PRUSSIA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume VII, Issue 344, 5 March 1859, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRUSSIA.

The new government, tiom which the Libeials have hoped so much, yielded somewhat a short time ago to the partisans of the late s} stem. The Ministei of the Inteiioi has issued a ciicular, which though its terms aie obscure enough, can only be regarded as a cheek to the moie adtanced Constitutionalists. They are infoimed that certain meetings have given rise to " the expression of wishes and hopes the fulfilment of which it is the duty of the piesent government distinctly to leiuse." The provincial governments are counselled to resist "such erroneous opinions, and all expectations which go beyond the just limit oi a fair appreciation of the relations and requirements of the time." " The government," it is added, "is aw aie that its business is not to renounce all those traditions which are tlie greatness and strength of Prussia." These vague and somewhat veibose sentences convey, lion • ever, a sufficient meaning to Prussian ears. It is understood that the government regrets and almost fears to see how much is expected of it.

The elections in Piussia constitute perhaps the most complete overturn — with the same franchise — of founer party relations, which has eter happened in constitutional history. The Liberal party, which in the late Landtag counted haidly more than 40 votes, now counts five times that number, and the old Conservative and aristocratic paity, which formerly counted 200, now haidly counts a fifth of that number. The Catholic and Polish fraction have undergone but a slight numerical change — the former to its disadvantage ; the latter to its advantage.