Beschreibung:

the Comte de Paris, and his brother, the Duc de Chartres, both ADCs to Gen. McClellan, published by Anthony after Brady, 1862, with inked identification, from the Brady series. Louis Philippe Albert d'Orleans was the eldest surviving son of the King Louis Philippe and pretender to French throne. The ebb and flow of convoluted French politics - from the fall of Napoleon through the establishment of the Third Republic saw the gradual demise of the ancient Bourbon regime eclipsed by the rising tide of enlightened Republicanism. Following the abdication of the last absolute Bourdon King, Charles X in 1830, a compromise between fervent republicans and old line monarchists embodied by the Orleanist faction deposited Louis Philippe on the throne as a constitutional monarch. Louis Philippe lasted until the revolutionary forces of 1848 proclaimed the Second Republic and formally abolished France's monarchy. The royalist movement, now marginalized, would not be dissuaded and Louis Philippe's sons, The Comte de Paris and Duc de Chartres, were thereafter optimistically regarded as the heir apparent to the non-existent French throne. Rebuffed to succeed their father, both wealthy nobles ultimately traveled to the United States and became voluntary aides to General McClellan during the Peninsula campaign and self-styled observers of American affairs. Wary Republicans on the European contingent cast the American Civil War in the rhetoric of liberation, .i.e., a conflict to free the slaves. The vocal anti-monarchists saw the royals activities in America as a veiled ploy to curry populist favor, laying the groundwork for a restoration of the discredited monarchy. The Comte returned to France in 1871 and became the de-facto Orleanist pretender to the throne until he was relegated to the status of an also-ran by intriguing royalists who saw a stronger contender in the true Bourbon, Henri Chambord, grandson of the former King Charles X. When offered the throne, Chambord haughtily refused to embrace the revolutionary tri-color flag (the Comte had agreed to accept the emotional national symbol) as a condition for kingship. In Chambord's abeyance a Second Republic was proclaimed and the last hope for restoring the monarchy passed. When Chambord died in 1883 without heirs, the Comte de Paris was elevated to titular head of the House of Bourbon, but was formally exiled in 1886 following a law that forbade royalist pretenders; the age old custom of monarchy was finally expunged from the French political scene. Ironically, The Comte published a four volume set entitled The History of the Civil War in America between 1875 and 1888 and died in England in 1894. While his brother was for many years the focal point of the restoration movement, the Duc de Chartres was less constrained by politics and pursued a military career fighting in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war under an alias and later in North Africa against the Algerians. In 1873, when the elder Comte de Paris renounced the throne, the Duc was installed as the reigning pretender by the Orleanist faction of monarchists. Following Chambord's death in 1883, the Comte de Paris became the titular head of the House of Bourbon and once more next in line of succession displacing the younger Duc. Like his brother, the Duc was formally exiled in 1886 in the aftermath of the law that effectively ended the aspirations of the French monarchy. The Duc died in England in 1910. Condition: Both cartes G with minor wear at top of mount and soft corners.