Engels in Neue Rheinische Zeitung September 1848

Ratification of the Armistice

by Frederick Engels

Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 107

Cologne, September 19. The German National Assembly has ratified the armistice. We were not mistaken: "Germany's honor has fallen into bad hands."

The vote was taken amidst uproar and complete darkness, when the benches
of the deputies were thronged with strangers, diplomats, etc. A majority
of two forced the Assembly to vote simultaneously on two entirely different
questions. The armistice was carried, Schleswig-Holstein sacrificed, "Germany's
honor" trampled under foot and the merging of Germany in Prussia decided
by a majority of 21 votes.

On no other issue has there been such a clear expression of public
opinion. On no other issue have the gentlemen of the Right so openly admitted
that they uphold a cause which is indefensible. In no other issue were
Germany's interests so unequivocal and so obvious as in this. The National
Assembly has made its decision-it has pronounced the death sentence upon
itself and upon the so-called central authority created by it. If Germany
had a Cromwell it would not be long before he would say: "You are no Parliament....
Depart, I say.... in the name of God, -- go!" [80]

There is talk of the impending withdrawal of the Left. If it had
courage, this poor derided Left, which has been fisted by the majority
and called to order on top of it by the noble Gagern. Never has a minority
been so insolently and consistently maltreated as has been the Frankfurt
Left by the noble Gagern and his 250 champions of the majority. If only
it had courage!

Lack of courage is ruining the entire German movement.

The counter-revolution as well as the revolutionary party lack
the courage for the decisive blows. All Germans, whether on the right or
on the left, know now that the present movement must lead to terrible clashes,
to bloody battles, fought either to suppress it or to carry it through.
But instead of courageously facing these unavoidable battles and fighting
them out with a few rapid and decisive blows, the two parties -- the party
of the counter-revolution and that of movement -- have virtually come to
an agreement to put them off as long as possible. It is due to this constant
resort to petty expedients, to trivial concessions and palliatives, to
these attempts at mediation, that the unbearable and uncertain political
situation has led everywhere to numerous isolated uprisings, which can
only be liquidated by way of bloodshed and the curtailment of rights already
won. It is this fear of struggle that gives rise to thousands of minor
clashes making the year 1848 exceptionally sanguinary and so complicating
the position of the contending parties that in the end the struggle will
be the more violent and destructive. But "our dear friends' lack of courage"!

The crucial struggle for Germany's centralization and democratic
organization cannot possibly be avoided. Every day brings it nearer despite
all attempts to play it down and compromise. The complex situation in Vienna,
Berlin and Frankfurt demands a decision, and if everything should fail
because of German timidity and indecision, we shall be saved by France.
The consequences of the June victory are now taking shape in Paris -- the
royalists are getting the better of Cavaignac and his "pure republicans"
in the National Assembly, in the press and in the clubs; a general uprising
is threatening to break out in the legitimist South; Cavaignac has to resort'
to Ledru-Rollin's revolutionary remedies, i.e., to departmental commissioners
invested with extraordinary powers; it was with the greatest difficulty
that he managed to defend himself and his government in Parliament last
Saturday. Another such division, and Thiers, Barrot and company, the men
in whose interests the June victory was won, will possess a majority, Cavaignac
will be thrown into the arms of the red republic, and the struggle for
the republic's existence will start.

If Germany's irresoluteness should persist, the new phase of the
French revolution will also be a signal for a fresh outbreak of open struggle
in Germany, a struggle which we hope will take us a little further and
will at least free Germany from the traditional fetters of her past.

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