Berlin, April 1, 1848.—The Diet which is to open to-morrow will form a new act in the drama.[ [142] It is impossible to estimate the results, and I have lost all interest in forecasts and also in proposals for a long time. Paul Medem, who is here still, is very uncertain what his future will be. The news from Vienna does not seem to me to be particularly reassuring. In general it is scarcely possible to find a peaceful point on the whole of the globe and the sole consolation is the remembrance of sure and tried affection which can defy revolution and absence and everything that walks abroad throughout this vale of tears.
Berlin, April 8, 1848.—The effects of the revolution in Paris have been felt here and the consequences have been violent, far-reaching and irremediable. Everything is still in a ferment and the impetus, far from being exhausted is still proceeding, though not in an upward direction. The peasants' rising in the provinces is a most disastrous element in the situation: I am obliged to remain in the town in consequence, though here the continuance of popular excitement disagreeably breaks the monotonous and profound melancholy of this capital. The Metternich family are in Holland preparing for their crossing to England.[ [143]
Berlin, April 12, 1848.—Life is very sad and all classes of society in great agitation. The members of the Diet all left Berlin yesterday to seek re-election by their constituents. The fate of the country depends upon the manner in which this constitutional assembly is to be composed; it is therefore the duty of all right-minded people to attempt to secure a seat, and such is the general opinion; but many things may happen between now and May 22. A net-work of clubs enfolds the capital and the provinces ever more closely in its toils; outbreaks are of constant occurrence in every direction; the temper of the militia is doubtful; the audacity of the agitators, foreign complications and the infectious examples which have been set in the west and south and in certain disaffected quarters in the north and in the east, are enough to make any one lose his head; while the hesitating attitude of the Government and the absolute abandonment of any repressive measures are not calculated to restore confidence. The fifty little tyrants established at Frankfort will certainly do their best to turn the balance of things; no one has given them any mandate and yet every one obeys them.[ [144] The state of affairs, as we see it, is utterly inexplicable; forecast is impossible. We must live from hand to mouth and be satisfied when every twenty-four hours have passed without some unusual shock. We see many bands of police passing through the town on their way to Posen or Cracow. The Polish landowners are giving their peasants full liberty, to avoid the danger of massacre at their hands. The Polish nationality is in arms against the German and no one can see which of the two will emerge triumphant, if attempts at reconciliation should fail.[ [145]
Sagan, April 20, 1848.—The state of public feeling remains disquieting. If the rebels confined their objections merely to the moneyed classes, the best of all possible courses would be to let them take what they want. People have so little money in hand that they would not get much: but in their frenzy they are ready to attack archives, titles, contracts, and in short anything that determines and settles landed tenure. They are also greatly inclined to ill-treat individuals and to set fire to barns and buildings, whether they are opposed or not. The position here has grown a little calmer although emissaries from the Jacobin club at Breslau appeared two days ago and are attempting to secure the adherence of the wretched little lawyers who are known in Germany as Die obskure Literatur. We heard that these agitators under pretext of holding a preliminary electoral meeting were attempting to raise a mob from the lowest of the people and to show them the quickest and easiest way of disarming the civil guard. Fortunately precautions have been taken and I have no doubt that if a demonstration should take place, it would be dispersed without bloodshed.
The wirepullers of the Berlin clubs are agitating against the form of election by two stages and are organising a great popular demonstration to offer a petition in favour of direct election, to the castle and the Ministry. I do not know whether they will be able to get many workmen together on this political question: possibly they might be successful, as the workmen are already greatly disturbed on the question of pay; from what I hear they are continually parading the streets. The other day there were serious disturbances directed against the bakers who were selling bread by fraudulent weights and who certainly deserved a lesson in consequence, though it was not the business of the people to give it to them. Meanwhile the workmen are contracting idle habits and learning to lounge in public: the workshops where they desire to work are closed by the wirepullers, and the tailors, for instance, are involuntarily on strike. I do not think there is any imminent danger of violence, but the general tendency of things is bad and may well lead to violence. The Poles have sent their ultimatum to Berlin.[ [146] They declined to lay down their arms or separate until their demands had been conceded. The authorities are busy deliberating and find themselves in a difficult position between these two peoples, for the Poles decline to consider the demands of the Germans who insist upon remaining German, and demand that a line of demarcation should be drawn, making Posen a German capital and giving Gnesen to the Poles.
Nobody knows what to believe of Italy, as the news from that quarter is so contradictory. Letters from Vienna are sad and depressing: England offers another spectacle, very different and very glorious for herself, but I must say that I am furious to see Lord Palmerston, who has so largely contributed to this European upheaval, boasting of the comfort, of the glory and of the wealth of the English, which naturally increases with continental distress.
Sagan, April 24, 1848.—The following is a letter from Vienna sent to me by the Russian Minister, my cousin Medem: "Vienna is in a state of complete depression: there are no social gatherings; the Prater is deserted and the Opera is closed, as the public will not allow the Italians to play. Wallmoden has come to us from Italy; he is said to be here in the hopes of arranging a scheme with the Government, if not for resuming the offensive in Italy upon a large scale,[ [147] at any rate for regaining possession of Venice and the part of Frioul which is in rebellion. Communications with the army under arms continue to be confined to the Tyrolese passes. People are properly indignant at the conduct of F. Zichy, of Count Palfy at Venice and Count Ludolf at Treviso, who capitulated disgracefully without adequate reason.[ [148] Dissatisfaction and uncertainty of the future is general: every day the unpardonable sluggishness of the old administration, both civil and military, becomes more obvious. Their incompetency is quite incredible unless one has a knowledge of certain details. The peace of Vienna has not been seriously disturbed of late, but unpleasant demonstrations have taken place: these are provoked by unwise people, generally from abroad, who harangue the people in public meetings, in the Odeon or in similar places; publications and inflammatory notices appear everywhere and foment uneasiness in the more sensible part of the nation, especially among the upper classes. It is quite time that this came to an end, and if it goes on the situation will become complicated. For the moment, at any rate, the state of affairs is much better here than in the capital or the Prussian monarchy, but what guarantee is there for the future?"
Sagan, April 30, 1848.—We have now reached the end of the second month of this upheaval, the shocks of which are, I fear, far from reaching their conclusion. At the present moment Europe is divided between electoral passion and the flames of civil war. Human passion is displayed in all its hideousness during the rivalry aroused by the elections: citizens fight with citizens blindly and furiously, while anarchy, disorder, restlessness, poverty, despondency and despair is the picture to be seen everywhere, with a few slight differences. Those people are only too happy who are but touched by a reaction which has spent its power and contrive to pass the day without personal risk, if not without anxiety. Here we shall see what the elections, which begin to-morrow, will bring forth, and what the attitude of the country will be during the voting and the counting. Meanwhile the Press and the clubs are working furiously. Every little town has its newspaper and every hamlet its orator. The audiences for the most part do not understand what they hear, but they obey like the sheep of Panurge. The working classes propose to lay down the law to the factory directors, who can sell nothing and therefore cannot increase or even maintain their output or improve the prospects of their employees. As for the poor people who work upon the land and the more prosperous class which finds employment on the railway, their labours have come to an end, and one really does not know what to do for them. People are dividing with them the last farthing and the corn from the barns, as they are the objects both of pity and fear.
Sagan, May 5, 1848.—The Grand Duchy of Posen is at present the scene of the greatest atrocities; civil war is in progress with unheard of refinements of cruelty. The French newspapers do not know these facts or decline to state them, but the details which I have from first hand evidence are enough to make one's hair stand on end. On May 1 the Prussians were utterly defeated by the insurgents who, armed with scythes, disembowelled the horses.[ [149] Several Polish lords have been massacred by their peasants, and they can only secure their personal safety by instigating the peasants against the Prussian army.
Sagan, May 8, 1848.—To-day the electors chosen a week ago are to appoint the Prussian representatives. I think that undue hopes are being set upon constitutional assemblies, and I fear the result may show a general state of delusion. At Vienna the resignation of Count Ficquelmont was one of the most unpleasant incidents in the whole drama:[ [150] some students entered his house, declaring that they would no longer have him as Minister; he obeyed and would have run great risks as he walked to his son-in-law's house if Prince Clary and two students had not acted as his protectors.