Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1905-04-06

Although of peasant extraction Os-
ear H. of Sweden has for so many
years been the most imposing and ma
iestic-looking figure among the sover-
egns of the Old World that the news
of his having been forced by Illness
and old age to surrender his scepter
TO his eldest son and to step down
from the throne as incapable of full
filing any longer the onerous duties
of rulership will be received with a
feeling of regret even in this country,
Where popular sentiment is so aveGse
to monarchical forms of government.
Oscar was until few months ago
superb specimen of manhood, tower
ing head and shoulders over every
other king and emperor in Europe
with the exception of Leopold of Bel
GUM, while his wonderfully varied
gifts and talents, his unusual culture
and his singularly sunny disposition
impaired to his manner an eXtraordi-
nary charm and fascination that made
themselves felt to all those who had
the privilege of approaching him.
Indeed, for those who believe in the
advantages of blue blood and of an
cient lineage it was difficult to realize
that this grand-looking prince, so tru-
y kingly in appearance and yet with
al so simple and so democratic in his
ways, was the grandson of Pyre-
mean peasant and the great-grandson
on the distaff side of a Marseilles
shopkeeper
The Swedish Dynasty.
There are few stories more roman
tic than that of the present Swedish
dynasty. Gustavus ", the last mon
arch but one of the House of Vasa,
was brought to the throne at the
early age of IA by the assassination
of his father in that very palace at
Stockholm where Oscar a few days
ago turned over the reins of govern
ment to his eldest son.
Gustayus ". proved most unsat-
isfactory ruler, and in 1909 was de-
posed by means of a military pronun-
ciamento, forced to sign his abdica-
ton after a most dramatic hand-to-
hand struggle with General Alder
kreutz and the officers implicated in
INC COuSplIdCy anu was luGu Dali
ished, along with his consort and his
children, his uncle taking his place
On the throne as Charles NH. The
latter being childless and an admirer
of France and of Napoleon, selected
the French Field Marshal Bernadotte,
who had been born as peasant near
Pau and who had risen from the
ro1 MI n hppnn,p hic hpir inJnonI ~
national Diet at Stockholm to ratify
his choice and established him in the
Swedish capital as Crown Prince.
Bernadotte, who took the name of
| Charles John, soon made himself the
real ruler of the kingdom, associat-
ing himself heartily with his adopted
land, and in 1918, when Napoleon's
star began to wane, Joined the powers
which were striving to crush the en-
peror. His services in bringing about
the latter's overthrow caused the
| Congress of Vienna to leave him I'M
| disturbed in the place which he had
attained at Stockholm, and in 1918,
on the death of Charles Kill, the last
of the Vasa line of kings, he assembled
| the throne under the title of Charles
| XIV, his wife, Desiree, daughter of
the Marselles stockbroker Clary and
grand-child of a Marseilles shopkeep.
er, becoming Queen of Sweden and
| Norway.
Napoleon Tilted Her.
Queen Desiree, it may be added
was at one time betrothed to the first
Emperor Napoleon, who Tilted her.
Her grandson, King Oscar is the au-
thority for this assertion, and it will
be found likewise in the novel which
he published some years ago under
the pen name of 30. Frederick" and
entitled "a Romance of the Times of
| Napoleon and of Bernadotte."
Desiree was, according to her
grandson, King Oscar almost heart
broken when Napoleon abandoned her
for Josephine de Beauharnais. and