The Express.
London, England, 1863-06-06 00:00:00

THE CRISIS IN PRUSSIA.

(TROY ova OWN coamssrowomr.)
FRANKFORT, Juxx.3:

The Prussian King made yesterday coup d Rat
No. 1 ; there is no doubt that others will follow.
A draconic edict has been issued against the press,
the liberty of which is guaranteed by the consti-
tution and confirmed by acts of the legislature
that are now set at nought. The decree of the
Kiag gives power to the authorities to suspend
temporarily or permanently any newspaper which
may appear obnoxious to them. Any paper may
be suppressed if according to the views of the men
I in authority it does not show respect and loyalty
for the King ; if it endangers the public peace or
the institutions of the State ; if it speaks dis-
paragingly of the authorities or their acts. Two
" warnings" are to precede suspension. The deci-
sion rests with the officials ; the law courts have
nothing to do with it. It is not necessary that a
particular article should appear dangerous, but if
the general tendency and tone be opposed or ob-
noxious to government views, that is quite suffi-
cient. Foreign papers can be prohibited at any
moment by the authorities. The penalty for trans-
gressors is arbitrarily fixed at from 10 to 100 thalers
tine, and from oue week to one year imprisonment.
The motives, as given by the declaration of
ministers, are exactly the same as those of Polignac
in 1830. The excitement of the people is the work
of the press ; the intervention of the courts of
justice is powerless, as the articles are so worded
that they give no legal hold. If the Prussians show
henceforth no greater pluck than hitherto, their
liberties are lost. There are now two ways open
to them. As the King has violated the law
and the constitution they can refuse to pay taxes,
if they have the same energy as the Hessians
had, or bring their complaint before the
German Diet, just as Holstein and Hesse did for
a breach of the law aud the constitution. Of
course, it is very unlikely that this would prove a
remedy, but the Prussian ambassador at the Diet,
after having sat iu judgment against Denmark aud
the Elector of Hesse, would make a very miserable
figure if remonstrated with by the Austrian am-
bassador, or, at all events, by the envoys of those
governments who are true to their constitutions. As
the King cannot stop halfway, oppression will
very probably at no distant time reach such a
point, that, as in Poland, it will call for the inter-
ference of the great European powers. That the
King of the Junker party will listen to the advice
of foreign powers even as far as Russia does is out
of the question ; but, if spoken to in good earnest, the
cowardice and want of au y real power of that party will
appear at once : there is no danger that the Prus-
sian people will tight for the Junkers. The crisis
is most beneficial, as it will prove what the great
historian Schlosser has ever held that the
Prussian monarchy is a military government,
without nationality. The whole existence of the
state is an unnatural one ; created by violence and
fraud, it must sooner or later come to its end in
the same way. Prussia is a gross falsehood. There
are Germans unhappy enough to be under the
sceptre of a reigning family which has hitherto
only produced open or hypocritical tyrants. Un-
fortunately, the present King is totally illiterate.
He never reads a book and does not look into a
newspaper, so that public opinion does not exist for
him; and, surrounded by his Junkers and generals,
he bears nothing but what they tell him, and is
totally ignorant of the first elementary principles
of government.

Fosannt-omes, Joss 6.—The Queen has been I
to approve of Mr. Alfred Fox as Consul at Falmouth
pleasedlte United Stake of America.—Gazette.
METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORK:.—Yesterday the
weekly meeting of the board was held io the board-
room. Spring-prdens ; Mr. John There're* in the chair.
Mr. Baralgette, the chief engineer, presented a voluminous
report ou the increased value of material and labour used
in the main drainage works since the year 1856 to 1859, prr
petrel pursuant to an order of the board on the 22nd of May,
1863, showing why the expenditure bail exceeded the ori-
ginal estimates. the report was received and ordered to
be entered on the minutes. A letter wu read from Captain
Borstal, secretary to the Thames Conservancy Commis-
sioners, in rearm to the plans, he., submitted to thorn
for the embankment of the Thames on the north side of the
Thames. This communication was ordered to be entered on
the minutes, and, some routine bunnies having been &s-
-pread of, the board adjourned.
DR. Di JONOti'll LIGHT-BROWN COD LITER On.
—Experiments made upon a most extensive scale ham McGuire.
Tenthly demonstrated that this oil la superior to all other re-
medies for the can of cutaneous eruptions. The eminent
British physiologist, Dr. Marshall Hall after observing Ha effects
In the continental practice, declared that the oil WY undoubt-
edly the safest and most certain means of motoring the healthy
action of the skin. Sold only in consoled bottles, IL Ott., a PL,
sod Its,, b Dr. do Jonah's agents, Amer, liartord. and Co.,
in, !Wand, Leaden, and chessilite.—tAdVertleemetiLl