When Frederick William IV ascended the throne there was not 
a more popular monarch in all Europe. Now, there is none more 
unpopular; not one, not even Nicholas of Russia, who is at least 
worshipped by the dumb beastly stupidity of his degraded serfs. 
The Prussian King, who calls himself emphatically “the Christian 
King”, and has made his court a most ludicrous assemblage of 
whining saints and piety-feigning courtiers, has done everything in 
his power to open the eyes of the nation, and not in vain. He 
commenced with a show of liberality, then passed over to feudali- 
ty; and ended in establishing the government of the police-spy. 
The press is laid down by a rigorous censorship, and by prosecu- 
tions in courts of law, before judges, paid by the king, and 
removable by the king, who conduct trials without juries, and with 
closed doors. Oppression is very rife. The students at Berlin 
commenced holding meetings and discussing political subjects; 
these meetings were stopped by the police, the speakers arrested, 
prosecuted, and several of them expelled the University. 
Dr. Nauwerck, lecturer at the University, who lectured on modern 
politics, and hesitated not to proclaim his Republican opinions, 
had his lectures visited by the minister’s spies, and at last stopped 
by the illegal interference of the minister, about a month ago. The 
University protested against such an obstruction, and some of 
their members published the protest; for this heinous crime they 
are now under prosecution. At some public demonstrations of the 
students, which happened in February, cheers were given for 
Professor Hoffman, who had been dismissed for his having 
published some satirical poetry. The consequence of this was, that 
again half-a-dozen students were expelled, and by this disabled to 

take any Government office, or to exercise the medical profession. 
At Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, the annual public masquerade 
during the Carnival was stopped by the police, on account of some 
political allusions, and the poor Dusseldorfians were even hin- 
dered from going to Cologne, and partaking in the procession 
there. These are only a few of the oppressive measures by which 
the Government has shown its mind; and they have had a 
miraculous effect on the development of public opinion. They 
have awakened the nation from a state of political lethargy, and 
thrown them into such an excitement that even the oldest and 
most loyal supporters of the “Christian King” begin to entertain 
fears for the stability of the present order of things. Dissatisfaction 
is increasing everywhere, and has become almost universal in the 
Rhenish provinces, in Eastern Prussia, Posen, Berlin, and all the 
large towns. The people are resolved to have a free press and 
constitution to begin with. But there is so much combustible 
matter heaped up in all Germany, and the shades of opinion are 
so various, that it is impossible to predict where the movement, if 
once fairly commenced, may stop. However, it will be in the 
direction towards democracy; thus much is evident.