The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-23 00:00:00

they lived. The LntherS, and Wasiiingtotts.-
-Napoleons were made of such wood, and .as .
pikt,4o--
sympathised with universal humanity, so uni''
humanity has sympathised with them. \rOv4tr,..z.-1---o`.:4' ° there ain—arch-oddities—men of sr
la, s—who are chiefly remarkable. bes-
cause they think awry upon any subject whicla-
may be submitted to their notice. They, are
ever in minorities of ono, and attract attention
as a European would who, 15 or 20 years ago
had been caught by the Chinese in a suburb
of Canton. England is the classical ground
for such lusts naturec, With us oddity is
relished; it is an exaggeration of-that independence
of character on which we pride ourselves. ' We
cannot, from sheer want of space, enter into the
oddities and quaintnesses of Englishmen, in private
life, but on the public stage there are always half-
a-dozen men who are content to enact the part of a
buffoon for the amusement of their fellow-subjects,
Mr. Henry Drummond, as we have once before ob-
served, since the retirement of that eminent artist,
Colonel Sibthorp, is pre-eminently entitled to th
honours of the cap and bells. No matter what
subject may be uppermost his great ambition is to
take a view which need not be more rational or
more provident, but must at least be different from
that which appears to be the true one to the majo-
rity of his countrymen. At the present moment
this great circus performer has put on his tights
and spangles, and is careering pro vii round the
arena upon a couple of fresh hobbies. The one rea
presents his approval of a matrimonial alliance
between an English Princess and a Prussian Prince;
the other is admiration of Lord Raglan, and of the
manner in which the British military operations
have been carried on in the East since the com-
mencement of hostilities. Of each in order. Mr.
Henry Drummond carries out his Prussian mono-
mania in high prerogative style. Not only are the
objections to such an alliance which have been
stated without foundation in this particular in-
stance, but, in the abstract, the population of a
country have not the shadow of a right to make
their voices heard upon such a point as that of the
matrimonial alliances which the family of their
Sovereign may choose to contract. It is really
just as though Mr. Henry Drummond, of Surrey,
should choose to conduct Miss Tabitha Bramble,
of Westmoreland, to the hymeneal altar. Who
shall say him nay ? The eccentric member for
Wed Surrey, indeed, takes liberties with the
-Royal family upon which we Mould not have ven-
tured. He represents the Princes's Royal under
the aspect of some rustic beauty who is courted by
the son and heir apparent of a bucolic neighbour.
So the young people bit it off, and the parents
think the match 4 prudent one. What have toe
neighbours to do with the question ? Truss the
fowls, boil the puddings, and have them "asked"
at church. Here are the old gentleman's very
words as delivered a clay or two back at the annual
dinner of the Chertsey Agricultural Association.
He told the meeting that he was about to remark
on the unwarrantable interference which he con-
ceived had taken place with the privacy of the
.Royal family, and then went on to add, " What
would they say if, when any young person made
love to the daughter of a farmer, some impertinent
and meddling neighbour chose to turn round and
tell them it would be an improper marriage ?
Would they not say Hold your tongue, mind your
own affairs, it is no business of yours ;' and would
not all the neighbours join with them in expreSs-
ing their opinion that it was an impudent intei-
ference ?" It is not we, but Mr. Henry Drum-
mond, who presents the Sovereign of these realms
to the imagination of his readers in the guise of a
Surrey farmer's helpmate, intent upon marrying
off her eldest girl.
Thus far, however, Mr. Henry Drummond had
not, actually stated his general proposition, which
is this—the privacy of the Royal family in matri-
monial matters ought to be respected as that of pia
vats families. The amazement and indignation
which -were universally felt when this subject was
first mooted, and to which utterance was given in
the columns of the Times, Mr. H. Drummond
considers "a most abominable interference
with the affairs of private life, and such an
interference as they would not suffer for a
moment in their own families." We must ven-
ture to dissent from 'Mr. Henry Drummond
upon this point, although he should cut as many
capers at us in return as Rabelais' fantastic hero
when in strong opposition. Royal personages have
some few drawbacks upon their high station. A
most unfortunate One, which is inseparable from
their great position, is, that in their matrimonial
alliances they must consult the interests of the
nations over which they rule. A Sovereign must
not entangle his country in alliances which would
prove prejudicial to the general welfare, whatever
his private feelings may be, and this Mr. Drum-
mond knows just as well as we do. We will not,
however, smother him with truisms as a goose is
smothered in onions, but, having stated his pro-
position and our own, leave it to the public to decide
between us. Passing on from this to the second
point, the bucolic gathering at Chertsey was in-
formed by Mr. Drummond that last year Lord
Raglan was the victim of the most scandalous false-
hoods. De mortuis, &c.:—we would fain leave
Lord Raglan's memory in peace if his injudicious
friends would acquiesce in silence as the safer alter-
native. Say of Lord Raglan that he was as gallant
and fearless a soldier as ever buckled sword to his
side and you will say the truth. Add that he was
a consummate gentleman, a man of the kindliest
nature and of the highest breeding, for every pri-
vate quality entitled to affection and respect, and
no one will gainsay the praise. But to say that
Lord Raglan was a man of military genius, such
a one as could be intrusted with the interests of
his country in an important campaign, or that his
management of our army before Sebastopol was not
most unsatisfactory, is, after what we have heard
and known for a twelvemonth past, so wild an ab-
surdity that we do not deem it worthy of serious
reply. Our readers have the benefit of Mr. H.
Drummond's opinion ; let it weigh quantum valeat
in Lord Raglan's favour. General Simpson, he
says, has been subjected to similar calumnies. We
are very anxious to have our share of credit as
calumniators in such a case, and we trust that
these calumnies may in a short time lead to the
result of General Simpson's recall from a post for
which he has shown himself most unfit. Our real
crime in the eyes of such men as Mr. Drummond
is, that we hold the safety of ihe British army and
the honour of our native land as far more valuable
than the whimsies of some very respectable old
gentlemen who are never content but when they
are playing the " Sir Oracles" of the country side.
Under present circumstances, and before the cold
weather sets in, we strongly recommend Mr. Drum-
mond to betake himself to Berlin, where he will
be admirably received, and can interchange opi-
nions with the King of Prussia. Let the King of
Prussia hear from Mr. H. Drummond the state of
public opinion in England, and let Mr. Drummond
be enlightened by his Prussian Majesty in return
as to the feelings of " fatherland," and they
their
both of them make valuable additions to
settle
stock of political wisdom. They can thensetl to
their hearts' content all the details of thfis Prussianold marriage, descant upon the merits
of
Times,
field-
marshals and strict neutrality, abuses
and crack jokes till the ceilings of
shouldei ring
again. These are the men by
really bo governed.
mi
EuropaansSou
whom

GENERAL 111'11.AI:10N.

7,7.-E—'vetting Post gives the
followingAwriter
acinnontnhte Duboft/hie
family
of that gallant
general : •
"Neither his father nor grandfather, nor any of hie
forbears were what NO many papers affirm them to have
been. Emigrating to Franca, not at the recent period
fixed by some of them, but, with 50 many other's, after
the capitulation of Limerick, the M`Malions, since that
disastrous moment, have ever occupied among the
French noblesse that place to which their walla gave
them so full a claim. The general's grandfather, the
marquis de M
‘—a"; married an heiress, who, with
6,0001. a year, brought him the magnificent and historic
castle of Sully, near Autuu ever since the seat of the
family. He left
only two sons, the eldest of whom,
dying without children, left his large property to the
first-horn son of his brother, Count de M`Malion, lieu-
tenant-general, peer of France, under Charles X., and a
devoted and personal friend of that monarch. He died
a short time after the revolution of 1830, leaving four
Eons and four daughters by his wife, Mdlle. de Caraman,
cousin-german to the late Due de Caraman and to his
second brother, the Prince de Chimay. The late Duo
de Cararnan's father obtained for his family the princi
pality of Chimay, in Belgium, by the marriage of h:0
father with the heiress of that great and illustrious houS_C:
the title descending, by family arrangements, not to th
eldest, or the second, but' to the third and youngest
brother, father to the present prince.
Mahon,‘
"Of the eight children left by the Count delif
the present general is the youngest
and is just 48
years old. Like most of the superior officers
at the
French army he received his military education
in the
School of St. Cyr ; and, serving principallyO
in Africa,
was named Governor-General of the Province of Con.
stantine in 1853. He married, two years ago, Mdlle.
de Castvieff, of the ducal house of tbat historic name.
His eldest n Marquis de WAlahon, married
not a year a go,
ep,
hew , the
the daughter of the Due dee Cars, head
of one of the first and greatest families of France.
Tho general's mother, Mdlle. de Carman, bad two
sisters—one, the eldest, married to the Marquis de
Chaumont-Quitry, whose only sou married the Princess
Stephanie Teacher de la Pagerie, niece to the Empress
Josephine. The youngest sister was wife to the late
Marquis de Gronolles-Flatttare us, lord of the bedchamber
to Charles the Tenth, and head of one of the first and
oldest houses in France,
"General de M'Mahon has proved himself to be not
unworthy of his Irish name and descent ; and wretched,
as well as impolitic and infamous, were those laws which
deprived the empire at lame of the geTiCell of WADY
such sons."