Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-01-21
RISE OF MONARCHS.
How Some of Them Gained Their
Lofty Places.


The dynastic troubles of the kingdom
of Servia. settled for the time being by
the accession of King Peter. are merely
the continuance of Il struggle between
swineherds. Both the founder of the
present dynasty. Karageorge. and of
the late dynasty. Hilosh 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
henchmen. who was jumped into the
Swedish throne by his master on the
dethronement of Gustavus ".
The throne of Bulgaria is. of course.
of modern origin. Only in 1887 did
the present prince. Ferdinand of Co
burg. ascend the throne on the abdica-
ton of Alexander of Hesse. both entire
foreigners 10 Bulgaria.
King Leopold of Belgium is an adj
mirable and popular monarch. but his
royal line only comes down from 1881.
when his father. prince of Sake
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 1863 did
the present dynasty assume power.
without having ever had the remotest
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 monarch
and almost unanimously elected for the
post Prince Alfred of Great Britain.
the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg. The
position was not however. selected for
him by his august parents. and so the
throne passed over the then Prince
George of Sleswick- Holstein.
For an empire that dates back far be-
fore the Christian era. whose civiliza-
ton is thousands of years older than
our own. the Chinese dynasty is little
more than a modern upstart. for the
Using family. who hold sway at pres
ent. only came into power in 1913 and
were. from the Chinese mandarin point
of view, vulgar usurpers of Tartar ORR
gin.
The royal family of Italy must also
be included in a list of newly made
place holders. Their tenure of the crown
of united Italy dates from 1861. wien
Victor Emmanuel H.. king of Sardinia,
assumed it. Prior TO that Victor was
the king only of small territory,
which in turn his ancestor had secured
by exchange for Sicily. of which he
was previously king Before that Vic
tor Amadeus was merely Duke of Sa-
from obscure dukedom to the crown of
one of the great powers is one of the
phenomena of history and appeals
greatly to the Imagination
When il was announced that Queen
Wilhelmina of Holland would marry
-
opinion generally regarded il as an act
Of condescension on the part of her
majesty. The German princely family.
in their part. regarded Ii as no small
condescension for one of their stock to
unite himself with so comparatively
modern a royal family as that of Hol-
land, for. while the Mecklenburgs
trace their descent to Genseric the Van
dial, who ravaged the western empire
in the fifth century. the Dutch royal
family of Orange only assumed the ii
tie of king and royal rank in 1915. Be
of stadt holder. a kind of presidential
office only.
Much is heard of the glories of the
Hohenzollern family. of which William
ii. is the prevailing ornament. but only
in 1T01 did the family attain kingly
rank, having previously held the OBJ
scure position of margraves OF Bran
denburg, obtained originally by pur-
chase in the fifteenth century. AS every
body knows. the HohenZollerns only
rose to imperial rank as German en-
perors after the war with France I'm
1871. 1t is of course only to the credit
of the Hohenzollerns that they have SO
raised themselves in the world and are.
therefore. self made monarchs, but it
is only fair to say that the majority Of
the obscure princes of Germany could
give them points in the matter Of line
age.-Pearson's Weekly.