The Sun. — London, England, 1806-12-27 00:00:00

PI?I,TSSL , i. ORY or, THE SUCCESSIVE AGGVANTI6tMENTS OF THE PRUSSIAN MONARCHY. [From a German Paper.] The Counts of Zollern• or Hohenzollern, of Swa bian origin, having became Burgraves of Nuretn burgh, in that quality exercised, in the name of the Empire, a dele g ated power, which,-like other Princes, they soon found means to convert into an hereditary Sovereignty. On the extinction of the Dukes of Meran, in 1248, the Burgrave Frederick H. inhe rited their posSessions in Franconia, which after wards became the Principalities of Anspach and Bay reuth. In the midst of an age when Sovereigns were yet ignorant of the elements of the prosperity of States, the Princes of the House of Hohenzollern soon found themselves in possession of an immense treasure for the time in which they lived. In 1415, the Burgrave, Frederick V. purchased of the Emperor Sigismund the Margraviate of Aran denburgh, to which was annexed the Eledoral dig nity. He is-said to have paid the Emperor, in the whole; the sum of 400,000 gold florins, in different instalments. This first Eledor and Margrave of the House of Zollern, left to all the branches the title of Margrave. The rage for division,- in order, to pro vide for the vounger Princes, threatened to reduce the rising rower of the House of Brandenburgh. In 1473, the will of the Eleetor Albert, surnamed Achilles, settled that the Margraviate of Branden burgh, with all its dependencies, should be the indi visible inheritance of the first-born, and that the Principalities in Franconia should be subje& to no more than two reigning branches. ‘ . , Treachery prepared new aggrandisen - lents for this House. The Knights of the Teutonic Order were incapable of defending Prussia against the Poles.- 7 After a war of thirteen years, after the number of villages in Prussia had been reduced from 21,000 to 3013, the Order, in 1466, became vassals .to•the Crown of. Poland. Impatient of this o=olll, the knights again took up arms, and confided their for tunes to the Margrave Albert, of the House, of 13randenburgh. This faithless Grand -Master, in 1525, concluded a Treaty with the Poles, which, by subjeaing The Order to the first celebrated secula rization after that of, the Templars,'secured to him self and his descendants the possession of East, . Prussia, as an hereditary Duchy, a fief of the Crown .of Poland. This same Teutonic Order had already been robbed by the Eleaors of Brandenburgh of the New Mark. The. Margrave Sigistnund, who mar ried the only daughter of Duke Albert, obtained, in 1611 , , the government and investiture of Prussia ; Which he united, 10 1618, to the Eleaorate. About the same period, the extinai on o f the right line of the Dukes of Cleves, opened to the Eleetors of Brandenburgh the succession to the Duchy of Cleves, and to the counties of Mark and Ravens burgh. All these advantages seemed to be thrown away upon the Eleaor George William. That weak Prince had the misfortune to reign during the thirty years war. His interests and his religion attached him to the Protestant 'cause; .but, his Minister Schwarzenberg sold him to , Austria. Gustavus Adolphus appeared with 1000 men, and four pieces of cannon, before the gates of Berlin. His - demands were complied with, but whenever fortune smiled . upon the arms of Austria, Sweden was betrayed by the pusillanimous Eleaor. A natural consequence of such condua was, that the Swedish and Austria❑ armies alternately carried fire, sword, pillage, famine, and disease, into the States of Brandenliurgli. In 1640 Frederick William, whom posterity has surnamed the Great Eleadr, ascended a tlirotie sur rounded with ensanguined ruins. His Provinces were laid waste or conquered ; the army was re duced to 3600 infantry, and '2500 cavalry: He restored prosperity to his States, increased his mi litary force to 21,000, infantry, 4100 cavalry, and 2700 garrison troops ; a respeaable army for that Period. Faithful to the Swedish cause, he obtained, by the Peace of Westphalia, the Bishopricks of Min den, Halberstadt, and Camin, the reversion of the Archbishoprick of Magdeburgh, and the peaceful possession of Farther or Eastern Pomerania, which devolved to his predecessor in 1637. But Sweden retained Hither Pomerania, with the fortress of Stettin, which commands the Oder, and opens a way to. Berlin. Frederick William, therefore, considered the Swedes rather as odious masters than generous bene fa&ors ; and developing that inter es t e d po li cy w hi c h King Frederick 11. contented himself" with imitat ing, he acted towards Poland and Sweden the pait of an Ally, ever making new demands, and ever proving unfaithful.—ln this he succeeded, at least in part ; the Treaty of Oliva, in 1660, definitively se cured to him the Siivereignty of Prussia. Fifteen years Of Peace favoured the establishment of manufactures, the creation - of a maritime' com- merce, and the formation of an admirable system of finance, which made amends for the smallness of the revenue. The Prince had about two Millions of subjeas,- from whom he received, according to au thentic documents„the annual st:ua of 1,533,795 Crow us. ',..The wars of;Lobis XIV. involved. Frederick Wil liam in new combats, and afforded him an oppor tunity of proving himself a great General. The surprise of the Swedes near Rathenou, 'the viiory of Fehrbellin, avid the march into .Prussia, across the Frozen Gulph, called the Frische Hatf, were the first of those adtions by which the arms of Rranden burgh acquired such reputation in Europe. Frederick I. a vain, but fortunate Prince, crown ed himself King of Prussia on the 18th January, 1701 . , and successively obtained the acknowledg ment 'of his new dignity by all the Courts, except ing that of Rome. During his reign the Monarchy was peacefully increased by the Counties of Teclen burgh and Hohenstein, and the Principality of Neuf chatel. King Frederick L augmented his Army to 60,000 men. Political and 'military.. economy continually engaged .the attention of this Prince; rude in his manners, hat prudent and laboriOus. The war in the North r and the battle of Pultowa, atil;r.led him the much-wi.hed-for opportunity of dri%ing th.: Swedes almost vrekirely out of Germany; the iieace in iTio, secured to him, for the snm of wO Millions of crowns, the possession . of Hither Poineranta, as far n the Banks of the Peeve, with the fortress of Stettin and the Islands of, Usedom and Wallin; important acquisition s= -as they render ed Prussia mistress of one of the mouths.of the Oder, and opened the Baltic Sea to her commerce. Fre- • derick William left to his successor 2,700,000, Sub- . je&s, a revenue of 1,250;0001. sterling, and an Armv of 76,000 men. Frederick ll..convinced the House of Austria that it had a' rival in the Empire of Ger Many itself. The two first wars Of Silesia put him in possession of that rich province, which contained one million, one or two hundred thousand inhabitants ; but which, at Frederick's death, bad 1,582,000, and now nUtii.: bers 2.048,00 D. He acquired peaceable, possession of East Friezeland, a small' mei, but of consider .able importance, on account of the port of Emden ; and in 1772, be seized, without striking a blow, West Prussia, and the distri6t of Netze a coun tryat that time well culti va t e d, b u t which esta blished the communication between antient Prussia and Pomerania and Brandenburgh. Frederick died possessed of a country comprising ten thousand square leagues, 5,830,000. Subjeas, 2,300,000 of whom he had himself acquired ; a revenue of five millions sterling; a treasury containing upwards of eight millions in specie, and an Army of 21(3,000 men. The second and third partition of Poland added to Prussia two new provincep, which were called South Prussia mid !New West Prussia. In political state ments these acquisitions we're estimated at no more than 4652 square leagues, and two millions of in- - habitants. But the last enuttiei•ation proved that South Prussia had 'a population oft ,3tk7,000 ; New East Prussia cannot contain less than 870,000 .Old East Prussia had; three years ago,. 955,04 ; and West Prussia, together with the 'cities of Dantzic and Thorn, 70,060. Thus, the King dom of Prussia alone cdtitains four millions of in habitants, In Germany King FredericK-Mlliani 11. inhe rited the Principalities of AnspaCh and, Bayreuth; with 480,000 inhabitant s . Th e Prince, therefore, acquired two millions and a half of new subje&s; he died, however, without- respe&, without glory; much less rich ) and ) perliops, less powerful, than hi's predecessor. The wise Herzberg. in. vain prediabd that the c;estrudion of Poland, by taking away all barriers against the Russians, would give them tke_ sway over the politics Of Prussia. This important Consideration was overlooked, for the sake. of ob taining desolated Provinces, and two millions of subjects, whose fidelity was doubtful. Under Frederick Williarri 111. Prussia obtained very useful acquisitions, while she remained in friendship with France. She lost part of the Duchy of Cleves, and .its Dependencies, and 131' square leagues, and 133,000 inhabitants. Sh e rece i ve d i n exchange the Bishopricks of Paderborn, Hildersheiru, and Munster ; part of the territories of Erfurth and Eichsfeldt six abbeys, three small ittiperial cities, fiog square leagues, with 513,400 inhabitants. She thus received a quadruple indemnity, notwithstand ing the remonstrances of Austria ; and all the Princes of the Empire. The Statistical account of M. Krug .extra6ted' from the archives of the Government, and adopted: in the Prussian Schools and-Universities, 'fixes, at the beginning of 180, the extent of all the Prus sian dominions at '5586 German square miles, or 15,516 square leagues ; and the population at 9,640,00 Q persons. Of these, four millions are in • the Kingdom of Prussia, two millidits in Silesia, tip wards of two millions iu the Eleaorate ; Pomerania, „Magdeburg'', &c. The remaining and a half are in the sm a ll Pr ov i nces in estphalia, Fran conia, and Lower Saxony, We shall not consider in detail the exchange whiCh recently took place bet Ween Prussia and France. By ceding Neufchatel, Anspach, Cleves, Essen and Werden, with about 400,000 inhabitants ) and receiving the Electorate of Hanover, which, together with Osnabruck, contained one million of inbabitaiits, the King of Prussia gained immensely, not only by the intrinsic value of Viese provinces, but more particularly by their position, since they connected together the mass of the other Pruissian possessions in Germany, and gave to Prussia the command of the Elbe and Weser, the natural . chan nels of her commerce, and qf that of the contiguous Stated. A IVtonr.rui BED.—,--The article of furniture to which we immediately allude, has been made for a Nobleman, whose tasteful mansion •is now fitting Up. It is distinguished for its great classical, ar rangements. Agreeably to Grecian .costume,. the bed stands upon a platform, of .three steps, covered with car petting, imitating velvet. The tour pillars of this bed represent the stems of Indian corn when at its full zenith of luxuriance. They are executed in •French mat, and burnished gold ; and they support a tester comprising three stems of the same plant. Simplicity being the objet`} of real elegance, the same chara6teristic ornament forms itself into a pe diment for three sides of this bedstead,- Pursuing Hindoo magnificence, are placed at the foot of each pillar, on pedestals, the finest religious relics, re mdved froth Egypt, under the expedition of CAM-. ISACERES, and of which we see so many specimens distributed through all Asia. The hangings of this bedstead are equally simple in their design. Instead of massive festoons, we see here introduced a valen of rich crimson velvet, worked in gold, agreeably to .Eastern splendour. The curtains are of the same materials, bat they are worked all over, without any formal border. The fringe of this bed is composed of silk and gold; the counterpane is of white silk, filled with Eiderdown, and fringed en suite with the bed. Consistent with Oriental manners, the bed is extremely low, scarcely exceeding the ordinary height of - a common seat ; but the bedstead, pos sessing an imposing appearance, is wade eighteen feet high, that is, to the top of the dome. The furnitUre, to correspond with such an apart ment as this, should,• properly speaking, be entirely after the Hindoo style, and certainly it becomes,in dispensibly necessary to follow the strift outline fur nished by artists who have been resident in that country, and who, Of course, are competent judges for such an undertaking,. rtnArßi, DittlEt-LANE. - . 4 . homely, hut -impressiVe' and usefulmoralitjr of Udrge Barnwell N•as ety liroperl 3 . ifougl4 ward last night, as the prescht is a period of idle ness and festivity among The lower classes of the people—Mr. H. SIDDONS appeared to•considcrjAc advantage in the inifoitunate hero of the piece; he obtained Much aplilause, and excited geoeral sym pathy.in 6n audience that coMpletely ceetipied the Theatre. ,The Play was succeeded by a ncw Pan tornime, that the holiday Visitorsinigla have mirth as well as morality the same night. Th e tile of this Pa . nrotninte is The Enchanters ; or, Harleiplin Sultatin, and we subjoin the Plot fot the entertain-, mcnt of our country Read ers , w ho canuot be wit-, nesses of its wonders : FABLE. The Princess Hemjuna is beloved by Bennaskar and • the Sultatin Misnar. She prefers the latter, and Bennaskar, stung with jealous)?, has recourse to the Enchanters to punish her, and assist him in his revenge. Min encourages him, and by her. magic she transforms one of her attendants into Bennaskar's assistant agent, who accompanies him, . and forwards his mischievous designs. He is pro mised success by Happuek, w h o i s t h e Chief En chanter; and the offending, LOver . having retired with the Clown, Happtick, by the aid of necro mancy, assumes the likeness of the Chief of the Sultaun's l);van, .and appears', seated on a superb throne, surroonded.hy his State Officers. The dis guised Enchanter next, by a forged story, has infor mation conveyed to the Sultaun that the Princess has fled to a distant c o untry. Th e S u lt aun , a l most frantic with jealousy, orders big 'fleet to be instantly prepared, and he embarks, accompanied by a pro per. three, to recover the PrincesS, leaving Heram , ,. bis Grand Vizier, Regent in his absence, from whom • he receives a , ring, by the power of which be con stantly'sees in a magic mirror What passes in his absence. Just as the fleet is seen, and the parties on board, Happuck appears •on the beach, raises a tremendouS storm, and, the fleet is last. Th e Sul taun, and his Eunuch boubar, alone. escaped being wrecked, and are Orton on shore. Happuck, the Enchanter, is next seen in :he air with his agents, conveying away the Princess Hemjuna, accompa nied by Bennaskar. The Sultaun and his attendant now fall on the earth in despair—Ulin enters, and by her art transforms them, into monsters—at that ;instant MacOma, the Good Genii, appears in the - clouds with her attendant Genii. thin the En chantress shrieks at the approach .of Macoma and disappears. Mamma cheers the Sultana and his attendant, and though she cannot entirely relieve hini, : from his present situati on , t o ma k e it more bearable she gives him and his attend ant more pleasing forms in those of Harl equ i n and Scaramouch. Harlequin and Scaramouch as, same the manners and action of their characters, 1 and the former reCeives a power• toaid him, with an assurance of being made perfectly happy in the end, .by a perseverance in virtue. Macoma departs, 'leav ing one of her Genii to direr his pursuits—they ,ar, rive in • Bagdad—the Genii advises bhp to ,phice himself slay for sale tollenbaskar, who iscorn ing for the purpose of making purchases to enter . ain the. Princess—Bennaskar arrives, purchases number of females ; also Harlequin, and with them departs, Scaramouch following. Ben naskar arrives at his house, and is met by Ourodi (Pantaloon) his Father; they enter the house with their attendants and slOes. The Princess it discovered lamenting her situa tion the Genii appears, and after preening her with a talisman to prole& her virtue against the force of Bennaskar, disappears. Bennaskar entets, .at tended by servants and female slaves a banquet is prepared, at which he and the Princess sit, and a dance is perfotmed. Bennaskar assails the Princess, who pruteas, herself by the talisman, and he is borne off in a stupor. Harlequin makes himself known to the Princesi, who now takes the form' of Columba ire. A variety of pantomi m i c , i nc id ents take /Ake, with various success, by the opposing parties. The EnChanters having deposed the Regent, take upon thernielves the regal power, and appear in their new dignity to Harlequin, who is inconsola ble for th6 , loss, of Columbine, but they assure him that his return to his own count r y. wou ld restore him to happiness. and his throne. He next sees, Columbine in the power of Benna,kar and the En chanters, but by the aid of the talisman he rescues her from their grasp. The evil enchanters are de stroyed,tbe Princess is restored, to the Sultaun, who re-assumes.his original dignity, and the Piece con cludes with the celebration of their nuptials. , If this Pantomime is not the best that has been seen for many years, it h as at l east a good mixture of the terrific, the splendid, and the grotesque. As the scene ill a great degree lies in the East, there is considerable scope for picturesque beauty, in addition to all :its magical magnificence and domestic ma chinery, *bud upon the' : whole the composition is very well calculated for those for whom it is intended, and will no doubt fill the majority of the speCtators with ,pleasureiand surprise. The music is partly original and partly compiled, and the invention and seleCtion are creditable to the talents and judgment of Mr. SHAW, the Leader of the Band. . A new Harlequin made his appearance on this occasion. His name is HARTLAND. He is very active, and a good vaulter. Mr. MONTGOMERY, the new Clown, however, seemed to be the chief fa vourite. He possesses a great share of that humour which Pantomimes require, and is surprisingly alert. He was often guilty of the fault of speaking and bawling to his fellows in the scene, as is usual. at the circus, and such places of entertainment, which is very improper in a species of exhibition that ought to be charaeterised merely by gesture, except where singing is introduced. The Pantomime was altogether well received, though there was some op position at the close, which prevented it from being dittinaly announced for this evening. DIMOND has been particularly fortunate with his ildrzgn and Orfila ; fir besides its success on the Stage, he has dispos e d o f t h e copy-right for a greater sum than has been given for any dramatic work that has appeared since Pizarro. His SICILIAN MAJESTY has, it is said, been pleas ed to confer upon Sir SIDNEY S>lkrit the dignity of a Duke. 7-fiGri TIDE. • „ Yesterday afteirndon, abont half past one c . : - . 1 .0cW, .was r).ne.of the highest tides ever rent inbert , .ls . y oldest waterman on. the river-Thai - nes. rowed into Palace and Little Scotland Yard4..ll:d ! . .e wt,ter through (he sewers filled moss of this csellis about the Horse-Guards anti other houses in PAia mentastreet. The weather; forninately, was quite calm, so that no damage whate..er a..s sustainin.i on any part of the river, the heightened by th e fineness of the dty, beautiful speetacie. to thouiliids of persons v. ho sembled on the bridges and i'arious other phtues to behold it. • , ANOTHER ACCOUNT. INtmtiArios. 7 --The Spring tide rose yesterday„ at ,two o,'Lloek, to such a height, that the sower p.A.t. Wapping Was laid under water. Higher up the racer; the etFeots of this overflow on the part of Old Ft!iter Thames were not less conspicuous. The whole ,of .56tland,Yard was covered with y,ater, and the cel lars and kitchens 114 that quarter; as well as in Parlia ment-street, were completely filled. The inundirion reached'to the Horse-Guards, where the Par..e.,:e was converted into a pond. In the two Palace- Yards it. 4 effeCts were equallj- conspieuOus. Th e l ower part o f the Speaker's house was filled, and Hilher's and Oii vers. Coffee-houses were absolutely inaccessible. Ihp moon was full, but the wind wa, westerly. H-1 , 1 it been otherwise, the damages would have been incal culable. Fifteen years haveelapsed since those guar; ters experienced such another visitation. On Saturday morning last the rive? Stinchar, at the town of Ballantrae, Scotland, ro•e to a. Frixii gious height, and overflowing the highway ti,r near , ly two linnafed yards at the south end of the bridge, presented a scene of the Inostnistressing nature ever seen there. At about eleven o'clock A.M. while the gth Troop cif :;ie Ist Royal Dragoons, on their route from Hatnilton to Leland, att&opted to pass the waters, five of the horses, with their riders, were borne down by the violat rapidity of the cur-' rent. Accoutered as the men and horses were, and encumbered with large heavy military clocil:.s,L al ready saturated with the rain, it was' a considerable time before the men got themselves disengaged from their horses, and, during that interval; were 5 , :1-!ti frequently rolling over and over one another, struggling for emstence in the raging and merailess element. The inhabitants of Ballantrae, ever read. , and active in the cause of humanity, exerted them• selves in a manner that calls for•the thanks of the country ; for, without their assistance, five 'brave men, with their horses, had inevitab'y perished.-- ,At the risk of their. lives they plunged into the wa ters, and happily succeeded in bringing four of t:te •unfortunate men safe to the,shore fitth pt:or fellow most providentially got on ,his feet, on a higher bottom, 150 yards below the road, and stood more than twenty minutes in the water Up the stomach, until 'a boat was . bniur.,-ht from the town, %Olen he was picked up by four 131111ntrae h 1 ,!!,, thus rescued. out of a divadfully Li,in, ur ) which' .he coqid 'have no -hupes of as the waters were still continuing to rise cvery ,In the general ‘confusion and di;:ress, spectators, by the 1)owe( of sympathy, i.vere dis 7 • qualified from making accurate observations of every particnlar,,and a doubt, prevails that there , is one. man and a horse gone down to rise no More. The rear of the Troop (who as yet had not time to c:os3 over), on perceiving the fate' of their companii.x i s, retired back into the town, where they remilined until nine, o'clock at night, when that' got a! safely over. One of the men who' sip happily escaped a fatL:, at this time so certainly premature, is said to be a good deal bruised, perhaps by the struggles of his horse. Part of the troop'having got through, and part turn ed back, it cannot be known until they arrive at Port Patrick whether or not there is Li man and horse lost. - , . A curious. circumstance happened a shoft time since at Limehouse, The wife of a poor man, of the naMe.of Jasper, was much addkted to liquor ; . and whenever she could procure money used to de cal* and stay away as long as it lasted. About a month ago, on her not re-appearing, after a full week's absence, Jasper, his tw o s ons , an d two daughters, became alarmed for the safety of the fugitive.' At the expiration of the tomb day, a neighbour . of Jasper's informed him that his wife —was lying at the bone-house, having been taken out of the Thames that niOrning in a vary putrilied state. Jasper, accompanied by his eldest, son, and claimed the body, which wa put into a shell, a n d carried home. Being in very indigent circumstances, , he wag indebtec', to the assistance of a few charitable neighbours in raising the sum of fifty shillings, when the supposed Mrs. Jasper was de.cenlly interred. Two days after; to the astonishment of Jasper and Isis fa mily, a friend informed him . that he saw his wife, on the preceding day, at Dartford, drunk, in the streets. Jasper was accordingly induced to send one of his sons to Dartford, to 'inquire into this mysteri ous affair, where,, to his horror and astonidimen, he found his mother in the situation described; when she accompanied him home, swearing vengeance against her husband for his cruel treatment. The woman who was taken out of the river was the wife of another man. By.the official return of the number of sheep and black cattle sold at the i - air of Balinasloe, in Ireland, it appears that at the last fair there were 12,190 head of cattle brought to market, and 87,323 sheep, which amounts to about 2000 of each description; more than have been seen at any of the annual fairs there for these six years past. It is also to he•seen from this statement, that 7032 head of cattle re mained on the hands of the owners, and 23,171 sheep. Last year there were only 3003 bead of cattle unsold; on each of the three preceding ear. , ; there were only two, three, and four hundred un sold ; . and in the:year 1801, the unsold cattle amounted to 1504. The quantity of sheep return‘d from the market with the owners bears no - parison with any of the former years given in the account : in 1801, the year of the. most dull sale previous to the present, the unsold sheep atnunnted to 8863 ; in 1804, the year of the briskeit, sale, only 1213 remained On hand, and last year there wer e 43GG unsold. The bare stat e ment,, iroAe.er, is given, and no cause assigned for this extr.:ordim:ry bovines in the'sale at great market, =~