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• ¦ ' .- .. ¦ . ¦ . June 2, 1860.J The L...
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Hanovek, May 29th, 1860. The great event...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Foreign Correspondence. (Special.) Piace...
this last greeting of farewell ; and while the train remains m sight , I can see the king bowing kindly to the crowd on either side . Even while I write the pomp and pageantry of the Iloyal progress is at end , and the stern work of war has begun again in Sicily may the pageant be an omen of the future ! - Never , I think , in the world ' s history was the promised land entered with more of promise .
• ¦ ' .- .. ¦ . ¦ . June 2, 1860.J The L...
• ¦ ' .- .. ¦ . ¦ . June 2 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 527
Hanovek, May 29th, 1860. The Great Event...
Hanovek , May 29 th , 1860 . The great event of the week has been the prorogation of the Prussian Parliament by the Prince Regent in person , on which occasion his Highness read the following address : — " The debates of this session are now terminated . With regard to the questions which occupy the attention of the Cabinets of Europe , my Government is employing its most earnest efforts to effect such a solution as the balance of power demands . The principles which guide my Government in its relations with the Germanic Confederation , and in the important affairs submitted to the Federal Diet , have been declared to you during the course of the present session . My Government will adhere faithfully to those principles , and will continue to view in the acknowledged rights of others the safeguard of its own right . In spite of the differences of opinion
which exist relative to weighty questions , the sentiments of all the Governments , and of all the people of Germany , are in accord with mine and the Prussian nation ; those sentiments which I give utterance to with the hig hest satisfaction are to maintain . an'Unwavering loyalty to our common country , and the firm conviction that the independence of the nation and the integrity of its territory are considerations before which all internal dissensions sink into insignificance . Several laws relating to agriculture , commerce , and handicrafts have obtained your constitutionaL approval . These laws will produce results beneficial to the nation . The transfer of landed property has in some respects been facilitated , the postal duties have been reduced in favour of trade , mining operations have been freed from all restrictions not absolutely required in public interest . _ __ _ _ ¦ .
.. ,... " The construction of the Rhine-Nahe Railway and the bridge _ at Cobleniz have been assured by your votes . You have likewise approved of several financial measures . The essential points in the laws relating to maiTiage settlements in the province of Westphalia have also been adopted . The two Chambers have approved the law prescribing the electoral circles for the Chamber of Representatives ; the constitutional liberty of the press has been guaranteed afresh- by the law of the 21 st April ; thebill relatin" - to ~ the organization of the provincial circles
not having- been framed in . time , this important measure will be presented next session . The reform so urgently demanded of the marriage laws has again been deferred , and thereby _ the ardent wish which I expressed at the commencement of the session has not been fulfilled . 1 still entertain the hope that the views upon this important subject will undergo a change , and that the conviction of the necessity of this reform will lead to its adoption next session . The bills upon the regulation of the land-tax , and the introduction of a general house tax , have unfortnriately not obtained the
constitutional approval of the two Chambers . My Government will steadfastly keep in view the object sought to be attained by the four bills in question , and next session measures to this end will again be laid before you . After a careful examination of the budget for 1860 , ' you have placed at the disposal of my Government the means necessary for the public service . To my profound regret , the resolution adopted with regard to the law upon general military service has prevented the passing of the most important of all the measures brought forward . The wide range of this question , the difficulty of arriving at an unprejudiced appreciation of it , have procrastinated
the debates upon it to a degree which , considering the state ot affairs in general , might not have been without danger , had you not granted my Government the means of augmenting the forces of the country . I thank you for the unanimity with which you have voted this supply . It affords me a guarantee that the necessity of a reform of the army will in time be duly appreciated , and that this question , for the present deferred , will at length obtain that solution demanded by the common weal . Although it may be indispensable to retain the additional taxes which have been imposed , I am glad to be enabled to state that the disbursements which these additional
taxes were intended to cover , will be met by the surplus of the income of 1859 . Much as the results of this legislative period leave to bo desired , I nevertheless perceive that I may rely upon the patriotic spirit of the nation , and upon the confidence which exists between Sovereign and people . Upheld by this unanimous confidence , by the loyalty of the people , by the increase of the army , Prussia may , with the blessing of God , calmly wait for the coming events . *' With this prorogation an epoch in . the parliamentary government of Prussiais completed ; for though thia session . may be termed a rery barren one as far as the internal improvement ot Prussia itself to
is concerned , it has been an example , and great encouragement the liberals , or Constitutionalists , of the rest of Germany . It has proved that nothing ' is wanting in the people themselves to prevent the fullest success to representative , or self-government , as opposed to despotic , or police government . The poor results to Prussia itself from the session just closed were entirely attributable to the obstructive opposition of the Upper Chamber , or the represent * atives of the feudal proprietors . The feudalists have resolutely opposed t > oth prince and people in every measure that tended in nny way towards iTbornl progress . Tho Prince has taken their audacious
obstructiveness with so good a grace , apparently , that doubts are excited as to the sincerity of his liberal views , while the people have endured the opposition for fear of endangering the stability of their newly acquired and very fragile parliamentary institutions . Whether the Regent is playing a part or . not , the conduct of the liberal party , I think , will meet the approbation of all lovers of civil liberty in and ont of Germany . They have found , at last , a place where the voice of all Germany can find utterance and make itself heard , and they are resolved to keep it in spite of all princes and feudalists . The fear of France , and the consequences of internal dissension at this
juncture , have tied the tongues of the liberals this session , but should Europe be relieved by next session from the pressure exercised by Louis Napoleon , the feudalists of Prussia will hardly dare to present so bold a front . Although the Regent has shown himself very passive—which , by the way , may be owing to his not being King—and the Chambers have done nothing actively to further the popular desires , yet the great general questions of German Unity , Schleswig-Holstein , Federal Reform , and the Hessian Constitution , have found clever and ardent elucidators and promoters during the session , and the Prussian Parliament has thereby established itself
as the Parliament of all Germany . The journals have been much occupied during" the week upon the subject of a letter said to have been written by the Prince Regent to Prince Albert , the contents of which have come to the knowledge of the French Government , through the indiscretion of parties in London . The JDmseldorfer Journal gives the following account of the matter , derived , as it declares , from a source deserving the most implicit faith : — " Towards the latter part of last month , the French Ambassador at Berlin , Prince De la Tocit d'Auvergne , called upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs , M . von Schleinitz , and after some diplomatic common-places , spoke of the -high value which the Emperor Napoleon set upon the friendship of Prussia . Merely to prevent'any ' change in these sentinreuts , he requested
M . von Schleinitz to afford him some information with regard to the authenticity of a letter , a copy of which he held in his hand . This was a letter asserted to have been written by the Prince Regent of Prussia , to Prince Albert . It was chiefly upon family affairs , but contained also some remarks upoti the politics of the day , with certain comments upon the conduct , & c . of the Emperor Napoleon III . Ji . von Schleinitz said , in answer , lie could impart no informatioiTwhateyer on the subject , because he was not admitted into the family confidences _ of those royal person ages . De la Tour rejoined that , nevertheless he was obliged to insist iipon an explanation . His Emperor was sincerely attached to Prussia , and-had believed that the feeling was reciprocated by the Regent ; but in this letter
the assurances of Prussia and the sentiments expressed were totally at variance . To this , M . yon Schleinitz replied , that he was the Minister of a . Constitutional State , in which Ministers were responsible for all political transactions , and all correspondence with foreign Governments , and if information were sought upon any such official transaction or letter , he would not hesitate to afford it , unless forbidden by State reasons . It was , however , very different with the private correspondence of the Prince Regent ; the . Minister of a Constitutional State did not possess the power off controlling the private communications made by the Prince to Ins " rdyaTt ^ laTiVeis ^ asre ^ official character or value . The French Ambassador quickly rejoined ,
that the reasons advanced for non-compliance with Ins request were rather of a formal nature , and could not be put in the balance ngamst the friendship of France . As the contents of the letter were so diametrically opposed to official assurances , it would be an easy matter for M . von Schleinitz to prove that the letter was ^ a forgery . M . von Schleinitz responded that the gist ot the matter was , not whether the letter was a forgery or a fact—upon this he could offer no opinion , because , as ho had already stated , lie was not in the family confidences of his Royal Highness—but whether he , as minister , possessed the power to examine the letters which the Prince interchanged with his royal relatives ; he was very certain he had no such power , and , could only , therefore , decidedly refuse to take any stops in the matter . For the rest , Prussia highly valued a good understanding with France , undhad , indeed , acted in no way to induce the Umpekor to doubt the sincerity of tho sentiments expressed by the Governnient rhe
_ French Ambassador hereupon said , that as M . von Schleinitz so positively declined giving him tho information desired , ho had no other resource but to demand instructions from the Cabinet of the Tuileries . The subject has since been continued , and 1 nnoe de la Tour d'Auvehgne has hinted that if M . von Schleinitz persists in his refusal there yet remains a way open to remove all doubts , to wit , a personal greeting between His Royal Highness and the Emperor Napoleon . Doubts have been east upon this account , but it has not been officially contradicted . Indeed it would be surprising if a Prussian journal wore to venture upon publishing a Mse account of this nature . The Prussian press ib nO T 2 eCabmet e ofViennahas atlength been brought to make a great concession to the Hungarian Protestants . By an Imperial note , 7 Jl » A Mnv iSfch . tho Imperial patent of September 1 st , a translation
of which appeared at tlie time in your co [ umnfl , h * s been ¦ vjrtwjg annulled , mid a general pardon has bfecn granted to all persons charged with resistance to the Patent ., Tho Auatrmn journals ^ are pemitted to state that a second Imperil , note * 11 shortly appear Sy which the Hungarian language will be re-. ntro , need ^ s the medium of instruction at the University ot Pesth , andfi *•>«'• } *» ath rd note may bo expected , by which the llnnjfnrmn diet wi be ? un moned to moot . Tlio motives of this great concern and these
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1860, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02061860/page/19/
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