The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11, ISG3

The Late Marshal Oudinot.

Almost immediately after the death of the late
Marshal Oudinot, Duc de Reggio, was announced
in the journals of Europe, our chief contemporary
put forth a very extraordinary statement in regard
to that illustrious soldier. According to this re
markable statement of the limes, it was asserted
quite confidently that the Duc de Reggio deplored
up to the moment of his death, as (it was said also)
he had in point fact for some years previously, the
work of restoration accomplished by him at Rothe
in 1849. The announcement of these as the dying
opinions of Marshal Oudinot, was accompanied,
however, by a point blank declaration that the
deceased had breathed his last after having refused
all the consolations of religion.
In distinct and positive contradiction to each and
all of these most singular, and (as will be immedi-
ately apparent) these wholly unjustifiable state-
ments, s' w
e are
pronounce
the bythe Family of Marshal
Oudinote t nt
o
assertions thus set forth
by the limes in respect to that distinguished sol-
dier, to be utterly without one particle of foundation.
m
This emphatic contradiction we hasten, therefore,
to publish in the plainest terms possible, and, in the
interests of truth, we are desirous that it should be
at once frankly accepted as a contradiction com-
plete and unreserved.

As we write this, there is now lying open before
us an affecting communication, penned as recently
as the 9th of this present month of August, by the
nearest surviving relative of the deceased Marshal,
namely, his own eldest son, the present Due de
Reggio. And it is upon no less an authority than this,
that we herewith declare to be utterly groundless
the declaration that Marshal Oudinot either re-
gretted his feat of arms in 1849, or that he expired
but a little more than a month since, after having
refused to receive the consolations of religion.
While enabling us to give this explicit denial to
each of those statements, the present Duke de
Reggio, in the course of the letter already referred
to, as lying before us while we are writing, remarks in
regard to the deceased, that there is not one of those
who have approached him since 1849, who will not
revolt from assertions so entirely contrary to truth.
"My excellent father," says the now Duo de Reggio,
" was happy and proud of the services he bad
rendered to the church. This he avowed every
day. Every successive year he wrote to the
Sovereign Pontiff. He associated himself in heart,
in spirit, in words, with the vivacity one might
almost say of youth, with the efforts adventured
upon in France and elsewhere for the defence of the
rights and of the authority of the apostolic see"—
and so forth.

[Mon excellent pore etait heureux et fier des services
qu'il avait rendus a l'Eglise ; et it le disait chaque jour;
it
l'eerivait chaque annee au Souverain Pontife : it s'associait
de ecear, d'esprit, de paroles,avec une vivacite toute juvenile,
aux efforts tent& en France et ailleurs pour la defense des
droits et de l'autorit6 du Siege Apostolique, &C.]
In signal corroboration, however, of these all-
sufficient assertions of Marshal Oudinot's son, the
present Due de Reggio, there come to us simultane-
ously with the letter from which the above
passage is transcribed, documentary evidences, of
themselves quite unanswerable. An interesting
report in the weekly journal, the Correspondence
de _Rome, under date,_ Saturday, the 29th of July,
gives, in all its details, a description of the funeral
ceremonies performed, by order of the Sovereign
Pontiff,
on the previous day—that is, the 18th ult.
—in the Church of Santa Andre della Valle, for the
repose of the soul of the deceased Marshal Victor
Oudinot, Dec do Reggio. According to the
narrative in the Correspondence de Rome, this
solemn funeral service was performed with all
imaginable pomp and ceremony. It commenced at
10 o'clock in the morning. His Holiness was
represented by his Excellency Monsignor Paces,
seated upon the right hand of the choir, together
with Mgr. de Merode, Mgr. Talbot, and Mgr. Ne.
grotto, Cammerieri Segretti, and officials of the
Pontiff's anti.chamber. Near these prelates was
placed the Prince do Viano, Commandant of the
Noble Guard, as well as the superior officers of the
said guard, and those also of the picturesque Swiss
Guard. To the left was his Excellency the Senator
of Rome, surrounded by a crowd of official;
there assembled together to pay the last tribute of
respect to the departed noble—who, it should be
remarked, by the way, was not only a French peer
and a marshal of the empire, but a Roman
Patrician as well. Oudinot's name having been
formally incribed, as a mark of peculiar honour,
upon the Golden Book, sacred to the names of the
patricians of the Eternal City. Near the fore-
going also were his Excellency the Commander-
in-Chief of the Army
of Occupation, together with
a brilliant staff—besides the General of Brigade
Mieheler, the Pontifical Generals Kalbermatteu,
Brasehi, ZAppi, and many other officers of both

armies.
Monsignor Marinelli, Bishop of Porphyre and
Sacristan of his Holiness, cfficiated pontifically at
the high mass, and at the close of it gave the solemn
asperging at the catafalque. Other particulars,
indicative of the unusual character of the solemni-
ties,tb seolemponpite)ie. lengthen out the descriptions, be it remembered, ordered
by
therefore, reluctantly, con-
giving here but one additional
beyond the limits here afforded by our columns,
this afternoon, for quotation. We pass by the
rest of these particulars,
tenting ourselves with
piece of documentary evidence, one, however, that
must be accepted as, of itself, perfectly conclusive in
reference to the opinions and sentiments cherished
Mar-
shal's up to the last moment of his existence by Victor
Marshal Oudinot, Duo de Reggio. The document
herewith publishes. being
no ilttobe the thandeceased the r
sub-
joinedasreceanfftely as lish publishes.
the 2 29th alt.,
affecting letter, addressed by his Holiness,
son and successor, the present Due de
Reggio:— _ _