Page 6 Advertisements Column 1

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 1, Issue 35, 22 May 1858, Page 6

The marriage of the Princess Royal, says the Some Neios, has been a prominent topic of the month. The country took a deep interest in it j not merely the interest inseparable from the sentiment of loyalty, but that which arises from political circumstances. The old policy of dynastic alliances for the strengthening of thrones by way of affiliation is dying out. An alliance between royal families no longer possesses that significance which implies a marriage for state purposes in which the "people" had no concern, and in which, indeed, the bride and bridegroom themselves were rarely consulted. Happily the marriage of our Princess Royal and the Prince Frederick William of Prussia is not an alliance of that character. It is based not only on old attachments subsisting between the Royal houses, but on a strong personal attachment which has grown up within the last eighteenmonths between their children. It is a marriage of love, in the best sense, rather than a marriage of state; and it is sanctioned and blessed by the earnest approval of the subjects of both Crowns it brings into closer bonds of amity than before. The political advantages of the alliance are sufficiently obvious, for although no political influences are in any way advanced by the event, it cannot be overlooked that the policy of the Regent, and the religion of the people, of Prussia invest the connection with a special value in the eyes of English men. It is of no slight importance that a daughter of England should occupy a position consonant with the principles in which she has been educated.