The counter-revolution as well as the revolutionary party lack the courage for the decisive blows. All Germans, whether on the right or on the left, know now that the present movement must lead to terrible clashes, to bloody battles, fought either to suppress it or to carry it through. It is due to this constant resort to petty expedients, to trivial concessions and palliatives, to these attempts at mediation, that the unbearable and uncertain political situation has led everywhere to numerous isolated uprisings, which can only be liquidated by way of bloodshed and the curtailment of rights already won. It is this fear of struggle that gives rise to thousands of minor clashes making the year 1848 exceptionally sanguinary and so complicating the position of the contending parties that in the end the struggle will be the more violent and destructive. The crucial struggle for Germany's centralization and democratic organization cannot possibly be avoided.
Every day brings it nearer despite all attempts to play it down and compromise.
The complex situation in Vienna, Berlin and Frankfurt demands a decision, and if everything should fail because of German timidity and indecision, we shall be saved by France. Another such division, and Thiers, Barrot and company, the men in whose interests the June victory was won, will possess a majority, Cavaignac will be thrown into the arms of the red republic, and the struggle for the republic's existence will start. If Germany's irresoluteness should persist, the new phase of the French revolution will also be a signal for a fresh outbreak of open struggle in Germany, a struggle which we hope will take us a little further and will at least free Germany from the traditional fetters of her past.