Cologne, September 14. We return to the subject of yesterday’s 
mass meeting and its results, since these have caused a fairly 
considerable sensation in our city. 

The mass meeting on the Frankenplatz was opened shortly after 
12 o’clock by Herr W. Wolff, who briefly explained its purpose and 
proposed that Herr H. Bürgers should preside over it. Herr 
Burgers, who was elected by acclamation, came on to the platform 
and gave the floor again to Herr Wolff, who then proposed that a 
Committee of Public Safety be formed to represent the parts of the 
population of Cologne not represented in the existing legal 
authorities. Herr F. Engels seconded the motion, which was 
supported also by Herr H. Becker and Herr E. Dronke. The 
proposal was adopted amid stormy applause by the audience of at 
least 5,000-6,000 persons, with only five votes against, after no 
opposer had come forward despite repeated invitations. It was then 
decided to fix the number of members of the Committee at 30, and 
these 30 were elected. Since these included also two, Gottschalk 
and Anneke, who were under arrest, two substitutes for them were 
also elected. 

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

To the Assembly which is to agree on the Prussian Constitution in 
Berlin. 
The undersigned citizens of Cologne, 
considering: 
that the Assembly which is to agree on the Prussian 
Constitution has made it the bounden duty of the 
Government to issue without further delay the decree 

decided on August 9 concerning reactionary efforts of 
officers so as to calm the country and also avoid a breach 
with the Assembly *; 

that in consequence of this decision the Auerswald- 
Hansemann Government has been dismissed and the King 
has charged Imperial Minister Beckerath, who has just 
been overthrown, to form a new Government; 

that Herr Beckerath by no means affords the requisite 
guarantees for implementing the decision of the Assem- 
bly; and that, on the contrary, in view of his known 
counter-revolutionary sentiments, an attempt to dissolve 
the Assembly is to be expected; 

that an Assembly elected by the people for reaching 
agreement on the Constitution between King and people 
cannot be unilaterally dissolved, because otherwise the 
Crown would not be on a level with, but above the 
Assembly; 

that a dissolution of the Assembly would therefore be a 
coup d’état; 

call upon the [members of the] Assembly, 

in the event of an attempt to dissolve the Assembly, to do 
their duty and defend their seats even against the force of 
bayonets. 

This address was unanimously adopted, following which the 
meeting came to an end. 

Although numerous delegates from the Citizens’ Association were 
present in the upper parts of the square, and although it is said that a 
number of well-known “wailers’*™* did their utmost to recruit 
rowdies by persuasion and the offer of money, and furthermore 
although policemen in plain clothes were present in fairly large 
numbers, nevertheless the meeting was skilful enough to prevent all 
attempts at disturbing the peace. 

Meanwhile the commanders of the civic militia were sitting in the 
Town Hall and debating what to do, for some of them considered 
that disturbances were bound to occur. In the middle of their 
deliberations the door opened and the leaders of the Citizens’ 
Association burst into the room, declaring that the Committee of 
Public Safety was the first step towards revolution, that Cologne was 
in danger and the red republic on the verge of being proclaimed, 

and that if the civic militia by itself was insufficient to maintain order, 
the Citizens’ Association with all its resources would put itself at the 
disposal of Herr von Wittgenstein! Herr von Wittgenstein was adroit 
enough to refuse this offer and to refrain also from calling any of the 
civic militia to arms. The consequences proved how right the civic 
militia was on this occasion. 

Not satisfied with this, while the mass meeting was still in progress, 
the gentlemen of the Citizens’ Association posted up copies of a 
“Protest”, which we reproduce below. Within five minutes the 
Protest, which was unsigned, disappeared without trace from every 
part of the city. Towards evening it reappeared as a leaflet in bold 
type, printed at the press of the Koélnische Zeitung and distributed to 
subscribers to this newspaper. This time it had the following amusing 

introduction: 
Cologne, September 13, 1848 

The so-called democrats want to exploit the alarm caused by the latest decisions of 
the Assemblies in Frankfurt and Berlin in order to regain the ground they have 
increasingly lost and to provoke a conflict at all costs. With this aim, too, the 
significance and danger of the friction between the army and the citizens which 
occurred in Cologne on the 11th of this month has been recklessly depicted with 
deliberate exaggeration and exploited for criminal purposes.*© By means of a wall- 
poster, even this morning a mass meeting was convened to be held in the open air at 
midday, and this meeting actually elected by acclamation a list of persons who had 
been proposed and agreed upon in advance, to a Committee of Public Safety. 

It is unquestionably true that no one should recognise such an authority, which has 
arisen from a casually assembled mass of people, bypassing the existing official bodies, 
and that the members of this committee, should they presume to act as such, at once 
make themselves liable to legal proceedings. It is however better to prevent crimes 
than to punish them after they have been committed and perhaps claimed many 
victims. 

Hence it is our duty to warn all citizens and to call their attention to the present 
danger. 

To this end, the following protest is issued, together with an appeal: 

Protest 

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

Revolution. 

Whoever wants true freedom and order is invited to support the existing 
authorities with all his might, to oppose the criminal efforts of a minority and to 
protest against the formation of a Committee of Public Safety. 

In particular, all members of the civic militia are urged to do their duty and 
energetically protect law and order. The pretended danger from the army is 
non-existent, but the real danger arises from the formation of a Committee of Public 
Safety. 

Several members of the managing committee 
of the Cologne Citizens’ Association. 

The Committee of Public Safety held its first meeting yesterday 
evening and in the first place decided to file this amusing protest, 
and the gentlemen of the Citizens’ Association will evidently have to 
be satisfied with that. The Committee elected a president,’ a 
secretary ” and three members of an Executive Committee.‘ Further- 
more, it adopted a communication addressed to the Regierungsprasi- 
dent, the Commandant’s office, the Town Council, and the command 
of the civic militia, in which it notified these authorities of its 
formation and informed them that it would use all legal means to 
pursue the aim of maintaining calm, in agreement with the 
authorities wherever possible, but at the same time watching over the 
preservation of the people’s rights. It resolved moreover to 
announce this by means of a wall-poster to the inhabitants of 
Cologne. We shall publish both documents tomorrow. 

This morning, people’s minds have already been to some extent 
set at rest. People laugh at yesterday’s alarm which caused them to 
see in the Committee a Provisional Government, a comité de salut 
public, a conspiracy for a red republic, in short, everything but what it 
actually is: a committee elected directly and publicly by the people, a 
committee which undertakes the task of representing the interests of 
the part of the population not represented in the legally instituted 
authorities, a committee which operates only in a legal way and has 
no intention of wanting to arrogate any other authority than the 
moral influence which the right of free association, the laws, and the 
confidence of the electors allow it to exert.