In  that  year  the  Government  decreed  that  only  German  should
he  taught  in  the  elementary  schools,  though  an  exception  was
made  for  religious  teaching.  This  unmerited  blow  at  national
sentiment  caused  the  Polish  peasantry,  which  had  hitherto  stood
aloof  from  the  anti-Prussian  movement,  to  join  hands  with  the
rest  of  the  race.
A  more  serious  aggressive  move  was  made  in  1883,  when
an  order  was  issued  by  the  provincial  Government  of  Posen
requiring  that  in  all  urban  elementary  and  private  schools
of  the  town  of  Posen,  but  in  the  elementary  schools  only  in  the
other  towns  of  the  province,  religious  instruction  should  be  im-
parted in  the  German  language  if  at  least  half  the  scholars  in
attendance  were  of  German  birth.  The  then  Minister  of  Educa-
tion, Dr.  von  Gossler,  disapproved  of  the  order,  as  did  the
Prussian  House  of  Deputies  of  that  day,  and  it  was  rescinded.
