The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-23 00:00:00

PRUSSIA.

The Second Chamber of Prussia, on the 19th,
proceeded to discuss the articles of the Constitution
relative to Public Instruction. Clauses enacting that
education should be free, but that public schools should
be established, and that all parents and guardians
should be bound to give children the education pro-
vided therein, were adopted.
The Prussian Government has sent a plenipotentiar)
to Copenhagen, to endeavour ter effect a settlement o'
the affair of the Duchies.

lONIAN ISLANDS.

SIR H. G. WARD'S PROCLAMATION OF AN
AMNESTY.
Cepbalonians,—l have allowel a week to elapse
since my last proclamation, in the expectation that some
one of the large number amongst you who are in-
terested in the future tranquillity of the island, would
have co-operated with the Government in its en-
deavours to discover the source of the conspiracy
which has disquieted the country. Many persons
have required it of me, but none have offered ti
assist me : this might, perhaps, compel me either
to try by court-martial five of your fellow-citizen:
for the crime of high treason, upon the insufficien.
denunciations of individuals who, themselves con
victed of the same crime, may have previously con
certed their evidence, in the hope of saving then
own lives; or to enter upon a long series of nee
inquiries, new accusations, and new arrests, with thr
idea of ultimately obtaining a complete proof of the
crime. But I cannot adopt this course. Until nos
I have done what I considered to be my duty towards
my Sovereign and towards yourselves in endeavour-
ing to prevent the repetition of any attempts such a•
signalised the commencement of the last revolt ; bu
this necessity has ceased to exist.
There has been enough punishment : I must use
the greatest circumspection in the employment of m 3
power, the more particularly as I find my name it
mixed up with the accusations against those whost
fate depends on my decision. I therefore declare a fub
and entire amnesty in favour of all persons implicates:
in the events of the months of August and Septembe'
last, and I promise, in the name of the Government.
that no more investigations shall be made, and that
above all, no accusations shall be admitted against
those who have been in any way connected with the
events in question.
Every individual who is in prison shall at once
from to-day be set at liberty. Time, their futurt
conduct, and the opinion of their fellow-citizens wil,
decide upon their innocence or guilt. If any out
accuses the Government of having permitted itself tt
be biassed by former recollections or by personal
feelings, I am ready to lay before the Parliament, as
soon as it shall have assembled, a full statement of the
reasons for all my acts, and to leave it to the Legis
lature to decide whether my justification is complete
It has been suggested to me how very painful i•
would be to see men of education and of independen.
fortune inculpated by the denunciations of malefactor:
and murderers. It is very rare, indeed, that conspire
cies protected by secret oaths are discovered withou
the treachery of an accomplice, for these accomplices
only become assassins, or brigands, after having beet
initiated into the conspiracy by the inducements of
individuals more elevated in society, perhaps, but lees
enterprising.
The general amnesty will have but one exception.
Judgment on G. Pierato Cutwevi and on Nicholas
Metaxas, son of Denys Metaxas, will be pronounces
to morrow, by the Court at Lixouri ; the formes
being proved too hardened a criminal to be set at
liberty, and the latter, unhappily, having acted most
inexcusably towards a respectable and well-born indi
vidual, for which several other persons have been
punished. Immediately after this judgment the
court martial will terminate.
Count Gerasimos Sarin, who was convicted on th
most unexceptionable testimony of having appeared
fully armed in the midst of the insurgents at the
village of Marcopoulos, has been condemned to
twenty-one years' imprisonment; but having bee!,
informed by witnesses who did not appear before the
court, that he is a man of weak mind, and quite in-
capable, both by habit and character, of taking tie
active part in matters of this kind, and that he may
have been led to Marcopoulos by want of occupatioe
or by intimidation, I shall commute his punishment
to two years detention.
The question of indemnities for the losses expe-
rienced by parties whose houses were burnt and pro-
perties devastated in the months of August and
September, in the districts of Scala Leo and Catoleo
will be submitted to the Senate on my return te
Corfu; but it is not to be questioned that the ielano
of Cephalonia ought not to be responsible, and that it
cannot possess any claim against this treasury of the
seven islands on the subject of these indemnities any
more than for every other extraordinary charge in-
curred by the Governor for the quelling of the revolt.
As malevolent passions, together with attempts at
proceedings contrary to the law, may be exhibited
during the winter in the districts recently exposed to
disorder, I believe it is my duty to increase the forces
at the police and military stations, and to invite the
public agent and primates of those districts to lend
their assistance and zealous concurrence to thou
forces, for if this had not been disgracefully neglected
at Scala, Marcopoulos,Vattes, and divers other villages,
the disasters which occurred there might have been at
once suppressed.
I shall recommend to the Senate the establishmen
of sanitary commissions at Pessades and Portoterra as
advantageous to the commerce of the island, and faci-
litating the watching of the smuggling trade, that
fruitful source of illegalities and of loss to the treasury,
at the same time that it deprives the local Government
of the proper resources by which it might contribute
to the general benefit, above all to the maintenance
and extension of the roads which are so indispensable
to your internal traffic. Since my first visit Pessades
has been pointed out to me as a port particularly
adapted to develop the communication between Argos-
toll and Zante, and to become still more important
whenever the negotiations which have been commenced
with the Austrian Lloyd's shall result in the establish-
ment of a direct communication from Trieste and Con-
stantinople to Cephalonia and Zante. The society has
not the means of including Argostoli in the treaty for
the whole of the six months ; but the Government
will facilitate the transport of dispatches and passen-
gers between Pessades and Zante, by sending to meet
the steamers until the direct communication shall be
opened.
I cannot leave Argostoli without thanking you for
the assistance which you have rendered me in the
rigorous duties I have had to fulfil. I have received
the best evidence of the support given to my political
conduct and its results from the Legislature of this
islael, from the most noted of the citizens, as well as
from the extensive districts into which the
spirit of lawlessness has never penetrated. I
believe, from my heart and soul, that it is this
conduct alone which has averted from the island
the most terrible calamities ; but the amnesty
which I now proclaim proves that I am not actuated
by the desire of prolonging a power which only the
direst necessity can impose upon a Government ;
which I have exercised with regret, and with a feeling
of responsibility which few will believe, and which I
ervently hope, under any circumstances of my public
ife, I shall never be called upon to re assume.
(Signed) H. G. WARD,
Lord High Commissioner.
Argostoli, Cephalonia, Oct. 24, 1849.

DISCONTINUANCE OF MAIL PACKETS BETWEEN
HULL, ALTONA, AND HAMBURGIL—The following notice
was posted at the General Post-office yesterday:—
"The contract entered into in May last, for the convey-
ance of mails by steam -packets between Hull and Altona
and Hamburgb, terminating on the 23d of this month,
on and after the 24th instant, all letters and newspapers
for Hamburgh, Denmark, &c., specially addressed to be
forwarded via Hull, will be sent by private ship, and
will be liable to the rates of postage heretofore charged
upon letters and newspapers for those places when con-
veyed by private ship."
_ Dr. GUTZLIFF, Till CHIME INTERPRETER.—
has among
moreth e Chinese.
D 23 r. Gutzlaff is about to visit Europe, after an absence of
years. That long term has been passed in China, or
e r
identified
i noae d
himself foreigner ofl,
with
itthhe seet
.h o
thoroughlyP
people ; their literature,
. government, his-
tory, . and social and habits, have
. been
investigated by a mind which finds pleasure in study.
Evan in personal appearance the
in a degree become Chiaeso. We learned gentleman. has
' in North America, that Europeausavwehhoevd it asserted
among the Indians acquire the expressionlvn for
rf
years
coun-
tenance, especially a peculiar cast of the eye, which
Indian is without. Sir Henry Pottinger wnt
the n o
east when a mere lad:. be resided for many years at
native courts, as a political agent of the Government,
and no person who has seen him will forget his orient al
countenance. Similar influences among a different people
may have bed the same effect on Dr. Gutzlaff.—Friend
of China,