Chapter II: Part 2

Then the time was skilfully divided between attendance at ceremonies, and the repetition of lip-prayers, for from five to six hours daily (including the breviary prayers.*) Five hours of prayer daily, and such prayer! for young men of twenty-four years, designed to be the salt of the earth! Rome uses devotion as a means of enslaving men. I tried by every means to escape from the debasing feeling, from the reproach of conscience _that I had done nothing._** After the breviary prayers were concluded, there were only about three hours left daily for private study; and the spiritual work was to be performed in the midst of twenty youths who had no farther examination for office to undergo, and who besides were otherwise _finished!_ It was with horror that I contemplated the possibility that my moral strength might be weakened by the influence of idleness and dissimulation. My case was therefore often desperate, and many a time in fever heat have I outwatched the night, and prayed in spirit "If it be possible, let the bitter cup pass from me." I was forced to drink it; but a gleam of prophetic brightness lighted me through the night, and showed me in my dreams the day of my emancipation. Miserably diseased in mind and disposition, I left the seminary in 1840.

* The time was divided in the following manner:--Morning,--
From 5 1/2 to 6, matins; from 6 to 7, breviary; 7 to 7 1/2,
mass; from 7 1/2 to 8, breakfast; from 8 to 10, lectures;
from 10 to 10 3/4, free; from 10 3/4 to 11 1/2, study;
from 11 1/2 to 12, breviary. Afternoon,--Before and after
dinner, prayers in the chapel--altogether about 3/4 of an
hour; then 1/4 or 1/2 an hour breviary; from 2 to 4,
lectures; from 4 to 4 3/4, free; from 4 3/4 to 7, study.
After supper, about 1/2 an hour of prayer in the chapel and
an hour breviary. The prayers are Latin, and always the same;
a larger number on Sundays and feast days. It is the duty
of every ecclesiastic to pray through the breviary once each
day; the vicars go through these prayers for the canons as
a sort of feudal service. The pupils are allowed, twice a
week, to cross the threshold of the institution for a few
hours only. No speaking is allowed during meals. The
treatment is degrading. Two rooms for study are allotted to
each twenty individuals. The sleeping places, without
stoves, are arranged for three, six, eight, and fifteen.
The largest was called _The Menagerie_.

** One of the Prebendaries themselves, at the time of our
departure, called the Seminary "a little hell."

THE WARNING.

I entreat you, German parents, permit not one of your sons to enter this grave of moral freedom and independence; you draw upon yourselves a heavier weight of blame than if you took their lives--for the moral death is worse and more painful than that of the body! German mothers preferred in former times to put their children to death, rather than that they should be Roman slaves; while now-a-days it is esteemed the highest honour which can be conferred upon a German youth, that he should become the slave--the consecrated slave, forsooth--of the Roman bishop! But the yoke is not acknowledged, for it is imposed under the holy name of religion.

And you, my youthful friends, who choose for yourselves the profession of teachers, let me conjure you to retire from this grave of moral strength, and independence--from the seminary! You will be losers there in mind and body, were you even giants in both! You will become slaves! You will become hypocrites! Attractive though the office of a teacher be, and enlarged his sphere of working, it is rendered a dangerous one for manly dignity--for truth and freedom, by the disgraceful ignominious fetters imposed on it by Rome. Choose, therefore, rather a hard couch and a laborious life than the degrading indolence of a polluted existence.

MY DEPARTURE FROM THE SEMINARY.

The gates of the Institution, which we were only permitted twice in the week to pass, to visit our fellow-men, at length were opened--the gates of that martyr-seminary for soul and body, that grave of independence--the proscribed threshold was crossed, and I beheld once more before me the free and lovely world; I inhaled long draughts of the fresh air, as I gazed on the free blue sky in all the brightness of the glorious sun. But the sun and the heavens were changed to me--the world itself seemed narrow and contracted, for my soul and spirit were in bonds, disgraceful bonds! I hastened to my native place--there, I fondly hoped, to lose my burden--there, where I dreamed the dreams of youth--there, in my mountain home! The kindly eyes of my brethren, said I to myself, will revive and warm this heart, which has been frozen by the hypocritical and piety-feigning glances of the domineering creatures of Rome.

And the kindly eyes of my brethren _did_ revive me, and the joy of meeting again _did_ scare away the inworn pain of servitude; but before long the feeling returned with redoubled force. Dishonouring marks of reverence awoke me from my short-lived dream. An aged man approached, well-known to me, and dear from boyish years. I extended my hand to him--he fain would kiss it, the aged man! Is it not sufficient, I exclaimed within myself, that _I_ should be a slave? Must I also be a tool to work the degradation of my fellow-men! O Rome, thou hast mixed poison in thy consecrated oil, to kill the dignity of man. I was regarded by all with timidity and reserve, as if I had all at once become a higher, a superhuman being! And how? By the fiat of the Pope? Oh, not a more exalted being; but a slave, who, by the practice of holy hypocritical pretence, was intended to deceive his fellow-citizens! So passed the first period, in dead stupefaction of soul, while I, adorned like a victim, was installed in the ceremonial service of the Romish Church. The thought of my father and my family, the prejudices of the Catholic world, which must believe, and for the most part _does_ believe, in the eternal duration of the Roman bondage (called a Church,) paralzyed my spirit and my character. And yet, amid my fetters, there survived still _somewhat_ to uphold me; a presentiment that my chains would break; a feeble ray of light illumining the dreary, and seemingly eternal darkness of my prison. But _when and how_ should they be broken? I was now to be occupied in the cure of souls, the pulpit and the school attracted me--through them will I labour, thought I, my position may perhaps improve. So I went to Grottkau, whither I was called in March 1841.

MY OFFICE.

Firmly resolved to be a teacher of the people, in the true sense of the expression, not in that assigned to it by the Church--resolved to speak the truth, without respect of persons, and to become no hypocrite, I entered on my office at Grottkau. Being unacquainted in my sphere of labour, some time elapsed before I came to know my field of action, or was enabled efficiently to discharge the practical duties of my station. I found my school to be the field best adapted to the measure of my capacity. Independently of the natural love I have for children. I was always happiest in this holy garden of the Lord, where youthful minds expand, which is brightened by thoughts as swift and radiant as the lightning, and where the lovely innocence of childhood exhales its sweetest fragrance. In school I was free from the espionage by which I knew my pulpit to be surrounded--which oppressed my heart, and nearly stopped my utterance; free from the humiliating feeling which the Confessional aroused within me, where I seemed to be an idol, or a judge set over the thoughts and consciences of my fellow-men. When the pressure of the priestly yoke at times became too much for me, I have fled for refuge to the youth and innocence of the school, and have never failed to leave it with my strength renewed. These children little knew the infinite service which they rendered me! Notwithstanding that I laboured with all my might, as well in the school and the confessional, as in the pulpit, most resolutely to oppose and counteract the superstition, the hypocrisy, and all the consequences of priestly oppression and dissembling, the result could be but small, on account of the mighty barriers interposed by the hierarchy to every step in the direction of spirituality.

Within these fearful barriers, and under such restraint, and fettered thus in mind and body, with watchful care to sow and plant, what, after all, might be doomed to suffocation in the choke-damp of superstition, became from week to week less bearable; and all the less so, the more clearly I perceived the terrible effects of Popish despotism on the people, and the depth of moral degradation to which many of my brethren had sunk, bringing the danger all the nearer to myself. I saw it now to be my duty, openly to declare against the abuses and the soul-killing tenets of the Church of Rome,--rather to die a bodily than a spiritual death.

MOTIVES FOR STANDING FORTH AGAINST THE CONSTRAINT EXERCISED BY THE POPE IN MATTERS OF RELIGION.

The inducements which gradually brought my determination to maturity, and imposed the carrying out of it upon me as a duty, I here submit to the consideration of all men:

_I stand forth against the Romish hierarchy, because it is the means of crushing my dignity as a man, and reducing me to a state of disgraceful servitude._ The dignity of man is acknowledged to consist in his reason and his will, and in the unrestrained use of both, for the attainment of moral freedom,--"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." As Romish priest I dare not freely exercise my reason and my will. As such I only dare to think, and speak, and write, what the Church decrees, or what my superiors may allow. If I think, or speak, or write, more or otherwise, I am declared to be a _heretic_, i.e. a most grievous criminal. God himself must only be conceived of and adored, according to dictation of the Romish Church; and even He dares to accept no other adoration at my hands, than that prescribed by the Romish Church, in which, forsooth, salvation only can be found. As Romish priest I have no freedom, either of thought or conscience. Neither can I boast, as such, of any of the other rights of man, in opposition to my superior,--him I must blindly obey. The Romish priest is not regarded as a being personally free, but as an automaton, employed to spread abroad the mist of superstition. To cast off this bondage, and become a free moral agent, is a holy duty and injunction of the Christian religion, which demands freedom in the exercise of virtue. In order, however, to convince all men more clearly of the urgent nature of this duty, I shall attempt a feeble portraiture of the paralyzing influence exerted on myself, by priestly oppression, while I held an office in the Church--a portraiture in which the chief features in the case of hundreds among my colleagues may, at the same time, be recognized.

I felt a morbid irritability in contemplating the consecrated barriers which cut me off from my fellow-men; my spirit, sympathy, and active impulse died away, and in their place, in spite of my endeavours, cold indifference, and emotions even of hatred crept upon me. I likewise felt a suspicion of my colleagues, inexplicable in its earlier stages, and, in particular, I shunned those friends in whose society I had passed the unfettered years of college life, in order that I might not unnecessarily open the wounds which the loss of my freedom had inflicted on my heart.*

* I have often heard the complaint made, that the younger
members of the Catholic priesthood keep aloof from former
friends; a moving cause is given above, which may lead us
rather to compassionate than to condemn them.

But most crushing of all was, the performance of certain ceremonies at the altar, by which, as I knew and could perceive, many of the community were misguided into superstition and hypocrisy. Was I not forced to be a party to dissimulation, in the performance of such ceremonies? Could I help feeling myself lowered in my own opinion? When I knelt at the altar, with the credulous people behind me, and cast a look within, I shuddered in my inmost soul, an unspeakable woe tormented me, and I uttered the despairing cry, "And hast thou so long suffered this humiliation?" Each morning I was awakened, as with a piercing shriek, by the thought that I was a slave, and that my life was not only useless but fraught with degradation to my fellow-men--that I had been robbed of a bright career of useful labour, and that not even time itself might put an end to all my ignominy! My fetters were indeed consecrated, and, according to the prejudices of the world, they seemed to be unremovable. The world appeared determined to bear patiently the hideous yoke--its course was still the same!

I saw before me the abyss of falsehood or an early grave! Should I succumb? Unworthy cowardice! My courage gradually rose; courage for the contest of life and death within me. I determined to burst my fetters, and to leave the enchanted circle,--a circle drawn amid the incantations and the curses of Romish tyranny in the middle ages; I resolved to assist in tearing off the mask of holiness from the hypocrisy of a thousand years. This my resolve was only strengthened by contemplating the fate of my colleagues, some of whom were greater sufferers than even I. A few were snatched away by early death; they sank mute, and cheated of their lives, into the grave. He cannot surely have a drop of blood within his veins, who would not feel it boil with indignation to witness such a sight. And yet their fate was envied by the others, who glided through the world like mummies, in the springtime of their days, and hourly, slowly faded into death. Some rush, to deaden feeling, into drunkenness and other vices, or sink into insensibility, and passively vegetate from one day to the next. Others still, of livelier character, seek to lose themselves in the hierarchical spirit of the middle ages, and because ours are other days, and they, although they know it not, belong to _them_, have originated that modern species of bigotry which rises ofttimes into madness. Such heroes then surround themselves with halos borrowed from the early Fathers, and affect the startling voice of the preacher of repentance.

At last I sought, in order quite to fix my resolution, the countenance of those among the priests esteemed of noblest character; but found little real manliness, good and amiable (?) as several of them might be,---or from a certain vacuity of mind, effeminate inertness, or well-concealed ambition, might _appear_ to be.

_I stand forth against the tyrannical dominion of the Romish Hierarchy, because it prevents me from faithfully pursuing my avocation as teacher of the people_.

I am bound, as teacher of the people, and as teacher of religion, at all hazards to guard, not only my own freedom and independence, but those also of my fellow-men. In accordance with the language of the New Testament,---"we are all the children of one father, we are brethren," it is my duty, as teacher of the people and of religion, not only to proclaim freedom to _all mankind_, but to endeavour to realize the lesson, because it is the freeman who alone is virtuous. It is, in fact, my duty as a teacher, not only to strive after intellectual perfection for myself, and to keep pace with the gradual development of mind, but to carry before my parishioners, the banner of civilization and humanity. I am not only impeded by the tyrannical oppression of the Romish Hierarchy in the discharge of all these duties, but am even commanded to proclaim bondage for freedom, darkness for light, and for progress--intellectual stagnation! I must thereby call down upon myself the deserved hatred of the present age, and the curses of posterity.

_I stand forth against the tyrannical dominion of the Romish Hierarchy, because I am convinced that what the Hierarchs call the Catholic religion is not the true Catholic doctrine,--is not a doctrine calculated to promote the happiness of nations; that the Romish, Hierarchy does not teach and act in accordance with the leading and fundamental doctrines of the religion of which Christ was the author,--but that it has introduced abuses, and framed ordinances which are calculated to undermine the intellectual and physical welfare of nations, and only to increase the power and riches of a privileged priesthood, of whom the Roman Bishop is the head._

It were superfluous here to attempt the proof of this position by a long-winded, learned treatise. The fruits of the Romish Hierarchy have been proving it for centuries, and it is in the power of every man to convince himself, who wishes to be convinced. Or is it perhaps in consequence of the _blessings_ emanating from Rome, that a portion, and not a small one, of our people, languish in the most abject poverty?! while another portion, and within it many preachers of religion, especially the higher prelates, are rolling in superfluous wealth? Are these the fruits of a Church in which alone is salvation, that some should be kept by spiritual oppression and ignorance in superstition and insensibility, and even degraded to a level with the brutes, in order that others, and among them many consecrated servants of the Pope, may be the lords and drivers of the dishonoured horde! How then can the injunction of love to our neighbour find a place in such a Christian Church, in such a society of Christians? Where then is the succour of alone-saving Rome, amid so deep spiritual degradation, amid so great bodily want among our people? Where is the practical working of brotherly-love! where does she labour for the elevation and improvement of the people! Where is the right understanding of the Lord's Supper, the feet-washing! and where the living exemplification of so many others of the essential doctrines of the New Testament? Has it not all degenerated into form and pretence! Has not religion been degraded to a system of usury and hypocrisy, which aims alone at the enriching and aggrandizement of the Church of Rome! The Church, as the Romish Hierarchy exhibits and teaches, is but a phantom of falsehood and dissimulation, which floats unseen above the nations, keeping them in constant dread and blind obedience. Hence comes the alienation from the priests, the horror and bitterness of feeling unanimously entertained by the considerate and right-thinking portion of mankind, towards the so-called Romish Church! And the animosity is well deserved; for what efforts do the priesthood make for the temporal and spiritual amelioration of the suffering people? The greater number of them pass coldly by, as the priests and Levites passed by the poor Samaritan of old. We grant that hundreds of the priests are not aware, or are careful to avoid the knowledge of the game they play, and the Power they serve as blinded instruments. They speak, His true, of the spirit of _reconciliation_ and the _Church_, but they halt by the dead letter. They know not, and they do not desire to know, that _the Church means all mankind, and mankind here on earth!_ That the need of reconciliation is indeed most pressing, for mankind in its present condition--I mean a reconciliation and approximation of the educated and uneducated, the moral and immoral, portions of mankind. Yea, more, I mean a reconciliation between the rich and the needy portions of humanity. This reconciliation and approximation must be brought about preeminently by the teachers of the people; it must result, not in empty words--with them we have been surfeited--but in actual deeds. This is a vineyard of the Lord, where the ears are ripe for harvest, and where labourers are required. These labourers need no authority from Rome, no outward consecration--it must be in their spirits--they must have consecrated hearts! When they appear, the people will acknowledge them, although they bear no Roman symbols. But seeing that the Romish Hierarchy love no such labourers--the people's truest friends and guides,--seeing that she resolutely opposes the moral elevation of mankind, it is a duty to contend against her and her false system--and such is the duty I shall now endeavour to fulfil.

_Lastly, I stand forth against the tyrannical dominion of the Romish Hierarchy\ because its statutes tend directly to the sundering and oppression of my native land_.

The Roman Catholic priest is debarred by celibacy from the family tie, bound by his vow of blind obedience, by the tenets of his faith, as well as by external interest, to the Bishop of Rome, and thus withdrawn and estranged from the interests of his fatherland. Instead of awakening and strengthening patriotism and community of feeling, the Catholic priest, as teacher of the people, is engaged, by the statutes of his Church, _to stifle both_. History abounds with proofs of the truth of this assertion, with instances in which their fatherland, and the most sacred interests of their country have been betrayed, by bishops and priests, to the Roman Pontiff. But we dare not stop to consider the past; every day bears striking testimony that the priesthood strives with might and main, again to bring the German nation under the tyranny of the Pope and of the Jesuits. Hundreds, truly, of the priests are not aware of this; but what a load of guilt should _I_ incur, were I to lend myself to the work of degrading and subjecting my fellow-countrymen,--of delivering my fatherland over to the Jesuits and the Pope! On the contrary, it is my bounden duty to contend against the despotism of Rome, and to lend a hand in working out the emancipation of my native country. These are the arguments which render it incumbent upon me--on all of us--to fight against the Hierarchy, and strive to bring about such an improvement and a reformation in the Church, as shall satisfy the requirement of the times.

A thorough reformation of the Church, it appeared to me, could only be brought about by General Councils,* in which laymen should bear their legitimate part; and I determined to lay down my views in writing on this subject, together with a sketch of the Romish abuses, which I expected to have ready by the autumn of 1843. The necessity for such a step was the more impressed upon my mind, the more I saw increasing the violence and lordliness of the High-Church and Jesuitical party throughout Germany, and particularly in Silesia, under Dr. Bitter, who was at that time Vicar of the Bishopric. Dr. Bitter disposed and managed all things to his own heart's content. Such curates and chaplains as did not please him were most unceremoniously deposed, translated, imprisoned, admonished in letters couched in Russian terms, and dealt with as suited his humour. Thus was Mr. Beer, the curate of Brieg, translated in defiance of his people's wish to retain him; Mr. Schotte was degraded to the lower office of chaplain, and Mr. Weiser, the chaplain, on a mere calumnious charge, without examination or opportunity of defence, ordered to the Seminary for punishment. These were men of unblemished reputation, their only fault being that they were not sufficiently abject and Romish. But Dr. Bitter rained and hailed on right and wrong, and enacted the part of Providence in the diocese of Breslau.

* Even in the Seminary I spoke to several of my quondam
friends, of the necessity of General Councils. Some of them
have probably forgotten now, what then they acknowledged to
be needed.

The inferior clergy, who besides had few or no privileges in comparison with their superiors, were really most arbitrarily dealt with. A feeling came over us at that time, as if the days of club-law were at hand. In some places, as in Brieg and Ziegenhals, it really came to violence. But Ritter's creatures _rose_, and managed in the spirit of their master. He, in the fulness of his power, issued an interdict against mixed marriages, at once dishonouring to us, and injurious to chastity; he commanded that the old Silesian ritual, which probably dates from the time of trials for witchcraft,* (it contains at least much of the same stuff,) should again be brought into universal use, because he learned that some curates no longer employed it.** Neither did the Seminary escape him; he ordered the pupils never to mix with their fellow-men except in clerical costume, (probably for the sake of exemplifying neighbourly and brotherly love,) and enjoined it with suitable earnestness. Bigotry and fanaticism increased still more and more among the young and newly-appointed chaplains, and the old experienced ministers saw themselves all at once outdone in piety.

* This expression is not too severe; for according to the
Silesian ritual, in baptism, for instance, the Devil is
three times driven ont of the innocent little child. At the
consecrating of Holy Water, and at other consecrations, in
like manner, a number of exorcisms are employed.

** At the same time, indeed, he promised a new one, which,
however, after a lapse of three years, has not yet appeared.

Numerous rosary associations and prayer-meetings were established. Schneeweiss, the professor of divinity, instituted such meetings in Neisse, and introduced rosary-books from Bavaria, which, pandering to the grossest materialism and sensuous worship, manifest the most horrible Jesuitism. The members paid weekly two silver groschen, which money, with that realized by the books, was reported to find its way into the coffers of the Jesuits in Bavaria. Herr Schneeweiss is generally considered in Neisse to be a Jesuit. The pupils at the High School were compelled to join these associations.

Similar reunions were established in other places, among which that under pastor Schaffraneck, at Beuthen, in Upper Silesia, was distinguished. Thus were we placed by Dr. Hitter, the _quondam_ Hermesian,* quite on the ecclesiastical war establishment of the middle ages. Nothing now was wanting to Dr. Ritter, except monasteries and convents, for which pious mites were already beginning to be collected, and the bishop's mitre of Breslau. He lost his point, however; for Mr. Knauer, a mild and humane priest, was chosen. Now commenced a general intrigue among the High Church party. Mr. Knauer was complained of at Rome as incapable; Rome, therefore, hesitated for a year to confirm the appointment, during which time the agitation and disturbance in the diocese increased. Citizens and honest Churchmen in the province complained loudly of this bad state of matters; but neither the incorporation of burgesses, (who, to be sure, have no voice in matters affecting the good of their souls, or regarding their clergy,) nor a single pastor, deemed it incumbent on them to oppose the tide of disorder and of bigotry. Aroused by the disgrace of our increasingly gloomy prospects, and excited by the shamelessness of the creatures of Rome, as well as by the intrigues in regard to the bishopric of Breslau, which were daily coming to our ears, I resolved, although I had never yet written for publication, to attack the scandals which issued from the chapter of Breslau, and wrote the paper entitled, 'Rome and the Chapter of Breslau signed 'A Chaplain.'

* Disciples of Professor Hermes, formerly of Bonn.

[This article appeared in No; 135 of the "Vaterlands-blatter," of the year 1842, and runs thus:--

"ROME AND THE CHAPTER OF BRESLAU.

"Although a year has already elapsed since Prebend Knauer was chosen Bishop by the Chapter of Breslau, the appointment has not yet been confirmed at Rome, notwithstanding that the diocese has been two years without a bishop, and that other bishops, much more lately chosen, have been confirmed long ago. The circumstance excites, however, no surprise; for Knauer is a moderate, and humane, perhaps even a liberal-minded man. And yet it is somewhat strange that the Chapter of Breslau should submit so patiently to see its own and Knauer's honour so abused by Rome, and the rights of the diocese so disregarded! To object to this, that the Pope considers Knauer unfit for his office, were absurd. How should the Pope know aught about it, unless from informers, (his divine qualifications being now no longer admitted,) since the Chapter, by its choice, has declared him to be fit, and since it cannot be supposed that a college of venerable men would elect as bishop an unsuitable person, merely for the sake of appearances--not to advert to the influence of the Holy Spirit, whose efficacy would thus have been unrecognized in the election! But how can the Pope have more faith and confidence in a few pitiful informers, than in a whole college of men upon oath? How can he place these men in such an equivocal light before the eyes of the world, and so impede their usefulness in the diocese! Should this, however, happen, will not the Chapter incur a moral obligation, to vindicate its own and Knauer's honour, as well as to preserve the rights of the diocese? Hitherto the Chapter of Breslau has been silent. Is this from meekness? No one recognises in this silence an act of Christian forbearance, but somewhat very different! Of course, the people have learnt in the catechism, 'The Church is the community of all Christians, not the Pope.' People have strange notions in our day, especially about Church and State, freedom and the rights of man! All would fain have freedom and their rights, and, as they say, their warrant is in the Bible!

"It will here be objected, however, that the Pope, having the right of confirming, has, consequently, also the right to refuse confirmation. Let us cast all else aside, even reason and honour, and consider the matter from the point of view of historical right, acquired by force. The Pope, then, has the right to confirm the bishop, consequently also to refuse confirmation; but the Chapter, in like manner, has the right of choosing, and, consequently, of not choosing--perhaps even the right of refusing admission to a bishop not elected by themselves. It is not difficult to determine whether Rome or the Chapter of Breslau would fare the worst in such a contest.

"Or may not the informers, who throw suspicion on the sentiments and fitness of Knauer, perhaps be members of the Chapter; and the Italians, presuming on their want of unity, venture to enact in Germany a part they have not dared for long? The silence of the Chapter and the impudence of Rome are scarcely capable of any other explanation. Should it indeed be so, and should individual members of the Chapter have sacrificed the welfare, the rights and privileges of the diocese, to their private ambition, their jealousy, or to other interests, and thus have made a level road for the Italians again to enter Germany, then would we call upon these men, who bear rule in the diocese, and whose part it is to promote our welfare, and to protect our rights and liberties, to vindicate their trust, if they do not wish to incur the reproach of want of principle, and dereliction of their duty.

"Are those days to return, in which it was necessary to send gold-laden cavalcades to Rome, in order to become a bishop? If so, the Canons of Breslau would have but faint chance of a mitre. It is very remarkable what the Italians have of late demanded of us Germans. We are commanded to pray that the Spaniards may return to their old ecclesiastical bondage! Who have been the leaders of this bloody drama? Perhaps the disobedient people? Espartero, and such like! We know in Germany, and almost every school-boy knows it, that, next to the tyranny of royalty, the bloody slaughtering of this fine people has been for the most part occasioned by the licentious, lazy, Rome-subjected priesthood! We also know that the French Revolution was not occasioned by Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and others of their stamp; but by the tyranny of Louis XIV., the profligacy of Louis XV., aided by the shameless excesses of the court nobility, lay and clerical. No less are we aware that the Thirty Years' War was not caused by Luther and Melancthon, but had been hatching for centuries by Rome and the lay and clerical nobility of Germany. It is, indeed, most necessary that we pray for ourselves and for the Spaniards, but it shall be for the freedom and independence of ourselves and them--in union with which alone can true religion and morality exist--and not for slavery and dependence, which can at best engender dissimulation and hypocrisy.

"A Chaplain."]

Well did I know that I was subscribing my own sentence; and yet, on closer consideration, I could not believe that the Hierarchy, or Church as it is called, would treat both truth and justice with such open scorn as I found that it could, through Dr. Ritter and the vicar-ship of Breslau.

About six weeks after the appearance of the article, I received a note from Dr. Ritter,* in which he called upon me to tell him, on my priestly word of honour, whether I were the author of the article, "Rome and the Chapter of Breslau," or had taken any part in the drawing up or despatching of it. Dr. Ritter, the vicar of the bishopric, a priest, nearly sixty years of age, with grey hair, dared to call me to account for speaking the truth!--me, who, as a priest and proclaimer of the truth, had lately been sent into the world with the commission, "to speak the truth without fear of man,"--Dr. Ritter, who himself had sent me forth, ventured to call me to account for doing so! And is religion thus to be turned to mockery and reproach! Should I not speak the truth? or had I not spoken the truth? I had written down that the Romish priesthood were preeminently the cause of the German Thirty Years' War, and of the Revolutions in France and Spain. Are these not facts of historical notoriety, contained in every manual, and should I not dare to write them? I had also asserted that the calumnies and want of unanimity among the candidates for the bishopric, were probably the reasons for the Pope daring so long to delay the confirmation of Bishop Knauer, and keeping the diocese in confusion. The divisions and quarrels of the candidates for the bishop's mitre were known to all the diocese, and also _who_ had principally contributed to the retiring of the humane Bishop Sedlinitzky--much indignation was felt at the discord occasioned by clerical ambition; and I, forsooth, should not give utterance to the opinions of my fellow-citizens and colleagues! Dr. Ritter, then, placed falsehood and hypocrisy on the altar, and desired that I should honour them, in calling me to a reckoning for my truthfulness.

* DR. RITTER'S DECREE.

"Public opinion points to you as the author of the article
entitled "Rome and the Chapter of Breslau," and signed "A
Chaplain," in No. 135 of the Saxon Vaterlands-blatter. I
hereby require you, on your word of honour as a priest,
distinctly to declare, by return of post, whether you are
the author of the above-named article, or the sender of it,
or, in fact, whether you had any share in the drawing up or
despatching of the same.

"Ritter,

"Canonical Vicar and General Administrator of the
Diocese,

"Breslau, December 20, 1842."

Had I given vent in words to my first angry feelings,--had I not allowed some weight to the existing relations between the higher and inferior clergy,--had I not, in short, considered the situation of my orphan sisters--Dr. Ritter would indeed have received a very different reply from that, which, after the exercise of much self-control, I sent him. After calm reflection and consultation with a man of experience, I came to the resolution, that as I had written in the name of my fellow-citizens and colleagues, I ought not to make any concession prejudicial to their rights, and must rely for protection on the laws.

According to the laws of Prussia, the name of an author can only be required, and that by the courts of law, when his writings contain matter of a libellous or seditious nature. If this law be not applicable to one of the inferior clergy, it follows that he dares not give utterance to any assertion or opinion which may be distasteful to his superiors (were it the most undeniable truth,) without being deprived of his situation. But who would willingly at once give up his place? Were governments to proceed after the fashion of Dr. Ritter, or the Church, no commissioned-officer would dare to notice an abuse, without running the risk of being examined and cashiered by his superiors.

Dr. Ritter had no right to take me to task, since by so doing, he interfered with the privileges and the duties of the whole body of inferior clergy, in calling me to account, by his inquisitorial questions, for a simple expression of opinion. I dared not accede to his demands without injuring religion and my colleagues. Or has the so-called inferior priest, perhaps, no right to tell the truth? or to tell it without placing his situation in jeopardy! Is the so-called inferior priest not under the protection of the laws of his native country? and are the superior clergy perhaps the only, and the infallible pillars of the truth? With a due regard to my good cause, and my defenceless condition, compared with that of an unfettered opponent, I gave the short reply--"that my conscience forbade me to satisfy such queries." The Papists and priestlike blockheads always turn the darkest side, and so they did in my case. Dr. Ritter and his Popish allies would gladly have attributed to me falsehood and cowardice, and pointed triumphantly to these words, as well as to other disconnected passages, in order thereby to lower me in the eyes of my fellow-citizens, but in vain. That I desired to save my place, as was asserted, by cowardice and falsehood, I have practically refuted, by demitting my office, braving poverty and want, although it would have been very easy for me, by falsehood or retractation, to have escaped from the suspension.*

* See the Vicarial document of February 184 3. The letters
of Mr. Schneeweiss, and the conference with the Prebend F.
at the Episcopal audience.

OBJECTIONS.

On the other hand, I have heard the objection made, that though I only wrote the truth, it was still unbecoming in me to write it as I did (?) Those good folks who so degrade the truth, and whose knees tremble before every tribunal, are informed, that it was not only my privilege, but my sacred duty so to write. The paper in question was written with the feeling of a _German_, who was ashamed and irritated, by seeing the despotic sway of Rome ever extending, wider and more boldly, and constantly employing for its extension (an extension which brings all vices in its train,) Germans--men whose paramount duty it is, as teachers of the people, to lead them to freedom and independence--since without _these_ no virtue is conceivable. I wrote that article as a teacher of the people, and as a teacher of religion, who holds it as his most sacred duty to oppose all injustice, and to call it by its proper name, should it even be perpetrated under the shelter of the altar, and the hypocrisy of the more than millennial supremacy of Rome. There was besides somewhat peculiarly novel in Dr. Ritter's distinctive characterizing of the peculiar word of honour. He puts questions to me which I am called upon to answer on my _priestly_ word of honour. Does Dr. Ritter always rate the quality of honour by the office of the individual? If so, are those who have no office also without honour! My honour is one and indivisible--that which God has implanted within me--the honour of being a man. This honour I esteem more highly than that priestly conceit with which, instead of love, Rome seeks by consecration to inoculate her slaves, and which generally sinks them far below the level of their fellow-men, though they may dream that they are high above them. My honour and my manly dignity are of greater value in my eyes than all your livings, prelacies, and mitres; and I am ready to defend my honour against every one, even against Dr. Ritter. Dr. Ritter will perceive from this that I was not lying bound, as he supposed, by that hierarchic spell which extinguishes reason, and de grades man's will to the condition of a limping slave. No, I had seen the Church beneath the screen of her hypocrisy--I had seen her in all her deformity, and I felt myself called on, at once by my manly dignity, and my love to my neighbour, to assist in tearing off her curse-laden mask.

FARTHER EXPEDIENTS OF DR. RITTER.

As his Jesuitical plan of terrifying had not the effect which he probably desired, he tried other means to entrap me; and behold! a denunciation appeared to him likely to achieve his purpose. About a year before, it had been observed by a burgess nearly related to the priesthood, that I wore a shorter coat, and longer whiskers, than accorded with his orthodoxy, and he denounced me in consequence. Dr. Ritter had not delayed, from his giddy height of holiness, to set me right, in the genuine style of ecclesiastical dictation. I had replied to his communication in something like the following terms:--It would grieve me, by my external appearance, to give offence to any pious Christians, and I should gladly (though my present dress is exactly what I wore while in the Seminary) avoid it. I would indeed even relinquish my vocation were I considered unfit for it. I added at the close, that I might be able to exonerate myself in some particulars, but that I would not occupy, with such insignificant matters, his valuable time, which was doubtless demanded for the consideration of things of more importance.*

Proceeding upon this, Dr. Ritter applied to Kaspar Hoffmann, clerical superintendent at Grottkau, and called upon him to report concerning me.**

I had never interfered with this Kaspar Hoffmann. In money matters, usually an apple of discord between vicars and curates, I had allowed him to do as he pleased. He paid me only 32 dollars annually (16 were added by the town,) and derived handsome profits from offices, which I, perhaps, discharged for him,*** Still he would gladly have seen me removed, because we held opposite opinions, and I enjoyed the good-will of the community, which he seemed to grudge me. He truly reported the _crimina_, which he had perceived in me, and added, that he spoke the sentiments of _all_ the citizens, although, as it afterwards appeared, he had _two_ only on his side.

* Dr. Ritter says In his lecture, when alluding to this
occurrence, that he does not know whether I have vindicated
myself. Very satisfactory!

** Kaspar Hoffmann showed me this application before my
departure.

*** Curate Pech, a learned, accomplished, and distinguished
man, wearied with the long-protracted contest, had taken a
curate and retired.

**** From one dollar, which I received for reading the
burial service, he deducted 10 silver groschen. May I ask
whether an usurer takes so large a percentage, as such a
curate from his chaplain?

These said crimes, as contained in the Decree of Deposition, are as follow:--1st, That I wore too short a coat, and unsuitably long hair. I could only treat this silliness with derision, gave therefore no reply to it, and direct my readers to the answer of my honoured defender, and to the testimony of the citizens and magistrates of Grottkau. I must, however, observe, that this accusation was only made as a pretence, the real ground of complaint being my conduct in the school and the church, as the following occurrence will disclose.* In the schools of which I was the director, I ordered the teaching of German history, caused the pupils to write exercises for the improvement of their style, commenced the formation of a juvenile library, and conducted the religious instruction not altogether according to the authorized Catechism, because I perceived that _it_ tended rather to prejudice the minds of the pupils against religion than to implant it in their hearts. I visited, besides, the Sabbath-schools, and strove to rid them of superstition and hypocrisy. Kaspar Hoffmann, like many other suchlike _faithful_ ministers, had instituted a regular system of espionage, and watched my doings. In his priestly zeal he slipped privately into one of my schools, put several bullying questions to the children, and when they, in terror, could not answer him a word, he beat the religion of love into them with a birch-rod. When I, enraged at his ill-treatment of the pupils, called him to account, he replied, that well-grounded doubts were entertained of my orthodoxy, that I did not proceed according to the accredited Catechism, _taught German history_, &c.! This betrayed the quarter whence his inspiration had descended. My answer had, however, this effect, that Mr. Hoffmann discontinued his visits to my schools.

* My dress was quite black, and was far outshone in elegance
by that of the clergy of Breslau. Besides, I know full well,
that Catholic priests may deck themselves most gaily, and
yet retain their offices.

In the second place, Kaspar Hoffmann had reported that I conducted the ordinances of worship in an indecorous and undignified manner. This, in the sense in which he meant it, is a shameless lie; for, although I held, and still hold, many Church forms to be contrary to the exalted conception revealed to us of the Godhead in the Christian religion, (can it, for instance, be supposed, that God is honoured or the community edified, by unintelligible mumbling of Latin and hypocritical up-turning of the eyes?) I have still too great respect for all religious conviction, in whatever form it may be manifested, to insult it, or endeavour to bring about a change, in such a manner as I am represented to have done. I submitted to the forms prescribed, without, indeed, hypocritical up-turning of the eyes, whining, or the like, by which it is easy to acquire extravagant metage,* and a character for sanctity (I saw this shameless game played almost daily.)

* The fee paid for the performance of masses.--Trans.

It was, besides, a moral impossibility that I should have given offence by my remarkable behaviour, being so constantly galled and worn down by my bondage, and by my grief at being compelled to assist in disseminating superstition and hypocrisy, that I stood generally quite exhausted by the altar. Yes, the mental agony which I have endured on that spot, and which was manifested in my exterior, must have produced an exactly opposite impression than that for which he blamed me--and it did produce it. If Kaspar Hoffmann's piety took offence at this, then must it be equivalent to none, since he considered hypocrisy alone to be true decency and dignity. (What remains to be said on this subject will be found in my Defence before the Council.)

Lastly, It had been reported that no one would take me for a Catholic Clergyman who did not know me to be one. This, I must confess, sounded to me very like the language of praise, as I have endeavoured never to make any distinction between myself and my fellow-citizens, seeing that I desired to be neither more nor less than a man and a citizen. Does the narrow blue stripe constitute the pastor and teacher? We know that lying and feigned words are uttered in spite of the clerical stripe, and that the glittering vestments of the priest cannot shut out dissimulation, but, on the contrary, that they promote it.

LETTERS OF PERSUASION.

DESIRES OF MY OFFICIAL COLLEAGUES.

In addition to this charge to Kaspar Hoffmann, Dr. Ritter had commissioned a zealous divine of the younger school,* to persuade me to retract. On the 1st and 15th of January 1843, I received letters from him, and from a narrow-minded priest in the College at Neisse, in which, under cover of the most high-flown expressions of Christian brotherly-love, I am required to become a contemptible liar. As these letters are written in ecclesiastical style, and reveal the character of Dr. Ritter--his artifices, and those of the men who permit themselves to be made his tools, I consider myself called upon to publish them: besides, the writer is no friend of mine, as the Decree of Suspension falsely intimates, but merely an acquaintance.

I had at first almost believed that the assurances of friendship contained in the letters of Schneeweiss were true, in spite of their suspicious highflying; and although I had already, in like manner, been deceived by others of my colleagues, I was almost tempted to believe in their honesty. But after the epistle of the narrow-minded priest had betrayed to me that Dr. Ritter was in the game, I was forced to despise the letter-writer as a hypocrite. Schneeweiss feigned friendship, but he could have no respect, and therefore no friendship, for me, when he recommended me to commit an act of baseness, namely, the denial of well-known facts--the shameful recall of that which I had lately asserted--and a cowardly and degrading submission to the despotism of Dr. Ritter. I suppose, also, that Schneeweiss had imagined that I was quite imbued with hierarchic views. He might in that case represent the blind and cowardly submission as an act of virtue on my part; but he could not expect that I should retract the blame I attributed to the quarrels and _informings_* of the candidates for the episcopate, and even my censure of the long delay on the part of the Pope--for they were injurious to the Church. Had he considered my station as a Catholic priest, as a teacher of the people, and of religion in the sense of Christ's teaching, and desired to be accounted such himself, he could not have advised me to a disgraceful retractation and denial of a truth which I had dared to avow. No; he would have encouraged me to bear unflinching testimony to the truth, and in the face of greater danger than the loss of office.

* Compare the Decree of Suspension of January 30th, 1843.

For that _is_ true, which I have written; the quarrels and intrigues of the candidates for the bishop's mitre, I repeat it, have been proved, and they were (I myself have heard it,) the theme of scandal and censure at once to priests and laymen. It was disgrace enough to the clergy, that no one of the elder ministers dared openly avow his censure--that they loved their livings more than truth and their fair name. But Schneeweiss does not seem to have thought of these things. It may be gathered from the mixture of assertions and contradictions in his letters, that he was not quite clear of the propriety of what he required of me, at the same time that he does not seem very well to know what he would be at. However, so it also happens with many others of my colleagues. They become inconsistent in their opinions; for, being called to fight in the front rank for truth and freedom, they, on the contrary, act in opposition to them, as the conscious or unconscious slaves and servants of the hierarchy. I fancied, when I knew Schneeweiss in earlier days, that he had a more enlightened zeal, but Gibbon's words, alas! are true--"The spirit of bigotry, at once so credulous and insinuating, when it has once taken root in a noble mind, overturns by degrees the living principles of virtue and of truth."

* I have received the most precise information in regard to
them from trustworthy men, well acquainted with the
episcopal candidates.

LETTERS OF SCHNEEWEISS AND GLOCKNER.

"My Dearly Beloved Brother,--You will be surprised to receive a letter from me, but do not let your surprise induce you to forget that it is sincere affection which prompts me to address you.