The Express.
London, England, 1849-01-15 00:00:00

GERMANY.

FRANRFORT.—Our intelligence from this free
city reaches to the 11th inst. OR the sitting of the Sa-
Lionel Assembly on the Bth. The report of the com-
mittee on the Austrian question, that is to say, on
the programme of the central ministry, was brought
up and read.
Atter stating that the Austro•German question
firms a complicated knot. which must be unloosened,
not cut asunder—inasmuch as the latter act would
bring about a division of Germany—the report sets
forth that, in every important respect, the policy of
the House of Hapsburg was at all times a dynastic
one, but that that house, however, acted only as all
dynasties act which are not bound by laws and inati
tutions to seek their own interests in those of the
nation. It was only w' en Napol'.on's deft at was no
longer do -btful that Mamie cave up his alliance.
Then, under Metternich, was revived the old
system of policy which had eta feeling for
popular rights, nationality, or freedom ; but
only for the crowned and uncrowned rulers of the
state. The Austrian people are not to be called to
account for this line of policy, for they have often
teen ready to make the greatest sacrifices in the fre-
quently renewed wars with France. The insurrection
in the Tyrol was a glorious proof of that assertion ;
but the unfeeling sacrifice of the Tyrolese by the then
existing Austrian cabinet, showed the contrast be-
tween the people and the government. Atter Napo-
leon's overthrow, Metternich stood by the side of those
parties who did sll in their power to prevent Ger-
many from appearing as a newly-arisen united em-
pire. This idea of the political regeneration of
Germany was a leading one for all friends of Father-
lend, and was forcibly upheld even at the congress of
Vienna, by the patriotic Baron Von Stein, who de-
manded the restoration of the German empire, and
who was not unwilling to give to Austria the impe-
rial crown of Germany. The opponents, however, of
German unity were numerous in Vienna, and were sup-
ported, through interested motives, by Russia, England,
and France, and encouraged by the jealousies of the
various dynasties in Germany itself. Von Stein's
influence decreased; and he lost the management of
affairs in Prussia, which nation also was placed under
foreign, particularly Russian, influence, and which by
degrees put down the na'ional feeling exhibited in
1813, and the two following years.
No German empire, no united Germany, but a
species of hermaphrodite (Zwilterding), something
between a confederation of states and a confederation
of nations, in a word, the German confederation, was
the result of' the congress of Vienna. The friends of
German unity still desired a "confederate state," but
the partisans of a "confederation of states" again
.riumphed in 18.0, when the so-called " concluding
ace" [at the ministerial conference] was drawn
up in Vienna. Prussia was scared away from the
idea of a united Germany under an Aus-
trian prince, for during more than a cen-
tury Prussia had been anti-Austrian ; and ever
since the time of Frederick 11., had been steering to-
wards a Prussian combination in Germany, an object
which it always held in view, even by introducing
the Zollverein. Pending, however, the jealous strug-
gles of the two great dynasties, the people entertained
more freely and generally the idea of a united Ger.
many, and became convinced that, " for a' that and a'
that" (trots alledem tend alkdem), such a Germany
would in the end arise. The March revolution
evoked the cry, " A German parliament." The la-
bours of the preliminary parliament and the commit-
tee of 50 were recognised by the respective govern-
ments. The constituent diet succeeded them. Its
object was to devise a constitu ion for all Germany,
and its well-acquired right was the result of a treaty
with the princes—a treaty which is indeed an un-
written one, but which is implanted in the hearts of
the people. " Whoever breaks that Meal" (continues
the report) " will abuse the confidence reposed in him
by the people, and will at some future time pay as
dearly for the ' transgression' as Louis Philippe now
does for his—that ex-King who, during several years,
spoke contemptuously of the Hotel de Ville pro-
gramme, until at last the people drove him away with
ignominy and disgrace."
Atter using this remarkable language, the report
goes on to state that the dissolution ol the Germanic
Diet was a final, not a provisional, measure ; that the
same may be said of the central power in itself—the
aVributes of the Vicar of the Empire being alone pro-
visional. The " confederate state" is not "to be