FOREIGN NEWS.
FRANCE,
A grand mass was celebrated in the church of St. Eustache, on the occasion of the blessing by the Archbishop of Paris of the busts of the President of the Republic, intended for the central markets. A considerable crowd already filled the church, when, at half-past 11 o'clock, the gates of the porch were opened, and the cortege entered processionally, preceded by the band of the Municipal Guard. Immediately after the band advanced the Porteurs de laHalle, carrying a bust of the Prince President, and followed by 100 young girls, dressed in white robes, with blue scarfs, and crowns of white roses on their heads. Then came another bust, placed on a richly ornamented stand which was to figure in the meat market, and a number of others, escorted by the members of the different corporations, to which they were destined. After the busts walked the Prefect of Police, the Mayor and Deputy-Mayors of the arrondissement, the other civil authorities, and the officers of the Municipal and National Guards. Mass was subsequently celebrated, after which the archbishop delivered a short address and blessed the busts. The cortege then left the church, installed the busts in the different markets, and, in the evening, the Dames de la Halle gave a ball in the Linen Hall.
The Constitutional publishes the following letter from General De Lamoriciere, addressed to the Minister of War:—Brussels, 14th of May, 1852. General, —Torn from my house, thrown into prison, prosecuted in defiance of the laws, I did not think you would have gone so far as to ask me to take an oath of allegiance to a power usurped by violence and maintained only by force. But a decree has emanated from your office, which contains a paragraph that is evidently applicable to the banished generals, and imposes the obligation upon them of taking the oath. Two months are allowed to those residing in Belgium to reply to that summons. I am told on all sides that an oath is not binding towards one who has not maintained his own. However widely diffused such a doctrine may be at the present day, I reject it. I do not want the delay allowed for consideration. I refuse to take the oath, lam aware of the consequences of my determination. Twenty-nine years and a half of active service, thirty-six campaigns during eighteen years of war in Algeria, services rendered to France in Foreign lands and during the fatal days of June, 1848—services which, perhaps, are not forgotton—all will be sunk by this refusal, and my name will be struck off the army list. Another proof will be given that an officer's rank is the hands of an arbitrary will. The law of 19th May, 1834, had made an officer's rank his patrimony ; he could only be deprived of it by the sentence of a court-martial. That law is discarded, as many others have been, by a government which respects neither personn or property. The sword which I had
devoted to the service of France will be taken out of my hands. What use could I make of it under such a government ? But, which God forbid, if our frontiers should be invaded, I should hasten to resume it to iight for our national independence ; for history has sufficiently proved that in the hour of danger, brought on by ambition, despotism requires no oath from men of courage who are willing to march in defence of their country. (Signed) General De Lamobicieee.
The Wiljj of the late Prince of Conde. —A rumour was in circulation in some of the saloons of Paris two or three days ago, and has since spread through every circle, political or otherwise, occupied the attention of the public at the Bourse, the theatres, and the cafes, and, in fact, seems to interest people exceedingly. The rumour I allude to, which was at first shadowy and doubtful, but which is gradually acquiring a palpable shape, has reference to the intention attributed to the representatives of the ancient and noble family of De Rohan to renew the legal proceedings of 1832 touching the validity of the will of the Prince of Conde, wbo, it has not been forgotten, was found dead and hanging from the bolt of a window of his chateau of St. Leu. If the rumour be well founded, it would appear that certain preliminary steps have already been taken. Thus, perhaps, we are about to see another dark page of contemporary history again opened, and fresh publicity given to events which so intensely occupied the public mind soon after the revolution of July, and in which some of the greatest names in France figured. But for the testament, the annulling of which is, it appears, now demanded, the family of De Kohan would be the proprietors of the immense property of the chief of the house of Conde. The family of Rohan, which is divided into several branches —the Rohans-Chabot, the Rohans-Moritmorency, &c.—was allied by one of those branches to the family of Conde. A Princess of that house having married a Duke de Rohan, the Rohans considered themselves, as collaterals, the sole heirs to the vast domains of the now extinct house of. the Dukes d'Enghein, Princes of Conde. It was, in fact, on such connexion that, in 1832, the Rohans founded their suit against the Baroness de Feucheres and the Duke d'Aumale, the inheritors, by will, of the Prince of Conde. Though years have passed away since then, the violent passions and the cruel and unjust comments these proceedings excited are not forgotten. M. Hennequin, a member of the Paris bar, who acted as counsel for the family of the Rohans, embodied, in the speech delivered on that momentous occasion, many of the dark and improbable stories and mysterious hints that then circulated among a public always anxious for excitement; while he no less gratified the tastes or ministered to the prejudices of the Legitimist party, and to the hatred of the friends of the plaintiff. M. Lievaux, the counsel of the Baroness de Feucheres, and M. Dupin, the younger, brother of the President of the late National Assembly, counsel of the Duke d'Aumale, gave proof of great talent in their reply to M. Hennequin, who was considered among professional men as one of the most eminent lawyers of France. They repelled with eloquence and indignation the foul accusations their adversary had borrowed in support of his cause from public rumour or public credulity; and they exerted themselves to show that the whole proceedings were nothing more nor less than a plot,hatched by the Legitimists, to avenge the cause of Charles X., and the overthrow of the monarchy. The opinion of the judges was not different from that of the advocate of the Duke d'Aumale and the Baroness de Feucheres.. The Rohans lost their cause. It is that decision of the tribunal that is now sought to be quashed. Many changes have, however, taken place since then. The Baroness de Feucheres has gone to her account; and many other personages, whose testimony might be now invited or compelled, have disappeared from the scene. If the revision of the proceedings be officially granted, as, it is stated, the family of De Rohan require and hope, the affair promises to be long and the inquiry difficult, and the details may remind the present generation of the famous history of the Iron Mask, or the no less famous proces of the diamond necklace, where the name of a Rohan, a Duke and Cardinal, was then also mixed up, in the 18th century, with that of Marie Antoinette and Madame de Lamotte, the last the survivor of a race that had once ruled France, the descendant of theValois, — Paris Correspondent of the Times.
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Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 91, 2 October 1852, Page 8
Word Count
1,300FOREIGN NEWS. Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 91, 2 October 1852, Page 8
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