Ferdinand von Mueller

Letter not found. The text given here is from 'Meeting of German residents', Herald (Melbourne), 27 September 1866, p. 3. The meeting was held 'for the purpose of taking steps to collect subscriptions in aid of their countrymen wounded during the war in Germany'. The 'war in Germany' was the seven-week war between Austria, supported by the majority of the lesser states of the German Federation, and Prussia, in the summer of 1866. The war resulted in the capitulation of Austria, the collapse of the German Federation, and the formation of the Prussian-dominated North German Federation; see C. Clark (2006), pp. 534-42.

Two groups were formed in Melbourne for the relief of the wounded in the war; one, the secretary of which was Julius Pokorney, proposed 'to devote the collections for the equal benefit of both contending parties, without any regard to political views'; the other, the secretary of which was Julius Stack von Goltzheim, was intended for the relief of 'the wounded soldiers and widows of the fallen warriors of Prussia' (letters from the secretaries printed above the text given here recording a communication from M). The meeting, held on 26 September, was chaired by F. Haller, who remarked that they were not met there to celebrate a victory, but to mourn for their countrymen fallen in the war; and as Austrians and Prussians had been buried together in one grave, he hoped that likewise all their differences of opinion would be buried'.

The correspondent is assumed to be Pokorney, given M's reported views and because M was appointed to a committee formed for the purpose of applying contributions 'in equal proportions for the relief of both contending parties in the fratricidal war'.