In the proceedings of the Germanic body, the leading feature consisted in the unceasing efforts of Austria to establish throughout the empire one uniform system of police and administration, tending to the full maintenance of the monarchical principle, and the repression of everything hostile to its undisturbed exercise. In this view, towards the end of August, that power laid before the Diet what she called a presidial proposition, exposing, at full length, all the principles upon which it was deemed requisite that the German federative system should be maintained. It was laid down as indispensable, that the principle of government was to be throughout and essentially monarchical; that all sovereign authority must remain united in the head of the state, who could be limited by a constitution of states only in the exercise of some determinate rights. Within these limits, it was not demanded that a period should be put to the existence of the states, but it was required that no right or prerogative with which they might be invested, should come in competition with

the decisions of the Diet, which must always remain of superior authority. The publicity of their proceedings was alluded to with very peculiar jealousy; and while pretty strong disapprobation was intimated at its existence in any shape, a positive stipulation was required, that it should not be exercised in a manner offensive to any of the other federate states. The abuses of the press were then forcibly alluded to; and it was observed, that the restrictions imposed upon it must always be nugatory so long as there was any single state in which they did not exist; since the territory of that state might easily be made the centre of attack against all the surrounding governments. It was demanded, therefore, that whatever licence any sovereign might choose to grant as to internal affairs, he should rigorously oppose strictures upon the proceedings of any other of the German states, and his own administration. It was proposed that a general law for the regulation of the press should be matured, which might be put in force over all Germany; that, in the meantime, the

provisional law of 20th September 1819 should continue in force; and that the central commission of Mentz should be instructed to continue its researches with renewed activity. The abuses of the universities, and the anti-monarchical doctrines there taught, were also evils which called for the most serious attention. Not less momentous was the number and activity of the secret societies, within the interior of which were cherished principles the most hostile to those upon which the federation was founded. Against these, too, the law of 20th September 1819 was to continue to operate, and the commission of Mentz was to be invited to assume a fresh degree of activity.

The potentates, to whom this presidial proposition was submitted, had feelings and interests too closely allied to those of Austria, to be in any danger of giving it a very unfavourable reception; a great majority gave in the most unqualified and cordial acceptance. Among these we cannot but observe, with some surprise and mortification, that Hanover was one of the most cordial and decided. Wirtemberg, all along the most refractory member of the federation, accompanied her assent with such a series of modifying and explanatory observations, as rendered it very difficult to penetrate her real sentiments. Baden, also, in expressing her concurrence, stated the full confidence felt by the prince in the love of his people, and the absence of all fear, as to himself, of the dangers pointed out in the proposition.

Austria enforced these maxims of administration, not only upon the powers of Germany, but to the utmost of her means upon the neighbouring European states. In Russia and Italy the leading powers were abundantly disposed to act in conformity with her views. The grand object of her jealousy was Switzerland; and that free state was awed by her power into steps contrary to its charac

ter and wishes. The exiles for political opinions were obliged to leave its territories, and a censorship was established on the press, so far as regarded the discussion of the politics of foreign states. Austria showed also not a very lofty spirit of precaution in prohibiting the entrance of her states to several British individuals, among whom were several ladies, the Countess of Oxford, and Lady Morgan, on account of their avowed attachment to liberal principles.

The King of Prussia, in the course of this year, fully acquitted his engagement of giving provincial states, such as they were, to the different provinces of his dominions. Those of Brandenburg, Lusatia, Pomerania, and Prussia Proper, had been already constituted. Decrees issued during the summer assigned the organization to those of Silesia, which were to meet at Breslaw; of Prussian Saxony, to meet at Merseburg; of Westphalia, to meet at Munster; of the States on the Rhine, to meet at Dusseldorf; of the grand Duchy of Posen, to meet at the capital of the same name. The constitution of all was similar to those of Brandenburg, and the others already formed. It consisted of three orders; 1.the equestrian, or that of the great proprietors; 2. the representatives of the cities; 3. the small proprietors cultivating their own demesnes, a class very numerous in Germany. In the Rhenish states, there was an order peculiar to themselves, consisting of the old immediate princes of the empire, eleven in number, the Duke d'Aremberg, the Prince of Salm-Salm, &c. who sat individually in their own right.

Not only were all the Prussian provincial states thus constituted, but those of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Ducal Prussia, were actually assembled. The former met at Berlin on the 3d of October. We are sorry to say, how ever, that we have no materials from which to judge, whether they are acting as real and constitutional states, or as

the mere tools of the crown. Their deliberations are secret; a principle of itself contrary to any liberal principle of representative government. Not even a rumour or conjecture has arisen on the subject; and there seems, indeed, to have been throughout Germany a want of that interest which we might have expected to see excited by their meeting. The King is mentioned as having exercised, in several instances, the very exorbitant power which his constitutional act assumes, of putting a negative on the election of deputies; and though certain grounds only are assigned, in which such negative can be founded, yet he is left the sole judge of those grounds. The functions which the States are to be allowed to exercise, are very imperfectly determined by the constitutional act. It is only said, that no taxes beyond those already levied, can be imposed without their consent; but for the taxes already existing, their sanction, it appears, is not made requisite. In other respects, it seems to have been the King's intention to hold them rather as a royal council, or a body, to whom he may depute some secondary functions, than as a regular and constitutional check on the royal prerogative.

One circumstance, which must inspire great doubt as to whether the Prussian cabinet was actuated by any genuine spirit of liberality, was the activity displayed throughout the whole of this period in restraining the liberty of the press, and forwarding all the views of the Holy Alliance. With the students, it stood in a position peculiarly hostile. In December, 1823, a commission was employed at Berlin, to inquire into the secret societies which prevailed in that body, and particularly the Burschenschaft. This was described as an association widely diffused throughout Germany, having for its avowed object the establishment of a representative system, but in which

were, in fact, broached vague and dangerous sentiments of liberty and equality. In consequence of the report of this commission, orders were issued to apprehend a student at Halle. He was accordingly seized; but this event was immediately followed by a numerous assemblage of his fellow-students, who pursued the party that arrested him, to the town-house, where they held them besieged. The troops in the neighbourhood were immediately put in motion, and the most serious consequences might have followed, but for the prudence of the Vice-Rector, who prevailed on both parties to agree, that the offender should be placed in a prison, which it seems belonged to the University. Strict inquiries were, however, made, and several of the students were arrested and carried to Berlin, to be tried before the tribunals. At the same time, decrees of the most severe character were enacted, with the view of suppressing the Burschenschaft, and secret associations of every description. All students, previous to matriculation, were required to give proof of never having belonged to any secret society, and to make a solemn promise never to enter into one. The breach of this engagement was to render them amenable, not to the jurisdiction of the University, but to the ordinary tribunals. Professors were warned, that it ought not to be their chief object to instruct youth in the sciences, but rather to instil into them sentiments of veneration for the King and the state. The latter qualities, it was announced, would weigh much more than the former, in the choice of young men to fill public employments.

Nothing tended to excite a greater odium against the Prussian government, than the observation made, that the objects of its persecution were often individuals who had peculiarly distinguished themselves in the national cause, during the war of liberation. It seem

ed difficult to suppose that such men should seek to overthrow what they had raised, or should have in view more than the establishment of a regular constitutional government. Among these was remarked Professor Jahn, who had manifested an extraordinary enthusiasm in the allied cause, and from the triumphal arch in front of the Tuileries, had pronounced an oration in praise of their exploits; but now, accused of demagogical practices, he was suffering the penalty of three years' imprisonment. Scharnhorst also, an officer who had distinguished himself during that campaign, died in disgrace. But the event which excited the greatest interest, was the treatment of Professor Cousin, a French man of letters of some eminence, who, in his passage through Dresden, was arrested on the requisition of the Prussian government, for the purpose of being brought to trial, on the charge of connexion with the seditious movements in Germany. The French journals, even of a royalist complexion, complained with some bitterness of this measure, as contrary to the law of nations, and particularly injurious to France, which ought to be cognizant of the offences of its own subjects. The German papers, how ever, were furnished with official replies, in which it was maintained that this arrest was the correct result of the general system of police established in Germany, which rendered all its different portions only one state, so far as regarded the repression of offences threatening the stability of its governments. The trial had not yet taken place at the close of the year.

In the kingdom of the Netherlands, the constitutional principle continued to operate in a regular and satisfactory manner. The King, at the opening of the session, was able to announce a reduction in the first part of the budget, from 15,875,805 florins to 13,275,446 florins, making a diminution of 2,600,980

florins, (216,740.) In the second subdivision, indeed, there was a rise from 9,598,980 florins to 10,358,351 florins, making an increase of 759,371 florins. This, however, had been foreseen and provided for in the financial arrangements of last year. The King was, therefore, able to propose a reduction on the land-tax of from 15 to 5, and on the other direct contributions from the same rate to 13. This very peculiar favour shown to the landed interest, the propriety of which might have admitted of some dispute, was defended on the ground of the severe distress under which that interest had recently laboured. There appeared, however, to be in this as well as in all the other branches of national industry, decided symptoms and prospects of improvement. It was proposed, also, no longer to seek its promotion in that prohibitory system, into which, after it had been proscribed by the advanced state of modern science, and was no longer capable of finding a rational defence, the blind enmity and avidity of European states had caused an extensive relapse. With Great Britain in particular, it was now proposed to establish a system of almost complete recipro city.

There was always some stir in the Swedish government, in consequence of the very independent character of its national assemblies. The Storthing, or old parliament of Norway, had been re-established by Bernadotte, and had produced the effect of reconciling them to the unjust manner in which they had been made subject to his dominion. As it was not found, however, to work quite so smoothly as the King desired, he began to feel a wish to abridge those privileges which, in his first zeal to conciliate, he had lavishly granted. Propositions of this tendency had been presented to the Storthing. Their object was to invest the King with the power of dissolving the assembly, in

stead of its having, as at present, a fixed legal duration-to give him an unqualified veto, whereas, at present, he had only a suspensive one, the vote of three successive diets being sufficient to convert any measure into a law, in the face of the royal dissent. Lastly, he proposed to establish a new hereditary nobility in Norway. These propositions having been reported against in the committee, were all rejected by the Storthing in one day, without a single dissentient voice. The committee observed, that the constitution, good or bad, had been freely and solemnly accepted by the King in person, when he was Prince Royal; and one of its articles had fixed the rights of the reigning King and his dynasty to the throne of Norway. It was added, that "the King and the Diet might improve the details of the constitution, but not change its spirit." If the Diet assumed the right of changing articles so essential as those now in question, what barrier would there be, if a turbulent and desperate faction should hereafter gain an ascendancy, to prevent it from infringing on the rights of the dynasty, and the succession to the throne ?

Sweden began now to mitigate considerably her absurd system of commercial prohibition, warned by the increasing poverty which had been its result. The nation distinguished itself at this time by the great works of public utility which it was carrying on, and which had not been interrupted even by the severest pressure of the times. In the course of the past year, there had been completed nearly forty miles of the canal of Gotha, destined to reach across the kingdom, and to join the Baltic with the German Ocean, by a line of 216 miles, of which 132 were already navigable. It is deeper by two feet and a half than the canal of Languedoc, and by two feet than that of the Forth and Clyde. Another

canal joined the Baltic to the great lake of Hielmar, and enabled Orebro, though situated a hundred miles inland, to communicate with that sea. Other canals were carried on; great roads were form'ed across the mountains into Norway, and to the northern provinces of Dalecarlia, Jamtland, Wermland, &c. A number of local objects were also provided for, among which was a donation of 200,000 thalers, to accommodate and augment the library at Upsal, and the construction of a new map of Sweden, of which 900 square leagues were this year surveyed.

Russia presented, during this period, few or no materials for history. No more was heard of the Emperor's de clared intention of giving to others of his states a representative constitution, similar to that which he had bestowed on Poland; and he did not even think it expedient to assemble the Polish Diet. He made an expedition to the Asiatic frontier of his empire, in the course of which he displayed those courteous and popular manners which always distinguished him, and showed a disposition to promote any means of forwarding the progress of civilization. Towards the close of the year, his attention, and that of the court, were almost engrossed by the calamitous inundation by which Petersburgh and its neighbourhood were overwhelmed.

By the report of the Minister of Finances, it appears that the operation of burning the assignats which had been in progress, was suspended, it being judged more expedient to employ the funds in the reduction of the fixed debt. This seems scarcely a wise measure, since the actual amount of assignats, (a term of very anti-monarchical sound,) stated at 595 millions of roubles, must very much exceed what the circulation of Russia can naturally absorb; and they have suffered accordingly a most extensive depreciation.