Gentlemen, Deputies of the First and Second Chamber,

"Circumstances which you must all well remember compelled me, in the month of December last, to dissolve the National Assembly, called together to unite with the Crown in framing the Constitution.

"At the same time, impressed with the urgent necessity of the final restoration of the authority of the law, I granted to the nation a Constitution which by its provisions faithfully fulfilled all my promises of the month of March in the past year.

Since that measure, the anxiety which prevailed a few months ago in the greater part of the country has given place to a more quiet state of feeling. Confidence, before so deeply shaken, is gradually returning. Trade and commerce begin to recover from the shock under which they threatened to sink.

"Impressed with the importance of the present occasion, I see the members of both Chambers elected according to the provisions of the new Constitution assembled round my throne. You are aware, gentlemen, that I have reserved to you a revision of the Constitution. It is now for you to come to an agreement upon it among yourselves, and with my Government.

"To my regret, it has been necessary to place the capital and its environs under a state of siege, in order to restore the authority of the law and insure the public safety. With reference to this

state of siege, some special propositions will be submitted to you without delay.

66

Besides the provisions and regulations contained in my patent of the 5th of December, there were several other questions for which the public interest required a speedy settlement, and which have been dealt with according to the 105th article of the Constitution. In particular, I have been induced, by the numerous and pressing petitions for an immediate reform of the laws affecting the labouring classes and workmen, to issue two preliminary decrees to effect this object. These decrees and orders will be without delay laid before you for your ratification.

"Besides these, you will be required to proceed to the discussion of various projects of law, some of them necessary for carrying into effect the principles of the Constitution, which will be successively submitted to you. I especially recommend to your most careful consideration the draught of the law for the organization of the government of the rural parishes and communes, the new organization of the government of the provincial circles and districts, the law of public instruction, the law relating to church patronage, the income-tax and land-tax laws, as well as the law transferring some local and hereditary taxes from their present holders, the total abolition of some of those dues without compensation, and the law for the establishment of rural banks.

"The preparatory measures for realizing the independence of various religious congregations, as provided by the draught of the Constitution, have been taken,

and will be proceeded with as rapidly as the importance of the question will permit.

"Before the commencement of the financial year the estimate of the revenue for 1849, with the necessary explanations, will be laid before you for your approval. You will perceive by that estimate that, notwithstanding the anticipated diminution of the public income compared with that of the former year, the increased expenditure in different departments, particularly that of public works, will be covered without any increase of the present taxes, and without making any new demand on the credit of the State.

"An account will be laid before you of the application of the voluntary loan of 15,000,000 thalers, raised during the past year on the authority of the vote of a United Diet.

"I have to acknowledge with gratitude and satisfaction that the readiness with which the possessors of property, in all parts of the kingdom, and among every class of the people, under depressing circumstances, contributed to this loan rendered the recourse to any more expensive measure unneces

projects of the necessary laws required for its settlement, will be laid before you as soon as your discussion of the several measures of taxation are so far advanced as to furnish a basis for the future income of the State.

"The completion of the means of national defence has not been interrupted, notwithstanding the increased pressure on the public revenue, and Prussia can rely with confidence on its army, whose organization, bravery, and devotion have been exhibited under heavy trials.

"A closer union of the States of Germany in one federal State has been the object of my most earnest desires, and the endeavours of my Government have been directed towards obtaining this great end, for which Prussia is willing to make all necessary sacrifices. The path towards an agreement between all the German Princes and the National Assembly at Frankfort has already been entered upon, and the efforts of my Government will continue to be directed to insure it. I need not say, gentlemen, how much you will be able to contribute towards the accomplishment of this great purpose.

"The present state of the negotiations which have been commenced between the Central Government of Germany and the Crown of Denmark entitles us to hope that the differences by which peace, commerce, and navigation were interrupted last year will soon be satisfactorily adjusted.

The peaceable and amicable relations of my Government with Foreign States have not been disturbed.

who a few days since was taken from us in the bloom of his life, and called away from the glorious mission of devoting his powers to the service of his native land.

"Gentlemen of the Upper and Lower Chamber,-With confidence the country looks towards your co-operation with my Government for the consolidation of public order, that it may enjoy its constitutional liberties, and that its prosperity may thus be promoted. The protection of those liberties and of public order-the foundation of all national prosperity-I shall always have at heart, and shall rely on your support. May your efforts, with the help of God, serve to augment the glory of Prussia, whose people, closely united with their Princes, have overcome 80 many difficulties; and may they secure, both to Prussia and Germany, a peaceable and happy futurity."

The Session proved to be a short and stormy one, but we must confine ourselves to the most important incidents.

When the result of the vote of the Frankfort Parliament, which deter mined that the crown of Germany should be offered to the King of Prussia (see CENTRAL GERMANY), was known at Berlin, an address was immediately agreed to by the Upper Chamber, which contained the following passages:

"The wishes and expectations we recently expressed to your Majesty on the re-organization of Germany, and the mission of Prussia in an especial manner to assist it, have speedily been followed by most decisive events.

tion-our King, as the Hereditary Emperor of the Germans.

"This intelligence has deeply interested us. By this election, which calls the House of Hohenzollern to the direction of our Fatherland, we see the seal placed on that confidence which Prussia and its King have acquired by their conflicts and struggles for the interests and honour of Germany.

"We also wish and trust that your Majesty will not refuse the fulfilment of the hopes of the nation, and that you will take into your strong hands the guidance of the destinies of the German nation."

A deputation from the Frankfort Parliament was sent to Berlin to communicate the result of its recent vote, and make a formal offer of the diadem of Germany to the King.

On the 3rd of April they were received by His Majesty in the Rittersaal of the Palace, when the President of the deputation, M. Simons, in a short address stated the object of the mission with which he and his colleagues were entrusted, and presented to His Majesty the formal resolution of the National Assembly. The King immediately returned the following answer :

"Gentlemen, the message you bring me has deeply moved me. It has directed my gaze to the King of kings, and to the sacred and august duties I have, as the King of my people, and a Prince among the mightiest of Germany. A look in that direction, gentlemen, gives clearness to the vision and certainty to the heart. In the resolution you have communicated to me I recognise the voice of the representatives of the German people. Your vocation gives me a title, the value of which I know how to prize. If

accepted, it demands from me incalculable sacrifices, and burdens me with heavy duties. The German National Assembly has counted on me in all things which were calculated to establish the unity, power, and glory of Germany. I feel honoured by their confidence; and I am ready by deeds to prove that their reliance on my fidelity, love, and devotion to the cause of the country has not been misplaced; but I should not justify that confidence-I should not answer to the expectations of the German people -I should not strengthen the unity of Germany-if I, violating sacred rights and breaking my former explicit and solemn promises, were, without the voluntary assent of the crowned Princes and free States of our Fatherland, to take a resolution which must be of decisive importance to them and to States which they rule. It will now lie with the several Governments of the German States to examine the Constitution which the National Assembly has drawn up, and declare whether it will be of advantage to all whether the rights it confers on me will place me in the position to guide the destinies of Germany and realize the expectations of the people. But of this Germany may be certain, and you may declare it in every State that if it needs the protection of the Prussian sword, I will, even without a summons, not hesitate to follow that course from which my royal House has never departed the course of fidelity and honour."

When this reply was made known, M. Vincke, in the Second Chamber, proposed the following "motion of urgency: "

"In consideration that the answer which the Ministry has advised His Majesty to return to the depu

tation of the Frankfort Assembly, and which has been received by them, is not in accordance with the address voted by the hon. Chamber in its sitting of yesterday, and is calculated to produce the greatest dangers to Germany, the Chamber resolves to name a committee to draw up an address to His Majesty in reference to that answer, in which the opinion of the Chamber on the present position of the country will be expressed."

The " urgency" of the motion was voted unanimously, and an address was drawn up by M. Vincke, which stated

"It is the confidence of the representatives of the German people that calls your Majesty to the glorious mission of taking into firm hands the guidance of that destiny as the head of regenerated Germany.

"We recognise the earnestness of the hour; we do not forget the weight of considerations that cannot be avoided; but in face of the incalculable dangers which may arise from Germany being left without a guiding hand in the conflicting agitations of the time, in the present shattered condition of the Continent in all its relations, we trust your Majesty's wisdom and devotion to the cause of Germany will enable you to choose the right path, and to overcome all difficulties.

"We, therefore, respectfully present this prayer to your Majesty,

"That you will not refuse the summons of the National Assembly, but fulfil the hopes and expectations of the German people.'

Count Brandenburg, the head of the Ministry, took this opportunity of announcing the principle on which the Prussian Government intended to stand with reference to the German question in its present

stage. It recognised the Frankfort vote as an essential progress; it would do all in its power to ensure the attainment of the end, now so much nearer than before; but it would adhere firmly to this resolution to recognise that decision as binding only on those German Powers and Princes who should, of their own free election, confirm it by their future vote.

Various amendments were moved, but they were all rejected, and M. Vincke's address was carried by 156 to 151.

The result of the King's appeal to the voice of the other Germanic States, in order that he might decide whether he would accept the Imperial diadem, was, that Austria, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, and Hanover at once declared their decided dissent. The King had also insisted upon some modifications of the Frankfort Constitution, which the Parliament there refused to make. He therefore gave a distinct and unequivocal refusal in about a fortnight after the offer had been made, on the ground that the Imperial supremacy was an unreal dignity, and the Constitution only a means gradually and under legal pretences to set aside authority and to introduce the Republic."

66

The question of the acceptance or refusal of the German Federal Constitution, as voted by the Frankfort Assembly, came before the Second Chamber at Berlin on the 21st of April, when Count Brandenburg, on behalf of the Cabinet, read a declaration that the Ministry were opposed to it, and deemed it inexpedient. In order to relieve the general state of anxiety, he said he had to declare that the Government felt persuaded it had not departed from the course indi

cated by the note of the 23rd of January, and that of the 3rd of April. Next, that the Cabinet had always felt the most sincere wish to unite the States of Germany into a Federation; to its regret such an union had encountered invincible obstacles, which the Government itself had felt as a disappointment of its former hopes; it would still, however, persist in its efforts to obtain the end desired. That the German Constitution required the acceptance and assent, of the several Governments to give it validity, had often been stated; and this was acknowledged even in the report of the Commission. His Majesty's Government, in its note of the 23rd of January, had begun the attempt to procure the modifications it considered necessary in concord with the rest of the German States, and to bring them under the notice of the National Assembly; it had entertained the hope by this means to procure a change in those objections which it thought necessary should be removed, but, unhappily (continued the Minister, laying especial emphasis on the words), these hopes had not been fulfilled! The representations had been totally and wholly disregarded; the Constitution during the second reading sustained alterations which could not but be considered highly prejudicial. These modifications were so important that the Cabinet was unable to advise the unconditional acceptance of the Constitution itself. It had felt compelled to couple the acceptance with certain conditions, which its Plenipotentiaries in Frankfort were instructed to state.