Of all the forms of government, perhaps, which a wise
and unambi- tious man would choose to live under, is the form, nearly approaching to the patriarchal, which prevails in the smaller sovereignties of Ger- many during the reign of a kind and good man. The old Prince of HESSE DARMSTADT lately opened the Parliament of his children, as they may well be called, by a speech in which he spoke of economy everywhere enforced—of reforms, many long ago complete, some ill progress, others begun, which he had introduced and carried on for the last forty years. He spoke too of another subject—of the death of his Queen and their Queen, whom their grandfathers had seen in the flush of youth and their fathers remembered in the prime of woman- hood, and who had been his faithful consort for fifty-three years ! There is something exceedingly affecting in the contemplation of this excellent old Prince thus appealing at once, and justly, to the interests and to the affections of his people—addressing them in terms not less calculated to engage the selfish than charm the benevolent.
