The Evening Star. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3558, 18 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1874.

The telegraphic news from Europe is the most interesting portion of our intelligence by wire to-day. It points to the factions by which France is agitated, and leads to the apprehension that internal troubles may not be far distant. It may not be surprising that descendants of Royal families, or of one who has been chosen Emperor, should seek the throne j but to us in these democratic Colonies, who are accustomed to govern ourselves, it appears extraordinary that either should be willing to plunge the nation into civil war to attain so ricketty an honor. Immediately, New Zealand is only interested in the matter on account of the possible influence of European .troubles on the value of its produce ; but that is quite sufficient to lead us to give more than passing attention to the mere working out of a political problem in a distant land. In these Colonies society has made a new start. We are learning to dispense with monarchs, aristocracies, and standing armies. Silently and almost unknown to ourselves, institutions are moulding themselves, better fitted and adapted than those of Europe, to a general diffusion of knowledge, a more equitable distribution of wealth, and an abolition of arbitrary

distinctions of rank. It will be well for this Southern World if no Old World notions concerning privileges of birth and station are allowed to take root amongst us. There are already too many superstitions of the sort, and to them are owing numerous in our regulations regarding property and various fiscal matters, that would have been avoided, had we known how to separate the old fabric from the new. This was hardly likely amongst men born where feudal ideas are not shaken off, and who had not learnt to walk alone. Like all nations’ developments, even society itself must gradually unfold itself to be safe. Changes, to be lasting and beneficial, must grow—not be forced. If the result of advance of thought and knowledge, men are prepared by habit and conviction to carry them through ; if they are forced upon people unprepared to receive them, they arouse antagonism in those who have not yet seen the value of the plans proposed, or whose interests are affected by them. Thus, while in New Zealand men speak and write with the utmost freedom, in France both speech and writings are subjected to the strictest supervision. With us the manifesto, as it is termed, of the Comte de Chambord would be treated with laughter or neglect; in France it is looked upon as so serious a crime as to necessitate the punishment of the journalist. It is, perhaps, impossible for us, with our untrammelled notions, to understand how any man in these days could expect to have so arrogant a claim tolerated as is conveyed in the expression “ Birth made me your king.” Apparently it is too much even for the French to accept after so many changes have taken place in the form of Government since his birth ; but as he has put forward the claim, evidently under the notion of the principle of the right Divine, the assertion of which has cost Europe the lives of millions of men and thousands of millions of treasure, a short retrospect of the story of his kingly birth will be acceptable to this generation j most of whom are too young to remember the circumstances. As a matter of history, the Bourbon family, of whom the Comte de Chambord is a descendant, were expelled from France in 1791. To restore them was the object of the war which lasted with slight intermission until 1814, and which resulted in placing Louis I.Bth on the throne. Expelled by Buonaparte on his return from Elba, he resumed the throne after the battle of Waterloo, and died in 1824, a king forced upon the people and retained in his position by foreign armies. Charles the Tenth succeeded him on the throne, and was expelled, or, to use a more euphonious teim, abdicated, six years afterwards. The youngest son of Charles the Tenth was the Due de Berki, the father of the Comte de Chambord. The Duke was assassinated on the 13th February, 1820, by a man named Louvel, a political fanatic, who for several years had “harbored the design of assassinating him or some other branch of the Bourbon family,” The Count’s mother was the famous Duchess de Berri, and he was born on the 29th September, 1820, several months after his father’s death. From ‘ Men of the Time ’ we learn the following particulars ; He was baptised with great pomp in water brought from the Jordan by Chateaubriand. “The child of miracle,” as he was called, received the title ot Count de Chambord, from the castle of that name which was bought for him by public subscription. Although Charles X., soon after the outbreak of the revolution of 1830, resolved to abdicate in his favor, g,pd in presence of the troops assembled at Rambeuillet, made a proclamation under the title of Henry Y., the Duke de Bordeaux was compelled to quit the country. Having spent some time at Holyrood, he travelled in Germany, Lombardy, Rome, and Naples, to complete his education. In 1813 he resided in Belgrave square, where he made a kind of political debut, claiming the Crown of France, and receiving, with all the etiquette of a court, such Legitimists as Chateaubriand, De FitzJames, Berryer, icc. In 1853 a compaet is said to have been concluded between the Count De Chambord and the Princes of the house of Orleans, by which the claims of the elder and younger branches of the house of Bourbon were arranged; but for some reason or other no attempt has been made to carry out the arrangement by putting forward a candidate for the throne ,supported by both parties. In 1846 the Duke married the Princess MariaPherksa, eldest daughter of the Duke of Modena. They have no children, and it appears probable that the Count will be the last of the elder branch of the Bourbons. After the capitulation of Paris in 1871 the Count Da Chambord returned to his native country, and under the title of Hbnrt V., issued a proclamation, in which he said that the white flag was the only one under which France could be saved, and expressed his determination, if placed by the nation at the head of its affairs, to maintain in its integrity the temporal power of the Pope.