The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-20 00:00:00

AFFAIRS OF PRUSSIA.

A letter from Berlin, dated May 16, says—After an un-
necessary debate of very small interest, the Deputies yes-
terday voted, by a majority of 295 against 20, the resolution
proposed by the Committee of Regulations with respect to
the communication from the Government that had been re-
ferred to it. This resolution says—" 1. That the president,
in virtue of the right to him alone pertaining to conduct
the proceedings and maintain order in the house, can inter-
rupt all speakers, including the Ministers and their repre-
sentatives ; 2. That by such an interruption the constitu-
tional right of the Minister to be at all times heard is not
prejudiced ; 3. That, on the other hand, it is unconstitu-
tional for Ministers to make their presence in the house de-
pendent on arbitrary conditions; 4. That the house accord-
ingly does not find itself induced to consent to the demand
expressed in the ministerial communication of the 11th inst."
A number of deputies spoke, but the discussion was li-
mited to the question before the Chamber, and did not ex-
tend to the general political situation. The speech that
was listened to with most attention was that of Count
Schwerin, the en-Minister and former President of the
Chamber. The Chamber, which had been extremely rest-
less and noisy during some remarks against the resolution
offered by that wearisome feudal deputy, Count Be-
thusY Hue, hushed its private conversations when
Schwerin rose. He voted, he said, with deep :regret,
for the report of the committee. Most deeply did he de-
plore that the Chamber should be caled upon to vote on
questions of this kind. With a conflict in the country
the issue of which all Europe was anxiously watching, and
with a foreign foe ter, the door, the Government raised a ques-
tion the reply to which, be it what it might, coald only
occasion Ministers fresh embarrassments. He entreated
the Chamber to vote the resolution. The Chamber applauded
his speech, and shortly afterwards complied with his re-
quest. The minority consisted of the Bismark eleven and
nine of the Catholic party. Messrs, Bockum Dolffs and
Sybel abstained from voting. It was a very full house, 315
members voting. The military debate was next in the
order of the day, but it was adjourned. President Grabow
announced that he should inform the Ministers of the reso-
lution come to, and request their attendance in the next sit-
ting, fixed for Monday, Deputy Forckenbeck then re-
marked that a request from the President did not suffice—
that, according to the constant ion, the Chamber alone could
demand the presence of Ministers. He moved "that the
house should resolve expressly to demand the participation
of the Minister of War in the continuation of the military
debate." This was opposed by Gneist and Vincke, thelat-
ter of whom declared himself in favour of "building gold en
bridges for a beaten enemy," After a short,sharp discussion
Forckenbeck's motion was agreed to, by 167 against 138,
The whole of the Fortschritt, the Poles, and a minority of
the Left Centre composed the majority,
The first sitting of the committee on the Virchow Ad-
dress is fixed for Monday evening. It ought to be going on
at this moment, but worthy Mr. Grabow is too slow for
the present situation. The address, of which the
purport was given in my letter of the 13th inst., is generally
considered much too long. The committee will also take
into consideration M. Gneist's proposal of an address
" when the chief business of the session shall be concluded,"
that chief business being understood to mean the budget and
the military debate. If Ministers continue to refuse to at-

tend the Chamber, and the military debate is not proceeded
with, the difference of opinion now prevailing between the
Left and Left Centre with respectto the period of introduc-
ing the address vanishes, and Virchow's project, perhaps
with some modifications, may be voted by Wednesday next.
This supposes the Chamber to sit so long. Up to this
afternoon nobody knows what Government proposes doing
—perhaps not even the Ministers themselves. The majo-
jority of the best opinions lean to a belief that an end will be
put to the session early in the coming week, and this belief
is not weakened by a tendency that seems to exist in official
quarters to cast a doubt upon it. That might well be done
to take the Chamber by surprise and prevent its voting the
Address. It is most improbable that the Government will
be induced to give way on the point in dispute, and, indeed,
nobody contemplates it. The King's ideas with respect to
the army forbid the supposition, the Minister of Was being
the person chiefly concerned in the matter. The King
would fear its being said that a slight had been offered to
the service—that it had been humiliated, and a shade cast
upon its epaulets, in the person of Lieutenant-General
von Roon. Moreover, it is quite possible that Roon him-
self would insist, under pain of resignation, on being
cars ied through the affair triumphantly ; and for him to
resign would be too great a victory for the Democrats
and Subversives who compose the Parliamentary majority.
The time is at hand when the Chamber generally breaks up
for a week's Whitsuntide holdiday, but it is thought that
before the usual day comes it will disperse for a much longer
period. A dissolution is not believed in—at any rate not at
present.

The sanguinary affair of Bredinken has been referred to
in three of my letters, An interpellation respecting it has
been announced for Monday, put forward by deputies of
various political parties who sit for places in the province of
Konigsberg, where the massacre took place. Information
and explanations concerning it will be asked of Blinistrs—
always supposing that any of them are present to reply.
The affair excites great indignation. People of course say,
" Like masters, like men." When officers wound and even
kill hotel servants and others almost with impunity, it is
not surprising if soldiers, called out to quell a disturbance,
use lead and steel unsparingly against defenceless women
and unarmed men.

The Herrenhaus has sat to-day and yesterday for a sort
of Massacre of the Innocents, a double-quick despatch of an
accumulation of business. Yesterday it passed the Treaty
with Belgium, the Elbe Due Convention, and some railway
matters. To-day nothing of general interest was before it.
M. Kleist-Retzow, the friend of Bismark, made an allusion
to the end of the session as perhaps near at hand. The next
sitting was announced by the President as to take place
probably on Tuesday in seat week.
The Volks Zeitung of this morning heads its columns with
an announcement that its first issue, intended for the post,
was seized by order of the President of Police. The cause
assigned was its having given a translation of an article
concerning the situation of affairs in Prussia. If the
police would seiz3 the Vo/ks Zeitung every day until it
gets new types, it would be rendering a service to the eyes
of the public. The printing of many of the Berlin
papers is positively infamous, and renders this capital a
highly appropriate residence for
.the most renowned
oculist in Europe. Last night's National Zeitung was also
seized for giving the Times article in question, although it
had left out some of the passages most likely to offend in
official quarters. More carefully expurgated versions have
been allow ed to appear in other papers. The deputies, of
course, deny the justice of the strictures in that article, so
far as these apply to themselves, and point out that the
constitution of 1850 gives them no power to stop the supplies,
the check exercised by the Chamber being only over the
expenditure—a check merely nominal, in presence of a Go-'
vernment which does not stick at a violation of the consti-
tution. They add that, although the responsibility of Mini-
sters be laid down as a fundamental principle by and of the

constitution, it is there said that it is to be fixed by a special
law, and that law it has never yet been found possible to

pass

ie
The following letter from a place called Mensguth
going through the papers :
" On the 9th of May I made an excursion to Bredinken•
in company with a physician and two other persons. On
our arrival we found that 95 men of the 43d Regiment had
just come in from Lotzen, A deathlike stillnes, prevailed it;
the village. When we had viewed the spot where the 20
soldiers (under command of Lieut. Kossak) had fired on
the rioters, we went, escorted by the schoolmaster of th,e,
next village, as well as by several villagers, to visit the 1'
corpses lying in their coffins, and the 25 wounded, of whom'
according to the opinion of the physician three more will die.
Most affecting was the aspect of the corpses, of which the
majority were women, and one of them pregnant. 2.-‘l°s.t,°
them had bayonet and shot wounds in the back and ewe'
Through one woman's neck two bullets had passed ;
man was shot through his heart, another had his right Ghee'
torn awey by a bullet. A landed proprietor, Kariot
name, had received three stabs with the bayonet and
in the breast; his skull was also fractured, and we saW the
brains still on the ground. Besides a young man who ligu
been struck down on the threshold of the schoolhouse the
saw the corpse of a woman, who had a bayonet thrust
the lower part of the back, through the belty, into 06141
leg. As regards the opinion spread here that the peasiMt*
out of cowardice, thrust the women into the front, it is
be remarked that the women had the most interest in the
preservation of the water, which they continually used for,
household purposes, and probably it was thus that, es the'
most furious, they pressed into the foremost ranks of tll6
crowd. They had also been told by their husbands tit'
Prussian soldiers were incapable of firing upon their 001111'
try men, and least of all would they shoot at women."