The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-03 00:00:00

FEMALE DIPLOMACY.

VIENNA, Nov. 27.—During the last few days
some excitement prevailed in our diplomatic circles
from the discovery of a scandalous breach of confi-
dence which forms a pendant to the celebrated case
of stealing the despatches at Potsdam. In this
case, however, the delinquent is a lady of great
personal attractions, in whose saloons the highest
of the aristocracy of this city meet frequently, as
she receives almost every evening. The dupe of
the lady is Prince —, who has only lately been
appointed by his Sovereign as ambassador to the
Court of Vienna. It appears that shortly before
his appointment the Prince had made the acquain-
tance of a French lady, who was so, charmed with
his talents and conversation that she romoved also
to Vienna, and being well introduced, set up a
sort of political saloon, in which the questions
more especially affecting the country represented
by the Prince were discussed. During the late
ministerial aegis at the Prince of course
received numerous despatches informing him of all
that was going on at home for his own, private
use and to regulate his conduct towards the
other diplomatists. It so happened that a few days
ago the Prince discovered, from what fell from
the -- ambassador in a diplomatic conference,
that he was acquainted with certain circumstances,
which he could only have known through his
own despatches, and his suspicions being excited
he followed up the clue and traced it to the above-
named French lady, Madame de —. The end
of 'the story is, that this lady has sold off her fur-
niture and broken up her establishment, having
received a gentle hint from the police that the
climate of Vienna was not suited for her. It has,
however, created some surprise that the Embassy
that profited so largely by The lady's abuse of con-
fidence has taken no step to prevent her banish-
ment, or in any other way to afford her protection.

FOUNDERING OF ANOTHER STEAMER.

The following despatch was yesterday transmit-
ted, by direction of the Lords Committee of the
Privy Council for Trade, Whitehall, to Captain
Halsted, R.N., the secretary of Lloyd's, reporting
the loss of the steamer William Beckett, as com-
municated to their Lordships by her Majesty's
Consul at Cuxhaven, dated Nov. 19 :—" The Bri-
tish steamer William Beckett, of Goole, Captain
John Holdridge, master, bound from Dantzic for
London, with a cargo of wheat, peas, kc., was
lost in the North Sea (where she sunk), 250 miles
from Skagen, in deep water. I am, however,
happy to say that her crew, 15 in number, were
saved by the Danish schooner Eugenie, P. Soien-
sen, master, bound for Aarhus with coals, which
vessel is now in our harbour (Cuxhaven) in a leaky
and damaged state. The crew of the William
Beckett succeeded in reaching the Eugthne with
the assistance of Captain Soiensen, who managed
his ship, which was herself in a desperate position,
the best way he could, and appears to have had
considerable difficulty in rescuing the poor fellows
from a watery grave." They had nothing but
what they stood in, and were furnished by the
consul at Cuxhaven with the necessary wearing
apparel. Both crews suffered greatly before they
could make Cuxhaven in consequence of the cook-
house of the Eugenic having been washed over-
board, as they were without the means of obtain-
ing a warm meal for upwards of a week. The
conduct of Captain Soiensen is above all praise,
and the consul strongly recommends that some ac-
knowledgment may be awarded him by her Ma-
jesty's Government.