"For two years the Ultramontanes have wasted
their powder; they have so often conjured up the
names of Nero and Diocletianus that one fails to
see what can still be done after this fanatical clam-
our, beyond a street battle, and this they cannot
risk.
their powder; they have so often conjured up the
names of Nero and Diocletianus that one fails to
see what can still be done after this fanatical clam-
our, beyond a street battle, and this they cannot
risk.
Treitschke - 1914 - His Doctrine of German Destiny
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? 82 Treitschke
naturalization. He considered this a lack of sense
of honour which he could not understand. The
Pole who on all battlefields fought against Russia
was to his mind more respectable, in spite of his
vodka smell.
VI.
From 1871 to 1874 tne Reichstag was by no
means the only arena in which the warrior, pre-
pared at all times, practised his strength, and his
academic opponents occasionally reproached him
with dragging the bad tone of the Reichstag into
the University debates. As a matter of fact, in
those days there was little difference, thanks to the
urbanity of Richter and Liebnecht. Peculiarly
enough, the chief interest of Academicians since
March, 1871 during the time, therefore, when the
most important questions agitated the German
Fatherland hinged upon a quarrel which must be
styled almost childish. Knies and Schenkel were
at daggers drawn, because the former, as Pro-
Rector, occupied the chair in the Economic Com-
mission conducted by Schenkel. The University
statutes clearly conceded this right to the Pro-
Rector, but Schenkel declared that Knies, in that
case, might also undertake the agenda of the
Commission. The reason for Treitschke's pas-
sionate participation in this question was partly
aversion for Schenkel, and partly gratitude for
Knies, who, in Freiburg, as well as in Heidelberg,
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? His Life and Work 83
had urged his appointment. Besides, he highly
appreciated Knies as a scientist, and managed to
intersperse his Reichstag speeches with exhaustive
extracts from Knies's latest book, Money. In the
terms of the statute Knies was absolutely in his
right. When the quarrel came to no end, Jolly
suspended the Commission and entrusted the
Senate with its duties, but the Senate protested.
As negotiations assumed a very unparliamentary
character, the philologist Kochly declared it
beneath his dignity to participate further in the
meetings. A motion was now brought in com-
pelling every "Ordinarius" to take part in the
meetings, and in this way the stupid discussion
continued. The principal seat of terror was the
Philosophic Faculty, and by his drastic speeches
Treitschke more than once drove the Dean to
despair. "He is a firebrand," said Ribbeck. "I
am always trembling when he asks to speak. "
It was, of course, picturesque when the tall, hand-
some man with thundering voice shouted at the
tiny, bespectacled gentlemen in the Senate, "Who-
ever is of a different opinion will have me to deal
with. " But as he had no conception as to how
loudly he spoke, even when intending to whisper a
confidential information into his neighbour's ear,
he often placed his friends in a most awkward
position. One of his confidential cannon-shots
particularly caused lasting damage. When the
natural history scientists, on a certain occasion,
interfered, he shouted to his neighbour, meaning
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? 84 Treitschke
of course to whisper, "What has this to do with
these chemists and dung-drivers? " and the fat
was naturally in the fire. Nobody was more
annoyed at these sallies than his own party, and,
after a similar occurrence, Knies, taking advantage
of his deafness, called after him, " Good-night, old
baby! " He, however, gaily departed, totally
unaware of the feelings which he had aroused even
amongst his friends. It was impossible to exercise
a restraining influence over him. With his tem-
perament, he could not understand why he should
say something different from what he thought. A
friend who, in his opinion, although right, was
unjustly ill-treated and ill-used, would be helped
out by him, whatever the cost.
When, however, in an article in the Prussian
Annuals, he declared that Court Theatres and
University Senates would remain for ever the
classic field for jealous intrigues and childish
quarrels, the contest reverberated in the Chambers
and the Press. The so-called majority broke off
all relations with him, and, in consequence, we
became more intimate than ever. "The outlaws"
was the name he preferably applied to us, and the
round table at Konig's Weinbeer, in Leipzig, was
christened by him as "The Conspirators. " In
reply to my remark that we cared by no means to
be considered outlaws, he said: "I have my
students. " Anyhow, the close relations thus
established among a number of influential col-
leagues was also a gain. We met every evening,
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? His Life and Work 85
one hour after his lectures, at the Museum, where
we drank cheap beer. "It merely costs a little
effort, " he said. The circle consisted of historian
Weber, the three theologians, Gass, Holtzmann,
and myself; further, the botanist, Hofmeister,
with whom Treitschke was on friendly terms while
in Leipzig; Herrmann, the teacher of Canon Law,
where Treitschke was received when still a student
in Gottingen, and who, for his benefit, had learned
the deaf-and-dumb language; and Knies, who, after
occupying the position of Director of the High
School Board and University Inspector, was
degraded to that of Professor at Heidelberg, so that
Hitzig greeted him with the following toast:
"Behold Adam, who now has become one of us! "
The spokesmen were Knies and Bluntschli, who
both defended their one political point of view,
Treitschke keeping as much as possible apart from
the latter. His opinion of Bluntschli, as now con-
firmed in print through his letters to Freytag, was
unjust. Bluntschli's intentions were for the com-
mon weal, but in his opinion it could best be done
through him. The Otez vous gue je mif mette (real
Swiss-German) applied to him in his Faculty as
well as in the Chamber. In vain I tried to prove
to Treitschke that Bluntschli's propensity to
mediation proposals, and his desire to vote always
with the majority, were founded on his peaceable
disposition and his benevolent concern for the
public good. When, however, on a certain occa-
sion, prior to leaving for Edingen by rail, I spoke
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? 86 Treitschke
to him in this strain, he raved to such an extent
that the attention of the people in the waiting-
room was aroused, and I preferred to discontinue
the argument. On such occasions, the misfortune
of his deafness became very marked, for how was
it possible to make complicated circumstances
clear to him by lip-movements and scribbling on
block slips? For good reasons he disliked letters
by post. Although he belonged at that time,
academically, to the Bluntschli party, he attacked,
in his essay of 1871, on Parties and Factions, the
Bluntschli-Rohmer State Law, establishing a
parallel between the State functions and the human
organism. "State science demands thought, not
comparisons," he wrote. "What is the use of
speaking figuratively, which is just as arbitrary
as the old bad habit so favoured by natural philo-
sophers of comparing the State with the human
body? Argument ceases with such fantastic
parables. Analogies are easily found, and with
beautiful words one might describe the King as
the head or the heart, or also as the index, of a
State. " This was not polite language, and must
have annoyed Bluntschli, all the more as Treitsch-
ke, in the language of Goethe, "only tugged at
the discarded serpent's skin," Bluntschli himself
having left that part of the Rohmer philosophy
behind him; and that is why, as far as I know,
he never replied to the attack. Treitschke also
reproached Bluntschli with attempting to count
Luther amongst the Liberals: "He, whose emi-
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? His Life and Work 87
nent mind admirably combines the traits of the
revolutionary stormer of heaven with those of the
devout monk, he who was anything but a Liberal !
Or will our opponents think more of us if we are so
bold as to declare that the true spirit of Chris-
tianity is liberal ? The greatness of Christian faith
lies in its inconceivable and manifold plasticity;
after thousands of years it will, in eternally new,
yet ever identical, forms, elevate humanity when
not even scientists will have anything to say of
Liberalism. " Although sitting at the same round
table there was, speaking philosophically, a cen-
tury between Bluntschli and Treitschke. Treitsch-
ke was a true representative of the historical
school, and not Dahlmann; but Ranke was his
real master. Bluntschli liked to refer to Savigny;
but, in reality, his views of the world, in spite of
Rohmer's symbolism, were culled from the age of
enlightenment .
When, in 1873, Wehrenpfennig remodelled the
Spenersche Zeitung into the semi-official Preussische
Zeitung, Treitschke was offered the salary of ten
thousand thalers for undertaking the editorship of
the journal. This salary was unheard of at that
time. Some friends of his advised him to accept,
saying that his deafness would, in years to come,
impair his functions as teacher, but he told me : "I
am not a journalist; I like to see things developed
so that I can form an opinion. To write a leading
article on the latest telegram, on the spur of the
moment, and to have to contradict it eight days
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? 88 Treitschke
later, I leave to other people. " Wehrenpfennig
tried to make the proposal more acceptable by
informing him that the minister would appoint
him as professor at a fixed salary, consequently
there would be no need to sacrifice his function as
teacher, whilst others would look after the ordin-
ary journalistic work ; only the handling of political
matters and the daily leading article would be his
department. A big salary as professor, and a big
income as editor, would have tempted a good
many; there even were people who declared that it
was Treitschke's duty, impecunious as he was, to
provide thus for his family; but he maintained
that it was contrary to his honour to change his
profession for monetary gain, and we were, natur-
ally, glad that he remained in our midst.
In spite of his refusal to take part in journalism
he played a prominent part in contemporary
politics, and the journals repaid him with interest
for his bold observations in the Prussian Annuals.
Ludwig Ekkard, an Austrian, resident since 1866
at Mannheim, and editor there of a weekly publica-
tion a man of whom the Karlsruhe people
whispered he had, in 1848, in Vienna, hung Latour,
the Minister of War wrote a leading article on
"Treitschke von Cassagnac. " After he had
fallen out with the Jews, a Berlin paper reported
that Treitschke was the descendant of a certain
Isaac Treitschel, who, at the beginning of the
century, had come as a youth from Bohemia to
Saxony selling trousers. A social democratic
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? His Life and Work 89
journal thought Herr von Treitschke was a living
proof of the injustice of present-day Society in-
stitutions, as he was only appointed professor
because his father had been a general. "If we
lived in a State which practises justice, such a
weak-headed creature would never have been
allowed to be a student. " Similar flattering
expressions were showered upon him by the Ultra-
montane journals, which, on account of his mono-
mania, would have liked to have him bundled off
to a lunatic asylum. When shown such a master-
piece, he laughed heartily saying: "One has to put
up with that sort of thing when one is in the public
eye. " He was only angered at the small-minded-
ness of some of his colleagues, who threw stones
at him behind his back merely because he had
stolen a march on them.
It is notorious that Treitschke, after lacking
sympathy with Badenese Liberalism, became its
supporter whilst in Heidelberg; but in Berlin he
again reverted to feelings of contempt for it.
During the years 1867 to 1874, which he spent
amongst us, I could not discern an appreciable
difference in his views. As his parliamentary
speeches and essays in the Annuals amply testify,
he greeted with joy Bismarck's first steps towards
the re-establishment of the Authority of the State
versus the Catholic Church; the abolition of the
Catholic department in the Ministry of Public
Instruction; the penal code against abuse of the
pulpit, and Bismarck's refusal to give way to the
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? 90 Treitschke
new-founded centre. We also thoroughly agreed in
regard to the Muhler administration of ecclesi-
astical affairs. He wrote: "The Universities in
Prussia are going backwards, since fashionable
orthodoxy, with its mistrust, is supreme at Court
against liberty of thought. Here, if anywhere, our
State is in need of a radical reform, i. e. , the con-
version of the conversion of science. " In the last
essay written in Heidelberg he said: "Since the
unhappy days of Friederick Wilhelm IV the school
system in Prussia has been fundamentally mis-
cultivated by a spirit of confessional narrow-
mindedness which exasperates the most patient. "
Consequently nothing astonished us more than
the attitude which he adopted subsequently in
Berlin, towards Stocker and his town mission, even
going so far as to lament Stocker's dismissal from
his position as preacher at the Royal Chapel.
Those who contend that the misunderstanding had
been on our side, are invited to read Treitschke's
publications up to the last week of his stay at
Heidelberg. The views with which he came to us,
and which he defended in Heidelberg in the circle
of friends as well as in the chair, find expression in
the beautiful essay on Liberty, the opening sentence
of which runs as follows : "Everything new created
by the nineteenth century is the work of liberalism.
Particularly in the clerical sphere, this is destined
to continue its labours in order to create at last
true conditions. Does it redound to the honour of
the land of Lessing, " he asks, "that there is no
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? His Life and Work 91
German University which possesses sufficient
courage to admit a David Strauss to its halls?
Those who have any conception of the enormous
extent to which faith in the dogmas of Christian
revelations has disappeared among the younger
generation, must observe with great anxiety how
thoughtlessly, how lazily, nay, how lyingly,
thousands do homage to a lip service which has
become strange to their heart. The lack of vera-
city in the field of religion grows in an alarming
fashion. The philosophers of the eighteenth
century thought that real virtue does not exist
without belief in God and immortality. The
present generation contests this, and declares
point-blank, 'Morality is independent of dogma. * "
He recognizes the immortality in the never-ending
effect of our good as well as of our bad deeds.
"For weak or low characters, the belief in an after
life can equally be a source of immortality, like the
denial of same, for in their anxiety for the hereafter
they often neglect their duties on earth. The
Church has taken no interest whatever in the
great work of the last centuries, and in the deliver-
ance of humanity from one thousand terrors of
unchristian arbitrariness. The defenders of the
Church claim the prerogative to spoil even the
best measure by the incomparable meanness of
their methods. And, according to human estimate,
this symptom will continue. More and more the
moral value of Christianity will be investigated
and developed by laymen, and more and more it
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? 92 Treitschke
will become apparent that churches do not suffice
for the spiritual demands of matured people. "
That this last sentence coincides with the specula-
tions of Richard Rothe, the aesthetic scientist, and
the teaching of the Tubingen School is apparent
from a letter to his Catholic fiancee, written in
1866, in which he says, "Christianity loses nothing
of its greatness if the stupid priest tales of Pagan-
ism are dropped. "
"The New Testament embodies more ideas of
Plato than our clergy is ready to admit. " Under
these circumstances we could count him merely
from a theological point of view amongst the
Liberals, and only in the attitude adopted by
Treitschke towards the contested reforms of
Evangelical and Catholic Church matters we
regained our own convictions. He likewise greeted
Miihler's fall in February, 1872, with joy, al-
though he disapproved of the American Press
tactics, now gaining more and more the upper
hand in the German Press, which heaped with
opprobrium the fallen opponent "he hardly
deserved the title of lion. " Treitschke likewise
demanded the abolition of the Stiehl regulations,
as they acted as a deterrent to many an intelligent
person embracing the career of teacher. Where
Herr von Muhler had ordered that certain colleges
should assume a strictly evangelical character, he
urged Falk to appoint Catholic or Jewish teachers
for those schools, in order to put an end to the
fictitious story that Prussia possessed colleges for
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? His Life and Work 93
specific confessions. During his last term at
Heidelberg he, in a short and decisive fashion, on
December 10, 1873, still approved of the Falk
legislation enacted in May, respecting the re-
strictions of the Catholic Church. " Not a word is
to be found in these laws which is not beneficial
to the Church. " He declares it the most un-
pardonable error of the Conservative party in
Prussia to have entered into an alliance with the
Ultramontanes. The suppression of the Jesuit
Order, which he formerly opposed, now had his
approval. The struggle for civilization was like-
wise, for him, a struggle of liberty against fanati-
cism, and he was convinced that a firm attitude
maintained by the State would lead to victory.
"For two years the Ultramontanes have wasted
their powder; they have so often conjured up the
names of Nero and Diocletianus that one fails to
see what can still be done after this fanatical clam-
our, beyond a street battle, and this they cannot
risk. " Treitschke's practical demands were like-
wise those of the Liberals. "A law for compulsory
civil marriage has become a necessity; after years
of deliberation, it must at last be evident that
facultative civil marriage is based on a miscon-
ception, and does not mitigate, but rather accen-
tuates, the conflict between State and Church.
Furthermore, a special law will have to be enacted
by the State enabling the communities themselves
to look after the Church Funds, should no legally
recognized parson be available ; the State will have
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? 94 Treitschke
to concede to Old Catholics the right to reclaim
their share of the Church property when quitting
the church. After all that has happened, there is
no need to shun the reproach of animosity; we
require a law empowering the arrest of persistently
refractory priests. It will not do to leave religious
orders in their present condition, so uncertain from
a legal point of view, and to allow processions and
pilgrimages to be exposed to molestation and insult
on the part of citizens of different creeds. The
May laws are only the beginning of an energetic
Church policy. " The Baden Liberalism has
never transgressed these demands, and it may
safely be said that Treitschke, while in Heidelberg,
shared in this respect fully the views of his Liberal
friends.
Slowly the change came about while living in
Berlin. Owing to his affliction, social intercourse
was restricted to a few people, and amongst those
it was the new President of the Supreme Ecclesi-
astic Council, Herrmann by name, with whom he
formed a close friendship Herrmann having been
able, better than anybody, to make himself under-
stood by deaf-and-dumb language, and also corre-
sponding with Treitschke. In Heidelberg, before,
Herrmann had raised all sorts of objections to the
Falk Laws, and heated discussions took place
between him and the Minister of Ecclesiastical
Affairs on the endowment of evangelical clergymen,
the abolition of incidental fees, and similar ques-
tions. His opinions on the Falk Church Laws were
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? His Life and Work 95
now so unfavourable that we often had the impres-
sion that he considered himself destined to replace
Falk. In unctuous fashion he invariably reverted
to the statement that as long as the population
fail to realize that ecclesiastical decrees speak the
language of profound respect for religion, every
reform will prove abortive on account of the
people's want of confidence. The aristocratic and
military circles, with whom Treitschke now asso-
ciated more frequently, too, had only one watch-
word: The struggle for civilization must cease.
He expected nothing of the Old Catholic agitation,
and disapproved of the loud applause of the Jewish
Press, which would have better served the cause
by greater reticence. It so came about that we
had gradually to rely less upon his co-operation
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 legisla-
tion 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 civilization 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
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? 96 Treitschke
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 Protestants, the Bishops reign to-day,
and an Ultramontane President is President of the
Reichstag, the old saying characterizing this state
of affairs, viz. , "Every nation has the government
it deserves," is decidedly appropriate. For the
rest, it must be recognized that Treitschke never
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
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? His Life and Work 97
enforce the fulfilment 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 expres-
sion 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, Social-
ism, and its Supporters, met at the round table
of the Museum with no more approval than the
speeches which were its prelude prior to his
departure. Knies thought that the inability to
distribute wealth in accordance 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 realized 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
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? 98 Treitschke
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 discussed.
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 com-
pared 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 class of theologians. The full meaning of
Social Democracy 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
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? His Life and Work 99
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 con-
ducted in such a general way as to make it impos-
sible 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 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 realization of which was, in the nature of
things, out of the question. Although he expressly
pointed out that only false prophets and instiga-
tors could lead the labouring classes to believe that
any social regulation could neutralize the inequal-
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? ioo Treitschke
ity of the human lot, he nevertheless 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 Man-
chester doctrine," and in this sense the warm-
hearted friend of the people acted in the Reichstag.
Equal rights for all, and due care for the economic-
ally 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. Anyhow, the discus-
sions 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 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
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? His Life and Work 101
would presumably still be in the land of the living,
and all the hardships which the trying city atmos-
phere 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 abandon 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 Liberal-
ism 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 prevent this misfortune must not
abstain without good reason. Anyone as firmly
attached to Prussia as I am must not refuse, with-
out good cause, if my services are thought to be of
use. '* In similar fashion he expressed 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
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? 102 Treitschke
against the petulance of Radical criticism. I fully
realise the difficult position in which I shall find
myself in consequence of the predominant 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 limit-
ing 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 impend-
ing departure very much, and when the matter
had become an accomplished fact the following
verses occurred to me during a sleepless night :
"Du gehst wir Konnten Dich nicht halten
Du gehst weil Du gehen musst
Wir lassen Deine Sterne walten
Und bieten Schweigen unserer Brust. "
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? His Life and Work 103
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 recognized
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 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 conditions existed as is proved by the
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? 104 Treitschke
letters of Karoline Herder, and Karoline Schlegel.
When he gaily described in the German History
subsequently the battles of Voss, with Creuzer
on the hot field of Heidelberg, we gratefully
recognized 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
recognized 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
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,"
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? His Life and Work 105
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 forti-
fied 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 realize the
true proportion of one's dispensability. Some-
what 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 the capital
pleases me, and I should not care about returning
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? 82 Treitschke
naturalization. He considered this a lack of sense
of honour which he could not understand. The
Pole who on all battlefields fought against Russia
was to his mind more respectable, in spite of his
vodka smell.
VI.
From 1871 to 1874 tne Reichstag was by no
means the only arena in which the warrior, pre-
pared at all times, practised his strength, and his
academic opponents occasionally reproached him
with dragging the bad tone of the Reichstag into
the University debates. As a matter of fact, in
those days there was little difference, thanks to the
urbanity of Richter and Liebnecht. Peculiarly
enough, the chief interest of Academicians since
March, 1871 during the time, therefore, when the
most important questions agitated the German
Fatherland hinged upon a quarrel which must be
styled almost childish. Knies and Schenkel were
at daggers drawn, because the former, as Pro-
Rector, occupied the chair in the Economic Com-
mission conducted by Schenkel. The University
statutes clearly conceded this right to the Pro-
Rector, but Schenkel declared that Knies, in that
case, might also undertake the agenda of the
Commission. The reason for Treitschke's pas-
sionate participation in this question was partly
aversion for Schenkel, and partly gratitude for
Knies, who, in Freiburg, as well as in Heidelberg,
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? His Life and Work 83
had urged his appointment. Besides, he highly
appreciated Knies as a scientist, and managed to
intersperse his Reichstag speeches with exhaustive
extracts from Knies's latest book, Money. In the
terms of the statute Knies was absolutely in his
right. When the quarrel came to no end, Jolly
suspended the Commission and entrusted the
Senate with its duties, but the Senate protested.
As negotiations assumed a very unparliamentary
character, the philologist Kochly declared it
beneath his dignity to participate further in the
meetings. A motion was now brought in com-
pelling every "Ordinarius" to take part in the
meetings, and in this way the stupid discussion
continued. The principal seat of terror was the
Philosophic Faculty, and by his drastic speeches
Treitschke more than once drove the Dean to
despair. "He is a firebrand," said Ribbeck. "I
am always trembling when he asks to speak. "
It was, of course, picturesque when the tall, hand-
some man with thundering voice shouted at the
tiny, bespectacled gentlemen in the Senate, "Who-
ever is of a different opinion will have me to deal
with. " But as he had no conception as to how
loudly he spoke, even when intending to whisper a
confidential information into his neighbour's ear,
he often placed his friends in a most awkward
position. One of his confidential cannon-shots
particularly caused lasting damage. When the
natural history scientists, on a certain occasion,
interfered, he shouted to his neighbour, meaning
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? 84 Treitschke
of course to whisper, "What has this to do with
these chemists and dung-drivers? " and the fat
was naturally in the fire. Nobody was more
annoyed at these sallies than his own party, and,
after a similar occurrence, Knies, taking advantage
of his deafness, called after him, " Good-night, old
baby! " He, however, gaily departed, totally
unaware of the feelings which he had aroused even
amongst his friends. It was impossible to exercise
a restraining influence over him. With his tem-
perament, he could not understand why he should
say something different from what he thought. A
friend who, in his opinion, although right, was
unjustly ill-treated and ill-used, would be helped
out by him, whatever the cost.
When, however, in an article in the Prussian
Annuals, he declared that Court Theatres and
University Senates would remain for ever the
classic field for jealous intrigues and childish
quarrels, the contest reverberated in the Chambers
and the Press. The so-called majority broke off
all relations with him, and, in consequence, we
became more intimate than ever. "The outlaws"
was the name he preferably applied to us, and the
round table at Konig's Weinbeer, in Leipzig, was
christened by him as "The Conspirators. " In
reply to my remark that we cared by no means to
be considered outlaws, he said: "I have my
students. " Anyhow, the close relations thus
established among a number of influential col-
leagues was also a gain. We met every evening,
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? His Life and Work 85
one hour after his lectures, at the Museum, where
we drank cheap beer. "It merely costs a little
effort, " he said. The circle consisted of historian
Weber, the three theologians, Gass, Holtzmann,
and myself; further, the botanist, Hofmeister,
with whom Treitschke was on friendly terms while
in Leipzig; Herrmann, the teacher of Canon Law,
where Treitschke was received when still a student
in Gottingen, and who, for his benefit, had learned
the deaf-and-dumb language; and Knies, who, after
occupying the position of Director of the High
School Board and University Inspector, was
degraded to that of Professor at Heidelberg, so that
Hitzig greeted him with the following toast:
"Behold Adam, who now has become one of us! "
The spokesmen were Knies and Bluntschli, who
both defended their one political point of view,
Treitschke keeping as much as possible apart from
the latter. His opinion of Bluntschli, as now con-
firmed in print through his letters to Freytag, was
unjust. Bluntschli's intentions were for the com-
mon weal, but in his opinion it could best be done
through him. The Otez vous gue je mif mette (real
Swiss-German) applied to him in his Faculty as
well as in the Chamber. In vain I tried to prove
to Treitschke that Bluntschli's propensity to
mediation proposals, and his desire to vote always
with the majority, were founded on his peaceable
disposition and his benevolent concern for the
public good. When, however, on a certain occa-
sion, prior to leaving for Edingen by rail, I spoke
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? 86 Treitschke
to him in this strain, he raved to such an extent
that the attention of the people in the waiting-
room was aroused, and I preferred to discontinue
the argument. On such occasions, the misfortune
of his deafness became very marked, for how was
it possible to make complicated circumstances
clear to him by lip-movements and scribbling on
block slips? For good reasons he disliked letters
by post. Although he belonged at that time,
academically, to the Bluntschli party, he attacked,
in his essay of 1871, on Parties and Factions, the
Bluntschli-Rohmer State Law, establishing a
parallel between the State functions and the human
organism. "State science demands thought, not
comparisons," he wrote. "What is the use of
speaking figuratively, which is just as arbitrary
as the old bad habit so favoured by natural philo-
sophers of comparing the State with the human
body? Argument ceases with such fantastic
parables. Analogies are easily found, and with
beautiful words one might describe the King as
the head or the heart, or also as the index, of a
State. " This was not polite language, and must
have annoyed Bluntschli, all the more as Treitsch-
ke, in the language of Goethe, "only tugged at
the discarded serpent's skin," Bluntschli himself
having left that part of the Rohmer philosophy
behind him; and that is why, as far as I know,
he never replied to the attack. Treitschke also
reproached Bluntschli with attempting to count
Luther amongst the Liberals: "He, whose emi-
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? His Life and Work 87
nent mind admirably combines the traits of the
revolutionary stormer of heaven with those of the
devout monk, he who was anything but a Liberal !
Or will our opponents think more of us if we are so
bold as to declare that the true spirit of Chris-
tianity is liberal ? The greatness of Christian faith
lies in its inconceivable and manifold plasticity;
after thousands of years it will, in eternally new,
yet ever identical, forms, elevate humanity when
not even scientists will have anything to say of
Liberalism. " Although sitting at the same round
table there was, speaking philosophically, a cen-
tury between Bluntschli and Treitschke. Treitsch-
ke was a true representative of the historical
school, and not Dahlmann; but Ranke was his
real master. Bluntschli liked to refer to Savigny;
but, in reality, his views of the world, in spite of
Rohmer's symbolism, were culled from the age of
enlightenment .
When, in 1873, Wehrenpfennig remodelled the
Spenersche Zeitung into the semi-official Preussische
Zeitung, Treitschke was offered the salary of ten
thousand thalers for undertaking the editorship of
the journal. This salary was unheard of at that
time. Some friends of his advised him to accept,
saying that his deafness would, in years to come,
impair his functions as teacher, but he told me : "I
am not a journalist; I like to see things developed
so that I can form an opinion. To write a leading
article on the latest telegram, on the spur of the
moment, and to have to contradict it eight days
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? 88 Treitschke
later, I leave to other people. " Wehrenpfennig
tried to make the proposal more acceptable by
informing him that the minister would appoint
him as professor at a fixed salary, consequently
there would be no need to sacrifice his function as
teacher, whilst others would look after the ordin-
ary journalistic work ; only the handling of political
matters and the daily leading article would be his
department. A big salary as professor, and a big
income as editor, would have tempted a good
many; there even were people who declared that it
was Treitschke's duty, impecunious as he was, to
provide thus for his family; but he maintained
that it was contrary to his honour to change his
profession for monetary gain, and we were, natur-
ally, glad that he remained in our midst.
In spite of his refusal to take part in journalism
he played a prominent part in contemporary
politics, and the journals repaid him with interest
for his bold observations in the Prussian Annuals.
Ludwig Ekkard, an Austrian, resident since 1866
at Mannheim, and editor there of a weekly publica-
tion a man of whom the Karlsruhe people
whispered he had, in 1848, in Vienna, hung Latour,
the Minister of War wrote a leading article on
"Treitschke von Cassagnac. " After he had
fallen out with the Jews, a Berlin paper reported
that Treitschke was the descendant of a certain
Isaac Treitschel, who, at the beginning of the
century, had come as a youth from Bohemia to
Saxony selling trousers. A social democratic
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? His Life and Work 89
journal thought Herr von Treitschke was a living
proof of the injustice of present-day Society in-
stitutions, as he was only appointed professor
because his father had been a general. "If we
lived in a State which practises justice, such a
weak-headed creature would never have been
allowed to be a student. " Similar flattering
expressions were showered upon him by the Ultra-
montane journals, which, on account of his mono-
mania, would have liked to have him bundled off
to a lunatic asylum. When shown such a master-
piece, he laughed heartily saying: "One has to put
up with that sort of thing when one is in the public
eye. " He was only angered at the small-minded-
ness of some of his colleagues, who threw stones
at him behind his back merely because he had
stolen a march on them.
It is notorious that Treitschke, after lacking
sympathy with Badenese Liberalism, became its
supporter whilst in Heidelberg; but in Berlin he
again reverted to feelings of contempt for it.
During the years 1867 to 1874, which he spent
amongst us, I could not discern an appreciable
difference in his views. As his parliamentary
speeches and essays in the Annuals amply testify,
he greeted with joy Bismarck's first steps towards
the re-establishment of the Authority of the State
versus the Catholic Church; the abolition of the
Catholic department in the Ministry of Public
Instruction; the penal code against abuse of the
pulpit, and Bismarck's refusal to give way to the
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? 90 Treitschke
new-founded centre. We also thoroughly agreed in
regard to the Muhler administration of ecclesi-
astical affairs. He wrote: "The Universities in
Prussia are going backwards, since fashionable
orthodoxy, with its mistrust, is supreme at Court
against liberty of thought. Here, if anywhere, our
State is in need of a radical reform, i. e. , the con-
version of the conversion of science. " In the last
essay written in Heidelberg he said: "Since the
unhappy days of Friederick Wilhelm IV the school
system in Prussia has been fundamentally mis-
cultivated by a spirit of confessional narrow-
mindedness which exasperates the most patient. "
Consequently nothing astonished us more than
the attitude which he adopted subsequently in
Berlin, towards Stocker and his town mission, even
going so far as to lament Stocker's dismissal from
his position as preacher at the Royal Chapel.
Those who contend that the misunderstanding had
been on our side, are invited to read Treitschke's
publications up to the last week of his stay at
Heidelberg. The views with which he came to us,
and which he defended in Heidelberg in the circle
of friends as well as in the chair, find expression in
the beautiful essay on Liberty, the opening sentence
of which runs as follows : "Everything new created
by the nineteenth century is the work of liberalism.
Particularly in the clerical sphere, this is destined
to continue its labours in order to create at last
true conditions. Does it redound to the honour of
the land of Lessing, " he asks, "that there is no
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? His Life and Work 91
German University which possesses sufficient
courage to admit a David Strauss to its halls?
Those who have any conception of the enormous
extent to which faith in the dogmas of Christian
revelations has disappeared among the younger
generation, must observe with great anxiety how
thoughtlessly, how lazily, nay, how lyingly,
thousands do homage to a lip service which has
become strange to their heart. The lack of vera-
city in the field of religion grows in an alarming
fashion. The philosophers of the eighteenth
century thought that real virtue does not exist
without belief in God and immortality. The
present generation contests this, and declares
point-blank, 'Morality is independent of dogma. * "
He recognizes the immortality in the never-ending
effect of our good as well as of our bad deeds.
"For weak or low characters, the belief in an after
life can equally be a source of immortality, like the
denial of same, for in their anxiety for the hereafter
they often neglect their duties on earth. The
Church has taken no interest whatever in the
great work of the last centuries, and in the deliver-
ance of humanity from one thousand terrors of
unchristian arbitrariness. The defenders of the
Church claim the prerogative to spoil even the
best measure by the incomparable meanness of
their methods. And, according to human estimate,
this symptom will continue. More and more the
moral value of Christianity will be investigated
and developed by laymen, and more and more it
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? 92 Treitschke
will become apparent that churches do not suffice
for the spiritual demands of matured people. "
That this last sentence coincides with the specula-
tions of Richard Rothe, the aesthetic scientist, and
the teaching of the Tubingen School is apparent
from a letter to his Catholic fiancee, written in
1866, in which he says, "Christianity loses nothing
of its greatness if the stupid priest tales of Pagan-
ism are dropped. "
"The New Testament embodies more ideas of
Plato than our clergy is ready to admit. " Under
these circumstances we could count him merely
from a theological point of view amongst the
Liberals, and only in the attitude adopted by
Treitschke towards the contested reforms of
Evangelical and Catholic Church matters we
regained our own convictions. He likewise greeted
Miihler's fall in February, 1872, with joy, al-
though he disapproved of the American Press
tactics, now gaining more and more the upper
hand in the German Press, which heaped with
opprobrium the fallen opponent "he hardly
deserved the title of lion. " Treitschke likewise
demanded the abolition of the Stiehl regulations,
as they acted as a deterrent to many an intelligent
person embracing the career of teacher. Where
Herr von Muhler had ordered that certain colleges
should assume a strictly evangelical character, he
urged Falk to appoint Catholic or Jewish teachers
for those schools, in order to put an end to the
fictitious story that Prussia possessed colleges for
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? His Life and Work 93
specific confessions. During his last term at
Heidelberg he, in a short and decisive fashion, on
December 10, 1873, still approved of the Falk
legislation enacted in May, respecting the re-
strictions of the Catholic Church. " Not a word is
to be found in these laws which is not beneficial
to the Church. " He declares it the most un-
pardonable error of the Conservative party in
Prussia to have entered into an alliance with the
Ultramontanes. The suppression of the Jesuit
Order, which he formerly opposed, now had his
approval. The struggle for civilization was like-
wise, for him, a struggle of liberty against fanati-
cism, and he was convinced that a firm attitude
maintained by the State would lead to victory.
"For two years the Ultramontanes have wasted
their powder; they have so often conjured up the
names of Nero and Diocletianus that one fails to
see what can still be done after this fanatical clam-
our, beyond a street battle, and this they cannot
risk. " Treitschke's practical demands were like-
wise those of the Liberals. "A law for compulsory
civil marriage has become a necessity; after years
of deliberation, it must at last be evident that
facultative civil marriage is based on a miscon-
ception, and does not mitigate, but rather accen-
tuates, the conflict between State and Church.
Furthermore, a special law will have to be enacted
by the State enabling the communities themselves
to look after the Church Funds, should no legally
recognized parson be available ; the State will have
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? 94 Treitschke
to concede to Old Catholics the right to reclaim
their share of the Church property when quitting
the church. After all that has happened, there is
no need to shun the reproach of animosity; we
require a law empowering the arrest of persistently
refractory priests. It will not do to leave religious
orders in their present condition, so uncertain from
a legal point of view, and to allow processions and
pilgrimages to be exposed to molestation and insult
on the part of citizens of different creeds. The
May laws are only the beginning of an energetic
Church policy. " The Baden Liberalism has
never transgressed these demands, and it may
safely be said that Treitschke, while in Heidelberg,
shared in this respect fully the views of his Liberal
friends.
Slowly the change came about while living in
Berlin. Owing to his affliction, social intercourse
was restricted to a few people, and amongst those
it was the new President of the Supreme Ecclesi-
astic Council, Herrmann by name, with whom he
formed a close friendship Herrmann having been
able, better than anybody, to make himself under-
stood by deaf-and-dumb language, and also corre-
sponding with Treitschke. In Heidelberg, before,
Herrmann had raised all sorts of objections to the
Falk Laws, and heated discussions took place
between him and the Minister of Ecclesiastical
Affairs on the endowment of evangelical clergymen,
the abolition of incidental fees, and similar ques-
tions. His opinions on the Falk Church Laws were
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? His Life and Work 95
now so unfavourable that we often had the impres-
sion that he considered himself destined to replace
Falk. In unctuous fashion he invariably reverted
to the statement that as long as the population
fail to realize that ecclesiastical decrees speak the
language of profound respect for religion, every
reform will prove abortive on account of the
people's want of confidence. The aristocratic and
military circles, with whom Treitschke now asso-
ciated more frequently, too, had only one watch-
word: The struggle for civilization must cease.
He expected nothing of the Old Catholic agitation,
and disapproved of the loud applause of the Jewish
Press, which would have better served the cause
by greater reticence. It so came about that we
had gradually to rely less upon his co-operation
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 legisla-
tion 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 civilization 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
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? 96 Treitschke
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 Protestants, the Bishops reign to-day,
and an Ultramontane President is President of the
Reichstag, the old saying characterizing this state
of affairs, viz. , "Every nation has the government
it deserves," is decidedly appropriate. For the
rest, it must be recognized that Treitschke never
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
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? His Life and Work 97
enforce the fulfilment 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 expres-
sion 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, Social-
ism, and its Supporters, met at the round table
of the Museum with no more approval than the
speeches which were its prelude prior to his
departure. Knies thought that the inability to
distribute wealth in accordance 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 realized 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
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? 98 Treitschke
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 discussed.
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 com-
pared 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 class of theologians. The full meaning of
Social Democracy 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
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? His Life and Work 99
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 con-
ducted in such a general way as to make it impos-
sible 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 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 realization of which was, in the nature of
things, out of the question. Although he expressly
pointed out that only false prophets and instiga-
tors could lead the labouring classes to believe that
any social regulation could neutralize the inequal-
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? ioo Treitschke
ity of the human lot, he nevertheless 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 Man-
chester doctrine," and in this sense the warm-
hearted friend of the people acted in the Reichstag.
Equal rights for all, and due care for the economic-
ally 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. Anyhow, the discus-
sions 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 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
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? His Life and Work 101
would presumably still be in the land of the living,
and all the hardships which the trying city atmos-
phere 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 abandon 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 Liberal-
ism 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 prevent this misfortune must not
abstain without good reason. Anyone as firmly
attached to Prussia as I am must not refuse, with-
out good cause, if my services are thought to be of
use. '* In similar fashion he expressed 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
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? 102 Treitschke
against the petulance of Radical criticism. I fully
realise the difficult position in which I shall find
myself in consequence of the predominant 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 limit-
ing 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 impend-
ing departure very much, and when the matter
had become an accomplished fact the following
verses occurred to me during a sleepless night :
"Du gehst wir Konnten Dich nicht halten
Du gehst weil Du gehen musst
Wir lassen Deine Sterne walten
Und bieten Schweigen unserer Brust. "
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? His Life and Work 103
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 recognized
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 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 conditions existed as is proved by the
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? 104 Treitschke
letters of Karoline Herder, and Karoline Schlegel.
When he gaily described in the German History
subsequently the battles of Voss, with Creuzer
on the hot field of Heidelberg, we gratefully
recognized 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
recognized 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
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,"
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? His Life and Work 105
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 forti-
fied 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 realize the
true proportion of one's dispensability. Some-
what 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 the capital
pleases me, and I should not care about returning
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