inclinations bound him to Russia and the Emperor Alexander, and he
rejoiced in seeing the idea of Queen Louisa accomplished, and the two
monarchs pressing each other's hands. From this time forward, all
the efforts of the minister were directed to the developement, and
organisation of the secret societies. His object was to give a heroic
impulse to Germany, and, laying aside for the moment all the divisions
between the Catholic and Protestant parties, he resolved to see nothing
but the Fatherland thirsting for deliverance from the tyranny of
Napoleon; he encouraged the young men to carol patriotic songs, and
excited them to march boldly to battle, without any distinction being
made between the civilian and the soldier.
Then were seen universities rising _en masse_, and the professors
themselves leading their pupils to the battle of the giants. The
engagements of Lutzen and Bautzen have never been considered in a point
of view which would invest them with a melancholy interest. The flower
of both countries was there opposed to each other; the conscripts of
the empire, from the age of eighteen to twenty-one years, and the
students of the universities bearing the funereal banner of Queen
Louisa, the oldest of whom did not exceed the age of twenty-two years.
In the midst of these noble squadrons were heard the thunders of 1500
pieces of artillery, tearing their youthful and tender bodies, carrying
off heads, mutilating limbs; yet none of these youths faltered, for
they were fighting for their country, their common mother.
During this tremendous conflict, the minister did not neglect liberal
concessions, capable of increasing the enthusiasm of the people.
Germany, so heavily oppressed, thirsted after liberty, and when the
people were giving such pledges to the government, it was but just the
government, in return, should do something for the people. In Prussia
there is a spirit essentially of organisation, a constant want of
improvement and progress. All the acts of Hardenberg at this period
were impressed with a character of liberty; he augmented the municipal
administrations, all the pecuniary privileges of the nobility and
clergy were annulled, and, following the ideas of the economic school,
wardenships and the freedom of cities were abolished. By some acts of
the cabinet a political constitution was promised to Prussia, although
it is hardly possible to believe they could ever have thought seriously
of such a thing for a country whose interests and opinions were so
disjointed as those of Germany. But at that time Napoleon was regarded
by the whole world as a great despot; the power raised to oppose him
must of necessity be the spirit of liberty; and every national feeling
rose in arms, because the season of oppression must be brought to a
close. Under these peculiar circumstances, engagements naturally were
entered into and promises made. To a people capable of such noble
daring, great concessions might be promised, and in this, Hardenberg
only followed the impulse that had been given; he pressed the hand
of Stein, Blucher, and Gneisenau, because their names, like that of
Suwarow in Russia, were the symbol of the country in arms.
See what name is given in Germany to our disastrous defeat at
Leipsic--the Victory of the Nations! Yes! it was indeed there, the
nations overcame the terrible oppressor who had crushed them to the
dust! It was from the battle of Leipsic, that dated the sudden,
but prolonged reaction, which finally delivered the people and the
governments from that giant hand. Accustomed as we are to place the
character of Napoleon in the highest rank, we will not understand that
he was the tyrant of Europe, and that even now we are undergoing the
reaction of two fatal ideas--the recollection of our conquests and of
our disorganising principles.
After Leipsic, the Rhine was crossed, and Hardenberg did not for a
moment quit the head-quarters of the Allies: he also represented
Prussia at the congress of Châtillon. From this moment, in all the
diplomatic proceedings, as well as in the military operations, Prussia
always manifested the strongest animosity against the French Emperor;
she hoped for great reprisals, and would undoubtedly have obtained
them, had not the general inclination in Europe for peace, and the
exclusive and generous influence of the Emperor Alexander, swayed the
negotiations concerning the treaty of Paris, and the restoration of the
Bourbons. All the political transactions were signed by Hardenberg,
from his having been the powerful hand which for two years had steadily
directed public affairs; the King of Prussia conferred upon him the
title of Prince; and he was invested with that high dignity when he
accompanied the sovereigns to England.
The sight of the palace of St. James's must have awakened melancholy
feelings in his mind; in his youth he had there experienced domestic
sorrow, and been agitated by contending passions; for he had been the
lover and husband of the Countess Randlaw, the most beautiful woman in
Germany: she had been lost to him through the means of the Prince of
Wales, and her seducer was now the Regent of the British islands. But
they had both grown much older; and when twenty-five years have been
passed in political agitations and tempests, the heart has been worn
out by emotion, and but little room is left for recollections of enmity
and vengeance. Prince Hardenberg was therefore presented to the Prince
Regent, who received him with marked attention; and the past only
recurred to their minds, like one of those views which scarcely leave a
trace in the memory.
From London, Prince Hardenberg repaired to Vienna, to be present at
the meeting of the great congress, and he had the honour of seeing the
immense aggrandisement of Prussia sanctioned by successive treaties.
She now became the kingdom most immediately in an offensive position,
and was placed in the situation of an advanced post in the coalition
against France. Those who have investigated the spirit of Europe in
the remodelling which took place in 1815, can easily perceive that
the whole system of politics was directed against our country, whose
influence had caused the most dreadful agitations in all the world
during the last thirty years. Prussia, which during the revolutionary
war had almost invariably maintained a neutral position, now received
such a territorial organisation, as to render it necessary she should
henceforth be the first to engage in war. This long strip of land,
which has one extremity on the Niemen, and the other on the Meuse, must
necessarily strive to extend itself by means of conquest, and in this
manner the neutrality was avoided, which had occasioned a degree of
torpor in Europe during the revolution.
An implacable hatred again burst forth, when news arrived at the
congress of the landing of Napoleon: the young students had but just
returned to the universities, the _landwehr_ and _landsturm_, disbanded
but yesterday, were called to resume their arms on the morrow; and
the closest alliance was renewed in Europe, so as to march at once
against Napoleon, who, like an adventurous soldier, threw himself
almost immediately into Belgium and the Rhenish provinces. In this
military movement, which threatened Prussia, Prince Hardenberg was
compelled again to appeal to the national troops, who had shed their
blood on the fields of Lutzen and Bautzen. The same spirit was still
found in full strength and vigour; Blucher was at the head of the
Prussian contingent at Waterloo; they fought with the utmost fury, and
victory having decided in their favour on that plain, fatal to the
last hopes of Napoleon, the northern provinces of France were soon
inundated with enemies. In all the proclamations of Hardenberg, and
all his acts calling Germany to arms, a deadly hatred, a rancorous
degree of vengeance against France was manifested, in order to rouse
the courage and the powerful energy of the old Prussian monarchy. This
irritation was conspicuous at every step taken by the German troops
on the French territory; they appeared desirous of at once taking
vengeance for all the humiliations they had undergone during the last
ten years. Waterloo was not sufficient to appease the anger excited by
Jena; the recollection of the oppressive dominion of the French was
fresh in every heart; and it must be confessed, the most rancorous and
vindictive during the war were not the regular troops, the soldiers
devoid of mind or imagination, but the young men from the universities,
the _landwehr_ and the _landsturm_: it was the fair-haired Germans,
with the short frock and leathern belt, the admirers of Schiller
and Goëthe, and, more than all, the noble worshippers of the Queen
of Prussia, who came to claim the spoils of France; for the revered
image of the heroic Louisa, oppressed and calumniated by Napoleon, was
mingled in all their dreams.
The despatches of Hardenberg, while the negotiations of Paris were
in progress, bore the impress of this bent in Germany, and in fact of
the whole of his German existence. From the time he first took part
in public affairs, he particularly interested himself in every thing
concerning the confederation; his influence alone had induced Prussia
to enter into the system of neutrality and centralisation, which became
the national law of Germany from the time of the French revolution;
and now these same interests were placed under his supreme direction.
Germany, which had so long been endangered by French principles, was
desirous of reacting against that power; and everywhere declared and
averred, that Alsace and Lorraine had been taken from her, and that
they ought to be restored to their elder sister; conquest alone had
given them to France, and a reverse of fortune might deprive her of
them. Prince Hardenberg set forth these ideas, and supported them at
the conference in Paris; he asserted that the Rhine was not natural to
France, but was, on the contrary, offensive to Germany; Strasburg is
a threatening position, and so would be Mayence; the Vosges and the
Moselle were the limits he was desirous of assigning as a disgrace
to us, and this desire proceeded less from his own mind than from
the detestation Germany had vowed against us: it was the reaction of
liberalism against Napoleon, extending almost to the partition of
France. I have already described how M. de Richelieu preserved us from
this great misfortune, by appealing to the Emperor Alexander, more
disinterested in the question of partition, and who interposed in
favour of our vanquished country.
Notwithstanding this, the sacrifices imposed upon us by the treaty of
Paris were sufficiently heavy. Hardenberg was one of those who signed
it, and the influence he had exerted gave him very great claims upon
the confidence of his sovereign. He became, in the Prussian cabinet,
the representative of the Anglo-German alliance; renewing the union
between the Tory party and the German aristocracy, whose fundamental
principle was a hatred and hostility towards France, dating as far back
as the battle of Fontenoy, where the troops of the Duke of Cumberland
were humbled before the fortune of Louis XV.
Although peace was now established, the task of the minister was not
completed, and a most difficult mission remained to be accomplished.
The strong national impulse given to Germany by the necessity of
getting rid of Napoleon, had roused an energetic feeling in favour of
liberty in every breast; charters and constitutions had been promised,
and a sort of mystic unity in Germany had been spoken of; and how
were these promises to be redeemed? This political question, which I
have already mentioned as so delicate, I may almost say so terrible,
for Prince Metternich, was still more so for the head of the Prussian
government. In Austria the popular mind was neither so advanced, nor so
philosophically organised, as in Prussia; the enthusiasm of the people
was at bottom only an extreme devotion to the Emperor and the august
house of Hapsburg; and all they requested in return, was the repeal
of a few of their taxes, some local liberties, and a little public
happiness. But in Prussia the desires were not so moderate; all the
secret societies had visions of a state of things so strangely liberal,
that Germany would have been nothing more than a republic under a king,
if a free course had been allowed to their expectations. In order to
arrive at a regular plan of government, Hardenberg was obliged, even
in the face of his former promises, to break with the patriot party,
whose efforts he had so strenuously seconded during the crisis. Blucher
and Gneisenau, the chiefs of these young men, were anxious for a
national representative system, and for that purpose they wished the
secret societies to remain in full force; but Hardenberg demonstrated
to them that the object of these associations no longer existed, and
that as to the constitution of the States, the part designated as
the administration must be separated from the political legislation.
Under this point of view Hardenberg's theory is particularly worthy of
remark. According to him legislation belongs to the king alone; and
it was certainly a right no one would have disputed with Frederic,
the founder of the kingdom; the administration only belongs to the
provincial states, as also the power of voting taxes. He established
this theory by many successive acts, drawn up under his influence;
and it reached such a pitch, that a royal edict even put a stop to
the secret societies, as dangerous and fatal. The king's language is
paternal, and explanatory of his motives; such being the usual course
pursued in Prussia, where reason and explanation are had recourse to
with a thinking people.
This second portion of the life of Hardenberg presents exactly the
reverse of the medal; and such, we may observe, is generally the case.
The existence of political characters is almost invariably divided
into two parts: the one, all action and advance; the other, devoted
to the repression of the ideas they may have favoured in the days of
their youth and strength. The secret societies occasioned alarm, and,
perhaps, with some reason, at a time when the strangest theories had
begun to appear in Germany, and the press was doing mischief. There
had been a time when it was desirable to rouse Germany, and then every
thing might be said in favour of Liberty, as it was by her means
that every thing was to be done; but, after the crisis was over, the
government would be exposed to sudden and unexpected accusations. In
the Prussian universities it is permitted to discuss all questions, to
examine into the most important points of theology and morals; but when
they come to the application, when the principles of the government
are actually attacked, there is liberty no longer. All discussion is
formally forbidden which leads to the examination of the rights of the
crown or the obedience of the subject, because the head of the state is
essentially military, and his power is the work of the soldier.
Hardenberg, as minister of the king, took a part in all the acts which
prepared the Germanic constitution; for Frederic William abandoned
himself to his long experience, and he was prime minister in the
fullest sense of the word. To mark how perfectly he was satisfied with
his services, the king not only wrote to him with his own hand on his
birthday, but he also, as an agreeable surprise, caused his portrait to
be placed in the principal apartment of his hôtel.
By the act of the Germanic Confederation a close alliance took place
between Prussia and Austria, in order that they might share the power
equally between them; the one in the north, the other in the south;
Prussia as the representative of the Protestant, and Austria of the
Catholic system. The German unity was remodelled on that plan, and
there was no longer any thing but a moral struggle between the two
nations. Prussia was more advanced in her philosophical ideas, and
Austria more paternal and provident in her domestic regulations.
The well-established distinction between the administration and the
political system is particularly owing to the exertions of Hardenberg.
The administration is careful, economical, and often dishonest; the
political branch watchful and military, carefully restricting the
developement of liberty within the most exact limits. After the
termination of the great transactions of 1816, Hardenberg occupied
himself only in applying his system of repression to the press, to the
convocation and to the limited constitution of the States. At Troppau
and Laybach he supported Prince Metternich's designs, and all the
measures against the schools were taken in concert with Austria. The
system of the German universities embraced two main points,--studious
and intellectual ideas, and political influence. Hardenberg, a highly
educated man, the friend of Humboldt, Gentz, and Kotzebue, and
himself distinguished for his literary tastes, was willing to leave
to philosophy the vast domain where intellect displays, and often
loses itself; therefore the studies were not restricted in their
developement, the universities were still left mistress of their
doctrine, but they were obliged to resign their mysterious influence
on secret societies, and they no longer formed acting and deliberating
corps. Science, thought, and philosophy, remained as a grand and noble
trinity in the domain of the learned, like the school divinity of the
middle ages.
Political action being restrained, it was easier to bring the
administration to perfection. The system of Prussian presidencies was
only a collection of vast prefectures or local administrations, and
every thing was regulated with so much economy, that the taxes are
collected with a third less expense than in France.
In this long struggle of every-day labour, the life of Prince
Hardenberg was worn out; and at Aix-la-Chapelle and Troppau it was
evident that his strength was beginning to give way. Old age had come
upon him, and one is astonished a war with parties should have been
carried on so vigorously by a man who had reached the advanced age of
threescore and ten. One can imagine the peaceful government of an aged
man over a peaceful state; but the last four years of Hardenberg's life
had been the most laborious, because he not only had to contend with
external powers, but with his own opinions and ideas, hardly five years
old. He had organised the secret societies, and he was now compelled
to destroy them. It was not his feelings that had changed, but the
necessities of Europe, with whom deliverance had passed into repression.
At the congress of Verona, Hardenberg was seen, for the last time,
exerting all his strength to support the opinions of the Emperor
Alexander and Metternich, upon the necessity of a war with Spain. His
last public act was a journey to Rome, to sign a concordat between
Prussia and the Holy See; and the reconciliation between a Protestant
state and the head of the Catholic Church was certainly a most singular
and novel proceeding. Whence did it proceed? and what was the cause
of it? The excitement occasioned in Europe by the Holy Alliance had
reunited the various and scattered sovereignties. Their ideas were
confounded by the necessity of mutual defence, and the various shades
of opinion were effaced by the urgent anxiety for the repression of the
democratic principle; so that the Pope was restored by the English,
Prussians, and Russians, who all belong to different communions. These
political reconciliations had strengthened the religious feeling, and,
at this time, the Czar was dreaming of an universal church, by the
union of all the sects, which offers some explanation how Hardenberg
might go to Rome to sign the concordat. We must not, however,
forget that, owing to her new position, and her great acquisition
of territory, nearly half her population were now Papists, all the
Rhenish provinces surrounding the great cathedral of Cologne being
of that profession, and it was necessary to secure the exercise of
their religion to these people, but half-subject to their new master.
Hardenberg had still sufficient strength to preside over this treaty;
he then proceeded to Genoa in search of a milder climate, and had taken
one of those delightful villas where Lord Byron was accustomed to enjoy
the charms of a lovely country, when he was surprised by illness and
death, at the age of seventy-two years.
It was a diplomatic career as long as that of Prince Talleyrand; but
Prince Hardenberg had not, like him, preserved the polished manners
and mode of expression which, in his youth, won the hearts of the
republicans. His speech had become thick and heavy; he spoke French
well, but with the German accent, that is slightly observable with
Baron Humboldt. His language was very cold, and appeared the mirror
of his feelings, which seldom permitted themselves to be excited
by the imagination; he appeared to be even more a man of business
than a statesman; and, in fact he has organised, not created, an
administration which still exists, and gradually advances on the path
marked out for it by him.
At present, Prussia has done nothing beyond enlarging this system,
and at the same time stamping it more powerfully with a poetical and
philosophical tendency; for the ideas and impressions of stormy and
difficult times are not required in calmer seasons. Prussia appears
likely to realise the problem of an intelligent people, highly advanced
in philosophical knowledge, and yet capable of doing without what
are called constitutional institutions. The idea that proposes to
centralise and confound every thing, the visionary desire that would
group Germany around the cathedral of Cologne, is grand and vast; but,
in order this unity should triumph, would not the first necessary
condition be, that there should be but one faith, one object of love,
one system of belief? And how can Protestantism, which is so constantly
subject to internal dissensions, create unity? To make Berlin the
capital of science, to cause all the universities to converge towards
that point, as to an Athens dreamed of by the philosophers, is a noble
idea of the government; but, on the other hand, what means this license
against Christianity? Though Frederic the Great received Atheists
privately at his table, he would never have permitted atheism to be
publicly taught; and an empire desirous of seeking for unity in science
and philosophy must lay the first foundations in religion and Christian
instruction. My opinion, then, is, that the Romish system can alone
form a powerful bond among the people; otherwise, Cologne restored will
only present a barren proof of the utter incapacity of Protestantism to
renew the Catholic union of the arts and religion, as it existed during
the middle ages.
COUNT NESSELRODE.