If the movers of
the bill were to point out they demanded nothing beyond
what the Prussian Constitution had taken over long
before from the Frankfort Constitution, they betrayed
thereby their intention to give the Bishops in this article
the possibility of scoffing at the laws of the country
by appealing to the law of the Empire.
the bill were to point out they demanded nothing beyond
what the Prussian Constitution had taken over long
before from the Frankfort Constitution, they betrayed
thereby their intention to give the Bishops in this article
the possibility of scoffing at the laws of the country
by appealing to the law of the Empire.
Treitschke - 1914 - Life and Works
His words have never been
forgotten.
V.
The few years which Treitschke spent in Heidelberg
after the war were, as he himself admitted, the happiest
of his life. His tiny house, overlooking the Neckar and
Rhine Valley, was for him a constant source of joy, and
proudly he would take his visitors to the top of the vine-
yard, from which the Speyer Dom and Donner Mountain,
near Worms, were visible. Immediately adjacent to his
property excavations had been made in times gone by,
and even now bricks and fragments of pottery, bearing
the stamp of the Roman Legation, were to be found.
Thus he had historical ground even under his feet.
When, occasionally, on my return from a visit about mid-
night, I still saw lights in his study, I could not refrain
from thinking of Schiller, who, likewise, found the late
hours of night most propitious for his creations. It
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? 68 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
would be a mistaken idea to think that Treitschke,
vivaciously as he lectured, wrote his works without
exhaustive preparations. He just served as a proof
that genius and industry go hand-in-hand. Thanks to
his iron constitution, he could work until two o'clock in
the morning, yet be gay and full of life the following day.
Surrounded by his small crowd of children--two girls
and a boy--and with his elegant and slim-looking wife
by his side, he felt truly happy. It was a thoroughly
aristocratic and harmonious home, which in every detail
betrayed the gentle and tasteful hand of his spouse.
There was something distinctly humorous in his peculiar
ways, which made the visitor feel at home. Above all,
he was completely unaware of the noise he made. Baum-
gartcn, who was nervous, and worked with him in the
Archives, declared that not only was the throwing of
books and constant moving of his chair unbearable,
but also his uncontrollable temper. On one occasion,
Treitschke took up the register he had been studying,
and, jumping about the room on one leg, shouted,
"Aegidi, Aegidi! " It appeared that in the Ambassa-
dor's Report of the Prussian Diet of 1847 he had found
a memorial of his friend Aegidi stud, juris in Heidelberg,
which the Ambassador had communicated to Berlin
with a view to showing the present spirit of German
students, and which started with the following declara-
tion: "Like the Maid of Orleans before the King of
her country, so I, a German youth, come before the
noble Diet in order to give proof of the patriotic wishes
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 69
agitating youth. " Similar humorous outbursts of his
temperament occurred, of course, at home as well. He at
times experienced difficulties with his toilette. The ladies,
then, had to manipulate him into a corner to adjust his
tie or collar. In Scheveningen, where he occupied a room
next his family, he once rushed out on the general
balcony when unable to manipulate a button, shouting,
"Help! help! " so that the phlegmatic Dutch neigh-
bours looked out of the windows, thinking a great mis-
fortune had happened. The importunity with which
some people asked for autographs, and others for copies
of his books, his photograph, or a memento of some kind,
provided his keen sense of propriety with excellent
material for displaying originality. All this, however,
was done in such a humorous fashion that his company
proved most amusing. He behaved towards his students
with strictness, although he was gay enough when
addressing them from the chair. They idolized him,
but at all times he kept them at a distance.
When the University filled again for the winter term,
1871-1872, Treitschke had gained among the students
a position second to none. His lectures on modern
history, politics, and the Reformation, were crowded,
and his descriptive powers always thrilled his audience.
Hausser's force had been in his irony; with Treitschke,
humour and pathos alternated like thunder and light-
ning. Even listeners of more matured age admitted
that they had never heard anything that could be com-
pared with his natural elementary eloquence. Unable
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? 70 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
to hear the clock strike, he had arranged with those
sitting in front to make a sign at a given hour ; but, as
nobody wished him to discontinue, he often unduly
prolonged his lectures. Now and then ladies turned up.
At first he informed them by letter that he could not
permit their presence, but when they persisted in coming
he told the porter to refuse them entrance, and angrily
added his intention of putting up a notice similar to
those in front of anatomical theatres: "For gentlemen
only! " When meeting his colleagues he never even
hinted at the striking success he scored with his audience.
His disposition was anything but over-confident, and he
associated just as cordially with those whose academic
failures were notorious--provided he appreciated them
otherwise--as with the past-masters, whose level was
as high as his own. He never referred at all to the
demonstrations which students made in his favour.
In the choice of his friends, as well as in the choice of
his enemies, he was aristocratic, but vain he was not.
Enthusiastic patriotism was the keynote of his life, and
this explains its aesthetics. A sensitive admirer of
nature, appreciating as keenly as anybody the lovely
scenery of the ruins of Heidelberg Castle, he nevertheless
favoured the re-building of the same, obsessed by the
idea that it must become the palace of the German King.
His literary opinions could easily be gauged, as his com-
pass always pointed towards Prussia. When he invited
us to an evening, we knew beforehand we should read
the Prince of Homburg, or some similar work. This
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 71
explains also his predilection for Kleist, and for Uhland,
the patriot. Of Hebbel's works--he was about to pre-
pare an analysis of them in a new form for publication
in the essays--the Nibelungs were his favourite. Did
he not himself bear resemblance to Siegfried, who plans
to chain up the perfidious Danish Kings outside the gate,
where, as they had behaved like dogs, they were to bark
on his arrival and departure? This was quite his style
of thinking, just as at the Theatre Francais my travelling
companion, when listening to the patriotic ravings of
Ernani, the highwayman, whispered to me: "Exactly
like Treitschke! " Not only "The Trousers of Herr
von Bredow," of which he knew considerable parts by
heart, but Brandenburg poetry in general gave him great
pleasure. He even shielded Hesekiel and Scherenberg
against attacks; and the scruples of learned men
respecting Freytag's "Ingo and Ingraban" were sup-
pressed by him. Turbulent men were to his liking; the
criticisms of German Law History and of the Spruner
Atlas regarding these descriptions had, to his mind,
nothing to do with poetry. Whatever met with the
approval of his patriotism could be sure of his apprecia-
tion. My first two novels met with a very friendly
reception in the Press, as, thanks to my pseudonym,
"George Taylor," quite different authors had been sus-
pected. No sooner, however, had the wise men from
the East discovered that a theologian had been the
author than, on the appearance of the third novel,
entitled "Jetta," they vented their rage at having been
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? 72 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
deceived. Treitschke, however, declared " Jetta " to be
the best of the three books. He liked the Alemans for
the thrashing they had given the Romans, and that
settled the matter as far as he was concerned. The way
the learned fraternity censured Hermann Grimm ap-
peared stupid to him, like school pedantry. He realised
as well as anybody else the defects and mistakes, but he
called it childish spite to take to task such an ingenious
author for all sorts of blunders and amateurish triviali-
ties when he had original views, and had created a
picture of culture, such as the life of Michelangelo.
In the same way he stood up for living and not for
dead writers, in spite of the opposition of the learned
fraternity; but he did not, however, defend their super-
ficiality or phrase-making.
The great literary post-bellum events were "The Old
and the New Faith," by Strauss, and the revival of
Schopenhauer pessimism by Hartmann and Nietzsche,
books which--albeit different in form, yet related in
their fundamental views of the world--appeared to
Treitschke, in view of the melancholy tone adopted, like
an inexplicable phenomenon. How could anybody be
a pessimist in times like the present, when it was a
pleasure to be alive? Of Hartmann he said: "This is
the philosophy of the Berliner when suffering from
phthisis. " With Olympic roars of laughter he derided,
over a glass of beer, Hartmann's sentimentality and
his many discussions whether the feelings of pleasure
or displeasure predominate in human nature. After all,
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 73
Hartmann had left us the consolation of Nirvana; but
Nietzsche, by his revival theory, deprived us of the
consoling thought of pcacefulness after death. Nietzsche's
first essay on the origin of tragedy had met with Treit-
schke's approval. Was he not himself to adopt the
Nietzschean phrase of "a dithyrambic disposition "?
and, to him, Socratic natures were likewise unsym-
pathetic. In his criticism on Strauss he gave proof
of his aversion to Socratic dispositions, an aversion
which he shared with Nietzsche. He was the only one
of our circle who defended Nietzsche's essay and criti-
cized Strauss' "Old and New Faith. " He would not
admit the merits of a book which represents the material-
istic theory in transparent clearness, and thereby brings
defects to light which cannot be overlooked. He
simply went by results. A book, which as far as we,
the enlightened ones, were concerned, sought a last
consolation in music, had to be somewhat disagreeable
to him, deaf as he was. But he would not even admit
Strauss' beauty of style. "Beautiful style by itself
does not exist," he said. "A style is beautiful when the
writer is represented by it. Style should faithfully
express the nature and temperament of the author. With
Lessing, I admire the clear statements, because they are
natural to this clear dialectician; but with Strauss they
do not belong to the man, as with Lessing, but to the
essay. " Strauss' style just lacked the personal element.
If Strauss, on the other hand, found Treitschke's style
indigestible, the contrast is thereby quite correctly
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? 74 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
characteristic. While patriotic pathos dominated the
one, the other one was, throughout, reflective and
logical; that is to say, the one was a dithyramb and the
other one a Socratic nature. I could not always share
Treitschke's clearly formed opinions, but we were all
grateful to him for the interest with which he invested
conversation, and for his ability to maintain it. His
own activity was that of an artist as well as that of a
scientist. Impressions of his travels through all the
valleys of Germany, poetry, newspaper extracts, con-
versations and humorous stories of friends, were always
at his command, and these combined with accurate studies
from the Archives and information verbally received
enabled him to shape his work. Considering his system
of gathering information, it was inevitable that occa-
sionally he was provided with unauthentic news, for, as
soon as conversation arose on a subject useful to him,
his pocket-book appeared, and he asked to have the
story put down. When I once wrote for him that, at
the outbreak of the Army mutiny in Karlsruhe, a
picture of Grand Duke Leopold was exhibited in all
the libraries, with the verse:
Zittert ein Tyrann von Revolutionen.
Du Leopold kannst ruhig thronen.
Dein Volk verlasst Dich nicht
(Though a tyrant may dread revolution,
Thou, O, Leopold, mayest safely reign.
Thy people will not forsake thee),
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 75
he immediately placed the piece of paper separately and
said, "This will appear in the sixth volume " ; but it
never saw the light of day. I personally could vouch
for the correctness of my story, but how easy it was to
obtain wrong information under these circumstances,
and, as a matter of fact, all sorts of protests against his
anecdotes were raised after each publication. It is
notorious how circumstantially he subsequently had to
explain or contradict the story of the silver spoon of Prince
Wrede, the Red Order of the Eagle of Privy Councillor
Schmalz, and many other things, and much more fre-
quently still he promised correction in the subsequent
edition to those who had lodged complaints. We were
very much annoyed at the injustice with which he, in
the fifth volume, characterized the Grand Duke Leopold,
who was exceedingly conscientious and benevolent.
When attacking him for it in our domestic circle, he
declared that every petty State had its idol, and that
we ought to break ourselves of it as others had done.
Treitschke's tales from the Reichstag provided a rich
source of amusement. When entering Parliament, in
1871, all friends were of opinion the deaf man would not
stand it long, and his enemies mockingly remarked:
"It is right he should be there. " But the canvassing tour
in itself proved a great recreation for him, and if he had
achieved nothing beyond the strengthening, by his fiery
speeches, of the German sentiment of people on the
Hunsruck and in the Nahe Valley, this gain alone was
worth the trouble. His efficiency in Berlin exceeded
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? 76 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
all expectations. He sat next to the shorthand
writers, and after having grasped their system of
abbreviations, he followed the speeches, and thus was
often better informed than those who sneered at the deaf
deputy. It was more difficult for him to attend at
Committee sittings, but his friend Wehrenpfennig
kept him informed as far as possible. As all parties
decided in committee how to vote, Treitschke's speeches
in plenum really were of value for the public only, but the
reputation of the Reichsrath certainly was considerably
enhanced by the fact that people who liked reading the
parliamentary proceedings were able to find the speeches
reproduced in the newspapers. The orations of "the deaf
man who had no business in Parliament" are, with the
exception of Bismarck's, after all, the only ones which,
after his death, have been edited in book form from the
protocols, and even to-day they are a source of political
information and patriotic elevation. It was a great event
when the circle of friends in Heidelberg heard that
Treitschke had delivered his maiden speech in the
Reichstag, and great was our joy when we read that in
this first speech he had vehemently attacked the Ultra-
montanes.
Deputy Reichensperger moved that, with a view to
safeguarding the liberty of the Press, Unions and the
Church Articles III--V of the Frankfort fundamental
laws should be incorporated in the Constitution of the
Empire. Treitschke started by declaring that the
nation's hope of a temporary continuance, at any rate
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 77
in Parliament, of the noble spirit of unanimity which,
during the war, had raised Germany above other nations,
had been defeated by the Ultramontanes. At the begin-
ning of the German Reichstag, we have heard the Empire
of the Papal King, the Republic of Poland, and the Empire
of the Guelfs discussed, while I had hoped we should now
have firmly established progress in our territory, and
would look hopefully towards the future. It is impossible
to believe that the great question of State and Church
could be solved by a four-line sentence. In order to
bring about the Constitution every party was obliged to
make sacrifices. The disturbers of the peace are now
exactly those gentlemen who always assert that they are
the oppressed minority. Now, gentlemen, if this were
true, I must say that they endured their oppression
with a very small measure of Christian patience. If
fundamental laws should become incorporated with the
New Constitution, he continued, why have Mr. Reichen-
sperger and his associates forgotten the principal ones.
The article is lacking "science and its dogma are free,"
a principle the adoption of which would be highly bene-
ficial to the Catholic Theologic Faculties. Why is the
definition lacking respecting civil marriage law? In
this way he ruthlessly tore off the opponents' masks,
as if they had aimed at liberty. When Bishop Kettler
had uttered a warning to speak a little more modestly,
and with less confidence of the future of an Empire which
had as yet to be founded, Treitschke ironically pointed to
the great progress made considering that Kettler no longer
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? 78 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
sat in Parliament as Bishop of Mayence, but owed his
seat to the poll of an electoral district.
If the movers of
the bill were to point out they demanded nothing beyond
what the Prussian Constitution had taken over long
before from the Frankfort Constitution, they betrayed
thereby their intention to give the Bishops in this article
the possibility of scoffing at the laws of the country
by appealing to the law of the Empire. In Baden they
had undergone too many experiences in this respect to
be deceived any longer. But the German nation is
sensible and honest enough to understand that these
poor articles are not fundamental laws, but aim at
procuring, by a side-issue, an independent position for
the Catholic Church as regards the State. He therefore
thought he did no injustice to the movers of the bill
when he expressed the belief that the Press and Unions
were only a momentary addition to their proposal, but that
their real intention was directed to the independence of
the Catholic Church. The defeat of the Ultramontanes
was as complete as possible, and there existed no other
more pressing matter for which Treitschke could have
acted as champion on behalf of Baden. In parliamen-
tary matters he was now, likewise, recognised as the worthy
successor of Hausser. The general belief that Treitschke
owed his great success to mannerism was dispelled by
his speeches in the Reichstag. It was not rhetoric or
pathos which scored, but the force of conviction. He
spoke better than others because he had grasped the
thought of liberty, and of nationality, with more ardour
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 79
than they had. To him more than to any other speaker
the words of Cato senior applied: "Keep firmly in mind
the subject and the words will follow. "
In a further speech on the law on July 9th, 1871, he
woefully surrendered his ideal to see Alsace Lothing
a province of Germany, but all the more energetically he
opposed the desire of a party, supported by Roggenbach,
to form Alsace into a State. If it was not to become part
of the Prussian State it should, at least, be a province of
the German Empire, reigned over by the Emperor, and
not become a new Small State. The Alsatian public
servants should frequently be transferred, even to
Schwelm, and to Stalluponen, so that they should get to
know Germany. Neither was he in favour of having a
Lord Lieutenant appointed. "Such a prince makes the
worst public servant, because he is obliged to act as if his
house were a Court. The elements of Society which
could be attracted by these countless gewgaws are such
that I, at any rate, would with pleasure dispense with
their support. " Neither in Strasburg nor in Heidelberg
or Berlin did this particular speech meet with great
approbation, but who will assert to-day that he was
wrong? All the more approved was his speech of
November 2nd, 1871, in which he demanded the inter-
vention of the Empire to procure for Mechlenburg the
privileges of the estates of the Realm. A great impression
was produced when he pointed out that, of half a
million inhabitants, no less than 60,000 people had
emigrated within the last fifteen years from this little
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? 80 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
country richly blessed by nature. In his indignation he
ever adopted a tone which, hitherto, one was only wont
to hear at democratic meetings. He pointed out that
conditions in Mecklenburg had become the butt of
humour. "It is dangerous when the patient German
people begin to sneer. That scornful laughter over the old
German Diet and the King of the Guelfs carried on for
many years has led to very serious consequences; it has
brought about the well-known end of all things. The star
of unity is in the ascendant. Woe betide the State which
wilfully secludes itself from this mighty and irresistible
impulse; sooner or later the catastrophe will overtake
it. " In the same way as these threatening words had
created a great impression in Parliament, so they found an
enthusiastic echo in our circle; and equally great was his
success when he supported the supplementing of the
Penal Code by the so-called Pulpit Paragraph, by which
he again told the bitter truth to the Ultramontanes. For
the last time before prorogation of Parliament he spoke
on November 29th, 1871, when the progressive party
renewed the old controversy on parliamentary co-operation
regarding Army Estimates. Treitschke was strongly in
favour of the War Minister's views; he availed himself,
however, of this occasion to attack strongly von
Miihler, the Minister of Public Instruction, and when
called to order by the Conservatives he replied: "See
that a capable man is appointed at the head of the
Ministry of Public Instruction who bestows only the
tenth part of that energy which the Minister for War is in
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 81
the habit of bestowing upon his department; you will
then have practical experience that one thing can be done,
and that another cannot be left undone. " On the whole,
the Baden Deputies returned from Berlin in a very dejected
mood. Of Bluntschli, the Berlin newspapers had written
that his delivery gave the impression he was dictating
his speeches. He had remained obscure--that he knew;
but consoled himself with the thought that it took time
to find the tone for such a big assembly. Of Roggenbach,
who, with all his brilliant conversational gifts, completely
lacked oratorical powers, a gay Palatine country judge,
who was also a member of the Reichstag, said : "If this
is your most brilliant statesman I should like to come
across your most stupid one. " In the same way the others
returned like a beaten army, for not the remotest compari-
son existed between the part played by them in Berlin
and the one played by them in Karlsruhe at the Municipal
Hall. Only one appeared with laurels, and this one was
Treitschke, who had saved our reputation. He was also
welcomed home as heartily as possible; although Baum-
garten said at the time, in a morose tone, that Treitschke
never considered a law proposal favourably unless he had
delivered a speech on it. The Ultramontanes, however,
considered the game unevenly matched. While he
overwhelmed them with the strongest expressions, they
could not hit back because he did not hear them. In an
identical fashion the second session, 1873-1874, passed,
which Treitschke still attended from Heidelberg, and
the "round table" applauded his brilliant passages of
F
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? 82 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
arms. Many of his winged words have survived to the
present day, as, for instance, his explanation of the request
of German issuing banks for paper (money) " based on a
deeply founded desire in human nature"; or "making
debts without getting interest on them "; or his sneering
remarks about the predilection of South Germans for
Bavarian military helmets and dirty florin notes. His
patriotism again rose to its full height when discussions
on the septennate took placet when the same party,
whose chaplains in the Black Forest had falsely told the
constituents that "septennate" meant serving for seven
successive years, complained in Parliament that they
were called the enemies of the Empire, he referred to
their behaviour, and for simplicity's sake began with the
Pope.
"Who was it who expressed the devout Christian wish
that a little stone might fall from heaven to shatter the
feet of the German Colossus? Those who consider the
author of this ingenious pronouncement infallible would
only have confessed publicly to this wish after Germany
had lost a battle, and which God forbid. Meanwhile,
Prussia was the little stone which had opened the doors
of the Eternal City to united and free Italy, and at the
same time had annihilated the most sinful Small State
of that part of the globe. In similar strain he spoke on
December 17th, 1874, to Deputy Winterer, who demanded
the abolition of the School Law granted the preceding year
to Alsace Lothing. In opposition to Winterer's hymns
on the achievements of the school brethren he read
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 83
extracts from their rules which prescribed in which case
the brother has to rise before the superior, in which case
to kneel down, and in which case he only had to kiss the
floor. "Gentlemen," he asked the Ultramontanes,
"I am indeed curious to know whether there is anything
worse than the naked floor the devout school brother is
to kiss. " When the gentlemen of the clerical party
expressed the wish to save the ecclesiastical and French
spirit of their public schools he replied in unmistakable
fashion: "We have the intention to Germanise this
newly acquired German province; we have the intention
and will carry it out. " Strong applause, and hissing
in the centre, was the usual result of his speeches during
this session. The return took place under conditions
similar to those of last year, only the depression at the
modest part played by the Baden Deputies in their
Reichstag was still greater, and Jolly, at any rate, did not
refrain from remarking that the quarrelsome disposition
of the Liberal leaders, which immediately made itself felt
at the opening debate of the Baden Chamber in November,
1873, arose from the desire of the gentlemen to gain in
the Karlsruhe Rondel Hall the laurels which had been
denied to them in the Reichstag. But Treitschke's
appreciation of the Reichstag likewise waned from session
to session. Already, in 1879, he wrote the following words
in the Reichstag album: "Let us not be deceived,
gentlemen, the pleasure our population experienced by
participating in parliamentary life has considerably
decreased in comparison with the days when the mere
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? 84 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
existence of Parliament was held to be the beginning of
the era of liberty. But how should it be otherwise?
I believe we are blessed with 4,000 deputies in the German
Empire. It would be against the nature of things if
such an excessive number did not, in the end, become
boring and tedious to the population. " When his
calculation was contested, he wrote a few years later:
'' Quousque tandem is on everybody's lips when in good
Society mention is made of those parliamentary speech
floods which now, for months past, have rushed forth
again in Berlin, Munich, and Karlsruhe, as if from wide
opened sluices; 3,000 Members of Parliament, that is
to say, one representative of the people for every 3,000
citizens. Too much of a good thing even for German
patience. More and more frequently the question is
raised whether by such sinful waste of money and time
anything else can be effected beyond a noise as useless as
the clattering of a wheel whose axle is broken. "
On July nth, 1879, he announced his retirement
from the National Liberal faction on the rejection of the
well-known Frankenstein Clause, which allotted part of
the custom receipts to the Small States. One would
have supposed that he, a staunch Unitarian, would be
antagonistic to this proposal, and in his innermost heart
he really was; but, owing to Bismarck's declaration that
finance reform was urgent, and that the consent of the
centre was unobtainable by any other means, he voted
for the Government. The consequences apprehended
by him, as the result of the attitude of his friends, fully
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 85
materialised. They consisted in Bismarck's rupture
with the National Liberals, the resignation of ministers--
Hobrecht, Falck, and Friedenthal--the reconciliation of
Bismarck with the Roman Curia, and the passage of the
customs reform with a Conservative clerical majority,
which to the present day prevails in the Reichstag. All
this Bismarck sacrificed for the benefit of a highly con-
testable finance reform. Treitschke attributed the re-
sponsibility for it to the Reichstag, and in 1883 he wrote:
"Of all the institutions of our young Empire, none has
stood the test as badly as the Reichstag. " He was sick
of Parliament, and characterised the headache and feeling
of tiredness with which he usually returned from sittings
as "parliamentary seediness. " His participation in
debates slackened, and after 1888 he refrained from
seeking re-election, an additional reason being the lines
taken by Government, and legislation which he could
not follow without coming too much into conflict with
his old ideas.
Neither did he harmonize with public opinion in regard
to external politics. He had no faith in the durability
of the French Republic, but believed in the return of
Bonapartism. At the death of Napoleon III, on January
9th, 1873, consequent upon an operation for stone, he
remarked: "Right to the last this man has remained
unaesthetic. " I thought the game between Chambord
and the Orleans would now be continued, but he pooh-
poohed the idea, and adhered to his belief that the Bona-
partists alone are the people destined to reign over that
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? 86 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
nation. With feelings of bitterness he watched the
great number of Germans who, in spite of experiences in
the past, returned to France to again take up positions,
and even obtain their naturalisation. He considered
this a lack of sense of honour which he could not under-
stand. The Pole who on all battle-fields fought against
Russia was to his mind more respectable, in spite of his
vodka smell.
VI.
From 1871 to 1874 the Reichstag was by no means the
only arena in which the warrior, prepared at all times,
practised his strength, and his academic opponents
occasionally reproached him with dragging the bad tone
of the Reichstag into the University debates. As a
matter of fact, in those days there was little difference,
thanks to the urbanity of Richter and Liebnecht.
Peculiarly enough, the chief interest of Academicians
since March, 1871--during the time, therefore, when the
most important questions agitated the German Father-
land--hinged upon a quarrel which must be styled
almost childish. Knies and Schenkel were at daggers
drawn, because the former, as Pro-Rector, occupied
the chair in the Economic Commission conducted by
Schenkel. The University statutes clearly conceded this
right to the Pro-Rector, but Schenkel declared that
Knies, in that case, might also undertake the agenda of
the Commission. The reason for Treitschke's passionate
participation in this question was partly aversion for
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 87
Schenkel, and partly gratitude for Knies, who, in Frei-
burg, as well as in Heidelberg, had urged his appointment.
Besides, he highly appreciated Knies as a scientist, and
managed to intersperse his Reichstag speeches with
exhaustive extracts from Knies' latest book, "Money. "
In the terms of the statute Knies was absolutely in his
right. When the quarrel came to no end, Jolly sus-
pended the Commission and entrusted the Senate with
its duties, but the Senate protested. As negotiations
assumed a very unparliamentary character, the philologist
Kochly declared it beneath his dignity to participate
further in the meetings. A motion was now brought
in compelling every " Ordinarius" to take part in the
meetings, and in this way the stupid discussion con-
tinued. The principal seat of terror was the Philosophic
Faculty, and by his drastic speeches Treitschke more
than once drove the Dean to despair. "He is a fire-
brand," said Ribbeck. "I am always trembling when
he asks to speak. " It was, of course, picturesque when
the tall, handsome man with thundering voice shouted
at the tiny, bespectacled gentlemen in the Senate,
"Whoever is of a different opinion will have me to deal
with. " But as he had no conception as to how loudly
he spoke, even when intending to whisper a confidential
information into his neighbour's ear, he often placed his
friends in a most awkward position. One of his con-
fidential cannon-shots particularly caused lasting damage.
When the natural history scientists, on a certain occasion,
interfered, he shouted to his neighbour, meaning of
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? 88 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
course to whisper, "What has this to do with these
chemists and dung-drivers ? "--and the fat was naturally
in the fire. Nobody was more annoyed at these sallies
than his own party, and, after a similar occurrence,
Knies, taking advantage of his deafness, called after
him, "Good-night, old baby! " He, however, gaily
departed, totally unaware of the feelings which he had
aroused even amongst his friends. It was impossible
to exercise a restraining influence over him. With his
temperament, he could not understand why he should
say something different from what he thought. A friend
who, in his opinion, although right, was unjustly ill-
treated and ill-used, would be helped out by him, what-
ever the cost.
When, however, in an article in the Prussian Annuals,
he declared that Court Theatres and University Senates
would remain for ever the classic field for jealous intrigues
and childish quarrels, the contest reverberated in the
Chambers and the Press. The so-called majority broke
off all relations with him, and, in consequence, we became
more intimate than ever. "The outlaws" was the
name he preferably applied to us, and the round table
at Konig's Winebeer, in Leipzig, was christened by him
as " The Conspirators. " In reply to my remark that we
cared by no means to be considered outlaws, he said:
"I have my students. " Anyhow, the close relations
thus established among a number of influential col-
leagues was also a gain. We met every evening, one
hour after his lectures, at the Museum, where we drank
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 89
cheap beer. "It merely costs a little effort," he said.
The circle consisted of historian Weber, the three
theologians, Gass, Holtzmann, and myself; further, the
botanist, Hofmeister, with whom Treitschke was on
friendly terms while in Leipzig; Herrmann, the teacher
of Canon Law, where Treitschke was received when still
a student in Gottingen, and who, for his benefit, had
learned the deaf and dumb language; and Knies, who,
after occupying the position of Director of the High
School Board and University Inspector, was degraded
to that of Professor at Heidelberg, so that Hitzig greeted
him with the following toast: "Behold Adam, who
now has become one of us! " The spokesmen were
Knies and Bluntschli, who both defended their one
political point of view, Treitschke keeping as much as
possible apart from the latter. His opinion of Bluntschli,
as now confirmed in print through his letters to
Freytag, was unjust. Bluntschli's intentions were for
the common weal, but in his opinion it could best be
done through him. The Otez vous que je mif mette (real
Swiss-German) applied to him in his Faculty as well as
in the Chamber. In vain I tried to prove to Treitschke
that Bluntschli's propensity to mediation proposals, and
his desire to vote always with the majority, was
founded on his peaceable disposition and his benevolent
concern for the public good. When, however, on a
certain occasion, prior to leaving for Edingen by rail, I
spoke to him in this strain, he raved to such an extent
that the attention of the people in the waiting-room was
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forgotten.
V.
The few years which Treitschke spent in Heidelberg
after the war were, as he himself admitted, the happiest
of his life. His tiny house, overlooking the Neckar and
Rhine Valley, was for him a constant source of joy, and
proudly he would take his visitors to the top of the vine-
yard, from which the Speyer Dom and Donner Mountain,
near Worms, were visible. Immediately adjacent to his
property excavations had been made in times gone by,
and even now bricks and fragments of pottery, bearing
the stamp of the Roman Legation, were to be found.
Thus he had historical ground even under his feet.
When, occasionally, on my return from a visit about mid-
night, I still saw lights in his study, I could not refrain
from thinking of Schiller, who, likewise, found the late
hours of night most propitious for his creations. It
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? 68 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
would be a mistaken idea to think that Treitschke,
vivaciously as he lectured, wrote his works without
exhaustive preparations. He just served as a proof
that genius and industry go hand-in-hand. Thanks to
his iron constitution, he could work until two o'clock in
the morning, yet be gay and full of life the following day.
Surrounded by his small crowd of children--two girls
and a boy--and with his elegant and slim-looking wife
by his side, he felt truly happy. It was a thoroughly
aristocratic and harmonious home, which in every detail
betrayed the gentle and tasteful hand of his spouse.
There was something distinctly humorous in his peculiar
ways, which made the visitor feel at home. Above all,
he was completely unaware of the noise he made. Baum-
gartcn, who was nervous, and worked with him in the
Archives, declared that not only was the throwing of
books and constant moving of his chair unbearable,
but also his uncontrollable temper. On one occasion,
Treitschke took up the register he had been studying,
and, jumping about the room on one leg, shouted,
"Aegidi, Aegidi! " It appeared that in the Ambassa-
dor's Report of the Prussian Diet of 1847 he had found
a memorial of his friend Aegidi stud, juris in Heidelberg,
which the Ambassador had communicated to Berlin
with a view to showing the present spirit of German
students, and which started with the following declara-
tion: "Like the Maid of Orleans before the King of
her country, so I, a German youth, come before the
noble Diet in order to give proof of the patriotic wishes
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 69
agitating youth. " Similar humorous outbursts of his
temperament occurred, of course, at home as well. He at
times experienced difficulties with his toilette. The ladies,
then, had to manipulate him into a corner to adjust his
tie or collar. In Scheveningen, where he occupied a room
next his family, he once rushed out on the general
balcony when unable to manipulate a button, shouting,
"Help! help! " so that the phlegmatic Dutch neigh-
bours looked out of the windows, thinking a great mis-
fortune had happened. The importunity with which
some people asked for autographs, and others for copies
of his books, his photograph, or a memento of some kind,
provided his keen sense of propriety with excellent
material for displaying originality. All this, however,
was done in such a humorous fashion that his company
proved most amusing. He behaved towards his students
with strictness, although he was gay enough when
addressing them from the chair. They idolized him,
but at all times he kept them at a distance.
When the University filled again for the winter term,
1871-1872, Treitschke had gained among the students
a position second to none. His lectures on modern
history, politics, and the Reformation, were crowded,
and his descriptive powers always thrilled his audience.
Hausser's force had been in his irony; with Treitschke,
humour and pathos alternated like thunder and light-
ning. Even listeners of more matured age admitted
that they had never heard anything that could be com-
pared with his natural elementary eloquence. Unable
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? 70 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
to hear the clock strike, he had arranged with those
sitting in front to make a sign at a given hour ; but, as
nobody wished him to discontinue, he often unduly
prolonged his lectures. Now and then ladies turned up.
At first he informed them by letter that he could not
permit their presence, but when they persisted in coming
he told the porter to refuse them entrance, and angrily
added his intention of putting up a notice similar to
those in front of anatomical theatres: "For gentlemen
only! " When meeting his colleagues he never even
hinted at the striking success he scored with his audience.
His disposition was anything but over-confident, and he
associated just as cordially with those whose academic
failures were notorious--provided he appreciated them
otherwise--as with the past-masters, whose level was
as high as his own. He never referred at all to the
demonstrations which students made in his favour.
In the choice of his friends, as well as in the choice of
his enemies, he was aristocratic, but vain he was not.
Enthusiastic patriotism was the keynote of his life, and
this explains its aesthetics. A sensitive admirer of
nature, appreciating as keenly as anybody the lovely
scenery of the ruins of Heidelberg Castle, he nevertheless
favoured the re-building of the same, obsessed by the
idea that it must become the palace of the German King.
His literary opinions could easily be gauged, as his com-
pass always pointed towards Prussia. When he invited
us to an evening, we knew beforehand we should read
the Prince of Homburg, or some similar work. This
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 71
explains also his predilection for Kleist, and for Uhland,
the patriot. Of Hebbel's works--he was about to pre-
pare an analysis of them in a new form for publication
in the essays--the Nibelungs were his favourite. Did
he not himself bear resemblance to Siegfried, who plans
to chain up the perfidious Danish Kings outside the gate,
where, as they had behaved like dogs, they were to bark
on his arrival and departure? This was quite his style
of thinking, just as at the Theatre Francais my travelling
companion, when listening to the patriotic ravings of
Ernani, the highwayman, whispered to me: "Exactly
like Treitschke! " Not only "The Trousers of Herr
von Bredow," of which he knew considerable parts by
heart, but Brandenburg poetry in general gave him great
pleasure. He even shielded Hesekiel and Scherenberg
against attacks; and the scruples of learned men
respecting Freytag's "Ingo and Ingraban" were sup-
pressed by him. Turbulent men were to his liking; the
criticisms of German Law History and of the Spruner
Atlas regarding these descriptions had, to his mind,
nothing to do with poetry. Whatever met with the
approval of his patriotism could be sure of his apprecia-
tion. My first two novels met with a very friendly
reception in the Press, as, thanks to my pseudonym,
"George Taylor," quite different authors had been sus-
pected. No sooner, however, had the wise men from
the East discovered that a theologian had been the
author than, on the appearance of the third novel,
entitled "Jetta," they vented their rage at having been
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? 72 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
deceived. Treitschke, however, declared " Jetta " to be
the best of the three books. He liked the Alemans for
the thrashing they had given the Romans, and that
settled the matter as far as he was concerned. The way
the learned fraternity censured Hermann Grimm ap-
peared stupid to him, like school pedantry. He realised
as well as anybody else the defects and mistakes, but he
called it childish spite to take to task such an ingenious
author for all sorts of blunders and amateurish triviali-
ties when he had original views, and had created a
picture of culture, such as the life of Michelangelo.
In the same way he stood up for living and not for
dead writers, in spite of the opposition of the learned
fraternity; but he did not, however, defend their super-
ficiality or phrase-making.
The great literary post-bellum events were "The Old
and the New Faith," by Strauss, and the revival of
Schopenhauer pessimism by Hartmann and Nietzsche,
books which--albeit different in form, yet related in
their fundamental views of the world--appeared to
Treitschke, in view of the melancholy tone adopted, like
an inexplicable phenomenon. How could anybody be
a pessimist in times like the present, when it was a
pleasure to be alive? Of Hartmann he said: "This is
the philosophy of the Berliner when suffering from
phthisis. " With Olympic roars of laughter he derided,
over a glass of beer, Hartmann's sentimentality and
his many discussions whether the feelings of pleasure
or displeasure predominate in human nature. After all,
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 73
Hartmann had left us the consolation of Nirvana; but
Nietzsche, by his revival theory, deprived us of the
consoling thought of pcacefulness after death. Nietzsche's
first essay on the origin of tragedy had met with Treit-
schke's approval. Was he not himself to adopt the
Nietzschean phrase of "a dithyrambic disposition "?
and, to him, Socratic natures were likewise unsym-
pathetic. In his criticism on Strauss he gave proof
of his aversion to Socratic dispositions, an aversion
which he shared with Nietzsche. He was the only one
of our circle who defended Nietzsche's essay and criti-
cized Strauss' "Old and New Faith. " He would not
admit the merits of a book which represents the material-
istic theory in transparent clearness, and thereby brings
defects to light which cannot be overlooked. He
simply went by results. A book, which as far as we,
the enlightened ones, were concerned, sought a last
consolation in music, had to be somewhat disagreeable
to him, deaf as he was. But he would not even admit
Strauss' beauty of style. "Beautiful style by itself
does not exist," he said. "A style is beautiful when the
writer is represented by it. Style should faithfully
express the nature and temperament of the author. With
Lessing, I admire the clear statements, because they are
natural to this clear dialectician; but with Strauss they
do not belong to the man, as with Lessing, but to the
essay. " Strauss' style just lacked the personal element.
If Strauss, on the other hand, found Treitschke's style
indigestible, the contrast is thereby quite correctly
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? 74 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
characteristic. While patriotic pathos dominated the
one, the other one was, throughout, reflective and
logical; that is to say, the one was a dithyramb and the
other one a Socratic nature. I could not always share
Treitschke's clearly formed opinions, but we were all
grateful to him for the interest with which he invested
conversation, and for his ability to maintain it. His
own activity was that of an artist as well as that of a
scientist. Impressions of his travels through all the
valleys of Germany, poetry, newspaper extracts, con-
versations and humorous stories of friends, were always
at his command, and these combined with accurate studies
from the Archives and information verbally received
enabled him to shape his work. Considering his system
of gathering information, it was inevitable that occa-
sionally he was provided with unauthentic news, for, as
soon as conversation arose on a subject useful to him,
his pocket-book appeared, and he asked to have the
story put down. When I once wrote for him that, at
the outbreak of the Army mutiny in Karlsruhe, a
picture of Grand Duke Leopold was exhibited in all
the libraries, with the verse:
Zittert ein Tyrann von Revolutionen.
Du Leopold kannst ruhig thronen.
Dein Volk verlasst Dich nicht
(Though a tyrant may dread revolution,
Thou, O, Leopold, mayest safely reign.
Thy people will not forsake thee),
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 75
he immediately placed the piece of paper separately and
said, "This will appear in the sixth volume " ; but it
never saw the light of day. I personally could vouch
for the correctness of my story, but how easy it was to
obtain wrong information under these circumstances,
and, as a matter of fact, all sorts of protests against his
anecdotes were raised after each publication. It is
notorious how circumstantially he subsequently had to
explain or contradict the story of the silver spoon of Prince
Wrede, the Red Order of the Eagle of Privy Councillor
Schmalz, and many other things, and much more fre-
quently still he promised correction in the subsequent
edition to those who had lodged complaints. We were
very much annoyed at the injustice with which he, in
the fifth volume, characterized the Grand Duke Leopold,
who was exceedingly conscientious and benevolent.
When attacking him for it in our domestic circle, he
declared that every petty State had its idol, and that
we ought to break ourselves of it as others had done.
Treitschke's tales from the Reichstag provided a rich
source of amusement. When entering Parliament, in
1871, all friends were of opinion the deaf man would not
stand it long, and his enemies mockingly remarked:
"It is right he should be there. " But the canvassing tour
in itself proved a great recreation for him, and if he had
achieved nothing beyond the strengthening, by his fiery
speeches, of the German sentiment of people on the
Hunsruck and in the Nahe Valley, this gain alone was
worth the trouble. His efficiency in Berlin exceeded
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? 76 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
all expectations. He sat next to the shorthand
writers, and after having grasped their system of
abbreviations, he followed the speeches, and thus was
often better informed than those who sneered at the deaf
deputy. It was more difficult for him to attend at
Committee sittings, but his friend Wehrenpfennig
kept him informed as far as possible. As all parties
decided in committee how to vote, Treitschke's speeches
in plenum really were of value for the public only, but the
reputation of the Reichsrath certainly was considerably
enhanced by the fact that people who liked reading the
parliamentary proceedings were able to find the speeches
reproduced in the newspapers. The orations of "the deaf
man who had no business in Parliament" are, with the
exception of Bismarck's, after all, the only ones which,
after his death, have been edited in book form from the
protocols, and even to-day they are a source of political
information and patriotic elevation. It was a great event
when the circle of friends in Heidelberg heard that
Treitschke had delivered his maiden speech in the
Reichstag, and great was our joy when we read that in
this first speech he had vehemently attacked the Ultra-
montanes.
Deputy Reichensperger moved that, with a view to
safeguarding the liberty of the Press, Unions and the
Church Articles III--V of the Frankfort fundamental
laws should be incorporated in the Constitution of the
Empire. Treitschke started by declaring that the
nation's hope of a temporary continuance, at any rate
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 77
in Parliament, of the noble spirit of unanimity which,
during the war, had raised Germany above other nations,
had been defeated by the Ultramontanes. At the begin-
ning of the German Reichstag, we have heard the Empire
of the Papal King, the Republic of Poland, and the Empire
of the Guelfs discussed, while I had hoped we should now
have firmly established progress in our territory, and
would look hopefully towards the future. It is impossible
to believe that the great question of State and Church
could be solved by a four-line sentence. In order to
bring about the Constitution every party was obliged to
make sacrifices. The disturbers of the peace are now
exactly those gentlemen who always assert that they are
the oppressed minority. Now, gentlemen, if this were
true, I must say that they endured their oppression
with a very small measure of Christian patience. If
fundamental laws should become incorporated with the
New Constitution, he continued, why have Mr. Reichen-
sperger and his associates forgotten the principal ones.
The article is lacking "science and its dogma are free,"
a principle the adoption of which would be highly bene-
ficial to the Catholic Theologic Faculties. Why is the
definition lacking respecting civil marriage law? In
this way he ruthlessly tore off the opponents' masks,
as if they had aimed at liberty. When Bishop Kettler
had uttered a warning to speak a little more modestly,
and with less confidence of the future of an Empire which
had as yet to be founded, Treitschke ironically pointed to
the great progress made considering that Kettler no longer
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? 78 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
sat in Parliament as Bishop of Mayence, but owed his
seat to the poll of an electoral district.
If the movers of
the bill were to point out they demanded nothing beyond
what the Prussian Constitution had taken over long
before from the Frankfort Constitution, they betrayed
thereby their intention to give the Bishops in this article
the possibility of scoffing at the laws of the country
by appealing to the law of the Empire. In Baden they
had undergone too many experiences in this respect to
be deceived any longer. But the German nation is
sensible and honest enough to understand that these
poor articles are not fundamental laws, but aim at
procuring, by a side-issue, an independent position for
the Catholic Church as regards the State. He therefore
thought he did no injustice to the movers of the bill
when he expressed the belief that the Press and Unions
were only a momentary addition to their proposal, but that
their real intention was directed to the independence of
the Catholic Church. The defeat of the Ultramontanes
was as complete as possible, and there existed no other
more pressing matter for which Treitschke could have
acted as champion on behalf of Baden. In parliamen-
tary matters he was now, likewise, recognised as the worthy
successor of Hausser. The general belief that Treitschke
owed his great success to mannerism was dispelled by
his speeches in the Reichstag. It was not rhetoric or
pathos which scored, but the force of conviction. He
spoke better than others because he had grasped the
thought of liberty, and of nationality, with more ardour
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 79
than they had. To him more than to any other speaker
the words of Cato senior applied: "Keep firmly in mind
the subject and the words will follow. "
In a further speech on the law on July 9th, 1871, he
woefully surrendered his ideal to see Alsace Lothing
a province of Germany, but all the more energetically he
opposed the desire of a party, supported by Roggenbach,
to form Alsace into a State. If it was not to become part
of the Prussian State it should, at least, be a province of
the German Empire, reigned over by the Emperor, and
not become a new Small State. The Alsatian public
servants should frequently be transferred, even to
Schwelm, and to Stalluponen, so that they should get to
know Germany. Neither was he in favour of having a
Lord Lieutenant appointed. "Such a prince makes the
worst public servant, because he is obliged to act as if his
house were a Court. The elements of Society which
could be attracted by these countless gewgaws are such
that I, at any rate, would with pleasure dispense with
their support. " Neither in Strasburg nor in Heidelberg
or Berlin did this particular speech meet with great
approbation, but who will assert to-day that he was
wrong? All the more approved was his speech of
November 2nd, 1871, in which he demanded the inter-
vention of the Empire to procure for Mechlenburg the
privileges of the estates of the Realm. A great impression
was produced when he pointed out that, of half a
million inhabitants, no less than 60,000 people had
emigrated within the last fifteen years from this little
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? 80 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
country richly blessed by nature. In his indignation he
ever adopted a tone which, hitherto, one was only wont
to hear at democratic meetings. He pointed out that
conditions in Mecklenburg had become the butt of
humour. "It is dangerous when the patient German
people begin to sneer. That scornful laughter over the old
German Diet and the King of the Guelfs carried on for
many years has led to very serious consequences; it has
brought about the well-known end of all things. The star
of unity is in the ascendant. Woe betide the State which
wilfully secludes itself from this mighty and irresistible
impulse; sooner or later the catastrophe will overtake
it. " In the same way as these threatening words had
created a great impression in Parliament, so they found an
enthusiastic echo in our circle; and equally great was his
success when he supported the supplementing of the
Penal Code by the so-called Pulpit Paragraph, by which
he again told the bitter truth to the Ultramontanes. For
the last time before prorogation of Parliament he spoke
on November 29th, 1871, when the progressive party
renewed the old controversy on parliamentary co-operation
regarding Army Estimates. Treitschke was strongly in
favour of the War Minister's views; he availed himself,
however, of this occasion to attack strongly von
Miihler, the Minister of Public Instruction, and when
called to order by the Conservatives he replied: "See
that a capable man is appointed at the head of the
Ministry of Public Instruction who bestows only the
tenth part of that energy which the Minister for War is in
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 81
the habit of bestowing upon his department; you will
then have practical experience that one thing can be done,
and that another cannot be left undone. " On the whole,
the Baden Deputies returned from Berlin in a very dejected
mood. Of Bluntschli, the Berlin newspapers had written
that his delivery gave the impression he was dictating
his speeches. He had remained obscure--that he knew;
but consoled himself with the thought that it took time
to find the tone for such a big assembly. Of Roggenbach,
who, with all his brilliant conversational gifts, completely
lacked oratorical powers, a gay Palatine country judge,
who was also a member of the Reichstag, said : "If this
is your most brilliant statesman I should like to come
across your most stupid one. " In the same way the others
returned like a beaten army, for not the remotest compari-
son existed between the part played by them in Berlin
and the one played by them in Karlsruhe at the Municipal
Hall. Only one appeared with laurels, and this one was
Treitschke, who had saved our reputation. He was also
welcomed home as heartily as possible; although Baum-
garten said at the time, in a morose tone, that Treitschke
never considered a law proposal favourably unless he had
delivered a speech on it. The Ultramontanes, however,
considered the game unevenly matched. While he
overwhelmed them with the strongest expressions, they
could not hit back because he did not hear them. In an
identical fashion the second session, 1873-1874, passed,
which Treitschke still attended from Heidelberg, and
the "round table" applauded his brilliant passages of
F
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? 82 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
arms. Many of his winged words have survived to the
present day, as, for instance, his explanation of the request
of German issuing banks for paper (money) " based on a
deeply founded desire in human nature"; or "making
debts without getting interest on them "; or his sneering
remarks about the predilection of South Germans for
Bavarian military helmets and dirty florin notes. His
patriotism again rose to its full height when discussions
on the septennate took placet when the same party,
whose chaplains in the Black Forest had falsely told the
constituents that "septennate" meant serving for seven
successive years, complained in Parliament that they
were called the enemies of the Empire, he referred to
their behaviour, and for simplicity's sake began with the
Pope.
"Who was it who expressed the devout Christian wish
that a little stone might fall from heaven to shatter the
feet of the German Colossus? Those who consider the
author of this ingenious pronouncement infallible would
only have confessed publicly to this wish after Germany
had lost a battle, and which God forbid. Meanwhile,
Prussia was the little stone which had opened the doors
of the Eternal City to united and free Italy, and at the
same time had annihilated the most sinful Small State
of that part of the globe. In similar strain he spoke on
December 17th, 1874, to Deputy Winterer, who demanded
the abolition of the School Law granted the preceding year
to Alsace Lothing. In opposition to Winterer's hymns
on the achievements of the school brethren he read
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 83
extracts from their rules which prescribed in which case
the brother has to rise before the superior, in which case
to kneel down, and in which case he only had to kiss the
floor. "Gentlemen," he asked the Ultramontanes,
"I am indeed curious to know whether there is anything
worse than the naked floor the devout school brother is
to kiss. " When the gentlemen of the clerical party
expressed the wish to save the ecclesiastical and French
spirit of their public schools he replied in unmistakable
fashion: "We have the intention to Germanise this
newly acquired German province; we have the intention
and will carry it out. " Strong applause, and hissing
in the centre, was the usual result of his speeches during
this session. The return took place under conditions
similar to those of last year, only the depression at the
modest part played by the Baden Deputies in their
Reichstag was still greater, and Jolly, at any rate, did not
refrain from remarking that the quarrelsome disposition
of the Liberal leaders, which immediately made itself felt
at the opening debate of the Baden Chamber in November,
1873, arose from the desire of the gentlemen to gain in
the Karlsruhe Rondel Hall the laurels which had been
denied to them in the Reichstag. But Treitschke's
appreciation of the Reichstag likewise waned from session
to session. Already, in 1879, he wrote the following words
in the Reichstag album: "Let us not be deceived,
gentlemen, the pleasure our population experienced by
participating in parliamentary life has considerably
decreased in comparison with the days when the mere
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? 84 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
existence of Parliament was held to be the beginning of
the era of liberty. But how should it be otherwise?
I believe we are blessed with 4,000 deputies in the German
Empire. It would be against the nature of things if
such an excessive number did not, in the end, become
boring and tedious to the population. " When his
calculation was contested, he wrote a few years later:
'' Quousque tandem is on everybody's lips when in good
Society mention is made of those parliamentary speech
floods which now, for months past, have rushed forth
again in Berlin, Munich, and Karlsruhe, as if from wide
opened sluices; 3,000 Members of Parliament, that is
to say, one representative of the people for every 3,000
citizens. Too much of a good thing even for German
patience. More and more frequently the question is
raised whether by such sinful waste of money and time
anything else can be effected beyond a noise as useless as
the clattering of a wheel whose axle is broken. "
On July nth, 1879, he announced his retirement
from the National Liberal faction on the rejection of the
well-known Frankenstein Clause, which allotted part of
the custom receipts to the Small States. One would
have supposed that he, a staunch Unitarian, would be
antagonistic to this proposal, and in his innermost heart
he really was; but, owing to Bismarck's declaration that
finance reform was urgent, and that the consent of the
centre was unobtainable by any other means, he voted
for the Government. The consequences apprehended
by him, as the result of the attitude of his friends, fully
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 85
materialised. They consisted in Bismarck's rupture
with the National Liberals, the resignation of ministers--
Hobrecht, Falck, and Friedenthal--the reconciliation of
Bismarck with the Roman Curia, and the passage of the
customs reform with a Conservative clerical majority,
which to the present day prevails in the Reichstag. All
this Bismarck sacrificed for the benefit of a highly con-
testable finance reform. Treitschke attributed the re-
sponsibility for it to the Reichstag, and in 1883 he wrote:
"Of all the institutions of our young Empire, none has
stood the test as badly as the Reichstag. " He was sick
of Parliament, and characterised the headache and feeling
of tiredness with which he usually returned from sittings
as "parliamentary seediness. " His participation in
debates slackened, and after 1888 he refrained from
seeking re-election, an additional reason being the lines
taken by Government, and legislation which he could
not follow without coming too much into conflict with
his old ideas.
Neither did he harmonize with public opinion in regard
to external politics. He had no faith in the durability
of the French Republic, but believed in the return of
Bonapartism. At the death of Napoleon III, on January
9th, 1873, consequent upon an operation for stone, he
remarked: "Right to the last this man has remained
unaesthetic. " I thought the game between Chambord
and the Orleans would now be continued, but he pooh-
poohed the idea, and adhered to his belief that the Bona-
partists alone are the people destined to reign over that
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? 86 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
nation. With feelings of bitterness he watched the
great number of Germans who, in spite of experiences in
the past, returned to France to again take up positions,
and even obtain their naturalisation. He considered
this a lack of sense of honour which he could not under-
stand. The Pole who on all battle-fields fought against
Russia was to his mind more respectable, in spite of his
vodka smell.
VI.
From 1871 to 1874 the Reichstag was by no means the
only arena in which the warrior, prepared at all times,
practised his strength, and his academic opponents
occasionally reproached him with dragging the bad tone
of the Reichstag into the University debates. As a
matter of fact, in those days there was little difference,
thanks to the urbanity of Richter and Liebnecht.
Peculiarly enough, the chief interest of Academicians
since March, 1871--during the time, therefore, when the
most important questions agitated the German Father-
land--hinged upon a quarrel which must be styled
almost childish. Knies and Schenkel were at daggers
drawn, because the former, as Pro-Rector, occupied
the chair in the Economic Commission conducted by
Schenkel. The University statutes clearly conceded this
right to the Pro-Rector, but Schenkel declared that
Knies, in that case, might also undertake the agenda of
the Commission. The reason for Treitschke's passionate
participation in this question was partly aversion for
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 87
Schenkel, and partly gratitude for Knies, who, in Frei-
burg, as well as in Heidelberg, had urged his appointment.
Besides, he highly appreciated Knies as a scientist, and
managed to intersperse his Reichstag speeches with
exhaustive extracts from Knies' latest book, "Money. "
In the terms of the statute Knies was absolutely in his
right. When the quarrel came to no end, Jolly sus-
pended the Commission and entrusted the Senate with
its duties, but the Senate protested. As negotiations
assumed a very unparliamentary character, the philologist
Kochly declared it beneath his dignity to participate
further in the meetings. A motion was now brought
in compelling every " Ordinarius" to take part in the
meetings, and in this way the stupid discussion con-
tinued. The principal seat of terror was the Philosophic
Faculty, and by his drastic speeches Treitschke more
than once drove the Dean to despair. "He is a fire-
brand," said Ribbeck. "I am always trembling when
he asks to speak. " It was, of course, picturesque when
the tall, handsome man with thundering voice shouted
at the tiny, bespectacled gentlemen in the Senate,
"Whoever is of a different opinion will have me to deal
with. " But as he had no conception as to how loudly
he spoke, even when intending to whisper a confidential
information into his neighbour's ear, he often placed his
friends in a most awkward position. One of his con-
fidential cannon-shots particularly caused lasting damage.
When the natural history scientists, on a certain occasion,
interfered, he shouted to his neighbour, meaning of
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? 88 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
course to whisper, "What has this to do with these
chemists and dung-drivers ? "--and the fat was naturally
in the fire. Nobody was more annoyed at these sallies
than his own party, and, after a similar occurrence,
Knies, taking advantage of his deafness, called after
him, "Good-night, old baby! " He, however, gaily
departed, totally unaware of the feelings which he had
aroused even amongst his friends. It was impossible
to exercise a restraining influence over him. With his
temperament, he could not understand why he should
say something different from what he thought. A friend
who, in his opinion, although right, was unjustly ill-
treated and ill-used, would be helped out by him, what-
ever the cost.
When, however, in an article in the Prussian Annuals,
he declared that Court Theatres and University Senates
would remain for ever the classic field for jealous intrigues
and childish quarrels, the contest reverberated in the
Chambers and the Press. The so-called majority broke
off all relations with him, and, in consequence, we became
more intimate than ever. "The outlaws" was the
name he preferably applied to us, and the round table
at Konig's Winebeer, in Leipzig, was christened by him
as " The Conspirators. " In reply to my remark that we
cared by no means to be considered outlaws, he said:
"I have my students. " Anyhow, the close relations
thus established among a number of influential col-
leagues was also a gain. We met every evening, one
hour after his lectures, at the Museum, where we drank
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 89
cheap beer. "It merely costs a little effort," he said.
The circle consisted of historian Weber, the three
theologians, Gass, Holtzmann, and myself; further, the
botanist, Hofmeister, with whom Treitschke was on
friendly terms while in Leipzig; Herrmann, the teacher
of Canon Law, where Treitschke was received when still
a student in Gottingen, and who, for his benefit, had
learned the deaf and dumb language; and Knies, who,
after occupying the position of Director of the High
School Board and University Inspector, was degraded
to that of Professor at Heidelberg, so that Hitzig greeted
him with the following toast: "Behold Adam, who
now has become one of us! " The spokesmen were
Knies and Bluntschli, who both defended their one
political point of view, Treitschke keeping as much as
possible apart from the latter. His opinion of Bluntschli,
as now confirmed in print through his letters to
Freytag, was unjust. Bluntschli's intentions were for
the common weal, but in his opinion it could best be
done through him. The Otez vous que je mif mette (real
Swiss-German) applied to him in his Faculty as well as
in the Chamber. In vain I tried to prove to Treitschke
that Bluntschli's propensity to mediation proposals, and
his desire to vote always with the majority, was
founded on his peaceable disposition and his benevolent
concern for the public good. When, however, on a
certain occasion, prior to leaving for Edingen by rail, I
spoke to him in this strain, he raved to such an extent
that the attention of the people in the waiting-room was
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