The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-15 00:00:00

PRUSSIA.

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' BERLIN, SEPT. 11.—To-dayi the 11th instant, a
whole week sine° the news of the ill-advised at-
tempt at revolution in Neufchatel reached here,
the Preussische Correspondent, the quasi-official
organ of the Ministry, publishes an article on the
subject ; it brings to our knowledge no fresh facts
at all connected with the affair, and confines itself
to the historical statement of the relation which the
Principality bore to the King of Prussia up to
1848, and the steps taken by the King's Govern-
ment ever since then to reserve his rights. These
I have already laid before you. It mentions, how-
ever, that Herr von Sydow, who is accredited by
Prussia to the Swiss Confederation, but who re-
sides at Sigmaringen, in the Hohenzollern princi-
pality, took an opportunity as early as the sth inst.
to send in to the Swiss Federal Council a formal re-
servation of the King's rights, and a protestagainst
their being prejudiced in any way by the incidents
that have just taken place at Neufchatel. The
article in the Preussische Correponden in no way
touches upon the subject of complicity or privity
on the part of the King or his advisers, doubtless
on the principle that qui s'excuse s'accuse. At
present, I imagine, it does not occur to anybody to
impute anything of the kind to the King, to whose
principles and engagements this attempted:coup de
main by force of arms cannot fail of being very un-
welcome, more particularly as having been unsuc-
cessful ; but there can. be still less doubt that per-
sons of this Court, zealous servants of the King,
have been in close and earnest correspondence with
the Royalist party in the principality or canton,
and can hardly have been ' ignorant that some
attempt of the kind would shortly be made. Count
Frederic Pourtales, whose name figures so promi-
nently in the affair, is not a Prussian but a Swiss
—aNeufchatelois, and probably the richest man in
Switzerland, as he possesses a fortune estimated at
30,000,000 f. He is connected by birth and by
marriage with all the patrician families of Berne,
and from his benevolent character and widely-
spread charities he was beloved and looked up to
in a very extensive circle. There are numbers of
this Pourtales family to be found at this Court
and els.° at that of Paris, but they all originate in
Neufchatel, where the family was founded by a
millionnaire merchant of that name.

A letter from Berlin, in the Nuremberg Corre-
spondent, says :—"lt was first intended to appoint
Leipsic for the place of meeting of the commission
which is to draw up a commercial code for all Ger-
many, but Berlin has now been chosen. The com-
mission will not be a numerous one, in order to
hasten its decisions ; the great states only will send
j urisconsults, to whom will be added a certain num-
ber of practical men." _ _

A later from Berlin of the 10th, in the Consti-
tutionnel, says :—" The Darmstadt bank, which
has taken the initiative of a general congresi of the
German banking establishments, has just addressed
an invitation to its colleagues to send delegates to
it. The object of this congress is to come to an
understanding on the general
principles of circula-
tion, as to form of 'drafts, the conditions of the
reciprocal acceptance of bank receipts, a common
monetary unity, &c. This idea has been very
favourably received, and will probably be
realised in a short time." The same letter says :
" A fete is to be given to-morrow for the benefit of
the sailors who were wounded in the affair of the
Riff pirates. This
affair being the first in which
the Prussian navy has been called on to fight, pre-
parations are being made to give to the fete the
character of a grand patriotic demonstration."

SPAIN.
The Madrid Gazette of the 9th contains a circular
from the Minister of the Interior to the governors
of provinces, transmitting a royal decree which
enacts that they should commence their duties
within a fortnight, and that then the powers given
to military commanders of dissolving or replacing
municipalities should cease. The decree also sets
forth in some detail the measures which they are
to adopt for the reorganisation of municipalities.
The Epe.ea says :-44
It is rumoured that the Go-
vernment has decided that the interest of the State
debt shall be paid from the Ist January in each
year, without any previous announcement, and on
the presentation of coupons, as is done in France
and other muntries. This is a proof that the Mi-
nister of Finance is convinced that he can next
year completely re-establish the equilibrium be-
tween the expenses and receipts, which is the verit-
able basis of national credit." The same journal
says that the receipts of the public treasury in
Aragon have exceeded the hopes of the Govern-
ment. It was. stated the other day that the In-
fanta Dona Isabel had, like one of her sisters, and
her brother Don Henr been ordered for "private small reasons" to reside in a provincial town ;it is
now announced that her husband, Count de
Guroski, has left for Russia. Accounts from Cuba
and Porto Rico to the 12th, received by the Go-
vernment, represent that tranquillity prevailed in
both islands, and that in the former the sanitary
condition was improving, whilst in the latter it Was
satisfactory.