The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-09 00:00:00

theatre of dangerous or Improper performances
would seriously affect their license from the Lord
Chamberlain.

GREENWlCH.—Yesterday morning, imme-
diately upon Mr. 'Maude taking his scat upon the
bench, between 300 and 400 ablebodied men, prin-
cipally engaged in the southern main drainage
works, but who are at present thrown out of em-
ploy by the severity of the weather, headed by the
Rev. J. P. Courtenay, connected with the London
Diocesan Home Mission, waited upon his worship
with the view of seeking some relief for themselves
and their distressed families. From an explanation
entered into by the rev. gentleman it appeared that
the whole of the men then surrounding the court
had been idle since the setting-in of the present
frost, and consequently they and their wives and
families were suffering the greatest hardships. It
was therefore hoped that out of the poor-box some
relief might be afforded. The Poor Law relieving
officer had been communicated with, and the usual
orders had been offered the applicants, as ablebodied
persons, of work in the union-house, but, as the
amount to be earned would not exceed Bd. per day,
this would be wholly inadequate to provide for
their wants. A conversation then took place between
Mr. Maude and the rev. gentleman, in which his
worship sympathised with the men in their present
position ; but observed that the duty of relieving
the general distress existing in the district could
not be undertaken by the court. A few bene-
volent gentlemen had, however, interested them-
selves in the matter, and the list of contributors
to the fund being raised had been headed by a
donation of £lO 10s. out of the limited funds placed
at the disposal of the magistrates of that court.
The Rev. Mr. Courtenay having remarked that he
would place himself in communication with some of
the committee of the fund, thanked his worship and
retired. The above body of men since the com-
mencement and during the progress of the southern
main drainage works have conducted themselves in
a remarkably sober and quiet manner, gaining the
respect of the residents of the locality, and regu-
larly attending various religious and social gather-
ings which have been originated in their behalf.

THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

If much admonition could make wise, no monarchy
ought to approach in wisdom to the Kingdom of
Prussia. For a considerable number of years
Prussia has been alternately cajoled and rebuked,
complimented and reviled, by the Press and by the
Diplomacy of every Power in Europe. Prussia
occupies, in fact, exactly that position with re-
ference to which people are most prodigal of advice
or dissuasion, of praise or of blame. The kingdom
is composed of heterogeneous parts ; its policy is
the strangest mixture of opposites and contradic-
tions. Nothing can be said of it which does not
require to be qualified by an infusion of its contrary.
Prussian liberty is tempered by a strong mixture
of absolutism. Prussian education is neutralized
by a concomitant dryness and formality. It is a
military country, but its army scarcely rises above
the organization of a Militia ; it is a Parliamentary
country, but the Press and the people are alike
submitted to the absolute control of the police. One
might have thought that a nation so circumstanced
would have contented itself with the attempt to
reconcile and combine the discordant elements
which struggle for mastery within her ; but Prussia
is a country, if not of any deep or settled purpose,
of many wants, tendencies, and proclivities. Prussia
wants very much to take the lead in Germany, and
to rally under her banners all that is liberal and
enlightened in the great Teutonic nation ; but her.
she is met with this difficulty, that she cannot make
up her mind to become really and thoroughly
liberal herself. • She has a sentimental desire to
claim as her own the Duchy of Schleswig ; and if
speeches and songs could make that Danish Duchy
German soil the deed would have long since been
done. Prussia believes that she has a common in-
terest with Russia, though she isjealous of the power
of her colossal neighbour. She hates while she is
nervously anxious to conciliate France. She is
drawn towards Austria by a common fear, and re-
pelled by a mutual rivalry ; and assures England of
her warmest sympathy, while she carefully stands
aloof from her policy. It is not to be wondered at
that such a nation should perpetually be the object
of remonstrance and expostulation • for, while there
is in her something to make everybody hope, there
is also in her something to disgust and disappoint
everybody.
We stand now at the entrance of a new reign.
Of the late Sovereign it may be said with truth
that he fairly represented the country over which
he ruled ; that no man had given cause for more
hope or for more disappointment, had devised
more schemes and seen fewer brought to any prac-
tical result. On the accession of his brother to the
Regency he took up a position which seemed to
promise well for the liberty of his country. The
party of the Kreuz Zeitung, with its romance and
its fanaticism, had fallen from power, and we were
encouraged to hope that the change we witnessed
was the dawning of a new and brighter era. But
we have found reason to retract our sanguine
aspirations. Schleinitz is, after all, much the same
as Manteuffel, only with a little prettier name;
and as for the development of public opinions, we
find Prussia very nearly exactly where she was.
But a Regency is proverbially a time of irresolute
councils and tardy action, and' we may hope that,
now that the Regent is converted into a King, we
are at length to see the accomplishment o our
long deferred expectations. Apparently we were
never further from their realization. There are
domestic influences at work which urge the present
King of Prussia to cast aside the vacillating policy
of his brother, and to present himself to Europe as
the founder of a dynasty of the Napoleonic, or
rather Caesarian type, where the King, being
placed at the head of the army, regulates all things
by his absolute will, and recognises no power in
the State except his own. Opposed to these
promptings are the straggling nature of his
dominions, the danger of discontent among at least
a portion of his subjects, and the uncomfortable
position of a power hemmed in by France, Russia,
and Austria, none of them true friends, and all of
them capable, of becoming, at very short notice
and on very slight pretext, exceedingly for-
midable enemies. Thus is the period of
uncertainty protracted, and the nation kept in
ignorance whether it is to have any policy at all,
and whether that policy is to be absolute or libe-
ral, patriotic, or dynastic.
While things are in this uncertain state, the
King publishes an address to his people, and we
naturally seize on it with avidity, in order to deter-
mine what is to be the future of Prussia and of
Germany. The late King, we are told, laid the
foundations of great things, though we cannot for-
get that these great things have, as yet, not ad-
vanced beyond the foundations. The King pro-
mises to guard the bequest of his ancestors, though
whether that bequest be Prussia or its Constitu •
tion we are not told. His hand, he promises, shall
protect the welfare and the right of all, in every
class of the'population. It shall sustain the precious
life of the nation. According to our notions, the
life and welfare of the nation would be better pro-
' tected if intrusted to the nation itself. The con-
ditions of Prussia's power are, the King tells us,
founded on her spiritual and moral powers, her
religious feelings, the combination of liberty and
obedience, and the strengthening of her military
force. What all this means we do not pretend to
know, and we are only sorry that the welfare of a
State to which we wish well does not rest on some
more intelligible basis. The King will observe the
Constitution, and, though the confidence of Europe
is shaken, will seek to maintain peace; bat if war
shall come he relies on the courage of his people,
and the blessing of God on his mission. Such is
the programme which Prussia has before her, and
he must indeed be a shrewd interpreter of involved
diction and metaphysical jargon who can pronounce
from this aggregate of unmeaning words whether
it is the intention of the King of Prussia to make
the Constitution of his country a reality, or to leave
it only a form ; to assert her position among the
Powers of Germany, or to balance for ever between
" I dare not" and " I would ;" to rely on a policy
which may conciliate to him the feelings and aspi-
rations of large masses of mankind, or to go on in
perpetual see-saw where every step is the formal
negation of that which went before it.
We cannot even venture a conjecture; we can
only express an opinion, that never was there a
period in which Prussia might with more solid
benefit adopt a manly and, above all things, an in-
telligible policy. Russia is thoroughly crippled,
financially as well as militarily, by the results of
the war in the Crimea. France has incurred so
much distrust as seriously to diminish her influence.
Austria is bankrupt in fir ante, and apparently on
the very verge of dismemberment. Germany needs,
above all things, a leader, and the leadership note
obtained might easily, perhaps, be preserved for
centuries. The revolution of Italy has given a vast
impulse to the Liberal cause throughout Europe,
and has convinced all men that in the days in
which we live the advantages of absolute power are
more than compensated by its instability. The
downfall of the temporal power of the Pope has
given a considerable impulse to Protestantism, and
the prosperous finances of Prussia may bear an
advantageous comparison with the ruined exche- '
quers of the great military monarchies, A tho-
roughly constitutional State in the north of Germany
might at the present moment exercise a power of
attraction which timid politicians little dream of.
Before the irresistible prestige of free Piedmont th
jealousies and animosities of the most divided
nation of Europe has been hushed into silence. To