The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-25 00:00:00

Te!ESDAY EVENING) DECEMBER 25, I

GERMANY

AND
THE NORTHERN STATES.

PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA.

The Berlin Constitutional of the 21st publishes the
following, which may be considered as semiofficial,
on the subject of the alleged differences with Austria :
" The state of tension existing between Austria and
Prussia, evidently over-rated by the greater part of the
press since the reception of the last Austrian note, ap-
pears in a totally different light, as it is now known that
the last of these menacing documents, which could only
be construed in a warlike sense by persons unacquainted
with the subject, was accompanied by a document most
uncommonly conciliatory, and replied to by Prussia in
the same tone, but at the same time with firmness and
strict a iherence to that basis of right which it has
ac-.sumed. Austria contents itself, seeing that nothing
else can be done, with establishing two corps (in the
Vorarlberg and in &hernia), which are intended to
enter and protect Wurtemberg and Saxony, in case of
revolution. Prussia meantime persists in the execution
of an office which may not, but ought to, insure her
many friends."

The following is the substance of the Prussian re-
joinder, dated 12th of December, to the Austrian
protest, against the Assembly of the Erfurth Parlia-
ment. Austria had entered her protest
" 1. Against the convocation of a Parliament, as
i❑ oppo3ition to the Federal Act of 1815.
" 2. Against any resolution the Parliament might
in future pass.
"3. Against the Prussian league, and the attempt
to substitute that league in the place of the German
Confederacy without the consent of all the members
of that Confederacy ; and
"4. Against the dangers which might possibly
accrue from the convocation of a Parliament, which
Austria protested she would employ all her available
means to oppose."
The Prussian rejoinder reviews these objections to
the Prussian League with great deliberation. The
legal ground on which Prussia and her allies stand
is brought forward by an examination of the right
which Prussia derives from the old federal law, and
by the practical proof of various alterations which
that federal law has undergone. Prussia is, therefore,
entitled to claim the right to continue on the path of
a necessary historic development, for that path she
cannot leave without great misfortunes for and
injustice to Germany, especially since the Prussian
policy is at peace with the essentials of the Confede-
ration, and with the rights of the Austrian empire.
The very Federal Digit, by its appeal to the National
Assembly, and by its recognition of the Central
Power, tended to produce a still more sweeping
unity of the German nation. The Prussian dispatch
proceeds to state that the forcible execution of the
Frankfort election of an Emperor might have been
a bribe to any Government but that of Prussia. By
the accession to the league of almost the whole of
her dominions, and by the common assent of all the
members of that league, Prussia has come to be the
greatest German power, while Austria, by the declara-
tion of the 27th of November, 1848, and by the Con-
stitution of the 4th of Afarch, 1849, chose to take an
isolated position in which she (Austria) declared it
was her intention to remain until at the side of
renovated Austria Germany, too, had completed her
regeneration. And since the majority of the repre-
sentaives of the German people—since the majority
of the German sovereigns offered Prussia the Imperial
Crown, it was not an ambitious whim, but it was
the duty of Prussia, after refusing the Crown, to
lead the nation to the goal to which their aspira-
tions were directed. The majority of the German
States, placing their confidence in the firmness of
Prussia, joined the League of the 2611 of May, and
the Prussian Government was called upon to fulfil, not
vague and indefinite promises, but to redeem a definite
and substantial pledge.

"But if (continues the dispatch) the Austrian
Cabinet has really apprehensions that the convocation
of a Parliament should threaten the public order and
tranquillity within the territories of the old Confe-
deration, and since that Cabinet, anticipating what
we consider an improbable and remote contingency,
declares that it will oppose these dangers with all avail-
able means, we feel called upon to say, that we have
no such fears, and that we consider the convocation of
a Parliament as the surest means to prevent another
revolution, but we also protest that in the case of real
dangers threatening the public order and tranquillity
of Germany, we should think it our duty to give the
Austrian Cabinet our unlimited and hearty co-opera-
tion for their instant suppression. AVe are sure that
our allies will gladly join us in so meritorious an un-
dertaking."
The memorial which accompanies this dispatch, and
whiclfcontains an elaborate disquisition on the federal
law as it was and is, concludes with the following
résumé :

"The League of the 26th of May, and the Confe-
deration intended by that League, are not in contra-
diction to the law and organization of the German
Confederacy. But even if that law were in all its
parts in its former force, there would be no legal
right to oppose that League and that Confederation.
Now, the old federal law is obsolete in all those parts
which relate to the Confederation as a totality, and to
the relations of the individual members to the politi-
cal body—that law exists now only in its chapters on
international law, in the alliances of the Governments,
in the purposes of these alliances, and in the rights and
duties of the members. A new law is to be created in the
place of the obsolete law. That new law ought to
be formed with consideration to the League of the
26th of May. The united Governments have a right
to demand elbow-room for their League. They would
not on any account force anybody to join them, but
they will not allow anybody to prevent them from
forming an alliance for their own benefit and to the
conclusion of which they are fully entitled."