The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-29 00:00:00

THE SEJ.g, LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 29, IS4O.

THE PItINCBSB DE LtEGNITZ.

At the moment when the death of Frederick
William 111. has directed public attention to the
life of that Monarch, our readers will not peruse
without interest the following episode, for the en-
tire correctness of which we vouch :

Frederick William lost his wife, the beautiful
Queen of Prussia, on the 10th of July, 1811.
The marriage had been an extremely happy one,
and the regret which this death excited was univer-
sal. By the command of her Royal Consort the
apartment which Queen Louisa had occupied in
the little palace of Berlin was kept in the state it
was in at the moment of her demise.
In 1817 the late King of Prussia married his
eldest daughter, Princess Charlotte, to the Grand
Duke Nicholas, now Emperor of Russia. In
1822 his second daughter, Alcxandrina, married
Prince Paul of Mecklenburgh Schwerin, brother of
the Duchess of Orleans. At a later period the
marriage of the King's third daughter, Princess
Louisa, was decided upon.
The old King, who had hitherto resided with his
children in the same palace, was thus deprived, by
the departure of his daughters, of the most cmhar-
ing attention, and he then sought for a new com-
panion to cheer his solicitude.

The House of Harrach is an ancient one. The
Protestant line to which the widuw of the late King
belongs was poor. Every year Madame de Har-
rach, her mother, repaired to the waters of Top-
litz, in Bohemia, where the King of Prussia habi-
tually sojurned every bath season.
The humble fortune of the Harrach family did
not admit of their displaying any splendour ; the
young Countess's dress was always as plain as her
deportment was modest. It was that poor young
person whom the King of Prussia noticed, and as
he had the citizen-like habit of the German Prinaes
of taking a daily walk among the crowd of visitors,
and of addressing both little and great, the young
Countess Augusta was one of the ladies with whom
the King repeatedly conversed in the watering sea-
son of 1834.

The King used before his return to Mrlin to
pay a yearly visit to the country-house of M. de
Jordan, his Minister at the Saxon Court. He in-
formed that gentleman that an invitation addressed
to Madame de Harrach would give him pleasure.
None at Toplitz, nor among those who had most
assess to his Majesty, suspected the prospects that
awaited Countess Augusta. The latter arrived with
her mother at the country-house in one of those
humble vehicles called in Bohemia " hauderer."
In the evening, after tea, the King strongly urged
the old Countess to stay with her daughter a day
more. Madame de Harrach excused herself, alleg-
ing the engagement she had entered into with the
owner of the hauderer, and took leave the same
evening.
She had scarcely taken her departure when the
King, suddenly drawing aside his aide-de-camp
and old friend, General Witzleben, said without
any preamble, " I'm about to marry Madle. de
Harrack. Go and demand her hand of her
mother. Settle all with Prince de Witgenstein,
who is now here."

The astonishment of those two dignitaries was
extreme ; but the profoundest secrecy was faithfully
observed. The acquiescence of the King's chil-
dren, and, above all, that of the Prince Royal, now
King, excited some discussion in the royal family,
and was certainly reluctantly yielded. Nothing, in
the mean time, transpired in public. It had been
determined that Countess Augusta de Harrach
should assume the title of Princess de Leignitz,
and that the King should provide out of his privy
purse for the expenses of the union, and for the
maintenance of the new Princess ; her pin-money
was not to exceed 24,000 f. a year, and, if there
were any Issue of the marriage, the children were
to have the title of Count or Countess de Liegnitz,
without any claim to the throne.
At the beginning of November, 1823, Countess
Augusta arrived at Berlin with her parents, and
unostentatiously alighted at an hotel of that capital.
A court carriage came and fetched the Harrach
family on the 9th of November, to convey them to
the Castle of Charlottenberg, where the nuptial
blessing was to be given in presence of a small
circle of intimate friends.

After the marriage the Princess proceeded to
Berlin, and took up her abode in the apartments
which had been prepared for her in the little palace
on the garden side.

The Count and Countess of Harrach, her pa-
rents, left Berlin shortly after, in order to afford no
pretext to slander, which might have dreaded the
establishment of a family influence at the Court of
Berlin. The conduct of that honourable family,
who were and have remained poor, was most noble
and disinterested ; the Princess de Leignitz's bro-
ther is still a mere lieutenant or captain in the Aus-
trian service, and never have the Harrachs accepted
any titles, favours, or pensions.
The Bulletin of the Laws of the Prussian King-
dom was the first publication that officially an-
nounced the King's marriage to his subjects. Whis-
pers of disaffection then circulated at Berlin, and,
we may saw, throughout the monarchy. Every-
where, and in all classes of society, the Royal de
termination was censured ; everywhere the venera-
tion in which the memory of the late Queen Lonisa
was held seemed to exclude the idea of another
union ; but a few voices arose to represent impar-
tially and under its real aspect the marriage of the
King, then fifty-four years old, with Princess de
Leignitz, who was only twenty-five years of age.
In all quarters blame was to be heard, and appre-
hensions were expressed as to favouritism and in-
trigue following the young woman ; the Princess's
character was as yet unknown, and little allowance
was made for the situation of the King, who wished
not to be deserted in his declining years, and who
had made choice of an unaffected, gentle, and good
wife, without ambition, and without any desire of
shining.

The Prince Royal, now King, behaved in the
whole affair with much dignity ; Duke Charles of
Mecklenburgh, as a courtier, and the other Princes,
with a coldness which, in the first weeks after her
marriage, must often have wounded the poor Prin-
cess's feelings.
The female portion of the Berlin Court, above
all, behaved in a most disdainful. manner ; at the
head of the hostile party were remarked the R►n-
press of Russia and the Grand Duchess Alexan-
drina of Mecklenburg,h, the former Princess espe-
cially exhibiting a haughtiness for which Princess
de Liegnitz returned but the utmost self abnega-
tion, and a continued willingness to forget the worst
treatment. The King, however, soon put an end
to rhis conspiracy of female self-love and oulrS
pretensions, which found even an additional stimu-
lus in the pleasing person and manners of Prin-
cess de Licgnitz ; and the latter, on the other
hand, gradually succeeded in making some
friends and finding some zealous advocates.

The Princess de Liegnitz wisely removed from
her conduct all that might have had her suspected
of any influence whatever. Meddling neither with
the King's political or private affairs, always re-
fusing to back any demands or petitions, wishing
to be but the companion of a King, endeared to
his subjects, she arrogated neither interest nor any
power whatever. She was constant with her
woman's part, and any other ambition would have
met with little encouragement either from the Kin,
or from public opinion, which now exercises at Ber-
lin as elsewhere an increasing influence. When
the Princess de Liegnitz arrived at the Berlin Court
her education was not complete; she laboured
much to obtain the knowledge becoming her rank ;
her tastes have remained humble. She is neither
a strong-mimded nor a learned woman, nor a blue-
stocking ; every day almost she devoted three or
four hours to reading French novels to the King,
and Paul de Kock's were not those least relished
by her and her Itoyal auditor.
It has been often observed that in the thorny
situations of life the plain good sense of women,
het, and a sense of duty, succeed better in securing
esteem, happiness, and public sympathy, than those
shining qualities which flash outwards with vivid
brilliancy, and so often leave the soul a prey to deep
sadness.—Forcign Print.

TII E G it EE N PA It K.— As various inquiries have
been made, as to the extent of the alterations now going for-
ward in the Green Park, it may be as well to state that the
onl cbject is to equalise the surface, and that the earth raised
in Trafalgar-square is to be used for that purpose. We are glad
to hear that the hollow immediately behind the residence of
Lady William Gordon is to be filled up.
A characteristic anecdote is related of an out-
at-e:bows poet, who, by some freak of fortune, came into pos-
session of a five-dollar bill. He called to a lad, and said—
" Johnny, my boy, take William, and get it changed." " What
do you mean by calling, it William?" inquired the worth:it-4;
lad. " Why,.John,' replied the poet, "I am not sufliicienti~•
familiar with it to take the liberty of calling- it ilill."—
A.Urror.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

',nom TIIE DAILY PAPERS OF MATC/tDAY.
(From the Globe.)
\%e do not know with whom the Liverpool meeting
to address the Queen originated, but suppose they were
not Whigs ; for the I,irerpoo/ Shoat-ad thanks them,
" whoever they were and says, " that nothing could
be in better taste than giving the moving of the ad-
dress to that distinguished Christian patriot, the Rev.
H. M'Neile ;" and, according to the report, every-
thing went on well, until the Rev. Gentleman came
forward to move the third resolution, when he was
assailed with cries of " No Jezabel!" accompanied with
yells and hootings. This was a strange reception for
an eminent. Christian patriot ; and the Standard accounts
for it on the supposition that " the savages never heard a
gentlemaa speak before." We do not know who moved
and seconded the first and second resolutions ; but if the
Liverpool Standard is right, the Committee did not put
their best leg foremost on the occasion. Perhaps, know-
ing the bad taste of their townsmen, they thought the
singular virtues and gentility of the Rev. IL M‘Neile
should not be dropped a plomb among them, as being
too overwhelming ; and therefore began with rather a
coarse person, growing " fine by degrees," until they
came to the unequalled refinement of the reverend gen-
tleman. Without, however, too closaly scrutinizing *he
taste displayed in the arrangements of t!..e managers,
the Rev. H. M'Neile did appear, and was hissed off
the stage. And there would have been an end
of the matter, but for the injudicious attempts of his
party to convert what ought to have been a cause for
humiliation into a source of triumph.
(From the Courier.)
A corresrondent at. Naples, upon whose information
we have reason to rely, assures us that the sulphur dis-
pute may row be considered as teminated. The state
of affairs was considered so satisfactory, that Admiral
Stopford had left Naples for Malta on board the Con-
6ance steamer. The Admiral had received instructions
to liberate all the Neapolitan vessels detained at Malta.
Of this fact there is no doubt, and as a further confirma-
tion, we may state that a letter from Malta, dated the
I.sth inst., mentions that the Admiral had actually ar-
rived there. The Princess Charlotte and Belloroption
had left Naples, and also the Ithadamanthus. The two
former were bound for Malta, but the destination of the
Rhadamanthus was not known. The Grenadier,
French corvette, was at anchor in the Bay of Naples
on the I:3th inst.

( From the Standard.)
Of the effect of the division last night upon Ministers,
it is scarcely necessary to speak. How often soccer they
may be beaten, they will adhere to office, and for our-
selves we thank them for their tenacity. The public
mind is now in an excellent course of training. No
iay passes in which some pseudo Liberal theory is
not exploded ; but the public have something still to
learn ; and Conservatives, too, have something to learn ;
l2fore they take upon them the administration of
the Government. It will be useless to displace the
Whig-Radicals if we are to fall to pieces among our-
selves iu a few months, to make way for their return
to power ; but we certainly will fall to pieces if more in-
fluence is not allowed to the Conservative democracy
than was allowed by former Tory Governments. Party
bonds are good things ; but if they are to be used as
fetters, binding us to the old engagements, or the old
predilections, of men who have come over to us, how
respectable soever these men may be, it will become our
duty to break them again, as we have broken them
before. We allude more particularly to the great
question before the House of Lords, in which there is
understood to be a difficulty arising from the obstinate
adherence to some supposed pledge, given by a dis-
tinguished Nobleman, not a member of that assem-
bly. We know not when the pledge was given ; un-
doubtedly it was not given in public, and therefore
it cannot be held to bind a party ; nor will it bind a
party who, as we hay' said, will not wear fetters im-
posed by any hand, much as they may honour it. If the
pledge was given' in other times, while other connec-
tions existed, surely it must, be felt how disrespectfully
the Conservatives arc treated when they are called upon
to hold it binding. We have, we hope, said enough—
and what we have sail it has been extremely painful to
us to write ; but we owe a duty to the Conservative
party, and it is our duty to let the leaders of that party
know, that we have not for ten years been so near " a
split" as at this moment.

teen years old, when he was bound apprentice to Mr.
Robert Davis, a quaker, who was a blacksmith in
Cherry-alley, Market-street, Philadelphia. When he
was nut of his time he went to sea and visited France,
Spain, and the East and West Indies. He was at
I3ourdeaux when Louis XVI. was beheaded, and he had
a Vivid recollection of the commotion and excitement of
the town. Dur'ng the first American war he was in
the service of Major Barrows, of Monmouth. In
1703, being in the brig Polly of Philadelphia, and at
Antigua, he was pressed into the British service by
Lieut. Pinkerton, of the Berbush schooner, by whom he
was sent on board the Hope, Capt. Robinson, and he
remained in the British service until 1816. In that
long period of British naval exertion he had undergone
a great. deal. He was at the battle of Trafalgar, in the
Bellerophon, Captain Cook, who was killed in that en-
gagement, and in the attempt to board he received a
sword wound in the wrist, a muskr;t-ball in each thigh,
a pike wound in the abdomen, and a bayonet wound in
the loins, at the same time that he received a sword cut
in the skull. He had been previously at Copenhagen
with Lord Nelson, and at the taking of Flushing, and
was twice taken prisoner. He escaped from a prison
in France, and soon afterwards rejoined his ship. Since
his discharge he had lived chiefly in Wales, where he
was married about nineteen years ago to his present
wife, by whom he had nine children, only one of whom,
the boy who accompanied him, was alive.
Some surprise was expressed at the advanced period
of life at which the old man took to himself a youthful
wife, to which he replied, that the Delaware tribe of
Indians were extremely long lived, and that he had re-
ceived a letter from his father nine years ago, stating
that all was well ; indeed, he should not wonder if he
had brothers and sisters as young as his own little boy.
They retained activity to an advanced period of life,
too, as he thought he could at that moment testify.
The old man then took hold of his right leg, and
standing upon his left, clapped his toe in his mouth, and
began to whirl himself about in a most surprising man-
ner. Here attention was attracted by a new object.
The little boy appeared to be actually convulsed with
laughter, and then, in imitation of his father, endea-
voured to raise his foot to his mouth, but failing in the
attempt, tumbled over head and heels.

Upon being asked why he had quitted Wales, Israel
Furman said, that he had been compelled to join the
followers of Frost, and had been examined as a wit-
ness against that person, in consequence of which he
was obliged to leave Wales. The Magistrates of the
placein which he gave his evidence had given him two
pounds, with which he went to Bristol, accompanied
by his wife and child, and from thence he came to Lon-
don, where, upon applying at Whitechapel for relief, he
was sent to the toil of breaking stones. As he served
the English Sovereign for such a length of time, he
would have been received into Greenwich Hospital, had
not Admiral Foley, the Port-Admiral of Plymouth, to
whom he had been long known, been taken ill and died,
just as that officer was about to exert himself to get
Jilin admitted.

Mr. Rowsell and Mr. Paul, of the City of London
Union, undertook the investigation at the request of
the Lord Mayor, and gave the old man some present
relief.

PARIS POLICE.

THE DOG OF MONTARGIS.

President—You are brought here to account for your
absence from guard on the night of --.
Jerome—Where the devil is that dog? Don't let
him in here whatever you do. Keep him out, or you'll
catch it.

President—Answer, man, why did you not nrsunt
guard on the night of ?
Jerome—Ah, the dog—ah, the good dog. Let me
speak. Don't let in the dog, I say, for if he finds me
out I will not answer for the heels of the sentinel, or
your calfs, your Honour.

President—We will find means to silence your mis-
chievous dog.

Jerome--"My dog mischimus—what 'lt story. Ho
is an angel—a lamb ;he has all the virtues belonging
to a dog—good father—good :husband ; but he has a
singular fault ; he cannot bear a uniform, and that is
the fact. Ah, keep him out—take cire of your heels,
I say. _ _

President—What has all this to do with your refusing
to mount guard ? _ _

Jerome—A great deal, your Honour. Just keep
quiet a bit. You see, I once had a wife. She is
dead, and may the earth lie easy on her chest ! She
was a charming woman, but rather fond of the army.
She had cousins in every regiment in the service. One
day it was a dragoon, the next a lancer, then a grena-
dier, then a light bit. I once found that the drum-
major was a near relation of my wife's.
President—Come to an end.

Jerome—Stop a bit, I say. I felt very uneasy, both
for the sake of my purse and the honour of the family,
but could lot help myself, until one night I went to
the play and saw the Dog of Montargis, or the Forest
of Bondy. I saw, your Honour, that a dog was taught
to fly at a light horseman's uniform, and so, thinks I to
myself, my job is done—all's right. I went, your
Honour, to a neighbour, whose mastiff bitch had just
pupped. I bought the strongest and most promising
puppy, and every day, in my garden, I gave him a
lesson in manners which he does not forget to this day.
President—What did you do?

Jerome—l hung a soldier's uniform on a tree, and
would not let him have his dinner until he had worried
it. The consequence was, that my dog Coomr took a
violent aversion to anything wearing a uniform—and as
he grew big, the instant one of my wife's cousins came
into the house—bang he was into the calf of his leg—
or having a bite at his shoulder—or—
President—And your wife ?
Jerome—Oh, she died, Heaven bless her soul !--but
I keep Caner in case I should marry again.
President—But what has all this to do with your not
mounting guard ?
Jerome—Don't you see, if I put on a uniform,
Caesar, who is no respecter of persons, would walk into

President—You are fined ten francs.
Jerome—Caesar, Caesar, Caesar ; at him good dog.

CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF

FRANCE.

The Keeper of the Seals presented lately his compte
rendu to the King on the administration of criminal
justice in France, for the year 1838, carefully and ela-
borately drawn up, which presents some curious results,
perhaps not uninteresting to the English public at the
present moment, when crimes of a dark and atrocious
nature are being perpetrated, and more particularly
from some curious coincidences betwixt the capitals of
the two countries in the increase of the crime of assas-
sination. In the year above mentioned the courts of
assize had to judge of 5,844 accusations, of which
4,232 were crimes against property, and 1,612 against
the person. Of the latter there were no less than 239
assassinations, which is the greatest number which has
been known in any one year since 1825. In the Court
of • Assize of the Seine alone there were 22 cases of as-
sassination, being 16 above the mean number, and four
more than in Corsica, that island of individual revenge
and cold-blooded murders, the mean fur which is 21 an-
nually. Of the above 5,844 accusations, 2,800 (48 per
cent.) were admitted without modification ; 1,629 (28
per cent.) were rejected ; 1,425 modified by extenu-
ating circumstances ; and 893 were crimes of a venial
nature. These accusations or charges were instituted
against 8,014 individuals, of which 6,554 were males,
-and 1,460 were females, giving one accused in every
4,185 of the whole population, or, taking the sexes into
consideration, one female in 11,699, and one male in
Q,512. There is a great disparity in the state of crime
in the different departments, the highest being that of
the Seine, where one accused is found in 1,218 of the
inhabitants, the lowest that of the Cher, where it is
only one in 17,303. The Lozere and Pyrenees Orien-
tales rank next in depth of criminal shade to the Seine.
The Creuse is next to that
.of the Cher in the paucity
of delinquents. It is a curious fact that in adjoining
departments there aro often found very great dif-
ferences. Of the females accused (1,460)383, or 23 per
cent. had been living in a state of concubinage, or had
had natural' children. Of 5,123 who were condemned,
44 were adjudged to suffer death, and 198 to hard
labour for life. Of the former, 10 were pardoned by-
the king, and 34 were executed.
In the case of 2,775 individuals found guilty, the
Juries delivered their verdicts with the declaration of
extenuating circumstances. Of these the Judges exercised
their discretion In lowering the penalty two degrees in
935 ; whilst on 1,840 they only lowered it one degree,
a duty which the law imposed upon in 1,312 cases out
of the 1,840 ; but clearly showing that they did not
coincide in many cases with the implied recommenda-
tion of the juries. There were 34 males acquitted out
of 100, whilst of females there were 42.
There were 78 individuals brought before the tri-
bunals for crimes connected with the press, of whom 59
were acquitted, 15 condemned to imprisonment, and
four fined.

The authorities had also brought before them 8,478
cases of deaths ; of which 872 were from natural causes,
5,020 were from accidental causes, and no less than
2,586 were suicides. Of the latter, the Department
of the Seine alone contained 483, or about a filth of the
total number. The suicides embraced all ages from
under le to above 80 yeers, and they were more fre-
quent in the spring and summer than in autumn or win-
ter. The tables are classed according to the professions
or occupations of the individuals ; and it is singular that
cultivators of the soil and literary men should stand the
highest in the list.
To close the melancholy list of deaths out of the
common course of nature, it must not he forgotten to
mention, though with feelings painful to human nature,
that :238 deaths of the above number are put down in
the tables as having been caused by hunger, cold, and
exhaustion, but no remarks are made or explanations
offered;

We have heard that Mr. Charles Kean is in
treaty for Drury-latie Theatre ! Mr. Butler, it is said, is also
a candidate.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, .TuNr; 27.
Middlis,x Sittings at Nisi Prius.)

THE. QUEEN V. WILLIAM MOWATT AND ANOTHER.

Mr. PLATT, with whom was Mr. BALL, stated this
was an indictment against William Mowatt and a person
who hail gone by the name of " Jem," but who was in-
dicted in the name of " John Jern," for conspiring toge-
ther to defraud Dr. Browne of forty guineas. Toe fol-
lowing were the facts of the case :—ln December last
Dr. Browne saw an advertisement in the Miles news-
paps .r offering for sale a bay gelding by Waterloo ; it
was represented as a very superi,n- hunter. and altn7i;e-
ther a very valuable animal. The reference was to Wel-
beekmews. Dr. Browne accordingly went to the mews,
and saw Jem, who pointed to Mowatt as the person
who had the horse for sale ; that person then came for-
ward, and both he and Jena represented the horse as
being a very excellent one, sound, free from vice, and
had carried a lady ; that it was a very great favourite
of its owner, and that it had belonged to Mr. or
Mrs. Browne, of Leamington. The price would be
forty guineas. Dr. Browne said he should like
to try it. Mowatt said he could not try it that
day, nor could be keep it for him unless he
made a deposit of Si. The Doctor gave him 51..
and called the next day, whoa Mowatt said he could
not try it uniel,s he paid the whole sum of fokty guineas.
Tnis sum Dr. Browne then paid him, taking a receipt
for it, which rec, ipt contained a warranty of the horse.
Dr. Browne then got upon the horse and rode it into
Hyde Park, where it pulled so hard, and plunged and
kicked so much, that he was fearful it would have killed
some one ; he therefore rode it back to the stables, and
there he again saw Jew, who said, in answer to his
complaints, that they arose from the horse being very
fresh, and recommended him to try it again in the
afternoon. Accordingly Dr. Browne rode it out in the
afternoon, but it then was worse than it had been in
the morning. He then took 't back, and iNlowatt said
he should have the forty guineas, but that it was at his
banker's, and he would fetch it. Jem requested, Dr.
Browne to go into a box in the yard and write a Mite to
his mistress, and state that he had tried the horse. Ili,
did so, but, having finished it, he found Mowatt wits
missing: Jun said he was gone to the banker's for the
money, and would be at Dr. Browne's house with the
money by the time he could get home. Dr. Browne went
home, but saw nothing of Mowatt. The nes t morning he
went again to the stables, but the person there denied all
knowledge of the parties ; and the horse had been taken
away. Sometime afterwards he perceived an advertise-
ment in the Times, similar to the one by which he had
been tricked, offering " a bay horse, by Waterloo," for
sale. Dr. Browne obtained a warrant for the appre-
hension of Mowatt, and went, accompanied by a police-
officer, to the place where the advertisement stated the
horse was to be seen. He there saw Mowatt coming
out of a stable ; but, as soon as he saw Dr. Browne, he
turned on his heel, ran into the stable, and locked the
door. The policeman, having desired him several times
to open the door, broke it open, and, upon going into
the loft, he found Mowatt, and took him into custody :
he was afterwards committed, and tried at the Old
Bailey ; but the Judges considered the offence did not
amount to a felony, and therefore ordered him to be
acquitted ; at the same time they directed this pro-
ceeding to-be instituted. He should prove these facts,
and he thought they could not do otherwise than find
the defendants guilty.
The Learned COUNSEL then called Dr. Browne, and
W. Hooker, a police officer, to prove his statements.
Mr. ADOLPHUS (with whom was Mr. JAMES) was
about to address the Court for the defendant, when
Lord DENMAN said there was no proof of the other
person being called John Jem—indeed, there was no-
thing to show that there was any such person in the
world. The pleader, somehow or ether, frequently
went too far, for in this case there were no less than
eight counts, and yet the party was improperly named.
Therefore the defendant must be acquitted. It was not
from inclination he made the suggestion.—Verdict,
Not Guilty.