The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-04 00:00:00

THE ROHAN NECKLACE,

The Civil Tribunal of the Seine has just been engaged
during six sittings in trying an action brought by the heirs
of M. Deville, a creditor of Cardinal do Rohan, against the
Princes de Rohan-Rochefort, as representatives of the
Princess Charlotte de Rohan-Roclaefort, the Cardinal's re-
siduary legatee and executrix, for the recovery of sums
amounting, with interest, to above 2,000,0001. The debts
in question originated in the purchase by the Cardinal cf
the celebrated diamond necklace as a present for Queen An-
toinette, which occasioned so much scandal in the latter
years of Louis XVl.'s reign. The circumstances are briefly
as follows :—Towards the close of 1784, Bcehmer and Boa-
singes, jewellers to the King, made a magnificent necklace '
of brilliants, estimated to be worth 1,600,000 f., which all the
great ladies of the Court were anxious to possess. The
necklace was offered to Queen Antoinette, who declined to
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Countess Ca-
de Lamotte persuaded him that if he could purchase the
necklace for the Queen it would insure his return to favour,
and that the money would ultimately be refunded to him.
O n the 24th of January, 1785, the Cardinal went to the
jewellers, examined the necklace, and said that he was autho-
rised to purchase it for a high personage whom he could not
then name, Some days later he returned and purchased the
necklace for 1,600,0001. in the Queen's name, and arranged
the conditions of payment. He took the necklace away with
him, and on the Ist February gave it to the Countess do
Lainotte, who was to convey it to the Queen, but her Ma-
jesty never receive lit, and what became of it has ever since
remained a mystery. The fraud was discovered in the fol-
lowing August, and the Cardinal, the Countess do Lamotte,
Count Cagliostro, and others supposed to be accomplices,
were arrested and sent to the Bastille. The prisoners were
tried in December, and all acquitted except the Countess do
Lamotte, who was condemned to be flogged, branded with a
hot iron, and imprisoned for life. Meanwhile the Cardinal
had made arrangements to pay the jeweller from his own re-
sources by transferring to them the greater part of the in-
come of his ecclesiastical benefices, and especially of the ab-
bey of SI. Waast, which produced 225,0001. a year. Some
timeafter MM.Beehnier and Bossang es, who owed M. Niche-
las-Deville, the king's secretary, 900,602 livres, asigned to
him the revenues of the above-named abbey for the extinc-
tion of their debt, But before any payment had been made
the French Revolution occurred, and all Church property
was transferred to the nation. the Cardinal, being forced to
leave France, went to Ettenheim, on the right bank of the
Rhine, a dependence of his bishopric of Strasburg, lying
beyond the French frontier. Owing to these events, and
the failure of hiM. Boahmer and Bossanges, M. Deville
never received any part of his ;money. The Cardinal died
at Ettenheim, in the year 1803, leaving a will, in which he
made the Princess Charlotte de .Rohan-Rochefert his resi-
duary legatee, and she accepted administration of the estate
on condition that she should not be held responsible to the
creditors for any deficiency that might exist. At the time
of his decease the Cardinal possessed landed property in
Baden, and personal property to a considerable amount, part
of which was meney lent to his relatives, the Prince and
Princess de Graemenee, and the Duke de Montbason,whieh
the Princess neglected to recover, and it was consequent's,
lost. The Princess sold the lands in Baden and divided
the proceeds among a few favoured creditors, but Deville
obtained little or nothing. After the Restoration, when the
property remaining unsold was returned to its former owners
or their heirs, and au indemnity was also granted fur what
had been eo,d, the Princess, according to the statement of
the plaintiff's counsel, neglected the interests of the. credi •
C
tors by omitting to recover the sums due to the ardinal's
estate; especially those owing from the Gii6rnenee
For this neglect of her duty as executrix, the learned coun-
sel maintained that the Princess was responsible in the pee_
eons of her heirs, notwithstanding the conditions under
which she had undertaken to administer tothe Cardinal's
will. For the defence it was argued that the Cardinal's
estate had been properly administered by the Princess, that
the plaintiffs had received the same share as the other cre-
ditors, and That they had no claim on the defendants in the
present action. The tribunal took the, view of the ease,
and accordingly rejected the plaintiffs aemand with costs.

Accounts from tivarsaw state that thA harvest
this year is most abundant, but that the want of hands to
get it in is much felt. The poduce of the crops will be
sufficient for every want until gat year's crops.

LAMARTINE'S NEW LOVE STORY, " Fior d'Aliza,"
says a Saturday Reviewer, is the history of a girt
is the neighbourhood of Lucca, with whom and whose
family the author states himself to have been acquainted.
He describes her childish grace and virgin modesty as sho
bent like a Madonna over a little infant that the poet could
not have believed to have been her own. An aged woman
in a neighbouring cottage and a blind old man tell the wan-
derer who this lovely young mother is, and all the woes
she has experienced. She was brought up with a cousin
who was as innocent and as simple as herself. The children
played together from the cradle, and picked 112 sticks and
chesnuts together, and tended the same goats and kids on
the hill-side. At last, one evil day, when Fior d'Aliza was
twelve years old, a fierce ruffian saw her, and loved the
pretty child, and determined she should grow up to be his
wife. So, like all ruffians in poetry, he set to work to ruin
the family whose daughter he meant to appropriate. Ho
got a lawyer, even more vicious and devilish than himself,
to set up a fictitious claim, and take away from them three-
fourths of their little property. But they were good, honest,
creatures, and acquiesced in the poverty sent them. So
something more was to be done that they might be brought
into the frame of mind in which they would part with their
darling. It had been arranged that a great chesnut tree,
from which the family derived their principal support,should
belong partly to them and partly to the fictitious elaimatits
invented by the wily lawyer. Only the boughs that
looked to the south were the property of the friends of
Fior d'Aliza. But a lawyer who can make successful
claims in this easy sort of way can also make law at his
pleasure; and he asserted that his clienis had a right at
any time to three •fourths at least, or perhaps.the whole, cf
the trunk of the tree, and he sent his myrmidons to cut this
trunk down. Stung by this insult to the beloved and
sacred tree, and by the prospect of utter destitution im-
pending over his family, Hyeronimo, Fior d'Aliza's play-
mate, rushed at the wood-cutters, and drove them off with
an axe. And soon a fresh attack and a new insult drove
him to another and a more fatal deed of violence. The
goats of Fier d'Aliza strayed into the maize of the supposed
owners of, what had been the land of her friends, and were
instantly shot by some watchful policemen stationed there.
Hyeronimo seized a gun, fired it at hazard into the maize,
and killed the sergeant of the police. He was instantly
arrested, and carried off to Lucca, But Fior d'Aliza,
though hardly more than a child, determined to follow him,
and rescue him if possible. She dressed as a boy, and
taking a musical iustrumentwith her, set off on her journey,
Fortunately she was taken up at once by a wedding party
going to Lucca, and in want of a musician. Still more
fortunately, this wedding party came from the household
of the keeper of tho very prison in which Hyeronimo was
confined ; and Most fortunately of all, this keeper happened
to be in want of an assistant, and he appointed Fior d'Aliza
on the spot to the vacant place. She had thus constant
access to her friend, whom a common misery turned at
once into her lover. A kindly priest, entrusted with their
secret, managed to marry them in the chapel frequented
by condemned prisoners, and then, on the morning of
the execution to which Hyeronimo had been sentenced,
Fior d'Aliza opened a way for her lover to leave the prison,
and herself took his place. She was led out to execution,
and was on the point of being shot when her sex was dis-
covered. The Duchess of Lucca steps in as the kindly
deity of the story, pities and helps Fier d'Aliza, and gets
the sentence of Hyeronimo, who gives himself up on seeing
Fior d'Aliza's danger, commuted into two years' imprison-
ment. The period of his sentence happened to expire on
the very day when the wandering poet heard the story told
him, and the tale ends with the wild joy of the couple thus
restored to each other, and with the triumph of the old
people blest with this sweet reunion, and also with the
restitution of their property, which the wicked lawyer is of
course obliged to give up.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN.—A Washington corres-
pondent of the New York Times writes—'.' I see
the President almost every day, as I happen to live where
he passes to or from his lodgings out of town. Mr. Lincoln
never reposes at the White-house during the hot season, but
has quarters at a healthy location, some three miles north
of the city, the Soldiers' Home, a United States benevolent
establishment. I saw him this morning about half-past S
coming in to business, riding on Vermont-avenue, near L-
street. The sight is a significant one. He always has a
company of 25 or 30 cavalry, with sabres drawn, and held
upright over their shoulders. The party makes no great
show in uniforms or horses. Mr. Lincoln generally rides a
good-sized easy-going grey horse, is dressed in black, some-
what rusty and dusty ; wears a black stiff hat, and looks
about as ordinary in attire, &c., as the commonest man. A.
lieutenant, with yellow straps, rides at his left, and follow-
ing behind, two by two, come the cavalry men in their
yellow-striped jackets. They are generally going at a slow
trot, as that is the pace set them by the dignitary they wait
upon. The sabres and accoutrements clank, and the entirely
unornamental cortege trots Slowly towards Lafayette-square.
It arouses no sensation ; only some curious stranger stops
and gazes. I saw very plainly the President's dark brown
face, with the deep, curt lines, the eyes always to me with a
deep latent sadness in the expression. Sometimes he comes
and goes in an open barouche. The cavalry always accom-
piny him with drawn sabres. Sometimes one of his sons,
a boy of 10 or 12, accompanies him, riding at his right on
a pony
WRECK OF THE BARON OSY STEAM-VESSEL IN
THE THAMES.—Yesterday afternoon, about half-
past 12 o'clock, the iron paddle steamship Baron Osy was
proceeding up the river, laden with passengers and general
merchandise from Antwerp, and when in Limehouse-reach,
nearly opposite the Commercial-dock pier, a small craft was
somewhat in the way, and the steamer diverged towards the
Middlesex shore, when the fore part of her keel struck
heavily upon .a hard substance, breaking her iron plates,
and causing the water to rush into her fore cabin and ma-
chine room. Immediately atter she struck .the vessel turned
round, and her stem rapidly sunk. The utmost alarm pre-
vailed amongst upwards of 100 passengers who were on
board, but fortunately the Naiad, Woolwich. steamer, Capt.
Robinson, cams near at the time on her up passage, and
the captain having witnessed the accident, promptly landed
the Ceale of the Naiad's passengers atithe Commercial-dock
pier, to continue their journey by the next boat, and went
to the assistance of the Baron Osy. The whole of the pas-
sengers of the latter vessel and a largo amount of luggage
were rapidly transferred to the Naiad, and conveyed to the
St. Katharine's docks, the Naiad immediately returning
with a numerous body of man to assist in removing the
cargo from the wreck. At 8 o'clock last evening the Baron.
Osy had been secured in the position where she now re-
mains. Her fore cabin, engine-rooms, &c,, are entirely under
water, and a considerable amount of property is still in the
vessel, the stern of which has been well lightened, and she
is surrounded by barges, &e., and guarded by the Thames
police, the wreak having been taken possession of by the
Thames Conservancy,