Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-05
INFIRMITIEs OF ROYALTY.
Physical and Mental Deterioration
ofReigning Families.


In these democratic times in which we
live, when the nations of Europe are one
and all becoming imbued with the no
tiou that mOnarchical institutions are no
longer in accordance with the spirit of the
age, the physical and mental deterioration
of the reigning families becomes a matter
Of the gravest Importance. A writer in
the World says: This degeneracy is due
TO the fact that the scons of royal families
who are in the line of succession invaria-
bay seek their brides among Processes
whose blood is impoverished and yItlated
by the eXcluslVenesS of their ancestors
in regard to marriage. Perhaps the
strongest proof in support of this theory
is offered by the imperial family of Rus
STA, one of whose ancestors, Peter the
Great, recruited the physique of his race
by marrying strong, healthy girl from
among the common people. His wife, the
beautiful Empress Catherine l., was the
daughter OF Swedish Quartermaster. and
had begun life as servant girl. The
present Car and his brothers are each
one OF them magnificent specimens OF
manhood, herculean in stature and in
strength. The Grand Duke Alexis. who
was over here some years ago, is fair
specimen OF the remainder OF the family.
nasty, there is not single royal family
in Europe which does not at the present
moment give sad proofs of the fact that
royal blood is, as a rule, extremely vi
tiated.
The first instance thereof which will
naturally occur to most people just now
is that of the reigning family OF Bavaria.
The grand old house of Wittelsbach is
the most ancient and the most noble in
Europe. 1t prides itself on the purity of
its ancestry from any plebeian faint, and
considers even the Hapsburgs as being
more or less upstairs. Insanity ls the
curse of this house. King Ludwig's
shocking and mysterious death is still
fresh in everybody's mind, and his sue
cessor, King Otto, is a raying lunatic
who may be seen occasionally
gardens of the Chateau of NYmphen-
burg, seeking to escape from his
attendants. A few years ago he did man.
age to get away, entered the Cathedral at
Munich during high mass, and, prostrat-
ing himself before the altar began Il pub
lie confession of the most horrible and yet
purely imaginary crimes. Another men,
Der of the same family, Princess Alex
andra, who died short time ago, would
not allow a single sofa in her palace,
asserting that she had one in her head,
which WAS quite sufficient. Needless to
refer to the strange freaks of the present
Kings fatber,O of his grand uncle, eX-Kng
Ohio, Of Greece, and of mis- grandfather,
the protector Of Lola MOnJez.
AFFLICTION OF THE HAPsBURGS,
The two next heirs to the throne are
married TO Austrian archduchesses who
are scarcely likely to improve the strain,
Tor epilepsy has long been the bane of the
imperial house of MISUNDERSTANDING
Archduke Albert, the generallssimO of the
army, who is the kindest and most benewO-
lent of men, Is terrible victim thereto.
HIS fits nave been worse and more fire.
quent since the death of his faVOrite
daughter some years ago. The latter was
enjoying the forbidden luxury of cigar
ette, when she suddenly heard her fathers
footsteps approaching. While attempt
ing to hide the cigarette behind her, she
set fire with it to her muslin dress. and
was so shockingiy burned that she had to
be transported from SchOnbrunn to Wen
ma swathed in cotton wool and lying In a
kind of oil bath. The Emperor's brother,
Louis Victor, and his cousin Johann, are
likewise afflicted with this most horrible
malady, while his father, Archduke Fran
els Charles, and his immediate predeces-
sor, Emperor Ferdinand, were also vic
tins thereto. In the case of the latter,
who abdicated in 184S, the disease took a
unfortunate monarch to the verge of
idiOcy, and rendering the life of his wife
one long martyrdOm.
Allied to the reigning BaVarian and
Austrian families by several marriages
is the royal house of SaXony, in which
there likewise appears to be faint of in
sanity. According to a popular and
generally credited report in the country
the old King, who was officially declared
n nr,fr IL 1, n
from horseback while riding in the
mountains, is still alive and confined in
the monastery OF L.. 1t appears that
a short time before the accession of the
present King the old gentleman conceived
an ir sane passion for the daughter of the
Austrian Ambassador at Dresden, who
was engaged to one of the secretaries of
the Swedish embassy at Berlin. Having
offered her his arm at state ball, he in
suited her so grossly in an adjoining
conservatory that she left the city on
the following morning, The old
King became perfectly crazy. on
learning OF the marriage of the young
lady fortnight later, he summoned his
sons and assured them in the most solemn
manner that he was already dead, and
that the decomposition of his corpse was
so far advanced that it was the very
highest time that he should be buried in
the pretty garden of the L monastery,
above mentioned. A few minutes after
wards he became very violent, shrieking
and raying frighttully. The doctors
having declared that he was hopelesslv
mad, without possibility of recovery, and
the disturbed state of affairs in the king
dom rendering a regency dangerous, the
princes and ministers decided that he
should be officially declared as dead 1t
is noteworthy that his body did not lie IN
stale before the funeral, ana that nobody,
not even his wife, was allowed to see his
corpse.
STRANGE FREAKS OF THE HOHENZoL-
LERNS.
Insanity has also made its appearance
IN the house of HohenZollern. The late
King OF Prussia died mad, and Prince
Alexander, without being complete
lunauc, is somewhat daft" or, to use a
French smile, ''several spiders have spun
cobwebs in his brain" Thanks to the
unremlttlng and devoted care OF the late
Gen. de Roedel, the Prince, who is now
gray-headed, has been rendered more or
less presentable, and has been cured of
his inyeterate habit of proposing to
elope with every pretty girl and
married woman he met, several
ladies being sometimes favored with
these royal offers in the space of single
afternoon. Appointed an honorary gene
RAJ, he mas never pardOned the Emperor