1 JULY 1848, Page 15

GERMANY.

TEE condition of Germany is at present extremely anomalotte: it is not easy to discover the presence of any efficient government, and still more difficult to conjecture whence such a government is to come for the future.

The simultaneous revolutionary movements in every state of any note or importance in Germany appeared to meet with ab- solutely no resistance: prince after prince succumbed to the po- pular will "with 'bated breath and whispering humbleness." The truth is, they were unable to resist; for the notoriously dilapi- dated state of the Austrian finances and the more•than suspected embarrassments of Prussia, are but types of the condition of the treasury department in every German government. 'En- couraged by this universal submission, a self-appointed Com- mittee took upon itself to assemble in 'Frankfort for the purpose of convening and organizing a Central Legislature forGermany. None of its members possessed the authority conferred by rank, or wealth, or high political position. They belonged exclusivebr to a very limited portion of Germany. Yet the Diet of the Con- federation did not even venture to murmur at their assembliqg in its local residence ; and the Princes represented in the Diet hastened to nominate a Committee of seventeen Liberals to assist that body in the maturing of a plan for the election of a German Constituent Assembly in concert with the preparatory Committee.

Austria and Prussia, hitherto the only two really independent governments of the Confederation, made a show of asserting that independence, by convening Constituent Assemblies in their own states, concurrently with the convocation of the National Assembly. That of Austria will in all probability prove a mere nullity. The Sclavonie and Magyar provinces seem bent upon asserting their separate nationalities. Italy is in full revolt ; afld even the Italian districts of the Tyrol have refused to send depu- ties to the local Diet of that province, at present in session. This state of affairs—so perilous to a government each of whose pro- vinces is peopled by a different race, speaking a different Lan. guage, and ruled by different laws—has been rendered yet more perilous by the idiotic cowidrdice of the-Emperor, who, after con- vening a Constituent Assimbly, fled to the Tyrol, appealing against the coercion he had experienced in Vienna ; then pro- mised to return to open the Diet ; and now falls sick and sends his uncle in his stead. In the-internal affairs of -Germany, the Emperor of Austria possesses only the weight due to his terri- tories included .within the boundaries of the-Confederation; end scarcely even that, for he bolds, the important kingdom of Bebe- mia on the precarious tenure of a victory. The 'Constituent Assembly of Prussia is unlikely to command much more influence in German affairs than the Austrian. To judge by- the noisy and irregular discussions in the Prussian Assembly, and its reactionary tendencies, either the influence of the highly centralized and martinet Government. has -vitiated the elections, or all the best public characters having been elected to the 'Frankfort Assemhly, only those of inferior value -were left to compose -that of 'Berlin. 'The wavering feminine character of the-Monarch has added to the mischief. Carophautuul -threw up tha Office Of Prime Minister, when only ene plow in -his Cabinet remained to be'filledit is all but certain, because

the King refused to communicate to him the tenor and ob- ject of the correspondence he was carrying on with Russia. Such a Government and such an Assembly are little likely to wage a serious contest for ascendancy with the Frankfort As- sembly—if that also, like the Austrian and Prussian, is not a mere nominis umbra.

The utter imbecility of all the separate Governments, the popular desire for the fusion of all Germany into one state, which has been gaining strength ever since 1813, and the felt want of an efficient government of some kind, are in favour of the Frankfort As- sembly. It is strong, not only in the wishes of the people, but in the good-will of the minor princes. The Sovereigns of Baden, Darmstadt, Saxony, and others, see in it their only bulwark against the encroachments of Austria or the still more dreaded Prussia. The President of the Assembly was, till he accepted that office, Premier of the Darmstadt Ministry, and is still the most influential statesman of the dutchy : and it is worthy of note, that in the debate and division on the motion that no new local constitution should be recognized, except provisionally, until the general Germanic constitution should be finally adopted—a mo- tion obviously directed against the assumptions of the Constituent Assemblies at Berlin and Vienna—a majority of the Prussian de- legates (in particular those from the Rhine Provinces) spoke and voted in the affirmative.

The National Constituent Assembly, therefore, appears to pos- sess elements of strength not discernible in the two rival Consti- tuent Assemblies. It includes among its members many expe- rienced officials, and some of the most tried and practical states- men of Germany. The sagacity and moderation which have hitherto characterized its deliberations are also of favourable au- gury. Still, it has one great source of weakness in its constitu- tion, and has one very delicate and difficult task to accomplish before it can be recognized as a real power. The source of weak- ness is its want of any express warrant to impose taxes, to appoint ministers to levy and dispose of the proceeds of such taxes, or to authorize any existing constituted authority to discharge that function. The source of the authority of the English House of Commons is its acknowledged power over the public purse. Any legislative body not possessing such a power, may make as many laws as it pleases, but has no guarantee that any one will respect them. The difficult task to be accomplished by the Assembly is the institution of an efficient Executive Government. Public opinion in Germany decidedly favours Monarchy. But the existence of a monarchy presupposes power in the possession of a dynasty to a certain extent inde- pendent of the recognition of the elective legislature. In Ger- many there are too many dynasties. Had the bulk of the Aus- trian territories been German, or even had the Austrian Govern- ment been secure in its Extra-German dominions, its power, combined with the prestige of the old Imperial authority of Ger- many, so long vested in the house of Hapsburg, would probably have rendered its claims irresistible. In the actual disorganized and enfeebled condition of Austria, the preponderance of Prussia in Germany Proper would probably have placed the crown of Germany on the head of Frederick William ; but the irresolute and suspicious conduct of the Prussian Government has rendered that impossible. As yet, the National Constituent Assembly has confined itself to discussions on the nature of the interim Cen- tral Government to be adopted until a constitution be framed. There can be no doubt, however, that the interim Executive will foreshadow the form and lineaments of that which is to be per- manently established. On this question there are three parties in the Assembly. One insists that the central authority shall owe its ele- vation to the popular choice alone. A second insists that the nomination of the central authority shall be left to the Governments. A third, respectable for the moderation and talents of the members who compose it, take a middle course, and propose that the central authority shall be appointed by the Governments in conjunction with a Committee of the Assembly, nominated for that purpose. The report of the Committee, to whom the various projects were remitted to put them in a proper shape for discussion, is in the sense of this third party. They have recommended a triumvirate acting through the instrument- ality of a Ministry responsible to the National Assembly : this triumvirate to be nominated by the Sovereigns with the concur- rence of a specially delegated Committee of the Assembly ; Aus- tria to nominate one triumvir, Prussia another, and the remaining sovereign states of the Confederation to elect the third out of a list of three to be presented by Bavaria. The second of these plans has been rejected by a large majority. The preamble of the Commission's report, which declares simply that "a provisional central authority shall be nominated to transact the common affairs of the whole German nation," and specifies what the common affairs are, has been adopted. The decision of the Assembly as to the composition and the manner of appointing this Provisional Government is yet unknown. The debate, though stormy at the outset, evinced towards the close a sincere desire on the part of all sections of the Assembly to concede all points not involving any vital principle. Until a Central Executive be appointed, and the authority to impose taxes and control the application and expenditure of the revenue thence arising be recognized as existing in the Assembly, there can be no efficient general constitutional government in Germany. It is very creditable to the German people, that not- withstanding the entire prostration of the Local Governments,

and the want of any Central Government to supply their plae-e, order has on the whole been preserved throughout the country, and the regular administration of law by the tribunals been al- lowed to proceed without interruption. This temper of the public mind, and the obvious interest of the secondary states which o. copy the centre of Germany to seek shelter under a recognized Central Government from the usurpations of Prussia and Austria, or from the worse alternative of anarchy, afford grounds to hope that the difficult problem of a general Constitutional Government for Germany will before long receive a satisfactory solution.