The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-28 00:00:00

AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY

The Vienna journals of the 21st contain no intelli-
gence fruit' Hungary, from which we gather that the
Imperial troops have not gained any advantage over
the Magyars since the capture of Presburg. There
is no truth in the rumour of the capture of Raabs by
the Imperialists, but the report of the storming of the
Servian camp, and of the bombardment of Legrand,
by the Magyars, is confirmed.
Letters from Semlin of the 15th state that several
fugitives had arrived in that city from Orsowa, who
reported that the Magyars were about to attack that
town.

The New Rhenish Gazette says—" We learn by
letters from Teschen in Silesia that the Austrian
Lieut.-Colonel FRISCHEISEN has been driven beyond
the HUngarian frontier by the Magyars, and that ho
has lost several pieces of cannon. Several persons
have fled from Teschen and taken refuge in the Prus-
sian territory. It is said that the Hungarians have
won other victories."

The Oder Zeitung of Breslau of the 22d Dec. says
—" It is remarkable that among all the bulletins
which Prince Wistrascucakrx has published, he
should not, up to the present time, have made any
mention of the battle fought at Altenbourg, although
the Imperial troops experienced immense losses in
that battle. In the battle of Altenbourg the Aus-
trians lost 14 officers, 3 field-officers, and 700 men.
But ever since the commencement of the Italian war
we have been accustomed to read none but triumphant
bulletins from the Imperial army.
The President of the Committee of the Constitution
announced to the Kremsier Diet on the 18th, that the
Committee had nearly completed its labour; and that
the Constitution would be presented to them on
the 21st.

The Ministers are growing every day more and
more unpopular on account of the tricky course of
conduct which they pursue, and of which the ante•
dated Hungarian proclamation may be taken as a
specimen. _

The late Minister DOBLOFF is to go as Ambassa
dor to the Hague.

PRUSSIA.

The attempts to remove M. WALDECK from his
office as judge, on account of his votes as a Member
of the Assembly, have proved abortive. The Go-
, vernment influenced his colleagues to refuse to sit
with him in hopes of inducing WALDECK to send in
his resignation, but he was firm, and refused to re-
sign. A long correspondence then took place between
WaLnecre and the Minister of Justice. The Minister's
letter to M. WALDECK regrets he did not of himself
refrain from taking his seat as judge when it became
, evident that it was impossible to bring the rest of the
Court to act with him ; he communicates the unani-
mous decision of the other members of the tribunal,
and presses him earnestly to take some step volun-
tarily that may solve the difficulty, which can, of
course, only mean that he is to abstain from attending
the sittings. M. WALDECK'S reply is a long defence,
denying the legality of any such demand ; the pith of
the reply is, that when a judge happens to be chosen
a representative, he is as free to act in that position as
any other deputy, and that for any vote he may have
given he is not, as a judicial functionary, bound t.
render any account. The following is the most im-
portant passage in his defence, the principle of which
will probably be adopted by all the legal officers who
stand in the same position as M. Wamiscre, and they
are numerous :

"Twenty years' service has sufficiently proved to the
country my impartiality and conscientiousness as a judge.
The tribunal had really no grounds fur the suspicion
that my continuing to sit in it would be attended with
any injury to law or justice. Such insinuations will.not
at all affect the person against whom they are made.
But, on the other band, a real and serious peril threatens
the country when the court of law, forgetting the
proper limits of its authority, descends into the arena of
political conflicts, and decides that a difference of politi-
cal views, and the determined opposition exhibited by a
national representative to a once constitutional Ministry,
are sufficient reasons for his exclusion from office. What
boundless servility in the judges, what continual
changes in judicial appointments, what a total annihi-
lation of all respect for the office will be the
consequence if the principle is admitted !
What confidence can be felt in the descisions of judges
who, in a constitutional state, are deprived of that
independence of position which even under despotic Go-
vernments is considered the palladium of public security?
How can the people in future venture to choose for their
representatives those judicial officers to whom they be-
fore so willingly gave their trust? In striking contrast
with this principle, I cite the example of the Cour de
Cessation of Paris, which includes among its judges men
of the most opposite political opinions, and whose mem-
bers have remained unchanged through so many political
vicissitudes."

M. WALDECK therefore distinctly refuses to vacate
his office, either directly by resignation, or indirectly
by absenting himself from the sittings. He considers
it a sacred duty to retain it, for the interests of the
whole judicial order, and the Courts themselves, and
for the interests of the people and their representa-
tives. So stands the question at present.
The KING came to Berlin on the 20th. This is the
first visit he has paid the capital for some months.
The late President of the National Assembly, M.
VON UNRUH, has returned to Magdeburgh, and given
an account of his political conduct to his constituents
in an address that lasted nearly two hours. In the
evening,a torch-light procession in his honour defiled
before his hotel, but no disorder of any kind oc-
curred. A similar demonstration on a smaller
scale was made at Stettin, in honour of M. VON
KIRCHMANN.

General VON WRANGEL will be appointed to the
command of the reactionary army about to be sta-
tioned on the Rhenish frontier, for the purpose of co-
operating with the Royalist party in France.