The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-20 00:00:00

AUSTRIA.

A letter from Vienna of the 15th, in the Cologne
Gazette, says :—" The recall of all the men on fur-
lough has been ordered, but for the present it is
only the army of Italy that is to be provisionally
placed on a war footing. The regiments in Gallicia
will, howeyer, be made up to their full complement."
—Another letter, in the Boersenhalle, says :—"The
Austrian cabinet has confirmed the mission en-
trusted to Baron de Hubner to the court of Naples,
and it is said that fresh instructions have been sent
him, which will enable that diplomatist to act with
energy. The word ' energy' must not, however,
give rise to an, misunderstanding. It simply
signifies that the baron is instructed to address
himself to the King in person. The Vienna Ca-
binet anticipates good results from this personal
interview, as it is hoped that the Austrian diplo-
matist will exercise considerable influence over the
mind of the monarch."

PRUSSIA..
BERLIN, AUG. 18.

The news of the skirmish that the Prussian cor-
vate Danzig has had with the Riff pirates, as con-
tamed in your naval and military intelligence last
Saturday, is exciting deep emotion here. So heavy
a loss (20 men wounded and eight killed out of a
landing party of 75), Prince Adalbert wounded in
the thigh, and his adjutant mortally wounded at
his side, and all this happening on the very same
spot where three years before a Prussian vessel was
plundered by the same pirates I Tie spot where
this most unexpected and impromptu affair came off
is described as a few miles to the east of the
town of Melilla, in the direction of the frontier of
Algiers, where the beach is rocky and steep, and the
country very hilly. From what I can learn of the
affair at present, there had been no attempt made
to land by the boats of the Danzig, when they were
fired upon by the Riffs. They had put off from the
ship for the purpose of viewing the spot already so
ominous to the Prussian naval force. On meeting
with this reception, they were ordered back to the
ship, under cover of her guns, and all the boats
manned and armed for the purpose of resenting this
insult. The whole crew of the Danzig consists of 80
marines, about 40 seamen, and from 20 to 30 boys.
Of this force 75 put off, and succeeded in effect-
ing a landing in the face of several hundred Riffs.
They drove the enemy, who were advantageously
posted on a declivity, up and over the hill, only to
find themselves surrounded by an overpowering
multitude, so that there was nothing left them but
to retreat to their boats, which they succeeded in
reaching, but with the excessive loss mentioned
above. The Prince is wounded in the fleshy part
of the thigh, about six inches above the knee, but it
is expected that in a few weeks he will be able to
travel. His Adjutant, Nieseman, who subsequently
died on board from the wound he received on the
occasion, is extremely regretted by all who knew him
for his many attractive and endearing qualities, and
he had engaged himself to be married only a few
days before he received orders to join the Danzig
for her distant duty. She is a steam corvette
of 12 guns, built at Dantsic, and was destined
af' er landing Prince Adalbert at Constantinople, to
take up her station with other vessels of the great
Powers off the mouth of the Sulina. Prince Adal-
bert is a brother of the Prince Waldemar, of whom
it will be recollected in England that he visited our
camp while travelling in the East Indies during
the campaign against the Sikhs, and that it was
at one of the battles there, under Lord Hardinge,
that the Prince's physician was killed at his side ;
our Government has subsequently presented two
beautiful field pieces that were taken in that battle
to the King, in token of his cousin having been
present at it. They are now in the Zeug-taus or
arsenal in Berlin. After this repetition of a pirati-
cal outrage on a Prussian vessel, it seems more
than probable that the expedition against these
lawless subjects of the Emperor of Morocco, which
was postponed two years ago on account of the
Oriental conflict, will be fitted out afresh with
increased vigour.
The extent to which usurious transactions have
of late been carried on here, between spendthrift
nobles and hardfisted money-lenders since the
repeal of the usury laws, has induced the police 'at
last to try their hands at the cure of an evil that
the civil law leaves untouched. The recent flight
of various officers of the Guard, the dismissal of
Prince William of Mecklenburg from the army
and his detention in the fortress at Konigsberg,
had already sufficiently aroused the indignation of
all classes against spendthrifts. Now, however, a
recent instance of one of these money harpies giving
only 1,200 thalers for a good bill that was brought
him for 2,500 thalers, and refusing to part with it
again at any moderate advance, has brought mat-
ters to a crisis as between them and the Exe-
cutive. The case became the harder for the
proprietors of the bill from the circumstance
that the go-between who negotiated the sale, on
finding the 1,200 thalers rejected by them as
altogether below its value, and at the same
time not being able to prevail on the purchaser of
the bill to return it in consideration of a douceur,
applied the money to his own purposes. The
police have now placed a constable at the door
of the usurer's house, who inquires of every
visitor his name and the nature of his business
with the offending party, all which are duly
noted down ; the messenger of the said indivi-
dual is also constantly accompanied on his errands
by a constable, for the purpose of detecting all
the various dirty transactions ho may have on
hand. Although in England any such interference
of police agents with private business (not being of
a criminal nature) would lead only to some hearty
invectives and injunctions to mind their own busi-
ness, it will probably be effectual here, seeing that
it is a misdemeanour of itself not to answer a police-
man respectfully to all his inquiries, while the pro-
cess itself will remind the reader of the old-fashioned
way with us of cautioning the public with " beware
of bad houses.''