14 NOVEMBER 1863, Page 7

THE PROSPECTS OF COMPROMISE AT BERLIN.

ON the brightest of autumn days the King of Prussia met his new Parliament in the White Hall of the Royal Palace, and addressed it in words which Europe weighs and scrutinizes in vain. The art of composing a King's speech, the art of combining words into vague sentences which leave the speaker's purpose in absolute doubt, seems to be the only art of constitutional government which German Ministers are capable of learning or willing to adopt. Even the hasty summons which called the Crown Prince from England to Berlin, in order that he might stand at his father's right hand while the cabalistic words were spoken, is susceptible of a double interpretation. Well-wishers of the Prussian Monarchy will hope that it is a proof that the King has so altered his policy as to conciliate that one of his subjects who has most to fear from the vagaries of Herr von Bismarck ; while they who put not their trust in princes will see in it only an un- scrupulous attempt to make the King's eldest son seem to approve what he most condemns, and involve him in the con- sequences of a policy of which he is not the accomplice. Amid such uncertainties, even the utterance of the royal orator has been carefully noted, and we learn that the speech was delivered " without much emphasis," except that he raised his voice " considerably " in reading the paragraphs which related to the re-organization of the army. This incident, trifling as it may seem, is so entirely in harmony with the character and opinions of King William, that it may be taken as conclusive upon one point. He is determined to have his own way about the number of his soldiers. If the Lower House cannot make up its mind to give way upon this, no reconciliation between the King and his faithful Commons is possible.

In the remainder of the speech we are unable to see that determination to resist all concession which has in some quarters been attributed to it. Some allowance must be made for the lofty notions of divine right which German Princes are wont to cherish, and which are naturally particularly strong in a Sovereign the nucleus of whose dominions was originally acquired by purchase, and the royalty of whose family is of the venerable antiquity of one hundred and sixty-three years. From such a monarch as this, the expression of " an urgent wish " that an end should be put to the discussions which have arisen between the Government and a portion of the representatives of the country is no slight effort of conciliation. As to the Budget, the proposal of the Ministers to regulate by bill the rights of the Government over the expenditure of the country, when the Lower House has not passed the Budget, is shocking enough to the ears of English constitutionalists ; but it must be remembered that the Prussian Commons have no power of refusing the supplies. All taxes in Prussia are voted permanently, and not by the year. The Crown collects them without the need of any authorization from the Parliament. It can impose no new impost ; but the income of last year remains to it. At the present moment it can, in fact, expend that income just as it pleases, and a bill, therefore, which should say how that income may, and how it may not, be applied, would, in fact, be a surrender of power by the Crown. The Lower House may well fear Herr von Bismarck and his colleagues, even when they bring gifts ; but it is something that the King should, in his speech, and, therefore, in the face of Europe, have disclaimed any intention to assert "an unlimited control over the State funds, without regard to the right of the representatives of the country." Some of the extreme Liberals, no doubt, contend that though the Crown has the right to collect the taxes, it cannot expend them without the consent of the Chambers,—that the Budget is, in fact, an appropriation bill. But this is a forced reading of the charter of the Constitution, and though ultimately supreme power must be placed in the hands of the representatives of the nation, it was certainly not the intention of the late King to give it them, nor, perhaps, could so large a share of power be as yet safely entrusted to a body whose existence as an institution is at present but of fifteen years' duration. The bill which the Ministers have undertaken to introduce must, of course, be judged on its merits when it appears ; but the promise of such a measure can scarcely be regarded as an obsti- nate refusal to make concessions of any sort. Even the ordinance on the press is not to be literally maintained. It is, indeed, to be submitted to the Chambers for their approval; but only in conjunction with a bill modifying its enactments. True that the Ministers have introduced it into the Upper House in the first place, where they have a fair chance of getting it approved ; but this hardly goes beyond the character of an allowable Parliamentary stratagem. The bill modifying the ordinance, coupled with the admission of the Ministers in the Upper House that the latter was not "suited to remain as a permanent law," may fairly be regarded as an intimation that on this point, too, the Government is willing to listen to reason. On the whole, we are disposed to believe that the present complications might be removed, if the Chamber can make up its mind to yield to the King in the matter of the army.

We think also that there are reason's why it would be pru- dent to yield. It does not follow that the augmentation of the standing army now is undesirable because it was so while the two last Parliaments were sitting. To reverse is by no means necessarily to censure their conduct. The unsettled condition of Europe, the Congress which has mot at Frank- fort and the Congress which threatens to meet at Paris, these and other events of which the issue is scarcely more doubtful, render it undesirable for the Prussian people to diminish at the present moment its effective military force. We aro well aware that the real objection of the constitutional party is not so much to the numbers as to the aristocratic organiza- tion of the army. But be the reality of this danger what it may—and we entirely sympathize with those who see in it if not a present, at least a most pregnant source of future mischief—is the peril increased by the adoption of a concilia- tory course ? Can the Chamber hinder the King from doing as he pleases in the matter ? It seems certain that it cannot. Ho has the increased number of men, ho can pay them out of the existing taxes, and both last year and this has a con- siderable surplus over into the bargain. So long as Prussia continues to be prosperous and the revenue continues to increase, the King can, in fact, do as he likes, and the only weapon in the hands of the Prussian people is the power of refusing to pay taxes—a course for which we believe them to be as little prepared as for waging a revolutionary war against the national standing army. The real difficulty in the matter is to ascertain what concessions the King would be disposed to make. Would he, in return for a budget which legalized the re-organization of the army, dismiss his present Ministers, or, at all events, the Premier, and two or three of the more obnoxious of his col- leagues, and withdraw the ordinance on the press ? Without some assurance of this kind the Chamber cannot be expected to yield, and royal pride can hardly be expected to bend so far as to buy a submission which it considers to be a Heaven- bestowed right. But if the wish to conciliate really exists on both sides, difficulties of this sort can always be overcome. In similar political disputes in this country go-betweens have never been wanting, nor is there any reason for thinking that Germany fails to produce its full share of that very useful though not very dignified order of politicians. If both parties, if King and Chamber, are willing to agree to a reasonable compromise, no doubt a compromise may be arranged.] but, unfortunately, that if begs the whole question. For however much it may be to the interest of both parties to come to some agreement, when once the struggle has been commenced other feelings assume the mastery. The beginning of strife is like the letting out of water. Without expressing any very firm belief in the conciliatory intentions of the King, or at least in his being willing to make such concessions as could alone be considered satisfac- tory by the nation, we confess to being very much less san- guine as to the manageableness of the Chamber. The Go- vernment has used its utmost influence, and it has achieved the return of twenty-six additic.nal supporters. It has now a party of thirty-seven, and the most despised of all the Ministers, Von Roon, the chief of the War Department, has a seat in the Chamber. But this splendid victory has been gained at the expense of the moderate section of the Deputies. This party has well nigh disappeared, and the extreme Radicals have gained far more of the seats which it has left vacant than the Crown. A clear majority of 260 stands face to face with M. Von Bismarck, and the larger number of these gentlemen may not improbably consider themselves pledged to take up an attitude of firm resistance. If so, the King's pride will be very likely to take fire, and then all hopes of a compromise are at an end. Another dissolution, more royal ordinances must inevitably follow, and though, we think, there is no immediate prospect of absolute resistance to the power of the Crown, the whole mass of the middle classes will be silently leavened by that distrust of the royal family, the first mutterings of which may already be heard in private society. Even the sincerity of the Crown Prince is suspected. " The Hohenzollern," people are be- ginning to say, " are always liberal till they mount the throne. We shall never have constitutional government till we make a clean sweep of the reigning dynasty, as they did in England and in France." If this feeling once becomes general, revolution, sooner or later, is inevitable. That it may be averted is our most earnest wish, if only because the Prussian royal family is so closely allied to our own. But it cannot be denied that, when the hopes of those who desire peace rest principally on the chance that, on the one hand, an obstinate monarch in the hands of a Minister with whom arrogance is a disease, and, on the other, a Chamber exasper- ated by the denial of their rights, may respectively obey the voice of reason rather than of passion, and be guided by a calm consideration of their own interests and that of the country, the prospect is at best but a gloomy one ; and one hopes rather than expects that they may be spared those cala- mities which have ordinarily been the result of such a situa- tion of affairs.