Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-11-05
THE, COMTE DE PARIS.
Notes About the Personality of
 the French Pretender.

Notes About the Personality of
 the French Pretender. Characteristics of the Present Head of tho
 House of Orleans-A Man Who Is as Pcdantic as He Is Good-Naturcd- His Financial Status.
 Personally the Comte dc Paris is not the interesting and sympathetic individual his adherents would wish him to be, and it is an open secret that his supporters deeply re- grct that his brother, she deservedly popu- lar Due de Chartres, is not the l.. ad of the House of France But then agaIn it must, ill aii fairness, be admitted, says tho San Francisco Argonaut, thatthe Comte de Paris has been very often reproached with faults of which he is wholly guiltless; not one of the least of these accusations being that 1t was owing to the cold reserve and unbend- ing obstlnacy that a reconciliation was not effected years before it was between the senior branch, represented by the Comte de Cham bord, and the junior, represented by Philippe d'Orleans. Every one (save, in- deed, tho intimate friends of his Royal Hghness) believes this; but more arrant nonSen was never written i'll the name or history. The Comte de Paris was gulltless, from beginning to el<i, of this grave error, which made him so very unpopular with the ''noble Faubourg,n v and which has done so much to retard his accession to the French l throne; and the fault was, in tho first in- stance, that of his mother, the ambitious but narrow minded Duchess dOrleans, who would never countenance any idea of recon ciliation with the Comte de Chambord: and, secondly, of the willy M. Thers, who played | battledore and shuttlecock with both par l tics, using the confidence with which he in 1.. l of personal ambition, while apparently, of course, doing what he could to bring them 1 together.
 | A few days after tho Comte de Chambord l had been induced forever to ruin his pros- poets by unfurling the white flag, M. l Thiers met the Comte de Paris at Yer sailles, and said, laughingly: By keeping | you from coming to see him, your cousin | has done you q great service"
 "Strange," said Philippe d'Orleans to a friend, "that a man who has always pre- | tended to have been so anxious to bring mo and my cousin together should have said | that!'
 l He saw the game at once, and shortly afterward quietly proceeded to Frohsdorff, accompanied by his uncle, the Prince de Joinvillc; but the whole thing was stupidly | and awl1wardly done, and the little speech | which the Comte de Paris made to his cousin ne nau Wrllteu uO"u oclpicutiiu learned like parrot.
 Paris was simply perfcct-simply per fect,' exclaimed the poor old Comtc de Chambord, naively adding, "every one who heard his speech was delighted!" Now, it so happened that the only two other people in the room at the time were the Comtessc de Chambord and the.Prlnce de Joinville who were both stone deaf!
 Then, again, another grave repreach which is constantly leveled at the poor , Comte de Paris is certainly not his fault, although it is most asSurediy his miSfort- une This is his very marked German aspect and appearance and manner. He himself has endeavored Ill every way to modify this, and has worn his beard in every conceivable fashion ill order to re- semble something other than one of the sworn foes of his country, but in vain, and tho teltale Mccldenburg physiognomy, which his brother tho Due de Chartres has luckily been spared, proclalms to all who see him that his rlothcr was a German Princess Even his very speech betrays ] him: not that of course, his French and his accent and pronunciation are not perfect rather, on the contrary, because of their , extreme perfection. It is the carefully
 chosen language of the student, not the easy speech of one whose words come
 spontaneously 10 his lips.
 He is tall for a Frcuchuan, looks younger
 than he really is, ard cndCaVorS by his
 whole manner and bearing to make q favor
 able impression upon those whom he honors
 with an audience, rising to receive them
 ewing them cordial shake Of the hand
 freely discussing all matters, and accom-
 pauying them to the door on leaving. But
 notwithstanding all this gracious conde
 scension and affability, tho impresslor
 which the Comte de Paris makes upon al
 who sec him for the first tinlc-that is, con
 verse with him-is not a favorable one
 There is nothing prlncely about him
 neither in l!s bearing, his conversation
 nor his appearance, and he has neither ths
 rare virtIes nor the many vices of mos
 gentlemen of royal descent. lie is wei
 read, but pendautc; affable, but with tht
 studied affability of a pedagogue.
 The truth of it is, the Comte de Paris i:
 distinctly German and heavy, and altogeth
 CT lacking in that sparkle and rer1e Whlci mako even the most outrageous follleS o e the French pardonable if only because o
 their sublime and brilliant absurdity; an,
 the Due de Chartres made really q true an, = profound remark when he said laughingly
 one day at Eu, to Alphonse dc Rothschid "My brother Is the wine, am only tn
 froth."
 Somc fancy that tho Comte de Paris
 fortune is small and that he needs power l. enlarge 1t, but thls Is a mlstake. lie mas l. considerable fortune, the amount and origin
 of which are unknown even to his most in
 timatc friends At least ten years ago,
 man. since dead, who bore q high foreigl
 title, wrote to the Comtc de Paris: Il ow
 my immense fortune to your grandfather
 and wish to show my gratitude to him b.
 offering you part of it, and thus enablin
 YOU to personify the monarchy. Give
 trusty man five of your visiting cards. H
 will present them to five stock-broker
 named below. and what I destlne for yo
 will be handed to him" This was done
 The trusty man brought back cabful c
 bonds to bearer The precise sum is nc
 known, but the insurance companies it
 manded one hundred and fifty thousan R R france for the transport of the bonds to El 1SS gland The Count thought this too mucl 5S and he had tho bonds put in tin boxe: DO which two trusty men took to England an '' deposited Ut Coutts' bank,
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