Mr. Wright to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I do not wish to trouble the department with speculations as to anticipated political changes occurring in this country, and only mention the following because they have created an immense sensation and are likely to lead to serious consequences. The intelligence by this despatch will serve to show that there is a want of stability in this government, and the country is fast drifting into a state of things which will either bring on shortly a change of cabinet or arouse the public mind to such a degree, where such a change, when occurring at last, may be attended with revolutionary events and result in a redivision of power among the constituted authorities of the kingdom. The supreme court of justice has just decided that members of Parliament can he held criminally responsible for opinions uttered in debate. This decision, which is to be immediately acted upon in the case of two deputies, has astonished the liberal party in this as well as in every other German state, and alarmed even the feudalists. It is not only unprecedented throughout the German confederacy and at variance with the spirit of the times, the letter of the law, and two prior decisions of the same court, but it has been passed by the supreme tribunal of a country in which the independence and integrity of the judges have been proverbial ever since the days of Frederick the Great. Another measure which has given great dissatisfaction refers to a change in the composition of the House of Lords. The Prussian charter enacts that a House of Lords shall be formed and its composition left to the Kiug. Availing himself of the authority thus delegated to him, Frederick William IV issued a royal ordinance, in accordance with which the House of Lords was composed of hereditary members and members for life, both appointed by the Crown, members elected by the of landed proprietors of noble descent, and members elected by municipal and other corporations. Four years ago the present King, wishing to give the country a pledge of his liberal sentiments, by another royal ordinance reduced the number of the members elected by the landed nobility (who were all extreme conservatives) from ninety to forty-one. Quite recently, however, this latter ordinance has been revoked, his Majesty not only restoring the original number of ninety-one, but renouncing in his own name, as well as in that of his successor, the right to introduce any further alteration in the rules provided for the composition of the upper house, except with the concurrence of that house and the House of Deputies. After this, the only remaining possibility of modifying the reactionary character of the upper house is by the Grown creating a very large number of liberal peers. Until this step be taken the few liberals are even debarred from introducing a motion, the by-laws of that house requiring a motion to be supported by at least twenty members before it can be introduced, seventeen being the entire number of liberals in the house, the upper house being thus protected against the very contingency of a debate upon the liberal topics of the day. Among the many symptoms of prevailing dissatisfaction the following is, pehaps, the most significant. The Prussian charter provides that the king shall not be entitled to become the ruler of any foreign state except with the consent of Parliament. Now, the King holding that the term “foreign state” does not apply to a state embodied with the German confederacy, has recently declared himself Duke of Lauenburg without asking for the permission of Parliament or subjecting the newly acquired duchy to the laws and constitution of Prussia. Thereupon the second chamber of the Prussian Parliament, in its sitting of February 3, has passed a resolution, by a vote of two hundred and fifty-one to forty-four, to the effect that the King has no right to rule or to call himself [Page 6] the sovereign of Lauenburg pending the consent of the Prussian Parliament. The reasons alleged for this vote are, the term foreign states in the above-mentioned proviso must be interpreted as heretofore, and applying indiscriminately to all states not embodied with Prussia, and that Lauenburg has been conquered by the Prussian army and the cost of war defrayed by the Prussian people. Therefore the motion passed by the second chamber concludes, “the assumption of the King of the ducal title of Lauenburg is null and void.” The above will afford ample evidence that the condition of the country is far from satisfactory, and inspires no confidence in the stability of the cabinet and the solidity of existing constitutional arrangements. It is universally anticipated that the new Parliament, which must be elected in the course of this year, will be stronger in opposition than the present. * * * * * *
I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.