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 following 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
Oampbell. 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 Lynedochl 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 command 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 dis-
tracted•country in wholesome dread of violating the law of
nations.

TEE HOUSE OF SAVOY.

(From the Times.)
The approaching marriage of Prince Napoleon
with a Princess of Sardinia has naturally combined,
with the critical aspect of Italian politics,to render
the House of Savoy an object of extraordinarl
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 on
the policy of Piedmont. To satisfy the curiosity
which such circumstances are calculated to excite,
we subjoin a sketch of the events by the course of
which a petty principality originally neither Royat
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 long'
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 of
extraction with the Princes of Savoy. When the
first of these Princes becamehonspicuous enough fa
historical record, Canute the Dane was ruling en
England, and Edward the Confessor was a child;
but, though that period is upwards of 800 years ago,
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 in'
vested with the attributes of chieftainship long be-
fore, and it is only when its fortunes had ahead,'
become established that we obtain the first glimpse
of its dignities. Its territorial position was er
tremely curious. In the ancient distribution 0):
Europe a strip of country was left betvveen t 13,0,
massive kingdoms of France on the one hand and
Germany on the other, which could hardly be calk!,
independent, and which was yet without an deft
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 Burl
gundy, and afterwards the !Kingdom of Arles.
This Kingdom of Arles included among its constl-
tuent provinces the States of Burgundy, DauphinP
Provence, and. Savoy, and it would be hard to scl
to what superior Government they really belong '
In theory, notwithstanding the prevalence of the
French race and language, they, probably per'
tamed to the Germanic Empire, and it was certanl
in that Empire that the Kingdom of Arles, at it
exinction, was presumed to merge.. France, 1101'
ever, in the end acquired Dauphiny, Burgundy'
and Provence, as, indeed, in a more recent generation,
she acquired also Lorraine ; but the Principality °:
Savoy did not fall to the same lot. By good forty%
it escaped absorption altogether, maintained its ovir
ground, and, in the early part of the 11th centuria
produced, as we have said, its first recognise f
Prince, who already represented a long line °
ancestors.
The first title assumed by the house was that ef,
Maurienne, which .was exchanged, about a hundrev,
years later, for that of Savoy, and we may probably
trace in the alteration of style an assured extensiel
of authority from a special district to the whole °
the province. Here, then, just after our Kill
William Rufus had been shot in the New Forest
was placed the Home of Savoy ; territorially ,
the French side of the Alps ; politically in nominal'
ni
bid uncontested, dependence on the Germanic
Crown. With Italy it had no connection save that
of opportunity or temptation ; but as 'there NT,
nothing to be made out of France, and the fan
from from its first establishment was always makill
something somewhere, ;the Counts of Savoy cO7l
their eyes towards that fertile plain at the foot.ve
their hills to which its situation had given t 5,
name of Piedmont. When the Kingdom of DI,
bandy had been broken up into Ducal States
the process which we described the other del;
Piedmont, intervening between the region of 00
Milanese and the eastern frontier of Savoy, 'ivy
occupied, in great part, by the Marquisate of Mon,
ferrat, and with this Government the Counts of Sal
struggled for ascendancy. They very early gained
ground. Before the 12th century had conclude
the Counts of Savoy were Lords also of Aosta,,°
other minor baronies, and, as regards titular 00,
tinction, of Piedmont itself, though they were c"
thinly not then in possession of the whole territorii
In the next century one of the prosperous aes
thriving family crossed over to England to beconi
Archbishop of Canterbury, and a visit which D,,
;
brother. Count paid him leaves some traces even '„,„
the present day in the remains of the Savoy
in the Strand. As time wore on, and the acqulle
tions Of the House still continued, it was currently
said in medimval proverbs that Europe contain',
only one King, one Duke, and one Count—the Kent
of. France, the Duke. of Burgundy, and the Count
of Savoy, no other specimen of any of these orclell'
de'
being comparable with models so excellent. T
House of Savoy, however, soon exchanged this e
signation for . a higher one. In the 15th cent"
they were made, by the fiat of the Germanic Dac:
ror, Dukes instead of Counts, and Dukes the e
mained till 300 'years' later tiey were transforni'
into Kings.
All this while, as will have been observed, the
territorial nucleus of the House stood on what essay
be called "No Man's Land." It was not that t"(
County of Savoy pretended to absolute rights
,°
sovereignty—such rights were
,never advanced 10,
those days—but the Savoy County was certaiv„,'s,
not French, certainly not Italian, and only Gertnt's
by vague and indefinite allegiance. A curi°o%
illustration of its compound nationality was giT'" t
in later times by one of its most famous heroes
,0
the Prince Eugene of Marlborough's wars, vfr;,:,
used to sign his name in three languages--Eugeu,;c
elafneahisturt
von Savoye. Still, the chief efforts of the fa'
were always 3
made on the side of Italy,
ultimately with success. Two critical periods
Eeu rn
eor
ap
feature
er y —on nottr
iubnultied t
unlike eachobring
h
other
tie uo
in tllue ' 0
of Savoy into the position which it now fills. af
first of these is characterised by the campaigns I,
Louis XIV., the second by those of Napoleon m
At the beginning of the eighteenth century I'4
European Powers were allied in arms to prevent
the acquisition by the French Monarch of the gre:j
patrimony of Spain—a patrimony which includ
large provinces of Italy. Victor Amadeus, the;
Duke of Savoy, sided with the Allies, and el
rewarded at the close of the struggle, not only
C
the Montferrat portion of Piedmont, but with
Kingdom of Sicily, which for a year or two P,„
actually retained. It was afterwards found el
venient. to resume • this portion of the allotine%
and then Sardinia was given to Savoy in Sicily
place, the Royal title going with it, as before.
century later came another desperate struggle h°'
tween Europe and,France, and then Sardinia „4
reimbursed with the ancient territories and mag3o
ficent city of Genoa-the Janua, or gate, as
name implies, through which the Gauls or Fro°
found their way into Italy.
•
Such is the history, of this remarkable fannly
a family which, with the exception of the creatiowiti
of the last war, ranks youngest among the 1101„(
Houses of Europe, and yet in antiquity of princc'q
pedigree is a match for any. The Counts of Sal°/
were dignified and distinguished princes befe;ii
either the Hapsburgs or the Hohenzollerns attain d
any prominence at all. They are
.4
,now Kings ' • and
though their State is far from being of the fi
class, and is constructed of strange materials"
though the cradle of their race lies m one countrJ,
their dominions in another, and their title 113,0'
third, they are still conceived to enjoy extra 4
nary prospects, and are undoubtedly regarded '0„0
uncommon interest and favour. Something, yo,
doubt, of all this fortune they owe to the very al;
maly of their. situation.. It was once said 01;o
Duke of Savoy by a famous diplomatist, that %
geographical position prevented his being of
honest man, and the hereditary acquisitiveness
the house has been now and then exercised,, 00
is true, with some sharpness of practice. On
prince, though he left nine children, got hin3t,
declared Pope ; another secured, after the bres'„„
up of the Crusading expeditions, the titular sevivio
reignties of Cyprus and Jerusalem ; a third, t'h,
_ Victor Amadeus of whom we have previoi%
spoken, not only fought hard for Spain and TP
Indies, but lodged with the Home of Conan3o,4
after the expulsion of the Stuarts, a distinct requn4
for the kingdom of Great Britain, founded on 1';
marriage with a descendant of Charles I. Yet, o'o
til the awards made by the Treaties of Vienna, rie
extension of dominion seems to have ever given t
House of Savoy any discontented subjects,
though the cession of Genoa provoked great J°ol
busies and some remonstrance, still the House
Savoy represented an Italian, and not a forceto
Government. Such, at least, it had come to
0,
considered, for the Court had long deserted 141'.
rienne and Chambery for the more
.purely
atmosphere of Turin, and the original Frcneo
province of Savoy was almost invisible behind
lo
by
the
broad territories of Piedmont. Since that tied'
more substantial sympathies have been excited r
the constitutional progress of the State, and Sea,
dinia not only represents a vigorous Italian Poi is
but a free Italian community. Its p Welsh
osition 1,
strange. It is almost as if some small Y,
Prince had been left undisturbed by the Pt,,
tagenets in the recesses of Carnarvonshire or Cal;
berland, and his representatives had found "the,
selves a thousand years afterwards with pretense
to the Empire of Britain. Yet it is espeley
remarkable that these prospects, marvellous as t ,j
are, may, if they are reasonably interpreted
_„,10
peaceably purgaed, . prove really to have sr,
foundation. Sardinia will not command the s' io
‘ of
pathy of Europe in violating treaties on pretoc,iftie
patriotism or nationality, but if she contl'i
steadily in the career of political civilisation an
'freedom the natural course of events can htbr
fail to insure her progress to influence and Po