New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-27
THE PIUssIAN REGENCY.

revelation has Il lsst become tdt dccJWPi. lVih
a mere substitute and delegate OF the hIng The
Prince Of Prussia has been converted INTO Toe
Regent Of the State The bad grace with which
the Queen and the camarilla gave way, appeared
even in the concluding scene of the dyDa.tie drama.
Herr Won Westyhalen, the Minister Of the Interior,
and their official representative, declined signing
the decree, by which the Ring transfers tle Royal
power to his brother. resigned. and had 10 be re-
placed By Herr Won FlOitsell. On the other hand,
the King has rot abdicsed Internationally; but, az
the decree runs, for the time being until myself
&" shall again be capable Of executing the duties oi
"my Roya loffce," and re,ersng - OF the affairs
" Of my ROYAL house, under my own authority.
4" those concerning my own person. j ne one
clause renders the power of Regent provisional,
and the other continues the Queens hold on the
rmal purse-strinc. The conditional form OF the
surrender proves that although forced TO eyacuate
the stronghold Of the position, the caInariiia are
received upon showing tight. Ii Is III fact pubic
secret That, after the paral!Le aiiicon tna Deicn
tie King last week his own physicians declared
their despair of giving bis life, under the most
favorable circumstances, smother years respite.
This declaration went far in determining Herr yOn
Msnteufe to change sides and boist the Prince
of Prussia's flag. Being possessed oi some
cursory acquaintance with modern history, BE-
is aware that Mazarin's influence outliyed
Louis NIL He knows that Perceya, although
as the blind tool of the camarilla known under the
name of the kings Friends, aid led by the
Queen and the Duke of York he had given great
offence 10 the Prince Royal. nevertheless, despite
the intrigues and the -!orcbodings of the Wing
pace.huut succeeded in ingratating himself
with the Regent (afterward George w. and in
preserving Lis post. II was his detection on the
part of ManteuGel which forced the camarilla
and the Junker party standing behind II, to beat a
retreat Otherwise the Prince Of Prussia would
baye been driven To the alternative either Of wear
ing the borrowed mssk only of royalty, or Of al
IN appeal 10 popular interference, the latter
step being incompatible with his own principles,
az well as the traditions of the llohenzUern
dynasty. Manteufefs pliancy extrlcated him
from that distressing dilemma. Whether he Will
prove grateful to the tnrncoat remains to be-
seen. The very fact that Manteulefs name Is
indeiby blended with the defeat OF the revolution
of March that he was the responsible editor of the
Prussian comp d'fai aud that his ministry appears,
therefore a living and continuous protest against
popular ''usurpaiion," may prevent the Prince,
his personal ,rudees FROM parting
abruptly and ostenlatiOusly with this Man. der
ran, ndtn ThGt."
The contrast between the Prince and tie King
bears tle regular domestic stamp Of The Hohen-
zon.rn family \ comedian, lee luxu-
rious. more or less imsregnated with Byzantine
notions of theology, more or less coPuettiug with
medieval romaniicsm. is always followed by mo-
rose compound of the drillsergcant the bureaucrat
and the schoolrnoster. Such il the contrast be-
tween Frederic l. aud his son Frederic william l..
between Frederic William ii. and Frederic VII
liam Ill. between the weak eccenircites OF Fred
eric William " and the sober mediOcriiy Of the
present Regent.
1t is pretty generally expected, and the British
press is busy in spreading the notion. that the nd
vent of the Regent will giSe AT once contrary
turn to the foreign policy of Prussia, emancpate 1t
from Russian supremacy and dra" II nearer To In
gland. Now it il probable that. personally, the
Prince Regen, NAV amuse himself with similar
ideas. The insulting manner in which NichOlas, at
the Congress of Warsaw, treated the Count of
Brandcnburg, the Prussan Plenipotentiary and &
near relative Of the ROYAL h0use-an insult which
drove Brandenburg to sucide-has never been
wiped out of the Princes memory. The sting OF
the personal air0nt Was iell the more bitterly a.,
al the same time Nicholas forced Prussia and ySiy
unceremomously too. 10 yield 10 the claims of Aus
tra. To see an Austrian army marched 10 Hamburg
and Schleswig- -Ho.tein, and 10 eat dirt humbly be-
fore the eyes of all Europe. At later epoch, ct
the time of the publication in England Of the secret
and confidential dispatches of the British Embasss
dor al Petersburg. the Prince. a man by no means
of a torgiyng temper, was again shocked at the
affected contempt with which the late Emperor.
in surveying the attitudes the great European
powers were likely 10 assume in the case of par
tition of the Turkish Empire, did not condescend
even 10 mention Prussia. Ii is known that. after
the first waIlike moves, at an interview in Prague.
the Prince of Prussia met the dctatoria haughti-
ness of his Muscoyite brother-n-law with dogged
sullenness of his own. During the progress of the
Russian war. the camarilli suspected the Prince
of leaning Ia the side Of the Western alliance
and. accordingly. subjected him to system OF
personal Surveillance and spying, which, by
accident became disclosed IN scandalOds
lawsuit at Potsdsm. TIE Prince. on hs
pant. hsd made sure That the chiefs of the
cdmarilla and pet cour;iers Of the King General
Won Gerlach and CabinetsraIh Niebuhr (the son Of
the great hstorian), acted the direc: agents OF
the Petersburg Government, kept it exactly ILL.,
formed OF everything that passed in the Cabinet.
and received from II orders entering upon such
details even as the coOcsiiOn of the different c0rpS
daTm{s throughout the monarchy. With the death
Df tLc Emperor Nichols the. reasons of personal
antaronism disappeared. Alexander H., on the
other hand. cannoib supposed to oyerwhelm his
uncle with that ieelingOi awe which Nicholas. after
IN. marriage with Frederick William IIl's
eldest daughter knew how 20 strike iuto the heart
of the HohenzOlleTn dynasty. Ii Is, moreover
very likely thst his new family relations with En-
Gland may exercise some influence on the bia. OF
the Regents foreign policy. Yet, in fact, the latter
depends not on the personal iuclinsiions of the
Prince, bu; on he vital conditions oftbe State. If
Prussia was simply German Power, the question
could be very simply decided but Prussia i not
only the rysl of Anstris VINO herself il the sutsg-
onist of Russia, bu, the vital principle OF the Prs-
sisn monarchy is encroachment on Germany by the
help Of Russs. II was by the alliance Of Frederic
William l. with Russia that Prussia succeeded in
strirping Sweden of Ponerania. Ii was again by
Frederick the Greats alliance with Catharine that
he was able TO keep Austrian silesa and that be got
psrt and parcel of Poland the same rnaneaver be-