The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-16
SAT- MANY YEARS UPON THRONE.
Some Kings Whose Tenure Of Ofiice
Lasted Longer Than Common.

Lasted Longer Than Common.
1t has been often asserted that long
reigns are in themselves conducive to
the consolidation and development Of
the powers and resources of nations,
says the st. James Gazette. On such
a point the dry appeal of chronology
must be misleading. We are on safer
ground in acknowledging that the ma
Jority of exceptionally long reigns have
at least conceded with periods Of ma
tfonal prosperity and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
On the other hand. rude and unsettled
times have been generally associated
with short reigns, but herein cause and
effect are too delicately poised to al
low the historic balance to be struck
with sure hand. The three Danish
kings OF England reigned only twenty
seven years altogether During the
Saxon period (827-1O1D fifteen kings
ruled, whose average was less than
thirteen years. Between 843 and 1153
the reigns Of twenty-four Scottish
kings show an average of only thir-
teen years. But William the Lion ruled
over Scotland for forty-nine years
Ql65-l21D. He was followed by his son,
Alexander H., who reigned thirty-fiVe
years, to whom succeeded Alexander
Ill, with reign of thirty-six years.
A period of 123 years was thus covered
by the reigns of three sovereigns.
Charlemagne, the great consolidation
or the French monarchy, ruled for
forty-seven years, and Louis TX. for
1orty-four. Both reigns, however. were
greatly exceeded by that of Louis XIV.
VINO occupied the throne from 1913 to
lflo. This lengthy reign of seventy
Two years is regarded as the most
brilliant IN French annals, and the
court seems to have exercised a kind
| or fascination over the whole of Eu-
rope. Did you think 1 was immortal ?"
asked the king upon his death bed. A
| few hours after the first gentleman
of the bedchamber threw open the win
dow and cried lie roi est mort" three
times. He then broke his wand of Of
| nee and, taking a fresh one, exclaimed
| "Vive lie roi!' The ceremony was not
to be repeated for another flfty-nine
years, that being the length Of the
reign of Louis XIV. Louis XIV.'s great
| grandson and successor. Thus two
| successive mOnarchS reigned for the ex-
| traordinary period of 131 years. 1t Is
remarkable that, Of forty-four kings Of
! France from the accession of Charlie
magne In 1853 to the death Of Louis
! XIV. in 1715 these-the first and last
| named-were the only two who lived
| more than seventy years.
| The former division Of Spain into SO
! many separate Kingdoms renders some
! OF its chronology a little obscure but
| there is sufficient evidence to justify
| the boast Of the Spaniards concerning
| the prolonged reigns of many of their
! sovereigns. James l., king of Aragon,
! ruled from 1918 to 1876, period of
| siXty-three years, while Pedro ", also
| of Aragon, and John III. of Aragon and
Navarro reigned respectively for fifty
! one and hfty-four years. From the
| time Of Ferdinand Of Aragon-under
whom, in 1879, Spain was consolidated
! into one monarchy-to the death of
Ferdinand VII. in 1853, eight kings
ruled, whose reigns averaged thirty
! five years AlphOnso I. occupied the
! throne Of Portugal from HIP to 1885, d
reign Of seventy three years, and his
memory is greatly venerated by the
| Portuguese, who regard him as the
founder Of their independence and con-
stitutional government. John l., who
| married daughter Of our John OF
| Gaunt, reigned for fifty years, and
three other kings of Portugal occupied
| the throne for the several periods OF
forty-three, forty-four and forty-six
| years.
The reigns of several Of the kings of
Prussia have been considerably longer
than what has been called the Euro
! pean average''-a somewhat unstable
quantity, based upon such shifting and
| unsatisfactory data as to have little
practical value. Frederick Williams,
| the great elector, the founder of the
Prussian military power, and who
greatly increased and husbanded her
resources, reigned for forty-eight years,
from 1910 to 1913 The reign of Fred
erick the Great Q740-86) extended to
forty-six years, and was certainly the
most important in the annals Of the
q
reigned for a period of forty-th
years Q7971840). Turning to Germany,
we find that Frederick w. surnamed
the Pacific. of the house of Austria,
occupied the throne from 1440 to 1493,
a period Of fifty three years. while the
reign of Leopold I. covered forty-seven
years from 1858 to 1705. The average
duration of the reigns of fifty-three
| German emperors who ruled between
500 and 1885 Qncluding the two above
mentioned was twenty-five years
In the history of Russia the longest
reign is that of Peter the Great 1852
| 1920, which extended to forty-thre
years 1t was of this monarch's rule
| and character that Voltaire made the
| memorable summary: He gave a
! polish to his people, and was himself
| a savage; he taught them the art of
| war, Of which he was himself ignorant
| from the sight of a small boat ON the
| river MoSkWa he created a powerful
| fleet; made himself an expert ship
| wright, sailor, pilot and commander;
| he changed the manners, customs and
| laws Of the Russians, and lives In their
| memory as the father of his country
The Empress Catherine H., also a
| great ruler reigned thirty-four years.
AS czars of Muscovy, Ivan III. (the
| first to adopt the title) reigned forty
three years 1462-1595) and Ivan w.
fifty-one years C533-S4), the rule of the
| latter, although surna.med the Terri
| hln marking a great advance In the