The Express.
London, England, 1862-10-23 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BR! DOR.

Tate DAY Morning, lb. 30en.....Afternoon. 10. bOnt.
To4IIOUOIII-.4l4talni, to. 10a..... Afternoon. 2b. 30m,

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23.

WHEN the old King of PHUSSIA heard of the
fall and expulsion of CHARLES X. by the French,
he said, " I would not have given them a consti-
" tution ; but if I had given one, I would have
" observed it." It had been well for the present
KIN.. if he had understood as well as his father
did the radical incompatibility of the constitutional
system with personal government. FREDERICK
WILLIAM 111. knew that a King must either be
above the law or under the law. For himself he
preferred to retain all the prerogatives he had
inherited from his ancestors, and steadfastly refused
to grant a constitution. His son, the present
KING, on assuming royal power found a different
state of things established, and voluntarily and
often declared his determination to abide faith-
fully by the constitution which his brother, FRE-
DERICK \Yuman IV., had proclaimed. His present
conduct, as shown by the reports which are daily
transmitted from Berlin, make it almost a duty
of charity to suppose that his intelligence is below
the average of his subjects, and that he did not
know the meaning of his promises. He tells the
fanatical admirers of the old absolute system who
come forward to address him at this juncture, that
he never thought the crisis would become so
serious ; that he had placed his firm hope in the
confidence of his people ; that he has been disap-
pointed ; but that it is his invincible determination
to preserve unimpaired the rights of the Crown
transmitted to him by his ancestors. The only
objection to this language is, that it is that of the
old arbitrary monarchy. The seriousness of the
crisis arises from the attempt of the KING to re-
concile obsolete pretensions with the new system.
In his eyes the foundation of the Govern-
ment is still the sovereignty of the Kmo ;
his family origin is his sole title to reign, and he
is responsible only to GOD and his conscience.
There have been ages when a government of this
character might be useful, just, and even popular :
but they are over. There is no reason what-
ever, beyond the incredible folly of the KING,
why the transition which has been made in
every other European country should not have
been effected in Prussia with the greatest ease and
safety. The Parliament has produced no SIEYEB,
no MIRABEAU : it was ready to grant all that a
constitutional ruler could ask. But when the
KING, taking a great national interest into his
own hands, requires that the people shall " have
" confidence in him," he quite misunderstands
the first principles of representative government.
A constitutional KING who, protected by the re-
sponsibility of his Ministers, cau do no wrong,
takes his advisers from the parliamentary majority.
When his Ministers are defeated he sends for the
leaders of the successful opposition, and frankly
places himself in their hands. For the KING to
ask for confidence, is for him to assume again the
heavy responsibility which attends the exercise of
power, and of which the constitution should re-
lieve him.

The old absolutist ideas come out in strong
relief in the KING'S address to the deputation from
Naugard. He complains that he has been inter-
fered with and embarrassed in the reform of the
army, " a task which wholly belongs to him." He
says that he began it with a view to the prosperity
and protection of the country. But even the
country is not to be preserved and protected
like an estate. The KING cannot have
a greater interest in Prussia than the
people have. If there is any subject on which
the opinion of the country ought to be consulted
more than any other, it is this one of national self-
defence. Some Englishwriters, inclined on the whole
to approve of the stand which the Chamber of De-
puties has made in 3efence of the Constitution,
are expressing a fear that the deputies have made
a mistake in selecting the war estimates as the
ground of their opposition. We are unable to
perceive this. We see no reason to doubt that
the Chamber would have been ready to co-operate
with the Ministers for the necessary reforms in
the army as soon as ever they showed signs of a
willingness to accept ita aid. But under WlLLisar I.
the administration of the army is a department
reserved by the KING for himself to the exclusion
of the Parliament, just as foreign affairs were re-
served by his brother. The KING'S deprecatory
references to a popular army which would be
" the support of the Parliament," show what are
the fancies which have taken possession of his mind.
The same dominating prepossession reveals itself
in his allusion to taxation. After admitting that he
bad called on the nation for sacrifices for the pur-
pose of canying out his schemes, he says " But
" where the demands seemed too heavy, I was
" ready to lighten them. I consented to forego the
" proposed additions to taxes. But was I thanked
" for that ? No ; I was not thanked : this caused
"me much pain." The notion which underlies
this odd complaint is that he has given up some-
thing for which he has got no suitable return.
What has he given up 1 Money No ; for he is
not a contributory. Power No ; for the Cham-
ber is the legal taxing power. It cannot even be