The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-22 00:00:00

received here.

Prussia has refused to treat directly with
Switzerland.
All the Federal staff officers of Switzerland
have been ordered to return to their posts imme-
diately.

20,000 men are to be put under arms without
delay, One half, under General Bourgeois', will
be stationed at Basle ; the other half, under
General Ziegler, at Schaffhausen.

The van and reserve are to be in readiness to
.ake the field.

The Grand Council of Berne has unanimously
granted unlimited credits for the purposes of war.

BERLIN, SUNDAY.

The .Frankfort Journal announces that the
Swiss Federal Council has called out 10,000 men
for the defence of Basle, and 10,000 for the de-
fence of Schaffhausen.

Unlimited credits for military purposes have

been voted.

It has been officially announced here that the
diplomatic relations between Prussia and Switzer-
land are broken.

The French Envoy will take under his protec-
tion all Prussian subjects resident in Switzerland,
and will have eharge of the archives of the Prus-
sian Legation at Berne.

The Federal Gazette, of Berne, publishes the

'ollowing announcements :

" BERNE, DEC. 18.

" A Prussian despatch, arrived this instant,
breaks off diplomatic relations. The Chancery of
the Prussian Legation is already closed. There is
an extraordinary sitting of the federal council this
evening.

"AN HOUR LATER.—The Diet is convoked,
probab]y for Jan. 5. The question has entered
upon a new phase (evidently a very serious one).

" THIRD DESPATCH.—The Diet is convoked for
Dec. 27. The cantons have been instructed to
prepare the personnel and materiel of their military
contingent."

Advices from Constantinople to the 12th, re-
ceived via Trieste, state that Ferouk-Khan trans-
mitted Lord Stratford do Redcliffe's ultimatum to
Teheran on the Bth.

The ultimatum, according to these advices, de-
mands a revision of the treaties with Persia, the
evacuation of Herat, authority to found factories
along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, and the con-
cession to an English company of certain railways
to be made across the Persian territory.
Persia is supported by Russia in demanding
neutrality from Turkey, but England demands
permission for the passage of troops across Turkish
territory.

The Imaum of Muscat has refused to pay his
annual tribute to Persia.

A correspondence in the Presse say--; that the
Swiss Government is resolved to exhaust all its
resources rather than make the least concession to
pretensions which would involve the moral suicide
of the confederation.

The Prussian Government has formally demanded
authorisation from Wurtemburg and Baden to be
allowed to march an army of 120,000 men through
those States.. It is believed the request will be
granted. Should Prussia really so far commit her-
self, a French army of observation, it is said, will
approach Neuchatel.

Letters from St. Petersburg say it is now gene-
rally believed that Russia will take an active part
in the Persian war. There is, however, it appears
a strong party at Court opposed to plunging the
country again into war, and especially as the
enemy would be England.

FRANCE.

PARIS, SUNDAY,

The Constitutionnel publishes an article, evidently
emanating from an official source, on the subject of
the Conferences. It notices, for the purpose of con-
tt
hr ae
ri ewt ianyg tnhteom
ftohree
gr
nu m o u r s
journals"w bi c
rhe
ahave f
to
ou nd
atadijnoeudrnimn ehnigt
hofcluthareteerosnafserteontchese,
uthtielitdyouobfts
openingen
ter-
them, and the new difficultoifesthtehaptolwiaevresawrihso aenfrre om
the pretensions of some to
send Plenipotentiaries—pretensions which were not
admitted by others, and which might lead to
the abandonment of Conferences altogether. The
Constitutionnel states that there is no foundation
for these rumours ; that there is no reason
to doubt that the Plenipotentiaries will as-
semble at the period already indicated, namely,
towards the end of the present month ; that
nothing of a serious nature has occurred to the pre-
sent date to impede the preparations for the meet-
ing ; and that the delay had been foreseen and was
inevitable. No time has been lost, as the Con-
ference could not be held before the arrival of in-
structions from the Ambassador of the Sublime
Porte. The convocation dates from the Ist of
December ; and the instructions of the Porte left
Constantinople on the 12th. The bearer of them
is one of the sons of the Grand Vizier, and he is
expected in Paris in a few days.
The delay which has taken place (observes the
Constitutionnel) has been turned to account, and
the spirit of conciliation and the judgment which
decided the reunion of the Plenipotentiaries have
not ceased, in the meantime, to reconcile diffe-
rences of opinion, and to conduct matters as nearly
as possible to a solution. There is every appearance
that some few sittings will suffice for the labours of
the Conference, and that these sittings will not be
prolonged beyond the first days of January. There
is reason to hope that the question of the frontiers
of Bessarabia will then be settled, as well as the
other difficulties of less importance which relate to
this part of the treaty. The labours of the Con-
gress will receive from the first days of the new
year their definitive sanction, and no further ob-
stacle will exist for their execution.

It then alludes to the organisation of the Danu-
bian Principalities, and the impossibility of con-
voking the Divans in order to ascertain the wishes
of the population, owing to the presence of foreign
troops on the territory. The foreign occupation
has not ceased, because the frontier, question is not
yet decided. When the question is decided the
troops will evacuate thelMoldo-Wallachian territory
and the Divans will forthwith assemble. When the
wishes of the Principalities are ascertained, the
European COmmission will terminate its labours ;
the Conference will once more, and for the last time
assemble in Paris, as the treaty prescribes ; it will
take under consideration the wishes of the Moldo-
Wallachian people expressed by the Divans, as
also the report of the European Commission, which
will serve as the basis of that important question.
The article concludes :--
,4 We may, therefore, flatter ourselves with the
hope that this last phase of negotiations, which
have kept alive the attention of Europe since the
Congress in Paris, will no longer meet with any
serious impediments, and that the new organisation
required by the Principalities will take effect in
the spring."
_ _

The son of Reschid Pacha, bringing the Turkish
Ambassador at Paris his full powers for the Con,
ferences, arrived at Marseilles this day.
The Prince of Prussia...or the Petit Prince, M

be is generally called iu Paris—leaves to-night at
11 o'clock. His departure had been fixed for yes-
terdmy, but he was induced to give his Imperial
hosts an,Aber day.

It is sai•i that hough the Kiug of Prussia may
not gratify the desire of the Emperor by accepting
an invitation to the Tuileries, the Emperor wilt
go to him. "If the mountain will not come to
Mahomet, Alahomef must go the mountain." A
good deal of negotiation is stated to have passed on
the subject. The Grand Duke of Baden and the
Prince of Prussia, father of the petit Prince, gave
their good offices, but as yet without effect. People,
however, talk of the Emperor's visit to Berlin in
February or March next.

THE PARIS CONGRESS.

A Paris letter in the Nord of Brussels says :

" All the difficulties which had arisen relative to
the routine and conduct of the conferences have
been removed during some late conversations at
which an envoy from the British Cabinet was pre-
sent. He came to Paris on a kind of non-official
mission, and in three or four days brought about
an accord between all parties. The gentleman I
allude to was Mr. James Wilson, one of the two
secretaries of the Treasury, a member of the House
of Commons, and a friend of Lord Palmerston
whose confidence he enjoys. The principal object
of his journey was to definitively fix the conditions
on which the conferences will be opened, the
questions to be exclusively considered, and the du-
ration of the conferences. Mr. Wilson, ou leaving
Paris for England, declared that he had come to a
full understanding with the French Government.
As the journey of Mr. Wilson and the language
which he used have 'seen made the subject of con-
versation, I give you the following as the most pro-
bable version of what took place. Mr. Wilson
wished to ascertain, with certainty, whether the
majority at the conference would declare against the
pretensions of Russia with regard to the property
of the Isle of Serpents and the possession of Bolgrad.
On this point he obtained an assurance in the
affirmative. Mr. Wilson demanded that it should,
be agreed upon beforehand and that the confer
ence should not assemble, except to decide on the
difficulties which had arisen for the delegates
charged to trace out the new line of frontier of Bes-
sarabia, conformably to Art. 20 of the treaty of
Paris, and that consequently no other question
should be taken into consideration. This was con-
sented to. Lastly, Mr. Wilson proposed that an
agreement should be come to beforehand that the
conference should only last two days. Everything
will be done in order to conform to the wishes of
the English Cabinet on the point, and, supposing
that two sittings are not found sufficient, they cer-
tainly will not exceed three."

NEUCHATEL.

Notwithstanding the tone of the note inserted in
the Moniteur, and the preparations for war which
are being made in Prussia, there are many in Paris
who do not yet despair of a pacific solution of the
question of Neuchatel. A report is prevalent in
some political circles that an arrangement is in Pro"
greys by which the King of Prussia would relin-
quish his rights to the sovereignty of Neuchatel in
exchange for a principality in Germany, the Prince
of which is to surrender it for a pecuniary consido'
ration to be paid by the Swiss Confederation.
The Assemblee Nationa/e publishes the following
violent attack on the Swiss Confederation :—" We
have hitherto avoided saying anything that could
tend to give an exaggerated importance to the
question of Neuchatel, but we must not allow our-
selves to be led into error. The question is that of
democracy and Socialism in Switzerland ; the strugs
gle which is taking place in that little territory in'
wolves the true liberties of that noble country, such as
were established by its ancient constitutions again°
the abominable tyranny of the Radicals. Europe
had taken the old liberties of Switzerland under its
protection ; it had converted that country into a
neutral territory, the organisation of which was a
guarantee for the tranquillity of the continent.
Radicalism and revolution have transformed it into
a hot-bed of anarchy and disorder; into a refuge.
where all the bandits who conspire against social
order, and all the assassins armed against the lives,
of sovereigns, encounter not alone impunitY, bu!
the means of pursuing their propaganda and of
maturing their plots. Can Europe remain in'
different to this state of things ? Most certainif
not, and France the least of all nations."
Le .Nord says :—" It is generally thought
rnin
diplomatic circles here that Switzerland will retu
to calmer and more reasonable feelings. I
aca,fl
affirm to you as positive that Prussia has alre_,ety.
obtained the authorisation of Wurtemberg and et
in order to take military possession o
Baden for her troops to pass through thosfe Ssteahtaeffs,„
hausen. It is not necessary to have that author'
sation further confirmed by the Diet ; in the first
of the body. ysona
first
plat©, because Prussia acts isnhehehr own
alrepa
re-
ceived the approbation Switzer-
land will consequently act very
slumber in a false sea-
as
name, and next, becausealready
rity. The King of Prussia cannot abandon the
imprudently
if she allows herself to
prisoners of Neuchatel at the very
when Switzerland persists i b ' ' moment
n ringing them to
trial, and when the French Government has openly
declared in his
favour. It is objected that the
Germanic Confederation, fearing to see its trade
with Switzerland fall off, will use all its efforts t°
paralyse the movements of Prussia. It is incon-
testable that diplomacy has not yet completed its
and it is still hoped that it may succeed hi
effecting an amicable arrangement, if Switzerland
cwoffoneresketgs to concessions ; but it is easy to comPre;
hend that if she persists in her refusal, the condoL'
of Prussia is too clearly marked out for her now tw
drawback."