his country. Foreign Governments and Parties ought therefore to look
upon English newspapers in the true point of view, and not to be too
sensitive as to attacks which those papers may contain.
[Pageheading: DEMOCRACY IN PRUSSIA]
_The Earl of Clarendon to Queen Victoria._
BERLIN, _5th November 1861_.
Lord Clarendon presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and humbly
begs to say that as he leaves Berlin to-morrow, the Princess Royal has
most kindly just given him an Audience of leave, although Her Royal
Highness was still suffering considerable pain in her ear, and was
quite unfit for any exertion. Her Royal Highness's countenance bears
traces of the severe illness of the last few days, but Lord Clarendon
trusts that the worst is now over, and that care alone is necessary
for her complete recovery. Her Royal Highness is still so weak that
she was obliged to desist from writing, which she attempted this
morning, and Lord Clarendon took the liberty of earnestly recommending
that the journey to Breslau, upon which Her Royal Highness appeared to
be bent, should be given up. Lord Clarendon intends to repeat the same
advice to the Queen, whom he is to see this evening, as there are to
be four days of rejoicings at Breslau, for the fatigue of which the
Crown Princess must be utterly unfit.
Her Royal Highness is much alarmed at the state of things here, and
Lord Clarendon thinks with great reason, for the King has quite made
up his mind as to the course that he will pursue. He sees democracy
and revolution in every symptom of opposition to his will. His
Ministers are mere clerks, who are quite content to register the
King's decrees, and there is no person from whom His Majesty seeks
advice, or indeed who is capable or would have the moral courage to
give it. The King will always religiously keep his word, and will
never overturn the institutions he has sworn to maintain, but they
are so distasteful to him, and so much at variance with his habit of
thought and settled opinions as to the rights of the Crown, that His
Majesty will never, if he can avoid it, accept the consequences
of representative Government, or allow it to be a reality. This is
generally known, and among the middle classes is producing an uneasy
and resentful feeling, but as far as Lord Clarendon is able to judge,
there is no fear of revolution--the Army is too strong, and the
recollection of 1848 is too fresh to allow of acts of violence.
L
|