of the 12th, their Imperial Majesties arrived at Schlosshoff, a country-seat distant two leagues from Presburg. Thither the members of the Diet, in magnificent costumes, and mounted on horseback, instantly repaired; and the Archduke Palatine, who was at their head, complimented, in their name, their Majesties upon their safe arrival.

On the 14th, the Diet was formally opened by a speech addressed to each of the Chambers of Magnates and Deputies by the Royal Commissioners. It was observed, that the speech addressed to the Deputies was in the Hungarian language, instead of in Latin, according to all former practice, which innovation was considered a favourable omen.

On the morning of the 17th, their Majesties were waited upon at Schlosshoff by deputations of both Chambers, who entreated them to repair to the capital, in order to assist at the deliberations of the Diet.

This request was readily complied with, and the same day their Majesties entered the capital in great pomp. The Emperor-King was dressed in the uniform of a Hungarian FieldMarshal, and his consort wore the national costume. They were received at the gates of the city by all the members of the Diet and dignitaries of the crown, and proceeded, amid the acclamations of the people, to the chapel-royal of the palace, where Te Deum was performed.

Next day, his Majesty attended the Diet, and addressed a speech, in Latin, from the throne, to the two Chambers. He commenced by expressing the satisfaction he felt in having at length realised the intention he had long since formed, of convening the estates of the kingdom, to deliberate for the public good; and also to assist at the coronation as Queen of his august consort.

He

took a review of the public events which had occurred since their last convention; and remarked, that victories, which, next to God, he attributed to the valour of his subjects, had at length conquered peace for his dominions, and restored to the Crown of Hungary the ancient provinces which had been torn from it. He loved, above all, he said, to acknowledge the fidelity of his brave Hungarians, who had unanimously repelled from among them that pernicious spirit which had introduced into other countries very great disorders, and the most frightful evils. The events of late years had made necessary a number of great financial sacrifices; and the principal object of the Diet, he observed, would be to deliberate upon a system of finance, the salutary effects of which had been already experienced. His Majesty concluded, by an affectionate expression of his wishes for the prosperity of Hungary, and of attachment to its constitution.

He delivered the speech with considerable emotion; and happening, in the course of it, to allude to his advanced years, he was interrupted by the tears of the Empress and the Archduchess Sophia, and the prayers of the Assembly, that his precious life might be long preserved to them.

His Majesty and his court withdrew, after the Chancellor Prince Kahary had presented the Diet with a sealed packet, containing the royal propositions for its consideration.

These propositions were read the same day, and found to relate to the changes which had been introduced into many branches of the administration, and sanctioned by deputations, named conformably to an article agreed upon by the Diet in 1790-1; the reduction of paper money, and the bills of redemption and anticipation created in 1812; the re

establishment of a silver circulation; and a new law with regard to debtors and creditors.

On 25th September, the Empress was solemnly crowned Queen of Hungary, within the chapel of the palace. The appearance of the crown, which had been brought from Open, excited the most lively enthusiasm of the Hungarians, in whose minds it was consecrated by national traditions and legends. On the day of the coronation, a royal banquet was given in honour of it, in the hall of the Cassino; at which were present eight hundred magnates and other persons of distinction.

At one of the earliest of its sittings, the Diet decreed a gift of 50,000 ducats to her Majesty, on the occasion of her coronation; which sum was conveyed to her by four magnates, in an ebony cask, inlaid with gold, and placed upon a litter covered with crimson velvet. The Diet also agreed to naturalize Prince Metternich, as a citizen of Hungary.

But, notwithstanding those demonstrations of respect for the Monarch, the Diet was not a little dissatisfied with the nature of the royal propositions; and, on 22d October, came to the resolution not to discuss them until they had obtained a redress of the national grievances. Accordingly, they prepared an address to his Majesty, in which the whole of their grievances were recounted-the most prominent of which were, the unconstitutional administration of the hereditary provinces; the arbitrary enforcement by the military, of measures which required the sanction of the Diet-such as the exaction of voluntary gifts, and the employment of royal commissioners to levy troops and to change the mode of contribution; the secret denunciations by these commissioners, which had caused several public functionaries, in

nocent of every offence, to be depri ved of their offices, and others to be interdicted from the exercise of their rights; and the long time which had elapsed, beyond the constitutional period, before convening the Diet.- The address implored the punishment of the authors of these grievances; that his Majesty would suspend, now and for ever, all orders for future levies of recruits; and that the collection of the taxes should be restricted to the sum voted by the Diet in 1811, and all surcharges be reimbursed. The address concluded, by insisting on certain measures as indispensable to the maintenance of the constitution; the religious observance of the law, which ordains that the Diet should be held once every three years, and that his Majesty should, before closing any one Diet, fix a time for the meeting of the succeeding one; that the executive power should be exercised through the medium of a vice-royal council, in such a manner, that each councillor who might advise or assist in executing an illegal order, could be placed under accusation, and punished; and that publicity should be given to the acts and deliberations of the provincial assemblies, and others.

These demands, which, it must be allowed, develope most just notions of government, could not fail to be extremely displeasing to the Emperor, who delayed making a reply till 9th November. His reply was a masterpiece of its kind. He expressed his astonishment that they should have delayed the consideration of his propositions; and with regard to those things which they had pressed upon his notice, he considered "it much more wise and expedient to consign them to oblivion, than to recall them to his memory." He knew his royal rights and duties, he said; but he was deeply penetrated with the convic

tion, that in those times, when "an implacable enemy" (the spirit of innovation) menaced the existence of monarchy, he could not permit the estates of his realm to consult upon extraordinary measures. After descanting long and eloquently upon the topic of innovation, but without denying or extenuating the innovations complained of by the Diet, which he himself had made upon the constitution, he asserted his determination not to suffer any of his royal rights to be called in question; and, in fine, he artfully evaded the whole demands of the Diet.

It probably was imagined by his Majesty's advisers, that the Diet would be overawed by the decisive tone of this message; but very different was the result, for the Diet, perceiving in it plain indications of a desire and design to govern despotically, adopted, by a great majority, resolutions still more vehement than those of 22d October.

In order to allay the resentments of the Diet, the Archduke Palatine, brother of the Emperor, offered to mediate for them with his Majesty; and his offer having been accepted, he repaired to Vienna, to which his Majesty had returned, and succeeded in obtaining from him a rescript, explanatory of his message of 9th November. In this rescript, he ascribed the doubts and alarms of the Diet to a misapprehension of certain expressions in his message. He declared explicitly, that it never entered into his mind to give an example in future of such proceedings as had given rise to their complaints, nor to establish any new right in the Crown, in order to suit an occasion; and assured his faithful states, that he would never permit, under the pretext of an extraordinary conjuncture, any taxes or troops to be raised without He invited

the consent of the Diet.

VOL. XVIII. PART 1.

the estates to prepare a proposition for regulating contributions in future, and also the proceedings of the Diet ; and avowed his intention to assemble the Diet every three years, and oftener if necessary; and also to establish a council for the government of Hungary, with powers, as determined by the acts of 1725 and 1790-1. After these explanations, his Majesty flattered himself that all the doubts of the Diet would be dissipated, and that they would now seriously occupy themselves with the gracious propositions which he had submitted to them.

This rescript, which was read in a mixed meeting of the Chambers on 29th November, gave much satisfaction. Next day, thanks were voted to the Archduke Palatine for his successful mediation. It was agreed also to transmit an address of thanks to his Majesty; but the composition of the address gave rise to as violent debates as those which followed the royal message of 9th November. Many, both nobles and deputies, wished to advance new demands; and it was only upon the condition that they should be free to do so, that they consented to the immediate consideration of the royal proposition as to subsidies. The whole of December was consumed in discussing the terms of the address, and in communications from the one Chamber to the other, concerning it, without either having come to any determination.

The affairs of Prussia for the year, present nothing deserving of peculiar notice. The provincial states of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia, which had been assembled the previous year, concluded their sessions, and the results of their labours were, it is said, highly satisfactory to the government. But as the publicity of their deliberations was strictly prohi bited, it is impossible to determine

what degree of independence or of wisdom may have marked their proceedings. Encouraged, however, by the experience he had had of representative bodies, the King, by an ordinance, convoked the estates of Silesia for the 2d of October, and also those of the Rhenish provinces.

On 25th March, Professor Jahn, whose imprisonment affixed a deep reproach upon the Prussian government, was absolved from the charges brought against him, by a sentence of the Royal Supreme Tribunal of Frankfort.

A new alliance was formed between the houses of Prussia and Orange by the marriage, on the 21st of May, of Prince William Frederic Charles, second son of the King of the Netherlands, with the Prussian Princess Louisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia. The ceremony took place in the Royal Chapel at Berlin. Soon after that event, 16th September, the King paid a visit to the Royal Family of the Ne therlands; and, accompanied by them, made an excursion to the field of Waterloo. Having come to the spot where the Prince of Orange received his wound, the King was pleased to confer upon his Royal Highness the command of two Prussian regiments. His Majesty next repaired to Paris incognito, having assumed the title of Count Ruppin, and after residing there some considerable time, returned to Potsdam on 18th October.

About this time the Council of State received a new organization. Count Gneisenau, who was regarded as one of the great promoters in 1815 of the representative system, and had been expelled from the administration, was created a Field Marshal; and had both the departments of foreign and military affairs committed to his charge. This, and other liberal measures of government, indicated at least a relaxation of the system which it had hitherto pursued.

1

In Bavaria, where the representative system had been accorded by the sovereign to his subjects with good faith, the adoption seems to have been attended with the happiest results. A new election of deputies having taken place, in conformity to the Constitutional Charter, the States General of the kingdom assembled on 7th March, and were opened by the King in person, who addressed them in a speech full of the most affectionate sentiments.

It was the painful duty of his Majesty, in compliance with an imperative resolution of the last Germanic Diet, to propose, by his ministers, to the Chamber of Deputies, the project of a law, which, while it recognised the principle of the publicity of its de bates, and printing its transactions, was intended greatly to diminish the number and importance of its sittings. The project was discussed secretly, and encountered a spirited opposition. The opposers of it at length succeeded in introducing several amendments, which, having been approved of by the King, the project, with these amendments, passed into a law on 24th March. The most important provi sion of the law, and one which seems effectually to guard against its abuse, is, that every motion for a secret committee of the Chamber shall be supported by at least five members, and authorized at a public sitting.

A truly constitutional proposition was submitted to the Chamber by M. Ziegler, to have the principle of publicity applied to the proceedings of Courts of Justice. It was ably supported on 11th April by M. Thinnes; but it having been officially stated, that a commission which had been nominated by government to prepare a general system of judicial procedure, had finished its labours, and that a project of law, founded upon its report, and embodying the principle in question, would soon be submitted to the

Chamber, it was resolved, as there appeared, no necessity for stimulating the labours of the executive, to pass to the order of the day.

In the course of the session, the project of a law was submitted to the Chambers by the minister of finance for modifying the law as to the customs of 1819-a law, we may observe, which, upon the whole, was founded on the justest principles, it having in view the removal of all unnecessary restrictions upon commerce, and the facility of transit; but it also assumed the vicious principle of protecting duties in favour of home manufactures. These, it is true, were moderate; but as they lessened commercial intercourse with foreign states, they hurt the foreign sale of articles of Bavarian manufacture. The wants of the manufacturers required some modification of those duties; and as there were temporary difficulties of opposite kinds arising out of the introduction of a new and important system, the minister proposed that the executive should be empowered to raise or lower the import duties, according to its discretion, until the next meeting of the States General. The project was adopted by the Chambers as a law.

The projects of laws which most excited attention, were two which related to the establishment of provincial councils, and regulated the rights of citizenship, domicile, marriage, and the exercise of industry. The first recognised the principle inherent to every free government, that taxes cannot be levied from the people, for any purpose whatever, but by their own consent. Both were eagerly resisted in the Chamber of Senators, as invading the feudal privileges of the nobility; but being in strict harmony with the principles of the charter, the Chamber of Deputies would listen to none of the amendments proposed by

the Senators, and the projects were finally passed into laws.

The discussion of the budget occu pied a considerable portion of the time of the Chamber. The report by the finance minister exhibited a con◄ siderable deficiency in last year's receipts, and, as new imposts were out of the question, it became indispensa ble to resolve upon certain reductions. After a number of conferences with the minister, and having agreed upon the nature of the reductions, the Chamber of Deputies, upon 1st August, finally fixed the expenditure for the six following years at twenty-nine millions five hundred thousand florins.

The reduction of the army was insisted upon by some deputies, but its present establishment was successfully defended by others. The Chamber, by a vote, expressed its desire that any savings out of the taxes which might be effected by variations in the value of money, should be devoted to the construction of a national fortress. It also voted 755,000 florins for the purposes of education and instruction. Some of the deputies proposed that the yearly sum bestowed on the sovereign for the support of his court, should be voted for his lifetime-in other words that a civil list should be created; but the proposal was rejected by the minister as unconstitutional. The Chamber also voted 855,000 dollars for the erection of public buildings, and 260,000 florins for roads and bridges. Having completed their labours, the session of the States was closed on 12th September, by royal commis sion, his Majesty being then at the waters of Baden.

An event soon afterwards occurred most afflicting to Bavaria, On 12th October, being the day of his festival, the King received at Baden the congratulations of the distinguished person