What is the Prussian home Administration thinking of? Here is
the celebrated old Democrat, Herr Jacoby, who was so often elected by Berlin, arrested at Konigsberg, and imprisoned "by order," it is said, of "the Council of War," whatever that may be, for a most sensible and temperate statement of the reasons against the forcible annexation of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany contrary to the will of the people of these provinces ! Herr Jacoby had asked whether the people of Alsace and Lorraine are mere "soulless chattels, of whom we may take possession without any form or ceremony," carrying the Konigsberg meeting unani- mously with him, and by way of reply he is himself thrown into prison. Apart from the tyranny and injustice of this policy, is it possible that the Prussian Government is not sensible of this enormous advantage to be gained by its victories, that for the future it may afford to let the ultra-Liberals talk as they please without welding them into a solid mass by persecution ? There is little danger, we fear, of Herr Jacoby finding many enthusiastic crowds of German listeners, if he were allowed to say what he likes on behalf of the freedom of Alsace and Lorraine. But there is danger that if these petty tyrannies are pursued, his influence may soon return, and return at a time when the Prussian Govern- ment, no longer clothed in the halo of great victories, will be compelled to fear for its own power.
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