Star.
London, England, 1818-10-03 00:00:00

FROM Tnit SPREE, SEPTEMBER j:s.

_ -
• That Prussia is a military State, and from its whole
position must remain so, may be affirmed on good
grounds; but people are still divided in opinion re-
specting the spirit and destination of the military.
The common idea is, that and colxiit;:fiop
,are contradictory to each other, and that a military
State must be the very reverse of a con.titutional
one. All history shews how erroneous this idea is,
as if Holland and England, as if Hungary and Swe-
den, nay, even ancient Rome, with more restrictive
forms of Government thart our modern constitutions,
had not been military States, and were not partly so
at this moment.

A State too, in which the military is a principal
part, is not the more powerful and energetic in war,
nor the developement of its strength more rapid,
merely because the supreme will ►s not bound by
Constitutional forms. Wellington in the Nether-
lands with his Constitutional Englishmen, was just
as soon ready as Blucher with his yet unconstitu-
tional Prussians; and Bonaparte, the General-in-
Chief of the Republican French, conquered as rapidly,
and as completely as Napoleon the unlimited Em-
peror. On the other hand, military Prussia, with all
its exercised troops, fortresses, &c. &c. made but a
poor figure at Jena, in 1806, for which certainly no
Constitution can be blamed any more than for the
decline of Turkey, which is also a military State.--
It is therefore a pretty piece of wit, but as a truth
nothing worth, as the late Field-Marshal Kalkreuth
said shortly before his death, that he wished the
Prussian State a Constitution such as his had been.
Our military think and feel very differently, and are
of opinion that it is much to their praise. A sense
for legal freedom is the true soul of the military pro-
fession, and the spirit of conscious strength, such as
is cherished principally in the military profession, is
the true soul of Constitutional forms. Why should
not military pet sons promote peculiar representation,

and become themselves Representatives? Why not
approve the arming of the people jointly with the
standing army, or even prefer the former? Our
King must certainly not consider the. military as so
unpopular and so unsocial, for it was doubtless his
intention to make those Officers unhappy whom he
placed in the Landwehr. He• has also taken such
men as Gneisenal and Grollmann from the army into
the Council of State ; and if they tan there speak
freely and justly in full assembly, on the general
concerns of the State, they would certainly do the
same in a Chamber of Deputies, if the choice of the
people should place them there, as the choice of the
King has done here.

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, SEPTEMBER 27.

PRIVATE LETTER.

" The King of Prussia arrived here this evening at
five o'clock. His Majesty slept last night at Cologne,
and entered this city to day by the sate of Cologne,
in a caliche drawn by four horses, without any pomp
or ceremony. As his arrival was expected at three
o'clock, numbers of the citizens and strangers who
had taken artearly dinner crowded at two o clock for
two miles the road by which he was to pass. Lord
Castlereagh and his Lady, who had better informa-
tian, accompanied by seven or eight of his Lordship's
young diplomatists, rode out about half-past three
o'clock to meet his Majesty, but did not return with
him. The King had expressly forbidden any public
demonstrations of joy oil his arrival, and had com-
manded that no public honours should be paid him.
There were, therefore, no troops drawn up at the
gate of Cologne, beyond the ordinary guard, on his
arrival ; none of the public bodies went out to meet
him, nor were there any illuminations in the evening.
Although the crowds on the road were great, but
little enthusiasm was expressed at the sight of their
King. There was no shouting on his first appearance,
and very little when he entered the gates of the city
of Charlemagne.
" This apparent indifference and apathy may be at-
tributed to the natural phlegm of the German cha-
racter, or to the general aversion entertained by a
French province against its transference to a Prussian
Monarch. His Majesty proceeded immediately
through the same crowd and in the same silence to
his hotel, through the street of the Compisbad, the
gayest part of the city. The hotel prepared for him
lies in the most beautiful part of the city, on the Place
of the Capchins, in which there is a range of hand-
some houses, shaded in front with trees that occupy
the old fosse, and is very near the lodgings of the
Emperor of Austria and Lord Castlereagh. The co-
lours of the different corps which are to be on duty
during Congress were brought out, and great crowds
filled the square, expecting the appearance of his
Majesty at the windows; but in this respect they were
not gratified, and therefore speedily dispersed. The
Emperor of Russia, whose arrival has been delayed
a day, owing, it is said, to a fall from his horse at
the grand review in Berlin, is expected here to-mor
row, with his Imperial brother of Austria. An order
has been issued for relays of 200 horses between this
city and L. ulogne, 106 of which are appropriated to
the latter, and 74 to the former, allowing twenty
for accidents.

" If, according to Shakespeare, All the world's
stage,' Aix-la-Chapelle seems now a stage for all
the world. The principal actors are to make their
entrances with great pomp. The subordinate per.
formers have already done so with less ceremony,
and t'ie spectators are assembling from all parts to
witness the scene. We shall have Emperors, Kings,
Princes, Ambassadors, Diplomatists of all kinds, Mar-
sl Governors, Generals, Grand Crosses, Chevaliers
of all orders, down to that of industry, parasites, buf-
foont, and boxers. W'e have already restaurateurs
from Paris, and haberdashers from Constantinople;
xronauts from Paris and Dresden, bankers from Lon-
don and N'ienna, and gamblers rom alt the world !
The crowds in the streets to-day were iighly various
and amusing—the English capering and curvetting
on their blood horses ; the green livery of the Rus-
sians, with their different orders ; the Prussian offi-
cers, with their heads cropped after the monkish fa-
shion ; and the city of the town in their can iages,
which seem as if they had been presented to ti.em
hr Charlemagne himself, and to have been preserved
like the relics in their churches, for a seven years-
holiday exhibition. _ _

,t The Duke of Richelieu arrived here last night,l
as did likewise the Prince Hardenberg. The Duke
of Wellington is not yet come, but is expected in
two or• three days. The. ultra-Royalist party in
France will be represented, it is said, at Congress,
by Madame la Daronne de Vitrolles, who has within
these two days made her appearance from Spa. It
is said that there are still some of the Allied Powers
disposed to attend to the wishes of this party. Not
one Minister of •the Powers of the second order has,
yet senttued hither, or is expected for any of the.
purposes of the ensuing negotiation. The Marquis
of Marialva, the Portuguese Minister at Paris, has
left that capital to meet Prince Metternich, and will
probably visit Aix-la-Chapelle along with that Mini-
ster. We hear nothing of any Spanish diplomatist
coming to promote the interests of Spain, as con-
nected with her American Colonies.
As the future negotiations regarding France
may interest deeply the monied men of Europe, a
proportionate degree of feeling has been manifested
by the great capitalists of Europe, and accordingly
many of them are here. We find among the list of
arrivals that of Mr. Baring, of London ; of the Messrs.
Rothschild, from Frankfort ; of M. Labouchere, from
Amsterdam ; of M. Bothman, from Frankfort ; of M.
Metzler, likewise from Frankfort; and of M. Parish,
from Antwerp. Mr. Baring has here his family
along with him, who lately came from Spa. As
the company ae Spa is now dispersing, several of
the families from that celebrated watering-place are
flocking here.
it The new Customs Law continues to excite dis-
content amongst commercial men. They complain'
particularly of its retroactive effect. This is to say,
that it is applicable to all articles actually in the
warehouses. The commercial tariff is annexed to the,
law ; it establishes an import duty, and a consump-
tion tax. Nearly all articles are rated by weight. A'
dozen gold watches pay 20 dollars ; a dozen silver'
ditta, eight dollars. All hard wares and perfumery'
pay two dollars the hundred for entry, and in addl.'
tion, for consumption, six groscheu per pound."