which, after correcting some exaggerated accounts circulated in other papers concerning the administration of the sacrament in cellars and secret places to zealous Lutherans, by orthodox divines, gives the following remarkable intelligence concerning nonconformist pastors and their flocks in Prussia : "Only last year the provincial authorities at Erfurt caused Pastor Graben of Heiligenstadt to be committed to the house of correction. The upper tribunal of Halberstadt, however, no sooner learned the transaction than it ordered him to be set at liberty; and when the magistrates at Erfurt appealed to their superiors, the tribunal drew up a remonstrance to the King, stating that he ought not to allow his subjects to be imprisoned without a legal trial, which they were with difficulty prevented from sending to Berlin." The penal decrees against nonconformist Lutherans are alluded to in the following terms :— ans. "It is a great evil when a state is obliged, by exceptional laws, to decree punishments against actions which are neither criminal nor dangerous in themselves, but it is a still greater evil to resort to exceptional measures against individuals. Both methods have been adopted against the LutherAn order of the cabinet of the year 1834 imposes fines of from one to fifty dollars besides other penalties, punishment in the schools, &c., on their assembling to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper. Their preachers have been arrested and committed to prison, as it would seem, for an indefinite term, without even the form of a trial. This occurred in the case of the Silesian clergymen, who were committed to close confinement in Marienwerder but three months back, because they would not promise to abstain from performing their clerical functions." When we read the inevitable results of this singular persecution, we can scarcely believe that such scenes could occur in our own days, in the enlightened kingdom of Prussia, and under a sovereign whom some of our blundering zealots here represent as the head of Protestantism in Europe. Protestantism, indeed! it is fortunate for themselves that they are not in Prussia.-The writer continues "It is a matter of notoriety that, to keep regularity in the registers of births, it is only necessary to know whether children have been christened or not; the person by whom they are baptized being of no importance; for, according to the principles of the universal church of Christ (from which the consistory of Breslaw has unhappily deviated, by ordering, in some cases, a repetition of the baptism), the validity of baptism is in no way dependent on the person performing the ceremony. Now the Lutherans never refused to declare that their children had been baptized. Inquiries were, however, made after the persons who baptized them, in order that they might be punished under the new penal laws; but this information was withheld from sters of the clerical and police departments, dated 12th February, 1838, declaring all who refused to give evidence when required, respecting the person performing a clerical function, whether it be the father or a mere witness of the ceremony, liable to three months' imprisonment." In consequence of this decree, it is further stated, many fathers of families, especially in Silesia, were committed to prison, and a most demoralizing system of informing introduced, to put a stop to which, the tribunal of Ratibor was obliged, like that of Halberstadt, as before stated, to interfere, and the minister was induced to rescind his decree. What are we to think of this state of things in a country which boasts of the unity and consistency of an administration, secured from the fluctuating nature of popular influence? But it seems that even the road of emigration is not wholly open to those who desire to quit the districts which they cannot inhabit in peace. "It has been erroneously stated in some journals that Silesian Lutherans had emigrated to Australia, for the sake of freedom of conscience. The truth is, that about 450 Lutherans from the Mark, in the neighbourhood of Tullichau, passed through Berlin in Whitsunweek last, on their way to Australia; and that not long afterwards about 160 others (we cannot be responsible for the numbers) followed them in company with a few from Silesian villages of the vicinity. That Lutherans from one of the villages which have been the most severely visited with fines for the illegal performance of church service, we mean the circle of Trebnitz, applied for permission to emigrate, is true. But the conditions imposed by the government, that every father of a family must prove the possession of two hundred and fifteen dollars, and every other member that of one hundred and ten dollars, prevented these poor people, who had nothing left on which to raise money, from executing their project. It is said, too, that the landed proprietors opposed this step of theirs by remonstrance to the government, fearing to lose, with the Lutherans, their best peasantry, from a neighbourhood which does not stand in the best repute on the score of honesty." This is, then, a picture of the domestic administration of Prussia in the year 1838! This is the manner in which the liberty of the person and of conscience are treated! This is the head of Protestantism in Europe! We are enabled to give the winding up of this Strange Eventful History,' the following proclamation of the Prussian ministry having appeared shortly after. "Berlin, 14th June, 1838. "The circular orders issued by the undersigned ministers, under the date tended to realize, because the persons whom they regarded have laid so high a value upon the religious scruples raised respecting the evidence required of them, and which were apparently forced on their attention by means of secret promises, that they, with few exceptions, preferred going to prison, and awaiting, under a persevering refusal, the term of their release. Although it does not seem doubtful that a consistent perseverance in the measures hitherto adopted against stubborn witnesses, would have radically extirpated this evil; yet it cannot be denied that, according to the confined notions of many individuals involved in these proceedings, and who conceive themselves pro præterito, bound by the scruples of their misled consciences, the before-mentioned measures bear a character of harshness which might easily be seized by nonconformist Lutherans who aspired to be made martyrs, as a means of acquiring reputation, and of challenging their fellow believers to follow their example. Upon consideration, therefore, of the state of the matter, and of the circumstances bearing upon it, which shall be duly weighed, with a view to the future steps to be adopted against the Lutheran nonconformists, the undersigned ministers deem it fit to inform the (Provincial) government that it has to desist from the prosecution of the forcible means hitherto adopted to discover the individuals who had performed forbidden clerical functions, and consequently to set those persons at liberty who have been confined in pursuance of the circular order of 21st February last year—but under the reserve of a future prosecution of the forcible measures which shall be decreed. "Ministers of Clerical, Educational, and Medical affairs (Signed) VON ROCHOW." The newspaper in which this proclamation is published, contains a lament on the part of the Prussian authorities, that the vicar of the vacant see of Trêves has refused to censure or expel a parish priest at Coblentz, named Seidl, who had preached against the government measures, and whom they did not dare to arrest.-Was ever confusion worse confounded known than this picture of Prussian sway presents? Can any nation look to Prussia under these circumstances, as to a power fit or able to consolidate and direct the energies of an enlightened people like the Germans ? But let us turn to the treatment which the institutions for education experience, the universities of which Prussia was so long and so justly proud; let us inquire what qualities are now demanded of those men to whom the education of the Prussian youth is to be confided. Of the seven professors, who, it will be remembered, signed at Göttingen a remonstrance to the king of Hanover, stating their conviction that was binding, in spite of the dispensation published by royal authority, two, professors Albrecht and Weber, had formerly resided at Königsberg. Their remonstrance having become public, the seven were instantaneously dismissed from their employments, and retired from Göttingen, accompanied by the admiration and sympathy of their fellow-citizens, which spoke out in addresses directed to them from different parts of Germany. And surely, if ever men acted from pure and disinterested motives, and deserved the grateful benediction of a nation, they were entitled to it; as they acted in full conviction of the difficulties that would be thrown in the way of their employment elsewhere. The tone of modest firmness which prevails in the pamphlets which they have since published in justification of this step, will at a future period, be viewed by their countrymen with sentiments of admiration and pride. In these pamphlets, Grimm, Albrecht, and Dahlmann, as lawyers, and Ewald, as professor of divinity, have not only recorded the judgement of the Highest authority in Germany* against the king, but have held forth an example to their countrymen as men, which has been hailed with the approval of every honest breast, and has proved the proudest refutation of those, who deem that the dispassionate exercise of the reasoning powers tends to weaken the moral energies in times of action. The university of Königsberg, proud of the connexion which had existed between it and two of the men to whom all Germany was so much indebted, spontaneously voted the degree of doctor to professors Albrecht and Weber. The diploma conferring this honour on the former, was despatched to him; but before that for professor Weber was expedited, the royal commissary at the university, who had received a hint respecting the sentiments entertained at Berlin with regard to Hanover, interfered and prevented its being sent off. A letter from the minister, Von Altenstein, conveyed soon after the direct expression of the royal displeasure at the presumption of the university, in deciding upon the fitness of an individual for academical honours without first obtaining the royal sanction to such a step. But the letter addressed, about the same time, by the minister of the home department, Von Rochow, *The decision in the last instance, in difficult questions of law, is frequently to the citizens of Elbing, who had voted an address to professor Albrecht, is the most faithful interpreter of the sentiments of the Prussian cabinet on this occasion; and we submit it entire to our readers, as both its style and its tenor are of a nature to which no description could do justice.— "To Iran Riesen, merchant, Elbing. In reply to your communication of the address which a number of the citizens of Elbing have signed and presented to professor Albrecht, I hereby inform you that it has filled me with displeasure and surprise. Were I even to admit that scruples of conscience alone induced professor Albrecht to consider the oath required of him as improper, I am still far from regarding the expression of his opinion, and that of his colleagues, as justified, or even excused, by those scruples. On the contrary, I hold that expression of his opinion to be an inconsiderate and blameworthy act of presumption, which would be punishable according to the laws of this country. The subscribers to the address lay themselves open to the same reproach, since they countenance and approve that act, and thereby identify themselves with its authors. It becomes a subject to show the obedience due to his king and sovereign, and to content himself, when following the orders given him, with the responsibility which devolves on those whom God has placed in authority over him. It does not become him to measure the actions of the sovereign of the state by the standard of his own confined views, or to presume, in overweening vanity, publicly to pronounce an opinion on their rightfulness. For this reason, I must regard it as a deplorable error, when the subscribers to this address believe the step taken by the Göttingen professors to be one in defence of legal order, and in opposition to arbitrary power. You are, however, guilty of a still more deplorable error when you imagine that your opinion is shared by all good citizens and loyal Prussians. This is, thank God, so far from being the case, that I am convinced the greater number will disapprove of the step you have taken, and deplore that, by it, the good feelings and patriotism of the city of Elbing are placed in a suspicious light. I leave it to you to communicate this reply of mine to the subscribers to the address. "The minister of the Interior and of Police, "Berlin, 15th January, 1838." This is the language which a minister of state holds to the Prussian nation, in our times. Such are the sentiments of the monarch, in whose good intentions confidence had so long been placed by an enlightened country, whose ardent hopes appear only to have been excited, that they might be the more relentlessly destroyed. If any Prussian continues to hope, under the present reign, for a progressive improvement in the institutions of his country, corresponding with the de |