The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-15 00:00:00

PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, DEC. 12.
The question of an address in reply to the speech
from the Throne has entered into a new phase.
The original project, as moved by M. de Vincke,
did not meet with favour in the committees. Far
from it ; the whole with one exception voted for its
rejection. The report of the central committee,
notifying and giving motives for this rejection, was
brought up yesterday, and will be laid before the
committee in plenum on Wednesday, when M. de
Vincke will have an opportunity, according to the
standing orders, of defending his project. Mean-
time, the party designated as that of Bethmann-
Hollweg and Patow, from the names of its two most
eminent members, has determined not to allow
the project of an address to fall. Consequently, 41
of that party have drawn up and signed another'
project, which was distributed yesterday to mem-
bers simultaneously with the report of ,the central
committee rejecting M. de Vincke's motion. The
Bethmann-Hollweg project is thus worded :
" May it please the Chambers to resolve that a com-
mittee of twenty-one members shall be elected by the
sections, and that the annexed project of an address in
answer to the'speech from the Throne shall be laid before
the same for deliberation and reporting thereon.
"Motive.—His Majesty the King having opened the
Chambers in person, and the question of a reply having
been already mooted in another manner, the proposition
is justified by its appropriateness and the present state
of affairs.

"This address runs thus :--
" Most ;-ttrene and most powerful King, most gra-
cious King and Lord ! Your Majesty has been pleased
to open this year's session of the representatives of the
country in your own most exalted person, and to honour
them with communications relative to a felicitous event
in your royal house, as likewise in respect to the state
of the country, internally and externally.
" The Second Chamber would think that it little
merits the royal confidence, and that it would fail in
bounden respect if it were not to respond to the summons
contained therein (the speech), not to lay at the foot of
the throne the expression of its sentiments.
" ' In the first place it feels itself called upon to ex-
press most respectfully its warmest sympathy at the union
of his Royal Highness Prince Frederick Charles, your
Majesty's nephew, with the Princess Mario Anna of

Anhalt—an alliance which, whilst on the one hand it
lays the foundation for the happiness of a heroic young
prince, on the other it promises to the country another
model of the blessings of domestic virtues.
" We hail with satisfaction the reconstruction of the
First Chamber, resolved by the law of the 7th of May,
1853, and effected by your Majesty's decree of the 12th
of October of this year, as the consolidation of the State
constitution, which forms the indisputable foundation of
its internal legal order. We look forward with eager-
ness to the moment when it may be possible for us, in
union with this body, and with your Majesty, to bring
to completion the constitution of the country by a code
of communal, district, and provincial regulations appro-
priate to present circumstances.
" ' The long-maintained principles of Prussian admi-
nistration keeping pace with the demands of the times,
have, as your Majesty has been pleased to announce,
•;reserved the finances of the State during serious times
in a well-regulated condition, and raised the material
strength of the country, the means of communication,
and, above all, industrial traffic, to a height hitherto
unknown. In the same manner, we trust that your
Majesty's Government, under God's assistance, and
with the energetic co-operation of all classes of your
subjects, may be enabled to meet the wants whioh mis-
fortunes have entailed upon some provinces, and the
general dearness of the necessaries of life upon the whole
country.

" "The most serious cares assuredly fill the breast of
every patriot at the sight of the conflict that has
broken out between the mightiest States of Europe, and
which, in proportion as it developes itself in greater
dimensions, must affect Prussia, in consideration of her
position as a great power, and her geographical position.
" We acknowledge with profound thanks your Ma-
jesty's paternal solicitude for the country in maintaining
for it as long as possible the blessings of peace. But
we feel ourselves bound in our consciences to state most
respectfully to your Majesty that, according to our con-
viction as well as that of the vast majority of the country,
the time is come when Prussia, whilst she safe-
guards her special and North German interests, can,
by a prompt and decided return into the European
community, which the other great German Power still
allied with her has steadfastly maintained and just
now restrengthened, avoid the dangerous position of a
complete isolation ; and that the object of a peace
founded on legality, secured against all future danger—
that is, a durable peace—can only be attained by your
Majesty throwing into the balance of decisions the full
weight of your voice, strengthened by acts.
" Should the united ♦oice of Europe find no hearing
[meaning from Russia], and your Aqesty see yourself
necessitated to call forth the whole strength of the coun-
try, then the nation will know that the heavy sacrifices
of blood and goods are not imposed upon it for foreign
interests, but for the elevated treasures of right, of inde-
pendence, and the honour of their fatherland, and, fol-
lowing the appeal of their King, will show in true Prus-
sian mariner that we are powerful in unity.' "