The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-20 00:00:00

GERMAN Y.

The following letter, addressed by the Prussian Mi-
nister to the German Governments, appears in the
Berlin journals of the 16th inst. :
" For many years the want of, and the desire for, a
thorough reform of the Constitution of the Germanic
Confederation has most unmistakeably been manifested
throughout Germany. It is an acknowledged fact, and
it has been painfully felt by all the true and well-mean-
ing friends of the Fatherland, that the Chief Adminis-
tiativo Board of the Germanic Confederation, which was
created by the_ Federal Constitution of 1815, answered
but in a very moderate degree to the claims which at
home as well as abroad were made upon its jurisdiction;
that it did not establish an intimate union of the Ger-
man states—that it failed to protect and foster great, go-
nerous, or useful undertakings in Germany—and that,
with resteet to foreign countries, it did not represent the
totality in so energetic and decisive a manner as to
answer to the just demands of the mass of the intellec-
tual and material forces of Germany, and to those obli-
gations which the reminiscence of the past imposes upon
our country.
" The Governments of the Germanic Confederation
have deplored these shortcomings, and expressed their
desire to see a revision of the Conetitution of the Confe-
deration carried into effect. But various attempts to im-
prove the existing state of things were void of success oa
account of the difficulty and greatness of the task to
create new and satisfactory institutions. The reason of
this failure is partly that the Federal Constitution of
1815 offers but a very unsatisfactory handle to any at-
tempts at organic changes, and partly that the conse-
quences of the insufficiency of the Constitution had not
yet been practically felt to their full extent.
" The events of the year 1846 have entirely removed
the latter part of that reason. We need not here show
how unequal in that time the Federal Constitution was
to the task of resisting the storm and protecting the in-
dividual Stites. It was at once suspended; the foun-
dations of the Confederation were shaken, and the
state of disunion which was then created continues to
this day. All attempts to remedy this disunion have
proved abortive.

" Among all the convulsions and the variety of for-
mations which the affairs of Germany have displayed
during the last year, his Majesty's Government has
still adhered to the conviction that the revision of the
Constitution, and the regeneration of the Germanic Con-
federation, must proceed finial an agreement aed the
frea consent of all German Governments.

" Impressed with the same conviction, the Govern-
mcnt of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria joins
with 03 in en invitation to all tho members of the Con-
federacy to meet for the purpose of a free consultation on
this most important question.
"As a proper means for the purpose of bringing
about the requisite harmony among tho German Go-
vernments, we have agreed on bolding Ministerial
conferences. which have in similar cases proved effective.
" In conjunction with the Austrian Cabinet we there•
fore desire all German Governments to send their Pleni-
potentiaries to Dresth n on the. 23d -instant, and to pro•
vide them with sufficient instructions, that we may soon
be enabled to open the conferences, and that, while we '