THE CONGRESS OF PRINCES AT FRANKFORT. [FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]
Frankfort-on-the-Main, August 19, 1863.
1 AM in a position to give you, from sources of information on which I can fully rely, the following real history of the Congress of Princes up to the present moment : —Without going further back into the events of the last few months, it is enough to state that, on his recent journey to Vienna, Duke Ernest of Saxe- Coburg experienced no difficulty in making the Kaiser comprehend the extreme importance of the unity feeling now pervading all Germany. Two causes chiefly assisted the work of the princely leader of the Nationalverein ; first, the strong manifestations at the recent great German Sckiitzenfest —something like our volun- teer gathering at Wimbledon—at which there were loud expres- sions to the effect that if the Princes would not go with Germany Germany would push ahead without its Princes ; and, secondly, the debased and more than unpopular position in which the Prus- sian King and Government have come to stand towards the peoples. Francis Joseph has ambition, nay, very consider- able ambition, I am told ; and when the Duke of Saxe- Coburg arrived at the Imperial Court he found his Majesty quite ready to take the lead of the unity movement. At the same time, however, from a feeling of pride or vanity, the Kaiser refused acceptance of the programme brought by Duke Ernest ; but gave his word to come forward himself with another project no less liberal than the one offered. Before the Duke left Vienna one important point was fully settled between him and the Emperor. It was that the intended reform propositions should be laid before a Congress of l'rinces, instead of a meeting of ministers and diplomatists. Duke Ernest knew that a great step in advance would be made if he could only succeed in separating the Sovereigns, even for a week or two, from their aristocratic and diplomatic entourage—an influence the perniciousness of which can only be understood by those who know what German courts are. The Emperor easily consented to this arrangement, though, perhaps, for another reason than Duke Ernest. His personal consideration, and that of his house, he well knew, would be all the greater by direct than by diplomatic action. So the summons were issued for a Congress of German Sovereigns.
To understand how it came that all the Princes of Germany,
with the sole exception of the King of Prussia, followed the call of Francis Joseph, it must be remembered that the prestige of the House of Hapsburg is still immense among these Sovereigns, all deeply imbued with the feeling that their ancestors were only vassals of the predecessors of the Kaiser. During my week's sojourn here at Frankfort I have bad full and frequent occasion to observe this feeling, and I must confess that I have been struck by its intensity. Nothing can well be haughtier than the manner and tone of speaking of three-fourths of the German Princes in the presence of their inferiors ; but nothing surpasses the absolute humility in the behaviour of these same Princes when approaching the Kaiser. Of course, the prestige of his Imperial Majesty was not lessened on this occasion by the fact that Frankfort is garrisoned by some thousand Austrian soldiers, who stand sentinel at the door of every Prince, and who would undoubtedly be quite as ready to shoot the Prince as to present arms before him. The Kaiser, on his part, took full advantage of all this, and not for a moment forgot his position as leader of the Congress of Sovereigns. I saw his Majesty arrive at Frankfort late on Saturday evening, and noted how he had no sooner taken possession of the Palace of the
Diet before a score and a half of royal and princely carriages drove up to the same place, and all the Sovereigns on the spot came buzzing round the Emperor like a swarm of bees. It was
the same on the following day, Sunday, when, very early in the morning, the Princes made their first official Aufteartung before the Kaiser. While the gilded carriages were rolling up to the Palace of the Diet, his Majesty went quietly away by a back door to hear mass at the Catholic cathedral. On the road he was met by the King of Saxony, and the two Sovereigns went into the church together, received at the door by the Bishop of Limburg. I happened to pass the " Dom " at this moment, and, entering, had an excellent opportunity of seeing Francis Joseph, while arrested for some ten minutes by the inevitable episcopal oration. The Kaiser is a tall, handsome man, of imposing figure, and some- thing truly imperial in his bearing. He has the characteristic high and narrow head of the Hapsburgs, as well as the historical under- lip which the family got by alliance with the Jagellon race ; but his features are far more refined and decidedly more intellectual than those of many ancestors which figure in the famous Vienna gallery. Francis Joseph has the eyes of his shrewd and accomplished mother, and, probably, not a little also of her intellect. After the many photographs and pictures which I had seen of the Emperor, I was astonished to find him so old and ripe in look and bearing. Ile made upon me the impression of a man in whom the sensual passions have burnt high and fiercely, but who is cooling down now, the wild froth gradually settling into good and wholesome wine. A striking contrast to the tall Emperor, in his glittering field-marshal's uniform, was the spare figure of the King of Saxony, dressed in black from head to foot. King John looks every inch the savant, able lawyer, and naturalist that he is ; but the high forehead and expressive eye speak of something higher than all this. From what I have heard of the ruler of Saxony, I am inclined to place him in an elevated position among the German Sovereigns. Like good children of the Holy Mother of Rome, both Emperor and King listened very patiently to the discourse of the Limburg Bishop. The right reverend lecturer got very eloquent upon the "rights of the Church."
The great event of the Congress of Sovereigns was the meeting at eleven o'clock on Monday morning at the residence of the Emperor. Only the Sovereigns themselves were admitted to this conference, and, with them, one minister, Herr von 13iegeleben, an Austrian statesman, who acted as secretary. No other visitors or spectators whatever were allowed to enter the conference-hall, and the very footmen were excluded by double doors and watchful sentinels placed at a respectful distance. I ant enabled, nevertheless, to give you an account of this meeting, from the mouth of one of the Sovereigns present, whose name, for obvious reasons, I cannot mention here. The Princes, on entering the Palace of the Diet, were received by the Emperor in person, who led them into the assembly-room and to their seats at the table, the places being marked by large escutcheons in gold. The table, covered by a gold-embroidered green cloth, was oval, and around it the Princes sat in alphabetical order, after the names of their countries, the Emperor presiding at the top. At a small side- table Herr von Biegeleben was seated. Before each Prince lay a portfolio of tinted paper, embossed with the Imperial arms, and aside of it were gold pens and a porcelain inkstand. At ten minutes after eleven the Emperor opened the proceedings in quite a parliamentary manner. Taking up a small bell at his side, he rang it twice, and then, bowing to the august assembly around, began in a clear, sonorous voice :—" Illustrious brothers and cousins, very dear allies !" The speech, which has been given to the world by the Austrian organ here, L'Europe, I do not repeat, as you will have received it from other sources—Havas, alias Reuter—by the time this letter reaches you. 'The delivery of the oration occu- pied more than half an hour, during which time the deepest silence reigned in the room—a silence SO deep, indeed, as to become almost oppressive. Bewildered astonishment that an Emperor, head of the House of Hapsburg, could express himself in these tonne, declaring his intention to make Germany "an undivided whole "—sin unzertrennlickes G«nze—was visibly expressed in the countenance of a large number of Princes. For a few minutes after the delivery of the address undisturbed quiet continued to reign among the assembly, after which the King of Bavaria arose, thanking, in a few simple words, the Emperor for his gracious kindness in having undertaken the initiative of "a movement so important as well as so urgent." The Grand Dukes of Baden and of Saxe-Weimar followed, expressing like gratification ; but all the other Sovereigns kept silence. Then the Emperor broke up the assembly by retreating a step and bow- ing to his august brethren.
The rest of Monday was spent by the Princes in amusements, a banquet given by the Senate at the ancient hall of the German Emperors—the RUmer—fireworks at the river-side, and prome-
nades through the city. These, I am sure, you will spare me to de- scribe. Late on Monday eVening, however, there was another important though short conference, at the residence of the Kaiser, in which it was decided to despatch a mission to the King of Prussia, now staying at Baden, to join the Congress of Sovereigns. The delicate embassy was undertaken by the King of Saxony, who made himself the bearer of the letter of invitation signed by the Emperor and all the Princes, and left town early on Tuesday. Francis Joseph also quitted the city for this day, to spend the anniversary of his birth at the Court of Darmstadt; and the rest of the Princes now divided themselves into groups to discuss the details of the Imperial proposals. These consist, as you will be aware, in a constitutional re-organization of the German Diet, in the form of a new executive power, and an Upper and Lower House of deputies, which shall take the place of the present totally in- effective Bend, the executive, or Directoriwn, is to consist of five members, the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Prussia and Bavaria, and two other Sovereigns elected by the remaining Princes. The Upper House, or Bunderrath, is to have 21 members; Austria and Prussia being represented each by three votes, and the rest divided in proportion among the remaining States ; while the Lower House is to be formed of 300 deputies, Austria and Prussia each to be represented by 75; Bavaria by 27; the other kingdoms each by 15; Baden, 12; and so forth in proportion. As the time goes, it seems quite unnecessary to discuss this project, since the possibility of its execution depends upon an event which has not yet taken place—the adhesion of the King of Prussia. His re- fusal, I have reason to believe, will not prevent the Emperor of Austria from carrying out his plans of reform, though, of course, on a modified basis. I am told by one whom I cannot designate otherwise than a highly influential person, that the Emperor Francis Joseph is thoroughly in earnest. Please not to leave this fact out of sight in your appreciation of coming events.
I will end my letter—which, I fear, has grown already to unusual length —by giving a slight sketch of the actual grouping of the princely members of this Congress of German Sovereigns. There are, taking a broad view of the meet- ing, three political parties, which I will designate, in French parlance, as the right, the left, and the centre ; or, as the conservative, the liberal, and the liberal-conservative factions. The first party is by far the most numerous, and, headed by the King of Hanover and the Elector of Hesse, with most of the smaller Princes in the rear, will hear of no reforms whatever, and least of all of any taking away an iota from their own sovereign rights and privileges. The whole of these Princes have attended the Congress simply out of fear, well aware that if they stayed away the mighty Kaiser would march over their heads. It is his pres tige alone which overawes them into something like submission. The second party, the centre, is represented by the Emperor him- self, in agreement with the Kings of Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtem- burg, the Dukes of Nassau and Brunswick, and two or three rulers of central Germany. All these adhere strictly, and, I am told, honestly, to the reform proposals submitted by the Emperor. The third party, the left, consisting of the Grand Dukes of Baden and Saxe-Weimar, the Duke of Oldenburg, and, as leader, Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, is inclined to go somewhat further than the Emperor in the way of reforms. Two or three of the Princes would not be disinclined to resign their own sovereign power into the hands of a new Emperor of Germany ; and all are desirous of a greater centralization of the executive, as well as an extension of the representation of the people proposed in the Im- perial reform act. As long as this cannot be obtained, they are ready, of course, to act in concert with Kaiser Francis Joseph, and to assist to the utmost of their power the carrying of his proposi- tions. Thus affairs stand at present ; somewhat undetermined, it is true ; but yet not without much hope of a successful termination. To state my own impressions in one word, 1 may say that I think the political unity of Germany will arise, if not directly, at least indirectly, out of the proceedings of this Congress of Sovereigns.
AN ANGLO-GERMAN.
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