The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-08 00:00:00

An event has taken place which may, perhaps,
change the whole course of German policy. The
Prussian Chamber has, by a majority of 109 to 146,
resolved that "it is not in the interest of Prussia or
Germany to plane obstacles in the way of the con-
solidation of the unity of Italy." In spite of the
opposition of Baron Schlcinitz and the retrograde
party, which voted with him on this occasion, the
first deliberative body in Germany has given a check
to the warlike inclinations of the Courts, great and
small, Such an incident at the beginning of a new
reign cannot be without its effect. It shows that
the Sovereigns have to deal with something more
than the feeble discontent which vents itself in
sneers and epigrams. Germany has begun to feel
that representative institutions have not been given
to her in vain, and that by a due use of them she
may gain the direction of her own affairs and insure
the public honour and prosperity.
Prussia has been so long reproached with vacil-
lation that one may well fancy a spirited Prince
anxious to assert his vigour of mind by taking
resolutions without waiting to prove their wisdom.
King William I. may be subject to the dangerous
fear of being thought afraid. During the late
King's life Prussian statesmen always fancied there
was a good reason against every possible course of
action, and the result was that the State remained
inactive when there were the best opportunities of
asserting a high position in Europe. It would
almost seem as if the new King, smarting under the
censures which had been cast on his brother's policy,
was determined to do something which should
convince Europe that Prussia is a great Power,
and has a Prince capable of directing its strength.
Scarcely was he seated on the Throne than the
question of Schleswig and Holstein was reopened,
and a little State filling a most useful part in the
economy of Europe has been so rudely threatened
that the Danish people are preparing for the worst,
and the capital echoes with an " impress of ship-
wrights," making the still respectable navy of Den-
mark ready for sea. We should be glad, however, to
think that an onslaught on Denmark is the greatest
error of which King William is capable. Although
nothing can be more visionary than the grievances
of the Germans, and nothing more extravagant than
their claims on the Danish monarchy, yet in mak-
ing himself their spokesman the King of Prussia
is at least acting a national part. His subjects have
been persuaded that they have fellow-countrymen
beyond the Eider, and that those fellow-countrymen
are ill-treated; the pressure has come from below,
and the Court may be excused for yiele;ng to it.
But a far more serious danger threatens the Prus-
sian State from sympathies in which the people
have no share. As long as the late King lived the
Regent thought it becoming to conceal or repress
his own political feelings, and consequently Austria
has been let to fight her own battles. But even in
1859 the Regent was on the point of interfering,
and every good Prussian has been encouraged to
believe that France concluded a peace through fear
of the invincible legions which would have been
marched against her northern frontier. It is pro-
bably true that the decision of Prussia had consi-
derable influence on the course of events, and if so,
we may be sure that Napoleon 111. is not the man
to forget the favour. However that may be, we have
heard King William make a heroic speech about
the conflict for which Prussia is to be prepared, and
it is easy enough to perceive that in high quarters
at Berlin there reigns an exaltation which may at
any time leaf to some foolish act, to be followed
by deplorable consequences.
In averting such a calamity the resolution of M.
von Vincke, carried against the whole power of
Government in the debate on the Address, is likely
to be most useful. For almost the first ',time we
find the Liberal party in Germany using the forms
of the British Constitution to a good purpose. They
have learnt much from the experience of the last
few years. In common with the party of progress
all over Europe, they have been chastised by every
kind of suffering and failure. Their political educa-
tion has been long and difficult, but it is now almost
complete. So, instead of holding a congress to
debate on the true conception of a nationality, the
Prussian Liberals have taken their places in the
Legislature to protect the one nationality which is
really labouring to establish itself. The blow dealt
by this vote of the Chamber of Deputies will tall
heavily on many a Royal and Ducal Cabinet in Ger-
many. The eight-and-thirty Courts which divide
the country have but one idea of union, and that is
a union of armies. If one of them, the most selfish
or capricious of the number, were in distress the
other thirty-seven would willingly fly to its assist-
ance, if such a term may be used to express the
august motion of a princely House. Now, for two
years past the Courts have been talking much about
the unity of Germany, the sacredness of German
soil, and the necessity of an access to that noto-
riously German sea, the Adriatic. What has been
the motive of all this patriotism which has filled
the speeches of illustrious personages and the
columns of Government newspapers ? Simply that
family alliances and dynastic sympathies have ex-
cited the Courts strongly in favour of the dispos-
sessed Italian Sovereigns and their protector, the
Emperor of Austria. It is only within the last two
or three years that the famous theory has been
elaborated that the safety of Germany requires the
subjection of a part of Italy. We should never
have heard of it had not the Sovereigns of Naples
and Tuscany, as well as the Emperor of Austria,
been united by close bonds with the leading families
of the Confederation. The overthrow of these
rulers, and the success of one who is looked upon as
a traitor to his order, have had more to do with
warlike propensities of the German Sovereigns
than any danger to be apprehended from Italy or
even France. The Bavarian Court, as most nearly
allied to the Austrian and Italian families, has taken
the lead in extravagance, much against the real
wishes of the people, who, though good Catholics,
attached to their own Government, and ready to
defend it against any real danger from beyond the
Rhine, are in no mood to be taxed and slaughtered in
defence of Austria. The royal family of Saxony is
very little behind that of Bavaria in zeal for the cause
of despotism. The press as is proved by the present vote
represents but indifferently the opinion of the nation.
The difficulties and dangers of a liberal journal are
such that even in the most enlightened cities the
voice of opposition is weak. The Courts have made
a kind of bombastic patriotism the fashion, and the
press has aided their endeavours, so that it seemed
not unlikely that the nation might he led away to
support the worst of causes in a region with which
they have nothing to do.
Every Englishman will rejoice to find that the
Prussian people have not been deceived. They know
the power and ambition of France, and, should it
be necessary, they will, no doubt, stand by their
Princes, foremost among whom is King William I.
But they can distinguish between a real national
danger and such a bugbear as has been presented to
them by the ruling families. The policy of Austria
has been to entangle Prussia by an engagement to
support her in the next Italian War. The argu-
ment by which the Emperor's demands were justi-
fied would be hardly worth notice had it not proved
to be successful even with the new King of Prussia.
Germany, it is said, must be defended by the line of
the Mincio, and the Quadrilateral is as strictly a
system of federal fortresses as any that exists on
the Rhine. But against whom is Germany to be
defended on the Mincio ? What enemy, if once
established in Venetia, would burst through the
Tyrol ?It is the Italian people—a race hitherto the
most unwarlike in Western Europe, and now desir-
ous only to put the Alps between itself and the alien
armies which occupy its country. The pretext that
a free Italy would threaten Germany is as palpably
false as that by which Napoleon annexed Savoy and
Nice last year. The good sense of the PrUSSitlll
n
presentatives has rejected these flimsy argunie.
and scouted these idle fears. So strongnw.a:
feeling of the chamber that Baron Scahloe: it
eminent
obliged to declare that, " though the_
intervention
did not consider the principle of
binding," they had no inteutirothconf°innterfering in
Italians claimed,
Italy, unless the war reachrti
any portion of the Federal r°riatsorevo.niplen
es,hort, the
t and we
victory of the Liberal
Pnloderate pretensions and
may hope that
?tuxes.
German be found in the
sounder judgmentilliir:
German

DEATH OF OF LOLA NiONTEZ.—I-lER LAST MOMENTS.
Lola Montez is dead—really dead this time; and the New
fork _Evening
Tho Post
last givmomentses the follof Lola owing edifying account of
her death :
singular contrast I o her earlier career. For s,,rne time she
has been very ill at Astoria, and professed the heartiest
penitence for the manner in which her life had been spent.
About four weeks ago the Rev. Dr. Hawker was requested
to call on her, and he did so. He found her with her Bible
open to the story of the Magdalen, and she expressed to her
visitor her sincere anxiety in regard to her future welfare.
At the same time she was hopeful. " I can forget my
French, my German, my everything," she said, " but I
cannot forget Christ." Before she died she purchased the
little plot in Greenwood where she is now buried. On her
coffin was a plate with the simple inscription—" Mrs. Eliza
Gilbert, died January 17, 1.561, aged 42 fears," 1