The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-30 00:00:00

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAINE.

The German Parliament met on Friday at eleven
o'clock.

Mr. Heckscher, of Hamburgh, moved that a Committee
be immediately formed for the consideration of naval
matters.—Agreed to.

The report of the deputation to Alayence was then
read. It was therein stated that the deputation had had
interviews with the civil and military authorities in the
town, and had heard such a msss of evidence and asser-
tion, that it wasverydifficult to come to any conclusion as
to the parties originally or chiefly concerned in the late
collisions. It however appeared that the Vice-Governor,
under the circumstances, and acting according to the
rules laid down by the German Diet for the mainte-
nance of order in the confederation fortresses, could not
justly be accused of cruelty or exceeding harshness of
measures. The temper of the Prussian soldiers had been
strongly tried; their King was libelled; caricatures innu-
merable were bandied about; in the streets th,,y
were frequently insulted by the call of " Wait a bit, till
the red trousers hound you out!" Several times the
sentinels were fired at, said to be by the burgher guard.
On the other hand the burghers said the Prussians
had arranged a plan to incite the town to ♦iolence, and
then disarm it. It was, however, a remarkable fact that
on the first collision, on the 21st, twenty-five Prussian
soldiers were wounded and six killed; most of them
shot through the back. Of the citizens, two were killed
and three wounded.

It was► after that occurrence, at ten P.M., that the pro-
clamation was issued by the Governor, declaring the
Gown under military law, and ordering the surrender of
the arms of the burghers, under a threat of bombarding
the town. This threat the Governor thought himself
justified in throwing out, rather than allow one of the
keys of Germany to fall into the hands of a party; and,
however dreadful such threat might sound, it was in
reality as nothing compared to the horrors and loss of
life attendant ou a street contest.

Without going into particulars of further insults and
cruelties said to be committed by both parties, I shall
merely state that the majority of the commission—viz ,
9 to 6, were of opinion that the Diet should be requested
partly to change the garrison, and that a re•organization
of the burgher guard should take place.
Mr. Sitz, Member for Mayence, ascended the tribune,
and stated that his motion regarding events in Mayence
was of such urgency as required immediate discussion.
He asserted that it had been long known at a distance,
that the Mayence burgher guard would be disarmed
about the time that Parliament met. He said the Prus-
sian soldiery were in such a state of insubordination,
that the Governor' had little or no command over them.
His motion was for a complete change of the garrison, a
restoration of things to the same state as before the 22d,
and that the soldiers should not be allowed to wear their
side-arms off duty.
Prince Lichnowski defended the Prussian army.
After some discussion the Parliament determined to
pass to the order of the da.3., thus leaving the Mayence
affair to be settled by the ordinary tribunals.