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Leader (1850-1860), 15th February 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 144, Untitled Article

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      PLEASURES OF PRUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP . THE IMPENDING EXPULSION OF THE POET FREILIGRATH . The political course that will be pursued by Prussia now that she has disbanded her armies and sat herself down with her rival to give peace to the object of their rivalry , has , ever since the return of Count Brandenburg from Warsaw , been a subject of the most lively curiosity . In England it has been sometimes hoped , though it must be confessed but little expected , that some small share of personal freedom would be preserved to the Germans by the influence of the northern power , and that , if only to support herself by an antagonistic principle of government , she would at least set herself against the full prevalence of those absolutist principles to which the ¦ whole continent of Europe seems so nearly falling a

      prey . The utter fallaciousness of these hopes may be judged of ex pede , from the treatment of the poet ¦ whose name stands at the head of this article , in which we intend to point out one of the most vexatious persecutions that has come to our knowledge , and which carries in itself the evidence that Prussia has fully resolved to adopt those absolute principles which have hitherto been supposed to bring forth their full fruit only in the East and South . It is well known that Freiligrath was in England from 1846 to 1848 , that , owing to the political state of his native country offering him an opportunity of successfully advocating

      his opinions , he returned to Germany m 1848 ; at first to Dusseldorf , and after a short stay there joined in the editorship of a republican paper at Cologne . For a poem published in that journal , he was persecuted by the State , but acquitted by the jury ; his being the first trial by jury in Prussia for a political offence . After the first successes of the revolutionary paTty the paper could no longer main tain itself , and Freiligrath retired from Cologne to Bilk , a small village , near Dusseldorf , where he gave himself up to purely literary occupations , publishing a collection of his earlier poems and a masterly translation of the Venus and Adonis , entirely withdrawing himself from

      all political activity . On his arrival at Dusseldorf he deposited his London passport ( granted him as a Prussian by the Chevalier Bunsen ) with the police , and received a leave of residence ( uf haltungs karte ) for a year . At the expiration of this term he applied for its extension , but was told that it could not be granted him , and that in six weeks' time he must depart . On his representing that his wife had just been confined , and that he could not go at such short notice , he was told that he had already received his final answer ,

      and that no other could be expected . On this Freiligrath applied to be admitted as a member of the Commune of Dusseldorf , which , by the law of the 31 st of December , 1842 , could not be denied him as a Prussian subject , and which admission would give him a settlement in Dusseldorf , and relieve him from dependence upon continued renewals of his leave of residence . To this application the Communal Councillor replied , after much consideration , that the question of his admission could only then be entertained when he had proved that he had not , since 1831 , lost his rights to be esteemed a Prussian

      citizen . To this Freiligrath replied that h e could not be called upon to prove a negative ; but that , should any one maintain that he had lost his citizenship , he would be prepared to answer such assertions . He was then told that it was no negative ho was called upon to prove , but only a relative negative ( a truly German distinction ) , and that he must produce , within fourteen days , oilieial attestations of his legal residences since IK . 'Jl . In spite of this short time , the requisite attestations were forthcoming , which produced answer to the effect that he had indeed established his citizenshi p up to the date 1841 , but that he had still to

      prove that he had not since forfeited it ; and that , if ho did not understand the former requisition , lie was at liberty to furnish any positive proof of his citizenship that he pleased . Uiuh , fust negative , then relative negative , and now positive proof ! To this he replied by u full account of every place of residence he hud occupied up to the year 184 1 , when he lived at St . Goar , and b y proving that he had twice offered himself for conscription ; had always paid taxes as a Prussian ; that between 1 K 41-H lie had been travelling in Switzerland , France Belgium , and England ; that the Prussian Ambassador hud allowed him his passport as a Prussian , on his return in \ HtH to his native country ; and that , the Inw of December , lH . 'JL ' , clearly stated that a . Prussian could only lose his citizenship in one of three ways—either , iirnt , by permission , at his own request ; second , by judgment of the courts , in wise oi refusal to return from a foreign country when called upon to do so ; or , third , by u ten-years' ab-Henee in foreign countries ; and thut by none ofthe . se clauses could he be proved to have lost it , since he had dwelt in Prussia up to the date 1844 , m proved by the legal attestation of the Burghermnstor of St . ( Jour ; hud never requested to be released from his citizenship , or refused to return to hia native country at the requisition of the courtH . To this it w » h replied thut Iub passport gave him

      no title , that it was merely granted him on his own representation that he was a Prussian , that it had also expired , being good only for a year , and that he must give full particulars of where he had lived since 1844 ; and a further leave of fourteen days was granted him to do so , which fourteen days were reduced to four days by antedating the document ten days . To this Freiligrath replied that it was indifferent to him what they might think of the Chevalier Bunsen ' s passport , as he had proved , by their own admission , that he was a Prussian subject up to 1844 , and that he expected the protection of the law , which they must know , as well as himself , and that it was no part of such law that any Prussian who had left his country for a time should give the full particulars of where he had been at every hour of his absence .

      He then appealed to the Ministry at Berlin , who referred the matter to the Council of the Circle to which Dusseldorf belongs , and from that time ( last November ) to this no answer has been given him in spite of his repeated application for decision in his case . The absence of this decision can only be accounted for in one way , the Government must find in the members of the Council of the Circle an extreme repugnance to expel Freiligrath in the face of the law , and are thus unable to cover an intended act of tyranny with any appearance of legality .

      That the proceedings at Dusseldorf are the result of direct orders from Berlin is notorious in that town ; but the rigorously constitutional and unexpected resistance of the poet has involved the Government in a difficulty from which it hopes to escape by temporizing and delay , expecting that by wearing out the patience of the object of their pursuit they may be relieved of his presence by his just disgust if they cannot be by the law . That they will be so

      relieved no one can expect ; the whole course of Freiligrath ' s procedure has been to maintain his legal right , or show his fellow-countrymen how little those legal rights can be relied upon . Such a course of conduct as this cannot fail of sympathy in English minds ; this passive resistance is the resistance of the intellect , and as such far more dangerous to absolute governments than an attempt at meeting organized brute force by unorganized , a means which has ever failed , and must always fail those who use it .

      But while the matter remains undecided , what is the position of the object of this persecution ? Is it not evident that a man constantly expecting an order to quit his country with , perhaps , twelve hours to realize his effects , and remove a wife and four infant children , is more tormented by such a Damocles ' sword than by the blow itself ? "What hope of tranquillity of mind , what possibility of literary exertion ? What means of life ? What comfort in living ? In effect , it is nothing short of gradual starvation , and an amount of tyranny utterly insupportable .

      It is highly probable , as suggested by the Cologne Gazette of the 5 th of the present month , that the purpose of the Government is to follow out this course of delay , till , by repeated postponements and complicated law proceedings ( the expense of which Freiligrath has , of course , to meet ) , they may have so impoverished him , that they may at last refuse him his settlement on the plea that he cannot show grounds for the belief that he can maintain himself without becoming with his family a charge upon the funds of the Commune ; that they are capable of such a course is already proved in the ease of Baute , alluded to in the above number of the Cologne Gazette .

      First to ruin a man by law expenses , and then to make his ruin a ground of denying him a justice which could not otherwise be refused , is a refinement of tyranny more in keeping with astute Italian despotism than with anything that could have been expected from a nation professing to hold an advanced place in European intellect . The revenge lost at the trial we alluded to is thus followed up—as law could not reach its objectpolice persecution must ; and this conduct pursued

      towards a man who has quite retired from public life , who once enjoyed the king ' s pension for his literary eminence , which pension he himself resigned on his adoption of Republican , views ; towards one who has fulfilled every legal duty , furnished every legal attestation required , and set himself in a position from which nothing but an act of absolute power can expel him , ia ample testimony to the political views of his Government , and gives the clearest indication of the course to be pursued in Prussia . Hessian patriots are to be subdued by quartering dragoons upon them till they are ruined , and Prussian poets are to be impoverished by expensive law suits , and then exiled because too poor to be admitted to a local settlement , a consummation calling for an indignant protest on the part of all who have the interests of a free literature at heart . INDUSTRY IN D 1 SORDKR . CA 1 U . ISLH ItA . ND-l . OOM VV HA V KKH — HI ) V \ OI . IL VKU VKKH HAlI . OKs' HTUIKII-MANTHKH AND WOltKMKN . The Carlisle papers contain a report of a mooting which took plains at the Town-hall last week to take into consideration the state of the Immlloom weavers ot that town , of whom there are said to bo " 21 fullv employed , 1300 partially employed , and 631 unem .

      ployed . Mr . M'Gibbon , a manufacturer , said there was no hope of speedy improvement , and a Mr . Rome said "he had been told by the manufacturing firms with whom he traded that they -were actually selling their goods for less than they cost them ; and that they would close altogether for' a time were it not that by doing so they would lose their connection , and distress would become more prevalent . " The Poor-law Commissioners have sent down Mr . Hawley to inquire into the state of matters , and he has ordered that no ablebodied person shall be relieved out of the house except in return for work performed . Before the meeting broke up it was arranged that a number of the men should be employed at trenching , f jr which they would receive one shilling a-day .

      A rather alarming riot occurred at Barham Unionhouse , near Ipswich , on Sunday evening . The workhouse is very much crowded , there being about 490 inmates at present , of whom 120 are able-bodied men . Among the latter , much dissatisfaction h as lately prevailed touching the dietary , and on Sunday evening the mutinous spirit broke out in violence . While at supper , one of the men made a signal , and instantly about forty of them commenced a furious attack on a wooden partition that divided them from the female ward . Governor , schoolmaster , and three police officers interposed , but without success ; the partition was smashed , the officers pelted from the

      premises , the porter struck to the ground and terribly kicked , and the superintendent had to make his escape . Glass , window-frames , benches , floors , tables , chairs , clocks , &c , were smashed , amidst yells of delight . The provision stores were first ransacked . Then the wines speedily disappeared , and the stores of beer were either drunk or wasted . Maddened by drink , the inmates -wrenched the fastenings from the doors , stripped the roof of tiles , tore up the brick stone floorings , and made a large breach in a substantial brick wall . Having provided themselves with a good stock of missiles , they showered them over the walls upon any who might happen to be near . The Reverend F . Steward , a magistrate , rode off to Ipswich for a detachment of the military , who

      arrived about ten o ' clock , but they were not allowed to dismount . Two hours later a considerable police force was assembled , and by the aid of a batteringram the door was broken open . The constables , with drawn cutlasses , rushed upon the rioters , who , after discharging one or two sharp volleys of bricks , stones , and glass , retreated in all directions . There was a hot pursuit , every place was scoured , thirtyseven prisoners , many of them intoxicated , were captured , hurried out of the building , and placed under the guard of the soldiery . On Monday they were examined before the magistrates and committed to take their trial at the next Ipswich quarter sessions , on the charge of destroying the property of the guardians , and of obstructing the police in the execution of their duty .

      The agitation against the New Mercantile Marine Bill begins to look rather formidable . The organization in the north-east ports is most complete , comprising Hull , Seaham , Sunderland , Newcastle , Shields , and other towns . The entire shipping trade on that side of the inland is stopped . At Shields and Sunderland a good deal of mobbing has taken place . Two men who attempted to sign articles at Sunderland were hustled by a number of seamen and pelted with mud . The women appear to be the most furious in their wrath against recreants . One poor fellow was attacked by a mob of about 200 women , at Shields , and was severely mauled . At North Shields ' a crimp , who had picked up a few men for a vessel about to sail , had to fly for his life before a crowd of enraged women .

      At Liverpool a determined stand has been made against the " registry ticket , " one of the main features in the new bill . On Monday a procession of about 1000 sailors , with an effigy of Mr . Labouchere , paraded the town , marched towards the Town-hall , went on 'Change , much to the astonishment of the merchants assembled there , and having walked round the area , proceeded to a suburban district , where they burned Mr . Labouchere in effigy . William St . Clair ' s appeal against the decision of Mr . Bingham , one of the magistrates of the Marlborough-street Police Court , under which ho was sentenced to two months' imprisonment , was heard before Mr . Sergeant Adams , at the Middlesex Sessions , on Monday . Mr . Bodkin , In support of the

      prosecution , detailed the facts of tho case . On the evening of the ' 21 st of November , notice wus given to the glaziers employed at the Crystal Palace , that for a day ' s work each man was to put in fifty- 'eight punes of glass , for which he would receive 5 s . 2 d ., and so on in proportion for all above that number . This , arrungement did not please the men , and more than one half of thoin struck work . Ono of those who did so was St . Oluir . He wrote to Mr . Fox , the contractor , stating that , unless nn arrangement was nittdo with the glazier « , b y which they should bo enabled to earn a fair day h wuges for a fair day ' s work , an advertisement would appear in all the London papern stating that the building was boinjj ; botched : up by a system of aub-contractmg—and that it would , therefore , bo worth-Icbs and unsafe . On tho following Monday , the

      Untitled Article

      144 Wfyt , & *** ; * & tSAT ! TRX > AT ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 15, 1851, page 144, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1870/page/4/