The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-18 00:00:00

VIII,

Peoples know how to forgive—an advantage they have
over some kings. Germany may, therefore, bury in a
generous oblivion these useless persecutions, and the names
of the generals who carried them out. But, first of all; it is
necessary that the Prussian Government should pronounce.
It must, instead of wrapping itselfup in a mantle of Austrian
conceit, throw its arms open to receive thedemocratic party.
A few days since a Prussian democrat wrote to a friend
in Wurtemberg :—" Why are you so long before uniting
with us ?"—" If we did become Prussians," was the answer,
"all our patriots, and the poet Uhland at their head, would
still continue in exile." Nothing appears more unlikely;
but nothing can be more true. Since the popular emotions
(sic) in 1345, all European princes, not even excepting the
Pope, have granted amnesties. The Prussian amnesty is
still due.
If the Prince Regent entertains the noble ambition of
reigning legitimately over the whole of Germany, let him
begin by recalling those exiles whose only crime was to have
proclaimed the will of the nation at-the dictation of univer-
sal suffrage. Let him do still better. Let him be the tes-
tamentary executor of the Parliament of 1849, as the Napo-
leons are the testamentary executors of the Jreuch revo-
lution I

.
IX.
Here we make a pause to refute an objection which cer-
tain ill-informed Germans will not fail to make. They
fancy on the faith of some feudal prints that the French
nation is reduced to slavery. They have been persuaded
that Imperial regime had gagged the utterance of thought,
suppressed the national representation, and made mince-
meat of all our liberties. 'I his is an article of faith through-
out Germany, that the Prussians are much happier than
we are, thanks to the benignant influence of a Liberal Go-
vernment, and to the blissful harmony of Parliamentary
institutions.

It is true that tho Emperor Napoleon labours to promote
the greatness and the prosperity of France with almost un-
limited power. But that power, it is the nation that has
entrusted him with. Is there throughout Germany a
single prince who can be looked upon as the representative
of the nation, elected, as Napoleon 111., by universal suf-
frage

It is true that The majority of Frenchmen obey, and even
with a certain degree of empresseinent, the orders of the
Emperor Napoleon. But that obedience is equal for all, a,*
obedience to the law, and the payment of taxes. It is a
democratic obedience, because all the world has given it
beforehand, and because no Frenchman has a right to refuse
it. Is the case similar in Prussia ? Do the provinces sub-
jected to the Prussian monarchy enjoy equal rights ?
Is the Grand Duchy of Posen in possession of
the same liberties as the Margravate of Braden-
burgh ? Is the Margravate of Bradenburgh ruled by
laws as equitable as the Rhenish pi ovincea.? In the
same province are nobles and burghers equal in the
eyes of the tax gatherer ? Are the privileges of the nobility
abolished ? Is such a thing not to be met with as great
territorial magnates who pay taxes in an inverse ratio with
their fortune ?
It is true that the French army is sincerely devoted to the
chief of the state; nevertheless, it does not belong to the
Emperor, but to the nation. Does the Prussian army belong
to the King or to Prussia ? " It belongs to the King," said
a Minister of one of the Hohenzollerns, a few days since,
" the deputies of the nation have nothing to do with the
army."
It is true that amongst us the liberty of the press is placed
under severe restrictions, but the right of printing anything
or everything is not confiscated, it is only postponed. The
nation consents to remain silent for a while around a prince
who is achieving great things, just as friends assembled in
the closet of a philosopher or writer favour him with their
silence. As for the right it remains intact, and the French
people, armed with the right of petition, will always be able
to claim it in fitting time and place, if the Emperor should
forget to restore it to them. Public writers at Berlin are
perhaps a little more free just now than we are in Paris,
thanks to the new born toleration of the Prince Royal of
Prussia, not because they are relieved of the stamp duty, or
exonerated from caution-money or surveillance; nevertheless
they have more freedom than public writers in Paris. But
what guarantee have they that that privilege will last ?
What plea could they bring forward to claim it if the hand
that gave it chose to take it away? The difference that
exists between them and ourselves is that we lend our
liberty to Napoleon 111., whilst they borrow theirs from
the Prince of Prussia.
Efforts are made to persuade the Germans that we have
allowed ourselves to be cheated out of parliamentary institu-
tions. It is certain our parliament is greatly changed since
1848. It is no lower a coterie of from 400,000 to 500,000
persons; it.is the whole nation that sends deputies to the
Corps Legislatif. That assembly, elected by universal suf-
frage, like the Emperor himself, no longer enjoys the ridi-
culous privilege of interrupting every moment the despatch
of business, of replacing deeds by speechification, union by
coalition, public interests by private vanity, the serious
progress of a great people by the wriggling of a few puny
oratorical ambitions, but it enjoys the unquestionable right
of voting all the taxes and all the laws of the empire.

_
X.
This being established, ought we to be jealous of the
Prussian constitution? Is the principle of Ministerial re-
sponsibility applied in Prussia ? Not yet ? Have the cham-
bers the acknowledged right of refusing the taxes? No.
And what are the Prussian chambers ? The lower chamber,
which corresponds with our Corps Legislatif, is recruited
by a mechanism far more ingenious than it is democratic.
No universal suffrage ; not even any election at the first
stage of the proceedings. Given a " circle" or arrondisse-
mentpaying 300,000 francs direct taxes,- fdr instance, the
ratepayers are divided into three unequal squads. The
fifteen or twenty great landholders who pay the first
100,000 francs between them form the first class of electors ;
the second consist of the two or three hundred persons who
pay the next 100,000 francs. All the other citizens paying
the direct tax—that is to say, from 2,000 to 3,000 persons,
form the third. Each of these three classes assemble sepa-
rately, and appoint an equal number of electors—six, for
instance, in each class—and the 18 electors meet in their
turn to proceed to the election of a deputy. Hence it fol-
lows that not only the working classes have no hope of
being represented in parliament, but that the third class, or
the great majority of the burgher class, will always be in a
great minority in the electoral body, and will never send a
member to the chamber. This explains how it happens
that M. de Vincke, who sat on the right (i. e., the Con-
servative side) in the Frankfort parliament, is at present,
, without having changed his opinions, the most advanced
I democrat throughout the Prussian Chamber.
Can liberal Germany set any store by a body thus com-
posed no. And yet the Prussian deputies
rasveed F
occasionally shown some leaning towards progress, but
the Chamber of Lords was there to keep them in order. This
latter is composed, first, of noble personages, who have a seat
in virtue of their birth ; secondly of members appointed by
the King out of a list of candidates presented to him by the
nobility, the universities, and the large towns. The upper
chamber has never been recruited from other sources; on
the one hand birth, on the other the monarch's choice.
Therefore, does it entertain a premeditated hostility against
any democratic or even simply liberal measures ? It re-