The Portland daily press., 1883-08-27
The End of a Bourbon.

4A0 Ha0 Va q 3VtxOOus
The Count de Chambord, whose death last
week extinguished une line of Bourbon claim.
ants of the French throne, was a Bourbon
indeed, type of the class sptly described as
persons who learn nothing and forget moth
Ing. Possibly be might have had his day on
the throne in some of the exigencies through
which France has passed if he had had
stateman's wit TO understand the signs of
the times and adapt himself to the controll-
ing circumstances. But stateman's sense
Of the requirements of his times is precisely
what the Count de Chambord was devoid of.
He was constantly laundering and getting in
his own way, saying the thing he ought not
to say, and doing the things which made it
impossible for men who wanted to take up
his cause to do SO. He was an honorable
man, and sincere in his pretensions; but he
was not energetic or earnest. He wanted to
be King. and he believed that he had
right to the throne; but he was not the man
70 assert his claims with the aggressive force
which compels the Indifferent to admire and
makes them enthusiastic supporters in des-
perate venture.
II he had by any fortune come to the
throne of France, he would have pursued a
reactionary policy which would not have
been tolerated long. He did not understand
the nineteenth century, and the nineteenth
century would not have understood him as
ruler. Or rather 1t would have understood
him so well that it would not submit to him.
France has no longer any use for Kings who
believe in their divine right, and whose
dream is to restore the royal prerogatives
and dignities of another age. Neither Louis
Philippe nor the third Napoleon, both of
them, however different from each other,
more practicable men in their ideas Of gov
eminent, and more in sympathy with the
spirit of their age than the Count de Cham
bord was, found France an entirely willing
subject. Perhaps if he had had power
enough to initiate and sustain an organized
movement in his own behalf such as would
have made success possibility, he would
have had with it other qualities that would
have made him successful ruler But it
Ii not useful to speculate upon these hypo.h-
sses.
Men Of the Bourbon type are not uncom
mon the world over. We have them in
abundance in this republic. The name
bourbon has become common adjective to
designate persons who do not understand
their time, who look backward instead of
forward, who hate progress and try to bring
about reaction and a restoration of what
has been overturned and abandoned. The
onward movement of the people confuses
them. Nothing new seems good, and espec-
Tally nothing that implies larger partfcipa-
ton in pnblic affairs by the majority. They
are the ones who decry the admission of the
freedmen to citizenship rights, and sigh for
the constitution as 1t was. In fact they want
everything to be be as it was rather than as
1t ought to be. They are chronic reaction
lists, who tolerate no new idea until it has
been established in spite of them, and even
then they will agitate for tits repeal until
they become ridiculous,
When they perish no vital and progressive
force is lost. 1t is simply the dropping off
Of worn out and useless relic of former
time, no more necessary to the future
growth Of the nation and of liberty than are
the withered autumn leaves to the future
growth of the forest. Men of character and
pretensions, however out of hnmor with the
age, will always have personal coterie, and
may maintain the semblance of court or
be consulted AZ an authority and an oracle
But to the world at large they are little more
than an incident or a curiosity of the times,
upon whom nothing really depends. Wheth-
er they live or die it matters little so far as
the real business of the world is concerned.
They do not want to help it and they cannot
hinder 1t. They are hermits. Sometimes
circumstances make their position pathetic
and sometimes they make it ridiculous, but
1t is Of small account what sentiments they
inspire, or when they cease to breathe the
common air.