The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-14 00:00:00

PROSECUTIONS OF THE GERMAN LIBERAL

-PRESS.

COLOGNE, JAN 11

We had yesterday, and the day before, two politi-
cal trials, the first against an art.cle published in the
Inst Deutsche Z. elung, and the second against an
article in the Kidnische Zeitung. The editor of the
I{-tst Deutsche Zeitung was accused of "exciting
hatred among the different classes of society." The
article conshred of phrases translated from the French
jourialls, in which the writers declaim against priests,
employers, the well to do, and the employer class
generally. Its author has been condemned. bnt in
the minimum penalty. The other inculpated article,
that of the Cubuine Gazette, contains, accadine to the
public prosecutor, the two crimes-1, An affront to
the reverence of majesty ; and, 2, Calumniation of the
minister. The jury acquitted the editor of the
Cologne Gazette on both these charges.
Tee-e simple facts are very characteristic. The
jury has certainly represented the public opinion.
Tee crime of exciting hatred among the different
classes of society appears worthy of punishment,
but in the present circumstances of Germany, even this
crime finds a sort of excuse in the universal irritation.
This is the reason why the accused has been con-
demned in the smallest penalty of the law. But the
attack against the King and his minister has not
affected even the carefully selected jury from which
the accused has received a verdict of at quittal.
This verdict has all the more significance, inasmuch
as the accused and his advocate each frankly 'omitted
the facto., and rather turned the trial into an attack

on the King and hie minister than made a defence. It
is true that both have sought to avert the blow from
the King himself by the constitutional principle
that the King can do no wrong, and that it is al-
ways the minister who is attacked when a royal act
is called in question. But the appeal to this principle
did not hinder the adoccate for the defence from I
citing the words of the King delivered on different
I occasions since March, 1848, by which it appeared
as clear as day that what he had promised one day he
had revoked another. With respect to the ministry,
however, the accused and his defender accepted the
accusation without ceremony, repeating plainly that
is their view it merited no kind or degree of confi-
dence, and that its policy had been perfidious and

lying.
It was not difficult for the advocate to defend and
prove this thesis. lle had but to trace the history of
the ministry, and in so doing he showed how it had
sought to deceive the nation, and shifted day by day
from its position. The jury has publicly said that
the accused editor was right, and that the ministry is
lying and perfidious.
I do not imagine that this result will change the
least in the world the course of alf.irs. Certainly it
is a sign of the times, but it will convey no lrs•on to
government. Statesmen who have once made a merit
of braving public opinion are not the men who may
b • expected to accept the warning+ of good sense.
They march blindly up to the precipice, and under-
star.d no danger until they fall crushed in the gulf.
The process against the Cologne Gazette has still
another curious and interesting aspect. This paper
baa certainly been the most monarchical organ of
public opinion in all Prussia. It has defended royalty
in the very moment when it was most gravely
compromised, and shown a true courage when all the
royalists, par excellence, and especially those of the
Prussian Cameral', were afraid to show themselves.
When the texts were refused by the chamber it was
the Cologne Gazette which had the destinies of the
Rhenish provinces in its bands. From regard for
royalty, from fear of changing conflict into revolu-
tion, the Golagne Gazette abandoned the tax-refusing
chamber, and by the influence it exercised on
the Rhine and throughout Prussia, it contributed
more than any other power to the policy of tax refusal
not having been persisted in. Notwithstanding all, the
Cologne Gazette sustained the Prussian ministry up
to the last moment ; it has sustained it against the
popular indignation, when more than once its editors,
offices, and printing-houses have been menaced in
critical moments by the populace. To-day this
inanel attacks both king and minister; to-oay it is
prosecuted for these attacks, it all but admits the
accusation, and is acquitted by the jury. The circle
is completely travelled, and we are at the point
whence we set out —the commencement of a revolution.

THE BARRA HIGRLANDERS.—Mr. Dunn, con-
tractor for extensive improvements on the Halkertoun
estate, who had agreed to employ the able-bodied of those
Highlanders, seems somehow or other to have been led into
error regarding teem. lie was asked to give work to seven
of the men, but be was not told, and never inquired, as to
their followers ; and when these, neanbering sixteen,
arrived here on Thursday se'onight, along with the seven
men, he saw that be had at least got more than be baptized
for. The poor creatures appeared wiling to work, but
could not—indeed, it was pretty clear that they had never
used a spode—and, not being at all likely to be able to sup-
port their families, Mr. Dunn was under the necessity OR
Tuesday last of sending back the whole party to their former
quarters in Edinburgh, where their wawa are more likely to
be attended to than could be looked for in a country parish.
Another correspondent says: " The men were not only
totally unfit for work, but among their followers (sixteen
women and children) there were some had cases of small
pox ; nevertheless, all were crammed into two small room•,
with an empty bedstead in each. it, however, required
some exertion to force them to leave."—Montrose Review.
[The unfortunate Highlanders arrived in Edinburgh on
Wednesday evening, and have sum been lodged in the
Victoria lodging-house.)