Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/259

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242

GHASLES I.

Chard, it should be mentioned, was in command on this memorable occasion. The defenders of Borke's Drift were undoubtedly the means of saying Grey Town and Help- makaar , and also of securing time for effecting a retreat with Sie main column. Lieutenant Chard left Borke's Drift sick with fever on Feb. 17 for Ladysmith, where he was hospitably entertained at the house of Dr. Hyde Allen Park. He left Ladysmith for the front on April 27, rejoined the 5th company of the Boyal Engineers at Landsh man's Dnft on April 29, and was present at the battle of XJlundi. On returning to St. Paul's he was presented with the Victoria Cross by Sir Garnet Wolseley. Soon afterwards he was ordered home. Arriving at Portsmoutli Oct. 2, 1879, he was met by a telegram from Her Majesty, and shortly afterwards he proceeded to Bal- moral, where he was graciously re- ceived by the Queen. For his services he was advanced to the rank of Major.

CHABTiKS I. (Chables Fredx- BicK AiiBzandbr), King of Wflrtem- bere, eldest son of the late King William I., was born March 6, 1828, and succeeded to the throne June 25, 1864. He followed the policy of his father on the Schleswig- Holstein question, and formed one of the Minor States party in the Diet. His Majesty, who is a Colonel of a Bussian regiment of dragoons, married, July 13, 18i6, the Grand Duchess Olga Nicolajewna, daugh- ter of Nicholas I., Czar of Bussia. A treaty with Prussia was con- cluded by the King of Wtbrtemberg Aug. 13, 1866.

CHABLES I. (Chables Eitel Frederick Zbphirin Louis), King of Boumania, was born April 20, 1839, being the second son of Prince Hohenzollem-Sigmaringen, head of the second of the non-reig^ning branches of the princely house of Hohenzollem. He was elected and proclaimed Prince Begnant of Bou-

mania, with hereditary suooesaion, by a plebiscite, taken April 8-20, 1866, and definitely recognised on Oct. 24 in that year by the Sublime Porte and the guaranteeing Powers. The Prince h^d previoumy been a sub-lieutenant in the 2nd reffiment of Prussian dragoons, and it is believed that his candidature for the throne of Boumania, which had become vacant by the expulsion of Prince Alexander John, was pro- posed by Prussia, and supported by her diplomatic action. His reign has been marked throughout by internal dissensions and parliamentary crises. The unwarrantable perse- cution of the Jews in Momavia elicited indignant protests from various foreign governments, who likewise complained that iMknds of armed men were allowed to be formed within the Boumanian terri- tory, with the object of creating disturbances on the Lower Danube. The disputes in the Boumanian Chamber, and the incessant minia- terial changes, led to a diraolution of the Chamber of Bucharest in 1869. A convention was concluded between his Gk>vemment and the Czar, permitting the Bussians to cross the Danm)e in April, 1877. The Boumanian army was then mo- bilised, and war declared against Turkey. In Sept. and Oct. 1877, Prince Charles held the nominal command of the Army of the West, and he fought at Plevna, where the Boumanians behaved with great gaUantiy, and suffered heavy losses. He received, in acknowledgment of his services, the cross of St. George, from Alexander II., to whom he sent, in return, the decoration of the Order of the Star of Boumania. He had the title of " Boyal High> ness" from 1878 tiU March 26, 1881, when he was proclaimed King of Boumania by a unanimous vote of the representatives of the nation. The coronation ceremony took place on May 22. He married Nov. 15, 1869, Pkbuline Elizabeth Ottilie Louise (bom l$iA), daugher of the