army on a footing commanding respect. In the present position of Germany and of Europe, the Representative Assembly of Prussia will not decline the task of maintaining that which has been created, and of furthering its development; it will not refuse to support measures upon which the safety of Germany and Prussia depends.

Despite the pressure of political circumstances, we may look with satisfaction upon the state of the finances. There is reason to hope that the expenditure of the past year will be fully covered by the current income thereof. The means carefully reserved from the surplus of the year 1859 will consequently be placed to the credit of the State treasure.

The budget has been calculated with the usual precaution in estimating the revenues, as well as with careful limitation of the administrative expenditure. It shows a further increase in the revenue, and affords the means of meeting all just demands, of encouraging useful enterprises, of satisfying new wants, and of diminishing those extraordinary additions which the increase of the army demanded.

If even, in order to carry out these great messures, those additions, and the provisional continuance of the increased per centage in the taxes are still in a large degree to be had recourse to, yet no fear that the order of our finances might be disturbed need be entertained; on the contrary, from the natural increase in the sources of income, as well as from the reform of the legislation with regard to the land tax, there is every reason to hope that at a future time, close at hand, the extraordinary means for covering the general expenses of the State will be dispensed with.

I reckon upon your assenting to the projects of law which are intended to bring about the final settlement of the land-tax question. The Crown and the country can no longer dispense with a heightened productiveness on the part of the land tax, and the increased efficiency of our army will only be secured when all classes and all parts of the country shall, in the same way that they equally partake in the duty of bearing arms, contribute with a like equality, in proportion to their tax-paying power, towards providing for the expenses which the army requires.

The commerce of the country, if it has not returned to the state of activity which preceded the financial and political crises of the late years, shows at all events an increased briskness. The encouragement thereof in its various branches has not ceased to be an object of the peculiar care of my Government.

A further development of the network of our railways has been inaugurated. The abolition of transit dues, and a considerable diminution of the Rhine tolls has been agreed upon with the Governments concerned,

My Government is on the point of entering into negotiations with the Imperial French Government for the purpose of arranging by Treaty the commercial intercourse between the Zollverein and France.

The reform of the law of marriage, as I told you before, at the close of the last session, will once more be amongst the tasks allotted to you. I expect, with confidence, that this question will at length find its solution.

My Government will make communications to you on other important matters.

In the course of the past year I succeeded by personal meetings with the Sovereigns of the great States, in making my relations with those States even more satisfactory than they were before, and I consider this as a pledge for the maintenance of the peace of Europe.

Penetrated with the seriousness of the general state of Europe, my Government has continually endeavoured to bring about a revision of the military constitution of the Confederation, such as the increased military demands of the present time render indispensable. I indulge in the confident hope that these endeavours will at least lead to the wished-for result, inasmuch as all German Governments, and all German races, recognize unanimous action, as that which the common Fatherland most urgently requires.

In the Electorate of Hesse a dispute continues, which my wellmeant, considerate, and honest advice has not been able to put an end to. The endeavours of my Government are uninterruptedly directed towards the restoration of the constitutional state of things.

To my deep regret the steps which Prussia, in common with the rest of the Federal States of Germany, has for years taken to secure for the united German Duchies under the rule of the King of Denmark, the enjoyment of a regular constitutional position, agreeably to the Conventions upon the subject, have unfortunately as yet led to no result. Prussia, with her German allies, considers it a national duty now at length to bring about the proper solution. of this question.

My Government has begun in agitated times. Whatever may be in reserve for us, I shall hold fast by the principles with which I undertook the Regency. The experience which I have gained in the application of those principles has convinced me of their value. Determined to strengthen the efficiency of our institutions and of our laws, and vigorously and earnestly to advance the national interests of Prussia and Germany, I recognize in undeviating persistency in this path the surest pledge against the spirit of revolution which is stirring in Europe.

I feel confident that under my sceptre Prussia will remain true to herself. I am confident that Prussia will prove, by the counsels

of her representatives, and the acts of her people, that she has no idea of remaining behind the unity, the strength, and the glory, of our ancestors. I feel confident that the country will stand by me in unbroken fidelity in prosperity and in adversity.

In undertaking the Regency I swore that I would exercise the power bestowed on me by God in a manner conformable to the Constitution and to the laws of the monarchy. In referring to that oath, I call upon you to swear that fidelity to me which you swore and kept to my glorified brother.

You will, therefore, swear a solemn oath to me now, before Almighty God, that you will be faithfully subject unto me, and that you will stand by me in the exercise of my rights and duties with your life and substance.

SPEECH of the King of Prussia, on the Closing of the Landtag. Berlin, June 6, 1861.

ILLUSTRIOUS, NOBLE AND BELOVED GENTLEMEN

OF BOTH HOUSES OF THE LANDTAG!

(Translation.)

I HAVE not been deceived in the confidence with which I greeted you at the commencement of this year's deliberations.

The session just closed has led to considerable results. They are calculated to support and confirm my Government in following the course which it has hitherto pursued. They will lead to beneficial results for internal peace, for the healthy development of our civil policy, and they will increase the weight of Prussia in Germany and Europe.

Treaties and laws which open a new path to commerce and relieve trade of obstructions have come into existence with your assent.

The net of railways in our country has been considerably extended, owing to your liberal grants; and the communication with our western provinces will soon be not merely shortened, but also better secured.

You have given your consent to the Treaty which is intended to unite the water-routes of France with those of Prussia.

The Rhine tolls are considerably reduced, the transit dues abolished.

Those taxes which might hamper the prosperity of the mining interest, one of our most important branches of industry, have been again reduced, and the supervision of them has been simplified.

The difficulties which stood in the way of foreigners trading have been set aside, and the supplement to the law relating to the tax on trade guarantees the imposition of this tax according to more practical and just rules.

The disparity in the taxation of land which has so long separated the provinces of the monarchy and the different classes of landed property has at length disappeared, owing to the measures of my Government to which you have given your assent.

A great service has been rendered to the country by these laws which I am all the more ready to acknowledge, knowing as I do the sacrifices that were made.

I rejoice at the unanimous assent which you have given to the German mercantile law. Thereby an able work of German genius. has become the property of our Prussian fatherland, and by its means we have given an additional proof of our earnest endeavour more closely to unite the States of Germany by the bond of common laws.

The law for the expansion of legal procedure extends judicial decision to departments over which it has hitherto had no control. This measure will tend to extend the authority of the law, and to elevate the position of my courts of justice.

Gentlemen! You have granted to my Government the means which suffice to carry out that organization of the army, directed by myself, which is so essential to the greatness and powerful position of Prussia.

I thank you for them.

As my Government will never neglect either to introduce the corresponding legal regulations, or to re-establish regularly ordered State relations in the department of military administration, I can overlook the form of the grant, which does not affect the vital principle of the great measure.

My excellent army, the offspring of our warlike people, has now become united in firmness and strength, and the liberality displayed by you in raising the taxes to accomplish this end, has enabled Prussia to stand forth ready armed for her own protection, as well as for that of the whole German fatherland.

The completion of the reorganization of the Prussian army is the more indispensable to the security of the German frontiers, inasmuch as my earnest and uninterrupted endeavours to bring about a revision of the military Constitution of the Germanic Confederation, corresponding to the exigencies of the present period, and to further the adoption of practical precautionary measures for the protection of Germany, against future dangers, have not as yet been successful.

The lively interest which you have taken in the development of our young navy, the progress of which is as important to the interests of the Prussian as of the German fatherland, has given me › great satisfaction.

The Royal Danish Government has not entirely satisfied the demands of the German Diet. Even the offers which that Govern

ment afterwards made, do not yet afford a sure prospect of a solution of the affair now pending at the Diet, respecting the united German Duchies under the sceptre of the King of Denmark. But the nature of our relations with the great Powers of Europe affords a sufficient guarantee that they would not be disturbed by serious measures, which may become necessary within the limits of the German Federal jurisdiction.

If the representatives of the country continue to work with me with honest zeal and harmonious efforts for the welfare of the fatherland; if we keep within the limits, the transgression of which can only favour the active party of disorder in Europe; then may I, by the gracious help of Providence, look forward to the blessed success of my Government.

Bear in mind, Gentlemen, my motto:-Royalty by the grace of God, adherence to the laws and Constitution, fidelity of the people and of the army conscious of victory, justice, truth, trust, fear of God. Continually act up to this motto with me; then may we expect a happy and hopeful future for our dear fatherland. May God grant it.

PROCLAMATION of the Emperor of Austria, promulgating the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom.-Vienna, February 26, 1861.

WE, Francis Joseph I, &c.

(Translation.)

Whereas, in our Patent for the arrangement of the political relations of the monarchy, issued on the 20th October, 1860, we deemed it right to determine and to ordain, on the basis of the pragmatic sanction, and in virtue of our supreme authority, as a rule to be followed by ourselves and our legitimate successors in the Government, that the right of making, altering, and repealing laws can only be exercised with the co-operation of the Landtags, or of the Imperial Council; and considering that this right, in order to be brought into operation, requires a settled order and form of procedure, we now, after having consulted our Council of Ministers, ordain and proclaim as follows:

I. With respect to the composition of the Imperial Council appointed for the representation of the Empire, and the right of co-operating in the Legislation reserved to it in our Patent of October 20, 1860, we sanction the annexed law, respecting the representation of the Empire, and hereby invest it with the validity of a fundamental law of the Empire, for all our kingdoms and provinces.

II. With respect to our kingdoms of Hungary, Croatia, and