STATE POLICY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
(1600-1700.)
The last stage of the process of dissolution which the holy Roman
empire passed through occupies the hundred and fifty years from
Oxenstern to Napoleon. The mortal disease began in 1520, when Charles
V., the Burgundian Hapsburger, was crowned Emperor of Germany; the
death struggle itself did not begin till the election of Ferdinand II.,
the Jesuit protector, in 1620. The peal of bells that celebrated the
Westphalian peace was a death-knell; what followed was the last slow
destruction of an expiring organism. But it was also the beginning of a
new organic formation. The rise of the Prussian state coincides
precisely with the end of the Thirty Years' War.
Whether joy or sorrow ought to predominate in the consideration of such
a period depends not only on the political point of view, but on the
culture and character of those who form a judgment on it. To those who
love to depict with poetic warmth the glories of a German empire, such
as perhaps might have been, the advent and character of a time so poor
in great men and in national pride can only be repugnant; whoever is in
the unfortunate position of considering the interests of the
Hapsburgers or those of the Order of Jesus as essentially German, will
form an imaginary picture of the past, which will be as far removed
from the reality, as the relique worship of the ancient church is from
the free man's worship of God. But whoever investigates temperately and
sensibly the connection of events, should be careful, in writing the
history of this period, not to forget, in the hatefulness of
appearances, to do justice to what was legitimate in the reality, and
equally so, not for the sake of what, is good, to throw a veil over
that which is odious. It is not purely accidental that it is only easy
to one who is both a Protestant and a Prussian, to regard with
conscious pride and a cheerful heart the historical development of the
last two centuries.
Immediately after the peace of Muenster and Osnabruck, two views of
German politics confronted one another, the one which, in spite of the
diminution of the Hapsburg influence and the decision of the
Westphalian peace, still maintained the old traditions of Imperial
supremacy, and the other that of the great territorial princes who
sought to secure full freedom of action and independence for
themselves, and who had, in fact, become sovereigns. The history of
these opposing principles comprehends, in the main, the history of the
political development of our fatherland up to the present day. Still do
the two parties remain, but the aims and the means of agitation of both
are changed, for above them has arisen a new formation, a third party.
After 1648 it was the Imperial party who strongly proclaimed the unity
of Germany; the political supremacy was claimed for the House of
Hapsburg, and that was desired which is almost precisely what is at
present termed the diplomatic and military lead Then weak public
opinion, in which there was still a lively recollection of the old
connection with the Empire, was for the most part, even among the
Protestants, on its side, and the Imperial politicians endeavoured to
enlist supporters through the press. If a few literary men, who stood
up for German nationality in opposition to foreign influences, murmured
at the weakness of the fatherland, the conclusion always presented
itself to them, that the Emperor was pre-eminently entitled to revive
the old supremacy of the Empire. At that time the strength of this
party lay in the fact, that the only German state power of any
magnitude was that of the House of Hapsburg, but their weakness
consisted in this, that the policy of the Emperor was not in the main
German, and that the bigotry and intrigues of the Vienna court did not
inspire either the princes with fear, or the estates with confidence.
On the other hand, the opposition party of princely politicians,
looking to their own advantage, with very little consideration for the
Empire, sought the isolation of individual states, the weakening of the
connection of the Empire, the policy of the free hand and temporary
alliances of the courts among themselves, instead of submitting to the
power of the Diet; and their mutual union at the Diet, and in all
diplomatic negotiations, tended to counteract the influence and policy
of the Emperor. In the midst of this struggle betwixt two adverse
principles, a new state arose in Germany, the princes of which, allying
themselves sometimes with one party, sometimes with the other,
endeavoured to make use of both, and collected round them a nation,
which at the end of the eighteenth century appeared capable of a more
vigorous development of German strength than the inheritance of the
Hapsburgers. And so completely has the situation of Germany changed,
that now the Imperial party acts with most of the German princes
against the party of the new State. The old opponents have united in a
struggle against the new party, both in the difficult position of
having to uphold what is unsatisfactory, both under the fatal necessity
of working against a long-cherished desire of the nation.
It was a desperate political situation which placed the centre of
gravity of German power in the hands of individual German princes, and
gave them the almost unlimited disposal of the property and lives of
their subjects. The political weakness of Germany, the despotic sway
and corruption of the rulers, the servility of the subjects, the
immorality of the courts, and the dishonesty of officials, was the sad
result, and has often been sufficiently pourtrayed. But with this time
begins also the modern State life of Germany. The progress of a nation
is not always understood and valued by contemporaries, the necessary
changes are not always effected by great men; sometimes the good genius
of a nation requires the bad, the insignificant, and the shortsighted,
as instruments in a powerful reconstruction. Not in the French
revolution alone has a new life proceeded from evil deeds: in Germany
also, iron necessity, despotism, and contempt for old rights, have
produced much that we now consider as the necessary groundwork of
well-regulated State life.
The school of diplomats and statesmen who had been trained during the
war in Germany, defended the interests of the German sovereigns up to
the time of the French revolution. The endless peace negotiations
brought together in Germany the most distinguished politicians of
Europe. Pupils of Richelieu, able Netherlanders, countrymen of
Macchiavelli, and the proud followers of Gustavus Adolphus. The
struggle of antagonisms gave to a large number of talented Germans
superabundant opportunities of forming themselves; for around the
representatives of the great powers were more than a hundred political
agents, writing and haranguing. From the passionate struggle which was
brought to a conclusion at Muenster and Osnabruck amid the constraint of
ceremonials and with an appearance of cold tranquillity, from the
chaotic confusion of numberless contending interests, and from the
mountains of acts, controversial writings, replications, and projects
of treaty, a generation of politicians was, after the peace, spread
over the country, hard men, with stubborn will and indomitable
perseverance, with gigantic power of work and acute judgment, learned
jurists and versatile men of the world, with great knowledge of human
nature, but at the same time sceptical despisers of all ideal feelings,
unscrupulous in the choice of means, dextrous in making use of the weak
point of an opponent, experienced in demanding and giving honour, and
well inclined not to forget their own advantage. They became the
leaders of politics at the courts and in the Imperial cities, quiet
leaders or dextrous tools of their lords--in fact, the real rulers of
Germany. They were the creators of the diplomacy and bureaucracy of
Germany. Their method of negotiating may appear to us very prolix and
pettifogging, but it is just in our time, when a superficial
dilettanteism is to be complained of in diplomacy and State government,
that the legal culture and sagacious dexterity of the old school should
be looked back upon with respect. It was not the fault of these men
that they were obliged to spend their lives in a hundred little
quarrels, and that only few of them found themselves in the happy
position of promoting a great and wise policy. But it will always be to
their honour, that under unfavourable circumstances they more than once
preserved the esteem and respect of the external enemies of Germany,
for German diplomacy, where they no longer felt it for the power of
German armies.
They regulated also the internal concerns of the devastated provinces
of the new "State." According to their model was formed the official
class, also the colleges of judges and administrators; often, it is
true, more awkward and pedantic, but just as tenacious of rank, and not
unfrequently as corruptible, as the chancellors and privy councillors
on whom they depended. The new politicians carried on also important
negotiations with the provincial Diets, and had no easy task to render
them pliant or harmless. Ever since the end of the fifteenth century
there existed, in almost all the larger territories of Germany, State
representatives of the country, who voted the taxes, attaching
conditions to such votes, and also giving their opinion on the
application of the taxes; in the sixteenth century they had attained to
increased importance, as they superintended a provincial bank, which
assisted the Government in raising money. At the end of the great war,
these provincial banks became the last and most important help, for
they had strained their credit to the uttermost to provide a war
contribution to rid the country of foreign armies. Thus after the peace
they were most influential corporations, and the existence of the great
portion of creditless sovereigns depended, in fact, upon them.
Unfortunately the provincial States were ill fitted to be the true
representatives of the country; they consisted for the most part of
prelates, lords, and knights, all of them representatives of the
nobility, who were, as regarded their own persons and property, exempt
from taxes: under them were the deputies of the desolated and deeply
involved cities. Thus they were not only inclined to lay the burden of
these money grants upon the mass of the people, but it also became
possible for the Government, through the preponderance of the
aristocratic element, to exercise every kind of personal influence.
Whilst the ruler drew the nobles of his province to his court, in order
to divert himself in fitting society, his chief officials knew how to
take advantage of their craving for rank and titles, and through
offices, dignities, and gifts, and lastly by threats of royal
displeasure, to break the resistance of individuals. Thus in the
eighteenth century the States in most of the principalities sank into
insignificance, in some they were entirely abolished. Still some
continued to exist, and did not everywhere lose their influence and
importance.
The sums, however, which they were able to grant did not by any means
suffice for the new state--to maintain a costly court, numerous
officials and soldiers. Regular imposts had to be devised which would
be independent of their grants. The indirect taxes quickly increased to
a threatening extent. The necessaries of life--bread, meat, salt, wine,
beer--and many other things, were taxed to the consumers, at the end of
the seventeenth century. The custom and excise officials were stationed
at the city gates, and custom-houses were placed at the frontiers, for
the merchandise which passed in and out. Commercial intercourse was
made use of through stamped paper, even the pleasures of the subject
were made available for the state; for example (in 1708 in the Imperial
hereditary lands), not only public but private dances were taxed, and
also, in 1714, tobacco. At last the poor comedians were likewise
obliged to pay a gulden for each representation, and even the quack and
eye doctors paid at each yearly market a few kreuzers, and heavy claims
were made on the Jews. It was long before either people or officials
could accustom themselves to the pressure of the new imposts; the
tariff and the mode of levying it were always being altered, and
frequently the governments saw with dissatisfaction their expectations
disappointed. On the impoverished people the pressure of the new taxes
fell very severely; loud and incessant were the complaints in the
popular literature.
Meanwhile the subject worked with the plough and the hammer; he sat at
the writing-desk, and saw around and over him everywhere the wheels of
the great state machine; he heard its clicking and creaking, and was
hindered, tormented, and endangered by its every movement. He lived
under it as a stranger, timid and suspicious. In about six hundred
great and small courts, he saw daily the splendid households of his
rulers, and the gold-embroidered dresses of the court people; the lace
of the lacqueys and the tufts of the footmen were to him objects of the
highest importance, his usual topic of discourse. When the ruling lord
kept a grand table, the citizens had sometimes the privilege of seeing
the court dine. When the court, forming a sledge party, or a so-called
_wirthschaft_,[75] drove through the streets in disguise, the subjects
might look on. In winter they might even themselves take a share in a
great masquerade, but a barrier was erected which separated the people
from the sports of the court. Once the prince had contended with the
citizens, shooting at the same target, and was only treated in the
jokes of the _pritschmeister_ with somewhat greater consideration. Now
the court were entirely separated from the people; and if a courtier
condescended to notice a citizen, it was generally no advantage to the
purse or family peace of the privileged one. Thus the poor citizen
acquired an abject feeling. To obtain an office or title which would
give him somewhat of this courtly power, became the object of his
ambition, and the same even with the artisan. In the five or six
hundred court establishments the desire for titles spread from the
nobles and officials down to the lowest class of the people. Shortly
before 1700 began the monstrous custom of giving court titles to the
artisans, and with these an order of precedence. The court shoemaker
tried by petitioning and bribery to obtain the right of nailing the
coat of arms of his sovereign over his door; and the court tailor and
court gardener quarrelled bitterly which should go before the other,
for the tailor, according to the letter of the rule of precedence,
went as a matter of course before the gardener, but the latter had
obtained the right of bearing a sword.[76] Wealth was the only thing
besides rank that gave a privileged position. Whoever calls ours a
money-seeking time, should remember how great was the influence of
money in former times, and how eagerly it was sought by the poor. The
rich man could, it was thought, effect everything. He could be made a
nobleman, provided with a title, or by his presents put his rulers
under an obligation to him. These presents, were in general received
willingly. Greedily did the chancellor, the judge, or the councillor
accept them, and even the most sensitive rarely withstood a delicately
offered gift. The protection, however, obtained by the citizen in the
new state was still very deficient; it was difficult for him to obtain
justice against people of distinction and influence. Lawsuits in most
of the German territories were endless. A difficult case of
inheritance, or a bankruptcy business, would go on to the second and
third generation. Government, with the best will, could not always
punish even violent injury to property from burglary or robbery. It is
instructive to investigate the proceedings against the bold robber
bands; even when they succeeded in catching the delinquent, the stolen
goods could seldom be restored to the owners. The neighbouring
governments sometimes delivered up, on requisition and petition, the
criminal who had found an asylum in their country, but such deliveries
were generally preceded by special influence, and frequently by
presents of money; but the confiscated possessions of the criminal were
in many cases retained, and disappeared in the hands of the officials.
When in 1733, at Coburg, a gold and silver manufactory was robbed, and
strong suspicion fell on a wealthy Jewish trader, the proceedings were
often stopped and interfered with, in consequence of the relations the
Jew had with the court; and even after he was known to be in intimate
connection with a band of robbers and murderers, the proceedings
against his assistants could not be pursued further, because the
magistrates of the place in Hesse where the robbers dwelt, helped their
flight; and the further ramifications of the band, which spread to
Bavaria and Silesia, could not be traced on account of the
unwillingness of the tribunals. And yet this trial was carried on with
great energy, and the person who had been robbed had made distant
journeys and offered large sums. Everywhere the multiplicity of rulers,
and the dismemberment of territories, were productive of weakness. The
Margravate of Brandenburg and a portion of Lower Saxony formed almost
the only great connected unity, except the Imperial possessions. In the
rest of Germany lay interspersed many thousands of large and small
domains, free cities, and parcels of land appertaining to the nobility.
But even a modest pride in their own province could not be cultivated
in individuals. For each of the countless frontiers occasioned far more
isolation than in the olden time. Even in the larger cities, excepting
in the cities on the Northern Ocean, municipal spirit had disappeared.
Besides his own interests, the German had little to occupy him but the
tittle-tattle of the day concerning family events and any remarkable
news. It may be seen from many examples how trifling, pedantic, and
malicious was the talk of the city for three generations, and how
morbidly sensitive, on the other hand, men had become. Anonymous
lampoons in prose and verse, an old invention, became ever more
numerous, coarse, and malicious; they stirred up not only families, but
the whole community of citizens; they became dangerous for the
propagators, if they ever ventured to, attack any influential person or
royal interests. Yet they increased everywhere; no government was in a
position to prevent them; for an artful publisher easily found
opportunity to print and distribute them on the other side of the
frontier.
Under such circumstances some qualities were developed in the German
character which have not yet quite disappeared. A craving for rank and
title, servility to those who, whether as officials, or as persons of
rank, lived in a higher position, fear of publicity, and above all a
striking inclination to form a morose, mean, and scornful judgment of
the character and life of others.
This gloomy, hopeless, discontented, and ironical disposition showed
itself everywhere, after the Thirty Years' War, by individuals giving
vent to their thoughts about the state within whose jurisdiction they
lived. It is true that the Germans continued after the great war to
take an interest in politics: newspapers of all kinds increased
gradually, and bore the news to every house; confidential reports from
the seats of government and great commercial cities were circulated;
the half-yearly reports of fairs comprised an abstract of the
occurrences of many months; and numberless flying sheets, representing
party interests, appeared upon every weighty event, both internal and
external. The execution of the king, in England, was generally
condemned by German readers as a frightful crime, and the sympathies of
the whole nation were long with the Stuarts; but shortly before William
of Orange put to sea against James II. it was read and believed that
James had ventured to substitute a false child as heir to the throne.
No one, however, excited public opinion so strongly against himself as
Louis XIV. If ever a man was hated by the whole of Germany, he was. It
is remarkable, that whilst the manners of his court and the fashions of
his capital were everywhere imitated by the upper classes, and even the
people could not escape from their influence, his politics were from
the first rightly estimated by them. Countless were the flying sheets
which were scattered about from all sides against him. He was the
disturber of the peace, the great enemy, and in the lampoons also the
proud fool. After the Palatinate was laid in ashes, the people called
their dogs Melac and Teras; after the taking of Strasburg, a deeper cry
of woe passed through the land. Finally, when in the great War of
Succession the German armies long kept the upper hand, a feeling of
self-respect was excited, which appeared in the small literature of the
day. Had there been a German prince who could have awakened an
energetic patriotism in the weak people, this hatred would have helped
him. But a powerful outburst of patriotic feeling was hindered by the
political condition of the country; in Cologne and Bavaria, French
printing-presses were at work, and German pens wrote against their own
countrymen.
One cannot, therefore, say that the Germans were deficient altogether
in political feeling in the century from 1640 to 1740, for it burst
forth everywhere; even in works of imagination, in novels, and also in
the drama, political conversation found a place, as did aesthetic talk
in Goethe's time. But it was unfortunate that this feeling vented
itself on the political quarrels of other countries, and that the
transactions in Germany itself, excited less interest than the daily
occurrences of the Parisian court, or the abdication of the Queen of
Sweden. The indifferent public still continued to occupy itself as
earnestly about comets, witches, appearances of the devil, a quarrel
amongst ecclesiastics, disputes between councillors and citizens of
some Imperial city, or the conversion of some small prince by the
Jesuits, as about the battle of Fehrbellin. The preparations of the
Turks and the war in Hungary were, perhaps, spoken of with a shake of
the head; but to pay money for it, or render assistance, was seldom
thought of; even after the siege of Vienna by the Turks, in 1683, Count
Stahremberg was scarcely as interesting to the great German public as
the spy Kolschitzky, who had brought the account from the city to the
Imperial main army; his figure was engraved in copper in Turkish dress,
and sold in the market. It is true he shared this glory with every
distinguished thief and murderer who had ever been executed anywhere,
to the great diversion of the public. Sometimes, indeed, the attention
of the Germans was fixed with deeper interest on one man, the Elector
of Brandenburg. In Southern Germany, also, he was spoken of
respectfully; he was a powerful-minded prince, but, unfortunately, his
means were small. This was the general opinion; but, as upon his
character, so, likewise, upon other vital questions, did the German
people give their opinion with as much tranquillity as if it were a
question of the Muscovite Czar, or of the distant Japan, concerning
which Jesuit accounts had been narrated centuries before. And this was
not the result of the trammels of the press, though it certainly was
much fettered; for, in spite of all the recklessness with which the
ruling powers sought to revenge themselves on its unruly spirit, the
multiplicity of states, and the mutual hatred of neighbouring
governments, made it difficult to crush an unbridled press. It was
other causes which made the people so indifferent to their own
interests.
Neither was it deficiency in judgment. If the numberless political
discourses of that time are clumsy and diffuse in composition, without
any sufficient knowledge of facts and persons, yet they deserve credit
for much sound sense and frequently a surprising comprehension of the
condition of Germany. The Germans, even before 1700, were not deficient
in political discernment; nay, before the Thirty Years' War, much
progress was apparent. But it was their peculiar characteristic that,
with this comprehension of their dangerous situation, of the
helplessness of the Empire, and of its miserable, dislocated state, the
people calmly and quietly recognised it with a shake of the head; even
their literary teachers were rarely roused to manly indignation, still
less to determined will, nor even to form fruitless projects. Thus, the
nation in the seventeenth century might be compared to a hopeless
invalid, who, free from the excitement of fever, soberly, calmly, and
sensibly contemplates his own condition. We know, indeed, that it is
our own century which has cured this morbid state of the German people;
but we also perceive the cause of the singular, cold, and gloomy
objectiveness which became so peculiar to our nation, and of which
traces are yet to be discovered in many individuals. It is the disease
of a rightly-gifted, genial nature, whose volition has been crushed by
the horrors of war and the struggles of fate, and whose warm heart has
been benumbed. A clear, circumspect, just spirit remains to the German;
noble political enthusiasm is lost to him. He no longer finds pleasure
and honour in being the citizen of a great State; he has no nation that
he loves, no State that he honours; he is an individual among
individuals; he has well-wishers and detractors, good friends and bad
enemies, scarcely any fellow-citizens as yet, scarcely yet any
countrymen.
As characteristic of such a frame of mind, a flying-sheet will here be
given, which, in the allegorical style of the seventeenth century,
makes bitter observations on the new State policy. Even during the
great war, Bogislaw Philipp Chemnitz, one of the most zealous and
talented adherents of the Swedish party, made a prodigious sensation by
a book, in which he complains of the Imperial house as the principal
cause of the misery of Germany, and finds the only salvation of the
country in the independence and complete power of the German princes.
From the title of the book,[77] "_Staatsraison_," this expression
became the usual term for denoting the new system of government which,
after the peace, began to prevail in the German territories. Since
that, this _Staatsraison_ was through half a century condemned in
numerous moral treatises from the popular press; it was represented as
double and triple headed, and in books, pictures, and satirical verses,
always accused of being arbitrary, hard, and hypocritical. To this
effect are the contents of the following work, which is here given with
some abbreviations and alterations which are indispensable for its
easier comprehension[78]:--
"As the _ratio status_ is now not only honoured in the world, but held
to be an irrevocable law, so are truth and honesty, on the other hand,
no longer valued. When a situation in the service of the state is
vacant, there is, indeed, no want of candidates; but out of nine the
prince finds scarcely three that will suit him. Therefore, they must be
examined. And if, in the examination, any one, in answer to the
question, what should be the first and most distinguished virtue of a
prince's councillor, should say: 'The men of the olden time teach that
a prince should be none other than a servant for the general welfare;
therefore, it is his duty to rule according to law and justice, for God
and nature have implanted in the heart of every one a true balance for
weighing the gold; do to others as you would they should do unto you;'
then the prince would give him a courteous dismissal.
"Such a candidate had not long ago got through an examination at a
certain court, by shrewd and cautious answers; he was nominated
councillor, and as the prince was kindly disposed towards him,
he gave him in marriage the daughter of his vice-chancellor. After
the new councillor had taken the oath of fidelity and secresy, the
vice-chancellor got the keys of the state apartments, and took his
son-in-law in to initiate him into state secrets.
"In the first room hung many state mantles of all colours, on the
outside beautifully trimmed, but badly lined inside, a portion of them
having wolf or fox skins in addition to the bad lining. The son-in-law
expressed surprise at this, but the chancellor answered: 'These are
state mantles, which must be used when one has to propose anything
suspicious to subjects, in order to persuade them that black is white;
then must one disguise the matter in the mantle of state necessity, in
order to induce the subjects to submit to contributions, rates, and
other taxes. Therefore, the first mantle, embroidered in gold, is
called the welfare of the subject; the second, with fringe, the
advancement of the commonwealth; the third, which is red, the
maintenance of divine service: it is used when one desires to drive any
one, whom one cannot otherwise catch, from house and home, or give him
a bloody back, under pretence of false teaching. The fourth is called
zeal for the faith; the fifth, the freedom of fatherland; the sixth,
the maintenance of privileges.' Last of all, there hung one very old
and much worn, like an old banner or horse cover, concerning which the
son-in-law laughed, wondering much; but the father-in-law said--'The
daily and too great misuse of this has worn the hair off, but it is
called good intentions, and is oftener sought after at the courts of
the great than daily bread. For, if one lays insupportable burdens on
subjects, and reduces them to skin and bone with soccage service, and
if one cuts the bread from their mouths, it is said to be done with the
best intentions; if one begins an unnecessary war, and plunges the
country and its inhabitants in a sea of blood under fire and sword, it
is done with the best intentions. Who could know that it would turn out
so ill? If one sends innocent people to prison or to the rack, or
drives them into utter misery, and their innocence comes to light,
still it must have been with good intentions. If one passes an unjust
judgment from hatred, envy, favour, bribery, or friendship, it is only
done with a good intention. It comes at last to such a point, that one
shall make use of the help of the devil with the best intentions. If
one or other of these mantles are too short to disguise the roguery,
one may cloak it with two, three, or more.' This room appeared very
strange to the new councillor; he, nevertheless, followed his noble
father-in-law into another; there they found all sorts of masks, so
ingeniously formed both in colour and features that they might be the
natural faces of men. 'When the mantles,' said the chancellor, 'do not
suffice to the attainment of the above-mentioned object, one must make
a change; for if one appears too often in one or the other mantle
successively before the States, or subjects, or before neighbouring
potentates, they at last learn to understand it, and say: "It is the
old story; we know what he wants, he wishes to obtain money; but how
can we always get it? One might at least be informed to what these
repeated taxes are applied." The masks serve to meet this discontent
One is called the oath; another, calumny; a third, deceit; these delude
people, be they good or bad, and effect more than all the arguments of
logic. But, above all, the oath is the masterpiece of court logic; for
an honourable man always thinks that another is like-minded with
himself; he holds more to an oath and good faith than to all temporal
goods; but if a man is a knave, he must still give credence to an oath,
otherwise he puts himself under suspicion that he neither values oaths
nor duty. If both the others fail, calumny must be resorted to, to
relieve subjects from the burden of some thousand gulden according to
their means.'
"In the third chamber were hanging, in all directions, razors and brass
basins; the shelves were covered with cupping-glasses and sponges.
There were many vessels containing strong alkalies, tourniquets, and
pincers, and shears lay on the tables and window-seats. The young
councillor crossed himself; what could they have to do at court with
this surgical apparatus, as even many artisans hesitate to admit
bath-keepers, shepherds, millers, and trumpeters into their guilds? 'It
is not so ill imagined,' said the old man; 'this is the least deceptive
handiwork of the state policy, and is more profitable than pen and ink.
It is so necessary, that no prince, without this handiwork, can long
maintain with dignity his state and his reputation; and its use is so
general, that even the country nobles practise it in a masterly way on
their peasants; hence the maxim comes, that "If a nobleman draws too
much blood from the peasants' veins, he himself is ruined." Of
what use to the prince are his land and people, if he cannot shear
their wool for the rents that are due, and draw contributions with
cupping-glasses, and cleanse disobedient leaders by the alkali of sharp
punishment? Nay, the potentates shave, pinch, and cup one another,
also, whenever they can. Thus did the generals in the last war draw,
now from the Imperial cities, now from the benefices, much of their
best blood; and the Holy Roman Empire has been as severely pinched by
foreign crowns as if it had been done by born bath-servants, only they
have made the lie too hot. Many have held the basin to the foreigners,
and things have gone so far, that insignificant cavaliers have ventured
to shear other princes. But what the princes do not do in person is
performed by their councillors, treasurers, and other officials, who
allow themselves to be used as the sponge, and where they have attached
themselves to an office, a city, or a village, and have sucked up so
much moisture that they well-nigh burst asunder, then comes the prince,
and gives them such a squeeze of the hand, that they are obliged to
disgorge all that they have absorbed, and become as empty as cast-off
serpent skins.'
"Silently did the young councillor listen, and entered the fourth
chamber. There lay many cases of state spectacles of different kinds.
'Some, when they are put on, make a thing ten times larger than it is,
so that a midge appears like an elephant--a thread like a rope--and a
farthing like a rose-noble; they serve to blind the eyes of subjects.
If the prince presents them with a couple of timber-trees, remits
somewhat of their contribution, or gives them the liberty to appear
before him in velvet and silk, they prize this as highly as if he had
given them many thousand ducats. These spectacles so injure the eyes of
the unfortunate courtiers, that the least favour, such as the prince
laying his hand upon their shoulder, or even looking upon them, is
valued more highly than if they had received from him a rent of 500
gulden. Nay, the prince has, through his most august understanding,
discovered a special profitable use of these spectacles. If he finds
the States unwilling to give him contributions, he gets up a cry that
the enemy is at hand; that we need thus much and more of provisions,
money, and men to meet the barbarous enemy, otherwise all would fall
into his jaws. By these exaggerations the people are rendered willing,
and give as much as they possibly can. But so soon as the fish is
caught, then it is found that God has roused up great princes, who, for
the sake of peace, have mediated, and the contributions are used for
other purposes. Another kind of spectacles have, on the contrary, the
property of making a mountain appear not greater than a hazel-nut or
bean; they are fixed on the cities and frontier lands, right in the
face of which the princes have built castles and fortresses; in order
to persuade them that these are only pleasure and garden houses,
custom-houses and hunting-boxes. The third kind of spectacles, through
which the white appears black, and the black snow white, will always be
used when one wishes anything bad to have a glittering appearance; they
serve also for those who are induced to marry--under the supposition
that they are virtuous ladies--the females who wait upon the royal
household, make their beds, and curl their hair.'
"After this the chancellor reached down a box of brown powder, and
desired his son-in-law to guess what it was. 'It is eye-powder or
dust,' said the old man, 'which rulers sprinkle in the eyes of their
subjects. It is one of the principal tricks to keep the populace quiet;
for when there arise among them turbulent spirits, who open the eyes of
subjects by certain political doctrines, and lead them to inquire into
the secrets of government, to read the hearts of princes, bring
together their grievances, and attach themselves to lynx-eyed
agitators, then insurrection and war are at the door.' After this a
vessel of court-peas was produced. The old man stated that this was one
of the most noxious expedients employed at court, not indeed used by
the rulers, but by their false courtiers. 'How so?' said the son. 'I
regret that I must explain it to you,' answered the father, 'for I
fear, if I teach it you too well, you may sometime try the art upon
myself; where gain is to be made one puts even a father's nose out of
joint. The peas are strewed in the council-room and chancery, on the
stairs, here and there, in the hope of tripping up those whom you
cannot otherwise get rid of, especially if they are conscientious, and
think they can make their way by good intentions.
"'As most of the potentates know little themselves of these political
tricks, unless Machiavellian councillors make them acquainted with
them, who can blame the councillors if they make use of their secret to
enrich and elevate themselves? Then follows the state policy of private
persons, for where God builds a church the devil will have a chapel
also; thus I have, by the side of my sovereign's principality, made
myself a small one, and as I am now becoming old I will reveal to you,
my son-in-law, these tricks, that you may be able to follow in my
steps. But to the point I have never soiled myself with peasants and
their dung-carts, but preferred great assemblages. Imperial, electoral,
and princes' diets; for the larger the pond, the better it is to fish
in. Yet have I so far acted with moderation that I have never
intermeddled too far nor tied myself to one party alone; but have
always remained a free man. Like the sleek fox, I adapted myself to
every one's humour and business, and turned to the best account my
jests. I led the various parties by the nose, so that they always had
recourse to me, followed and trusted me; and, moreover, allowed
themselves to be fooled. Thus I did from the beginning. When my prince
discovered these qualities in me, he made me his councillor and then
chancellor. Now the nobles must bring with them whole cartloads of
wine, whole waggons full of corn, and the like gifts, if they would
obtain a favourable decision in chancery, or wish to procure a bill of
feoffment or decree of court. All the citizens and peasants, too, must
make presents, or their causes lie in a heap undecided. But especially
the following trick brought me good luck: When a rich man, having
committed an evil deed, has been ill spoken of by the prince, &c., then
I gave him to understand how great was the anger of the prince against
him, and that it might cost him his life if he did not employ me in the
business. If he agreed, I concealed his guilt; or, at least, helped him
out of it. But if he did not, I would institute a suit against him, and
he was exposed to danger and death. If he endeavoured to succeed,
through the means of attorneys, in spite of me, I would make use of all
my cunning to prevail against and ruin him. When the fox's skin did not
answer, I assumed that of the lion; what I could not acquire by wiles
and cunning, I usurped _de facto_, and discovered how I could obtain by
violence. If any one complained of the old chancellor, and wished to
bring a suit against him at court, I offered to submit myself to a
judicial action, for the councillors, as colleagues, were on my side. I
displaced in village and field the boundary stone, made other ditches
and frontier lines, squeezed out of my neighbours some hundred
_morgens_ of arable land, meadows, and woods. In like manner I laid
hands on the property of rich widows, orphans, and wards; bought rents
and perpetual leases, and lent out money which, in three years, was
doubled. It would be tedious to relate the gains I made by assignments,
bills of exchange, wine, corn, and salt traffic.'
"All this the son-in-law listened to with great attention, and said,
'Noble father, you have well administered for your family, and brought
it into prosperity; but the question is whether your descendants will
prosper so as to inherit it in the third or fourth generation; for
"ill-gotten gains seldom prosper."'
"'That signifies as little to me as a midge on the wall. Let any one
say what he will, I, on the other hand, have what I will. He who would
gain something must venture something, and not mind what people say. I
have revealed and confided to you more than to my own wife and
children. Now come home with me to supper.'"
Such is the purport of the sad irony of the flying sheet, which is
peculiarly appropriate here, as it evidently gives expression to the
common sentiments of the time. At the conclusion of it one particular
intrigue of a small German court is more alluded to than related.
Even after 1700, this cold, bitter way of speaking of the political
condition of Germany continued generally; for the "_aufklaerungs_"
literature, which sprang up at this period, altered the style more than
the spirit. Indeed, from the end of the War of Succession till 1740,
during the longest period of peace which Germany had experienced for a
century, a diminution of political interest is discernible in the
small literature. It is always the extraordinary destinies of
individuals which more specially interest the public--the prophecies of
a Pietist, the trial of a woman for child murder, the execution of an
alchymist, and such like. When on Christmas night, 1715, two poor
peasants were suffocated by coal vapours in a vineyard-hut at Jena,
whilst they, together with a student and a torn copy of Faust's book of
necromancy, were endeavouring to raise a great treasure, this
misfortune gave rise to full a dozen flying sheets--clerical, medical,
and philosophical--which fiercely contended as to whether the claw of
the devil or the coals had been the cause of death. All the battles
that had been fought, from that of Hochstaedt to Malplaquet, had not
made a greater sensation. Even in the "Dialogues from the Kingdom of
the Dead,"--a clumsy imitation of Lucian, in which opinions were given
of the public characters of the day,--it is evident that it is more
particularly the anecdotes and the private scandal which attracted the
people. Once more an interest was powerfully excited by the expulsion
of the Protestant Salzburger; but in the year 1740 a great political
character impressed itself on the soul of Germany, and announced by the
thunder of his cannon the beginning of a new time.
But it was not the "State system" alone which loosened the connection
of the burgher class, and turned the German into an isolated
individual: the powers which usually confirm and strengthen the united
life of individuals, faith and science, worked to the same effect.