A Mr. DONALD, a commercial traveller, has published a long
and curious statement of the persecuting zeal of a little insignifi- cant German State, called Mecklenburg, of which we have in this country almost entirely lost sight, since the period when it was the subject of daily panegyric as the father-land of the late Queen CHARLOTTE. The division which was the scene of Mr. DONALD'S suffer;ngs, was that called Schwerin,—a more barren and insig- nificant spot, if possible, than even Strelitz itself. It seems the complainant is a Baptist ; and in his passage through Schwerin, he saw fit to visit a fellow-religionist named LUCKEN. He was arrested, in the house of Herr LUCKEN, at three o'clock of the morning. The Baptist doctrines are not permitted in the grand duchy. Mr. DONALD says- " I was detained, on the ground of being found in his company, although I exhibited my passport, and claimed my right as a British subject, having com- mitted no offence whatever against the Mecklenburg Government. I remained until late in the afternoon at Bresegard; and was then sent to Grabow, a dis- tance of about ten English miles, during a heavy rain, as a common malefactor, in an open cart, escorted by a number of peasants. At Grabow I was brought before the Amtniann ; who told me my passport was a scrawl, and worth nothing, but proceeded to examine me upon my creed in a very inquisitorial manner. He demanded whether I had administered the Lord's Supper or bap- tized in that country; which I had not. After this, I was remanded, until am answer came from the High Court of Schwerin. On the folloiving day, I wrote two letters one to M. Von Liicken's family, the other to yourselves, and sent them to the Post-office. Both these were brought back by order of the Ault ; one was opened in my presence, the other at the Amt; the latter, it seems, reached its destination twelve days after its date, the former never arrived. Three days afterwards, I was sent under escort to Boitzenburg, hoping to be immediately_ liberated, from what had been told me in Grabow ; but the Amtsrath Wustholf said I should be detained on the charge of hiving been present at a baptism. This charge, however trivial, was totally untrue; he demanded security of ire for the expenses I might incur if confined in an inn, and said I must otherwise go to the common prison. I told him I had hardly any money with me ; butt espying my watch, he said that would be sufficient; adding, that if I were put into a common prison, be would set a watch over me there, and make me pay for the guard. An acquaintance offered to take me into his rooms, which was refused. A room in a private house was afterwards procured; but the town authorities prohibited my being received under their jurisdiction in any place.. I was at length conducted to an inn, and lodged there with a guard at my room- door, who was also present when any one came to see me. On Friday, I was examined for about two hours and a half ; when I had to give all particulars where I had been, and what! had been doing, from the time! lift my birth- place until then ; and particular and inquisitorial inquiry was again made as to my faith, and other strange questions put to me; amongst which a!so—whether I was possessed of property or not? To this I answered, according to truth, that I had nothing but what I worked for. I pressed the urgency of my em- ployers' business; telling them that none else could perform the work I had to do, and that the loss of time might be productive of evil consequences. I was then remanded to my room • where I remained until Wednesday the 25th July ; when I was again called before the Amt, to hear the contents of a letter from the High Court, according to which I was to be released without paying a fine, as I had not transgressed any law; • but I was ordered to pay all my expenses, as well at the inns by the way, as to the guard, which I was obliged to do. My passport was not returned to me, but a few lines from the Amtsraih instead. I was detained in all nineteen days, viz. from the 7th to the 25th of July ; when I proceeded to Hamburg." The quick espial of the watch is characteristic. Mr. DONALD made a complaint, through his employers, to the Consul-General at Hamburg; and the answer received from Meck- lenburg was, that his arrest and detention were justified by the fact of his being found in junction with a prohibited sect, and that there was some irregularity in his passport. As it does not appear from this statement that any law was violated, the Consul-General has expressed an opinion that no redress can be claimed. The Times says, the accusation of" Anabaptism" was a ridiculous one; but it may be a legal one notwithstanding. In England, we im- prison a man who has no lodgings, if he venture to sleep in the open air,—that is, we punish him because he is destitute : again, if a poor man have money in his pocket, he may be detained until he give an account of it and himself,—that is, we punish him be- cause he is not destitute. Is the Mecklenburg law, which pro- hibits Anabaptism, much more ridiculous than these laws, which are in daily and hourly execution in our free and enlightened me- tropolis? To Mr. DONALD, as a commercial traveller, Government certainly owe adequate protection; but if a commercial traveller will not content him with his inn, but go hunting after the pro- fessors of prohibited creeds, he must take the consequence, accord- ing to the laws and usages of the country.
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