New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-04-17
GERMANY.
XIII.
REVOLUTION AND coUNTER-REyoLUTIoN

ON the 9th of the same month the dissolution OF
the Constituent Assembly in Berlin showed how
much this event had at once raised the spirit and
the strength of the counter revolutionary party
all over Germany.
The events of the summer Of 1S4S in Prussia
are soon told. The Constituent Assembly, or
rather " the Assembly elected for the purpose OF
agreeing upon Constitution with the Crown,
and its majority of Representatives Of the md
dle-class interest, had long since forfeited all
public esteem by lending itself to all the IN
trigues of the Court, from fear Of the more ener-
getic elements of the population. They mad
confirmed, or rather restored, the obnoxious
priyileres of feudalism, and thus betrayed the
liberty and the interest of the peasantry. They
had neither been able to draw up a constitution,
not to amend in any way the general legislation.
They had occupied themselves almost exclu'
sively with nice theoretical distinctions, mere for
malities, and questions of constitutional etiquette.
The Assembly, in fact, was more school OF par
lamentary saroir rirre for its members tfan
bodv in which the people could take any interest.
The maiorites were, besides, very nicely balanced,
and almost always decided by the wagering " Cen
tersn whose oscillations from Right to Left, and
rice rersa. upset first the Ministry of Camp-Map
sen. then that of Auerswald and Hansemann. But
while thus the Liberals, here as everywhere else,
ct the occasion slip out of their hands, the Court
re6rranized its elements of strength among the
nobility. and the most uncultivated portion of the
rural population, as well as in the army and Bu-
reoucv. After Hansemann's downfall, ministry
of Bureaucrats and military officers, all staunch
.lx hon
ingly gave way to the demands of the Paria-
ment; and the Assembly, acting upon the COM
modious principle of measures, not men,
were actually duped into applaudlng this ministry,
while they, of course, had no eyes for the concen-
tration and organization Of c0unter-revoutlonary
forces which that same ministry carried on pretty
openly At last the signal being given by the fall
of Vienna the King dismissed his ministers and
replaced them by men of action" under the
leadership of the present Premier, NJ Manteufiel.
Then the dreaming Assembly at once awoke to
the danger it passed vote of no confidence in
the Cabinet which was at once replied to by de-
cree removing the Assembly from Berlin, where it
might in case of a conflict, count upon the sup
port of the masses, to Brandenburg, petty pro-
yincia town, dependent entirely upon the Gov
eminent. The Assembly, however, declared
that il could not be adjourned, removed,
or dissolved, except with its own consent.
In the meantime, General Wrangel entered Ber-
lin at the head of some forty thousand troops.
In meeting of the Municipal Magistrates and
the officers of the National Guard, it was re-
solved not to offer any resistance. And now,
after the Assembly and its constituents, the Lab
eral Bourgeoise. had allowed the combined re-
dictionary party to occupy every important posi-
ton and TO wrest from their hands almost every
means of defense, began that grand comedy
of "passive and legal resistance" which they IN
tended to be n glorious imitation It the exam
pie of Hampden and of the first forts OF the
Americans in the War of independence. Berlin
was declared III state OF siege, and Berlin re-
NAMED tranquil; the National Guard was dis
solved by the Government, and its arms we're
delivered up with the greatest punctuality. The
Assembly was hunted down during q fortnight,
from one place of meeting to another, and every
where dispersed by the military, and the MEN,
bers of the Assembly begged of the citizens to
remain tranquil. At last, the Government having
declared the Assembly dissolved, it passed reso-
luton to declare the levyng of taxes Illegal, and
then its members dispersed themselves over the
country to organize the refusal Of taxes. But they
found that they had been wofiy mistaken in the
choice of their means. After a few agltated
weeks followed by severe measures OF the Govern
ment against the Opposition. every ono gave up
the idea of refusing the taxes in order to please
defilnct Assembly that had not even had the cour-
age to defend itself.
Whether it was, in the beginning Of November,
1913. already too late to try armed resistance,
or whether part of the army, on finding serious
opposition, would have turned over to the side
of the Assembly, and thus decided the matter in
its favor, is a question which may never be
solved. But in revolution as in war, it is always
necessary to show a strong front, aud he who
attacks is in the advantage and in revolution,
as in war, it is of the highest necessity to stake
everything on the decisive moment, whatever
the odds may be. There is not single success
full revolution in history that does not prove the
truth of these axioms. Now, for the Pfussan
revolution, the decisive moment had in
November, '48; the Assembly at the head,
officially, of the whole revolutionary interest,
did neither show a strong front, for 1t re-
ceded at every advance of the enemy; much
less did atack-for it chose even not to defend
itself; and when the decisive moment came, when
Wrangel, at the head of forty thousand men,
knocked at the gates Of Berlin instead of finding,
as he and all his officers fully expected, every
street studded with barricates, every window
turned into loop-hole, he found the gates open
and the streets ohstructad asly ~ rS~~efuf Der
liner burghers, enjoying the joke they had played
| upon him, by delivering themselves up, hands and
feet ted unto the astonished soldiers. 1t is true
the Assembly and the people, if they had resisted,
might have been beaten; Berlin might have been
bombarded, and many hundreds might have been