The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-08 00:00:00

The Elector of Hesse and the Chambers,

CASSEL, Dec. 5.

The following is the full text of the Elect-ova
reply to the Address of the Chambers read by the
Government Commissioner at, the private sitting
upon the 3d inst.:—

We, Frederick William 1., by God's grace
Elector of Hesse, &e., do make known as follows to
the Chambers, in answer to their Address for-
warded to us upon the 24th inst. through our Mis
meter of the Interior.

The Chambers have not erroneously themselves
characterised their /Wren in its opening words as
an unusual step. if wo aro ourselves always ready
to receive the wishes of our faithful Chambers in
the form of an Address, and to take those desires
into our paternal consideration, and it the Cham-
bers constitutionally possess the right of complain-
ing, respecting admitted errors i 3 the administes,
of that right in the Address lately presented
tionof the country, they have yet ei.acle such'use
as to
ova-step the limits iflaced to their po‘itiuti 'and
sphere of action.

The Address in question is intended not only to
point out certain deficiencies and errors which gave
come to the knowledge of the Chambers, and to
make complaint respecting the same, but it prow
fesses to give us a general and coniprehensiver
presentation of the position of the country, con-
taining a condemnatory criticism of the system of
Government hitherto pursued, and even including
within the grasp of that criticism periods of Go✓
vernment of our ancestors now resting in God. Thu
position of our country in the most important and
comprehensive branches of State life is depictia as
utterly unsatisfactory and depressed since the
commencement of this century, and the system or
Government hitherto pursued is without further
ado declared responsible for this condition of
affairs—and while the hope for healthy governmen-
tal activity is characterised as bitterly deceived,
and the existing situation is stated to be serious
and !taught with care, apparent candour goes so
far as even to speak of a deep-seated discontent
being spread over the whole country.

This complaint and accusation is made to us in
the declared assumption that 3re are kept in the dark
as to the condition of the country by unreliable
reports.

Not satisfied with this, the Chambers have further
not hesitated sai the very commencement of the ad.•
dress to allude to the political relations of the
country in such a manner as if our Government, in
the negotiations referred to, had been deficient in
the will to redeem the promises made in our Patent
of June 21, 1862, and a doubt is expressed whether
it is the intention of our Government to do so at all.
Such a criticism, not as becomes its character,
terminated by asking with fitting respect for the
removal of certain stated grievances, but expressing
the hope that a period in the history of Electoral
Hesse must come to an end, and a better era begin,
—such a criticism, we repeat, has not appeared to
us to afford a description of the condition of our
country given with required moderation—still less
have we been able to discover therein such grave
and important resolutions issuing out of considered
tion for the welfare of the country and of our per-
son as are compatible with the assertions made in
the Address.