James Harden-Hickey

James Harden-Hickey (December 8, 1854 – February 9, 1898) was a Franco-American author, newspaper editor, duellist, adventurer and self-proclaimed Prince.

Early life

James Aloysius Harden was born in San Francisco, California on December 8, 1854. To avoid the violent city still in the madness of the gold rush, James' French mother took him to live in Paris, then an Empire after two revolutions and under the rule of Napoleon III. The nephew of Napoleon I left his mark on James by making France a wild, flamboyant stage with ornate theatrical displays and mystifying ceremonies and public works. As a child, James was fascinated with the French court and all of its glamour and pomp. Also, because of the lively brilliance of the life theatre, he acquired a life-long liking to adventure. During boyhood he was taught in Belgium by the Jesuits and later studied law at the University of Leipzig. He entered the French military academy, Saint-Cyr, at 19. In 1875, he graduated with high regard; shortly after, his father died. Three years later, Harden-Hickley married the Countess de Saint-Pery and fathered two children. By then he had mastered French, was accounted a master swordsman and began writing novels. As of 1880, he had 11 novels published. Two of the novels are borrowed from Michael Strogoff, one was written by Jules Verne and another by "Don Quixote". The novels he wrote blatantly show virtue to monarchies and are anti-democratic. James nobly gained Baron of the Holy Roman Empire with his stringent defense for the church in his works and in practice.

Literary career

On November 10, 1878, Harden-Hickey first published "Triboulet", named for a jester of King Louis XII, eight years after Napoleon's fall from power. Strongly against the republic, this work was very popular. Numerous newspaper publications were seen during this time, and because of James' strong leadership as editor and supporter, he was dueled no fewer than a dozen times and was sued several dozen times. Sadly for Harden-Hickey and fellow royalists, their funds were exhausted by 1887.

Sometime after, James Harden-Hickey divorced his wife and renounced Catholicism; he began an interest in Buddhism and Theosophy. This was a turning point in his life, and he took the opportunity to travel around the world, staying a year in India, learning Sanskrit and the philosophy of the Buddha. He returned to Paris and married a Standard Oil heiress, Anne Flagler, daughter of Henry Flagler, one of John D. Rockefeller's main partners in Standard Oil [ [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/br-trin.html Trindade and Martins Vaz Islands (Brazil) ] ] . He lived with and off the Flaglers in New York for two years. Traveling to Tibet before his marriage, his crew made a stop in the South Atlantic. He proclaimed himself King of Trinidad, or, more correctly, James I, Prince of Trinidad, since very few maps even marked it as an island. He wanted an independent state with himself as military dictator, and later in 1893, he got just that.

As Prince James I of Trinidad

The now-James I was noticed - most of it negative and derogatory - by various nations and news organs when he started selling government bonds, opened an office in New York City and began making secretarial appointments, such as M. le Comte de la Boissiere as his Secretary of State.

Trinidad was seized by Great Britain, however, in 1895 as a telegraph cable-relay station, and James I was forced to surrender it to them, leaving him with only a homemade crown, a schooner, and the title of "King without a country." He was caught flat-footed, however: while the Brazilians and British were threatening war over their respective claims, James I was forgotten. Appeals to the United States to act as a mediator were ultimately disastrous for his cause when US Secretary of State John Milton Hay released his letter appealing for American mediation to the press, opening James I to harsh ridicule in the popular press.

After the British invaded "his" Trinidad island in 1895, James I designed a plan to invade England from Ireland and even asked his wealthy father-in-law Henry Flagler to finance his invasion plan, but Flagler demured, and denied his request. James I then tried to raise money by selling his ranch in Mexico but failed to assemble enough funds to continue operating. [ [http://www.trivia-library.com/a/famous-suicides-james-a-harden-hickey.htm Famous Suicides James A. Harden-Hickey ] ] [ [http://www.nypress.com/15/50/news&columns/oldsmoke.cfm New York Press - WILLIAM BRYK ] ]

Although somewhat apocryphal, there is evidence to suggest that during this time, James I was approached by a certain filibuster named Ralston J. Markowe with a plan in 1895 to make him the King of Hawai'i (per Richard Harding Davis [ [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Real_Soldiers_of_Fortune/Chapter_2] )] , but any such plans as may have existed, however, never came to fruition.)

Later years

Over the next two years, Harden-Hickey fell into deep depression. His vision for his island was easily realizable, and it had become the core of his existence, but, despite the validity of his claim on Trinidad and his seriousness at realizing his dream, he received little real support, only receiving such from his family and friends; and after all of his attempts at restoring his claim had failed, the world laughed at him for even trying. In truth, his only public support came from the New York Times, who gave him some praise and compassion. One day, the managing editor and reporter for Times received the Order of Trinidad for their understanding of his passion.

James Harden-Hickey had once written a book called , showing that suicide was a powerful artform and "a privilege." He wrote that life wasn't so important or even worth living if one was to suffer, and left vaguely that "it is of greater moment to live well than to live long, and that often it is living well not to live long." Destitute and depressed, he lived up to his ideology by living and dying as a strong proponent of suicide: James I, Prince of Trinidad, Baron of the Holy Roman Empire, took an overdose of morphine on February 9, 1898, in an El Paso, Texas hotel, when he could not sell his Mexican ranch that he acquired while living with the Flaglers. Found among his effects were a suicide note to his wife and his memorabilia from his glory days with him...including his hand-made crown.

Legacy

The lesson of Prince James I of Trinidad is a clear one for would-be micronationalists: be careful about flying too high, because there are more than enough people willing to knock you back down.

To borrow from Richard Harding Davis, however, James' crime was an unforgivable one: he had the vision and the drive to try to build his own "place in the sun", at a time when separatism was derided...

...But that doesn't mean that you should stop trying.

External links

wikisource-inline|Real Soldiers of Fortune/Chapter 2|Biographical entry in "Real Soldiers of Fortune" by Richard Harding Davis; from Project Gutenberg
* [http://www.trivia-library.com/a/famous-suicides-james-a-harden-hickey.htm Famous Suicides: James A. Harden-Hickey]
* [http://www.nypress.com/15/50/news&columns/oldsmoke.cfm News & Columns] by William Bryk

References