spoke in favour of a real constitution, of the liberty of the press, of the Polish nationality, against the disabilities of Jews and Christian dissenters, and connected himself with all the best movements of the time. In 1848 he sat on the right, and opposed revolution as strongly as he had opposed absolutism. So great was his influence over the noderate conservatives and liberals at Frankfort, that the Club Milani, to which Radowitz, Count Schwerin, and Bruck, who was afterwards financeminister in Austria, belonged, was called "The forty fold-repeated voice of Vincke." He has since been accused of being sometimes too fond of fighting for his own hand, and preferring the fame of a daring guerilla to that of a wise general. His oratory would seem to have something of the character of Mr. Bright's, but his political sympathies and his party connexions are quite different. He is more of a whig, or liberal conservative, than a radical; though perhaps we can hardly use these terms in relation to Prussian affairs without giving rise to confusion and misunderstanding.

The most remarkable result of the differences of opinion about the Russian war, was the breach between the Prince of Prussia and the government. The heir to the throne had no great liking for the Emperor Nicholas, who was by no means over-courteous in his treatment of his Prussian relatives. Nor did he believe in the success of the imperial system of repression. On one occasion, after Nicholas had been expressing himself with more than his wonted violence against coquetting with liberalism, the prince asked a Russian who stood high in the favour of his master, whether he thought that revolutionary notions had been effectually kept out of Russia. "So far am I from thinking so," was the answer, "that I do not believe my head, or the head of any of the emperor's advisers, is worth ten days' purchase after his eyes are closed."

The prince represented the old Prussian military spirit, which never forgave the emperor for telling the officers at Berlin, as he had the want of tact to do, that they were his advanced guard; and his feelings grew more and more bitter as Prussia sank lower and lower in the estimation of Europe. No doubt his conduct was not without its influence in determining the semi-hostile position which Prussia assumed towards her great neighbour just before the conclusion of the struggle.

During these years, the various sections of the conservative party maintained their ascendency in the internal politics of Prussia. The long-adjourned question of the definitive organisation of the upper House was settled in October 1854 in a manner which, although it did not entirely meet the views of the

feudalists, was at least far more favourable to them than they had any right to expect. The provincial and communal legislation of 1850, which was redolent of the modern theories of 1848, was seriously modified in 1852, but rather in the sense of the bureaucratic than of the feudal faction. This last, however, succeeded in giving the name of "Herrenhaus" ("House of Lords") to the first, and that of "Abgeordneten-Haus" ("House of Deputies") to the second Chamber; a trifling matter, which it had much at heart. The elections of October 1854 were extremely unfavourable to the liberals, in spite of the strong support of the Catholic clergy, who, for reasons relating to their own church-affairs, were opposed to the government, and more especially to the High-Lutheran and Kreuzzeitung zealots who presided over the ministry of the interior and that of public instruction. Vincke, who had been the great orator of the constitutional opposition in the two preceding parliaments, declined to stand, and his friends in the lower House were led by Count Schwerin and by M. Patow. The Kreuzzeitung faction was very strong, and was commanded as usual by Gerlach. As well without as within the walls of parliament, it asserted itself in a very offensive way, and the adherents of M. Manteuffel were almost forced into the position of liberals. The bad feeling between the two conservative factions reached its height in 1856, and was made notorious to all Europe by the duel between the bureaucratic Hinckeldey, the directorgeneral of the police, and M. von Rochow, a young officer, and a member of the Kreuzzeitung party in the Herrenhaus.

No material change took place in the situation of parties until the king's illness in October 1857. It was clear that if the Prince of Prussia should succeed to the regency, the days of the Manteuffel ministry were numbered. Nevertheless, the friends of the future ruler observed a wise silence, and made no sign. The Kreuzzeitung faction at court did what it could to prevent the heir presumptive succeeding to the regency with full powers, as provided by the Constitution. Their efforts were, however, in vain, and a royal ordinance of October 1858 put an end to the exceptional state of affairs, and conferred the regency upon the prince, who summoned the Chambers to meet him on the 20th of that month.

The first change was the retirement of the detested Westphalen, who had been deeply concerned in all the intrigues against his new master. On the 26th the regent swore to the Constitution, and on the 6th November the Manteuffel ministry was dismissed. The leading spirits of the new cabinet were the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, MM. von Schleinitz, Patow, Bethmann-Hollweg, and Auerswald.

The Prince of Hohenzollern, the head of the new cabinet, was, up to 1849, an independent prince. In that year he concluded a treaty with Prussia, by which he surrendered all his sovereign rights, retaining only the title of Hoheit (Royal Highness) and the position of a younger son of the royal house. His mother was a niece of Murat, and one of his daughters married the late King of Portugal. Another, born in 1845, is reputed to be, as the fairy-tales have it, "the most charming and accomplished princess in the world." He is a Catholic; and his appointment had a good effect upon the Rhenish populations, who had been teazed by the small proselytising of M. von Westphalen and his friends. For the rest, he is a man of wide political knowledge, and of moderate and enlightened ideas, while his practical adhesion to the views of those who think that the position of the smaller princes is becoming impossible makes him acceptable to all who desire the reform of the German Confederation.

The Freiherr Alexander von Schleinitz was born in 1807, and belongs to the Brunswick branch of his family. He has been employed principally in the home and foreign departments of the diplomatic service, and owes his political importance chiefly to the friendship of the prince regent, whom he had sheltered on the memorable night of the 19th March 1848, when his life was in considerable danger. He is an indolent and pleasure-seeking man, not without ability, but inspiring little respect or confidence; and he made a very indifferent minister for foreign affairs.

M. Patow was born in 1807, and was a schoolfellow of Manteuffel's. He has spent nearly his whole life in the bureaucracy, and up to 1848 was understood to belong to the "Eder" section of administrators, to which we have alluded above. Summoned to take the place of minister of commerce and public works in the Camphausen cabinet, he had the sense to recognise the signs of the times, and has ever since been a good constitutionalist. His qualifications for the post which was given him in the Hohenzollern cabinet,-that of finance minister,-are unquestionably very great.

A far more interesting though not more useful personage is M. Bethmann-Hollweg, to whom was assigned the delicate task of inaugurating the new system in the management of religious and educational matters. He was born in 1795 at Frankfort, and was the son of a M. Hollweg, who married a daughter of the wealthy house of Bethmann, well known to travellers in connection with the Ariadne of Dannecker. His private tutor was the great geographer Carl Ritter, and his early education, conducted partly at home and partly at the Frankfort gymnasium, where

Schlosser and Matthiæ then taught, was as careful and thorough as admirable management and large means could make it. He became professor of jurisprudence at Berlin, after a distinguished university career. Thence he went to Bonn, where he held a similar position. In 1840 he entered the service of the government, and has ever since been an important public character in Prussia. Like the late king, he has been influenced very strongly by the romantic school; but he possesses a better head and a deeper culture. In church-matters, to which he has ever given great attention, he belongs to the "mediation" school; and his tall figure and grave countenance may often be remarked at Nitzsch's sermons. He is a great patron of the Evangelical Alliance, which has at least the merit of being bitterly hated by the zealots who follow Hengstenberg, and which should hardly be judged by the names of the persons who are connected with it in this country. M. Bethmann-Hollweg became some years ago the proprietor of Rheineck, which he has restored with great splendour.

Rudolf von Auerswald is one of several brothers belonging to an excellent family at Königsberg, who were brought up in close intimacy with the present and the last king of Prussia during the residence of the royal house in East Prussia. All of them had the good sense not to wish for the position of court favourites, but worked, each his own way, by surer although slower methods. The eldest, a distinguished officer, was murdered with Prince Lichnowsky at Frankfort. The youngest sat in the Camphausen cabinet, and the second in that which followed it. It is he who again appeared as an important actor in 1858. He was for some time in the army, but his chief training has been that of a county magnate and a provincial administrator. All the Auerswalds belonged to the school of East-Prussian liberals, of which Schön was so great an ornament, and in which the influence of Kant and the hated neighbourhood of Russia tempered the old aristocratic and exclusive traditions.

Conservative influences were not entirely unrepresented in the cabinet. Von der Heydt, a clever time-server, kept his place as minister of commerce, and M. Simons remained for a time as minister of justice. Later, too, General von Roon, who leans to the Kreuzzeitung party, superseded the liberal General von Bonin.

Flottwell, who took for a time the department of the interior, is an enlightened bureaucrat, who was much employed under Schön, and Count Schwerin, who soon succeeded him, is a strong constitutionalist, who belongs to the family of the celebrated general of Frederick the Great, and has, as the son-inlaw of Schleiermacher, always taken a strong part on the liberal

side in Prussian ecclesiastical affairs. Perhaps he is most in his place as president of an assembly-the Shaw Lefevre of Prussia.

The Regent lost no time in issuing a manifesto, in which, while making many reserves, he acknowledged the necessity of amending the communal legislation, which had, as we have seen, been much altered since 1850 by the efforts of the feudal party, and pronounced strongly against the mixing up religion with politics, which had been so characteristic of his brother's rule.

The new elections completely changed the balance of parties. The feudalists, who, thanks to the zeal of M. de Westphalen, had been so successful in 1852 and 1854, were reduced to 62; while the ministerial liberals counted 236: 38 Catholics and 18 Poles made up the Assembly.

It may be asked by those who remember 1848, how it was that the accession of the Prince of Prussia to the regency excited the hopes of the liberals, and was followed by the advent of a liberal ministry. In that year it is notorious that the absence of the heir presumptive from Berlin was considered necessary to his personal safety; and if we turn to the political writings of the time, or even to so impartial an authority as the remarkable article on Prussia in the Revue des Deux Mondes of October 1847, we shall see that he was regarded as any thing but a friend to popular rights.

The answer to this question will throw some light on the occurrences of the last few months. The Prince of Prussia was in one respect radically different from the king. He had not a particle of his religious mysticism; nay, rather his homely somewhat sceptical common-sense revolted from the maudlin follies of his brother's court. When, then, the reactionary party began to be all-powerful, and such advisers as General von Gerlach ruled the day, the prince made no secret of his annoyance and disgust. Again, the events of 1818 had shown the extreme weakness of his brother's character, and for a time it seemed that he was likely to be forced into the position of a mayor of the palace. Further, the attitude of Prussia during the Russian war, as we have seen, irritated him excessively, and led to something very like a breach between him and his brother's ministers. The influence of his wife, a woman of talent, the granddaughter of Karl August, was exerted in a liberal direction, as well from choice as from policy; and, above all, his experience of Kreuzzeitung rule in the Rhineland, and his personal quarrel with Kleist-Retzow, the tool of the Westphalen section of the cabinet, who occupied part of the same palace at Coblentz, tended effectually to open his eyes. Subsequent events have shown that his liberalism did not go very deep.

The democratic party took no part in the elections of 1858.