The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-09-01 00:00:00


REFLECTIONS ON Ttile PilANt STATE
OF GERMANT.
F. tiLISTZ.
• Fronk what quartet shall see new look for aid?
lreessitionents and the public 'opinion beer jointly
Ideated us into ear present creel titiation. The
forth& have eased eithel to hear or to understand
L.; and what is still more dejeaing, they are no
longer capable of heating us, becalm the excessive
oppression and danger have tobSed Herd of
their freedom and their frankness ; to attempt
to operate upon the litter, appears Mildest, be-
an* the possibility of success, pre-supposes the
sr/titmice of that which has vanished without
the hope of return—l mean the desire of a
happier state. the disposition that abhors titters,
Ansilthe courage that 'endeavours to cast them off.
coo brilliant prospea still remains, and this, to our
• fallititprellible consolation, no tricks ef fate ate able
t4N obscure. Men of strong, pure. and virtuous
hinds, Mortar small their numbers thou fouls a
bolid and indistoltble union, must atteiltately in-
rya,, and encourage, and animate and inspire each
other the* eovenant is the only power, the only
quished coalition which eau now defy the force
NI arms, which is now capable of giving liberty to
the nations, and peace to the world. 7 his covenant,
this slued covenant, may likewise be based in
- single contests; bit all that it cph lose is the field
Di bottle; a eotiont retreat is still open t 6 it. When
all around is involved in general mist, it cntrenelies
itself on an inaccessible height, shuts up with itself,
beyond the reach of the conqueror. the most precis
oos treasures of humanity, and preserves them fat a
wore fortunate generation.

on who, surrounded; amid the wreck or time,
with death and devastation; have preserved the Ent
aid the most valuable of,blessinps, a coespndses!
sive and independent mind, a warm and upri
heart, a feeling for the sacred rights .f humanit
the courage to sacrifice every thing for their sak
and the confident tzpeeation of a tome auspici
futurity—Yost genuine heron of the age, inviuci
amidst the eeneral calamity, wen} sr'
• and in truth, wronged by the multitudes
haps fortunately despised or hated by the has
disturbers of the world, who are honoured as d
ties by the people ; but, above all, you high-mind
Germane, who are worthy of your name, you so
Lary ornaments of your country, whom no snisfbr-
tune can subdue—be not weary, and sink not into
despair ? He whe created you to reconcile
teaty with the present generation, prepared
yon obstinate confliets and tremendous
wherever you go your eyes, you are su
with images of annihilation, and invitations to
bpandeocy. Your country is humblest, tramp
upon, dismembered, and prophesied. Part of
winces publicly and professedly wear the yoke of a
foreign master ; more than one, allured by empty
titles. or unreal aggrandizement, eo-operated in the
universal ruin, in which he was himself involved,
even in the very hour of his political apostacy, in
,the moment of imaginary enjoyment, and before
be had gathered and secured the fruit of his perfidy.
Of those that still seem to subsist, around who,
still hover the name of power and the shadows of
indi pendence—roost are ripe for destrudion by
selfish or dastardly policy, by voluntary and shame-
ful capitulations, by measures which deprived of the

gape& of the world and the confidence of their
*lees. they deserved the fate that awaits them.
lrbe few who cherished a noble, uptight, and truly
German spirit—such still there are, 0 Germans !
sad you know them—are so weakened, so power-
so paralysed by fresh-infiined wbunds, by the
ative smallness of their dominions, or by a
ousand circumstances and restraints, that scarcely
any thing but their good-will is left us. The
energies of our great nation are dissipated, di-
' sided, and condn.fted ow every side into sluggish
- brooks, or putrid swamps, or faithless char.nels,
• and lost to every real national purpose. All the
barriers of our country are overthrown; our Iron-
:tiers—if we still have frontiers, when the enemy
already in our midst—are stripped of every mean I
Of defence ; our mast floarishing cities and provinces
• n.
are parcelled o, sold, exchat,.•,,d again and again,
and given to natives and to foreigners ; riches, ho-
.
nourAly acquired, disappear ; manufactures
elle and d..cay ; ports and markets are shut up
Eat not only is the body of the Empire mutilated,
snal-treated, and abused ; the soul has likewise
Ineceived a mortal wound. In vain would you
work among the mass of your people, in vain
'mold Tau look in Courts, and among the great
lathe land, for that exalted sensibility, that manly
grief, that energetic, that hop:ful sorrow, which an-
nounces a resolution to save. Your complaints are
• ntt,tesi to the- winds—your descriptions of the gee
' al desttation are treated as mere pastime, as
terary curiosities; there, w'iere you are still per-
' mined m disturb the yuhlic in its slumiser, you are
highly favoured, if you are tolerated as troublesome

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