The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-26 00:00:00

PRUSSIA,

BERLIN, Oct. 22.
The result of the primitive elections is by this time known
,o you, at least as far as the towns are concerned. The
voters have been unusually numerous, and the triumph of
the Liberal Constitution party is undoubted. The Govern-
ment may gain a few votes in the remote country districts,
where it has the support of the feudal bacreaux, and is
better able to make its influence felt than in the cities and
towns, where even its own functionaries virtually defy the
pressure it fain would exercise. But I think you may rest
assured that the next Chamber will have a compact Libe •
ral opposition of 300 members, and that the remaining
52 will by no means be all constant supporters of the
present Government. A small compact minority is all
that has been ever hoped for by the most sanguine
of the Ministerialists, and, were that obtained, M. von
Bismark would, doubtless, present it exultingly to his So-
vereign, as a proof that the nation was recovering its sanity
and as an earnest of better things to come. As it is, the
Opposition press already registers a complete triumph, while
the Ministerialists speak with bated breath. As anticipated,
it is the Fortschritt party that will chiefly gain, but there is
the less need to analyse the opposition, since we know that,
on the two main questions—freedom of the press and the
necessity of having the budget voted by the Chamber—all
shades of the constitutional party are agreed, It is seen
with deep displeasure, although not altogether with asto-
nishment, that the King does not think it unbecoming to
endeavour personally to influence the elections. You were
informed of his words to the Burgomaster of Brefeld with
respect to M. von Sybel, and of the letter which he conde-
scended to write to the paltry village of Steingrund, by way
of antidote to the reports that had been based on his
interview with the King of the Belgians. There is a singu-
lar want of taste and tact in the persons who advise his
Majesty in such matters. It was reported, quite falsely, as
it happens, that certain words of King Leopold, at Baden,
had produced a great effect, and that the Cabinet tottered.
If it was deemed really necessary to dissipate the impres-
sion thus made, and which of itself would soon have died
away, many mays might have been found of so doing, but
certainly hardly a less appropriate or dignified one than that
of a letter from the Sovereign to the bumpkins of Stein-
grund. The system, however, is persevered in. The papers
publish a telegram sent by the King to a M. von Jena-
Reti lebeck, who had applied to his Majesty to know whether
the Upper President at Potsdam, M. van Jagow, Coun-
cillor Breithaupt, of Berlin, and Major Blucher, would be
agreeable to him as candidates. The King replied that they
were so, and authorised the publication of that declaration.
As regards the course the Government means to adopt
towards the Chamber, various conjectures are made, but
nothing certain is known, It is generally believed, and
with good appearance of reason, that the session will be
extremely short, but the best opinions are to the effect that
the King will not sanction a coop d'etat. Ministers cannot
expect to get any thing out of the next Chamber which was
refused to them by the last. What the Chamber itself
ought to do will strike most Englishmen who have fol-
lowed the Prussian question. It ought to make up its mind
to speak very little, and to act sharply and decidedly. A
leading member of the Opposition should at once move a
strong vote of disapprobation of the ordinances of the Ist of
June, declaring them illegal, and also a vote of censure on
the Ministry. The Chamber should declare itself perma-
nently sitting until the committee had reported on the
proposition, and returned it to the Plenum, which
should then vote it at once. It is to be feared there is not
much chance of this step or any tantamount one being taken
There are so many persons in the Prussian Chamber who
will speak in season and out of season, and so the discussion
is unreasonably prolonged on an important matter which in
reality demands only prompt decision, and the Ministers
get time to manes avre. Pew words and speedy resolves
are what are now wanted cn the part of the representatives
of the Prussian nation. The more they talk the more they
risk weakening the cause they uphold. There is believed
to be no chance whatever of the King's seeing the error of
his ways, although he will hardly be got to the point to
which some around him would fain impel him. As to M.
von Bismark, there is no doubt as to what he desires. He
is here reported and is generally believed to have recently
said that he hoped that in another year there would be
no more constitution in Prussia. We are evidently
making progress under the reign of the Prince who, not
quite five years, declared that " Prussia must make moral
conquests in Germany, by wise legislation at home, by ele-
vating all moral elements, and seizing upon all elements of
union." his Royal Highness the Prince Regent thus ad-
dressed his Council of Ministers on the Bth November,
1858 :—" A firm, consistent, and, if needful, energetic po-
litical conduct, coupled with prudence and circumspection,
must procure to Prussia the political consideration and the
power which she is not in a position to obtain through her
Own material strength alone. Poor, indeed, is the perform-
ance that has ensued upon these words of promise. Five
years later we find the Prince who spoke them trusting
solely to " material strength," not only against the possible
aggressions of foreign enemies or rivals, but against his own
people and for his maintenance on the throne of his an-
cestors.

The difficulty about the command of the execution corps to
be furnished by Saxony and Hanover jointlyhaving been gpt
over, as well as those which Hanover raised with regard to
the simultaneous movement of the Prussian reserve, the said
execution should, in ordinary routine, take place towards
the end of November, or, at latest, some time in December.
This would only be the logical consequence of what has
taken place, and of the phasis in which the fair now finds
itself. Nevertheless, politicians are evidently unable to
bring themselves to believe that the seemingly inevitable
consequence will come to pass. There have been so many
slips between cup and lip in this interminable Schleswig-
Holstein question, that one has great difficulty in crediting
its approaching emergence from the intricacies of Distal
discussions and the trammels of diplomatic notes. Mean-
while, one hears nothing more of the reported new consti-
tution for Denmark which was to destroy the importance of
the patent of the 30th March.
The Berlin papers are still full of the Leipsic celebration,
of the speeches made at the various ceremonies and dinners,
of the enthusiasm excited by the appearance of the veterans,
and of the satisfactory manner in which the whole affair
went off. As an interesting festival, they may be said to
have reason for self-gratulation. The affair would probably
have had more spirit, but for the wish to avoid making it a
demonstration hostile to France. This was perfectly
sensible and proper, but it a little cramped the :eloquence
of the patriotic speechmakers. Some of the song writers,
persons of less mark and responsibility, felt themselves less
shackled, and one or two of their compositions reached my
hands which might not give pleasure to the defeated of
Leipsic or their countrymen, in the improbable case of the
poetry, for the most part very indifferent, ever reaching
their hands. The French would be exceedingly wrong,
however, to take offence at the demonstration, which was
got up in no spirit of animosity to them, but as a politico..
liberal manifestation. It may, perhaps, also be considered
to embody the idea of resistance to foreign invasion, but
certainly not in an offensive way to any Power. Never.
theiess, it seems to have irritated the chauvinism of some of
the French journals, and the Opinions Nationale plainly
intimates surprise at the Germans celebrating a battle in
which they were beaten, although it certainly was followed
by the evacuation of Germany by the French army.
Whereupon a Frankfort paper remarks that it now per-
fectly comprehends how the Opinions Nationale can urge
France to go to war single•handed with Russia, since there
can exist no possible risk for people who hold Leipsic to
have been a French victory.