The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-12 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, FEB. 12, 1864.

The marriage of the Count de PARIS with the
daughter of the Duke de MONTPENSIER is officially
announced. The Queen of SPAIN has given the
cuatomary information to the other Sovereigns,
and, among various complimentary responses, has
received affectionate congratulations from—the
Emperor NAPOLEON ! The present Sovereign of
Franca and secure ruler of the French people, can
afford to offer his congratulations, no doubt hearty
and sincere—for what has he to fear from such an
alliance ?—to the exiled heir of Louis PHILIPPE.
When that very wily and over-clever sovereign, in
the plenitude of his wisdom concocted the crowning
scheme of his deeply-planned family aggrandisement
—the Spanish Marria;c—he did not foresee that the
result would be, in after times, the marriage of a
daughter of his son and the Spanish Infanta, with the
throneless,hopeless, exiled in heritor of all the glorious
expectations of the royal house of ORLEANS. Truly
a sad anti-climax to so much ambitious anticipation
—perhaps an appropriate catastrophe to "a sinister
career." So much for the disappointed hopes and
frustrated ambition of Louis PHILIPPE. For the
young bridegroom, as an individual member of an
amiable and admirable family, there can only be
experienced one unanimous feeling of interest and
sympathy. Whatever obloquy may have justly
followed the deceitful policy of the father, the
late ex-King of the FRENCH, his whole
family, from the revered and virtuous Queen
MARIE-AMELIE and his numerous sons and
daughters, have always merited and obtained a
very large share of the popular respect and ad.
miration—sentiments which no mere rank no mere
royalty can purchase, and which can only be earned
by individual excellence. General good wishes and
congratulations, as " affectionate" as those of the
Emperor NAPOLEON, will be showered upon the
young couple. It is only to be regretted that in
the present generation of the House of Orleans,
inter-marriages should ba so much in vogue. It
was but the other day that a family party assem-
bled at Claremont—sacred to the memory of disap-
pointed hopes—to celebrate the union of the daugh-
ter of the Prince DE JOINVILLE with her cousin, the
Due de CHARTRES, another grandchild of Lours
PHILIPPE. The marriage of the Count DE PARIS
is the second or third instance of such alliances
among the nearly related members of the exiled
family. It is to lie hoped that it will be the last,
and that the example of the youthful heir of the
House may not be followed by the junior branches.
Under very different circumstances from those which
surrounded his cradle, the young Count of PARIS
will celebrate his marriage. At the time of his
birth his grandfather was in the pride of
his power, and the first-born so❑ of the
Due d'ORLEANS w 2,3 hailed as the cer-
tain inheritor of the Crown of France,
amid rejoicings similar to those which have just
greeted the advent of the grandson and future heir
of our own sovereign, the young Count de PARIS
was welcomed to existence. In the satisfaction with
which the English people hail another heir to their
royal house, the happy assurances of a past ex-
perience give a sate guarantee for the anticipations
of the future. With the subjects of the new King
of the FRENCH, it was otherwise. All there was in
futuro—promises and pledges given only to be dis-
appointed. Therefore it is that; the hope of the
house—

" The heir of Palaces without a home"—

may celebrate his marriage day only as a private
individual. We may trust that the domestic happi-
ness which has hitherto been among the happy
possessions of the offspring of Queen MARIE
AMELIE mtv now become the precious inheritance
of the heir of ORLEANS, and may compensate him
for all other disappointments.