The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-03 00:00:00

THE ELEC'T'IONS IN PRUS474.

A letter from Berlin, dated April 29, says :—The
one engrossing event of the day is naturally the
elections, which show, as far as their results are
yet known, the complete triumph of the party of
progress, whose most sanguine expectations appear
to have been surpassed. 'To speak first of the capi-
tal. Here they have gained the only seat which
they did not succeed in obtaining at the last elec-
tions. Of the four electoral districts into which
Berlin is divided, the first, which comprehends the
west part of the town on the left bank of the Spree,
is the richest and most aristocratically inhabited,
and particular importance is attached to its choice.
A meeting was held last night of the wall/manner,
who had been elected for that district in the morn-
ing. The well-known Radical deputy Waldeck was
voted into the chair, and the names of a number of
candidates were brought forward. The Constitu-
tional party proved to be very much in the minority.
Of those candidates proposed by them not one ob-
tained the requisite number of votes (50) entitling
them to be accepted as such by the Assembly, while
Messrs. Twestem,Taddel, Waldeck, Carlowitz, Pro-
fessors Eoeckh and t•ybel, and others of the Forts-
chritt party, were chosen by an immense majority.
The proceedings were very animated. M. Twe-
sten made a speech of considerable length, which
was received with enthusiastic applause. The
accounts from the provinces published in this
morning's papers, and others which have
since been received, are in great part favour-
able to the Liberals. At Konigsberg, out of
344 wahlnzanner, 287 are Fortschritt, 27 Con-
stitutional, 13 Conservative; at Dantzig, out of 287,
261 are Fortschritt ; Potsdam, 102 against 56 ; at
Breslau the Fortschritt's party has 300 out of 521;
at Gorlitz 102 out of 111 ; Erfurt, 115 out of 124.
In not a few of the elections already known the
whole of the teahlmanner (with here and there one

or two exceptions) are of the decided and Liberal
party. Most of the teahlmanner of this party ob-
tained very large majorities, and few of their elec-
tions were closely run. The Catholic party will, as
was anticipated, be more fully represented in this
Chamber than in the last. From Cologne, Coblents,
and other places in the Rhine provinces, the ac-
counts received are highly favourable to the Libe-
rals. regards the position of the anti-Liberal,
or, as it is commonly caked, the Feudal party, we
await further information, which to-night's Kreus
Zeitung will doubtless give. The Moderate Con-
stitutional party will have lost seats. The sole
deputy they had for Berlin in the last Chamber, M.
Ruhne, had very few hands held up for him at last
night's meeting. Their organ, the Berliner 411 g..
Zeitung, makes no remarks on the prospect
of the party in its number of this morning, and the
papers generally have no articles on the elections,
but content themselves with a paragraph or two
respecting the general results, and with giving full
lists of the wahlmanner chosen in the numerous
electoral divisions of Berlin, affixing to their names
the initial letter of the party to which they belong,
among which one sees column after column of" F."
standing for Fortsckritts partei. The Ministerial
Stern Zeitung gives no list, nor says a word abnot
the elections, save three lines of small print in a
back page, which announce that, as it has not been
able to get the names of all the persons chosen in the
districts of Berlin, it postpones communicating the
result of the elections for the capital. Concerning
those for the provinces it is equally mute, although
others of this ;morning's papers publish the ac-
counts received from a large number of places.
The iberals attribute the much stronger majorities
obtained this year than last by their candidates
to the injudicious measures of the Government, and
especially to the circulars of the Minister.of the
Interior and the pressure attempted to be exer-
cised. The silence of the Government organ is
quite intelligible ; it is unpleasant to have to chro-
nicle the complete defeat of one's friends, and, as
far as yet known, there are no consoling circum-
stances for them in the course the elections bad
taken. So the iStern-Zeitung, turning with dis-
taste from domestic occurrences, fills the whole of
its columns, on the morrow morning of a general
election, with foreign news.
The number of persons who yesterday exercised
their electoral right was larger than last autumn.
Some officials and persons otherwise dependent on
the Government kept awry, but their places were
much more than supplied by voters who, on pre-
vious occasions, had neglected to avail themselves of
their privilege. A great many tradesmen who had
remained away from Leipsic fair on purpose to vote
left last night and this morning for •that city.
A commission, consisting of a Prussian naval
captain, a shipbuilder, and an engineer, has been
appointed to proceed to England to collect informa-
tion with respect to the construction and advan-
tages of iron-plated ships. If sufficient knowledge
of the subject is not to be obtained there, the cora:
mission will extend its journey to France and
America.

A SOUTHERN LADY ON THE WAR.—Numerous
private letters from the South appear in the first
number number of the index, out yesterday. The following le an
extract :—" We had a great review of all the companies
when General Bragg was here. He was splendidly
mounted, and as he passed, men cheered him, and the
ladies greeted him with their handkerchiefs, blessing him
from their inmost hearts. His saddle-cloth and saddle was
a present from a young lady—a just tribute to a brave man
aud a good man. He worked a great reformation among
the soldiers while he was here. His first act was to close
all the bar-rcoms. Every soldier is at his post. No permits
are granted, unless in cases of sickness, to leave the camps.
Al: business in the city is suspended after three o'clock.
The afternoon is devoted to drilling. Every man is re-
kept him out a long time on account of his
quired to be a soldier. John, too, has gone to the army ' •
Dr.
delicate health; but no one with a drop of blood in his veins
can keep quiet in these times. If I had a dozen sons, I
should say ' go' to each of them, and could not love them if
they were sluggards in such a cause. The women are work-
ing, too, in their way—nursing at the hospitals, and doing
all they can to aid ihe soldiers. I WllB one f a party of
ladies who cut out 3,500 sandbags in half a day, 50,000 were
ordered, and done almost as soon. We stand ready to do
and to die if necessary. Husband, and what is more, Gene-
ral —, are confident that we can hold Mobile. If the city
is shelled, we are beggars. But I would rather live in EnroPe
as a lady's-maid or housekeeper than remain here, if tho
Yankees are to overrun us. Ido not believe thetao3"n°'
or woman of gentle birth or rearing, will want to /lye here
with that vulgar klarbarian to rule Over them.