The Times states that "a conference of the Plenipotentiaries of
the five Great Powers was held at the Foreign Office on the 24th May, at which Lord Malmesbury, on behalf of her Majesty's Government, and the Prus- sian Envoy at this Court, invited the representatives of Austria, France, and Russia to take into consideration the peculiar situation of the Prin- cipality and Canton of Neufchatel." At this conference, the Prussian Envoy was instructed to declare that the existence of a solemn recogni- tion, by the Powers assembled, of the rights of his Sovereign, would "serve as the basis of negotiation with the Helvetic Confederation," and "dispense the King of Prussia from asserting his rights by other means" ; and also "that this agreement was not intended to pledge the other Powers to any active interference, but merely to give the sanction of Eu- rope to the subsequent negotiation." "On these grounds, the four other Powers unanimously recognized the rights of the Prussian Crown to the Principality, and expressed their readi- ness to agree upon the means best adapted to induce the Swiss Confederation to defer to the international engagements by virtue of whioh Neufchatel was made, under the guarantee of Europe, a Canton of Switzerland. By a fur- ther document, the King of Prussia spontaneously pledged himself to resort to no other mecum for the assertion of his rights during the course of this negotiation."
A letter from Fribourg, of the 1st instant, in the Basle Gazette, reports that "the 400 men of the militia1 now at Fribourg, have given their adhe- sion to the programme of Posreux. The prolonged resistance of the Government augments the irritation of the public mind, and if the pre- sent tension is not relieved, an insurrectionary movement may burst out."
•••■•■•••■•■•.•
The Washington steam-ship, which left New York on the 22d of May, for Bremen, called at Cowes at two o'clock this morning. The one fact in the adviees of any interest is, that Lord and Lady Whameliffe had arrived at Washington.
Previous page
