The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-24 00:00:00

CENTRAL GERMANY.

Letters from Frankfort of the 20th give the part
culars of the ceremonial observed on the-resignation
by the Archduke John of the office of Regent of Ger-
many. The following is a translation of the protocol
of this important transaction :
" Done at Frankfort, in the palace of his Imperial
Highness the Archduke and Regent Joule, this day,
the 20th day of December, 1849.
" WI a eas h's Imp .r.sal Highness the Archduke and
Regent Joust has repeatedly expressed a wish to be
enabled to resign the office of Regent of Germany ;
and whereas certain negotiations for the creation of
another organ of federal and central power have, on
tl a 31st of September, 1849, terminated in a conven-
ion between the respectise Governments of Prus-
sia and Austria; and the German Governments
having notified their adhesion to the said convention;
and his Majesty the King of Prussia having appointed
his Lieutenant-General (Baron Radowiiz) and his
President (Dr. Botticher) ; and his Majesty the Em-
peror of Austria having likewise appointed Charles
Baron Kfibek Kuban a Privy Councillor to his said
Imperial Majesty and the Field-Marshal-Lieutenant
Charles Baron Schoebals. to act as members of the
Federal Commission as created by virtue of the Con
vention aforesaid; and the said Commissioners having
been identified by an examination of their respeo ive
warrants, his Imperial Highness the Archduke and
Regent John has invited the said Commissioners to
receive and to testify to his resignation."
Dr. Mettemus acted as clerk to the Commission.
At one o'clock p.m. on the 20'h of December his
Imperial Highness the Archduke Regent entered
the CoUncil-room, accompanied by the gentlemen
forming his Cabinet, viz., the President of the Cabi-
net and Secretary-at-War, Prince Saki- Wittgenstein-
Berleburg ; the Minister of Foreign Affairs and
First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Jochmw; the Minis-
ter of Justice, of Home Affairs, and of Commerce, Mr.
tmold ; and the Minister of Finance, Mr. Merk.
Whereupon the Commissioners of the two Govern-
ments produced the convention which was concluded
between the Governments of Prussia and Austria on
the 30th of September, together with the declaration
of adhesion of the German Governments; excepting
the Governments of Oldenburg (although there is a
promise of assent) and of Luxemburg; the adhesion
of the King of Holland, who has declared his ad-
heion to the convention as Duke of Limburg, being
preaupposed for his Duchy of Luxemburg.
These documents and the warrants of the said
Commissioners are added to the minutes.
His Imperial Highness the Archduke and Regent
condescended to make the following declaration :
".Gentlemen,—You are aware that I have long
wished to resign my office. But since when I took
that office the Federal Diet pronounced its own disso-
lution, and since the National Assembly tollowed its
example at a later period, I saw that I could not yield
to my' inclination without breaking the bonds which
contain the German States, thereby surrendering
Germany to danger and to all but ruin.
"My duties compelled me to remain until another
organ for the discharge of the common business of the
ccuotry should have been created. That moment is
'ccm,.. The two bearers of my power were the totality
of the German Government and the German National
Asiembly. My feelings compel me to give my sincerest
thanks to them for their co-operation;and assistance.
"The- National Assembly exists no longer. That
Assembly hastened on its own end by 'overstepping its
kg al limits, and by making the widest strides in a false
direction at a time when the course of events was such
that the slightest deviation from the legal side of the
question must necessari!y lead to certain ruin.
" The decline and fall of the National Assembly
is a lesson to the German people. It shows that there
is but one way for our constitution—the way of calm
and intrepid- progress and of a conscientious respect
for justice and law.
" After the dissolution of the National Assembly, I
could resign my office only to the totality of the Ger-
man Governments, and Austria and Prussia have
concluded a provisional convention, which the other
members of the Confederation thought proper to

accept.
" Pursuant to my eventual consent, which I gave
on the 6th of October, and according to paragraph 7
of the said convention, I resign my office 03 Regent,
and I resign the rights and duties of the Confedera-
tion into the hands of their Majesties of Austria and

Prussia.
" I have the consciousness of having faithfully
laboured to exercise my power for the glory and the
welfare of the country.
" Success has not yet crowned the .endeavour to
surround that country with other constitutional
bonds, to insure and strengthen its greatness and
power. But the old bonds are preserved, and peace
is. secured. But I shall not be able to look with
pleasure on the time of my adwiniAration until the
futurity of the country is secured by a more' lasting
union. But my cores on the subject of that union are
lightened now that I see the subject under protection of
two of the most powerful among the German Govern
ments. If these two will act in harmony, if they
will cleave to tt.eir right, and thus lead the way, the
other Governments may safely follow them as their
leaders, and success will crown the work.
g• • Germany May profit by experience, and may her
fates, by the assistance of Almighty God, he brought
to a prosperous issue by the harmony and the patriot-
-imn of the German Peinces, and by the good spirit
of the nation."
After his Imperial highness had finished his
speech, the Austrian Privy Councillor, Baron Kubek,
replied to it by thanking his Highness for the intre-
pid manner in which the Archduke had executed the
important functions of his office during a time of