"Neue Rheinische Zeitung" – The Pfuel Ministry

The Pfuel Ministry

["Neue Rheinische Zeitung" No. 116 of 14 October 1848]

*
Cologne
, 13 October. When the

Camphausen
ministry fell, we said:

"The Camphausen ministry had thrown its liberal-bourgeois garb over the counter-revolution. The counter-revolution feels strong enough to cast off the irksome mask. A fortuitous, untenable ministry of the
left centre

(Hansemann) can possibly follow the ministry of 30 March for a few days.
Its real successor is the
ministry of the Prince of Prussia
." (
"N[eue] Rh[einische] Z[eitung]" No. 23 of 23 June
.) And indeed
the
Pfuel
ministry (of
Neufchâtel
) followed the

Hansemann
ministry.

The Pfuel ministry bandies constitutional phrases about, just as the Frankfurt central authority does with "German unity". If we compare the corpus delicti, the actual body of this ministry, with its echo, its constitutional declarations, placations, mediations, agreements in the Berlin Assembly, we can apply but
one
word to it, Falstaff's word:

"Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying!"

The Pfuel ministry can only be followed by a
ministry of the revolution
.