HASSENPFLUG, Hans Daniel Ludwig Friedrich (1793-1862), a minister of state in Hesse-Cassel, celebrated as a reactionary, was born at Hanau, in the electorate of Hesse, in 1793. He studied law at Göttingen, and was appointed by the elector Frederick William I. (then acting as regent) to a subordinate post in that university. He rose rapidly, and proved himself a man of great resolution and energy. From the first he adopted that line of policy which made him so disliked throughout his career. He exercised, that is to say, a suspicious censorship over the press; he reduced to a shadow the power of the legislative chambers; he introduced new and harsh measures of army discipline, and contended relentlessly with all disciples of free thought. In the matter of education he showed praiseworthy zeal, and promoted as far as he could the national schools of Hesse. But the services he rendered in this way were not sufficient to induce the mass of the people to pardon the reactionary tendency of his general policy, and he was obliged in 1837 to flee from the general hatred he had encountered. He found shelter in Prussia, where the Government entrusted him with the discharge of various judicial offices, and he remained in Prussia till the full tide of reaction had set in after the year 1848, He then (1850) returned to Hesse Cassel, the ministry of the revolution of 1848 having been dismissed. Despite the fact that Hassenpflug had never freed himself from a charge of peculation brought against him in the performance of his judicial duties in Prussia, he was appointed by the elector of Hesse to the head of the new ministry. He acted at once on the old lines, levying taxes without the consent of the chambers, dissolving them when they protested, and finally proclaiming martial law. ...