The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-19 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE GER•

MANIC DIET UPON THE MACHINATIONS OF THE GER-
MAN REVOLUTIONISTS SICE 1830.
When the yoke of fbreign domination weighed
heavy on Germany, many among those who wished for
the honour and safety of their country, formed secret po-
litical associations, from which, as they were exclusively
directed against foreigners, no danger could accrue
to the Governments, which at the time were bound to
make common cause with them. At the beginning
of the struggle there was but one object. All Germany
—the Princes as well as the people—entered the fists
against the common enemy. The gravity of the war
left no leisure for considering how the country, whose
domestic ties were broken asunder, could be recon-
structed at the restoration of peace. But when the
chains were broken, and the enemy conquered, wishes
and hopes were expressed respecting the interior orga-
nization of the common country.
The revolutionary ideas, respecting the relations be-
tween sovereigns and nations, which the first French
revolution had partly renewed and partly given birth
to, had met with some sympathy in Germany during
the last ten years of the 18th century. But this sym-
pathy had decreased and had almost disappeared in
the contemplation of the misery those ideas had entailed
on France, of the misfortunes which subsequently visited
Germany, and of the enthusiasm suggested by the
struggle. These same ideas re-appeared after the
conclusio❑ of peace, and were embraced with
the more intensity by those individuals, as the
enthusiasm imparted to them by late events was
turned to the attainment of a new end. This difference
in the elements of the associations of that period and of
a great number of others which, without belonging to
them, nevertheless held pretty nearly the same tenets,
should not be lost sight of. A great number were ac-
tuated by a German or truly national feeling, honourable
in its principle, although ofte❑ to be deprecated, consi-
dering the admixture of truth and error in all human
matters ; whilst others, heedless of all principles of right,
adopted, in degrees, totally opposite dreams and theories,
subversive of the most intimate relations of nations.
Those two parties shortly disagreed, as well on the
object as on the means of effecting their purpose.
It was in the autumn of 1815 that public attention
was directed towards political associations ; and it is well
known that at that period they separated, and were, pro-
perly speaking, no longer in existence. Among these we
particularly notice two, which had come into life after
the first peace of Paris. In the summer of 1814 a union
was formed at Tubingen, under the name of " So-
ciety of the Wetterau," and a second, in the
beginning of 1815, under that of " German Union."
These two societies, which were connected by
common ties and views, were formed for the purpose of
subverting by force the existing order of things, al-
though many of their members were not aware that such
was their real aim. (This appears from documents
communicated to the former Committee of Inquiry at
Mentz.) When these associations were dissolved in 1815,
the members of them, who, without inquiring into their
real object, had been induced to attempt the reali-
zation of impracticable theoretical notions, retired from
them, while those better acquainted with the purposes
for which they had been instituted remained in the
associations, but without any specific pledge or vow,
and laboured together to promote their original object.
Traces of their frequent intercourse were observable in
the Grand Duchy of Hesse, in the Duchy of Nassau,
and on the borders of the Rhine. There is even docu-
mentary evidence to prove that some of their most
distinguished members had planned the establish-
ment of a German Republic, but they took good
care not to divulge their secret intention. In order
to arrive at their end, by indirect ways, in-
stead of awaiting the renewal or introduction of
state assemblies by regular means, they clamorously
and passionately demanded constitutions modelled on
those of Foreign countries, and insisted on the German
nation having a Legislative Representation similar to
that of England and France.
Such was the origin of the introduction of that
exotic element, then mixed up for the first time in the
struggle, which had been hitherto, and, by all panties,
carried on on national grounds. It manifested itself
more or less vehemently in speeches and writings, and
was by degrees warmly advocated by the Press. The
youth embraced that idea with ardour.
As early as 1814 and 1815 there existed among the
students at Halle and Jena societies at variance with the
Provincial Associations," which gave birth to other
" Associations of Students." These unions, which, from
their origin, were of a political nature, extended by de-
grees to all the German Universities.
These societies, have maintained themselves almost
without interruption until the present day. They bad
not always a treasonable tendency, but by degrees they
assumed, as respected their object and means, a decided
character of Jacobinism, the more dangerous, as, at one
time, many of their members conceived themselves bound
to remain faithful to their principles, even after the ter-
mination of their studies. The feast, however, which
took place on the Watburg in 1817, and was described
in one of the accounts published at the time "as the
dawning of an aurora after a winter night of slavery," re-
vealed their object to all. About the same period were
established, on different points, civilization societies,
which disguised their political designs, under the ap
pearance of scientific pursuits, and at one of their
meetings at Giessen the maxim, that the end sanctified
the means, was frankly proclaimed. The murder com-
mitted (that of Kotzebue) on the 23d of March, 1819, by
Sand, a pulitical enthusiast, was the explosion of a flame,
which had not, it is true, that special direction, but
which was, nevertheless, the forced and inevitable result
of circumstances.

To characterise this epoch with due severity, it is
only necessary to observe, that the murder found apolo-
gists. Some months after the Ist of July, 1819, Lcen-
ing perpetrated his attempt against the President of the
Regency of the Government of Nassau—lbell. Those
acts, however calculated to place in their light the secret
intentions of parties and to weaken them, were not how-
ever productive of that effect. Rational persons with-
drew, but the passionate associates were the more irri-
tated end heated by the blood that had been shed, and
also by the resolutions of the Diet of September 20,
1819, which after such crimes became indispensable.
The revolts in Spain and Naples in 1820, and the
disturbances in France at the same period, reanimated
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and Frenchmen.
In the same year men of mature age came forward
in different parts of Germany, and bound themselves by
a solemn pledge to realise their revolutionary schemes.
Their intention was to overthrow by force the existing
order of things.
It is proved by the minutes of their deliberations,
submitted to the Committee of Inquiry, that murder in
the execution, and perjury as a means of concealing their
project, were declared perfectly lawful. A fortress si-
tuate in the centre of Germany was to be delivered by
treason into the hands of the revolters ; and the traitor,
who by the post he held could secure its possession, had
been already gained. All this rests on the culprit's own
admission ; but the Committee of Inquiry of 1824 could
never discover if those revolutionists had any under-
standing with the " Association of Men."
It is beyond doubt that the " Union of Young Men,"
which shortly spread over fifteen states of the confede-
racy, bore all the character of high treason. The avowed
object of the association, whose members, bound by an
oath, denounced " death to traitors," was the overthrow
of existing constitutions. The severity of the judicial
proceedings after the discovery of the plot in 1824 i-
nduced the members to become more calm and circum-
spect, and from that day, until 1830, those associations
showed little or no symptoms of life. The French Revolu-
tion of July, which within a few weeks afterwards was suc-
ceeded by that of Belgium, roused the energies that would
direct themselves towards a change of the order existing
in Germany. They hailed with enthusiasm events the re-
sult of which they imagined might be useful to their
country. They had not long to wait. In the first
fortnight of the month of September, 1830, riots arose
among the populace of Dresden, Cassel, Leipsic, and
Brunswick. At Dresden the Hotel de Ville was taken
by storm ; at Brunswick the Castle was fired by the
populace. Afterwards seditious movements appeared in
Hesse and the Duchy of Saxe Altenburg. The king-
dom of Hanover was next visited by this enzeute—viz.,
in Osterode and Gottingen. Armed citizens and stu-
dents, directed by members of the bar and heads of col-
leges, among whom were Dr. H. J. E. K. Rauschen-
blatt, of Alfeld (Hanover), took possession by main
force of the Town-hall at Gottingen, and there esta-
blished new authorities. It was only at the approach
of a considerable detachment of troops, who threatened
to have recourse to their arms, that the rebels submitted.
The then excited state of the public mind was in-
creased by the Revolution which broke out on the
29th of November, 1830, in Poland, and was
commenced by murder. An unusual excitement
was kept up during the year 1831 by the events
of that Revolution, and a number of pamphlets were
circulated in the interior of Germany, losing sight
of the relations existing between their Princes and
their people.
In such a state, and 10 the midst of a
continual march of the licentiousness of the Press, one
of the Chambers of Southern Germany demanded its
unlimited liberty, in case of refusal the supplies would
be stopped. The fall of Warsaw was followed in the
winter of 1831, and in the beginning of 1832, by the