New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-27
TIE KING or PRUssA's INSANITY.

10 Iyrol and Italy. Among the silent crowd wait
ing at the Poisdarn Railway terminus TO watch his
denarture there were many who, in 40 bad a.
sisted at his coronation, and in bis first public de-
liy.rey of stump-oratory, heard HIM solemnly
swear that he would never allow 4" Galhc bit Of
" paner to interfere between him and his people
The same man had the misfortune not only to ac-
cept on his oath a "Galiic bit OF papcr-a To-
mantle byword this for written charter or con
.titution-but to become himself the godfather
Of the Prnssian Constitution and. in certain
sense, to be dcthroned by virtue Of that same mis-
chiey0us " bit Of paper. lon vii have remarked
the discrepancy existing bet~ cen the king. re.
,crjpt 10 fhe Prince of Prus ia md the Princes
lescrpt TO the Ministry. The king in bis rescript
ss,s "cOntnuing to be per- ,nally kindred from
"ducling public affairs, request your Ro!a High
'Dess and Liebden the tiue beng, etc, to exer
"cse the kingIy power ss Regent IN my Dame ac-
''cOrdiDg Ia Your best knowledge and conscience,
'and with responsibility to God alone" The Prince,
III his counter rescript, says: In consequence ot
"this Royal request and under virtue Of Article 30
4" of the Constitution | being tie next male be-
"t0 the throne, hereby tahe upon myself the
Regency Of the country, and, according 10 Article
80 Of the Constitution, convcke the tHo Houses
'of The Diet OF the Monarchy" Now, 10 the roy
al rescript The King bets free agent and, by hs
own free will temporarily resigns. The Prince,
however, refers at the same time to the "roys re-
quest" and TO "AItice j6 of the CoDsttu-
tor" which assumes the king to be insane or
caltye and, consequently, unable to install
the Regency himself The King furthermore, in
his rescript. calls upon the Regent 10 exercise his
power with responsibility Ia God alone" while
The Prince by referring to the Constitution, leaves
all the responsibility to the existing Ministry. Ac
cOrdng to the article quoted by the Regent, the
"next heir to the throne" has immediately to
conyoke the Chambers, which in united sitting,
are to decide on the - necessity of The Regency.
To take the latter power out OF the hands of the
Diet the voluntary resignation Of the King was III
sisted upon, but 10 become not altogether depen-
dent upon the Kings crprices, the Constitution
was referred to- Thus there is flaw IN the Re
gent claim as it Processes to proceed from Two
titles. which extinguish each other. Article D of
the Constitution, declares that - from the moment
" Of his (the Regent s) oath relative 10 the COnsti
" ton (beforc the united Diet, the existing Min
- istry remains responsible for all governmental
- acts" How does this tally with - the RESPONSE
"bility tOGod alone :" The acknowledgment of the
Kings rescrpt is prctcxt. because the Diet is
cOnvoked, and the cOnyocatiOn of the Diet Is pre-
text, because il is not decide upon the - neces
sity' of the Regency. Ry the mere force of cir
cumstances the Prince of Prussia, who, in 1850,
declined taking the oath to the Constitution, sees
himself now placed in the awkward position of
not only accepting, but Of appealing 10 il. 1t
must not be forgotten that from the Autumn Of Isis
TO the beginning of lcjO the Absolutists, es
pecially in the ranks of the army, had cherished,
and occasionally. even openly ayOwed their plan of
supplaning the yacillatng King by the sober
Prince, who, at all events, was not
prevented by any elasticity of intellect,
from possessing certain strength of
WILL and who furthermore by his conduct during
the days of March, his flight to England the pop
ular odium centring upon him, and, lastly, his
high deeds in the Baden campaign seemed quite
the man Ia represent strong government IN Prus-
sia. as Farneis Joseph and the son of Hortensc
do on the Western and Eastern frontiers of the
HohenZoern domains. The Prince, in fact, has
never altered his principles Yet the sights he,
and still more his wife, disciple of Goethe cul-
tyated mind an ambitious and naughty character,
have had to submit 10, on the part of the Queen
and her camarila, could not but drive him into
somewhat opp0sitional attitude. The Kings
malady LETT him no alternative but to allow the
Queen To rule or himself 10 accept the Constl-
tuition. Besides, there is now removed scruple
characteristic of the man, which weighed upon
his mind in 1850. Then he was simply the
first officer of the Prussian army, and that
amy swears fidelity 10 the King alone, but not to
the Constitution. II, in 1850, he had taken the
oath 10 the Constitution, h. would have bound the
army which he represented. As it is now, he may
fske the oath; but, if he likes by the simple act of
lis resignation, he enable his son Ia subyert the
Constitution by help of the army. The very cX
ample of his brothers reign during the last eight
years had. il any other stimulus were required
given sufficient proof that the Constitution imposed
imaginary fetters only on the Royal preroga-
tive, while, at the same, it turned out quite
a eodscnd in financial point of view. Just
think of the Kings financial difficulties during
the epoch from lSiI 10 1-i-, the vain at
attempts al borrowing money through the Ssehqnd-
lung. the cool denials of few millions of dollars
on the part Of the Roihschiljs, the small loans
fused by the united Diet III i-47, the complete eX
haustion of the public treasury, and then, on the
other side compare the financial facilities met with
even in 1850, the first year of the Constitution
when three budgets, with deficit Of 20, 0O0, GOO
were covered at once by the Chambers iu the wink
Of an eye. He, indeed, must be great fool, who
should lose hold of such machinery for coming
money, The Frussian Constitution has. as far Is
the people are concerned, only added the political
influence of the sistocracy 10 the traditional power
uf the bureaucracy, while the crown. on the CON
trary has been enabled 10 create public debt and
increase the yearly budget by more than 100 per
cent.
The history itself of that Constitution forms one
Of the most extraordinary chapters of modern his
tory. AT first there had been produced, on Nav
20, lSiS the sketch Of "a Constitution drawn up by
the Camphansen Cabinet, which lsid il before the
Prusssn National Assembly. The principal actiy-
ity of that body consisted in altering the Govern
ment scheme The Assembly was still busted with
this work when IL was disposed OF by Pomeranian
bayonets. On the 9th of December. Isis the
King octroyed Constitution of his own. which
however the times wearing still rather reyou-
tiouaIy aspect, was only meant TO act as a
provisional quietus In order to revise
il, the Chambers were conyokcl, and
their labors exactly conceded with the
.,och nf rsactiop These Iban,h.rs