The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 9, -1862.

_ELECTIONS IN _PRUSSIA.

The event of the day at Berlin is the private
letter addressed by the Minister of Finances, M.
• von der Heydt to the Minister of War, General von
Roon, pointing, out to him the necessity, with a
view to the elections, of depriving the Progressist
party of their chief means of agitation, by reducing
the army expenses. The following is the text of
that letter, as published in the Vossiche Zeitung :
" To HIS EXCELLENCY M. VON BOON, MINISTER OF
STATE AND OF WAR.

"It is of the highest importance to the Government that
the elections for the new Chamber of Deputies should have
a favourable result, so that it may be able to count upon a
majority of the Assembly. With this object it will endea-
vour to keep away from tho Chamber all elements hostile
to the Government according to the recent experience of the
past. It will not have escaped your Excellency's observa-
tion that two objects especially—the increase of the army
estimates and the project to continue to levy the 25 per cent.
additional on the income, class, meal and slaughter taxes—
were made use of at the last elections by the self-styled
Progressist party as a means of agitation against the Go-
vernment throughout the ccuutry, so as to gain over public
opinion, and to cause the choice of the electors to fall upon
members of their party. The composition of the Chamber
recently dissolved has proved how successful they were.
At the present moment those questions are still turned to
account to influence the elections; and there is reason to
fear that if suitable measures are net taken the result will
be the same; the organs of the self-styled Liberal party de-
clare that the latter party can only give its assent to the
armyPronou enste
" The Government cannot allow these facts to remain un-
noticed againstas under
increasederLa in
taxation.
conditions, and that it must
noticed ; it must seriously, and at an opportune moment,
examine if it can hope, by maintaining the army estimates
without modification, to have a Chamber where it can
command a majority, and where it will be able to carry the
budget for the army and the additional taxes. In my opi-
nion no such hope can be entertained, because those two
questions, from the very fact of their material importance, are
better suited than any others to procure to their adversaries
the influence in the elections. A reduction of taxes, even
when they aro not oppressive ones, is always hailed with
welcome by all classes of the population, especially when,
as in the present case, it is an extraordinary tax, which is
not even willingly paid under special circumstances, and
much less so in ordinary times,
for
h w
ioh and especially when the
necessity
this tax is claimed is
not unanimously admitted by public opinion,
of the institutions
" These considerations convince me that to push the elec-
tions in a Government sense we must renounce, from the
Ist July, the levy of additional taxes, and make positive
promises on the subject before the time fixed for the elec-
tions. It is true that it is giving up a net receipt of
3,700,000 thalers. Although I hope it may be possible to
find the means to cover a portion of that less by an increase
of the other resources of the State, it will always be very
small as compared to that sum. The greater part of the
latter can only be economised by a diminution of expenses
in the War Department, for which, hitherto, the additional
taxes have been levied. Your Excellency is well aware that in
all the other departments every possible reduction has been
made for years to procure some means of reducing the
deficit arising from the excess of expenses of the military
administration, and at least to save appearances by showing
that the Government has endeavoured to fulfil its promises.
Tho result has been that the wants which have been always
neglected for lack of means have been yearly increasing,
and that it is no longer possible, without detriment to the
prosperity of the country, to neglect them any longer, and
to put aside, under the pretext of a want of resources, the
numerous propositions tending to increase the funds
destined for the expenses, propositions made to the Diet on
the occasion of the discussion of the Budget, •
" If your Excellency considers that the deficit produced
by the new organization of the army amounts, according to
the budget for the current year, and not counting the addi-
tional taxes, to about 7,000,000 dollars, I think I may hope
for your approval in fixing 2,500,000 as the minimum to
which the budget of the army must be reduced, dating from
the current year, and until the financial situation has been
improved. While awaiting that the new organization of
the tax on landed property shall produce the excess of re-

ceipts which is expected from it, considerable sums .must

still be drawn from the public treasury to cover the current

expenses.

" As regards the mode of realizing these economies in the
War Department, I must leave that entirely to the

ciation of your Excellency.
" I do not deny that this problem offers great difficulties
to be solved, but I flatter myself with the hope that, in con-
sideration of the serious position in which we aro placed,
your Excellency will admit the importance of the motives
which plead for my proposal, especially in view of the result
of the forthcoming elections, and that you will be inclined
to second me in my difficult post of Minister of Finances by
a willing acquiescence in the measures which tho force of
circumstances imperiously demands.

"It is scarcely necessary to add, that should particular
events render an increase of the resources for the army
necessary, I should not hesitate willingly to lend a hand to

the creation of those resources.

" In conclusion, I beg of your Excellency to reply to me
as soon as possible by your assent; and I take the liberty
of observing that, unless you should prefer asking yourself
alone the permission of the King for a reduction of the
expenses of the military administration proposed by me, I
shall not refuse to take part in a direct report on that

object.
" Berlin, March 21, 1862."

"Von der HEYBT.

A MODERN CASTLE OF UDOLPHO.

A correspondent sends the following remarkable
story to the Dublin Evening Mail:—" This is the
age of discoveries,and one of such a startling nature
has been made in an English county that it seems
out of place in the region of sober fact, and to
belong purely to the atmosphere of the three-
volume novel. Here are the circumstances ; the
names for the moment I am not at liberty to indi-
cate :—The Earl of married not long ago, and
brought his bride home to one of the old family
mansions which members of the English aristocracy
regard with an affection amounting to veneration,
The lady, however, being more continental in her
tastes, after a short residence in the apartments
appropriated to her use, expressed a wish to have a
boudoir in the vicinity of her bedroom. The noble
earl would gladly have complied with the request,
but, upon examination, it was found that the rooms,
as sometimes happens in antique buildings, were so
awkwardly distributed that by no conceivable plan
of rearrangement could the desired boudoir be fitted
in. Thereupon it became necessary to invoke
professional assistance, and an eminent architect
was summoned from London. He examined the
etehvoedns a
of tapping, 81-c" on
house narrowly, and said there seemed to be no-
thing for it but to build one, though at the same
time he could not resist the impression that there
must be another undiscovered room somewhere
in that wing of the mansion. The noble earl
laughed at the idea; the oldest servants and re-
tainers of the family were questioned,rannmddr of
declared
thatexis t
etnhoee. they hadTh never The
ordinary
heardm
were resorted to, but without effect. Still the archi-
tect retained his conviction, and declared himself
ready to stake his professional reputation on the
result. The earl at last consented to let the walls
be bored, and when an opening had been made, not
11371:aril: ago. A quantity
mT ho es t al
op
xa entrmi
oennet
twy
laes
efif t tlesdo
itselfonly waswhi
ht the
m roomost defeats found , but a sight presented
attemptss
at description.
the richest and
of lady's apparel lay about the room, jewels were
scattered on the dressing-table, and, but for the
faded aspect which everything
wore, the chamber
might have been tenanted half an hour previously.
On approaching the bed the most curious sight of
all was seen, and this it is which affords the only
clue to the mystery. The couch held the skeleton
of a woman, and on the floor underneath the bed,
half in and half out, lay another skeleton, that of a
mail; presenting evident traces of violence, and
proving that, before he expired in that position, he
must have received some dreadful injury. Thesecret
connected with this tale of blood has been well
kept, for not merely had all tradition of the scene
faded away, but even the existence of the room
itself was forgotten. The survivors probably
walled up the apartment at the time, and its con-
tents remained hermetically sealed up till ;the pre-
sent day, when, according to the best calculations,
after the lapse of a century and a half daylight has
accidentally penetrated into this chamber of
horrors."

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TILE PRESS IN ITALY.

The following despatches relating to " Govern-
went prosecutions of the press in Italy during the
last two years" have just been presented to the
House of Commons

No. 1.
Sin J. HUDSON TO LORD I. RUSSELL.
(Received April 30.) (Extract.) '2-
" Turin, April 27, 1861.
" Whilst, therefore, on the one hand, we see that
the counter-revolution is organised at Rome,
whence arms, money, and agents are despatched to
the Southern provinces in order :to create revolt,
we have, on the other hand, an example of the
sound sense of the Neapolitan people in the verdict
recently given by a jury in the case of a Govern-
ment against the editor of the Pietro Infernale
newspaper. The jury, and it was the first trial by
jury that ever took place at Naples, condemned the
editor in twice the costs proposed by the Crown
prosecutor, and added three months' imprisonment
besides."

No. 2.
SIR J: HUDSON TO EARL RUSSELL.
(Received March 18.)
" Turin, March 10, 1862,

"My Lord,—With reference to your lordship's
inquiry upon the subject of prosecutions of the
press by the State in this country, and why I have
not reported upon them, I have the honour. to ex-
plain that under the constitutional law of Italy it
is perfectly well known to all writers and printers
what they may and what they may not print.
" Consequently, it is one of the duties of King's
Procurator, in case that law is violated, to lay an
indictment on the party so violating it.
" The Italian judges are, as your lordship is
aware, irremovable, and completely and entirely
independent of Government. In the 'case in point,
a prosecution of a newspaper or pamphlet, for in-
stance, would be tried by a Court of First Instance.
" If the defendant is cast, he can appeal to a
higher Court, which would correct any merely
legal error. From this, again, the defendant, if a
second time cast, can carry his case to the Court of
Cassation, which corrects the Court of Appeal.
Daring the period of my residence at this Court
I have heard of many prosecutions of newspapers
by the properly constituted legal authority, but I
never heard of any undue pressure or influence being
exercised by Government upon the judges. Had
anything of the kind occurred, it would undoubtedly
have been brought before Parliament, and the
Minister who had ventured upon the experiment
impeached; because there are in Parliament here
representatives of every section of public opinion,
and the Opposition of one shade or another in
politics would only be too glad of such a handle
against the Government.

" Under these circumstances, as no case of oppres-
sion or of tampering with the law or with the law
courts, on the part of the Government, has ever
been brought under my notice, I really did not con-
ceive that it was necessary to take up your lord-
ship's very valuable time with reports upon the
administration of the law and the judgments of the
law courts, which in no way whatever affected a
British subject or a British ,interest, and had no
such bearing upon the political condition of the
country as rendered it necessary for me to call your
lordship's attention to it.—l have, &c.,
(Signed) "JAMES HUDSON."

THE BARQUE SULTA2V.-OFFICIAL
REPORT. .

TO THE RIGIIT HONOURABLE THE LORDS OF PRIVY COUNCIL

ron TRADE.

My Lords,—ln pursuance of your directions con-
veyed to nao through Mr. William Pugh Gardner,
collector of customs for the port of Dublin, I pro-
ceeded to hold an official inquiry into the circum-
stances attending the abandonment of the barque
Sultan, on the morning of the 9th March last,
within about 300 miles of the Irish coast, in lat. 48
20, long. 16 36, having been assisted therein by
Captain Loftus Robinson, R.N., as nautical assessor.
The inquiry was conducted on behalf of your' lord-
ships' honourable board by Mr. O'Dowd ; the mas-
ter, J. W. Steele, not having had any professional
adviser. Several witnesses, a copy of whose evi-
dence is herewith transmitted, were examined in
the course of the investigation, and as the result
thereof I find and beg leave to report :—That the
Sultan sailed from Guyachan, in Bolivia, South
America, on the 19th of Otober, laden with guano,
and on the 23d arrived at Arica for fresh water,
and having obtained a supply thereof proceeded
thence on her homeward voyage for Liverpool on
the 29th of the same month. The voyage was
prosperous, and the weather pretty fair, till
after she had rounded Cape Horn, when it became
unsettled and squally, and on the night of the sth
of January, erroneously described, as appears by the
log-book, by the several witnesses, as the night of
the 6th, a violent squall suddenly struck the ship
with such overwhelming force as nearly to throw
her on her beam-ends, straining her so seriously that
she immediately began to make a considerable quan-
tity of water. With reference to this squall, it
appears that all necessary measures had been taken
to guard against it, and although its advent was not
indicated by lightning, nor by any warning, save a
darkness or thickening to windward, yet the know-
ledge of his being then in a squally latitude had
induced the master to rigidly enforce the precaution
amongst others of always having hands by the top-
sail, or topgallant haulyards, as the case might be.
I therefore exonerate him from all culpability on
account of the disaster on the sth of January. I
shall now pass over the period from the Gth of Jan.
' to the morning of the 9th of March, with only one
remark relative to the pumps, which appear not to
have been not only constantly worked with zealous
perseverance by the crow, but were rendered fur-
ther serviceable by a very ingenious machine con-
;
' structed by the master and carpenter, which afforded
from time to time the most opportune and efficient
aid, and likewise evinced the great anxiety felt by
the master for the safety of his ship. On the morn-
ing of the 9th of March the Sultan was abandoned,
and, taking into account all the circumstances of the
case—the crew worn out and exhausted, their num-
ber diminished by sickness, the ship gradually set-
tling down, and the pumps refusing to suck, with
three feet of water in the hold, and the cargo satu-
rated with water to a depth not ascertainable, it
having been over the surface of some parts of the
cargo, I consider that the master, instead of in-
curring censure for the abandonment, would
have been open to the greatest reprehension
for a glaring risk of human life had he
declined to avail himself of the means of rescue
so providentially afforded by the American
barque T. B. Bartram. As regards the master
of this barque, Mr. Harford Nicholls, I trust my
lords will not consider me out of place in here
alluding to his most humane and praiseworthy
conduct. He was on his voyage from New York to
Dublin with a cargo of corn, and on the evening of
the Bth of March, having descried a flag of distress
from the Sultan, ho immediately bore down on her,
spoke her, and, at the request of the master, he
stayed his course, and cheerfully consented to stand
by, and did stand by, the distressed ship all night.
On the following morning he again approached
the sinking vessel, when he most kindly received
her master and crew on board his ship, and having
considerately supplied their wants, and ministered
to their comforts in every way, safely landed them
them at Kingstown on the 14th ult. I could not
venture to add anything in the way of comment or
eulogy to the simple narrative of such conduct, and
i
I am perfectly satisfied it will be fully appreciated
by your lordships.—l have, &e.,,

J. W. O'DoNNELL.
I concur, Lonus ROBINSON.
Dublin Local Marine Board, Custom-houoe,
Dublin, April 2.