New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-02-19
THE QUESTION IN GERMANY.

split among them was being widened more aad
more by the opposite traction OF Austria aud
Prussia. The latter power for the moment has
apparently recovered the ground she los: some
time ago. The proposed general armament Of tho
CobftdeIa alton, and the appointment of general
issimo in the person OF Francis Joseph-advo
Gated before the Diet st Frankfort BY Austria, and
opposed by Prussia-bave been rejected. The
plan submitted BY Prussia and Bavaria, to keep
the contiDgen ts in readiness "kriessbereitsehaf,'
was accepted. or had every chance Of being so.
In one respect the result 10 almost the same.
Germany is arming from one end to the other;
but 10 one can yet positively say which is the
enemy sgsinst whom the arms will be turned.
From all that has yet occurred and from what
can be cleaned from various sources of intelli-
gence, ali Germany will not eventually be found
on one and the same side. Austria, seconded BY
England and France, has coaKed, with uns-
dualed Establishments, the various small aud
great sovereigns, guaranteeing to them the in
tegrity Of their possessions, aud promising to the
Hanse attic towns-Hamburg, Bremen aud Luz
beck-that their commerce shall not DO harmed
With the msjority of the Princes, however, all
this has proved labor lost; aud Austria must now
rely mainly on the force Of public opinion pas.
.iops and feelings of which she has so far, stirred
up with considerable success
The German Liberals the Professors, and the
whole set of inyeterate Doctrinaires, who in the
year l549 proved themselves to be the most OBJ
tuse, pitiable and conceited politicians in the
world, are now ready to rush into the embraces
of Austria. One step more, and they will be at
the feet of Francis Joseph, and salute in him
q new Kaiser and renosatOr Of Germsny. We
must keep in view that the immense majority Of
German patriots are possessed by the phantasm
Of the consolidation, union ard Capitalization OF
Germany. In 1t they see the salvation OF the
fstherland. The truth is, on the other hand, that
by her historical traditions and institutions, BY
the history of her mental Development by her
chronological progress, Germany, more than any
other European State, Italy excepted is fully
prepared TO remodel herself on the pattern Of he
United States, and start into new life - fed
eral republic. This might easily have been car
ried out in ls4s, If spark Of genuine political
wisdom had glimmered in the brains Of the Pairss
comseriPs;. Kings, princes, princsiings, would
lave vanished 4. wave of the hand. But the
radicals as we'll as the nssrals stout and sturdy
doctrinaires, crayed for cent? cation: the one
party in imitation Of the traditions Vi the great
French Revolution; the other, and with rhsu
the majority Of the nation, saw their only redemp-
tion in the creation of German Kaiser. The
my,h of Barbarossa, for more than six centuries
awaiting, in the subterranean ruins Of the castle
Of Knyphsusen, the hour Of resurrection which
should restore the dignity of the German Kaiser
and the medieval frontiers of the Empire from
Lorraine to the Warthe and from the Apprentices
to the Baltic-this myth still forms the political
creed of the Germans. With the same ardent
faith with which the Jews expect the advent of a
Messiah, do the Teutons cling to their mythical
Emperor. Such one, some of them believe, may
now be found in Francis Joseph, and thus they
would gladly see themselves swallowed by him.
But this Dreamed Of unity would be the perfec
ton Of despotism Of every nature and in every
shape, brutalizing the masses everywhere. Most
probably Professionalism would have been strsng-
led in the cradle, If the Hapsburgs had been the
Universities there would not have been created,
nor could they have reached such 8 diversified
development under the rule Of unity aud central
ization. Neither enthusiastically nor politically,
ought Germany. to be fused ia single body.
The various German soveregns, inspired by the
instinct of selfpreservation, oppose it and keep
in tru.t the destlnles of the country, preserving
& - 81 10 ha
frightened by this new manifestation Of Austrian
ambition and appetite. They maintain the stani-
na for the future, and for tie easy transition to
federative republic.
Prussia cured of her imperial aspirations now
falls back upon her traditional snti.Austrian
policy, and is backed in her opposition By the
more considerable States, such as Ssxony and
Nuremberg. Bavaria plays the mediator be-
tween Vienna and Berlin, with slight partiality
toward the latter. The German powers seem
to feel that there is more dan ger Of being over.
run BY Austria than BY Prussia. II is said that
in lsi9 and 80, whea the Car was licensed
sgain. the policy of the King Of Prussia and of his
adviser Radowitz, Francis Joseph proposed to
Nicholas TO punish the king by restoring to Aus
tia the district and fortress Of Gslatz. The Car
refused, sgins that he would aever permit the
dismemberment Of the inheritance of bis father
in-aw. This fact If true. may serve - warning
to the German Princes. Up to the present mo.
ment the policy Of Prussia has proved successful.
According to the Last accounts, the parties to the
treaty Of Dec. 2 have yielded, AID are inclined TO
admit the Government of Berlin to the new Con-
ference at Vienna, without tie accession of that