Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I.

by Gustav Freytag

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 Münster 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 Münster 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.