The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-11 00:00:00

- IV:1:1,5:: PAPS 1-1,
TILE Kr-VG-PRI-VCR OF PRer'SSlrdi:4?\

It seems beyond a doubt ,014 t, the Pluses
Regency has been, or will lie.:WithW-sa i'kt:Yitl7
)
time conferred on the Prinee'bf PniSsiai ,' Thaeltisti
King has at length been persnade44o delel*--io
the heir of the- throne that powei'*hich hc4an
no longer exercise himself is asserted confidently,
and, though the intelligence is as yet not official,
it may be taken as possessing strong claims- to
belief. At all events, the matter is only a question
of days. , The state of the King is such that he
can never hope to govern again in person, and, in
spite of the intrigues of a eamarilla, the devolution
of his authority. on the next heir must take place
whenever the patience of the people is exhausted.
'We may assume, then, that King Frederick Wil-
liam has . quitted forever the political stage, and
that Prussia is now about to change its sovereign.
Such an event is of some importance - even in a
country like ours ; what, then, must it not involve
in that land of drill and routine, of parade-grounds
and public offices, of army, civil service, church, law,
literature, and art, all
,centralised in the pigeon-
holes of the Royal bureau ? A King must always
be a great man ; the personage whom millions re-
gard with admiration, respect, or curiosity must
end by instilling` something of his own temper into
his subjects and his age. Servants catch the tricks
of their masters, wives get the look and voice and
turns of expression which belong to their husbands,
young ensigns become duplicates of the major in
command, and barristers of one year's standing
have already unconsciously assumed the tone and.
diction of the silk gown. Although the English-
man is of a stubborn and impassive nature, and may
live 20 years in a foreign country. without losing
much of what he brought with him or acquiring
much from the people he is among, yet hardly a
monarch has reigned in England who has not moulded
society into something like his own image. Those
who come into contact with Royalty have been
gallant cavaliers, tasteful in dress and decoration,
but bigoted and insolent withal under Charles I.
reckless and profligate under his son, wavering m
their faith Under James, -With a return to Protestant
and patriotic sentiments when- 'William and Mary
were installed. The four Georges in succession
might have seen their very various characters re-
flected in the mirror of contetnix')i•ztrEnglish life.
Happy it is for this country that the power has gone
no further, and that Royal personages have been
limited to an influence on the prevailing manners
of the day. But in Prussia it has been an A. is
widely different. _There the King has almost a
right to be the State, for he has made it. Tim
British Isles, or France, or Spain may
claim to be
nations independent of any Government or dynasty.
They are marked out by the hand of nature as sepa-
rate portions of the globe, and their geographical
formation has tended more and more to give them
unity in themselves and dissimilarity from their
neighbours. No individual, or family, or class can
say that he or they keep England together, and
that without such help there would be no longer a
country or a position in Europe for the inhabitants
of these islands. The nation remains one by its
own coherence and vitality ; its institutions may
have done much ; but now the work is complete,
and the nation is independent of any such ex-
traneous aid. But Prussia must from the nature
of things be deeply influenced by the personal
character of its King. It does not present the
type . of a race more or less homogeneous like the
French, nor of two or three nationalities welded
together by long intercourse like the English,
Scotch,' and Irish. Prussia has been made by
clever, ambitious Kings, by means of well:drilled
armies. ' A fragment of old Catholic: RhefirSh Ger-
many, a portion of Silesia, Pomerania, and a share
of Poland have been added by war to the heredi-
tary dominions of the House of Brandenburg, and
as they have been added, there is no reason why
they should not be. subtracted. Unity there can be
none between. populations so widely sundered,
1. each of which, also, is closely related to some other
1.
j in its neighbourhood which does not acknowledge
the Prussian sceptre. All that connects Dantsic
with Cologne is the individual Frederick or
Frederick William who is enthroned at Berlin, and
the positive infantry, cavalry, and artillery, inspec-
tors, accountants, and copying clerks who obey his
commands. Orders of knighthood, due patronage
of celebrities, encouragement to genius, and in some
degree to ambition, a strict system of licensing, a
national apparatus of education, and a Royal
Prussian Church, tend to give something more of
solidity to this fabric. But still it requires no
little skill and watchfulness to keep together such
a kingdom, and prevent it from being separated
into its originalelements.
..,.

Hence tile character of the ruler is of the last
importance to the Prussian people, and the members
of the Royal family are the objects of a scrutiny
which would be unnecessary in a less artificial
state. Of the King whose authority is now passing
away we have already spoken, and our estimate
agrees with that which the most enlightened Ger-
mans have long formed of.a, well-intentioned but
feeble and visionary Monarch. The Prince of
Prussia has a more hopeful reputation. It is not'
only the vague expectation which always looks to
a demise of the Crown as the dawning of a better
day, hut there is a well-grounded belief that the
Prince, both from his own judgment and his con-
nexion with our own Royal family, will govern on
more liberal and manly principle's. That this is
felt has been proved by the struggle which not
only the Queen, who might be supposed personally
interested, but the whole of the Absolutist party,
have waged against the abdication of supreme
power by the King. Now that the Regency is
placed beyond a doubt, we shall soon learn how far
a real change in the policy of the State is to be
anticipated.

Every friend of the independence and progress of
Prussia will wish the Prince success. The democratic
tendencies attributed to him we do not believe in;
but we think that he is likely to govern more
sensibly, liberally, and constitutionally than the
present monarch. That the country expects this,
and nothing more, is, perhaps, the most satisfactory
feature of the case. We hear nothing of the rights
of man, or the unity of Germany, or the fraternity
of nations. The Prince of Prussia has shown his
dislike of such vagaries by his conduct ten years
since, and every one believes that if he succeeds to
the throne he will be in all these respects as Con-
servative a:, the most antiquated official could wish.
But, if he is not overrated, he sees that Prussia
requires some kind of national representation and
some freedom of speaking and writing; that the
constitution is possible, nay, necessary, and that its
working will make the Cabinet of Berlin strong in
its dealings with other States. All these are mat-
ters which, though not unimportant to us, belong
principally to the Prussians themselves. But there
is one point which concerns Europe generally, and
that is the attitude of Prussia in her relations with
foreign countries. It is reasonably expected that
the new ruler will show himself less obedient to
the Court of St. Petersburg, - and more anxious to
give his country a high place in Europern concerns.
If the change of Sovereigns l'rings about nothing
but the revolt of Prussia against Muscovite domi-
nation it will have effected much. The Prince of
Prussia will without difficulty find men to carry
out a wiser and more courageous policy; perhaps,
indeed, he may discover his readiest instrunieuts
among those who are now wavering between the
desire to worship the rising sun and their fidelity
to an antiquated and spiritless system.—Times.

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