The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-27 00:00:00

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THE PRINCE ALEXANDER I. OF
GONZ AGA, DUKE OF MANTUA.
(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
In the midst of the moral and intellectual enervation
which has overcome the political world, and has
caused all heads to bend before the power of Might,
it is a consoling spectacle to behold a man, illustrious
equally by birth and qualities, opposing himself with
the noble daring of Right, alone against all, yo contra
todos ; in the face of astonished Europe demanding
compensation for the evils caused by revolutions
to one of the most distinguished families of
princes—the illustrious house of the Gonzagas ; and
addressing to all personages of influence and power
protestations drawn up in the most emphatic terms,
and exclaiming with resolute voice, " I am the only
and legitimate heir of all the glory, of all the misfor-
fortunes, and of all the rights of the sovereign house
of Gonzaga, which heretofore ruled over Mantua,
Castiglione, and Guastalla. My ancestors reigned in
the East—at Jerusalem. The royal houses of Eu-
rope anxiously sought alliance with the Gonzagas,
and my ancestresses have been seated on the greatest
thrones of the world. Unnumbered times our blood
has flowed for the defence of Chrirtianity, and even in
fighting for Austria, who seems to-day willing to
contest my rights, in spite of the loyalty with which
we have hitherto sustained her power. And what
has been the recompense of so much devotion and of
so many combats ? My family has seen itself un-
justly spoiled of its legitimate possessions; all our
services have been forgotten, and our faults illegally
judged, in the person of the Duke of Mantua, my
ancestor, punished without reason and without
mercy. Advantage was taken of my father's minority
and of mine to effect our ruin and spoliation in the
I treaties of Vienna and of Paris, neither has my per-
son been spared ; Divine protection alone has pre-
served me from the snares prepared for me ; but I
despise alike menaces and dangers, and while a spark
of life remains to me, I will not cease protesting in
the face of heaven and earth against the un-
worthy spoliations of which I am the vic-
tim, and demanding my reinstation in my
hereditary principalities; my cause is the cause of all
sovereigns, its justice cannot be called in question;
my rights are neither obscure nor doubtful, and I
ought to rely upon the assistance of the great Powers
and the influence of all lovers of equity."
Such is the purport of all the protestations of his
Highness the Prince of Gonzaga. His perseverance
and his courage entitle him to sympathy, and deserve
a speedy triumph. It is to be hoped that the great
Powers who signed the treaties of Paris and Vienna
will at length give earnest attention to demands so
worthy of their regard, and thus afford a striking
example of their respect for legitimate rights. All
crowned heads are more or less interested in repair-
ing a so great, though perhaps involuntary, injustice ;
and surely political probity is a more solid base for
thrones than either ingratitude or indifference ! The
following protestation has been recently issued by the
Prince, and appropriately issued at the present time,
in consequence of an attempt lately made at Paris to
deprive him of his family papers :
" We, Alexander 1., of Gonzaga, by the grace of
God, Prince of Castiglione (delle Stiviere), of the
Roman Empire and of Bozzolo ; Duke of Mantua, of
Guastalla, of Solferino and of Sabbionetta; Marquis
of Medola, and of Luzzara, &c., &c.; descendant of
the Emperor Charlemagne and of Lothaire 1., Em-
peror of the East and King of Italy, &c. ; Grand
Master of the Order of Redemption and of Devotion,
&c., &c.,

" To all Kings, Princes, and Potentates,
" Declare, publicly, that our legitimate protesta-
tions against the treaties of Vienna, in 1815, having
been, by the most iniquitous means, rendered un-
availing, and we ourselves prevented from passing the
Austrian frontiers, excepting once in 1836, by the per-
mission of Prince Metternich, we believe it necessary,
to maintain our undoubted rights, before God and
man, by a SOLEMN PROTESTATION against all that has
been done to our prejudice relative to our duchies of
Mantua, Guastalla, Castiglione, and Solferino, &c., as
heir in direct line of those territories, by virtue of the
Salic law established during seven' centuries in our
sovereign house of Gonzaga, and by the di plome of the
Emperor Sigismond, dated Sept 22, 1433, confirming
our ancestor, Jean-Francois de Gonzaga, a perpetuite
for him and his male descendants, in all branches,
in the titles and privileges of sovereign, Margrave of
Mantua, and Prince of the Roman empire,' as long as
there should exist a Gonzaga upon the earth.
" 1. By this present declaration we formally retract
all concessions offered to the article of the treaty of
Ratisbon, concerning our sovereign duchy of Mantua,
in our protestation of October 12, 1841, addressed to
Prince Metternieh, Minister of his Majesty Ferdi-
nand I. Emperor of Austria. In consequence of a
profound examination of all the deeds and treaties
(vide notammant art. 31 of the treaty of Radstadt, in
1714, and art. 2 of the preliminaries of the treaty of
Vienna, November 18, 1738), an intimate knowledge
of the acts of our predecessor the Prince of Gonzaga,
Duke of. Guastalla, until his death in 1746. and the
testimony of impartial historians upon the illegality of
the sentence pronounced against the last Duke of
Mantua, by a tribunal acknowledged incompetent to
judge him in his quality of Prince of the empire,
and before which he was neither cited nor heard,
having died at Padua, poisoned.
"2. We protest in like manner, and we declare
null and void, all that was done prejudicial to our in-
terests during onr minority in 1815 and 1817, and
during the minority of our father Prince Joseph
Louis de Gonzaga, in 1722, by the secret and odious
compact, which disposed of our direct hereditary
possessions of Castiglione, Solferino, and Medola,
moyennant an annual pension of 10,000 florins
and which was signed by the Empress Maria The-
resa and our cousin Prince Luigi de Gonzaga Cas-
tiglione, who died in 1819.
" 3. We declare that Prince Luigi had no right
whatever, to give up these territories, under no con-
ditions, in the absence and during the minority of
the true heirs, neither had he any title to act without
their consent, the marriage of his grandfather having
been declared invalid, and he being aware that the
lineal descendant of his ancestor, Prince Ferdinand
VI. of Gonzaga, Prince of Castiglione, existed in
Spain in the person of our father, Prince Joseph
Louis, then a minor, of the age of eleven years, and
chief of the family of Gonzaga Mantoue Castiglione,
and that, in consequence, the concurrence of the col.
lateral branch of Gonzaga di Vescovado in the ar-
rangement concluded with the Empress was illegal,
" 4. We formally demand compensation for those
acts by which, in the treaties of Vienna in 1815, the
great powers disposed of our Duchy of Guastalla,
without the consent of our family, and more particu•
larly of our father, the next heir of the Prince of
Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla, who died without chil-

dren.
" 5. We recommend to the consideration of the
Powers, who, with the exception of Austria, have
acted, we are convinced, in ignorance of these startling
facts, the reparation of the injuries that have been
done to us, and the restitution of Guastalla in our
favour, in accordance with the privilege which they
reserved to themselves (article 99 of the treaty of
June 9, 1815).
"6. The confederated potentates cannot, in effect,
sanction either the monstrous usurpation of Mantua,
Castiglione, and Guastalla, which is not countenanced
by the rights of nations or of conquest; or the aliena-
tion of our family from those duchies where we had
reigned during seven centuries, without establishing,
by such an infraction of the rights of minors, a pre-
cedent dangerous to their interests, and entirely op-
posed to the monarchical principles which rule the
destinies of Europe, and which in its consequences
may become fatal to their kingdoms and their
heirs.
" 7. We renew the declaration contained in our
protestation addressed to Prince Metternich, October
12th, 1841, dated from Baden-Baden, relative to the
person who, by order of the Austrian Government, in
the month of September, 1836, counterfeited our
signature to a paper declaring our intention not again
to enter Austria or our possessions in Italy. We
protest that we have never either seen or read
this paper, and that we could not have affixed our
signature to such an act at a time when
family affairs rendered our presence at Vienna abso-
lutely necessary ; and also we have affirmed this fact,
when in the power of an armed force at Trieste, in
1839, in the apartment of the Governor of that
town, the Count de Stadion, commissioned by order
of Prince Metternich to obtain from us this renuncia-
tion of our Italian rights.
" B.With extreme indignation we protest against the
ignoble attempt, recently made at Paris by the agents
of a French Administration, at the instigation of the
Austrian Government, to carry off our fainily docu-
ments and title-deeds, November 27th, 1845, after a
residence of eight years in France ; and although by a
providential hazard, our most important original papers
remain in security, we rely upon the aid of the great
Powers to take some measure which may put an
end to such unworthy acts. Our ruin and our
spoliation have been effected by treaties, profiting of
the minority of our grandfather, of our father, and
of ourselves; OUR CAUSE, we proclaim it boldy, is
THE CAUSE OF ALL SOVEREIGNS
" 9. Finally, we peremptorily demand the invalida-
tion of the treaties of 1815 and 1817, in !b far as
they regard our estates ; and in waiting for our re-
storation to our territories, an INDEMNITY conform-
able to our birth, and to our close allianceinn
with al-
most all the sovereign families reigning n Europe.
" This protestation is signed by us, and sealed with
our family arms.
" London, June 21, 1846.
" ALEXANDER,
(L.S.) Prince de Gonzaga-Castiglione,
Duke of iliantua."