The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-23 00:00:00

GREAT NORTHI;RN RAILWAY.

In consequence of a course having been adopted by
the Great Northern Railw,y which would almo,t lead
to the supposition that they are disposed to question
the validity of shares already admitted to be genuine,
the committee of the Stock Exchange have yesterday
adopted the following resolution, which will he brought
forward for confirmation on Monday next. It is quite
possible that the transfer delays at present resorted to
by the company may not have originated in any
thought of creating unnecessary difficulties, much less
of an attempt at repudiation, but when the slightest
suspicion is created in such a case it is the duty of
the Stock Exchange in the interests of the public to
act vigorously. The resolution refers to stocks and
shares, but it is presumed all the securities of the com-
pany are intended to be included :

- "The committee having received evidence that the
Great Northern Railway Company have refused to re-
giqter transfers of stock accompanied by coupons
officially signed by the registering clerk of the com-
pany and by the secretary, and for which stock certi-
ficates of due registration in the names of the sellers
have been issued by the company's secretary, resolved
unanimously,—

" ' That, 'there being no security to the public under
these circumstances, the committee will not recognise
any further transactions in the Great Northern Rail-
way Company's stocks or shares, nor of the stocks or
shares of those other companies connected therewith,
and order that the name of the Great Northern Railway
Company, and of such other companies, be struck ou t
of the official list of the Stock Exchange so long as such
transfers shall remain unrecognised.' "

THE BITER BIT.—A few days ago, a seaman boarding
at the Sailors' Home was crossing Tower-hill, when two
men, apparently quarrelling about the value of a watch
guard, came in his path. One of them offered 21 , but
the other indignantly refused his offer, saying that it
was worth 8/. The parties then departed, apparently
in anger, when one of them came alongside the sailor,
expatiating on the roguery of Jews, but offering the
chain as a great bargain to Jack for 3/. So saying, he
put the chain in his hand, desiring him to inspect it, but
Appeared sadly disconcerted when the sailor coolly in-
brmed him that he should retain possession of it until
he met a policeman. A struggle then commenced, and
a third ruffian appeared ; but Jack vraa a determined
fellow, and dragged his assailants a considerable distance,
till a policeman hove in sight, when they precipitately
retreated, leaving him in possession of the chain, which
proved to be worth only a few shillings.
A painful accident is stated by the Brussels journals
to have befallen M. Notbemb, the Belgian Minister of
Justice. A few nights ago, Madame National) having
occv.sion to use a flask of ether, 801110 of the liquid was
spilt, took fire, arid burnt her face severely, as well as
her infant, whom she had in her arms. M. Nothomb,
in attempting to extinguish the flames, was also much
burnt.

PRUSSIA AND SI WITZ/RLAND.—PREPA-
.&AT.PINS FOR W.au.

The German Journal of Frankfort announces
that the Federal Council has convoked the officers
of the staff, and communicated to the caurons the
nominations of commanding officers of corps. The
attitude of the p ople is calm and decided.
The same journal also says that the Federal
Council has ordered a levy a 20,000 men. More-
over, a reserve will be formed. Colonel Bourgeois
will occupy Bale, with 10,000 men. Col. Zeigl,,r
will march to Schaffhausen with the other 10,000.
The Grand Council of Berne has unanimously
voted an unlimited credit for the army.
A latter from Berne, of Dec. 18, in the _bide-
pendance Beige, speaks as follows
" We can no longer allow ourselves to indulge
in any illusion ; if we are not actually at war, we
have now at all events all the precursory signs of
it. The attitude of the French Government sin-
gularly complicates and aggravates the situation of
affairs which engages exclusively the attention of
us all. The article in the Moniteur, which every
one has read and pondered on, will in no respect
change the determination of the Federal Govern-
ment, unless it be in consequenco of it that the
Government is about to convoke the chambers im-
mediately, for the purpose of laying the state of
things before them, and getting them to ratify such
preliminary measures as it. shall deem expedient
to adopt. - It is on the 27th of December that the
Federal Assembly is to meet. The Federal Go-
vernment, moreover, has just urgently in vited all
the cantons to fill up the ranks without delay,
and complete the equipments not only of the
troops selected for the field, but also of the reserve
and- the militia or landwehr. Apart from these
measures, and doubtless with a view to show

that the warlike manifestations made against us
will only render it the more incumbent upon the
Federal Government to expedite the pending
trial, three Federal magistrates—M. Amiet,
the Attorney-Geueral ; M. Martin, the attorney of
the district and public prosecutor ; and M. Zen
Ruffinen, president of the criminal chamber—pro-
ceeded this day to Neuchatel for the purpose of
signifying to the prisoners the decree of the Cham-
ber of Accusation in what concerns each of them
individually, and of going through the preliminary
formalities which must precede the holding of the
Federal assizes.
"Amidst the critical circumstances in which the
country is placed, the Swiss army has just sus-
tained a great loss by the death of the Federal
Colonel Rilliet de Constant, inspector-general of
cavalry, and formerly an officer of the Empire ; he
commanded at the time of the Sonderbund the
division that took Fribourg. As a compensation
for this, M. de LentaluA, a member of one of the
oldest patrician families of Berne, and formerly a
superior officer in the service of the Pope, at pre-
sent comptroller of one of the Federal tax districts,
has offered his services to the military department,
which lost no time in accepting them.
"The ambassadors and ministers accredited to
the Diet have all called to-day at the Erlich Hotel,
where the Federal government holds its sittings."
A Berlin letter of the lith in Le Nord says :
" Some of the German papers speak of a loan
which would be raised by the Prussian government
to provide for the expenses of the expedition against
Switzerland. There is no idea of such a loan oeing
raised at present, for the Minister of War still has at
his disposal twelve millions of dollars which are left
of the loan of thirty millions, and that reserve will
be sufficient for a three mon.hs' campaign. lf,
however, the war should continue longer than that
time, the government would only have to prop•)se
a lean adequate to the requirements of the War
Dopartment, and it is certain that the loan would
be subscribed within twenty-four hours."

It is stated that the Prussian Cabinet on the 16th
came to vary important resolutions of a warlike cha-
racter, and that General Groben was nominated
Commander-in-Chief of the expeditionary corps.
This statement probably is a premature one ; the
late Minister of War, General von Bonin, at pre-
sent Governor of Mayence, has been mentioned as
most likely to command the expedition.
A Berlin correspondent of the Times, writing on
Saturday last, confirms the statements already
made, that military preparations are actively
going on in Prussia, and adds the following parti-
culars

"In the Ministry of War everything is ready to
put the troops iu motion at a few minutes' notice ;
the march ruutes are made out, the halting stations
fixed, the supplies at hand, and nothing is wanting
but the royal order. The entire force that will be
set in motion will amount to four corps d'arince,
about 120,000 men. In consequence of the recent
return to the old military arrangement of the pri-
vates serving their full three years instead of a year
and a half, as it had practically become of late, the
regiments are now at their full peace strength, and
should the reserves be called out they will be at
their full war strength. It is pot easy to ascertain
which troops will be employed ; one naturally as
sullies that the 7th and Bth, the two corps d'arnoe
of the Rhenish ptovince3 and Westptialia, with
their landwehr, making up their whole force to the
strength of four corps d'arntee, will be set in motion,
and their places in their usual station be supplied
by other troops drawn from the central provinces,
and they again be replaced partially by troops
from the eastern provinces. This, I believe, will
be the course adopted, as admitting of the greatest.
expedition and facility of movement. I am, how
ever, told that the Rhenish and Westphalian corps
d'arniee will be left at their present stations, and
the troops, employed for the occupation be
selected from the rest of the army. Tue conside.
ration that would recommend this latter plan is
that the hardships or the glory would thus be more
equally distributed over the whole army, and the
whole amount of injury and impoverishment at-
tendaut on the calling out of the reserves and the
landwehr would not fall on the Rhenish provinces
and Westphalia alone."
The latest intelligence from Berne states that on
Saturday M. de Saliguac Fenelon, French Minis-
ter in Switzerland, announced to the President of
the Federal Council the intentions of the French
Government, adding that " Switzerland had only
to decide on war, as Prussia was determined to en-
force her rights."
A Paris correspondent of Le Nord says that, on
the day of the publication of the Moniteur article
upon the Neuchatel affair, the Swiss Charge
d'Affaires at Paris, Colonel Barmann, hastened to
Count Walewski to ask for au explanation of it.
The French Minister replied that he could only
report the warnings which the M.miteur had
given, and that he begged Colonel Barmann to
convince the Federal Directory that they could by
no means reckon upon any aid from France. The
Swiss Minister began to speak of the tympathy
which England and Austria felt for his country, to
which Count Walewski replied, " Very well ; you
will see how much assistance may be expected
from either of them." It would have been safer
and more prudent, remarks the correspondent, for
the Helvetic Confederation not to have despised
the support of France.
The Corre.spondance Prussienne of Berlin con-
firms the news of the rupture of diplomatic rela-
tions between Prussia and Switzerland; and adds
that the Prussian subjects in Switzerland, as well
as the archives of the legation, have been placed
under the protection of the French embassy.
A Paris letter in Le Nord affirms as positive that
Prussia has already obtained the authorisation of
Wurtemberg and of Baden for her troops to pass
through those States, in order to take military pos-
session of Schaffhausen. It is not necessary to have
that authorisation further confirmed by the Diet—
in the first place, because Prussia acts in her own
personal name ; and next, because she has already
received the approbation of that body.
The Anklage-Kammer, or court of preliminary
investigation, at Berne, found bills of indictment
against 66 of the accused conspirators, on the 10th;
14 others were placed on the second category, that
of those whose oases are to be reserved ; and two of
them—viz., Count Pourtales Gorgier, and M.
Perrot, the advocate, formerly president of the
Stadtrath of Neuchatel—were acquitted. Several
others were conditionally liberated on bail—viz.,
Heinreich von Rougemont, Edward Pourtales Pury,
and Augustus de Montemolin, each of whom was
to find bail to the amount of 50,000 f.; Karl Fried-
rich Sauvin, a clergyman, and Philip Grevillat, to
find bail each for 50df.; and Carl Augustus Mat-
they de l'Etang, a member of the Federal Council,
placed in the second category of those whose cases
are reserved, was released without bail. This s. cond
category includes all who only took a subordinate
part in the insurrection, to the number of several
hundred persons.
Colonel Donzler, who is in command of the Fe-
deral troops which occupy Neuchatel, has written
to the Swiss representatives at Paris a complete
1 denial of the statements of the Assemblee Nationale
about the oppressed condition of the inhabitants of
that canton. The Neuchatel prisoners have also,
without exception, testified to the humane and
considerate treatment they have experienced. A