The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-27 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF TIE SUN.

Sut,—As the son of a Prince who was born in England,
I address myself to you, and request that you will have
the goodness to insert in your journal the simple account
of the events which have lately taken place concerning
me in France. Returning to this capital of the civilised
world, where the English people are happily governed by
just laws, I come to demand the protection of those laws,
to which, by the birth of my father, the Prince Joseph
Louis of Gonzaga Mantua, I have a right.
Doubtless you know what are the misfortunes of
princes when calumniated and persecuted, Calumny
and falsehood are the weapons of their enemies, civil or
political, at home or abroad ; they are the resource of
the weak, of those who hate or of those who fear. The
more absurd and incredible these accusations the more
they are received and repeated. It is in this position
that I find myself. Men in France have denied me the
rights of my family that I have demanded for many years,
and brought me to an unjust trial. This trial, by the
circumstances and the character which it presented,
ever since my arrest at the instigation of the agents of
Orleans and of Austria, is one of the most remarkable
.instances of the injustice of the Parisian tribunals.
Since 1812 I hate been received at almost all the Courts
of Europe with the greatest distinction, and treated by
all the sovereigns with the honour due to a deposed
Prince, the victim of Austrian policy. But none have
ever denied me my titles, and the protestations which
I have renewed several times during more than 15 years
are proofs that I have not renounced the rights, which
I consider inalienable, to the possessions in France and
Italy which my ancestors, the reigning Dukes of Gon-
zags, of Mantua, and of Castiglione, have left me as
heritage. . _ _

Amid my claims, I demand the private property,
valued at several millions, of the domain situated in
France, of Arche and Charleville, with their depend-
encies. This property was possessed by my family, and
assigned a perpe,tuite to our house, by letters patent of
the French kings; Henri 11. in 1550, Henri IV. in
1596, Louis XIII. in 1634, and in January, 1640; by the
decree of the Conseil d'Etat in 1645, and by Louis XI V.
in January, 1646 ; and also by several subsequent de-
crees. By the death, in 1708, of Charles IV. of Gon-
zaga, reigning Duke of Mantua and Montserrat, Prince
of Arche and of Charleville, &c., and by the death, in
1746, of the Duke of Gonzaga Guastalla, the branch of
Gonzaga Castiglione, which I represent, should succeed
to his possessions. The only heir a our family at this
period was my grandfather, S. A. S. Prince Philippe
Louis de Gonzaga Mantua, of Castiglione, born
December 19, 1740, the son of Prince Francois de Gon-
zaga, Duke of Salferino. He was only six years old
when the estates devolved on him. He married at Lon-
don, on April 12, 1760, Princess Maria de la Cerda
d'Aragon de Medina Coeli, daughter of the Duke of
Medina Coeli, and he died young in 1762, and left his
hereditary rights to his only son, Prince Joseph Louis of
Gonzaga, my father, who was born in London, March
19, 1761. A Prince of Conde, our relation (by the mar-
riage of Jules de Bourbon Prince de Conde with the
Princess Anne de Baviere, daughter of Edward of
Baviere, Prince Palatine, and the Princess Anne of
Gonzaga Mantua) profited by the two minorities of' my
grandfather and father, and took possession of our
estates in France as guardian. But my father always
claimed these private possessions. Since the tragical
death of the last Prince of Conde in 1838, the Duke
d'Aumale has taken possession. I have made several
demands for this property, even direct, to King Louis
Philippe. In 1844 I was in London, when the General
Count de Fernig wrote to me, from Paris, a letter dated
August 31st of that year, inviting me on the part and by
the eager desire of King Louis Philippe and his family
to return to France, promising me a secure future. The
most brilliant offers were made me. I believed then
that they wished to m4ke an arrangement with me
about the possessions of rche and Charleville, to avoid
a trial which might have revived unfortunate recollec-
tions, and recalled the circumstances of the death
of the Prince of Conde. Confiding in these assu-
rances from such high quarters I went to Paris, but,
instead of fulfilling the promises made me, the agents of
Louis Philippe entered my house like brigands on Nov.
20, 1845, to seize all my title deeds and family papers, but
by an extraordinary providence my most important
papers were not in the house. Is it not evident from this
proceeding that they hoped to remove the possibility of
my ever proving my identity ? It was certainly a clever
manceuvre to forestall my demands for the estates of
Arche and Charleville, with their dependencies, which
had passed into the hands of the Duke d'Aumale, in
imitation of the means which Austria had taken to main-
tain herself in her usurpation of Mantua, Castiglione,
&c. Since that time the agents of Orleans have joined
themselves to the Austrian intrigue, and have established
wherever I am a system of defamation, of calumny, and
of falsehood respecting me. They employed spies, intri-
guants, and libellers, and prescribing them their tasks
they combined their attacks to prevent me by this sys-
tem from claiming my hereditary possessions in Italy,
and the immense fortune which the Duke d'Aumale appro-
priated after the death of the Prince of Conde.

- In 1849 I lived in Rome, from whence I wrote to the
President of the French Republic, asking him to examine
my hereditary rights to the possessions which I had
claimed for a long time in France. Here is the reply :
" Paris, March 27, 1849.
" Presidence de la Republique, Cabinet No. 109.—T0

the Prince Alexandre of Gonzaga at Rome.
" Prince,—The President of the Republic will examine
with serious attention the claim which you make to the
domaine of Charleville. But Ow importance of the ques-
tion necessitates researches and delays to which you must
submit before having a reply.Agreez, Prince, &c.
" Le Chef du Cabinet. _ _