The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-12 00:00:00

t .FTr SPAPE R
(From the Spectator.) tp*e..
It was in 1707, in the midst of the War of Suc eterel
that the House of Brandenburg became seized an, ejeC+eeri-
fee, eef
sessed of the Principality of Neuchatel. The depth 14:key
the Duchess of Nemours, the last of the House of tok-1.
gueville, threw the Principality, so to speak, into chant'`-a S
eery. There wero several claimants, but the chief were e
the King of Prussi, who c:aimecl from ouraWilliam 111.,
and the Duke of drleans. At that time the allies were
the anted all the men they could ob-
tain from Prtiseee . ederick 1., greedy of territory,
honours, and European standing, was open to a bribe,
and the allies exerting their infloenca, and the King
opening his pursestring and showering gold among the
chief men of Neuchatel, Marlborough succeeded in ob.
brining a Prussian contingent, and Frederick became
Prince of Neuchatel. But how he got it, what amount
of sovereignty he obtained, how he used his power,
these are questions having only an archmelogical inte-
rest ; for Frederick William IV. does not, or rather did
not, hold princedom under the title deed, of Frederick
I. The claims of the house of Hohenzollern to Neucha-
tel are of a more modern date ; they are not ancient
rights ; their foundations are no older than 1815 ; for in
1806 the Emperor Napoleon obtained a legal cession of
the fief from the Kin; of Prussia, whose army he routed
at Jena ; and gave the principality to one of his generals
—Marshal Berthier. For seven years the Marshal en-
j .yed his prince loin ; but in 1813 the fortune of war
changed; Napoleon fell back upon France, and his
troops with him ; Neucbatel passed into the bands of
the allies, and Prussia put in her claim at the Congress
of Vienna. The claim was reluctantly allowed. The
King of Prussia was not, however, allowed to establish
himself as Prince of Neuchatel without conditions.
Successively the Congress refused to admit Neuchatel
as part of the dominions of Prussia into the German
Bund, to allow the King to isolate the canton
from Switzerland, to become an ally of the canton
of Berne. The Congress had other views. They
were determined to make Switzerland a powerful
neutral State, and they resolved to round her
fr litter on the side of France with the canton of Neucha-
tel. As regards Switzerland this was their primary aim.
First in order came the incorporation of the canton in
the Confederation—that was essential ; next, the grant
of the suzsrainty to the King of Prussia—that was second-
ary and non-essential. By this arrangement the King
acquired a limited, not an 'absolute, sovereignty in the sZi7: ::77"Liree
canton. Thus, While he bad lo6al -eitetftive pewee;- e"'teree-
nominated the Governor and the judges, had a veto on
tne acts of the Legislative bodies, Red drew a tribute
from the revenues of the State, the Helvetic Confedera-
tion alone could declare war, make peace, negotiate
treaties of commerce, and raise a contingent of troops
in the canton for, Federal purposes. The inhabitants of
Neuchatel were thee subjected to a double allegiance—
to their Prince and to the Federation. This double
relation had long before 1848 become a grievance. It
reached a climax in 1847, when the Prince forbad the
canton to take part in the war against the Sonderbund
—a veto which his subjects neither respected nor obeyed
—and when, towards toe close of that 3ear, he proposed
that Europe should hold a kind of congress at Neuchatel
to deliberate respecting an intervention in Swiss affairs he
forfeite I the slight hold he bad over the majority of his
Swiss subjects. It was not strange, therefore, that in
the revolutionary fever of 184 b the people of Neucbatel
should be able by pacific means to repudiate the sove-
reignty of Prussia, and proclaim the canton a free and
independent member of the swiss Confederation.
The question may be asked, why did the Helvetic
Government acknowledge the new constitution of Neu-
chatel ? It had no other course. Prussian sovereignty
over Neuchatel is recognised in no document signed
by Switzerland. Neuchatel entered the Bund as a
" sovereign" canton. By the act of union, which
determined the relations of the canton principality
witk the Federation, it was provided that the lat-
tsr should recognise exclusively the Government
re-iding at Neuchatel ;" the object of the stipula-
tion being to exclude the King of Prussia, as such,
from all author' y in the Federation. So far
as Neuchatel, therefore, was affected by the treaty of
Vienna and the acts to which it gave rise, Neuchatel
I stood exactly in the same position as England, France,
Belgium, or any other country. It had the) imprescrip-
tible right—a right so freely used in France—of chang-
ing at pleasure its form of govezninent ; and the Federal
authorities of Switzerland, it was expressly stipulated,
were to recognise no Government but the resident
Government of Neuchatel. No doubt the King of Prus-
sia protests l ; and in 1852, taking advantage of the
advent of a Tory Ministry in England, and his position
in the councils of Europe, he induced France, England
Austria, and Russia to sign the protocol of London re-
cognising his claims. This was an extraordinary step
to take, especially as in 1848 the European Governments
had recognised the new Swiss constitution, -and, of
course, tee change in the state of Neuchatel. The King
of Prussia, however, was not in a position to enforce
his claims by arms ; and he allowed four years to settle
over the protocol of London 'without action, thereby
strengthening the Swiss side of the case. It was not until
the insurrection of last September had been suppressed
and the insurgents imprisoned that he moved in the
matter, and so intemperately conducted his case as to
bring the two Governments on the verge of war.
It will be seen !rein this plan statement that the status
quo satisfies the larger and more important purpose Of
she treaty of Vienna in the disposal of Neuchatel, and
is in accordance with the desires of the people of that
cant in. Europe is not in the least degree benefited by
the presence of the sovereignty of Prussia in Neuchatel;
the Prussian monarchy is not injured by its absence;
wnile the Swiss republic is positively benefited by the
incorporation of the canton under its Federal constitu-
tion, and Europe is benefited by the homogeneity of
Switzerland.

In the presence of facts like these it would be idle to
talk of the violation of the treaty of Vienna—still more
idle when we remember that Russia has systematically
violated the treaty by her absorption of Poland ; that
Au,tria has violated the treaty by the suppression of the
Republic of Cracow ; that France has violated the treaty
by selecting Bonaparte for Emperor ; and that a distinct
violation of the treaty was consummate,' when Belgium
was cut off from Holland.

So far as the people of Neuchatel are concerned they
have as good a right as the people of France' to change
their form of government. The Prince of Neuchatel is
precisely in the same position towards the canton and
the confederation as the Count de Chambord or the
Count de Paris towards France. His rights have been
extinguished in the same manner that their rights were
extinguished. The sovereignty of a Bonaparte in France
is a violation of the solemn compacts of 1815, when
Prussia, with others, bound herself to use force for the
exclusion of Napoleon Bonaparte and his family from
supreme power in France. Yet Prussia not only per-
mits, but recognise, this violation of European treaties.
If the Prince of Neuchatel were not King of Prussia he
would probably he as helpless and as incapable of dis-
turbing Europe as the Count de Chambord or the Count
de Paris.
Plain men would settle the dispute in five minutes.
There are two things to uphold—the integrity of Swits
zerland as a neutral State, and the right of a people " to
select their own form of government and to regulate their
domestic affairs ;"' and these two things would be upheld
if the King of Prussia were induced to surrender his
parchment claims simultaneously with the surrender of(the
rebel prisoners. Such is the arrangement to which the
Swiss would agree, and which would be a reasonable
settlement of the question.

ThE DRAT IVESTERV RAILWAY
SPA

At this station a very large amount of building is in pros
gress (in the way of additions to the enormous establish-
mew), from the designs of Mr Brunel, • the eminent
engineer. Among the most prominent of them is a new
goods station, the platform portion of which is 520 feet
in length, with an average width of about 30 feet. The
roof is of corrugated iron, and supported by iron columns,
from which spring segmentai arches, roofed in with
glass and slate. At the eastern end of this large plat-
form is a wire house of irregular plan, the length of which
is 150 feet, and its greatest width 90 feet. This ware-
house has a height ot four storeys, the ground floor being
17 feet in height, the first 11 feet, and the second and
third floors 9 test each. These floors are constructed of
wood, some of the beaussof which are of three and others
of two thick, esses, bolted together, the whole being sup
porte vertically by a series of 38 iron stanchions of grea
strength, winch traverse the whole of the floors from the
ba,ement to the roof. The floors are composed of boards
IA inch iu thickness, and tied together by whataretec ni-
cail ti called iron tongues. Tue ground floor and also those
of the platform are composed of 2i incti battens, resting
on very strongplating, saturated in creosote for effec-
tualteeredtn De
we,
deep,
indd;
containing
sat s
ta,lighto nlaer
eganei d
aaviennavdteeen2rnoeutlrate.emngeakoti,ulatsti4btnhf,ddtee sign. At
preservation.. The roof of the warehouse is com-
d
posed °nag:
bine northern r3foteftifeeei
.yi other,on; llength
and
r
for Or supply ot the establishment, including the hy-
draulic crane,, of which there are 36 in ail on the outer
?lattorm and interior of the warehouse, besides two lifts+
in the interior of the structure worked by the same
means. The whole of the windows have iron lintels,
sahes, &c., and everything about the building is con-
structed with the greatest regard to strength and dura-
bility. ;wine very largo workshops are also now nearly
completed, extending td a length of 300 ft. ; the upper
one to be used as a carriage trimming shop, being 34 ft.
6 in. wide, and the lower one, which is appropriated to
repairing and painting carriages, being 81 feet 6 niches
in width. These lower shops are 400 feet in length,
In addition to these there is also the Queen's car-
riage shed, which is 42 feet long by 32 feet 6 inches
wide ; this shed is finished in a somewhat superior
manner, being roofed with iron girders, arched between
and plastered, and heated with Perkins's hot water ap-
paratus, with a view to the preservation of its contents,
as a preventive of damp. In this portion of the vast area
occupied by the company new clerks' offices and stores
have been erected, together with carpenters' shops-
Adjoining to these a range of offices has been built, on
the ground floor of which are strong rooms, constructed
pn the most subs tantial principles, and fireproof t!ckleso-
pricting and eta wping offices, police-office,
offices for the resici.ent engineers and their assistants;n.
over these a sparl 'ens board-room, 77 feet long d
rooms when
to it, so that it mrZy be divided. into thrueiere
large space
Mr. John Jay, the b
not used for general n ne.etings, which q
feet wide, whit has, temporary cross partitions attached
Ireesneld-street-north'
City-road, has the cot of a
clerk ot the works,
Mr. Bertram being
grass, and Mr. Robert R°weld„t engineer, the whole
orpervision of Mr. Brunel, th.
being under the general s 7ny......Buieding News.
itract for the
the
works now in pros
chief engineer of the coropit