Page:Stryker's American Register and Magazine, Volume 6, 1851.djvu/141

Rh occupation of the suburb of St. Paul by Austrian troops. Nevertheless, an additional force of infantry, cavalry and artillery, was quartered in the scene of these disturbances.

Soon afterwards, a similar scene was enacted at Altona, which originated nearly in the same way. A detachment of soldiers, under the command of a subaltern, was ordered to disperse the populace. They were received with a volley of stones, and compelled to retreat. Another detachment of troops was then ordered on, and they were directed to fire over the people's heads. This proved ineffectual; and the military fired in earnest, when eight persons were killed, and upwards of thirty wounded.

Such scenes have produced bitter feelings of exasperation against the ruling powers; and although the people were subdued for the time, the hidden fires of animosity and discontent must still rankle in their breasts, to break forth on some future occasion.

The debates in the Chambers, or Parliament of this country, during the first half of 1851, tended rather to exhibit the views of different parties than to produce important results. Early in March, Baron Vincke moved, in the Lower House, for a committee to inquire into the state of the nation; but it was negatived by a majority of 228 against 41, indicating that the reactionary party controlled that body. About the same time, the hall of the Upper Chamber was completely destroyed by an accidental fire, and nothing was saved except the Parliamentary archives and the library.

A law restraining the liberty of the press passed the Chambers early in May, and was promulgated soon afterwards. It was very unpopular with the liberal party; and we should judge, from its very severe tenor, that Prussian liberty is nearly on a par with that of France and Austria. The Chambers were closed on the 9th of May by a speech from the throne, which was read by proxy. As this document gives a view of the labors of the Chambers, we subjoin it in fall:

"Gentlemen: The Prussian Chambers have reached the term of their second regular session. Public affairs have for four months appealed to their anxious attention and strenuous exertions. Their deliberations opened at a critical and much-disturbed juncture. All the military resources of the nation were called out to meet threatening dangers on a scale that the Prussian people had never before seen; and with a success that has given the Prussian people a full sense of their own strength, and has commanded the respect of foreign nations. Circumstances in the