The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-12

e
shaken hands with his future king
continental SOvereignS are far less
catholic IN this respect than Queen Vic
torla's eldest son, and not only the en-
perors of Germany, Austria and Russia,
out even the petty sovereigns of Central
Europe, never offer their hand to any Of
their countrymen, except in the expecta-
ton of having it kissed The only sover-
elgn who diScOurages this token of sub
serylency is King Humbert, of Italy, who
Whlle he IS most reserved in Offering his
| hand to the great mobiles, statesmen and
dlgnitaries of his kingdom, NAV often be
seen giving hearty hand shake to some
laoorlng man, farmer, or indeed, any one
OF the humber classes of his subjects,
among whom he is specially popular.
In Oriental countries the touch of the
sovereign is regarded as so great an honor
that none OF the natives would dream of
Selzlng the royal hand even when extern
ded to them, and / have often watched
with mingled amusement and disgust, old
Nubar Pacha, the most imposing and
notwithstanding of Oriental statesmen,
humbly bending to kiss the hem of the
stambOuline, or single breasted black
frocE coat, of the squat, fat and vulgar
looking little Khedives Ismail and Tewfik
In Japan the Mil1adO never offers his
hand, and in the days when l was sta
TONED there he did not even bow in re-
Spouse to the obeisances of the diplomatic
corps, but preserved q mOtiOnless attitude
speaking straight before him in
kind of sing-song mon
otonOus tone and without glancing
either to the right or to the left The
shah, when had the questionable honor
to be presented to him at Vienna, treated
me IN the same way that he behaved to
gray-headed generals and celebrated
statesmen, that is to say, he leered at me
through his spectacles in sort of maud
lin fashion-it was after a very heavy
luncheon at Schoenbruun- and, instead of
extending his hand, used it to twirl his
long mustache, otherwise betraying no
manifestation Of greeting or gOOd Will
Only one sovereign of l2urope-and his
empire is Of a spiritual character-has
retained the old Roman form of homage
of extending not his hand, but his foot, to
be kissed. That Is, the pope, who con
tlnues to accept the same species of salu-
tation as that eXacted by the Caesars.
This chariness with royal personages
manifest in giving their hand, and the
Importance which they seem to attach to
the honor that they consider that they
confer thereby, is attributable in great
measure to the fact that their touch was
even down to the middle of the present
century, believed to have been endowed
with those miraculous powers of healing
the sick, which we read of in the Bible
as having belonged to the founder of
christianity and to his apostolic con-
tempOraries. King Charles X, who as
cended to the throne Of France in 1925
was the last monarch to claim these
powers in that country. On the day Of
his coronation in the ancient cathedral of
Rheims, ne paid a state visit to the hos
pital of ST MarCOul, where he extended
his royal hands to one hundred and
twenty-siX patients suffering from scro-
fula and other kindred maladics.
Every year afterward until his alb
dicatiOn he went through a similar per
Torrance on the day ofSt Louis. An aged
relative of mine, connected in her youth
with the French court, was present at
the ceremony on St LOuiss day in 1929.
and used to be fond of relating to me this
quaint survival of medieval times 1t
appears that as soon as high mass had
been celebrated eking, attended by the
members of his court, all arrayed in full
uniform, descended from the chapel into
the courtyard of the Tuileries and there
passed between long rows of sick people,
principally persons suffering from scrO-
fula, and whose names, addresses and
ailments had been previously investigated
and recorded by the royal physician.
Those who were in a condition to do so
1nelt, while the others repOsed on
stretchers. On the forehead of each the
king, with his unglOved hand, made the
sign of the cross, eXclaiming, lit is the
king who touches thee! May God in His
mercy heal thee!" Strangely enough, the
cures recorded on these occasions by the
Official and public press seem to have been
almost as numerous and quite as miracu-
lOus as those automatically reported from
Lourdes.
Neither Napoleon I nor Napoleon III
ventured to put forth any claim to this
peculiarly royal prerOgative. nor did
King Louis Philippe or King Louis XVIII,
neither of whom had undergone the cere-
mony Of coronation and anointment with
the sacred oils, which seems TO have been
considered as indispensable to the posses
sion Of these healing virtues. King
Louis XVIII, l may add. himself SUI
ferred terribly from ScrOfulOus maladies,
and had he Ventured to exercise the priv
ilege it would naturally have been re-
marked that, being unable to cure him
self, 1t was impro bable that his touch
would cure others but, on the contrary.
be more likely to do harm than good
in Spain and Portugal the touch of the
monarch's hand is still credited to this
day by the masses Of the people with pos
sessing the power of healing sickness,
and nothing IS more strange at Lisbon
than to watch the appalling-lOozing
crowd of cripples and victims of every
species of human i'll throneing the steps
leading up to the main entrance of the
church where the sovereign happens to
be worshipping, awaiting his departure,
in the hopes that in passing he may lay
his royal hand upon them, and thereby
heal them. In Germany, Scandinavia
Russia and Austria. the popular belief in
this virtue of the sovereign has come to
an end. The same may be said of Italy
the last king to claim miraculous curative
powers being Francis H., of Naples, the
brOther-iu-law OF the Empress Of Austria
who now lives III exile at Paris, and who
figures in such a contemplate manner as
the king Of IIlyria" in Alfonso Daudet's
KEY novel, the ''KinPs iuIExile"
In Great Britain the last instance on
record of imposition of The sovereign's
hand occurred towards the close of the
reign Of Queen Anne, who touched little
Samuel Johnston for the evil at st. James
palace a peculiarly appropriate place for
The purpose, since in old3n days it was
hospital for lepCrs before becoming q
royal palace.
Scrofula, whether hereditary or &C
quired, is thoroughly expelled from the
blood by Hoods Sarsaparilla the great
blood purifier -ad.
once of J. f. Greer. County Judge. Green
Cove Springs. Clay County Fla, May g.
169i.-Gentlemeu: Twenty three years ago
was attacked with inl.ammatOry rheumatism,
! was attended by the most eminent phVsi-