The Sun. — 1847-04-03 (London, England)

LONDON. SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1847.  Another remarkable charaet whose name is inthnately associated with the history Europe to the its most momentous Cr,isis expired on oof during tinagt St. Germains. Every successive month, obituary some distinguished contemporary that era of greatness which must render the coYmnite ment of the nineteenth century memorable to all future generations. In speaking of Prince JULES DE POLIGNAC immediately after his decease, we do not feel ourselves exonerated from the unpleasant duty of mentioning him in language of reprobation. Truth is the worthiest epitaph of humanity; and the old heathen adage is pregnant with wisdom which says, that facts narrated on any funereal occasion are more eloquent, when clothed with accuracy, than when adorned with the blandishments of a deceptive rhetoric. In this respect a trustworthy chronological table has more value to the thoughtful man than the most masterly panegyric of a biassed orator, even though that panegyric to suffused with the genius of a BOSSUIST or the energy of a CitznnLos. Of the departed statesman, therefore, it would be unworthy to speak in terms otherwise than truthful, although in so speaking we should seem to be profaning the sanctuary of recent dissolution. According to the expression of a vulgar metaphor, some men Appear to be born with  I silver spoons in their mouths—meaning good fortune ; while others are endowed with nothing better than a wooden one—meaning misfortune. Prince JULES DE POLIGNAc must unquestionably have entered existence with both. His whole career was literally a succession of catastrophes, attributable partially to an adverse destiny and partially to the weakness and vacillation of his own judgment. With many estimable qualities as a private character, Prince JuLss DE POLIGNAC had absolutely no capacity for public administration beyond that of yielding to the wishes of an incompetent Sovereign, of evincing the suavity of a petit-maitre in the midst of the most perilous junctures, and of participating in the most wild and extravagant schemes when they promis.d the advancement of the apotheosised principle of Legitimacy. In struggling to evidence his loyalty to this principle, Prince JULES DE POLIGNAC showed his willingness to violate the holiest emotions of his heart and the purest impulses of his nature. Legitimacy was to him what BAAL was to the Eastern Idolators. He sacrificed to it everything ; he sacrificed for it everything ; he sacrificed, through the passionate reverence which it inspired in his bosom, everything. For the sake of Legitimacy, Prince JULES DE POLIGNAC was ready to forsake the paths of honour for those of dishonesty ; to become reckless, from being remarkable for his timid sobriety ; to become cruel and ruthless, from having been naturally generous and benignant. Are we exaggerating the effects of this unfortunate infatuation ? History responds to this inquiry and she tells us that Prince JULES DE Pomorrac was implicated in a murderous conspiracy against a wonderful man, who had been summoned by national acclamation to the throne of his country ; she tells us that for the gratification of his diseased loyalty he leagued himself, in 1804, with cut-throats and brigands; that for this flagrant dereliction of his duties as a Christian and as a civilized man he suffered a captivity of several years' duration; that, ultimately, in 1829, he was principally instrumental in plunging his native land into a brief but bloody revolution. History tells us these things in an inexorable voice ; she brands the monument of the dead statesman with the words INTB:NDED ASSASSINATION and ABETTED DESPOTISM! As one among the accomplices of PICHEGRU, and as the last Minister of