Draft Address of the Second Chamber, March 16, 1849

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Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 16 March 1849


MIA-banniĂšre.gif
Source: Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 9, p. 86;
First published: in the special supplement to the Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 247, March 16, 1849.
Collection(s): Neue Rheinische Zeitung
Keywords : Counter-Revolution, Germany, Parliament, Revolutions of 1848

Cologne, March 16. Below we give for the information of our readers the draft Address of the Second Chamber,[1] a pale, servile copy of the speech from the throne. Its author is the notorious knight of the red land, valiant (!) von Vincke.

The Commission that drafted the Address

“gratefully recognises” (Old-Testament style) “the establishment” of “legal order through the Constitution of December 5 of last year”.[2]

The Commission even expresses this gratitude in the name of the “Prussian people”. And why should, according to the Commission, the people be thankful for the December Constitution imposed by the sabre? Because it is “imbued with a longing for the restoration of public legal order”. Unfortunate knight Vincke! He has had to prove that he is the champion of the “ legal basis’, which is his speciality. But how is it possible to recognise the “legal basis” when confronted with the Brandenburg Government which shattered this very basis of legality by tearing up the laws of April 6 and 8, 1848 [3]? Nothing is simpler! The Government has imposed a new legal basis, martial law and simultaneously the Charter, the Code and philosophy of martial law — the Constitution of December 5. First the Government abolishes “public legal order”. Then the Government proclaims some other “public legal order”, the first that comes to hand, e.g. a Croatian one, a legal basis of quelconque. Then the Commission for drafting the Address in the name of the Prussian people, and Vincke in the name of the Prussian Commission for drafting the Address, have nothing more urgent to do than to welcome the restoration of some sort (any sort, no matter what) of “public legal order"! The legal basis is dead! Long live the legal basis! If, tomorrow, the Prussian Government is overthrown, if a ComitĂ© du salut public[4] is proclaimed in Berlin, then among the first to offer congratulations and invite guests to the wedding there will undoubtedly be a “champion of the legal basis”, some Vincke or other, who in moving tones will recognise the “restoration of” some sort of “public legal order”.

The Address Commission and the dead ride fast. First of all, “gratitude” (according to the prescription of the Neue Preusische Zeitung) for the coup d'Ă©tat of December 5! Then the martial-law Constitution as the “henceforth valid fundamental law of the Prussian state"! Finally, the vow to carry out the “revision wholly inspired by reverence and loyalty towards Your Royal Majesty”, i.e. a revision in the sense desired by the donor. In this way, it is to be hoped, we shall be led back to the period even prior to the United Diet[5]!

As for Berlin’s “state of siege?”, the Address Commission will be governed exclusively by the platitude that “true freedom cannot exist without law and order”. People know the battle-cry of “law and order!” from the events in Warsaw.[6] If only Prussia could exist without money or obtain money without these importunate parliamentary charterers! As for the states of siege sporadically occurring “outside the city of Berlin”, the Address Commission considers it appropriate “to await a further report from Your Royal Majesty’s Government”. Meanwhile Erfurt and the districts of Silesia where a state of siege has been declared are left out in the cold. Vincke is satisfait as long as the Erfurt and Rosenberg military censorships do not “cross out” his draft Address. There is no danger of that!

Vincke then makes a promise in the name of the Address Commission, and the commission makes a promise in the name of the Second Chamber, and the Second Chamber makes a promise in the name of the people to fulfil “by strenuous effort” and as satisfactorily as possible the tasks which the royal Prussian Government has entrusted to the “so-called representation of the people”. Good luck!

“We too recognise with joy that the Prussian army has proved its military renown during the days of struggle and its loyalty in the course of severe trials.”

The Danish campaign of the Imperial Court of Law![7] The battles at Miloslav and Wreschen! The victories in Anhalt, in Mainz, in Frankfurt am Main![8] More than this! Vincke joyfully recognises the loyalty with which “My glorious army”[9] hounded Vincke’s predecessor and used the official documents of the old National Assembly as fuel for the stove. Vincke has every reason to rejoice. Without the “loyalty” of the “Prussian army in the course of severe trials”, our Vincke would never have had the opportunity to immortalise himself by this draft Address which he himself drew up. Moreover, we may point out incidentally that in this matter, too, the Address Commission copies in schoolboy fashion the provisions in the Hohenzollern general plan of reform a as given by the Neue Preussische Zeitung.

And the German question?

“Prussia” will shrink from “no sacrifice” in order to seize Little Germany, by means other than those with which Frederick the Great seized Silesia. In regard to “conquests”, modern Prussia subscribes to the principle of “peaceful” progress. Moreover, the Address Commission “hopes” that “all the German governments will come to an understanding with the German National Assembly”. We hope that the German governments will not pay much attention to this imperial training-college for teachers.

The Address Commission further expresses the wish that there be “no disturbance of the peace” as a result of “the termination of the armistice by the Danish King”. Vincke knows very well that this Danish termination of the armistice is not meant to be taken more seriously than the Prussian-Danish war itself.[10] The Prussian troops act as imperial troops in Schleswig-Holstein, the Schleswig-Holstein troops act as imperial troops in South Germany, the former here and the latter there declaring martial law!

Condolences for the death of Prince Waldemar, and assurances of readiness for self-sacrifice, by means of which von Bodelschwingh, Riedel, von Seckendorf, Arnim, Harkort, Count Renard, Camphausen, Vincke, GrĂŒn and suchlike rabble stoop to the role of Prussian Lycurguses and Solons; piety, respect for the law, public spirit, justice, providence, the hearts of the kings and the future of Prussia, “and with it the future of Germany”, — all that is served up as a dessert by the Address Commission through the good offices of von Vincke!

Idiocy must have rights of citizenship in a national assembly and in a nation which a von Vincke, by means of such a miserable botchwork produced in the name of a commission, in the name of a Chamber, and in the name of the people itself, can dare to turn into the laughing-stock of the European gallery.

  1. ↑ The Second Chamber of the Prussian Diet (Landtag) was convened on February 26, 1849, on the basis of the Constitution “granted” by Frederick William IV on December 5, 1848. Despite the fact that elections to it were held under conditions of virtual martial law, introduced in many provinces of Prussia and under the anti-democratic electoral law of December 6, 1848, a strong opposition was formed in the Chamber. It was made up of the majority of Left-Centre and Right-Centre deputies of the dissolved National Assembly. Though the opposition speeches of the Left were rather moderate, the Second Chamber was dissolved by the Government on April 27, 1849. The text of the draft Address, as well as the minutes of the debates in the Chamber, were published in Stenographische Berichte ĂŒber die Verhandlungen der durch das Allerhöchste Patent vom 5. Dezember 1848 einberufenen Kammem. Zweite Kammer. Beilage zum “Preussischen Staats-Anzeiger”, Bd. 1-2, Berlin, 1849. Marx apparently used newspaper reports
  2. ↑ The Constitution imposed (“granted”) by King Frederick William IV on December 5, 1848, dissolved the Prussian National Assembly and introduced a two-chamber system; the First Chamber was transformed by age and property qualifications into a privileged chamber of the nobility. According to the electoral law of December 6, 1848, the right to vote in the two-stage elections to the Second Chamber was granted only to so-called independent Prussians. The Constitution provided for the suspension, in case of war or disorder, of freedom of the individual, inviolability of the dwelling, freedom of the press, assembly, association and so forth. The royal authority was vested with very wide powers — the King was authorised to convene or dissolve the Chambers, to appoint Ministers, declare war or conclude a peace treaty. He was vested with full executive power, while he exercised legislative power together with the Chambers. Later on, anti-democratic revisions of the Constitution were repeatedly made on the initiative of Prussian ruling circles.
  3. ↑ The reference is to “Verordnung ĂŒber einige Grundlagen der kĂŒnftigen Preussischen Verfassung” and to “Wahlgesetz fĂŒr die zur Vereinbarung der Preussischen Staats-Verfassung zu berufende Versammlung”, adopted by the Second United Diet (the first document on April 6, the second on April 8, 1848). The dissolution of the National Assembly by the Prussian Government on December 5, 1848, was in blatant violation of the laws passed by the United Diet
  4. ↑ ComitĂ© du salut public (Committee of Public Safety) — revolutionary government of France during the dictatorship of the Jacobins (1793-94)
  5. ↑ The United Diet — an assembly of representatives from the eight Provincial Diets of Prussia and similarly based on the estate principle. The United Diet sanctioned new taxes and loans, took part in the discussion of new Bills and had the right to address petitions to the King. The First United Diet, which opened on April 11, 1847, was dissolved in June, following its refusal to grant a new loan. The Second United Diet was convened on April 2, 1848, after the revolution of March 18-19 in Prussia. It passed a series of laws pertaining to the principles ‘of a future Constitution and on elections to the Prussian National Assembly, and also sanctioned the loan. The United Diet session was closed on April 10, 1848
  6. ↑ An allusion to the suppression of the Polish national liberation insurrection of 1830-31 by Tsarist troops
  7. ↑ The Danish campaign refers to the war between Prussia and Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein which broke out in April 1848. The national liberation movement against Danish rule arose in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein inhabited mainly by Germans under the influence of the March 1848 revolution in the German states. Fearful of a national uprising and an extension of the revolution, Prussian ruling circles strove to come to terms with the King of Denmark in the course of the war, at the expense of all-German interests, and this also affected the war manoeuvres of the Prussian army. Engels ironically compared them with the proceedings in the Imperial Court of Law which were marked by unprecedented red tape and confusion (the Imperial Court of Law was the supreme Judicial institution in Germany in the 15th-18th centuries). The Imperial Court of Law ceased to exist in 1806 when the so-called Holy Roman Empire of the German nation was abolished
  8. ↑ During the suppression of the national liberation uprising in Posen at the end of April and the beginning of May 1848, Prussian troops suffered a defeat at Miloslavl and shot the Polish insurgents at Wreschen (Wrzegnia). When speaking of the “victories” of the Prussian army, Engels is ironically referring to its savage reprisals against the popular movements in Anhalt-Bernburg in March 1848, in Mainz in May 1848 and its participation in suppressing the revolt in Frankfurt am Main in September 1848.
  9. ↑ “My glorious army” — An allusion to the New Year's message of greetings from King Frederick William IV "To My Army" ("An mein Heer") which he signed in Potsdam on January 1, 1849; it was published in the Preußischer Staats-Anzeiger on January 3, 1849. The Neue Rheinische Zeitung used this to expose the counter-revolutionary actions of the Prussian military (see Marx's article "A New Year Greeting").
  10. ↑ The reference is to the armistice concluded on August 26, 1848, in the Swedish town of Malm6 between Denmark and Prussia for a term of seven months. The armistice actually preserved the Danish rule in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, provided for the replacement of provisional authorities in Schleswig by a new government (in which the puppets of the Danish monarchy prevailed), the separation of the Schleswig and Holstein troops and other terms unfavourable to the national liberation movement in the duchies. The revolutionary-democratic changes that had been introduced there came virtually to nothing. Later on, the ruling circles of Prussia, hoping to raise the prestige of the Prussian monarchy by taking part in this popular war and to realise their aggressive plans, resumed hostilities in March 1849 which went on with changing success. However, under pressure from Denmark’s allies (England and Russia), Prussia signed a peace treaty with Denmark on July 2, 1850, temporarily abandoned its claims to Schleswig and Holstein and withdrew its military support in the war waged by the duchies. The Schleswig-Holstein troops sustained a defeat and had to give up resistance. As a result, the two duchies remained within the Kingdom of Denmark
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