in French history. During this reign were added to France those provinces
 which Germany has lately recovered Louis
 was succeeded by his great-grandson, Louis XIV, against whose troops our own fore fathers fought in ''the old French War" He was succeeded by his son, Louis XVI, under whom France assisted our country in the Revolutionary War, and who afterwar was [ beheaded | The terrible scenes of the French reyolu. ton and the career of the first Napoleon are known to every schoolboy. l Alter the fall of Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, l brother of Louis XVI, was placed on the throne. He was succeeded by another brother, | Charles x, who was dethroned by the Revo- lution of 1880, by which the direct Bourbon line was driven from the throne. Henry Count of Cbambord, grandson of CharIex x. is the present representative of this line, and under the name of Henry V, he now claims the throne
 On the dethronement of Charles x, his
 kinsman, Louis Philippe, descended from
 Phillip, Duke of Orleans, younger son of
 Louis XIII, was placed on the throne. He
 was driven out by the Revolution of lsiS and died in England His grandson, Louis ! Phillip, Count of Paris, remembered in this country as having served on McClellan's staff, claims the throne in the right of the Orleans line.
 The Revolution of lSiS resulted in en- throning Louis Napoleon, whose fate is familiar to all, and whose son claims the throne as Napoleon W.
 France is now republic, but three differ ent persons claim the throne. The Bourhons or Legitimlsts, the Orleanists and the Impe-
 riaiists are all intriguing But it is not probable that Henry V., or Louis Philip IT., or Napoleon ", will ever sit on the throne of Clovis, and S,. Louis and Napoleon. NoRsEMAN.