If the efforts of the party are stopped, and this is done in a way that boldly attacks all existing ideas in order to create an entry point for their [new] theories, then all other parties operating in troubled waters for their special, political, or ecclesiastical purposes and plans – and which are perhaps even more dangerous for the state than capricious literati with no visible means of support – will see the necessity for greater caution. I have confidence that Bercht will not only see through these parties and their ways, but that he also has enough delicacy to give them warning signs, from which they would have to shrink back timidly.
If Your Excellency agrees with this opinion, I will not be remiss in making the appropriate suggestions to Bercht. He will, however, only meet these expectations when he is equipped with the necessary material [information]. This shall require a certain path along which the same [necessary material] may regularly flow his way with tacit consent. For years, the Privy Councilor Eilers, employed as a senior civil servant in my ministry, has had a confidential relationship with Bercht and, through a twenty-year stay in the Rhine Province, he has also had the opportunity to become better acquainted with the conditions in various spheres of life there. I therefore regard him as eminently suited to conduct the main correspondence with Bercht from here, and I would gladly give him this assignment, so long as he would not also be expected to draft articles. Since the matters belonging to Your Excellency’s department will form an especially important part of the content of the new paper, I shall most humbly leave it to [your] discretion to set up the arrangement for delivering to Eilers, on a regular basis, the material that you wish to see treated in the manner suggested. Here it will be less important to submit comprehensive articles than to supply persuasive corrections, both of opinions and actual circumstances. Eilers only needs to make sure to avoid everything that might offend the feelings of the Rhinelanders, which is all the more desirable given that such offenses have given the [anti-governmental] parties the most favorable opportunities for infusing the people with prejudices against the government.
Source: GStA PK, I. HA Rep. 77 Ministerium des Innern [Ministry of the Interior], Tit. 2, Spec., Lit. R, Nr. 57: Errichtung einer neuen politischen Zeitung in der Rheinprovinz, 1844 bis 1848 [Establishment of a new political newspaper in the Rhine province, 1844 to 1848], Bl. 26r-28v (Kultusminister Eichhorn an den Minister des Innern Graf v. Arnim, Berlin, den 07. Juni 1844) [Minister of Religious and Educational Affairs Eichorn to Interior Minister Count von Arnim, Berlin, June 7, 1844].
Original German text reprinted in Rheinische Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte der politischen Bewegung 1830-1850 [Rhenish Letters and Files on the History of the Political Movement, 1830-1850], compiled and edited by Joseph Hansen, vol. I, 1830-1845. Publikationen der Gesellschaft für rheinische Geschichtskunde XXXVI [Publications of the Society for Rhenish History] vol. 1, 1919; pp. 655-57.
Translation: Jeremiah Riemer
print version
return to list
previous document