The Express.
London, England, 1862-10-24 00:00:00

[Stamped, Id. Additional.]

presents itself—how much of this is real ; how
much make-believe l

When Garibaldi heard of the change of ministry
reported to have taken place in Paris, he said,
" Who cares for the valet in livery ? Tell me of a
change of the master and I will be grateful to
you." Perhaps • great many Italians are coming
to the same creed. There is certainly • growing
coldness towards France, even amongst those once
known as partisans of the French alliance. But
between thin moderate sentiment of distrust and
the rabid hate Garibaldi feels for the Emperor,
there is a whole ocean of opinion.
To-day Garibaldi is not so well : he has passed
an unquiet night, most probably caused by •
very feverish day, in which he received some thirty
odd visitors. Nor would it be easy to determine
whether he was more fatigued by the impetuous
talk of his political friends, or the wearisome
commonplaces of those obtrusive strangers who
come to him with tracts, and carry away autographs.
The cares of greatness have been sung since the
days of Homer, but there are plagues which are
reserved for men of celebrity that the blind old
bard never so much as dreamed of. The sympathy
of tiresome people is perhaps worse than most ill-
nesses ; and any one who has seen the spectacled
and black-petticoated procession that wends its
weary way up the hill of the Varignano will
readily own that there are worse things about a
smashed uncle than the pain and the imprisonment.
What a blaming to him it is that he has never
been • talker, and that he has a courtesy of look
and smile and gesture, almost regal in its high-bred
condescension ! From what a world of platitudes
has this saved him ; not to mention the scores of
"mornings with Garibaldi," "Hours with the
Liberator," "My last visit to Varignano," and fifty
such other selling titles made up from the writer's
brain and his small volume of "Italian conversa-
tion."

Be assured if Garibaldi has been the object of
many kind attentions, he has been the mark of
much "boredom," and with a profound belief in
his patience I would still say that he had rather
risk the shot of a Bersagliero than lie down there
to be stared at, and wondered at, and flattered to his
face by scores of the very dreariest people in Chris-
tendom.

GERMANY.

(nom out ows

FRANKFORT, Ocr. 21.

Varnhagen tells us that it was a favourite pas-
time of the present Kul of Prussia's father playing
with leaden figures of soldiers, which he arranged
in rank and file, and ordered charges and retreats ;
and there were even some figures amongst them of
which he was particularly fond. It appears that
his son Las inherited this predilection in a more
plausible, though not in a more rational form. The
present King of Prussia is certainly not a despot
by inclination, nor a prince who does not fear to
trample the right under his foot ; but he belongs to
that antiquated school of statesmen who think
soldiers to be everything in the State, so that
the revenue could not be spent to any better pui-
pose than to keep as many soldiers, officers, and
other people in military dress as poasible ; he ap-
pears to be deeply impressed with the notion that
a country does only weigh in the council of nations
according to the number of soldiers it can send into
the field. This might be the case with regard to
France, where the means exist to keep up an
army of half-a-million of men, and where the
great majority of the people are unfor-
tunately always ready to sacrifice every-
thing to their wrong notions of glory and
military superiority ; but it is a great fal-
lacy with regard to Prussia. The income of
that country, though the taxes are heavy enough,
does not allow the maintenance of an army strong
enough for a single-handed contest with France,
and the people are not inclined to sacrifice their
wealth in aggressive wars. The security of Prussia
against foreign aggression lies in the patriotism of
her people and in the most intimate alliance with
the rest of Germany. The united forces of the
whole of Germany are more than sufficient to crush
any force France ever put into the field, as, besides
overwhelming armies, numberless volunteers would
fly to the standards to repel a French invasion.
This country, which, after twenty years' war,
sent more than a million of men into France in
1815, will now, after fifty years' peace, and with a
population of 52,000,000, not require the assistance
of 60,000 more drilled men to keep its own ; the
gasconades of the French papers, that they could
under any circumstances, as long as the Germans
cling together, put their hands on German terri-
tories, are merely ridiculous, and the fantastical
dreams of ignorant men who know nothing about
foreign countries. But the King of Prussia does
everything in his power to lose the sympathies of
the German people, which are in case of emergency
of much wore importance to Lim than the increase
of his own army, about which be Las begun the
miserable squabble which he can find now no way
out of. I told you in my last letter that before
the end of this year there would be no visible re-
sult, and it is insanity to think that rebellion, or
a row, was to be expected. Passive resist-
ance, which answered so well in Hesse, will be
quite sufficient to bring the ferocious advisers who
are now at the helm in Prussia to their senses.
They are now exulting, but their language alone is
sufficient to unite all sensible men against them.
The Kreuz Zeihng taunts the opposition ; but it
has no other arguments than brute force. It says
—" When the dinners to the deputies are over, the
question will arise, what is to be done ? Govern-
ment does not care for the resolutions of the House
of Commons ; passive resistance will be ridiculous ;
we wish there may be some riots. The soldiery has
been treated by the deputies in such a way
that they will be delighted to put them down. The
gymnastic and rifle associations will be no
match for the Prussian army, which has always
been a moot disagreeable impediment to patriotic
movements. Even Cromwell could do nothing
without& standing army. If taxes are refused the
people in office will not be paid, and what then'e
Such is the language of the miserable rabble called
the Juuker party, who, stripped of everything
which gives standing in this world, have hitherto
been the favourites of all Prussian kings, and who
have made the very name of Prussia hateful to all
well-meaning men in Germany. For the first time
since the fall of the first Napoleon they were setaaide
when the preseut King came to the throne, but
they have been reinstated now, to fight all other
parties in the state.

Common sense should induce the other German
governments to avail themselves of this opportunity
offered by the Prussian government to make them- 11
selves popular ; but their arbitrary propensities are
too strong for that. Some of them even think the
time favourable for trying new persecutions of the
public press ; and as it is generally the case, the
government of Grand. Ducal Hew leads the van-
guard.
The Handelstag, an assembly of deputies from
the chambers of commerce of all Germany at

[TWOPENCE

Munich, has voted a resolution for the maintenance
of the Zollverein and the ratification of the Prue-
sian-Prench treaty of commerce, and against
Austria joining the Zollverein. The resolution
runs thus—" Considering that the dissolution of the
Zollverein would be a calamity for all States belong-
ing to it, it is urgently required that the constitu-
tion of the Zollverein should be reformed, so as to
avoid this danger in future ; and that the speedy
ratification of the treaty of commerce shall nut re-
main any longer a matter of doubt" Unfortu-
nately, the defective constitution of the Zollverein
gives to the seceding governments time for conside-
ration, until the end of the year 186 b, and they can
do whatever they please until then ; and as
they do not care for the trade of the country,
whenever they can show their good intentions to
Austria, the whole affair will remain in suspense
for some years.