The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-30 00:00:00

S PA PE It
TIIE LATO PRIVORSS
Af.-A
(From the Morning Poit - 4
All who are acquaiuted with the lidst,4,:irtlierd4e,a /"."ei
agreeable and lively of capitals, Paris, erb, atrilll.llllol ~a 7
very prominent and noticeable parsonage for2r long
Reviseyears has of late been ah:smit from the soireeetg thrz Eau.
bourg St. Germain and Chaussee d'Antiu—has been missed
at the Russian and Prussian embriesies has not been se• n
in the Faubourg s"t. Honoro or the Bois de Boulogne—le S
t.ot received on her accustemed evenings at home, or es,l
sisted at any of the grind doings at the Tuileries, or 11*
gay ,minus elsewhere. The political anti fashionable pub.,*
in Paris had for the last fortnight been aware that Madan •
.e Lieven was cortfiried to the haus, with what was 1.,
some called a cold, and by some an inflammation ; I ut it
was Dot till three or four days ago That it became noised
a ,road that the indisposition was much graver than ail
had imagined ; and on Sunday last., when all the world
was flocking to see the Persian Ambassador and hie suite,
it was announced for certain that a lady, who has played
so prominent a part in more than one European capital,
wag then lying in a hopeless state, without a chance of
tiruate rt covery Within little more than 30 hours ,
the rumour proved to be well founded, for on Monday
evening Madame de Lieven, who has for full half a cen-
tury led so busy and so public a life, died in the mansion
watch she had so recently taken on her return from
Brussels. Thus, on so short and sudden a warning, is
called away the confidential correspondent of three Czars,
of three Empresses, of Grand Chancellors, Chamberlains,
and Governors of Russian provinces without number—a
woman who exercised in her time as much political and
social influence, and perpetrated as much political mischief
:is any lady of the generation to which she belonged. It is
now more than 18 years since the husband of Madame de
Lieven died at Rome, and it is nearly a quarter of a ceu-
.ury since he ceased, in 1834, to be Russian Minister in
this capital, so that to many of our readers it may be neces-
sary to state who and what the Lievens were, what func-
tions they filled, and what influence they exercised. The
first of the family of whom any mention is made in history
was one John Henry Lieven, a native of Livonia, a sol-
dier of fortune under Charles XII. After the battle of
Pultowa, at which Lieven was not present, he was seat as
a kind of agent to the captive king 'at Bender. Charles,
pleased with his zeal, sent him to Constantinople to
negotiate in his favour, and to induce the Sultan
to break with Russia. A portion of this mission was
executed so successfully that Charles appointed the nege-
tiator Lieutenant-General, Senator, and Governor of the
great Swedish harbour of Carlecrona. Two younger brothers
of this Swedish adventurer subsequently accepted ser
vice in Russia under Catherine 11., and both of them
obtained the rank of general. One of these, Andrew
Lieven, married a Mademoiselle do Posse, a lady of
some wealth and of considerable talent, and from this
union sprang Andrew Lieven, born in 1777, the hes-
hand of the lady whose unexpected death has caused so
groat a sensation among the diplomatic body both here and
in Paris. While very young Andrew Lieven lost his father;
but his mother, who was a woman of some attainments, was
made governess to the daughters of the Emperor Paul, and
the late Emperor Nicholasand the late Grand Duke Michael
were also confided to her care in their earlier years. So
much to the satisfaction of Paul did this lady execute the
trustconfided to her that she was successively created Dame
d'Honneur and Countess, and her son Andrew entered the
military service with every advantage that the highest
patronage could afford. He was noticed by Paul till the
period of that monarch's assassination in 1801, and subse-
quently, having acquired the favour of Alexander, attained
the rank of general after the peace of Tilsit, in 18 7. Tin -
mediately after this period it was that ho married Dane ,
thin daughter of the Russian General of Infantry Benken-
tiorf—a lady who was distinguished much more by her ac-
complishments and attainments than by her beauty,
though she was remarkable in early and even iu i,,itiole
life for an expressive and intelligent countenance. The
family of Benkendoxf enjoyed in 1807 the entire confidence
of Alexander. The father of Madame de Liaeven was one of
the German coterie in which the Czar delighted. Her
brother was the Imperial aide-de-camp, and xx,on after his
chosen Minister of Police, possessing his entire confi-
cleric°, and carrying on the Czar's secret correspondence
with his own empire and foreign Courts. So connected
and so patronised, the Lievens obtained the Prussian
embassy at the close of 1807 or the beginning of 1808,
at which they remained accredited, if we mistake not,
from 1803 to 1812. We say they remained accredited, for
it was, even in 1809 and 1810, a notorious fact that Madame
de Lieven not merely received and did the honours of her
husband's house, but carried on an extensive business and
'ial correspondence with her mother-in-law who enjoyed
the full confidence of the Romanoff tamily; with her brother,
the favourite aide-de-camp of the Czar ; and even with the
Czar himself. When the French invasion of Russia put an
end to nearly all intercourse between the Courts of St.
Pe ersburg and Berlin, M. ant Madame de Lieven were s -nt
to London to represent the Court of the Czar, somewhere
towards the close of 1812. Lord Liverpool was the First
Lord of the Treasury ; the position of principal Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs was held by Viscount Castlereagh,
and the Home Minister was Viscount Sidinouth.' Madame
Lieven soon made herself agreeable in London society at
this period by her talents and accomplishments, and not a
little aided her husband and Pozzo di Borgo and Gentz,
who came on a special service from Austria between 1-12
and 1814- In this latter year the lady had so far ingra-
tiated herself with the aristocracy of rank and fashica
iu London that she was esteemed a general favourite, and
a great acquisition to the corps diplowatique. With the
peace, however, came the conflict of interests and intrigues
—and from 1815 to 184 Madame de Lieven was tam& too

emuante and intriguing to be regarded with favour by
English statesmen ana p diticians of any party. During
the struggles for Greek independence she did as much as in
her lay to foster the enthusiasm of young and old in Eng-
land for the Greek cause, not that the ambassadress or the
Czar cared a rush for Greek liberty if it could not be made
subservient to the weakening of Turkey and the aggran-
disement of Russia. In 1827, again, she was over-busy in
the domestic intrigues of the time, and was very impartially,
and we believe very truly, accused of playing false to both
parties—to the Canningites and Whigs on the one hand,
and to the Tories on the other. Be this as it may certain it
is that after the death of Canning and the battle of Nava-
rino the sympathies of this busy intriguing woman, and of
the Court represented by her and her husband, lay with his
bitterest opponents and the opponents of all liberal im-
provement in England. In Ireland, however, the Russian
embassy played a distinct and separate game. In that
country there were not wanting adroit Russian agents to
announce to the Roman Catholic agitators that the Czar
sympathised with their sufferings and their wrongs. For-
tunately the Duke of Wellingtcn, by introducing the Ro-
man Catholic Relief Bill, nipped in the bud these nascent
sympathies of two churches. the Greek and Romish, which
in all other countries have hated and persecuted each other
with true theologic rancour.
Busy as Madame de Lieven m tile herself in the Gr Cc
and Roman Catholic questions, she was still more active and
intriguiug'in the discussions touching the Ref rsu Bill and
the establishment of Belgium as a kingdom. Notwithstand-
ing, all Russian male and female efforts, both measures were,
however, conduc ed to a happy issue. The consolidation of
Belgium was a great European benefit, which has stood the
test of time ; and the glory of the struggle and of the suc-
cess which crowned very arduous labours is chiefly due to
the present First Lord of the Treasury (then Secretary of
Foreign Affairs) and to M. de Talleyrand. Soon after the
labours of the Conference of London, M. and Madame
Lieven were recalled to St. Petersburg. M. de Lieven was
appointed governor and tutor of the Cezarewitsch (now Em-
peror), and with that Imperial Prince made the tour of a
great past of Southern Europe. At Rome he was seized
with a sudden illness—an illness of which he died on the
10th of anuary, 1839.
After the decease of her husband Madame de L
Lieven, who
had played so important a part, could not remain idle. She
established herself in Paris in 1839 and 1840 in a large and
handsome mansion, and congregated about her the chief
political and literary celebrities of France.b In her s
done.her boudoirs
the principal business of the Russian
She had her
the correspondents
information n d herob t
sori
,dde e
from ver y
them
w part
:s
of Europe, and
forward• d either to her brother, the Minister of the
Russian police, the General •Aiile.de-Camp Benkendorf,
or directly to the Czar himself. Madame de Lieven,
in fact, enjoyed as much of the confidence of
Nicholas as her late mother-la-law, who was mote Princess
in 18A, and addressed, by order of Nicholas, as Soettosh—
Iligbuess. For a short period during the embassy of M.
Guizot Madame de Lieven returned to this country to lend
her prestige to th .t ah,itere Calvinist, whose motto as a
diplomatist was Linea recta brevissiina How much this
virtuous man profited by Russian female teaching is proved
by his course in the Spanish marriages. After the fall of
Louis Philippe Madame de Lieven removed her diplomatic
office to Brussels, to which city M. Guizot, by way of re-
ciprocating Madame de Lieven's London journey, paid a
visit. But neither the ex-French ambassador nor the ex-
Russian ambassadress could accomplish their respective
designs, and we do not know that the world is much the
worse for their respective failures.
The system of employing women in affairs of State is an
exclusively Russian system, and is in every way pregnant
with the worst results. Females of the German houses of
Wurtemberg-Strelitz and Oldenburg, and daughters of the
Czar Nicholas himself, have been all engaged in these equi-
vocal transactions, in which they can reap no credit or
konour—in which the grace, and bloom, and innocence of
the female character are entirely destroyed. We trust we
have seen the last of these female diplomatists. Apart
from her political intrigues, Madame de Lieven was a
woman of accomplishment, attainment, and esprit; a good
linguist, an excellent musician, a good historian—she pos-
sessed talents and attainments which in the humblest sta.
Um must have raised her to importance.

GENIUS REWARDED.—It is reported that -a Russian
order is on its way to England to be be•towed upon Sir
Robert PM, in recogilion of his late lecture on Rustia
and her People. The urder is the Or ler of Merry St.
Andrew of the first class. The gie_n, it i. Ban', bay
already anticipated the baronet's prayer to wear tho
honour ; he having, in her Majesty's opinion, so rid*
deserved the distil, --Punch.