PART ONE
1843–1861
I
CHILDHOOD
My certificate of baptism · The revolution of 1848 · Landgrave
Fürstenberg · The Feather Ball · Castle Matzen
What gives me some justification for publishing my experiences is the
fact that I have met many interesting and distinguished contemporaries,
and that my participation in a movement which has gradually grown to be
of historic consequence has given me many glimpses into the political
affairs of our time; and that hence, all in all, I have something to say
that is really worth publishing.
Of course, if I meant to tell only of this period of my life, I should
have to confine myself to the history of the past fifteen or twenty
years, and wholly forego conjuring up pictures from my youth; and I
should have to deny myself the writing down of those personal
recollections which my whole changeful life has stamped upon my memory.
But I will not deny myself this. Now that I have been induced by the
above-mentioned reason to write my memoirs, it shall be a genuine record
of a life. Once again shall the stages of the long journey come in due
order before my inward eye, and from them what seems to me suitable for
reproduction shall be photographed on these pages.
So, without further exordium, let us begin:
The beginning of all human life is birth. Where and when and in what
environment I came into the world is most authentically shown by my
certificate of baptism. Here is the copy of that document: