The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-20 00:00:00

PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, Dec. 18.—The King returned on Satur-
day last from a visit of a day or so that he had paid
to the Court at Neu Strelitz ; whether any other
motive actuated this visit than the pleasure of a
long sledge drive, of which the King is very fond, is
not known. A person acquainted with the Court says
that the Grand Duke has been for many years accus-
tomed to pay the King a visit at this time, but now,
having been disabled by age from encountering
the cold and the fatigue, the King pays him the
attention of going to him. The Court of Mecklen-
burg-Strelitz is notoriously Russian in its sympa-
thies ; as this circumstance was alluded to just as
the King was about to start off thither, he replied,
" Who knows but what I may return quite
Wes-
ternly disposed?"
Certainly nothing is better calculated to turn a
clever man, with a lively sense of the ridiculous,
into an opposite direction, than to hear any parti-
cular views advocated by the grotesque oldG rand
Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who, in addition to
that leaning for Russia which all petty despots
have, is the more inclined that way from the cir-
cumstance of his youngest son George having mar-
ried a Russian Grand Duchess, Catharine, the
daughter of the late Grand Duke Michael ; and being,
moreover, a Major-General in the Russian service,
Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz is the
Envoy Extraordinary, par excellence, of the Em-
peror to the various Courts of Germany, whenever
anything unusual is on foot. He has just received
the public thanks of the Emperor for his admirable
execution of a commission entrusted to him by the
Emperor, but what that commission was is not
mentioned.

On Saturday evening, after his return from
Strelitz, the King gave audience to Baron Von
Manteuffel, and also to Count Munster, who re-
turned that same morning from St. Petersburg.
It is not known whether the Count has brought
any document with him beyond a letter from the
Emperor to the King.
On Sunday morning we had no news here of
the fall of Kars ; it has been ascertained, how-
ever, since then, that the Russian Embassy had
received a despatch of this tenour on Saturday
night, which was communicated to this Govern
men in the course of Sunday ; it must, however)

have been known in Vienna at least 36 hours
earlier. This may have arisen from the circum-
stance of the Russo-Prussian telegraph by way of
Konigsberg having been out of order for the
last week, without the cause of its interrupted
action having been able to be ascertained and re-
moved, or it may be part of the system of reticence
that seems to have been adopted towards this Go-
vernment by all the Governments interested in the
present war. Another contribution to the his-
tory of intrigue and spying' was furnished here
lately in the instance of a Prussian retired officer
and quondam police spy, of the name of Hassenkrug,
who procured a passport for Francs, and a commission
from the French Embassy here to spy out Russian
machinations in France, and then hired himself to
the Russian Embassy for the purpose of procuring
French information in Paris. The French Em-
bassy, having some suspicions, had him watched in
Paris ; and the result was that the individual very
soon found his liberty of motion circumscribed by
the four walls of a prison. Though a Prussian sub-
ject he is not likely to be reclaimed by his own Go-
vernment.

It is confirmed that the Russian Vice-Admiral
Glasenapp's mission to Stockholm is for the purpose
of entering on his functions as Naval Adjunct to
the mission there, as General Bodisco is the Alin-
tary Adjunct ; of the mission of the Staatsrath
Tengoborski to Copenhagen it is not so clear that
it has for its sole object the conference on the Sound
duos.

All Sardinian subjects still abiding in Russia have
been put under the protection of the representative
of Bavaria there, as had been already the case with
all French subjects ; our own countrymen, ag will
be recollected, are under the protection of the
Danish Minister.

A merchant in Cologne, who " does " largely in
metals, has just received the unpleasant news
that a ♦essel of his, laden with load, and bound
for Hamburg, has been captured by a French
steamer, as she came out of the port of Malaga.
The lead is declared to be for Zollverein con-
sumption ; but the French authorities have stated
their conviction, from statistics, that the Zollve-
rein produces lead enough for its own purposes,
and to prevent any possible deficiency of the
article arising elsewhere they will take it where it
cannot be exported to Russia. For the present
both vessel and cargo have been carried to the
coast of Africa.

The Russian loan, for which Mendelssohn's
house here, as the agents of Stieglitz in St. Peter:,
burg, have undertaken to receive subscriptions,
will not be issued till after the turn of the year.
The introduction of this now loan at 8G has had
the effect of driving its predecessor down to 84i,
and the Russo-English loan to 834 It is worth
notice that the national debt of Russia had in-
creased between 1844 and 1853 by 205,870,000,
and between 1853 and 1855 by 120,024,000.

Silver roubles.
The amount previous to 1844 was 8a3,024,000
Between 1844 and 1853 ...... . 205,870,004
Between 1853 and 1855

Present total
1,158,918,000

FRANCE.

PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
The propositions which Count Valentine Ester-
hazy is carrying to St. Petersburg are completely
adopted by the three Powers—France, England, and
Austria. I have already informed you that what-
ever difference existed between the two former has
disappeared, and however we may doubt as to the
conduct of Austria in the event of their rejection
by Russia, it is certain that for the present she is
with us, and that she thinks the conditions are such
as Russia ought to accept. It is calculated that it
will take eight days from the departure from
Vienna of Count Esterhazy to his arrival at his
destination, and several days more must elapse be-
fore anything can be known respecting the decision
of the Russian Government. The opinion gene-
rally entertained here is that Russia will not ac-
cept those conditions. The question next occurs,
what will Austria do ? Very probably she will re-
call her ambassador from St. Petersburg and send
Prince Gortschakoff his passports ; but that the re-
fusal of Russia will be immediately followed by a
declaration of war on her part is not believed by
well-informed persons here.
Our readers will be surprised to hear that Russia
has been beforehand with us, and has herself made
a proposition, to which, as it has the priority, that
carried by doun t Esterhazy must be considered a
counter-proposition. A few days since Prince
Gortschakoff waited on Count Buol, and with much
emphasis delivered a proposal which he declared
must certainly render tho further prosecution of
the war impossible. How be could have done so
with a grave face it is difficult to imagine. He pro-
posed that the Conferences of last year should be
renewed at the point where they left off, declared
that his Imperial Master no longer opposed the
neutralisation of the Black Sea, and proceeded to
explain a plan for effecting this object, which has
certainly the merit of novelty. He proposed that
the ships of war of all nations should be excluded
from the Black Sea, except those of Russia and
Turkey ; and that it should be left to those two
Powers to decide upon the amount of force which
each required. What answer Count Buol gave to
this strange proposal, whether he treated it as a
bad joke or not, we are unable to say, but at least
he transmitted the scheme, as in duty bound, to
France and England, who had no difficulty in
framing a very decided reply.
It is impossible, under such circumstances, to
say what Austria will do next year. If Prussia
acted as she ought—acted even as Austria acts—
the war would soon be brought to au end. It is
barely possible that Austria will at last summon
up resolution to enter the lists ; but this will per-
haps depend on the results of he next campaign.
For the present her action consists in adopting in
common with us the conditions on which we accept
peace from Russia ; but it does not go further than
a hope, if not a possitive promise, to suspend di-
plomatic relations.

- The Moniteur will probably say something in a
few days.

Up to one o'clock on Tuesday no official intelli-
gence had been received by the French Government
announcing the occupation of Kars by the Russians,
though there exists no doubt of that disaster having
occurred.

The following appears in yesterday's Moniteur :
.--.." The Minister of War has received, through his
Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
sum of 1,0001., the proceeds of a ball organised by
Count de Chabrellant, Consul of France at Mel-
bourne (Australia), and also of some gifts of indi-
viduals—the whole being intended for the wounded
of the French army of the Crimea. His Excellency
Sir Charles Hotham and all the members of colo-
nial and municipal government showed upon this
occasion a cordial sympathy for .our soldiers, co-
operatinfr with our Consul most energetically. The
Minister of War has begged his colleague, M. the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, to testify to them his
lively gratitude."