New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-03-31
GERMANY.
The Federal Question.


The Berlin papers contain some fresh re'@ea-
tons on the past and present state Of the German
question. Although there are 40 sdyices from
Dresden yet If these statements are 70 be credit
ed, the new Penary sitting, which Prince ochwar'
zenberg's menaciDg note stated vas TO be held at
Dresden on the sth inst, has not 10 'act taken
place This assertion, which the Berlin papers
prefer with certain degree Of spite, is supported
by the fact that, on the sth inst, Count AlveRse-
ben. the Prussan agent for the Dresden Confer
ences. was still at Berlin, which city. according
TO the statements Of the Ministerial Lnkograptir'e
Correspondents, he was not to leave before the
10th instant. Nor is il certain when the reAt
Plenary sitting will take place, as 1t appears
from the assertions OF almost all journals,
Ministerial and anti-Ministerisl that return
20 the institutions of the old Frankfort Diet
ia earnestly desired by one-half agents at
Dresden, and sullenly accepted by the 9th
er. The KOlHer ZeifuHg, indeed, has the de-
tails Of some new propositions which the states
men of Berlin are asserted 10 have made to AUG
tria. Prussia, it seems has shifted her ground,
and. instead OF an alternate assumption OF the
Presidential dignity, she now proposes that ber-
lin and Vienna shall 60 shares In the Presidency
that Austria indeed, shall have an honorary
Presidency, bat that the discharge OF the current
business of the Confederation shall devolve upon
two Presidents, to be appointed by the two great
powers Of Germany, and acting according TO
their Instructions Prussia proposes further, thst
the Minor Cour~l shall consist OF II votes, to be
distributed in /. form and manner following, viz;
Three votes 10 belong 10 Austria and three TO Prus
sia two to Bavaria, one to each of the three other
kingdoms and one TO Baden. The Electorate
and the Grand Duchy Of Hesse are to go shares
in one vote and the 18th vote ia 20 be split among
the rest Of the minor States. This plan is con-
sidered commendable on more than one account
1t meets the late energetic protests OF Baden,
which insists on having vote 70 ltself, and 1t 10
said to improve the condition Of Prussia and her
footing in the Confederation. Such, at least, is
the opinion of the Berlin diplomatists. Prince
Schwarzenberg it il stated, has met this propo
sal with his usual reply. He IVES promised 70
refer it to the allies OF Austria, and these allies,
it would seem, have thought it inadmissabe, Toe
the well.infoFmed Frankfort correspondent OF the
K0lRer Zeitung protests that In the diplomatic
circles at Frankfort the Dresden Conferences are
considered as terminated, while it is considered
that their apparent prolongation lE to serve tho
purpose Of yelling the catastrophe.
Fire nt Berlin.
The following account Of the burning of the
upper legislative chamber, at Berlin, which took
place on March 10, appears in the Times: Der
lin has been again visited by destructive tre'
At 7 o'clock this evening the building containing
the hall Of meeting Of the upper legislative cham
Der took FIRE, and at this moment the fames are
raging furioualy, with the little prospect OF ar
resting them. The hall was a temporary build
ing erected in ls49, in the gardens OF range OF
houses fronting to the Franzossiche Strasse. 1t
was a light structure, with galleries arranged
precisely in the same manner as he second
chamber, but smaller The cause OF the fire 10
not yet known. There had been no public sitting
held to-day. The vicinity was in short time
crowded with people the fire had attained con-
siderable strength before the engines began to
arrive. The approaches were guarded by police
.lel-s. kagfa nj
the garrison. The flames have spread to the
house adjoining, and the fremen are hard at work
endeavoring to confne their ravages IA much as
possible. The conhagration is not more than two
hundred yards from the Gendarmen Market, and
the Royal Theater with its portico and fight OF
steps, and the two church towers that stand on
either side of the theater can be distinctly seen at
every rise and fall of the mass Of flame. The up
per house was in the center Of the best quarter Of
the capital and is almost surrounded by its finest
buildings the Theater, the Operahouse, the LII.
brary, the Prince OF Prussias palace, that of the
Princess Of Liegntz, and the University, are all
within a small radius of the burning premises, bet
no danger is at present apprehended for any OF
them. The crowd is immense and the people, 30
far from exhibiting any regret at the calamity are
evidently delighted at it, and making the fire the
subject Of that keen and rather i'll natured wit Tor
which the Berlin populace is celebrated. The
chambers are connected in the public mind with
taxes and the police, and all the unpopular parts
of the machinery Of the government. II the con-
stitution itself was burning along with the cham.
Der, do not think there are ten men In the crowd
who would hand bucket to save it,"
BERLIN, March lin consequence of the
building in which the first chamber held its Sit
tngs having been completely destroyed by FIRE
last night, the house has been adjourned until
some other appropriate place can be made ready
for the reception of members. Nothing remains
standing Of the edi6ce bat the bare walls. A
portion Of the archives deposited in the strongly
vaulted cellars have, it appears, been rescued.
The cause of the conAagration is attributed to the
bursting Of one of the stove tubes in the lower
portion of the edihce, which was Government
property.