Soon after receipt of the Decree of Suspension, I discontinued my
official duties, but remained a few days longer in Grottkau, to take the
necessary steps for clearing my character from the calumnies of
Kaspar Hoffmann, and Ebel the apothecary and president of the body of
delegates,* who had brought their silly accusations against me under
cover of the Church. By the other inhabitants of the town I was most
kindly treated, and the partially evasive testimonies which were
afterwards given in by a _soi-disant_ Church community of Grottkau, are
only to be accounted for by the employment of Chapter influence. Various
reports were, of course, in circulation, for but few were aware of the
actual cause of my suspension, or of the manner in which I had been
treated; and I was obliged to keep silence--to allow every report to
circulate unchecked--deeply though I felt the altered looks of those I
had accounted friends. But it would have been unreasonable in me to have
expected of them a more thorough appreciation of the circumstances of my
case, for no one knew how the slave-yoke of Rome had galled me, nor
how my indignation was aroused to see my native land distracted
and enthralled by a set of knavish Roman priests and their German
assistants. I felt it as a joy and pride to suffer undeserved reproaches
for my fellow-citizens, even for those who persecuted me, as they
fancied, to the credit and in the name of the Church. I felt an assured
confidence that the day of light would come, the day of emancipation
from the tyranny of Rome, when my conduct should be made public, and my
exculpation be complete; and I gave expression to these feelings in a
few farewell words to the inhabitants of Grottkau, which I caused to be
inserted in the weekly newspaper.
* Mr. Witke, the former superior of the Seminary, named Ebel
(the brother-in-law of a canon, and a converted proselyte,)
as my calumniator, and I can prove him to have been so. Such
persons, who can consciously assume religion as a cloak for
their false-heartedness, should be denounced by name to all
the world. Our Saviour tells us that hypocrisy is the most
heinous crime, and that murderers and adulterers may be
saved, but not hypocrites!
From Grottkau I travelled to Valtorf, near Neisse, where my friend the
Count von Reichenbach offered me the shelter of his roof. Although I
had relinquished certain competence, which the office of a Catholic
clergyman secures, and knew not how long I might be a wanderer, yet the
feeling that at length I had escaped from the cursed and ignominious
yoke of Rome, under which I had groaned for three years, was
indescribably delightful, and confiding in my righteous cause, and in
my youthful strength, it seemed as if I had but just emerged from some
dark, dismal prison, into the lovely light of heaven. New energy glowed
in my veins; a new and beauteous world bloomed before me, in which I was
to labour and to live as the free teacher, and the pastor of my own, the
German people!