The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-14 00:00:00

THE GERMAN QUESTION.

THE PRUSSIAN REPLY TO THE AUSTRIAN
NOTE.
In the Expreu of Monday and Tuesday we
published a translation of the clespitch sent by the
Austrian cabinet to Herr von Prokeech, its ambas-
sador at Berlin, which contained a protest against the
principles laid down by Herr von Bodeltchwingh re-
srcting the Germ= eonfederation and its dissolution.
This despatch was 'forwarded to the Prussian Mi-
nister of Foreign Affairs. The following is his reply
to it, sent through the medium of the Prussian envoy

at 'Vienna :
Basun, Nov. 21.—The imperial ambusader to the court
of Berlin has read to me a despatch from kis government,
together with a draft of an eventual protest against the creation
of &closer confederation, and spirit the convocation of a par-
liament from the German states which have joined the alli-
ance of the 20th May.
According to the contents of this despatch, the president of
the imperial ministry still doubts whether it is the decided
intention ot the Pre mien government to proceed with the
execution of the measures in question. We have
never sought to conceal our intention so to do, and
it cannot have escaped the imperial cabinet, that
the government of his Majesty the Slog of
Prussia has bound itself by solemn declarations, both
in reference to Prussia and to the other allied govern-
ments, in such a that any retrogression would appear
to us a breach of faith such as no government should be
guilty of. But the government of Prussia hat not changed
its own conviction that the course it has entered ups is de-
manded by the urgent necessities and requirements of the
present condition of affairs.
It cannot Omelets surprise the president of the Austrian
cabinet that the " Vernalbunprath," in its 60th sitting on
the 17th of the present month (November), should have
arrived at the drfinitiee decision on the proposition of the
Prussian plenipotentiary, that the elections for the assembly
to be convened at Erfurt, shall take place on the 31st Ja-
nuary of the ensuing year, leaving the period at which the
essembly shall be convoked to the decision of future
deliberations.
Viewing the state of the eau in this light, the president
of the Austrian cabinet must see the importance and serious
ness of the step which he holds in prospect. We cannot
overlook it either ; and, I therefore, mnsider it to be still
more my duty to reply in clear and intelligible terms,
in order that no further doubts can remain respecting
the intentions of his government in the present state
of again. Misunderstanding and confusion can stone be
avoided and a perfect concordance established and main-
tained by clear and open language, dealing with the thing
itself apart from all secondary considerations. The latter
desideratum will undoubtedly be obtained when the imperial
cabinet shall no longer be deceived concerning the demands
which duty and honour, u well as our own conviction of the
absolute necessity of the case, make upon us.
If Austria means to enter a protest against any infraction
of the duties to the German Confederation of 1815 by the
union of the parliament with the allied governments, we
cannot and will not object to its doing so. We concede to
Austria the perfect justice of such a demand, and for our
part shall reply to it, that we shall endeavour to so regulate
the constitution of the close confederation that it can never
be in contradiction with &reorganisation of the federal con-
stitution. We believe also that by such a protest Austria
will fully satisfy its own necessities, and that the interest of
the other German states which have not joined the federal
state can make no further demand of that kind.
But should Austria, as the draught of the protest leads us
to expect, intend to enter a protest against the creation of a
closer confederation and against a 3 convocation of a par-
liament from the allied states, we must at once and de-
cideffiy decline to receive it, supported by an authority
which we cannot abandon.
We find this authority more immediately in the law of
the former confederation, which law, if it were admitted to
be still existing in its integrity, would permit the creation of
a closer confederation. Not only does Art. XI. commit this
authority to every alliance which is sot opposed to I
the safety of the confederation itself, but Art. VI of the Final,
Vienna Convention shows still more pointedly that a Rational
union of several of the German governments for political I
purposes is not opposed to the federal constitution, nor dose I
it require the assent of all the members of the confederation.
The latter article expressly determines that even the sou-
reign tights of a federal state may be ceded to a member of
the confederation without the consent of the whole, and'
that only the rights and duties feel ingiug to it, particularly
the number of votes in the Federal Diet (Article 1G) can-
not be changed without the consent of all the members. The
latter is the position that we have always maintained. Oar
own rights and duties and thote ot oar a'lies to the confede-
ration remain untouched by the intended union ; but the
continuance of these rights sad duties can just as little
hinder the union itself. If a German state—if Prussia
itself has acquired by inheritance or by voluntary
cession the territories of another of the states united
by the treaty of the 2Gth of May, the relations
ot the confederation are in no manner endangered, and no
one can have acquired a right to interfere. What is true
with regard to the greater must be true also with regard to
the lesser. And the principle laid down by that article re-
specting the mare complete incorporation of several sove-
reign territories, must have the same relation to a union of
the twenty-eight members of the couft.deration for (Arabia
political purposes.
If this union was perfectly admissible under the laws of
the former confederation, it must be so in a greater degree
now that the laws of the confederation itself are about to un-
dergo a thorough revision. The imperial cabinet cannot
' deny that the German federal constitution is undergoing
I such a transition, if indeed the institution of the Interim did
not sufficiently prove it.
The President of the Imperial Ministry has expressed
objections against the views of the Prussian government, fa
consequence of the explanation made in the " Verwaltusg.
rath" by our plenipotentiary. These objections are oar
caned in the despatch communicated to us on the
12th of November by Herr von Prokeach, the Au-
trim ambassador at this court. We might simply reply
to them that the only matter in question ts the meaning of
the constitution, the settlement of which would justify the
explanation referred to ; and that we must protest modest
any explanation which would connect the dissolution of
the cooled ratim itself with the alteration, or even the ab•
rogation, of the constitution and its orgars. But here, too,
we only wish to deal with the spirit of the matter,
whatever it may be called; and we do not hesi-
tate therefore plainly to declare, that we consider
the confederation of 1815 to be still in existence.
so far as its objects, its members, ard their respective rights
sad duties, are concerned ; but that we cannot acknowledge
the national federal law or its original contents to be still
valid. The resolutions of the Federal Assembly from March
2 to July 12, 1848, have not only invalidated individual
portions of the federal legislation, but have even destroyed
the constitution of the confederation itself, at least in the
general organism of its most important coaditions. The
conditions of the federal laws which refer to
the existence and activity of a federal assembly
are necessarily, therefore, annihilated. Another source of
legal changes has arisen from those decisions of the National
Assembly which were adopted "rite,' and were either
silently or expressly acknowledged by the governments of
Germany. The latter cannot avoid the consequences of this
acknowledgement if they will not call in question the
stability and the continuance of the confederation itself
(to which we give the same importance so the imperial go-
vernment), and unless they characterise the present condition
of affairs as pertectly illegal. If then we wish to retain the
essence of the confederation, we must not deny the fact that
changes have been made in its organism, in consequence of
which many of the laws of the confederation have been in-
validated, and which, therefore, require rearranging and re •
organising. Austria has also acknowledged this necessity
upon more than one occasion, and has based its own conduct
upon those facts.
In this latter respect, we must not omit to mention one
feet, which until now it dues not seem to have been news-
earl to recur le in the correspondence between the two
everts.
The constitution awarded to the whole Austrian monarchy
on the 4th March, 1849, nowhere contains any such reserva-
tions or conditions, which secure the fulfilment of those
duties which are required from the Austrian federal terri-
tories, in their relations to the German confederation.
It is more than doubtful whether the operation of the dui-
pion of the Diet consequent upon articles 10 and 31 of the
Final Vienna Convention cm be made to harmonies with
the provisions of the Austrian constitution.
We refrained from exixessing these doubts immediately
upon the publication of that constitution, because we would
not increase the difficulties of a friendly government in so
ews
en many
firmly
rl
md otherslyreallyconvinced
carryha e
critical a moment ; we have also refrained until
e
now from touching upon this important question,
40nottitouanttet,t,this
becausehcovei
constier
tution,
heft
isothn ehaveAustrian
federal
tdoubted,ebnlicbecause
r n
gaw •
legislation,s
in consequence of
the changes that have been made, was quite unavoidable,
and that then this, as well as other matters, would be dis-
armed and settled. For the imperial cabinet cannot have con-
cealed from itself that the question of the double relation of the
Austrian federal territories to the early constituted mo-
narchy and the old confederation must, some day or other,
be inquired into and settled ; and for this very reason we be-
lieve we may confidently anticipate that Austria will itself
introduce the question on the occasion of the revision of the
federal constitution.
We have not wished to forestall the national right of
Austria to take the initiative in the explanation
edondbfory
respecting the relations of its own federal territories, and it
°lformerwith otheoer nf
stake;enti an
is sot our intention now to anticipate the reorganisation of
ththeisaliveirany rete we
reason"w enteredevehave
intocon-
fined ourselves to the reservation of the rights and duties
arising out of the confederatien of 1815, and for the very
same reason we could receive without hesitation a corre-
sponding reservative protest on the part of Austria; and we
must believe that the rights and interests of Austria would
be fully satisfied by our doing so.
Should the imperial cabinet, nevertheless, still consider
that the constitution of the narrower confederation, could
on any point practically prejudice the re-organisatioa of the
former confederation, and therefore consider it necessary to