The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1849,

Yorkshire will this evening submit to the House of
Commons the expediency of taking steps -to
reduce the annual expenditure, with all prac-
ticable speed, to an amount not exceeding
the sum, which within the last fourteen
years has been proved to be sufficient for the main-
tenance of the security, honour, and dignity of the
nation. He has thus raised the banner of economy
and retrenchment, and has inscribed thereon "The
Expenditure of 1835," in accordance with the pledge
contained in his well-known budget of the 18th
December last. Although we do not believe that
reductions to that extent are immediately practicable,
for the reasons we have repeatedly set forth, we
must acknowledge the valuable results of the agita-
tion, which has already led to many important
reductions, and which w ill undoubtedly produce fur-
ther fruits. But great as may be the present saving,
there can be no guarantee for its permanence, no real
relief to the industrious classes, until the system of
indirect; taxation is altogether abolished, until our
trade is indeed free and unrestricted in the most ex
tensive signification of the phrase. When our ports
are freely opened to the navies of the world, when
the produce of other lands may be freely
brought to our shores without let or hindrance
to be exchanged for our own manufacture:,
when no duties are levied either for the purposes of
protection or of revenue—then, indeed, we 311211 hare
given the best security for the maintenance of uni-
versal peace and tranquillity, and our armaments may
be reduced, and that materially.
The Liverpool Association has exhibited a thorough
knowledge of this great fact. Much as economy is
to be desired, a sound system of taxation is even more
essential. Why, however, should either object be
lest sight of for a moment ? May we not at the same

time endeavour to effect an alteration in the mode
as well as in the amount of taxation. The questions
are intimately connected together, and may be simul-
taneously agitated. The eloquent speeches at the
late monthly meeting of the Liverpool Association
were all directed to fiscal as well as to economical
reforms. The society has elicited the strongest evi-
dence that there is " a very great force of public
opinion in favour of direct taxation," and they will
not abandon the greatest and most important of the
objects for which the Association was formed, and
for the attainment of which it has laboured so zeal-
ously and indefatigably. _

If from the preliminary flourish of trumpets of the
reactionary press, we may judge of the object of the
motion for rapers relating to the bombardment of
Messina, of which Mr. BANKEs has given notice for
to-morrow night that object is to set up the testi-
mony of General FILANGERI, Prince of Satriano,
on the subject of the alleged cruelties committed
during the course of that bombardment, against the
testimony of Admirals PARKER and BAUDIN, and to
endeavour to make it appear that the mere general
denial of the accused General FiLesicEstr, as con-
tained in his letter to Mr. TEMPLE and in his speech
in the Neapolitan Chamber of Peers, is a sufficient
answer to the specific charges which have been
brought against him, but of which he has not taken
the least notice either in his letter or in his speech ;
albeit it is only by condescending to particular
charges that a general charge, such as that brought
against the Prince of SATRIANO, can be either sustained
or refuted. The general charge is, that the mi:itary
operations carried on against Messina in the month
of September last by the Neapolitan troops,
under the command :of General FILANGERI, were
conducted with a "ferocity and brutality of which
history offers no example." This charge is supported
by the evidence of Admiral Sir WILLIAM PARKER
(who, in his dispatch to Lord NAPIEIt, uses the very
words we have quoted) and of Admiral BAUDIN, who
were present during the whole of those operations,
corroborated by the evidence of those who brought
forward specific charges, to not one of which ape-
cific charges so brought forward has General Frx.ex-
GERI ventured to give a specific denial. He has
contented himself la ith giving a general denial to
the generel charge.
In his letter to Mr. TEMPLE, of the Ist Feb. 1849,
he says—
" I am unable to approach that part of your Excel-
le:lcy's dispatch which refers to the conduct of my troops
et Messina, without the deepest regret that your Excel•
lency should have been induced to make so unqualifie
an assertion relating to their conduct as you have thought
it right to do, without, in the opinion of the undersigned,
being in possession of satisfactory evidence on the sub
ject. M. de liayneval, in his note to Prince Cariati of
the 10th September, attributes these barbarities, as your
Excellency is pleased to call them, to both parties; but
your Excellency has thought it becoming, through
Prince Cariati, to address to myself, as charged by his
Majesty with the affairs of Sicily, a distinct accusation
that the soldiers I have the honour to command had not
conducted hostilities according to the usual practice of
civilized nations; and your Excellency has added, that
had the attack been solely directed against armed oppo
Dents, instead of being equally aimed at the extermina-
tion of the unresisting and helpless inhabitants, her Ma•
jesty's naval commanders would probably have preserved
their neutral position. These charges coming from your
Excellency, carry with them a degree of gravity which
they would not possess if proceeding from other sources,
and I felicitate myself that very shortly an opportunity
will be given to me, in my place as a Peer in Parliament,
of distinctly showing the world, and your Excellency in
particular, that the error in which your Excellency has
fallen is as serious as the accusation you direct against
my officers and soldiers is unfounded. I shall content
myself, therefore, on this occasion, by asserting to your
Excellency, that the Neapolitan forces under my com-
mand would be unworthy of the name of soldiers if such
had been their conduct, and your Excellency will, doubt-
less, believe, that after a service of 40 years, and some
experience of the duties devolving on a commander, I
am incapable of permitting the atrocities which have been
by some persons communicated to your Excellency wit h
so much industrious calumny."
A few days afterwards General FILANGERI gave

his promised explanation in the Chamber of Peers,
and his denial is couched in the following terms :
" The pretended acts of unheard-of cruelty with the
commission of which the Neapolitan troops have been
reproached, are, alas ! contained in the catalogue of
acts committed in all wars, acts cf which I myself
have been witness on the fields of battle of Austerlitz
and of Jena, at the sieges of Burgos and Saragossa,
IA here I had the honour to command in the glorious
ranks of the French army." lie then proceeds to
describe the operations of the Neapolitan army, which
ended in the capture of Messina, and alludes generally
to the horrible cruelties which he alleges the inhabi-
tants of Messina committed on his soldiers, which
general accusation can of course be only met by a
general denial. From his description of those opera-
tions it appears—
" The troops hal to fight the it way fur two miles
through convents, country houses, and gardens, all
fortified again them; the walls loopholed, the windows
stuffed with mattresses, the very roofs pierced for the
rifle. There were barricades protected by deep fosses,
and numerous artillery in every street of the city and its
suburbs. Their foe was everywhere invisible but deadly,
and mines exploded under their feet. They could not
advance a step without dislodging from the houses, con-
verted into fortresses, not the peaceable inhabitants, but
ntrahienyt
hie:nsw:egam:byatuo.statfioAga
dhet suchitte...
one
Neither
alhotaiei mtre(
bitstthiuoneraedNt
eines
opa:negroshsal
eitft,eatwntyoh3
which
allowedu d do
f
and in which the royal forces
near thirty hours, leave
lolas st the
d
6
officers and 1,023 men, the soldier had too much to do
to employ himself in acts of brutal and usel,sa cruelty."
As a proof of the perpetration of the alleged cruel-
ties by the Messinese, he says—" In penetrating into
the city the Neapolitans recognised the dead bodies
of their comrades horribly mutilated." How does
this tally with his previous statement ? If his troops
were fired on from every window and every root',
if every house was pierced with loopholes from which
an incessant shower of bullets was kept up upon the
Neapolitan troops, if numerous artillery in every
pfilroedianngdusnmdoekrethaenidr
streetshot,
fw
me rien
mines cons
were
n t
cl
feet, surely the cloud of ,smoke must have been so
dense as to have rendered it physically impossible for
yo
n svtoamn ltyi egx
the Neapolitan troops to have recognised the muti-
lated dead bodies of their comrades, more especially
when we are told, that " to loiter, to disperse, or to
leave the ranks was to die." It is manifestly im-
possible that both statements can he true. Leaving
General FILANGERL and his supporters to reconcile
these conflicting statements as best they may, let us
proceed to consider the defence which he has offered.
lie does not venture explicitly to deny that acts of
atrocious cruelty were committed, but he says that
the cruelties committed at Messina were not greater
than those committed at Austerlitz, at Jena, at
Burgos, and at Saragossa. Austerlitz and Jena were
pitched battles, fought in the open country between
regular troops; there cannot, therefore, be any
analogy between Austerlitz or Jena and Messina;
but Burgos and Saragossa are cases in point. At
iboth places atrocities were committed by the be-
fiiagers on the belpltss, and, until the COMIXtenCo.

merit of those atrocities, unresisting inhabitants ;
both at Burgos and at Saragossa (as appears
from the general concurrence of all the histo-
rians of the Peninsular war, and from the concurrent
tstimony of all the officers, English, German, Spanish,
and Portuguese engaged in that war) hostilities were
not conducted according to the practice of civilized
nations, and by adopting the precedents of Burgos
and Saragossa, as applicable to the case of Messina,
General FILANGERI in fact pleads guilty to the whole
charge. As well might a man, arraigned on a charge
of murder, plead the precedents of THURTELL and
COURVOISIER as a justification. _ _ _

It is worthy of remark, that throughout his de-
fence General FILANGERI has most artfully made it
appear that it is against his soldiers, rather than
against himself, that these charges have been made ;
and that the accusation against him is merely that he
permitted the perpetration of atrocities ; whereas the
real charge is that he not only permitted but ordered
the perpetration of the greater number of these atro-
cities, as will appear from a consideration of the
,pecific charges brought against him—charges
which, if untrue, are easily disproved, but
to no one of which has General FILANGERI ven-
tured to give a specific denial. The first charge is,
that after the city of Messina had surrendered to the
Neapolitans, and after the white flag had been hoisted,
the bombardment was wantonly continued for eight
hours until the city was utterly destroyed. To
this specific accusation General FILANGERI does not
venture any specific denial. Will his advocates in
this country venture to do for General FILANGERI
that which he has not ventured to do for himself ?
We may judge of the effects of the bombardment
from the following proclamation issued by General
FILANGERI'S own officer on the 12th September :

" NO. 19.—PROCLAMATION OF THE SYNDIC OF MESSINA.
" Whereas the Syndic of this town is charged with
providing lodgings for the troops, and whereas there are
only a small number of disposable habitations, most of
them having been burned or destroyed, the Syndic requires
all citizens who are absent, and whose houses are closed,
to re-enter the town, or to direct trustworthy persons to

open the houses, and to aid in the fulfilment of this im-
portant part of the King's service.
" The Syndic reckons on the readiness of all good
citizens to obey his appeal, and hopes that they will not
force him to have recourse to rigorous measures.
" The Syndic, Marquis nx CASSIBILE.
" Measina, Sept. 12, 18-18."
Is it true, aye or no, that the bombardment was
continued for eight hours after the surrender of
the city ? Will the defenders of General FILANGERI
join issue on this point ? To one other charge, and
to one other charge only, will we allude for the
present, a charge which General FILIANGERI has not
ventured to deny, and the truth of which is corrobo-
rated by the manner in which his defenders in this
country have distorted it in order to be able to give it
the appearance of a denial. A writer who has de-
clared himself openly the advocate of the King of
IsTArnEs, in describing the charges brought against
General FILANGERI, to which his defence is alleged

to be a triumphant answer, speaks of " the lame, the
sick, and the infirm taken from the hospitals and
butchered." This is very much like swearing by the
card; the real accusation is that " the wounded
were burnt in the hospital of which they (the
Neapolitans) shut the doors." This is net the charge
of an anonymous writer recklessly brought forward
to round a period; it is a grave accusation delibe-
rately made by M. AMARI, Member of the Sicilian
Parliament, in his work. entitled "La Sicile et Les
Bourbons," published during the present year in Paris.
The words of M. AMAaI are, "Les blesses furent
brulis clans I 7Topital dont on ferma lee porter." Such
a specific charge, so supported, ought, if unfounded,
to have been at least specifically denied. It has not
been denied, and therefore the conclusion is that no
denial can be given to it. Again, we irk the de-
fenders of General FILAXGERI to join issue—ls it
true, aye or no, that the wounded were burned in
the hospitals, the doors of which were closed by the
troops of FILANGzaI? Is it or is it not according to
the usual practice of civilized nations to burn the
wounded in the hospitals ? Upon the answers to
these questions we are willing to rest the whole of the
Messina controversy.

On the forenoon of the 26th of February, 1848,
the Provisional Government appeared before the
people on the esplanade in front of the Hotel de Ville,
and M. DR LAMARTINB in their name declared
s' Royalty is abolished ! The Republic is pro-
claimed!" To-day is the anniversary of that memor-
able occurrence. In the interval of twelve months,
how rapid have been the vicissitudes of Princes !
how vast has been the progress of Democracy ! A
merely cursory glance over the dominions of the Eu-
ropean Continent will show that the greatest poet and
the greatest prose-writer of the last generation were
both of them prophetic; and that although Briton
came not from Cumeea, nor CHATEAUBRIAND from
Aropios, their pages afford as keen a view into futu-
rity as ever did the leaves of the Pagan Sybil. One
of these men asserted that kings' days were coming to
an end. The other maintained that the regeneration of
society, politically, socially, and intellectually, was no
longer chimerical; that it depended for its development
neither upon the paradoxes of ROUSSEAU nor upon the
fanaticism of ROBESPIERRE; but that it had become
a necessity which mankind would, of its own accord,
accomplish. They were laughed at for their prophe-
cies —and yet those prophecies are already beholding
their fulfilment. The assertions of BYRON and of
CHATEAUBRIAND are receiving the corroboration of
events even before the first half of the nineteenth
century has been completed. A brief enumeration of
some of the most conspicuous of those events will be
sufficient to prove at once the glorious and irresistible
advancement of democratic ideas and the twofold
accuracy of the English bard and the French ro-
mancist.

Since the Republic of France was proclaimed by
LAMARTINJ on the 26th of last February, kings
and nations have experienced the force of the prin-
ciples which were then announced and accepted by
the Parisians.

A Republic has been proclaimed at Venice : and
the glories of that Sidon of the Adriatic have seemed
to revive in the exhumation of its independence.
A Republic has been proclaimed at Rome : and
men have already begun to anticipate the liberties
which were once the prerogatives of the citizens of
that great capital.
A Republic has been proclaimed at Florence : and
the recollections which surrounded the ancient build-
ings, the galleries, and libraries of the Tuscan metro-
polis, are again calling to mind the days when CELLINI
and DA -VINCI flourished under the municipal admi-
nistration of the MEDICIs.

Hungary has risen in arms under BEM and Kos-
SUTII, to reconquer her nationality from the hands of
her German oppressors. Nor are their heroic efforts
yet terminated, although opposed by the colossal army
Of WINDISCHGRATZ and the barbarian cohorts of
JELLACHICH.

Sicily has declared her determination to enjoy the
rights and blessings of her insular independence :
and, although up to the present time the patriotic
wishes of RUGGIERO SITTIMo have to a considerable
extent been thwarted, it is certain that the con-
stitutional privileges of the Sicilians will be
rescued in the end from the grasp of the
tyrannical Bourbon. The cruelties inflicted upen
the unfortunate population of Messina during the late
warfare—cruelties which are indisputable, notwith-
standing the quibbles of FILANGERI—WiII recoil upon
the execrable and execrated SOVEREIGN of the Nea-
politans in the final emancipation of the country of
ARCUIMEDES and TUEOCRITUS.

Bavaria has compelled an old and contemptible vo-
luptuary to resign the crown which he had degraded
by his licentiousness; and has elevated to the throne
a Prince free from his vices, and less pledged to the
continuance of a system which years have rendered
not only pernicious, but absolutely impracticable.
Austria has, by a succession of revolutions, hurled
METTERNICH from autherity, and driven FERDINAND to
abdication : and, by so doing, the inhabitants of Vienna
have liberated themselves from the incubus of a faineant
Emperor, whose imbecility had been rendered a curse
to the multitude by the devices of an absolutist states-
man.
Prussia has only been baulked of her renovation
through the treachery of her Monarch, Rho, after
making the circuit of political tergiversation, has re-
turned to his old attitude as a counter-revolutionist.
Sardinia has prevented the possibility of any retro-
gression on the part of the KING, who, as Prince of
CARIGNANO, revealed such an extraordinary aptitude
for spostaey ; and she has done this by forcing upon

him the acceptance of a democratic Ministry headed
by the consistent and philosophic GIOBERTI.

Switzerland, no longer distracted by contentions
respecting the Sonderbund, has watched with sym-
pathizing eagerness the progress of occurrences, on
the one side among Germans, and on the other among
the Italians, and would willingly have afforded that
shelter to BLust which she was more fortunate in
bestowing upon DlAsztNr.
Denmark, while fighting for that province of which
she must otherwise have been despoiled, has been
vigorously, though almost imperceptibly, maturing
her crude but generously-conceived constitution.
Naples has revealed by the atrocities perpetrated in
her streets by the soldiers and the lazzaroni that the
will of a nation can only be rendered subservient to
that of a despot through the medium of the bloodiest
catastrophes.

Spain has, in like manner, testified by her recent
history that arbitrary government produces not only
disgrace in the capital, but insurrectionary outbreaks

in the provinces.
On either side of the great continent—as if to pre-
serve the equilibrium of Europe—as if to give to ci-
vilization the equipoise of barbarity—England, the
most free, and Russia, the most despotic, of all
the powers of the earth, have remained impassive
spectators of the strife and commotions which have
raged between them.
Is there not, we ask, in these marvellous deeds
which have been accomplished in the European do•
minions, ample reason for our exultation at the pro-
gress of democracy, since the 26th of last February ?
Have we not sufficient subject for rejoicing in those
remarkable triumphs of the popular cause ? And who
shall say that, compared with the Absolutists, the
Democrats have not evinced a singular union of
leniency, virtue, and self-denial ? With a few la-
mentable exceptions—exceptions ever to be deplored
by all true lovers of freedom—how pure has not
the cause of Democracy emerged from the strug-
gle when contrasted with the relentless, malignant,
and bloodstained cause of Absolutism ! While the
one has been covered with ineffaceable infamy by the
cruelties of JELL/CHICH, by the massacres of Win-
DISCHGRATZ, by the spoliations of RADETZET, by the
treachery of FREDERICK 'WILHELM, by the corrup-
tions of the QUEEN-MOTHER at Madrid, and by the
superhuman butcheries of the reigning SOVEREIGN of
Naples—the other has, in all but a few melancholy
and miserable instances, preserved the dignity of its
character untarnished by a crime. It was thus that
France became a Republic without a crime, that
Venice became a Republic without a crime, that
Hungary declared its independence without a
crime, and that the Danes and the Spaniards
have drawn their swords against the enemies of their
free nationality without rendering themselves objects
of execration to the rest of the civilized world.
Such has been the fate of Absolutism and such the
progress of Democracy since—one year ago—royalty
in France was declared to be abolished by the voice
of la/MARTINI.

by its energy and by the bravery of General Chan-
garnier. The Government set on foot a long and minute
inquiry, aided by all the resources of arbitrary power.
What has resulted from it ? Three arrests and three
liberations; in a word—nothing. The representatives of
the people will, in their turn, have a duty to perform
A Committee has under consideration a proposition for.
an inquiry into the events of January 29. To-morrow,
perhaps, the disco lion will take place. Let not the
National Assembly be afraid to examine whether there
was a conspiracy, and who are the guilty parties. To
arrive at a knowledge of the truth, it will neither require
preventive arrests nor difficult investigation; it wilt only
have to induce certain of its Members to speak, and the
others to listen."

The President of the High Court of Justice (M.
BERENGER) has published officially in the Ilioniteur
a decree ordaining that the trial of the authors and
accomplices of the attempt of May 15, shall commence
at Bourges, on Wednesday, March 7.
The Bourse was closed on Saturday. The Five
per Cents. declined yesterday in the Passage de
l'Opera to 83f. 20c. ; they subsequently recovered,
and closed at 83t. 60c."
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE

LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, FEB. 24.
Boulogne and Amipris, 97/e —Central France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 124—Dutch Rhenish, I—Luxembourg 2 ex
in.—Namur and Liege, 9,4—Northern of France, 104—
Orleans and Bordeaux, 44—Paris and Orleans, 34—Paris
and Rouen, 21 ex dir.—Paris and Strasbourg, 374—Rouen
and Haire, 13% Sambre and Meuse, 51A—Tours and
Nantes, 2%.

insurgents and the flight of others. General Puea
NEIL'S troops took thirteen guns and ten wagons,
with a number of muskets and other weapons. The
number of killed and wounded is quoted in the Austrian
bulletin as follows : Hungarians killed, 700 ;
wounded and captured, 140. Austrilns—killed, 70 ;
wounded 160. General BEM retreated with his
troops to the city of Muhlenback, which he barricaded,
but which he quitted after being threatened by an
attack of the Imperialists, and retired to Szassvaros,
from which place he was dislodged with some loss on
the 7th instant, and driven upon Deros.

FRANKFORT. •
THE NEW PRUSSIAN NOTE.

Subjoined is a translation in extenso of the new
Prussian note, alluded to in a recent number of our
journal, and addressed, under date Feb. 16, to the
Prussian Plenipotentiary at Frankfort-on-the-Maine :
In the circular dispatch of the 23d ult., his Majesty's
Government pointed out the way in which, according to
their conviction, a concordance might be arrived at with
reference to the constitution uncle r discussion in Frank •
fort—a concordance urgently required by the situation
of Germany. That way is the coming, on the part of
the respective governments, to an understanding as well
amongst themselves as with the German National As-
sembly.
The proposition of Prussia had Abe good fortune to
meet with the almost undivided assent of the allied Go-
vernments ; and the great majority of them declared in
their reciprocal intimations of opinion, as they have
rived here, that they were ready, through their pleni-
potentiaries in Frankfort, to enter upon a deliberation in
common.

Your Excellency is already provided with instruc-
tions respecting the chief points of view of his Majesty's
Government. After the resoluions of the German
National Assembly respecting the constitution had, in a
duly attested form, reached here through the communi-
cation made to your Excellency on the 28th ult. by the
central minister, the Baron von Gagern, his Majesty's
Ministers made it a point of duty to subject them to a
careful examination. I am, consequently, enabled to
forward to your Excellency the opinions and proposals
of alterations resulting from the deliberations in ques-
tion, in order that you may confer regarding them with
the plenipotentiaries of the other Governments, and then
lay them before the Central Ministry.
It is highly satisfactory for me to discover, by your
Excellency's report, that those plenipotentiaries already
agree, in the main points, with the deductions arrived at
during the previous conferences of your Lx•
cellency with no inconsiderable portion of the
plenipotentiaries in Frankfort. The Ministry have
laid great stress on those deliberations, and I
am on that account the more justified in indulging in
the hope that, at some future conferences, and with the
maintenance of the principle enunciated, the joyful goal
of a comprehensive union and understanding will be at-
tained. Whilst transmitting to your Excellency, by
means of special instructions, these suggestions and
propositions, I have at preseut to treat of the points of
view which, pending the arrangement of the important
affair in question, have been, and which, moreover, will
continue to be, the leading ones for his Majesty's Go-
vernment.

Ministers maintain, as their chief principle, that the
German constitution can only arrive at a valid conclusion
through the fr, e concurrence of the Governments con-
cerned in it. Whilst fully claiming that right for them-
selves, they equally acknowledge it to be, as they have
already declared on a former occasion, one for all the
other members of the confederation without exception.
Nothing more sincerely or ardently do they desire
than that the new constitution of the German Confede
ration should encompass all the German races with a
strong and cordial bond, and form them into a great
whole. They are thoroughly convinced that the up-
holding of the close connexion—one cemented by cen-
turies—between Austria and the remaining portion of
Germany is, for both sides, greatly and indispensably
necessary. They do not desire the unloosening of that
bond, but rather that it be strenthened and confirmed.
In that respect (sic in the original) they fully coincide
with the sentiments expressed by the Imperial Govern-
ment in their dispatch (here communicated) of the 4th
inst. to their plenipotentiary.
Whilst they do not call into question the difficulties
which the peculiar relaions and requirements of the
German provinces of the Imperial State, in connexion
with those of the entire monarchy, oppose to the con-
solidating of those relations with regard to the future
confederation, his Majesty's Government do not doubt
but that a successful solution may be arrived at; and
they feel that they are justified, by the contents of the
note referred to, in expecting that the Imperial Govern-
ment will set some positive propositions to that effect
before the remaining allied Governments and the Na-
tional Assembly. His Majesty's Ministers will make it
their duty to meet, on their side, such propositions in the
spirit already pointed out.
It is of course upon those propositions as well as
upon the declarations that may be made by other allied
Governments which have not yet spoken out, that the
ultimate determination of his Majesty's Government will
b 3 dependent.
Meantime they consider themselves strictly bound to
speak, from their point of view, respecting the proposed
project of constitution. The situation of Germany re-
quires a speedy decision. All true friends of fatherland
recognise the necessity of at last terminating the present
uncertain state of affairs, and of establishing a strong
centre of unity on which the weak may lean and around
which the elements of support may gather. It is upon
that point that hangs the prevention of the entire dis-
solution of the weaker states, and the destruction of
the still vital elements of internal disorder (ever seeking
for further progress) as well as the repose and peace of
Germany. The satisfying of that requirement cannot
be made dependent on uncertain events, nor postponed
for an undetermined pt
His Majesty's Government will allow no doubt to re-
main respecting the length to which Prussia is prepared
to go towards satisfying that want. They have already
freely declared, through his Majesty's proclamation of
the 18th of March last, that they would devote their
powers to their transformation of the German State
Confederation into a confederate state. They have
acted in that spirit ever since, and they will continue to
do so.

Prussia needs not, on its own account, this confederate
state. Its greatness, its political consistency, enable it
more than most other states in Germany to suffice for
itself, and, in case of necessity, to defend itself. It
seeks no aggrandisement in power or influence. IF,
upon its side, it desires a confederate state, it is for
the sake of Germany, not of itself. The sacrifices which
it brings to Germany, the burdens which it takes upon
itself, it brings and bears for the sake of the community.
It is from this point of view his Majesty's Govern-
ment have examined the project of constitution in ques-
tion. They are of opinion that, in the main, it contains
the principles and the conditions of a powerful con-
federate state—one answering the requirements of the
times. The proposed alterations, which they communicate
to your Excellency, arise from the conviction that it is
advisable. 1. To limit more the competency of the
executive of the confederation, but without that com-
petency to guarantee to it that it shall be powerfully
upheld. 2. To secure as much as possible the existence
of the particular states as independent organic mem-
bers, and not to limit them further than is necessary for
the attainieg of the essential conditions for a confederate
state.

According to the conviction of his Majesty's Govern-
ment, a centralisation, which should go beyond a confe-
derate state and lead to a united one, ought to be alto-
gether avoided, as being neither necessary nor corre-
sponding with the real wants of Germany, and also as
being dangerous and obstructing to the work of unity.
On the other hand, the King's Government are also of
opinion that the particular princes and states cannot be
reasonably asked to give up a considerable portion of
their independence, except in favour of a truly strong
central executive, which, through powerful protection,
obtains the sacrifices which it requires.
The King's Government hope that the declarations and
propositions which your Excellency will make in their
name will be favourably received by the Governments,
and the National Assembly meet with due consideration,
and advance the work of investigation.
In conformity with the principle set forth at the com-
mencement, the King's Government reserve to them-
selves the right of making definite propositions respect-
ing sections 1,2, and 3 of the first chapter, bearing the
title, " The Empire." They are convinced that no ar-
rangement can be made respecting what territories form
the confederate state, until it be first decided what
German countries will enter into it. They also hold the
conviction that the relations of those portions of the
confederation, whose existing connexion with non-
German States requires special arrangements, can only
be regulated when the particular conditions of their ad-
mission—a subject which must remsin one for further
negotiations—are determined. They hold it to be
strictly necessary that no premature decisions, of a na-
ture to obstruct or exclude the possibility of that union,
be arrived at.

With regard to the chapter treating of the formation
of the supreme executive of the [confederate state, and
bearing the title, tho " Supreme Head of the Empire,"
the King's Government must also refrain from making,
for the present, any express declarations, the more espe-
cially as the decisions of the National Assembly on that
point have not led to any final result. They consider
that that portion of the constitution is dependent on the
declarations and propositions which are to be expected
from the confederate Governments which have not yet
expressed their:opinions. The points of view from which
the King's Government set out have been already alluded
to in the circular dispatch of the 23d ult.
Whilst his Majesty's Government now make these de-
clarations respecting the remaining chapters of the con-
stitution and bring forward their proposals for altera-
tions, they designate thereby the conditions and limits
on and within which they, from their pint of view, con-
sider the confederate state as realisable, and are pre-
pared to join it. They do not deny that the still re-
served explanations of the remaining Governments may
introduce the necessity of modifying the work of the coil-
stitution in important points.
So far as future negotiations may give rise to such a
necessity, his Majesty's Government have only to draw
your Excellency's attention to the circumstance, that
they have given their opinions respecting the project of
the constitution as a whole; and that in case important
premises, on which the whole rests, be removed or mo-
dified, their final declarations will be altered and re-
served.
Your Excellency will make these instructions the
grounds of your expositions with regard to the consti-
tuted question; and I empower you to communicate them
to the President of the Central Ministry.
Berlin, Feb. 16. (Signed) BULOW.
To the Royal Plenipotentiary at the seat of the Central
Executive, his Excellency the Minister of State, Herr
Crphausen, Frankfort-on-the-Maine.

110 LLA ND.
TITE HAGUE, FEB. 24.—The Second Charriber of
the States General has unanimously adopted the fol•
lowing Addres in reply to the Speech from the
Throne :

" Sire,—The Second Chamber cf the States Getters'
vividly appreciates the importance of the duties which
the fundamental law imposes upon the nation. We de-
sire to contribute to the accomplishment of the enlarged
mission to which the Legislature is called, for the conso-
lidation of that intimate union between the Government
and the nation which gives energy to power. This is
what your Majesty desired when by your Royal word
you decided upon the reform of our institutions. This
aim, in our opinion must tend to the development of the
liberties and the rights I)) the fundamental law guaran-
teed to the people of the Netherlands, aid the organiza-
tion of the government which it prescribes.
" We believe, Sire, that from the moment the Go-
vernment shall in this manner become a national power,
all the present difficulties of the state of our finances
will be surmounted.

" These difficulties are augmented by a deficit, and
even if that deficit should be covered they will not then
disappear. They require especially not only that our
system of expenditure, but also that our fiscal system
should be established on a new basis. The nation will
be all the more ready to comply if it be thoroughly con-
vinced that the sacrifices required of it are reasonable
and just, arid will be employed in a suitable mailmen
" To a willing mind will be joined the ability to make
these sacrifices of industry if it sees its vital principle—
liberty of action—respected by the Legislature and the
Government, and if it finds in both a due appreciation
of its interests.

" The colonies and possessions of the kingdom in
other parts of the globe have an equitable claim upon
the solicitude of the nation. We conceive it to be our
imperative duty to make ourselves thoroughly acquainted
with the affairs of those countries, and zealously to sup-
port any measures which are necessary to the advance-
ment of their prosperity. The nation will never forget,
Sire, :that it is you who have called it to exercise the
rights whence our freedom emanates; and we esteem
ourselves happy to be able to assure you of its deep gra-
titude. The King and the people have mutually ap-
proached each other, and under this convictio❑ we rally
round your Majesty for the purpose of entering cou-
rageously, and in confident assurance of the Divine
blessing, upon the new era which you have opened_to.the
Netherlands.—Staats Courant, Feb. 23.