Documentary Account of the German Union

A 2

Following the publication of the first part of my highly significant memoirs, a request has been made known to me from many quarters. It has been suggested that for the sake of many readers who lack detailed information regarding the German Union, yet who hear it discussed on various occasions, I should publicly share what I know of it, or what I find it appropriate to disclose. What should stop me from fulfilling this request? The most instructive original papers are in my hands; and I understand quite well that in these times—when the Enlightenment The author uses "Aufklärung," referring to the 18th-century intellectual movement, but implies here that its more radical elements are being discredited. of Jacobinism A term for radical revolutionary politics, named after the Jacobin Club of the French Revolution. is finally beginning to be reduced to its true value—these must be made known as the most important historical official records Original German: Aktenstücke; these are primary source documents used as evidence. in the world; for from these the world will—