Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-17 00:00:00

PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, DEC. 14.

The inconveniences and dangers that would inevitably
accrue to the P.tussian State from the introduction of the
abnormal hybrid arrangement of a co-regency, or partner-
ship-monarchy, which I described in nay last letter, seem to
have bean fully appreciated in such circles here as can
afford to think solely of the country's good : and the idea
is meeting with the most determined opposition on the
part of all those circles who feel competent to form an
opinion or called upon to express one. The occasion that
has given rise to this notable conception is the very dis-
tinctly expressed and emphatically repeated determination
on the part of the King to resume his monarchial functions,
certainly at the end of the three months, if not earlier. This
strong fatuity on the part of his Majesty to resume the place
in the State which undoubtedly is his own by right, if he
had but the strength to fill it, is the natural, and, as one
may say, the physical, result of returning Itonvalescence,
which leads the invalid to over-estimate his powers, and
long for opportunities to manifest the strength he fancies
himself to possess, This allusion on his part is strength-
ened by the consciousness of adequate mental powers
for a variety of subjects—for instance, these which
have always been the favourite objects of his study,
suck as architecture, archaeology, history, matters of
taste, and the fine arts, in all of which his Majesty
shows very little, if any, diminution of his mental
powers; that he should mistakenly suppose that the
same powers wou'd suffice to bear up against the
incessant wear and tear of the faculties that the head
cf the Prussian polity is exposed to is due al so in
part to the self-seeking and deceptive flatteries of those
that surround him. The Q•oeen, who has ever since the
commencement of the King's illness shown herself in the
most admirable colours as a woman and a wife, is, how-
ever, LA) clear-sighted as to the certain result of the
King's subjecting himself yet awhile to the burden of
business to lend any assistance to the matceuvre and
intrigue by which certain persons trust to insure themselves
a prolonged term of office and position at the risk of the
King's life or sanity. Under the influence of her
recent severe trials the Queen has been led to throw off
the various feelings of aversion, suspicion, and jealousy
she formerly entertained towards certain members of the
royal family, and has shown herself throughout the King's
illness sincerely disposed to sink all other feelings and
considerations in the unfl egging, strenuous endeavour to
avert every incident that might interfere with the total
recovery, bodily and mental, of her consort. She recog-
nises how fatal any resumption of the sceptre, how in-
jurious even any participation in the cares of business,
would be to the King, and she has manifested the greatest
readiness to do all in her power to bring about a sole
regency in the hands of the Peince of Prussia. Just now
the choice between two villas, one on the Lake of Como
and another in the close vicinity of Naples, has been
offered to his Majesty ; and th_.' Queen has for her own
part expressed her entire aillinguess to accompany the
King away from his own dominions in search of health
and repose from the solicitudes of State ; and this absence
of the King from the seat of power forms oue of the most
prominent features in any plan for his recovery.