The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-28 00:00:00

THE FRANKFORT CONFERENCE.

The following, despatch has been addressed by
Herr von Bismark to Baron von W3rther, the
Prussian I\linister at Vienna :

" Gastein, Aug. 14.
•fc our Excellency will see by my rescript of yesterday
respecting the memoir in which the reasons for invitation to
the King to be present at the Congress at Frankfort were
discussed, that we desire in the first place to settle those
questions, without the solution of which every attempt at a
reform of the Federal Constitution would, in our opinion,
have no foundation. While reserving to myself the right
of obtaining further information on this subject, I have the
honour of communicating to you some observations on the
tenour and form of the overtures that have been made to us.
" After the arrival of the Emperor Francis Joseph here
on the 2d of this month, his Majesty took advantage of a
visit he made on the following day to our gracious master,
to speak to the King on the subject of Federal reform, and
to submit to him the memoir I transmitted to your Excel-
lency, with the rescript of the 13th. His Majesty the Em-.
Peror declared at the same time that a Congress of Princes
would assemble on the 16th at Frankfort ; that a directorate
of five Princes would henceforth be at the head of the Con-
federation; that the German Diet would continue to deli-
berate on passing events, but that an Upper Chamber, com-
posed of all the Sovereigns of the Confederation and meet-
ing periodically, and a second Chamber, composed of the
delegates of the different German Diets and possessed of
deliberative powers, would be created.
" In this Conference and in two others which took place
the same day the King submitted to the Emperor the objec-
tions put forward in the memoir sent herewith, and de-
clared finally, when the two monarchs took leave of each
other, that the Congress could not, under any circum •
stances, be called together with success before the Ist of
October, on account of the preliminary labours that would
be necessary.
"Considering the tenour of these Conferences, his Ma-
jesty the King was very much surprised to receive, on the
evening of the 3d of August, from the hands of au Impe-
rial aide.de-camp, a short time after his Majesty the Em-
peror had taken his leave, the official invitation to the Con-
gress of Frankfort for the 16th, the invitation being dated
July 31.
"Your Excellency knows the tenour of the invitation as
well as the reply made on the 4th of this month to his
Majesty the Emperor by our most gracious master. In
order to give the Imperial Cabinet an opportunity of form-
ing its decision with a knowledge of that of the King's
Government his Majesty the King addressed a telegram
on the 4th to his Majesty the Emperor, in which the invi-
tation was formally declined.
"In spite of this the Austrian invitations were made

the name day, though dated July 31, without waiting
until his Majesty the Ring had replied to the Imperial

Letter.

" On the 7th inst. an Imperial aide-de-camp delivered to
his Majesty the King a new invitation, to which was
annexed the memorial, of which I send you a copy. This
invitation proposed to the King, inasmuch as his state of
health did not permit him to be at Frankfort on the 16th,
to delegate to the Congress one of the Royal Princes aimed
with full powers.
" The correspondence that has passed relative to the
Imperial invitation limits itself to this.
"It seems to me that propositions destined to exert such
a powerful influence over the common interest of all the
States of the Confederation, if they are to have any result,
cannot be prepared by a single Government, and sprung as
a sort of surprise upon the other Gcvernments, to be after-
wards abruptly submitted to the sanction of the Sovereigns.ymost
I think that the dignity of his Majesty the King, my
gracious master, will not permit him to go to Frankfort
merely to receive communications of schemes relating to
the Confederation, touching which Prussia has not been
previously consulted, and the scope of which is only to be
explained to his Majesty at Frankfort.
"In order to render such questions sufficiently ripe for
the Monarchs to pronounce upon them personally, it was
absolutely necessary to discuss them first in a diplomatic
manner, or in Ministerial conferences.
"I do not know on what Experience the Imperial Go-
vernment bases the assertion made in the second memorial,
according to which simple Ministerial conferences have
always been barren of results, and therefore that it was idle
t 9 renew in earnest deliberations attempts which were
always unsuccessful. The question of Federal reform,
far as we know, has not been submitted to deliberations
of
this kind since the conferences of Dresden. There is no rea-
son why 1 should request the King to give me his
opinion
upon the projects of reform in question, so long as the only
information vouchsafed to us concerning the tenour and
scope of these projects is so general and imperfect.
"Your Excellency will gather for your guidance the
necessary information in the memorial attached hereto, in
which the King has set forth the objections which he has
himself made to the Emperor, and which were sent to
Vienna on the 4th.

" For its part, the Royal Government has not deemed
the moment well chosen for taking the initiative in a Re-
form Bill; but if the Government is forced to explain itself
on this subject, I can only refer to the considerations laid
down in our note on the question of the Delegates in the
Session of January 23 of this year—arguments which your
Excellency is acquainted with—and to reiterate the declara-
tion that a representative Assembly of the German people,
elected according to population and by direct vote, and
having a right to deliberate on questions relative to thein-
terests of the Germanic Confederation, can alone form the
basis of institutions in favour of which the Prussian Go-

vernment might renounce any part of its autonomy, with-
out doing serious injury to the interests of its own subjects
and to the political position of Prussia.
"Your Excellency is authorized to read this despatch to
Count itechherg.

" DE BISMARK:'

LADY ANGLERS.—ArgIiog is one of the most
fashionable amusements for ladies. The Princess of Wales
is frequently to be seen, rod in hand, on the banks of the
Dee or its tributaries. On Thursday last, Lady Caroline
Gordon Lennox went fishing on the Spey, and with re-
markable success, taking two grilses of 81b and 8!lb ; and
on Friday her ladyship caught a salmon of 1811).--.13ang-
shire h4rna4