The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-05 00:00:00

THE PRINCE OF GONZAGA.

A melancholy incident has recently occurred in
Paris, and a very curious incident into the bar-
gain : involving quite a little romance, which may
in some future times be recorded by some historian of
continental aristocracy. There was an inkling of
the transaction referred to, which, several months
since, at the period of its original occurrence, crept
out through the medium of a little paragraph in
the foreign correspondence of some among our
morning contemporaries. According to their ac-
count of the matter, a rather remarkable impostor
had been seized in the French capital, assuming

to be ALEXANDER, PRINCE DI GONZAGA MANTUA
and Duke of CASTIGLIONE, though in reality a
Polish refugee of obscure origin, rejoicing in a
litany of aliases. Since the appearance of that
rather startling announcement nothing more has
been heard of the transaction. No inquiry—no
judicial investigation appears to have taken place.
The " rights of the case" still continue involved
in every imaginable obscurity. The year
which witnessed the seizure of the accused
passes away, a new one dawns upon him
through January, and February, and March, and
on into this present month of April, in the state
prison of Mazos, where this unfortunate, we be-

lieve, still pines in close confinement. If guilty
of the charges laid against him, he ought surely
to have been brought up for trial long since ; but,
if guiltless, it is, surely, a great cruelty to keep
him—an innocent man—under the weight of
those disgraceful accusations, during so long a time,
without allowing him at least a chance of ultimate
escape from incarceration. What seems to indicate
the possibility that all this, instead of being, as
asserted, a simple act of justice, is in reality one
of very grievous injustice, is the fact that the ac-
cused has, during many years past, adopted every
available means for bringing his claims as Prince
DI GONZAGA MANTUA and Due of CASTIGLIONE
under the scrutiny and investigation of the prin-
cipal Continental Governments. Can silence on
this subject, we wonder, be much longer
preserved ? Let us hope, in the name of
humanity, that it cannot—whether the prisoner of
Mazos be " the rightful heir" or " the wrongful
heir," whether he be a Polish Impostor or
an Italian Patrician, whether he be Count
SOBILEWSKY, or Prince di GONZAGA MANTUA, and
Duke of CA STIGLIONE. He claims the latter title,
and he demands—as he has demanded for many
years past—that those claims should be inquired
into, and his right to those titles rigidly investi-
gated. . Something is here manifestly required
(very different, indeed, from their torpor hitherto
in regard to this very curious transaction)—some-

thing is manifestly required in the way of expla-
nation from the judicial authorities of the French
Imperial Government.

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary ar-
rived in town yesterday from Kew, and visited the Queen
at Buckingham Palace. Their Royal Hignesses after-
wards paid a visit to the Duchess of Gloucester, at Glou-
cester House, and in the afternoon returned to Kew.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by the
Princess Alice, took a drive in an open landau and four
yesterday afternoon. The Equerries in Waiting, Major-
General Bnckley, and Captain the Hon. Dudley de Ros,
attended on horseback.

The Duchess of Kent visited the Queen yesterday.
Prince Albert, attended by the Hon. Captain de Ros,
rode out on horseback yesterday morning.
The Queen and Prince Albert honoured the perform-
ance of the French plays with their presence last even-
ing. The Royal suite consisted of the Hon. Matilda
Paget, the Hon. Mary Seymour, Lord Waterpark,
Major-General Buckley, and Captain the Hon. Dudley
de Ros. The Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe was also
present at the performance of the French play.
The Countess of Gainsborough has succeeded the
Duchess of Wellington in her duties as the Lady in
Waiting to her Majesty.. _ _

The Duchess of Ca-mbridge and the Princess Mary,
and Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, visited the Duchess
of Kent yesterday, at Clarence-house, St. James's.

A deputation on the subject of the Pilotage Bill had
an interview with the Right Hon. E. Cardwell yester-
day, at the Board of Trade. The deputation consisted
of Mr. Turner, M.P., Mr, William Brown, M.P., Mr.
Henry Bremner, Mr. Shepherd, Mr. Hudson, and Mr.
Newall (parliamentary agent). _ _ _

A depUtation, consisting of Mr. Masters Smith, M.P.
( West Kent), Mr. W. F. Dobson, and three Trinity-
house river pilots, had also an interview with the right
hon. gentleman yesterday.
The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National
Debt had a quarterly meeting, yesterday, at the official
residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Down-
ing-street. Present--the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
the Governor of the Bank of England, and the Deputy
Governor. Sir Alexander Spearman, secretary and
comptroller-general to the commissioners, was in at-
tendance.

Mr. Campbell, chairman of the Bank of Australia and
India ; Mr. Bourne, deputy-chairman, and Mr. F.
Mowatt, had an interview with the Right Hon. E.
Cardwell, yesterday, at the Board of Trade.
A deputation, consisting of Mr. Alford Mills, Mr.
John Carter, Mr. Vise, and Mr. T. E. Savage (Hol-
beach), Mr. Adderley Howard and Mr. John Clarke
(Long Sutton), Mr. Watson (Wisbech), Mr. Spencer
Skelton (Sutton Bridge), and Mr. John P. Savage, had
an interview with the Right Hon. E. Cardwell yes-
terday.
Dispatches were received at the Colonial-office yester-
day from the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. A
dispatch was also received from the Governor-General of
Canada.

Lord Stratford de Redcliffe embarked at Trieste, for
Constantinople, on the 30th ult., in her Majesty's
steamer Fury.
The Theological Faculty of the University of Got-
tingen has conferred the doctor's degree upon the Cheva-
lier Bunsen, Prussian Ambassador at this Court. The
eulogium in the diploma assigns as a reason for this dis-
tinction, " the distinguished and, for a statesman, rare
theological science of which he has given proof, by his
learned and elegant works on the aacient church and its
literature."