On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    1390 THE LEADIE, [No. 456, December 18 1...

  • 

    AMEKICA. (From our fyccial Correspondent...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Gebmany. (From Our Own Correspondent.' )...

    it , and opposed the establishment of Americans for nearly a year after the right had been claimed , and it was not till Mr . Barnard , the then American Charge d'Affaires at Berlin , authorised the Consul at Bremen to discontinue his functions , and refer the matter to "Washington , that the authorities conceded the point . The consequence is , that Americans in the Hanse towns are favoured beyondaH other nations , and as to become a freeman of " the city , with the same privileges that United States citizens possess , costs from three to four hundred dollars , it follows that it is , by so much money , more advantageous to be an American —no trifling consideration fbr the generality of men who go abroad to seek their fortunes . By 1

    this treatyAmerican captains are enabled to transact the business of their ships without the mediation of a broker , and are permitted to enter the ports without paying the dues to which other foreign vessels are liable . Now the people of the Hanse towns enjoy the same freedom to trade m England as they do in the United States , excepting in a few towns where the old effete tyranny of tne guilds is not yet quite trampled under foot , but in all the great centres of trade they have exactly the same freedom as m the United States ; and is it too much to ask that Englishmen should enjoy the same freedom in the Hanse towns , which are , it must be remembered , the Liondon , Liverpool , and Glasgow of Germany ?

    -The fact of the Americans enjoying privileges in certain parts of Germany which no other nations , not even Germans , enjoy , has naturally given rise to comments , and produced a state of feeling nearly allied to envious irritation . Some members of the Gotha Congress have taken advantage of this rare opportunity to stir up the people to make an effort to release themselves from the insolent tyranny of these uneducated and selfish monopolists , who absolutely begrudge and deny the poor man the right of gaining his bread by the sweat of his brow . I have no doubt , myself , that the freelabour men will be ultimately and shortly successful in their exertions to liberate their country from the yoke of the guilds , for when it becomes known to German

    citizens of the United States that they are free of the guilds , that they have all the privileges of the highest Biirgerrecht , there will be , very probably , an extensive immigration into the Hanse towns , and the monopolists will thus be completely overwhelmed , much to the profit of the Hanse towns themselves , which will become thenceforth the refuge of all oppressed Germans . This free-labour question , or , as the Germans term it , Gewerbe-JFrage , is the real movement of the time in Germanythe Prussian question was a mere excrescence ; the advanced Liberals , clearly perceive that the Zttnftwesen , or guild system , is the root of the Beamtenthum , or official system r get rid of the first and the other will die of itself for want of nourishment . This was made evident in Prussia . To decoy Germans of the surrounding states into Prussia , the guilds were abolished ; but the guilds

    being abolished , there was no need of official supervision , there was no need of passports , nor Wanderbuchs , nor cards of residence , nor alien tickets , & c . & c , there was an end to the whole host of official Schems , or testimonials , that wear out the spirits and shoe-leather of the poor German workman—^ there was , in consequence of this abolition , no need of officials in Prussia , for their occupation was gone . This , of course , would never do , for the Beamtenthum , or " beadledom , " is to despotism what the pulp of fruit is to the core , more especially in countries where no historical aristocracy exists ; so M . Von der Heydt and partners set to work as quickly as possible to reorganise the guilds , ia which , however , they have not been successful , nor are they likely to be , since the Gotha Congress have so patriotically stood forth to enlighten , both princes and people .

    The Ministerial , or aa ' wo must call it , after the Prince of Prussia's peroration , ' the Grace of God party , is now impressing it upon the Ministers that it is their duty to defend the prerogative of the Crown—the monarchical basis of the State , and , above all , the principle of the Grace of God , Monarchy against any encroachments that may be attempted on the part of the Liberal Landtag . Then are , however , certain questions which had better be left undefended , and among these is the Grace of God Monarchy principle . That the Prince or hia Ministers should moot such a doctrine in philosophically atheistical Germany is inexplicable to me . They surely must know what the people have been learning and discussing since the first French Revolution—they surely must know to what extent Protestant churches are frequented by

    men I I wonder whether the advisors of the Prince have ever given themselves the trouble to go amongst the people to inquire what they thought about the Grace of God Itself before asking them to believe In the Monarchy by the Grace of God . I think I speak truth when I assert that the great mass of educated Germans are either Atheists or simple Deists , and therefore any attempt on the part of the Ministerialists to defend the principle would only make a vexed question of that which admits of no argument , which is merely a mfttter of sentiment and faith , and must make itself felt . If there Is a doubt about tho sanctity of kings abroad , it is certainly the most prudont course to accept the foot without any comment whatever , for comment on the Landtag win lead to discussion , imd discussion will set those a thinking who will become the easiest

    instruments of a revolution . The safety of royalty in Germany is the ignorance and indifference of the peasants . The townspeople have long laughed at the Grace of God principle . When we see a small number of a nation like the Kreuz Zeittmg party coming forward as loyalists and supporters of the monarchy par excellence , we may guess how the monarchy stands with the people , and we are reminded that just those very people who are loudest about their nationality—as the Greeks , Italians , Poles , and Hungarians—have no real nationality at all . From bigotry to disbelief there is but one step , as France clearly proves . No people were more loyal , or rather worshipped royalty more than the French , and no wonder , for the belief in the holiness of t he king was instilled

    into them from their earliest childhood by the priesthood , yet nb sooner did a doubt enter their minds than the Revolution immediately followed , attended by a rage as blind as had been their former bigotry . I think it , therefore , a bad sign when we hear the prince of the greatest military and officially fettered State of Europe threatening to put down hypocrisy in the Church , and almost in the same breath begging his Ministers to assist him in upholding the most ridiculous sham of the day—the Graceof God Monarchy—against the encroaching power of the people * The Kreuz Zeittmg party are the worst enemies of the cause they profess to support , for they would subject to the torture of logic that which has for its foundation only fear , ignorance , and superstitious feeling . The mass of people know little and care little about their Own rights , or the rights of

    king or parliament ; if they did know their own n < jhts and the origin of royalty , it would be rather a difficult task to tyrannise over them as we see is done at this moment . AH that they know about royalty is , that they have inherited it , just as they have their religious confession . All that they know about their parliament is , that the members comprising it are permitted to meet in a large room at Berlin , and talk politics ' without being instantly packed off to prison . This ignorance and indifference is the bliss of the powers that rule , and they and their friends would act wisely to enjoy it in silence . This is an advice -which , fortunately for those who seek the downfal of royalty , will not be followed by the noisy , thoughtless loyalists , and some debates niay be expected in the coming parliament upon tlie subject of monarchy by the Grace of God versus monarch y by the will of the people .

    then , by the same authority , it is utterly imntaniM ' . * C the present natives of that country are aS £ * pur sang , for Bede distinctly informs « 2 » Angles and Seaxes had departed , the ooSSy £ * / and remained , an uninhabited waste : and th , t ' tinned to be « an uninhabited wilderness ofvZJfT and briny marshes » up to the eleventh century wit ? tho testimony of Adam Brcmensis , the earlies t ' anrf m % ancient historical authority of Germany and D " ' f It would be tedious , perhaps , and out of place Cf " enter into the origin of the people of Denmark S £ provinces , but I will just observe that some parts of t ^ f country were brought under cultivation by settler , frl Holland so late as the sixth century , and H ^ ZSS as well as Germany , were indebted for their cirilisaf 7 nn and conversion to Christianity to missionaries from England . The assertion of your contemporary ' s correspondent , that the German dialects spoken in

    Schleswinand Holstem are as near to Anglo-Saxon as can be is not m accordance with fact . They bear no more indeed less , resemblance to any dialect of Anglo-Saxon than do Danish or Flemish . It is exactly because the lan <™< re of Holstein is German that the quarrel has arisen between Germany and Denmark . That the peasants who appear at such courts of equity should speak no pure hoch Deutsch , I can easily conceive , as cm any one who knows that there are very fev peasants in all North Germany that are able to speak tho literary or high German language , which is , in fact , the language of the educatedjclasses only . The word " Thiny" is given as the name of this court , but I suppose it is a misprint for " Thing . ' The word was most probably introduced by the English missionaries , or their disciples , from the archbishoprick of Bremen , which vas

    founded in 785 by Wilhead of Northumberland . 5 Iy chief object in noticing the extract from your contemporary ' s correspondence is to put your readers on their guard against receiving as authentic any accounts of customs , manners , or ethnological similarities tending to prove identity of race in Jlolsteiners and the English , or in the Danes and the English . The aim of such accounts is doubtless to excite the sympathy of the English people for one or the other people in the struggle which is going on at present between them . All discoveries of coins , stones ¦ with inscription * , & c . & c ., must

    be received with very great suspicion . 1 hat the reader may appreciate the value of the above warning , I would recommend a perusal of Mr . Worsaae ' s The Northmen in England , and Ernst Moritz Arndt'a Lectures vpon the Peoples of Europe . As the struggle between Denmark and Germany will probably very shortly recommence , we may look forward to more interesting accounts of ancient customs , with a view to prove their relationship to the English . At the same time , I have no intention , by these remarks , to cast any doubt upon the good faith of your contemporary ' s correspondent . He has , 1 believe , given a true description of what he has seen , but ceremonies may be concocted as easily as coins may be made and inscriptions upon stones cut . More has been done in this line than most people imagine .

    Ernst Moritz Arndt , the great lyric poet of Germany , who is np \ v eighty-nine years of age , has just been condemned ( in cordumaciuni ) by the Assizes at Zweibrtlcken ( Deux Ponts ) to a month ' s imprisonment and a line of fifty guilder s for having , in his latest work , entitled " Wanderings and Uamblings with Freiherr vom Stein , " slandered and insulted the liavarlan General Furst ¦\ Vrede . In the passage for which he has been condemned , Arndt gives a relation of the conduct of the Bavarian General , when , as French Marshal , he occupied the castle of the Duke of Brunswfck-Oels , how that he carried off all the silver service , and how for that reason Freiherr vom Stein once exclaimed , when he met the General at the country seat of Metzler , the banker : " I'll never sit in the same room with such a cursed thief . " As soon as the fact of Arndt ' s condemnation became known at Bonn , where he dwells , the

    townspeople and students got up a torchlight procession in his honour . The old poet will not bo otherwise than agreeably affected by the sentence , unless he chooses to pay a visit to the Bavarian park of Vaterland—a visit that would be extremely unwelcome to the Bavarian Government . I think for Der AUi Voter Arndt stands first in the hearts of all patriotic Germans , and his imprisonment , if it should not give rise to disturbances , would , at least , cause a very piunful sensation indeed . It is , therefore , better , perhaps , for aH parties that Arndt is enjoying hid torchlight procession at J 3 oun instead of lying in a Bavarian prison . A few nights ago tho royal palace at Borlin was burglariously entered and a valuable silver service , presented to Prlnco Frederick William on the occasion of his marriage by tho City of Cologne , stolen from the grand saloon . It ia said the thieves are caught .

    In your last Leader there was an extract from tho Berlin correspondence of a contemporary headed "Preservation of flledioovttl Customs . " I refer your readers to the extract in question , and venture to offer them a few remarks Upon it . It is very possible that mediioval courts of equity are held in Holstein j mediaeval is a wide terra , and the custom may have come down to tho people by tradition , from century to century , although I , for one , do not bolievo It for a moment $ but I should very much like to know upon what authority the correspondent of your contemporary is enabled to assert that tho Schleswlg-llolstoinors ,

    as the Germans designate the inhabitants of the two provinces of Schloswig and Holstein , aro Anglo-Saxons pur sang f I am aware that it »» an accepted historical trwth that a people called in the Latin language Angtt and Saxones , and in old English £ ngla and Leamuty or Inglea and Sexes according to the dialect , came from a part of tho Continent which , upou the sole authority of JBede Vonorabllls , lay between Goat urn and Saxonuno , which countries are supposed to be Jutland and Saxony $ but If we , upon tho authority of Bedo , allow that those people did come from such a quarter , and that quarter was tho present Angoln in the province of Schloswig ,

    1390 The Leadie, [No. 456, December 18 1...

    1390 THE LEADIE , [ No . 456 , December 18 185 s

    Amekica. (From Our Fyccial Correspondent...

    AMEKICA . ( From our fyccial Correspondent . ') Nkw Youu , Deo . 4 , 1 S '> S . On Monday next ( Dec . C ) the Members of Congress meet for the despatch of "divers urgent and important business , " and those members of tho journalistic vroria whose function it is to manufacture cannrds iinu maw " guesses at truth , " have already ventured upon a dacovcry of the topics and tone of tho Presidents Message . Although this document has already passed throufcn the States press , it will not bo given to the public of New York till Monday evening . Ato its contentswe aro " assured" that the Me ^ e

    s , takes bold and earnest ground with reference to tw Mexican affair , and that the chief magistrate w . 1 M £ warm expression of sympathy with the Liberals , < oiu » less with tho purpose of Affording them t » " f ""' "J port they have askod at tho hands of th « \ " ^ J wKJ , and which they certainly deserve . " It is" ^ "TV ™ ; no recommendation of intervention will bo . . . j 7 * made , and ' it is « supposed" that nothing will bo *"*_ Rested that can interfere in tho future with tnoj DlUlimont of tho protectorate , if that »»»« " La . JE upon as tho most practical means of saving Me . siuMr upon as tiiu » no » tpntquuw * iu »™«> «» » - ' - ' - ¦* . i revolution it

    the future effects of her chronic , » understood" that the Monroe doctrluo vn » ho'l Jtmti y reaUlrmed in the Message , by » very deejcled < oU « lions that the United States cannot tolerate fcHropcan torvontion in the affairs of Central America , WoMW , Cuba . " Thore aro speculations as to tho cour President will take upon the Tariff question , m ° forences of opinion between Mr . « ucl >\ l"T no ^ ntob «> Secretary Cobb upon this point arc well 1 novv « v wide « nd irreconcilable . The latter is obatlnaUlJ ^ ppsed to any modification whatever of tho ton ; , has tho support of the South upon this point , i M dent's views upon this subject are well kno '

    maintains that tho tariff should be a « aveu »« .-v-- for that it should bo suoh as will secure revenue . oho « B bQ the expenses of the Government—and that I « ll ° " m 0 so arranged as to give incidental protection to manufactures .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1858, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18121858/page/22/