The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

THE PRUSSIAN MERCENARY.

The Neuchatel Conferences threaten to become
the Poland of Europe. Everybody knows on which
side right and justice lie, but the cause is not one
of sufficient importance to enlist the sympathies or
secure the active co-operation of the human race.
The King of Prussia, it appears, is holding out on
the money question. He wishes to strike a good
bargain with the inevitable. Alt that was said
upon recent occasions of the point of honour and
the nice susceptibilities of the dwellers in Potsdam
may be reckoned as so much vapour, or as the
mere flight of winged words. Th 3 King of Prussia
is a prudent man in his generation,—he loves
honour well, but thalers and groschen even more.
There is balm in the chink of the precious metals
—Gilead is that bank on which we can draw
at sight with the certainty of honoured checks.
Why, after all, quarrel with the Prussian
Sovereign for such a conclusion to his high-
flown assertions of the dignity of his Crown?
A good round snm will conclude the Neuchatel
question ; and this, after all, is not the worst re-
sult at-which the Parisian diplomatists could have
arrived. We shall know at least what we are about,
and what is the pretext on which the peace of Eu-
rope is to be troubled by Prussia, if trouble there is
to be. "Make it guineas !" and the dogs of war
will be coupled up, and the Prussian Bellona will
quench her hissing torch in the muddy Spree. The
King of Prussia, we say again, is a very prudent
man. In small things, as in great, his circumspec-
tion and provident forethought are conspicuous.
When the great nations of Europe had met in battle
array on the grim_ shores of Crimean Tartary, and
the treasures of the world were cast forth like
sand, and the blood of Europe's bravest and best
was shed like water in that great contest which
turned the course of history, the c tutious Monarch
stood aloof, and made his game. Let the world
wag as it might, let the future of Europe be Euro-
pean or Muscovite, that signified but little to the
politicians of Berlin, and to the carriers who were
to make their fortune by neutralising the Baltic
blockade. This was a great coup. The prudent
Sovereign, however, who conceived it and carried
it out is not liplike that celebrated elephant who
could with his trunk Jilt a cannon or pick up a
needle with equal facility. Small gains are not
to be despised, and, in the absence of any grer.ter
operation, the little Neuchatel affair might cer-
tainly be looked upon as a godsend. But first
it was necessary to raise the price of the article
in the market. Neuchatel must be considered
as the symbol of European peace. In this
case the nations of Europe would be disposed to
look favourably upon the question of pecuniary
compensation. When so great a blessing could be
secured for a certain price in money we should not
be careful to higgle about price, nor to tolerate any
hesitation in the Swiss people upon settling-day.
Arms and armaments were thrust in the foreground.
Arrangements for the transit of troeps through the
territories of reluctant populations were negotiated
• with various petty Courts, with whom dynastic in-
fluences and family ties weighed far heavier in the
scale than their own dignity and independence. It
was loudly proclaimed by the King's agents, and
never denied by himself, that when once the politi-
cal prisoners were liberated every other point would
be smoothed down. The only Question was one of
the susceptibilities of pedigree and the dignity of a
Crown.

Well, the prisoners were liberated, under the
auspices, if not on the direct admonition, of the
powerful Court of the Tuileries, and the parties to
the Neuchatel dispute were summoned before a
Tribunal of Honour. Alas for the misnomer it was
' found practically that the point of honour was far
from being the real point at issue, and that a Tri-
bunal of Commerce would have far more speedily
terminated the dispute between the litigant parties.
The question at issue was not one of honourable
puncti►io, but of monetary interest. The King of
Prussia, it appears, is holding out for a larger price
than the Swiss are willing to give for the total eman-
cipation of the Canton of Neuchatel from the tradi-
tionary thrall of Prussia's King. We cannot wonder
at the spirit of chapmanship which the Swiss have
displayed in the course of the negotiation. In the first
place, the Swiss are chapmen born, ready to deal with
the first comer for the blood of their children or the
milk of their cows. They are, moreover, fully justi-
fied in saying that the ware which the Prussian nego-
tiator offers for sale is but a soap-bubble at best, and
should not command a higher price than the ordinary
market value of goods of that description. What
is it the King of Prussia is giving up ? What consi-
deration is he offering for the money payment which
his emissaries are now demanding in his behalf
The value of a nominal sovereignty over a Princi-
pality in a distant part of Europe is, of course, in-
tinitely small to the present King of Prussia, or to
any future Sovereign of the house of Brandenburg,
although to the Swiss it is an object of considerable
importance to rid themselves of a claim which can
ever be used by factions at home ti di,turb the
tranquillity of the Cantons. There is another rea-
son which just for the moment renders them more
unwilling to loosen their purse-strings? Their nego
tiator, Dr. Kern, who seems to be a gentleman of
very sanguine temperament, had possessed them
.with the notion that the dispute would be termi-
nated without any cash payment if they could but
make up their minds to yield the point of the libe-
ration of the prisoners. Theyare naturally disgusted
with a blunder which procures them so disagree-
able a surprise.

At the present moment, if we may judge from
advict-s which we have recently received from Paris,
the negotiation, so far as the Swiss and Prussian
Plenipotentiaries are concerned, is at a standstill.
Each has reached the limits of his instructions, and
theycannot agree. M. de Hatzfeldt hadmade certain
demands from which he would not recede, and Dr.
Ketn certain offers which he would not enlarge.
Under these circumstances the other representatives,
having excluded the two dissident Plenipotentiaries
from their deliberations, have, it is said, settled
among themselvesthe draught of a convention which
they will force upon the acceptance of the Swiss
and Prussian diplomatists. We know not how far
compulsion is possible in such a case, but at least
one would fain hope that if the refusal should come
from the side of Prussia, the great Powers would
entirely withdraw from every guarantee, or implied
guarantee, which they have ever given to Prussia
concerning the relations of her Sovereign to the
Principality of Neuchatel, and for the future leave
the head of the house of Brandenburg to assert his
claims to that shadowy supremacy in his own way.
Ou the chances of any rejection by the Swiss of any
conclusion to the difficulty which may be suggested
by the active and friendly interference of the great
Powers we need not enlarge. If they are so inju-
dicious as to neglect such an opportunity of getting
out of this difficulty, the best thing we can do for
the future is to Leave them to themselves and the
King of Prussia.—Times.

SIR J. BOWRING ON THE CHINESE

BARBARITIES.

The Liverpool Courier contains the following let-
ter f om Sir J. Bowring

" Hong Kong, Feb. 24.
"My dear Sir,—l doubt not that it will bo a
gratification to my Manx friends to hear front the
best authority that we are all recovered from the
effect& of the poison of which several hundred per-
sons partook on the 15th of Jan. About 101 b. of
arsenic had been mixed with a batch of bread issued
from the largest Chinese bakery in the colony, and
the excess of the quantity led to immediate alarm,
—application of emetics and speedyejection of 'the
perilous stuff.' It left its effects for some days in
racking headaches, pains in the limbs and bowels,
&c. In my family, my wife, daughters, three guests,
my private secretary, and myself, besides several
servants, ate of the poisoned bread. Lady Bow-
ring's has been a bad case, as it is thought some
of the arsenic had got into the lungs, but danger
is over now. This mode of warfare is hard to
deal with, and will, lam sure, excite a gene-
ral sympathy and indignation. Large premiums
have been offered by the Mandarins to any who
shall set fire to our houses, kidnap or murder us ;
and many unfortunate wretches of all nations (as
the hatred of the Chines,: is indiscriminating) have
been seized, decapitated, and their heads have been,
exposed on the walls of Canton, their assassins,
having been largely rewarded ; they have event. ra
pp the bodies of Christian men from their graves,
iu order to decapitate them and exp ,se their mu i-
lated skulls to the public gaze. All this is suffi-
ciently horrible, but I doubt no;; the r:su!ts will be
mist beneficial, for certainly we shall exact indem-
nities for the past and obtain securities for the
future. We shall not crouch before assassination
and incendiarism, you may be assured. I did all
that depended upon me to promote conciliation and
Th., was obviously my duty, but
establi4h peace.
every effort I made was treated with scorn and re-
pulsion. The forbearance with which the Chinese
nave been treated has been wholly misunderotood
by them, and attributed to our apprehensions of
their great power and awe of the majesty of the
`Sou of Heaven.' So they have disregarded the
most so!etnn engagements of treaties, and looked
upon us as barbarians,' whO, in a moment ofsuccess,
imposed conditions from which they were to escape
when occasion offered, and when they could (in
their judgment) safely do so. - I doubt not that
Government, Parliament, and public opinion will
go with us in this great struggle, and pray that my
life may have been preserved for the real and en-
during benefit of my country and mankind. -=-Ever
faithfully yours,

"Joins]. Bownwa.
" Williaut Kelly, Esq., I ouglas, Lie of Man."

THE "MONTHLY" MONSTER, ALIAS

THE GREAT EASTERN.

Among the passions which belong to human
nature we may recognise what may be called a
passion for size. Those primitive works of fiction
which feed the childish imagination appeal very
boldly to this passion. They go straight to the
point, and create without ceremony men, houses,
and lions ten times bigger than actual men, real
houses, and live lions. But this is not the only
quarter in which this appeal is made. Science, with
all its gravity, copies fiction here, and appeals to
the same passion exactly as the childish fairy tale
did. What single ingredient in astronomy, for exam-
ple, tells more in creatingataste for tbatscience than
the enormous distances in which it abounds? The
figures which represent the distances of heavenly
bodies from us, or the speed with which light, or
the speed with which electricity travels, have the
same fascination for the scientific that the
numbers in the banker's book have for the covetous
imagination. The one set of figures constitutes
the conventional symbol for space, and the other
for wealth.
Whoever wants to feed this natural passion for
size in the primitive way, and to see a true giant
in its own line, must vi it the bank of the Thames
at Millwall. But before he goes we recommend
him, unless he is very well versed in the Book of
Genesis, to turn to the 6th chapter, and refresh his
memory as to the dimensions of Noah's Ark and
the " fashion" of its making : " the length of the
Ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits,
and the height of it 30 cubits." So, reckoning the
cubits at a loot and a half, we have a ship 450 feet
long, 75 feet broad, and 45 feet high. While
the visitor is collecting data as to ships, sacred
and p ofane, he may turn out " Marlborough" in
the _Navy List, and there he will see that the
largest line-of-battle ship in the British Navy is
exactly of 4,000 tons burden. And now let him
get on board a Greenwich steamer and be steamed
though the picturesque Pool to Millwall. Just op-
posite Deptford he will be aware of something pre-
Adawitic wallowing in the mud of the Isle of Dogs
—a stranded saurian ship, to which even Noah's
Ark must yield precedence, and to which all the
Maisboroughs, and Wellingtons, and Merrimacs,
and Niagaras in the world are mere cockboats. An
iron hull of the burden of 23,000 tons, nearly 700
feet long. and 60 feet high, wll meet hia eye—the
hull of Mr. Scott Russell's Great Eastern steam-
ship. We roust give a few more figures, for every
figure is a mon-ter, and worth looking at separ-
ately. One is a figure of 30,000—the number of
the iron plates which compose the enormous erec-
tion, each weighing the third of a ton, and each
fastened by 100 rivets. The ship will accommodate
4,000 passengers, 800 of whom are first-class. On
an emergency she could carry 10,000 troops. She
will contain 10 boilers, and 100 furnaces. The
cylinder of every engine will be six feet in diame-
ter, and will weigh five times as much as the great
bell of St. Paul's. The screw propeller will be 24
feet in diameter, and the diameter of the paddle-
wheels will be 56 feet, or considerably larger than
the circus at Astley's. The principal suite of
saloors will be 400 feet in length, and a promenade
round the deck will afford a walk of more than
a quarter of a mile. This monster ship will
combine steam power in both shapes, screw and
paddle, with sailing power. She will early 11,000
tons of coal, she wilt be lighted by gas made on
board, and the electric light will flicker like St.
Elino's fire at night from her masthead. She will
spread 6,500 yards of canvas, and her speed is com-
puted at 15 knots or 18 miles an hour—a rate which
will perform the voyage to India by the Cape, and
to Australia, in little more than a month.
Who would not wish to be the captain of this
gallant ship ?
With these principal figures, then, gone through,
let us imagine the Great Eastern afloat, and on her
road to Bombay or Melbourne, and with her ordi-
nary complement of passengers on board. The first
idea which strikes us is the multitude of faces on
board. It will, iu fact, be a whole town afloat,
and much more than a town of 4,000 population,
because it will be a floating town of 4,000 grown-
up persons; at least, with comparatively few excep-
tions, each of them being what is called an " indi-
vidual," by which we mean a human being of size
to command notice, and having to appearance, at
least, a mind and will of his own, together with a
formed air, tone, and manner peailiar to himself.
In this sense even young ladies are individuals.
All this crowd of individualities will be collected
within the dimensions of 700 by GO feet. What a
new shape of human society ! Take the SOO first-
class passengers by themselves, and what room does
even this number afford for the formation of all
kinds of different circles and sets, which will know
nothing of each other, one man only jag;, knowing
another by sight, and hardly that. How many
immemurable social chasms will be collected within
a few hundred fee:; ! How many Mr. Smiths will
there he who will not speak to ielr. Jones during
the whole voyaoc because he is not in the same set !
How many MrJoueses will payback Mr Smith in the
same coin ! Between how many nice young ladies and
proper young gentlemen will there not be a great
gulf fixed, because in the ey es of anxious mothers the
s id young gentlemen are not desirable persons, but
mere penniless bipeds ! What flirtations will there
not be behind boats, what rivalries, and, if many
Americans voyage by the Great Esstern, what
duellnge may we not expect on that ample deck !
In short, what an epitome or camera-obscura of the
world will the Great E Astern present ! It will be
worth an aspiring novelist's while to take his berth
to Australia or India, and back again, simply for the
great convenience of having so much human nature
brought before bun within so small a compass. It
will be the mountain brought to Mahomet, the
world condensing itself before his eyes, for the sake
of being ooserved and examined. The rapid suc-
cession of faces will bewilder him at first, but indi-
viduality will come out in time, though he must
be sharp about his work, otherwise the Great
Eastern w,ll have stopped her screw and paddles
before lie has got any results. If his material is
enlarged, los time is much curtailed on the new
system. Farewell to long voyages, with their ap-
propriate quarrels and matches—their lovernakings,
jiltings, reconciliations, and irrevocable unions ;
voyage life has entered en another phase. Fur
what is a month ?—it is gone before we begin to
think about its going. How will the old voyagers
look back to the romantic days when a roomful of
persons were their own company for four months,
gradually forming enmities or f iendships, when
attachments rose up among "young people" icon-
sciously and by the mere passive influence of the
scene ! We are growing a busier nation every
year, and cannot afford time for more than one
chapter of this sea romance.

But we muA not let the appeal to imagination
supersede the real practical result of the grand ex-
periment- of the Great Eastern. The post, as he
surveyed this vast sublunary scene of restless in-
dustry and adventure, was struck by nothing so
much as the triumph of man over the sea. He ex-
presses himself as more than struck—as shocked.
"Nequicquam Dens abscidit
Prudens Oceano dissociabili
Terra 4, Si tamen imp;se
Non tangenda rates transilient vada."
He argued that the sea was a providential appoint-
ment, and that it was impious in man to struggle
' aga'nst it—he bad no right to unite what God had
separated, and connect land with land when the
Divine power had inserted water between. We
have long seen the weakness of this argument; and
arrived at a much better doctrine of final causes
than this. But, if any one wants to see a good fin-
ishing blow given to the Horatian argument—at
least on the Solvitur ambulando principle—he may
see it given by the Great Eastern. That mighty
fabric indeed does not talk, but it acts—its act be-
ing a month's voyage to India or to Australia,
That act, while it is a speechless, is at the same time
the most powerful answer, that the religious scruples
of the awestruck poet could recei7e. A reflecting
m'n4l will see in such a voyage a much more natu-
ral, proper, wise, and obedient fulfilment of the
designs of Providence than any timid self-confine-
ment and servile deference to a barrier of nature
would have been. It will appear that the sea was
made to alternate with the dry land, not that con-
tinents might be disconnected, but that man should.
have the opportunity of exerting his skill and in-
vention in connecting them: The result of this
great experiment in shipbuilding, if it answers, o
which there is little or no donnt, will be a con

PoUclation of the British Empire such as we
have not yet seen. Half of the
_space which

separates the various sections of it from the
mother country and from each other will
be annihilated. Our colonies will be brought corn-
parat:vely close to !us' and, what is almost of as
much importance as the actual vicinity gained,
they will be more than twi e as near to us in ima-

gination. The difference between a month's voyage
and two or three months is all the difference to the
imagination. We thank of a place as within reach,
and within a borne distance, if it is only " a
month off." The whole empire is thus brought
into a home compass, and obtains the addition of
strength which so much greater union gives. We
shall find ourselves paying visits to and receiving
visits from India and Australia. Our friends will
come over for the summer with return ticket;
and the British empire will become, in virtual
compass, a province.—Time3.
T.

'ROOFS FOR CHINA.— Y estetuay orders were issued
from the War Offied for fcur companies of the Royal
Artillery, and the 2,1 battalion of the military train en-
camped a: Woolwinh to embark on board the hired
tran9ports Ne' env, Viobit and Mooresfoot, at Woulwich
this day (S rday)• The Fur.ous, 16, with the division
o gun and eispatch boa's molar orders for aline, will
tail for Canon river on Monday.

LAW INTELLIGENCB.--April 17.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
THE ROYAL BRITISH BANK-THE DIVIDEND.

In our impression of yesterday we gave the
commencement of the proceedings before the
learned Commissioner. To wards the close of the hear-
ing, Mr. LinklaLer said—sir, with reference to the
position of the bank at present, it is important that I
should communicate to you the result of the pro-
ceedings up to this day. The debts proved at the
meetings previously had amounted to 514,1241. 17s.
6d. The proofs of to-day amount to about 4,0001.,
and your Honour has permitted a claim to be en-
tered of 5,0001., making 4 total of proofs and claims
to-day of 9,0001. ; so that the total amount already
proved and claimed would be 523,0001. A divi-
dend has been already paid of ss. 6d. in the pound,
and I am happy to say even the money assets of
the estate are not yet exhausted, for, if with ordi-
nary diligence we have good luck, we hope to be
able to make a further dividend of 2s. in two
months, or even 2s. 61, and I trust even then that
the assets will not he exhausted. It is important
that I should make this communication to the Court,
because the forthcoming session of Parliament is
one in which it will be incumbent upon those who
have the interest of the creditors at heart, for the
purpose of enabling the assignees and those who
are anxious to bring about some general compro-
mise, to take measures for that purpose. It may
be, and it has been found exceedingly difficult,
dealing with so many creditors and so many debt-
ors, to bring all to a common understanding, but
we have succeeded in getting from certainly more
than half the creditors their assent to the compro-
mise which has been proposed by the shareholders
of 6s. 6d. in the pound beyond what the assets in
bankruptcy will realise. The dividend vv hich has
been declared and that which is to be paid to-day
will amount to Bs. The further dividend under this

bankruptcy we have no doubt will amount to 2s.
certainly, and possibly to 35., and that will enable
the assignees to make a diviend under this bank-
ruptcy of 10s. or 11s. in the pound. If it were but
10s. in the pound, the 6s. 6d. which is offered by
the shareholders would increase the total composi-
tion to 16s. 6d. in the pound, and it certainly does
strike one as being most desirable for the creditors,
and certainly for the shareholders, to use their
united efforts to bring about such a result ; and
the assignees have exerted themselves, ard the
committee of depositors have been unremitting in

their duties for the purpose of aiding in this Com-
promise, and it is hoped that no step taken by any
person will have the effect of preventing that taking

place. It is just possible that the unfortunate delay
which has arisenfrom the dissolutiouof Parliament

may have deprived some of the shareholders of the
means of paying the contriautions.with a 'dela they
might have been prepared. Even that I hope will
not er danger the general result of it. Then I should
hope Parliament would give us some power of deal
ing with a shareholder by himself, and enable us to
dischlrEze him from his liability to creditor 3 gener-
ally. However much iti theory it may have been
considered good, inasmuch as it involves unlimited
liability, it has been found in practice to be detri-
mental to the interests of those whom it was in-
tended to serve. The result of the proceedings
here, I have no doubt, will give satisfaction to the
creditors. They will see that, with a certain divi-
dend in bankruptcy, and with a fair prospect of that
which will be got from the shareholders, it is
their interest to withhold proceedings until these
who have been intrusted with their interest in the
end to obtain that advantage for them which they
have all along desired. The dividend, owing to the
very great exertions than have been made by the
official assignee, and I mato say by Mr. Cooper and
others in his office, have enabled us to say that,
tbough the number of credit us is so large, the di-
vidend will be payable ou and after April 28, and
we shall have the use of the South Sea House,
which has been sold for 11,0001., the fittings being
taken at 1,4001., That 12,4001. this day will not
come into the present dividend, and therefore we
shall have a certain further asset—an available
ready money asset. I have also the satisfaction of

being; able to say that a vessel belonging to Mr.
Humphrey Brown, the Ellen Lindsay, is on her
way. We e.mpect from that and other securities to
realise 1,0001. or 1,50.7, at a future period, and
therefore the prospects which I have referred are
exceedingly fair, and I hope may be realised at no
distant period. 'vie have had a most able and sa-
tisfactory report from surveyors of considerable
eminence—auctioneers, with reference to the Welsh
works, and we are not without hope that a sum,
exceeding, possibly, 40,000/., if we should be fortu-
na'e, will be realised for the esc ate. If we were ro
successful the dividend which I haae mentiored
would be increased, because there are other debts
outstanding which possibly, by very good fortune,
might increase the dividend for this estate even to
12s. in the pound. lam quite sure the assignees
wilspare Po pains to thing about so desirable a re-
sult. It will be one which I think will be credi-
table to the administration in bankruptcy, one for
which we have all fought very eagerly. Your Ho-
nour was pleased to name Wednesday next for the
examination of Alderman Kennedy. Alderman
Kennedy is abroad and unable to attend on Wed-
nesday, and it is considered desirable to delay Mr.
Humphrey Brown's examination till after Mr.
Alderman Kennedy's ; but he proposes to be here
on the 20th. The time will not be lost, because
we have the exceedingly important duty of examin-
ing the auditors and accountants, and there will
be also, in consequence of the singular and extra-
ordinary statement of Mr. Stapleton, necessarily a
short further examination of him. Ido not want to
say more upon it at present, but 1 propose, with
your Honour's permission, to proceed on Wednes-
day next with that examination, for the purpose of
showing that some of the statements have been
without foundation. The 30th inst. is appointed for
the last examination, and the assignees had hoped
that the balance sheet would have been prepared
and filed by that time. I have no doubt the ac-
countant who has been employed by the assignees
for that purpose has found his duties exceedingly
laborious, and no doubt he has been diligent in the
preparation of it; but, having regard to the several
periothat which rests have to be made, he hasfound
it impraAicable to file it. I am told that a very few
days will see it completed. but I can scarcely hope
that there will be sufficient time between this and
the last examination td allow the assignees to give
it that attention which undoubtedly it would re-
ceive at their hands.

The Commissioner—There is only one thing
that one desires could have been added to the state-
ment made by Mr. Linklater—that 20s. in the
pound would be paid, which, in case of a joint-stock
batik the puLlic always expects should be realised.
Looking at all the circumstances of this unfortunate
case, it may be desirable that the compromise should
be carried out, which is perhaps more than we might
at one time have been led to anticipate.
Mr. Linklater—That is so, Sir. The great mis-
take which the shareholders made was in not com-
ing forward at once with such a sum of money as
would have -prevented the sacrifice of their pro-
perty; it would have been undoubtedly the best po-
licy, and would have been the most honest. There
is an additional advantage which the assignees have
now which they did not possess before—viz., the
assistance of Mr. Wyld, one of the members for
Bodmin, who has promised his assistance in con-
junction with the Attorney-General for the pur-
pose of promoting the promised measure.
The dividend of 2s. 6d. in the pound was then
ordered to be paid.