remarkable a fact, he will surely
soon proclaim it, together with his reasons for being aware of it.
Aspirants to the throne of France cannot touch him further; and the
triumphant proof of Augustus Meves' heirship to Louis XVI. would not
only confound the councils of Frohsdorff, but it would turn the
grandest legitimist of Europe into little better than a usurper, if,
as was said by the Count de Jauffroy, Augustus Meves must of necessity
not only be the eldest son of St. Louis, but the eldest son of Rudolf
of Hapsburg to boot."

Napoleon passed away, and made no sign; but the sons of Augustus
Meves (who himself died in 1859) show no disposition to under-rate his
pretensions. The elder, who styles himself Auguste de Bourbon, and
upon whom the royal mantle is supposed to have fallen, is not
indifferent to the political changes of the time, and has again and
again endeavoured to thrust his claims to the French throne before the
public. In a letter dated June 17, 1871, he says--"Several articles
have recently appeared respecting the chances of the Comte de Chambord
succeeding to power, in virtue of his right of birth as the eldest
representative of legitimate monarchy. This supposition by many is
admitted; nevertheless, it is a palpable hallucination, for the
representative of legitimate hereditary monarchy by actual descent is
directly vested in the eldest son of Louis XVII. Periodically, the
Comte de Chambord issues a manifesto, basing his right for doing such
as representing, by the right of hereditary succession, the head of
the House of Bourbon. Whenever such appears, duty demands that I
should protest against his pretensions. Great the relief would indeed
be to me could the Comte de Chambord, or any historian, produce
rational argument, or rather documents, to support the supposition
that the son of Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette died in the Tower of
the Temple, in June, 1795. Those who believe this with such proof as
is now extant to the general public are under a hallucination. Should,
however, the Comte de Chambord or the fused party base the right of
succeeding to power on the principle of inheriting it by the law of
legitimate succession, I, the son of Louis XVII., should demand a
hearing from France, and in France's name now protest against any
political combinations that have the object in view of acknowledging
the Comte de Chambord as the legitimate heir to the throne of
France.... I owe my origin to the Fre