The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-15 00:00:00

If PI It 71

Total ... ... ... ...
Gross total number of votes ... 617.

THE PRUSSIAN CONSTITUTION
(From the Examiner.)
The King of Prussia has sent forth an edict, ordaining
taohscasehtmitshbel3.. kingdommembersshall
The g
mo afu matheetm
eiin
provincialt states or parliaments
Berlin,his a
and form a national
of the public debt is to be
under the control and guarantee of
is any new loan or tax, except customt distisesnl).
se,mtobe. Nr
leviedo
wiTthnoeutpirtussssaianuctioi.
State Gazette publishes at the same
time with this an official commentary, which begs people
notaunis
d tpaobr bsn absurd
rs
disaoins
i‘thelnje foolishwsto3r., working
antygs to
at consider stGht dneezrreeue tshu,il st s ao
t.the
p constitution.res present
t
rickety
d
representative system in France, England, sees
howSp
Greece, and will not fling Prussia into the sameainpredaiena-
nient.
Diplomatists are a little astonishedh that Frederic
wofn WilliameFnranb
cue
epsdhoaenosnupdilotdt
areEi
despotic principle
agavl
laeinpdt powerful
kweenrnfun
neutralisetld ;
tahnodt resolutionhgweohieu atstrhe
authoritya timequarrels
and
governments con-
stitutedps torseendg
tt
oh
Russiaeven in
and
Austria, negotiations.
and Prussiadialruetsshsr
in
not
remains
braveein s
aenxd-
aanffarovnetrtyhelataenlygesrhoowf
shown her
openly. Russia
by insaistiang already
and
destructionforee d to ne
accept,
tt,haen
d
tolerat e the fact.hAustria Two
os
Cabinet Ministers of Prussia declared to the Silesian
deputation that they had not been con
flung all the unpopularity on the King ; and he has This
both redeemed the fault with his subjects, and antntnhve
same time practised some kind of retaliation
Russia, by giving a constitution. It is the veritablepon
germ of a constitution. But Prussia is obliged, in giving
it, to ask pardon of the Courts of St. Petersburg and
Vienna, and present its own act as of no popular or pa-
ramount importance.
The concession, however, is of this importance, that it
satisfies, for a time at least, the progressive party
amongst Prussian politicians. The political world in
Prussia is peculiar, and consists in a great measure of
functionaries. These men have acquired liberal ideas,
not because they spring from the people and breathe the
atmosphere of the democracy, but because enlighten-
ment and experience has taught them how intrinsically
weak a despotic government is, especially in any great
crisis of war or famine. Moreover, the power of despotic
Prussia must remain limited to Prussia, and also be infirm
in its extreme provinces, especially in Posen and on the
Rhine, where the population is Liberal and Catholic, with
more affinities for their neighbours beyond the Prussian
frontier than for Berlin or its administration. To be
truly master even of Prussia, and certainly to extend
sway . and influence over Germany, the Kivi; of
Prussia must put himself at the, head of the con-
stitutional party in that empire, and keep himself at the
head of it. It is little matter whether this proceeds
from the calcuiations of interest, or the impulse of Li-
beralism, as long as it is the case. And the King of
Prussia is imrelled to take this course, not by any de-
mocratic cry, by any public or civic opinion, strong as
may be the latter, but by the counsels and views of his
Ministers and functionaries, or of the more enlightened
lof them. There are Whigs at Berlin in the Council
of State, as there may be Radicals at Cologne or
nigfiberg.
The constitution of the provincial states of Prussia is
and is to be found in a decree promulgated
1823. and published in alt the cotitil
annuals. Theze estates do not eaj ,s.
"tuheueellbiltilaikBl::::):)‘t'i debate,
nor can the journsAls divulge an) oi
p ~.
1 their acts, until the close of their labours, when the re-