River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-12-15
DIVINE RIGHT OF RULERS.
archs Are of Comparatively
Recent Origin.

way OF speaking OF royalty. In spite OF
their high political position, the ma
jority of the crowned heads of Europe
take by no means a high rank in the
matter of lineage.
In fact, with the utmost respect to it, ii
is said, most of Europe's reigning SOW
ereigns owe their lofty position, not to
rights ofsdescent, but to good luck and
their own efforts.
The dynastic troubles of the kingdom
of Servia, settled for the time being by
the accession of King Peter, are merely
the continuance of a struggle between
swineherds.
Both the founder of the present dy-
nasty, Karageorge, and of the late
dynasty. Milosh Obrenovitch, before their
entry into the realm of high politics,
ministered to the needs of the humble
porker and that only so recently as the
beginning of the last century.
Somewhat more distinguished, but by
no means august, is the lineage of the
king of Sweden, Oscar ii. His line goes
no further back than 1918, to Marshal
Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's bench
men, who was jumped into the Swedish
throne by his master, on the dethrone-
ment of Gustavus w.
The princely throne of Bulgaria is, of
course, of intensely modern origin.
Only in 1887 did the present prince, Fer
dinand of Coburg, ascend the throne on
the abdication of Alexander of Hesse-
both entire foreigners to Bulgaria.
King Leopold of Belgium is an admir-
able and popular monarch, but his royal
line only comes down from 1881, when
his father, a prince of Saxe-Coburg, was
nominated king of the newly formed
state of Belgium.
Newer still is the origin Of the royal
family of Greece, as only in 1868 did the
present dynasty assume political pow
er, without having ever had the re-
hottest political connection with their
subjects. The present King George of
Greece is the first king of his race, and
is the son of the king of Denmark.
In 1868 the Greeks were without a
monarch, and almost unanimously
elected for the post Prince Alfred of
Great Britain, the late duke of Sake
Coburg The position was not, how
ever, selected for him by his august
parents, and so the throne passed over
to the then Prince George of Schles-
wig-Holstein.
For an empire that dates back far
before the Christian era, whose civ
ilization is thousands of years older
than our own, the Chinese dynasty are
little more than modern upstairs. For
the Using family, who hold sway at
present, only came into power in 1643,
and were from the Chinese mandarin
point of view vulgar usurpers of Tar
tar origin.
When it was announced that Queen
Wilhelmina of Holland would marry
Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-S chwerin,
opinion generally regarded it as an act
of condescension on the part of her ma
jesty.
The German princely family, on their
part, regarded it as no small condescen-
sion for one of their stock to unite him
self with so comparatively modern a
royal family as that.
For while the MeQllenburgs trace
their descent to Genseric the Vandal,
who ravaged the western empire in the
fifth century, the Dutch royal family
of Orange only assumed the title of
king and royal rank in 1916. Before
that, the Orange position was that of
stakeholder, kind Of presidential of
flee only.
The royal family of italy must also
be included in a list of newlymade place
holders. Their tenure of the crown OF
united Italy dates from 1861, when Vic
tor Emmanuel H., king of Sardinia, as
sumed it.
Prior to that Victor was the king only
of small territory, which in turn his
ancestors had secured by exchange for
Sicily, of which he was previously king.
Before that Victor Amadeus was merely
duke OF Savoy. The rise of the Savoy
family from obscure dukedom to the
crown of one of the great powers is one
of the phenomena of history, and ap-
peals greatly to. the imagination.
Much is heard of the glories of the
Hohenzollern family, of which William
II. is the prevailing ornament, but only
in 1901 did the family attain kingly rank,
having previously held the obscure po-
sition of Margreaves of Brandenburg,
obtained originally by purchase in the
fifteenth century.
AS everyone knows, the Hohenzollerns
only rose to imperial rank as German
emperors, after the war with France in
1871. 1t is, of course, to their credit that
they so raised themselves in the world,
but is is only fair to say that the major
ity of obscure princes of Germany
could give them points in the matter of
lineage.
HiS Exp1anation