The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-26 00:00:00

The Last Prussian Despatch.

The following is the text of the despatch ad-
dressed by the Prussian Government to Baron von
Werther, at Vienna, in reply to the note above
given, delivered at Berlin by Count Karolyi on the
part of Austria :

Berlin, April 21.

Your excellency will receive annexed a copy of the de-
spatch of Count Mensdorif which Count Karolyi read to
sue, and left in my hands yesterday. The military mea-
sures ordered by his Majesty the King, as your excellency
has been enabled repeatedly to declare the Imperial
Cabinet, had simply the object of restoring that balance in
tho preparations for war, which, in the opinion of the
King's government, had been disturbed by a large number
of the troops distributed in the various provinces of the
Empire undertaking movements by which the distance
they would, in case of war, have to pass over to reach the
Prussian frontier was diminished, and in part very consi-
derable. From this reason, which was the sole motive for
the Prussian armaments, it necessarily follows that his
Majesty; will willingly consent to discontinue the pre-
cautionary measures that have been adopted as soon as,
and in the extent to which, the Imperial government shall
remove the causes by which they have been called forth.
In this sense I empower your excellency, by command of
his Majesty the King, to inform the imperial Minister for
Foreign Affairs that the King's Government accepts with
satisfaction the proposal contained in Count Mensdorff's
despatch of April 18. In accordance therewith, as soon as
the King's Government receives authentic information that
his Majesty the Emperor_ has ordered the displacements of
troops required by preparation for war against Prussia to
be countermanded, his Majesty the King will also upon
his side immediately give orders for the reduction of those
portions of the army which have been increased since the
27th of last month. His Majesty will then have the exe-
cution of this order carried out in the same degree, and
within the same period, in which the corresponding dimi-
nution of the preparations for war of the Imperial Aus-
trian army is actually effected. With regard to the degree
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maments with those of Austria.
mili-
tary preparations commenced by other Gorman Govern-
ments will also be countermanded, and that no further
cause for measures of military precaution may be given to
it by a continuation of their renewal. Tho King's Govern-
ment will express itself in this sense to the various Courts,
and expects that the Imperial Government, in the interest
of peace, will exercise its influence in a similar direction.
Your excellency will be good enough to communicate this
despatch to Count von Mensdorff, and, should he desire
it, leave with him a copy of the same.
(Signed)

VON BISMARCK.

Launch of the Oxfoid University Lifeboat.

Tuesday last was a grand day at Oxford, and the
proceedings there will be long remembered both by
the university and the town. It will probably be
remembered that a few months since Capt. Ward,
R.N., inspector of lifeboats to the National Lifeboat
Institution, attended by invitation a meeting of
many of the leading members of the university, in
the hall of Queen's College, and explained to them
fully the operations of the institution, enumerating
the eminent services it bad rendered in saving life
from shipwreck, and urging the necessity of an in-
creased number of boats and an accession of funds,
in order to meet the calamities from wrecks at many
parts on the coast not at present provided for. The
result was that a committee, comprising members of
each college, organised a movement for the esta-
blishment of a university lifeboat, and the appeal
met with a response at once so spontaneous and
liberal that upwards of £6OO was subscribed, suffi-
cient to purchase a lifeboat upon the self-righting
principle, together with a carriage and all the neces-
sary equipments. The boat, which had been brought
gratuitously to Oxford by the Great Western Rail-
way Company, was exhibited drawn by four horsen
s,
through through the principal streets of the city,
Cherwell
afternoon it was launched from the Bertkshirheande coast
immediately opposite the confluence
u of the
barges
were
and the Isis. The whole of thel
aeso
the banks of the
packed with spectators, as we.l.e,
and it is computed
personst' were present.
10;:ellor (Dr. Lightfoot), in a
The Rev. the Vice-Chancellor thatiriver
notfor al
less considerable
t
eCniharks, complimented the Uni-
versity,few appropriate
particularly
than
n doisotan
the undergraduates, upon
and
they
had shown, and
uponhis sug-
gestion rounds of cheers were given for Capt. Ward
ges brother, the Rev. G. S. Ward, who took the
and his br° The initiative in the undertaking,heers •
Ven. Archdeacon
elillYmor'snslaAdilyei
having offered up some appropriate prayers,
the choirs of Queen's and Merton Colleges sang a
icthlere
Clerks
eoble spirit
(e
mars. and 1\ lo
Lightfoot)de r n, " aper-
formednd the usual ceremony of breaking a bottle of
tshelsecytioicen
Vice-Chancellor's
wine against the stern of the vessel, and christened
it " The Isis," amidst immense cheering. The life-
boat was then launched from the carriage with great
facility, manned by ten University oarsmen, and
after various evolutions had been gone through it
was capsized near Folly Bridge in order to exhibit
its capabilities, and in about 4 or 5 seconds it self-
righted, and immediately relieved itself of the water
it had taken in. It will be at once taken to Hayle,
`on the Cornish coast, where it will be stationed and
manned by the Lifeboat Institution.

THE POST.—The number of letters delivered in
the metropolis in 1864 was 170,191,853, as compared with
151,600,322 in 1863; in the remainder of England and
Wales, 390,128,908, as compared with 367,725,163 in 1863 ;
r
in Scotland, 64,261,483, as compared with 61,401,678 in
5181,65397;
,4assndinilußo3l.relTat,
total number
of letters deliveredß, as compared with
in the United Kingdom in 1864 was thus 679,084,822, as
compared with 642,324,618 in 1863. In 1864 it was calcu-
lated that every inhabitant of the British Isles received 23
letters, while in 1863 the Corresponding proportion was 22.

QPORTING.—JOHN ROBERTS suppliea
),C7
is LATN:ST EDITIO‘N ot ROBERTS SUN" as soon as pub!
Bith-strcet, City-toad, }4C.

OFFICIAL SUICIDE.—Some time ago a steam
corvette which had been purchased in America for
the Tycoon arrived at Yokohama in Japan. Upon exami-
nation the Japanese Government, considering that the
vessel was too dear and badly constructed, decided that in
future purchases of the kind shall be made only in France
or England. It also censured the engineer who had
been sent to New York to purchase the corvette. That
official, who is brother of one of the ambassadors who re-
cently visited Paris, believed himself dishonoured, and
asked for and obtained permission from the Tycoon to
commit suicide. He consequently ripped open hie abdo-
men, as is the custom, in presence of his colleagues, who
stood in a circle around