# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1849 09 04_S3
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

3

With the following declaration, therefore, our Formula of Concord begins at once: "We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike are to be judged and decided are none other than the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testament, as it is written: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path, Ps. 119, 105. And St. Paul: Though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, let him be accursed, Gal. 1, 8. But other writings, of ancient or modern teachers, whatever name they bear, are not to be held equal to Holy Scripture, but all together are to be subjected to it, and not otherwise or further to be received than as witnesses showing in what manner after the time of the Apostles, and in what places, such doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles was preserved." (Ib. p. 473.)

In the next number we purpose to show in what sense we indeed cannot and will not deny being exclusive.

News from the Old Homeland.

II.

In June 1849.

It is long since my first report, much longer than I had intended and hoped before being able to give the second. I did not wish to write until some result of the political strivings had come to light, and when I had sent off my first communications, it looked as though the second might soon follow, and now half a year has gone round and — we do not yet know where we stand. At the beginning of the year it appeared as though the wished-for and longed-for unity would soon come about after all, and indeed in a manner which at the outset hardly anyone had dared to hope for, namely with an hereditary head of the Empire, with an Emperor at the top. In the National Assembly at Frankfurt this thought had found entrance with many chiefly through the authority and influence of Gagern and Dahlmann; this "party of the hereditary-imperialists" grew ever stronger, let itself not be frightened off by the opposition set against it on the right as on the left, but only redoubled its efforts and exertions to make the thought prevail and carry it through to victory, that for the establishment of German unity and of a strong Germany outwardly and inwardly an hereditary Emperor must be chosen, and that this could be no other, and might be no other, than the most powerful prince in Germany, the King of Prussia. The Emperor of Austria could not well become it, because as a German prince he was not so powerful as the King of Prussia, and because the closer connection of his non-German lands with his German ones hindered him from entering the narrower German Union in accordance with the Imperial Constitution. Therefore the Minister-President v. Gagern demanded authority from the National Assembly to enter into negotiations with Austria, in order nevertheless to connect the same, since it could not enter the narrower Union, as closely as possible with the rest of Germany, until the time when its circumstances should permit it to enter the narrower Germany also with its German lands. Gagern had made his remaining in the ministry dependent upon the adoption and approval of this demand, and it received in a motivated form the majority of votes, though no considerable one. Sixty Austrian deputies, however, lodged a protest against this and every resolution whereby German-Austria would be excluded from the German federal state, and many were and remained of their opinion. Thus arose the parties of the so-called "Great-Germans," who wanted only a Germany with Austria, and of the "Little-Germans," who, because they saw that Austria could not and would not enter, aimed at a closer union of the rest of Germany under One head of the Empire, to which Austria should stand in the relation of the old confederation of states. For that very reason, however, the Great-Germans wanted no hereditary imperial dignity and indeed no Emperor at all, but a Directory of three or seven princes, in which the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia should alternately preside, and the first two paragraphs of the Constitution so altered that Austria with its German lands could enter the German federal state. But this the Little-Germans declared to be nothing other than the old powerless and sapless Federal Diet. The readiness with which not only several countries, e. g. Würtemberg, Nassau, Coburg, Gotha, etc., proclaimed the Fundamental Rights as laws of the land, but also several more, such as Würtemberg, Baden, the Saxon duchies, Oldenburg, etc., declared themselves for One head of the Empire, and the latter even expressed in writing to the King of Prussia their joy at being permitted to greet him as such, — gave them fresh courage again. Yet considerable hindrances and misgivings still stood in the way of the matter. Even the Fundamental Rights the governments of Hannover, Saxony, Bavaria, etc. did not recognize unconditionally, refusing their official publication, partly because according to the constitutions of the several lands a law could receive force only by the consent of the Chambers, partly because the Fundamental Rights contained so much that could not be carried out in the individual states without great detriment to them, and therefore would have to be somewhat adapted for them. But as regards the adoption of an hereditary head of the Empire, and especially of a Prussian one, the Saxon Chamber declared that it would recognize no such thing, but only a President; the Bavarian Diet protested solemnly and unanimously in both Chambers against the exclusion of Austria and thereby against the King of Prussia as hereditary Emperor; Austria itself protested repeatedly against its treatment as a mere ally of the narrower Germany, and declared that it neither would nor could withdraw from the Union, and Prussia also voted for the retention of Austria, called upon the National Assembly, before the second reading of the Constitution, to hear the objections and misgivings of the individual governments, and the governments to deliver such declarations at Frankfurt as soon as possible, and so on both sides to prepare and bring about a desirable "agreement." The proposal also found acceptance on both sides, the declarations came in, and were handed over to the Constitutional Committee. The (smaller) states agreeing with Prussia demanded the absolute veto, a three-year financial period, etc., Bavaria, etc., a Constitution in which Austria could take full part, in which also the individual states should have their independence preserved. In the meantime the decision on the apex of the Constitution (the head of the Empire, etc.) was purposely postponed, the second reading of the Fundamental Rights was taken up and completed, while men agitated*) with all their might for and against the hereditary Emperor, for and against a Directory, debated**) and drove one another into ever greater passion and bitterness. Then at last Austria also, which until then had always said only what it did not want, gave a declaration that said something. It wished a Directory of 7-9 members, with Austria and Prussia at the head, who should alternately, one year about, hold the presidency, etc. That was at the beginning of March, so a full quarter of a year had been spent in waiting and counselling. Then all at once comes the news that the Diet at Kremsier has been — not dissolved, but blown up, and a Constitution for Austria octroyed†), in which Germany is not mentioned with a single word, and only the firm and close union of all lands standing under the Austrian sceptre is considered. Austria wants nothing to do with Germany, it was said, it will not enter the German Union. And one of the most zealous defenders of Great-Germany, Welker, suddenly steps forward in the National Assembly with the motion: to adopt the Imperial Constitution, as it was resolved in first reading, in the lump, to offer the hereditary imperial dignity to the King of Prussia, and to express toward the other German princes the expectation that they would accede to this resolution of their own free will for the sake of the unity and salvation of Germany. For Austria the entrance should remain reserved for better times. The impression which this motion made upon the Assembly was indescribable. The hereditary-imperialists were

*) That is, acted in an inflammatory way. Ed.

**) That is, engaged in wordy contests. Ed.

†) An octroyed Constitution is that which has been granted to a people by grace and free plenitude of power, as opposed to one which a people has won for itself as something due to it by right. Ed.