The Portland daily press., 1879-07-08
The TIepitinnists.


| baronies of the kingdom. The house of
Bourbon is a regal and ducal family which
has in past centuries held sovereign sway in
its own land, and over Spain, Naples and
Parma. Louis, Count of Vendome and
Chartres, French nobleman of the time of
Edward III. of England, became the ances-
tor of the royal house of Bourbon, and of the
great families of Condo, Cont and Montpen-
sier. Without tracing their descent minute
ly, we will come Immediately upon the first
OF their kin who sat upon the throne of
France, the brave and polite Henri ". who
was murdered by the fanatic Ravaillac in
1910, after prosperous reign of thirty-eight
years. This illustrious monarch, the fifth
in descent from Count Louis of Vendome
was the son of Antoine de Bourbon. Due de
Vendome, and Jeanne d Albret of Navarro
and before he came to the throne was styled
Prince de Bearn. The then expiring house
OF Valois failing of male ISSUE the way
opened for the princes of the blood, and
Henri being the nearest in consanguinity,
wole the crown, which at his decease fell in
direct line to Louis XIII, XIV, XIV,
XVI, XVIII, and Charles X, who was
deposed in 1880.
This last named sovereign had but two
sons, Due d Angouleme and Due de Berre,
the former of whom was hopelessly childless,
and the latter by his wife, Marie Caroline,
daughter Of the king of Naples, had a son
and daughter, both of whom died i'll infan-
cy. The greatest anxiety was manifested
lest the crown of France should pass from
their family to the younger Orleans branch,
and events in this direction were watched
with interest by the Bourbon adherents, who
were again to be disappointed later, by the
birth OF a daughter. In February, 1920,
the Due de Berrie was assassinated while
attending the opera at Paris, and with the
deadly plunge of the poniard everybody
supposed that the Pickering fame of Bourbon
had been snuffed out. But to the surprise
and qualification of the people, on the Goth
OF September next, seven months after the
death of her husband, the Duchesse de
Berrl gave birth to a son, who was chric-
tened Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieu-
donne d 'Artois, Due de Bordeaux In the
presence of the mobiles of the entire court
the old King, Charles X, taking a few drops
of the wine of Pau, moistened the lips of the
babe, in imitation of the amounting of III nri
w., and then drank the health of the Ouch
esse. Marie Caroline heroically replied:
Sire, wish knew the song of Jeanne d.
Albret, that everything should be done as at
the birth of Henri Quartre" The auspicious
event seemed to enkindle flame of enthu-
siasm all over France and the circumstances
and romance of the birth were peculiarly
calculated to move the sympathies of the
people, who looked upon the affair as mir
acle. One man alone was chagrined, the
Due d'Orleans, for the extinction of the
Bourbon line would have introduced him to
the throne as the head of the Orleans
branch.
The birth of the Due de Bordeaux gave
promise of a continuance of the succession
of the house and the united corps diplomat
iQue of the royal courts in congratulatory
address to the King, baptized him as the
Child of Europe. The posthumous babe,
born amid the acclamations of a kingdom,
is the present Comte de Chambord, title
which he received from an estate given to
him by his partisans. By his adherents he
is called Henri V. After the revolution in
1880 which overthrew his grandfather,
Charles X, he lived an exile in Scotland,
Austria, Italy and London, large fortune
being left to him by Due de Blacas so that
he could maintain royal appearances. He
married in 1916 Countess Maria Theresa
Beatrice Getane, Archduchess of Austria,
eldest daughter of Francis ", Due de Mo-
dena, by his wife, Maria Beatrice of Sardin-
la, grandniece of Marie Antoinette. She is
highly accomplished princess, taking great
interest in the improvement of the working
classes, and during the Franco-Prussian war
attended to the sick and wounded French
soldiers, while her husband contributed 10,-
600 francs and the use of his chateau. The
Count resides generally in his domain at
Frohsdorf near Vienna, and clings to the
traditional theory of his family in the di-
vine right of kings, frequently issuing mani
festos on the subject to the French nation.
He is faithful Catholic, strongly devoted
to the Sec OF Rome, but firmly reslsts all at
tempts at religious incitations of violence to
gain his right to the throne.
With him, at last, expires the celebrated
Bourbon branch of royalty, for he, the hope
of the family, is childless and it is reported
that he has become reconciled with the Or
leans branch and will in his dying manifesto
formally transfer his shadowy rights in favor
of the rival house. The heirless Comte de
Chambord is now ffty-nine years old, and
from the chaos of many apopular revolution
has he anxiously awaited the magic shout,
Vtre Henri Cling! and looked eagerly for the
fluttering of his white ancestral banner, till
at length the gray of three score years has
made his hope of coronation a crownless
dream.