The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-22 00:00:00

THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

There is an important governmental crisis at
Berlin. The King insists on the revival of the
antiquated, anti-constitutional custom of the Hul-
digung, or " Homage to the Sovereign by the
Estates," whilst Ministers threaten to give in their
resignation if this Royal intention is persisted in.
The Huldiqung, as practised formerly on the acces-
sion of the Prussian monarchs, is essentially in con-
tradiction to the spirit of the age. The usage in
former times was, that a number of feudal estates,
arranged in mediaeval fashion, according to castes
and classes, were to assemble to have their privi-
leges confirmed by the King ; upon which the latter
received the oath of allegiance from his lieges. The
late monarch, true to his romantic medixvalist lean-
ings, indulged in that practice. He did not mean li
thereby, certainly, to grant even to the aristocracy
any privileges which might clash with his own bon
plaisir ideas. He did not intend submitting to any
conditions being imposed upon his tenure of power,
which he considered he held by the grace of God.
Yet he assembled the Estates at Konigsberg for
homage, because it afforded him an opportunity of
reviving the traditions of past ages, and settinr, up,
in appearance, the Government of castes and classes
as opposed to the modern constitutionalist theories.
His purpose, however, was in a manner defeated
on that occasion. The very Estates he had con-
voked, when asked "what privileges they would
like to have confirmed ?" replied that they did not
desire any privileges, but would gladly see the pro-
mises made by Frederick William 111., for a general
representation of the people, fulfilled.
Now, again, a Prussian Monarch travels back
from the prevailing constitutionalist ideas to the
remembrances of a bygone epoch. In modern prac-
tice, the act of homage is supposed to be already
performed when the King takes the oath before the
Chambers. But it seems William I. does not ac-
knowledge the Chambers as the representatives of
the country. To him the Estates, composed for the
most part of noblemen, landed proprietors, and so
forth, appear of far greater importance. Treating
the manner as beyond the reach of the Chambers,
he demands that the Ifuldigung shall be held at
KonigsbergAnd Berlin, as though his oath to the
constitution had never been taken, and as though
no such thing existed as a Prussian Parliament.
No wonder the people are exasperated. They see
in these suspicious Royal movements a covert de-
sire to wriggle out of the path of representative
government—a wish to re-establish that " right
divine" rule of which the present King, since he
mounted the throne, has already spoken far too
much. In consequence of these occurrences, there is
but little cordiality between the Court and the Li-
beral party. The true character of the Monarch,
whom unthinking men have been too ready to
designate " the deliverer of Germany" begins at last
to be understood. The very ministers, faithful ser-
vants as they have been to the behests and even the
whims and crotchets of the King, refuse to consent
to the performance of the Buldigung, alleging
that there are no funds provided by the Chambers
for defraying the costs of the ceremony. It is
said that, during the last few days, the state of
things has very closely approached to a dissolution
of the Ministry. Since then a compromise is spoken
of, Prussian Ministers being generally of that stamp
which the German satirist Boerne describes as able
to do everything but resign office.
Can we wonder at the despotic leanings so per-
tinaciously exhibited by William I. in this question
of homage ? So far from our being astonished
thereat, our only wonder is how men could for so
long a time have misconceived the character of the
Prussian Monarch. Had things gone on according
to the views of King William, surely there would
never have been any Prussian constitution at all.
He opposed, in 1847,the introduction of that shadow
of a constitution which his late demented brother
granted under the name of a Vereinigte Landtag.
In 1848 he combated, with the aid of grape shot,
the constitutionalist aspirations of the people. He
then had to fly for his life to England, where he
remained for three months as an exile. The fron-
tiers of Prussia were only reopened to him after he
had signed a document, promising for the future
to offer no obstacle to representative Government,
but to obey the new laws made by the Legisla-
tive Assembly. Re-entering the Prussian do-
minions under these circumstances, he forthwith
again joined, in secret, the absolutist camarilla, and
aided in plotting the overthrow of the constitution
in November, 1848. In the subsequent year we
find him at the head of the Prussian army, crush-
ing out the popular movement in Baden and the
Palatinate, the population there having faithfully
upheld the cause of the German Parliament. He
then introduced a reign of terror, by means of
fusilades, confications of property, and imprison-
ments, which made his name a terror among the
people of South-Western Germany.
Living afterwards in retirement he yet attracted
the hatred of the feudalists, who suspected him of
a desire to mount the throne before the death of his
mentally-enfeebled brother left the seat vacant for
him, they preferring to retain power as long as pos-
sible under the auspices of the demented King and
his bigoted Romanist Queen. This, and nothing
else, is the cause of the jealousy which has existed,
especially in the beginning of the Regency, between
Wiiliam I. and the Kreuz party. Liberalism, pro-
perly speaking, has had nothing to do with it,
though the force of circumstances, it is true, com-
pelled the Regent, now King to draw on some
occasions closer to the moderate Liberals than to
the aristocratic party. On the other hand the sup-
port given to him by the Liberals has enabled him
to carry some measures which may yet prove sources
of great danger to the constitution. We allude here
especially to the enlargement of the standing army
at the expense of the popular system of the
Landwehr. The Moderate Liberals in the Cham-
bers have allowed themselves to be coaxed and
driven into an assent to that measure, the threat
being always held out that if they refused the Con-
servatives would be installed in offiae.
Now that the important measure has been voted
the King is not long in showing himself in his truers
colours. Without having made to the Chambers
any communication to that effect, he
forward the question of the
r
of an enlarged army, he seeks to
//ukkgituiwzge-
itnpro
classes
tion by grouping around him the privileged pa sotsei
rvrel:hvnow
nis
over the
of the country, raising them,
heads of the Chambers.
imminent danger. The
govern-
ment is thereby placed inand
Conasstitutional,
ition to the
inte-
rests are arrayed in opposition to people at
King, the military element, the landed
curious to see how the Liberal
large.
party intend to act in this emergency. But this
been apparent
much has long since
We are
to every man in
senses—that there is no ruler
his right sen more un-
likely to be a German Victor Emmanuel than
• I• of Prussia, and that if Germ
liana I. liberty
and
national union is to be accomplished, it must be
done by
.other agencies than by
placing blind con-
fidence in the good intentions of
any dynasties
whatever.—Norning Advertiser.

AN IRISH BULL,—In the House of Commons on
Friday, Mr. Blake said :—" If the noble lord (Palmerston)
was not born in Ireland, he was born out of his native
laud." (Laughter, autl lieu, hear.)