The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-28 00:00:00

TBE LOYAL FiMILY OF OUDE.

"There is nothing so wretched as a vagabond
King," said Napoleon to his brother Joseph ; and
he was right. Even in the days when most people
belied in the divine right of Kings, the spectacle of
James Stuart at the Court of St. Germame was a
pitiful sight ; and after a short time even the mag-
nificent French Monarch got tired of his guest. In
later times, the truth of the aphorism becomes still
more palpable. Poor Louis Philippe, transformed
into Mr. Smith, with.a white hat and a pea-jacket,
lauding on the coast of Kent • the Pope of Rome
mounted like a flunkey behind' an ambassador's
carriage ; the Duke of. Brunswick pleading his own
Cause against a Sheriff's officer in the Court of
Queen's Bench : ail teach the same philosophy—
"if only we had the trick to see it." The man
who wants to study this sort of thing should cer-
tainly come to England. All your deposed
monarchs—your fallen ministers—your dilapidated
courtiers—your banished courteseins—find rest for
the soles of their feet in London if they find it no-
where else. We cannot too often remember that
Louis Napoleon—the Emperor—once took his
daily saunter with his gold-headed stick in St.
James's, and that the Empress learned her le iSODS
at an nglish boarding-school. Generally, how-
ever, such royal visitors appear en deshabille. They
do not come surrounded by the pomp of a court.
From kings they have already become counts, and
are content to live in private fashion.
But within the last few days the good people of
Southampton have had the first sight of a different,
and, it should seem, a more exciting, spectacle. A
complete Eastern Court has been bodily transferred
from the gorgeous East to the Royal York Hotel at
Southampton. The deposed of Europe come to usin
humble guise ; but the deposed of India come in
gorgeous state. Our " Moonshee " relates with
glowing pen the strange scene which he witnessed
on board the Indus. The decks were crowded with
dusky personages, clothed in every variety of Ori-
ental garb. There were princesses, courtiers, aides-
de-camp, barbers, secretaries, gold and silver mace
bearers, physicians, eunuchs, musicians, bakers,
butchers, cooks, tailors, shoemakers, water-bearers,
—stn Eastern Court with all its paraphernalia.
Not without diffieulty, as it seems, the Court was
transferred to the bored ; for it was essential that
by some .means the . Queen sheuld be transferred
unseen from her cabin on board ship to her bedroom
on land. The thing has been done, and—the
Royal York Hotel is now in their possession. The
show appears to be mast captivating. At every
windesv may he sesn men rolled in shawls, leaning
our, or smoking, or performing their ablutions.
The coif e-room is given up to the inferior castes,
who are kept busily eini.leyed. The bar is one of
the cooking-rooms, where we presume the sacred
slaughter of the poultry and the sheep is duly per-
formed. Inside the inner doorway sit the upper
servants, " the gold sticks" of the palace, s
chatting, and purchasing goods. The streets are
inundated with the suite. The populace, of course,
is in ecstasy, and stand gaping before the hotel
windows, eager to-catch a glimpse. Even Peers of
the Realm, great Ladies, Generals, Admirals, and
radical Lord Mayors, swell the crowd of curious
spectators. The Princes have held a Court, at
which many of our " great ones" have been pre- -
suited. The scene was striking. Tice heir apparent
to the throne of Oude, clothed in scarlet and gold—
his head adorned with a coronet enriched with pre-
cious stones—his hand grasping a scimitar sheathed-
in a gorgeous scabbard, supported by his uncle
in his cloak of blue and silver, and by two
gigantic Nubian .eunuchs, stood to receive the
strangers, and displayed, wo are told, a gravity
and dignity of demeanour worthy of a King. The
Queen has held herlevee, too, and has lamented to
L Ldy Hardwicke her inability to converse in Eng-
lish. Mr. Andrews, the mayor and eminent
coach builder, has been permitted to kiss something
—which lie believe§ to have been a royal hand. And
the Princes, standing on either side of their Prime
Minister and Interpreter, Major Bir 1, have through
him pleaded their cause to a sympathising crowd
of Englishmen. • .

Of the wrongs of the Princes of Oude—if they
have any—we desire at present to say nothing. The
discussion of that question may be reserved for the
meeting of Parliament. But it is something for an
Englishman to know that the deposed Kings of the
East this it worth while 'to travel some 10,000
miles, with all their train, to plead their cause in
person. To the•very centre of Asia the belief has
penetrated that the appeal to British justice is the
only substantial hOpe for redress. The King of
Oude and his advisers. show. by their conduct that
there was no hope of being restored to the throne
by an insurrection of his former subjects. In their
view, either the .English Gpverninent must be so
powerful as to be able to suppress any attempt to
reinstate him, or those whom he govornecl must be
so benefited by the change as to refuse to join in
any revolution. But such apathy is not the way in
which the subjects of a Patriot King usually re-
quite him. At all events the Kiug of Oude has
chosen to rest his claina.on the ground of right and
justice. lie will find, we trust, that his expecta-
tions were not mistaken—that the English Govern.
ment and the English Parliament are ready to
listen to his appeal, and to consider his case with
all calmness. •

There is a strange notion which prevails even in
Europe, and certainly in the East, that as in Eng-
land everything appears to be valued in money,
money, judiciously distributed, can procure any-
thing. We doubt not that, like other Eastern
magnates who 'have come to claim redress, the
Queen and the Princes.of Oude are satisfied that
gold will again open the doors to the throne froin
which they have been excluded. But they must
be taught that in this country, at least, provinces
are not to be purchased. They must be sent back
to their native- land with the conviction deeply
stamped upon their minds that, whilst an English
Minister and an English Parliament will listen to
justice,they will close their ears to corruption ; and
that, whilst kings have rights of which they are
not lightly to be deprived, the people whom kings
rule have also rights which need to be vindicated.
The other day we published a letter from M.
Louis Blanc, in which ho gave utterance to the
sufferings of the exiles of Cayenne, the Victims of
Louis Napoleon's despotism. Day by day we pub-
lish to the world the fruitless cries of those wretched
men confined in the dungeons of Italy. It is the
curse of despotic' governments that it cannot vindi-
cate itself when assailed ; for it cannot prove the
truth of its assertions. But with a free Govern-
ment the case is quite otherwise. The insolent
King of Naples asserts that our oppression in India
falls nothing short of his opl,rssioes in Sicily and
in Naples. The Princes of Oude may serve as an
example. The wretched victims of Neapolitan
tyranny are gagged. The Prineei of Oude are
free to. plead their cause. They haye ample op-
portunity—they are challenged to do so. Let the
King of Naples give Pomo and his companions
the same liberty,•and the world MAy judge whether
the acts of the.free- Government of England or the
acts of .a Neapolitan despot are the more tolerable.
Daily News.