The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-10 00:00:00

RISK ALLAH BEY.

To Monsieur de Bavay, Procureur-Gendral at
Brussels.

I am Grandmaster of the Orders of my family ;
and whatever may be the objections you have raised,
I confer them, and shall continue to confer them,
whenever and on whomsoever I think fit. It is my
legitimate right, notwithstanding your having
arrogated to yourself the power of denying it. You
may calumniate me, but I shall not the less do-that
which I consider best, and if you act as an Attor-
ney-General who understands his profession that
will not in any way prevent my conducting myself
as a Prince who respects himself.

In conclusion, I Protest, sir, conscientiously and
solemnly, before God and before Europe, against
your unworthy expressions, as also against the
falsity of your accusations with respect to me per-
sonally. The complete inaccuracy of your allega-
tions can be proved by all those who are willing to
read the accompanying letter, which was trans-
.

mitted in the month of December, 1853, by his
Excellency Lord Cowley, the English Ambassador,
to his Majesty Napoleon 111., Emperor of the
French.

I have the honour, Monsieur le Procureur-Gene
ral, to present my respects.
PRINCE ALEXANDRE ANDRE DE GONZAGA,
Duke of Mantua.

To his Majesty Napoleon 111., Emperor' of the

French

Sire,--The undersigned Prince Alexander of
GOnzaga of Mantua has the honour to submit to
your Majesty the following facts.
In 1812 he entered as a volunteer the 9th Regi-
ment of Infantry of the Vistula under the name of
Prince Alexander Andre of Gonzaga Mantua, Count
of Murzinowski, and Prince of the Roman Empire.
In the course of the same year he was promoted to
the grades of non-commissioned officer, afterwards
of lieutenant. On his return from the Russian
campaign he was met at Wilna by Marshal Ney,
who placed him on his staff, where he remained
until the battle of Leipsic.
After that campaign he entered the regiment of
Lancers formed by General Count Pac, in which
regiment he served as a lieutenant until 1814.
In 1816 the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia
appointed him first-class lieutenant in the 2d Regi-
ment of Chassurs ; but from that time to 1821 he was
detached from the regiment, and specially served
on the staff of the Grand Duke Constantine. After-
wards the Grand Duke sent him to Gen. Rozniecki,
Chief Instructor of all the Cavalry of Poland and
that of Lithuania, where he was promoted to the
rank of captain of cavalry in 1824.
In order to abbreviate this exposé, the undersigned
Prince Gonzaga, has the honour to make known to
your Majesty that in 1828 he was serving with the
rank of colonel in the Russian war with Turkey.
Finally, in 1833, the undersigned was naturalised a
citizen of Wurtemberg, after his identity and ante-
cedents had been verified by Baron Mayendorff, the
Russian Minister at the Court of Wurtemberg, act
ing under orders received from the Emperor Nicho
las 1., and later, after having distinguished himsel
in the army of Don Carlos, in Spain, as colonel o
the. Lancers of Tortosa,. in 1837 and 1838, he en
tered private life.

The undersigned, in order to complete this brief
and incomplete sketch of his services, must add that
the French Government offered him, in 1840, the
appointment of colonel in the Foreign Legion.
From the year 1812 the undersigned Prince
Alexander Gonzaga Mantua has been received at
all the Courts, with marked distinction and treated
by all Sovereigns with the greatest kindness. No
one has ever thought of disputing his names and
titles ; and the protests which he has several times
renewed during the last 15 years establish the fact
that he has no intention of renouncing his rights
which he considers imprescripible. Did not the
undersigned fear to occupy too much of your Ma-
jesty's time, he would cite some passages from his
voluminous and important correspondence, in which
would be seen the sympathy and regard which
Princes, and the most illustrious statesmen
of France, England, Italy, Germany, and
Prussia have expressed towards him. The under-
signed could also give the names of many
French peers, diplomatists, generals, and admirals
who have never doubted his identity, and have
always written most flattering letters. Lately,
again, while in Rome, at the time of the French
occupation, the undersigned Prince Gonzaga, thinks
it right to mention that he was of sonic service to
your Majesty's army. Sire, letters emanating from
the commanders of that army show how great was
the esteem in which he was held.

Before the time of the painful trial to which the
undersignel will presently call your Majesty's at-
tention, the prince did not wish to publish any
memoir, quote any letters, or even make use of any
name, as it was his particular wish to avoid scandal,
although scandal was being accumulated around
him.

Thus, Sire, time passed on for many years, during
which the undersigned bad been all over Europe,
and had resided in France for more than six years,
without any person having dreamt of denying his
identity.

However, in 1852, on his way through Paris, pro-
vided with an English passport in due order, he re-
ceived from the police authorities (April 16, 1852)
an order to depart and quit France. it caused him
deep sorrow to be the object of such an order, and
perhaps he acted unwisely in resisting that order,
but he did it in the interest of his dignity and
honour, which you, sire, will easily comprehend.
On the 23d July, 1852, he was arrested under
the triple charge of swindling, unauthorised stay in
France, and of illegally wearing the order of the
Legion of Honour. This latter charge was at once
withdrawn, as the undersigned Prince had in reality

We have been requested to publish the following
correspondence :

20, Edward-street, Portman-square,
London, Nov. 17, 1866.
Srn,--My attention was attracted a few days
since to the tenour of your speech, which appeared
, in the Daily Telegraph of October the 30th, a dis-
course composed on the occasion of the trial of Risk
Allah Bey. In that speech you mentioned my name,
and made certain remarks referring to my order of
" The Redemption," instituted by my ancestor
Vincent I. of Gonzaga, Sovereign Duke of Mantua
and Montferrat, and of which noble order I am, as
will be seen by the enclosed statutes, Hereditary
Grand Master.
Having no intention to occupy the public with
the question of the success with which the jury
gratified the efforts of your eloquence, I will only
remark that there was something very ignoble in
those attacks, launched as they were at an absent
and consequently defenceless person ; and believe
me, sir, there is not all the importance you desire
attached to those verbose accusations, delivered as
they were by a man having a certain object to
attain.
Arbitrary measures may have wrested from my
family their'hereditary possessions, yet two things
remain to me as their actual chief and last descen-
dant : these two things are the name of Gonzaga,
and my right to the possessions of my ancestors.
The weaker must of necessity yield to the stronger,
but none can deny either his existence or his name ;
and his rights, although set aside, are imperishable
and must descend to his heirs. During 38 years I
followed a military career, and retired with the rank
of General. I have frequently brought before the
notice of the public the spoliations of which I am
the victim, and the newspapers of many periods, and
of almost all the nations of Europe (notwithstand-
ing the shameful persecutions to which I have been
subjected), have published my protestati ons, and my
identity has been proved by Governmeds, as also
by the titles and documents in my possession.
The Sovereigns of Austria, and not the Princes of
Gonzaga, have been the despoilers (for it is impos-
sible for me, sir, to repeat the base expressions of
which you made use), and if they have left me no-
thing but the name I bear, and the titles apper-
taining to it, it doer not follow that I am the dis-
honest man you desire to represent me ; and there
was little - delicacy on your part in attacking me
with vituperation, because it might serve the cause
in which you were engaged.