GERMANY. [From the Liverpool Albion, March 20.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 316, 9 August 1848, Page 3

GERMANY. [From the Liverpool Albion, March 20.]

German journals which reached this country on Saturday stated that Hungary had declared its independence of Austria, and proclaimed a republic. The Cologne Gazette announces that the magistrates and presidents of the bourgeoisie of Hanover recently addressed a petition to the King to demand the representation of the people in the Germanic Diet, and the immediate convocation of the States. The petition was transmitted to one of King Ernest's aides de camp. The Hamburgh Correspondent positively announces that the railroad company have rece.ved orders to prepare special trains for the conveyance of a Prussian corps d'armie of 25,000 men which is about to proceed to* the banks of the Rhine. The King of Prussia has granted unlimited liberty of the press throughout his dominions. The Berlin Gazette states that the King has signed an amnesty in favour of the Poles implicated in the insurrection of Posen. By virtue of ihis act the thirty-three prisoners sentenced to death will only undergo five years.' imprisonment in some Prussian fortress, and such as were condemned to imprisonment, whether for long or short periods, are at once to be set at liberty, and furnished with the means of returning to their homes. The Carlsruhe Gazette, of the 11th in St., publishes a decree of the Grand Duke of Baden, abolishing all feudal rights. The Germanic Diet has passed a solemn rtsolution that " black, red, and gold, are the colours and emblems cf the Germanic Coufederacy." A letter from Hamburgh, of the 11th inst., says, " Our Senate, frightened by the great demonstration intended to have taken place on Monday next, has submitted to the will of the people. Hamburgh is now as free as Great Britain." A letter from Gotha, of the Bth instant, states that as soon as the Duke arrived there from England, on the evening of the 7th inst., he caused a proclamation to be issued, granting equal political rights to all his subjects, a representative assembly, and freedom of the press ; and this step of the Duke made an address needless which his subjects had prepared to present him with. A deputation proceeded to his palace to demand a national guard and trial by jury, which was conceded. The King of Hanover has granted liberty of the press under guarantee against abuse. The Emperor of Austria has declared that Austria will not interfere in the affairs of France, but will protect her own institutions and repel any invasion of the Empire of the German Confederation. The Boersenhalle of the 9th, says, "We learn from a credi! le source that a Congress of- German Sovereigns will assemble at Dresden, at the instigation of Prussia and Austria, to deliberate on the internal and external situation of the country, but rejecting at the same time all idea of aggression." A peasants' war has broken out in Wurtemburg. The castles of Niederstetten Oeringen, two signorial residences of the Princas of Hohenlohe, have been burned to the ground. Nor have the boors respected the ancient castle of Jaxthausen, on the Jaxt, which for centuries, has been in the possession of the Berlichingen family, and has been immortalised by Goethe, by his description of its defence by the iron fisted Gotz. The village belonging to it has also been reduced to ashes. The castle of Assumstadt, the family residence of the Barons of Ellrichshausen, and the castle of Schwaiggern, the residence of Count Neipperg, son-in-law of the King of Wurtemburg, have been rased to the ground. The lives of the inhabitants have been spared. The stewards of the castles in question were compelled, to throw the archives into the flames with their own hands ; and some men of education are evidently in the ranks of the peasants, as the device of the Hohenlohes, ex jlammis orior, was ironically changed into ex Jlammis morioi . Two thousand men haye.been ordered, in all haste, from Ludwisburg and Heilbronn to quell this insurrection. Subsequent accounts state that the insurrection of the peasants in Wurtemburg continues, and is spreading. Troops of peasants are waudering about singing republican songs. At Bockelheim, between Meisenheim and Kreuznach, a tree of liberty has been erected. At Kreuznach, " Vive la Republique " is written on the walls of the houses. At Meisenheim, in Hesse-Homburg, a large body of peasants proceeded to the mayor of the district, and fixed a certain period for him

to abolish the taxes on new wine, on salt, and turnpikes. At Rothenbuch, near Aschaffenburg, the people broke into the gunsmiths' shops, and took away all the arms and powder they could find, and continued filing and shouting all the night, without, however, doiug bodily harm to any one. An estsfette arrived at Aschaffenburgon the 9ib, from the Prinre of Leiningen, from Arraorbach, demanding military for his protection. Austria and Prussia,, therefore, have called upon their German Confederates to meet with them instanter for a comprehensive deliberation on every point, which the weal of Germany, under these eventful circumstances, may demand. This important meeting is to be opened at Dresden on the 23rd of March. Though the official journal is silent on the subject, we have received information which leads us to believe that serious disturbances took place at Berlin on the 13th, arising out of a monster meeting assembled in the i hiergarten or Park, to petition for reform. In the absence of all details, we only know at present that an emeute took place, to quell which the ttoops were called out. A letter from Vienna, of the 9th instant, states that, on the proposition of Prince Metternich, the Supreme Council of the State had decreed the dissolution of the Hungarian Parliament. If this intelligence be founded on fact, we may expect to hear very shortly that Hungary has declared her independence.