The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-30 00:00:00

The Late Queen of the French.

All the arrangements connected with the Funeral
of the late Queen are being pushed forward with the
utmost activity by Messrs. Banting and Sons, to
whom the details have been intrusted. There is to
be no lying in state or public ceremony of any kind ;
everything has been ordered to be conducted with
the most rigid privacy, and none but those actually
invited as mourners will be allowed to enter the
little private chapel at Weybridge, where the re-
mains of the late King Louis Philippe are already
laid. Still, the funeral procession will be of unusual
length. At first it was intended to limit it to 20
mourning coaches, but it appears that so many of
the French nobility and others are anxious to pay
their last tribute of respect to the memory of the
late Queen that at least 30 carriages will be required.
These mourning coaches are of course exclusive of
the very long train of private carriages which will
follow in the procession from Claremont to Wey-
bridge. Not until Monday will the remains be
deposited by her late Majesty's own attendants in
the first of the coffins destined to enclose them.
This, as usual, will be only a stout leaden shell lined
with white linen ; outside this come two plain coffins
of polished mahogany, and over a large outer case
also of mahoganys covered with black velvet and
ornaments of massive silver. On this last is the
following simple inscription on a silver plate
_ . _

MARIE AMELIE,
Reine des Francais,
Nde h Caserta (Deux Siciles),
Lo 26 Avril, 1782;
Morte it Claremont
(Comtd de Surrey),
Angleterre,
Le 24 Mars, 1866.

On Monday morning the body will be removed
to a chapelle ardente, which is to be fitted up in one
of the large rooms at Claremont by Messrs.
Banting, This will be a temporary chapel draped
with black, and only ornamented with the
monogram of the late Queen in white. Here the
coffin will remain till Tuesday, but to this mourn-
ful chamber none but members of the ex-Royal
family will be admitted. It is intended that the
funeral shall leave the mansion at 11 a.m. on Tues-
day. The body will be placed in a hearse drawn
by eight horses, but all the mourners will follow on
foot through the winding road which leads beneath
the trees to the great gates of the park. The hearse
will be decorated with heraldic escutcheons and
feathers, and four mounted mutes, bearing black
staves, will precede it. In accordance, however,
with the French custom, no feathers will be placed
upon the horses or any of ,the mourning coaches,
neither will the mourners invited wear the cloaks
which add an almost grotesque aspect to mournful-
ness in English funerals. As the distance between
Claremont and Weybridge Chapel is considerable,
those invited to attend the ceremony will, at the
park gates, enter mourning coaches, which will pro-
ceed at a more rapid pace to the place of interment.
Among those who it is expected will attend are M.
Guizot, M. Thiers, the Due de la Rochefoucauld,
and other French statesmen. The building in which
the body will be laid is the small church just out-
side Weybridge, belonging to Miss Taylor. In a
large vault beneath this rest the remains of King
Louis Philippe, and aide by side with these will
the body of Queen Marie AmClie be laid. As, how-
ever, the church is exceedingly small, and cannot
accommodaate even those who are invited to attend
the funeral, it is not intended to take the
coffin into the church, but, as in the recent inter-
ment of the King of the Belgians at Lacken, to
take it at once round, outside the building, and
place it in the vault while the solemn religious
ceremonies connected with the burial of Roman
Catholics arc proceeding within the chapel. Dr.
Grant, as Roman Catholic Bishop of the diocess,
not yet two years ago celebrated the marriage be-
tween the Comte de Paris and his cousin, and it
is believed that the funeral service will be solemnized
by him. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
will meet the procession at the chapel, and be pre-
sent at the burial ceremony, as representing her
Majesty.
Most of our readers will recollect that at the
death of the King of the Belgians the domain of
Claremont reverted to the Crown, and it is only a
few days since that Parliament acceded formally to
the wish of her Majesty to continue the use of it to
the late Queen Marie Amelie. On this nominal
change of tenure some legal formalities had neces-
sarily to be gone through, and Sir Edward Cust, as
one of the trustees for King Leopold, went down to
Claremont to surrender the estate to the surveyor
for the Crown, who was in turn to give it up in
trust to the widow of King Louis Philippe. 'When
they arrived at the gates of the park they were in-
formed that this most dearly revered relict of the
late Royal family of France had just expired, and
they returned to London with their mission not only
unfulfilled, but, uuhapppily, needless.

We learn from Norwich that Chief Justice Cock-
burn is still unable to sit at the assizes there. The arrange-
ment as to the conduct of the business remains the same as
before.

REDISTRIBUTION OF SEATS.—It is stated that the
clerks in the Government offices are busily at work pre-
paring a new volume of statistics for the Redistribution
Bill. We aro to have, it is said, three schedules—one con-
taining the boroughs from which one seat is to be taken ;
the second, the counties and towns to which an additional
seat is to be given ; and the third, mapping out new politi-
cal groups of boroughs, as in Scotland, each of which will
comprehend ono at least of our present dwarf constituen-
cies.

TIIE ALLEGED FORGERY OF THE COUNTESS
BELLEW'S WILL—The charge against Mrs. Anne
Cease, the old lady 80 years of age, of Wintorton House,
St. John's wood, of forging signatures to the will or deed
of gift of the late Caroline Countess Bellew, and also with
uttering the same with intent to defraud, was yesterday
resumed for the eighth time at the Westminster Police-
court. Mr. Piffard, barrister, instructed by Mr. W. W.
Pain, solicitor, prosecuted ; Mr. James Lewis, of Ely-place,
defended. Mrs. Eliza Payne, who had been summoned,
was called, but did not answer, and a warrant was granted
to compel her attendance, as Mr. William Murphy, engaged
at the Admiralty, Somerset- house, and of Sidney-street,
Brompton, proved that he heard her examined in the Pro-
bate Court. She said the signature to the will was not the
countess's handwriting ; that she had known her for years,
and could make as good an imitation of her signature her-
self. After some further evidence and a discussion, in which
Mr. Lewis stated his case to be closed, the inquiry was ad-
journed till Wednesday next for conclusion, Mrs. Casse
entering into £l,OOO bail to appear.