Evening star., 1932-11-06

of this year, so hectic
were the last six months OF my life, SO
often did figure in the news that both
Cecilia and myself feel as though We
could stand a bit of privacy. Flattered
as we are by this sudden outburst OF
public attention, We confess that we did
not solicit it in the least.
The hectic six months mentioned
in the letter of my German nephew
happened to be precisely the six months
which had elapsed since l had bid adieu
to the exiled King Alphonso of Spain
in the lobby of his hotel in Fontaine-
bleau The stocks of royalty, which had
touched new low" on the day OF his
landing in Marseille-April Is. 1881
had suddenly staged a vigorous rally
and recovered a goodly part OF the
ground lost in the course of the previAls
IA years. Democracy had failed to sur
mount the economic crisis, and this,
logically enough, constituted bullish
news in SO far as the pretenders were
concerned. The rules Of politics are no
less stringent than those of the stock
exchange: the shorts must cover sooner
or later and the selfsame operators
who had raided the Hohenzollerns, the
Hapsburgs and the Wittelsbachs in 1918
began to bid for them in 1882.
Kaiser Objected to Method.
Things never we're SO bad under
the Kaiser'-this whining phrase
whoever coined IT'D proved extremely
popular in Germany with panicky
bankers and starving ex-soldiers alike.
In no time it became the battle-cry OF
the restoration, and 1t took an en-
phatic mo" from the old gentleman in
Doom to keep his son from being
pitted against Won Hindenburg in
national election.
Not that the elder Hohenzollern felt
jealous of his offspring; far from 1t.
The disagreement, if any. had to do
with the method. not with the prin-
ciple. The son was willing to reach
the throne with the aid of the handy
ladder of the presidency. The father,
always a stickler on etiquette. thought
that this idea reeked little too much
of that clumsy upstart, the third Bona
parte. After all. said the patriarch OF
the clan. a Hohenzollern should not
accept favors from an Austrian ad-
venturer, and even though Berlin
might we'll be worth a mass, it is bet
ter to have it said by some other bishop.
not Herr Hitler.
The Doom decision delivered, an
eloquent silence descended upon the
haunts of the German monarchists;
and now it fell to the lot of the inter-
national legitimists to continue the dis
pute as to the best technique OF an i'm
perial comeback. Listening to their
angry shouts under the awnings of the
sidewalk cafes in Paris one might have
thought the clocks had been moved
back 18 years and that man by the
name of Lenin was still debating the
platform of would-be soviet govern
ment of Russia. There is something in
the air of the boulevards that enables
the exiles-be they monarchists or
communists-to see through the smoky
clouds of the future. Perhaps 1t may
be merely an after effect Of too much
vermouth and too little eau de seltz.
Intervention Thing Of Past.
Nations have changed lot since the
days when Charles II was perambulat-
ing between Holland. France and
Spain in search of cash and an army
to fight Cromwell. Military Intervention,
except in China, has become a distinct
thing of the past. Even the Rumanians.
anxious as they always are to score an
easy victory, sulked at their Queens
idea of fighting the Hapsburg battle in
Hungary. True enough. the allies did
send their troops to Russia in 1919.
but that was done for the sake Of oil
and manganese, not for the Romanoffs.
A modern pretender must rely solely on
the ounter-revolutionary forces within
his own nation il he really expects to
stage a comeback.
I say really" because not every pre-
tender cares to ascend the throne.
Some of them-the Guises in the case
of France, the Braganzas with the
~f Dow In linn
with the tongue in the cheek, simply
to keep up grand and glorious tradi-
tion. / imagine the late Duke OF
Orleans would have been the unhappiest
man in the world had he awakened one
morning to learn that the beloved"
French nation was ready to receive him
in Paris. He liked London. he got
thoroughly accustomed to thick fogs
and thin coffee, and whenever he had
to address a gathering of French
royalists he sighed and said under his
breath: What asses"
Prefers Healthy Life.
I may be hopelessly wrong, but it is
my sincere belief that even the Kaiser
would think twice before accepting the
invitation to return to PotSdam. His
IA years in the simple but solid COM
forts of his castle in Doom must have
cultivated taste for healthy life.
The same is the case of the present
First citizen" of Coburg, my wise and
big-hearted friend the ex-Czar of Bull
garia. And as for the late King Man
uel of Portugal, no forces in the uni
verse could have made him exchange
England and his priceless collection of
first editions for the royal palace in
Lisbon and the Portuguese street scene.
Gaby Deslys or no Gaby Deslys, he
would have remained in London until
the very end. and it is pleasant to think
that his last day on this planet was
spent in the civilized atmosphere Of
Wimbledon.
Then there is that gentlemanly,
white-bearded chap in Nice, the ex-
Sultan Of Turkey and the ex-Caliph OF