The Express.
London, England, 1856-12-23 00:00:00

RATIONS FOR WAR.

A letter from Berne, of Dec. 18, in the Independanee
Beige, speaks es follows:
.6 We can no longer allow ourselves to indulge in
any illusion ; if we are not actually at war, we have
now at all events all the precursory signs of it. The
attitude of the French government singularly com-
plicates and aggravates the situation of affairs which
engages exclusively the attention of us all. The
article in the Moniteur, which every one has read and
pondered on, will in no respect change the determine.
lion of the Federal government, unless it be in con-
sequence of it that the government is about to con-
voke the chambers immediately, for the purpose of
Plying the state of things before them, and getting
beta to ratify such preliminary measures as it shall
teem expedient to adopt. It is on the 27th of
December that the Federal Assembly is to
meet. The Federal government, moreover,
use just urgently invited all the cantons
:o fill up the rank. without delay, and complete the
quipments not only of the troops selected for the
field but also of the reserve and the militia or land-
Rehr. Apart from these measures, and doubtless
with a view to show that the warlike manifestations
made against us will only render it the more incum-
bent upon the Federal government to expedite the
pleading trial, three Federal magistrates—M. Amiet,
hs Attorney-General; M. Martin, the attorney of
the district and public prosecutor; and M. Zen
&Moen, president of the criminal ohamber—pro-
oe.ded this day to Neufchatel for the purpose of
ognifying to the prisoners the decree of the Cnamber
at Accusation in what concerns each of them indivi-
litany, and of going through the preliminary
Normalities which must precede the holding of the
Federal assizes.
" Amidst the critical

in which the

..ionntry is placed, the Swiss army hu just inclined a
mat lass by the death of the Federal Colonel Rilliet
4e Constant, inspector•general of cavalry, and for-
merly an officer of the Empire; be commanded at the
time of the Sonderbund the division that took Fri-
bourg. As a compensation for this, M. de Lentalus,
a member of one of the oldut patrician families of
Berne, and formerly a superior officer in the service
of the Pope, at present comptroller of one of the
Federal tax districts, has offered his services to the
military department, which lost no time in accepting
them. _

Th. ambassadors and ministers accredited to

the Diet I1;4 all called to day at the Brlach Hotel,
where the Federal government holds its sittings."
A Berlin letter of the 17th in Le Nord says:
Some of the German papers speak of a loan
which would t 3 raised by the Prussian government
to provide for the expenses of the expedition against
Switzerland. There is no idea of such a loan being

,
raised at present, for the Minister of War still has at
his disposal twelve millions of dollars which are left
of the loan of thirty millions, and that reserve will be
sufficient for a three months' campaign. If, however,
the war should continue longer than that time, the
government would only have to propose a loan
adequate to the requirements of the War Department,
and it is certain that the loan would be subscribed
within twenty-four hours."
It is stated that the Prussian Cabinet on the 16th
awn to very important resolutions of a warlike cha-
racter, and that General Groben was nominated
Commander-in• Chief of the expeditionary corps.
This statement probably is a premature one; the late
Minister of War, General von Bonin, at present
Governor of Msyence, has been mentioned as most
likely to command the expedition.
A Berlin correspondent of the Times, writing on
Saturday lest, confirms the statements already made,
that military preparations are actively going on io
Prussia, and adds the following particulars:
"In the Ministry of War everything is ready to
put the troops in motion at a tew minutes' notice;
the march routes are made out, the halting stations
fixed, the supplies at hand, and nothing is
wanting but the royal order. The entire force that
will be set in motion will amount to four corps
d'armee, about 120,000 men. In consequence of the
recent return to the old military arrangement of the
privates wring their full threeyears instead of a year
and a half, se it had practically become of late,
the regiments are now at their full peace strergth,,
and should the reit ryes be called out they will be
, Ist their full war strengt h. It is not e asy to aecertain
which troops will b' employed : one naturally a.autnea
that the 7:h and 6'h, the two corps d'artaccd of the
Rhenish provinces and Wes,phslia, with their tend-
wt-hr. makinir op the whole force to the stretig?h of
lour corps dames, will be set in mo:iuu, end their

photo in their tonal station be supplied by other
troops drawn from the central provinces, and they
again be replaced partially by troops from the camera
provinces. This, I believe, will be the course adopted,
as admitting of the greatest expedition and facility
of movement. I am, however, told that the Rhenish
and Westphalian corps d 'armee will be left at their
present stations, and the troops employed for the
occupation be selected from the rest of the army. The
consideration that would recommend this latter plan
is, that the hardships or the glory would thus be more
equally distributed over the w hole army, and the whole
amount of injury and impoverishment attendant on
the calling out ot the reserves and the landwehr
would not fall on the Rhenish provinces and
Westphalia alone."
The latest intelligence from Berne states that on
Saturday M. de Salignac Fenelon, French minister
in Switzerland, announced to the President of the
Federal Council the intentions of the French govern.
ment, adding that " Switzerland bad only to decide
on war, as Prussia was determined to enforce her
rights."
A Paris correspondent of Le Nord says that, on
the day of the publication of the Moniteur article
upon the Neufchatel affair, the Swiss charge d'sffsires
at Paris, Colonel Barman°, hastened to Count
Wajewski to ask for an explanation of it. The
French Minister replied that he could only repeat
the warnings which the Moniteur had given, and
that he begged Colonel Barmann to convince
the Federal Directory that they could by no means
reckon upon any aid from France. The Swiss minis.
ter began to speak of the sympathy which England
and Austria felt for his country, to which Count
Waleweki replied, " Very well; you will see how
much assistance may be expected from either of
them." It would have been safer and more prudent,
remarks the correspondent, for the Helvetic Confede-
ration not to have despised the support of France.
A Paris letter in Le Nord affirms as positive that
Prussia has already obtained the authorisation of
Wurtemburg and ot Baden for her troops to pus
through those states, in order to take military posses.
sion of Schaffhausen It is not necessary to have
that authorisation further confirmed by the Diet—
in the first place, because Prussia acts in her own
personal name; and next, because she has already
received the approbation of that bcdy.
The Anklage-Kammer, or court of preliminary
investigation, at Berne, found biile of indictment
against 66 of the accused conspirators, on the 16th;
14 others were placed in the second category, that of
those whose cues are to be reserved ; and two of
them—namely, Count Pourtales Gorgier, and
M. Perrot, the advocate, formerly president of
the Stadtrath of Neufchatel—were acquitted.
Several others were conditionally liberated on
bail : namely, Heinrich von Rougemont, Edward von
Pourtales Pury, and Augustus de Montemolin, each
of whom was to find bail to the amount of 50,000
francs; Karl Friedrich Sanvin, a clergyman, and
Philip Grevillat, to find bail each for 600 francs;
and Carl Augusta. Matthey do l'Etting, a member
of the Federal Council, placed in the second category
of those whose cues are reserved, was released with-
out bail. This second category includes all who
only took a subordinate part in the insurrection, to
the number of several hundred persona.
Colonel Denzler, who is in command of the
Federal troop. which occupy Neufchatel, has written
to the Swiss representative at Paris a complete denial
of the statements of the Assemblje Nationale about
the oppressed condition of the inhabitants of that
canton. The Neufchatel prisoners have also, without
exception, testified to the humane and considerate
treatment they have experienced. A civic guard is
about to be formed in Neufchatel, that the Federal
troops may be withdrawn.
With regard to the condition of the prince's
themselves, an officer of the garrison writes on
the 9th inst.: "We have had kautitul weather here
for some days past, and the prisoners themselves
appear to enjoy it, for on Saturday afternomand again
yesterday, they were out in ti.e gardens and upon
the terraces which adjoin their prison, and which
command a splendid view of the lake and the neigh-
bouring scenery. Beneath them, in the road which
panes directly in front of the terraces towards Ser-
ridres, they could see a stream of passengers go by,
and many a friend or relative of those confined sere
might be observed in passing to look up eagerly
towards them. Sunday was the great visiting day,
and the prisoners, therefore, instead,of taking the air in
the gardens, remained in their cells during the after-
noon to receive their friends, who were admitted
without exception, and without any ticket or special
order being required. They came in crowds from 2
o'clock till 4, each bringing a little parcel, a basket,
a fink, or a bundle of cigars to comfort his impri-
soned friend."

to the Solos, when it &beeches into the lake; its
elsahitants number about 6,000 souls. It is incapable
of defence and could not stead a siege. The other
towns in the principality Cr, Boudry, Travers,
Mmiers, Valangio, Le Late, and Le Chaux de-
Funds. The soil of Neufchatel is generally rich and i
eel cultivated, and the inhabitants who dwell in it
are labcrimis and peaceable."
The following is frost Le Nurd :
.According to a recent statistical work of Stephen
couecillor of the Coofederatior., Switzer-
land possesses, with a territorial extent n'r 718 square
miles, a population of 2,391,478 citizen% the, majority
of whom are of the protestant faith. The finances of
the Confederation, u exhibited in the buiger for the
year 1!..i7, amount to a revenue of 16,200,000 francs,
against an ordinary expenditure of 15,760,000 francs.
Is-e public debt was covered in 1815 by the share
a:Mtted to Switzerland out of the contribution exacted
from France by the Allied Powers to defray the ex-
crows of the great continental war. The Federal
army, the chief cosamand of which since 1847 has
bus rested in General Dufour, with 91 colonels and
lieutenant-colonels, and 132 trommissioesd odors of
inferior rank, comprises, taking the re/der troops
and the reserve together, an dative haw et 108.000
endiers, of all arms, It will be ism *mkt% that
Switzerland is a power at sow mallittatioa."