The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-26 00:00:00

Queen Marie Amelie.

The Queen of his late Majesty King Louis
Philippe of France has just now ended in tranquil-
lity a life of many and great vicissitudes.
Marie Arnelie de Bourbon was the daughter of
Ferdinand the Fourth of Naples, Third of Sicily,
and First of the United Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies. Her mother was Marie Caroline, Arch-
duchess of Austria, the imperious daughter of Maria
Theresa, and sister of Marie Antoinette and of the
Emperors Joseph and Leopold. If Ferdinand was
the nominal ruler of his kingdom, Marie was

the real Sovereign. How, in spite of her husband
and his Cabinet, she served Nelson in his hour
of need at the instigation of Lady Hamilton
will be remembered by all Englishmen. Marie
Amelie, the future Queen of the French, was one
of five sisters, who were most carefully educated
under the care of Madame d'Ambrosio. She
early displayed the germs of those amiable quali-
ties which distinguished her in after-life. " We
three sisters," said on one occasion the widow of
Charles Felix, King of Sardinia, to M. Donnet,
Archbishop of Bordeaux, " we three sisters in our
childhood were called respectively la Bella, la cotta,

and la santa. La santa was Marie Amelie." The
political storms amid which this Princess passed her
early years make the beginning of her life resemble
to some extent the youth of her future husband.
She was scarcely 10 years of age when, in 1792, the
French fleet,. commanded by Admiral de la Touche
Treville, appeared in the Bay of Naples ; and from
that time onwards, during the period of the first
victories of Napoleon, the Royal Family of Naples
were kept in a state of perpetual anxiety and alarm.
At length, on the conquest of Naples by the French

fv,snrsra C.:rtnnen-.1 rITID,
nand and his Queen fled into Sicily with their chil-
dren. The Princess Marie Ala:lie remained at
Palermo with her mother during the first Neapolitan
revolution, and even for some time after the victories
of Suwarrow in Northern Italy had compelled the
French troops to depart from Naples. In the month
of June, 1800, the Queen and her daughters went
to Vienna, where they remained for two years, re-
turning to Naples, in 1802. Renewed political
outbreaks compelled the Royal family again to
retire into Sicily, and it was during this second
period of residence there that the Princess Marie
Amalie for the first time met the Duke of Orleans,
like herself, an exile from his country.

In 1808, on his return from the burial in Malta
of his brother the Comte de Beaujolais, Louis Phi-
lippe received a cordial invitation from Ferdinand
to pay a visit to Palermo. He did so, and soon
gained the affections of the second of the King's
daughters. There appears to be no doubt as to the
motives of Queen Caroline in eventually sanctioning
their union. It was not tobe expected that the sister
of Marie Antoinette and the wife of a Bourbon
King could look with much favour on the son of
one who took a chief part in the persecution of her
sister, and in the execution of the King. On the
other hand, it has been said that the shrewd Queen
early saw the strong points in the character of the
Duke of Orleans, and thought that, amid the perils
which at the moment surrounded her family, it
would be well to attach to their interest a man of
his tact and experience. Whatever may have been
her motives, there is no doubt as to the motives of
the young people themselves. Their marriage was
one purely of affection. Amid all the political mis-
fortunes which afterwards overtook them, their do-
mestic happiness was never for a moment disturbed
and their household virtues became proverbial in
Europe. The marriage took place at Palermo, on
November 25, 1809 ; and the Duke and Duchess
continued to reside there until 1814, in the enjoy-
ment of a greater amount of tranquillity than had
hitherto fallen to the lot of either. InlBl4 the resto-
ration of the House of Bourbon summoned the head
of the younger branch of the family from this
state of comparative seclusion, and established him
in his due position in France. In the month of Sep-
tember of this year the Duchess of Orleans arrived
in her adopted country, but it was not long before
the events of the Hundred Days compelled her to
take refuge with her children in England, whence
she did not return to Paris till the commencement
of the year 1817. From this time down to the Revo-
lution of July her residence was in France, where
she attracted the esteem and love even of the ene-
mies of the House of Orleans by the simple beauty
of her life, her gentle piety, and unwearying charity.
It has been asserted that in 1830 her Legitimist
tendencies led her to view the revolution with sor-
row, though it tended to her own elevation. She
is even said to have expressed a strong repugnance
to share a throneto which, according to her ideas of
right, she had no claim. Whatever truth there may
be in these assertions, the unalterable devotion
which Marie Amdlie bore to her husband, whether
in prosperity or in adversity, overcame all her
scruples, and she determined on the path of conduct
she was for the future to adopt. She took no part
in political affairs, but devoted herself to the edu-
cation of her children and to works of charity.
It was the Queen's unhappy fate, ere she had
been many years en the throne, to have her tenderest
feelings wounded by more than one domestic
affliction. In 1839 the beautiful and accomplished
Princess Marie died, and in 1842 a strange and
melancholy accident led to the death in the Queen's
arms of her eldest son, and to the destruction with
him of the best security for the House of Orleans.
Bitter as was this sudden blow it served onlya,to
bring out in stronger colours the beauty of the
Queen's nature. She felt that there was one on
whom the blow had fallen with even more stunning
severity, and she devoted herself to soothe and
comfort her afflicted daughter-in-law. A few years
more and she had to display courage of a different
sort—a courage and dignity which seemed to belong
to her race, and which offered a strong contrast to
the irresolution of the King. Lamartine, in glow-

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was too late, the Queen subsided again into the wife,
and prepared to accompany her husand in his me-
lancholy flight. Worn out by contending emotions
and anxieties, s'zie fell senseless to the ground in the
attempt to step into the carriage. Soon recovering,
she accompanied the King to Evreux, where she
separated from him for safety. She rejoined him
afterwards at Honfleur, and shared the difficulties
of his passage to England. In the quiet seclusion
of Claremont she devoted herself to the task of
soothing the regrets and cheering the heart of the
King. In 1850 she received his last breath.
The only public matter in which the Queen took
an interest during her residence in England was
the proposed coalition and fusion of the two
branches of the House of Bourbon. The Legiti-
mist partialities of the Queen induced her to
advocate, on certain conditions, a fusion which,
it is well known, was successfully opposed by the
Duchess of :Orleans. This difference of opinion
did not in the slightest diminish the feeling of
reverential love which the Duchess ever enter-
ta

,fined towards the Queen ; and her daughter-in-
aw's lamented death, as well as that of the Queen
of the Belgians, that of the Duchess of Nemours,
and, lastly, that of the King of the Belgians, have
been the bitterest afflictions suffered by the Queen
in her later days. She was, however, consoled in
her old age by the affectionate solicitude of the
numerous family still surviving, and by seeing her
children's children's children spring up about her.
Not only did she enjoy the affection of her children,
but also—what was very precious to her—she won
the hearts of all the poor people among whom she
lived. She was one of the most benevolent of
women, and though she was a strict Catholic, a
Catholic of the strictest Neapolitan type, she re-
garded xo distinction of faith in her charities. To
all who needed her aid she was ready with help, and
everywhere about Esher the name of the good
French Queen is pronounced with affection and
veneration.

Is on the 26th of next month she would have
completed her 84th year, it can scarcely be said that

the death of the Queen is unexpected, and yet she
died in comparative health. Two days before her
decease he had a carriage drive. The day before
she was up as usual, with this only difference, that,
feeling rather exhausted, she went to bed in the
evening earlier than was her wont. She passed a
restless night. On Saturday morning she said,
"Je suis mkux"—hex last words—aud fell asleep.

In that sleep she died, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon.
She was spared the pain of consciously encounter-
ing death ; also the pain, which to her motherly
nature would have been very grievous, of parting
with her children. She has thus ended, without
suffering, a life of much suffering; and death came

The late Queen bad five sons and three daughters.
Her brother succeeded to the throne of Naples, and
was the father of the famous Bomba. Her four
sisters were married respectively to the Emperor of
Austria, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Charles Felix,
King of Sardinia, and Ferdinand VII., King of
Spain.

IREL AND.

DUBLIN, March 24.

The arrests for Fenianism have been very few for
some days past. A man named Flannaghan, teacher
of a national school, has been taken up on suspicion
at Trim, county Meath, and lodged in gaol. Sub-
constable Dunne has identified Ryan, who was
arrested on Wednesday in the Galtee Mountains by
Sub-inspector Cruise, as being one of the parties
who fired at the police at Glenbane, swearing that
it was the prisoner whom he saw at the door when
the lights were put out, and that it was he who told
the police to come in when the shots were fired. Ryan
has been recommitted by Mr. C. De Gernon, R.M.
At the Ca%tlebar petty sessions on Thursday, two
young men named Carter and Hanley, charged with
complicity in the Fenian conspiracy, were let out on
small bail. There are still 17 Fenian prisoners in
the gaol of that town.
The grand jury of Galway assembled at the assizes
have adopted an address to the Lord-Lieutenant, as-
suring him that the vigorous determination of her
Majesty's Government to suppress conspiracy and
rebellion meets with their full approbation. They
regard with abhorrence an attempt levelled against
law, property, and religion, and are prepared to give
every aid in their power to the Queen's Government,
to resist attempts which, though impracticable and
insane, are fraught with the most pernicious conse-
quences as regards the well-being of this country.
Among the agencies actively and extensively em-
ployed by the conspirators was the very potent one
of circulating and singing seditious songs, especially
among soldiers. A private named Flynn, belonging
to the 3d Buffs, stationed at Longford, was recently
found engaged in this practice at a publichouse,
swearing at the same time that he was a real Irish-
man and would fight as an Irishman. His miscon-
duct was reported by some of his comrades, and an
order was received yesterday from headquarters,
directing that he should be tried by court-martial,
with the view of putting a stop to this practice.
Sir Hugh Rose has also issued the following general
order :

"Soldiers have been lately convicted and punished for
singing songs containing seditious and traitorous words.
It is against every rule of good order and military discipline
that a soldier should have in his possession seditious songs
or documents; and should hereafter any soldier be found to
have such in his possession, he will be immedhtely brought
to trial for disobedience of orders.

" By command,
" GRAHAM HAY, Dep.-Assist. Adjutant-General."

Viscount Castlerosse was this day sworn in as
Lord-Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the
county of Kerry, in the room of the late Mr.

Herbert:

The Cork Examiner informs the public that a new
use has been found for Fenian pikes, quite different
from what the manufacturers contemplated. It
states that the Austrian Consul at Queenstown has
received a request to procure a few of them for the
Museum at Vienna. He made known the request
to Mr. Cronin, R.M., who promised to procure a
few of those works of art for him.
There was an immense run of fish last week in
the tidal portion of the river Boyne, greater than
any known for 25 years. There are 38 boat -net fisher-
men, and in one day from £BO to £lOO worth of
salmon were brought on the banks from about half
the boats plying. A correspondent states :

This success continued for fully ten days. The fish
taken weighed, generally speaking, from 141 b to 181 b; but
in a few instances salmon of 241 b, and even 281 b, were
taken. One fisherman took £4O worth of salmon in two
tides. There has, for a few days past, been a decrease in the
number to a considerable extent ; yet they have high hopes
of a first-rate season, as they know the fish are in the river.
Tho price given here by factors and salesmasters to the
fishermen is Is. Bd. per lb. Most of the fish—in fact, nearly
all—are bought up for the Dublin markets. Last Ye4,B'
large quantity was shipped to Liverpool."
Mr. William Armstrong Q.C., has resigned the