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

THE KING OF PR USSIA.

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 Huldigung, 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 medimval 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 medimvalist lean-
ings, indulged in that practice. He did not mean
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 setting 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 onarch 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 Huldigung shall be held at
Konigsberg and 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 there 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 Huldigung, 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 th 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 1818 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 absolutistthee,acmonasritliltau,tain constitution
aided in plottieg the overthrow of
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, bet Ween
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 offi3e.

Now that the important measure has been voted
the KILT is not long in showing himself in his true
colours. Without having made to the Chambers
any communication to that effect, he now brings
forward the question of the Huldigung. The master
of an enlarged army, he seeks to improve his posi-
tion by grouping around him the privileged classes
of the country, raising them, as it were, over the
heads of the Chambers. Constitutional govern-
ment is thereby placed in imminent danger. The
King, the military element, and the landed inte-
rests are arrayed in opposition to the people at
large. We are curious to see how the Liberal
party intend to act in this emergency. But this
e
much has long since been apparent to every man in
his right senses—that there is no rulermore un-
likely to be a German Victor Epymlislmphaaenedi, it must be
done
tbblianndlNril
liam I. of Prussia, and that if German liberty and
aigsentcobse thacacnomb
nat national nb
ya
other union
agencies
con-
fidence in the good intentions of
whatever.—Morning Advertiser. any dynasties

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
land," (Laughter, and hear, hear.)

On Thu:6day evening an i.
Rand Capron, the borough coroner, on view of the
Bear Inn, Friary-street, Guile Ad, before Mr. ..
body of Edward Norton, a private of the Scots Fusi-
leer Guards, aged 27 years, and who came by his
death under the following circumstances :
James Burroughs deposed that he was a ptiv,,te
in the 2d battali," 2d Company Scots Fusileer
Guards. He the deceased between five and
six years. On the previous morning they started
from Kingston to Guildford, the distance being 18
miles. They reached Ripley about 12, and Guild-
ford about 2. The deceased seemed well on the
march. He talked and drank water on the way.
The deceased first fell out when they were about
21 miles from Guildford, but was told to join again,
as he had only such a short distance to go. This
he did, observing that he would not fall out again ;
he would rather fall dead on the road. Just before
reaching Guildford he fell quite exhausted, and
witness never saw him alive afterwards. To his
knowledge, deceased, with the exception of water,
had nothing on the road but some bread and cheese,
which was served out to all the men at Cobham,
the officers paying
for it. He had not complained
on the march, but he staggered a good deal from
side to side after he fell out the first time. He did
not know who ordered the deceased into the ranks
the second time. The day was very hot, and seve-
ral of the men fell out during the march. They had
to carry a very heavy kit indeed, owing to chang-
ing barracks, and, if they had not brought the
whole of their things with them they would have
been lost. They had a musket, an extra pair of
trousers, gre%t coat, and other articles, weighing
altogether about 701 b. They had two surgeons
with them. lie suffered very much from the
heat, and had a bad headache. When they
started from Kingston the deceased was quite
sober. He had two pairs of trousers on,
but otherwise he was dressed in his usual man-

angera
Manyt
itvyworaes
their bearskin caps, which weighed about 31b. They
would have marched much more comfortably in
hthe g tookene r a offr
t,
ea theirla i a stocks,
down.
Theybut
caps. They had a waggon behind, which picked
up one or two men. While on the march the men
arriving at a horse-trough in fro:it of a publichouse,
not-only drank out of it but dipped their heads in.
Mr. Richard Eager, of Guildford, surgeon, de-
posed to seeing the soldiers coming into Guildford.
The deceased staggered from side to side, and at last
fell exhausted. He was at once put under soma
trees. He gave directions as to keeping his heat
high, but finding a regimental surgeon present, he
left him under his care. Deceased was very pallid
and utterly prostrate, and his impression was that
he was in a very serious way. The whole of the
men looked considerably distressed with the heat.
He saw many of the men with their chin-straps
up, and their stocks and collars unbuttoned and
loosened. He saw more than one officer carrying
the musket and the knapsack of the soldiers.
Mr. George Perry, assistant-surgeon in the Scots
Fusilier Guards, deposed that he was not with the
deceased's wing, and did not see him when he was
first taken ill. He was called to see him at Mrs.
Herbert's house in the London-road about 3 o'clock
on the previous afternoon. He found him lying
under a tree in a comatose state, with all the symp-
toms of congestion of the brain. He was quite
speechless and insensible, but alive. He had him
removed in a fly to the White Hart Hotel, and
attended him till his death. He never rallied, and
died about half-past six o'clock. He had made a,
post mortem examination, and found the vessels of
the brain very much congested, with some slight
effusion. He found sufficient to account for death,,
which, in his opinioa, was the result of marching
for a length of time under a hot sun. The deceased's
character was good in the regiment, and he believed
him to have been a temperate and well-conducted
man. A good many men fell out on the march, but
principally from being footsore. The sun, however,
was very powerful.
The jury, after consulting together for a short
time, adjourned the inquiry, in order that the sur-
geon who first attended the deceased, and also the
sergeant of the company, should attend.
Two other men, named Griffiths and Homer, also
fell exhausted after the regiment got into the town,
but they are better.
_ _

The regiment marched from Guildford on Thurs-
day morning about 5 o'clock, but one of the men
was obliged to give up before they had proceeded
three-quarters of a mile. The deceased, who had
a good conduct stripe, was buried yesterday morn-
ing with military honours in the cemetery. The
band of the 2d Royal Surrey Militia took part in
the procession, and played the "Dead March" in
Saul.

Ili:, EA lit i'AL, AYM
La3SCC, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
TTIIS EVENINI;, the r,erforraances will comnonce with
the Comedy of THE OVERLAND ROUTE. Messrs. Chas.
Mathews, Buckstone, E. Villiers, Rogers, &c.; Mrs. Wilkins,
Mrs. C. Mathews, and Miss E. Weekes.
Followad by THE ADVENTURES OF A LOVE
LETTER. tar. and Mrs. C. Mathews.
And THE, GALICIAN FETE.
Commence at 7.

Y A 1", PRINCES S'S TREATRE.-
I 1)L Lessee and Mana..rer, Mr. A. Harris.
THIS EVENING, WERNER. Mr. Phelps, Mr. Ryder,
Mr. E. Phelps, Miss Atkinson, Miss R. Leclercq,
After which, a new comic drama, called A HOMESTEAD
STORY, Messrs. Ryder, Shore, and :Hiss M. Harris.
To conclude with A.S.S. Mr. F, Matthews, Mr. Cathcart,
Miss R. Leclercq, Jtc.