No More Learning

According to my political doctrine even one's good name
is to be sacrificed to the Fatherland, but only to the
Fatherland; and consequently, only when in power, and
when hopes exist of really furthering the State by steps
which the masses consider profligate. I am differently
placed. " He had chosen the right way, and his sacrifice
was not in vain. It must have impressed Bismarck that
even such fanatics of Prussianism as Treitschke did not
pardon the way he dealt with the clear rights of the
country. In those days he permitted negotiations with
President von Unruh, in order to settle the constitutional
conflict. Treitschke's renunciation, tantamount to an
adjournment of his most ardent wishes, is to be praised
all the more as his isolated position in Freiburg would
have determined any other man less brave than himself
to take his departure speedily. The posters and threats
of the Ultramontanes were quite personally directed
against him. Police had to watch his house; for in the
midst of an excited Catholic population he was more
openly exposed to danger than Bluntschli was in Heidel-
berg, with its national tendencies. He smiled, however.
"Beneath the screaming insubordination of the South
German rabble"--so he writes--" there is not sufficient
courage left to even smash a window-pane. " When,
however, the Edelsheim Parliamentary Division, on
June 17th, established that Baden was determined to
stand by Austria, he sent in his resignation. "I cannot
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 29
gamble with my oath," he wrote to Freytag; "that is
to say, I cannot remain official servant in a State of the
Rhine Convention which I, as a patriot, must en-
deavour to damage in every way. I cannot commit
political suicide, and in times like these retire into the
interior of the enemy's country. These are my simple
and telling reasons. " To Gustav Freytag alone he,
however, confessed how difficult this step had been for
him, and on July 4th he wrote as follows: "What made
these weeks particularly trying, and rendered so difficult
my radical decision, I will confess to you, but to you
alone. On June 18th, immediately before my resigna-
tion, I became engaged. " At a moment when an assured
position meant everything to him he departed from his
country without knowing whether he would be able to
gain a footing elsewhere. On the day on which Freiburg
danced with joy on account of the Prussian defeat at
Frautenau, he received information that his resignation
had been accepted. On the following morning, June
29th, he departed by railway for Berlin in search of a
new post. The Freiburg rabble had planned honouring
him with a Dutch Concert, but it was found that he had
already left. More with a view to travelling quickly
--the Badenese lines being blocked by military trains--
than on account of apprehensions of unpleasant en-
counters with soldiers in the railway stations, he travelled
via Strasburg and Lothring. Upon his arrival at
Miinster of Stein the display of black and white flags
taught him the real meaning of the Prussian defeats
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? 30 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
which caused such rejoicing amongst his Freiburg
patrons.
II.
After his exodus to Berlin, our patriot found tem-
porary employment at the Preussische Jakrbucher
(Prussian Annuals), where he was appointed deputy to
Wehrenpfennig, the editor of the journal. "For the
moment of course," he wrote to Freytag, "the guns talk,
and how magnificently they talk. " He also thought
that every Hussar who knocked down a Croat rendered
greater service to his country than all the journalists.
All the same, his aim was to be as useful as possible with
his pen to the cause of the Prussian eagles. He approved
of Bismarck's constitutional plans, but the introduction
of universal suffrage appealed to him as little then as
later on. "I consider universal suffrage in Germany a
crude and frivolous experiment," he wrote. "We are
yet a cultured people, and under no obligation to submit
to the predominant lack of sense. If we once stretch
this point it will, in view of the jealous ambition for
equality prevalent in this century, be almost impossible
to regain it. Of all the Bismarckian actions I am afraid
this is the least beneficial one. For the moment it will
procure for him a gratifying Parliamentary majority;
there is, however, incalculable confusion in store. "
Under his editorship the Preussische Jahrbucher were
distinguished by exceptionally cutting language. After
three months Wehrenpfennig, however, again took up
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 31
his duties, and at the beginning of October, at the house
of his fiancie at Freiburg, the news reached him of his
appointment as Professor for History and Politics at
Kiel. Immediately after the winter term his wedding
took place in Freiburg, and the honeymoon was spent
in the North of Italy, the couple subsequently leaving
for their new home to enjoy a second spring on the
eastern sea. It would have been quite within his power
to obtain an appointment as Professor at Heidelberg.
It was even the wish of the Grand Duke that he should
take the historical subjects in place of Hausser, who was
suffering from an incurable heart disease. Treitschke's
refined sentiment was, however, opposed to introducing
himself as the joyful heir to the dying man, who was his
old master.
When Hausser, amid the peals of the Easter bells
of 1867, closed his worldly account, Treitschke told his
young wife that for him Hausser's death had come a
good many years too soon, and that the departed one
had lost a great chance. To be active during the years
of youth in beautiful Heidelberg, and then, after many
struggles and victories, at the eve of life to march
triumphantly into Berlin must be the finest lot of a
University Professor. Besides, as in consequence of his
recent writings during the war his appointment in a
Small State had become almost impossible, he prepared
for a longer stay in the new home, and on the beautiful
Bay of Kiel enjoyed married bliss. The great crowd of
public functionaries and cultured citizens who thronged
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? 32 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
his lectures proved to him that here also there was useful
work to do. He was very pleased with the Kiel students,
energetic and conscientious as they were. In Gutschmid
and Ribbeck he found true political adherents, but soon
he also began to understand the disposition of the Hol-
steins. At the house of Fraulein Hegewisch, the daughter
of the well-known medical practitioner and patriot, who
pre-eminently belongs to the group of the "Children
of Sorrow," and the "Up ewig Ungedeelten," he made
the personal acquaintance of the leader of the Augusten-
burgs. Friendly relations developed, although he did
not fail to sneer at the Holsteins, who considered them-
selves Normalmenschcn (normal beings). "On one
occasion," Fraulein Hegewisch informed me, " on account
of the crowd, I walked in the footpath of the Heidelberg
high street instead of on the pavement, when behind
me some one shouted, 'Normalmensch, Normalmensch!
Why don't you walk on the pavement like others ? '"
In the letters to Freytag, also, he mentioned a good deal of
Holstein conceit and self-praise, and in course of con-
versation he was inclined to explain the local patriotism
of the Schleswig student by the fact that everybody
knew his Hardevogt who was ready to attest that this
or the other patriot was needy and deserved to be exempt
from paying college contribution. That the rest of the
world was nailed with "normal" planks as far as the
Holsteins were concerned was also one of the obliging
expressions with which he favoured the population. In
the same way his lady friend, when praising the beauty
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 33
of Holstein was usually annoyed by his remark that
there were eight months of winter and four months of
rain in Kiel. When, however, asked by Nokk whether
he would care to return to Baden, he replied: "Not for
all the treasures of India to Freiburg, but willingly to
Heidelberg. " His writings since his departure from
Freiburg had not rendered probable his recall. His
essay "On the Future of the North German Middle
States," written in Berlin, 1866, attempting to prove
that the dynasties of Kurhessen, Hanover, and of his
own Saxony, were "ripe--nay, over-ripe--for merited
destruction," could not serve exactly as a recommenda-
tion for appointment in a Small State. The intention
of the Badenese Government was somewhat paradoxical,
as everything he wrote about Small States and the
Napoleonic crowns applied to Baden as well as to Saxony
and Nassau. And how he had sneered at the poor small
potentates. "Germany," he wrote, "will not perish even
if the Nassau Captain with his gun, his servant, and his
seven bristly fowls should gaily enter the Marxburg
again, the stronghold of the Nassau Realm. Whether
the Frankfurter will be able to call himself in future a
Republican, whether the Duke Bernhard Erich Feund
and Princess Karoline of the older line will again ascend
the throne of their parents, all these are third-rate matters
which fall to the background in face of the question of
the future of the three Middle State Courts of the North. "
He quite realised, he wrote, that the punctilious Coun-
sellor of Court, Goething, would lose faith in his God if
c
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? 34 TRE1TSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
Georgia Augusta were to be deprived of the euphonic
title "The Jewel in th>> Crown of the Welfs," and as
for the Leipzig Professor, the thought is inconceivable
that he should cease to be "a pearl in the lozenged wreath
of Saxony. " The doctrinaire is annoyed and offended
when brutal facts disturb his circle. He cannot approve
of the way Prussia has made use of her needle-guns:
"But picture the scene of King Johann's entry into his
capital, how the Town Council of Dresden, faithful at
all times, receives the destructor of the country with
words of thanks and adoration; how maidens in white
and green, with lozenged wreaths, bow to the stained
and desecrated crown; how another dignitary orders
the foolish songs of particularist poetry to be delivered:
'The Violet blossoms, verdant is again the Lozenge ';
really, the mere thought fills one with disgust; it would
be a spectacle to be likened to grown-ups playing with
toy soldiers and rocking horses. " Even for Germans
with good Prussian sentiments this was somewhat strong
language. In the presence of the Prussian General,
who occupied Dresden, the essay was confiscated by the
Saxon Public Prosecutor, but was released again by
order of the military authorities. Treitschke's father
expressed himself in angry words against his son's pam-
phlet, and in return received an autograph letter from
the King expressing sympathy. It is evident that,
under these circumstances, it was ne easy matter for the
Badenese Court to call the author to Heidelberg. In
the same way as his former articles against the Middle
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 35
States prevented his being present at the wedding of his
favourite second sister--he wished to avoid meeting the
Karlowitz--so did he through this publication stand
in the following year isolated and shunned at the
grave of his father, in addition to almost losing his
appointment to Heidelberg.
When the question of filling Hausser's chair arose for
discussion it caused the opening of negotiations in the
first instance with Sybel, a gentleman who, especially
in our Karlsruhe circle, enjoyed great reputation, and
on his visits even charmed our particularists by his extra-
ordinary amiability. Baumgarten had worked with him
in Munich. Von Weech was his pupil. He was an
intimate friend of Philip Jolly. I was also pleased at
the prospective appointment, for when I spent a few
\ delightful weeks with him and Hermann Grimm on the
Rigi-Scheideck, in 1863, he had rendered me several
literary services, and had so warmly recommended me
to his Karlsruhe friends that I was cordially received
by them. But Sybel, occupying the position which
he did, considered himself, in view of the Parliamentary
quarrel, unjustified in abandoning Prussia. Meanwhile
the agitated waves had somewhat subsided, and Mathy
had never given up the bringing back of his "Max
Piccolomini" to Baden. Only in Heidelberg his im-
pending appointment met with opposition. Hitzig--who
was, later, Pro-Rector--on November 22nd, 1866, after
Kb'niggratz, in a festive speech entitled, "What does
it profit a man to conquer the world if thereby he
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? 36 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
lose his soul? " and expressing unerring confidence in
the return of Barbarossa, and the black-red golden
Kyffhauser magnificence, declared to me at the General
Synod in Karlsruhe that he and his friends would do all
in their power to prevent such an unhappy choice. They
did not want a writer of feuilletons who would make the
giddy Palatines still more superficial. Besides, owing
to his deafness, Treitschke was useless for all academic
functions, which in Heidelberg were of the greatest im-
portance. The actual Pro-Rector, Dr. med. Friedreich,
a Bavarian by birth, was likewise opposed to the appoint-
ment, and later on, after the outbreak of the academic
disputes, declared in a letter to the minister that it was
a matter for regretful doubt whether the mental condi-
tion of Herr von Treitschke could still be considered a
normal one. After long struggles Treitschke was at last
proposed in third place by the Faculty. In the first place,
Pauly was mentioned, in order to teach a lesson to the
Wiirtemberg Government for having transferred him, by
way of punishment, from the University to a Convent
School. In the second place, there was Duncker, and in
the third, Treitschke. In the Senate, Duncker was
placed first, but Jolly did not trouble about this order,
and after Sybel's refusal the choice fell upon Treitschke.
He, however, had now certain points to consider. His
work made him dependent upon the Berlin Archives, the
unrestricted use of which Bismarck had granted him
till the day when he himself became minister; there
he found the greatest possible assistance for his history
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 37
on the Custom Union. "How stupid of the Berliners,"
he told me on a later occasion, "to bury all their acts,
and allow Nebenius to enjoy the fame of being the
founder of the Custom Union. " It would, however,
have been much more difficult to use the Archives in
Berlin from Heidelberg, and he, of course, did not know
how long this favour would be granted to him. The
difficulties in connection with his appointment at Heidel-
berg were not exactly encouraging either, and it could
not be expected of him to display great sympathies
towards Badenese Liberalism, which he had seen at work
in 1866. In a letter to Jolly, he gratefully acknowledged
the sorely-tried noble spirit of the Grand Duke, who had
again stretched out the hand, in spite of his former
sudden resignation from Badenese official service ; but
he made the acceptance of the position dependent upon
the consent of the Prussian Government. In those days
his friends, Mathy, Hofmeister, and Nokk, did their
utmost, personally, to persuade Treitschke, and only
after having received the assurance from Berlin that his
views were appreciated there, that his activity in Baden
for the national cause would be regarded with favour,
and that the King would continue to consider him a
Prussian subject, he accepted the call to Heidelberg.
Having simultaneously received my appointment as
Assistant Professor for the Theological Faculty, we once
more met. As until the last moment I was uncertain
whether the proposal for the creation of this Faculty
would materialise, not even the slightest preparations
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? 38 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
for the winter lectures had been made by me, and, over-
whelmed with work as I now was, I resolved to pay no
visits at all. It was Treitschke who, although older and
"Ordinarius," called on me, the younger and Assistant
Professor. Thus our relations were renewed, and, as
Prussophils and Prussophobes kept more and more
apart, quite naturally we became closer attached to each
other. On November 22nd the Pro-Rector, Dr. med.
Friedreich, at the dinner in honour of the dies aca-
demicus, had, in accordance with custom, to deliver a
speech. The South German Progressive intended avoid-
ing political allusions, and consequently hit upon a
medical comparison of the two newly-appointed gentle-
men with the Siamese Twins, whose nature and history
he exhaustively detailed. The one, the stronger, lifted
the weaker one when disobedient up in the air until he
yielded. The joy and sorrow of the one transmitted
itself to the other one; when one drank wine, the other
felt the effects, etc. Subsequently he spoke of the
relations of the Theological Faculty to medical science,
in view of the fact that it had undeceived orthodoxy;
and finally he drank the health of the new arrivals.
In very touching words Treitschke recalled the memory
of our mutual teacher, Hausser. Whether I liked it
or not, I had to picture myself as the weaker twin, who
often had been lifted by the stronger one, and had
promised to be obedient at all times. In spite of
the peals of laughter with which Friedreich's speech
had been received by the learned circle, the whole thing
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 39
struck me as very insipid. Treitschke, however, was
most highly amused, and for some time after, when
meeting him, his first words used to be, "Well, Twin,
how are we? " Later on he applied the unsavoury
comparison of the doctor to Delbriick and Kamphausen,
which did not please me either.
III.
In Heidelberg, Treitschke did not experience with
the students the difficulties he had complained of in
Freiburg--a proof that the recalcitrant attitude of the
Freiburg Student Corps was, to a great extent, due
to the Ultramontanes and to politicians striving to
reform the German Confederation in union with Austria.
It is true some young students complained to me that
on the first few occasions they were quite unable to hear
what he said, that his delivery was much too rapid, and
that they were irritated by the gurgling noise with which
he from time to time unwittingly drew in his breath.
But when once used to his mannerisms, they all admitted
that his gift of speech, his accuracy of expression, and
elementary force of enthusiasm appealed to them like a
something never before experienced. An enthusiastic
theologian, who died prematurely, applied to him the
following expression from the Gospel of St. John: "Never
before hath a man spoken as this man did "! Treitschke
brought with him to lectures merely a scrap of paper
with the catchwords written on it, so that he should
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? 40 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
not stray from the subject and forget to allude to certain
matters. On one occasion, having left his notes at home,
he told me he had finished, after all, five minutes sooner,
which proved that we all are "creatures of habit. "
What was particularly fascinating in him was the assur-
ance of his manner. He stood erect, with an expression
of cheerfulness on his face, the head thrown back, and
emphasising the salient points by repeatedly nod-
ding. The contents of his lectures were invariably
historical and political. While Ranke completely lost
himself in pictures of the past, Treitschke never for a
moment forgot the present. What he said of Cromwell,
Gustavus Adolphus, and Napoleon always had its refer-
ences to present-day England, Germany, and France.
His examples proved that the taking to pieces of the
sources of information and the looking for originals of
reports, however indispensable this preparatory work
might be, did not complete the functions of the historian.
It was necessary to understand the people whose fate
one intends to relate, and as Treitschke himself said, one
only understands what one loves. All great historians
are at the same time great patriots, and no one is a real
historian who has not exhausted the depth of human
nature, and knows how thoughts originate, and passions
are at work. The historian must display a certain
ingenuity in guessing connections. He must be able to
reply to the great enigmas of life, and must be a poet
who understands how to shape material vigorously. All
this was to be found in this wonderful man, and that is
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 41
why he combined for the young people politics with
philosophy and religion. "Whoever wishes to write
history must have the heart of a lion," says Martin
Luther; and so Treitschke writes: "Only a stout heart,
grasping the meaning of the past of a country like per-
sonally experienced good and evil fortune can truly
write history. " It is not perfection of form only, but
depth of soul which accounts for the greatness of ancient
historians. Who will deny that thereby he portrayed
his own picture ? " The historian must be just, out-
spoken, indifferent to the sensitiveness of the Courts,
and fearless of the hatred, more powerful nowadays, of
the educated rabble ": these were the principles to which
he adhered from his chair. Already, in the first weeks
of his Heidelberg years, when reading a good deal of
Tacitus and Suetonius for my "New Testament
Chronicle," I had a very instructive conversation on this
subject with him. I told him that in view of the strong
antagonistic attitude taken up by the Roman aris-
tocrats, I attached no greater value to their descriptions
of the Caesars than to the descriptions of Frederic the
Great, by Onno Klopp, or to the contributors of the
Frankfurter Zeilung. The pictures of Julius II and
Leo X by Raphael, of Erasmus by Holbein, of Spinola
by Rubens, of Lorenzo Medici by Giorgia Vasari, of old
Charles V and Paul III by Titian, fully confirmed the
descriptions of their biographers; as illustrations they
fitted the text; on the other hand, the statues and busts
of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula gave the lie to
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? 42 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
Tacitus and Suetonius. These marble heads always
appeared to me like a silent and noble, yet convincing,
protest against the calumny of hostile authors, just as
the Philistine bust of Trajan taught me why Tacitus
and Pliny valued him so highly, simply because he did
not prevent others from calumniating the past. Treitschke
differed; Cesare Borgia's handsome features did not
betray his vice; Tacitus, however, was a patriot com-
pletely absorbed in the interests of his people, who knew
no higher aim than the greatness of his country, which
could not be said of the Frankfurter Zeitung. He ad-
mitted that Tacitus had not kept the sine ira et studio
which he promised; but this is not at all the duty of the
J historian. The historian should be capable of both
anger and love--true passion sees clearer than all the
cold-blooded sophists, and only the historian, writing
from a party standpoint, introduces us to the life of the
parties, and really guides us.
*T Treitschke's prestige amongst the students and in
Society was, at that time, even more firmly established
than among the professors. The circle of scholars
affected mostly a disparaging compassion towards the
feuilletonist, who perhaps could write an essay but no
book, and just as the doors of the Berlin Academy
opened to him, only shortly before his death--as he had
not been a scientist, but merely a clever publicist--there
sat in Heidelberg, in judgment over him, not only
students of law and of the Talmud, but green, private
University teachers, so that even now one feels reminded
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 43
of Karl Hildebrand's words: "If to-day Thucydides
were to appear before the public, no doubt a Waitz
Seminarist would forthwith explain to him his lack of
method. " He also realised that a new volume of essays
would not further his scientific reputation; but, he
writes to Freytag, "I am a thousand times more of a
patriot than a professor, and with the real league of
scientists I shall never be on good terms. " As a matter
of fact, Treitschke's chief merit did not lie in the know-
ledge he disseminated, but in the incomparable effect
which his personality and his spirited words produced
on susceptible young students. His motto was: "Ger-
man every fibre. " In reality, however, the fire of his
speech was not due to German but to the Czech blood
which still flowed in his veins. One felt reminded of
what other nations had related regarding the impression
a Bernhard von Clairvaux, an Arnold von Brescia, or a
Johannes Hus had produced upon them. Also the
temperament of our German Chauvinist was not German
but Slav. With all his sunny cheerfulness, he was at
times for hours prone to deep melancholy. Quick to
flare up and as easily appeased, bearing no malice,
inconsiderate in his expressions yet kind in actions,
reserved in his attitude but a good comrade, ready to
assist--there was nothing in him of the German heavy
and mistrustful temperament. He might just as well
have been an Italian or Frenchman, although he had
only bad words for the Latin race. An unfavourable
circumstance was that students crowded to his lectures,
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? 44 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
but instead of subscribing to them merely attended.
"Taking measures in this direction one spoils one's
relations with the young people," he said; "but Hausser
should not have brought them up this way. " It even
turned out that in the absence of the college subscrip-
tions he had relied upon he could not cover his house
expenses; but Jolly stepped in and procured him a
considerable additional salary. In Heidelberg he quickly
felt at home, thanks particularly to his keen love of
nature. After a short stay in another part of the town
he moved into a pleasant flat on the Frlllig Stift, but
although deaf the noise of the main street affected his
nerves. With childish joy he looked at the blooming
lilac-trees in the court, behind which stood a pavilion
bearing an inscription in Greek: "Look for the contents
above," and which Treitschke interpreted as meaning that
liqueurs were kept in the loft by the clergyman who
had constructed it. Later on we moved, almost at the
same time, to the other side of the Neckar River, and
as the inhabitants belonged to a party the nick-
name "The Superfluous-ones" was originated for us.
Treitschke settled on a fairly steep slope of a hill, which
only permitted of an unimportant structure being built.
Furthermore, as the contractor had erected the house
by way of speculation, economy was exercised every-
where, and on one occasion the terrace had to be propped
to prevent its dropping into the valley. But there were
beautiful roses at both sides of the building, and, looking
over old chestnut-trees, which screened the highway,
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 45
one caught a glimpse of the river. It was touching to
see how happy the young husband felt in his new, tiny
home, in which he was most hospitable. He had an
inexhaustible desire to be among human beings, although
he did not hear them.
Conversation with him was most peculiar, as, afraid
to unlearn reading the movements of lips, he did not
like people writing what they wished to convey to him.
He completely abstained from using the hearing-trumpet,
having suffered most terrible pains when everybody
pressed forward to speak into it. Besides, an un-
successful cure in Heidelberg had brought about his
complete deafness. It was soon said that he understood
me best, and consequently I was everywhere placed by
his side. The secret consisted, however, only in my
taking the trouble to place in front the catchword of
what I intended to convey, repeating it by lip-move-
ments until he understood what the conversation was
about, whereupon he easily guessed the rest, my
nodding or shaking the head assisting the suppositions.
All the same, the pencil had to come to the rescue from
time to time. If then, in the hurry, I wrote a word
incorrectly and tried to alter it, he good-naturedly
consoled me by saying that he burned all the bits of
paper; and upon somebody telling him he had been able
to study a complete conversation from the slips of paper
which Treitschke had left on the table, he replied: " This
was still more indecent than if you had been eaves-
dropping. " At times I complained of his supplementing
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? 46 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
my notes a little too freely, whereupon he answered:
"Such stories can only gain by my embellishments. "
The duty of acting as his secretary in the Senate was a
fairly unpleasant one. When a passionate explosion
followed observations which were not to his liking,
everybody looked furiously at me as if I had pushed
burning tinder into the nostrils of the noble steed, and
yet I had only written verbatim what had been said.
For a time, therefore, I allowed many a bone of conten-
tion to drop underneath the table, but soon he found it
out, and after several unpleasant discussions with both
parties, I requested one of the younger men of the opposi-
tion to relieve me of my duties. Only when the gentle-
men had convinced themselves that the result remained
the same was I re-appointed. At that time his finding
fault annoyed me, as my sole object was to avoid a quar-
rel; but later on I realised how justified he was in closely
watching his writers. When for the last time he came
to us, and when, drinking his health, I thanked him from
the bottom of my heart for the happy moments his
presence in my house had given, his neighbour noted
down nothing of my speech beyond attacks against the
capital and the Berlin student, whereupon he most
indignantly reproved my South German prejudice.
Fortunately, his wife, sitting opposite, immediately
reported to him by finger signs, whereupon he at once
cordially raised his glass. To take undue advantage
of his affliction was, however, one of the sins he could
not condone, and one had every reason to be careful
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 47
in this respect. At times curious misunderstandings
happened. When once in the summer the Princess
Wied with her daughter, subsequently Queen of Rou-
mania, passed through Heidelberg, Treitschke was
commanded to be present as guest at dinner "Carmen
Sylva," who already at that time took an active interest
in literature, selected him as table-companion; he,
however, not having understood the seneschal, and think-
ing his fair neighbour a maid-of-honour, entertained
her politely, but persistently addressed her as "Mein
gnadiges Fraulein" (" My dear Miss "). His clever and
sacrificing wife never carried on conversation without
at the same time listening whether he made himself
understood with his neighbours, and, if necessary, rapidly
helped by finger-signs, which she managed like an Italian,
while continuing conversation with her own neighbour
in most charming manner. Her friends knew only too
well how trying this was for her. Fortunately, however,
it usually happened that he remained the centre of
interest, and everybody eagerly listened to his flow of
conversation. When the neighbours forgot their duties
he, visibly depressed, would look at the surrounding chat-
tering crowd, whose words he did not hear, and when,
after a great outburst of laughter, he asked the cause
of the hilarity, we often were at a loss to explain to him
the trivial motive. He himself has poetically described
how since the loss of his sense of hearing nature, like
a snow-clad country, had become wrapped in silence,
and how the happy youth, with aspiring temperament
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? 48 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
perceives a wall between himself and his brothers which
will remain there for ever. To me the most touching of
all his poems is the one in which he relates how he first
became conscious of his deafness after a neglected, but
in itself by no means dangerous, infantine disease (chicken-
pox).
Without this ailment Treitschke would surely have
joined the Army. Some of his relatives highly disap-
proved of his desire to become a private University
teacher, and when inquiring what else there was for
him to do in view of his affliction, a gentleman from Court,
related to him, replied: "Well, why not the stable
career"--a conception regarding the value of teaching
which he never pardoned. Deafness remained the
great sorrow of his life, and through it every enjoyment
was driven away. In a touching moment he complained
on a certain occasion to my wife that he would never hear
the voice of his children. "They must be so sweet
these children's voices. " And he loved children so!
He played and romped about with his grandchildren;
both sides understood each other capitally, and it sounded
strangely when he who heard no note sang to them whilst
they rode on his knee; but they liked it, applauded with
their little hands, and often they came running and
asking: "Grandpa, please sing to us. " His deafness,
however, did not prevent him from travelling. Since
Rudolf Grimm, who had accompanied him to Italy,
openly declared that these duties were too arduous,
the deaf man traversed Europe quite alone. Whilst
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 49
we were often afraid that he, when walking of an evening
in the highway and disappearing in the dark, might be
run over by a carriage coming from behind, as had
happened to him in Berlin, from his inability to hear
it, he calmly travelled about in foreign parts where all
means of communication were exceedingly difficult for
him. With the inauguration of the new shipping service
he travelled to England, "in order to look at this English
crew a little closer. " When returning from Spain, which
his friends had considered particularly risky, he, loudly
laughing, entered their wine-bar, and before having taken
off his coat he started to relate: "Well, now, these
Spaniards! " In the same way he had traversed Holland
and France in order to impress historical localities upon
his memory. Considering the dangers and embarrass-
ments he was exposed to through his lack of hearing,
it will be admitted that unusual courage was necessary
for these journeys, but he undertook them solely in order
to supplement what had escaped him through his deaf-
ness in the tales of others.
The whole historical past of the country being ever pre-
sent before his eyes, he, although deaf, derived more benefit
from his travels than people in full possession of all senses.
Just as when passing the Ehrenberg narrow pass he
regretfully reflected that " Our Maurice " had not caught
Spanish Charles, so he sees, in Bruegge, Charles V in Spanish
attire coming round the corner; in Geneva the oil paint-
ings of Calvin and of his fellow-artists relate to him old
stories; and in Holland the Mynheers and high and mighties
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? 50 TREITSCHKE: HIS LIFE AND WORKS
on every occasion entered into conversation with him.
His clear eyes were of such use to him that they amply
compensated his loss of hearing. But, however strenu-
ously he resisted, his affliction in many ways reacted
upon his general disposition. There was something
touching in the need for help of this clever and handsome
man, and it cannot be denied that his amiability was
partly its cause. We also told him that the world bene-
fited by his retiring disposition, and that he was spared
listening to the many stupidities and coarsenesses which
so often spoilt our good humour. I firmly believe that
being deaf he was able better to concentrate his thoughts,
but the lack of control in hearing himself and hearing
others speak and express themselves had a detrimental
effect upon him. Sound having become practically a
closed chapter to him whilst he was still a student, he
spoke during the whole of his life in the manner of students
and used the language of his student days. When once
suggesting he should come an hour sooner to our daily
meeting-place he greatly shocked the wives of counsellors
present by replying: "Da ist ja kein Schwein da"
(approximately meaning, "There won't be a blooming
soul there. ") When in the presence of several officers
at Leipzig he expressed the opinion that the new Saxon
Hussar uniform was the nearest approach to a monkey's
jacket, he came very near to having to fight a duel.
Quite good-naturedly, without wishing to offend anybody,
he compared the looks of a lady-student to a squashed
bug. In Parliament likewise he was on a certain occasion
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? THE LIFE OF TREITSCHKE 51
unexpectedly called to order because he found it quite
natural to speak of the haughtiness of Deputy Richter
as if it were impossible to offend him. It had to be
considered that not hearing himself he did not hear others
speak, and Messrs Caprivi, Hahnke, Hinzpeter, and
Giissfeld, who during the last years were his favourite
targets for criticism, deserve great praise for putting up
with his epigrams--his bon-mots certainly did not remain
unknown in Berlin. His pulpit expressions also at times
savoured of student slang, so that the worthy fathers of
the University disapprovingly shook their wise heads.
His friends, however, thought he was ex lege because
of his deafness; and he was unique in that on the one
hand he was the best educated, refined gentleman, with
exquisite manners, yet when aroused he discharged a
volley of invective hardly to be expected from such
aristocratic lips; on the other hand, his sociable nature
found the seclusion due to his deafness very oppressive.
At times as a student in Heidelberg he had to endure
periods of most abject melancholy, which, however, his
strong nature always succeeded in conquering.
IV.