The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1848.

Rumours of the most extraordinary character were
afloat- in Berlin, according to our latest intelligence.
Some whispered that Magdeburg was in a state of
siege; others went so far as to assert that Sans-Souci
had been committed to the flames like the residence
of the COll4 VO'N BRAIIDEN BURG. When the des-
perate positioj of the monarchy of Prussia is taken
into odksideration, it becomes anything but surprising
to find Such reports as the foregoing circulated
among the inhabitants of the capital. That the people
should receive the despotic and retrogressive measures
of the SOSTBRBIGN with an appearance of submission,
or that they should protest against the abhorred policy
of the new Administration, merely by assuming
as attitude of passive resistance, is about the
most improbable thing that can well be imagined.
/I,,ltAt werf, as, reasenable to anticipate an enthusiastic
„,-- 'At
(ii-ne for the Schvvartzenburg Ministry from the
/ 41:::',.-,,-.-__lriennese, as to look for obedience to the .13randen-
i4•7:1k..r-'7;l_,. ,I`:itni,i• „. from the Berliners. The position of
'4.‘41--,-'
~--, _ , .:.--„,,,,,, e great states of the European Con-
Co<,:illeiilc!: ,t.:4lt, :-44. arkable degree analogous, both in
....._,
~s.„4l(llllf,Yndition of the dynasty, and in the de •
,1

11 Si►

plorable misfortunes of the population. FERDINAND
remains at 011mutz, issuing frem his seclusion those
edicts which result in the shedding of the blood of the
bravest children of Austria. FREDERICK WILUELM
continues at Potsdam, developing in that base retreat of
his hypocrisy the schemes which tend to the subjuga-
tion of the heroic Prussians. WRANGEL holds his
sword in a threatening posture above Berlin. WIN-
DISCHGRATZ exercises the same inexorable authority
over Vienna. SCHWARTZENBURG has assumed the
reins of the Austrian Government, and gathers them
up with the distracting and unendurable tension of
Absolutism. BRANDENBURG has gratified his con-
servative, or rather his repressive and retrogressive,
predilections, by occupying in Prussia the same office
of danger and unpopularity. In both capitals
there are the ecattered members of a Diet at
open war with the minions of the re-
spective sovereigns. In both then are the ripening
seeds of a new and final revolution. In both are men
weighed down by circumstances among the ranks of
criminals, their only atrocity being their patriotism,
their only title to the abhorrence of the ruling
powers being their exalted civism and their unequalled
audacity.

Suddenly, in the midst of this tremendous crisis,
the great Germanic Parliament at Frankfort-on-the-
Maine has interposed ; and with their paramount
voice the representatives of United Germany
have declared for the People and against
the Sovereigns. An abrupt change has con-
sequently taken place in the situation of affairs
both in Prussia and in,Austria. The doom of both.dy-
nasties, the dynasty of Brandenburg as well as that of
Hapsburg-Lorraine, has been pronounced, unless the
present despotic adventures of the soldiers of PUEDE..
RICK Wrhuskst and of FERDINAND be at once and
permanently abandoned. It has been resolved upon
by the Diet of Frankfort, that the Assembly at
Berlin has acted in a manner worthy of the admira-
tion of contemporaries, and of the gratitude of pos-
terity, in resisting the unconstitutional proceedings of
the Prussian Sovereign. In the same sitting, the Su-
preme German Parliament has declared the execution of
Bhum, the celebrated publisher of Leipzig, to have
been nothing leis diabolical than murder, and have,
in addition to this declaration, dispatched two com-
missioners to the city of Vienna ,to demand satisfac-
tion for the insult thus offered to the Germanic na-
tionality, as well as to insist upon the instant punish-
ment of those who have dared to become the murderers
of a German representative. To demonstrate that the
latter resolution is not an act of superfluous rigour
is by no means difficult, seeing that the newly ap
pointed members of the Austrian Cabinet! have
themselves appealed to Fieli-Marshal the Prince
WINDISCHGRATZ, beseeching him to behave less
rigorously to the unfortunate Viennese. A powerful
argument will be Lund in our foreign correspond-
ence from Vienna, proving the coldblooded murder
of BLUM to have been not only a ferocious act of
assassination on the part of WINDISCHGRATZ, but
one of matchless treachery on the part of FERDINAND.
In expiation of that grand crime against the sove-
reignty of the people and the nationality of the united
fatherland, the Austrian Generalissimo and the
Austrian EMPEROR will have to bow down to the
decision of the Frankfort Parliament.

Before, however, we refer to the insurmountable
nature of the . embarrassment thus thrown in
the way of the tyrannous and retrogressive
Sovereignties of Prussia and Austria, we would
incidentally allude to one of the preposterous
pleas advanced by the Conservative journals of
London in behalf of the Government of the house of
Brandenburg. It is argued by our Contemporaries
that the gentlemen of Pomerania, and the merchants
of Saxony, and the agriculturists of Silesia, should
feel themselves called upon by their ancient senti
ments of loyalty to rally round FREDERICK WIL-
HELM IV., the head of the house of Brandenburg,
the last representative of an ancient dynasty ! Why,
throughout the length and breadth of Christendom,
there is scarcely to be found a more upstart
dynasty than that of the mushroom house
of Brandenburg! Scarcely a hundred years ago the
comparatively insignificant Electorate of Brandenburg
had not emerged to anything approximating to either
dignity or independence among the dominions of
Europe. Subsequently the little kingdom of Prussia
extended merely from the mouth of the Niemen to
the mouth of the Vistula. Next came the partitions of
Poland and the absorption of the principal portion of
Silesia, together with the seizure of Lusatia, a part
of Saxony, and the whole of Pomerania! The
Robber-Dynasty of Brandenburg emerged from
its obscurity, and the diadem of Prussia
was adorned with the jewels pillaged from the sur-
rounding territories. The Electorate, aided by the
unprincipled policy of its Government, by unparal-
leled good fortune, and by the military genius of the
Great FREDERIEK, abruptly rose to distinction as one
of the principal kingdoms of central Europe. And it
is this parvenu dynasty of Brandenburg that sixteen
millions of people are called upon to environ with the
protection of their ancient loyalty. Instead of look-
ing for encouragement from the population of
Prussia in his present tyrannous and atrocious pro-
ceedings, it would be well for FREDERICK WILHELM
to consider whether he may not speedily be called
upon to subside from the pomp of royalty into the in-
ferior state attendant upon an Elector of the petty
Duchy of Brandenburg.
The proceedings of the United Diet at Frankfort-
on-the-Maine are not less paramount than they are
peremptory. Austria and Prussia are alike pledged
to submission : the EMPEROR, by the circumstances
of his uncle the Archduke JOHN being installed in
the supreme dignity of REGENT of all Germany,
without taking into account the other guarantees
afforded by him of his adhesion to the High
Parliament assembled in St. Paul's Cathedral
at Frankfort, such, for example, as his previous
submission to the decrees of the Diet and the sending
of Austrian deputies to participate in its delibera-
tion ; the KING, in like manner, is pledged irre-
trievably to obedience by all his preceding efforts
towards the proclamation of one indivisible nationa-
lity. Between the decrees of the Frankfort Parlia-
ment, therefore, and the enthusiastic patriotism of the
people, the KING and the EMPEROR, are at this
moment situated. They must either yield or perish.
Supposing them to be insane enough to set at defiance
the will of the Germans and the commands of the
German Parliament, Austria and Prussia will very
speedily be in one vast conflagration.

The "Bears" are still labouring in their vocation
zealously and indefatigably. The game which they
had carried on with so much success for a consider-
able time, was by far too profitable to be relinquished
without a determined struggle. The enormous gains
they had realised during that period enabled them to
sustain losses which, under other circumstances,
would have proved absolutely ruinous, and driven
them with disgrace from the precincts of
Capel- court. They are now making a despe-
rate, and it is to be hoped a final, exertion
to retrieve their recent losses, and to bring
matters again to their former condition, when they
can dip their hands into the pockets of bona fide
shareholders, and plunder their victims with complete
impunity. Unwarned by the results of the two last
settlements of accounts, they still persist in selling
property which they have not in their possession or
power, hoping that they will be enabled at the last
moomeern, t to borrow stock sufficient to carry them
through their difficulties' in the event of thefpur-
chasers insisting upon an actual delivery
shares which they have undertaken to
transferuPon
the
the appointed day. They may perchance
find them-
selves mistaken in this respect. If those interested
in railway stock are only true to themselves, and
adopt the most simple precautions for their own pro-
tection, their assailants must be signally defeated. It
is manifest that stock cannot be lent for even a few
days without the consent of the actual pro-
prietors thereof. The latter may, perhaps, be
tempted by the exorbitant price offered for
She temporary accommodation, but a mo-
ment's consideration should induce them to reject any
temporary advantage, however tempting, when the
object of the parties by whom it is offered rust be
to occasion a serious depression in the value of the
property they are borrowing at the moment.
As we have repeatedly pointed out, it is necessary
that railway proprietors should co operate tcgether fur
their common benefit. They have a formidable
enemy to contend against, who will not scrupl,3 at
any means by which their object may be attained.

Any isolated exertions will be wholly inefficient
against a foe so persevering and malignant. They
may derive instruction from the old fable of " The
Bundle of Sticks ;" singly, they will fall easy vic-
tims, but united, they will be invincible, and may
defy every attack that can be made.

One of the most obvious precautions that should be
taken by railway proprietors would be to adopt a
fixed resolution that nothing shall induce them to
afford any facility to the " bearish " operations, that
they will not suffer their shares to be made use of,
for the purpose of supporting the credit, and
strengthening the position of their assailants. They
should therefore issue the most stringent instructions to
those intrusted' with the custody of their stock
not to lend it under any circumstances, or for any
►urpose whatsoever, to those who desire to use it for
purposes so detrimental to the interests of the general
body of shareholders. Indeed, a loan even to inno.
cent parties, who might seek it as a means of obtain-
ing pecuniary assistance for a brief period is to be
deprecated, because the shares so borrowed must be
rent into the market to be disposed of. The supply
will thus be increased, and, as a natural consequence,
prices diminished in a proportionate degree.
It will be manifest to any person looking atten-
tively to the proceedings in the Stock Exchange that
the general fall which took place yesterday is ascribable
in a great degree, if not altogether, to speculative
sales by the " Bears," who have thereby succeeded in
depressing the quotations. The account day had just
;one by—nearly a fortnight must elapse before an-
other settlement will take place. The former one
had been got through by borrowing stock, payment
of differences, and the various other devices in
which the "Bears" are such practised adepts when
matters press severely upon them. There is,
therefore, ample time for the operations with
which they are so familiar. They are well
aware of the value of combined action, and therefore
no sooner had the last account been arranged than a
determined line of action was adopted. Several
parties simultaneously appeared as sellers, and thus
prices were generally quoted at a decline, although
the various " statements" that have been issued from
the most influential companies afforded the most con-
vincing and satisfactory evidence of the soundness
and stability of the undertakings, of the handsome
dividends that might be expected by the share-
holders, and of the comparatively small amount
of the expenditure for which they will have
to provide. There were other circumstances,
also, which should have had a favourable ten•
dency. Money was abundant and at an easy rate
of interest, and there was a considerable improve
went in the public funds : all these considerations
should have materially increased prices, but on the
contrary, a considerable fall took place, and there
was a general appearance of languor and depression.
this, however, cannot last. If persons rush reek-
iessly into the market to sell that which they have
not in their possession, of course it will, for the time
being, diminish the nominal value; but the day of
reckoning will at length arrive, and unless the share-
holders should be so silly as to fall into the nets
spread for them, the "Bears " will again have to
deplore their rashness, and to pay largely for their
iniquitous efforts to plunder their fellow-citizens of
their property.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Parisyagers of yesterday.

In the sitting of the Assembly, 20 additional
cones were granted to Members. In putting the
question, M. ARMAND MARRAST announced his in-
tention of addressing a letter through the Moniteur to
those Members who had been absent more than a fort-
night, requesting thom to return.
It is said that M. LEDRU Romax is no longer a
candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. He has
resigned in favour of M. RASPAIL.
There was another banquet of social and demo-
cratic Republicans held on Thursday, 1,300 persons
attended ; M. CADET presided. In the course of
the proceedings M. D'ALTON SLUE declared it
would be an immense disgrace to the country
,if Prince Louis NAPOLEON were elected President,
but that in the event of such an election taking
place, he would not he able to march for a single
month within the limits of the law, and then insur-
rection would no longer be an affair of individual
appreciation, it vi ould be a duty.
In the National Assembly, yesterday, it was resolved
that none of the functionaries in the Department of
Public Instruction should hold more than two places,
the salaries of both of which should not exceed
12,000 francs.
M. M. GARNIER PAGES, BARTHLEMY ST. HILAIRE,
PAGNERRE, and DUCLERC have withdrawn from the
club of the Institute, in consequence of the resolu-
tion of the vast majority of the club to support
General CAVAIGNAC as their candidate for the Presi-
dency. They declare that no Member of the Na-
tional Assembly ought to &dare in favour of any par-
ticular candidate, and that they are equally opposed
to CAVAIGNAC, BONAPARTE, and LEDRU ROLLIN.
BOURSE—PARIS, FRIDAY, NOYEIRBER 17.
THREE o'CLocK.—The Three per Cent:, closed on
the Paris Bourse yesterday at 51f.; the Five per Cents.
at 63f. 75c.•' the New Lcan 631. 80c.; Orleans Railroad
Shares, 567 f. 50c.: Rotten, 350 f; Great Northern, 3361.
25c.; Avignon, 155 f.; Vierzon, 2151.; Bordeaux, 3611.
25c.; Paris and Strasburg, 326 f. 25c.; Tours and Nantes,
3081. 75c.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THI
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, Nor. 17.
Luxembourg (74), s/4—Namur and Liege, 4%—Paris and
Lyons ( let.), 3%.