They did not wish to alarm the new ruler, and they thought that the Vincke party had a fair right to reap what it had sown. The outbreak of the Italian war, however, caused an immense agitation in Germany. The old dream of a united fatherland came back more vividly than ever. Internal questions, too, had arisen, more especially that relating to the organisation of the army, which seemed to the advanced liberal leaders to afford them an opportunity for action, and the democratic candidates. appeared in great numbers at the elections of 1861. Very wisely, however, they changed the name of their political connexion, and called it the "Deutsche-Fortschritt-Partei," to signify that they were at once zealous for internal reforms and for the settlement of the German question.

The principal aims of this party may be summed up thus: 1. Reform of the upper House.

2. A liberal system, conscientiously carried out in all the details of the administration, with a view to avoiding the scandals now of frequent occurrence, when an obstinate or bigoted official sets at defiance the liberal inclinations of the government, trusting to backstairs influence.

3. Ministerial responsibility.

4. An easy method of bringing to justice guilty officials, who are at present, as in France, in all conflicts with simple citizens, like men armed cap-à-pie fighting with the defenceless.

5. The abolition of all disqualification on account of religious opinion.

6. An improved system of national education, which has, since the victory of the reactionists, been deliberately, and of malice prepense, lowered and corrupted, with the express purpose of subjecting the minds of the young to the yoke of the feudal and fanatical party.

7. The abolition of certain privileges of the land-owners, such as the appointment of their own police.

8. A revision, in a liberal sense, of the laws relating to trade. 9. Economy in the management of the army, maintenance of the Landwehr, physical training of the youth of the country. 10. The adoption of a firm line of policy, with a view to place Prussia at the head of a united Germany.

Parliament met on January 14th, 1862. The Haus der Abgeordneten was constituted pretty nearly as follows:

The cry which the which the party of progress had raised most loudly at the elections was the cry of economy. In the former parliament the ministry had brought forward a proposal, to which it was understood the king attached the greatest possible importance, relative to the organisation of the army. Of this we shall presently give some account; but before doing so, it may be well to state a few particulars as to the principal persons who had seats in the new Chamber.

The leading man of the Fortschritt party was perhaps Waldeck, nicknamed by his enemies the Bauern-König, from his constant advocacy of the cause of the humbler classes. His tall commanding figure and striking countenance do not bear so many traces of political persecution as might have been expected in one who suffered so much at the hands of the reactionaries. Close beside this white-haired leader, but differing from him on several points, notably on the German question, is Schulze, called from his birthplace Schulze-Delitszch, a man still in the prime of life: he is best known as the apostle of coöperative associations in Germany, but is also honourably distinguished as an orator, a poet, and a magistrate. Waldeck is "Grossdeutsch;" that is, he wishes for a united Germany including Austria. Schulze wishes for a narrower confederacy, exclusive of Austria; he is, in other words, "Kleindeutsch." Virchow, a most eminent medical professor at Berlin, is another active member of the Fortschritt party. He is a very young man, just old enough to sit in parliament,the minimum of age is twenty-eight, but has already achieved considerable success in debate, in spite of a certain dryness of expression and perhaps a touch of pedantry. Franz Ďuncker edits the organ of the party, the clever and popular Volkszeitung, Other members are: Becker, known, from his appearance and the supposed colour of his politics, as "Red Becker;" Prince Smith, whose English name well fits a free-trader; Hagen, who brought forward the motion which led to the dissolution.

We have reckoned along with the Fortschritt party the section known as the Fraction Harkort; so called from M. Harkort, an old man who was wounded at Ligny, and has since led a most active and useful life, promoting the material prosperity of his native Westphalia and other districts,-advocating railways and steam-navigation, enlightening the peasantry, and fighting in Berlin, now the mob and now the reaction. To the same nuance belongs Diesterweg, the Pestalozzian school-reformer.

The chief persons of the less advanced liberal party were: Grabow, who was chosen president, and Simson, an ex-professor of jurisprudence at Königsberg, who is celebrated in Prussia as one of the ablest of her orators and as a model president. Some imprudently over-loyal remarks at the time of the coronation

festivities lost him his old seat, and he was returned for a small place too late to be chosen president, although he was better fitted for that office than the excellent Grabow, who is somewhat deaf. Vincke declined to stand, and remained watching events. The great point at issue was the military question. The old system of Scharnhorst, excellent for its purpose, was, in the opinion of the king, no longer suited to the circumstances of the nation. He determined to change it, and the chief alterations which he introduced were as follows: he abolished the exemptions, which had gradually crept in, and obliged not 40,000 but 63,000 young men every year to take up arms. He extended the period during which Prussians are obliged, if necessary, to serve in the regular army to eight years, out of which three are to be spent by the infantry, and four by the cavalry, in actual service; the rest is to be passed in the reserve. He placed the Landwehr of the first "ban" on the same footing as the regular army, and so made the old Landwehr of the second "ban" the only real Landwehr; and he created permanent "cadres" for all the troops who were liable to be called out in case of the army's being "mobilised."

By these means he trusted to make mobilisation much more easy, and to obtain a much more effective force. All this, however, could not be done without money; and for the obtaining of money it was necessary to go to parliament. We cannot ask our readers to follow us through the tangled skein of complicated questions which have arisen; but so much we may ask them to remember. The changes in the army were first debated in the session of 1859-60; the government carried its point in the Herrenhaus, but failed in the Haus der Abgeordneten. They returned to the charge in 1861 with similar results; and again in 1862 it was this question that led to the motion of the Fortschritt deputy Hagen, which brought about the resignation of the liberal government, and the dissolution of the second Chamber.

In May the elections took place, and in the same month the deputies formed themselves again in Berlin. Things looked worse for the king than ever, for the Fortschritt party had gained considerably. The new ministry was very inferior to the old. Its more prominent members, in addition to Von der Heydt, were: M. von Jagow, a man much hated for his annoying and arbitrary measures when he was director of police; Prince Hohenlohe, a member of one of the less violent sections of the Kreuzzeitung party; M. Mühler, who, as the author of the excellent bacchanalian song "Grad' aus dem Wirthshaus," deserved some reward, but for whom a place more suitable than that of minister of instruction and public worship might possibly have been found.

He is said too, by his enemies, to atone for the merriment of his youth by the fanaticism of his age. Von Roon kept his place, and Bernstorff, well known and but little admired in England.

These were not the men to meet and manage such an assembly as that with which they had to deal. Most of the leading Fortschritt politicians had come back fiercer than ever; and the moderate liberals, although they tried to prevent the last extremities, were not by any means friendly.

The principal speakers of the moderate liberal party in the present parliament are, Vincke, who has again appeared on the scene; Twesten, who was ranked in January last with the Fortschritt section, but who seems more recently to have inclined to those politicians who desire to postpone discussions about internal reform to energetic action in the German question; and Professor von Sybel, the well-known and popular

historian.

Twesten is the son of the theologian of that name, and is best known by his duel with General von Manteuffel. Small and slight, but possessed of a singularly clear enunciation, he is said to be a successful debater.

Heinrich von Sybel, born at Dusseldorf in 1817, is the son of a well-known Prussian liberal and parliamentary speaker. He studied at Berlin, and became a passionate admirer of Ranke, whose method he has adopted. His most important historical works relate to the Crusades and to the French Revolution; but his studies in old German history have been those which have most influenced his political career. He was the youngest member of the Parliament at Erfurt, by which Prussian statesmen hoped to arrive at some satisfactory settlement of the German question; and, in a speech which excited much attention, he urged Prussia to fulfil her great mission, and to raise up anew a German empire. His ideas on this subject did not prevent his being called to Munich by King Maximilian; and he remained there in great favour till the events of 1859 resuscitated the hopes of the Gotha party, which had slumbered since the disaster of Olmütz. Munich then became too hot to hold him, and he accepted the chair at the University of Bonn left vacant by the death of Dahlmann. He was elected in 1861, but was prevented by illness from taking his seat. In 1862 he was again returned, and has, as we have said, acted chiefly with the Vincke section.

The recognition of the kingdom of Italy brought some good-will to the government, and they carried the ratification of the commercial treaty with France by a large majority; but the fatal question of the military expenditure could at last

no longer be postponed, and an unusually fierce debate ended, on the 20th of Sept., by the absolute rejection of the demands of the government, with regard to the money required for the reorganisation of the army. Bernstorff and Von der Heydt had the wisdom to retire, and Count Bismark Schönhausen took the unenviable post of president of the council. His first act was to withdraw the budget of 1863, which was about to meet the fate of its predecessor; his second, to send to the Herrenhaus the budget of 1862, and to have the military part of it, which had been eliminated by the representatives of the tax-payers, reintroduced and authorised by that imprudent assembly; his third was to prorogue the second Chamber, which had protested against the unconstitutional proceedings of the other House, until the 13th of January 1863.

Our readers are now, we trust, in a position to understand the views of the several parties which are contending for power in Prussia, and the leanings of most of the politicians, on whose resolves the near future of that country, to a great extent, depends. It remains to offer, with great diffidence, some suggestions as to the probable course of events.

The simplest and most satisfactory solution of the present difficulty would be the king's abdication. Public opinion forced Louis of Bavaria to resign, and placed the Austrian diadem on the head, not of the rightful heir, but of his son, the young Francis Joseph. There is every thing to be said for, and nothing to be said against, this plan. William I., junior to his brother by only seventeen months, was an ensign at ten years old, and never till comparatively lately contemplated his accession to the throne as a probable event. His time was occupied by the cares of the garrison and the parade-ground, or by pleasures, not always of the most exalted character. He is simply incapable of comprehending the position of a monarch with a real constitution. His views are analogous to those of an old French legitimist duke who remarked to Niebuhr, when asked whether he had not had a hand in framing the Charte, "Oh, yes, I had; but, good God! do you suppose I ever imagined that the king was not to do what he liked, in spite of it?"

In the event of his abdication, his son would be able gracefully to retire from an untenable position, and the state machine might at length be got into good working order. We only fear that such a course is too wise a one to have any chance of being adopted. True it is, that the brood of "court theologians, missionary deaconesses," and the like, who enraged Alexander von Humboldt, no longer flit about the palace. Marcus von Niebuhr, the unhappy son of an illustrious sire, has been stricken by a malady not unlike that which destroyed his royal