The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-18 00:00:00

LORD CLYDE'S PARENTAGE.

The paragraph which appeared in the Glasgow
papers intimating the recent death of Lord Clyde's
father, turns out to be incorrect That gentleman
died many years ago, and we are enabled to give
the followmg particulars regarding the parentage
of the noble veteran, on the authority of a per-
sonal friend of Lord Clyde, who has known him
intimately for more than forty years. His lordship's
father was Colonel John Campbell, who served with
the late Duke of Kent, the Queen's father, or on his
staff, for a very long period—corresponding with
his royal Highness up to the time of his death.
When quartered in Glasgow Colonel Campbell made
what is called a Scotch marriage with a good-look-
ing young woman much his inferior in station,
education, and position, and by her had a daughter
and son., both now living—the latter being Lord
Clyde. The mother died while the children were
very young, and the Colonel was sent abroad with
the Duke. On his departure the children were left
with the mother, or with her relations, if she had
died previously to that event, of which our in-
formant is not quite sure, and to this may be attri-
buted the story which has been going the round of
the papers. The mother's name may have been
M'Liver, and the children may have borne that
name until Colonel Campbell returned from foreign
service, when he took charge of them. They
certainly were then called by the Name of
Campbell. Through the Duke's interest, Colo-
nel Campbell obtained a commission for his son,
who went to London for his outfit, and remained
there for two or three weeks. He then em-
barked for the Peninsula, and two days after land-
ing was at the battle of Vittoria. In one of the
engagements under Sir Thomas Graham (the late
Lord Lynedoch) the young officer distinguished
himself so highly that Sir Thomas sent for him and
said that if he could be of service to him at any
time he was not to hesitate in seeking his good
offices. When Sir Thomas commanded the army
before St. Sebastian, an opportunity presented
itself, and Sir Colin claimed the fulfilment of the
promise ; and when asked how he could be served,
replied, " By giving me the pommand of the forlorn
hope." This he obtained, and gained the breach,
but was forced back, wounded, in consequence of
the supports not coming up quick enough. Our
correspondent suggests that the old man who died
lately may have been Lord Clyde's foster.father.—
Inverness Courier. •

A rumour was prevalent yesterday in the dock-
yards that the disordered state of Mexico, and the continual
insults and exactions to which English subjects have been
subjected there, have at length aroused the serious atten-
tion of the British government to that country, and mea-
sures of a severe and effective nature are, it is believed, in
contemplation to keep the parties in poWer in that disj
tracted country in wholesome dread of violating the law of
nations,

ME HOUSE OF SAVOY.

(From the ,Times.)
The approaching marriage of Prince Na oleo"
with a Princess of Sardinia has naturally combined,
with the critical aspect of Italian politics, to render
the House of ' Savoy an object of extraordinfill
interest in the eyes of Europe. In the popular cries
of Lombardy the King of Sardinia is saluted as the.
future King of Italy, and the peace of the Continent
for the next generation appears now to depend °l'
the policy of Piedmont. To satisfy the curiosity
which such circumstances are calculated to exciter
we subjoin a sketch of the events by the course °,
which a petty principality originally neither Royal,
by rank nor Italian by connexion has been brought
into a position investing it with at least the credit
of such remarkable destinies.
Europe contains no more ancient or lonr
descended family than that represented by King
Victor Emmanuel, who but a year or two ago was
welcomed by the hospitalities of this metropolis,
after the conclusion of the Crimean war. Even the
Capets of France cannot compete in antiquity ws
extraction with the Princes of Savoy. When the
first of these Princes became conspicuous enough for
historical record, Canute the Dane was ruling ie
England, and Edward the Confessor was a child;
but, though that period is upwards of 800 years ag°'
it by no means coincides with the origin of the
Sardinian family. That House, in its own sphere'
and its own fashion, is believed to have been ill'
vested with the attributes of chieftainship long be'
fore, and it is only when its fortunes had already
become established that we obtain the first glimpse
of its dignities. Its territorial position was el;
tremely curious. In the ancient distribution °1
Europe a strip of country was left between the,
massive kingdoms of France on the one hand are,
Germany on the other, which could hardly be calls'
independent, and which was yet without any de*
nite allegiance. In the North its principal feature
was the Duchy of Lorraine; in the South a State
which was sometimes called the Kingdom of Bur
gundy, and afterwards the !Kingdom of Arles'
This Kingdom of Arles included among its constv
tuent provinces the States of Burgundy, Dauphinf'
Provence, and Savoy, and it would be hard to sad
to what superior Government they really belong
In theory, notwithstanding the prevalence of the
French race and language, they probably per
tanned to the Germanic Empire, and it was certainly
in that Empire that the Kingdom of Arles, at i'
exinction' was presumedlo merge. France, heir
ever, in the end acquired Dauphiny, Burgundy'
and Provence, as, indeed, in a more recent gen eratiol
she acquired also Lorraine ; but the Principality' °:
Savoy did not fall to the same lot. By good fortune
it escaped absorption altogether, maintained its ows
ground, and, in the early part of the 11th century
a
prpduced, as we have said, its first recognise/
Prince, who already represented a long line '"
ancestors.
The first title assumed by the house was that of
Maurienne, which was exchanged,: about a hundrea
years later, for that of Savoy, and we may probably
trace in the alteration of style an assured extensil
of authority from a special district to the whole
the province. Here, then, just after our King
William Rufus had been shot in the New Forest
was placed the House of Savoy ; territorially ~
the French side of the Alps ; politically in norm";''
but uncontested, dependence on the Germanic
Crown. With Italy it had no connection, save that
~
of 'opportunity or temptation ; but as there Nc.,u,
nothing to be made out of France, and the family
from its first establishment was always makingst
something somewhere, ;the Counts of Savoy caf
their eyes towards diet fertile plain at the foot,.ue
their hills to which its situation had given the
name of Piedmont. When the Kingdom of Let'
bardy had been broken up into Ducal States by
the process which we described the other dtro
Piedmont, intervening between the region of t
Milanese and the eastern frontier of Savoy,Nvo
occupied, in great part, by the Marquisate of Afon'e,
ferrat, and with this Government the Counts of Sal
struggled for ascendancy. They very early gaineri
ground. Before the 12th century had conclude(
the Counts of Savoy were Lords also of Aosta,°
other minor baronies, and, as regards titular diP
tinction, of Piedmont itself, though they were ter'
tainly not then in possession of the whole territory
In the next century one of the prosperous 0
thriving family crossed over to England to hecoel6
,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and a visit which 111;
brother Count paid him leaves some traces even ie
the present day in the remains of the Savoy pale,,
in the Strand. As time wore on, and the acquit ,
tions of the House still continued, it was current
said in mediaeval proverbs that Europe containen,
only one King, one Duke, and one Count—the Ell
of France, the Duke of Burgundy, and the Cound
of Savoy, no other specimen of any of these orders
being comparable with models so excellent. The
House of Savoy, however, soon exchanged this it
signation for a higher one. In the 15th century
they were made, by the, at of the Germanic Ere
ror, Dukes instead of Counts, and Dukes the rei
mained till 300 years later they were transformed
into Kings.
All this while, as will have been observed,
the
territorial nucleus of the House stood on what DAY
be called "No Man's Land." It was not that
County of Savoy pretended to
absolute rights °,.
sovereignty—such rights were never advanced in
those days—but the Savoy County was certaill',,j
not French, certainly not Italian, and only German
by vague and indefinite allegiance. A curie':
illustration of its compound nationality was give.:
in later times by one of its most famous heroesr
the Prince Eugene of Marlborough's wars, WI!„
used to sign his name in three languages—Eugeii;
von Savo
waye. Still, the chief efforts of the fail
were al y s made on the side of Italy, f ulimately' with success. Two critical periods er
European history... not unlike each other in then
general features--contributed to bring the HOo
to
of
of Savoy ieta the position which it now fills. /
first of these is characterised by the campaigns •
Louis XIV., the second by those of Napoleon 4
At the beginning of the eighteenth century r'"i
European Powers were allied in arms to preceli
the acquisition by the French Monarch of the greet
a
patrimony of Spain—a patrimony which included
large provinces of Italy. Victor Amadeus, the.,
;
Duke of Savoy, sided with the Allies, and
rewarded at the close of the struggle, not only virire
the Montferrat portion of Piedmont, but with T.O
Kingdom of Sicily, which for a year or two
actually retained. It was afterwards found con;
venient to resume this portion of the allotraenr,
and then Sardinia was given to Savoy in Sicily:
place, the Royal title going with it, as before. P..
century later came another desperate struggle h„
'„
tvveen Europe and France, and then Sardinia WT.,
reimbursed with the ancient territories and mag'%
ficent city of Genoa—the Janua, or gate, as the
name implies, through which the Gauls or Fren°'
found their way into Italy.
Such is the history of this remarkable family";
a family which, with the exception of the creation!,
of the last war, ranks youngest among the Royt
Houses of Europe, and yet in antiquity of prinee
pedigree is a match for any. The Counts of Sa0•1
were dignified and distinguished princes befll.,
..71
either the Hapsburgs or the Hohenzollerns attained
any prominence at all. They are now Kings ;
though their State is far from being of the firsti
class, and is constructed of strange materials
though the cradle of their race lies
in one country'
their dominions in another, and their title is :-
third, they are still conceived to enjoy extraol
nary prospects, and are undoubtedly regarded
NO uncommon interest and favour. Something, n 0
doubt, of all this fortune they owe to the very arrvo,
maly of their situation. It was once said of
Duke of Savoy by a famous diplomatist, that P.'"
;
geographical position prevented his being t'1
t
honest man, and the hereditary acquisitiveness qt 0
the house has been now and then exercised, it
is true, with some sharpness of practice. 11,4,
prince, though he left nine children, gotWing'
declared Pope ; another secured, after the break::
up of the Crusading expeditions, the titular sov„°o
reignties of Cyprus and Jerusalem ; a third, t't.
Victor Amadeus of whom we have previa%
spoken, not only fought hard for Spain and tn,.
Indies, but lodged with the House of Commons,
after the expulsion of the Stuarts, a distinct requela
for the kingdom of Great Britain, founded on
marriage with a descendant of Charles I. Yet,lol;
til the awards made by the Treaties of Vienna, y
extension of dsminion seems to have ever given the
d
House of Savoy any discontented subjects, and;
though the cession of Genoa provoked great Pe'
bowies and some remonstrance, still the House ,
Savoy represented an Italian, and not a foreieo,
Government. Such, at least, it had come to u
considered, for the Court had long deserted ND:ill;
rienne and Chambery for the more purely Italisl,
atmosphere of Turin, and the original Frenc;
province of Savoy was almost invisible behind th
broad territories of Piedmont. Since that time
more substantial sympathies have been excited hiy..
the constitutional progress of the State, and $3
dinia not only represents a vigorous Italian Power'
but a free )talian community. Its position ;
strange. It is almost as if some small Wiele.,
Prince had been left undisturbed by the Pia.":
tagenets in the recesses of Carnarvonshire or
berland, and his representatives had found them'
selves a thousand years afterwards with pretensioll
to rthe Empire of Britain. Yet it is especial k!,
remarkable that these prospects, marvellous as the.;
are, may, if they are reasonably interpreted an
peaceably pursued, prove really to have sou'
foundation. Sardinia will not command the sYlf-
pathy of Europe in violating treaties on ts pretex
,0
patriotism or nationality, but if she contill_.'a
steadily in the career of political civilisation 9,T
freedom the natural course of events can hardly
fail to insure her progress to influence and polder'