The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-05 00:00:00

NEW PRUSSIAN NOTE.

The following is the despatch of M. Drouyn de
to the diplomatic agents of France in Ger-
many, of which a summary haT been given :
PARIS, Jan 26.
- -
Sin,—The cabinet of B3rlin has resolved net to reply
dii4ctly to the last communications cf the cabinet of
Vienna ; it prefers addressing itself to the members of
the confederation, and it is at Frankfort that the two
great German Powers intend to meet. The crisis that
has long been preparing is at last about to break out,
and the Government olthe Emperor folloWs its develop-

rent with the most sincere regrat. Our own suscepti-
bility enables us to fathom that of others.
" We have, therefore, no wish to mix ourselves up
with affairs, which by reason of their intricacy cannot be
exactly understood and advantageously arranged, save
by the States concerned. But after all, we are the
neighbours of Germany ; whatever interests that great
country touches us ; and at the moment even when
symptoms of divisiun become manifest within it, we can
loyally bear witness in our owu behalf, that we have in
no respect contributed to the difficulties of a situation

that we deplore.
So soon as Russia unveiled her ambitious designs, our
policy was clearly defined. To protect Turkey in her
resistance to an unlawful attack, which compromised the
general equilibrium—to endeavour to constrain, by an
imposing union of every will, the Cabinet of St. Peters-
burg to renounce an enterprise condemned by public
conscience, to collect eventually into one " fascis " the
strength of Europe, threatened, as it was, by one and the
same danger—such was the line of conduct we proposed
to ourselves to follow, and which the Government of her
Britannic Majesty adopted in conjunction with us.
Notwithstanding the slight differences of the situations
and the march of *Tents, we did hope, that during the
course of last year the object of our efforts would be at-
tained. The conferences had been opened at Vienna,
and the choice alone of that capital, as the spot where
we could discuss topics with Austria and Prussia was a
sufficient indication that France and England, far from
supposing they could dispense with Germany, desired,
on the contrary, to come to an understanding with
her ; to make her, in some measure, the judge of
the debate, and in every case not to settle it without
her knowledge, nor to her detriment. Never, I
believe, have two such important belligerent Powers
been seen to evoke the solemn declaration of as opi-
nion on the merits of their cause, when already their
armies were charged with the maintaining of it, from
other powers equally of the first order, but which had
remained free as to their resolutions, and intimately
connected hitherto with their adversary.
Be that as it may, if France and England have ren-
dered homage to the spirit of conciliation that a long
peace had caused to prevail on every important occasion
between the great states since 1815, one can say that
the first protocols of the conference have been, as it
were, the preamble of an European sentence pronounced
against Russia ; and. they need only be read over again,
in order to see that those very protocols contained in ad-
dition the bases of an effective alliance between all the
parties that' had signed them. The force of things would
of itself lead from theory to practice. It was not pos-
sible, if that expression be permitted me, that the di-
plomacy of the Berlin and Austrian Cabinets should con-
tinue to be always in a state of consulation, and the
moment soon arrived when it was requisite to withdraw
or to act. It was at that period that a divergence exhi-
bited itself between the two great German courts.
Prussia has ceased to have herself represented at the
conferences, and if, as she pretends, her refusal to assist
at them has not been formally announced, it is at least
certain, and the absence of her signature at the foot of
the notes of August 8 proves it, that she no longer
considered it incumbent on her t 3 put her acts and
words into complete harmony with the acts and words
of Austria.
This situation has become still worse, and the treaty
of Dec. 2 was concluded. The adhesion of the Berlin
Cabinet to that convention was specially reserved, and
the Government of the Emperor has neglected nothing
in order to obtain it. Like its allies, it has observed
every prudential nicety of form capable of determining
the accession of the Prussian court. Its efforts have
hitherto remained ineffectual, and the present attitude
of that court seems to justify the conviction that its re-
serve may not really depend on any diplomatic question
of etiquette, but on some order of idees that is not shared
by England, or France, or Austria. It is in this point
of view that the affair is grave for the German confede-
ration, and it is solely in this light that I wish to exa-
mine it with you.
-Notwithstanding the most sincere and assiduous
wishes of the Western Power', a moral scission has
been effected between Austria and Prussia • and by
this act the union of Germany is compromised, which
would hive been promoted by the harmony of these
two courts. That harmony can only be re-established
and strengthened by the firmness and intelligence of
the other members of the confederation. The Diet
has to choose between these two appreciations ; Aus-
tria, who only demands a. defensive assistance, believes
the hour is come for preparing to grant it. She alleges
the general state of things, the concentration of Russian
troops on her frontiers, the obligations that arise from
her occupation of Wallachia, and which a movement
similar to the one that took place recently in the Do-
brutcha may render instantaneously executory. Lastly,
she argues that Russia's acceptance of a basis for nego-
tiations is not yet tantamount to a certainty of peace.
Prussia, on the contrary, declares that she is full of
confidence in the sentiments that animate the cabinet of
St. Petersburg, and that it is hence superfluous to ma'ce
provision against chimerical attacks-. . . God forbid,
sir, that I should accuse the intentions of any person,
but I may be permitted to observe that between moral
assurances and material facts, between conjectures a id
certainties, if a contradiction does exist, the simplest
and the wisest plan is to act in consonance with what
all the world is enabled to judge of in the same man-
ner.

Is it not true that a large Russian army, ready to
take the 'field, is stationed in Poland, and along the
frontiers of Gallicia an I Transylvania Is it not true
that an incident threatens to bring the Austrians and
the Russians into collision on the banks of the Pruth
or of the Lower Danube I .Is it not true that the rela-
tions between the Caleinets of Vienna and St. Peters-
burg are of the most delicate nature I Can it be said,
in short, that the opinion of a speedy restoration of
peace is generally credited Is it even sure that the
acceptance announced by Prince Gortchakoft is such
as was at first believed To put these questions is to
solve them, and to justify at the same time all the de-
mands that Austria addresses to her confederates. I
Lave, sir, nothing further to allude to except two griev-
ances complained of by the Cabinet of Berlin : it has
not been regularly made acquainted with the negotia-
tions, and there is the appearance of excluding her in
future from the European concert.
Oa the first point I shall simply observe that if some
important ants have been concluded without the partici-
pation of Prussia, it is because she voluntarily isolated
herself from the powers that desired, and still desire,
nothing moro sincerely than to come to a good under-
standing with her.
The majority is the law of all associations, as confi-
dence is the animating essence of them. Prussia has
not desired to maintain herself, and advance, on the
ground that France, England, and Austria took up with
greater resolution than she did. It was her right, I
admit ; but for the instant she used that right she sepa-
rated herself from the others, and their right was as-
suredly no longer to combine with her their plans of
conduct, and no longer to admit her into the confidence
of their ulterior designs. These principles are ele-
mentary.
As for the European concert, it has been habitually
for the last forty years formed by five powers. Never-
theless, four of these powers, in one of the preceding
phases of the Eastern question, united without France.
The concert was not re-established until after the inci-
dent that gave rise to the treaty of July 13. An ana-
logous fact may therefore, without anomaly, be repro-
duced under actual circumstances. In order to take
part in a debate, the party must be entitled, bur
the only title Prussia invokes is her quality of great
power.

- It is not we, sir, who shall ever dispute the rank of
the Berlin cabinet ; but there are in this world no rights
without their correlative duties, and in general we do
net treat on the conditions of peace unless we have
Waged war, or at least have accepted the eventuality of
taking an active part in it.
~ Is that Prussia's position I Has she made her elec.
ti?lit between the belligerent parties ? Is she in alliance
wit' Russia or with us ? Until she has cease to a deci-
,ionli, she authorises every kind of supposition, and spon-
-1.1. eonaly shuts herself out from the conferences. Can
/46 treaty cfaceJuly 13, 1841, serve in any way to open
forixer the sto them
One of tivzsatulg
son of its a is clear : either this treaty, by rem-
cation, or else it saeillifis• a very serious political signifi-
rale, a tradition of ain its articles of detail only a
Europe eitheatsr wished Government. In a
guarani
meregi to give to Turkey a real
ee
honourable orh
opportunity eliy,f contrived for France an
concert. re-entering the European
For my own part, I declare at once .that
nier interpretation we have taken n tit is the for; and it is e 8 e
chilly as s:gnataries of the treaty of July 13, laci
we were induced to aid in the defence of the S 1 , that
Sultan If
Prussia recognises in that act, to which the subscribed
the value we attribute to it, we have then good ground's
for saying that she has declined it im-
posed the obligations •
-
posed upon
her, and that, if she persists in her ahctention
so much to be regretted, she loses the right of partici-
of the treaty, which it is pleasura
pang in the revision
not to execute, or to reduce to insignificant pro-
.4ll*(l.

portions.
There would remain
only for us the finding of the
means, at the end of the negotiattons, of to en
undcretanding with the Caiiiriet of 11:1,1,i,n
trheastpunclatayagh:ttl:ee
only part of the convention of July L"
;
any value in her eyes ; that is to say, 11-Ble2tht the re•..80,_
gulatiou for the pa.4sage of ships of war thr, the nc;
photos and the Dardanelles, or Cor,e'.l•-'n,r the &owl
of these straits. And the Government of the Emperor,
for its part, would very willingly join in any corithinfl-
tion calculated, on the one hand* to give to Prirs,a,
guarantees equivalent to those she obtained in 1841, and
on the other hand to cause her to resume a place Out
we have incessantly begged her to occupy, with the
riski and advantages attached to it.
I think then, sir, I have shown that the Cabinet of
Perlin can only blame herself for the position she has ,
created but which she can always modify. Nor do I
think the secondary states of Germany, as it appears they
are invited to do, can accuse us of having wished indi-
rectly to diminish the importance of their confederation

by deliberately seeking to exclude from the future
transactions of Europe on 3 of the two great German

powers.
I authorise 'you, s;r, to read this despatch to --,
to malee use of it in your interviews with your colleagues.
Receive, &c., (Signed) DRoUYN Dn YE!.