GERMANY. (LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.) 



429 



to extend their literature in this period more than 

 ever before. With Van Ess's translation of the New 

 Testament, and the truly Christian eloquence dis- { 

 played by Sayler, an intolerant spirit has appeared j 

 in other works. The increasing- prevalence of the j 

 Catholic religion has inspired many Protestant writers | 

 with a greater activity. A temporary excitement 

 was occasioned by the theses of Harms, the miracu- 

 lous cures of the prince Hohenlohe, and other pro- 

 ductions of mysticism or enthusiasm. The discus- 

 sions for the purpose of uniting the Lutheran and 

 Calvinistic churches (which has been actually effected 

 in some of the small states of Germany) have been of 

 great interest ; whilst, in the republic of letters, 

 Schleiermacher's Christliche Glaubenslehre, in which 

 the Christian doctrine was exhibited without a dog- 

 matical dress, was intended as an instrument of 

 peace. Meanwhile, theology, as a science, has made 



freat progress. Exegetics have been improved; 

 iblical archaeology and criticism have been extended 

 on every side, by men like Gesenius, Griesbach, 

 Rosenmuller, Kuinol, Bretschneider, De Wette, Pau- 

 lus, Flatt, and others. The history of the church, 

 and of dogmas, has been treated by many learned 

 writers, as Spittler, Staudlin, Bengel, Giessler. 

 Christian morality lias been ably arid profoundly 

 handled by Reinhard, Flatt, De Wette, Eichhorn, 

 and others. General theology has been cultivated 

 by Staudlin and Bertholdt. In practical theology, we 

 may mention, as sermon writers, Ammon, Draseke, 

 Schuderoff, Tzschirner, and many others. Many 

 useful popular theological works, also, have appeared, 

 among which some of the most interesting are of the 

 mystical kind, as the works of doctor Jung (Stilling), 

 Kanne, and many others. The science of the law 

 could not escape the influence of the age. Not only 

 highly important questions of law, as, for instance, 

 the subject of literary property, the liberty of the 

 press, and the free navigation of the rivers, have been 

 discussed, but the spirit of the time has demanded 

 fundamental changes in the law, the establishment 

 of civil liberty, the participation of the nation in the 

 government, and the publicity of trials. The struggle 

 between the adherents of the old system and the 

 advocates of the new principles, has been renewed, 

 but the princes have succeeded (till lately) in making 

 the question entirely a literary quarrel, and in pre- 

 venting it from resulting in action. . One of the most 

 valuable works on this subject is Feuerbach's Be- 

 trachtungen uber die Oeffentlichkeit und Mundlich- 

 keit der Gerechtigkeitspflegc (1821) Considerations 

 on public oral Trials. Another principal object of 

 legal controversy in Germany, has been the question, 

 whether the Roman law was not entirely contrary to 

 the national character and institutions, and required 

 to be superseded by laws of native growth, corre- 

 sponding to the wants of the nation and of the age. 

 Though the practical results of these discussions 

 have not been very perceptible, yet the science could 

 not but be improved by them. The histories of the 

 law, by Savigny, Eichhorn, Goschen, Schrader, and 

 others, are of the greatest merit. At the same time, 

 the science of criminal legislation lias been ably 

 treated by Kleinschrod, Feuerbach, Konopack, Mit- 

 termaier. Numerous methodical digests of the law, 

 among which those of Weningand FaFck are esteemed, 

 facilitated the study. Philosophy, which had, for a 

 long time, been employed in pulling down old sys- 

 tems and building new ones, heard the call of the 

 age, and came from the schools into life, and found, 

 in the affairs of the state and the church, objects 

 worthy of its activity. Dead forms, as well as the 

 dialectic art, had long since ceased to satisfy an age 

 which valued speculation only in its relations to 

 practical life. (See Philosophy.) Political writings 



have naturally been extensively read in a time of so 

 much excitement. Though many of them could not 

 but trouble or revolt impartial minds, and though but 

 few will outlive the times in which they originated, 

 yet they have, at least, the merit of having produced 

 the discussion of opposite views. One of the chief 

 subjects of discussion, in political writings, has been 

 the question of representative constitutions, which 

 were promised at the time when the German princes 

 wished to rouse the whole population, to deliver the 

 country from the yoke of Napoleon. The promise 

 was afterwards evaded in most of the larger states, 

 but was partially fulfilled in Wurtemberg, Baden, 

 and Bavaria. Among the works which appeared on 

 this subject, was Wangenheim's Idee der Staatsverfas- 

 sung. Another subject of interest was the murder 

 of Kotzebue, and the establishment of a political in- 

 quisition at Metz. The celebration of the reforma- 

 tion at the Wartburg, by the students (see ffartburg) 

 afforded new causes of controversy between the 

 liberals, on the one side, and the adherents of the old 

 system and mercenary authors on the other. Gorres, 

 in his Europe and the Revolution, and Germany and 

 the Revolution, displayed with boldness and profound 

 views the system of deception practised by the op- 

 pressors of Europe and Germany. The feeling of 

 independence among the Germans, kindled anew by 

 a victorious war against foreign domination, gave 

 rise to new researches into the history of the country, 

 and to associations for promoting the study. Such 

 was the society established at Frankfort on the 

 Maine, in 1818, for the publication of historical docu- 

 ments, and original writers on German history in the 

 middle ages. Other early documents of German 

 history were, also, diligently examined. Luden's 

 history of the Germans is an important work. Menzel 

 also wrote a history of Germany. Whilst recent 

 times have been accurately described by Saalfeld, the 

 middle ages, so often depreciated or overrated, have 

 found an impartial historian in H. Luden. Universal 

 history, also, has been treated with great learning, 

 by Frederic Christian Schlosser, and the period of 

 the crusades has been critically examined by Wilken. 

 Ancient history has not been neglected. Frederic 

 von Raumer's Forlesungen uber alte Geschichte 

 opened a new method of investigation. In particu- 

 lar, the study of the ancient Greek history has been 

 illustrated, in many essential points, by Muller and 

 Kortum. The earlier history of Rome and Greece 

 has received new light from the labours of Niebuhr 

 and Wachsmuth. The controversy on the mythology 

 of the ancient nations has been carried on by Creu- 

 zer, Moser, Ritter, Voss, Hermann, D. Muller, Lo- 

 beck, Baur, and others ; and so much, at least, has 

 been agreed upon, that, in tracing back all the 

 Hellenic institutions to India, the system had been 

 carried too far, in some instances. L. Wachler has 

 continued his labours on the history of literature. 

 On the history of the ancient art, with particular 

 reference to lord Elgin's marbles and the remains of 

 ^Eginetic art Thiersch, Hirt, Grotefend, D. Muller, 

 and others, have distinguished themselves. Stieglitz, 

 Busching, Fiorillo, Moller, Von der Hagen, Joanna 

 Schopenhauer, Waagen, and particularly the brothers 

 Boisseree, have contributed to illustrate the history 

 of ancient German art. Philology, to which the 

 Germans have always been particularly devoted, has 

 not been neglected. It is only necessary to mention 

 the editions of the classics, by various scholars, Ast 

 (Plato), Poppo (Thucydides), Bockh (Pindar), Her- 

 mann (Sophocles), Lobeck (Phrynichus), Bothe (Ho- 

 race, after Fea), Bekker (Attic orators), Schaffcr, 

 &c., and the translations by Thiersch (Pindar), J. H. 

 Voss (Aristophanes), Von Knebel (Lucretius), and 

 the lexicographical labours of J. G. Schneider, Pas- 



