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places are filled by ; men for whom the army is a means of existence . The artillery is much improved since the Polish war , and in the Hungarian campaign proved superior to the Austrian . The cavalry is generally -well mounted . The introduction of rifles has effected an important change in the infantry , and has been found a valuable support to the artillery . Since the Hungarian campaign the flint hasbeeato some extent super-TOded ' Dy tlie percussion-cap .
TE ^ TEtuBSian soldier makes up for clumsiness by ^ dogged etidtttance . Napoleon said . it was not enough Jtokill him—you must'knock him down . The flower of the Bussian troops is in the Caucasus , inured to hardship , and disciplined hy inces-Bant operations . The grenadiers are the most national corps of the Russian ai ^ yj the : troops in Poland are called the
active army ; the fifth corps is reputed the worst ; and the . Imperial Guard is enervated hy residence in t | e . ^| pF ^; - - ; -.. ¦ bn paper Ube Russian army amounts to 800 , 000 ^ e n | ^ utmost force that could be fempioyed on a ckmpakfn , and France can exceed »^| lp # 6 J at a d ^ s nfotice . * ' The staff leaves much' to be desired . The officers , Arhb ^ ethicated- in the corps of Cadets , are not ^ bn ^ tpWaiV The naval covps de cadets , however , is atf ^ exception io this statement . The Russian arniy absorbs half the revenues - of the Empire , and idmbst' ^ tbe honoujrs . Bussian Generals are Cura - tors of the Universities ; a General •' " commands " the Operations of the Roly Synod . Destroy the army , and the Imperial system is a wreck .
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THE GERMAN PO WEES . ^ XlX ^ kqS OF jESGLApCD "WITH A " CONSTITUTION XL ' - ¦ ¦ - ¦ ;¦ - ; ' v-:. ; .. ., ; .. ¦ ' . ' ' -. PBpfijgjiA . " ' ' The world wants to he deceived ; let it be . Perhaps jfchiavwas . the deriee with which Count Fourtales , en-^ o ^ pf ; ^ 0 ^ hg | £ ^ eeks < suie ^ c ^ 4 ispo 4 tioosiof $ the # ul > lic and of the principal states *
jnen * of EqglandVin ^ the-Eastern question . " This mission of " ithe . envoy of Frederick William IV , aeenis to be xa sort : of preface ta Ian understanding-¦ between , th ^ Courts ol Windsor and Berlin in the ¦ £ Yenj * . 'Cjfa ^ i generaLwar ., J ^ e foresee an attempt to continnetlia ^ ganie-which has , been played hitherto by ^^ Gonierence : of Vienna against the interests apd ^ the , hpiiotiic of > the ; British nation , by means of a pitched up ; aliiance between Great Britain and a wJ-rf ^ on /" . con » titutionaL Prussia . " t
^ We : arefJ ^ ljt < afrjud . t ^ witlv Rui ^ Ttoki&h notes , - may have forgotten to ? ^ packi upf eeriain documents which would , throw light inponJ . he . constitutional eflbrts of the Hohensollern dynasty * On the other hand * the Chevalier Top . ias ? £ on > Bunsen , Prussian Ambassador at the Court of Queen Victoria * is probably too busy with biblical philology to find time to give the English ppblic a sjaccinct abstract of authentic documents explaining the constitutionalism . of his Government . { jet : us complete the mission of the Prussian . envoys . -. rAf . teraBtuayof the documents in which the real P ^ ussianpolicy is mirrored we remark th ree distinct epochs , corresponding to the years 1813 , 1830 , and 1-848 * . , .,-: . ! - ., •
says another passage , " which can assure the grandeur and the influence of Prussia , excludes for ever constitutional ideas . We nmst therefore not only combat the representative system prevailing in the South of Germany , but discredit by every means political writers attached to the constitutional principle . It is only in this manner that authors who write in the Prussian interest will "be able to make Prussia universally distinguished as the model State destined to assume the Hegemonia over Germany . "
The Government of Berlin , while thus pursuing its ambitious projects , proclaimed , nevertheless , the necessity of " coming to an understanding with Austria about a vigorous military constitution of Germany , " in order that "in case of an European revolution , the German thrones might be powerfully armed" against external and internal dangers . After the fall of the Legitimist throne in France , and the increase of power in the middle classes in
England ( 1830-1831 . ) , the . Prussian Government set about elaborating a plan of resistance to the invasion of the liberal spirit . At that time of excitement the possibility of a general war was presumed at Berlin and St . Petersburg . The Absolutist Powers sought to concert a common plan of operations against England and France , where , in their opinion , " the revolutionary element" had gained the upper hand . No one not decorated with a Prussian or Russian
order will pretend that the middle classes , who stopped short at a Reform Bill , and raised Xouis Philippe to power , were very fierce revolutionists . But by a Court like that of Prussia , every constitution is regarded as " either the end or the beginning of a revolution . " The British nation would perhaps do well to learn by heart the documents concerning the Austro-Prussian intrigues after 1830 . This country means now to go to war with the Czar ; we may sooa hear of the Prussian Government offering us its alliance . Let us remember in good time that the Prussian dynasty is only a feeler thrown out by Russia—that crab-like monster , which would entangle ^ 11 Europe in its backward course . '
Three citations will illustrate the opinion we have expressed . A diplomatic paper of the year 1832 , addressed by the Prussian General Von Borstell to the Adjutant-General of the King of Prussia , says : — " The security of the State is never guaranteed by constitutional forms , or representations of the people ; everywhere , on the contrary , it is endangered by Constitutionalism . " ( Memorandum , containing propositions on the manner of treating legislative assemblies and the Liberals of Germany . ) Another document of the same date , drawn up by the Prussian Minister of of
Foreign Affairs , Count Von Bernstorfl ^ speaks the measures which will have to be taken in case of a war with England and France . In this project , liberal promises are again recommended as a means of inflaming among the German people , in case of an inevitable war , a general enthusiasm , which will greatly contribute to alleviate the burden « f sacrifices they will be called upon to bear . " Recalling sarcastically the value of promises which are not to be kept , the Note adds , that by a skilful policy " His Majesty will be able again to produce the same results as were effected by the Manifesto of 1813 and 1815 . " About 1834 the Prussian Government was so
entirely in accord with the policy of the Emperor of Russia , that in a State paper novr before us , we find the Hohenzollern emphatically lauded at the expense of the House of Hapsburg . The Czar Nicholas congratulates Frederick William III . that , in consequence of the efforts of the Cabinet of Berlin , " the petty states of Germany are now assisting Prussia to restrict more and more the rights of legislative assemblies . " The document containing these words was framed for the eventuality of a " war , and was designed to form the basis of a negotiation for an alliance between Russia , Prussia , and other German Courts , against England aud France I What noble projects were then entertained by the Czar and the King of Prussia I Listen to one of the most curious passages : — "A . war of Germany against France and England" ( we quotetextually ) " assumes in our time a double character . On the one hand it has to combat bayonets and cannon-balls , on the other to combat ideas . As to the material combat between armies , it is subject to tho chances of war . . . -. . Let ua suppose the case of Germany succumbing Deplorable aa such a result "would be for Germany , it is not to be compared to the pernicious consequences which the triumph of Anglo-French constitutional principles would inflict upon the German Confederation collectively , and upon each state individually-Hence Germany , in ense of a rupture with Prance and England , must direct her attention chiefly to the struggle she will have to make against tho principle * of her enemies . It is now understood by all Governments , that the greatest dangers by which they " . re threatened come from that quarter . " Wo flatter ourselves we have learned to read . Well , in perusing with tho moat diligent attention tho documents we liave cited , we note three points . I . Constitutionalism in trfe eyes of tho King of I ' russia is a revolutionary principle : unlimited
tem , the other by the ultra-Royalists , and by Chambres introuvables . But after the dethronement of Charles X ., and the carrying of the Reform Bill , we find in the state papers exchanged between the Cabinets of Berlin and St . Petersburg , a marked hatred of English and French constitutionalism , the fruits of successive revolutions . In the royal family of Prussia there prevailed so inveterate a repugnance , so envenomed a disgust for the new spirit which had grown up in France and England , that after 1830 and 1831 negotiations were actually opened between Berlin and St . Petersburg "for resisting , even by tear , the propagation of Anglo-French constitutional principles . " ( Memoir on the state and the futrae of Germany , written under the dictation of a minister at St . Petersburg , and communicated confidentially to the Prussian Government . )
After 1848 it is evident that the British Court , alarmed at the progress of the democratic movement , joined the Prussian alliance , for the purpose of aiding the subjugation of popular tendencies in Germany . Proof of this exists in the letters of the Earl of Westmoreland , addressed to General Jochmus , Minister of the German Empire . These letters contain reports of the interviews of the British Ambassador with the Prussian Court , concerning the armed attack against the Revolution and the German Parliament .
A . glance at a few documents distinctive of the three epochs will explain how Prussia came by the surname of " liar . " We shall see that the promises of a constitution made by the Prussian Government in 1813 , 1815 , 1819 , up to 1823 , were from first to last nothing better than premeditated cheats , the sleightof-hand of barefaced swindlers . We said '" liar ;" the word is too weak . For it is difficult for Englishmen to conceive the abyss of abject baseness and dishonour which the notes drawn up " by the orders Of the King of Prussia" disclose . They discover the whole occult machinery of the acts of Government . Any man who has not utterly lost all moral sense
revolts at the memoir ( to cite an instance ) addressed to the Prussian Minister of Foreign Affairs by Coun ^ Von der Golz , Ambassador of the King , to the Diet of Frankfort . WH&t bitter irony , what profound contempt for the people , what a hideous jest of royalist roues ! "In 1813 , " says this diplomatic paper , " ideas of liberalism and general utility were found necessary to » e invoked , because it was only by the highest patriotic exaltation that the people could be roused to make the sacrifices necessary for the emancipation of Germany . The Prussian Government satisfied this momentary necessity because it could not do otherwise . Now that the end is attained , we can dispense with those ideas . "
Good-natured beast of a people that is coaxed to work by a bag of hay held before its nose , well out of reach of its moutbVl But a maret miserable beast of a people which believes that the \ subje > ts of a king have a right to things which are p ^* public utility . " What a de m agogy ! ^ We have selected one out of a thousand examples . Similar revelations are to be found in all the Prussian circulars , protocols , and memoirs relating to the Absolutist Congresses of Aachen , of Carlsbad , of Troppau , of Laibach , of Verona , and of Vienna , from 1813
to 1834 . In the Prussian papers we encounter occasidnally , "under the apparently smooth and innocent expressions of a finished diplomatist , poignant sarcasms , highly flavoured bon-mots , merciless raillery of the duped canaille . la the Austrian documents , on the contrary , the prevaling tone is a certain affecta-j tion of probity , a stern seriousness ' , and a paterna bonhomie . And this is natural : the Hapsburgs have always openly exercised their absolutist profession ; their language accorded with their acts ; while the Camarilla of Berlin sought relief , as it were , from the r 6 le of liberal which it assumed on occasion in the
secret indulgence of a sneer at its dupes . It is an inconceivable mistake to suppose that a constitutional thought ever entered the brains of the Prussian dynasty . The representative system , according to an expression much relished at Potsdam , is an exaggeration , a pernicious consequence of Protestantism . " Tho maxim of divine right has alwaysguided the Crowns of Berlin and Vienna : only the Prussian Crown acts like a hypocrite and a cheat , by surreptitious means . Its views are ambitious ,
its paths tortuous . It has tried to supplant Austria , to invest with her political and military organisation the North and South of Germany , and even to surround all Germany as with a chain . " ( Prussian Memoir of 1822 . ) Listen to what this honest Government says of itself in a note drawn up in 1822 , by order of the King . "By common accord with Austria ( thus reasons the Prussian state paper ) , " the Vrvssian Government will apply itself to destroy throughout all Cfermani / the representative system . Uut it will take care to leave to Austria tho initiative ! of restrictive measures . Tho petty sovereigns are alway jealous of their sovereignty ; they regard with distrust the intervention of the Great Powers in their affairs . Unable to prevent this jealousy , it will be prudent to give it vent against Austria . By this policy the influence of Prussia will be more securely prepared . " . . . " The only form of government , "
From the close of the wars against . Napoleon to the French Involution of July , Prussia , Austria , and Russia , united in the . Holy Alliance , turned their attention : to the liberal ideas of Germany without & thought of France and England . At home , in Gerniany , they perceived an imminent danger in that popular movement which they had been forced to avail themselves of against Napoleon . It was the interest of the Czar to prevent the contagious example of representative constitutions which had been exhibited / after 1813 : in % h& charters of a number of ( jrerman States from spreading towards tlie frontiers
o £ Russia , The , Hapsbujgs were concerned that the monarchical principle , by which alone they held together their incoherent dominions , should not again be endangered . The Prussian dynasty , not less ambitious than absolutist , was anxious that no other Government should appear more liberal than itself . The Court of Berlin sought indeed to extend its 4 ynastic influence , but it Would not do this at the cost of its own unlimited sovereignty . It held in equal horror the Revolution and Constitutionalism . At the Congress" of Carlsbad ( 1819 ) , convoked by
Austria and Prussia , Count Bemstorflf , the Prussian minister , drew up with Prince Mctternich the following statement : —" Representative constitutionalism is in contradiction to the principles of the German Confederation ; no prince is competent to accord rights which limit the princely sovereignty ; constitutionalism » s but the end or the beginning of a revolution . " ( Sitting of August 13 , 1819 . ) Between 1813 and 1830 , the Holy Alliance , vre were saying , was little apprehensive of the institutions of Frauce and England governed as they then were , the one by the Tories , after the continental sya-
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. ** THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1854, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2023/page/16/
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