which case a certain ingenious machine for facilitating decapitation
would probably come into vogue. But the poets?"
"You see that old man over yonder, with the calm, benignant, nay,
seraphic expression of countenance, which betokens that his soul
is at this moment far withdrawn from its earthly tabernacle, and
wandering amidst those paradisaical regions where unity and light
prevail."
"Do you allude to that respectable gentleman, rather up in years, who
seems to me to have swallowed verjuice after his coffee this morning,
or to be labouring under a severe attack of toothache?"
"Irreverend young man! Know that is Ludwig Uhland."
"You don't mean to say that that crossgrained surly old fellow is the
author of the famous ballads!" exclaimed I. "Why, there is a snarl
on his visage that might qualify him to sit for a fancy portrait of
Churchill in extreme old age!"
"He is the last of a great race. Look yonder, at that other venerable
figure----"
"The gentleman who is twiddling his stick across his arm, as though
he were practising the bars of a fandango? Who may he be?"
"Arndt, the great composer. Have you men like him in your British
parliament?"
"Why, I must confess we have not yet thought of ransacking the
orchestra for statesmen. Any more?"
"Yes. You see that tall grizzled man over the way. That is Anastasius
Grün."
"Graf von Auersperg? Well, he is a gentleman at least; though, as to
poetical pretension, I have always considered him very much on a par
with Dicky Milnes. But where are your statesmen, professor? Where are
the men who have made politics the study of their lives, who have
mastered the theories of government and the science of economics, and
who have all the different treaties of Europe at the ends of their
fingers?"
"As we are commencing a new era," replied Klingemann, "we need
none of those. Treaties, ideologically considered, are merely
the exponents of the position of past generations, and bear no
reference to the future, the tendency of which is lost in the mists
of eternity. Such men as you describe we had under the Metternich
system, but we have discarded them all with their master."
"Then I must say that, idiotically considered, you have done a very
foolish thing. Where at least are your financiers?"
"My dear friend, I must for once admit that you have stumbled on a
weak point. We are very much in want of a financier indeed. Would you
believe it? the sum of five florins a-day, which is the amount of
recompense allowed to each member of the Assembly, has been allowed
to fall into arrear!"
"What! do each of these fellows get five florins a-day, in return for
cobbling up the Empire? Then it is very easy to see that, unless the
exchequer fails altogether, the parliament will never be prorogued."
"Certainly not until it has completed the task of adjusting a German
constitution," observed the professor.
"Which is just saying the same thing in different words. But, pray,
what is exciting this storm of wrath in the bosom of the respectable
Mr Simon?"
"He is merely denouncing the sovereigns and the aristocracy. It is
a favourite topic. But look there! that is a great man--ah, a very
great man indeed!"
Without challenging the claim of the individual indicated to
greatness, I am committing no libel when I designate him as the very
ugliest man in Europe. The broad arch of his face was fringed with
a red bush of furzy hair. His eyes were inflamed and pinky, like
those of a ferret labouring under opthalmia, and his nose, mouth,
and tusks, bore a palpable resemblance to the muzzle of the bulldog.
Altogether, it is impossible to conceive a more thoroughly forbidding
figure. This was Robert Blum, the well-known publisher of Leipzig,
who has put himself prominently forward from the very commencement of
the movement; and who, possessing a certain power of language which
may pass with the multitude for eloquence, and professing opinions
of extreme democratic tendency, has gained a popularity and power in
Frankfort, which is not regarded without uneasiness by the members
of the more moderate party. As this worthy was a bookseller, and
Klingemann still in possession of piles of unpublished manuscript,
I could understand and forgive the enthusiasm and veneration of the
latter.
Simon having concluded his inflammatory harangue, the tribune was
next occupied by a person of a different stamp. He was, I think,
without any exception, the finest-looking man in the Assembly--in
the prime of manhood, tall, handsome, and elegantly dressed, and
bearing, moreover, that unmistakeable air which belongs to the
polished gentleman alone. His manner of speaking was hasty, and
not such as might be approved of by the practised debater, but
extremely fluent and energetic; and it was evident that Simon and his
confederates writhed under the castigation which, half-seriously,
half-sarcastically, the bold orator unsparingly bestowed. Judging
from the occasional hisses, the speaker seemed no favourite either
with the members of the extreme left or with the galleries; but
probably he was used to such manifestations, for he went through
his work undauntedly. I asked his name. It was Felix, Prince of
Lichnowsky.
Poor Lichnowsky! a few weeks after I saw him in the Assembly, he
was barbarously and brutally murdered by savages at the gate of
Frankfort--the flesh cut off his arms with scythes--his body put up
as a target for their balls--and every execrable device of ingenuity
employed to prolong his suffering. O ye who wink at revolutions
abroad, and who would stimulate the populace to excess--ye who,
in days past, have written or been privy to letters from the Home
Office, conniving at undeniable treason--think of this scene,
and repent of your miserable folly! In a civilised city--among a
Christian and educated population--that deed of hideous atrocity
was perpetrated at noon-day: the young life of one of the most
accomplished and chivalrous cavaliers of Europe was torn from him
piecemeal, in a manner which humanity shudders to record, and for
no other reason than because he had stood forth as the advocate of
constitutional order! Liberal historians, in their commentaries upon
the first French Revolution, spare no pains to argue us into the
conviction that such tragedies as that of the Princess de Lamballe
could not be enacted save amongst a people degraded and brutalised
by long centuries of misgovernment, oppression, and superstition.
They have lied in saying so. A pack of famished wolves is not so
merciless as a human mob, when drunk with the revolutionary puddle;
and were the strong arm of the law once paralysed in Britain, we
should inevitably become the spectators, if not the victims, of the
same butcheries which have disgraced almost every country in Europe
now clamouring for independence and unity. The sacerdotal robes of
the Archbishop of Paris--the gray hairs of Major von Auerswaldt--the
station and public virtue of the Counts of Lamburg, Zichy, and
Latour--could not save these unhappy men from a fate far worse than
simple assassination: and this century and year have likewise been
reserved for the unexampled abomination of Christian men adopting
cannibalism, and feeding upon human flesh, as was the case not a
month ago at Messina! Well might Madame Roland exclaim, "O Liberty!
what things are done in thy name!" Poor Lichnowsky! Better had he
fallen on the fields of Spain, in the combat for honour and loyalty,
with the red steel in his hand, and the flush of victory on his brow,
than have perished so miserably by the hands of the cowardly and
rascal rout of the _free_ city of Frankfort!
"That's Zitz of Mayence," said the professor, as a heavy-looking
demagogue stumbled clumsily up to the tribune.
"Oh! that's Zitz, is it?" replied I. "Well, professor, I think I
have had quite enough of the Assembly for one morning, and as I feel
a certain craving for a cigar, I think I shall leave you for the
present."
"Won't you dine to-day at the Swan?" said Klingemann, "most of my
friends of the left frequent the _table-d'hote_ there, and I should
like to introduce you to Zitz."
"Thank you!" said I, "I shall be punctual, and pray keep a place for
me;" and so for the present we parted.
"The dunderheads!" thought I, as I emerged into the street and lit
an undeniable havannah, "here is a nation which, for thirty years
past, has been eating its _sauer-kraut_ and sausages in peace, paying
almost no taxes, and growing its own wine and tobacco, about to be
plunged into irretrievable misery and ruin, by a set of selfish
hounds who look to nothing beyond their stipend of five florins
a-day! Heaven help the idiots! what would they be at? They have got
all manner of constitutions, liberty of the press--though there is
not a man in Germany who could write a decent leading article--and a
great deal more freedom than is good for them already. And now the
world is to be turned upside down, because a parcel of trash, not
a whit more respectable than Cuffey and his confederates, and very
nearly as stupid, have taken the notion of unity into their heads,
and are resolved to build up, with rotten bricks, the ricketty
structure of an empire. Nicholas, my dear friend, there is work
chalked out for you, and ready. If these scum presume to meddle with
their neighbours, they must be crushed like a hive of hornets; and I
do not know any foot so heavy and elephantine as your own!"
Pondering these things deeply, I strolled on from shop to shop,
gleaning everywhere as I went statistics touching the manner in
which our free-trade innovations have affected the industry of Great
Britain. For a year and a half, the boot and shoe trade has been
remarkably thriving; the London market being the most profitable in
the world, and nothing but British gold exported in return. As to
cotton manufactures, Belgium and Switzerland have the monopoly of
Southern Germany. The trade in Bohemian glass is rapidly superseding
at home the labour of the silversmith. A complete service, so
beautiful that it might be laid out on the table of a prince, costs
about thirty pounds; and the names of the British magnates, which
the dealer pointed to with ineffable triumph as purchasers, were
so numerous as to convince me that the deteriorating influence of
free trade was rapidly rising upwards. The same may be said of the
cutlery, which is now sent to undersell the product of the British
artisan in his own peculiar market. When we couple those facts, which
may be learned in every Continental town, with the state of our
falling revenue, and the grievous direct burden which is imposed upon
us in the shape of property and income tax, it is difficult for any
Briton to understand upon what grounds the financial reputation of
Sir Robert Peel is based, or to comprehend the wisdom of adhering to
a system which sacrifices every thing in favour of the foreigner, and
brings us in return no earthly recompense or gain.
I duly kept my engagement at the Swan, and was introduced by the
Professor to Zitz, Gervinus, and some more of the radical party. The
dinners at the Swan are unexceptionable; indeed, out of Paris, it is
impossible to discover better.
"What do you think of our German parliament?" asked a deputy of the
name of Neukirch, next whom I was seated. "It must be an interesting
sight for an Englishman to behold the aspirations of our rising
freedom."
"Oh, charming!" I replied: "and such splendid oratory--we have
nothing like it in the House of Commons."
"Do you really think so?" said Neukirch, looking absurdly gratified.
"I do indeed. The speech which I had the privilege of hearing this
morning from the gentleman opposite--" here I bowed to Simon of
Treves, who was picking the backbone of a pike--"was equal to the
most elaborate efforts of our greatest orator, Mr Chisholm Anstey.
It is not often that one has the fortune to listen to such talent
combined with patriotism!"
"You speak like a man of sense," said the flattered Simon. "I believe
that I have given those infernal princes their gruel. Lichnowsky had
better hold his peace, for the time is coming when a sharp reckoning
must be held between the aristocrats and the people."
"_Potz tausend!_" cried Zitz, "do they think to lord it over us
longer with their stars and ribbons? I hold myself to be as good a
man as any grand-duke of them all, and a great deal better than some
I could name who would give a trifle to be out of Germany."
"And how does the cause of democracy progress in England?" asked
Neukirch. "We are somewhat surprised to find that, after all the
preparation, there has been no revolution in London."
"As to that," said I, "you must hardly judge us too rashly. Two
distinguished patriots, called Ernest Jones and Fussell, were
desirous of raising barricades; but, somehow or other, the plan was
communicated to Government, the troops refused to fraternise, and the
attempt was postponed for the present."
"I see!" cried Zitz, "Russian influence has been at work in England
too. Nicholas has been sowing his gold, and the fruit is continued
tyranny."
"The fact is," said I, "though I would not wish it to be repeated,
that a good many of us are of opinion that we have no tyranny at
all, but rather more freedom than is absolutely necessary for our
happiness."
"No tyranny!" shouted Zitz; "is there not a chamber of peers?"
"Too much freedom!" roared Simon of Treves; "have you not an
Established Church?"
"Is not your sovereign a niece of the odious despot of Hanover?"
asked Neukirch.
"Is there not a heavy tax on tobacco?" inquired my friend and
preceptor Klingemann.
"Gentlemen all," said I, "these things must perforce be admitted.
We have a chamber of peers, and are thankful for it, because it
curbs democracy in the Commons. We have an Established Church,
and we honour it, because it has taught the people to fear their
Creator and to reverence their queen. Our sovereign is a niece of
the King of Hanover, and she has no reason whatever to be ashamed
of the connexion. And as to the article of tobacco, I may remark to
my learned friend the professor, that revenue must necessarily be
raised, and that, moreover, I have not smoked a single decent cigar
since I set foot in Germany."
"These are reactionary doctrines!" growled Zitz; "I fear you are no
true friend of the people."
"A firmer one never sat under the sign of Geordie Buchanan," said
I; "but I suspect your estimate of the people is somewhat different
from mine. Pray, Herr Neukirch, will you pardon the curiosity of a
stranger, if I ask one or two questions upon points which I do not
thoroughly comprehend? I observe, from the tenor of the proclamations
issued by Herr von Soiron, that you contemplate the erection of one
free, united, and indissoluble Germany."
"That is precisely our object."
"Then, am I right in holding that the Reichsverweser concentrates in
his own person the whole power and puissance of the different states?"
"Just so. He is president of Germany."
"So that with him and his council rest the whole responsibility of
disposing of the troops of the confederation, of making treaties, of
proclaiming peace and war, of regulating coinage and customs, and, in
fact, of exerting every royal prerogative?"
"Always with consent of the German parliament," said Zitz. "You
may believe we are not such fools as to substitute one tyrant for
thirty-eight."
"Then, gentlemen, it appears to me that your whole scheme, upon which
I am not qualified to express an opinion, resolves itself into one
of extensive and entire mediatisation. If the Emperor of Austria and
the King of Prussia have no power to declare peace or war--if their
armies are to obey the orders of the central power at Frankfort--it
will follow, as a matter of course, that their kingly privileges are
at an end. The interchange of ambassadors with foreign states will be
a ceremony so clearly futile that it must at once be abandoned, and
the monarchs will become merely the first of a titular nobility."
"That is the inevitable and glorious consequence!" cried my new
acquaintance, Neukirch. "You see the whole subject in its proper
light. First, we clip the wings of the princes till they can do
no more than hop about their own home-yards; then we control the
proceedings of the Reichsverweser by a parliament elected on the
principles of universal suffrage; and finally, we can eject the
puppet if necessary, and resolve ourselves into a pure democracy."
"One thing, then," said I, "is only wanting for this desirable
consummation, and that is, the consent of the princes. I admit that
you may have little trouble with Baden, Wurtemberg, and the like, but
what say Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria to this wholesale abdication
of their thrones?"
"We don't affect to deny that there may be a crisis approaching.
Austria has her hands full for the present with Italy and Hungary,
and has given no definite reply. But the clubs are strong and active
at Vienna, and on the very first opportunity you will see a general
rising. 'Anarchy first--order afterwards,' is our motto. Then, as to
Prussia, we do not want to push on matters too rapidly there. The
king has been playing into our hands; and, to tell you the truth, we
depend upon him alone for the continuance of our five florins a-day.
So that, in the mean time, you may be sure we shall be moderate in
that quarter. Bavaria may do as she pleases. If the others yield,
that power must necessarily succumb."
"Then I want to understand a little about the justice of your cause.
You have claimed Schleswig-Holstein as part of Germany, and you have
sent German troops, for the purpose of recovering it as your right?"
"Quite true."
"And at the same time Germany, or you as its representatives,
have acknowledged the right of all foreign nations to their own
independence?"
"We have."
"Then, will you have the kindness to explain to me how it is that
your philanthropic parliament, holding such principles, has not
thought proper to insist that every Austrian soldier, belonging to
the confederation, should be immediately withdrawn from Lombardy and
Hungary? How is it that General Wrangel, in the north, has ceased to
be a Prussian, and become a German soldier, whilst Marshal Radetsky,
in the south, is fighting without remonstrance at the head of troops
which you claim as your own, and against that independence of a
foreign nation, which you have thought proper expressly to recognise?
If Germany claims Schleswig on the ground of unity of race and
language, how can she, at the same time, countenance a subordinate
German power in infringing the very principle which she has so
determinedly proclaimed?"
Neither on this occasion, nor on any other, could I obtain a
satisfactory reply to the above question. In fact, from the very
beginning, the conduct of the men who have put themselves at the head
of the present movement, has been checkered by contradictions of
the most glaring and obvious kind. On the fifth of May, the present
vice-president, Von Soiron, put forth an address to the inhabitants
of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, calling upon them to co-operate and
join with the German confederacy, and to send representatives to the
union. Two of these states are comprised in the Austrian, and one in
the Prussian dominions; _but none of them are German_. If nationality
is to be recognised as the ruling principle--and the scheme of German
confederation and empire contemplated nothing else--these countries
would fall to be excluded, since, by language and race, they form
part of a totally different branch of the European family. But before
the ink on their proclamation of strict unity and independence was
dry,--that proclamation containing the following remarkable words,
"The Germans shall not be induced, on any consideration, to abridge
or deprive other nations of that freedom and independence which they
claim for themselves as their own unalienable right,"--we find the
Germans calmly annexing Polish Posen to their league, proposing to
include Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the limits of the empire,
and by their official congratulatory address to Radetsky, giving
national countenance to the war of subjugation in Lombardy. Even were
their case otherwise good, such acts as these form an irresistible
argument against their present claim for Schleswig; for upon no
principle whatever are they entitled to add, on one side, to the
possessions of the empire by foreign annexation, and on the other to
repudiate annexation, when in favour of a foreign power.
But it is useless, in their present state, to demand explanation
from the Germans. They are like men who, in attempting to cross
a ford, have been carried off their feet by the swollen waters,
and are now plunging in the pool, unable to reach the shore.
_Imperium in imperio_ is clearly unattainable. German unity, as at
present contemplated, with a common army, common taxes, and common
constitutions, under one central government, can only be achieved by
an entire prostration of the princes, and the abolition of the kingly
dignity. Austria, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and all the states,
must be blotted from the map of Europe, their boundaries erased,
their conditions forgotten, and their names for ever proscribed. The
republican party know this well, and it is in this conviction that
they are still labouring on, taking advantage of the unhappy state of
Austria in relation to its foreign possessions, sympathising with the
Hungarian revolt, and exciting the clubs at Vienna; whilst, at the
same moment, they are availing themselves to the utmost of the weak
and foolish blunder committed by the king of Prussia, and appealing
to his own declaration in favour of German unity, whenever he shows
the slightest symptom of receding from the popular path. There is
hardly a shade of difference between the opinions entertained by
a large mass of the Frankfort parliament, and those professed by
Hecker and Struve, the leaders of the Baden insurrections. The aim
of both parties was the same; but the insurgents sought to attain
their end by a speedy and violent process, for which the others
were not prepared. They proposed to undermine the power of the
sovereigns by a continued course of agitation, to arm a burgher
guard throughout Germany, as a countercheck to the troops, and,
wherever it is possible, to seduce the latter from their allegiance.
In this latter scheme, as recent events have shown, they have been
unfortunately too successful; and the military system of Germany had
afforded them great facilities. The German regiments are not, as is
the case in Britain, transferred from town to town, and from province
to province, in a continual round of service. They are quartered
for years in the same place, make alliances with the town-folks,
and become imbued with all their local and prevalent prejudices.
They are, in fact, too much identified with the populace to be
thoroughly relied on in the case of any sudden emeute, and too much
associated with the landwehr or militia, to be ready to act against
them. Let those who have not reflected upon this serious element
of discord, consider what in all probability would be the state of
an Irish regiment, if quartered permanently among the peasantry of
Tipperary--exposed, not for a short time, but for years, to the
baneful influences of agitation and deliberate seduction, and never
having an opportunity of contemplating elsewhere the advantages of
order and obedience? The circumscribed dimensions of some of the
German states has increased this evil enormously; and the example
set by General Wrangel, when, in the case of the Swedish armistice,
he declared himself to be an Imperial and not a Prussian commander,
cannot but have had a powerful effect in sapping the loyalty of the
troops. If Wrangel took that step in consequence of secret orders
from his master, as is by no means improbable, he may be personally
absolved from blame, but only by shifting to the royal shoulders such
a load of obloquy and scorn as never monarch carried before. If, on
the contrary, Wrangel did this on his own authority, the Prussian
government has evinced lamentable weakness, in not having him tried
by a court-martial, and shot for audacious treason.