The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-26 00:00:00

THE CONGRESS AT MALINES

The proceedings of the Congress at Malines
weree 22d dulyn
a conclusion on August
h
our correspondent's
tbroughtinstinstant.
t o
supplementary letter relates merely to in-
cidents of a subordinate character in con-
nection with those final proceedings—inci-
dents of no interest whatever to the gene-
ral public—we content ourselves with simply
announcing the fact that this important Congress
was duly brought to a conclusion, after a
Grand Banquet, several farewell addresses, and an
impressive sermon delivered from the pulpit of the
Cathedral at Mechlin, in the midst of an imposing
religious ceremony.

11••••• ..... •••••

A letter in the Independance Beige says—" The
programme traced out to the Catholics by the Count
Montalembert is the antithesis of the theories
familiar to so many of the journals of France,
Italy, Germany, and Belgium. The Count said
that the Catholics must frankly accept liberty,
entire liberty."

THE FRANKFORT CONGRESS.
A letter from Frankfort, dated Aug. 24, says:—
The German Sovereigns who yesterdaay morning
met in the apartments of the King of Hanover held
a short sitting, and then went to the races, but at
8 in the evening they again assembled, and did not
separate until 11 at night. Three or four Ministers
were present at the sitting, at which business of
importance must have been transacted, as three
secretaries were occupied for more than two hours
in making copies of the resoluti3ns taken. After
the sitting held in the morning of yesterday it was
said that the King of Hanover and his fellow-
Potentates had agreed to accept the Austrian pro•
ject of reform; but I now learn that important
modifications are deemed both advisable and
necessary. At 11 o'clock this morning the Congress
of Princes again assembled, and I am informed that
the Sovereigns
who yesterday conferred together in
the rooms occupied by the King of Hanover accepted
some of the Austrian propositions, and proposed to
make alterations in others. If the counter-proposi-
tions of the German Princes are reasonable, they
will hardly be objected to by the Emperor of Austria,
as his Majesty has repeatedly expressed his willing-
ness to take into consideration any collective project
of reform that his Federal allies may think fit to
bring forward.
A person who must be supposed to
have some little insight into what is passing behind
the scenes says that almost all the Princes have raised
objections to the one or the other part of the Austrian
project of reform, but that the Austrian Monarch
has invariably
expressed his resolve to attend to
none but collective reprezentations and proposi-
tions. The Emperor is reposted to have told his
illustrious confederates that if they could manage to
come to an understanding among themselves they
would find that he was ready and willing to listen to
their proposals. The Austrian Monarch has raised
hopes which it would be very dangerous to leave
unfulfilled. During my sojourn here I have seen
and conversed with politicians of various ranks and
classes, and they
all agree in teinking that if the
Princes do not reform the Band in a way which
shall be consonant to the wishes of the nation there
will at no distant period be serious disturbances in
Germany.
Many more or less well founded objections are
raised to the Austrian project of reform. The most
are-1. That too much import-
ance important s
attachedten
to the strengthening of the
Executive Power. 2. That the proposed Directory
will be an oligarchy of the most objectionable and
dangerous description if it is not placed under some
kind of popular control. 3. The Princes, as well
as the public, strongly object to that part of Article
8 in which it is said that " a simple majority in the
Federal Council shall decide whether or not War
shall be declared against a Foreign Power that has
made an attack on a Federal State which has terri-
tories that do nottrbeenlnoniegaltothtehee Bund." "
Engerer"
nd." 4. It is
feared that the new Directory will be even more
absolute and y
(Smaller) Council of the Bund, which, for almost
half a century, has wrung the withers of the
German nation. 5. The proposed composition of
the German Chamber of Deputies finds no favour
with the nation at large, as the Germans have a
very low opinion of the liberality in politics of the
members of the Upper Rouses of the various Diets.
As you must recollect, the Austrian proposal is, that
to the Bund shall be
eolneectetdhibryd ofth ethueppdeerleagnadtestwo thirds by the Lower
Chambers of the Diets. 6. It is deemed necessary
that the attributes of ihe future German Parliament
should be more exactly defined. 7. The German
nation is of opinion that its representatives ought to
meet once a-year instead of once in three years. 8.
As the Federal Court Will be under the influence of
the all-powerful Directory, there will be no gnaran-
tee for as impartial and speedy administration of

justice.
The Duke of Coburg who has been absent from
Frankfort for some days, proposed to his allies that
the people should be allowed to elect the deputies to
the Bund " in the non-Austrian part of Germany,"
but the motion found no favour with the Congress.
His Serene Highness, who appears to be very
popular here, went on Friday last to Biberich,
where he was kickeod on the mouth by a horse
which he was examining. Fortunately, the Duke's
teeth were not injured, and the swelling of the
lips was so speedily reduced, by the constant appli-
cation of ice, that his Highness was yesterday able
to go to Coburg. In some of the German papers
it is said that the Schloswig-Holstein question has
been discussed by the German Princes since they have
been assembled here, but the assurance has been
given me that it has hardly been alluded to. The
Abgeordnentag (Congress of Deputies) was closed
yesterday, after the Assembly had given expression
to its sympathy for the Germans in Holstein and
Schleswig. The last passage in a speech made by
M. von Bennigsen, the President of the Assembly,
was :—" The National Party does not wish for a
revolution, but if its efforts to bring about a reform
should be frucitratcd by the Governments, it may be
succeeded by a party which will not only be less
moderate in its pretensions, but will indulge in
dangerous aspirations." I fully share in the opinion
expressed by the Hanoverian patriot, who might
with truth have added that the Imperial project of
reform is likely to produce in Germany the effect
that a spark of fire does on highly inflammable
materials. The German Sovereigns will hardly
separate without having come to an understanding,
, but if they should do so, the unpleasant conse-
quences of their want of unity and liberality will
soon be seen. There is no truth in the report
that Prince Henry of the Netherlands, who repre-
sents Luxemburg and Limberg in the Congress, has
left Frankfort.
Outside, and immediately opposite the Nene
Thor of Frankfort, is a Jorge house belonging to
Baron von Bethmann, and in it the Baroness, on
Saturday last, received the German Sovereigns,
their Ministers, the members of the Diplomatic
Corps, mat y ei7il and military travellere) of nQte,