The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-28 00:00:00

PRUSSIAN CIRCULAR.

The following is the text of the circular despatch
upon the affairs of Neuchatal addressed, towards
the end of Sept. last, by the Prussian Government.
to its accredited agents at the German Courts :
You are already aware that, in the early part of this
month, a movement took place in Neuchatel, under the
direction of the royalist chiefs, for the re-establishment of
'the rightful government. The success of this movement
was of abort duration. The republican authorities rePo-
vered possession of their ac,cendancy, and sl/4 great nine;
ber of royalists and their leaders were taken prisoners.
Although the Government of the King must decline
the responsibility of these events, the heart of his Mat
jesty has not been the less sensibly affected thereby. The
more his Majesty is enabled to appreciate the sentiments
of devoted duty (mistaken though it be in-the choice of
means) which has incited the late movement of the ropi
alists at Neuchatel, the more imperative is the oblige;
tion owned by our gracious sovereign to protect beforii
all things the victims of their fidelity from the conse;
quences of these events.

His Majesty the King cannot at all, in this view, re
gard as sufficient the promise made by the Swiss authori
tie, that the prisoners should be treated with humanity
Apart from the consideration that (looking at the latest
intelligence which has reached us) the accomplishment
of the promise is more than doubtful, his Majesty,
considered the setting at complete liberty of the prisoners
as the only condition whose preliminary accomplisi wont
will regulate the positla of his Majesty with respect to
the negotiations for th'; definitive settlement of the Nett
chat-el question. For it is in this preliminary that his
Majesty will find a guarantee for the expectation hel
out to him that, from the negotiations upon the futur
situation of the principality of Neuchatel, will spring
more satisfactory result than lias arisen therefrom up tb
this date. I

To prepare in this course for the discussion of ths
whole matt,u-, his Majesty intends to make. the recelat
events at Neuchatel the subject of a communication tb
the Germanic Confederation, attaching thereto the pro-
position that the Confederation shall not only adhere to
the Prot-icol of London, of May 24, 1852, but shall fu -
ther insist, on its side, that the Helvetian Confederatio
shall -set atliberty the royalist prisoners of Neuchate
reserving itself for nacre serious measures against the
Swiss Government according to the result of the latterly
compliance with the requisitions addressed to it.
Hie Majesty has a firm conviction that such a proFd-
sition will probably receive the unanimous adoption
the Germanic Diet. It is a question of reclaiming an
incontestable right, and placing the weight of Gertnani
in the scale in favour of the authority of a German princS.
None of the German Powers can wish to shrink fro&
this undertaking, •

But we consider it important to obtain an assurance On
this point, before appealing to the Diet, by a confid -ntial
understanding with the different German governmentsi
This is the aim of the present circular, and in commu-
nicating it in a confidential manner you will express our
desire to secure the adhesion of the Government of
to the proposition which, as I have already indicated, it
is the intention of Prussia shortly to submit to the Gek-
manic Confederation. R ceive, &c.,

MAiTEIIFFEL.

MURDER OF A CHILD BY ITS MOTHER
AT DOVER.

On Sunday morning about seven o'clock information
was given to the police that a dreadful murder had
been committed by a young woman named Frances
Wallace, the victim being her own illegitimate child, a
little girl five years of age. The accused is described as
an honest and industrious woman, who obtained her living
as a laundress, and the father of the child was the husband
of the accused's sister. It is believed that the latter was not
aware of the intimacy which had subsisted between filer
husband and her sister, and that the fear of the fact beihg
divulged to her has operated in no small degree upon the
mind of the unfortunate creature. It is rumoured that
she has -within the last few months formed an acquaint-
ance with a young man named Nigh, a carpenter, with
whom she was on very intimate terms. So fully did she
confide in him, that she entrusted to him the secret of
her dishonour, and at the same time disclosed to him
the name of her &Aid's father—a revelation which she
declared bad never before passed her lips. From some
cause or other it appears that she has recently Leen itn•
pressed with the idea that Thigh intended to reveal the
secret to her sister, who, with her husband, resides ,in
London, and the dread of this exposure, it is supposed,
has so weighed upon her spirits as to induce her to coM-
mit the appalling crime of which she stands accused.
She had had some conversation with Bligh on the
Saturday night, as they were seen together ; the nature
of it, however, is not known, although from her excla-
mations immediately after she had committed the mur
der it would seem that something in connection with
the dreaded disclosure must have passed, and she was
labouring under the impression that Bligh had gone to
London yesterday by the Sunday excursion train for
the purpose of telling the sister. Nothing further i 4
known as to the motive and very little as to the dread-
ful fact, beyond the discovery of the child's body, upon
the mother herself raising an alarm, with the head nearly
severed from the trunk. The woman was seen the same
morning at five o'clock by a lodger, into whose room she
entered for the purpose of making some friend,y inquiry ;
and nothing of an extraordinary nature was then
noticed in her manner or app.,arance. From that time
until shortly after seven she WFS not seen by any oite ;
but at the latter hour the neighbourhood was alarmed by
her screams. She had ran out of the house, and upon
some of the neighbours coming towards her they aim-
' covered that her hands were covered with blood. Upon
being asked what was the matter she cried out that she
had murdered her child, and that it was lying in the
house upon the )or. The neighbours, on tthtering the
front room of the house occupied by Wallace, found the
child in a pool of blood with its throat so dreadfully
cut as literally to leave its head only just hanging to the
boiy. A case-'tnife covered with blood was lying close
by, and the body was still warm. The nearest surgeon,
Mr. J. G. Ottaway, was quickly in attendance, but of
course he was unable to render any assistance, as a
wound not a quarter so extensive would have been suffi-
cient to deprive the poor little thing of life. Tne child
was in her night clothes only, and appeared as though
she had le t her bed but a short time.

The unhappy woman, as soon as she was in the bands
of the police, admitted htrguilt; but assigned no reason
for the crime. From the first moment of her being taken
into custody, however, she bas appeared to be in the
greatest mental distress, and her ejaculations have been
expressive of affection for the Murdered child and abhor-
rence of her own guilt. But she has made no statement
as to her intimacy with Thigh, or to what has ever
passed between them with reference to the child. It is
said that, previous to this dreadful occurrence, she
always manifested the liveliest regard for her ittle one.
It has been assumed that she contemplated committing
suicide after destroying the child, and that when she
had executed the first portion of her plan ber nerve
failed her ; but nothing has transpired to justify such a
supposition.
The prisoner belongs to Dover, where she is well
known. Yesterday she was examined before the magis-
trates, and fully committed for trial.