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formation of a central institution, which should unite the different states into one political body. The national party, therefore, (not the Princes), desired the protectorate of Prussia, at that time the champion of liberal ideas. And it is an undoubted fact, that on the strength of this popularity, and of the increasing dissensions in the Congress, she meditated at that time the establishment of a great national power in Germany, and might in all probability have succeeded in that bold design. But the re-appearance of Napoleon suddenly changed the scene. The Congress of Vienna was dissolved;-that Congress, assembled at the most critical epoch in modern history, to satisfy the just demands of nations, separated, after having shamefully tampered with those just demands!

On the termination of the war, the Austrian Cabinet began clearly to develop its system of re-action. Indications of that system had already been disclosed in the base and unworthy treatment of the Tyrol, and of Lombardy, in the engagement extorted from the King of Naples, not to introduce a representative constitution into his states; and in the proposals made by the Austrian ministers in the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. The liberal party in Prussia now gradually lost its influence; the hopes which had been so long held out, of a representative assembly, and of the concomitant institutions, were not fulfilled. On the other hand, the opposition which the aristocracy had long ago formed against the principles of Von Stein daily gained ground, under the influence of Austria, and with the support of the. barbarians on the eastern frontier of Prussia. The most distinguished individual of the national party, who, with great military talents, united profound political views, and an astonishing energy of mind, General Scharnhorst, lay buried on the field of battle.

But the force of public opinion had not been ineffectual in Germany. In most of the states the Censorship had been actually abolished, and the unlicensed press introduced; legislative assemblies, much restricted indeed in their privileges, but not destitute of utility, had been established; and the national opinion, daily diffusing itself through a multitude of liberal journals, afforded just expectations of progressive improvement. In these circumstances, Austria, who had been associating herself with the Jesuits, the Turks, and the aristocracy of every kind, and had attached the Russian Court to her interests, deemed it seasonable to strike a decisive blow. On an occasion which in any other country would have merely given rise to a criminal process, she raised the cry of revolution in Germany. At this cry, all the aristocratical rubbish that had sunk into obscurity, and every modern fungus that had sprouted under the protectorship of Napoleon, collected around Metternich and Gentz. We have elsewhere exposed this dark scheme of Austria,* and have shown, that the dearest interests of the German nation were attacked, or rather mortally wounded, by the decrees of Carlsbad in 1819, through which the liberty of the press was suspended, and liberal journals abolished; the privileges of the legislative chambers. essentially diminished; the Universities subjected to the police, and a particular state-inquisition established at Mentz, to watch over the proceedings of the liberal party. To the honour of the German princes, it should be recorded, that the greater part of them consented to these decrees with great reluctance, overawed by the domineering influence of Metternich; and indeed some, as the kings of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, ventured substantially to disregard them."

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But what was the conduct of Prussia on occasion of this Austrian manifesto of despotism? It is plain, that Austria could never have carried her purposes into effect if Prussia had acted on the principles of Stein, or even on those of the illustrious Frederic. The high duty of the Prussian Government, after the restoration of the state, demanded, in the opinion of the Prussian and German people, that she should, on the one hand, progressively develop the safe, tried, and liberal system of Stein in great national institutions; and on the other hand, should endeavour to improve the wretched military position to which she had been condemned by the Congress of Vienna. This second object could not be otherwise obtained than by keeping pace with the spirit of the age, and promoting the general interests of the German nations, who were now universally satisfied that their independence could only be secured, and the regeneration of their common country effected, by a powerful and liberal protectorship, for which they were now willing to look in the intelligence and experience of Prussia. That State, however, suddenly changed her policy-shrunk back from the high vocation wherewith she had been called-and in a short time afforded another example of sudden transition from glory to shame,-a transition not less humiliating than that which ensued on the death of Frederic.

The liberal party was at last obliged to yield to the influence of Austria and Russia; and Prince Hardenberg abandoned himself as implicitly to the triumphant aristocratical party, as he had before appeared to do to the liberal party. The government of Prussia magnanimously foreswore that ancient jealousy of Austria which Frederic the Second had proclaimed as the vital principle of the State, closed its eyes resolutely against all views of political improvement, and found, it would appear, a more suitable occupation in persecuting the assertors of liberal principles, in realizing the Austrian theory of Obscuration, and in serving the degrading office of whipper-in to the Holy Alliance, not only in its own states, but in all the other provinces of Germany. We will prove this immediately to be no exaggeration, by a slight view of the manner in which the decrees of Carlsbad were executed in Prussia. In the meantime, we cannot but stop to remark, that no one perhaps of the many disgusting scenes which abound in modern story will so deeply affect the mind of the historian as the intellectual degradation of this aspiring nation. No other of the states of the Continent has tarnished so fair a fame, has disappointed such lofty expectations, or sustained so vast a loss of credit and confidence, by yielding to the Austrian system.

The most distinguished men, who had acted on the principles of Von Stein, now lost either their offices or their influence. The most active. especially among the literati, were subjected to persecution on the pretext of revolutionary opinions. (The principles of these men were indeed revolutionary in the eyes of the aristocracy). The mode, the object, every thing in this inquisition is disgusting. The old tribunals were suspended, and special commissions appointed. These commissioners arrested their victims by surprise, and mostly in the night-time; seized their papers, and placed their persons in close custody. In the new provinces an itinerant commission was instituted for this purpose, under one Pape, an obscure lawyer of Westphalia, selected for his jealous and venal disposition. In the provinces formerly belonging to France, the proceedings were at first conducted according to the existing laws; but when it was found that the prisoners would be acquitted by the juries, which still subsisted in those

provinces, the institution itself was suspended by a Cabinet order, concerning these demagogical inquests, as they were called; upon which one of those victims, Mühlenfels of Cologne, a courageous and high-minded man, declared that thenceforward he should consider himself as arbitrarily outlawed, and that he would answer no more questions. After making this declaration, he was conducted to a dungeon at Berlin. Indeed these commissions placed every subject at the absolute disposal of the government; all protecting laws and forms were suspended; the accused, without any specific charge, were subjected to a secret examination, and exposed to every kind of mental torture, incident to that horrible mode of procedure. The objects of those examinations were principally mere opinions; and an arbitrary discretion of the most revolting nature was exercised in the interpretation of papers; in the perversion of sentiments into crimes; and if actions were the object, those actions had been provoked by the government itself in former times. Even the act of concurring in the formation and promotion of the Tugendbund was not exempt from those examinations.

They were directed by the Supreme State Inquisition of Mentz; and by an expedient which, in this respect also, withdrew the accused from their competent judges, the Court of Breslau was authorized to pronounce the decision. The members of this Court had previously beer. changed, according to the views of the Government; and of course were always ready to find the accused guilty. In most cases, however, no sentence whatever was pronounced; the accused remained under arrest; or, if set at liberty, he was dismissed from office, and exposed at every instant to new persecutions. Two of the most distinguished of these victims were the professors Jahn and Arndt. Both had devoted the vigour of their lives to the great object of the Prussian patriots, the deliverance of their country; Arndt, by his political connexions, his writings, and his projects, had acquired the confidence and friendship of Scharnhorst, and was highly esteemed by Von Stein. Jahn had served the good cause by his astonishing activity in the formation of the Tugenbund. Endowed with transcendant personal qualities, he formed the main connecting link of that association. On the first dawn of good fortune, he marched into the field with a corps of youths whom he had formed by a peculiar system of gymnastic exercises. No man in Prussia had such a predominant influence over the national youth, or so great a share of popularity as Jahn. On the termination of the war, Arndt had been appointed to a Professorship at the University of Bon, as a reward (to use the words of Prince Hardenberg) for his actions and writings. Jahn, about the same time, resumed his system of gymnastic exercises for youth. In the year 1819, both these men became the objects of a signal persecution. Those very writings and actions, which Prince Hardenberg had pronounced worthy of reward, were subjected to a severe inquisition; while Prince Hardenberg was still living, and directing the administration; and the Professor for several years endured the greatest of all tortures to a man of genius-the examination of an ignorant and brutal inquisitor, the above-mentioned Pape. On him sentence was never pronounced. Jahn's cause was brought before the Court of Berlin, to save appearances, as he enjoyed the high respect of the nation. That Court acquitted him; but the acquittal only exasperated the ruling faction, and he was instantly imprisoned anew in the fortress of Colberg! A deep melancholy was the consequence of his separation from his wife and children; these died one by one, in sorrow and indigence. By a second sentence of a Court of Justice, he

has lately been a second time acquitted. Unsatisfied by these monstrous
inquisitions in the States of Prussia, in which the Government was at once
accuser, judge, and witness, through the disposition of hired spies, the aris-
tocratic faction also successfully employed its influence to compel the liberal
Duke of Weimar either to dismiss, or to sanction an inquisition against the
celebrated professors, Fries, Ohen, Luden, and others.

This arbitrary conduct thenceforward characterized all the measures of the government. The censorship was exercised with the utmost rigour : all books published in foreign countries, if not written conformably to the political creed of the prevailing faction, that is, according to the Austrian doctrine of blind obedience, were prohibited, as in Austria. Even in cases where the censorship had been less severe, authors were subsequently persecuted for their publications. The case of this kind, which caused the greatest sensation in Germany, was that of professor Goerres in the year 1820. He demonstrated, in a political pamphlet, that the Government of Prussia had not fulfilled its promise of giving a constitution, and of making no alteration in the condition of the Rhenish provinces. For this assertion, he was ordered to be arrested; he escaped, however, and fled to France. From thence he transmitted an offer and request to be tried before competent judges, but this was flatly rejected.

The Universities were subjected to the inspection of Commissaries of the Police, and divested of most of their privileges. Thus the scientific institutions of Prussia, which had constituted her greatest glory, were openly disgraced. Those commissaries, richly paid, hardened in ignorance, and impelled by the spirit of persecution which actuated their masters, scrutinized alike the lectures and the lives of the professors. Every deviation from the doctrine of absolute monarchy, every allusion to the disasters of the time, involved the penalty of immediate expulsion; a letter of Professor de Wette subjected him to that penalty. Private lists were kept, in which the political opinions of the professors at all the Universities and Gymnasia were entered. The method and the objects of instruction were alike regulated, on a particular political plan, conformably to the designs of the rulling faction. How utterly were the nurseries of science, and its cultivators, degraded from the eminent situation in which they had been placed by Frederic the Second, and by the ministry of Von Stein! Sunk from their natural elevation above the transient views of changeable politics, they were enthralled to the servile doctrines of absolute sovereignty, and exposed at every moment to the insults of the police. In this thraldom the torch of truth fell from the hands that held it, at the time when its light was most wanted; the spirit of enquiry was subdued, and venal flatterers alone wrote on the most sacred interests of society; while truth was reduced to the sad alternative of silence or martyrdom.

The external administration, also, which had been free and open under the ministry of Von Stein, now assumed that sinister character of mystery and distrust which always marks a despotical government. An extensive secret police was organized; spies were hired by the month to communicate reports; the inviolability of the post-office was no longer respected; the local authorities were incessantly receiving secret orders and commissions; and the police,-in all times and places dangerously arranged in the states of the Continent.-now seemed, in Prussia, to have engrossed the whole administration and jurisdiction.

If it be asked, what truly useful measure for promoting internal prosperity

has been effected during this period? we have scarcely any reply to make. A new liturgy, to be sure, has been introduced, which has occasioned interminable quarrels, and almost a schism, among the clerical orders; the form of administration has been modelled and remodelled, to no beneficial purpose; a new system of taxation has been organized, which proves extremely burthensome, but which finds its excuse in the ruinous state of the finances. The line of custom-houses, however, which now surrounds the Prussian States has not even this apology-any more than the high tariff of duties, which almost totally excludes commerce of every kind with the other German States. Those States, always disposed to retaliate, and not averse to such a financial speculation, have successively imitated this exclusive system; and thus the great Germanic nation now exhibits to foreigners the ridiculous picture of a number of friendly states, each barricadoed like a fortress by its own government, though the productive classes in all of them cannot exist without a perfectly free, mutual intercourse. The inevitable consequences of this system have at last become abundantly manifest; trade has been reduced to the brink of ruin; corn has sunk to one-third of its former value, and landed property still lower. The agricultural classes, weighed down by taxes, are everywhere deeply depressed, in many places languishing in utter wretchedness; and the wish of emigrating to America has never been so general among them as at present. Most of the governments are aware, though too late, of the destructive effects of their system. After fruitless conferences on the subject at Darmstadt, which were frustrated by Austria, the governments of Nassau, Darmstadt, Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria are now again consulting at Stuttgard and Mentz, for the relief of agriculture and commerce. Prussia alone persists in this destructive system. If it be asked, what has been done during this period for augmenting the external force of the nation in relation to other states, and for enhancing her influence in the political system? we must answer-Nothing. Drawn into the dark path of the Holy Alliance, she has not even participated in the profit derived by Russia and Austria from that perfidious and tyrannical system. Russia has extended her influence on the Continent; Austria has subjected Italy and Germany to her sway; but Prussia, while outflanked by both those powers, has been contented with the disgusting office of taking the lead in the persecution of liberal ideas, in the oppression of science and literature, and in the execution of despotic measures planned by her superiors. And what has she gained? Russia rules over hords of barbarians; Austria over a mass of people studiously kept for centuries in a state of profound ignorance. Neither of those despotisms, therefore, inflicts any vital injury on itself by its despotic measures. But the political strength of Prussia necessarily rests on the affection and respect of an enlightened people; and of that support she has deprived herself. And yet, with an incredible infatuation, she continues to perform her degrading part. In the year 1823, new and aggravated inquisitions were organized. Koepenick, an old castle near Berlin, was transformed into a state prison, to which numbers of persecuted persons were conducted from all parts of the empire. In the same spirit of subserviency she cheerfully acquiesced in the new proposals, or rather orders, issued by Austria in the Diet at Frankfort, on the 24th August, 1824. The object of those proposals was the renewal and aggravation of the decrees of Carlsbad in 1819. The liberty of the press was now totally abolished; a censorship was regulated in all the States, and placed under the direct control of Austria; the universities were still farther degraded ;

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