The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-10 00:00:00

PRUSSIAN ELECTIONEERING.

The " Liberal party," in Prussia, or, as it is
styled in higher circles, the " Democratic party,"
having hitherto refused to acknowledge the validity
of the existing law of election, has nevertheless
signified its intention to participate in the election
of new members for the Chamber which is about to
be formed. The Prussian Government has, in con-
sequence, become somewhat alarmed, and, among
other effusions on the subject, the following docu-
ment has appeared from the Government President
of one of the provincial departments of West
Prussia :
"It bas been ascertained that pt the last election for
the Chamber many of the Government officials gave
their votes for, and used their influence in favour of, the
Oppositon (Liberal party). The dignity of the Govern-
ment is, without doubt, materially injured by these pro-
ceedings, and such a step must be decidedly suppressed
at the approaching election for the House of Members.
" Although it is to be expected that the greater part of
the officials beton;ing to the Royal Government will u-e
their best endeavours to bring this election to a successful
issue on sound Conservative and Government principles,
I am nevertheless induced, considering that it has come
to the knowledge of the higher authorities that some
of the offioials have on a former occasion acted contrary
to this principle, to require your worship to impress
upon the minds of the officials under your jurisdiction
in a most serious manner the duties belonging to their
station. You will especially call their attention in all
earnest to this point, that, if they cannot conscien•
tiously give their vote for the Government, they are at
liberty to withhold their sympathy altogether at the
election ; but that a demonstration against the Govern-
ment of his Majesty is at variance with their official
station and duty, and can in no case be permitted.
"THE GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT OF THE
DEPARTMENT."

The foregoing is addressed to the chief magistrate
(Landrath), who adds the following postscript
:--
"Agreeing as I do with the foregoing order, I take it
for granted that even without it every official in the dis-
trict will endeavour to obtain votes which are favourable
to the Government. In accordance, however, with the
instructions received, I call upon the Deputies of the
district, on receipt of this order, to cause the same to be
immediately circulated among all the officials at present
in the district.; also among the bailiffs (schoppen) and
inspectors of works (detch beamten) ; and, lastly, among
the labourers employed under them.
"THE CHIMP MAGISTRATE OF THE DISTRICT."

There is reason to believe that by the end of the pre
sent mouth the King of Sardinia will have sufaciently
recovered his strength to be enabled to pay the long-
talked-of visit to the Emperor of the French.
Prince Frederick William, son of the Prince of Prussia,
visited Ostend on Saturday, on his way to Germany.
Lord Howden is expected to leave Paris in a few days
for Madrid. _ _ _

Sir Richard Pakenbam, our Envoy at Lisbon, returns
to England by the next Peninsular packet, leaving Mr.
Ward as Charge d'Affaires.

The Earl and Countess of Ripon have taken up their
residence, for a season, at Tunbridge Wells.
The Marquis of Abercorn has arrived in town.
Lord Newport has arrived at Newmarket.
Lord Goderich is expected to arrive to-day at Nocton
Hall, Lincolnshire, for a short stay during the shooting
season. Lady Goderich's health has much improved.
THE LATE COL. T. B. GOUGII, C.B.—This distin-
guished officer, who has just been reported to have died
of his wounds received before Sebastopol, was nephew
to Lord Gough, and related to several Irish houses of
position.
HORSES FOR THE CAVALRY.—Horses for the Cavalry,
Light and Heavy, are being actively bought up at, the
fairs in England and Ireland. The cavalry now num-
bers more than at any period during the last century.
It is said that the Grand Duke Nicholas on his return
from the southern provinces is t> proceed to Berlin to
visit the Prussian Court, and to invite the King to
Wm saw.
Miss Poole, the favourite singer, is to give readings
from Sbakspere next week, at Maidstone.
Five new streets in Belfast are denominated Alma,
Balakiava, Inkertnan, Tc}ernaya, and Sebastopol.
LARGE EXPORT OF GOLD.—It is said that the contract
for the supply of 5,000,000/. of gold to Russia has been
accepted by a weli•known house at Amsterdam, in con
nection witb a London firm of high standing.
The 76th Regiment are ordered home from Halifax,
where they will be relieved by the 67th, from Antigua.
j The 69th Regiment, now at Barbadoes, will also rot=
to plead.

PRUSSIA AND THE WAR IN THE BALTD%

___~_~-

The following letter, by " A Traveller," has
been addressed to a contemporary :
"Sir,—The question has been discussed both in.
Parliament and in the press how far the forbear-
ance of England should extend to Prussia in regard
to the share she has taken in promoting Russian
commerce through her ports on the eastern fr,n.
tier. But surely there must be a limit to such fer.
bearance. Every inhabitant of the Baltic provinces
knows that the trade of Memel and Pillau (the two
ports in question) has been enormously increased
since the war, that the produce shipped thence is
almost entirely of Russian origin, and that they
are de facto Russian, and not Prussian outports.
By this evasion our much-vaunted blockade has
been rendered in a great measure nugatory, and
the armaments of the Allies have been employed
fruitlessly, so far as the enemy's commerce is con-
cerned.

"If any of our legislators or naval commanders
should doubt the correctro-ss of this assertion, let
them go to Memel or Pillau, both at an easy dis-
tance from this city. As Memel is only eight miles
from the Russian frontier, and is at the embouchure
of a large Russian river, it is par excellence the great
port both of exit and of entry for the subjects of
the Czar. The visitor will find its harbour full of
shipping, busily taking in cargoes of hemp and flax,
and sailing as soon as the vessels are laden, some-
times to the number of 20 iu a day. The stores
and warehouses are crammed to repletion, and the
streets are crowded with waggons, bearing huge
loads of those commodities. Almost all this is
Russian produce, grown in the provinces of Cour-
land and Livonia, and which in ordinary times
would have been shipped at Riga, Pernau, Libau,
or Win(lau. The strength of the Memel trade
lies properly in timber ; but this, of course, is
now neglected for the far more lucrative traffic
begotten of the war. Thus, despite a most
destructive fire in the last year, and a severe
visitation of cholera in the present, the place
enjoys unexampled prosperity. The price of
labour, perhaps the truest test of general
well-being, is, for Germany, enormously high ; and
new and handsome streets are rapidly arising from
the ashes of their predecessors. "Itis an ill-wind
that blows nobody good," and East Prussia has
manifold reasons for blessing the war. Esto per-
petuunt is, doubtless, the aspiration of many who
are making a harvest in this time of international
struggle.
"Nor are the advantages limited to this side of
the border. The Russian ports, of course, have been
quite shut up, and have suffered commensurately ;
but a most extensive land traffic has sprung up, and
is now admirably organised. This novel mode of
carriage, with its extra expense, has not lessened the
demand for Russian goods, but, on the contrary, has
given a handsome additional profit to those em-
ployed in the transit—viz., the Russian peasants
near the frontier and their proprietors. In like
manner, they share advantageously in the import
trade, which is very considerable. lam therefore
inclined to think that the Baltic provinces have
suffered less from the war than isgenerally imagined,
Instead of three or four small per: s they have two
great ones, more easily accessible by sea, and ad-
mitting considerably larger vessels ; wh le the addi-
tional expense of land-carriage and frontier dues is
paid (for exports, at least) by the foreign con-
sumer.

" This fact, at all events, is obvious—that the
Baltic blockade is frustrated as long as the ports of
East Prussia are available for Russia. Until they
are closed vi, et armis the enemy's trade cannot be
stopped. Politically they belong to Frederick
William ; geographically and moraby they are the
Czar's. There is no novelty in taking this view of
the subject, although interested commercial men
have held it back. A few years ago the Courts of
Berlin and St. Petersburg were at variance on the
Danish question. Hostilities were declared be-
tween Denmark and Prussia, and Denmark,
as the stronger naval Power, blockaded the
Prussian ports. Memel, however, was ex-
empted from this blockade—and why ? Because
the Danish King was in close alliance with the
Emperor Nicholas, and the stoppage of the trade
of that port would have been more detrimental to
Russian than to Prussian interests. This reason
was considered valid, and acted on, when Memel
was the outport of a limited district ; how much
stronger does the argument hold now, when it has
become the one great port of all Western Russia ?
The blockade of Memel and Pillau would prove a
great and veritable blow to Russia—in a financial
view, as great, probably, as the destruction of
Sweaborg or of Cronstadt. Three or 1 Jur of the
vessels which are now doing nothing in the Gulf of
Finland would suffice for this most important
ob-
ject. The dominions of our arch-enemy would be
excluded from commercial intercourse with the

civilised world ; or, at least, intercourse would be
rendered so expensive as to be absolutely ruinous
to his subjects.
There is nothing in the attitude of this country
—either in respect of the people or their King—
that would seem to entitle it to further forbearance.
Whatever Prussia has done or left undone has
been for the benefit solely of her great neighbour.
I know not what the popular feeling may be at
Berlin or on the Rhine ; but the people in this
part of the country appear to me to be as philo-
Russian as their rulers. Besides the material ad-
vantages it offers, a partial blockade of Prussia
would be a well-merited humiliation and a just

punishment for the vacillation, insincerity, and
cowardice which have distinguished her policy in

the last two years.
" A. short and a sharp war" has become so trite
a phrase that, in the Baltic at least, its practical
application is forgotten. So at all events think
our Teuton and Scandinavian friends ; and they
have not been much impressed with our exploits
either in this year or the last. They cannot see
why Helsingfors should have been spared—why
effective demonstrations should not have been made
at Revel or at Riga, at which latter place I under-
stand there is some scope for gun-boat operations ;
or why contributions should not be levied on the
comparatively flourishing province of Courland,
which has been left to the cheap, but hitherto sure
defence of helplessness—very much to the satisfac-
tion and profit of the Czar and his subj-cts. Let
us hope that next year will inaugurate as energetic
a course of action in this corner of the empire as in
the Crimea ; and that the war, if it should be pro-
longed, shall be prosecuted sine eel-a
—diplomatic,
or otherwise.

HE EA RI, OP LEIGEST ON THE
LABOURI G GEAss? S.

The Docking Agricultural Association celebrated its
anniv.rgary at the close of last. week at South Creake,
near Fakenham, Norfolk. The Earl of Leicester pre-
sided at the dinner, which was attended by several of
the leading agriculturists of the neighbourhood; the usual
loyal toasts having been drunk,
Sir W. JONES, in terms of warm eulogy, proposed
"The health of the noble Chairmen."
The Earl of IT EICESTER, who was received with much
applause, said,—Gentlemen, Ibe to thank you for the
very kind and handsome manner in which you have
drunk my health, aed for the compliment you have paid
me in invitirg me to take this seat, although, with the
exception of the opportunity it gives me of meeting many
friends, it is rather a pain than a pleasure to me to be
placed in so prominec t a pesition. lam called upon to
take the chair at meetings many times in the course of the
year, but on no occasion do I feel, that I am doing my
duty more than I do on these occasions, when I come to
assist in promoting the wePare sted the happiness of our
labouring population. I think also, gentlemen, that I
owe a debt of grsteude to those who manage this society
for the very admirable manner in which it is con-
ducted. I must also take this opportunity of stating my
approval.of the manner in which the whole of the busi-
ness connected with the poor in this Docking Union is
conducted. The way in which the poor are looked after
here, and the manner in which the rates are expended—
with economy combined with liberality—gives confidence
to the ratepayers, and is a credit to the county gene-
rally. (Hear.) We are met together, gentlemen, for the
purpose of rewarding and encouraging the agricultural
labourer. This association can d a good deal, but a
ereat deal rests with the owner of the cottage in which
the laboursr resides, and next with the occupier of the
land on which he is employed. First as to the owner of
the cottage. I have the misfortune—at least the misfor-
tune as far as I am concerned—to be a very considerable
owner of cottage property. I have endeavoured, as far
as I can, to improve the cottage of the lab iurer, and in
doing so I trust I have both physically and morally im-
proved his condition. In the first place I have endea-
voured in building my cottages to provide such accom-
modation as will allow a human being to live in the way
in which a man should live. (Cheers.) In the next
place, I have endeavoured to build those cottages at
as little possible loss to myself as I can. To ex-
pect a profit from cottage property without screw-
ing the tenant is impossible. By not allowing
lodgers to be taken in, by enforcing a few other
simple rules which it is necessary to make with the
labouring classes, and by having my tenants in nearly
every case directly under me as their landlord, I firmly
believe that I have improved their condition both physi-
cally and morally. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, as to the
master who employs the labourer. When I, as an owner
of cottage property, have done as much as I possibly can
to improve the condition of the labourer, much still rests
with the master who employs him. I believe, gentlemen,
a good master makes a good man. (Hear.) I believe if a
little more attention is paid in looking after the labourers
we employ, we may make them, in many cases, much
more efficient, and give them a much greater interest in
the soil on which they work and the prosperity of the
master V 1 ho employs them. I believe that when we take
labourers from another farm, by making a few inquiries
into their characters at the place which they have left, by
paying the same kind attention to them that we pay to
our domestic servants, by taking, in short, an interest in
them which we have not hitherto displayed, we might
induce among labourers a retard for character which at
i.sresent does not exist sufficiently in our district.
(Cheers.) You have, no doubt, seen the letters which
base appeared in the papers in reference to Nor-
folk labourers. As far as my experience goes—and I
have been a great employer of labour, and am well
acquainted with the habits and feelings of the labouring
classes—l believe no county in England will produce a
labourer who will do so much work fur the money paid
him. At the same time there are vices in the Norfolk
labourer which it should be in our power to eradicate. I
say eradicate, and I will take this opportunity of alluding
to what my friend on my left (the Hen. and Rev. T. R.
Keppel, brother of the Earl of Albemarle) has said with
respect to the giving of largess. I believe that the
giving of largess has a most injurious effect upon our
labourers ; in many cases I think it is the first introduc-
tion to the beershop. In saying this, I don't wish for a
moment to lessen the nunator of holydays and indul-
gences which our labouring classes possess, for they are
revv enough now, and I should be rather inclined to in-
crease than to dimini,h them. It may be said that this
custom of largess is an old custom ; but if the custom,
though old, is a bast one, there is no reason why we should
not abandon it. Our forefathers lived on acorns and mast;
but that is no reason why we should return to that food.
If an old cu-torn is a lad one, let us get rid of it. (Hear,
hear.) I believe that the p'ari carried out at Benham
by Lor I Albemarle and the clergy and gentry of that
distrist would prove of inestimable benefit to the
county if it were adopted throughout Norfolk.
Oue of the ereat evils we have to contend against
is the vice of drunkenness. As an employer
I find I man deal with men, let their vices be what they
will, if they are not given to drunkenness. With the
drunkard I can do nothing. On the Friday, when he is
paid, he goes to his beershop, and he won't appear again
till Tuesday, and then he will come back in such a state
that it is useless to employ him. I think, if the society
has already done so much good with the assistance of
Mr. Blyth and others, it might endeavour to put down
a crying evil like that of drunkenness. I firmly believe
that if we set our shoulders to the wheel much might be
done ; and, as far .as I am concerned, I am ready to give
you assi-tang both in time and money. It has been the
custom at Holkham to give a large sum every year as a
largess ; it has all gone in drink, and I am ready to give
that sum, and double that sum, to assist any persons
who are willing to use their energies to put a stop -to
that which I believe is a very great evil in this county.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have trespassed much longer on
your time than I intended t.) do. Living, as I do, very
much in the country, and connected as I am very much
with the labouring classes, I am apt to get led away
when I speak upon this sulject. With respect to the
question of education, which has been started this even-
ins, I think that the plan of establishing a library for
the poor would be productive of very considerable
benefit. At any rate, gentlemen, I am satisfied that
we should get an excellent library ourselves ' and I
think if a certain portion of the artisans, tradesmen,
bricklayers, and labourers in a parish. could be induced
• to read, their example would induce others to learn to

read also. The great difficulty we have to contend with
is this—it is all very well to talk about schools and
education, but we hold out such inducements to boys
six or seven years old, tbat in a large family it would be
very unnatural if fathers kept their sons at school when
they can earn 3s. or 4s. a week. Boys in this district
of No, folk can get certain employment when they are
seven or eight years old ; they are removed from school
at about that age, and I think the most desirable plan
would be to endeavour, if possible, to teach those boys
in adult schools, when they are old enough to see for
themselves that it is desirable to learn. (Hear, hear.)
Toe library proposed to be established here may have
this effect—it may induce young men, instead of spend-
ing their time at public hou'es and beer-shops, to learn
to read and to endeavour to put themselves in the same
position as those who have already been educated. I
will not detain you any longer, gentlemen. I thank
you very much for the kind wanner in which you have
received my health, and for the attention with which
you have listened to these few remarks. lam much
niHre able to cirry out than to explain my dews
on this subject, and I regret very much that it has not
had a more able exie.nent. (Tne noble earl resumed his
seat amid cuiiside•able applause.)
Several other speeches, expressing similar sentiments;
were delivered in the course of the proceedings.