Quote of the Month

Writes Mr. Gerald Warner:

[I]t should be remembered there is still an untapped resource available for the regeneration of Europe in a reconstituted Habsburg Empire. Hoch Habsburg!

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Imperial Germany and Red October

Four score and a dozen years ago today, the German Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Richard von Kühlmann applauded Lenin's rise to power.

C.S. Lewis

111 years ago today, C.S. Lewis was born.

We recall some of what C.S. Lewis told us:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

And:

There, right in the midst of our lives, is that which satisfies the craving for inequality, and acts as a permanent reminder that medicine is not food. Hence a man’s reaction to monarchy is a kind of test. Monarchy can easily be ‘debunked;' but watch the faces, mark the accents of the debunkers. These are the men whose tap-root in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. Yet even if they desire equality, they cannot reach it. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film-stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.

Stefan Zweig

128 years ago today, Stefan Zweig, author of Die Welt von Gestern, was born.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland

Six years short of two centuries ago today, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland was adopted.

Royal Constitutional Oath

Five score and four years ago today, King Haakon VII gave his constitutional oath.

Queen Maud

Seven score years ago today, Maud of Wales, future Queen Consort of Norway, was born.

German East Africa Surrendered

Seven long dozen years ago today, German East Africa surrendered.

Departed New York

Eleven score and six years ago today, His Britannic Majesty's forces left New York.

King Haakon VII Arrives

Eight baker's dozen years ago today, King Haakon VII arrived in Christiania.

Johan Scharffenberg

Seven score years ago today, Johan Scharffenberg was born.

Scharffenberg was active in 1905 for the republican cause in the Kingdom of Norway, but at the end of World War II he was behind a move to give more powers to the King.

Aldous Huxley

46 years ago today, Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, passed away.

Austro-Hungarian Succession

Seven years short of a century ago today, Emperor-King Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary passed away.

Archduke Karl ascended the thrones of the Dual Monarchy.

New Jersey and the Bill of Rights

Eleven score years ago today, the State of New Jersey ratified the United States Bill of Rights.

Ian Douglas Smith

We mark today's second anniversary of the passing of Ian Douglas Smith.

Archduke Otto 97

The Archduke Otto is today 97 years old.

Happy Birthday to His Imperial and Royal Highness!

Gettysburg Rhetorics

146 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

On this day we recall the words of Samuel Langhorne Clemens:

Wherefore being all of one mind, we do highly resolve that government of the grafted by the grafter for the grafter shall not perish from the earth.

Remember also some words of Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn:

While it is perhaps true that “one cannot fool all the people all the time,” it seems that one can fool millions for centuries.

Norwegian King

Eight long dozen years ago today, the Parliament of the Kingdom of Norway proclaimed Prince Carl of Denmark as King of Norway.

Constantinople Departed

A long dozen years short of a decade ago today, Sultan Mehmed VI departed Constantinople.

The King's Prime Minister

Seven years short of two centuries ago today, Christian August Selmer, Norwegian Prime Minister of King Oscar II, who fought with His Majesty against the usurping Parliament during the “constitutional crisis” of the 1880s, was born.

Prime Minister Selmer met with King Oscar at Sofiero Palace to discuss how to handle the “constitutional crisis.”

"The Glorious Revolution"

321 years ago today, the so-called Glorious Revolution commenced, through the landing of William of Orange at Torbay.

Viva o Imperador do Brasil!

Six score years ago today, Emperor Pedro II was deposed.

Articles of Confederation

232 years ago today, the Articles of Confederation were adopted for ratification, submitted to the rebel colonies two days later.

On Power and Politics

The American Conservative reruns a review of Daniel J. Mahoney's Bertrand de Jouvenel: The Conservative Liberal and the Illusions of Modernity.

From the review:

Jouvenel introduces the startling notion, later amplified, that the modern democratic state is potentially the most dangerous regime that has ever existed.

Lord Landsdowne

93 years ago today, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, the 5^th Marquess of Lansdowne, expressed disagreement with the Allied war effort. About a year later, he wrote (according to the History Channel):

[The] prolongation [of the war] will spell ruin for the civilized world, and an infinite addition to the load of human suffering which already weighs upon it[...]

Democracy and the Vatican

Jacob G. Hornberger imagines the spread of democracy to the Vatican.

Prince Carl to the Polls

Eight long dozen years ago today, the polls opened for a two-day referendum opened on the issue of support to inviting Prince Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel of Denmark to the vacant throne of Norway.

The results were roughly 79% yea and 21% nay.

No, Norway did not establish a monarchy in those days, she retained her monarchy.

No, it was not a monarchy versus republic vote, although, admittedly, a nay victory would have strenghtened the republican cause.

Yes, the events in Norway in 1905 were arguably significant in the emasculation of the monarchy.

The House of Lords Act 1999

A decade ago today, the House of Lords Act 1999 received Royal Assent.

Eleventh Month, Day, and Hour

Seven baker's dozen years ago today, the Great War came to an end. More than four years of brutal killing fortunately came to an end.

Unfortunately, out of the ashes stood an entirely new world as a phoenix. Kaiser Karl renounced his powers. A couple of days later he also did so as King of Hungary.

The new age has given us a lot of troubles; totalitarianism of many flavors, omnipotent and omnipresent government, and civilizational decline.

More Popular Power in Tonga

A Tongan commission calls for less power for the King. The Scoop so reports.

See also the official statement and the final report.


Links via No Right Turn, where apparently – and wrongly – it is believed that this is a right move.

Turkey Today

Turkey today marks the passing of Atatürk.

I say mark the passing of Ertuğrul Osman, as have Royal World, The Mad Monarchist, Trond Norén Isaksen, and American Monarchist.


Previously: Atatürk Again

Wilhelm II Abdication

Seven baker's dozen years ago today, Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated.

Red October

Four score and a dozen years ago today, the world was struck by Red October.

Jefferson Davis Elected

Seven score and eight years ago today, Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederate States of America.

The Kingdom of Poland

93 years ago today, the Kingdom of Poland was reestablished.

Perilous Landslide

Eight dozen and a year ago today, the bête noire of this weblog was elected the 28^th POTUS in a landslide victory.

German and Austro-Hungarian Revolutionaries

Seven long dozen years ago today, revolutionaries were making their way in Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Lords Reject Euthanasia

A motion to allow assisted suicide was recently withdrawn in the House of Lords due to its opposition. So Independent Catholic News reports.


H/T: The Western Confucian

Ottoman Sultanate Abolished

A long dozen years short of a century ago today, the Ottoman Sultanate was abolished.

Nicholas II Accession

115 years ago today, Nicholas II ascended to the throne of Russia.

Burkean Reflections

A year short of eleven score years ago today, Edmund Burke had his Reflections on the Revolution in France published.

The Stamp Act

A dozen score and four years ago today the Stamp Act came into force.

Poll Results: Who Should Have Won the American Founding?

The results for the poll, asking who should have won the American founding, ending at midnight between September and October, are as follows:

Total votes: 102.

• The Anti-Federalists: 29 (28 %)
• The Loyalists: 27 (26 %)
• Monarchist Secessionists: 21 (20 %)
• The world would have gone to the dogs no matter what: 15 (14 %)
• Everything was just fine as it was: 10 (9 %)

A new poll will be up shortly.