The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-28 00:00:00

in trb Xbitton

FRAN CE.

Mr. Locke, the English engineer, is at present in
Paris. He and M. Charles Laffitte, representing an
English company, have applied to the Government for
the concession of the Paris and Lyons Railway, and
it is considered probable that their application will be
successful. _ _

The directors of the Bank of France have an-
nounced a dividend of 51C rancs per share of the
capital stock for ;the half-fear ending the 31st of
December.

The National makes the following caustic observa-
tions on the trial of ALLAH :
" Judgment has been passed on Allais. Nothwith•
standing the brilliant defence of M. Desmarets, the pri-
soner was found guilty or lodging calumnious informa-
tions, and sentenced accordingly. We have not to
examine that verdict ; we have only to enregister the
issue of a trial in which, after all, there were engaged
interests entirely unconnected with our cause. But at
least we may be permitted to seize on this occasion to
address a merited eulogium to the magistwes con-
cerned. For what took place ? A police agent lodged
in'•ormations of a plot against the President of the As-
sembly and General ChangarnLr. It c, rtainly was
difficult to bring forward any accusation more calculated
to excite the indignation cf all well-thinking men.
But by the side of the grave accusation made there
was every appearance of its being untrue. How dd the
magistrates act ? Did they arrest, as too frequently
occurs, the persons designated? Did they place them
in secret confinement? Jo a word, did they use against
them all the severity which the law permitted? No.
And it is•for that conduct that we praise them. They
did not consider the indications given as sufficient to tear
from their families and their affairs men of whom
nothing proved the culpability more than a police accu-
sation; they found means of arriving at the truth with-
out having need of recurring to the means which we have
just mentionei. No person was takes. up, no one was
imprisoned, all their severity fell on the falee informer.
Once more we declare that we cannot too much praise
such a manner of proceeding. We only regret that such
a course is an exception to the general mode of acting,
and that the first time we have to declare this should
be in a Bonapartist matter."

GERMANY.

The Deutsche Zeitung states from Cassel that the
extravagant demands ot the Austrian Commissioner,
Count Leiningen, have excited terror and indignation
among the population of Hesse. From the state-
ments of the above-mentioned paper, it would appear
that Count Leiningen holds a most absolute and
irresponsible sway throughout the Electorate,
and that the efforts of the Prussian Commis-
sioner are altogether paralysed by his crafty and
powerful colleague. All the stipulations to which
General Peucker had agreed in his negotiations with
the Chief Court of Appeal at Cassel have been directly
violated and flatly contradicted by the Austrian Com-
missioner. The Court had promised to yield a con-
ditional obedience to the decree of the 4th September,
but Count Leiningen, supported by 5,000 bayonets,
required a surrender at discretion, an unconditional
recognition of all the Elector's decrees, and when
reminded of the stipulations which General Peucker
had sanctioned by his consent, Count Leiningen is
asserted to have protested " that he exacted obe-
dience, not on the ground of the Olmutz stipulations,
but as Commissioner of the Federal Diet," and that,
in the latter quality, " he knew nothing of a Prussian
Commissioner."
The Kolner Zeitung states, from Frankfort, that
General Peucker has entered a most energetic pro.
test against the late proceedings of the Austrian or
Federal Commissioner. The rumour even went so
far as to mention another advance of the Prussian
troops to support General Peucker's protest, but this
statement, as it is unsupported by other intelligence,
appears of course unfounded, or (to say the least)
premature. Considerable anxiety was felt at Frank-
fort respecting the issue of the struggle in Hesse.
The following dispatch, dated Vienna the 17th
instant, has been addressed by Prince Schwarizen-
berg to only a very few of the important Ministers
of the Emperor in foreign countries :
" You have been informed by my dispatch of the 27th
ult. that the Baron de Manteuirel had demanded of me in
the most earnest manner an interview, and that some
hours later he informed me by the tel, graph that, in pur-
suance of the positive orders of the King of Prussia, he
should proceed to Olmutz without even waiting for my
answer. His Majesty the Emperor considered it his duty
to meet the wishes so ardently expressed by the King.
I consequently received the order to repair to Olmutz,
where I conferred, cn the 27th and 29th ult., with the
Minister, M. de Manteuffel. It was necessary to vanquish
great difficulties, in order that an effort at arrangement
could at that moment produce any result. But we did
not for a single instant forget how many interests were
at a ake if, in the actual position of Europe, a conflict
bt tween Austria and Prussia was not avoided; and we
fully recognised how favourable was the concourse of
circumstances to enable us to meet on such an oct a i in
the sincere effo.ta of so decided a representative of the
peace party in Prussia. Our sincere desire was to co-
operate in these effort., and to contribute as mech as
possible in ensuring to them a victory over passions end
ta:al pretensions. We have, then, been very much dis-
posed to prove by all means in our p ,wer that we w, re-
very far from profitieg by the ham eft se ad v melees of our
position to humil;a,e Prus-ia, or to deprive her of the por-
tion of influenc she is justly entitled to. We, moreover,
soeglat to appreciate the benefits which would reset t from a
sincere recoucuiation as highly as cur duties permitted
to us. The subjoined protocol contains the result of
the conferences at Olmutz. This protocol his received
the approval of the Emperor, our most graciuus master,
and also, as I learn from a dispatch from Berlin, that of
his Majesty the King of Prussia. We have just recom-
mended it to our allies, in order that they may equally
give it their approval. It will not escape your notice
that the Imperial Cabinet while consenting to a cessation
of the isolated position of Prussia in the affairs of the
Germanic Confederation, will not have desired to make
any sacrifice which could not have been male without
prejudice to the eisential object of the policy followed
by Austria and by the other German Governments
that have remained faithful to their duties as
members of the I,Confederation. In order to
understand that it could not be otherwise, it is
suffix Tent to cast a glance on the position we occupied
previous to the Conferences of Oirnii.z, and on that we
shall be ready to take in consequence of these Confer-
ferences. Austria entered into the lists to maintain the
Federal Constitution of Germany created by treaties. It
became our duty to enforce our absolute rights on th,s
fundamental question, in which the foreign Powers them-
seiv a, as it appears to ue, could not remain completely,
and without danger, neutral. From the very commence-
ment we have acted with confidence in the moral
force of this position, and we have renounced,
with general approbation, any thought of exer-
cising the least constraint with respect to the
members of the Confederation who thought they
could withdraw themselves from the recognition of the
L gal organ of the Confedration. When these members
oz the Confederation became thus excluded from their
teak of watching in common over the affairs of the Con-
federation the measures of execution were necessarily
limited to repel the attacks that might be attempted
against the action of the Federal Diet, acting in virtue
of the appeal that might be made on it by the States
which recognized it. It became necessary fur us to
prevent such attacks, and we did so by the obtaining
from Prussia, from the commencement of the last mouth,
the solemn assurances that the execution of the Federal
decia ins in Electoral Hesse and in Holstein should not
encounter any opposition.
"Prussia has corroborated those assurances at Olmutz.
In place of a simple laissez-faire, winch was not without
grave inconvenience, she has offered her active co-opera-
non in the sense of the Federal decisions. Under these
circumstances it becomes necessary to appreciate the
great value of this recent and hype change, with refer-
ence to the grave questions which affect the Confederation.
We have disclaimed all pretensions of a share in the di-
rection of the Federal affeirs out ide of legal forms, and
disclaimed such so long as it could be feared that a con-
cession in this respect might become, in the hands of these
wL o were lately our adversaries, a means of calling in qu- a-
tion the fundamental basis of the Conl'tderaion, aid tt“-
acc( mplishm,nt of its duties, and oe thus putting in peril
the equilibrium and the peace of Eurepe. But if these
fears were successfully removed, if positive guarantees
could be obtained that the action c f Prus-ie would be
in harmony with the object of the Confederation, we
ought to suggest to ourselves the question if in this
case it would not be more ..dvantagt ous for the Federal
body as for all Europe, while awaiting a comp!ete re-
organization of the Confederation, to open once more to
the members who were not any longer separated from
us but by mere difficulties of form the means of partici-
pation in the affairs of the Confederation.
" The Imperial Cabinet could not hesitate to reply
in the affirmative to this question in presence of the
engagements contracted by Prussia at Olmutz. Even
some time previously the Constitution of the Union of
the 28th of May, 1849, had been abandoned, and there
Was consequently a probability that the deliberations
commenced with respect to the revision of the Federal
Pact might be arranged so as to secure the approbation
of all its members.
"It was for these reasons that it was agreed at
Olmutz to act in common and 'in conformity with the
decisions of the Diet in the affairs ot Electoral Hesse
and of Holstein. In this state nt affairs we were e; -
Wed to undertake to persuade the Elector not to con-
tinue his reclamations against the stey of the Prue ,ian
tro: ps in his states, and to suggest that by an express
request uderessed to the Prussian Government he should
afford that Government an opportunity of taking part—
without any violation of the law—in the measures in-
tended to prcitv the country.
" As for 1.6,1,tein it was the eccisions adopted at
Frankfort, iu the name of the CoEfetlerttion, in which
Russia undertook to co-operate. It is a great satisfac-
tion to us that the execution so warmly desired by all
the Powers who signed the treatry concluded with Dee-
meek, is one of the first objects for the accomplishment
of which the members of the Germanic Confederation
air united."
Nt
- SWITZERLAND.
I iperot still continues between the two
\ Chtm r 04i:the subject of the military capitulations.
...,
irbf State refuse to adhere to the reso-
ems
tel
eacational Council, which maintains the
•
tee of the 20th June, 1849, prohibiting
,x 4
c-' illations. The National Conneil, in its ,
cT me, v