marry a negro
coachman. It consigned the princess to irremediable disgrace. But the
situation in which she found herself compelled her to acknowledge her
marriage. The universal assumption was that she had not been married.
Secrecy divests marriage of its sanctity.

The sufferings through which the princess passed were awful. No pen
can describe them. Could she but be released from prison, her shame
might be concealed. Her tears and entreaties were all unavailing.
Louis Philippe, unmindful that the princess was the niece of his
wife, deemed that the interests of his dynasty required that she
should be held with a firm grasp until the birth of her child should
consign her to ignominy from which there could be no redemption.

On the 22d of February, 1833, the duchess placed in the hands of
General Bugeaud, governor of the citadel of Blaye, the following
declaration:

"Urged by circumstances, and by the measures ordered by the
Government, though I had the strongest reason to keep my
marriage secret, I think it a duty to myself and my children
to declare that I was secretly married during my residence in
Italy."

To a friend, M. de Mesnard, she wrote: "I feel as if it would kill me
to tell you what follows, but it must be done. Vexatious annoyances,
the order to leave me alone with spies, the certainty that I can not
get out till September, could alone have determined me to declare my
secret marriage."

The humiliations to which the unhappy duchess was compelled to submit
were dreadful. The detail would be only painful to our readers. On
the morning of the 10th of May a daughter was born, whom God kindly,
ere long, removed to another world. The fact, minutely authenticated,
was proclaimed to all Europe. Thus far Marie Caroline had kept secret
the name of her husband. But it was now necessary that his name
should be given, to secure the legitimacy of her child. It was then
announced, by the officiating physician to the group of officials
which the Government had placed around her bed, that the father of
the child was Count Hector Sucheri Palli, gentleman of the chamber to
the King of the Two Sicilies.

In commenting upon these events, Louis Blanc writes: "The partisans
of the new dynasty exulted with indecent zeal at the event of which
the ministers had so well prepared the scandal. The Republicans only
manifested the contempt they felt for this ignoble triumph. As for
the Legitimists, they were