There was
something
touching in the need for
help of this clever and handsome man, and it
cannot be denied that his amiability was partly
its cause.
help of this clever and handsome man, and it
cannot be denied that his amiability was partly
its cause.
Treitschke - 1914 - His Doctrine of German Destiny
The one, the stronger, lifted the weaker
one when disobedient up in the air until he yielded.
The joy and sorrow of the one transmitted itself
to the other one; when one drank wine, the other
felt the effects, etc. Subsequently he spoke of
the relations of the Theological Faculty to medical
science, in view of the fact that it had undeceived
orthodoxy; and finally he drank the health of the
new arrivals. In very touching words Treitschke
recalled the memory of our mutual teacher,
Hausser. Whether I liked it or not, I had to
picture myself as the weaker twin, who often had
been lifted by the stronger one, and had promised
to be obedient at all times. In spite of the peals
of laughter with which Friedreich's speech had
been received by the learned circle, the whole thing
struck me as very insipid. Treitschke, however,
was most highly amused, and for some time after,
when meeting him, his first words used to be, "Well,
Twin, how are we? " Later on he applied the un-
savoury comparison of the doctor to Delbruck and
Kamphausen, which did not please me either.
III.
In Heidelberg, Treitschke did not experience
with the students the difficulties he had com-
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? His Life and Work 33
plained of in Freiburg a proof that the recalci-
trant attitude of the Freiburg Student Corps was,
to a great extent, due to the Ultramontanes and
to politicians striving to reform the German
Confederation in union with Austria. It is true
some young students complained to me that on the
first few occasions they were quite unable to hear
what he said, that his delivery was much too rapid,
and that they were irritated by the gurgling noise
with which he from time to time unwittingly
drew in his breath. But when once used to his
mannerisms, they all admitted that his gift of
speech, his accuracy of expression, and elementary
force of enthusiasm appealed to them like a some-
thing never before experienced. An enthusiastic
theologian, who died prematurely, applied to him
the following expression from the Gospel of St.
John: "Never before hath a man spoken as this
man did! " Treitschke brought with him to
lectures merely a scrap of paper with the catch-
words written on it, so that he should not stray
from the subject and forget to allude to certain
matters. On one occasion, having left his notes
at home, he told me he had finished, after all,
five minutes sooner, which proved that we all are
"creatures of habit. " What was particularly
fascinating in him was the assurance of his manner.
He stood erect, with an expression of cheerfulness
on his face, the head thrown back, and emphasiz-
ing the salient points by repeatedly nodding.
The contents of his lectures were invariably his-
3
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? Treitschke
torical and political. While Ranke completely
lost himself in pictures of the past, Treitschke
never for a moment forgot the present. What he
said of Cromwell, Gustavus Adolphus, and Na-
poleon always had its references^ to present-day
England, Germany, and France. ; His examples
proved that the taking to pieces "of the sources
of information and the looking for originals of
reports, however indispensable this preparatory
work might be, did not complete the functions of
the historian. It was necessary to understand
the people whose fate one intends to relate, and as
Treitschke himself said, one understands only
what one loves. All great historians are at the
same time great patriots, and no one is a real
historian who has not exhausted the depth of
human nature, and knows how thoughts originate
and passions are at work. The historian must
display a certain ingenuity in guessing connections.
He must be able to reply to the great enigmas of
life, and must be a poet who understands how to
shape material vigorously. All this was to be
found in this wonderful man, and that is why he
combined for the young people politics with philo-
sophy and religion. "Whoever wishes to write
history must have the heart of a lion," says Martin
Luther; and so Treitschke writes: "Only a stout
heart, grasping the meaning of the past of a coun-
try like personally experienced good and evil
fortune, can truly write history. " It is not per-
fection of form only, but depth of soul which
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? His Life and Work 35
accounts for the greatness of ancient historians.
Who will deny that thereby he portrayed his own
picture? "The historian must be just, outspoken,
indifferent to the sensitiveness of the Courts
and fearless of the hatred, more powerful now-
adays, of the educated rabble": these were the
principles to which he adhered from his chair? !
Already in the first weeks of his Heidelberg years,
when reading a good deal of Tacitus and Suetonius
for my New Testament Chronicle, I had a very
instructive conversation on this subject with him.
I told him that in view of the strong antagonistic
attitude taken up by the Roman aristocrats, I
attached no greater value to their descriptions of
the Caesars than to the descriptions of Frederic
the Great, by Onno Klopp, or to the contributors
of the Frankfurter Zeitung. The pictures of
Julius II and Leo X by Raphael, of Erasmus by
Holbein, of Spinola by Rubens, of Lorenzo Medici
by Giorgio Vasari, of old Charles V and Paul III
by Titian, fully confirmed the descriptions of their
biographers; as illustrations they fitted the text;
on the other hand, the statues and busts of Au-
gustus, Tiberius, and Caligula gave the lie to
Tacitus and Suetonius. These marble heads
always appeared to me like a silent and noble,
yet convincing, protest against the calumny of
hostile authors, just as the Philistine bust of
Trajan taught me why Tacitus and Pliny valued
him so highly, simply because he did not prevent
others from calumniating the past. Treitschke
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? 36 Treitschke
differed; Cesare Borgia's handsome features did
not betray his vice; Tacitus, however, was a patriot
completely absorbed in the interests of his people,
who knew no higher aim than the greatness of his
country, which could not be said of the Frankfurter
Zeitung. He admitted that Tacitus had not kept
the sine ira et studio which he promised; but this
is not at all the duty of the historian. The his-
torian should be capable of both anger and love
true passion sees clearer than all the cold-blooded
sophists, and only the historian, writing from a
party standpoint, introduces us to the life of the
parties, and really guides us.
Treitschke's prestige amongst the students and
in Society was, at that time, even more firmly
established than among the professors. The circle
of scholars affected mostly a disparaging compas-
sion towards the feuilletonist, who perhaps could
write an essay but no book, and just as the doors
of the Berlin Academy opened to him, only shortly
before his death as he had not been a scientist,
but merely a clever publicist there sat in Heidel-
berg, in judgment over him, not only students
of law and of the Talmud, but green, private
University teachers, so that even now one feels
reminded of Karl Hildebrand's words: "If to-day
Thucydides were to appear before the public, no
doubt a Waitz Seminarist would forthwith explain
to him his lack of method. " He also realized that
a new volume of essays would not further his
scientific reputation; but, he writes to Freytag:
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? His Life and Work 37
"I am a thousand times more of a patriot than a
professor, and with the real league of scientists I
shall never be on good terms. " As a matter of
fact, Treitschke's chief merit did not lie in the
knowledge he disseminated, but in the incompar-
able effect which his personality and his spirited
words produced on susceptible young students.
His motto was; "German every fibre. " In
reality, however, the fire of his speech was not due
to German but to the Czech blood which still
flowed in his veins. One felt reminded of what
other nations had related regarding the impression
a Bernard von Clairvaux, an Arnold von Brescia,
or a Johannes Hus had produced upon them. Also
the temperament of our German Chauvinist was
not German but Slav. With all his sunny cheer-
fulness, he was at times for hours prone to deep
melancholy. Quick to flare up and as easily
appeased, bearing no malice, inconsiderate in his
expressions yet kind in actions, reserved in his
attitude but a good comrade, ready to assist
there was nothing in him of the German heavy
and mistrustful temperament. He might just
as well have been an Italian or Frenchman, al-
though he had only bad words for the Latin race.
An unfavourable circumstance was that students
crowded to his lectures, but instead of subscribing
to them merely attended. "Taking measures
in this direction one spoils one's relations with
the young people," he said; "but Hausser should
not have brought them up this way. " It even
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? 38 Treitschke
turned out that in the absence of the college sub-
scriptions he had relied upon he could not cover
his house expenses; but Jolly stepped in and pro-
cured him a considerable additional salary. In
Heidelberg he quickly felt at home, thanks par-
ticularly to his keen love of nature. After a short
stay in another part of the town he moved into a
pleasant flat on the Frillig Stift, but although deaf
the noise of the main street affected his nerves.
With childish joy he looked at the blooming lilac-
trees in the court, behind which stood a pavilion
bearing an inscription in Greek: "Look for the
contents above," and which Treitschke inter-
preted as meaning that liqueurs were kept in the
loft by the clergyman who had constructed it.
Later on we moved, almost at the same time, to
the other side of the Neckar River, and as the
inhabitants belonged to a party the nickname
"The Superfluous-ones" was originated for us.
Treitschke settled on a fairly steep slope of a hill,
which only permitted of an unimportant structure
being built. Furthermore, as the contractor had
erected the house by way of speculation, economy
was exercised everywhere, and on one occasion
the terrace had to be propped to prevent its drop-
ping into the valley. But there were beautiful
roses at both sides of the building, and, looking
over old chestnut-trees, which screened the high-
way, one caught a glimpse of the river. It was
touching to see how happy the young husband
felt in his new, tiny home, in which he was most
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? His Life and Work 39
hospitable. He had an inexhaustible desire to
be among human beings, although he did not hear
them.
Conversation with him was most peculiar, as,
afraid to unlearn reading the movements of lips,
he did not like people writing what they wished to
convey to him. He completely abstained from
using the hearing- trumpet, having suffered most
terrible pains when everybody pressed forward
to speak into it. Besides, an unsuccessful cure
in Heidelberg had brought about his complete
deafness. It was soon said that he understood
me best, and consequently I was everywhere
placed by his side. The secret consisted, however,
only in my taking the trouble to place in front the
catchword of what I intended to convey, repeating
it by lip-movements until he understood what the
conversation was about, whereupon he easily
guessed the rest, my nodding or shaking the head
assisting the suppositions. All the same, the
pencil had to come to the rescue from time to time.
If then, in the hurry, I wrote a word incorrectly
and tried to alter it, he good-naturedly consoled
me by saying that he burned all the bits of paper;
and upon somebody telling him he had been able
to study a complete conversation from the slips
of paper which Treitschke had left on the table,
he replied: "This was still more indecent than if
you had been eavesdropping. " At times I com-
plained of his supplementing my notes a little too
freely, whereupon he answered: "Such stories can
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? 40 Treitschke
gain only by my embellishments. " The duty of
acting as his secretary in the Senate was a fairly
unpleasant one. When a passionate explosion
followed observations which were not to his liking,
everybody looked furiously at me as if I had pushed
burning tinder into the nostrils of the noble steed,
and yet I had only written verbatim what had
been said. For a time, therefore, I allowed many
a bone of contention to drop underneath the table,
but soon he found it out, and after several un-
pleasant discussions with both parties, I requested
one of the younger men of the opposition to relieve
me of my duties. Only when the gentlemen had
convinced themselves that the result remained
the same was I re-appointed. At that time his
finding fault annoyed me, as my sole object was
to avoid a quarrel ; but later on I realized how justi-
fied he was in closely watching his writers. When
for the last time he came to us, and when, drinking
his health, I thanked him from the bottom of my
heart for the happy moments his presence in my
house had given, his neighbour noted down nothing
of my speech beyond attacks against the capital
and the Berlin student, whereupon he most in-
dignantly reproved my South German prejudice.
Fortunately, his wife, sitting opposite, immediately
reported to him by finger signs, whereupon he at
once cordially raised his glass. To take undue
advantage of his affliction was, however, one of
the sins he could not condone, and one had
every reason to be careful in this respect. At
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? His Life and Work 41
times curious misunderstandings happened. When
once in the summer the Princess Wied with her
daughter, subsequently Queen of Roumania,
passed through Heidelberg, Treitschke was com-
manded to be present as guest at dinner. "Car-
men Sylva," who already at that time took an
active interest in literature, selected him as table-
companion; he, however, not having understood
the seneschal, and thinking his fair neighbour
a maid-of-honour, entertained her politely, but
persistently addressed her as "Mem gnadiges
Fraulein" ("My dear Miss")- His clever and
sacrificing wife never carried on conversation
without at the same time listening whether he
made himself understood with his neighbours, and,
if necessary, rapidly helped by finger-signs, which
she managed like an Italian, while continuing
conversation with her own neighbour in most
charming manner. Her friends knew only too well
how trying this was for her. Fortunately, how-
ever, it usually happened that he remained the
centre of interest, and everybody eagerly listened
to his flow of conversation. When the neighbours
forgot their duties he, visibly depressed, would
look at the surrounding chattering crowd, whose
words he did not hear, and when, after a great
outburst of laughter, he asked the cause of the
hilarity, we often were at a loss to explain to him
the trivial motive. He himself has poetically
described how since the loss of his sense of hearing
nature, like a snow-clad country, had become
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? 42 Treitschke
wrapped in silence, and how the happy youth,
with aspiring temperament perceives a wall
between himself and his brothers which will
remain there for ever. To me the most touching
of all his poems is the one in which he relates how
he first became conscious of his deafness after a
neglected, but in itself by no means dangerous,
infantine disease (chicken-pox).
Without this ailment Treitschke would surely
have joined the Army. Some of his relatives
highly disapproved of his desire to become a
private University teacher, and when inquiring
what else there was for him to do in view of his
affliction, a gentleman from Court, related to him,
replied: "Well, why not the stable career" a
conception regarding the value of teaching which
he never pardoned. Deafness remained the great
sorrow of his life, and through it every enjoyment
was driven away. In a touching moment he
complained on a certain occasion to my wife that
he would never hear the voice of his children.
"They must be so sweet these children's voices! "
And he loved children so ! He played and romped
about with his grandchildren; both sides under-
stood each other capitally, and it sounded strangely
when he who heard no note sang to them whilst
they rode on his knee; but they liked it, applauded
with their little hands, and often they came run-
ning and asking: "Grandpa, please sing to us. "
His deafness, however, did not prevent him from
travelling. Since Rudolf Grimm, who had accom-
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? His Life and Work 43
panied him to Italy, openly declared that these
duties were too arduous, the deaf man traversed
Europe quite alone. Whilst we were often afraid
that he, when walking of an evening in the high-
way and disappearing in the dark, might be run
over by a carriage coming from behind, as had
happened to him in Berlin, from his inability to
hear it, he calmly travelled about in foreign parts
where all means of communication were exceeding-
ly difficult for him. With the inauguration of the
new shipping service he travelled to England, "in
order to look at this English crew a little closer. *'
When returning from Spain, which his friends had
considered particularly risky, he, loudly laughing,
entered their wine-bar, and before having taken
off his coat he started to relate: "Well, now, these
Spaniards! " In the same way he had traversed
Holland and France in order to impress historical
localities upon his memory. Considering the
dangers and embarrassments he was exposed to
through his lack of hearing, it will be admitted
that unusual courage was necessary for these
journeys, but he undertook them solely in order
to supplement what had escaped him, through
his deafness, in the tales of others.
The whole historical past of the country being
ever present before his eyes, he, although deaf,
derived more benefit from his travels than people
in full possession of all senses. Just as when pass-
ing the Ehrenberg narrow pass he regretfully
reflected that "Our Maurice" had not caught
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? 44 Treitschke
Spanish Charles, so he sees, in Bruegge, Charles V
in Spanish attire coming round the corner; in
Geneva the oil paintings of Calvin and of his
fellow-artists relate to him old stories; and in
Holland the Mynheers and high and mighties
on every occasion entered into conversation with
him. His clear eyes were of such use to him that
they amply compensated his loss of hearing. But,
however strenuously he resisted, his affliction in
many ways reacted upon his general disposition.
There was something touching in the need for
help of this clever and handsome man, and it
cannot be denied that his amiability was partly
its cause. We also told him that the world bene-
fited by his retiring disposition, and that he was
spared listening to the many stupidities and
coarsenesses which so often spoilt our good hu-
mour. I firmly believe that being deaf he was able
better to concentrate his thoughts, but the lack
of control in hearing himself and hearing others
speak and express themselves had a detrimental
effect upon him. Sound having become practi-
cally a closed chapter to him whilst he was still a
student, he spoke during the whole of his life in
the manner of students and used the language of
his student days. When once suggesting he should
come an hour sooner to our daily meeting-place
he greatly shocked the wives of counsellors present
by replying: "Da ist ja kein Schwein da" (ap-
proximately meaning, "There won't be a blooming
soul there"). When in the presence of several
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? His Life and Work 45
officers at Leipzig he expressed the opinion that
the new Saxon Hussar uniform was the nearest
approach to a monkey's jacket, he came very near
to having to fight a duel. Quite good-naturedly,
without wishing to offend anybody, he compared
the looks of a lady-student to a squashed bug.
In Parliament likewise he was on a certain occasion
unexpectedly called to order because he found it
quite natural to speak of the haughtiness of Deputy
Richter as if it were impossible to offend him. It
had to be considered that not hearing himself he
did not hear others speak, and Messrs Caprivi,
Hahnke, Hinzpeter, and Gtissfeld, who during the
last years were his favourite targets for criticism,
deserve great praise for putting up with his epi-
grams his bon-mots certainly did not remain
unknown in Berlin. His pulpit expressions also at
times savoured of student slang, so that the worthy
fathers of the University disapprovingly shook
their wise heads. His friends, however, thought he
was ex lege because of his deafness; and he was
unique in that on the one hand he was the best
educated, refined gentleman, with exquisite
manners, yet when aroused he discharged a volley
of invective hardly to be expected from such
aristocratic lips; on the other hand, his sociable
nature found the seclusion due to his deafness very
oppressive. At times as a student in Heidelberg
he had to endure periods of most abject melan-
choly, which, however, his strong nature always
succeeded in conquering.
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? 46 Treitschke
IV.
South Germany and Baden, even after the
campaign of 1866, were a difficult field for Treitsch-
ke. Soon after the war he wrote to Gutschmid
he did not relish returning to Baden as conditions
there were "too awful. " Even now this com-
municative comrade, who quite impartially con-
sidered the existence of the Small States a nuisance,
had on every occasion to come into conflict with
the Model State. He hated the system of Small
States just because it diverted patriotism, the
noblest human instinct, in favour of unworthy
trifles. Politics were for him a part of ethics and
the unity of Germany a moral claim. Particular-
ists were therefore to him beings of morally inferior
value. Only hesitatingly he admitted that the
Badenese since 1866 had begun to mend their
ways. "It is true," he wrote to Freytag, "that
the conversion has made considerable progress,
but it is noticeable more in the minds of the people
than in their hearts. " Nobody in the whole of
Baden was, however, in favour of mediatization
of the Small States, which he, in his Freiburg Essay
entitled Confederation and Single State, had
plainly demanded. The aim of the Single State
to render conditions uniform is not our ideal to-day.
We are quite content that the University of Leip-
zig should stand by the side of that of Berlin, that
the traditions of Potsdam and Sans Souci should
be preserved in the same way as those of Weimar
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? His Life and Work 47
and Karlsruhe, and that Dresden and Munich art
should be appreciated as much as that of Berlin.
How many professors are there who would desire
to see all German Universities under the same
inspectorate as the Prussian ones? Unity as far
as the outside world is concerned, variety inter-
nally, is our ideal, to which Treitschke likewise
became reconciled after hearing that the Army and
external politics would not be affected by internal
polyarchy. Bismarck's temperate words to
Jolly, "If I include Bavaria in the Empire I must
make such arrangements as to make the people
feel happy in it," contain more political wisdom
than Treitschke f s gay prescription : Der Bien muss.
Compared with the errors of our ingenious friend,
Bismarck's "political eye" and his infallible judg-
ment of values and realities can be appreciated in
its true light; under a weak Regent, Unitarian
Germany would have become a new Poland, under
a violent one a second Russia.
It, however, redounds to Treitschke's honour
that one by one he renounced his first ideals, such
as destruction of the Small States, Single State,
Parliamentarism, humiliation of Austria, and free
trade, subsequent to his having found in Bismarck
his political superior. When Bismarck's dismissal
taught him that in Prussia political impossibilities
do not exist either, his eyes were opened to a good
many other matters. Henceforth no complaint
could be lodged against him regarding adoration
of the Crown; rather the reverse was the case.
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? 48 Treitschke
In 1867 Baden was for him merely das Landle (the
little country), but all the same he apparently did
not like to hear from us that our Grand Duchy
comprised more square miles than his Kingdom of
Saxony. He strictly adhered to his dogma of the
Rhine Convention, tendencies to Napoleonic
kingdoms nay, he even attributed to them aims
of aggrandizement. "What people thought of
1866" so he relates in his essay on the Constitu-
tional Kingdom "becomes apparent from the
painful exclamation of a well-meaning Prince to the
effect: 'What a pity we were at that time not on
Prussia's side, as we also should then have en-
larged our territory. " 1 But as formerly in Frei-
burg, so here, he misunderstood the population.
The fact that the developments in the summer of
1870 appeared to him like outpourings of the Holy
Ghost only proves that the deaf man never under-
stood the ways of our Palatines. Favourable
disposition towards the Rhine Convention, which
he suspected everywhere, was only to be found in
the elegant Ultramontane circles in which he
moved, and in the democratic journals which he
for his own journalistic purposes read more than
other people. It proved perhaps more correct
when he wrote, "The South Germans quietly
aspire to the Main with the reservation, however,
to revile it in their journals. "
Bismarck did not as yet enjoy general confidence,
but had he wanted Baden the Chamber would not
have refused. The factions in the town caused him
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? His Life and Work 49
amusement; Heidelberg had the advantage of two
political journals: the Heidelberg Journal and the
Heidelberg Zeitung, which were both Liberal and
had accomplished all that in a small town could
be reasonably expected of them. On this subject
he sketched, in his essay entitled Parties and
Factions (1871), the following pleasant picture:
"Who is not aware of how in towns of Central
Germany two journals side by side eke out a bare
and miserable existence, both belonging to the
same party, yet, for the sake of their valued
clientele, constantly fighting like cats? Who does
not know these journals of librarians outside whose
door the editor stands on duty, a polite host,
deferentially asking what the honourable public
desires to partake of? Tre fratelli tre castelli still
applies to our average press. "
Filled by the desire to continue the worthy
labours of the year 1866 he enthusiastically adopt-
ed Mathy's idea to include Baden in the North
German Convention, and thought it unkind that
Bismarck failed to honour Mathy's memorandum
on the subject with a reply. If Prussia should not
carry out her plans he was afraid the Pan-Germans
in Baden would again become masters of the situa-
tion, and he added: "If Bavaria, Wurtemberg,
and Baden should go with Austria, even the
European situation will assume a different physiog-
nomy. " All the same, he was at that time too
closely in touch with Bismarck to advocate too
strongly the Mathy plan in the A nnuals. Treitsch-
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? 50 Treitschke
ke stigmatized as obtrusive the Lasker Parlia-
mentary Bill of February, 1871, Lasker acting
as attorney for the Badenese Government, which
he was not, and surprising Bismarck with his
proposal without having first consulted him.
Mathy's death on February 4, 1868, affected
Treitschke all the more as Mathy had influenced
him considerably in his decision to gain for a second
time a footing in Baden. Besides, Treitschke
warmly remembered Mathy's beautiful trait in
assisting younger men whom he considered promis-
ing. "You belong to the few," Freytag admitted
to him, "who have fully grasped Mathy's love and
faith. " It was, however, not only Mathy's sweet-
ness of character which he had detected beneath
the caustic ways of the old Ulysses, but also his
political reliability. "I still cannot get over it,"
he mournfully wrote to Freytag; "among all the
old gentlemen of my acquaintance he was to me
the dearest and the one deserving of greatest
respect. " "The real Badenese," he said in
another letter, "never really cared for their first
politician, and your book again shows clearly the
sin for which Mathy never will be pardoned
character. " Another letter to the same friend
in August, 1868, runs as follows: "Here in the
South the disintegration of order continues. The
recent Constitutional Festival has vividly re-
minded me of our never-to-be-forgotten Mathy.
How the world has changed in twenty-five years
since Mathy organized the last Badenese Con-
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? His Life and Work 51
stitutional Festival ! Thank goodness, the belief
in this particularist magnificence has to-day com-
pletely disappeared. The festival was an osten-
sible failure, a forced and feigned demonstration.
The Ultramontanes kept aloof because they hated
Jolly and Beyer, and the Nationalists who partici-
pated for that reason openly admitted that they
had longed for the happy end of the old man. "
His depreciative opinion of the conditions in Baden
finally developed into slight when a few weeks
after the Constitutional Festival the ministerial
candidates Bluntschli, Lamey, and Keifer, who
had gone over on the formation of the new Minis-
try, attempted to overthrow the Ministry favour-
ably disposed towards Prussia by convoking the
Liberal deputies at Offenburg. In the Prussian
Annuals he now called upon his North German
friends in disdainful terms to study the pamphlet
of these gentlemen against Jolly, in order to gain a
somewhat more correct idea of the political state
of affairs in Baden. In his opinion it was a sort of
"Zuriputsch" arranged by the Swiss gentlemen,
Bluntschli, Schenkel, and Renaud. It might have
applied as far as Heidelberg was concerned, but
the country was really attached to Lamey, whose
name was tied up with the fall of the Concordat,
and whose canon laws of 1860, making a Catholic
country of Baden, were at that time praised by all
of us as the corner-stone of liberty and political
wisdom. Treitschke's only answer to Bluntschli 's
agitation for energetic revision of the Constitution
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? 52 Treitschke
was to leave the Paragon State in its present form
until Prussia would absorb the whole. The at-
tempt to overthrow the Ministry failed as the
Regent had been left out of account. In Heidel-
berg, Treitschke, at an assembly of citizens, took
up the cudgels for Jolly, and was principally
opposed by Schenkel, who declared that he would
not allow himself to be threatened by the sword of
Herr von Beyer. Surprised, Bluntschli, however,
wrote in his diary that the citizens applauded
Treitschke, who spoke for Jolly, no less than
Schenkel, who spoke against him. When the
whole question was brought before a second and
very largely-frequented assembly of the Liberal
Party in Offenburg, Bluntschli made Goldschmidt
and Treitschke's other friends promise that
Treitschke should abstain from speaking as he
would upset all peace proposals. The latter, how-
ever, immediately declared he could not be forced to
maintain silence. At least a thousand men con-
gregated from all parts of the country, more than
the big hall " Zum Salmen " was capable of holding.
Eckard, subsequently Manheim bank manager,
sat in the chair; on the part of the Fronde, Kieper,
instructed by Jolly, spoke, and for Jolly, Kusel
from Karlsruhe addressed the meeting. Treitschke
as a Prussian allowed the Badenese to speak first,
and only towards the finish did he ascend the plat-
form. A contributor of the Taglische Rundschau
gave the following account: "The meeting had
lasted for a considerable time, and the audience,
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? His Life and Work 53
after standing for hours closely packed in the
heavy, hot air, was tired, when a person unknown
to us started speaking. His delivery was slow and
hesitating, with a peculiar guttural sound, and his
intonation was monotonous. Citizens and peas-
ants amongst whom I stood looked at each other
astonished and indignant. Who was this appar-
ently not very happy speaker who dared to claim
the patience of the assembly? We were told it
was Professor Treitschke of Heidelberg. At first
ill-humoured, but soon with growing interest, we
followed his speech, which gradually became more
animated. The power and depth of thoughts the
compelling logic proofs adduced, the clearness and
force of language, and above all the fire of patriot-
ism, all this captivated the listeners and carried
them irresistibly away. The outward deficiencies
of the lecturer were now unobserved; attentively
with breathless excitement, these simple people
listened to the orator, who spoke with the force of
the holiest conviction; and when finishing with
the exhortation to set aside all separating barriers
for the sake of the country, a real hurricane of
enthusiasm broke forth. The audience crowded
round the speaker and cheered him; he was lifted
by strong arms amid ceaseless enthusiasm. It was
the climax of the day. Never since have I wit-
nessed a similar triumph of eloquence. "
He had appealed particularly to the peasants
present by his outspoken and simple words.
Schenkel likewise was disarmed. Heidelberg
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? 54 Treitschke
friends related how Schenkel, who in Heidelberg
had contested Treitschke's speech in favour of
Jolly, immediately afterwards advanced towards
the platform in order to speak, but Treitschke's
utterances had rendered unnecessary a rejoinder.
When, on the other hand, I asked Treitschke after
his return whether in his opinion peace would be a
lasting one, he replied: "Oh, Lord, no! the lack
of character is much too great. " In a still more
disdainful manner and full of passionate exaspera-
tion against Bluntschli he wrote to Prey tag:
"Jolly understands very well how to assert himself
here; daily he cuts a piece off the big Liberal list
of wishes, but immediately a new one grows be-
neath. Where is this to lead? Moreover, there
are blackguards like this miserable Bluntschli at
the head of the patriots! Nokk, my brother-in-
law, who is well able to judge the situation, has
long ago despaired of a peaceful solution. "
In January, 1870, whilst staying at Heidelberg,
and shortly before the outbreak of war, the second
collection of historic political essays was published.
The editor's intention was to publish them before
Christmas, but Treitschke delayed matters. "I
hate everything suggestive of business," he told
me, "and I don't want to belong to the Christmas
authors. " He was also averse to editions in parts.
The essay on Cavour, which shortly afterwards
appeared translated in Italian, brought him the
Italian Commander Cross a necklace, as his wife
said. When one of his friends had fallen in dis-
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? His Life and Work 55
grace on account of a biting article in the Weser
Zeitung attributed to him, Treitschke said: "If
the man wants to carry a chamberlain's key and
six decorations, he might as well have the muzzle
belonging to it"; and when asking him whether
this also applied to him, he replied: "No, but I
have not been asking for it. " This volume of
historic essays contained the treatise on the Repub-
lic of the Netherlands full of sparkling descrip-
tions of Holland and her national life, which
proved that not in vain had he brought his Brief je
van de uuren van hat vertrekk, i. e. his railway book-
let for the land of the frogs and the ducats. Par-
ticularly weighty, however, was his essay on
French Constitution and Bonapartism, in which
he proved that Bonapartism had revived, thanks
to the Napoleonic fundaments of State having
remained, a circumstance which even after the
fall of Napoleon III, and in spite of all their de-
feats, made him believe in -the return of the Bona-
partes. His essay On the Constitutional Kingdom,
forming part of this collection, and containing
views on the wretchedness of Small State Court
life; on the poverty of thought and the rudeness
of the South German Press; on the South Ger-
man's respectful awe of the deeds of Napoleon, the
national arch-enemy; and on the bustling vanity
of Church authorities, could not create a great
impression after his previous and much stronger
dissertations. He himself was dejected owing to
the scantiness of enthusiasm aroused by his per-
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? 56 Treitschke
sistent appeals "to discard decayed political
power," to upset the Napoleonic crowns and to
continue the laudable efforts of 1866. Some friends
likened his situation to that of Borne, who is the
object of criticism in one of the essays, and who,
in his Paris letters, always predicted anew the
revolution which always failed to materialize.
one when disobedient up in the air until he yielded.
The joy and sorrow of the one transmitted itself
to the other one; when one drank wine, the other
felt the effects, etc. Subsequently he spoke of
the relations of the Theological Faculty to medical
science, in view of the fact that it had undeceived
orthodoxy; and finally he drank the health of the
new arrivals. In very touching words Treitschke
recalled the memory of our mutual teacher,
Hausser. Whether I liked it or not, I had to
picture myself as the weaker twin, who often had
been lifted by the stronger one, and had promised
to be obedient at all times. In spite of the peals
of laughter with which Friedreich's speech had
been received by the learned circle, the whole thing
struck me as very insipid. Treitschke, however,
was most highly amused, and for some time after,
when meeting him, his first words used to be, "Well,
Twin, how are we? " Later on he applied the un-
savoury comparison of the doctor to Delbruck and
Kamphausen, which did not please me either.
III.
In Heidelberg, Treitschke did not experience
with the students the difficulties he had com-
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? His Life and Work 33
plained of in Freiburg a proof that the recalci-
trant attitude of the Freiburg Student Corps was,
to a great extent, due to the Ultramontanes and
to politicians striving to reform the German
Confederation in union with Austria. It is true
some young students complained to me that on the
first few occasions they were quite unable to hear
what he said, that his delivery was much too rapid,
and that they were irritated by the gurgling noise
with which he from time to time unwittingly
drew in his breath. But when once used to his
mannerisms, they all admitted that his gift of
speech, his accuracy of expression, and elementary
force of enthusiasm appealed to them like a some-
thing never before experienced. An enthusiastic
theologian, who died prematurely, applied to him
the following expression from the Gospel of St.
John: "Never before hath a man spoken as this
man did! " Treitschke brought with him to
lectures merely a scrap of paper with the catch-
words written on it, so that he should not stray
from the subject and forget to allude to certain
matters. On one occasion, having left his notes
at home, he told me he had finished, after all,
five minutes sooner, which proved that we all are
"creatures of habit. " What was particularly
fascinating in him was the assurance of his manner.
He stood erect, with an expression of cheerfulness
on his face, the head thrown back, and emphasiz-
ing the salient points by repeatedly nodding.
The contents of his lectures were invariably his-
3
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? Treitschke
torical and political. While Ranke completely
lost himself in pictures of the past, Treitschke
never for a moment forgot the present. What he
said of Cromwell, Gustavus Adolphus, and Na-
poleon always had its references^ to present-day
England, Germany, and France. ; His examples
proved that the taking to pieces "of the sources
of information and the looking for originals of
reports, however indispensable this preparatory
work might be, did not complete the functions of
the historian. It was necessary to understand
the people whose fate one intends to relate, and as
Treitschke himself said, one understands only
what one loves. All great historians are at the
same time great patriots, and no one is a real
historian who has not exhausted the depth of
human nature, and knows how thoughts originate
and passions are at work. The historian must
display a certain ingenuity in guessing connections.
He must be able to reply to the great enigmas of
life, and must be a poet who understands how to
shape material vigorously. All this was to be
found in this wonderful man, and that is why he
combined for the young people politics with philo-
sophy and religion. "Whoever wishes to write
history must have the heart of a lion," says Martin
Luther; and so Treitschke writes: "Only a stout
heart, grasping the meaning of the past of a coun-
try like personally experienced good and evil
fortune, can truly write history. " It is not per-
fection of form only, but depth of soul which
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? His Life and Work 35
accounts for the greatness of ancient historians.
Who will deny that thereby he portrayed his own
picture? "The historian must be just, outspoken,
indifferent to the sensitiveness of the Courts
and fearless of the hatred, more powerful now-
adays, of the educated rabble": these were the
principles to which he adhered from his chair? !
Already in the first weeks of his Heidelberg years,
when reading a good deal of Tacitus and Suetonius
for my New Testament Chronicle, I had a very
instructive conversation on this subject with him.
I told him that in view of the strong antagonistic
attitude taken up by the Roman aristocrats, I
attached no greater value to their descriptions of
the Caesars than to the descriptions of Frederic
the Great, by Onno Klopp, or to the contributors
of the Frankfurter Zeitung. The pictures of
Julius II and Leo X by Raphael, of Erasmus by
Holbein, of Spinola by Rubens, of Lorenzo Medici
by Giorgio Vasari, of old Charles V and Paul III
by Titian, fully confirmed the descriptions of their
biographers; as illustrations they fitted the text;
on the other hand, the statues and busts of Au-
gustus, Tiberius, and Caligula gave the lie to
Tacitus and Suetonius. These marble heads
always appeared to me like a silent and noble,
yet convincing, protest against the calumny of
hostile authors, just as the Philistine bust of
Trajan taught me why Tacitus and Pliny valued
him so highly, simply because he did not prevent
others from calumniating the past. Treitschke
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? 36 Treitschke
differed; Cesare Borgia's handsome features did
not betray his vice; Tacitus, however, was a patriot
completely absorbed in the interests of his people,
who knew no higher aim than the greatness of his
country, which could not be said of the Frankfurter
Zeitung. He admitted that Tacitus had not kept
the sine ira et studio which he promised; but this
is not at all the duty of the historian. The his-
torian should be capable of both anger and love
true passion sees clearer than all the cold-blooded
sophists, and only the historian, writing from a
party standpoint, introduces us to the life of the
parties, and really guides us.
Treitschke's prestige amongst the students and
in Society was, at that time, even more firmly
established than among the professors. The circle
of scholars affected mostly a disparaging compas-
sion towards the feuilletonist, who perhaps could
write an essay but no book, and just as the doors
of the Berlin Academy opened to him, only shortly
before his death as he had not been a scientist,
but merely a clever publicist there sat in Heidel-
berg, in judgment over him, not only students
of law and of the Talmud, but green, private
University teachers, so that even now one feels
reminded of Karl Hildebrand's words: "If to-day
Thucydides were to appear before the public, no
doubt a Waitz Seminarist would forthwith explain
to him his lack of method. " He also realized that
a new volume of essays would not further his
scientific reputation; but, he writes to Freytag:
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? His Life and Work 37
"I am a thousand times more of a patriot than a
professor, and with the real league of scientists I
shall never be on good terms. " As a matter of
fact, Treitschke's chief merit did not lie in the
knowledge he disseminated, but in the incompar-
able effect which his personality and his spirited
words produced on susceptible young students.
His motto was; "German every fibre. " In
reality, however, the fire of his speech was not due
to German but to the Czech blood which still
flowed in his veins. One felt reminded of what
other nations had related regarding the impression
a Bernard von Clairvaux, an Arnold von Brescia,
or a Johannes Hus had produced upon them. Also
the temperament of our German Chauvinist was
not German but Slav. With all his sunny cheer-
fulness, he was at times for hours prone to deep
melancholy. Quick to flare up and as easily
appeased, bearing no malice, inconsiderate in his
expressions yet kind in actions, reserved in his
attitude but a good comrade, ready to assist
there was nothing in him of the German heavy
and mistrustful temperament. He might just
as well have been an Italian or Frenchman, al-
though he had only bad words for the Latin race.
An unfavourable circumstance was that students
crowded to his lectures, but instead of subscribing
to them merely attended. "Taking measures
in this direction one spoils one's relations with
the young people," he said; "but Hausser should
not have brought them up this way. " It even
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? 38 Treitschke
turned out that in the absence of the college sub-
scriptions he had relied upon he could not cover
his house expenses; but Jolly stepped in and pro-
cured him a considerable additional salary. In
Heidelberg he quickly felt at home, thanks par-
ticularly to his keen love of nature. After a short
stay in another part of the town he moved into a
pleasant flat on the Frillig Stift, but although deaf
the noise of the main street affected his nerves.
With childish joy he looked at the blooming lilac-
trees in the court, behind which stood a pavilion
bearing an inscription in Greek: "Look for the
contents above," and which Treitschke inter-
preted as meaning that liqueurs were kept in the
loft by the clergyman who had constructed it.
Later on we moved, almost at the same time, to
the other side of the Neckar River, and as the
inhabitants belonged to a party the nickname
"The Superfluous-ones" was originated for us.
Treitschke settled on a fairly steep slope of a hill,
which only permitted of an unimportant structure
being built. Furthermore, as the contractor had
erected the house by way of speculation, economy
was exercised everywhere, and on one occasion
the terrace had to be propped to prevent its drop-
ping into the valley. But there were beautiful
roses at both sides of the building, and, looking
over old chestnut-trees, which screened the high-
way, one caught a glimpse of the river. It was
touching to see how happy the young husband
felt in his new, tiny home, in which he was most
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? His Life and Work 39
hospitable. He had an inexhaustible desire to
be among human beings, although he did not hear
them.
Conversation with him was most peculiar, as,
afraid to unlearn reading the movements of lips,
he did not like people writing what they wished to
convey to him. He completely abstained from
using the hearing- trumpet, having suffered most
terrible pains when everybody pressed forward
to speak into it. Besides, an unsuccessful cure
in Heidelberg had brought about his complete
deafness. It was soon said that he understood
me best, and consequently I was everywhere
placed by his side. The secret consisted, however,
only in my taking the trouble to place in front the
catchword of what I intended to convey, repeating
it by lip-movements until he understood what the
conversation was about, whereupon he easily
guessed the rest, my nodding or shaking the head
assisting the suppositions. All the same, the
pencil had to come to the rescue from time to time.
If then, in the hurry, I wrote a word incorrectly
and tried to alter it, he good-naturedly consoled
me by saying that he burned all the bits of paper;
and upon somebody telling him he had been able
to study a complete conversation from the slips
of paper which Treitschke had left on the table,
he replied: "This was still more indecent than if
you had been eavesdropping. " At times I com-
plained of his supplementing my notes a little too
freely, whereupon he answered: "Such stories can
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? 40 Treitschke
gain only by my embellishments. " The duty of
acting as his secretary in the Senate was a fairly
unpleasant one. When a passionate explosion
followed observations which were not to his liking,
everybody looked furiously at me as if I had pushed
burning tinder into the nostrils of the noble steed,
and yet I had only written verbatim what had
been said. For a time, therefore, I allowed many
a bone of contention to drop underneath the table,
but soon he found it out, and after several un-
pleasant discussions with both parties, I requested
one of the younger men of the opposition to relieve
me of my duties. Only when the gentlemen had
convinced themselves that the result remained
the same was I re-appointed. At that time his
finding fault annoyed me, as my sole object was
to avoid a quarrel ; but later on I realized how justi-
fied he was in closely watching his writers. When
for the last time he came to us, and when, drinking
his health, I thanked him from the bottom of my
heart for the happy moments his presence in my
house had given, his neighbour noted down nothing
of my speech beyond attacks against the capital
and the Berlin student, whereupon he most in-
dignantly reproved my South German prejudice.
Fortunately, his wife, sitting opposite, immediately
reported to him by finger signs, whereupon he at
once cordially raised his glass. To take undue
advantage of his affliction was, however, one of
the sins he could not condone, and one had
every reason to be careful in this respect. At
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? His Life and Work 41
times curious misunderstandings happened. When
once in the summer the Princess Wied with her
daughter, subsequently Queen of Roumania,
passed through Heidelberg, Treitschke was com-
manded to be present as guest at dinner. "Car-
men Sylva," who already at that time took an
active interest in literature, selected him as table-
companion; he, however, not having understood
the seneschal, and thinking his fair neighbour
a maid-of-honour, entertained her politely, but
persistently addressed her as "Mem gnadiges
Fraulein" ("My dear Miss")- His clever and
sacrificing wife never carried on conversation
without at the same time listening whether he
made himself understood with his neighbours, and,
if necessary, rapidly helped by finger-signs, which
she managed like an Italian, while continuing
conversation with her own neighbour in most
charming manner. Her friends knew only too well
how trying this was for her. Fortunately, how-
ever, it usually happened that he remained the
centre of interest, and everybody eagerly listened
to his flow of conversation. When the neighbours
forgot their duties he, visibly depressed, would
look at the surrounding chattering crowd, whose
words he did not hear, and when, after a great
outburst of laughter, he asked the cause of the
hilarity, we often were at a loss to explain to him
the trivial motive. He himself has poetically
described how since the loss of his sense of hearing
nature, like a snow-clad country, had become
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? 42 Treitschke
wrapped in silence, and how the happy youth,
with aspiring temperament perceives a wall
between himself and his brothers which will
remain there for ever. To me the most touching
of all his poems is the one in which he relates how
he first became conscious of his deafness after a
neglected, but in itself by no means dangerous,
infantine disease (chicken-pox).
Without this ailment Treitschke would surely
have joined the Army. Some of his relatives
highly disapproved of his desire to become a
private University teacher, and when inquiring
what else there was for him to do in view of his
affliction, a gentleman from Court, related to him,
replied: "Well, why not the stable career" a
conception regarding the value of teaching which
he never pardoned. Deafness remained the great
sorrow of his life, and through it every enjoyment
was driven away. In a touching moment he
complained on a certain occasion to my wife that
he would never hear the voice of his children.
"They must be so sweet these children's voices! "
And he loved children so ! He played and romped
about with his grandchildren; both sides under-
stood each other capitally, and it sounded strangely
when he who heard no note sang to them whilst
they rode on his knee; but they liked it, applauded
with their little hands, and often they came run-
ning and asking: "Grandpa, please sing to us. "
His deafness, however, did not prevent him from
travelling. Since Rudolf Grimm, who had accom-
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? His Life and Work 43
panied him to Italy, openly declared that these
duties were too arduous, the deaf man traversed
Europe quite alone. Whilst we were often afraid
that he, when walking of an evening in the high-
way and disappearing in the dark, might be run
over by a carriage coming from behind, as had
happened to him in Berlin, from his inability to
hear it, he calmly travelled about in foreign parts
where all means of communication were exceeding-
ly difficult for him. With the inauguration of the
new shipping service he travelled to England, "in
order to look at this English crew a little closer. *'
When returning from Spain, which his friends had
considered particularly risky, he, loudly laughing,
entered their wine-bar, and before having taken
off his coat he started to relate: "Well, now, these
Spaniards! " In the same way he had traversed
Holland and France in order to impress historical
localities upon his memory. Considering the
dangers and embarrassments he was exposed to
through his lack of hearing, it will be admitted
that unusual courage was necessary for these
journeys, but he undertook them solely in order
to supplement what had escaped him, through
his deafness, in the tales of others.
The whole historical past of the country being
ever present before his eyes, he, although deaf,
derived more benefit from his travels than people
in full possession of all senses. Just as when pass-
ing the Ehrenberg narrow pass he regretfully
reflected that "Our Maurice" had not caught
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? 44 Treitschke
Spanish Charles, so he sees, in Bruegge, Charles V
in Spanish attire coming round the corner; in
Geneva the oil paintings of Calvin and of his
fellow-artists relate to him old stories; and in
Holland the Mynheers and high and mighties
on every occasion entered into conversation with
him. His clear eyes were of such use to him that
they amply compensated his loss of hearing. But,
however strenuously he resisted, his affliction in
many ways reacted upon his general disposition.
There was something touching in the need for
help of this clever and handsome man, and it
cannot be denied that his amiability was partly
its cause. We also told him that the world bene-
fited by his retiring disposition, and that he was
spared listening to the many stupidities and
coarsenesses which so often spoilt our good hu-
mour. I firmly believe that being deaf he was able
better to concentrate his thoughts, but the lack
of control in hearing himself and hearing others
speak and express themselves had a detrimental
effect upon him. Sound having become practi-
cally a closed chapter to him whilst he was still a
student, he spoke during the whole of his life in
the manner of students and used the language of
his student days. When once suggesting he should
come an hour sooner to our daily meeting-place
he greatly shocked the wives of counsellors present
by replying: "Da ist ja kein Schwein da" (ap-
proximately meaning, "There won't be a blooming
soul there"). When in the presence of several
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? His Life and Work 45
officers at Leipzig he expressed the opinion that
the new Saxon Hussar uniform was the nearest
approach to a monkey's jacket, he came very near
to having to fight a duel. Quite good-naturedly,
without wishing to offend anybody, he compared
the looks of a lady-student to a squashed bug.
In Parliament likewise he was on a certain occasion
unexpectedly called to order because he found it
quite natural to speak of the haughtiness of Deputy
Richter as if it were impossible to offend him. It
had to be considered that not hearing himself he
did not hear others speak, and Messrs Caprivi,
Hahnke, Hinzpeter, and Gtissfeld, who during the
last years were his favourite targets for criticism,
deserve great praise for putting up with his epi-
grams his bon-mots certainly did not remain
unknown in Berlin. His pulpit expressions also at
times savoured of student slang, so that the worthy
fathers of the University disapprovingly shook
their wise heads. His friends, however, thought he
was ex lege because of his deafness; and he was
unique in that on the one hand he was the best
educated, refined gentleman, with exquisite
manners, yet when aroused he discharged a volley
of invective hardly to be expected from such
aristocratic lips; on the other hand, his sociable
nature found the seclusion due to his deafness very
oppressive. At times as a student in Heidelberg
he had to endure periods of most abject melan-
choly, which, however, his strong nature always
succeeded in conquering.
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? 46 Treitschke
IV.
South Germany and Baden, even after the
campaign of 1866, were a difficult field for Treitsch-
ke. Soon after the war he wrote to Gutschmid
he did not relish returning to Baden as conditions
there were "too awful. " Even now this com-
municative comrade, who quite impartially con-
sidered the existence of the Small States a nuisance,
had on every occasion to come into conflict with
the Model State. He hated the system of Small
States just because it diverted patriotism, the
noblest human instinct, in favour of unworthy
trifles. Politics were for him a part of ethics and
the unity of Germany a moral claim. Particular-
ists were therefore to him beings of morally inferior
value. Only hesitatingly he admitted that the
Badenese since 1866 had begun to mend their
ways. "It is true," he wrote to Freytag, "that
the conversion has made considerable progress,
but it is noticeable more in the minds of the people
than in their hearts. " Nobody in the whole of
Baden was, however, in favour of mediatization
of the Small States, which he, in his Freiburg Essay
entitled Confederation and Single State, had
plainly demanded. The aim of the Single State
to render conditions uniform is not our ideal to-day.
We are quite content that the University of Leip-
zig should stand by the side of that of Berlin, that
the traditions of Potsdam and Sans Souci should
be preserved in the same way as those of Weimar
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? His Life and Work 47
and Karlsruhe, and that Dresden and Munich art
should be appreciated as much as that of Berlin.
How many professors are there who would desire
to see all German Universities under the same
inspectorate as the Prussian ones? Unity as far
as the outside world is concerned, variety inter-
nally, is our ideal, to which Treitschke likewise
became reconciled after hearing that the Army and
external politics would not be affected by internal
polyarchy. Bismarck's temperate words to
Jolly, "If I include Bavaria in the Empire I must
make such arrangements as to make the people
feel happy in it," contain more political wisdom
than Treitschke f s gay prescription : Der Bien muss.
Compared with the errors of our ingenious friend,
Bismarck's "political eye" and his infallible judg-
ment of values and realities can be appreciated in
its true light; under a weak Regent, Unitarian
Germany would have become a new Poland, under
a violent one a second Russia.
It, however, redounds to Treitschke's honour
that one by one he renounced his first ideals, such
as destruction of the Small States, Single State,
Parliamentarism, humiliation of Austria, and free
trade, subsequent to his having found in Bismarck
his political superior. When Bismarck's dismissal
taught him that in Prussia political impossibilities
do not exist either, his eyes were opened to a good
many other matters. Henceforth no complaint
could be lodged against him regarding adoration
of the Crown; rather the reverse was the case.
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? 48 Treitschke
In 1867 Baden was for him merely das Landle (the
little country), but all the same he apparently did
not like to hear from us that our Grand Duchy
comprised more square miles than his Kingdom of
Saxony. He strictly adhered to his dogma of the
Rhine Convention, tendencies to Napoleonic
kingdoms nay, he even attributed to them aims
of aggrandizement. "What people thought of
1866" so he relates in his essay on the Constitu-
tional Kingdom "becomes apparent from the
painful exclamation of a well-meaning Prince to the
effect: 'What a pity we were at that time not on
Prussia's side, as we also should then have en-
larged our territory. " 1 But as formerly in Frei-
burg, so here, he misunderstood the population.
The fact that the developments in the summer of
1870 appeared to him like outpourings of the Holy
Ghost only proves that the deaf man never under-
stood the ways of our Palatines. Favourable
disposition towards the Rhine Convention, which
he suspected everywhere, was only to be found in
the elegant Ultramontane circles in which he
moved, and in the democratic journals which he
for his own journalistic purposes read more than
other people. It proved perhaps more correct
when he wrote, "The South Germans quietly
aspire to the Main with the reservation, however,
to revile it in their journals. "
Bismarck did not as yet enjoy general confidence,
but had he wanted Baden the Chamber would not
have refused. The factions in the town caused him
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? His Life and Work 49
amusement; Heidelberg had the advantage of two
political journals: the Heidelberg Journal and the
Heidelberg Zeitung, which were both Liberal and
had accomplished all that in a small town could
be reasonably expected of them. On this subject
he sketched, in his essay entitled Parties and
Factions (1871), the following pleasant picture:
"Who is not aware of how in towns of Central
Germany two journals side by side eke out a bare
and miserable existence, both belonging to the
same party, yet, for the sake of their valued
clientele, constantly fighting like cats? Who does
not know these journals of librarians outside whose
door the editor stands on duty, a polite host,
deferentially asking what the honourable public
desires to partake of? Tre fratelli tre castelli still
applies to our average press. "
Filled by the desire to continue the worthy
labours of the year 1866 he enthusiastically adopt-
ed Mathy's idea to include Baden in the North
German Convention, and thought it unkind that
Bismarck failed to honour Mathy's memorandum
on the subject with a reply. If Prussia should not
carry out her plans he was afraid the Pan-Germans
in Baden would again become masters of the situa-
tion, and he added: "If Bavaria, Wurtemberg,
and Baden should go with Austria, even the
European situation will assume a different physiog-
nomy. " All the same, he was at that time too
closely in touch with Bismarck to advocate too
strongly the Mathy plan in the A nnuals. Treitsch-
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? 50 Treitschke
ke stigmatized as obtrusive the Lasker Parlia-
mentary Bill of February, 1871, Lasker acting
as attorney for the Badenese Government, which
he was not, and surprising Bismarck with his
proposal without having first consulted him.
Mathy's death on February 4, 1868, affected
Treitschke all the more as Mathy had influenced
him considerably in his decision to gain for a second
time a footing in Baden. Besides, Treitschke
warmly remembered Mathy's beautiful trait in
assisting younger men whom he considered promis-
ing. "You belong to the few," Freytag admitted
to him, "who have fully grasped Mathy's love and
faith. " It was, however, not only Mathy's sweet-
ness of character which he had detected beneath
the caustic ways of the old Ulysses, but also his
political reliability. "I still cannot get over it,"
he mournfully wrote to Freytag; "among all the
old gentlemen of my acquaintance he was to me
the dearest and the one deserving of greatest
respect. " "The real Badenese," he said in
another letter, "never really cared for their first
politician, and your book again shows clearly the
sin for which Mathy never will be pardoned
character. " Another letter to the same friend
in August, 1868, runs as follows: "Here in the
South the disintegration of order continues. The
recent Constitutional Festival has vividly re-
minded me of our never-to-be-forgotten Mathy.
How the world has changed in twenty-five years
since Mathy organized the last Badenese Con-
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? His Life and Work 51
stitutional Festival ! Thank goodness, the belief
in this particularist magnificence has to-day com-
pletely disappeared. The festival was an osten-
sible failure, a forced and feigned demonstration.
The Ultramontanes kept aloof because they hated
Jolly and Beyer, and the Nationalists who partici-
pated for that reason openly admitted that they
had longed for the happy end of the old man. "
His depreciative opinion of the conditions in Baden
finally developed into slight when a few weeks
after the Constitutional Festival the ministerial
candidates Bluntschli, Lamey, and Keifer, who
had gone over on the formation of the new Minis-
try, attempted to overthrow the Ministry favour-
ably disposed towards Prussia by convoking the
Liberal deputies at Offenburg. In the Prussian
Annuals he now called upon his North German
friends in disdainful terms to study the pamphlet
of these gentlemen against Jolly, in order to gain a
somewhat more correct idea of the political state
of affairs in Baden. In his opinion it was a sort of
"Zuriputsch" arranged by the Swiss gentlemen,
Bluntschli, Schenkel, and Renaud. It might have
applied as far as Heidelberg was concerned, but
the country was really attached to Lamey, whose
name was tied up with the fall of the Concordat,
and whose canon laws of 1860, making a Catholic
country of Baden, were at that time praised by all
of us as the corner-stone of liberty and political
wisdom. Treitschke's only answer to Bluntschli 's
agitation for energetic revision of the Constitution
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? 52 Treitschke
was to leave the Paragon State in its present form
until Prussia would absorb the whole. The at-
tempt to overthrow the Ministry failed as the
Regent had been left out of account. In Heidel-
berg, Treitschke, at an assembly of citizens, took
up the cudgels for Jolly, and was principally
opposed by Schenkel, who declared that he would
not allow himself to be threatened by the sword of
Herr von Beyer. Surprised, Bluntschli, however,
wrote in his diary that the citizens applauded
Treitschke, who spoke for Jolly, no less than
Schenkel, who spoke against him. When the
whole question was brought before a second and
very largely-frequented assembly of the Liberal
Party in Offenburg, Bluntschli made Goldschmidt
and Treitschke's other friends promise that
Treitschke should abstain from speaking as he
would upset all peace proposals. The latter, how-
ever, immediately declared he could not be forced to
maintain silence. At least a thousand men con-
gregated from all parts of the country, more than
the big hall " Zum Salmen " was capable of holding.
Eckard, subsequently Manheim bank manager,
sat in the chair; on the part of the Fronde, Kieper,
instructed by Jolly, spoke, and for Jolly, Kusel
from Karlsruhe addressed the meeting. Treitschke
as a Prussian allowed the Badenese to speak first,
and only towards the finish did he ascend the plat-
form. A contributor of the Taglische Rundschau
gave the following account: "The meeting had
lasted for a considerable time, and the audience,
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? His Life and Work 53
after standing for hours closely packed in the
heavy, hot air, was tired, when a person unknown
to us started speaking. His delivery was slow and
hesitating, with a peculiar guttural sound, and his
intonation was monotonous. Citizens and peas-
ants amongst whom I stood looked at each other
astonished and indignant. Who was this appar-
ently not very happy speaker who dared to claim
the patience of the assembly? We were told it
was Professor Treitschke of Heidelberg. At first
ill-humoured, but soon with growing interest, we
followed his speech, which gradually became more
animated. The power and depth of thoughts the
compelling logic proofs adduced, the clearness and
force of language, and above all the fire of patriot-
ism, all this captivated the listeners and carried
them irresistibly away. The outward deficiencies
of the lecturer were now unobserved; attentively
with breathless excitement, these simple people
listened to the orator, who spoke with the force of
the holiest conviction; and when finishing with
the exhortation to set aside all separating barriers
for the sake of the country, a real hurricane of
enthusiasm broke forth. The audience crowded
round the speaker and cheered him; he was lifted
by strong arms amid ceaseless enthusiasm. It was
the climax of the day. Never since have I wit-
nessed a similar triumph of eloquence. "
He had appealed particularly to the peasants
present by his outspoken and simple words.
Schenkel likewise was disarmed. Heidelberg
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? 54 Treitschke
friends related how Schenkel, who in Heidelberg
had contested Treitschke's speech in favour of
Jolly, immediately afterwards advanced towards
the platform in order to speak, but Treitschke's
utterances had rendered unnecessary a rejoinder.
When, on the other hand, I asked Treitschke after
his return whether in his opinion peace would be a
lasting one, he replied: "Oh, Lord, no! the lack
of character is much too great. " In a still more
disdainful manner and full of passionate exaspera-
tion against Bluntschli he wrote to Prey tag:
"Jolly understands very well how to assert himself
here; daily he cuts a piece off the big Liberal list
of wishes, but immediately a new one grows be-
neath. Where is this to lead? Moreover, there
are blackguards like this miserable Bluntschli at
the head of the patriots! Nokk, my brother-in-
law, who is well able to judge the situation, has
long ago despaired of a peaceful solution. "
In January, 1870, whilst staying at Heidelberg,
and shortly before the outbreak of war, the second
collection of historic political essays was published.
The editor's intention was to publish them before
Christmas, but Treitschke delayed matters. "I
hate everything suggestive of business," he told
me, "and I don't want to belong to the Christmas
authors. " He was also averse to editions in parts.
The essay on Cavour, which shortly afterwards
appeared translated in Italian, brought him the
Italian Commander Cross a necklace, as his wife
said. When one of his friends had fallen in dis-
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? His Life and Work 55
grace on account of a biting article in the Weser
Zeitung attributed to him, Treitschke said: "If
the man wants to carry a chamberlain's key and
six decorations, he might as well have the muzzle
belonging to it"; and when asking him whether
this also applied to him, he replied: "No, but I
have not been asking for it. " This volume of
historic essays contained the treatise on the Repub-
lic of the Netherlands full of sparkling descrip-
tions of Holland and her national life, which
proved that not in vain had he brought his Brief je
van de uuren van hat vertrekk, i. e. his railway book-
let for the land of the frogs and the ducats. Par-
ticularly weighty, however, was his essay on
French Constitution and Bonapartism, in which
he proved that Bonapartism had revived, thanks
to the Napoleonic fundaments of State having
remained, a circumstance which even after the
fall of Napoleon III, and in spite of all their de-
feats, made him believe in -the return of the Bona-
partes. His essay On the Constitutional Kingdom,
forming part of this collection, and containing
views on the wretchedness of Small State Court
life; on the poverty of thought and the rudeness
of the South German Press; on the South Ger-
man's respectful awe of the deeds of Napoleon, the
national arch-enemy; and on the bustling vanity
of Church authorities, could not create a great
impression after his previous and much stronger
dissertations. He himself was dejected owing to
the scantiness of enthusiasm aroused by his per-
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? 56 Treitschke
sistent appeals "to discard decayed political
power," to upset the Napoleonic crowns and to
continue the laudable efforts of 1866. Some friends
likened his situation to that of Borne, who is the
object of criticism in one of the essays, and who,
in his Paris letters, always predicted anew the
revolution which always failed to materialize.
