GENERAL HISTORY. 



[137 



The Prince Regent decorated 

 the kingdom of Hanover with an 

 order of knighthood, entitled, that 

 of The Guel])hs, with the same 

 gradations of honour as those of 

 the Bath. The insignia of Grand 

 Cross of the Order were sent to 

 the Brunswick princes, and to the 

 reigning prince of Lippe Bucke- 

 burg. 



In January, the assembly of 

 the States recommenced its sit- 

 tings, and em|)loyed itself in pre- 

 paring a new system of taxation. 

 In the same month was announced 

 the dissolution by the Prince Re- 

 gent of the special commission, 

 cieated in the preceding April, 

 for superintending the internal 

 security of the kingdom against 

 all suspicious persons, whether 

 natives or foreigners. 



A second meeting of the States 

 took place in autumn. In the 

 beginning of November, was offi- 

 cially declared the appointment 

 of the Duke of Cambridge to the 

 office of Lieutenant-Governor of 

 Hanover. 



Nothingfurther of consequence 

 is reported from this kingdom, 

 which seems to be enjoying the 

 blessings of a well-administered 

 government. 



No state in Germany appears 

 so much to iiave excited the in- 

 terest of politicians as that of 

 PrussM. At the very commence- 

 ment of the year, general atten- 

 tion was fixed upon the progress 

 in forming that represetitatwe con- 

 stitution whicli was announced in 

 the royal ordinance of May 2'2d, 

 1815. The question first stand- 

 ing for discussion related to the 

 establishment of a chamber of 

 peeis, which encountered many 

 difficulties, in consequence of the 



comparative indigence into which 

 the order of noblesse had fallen, 

 especially within the last ten years. 

 The public canvassing of tliis and 

 the other important topics con- 

 nected with the business under 

 consideration, could scarctly be 

 agreeable to a government habi- 

 tuated to treat political measures 

 as state secrets ; and we accord- 

 ingly find, that on the 3d of .Ja- 

 nuary, his Prussian Majesty issued 

 a cabinet order for the suppres- 

 sion of a paper much read as a 

 political journal, the " Rhenish 

 Mercury." Counsellor Sack, pre- 

 sident of the Prussian provinces 

 on the Rhine, wrote to the supe- 

 rior officers of his government, 

 acquainting them witli this order ; 

 and also mentioning, tliat the 

 King was occupied witli framing 

 a law concerning the freedom of 

 the press, which, for tl>e futuie, 

 would reconcile the jarring claims 

 of public opinion and the welfare 

 of the state. In the meantime, 

 the president desires, that the 

 censors in their respective districts 

 would redouble their vigilance in 

 examining all gazettes and poli- 

 tical journals ; so that no passages 

 might appear in which injurious 

 attacks were made upon any fo- 

 reign government, or incompe- 

 tent criticisms on the transactions 

 of their own. As there is no 

 test more certain of the disposi- 

 tion of governments to favour 

 public liberty, than the degree of 

 their indulgence to the freedom 

 of the piess, an inference may be 

 drawn from the fact above re- 

 cited, of the ideas entertained by 

 the Prussian court of those rights 

 of tiie people which may be ad- 

 mitted under a monarchy. 



Nothing more of a public na- 

 ture 



