THE LIFE OF
TREITSCHKE
1n
views which none of them had heard from him at the
College.
views which none of them had heard from him at the
College.
Treitschke - 1914 - Life and Works
org/access_use#pd-us-google
? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 99
about that we had gradually to rely less upon his co-opera-
tion in the struggle. But we gathered this opinion more
from his verbal scruples than from his written expressions,
which in principle were in agreement with ours, although
he now considered the legislation as laws of necessity,
i. e. , as a temporary evil. Then took place the great
defection of Lasker and the Progressive Party, which the
Catholic faction attempted to engineer for the elections,
and which willingly left the odium of civilisation--a
name invented by Virchow for the glory of Falk--to the
National Liberals. After one wing of the Army had gone
over to the enemy, the great Bismarck retreat commenced,
which Treitschke had to cover with heavy artillery,!
Even in course of these rear-guard actions, he had both
written and spoken many clever things in the Annuals,
as well as in the Reichstag, but it oppressed his mind that
henceforth he would have to recommend the abolition
of the " ineffective or mistaken May Laws," after having
greeted their formation with words of joy. To retract
words suited him, who was used to employing such strong
language particularly badly. Times out of number
he had proclaimed that the old feud could not be adjusted
by concessions, but by perseverance. If, in a country
whose population to the extent of two-thirds are Protes-
tants, the Bishops reign to-day, and an Ultramontane
President is President of the Reichstag, the old saying
characterising this state of affairs, viz. , "Every nation
has the government it deserves," is decidedly appropriate.
For the rest, it must be recognised that Treitschke never
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? 1oo TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
expressed his pleasure at this result as did the Kreuz
Zeitung, but always contemplated it with deep regret
as a proof that, contrary to the opinion of Aristotle,
the German being is by no means a political animal.
While still in Heidelberg, Treitschke's rupture with the
University Socialists became imminent, among whom he
counted his intimate friends Knies and Schmoller.
Contrary to Knies, he asserted that Socialism could not be
convinced by reason, but had to be suppressed by forcible
laws. He also defended the view that it is in the interest
of the public to compel labour to work cheaply, and that
the State should possess authority to enforce the fulfil-
ment of this duty. In his first Berlin article, of July,
1874, he took this sharp attitude against the Social
Democrats, whom he called Socialists, and whom he
did not wish to distinguish from the Radical Socialist
politicians. The article had been begun in Heidelberg,
and we were diverted to see how here again he gave ex-
pression to his most recent experience, when he wrote:
"After packing books for two or three days, and
filling up freight forms--finally looking stupidly at the
completed work--the question will suddenly occur what
the brave packers might think, who, during these removal
performances only, were my servants? The calling of
the furniture shifter is, after all, a very respectable one,
because it is cleaner, and more refined, than many equally
necessary occupations. " The essay itself, j" Socialism,
and its Supporters," met at the round table of the
Museum with no more approval than the speeches
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 101
which were its prelude prior to his departure. Knies
thought that the inability to distribute wealth in accord-
ance with actual deeds--it not being a creation of the
present--and the fact that virtue is not fully rewarded
in this world, would not produce a greater feeling of
contentment amongst the working classes, who demand
their share of the realised profit, and in the terms of
their favourite author, Heine, leave Heaven to the angels
and sparrows.
Colleagues otherwise friendly disposed towards him
found the point of view that the working classes should
continue to toil for the sake of religion, and his cruel
reference to that true friend of the people, Fritz
Reuter, particularly hard-hearted when a question of
hungry people who have no time to read novels
was being discusssed. Treitschke's assertion that
the introduction of slavery had been a redeeming
achievement of culture, which, during thousands
of years had exercised at least as powerful a moral
influence as Christianity during a later epoch, appeared
to us a comparison of things which could not be tolerated;
and if nature formed all its higher beings unequally there
can be no question of the introduction of slavery as a
redeeming historical achievement. From a prehistoric
point of view, it can be compared with the relationship
existing between master and dog, or the shepherd and
his flock. An innovation of his was the stronger touch
of religious chords which, with this essay, begins to
obliterate the formerly habitual attacks upon the wicked
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? 102 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
class of theologians. The full meaning of Social Demo-
cracy became clear to him with the classic expression of
the Volk Staat: "Either there is a God, and then we
admit we are in a mess, or there is none, in which case we
can alter the existing state of affairs as much as we like. "
It was only right that against such speeches he should
have emphasized more strongly his positively religious
sentiments, but now and then his old habit of chaffing
the theologians came to the fore. Whilst Schmoller traces
the economic formation of classes to an original injustice,
viz. , violence of the stronger, which as a tragic fault is
hereditary, Treitschke sneers at the doctrine of "social
apple tasting," and the sin which is no more ingenious
than the theological doctrine of hereditary sin. But
the doctrine of hereditary sin is the preamble to
Christianity, and to be one of its champions in Berlin
was his aim.
It was quite natural that Schmoller, in his reply,
complained at having had his standpoint quite wrongly
represented. Both Ribbeck and I asked, after perusal,
what now really was Schmoller's view, as Treitschke's
controversy had been conducted in such a general way as
to make it impossible to know what referred to Schmoller
and what to the school in general. All the same, nobody
who knew his warm and philanthropic disposition
harboured the suspicion that Treitschke intended to
become a champion of class interests. He only protested
against such erroneous expressions as " The Disinherited,"
or "the excess measure of economic injustice, which
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 103
needs must bring about a crevasse," phrases which were
to the liking of National Socialists, but which necessarily
played into the hands of the demagogues, exciting the
working classes as they did, and arousing hopes in them,
the realisation of which was, in the nature of things,
out of the question. Although he expressly pointed out
that only false prophets, and instigators could lead the
labouring classes to believe that any social regulation
could neutralise the inequality of the human lot, he never-
theless in a letter to Sybel expressed the hope: "We
also will get our ten hours' bill, our factory inspectors,
and many other things, which are in opposition to the
Manchester doctrine," and in this sense the warmhearted
friend of the people acted in the Reichstag. Equal
rights for all, and due care for the economically weaker
and those incapable of working, was his motto; the
contest between him and Schmoller was therefore by
no means as great as the strong words exchanged at
that time might have led one to believe. Like so many
big cannonades, this one finally proved merely to be
noisy reconnoitring and not a decisive battle. Any-
how, the discussions on social questions between him and
Knies were the most interesting experienced by the
round table, and we regretted that they were the last.
VII.
Immediately after the war the Prussian House of
Commons had granted considerable sums to raise the
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? 104 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
University of Berlin to its destined height again, and
Helmholtz was the first to receive such an offer in 1871,
Zeller following in 1872, and Treitschke in 1874. No
efforts were spared on the part of the Baden Government
to retain Treitschke. His friends entreated him to
remain. If only he had listened to our supplications
the German History would have been completed long
ago, he himself would presumably still be in the land
of the living, and all the hardships which the trying city
atmosphere caused him and his family would never have
found their way to the small house hidden behind trees at
the other side of the Neckar. We urged him not to aban-
don so light-heartedly a sphere of activity such as he had
found.
On a slip, I wrote to him that in Berlin nobody
believed Prussia to be such a great country as he preached.
"I would not say such a thing," he replied, in angry
fashion, but then he explained that, owing to his having
to spend six months in the Berlin Archives for writing
his history it was preferable that he should permanently
remain in Berlin. But just because empty-headed
Liberalism was gradually gaining ground in Berlin, he
wished to go there to take up the battle. He also wrote
to Jolly in this sense: "Our capital is not to become a
second New York; those who can do something to pre-
vent this misfortune must not abstain without good
reason. Anyone as firmly attached to Prussia as I am
must not refuse, without good cause, if my services are
thought to be of use. " In similar fashion he expressed
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 105
himself to Ranke, who, by sending Treitschke his
"Genesis of the Prussian State," at once greeted him as
his colleague--a matter for great pride. He wrote to the
old master as follows: "Here in Heidelberg my object
was simply to teach youth, on the whole ignorant but
naive; over there my task will be to uphold the positive
powers of the historical world against the petulance of
Radical criticism. I fully realise the difficult position in
which I shall find myself in consequence of the predomi-
nant Radical opinions in the capital. *' He admitted that he
could not expect to exercise such lasting influence upon
the students in Berlin as in Heidelberg, for theatres,
concerts, and life in the capital generally prejudiced the
interest in lectures; but he thought he would surmount
the difficulty in Berlin, as well as he had done in Leipzig.
Only one question oppressed him, soft-hearted as he
was: "Children are deprived of the best part of their
youth when they are dragged to a capital to be brought up
there as Berlin Wall-Rats. " "It is true," he subsequently
wrote to Freytag, "my son prefers the Zoological
Garden to the Black Forest; a forest is all very fine
and large, but the Emperor and the old 'Wrangel'
are only to be seen in Berlin. " At first negotiations were
carried on regarding limiting his activity, and that of
Droysen, he, as he told me, not wishing "to raise
shabby competition " with the old gentleman. By the
death of Droysen this question settled itself. I felt
Treitschke's impending departure very much, and when
the matter had become an accomplished fact the
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? 106 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
following verses occurred to me during a sleepless
night:--
"Du gehst wir Konnten Dich nicht halten
Du gehst weil Du gehen rausst
Wir lassen Deine Sterne walten
Und bietcn Schweigen unserer Brust. "
The other part I have forgotten, and perhaps it is
better so. Not wishing to be counted amongst the poets
of the Tageblatt, I merely signed the poem "N. N. ,"
but at our final meeting at the Museum he looked at
me frankly, and amiably said: "I go, because go
I must," and then I knew that my anonymity had been
unavailing. In spite of the academic encounters in the
past the colleagues assembled in great, although by no
means full, numbers. All the same, everybody recognised
his honesty and unselfishness, just because he had been
open and very rough. Windscheid, as Pro-Rector, also
referred to the fact that Treitschke liked to be where
sharp thrusts were exchanged, and likened him to a noble
steed on the battle-ground, which cannot be kept back
when it hears the flourish of trumpets. No doubt we
would hear in future of his deeds. The great student of
law was much too refined and clever a personality to
undervalue Treitschke as the "majority" did, but for
the mature and calm scientist the young colleague was
still like new wine, and jokingly he compared him to
Percy Heissporn, who regularly was asked by his wife,
when washing the ink from off his fingers before dinner:
"Well, Heinrich, darling, and how many have you killed
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 107
to-day? " At our last meeting Treitschke told me in
his usual kind-hearted manner that there were too many
important men in this small town, and collisions
were therefore unavoidable. In Weimar the same con-
ditions existed as is proved by the letters of Karoline
Herder and Karoline Schlegel. When he gaily described
subsequently in the German History the battles of Voss,
with Creuzer on the hot field of Heidelberg, we grate-
fully recognised that the memory of the Economic
Commission, and Majority and Minority, still continued
to cling faithfully to his heart. There might have been
at that time too many academic stars, but he was never
too much for us, and we felt that the importance of such
men was fully recognised only by the void they left.
It was as if a spell had been broken, the parlour seemed
empty, the round table at the Museum only half occupied,
and as Gustav Freytag said at his parting speech in the
Kitzing, so we could say: "A good deal of poetry has
disappeared from our circle, which had warmed and
elated us. " Our circle undeservedly now resembled the
defiant prince of olden times, who was deserted by his
generals one by one. The one who now goes from us
is Max Piccolomini. Fortunately, although missed, he
was not completely lost to us. He annually accompanied
his family to the house of his parents-in-law in Freiburg,
and we generally had him in the autumn for days or hours
with us either at the usual round table or at our house.
Subsequently we saw him more frequently, as, on account
of his eyes, which were being treated by the Heidelberg
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? 108 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
ophthalmologist, Dr. Leber, he came to us also in the
spring, and was easily to be found close to my house at
the " Prinz Karl " or the " Weinberg," and was grateful
when people made him forget his sorrows for an hour or
so. We therefore continued to keep in touch with him.
Merely to read his writings was insufficient; one had
to hear him to understand his meaning thoroughly.
When in the autumn of 1874 he turned up for the first
time, he was full of praise for the systematic and quick
way with which University matters were settled in
Berlin. As it was not customary to visit the wives of
colleagues in Berlin, the education of such fortified
Society camps, as used to be the case in Heidelberg, was
conspicuous by its absence. With his former Heidelberg
opponents, Zeller and Wattenbach, he was on best terms
there; besides it was, as he said, very healthy to be reminded
daily in this town of millions that the few people whose
company one cultivated did not constitute the world.
Every one of them might fall from a bridge across the
River Spree, and onwards would rush the stream of life
as if nothing had happened. When daily hurrying past
thousands of people to one's occupation, one only begins
to realise the true proportion of one's dispensability.
Somewhat less politely he had expressed similar views
in an essay on Socialism, in which, willy-nilly, we had to
apply to ourselves the remark that a strong man always
felt steeled and elated when fleeing from the restraint,
tittle-tattle, and the persistent interference of a small
town. He also wrote to Freytag: "The liberty in
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 109
the capital pleases me, and I should not care about
returning to Heidelberg's quarrels and gossip. " Any-
how, he spoke of us as "of his beautiful Heidelberg,"
whereas Leipzig remained for him "the empty-headed
University," meaning thereby, of course, not the professors,
but the disparity between the great University and
the small country. Thus he had grown a proud Berlin
citizen ; but later on he felt how life in a big city affected
his nerves. He complained of the "everlasting haste
which was called life in Berlin," and which, above all,
undermined his wife's health. Even the correspondence
with Freytag stopped, as Berlin made it impossible to
maintain relations as he wished and as they should have
been maintained. This complaint is intelligible, as lectures,
parliamentary sittings, and the editorship of the Prussian
Annuals completely occupied his time. Now and then
the Berlin papers, and especially the Tageblatt, brought
out "details respecting the lectures of Herr v. Treitschke,"
which proved a totally new experience to him and to us.
Treitschke finally saw himself compelled to declare that
this information by no means originated in student circles.
As the big banking firms closed at 6 p. m. he had the
doubtful pleasure of seeing at his evening lectures all
sorts of young business men, of Christian and Hebraic
confession, who, in their spare time, apparently were news-
paper reporters. He declared he was responsible to the
hearers and to the authorities for his lectures; he would
continue to maintain strict silence in regard to the
attempts of the Press to worm information out of him:
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? no TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
this does not imply that he recognised the correctness of
the published information. But details showing him in a
favourable light likewise made their appearance, and,
particularly after his death, many of his former hearers
gave invaluable information in regard to Treitschke's
lectures. Felix Kriiger, for instance, informed the Allge-
meinc Zeitung how greatly Treitschke laid stress on the
point that men make history in opposition to Lamprecht's
view, who held that the history of a nation is not the
history of great men, but that circumstances are deve-
loped by circumstances. According to Kriiger, the
principal thing in the reformation was, for Treitschke,
the peculiarity of the reformers: Ulrich von Hutten,
the people's favourite Junker, whose Muse was Wrath,
or the Rationalist Republican Zwingli, or the aristocratic-
ally-inclined Calvin with his hard and cheerless fanaticism;
and on the other hand Emperor Charles, the reserved
Spaniard of indomitable ambition, pitiless, and in his
innermost heart irreligious; next to him his pedantic
brother, Ferdinand or Maurice of Saxony, this quick
Mussen cat, yet the only one amongst the German Princes
of that time who had political talent. Naturally these
vividly drawn sketches made an impression upon youth.
When causing thereby an amusing effect which gave
rise to loud and lasting hilarity in true student's fashion,
the dark eye of the speaker would unwillingly glance over
the audience, an intimation that he was in deadly
earnest even when dealing out satirical lashes. In his
lectures on politics he also surprised the hearers with
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THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 1n
views which none of them had heard from him at the
College. He pointed out that not logical facts make
history, but passions; feelings are more powerful than
reason. He safeguarded the right of the development
of personalities. "Only a shallow mind can always say
the same. " He sneered at the moralising comtemplation
of history, "the Sunday afternoon preachers on Politics. "
Life is too hard for philanthropic phrases, but those are
not genuine realists who misjudge the reality of moral
forces. All his hearers realised that these lectures acted
like iron baths. We owe to another hearer the descrip-
tion of the impression which the first attempt on the life
of the Kaiser made upon Treitschke. It confirms what
was generally known, that Treitschke never posed, and
on the contrary hated everything theatrical. The in-
formation of the deed of miserable Hodel had come
to hand immediately before the commencement of
Treitschke's lecture. The audience was silent as in a
church; depressed, they gazed in front of them as if a load
oppressed their souls. At last Treitschke entered, but
the usual cheering which greeted his arrival was absent
to-day. A long time he stood there; motionless he
looked at us as if he meant to say: "I realise you feel
the mortification, the disgrace, the horrible disgrace,
inflicted upon us. " Then he tried to speak; we noticed
how agitated and disturbed he was. But the impres-
sions seemed to burst forth so vehemently that he bit
his lips, and deeply sighed as if trying to suppress his
feelings. Then he hastily grasped his handkerchief, and
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? H2 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
overwhelmed by emotion he pressed it to his eyes. I believe
there was not a single one amongst the hearers whose
heart was not thrilled to its innermost depth at this
silent process. Subsequently he found words, and said
he was unable to discuss the wicked deed; it choked him
to do so, and he would continue the history of the Wars
of Liberation. Once more he reviewed the previous
history, and said that there is nothing to purify and
strengthen the souls of young, idealistically inclined human
beings than the fire test of deep patriotic sorrow. He
spoke of the battle of Leipzig, and described the tremen-
dous fight with such vividness, richness of colour, and
fire that everybody, carried away, hung on his lips. And
when in his enthusiastic manner he described the episode
of how the East Prussian Militia, at the head of all others,
stormed the Grimma Gate at Leipzig and drove the
French from the old German town, all anguish had sud-
denly departed. A feeling of relief and exaltation again
seized all our hearts, and the audience gave vent to a loud
ovation for the man who, in spite of his last bitter disap-
pointment, did not tire of keeping alive in us enthusiasm
for our people and our history. The Berlin papers
occupied themselves so extensively with Treitschke that
we, likewise, in Heidelberg were always informed regard-
ing his activity. Especially so long as he frequently spoke
in the Reichstag, and regularly discussed pending
questions in the Prussian Annuals, our mental intercourse
did not slacken. But by reason of the distance we some-
times viewed his standpoint wrongly. Judging by his
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 113
writings in the Annuals, I thought he would be very
pleased with our African acquisitions, but when verbally
discussing it with him he said: "Cameroons? What
are we to do with this sand-box? Let us take Holland;
then we shall have colonies. " Fortunately he failed to
promulgate this view in the Press.
Amongst the most unpleasant duties which the editor-
ship of the Annuals entailed, perhaps the most dis-
agreeable one was to review those questions of the day
on which, to maintain silence, would have been much
more agreeable. Above all, it was the Jewish question
which had become of such pressing nature that, however
painful, in view of the esteem he entertained for his
colleagues, Goldschmidt, Bresslau, and Frenzdorf, and
the recollections of his early friend, Oppenheim, he was
obliged to touch on it. Considering the enormous
agitation organised against him after publication of his
first article in November, 1879, and which only poured
fat into the fire, it must be remembered that he deliber-
ately placed the following sentence in front: "There
can be, among sensible people, no question of a with-
drawal, or even of only an infringement, of the com-
pleted emancipation of the Jews; this would be an
apparent injustice. " His final appeal to the Jews not
to relinquish their religion, but their ambition to occupy
a particular national position, and to become unreservedly
Germans, might be called futile and vague; but it does
not imply a mortification. The complaints which
Treitschke brought before the general notice might have
H
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? H4 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
been discussed more calmly if the Press had not raised
such an outcry against him. Even those who consider
that Treitschke's attitude in this matter did more harm
than good had to admit extenuating circumstances
quite apart from the fact that, after the many frictions
with the Jewish reporters, a final electric discharge
had become inevitable in view of his temperament.
His publicist activity brought him less in contact with
the good qualities of the Israelites than with the Jews
of the Press, amongst whom those of Berlin are not
exactly the most modest, and who, with their system
of Press activity, were in direct opposition to his ideals
of life. He observed, what could escape no attentive
reader of our Press, that all literary publications were
praised or torn to pieces according to whether the author
was reputed to be Philo-Semite or Anti-Semite. "And,"
he says, "how closely this crowd of writers keeps to-
gether, how reliably works this Immortality Assurance
Society, based on the approved commercial principal
of reciprocity, so that each Jewish poetical star receives
on the spot, and without rebate of interest for
delay, the ephemeral praise administered by the news-
papers. " In the presence of the objectionable agitation
of these years, George Eliot, in her last novel, " Daniel
Deronda," reproached Germany with Jewish persecu-
tion, as it was Jewish brains which for the last thirty
years had procured for Germany her position in the
literary world. Treitschke, however, reproached the
Jewish Press for having tried to introduce "the char-
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 115
latanry of the commercial world into literature, and the
jargon of the stock exchange into the sanctuary of our
language. " He put the question: What had the Jewish
brain made of the German language in the sphere of
journalism and literature, in which it reigns supreme?
Of the poets, who at the time contributed to Germany's
literary position, and whose names live, George Eliot
suitably recollected Gutzkow, Freiligrath, Freytag,
Geibel, Monke, Bodenstedt, Claus Groot, Fritz Reuter,
Storm, Fontane, Roguette, Scheffel, Baumbach, Rosegger,
Anzengruber, Ganghoffer, Jenssen, Lingg, Raabe, Put-
litz, Strachwitz, Steiler, Wolff, and many others. There
is not one Jewish brain among them, and most of the
names which the Jewish Press noisily proclaimed upon
their appearance are to-day submerged in the flood
of journalism and completely forgotten. Another con-
sideration of Treitschke referred to the development of
our school system under the completely changed denomi-
national conditions of colleges. Nothing had given him
so much food for reflection as the sentence of his first
essay: "From the East frontier there pours year by
year from the inexhaustible Polish cradle a huge number
of ambitious trouser-selling youths, whose children and
children's children, in time to come, will dominate Ger-
many's stock exchanges and newspapers; the immigra-
tion grows visibly, and more and more seriously the
question imposes itself how we are to amalgamate this
strange population with ours. 'What a crime,' a Jewess
said to me, 'that these Jews give their children a good
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? n6 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
education. '" The exaggerations of Treitschke also, in
this matter, are to be regretted; but the difficulty
still remains that, as the moiety of pupils in the
higher classes of colleges in Berlin were of Jewish per-
suasion, the Christian view of the world must disappear.
Furthermore, the fact must not be lost sight of that the
newspaper reader, in view of Jewish hegemony in the
journalistic world, is apprised of the events of the world
only in the form in which they show to advantage from
the Jewish point of view. We had ample means to
convince ourselves of this on the occasion of colonial
policy, financial reform, and the discussions on the tobacco
monopoly. He also spoke bitingly in regard to the
influence of a commercial world which amasses colossal
fortunes, not by productive labour, but by the exchange
of securities and speculative transactions; and here, at
least, the movement initiated by him has been productive
of good results, as it caused legislation to be enacted.
I, personally, was by ne means pleased at his having
become involved in controversy with such an influential
literary power, and I told him candidly that for me the
question does not exist whether it is an advantage our
having the Jews--Mommsen and Stocker might settle
that. The question to be solved, as far as I was con-
cerned, is: What is our duty since we have them? He
himself had no wish to adopt the practical method em-
ployed by Russia; what, therefore, was to be done? He
was amused at the opinion of one of his acquaintances,
saying the Middle Ages had missed their vocation as,
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 117
according to the principles of that period, the question
might have been settled without subsequent conscience-
pricks. According to him, his teacher, Dahlmann, at
the college, likewise had regretted that the policy of that
Egyptian Pharaoh had not been pursued more effectively.
But when seriously asked his opinion what to do, he was
just as helpless as other people. His only prescription
was gentle restraint, and there even he admitted that in
the present state of affairs this had become impracticable,
as even he himself made exceptions in favour of his
friends. But, as he had no prescription for the solution
of this eminently practical question, not even a tangible
proposal, it was ostensibly an error for a practical poli-
tician to make an enemy for all times of this great power
in Berlin. He lost in life valuable and even Christian
fellow-workers for his own object, and by the sneering tone
of his articles he particularly puzzled the ladies' world.
The public declaration of Mommsen's friends, reproaching
him with having sacrificed tolerance, the great heritage
of Lessing, and inciting youth against the Jews, caused
him deep and lasting pain. The latter reproach was
due to untrue statements having been disseminated by
Christian-Germanic youths.
A Leipzig student called on him to seek his advice as
to whether he and his friends should sign the FSrster
anti-Semitic petition. Treitschke declared he disagreed
with the contents of this petition, and also considered
it wrong for students to be mixed up in legislative ques-
tions. If they were determined to make a manifesto
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? 118 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
they should do so in a more suitable form and remember
to leave undisturbed the academic peace. "After
this conversation," Treitschke himself relates, "I for
weeks heard nothing of the matter, until suddenly, to my
greatest astonishment, through a newspaper notice, I
ascertained the existence of a Leipzig Students' Petition"
(in which a sentence asserted Treitschke had given his
assent to the intended action of anti-Semitic students).
"I at once wrote to that student, reminded him of the
real meaning of our conversation, and demanded the im-
mediate expurgation of that passage. He replied very
repentantly, asked my pardon, assured me that he had
been greatly excited during the conversation, and conse-
quently had quite misunderstood me; he also promised
to have that passage eliminated, which actually was
done. The mendacious reference to Treitschke, how-
ever, caused so much discussion that Treitschke sent to
a member of the Senate a written declaration for trans-
mission to the Rector, and when Mommsen, in a pam-
phlet, repeated the reproach, calling Treitschke the moral
instigator of the Leipzig Students' Petition against the
Jews, Treitschke was obliged to give a public declaration
to demonstrate the history of the incident. Thus the
question had produced academic factions of still greater
animosity than the previous ones, as in this case Jews
were in question. In consequence of this conflict,
Treitschke fell out with his nearest friends, and again he
had the impression he was shunned and tabooed. Never,
theless, he recognised with great respect that Mommsen
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 119
had abruptly turned a deaf ear to the attempts of several
younger Jewish colleagues in their endeavour to take
advantage of his philo-Semitic disposition for their own
benefit. "There the great scientist came again to the
fore. " Mommsen, however, was not conciliatory. He
reproached Treitschke with animosity against Jews, in
consequence of which a true appreciation of Heine in his
literary report was lacking. "Where genius faces us, we
must kneel down and worship," he said, "and it is
Treitschke's doom that he cannot do that. " It was doubtful
to me whether falling down and worshipping was exactly
Mommsen's forte. On the contrary, it seemed to me
worthy of note that Treitschke, in spite of his personal
aversion, recognised in Heine the true voice of romance,
contrary to Victor Hehn, who simply explained the ring
of Goethe's lyrics in Heine's songs, by the talent of imita-
tion akin to the Jew. In these questions, likewise,
Treitschke's judgment, after the long and bitter struggle,
was of lamentable mildness, which I was the last to expect
after the sharp attacks in the Annuals. Although con-
vinced he had merely done his duty, he was deeply hurt
that the great number of friends now had shrunk to a
few anti-Semites, whose adoration he had to share with
Rector Ahlwardt. His was a love-thirsty disposition.
"Du nahst der Welt mit einer Welt voll Liebe
Dein Zauber ist das mutig freie Herz
War's moglich dass sie dir verschlossen bliebe? "
he had written in his youth when deafness broke in upon
him. Similar feelings overcame him now with the
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? 120 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
estrangement of so many who gave his words the cold
shoulder. The feeling against him did not last, but the
consequences of this conflict went further than was
visible at first. The articles on the Jews form a
turning-point in Treitschke's political position, and in his
occupation as publicist, and they were not even without
influence upon his personal comfort.
When these consequences promptly arose, Erdmans-
doerffer reminded me of a saying of Berthold Auerbach,
who had predicted of another anti-Semite: "Like all
Hamans, he will have a bad end. " As the result of the
so-called Mommsen Declaration, bitter dissension arose,
not only between Treitschke and the Jews, but also between
him and the Liberals of both camps. All the more enthu-
siastically the Conservative party gathered round him, and
soon enough we saw him in the ranks of the party which
he had contested during the whole of his life. Formerly
his opinion was: "Christian love is more frequently to
be found amongst the much-abused Incredulous than
amongst the Clergy . . . More and more it will be-
come apparent that churches do not suffice for the
spiritual needs of mature people. " Now his position
demanded that he should view his struggle against
Judaism simultaneously with a struggle for his Church.
"Mommsen," he writes, "passes over the religious
contrast with some indifferent words. I maintain a
different standpoint towards positive Christianity. I
believe that through maturing culture our deeply
religious people will be led back to a purer and more
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 121
vigorous spiritual life, and therefore cannot silently
pass over the invectives of the Jewish Press against
Christianity, but consider them as attacks on the funda-
ments of our morals, as disturbances of the peace of the
country. " The next consequence of this attitude was
that, contrary to his former utterances on undenomina-
tional schools, he now declared denominational schools
as normal, whereas, as late as 1872, he had appealed to
the new Minister of Public Instruction to send Jewish
teachers to those colleges which Herr von Miihler had
declared as being denominational according to observ-
ance. Soon we were as much amazed at the literary
manifestos of our friend as the veterans of Napoleon, who,
after the Concordate, wondered how the "LittleCorporal"
had learned to preach so beautifully. Trietschke's
relations with the orthodox parsons date from this
struggle, and they soon found ways and means to bring
it about that the "great patriot" appeared as speaker
at the meetings arranged by them. It is well known
what struggles Treitschke, in his youth, had with his
father on account of his free-thinking ideals. Nor did
he show at Heidelberg very great predilection for the
clergy; nay, it required patience to endure his ever-
lasting attacks upon the theologians. At the christening
of his second daughter, he drank the health of Grand-
mama in charming fashion: "People always said a good
deal about mothers-in-law, but he could only say the best
of his. " In consequence of my having been blessed
at the same time with a son he had to propose
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? 122 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
another toast, which was well meant, but which ended with,
"Do not let the boy become a parson. " Embarrassed
as I was, I could only reply that up till now my baby
boy had shown no other talent than for preaching
and the touching of feminine hearts. I must, therefore,
reserve his calling for him. These "parsons"--he
never used to call the clergy differently--were in his
eyes a very subordinate class of men, and being what he
was, his disdain seemed more natural than the subse-
quent alliance. He used to display equal aversion to the
Catholic and the Evangelic Church. To his Catholic
wife he said, mockingly, "Thy parsons," and to me,
"Your parsons," considering it at the same time a very
lucky thing that Germany had not become completely
Lutheran. "We should have turned out a nice lot if
you alone had brought us up. " After such antecedents
it was a considerable matter for surprise to find him in
Berlin sitting on the same bench with the parsons of
the Municipal Mission. The struggle against the Jews
characterises the turning-point in his life--nay, it pre-
pared the end of his publicist activity. The man who,
from the very beginning, turned to advantage Treitschke's
Conservative tendencies in Berlin was the President
of the Evangelic Superior Church Council, his Gottingen
master and Heidelberg colleague, Herrmann. He in-
duced him to take side in the Prussian Annuals against
the Berlin Liberal clergy, who had spoiled Herrmann's
game by their attacks upon the apostolicity.
? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 99
about that we had gradually to rely less upon his co-opera-
tion in the struggle. But we gathered this opinion more
from his verbal scruples than from his written expressions,
which in principle were in agreement with ours, although
he now considered the legislation as laws of necessity,
i. e. , as a temporary evil. Then took place the great
defection of Lasker and the Progressive Party, which the
Catholic faction attempted to engineer for the elections,
and which willingly left the odium of civilisation--a
name invented by Virchow for the glory of Falk--to the
National Liberals. After one wing of the Army had gone
over to the enemy, the great Bismarck retreat commenced,
which Treitschke had to cover with heavy artillery,!
Even in course of these rear-guard actions, he had both
written and spoken many clever things in the Annuals,
as well as in the Reichstag, but it oppressed his mind that
henceforth he would have to recommend the abolition
of the " ineffective or mistaken May Laws," after having
greeted their formation with words of joy. To retract
words suited him, who was used to employing such strong
language particularly badly. Times out of number
he had proclaimed that the old feud could not be adjusted
by concessions, but by perseverance. If, in a country
whose population to the extent of two-thirds are Protes-
tants, the Bishops reign to-day, and an Ultramontane
President is President of the Reichstag, the old saying
characterising this state of affairs, viz. , "Every nation
has the government it deserves," is decidedly appropriate.
For the rest, it must be recognised that Treitschke never
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? 1oo TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
expressed his pleasure at this result as did the Kreuz
Zeitung, but always contemplated it with deep regret
as a proof that, contrary to the opinion of Aristotle,
the German being is by no means a political animal.
While still in Heidelberg, Treitschke's rupture with the
University Socialists became imminent, among whom he
counted his intimate friends Knies and Schmoller.
Contrary to Knies, he asserted that Socialism could not be
convinced by reason, but had to be suppressed by forcible
laws. He also defended the view that it is in the interest
of the public to compel labour to work cheaply, and that
the State should possess authority to enforce the fulfil-
ment of this duty. In his first Berlin article, of July,
1874, he took this sharp attitude against the Social
Democrats, whom he called Socialists, and whom he
did not wish to distinguish from the Radical Socialist
politicians. The article had been begun in Heidelberg,
and we were diverted to see how here again he gave ex-
pression to his most recent experience, when he wrote:
"After packing books for two or three days, and
filling up freight forms--finally looking stupidly at the
completed work--the question will suddenly occur what
the brave packers might think, who, during these removal
performances only, were my servants? The calling of
the furniture shifter is, after all, a very respectable one,
because it is cleaner, and more refined, than many equally
necessary occupations. " The essay itself, j" Socialism,
and its Supporters," met at the round table of the
Museum with no more approval than the speeches
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 101
which were its prelude prior to his departure. Knies
thought that the inability to distribute wealth in accord-
ance with actual deeds--it not being a creation of the
present--and the fact that virtue is not fully rewarded
in this world, would not produce a greater feeling of
contentment amongst the working classes, who demand
their share of the realised profit, and in the terms of
their favourite author, Heine, leave Heaven to the angels
and sparrows.
Colleagues otherwise friendly disposed towards him
found the point of view that the working classes should
continue to toil for the sake of religion, and his cruel
reference to that true friend of the people, Fritz
Reuter, particularly hard-hearted when a question of
hungry people who have no time to read novels
was being discusssed. Treitschke's assertion that
the introduction of slavery had been a redeeming
achievement of culture, which, during thousands
of years had exercised at least as powerful a moral
influence as Christianity during a later epoch, appeared
to us a comparison of things which could not be tolerated;
and if nature formed all its higher beings unequally there
can be no question of the introduction of slavery as a
redeeming historical achievement. From a prehistoric
point of view, it can be compared with the relationship
existing between master and dog, or the shepherd and
his flock. An innovation of his was the stronger touch
of religious chords which, with this essay, begins to
obliterate the formerly habitual attacks upon the wicked
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? 102 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
class of theologians. The full meaning of Social Demo-
cracy became clear to him with the classic expression of
the Volk Staat: "Either there is a God, and then we
admit we are in a mess, or there is none, in which case we
can alter the existing state of affairs as much as we like. "
It was only right that against such speeches he should
have emphasized more strongly his positively religious
sentiments, but now and then his old habit of chaffing
the theologians came to the fore. Whilst Schmoller traces
the economic formation of classes to an original injustice,
viz. , violence of the stronger, which as a tragic fault is
hereditary, Treitschke sneers at the doctrine of "social
apple tasting," and the sin which is no more ingenious
than the theological doctrine of hereditary sin. But
the doctrine of hereditary sin is the preamble to
Christianity, and to be one of its champions in Berlin
was his aim.
It was quite natural that Schmoller, in his reply,
complained at having had his standpoint quite wrongly
represented. Both Ribbeck and I asked, after perusal,
what now really was Schmoller's view, as Treitschke's
controversy had been conducted in such a general way as
to make it impossible to know what referred to Schmoller
and what to the school in general. All the same, nobody
who knew his warm and philanthropic disposition
harboured the suspicion that Treitschke intended to
become a champion of class interests. He only protested
against such erroneous expressions as " The Disinherited,"
or "the excess measure of economic injustice, which
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 103
needs must bring about a crevasse," phrases which were
to the liking of National Socialists, but which necessarily
played into the hands of the demagogues, exciting the
working classes as they did, and arousing hopes in them,
the realisation of which was, in the nature of things,
out of the question. Although he expressly pointed out
that only false prophets, and instigators could lead the
labouring classes to believe that any social regulation
could neutralise the inequality of the human lot, he never-
theless in a letter to Sybel expressed the hope: "We
also will get our ten hours' bill, our factory inspectors,
and many other things, which are in opposition to the
Manchester doctrine," and in this sense the warmhearted
friend of the people acted in the Reichstag. Equal
rights for all, and due care for the economically weaker
and those incapable of working, was his motto; the
contest between him and Schmoller was therefore by
no means as great as the strong words exchanged at
that time might have led one to believe. Like so many
big cannonades, this one finally proved merely to be
noisy reconnoitring and not a decisive battle. Any-
how, the discussions on social questions between him and
Knies were the most interesting experienced by the
round table, and we regretted that they were the last.
VII.
Immediately after the war the Prussian House of
Commons had granted considerable sums to raise the
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? 104 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
University of Berlin to its destined height again, and
Helmholtz was the first to receive such an offer in 1871,
Zeller following in 1872, and Treitschke in 1874. No
efforts were spared on the part of the Baden Government
to retain Treitschke. His friends entreated him to
remain. If only he had listened to our supplications
the German History would have been completed long
ago, he himself would presumably still be in the land
of the living, and all the hardships which the trying city
atmosphere caused him and his family would never have
found their way to the small house hidden behind trees at
the other side of the Neckar. We urged him not to aban-
don so light-heartedly a sphere of activity such as he had
found.
On a slip, I wrote to him that in Berlin nobody
believed Prussia to be such a great country as he preached.
"I would not say such a thing," he replied, in angry
fashion, but then he explained that, owing to his having
to spend six months in the Berlin Archives for writing
his history it was preferable that he should permanently
remain in Berlin. But just because empty-headed
Liberalism was gradually gaining ground in Berlin, he
wished to go there to take up the battle. He also wrote
to Jolly in this sense: "Our capital is not to become a
second New York; those who can do something to pre-
vent this misfortune must not abstain without good
reason. Anyone as firmly attached to Prussia as I am
must not refuse, without good cause, if my services are
thought to be of use. " In similar fashion he expressed
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 105
himself to Ranke, who, by sending Treitschke his
"Genesis of the Prussian State," at once greeted him as
his colleague--a matter for great pride. He wrote to the
old master as follows: "Here in Heidelberg my object
was simply to teach youth, on the whole ignorant but
naive; over there my task will be to uphold the positive
powers of the historical world against the petulance of
Radical criticism. I fully realise the difficult position in
which I shall find myself in consequence of the predomi-
nant Radical opinions in the capital. *' He admitted that he
could not expect to exercise such lasting influence upon
the students in Berlin as in Heidelberg, for theatres,
concerts, and life in the capital generally prejudiced the
interest in lectures; but he thought he would surmount
the difficulty in Berlin, as well as he had done in Leipzig.
Only one question oppressed him, soft-hearted as he
was: "Children are deprived of the best part of their
youth when they are dragged to a capital to be brought up
there as Berlin Wall-Rats. " "It is true," he subsequently
wrote to Freytag, "my son prefers the Zoological
Garden to the Black Forest; a forest is all very fine
and large, but the Emperor and the old 'Wrangel'
are only to be seen in Berlin. " At first negotiations were
carried on regarding limiting his activity, and that of
Droysen, he, as he told me, not wishing "to raise
shabby competition " with the old gentleman. By the
death of Droysen this question settled itself. I felt
Treitschke's impending departure very much, and when
the matter had become an accomplished fact the
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? 106 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
following verses occurred to me during a sleepless
night:--
"Du gehst wir Konnten Dich nicht halten
Du gehst weil Du gehen rausst
Wir lassen Deine Sterne walten
Und bietcn Schweigen unserer Brust. "
The other part I have forgotten, and perhaps it is
better so. Not wishing to be counted amongst the poets
of the Tageblatt, I merely signed the poem "N. N. ,"
but at our final meeting at the Museum he looked at
me frankly, and amiably said: "I go, because go
I must," and then I knew that my anonymity had been
unavailing. In spite of the academic encounters in the
past the colleagues assembled in great, although by no
means full, numbers. All the same, everybody recognised
his honesty and unselfishness, just because he had been
open and very rough. Windscheid, as Pro-Rector, also
referred to the fact that Treitschke liked to be where
sharp thrusts were exchanged, and likened him to a noble
steed on the battle-ground, which cannot be kept back
when it hears the flourish of trumpets. No doubt we
would hear in future of his deeds. The great student of
law was much too refined and clever a personality to
undervalue Treitschke as the "majority" did, but for
the mature and calm scientist the young colleague was
still like new wine, and jokingly he compared him to
Percy Heissporn, who regularly was asked by his wife,
when washing the ink from off his fingers before dinner:
"Well, Heinrich, darling, and how many have you killed
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 107
to-day? " At our last meeting Treitschke told me in
his usual kind-hearted manner that there were too many
important men in this small town, and collisions
were therefore unavoidable. In Weimar the same con-
ditions existed as is proved by the letters of Karoline
Herder and Karoline Schlegel. When he gaily described
subsequently in the German History the battles of Voss,
with Creuzer on the hot field of Heidelberg, we grate-
fully recognised that the memory of the Economic
Commission, and Majority and Minority, still continued
to cling faithfully to his heart. There might have been
at that time too many academic stars, but he was never
too much for us, and we felt that the importance of such
men was fully recognised only by the void they left.
It was as if a spell had been broken, the parlour seemed
empty, the round table at the Museum only half occupied,
and as Gustav Freytag said at his parting speech in the
Kitzing, so we could say: "A good deal of poetry has
disappeared from our circle, which had warmed and
elated us. " Our circle undeservedly now resembled the
defiant prince of olden times, who was deserted by his
generals one by one. The one who now goes from us
is Max Piccolomini. Fortunately, although missed, he
was not completely lost to us. He annually accompanied
his family to the house of his parents-in-law in Freiburg,
and we generally had him in the autumn for days or hours
with us either at the usual round table or at our house.
Subsequently we saw him more frequently, as, on account
of his eyes, which were being treated by the Heidelberg
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? 108 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
ophthalmologist, Dr. Leber, he came to us also in the
spring, and was easily to be found close to my house at
the " Prinz Karl " or the " Weinberg," and was grateful
when people made him forget his sorrows for an hour or
so. We therefore continued to keep in touch with him.
Merely to read his writings was insufficient; one had
to hear him to understand his meaning thoroughly.
When in the autumn of 1874 he turned up for the first
time, he was full of praise for the systematic and quick
way with which University matters were settled in
Berlin. As it was not customary to visit the wives of
colleagues in Berlin, the education of such fortified
Society camps, as used to be the case in Heidelberg, was
conspicuous by its absence. With his former Heidelberg
opponents, Zeller and Wattenbach, he was on best terms
there; besides it was, as he said, very healthy to be reminded
daily in this town of millions that the few people whose
company one cultivated did not constitute the world.
Every one of them might fall from a bridge across the
River Spree, and onwards would rush the stream of life
as if nothing had happened. When daily hurrying past
thousands of people to one's occupation, one only begins
to realise the true proportion of one's dispensability.
Somewhat less politely he had expressed similar views
in an essay on Socialism, in which, willy-nilly, we had to
apply to ourselves the remark that a strong man always
felt steeled and elated when fleeing from the restraint,
tittle-tattle, and the persistent interference of a small
town. He also wrote to Freytag: "The liberty in
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 109
the capital pleases me, and I should not care about
returning to Heidelberg's quarrels and gossip. " Any-
how, he spoke of us as "of his beautiful Heidelberg,"
whereas Leipzig remained for him "the empty-headed
University," meaning thereby, of course, not the professors,
but the disparity between the great University and
the small country. Thus he had grown a proud Berlin
citizen ; but later on he felt how life in a big city affected
his nerves. He complained of the "everlasting haste
which was called life in Berlin," and which, above all,
undermined his wife's health. Even the correspondence
with Freytag stopped, as Berlin made it impossible to
maintain relations as he wished and as they should have
been maintained. This complaint is intelligible, as lectures,
parliamentary sittings, and the editorship of the Prussian
Annuals completely occupied his time. Now and then
the Berlin papers, and especially the Tageblatt, brought
out "details respecting the lectures of Herr v. Treitschke,"
which proved a totally new experience to him and to us.
Treitschke finally saw himself compelled to declare that
this information by no means originated in student circles.
As the big banking firms closed at 6 p. m. he had the
doubtful pleasure of seeing at his evening lectures all
sorts of young business men, of Christian and Hebraic
confession, who, in their spare time, apparently were news-
paper reporters. He declared he was responsible to the
hearers and to the authorities for his lectures; he would
continue to maintain strict silence in regard to the
attempts of the Press to worm information out of him:
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? no TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
this does not imply that he recognised the correctness of
the published information. But details showing him in a
favourable light likewise made their appearance, and,
particularly after his death, many of his former hearers
gave invaluable information in regard to Treitschke's
lectures. Felix Kriiger, for instance, informed the Allge-
meinc Zeitung how greatly Treitschke laid stress on the
point that men make history in opposition to Lamprecht's
view, who held that the history of a nation is not the
history of great men, but that circumstances are deve-
loped by circumstances. According to Kriiger, the
principal thing in the reformation was, for Treitschke,
the peculiarity of the reformers: Ulrich von Hutten,
the people's favourite Junker, whose Muse was Wrath,
or the Rationalist Republican Zwingli, or the aristocratic-
ally-inclined Calvin with his hard and cheerless fanaticism;
and on the other hand Emperor Charles, the reserved
Spaniard of indomitable ambition, pitiless, and in his
innermost heart irreligious; next to him his pedantic
brother, Ferdinand or Maurice of Saxony, this quick
Mussen cat, yet the only one amongst the German Princes
of that time who had political talent. Naturally these
vividly drawn sketches made an impression upon youth.
When causing thereby an amusing effect which gave
rise to loud and lasting hilarity in true student's fashion,
the dark eye of the speaker would unwillingly glance over
the audience, an intimation that he was in deadly
earnest even when dealing out satirical lashes. In his
lectures on politics he also surprised the hearers with
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THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 1n
views which none of them had heard from him at the
College. He pointed out that not logical facts make
history, but passions; feelings are more powerful than
reason. He safeguarded the right of the development
of personalities. "Only a shallow mind can always say
the same. " He sneered at the moralising comtemplation
of history, "the Sunday afternoon preachers on Politics. "
Life is too hard for philanthropic phrases, but those are
not genuine realists who misjudge the reality of moral
forces. All his hearers realised that these lectures acted
like iron baths. We owe to another hearer the descrip-
tion of the impression which the first attempt on the life
of the Kaiser made upon Treitschke. It confirms what
was generally known, that Treitschke never posed, and
on the contrary hated everything theatrical. The in-
formation of the deed of miserable Hodel had come
to hand immediately before the commencement of
Treitschke's lecture. The audience was silent as in a
church; depressed, they gazed in front of them as if a load
oppressed their souls. At last Treitschke entered, but
the usual cheering which greeted his arrival was absent
to-day. A long time he stood there; motionless he
looked at us as if he meant to say: "I realise you feel
the mortification, the disgrace, the horrible disgrace,
inflicted upon us. " Then he tried to speak; we noticed
how agitated and disturbed he was. But the impres-
sions seemed to burst forth so vehemently that he bit
his lips, and deeply sighed as if trying to suppress his
feelings. Then he hastily grasped his handkerchief, and
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? H2 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
overwhelmed by emotion he pressed it to his eyes. I believe
there was not a single one amongst the hearers whose
heart was not thrilled to its innermost depth at this
silent process. Subsequently he found words, and said
he was unable to discuss the wicked deed; it choked him
to do so, and he would continue the history of the Wars
of Liberation. Once more he reviewed the previous
history, and said that there is nothing to purify and
strengthen the souls of young, idealistically inclined human
beings than the fire test of deep patriotic sorrow. He
spoke of the battle of Leipzig, and described the tremen-
dous fight with such vividness, richness of colour, and
fire that everybody, carried away, hung on his lips. And
when in his enthusiastic manner he described the episode
of how the East Prussian Militia, at the head of all others,
stormed the Grimma Gate at Leipzig and drove the
French from the old German town, all anguish had sud-
denly departed. A feeling of relief and exaltation again
seized all our hearts, and the audience gave vent to a loud
ovation for the man who, in spite of his last bitter disap-
pointment, did not tire of keeping alive in us enthusiasm
for our people and our history. The Berlin papers
occupied themselves so extensively with Treitschke that
we, likewise, in Heidelberg were always informed regard-
ing his activity. Especially so long as he frequently spoke
in the Reichstag, and regularly discussed pending
questions in the Prussian Annuals, our mental intercourse
did not slacken. But by reason of the distance we some-
times viewed his standpoint wrongly. Judging by his
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 113
writings in the Annuals, I thought he would be very
pleased with our African acquisitions, but when verbally
discussing it with him he said: "Cameroons? What
are we to do with this sand-box? Let us take Holland;
then we shall have colonies. " Fortunately he failed to
promulgate this view in the Press.
Amongst the most unpleasant duties which the editor-
ship of the Annuals entailed, perhaps the most dis-
agreeable one was to review those questions of the day
on which, to maintain silence, would have been much
more agreeable. Above all, it was the Jewish question
which had become of such pressing nature that, however
painful, in view of the esteem he entertained for his
colleagues, Goldschmidt, Bresslau, and Frenzdorf, and
the recollections of his early friend, Oppenheim, he was
obliged to touch on it. Considering the enormous
agitation organised against him after publication of his
first article in November, 1879, and which only poured
fat into the fire, it must be remembered that he deliber-
ately placed the following sentence in front: "There
can be, among sensible people, no question of a with-
drawal, or even of only an infringement, of the com-
pleted emancipation of the Jews; this would be an
apparent injustice. " His final appeal to the Jews not
to relinquish their religion, but their ambition to occupy
a particular national position, and to become unreservedly
Germans, might be called futile and vague; but it does
not imply a mortification. The complaints which
Treitschke brought before the general notice might have
H
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? H4 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
been discussed more calmly if the Press had not raised
such an outcry against him. Even those who consider
that Treitschke's attitude in this matter did more harm
than good had to admit extenuating circumstances
quite apart from the fact that, after the many frictions
with the Jewish reporters, a final electric discharge
had become inevitable in view of his temperament.
His publicist activity brought him less in contact with
the good qualities of the Israelites than with the Jews
of the Press, amongst whom those of Berlin are not
exactly the most modest, and who, with their system
of Press activity, were in direct opposition to his ideals
of life. He observed, what could escape no attentive
reader of our Press, that all literary publications were
praised or torn to pieces according to whether the author
was reputed to be Philo-Semite or Anti-Semite. "And,"
he says, "how closely this crowd of writers keeps to-
gether, how reliably works this Immortality Assurance
Society, based on the approved commercial principal
of reciprocity, so that each Jewish poetical star receives
on the spot, and without rebate of interest for
delay, the ephemeral praise administered by the news-
papers. " In the presence of the objectionable agitation
of these years, George Eliot, in her last novel, " Daniel
Deronda," reproached Germany with Jewish persecu-
tion, as it was Jewish brains which for the last thirty
years had procured for Germany her position in the
literary world. Treitschke, however, reproached the
Jewish Press for having tried to introduce "the char-
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 115
latanry of the commercial world into literature, and the
jargon of the stock exchange into the sanctuary of our
language. " He put the question: What had the Jewish
brain made of the German language in the sphere of
journalism and literature, in which it reigns supreme?
Of the poets, who at the time contributed to Germany's
literary position, and whose names live, George Eliot
suitably recollected Gutzkow, Freiligrath, Freytag,
Geibel, Monke, Bodenstedt, Claus Groot, Fritz Reuter,
Storm, Fontane, Roguette, Scheffel, Baumbach, Rosegger,
Anzengruber, Ganghoffer, Jenssen, Lingg, Raabe, Put-
litz, Strachwitz, Steiler, Wolff, and many others. There
is not one Jewish brain among them, and most of the
names which the Jewish Press noisily proclaimed upon
their appearance are to-day submerged in the flood
of journalism and completely forgotten. Another con-
sideration of Treitschke referred to the development of
our school system under the completely changed denomi-
national conditions of colleges. Nothing had given him
so much food for reflection as the sentence of his first
essay: "From the East frontier there pours year by
year from the inexhaustible Polish cradle a huge number
of ambitious trouser-selling youths, whose children and
children's children, in time to come, will dominate Ger-
many's stock exchanges and newspapers; the immigra-
tion grows visibly, and more and more seriously the
question imposes itself how we are to amalgamate this
strange population with ours. 'What a crime,' a Jewess
said to me, 'that these Jews give their children a good
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? n6 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
education. '" The exaggerations of Treitschke also, in
this matter, are to be regretted; but the difficulty
still remains that, as the moiety of pupils in the
higher classes of colleges in Berlin were of Jewish per-
suasion, the Christian view of the world must disappear.
Furthermore, the fact must not be lost sight of that the
newspaper reader, in view of Jewish hegemony in the
journalistic world, is apprised of the events of the world
only in the form in which they show to advantage from
the Jewish point of view. We had ample means to
convince ourselves of this on the occasion of colonial
policy, financial reform, and the discussions on the tobacco
monopoly. He also spoke bitingly in regard to the
influence of a commercial world which amasses colossal
fortunes, not by productive labour, but by the exchange
of securities and speculative transactions; and here, at
least, the movement initiated by him has been productive
of good results, as it caused legislation to be enacted.
I, personally, was by ne means pleased at his having
become involved in controversy with such an influential
literary power, and I told him candidly that for me the
question does not exist whether it is an advantage our
having the Jews--Mommsen and Stocker might settle
that. The question to be solved, as far as I was con-
cerned, is: What is our duty since we have them? He
himself had no wish to adopt the practical method em-
ployed by Russia; what, therefore, was to be done? He
was amused at the opinion of one of his acquaintances,
saying the Middle Ages had missed their vocation as,
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 117
according to the principles of that period, the question
might have been settled without subsequent conscience-
pricks. According to him, his teacher, Dahlmann, at
the college, likewise had regretted that the policy of that
Egyptian Pharaoh had not been pursued more effectively.
But when seriously asked his opinion what to do, he was
just as helpless as other people. His only prescription
was gentle restraint, and there even he admitted that in
the present state of affairs this had become impracticable,
as even he himself made exceptions in favour of his
friends. But, as he had no prescription for the solution
of this eminently practical question, not even a tangible
proposal, it was ostensibly an error for a practical poli-
tician to make an enemy for all times of this great power
in Berlin. He lost in life valuable and even Christian
fellow-workers for his own object, and by the sneering tone
of his articles he particularly puzzled the ladies' world.
The public declaration of Mommsen's friends, reproaching
him with having sacrificed tolerance, the great heritage
of Lessing, and inciting youth against the Jews, caused
him deep and lasting pain. The latter reproach was
due to untrue statements having been disseminated by
Christian-Germanic youths.
A Leipzig student called on him to seek his advice as
to whether he and his friends should sign the FSrster
anti-Semitic petition. Treitschke declared he disagreed
with the contents of this petition, and also considered
it wrong for students to be mixed up in legislative ques-
tions. If they were determined to make a manifesto
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? 118 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
they should do so in a more suitable form and remember
to leave undisturbed the academic peace. "After
this conversation," Treitschke himself relates, "I for
weeks heard nothing of the matter, until suddenly, to my
greatest astonishment, through a newspaper notice, I
ascertained the existence of a Leipzig Students' Petition"
(in which a sentence asserted Treitschke had given his
assent to the intended action of anti-Semitic students).
"I at once wrote to that student, reminded him of the
real meaning of our conversation, and demanded the im-
mediate expurgation of that passage. He replied very
repentantly, asked my pardon, assured me that he had
been greatly excited during the conversation, and conse-
quently had quite misunderstood me; he also promised
to have that passage eliminated, which actually was
done. The mendacious reference to Treitschke, how-
ever, caused so much discussion that Treitschke sent to
a member of the Senate a written declaration for trans-
mission to the Rector, and when Mommsen, in a pam-
phlet, repeated the reproach, calling Treitschke the moral
instigator of the Leipzig Students' Petition against the
Jews, Treitschke was obliged to give a public declaration
to demonstrate the history of the incident. Thus the
question had produced academic factions of still greater
animosity than the previous ones, as in this case Jews
were in question. In consequence of this conflict,
Treitschke fell out with his nearest friends, and again he
had the impression he was shunned and tabooed. Never,
theless, he recognised with great respect that Mommsen
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 119
had abruptly turned a deaf ear to the attempts of several
younger Jewish colleagues in their endeavour to take
advantage of his philo-Semitic disposition for their own
benefit. "There the great scientist came again to the
fore. " Mommsen, however, was not conciliatory. He
reproached Treitschke with animosity against Jews, in
consequence of which a true appreciation of Heine in his
literary report was lacking. "Where genius faces us, we
must kneel down and worship," he said, "and it is
Treitschke's doom that he cannot do that. " It was doubtful
to me whether falling down and worshipping was exactly
Mommsen's forte. On the contrary, it seemed to me
worthy of note that Treitschke, in spite of his personal
aversion, recognised in Heine the true voice of romance,
contrary to Victor Hehn, who simply explained the ring
of Goethe's lyrics in Heine's songs, by the talent of imita-
tion akin to the Jew. In these questions, likewise,
Treitschke's judgment, after the long and bitter struggle,
was of lamentable mildness, which I was the last to expect
after the sharp attacks in the Annuals. Although con-
vinced he had merely done his duty, he was deeply hurt
that the great number of friends now had shrunk to a
few anti-Semites, whose adoration he had to share with
Rector Ahlwardt. His was a love-thirsty disposition.
"Du nahst der Welt mit einer Welt voll Liebe
Dein Zauber ist das mutig freie Herz
War's moglich dass sie dir verschlossen bliebe? "
he had written in his youth when deafness broke in upon
him. Similar feelings overcame him now with the
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? 120 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
estrangement of so many who gave his words the cold
shoulder. The feeling against him did not last, but the
consequences of this conflict went further than was
visible at first. The articles on the Jews form a
turning-point in Treitschke's political position, and in his
occupation as publicist, and they were not even without
influence upon his personal comfort.
When these consequences promptly arose, Erdmans-
doerffer reminded me of a saying of Berthold Auerbach,
who had predicted of another anti-Semite: "Like all
Hamans, he will have a bad end. " As the result of the
so-called Mommsen Declaration, bitter dissension arose,
not only between Treitschke and the Jews, but also between
him and the Liberals of both camps. All the more enthu-
siastically the Conservative party gathered round him, and
soon enough we saw him in the ranks of the party which
he had contested during the whole of his life. Formerly
his opinion was: "Christian love is more frequently to
be found amongst the much-abused Incredulous than
amongst the Clergy . . . More and more it will be-
come apparent that churches do not suffice for the
spiritual needs of mature people. " Now his position
demanded that he should view his struggle against
Judaism simultaneously with a struggle for his Church.
"Mommsen," he writes, "passes over the religious
contrast with some indifferent words. I maintain a
different standpoint towards positive Christianity. I
believe that through maturing culture our deeply
religious people will be led back to a purer and more
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 121
vigorous spiritual life, and therefore cannot silently
pass over the invectives of the Jewish Press against
Christianity, but consider them as attacks on the funda-
ments of our morals, as disturbances of the peace of the
country. " The next consequence of this attitude was
that, contrary to his former utterances on undenomina-
tional schools, he now declared denominational schools
as normal, whereas, as late as 1872, he had appealed to
the new Minister of Public Instruction to send Jewish
teachers to those colleges which Herr von Miihler had
declared as being denominational according to observ-
ance. Soon we were as much amazed at the literary
manifestos of our friend as the veterans of Napoleon, who,
after the Concordate, wondered how the "LittleCorporal"
had learned to preach so beautifully. Trietschke's
relations with the orthodox parsons date from this
struggle, and they soon found ways and means to bring
it about that the "great patriot" appeared as speaker
at the meetings arranged by them. It is well known
what struggles Treitschke, in his youth, had with his
father on account of his free-thinking ideals. Nor did
he show at Heidelberg very great predilection for the
clergy; nay, it required patience to endure his ever-
lasting attacks upon the theologians. At the christening
of his second daughter, he drank the health of Grand-
mama in charming fashion: "People always said a good
deal about mothers-in-law, but he could only say the best
of his. " In consequence of my having been blessed
at the same time with a son he had to propose
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? 122 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
another toast, which was well meant, but which ended with,
"Do not let the boy become a parson. " Embarrassed
as I was, I could only reply that up till now my baby
boy had shown no other talent than for preaching
and the touching of feminine hearts. I must, therefore,
reserve his calling for him. These "parsons"--he
never used to call the clergy differently--were in his
eyes a very subordinate class of men, and being what he
was, his disdain seemed more natural than the subse-
quent alliance. He used to display equal aversion to the
Catholic and the Evangelic Church. To his Catholic
wife he said, mockingly, "Thy parsons," and to me,
"Your parsons," considering it at the same time a very
lucky thing that Germany had not become completely
Lutheran. "We should have turned out a nice lot if
you alone had brought us up. " After such antecedents
it was a considerable matter for surprise to find him in
Berlin sitting on the same bench with the parsons of
the Municipal Mission. The struggle against the Jews
characterises the turning-point in his life--nay, it pre-
pared the end of his publicist activity. The man who,
from the very beginning, turned to advantage Treitschke's
Conservative tendencies in Berlin was the President
of the Evangelic Superior Church Council, his Gottingen
master and Heidelberg colleague, Herrmann. He in-
duced him to take side in the Prussian Annuals against
the Berlin Liberal clergy, who had spoiled Herrmann's
game by their attacks upon the apostolicity.
