The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-24 00:00:00

The Last Conde.

epxacl
tcee .of under
thet. circumstancesne. There
h i l d
Early in the reign of the " Citizen King," the last
Prince of the historic line of Bourbon-Conde died
uCch"nsuPsicpgicnieo'n at
were really no just grounds for such a feeling, but
it gathered strength from the fact that the deceased
which his
Prince had made a will shortly before his death, in
which the bulk of his vast possessions was bequeathed
to the King's fourth son, the Due d'Aumale. The
young Prince, thus enriched, must have been looked
upon as an extraordinary favourite of fortune when,
soon of ter reaching man's estate, he received a magnifi-
cent dowry with the hand of his cousin, the daughter
of the Prince of Salerno. To them, within a year,
was born a son, on whom his Royal grandfather be-
stoived his own Christian name and the title of Prince
of Conde. It was this child, Louis-Philippe-Marie-
Leopold d'Orleaus, the heir of such hopes and of
such apparently promising destinies, who died a few
months ago, before he had reached his twenty-first
year, on the distant shores of the Southern Pacific,
and whose remains were consigned last Saturday to
the temporary resting-place at Weybridge, where
the ashes of his exiled kindred already reposed.
The youth thus prematurely snatched away was a
prince of great promise, clever, lively, high-spirited,
well-instructed, formed, by the training of his
father (the ablest of a not ungifted family), either
to adorn the private station which fate would seem
to have prepared for him, or to fulfil greater and
higher destinies, if time and fortune should call him
to them. Young as he was, the opportunity had
been offered him of wearing a crown, which, with a
wisdom beyond his years, but not, perhaps, beyond
his experience, he decided to refuse. When it was
found that our Prince Alfred would not be per-
mitted to accept the crown of Greece, the " wire-
pullers" of the popular movement in that country
made overtures to the Due d'Aumale, proposing to
give the crown to the young Prince of Conde, and
assuring him that, if he were -willing to accept it,
the vote of the Greek people ' would speedily
make him king. The father, perhaps, with all his
talents for organisation and administration rusting
unused, and with so large a field opened for their
active exercise, might baN9 been disposed to con-

sider the offer a tempting one, but he did not try
to influence his son's choice, and left it entirely to
be guided by his own judgment and reflection. The
young Prince's decision was soon taken, and it was
conveyed to those from whom the offer had come in
language which showed how deeply the lesEons to
be gathered from the history of his family had im-
pressed themselves on his youthful heart. That
somewhat Odyssean range of travel which is consi-
dered a necessary part of the training of young men
of rank and fortune, and especially of young princes
in these times, seemed marked out with peculiar
fitness for one whose grandfather had passed
from the Palais Royal to be an aide-de-camp of Du-
mouriez, then to be a tutor in a Swiss academy,
of ter that to be a travelling lecturer in Ame-
rica, . and, after returning to lead the life
of a prince and a king in the 'land of
his birth, had been forced to leave it again
in his old age and die in exile. Among the chil-
dren of young Conde's uncles and aunts some
had naturally taken service in the Austrian army,
others had fought as soldiers of fortune under the
flags of Italy, Spain, and the army of the Potomac,
another had entered the navy of Portugal, and two
had greatly improved their prospects by marriage
in Brazil. A provident inspection of the manner and
the cities of many men could not be omitted from
the education of one of the most promising 'mem-
bers of so cosmopolitan a family, and therefore the
Prince's grand tour was to have taken in India,
Australia,_ South America, Mexico, the United
States, anddana-da. -Unhappily, after having per-
formed but a comparatively small part of this ex-
tended journey, he was taken ill on his way to
Sydney, and lauded there in a very prostrate con-
dition. He had begun, however, to improve rapidly,
and seemed in a fair way of recovery, when the news
of his grandmother, Queen Marie Amelie's death,
suddenly reached him, and the shock of this an-
nouncement threw him back into a state which left
no hope of cure. His death was peaceful and happy.
Whatever Europe is tending to—whether that al-
ternative of " Cossack or Republican" which the First
Napoleon foretold as its destiny at the end of this
century, or something of a cross between the two, as
the new Yankee-Cossack Alliance would seem to indi-
cate—it is unlikely in any event that any of those dis-
possessed royal tics,whose number increases so rapidly
every day, will ever regain theii lost position. All the
others have enjoyed a longer tenure of it than the
Princes of the House of Orleans ; yet it is generally
felt that they are better deserving of restoration
(leaving out of sight the antecedents of the family)
than most of their fellows in adversity. It is not
likely that either Henri Cinq, or the Comte de Paris
will ever have it in his power to create another
Prince of Conde ; and, unless the young Duke of
Guise should assume the title (which he has not yet
done), it will cease to exist, except in history. To
those who mourn his loss it will be some consolation
to feel that he who last bore it was not unworthy of
it.—London Review.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Sept. 22.

Mr. J. N. M'Kenna is the first of the Irish Adul-
lamites who has ventured to address his constituents
and to vindicate before them his conduct in voting
with the majority against the late Government on
the vital question of its existence. Considering the
indignation expressed at the time by some organs of
the Liberal party in this country, it might have
been supposed that the hon. member for Youghal
would have had some misgivings as to his reception,
but it appears that he knew the sentiments of the
electors better than his censors. A public meeting
was held yesterday in the Court-house at Youghal,
on the invitation of Mr. M'Kenna, the chair being
occupied by Mr. Barry, chairman of the Town Com-
missioners, when the hon. member for the borough
proceeded at once to justify his vote. He commenced
by stating that when returned he had given a pledge
that he would hold himself free from the obligations
of an alliance with any English party, and that he
would support only such a party in office as com-
mitted itself to a remedial policy for Ireland—which
should include a reform of the land laws, of the law
affecting education, and of the system of taxation.
Having described the position of the late Govern-
ment, which was not in office on any policy of its
own, but was, in fact, the Palmerston Ministry
minus Palmerston, the hon. gentleman proceeded to
demonstrate that—" The policy of the Whig Go-
vernment in respect to Ireland has been one of con-
sistent and continuous exhaustion, of exorbitant and
increasing taxation, of taxation augmented not in
proportion to the increasing requirements of the
State, but augmented in the ratio of the obvious and
proven deterioration of the sources of commercial
and agricultural profit in Ireland." He asked; "What
Ministries for the last 13 years were accountable for
imposing new taxes on the manufacture, the property,
the income of Ireland ? I tell you they were the
Ministries of Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell,
and they were all through the Ministry of William
Ewart Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
There is something so astounding in Mr. Gladstone's
application of the revenue screw to Ireland that I
wonder a man of his great ability did not see that
this country would necessarily sink under it,' and
that, even for the purposes of exacting the maxi-
mum, he had turned the screw too fast. Backed by
Liberal majorities in the House of Commons, the
Government had increased the levy of taxation in
Ireland in the ratio of 52 per cent. from 1853 to 1862,
while during the same period the increase of taxation
in wealthy Great Britain had only been in the ratio
of 17 per cent. I have, therefore, no confidence in
Whig Ministers so far as their policy for Ireland is
concerned. Not content with ignoring the weak-
ened and impoverished condition of Ireland—not
content with measuring out to her her full propor-
.tion of the increased bardens, as if she were hale
and strong and prosperous—they levied off her
people a million and a half sterling in excess of
even this unrighteous proportion—that is to say, a
million and a half a year of,,sterling money in excess
of what should have been levied off her if she had
been as progressive in wealth and population as Great
Britain. For every man, woman, and child, for
every unit the population diminished between 1841
and 1861, the Whigs levied an additional pound
annual taxation between 1851 and 1861 on the
residue of the population. Thus, from a population
diminished by 2,300,000 an additional taxation of
£2,300,000 per annum is raised. It is in a great
degree because of this heartless taxation that the
population of the country are fleeing away. If the
present Government would stop this hemorrhage,
let them tie up those arteries which their predeces-
sors have so mercilessly lacerated. A scale of taxa-
tion high and not quite quietly borne by one of the
wealthiest manufacturing, mineral, and commer-
cial countries in the world, in the full career of her
prosperity, is applied by unrelenting Whig Ministers
to an agricultural population diminished under the
pressure." Referring to the advantages of Govern-
ment patronage, Mr. M'Kenna asked—cg Of what
moment is it to the people of Ireland whether Mr.
Whiteside or Mr. Lawson adorns the Bench of Chief
Justice? What juster judge could the Whigs have
raised to the Bench than the late Master of the Rolls ?
In what that concerns Ireland was Lord Carlisle
better for Ireland than Lord Eglinton? What good
did. Lord Kimberley do while in office which it is
vain to hope for from Lord Abercorn ? Since the
Ministry went out, however, we hear a great deal
of what they intended to do. We have quite a vista
of baffled hopes and a reproduction of dissolving
views. There was the Tenant 'Bill they meant to
carry, there was the Church Establishment they
designed to abolish, there was union rating they
desired to apply to Ireland. Bat a Ministry deserve
no credit for good intentions. They introduced an
English Electoral Reform Bill and a Distribution of
Seats Bill, and if they had overthrown the Opposi-
tion and carried these measure's they would have

been truly masters of the situation and could affoid
to dispense with an Irish contingent in future. They
staked themselves manfully to carry those measures.
In order to do so (to use their own phraseology of
campaign) they crossed the Rubicon, they blew up
their bridges, and they sank their boats. But what
Rubicon did they cross in respect to•the Irish Tenant
Bill ? What bridges did they blow up in respect to
Irish education ? What boats did they sink in refer-
ence to union rating, or any other question in which
Ireland was presumed to have an interest? They had
no Irish policy except to pick up Irish votes, if that
may be called one ; but they had au imperial policy
rising nearly to the level of a genuine coup d Oat?
and it was almost successful. Half-a-dozen men
from one side or other would have made all the
difference—half-a-dozen in a house of over 6640 ;
• I per cent. more of successful hitimidatiori•!or. ca-
jolery, and the thing was done, and if it were done
Mr. Gladstone would no longer have occasion to
put forth his irresistible attractions to captivate the
votes of Irish patriots." The hon. member said he
need not remind his audience of the countenance
the late Government gave to anti-Catholic revolu-
tionists abroad. He said, " they were Liberals in
religion and bigots in politics, and they have brought
their Government to on end in a desperate effort to
hand over the chief legislative influences of the
empire to a single class, least likely to resist the
domination of anti-Irish prejudice. But some one
may say, Have they not the support of such men
as John Bright; what have Ito say about him ? ' I
say he is an honest, fearless, able English Radical ;
I believe his sentiments towards this country are
friendly and sincere. But he can do little to serve
us. Where Ireland is concerned he has not the fol-
lowing in the House of Commons of his ordinary
supporters. In what light, then, do I regard his
intended visit? I regard it, as he seems to regard
it himself, as one out of which little political good
can come. fn fact, for my part, I regard the visit
of John Bright, on the invitation of the late law
officers of the Crown, as the approach of a decoy
duck, or shall I say he is the innocent stalking horse
in the shadow of whose broad shoulders Mr. Brand
may take a deliberate shot' at a flock of unsuspect-
ing Irish members The man himself, however, is
honest, sincere, and able, and however I may decline
him as my leader in politics, I desire to speak of him
as I think, with the respect due to his honesty and
talent. I must caution the people of Ireland from
indulging in the belief that John Bright's friendship
is equivalent to the friendship of any English party."
Mr. M'Kenna concludes as follows :—" It is high
time that the people of Ireland should impress this
duty on their representatives—to preserve them from
the continuance of Whig taxation, and not that they
should become the supporters of that party which
has ground them down and impoverished them. If
Ireland were as prosperous as England or Scotland,
if the returns of trade, of manufacture, and the
scale of wages were alike, then I, for one, would
say tax us alike. But as they are not alike, as Ire-
land is still far behind England and Scotland in the
ability to pay taxes, then a nominal equality is
actual injustice. But now I anticipate the question.
What chance have we of redress, great or small,
from the present Ministry ? Well, I hope we have
mine; I hope the recognition by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer that Ireland suffers from a hemorrhage
of her people will insure his attention to such mea-
sures of redress as are practicable. The Land Bill
of the last Government was a defective measure,
but it had some merits. They can easily give us a
better, as a former Tory Government offered us a
better ; but the Irish Liberal members helped to
turn them out of office before anything was done.
They can easily give us an Education Code in har-
mony with the views of strict Catholics and strict
Protestants, equally protecting every denomination
of student and pupil, and conceding us a real and
not a mock charter for the Catholic University.
They can reduce the taxation of Ireland—at least I
feel confident they will do so, if the Whigs and the
Irish Whig Liberals are not too many for them.
The dearest object of my life is to see the people of
Ireland prosperous, contented, and loyal. Loyalty
of the subject is the crowning reward of good go-
vernment ; like mercy, it hath a twofold power, it
blesses him that gives and him that takes ; but I
would almost despair of seeing Ireland loyal,
governed by men who have systematically fanned
the flame of revolution abroad, and who have been
to the Fenians of the Continent what some parties
in the United States desire their Government to be
towards the Irish Fenians." A resolution was then
proposed by the Rev. T. Murphy, P.P., of Youghal,
and was passed unanimously, approving the course
pursued by Mr. M'Kenna ; also another resolution
approving his supporting the present Government
in the event of their policy for Ireland being
satisfactory.

Mr. Payne and the Ballet Girl.

Wherrlast we hadoccasion to call attention, says
the. Spectator, to the caprices of Mr. Payne, it was
not in his judicial, but in his poetical, character
that he invited the notice of the critics. Several
years ago he made himself notorious by reciting, at
a festival in honour of the illustrious bug destroyer,
Mr. Harper Twelvetrees, some verses which he had
himself composed in honour of the faithful partner
in joy and sorrow of that worthy and enterprising
person. These verses were not, we believe, the
only fruits of Mr. Payne's poetical genius, and,
judging, by internal evidence, we should be inclined
to accuse him of the paternity of much of the senti-
mental jingle that may be heard any night in the
music halls of the metropolis. It is a sad falling
off for the intimate friend of Mr. Twelvetrces, the
sacred poet of the domestic hearth, to become the
defender of oppressed ballet girls, but Mr. Payne is
evidently one of those gushing gentlemen who pre-
serve till late in life the fresh feelings of youth in all
their greenness, and when the fair Miss Simmons, at-
tired in the fascinating costume of the corps de ballet,
was brought before him on the charge of stealing a
cloak, he was as sincerely awestruck with admiration
of her charms as if he had been a country-bred young-
ster paying court to one of the 300 fairies whose light-
ness of foot in the dance is the pride and glory of
the Alhambra. " The might and majesty of loveli-
ness" in the felon's dock quite overpowered him.
The jury found that there were extenuating cir-
cumstances in the case, and, as the prisoner was very
young, recommended her to mercy; but the judge
apparently took care to let every one know that this
recommendation had weight with him chiefly be-
cause Miss Simmons had a pretty face. After ad-
dressing her, according to one report, in language
which will do the girl more harm than if she had
been sent to suffer the stern discipline of a prison
for five years, be remanded her for further inquiry,
and at a second interview remitted her sentence, and
gave her back to her friends with the admonition to
be careful not again to do any act that would ex-
pose her good name even to suspicion. It is quite
clear that, supposing Miss Simmons to have been
perfectly innocent of the crime laid to her charge,
is
Miss Simmons
this way of treating an inexperienced and pretty
girl may have ruined her forlife.
unusually strong-minded,Unss
is she
now
le
e
probably convinced that the beauty she pos-
sessesvaluabl to her than good con-
duct is far more
and integrity ; and, if she go on from bad to
worse, relying always on the effect of her " fair
hair, light blue eyes, small mouth, and regular
featur
to avert the just punishment of her
errors,r. Payne will be chiefly responsible for the
catastrophe. Still worse results will follow from the
M"
creation of a legal precedent in favour of accepting
the plea of personal beauty in mitigation of punish-
ment. Women in general will not resent the arbi-
trary injustice of Mr. Payne's decision, because there
is no woman so plain that she does not believe her
charms are powerful enough to move the heart of.
the sternest judge, and therefore the release of Miss
Simmons will only be accepted by womankind in