hey saw in him the
surest defender of the church. Instead, therefore, of encouraging or
wishing a separation of church and state--a consummation which it was in
the power of leading theologians, to procure--they preferred a still
closer union. Nor is it to be wondered at that, ever since, men of the
most earnest piety have made a defence of the royal prerogatives a part
of their religion, and that some have gone even so far as to deny that
in Prussia a Christian can be anything but a Conservative. It cannot but
serve to soften many prejudices against this party to know that men like
the venerable Professor Tholuck, of Halle, are decided supporters of the
Government, and regard the triumph of the Liberal party as almost
equivalent to the downfall of the church. And it may serve in part to
excuse the persistence of the Government in its course to know that it
is advised so to persist by men who should be supposed to have the
highest good of the country at heart.

But, on the other hand, as we have remarked, the seeds of the present
Liberal party were sown during this same period of national disaster,
and that, too, by the royal hand. The regeneration of Prussia is
attributed by all to the indefatigable efforts of the minister, Baron
von Stein, and, after he was deposed by command of Napoleon, of his
successor, Count Hardenberg. Their work, however, consisted not only in
abolishing villanage, the usufruct of royal lands, serfdom, the
exemption of the nobility from taxation, and the oppressive monopoly of
the guilds; in giving to all classes the right of holding landed
possessions and high offices; in the reconstruction of the courts; in
the enfranchisement of the cities; in the promotion of general
education; in relieving military service of many abuses and
severities;--this was not all: the king was moved to issue, October 27,
1810, an edict, in which he distinctly promised to give the people a
constitution and a national parliamentary representation. A year later
this promise was renewed. 'Our intention,' says the king, 'still is, as
we promised in the edict of October 27, 1810, to give the nation a
judiciously constituted representation.' That this promise was not
immediately fulfilled is, considering the condition of the country, not
specially surprising. Whatever may then have been the king's personal
inclinations, there is perhaps no reason to doubt that he intended to
introduce the constitution as soon as the return