The Savannah morning news., 1904-09-16

| escorted by the two statesmen who
| have been the official witnesses of the
birth.
With regard to England, it is the
mystery which has always prevailed
| concerning the birth of the only son
of King James IL that led to the adop-
ton of the constitutional safeguards
afforded by the presence of a Secretary
of State on occasions of this kind. It
may be remembered that both James
II and his consOrt the Queen were Ro-
man Catholics of the most bigoted
type, whereas his two elder daughters
by previous marriage, Princess Mary
and Princess Anne. were Protestants.
The English people viewed with dread
the prospect of the crown falling at
James death to young prince reared
to the Roman Catholic faith, and who
during his minority would be subject
to the regency of Catholic Queen. So
it is not astonishing that they should
have regarded the announcement that
the Queen was about to become a
mother with suspicion, while the ex-
traordinary secrecy observed in all
matters relating to the birth of that
prince, afterwards known as the fOld
Pretender," and the many mysterious
circumstances in connection Herewith
( tended to confirm the widespread pop
ular impression that he was a suppo-
sitious child, his half sisters, Princess
Anne, afterward Queen Anne, and
Princess Mary, married to the Prince
of Orange, being among the loudeSt to
denounce him as a fraud.
1T is entirely in keeping with what
we know of history that these two
princesses should have adopted this
attitude. For the insinuations con-
corning the legitimacy of the anointed
of the Lord will be found in nine cases
out of ten to have originated not with
foes of the dynasty or with revolutions
lists, but with near relatives whose
ambitions and aspirations have been
either disturbed or destroyed by the
birth of the scion of royalty in ques-
ton. Thus Napoleon III was declared
even by his nearest kinsfolk to be the
son of Queen Hortense not by her hus-
band King Louis Bonaparte, but by
a Dutch admiral with whom she was
for a time infatuated. In the same
way it was Queen Isabelfas brother
in-law, the late Duke of MontpenSier,
who first started the rumors that King
Francis of Spain was not and could
not be the father of the Queens chill
dren; and to whom the Infanta Isa-
bella owed her nickname at Madrid of
the Herring Girl" the duke being re-
sponsible for the report that her faith
err was a young fisherman who had
attracted the attention of Queen Isa-
bella during summer at the seaside.
The legitimacy of the birth of the
present young King of Spain has also
been called into question. OF course,
it is only political prejudice of the
basest order that could have mus
tered up a sufficient amount of venom
to impugn the virtues of so estimable
woman as Queen Christina. But
Don Carlos, who is a cousin of the
young king, and his adherents have
made much capital of a SANDER to the
effect that Alfonso XIII is the off
spring of some other father than the
late King, and base their calumnies
upon a scurrilous pamphlet scattered
broadcast throughout Spain by Carlist
agents, containing alleged proofs in
support of the lie-proofs that carry a
certain amount of weight with the ig-
norant by reason of the fact that
they are made by the Rev. Father
Corobato, who was formerly the chap
lain of Queen Christina and the author
of the pamphlet.
If popular report and widespread be-
lief, not only throughout Italy but
also at the various courts of Europe,
are well founded, the present King Of
Italy's grandfather. Victor Emmanuel
II. was not the son of King Charles
Albert of Sardinia and of his consort
| Archduchess Theresa of Austria. but
the offspring of a peasant and of mis-
wife, the latter having been ngaged
as wet nurse to the young Prince of
Savoy. The story goes that the real
prince was accidentally burned to
death in his cradle, and that the
nurses child was substituted in his
| stead, either with or without the con-
sent or knowledge of the King and
Queen. Certainly the appearance, the
bearing and the manners of King
Victor Emmanuel II were in keeping
with the tale and served to corrobo-
rate it, while his tastes and appetites
were all those Of the peasant rather
than those of the prince He was
never so happy as when eating peasant
dishes in peasant garb in shooting
lodge arranged peasant fashion with
a peasant woman, Rosina, whom he
created Countess Miraflora and whom
he married toward the end Of his
reign in order to legitimize, after
fashion, the children whom she had
born him.
The father Of the present ruler Of
Baden, a Lutheran, Is alleged TO have
owed his accession to the throne 10
the fact that the infant son and heir
of Grand Duke Charles and of Grand
Duchess Stephanie, a Catholic, was
kidnapped and a dying infant substi-
tuted in its place, the adventures and
tragic fate of the lost prince furnish
ing the theme Of the so-talled "I<as-
par Hauser" romance, which is one OF
the royal mysteries Of the nineteenth
century. King Louis Philippe of
France is asserted by the most emil
nent genealOgists Of the Old World TO
have been a supposltious child and
the offspring Of a certain Chiappini,
the jailer Of the city prison al Flor
ence, whose wife gave birth 20 "A boy
on the very same night that the
Duchess Of orleans. wife Of the re-
gicide duke. "Egalite" Orleans. brought
into the world M Florence n little girl
Proofs 81 the exchange OF the children
Gre said 20 exist 10 this day In the
imperial archives nt g. Petersburg
in those of the King ~ Prussia nt
Berlin and "a the Natltln The San.
era boy was reared aa prince ~
orleans. ana after teaching school IN
eNile in THE county relgncd over
Eranco fqr eighteen years as King
Louis Philippe The daughter ~ Duke
"iFnlifr' d'onrauH and m fhe Durh.
zee nTfW uU a. fHa fafInffn Haal.Nt 49,