The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-22 00:00:00

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3

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question will be- examined by the Di at, under my I 1
AL
co.operation."
The Minister. President replied :--
"His Majesty spoke of an examination, net of a
decision. The position of Prussia es %t great Power
required that she sham d indepQndeatly examine
every resolution cf the DL 3t, but not submit herself
to every decision—a view which, ,ander other cir-
cumstances, would be apprcved by the majority of
the Committee."

Referring to the words irumptHately following
the above passage in the Royal speech," and I cans
not anticipate the results of that examination," the
Minister continued :

" The competence of the Diet to de tide the suc-
cession question was by no meant; admet:ted. If the
Confederation was a union of soNTreign States, the
full sovereignty of each State cou';inued in all things,
where not expressly- limited by .he Federal treaties.
Federal treaties eoeezireei no etitrilations from
which this competence was to be deduced. Ueqees-
tionably the Federal Dot was cat,i.!ieci to deride,
after examining the legitimation o t a reptesentativee
whether it would admit Mtn or ro.f ; but from. t tett
point to sovereign. decision of .the right of euceeseime
in 4 Federal country was a wide leap. Let any one
mention a precedent in which the D:et had decided
upon the rights of claimants of a succession, and in
which it had undertaken to remora one and instal
another. Nobody could wish to controvert tt,e
competence of the Diet to examiner the right of
succession in a disputed case ; but it wcnl4 have to
conduct that examination with the atmtes'e caution,
that its results mightbe tenable before the European
foram. Lastly, he could assure them, as up .en a for-
mer occasion, that mistrust between himself and the
Chamber of Deputies should not be mutual. It Was
his wish to enter into the matter with tie, 1131a118
legally granted by the house. It these stiould be
refused, he should take them wherever he could."
Thereupon the report of the Committee observes
that expressions of this character require no com-
ment, but that it was their duty to state the in-
fluence which these declarations ought to exercise
upon the vote of the house. According to the views
of the Government, the house would run the danger
" that the supplies granted to.dsy for the fulfilment
of Federal duties would be tomorrow applied by
the Government to obstruct the resolutions of the
Diet." The declarations of the Minister-President
cast aside Garman nationality and common inte-
rests equally with regard to right. He considers
the binding force of a treaty not to depend upon its
contents or upon the good faith of its contractors,
but upon the question how many bayonets will be
set in motion for it. From this point of view it
would be just as consistent for the Ministry to dis-
regard even the justest resolution of the Diet on
account of the military weakness of its originators,
• as when it patiently accepts illegal measures of the
great Powers on account of the superiority of their
armies.

The report goes on to refute the arguments of
Herr von Bismark seriatim, commenting severely
upon each, and recommends, by the unanimous vote
of the Committee, the refusal of the loan.