PRUSSIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 657, 23 February 1859, Page 3

PRUSSIA.

THECIUSaE OF GOVERNMENT,

We stated in our last that the Prince of Prussia had been invested with the full powers of monarchy, and that the Chambers would meet on the 20th of October. .

One of the first acts of the Kegent was to dismiss the old Manteuffel cabinet..- The following is a list of the new ministry :—

Prince Hohenzollern—President of the Council ; Baron Rudolph yon Auerswald—Minister without a portfolio; Baron Schleinitz—Foreign Affairs; Yon Patow—Finance; M. Flottwell—lnterior; Yon Ronin—War ; Yon Bethmann-Holweg— Public Instruction. [The Ministers for Commerce and Justice, MM. yon der Heydt and Simons, have been retained.] With regard to the new ministry, we may remark that Baron Schleinitz was Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1849/ when the king took the oath to the constitution, from which position he was ejected by the intrigues of Baron Manteuffel.

M. yon Auerswald was President of the Ministry in 1848, immediately after the revolution. He is a staunch Liberal, very popular, and leads the right centre in the House of Representatives. M. yon Patow is a decided Liberal, and has always been opposed to the extension of the army. As it is known that the regent is favourable to such an extension, at least so far as the officers are concerned, it would appear that he has waved this point of difference in order to secure the services of M. yon Patow.

The appointment of General yon Bonin as Minister of War is a direct defiance to Russia, at whose demand he was dismissed from the same post during the Crimean war.

M. yon Bethmann-Holweg, leader of the left centre, and of the Liberal Protestant party, refused to sit in the late Assembly because the king would not dismiss liis ministers when defeated by overwhelming majorities.

M. Flotwell has not as yet sided with any party. With regard to other arrangements, it is understood that Baron Bunseri was invited by the regent to repair to Berlin with the intention of offering him a portfolio in the irinistry, on the formation of which the baron's advice was taken. For the pre-< sent, however, it is decided that he will not enter the ministry, as he prefers to take his seat as an independent member of the Upper House. It is reported that Count Pourtales and Baron Usedom will be appointed to high offices, and it is understood that important changes are pending in the Prussian diplomatic corps.

Of the late ministry it may be remarked that they could not be expected to resign, as they had all along declared that they ivould remain in office till the king had dismissed them. After having been plainlyinformed by the regent that the time for their resignation had arrived, and stiil continuing to cling to office, the regent had no choice left him but dismissal.

The Prince of Huhenzollern, the father of the Queen of Portugal, is a man of great political insight and military acquirements. He is, though a Roman Catholic, a decided Liberal, and his nomination to the Presidency of the Council is a proof that the Regent, though a strong Protestant, fully ■ appreciates his abilities. The prince was very popular at Dusseldorf, where he resided for some time as the commander of a divis-

ion of the Prussian army, and it is said that his strategical knowledge, coupled with a great talent for administration, will probably lead to his filling one of the highest commands in the Prussian army, should circumstances require it.

About this time or a little later throe years ago a strange story got wind in Berlin. Two or three persons were arested upon a charge of baying spcretlj' purloined pnpers of great consequence from

the escritoires and• repositories of eert'iin individuals of the highest murk in Prussia. It was known that two servants and a police agent were under arrest. Whatever the truth'of this story might have been

the government took great pains to hush it up. It was said that the Prime Minister of the Prussian

monarchy hart fraudulently obtained possession of certain papers with no less heinous an intent

than that of compromising the safety and tainting the character of the heir to the throne. It was added

that Baron Manteuflel, not once or twice, but habitually, had recourse to such questionable means of obtaining* information, as to the acts and views of his "political adversaries ; in short, that the Prussian system of administration rested upon no tinner basis

than that of*espionage and better-pilfering of the '•Msefet v-fcin"d. The -government dill not and could •not defend itself directly m^ainst tlie charge, for, in the main, Baron Mnutmiffel had received from his • agents—notably from one Techen, a police spy— ■-stolen papers. While the affair was still underdis- ■ cHssimi, %he official-journals informed their Prussian rea'dersthat one Herr Seiffart, superintendent of the chamber'dfnccounts-flt Postdauvwus heavily ■ implicated. The object, of course, was to make a ■ scapegoat of this individual. Now, as the investigation consequent mpoirtho scandalous discoveries " was co*iducted;in secret, and as Herr Seiffart was prohibited from publishing his own account to the world, the result, as far as he was concerned, was awkward enough. -What he could do, however, he dtd—he wrote iiis own account of the transaction, and handed the manuscript about for the edification of his private friends. Some one—so it is now stilted—made or retained a copy of it, and finally caused it to be printed without name or date, or even the name of" the printer. -It-is,-however, reninrkable that the paper has onlj' been brought forward since the destruction of ManteufTol's power.' It is chiefly for the purpose of noticing this fact that >avo now refer to the circumstances of the case.