The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-25 00:00:00

NEWSPAP.F.it
• .14...4
• 4 +-A*te
THE NEUCHA ••
(Franz the Tithe itai S
The King of Prussia has driven a bard bars in
a very hard bargain—with the Swiss iu the Neu-
chatel affair. We confess, certainly not with shame,
that we had completely gone astray, upon the mat-
ter. Four or five months back we had not the int-
telligepce to discern that this As a mere question
;of s. d. ; that the Prussian Sovereign' was not
in reality solicitous about the honour of his double,
eagle and his ancestral blazonry, but that his real
object was to drive a sharp bargain, in the most
pecuniary sense which can be attached to that
phrase, with the Swiss Confederation. How often
do similar cases occur in real life We suppose that
our friend Captain O'Rafferty is standing upon the
point of honour, when in reality the-divine wrath
of that gallant individual is only to be assuaged by
halm of a far more prosaic description than an
which is usually applied to sentimental sores ! The
Conferences which have been recently held at
Paris on the Swiss affair hare been for all the
world like a mosk auction, •in which the Envoy of
the King of Prussia acted the part of auctioneer.
" What shall we say for Neuchatel t Beautiful
Swiss Canton, near the lake of that name ; pictur-
esque castle ; healthy situation ; swarming with
tourists in the summer season. Shall we say
100,000/.1 No bid ? Gentlemen, consider the
clocks. Let me say 70,000/.-50,0001. The feel-
ings of the vendor and the honour of the HOMO of
Brandenburg ought not to be lost sight of altoge-
ther. I am not only disposing of a flourishing Can-
ton, but of the credit of a most respectable Monar;
chy. Say 45,000/. Why, gentlemen, really this is
a mere trifle-40,0001. No bid ? Lower than that
figure I cannot go ; at that price I am instructed
to buy the lot in. The chivalrous feelings of the
vendor will not allow him to accept a lower
price." This is really no exaggeration of the
course of the negotiations which have been going
on in Paris for the last few weeks. Dr. Kern
bas been sent back to Switzerland with an ultima-
tum for 40,0001. Below that point the Royal chaps
man positively refuses to deal. Some trifling ad-
ditions are attached, -such as that the King of
Prussia is to retain the name of "Prince of Neu-
chatel"—he might as well bargain for the title of
"Prince of Abyssinia"—and a guarantee for the
proper administration of the chart tble institutions
of Neuchatel. This last condition is a matter of
course—the former one too ridiculous to deserve
even passing discussion.. The real point is as to
the 40,0001. It was for this that at the conclusion
of the last, and at the beginning of the present year,
all Europe was set in commotion, and the world;
scarcely recovered from the throes of the Ru.siart
war, was startled with the announcement of another
and, it might' be, A more terrible struggle. The
dead were removed, the sand- was scattered-on the
arena, the trumpets sounded a fresh alarm, and a
fresh pair of gladiators stepped into the arena.
Prussia and Switzerland had taken no share in the
battle of the nations, but now they were to exhibit
their untried prowess on a field apart. The greatest
apprehensions, however, were entertained that this
contest could not go on far without attracting into
its area other champions and 'mere powerful in-
terests—so strong are the sympathies of policy and
war. Alas ! we were all mistaken—Sovereigns,
Cabinets, statesmen, writers, and politicians—
here was no question of a European war, but of
40,0001.
We are sometimes inclined to think that, after
all, the King of Prussia is one of the cleverest men
in Europe. From his retirement at Potsdam he
contemplates with a genial smile the jar of human
passions and the play of human interests. The
European drama is to him not a performance in
which he himself is called upon to take a share,
but an excithig`exhibition, of which he is to be a
mere spectator, with the privilege of turning an
horaeht penny as be best can. WTben the world
is in King Cambyses' vein he will applatid the ex-
pression of chivalrous emotion ; he will lead a
stately measure round his .Ritter-Saal with an
enormous wax candle in his hand, and then go,
not to war, but to bed. He will review his troops,
and almost weep over them, and then dismiss them
to their. barracks. He will listen with the most
profound emotion to choral strains of so exttemely
exciting a character that they'would almost inspire
an oyster with the emotions of a dragoon ; but
nothing comes of it.' When all is said and done,
you will find the Prussian Bayard at a later period
of the evening disputing with his own, particular
set over some theological or metaphysieel inanity ;
or, as we now find, working out in his head EOOlO
little sum in which his own private interests are
more immediately concerned. This was just the
result, we will not say that it was altogether the nee-
tive of the Prussian policy throughout the Russian'
war. While England and France were pouring out
the blood of their bravest children and expending
the resources of their treasuries—while Austria
bad assumed an attitude which has drawn upon
her the permanent hostility of her powerful
neighbour, and even the little kingdom of Sar-
dinia sent forth a gallant band to do battle
in the cause of European freedom—it would be
hard to say what the Prussians were about, save
making their profit t out of the general calamities
of mankind. While other nations were fighting
and suffering they were buying and selling ; while
Fiend) and Enalish, and Sardinians and Turks, on
the one side, and Russians on the other, were sole
diem, the Prussians were but carriers and chap-
men. They refused to take any share in the com-
mon exertions and common glory. These things ,
passed away, and a time of profound peace suc-
ceeded. It has just been broken tier a fixed resolu-
tion on the part of tile Prussian Sovereien to put
the armed forces of the monarchy in motion to ob-
tain payment of 40,0001. for the goodwill and fix-
tures of the canton of Neuchatel. It would be idle
.to recur to the old protestations about the dignity
of the Prussian Crown, and the implied promises
that, if once the point of honour were saved by the
unconditional release of the prisoners, the King of
Prussia would pass lightly over all other conside-
rations. The prisoners were released, and we see
the result. The question, after all, was merely one
of thalers and ready money. There is no plaister
for outraged honour like a bank-note.
The condition, as far as the Swiss are concerned,
is undoubtedly a hard one ; still, we trust that, as
a shrewd and discreet people, they will have the
sense to smile at the extortion, and to submit to
ia, for the sake 'of peace. There is scarcely a pri-
vate individual, in this country at least, who is not
obliged twice or thrice in his passage through life
to submit to some extravagant charge, or to pay
some bill twice over, rather than incur the discom-
fort and perils of litigation. A claim of this de-
sciption may, no doubt, be occasionally resisted
with success, but the cost 'of the successful resist-
ance will far outweigh the evils of resignation. A
sum of 40,0001. is, after all, no great amount of
black-mail when the charge is distributed over a
numerous and thriving population. We doubt not
that the charge incurred since this outbreak began,
or even the cost of calling the forces of the Con-
federation together in the course of the last few
months, has far exceeded the price named by the
Prussian agent for the stock, fixtures, and good-
will of the Canton of Neuchatel on the part of
his principal. Better pay the sum once for all,
and have done with a litigious, troublesome
claiinant, from whom nothing is to be expected but
annoyance and strife. The transaction is one
which will reflect no great glory on the Prussian
Crown in the pages of history. Had the Prussian
King chosen to act in his capacity of a private per-
son, and dispose of a property in a foreign country
to which he might have a title more or less satis-
factory, there would not have been a word to say.
The King of Prussia has as good a right as Paul or
Peter to receive the value of any farm or farming
stock he may be inclined to sell. In the pre-
sent case, however, he has called into action the
forces of the Prussian. Monarchy in a caase with
which the Prussian people were not at all concerned.
He bas called upon the Cabinets of Europe to arbi-
trate upon his private rfghts. The best thing under
the circumstances is to pay him the 40,0001. which
he does not disdain to claim, and to leave the Royal
Trapbois of Potsdam to the judgment of Europe.—
Times.

PULPIT PRONUNCIATION.—Why is it that so many of
our curates in the reading desks of our various churches
so far depart from good pronunciation as to continually
o-press us with the o-pression, of the o-pressor, and almost
upon every o-casion that may o-cur, seem to be
po-sessed with a spirit of incorrectness, that certainly
produces an eject, but unquestionably a very bad one?
Several other words could ue mentioned as being often
made subject to this mutilation, but these are perhaps
the most frequently presented to the attention of the
hearers. Now, most assuredly, if we are to continually
look up to " the senate, the pulpit, and the bar," as our
standard of right and wrong in the matter of pronuncia-
tion, it behoves those who take up a position in either of
these guiding influences to keep that standard pure, and
not, at least, to misguide the many who have to follow
the lead of the few. Let aught of wrong in the system,
of hov:ever long tenure, give place to the pro-
gression of intellect and knowledge, but let no partial
stretch of over-refinement lead them into what
must be considered as at once an affectation and
an error ; for the evil will not be confined to them-
selves, but will gradually, but surely, pass into
common use, and thus, not only the standard of our
own day become vitiated, but an unnecessary difficulty
created for the next generation to overcome. The evil,
such as it is, is decidedly a growing one ; and therefore
it is essential that attention should be directed to it
without delay, for, to all who love the fulness and free-
dom of our beautiful and expressive language, it cannot
be a matter of indifference that its force and vigour
should be thus idly frittered away.—Ath,mccum.