The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-19 00:00:00

PRUSSIA AND SWITZERLAND.

The following menaoire, relative to Neuchatel,
was drawn up by Chevalier Bunsen as Annex 2 to
the second protocol of the conference of the 24th
of May, 1852 :
"The canton of Neuchatel was one of the first victims
of the shocks which, in 1848, made Europe stagger. A
few factious men, supported by Vaudois insurgents, suc-
ceeded by a coup-de-main in capturing the public func-
tionaries, in upsetting the legitimate Government, and
in breaking, despite the clearly expressed wish of the
great majority of the population, the bonds which for
more than a century united the sovereigns of Prussia to
the Principality of Neucbatel.
"The Helvetic Confederation, under the influence of
democratic and subversive tendencies, completed a revo•
lution to which the population of that principality re-
mained a stranger.

"His rights as a Sovereign and the sentiment of pro
tection which he owes to his faithful subjects, who never
ceased to give him incontestable proofs of their devotion,
imp sed upon the King the duty, doubly sacred, of
sot tolerating an attempt which, in violation of treaties,
insulted his dignity' as a Sovereign and wounded his
feelings of anzioas solicitude for the welfare of his
subjects sincerely attached to his hoKse. At a moment,
however, when various political complications seemed to
require that Sovereigns should, more than ever, put a
stop to anything of a nature to disturb the peaceof Europe,
the King consented to make his interests subordinate to
greater ones, and, without availing himself of the advan-
tages which the presence of a victorious army on the
Swiss frontier might have offered him to regain posses-
sion of his country, his Majesty contented himself by
showing by reiterated and solemn protests his firm re-
solve not to relinquish his imprescriptible right to the
Principality of Neuchatel, rights guaranteed by treaties.
Moreover, to remove the slightest doubts of his inten-
tions, his Majesty explained his wishes, as also the mo-
tives which dictated his conduct to the Powers his allies,
and received from them, as he had reason to expect, the
most satisfactory declarations, which, while recognising
his rights, attested their sincere intention of lending him
their co-operation to assert them.
" Two years have elapsed sines then. The Neuchatel
subjects of the King claim more than ever the blessings
of their legitimate Government, and numerous addresses
testify that the sad trials which their devotion put them
to have not altered their sincerity.
"The Helvetic Confederation on its part, now as for-
merly, turns a deaf ear to the exhortations addressed to
it to induce it not only to recognise, but also to restore
the rights of the legitimate Sovereign of the Principality
of Neuchatel. It is evident that such an illegal state of
things cannot last without serious inconveniences, the
bearing of which cannot escape the discernment even of
Switzerland.

"His Majesty sees no better method of putting an end
to it than by amicable mediation, undertaken by the four
great powers, in the name of the fifth, to effect between
the latter and the Helvetic Confederation a footing ac-
cording to historical antecedents and to reciprocal in-
terests.

`•Switzerland herself, however much she maybe worked
by political passions, cannot deny the evidence of the
consideration that the establishment of such a footing be-
tween Prussia and the Helvetic Confederation is an indis•
pensable condition of the development and consolidation
of the interests of the latter, and the Federal Council
will feel the more inclined to take advantage of the
above•inentioned mediation, as the King is far from in-
sisting upori cvmditions which might even have the ap•
pearance of weakening Switzerland.
"Whosoever looks upon the task of settling the Neu-
chatel question under the point of view of the great in-
tereslis of order and international law which are con-
nected therewith must recognise that it is a task worthy
of the united efforts of the great Powers.
"To accomplish it, it is necessary to enregister at
once (censtater) by an official and solemn act the fully
adopted opinion and determined intention of the four
great Powers respecting the Neuchatel question, which
is the subject of this mentoire—to enregister a document
to which the co-operation of those Powers in favour of
the fifth Power would give international value, and
which might state in the form of a protocol the mea-
sures they shall have decided upon to attain the desired
object."