The Express.
London, England, 1850-01-07 00:00:00

MLNISTERIAL CRISIS IN PRUSSIA.

The letters of our Berlin correspondent inform us
of the existence of a general ministerial crisis ; the
:acts, as far as they are at present known, will be
found below :
BERLIN, hit. 2.
I hardly anticipated when I informed you, yester-
day, of rumours being afloat respecting a change in
the ministry, that I should have so soon to report a
confirmation of them. I have just learned, from a
very excellent source, that the whole ministry is
on the point of resigning because it is compelled.
The King seriously refuses to take the oath to the
cocatituuon. The ministry adhere to their
opinion, that he is bound to do so, and have
in consequence had a serious quarrel with the King,
in which they were treated in such a manner that
the president of the ministry, notwithstanding the
usual custom, did not go to court yesterday. Who is
to replace the present cabinet is not yet definitively
known. The ministry themselves apprehend a
Gerlach ministry.
The Duchess of Anhalt-Dessau died a few days
ago.

JAN. 3.

The ministerial crisis continues to exist; nothing is
yet deciied. The fact of its existence has become so
public to-day that it is hardly necessary for me to add
any other confirmation. The whole ministry have
' sent in their final resignation. This important
step was taken either yesterday or to-day.
In the letter forwarding their resignation the ministry
declare that, as his Majesty is unable to decide whe-
ther he will take the oath to the constitution, they are
usable to carry on the business of the government any
longer. His Majesty has not yet made up his mind,
but I am told that his decision is to be made known
to-morrow. What that decision will be it is impos-
sible to say beforehand. It is said that the King re-
lies principally upon the two following points
in his determination not to take the cath to
the constitution. The first is the non-com-
pletion of the parochial regulations which
he considers one of the most important integral por-
tions of the constitution, and the second the apprehen-
sion that the alterations which will probably have to
be made in the Pruesian constitution in consequence
of the German constitution to be adopted by the
Erfurth parliament may be at variance with the oath
required of him at the present moment.
The official Gazette contains a notification from the
ministry of the interior, which fixes the election of
the electors for the Erfurth Parliament for the 21th
January, and the Constitutional Correepondeut
announces that the preparations for the elections of
the deputies are so far completed that they will cer-
tainly not be delayed beyond the prescribed period.

Our correspondent's letter of the 4th inst., received
this morning, inform us that the differences la.tween
the king and the mini,try have been settled ; how, he
does not say; but the ministry arc to remain in
office.

Oar Vienna correspondent writes as follows :
VIENNA, JAN. 1.
- . . .

No amnesty has appeared : but instead a proclama-
tion of the Emperor to the army announcing that the
restoration of order allows the military force to be
put on a peace-footing, and that a diminution will
take place in the numbers as well as the pay of the
soldiers.

The Emperor has forwarded his portrait, together
with an autograph letter, to Louis Napoleon.
On Saturday night (29th) a telegraphic dtspstell
was received from l'rague, of such importance that the
Emperor was awakened and a cabinet council sum-
moned before daybreak. An answer was telegraphed
back with all possible despatch. Thts sudden consul-
tation is supposed to be connected with the Austrian
occupation of Saxony.
The Wanderer announces that the children of Kos
suth, two boys and a girl, will, as soon as they have
attained the age requisite, be brought up in the The-
resianum. Until then their education is committed to
a M. Csernecky, assessor of the Appeal Court of Ex-
change. The girl is three, and the boys are respec-
tively 8 and 10 years old.

VIE HAGUE, JAN. .s.—The Staats Courant an-
nounces that, according to official information, the
port of Cardenas, and others of less importance, of
the island of Cub), were thrown open to foreign
commerce on the let of January, 1850. The same
journal publishes the official regulations for merchant-
men arriving in the Bay of Naples, and the duties in-
cumbent upon them during their stay there. The
King has conferred several decorations and promo-
tions in honour of the new year.
BRUSSELS, JAN. s.—The Moniteur publishes a
royal decree, by which the contingent for the army
far 1850, is fixed at a maximum of 70,000 men. The
contingent of the levy is_ fixed at a maximum of
10,000 men, who are placed at the disposal of govern-
ment. The funeral of Field Marshal Count de
Woyna, his Austrian Majesty's envoy extraordinary
and plenipotentiary, will take place this day. The
arrangements are such as are due to the high rank
of the deceased, who will be buried with military
honours.
DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES.—The Servians
of Belgrade have not only refused to pay the annual
tribute to the Sultan, but again summoned the Parba
to evacuate the fortress, allowing him three days'
grace to decide. At the expiration of that time the
inhabitants attempted to storm the fortress; but the
Pasha, who was prepared for this, answered by so
brisk a cannonade, that pert of the city is laid in
ashes.

ArcINDIAIIAN ONFIlti aTSLACIEWALL.—Ott Satur-
day morning, shortly before nine o'clock, a fire of a very
alarming &motet broke oat on board of the Ganges, a fine
lndiaman, upwards of 1.000 tons burden, lying is toe dry
dock adjecest to the ship-building establishment of Messrs.
Wigrem and Green, at Blackwell. The vessel bad but re-
cently returned from Bombay, and had been docked for the
purpose of repairing her copper sheathing and other repairs.
Her cabins being swarmed with insects and beetles, the
usual process was determined on to rid the ship of them,
and on Friday night sulphur and damp straw were ignited
on the lower decks, the cabin-doer end skylights being
securely battened down to prevent the smoke escaping, in
which state they remained till nine yesterday morning. A
greater heat being than found on the deers than usual, they
were opened, when the entire suite of cabins, with the poop,
weredwoovered in flames. An alarm was raised, and in a few
minutes numerous gangs of labourers and ship-caulkers from
the neitttibouring dockyards came to amid. The engines
of the district were brought to the spot very quickly, and a
ready supply of water being obtained, the most active
measures were taken to prevent the conflagration spreading
to other parts of the ship. Short as had been the interval.
the fire had gained tremendously, bursting forth on all
sides of the pop, tiring the mince mast, and prepenting an
appearance which seemed to seal the destruction of the ves-
sel. With all promptitude the Blackwell Hallway police
forwarded early intelligence of the outbreak to the fire
brigade in the city, who log no time in starting to the scene
with several powerful engines ; the West of England follow.
ing in the wake. Their co-operation with the engines then
in play eventually had the effect of arresting the progress of
the Ranee to the fore part of the ship, which escaped
damage; but In respect to the havoc in the after part, it
was very extensive. The whole of the cabins and lower
deck were destroyed, the poop being gutted. There appeared
little doubt as to its origin—neglect on the part of the
workmen, by leaving tho fires for smoking the cable in-
efficiently protested. The amount of damage was said to
weed 1,0001.