The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-27 00:00:00

HANOVER.

The prorogation of the States, on the 3d of March,
forms an important era in the affairs of Hanover. The
arbitrary abolition of the Constitution of the country
having been decidedly disapproved of by the greater
number of German Governments, and the German
Diet being seriously engaged in considering how the
violated rights of the Hanoverian people may be re-
stored, our Government hastened to convoke the States,
in order to be able to exhibit to the Diet the delusive
picture of an existinc, representative constitution in ac-
tive operation, and thus to render any interference on
the part of the Diet in the affairs of Hanover impossible.
The Government, two years and a half after the abo-
lition of the constitution, at length clearly expressed in
the royal proclamation of the 15th of February its rea-
sons for that step, and developed principles which
plainly showed what the country had to expect from its
present rulers. The opposition, which had a majority
in the second Chamber (luring the last Session, was sen-
sible of the danger, and perceived that a compromise
with the Government was impossible. They concluded
that it was their duty to put a stop at once to all further
proceedings of the Legislature. Accordingly several depu-
ties immediately resigned their seats, and after the Go-
vernment had waited in vain nearly a fortnight for the
arrival of a sufficient number of Delegates to constitute
a quorum, the majority on the 27th of February placed
on the archives of the House a protest, declaring that
they would not acknowledge as lawful the constitution
introduced by the King, and that they could not
therefore take any part in the proceedings of the
Legislature until after the decision of the German Diet
in the affairs of Hanover. In this protest the argu-
ments of the Royal Proclamation are irresistibly re-
futed, and a copy was sent to the Diet at Frankfort,
accompanied by an earnest prayer for its speedy deci-
sion. The interference of the Diet is indeed absolutely
necessary, if peace and order are to be maintained in
the country.

In the outset, only the educated, well-informed classes
took an interest in this struggle for the Constitution ;
but by degrees the excitement and the indignation at
the perfidious conduct of the Government have spread
through all classes, more particularly as the Government,
aware that it could never gain influence with the well-
informed, appealed openly to the populace and working
classes in towns, and endeavoured to excite them ro re-
sistance against their Magistrates. How ill King Ernest

and his emissaries have succeeded in this nefarious at-
tempt may be learnt by a reference to the town of Ha-

mein, whose representative, in the first instance a Liberal,
was gained over during the last Session to the King's
party, and who, nevertheless, worked upon by the
strongly expressed indignation of his constituents; was
compelled, at the opening of the Chambers, to deposit
in the archives of the House the protest of the town of
Hameln against the abolition of the .Constitution of
1833, to which protest was added asevere animadversion
upon the conduct of their Representative. The Deputy
for Hameln has since, made wise no doubt from expe-
rience, added his name to the list of signatures to the
protest of the 27th of February. The people, indeed,
have lost all confidence in the Government and its ser-
vants, in whom they see nothing but weakness and falsity.
The Cabinet Minister, Baron Von Schele, and the
Cabinet Counsellor, Von Falk, who, as Members of the

First Chamber, had both signed the address To King
William the Fourth, in which they thankfully accepted
the Constitution as published by the King, declare now
that this proceeding of King William was contrary to
law ( gesetz-widrig). M. Von Falk, the concoctor of
the Royal Proclamation of the 15th of February, in
which the conduct of the late Ministry is so severely
blamed, ,is the very person who laid before King Wil-
liam in London the draft of the- said Constitution,

and it is stated that he was mainly instrumental
in causing King William to make the few
trifling, alterations in the draft which are now
used as a pretence for the abolition of the whole con-
stitution, and for the establishment of a despotic auto-
cracy. The Ministers of King William who had framed
the constitution, have all remained, and are now in
office, by their own consent the degraded subalterns of
the now all-powerful Cabinet Minister ! Does it not
appear as if these men, in whom moderate persons had,
hitherto placed confidence, had actually intended to
deceive the 'people by this constitution, and had
after mature considration, willfully introduced the
supposed informality, in order to have a pretext
the more for its overthrow at the first con-
venient, opportunity ? It cannot be wondered
at that under such circumstances the emissaries
of other countries, and the Coryphmi, of our own en-
thusiastic liberals, should gain great influence in this
countrycnor that they should be followed and believed in
preference to more moderate men, for they alone have re-
mained consistent. Indeed, the danger of a violent con-
vulsion, and of the subversion of all confidence in our he-
reditary family of Princes, becomes daily more imminent.
The moderate party have only one hope, founded on their
respect for the noble sentiments of the Dukesof Sussex and
Cambridge. They cannot,they will not believe, that these
Princes are regardless of the sufferings of their hereditary
country, the cradle of their ancestors. The Duke of
Cambridge has lived almost forty years amongst us ; his
joys and his sufferings have been our own. Can he
have become as an alien to the country that loved and
honoured him ? Besides, as the father of a youthful

and vigorous son, who stands in the direct line of suc-
cession, the Duke of Cambridge is. on this account
deeply interested in the maintenance of the royal power
in this country. There is, indeed, sufficient reason to
cause both the royal Dukes, as the nearest agnates to

call on the German Diet for its interference in an affair
which threatens the subversion of all lawful authority.
In conclusion, here is a specimen of the arguments

of the King against the constitution. By it all royal
rescripts must be countersigned by a responsible Mi-
nister to have authority, and King Ernest declares that
to be an inadmissible infraction on the monarchial prin-
ciple. To meet this objection the Members of the Chamber,

in their address to the Diet, have referred to a document
printed by Count Munster, at the command of George
the Fourth, in reply to Duke Charles of Brunswick.
This Prince had brought a similar accusation against
the Government of King George the Fourth as the
guardian of his minority ; and Count Munster says in
answer—

" Could less bo done for the pacification of a people
who had possessed in former times the important right
to appeal to the Imperial Court (Deutschen Reicksge-
richten) against any abuses of the power of their
Princes, and who now sea themselves, by the Federa-
tive Act (Bundes-Acte), the subjects of an independent
Sovereign ? The counter-signature protects the Prince
as well as the people from falsifications, and is in use
in all well ordered States ; and, though it exist by law
in England and in France, the Sovereigns of these great
empires do not consider themselves less independent
than is the Duke of Brunswick. That thus requiring a
counter-signature is by no means a too great protection
for the people is most clearly proved by your Highness,
as it is plain it costs your Highness but little trouble to
find counsellers willing to lend their names to such or-
ders (Verordnungen) as those now under consideration.
Men, whose lives have hitherto been spotless and esti-
mable, have been forced to choose between losing their
bread, and affixing their names to orders of which they
could not hut disapprove."
The application of these words to the late events in
Hanover lies very near.

CELEBRATED OATS.—The oldest oak in Eng-
land s supposed to be the Parliament Oak (so called from
the tradition of Edward I. holding a parliament under its
branches), in Clipstone Park, belonging to the Duke of
Portland, this park being also the most ancient in
the island ; it was a park before the Conquest, and was
seized as such by the Conqueror. The 'tree is sup-
posed to be 1,500 years old. The tallest oak in
England was the property of the same Nobleman: it
was called the " Duke's Walking-stick," was higher
than Westminster Abbey, and stood till of late years.
The largest oak in England is called the Calthrope 02k,
Yorkshire ; it measures 78 feet in circumference where the
trunk meets the ground. The " Three- Shire Oak," at
Worksop, was so called from covering parts of the counties
of York, Nottingham, and Derby. It had the greatest ex-
panse of any recorded in this island, dropping over 777
square-yards. The most productive oak was that of Gelo-
nos, in Monmouthshire, felled in 1810. Its bark brought
2001., and its timber 6701. In the mansion of Tredegar.
park, Monmouthshire, there is said to be a room 42 feet
long and 27 feet broad, the floor and wainscot of which
were the produce of a single oak tree grown on the estate.
On Tuesday no less than fifty executions were
delivered out to the officers of the Bradford Court of
Requests, for persons resident in the township of Horton
alone.—Halifax Express.
TRADE IN TUSCANY.—It was the wise and
liberal policy of Leopold which placed the Corn-trade on
its proper foundations. fie put an end to the system which
the Government had introduced, of trafficking in corn,
under the plea of providing against want or famine. By a
few simple provisions, he superseded the intricate legisla-
tion which was to be sought in the ten large folio volumes
which contained the often contradictory decrees of the re-
publican and the Medicean epochs. A contemporary
authority thus sums up some of the benefits which the
change had introduced into Tuscany : " The final
and the most triumphant result in contrasting our pre-
sent illimitcd liberty of commerce with the restrictive
policy which preceded it, may be seen in undeniable facts.
Our population is augmented in 25 years to the extent of
113,868 souls more than we had in 1766 (it was then
945,063.) Our annual produce in corn is increased 31 mil-
lions of staja-337,600 quarters—the average. production
being, previously to the changes, 9,827,074 staja ; the in-
crease, therefore, is about 34 per cent. : our export trade in
agricultural produce has increased to the amount of 3i
millions of Tuscan lire-116,6701. (about.) Our an-
cient ruined cottages have been 'repaired, and a sur-
prising number of new ones built. Epidemics have di-
minished by the consumption of better corn than that for-
merly issued from the public magazines. Wo have suf-
fered little from rise of prices, which have soon regulated
themselves, and have never undergone the enormous fluctu-
ations to which they were formerly subjected. Property
has been respected; monopoly overthrown ; and the
numerable litigations which necessarily grow out of inter-
ference completely terminated.' And the author might
have added that the revenue of the State increased con-
siderably by the removal of the trammels on commerce."—
Dr. Bozerin9's Report.