Evening star., 1923-07-19
BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENEY

I
| There are two branches of the his
| toric house of Arenberg, all the MEM
bers of which are by birth not only
princes. but also dukes. and who,
belonging to the mediatized or for
merly petty sovereign families of
central Europe, We're accorded at
| any rate until 1918, the right of mat
! ing on footing of perfect equality
with the now reigning dynasties OF
the old world
The Junior branch of the Arenbergs.
that is to say. the branch which has
been wholly French for more than a
hundred years past, is headed by the
octogenarfan Prince and Duke Au-
| gustus Arenberg. who is member
of the Institute of France and of the
chamber of deputies, and who was
formerly president of the Suez canal
and of the jockey club. His younger
son. Duke Ernest, fell fighting under
the French flag at Combreux in March
1915, and his eldest and only other
son succumbed not long after the res
toration of peace to an Illness con-
sequent of wounds and hardships at
the French front. leaving a boy now
eighteen years old to succeed to his
honors. OF the old dukes daughters
one is married to the Marquis de La
guiche, one of the most brilliant
cavalry generals of the French army.
while the other is the wife of the
Marquis De Vogue.
1t is necessary to explain and EN-
phasiZe this in view of the decision
just rendered by the supreme court of
appeals in Belgium. which virtually
bars the senior and Belgian branch
of the Arenbergs from the kingdom
and places upon 1t the stigma of
having sided with Germany when the
latter, without provocation. invaded
and devastated Belgium at the outset
of the great war. After the Germans
had been driven by defeat to retire
from Belgium in 1918 and as soon
as ever King Alberts government
had been re-established at Brussels,
it lost no time in issuing a decree
sequestrating all the palaces, cha
teaux and the vast estates of the
Arenbergs,S by reason of their dis
loyalty to the Belgian crown during
the war.
OF course. it's members mmediately
instituted legal proceedings in order
to bring about the repeal of this Sc
questration. The affair was carried
from one court to another, and now
the supreme tribunal of the kingdom
sustaining the verdicts already rem
dered. has transformed the decree OF
sequestration into formal confisca-
ton, without any compensation or
redress. on the ground of the atti-
tude of the family during the war
when all of it's adult male members
served as officers under the German
flag, and when the German command
ers, who had directed the destruction
of Louvain, and who were responsible
for the reduction of SO many other
Belgian towns and villages to ruins
for the butchering of the civilian pop
ulation under circumstances of inde-
scribable atrocity and for the devas-
tating of the land and of it's indus
tries. were welcomed with open arms
and as valued friends and comrades
by the Belgian dukes and duchesses
of Arenbergs in their various Bel
gian palaces and chateaux.
The decree of the Belgian supreme
court in delivering this inevitable
but nevertheless sensational Judg-
ment. recalled the fact which was to
a great extent ignored, at any rate
until the beginning of the great war
that in 1909 Duke and Prince Engei-
bert, head of this family which had
always been regarded as the premier
house of the nobility of Belgium. had
formerly given it's complete allegi-
ance to the ex-kaiser in his capacity
as German emperor and as King OF
Prussia, The judgment takes note OF
this. and accordingly bars every mem
her of the non-French branch of the
ducal and princely house of Arenberg
from ever holding any property In
Belgium, and excluding them from
her territory as having borne arms
against the kingdom or belgium
while living under it's flag, and MAX
ing their home on Belgian soil. and
with having aided and abetted the
barbarous enemy.
And as IL this denunciation OF the
Duke and Prince Engelbert by the
supreme court of Belgium in the name
of her king and of her people were
not sufficient there was the dying
denunciation Of his own mother three
years ago, an accusation by which she
placed in her last Will and testament
the stigma upon her eldest' son as
traitor to Belgium.
4 y y 4
An Arenberg not only by marriage,
i hut also by birth. and during the
J greater part OF, her long Ate- sths