Neue Rheinische Zeitung. No. 103, September 15, 1848

* Cologne, September 14. We return to yesterday’s public meeting and its results, since they have aroused quite considerable attention in our city.

The public meeting was opened soon after twelve o’clock on Frankenplatz by Mr. W. Wolff, who briefly stated the purpose of the convocation and proposed Mr. H. Bürgers as chairman. Mr. Bürgers, carried by acclamation, mounted the rostrum and gave the floor back to Mr. Wolff, who then proposed the formation of a Committee of Public Safety, as a representation of those sections of the population of Cologne not represented in the existing legal authorities. Mr. F. Engels supported the proposal, likewise Messrs. H. Becker and E. Dronke. The proposal was adopted by the meeting, which was at least 5,000–6,000 strong, amid stormy applause and with all votes against five, after repeated calls and no opponent had come forward to challenge it. The number of members of the committee was then set at 30 and these 30 were elected. Since these included the two arrested persons, Gottschalk and Anneke, two substitutes were also elected for them.

Mr. F. Engels then proposed the following address to the Berlin Assembly:

To the Assembly for the Agreement on the Prussian Constitution in Berlin.

The undersigned citizens of Cologne,

considering:

that the Assembly for the Agreement on the Prussian Constitution has imposed on the ministry the duty to issue without delay the decree of August 9 concerning the reactionary activities of the officers, in order to reassure the country and to avoid a breach with the Assembly;

that the Auerswald-Hansemann ministry has thereupon tendered its resignation, and the king has charged the former Reich Minister Beckerath with the formation of a new ministry;

that Mr. Beckerath by no means offers the necessary guarantees for carrying out the Assembly’s decision, but rather, given this man’s well-known counter-revolutionary attitude, even an attempt to dissolve the Assembly is to be expected;

that an assembly elected by the people for the agreement on a constitution between king and people cannot be dissolved unilaterally, because otherwise the crown would stand not alongside, but above the assembly;

that the dissolution of the Assembly would thus be a coup d’état:

call upon the Assembly,

should any attempt be made to dissolve the Assembly, to do its duty and hold its ground even in the face of bayonet force.

This address was unanimously adopted, whereupon the meeting was adjourned.

Although numerous delegates of the Citizens’ Association stood on the higher parts of the square, and although it is alleged that several known “whimperers” did their utmost to recruit scandalmongers with money and fine words, and further although the police in plain clothes were fairly numerous, the meeting nevertheless had sufficient good sense to suppress any disturbance of the peace.

Meanwhile, the gentlemen in command of the civic guard were sitting in the town hall deliberating what was to be done, for, some opined, unrest would certainly occur. In the middle of the deliberation, the door opened and the leaders of the Citizens’ Association stormed in, declaring that the Committee of Public Safety was the first step towards revolution, that Cologne was in danger, that the red republic was on the point of being proclaimed, and if the civic guard alone were not sufficient to preserve order, the Citizens’ Association placed itself, with life and property, at the disposal of Herr von Wittgenstein! Herr von Wittgenstein was prudent enough to decline this offer, and likewise to call no civic guard to arms. The sequel showed how right the civic guard was this time.

Not content with that, the gentlemen of the Citizens’ Association, while the public meeting was still in session, had a “protest” posted, which we reproduce below. The protest, which was unsigned, disappeared without a trace from every corner within five minutes. Towards evening it reappeared as a leaflet in bold type, printed in the office of the Kölnische Zeitung and distributed to that paper’s subscribers. This time it had the following amusing preface:

Cologne, September 13, 1848.

The so-called democrats wish to exploit the excitement aroused by the latest decisions of the assemblies in Frankfurt and Berlin in order to regain the ground they have been losing more and more, and to bring about a conflict at any price. To this end, the friction between military and citizens which occurred here in Cologne on the 11th inst. is also presented in a grossly exaggerated manner as to its importance and dangerousness, with systematic exaggeration, and abused for criminal purposes. This morning, a public meeting was even convened in the open air for 12 o’clock by a wall poster, and this meeting has actually, by acclamation, elected to a Committee of Public Safety the persons pre-proposed and pre-arranged in a list that was put before it.

There can be no doubt that no one may recognise such an authority, emanating from an accidentally assembled mass of people and proclaimed in circumvention of the existing authority, and that the members of this committee, should they presume to act as such, will immediately fall under the law. In the meantime it is better to prevent crimes than to punish them once they have perhaps been committed at great sacrifice.

It is therefore a duty to warn all citizens and to draw their attention to the existing danger.

To this end the following protest and appeal has been issued:

Protest.

The formation of a Committee of Public Safety is the first step towards revolution.

Whoever desires true freedom and order is called upon to support the existing authorities with all his might, to oppose the punishable activities of a minority, and to protest against the formation of a Committee of Public Safety.

In particular, all members of the civic guard are called upon to do their duty and to protect law and order with vigour. The pretended danger from the military has been removed, and the real danger is being brought about by the formation of a Committee of Public Safety.

Several Board Members of the Cologne Citizens’ Association.

The Committee of Public Safety constituted itself yesterday evening and first of all placed this amusing protest on file, with which the gentlemen of the Citizens’ Association may well be satisfied. It has elected a chairman, a secretary and three members of an executive committee; furthermore, it has resolved to send a communication to the district president, the commandant’s office, the town council and the command of the civic guard, in which it notifies these authorities of its constitution and declares that it will pursue the task, by all legal means and, if possible, in concert with the authorities, of preserving order, while at the same time watching over the preservation of the people’s rights. It further resolved to state this in a wall poster to the inhabitants of Cologne. We shall publish both documents tomorrow.

This morning tempers have already calmed down somewhat. People are laughing at yesterday’s fears, which saw in the committee a provisional government, a comité de salut public, a conspiracy for the red republic – in short, everything imaginable except what it really is: a committee elected directly and publicly by the people, which makes it its task to represent the interests of that section of the population not represented in the legal authorities, which proceeds only by legal means, and which does not dream of seeking to usurp any authority other than the moral influence which the free right of association, the laws, and the confidence of its electors allow it.