Show THE BOURBON PRETENDER for weeks past the telegraph lias has conveyed intelligence concerning the alternately impaired and improved condition of the health of the count de chambord Cli ambord what ia is the life or death of a french count to us in america may have been the impatient query of many newspaper paper readers this side of the atlantic antiL ocean A As a rule a F french rench count ia is of little or no account in this country except in the tile P perfumed perfumed parlors of the codfish aristocracy of new york and other RE larga large cities where the titled foreigner so often barters liis his ancestral dignity for the hand of a millionaire belle but the particular parti calar count we are speaking of now is of or greater significance than commonly attributed tri buted to him by those unfamiliar with modern european history indeed he ia is or was moro more than a count for at his birth he received and ever since retained the title of duke of bordeaux tho tile very birth of this man whose death is expected every moment was surrounded by strange almost romantic features he was as the grand grandson soi i of the 13 king ing charles charl es X of france and tho the son of the duke of bern berri who was mu murdered in F february 1820 the duke of bern berri was heir presumptive to vie the crown of 71 france but as he lie left only a daughter 0 at hi ins s death the joy and astons antons 1 in monarchical circles were extreme when on september 29 1820 his widow gave birth to a boy 14 who received the title of duke of bordeaux and at his baptism at which water brought from the river jordan was used was named the child of miracle his full and official name was henri charles F dartois dAc tois due do bordeaux A name like this must almost have been a burden to its bearer but it was not n ot the only burden imposed upon him at tho the fall of the boerbon regime in july 1830 louis philippe the citizen king the representative of the younger orleans branch of the bourbon ase ascended ended the throne and tho tile count of chambord became what he remained to his dying tf day a pretender he ire was acknowledged and recognized as the only legitimate ruler of france by arty of old school monarchists generally general lv styled at the revolution of 1848 many wore returned t to 0 tho the national Ae assembly and ana hopes were entertained that the F rench people might exalt the count to the throne of his grandfather but these hopes were in vaine and the child of If iracle returned to his austrian Atis triin mansion at frohsdorf Frohs dorf agay gay Vil village lago where be being ing 11 an exile from home I splendor dazzled in vain yet the royal emblem of white lilies remained emblazoned blazoned em on his escutcheon aud and he be persistent ly clung to his claim an av being by goda gods grace the legitimate and rightful master of la 14 belle france through all the vicissitudes and PO political lotical changes which unstable france underwent the banner of the bourbons was unfurled to the winds ready to catch the popular i breeze but his adherents increased neither in numbers num bera wisdom nor in 0 fluence as they embodied the prin ciplic of the widen ancien regime 0 of f the absolute monarchy which had re its irreparable death blow tn 1 in the last as t decade of the 1801 century thua thus when in 1871 he returned to france F rance and issued a royal roy al manifesto ma ni fes t 0 claiming his hi s ri eredita ry k rights and promising among other things the tile restoration of the pope to his temporal power lie met deaf cars and an I 1 incredulous hearers france had bad lost faith alike in kings and popes pop the count returned to his beautiful be auti r seat frohsdorf Frohs dorf called by the satirists of vienna and berlin Frogs thorp and nursed his disappointed ambition with the necols sections of the historic past and tho the devotions of a religious future he ire being childless the question arose who vrho hould be bo his successor to the crown of the louis he is the last of the elder branch af pf of the bourbons and the succession Buc cession v r ally dalitto faI liTto th the a aunger Y younger house of or orleans I 1 whom hom I 1 he ie never re regarded gardea as moro more than int intruders to be toleta tolerated ted as 03 guests but not esteemed as equals hence wo we are not surprised to read of summoned meetings inee tings of the dukes of auvale aumale andrem and ours tho count of paris and other monarchists it is a poor heritage they arc are wrangling about the dead lead mana shoes will never carry them to the coveted throne and all their gain will be bip to an U unattainable goal france may not always remain remain a republic agitation tho the communistic the various party quarrels in the parliamentary houses may finally undermine tho the present structure a and ud topple the edifice of 1871 over but from the chaba then resulting no orleans will carry the prize As in 1799 and 1851 a military dictator will rise from tho the ruins of the political and social fabric and stamp out with theron alicel of power anarchy arch y ard aud disorder restore the internal peace establish reestablish re confidence and commerce and give the country peace and prosperity at the cost of liberty and popular self govern ment A once mighty dynastic family will be extinguished T when the comte de chambord closes his eyes but ho dies long after his time for tho the ideas he lie represented th the 0 principles lie embraced had long become obsolete and buried under the ruins of shattered kingdoms |