THE PERIOD OF RUIN.
(1800.)
Again did evil arise from France, and again did a new life spring from
the struggle against the enemy.
It was not the first time that that country had inflicted deep wounds
on German national strength, and had unintentionally awakened a new
power which victoriously arrested her progress. The policy of Richelieu
had been the most dangerous opponent of the German Empire, but at the
same time it had been obliged to support the Protestant party there, in
which lay the source of all later renovation. After him French
literature ruled the German mind for a century, and for a long time it
appeared as if the Academy of Paris and the classical drama were to
govern our taste, as did the tailors and peruke makers of the Seine.
But indignation and shame produced, in opposition to French art, a
poetry and science which, in spite of its cosmopolitan tendency, was
genuinely national. Now the heir of the French revolution brought
violent destruction on the declining empire, and gave his commands on
its ruins like a tyrannical ruler, till at last the Germans resolved to
drive him away, in order to take their affairs into their own hands.
Defenceless was the frontier against the invading stranger. Only on the
lower Rhine there was the Prussian realm, but along the other part of
the stream were the domains of ecclesiastical princes, and small
territories without any power of resistance. It was the four western
circles of the empire, the Upper Rhine, Suabia, Franconia, and Bavaria,
which the North Germans mockingly called the Empire.
Even in the Empire, the ecclesiastical territories and Bavaria were
very much behindhand, in comparison with Baden and Suabia. The example
of Frederic II. in Prussia, and the philosophic enlightenment of this
period, had reformed most of the Protestant courts, as also Electoral
Saxony, since the Seven Years' War. Greater economy, household order,
and earnest solicitude for the good of the subject became visible. Many
governments were models of good administration, like Weimar and Gotha,
and in the family of one of the great ladies of the eighteenth century,
the Duchess Caroline of Hesse, as well as in Darmstadt and Baden, there
was economical mild rule. Even indeed in the court of Duke Karl of
Wurtemburg there was improvement. He who had dug lakes on the hills,
and employed his serfs to fill them with water, who had lighted the
woods with Bengal lights, and caused half-naked Fauns and Satyrs to
dance there, had learnt a lesson since 1778, and on his fiftieth
birthday, had promised his people to become economical, and had since
that been transformed into a careful landlord, under whom the country
flourished. Even the ecclesiastical courts had experienced somewhat of
this philosophical tendency, though undoubtedly the activity of an
enlightened ruler of Wuerzburg or Munster was much limited by the
inevitable supremacy of an ecclesiastical aristocracy, and the
increasing priestly rule.
But the Imperial cities of the south were, with the exception of
Frankfort, in a state of decadence; they were deeply in debt, and a
rotten patrician rule prevented modern industry from flourishing. The
councils still continued to issue high-sounding decrees, but the
_Senatus populusque, Bopfingensis_, or _Nordlingensis_ as they called
themselves in heroic style, appeared only a caricature to their
neighbours. The renowned Ulm, the southern capital of Suabia, once the
mistress of Italian agency business, had sunk so low that it was
supposed that she must sell her domain to preserve herself from
bankruptcy; Augsburg also was only the shadow of its former greatness,
its princely merchants had become weak commission agents and small
money-changers: it was said that the city only contained six firms that
could raise more than 200,000 gulden. The Academy of Arts of the city
was nothing but a school for artisans. The famous engravers made bad
pictures of saints for the village trade; the old hatred of confessions
still raged among the inhabitants, for its famed Senate was divided
into two factions, and nowhere did the parties of Frederic and Maria
Theresa contend so bitterly. Even Nuremberg, once the flower and the
pride of Germany, had been severely injured in the old bad time; its
30,000 inhabitants were hardly the fifth of that community which, 300
years earlier, had mustered in fearful battle array; but the city was
still in the way to gain a modest position in the German markets, no
longer by the artistic articles of old Nuremberg, but by an extended
trade in small wares of wood and metal, in which some of the old
artistic feeling might still be perceived.
It was no better along the Rhine,--the great ecclesiastical street of
the Empire,--there lay, down the stream, the residences of three
ecclesiastical Electors in succession. In the Electorate of Mainz,
which, from olden times, had frequently maintained a great independence
within the church, two intellectual rulers had undoubtedly given an
enlightened aspect to a part of their clergy, and to the new portions
of their city; but in the old city and trades, little of the new time
was to be perceived, and the prebendaries who read Voltaire and
Rousseau were by no means an unqualified gain, at least for the
morality of the citizen. But the great Cologne was in the worst repute;
the dung-heaps lay all day in the streets, which were not lighted, the
pavement was miserable, and on dark evenings the necks and limbs of
passengers were in great danger, the roads also were insecure, filled
with idling ragamuffins. The beggars formed a great guild, counting
5000 heads; till noon they sat and lay at the church doors in rows,
many on chairs, the possession of one of which was considered as a
secure rent, and assigned as dowry to the beggar's children; when they
left their places, they went to the houses to demand food for dinner;
they were a coarse, wicked set.[32] On the whole, it is known that the
ecclesiastical rulers treated the citizens and peasants with
comparative mildness, and the military compulsion was less burdensome,
but they did little for the industry or cultivation of the people.
After them, in this respect, Bavaria was in worst repute, and no other
people since that has made such great progress; but about 1790 it was
said to be most behindhand in wealth and morals; the cities, with the
exception of Munich, looked decayed, and were poorly populated:
idleness and beggary spread everywhere; except brewers, bakers, and
innkeepers, there were no wealthy people. Even in Munich, countless
beggars loitered about, mixed with numbers of modish, dandified
officials; there was no national industry, only some manufactures of
articles of luxury favoured by the government. Not long ago it was
maintained by a Bavarian monthly journal, that manufacturing activity
and the like were not very practicable for Bavarians, because the great
river of the country flowed to Austria, and a competition with the
Imperial hereditary States was not possible. The most flourishing
countries in Germany, next to the small territories on the North Sea,
were then Electoral Saxony and the country of the Lower Rhine, up to
the Westphalian county of Mark; and this is little altered.
To those who dwelt in the Empire the inhabitants of the North were a
remote people, but they were in the habit of considering Prussia and
Austria also as foreign powers.
Of the people in Austria the citizens of the Empire knew little. Even
the Bavarian, before whose eyes his Danube flowed to Vienna, desired no
intercourse with these neighbours; he preferred looking over the
mountains to the Tyrol, for the hatred which so readily divides
frontier people was there in full force. The Saxon had important trade
with the Germans in Northern Bohemia; it mattered little to him what
lay beyond; it was a foreign race, in evil repute, from the old war. To
other Germans the "Bohemian Mountains" and an unknown land signified
the same thing. The nations which dwelt along the Danube, amongst them
Czechs, Moravians, Italians, Slovenes, Magyars, and Slovaks, were a
vigorous, powerful race, of ancient German blood; the Thirty Years' War
had little injured their stately carriage and personal beauty, but
their own rulers had estranged them from Germany. By persecution, not
only the heretics, but also the activity and culture of those who
remained, had been frightened away; but a life of enjoyment and
pleasure still pulsated in the great capital. Any one who wished to
enjoy himself went there--Hungarians, Bohemians, and nobles from the
Empire. Germany lay outside the Vienna world, and they thought little
of it.
Undoubtedly the ruler of Austria was also the Emperor of Germany. The
double eagle hung against all the post-houses in the Empire, and when
the Emperor died, according to old custom, the church bells tolled. Any
one who sought for armorial bearings, or quarrelled about privileges,
went to the Imperial court; otherwise the Empire knew nothing of the
Emperor or his supremacy. When the soldiers of the Princes of the
Empire came together with the Austrians and Prussians, they were
derided as good-for-nothing people; the "_Kostbeutel_"[33] and the
"Schwabische Kragen" hated each other intensely; when the Austrian
received a blow, no one was better pleased than the contingent from the
Empire.
Even among themselves the subjects of the small rulers did not live in
peace; insulting language and blows were common; the Mainzers attacked
the inhabitants of the Palatinate, and when the French occupied
Electoral Mainz, the inhabitants of the Palatinate and Darmstadt
rejoiced in the sufferings of their neighbours.[34]
The mass of the people in the Empire lived quietly to themselves. The
peasant performed his service, and the citizen worked; both had been
worse off than now, but there was no difficulty in earning a
livelihood. If they had a mild ruler, they served him willingly; the
citizens clung to the city and province whose dialect they spoke; they
frequently bore great attachment to their little State, which enclosed
almost all that they knew, and whose helplessness they only imperfectly
understood. When it became a cipher, they did not the more know what
they were, and asked one another with anxious curiosity what they
should now become. It was an old, quiet misery!
The new ideas that came from France undoubtedly somewhat disquieted
them; things were better there than with them; they listened
complacently to foreign emissaries; they put their heads together, and
determined, sometimes in the evening perhaps, to abolish what annoyed
them; they also sent petitions to their worthy rulers. The peasants
here and there became more difficult to manage; but as long as the
French did not come, the movement was a mere curl of the waves; and
when the French Custine gained Mainz, he called the Guild together,
and each one was to give in a project of a constitution. This took
place. The peruke-makers produced one: "We wish to be diminished to
five-and-thirty, and the Crab (thus a master was called) shall be our
president of the council." The hackney-coachmen declared, "We will pay
no more bridge tolls; then, as far as we are concerned, any one may be
our Elector who wishes!" No Guild thought of a republic and
constitution. This was the condition of the small States of the Empire
in the century of enlightenment.
The people of the Imperial States knew well that the larger ones held
them in contempt for their want of military capacity; and it was
natural that in these small States no martial spirit should exist.
Unwillingly did they form regiments from five, ten, or more
contemptible contingents; soldiers and officers in the same regiment
often quarrelled; the uniforms were scarcely the same colour, nor
the word of command. The citizens despised their soldiers; it was
told jeeringly that the Mainz soldiers at their post cut pegs for
the shoemakers; that the guard at Gmuend presented arms to every
well-dressed foot-passenger, and then stretched out their hats and
begged for a donation; that a man in uniform was despised and excluded
from every society; that the wives and mistresses of the officers took
the field with children and ninepins; that the weapons and discipline
were miserable, and all the material of war imperfect. This was
undoubtedly a great misfortune, and apparent to everybody. The worst
troops in the world were to be found in the Imperial regiments, but
there were some better companies among them, and some officers of
capacity. Even out of this bad material a foreign conqueror was able
afterwards to make good soldiers; for the Germans have always fought
bravely when they have been well led. Besides the Prussians, there were
some other small _corps d'armee_, in well-deserved estimation--the
Saxon, Brunswick, Hanoverian, and Hessian.
On the whole, then, the military power of Germany was not altogether
unsatisfactory; it could well bear some occasional bad elements, and
still, in point of number and valour, cope with any army in the world.
The cause of decay in the army was not the composition of the army
itself, but discord and bad leading.
After 1790, destruction burst upon the Empire--wave upon wave broke
over it from west to east.
First came into the country the white Petrels of the Bourbons,
precursors of the storm--the emigrants. There were many valiant men
among them, but the larger number, who gave character and repute to the
whole, were worthless, reckless rabble. Like a pestilence, they
corrupted the morals of the cities in which they located themselves,
and the courts of small, simple Sovereigns, who felt themselves
honoured by receiving these distinguished adventurers. Coblentz, the
seat of government of Electoral Treves, was their head-quarters, and
that city was the first where their immorality brought ruin into
families, and disunion into the State, They were fugitives enjoying the
hospitality of a foreign country, but with knavish impudence, wherever
they were the strongest, they ill-treated the German citizens and
peasants, as well as the foolish nobleman who honoured in them polite
Paris. When Veit Weber, the valiant author of "Sagen der Vorzeit,"
whilst travelling in a Rhine boat, was humming a French song upon
contentment, of which the refrain was, "_Vive la Liberte_," some
emigrants, who were travelling with him, drew their swords upon him and
his unarmed companion, misused them with the flat blade, bound them
with cords round their necks, and so dragged them to Coblentz, where
they robbed them of their money and passports, and, thus wounded, they
were imprisoned without examination till the Prussians arrived and
freed them.[35] Besides brutal violence, the emigrants also introduced
into the circles which admitted them vices hitherto unknown to the
people, loathsome diseases, and meannesses of every kind. In the whole
of the Rhine valley a feeling of hatred and disgust was excited by
their presence; nothing worked so favourably for the French republican
party; the feeling became general among the people, that a struggle
which was to rid France of such evil deeds and abominations must be
just. They were equally despised by the more powerful States--Prussia
and Austria. The troops that they hired were composed of the worst
rabble; even the poor people of the Imperial States looked with
repugnance on the bands of emigrants.
After the corrupt nobles came the speeches of the National Assembly,
and the decrees of the Convention; but few of the educated men were
entirely uninfluenced by them. They were the same ideas and wishes that
the Germans had. More than one enthusiastic spirit was so attracted by
them as to give up their Fatherland and go to the west, to their own
destruction. Not the last of such men was George Foster, whom Germans
should pity, and not extol. And yet these monstrous events, and
excitable minds, produced only a slight intoxication. There was great
sympathy, but it was only a kindly participation in a foreign concern;
for, hopeless as was the political condition of Germany--imperfect and
oppressive as was the administration of the greater States--yet there
was a widespread feeling that social reforms were progressing, which,
in contrast to the French, would spread peaceably by teaching and good
example. There were bitter complaints of the perverseness and
incapacity of many of the princes, but, on the whole, it could not be
doubted that there was much good-will in the governments. Germany,
also, had no such aristocracy as France. The lesser nobles, in spite of
their prejudices and errors, lived, on the whole, in a homely way in
the midst of the people; and just at this time they counted in their
ranks many leaders of the enlightenment. What most oppressed the
cultivated minds of Germany was not so much the vices of the old feudal
state as their own political insignificance, the clumsiness of the
constitution of the Empire, the feeling that the Germans, by this
much-divided rule, had become _Philisters_.
It was then, also, far from Paris to Germany; the characters which
there contended against each other, the ultimate aim of parties, the
evil and the good, were much less known than would be the case in our
time. The larger newspapers only appeared three times a week; they gave
dry notices, seldom a long correspondence, still less often an
independent judgment. The flying sheets alone were active; even their
judgment was moderate; they wished well to the movement, but were
bolder in the discussion of home matters.
Therefore, though in Paris there were massacres in the streets, and the
guillotine was incessantly at work, in Germany the French revolution
had no effect in banding political parties against one another. And
when the account came that the King had been imprisoned, ill-treated,
and executed, forebodings, even among the least timid, became general.
Thus it was possible that German officers, even the _gardes du corps_
at Potsdam, good-humouredly allowed the _ca ira_ to be played, whilst
the street boys sang to it a rude translation of the text. The ladies
of the German aristocracy wore tricolour ribbons, and head dresses _a
la carmagnole_. Curiosity collected the people in a circle round some
patriot prisoners of war--dismal tattered figures--whilst they danced
their wild dances, and accompanied them by pantomime, which expressed
washing their hands in the blood of the aristocrats; and some
innocently bought from them the playthings which they had made on the
march, little wooden guillotines. But it was a morbid simplicity in the
educated.
There is another thing which appears still stranger to us. Whilst the
storm raged convulsively in France, and the flood rolled its waves more
wildly every year over Germany; the eyes and hearts of all men of
intellect were fixed on a little Principality in the middle of Germany,
where, amid the deepest tranquillity, the great poet of the nation, by
the wonderful creations of his mind in prose and verse, dispelled all
dark forebodings. King and Queen were guillotined, and "Reineke Fuchs"
made into a poem; there came, together with Robespierre and the reign
of terror, letters on the aesthetic training of men; with the battles of
Lodi and Arcole, "Wilhelm Meister," "Horen," and "Xenien"; with the
French acquisition of Belgium, "Hermann and Dorothea"; with the French
conquest of Switzerland and the States of the Pope, "Wallenstein"; with
the French seizure of the left bank of the Rhine, the "Bastard of
Orleans"; with the occupation of Hanover by Napoleon, the "Bride of
Messina"; with Napoleon Emperor, "Wilhelm Tell." The ten years in which
Schiller and Goethe lived in close friendship--the ten great years of
German poetry, on which the German will look back in distant centuries
with emotion and sentimental tenderness--are the same years in which a
loud cry of woe was heard through the air; in which the demons of
destruction drew together from all sides, with clothes dipped in blood,
and scorpion scourges in their hands, in order to make an end of the
unnatural life of a nation without a State. Only sixty years have since
passed, yet the period in which our fathers grew up is as strange to us
in many respects as the period in which, according to tradition,
Archimedes calculated geometrical problems, whilst the Romans were
storming his city. The movement of this time worked differently on the
Prussian State. It was no longer the Prussia of Frederic II. In the
interior, indeed, his regulations had been faithfully preserved; his
followers mitigated everywhere some severities of the old system, but
the great reforms which the time urgently required were scarcely begun.
But in the eighteenth century, up to the war of 1806, the external
boundary of the State increased on a gigantic scale. Frederic had still
left behind him a little kingdom; a few years after, Prussia might be
reckoned as one of the great realms of Europe. In the rapidity of this
growth, there was something unnatural. By the two last divisions of
Poland, about 1772 square miles of Sclavonic country were added.
Shortly before, the Principalities of the Franconian Hohenzollerns,
Anspach and Baireuth, were gained, another 115 square miles. Besides
this, after the peace of Luneville, forty-seven square miles of the
Upper Rhine district of Cleves were exchanged for 222 square miles of
German territory; parts of Thuringia, including Erfurt, half Munster,
also Hildesheim and Paderborn; finally, Anspach was again exchanged for
Hanover. After that, Prussia for some months comprised a territory of
6047 square miles, almost double its extent in 1786, and about a sixth
more than it at present contains. In this year, Prussia might almost
have been called Germany; its eagles hovered over the countries from
Old Saxony up to the North Sea; also over the main territory of Old
Franconia and in the heart of Thuringia; it ruled the mouths of the
Elbe; it surrounded Bohemia on two sides, and could, after a short
day's march, make its war horses drink in the Danube. In the east it
extended itself far into the valley of the Vistula and to the Bug; and
its officials governed in the capital of departed Poland. This rapid
increase, even in peaceful times, might not have been without
disadvantage, for the amount of constructive power which Prussia could
employ for the assimilation to itself of such various acquisitions was
perhaps not great enough.
And yet the excellent Prussian officials, of the old school just then
greatly distinguished themselves. Organisation was carried on
everywhere with great zeal and success; brilliant talents, and great
powers were developed in this work. There were certainly many half
measures and false steps, but on the whole, when we consider the work,
the integrity, the intelligence, and the vigorous will which the
Prussians then showed in Germany, it fills us with respect, especially
when we compare it with the later French rule, which indeed carried on
reforms thoroughly and dexterously, but at the same time brought a
chaos of coarseness and rough tyranny into the country.
The acquisition of Poland was in itself a great gain for Germany, for
it afforded it a protection against the enormous increase of Russia;
the east frontier of Prussia gained military security. If it was hard
for the Poles, it was necessary for the Germans. The desolate condition
of the half-wild provinces required a proportionate exertion, if they
were to be made useful, that is to say, if they were to be transformed
into a German Empire. It was not a time for quiet colonisation; but
even of this there was not a little.
But another circumstance was ominous. All these extensions were not the
result of the impulses of a strong national power: they were partly
forced on Prussia after inglorious campaigns by a too powerful enemy.
And Germany showed the remarkable phenomena of Prussia being enlarged
under continued humiliations and diplomatic defeats; and that its
increase of territory went hand-in-hand with the decrease of its
consideration in Europe. Thus this diffuse State had at last too much
the appearance of a group of islands congregated together, which the
next hurricane would bury under the waves.
The surface of ground was so great, and the life and interests of its
citizens had become so various, that the power of one individual could
no longer arbitrarily guide the enormous machine in the old way. And
yet there was no lack of the great aid--the ultimate regulator both of
princes and officials--public opinion, which incessantly, honestly, and
bravely accompanied the doings of rulers, examined their public acts,
gave expression to the wishes of the people, and felt their needs. The
daily press was anxiously controlled, accidental flying sheets wounded
deeply, and were violently suppressed.
The King was a man of strict uprightness and moderation, but he was no
General, nor a great politician; so he remained all his life too much
averse to decided and energetic resolves. He was then young and
diffident of his own powers, and he felt vividly that he superintended
too little the details of business; the intrigues of greedy courtiers
put him out of humour, without his knowing how to stop them; his
endeavours to preserve his own independence, and guard himself from
preponderating influence, put him in danger of preferring insignificant
and pliant characters to firm ones. The State had clearly then come
into a position when the spontaneous action of the people and the
beginning of constitutional life could no longer be dispensed with. But
again it seemed so little possible, that the most discontented scarcely
ventured to whisper it. All the material for it was wanting; the old
States of Prussia had been thoroughly set aside; the communities were
governed by officials; even an interest in politics and the life of the
State was almost confined to them. What the King had seen arise under
the co-operation of the people in a foreign country, national
assemblies and conventions, had given him so deep a repugnance to every
such participation of his Prussians in the work of the State, that, to
the misfortune of his people and successors, he never, as long as he
lived, could overcome this feeling. Before 1806, he thought of nothing
of the kind.
Very strongly did he feel that it was impossible for him to continue to
govern in the old method of Frederic II. This great King, in spite of
all his immense power of work and knowledge of minute particulars, had
only been able to keep the whole in vigorous movement by sacrificing to
his arbitrary power, even the innocent, in case of need. As he was in
the position to decide everything himself, and quickly, it frequently
happened that his decision depended on his humour and accidental
subordinate considerations. He did not, therefore, hesitate to break an
officer for a mere oversight, or discharge councillors of the supreme
court who had only done their duty. And if he discovered that he had
done an injustice, though he was passionately desirous of doing
justice, he never once acknowledged the fact; for it was necessary to
preserve his faith in himself, as well as the obedience and pliancy of
his officials, and the implicit trust of his people in his final
decisions. It was not only one of his peculiar characteristics, but
also his policy, to retract nothing, neither overhaste nor mistake; and
not to make amends even for obvious injustice, except occasionally and
secretly. That powerful and wise Prince could venture upon this; his
successor justly feared to rule in such a way. The grandson of that
Prince of Prussia, whom Frederic II. angrily removed from the command
in the middle of the war, felt deeply the severity of this hasty
decision.
He was therefore obliged to do like his predecessors, to seek to
control his officials by themselves. Thus began in Prussia the reign of
the bureaucracy. The number of offices became greater, useless
intermediate authorities were introduced, and the transaction of all
business became circuitous. It was the first consequence of the
endeavour to proceed justly, thoroughly, and securely, and to remodel
the strict despotism of the olden time. But to the people this appeared
a loss. As long as there was no press, and no tribunal to help the
oppressed to their rights, petitions had quite a different
signification to what they have now; for now the most insignificant can
gain the sympathy of a whole country by inserting a few lines in a
newspaper, and set ministers and representatives of the people in
commotion for days. Frederic II. had received every petition, and
generally disposed of them himself, and thus, undoubtedly, his kingly
despotism came to light Frederic William could not bear to have
petitions presented to himself; he sent them immediately to the courts.
This was according to rule. But, as the magistrates were not yet
obliged to take care that these complaints of individuals should be
made public, they were only too frequently thrown on one side, and the
poor people exclaimed that there was no longer any help against the
encroachments of the Landraethe,[36] or against the corruption of
excisemen. Even the King suffered from it; not his good will, but his
power was doubted to give help against the officials.
To this evil was added another. The officials of the administration had
become more numerous, but not more powerful. Life was more luxurious,
prices had increased enormously, and their salaries, always scanty even
in the olden time, had not risen in proportion. In the cities, justice
and administration were not yet separated; a kind of tutelage was
exercised even in the merest trifles; the spontaneous activity of the
citizen was failing; the "Directors" of the city were royal officials,
frequently discharged auditors and quartermasters of regiments. In 1740
this had been a great advance; in 1806 the education and professional
knowledge of such men was insufficient. Into the war and territorial
departments, however, which are now called government departments, the
young nobility already sought for admittance; among them not a few were
men of note, who later were reckoned the greatest names in Prussia; and
most of them, without much exertion, quickly made their fortunes. It
was complained that in some of the offices almost all the work was done
by the secretaries. But that, in truth, was only the case in Silesia,
which had its own minister. After the great Polish acquisition, Count
Hoym, in Silesia, had for some years the chief administration of the
Polish province. It was a bad measure to give a subject unlimited power
over that vast territory; it was a misfortune for him and the State. He
lived at Breslau as king, and he kept spies at the court of his
Sovereign, who were to keep him _au fait_ of the state of things. The
poor nobles of Silesia thronged around him, and he gave his favourites
office, landed properties, and wealth. The uprightness of the officials
in the new province was injured by this unfit condition of things.
Government domains were sold at low prices, and Generals and privy
councillors were thus enabled to acquire large landed properties for
little money.
It is curious that the first open resistance to this arose among the
officials themselves, and that the opposition was carried on, for the
first time, in Prussia, through the modern weapon of the press. The
most violent complainant was the chief custom-house officer, Von Held;
he accused Count Hoym, Chancellor Goldbeck, General Ruechel, and many
others, of fraud, and compared the present state of Prussia with the
just time of Frederic II. The case made an immense sensation.
Investigations were commenced against him and his friends; they were
prosecuted as members of a secret society, and as demagogues. Held's
writings were confiscated; and he himself imprisoned and condemned, but
at last set at liberty. In his imprisonment the irritated and
embittered man attacked the King himself:[37] he accused him of too
great economy--which we consider the first virtue of a King of Prussia;
of hardness--which was unfounded; and of playing at soldiering--this,
unfortunately, with good grounds. He complained: "When the Prince will
no longer hear truth, when he throws upright men and true patriots into
prison, and appoints those who have been accused of fraud to be
directors of the commission appointed to try them, then must the
honest, calm, but not the less warm, friends of their Fatherland sigh."
Meanwhile he did not satisfy himself with sighing, but became
satirical.
From this dispute, which only turns on an individuals circumstances, we
learn how bold and reckless was the language of political critics in
old Prussia; and how low and helpless the position of its princes
against such attacks. As the King took the whole government upon his
own shoulders, he bore also the whole responsibility, as he alone
guided the machine of the State; so every attack on the particular acts
of the administration, and upon the officials of the State, was a
personal attack upon him. Wherever there was an error the King bore the
blame, either because he had neglected something or because he had not
punished the guilty. Every peasant woman who had her eggs crushed by
the excise officers at the city gates felt the harshness of the King;
and if a new tax irritated the city people, the boys in the streets
cried out and jeered behind the King's horse, and it was even possible
that a handful of mud might be thrown at his noble head. Again broke
forth a quiet war betwixt the King of Prussia and the foreign press.
Even Frederic William I. had, in his "_Tabakacollegium_," exercised his
powers of imagination in composing a short article against the Dutch
newspaper writers who had annoyed him; his great son, also, was
irritated by their pens, but he knew how to pay them in like coin.
Quite a volley of scorn and spite was fired in innumerable novels,
satires, and pasquinades against his successor. Of what avail against
this was violence, the opening of letters and secret investigations?
What use was confiscation? The forbidden writings were still read, and
the coarse lies were believed. Of what use was it if the King caused
himself to be defended by loyal pens, if in a well considered reply the
public were informed that Frederic William III. had shown no harshness
to the Countess of Lichtenau; that he was a very good husband[38] and
father, an upright man who had the best intentions? The people might,
or might not, believe it; at all events they had made themselves judges
of the life of their Prince in a manner which, as we view it, was
highly derogatory to the majesty of the Crown.
Yet the times were quiet, and the culture and mind of the nation was
not occupied by politics. What would happen if the people were roused
to political excitement? The monarchy, in this inferior position, would
be entirely ruined, however good might be the intentions of the
Hohenzollerns. For they were no longer, as they had been in the
eighteenth century, and were still in the time of Frederic II., great
landed proprietors on unpopulated territory; they were, in fact, kings
of an important nation; they were no longer in the position of
obtaining the knowledge of every perversity of the great host of
officials and of ruling over the great administration personally. Now,
the administration was carried on by officials; if it went right it was
a matter of course, but every mistake fell upon the King's head. How
this was to be remedied before 1806 no one, not even the best, knew.
But discontent and a feeling of insecurity increased among the people.
Such a condition of things, in a transition time, from the old despotic
state to a new one, gave a helpless aspect to the Prussian
commonwealth. It was however, in truth, no symptom of fatal weakness,
as was shortly after shown by zealous Prussians.
For, besides the strength and capacity of self-sacrifice, which was
still slumbering in the people, a fresh hopeful vigour was already
visible in a distinguished circle. Again it was to be found among the
Prussian officials. The supreme court of judicature had maintained
itself in the high consideration it had gained since the organisation
of the last King. It was a numerous body; it included the flower of
Prussian intelligence, the greatest strength of the citizens, and the
highest culture of the nobles. The elder were trained under Cocceji,
and the younger under Carmer--judicious, upright, firm men, of great
capacity for work, of proud patriotism and independence of character,
who were not led astray by any ministerial rescript. The court
_coteries_ did not yet venture to assail these unpliable men; and it is
a merit in the King that he held a protecting hand over their
integrity. They belonged partly to citizens' families, which for many
generations had sent their sons to the lecture-rooms of the professors
of law; in the East to Frankfort and Koenigsberg, in the West to Halle
and Goettingen. Their families formed an almost hereditary aristocracy
of officials. United with them as fellow-students and friends, and
like-minded, were the best talents of the administration; also
foreigners who had entered the Prussian civil service. From this circle
had been produced all the officials, who, after the prostration of
Prussia, were active in the renovation of the State, Stein, Schoen,
Vinke, Grolmann, Sack, Merkel, and many others, presidents of the
administration, and heads of the courts of justice after 1815.
It is a pleasure in this time of insecurity to direct our attention to
the quiet labours of these trustworthy men. Many of them were strictly
trained bureaucrats, with limited ideas and feelings; on the green
table of the Board lay the ambition and labour of their whole lives.
But they, the chief judges, the administrators of the Province,
maintained faithfully and lastingly through difficult times their
consciousness of being Prussians; each of them imparted to those about
him something of the tenacious perseverance and the confident judgment
which distinguished them. Even when they were severed from the body of
their State, and were obliged to declare the law under foreign rule,
they worked on in their sphere unchanged, in the old way; accustomed to
calm self-control, they concealed in the depths of their souls the
fiery longing after their hereditary ruler, and perhaps quiet plans for
a better time.
Whoever will compare these men with some of the powerful talents of the
official class which were developed at this time in the territories of
South Germany, will perceive an essential difference. There, even in
the best, there are frequently traits that are displeasing to us;
arbitrariness in their political points of view; indifference as to
whom or for what they served; a secret irony with which they consider
the petty relations of their country. They all suffer from the want of
a State which merits the love of a man. This want gives their judgment,
acute as it may be, something uncertain, unfinished, and peevish; one
does not doubt their integrity, but one feels strongly that there is a
moral instability in them which makes them like adventurers, though
learned and highly cultivated men. Undoubtedly, however, if a Prussian
once lost his love of Fatherland, he became weaker than them. Karl
Heinrich Lang is deficient in what Freidrich Gentz once had, and lost
by moral weakness.
Conscientious officials have admitted at this time the confusion of
every country, especially the North; but the Prussians may justly claim
this pre-eminence, that in the circle of their middle order, not the
most refined, but the soundest culture of that time was to be found,
not occasionally, but as a rule.
The Prussian army suffered from the same deficiencies as the politics
and administration of the state. Here also there was improvement in
many particulars, but much that was old was carefully preserved; what
once had been progress was now mischievous. This bad condition is
acknowledged; none have condemned it more strongly than the Prussian
military writers since the year 1815.
The treatment of the soldiers was still too severe; there was unworthy
parsimony in their scanty uniforms and small rations, endless was the
drilling, endless the parades, the ineradicable suffering of the
Prussian army; the man[oe]uvres had become useless "spectacle," in
which every movement was arranged and studied beforehand; incapable
officers were retained to the extreme of old age. Hardly anything had
been done to adapt the old Prussian system to the changed method of
carrying on war which had arisen in the Revolution.
The officers were still an exclusive caste, which was almost entirely
filled by the nobility; only a few not noble were in the Fusilier
Battalions of Infantry and some among the Hussars. Under Frederic II.,
during the deficiency of men in the Seven Years' War, young volunteers
of citizen origin were made officers. Then they were, at least in their
pay, and frequently in the regimental lists, represented as noble; but
after the peace, however great their capacity, they were almost always
kept out of the privileged battalions. This did not improve under the
later Kings. Only in the Artillery, in 1806, were the greater number of
officers commoners, but on that account they were not considered as
equals. It was a bitter irony that a French artillery officer should be
the person, as Emperor of the French, to think of shattering the
Prussian army and its State into pieces, at the same time in which they
were contending in Prussia as to whether an officer of artillery
should be received upon the general staff, and that the citizen
Lieutenant-Colonel Schamhorst should be envied this privilege.[39] It
was natural that all the failings of a privileged order should appear
in full measure in the Prussian corps of officers. Pride towards the
citizens, roughness to those under them, a deficiency in cultivation
and good morals, and in the privileged regiments an unbridled
insolence. It is a common complaint of contemporaries, that in the
streets and societies of Berlin people were not secure from the
insults of the _gens d'armes_, who were the _elite_ of the young
nobility. Already did these arrogant men, at the beginning of the
reign of Frederic William III., begin to be ashamed of wearing their
old-fashioned uniform in society, and where they dared, lounged in with
protruding white neck-ties, top-boots, and sword-sick.
In spite of these deficiencies, there was still in the Prussian army
much of the capacity and strength of the olden time. The stout race of
old subaltern officers had not died out, men who had shed bitter tears
over the death of their great General in 1786; and still did the common
soldiers, in spite of the diminished confidence in their leaders, feel
pride in their well-tried war-like capacity. Many characteristic traits
have been preserved to us, which give us a pleasing picture of the
disposition of the army. When, in the campaign of 1792, a Prussian and
Austrian, as good comrades and malcontents, were complaining to one
another, and the Prussian did not speak in praise of his King, he yet
stopped the other, who was repeating his words, with a box on the ear,
saying: "You shall not speak so of my King;" and on the angry Austrian
reproaching him with having said the same, the aggressor replied: "I
may say that, but not you, for I am a Prussian." Such was the feeling
in most of the regiments. The disgraceful prostration of Prussia was
not owing to the bad material of the army, nor especially to the
obsolete tactics. Nay, in the struggle it was shown how great was the
capacity of both the men and officers who were so shamefully
sacrificed. Amidst the lawlessness, coarseness, and rapacity which
inevitably come to light among a demoralised soldiery, we rejoice in
finding the most worthy soldier-like feeling often amongst the meanest
of them. One of the many unworthy proceedings of the stupid campaign of
1806, was the surrender of Hameln. How the betrayed garrison behaved
has been related in the letter of an officer. The narrator was the son
of an emigrant, a Frenchman by birth, but he had become an inestimable
German, of whom our people are proud; he had done his duty as a
Prussian officer, but at every free moment he devoted himself to German
literature and science; he had no satisfaction in carrying on war
against the land of his birth, and had sometimes wished himself away
from the ill-conducted campaign; but when a bad commander betrayed his
brave troops, the full anger of an old Prussian was kindled in the
breast of the adopted child of the German people, he assembled his
comrades, and urged them to a general rising against their incapable
commander; all the juniors were as indignant as himself; but in vain.
They were deceived, and the fortress, in spite of their resistance,
delivered over to the French. Fearful was the despair of the soldiers;
they fired their cartridges into the windows of the cowardly commander;
they shot one another in rage and drunkenness; they dashed their
weapons on the stones, that they might not be carried with more renown
by strangers, and the old Brandenburgers wept when they took leave of
their officers. In the company of Captain von Britzke, regiment von
Haack, were two brothers, Warnawa, sons of soldiers; they mutually
placed their muskets to each other's breast, drew the triggers at the
same time, and fell into each other's arms, that they might not survive
the disgrace.[40]
But those who were the leaders, but not men, who were they? Experienced
Generals from the school of the great King, men of high birth, loyal
and true to their King, grown old in honours. But were they too old?
They undoubtedly were grey-headed and weary. They had come into the
army as boys, perhaps from the teaching of the cadet colleges, where
they had been trained; they had marched and presented arms at the word
of command; had kept line and distance in countless parades; afterwards
they had kept a sharp look-out, that others might keep line and
distance, that the buttons were cleaned, and that the pig-tail was the
right length. In order to gain promotion, they had taken pains to learn
at Berlin whether Ruechel or Hohenlohe was in favour. This had been
their life. They knew little more than the spiritless routine of the
army, and that they were a wheel in the great machine. Now their army
was beaten, and the shattered remains in rapid retreat to the east.
What remained now, what was left of any value to them?
But it was not cowardice that made them such pitiful creatures. They
had formerly been brave soldiers, and most of them were not old enough
to be in their dotage. It was something else: they had lost all
confidence in their State; it appeared to them useless, hopeless to
defend themselves any longer--a fruitless slaughter of men. Thus did
these unfortunate ones feel. They had been all their life mediocre
men--not better nor worse than others; this mediocrity now prevailed,
as far as their narrow point of view reached, everywhere in the State.
Where was there anything great or strong? where any fresh life to give
enthusiasm and warmth? They themselves had been the delight, the
society of the Hohenzollerns--the first in the State, the salt of the
country; they were accustomed to look down upon citizens and officials.
Besides their Prince and the army itself, what had they in Prussia to
honour? Now the King was away--they knew not where--they were alone
within the walls of their fortress; and they found little in themselves
either to shun or to honour; they felt at best that they were weak.
Thus, in the hour of trial they became bad and mean, because they had
all their lives been placed higher than their merits. A fearful lesson
may be learnt from this; may Prussians always think of it. The
officers, as a privileged class, socially exclusive, with the feeling
of a privileged position in the State, were in constant danger of
fluctuating between arrogance and weakness. Only the officer who,
besides his honour as a soldier and his fidelity to his sovereign, had
a full participation in all that ennobled and elevated a citizen of his
time, could in a moment of difficulty find certain strength in his own
breast.
A period of intellectual poverty and mediocrity brought Prussia to the
verge of destruction; political passion raised it again.
But here an account shall be given of the feelings of a German citizen
on the fall of his State. He belonged to that circle of Prussian
jurists of whom we have just spoken. What he imparts is already known
from other records, yet his honest description will find sympathy from
its judicial clearness and simplicity:--
Cristoph Wilhelm Heinrich Sethe, born 1767, deceased 1855. "_Wirklicher
Geheimer Rath_," and chief president of the Rhenish court of appeal,
descended from a great legal family in the dukedom of Cleves; his
grandfather and father had been distinguished officials of the
government; his mother was a Grolmann. The boy grew up in the
enjoyment of wealth in his father's town; at sixteen years of age his
father sent him to the university of Duisburg, and then to Halle and
Goettingen; on his return he went through the Prussian grades of service
in the government of Cleve-Mark, an excellent school. These western
provinces---not of very great extent--comprised a good portion of the
strength of the Prussian State. This firm, vigorous population clung
with warm fidelity to the house of their Princes; there was in the
cities and among the peasants, who lived as freemen on their land, much
wealth, and the High Court of Justice was one of the best in Prussia
Sethe was "_Geheimer Rath_," happily married, with his whole heart in
his home, when a gloom was thrown over his native city and his own life
by the sound of war, the march and quartering of troops, exciting
reports, and, finally, the occupation of the town by the French, who,
as it is well known, allowed the sovereignty of Prussia to continue
for some years, till the Peace of Amiens took away the last vestige
of Prussian possession. Then Sethe severed himself from his home,
and established himself in the Prussian administration of the
newly-acquired portion of Muenster.
He shall now relate himself what he experienced.[41]
"You can easily imagine, my dear children, that the departure from
Cleve was very distressing to us. It was a bitter feeling to wander in
this way from home, and leave one's native city under foreign laws and
the dominion of a foreign people.
"On 3rd October, 1803, we left. We went from Cleve to Muenster in three
days; the journey from Emmerick was extremely difficult and tedious; it
was over corduroy roads, with loose stones thrown on them."[42]
"In the beginning of our life at Muenster we also encountered many
annoyances. From the number of officials who had removed there, and the
numerous military, our accommodation was very restricted. Then we
arrived there towards winter, and provisions were very deficient; in
Muenster there was no regular market, and the women from Cleve were in
despair, because they could get nothing. This, however, came right, and
afterwards they got on very well.
"On a friendly reception and courtesy to us intruding strangers we had
never reckoned, because we knew how much the people of Muenster clung to
their constitution--with what steadfastness a great portion of them
still relied on their elected bishop, Victor Anton, and how unwillingly
they endured the new rule of Prussia. I have never blamed them for
this; it was a praiseworthy trait in their character that they should
be unwilling to separate from a government under which they had felt
happy; but others took this much amiss of them, and expected that they
would receive the Prussians with open arms, and immediately become
Prussians in heart and soul, which could only be expected from a fickle
people who had groaned under the fetters of a harsh government.
"Therefore, there was already division and separation between the new
comers of old Prussia and the people of Muenster before our arrival.
Thus, much took place which was not likely to promote intimacy, or to
awaken a friendly feeling in the inhabitants.
"By the disbanding of the Muenster military, the greater number of the
officers were dismissed with pensions, and thrown out of their course
of life. This first consequence of the Prussian occupation not only
deeply wounded the feelings of those dismissed, but was generally
considered as unjust; and the more so as among the Muenster officers
there was much culture and scientific knowledge, and the general run of
Prussian officers could not stand comparison with them.
"The introduction of conscription increased the discontent; but still
more general indignation was excited by the ill-treatment which the
enlisted sons of citizens and country people had to bear from the
non-commissioned officers. I myself was eyewitness of the way in which
a non-commissioned officer dealt abusive language, blows, and kicks to
a recruit, and struck him on the shins with his cane, so that tears of
sorrow coursed down the cheeks of the poor man. The spirit, also, which
prevailed among the greater number of the Prussian officers, and their
consequent behaviour, was not calculated to excite a favourable feeling
in a new country towards the new government. Bluecher, indeed, who was
commandant of Muenster, won real esteem and liking by his popular
manner, his open and upright character, and his justice; and General
von Wobeser, commander of a dragoon regiment, a very sensible,
cultivated, moderate man, did so likewise; but the good effect of their
conduct was spoilt by that of the others, namely, the general body of
the subaltern officers.
"Once there arose a dispute betwixt some citizens and the guard at the
Mauritz-gate; the citizens were said to have gone amongst the arms and
hustled the guard. Bluecher was at that time at Pyrmont. There appeared
then a proclamation, under the signature of a General von Ernest, but
from another pen, by which every sentry who was touched by a citizen
should be authorised to strike him down. This irrational order, which
gave every sentinel power over the lives of the citizens, who, by
touching them even accidentally, were exposed to their bayonets,
excited indignation.
"In addition to this, there now happened a disagreeable affair between
three officers and three prebendaries.[43] There existed at Muenster a
so-called noble ladies' club, which admitted both men and ladies.
Immediately after the first possession of the place, from political
motives. Generals Bluecher and Wobeser, the President Von Stein, and
other Prussian officers were admitted, also Bluecher's son Franz. In
balloting for the admittance of another Prussian officer, he was
blackballed. Indisputably this showed an objection, either to him as a
Prussian, or to the admittance of more officers, for against the
individual nothing could be said. This could not fail to increase the
bad feeling, and it wounded especially the sensitive vanity of the
young officers. Moreover, the ballot was at first declared to be
favourable, and it was only upon a revision of the balls that the black
ball was discovered; that is to say, the lady president of the club,
the widowed Frau von Droste-Vischering, a very worthy and good-humoured
lady, either by mistake or from the well-meant intention of preventing
the disagreeable consequences of blackballing, had counted a white ball
too much. It was remarked by one of the prebendaries present, that the
whole number of balls did not agree with the number of votes. On
counting them again accurately, it was found that the candidate was not
received. Undoubtedly the younger prebendaries might have co-operated
in the exclusion.
"The impetuous Lieutenant Franz von Bluecher gave vent to his feelings
concerning this to one of the young prebendaries, and some words ensued
between them. The following day Franz Bluecher challenged this
prebendary by letter; and two other officers, one of whom was the
rejected one, challenged two other young prebendaries in the same way.
Both these, who had not had the slightest hostile communication with
the challengers, wrote to express their surprise. One of them received
for answer, that he had laughed at the altercation between Lieutenant
von Bluecher and the other prebendary, and therefore he, the challenger,
felt himself injured in the person of his friend Bluecher. The other
challenger would not even give such an excuse, he only wrote that he
felt himself aggrieved, and that was enough.
"The prebendaries, who, on account of their spiritual order, could not
accept the challenge, informed the King immediately of the occurrence.
The result was, the appointment of a mixed commission of inquiry under
the presidency of General von Wobeser, and our President of
Administration, Von Sobbe, into which I also was introduced, together
with the quartermaster of the regiment, Ribbentrop. The prebendaries
were acquitted by the court of justice before which the case was
brought, and the officers were sentenced by a court-martial to three
weeks' arrest, which they spent at the guard-house in the society of
their companions, and promenading before it.
"But the three prebendaries were also wounded in their most sensitive
feelings by a malicious trick which was played them. Before this
commission of inquiry was appointed, they were invited, through a
livery servant, to a great evening party at General Bluecher's without
his knowledge. They were all startled, suspected some mistake, and were
doubtful about going. But as they were all three invited through a
servant of the General's, they decided there could be no mistake, and
also their relations and friends, who thought this invitation was a
step towards the accommodation of the affair, advised them to go.
General Bluecher, who had never thought of inviting them, was naturally
very irate at seeing the three prebendaries enter. Being much
prejudiced against them by his son Franz, who had then much influence
over his father, and perhaps irritated by invidious remarks from the
originator of the intrigue, upon their boldness in appearing, he gave
them to understand that they had not been invited, and might go. They
indignantly left the party, and not only they, but also their families;
the ladies hastened home on foot, so deeply did they feel the
mortification. This concerted deliberate affront excited general
ill-will, and contributed very much to increase the bad feeling.
"But what more than all increased the bitterness was the exercise of
'Cabinet justice'[44] in the suit of the firm of Herren von der Beck,
against the Herren von Landesberg and Von Boeselager. By a 'Cabinet
order' of the 5th September, 1805, obtained by Von der Reck, the suit
between the two parties pending in the Imperial Aulic Council was
declared to be legally decided, and a commission of execution was
appointed to eject the Herren von Landesberg and Von Boeselager from
their property, and to place the Herren von der Reck in possession of
it.
"This unfortunate business, in a country which had as yet no Prussian
feeling, revolted all minds. In public writings this violent inroad on
the course of law was vehemently attacked, and an odious stain was
inflicted on our Prussian justice, of which we had talked so loudly.
"It was a mistake not to introduce the whole Prussian constitution at
the outset, there would then have been only one source of discontent
instead of constantly recurring irritation. Some, of the new things
that were introduced piecemeal were peculiarly disagreeable to the
people of Muenster, who were quite unaccustomed to them, such as the
stamp duty, conscription, and the salt monopoly. Also the well-known
excise was impending. Already were the toll-houses built, and it was to
have been introduced in 1807, but was prevented by the events of the
year 1806. But the expectation gave a disagreeable foretaste, and
through it new fuel was added to the hatred. At last, but much too
late, as the unhappy war had begun, the chapter was dissolved.
"Under such circumstances, residence in Muenster was not agreeable to us
old Prussians. I indeed felt this less than others; after I had made
myself, to a certain extent, at home, I got on well with the people
there; we won many true friends, and experienced from them much love
and friendship. As in my office, so in social intercourse, I took pains
to judge justly.
"But the year 1806 came, and one sorrow followed upon another. First
the three Rhine portions of the Duchy of Cleve, which remained to the
Prussians, surrendered to Napoleon; he established himself on this side
of the Rhine, and came into possession of the fortress Wesel, which was
only too near to the present Prussian frontier. His brother-in-law
Joachim Murat became duke of the old hereditary possessions of the
King's family. No one could conceal from himself that our State, which
spread so wide from east to west, was in a very critical position. Our
grief was increased by the insolence with which the newly created duke
carried on his encroachments even as far as Muenster.
"New clouds rose darkly over us. Letters from Berlin breathed war
against Napoleon, Bluecher left us, and we expected the French
occupation of Muenster. It is true that General Lecoq had entered it
with a small corps, but this gave us little comfort, for he appeared to
wish to abandon the city, with its moats and ramparts, to the evil
results of a useless defence. When he had felled down a beautiful
plantation in front of the Egidien gate, and after the appearance of
our war manifesto, the city was terrified one night by sudden alarm
signals, in order, as he said, to prove the watchfulness of his
soldiers; in the middle of October he suddenly withdrew and left us to
our fate.
"Nevertheless, we old Prussians, confiding in the valour of our
soldiers, gazed hopefully towards the east, and looked forward with
impatient expectation to news of victory. And it came--when Napoleon
was already making his victorious march to Berlin--and it bore such an
impress of truth, that President Von Vinke[45] ordered it to be
published. Never was there such exultation; every one hastened to the
other to convey first the joyful news. But the deepest prostration
followed; the cup we had now to drink was the more bitter after the
intoxication of pleasure. A few days after we received from fugitives
only too certain an account of the loss of the battle of Jena.
"Yet we recovered from the first stupefaction, and did not give up all
hope. One lost battle could not decide the fate of the whole war.
"But when we received detailed accounts of the terrible consequences of
this defeat, when the last remains of the army had to lay down their
arms at Luebeck, when the fortresses of Hameln, Magdeburg, Stettin and
Castrin had, with unexampled cowardice, been surrendered without a blow
to the enemy, and the whole Prussian State came under their power, then
our courage sank, we knew that we were lost.
"Meanwhile the sorrowful intelligence of the lost battle was followed
by the enemy taking possession of the place.
"Early one morning, a division of cavalry of the army of the King of
Holland entered. Our anger and sorrow were increased by the feeling of
the people of Muenster, which was very different from ours. Already on
the arrival of the vanguard of the Dutch army, their long-nourished,
slumbering indignation against the Prussians manifested itself in
unconcealed joy. With open arms were the liberators from Prussian
domination received, and joyfully lodged. Immediately afterwards the
King of Holland marched in at the head of his army.
"We had hard work in quartering them, as ten thousand men had entered
the city. But strict discipline was kept, for it was undoubtedly the
object of the King of Holland not to make the country inimical to him;
but to treat it in the most conciliatory way. He flattered himself that
the frontier Prussian province would come to the share of the Kingdom
of Holland. His proceedings and the language of those about him, showed
that he already considered himself as possessor of the country. He
established an upper administrative council, at whose head General
Daendels was placed, in co-ordinate authority with the presidents of
the provincial administration and exchequer. Immediately the Muenster
nobles came before him with their complaints of the Prussian rule, to
which he listened. First stood the abolition of the chapter, and the
ejection of Herren von Landesberg and von Boeselager. He exercised a
real act of sovereignty, for he reinstated the chapter, and reversed
the execution against those who had been expelled in the suit of the
Herren von der Reck.
"Meanwhile his kingdom soon came to an end; he had to march away at the
command of Napoleon, who divided the conquered Prussian provinces into
military governments, and appointed Generals and General-Intendants to
preside. The Principalities of Muenster and Lingen, and the counties of
Mark and Tecklenburg, together with the Domain of Dortmund, formed the
first of these governments. General Loison came to Muenster.
"Thus for the second time I came under French rule. In vain had I
endeavoured to escape; fruitless were the severe sacrifices I had made
for this purpose. I had abandoned Fatherland and home, parents and
property, only to undergo once more in a foreign country the
catastrophe which I had avoided, and which now came upon me in a far
worse form. When Cleve became French, I took leave of it; I felt in my
heart pleasure in returning under the sceptre of my own King, and under
the rule of home laws; this one anchor to which I had held, was now
torn from me. The power of Prussia was shattered, the whole State, with
the exception of a small portion, was now in the power of a conqueror,
whose ambitious plans displayed themselves more and more. It was only
too certain that we should be trampled upon; but what our fate might
be, over that a dark veil was drawn. The grief which gnawed in our
bosoms and the deep mourning in which we were sunk, were increased by
the annoyance of witnessing the joyful exultation of the people of
Muenster over their liberation from Prussian rule, and the favour with
which they were treated by the conqueror and his satellites. It was
more especially the Muenster nobles who thus distinguished themselves,
and behaved in a most undignified way. I will relate some instances of
it.
"In order in the speediest way to remove the hated Prussian colours,
which were painted on the turnpikes, bridges, and public buildings, and
to replace them by the old Muenster colours, a subscription was raised
to defray the costs, and our colours were erased as soon as possible.
One of the most opulent nobles took pleasure in showing his warm
participation in this undertaking, by giving his signature to a
considerable sum; in order to make known that he could not refrain from
expressing his satisfaction, he added to his subscription, the phrase:
'With pleasure,' that no one might doubt his patriotic feeling.
"The presidents, directors, councillors, assessors and referendaries of
the government, and of the war and royal domain departments, continued
to wear their official uniforms. These reminiscences of Prussian
supremacy were an abomination in the eyes of the nobles. They therefore
endeavoured to work upon General Loison to order the laying aside of
the uniform; but they only half succeeded. The General expressly
permitted the continuance of the uniform, and only ordered that the
Prussian button should be taken away, which we were obliged to change
for a smooth one. Thus the uniform was not laid aside, and the Geheime
Rath von Forkenbeck and I still wore it at the council in the year
1808, when we were called to Duesseldorf.
"This otherwise proud Muenster nobility paid as much court to the French
Generals as to their former ruler, the Prince Bishop.
"The oath prescribed by Napoleon, which was imposed also in Muenster,
was so little obnoxious to them, that they even endeavoured to make a
solemnity of taking it, and to do it with the ceremony which is only
customary at doing homage. A canopy was erected in the great hall of
the castle, under which General Loison received the oath. It was with
great astonishment that we beheld these preparations, but our surprise
was still greater when we saw General Loison, accompanied by the
hereditary and court officials of the former Bishop of Muenster; who,
with their old state ministered to the French General, in the same way
as to their former Sovereign, and stood at his side as supporters
during the ceremony.
"A considerable table allowance was appointed for the governor--if I do
not mistake, 12,000 thalers monthly--which was raised by an
extraordinary tax. A household was formed, and the pensioned Muenster
officials were again employed. The Court Marshal von Sch. acted in this
capacity at the table of the French governor; he issued the invitations
for dinners and evening assemblies, on which occasions he wore his old
court marshal's uniform, with his marshal's staff in his hand, and
under him was the court quartermaster with his sword, &c. When we saw
this servile conduct the first time, the president of the
administration, Von Sobbe, speaking to me, called the one an arrant
fool, and the other the court fool.
"Besides this, there was a volunteer guard of honour established for
General Loison, who equipped themselves. They furnished the daily guard
at the castle, and accompanied the General, when with a troop of
soldiers he made a progress into the county of Mark. At the head of
this guard of honour there were members of the Muenster nobility.
"In the noble ladies' club, from which every respectable German had
been excluded who did not belong to their caste, they received the
French General with his mistress, in order to exercise more influence
upon him.
"Nevertheless, they were not so successful with General Loison; he was
too wary for them, made fun of them in secret, and only cared for the
presents that were partly given to him and partly promised. They had
offered him a costly sword as a present, which he accepted graciously.
The sword was ordered and made at Frankfort, but it only arrived after
Loison had left the government. Now they were sorry for this too hasty
offer, and they had no desire to send him the sword, as they had not
found that complaisance in him which they expected. All this courtly
_empressement_ became so repugnant to Loison, that he himself prevailed
on Napoleon to recall him to the army.
"With his weaker successor, Canuel, it succeeded better. My worthy
friend the president, Von Vinke, was the first to experience it. An
incidental expression thrown out by him in a remonstrance, 'that
otherwise he could no longer carry on his office,' was readily laid
hold of as signifying a resignation, and he was dismissed from his
post.
"In order to overcome my grief at things that could not be altered, I
endeavoured to find distraction in a great work. The yet incomplete
state of the laws of mortgages in the county of Muenster, offered me the
handiest and best material I devoted myself to this tedious work with
the greatest zeal, and with the assistance of many referendaries, I
accomplished the registry of all the title deeds which had to be
recorded in the mortgage book of the government of Muenster. Thus I
succeeded in a certain measure in occupying myself, and I learnt by
experience that hard work is in truth a soothing balsam, which precedes
the slow healing powers of time.
"But much as I believed myself to have acquired a kind of philosophic
tranquillity by this withdrawal into my narrow sphere of business, yet
I could not escape agitating feelings when the Peace of Tilsit really
separated us from the Prussian State, and removed its frontier as much
as forty miles to the east of us. The moving words with which our
unhappy King took leave of his subjects, in the ceded provinces, and
discharged the officials from their oath of allegiance, made us feel
our loss still deeper. 'Dear children, it is an indescribably sorrowful
feeling when the old ties of allegiance, of love, and confidence, which
have bound us through long successive years to our ancestors, our
State, and rulers, are at once violently rent, when a new and foreign
ruler is forced upon a people, for whom no heart beats, who is received
with despairing doubts, and who on his side feels nothing for his
subjects.'"
Here we conclude the narrative of the good Prussian. Muenster and the
county of Mark were attached to the new grand-dukedom of Berg; Sethe
himself became procurator-general of the Court of Appeals at
Duesseldorf. But not for long, the firm uprightness of the German
appeared suspicious to the foreign conqueror; he had not offered his
aid in supporting the acts of tyranny of the French government;
therefore he was called with threats to Paris, and there arrested,
because, in fact, they feared his influence on the patriotic
disposition of the country. When, in 1813, he was released, and the
Prussian rule was restored in his Fatherland, he conducted the
organisation of the legal authorities in the Rhine country. From that
time he led a long, useful life of activity in his office, one of the
first Prussian jurists who supported trial by jury, publicity, and
verbal evidence, against the State government. A firm independence of
character, truthful, devoted to duty, with deified earnestness and
simplicity, he was a model of old Prussian official honour. The
blessing of his life rests on his children.
It is not without an object that in this and the preceding chapter two
portraitures from the circle of German citizens have been placed in
juxtaposition. They represent the contrasts that were to be found in
German life, through the whole of the eighteenth century up to the war
of freedom. We see Pietists and followers of Wolf; Klopstock and
Lessing; Schiller and Kant; Germans and Prussians; a rich contemplative
mind, and a persevering energy, which subjects the external world to
itself.