Wagner, Richard.

Wagner looks to the meeting of the German National Assembly in Frankfurt to assume unified power from the old Bundestag, to introduce rearming the German people, to make a defensive treaty with France and, finally, to create a rational and coherent German nation out of the myriad of princely states, both large and small, overcoming the opposition of the Princes themselves, emphasizing that only then can the Assembly begin its work and without which all their good work so far will be undone, 2 pages, large 4to (28. x 22.5cms), integral autograph address leaf, seal ("RW") and postmarks, Dresden, 19 May 1848, small tears to margins repaired, some dust marking

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"...Das ist endlich der entscheidende Moment, ohne dessen Herbeiführung all unser Werk Flickwerk sein würde.  Nun hängt es von dem Benehmen der Fürsten ab...beginnen sie feindselig, protestiren sie, so sind sie sammt u. sonders in Anklagezustand zu versetzen, u. die Anklage gegen sie ist auf völlig historischer Basis zu begründen..."

This is a good letter outlining Wagner's political views and his desire to see a unified German nation, in the wake of the 1848 Revolution in France and turmoil within Germany.  Barricades were put up in Dresden and the king was presented with demands for constitutional reform.  Wagner joined the revolutionaries, hoping that this would lead to the reform of a National Theatre.  His letter was prompted by the convening of the National Assembly at Frankfurt on 18 May, and is addressed to the Saxon Delegate at the Assembly, Jacob Franz Wigand (1807-1885), who had earlier been dismissed from the University at Dresden for his radical political views.  This letter is published in the Sämtliche Briefe, ii, no.256, after a press-cutting in the Wagner Archives and without reference to the original.