The doctrinal differences came to a head in the trials of George Duffield (1832), Lyman Beecher (1835) and Albert Barnes (1836) which, however, resulted in the acquittal of the accused, but which increased friction and ill feeling.
One of the causes of ill-feeling was the university question; the Austrian government had persistently refused to create an Italian university for its Italian subjects, fearing lest it should become a hotbed of irredentism, the Italianspeaking students being thus obliged to attend the GermanAustrian universities.
The ill-feeling, influenced by the ravages of members of the order in Poland, culminated in a struggle which began in December 1519.
Some misunderstanding caused an outburst of ignorant ill-feeling on the part of the students, who proceeded to such lengths that Fichte was compelled to reside out of Jena.
He concentrated all his energies on the government and defence of northern and eastern Germany, leaving the southern and western districts to profit by his example, while his policy of refraining from interference in the affairs of the other duchies tended to diminish the ill-feeling which existed between the various German tribes and to bring peace to the country as a whole.