Berlin under the New empire: its institutions, inhabitants, industry, monuments, museums, social life, manners, and amusements

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PRINCE BISMARCK IN HIS STl'DV.

Front a Photograph.

Frontispiece.

lB E R L I N

UNDER THE NEW EIMPIRE,

ITS INSTITUTIONS, INHABITANTS, INDUSTRY, MONUMENTS,
MUSEUMS, SOCIAL LIFE, MANNERS,

AND AMUSEMENTS.

liY

HENRY VIZETELLY,

Author of

VWd. STORV OF THE DIAMOND NECKLACE, TOLD IN DETAIL FOR THE FIRST TIME," &C.

' Why are they proud? Because five milliard francs
The richer than from wars of former years ?
Why are they proud ? Again we ask aloud.
Why in the name of patience are they proud? "

Keats' s " Isabella" paraphrased.

ILLUSTRATED WITH
UPIVAKDS OF 400 ENGRAVINGS FROM DESIGNS BV GERMAN ARTISTS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

IINSLEY BROTHERS, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND.

1879.

D n

"The City o£ Intelligence, the Athens of the Spree ! " — The Berlinese.
" The Sand-box of Germany ! " — The Viennese.

" No, I could not trust myself to this Prussia, this bigoted, gaitered hero, so boastful and
gluttonous, with his corporal's cane, which he steeps in holy water before striking with it. I was
sovereignly displeased with this nature — a combination of philosophy, Christianity, and militarism —
this mixture of white beer, mendacity, and Brandenburg sand. I found especially repugnant this
hypocritical Prussia, with its appearance of holiness, this Tartuffe among nations

" Whilst all the others were boasting of how proudly the Prussian eagle soared towards tlie sun,
I prudently kept my eyes fixed upon his claws." — Heinkich Hei.se.

TO

HENRY SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,

IN CORDIAL RECOGNITION OF

THIRTY YEARS OF UNBROKEN FRIENDSHIP,

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.

H. V.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2007 with funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/berlinundernewem01vize

PREFACE.

The following pages are the result of several prolonged visits
paid to Berlin, the first of which took place in the autumn of
the year 1872, at the important epoch of the meeting of the
three Emperors, no doubt, to arrange their respective lines
of action whenever the struggle, already felt to be inevitable,
between Russia and Turkey should survene.

The aim the writer has had in view has been to convey
an accurate idea — in small matters as well as great — of a city
out of the regular highway of continental travel, and which,
as the capital of the new German Empire, is destined to
increase in interest to the other nations of Europe as well as
to exercise a greatly extended influence over the rest of the
Fatherland. There is an old proverb which says, '* Who has
not seen Cologne has never seen Germany," but to-day the
proverb has lost its significance, as it is no longer the city of the
shrines of the Magi, and the eleven thousand martyred virgins,
but the whilom capital of the little Mark of Brandenburg and
the present chief city of the powerful German Empire which
it is necessary a stranger should see. Of the great Germanic
body, Berlin is to-day at once the head and the heart, for
in all that relates to the new Empire, it is Berlin that thinks,
conceives, frames, organizes, and commands.

H. V.

London, August, i87g.

CONTENTS.

I.

EN ROUTE I

II.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF UERLIN 12

III.
ANCIENT BERLIN: NATURAL SELECTION AND NAME 2^

IV.
DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN 32

V.

MODERN BERLIN : CONFORMATION AND CHARACTER 6l

VI.

THE BERLINESE — IN SOCIETY 79

VII.
THE BERLINESE — AT HOME 121

VIII.

" BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT " , 164

IX.

UNTER DEN LINDEN '77

X.

THE THIERGARTEN '95

VIU CONTENTS.

XI.

I-AGB
BERLIN EN f£tE. THE MEETING OF THE EMPERORS 2l8

XII.
THE AUTUMN MILITARY MANUiUVRES. — FLIGHT UF THE EAGLES .... 238

XIII.
WILHELM I., KONIG AND KAISER 248

XIV.
SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN 262

XV.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK 273

XVI.

PRUSSIAN GENERALS— MOLTK.E, WRANGEL, AND ROON 302

XVII.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— HOW RECRUITED AND OFFICERED 31$

XVIII.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— BERLIN BARRACK LIFE, DRILL, AND DISCIPLINE . 336

XIX.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— ORGANIZATION, PAY, UNIFORMS, AND RATIONS . . 350

XX.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— INFANTRY AND CAVALRY 35^

XXI.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY AND TRAIN. — THE ANNUAL

MANa:uvRES 37'

xxir.

WAR SCHOOLS— THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF . . 386

APPENDIX 4^3

NORTH GERMAN ENERGY.

BEELIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE,

\

EN ROUTE.

ADDLE of gold on a scurvy steed —
the quaint past century simile cha-
racterizing the capital of the Mark
of Brandenburg in the midst of a
barren sandy plain — recurred to
one's mind while deliberating where
r to spend an autumn holiday, and
coupled with the then approach-
ing meeting there of a triad of
Emperors, turned the scale in
favour of Berlin.

At this epoch, with the German
troops still in France, and French-
men brooding bitterly over their
uncomfortable reminiscences, the
mere repetition at the ticket place of the Paris Gare de I'Est
of the words "A Berlin," sufficed to attract scores of angry

B

/

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

eyes upon one. Rather more than two years previously one
had heard the too-fimiliar forrnula shouted for the first time
by a mercenary Paris mob. " A Berlin ! " — What scenes those
simple words recall ! A population worked into a paroxysm
of excitement, verging on to madness, by the yells of disguised
police spies ; two battles and two defeats ; the midnight flight
of a sovereign, protected by a faithful escort, from Metz ;
followed by a greater battle and another reverse, more dis-
astrou.^ than all the rest, resulting in the sending of the
mock Caesar into captivity and the overturning of his throne.
Then ensued a period during which a people — deprived of
its armies, its generals, its engines of war, its means of com-
munication, of everything indeed that constitutes the strength
of a state, save patriotism — struggled hopelessly to retrieve its
losses. At last came the end, and France, whose power had
made the nations tremble, found herself humbled to the dust.

Long resident in the soi-disant capital of civilisation, and
a witness of its subjugation by the " barbaric hordes of the
modern Attila," as the angry Parisians used to style the
flaxen-haired, chubby-faced German youth, who for five months
held them in thrall, and when all was over bivouacked so
peaceably around the monumental Arc de I'Etoile, inscribed
over with long lists of assumed German defeats, without so
much as obliterating the name of a single apocryphal one —
long resident in Paris, I had determined upon a short sojourn in
the capital of this new united Germany, which had " issued from
the brain of Count Bismarck, sword in hand, as Minerva came
of old from the brain of Jupiter" — a capital whose destiny the
Prussians fondly dream is to depose Paris from its continental
supremacy, and whose inhabitants complacently describe it as
the City of Intelligence, the Athens of the Spree.

Bradshaw times the di.stance between Paris and Berlin at thirty
hours, but it was my ill-luck to be several days on the road from
the common accident of one's luggage going astray, leading one
to the discovery that La Rochefoucauld might have given a
wider application to his famous apothegm, the amount of amuse-
ment which my fellow-travellers, in common with the railway
officials and hotel waiters, derived from my mishap, proving
that the misfortunes of perfect strangers, quite as much as
those of intimate friends, tend greatly to the gratification of
the rest of mankind.

Day after day was I doomed to remain in odoriferous Cologne,
with the lions of which one had long since been acquainted,
from its marvellous modern mediaevalcathedral, with its gimcrack
shrine of the Magi and its bones of the pseudo i i,ooo virgins, to
the house on the Sternengasse, where Rubens was born, and
Marie de Medicis — whose apotheosis by the ambassador-artist
forms a gallery of itself in the Louvre — died in exile and in misery.

KN' ROUTE.

AT THE FRONTIER.

After spending five days in Cologne and fifty francs in telegrams,
attending the arrival of all the trains, scrutinizing every article
of luggage from the railway vans, and envying the fortunate
possessor of even a

solitary sac-de-miit, "x', ' - ^ "aj^vu^.

my baggage at last > "^

turned up — one port-
manteau with its lock
forced and the other
slit with a sharp knife
to allow of the in-
troduction of a fe-
lonious finger and
thumb, and the filch-
ing of sundry arti-
cles of various degrees
of value from a pair
ofpatent leather boots
to a cake of old brown
Windsor.

Distance certainly
lent enchantment to
the view which I obtained of Cologne as the train rolled over the
huge iron railway bridge across the Rhine on its way to Dusseldorf
— the birthplace, as one remembered, of the poet Heine and the
painter Cornelius — and swept through the Rhine " black
•country," past embranchments with long trains of coal-trucks,
-Steaming away to furnace and factory, past Oberhausen and
Essen, where the gigantic iron and steel foundries of Jacobi and
Krupp are incessantly at work, their forests of tall chimneys
belching forth huge clouds of smoke, which hang in dusky
canopies over the pair of prosperous and begrimed Westphalian
towns. At Essen, which is simply a section of the immense
workman's city, covering the entire coal basin from Dusseldorf
to Dortmund, and numbering its 5000 inhabitants per square
mile, in whichever direction the eyes are turned one invariably
sees heavy locomotives constantly coming and going, and huge
black hillocks of coal heaped up all around, with endless phantom
-chimneys rising like lofty antique obelisks out of the surround-
ing gloom. To the left is an agglomeration of Bab}donian
buildings, surmounted by imposing towers and surrounded by
a wall high and well nigh solid as a rampart.^ This is the
gloomy abode of the true Iron King, Herr Krupp, " the master

^ "Herr Krupp," observes M. Victor Tissot, "is so afraid lest his secret
should be surprised that he surrounds his states with a veritable Great Wall
of China on which this inscription is incessantly repeated in three languages —
^The public are informed that in asking to view the establishment they
expose themselves to a refusal.' "

n 2

ISliRLIN UNDER THE NEW EMl'lRE.

gunner of the age, who has sent more heroes to Hades than any
artillerist of his time." " Prussia's victories," remarks a contem-
plative Frenchman," have been shaped by Herr Krupp; and his
Cyclops have done more for German unity than Bismarck himself.
The military supremacy of the empire is at Essen even more
than at Berlin."

Less than half a century ago the father of Herr Krupp began
business here with a couple of workmen ; five years ago — since
which date it has been largely extended — the establishment
covered 510 acres of ground, more than one-fourth of which was
roofed in, and was connected with three separate lines of railway
by branches nearly twenty miles in length, which, with all their
rolling stock, were the exclusive property of the firm. There
were upwards of 400 furnaces, 250 steam-engines, some of lOOO
horse-power, fifty-one steam-hammers, the odd one, weighing fifty
tons and costing i^ 100,000 to manufacture, and which sounds
like a cannon when at work, being prudently kept employed
day and night so as not to lose for a single moment the interest
of the capital sunk on it, besides forges, lathes and planing,
cutting, shaping, boring, and grinding machines innumerable.
Over 10,000 hands were employed at the works, which, with the
plant and stock, v;ere valued at upwards of a couple of millions
sterling.

Since this period (1871) the value and productive power of
the works have been enormously augmented. In 1874 the
number of hands was increased to 16,000, while 65,000 tons of
steel are produced annually at the establishment. Great stress
is laid on the choice of the raw material — which Herr Krupp
transports from his own mines in Spain on board his own ships, —
and on the proper blending of the composite metal. The
steel produced is very pure, close, fine-grained, and free from
flaws, and its power of resistance is greater than that of Bessemer
steel. Last year, with large orders in course of execution for
Turkey, Egypt, Russia, China, and Spain. Herr Krupp was
nevertheless able to deliver a hundred cannons a week to the
different German artillery depots. His last achievement is a
cannon of fourteen and a half inches bore, carrying a shot
weighing 330 lbs. capable of piercing a plate of solid iron from
twenty to twenty-four inches thick. The Krupp workmen
ordinarily receive from one and a half to two thalers per day.
Wages were lowered at the commencement of the year, but the
men participate in the profits of the establishment. An assurance
fund pays the doctor and provides medicine in cases of sickness,
besides relieving the widow in the event of death. After sixteen
years' service the workman receives an annually increasing allow-
ance from the pension fund, and after twenty years he becomes
entitled to a retiring pension for the rest of his life. Attached
to the establishment are several schools and a hospital founded

EN ROHTE.

by Herr Krupp, who once laboured at Essen himsc!f working
beside his father in the Httle forge still preserved near the chief
entrance to show what industry and energy will lead to.

Less than an hour after leaving Essen one passes Dortmund,
in the heart of the Westphalian coal and iron district, where the
famous Vehmgericht — that powerful secret tribunal which bound
its members by fearful oaths blindly to execute its decrees, and
for a couple of centuries exercised sway throughout the Empire
— had its origin, and where the last of the ancient linden trees
of the Konigshof, under which the Emperor Sigismund himself
was affiliated to the grim fraternity, may still be seen.

Whilst the train stopped for a few minutes at Gutersloh,
where there was the usual ravenous rash at the refreshments,

one seized the opportunity of tasting the sacchariferous brown
bread of the district, the renowned Westphalian pumpernickel,
which traces its whimsical name, as the learned in nomenclatures
pretend, to the " bon pour Nickel" of some French trooper, who
detested the over-rated delicacy, but thought it good enough
for his horse. Here, as elsewhere along the line, one could not
help being struck by the military tone which characterises the
Prussian railway service. Almost all the staff have been soldiers,
and engine-drivers and guards invariably make a point of saluting
the station-master whenever the train enters or leaves the station.
It is perhaps these marks of respect received from their subordi-
nates which render the higher railway officials so brusque and
peremptory towards the travelling public. Apropos of this an
amusing story is told. It appears that, as a train was about
starting from Berlin, an individual rushed along the line of
carriages, shouting, " Herr Miiller ! Herr Miiller ! " when a tra-
veller inconsiderately thrust his head out of the window, and, to
his intense surprise, received a smart slap in the face. Highly

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

indignant he jumped out and sought the station-master, who,
after hstening to his complaint, simply inquired his name.
" Schultze," was the reply. " In that case," rejoined the station-
master, " the matter does not concern you at all ; the gentleman,
inquires for Herr Miiller, and you, Schultze, very unnecessarily
put out your head. Take your seat again instantly, or you'll
be left behind;" and with that he signalled for the train ta
start.

Hemmed in by trees, under which a few lean kine are solemnly
ruminating, one sleepy-looking Westphalian village, with tall tiled
roofs and low church spire, is passed after another, the peasants
mostly abroad in the neighbouring fields gathering in the final

''JrrTR'i'iv

harvests. As the train rushes swiftly by, at one cottage-door
we catch sight of a plump young Gretchen sedately knitting, while
the kittens gambol with her rolling ball of scarlet worsted ; then of
some aged grandsire, embarrassed at having to divide his atten-
tion between little Peterkin squatting at his feet and the faithful
Tray frisking by his side ; and finally of a plump, fair-haired
matron, in red petticoat and black head-dress, who spins and
sings while some future conscript of the new Empire, in the
shape of a merry, chubby-cheeked baby, rolls half-naked in the
dust at her side. We now traverse miles of singularly uninteresting
country, "generating hard-handed, broad-backed, stubborn carles,
whose whole lives are spent in struggling hard to vanquish the
natural infertility of the soil. Enormous plains, of barren aspect,
stretch away to the horizon, northwards and southwards ; every
here and there a row of melancholy trees breaks the monotony
of the landscape ; but other element of the picturesque there is
none."

EN ROUTE.

Here one first encounters that peculiar breed of black and
white cattle, which is met with all the country through almost
up to Berlin, although one looks in vain for the fatted swine
yielding the famed VVestphalian hams. The train, on crossing
the Weser, enters a hilly district, terminating in a narrow defile
known as the Porta Westphalica, on emerging from which we
find ourselves at Minden. The historic battle-field lies north of
the town and westward of the famous " wood-crowned height,"
whereon, according to the poet, the venturesome Eliza stood,
"o'er Minden's plain, spectatress of the fight" at which an
English general, Lord George Sackville, showed the white
feather, and some regiments of English infantry accomplished
what the French commander believed to be impossible — " a
single line breaking through three lines of cavalry, ranked in
order of battle, and tumbling them to ruin."

One broke the journey at Hanover to glance at Herrenhausen,
described by Thackeray as scarcely changed since the unlucky
day when the obese Electress Sophia fell down there in a fit, in
the avenue her own hands had planted, and went the w^ay of all
flesh only a few weeks before the death of Queen Anne paved
the way for the accession of the Brunswick Stuarts to the British
throne. " 1 made it my business," observes Thackeray, " to visit
that ugly cradle in which our Georges were nursed. The old
town of Hanover must look still pretty much as in the time
when George Louis left it. The gardens and pavilions of
Herrenhausen are scarce changed since the day when the stout

old Electress Sophia fell down in her last walk there You

may see at Herrenhausen the very rustic theatre in which the
Platens danced and performed masques and sang before the
Elector and his sons. There are the very same fauns and dryads
of stone still glimmering through the branches — still grinning
and piping their ditties of no tone, as in the days when painted
nymphs hung garlands round them, appeared under their leafy
arcades with gilt crooks guiding rams with gilt horns, descended
from machines in the guise of Diana or Mmerva, and delivered
immense allegorical compliments to the princes returned home
from the campaign."

We found the cradle of the Georges slightly difterent from
what it was when Thackeray was there. The Palace of the
deposed blind King was falling into decay, and the neglected
gardens were subsiding into a wilderness. We threaded their
grass-grown rectangular walks, shut in on both sides by lofty
walls of clipped foliage, crossed the neglected tapis vert, with
its troop of mildewed clumsy high Dutch goddesses sculptured
in emulation of the graceful marble nymphs of Versailles, past
the careless-ordered geometrical parterres to the mouldy-looking
stone basin surrounded by roses, laurels, orange trees and
cypresses, symbolical, it seems to us, of the love-making, fight-

8 BERLIN INDKK '11 IK iNEU' KMl'IRK

ing, marrying and dying of the race of Hanoverian Guelphs.
It is here that \vc found the petty spiral water-works which
George the First used to point out to his guests as something
uncommonly fine, and which when set to play for our delectation
roused up the plump and laz)' gold fish from the bottom of the
slimy turgid pool. An old gardener, smoking a long German
pipe, who showed us over the grounds, drew particular attention
to the orange and cypress trees of which he appeared to take
especial care. Havmg heard that Hanover was by no means
reconciled to its absorption by the Hohenzollerns, ''Das ist
Prcnssen ! " said I to try the old fellow, pointing at the same
time to the ground. "Das ist nicJit Prcnssen" answered he,
stamping his foot violently upon the gravel walk sadly in want of
weeding — " das ist Hannover ! "

The city of Hanover is a dull beautified quiet place and the
province generally presents all the outward appearances of a
sleepy sort of prosperit3^ Its fertile fields, and wooded hills, and
endless sweeps of rolling ground remind one very much of
England, and certain parts more especially of the weald of
Kent. One misses, it is true, the stately homes of the large
landowners and the big thatched barns of the thriving farmers,
still all the homesteads have a comfortable well-to-do air, and
the invariable tidiness of the peasantry about the heels, shows
them to be better off in the matter of shoe leather, not only than
the majority of their brethren in Germany, but likewise in France.

At Brunswick, the city of the fiery Guelphs who resisted the
Emperors of Germany for a couple of centuries, the Altstadt
Rathhaus, a graceful late 13th century Gothic structure un-
equalled throughout Germany, is worth coming all the way to
see. In front of the pillars supporting its rich arcades of per-
forated stone work, stand characteristic life-size statues of
Guelphic princes, all in their habits as they lived. The still
flickering grand-duchy of Brunswick hardly impressed one so
favourably as the recently snuffcd-out kingdom of Hanover,
nevertheless as regards fertility it appeared to be largely in
advance of Prussian Saxony, which the railway enters just as we
catch sight of the mountain chain of the Harz, dominated
by the witch-haunted Brockeii, the traditional scene of the
Walpurgis saturnalia.

Little more than two hours' ride from Brunswick brought us
to Magdeburg on the Elbe, a fortified town of the first class,
which during the Thirty Years' War, after standing a two years'
siege was taken by storm by the Imperialist general Tilly and
burnt to the ground, thirty thousand of its inhabitants, accord-
ing to the Protestant version, being put to the sword or perishing
in the flames. " Since the destruction of Jerusalem and Troy,"
wrote the sanguinary commander of this wholesale butchery,
" there has never been seen such a famous victory."

KN ROUTl'.. 9

In the citadel of Magdebur<^, constructed on an island in the
Elbe, Baron Trenck, the audacious lover of the beautiful and
witty Princess Amelia, youngest sister of Friedrich the Great,
and the " malevolent fairy" of the family, was confined for nine
dreary years, heavily chained to his dungeon walls. Trenck,
a handsome subaltern in his majesty's guards, and aide-de-camp
to the King, had attracted the princess's regards at some ball,
and the result was one of those amorous intrigues such as
German princesses of the epoch v/ere prone to indulge in,
although Carlyle, in the fulness of his hero worship, cavalierly
classes it among the myths. Hints and warnings on the part of
Friedrich having failed to put a stop to the perilous intercourse,
some breach of military discipline furnished him with an excuse
for placing Trenck under arrest, and packing him off to the
fortress of Glatz. " Guard well this knave," wrote he to the
commandant ; but to no avail, for Trenck succeeded in escaping
to Vienna, and an inquiry which followed, elicited that the
Princess had been supplying him liberal!}- with funds. After
some years, spent in one or another northern capital he fell into
Friedrich's clutches at Dantzig, when he was transferred to
Berlin, and afterwards to Magdeburg, where his dungeon in the
Sternschanze forms one of the sights of the place. Lafayette
was at one time a prisoner at Magdeburg, while Carnot, the great
military administrator of the revolutionary epoch, died there in
banishment, —

'• And borrowed from his enemies
Si.x foot of ground to lie upon."

On leaving Magdeburg, the railway crosses a broad sandy
plain stretching for miles on either side of the line, with sand
hills bounding the view. Dispersed over this barren spot were
one or two windmills, while here and there clusters of trees stood
likes oases in the midst of a desert. Then suddenly, by an
unaccountable freak of rtature, the parched soil was succeeded
by a strip of marsh land where long rank grass grew to the very
edge of the line. Then the sandy soil again presented itself
covered with short scorched grass varied at intervals by a field
of stubble and an occasional flock of geese, or dotted by clusters
of pine trees as if only they were sufficiently hardy to grow in
this arid waste.

Altogether nothing can be sadder and more desolate-looking
than this Mark of Brandenburg, through which the little river
Spree winds its way with such inimitable resignation. Well
may Berlin wits pretend that their ancestors would never have
settled in so forbidding a territory had there not been a deplorable
lack of good maps some thousands of years ago. Between Mag-
deburg and Berlin we pa.ss no towns but merely some miserable
cottages grouped here and there around a neglected steeple ; the

lO

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

country, flat and uniform, is broken only by sand-banks and
stunted pines with knotted roots, and casual pools of greenish
water at which cows, lean as those of Pharaoh's dream, are
drinking.^ Little windmills perched on piles of stones rise up
here and there, agitating their sails as moths do their wings,
but not a human being and scarcely a bird meets the eye.
Occasionally a few poppies impart a touch of colour to the
dreary landscape, rendered all the more melancholy-looking by
the lowering grey autumnal sky. Well might the Brandenburg
poet sing : —

" Oh, what a bare and dreary land !
No hill, no vale, only dry sand,
No roses, not an oak !"

After another sandy waste, inducing tiie belief that we are
approaching a seaport town, several beautiful lakes, with fleets of

punts and flocks of swans and wild fowl in the distance, burst
suddenly upon our view. Next we pass a forest of pines, then
another strip of sand and a few villages, and we are at Potsdam,
watered by the Havel and rendered highly picturesque by
extensive plantations which thread alike the valleys and cross
the surrounding hills ; also by vast and beautiful gardens and
elaborate architectural embellishments, for Potsdam counts
almost half a score of palaces. Some involuntary exclamations
of surprise at the pleasing transformation the scenery had under-
gone aroused our weary fellow-travellers, most of whom sensibly
enough had taken refuge In slumber while the train was traversing
the seemingly interminable dreary waste, and heads were at once
eagerly thrust out of windov.' to obtain a glimpse of Potsdam
and its attractions. In another half hour the train stopped at a
small wooden station to which no name was affixed. As every-

i, ' Voyage aux J'oys t/rs Milli.ua's, par M. Victor Tissot.

EN ROUTE.

II

body appeared to be quitting the carriages, I hailed a porter and
demanded if it were Berlin. He seemed as much astonished as
one of his fellows at Cannon Street would be on being asked
how far it was from London, and it was not until he had
thoroughly satisfied himself he was not being joked with that he
replied, "Ja, Ja." This was in 1872, before the vast and hand-
some station near the Potsdamer Thor, where we alighted on the
occasion of subsequent visits to Berlin, was completed.

II.

riRST IiMl'RKSSIONS OF BERLIN.

WITH the platform crowded with lug^aje and merchandize,
and densely packed with strugglinij passengers, it was
hopeless in the prevailing confusion to attempt at securing the
services of any one of the small staff of porters which the Mag-
deburger and Potsdamer Eisenbahn appeared to have in its
employ. Consequently I and the friend by whom I was accom-
panied decided upon driving at once to some hotel and sending
subsequently for our luggage. Descending the flight of wooden
steps leading from the railway platform to the open space in
front of the station, where a file of shabby-looking vehicles —
average specimens of the Berlin droschken — were drawn up,
and running our eyes rapidly along the line, we hailed the most
respectable-looking ; but the unconcerned individual lolling on
the box with a cheap cigar between his teeth — the Berlin cabby
never smokes pipes — responded to our signal with complete dis-
dain. Imagining the " kutscher " of the new Empire, like the

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HERLIN.

13

rest of the natives of tlic fatlierland, to be unduly elevated on
the national stilts, and perhaps more indolent and less civil than
his confreres in other parts of Europe, we opened the door of the
vehicle and threw in our "wraps," a proceeding against which
the driver protested and gesticulated, flinging his arms about
like a semaphore, and winding up by rolling himself off his box,
only, however, to declare that he could not take us. Fancying
he might have a weakness for picking his fares we simply rejoined
by directing him to drive to the Hotel de Rome, but to no
purpose. On trying to secure another vehicle we met with
refusal after refusal, and as the crowd of droschken was rapidly
diminishing we appealed to one
of two tall policemen, in spiked
helmets and with dangling cut-
lasses. He referred us to an aged
military-looking individual who
from his to\\'ering stature might
have been a direct descendant
from one of Friedrich Wilhelm
the First's gigantic guards, and
on whose brass badge the word
2^rofd)fcnbcflclhin(3 could with a
proper amount of patience be
read. From him we received
a metal ticket stamped with a
number, with directions to secure
the droschke with a corresponding
number, the driver of which on
the production of this talisman
made no difficulty in accepting us
as his fare. Subsequently one
learnt that these so-called drosch-
kenbestellung are attached to all the Berlin railway stations,
where vehicles — abundant enough within the city — are usually
lacking whenever a crowded train chances to arrive, leading to
an energetic struggle to secure one of these little tablets the
possession of which alone confers the privilege of being driven
home in a decrepit Berlin droschke.

The next instant we were rumbling in the direction of Unter
den Linden, at once the Boulevards, Rue de Rivoli and Champs
Elysees of Berlin, where are found broad open squares and mili-
tary monuments, the royal palaces and principal public buildings,
the higher class hotels and the most attractive shops, the
dearest restaurants and the more frequented conditoreien, for at
this epoch cafes such as exist in Paris and Vienna were unknown
in the Prussian capital. The vehicle we had secured was drawn by
a miserable-looking horse, old, ill-cared for, lame of his near fore-
leg, and blind of his off eye, while the driver, who by means 01

H

BKRLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

horse cloths and some bits of board had arranged his seat into a
kind of easy chair, was a pecuHarly ill-fa\'oured specimen of
humanity. Putting his physiological defects however aside, one
may remark that his livery of Prussian blue, in common with
all the visible portions of his linen and his face and hands, was
so begrimed with accumulated dirt as to approximate to rusty
iron grey, and that the only thing which gave him an air of
respectability was the big briglit brass escutcheon in front of his
hat, to the polishing of which he had devoted an amount of
time which might liave been more advantageously bestowed on
other portions of his toilet.

Slowly as our decrepit vehicle rumbled along we were soon
crossing the turbid waters of the Landwehr canal, crowded with
barges laden with bricks and fuel, while its banks were lined with
stately-looking houses standing back in small but pleasant gardens.
The day being remarkably warm that empyreumatic odour for
which Berlin is notorious was speedily recognisable. In the height
of summer you are scarcely uithin the city, have barely had time

to catch a glimpse
of its spacious tho-
roughfares, border-
ed by lofty and
often elegant-look-
ing edifices, before
" the rankest com-
pound of villainous
smell that ever
offended nostril "
arises on all sides
and persistently
tracks your steps.
Proceed in which-
ever direction you
will, from theThier-
garten to Fried-
richshain, or from
Mon bijou palace
to the Belle AUi-
ance-platz, along
the frequented Lin-
den Avenue, or the
shunned Konigs-
niauer, before the
palace of the Em-
peror or the Ar-
beitshaus of the poor, in the most elegant as in the most repul-
sive quarters, of the city, it accompanies you everywhere. At
certain times it is more offensive than at others, according as

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF UERLIN.

15

the fetid filth is in sluggish motion or stagnant at the bottom
of the open and inefficiently flushed drains, still the poisonous
gases are for ever mingling with the atmosphere and infecting
the city with their unwholesome fumes.

Passing along the spacious streets and the pleasant green leafy
avenue skirting the Thiergarten — the Hyde Park of Berlin — to
the Linden promenade you discover the sewers to be superficial
instead of subterranean, the roads being bordered on either side
by open drains, a couple of feet deep by a foot and a half broad,
at the bottom of which a thick layer of mire is festering in the
sun or flowing languidly towards the river Spree, a mere glance
at whose waters makes one shudder when one thinks that all the
coffee one will sip and the soup one will swallow will be made
with this repulsive fluid. In the more populous quarters, or
where the streets intersect each other, or the foot-paths are
extremely narrow, or the houses chance to be inhabited by
people with an ordinary keen sense of smell, these gutters have
been partially covered in with stout planks, removable at will,
and more or less rotten with age. They are also frequently
bridged over in face of the principal portes-cochcrcs to admit of
vehicles crossing in security, but with these exceptions the several
hundred miles of Berlin drains are completely exposed, and BerHn
mud larks and baby " bangel " ^ find no end of amusement in
stirring up the liquid impurity, in constructing dams to arrest its
progress, and in swimming fleets of tiny boats with paper sails
upon its oleaginous surface.

In broad day-light sleepy droschke drivers, in turning the street
corners too sharply, occasionally topple the hind wheel of their
vehicles down these gullies' abrupt banks, dragging the forewheel
and sometimes the
horse after it, the
driver ordinarily
getting unseated
and his fare being
possibly precipi-
tated on to the
pavement. It is no
rare thing too for
strangers not hav^-
ingthe fear of these
yawning trenches
continually before
their eyes to slip
suddenly into them
while crossing the road at night, and to be conducted home with
possibly a dislocated ankle. Middle-class Berliners moreover after

KO'i AL CUAKU-HOUSE.

^ The Berlin bangel is equivalent to the London ro i;:,li.

i6

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

making a night of it roll into these drains in the early hours
of the morning, and working men, whom a too liberal imbibition
of '' weissbier mit kiimmel " has rendered unsteady, regularly
tumble into them on their way home and wallow there until day-
break, unless compassionately assisted out by some night watch-
man going his rounds. The late King, whose olfactory
organs never became completely reconciled to the over pungent
odours of his capital, had the happy thought of planting the
borders of these drains with lines of acacias, the delicious scent
from which, when in bloom, sensibly moderates the mephitic
exhalations. Sanitary enthusiasts, with the view of arousing
the authorities to remedy the existing evil, are for ever pro-
phesying the outbreak of some epidemic such as depopulated
the cities of the middle ages ; but, as is commonly the case, their
well-meant warnings fall unheeded on deaf official ears.

Keyond the pestiferous odouns, which during the warm season

of the year render
a residence in the
Prussian capital
the reverse of at-
tractive to individ-
uals with delicate-
ly strung olfactory
nerves, strangers
meet with another
though less serious
inconvenience in
the clouds of sand
which in dry wea-
ther, at the slightest
puff of wind, rise
into the air and
envelope every-
thing they encoun-
ter in their pro-
gress. The Berlin
streets are rarely
watered, because
the companies de-
mand such an ex-
orbitant sum that
the newspapers
pretend the city
might be sprinkled with eau de Cologne for the money — which
could it only be accomplished would certainly have the effect of
moderating its existing noisome odours. Whenever a water-cart
makes its apparition all the juvenile bangel of the neighbourhood
are gambolling in the wake of it. On gusty days these clouds of

L '^^^-^S

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN.

17

sand sail swiftly down the long streets penetrating into the houses
through all the apertures, obliging the double windows to be kept
closed, and blinding and stifling everyone who faces them.
Occasionally a pillar of sand will rise at the Halle Thor on the
southern side of Berlin and whirl down Friedrichs-strasse smother-
ing all it comes in contact with, receiving compensating reinforce-
ments on the road, and passing leisurely out an hour afterwards
on the opposite side of the city, merely however to give place to
a second one already capering at its heels. The Berlin sand
inflames the eyes and irritates the skin like so much pounded
glass, or as Mr. Sala categorically put it, " powders your clothes,
gets down your throat, cracks your lips, excoriates your mucous
membrane, bakes your tongue, irritates your tonsils, and
insinuates itself into your eyes, ears, and nostrils."

Unquestionably one of the first things that strikes a stranger
in Berlin is the large number of people wearing spectacles. A
considerable proportion of the men encountered in the streets
wear glasses of one kind or another, and many women and chil-
dren even have recourse to them. These afiections of the eyes
are possibly attributable to Berlin being situated in the midst
of an immense sandy plain, and to the irritation to the organs
of vision consequent upon the sand being continually in motion.

Berlin enjoys the reputation of being a handsome city. It
counts a perfect host of outdoor statues and monuments, about
half-a-score of palaces, numerous striking public buildings, many
elegant modern private residences, and vast barracks in the
style of stately feudal castles, while even its gas works, which
elsewhere are ordinarily such hideous obiects, assume the form

c

i8

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

DRAGOON BARRACKS NEAR THE HALLE GATE.

of grand gothic round towers. Its churches, however, both

Catholicand Pro-
testant are not
merely insignifi-
cant but fre-
quently hideous,
and both extern-
ally and intern-
ally are but in-
differently cared
for. Berlin is
perhaps the most
mathematically
arranged capital
in all Europe.
Thestraightness,
length, breadth,
and rectangular arrangement of its streets, excepting the tortuous
thoroughfares in the older portions of the city, are proverbial.
These spacious thoroughfares form grand strategetical arteries
designed for the free passage of columns of horse, foot, and
artillery, and the manoeuvering of brigaded masses of men.
In traversing Friedrichs-strasse, several miles long in a direct
line, and with the drawback common to nearly all the Berlin
streets, of being execrably paved, one is reminded of Sydney
Smith's jocular lament that there was an end to everything in
this world excepting Upper Wimpole street, which compared to
Friedrichs-strasse is brevity itself.

Some few Berlin thoroughfares are macadamized, but the
great majority are paved, not, however, after the fashion of
Oxford Street or the Strand, or even the Paris faubourgs, but
with that peculiar pointed kind of stone in favour in the old
continental towns. Indeed, so execrable are the Berlin pavements
that a special shoe has been invented for the horses, while so ill
kept are the macadamized roads that formerly the authorities
used to be constantly having their attention directed by the
newspapers to particular streets where men and cattle sank
ankle deep in the mire. Provided, however, the tax-gatherer
could only manage to pick his way through the mud to collect
the city rates remonstrances were of no avail. In certain
streets there are no footpaths, and even where these conveniences
do border the roadways, instead of broad pavements of flag-
stones or asphalte, there is at most a single row of flags, just
sufficiently wide for one pedestrian to walk on, the space on
either side being either left unpaved or else studded with small
pointed stones of the kidney potato and more angular types —
in other words, just the kind of stones which one is always ready
to fling into the garden of one's neighbour. It must be confessed

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN. 19

however that occasionally they are considerately disposed points
downwards. As the extent of the repairs to the roads and
footways of Berlin is dependent on the amount realised from the
dog-tax, in the old days the stones used to be economically
turned and returned every few years, like a miser's coat, by the
thrifty municipality. Formerly a (cw yards of pavement would
be widened in one street, next time another street would enjoy
this advantage, improvement proceeding so slowly that a Berlin
newspaper calculated it would take several hundred years at the
then rate of progression to provide the entire city with respectable
foot-pavements. Since the influx of the French milliards the
advance has been more rapid, and asphalte has been partially
laid down in the Linden and other inrportant thoroughfares.
Spite of thi.s, the peculiar conformation of most of the existing
stones necessitates heavy double-soled boots being worn in all
seasons by those accustomed to the asphalte of the Paris
boulevards or the flags of Pali-Mall, unless they are content to
traverse Berlin in a sluggish droschke.

It is perhaps to the execrably paved roads and the equaly
abominable footways that one should attribute the extraordinary
development of female feet in this part of Europe, a physio-
logical phenomena which we commend to the attention of our
neighbours out^'e Manche, who, intent as they are on discovering
alike motes and beams in the eyes of their detested rivals, are
likely to make the most of it. The French, while rendering
ample homage to British female beauty, have always contended
that every Englishwoman, no matter how flaxen her hair, how
blue her eyes, or how transparent and roseate her complexion,
has large feet. They have written it in their newspapers,
illustrated it in their comic journals, and declaimed it upon the
stage, and it was with feelings akin to satisfaction that one
observed this remarkable development of the pedal extremities
which characterises the Berlin belles.

In the Prussian capital, scaffoldings and buildings in course
of construction constantly arrest the eye. In the outskirts of
Berlin new quarters are still being laid out, new streets planned,
new houses rising up everywhere. Until quite recently even in
the heart of the city so many new structures were in course of
erection that one was led to imagine the capital of the new
Empire had been handed over to some Prussian Haussmann
to expend a handsome share of the French milliards in its
extension and improvement. The newer thoroughfares undoubt-
edly have the merit of presenting some architectural novelties
in the variety of design which the different edifices, usually in
the Renaissance ftyle, exhibit, and which, while avoiding the
tedious sameness and utter want of taste displayed in our
Tyburnian terraces, are in no degree incongruous with one
another, A principal characteristic of Berlin domestic architec-

C 2

20

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE,

ture of the present day is the elegant overhanging bay windows,
which, springing from the first floor, extend to the uppermost
storey, breaking up the formal line of the long facades at
frequent intervals, as well as ornamenting the principal street
corners. And yet ninety-nine of every hundred of these houses
are merely of stucco. The Berlinese, when enlarging their city,
were ambitious of something grandiose, but found stone too.
costly, so they put up with the imitation. Select any one of
the more pretentious modern Berlin houses, and your first

impression will be
that it is a stately
stone mansion. The
gateways and win-
dows are surmount-
ed and surrounded
with rich carvings ;
sculptured cornices
and friezes run
round the upper
part of the edifice,
and in all proba-
bility a group of
statuary rises above
its summit. Acloser
inspection reveals
the stucco to be
already peeling off
the older walls,
the supposed stone
carvings to be mere
plaster of Paris, and
the groups, Roman
cement ; while in-
side these edifices
there will be any
amount of sham
marble and coun-
terfeit mosaic, with
even imitation car-
peting painted up
the flights of stairs.
One cannot re-
main long in Berlin without being impressed by the abundance
of its out-door statues of a bellicose type. Effigies of military
or mythological heroes embellish the Linden and the Lust-garten,
surmount most of the palaces and public buildings, crown the
Brandenburg-gate, grace the entrance to the old Schloss and
adorn its courts, scale the steps of the Museum, flank the classic

MiLITAKY MONUMENT IN THE INVALIDEN PARK.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN.

21

guard-house and the opera, face the king's theatre, line the more
important bridges, crowd most of the open spaces, and guard the
sites of the more ancient city gates, while figures of saints receive
you beneath the portico of the Cathedral and survey Berlin from
several of its church steeples. In the same way busts of the
Emperor, the Prince Imperial and Bismarck decorate all the
theatres, tanz-sale, bier-hallen, and restaurants. A perfect forest of
flag-staffs dominates the Berlin edifices and the Prussian spread-
eagle soars in all directions. You encounter it perched on the top
of marble and metal columns, hovering over palaces and public
buildings, fixed above the doors of postal and police offices,
and distending
its wings on the
spiked helmets
of soldiers and
policemen, and
the hats of the
post- van drivers.
If one's ears
are assailed with
less drumming
and trumpeting
in Imperial Ber-
lin than used to
be the rule in
Imperial Paris,
there is certainly
as much, if not
more, marching

of troops and dragging of cannon through the principal thorough-
fares, as manoeuvres in which infantry, cavalry, and artillery alike
take part, are performed early every morning in some open sandy
space outside the city. Officers in droschken or on foot throng
the Linden throughout the day, requiring sentinels to be con-
stantly on the alert that they may not neglect to salute them ;
and under the lime-tree avenues helmetted aides-de-camp and
smart-looking orderlies are trotting to and fro from morn till
night. The military element so far preponderates that at many
restaurants more officers than civilians are encountered. They
crowd the opera, throng most places of public resort, sweep the
pavement of the Linden, the flags of which resound with

" — their sabres' cursed clank ;
Their spurs are jingling everywhere ! "

If at Berlin the martial propensity of the nation is constantly
present, its system of universal education is not the less so, for
although the gown timidly gives place to the sword, schoolmaster
and drill-sergeant as a rule go hand in hand. In the morning,

22

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

from seven until nine the streets are positively thronged with
children of both sexes and all ages and conditions, their satchels on
their backs or their rolls of music and such-like matters in their

hands, not creeping

^^jILi I ' ! '^(L I'^^c snails unwill

HI lUT li pS^ ingly. but hurrying

^HII [|— jpn;|ljp||n|;ug|gj|3mjCT I ^^ cheerfully to school.

One thing sur-
prises a foreigner.
In the majority of
Berlin streets he
finds all the cellars
either inhabited by
the poorer classes
or else converted
into convivial cav-
erns such as bier-
locale and the like,
or occupied by the
smaller tradespeo-
ple, notably milk-
men, buttermen,
bakers, grocers, pork-butchers, and shoemakers, and even
crockery and furniture dealers. In the suburbs moreover you
have often to dive down into a cellar to get your hair cut, or
provide yourself with a pair of gloves. Apropos of the Berlin
grocers, petroleum would appear to be their leading article, if one
may judge by the size of the letters in which the name of the
combustible is in-
scribed on their shops,
and the continual re-
currence of which
would certainly make
a Par's communard's
mouth water if he
only dared trust
himself inside Berlin.
W^ith reference to the
subterranean pork-
butchers a joke is
current to the effect '
that late one night
some newly-arrived
foreigner of over
lively imagination on hearing subdued guttural sounds proceeding
from these profound depths instantly concluded murder was being
committed, and excitedly appealed to a passing watchman to
hasten to the rescue. " Calm yourself, incin herr," replied the

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN.

23

guardian of the night, whose practical ear detected the origin of
the shrieks which had so alarmed the stranger ; "it's only the
fieischer kilHng a pig ready for the morning."

Although Berlin possesses no precise equivalent to the London
public-house or the Paris marcJiand de vins, still every fourth
house in the more populous districts either dispenses some
kind of intoxicating liquor, is a bier-local, a wein-stube, a rum-
fabrik, or a distillation establishment, or else sells tobacco and
cigars. Inscriptions such as "Bier und friihstiicks local," "AUe
sorten biere und brantwein," " Tabak and cigarren fabrik," and
"Distillation," meet the eye at every turn. The duty on all kinds of
tobacco being exceedingly trifling, cigars of a certain quality
may be purchased six for a penny, consequently pipes are rarely
smoked even by the

very poorest class. At •■ ^- '-^ "^ '"'^

night-time the number
of red lamps seen in all
quarters of the Prussian
capital is something
remarkable, and the
stranger curious as to
their object soon dis-
covers that the red
light which in Paris
indicates 'bacco, at
Berlin signalizes beer.
If beer is abundant
here, beef and mutton
scarcely are so, for it
is only the early comers
at the popular restaur-
ants who have the smal-
lest chance of securing
them. Things, however,
have improved of late,
for formerly one might

have scoured Berlin through without discovering so much as a
.single sheep or a solitary side of beef in any one of its butchers'
shops. The Berlin flcischcr of the old school have a fancy for
decorating their establishments with trailing ivy in pots, though
what the connection can be between the ivy green and butcher's
meat one is at a loss to divine. Fine fruit is remarkably rare and
correspondingly dear at Berlin ; flowers, however, are plentiful
enough, and florists' shops thrice as common in the Prussian as m
the French capital, the inhabitants of which have, as we all know, a
mania for bouquets. From the moment a Parisienne is engaged to
be married, \\^x fiance is bound to present her with a floral tribute
daily until the wedding takes place. No sooner, however, is this

24

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

accomplished than the husband hastens to carry his floral offerings
elsewhere. The arrangement of the Berlin bouquets is formal
but tasteful, flowers of one kind and colour being disposed in
circles or other strictly mathematical figures after a fashion that
seems peculiar to Germany.

The greater business activity developed at Berlin since the war
with France, has changed the aspect of its street traffic, which is
no longer limited mainly to droschken, omnibuses, beer drays,
primitive country waggons having one horse between the shafts,
and another j'oked by its side, and diminutive carts drawn by
dogs. It is true that even to day huge piled up vans and

ponderous waggons of the London
type are never by any chance seen,
still the numerous heavily laden rail-
way trucks encountered in the mer-
cantile quarters of the city show the
immense impetus which Berlin trade
has of late received. Beer drays of
remarkable length adapted to being
horsed at either end, owing to the
impossibiUty of their turning, and
carrying nearly half a hundred casks
are familiar objects in Berlin thorough-
fares, as are also carts laden with ice
for cooling the national beverage. As
the post conveys not merely letters,
but bulky packages and heavy cases
as well, and is in fact a kind of Pick-
ford and Parcels Delivery Company,
post-office vans are exceedingly
numerous in the Berlin streets, where
dog-carts for transporting milk, fish,
and vegetables may be counted by
thousands. Private carriages, on the
other hand, are a perfect novelty even
in the most fashionable Berlin thoroughfares.

After the recent war the Berlinese in a disdainful way affected to
discard everything P^rench, and the newspapers to keep them from
backsliding, periodically opened campaigns against Gallicisms
in ideas or language. Certain patriotic restaurateurs, whose
establishments of a higher grade than ordinary are commonly
resorted to by strangers, abandoned the practice of print-
ing their viemis in the cosmopolitan language of France,
much to the embarrassment of the general run of foreigners
who failed to recognise Hors dcenvrcs in QJorcJTcn^ Legumes in
©fiiuilc, Entries in gjJittrlcJTcn, Roii in JBratfii and Dessert in
9?acfttifc(). Spite of these puerile attempts at the suppression of
PVench phrases, Paris fashion still exercises sway over the

LOTTERY TICKET OKFICK.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BERLIN.

25

women of Berlin ; French inscriptions too surmount many of the
shops, Parisian nonveanth being always prominently ticketed ;
bad French wines with pretentious labels have moreover usurped
the place of native vintages, photographs of French actresses
and Bois de Boulogne anonynias are as common in the print-
sellers as French novels are in the booksellers' windows,
French dancers likewise star it in the ballets, and French pikes
a grand spectacle run their hundreds of nights at the popular
theatres.

At Berlin, where huge posting bills are unknown, no enterpris-
ing Prussian Willing has utilised either the dead-walls, hoardings,
omnibuses, railway carriages, or stations for advertising purposes.
Announcements
of all kinds are
restricted to the
newspapers, or
to the dumpy
Litfass columns
dotted over the
central avenue of
the Linden and
scattered about a
few other prin-
cipal thorough-
fares, and which
though they are
placarded almost
exclusively with
programmes of
the theatres, and
other places of
amusement, will
commonly attract
a ragged group
around them, in
the early part of
the day. Publi-
city is given to

lotteries, the curse of the new Empire, chiefly by placards
exhibited in the shop windows, where thousands of tickets are
exposed for sale, and invariably at a premium, such is the mania
for speculation among the Berlinese.

Berlin with all its misery has nothing approaching to our
London rookeries, the poor are huddled densely together, as in
other large cities, but out of sight and generally under-ground.
The prim street fronts of thousands of houses also conceal no
end of wretchedness within the court at the rear, thus accounting
for the absence of any such dreadful squalor as is visible

26

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

in our own metropolis. Berlin moreover is free from the plague
of street cries, beggars, German bands, Italian pifferari, conjurors,
and acrobats. Street stalls and hawkers' barrows are equally
prohibited. The few organ-grinders only venture to ply their
calling by stealth, in the more retired neighbourhoods. Even
Punch and Judy appear not to be tolerated in the capital of the new
Empire, where moreover all the dogs are scientifically muzzled
not merely during the hot weather but throughout the year, and,
strange to say, the droschken-kutsclier as a rule is neither
extortionate nor uncivil.

EAKLY SETTLERS IN THE MARK

III.

I

ANCIENT BERLIN : NATURAL SELECTION AND NAME.

The Mark of Brandenburg — at the time when German swords
and German sagacity sought to wrest it from the heathenish
Wends who had emigrated here from the east — presented a
series of dreary flats partly covered with shifting sand and heath
and partly with forests, which, excepting some oaks and a fevv
other deciduous trees, were exclusively composed of the
indigenous pine. The underwood formed dense thickets through
which the axe only made a way with difficulty. Solitary gigantic
blocks of granite carried thither in ages long past by the waves
of the sea, lay scattered over the vast expanse, and were the sole
stone to be found there. Broader than ever the rivers traversed
the land, expanding for long stretches into lakes, or confined by
extensive swamps, almost bottomless and hidden beneath a
layer of turf and marsh plants. This configuration of the soil
offered the greatest difficulties alike to military operations and
commercial intercourse, confining them, as in a greater degree in
mountainous countries, to a small number of passes of which the
most important crossed the Spree at the very point where the
oldest existing parts of Berlin are situated. On the right bank
where the ancient mill-dam crosses the river, there was a pointed

28 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

tongue of land which narrowed the bed of the stream ; on the
other bank was a low hill, surrounded by a narrow arm of the
Spree, and thus turned into an island. Between Kopnick and
bpandau, two well-known ancient Wendish settlements, this was
the only point at which the passage was not prevented by lake,
marsh, and thicket. It is therefore probable that partly with a
view to the protection of this important passage and partly
through the traffic created by it, settlements existed here at a
very early period.

The most ancient part of Berlin, occupying the high ground
between two arms of the Spree, was a favourable point for a
settlement of fishers. Certain slight eminences on the banks of
the river in front of it admitted of the inhabitants building watch
towers, and erecting defensive works ; the locality, moreover,
furnished capital sites for water-mills, while the narrowness of
the stream at this point facilitated the construction of bridges
and the establishment of ferries. The situation, comparable in
a measure to the Paris Cite, was therefore altogether an excellent
one for an important fisher community, and although Berlin is
first mentioned in history towards the beginning of the twelfth
century, it is probable that its origin dates from the earliest
peopling of the surrounding country.

Still the little fishing hamlet would not have been in the least
degree better off than a score of other localities of North
Germany had it been merely a simple ferry easy to defend ;
— had it possessed no other natural advantages it would never
have filled an important historical role. But Berlin is situated
almost in the exact centre of the region circumscribed by the
Elbe and the Oder, and of the lakes and rivers connected with
those two great watercourses ; and thus it has become the
natural entrepot of the various commodities produced within this
extensive area. It is true that neither the Spree nor the Havel
are imposing streams, still they have the requisite advantages of
being both deep and navigable.

At the close of the thirteenth century, Berlin — at that time a
Republic and the rallying-point of a veritable federation — had
already become the principal town of the Mark of Brandenburg,
and here mo.st of the popular assemblies were held. Raised in the
middle of the fifteenth century to the dignity of a capital, it
increased little by little its circle of action, and profited by the
geographical advantages of a vaster region. It then became
evident that not only was Berlin the great commercial station
between the Oder and the Elbe, between Magdeburg and
Erankfurt-on-the-Oder, but that it was also the centre of gravity
between the basins of these two rivers — and that the commercial
movement of the two regions could there be best centralized.
According to the ingenious comparison of J. G. Kohl, Berlin
has disposed its system between the Elbe and the Oder in much

ANCIENT BERLIN. 29

the same fashion as a spider would spin its web between two
trees. From the great market of the Upper Oder to the most
important city of the Upper Elbe, — that is to say, from Breslau to
Hamburg — the natural route is by Berlin, as is also that leading
from Leipzig to Stettin. Further, Berlin is situated precisely
midway between both of these routes, and is also equidistant
from the Rhine and the Vistula, from the Dutch and the Russian
frontiers. Moreover, by a remarkable coincidence, the commercial
line from the Oder to the Elbe is precisely that valley which
geologists recognize as having been in prehistoric times the
great fluvial bed of Northern Germany. Formerly, the Oder on
reaching the spot where Frankfurt now exists did not suddenly
turn to the right and throw itself into the Baltic, but continued
its course towards the north-west, and uniting with the Elbe,
became a tributary of the North Sea. The immense river,
upwards of 600 miles in length, passed precisely by the spot
where Berlin rises to-day — towards the centre of the ancient
valley. The Spree, bordered by marshes, flows still in the bed
of the powerful watercourse, "a dwarf that has slid into a
giant's armour." The isthmus separating it from the actual
course of the Oder is very narrow and the old connection could
be easily re-established by a canal.

Favourably situated with regard to the rivers of North
Germany and their basins, Berlin is equally well located in
reference to the seas which wash the northern shores of the new
Empire. While belonging by the direction of the Elbe course
to that region of Germany which is bathed by the North Sea,
it should be borne in mind that Berlin communicates equally
freely with Hamburg, the great Elbe port, as with Stettin, the
most important emporium of the mouth of the Oder, and that
it commands at once both coasts. Better than any other city it
can influence and survey the commercial operations which are
carried on between the ports of Embden and Cuxhaven, and
from Kiel to Konigsberg and Memel. To employ a military
comparison, the city may be likened to a general occupying a
commanding position behind his army and directing its manoeu-
vres. West, east, south — in all parts of the immense plain,
stretching from the mouths of the Ems to the waters of the
Niemen, the cities of Germany occupy commercially — as well
as politically and militarily — the same subordinate position in
regard to the central city which watches over and governs them.
Through its network of converging canals and railways, Berlin
increases daily its power of attraction, the recent conquests of
Prussia largely precipitating the movement of this immense
suction pump in the plains of Brandenburg.^

A crowd of immigrants of all kinds, workers and idlers, rich

^ Die Ceog7'aphische Lage der Hauptstaedte Eiircpas, von J, G. Kohl.

30 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

and poor, men of wealth and pleasure, seekers of adventures
and of fortune, rush towards Berlin with a kind of frenzy.
The progress of the city in population, wealth, and industry,
has been far more rapid than even that of Prussia in political
importance, and Berlin, already peopled with nearly a million
inhabitants, promises to become like London a province covered
with houses.

It will be seen from the foregoing that favourable local
conditions had everything to do with the founding of Berlin,
and that like conditions materially promoted its subsequent
development and eventually transformed the chief city of the
Mark of Brandenburg into the metropolis of Prussia, and
finally into the capital of the new German Empire.

The origin of the name, Berlin, has given rise to endless
surmises, occasionally ingenious but more frequently puerile.
For instance, from the simple supposition that the sandy forest
glades in which the first Berliner set foot produced berries, it
has been deduced that the word Berlin comes from Beer lein,
signifying a small berry. A wilder conjecture proceeded from
the brain of a classic philologist, who, by reason of the calling
of the original settlers — who it is necessary to assume were
familiar with Greek because the Greeks happened to come to
the distant Pomeranian coast in search of amber — derives Berlin
from barys linos (heavy net). With no more reason the city is
supposed to have been originally called Barlein, meaning " little
bear," not however after the four-footed brute, but from Albrecht
der Bar, or the Illustrious, who is said, on no kind of authority,
to have founded the city in the year 1 140, the truth being that
Berlin had existed long before his day as a Wendish village.
An astrological topographer of the i6th century was undecided
as to whether the word was derived from the above-named
Margrave or from the constellation of the Little Bear, under
which he asserted Berlin was situate. Another conjecture
assumed ber and wehr to be identical, and derived the name
from the latter word, which signifies "dyke." Others assert
that Berlin simply means "ford," and that the city obtained
its name, like Frankfurt, from a shallow in the river. Numerous
attempts have been made to trace the word Berlin to a Sclavonic
source, improbable as the theory is that the capital of the
German Empire should have been founded by Sclaves.

One of the boldest of these philological flights derives the word
from /;'/, meaning "near," and /w, a "hill," for where, we may
ask, is the hill in the neighbourhood of Berlin to be found .-'
Even a still more ludicrous suggestion is the combination of
ero, "feather," with linati, "to moult," to produce the word
Berlin, on the assumption, as has been humorously suggested,
that the original site of the city was a goose-common. Other
conjectural combinations are bor, " forest," either with rola,

ANCIENT BERLIN. 31

"field," or with glina, "clay." A more ingenious supposition
connects the word Berlin with the Sclavonic brljina, applicable
to slow water with a muddy bottom, which would no doubt
have admirably described the locality in prehistoric times.
The honour of conferring a name on the city is not merely
claimed for the Sclaves but for the Celts as well, although it has
never been pretended that so much as a single Celtic tribe ever
settled in the Mark of Brandenburg. In the Celtic language
Berlin has been derived both from biorlinn, a ferry, and from
hairlinn, a dam, as well as from compounds of ber, a curve, and
//;/, a river, ox paur, a willow, and lliiyn, a wood.

Unquestionably the most uncomplimentary derivation is that
suggested from the Czech word berla, signifying " crutch," while
the most flattering etymology is that of the Jesuit Bisselius, who
maintained that Berlin evidently signified a pearl, and ought
therefore to be spelt Berlin. The latest suggestions on the
subject come from Dr. Otto Beyersdorf, who has requir-ed an
entire pamphlet ^ to arrive at the conclusion that the city on the
Spree was simply called Berlin because it was Berla's place, just
as Stettin was Stetta's place, Czernin, Czerna's place, &c., and
he thinks the name may have been originally that of some
national Sclavonic saint, to whom other localities likewise owe
their name. He cites as instances public squares both at
Nordheim and Frankfurt-on-the-Oder named Berlin ; two other
squares in Halle called respectively the great and little Berlin,
two lakes at Wittstock similarly named, several villages in
Mecklenburg and Holstein called Berlin or Barlin ; and a town
near Frankfurt-on-the-Oder bearing the graceful name of
Berlinchen. It has, however, been pointed out that the Wends
have a prior claim to have given the name to the town which
everyone admits them to have founded, and that one need go no
further than their language to find the word " Berlin," which
simply means an open space.

1 " Der Ortsname Berlin aus dem Slavischen erkldrt."

A ROBBER KNIGHT EQUIPPING FOR A RAID.

IV.

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH.

THE first Berlin houses
are supposed to have
sprung up in the Molken-
markt, the common market-
place of the city, at the
earHest period of which any
records exist. Adjacent
stands the gloomy grey
church of St. Nicholas, ad-
mitted to be the most an-
cient ecclesiastical edifice in
the capital, Berlin, a town of
fishers, sailors, and traders,
havingplaced itself under the
patronage of St. Nicholas
the tutelary saint of seafar-
ing men. l?y the commence-
ment of the thirteenth cen-
tury, when this church was
built, the twin towns of Ber-
lin and Koln had both risen
to some importance, and

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

33

subsequently chose a common municipal council to administer
their joint affairs.

Among other privileges then
conceded to them by the Mar-
graves of Brandenburg, was the
right of using a joint seal, on
which was displayed the red
eagle of Brandenburg on a
silver field. Ere long, however,
the Berlin burghers decided on
having a coat of arms to them-
selves, and, speaking escutch-
eons being the fashion in those
days, a bear was introduced
into the Berlin shield, either
because it was supposed that
the name Berlin came from the
bear, or in reference to Albrecht
the Bear, the bold conqueror
and founder of the Margravite
of Brandenburg, who, sweeping away the heathenish Wends,
peopled it with colonists from Holland whom an inroad of the
sea had rendered homeless.

In the year 1320 the ducal line of
Albrecht the Bear having died out, Duke
Rudolf of Saxony received the homage
of the Berlin citizens, to whom, however,
the new ruler soon became obnoxious,
and some disturbances ensuing, two of
his adherents lost their lives. Shortly
afterwards Nicholas Cyriax, prior of
^^^^^^"^^^ Bernau, a partisan of the unpopular duke,
^ and a constant dangler in his train, came

to Berlin, and ventured in the Marienkirche on some demand
in his behalf, which the citizens were indisposed to grant. Loud
murmurs having arisen, the irascible prior hurled forth his angry
anathemas, when the people closed in upon him with fury, and
his death at the church door was the result. The brutal burg-
hers, not content with slaying their victim, kindled a fire
and burnt his body on the spot. So incensed was the
Bishop of Brandenburg at this savage outrage, that, after
peremptorily ordering the Berlin churches and chapels to
be closed, and all religious rites to be suspended, he proceeded
to excommunicate the citizens eu masse, and it was not until
two-and-twenty years afterwards that the repentant burghers
prevailed upon the Pope to remove the interdict. For many
years subsequently a light was kept perpetually burning
before a stone cross, which, by way of atonement for their

34 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

oflfence, the citizens had been compelled to erect upon the fatal
spot.

Rudolf dying after a brief rule, Kaiser Ludwig transferred the
Brandenburg Margravite to his son. named after himself, and at
that time a mere stripling, but who in subsequent years fought
beside our own Edward III. at the siege of Cambray. A year
or two after his return home from the wars he found his right
to the Mark — where he was exceedingly unpopular — disputed
by the ghost of some former Margrave named Waldemar, who
was believed to have been comfortably interred at least a quarter
of a century before. To-day however, it was pretended that he
had simply been absent all this while in the Holy Land, but had
now returned, and placed himself at the head of an army to
assert his rights. Kaiser Karl IV., son of the blind King of
Bohemia, who was slain at Crecy, and whose famous plume and
motto were assumed by the Black Prince, had in the meanwhile
succeeded Ludwig as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,
and, to spite the Bavarian party, proceeded to take the pretended
Waldemar under his patronage. The citizens of Berlin, with
whom the original Waldemar had been very popular, affected to
regard the new comer as their true prince, and warmly espoused
his cause ; but soon a rumour arose that it was Margrave
Waldemar's former servant, some miller's boy, whom the
Emperor was taking through the country with the object of
wresting the Brandenburg Mark from the house of Bavaria. The
King of Denmark, brother-in-law of the reigning Margrave, flew
to the assistance of his relative, and laid siege to Berlin, which
was promptly recalled to its allegiance by the levy of a large
war contribution. Spite, however, of this pecuniary mishap,
Berlin still continued opulent, and so addicted were its citizens
to habits of extravagance that it was found requisite to repress
them by sumptuary laws. It was at this epoch that a singular
fraternity of priests and laymen, known as the Guild of Mercy,
was instituted at Berlin. Its ostensible objects were the relief
of poor ecclesiastics and the succouring of travellers in distress
in foreign countries ; but it gradually secured extensive privi-
leges, and attained to considerable power and importance.

The towns of Berlin and Koln owed their development exclu-
sively to the energy and commercial activity of their citizens.
The reigning prince for the time being came to exact suit and
service from the burghers on his accession, but was rarely
popular enough to keep his court among them. Friedrich I., of
the house of Hohcnzollcrn, had been thrust upon the states of
the Mark, throughout which great lawlessness prevailed, by
Kaiser Sigismund, the same who gave Huss a safe conduct to
the Council of Constance, and then suffered him to be seized
and burnt for heresy, and who first of all pawned, and, as he
could not redeem it, afterwards sold the Brandenburg Mark to

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

35

h\s protege, Kurfurst Friedrich. The latter received the fealty
of the states at Berlin amid considerable opposition, before
which, resolute as he was, he had to bend, retiring from the

ELECTOR FRIEDRICH I. AND HIS ELECTRESS.

f^From pai7itings in the church of Radoizburg.)

Hohe-haus, now known as the Lager-haus, where he had taken
up his residence, to the Kaiser's castle at Tangermunde, and
from time to time occupying himself in repressing the anarchy
to which, at this epoch, when power was the only measure of
right, the Mark was unhappily a prey.

The second Hohenzollern, likewise a Friedrich, profited by
some dispute betweeen the united councils of Berlin and Koln
and the burghers, to make his appearance before the city at the
head of 600 horsemen ; and after compelling the inhabitants to
surrender up the keys of the different gates, summarily divested
them of various ancient rights and privileges. To effectually
subdue future opposition he commenced building a castle within
Kdln itself, a proceeding which the irritated burghers resented
by open rebellion. Peace, however was speedily brought about,
after the last modern fashion, by arbitration ; and everything
being made pleasant, the Elector rode into the city with a great
display of pomp. In 145 1 he took up his residence at the new
castle, which had strong walls and high towers for defence or

D 2

36

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

aggression if need were — one of these towers, the great Wendel-
stein (Winding-stone) being constructed with a winding ascent,
without steps, to allow of the transit of heavy ordnance.

Under the warlike Elector Albrecht Achilles, whose rule
commenced in 147 1, the twin towns rose considerably in
importance, numbers of strangers being attracted to them by
the knightly games and tournaments which were continually
being held on the banks of the Spree. This importance was
permanently maintained by the Electors making Koln their
fixed place of residence. The last organized bands of robbers
are said to have disappeared from the Mark on the apparition
of the first Hohenzollern ; still there were plenty of high-born
gentlemen, like Eberard of Wlirtemberg, of the blasphemous
device, " Friend of God, Enemy of all," who continued to live

ROBBER KNIGHTS.

from the saddle, and the Elector Johann Cicero — so called from
his latinity and his eloquence — pounded no end of baronial
robber towers about their owners' ears. Half a century of
energetic rule had produced vast changes for the better, yet
travelling merchants might still have prayed, as of old, —

" From Kockeritze and Liideritze,
From Krocher, Kracht, and Itzenplitze
Good Lord deliver us !"

The successor of Johann Cicero, Joachim I. — elder brother of
the Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz, notorious as having set on foot
the sale of those unlucky indulgences which provoked the
Reformation — was himself a stout Catholic, whose wife fled
the country in terror on his discovering that she had secretly
received the sacrament at the hands of a Protestant priest. It
was he who stole ofi"to the Kreuzbcrg, a little hill in the environs

DEVELOI'MKNT OF BERLIN.

37

of Berlin, the more quietly to contemplate the destruction of the
world, which had been foretold by the astrologer Carion. The
event not coming off as predicted, Elector and astronomer
satisfactorily accounted for the omission by an error in their
calculations. Under Joachim the law of " might makes right "
was all but suppressed so far as Christians were concerned, but
it was different with the unfortunate Jews, thirty-eight of whom
were burnt at the stake, while the rest were driven out of the
Mark of Brandenburg.

A predatory act committed at this epoch by some marauding
Saxon noble kindled a little war between a defiant Berlin
citizen and the Elector of Saxony. Hans Kolhase, a dealer in
horses, whose connections extended into Lower Germany, had
a couple of his finest animals seized by the noble freebooter.
His complaints to the Elector of Saxony securing no redress,
he sent the latter a challenge, following it up by an inroad into
Saxon territory with a troop of horse. This brought about a
compact, which was, however, broken by the Saxons, and the
irate horsedealer proceeded to levy war in earnest, and even
burnt the little town of Zahna, near Jiiterbogk, in the church of
which, a few years afterwards, the Dominican Tetzel publicly
sold those indulgences which aroused the indignation of Luther,
then a professor in the neighbouring University of Wittenberg.
The Elector Joachim came forward as mediator in the quarrel, but
all in vain. Dr. Martin Luther next intervened on behalf of his
patron, the Elector of Saxony,

and wrote an admonitory let-
ter to the daring horsedealer,
which is said to have so power-
fully affected him that he rode
over to Wittenberg and visited
Luther by night. The latter
summoned all the leading theo-
logians of the town, and, under
the heavy battery of dialectics
which they opened upon him,
the Berlin horsedealernaturally
gave way, and, promising to
keep the peace, rode back over
the Saxon border. A short
time afterwards hostilities were
rekindled, and Kolhase seized a
number of silver bars on their
way from the Mannsfield mines
to the Imperial mint, and flung
them into the river from the
bridge at Potsdam, which still
retains the name of Kolhasen bridge

BUTTRESS OF THE ULD Iir.NI.lX J CSTICF.-HALL.

This piece of audacity

38

IIKULIN UNDER Till: NEW EMPIRE.

could not be overlooked, and the Berlin executioner, a useful
if not respected member of society in those turbulent times, had
orders to arrest the citizen Kolhase. Knowing, however, the
desperate character of the man, he prudently enticed him to
Berlin where he suddenly seized on him and one of his com-
rades.

At the trial which followed Kolhase defended himself with
much natural eloquence, but to no avail. His judges ruled that
the Kaiser's uncoined ingots must be respected, and Kolhase
was condemned to be broken on the wheel. An offer to com-
mute the sentence to decapitation was declined by him because
his comrade was excluded from the benefit of it. " Brothers in
life," exclaimed the gallant horscdealer. " in death we will be
cleft together."

WEN-AT-ARMS.

Joachim II., who was fond of displays of splendour and the
holding of festivals, celebrated the christening of his daughter
by a grand tournament in the tilt-yard of the Schloss, at which
knights with a multiplicity of quarterings emblazoned on their

shields contended in the lists. The Elector was not averse to
fighting in earnest, having had some practice that way against
the Turks, and to arouse a like combative spirit in his subjects
he set the citizens of Berlin and Spandau to make mock war
upon each other. The battle known as the club-war of Spandau
began with an engagement on the river Havel, under the walls
of the fortress. Both fleets fought with becoming valour, but the

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

39

Berlinese conquered and commenced bombarding the citadel,
whereupon the women of Spandau, thinking the fighting had
commenced in earnest, rushed out and implored the Elector
to release their besieged husbands, and on his refusal became so
irate that Joachim found himself in a critical position. Eventu-
ally the Spandauers cleverly enticed their adversaries into an
ambush, and gave them a sound drubbing, which brought the
battle to a satisfactory close, so far as the victors were concerned.
Berlin at this epoch was Catholic, and miracle plays used to be
periodically performed by the city scholars in the Town-hall, but
the Elector, whose mother had been previously zealous in the
Protestant cause, openly embraced the reformed faith, and
Buchholzer, a pupil of Luther's, preached in the Cathedral as
the first Protestant prior of Berlin. Subsequently, on November
2nd, 1539, after the reformed service had been inaugurated in
the church of St. Nicholas, the town council and many of

40

liEKLlN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the principal citizens
Lutheran form

received the sacrament accordincf to the

Joachim II. pa-
tronised the fine
arts just as certain
of his predecessors
had fostered sci-
ence. He imported
aspccial court paint-
er from Milan, who
painted the admir-
able portraits of him-
self and wife, which
are preserved at
the Berlin Schloss;
provided occupa-
tion for sculptors
and goldsmiths ;
and gave a marked
impetus to the ar-
chitectural embel-
lishment of the
capital. In 1540 he razed the fortified castle of the Elector
Friedrich II., and on its site "built himself a lordly pleasure-
house, wherein at ease to live for aye," i; -;_,i
decorating it inside with historical panels
by Lucas Cranach, and gracing the court
with life-size statues of the various German
Electors. Under Joachim Berlin witnessed
the introduction of the Renaissance style,
which simply heralded in the reign of
stucco. True, for some time to come stone
was employed as heretofore for the more
important buildings, but gradually bricks,
disguised under compo, u.burpcd its place.

Johann Georg was a sober, steady-going
ruler, who set his face equally against
feasts, festivals, luxury in apparel, and
strong liquor in excess, which latter he
sought to wean his subjects from by tax-
ing it heavily. Me moreover busied him-
self with the completion of the statute-
book, commenced by his father, and in
furthering education ; united the two
schools of |St. Nicholas and St. Mary
into one large national establishment,
installing it in an ancient Franciscan monastery, of which the
existing Klosterkirche at one time formed part. During

IN TIIK KLOSTER-
KIRCHE.

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN. 4I

the reign of Johann Sigismund, who declared in favour of
Calvinism, violent disputes arose between the contending
Lutheran and Calvinist factions, which naturally interfered
with the even flow of Berlin life. The fact is the Hohenzollerns
of this epoch were somewhat shifty in matters of faith, con-
veniently maintaining, —

" That which is, or why 'tis so,

Few can conjecture, none can know."

On the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War, Georg Wilhelm.
son of Johann Sigismund, would willingly have declared for the
Catholic party had not motives of prudence restrained him ; his
lemaining neutral, however, did not prevent the Mark from being
overrun with foreign hordes. It was at this exciting epoch that
Berlin witnessed the appearance of its first newspaper. As the
war proceeded it had to put up with the demolition of all the
houses along the city walls, and subsequently with the burning
of a considerable portion of its suburbs, on the approach of
Gustavus Adolphus, who professed to occupy the Mark as a
matter of strateg}', and ended by pretty well devastating it.
When Berlin was really threatened the shifty Elector, not daring
to offer resistance limited himself to running hither and thither
with his grey-bearded counsellors, exclaiming, " What is to be
done .' they have got cannon I"^ this dreaded artillery possibly
being the identical two leathern cannon known to have belonged
to Gustavus Adolphus and still preserved in the Berlin armoury.

It was under such disheartening circumstances as these that,
in 1640, Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector, came into posses-
sion of his inheritance. "A prince without territory, an Elector
without power, and an ally without an army," he not only
succeeded in ridding his country of the last Swede, but laid
the foundations of Prussia's future greatness. An able and
intrepid warrior, an adroit diplomatist, and a grand adminis-
trator, he succeeded in repairing the di.sasters of preceding years.
Having faith in the axiom that "care and industry will
accomplish everything," he opened negotiations in one direction,
concluded alliances in another, made war and peace by turns,
and always to his own aggrandizement, until he managed to get
himself recognized as an independent ruler instead of a mere fief,
and to play a role in Europe which grew more important from
year to year. From the commencement of his reign he took
the keenest interest in the progress of the capital, encouraged
all who were in the service of the State, and the wealthier
burghers to build new quarters of the city, one result being the
Friedrichwerder-stadt erected on lands of his own, of which he
made concessions with the object of promoting building enterprise.
He improved the Schloss, enlarged its pleasure-grounds, and

' Carl)le's Frederick the Greaf.

42 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

completed the fortifications. The twin churches in the Gensdar-
men-markt and the finer old houses — residences of the statesmen
of the period — still existing- in the city belong to this epoch,
whence the systematic development of Berlin architecture takes
its rise. In the year 1675 the erection of the Dorotheen-stadt
was commmenced on some farm lands belonging to the Elector's
second wife, Dorothea, at whose instigation the renowned Unter
den Linden was planted. Other districts were projected or
extended, and all these various additions to the city were
protected by moats and ramparts. The principal streets too
were paved and lighted, and generally as much attention was
bestowed on the internal arrangements of the city as upon its
enlargement.

At the peace of Miinster and Osnabriick the bells had rung in
thanksgiving throughout the Mark, still Brandenburg suffered for
years to come from the effects of those disastrous times. The
Elector, however, did his best to bring about a return to prosperity,
and had roads made, canals dug, and marshes drained, besides
establishing colonies of foreigners in the midst of the sandy
wastes surrounding Berlin, which in due time were forced into
fertility. When Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes the
Great Elector replied by the Edict of Potsdam offering to the
French emigrants a second country. Five-and-twenty thousand
men alone profited by the invitation ; the Elector's representatives
abroad had received orders to smooth down the difficulties of
their journey, and whatever property they brought with them
was admitted free of duty. Lands abandoned during the war
were given up to the agriculturists and temporarily exempted
from taxation, while the operatives had rights of citizenship con-
ferred upon them and were at once admitted to the different trade
guilds. Many among them took up a position in the highest
ranks of commerce and industry. Credit institutions were
established to provide for the first wants of the immigrants, who
were moreover allowed their own courts of justice, consistories,
and synods. Finally all affairs referring to them were conducted
in their own language, and even so recently as the present
century there were seven churches in Berlin, the services at which
were conducted exclusively in French.

The Great Elector further created the elements of a navy,
developed commerce, and established manufactures. After the
peace of Westphalia had been signed, the Berlinese again resorted
to their amusements of target and poppinjay shooting at Whit-
suntide and during August ; the Christmas fair was also duly
celebrated in the Koln fish-market, and the avidity with which
the burgher class betook itself to tea and tobacco indicated the
return of national prosperity. The French refugees introduced
the habit of snuff-taking, and carrying out their universal mission,
substituted French fashions in dress, an innovation which led to

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN. 43

the suppression both of the rich Spanish court costume and the
picturesque attire of the old German burgher.

By the end of the reign of the Great Elector, Berlin had grown
to twice the size it was at the commencement, and its population
had increased to nearly three fold. His states were augmented
in almost an equal degree ; their half a million of inhabitants
had become a million and a half; his little army of three thou-
sand men had expanded into one of twenty-four thousand, while
his revenue of half a million had swollen to two and a half millions
of crowns, beside which he left six hundred thousand crowns in
his treasury. At his splendid funeral no less than forty am-
bassadors were present, an evident proof of the regard in which
this able ruler was held at foreign courts.

The Elector Friedrich III. afterwards King Friedrich I. was
deficient in all his father's greater qualities but followed in his
footsteps so far as the embellishment of Berlin was concerned.
With the aid of able architects whom he had the judgment to
select he remodelled and enlarged the Schloss and imparted to it
much of its present external grandeur. He moreover erected
the arsenal and other public buildings, raised the fine equestrian
statue to the Great Elector on the Kurfiirsten-briicke and
commenced the Friedrichs-stadt on a regular plan ; while the
Electress promoted the building of the earliest houses in the
Spandauer and Stralauer suburbs. Friedrich HI. gave to the
different districts, into which the city was divided, a single
government and council. At the instigation of the handsome and
intellectual Electress Sophia, pictured by Carlyle as something
between an earthly queenandadivineEgeriawhose inquiring mind
was always wanting to know the wherefore of the why, he founded
the Berlin Academy of Sciences after the plan of Leibnitz, and
named the great philosopher its perpetual president. The
Elector's main failing was his excessive complacency towards the
Emperor of Germany whose interests he served and whose
quarrels he espoused in order to secure the one object of his
heart's desire, the coveted title of King, which the Kaiser at last
consented to his assuming. Setting out from Berlin in great
state with a train of nearly two thousand carriages, which —
although no less than thirty thousand post-horses had been
provided for them — were as many as twelve days proceeding to
Konigsburg, he placed with his own hand the coveted royal
crown on the top of his flowing periwig and then crowned his
charming Electress. His coronation accomplished he was ac-
claimed by his delighted subjects as a self-made king, and
Berlin never before witnessed such a spectacle as was presented
on his return. The royal pair, attended by the guilds and
corporations of Berlin and Koln in the gayest of liveries, rode
under triumphal arches through the city, all the church bells
ringing out merry peals and hundreds of cannon thundering

44

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

forth salutes from the city walls and even from the shipping in
the Spree.

Carlyle describes the first King of Prussia, whom an unlucky
jerk in infancy had rendered hump-backed, as struggling all his
days, regardless of expense, to render his existence magnificent,
if not beautiful. He took for his model the court of Louis XIV.

SCHLUTEKS STATUE OF THE GREAT ELECTOR.

then the most brilliant in luu'ope, wore a grand Spanish wig like
Le Roi Soleil, surrounded himself with a troop of chamberlains
and maintained a little army of cooks. Beyond perpetual cere-
monies and solemnities, attended with more or less splendour,
and the continual ministering to his own effulgent existence, the

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN. 45

expensive King indulged in profuse plans of all kinds that cost
the state immense sums, to raise which he even taxed wigs, shoes,
and cats. At his death no sooner was his funeral over than his
son and successor leapt into the saddle and commanded the
troops drawn upon the Schloss-platz to fire three salvoes from
their guns ; from which it was foreseen that a perfectly new
order of things was about to be inaugurated.^

The austere, eccentric, and parsimonious Friedrich Wilhelm I.
had none of his father's expensive elegant tastes and extravagant
love of splendour and display. With one stroke of the pen he
abolished all court offices, swept the palace clear of a regiment of
chamberlains and lackeys, reduced the pension list to less than
one fourth, and even pared down the salaries of the few attend-
ants he retained in his service. Government and house-keeping
were carried on by him on like economical principles. This
hero of the Carlylean Olympiad " regulated the daily outlay for
his table to half a thaler, higgled with his Queen over the market
price of eggs, and forbade his cooks under pain of death to pilfer
the dishes on the pretence of tasting them." Under him French re-
finement and luxury came to an end and a purely Dutch simplicity
set in. To render everything of French extraction unpopular at
Berlin, the King had anti-Gallic pieces performed at the theatre
and his jailors dressed up in the latest Paris fashions. All great
architectural works were suspended. The new King's heart was
in his army, and gigantic and well-drilled soldiers were his hobby.
To secure the former, seven feet and upwards in height, his agents
scoured Europe, kidnapping those who were proof against
persuasion. It is not surprising, therefore, that his recruiting ser-
geants occasionally got hanged. The premium offered by him
for tall men proved sufficient to tempt the governor of Augs-
burg to arrest all travellers of the requisite height who ventured
through the town on foot and to sell them to his agents. Friedrich
Wilhelm likewise bought his guards regularly of the Countess
Wiirben, mistress of the Duke of Wiirtemberg, and the same to
whom on her demanding to be included in the prayers of the
Church, the cutting reply was made, " Madame, we pray daily — O
Lord ! deliver us from evil." On one occasion he bartered
four Japanese vases with Augustus II. of Saxony — the begetter
of three hundred and fifty-four children and bender of horse-
shoes with his bare hand — for four regiments of dragoons, which
came to be known as the regiments of porcelain. At another
time he made a present of a useless yacht which his father had
had built, to Peter the Great, who had paid him a visit at Berlin,
and who sent him in return a hundred and fifty Muscovite sons
of Anak. Every autumn the Czar transmitted another hundred
of these giants to Berlin, and the Prussian King acknowledged

1 Berlin von Robert Springer.

46 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the gift by forwardinf^ to St. Petersburf^ smiths, mill-wrights,
engineers, and drill sergeants. The drilling of his troops was
due to Dessau — rough, passionate, and a drunkard, but beloved
by the soldiers — the " inventor alike of the iron ramrod, of the
equal step, and indeed of modern militarj' tactics ; out of whose
rough head " remarks Carlyle " proceeded the essential of all
that the innumerable drill sergeants in various languages daily
repeat and enforce, and who drilled the Prussian infantry to be
the wonder of the world." Further, so perfect was the discipline
which existed that, as Carlyle emphatically puts it, " from big
guns and waggon-horses, down to gun-flints and gaiter straps,
nothing was wanting or out of its place at any time in Friedrich
Wilhelm's army."^ So excessively jealous was the King of his
hobby being interfered with that, on one of his giants being
sentenced by the Berlin Criminal Court to be hanged for house-
breaking, he sent for the judges and replied to their explanations
and excuses by a shower of blows from his flexible ratan, " crack-
ing the crown of one, battering the nose of another, and knocking
out a few teeth from a third."

The provident King turned the palace Lustgarten into an
exercising ground for his guards, and put a sudden stop to the
internal decorations of the Schloss which had been commenced by
his predecessor. Nothing but what was absolutely indispensable
was finished. A completed suite of apartments on the third floor
w^ere made to serve for the state receptions of the court. The
grand banqueting hall simply had a coat of whitewash given to it
and remained thus for years, whence arose the name of the Weisse
Saal which to this day it retains. Though the King was a great
stickler for uniformity, and insisted on all new houses being of the
same size and height, yet he could surrender his predilection for
architectural symmetry when his own convenience was concerned.
In the portion of the palace which he inhabited, looking into the
Lustgarten, he had several of the windows made larger in order
to admit more light and air, thereby marring the regularity of
the facade. In the same way, for the sake of readier communi-
cation, he had common wooden galleries constructed, leading
through one of the gates of the garden and the palace entrance
under the grand triumphal arch.

Friedrich Wilhclm was not on good terms with the Berlinese,
who were averse to maintaining the large garrison he wished to
install within the capital. For this reason he patronised Potsdam,
which he greatly extended and improved, still he contributed
materially to the enlargement of Berlin by the interest which he
took in the building of the Fricdrichs-stadt, the houses of which
stood lonesomely here and there when he entered on his task. The
immigrant Bohemians rendered considerable assistance towards

' Carl>lc's Frederick the Great,

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN. 47

the work, but their co-operation was far from sufficient, and the
King had recourse to extraordinary measures. He appointed a
regular agent charged with compelling people to build. Not
only were those holding official positions and individuals of
known means obliged to erect their own houses, but even persons
of moderate incomes, who had to borrow at exorbitant rates of
interest the capital they lacked. Whenever this agent was seen
to turn down a street people scampered out of his way for fear
of being called upon to build a house they had no need of By
having recourse to these arbitrary measures the King succeeded
by the end of his reign in getting nearly all the waste spaces within
the city walls built upon, but at the trifling inconvenience of
impoverishing most of the occupants of the new houses.

The Dutch style of architecture was Friedrich Wilhelm's
admiration. He liked the homely plainness and warmth of
colour of the Dutch brick houses, on the primitive Noah's ark
model. Moreover the old connection with Dutch life which in
the days of the Great Elector had acted as a counterpoise to
French taste and policy was revived by him. With the death of
Louis XIV. the time was gone by when wigs covered every head,
and the full-bottomed perruque with its pompous fulness and
puffed-up majesty lorded it in a majestic and ceremonious
manner. Fatigued with long years of solemn restraint, the French
fashionable world, which was aped by half Europe, hastened
to rush into careless enjoyment, coupling it with the wildest
extravagance, the most reckless levity. Inexhaustible caprice
drove it from one whim to another, whilst it laughed at every
law and followed no prescript but pleasure, a condition of things of
which the wanton rococo, German philosophers ingeniously con-
tend, was the symbol, just as the reaction against all this sensual-
ism and frivolity was typified by the homely pig-tail, the real
father of which according to them was Friedrich Wilhelm. I. ^
This appurtenance to the head made its first appearance in
military circles in days when the uniform followed the fashions, and
the perruque was regularly worn by the officers, while financial
considerations interposed an insuperable obstacle to its adoption
by the rank and file.

The latter therefore, by way of substitute, wore their hair as
long as possible, and, in order that it might not trouble them
when on duty, tied it together behind. From this simple begin-
ning sprang the braided and be-plastered pig-tail, which hung
stiff and uniform down every military neck, being artificially
supplied whenever nature had not been sufficiently bountiful.
From the soldiers the fashion passed in due course to the civilians,
on whom it set the distinctive bourgeois seal, and whose pedantic
prudence and homely narrow-mindedness acted as a counterpoise

^ Geschichtc des Dwdenien GescJnnacks.

48 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

to the escapades of the wanton rococo. The historical signifi-
cance of Friedrich Wilhclm I. lies in those rigid military and
simple citizenlike elements which opposed German staidness and
discipline to French frivolity and fickleness, and set far more
store by exactness than by elegance.^

Friedrich Wilhelm steadily developed the resources of the
kingdom, drained bogs, founded colonies, established manufactures,
made his own uniforms out of home wove cloth and resolutely
set himself against idleness in any form. The old Berlin apple-
women even were required to knit while sitting at their stalls, and
many an idle street-lounger on whom the King unexpectedly
came received a smart whack over his shoulders from his majesty's
favourite ratan. In the words of Carlyle, " he drilled the Prussian
nation into habits of thrift, industry, veracity, and punctuality."
He made education compulsory, and nothing redounds more to
his credit than his noble behaviour towards the persecuted Pro-
testants of Salzburg, whom, after furnishing with means to
emigrate, he received in person at the gates of Berlin and finally
settled in various parts of his dominions at a considerable out-
lay.

The King's famous smoking club, which formed as it were his
privy council, and his harsh treatment of his eldest son on account
of the latter's French proclivities, are matters of history. Not
only did he savagely cane him, when a youth of nineteen, with his
own hand, but ordered his accomplice in some meditated escape
to be executed before his eyes, banished all his friends and asso-
ciates, dismissed his unoffending tutor, and directed some perfectly
innocent female acquaintance — a respectable Potsdam precentor's
daughter — to be whipped by the beadle. Further he brutally
attacked his daughter Wilhclmina on account of her affection
for her brother, and shut her up a prisoner on short rations in
the Berlin Schloss for months, and when all Berlin was scandalized
at these outrageous proceedings, he threatened that such tongues
as dared speak of them should be cut out. Under his arbitrary
and economical rule Prussia prospered if Berlin did not aggrandize
itself, and at his death the army numbered from seventy to a
hundred thousand men, and there were no less than nine millions
of crowns in the State treasury.

Friedrich the Great, by the force of his genius and the aid of
his sword, not only elevated Prussia to a high position among the
nations of Europe and gave her a history, but materially raised
the standard of national intelligence. The Prussians of this epoch,
according to Voltaire, had made up for a superfluity of conso-
nants by a paucity of ideas. At the moment of his accession
he inaugurated several important social reforms, abolished, for
instance, the use of torture in criminal cases, accorded freedom

^ Die Bangeschichte Berlins.

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

49

DOMESTIC TYRANNY OF FRIEDRICH WILHELM I.

to the press, and proclaimed that all religions would be tolerated.
With him "every subject's duty was to the King, but every
subject's soul was his own," yet he obliged every Jew to buy
300 thalers' worth of porcelain from the royal factory. He gave
new life to the Academy of Sciences, and set the destitute poor
of Berlin to spin. Subsequently he reformed the law, which
sadly needed it, and busied himself with canal and road making,
bog draining, and colonizing of waste lands. With none of the
miserly habits of his father, he enforced the axiom that economy
of itself is a great revenue ; he kept nobody in his pay that was not
useful to him and capable of doing his work well. While at war
with and vanquishing half Europe and engaged in important
diplomatic negotiations, he still found leisure to attend to the
material interests of Berlin, which is indebted to him for many
important edifices. The Thiergarten, too, was much improved
by his orders, and the Bank, the Invaliden Haus, and the Royal

E

50 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Porcelain Manufactory were founded under his auspices. With
his French tastes one can understand his reviving the rococo
style of architecture, of which the Royal Library, built in accord-
ance with his instructions, furnishes a perfect example. Other
architectural works commanded by him were the palace in which
the University is now installed, the original Opera-house, which
he had constructed with the view of raising the popular standard
of taste, and a theatre for the performance of French plays. At
both of these establishments, in the management of which he
directly interfered, he would only allow approved companies to
give representations, and for a long time Italian and French
performances had preference at Berlin — until, in fact, the
German drama and style of acting had undergone considerable
refinement. Not merely did Friedrich attract actors and
singers to the capital but architects, painters, sculptors, and
men of learning.

Regarding the Germans as an intellectually inferior race, he
filled the Academy of Sciences mainly with foreigners, offering
the perpetual presidency of it to Maupertuis, who had verified
the Newtonian theory of the oblate form of the earth. He pressed
Voltaire to come and reside with him at Berlin, and when the
latter at length consented, appointed him one of his chamberlains
as an excuse for conferring a pension on him. Their intercourse,
however, did not long continue on an amiable footing. Voltaire
entangled himself with a Berlin Jew in some scandalous financial
dealings, characterized by Friedrich to his face as " a most
villainous affair which had caused a frightful scandal all over
Berlin," while to his sister the King directly accused Voltaire of
" picking Jews' pockets." Voltaire moreover being of the opinion
that whenever two Frenchmen were found together at a foreign
court it was necessary one of them should perish, became engaged
in a dispute with Friedrich's perpetual president of the Academy
of Sciences, which culminated in the publication of the famous
diatribe of Dr. Akakia, characterized as " the wittiest and most
pitiless of purely personal satires in the world." ^

The King privately enjoyed the satire, but to save appearances
in his relations with Maupertuis he violated the liberty of the
press in this particular instance, and had the pamphlet burnt by
the Berlin hangman, Voltaire looking on at tiic proceedings from
a neighbouring window. The relations between Friedrich and
Voltaire were not improved by the sarcastic observations they
mutually indulged in behind each other's backs. We have all
heard of Voltaire's speech in reference to the polishing the King
required him to give to his French verses, namely, that " he sent
him his dirty linen to wash." With Friedrich, he said, " my
friend," meant " my slave." " I will make you happy," meant

' Mr. John Morlcy in the Fortni^^htly Review.

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN. 5 1

" I will endure you as long as I have need of you." Friedrich,
on the other hand, spoke of Voltaire as an ape who deserved to
be flogged for his tricks, and as a man worse than many who had
been broken on the wheel. The time had evidently arrived
when, as Friedrich coarsely expressed it, the orange being sucked
dry, the skin might be thrown away, and after some little
coquetting on the subject Voltaire eventually left Berlin, where,
as he afterwards used to complain, " he had taken with him a
score of teeth but only carried six away, a pair of eyes, and had
lost the sight of one, no erysipelas, and yet he had contracted
one which he was never likely to get rid of"

Berlin escaped many of the horrors but not the inconveniences
of the Seven Years' War. In the autumn of 1757, the Austrian
general, Haddick, appeared before the city with 4,000 men and
4 cannons, and by a dexterous dash got in at the Silesian Gate
and occupied the suburb, terrifying the commandant of Berlin
to that extent that he hastily marched out on the other side
with the royal family and their effects. The Berlinese, left to
themselves to make the best bargain they could, were glad to
get off by the payment of a ransom of £2'j,(X)0 and a couple of
dozen pairs of gloves for the grand Maria Theresa. Three years
later, in the autumn again, Berlin was menaced by the Russians
under Todleben, a Pole, who had offered his sword to Friedrich
before entering the service of Russia, and an ancestor of the
Sebastopol Todleben. The surrender of the city and a ransom
of four millions of thalers were demanded and refused, and
after a parting malediction, in the form of a shower of grenades
and red-hot balls, the Russians retired to Kopnick. A few
days afterwards the Austrian general Lacy arrived in the environs
of Berlin at the head of a large force, whereupon negotiations
were resumed with Todleben, and Berlin capitulated, at the same
time engaging through its wealthiest citizen to pay a ransom of
a million and a half of thalers and about ;^30,ooo additional by
way of head money to the troops. Lacy, indignant at being thus
balked of his prey, installed himself in the Friedrichs-stadt, giving
his Croats and other wild hordes full license to plunder. He
talked moreover of destroying the Lagerhaus where the soldiers'
uniforms were made, and decided upon blowing up the Armoury,
but the spare gunpowder designed for the purpose exploded
beforehand, blowing up the party told off for the work, and so
saving the edifice. After a three days' sojourn, on the news that
Friedrich was coming, the occupying armies hastily took their
departure to the great joy of the citizens —

" The foe retreats ! each cries to each he meets,
The foe retreats ! each in his turn repeats.
Gods ! how the guns did roar, and how the joy-bells rung ! "

Before the troops left, however, a couple of unfortunate

£ 2

52 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

newspaper editors, who had formerly been a Httle free with their
comments upon their imperial majesties, were compelled to run
the gauntlet after the Russian fashion. Still, thanks to the
intercession of the merchant who had given bills for the city's
ransom, their punishment was little more than nominal, a few
switches only being given " by way of asserting the principle." The
Berlinese, grateful for the consideration the Russian commandant
had shown them, offered him a money present, which he declined,
gracefully remarking that to have been commandant for three
days in the Great Friedrich's capital was more than a reward
for him.

The Seven Years' War concluded.. Friedrich set to work to
repair the wreck that had resulted from it. He caused towns
and villages to be rebuilt, gave 60,000 artillery and baggage
horses for plough teams, allotted grain for food and seed from
the State granaries, relieved those provinces which had suffered
most from all taxation for certain periods, and obliged the rich
Catholic abbeys to establish manufactures.

Friedrich might repair in some degree the material damage
done by the war, still he could not fill up the gap of half a
million which it had made in the sufficiently scanty population
of his dominions. How Berlin was affected, in one sense, by this,
may be seen from some statistics of the period found among the
papers of Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, the Prussian field-
marshal who commanded the coalition armies that invaded
France in 1792, and who in his old age was shot in both eyes at
Jena — spitefully termed by his enemies fortune's revenge, because
he never would see when his eyes were perfect. The Berlin
population showed a great preponderance of females over males,
there being in the year 1762, 54,000 of the fair, as opposed to
44,000 of the sterner sex, or a difference of 22^ per cent.; which
in eight years fell to 15, and in another twenty years to less than
10 per cent. At this latter date the artisan class, which to-day
amounts to more than one-half of the entire population, formed no
more than a twelfth, their number being only 10,000, of whom
upwards of one-fifth were engaged in cotton spinning, and about
one-sixth in the manufacture of silk and velvet. In the same way
the poor receiving relief amounted to 4^ per cent, against 15 per
cent, in 1870. Wages averaged is. per day, but beef was only
2^d. per lb. and pork 2c/., while beer sold for id. a quart and the
staff of life was under |c/. per Ib.^ All of which shows that spite
of the distress following in the train of one of the most devas-
tating wars Prussia ever suffered from, the condition of the Berlin
poorer classes was even superior to what it is now after one of
the most profitable victories, regarded from a money point of
view, of modern times.

' Suiiiiisc/ies ya/irhic/i, 1871.

DEVELOPMENT OF BEREIN. 53

To replenish his exchequer and increase his regular resources
Friedrich had recourse to excise duties after the French model,
when Prussia, and more particularly Berlin, was overrun with
officials charged with their collection, one class of whom, nick-
named cellar rats, were privileged to search all houses for
contraband. Their inquisitorial proceedings rendered the King
very unpopular with the Berlinese, who caricatured him as a
miser grinding coffee with one hand and picking up the falling
berries with the other. Seeing a crowd collected around this
caricature, which had been posted at an inconvenient height, he
told one of his grooms to hang it lower that his faithful subjects
might not dislocate their necks by overstretching them.

Throughout Friedrich's long reign there was but little so-called
court life at Berlin. In the early years of his rule, when he was
more given to enjoyment and pleasure, there was a grand
carousal on the Schloss-platz, which was lighted-up at night
with 40,000 lamps. Four jousting parties in masquerade costume,
representing Romans, Persians, Carthaginians, and Greeks con-
tended for the prizes distributed by the hands of beauty in the
person of the King's sister, the Princess Amelia. At the close
of the second Silesian war Berlin celebrated Friedrich's return
with a round of fetes in which, however, he himself took no part.

The carnival season gave rise to occasional entertainments,
court banquets and balls, masquerades, fancy fairs, and sledge
parties, productive of some little spasmodic gaiety, but that was
all. Friedrich's behaviour towards his wife was altogether
inexplicable. It is not to be excused by her subsequent soured
temper when she is accused of having said " really dreadful
things," for what woman in her station could patiently endure
the long years of isolation and neglect which fell to her lot ? After
the first few years of their marriage the pair lived entirely apart, the
King dining with the Queen at rare intervals, and bowing to her
at the commencement and end of the meal, but scarcely ever
speaking a word. On one occasion when he was known to have
inquired of her respecting her health all Berlin was in a flutter
of excitement at such an unusual condescension. This was the
last time he was known to have spoken to her. He acted
very differently with regard to his mother, whom he visited daily
when at Berlin, no matter how busy he might be, and always
uncovered himself whenever he spoke to her.

Old age found Friedrich childless and almost friendless, living
solitarily at Sans Souci ; he would mournfully say, " The finest
day of life is the day on which one quits it." He only visited
Berlin for the reviews and at Christmas during the Carnival, when
he usually stayed a month, and on these occasions used to drive
through the streets in right regal pomp.

" Ahead went eight runners with their staves, plumed caps, and runner
aprons in two rows. As these runners were never used for anything except

5 4 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

this show, the office was a kind of post for invalids of the Life Guard ; a
consequence of which was that the King always had to go at a slow pace.
His courses, however, were no other than from the Schloss to the Opera
twice a week, and during his whole residence one or two times to Prince
Henri and the Princess Amelia. After this the runners rested again for a
year. Behind them came the royal carriage with a team of eight ; eight
windows round it ; the horses with old-fashioned harness and plumes on
their heads. Coachman and outriders all in the then royal livery — blue ; the
collar, cuffs, pockets, and all seams trimmed with a stripe of red cloth
and this bound on both sides with small gold cord, the general effect of
which was very good. In the four boots of the coach stood four pages, red
with gold, with silk stockings, feather hats (crown all covered with feathers),
but not having plumes ; the valet's boot behind empty ; and to the rear of it,
down below where one mounts to the valet's boot stood the groom." ^

III or well, to the very last he was always seen on horseback
at the reviews, and it was after one of these, when paying a visit
to his sister, that he made what may be called his last public
appearance in Berlin. Of this interesting incident a vivid picture
has been preserved : —

"The King came riding on a big white horse in an old three-cornered
regimental hat, old and dusty plain blue uniform with red cuffs, red collar,
and gold shoulder-bands, yellow waistcoat covered with snuff, black velvet
breeches, and unpolished boots. Behind him were a guard of Generals, then
the Adjutants, and finally the grooms of the party. The whole ' Rondeel,'
now Belle AUiance-platz and the Wilhelms-strasse, were crammed full of
people ; all windows crowded, all heads bare ; everywhere the deepest
silence, and on all countenances an expression of reverence and confidence
as towards the steersman of our destinies. The King rode quite alone in
front, and saluted people continually, taking off his hat ; in doing which he
observed a very marked gradation, according as the on-lookers bowing to him
from the windows seemed to deserve. At one time he lifted the hat a very
little ; at another he took it from his head and held it an instant beside the
same ; at another he sunk it as far as the elbow. But these motions lasted
continually; and no sooner had he put on his hat than he saw other people,
and again took it off. From the Halle Gate to the Koch-strasse he certainly
took off his hat two hundred times.

'' Through this reverent silence there sounded only the tramping of the
horses and the shouting of the Berlin street boys, who went jumping before
him, capering with joy, and flung up their hats into the air, or skipped along
close to him wiping the dust from his boots. . . . Arrived at the Princess
Amelia's Palace, the crowd grew still denser, for they expected him there ;
the forecourt was jammed full ; yet in the middle, without the presence of
any police, there was open space left for him and his attendants. He turned
into the court ; the gitte-leaves went back ; and the aged lame Princess,
leaning on two ladies, came hitching down the flat steps to meet him. So
soon as he perceived her he put his horse to the gallop, pulled up, sprang
rapidly down, took off his hat (which he now, however, held quite low at the
full length of his arm), embraced her, gave her his arm, and again led her up
the steps. The gate-leaves went to, all had vanished, and the multitude still
stood, with bared heads in silence, all eyes turned to the spot where he had
disappeared ; and so it lasted a while till each gathered himself and peacefully
went his way.

" And yet there had nothing happened ! No pomp, no fireworks, no
cannon-shot, no drumming and fifing, no music, no event that had occurred !

' Nachlass der General von der Marwils, quoted I)y CarUle.

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

55

rl

^' .\

<^

LAST PUnLIC APPEAKAHi-E OF FKIEDRICH THE GREAT AT BERLIN.

No ! nothing but an old man of 73, ill-dressed, all dusty, was returning from
his day's work. But everybody knew that this old man was toiling also for him ;
that he had set his whole life on that labour, and for five-and-forty years had
not given it the slip one day ! Everyone saw, moreover, the fruits of this
old man's labour, near and far and everywhere around ; and to look on the
old man hiniself awakened reverence, admiration, pride, confidence — in short
all the nobler feelings of man."^

Friedrich Wilhelm II. nephew of Friedrich the Great, and
nicknamed " the fat," turned the tide of Prussia's prosperity,
although he contributed largely to the material improvement of
Berlin during the exciting times in which he reigned. It was he
who conferred on the capital one of its most striking architec-
tural features— the imposing Brandenburger Thor; who besides
erecting the Herkules-briicke, the characteristic if not elegant

Nachlass der General von dcr Ma7~witz, quoted by Carlyle.

56 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

colonnade near the Koni<Ts-bruckc, and several statues in the
Wilhelms-platz, founded the noble hospital of La Charitc. Berlin
moreover during his reign received a certain intellectual impetus
though not through any influence of the King's, for he was alike
bigoted, credulous, and dissolute, continually entangling himself in
some fresh love adventure and being at the same time ruled by
incompetent ministers. Mirabeau,then resident at Berlin, summed
up the condition of Prussia at this epoch in these laconic terms :
" A decreased revenue, an increased expenditure, geniusneglected,
and fools at the helm." It was under such conditions as these
that a complete reaction — prompted by Lessing, who laid the
foundation of German criticism — set in against the French lan-
guage and literature, and that Berlin literature first asserted itself
in a distinctive manner. Art, moreover, received new impulses —
the Academy raised itself to a high position, the German stage
developed into a national institution, German opera was elevated
by Weber, and theadmirable Berlin singing academy was founded.
In these days the Berlin archers' festival and the Stralauer fish-
ing procession — which last continued until quite recently the one
popular Berlin ycV^— received a new development, and flower
shows, harvest gatherings, rustic games and other amusements
came into fashion, when Berlin manners on the whole grew far
less restrained, and by force of royal example, even dissolute.

Under Friedrich Wilhelm III. on the disastrous issue of the
battle of Jena, Berlin was occupied by the French, and on
October 27, 1806, Napoleon made his triumphal entry into the
Prussian capital, where to his great embarrassment he was
received with loud demonstrations of delight. Prussian noble-
men, mingling with the crowd, urged the people to give heartier
hurrahs and to continue shouting, " Vive C Enipcrair ! " or, said
they, " we are all lost." Their conduct was less patriotic though
not quite so ridiculous as that of the P'rench dancers and hair-
dressers who thirty years later ran beside the carriage of the
ex-king Charles X. at Berlin, crying at the top of their voices,
" Vive le Roi ! " During the P>ench occupation of Berlin the
Prince of Iscnberg raised in the very heart of the city a regi-
ment of Prussian deserters for the service of PVance,and obsequious
learned pro{"essors gave lectures at the Academy flattering the
conqueror at the expense of the great Friedrich. So astounded
was Napoleon at his reception that he declared he knew not
whether to rejoice or feel ashamed. Under any circumstances his
demeanour was not that of a dignified conqueror, for lie stormed
and scolded to such an extent in the court-yard of the Schloss,
that the then Berlin president of police declared he had never
seen such an angry man in all his life. However pleased at the
moment the people might have pretended to be with the French
occupation, they soon had reason to modify their ideas, for the
troops under Soult behaved scarcely better at Berlin than the

DEVELOPMENT OF liEKLIN. 57

Austrians had done nearly half a century previously. The
occupation, moreover, brought general distress in its train which
was but slightly mitigated by the benevolent plans of a few
philanthropists. No sooner was the treaty of Tilsit signed than
the King was wise enough to entrust the direction of affairs to
the Baron Stein, one of the most enlightened, resolute, and de-
voted of statesmen, who abolished serfdom, curtailed the privileges
of the nobility, gave to all classes of Prussians equal rights, and
to use his own words made " the free burgher the firm pillar of
the throne." This was merely the prelude to that reorganization
of the Prussian army which in the course of a few years con-
verted every citizen into a soldier. Meanwhile Berlin improved
greatly in size and in appearance. An entirely new district was
erected and named the Friedrich-Wilhelms-stadt after the King
to whom the grand ensemble of the Museum, the Cathedral, the
Lustgarten as now laid out, and the Schloss-briicke is due. Of
the various institutions founded by him, the most important is
the University, but science, art, and industry, were alike fostered
under his long rule. On the recommendation of Alexander von
Humboldt the Observatory was established, and among the public
buildings erected were the Mint, the Academy of Architecture,
the Institute of Industry, the Schauspiel-haus, or royal theatre,
the palace of the reigning King, and the classic guard-house on
the Linden. The national monument on the Kreuzberg also
belongs to this epoch, and the King moreover sowed Berlin
broadcast with statues, not merely in palaces, museums, churches,
and theatres, but along the Schloss-briicke, the Linden, the Lust-
garten and the Wilhelms-platz. His last public act was to lay
the corner-stone of the imposing monument to Friedrich the
Great on the Linden, an event which was followed a few days
afterwards hy his death.

This monument was finished by his successor, one of whose
first proceedings was the appropriation of a million of thalers to
the completion of the Schloss Chapel with its imposing dome, the
new Museum with its gorgeous Treppen-haus,the Opera which had
been gutted by fire, with its splendid sallc, and the model prison
called the Zellengefangniss. The Belle Alliance-platz was also
laid out, and had a fountain and a figure of victory erected there.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV^ has been aptly described as a compound
of the soldier, the mystic, mediaeval bigot, and the dilettante.
The revolutionary tide of 1848, sweeping over Germany from the
Rhine to the Oder and from the Danube to the Baltic, surprised
him in the midst of certain .nesthetic constitutional reforms
which he was contemplating, and extorted from him some
political concessions of the vaguest character. These falling
short of the popular aspirations excited open air meetings both
by day and night were held in all the public places of Berlin,
giving rise to continual collisions between the populace and the

58 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMI'IRK.

military. Fearing however, to push resistance too far, the King
consented to the assembhng of a legislative body, accorded com-
plete liberty to the press, and dismissed his more unpopular
advisers. With the view of reassuring the crowd of people
permanently assembled on the Schloss-platz, he opened one of
the palace windows to address them ; but at this moment, either
through surprise or by some mistake, or a culpable design, there
Avas a discharge of musketry, and cavalry proceeded to sweep
the streets. The people at once rushed to arms, raised innumer-
able barricades, and struggled so successfully against some twenty
thousand of the best Prussian troops provided with artillery, that
the Government determined not to prolong the contest, and
withdrew the military from the city. The present Emperor, who
was thought to have instigated this conflict, left the kingdom,
but the King remained at his post and thereby saved his crown.
A couple of months afterwards he opened the Constituent
Assembly in person, but its labours were sorely troubled by
popular agitations on the one hand, and by the menacing attitude
of the military and the court party on the other. For many
months, too, there were continual riots at ]3erlin, and eventually
the King resolved to have recourse to force not merely against
the rioters but against the Assembly which he found too radically
disposed. He commenced by proroguing it ; nevertheless it
decided to meet, but only to find the hall occupied by troops.
It protested, but carried its resistance no further, and even
exhorted the populace and the burgher guard to observe moder-
ation. Eventually the struggle was brought to a close by the
promulgation of a constitutional act decreeing a representative
government.

The Frankfurt parliament offered the Imperial crown of
Germany to the Prussian King, but he declined it. He could
not, he said, accept a couroune des pav(fs like that of Louis
Philippe. A revolutionary meeting had no right to give away a
crown — had no crown to give. Even if all the other Princes of
Germany were to assent to such a proceeding that would not
make it honest, or be to him acceptable. The Princes and
]<>lectors of the German Empire alone could give away the
Imperial crown — such were FriedrichWilhelm's objections to the
preferred honour.

One effect of the Revolution was to imbue the modern Berlin
burgher with altogether a more independent spirit. His
proverbial narrow-mindedness had already given way upon the
connection of Berlin with the rest of Europe by railway. This
step had accomplished far more for the city than the raising of
palaces, the founding of museums, or the erecting of monuments.
The Prussian capital had made important progress in every
branch of industry, art, and science, still only a limited inter-
course existed between it and the rest of Europe, in consequence

DEVELOPMENT OF BERLIN.

59

of which it was thrown as it were upon itself for the development
of its internal life, and had altogether more of a provincial
character about it than the ways and tone of thought common
to a great city. The aristocracy all clustered round the throne,
the higher officials hanging on to them, and being linked at the
same time to the military order, while the subordinate officials
mingled with the artists and savants, leaving the bold burgher
entirely isolated, with no other interests beyond those of trade,
and with corresponding narrow prejudices. The working classes,
much less numerous in proportion than at present, were likewise
a distinct and characteristic class by themselves, and it was not
until railways were introduced and intercourse on a large scale
was opened up with foreign countries, that the heretofore
colourless and monotonous life of Berlin entered upon a new
phase to receive fresh development from the political agitation
of 1848.

The Revolution impressed the Berlin middle class, already in
possession of increased means, with a decided sense of their own
importance. They came openly into the arena, strengthened
their political position by acquiring real property, secured such
manors as were offered for sale, and thrust out the impoverished
nobility, erected manufactories, bought up the best houses, and
had still finer ones built for themselves, as if desirous of parading
their wealth. The advent of free trade had extended their
commercial transactions with foreign countries and given them
fresh conceptions, enlarged ideas, increased taste, and a higher
degree of cultivation. At the head of this movement marched
the contemned Hebrew race who have found their true vocation
at Berlin, where they form to-day the aristocracy of finance.

IJEKLIN JEWS.

6o

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

ExceptinfT certain cities of North America no other metropolis
in modern times has progressed in anything- Hke the same
proportion as Bcrhn. At the outbreak of the great Revolution
Paris boasted of 800,000 inhabitants ; at the same period Berlin had
about 120,000, and a century earlier the great Elector had died in
a city of 20,000 souls. The increase of the population under
his three immediate successors, and particularly in the time of
the first two, was considerable and very promising for the future.
Yet who in the eightecenth century could have realized the Berlin
of the nineteenth .' It will be seen from the subjoined table that
in the first sixteen years the population augmented upwards of
one-third, and that during the ensuing quarter of a century the
increase had been more than three times that of the preceding,
in other words the population had almost doubled itself Within
the next ten years, namely, up to 185 1, it augmented 30 per
cent., and increased in the same ratio during the ten years suc-
ceeding. The next decade, however, shows the unexampled
increase of no less than 57 per cent. Berlin will no doubt make
still more remarkable progress in the next decennium. It cannot
be otherwise with the capital of the new German Empire.
While simply the principal city of Prussia, its extraordinary
advance in population and wealth signally refuted the prophecies
of the prejudiced who prated about its unfavourable natural
position. To-day as the political metropolis of the restored
German Empire, and the grand centre of German trade and
industry, it may be confidently anticipated that Berlin will
progress even still more rapidly than when it was only the capital
of the Prussian state and the German Zollverein. In population
it is already inferior only to London, Paris, and Stamboul,
while in political importance, commercial activity, and financial
enterprise it ranks at present as second only to our own
marvellous metropolis.

TABLE SHOWING THE INCREASE IN THE P0PUL.\TI0N OF BERLIN DURING
A COUPLE OF CENTURIES.

172I
1770
1816
1841
1851
1861
1870
1871

1873
1875

20,000

53-355
1 06,606
181,052

3H.491
404,437
524.945
763,670
826,341
909.580
964,755

Note. — The garrison is excluded in tlic above figures.

THE SCHLOSS.

V.

MODERN BERLIN : CONFORMATION AND CHARACTER.

BERLIN, like other large cities, is the result of the welding
together of a number of independent districts which have
sprung up from time to time around a common centre. In this
respect it presents, on a smaller scale, some kind of analogy to
London, composed as the latter is, besides the City proper and
Westminster, of Southwark and a score of once outlying suburbs.
In the heart of the network of broad, rectangular, and radiating
thoroughfares from three to five miles across, and which, spread
over a flat sandy plain watered by a narrow and tortuous stream
and various subsidiary canals, make up the capital of the new
German Empire, are a couple of irregularly-shaped islands
formed by two loops of the Spree, diverted to a certain extent in
bygone times for the defence of the city. Of these islands the
north-eastern or largest is the original Berlin, while the south-
western and narrower one, where the original Wendish settlers
first raised their rude huts, is the ancient Koln.

From the Brandenburg Gate, the grand entrance to the city,
the smaller island is reached across the wide statue-lined Schloss-
briicke, spanning one of these artificial arms of the Spree, at the
opposite extremity of Unter den Linden, the far-famed broad
thoroughfare which bisects the western portion of Berlin. On
this island stands the Schloss, stretching almost across the
narrow strip of land to the Spree itself, with its imposing
northern front facing the spacious Lustgarten, which the Elector

62 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Johann Gcorg transformed from a neglected swamp into a culti-
vated parterre. Bordering the Lustgarten on its remaining sides
are the Cathedral and the Museum, together with the Schloss-
briicke and the loop of the river across which this bridge is
thrown.

A thoroughfare which runs between the Schloss and this loop
of the Spree conducts to the broad Schloss-platz, in olden times
the scene of many a gay revel, many a gorgeous tournament.
South of it are numerous busy streets and a few tortuous ones,
with the Marstalle or royal stables, a quaint edifice of the
Renaissance period, ornamented with curious wood carvings on
its picturesque fagade — notably a spirited colossal group of
Phoebus guiding the chariot of the sun — and having all its lower
windows caged in with elaborat'^ antique ironwork in true
mediaeval fashion. This, with the former civic hall and a modern
gothic church, complete the list of public edifices on the island
once known as Alt Koln.

Communication is established between Alt Koln and ancient
Berlin by means of the Miihlendamm and of three bridges
across the Spree, hereabouts considerably less than 200 feet
wide at its broadest part. The most northern of these bridges
is the Friedrichs-briicke, situate to the right of the Museum, and
the longest bridge of which Berlin can boast : the next, adjacent
to the Cathedral, is known as the Kavalier-brijcke ; while the third
and principal one, which leads from the Schloss-platz to Konigs-
strasse — the busiest of all the Berlin thoroughfares — is the Lange,
or Kurfursten-brucke, which its surroundings render one of the
most interesting in the city. On its southern side, with chained
slaves crouching around the pedestal, towers a colossal statue of
the Great Elector, the masterpiece of the great sculptor Schluter,
and one of the few fine equestrian statues, ancient and modern,
in the world. The Great Elector, dignified even under his
flowing perruque, contemplates Berlin majestically ; surveys the
adjacent Schloss — its round tower and mossy freestone walls
washed by the waters of the Spree — and holds, as it were, a
silent review of the restless crowds passing and repassing at his
feet. Rising out of the water beyond the Schloss are the
unfini.shed arches of the Berlin Campo-Santo, or regal burial-
vault, planned by Friedrich Wilhclm IV., and intended to have
inclosed the Cathedral, but the completion of which has now
been abandoned for upwards of twenty years. In the opposite
direction the view is shut in by the royal mills, a modern
castellated edifice, extending right across the Spree, here dammed
and crowded with fishing weirs and floating reservoirs of fish,
while antiquated buildings of various degrees of picturesqueness
rise along its banks.

Konigs-strassc, which bisects old Berlin, and constitutes, in fact,
the commercial heart of the city, is the single street in the

MODERN BERLIN.

63

THE ROVAI, MILLS.

Prussian capital where one gets jostled by a crowd. From day-
light until dusk the pulse of Berlin life here beats quickest, the
tide of business continually ebbing and flowing from and to the
neighbouring chief post-office. Large and little traders are alike
attracted to this densely-thronged spot. Here, too, the Jewish
element — no longer restrained, as of old, within particular limits,
and to-day so insolently dominant at Berlin — exercises a con-
tinually increasing influence, more especially at the neighbouring
Borse, which rises up some little distance to the north, adjacent
to Friedrichs-briicke, and facing the Spree. In an exactly
opposite direction, and likewise abutting on the Spree, are the
city prison and the head-quarters of the Berlin police, altogether
a very different establishment to that in Scotland-yard— a
Briareus-like institution, in fact, whose hundred arms stretch in
all directions, and whose hundred heads are supposed to provide
for every exigency of civic life.

The Berlin Polizei-Prasidium looks on to the Molken-markt,
one of the most ancient quarters of the capital. Here, where
the Post-strasse joins the Miihlendamm, stands an historic house,
once the residence of Friedrich the Great's court jeweller, the
notorious Vertel Heine Ephraim, who was here accustomed to
give magnificent entertainments to the court. This man largely
enriched himself by cheating the State under a contract which
he had secured for stamping the national coinage. The eight
pillars supporting the balcony of the house formed a portion of
Count Briihl's palace, destroyed during the Seven Years' War,
and were a present in after-years to Ephraim from the King,
who, when Crown Prince, was in the habit of visiting the wealthy
Jew banker, and sarcastically remarking, with reference to the
splendour and completeness of his establishment, that nothing was
wanting but a gallows on which to hang the rascally owner.

64

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The houses in the older portion of the Konigs-strasse being
somewhat antiquated and the reverse of uniform, the street,
invariably full of movement at all hours of the day, has some
little touch of the picturesque about it — a rare enough attribute
of the Prussian capital. The semi-palatial edifice in which the

post-office is located

was evidently designed
in past times for some
totally different pur-
pose. The neighbour-
ing monumental Rath-
haus, in the reddest
of red bricks, with its
towering belfry and
terra-cotta friezes, is
the most important
modern structure of
which Berlin can boast.
Adjacent is the Stadt-
gericht, or city court
of justice, while a
hundred yards distant
stands the historic La-
ger-haus, a large and
singularly unpreten-
tious-looking ancient edifice, in Avhich the first Hohenzollern was
content to receive the allegiance of the discontented Berlin burghers,
and where certain ministerial records are now kept and jury cases
tried. Rather further eastward is the once-handsome, but now

THE CHIEF POST-OFFICE.

MODERN BERLIN.

65

sadly deteriorated, Konigs-colonnaden, with its crumbling columns
and dilapidated statues, leading to the Konigs-briicke. In old
Berlin, moreover, are the archaic Nicolai, Marien, and Kloster
churches, with the Cadetten-haus in the rear of the latter ; and
here, too, are the oldest and most tortuous streets — notably the
notorious Konigsmauer — and the few ancient houses still existing
in the city.

The island on which the original Berlin grew and flourished is
far larger than the one on which its rival Koln was established.
The latter town early realized the necessity for expansion, and
first crossed the water on
its southern side, where
Neu Koln sprung up, and
afterwards on the west,
where the Friedrichs-
werder-stadt gradually
developed itself No less
than five bridges, of which
the principal is the Schloss-
brucke, connect these dis-
tricts with Alt Koln.
Their more important
edifices are the Arsenal

, , _, , /- 1 -r> • THE MINT.

and the Palace of the Prmce

Imperial, the Royal Bank, the Mint, with its long sculptured frieze,
representing the procuring of the ore and the process of coinmg ;
also the head Telegraph-office, the Building Academy, and the

THJt BUII DING ACADEMY.

m

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

THE SING AKADEMIH.

Werder Church, a plain modern brick buildin|^, which, because it has

two towers and is in the Gothic style, the Berlinesc,ahvays emulous

of Paris, style their
" klcine Notre Dame."
These, the four oldest
quarters of Berlin,
have in their plan
much of the character
of a mediaeval pro-
vincial town, the
direction of all the
streets being entirely
regulated by the
Spree, parallel with
which and towards
which they invariably
run.

The next addition
to the city was the
Dorotheen-stadt, to
the north-west of the

Friedrichswerder district, and comprising the famous Unter den

Linden and the palatial edifices which border it, including alike

the Opera-house, the

Royal Library, the

Palace of the Emperor,

the University, the

Academy of Arts

and Sciences, the

Royal Guard-house,

and the Sing Akade-

mie in its rear. The

Dorotheen Church,

founded by the Elec-

tress Dorothea, is re-
markable for a fine

marble monument by

thescul[)tor Schadow

to Graf von der Mark,

a natural son of

FricdrichWilhclmll.,

who died in early

youth. In accordance

with the conventional

sentiment, a drawn

sword has been in-
troduced as though

just fallen from the dying grasp of this child of nine. The fore-

OF GRAF VON DER MARK.

MODERN BERLIN.

going and subsequent additions to Berlin on its western side were
not the necessary extensions of the life and traffic of the existing
quarters ; indeed, all their essential features were traced on paper
beforehand, with due mathematical regularity, but without suffi-
cient regard to their connection with the older districts. With
all its pretensions it is easy to perceive that Berlin is a city
made up of shreds and patches, like the Prussian monarchy
itself, which has been augmented by alliances, purchases,
arbitrary seizures, and more often still by a fortunate sabre-
stroke, until with something of the precision of destiny the Hohen-
zollern motto, " From rock to sea " has realized itself to the full.
M. Victor Tissot sardonically observes, "There is something
of the pirate in the Prussian. His country being too poor to
support him he is driven to take from others. War is for him a
business." Old Berlin is huddled away into the background of the
brand new splendour of the modern city, where the stuccoed
buildings have risen at the word of command, and been con-
structed with a tactical eye to effect. Ancient as Berlin claims
to be, one seeks there in vain for monuments which serve as an
expression of the grandeur of the past — for old feudal castles
or an antique Gothic cathedral — for palaces founded in the days
of the knights, or hotels of the epoch of the mediaeval guilds,
or for streets, or even houses, that recall the middle ages. Such
casual memorials as there might have been found little respect
in a city where the claims of the day are invariably too imperative
to allow of even the smallest sacrifices to sentiment.

Berlin proper now began to extend itself by spreading on the
north-east across the artificial loop of the Spree, termed the
Konigs-graben, and forming the suburb known as the Konigs-

^ '

stadt — the region of poor lodgings, small shops, market-carts,
and old-fashioned innyards, where country waggons are wont
to put up. This suburb is connected with the Alt-stadt — as
the combined ancient Berlin and Koln are now styled — by
the Konigs-briicke, lined with some dilapidated statues, and

F 2

68

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

ALEXANDER-PLATZ.

connecting the main thoroughfare which intersects old Berlin
with Alcxander-platz, one of the great open-air markets of the
city: here the disreputable old workhouse is situated, and
radiating from it east, north, and south are the quarters where
most of the misery of the capital is found. This thoroughfare
extends to the so-called Konigs Thor, through which, after his
coronation, the first King of Prussia made his triumphal entry
into Berlin. The gateway is, however, purely an imaginary one.
A strangerto the Prussian capital is naturally impressed by the
imposing Brandenburger Thor, crowned by its colossal chariot of
victory, and when he subsequently learns that Berlin opens its
gates to all the points of the compass, and possesses no less
than seventeen so-called " Thoren," besides a couple of water-
gates, he conjures up visions of stately architectural structures,
or picturesque antiquated edifices, dotted at intervals around the
city, instead of which he finds neither gateways nor the slightest
sign to indicate even a suppositious barrier, unless indeed it be
the octroi bureau, common to all continental towns, extensive
or diminutive.

Outside the city boundaries, and lying between the former
Konigs and Landsberg Gates, is the Friedrichs-hain, an unin-
closed and ill-cared-for plantation, flanked by cemeteries and
dreary-looking beer-gardens, and the trees of which require a
generation or two for their due development. So infested is this

MODERN BERLIN.

69

spot after dark with ruffians of various types, that it is scarcely-
possible for a respectable person to cross it with a sound skin.
The modern predatory Berliner, like the outlaw of old, has a
confirmed partiality for the greenwood, for which reason some
considerable plantations outside the Silesian and other gates —
that the terribly naked environs of Berlin could ill afford to
spare — were felled several years ago by order of the authorities.
The Berlin corporation have always entertained the conventional
municipal disregard for the picturesque ; and during the revolu-
tionary period of 1848, when employment had to be found for
starving thousands, instead of utilizing them in repairing roads,
on which any amount of labour might have been advantageously
expended, the municipality set them to level almost the only
hills — insignificant ones enough — of which the environs of Berlin
could boast. Whether the Windmiihlen-berg beyond the neigh-
bouring Prenzlau Gate shared the common fate one cannot say ;
but at present the only indication of it is a mere gradual rise in
the ground. It is in the Friedrichs-hain, on the highest point of
which a colossal bust of Friedrich the Great has been set up,
that the 300 soldiers and citizens, victims of the Berlin street
fights during the year 1848, found a common grave.

The Spandau quarter was the result of the extension of Berlin
on its northern side. This district has within it the shabby
little Monbijou Palace, bordering the Spree and surrounded by

SCHLOSS MONBIJOU.

a neglected garden, the vast Victoria Theatre, and several
barracks and hospitals. Monbijou had the honour of housing
Peter the Great during his visit to Berlin ; still the Queens
petty garden-palace could scarcely have accommodated all the
"travelling tagraggery " of the Muscovite court, including 400
so-called ladies of the Czarina's suite and the babies which the

70 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Czar — as they repeated one after another — " via fait thonnmr
de mc fairer The Httlc brown Czarina was decked out in a robe
a compound of " silver and greasy dirt," with an embroidered
double eagle with diamond plumes spread over the bodice, and
the facings covered with orders, holy relics, and portraits of saints,
which jingled whenever she moved. At a grand supper given
in his honour at the Schloss, the Czar, who Avas subject to
St. Vitus's dance, appears to have flung his knife about so
menacingly that poor Queen Sophie, who sat beside him, was
terrified completely out of her wits.^

The densely-populated Spandau quarter is one of the great
working-class centres of Berlin, with which it is connected by
three bridges. One of these, the picturesque but diminutive
Herkules-brijcke, is ornamented with crouching sphinxes sup-
porting lamps, and colossal figures of Hercules throttling the
Nemean lion and battling with the Centaur; another, the
Spandauer-briicke, likewise boasts of some dilapidated groups of
sculpture. The district communicates with the poetically-named
Rosenthal (rose valley) and Oranienburg suburbs by four sup-
positious gates, of which one — the Schonhauser Thor — leads to
a complete colony of breweries and beer-gardens, which, in
conjunction with numerous modern houses, have sprung up
contiguous to a Jewish burial-ground. The neighbouring
Rosenthal gate conducts neither to roses nor valley, but to a
poor-looking populous suburb, formerly known as the Voigtland
district, and deriving its name from a colony of masons and
carpenters from Saxony and the Voigtland, who settled here
during the reign of Friedrich the Great, on land allotted to them
by the King. Hereabouts are the popular National and Vor-
stadtische theatres, and various other suburban places of amuse-
ment. Beyond the last-erected houses skirting the main road
lies a broad naked plain mathematically marked out in building
plots, and having the recently-constructed cattle-market and
the newly-planted Humboldts-hain in front of it, with the
Northern railway station in its rear. The road continues through
a suburban village, where pretentious-looking modern buildings,
five storeys high, rise up side by side of antiquated little toy-
houses, of the Noah's-ark style of architecture, and eventually
conducts to a sandy place of recreation surrounded by trees and
encompassed by neglected bath-houses — relics of a past century
— and well-frcqucntcd beer-gardens. This is the Gesund-brunnen,
or fountain of health, whose invigorating waters are more extolled
by the Berlinese than profited by.

The suppositious Hamburger Thor leads to the Stettin railway
station at the out.skirts of a district where several years since
some so-called family-houses — in which the largest number of

' Carlyle's Frederick the Great.

MODERN BERLIN.

71

poor people were packed in the smallest possible compass —
were erected under royal patronage. Outside the Oranicnburger
Thor, at the extremity of the Spandau district, we are in a town
of tall chimneys, emitting volumes of smoke, and where the rattle of
machinery mingles with the screech of steam-whistles from day-
light until dusk. This is the establishment of Borsig, the famous
Berlin engineer, who employs thousands of hands, and recently
turned out his two thousandth locomotive, and who has moreover
extensive forges in the neighbouring Moabit suburb. Many cem-
eteries are scattered over the whole of the foregoing districts,
which belong exclusively to the poorer quarters of the capital.

These northern suburbs owe their existence entirely to the
fertile nature of the outlying country ; even to-day most of the

market-supply of Berlin reaches it through the Oranienburg,
Schonhaus, Prenzlau, Konigs, and Landsberg Gates. The com-
munication long since existing between ancient Berlin and the
towns indicated by the foregoing names, as well as Spandau,
led to houses springing up just outside the city walls along these
various lines of road, and explains the focussing of so large a
number of streets at the Alexander-platz, where, as already
remarked, one of the principal markets in Berlin is held.

The Friedrichs-stadt, immediately south of Unter den Linden,
was the result of the extension of the city in a south-westerly
direction, as theLouisen-stadtwas of its expansion on the southern
side. The Friedrichs-stadt, with its numerous transversal streets,
invariably of considerable width, and at times proportionately
long, is the most formally-arranged quarter of Berlin. Its
principal feature is the open space known as the Gensd'armen-
markt, considered by the Berlinese the handsomest the capi-
tal can boast of. Here stands the Royal theatre, surmounted
and encompassed by statues, and flanked in singular taste by a
couple of churches, designed after those on the Piazza del Popolo
at Rome. These ornate edifices, with their porticos approached
by wide flights of steps and crowned by statues, and their towers
decorated with columns, cupolas, and additional statues, offer
a very decided contrast to the ugly simplicity of the Berlin

72

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

ST. HEOWIG CATHOLIC CHURCH.

cathedral. Another ecclesiastical edifice in this neighbourhood
is the still more hideous-looking Roman Catholic Church of
St. Hedwig — compared by Carlyle to "a huge wash-bowl set

bottom uppermost on
the top of a narrowish
tub," and thrust dis-
creetly into the back-
ground behind the im-
posing Opera-house.
The remaining public
buildings in theFried-
richs-stadt arethe Up-
per and Lower Houses
of the Prussian Par-
liament, with the tem-
porary edifice which
serves for the meet-
ings of the Reichstag
until such time as the
grand hall, in which
this last-named body
is eventually to de-
liberate, is ready for
its reception, and the
Ministry of War, with Its two large portals guarded by statues of
a cuirassier, a guardsman, an artilleryman, and a hussar, the
popular uhlan making default. All these edifices are in the
Leipzigcr-strasse, which runs from the Potsdam Gate through
the Donhofs-platz, and is one of the finest thoroughfares in
l^erlin. The longest is the busy, active, and, after dusk, dis-
reputable, Friedrichs-strassc, which intersects the Prussian capital
from one end to the other in a straight line, forming the direct
continuation of a roadway which, entering the city on the north
at the OranienburgGate, crosses the Spree and the Linden, next
runs through the entire Friedrichs-stadt to the Belle AUiance-
platz, then to the Halle Gate beyond, whence it continues
through the sand, straight and arrowy as a Roman road, to some
unknown region in the south, far away beyond Tempelhof.

Another noted street in this district is Wilhelms-strasse, where
fortune or intellect, and oftentimes both, are said to be represented
in well-nigh every house. It extends from Unter den Linden to
the Belle Alliance-platz, a circular space, ornamented with a
fountain and a statue of Victory. In the environs beyond the
neighbouring Halle Gate, barracks, beer-gardens, factories, gas-
works, rific-ranges, and cemeteries, are indiscriminately mingled.
Here, too, is the recently-erected monument, in the form of a
mourning lion, to the memory of the men of the Garde Schutzen
battalion who fell in the struggle at Le Bourget, near Paris ;

MODERN BERLIN.

73

while crowning the more distant Kreuzberg, Berlin's solitary-
suburban eminence, is the ornate Gothic monument commemo-
rative of the war of 1813-15. Beyond lies the sandy plain of
Tempelhof, where all the grand military reviews take place.
The northern end of Wilhelms-strasse is a succession of mansions,
palaces, and
ministries,
and its most
striking mo-
dern edifice
is in the fa-
vourite style
odhereiuris-
sance. Co-
lour enters
largely into
the whole of
the external
decoration
of thisbuild-
ing, and a
broad frieze
of brilliant
frescoes runs
along the
upper por-
tion of the
fagade. The
variouscom-

positions are admirably executed, although somewhat enigma-
tical in character. Twin infants being suckled by a sphinx form
the subject of the first design ; next we have some children
merrily dancing to the tune of a pastoral pipe ; then a party of
students singing and carousing ; and afterwards Cupid astride
of a stag, with a huntsman prostrate at the feet of some coy
woodland beauty. A family scene, with the father caressing his
little ones, comes next, and is followed by a monk busy with
some building plans, and an aged gentleman lost in admiration
of the art treasures which are being exhibited to him. The final
subject is a death-bed scene, with a nurse supporting the dying
man's head, while Fame, too long delayed, advances with a
laurel wreath to crown his lifeless brows. Seeking to read this
riddle, we inquired to whom the house belonged. " To a Berlin
Jew who has made a large fortune on the Stock Exchange," was
the reply we received, whereupon we gave the riddle up.

Among the half-dozen so-called palaces in the Wilhelms-strasse
the most interesting is the former residence of the Princess
Amelia, sister of Friedrich the Great, and the most imposing

CHURCH AT TEMPELHOF.

74

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

that of Prince Karl, situated at the corner of the Wilhelms-platz —
an open space disposed in parterres, and set out with statues of

PALACE OF THE PRINCESS AMELIA.

famous Prussian generals, including the old Dessauer, "the
inventor of modern military tactics ;" P'ield-Marshal Keith, shot
through the heart at Hochkirch ; Schvverin, killed at the battle
of Prague; Winterfeld, "the most shining figure in the Prussian

army except its chief;" Zieten, "the Ajax of the Prussians;"
and Seydlitz, their Achilles. It is at the corner of the Wilhelms

MODERN BERLIN. 75

and Zieten-platze that the so-called Kaiserhof — a monster hotel
in the renaissance style, with gilded balconies and corner towers
— has been recently erected ; yet by far the most interesting
edifice hereabouts is a neglected, not to say shabby and
almost gloomy-looking house, sadly in want of a fresh coat of
paint, and from which the stucco is rapidly peeling off. This is
No 'j6, and its occupant is the Realm Chancellor, Furst von
Bismarck, whose palatial-looking official residence is next door ;
his neighbour on the other side, before the great financial crash
came, having been the famous mushroom financier, Dr. Strous-
berg, who had built himself a lordly mansion in the most aristo-
cratic thoroughfare of the city.

The Friedrichs-stadt is bounded on its south-eastern side by
the Linden-strasse, in which the Observatory, the Kammer-
gericht, or High Court of Appeal, and the head Berlin fire-office,
a model, as well as most important institution, are situated ;
while on its western side the Anhalt and Potsdam Gates lead to
the handsome and aristocratic Potsdam suburb, the Anhalt and
Magdeburg railway station, and the Berlin Botanical Gardens.
Inside the Potsdam Gate is the Admiralty, and between the
Anhalt and Halle Gates a military railway station on a vast
scale is in progress, from which an entire division will be able to
be moved simultaneously, the rolling stock sufficing to convey
the whole of the mobile army in covered carriages; horses,
artillery, and materiel only being transported in open trucks and
vans. The handsome Brandenburg Gate conducts directly to the
Thiergarten, a densely-planted park, intersected with shady drives
and walks, bordered on the north by the Spree and on the south
by handsome villas and gardens, extending due west for a couple
of miles to the Zoological Gardens and Charlottenburg, and
forming the one extensive open space which this capital of nearly
a million souls has preserved unbuilt upon — the single oasis in
the surrounding sandy steppe. To the right of the Branden-
burg Gate, and contiguous to the General Staff Office and KroU's
Theatre and Gardens, rises the new Column of Victory, erected
to commemorate the triple defeats of the Danes, the Austrians,
and the French.

The Stralau quarter, on the eastern side of the city, is con-
nected with old Berlin by a single bridge, and with the environs
by a couple of so-called gates, the Frankfurt and the Stralau.
In this busy district wool and silk-weavers, dyers, and other
factory operatives, are crowded in lodgings more or less insalu-
brious ; here poverty is prevalent and children superabundant,
for precisely as procreation engenders poverty, so poverty seems
to give an impetus to procreation. In the principal streets are
the merchants' and agents' counting-houses, and along the banks
of the Spree, among the castellated towers of the waterworks,
rise the tall chimneys of the factories ; near at hand is the

y6 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE,

Frankfurt-on-Oder,and more remote the Eastern railway stations.
The river, which is here at its broadest, is crowded with the long,
large-prowed Spree and Oder barges, called " zillen," laden with
provisions, fuel, and building materials, while, flanking the
Jannowitz bridge, is the single paltry little pier, whence river-
steamers proceeding up stream start for favourite summer
resorts, and thirst-inducing, river-side beer-gardens. In this
quarter the large Wallner Theatre and Friedrich-Wilhelm Hospital
are situated.

Two other districts make up the composite city ; one the
Luisen-stadt, which forms its south-eastern portion, just as the
other, the Friedrich-Wilhelms-stadt, forms its north-western.
The Luisen-stadt, certain quarters of which are exclusively
occupied by the working-classes, is an uninteresting district, and,
with the exception of some huge barracks and other military
establishments, the Bethanien Hospital, and the distant Gorlitz
railway station, it is altogether devoid of buildings of a public
character. Its streets, however, are broad, and more or less
mathematically arranged, while certain of its lofty, modern-built
houses exhibit considerable taste in their construction. The
part that abuts on the Spree, which hereabouts widens consider-
ably, is composed principally of factories, warehouses, barracks,
and military magazines.

The Friedrich-Wilhelms-stadt is the quarter patronized by
married officers, on account of its contiguity to the neighbouring
barracks ; by students, mainly of medicine and veterinary surgery,
and by second-rate actors. Each of these classes has the institu-
tion which most nearly concerns it close at hand. In one street
is the Guards' barracks, and other extensive barracks are situated
just beyond the city limits, while close by is the Friedrich-
Wilhelms-stadtisches Theatre, and a few hundred yards off are
the Charite Hospital and the Veterinary School, both standing in
fine grounds. Medical students congregate hereabouts, and at
the neighbouring restaurants the conversation invariably turns
on /)ost-v!crUjns 3.nd such like delicate topics. In their former
fondness for Parisian comparisons, the Berlinese christened this
district the Berlin Quartier Latin. The Friedrich-Wilhelms-
stadt is intersected by the broad Luisen-strasse, which takes its
name from the beautiful Queen Louise, and starts from the
Marschall-brijckc — so called after the famous Bliicher — to termi-
nate at the Ncue Thor. Facing the cemeteries, immediately
outside this phantom Thor, is the Royal Iron Foundry, and
be\-ond arc the extensive barracks and drill-ground of the
P'usiliers of the Guard — irreverently nicknamed the cockchafers
by the Berlinese — while adjacent to the gate is the Invaliden-haus
for old .soldiers, looking on to a small park, in the centre of
which rises a Corinthian column, surmounted by a colossal eagle,
with outspread wings, in memory of the soldiers who fell in the

MODERN BERLIN.

77

revolutionary struggle of 1848-9. Westward is the canal, con-
ducting to the Humboldt basin, the Hamburg and Lchrte rail-
way stations, the Zellengefangniss, or model prison, the vast
Uhlan barracks and exercising ground, and beyond the busy
Moabit suburb.

Perhaps the

most striking fea-
ture in the out-
ward aspect of
Berlin is the en-
semble of palaces,
public buildings,
and statues, plea-
santly varied by
trees and trim-
kept parterres,
which rises up
both to the east
and west of the
Schloss-briJcke at
the further ex-
tremity of Unter
den Linden, of
itself a sufficiently
sive, thoroughfare,
or with Paris, has

THE INVALIDEN-HAUS.

attractive, although scarcely an impres-
Berlin, viewed in comparison with London
nothing imposing about it. Its long
broad streets commonly lack both life and character. No
surging crowds throng the footways, no extended files of vehicles
intercept the cross traffic, bewilder one by their multiplicity, or
deafen one with their heavy rumbling noise. And until quite
recently the best Berlin shops would bear no kind of com-
parison with the far handsomer establishments in the English
and French capitals.

Berlin, moreover, does not impress one as essentially a large
commercial city, although its importance in this respect is
increasing daily ; neither is its manufacturing element, excepting
in particular localities, strikingly conspicuous. Estimated, too,
as a port, it can only lay claim to insignificant rank. The Spree
at its broadest simply resembles a Dutch canal ; its banks offer
none of the activity encountered on those of the Thames, while
the houses bordering them sink into insignificance beside the
palatial edifices which line the quays of the Seine.

In the domain of literature and science Berlin has its
equals, as in art it has its superiors, in other Qerman cities.
On the other hand political excitement centres itself in
the capital of the new German Empire ; the fever of specu-
lation, too, is there at its highest ; rapidly augmenting
wealth is counterbalanced by almost daily increasing misery,

78

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

and \.\\Q proletariat are more brutal and menacing than in any
other chief city of Europe. In the poorer quarters of Berlin
five-storeyed houses, densely crowded even to their cellars,
succeed each other like so many stone walls, with no open space,
no square, no groups of trees, to break the wearisome monotony
In these quarters investigations have been made yielding the
most startling results. Of a thousand children scarcely one-
third had seen an actual meadow or a corn-field ; only a few
privileged ones had seen the evening glow and sunset, while a
butterfly was with them the greatest curiosity. All was in the
reading-book it was true ; the printed pages told them of these
things, but the originals in their lively colours had never come
within the range of these unfortunate children's eyes. With
military pomp and circumstance they were familiar enough, for,
excepting in the presence of imposing fortifications, the martial
element manifests itself at Berlin in every way — in the statues of
generals and triumphal columns, crowned with Victories with
flashing swords and outspread wings, rising in all the open spaces
— in the vast barracks found in all quarters of the city and in the
whole of the environs — in extensive exercising-grounds and the
incessant drilling of recruits — in the parading of troops and
artillery continually through the streets — in the multitude of
uniforms found mingled among the civil population, and in the
martial music which constantly arrests the ear.

-I Wl ^ iM~ '

>jjv---^&_i\\

VI.

THE BERLINESE — IN SOCIETY.

THE Berlinese are neither remarkable for the amiability of
their demeanour nor the sociality of their disposition.
Outwardly, save in exceptional instances, they are rarely of a
cheerful countenance, and with them appearances are certainly
not deceptive. The stranger who expects to find under this
atrabilious temperament the flow of soul and redundance of
human kindness which the Germans generally are credited with,
will certainly be disappointed. Even if he does succeed in
cracking the nut, a very shrivelled kernel is all that will reward
his labour. The haughty morgue of the epauletted wearers of
the Imperial blue, the heartless greed of the speculative
financier of the Strousberg type, the stolid selfishness of the
trading classes, and the dastardly ruffianism of the bangel are
glaring facts which subvert all preconceived ideas in favour of
the moral superiority claimed for the inhabitants of the capital
of the new German Empire.

Although Berlin now makes parade of a semblance of luxury,
and seeks to rival wealthier capitals with its brilliant entertain-
ments, the majority of the Berlinese live isolated existences
amongst themselves. The same spirit of order which in military
and administrative affairs leaves nothing unprovided for, seems
with them to enter into the ordinary relations of life, and to assist
materially in keeping up class distinctions. The square pegs are
fitted very tightly indeed into the square holes, while the round
ones would never dream of breaking loose from their circular
receptacles. Berlin society recalls a well-ordered kitchen garden,

8o

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

^%t

seen under a wintry aspect. The sea-kale isolated in its earthen
pots, enshrouded by the accumulated refuse of ages, fairly
represents the wealthier aristocracy, the ^nowy earthed-up celery,
cut off by deep trenches from its neighbours, figures the stiff
immaculateness of the army, the hard knobbly and individually
insignificant Brussels sprouts, each clinging round a central stem,
offer a fair representation of the bureaucracy, the mushroom bed
at a forcing temperature is suggestive of the new financial element,
and the crisp, crude, and corrugated Savoy cabbage gives a
fair idea of the more prosperous burgher, whilst the root crops
hidden out of sight and in all probability rotten from frost-bite,
are no bad type of the lower " social couches."

The aristocracy hold themselves as far aloof as possible from
the untitled bureaucracy, whose intrusion into administrative

offices have de-
prived them of
salaries which, al-
though framed on
a scale to make a
War or Foreign
Office clerk shud-
der in horrified
amazement, would
still have served
to regild their
faded ancestral
escutcheons. The
military class
keeps itself rigidly
apart from the
civilian clement,
exhibiting a pro-
found contempt
for everything be-
neath the grade
of privy councillor or first secretary, and eying such other un-
uniformed mortals, as it may be temporarily thrown into contact
with, with an air which affects to mildly marvel as to what par-
ticular section of the residuum the interloper can belong. Had
Talleyrand ventured his little joke upon the incompatibility of
the words " civil " and " military " to a Prussian sub-lieutenant
he would have at once received a proof of the correctness of
his theory, by being as Mr. Leland puts it, " schlogged on der
Kop," if indeed he escaped being cloven at once to the brisket.
Still when wealthy merchants and manufacturers have handsome
daughters, officers will often condescend to know them, will
fraternize with their mahogany, hob nob with them tcte-d-tete, and
flirt with the fair.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

8l

And yet only a
very short time back
Count von Eulen-
berg, a captain in
the Uhlans of the
Guard, and cousin
to the unfortunate
young nobleman, who
was to have es-
poused the Fraulein
von Bismarck found
that the course of
true love, when the
lady cannot count
blue blood in her
veins, may be pre-
vented from running
smoothly even for
a personage of his
exalted position. He
loved well, though as

matters turned out perhaps scarcely wisely, the daughter of
Herr Schceffer. the owner of the journal named Der Bazar.

Betrothed to her with
the consent of her
parents, he addressed
to the military autho-
rities the request for
permission to marry,
required by the rules
of the service. A
few days afterwards
he received a visit
from two officers of
his regiment who pro-
ceeded to explain to
him that the tradi-
tions of the Guard
did not allow an
officer of that illus-
trious corps to offisr his
titled hand to a lady
whose grace, amia-
bility, wealth, ac-
quirements, and social attainments failed to counterbalance the
damning facts that her father had been the architect of his own
fortune, and was not possessed of the distinguishing prefix "von."
The answer of the indignant lover was an immediate challenge to

G

82 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

both these interfering gentlemen, but before fighting, the requisite
permission to cut each others' throats had to be obtained from
the colonel, the Baron von Alvensloeben. The latter sent for
Count von Eulcnberg,. and explained to him that the two officers
were quite in the right, having only acted as the representatives
of the entire corps, who would not tolerate the marriage of one
of their members with the daughter of an ex-bookbinder, al-
though that bookbinder had since acquired a large fortune and had
had two sons, both officers in the army, killed, the one at Sadowa,
and the other at Sedan. Count von Eulenberg considering
the statement, that Fraulein Schceffer was not fit to marry an
officer, an insult to his betrothed, sent a challenge to von
Alvensloeben himself, who not only refused to fight, but had
the unfortunate lover tried by court martial, and sentenced to
a year and a half's imprisonment in a fortress, for having sought
to turn a matter of public importance as regarded the status of
the army, into a personal quarrel.

This same inexorable law of quarterings excludes the wealthy
and ostentatious representatives of finance equally with the
intellectual and professional elements from Berlin high society.
The middle classes with house rent and living at least twice as
dear as they were five years ago, are far too much absorbed in
their struggle for existence to trouble themselves much about
social exigencies. Indeed such intercourse as exists amongst
the mass of the middle class Berlinese is in the main limited
to the time-honoured habit, still more or less prevalent all over
Germany, of the women of the various families meeting in turn at
each others' houses on some fixed day of the week, to work, drink
coffee, and discuss their own and their neighbours' private affairs.

So that the various circles of society in Berlin are mostly
formed by the definite conditions of rank and office, and, although
touching, rarely intersect one another. Every council or board
of officials, and such boards are countless, clings together. Its
members and their families interchange a prescribed number of
visits, and issue an orthodox series of invitations, "which," as a
German writer on the subject is painfully constrained to admit,
" cost a great deal of time and money." The economic principles
and devotion to a rigid standard of efficiency, which are two of
the cardinal virtues of the Prussian bureaucracy, are exhibited even
in their social relations. The list of non-effectives is rigorously
weeded out. Thus the widow and orphans of official personages
are kept on the visiting list for a short time after the departure of
their natural protector to other spheres, but as there are always
" too many ladies already " within the circle, they arc gradually
" dropped," unless they are rich and can return the invitations.
The same practice prevails in the different regiments and even
extends to the highest circles. Thus every house has a round
of obligatory visits which have to be discharged with an exactitude

THE BKRLINESE IN SOCIETY.

53

and ])unctuality unknown even to ourselves, by whom such com-
mercial virtues are duly esteemed. Hence any individual outside
the circle, who ventures on calling in the hope of being affiliated
by formal invitation is treated as an intruder, unless he happens
to be a zealous dancer or an eligible match — in which case
every house is open to him and the most estimable hostesses
return audible thanks at having won over such an ornament to
their entertainments. Even before the war crowned them with
glory and, what was still more serious, lessened their numbers,
gentlemen enjoyed the privilege of being sought after and
overwhelmed with flattery when they appeared, and the chivalry
of man and the bewitching bashfulness of women belong now, so
far as higher Berlin society is concerned, to the realms of fable.
Yet there are people who still believe Germany to be the home
of Arcadian simplicity, and that Berlin is its capital.

This redundance of the softer sex constrains even the most
stately damsels to play the humiliating part of wall-flowers.

" IM^lUes

aliLijfe/-

84 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

But noblesse oblige, and as in duty bound, they are ever ready to
enter on the path of conquest. Arrayed in some wondrous
combination of flounces, frills, and furbelows, in gloss of satin
and olimmer of pearls, embodying the latest Paris fashions as
viewed through the distorted medium of a Berlin modiste, with
forehead fringed and tresses crimped, and wielding the omni-
potent fan, they hasten to the scene of action. There indeed
possibly to sit, Ariadne-like, in solitary state and to murmur,
" He Cometh not," meaning of course the eligible " he," for
noblesse oblige in more senses than one, and though the " high
and well-born " daughter of the president of some council, with a
polysyllabic title and half-a-dozen decorations, may condescend
to waltz with a fledgeling bureaucrat, her heart and hand are
reserved for an individual with a resounding prefix to his name,
and boasting a proportionate array of stars and crosses.

The narrow circles of Berlin society widen somewhat amongst
the higher aristocracy and the great financiers. The larger
landed proprietors have hitherto been but poorly represented
at Berlin, and are to be found in greater numbers in the provincial
capitals, such as Breslau, Miinster, Konigsberg, Stettin, &c.,
where they hold solemn and exclusive high jinks amongst
themselves. The noble families who come up in order that
their head may occupy his bench in the Landtag or Reichstag
during the session, generally accept invitations without giving
entertainments in return, very few having houses or the requisite
conveniences for receiving guests. The numerous petty princelets
and dukelings moreover generally live in hotels, when summoned
by duty or interest to Berlin, so that the obligation of entertaining
all that is most noble amongst the " vons " devolves upon the
court, the various scions of the reigning house, the foreign
ambassadors, the ministers, and those few nobles possessed of
wealth and house-room befitting the ta.sk. As to the parties
given by the great financiers, where ostentation is the order of
the day, they lack the needful combination of refinement and
freedom affording the height of mental and material enjoyment.
The hosts, by a spirit of rivalry amongst themselves, evince
more anxiety to entertain the aristocracy of rank, than that of
intellect, and he who can assemble the greatest number of counts
excites the most envy. Each strives to rival his fellows in pompous
display, the highest resources of modern art being lavished with
profusion, if not always with taste, on the internal decorations of
the gorgeous hotels which they have built for themselves. Strous-
berg, whose family under his bankruptcy, have been receiving a
temporary allowance of twenty marks (about as many shillings)
a day to exist upon, gave fetes that were likened to pages out
of the " Arabian Nights." Borsig, whose conservatories at Moabit
cover acres of ground, used to display their floral treasures
throughout his house on gala nights in the wildest profusion.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY,

85

Banquets worthy of LucuUus, a lavish parade of diamonds, costly-
bouquets presented to the lady guests, and counts in abundance,
seem to be the staple features of the entertainments given in this
section of Berlin society.

The stilted ceremonial etiquette of the past century is to-day
de rigucur at Berlin receptions of any pretension. " When you

86

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

arrive on the festive scene," observes a lady, " it will be your
duty to request the hostess to introduce to you all the ladies
present. This she will do, presenting you to the excellencies
and distinguished personages first, the tour being made according
to the nicest gradation of etiquette, so that beginning with an
ambassadress you will end with a lieutenant's wife, and then in
turn have to receive j^/^r court, namely, the husbands of all those
ladies to whom you have been doing reverence. The curtseyings,
the obeisances, the compliments, at once embarrass, annoy, and
tickle you. Your stiff British backbone doesn't take kindly to
the prostrations ; your knees resent the genuflexions ; you scorn
to grovel, yet you fear to offend ; you feel ridiculous in your
unwonted antics, and are afraid of falling off; and yet a sense
of humour would make it difficult, were you more at ease, to
abstain from shouts of laughter at the bobbing, sliding, gliding,
and grimacing in which you are playing such an unwilling part."^
The amalgamation of rank, wealth, and intellect to be met
with in the leading London drawing-rooms is undreamt of in

Berlin, where all

the written and
unwritten laws of
etiquette and tra-
dition would for-
bid anything ap-
proaching such a
heterogeneous as-
sembly. "The lion
of the season " is
never asked out to
mildly roar for the
delectation of se-
lect social circles,
and the distin-
guished traveller,
the founder of a
new school of
thought, the latest
scientific dis-

coverer, the last
genuine poet, the
author orthe artist
whose productions
are run after, can
only hope to make their cxi.stence known outside the immediate
circle of their friends by means of their works. Nor, whatever may
have been asserted to the contrarv.are these works much discussed

' (krman Home Life, Frartir's Magazine.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

87

in the higher BerHn society which is too absorbed in the worship
of rank, the adulation of ancient descent, and decided reverence
for the higher military element to trouble itself about encouraging
intellect. Men who have made their mark in science, art, and
h'terature, the luminaries of the bar, the great professors of
medicine, jurisprudence, and theology, savants, historians, archa:^-
ologists, philosophers, and doctors of European fame, have no
more place in it, than the learned Baboo or reforming African
potentate whom we English are socager to welcome to our hearths
and homes, and without such leaven how is the intellectual tone of
a society which with mocking satire, styles itself "polite" to be
raised ? It is notorious that the barrenness, excess of prudery, and
audacious pretensions of Berlin society forced Mendelssohn to re-
sign an advantageous position in the Prussian capital, and retire
to Leipzig, while Humboldt's ceaseless sarcasms against Berlin,
its court, and its inhabitants, proved that this expansive genius
and brilliant conversationalist found, as Voltaire had done before
him, his chamberlain's gold key often too heavy to bear. On
emigrating to Paris, he took up his residence in the Observatory,
where he amused his friend Arago and others at the expense of
Berlin, "that empty, unintellectual little city, infatuated with
itself," as he used scornfully to term it.

A German writer was lamenting only the other da\', that for
years past there had been but one house in Berlin where
intellect was really
welcomed, namely
the residence ofHerr
von Olfer, the Di-
rector-General of the
Museums. Every
Wednesday for the
last thirty years, Frau
von Olfer was to be
found in her saloon
from 8 to 11 at a
large round tea table
which, however, soon
grew much too small
for the number of
guests who came and
went. Additional tea
tables sprang up,
lighted by lofty
lamps, on the paper
shades of which some
artistic hand in the family had executed certain little master-
pieces while on the cups and plates, paintings and poetic maxims
bore witness to the taste and fancv of the household. To savants,

88 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

artists, authors, and poets, Herr von Olfer's saloon was always
open, and in virtue of his official position members of the aristo-
cracy and court society mingled, without restriction of etiquette,
with the throng of literary and artisticcelebrities. Even the princes
of the ro)-al family not unfrequently appeared at these gatherings.
Until his wife's health failed, Leopold von Ranke the historian,
did his best to gather around him a similar coterie, and traditions
of the times when a society of ladies, called the " Kafifeter,"
made itself famous for genius and originality yet linger, although
as a rule "women of mind" are but little esteemed at Berlin.
Several members of the reigning house take a languid interest
in art and science, still neither aristocratic, bureaucratic, nor
financial circles are open to their representatives. Such a coterie
as used to gather, for instance, at old Holland House, might be
searched for in vain at Berlin, and native writers themselves
admit the superior cultivation of the English upper classes, and
the interest they feel in literature, science, and art. The pains-
taking mastery of details to which, rather than to intelligence
or culture, German superiority has been rightly ascribed by
Lord Derby, renders German specialists the foremost in the
world. But they remain secluded in their inaccessibility, the
lawyer occupied with his code, the doctor with his diagnosis,
and the professor with his lectures, and only turning aside
when lured by the ignis fatmis of political renown into the
arena of the Reichstag. " Excluded from good society by
the law of quarterings, and belonging to humbler spheres
in life than is the case with our own professional men, the
Berlin legal and medical man is more absorbed in his speciality,
less a citizen of the world, and less accessible to the influences
of general culture." As to the learned, studious, and cul-
tivated burgher, he is conspicuous at Berlin by his absence.
The middle class Berlinese are distinguished by their ill-manners,
their general coarseness of behaviour, and deficiency of taste.
Strongly imbued with democratic tendencies, and having received
an amount of instruction that places them to some extent on an
intellectual level with their betters, they are not only ready to
take liberties with one another but with their superiors. Ample
traces, however, yet remain in the shape of still exacted formalities
of the days when class distinctions were far more defined than
at present, and the citizen was constrained to show his deference
in a thousand ways towards the noble, the officer, and the govern-
ment servant. Heedless of whatever jars on a finer temperament
they meet the ill-disguised contempt which their vulgarity arouses
in those better born than themselves, by asserting that the latter
trade on their titles and assume a superiority that does not
belong to them. They find their recreation after the cares of
the day in visiting the popular theatres and imbibing beer, or in
political discussions at their favourite wein-stube, or bier-local;

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

89

the popular newspaper, the Vossische Zeitimg, and a little of what
the Germans consider light reading, constituting their mental
pabulum.

These wein-stuben and bier-locale, though still largely-
patronized by the burgher class have of late years been, in a
great measure, abandoned by those in a better social position.
Just as the upper class Parisians have foresworn the cafe for the
cercle, so have the wealthier Berlinese adopted that thoroughly
English institution, the club, though they do not take over kindly
to the assimilative process
of club life.

With the promotion of
Berlin to the rank of an
imperial city the number
and importance of its clubs
have greatly increased.
The Reichstag calls men
from all parts of Germany
to Berlin during the season,
and many of them swell
the membership, if not the
income, of these institu-
tions. In the same way
many administrative offi-
cials have within a year
or two become residents
of the capital. Originally
these clubs reflected the
popular system of convivial re-unions, and the one which has
departed farthest from this Teutonic ideal is the Casino, the
club of the nobilit)^ the military aristocracy, and the diplo-
matists, and the elegant apartments of which look up and down
Unter den Linden.

" Its most famous feature, perhaps, is its table d/iote at five ^o'clock. The
ambition of no young officer is satisfied till he has partaken at this daily
banquet and drunk the Emperor's health in the steward's best ' Sec ' ; but
the cmsinc would never make the reputation of the club outside of Berlin.
Two quite opposite tendencies struggle in the club, the national and the
cosmopolitan. The respectable old Conservative country gentlemen demand
that the Casino shall be a genuine German institution, without the corrupting
alloy of French cooking and English manners. The bill of fare certainly
speaks for the valour of this faction. In the evening, too, the German element
predominates, but on afternoons one may hear more or less broken French from
diplomatic attaches hanging over the billiard tables. At the urn, too, where
candidates are voted in, the ballots arenoty»>and7ty/«tv-, but/^z/rand cojitre.
Only one feature of the Casino deserves further mention, and that is the
classification of members. There are three classes. The first class comprises
the resident members, who alone enjoy all the rights and accept all the
obligations of membership. The second class comprises such as, living out
of Berlin, are in the city often enough to desire and deser\'e the ad\antages
of the club, but who take no part in the administration, and pay reduced fees.

90

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The third class are
special members, who
pay a monthly charge,
and are enrolled for
short periods. They
are not much more
than invited guests ;
and are of course for
the most part, persons
who are temporarily
in the city. The Ca-
sino has a large mem-
bership, and notwith-
standing a certain pri-
mitive stiffness of sys-
tem is an elegant and
successful institution.
" The ' Club von
Berlin' is the strongest
and best known of its
kind in the city, and
one of the oldest. Ori-
ginally a sort of con-
vivial society under the
name of De7- Gescllige
Verein, it transformed itself, as members and resources increased, into a club,
and took spacious rooms in the Jager-strasse. Additional prosperity led to
further change in its quarters, and it secured remarkably tine apartments in the
Behren-strasse, the street

of the Amencan_Lcgation ^.^,^.^.,.,,,,^^,,,,,^^^^^^

and the British Consulate,
of one wing of the Royal
Palace and the Royal
Opera. The Club von Ber-
lin is called also the ' Mil-
lionaire Club,' but as a
relative rather than an ab-
solutecharacterisation. The
dues, initiatory and annual,
would be held very light in
London, and do not se-
verely tax a moderate
purse here ; but they are
greater than in any other
club, and it is specially
patronized by rich men of
business. The great ban-
kers meet there at the
close of the day's exchange.
Here they find the even-
ing papers and here the
Borse schedules, not only
of Berlin, but also of Ham-
burg, Bremen, Frankfort,
and other commercial
centres, the papers pub-
lished in the special interest of stock operations, the despatches of the
three or four press agencies which carry on a sharp strife of inefficiency,
are all kept on file. The club, moreover, has a cuisine. In this respect also

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

91

it enjoys among its rivals the glory of pre-eminence ; and this alone would
account for the bankers, who like a fair table in Berlin as elsewhere. They
do not dine, but sup here. Forming in sympathetic groups at the great
tables, they drink much champagne, cat liberally of sallow roast goose or
veal cutlets fried flat in crumlDS, and arc more enthusiastic, perhaps, than
decorous. Here they fight over again the battles of the day. With a wild
profusion of technical terms, a masterly manipulation of knife and fork for
emphasis, and now and then a clever arrangement of bread crumbs by way
of elucidation, they show how battles are won, and with them fortunes, at
the Berlin Borse. But Berlin bankers may be recognized without the aid of
such picturesque surroundings. The religious test is a sure one, banking and
brokerage in (jcrmany being mainly in the hands of people whose proud boast
it is to be the descendants of Moses and the prophets.

" There is, however, another club, ' The Ressource,' which is distinctively
a brokers' club. The Berliner Club is rather an association of wealthy old
gentlemen, many of whom made their fortunes indeed in finance, but are
now retired from active
business. But the Res-
source is a sort of
petite bourse. The fur-
niture and upholstery
are rich, but gaudy and
repulsive, and the
general appearance of
the rooms suggests
ethnological and other
reflections. On even-
ings and Sundays its
halls resound with the
tumult of blasphemous
gamblers. There is
no other city in the
world, Vienna perhaps
excepted, where the
morals of the Stock
Exchange are so low.
where petty scandalb
are so frequent, and
where they have such
a baneful influence on
general society. The
Ressource Club is an
outgrowth from this
state of things. Itmight

be more accurate to

say that it has de-
veloped into this character, since it is a very old organization, and
was originally a social reunion of the wealthier Jews ; but as now con-
ducted it is, in the most charitable construction, a credit and a benefit
to no one.

" A large income is no condition of admission to the West Club. Its quiet
unpretending apartments in the Koniggratzer-strasse are the resort of the
middle class, as it ranks here, made up of Civil Service officials, professors,
deputies, with a sprinkling of journalists and literary men, artists and musi-
cians. It was founded for geographical as much as social reasons, or, to
speak with scientific accuracy, it has a geographico-social basis. It accom-
modates the district about the Potsdam Gate, the ' Geheimrathviertel,' as it
is called. The fees are low, and the appointments of the club far from sump-
tuous. Culinary interests are sadly neglected, for the members nre men of

92

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE,

family who take their frugal repasts at home. They come rather to gossip,
read the papers, and play chess, billiards, and whist.

" In addition to the foregoing, which are the most important clubs of a
general social character, there are a number of others which are at the same
time professional reunions. At the Industrial Building art and literature live

harmoniously together. The
Kiinstlcr-Vercin, or Artists'
Union, of Berlin, occupies a
fine suite of apartments in
the so-called Industrial Build-
ings in the Commandanlen
-strasse, where a permanent
exhibition of its pictorial
products is held, and where
social and festive gatherings
take place. The society is
strong and thriving, and num-
bers among its members the
leading artists of the capital.
The Press Club enjoys the
use of the same rooms, and
owes the fact to the hos-
pitality of the artists. It
docs not have a permanent
exhibition of its products —
which would indeed be wear-
iness to the flesh — but meets
at regular intervals of a week.
Though only about ten years old and homeless, it is well supported by the
fraternity. No simply professional journalists, but literary people of every sort,
and even men in other professions who contribute to the press, may and do
become members. Friedrich .Spielhagen was one of the founders. Bcrthold
Auerbach is a member. Paul Lindau, who has published a short account of
the origin of the club, enumerates among the guests and speakers at the first
banquet a young lawyer who had written political articles for the journals.
The young lawyer was Edward Lasker, a Jew, leader of the National
Liberal party in Parliament, and the most influential of all the deputies.
It is the custom of the club to have a modest banquet at the stated meetings,
and this is perhaps its most characteristic feature. The feast is quite
humble in quality, and the etiquette is not stringent enough to prevent a
very easy flow of spirits ; but the bounds of the decorum so significantly fixed
by police law are never violated. The Berlin journalist has more respect for
the law than his brother of Paris, if for no other reason because he is
less skilful in evading it. The rising young debaters of the Press Club are
timid and prudent.

" One element of club life as it is known in London, the political or
party element, does not exist in Berlin. The different Parliamentary
factions have their own meetings, often with a limited supply of meat
and drink ; and more recently the deputies, without regard to party, have
formed a sort of boarding club opposite the Chamber. The Casino, since it
represents the aristocracy, is of cour;e more or less Conservative in tone.
The Kreuz Zeitutig, the organ of the Junkers, holds aloof from the Press
Union ; but in general, politics enter but slightly into what may be called club
society.

'' In selecting a club the Berliner considers the annual dues quite as much
as the comfort of the institution and the class of companions which he is likely
to meet. But once within it he guards himself by what he would call in his
own phraseology a narrow 'particularism.' He becomes cold, formal, cir-
cumspect. He joins a group or clicjue, which in itself is not so extraordinary

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

93

as the fortitude with which he clings to that clique and discourages other
acquaintances. Since ,.^

he joins a club to es- ryz-Tfe^y'!
cape the fumes of
plebian tobacco, he
acquires a deadly hos-
tility to any tobacco
outside his own petty
circle. If the members
of clubs were chosen
more carefully this
would be intelligible if
not quite admirable.
At first sight it might
be supposed that the
large bachelor popula-
tion which Berlin pos-
sesses would be a valu-
able source of support
for the clubs ; but such
is not the case. With
the exception of the
Casino, whereof many
young secretaries of
legation and officers on
duty at the capital are
members — with this
exception married men
largely predominate in
the regular clubs. The
fact may not be flattering to the good housewives of Berlin, but the integrity
of truth shall not be sacrificed to politeness." ^

A recognized shortcoming of the Berlinese is their want of
hospitaHty. " Even London," remarks a travelled native of the
new Kaiserstadt, " with all its harsh exterior can compare ad-
vantageously with Berlin in this respect, for, however, isolated
the stranger may at first find himself, if he is a gentleman he will
certainly succeed in becoming intimate with one or more families
which will cause him to feel himself at home, and to quit the
city with regret. In Berlin most middle-class households live
very simply and economically, and are by no means prepared to
receive extra guests, who, however glad the master of the house
might be to entertain them, would cause an undesirable addition
to the restricted domestic expenditure." This is to a certain
extent confirmed by the testimony of an Englishman, long
resident at Berlin, who tells us of a fellow-countryman "who
has been staying there for some time, not from choice, but
because fate has planted him near the lime-trees for his sins, and
he cannot get away. He speaks German like a native, is well off,
well born, and of a lively sociable disposition. He came here
with a portfolio full of introductions, none of which procured him

- Mr. Herbert Tuttle in the Gentleman's Magazine, Jan. 1875.

94 HERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

even an invitation to dinner. He tried the theatres in succession,
until his spirits broke down. He walked up and down the Linden
until he knew by heart, and loathed, every shop-front in that sad
avenue. He got himself introduced into a club, where nobody
spoke to him, although he spent every evening there for a week ;
and then he collapsed. He has become gloomy, and is letting
his beard grow. He stops in all day reading books from an
English circulating library which he discovered during his street
wanderings, dines at Hiller's or the Europe, and passes his
evenings listening to Bilse's orchestra at the Concerthaus. Other
mournful Britons drop in upon him sometimes of an afternoon,
and sit beside him as if he were sick, as he is — of Berlin."

Just as Berlin receptions strike the foreigner as singularly
stiff affairs, so do Berlin dinners, when he chances to be invited
to them, seem to him intolerably long, correspondingly dull,
and boisterous into the bargain. He finds his place at table in-
dicated by a little picture card, inscribed with his name, placed on
his wine glass, and speedily discovers that to eat awkwardly and
to talk loudly are the universal rule at these entertainments.
Everybody indeed seems to be endeavouring to drown his
neighbour's voice, and by the time the dessert is served, talking
has become shouting and it is necessary to holloa if you wish
to make yourself heard. For this reason Berlin dinner parties
are the noisest of entertainments. Singing and music are far
from the rule at evening receptions. Still when you are called
upon to listen to them they are invariably good.

One forgives the Berlinese their habitual inhospitality when
one learns that in the entire city there are only 3000 families
possessed of incomes exceeding ;^i5o per annum, and that
more than half the total number of Berlin households have to
make both ends meet on as little as ^^45 a year.^ The Prus-
sian people are admitted to be the most thrifty in the world.
" Everybody," we are told, " has been saving in this hard-
breasted, iron-backed land ever since it has been a kingdom.
Two centuries of thrift that has been all but avarice — inconceiv-
able privations and sacrifices, suffered and effected in every
class of life — a national gloominess and misanthropy, superin-
duced by the self-denial of a dozen generations — to what have
all these disagreeables brought Prussian nobles, cits, and peasant
proprietors } Men in the highest positions — privy councillors,
staff-officers, professors, noblemen of small means — deny them-

^ The Zoelivischc Zcituns; Qanuary 1874) gives the following particulars of
the incomes of the population of Berlin : — 52 per cent., 104,000 families have
only an income of ^45 ; 30 per cent., 60,000 families betvven ^45 and ^60 ;
5 per cent., 10,000 families, ^75 ; 4^ per cent., 90,000 families, ^97 \os. ;
3 per cent., 6,000 families, ^120 ; 2 per cent, 4,000 families, .^135 ; 2 per
cent., 4,000 families, ^150 ! and 10 percent., 3,000 families, over ^150 per
annum.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY. 95

selves and their families all luxuries and pleasures, and many
necessaries in order to put by a certain portion of their slender
incomes yearly.

" The Berlinese, as a rule, are brought up to look upon life
as one arduous, never-ending struggle, and have to work so hard
from their eighth year upwards in order to make sure of bare
necessaries, that they acquire a sort of relish for hardships, and
cannot enjoy any pleasure unless it be saddled with an obstacle.
Their roses must be well girt with thorns, or they will not care
for plucking them. They address themselves to the tackling
of troubles and the endurance of inconveniences with a stern
alacrity that would be in the highest degree praiseworthy were
it not far more the result of narrow training than of a noble
temper of mind, or of an instinctive bias to the heroical view
of life-conduct. This striving, wresting impulse of theirs, however,
animating more or less directly every one of their actions, leads
them to the achievement of wonderful and often admirable
results. To qualify themselves for posts that with us are
occupied by men of humble birth and rudimentary education,
men of the higher middle classes in Prussia go through a course
of education that would fit them for an M.A. degree in any of
our universities. About twelve years of hard study, and astandard
of intellectual culture that would class him in the "honours"
list at our Alma Mater, qualify a young Prussian with official
aspirations for — let us say — a sortership in the Post-office, or a
copying clerkship in a State Department, with a salary of ^^"40
per annum and the prospect of attaining, after forty years or so
of steady toil and irreproachable conduct, an income of i,'200
glorified by an honorific title."

Under such conditions of existence it is not to be wondered at
that the Berliner ha"S a very faint idea of comfort, both in private
and public life. His stereotyped response to all suggested reforms
and improvements used invariably to be, " that may be well
enough in other capitals but not here," and until quite recently
old fashioned ways and provincialism maintained their venerated
hereditary prestige. The ostentation manifested by any class in
Berlin is principally shown by the Hebrew millionaires of the
Borse. Only a limited number amongst the wealthiest and
noblest members of the Court circle keep their own equipages.
Handsome chargers and blood hacks are common enough, but
well matched pairs of thorough-bred, high stepping, satin-skinned
carriage horses are remarkably scarce at Berlin. For the Prussian
aristocracy, unprovided, as already explained, save in a few
exceptional instances, with town houses, and accustomed to
gladden the capital with their presence for only two or three
months of the year during the session of the Reichstag and the
season of Court festivities, are in the habit of hiring their horses,
carriage, and coachman en bloc. For a couple of hundred thalers

96 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

a month, they can secure a serviceable carriage and pair, with a
Jehu in unobtrusive livery, combined with the privilege of
painting pro tern, their ancestral escutcheon on the panels.

Of course the national thrift has much to do with this, although
the national poverty which extends to the nobility is the primary
cause. Prussia has little or no great landed aristocracy, a
circumstance much regretted by Friedrich Wilhelm IV., who
openly envied Great Britain her territorial House of Lords.
The law of primogeniture, so essential to the prosperity of an
aristocracy, is nowhere in force throughout Germany. As all
the sons of a count are born counts and all his daughters
countesses, the result is a remarkably numerous nobility, richer
in titles than in worldly goods, equally ill paid in the few court
or diplomatic appointments open to its members as in the army,
and endeavouring to make up by a stern uncompromising
hauteur for the real grandeur in which it is deficient. Far from
displaying the least amiability towards the hapless tribe of
plebians on whom it looks down, it seeks to make itself felt and
feared, and as an influential political party, that of Junkerdom,
has striven hard to check all moral and material progress.

The golden key fails to unlock Berlin aristocratic society,
whilst poverty is no insuperable obstacle to admittance within
the charmed circle, if accompanied by the indispensable qualifi-
cation of " Hofifahigkeit " or court-worthiness, to secure which it
is absolutely necessary to be noble by birth, to hold a commission
in the army or navy, to be a dignitary of the church, or to have
attained a certain grade in the Government service. In the latter
instances your own eligibility conduces in no degree to render
your wife and family equally eligible to the highly-prized distinc-
tion which is more rigidly guarded at the Prussian Court than
at any other court in Europe. To become court-worthy is the
life-aim of many reputable people who pass their existences in
attempting to break through the barrier separating these North
Gerrnan Brahmins from the rest of humanity, however well to do,
highly educated and eminently respectable that residium may
be. This accounts for the insane rage for titles of one kind or
another that prevails throughout Germany, and explains why
"every Jew banker, every successful speculator, every rising
employe is ready to fawn, fight, cringe, or clamour for the much-
coveted distinction of hereditary rank."

The class of creators — " griinder " as the individuals are
called who flooded Berlin with speculative and too frequently
dishonest enterprizes — appears to have been the most fortunate in
this direction, for no less than four of their number succeeded in
getting ennobled, while others would have secured the like honour
had they not been precipitated from their high positions, owing
to the crash, which unluckily for them came a little too soon.
Among these ennobled "creators" HerrvonCarstenn-Lichterfelde

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

97

occupies a prominent place. After engaging in some fortunate
building speculations at Hamburg and its neighbourhood, he
settled in the year 1866 at Lichterfelde, near Berlin. He was a
man of sagacity and combination, and early foresaw that the
then capital of the North German Confederation must grow and
extend. He began therefore to establish so-called colonies
around Berlin, and went in for parcelling out and dealing in
building sites on a large scale. By this means he made millions,
and these millions led to a new aspiration. He had been asso-
ciated with Generals and Barons in his " creations," and
intercourse with the aristocracy is sufficiently alluring. He had
laid the Government under obligations to him by building the
new Cadet-houses at Lichterfelde, so he was scarcely likely to
fail. One night he went to bed plain Herr Carstenn, and rose
the next morning Von Carstenn-Lichterfelde. Of old creators
were deified like Hercules, Cecrops, Theseus, and Cadmus, now
they are ennobled like Bleichroder, Hausemann, Krause, and
Carstenn. Other " creators " who failed to achieve this honour
made a virtue of necessity and boldly purchased a noble father.
They sought and found some poor but sufficiently liberal-
minded nobleman willing to adopt them and give them his name
in return for a fair annual income paid invariably in advance.

Even this spurious nobility finds itself admired, if not respected,
by Berlin society. Of course the old aristocracy, in whose eyes
such proceedings only serve to enhance the value of their own
ancestral honours, affect to loo4< down on these " fresh-baked "
pretenders, as they term them, with contempt, whilst those below
them in the social scale, satirize them in a way which they would
be the first to deprecate were they themselves but shifted a few

steps higher. With coronets and quarterings everywhere objects
of idolatry and esteemed far beyond the cardinal virtues, it is
scarcely surprising that the well-to-do Berliner should hanker
after the privilege of a prefix to his name, and that this should

H

98

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

be to him even more an object of ambition than the red ribbon
of the Legion of Honour to the decoration-seeking Parisian,
In the capital of the new Empire, any one coveting consideration
finds it necessary that he should have some kind of handle to
his name, and hence the numerous ridiculous official appellations.
To call himself simply Schultze or Miiller is deliberately to
efface himself, unless indeed he chances to rejoice in the prefix
" Von," Avhich will serve as an " open sesame " to all middle class
society, and cause the lady of the house to present him to her
guests with a certain amount of officiousness, and to lay marked
stress upon the preposition that dignifies his plebeian patronymic.
When the Berlin " Jeames," who in the all important requisites
of calves, whiskers, and languid dignity of bearing is immeasur-
ably below his London prototype, assumes a fresh livery, usually

of outre cut and dis-

cordant hues, his first
step is to ask of his
master and mistress
how he shall entitle
them ( Wie wo lien
Sie dass ich Sie titu-
liref). It is only in
rare instances that he
is told that he need not
" tituliren " them at all,
and that it will be suffi-
cient to address his
master as Wiirdiger
Herr! (Worthy Sir!)
and his mistress as
Gnddige Fran (Gra-
cious Madam !). Even
a shopman or domes-
tic entering the ser-
vice of a grocer, who
during the whole
course of his career
has by some chance or other once supplied the royal palace
with a pound of coffee, will be compelled to address his master
on every occasion as Herr Hoflicferant — Purveyor to the Court.
These honorary distinctions are scattered about with such
reckless profusion that one is quite prepared to find an ample
variety of them. Those of Rath or Councillor, Professor and
Doctor suffice to satisfy the ambition of some few thousands.
There are Rathe for instance of almost everything — Stadtrath^
Baurath, Schulrath, Sanitdtsrath, and Cojumerzienrath (Town,
Building, School, Sanitary and Commercial Councillors). One has
even heard a humble attache of the Berlin opera-house saluted
as Herr Theaterintendanturrath, or Mr. Councillor of the

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY. 99

Administration of the Theatre. All the middle class Berlinese at
the close of their commercial or administrative careers endeavour
to acquire one of these titles, which once secured, the fortunate
possessor becomes Herr RatJigeber on all occasions, at social
gatherings equally as at the Council board. It being a rule of
German etiquette to accord the wife her husband's title in the
feminine gender, it often happens that at the most modest gather-
ings one finds oneself surrounded by a crowd of dignitaries of both
sexes, bearing titles as lengthy as they are inharmonious. " If
you would avoid offence, you must train your mind and torture
your tongue to acquire the habit of saying, ' Thank you, Mrs.
Privy-Councilloress ; ' ' At your command, Mrs. Over-police
Directoress ; ' ' After you, Mrs. Riding- Foresteress ; ' ' No doubt,
Mrs. Consulting-Architectress ; ' ' With pleasure, Mrs. Inspec-
toress of Sewers ; ' ' As you say, Mrs. Veritable (wirkliche) Privy-
Councilloress,' or Commercial-Councilloress, or Doctoress, or
Assessoress. In society a married lady is always addressed
with the prefix of gnddige, or gnddigste Fran ; gracious or most
gracious lady. If she have a title, it is not customary to use the
family names in speaking to her ; Frau Grdfin, or Fran Baronin,
being deemed sufficient. Many persons use Mcine Gnddigste, my
Most Gracious, without further designation. Amongst female
friends the formula is somewhat less ceremonious, Hebe Grdfin, or
Generalmn, or Geheinterdthin, being sufficient. Young ladies are
not addressed as Miss so-and-so, but, by gentlemen invariably,
as Mein gnddiges Frdnleiny^

Councillors of the higher grades are entitled to most elaborate
honorary designations, such as Seiner HochwoJilgeboren dent
KdniglichenOber-La}ides-Gericht~Rath,Herr (Thehighly well-
born Royal Superior State Justice Councillor, Mr. )and letters

tc them require to commence HocJiwohlgeborener Herr I (Highly
well-born Sir) HochgeeJirter Herr (Highly honoured Sir). It will
be sufficient to address the lower class of councillors as Seiner
Wohlgeboren dem Herrn Medizinal Rath Dr. ScJinltz (to the
well-born gentleman Medical Councillor Dr. S.). Doctors, ad-
vocates, professors, schoolmasters, landowners, commercial
people (Kanfknte) always expect to be styled Wohlgeboren.

The Rathe of the superior grades are also Geheime Rdthe
or Privy-Councillors, besides which there is a veritable host of
secretaries, accountants, and registrars with from 300 to — at the
utmost — 1000 thalers salary per annum, and who are every one
of them more or less " privy." One has, for instance, the Geheime
Expedirende Secretairnjid Registrator, who abounds in the minis-
tries and most insignificant administrations. Should you have
occasion to write to one of these individuals, you must be very care-
ful not to omit even a syllableof his title, for if you did he would
very likely not condescend to answer you. A petty functionary
^ " German Home Life " in Frazer's Magaziiu.

H 2

lOO BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

of this class with £46 a year has perhaps managed to get hold
of some insignificant foreign ribbon, and will require his letters
to be addressed to him as follows : — Dcm scJir geehrten Konig-
lichen Gcheime Registrator Hoclnvohlgcborc7ier Ritter. (To the very-
Honourable Royal Privy Registrar, Highly well-born Knight.)

The author of " German Home Life," pertinently remarks that
" the exactions in this direction are almost sufficient to frighten
a simple-minded person out of society. Have you given the
right man the right title } Is he a Geheimerath, or a wirklicher
Geheimerath ? Was that prince who affably condescended to
address you a Royal, or a Transparent, or a Serene Highness }
You have just addressed a lady (who has no right to the title)
as Excellcnz, and made her your implacable enemy for life. You
have occasion to write to a Roman Catholic clergyman, and you
for ever offend him by addressing him as Ew. HochehrwUrden,
which is a Protestant title, instead of Ew. Hochzviirden, the correct
Catholic style. How are you to know that privy councillors and
presidents exact the predicate Hochwohlgeboren (High-well-born),
which belongs of right to the nobility (2nd class), and how can
you guess that a Count must be addressed as High-born, or even
under some circumstances, Erlaucht (Illustrious), a Baron as
High-well-born ; and that the common herd exact Well-born as
well as their own patronymic on the letters you address to them .''"

In writing to the Emperor it is requisite to address him as
Most Serene and August Emperor and King, most Gracious King
and Lord ! " In the newspapers he is invariably styled the
All-Highest {Der Aller/idchste),-vih\ch. sounds parlously like an
infringement of Divine privilege. His actions and movements
are described, plurally as regards himself, in infinite false con-
cords and outrages upon grammar, as, for instance, ' His Majesty,
our All-Highest King and Lord have deigned to nominate,' &c. ;
or, ' His Majesty are returned to Berlin ; All-Highest the same
ones {AllerhbcJistdiesclbefi) rejoice tliemselves in possession of a
blooming health.'" With regard to a minister of state he has to
be addressed as His Excellency the Royal actual {Wirklicheti,
i.e. at present in office) Privy State and Justice Minister,

Herrn . The Rector of the University is addressed more

concisely but none the less pompously as His magnificence,
while the burgomaster who is also a magnificence is styled
Highly well-born, Highly honoured Mr. Burgomaster. The
president of the Berlin Court of Appeal is entitled Highly well-
esteemed, Mr. Chief President, while letters to him commence,
Highly well-born Sir. " What we term public offices, boards, &c.,
and all other impersonalities, such as magistrates' courts, legal
tribunals, corporations, consistories, et hoc genus oimie, must be
approached in writing with elaborate forms, and clothed with the
title of ' Praiseworthy ' or ' Highly Praiseworthy,' according to
the degree conventionally accorded to them." We have already

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

lOI

remarked that women take the titles of their husbands in the femi-
nine form, the result of which is such superscriptions as, Her Ex-
cellency Madame the actual Privy State Ministress, General

Postmistress Frau . The letter would have to commence

Highly well-born Madame, Gracious Madame Ministress.
Precisely in the same way one says, Madame the Mistress of the
Concerts, Madame the Doctoress, Madame the Lieutenantess
Madame the Drum-Majoress — and one has even seen a card
upon which was inscribed Komglichc Kanuncrfdgerin, Royal
Sweeperess of the Apartments !

" The Prussian Government," wrote Varnhagan von Ense a
quarter of a century ago, " is -SiConfriU'ic of bureaucrats, who unite
to the talent of scribbling, that of obedience and that of hypo-
crisy." There may be a certain amount of truth in these assertions,
but they are certainly not calculated to convey a fair impression
of the worth and value of that admirably organized body to
which Prussia owes so much of her physical well-being and
political status. The bureaucracy has not only done wonders
as regards internal administration, but has helped in the organi-
zation of the army which has so distinguished itself abroad, and
may one day be found of more value than that army in staving
off the evils and terrors of a revolution. Such a thoroughly
organized body of officials as that under the control of the
government is marvellously efficient in guiding the impulses and
controlling the pas-
sions of the people.
And yet the individual
Berlinese bureaucrat is
too often as disagree-
able as only the
compound of a Ber-
liner and a bureau-
crat can be. He is
wretchedly paid, he
has been driven almost
to his wits' end by
the rise in rents and
provisions, and yet he
does a great deal of
work and does it well.
But he regards himself
as a member of the
government, a pillar of
the state, shudders at
the thought of what
would be the conse-
quence if the country were to be deprived of his services,
and adds a coating of official hauteur to his native cantan-

102 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

kerousness in his dealing with the outer world. No whiskered
club lounger who is forced by the exigencies of fate and the
necessity of at least appearing to do something for his salary,
to dawdle away six hours per diem in a comfortably fur-
nished room, in Downing Street ; no Lord of the Treasury's
private secretary standing gracefully at the corner of the smoking
room mantel-piece with a surrounding circle listening with
breathless attention to the words that fall from his lips, ever more
thoroughly identified himself with the government he served than
the humblest Vice-Deputy Sub- Assistant Temporary Inspector
or Supernumerary Clerk in a Berlin Public Office. And when he
emerges into such society as he keeps, he is ever careful to " lay
the finger of silence upon the lip of discretion," so far as the
secrets of his prison house are concerned. He affects to be over-
burdened with state secrets, though it is needless to remark none
ever come into his possession, and when the conversation takes
a political turn sits with his lips as tightly closed as the shells of
an oyster, save when he raises his beer-mug to them, and confines
himself to a Lord Burleigh-like shake of the head which is
construed to imply that like the monkeys of Indian fable he
could say a great deal if he chose.

The bureaucrat, of whatever degree, is usually a family man
of a very domesticated character, and is in the habit of rearing
large families of daughters, who, however, do not often develop
into the spoiled beauties of society. The pecuniary circumstances
of their father, the unwritten laws of German etiquette, and their
tastes and bringing up, forbid it. They are certain to be well
informed, thoroughly educated, to know more languages than
their sisters in France and England, and to play and waltz with
scientific precision, but they are too quiet for coquetry, and too
serious for flirtation. They may have even extended their
studies through the most thorny paths of philosophy, but above
all they shine in housewifery duties, the manipulation of the
knitting-needle, the presidency of the coffee-table, and the super-
intendence of the kitchen and the store-room, being functions
in which they unquestionably excel.

The Hebrew element forms a very marked feature of Berlin
society, which is constrained to recognize the decided mental
and practical influence which the Jews, spite of their relatively
small number, exercise to-day in the capital of the new Empire.
It was very different so recently as a score or so of years ago,
when no Berlin Jew was allowed even to marry without the
special permission of the King. Friedrich the Great turned
this regulation to account at tlie time he purchased the Berlin
porcelain manufactory from the banker, Gotzkowski, and was in
a strait with respect to customers for his stock. It was his rule
to sanction these unions only on the condition that the future
•couple purchased so much china at the manufactory, and he

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

103

himself used to specify _^

^ .

the margin of the peti-
tions addressed to him.
The Berhn Jews
thrust themselves pro-
minently forward some
few years back, when,
with characteristic fore-
sight, and by asso-
ciating their capital,
they commenced buy-
ing up land in and
contiguous to the city,
securing possession of
all the vacant tracts,
and parcelling them
out for building pur-
poses. Besides being
foremost, as in most
other German cities, in
general trade, whether as retail shopkeepers or merchants on
an extensive scale, the realms of the Jiaiite finance acknowledge

„ their exclusive sway;

^-—^r-^l^m-<r^\j;^^^p^^ the most valuable

' ^^^ freeholds, the state-
liest mansions, and
"» the finest equipages,
/ belong to them,
whilst certain of
their body affect a
taste for and patron-
age of the arts. The
one Berlin newspaper
which is entirely free
from their influence
IS the Nene Preus-
siscJie Kreiiz Zeitung,
most of the others
being wholly or in
part owned by Jews,
who moreover con-
stitute the bulk of
- the journalists and
■'-'' reporters. The ma-
jority of the young

-°^^^^

104

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

doctors and many law-
yers are also Jews ;
and if at the Royal
theatres the actors
have up to the present
time been chiefly Chris-
tians, the same cannot
be said of the audiences.
At Berlin the only
things of which the
Gentiles have been left
in undisputed posses-
sion are the churches,
on which, however, it
has been bitterly said
they set but little store,
and even these have
been thrown into the
shade by the magnifi-
cent new synagogue,
the dome of which
towers above the sea
of Berlin houses. In
politics, thanks to the
Parliamentary regime,
they play an important part. The prejudice with which they
are regarded by the nobility and those Conservatives who are
deeply imbued with the traditions of the middle ages, the
coldness displayed towards them by the pious King, and the
religious formularies which interfere with their aspiring to certain
positions connected with the Government, have thrown them
into the ranks of the National Liberal party, to which not only
their wealth but also their education render them valuable
allies. They are constantly endeavouring to give their sons and
daughters a superior education to that aimed at by Catholics and
Protestants, thereby leading them to sympathize as much as
possible with general culture. The importance attached by them
to instruction, especially in science, art, and the higher branches
of learning, is shown by statistics, proving that upwards of one-
half of the Jewish boys and two-thirds of the girls receive a
liberal education, while with regard to children of other religions,
not more than a fifth of the boys, and less than a sixth of
the girls, enjoy this advantage. One result of this is shown in
the influence attained and wielded by the leader of the National
Liberal party, and the ablest debater in the Reichstag, the
Jewish lawyer, Edward Lasker.

In stature the Berlin Jew is usually short, or at the most of
average height, and his physiognomy and figure are alike ex-

THE HEBREW ELEMENT AT I HE BERLIN ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. J''^S<^ 'OS- 1-

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

105

pressed by sharp lines.
The head is generally-
oblong, the visage oval,
the under lip large and
sensual, whilethe upper
one, the nose, and the
eyebrows, especially
when laughing, give
to the features much
the same kind of ex-
pression as is observ-
able in the mask of
Pan. It is the eyes
which mark the great
difference between the
Germanic and Semitic
races. The German's
glance is generally
contemplative or pas-
sive ; he looks for the
pleasure of looking ; takes an interest in what he is observin,f( ;
whereas the Jew has a scrutative eye, ever on the move, like
a man who measures and estimates everything he looks at, and
only feels intere.sted in his own affairs. As a rule, too, he is

always over- d ressed .
Not daring to launch
out in those countries
where they are still re-
garded as pariahs, the
Jews affect to be ele-
gants in the lands of
their emancipation.
At the Berlin Zoolo-
gical Gardens on the
days consecrated by
fashion to the after-
noon promenade, they
contend for pre-emi-
nence even with the
aristocratic military
element. Several

among them have
succeeded in getting
themselves ennobled,
while the wealth of
others is gradually securing them admission into some of the best
circles, where, if their sons show to small advantage, their
daughters enter into successful rivalry with the handsomest and

I06 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

most accomplished of their own sex of a different faith. A Berlin
Jewess is equally an fait with a Parisian one in dressing her hair
and arranging her jiipe a la dernivre mode. Now and then
she is pretty, but more frequently cultivated and spirituelle ; and
when she feels sure of her ground, and knows that she is
in the majority — as, for instance, at the Berlin Zoo — will show
herself as provoking and engaging as her German sister — who
cordially detests her — is generally tranquil and reserved.^

" All work and no play " is said to " make Jack a dull boy,"
and there is no doubt that this fact in some measure accounts
for the habitual grimness of demeanour of the Berlinese. Such
incipient grimness is perceptible even in his state of urchinhood,
when newly breeched he steps along on his way to real-schule or
gymnasium, with his neat knapsack full of books, and his face
as grave as that of the most spectacled of professors when
engaged in evolving a new theory. " The Berliner, from peer to
droschke-driver, from privy-councillor to postman," observes a
writer long resident on the banks of the Spree," is an overtasked
being, and has been so for a couple of hundred years past, so
that the habit of not amusing himself is a hereditary one, and has
passed into his nature — has become a congenital characteristic.
That he is cross and cantankerous must be ascribed to the
facts that, as a rule, his whole time is spent in struggling to
exist, that he lives in one of the most unhealthy cities of
the world, and that year after year he finds himself compelled
to sacrifice bit by bit his well-being and few comforts, in
order to be able to keep a roof over his head and body
and soul together with the coarsest food."

The engrossing devotion to personal interests, the furtherance
of which absorbs each individual's attention and occupies his
energies, is a main cause of the cheerlessness characterising the
Prussian. He exhibits a national and habitual thriftiness akin
to that of the Scot, and, as a rule, not only works to live, but
lives to work, striving as hard to make money in peace as he

' Berlin statisticians, who are themselves possibly Jews, endeavour to show,
by the inexorable logic of figures, that Christianity is rapidly becoming
extinct in Berlin, and they supply data highly favourable to the followers of the
Mosaic rite. We learn from them that not only do a far larger proportion
of the Jews of Berlin marry than members of other religious denominations,
but that nearly the whole of them marry at what these savants style the
natural age — namely, when the man is not above forty, and the woman is
under thirty. Such marriages form 85 per cent, of those contracted amongst
the Jews, against 72 per cent, amongst the rest of the population, while the
lists of deaths show one-third of the Jews to be married, and less than one-
fifth of members of other creeds. The mortality, too, amongst Jewish
children from their first to their fifth year is only 17 per cent., whilst it is 25
per cent, among other persuasions ; and the circumstance that the general
percentage of illegitimate children in Berlin is 15, and amongst the Jews only
2, speaks highly in favour of their morality.— See Stddtisches Jahrbuch,
Berlin, 1874.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY. 10/

does to secure victory in war. Amusement costs both time and
money, and if, like John Gilpin, he is occasionally to be found
" on pleasure bent," like that citizen of credit and renown, he has
"a frugal mind." The mere man of pleasure, the epicurean
butterfly who flits from flower to flower, would be nipped to
death in the frosty Prussian capital, to which Friedrich the Great
had to impart the first elements of society, conversation, and
politeness from abroad. A certain amount of dissipation of the
most forcedly ostentatious character was favoured by the influx
of the French milliards, but it was confined almost entirely to
the financial element. Rumour, indeed, says that some of these
gentlemen carried the national spirit of order and economy into
their amusements, keeping ledgers and day-books wherein the
details of the sums expended for self-gratification were scrupu-
lously recorded, and wherein a supper to the corps de ballet, and
the cost of maintaining an actress, were written ofl" against a
lucky coup on the Exchange. The military element, so promi-
nent in the pursuit of pleasure in England, has neither the time
nor the money to spare in Prussia. All nobles enter the army
and have to work too hard at their profession to have leisure for
amusement, even if they had the necessary spare capital, which,
considering that the majority are as poor as rats, they certainly
have not. A few wealthy guardsmen go in for sport, but
they are the exceptions ; and when, after some years hard work,
the exceptionally rich noble dofls his blue uniform for good, he
has lost the habit of wishing to be amused, and devotes the rest
of his life to looking after his own interests and cultivating his
estates.

A wide-spread delusion formerly prevailed to the effect that the
children of the Fatherland were lovers of peace and quiet, and
that their repugnance to strife and contention was the result
partly of an inborn humility of disposition peculiar to them, and
partly of a philosophical temper of mind, superinduced by high
intellectual development, combined with strict physical sobriety.
We were in the habit of picturing the typical Teuton as sitting
in summer beneath the shade of the northern equivalents to the
traditional vine and fig-tree, and in winter within the heating
influence of his porcelain stove, and simultaneously evolving
whifls of kanaster from the bowl of his painted pipe, and moral
aphorisms from a mind overflowing with sympathy not only
towards his immediate fellows, but mankind at large. Nothing,
however, can be further from the truth, contention and contro-
versy being the normal condition of the average Berliner, who
exhibits a bitterness that would have won the esteem of our
great lexicographer, who so dearly loved a good hater. The
national proverb that " Two Germans will fight about the colour
of Barbarossa's beard," shows how conscious they are of the
spirit of contentiousness prevalent among themselves, since the

io8

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Emperor's nickname sufficiently explains the fiery hue of his
hirsute adornment. Their neighbours, the French, have gauged
them pretty accurately too, and a qiierclle dAllernand denotes
a wilful and gratuitous wrangle. Nor do they appear to have
altered by emigration, since, even under the stars and stripes, the
national proclivity for the arguvientiim ad hoinincm crops up.
At Hans Ikeitmann's famous " barty," after " de gompany " had
revelled on brot and gensybroost, bratvvurst and braten, wa.shed
down by Neckarvvein and unlimited lager, instead of peacefully
digesting these good things,

" vighted mit daple leeks,
Dill de coonshtable made oos shtop."

This disposition, common to all Germans, is more vigorously
manifested in the North ; and when it is remembered that one-
half the entire number of German lawyers — exclusive of those of
Austro-Germany — are domiciled in Berlin, it may be imagined
what a disputatious set the inhabitants of the Kaiserstadt must
be. Even these gentlemen are not always called in to settle their
disputes. Within the memory of middle-aged Berlinese there
existed in the city a " kneipe," or beer-house, much frequented by
the humbler citizens, who loved to discuss the politics of the day

there of an even-
ing. In a con-
spicuous part of
the principal room
a notice was set
up to the follow-
ing effect : — "Hon-
oured guests are
respectfully en-
treated to observe
that a reasonable
provision of blud-
geons is placed at
their disposition
by the proprietor,
grateful for their
patronage, and
may be found
handy behind the
great stove. It is
hoped that this ac-
commodation will
render it unne-
cessary for the future that honoured guests should break off the
chair-legs for the purpose of mutually adjusting their political
views ! "

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY. IO9

Prince Bismarck himself testifies to the unamiability of the
national disposition. " Each one here," he observes, " lives apart
in his little corner, holding his own opinion in the circle of his wife
and children, always mistrustful of the government as well as
of his neighbour, judging everything from his personal point
of view, and never from that of society at large. The sen-
timent of individualism and the need of contradiction are
developed in a German to an inconceivable degree ; show him
an open door, and rather than pass through it he will obstinately
seek to make a hole in the wall by the side of it."

The enmity between the inhabitants of Berlin and those
of Vienna has existed for years, the light-hearted, impulsive
" Wiener " venting his feelings in the wit he alone of all Germans
can display, and the bilious " Berliner" retaliating by that bitter
and reckless satire which is his formidable weapon. In popular
plays and humorous journals the typical inhabitant of the
rival capitals is held up to ridicule, and even serious publications
are full of the hatred and misrepresentations engendered by long
antagonism. It is singular, however, that the captious and
cynical Berliner, accustomed to criticize everything, naturally
disposed to opposition, and extremely cantankerous in his
dealings with his fellows, submits, though he may grumble, to
any arrangements that are officially made against his pleasure
or comfort in the city. The restrictions which the authorities
impose upon his claims to such scant amusement as is available
he generally accepts with the sullen obedience resulting from
a prolonged military regime. His manners are, indeed, rarely
ever cordial. When two acquaintances encounter each other they
will commonly content themselves with a dry Guten viorg-en, and
take their leave with a curt Adieu. This last phrase they have
appropriated, like many others, from the French, as though con-
scious of the deficiency of their own language in the ordinary
terms of politeness.

Savoir vivre is certainly not natural to the Berlinese, though
many of them undoubtedly try to be polite. When introduced
to a stranger they will bow half-a-dozen times, at an angle of 45
decrees, in a ceremonious manner, and will never think of sitting
down at or quitting a table dliote without first saluting the
company. Before taking possession of a vacant chair, in a beer-
garden even, or taking up a newspaper in a cafe, they will first of
all appeal, uncovered, to the nearest person, even although he
may happen to be sitting at another table. Yet they will blow
clouds of smoke from their rank cigars into ladies' faces, and this
not merely in the street but in railway-carriages, and even
at dinner-tables, and will roughly elbow their way through a
crowd inside a theatre, regardless both of women and children.
Place aux Dames has certainly no place in their code of
etiquette. They further thrust themselves in front of you

no

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

should you happen to
be looking into a shop-
window, rudely push
against you in the
street, and tread un-
concernedly on your
favourite corns, and,
after obtaining a light
for their cigars, will
hurry ofif, caring little
or nothing whether
they have deposited
the borrowed weed
safely in its owner's
hand or allowed it to
drop upon the ground,
and, worse than all,
will rarely think of
apologizing for these
and other breaches of
good manners. Still
what is to be expected of a people who think nothing of taking a
comb out of their pockets and combing their hair in the midst of a

~-"'^f"^iiMi:(,f,

conversation, or of standing before a looking-glass in a restaurant
and performing the same operation, and who, instead of reserving

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

Ill

their tooth-picks for their teeth, clean their finger-nails with
them in public, and at times even thrust them into their ears.

A Frenchman whom
I casually met at Ber-
lin complained bitterly
of the behaviour of the
Berlinese in a crowd.
At Paris he admitted
you get more or less
pushed against, and
occasionally a trifle
crushed, " but then,"
observed he, " you
have the satisfaction
of being able to push
and crush thosearound
you in return. At
Berlin, hov/ever, this
is simply impossible;
you find yourself
pushed in all direc-
tions, have your corns
positively stamped on,
receive all manner of violent digs in the ribs and sharp pokes
in the sides, which you cannot return with interest — as you dearly

v^^:^!:-

long to do — for these
heavy masses of flesh,
these gigantic feet,
these muscular arms,
these thick-set shoul-
ders, have the resist-
ance of granite. One
throws oneself against
them, one positively
hurts oneself, still
they do not budge an
inch. They have an
admirable plan, too,
in a crowd, of carrying
a lighted cigar in their
hands, so that, in push-
ing against them, you
run the risk of burn-
ing alike your hands,
face, and clothes."

Another weakness o^ the Berlinese is that all classes as a rule
" talk at the top of their very powerful voices ; no man waits
for his neighbour to finish the observations he has begun ; he

112 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

shouts in reply as though the main object were to be heard
at any cost. Take a cafe, a steamer, a railway carriage, any
place of public resort where two or three Teutons are gathered
together, and the result will be vociferous. That finer instinct
which teaches the talker to lower his voice in a picture-gallery
or a public garden, and produces a pleasant hush in clubs,
reading-rooms, and theatres, is entirely wanting here."

A Berlin acquaintance once pointedly asked of me my
opinion of his compatriots. " The French," said he, " call us bar-
barians ; now as you have seen a good deal of our ways, tell me
if you find us very different from other people." Being hardly
pressed I readily owned that the French considerably exagge-
rated the little failings of their conquerors ; still I could not
help remarking that the natives of the Fatherland did appear
to me somewhat ill-mannered ; and I cited, as one example,
their graceless habit of using the knife as a spoon at their
meals, and frequently thrusting three or four inches of the blade
into their mouths. From that moment my Berlin friend treated
me with marked reserve, conscious though he must have
been of the truth of my observation.

This interjection by the Germans of knives half-way down
their throats has been the theme indeed of frequent satire.
Thackeray introduces us to the charming Princess of Potztausend-
Donnerwetter performing hideous feats of knife-jugglery at the
royal table of her illustrious relatives ; and the writer we
have frequently quoted describes how it has " happened to
her more than once to sup at royal, serene, transparent, and
impalpable tables where the service has been of fine gold and
the air literally charged with diamonds and decorations, and
yet to tremble at the dangerous dexterity of her neighbours,
as, ignoring the humble merits of the fork and spoon, they
performed surprising and audacious tricks with knives of
Damascene sharpness." She mentions, too, a naive compliment
which she overheard a German paying to an English lady,
whose acquaintance she had casually made at the table d'hote,
from which they had just risen. " I knew directly you were
English," exclaimed she, "for you eat so prettily ! "

Anywhere in Berlin, from the table d'hote of the Hotel du
Nord to a cellar bicr-local, you will see people grasping their
forks dagger-fashion, and using them solely for the purpose of
steadying their food as they cut it up, while their knives fly inces-
santly backwards and forwards from their plates to their mouths.
At the dinner-table one has watched a party of good-looking
frdnlcin,7\.\\(\. seen their knife-blades loaded with food disappearing
between their rosy lips in a way that has made one tremble
for the consequences. And not merely do the Berlinese use
their knives as spoons, but with their aid commonly scrape
their plates so clean, that changing the latter is a work of

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

113

SiliSIIS. _ i

supererogation. In
the restaurants you
may see them clat-
tering away at their
plates until the
smallest invisible
animalculae might
search in vain over
their surface for so
much as a mouthful.
To prove that we
have not exagge-
rated the Berliner's
deficiencies in the
matter of good breeding, it will suffice to quote some curt remarks
of a distinguished Prussian professor on this subject: — " It is not
easy," observes our authority, " for well-bred foreigners to asso-
ciate agreeably with a people who mistake rudeness and bluntness
for sincerity and frankness, who eat clumsily, wear unsightly
signet rings on their forefingers, whose women dress without
taste, and divide their time between the kitchen, and gossiping,
coffee-drinking associates, as they find it difficult at first no
doubt to accustom themselves to our execrable beds and bad
cookery."^

The Berliner's proverbial ill-breeding can scarcely be attributed
to lack of proper counsel on matters polite, for he has the advan-
tage of any number of books on etiquette, all going deeply into
the question, both as to what is proper and improper to be done
in the various exigencies of social life. The most popular of
these — the Berliner GalantJiojume — in its rules for good behaviour
at table, is, however, strangely silent upon the accomplishment
of polishing the plate off which you have eaten with the aptitude
of a scullion, and of handling your dinner-knife with the dexterity
of a juggler, although it gravely announces that it is " no longer
the fashion " to change the fork from the left hand to the right
when conveying the food to the mouth. Yet spite of this the
rule is daily violated at every Berlin dinner-table. One is con-
strained to believe that only people deficient in the rudiments of
refinement could possibly need such counsel as the following
extracted at random from the above-mentioned work : —

" Passing the hand through the hair at the dinner-table, using a knife or
fork as a toothpick, or throwing pellets of bread about, are improprieties
which scarcely require to be pointed out.

" It is not seemly to wipe your knife, fork, or spoon, with your napkin
before using them. It may be allowable at a restaurant, but not in a private
house.

^ Professor Hillebrand.

114

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

" Avoid soiling the table-cloth, spilling wine, or putting bones upon it, or
splashing those that sit next to you.

"It is for the host to see that his guests do not fill their wine-glasses to
the brim.

" Of course no one should help his neighbour with the knife, fork, or
spoon he is himself using.

" It is unpleasant to see any one eating great quantities of pastry, putting
too large pieces into his mouth, or filling a cup or glass with crumbs, and
eating them with a spoon."

The gravity of the following will provoke a smile : —

" If you wish a lady to think you over precise, be very careful about folding
up your napkin in the old creases at the end of dinner. Should you wish, to
be thought careless, crumple it up and throw it on the floor. It is, however,
preferable to adopt the proper medium. Women will judge from a man's
way of folding up his napkin the kind of husband he is likely to make."

From the same precious mentor a few other precepts may be
quoted, and first of all one embodying his individual opinion of
the value of those social courtesies which he sets himself up to
inculcate : —

" The usual civilities
current in social inter-
course are only lies by
which people seek to
deceive one another.

" Do not scratch
vour head or pick your
ears or nose in com-
pany ; it is hard to be-
lieve such things are
done, nevertheless we
have seen them.

" Never allow your
nails to grow an inch
long. Delicate and
refined ladies object
to such claws, which
are only popular with
those who think them
a sign of the Bohe-
mian.

" Do not tramp up
and down the carpets
in a lady's room with-
out occasion, seat your-
self on the edge of the
table, or rest your feet
upon its legs.

" Do not sit with your legs too far apart, too much stretched out in front of
you, or with them crossed, and if you have occasion to draw your chair
nearer to the table, do not use your feet for the purpose.

" Do not rock yourself in your chair, drum on the arm of any one else's
chair, or keep kicking your feet against it.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY.

115

are speaking to them. Three paces off is
"In ladies' society refrain from arguing
other dry subjects, in
which they can take no
part and feel no interest.
Above all never discuss
points of belief with them,
and rob them of their
faith, since you have no-
thing better to offer them
in place of it."

The morality of the
following is at least
questionable : —

" Nothing wins a man
more admiration from
girls and women than
knowledge of any kind.
To them no one is so
ridiculous and contempt-
ible as an ignoramus.
Above all things, there-
fore, be on your guard
never to say ' I don't
know ' when you are asked
about anything. If you
are net in danger of some
by - stander remarking

the
on

"Do not look inquisi-
tively round a room when
paying a visit, or handle
everything you see lying
about."

The hints on con-
versation suggest no-
thing in the least de-
gree lively. Fancy
the moribund tone
that would pervade
a company where the
following precept was
strictly observed : —

" A man should always
speak as if he were mak-
ing his will.

"When conversing with
ladies do not fix your
eyes steadily on them,
neither cast them on the
ground. Do not press too
closely on them, thrust
)ourself immediately un-
der their noses, or breathe
in their faces while you

proper distance.

learned, religious, political, or

ii6

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

' that is untrue ' you had better make a misstatement ; an error is more
readily forgiven than ignorance.

" Forbear making comments to ladies on the good or bad looks of persons
whom you know."

The Berlin ladies on their part are admonished that —

" It will not do for a lady to knit stockings in every kind of company and
in all public places 1 "

Spite of the courte'^y which there is a pretence of e.xacting to-
wards the fair sex, we find a lady justly complaining that in Ger-
many " No man rises to open the door for you when you leave the
room ; if cups of tea or coffee have to be handed about it is the
lady of the house that will carry them round ; she will be re-
warded with a ' Taitsoid Dank, nicine Gnddigste,' but the ' most
gracious ' will be allowed to trot aljout all the same. A man
need not wait (in that happy land) for ' pain and anguish ' to
' rack the brow ' before the ministering angels appear upon the
scene. You (one of the angels) may search an hour for your
sortie de bal in a cloak-room, before one out of that group of glit-
tering beings assembled round the door will put out a helping
hand. When at last you emerge from your difficulties, and pass
down the stairs, they will draw themselves up, in stramme mili-
tdrischc Haltung, click their heels together, and bring their heads
to tlie level of their sword-belts ; and if that is not devotion,

. . ^ |, ,. --'■./w, , ,, K, chivalricbehavour, and

'WUW^h%m/M\ lil. splendid respect the

world has none to
show, and you are an
exacting and irrational
malcontent."

Dancing is a positK^'e
mania with the Ber-
linese, yet our arbiter
degantiarum of the
Athens of the Spree
offers but few hints for
the benefit of novices
in the science of salta-
tion. He, however, in-
forms us that —

" There may be parties
where propriety requires
you to enter the room hat
in hand, to keep on your
gloves, to dance hat in
hand, &c,, while there
may also be highly re-
spectable society where to
do so would look absurd.

" If you wish to look like

THE BERLINKSE IN SOCIETY.

117

> I 'f^ , _ 11'.' Gs^^riBw atm^t V \k ^' 1 _ >

circumstance how with them the enthusiasm
itself perfectly with
the activity of the
stomach, citing, as
an example, that
Werther, even in his
moments of most
profound despair,
never once forgets
the hours of his
meals. To-day we
find a lettered Ber-
liner maintaining it
would be an im-
mense mistake to
imagine that a trace
remains of the ele-
ments which went
to form the picture
Madame de Statil
gave of them to the
world. " The ideal-
ism, the dreaminess,
and moonshine," ob-
serves he, " have had
their day. We have become strict Realists

n fool you have only
to keep on your gloves
when no one else in
the room is wearing
them, or to dance hat
in hand when no one
else is doing so.

" In dancing avoid
:4rand steps and pirou-
ettes, which are admis-
sible in a theatre but
not in a ball-room,
where simplicity, mo-
desty, and dignity are
required in the dance.
The waltz especially
demands great moder-
ation."

The Germans

have long enjoyed
the credit of being
a sentimental peo-
ple, and M. Emile
Souvestre has call-
ed attention to the
of the mind allies

The questions that

ii8

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

occupy us in the morning, which perplex us at nightfall, are
business questions. All in art and literature that savoured of
idealism, dreaminess, and moonshine, is gone. We have become
accustomed to deal better than we used to do with realities, and
to describe things as they are. Why are we Realists .'' For the
same cause that makes a Realist of any one on the pavements
of the London streets. If one is pressed upon, and shoved
from all sides, and must keep a sharp look-out in order to escape
being run over, one has no leisure for transcendental Idealism
and the sorrows of a ' beautiful spirit.' " ^

Spite of all this our thoroughly practical Berlinese are still
under the influence of the romanticism which pervades the
literature of the past century, and a very short sojourn in the
imperial capital suffices to satisfy one that its inhabitants have
other idols besides Bismarck and Moltke, and that Goethe and
Schiller still hold their place in the general admiration. You
can rarely open a Berlin newspaper or periodical of any kind
without meeting with something concerning one or other of these
twin geniuses — either some new detail concerning their lives, a
fete held in their honour, a projected statue, a criticism on their
works, the sitting of some verem devoted to their study, or some
allusion to their intellectual supremacy. Whenever there is a
dearth of news the papers invariably fall back upon Schiller or
Goethe. The elephant at the Berlin Zoological Gardens, although
a colossal one, would never be able to carry the piles of paper

, , ^,. printed every vear

with the specific
object of keeping
alive the worship of
these twin demi-
gods.

A German, al-
though he be but
a better-class shop-
keeper, will gene-
rally possess some
kind of library, and
occupying the place
of honour on its
shelves are certain
to be the complete
works of Goethe
and Schiller in
the handsomest of
bindings. And yet,
in spite of this, or
perhaps by reason of it, the trade keeps constantly reproducing

' F. .Spielhagen, in the Aihcmcum,

!iO. \\w':^ ~, ~-}^\

«^H.

THE BERLINESE IN SOCIETY, II9

these books, issuing them as perfect marvels of cheapness. There
is scarcely an intelligent German or educated young girl, or
mother of a family in the Fatherland who does not know much of
Schiller or Goethe by heart. And as it is only natural for people
to like to talk of what they know, you can scarcely converse with
a Berliner for half-an-hour, or if she be a lady for more than
five minutes without Schiller or Goethe coming upon the tapis
in the shape of some quotation from one or other of their works.

I was once with a friend at an open-air concert, when standing
behind us, were a rather numerous family. A gentleman passed,
QyicX^ivmng," Das also war des Pudels Kern!" a remark of Faust's
when Mephistopheles assumes his proper shape in lieu of that
of the dog into which he had transformed himself. Instantly
the mother behind us repeated the continuation, " Ein fahrender
Scolast?'' and then one of the daughters took up the quotation,
saying, " Der Casus macJit niich lac/ten ;" and so on, each member
of the family going on in turn to the end of the scene without
missing a single word.

" Do you prefer Goethe to Schiller, or Schiller to Goethe ? "
is the question constantly addressed to a foreigner. Each poet
counts his partisans and admirers, and Berlin, like other large
German cities, has its two parties of Schillerians and Goetheists.
Every one, while adhering to his particular preference, still
admits both to be great men. The discussion on this subject has
already lasted nearly half a century, and still continues as brisk
as ever. Friends and families constantly quarrel on account of
differences of opinion on this most important point, a propos of
which a Belgian, whose acquaintance I made at Berlin, related
to me the following anecdote : —

" A rich banker," said he, " to whom I brought introductions is
owner of a charming villa in the vicinity of Berlin, where he
spends the summer months. When I first visited him there I
noticed in front of the entrance a bust of Goethe on a pedestal
surrounded with flowers. On a subsequent occasion I observed
that the bust had disappeared, and that its place had been sup-
plied by one of Schiller. Remarking on the subject to the
banker's wife, the lady replied : ' It was I who had the busts
changed, and I intend that Schiller shall remain. I am deter-
mined not to give way in this instance, although I have generally
fallen in with my husband's fancies. For Goethe to occupy the
place of honour whilst Schiller is hidden away in a garret will
never do. I certainly will not allow our sublime poet to be thus
insulted. I have forbidden the gardener to remove his bust, and
if he dares to touch it I will at once discharge him. Goethe, as
you know, was a dreadful character, and said marriage was
immoral, whilst Schiller ■ '

"At this moment the banker, who had evidently overheard the
latter portion of the lady's remarks, entered the room. ' My dear

I20

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

wife,' said he, 'you are most unjust with regard to Goethe. He
is more universal, addresses himself more to mankind at large,
than Schiller, who was exclusively German. The place of
honour, therefore, belongs to Goethe.' Then, addressing me,
' You, I am sure, will be of my opinion.'

" I was greatly embarrassed how to reply, when the lady came
to my rescue. * No, indeed,' interposed she ; ' our friend is a
Belgian, and must prefer Schiller, who wrote such an admirable
history of his country's revolution in the sixteenth century.'

" 'And Goethe,' replied the banker, 'did he not -wr'xtQ Egmout ?
Did he not translate the romance of Reynard the Fox, a
Flemish work ^ '

" Thus beset on both sides, I was about proposing, as
a solution of the difficulty, that a second pedestal should be
erected for Goethe, when the daughter of the house, a girl of
seventeen, abandoning her roses, made her appearance, and
warmly espoused Schiller's cause. She detested Goethe instinc-
tively, and would not hear his name mentioned. Under these
circumstances, not knowing what to .say, I relapsed into silence.
The discussion lasted until dinner-time. It was probably resumed
the following day, and I doubt if it is even yet concluded."

,j C^^vv-^ <^^^^aJ>XYr^£^*..^

t y ^V 'J/ieWVi-nvJ- Ofv* tAW s^vvw 53 &.-»_— Mf>yl^^ »

VII.

THE BERLIXESE— AT HOME.

WITH the exception of a score or two of mansions, for the
most part grandiloquently dignified by the Berlinese with
the appellation of palaces, Berlin houses, like Paris ones, are, as a
rule, built to let out in flats. Each has its common entry under a
parte cocherc, and its common staircase for all the inmates, while
the larger ones have generally a good-sized court in the rear.
Sham marble pilasters and panels, and sham mosaic, decorate
the vestibules and staircases of most of the modern stucco
edifices, the stairs themselves being frequently painted over with
sham carpeting, just as the ceilings of the rooms are set off with
sham cornices and centre ornaments, and the walls with sham
panels and mouldings. Double windows are invariably provided
to keep out the cold, yet the floors will be only partially
carpeted, while polished parquetry is merely found in the more
elegant houses, it being the fashion at Berlin simply to stain the
floors of the apartments some darker colour.

122 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

In the typical middle-class drawinj^-room, most of the furniture,
including chairs, tables, sofa (the seat of honour in all German
households), and even footstools, is scrupulously covered with
crochet- work of elaborate design. Other cJicfs d'coiivrcs of the
needle, from the familiar woolwork on which Berlin has conferred
a name, to complicated embroideries and endless inutilities in bead-
work, are prominently displayed about the apartment, while any
such artistic objects as mediaeval glass, last-century china, modern
bronzes, statuettes, caskets, sconces, chandeliers, and girandoles,
are scarcely ever seen. Considering, too, the shoals of French
clocks which the Prussians are accused of having carried off
during the war with France, gilt timepieces and \\\€\x garnitures
are rarer objects than one would have imagined in Berlin
drawing-rooms. On the walls invariably hang the family photo-
graphs in little oval frames, the men being commonly represented
in uniform with military medals on their breasts. On the table
one finds neither albums nor illustrated books, nor even maga-
zines and newspapers, excepting perhaps a stray number of
Der Bazar or Der Gartcnlaube, for Berlin women rarely read the
papers or trouble themselves about anything outside their own
narrow sphere.

Just as the drawing-room is deficient in elegance, so does
the dining-room lack comfort, its walls being usually bare, its
floor uncarpeted, and its furniture of the plainest description.
In none of the apartments are there open fireplaces, warmth
being more effectually and economically secured by means of
the V>e.v\\v\QSQ kac/ielofcn, a monumental stove of clay and gypsum,
glazed outside with white porcelain, the interior being so con-
trived that the heat passes slowly through endless circumvolutory
valves, which by degrees warm the whole mass. Preparatory
to heating, the stove is well piled up with wood and a strong
draught created; and when the logs are reduced to ashes, a
handle is turned in the wall of the stove and a little door drawn
over the grating at its mouth, when, the draught being cut off,
the heated air remains imprisoned in the ofcji, which will keep
warm for many hours, communicating an equalised heat to the
remotest corner of the apartment. One drawback to this
arrangement is that, if the escape-valve be closed too soon, the
fumes of charcoal will pass into the room, rendering the danger
of asphyxiation in a sleeping apartment great. During very
cold weather such casualties are by no means uncommon. Cast-
iron stoves are frequently substituted for the Berliner of en, and
produce a furnace-like heat, affecting both taste, smell, and sight,
the unpleasant consequences of which are but very slightly coun-
teracted by the vessel of water which you are advised to keep
constantly boiling on their hottest part.^

The sleeping apartments are provided with bedsteads of
' Ci'rvian Home Life.

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

123

Liliputian dimensions — simple wooden boxes, too short to allow
of a tall man stretching himself out full length, and too narrow
for a fat man to turn round in. Indeed, narrower quarters could
scarcely be found in a coffin, and certainly not in a Berlin one.
The sheets, too, are little else than good-sized towels, so that
tucking in is altogether impossible, while, in lieu of blankets and
counterpane, the bed is provided with a voluminous bag of
feathers, too short, however, to keep the toes warm. The problem
to be solved by the unhappy occupant of one of these diminutive
sleeping berths is to slide deftly in between two bags of feathers,
and to keep the upper one, which is apt to be constantly slipping
on to the ground, in proper equilibrium. Coleridge, when
travelling in Germany, said that he preferred carrying his blanket
about with him, like a Red Indian, to enduring the discomforts
inseparable from a German bed.

The wall-papers in many private houses and hotels are
remarkable for their hideous patterns, which, in the case of
nervous individuals are sufificient to induce an attack of nightmare.
These papers are bad enough in the daytime, but at night —
lighted perhaps by a trembling moonray — they assume a ghastly
aspect. Great ogres' heads, with eyes as large as saucers, and
mouths which seem to open wider and wider every minute,
appear to stare down
upon one ; serpents
twist and twirl in
endless arabesques, as
though about to spring ;
while little demons
perch themselves here
and there round the
room with hideous
grins stereotyped up-
on their features. No
wonder that a stranger,
with the indigestible
Berlin cuisine lying
heavily on his chest,
should imagine himself
encompassed by all
manner of horrors, and
engage in a more or
less desperate struggle
with the spirits of the

air, in the course of which the hateful bag of feathers
tain to overbalance itself and topple to the ground,
him shivering in a half-sleeping, half-waking state during the
remainder of the night.

A special feature of Berlin is its furnished apartments. " Eine

IS cer-
eaving

124

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

moblirte Stube zu vcrmicthen " is to be seen on thousands of
house-doors and beneath the windows of all the storeys from
ground-floor to attic. In Berlin the letting of rooms is a busi-
ness of itself, which not only pays the householder's rent, but
is frequently his or her sole source of income. All sections of
the middle-classes devote themselves to this vocation — widows
of priv}--councillors, subordinate officials, thrifty gentlemen of
private means, tradespeople of all descriptions, but pre-eminently
tailors. A lodger has the widest choice, from gorgeous salons,
with pier-glasses and divans at extravagantly high rents, down
or rather up to humble attics, with rickety chairs and unsteady
tables. The principal occupants of the better class of furnished
apartments are strangers to the capital, members of the Reichs-
tag and Landtag, and well-to-do idlers, indifferent to civic
privileges, and free from the cares of family life. Lodgers of
this class are not dominated over by their landlords in the
fashion that those of humbler condition are. They are neither
controlled nor watched in the same harassing way, the only
scrutiny they are subjected to having reference merely to the
contents of their purses, whereas the occupier of furnished
apartments in an average Berlin lodging-house becomes in a
great measure the property of his landlady, who is never satisfied
with receiving the mere rent. She requires him to drink the

family coffee on the
''fmifimM^mmmmm plea that if he made

his own he would
spoil the table-cloth.
The heating of his
apartment is also
monopolized by her,
and, as a conse-
quence, only a few
fir-chips are laid in
the stove of a morn-
ing, causing him to
be shivering with
cold at noon, neces-
sitating its being
constantly relighted,
and forcing him to
seek for warmer
quarters in some
bier-haus of an even-
ing. The furniture
^ generally consists of
a sofa, on which it would be idle to attempt to lie at full length,
such a proceeding being designedly rendered impossible for
the sake of the sofa itself; a secretaire, spotted all over with

THE BKRLINESE AT HOME.

ink ; a chest of drawers, in wliich each new comer finds the
worthless relics of his predecessor ; a few rush-bottomed chairs,
a table, washstand, looking-glass, and finally a bedstead, con-
structed according to the universal rule of rigid military dimen-
sions, whose brevity is provocative of cramp, and whose extreme
narrowness renders extravagant dreams altogether impossible.

Hundreds of lodging-houses of this description, sv/arming
with domestic vermin, which the proprietors are at no pains
to exterminate — their habit being to assure their tenants that
they will soon get used to them — are to be found within a
stone's throw of the Linden. Up in the attic will perhaps be
perched one of those quiet, industrious young men, who, on his
arrival in the Weltstadt — as the Berlinese since the war have
christened their city — will have brought with him a huge trunk,
which, by the aid of a friend, he gets up stairs with apparent
difficulty, peremptorily refusing the landlady's proffered help, as
it happens to be almost empty ; in fact, as empty as the cupboard
in his room, which he carefully locks whenever he goes out, and
which contains simply some socks, a cap, sword-belt, and pair of
high boots. The owner of this scanty wardrobe is a truant from
home who had joined a company of strolling players, and, dis-
gusted with his first failure, and discarded by his plodding father,
has come to Berlin to try his hand at literature. His next-door
neighbour is an embryo portrait-painter — an orphan, whose uncle,
a stalwart country blacksmith, proud of v/hat he believes to be
his talent, makes him a monthly allowance to" enable him to
pursue his artistic studies. The money is not exactly wasted,
for the young fellow is constantly at work with his brushes and
his palette, and even in the open air has always the odour of
fresh paint about him. His uncle and the rest of his relations,
as well as all the landlord's family, have sat to him in turn.
Photographic portraits he maintains to be merely bungling pro-
ductions of science, whereas art, with its idealism, is capable of
surpassing nature herself. He gains, however, no prize-medal,
and is sent on no Italian tour, so that at length the old black-
smith, doubting his talent, withdraws his monthly allowance,
which obliges him to give up his furnished room, and he is last
seen on the top of a ladder painting the outside of a newly-
finished house.

Underneath live several rackety students and a professor of
the English language, who flaunts a stylish overcoat, but whose
general wardrobe, according to his laundress, is but poorly
supplied. He leaves home very early in the morning under the
pretence of breathing the fresh air ; but his neighbours, the
students, say that it is to avoid the bailiff". Vis-d-vis with him
lives a great but unknown composer, who regards the works of
Mozart and Beethoven as unadapted to the spirit of the age, and
who has composed a couple of inimitable operas which however

126

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

./^<^-'~'vJ

he has failed to get performed. His landlady complains that
he is a most untidy genius, for he is always losing his soap, and
leaving his hair-brush on the sofa. He is poor and consump-
tive, and gets his living by giving lessons, which obliges him to
trudge long distances even in the very worst of weathers.

On the first-floor lodges a stout, middle-aged gentleman from
Pomerania, who has come to Berlin for the express purpose
of seeing the Minister of Finance. He is the inventor of a
peculiar water-mark for bank-notes, which it is impossible to
forge, since it is produced by electro-magnetism, and cannot, he
maintains, be imitated by the most skilful hand. He remains
installed for months, dressing well, and living still better with
his landlady for caterer, but postponing payment both for rent
and board until the Minister of Finance comes to a definite
decision on his invention, which he informs his landlady the
latter is certain soon to do, as everybody pronounces the new
water-mark to be one of the most ingenious inventions of the

age, besides which the
Minister has been heard
to express himself en-
thusiastically regarding
it. One day, however,
the stout, middle-aged
gentleman fails to re-
turn from the Ministry
of Finance, and when
I' the landlady examines
his room she finds
the wardrobe perfectly
empty. On the table
is a letter for her, in
r= which the defaulter has
inclosed a specimen of
the water-mark, pro-
mising to forward the
bank-notes belonging to
it at the earliest con-
venient opportunity.^
The Berlinese have a traditional objection to letting apart-
ments to the fair sex, and certainly not one in a dozen is
willing to open his doors to a young lady living alone. Berlin
numbers thousands upon thou.sands of self-dependent, unpro-
tected women whom lodging-house keepers object to receive —
first because they are suspicious of their characters, and secondly
because nothing is to be made out of women. In itself there is
nothing remarkable that a young girl should be driven by her
destiny to support herself by honest and virtuous means ; never-
1 Berlin wird Wcltstadt, von Robert Springer.

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

127

theless for her the question of shelter in the capital of the new
Empire is invariably attended with painful humiliations ; and
vainly does the association for assisting women to support
themselves by their own industry try to vanquish this prejudice.
Even the magistracy retain their old suspicions, founded doubt-
lessly on actual experience, of women who live by themselves ;
hence an unmarried lady, engaged at the Court theatre, was
recently summoned by a magistrate to appear before him, and
state what were her

means of subsistence. ^^^-^^^^^g-^T-^^S^Pi j
Such a person may "^ ' '^
be in comparatively
good circumstances,
and yet be reduced
to tears when she tries
to obtain apartments
in Berlin. People will
mount their noses in
the air, and send
her from their doors,
or she will have to
submit to a sharp
cross-examination. If
she is received, and
her character and oc-
cupation are not at
once patent, all that
she does, as well as all
that she leaves un-
done, where she goes,
and the time when she
returns, her wardrobe,
and the letters she receives, are
suspicion.

The Berlinese, following the general custom of the Continent,
assemble round no family breakfast-table, with its snowy cloth
set forth with glittering plate and handsome china, as amongst
ourselves, before entering on the avocations of the day. With them
the matutinal meal is partaken of under conditions the reverse
of inviting. On the table there is usually one of those abomin-
able oil-cloth covers, so common abroad, on which is placed a
basket or tray, piled up with newly-baked little wheaten rolls,
called senivicbi, and the requisite number of cups and saucers
— plates and knives being regarded as altogether superfluous —
while the coffee-pot is placed on the top of the kacJielofcn to keep
warm. One after another the members of the family troop in, if
not altogether unwashed, certainly after a too sparing external
use of cold water, and in varying stages of dishabille , the h -ad of

all regarded with intense

128

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the establishment ordinarily in one of those offensively loud
dressing-gowns, to which the Germans are so partial, and the
mistress of the house in untidy morning wrapper and crumpled
as well as not over clean cap. Each grown-up member of the
family helps him or herself to coffee, and, as a rule, almost every-
one partakes of the uncomfortable meal — the fruhstiick, or
" early bit " as it is expressively enough termed — if not moving
up and down at any rate standing.

By reason of the early dinner-hour, the dc^'euuer a la foiirchette

is not in vogue at Ber-
lin, where the two great
meals of the day are
the dinner and the sup-
]3er. With the middle-
classes the dinner-hour
varies from twelve to
two, during which time
all the public offices,
banks, and other large
institutions, are closed,
and business may be
said to be entirely sus-
pended. The upper
classes ordinarily dine
no later than four
o'clock, so as to admit
of their going to the
theatre or the opera at
the early hour of six.
The meal in the ma-
jority of households is
far from a substan-
tial one. The scant
supply of meat in the
butchers' shops has already been remarked on, and many a
British mechanic devours as much animal food in a day as
would serve an average middle-class household for a week. The
wealthier burghers and the poor nobility exercise in their
domestic commissariat an economy which, judged by an Eng-
lish standard, is quite incompatible with the maintenance of
full health and strength, and one writer, whose long residence in
the Prussian capital renders him a competent judge, expresses
his doubts whether there are really ten thousand well-fed people
in all Berlin out of nearly a million of inhabitants.

The ordinary dinner may be taken to consist of soup, the
bouilli from which it has been made, and from which all nutri-
ment has been carefully extracted, a slice or so of sausage or
of raw ham, or equally raw pickled herring, various vegetables —

THE BERLINESE AT HOME. 129

comprising, of course, the national sauerkraut, which, if warm,
will be redolent of grease, and if cold of vinegar — pre-
serves or pudding of some kind, and plenty of schwartzbrod
— that is, rye- bread stuck full of caraway seeds, which
the Berlinese pretend calm the nerves, an inference hardly
warranted by their condition of chronic cantankerousness.
During the autumn baked goose is an especially favourite dish
both at the Berlin restaurants and with private families. Into
the mysteries of the domestic aiisine it will not do to pry too
closely, German food generally has been divided into "the
salt, the sour, and the greasy : the salt, as exemplified by ham
and herrings ; the sour, as typified by kraut and salads ; the
greasy, as demonstrated by vegetables stewed in fat, sausages
swimming in fat, sauces surrounded by fat, soups filmy with fat."
But there are weird compounds, mysterious " hell broths,"
evolved from odds and ends, and of which the restaurateur's carte
disdains to take notice, to be met with at private tables. The
English belief that to make soup sundry pounds of meat are
needed as a primary ingredient, may receive a shock on first
becoming acquainted with the soupes maigres of France, but it
vanishes altogether on finding the water in which fish has been
boiled thickened with flour and flavoured with a dab of salt
butter, formally served up at a meal, or in the presence of a
soup composed principally of beer, thickened with eggs and
sweetened with sugar, and the aspect and flavour of which pro-
duce upon strangers much the same effect as the black broth of
Sparta upon the guests at the classical banquet in Peregrine
Pickle.

The dainties which Germany boasts of with some jus-
tice, such as Westphalia hams, Brunswick sausages, Pomeranian
goose breasts, East Sea fat herrings, smoked Kiel sprats, Elbe
and East Sea eels in jelly, caviar, and the like, and which are
to be found on the cartes of the better class of restaurants at
Berlin, are too costly to figure on the tables of her citizens, save
on the most exceptional occasions. Sticky jams and sallow
salt or acid pickles, notably the saure gtcrken, play, however,
a conspicuous part in the repast, and are often eaten simul-
taneously. The preparation of the latter in the immense quantities
needed for home consumption is one of the great duties of a
housewife ; and that dead season of the year which we usually
associate with gigantic gooseberries and the sea-serpent is known
at Berlin as " die sauregurkenzeit^' as everyone is then supposed to
be absorbed in the pickling of gherkins for winter consumption.

In many households the dinner is served in much the same
happy-go-lucky fashion as the breakfast. It is true the table
has a tumbled cloth on it, still its appointments and general
arrangements have little that is inviting about them. It is not
considered necessary to change the knives and forks, and only

K

130

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

rarely to supply fresh plates ; still this can be of no fjreat
moment to people who make a practice of eating half-a-dozen
different things of the most diverse flavours from off the same
plate at the same time. Tea or coffee is partaken of later in
the afternoon, after which comes the early theatre, very gene-
rally patronized by the Berlinese, and then the family supper,
commonly consisting of little slices of cold meat, ham, or
sausage, jam, pickles, hard-boiled eggs, black bread, cheese, and
butter, washed down with copious draughts of beer or a limited
quantity of simulated Bordeaux.

The primitive custom prevalent in provincial towns in regard
to the hiring of domestic servants still survives at Berlin, where,
at the end of each quarter, a kind of statute-fair is held in a
particular part of Friedrichs-strasse. Here, crowding alike the
foot-pavement and the roadway, a hundred or upwards of over-
dressed, tidy, or slatternly-looking female servants may at times
be seen, all duly provided with their dienstbuchs for the inspection
of the Berlin hausfrau, or the alter hagestolz (old bachelor) in
search of either koc/iin, inddcheti, or wirthscJiafterin. In these
dktistbuchs — provided by the police authorities, and for which
the servant has to pay a few groschen — her name, age, and
native place are duly recorded, and then follows a series of
printed forms, one of which each successive mistress of the girl
fills up when the latter quits her situation. They certify as to
the time she has been in her place, and how she has conducted

herself whilst there,
together with the rea-
son for her leaving.
These latter particu-
lars, however, are not
to be relied on, Berlin
mistresses, like Paris
ones, being singularly
wanting in candour
with reference to
servants' characters.
When it happens the
girl's conduct has been
so bad that it is
impossible for her
mistress to overlook
it, she neglects on
leaving her situation,
to present herself at
the police bureau to
haveherbook stamped,
as she is bound to do. She rather finds it preferable to rus-
ticate for a few months in her native place, as, armed with a

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

131

certificate of her good conduct whilst there, she is enabled to
obtain a new dienstbiich on the plea of the old one being lost,
and so make a fresh start in life with a clean moral bill of health.

Berlin derives its sup-
ply of female servants
not merely from various
country places in the
vicinity of the capital |
and the Prussian pro-
vinces generally, but
from all parts of Ger-
many. Every year
upwards of 30,000 un-
married women come
to Berlin to enter do-
mesticservice, or procure
some kind of work.
Those who engage them-
selves as nurses, and
occasionally some of
the others — femmes de
cJiambye and the like
— will continue to wear
the gay and picturesque
costume of their native place. Principal among these are
the buxom-looking peasant-girls from the Spreewald, whose

quaint head-dresses
and bright-coloured
petticoats contin-
ually attract the at-
tention in the cen-
tral avenue of the
Linden and the side-
walks of the Thier-
garten. The girls
who come from
Prussian Poland are
credited with being
both exceedingly
untidy and lazy, al-
though the majority
of Berlin servants
are certainly to be
commended. They cook fairly according to their lights,
wash and get up fine linen equal to professional laun-
dresses, and perform an amount of hard work, the mere enume-
ration of which would render an ordinary English housemaid

highly indignant. They do no end of

scrubbing
K 2

and

132

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

scouring, commonly without the aid of soap, for the thrifty
Berlin housewife usually allows only sand for this pur-
pose. Sand, by the way, is largely in
T^' tfF^ ^ request in most Berlin households, which

\l ^^\ /,j have their regiments of spittoons filled with

this substance, and the sand-cart is one of
the institutions of the capital, being indeed
almost as common as the universal beer-
dray.

The usual wages of Berlin servants are
60 thaler, or £() a year, which is exactly
double what they were previous to the war.
They receive in addition a present equal to
at least a couple of guineas on the occasion
of the new year, besides which they are
always hungering after gratuities from
guests, lodgers, and the like. The afternoon
^" of every second Sunday belongs to them

of right, and is generally spent at some beer-garden or saloon,
where their great
delight is to join in
a dance.

The relations be-
tween German mis-
tresses and their
servants have been
animadverted upon
by a female pen,
which describes "the
disastrous system
of rambling, slip-
shod gossip, carried
on between mistress
and maid, whilst the
potatoes are being
peeled and the car-
rots scraped, as
breeding a famili-
arity that is apt to
turn to contempt in
the inferior mind,
and is destructive
of anything like
truthfulness or in-
dependence on the
part of the mistress.
All the morning the lady potters in and out of the kitchen, and
between lifting the saucepan-lids and deploring the scarcity of

A BERLIN SAND CART.

THE BKRLI.NESE AT HOME.

133

eggs and the clearness of butter, many little confidences transpire,
the maid repeating all the miserable tittle-tattle of women of her
class with reference to their betters which she has picked up at
the market. A German servant who never saw her mistress in the
kitchen would soon despise her as a bad /lausfrau, and would
probably begin a system of thieving, under the impression that
her mistress was so

ittWT^-,

rich it did not matter,
or so stupid she would
not discover it.

" In ordinary house-
holds only one servant
is kept, but if there
are children there
will be a nursemaid.
If the household be
that of a military
man there will be an
orderly, who helps with
the rougher work,
such as the hewing
of wood and drawing
of water. In almost
everything, domestics are allowanced, provisions (not stores
only) being kept under strict lock and key, and doled out from
meal to meal according to want or necessity by the inde-
fatigable hausfraii. So much bread and so much butter is
allowed, or board-wages are given, so that the servants are
independent in all smaller matters of the family-food.

"A German servant continues a maid of all work until circum-
stances elevate her to a higher position. When dispensing with
the marriage ceremony, civil or religious, she becomes a mother,
a fresh career is opened to her as an arnnie (wet-nurse). It
is extremely rare for German ladies to nourish their own chil-
dren, and in rich and noble families the amine forms a part of
the pomp and circumstance of the house. She will wear her peas-
ant's dress, and with singular sort of coquetry her mistress will
see that the smartest silver shoe-buckles and Mieder ornaments,
the brightest scarlet cloth, the trimmest cap and bodice are hers ;
and when she carries her charge through the public gardens or
is driven abroad for an airing, she will often attract more notice,
and receive more admiration, than equipage, lady, horses, and
infant all put together." '

Miss Martineau speaks of Quaker children as being trained
from their earliest infancy to " cry softly," and it would appear
as if Berlin babies were subjected to something of the same dis-
cipline. The infants, mewling and puking in their nurse's arms
^ German Home Life, by a Lady.

134

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

have an air of gravity well becoming incipient Teufelsdrocks, an
expression of mental discipline, in strict accordance with the
fashion in which their physical freedom is cribbed, cabined, and

confined by a multipli-
city of swathings and
swaddlings. The same
soberness of demeanour
marks them as they
increase in years. If
they play they must
do so in the recesses
of their nurseries, for
you rarely see them
engaged, like English
children, at a boisterous
game in the open air.
Such mild amusements
as flying kites and
blowing bubbles are
far more to their
taste. We all know Germany to be the great producer
of toys ; and although toy-shops are singularly rare at Berlin,
it is only fair to suppose that the numerous toys exposed
for sale at the Christmas fair there are turned to some kind of
account. And yet it is only the veriest toddlers, and rarely
even these, who are seen trailing after them such a sign of the

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

135

times as the ubiquitous uhlan mounted upon his wooden
Berlin boys play at neither round games nor games with
although they execute
sundry weird manoeu-
vres at the commands
of their instructors,
which may have the
effect of improving
their lungs and mus-
cles : but which, judg-
ing from the serious
aspect of their coun-
tenances, certainly do
not relax their minds.
Excellent gymnasia
for children and
adults abound, at
which really astound-
ing feats are executed ;
but standing on your
head at the end
of a pole, hanging

by the chin on a trapeze, or revolving like a catherine-
round a horizontal bar, although achievements requiring

steed,
sides,

wheel
both

136 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMTIRE.

strength and skill in their execution, have nothing in com-
mon with playing at a game. Such a sight as a boy spinning
a top, trundling a hoop, tossing a ball, knuckling down at
marbles, discharging a pop-gun, or sending a " cat " whirling
past your ears, is never seen in the streets of the Prussian
capital. Berlin boys of the middle-classes go to day-schools
furnished with playgrounds, it is true, but in which no play goes
on ; and when, on leaving these, they join one of the universities,
their relaxations take the form of gymnastics, beer-drinking,
and duelling, with a walking tour during the vacations.
An eight or a four, manned by German students, has
never been seen on the Rhine, the Main, the Neckar, or the
Spree, although there are universities on the banks of all these
rivers ; and when a recent writer remarks that " the only manly
game that Berlin youth of the upper and middle- classes play is
the kriegspiel" one appreciates his irony.

As to the girls, they are early taught to sew, knit, cook, and
attend to household matters, all of which, when combined with
their ordinary education, and their instruction in music and
.singing, allows them but little opportunity, even if they had the
inclination, to play. The separation of the sexes, commencing at
an early age in the school-room, is continued outside it, conse-
quently, boys and girls from their tenderest years rarely mingle
together, while sisters never share their brothers' pursuits and
amusements as with us. Croquet, boating, and archery, are
unknown among them, and riding is for the most part looked
upon with horror as an unfeminine recreation. The apparition
of a lady on horseback is such a novelty in the streets of Berlin
that the juvenile ragamuffins have been known to testify their
astonishment by stoning her. The out-door exercise of a Berlin
girl is confined to her daily passage to and from school, with
occasional strolls in the Thiergarten, if she lives at all near to
it, and suburban excursions on high days and holidays, in com-
pany with her parents. As she grows up, the in-door life of
a stove-heated atmosphere, aided by a diet in which coffee, grease,
.sweets, and pickles, play the prominent part, begins to tell upon
her constitution. She becomes, as the French say, tHiolee, her com-
plexion gets pasty, and her teeth take their leave at an early age.
The important epoch of confirmation at length arrives. This
is in reality, however, less a religious than a social ceremony — a
-species of "coming out," marked by a round of visits paid in
the dress provided for the solemnity, the congratulations of
friends, and promotion to the degree of " young ladyhood,"
with its accompanying privileges, such as long dresses and
heart aspirations. German young ladies are very much like
each other, since their lives mainly revolve in the same narrow
round of daily occupation, varied by an occasional dance and
evenings spent at concerts and theatres. To deviate from

THE kt:rlinese at home. 137

7 ' " — ' ' ■ •= ■

this round would be to scandalize all one's friends and acquaint-
ances. Above everything our heroine continues to cultivate,
under her mother's tuition, the eminently Teutonic virtue of
hduslicJikeit, or dom.esticity, a quality more highly prized by the
middle-classes than any other, and one which popular literature
incessantly celebrates in prose and verse. The result is that
when she marries she is nearly always equal to the domestic
duties of her position, and is prepared to pinch, scrape, shift, and
starve, as people only pinch, scrape, shift, and starve in Berlin.

A yet more important epoch in the young girl's life approaches
— that in which she gives her affections to another under the
pledge of betrothal.

An impressionable French author, M. Edgar Bourloton, writing
after the recent war, paints a highly sentimental picture of the
development of the tender passion among the youths and
maidens of the Fatherland ; pretending, among other things,
that " a grave and well-considered affection rather than sordid
calculations of interest, or that blind exaltation commonly
termed love," is the moving principle in the majority of marriages
contracted between them. "At the age when the heart expands,"
he goes on to say, " the young man selects an aniie in the circle
of his acquaintances and under the eyes of his family. The
sentim^ent of love thus becomes fixed at the very moment it is
awakened, and the still flexible characters of the youthful couple
harmonize in pleasant intimacy, while they at the same time
learn to know each other. When the legal age arrives at which
marriage is possible they exchange the betrothal ring, which
symbolizes a solemn covenant, and embellishes the future with
tender expectations, the realization of which is the best and
worthiest encouragement to a young man to conduct himself
well on his entrance into life. With many it is in the tender
security of this love, which is not the mere dazzling of a moment,
the illusion of a day, that the dream of their youth passes by ;
this hope of their life smoothing down the difficulties attending
all first efforts, and preserving from the wanderings of inexperi-
ence a heart which is already satisfied."

All this is very pretty and equally proper, no doubt, but if
these idyllic unions are frequent in the purely rural districts,
they are certainly far from common in the larger towns, where
life is for the most part of the hard matter-of-fact rather than
of the sentimental type. Courtship and betrothal have little or
no romance about them at Berlin, where wooing a maiden's
heart is a task of less moment than gauging the probable
depths of her father's pocket. Young ladies too, on their side,
are little disposed to surrender themselves to "love's young
dream." When well born or handsome their great aim in life is
the making of a good match. If, like la Grande Duchesse,
they love the militaires, their reveries will be of an alliance

138

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

with some officer
of hussars or white
cuirassiers. Other-
wise the three con-
ditions commonly
imposed by an
aristocratic BerHn
belle upon her
lover are a flight
of steps leading
up to the house,
the title of "Your
Excellency," and
a man cook ; and
yet flights of steps
to which carriages
may drive up are
rarely to be found
in the Prussian ca-
pital, theseobstruc-
tionshaving of late
years been gene-
rally removed to widen the foot pavements. A young lady of
high birth, but poor, who succeeded in making one of these

ceived merely a
thousand thaler for
her dowry. With
half of these she
bought false hair,
and with the otiier
half real lace, leaving
her husband to pro-
vide all the domestic
requisites of their
joint household, the
furnishing of which
in Germany pro-
perly attaches to the
wife or her relatives.
This is somewhat
different to the days
when "spinster" was
a title that every
German maiden

sought to earn, and
when no bride en-
tered her husband's dwelling without oak chest upon oak

M''.

BWtm^h-f

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

139

chest piled high with snowy lavender-scented linen of her own
manufacture.

^^^^#^^i^4^Pi^"

The average middle-class young Berliner, instead of calmly
selecting his betrothed under the parental eye, begins, as a rule,
by losing his heart to his bashful partner of the dancing-class,
only to become fascin-
ated by a succession
of blonde belles met
with in the Thiergar-
ten, or encountered
at various places of
amusement or the
more congenial beer-
gardens, where so many
Berlin middle - class
families spend their
evenings. These indeed
form the favourite
hunting - grounds of
mammas with eligible
daughters, and certain-
ly no Belgravian mat-
ron is more keen in
detecting a "detrimen-
tal," or more skilful in
firmly hooking the man
uponwhomshehasfixed
her choice. The young
lady herself is expected to contribute to this end by making a
display of her domestic accomplishments, aided, of course, by

140 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

judicious maternal hints. The scene has been thus amusingly
sketched: — "If the objective man be an industrious artisan or
thrifty tradesman, the maiden drinks sparingly of beer, eats a piece
of ham or sausage instead of a beefsteak, and knits on some useful
garment. If he be a banker's son, one grade higher socially,
but attracted by a pretty face, the tactics are different. The
girl is permitted to be a little more forward. Instead of knit-
ting she works at some light embroidery ; she takes not only a
beefsteak, but a beefsteak aux chaj/ipigfions ; she chatters a good
deal about the opera, and even about Renz's circus ; and in short
her whole manner is lighter and freer. If the first class of can-
didates are to be captured by the steady persistent work of
infantry, the movement for the rich ' catches ' is more like a
cavalry charge. An observant young man can generally tell by
the second evening at the beer-garden if he is a persona grata
with the mother. If on his appearance she innocently offers
him a place beside* the daughter, or accidentally makes a place
for him, as it were, in the confusion of the moment, he knows at
once that one formidable outpost is carried ; and worse than
that, if he be himself indifferent, he knows that a sharp matron
is filling his path with traps and pitfalls. Perhaps the most
interesting scene is a mother who at a public place like that has
three or four daughters to adjust among as many ardent or
reluctant suitors. I can compare it to nothing but a cook
watching half-a-dozen beefsteaks in different degrees of prepara-
tion. From the pair who are most advanced in their wooing and
may be left pretty much to themselves, to the pair who least har-
monize and consequently need the most discreet attention and
encouragement, from the one of these extremes to the other,
along the intermediate grades of connubial readiness, the care
of this watchful mother ranges and operates. The young ladies
play their parts demurely, but with a good deal of skill.

" Perhaps the most delicate situation for an anxious suitor is
when the mother is indifferent, or, with a little judicious matronly
coquetry, knowing that he is anxious, pretends to be indifferent.
This situation exacts from the candidate the most careful be-
haviour, especially late in the evening after beer, when the mother
is likely to be sleepy and tired, and even irritable. One false step
then may ruin ail. The other evening a friend and I sat under a
lime-tree at a fashionable resort, amused at, and, in spite of our-
.selves, interested in, the proceedings at an adjacent table, where
there was a family party, consisting of a father, three
daughters, as many young men, and a mother calmly but
unobtrusively directing the course of affairs. One of the young
ladies, feeling cold, rose to throw a shawl over her shoulders,
and of course all the j^oung men by a common impulse plunged
madly forward to assist her. One of those young men will
never be seen again with that party, for he carried in his hand

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

141

as he went to aid the young lady a heavy cane ; and, with
characteristic awkwardness, he managed, while drawing up the
shawl, to thrust the end of the cane into the eye of the mother,
and the shawl seeming to require a good deal of adjustment, as
I have observed it often does when a young man is drawing it
on, and the shoulders arc those of a young lady, the unlucky
wretch nearly ruined the maternal eye. At any rate he seems
to have become convinced that it would never again look
favourably on him, for he comes no more to the trysting-
place."

Such wooings go on every evening at the various Ber-
lin beer-gardens, and people in the habit of observing the
actors can tell by one infallible sign when the climax is reached
and the couple are regularly engaged — namely, when the lover
begins to pay for the young lady's refreshments as well as his
own. To do so from that time forward is his privilege and his
duty ; but with true Prussian thrift he meets his sweetheart's
expenses alone, and considers himself in no way called upon to
dispense hospitality to the rest of her family. Even if there be
nobody else with them but the mother the latter always pays her
own bill. Night after night one may see at the same restaurant
a young man pay for himself and his sweetheart, while the worthy
matron just as regularly is left to the resources of her own purse.
If the three visit the theatre he purchases stalls for two, while
the mother takes her place in the queue and looks out for
herself, and the rule is scarcely ever broken through.

A Berliner who has been casually struck by some fair one,
and desires to pay his
court to her, has little
or no hesitation in
inquiring her address,
and writing point
blank either to the
lady herself or her
parents upon the sub-
ject, previous acquaint-
ance-ship or introduc-
tion being considered
altogether unnecessary.
In his letter he will,
as a matter of course,
draw a flattering por-
trait of himself, and
after mentioning his
income, position, pros-
pects, and friends, will
ask permission to visit the house in the character of the young
lady's suitor. If his request is accorded he finds himself received by

142 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the family of his intended with open arms — father, mother, brothers,
and sisters, all treating him as though he had been their friend for
years. The happy individual is. moreover, at once privileged to
proceed to demonstrative proofs of the ardour of his affection with-
out any fear of being rebuffed, and as a consequence chaste salutes
are indulged in to a most unconscionable extent, and mutual
caresses exchanged in the presence of third parties, with a
freedom that is positively embarrassing. Yet there are many
suitors who exhibit a preference for more clandestine modes of
courtship if we may judge from the numerous advertisements of
declarations, assignations, and the like, encountered in the
popular newspapers. One day we read that —

" The two elegant young ladies who in their own carriage, and at eight
o'clock on Sunday evening, near Charlottenburg, passed by a young man in
grey, who smiled to them, arc begged to enter into private communication
with him. Address," &c.

On another occasion we are apprized that —

" The blonde with the eye-glass, who, after waiting in vain last Sunday
afternoon in the Cafe Bellevue with her mamma for her papa's arrival, went
in the direction of the Leipziger-strasse, and disappeared from my sight in a
droschke at the corner of the Wilhelms-strasse, is, with the most honourable
intentions, requested by the gentleman who sat at the same table to afford
him another opportunity for a meeting by addressing a line," &c.

From an advertisement headed " Renz's Circus, pit, left, second
row," we learn that —

"The charming and handsome young lady dressed in black who was
present at last Sunday's performance is politely and most earnestly requested
by the gentleman who sat on her right hand to arrange a meeting, if this be
in any way practicable, by addressing," &c.

Again —

" The dark-eyed, luxuriant-locked beauty who sat in stall 51, fourth row,
of the Wallncr theatre, on Tuesday evening, and wept pearly tears over
Anna Ivanovna's sorrows, is passionately entreated to communicate her
honoured name to Ypsilon, a young Israelitish merchant in flourishing
circumstances. Love, respect, and silence ! Address at the editor's office."

Some few of these enamoured youths give vent to their
feelings in verse after the following fashion : —

"to LOUISE.

" Uncertain whether the eyes were thine.

Which charmed me so as past they went,
Let them again be on me bent ;
Perhaps thy life might blend with mine."

THE BERLINESE AT HOME. I43

One bashful swain, signing himself " Thy neighbour in the pit
at Kroir.s," and who appears to have found himself tongue-tied
in presence of the fair one by his side, summons up courage to
address the lady in print, declaring his passion in legitimate
doggrel :—

" Thou didst but si<jh and glance at mc,
I also sighed, and yet to thee
The courage lacked to speak —
Still shall my heart be left to break ?
For once again, dear charming face,
That speaks of nought but love and grace,
Impart some sign to make life sweet ;
Say where again we two may meet.
Oh ! quickly shine thou fairest star.
Near to my heart and yet how far."

Some of these announcements, idiotic in expression, enigmatic
in meaning, and obscure in grammar, are evidently intended to
be intelligible only to the particular individual to whom they
are addressed. The absurdity and ambiguity of the following
are on a par : —

" Many, many thanks for the warm little flock, my own beloved heart.
Oh ! how inexpressibly enraptured and consoled was I by each heavenly
word in your precious note of Saturday. Humming-bird thinks again and
again of all the past and future — little — in the dear little watch-tower ; and I
see precious little Lina trusting to the leaf which the little Wolf sees so happily
around her. It is well and so happy to hear the same of its Celandine.
How icily the wind blows ! The evenings are already growing long, and
everywhere autumn is appearing. With a burning hot Friday — every
hour, and your little bird's news is closed for to-day with her best love."

Here we are treated to something more impassioned : —

" From Her to Him. — While lost in deep meditation, my head resting
on my hand, and the candle nearly burnt out, suddenly the bandage fell from
my eyes, and to my great joy I saw clearly. Following thy counsel my
heart is left pure by that dew, although it was not thereby animated. Was
this owing to bitter grief or love's distress ? The hopeful glances I cast into
futurity ended only in nameless pain. I think of thee ! I love thee ! Open
to me thine heart, sharing with me all that fate may have in store. Love
never dies, but is the same as it befell — two souls and one thought, two
hearts and one pulse."

The betrothal is a matter of considerable importance, and
usually precedes the marriage by some years. As authorised
by law it takes the form of a written promise, signed by the
parents, which promise, without rendering the marriage abso-
lutely obligatory, makes the party retracting liable for
damages. Cards, with the names of the affianced pair printed on
them, are usually sent round to all the friends of the betrothed,
besides which the event is formally announced in the papers,

144 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

under the heading Vcrlohini^c^sattaeigcti, or " Notices of Betrothal."
Here is a typical notice of this class from the popular Vossische
Zcitnng, evidently a favourite medium for announcements of the
kind : —

" We herewith have the honour respectfully to announce the betrothal of
our eldest daughter Elisabeth to the Rittcrgutsbesitzer (lord of a manor)
von Bismarck- Kniephof, Lieutenant of Reserve First Guard-Dragoon Regi-
ment, Castle Plathe, 7th September, 1872.

" Karl von der Osten,

" Marie von der Osten, n^e von Kessel."

Immediately underneath follows the advertisement of the
victim : —

" I have herewith the honour respectfully to announce my betrothal to
Fraulein Elisabeth von der Osten, the eldest daughter of Herrvon der Osten.

"von Bismarck-Kniephof,
" Lieutenant," &c.

Scores of similar advertisements, drawn up in almost precisely
the same words, the names only varying, make their appearance
daily varied by such brief formula as the following : —

" Marie Charisius, 7iee Zober,
" August Lenz.
" Betrothed. Berlin, November 29, 1872."

Among a batch of announcements of this character there
recently appeared in W\itReichsanzeiger ov\^ to the effect that Frau-
lein Pfortner von der Holle (Gatekeeper of Hell), was about to
bless a Prussian gentleman at some future period with the
possession of her hand and other Tartarean charms, giving rise
to the suggestion that Fraulein Cerberus would have sounded
prettier and more poetical, while preserving all the significance
of the dismal function denoted in the family title.

The betrothal compact is as good as indissoluble, for there
are few who are bold enough to break off an engagement thus
publicly notified, not only to their friends and relations, but to
the world at large. Still a small minority — alarmed, perhaps,
at the gradual development of an "incompatibility of temper"
that might eventually lead to an application to the German Sir
James Hannen — take time by the forelock, and slip their fingers
out of the engagement-ring. Such ruptures are commonly
passed over in silence, and the two sundered ones set forth
afresh in search of more congenial spirits with which to unite
their own. But it does sometimes happen that the passion for
advertising matters of purely personal interest, which continues
to form a feature of Berlin life, has led one of the parties to
publicly notify why the bud of betrothal has failed to expand to
the orange-blossom of matriinony, and a young man has been
found dolefully proclaiming that the engagement formally
announced has been broken off by his sweetheart, to his great

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

145

regret, because she "did not find in him that gravity of
demeanour which she conceived she had a right to look for."

In Paris, where well-brought-up young people of both sexes
are carefully restricted in their intercourse with each other, it is
no uncommon thing for parents even to have recourse to mar-
riage agencies — with their tribe of intermediaries occupying good
social positions and always on the look out for brides with
handsome dots — to secure alliances for their sons and daughters.
One of the best known of these, the Maison Foy, is continually
parading in the Paris newspapers the many thousands of advan-
tageous if not happy unions which have been arranged under its
auspices. Moreover in addition to these purely business agencies
there are few middle-class families which cannot count upon the
services in a similar direction of one or more match-making
friends. And judging these agencies, whether professional or
amateur, by results, one is inclined to believe that the prelimi-
nary courtship, on which in England we set so much stress,
adds in no degree to the proportion of prizes drawn in the
hazardous matrimonial lottery.

In Berlin, with none of the restriction to intercourse that pre-
vails in Paris, the old matrimonial machinery is found to run at too
slow a speed, and, as a consequence, marriage agencies and mar-
riage gazettes have recently sprung into existence there, the for-
mer with their managers and their matrons, their collections of
cartes de visite and lists of languishing candidates, laying claim
to well-nigh every moral and material advantage. The Berlin
Matrimonial Gazette is illustrated with vignettes, one of which
represents paterfamilias, in easy-chair and dressing-gown,
reading to his daughters offers from individuals of the opposite
sex, eager to be united in the bonds of wedlock ; another
introduces us to a young officer depositing a sealed packet at
the office of the hymeneal journal ; while in a third, depicting
a joyous marriage feast, we have the same young officer seated
beside his blushing bride, and the guests pledging the happy
pair in foaming bumpers of champagne.

Even the disreputable Berlin commissionaires do a brisk trade
in negotiating marriages ; and in the city small-debt courts they
are constantly found figuring as plaintiffs against hapj)y but
forgetful husbands, who have failed to pay the stipulated com-
mission on the dowries of wives whom they have succeeded in
securing through such exceedingly dubious intermediaries.

Another mode of obtaining a partner for life in favour at
Berlin is by means of the advertising columns of the ] o;sische
Zeitiing and other popular newspapers. One firm of advet tising
agents — Rudolf Mosse and Company — alone insert upwards of
a thousand of these announcements annually ; all classes ap caring
to resort to this doubtful method of securing conjugal ha iness.
Figuring among their clients are officials of noble birth ; fficers

1

146 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

in the army and in retreat, who guarantee secrecy on their
word of honour ; with non-combatants, whose exemption from
military service constitutes their principal recommendation to
the fair, whom none but the brave are said to deserve ; specu-
lative men of business, eager to embrace some opportunity
of engaging in a magnificent enterprise with their future wife's
fortune, which it is, of course, essential should be under her
own control ; penniless bachelors, who signify their willingness
to espouse youth and beauty if possessed of a fair manorial
estate ; widowers, who confess themselves to be neither young
nor good-looking, but make boast of a spotless name, and who
seek a helpmate having both the inclination and the capacity to
undertake the education of a family of amiable children. They
too stipulate that the lady they are in search of should have a
suitable fortune at her own disposal ; while bankers, merchants,
manufacturers, professional men, and tradesmen, show themselves
equally exigent on the score of the fair one's dowry. All
indeed hold to the truth of the axiom that —

" Love in a hut, with water and a cnist,
Is — Love forgive us ! — cinders, ashes, dust."

Some among these advertisers stipulate for birth and beauty,
while others bear in mind what Kotzebue said about marrying
for beauty being like purchasing an estate for the sake of its
rose-trees, and the latter proceeding being the more sensible of the
two, inasmuch as the season of the roses always returns, but that
of beauty never. These more prosaic souls express themselves
as perfectly indifferent to personal charms, and as even prepared
to put up not only with ugliness, but age, indifferent character,
and doubtful family connections — anything, in fact, provided
their brides are weighted wath sufficient coin. In return for a
portion amounting to the mere bagatelle of 100,000 thaler, they
offer a heart capable of loving beyond all precedent, and yet
there are simpletons in the world who pretend that love is
really beyond price.

The following advertisements of this class are from Berlin
newspapers which came casually under one's notice. The gram-
mar, style, and precise phraseology of the originals have been
closely preserved : —

"To Ladies of Noble Birth.— A cultivated legal official, of noble
birth, with a rising salary, which is now 1000 thaler (^ 150), not unpleasing
in appearance, and very kind-hearted, just thirty years of age, who has no
lady acquaintances, wishes to marry a pretty, refined, and amiable lady of
noble birth (spinster or widow) l>ctwecn the ages of seventeen and twenty-
seven, with a fortune of at least io,ck)o thaler at her own disposal. Highly-
respected ladies who comply with these requirements, and are inclined to
answer the present serious advertisement, or their respective parents or
jguardians, are most politely requested to forward their honoured addresses,

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

147

with details of their intimate circumstances, to
desired. Secrecy understood."

Photograph grcatlv

"To Independent Ladies.— A young man, of prepossessing appearance
and aristocratic manners, an official in the Imperial German Service, wishes
to unite himself to a pretty and cultivated lady of fortune. He would not
object to marry on a manorial estate or similar property. The gentleman's
photograph will be forwarded on application, but not in answer to anonymous
communications. Ladies feeling disposed are requested to send their

addresses in strict confidence to . The services of negotiators are

declined."

" To Young Ladies. — An officer, thirty-two years of age, wishes to make
the acquaintance of a

young lady of property .• . vSllfeli! 1 ! /)/

and attractive appear-
ance with a view to
matrimony. Those who
are willing are requested
to send full particulars
accompanied by their
real names. Photo-
graphs also are urgently
requested. I guaran-
tee, on my word of
honour, that their con-
fidence shall not be
abused."

"To Young Ladies^
.OF Fortune. — I am
twenty-four years of age,
went through the last
campaign as an officer
of the line, was severely
wounded, and have re-
tired in consequence
from the service.

"My father intends to
sell his really fine estates
to me, and I request
some young lady who wishes to be married, and has a fortune of from 100,000
to 200,000 thaler under her own control to assist me in purchasing them.
Nevertheless I decidedly require her to be good-looking, of a respectable
family, well educated, and of simple tastes.

" As to the rest I believe that my personal qu<"lities will insure a happy and
peaceful (!) union. Young ladies ready to respond are requested to forward
their photographs and addresses to the office of this paper, with the superscrip-
tion—

" When eyes are blue,
It proves they're true.

" Secrecy on my word of honour."

" Offer of Marriage. — A young man, exempt from military service, not
devoid of means, and belonging to the highest circles, a Lutheran, twenty-five
years of age, of pleasing appearance (photograph forwarded on application),
good character, and clerk in one of the first banks, wishes to marry a young
lady of good family and fortune at once. Young ladies or their friends are
most politely reqvested to forward their esteemed addresses, with particulars

of their circumstances, to ."

L 2

148 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

"To Ladies. — An intelligent and speculative man of business, 30 years of
age, a Catholic (which is not requisite on the lady's side), with a grave and
manly but amiable character, refined manners, pleasing appearance, and
enjoying robust health, the owner of a factory and manufacturer of a lucra-
tive article much in request and exported, is led by want of time and lady
acquaintances to seek in this manner for a faithful partner for life, under 25
vears of age. Preference given to an amiable disposition and cheerful tem-
perament rather than great beauty. A taste for quiet;and simple domestic life,
and a fortune of 30,000 thaler at her own disposal, to assist in an intended
development of the establishment are requisite. Ladies who have the cou-
rage to confide in a young man's honour, and desire a comfortable home are
requested in the strictest confidence to send their addresses, accompanied by
a photograph, which in case of unsuitability will be returned, to ,"

"Matrimonial Offer. — A well-to-do merchant, a widower, 46 years of
age wishes to meet with a wife in a well-educated lady, spinster or widow,
without children, and of mature years. Well knowing that he can pretend to
neither youth nor beauty he only lays claim 10 a spotless name and really kind
heart. A pleasant life under favourable circumstances is offered. The fol-
lowing are the requisite qualifications ; a spotless character, cheerful dispo-
sition ; inclination and capacity to undertake the education of several amiable
children, combined with a suitable fortune at the lady's own disposal. Ready
money not essential. Offers, with particulars of circumstances and accom-
panied by a photograph, with regard to which the most honourable confidence
is guaranteed, will reach the advertiser if addressed to ."

" Offer of Marriage.— A high state official in the prime of life, a widower,
who is prevented by his occupation from finding a partner for life for himself
wishes to marry again by reason of his present lonely condition. German
maidens or widows without children, between the ages of 25 and 30, of pleas-
ing and stylish appearance, and if possible of good birth and fortune, who are
inclined to confide in this discreet mode of communication, and have a real
taste for domestic life, are requested to forward their obliging offers, sealed

and addressed accompanying them with a photograph and particulars

of their family and fortune. Secrecy on word of honour."

" Matrimonial Offer. — The advertiser wishes to arrange a marriage with
a lady of domestic tastes (having 20,000 thaler at her disposal, which she
would not object to invest on mortgage) for a really substantial and highly
educated gentleman of amiable disposition and agreeable appearance, 36 years
of age, and partner in an old established and lucrative manufacturing business.
N.B. The lady must be willing to answer inquiries. Letters to be addressed — ."

The following are some of the more characteristic advertise-
ments emanating from individuals of the opposite sex : —

"A young, pretty, and highly educated girl of rank, with a fortune of 10,000
thaler, wishes to meet with a partner for life, of noble sentiments, agreeable
appearance, and good birth. Offers to be addressed ."

" A young lawyer or forester already established, of noble sentiments and
aristocratic name may hear of an opportunity for marrying a young, hand-
some, highly educated, but domesticated girl of rank, who has pin-money of
her own, and expectations of a fortune. Offers, with photographs, may be
sent addressed ."

" A young lady, daughter of a wealthy tradesman who has been dead a
year, being youthful and amiable, and finding it impossible to make ac-
quaintance with suitable gentlemen, owing to the strictness of her parental
home, is obliged to choose this means of meeting with a husband. She
has a fortune of 20,000 thaler at her disposal, which she offers to an officer
or official person. Gentlemen of unimpeachable character are requested to
send confidential communications and photographs to ."

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

149

The next is unique in its way —

" I HAVE AN Excellent Daughter to marry, who refused many good
offers when young. She is now 29, and I would give a reasonable dowry to
a suitable husband, a tradesman, if possible, or well-to-do artisan, if pious,
and averse to alcohol. Address ."

Some advertisers seek to contract purely Platonic unions, as
witness the following : —

"A gentleman in comfortable circumstances, and of ripe age, who believes
in the Platonic form of love, and is anxious to realize this beautiful idea in
marriage, desires by some friendly means, and through the channel of a pre-
liminary anonymous correspondence, to make the acquaintance of a lady not
entirely without fortune, of honourable intentions, well educated, possessed of
a lively intellect, and a vivacious rather than a serious disposition, to conclude
with her a heart-union of the purest Platonism. Address, «&c."

Another advertisement, headed " Heart and Intellect," is of
much the same type, excepting that the desired form of union is
somewhat ambiguously indicated.

" An educated gentleman, of cheerful disposition and in easy circumstances,
moving in good society, but no longer young enough to think of contracting
an ordinary marriage, cherishes nevertheless a wish to renounce the solitary'
life he is leading and to form a purely Platonic connection with a lady of
Heart and Intellect in independent circumstances, who may feel disposed to
enter into some kind of union for life. Address, &c."

In the Berliner Stddtisches JaJtrbuch for 1874 — the contri-
butors to which strive to outvie each other by the minuteness
and abundance of their statistical information — some learned
doctor has been at the pains of preparing an elaborate analysis
of the matrimonial advertisements, some hundreds in number,
which appeared during the previous year in the Vossische
Zeitung alone. He tells us that out of 41 1 advertisements, 306

ISO BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

emanated from men and 105 from women, showing that in these
particular instances ahnost three times as many men as women
sought to enter the haven of matrimony by this somewhat
doubtful channel. Men aged between twenty-five and thirty-
five and women between twenty and thirty formed the great
majority, the latter being far less exigent than the former with
regard to the ages of those they sought to unite themselves to,
for fully one-third of the total number of men required their
future partners to be young, while no more than one-sixteenth
of the women made a similar stipulation. In the majority of
cases where age was alluded to, the desired husband or wife was
required to be on the sunny side of thirty.

Of the 306 men, thirty confessed to being widowers, and rather
more than the same proportion of women proclaimed themselves
widows, the latter being much less particular about the ages of
their second husbands than their maiden rivals eager to embark
on their first matrimonial venture. Most of the advertisers
refrained from any allusion to their physical endowments, but
such men as referred to them laid claim to health, activity, good
looks, robust figures, commanding statures, fair complexions,
agreeable appearance, &c. The reticence of the women on this
point speaks volumes in favour of their modesty unless indeed
their silence is to be taken as indicating an utter absence of all
personal charms. The sterner sex commonly demanded beauty,
good looks, or at least that ambiguous kind of charm known as
" pleasing appearance " in their prospective partners for life,
whereas the women made scarcely any stipulations upon that
score. It is creditable that 20 per cent, of both sexes required
those they sought to ally themselves with, to be intelligent, clever,
educated, or accomplished, although the majority of the adver-
tisers made no boast of any mental qualifications of their own,
such few as did being chiefly of the softer sex. Probably the
Teutonic lords of creation considered that credit was naturally
given them for a high degree of culture, rendering any special
announcement of their mental acquirements superfluous ; while
the women, vain of their mental gifts, determined that none of
their intellectual light should be hidden under the figurativebushel.

The moral qualities which the men laid claim to, and required
their wives to be possessed of, were so numerous and varied that
any single individual endowed therewith would present a perfect
type of human virtue. They embraced alike activity, energy,
industry, economy, domesticity, amiability, kindness, gentleness,
sweet as well as good tempers, cheerful and equable dis-
positions, good humour, innocence, simplicity, modesty, and
purity ; steadfast, straightforward, truthful, and unassuming
characters; nobleness, dignity, honourable feeling, liberality,
generosity, chivalrous hearts and noble minds ! One advertiser,
who demanded "a good but rather hasty temper," could be easily

THE BERLINESE AT HOME. 15I

satisfied, but scarcely so another, whose own temper was doubt-
less of the hottest, and who sought for what he styled a generous
and accommodating one.

The women boasted, as a rule, of their domesticated tastes,
their activity, economy and business qualifications, their unas-
suming characters, staid demeanour, modesty, and decorum ;
their good education and accomplishments ; their amiability,
cheerfulness, excellent spirits, and even of an exuberance of life,
and finally of their kindness, their affectionate dispositions and
excellent qualities of heart and mind. The men on whom they
were willing to bestow their hands and charms were required to
be respectable, estimable, honourable, worthy, reliable, simple,
and genuine ; good and easy tempered, amiable, possessed of
sterling qualities and affectionate and feeling hearts. More than
a quarter of the men and women, who dispensed with any allusion
to moral qualities of their own, demanded that their future
partners should be possessed of certain virtues, while of that
larger number, who affect a virtue even if they have it not, two-
thirds of the men and one-third of the women looked for
corresponding qualities in those with whom they were willing
their future lot in life should be cast. As a rule the fair were
less exacting on this score than the sterner sex, and when they
did put forward demands it was for moral qualities rather
than for intellectual ones.

With regard to religious belief only 3 per cent, of the men and
6 per cent, of the women made the slightest reference to their
own creed, and of these merely a fraction required any avowal
upon the subject from those replying to their advertisements.

It would appear from the foregoing that most stress was laid
upon moral qualifications by both male and female matrimonial
advertisers, who next seem to have sought for intelligence, and
to have set the least value upon creed. Strange to say that of
the various religious sects at Berlin, the Jews had recourse to
matrimonial advertisements in by far the largest proportion, and,
what is stranger still, the proportion of Jewish women to the men
was almo.st as three to one.

The social qualifications commonly dwelt upon in these
advertisements were family, property, rank, and calling. The
importance of the first-named in the Berlin matrimonial market
was indicated by the large number of both sexes, who stated
themselves to be of an estimable, respectable, honourable, wealthy,
good, or noble family. As a far larger proportion of women than
men thought it necessary to refer to their family connections,
these evidently count for much on the part of the would-be wife.
With reference to property, a few of the advertisers had the
candour to confess themselves poor, while the majority claimed
to be in well-to-do circumstances, in possession of a fixed income
or a comfortable independence, and even to be rich. Several

152 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

gave their exact incomes in figures, numbers intimated that they
derived tlieir means from trade or manufactures, and others from
landed, manorial, or house property. The women considered it
necessary to be exceedingly explicit with regard to their worldly
possessions. Fixed incomes on their sides were numerous, and
riches preponderated over a respectable competence, showing
that the possession of pecuniary means was regarded by them as
their strong point in affairs matrimonial. At the same time they
asked in return for less in the way of wealth or easy circum-
stances than the men, and in the majority of instances made no
demand whatever on this score, whereas the men on an average
required a fortune of i6,ooo thaler, or about 2,400/., professing
themselves to be in possession of 35,000 thaler or 5,250/. More
than half of the advertisers described themselves as being bank-ers,
brokers, and owners or partners in some business or manufactory.
The betrothal ceremony, as we have already explained, fre-
quently precedes the wedding by several years. Before, however,
marriage can be seriously thought of, the lady or her friends
have to furnish a house. Should they not be prepared for this, she
has to remain single until it can be accomplished. Ordinarily
furniture will have to be provided for the drawing-room, the
dining-room, the husband's and wife's sitting-rooms, the bed-
rooms, and the kitchen. Bed and table linen forms one of the
costliest items. When, in the case of a betrothed couple in good
circumstances, these are laid out on the " Polterabend " for the in-
spection of friends, the room presents very much the appearance
of a linendraper's shop. There will be piles upon piles of
sheets, table-cloths, pillow-cases and the like, seemingly sufficient
to last the engaged couple all their lives. For three weeks
previous to the wedding the names of the betrothed are dis-
played in the Rathhaus, no marriage being valid unless this
formality is observed. The ceremonies attendant on the rite
itself extend over three days ; the first day being the Polter-
abend, the second simply an intermediate day of rest, while on
the third day the marriage itself is celebrated. The Polterabend
u.sed to be the evening immediately preceding the wedding, but
this too close proximity gave rise to so much hurry and confusion
that some sensible people hit upon the idea of introducing a dies
non in between, a happy innovation which has gradually
become universal.

On the Polterabend the bride's presents, chiefly composed of
useful articles, together with her trousseau, are laid out. The in-
vited guests assemble about three o'clock in the afternoon when
all kinds of diversions take place. It is customary for the young
people to come in fancy costume and make appropriate speeches
to the bride and bridegroom. On one occasion we remember
seeing a little boy dressed up as a farmer enter the room with a
huge bunch of vegetables on his back. He marched sedately

THE BERLINESE AT HOME. 1 53

up to the bride saying to her as he threw down his load at her
feet, " You Hke soup, I am told — well here is something to make
it with, only be sure to make some for your husband as well, for
you must remember from this time forward to look on him as
part of yourself, and let him share all you have." This little
ethical speech successfully delivered, the boy gravely retired.
At another wedding, where the bridegroom was an old doctor and
the bride the daughter of a wealthy merchant, all the young ladies
and children came in fancy dresses, and most of them delivered
their little harangue in allusion to some episode in the past lives of
the bride and bridegroom. One charming girl was arrayed as a
water-nymph, and a couple of little boys duly booted and spurred
2iSJdger burscJicn. Conspicuous among the other costumes were
those of two young ladies, designed to represent Coffee
and Tea respectively. Coffee wore a robe of coffee-coloured
silk with a velvet head-dress of the same tint, in imitation of the
leaves and berries of the coffee-plant, and surmounted by a
miniature coffee-pot, while her necklace and the ornaments on
her dress were composed of actual coffee-berries. The young
lady who represented Tea was correspondingly arrayed, and the
pair presided appropriately enough at the tables where tea and
coffee were served to the company. After these had been par-
taken of, all the cups and saucers were duly collected together
on a tray, and Fraulein Coffee rising up made the bride a pretty
speech, advising her not to be led away by a poetical view of
married life to the neglecting of its practical duties, and reminding
her how essential it was always to be prepared with a cup of
coffee for her husband whenever he wished for one, and for her
friends whenever they called to see her. Saying this, she
dexterously overturned the tray, and cups, saucers, and plates
fell with one loud clatter upon the floor amidst frantic applause.
It was thus that a characteristic feature of the Polterabend,
the all essential smashing of crockery, was accomplished on
this particular occasion.

This custom of smashing crockery corresponds in a measure
to our time-honoured habit of throwing old shoes after the
departing wedded couple, the assumed motive of both proceed-
ings being the same, namely, the ensuring of good luck to the
newly married pair. Among the Berlinese, advantage is ordin-
arily taken of the delivery of some speech, or the singing of
some song to startle the company by a tremendous crash, which
sets everybody laughing, and is the signal for wishing happiness
to the bride and bridegroom. Formerly it was the custom to
carry. all the old plates and dishes outside the house door and
break them in the street, when, if a single one chanced to escape
demolition, it was considered an unlucky omen for the bride.

The charade performances at the Polterabend are frequently
succeeded by some play or opera, the parts in which are allotted

154 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

to the grown-up members of the company. On one occasion we
heard Mendelssohn's Son and Stranger, very creditably per-
formed by a small amateur orchestra of half-a-dozen fiddles,
flute, and piano, selected from among the friends of the bride and
bridegroom. At the wedding of our middle-aged medical friend
refreshments consisting of oysters, caviar, and sweet biscuits were
served at intervals during the afternoon, and the time, varied by
occasional little speeches and general conversation, was passing
pleasantly enough when the company was startled by a loud
voice, echoing through the apartment, and demanding admission
for the God Zeus. This being granted, the doors were flung open
to the sound of slow music and a procession filed in. At its
head marched Mercury with his caduceus and talaria, and behind
him came Apollo playing on a lyre — other gods and goddesses
in appropriate costume followed, and at the close of the pro-
cession came Zeus himself, who ascended a throne which had
hitherto escaped general notice.

Summoning the various deities around him, Zeus announced
that he had news of importance to communicate. " A rumour
hath come from the earth," said he, " that a certain son of
yEsculapius is about to be married. The report is shaking
Olympus to its foundations, and calm will only ensue when I
learn who and what he is, and who and what is his bride. Let
him who knows therefore speak." At this yEsculapius stepped
out of the circle of gods and informed Zeus that his mortal son
was one who had not the power to bring the dead to life, but on
the contrary, very often brought the living to death, killing more
than he cured, and so on, Venus, who was attired in a flowing
white robe trimmed with broad silver braid, and who wore
necklet and armlets of silver, then advanced and prettily pleaded
for the bride. One was much struck by the taste displayed in
the toilettes of the various goddesses. Diana, with the orthodox
crescent on her brow and a hunting spear in her hand, was
nothing remarkable, but Athena adorned with the " krobulus,"
and " tettinx," showed the stage manager of the charade
to have some knowledge of Thucydides. After a variety of
speeches, all of which related more or less directly to the bride
and bridegroom, the procession retired, but there being a general
demand for the appearance of Zeus and Venus, part of the
spectacle had to be performed over again. The company now
adjourned to the supper-rooms, the tables of which were loaded
with no end of Teutonic delicacies, and as soon as supper was
concluded, dancing, which opened with the inevitable polonaise,
commenced and continued with unabated spirit until the morning.

Thus ended the Polterabend. Advantage is taken of the day
intervening between it and the actual day of the marriage to get
things in something like order for the latter. As the invitations
are invariably for both days, on the morning of the wedding the

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

155

guests assemble again, and accompany the bride and bridegroom
on their visit to the magistrate by whom they are formally united
by civil contract. At 15crlin this is considered quite sufficient,
not only by the law but by society itself, and no kind of stigma
attaches to those who go through the civil ceremony only. In
the capital of the new Empire the ecclesiastical marriage is
looked upon as a kind of luxury, which those who care to incur
the expense can indulge in if so inclined. It can take place
either in a church or a private house, and indeed is more usually
performed in the latter. An altar is erected and tastefully
decorated with flowers and the ceremony is frequently accom-
panied by music. The bride wears a plain myrtle wreath — the
artistic effect of which is excellent, and the placing of which
upon her head forms an interesting episode in the proceedings.
The bridesmaids all carry baskets of flowers.

The ceremony concluded there is a dinner of inordinate
length, consisting frequently of twenty or even more courses,
when, as a rule, every-
body feasts heartily j^^ r~
and drinks heavily. "
The speeches which
follow have the merit
of scarcely being of the
same unmeaning cha-
racter as those deliv-
ered at average English
weddings. Even the
most ordinary speaker
will make a point of in-
troducing some anec-
dote or incident bearing
upon the past life and
characterof one or other
of the newly united pair;
while the speech of the
groomsman, who is inva-
riably the bridegroom's
oldest and most tried
friend,consists generally
of a sketch of the bridegroom's life, rendered more or less amus-
ing by piquant allusions to forgotten youthful amours.

At the doctor's wedding, shortly before the company dispersed,
the bridegroom was blindfolded and led into the centre of the
room, when all the young unmarried ladies of the company joined
hands and danced in a circle around him. While this was going
on the bridegroom put out his hands and the first one he touched
was declared destined to be the next bride. It was now the
bride's turn to be blindfolded, and the unmarried gentlemen

156 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

present having formed a ring around her, the same mode of
vaticination was again gone through.

The bride and bridegroom generally disappear from the party
about eight or nine o'clock in the evening and straightway betake
themselves to their new home, such a thing as a wedding tour
never being even dreamt of. The bridegroom commonly goes
to his counter or his desk the very next day, which is the main
reason why Saturday is a favourite day for Berlin weddings, as
this allows of, at any rate, one day's holiday, ere the drudgery of
the shop or the counting-house is resumed again.

Before an officer in the Prussian army is privileged to marry,
he is prudently required to deposit a fixed sum in the funds so
that on his decease his widow may not be left unprovided for.
We have seen that in ordinary civil life the question of money
plays a very prominent part in all matrimonial engagements, and
one that would have charmed the heart of Tennyson's " Northern
Farmer." Like him the better class Berlinese believe that " pro-
putty, proputty sticks, and proputty, proputty grows," and that
money if possible should not be allowed to go out of a family.
Hence the example of intermarriages set by the petty princelets
and dukclings, has been followed by the owners of landed property
for generation after generation, leading to highly complicated
relationships and disastrous physical results. Of late years
however, a few of these gentry have seen the advantage of fur-
bishing up their faded escutcheons and fertilizing their barren
acres with some of the stream of wealth that has flowed from the
Berlin Borse, and have consented to lead to the altar the daugh-
ters of new sprung millionaires.

Marriages are announced in the Berlin newspapers with con-
siderate brevity on the whole, notification of these events being
commonly given in one or other of the following forms with the
addition of the date and the addresses : —

" Our marriage, celebrated on Sept, 3, is announced to friends and relatives
by this means instead of by private communication, by
" Dr. GusTAV Lewinstkin,
"Elise Lewinstein, nee MiCHAELIS."

"Their marriage, celebrated this day is respectfully announced by

" Otto Braumuller, Master at the Gymnasium, and Lieut, in the

Landwehr,
" Pauline Braumuller, nie Maecker."

" Emil Werner and Emille Werner, «^^'Keucke, announce themselves
a Wedded Pair."

" Oscar Laasch and Clara Laasch, nee Bauerhin present their respects
as newly married."

Alluding to the well-nigh universal practice of dispensing with
the intervention of the church in the matter of marriage, the

THE BERLINESE AT HOME 1 57

clerical organ, the Gcrmania, dolefully lamented that what was
formerly one of the most venerated sacraments of religion was
no longer a source of grace, but merely the finish of a romance
and a pure matter of business. Modern marriages as now
performed, were rated by it as below the pagan marriages, which
consecrated the duration of the union. The general falling off
in church weddings and christenings among the Berlin Protestants
is understood to have caused both regret and astonishment in
the highest quarters, although many pretend that the reason
for it is to be found in the national virtue — economy. The civil
solemnization is not only compulsory, but it is also cheaper than
the ecclesiastical one, and the frugal Berliner of the middle and
lower classes cannot see why he should pay twice over for the
same thing, when a single ceremony is legally sufficient. The
government, disliking a state of things that might alienate a
church from which it has ever derived strong support, has done
all in its power to favour religious marriages by enforcing them
amongst those over whom it has any direct control. In ac-
cordance with this view we find the following decree issued
against the schoolmaster Priefart, at Weissensee : " Royal
Government of Potsdam, February 4, 1875. Having been
informed that you have not had consecrated by the religious
authority your marriage, contracted last December, we cannot
employ you any longer as primary schoolmaster, for we require
from a Christian schoolmaster that he follow the Christian rules,
and give in this respect a good example to his commune. You
are therefore dismissed from the first of next month."

In missionary circles the introduction of the civil marriage-law
was productive of an unforeseen difficulty. Most of the missionary
societies sent out only married missionaries in order that beneficial
results might follow from the example of Christian matrimony.
When the wife of a missionary died abroad it was customary
to select a new spouse for him out of the reserve stock of damsels
at the schools of the society, and to guard against her losing her
heart to anyone else on the passage out, by performing the
marriage ceremony by procuration, prior to her departure. When
marriages were wholly in the hands of the clergy such unions by
proxy were recognized as valid, but the obligatory civil marriage
law makes no provision for their performance, and anxious
missionaries, awaiting the brides whom the kind care of others
has chosen for them, are now liable to be disappointed in their
fondcbt anticipations.

It is time to speak more particularly of the fair sex of Berlin,
yet at the risk of being considered ungallant, one is constrained
to confess that the Berlin women as a rule lack the fatal gift
of beauty, being neither handsome nor even pretty, although
many of them have an expression of countenance that is
peculiarly winning. They may be safely summed up as bemg

158

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

much less handsome than the Enf^Hsh, less graceful than the
French, and less clever than the Americans. You might pro-
menade the Prussian capital for weeks without meeting a
really beautiful woman. You might search for months with-
out alighting on a Marguerite ! The worst feature of a Berlin
belle is unquestionably her nose. I scarcely remember having
seen a single woman in the Prussian capital with a nose of
the true classical type. The outline of this organ, instead of
being straight or delicately curved is frequently broken by an
exceedingly prominent bridge, while the end as often develops
into a ball, imparting an unpleasant and vulgar expression to
what might otherwise have been a handsome set of features.
The face is usually fat and pasty-looking, presenting large

dreamy eyes, and, not unfrequently, an exquisitely moulded
mouth, with full ruby lips, which, unfortunately, have lost their
charm from the fact of the front teeth commencing to decay
at an early age. The figure is generally good, although often
diminutive, with a well-developed bust, heavy loins, beautifully
shaped arms, large hands, and still larger feet.

The Berlin women utterly lack that grace which contributes so
much to the attraction of their Parisian rivals. In their toilettes,
too, although these are after Paris models, one misses the quiet
taste, the elegant cut, and the neat tournure which distinguish
the work of the French modiste from all others. The mode de
/-'^rzVsimply becomes travestied at Berlin, where, on the occasion
of our first visit, we remember the fashionable ladies' boots were

THE BERLINESE AT HOME.

^59

bottines a vtijmnbe
with tassels in front,
and tall wooden
heels, higher even
than those of the
ordinary Soulier
Louis Quinze and
placed almost in
the middle of the
foot, so as to dis-
guise, as much as
possible, the re-
markable size of
the fair one's pedal
extremities. The
French phi a st^tre
sur an grand pied
dans le monde, ap-
plies itself literally
to a Berlin belle.

As amongst the
feathered tribes,
the male in Ger-
many wears the
gayest plumage,
sings the loudest
note, and lords it
absolutely over his
female mate. Men
take the lead in
social as well as public life, whilst their wives drudge away their
existences in sordid details. The advice of Mr. Disraeli, that every
public man should spend a portion of each day in conversing
with his wife — in order to refresh his mind and profit by that just
appreciation of matters in which they are not personally interested
that distinguishes the softer sex — would appear ridiculous in the
eyes of a Berliner. Woman in the Prussian capital has none of
that politico-social influence exercised in London and Paris by
the queens of the salon, whilst from anything approaching the
views of her " rights," set forth by Mesdames Garrett-Anderson
and Becker, she would shrink in horror. There her sole duty in life,
after the nuptial knot has been tied, is to be domesticated, to
wait hand and foot upon the nobler being who has condescended
to unite his lot to hers, to concentrate her whole attention
upon household affairs, to devote her intellect to the mysteries
of the kitchen and the minutiae of the store-room and larder,
to regard sewing and scrubbing as cardinal virtues, and to
pass no inconsiderable portion of her existence in locking

l6o BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

and unlocking presses, cupboards, drawers, and store closets,
with that formidable bunch of keys which is the treasured
symbol of her authority.

The German moralists style this " assigning woman her real
place, by developing her domestic aptitudes and making her the
model mother of a family." The wife assumes the economical
government of the house, an end to which all her education has
been directed ; she has learnt to knit, to sew, to cook, and to
economize. On quitting the upper school she has been sent to take
lessons in cookery at an hotel, and lessons in dressmaking from
a dressmaker. In many respects she is able to make up for
the inefficiency of her husband, and this responsibility which she
accepts in marrying unquestionably develops the energetic side
of her character.

Her married life is indeed of the prosiest, and she has neither
the time for, nor the notion of escaping into the sphere of literature,
science, or politics. Moreover, save in the rarest of cases, her
sway over the household is after all but nominal, for her husband
whilst engaged in outside duties, manages to exercise a very
keen supervision over the details of home-life. He knows to an
ounce the precise quantity of groceries that ought to be consumed
in the course of the week, grumbles at excesses in soap and
candles, and is especially dictatorial when winter comes round
on the question of fuel, whilst his wife stands meekly trembling
before him, account-book in hand. " The German marriage,"
observes Heinrich Heine, " is not a real marriage. The husband
has not a wife but a servant, and continues in imagination, even
in the midst of his family, his bachelor life."

When in due season the wife presents her husband with the
customary pledge of mutual affection, the event is chronicled in
the Berlin newspapers in far more effusive terms than are cus-
tomary among ourselves ; here, for example, are several of these
announcements.

" In lieu of Private Information.— By God's merciful assistance, my
beloved wife Antonie nee Harder, was safely delivered, at 8 o'clock this
morning, of a healthy daughter. — Hermes, Obcr-Consistorial-Rath."

" I have the honour to announce the happy dehvery of my dearly loved wife,
LiNA, of a stout boy this afternoon, at 5.15.— Leo Krause."

"At 2 o'clock this morning, my dear wife, Rosamund, nee RiJHLE, presented
me with a healthy boy. — F. Schmalenburg, Master Baker."

"With God's gracious help, my tenderly loved wife, Sophie, was safely de-
livered this morning at 4.30 of a strong boy. Hallelujah !

" H. Kleinwachter, Pastor."

"At \ past 3 this afternoon, my beloved wife, Anna nee\ Klemm, delighted
me by the birth of a fine healthy girl. This is in place of any private in-
timation."

THE BRRLINESE AT HOME.

I6l

Some few of these announcements are couched in terms of
commendable brevity ; as for instance the following —

"The birth of a son has, this day, brought great joy to Dr. Richard Brau-
MiJLLER and his wife."

" Highly rejoiced are P.Hirschberg and wife by the birth of a healthy girl."

Among the middle
and better class Ber-
linese, baptisms of the
newly-born common-
ly take place at the
house of the parents,
and but seldom in the
church. An altar de-
corated v/ith flowers
and covered with a
white cloth is erected
in one of the apart-
ments, and on the con-
clusion of the cere-
mony an entertain-
ment, which usually
proves a remarkably
noisy affair, is given.
Only poor people as a
rule have their children
christened in a church,
where the clergyman baptizes them wholesale, and where you
will frequently see two or three dozen babies disposed in a circle
around the font when a single dash of holy water, and one sweep
of the hand is made to serve for them all.

If the Berlinese are received into the world in this uncere-
monious fashion they are rarely permitted to leave it in the

same slighting way. From the numerous handsome coflins
exposed in the Berlin undertakers' shops, and the frequent
notices exhibited of '' Bequeme Sdrge" in other words "com-

1 62

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

fortable coffins," it is evident that the Berlinese are far from
indifferent to the pomps and vanities of sepulture. It will be
seen from the annexed engravings of a couple of these elegant
metal sarcophagi, with their elaborate gilt ornaments and
mouldings, that although the defunct Berliner may be consigned
to his final resting-place without the formality of the prayers of
the church, he yet quits this sublunary sphere in a sufficiently
splendid receptacle, as though anxious that "nothing in life

shall more become him than the leaving of it," and as if seeking
to deprive death of some portion of its terrors. The Berlin
hearses are equally grand affairs, being so many elegant canopies
on wheels, drawn by handsome Mecklenburg horses with long
black draperies, and hung with curtains and festoons of black cloth,
which allow of the coffin, decorated with wreaths and flowers, being
exposed to public view. " Since seeing one of these resplendent
vehicles," remarks an irreverent Frenchman, " my great ambition
has been — of course at some exceedingly remote period — to end
my days in the capital of the new German Empire."

At the single funeral at which I was present at Berlin, I found
myself received on my arrival at the house, by the brother of the
deceased, who, in accordance with the prevailing practice, kissed
my cheek and then led me to a suite of rooms communicating
with the funereal chamber, the door of which was at that moment
closed. When the clergyman arrived, the mourners assembled in
an immediately adjoining apartment, and the doors being thrown
open, the bier was exposed to view. The corpse was seen lying
on an altar covered with black velvet and decorated with branches
of funereal cypress. Hundreds of wax lights rising in a perfect
forest at various elevations were burning at the back of the altar.
Whilst the mourners were contemplating this striking Spectacle,
they suddenly heard the beautiful chorale " jfisns, vicine Zuver
sicht" intoned, seemingly by far distant voices, but which proved
to be those of the choir of a neighbouring church, concealed in a
corner of the apartment. The effect was most impressive.

THE BERLINESE AT HOME. 1 63

The coffins of the poorer classes are usually painted a bright
yellow colour, and in lieu of headstones at their graves it is cus-
tomary to place little china slabs in the form of an open book,
on which such inscriptions as the following may be read — " Hicr

ruJict in Gott viein Sclnvager, JoJiann Scludtz, gcboren ge-

storben ." Black funereal wreaths, with the words '' RitJic in

Friede" inscribed on them in white, may be observed lying
upon most of the graves in the cemeteries around Berlin.

The announcements of deaths in the Berlin newspapers, if com-
monly somewhat lengthy, are not unfrequently pathetic, although
now and then one comes across some which are precisely the
reverse. The few selections we have made furnish examples of
both categories.

" On July 24 died suddenly, without previous illness, the Prussian Captain,
Knight of the Iron Cross, Herr Adolf von Petzold. A life rich in bitter dis-
appointments, heavy trials, and cares, lies behind him. His deeply religious
mind, his firm faith in the will of God, enabled him to bear many sorrows in
joyful Christian resignation. The evening of his life at last seemed to smile
on him, but, according to God's unsearchable counsel, he was not to enjoy it.
In him died a faithful husband, a loving father, a true friend — a man without
guile ! May God give him His eternal peace ! True friendship devotes to
the departed this brief memorial."

"According to God's inscrutable Providence, after prolonged and acute
sufferings, to-day, Sunday Sept. 29, at half-past 6 in the morning, our precious
and dearly-loved father, Karl Albert Ermeler fell asleep. This is
announced with the keenest grief to relations and friends in lieu of any private
intimation by and in the name of the entire family."

" Suddenly, of heart disease, in the arms of her married sister, on June 24,
at 6 p.m., our dearly-loved daughter, sister, and sister-in-law, Bertha von
DER Linde. God grant us strength to bear this heavy blow. In announcing
this domestic affliction to our relatives and friends we beg from them their
silent sympathy. The deeply afflicted survivors."

" According to God's eternal predestination, our only and inexpressibly be-
loved son, Roderick Kollatz, fell gently asleep in the midst of our prayers
and burning tears, at 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. — Karl Kollatz,
Oberprediger, Maria Kollatz, nie Koppner."

" At 9 o'clock last night, after a brief illness, our dear and never-to-be-for-
gotten husband and father, the Gingerbread Manufacturer, Friedrich
Conrad, departed in his 55th year."

The widow and children sign the above announcement.

" I here give notice to my friends and acquaintances that I have just lost my
well-beloved spouse at the moment she was giving birth to a son, for whom
I am looking out for a wet-nurse, until I meet with a second wife willing to
assist me in my grocery business. Signed ."

" To-day, at 9 in the morning, God our Lord called away from his counter
into a better world, the Jeweller, Sebald Michael Illmayer. Over him
weep his widow, named below, and his two daughters, HuLDAand Emma, the
marriage of the first of whom, with a large dowry, was announced not long ago
in the columns of this journal ; the second is still unmarried. The desolate
widow, Veronica Illmayer, 7iee Seizes. — N.B. The business of our shop
will not be interrupted, only in three weeks' time we shall remove to No. 4,

strasse."

M 2

A BORSEN TOURNAMENT.

VIII.

"BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT.'

SO recently as a decade ago the Berlinese as a rule were modest,
nay, almost humble. They owned, in the most naive manner,
that everything was admirable save in their own city. War arises
with Austria, and Sadowa caused them to raise their heads
a little. Next ensued the contest with France, and Wissembourg,
Woerth, and Spicheren, Sedan and Metz set them twirling their
moustaches, while the capitulation of Paris sent their noses in the
air. The proclamation of the Empire with Berlin for its capital made
them prouder than ever, and the signature of peace, with the five
milliards, and Alsace and Lorraine, literally turned their heads.

" We have vanquished the modern Babylon," said the orators
of the bier halleii — they got this expression from the Kreuz Zei-
tiing — " Paris is at our feet like the dragon beneath the lance
of St. George. She was the capital of the world ; she is fallen.
Berlin will take her place. Tfie mode of Paris will become that
of Berlin. We will get together here all the best Paris workmen,
and as they are mostly Germans, that will not be very difficult.
Bismarck won't tolerate the French language any longer in
diplomacy, he will write in German, and if the French can't
understand him so much the worse for them. The favourite
articles of apparel and toilette requisites will in future be those
of Dentsches fabricat. We will inundate the world with Moltke
cravats, and Bismarck collars, manufactured at Berlin. The
products of Paris and Vienna are condemned for the future.

BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT. 165

We have already 800,000 inhabitants, next year we shall have
900,000, and the year after that a million. We have distanced St.
Petersburg and Vienna, we shall soon pass before Constantinople,
then Paris, and afterwards commence to compete with London."

While reasoning thus, the Berlinese seemed to forget how little
of the character of a capital Berlin really had about it, the prin-
cipal Prussian newspapers and all the more important books
being published in the provinces, where not only is scientific
research quite as active and the artistic movement far more
intense, but even social life is almost equally animated as at
Berlin. The mot d'ordre, however, was given, " Berlin wird
Weltstadt " was in every mouth, echoed in every newspaper, and
placarded over the Litfass columns. " Ich bin Berliner," soon
became equivalent to the " Civis Romanus sum " of the ancients.
Newspapers augmented their size, so as to be able to insert the
advertisements which kept flowing in ; the most insignificant
shopkeeper, dazzled by the glitter of all this foreign gold, said to
himself, "to me belongs a share of these five milliards," and there-
upon he launched into extravagances which he had never before
dreamt of. On the pretence that his corns troubled him he
drove about in a droschke when he had to go only a hundred
yards from his home ; the subscriptions to the Zoological Gar-
dens increased tremendously, and the best restaurants were
frequented as though their charges were a mere bagatelle.

When all this was known in the Mark of Brandenburg, in
Pomerania, and in Posen — poor provinces where the workman of
the fields looks upon meat as gold, and upon beer as nectar — the
cry of "Let us go to Berlin the naic Weltstadt" found a ready
echo. " There," said these poor simpletons, "we shall have good
lodging, fine clothes, and the best food. Instead of a few
groschens a day we shall receive a bright silver thaler for merely
eight hours' work." And they came in crowds to the capital.
At the same time the little communal administrations intrigued
in a thousand ways to rid themselves of the obnoxious elements of
their population and cause them to emigrate to Berlin, which lost
rather than gained by its aggrandisement, as the administration
for the relief of the poor had to disburse 1,265,042 thaler during
the year. Meanwhile the newspapers proudly expatiated upon
the rapid increase in the population of the city.

What were the consequences of this influx of adventurers .'' In
Berlin there are few people of really solid wealth, and instead of
fresh fodder coming to the manger it was fresh horses that arrived
to eat up what fodder there was, causing the whole legion 01
officers, employes, shopkeepers, and workmen, to complain
bitterly against the Freiziigigkcit which permitted every one to
come and take up his abode in the Weltstadt. The deficiency
in the matter of house accommodation, which already existed
prior to the war, increased at an alarming rate, and rents rose to

l66 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW, EMPIRE.

such fabulous amounts, that in the year following the peace,
hundreds of decent Berlin families, who up to that time had
paid their rents regularly, found themselves suddenly without a
roof to shelter them, and were forced to camp out in the suburbs
of the city, in vacant spaces, in temporary huts, stables, and the
like. It was in vain that scores of building companies were
created, and that the president of police promised all his assist-
ance towards the establishment of a new quarter at Treptow. It
was in vain that enthusiasts chanted the honour of Berlin being
the third and then the second city of Europe — the prospect pro-
mised neither the amelioration of existing inconveniences, nor
any positive benefit to people's pockets, consequently instead of
the former unanimity which prevailed in favour of the title of
Weltstadt, this was clung to by merely an insignificant minority.

The families of the small commercial employes who five years
ago had lived peacefully and contented upon what the father's
post brought them in, soon found that the same money was worth
only one-half of what it formerly was, and themselves, as a con-
sequence, in a position of relative misery spite of the augmenta-
tion of salaries. The inferior government officials as well as
persons with small fixed incomes, and indeed, the whole of that
large class among the Berlinese who are condemned to eke out
existence on narrow means, suffered in an equal degree. Perhaps
none felt the baneful effects of the five milliards more acutely
than the teachers at colleges and higher class schools, and
the general run of medical men. The former held meetings
at which it was shown how inadequate their salaries were to
maintain them in the position they were justified in claiming for
themselves and families, while tlie more distinguished members of
the medical profession declared that of their 700 or 800 colleagues
at Berlin, scarcely 100 were able to live by the proceeds of their
practice. The gross receipts of an average practice were estimated
at 2,000 thaler — under 300/. a-year — from which one-half had to
be deducted for purely professional expenses, such as a carriage,
a larger and more expensive residence, &c. What remained was
insufficient to maintain their families, educate their children,
provide for their old age, and for those whom they might leave
behind. The reports of Medical Aid Funds moreover showed
that many widows and orphans of medical men, and even some
of the more aged practitioners tliemselves were receiving annual
or occasional assistance, ranging in amount from 35 to lOO thaler.

The working classes by means of strikes, or threatened strikes,
succeeded in obtaining several extra groschen per day, and in
certain instances their earnings not only equalled, but even ex-
ceeded those of many employ h. At this epoch one of the
satirical journals pictured the latter as complaining that whereas
the working classes were sending their sons to colleges, and their
daughters to boarding schools, they were obliged to put their

BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT.

167

own sons to trade, and their dau<Thters to domestic service. The
working classes, however, were not destined to enjoj'' for long the
special advantages they were believed to have acquired. Soon the
augmented prices of food and of lodgings, and more particularly
the latter, at Berlin, absorbed the increase in their wages, and
left them no better off than they had been before.

One natural consequence of the triumph of the German arms
was the flooding of Berlin with speculative enterprizes. " Peace
had scarcely been concluded when the tribe of improvised finan-
ciers began their merry mad dance round the golden calf at the
Berlin I3orse. The large houses opened the ball, the smaller
ones followed in their steps, and masters and pupils were joined
by an ever-increasing swarm of disciples and adherents, including
men of all ranks and all religions. They danced from morn
till eve, and went on dancing with screams and shouts for months
and even years. The wild dance only came occasionally to a
sudden standstill, as at the close of 1871, in the spring of 1872,
and late in the autumn of the same year. Then the dancers
grew pale, and suddenly trembled ; they held their breath and
listened, but all was quiet. The sky still looked clear, so they
went on with their gyrations. When in May, 1873, the storm
suddenly burst over Vienna, Berlin refused to hear the peals of
thunder or to see the
flashes of lightning
which illumined the
horizon, but still
danced on. The earth,
however, quaked, the
dancersstumbled, and
many among them
rose no more.

" The five milliards,
with interest, which
Prince Bismarck, as-
sisted by Herr Gerson
and Herr Bleichroder
had wrung from MM.
Thiers and Favre, had
been at once looked
upon by the Borse as
its own, from a set-
tled conviction that

this fabulous sum must flc)w thither directly or indirectly,
mighty impetus to trade and commerce, a constant increase in
the value of land was forthwith proclaimed. According to the
declarations of the Borse and the political economists in alliance
with it, every one, from the Emperor down to the beggar, had
suddenly become rich, the national property had increased

BKFORE THE CKASH.

A

l68 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

tenfold, and in order not to allow this colossal surplus to lie unem-
ployed, new enterprizcs were started and new stocks created.

"This was accordingly done. During 1871 and 1872 about 780
joint stock companies were formed in Prussia. Rightly to
appreciate this number, it should be known that between 1790
and 1870, a period of eighty years, only about 300 such com-
panies in all had arisen. This gave an average of one every
three months, whereas during 1871 and 1872 (jne was created
every day. The majority of these 780 companies were formed
in Berlin, or were connected with it, and almost all the shares
were brought out on the Berlin Exchange." ^

At this epoch frugal Berlin tradesmen, who, after long years
of toiling and scraping, had laid aside a little hoard, allowed
themselves to be bitten by the mania for speculation so carefully
fostered by the band of " promoter^ " who had flocked to Berlin
in the rear of the victorious legions of the Emperor. Allured by
the specious promises of these Teutonic Captain Hawkesleys,
and eager to plunge their hands into "the golden stream flowing
from vanquished Gaul," they abandoned their counters for the
environs of the Borse, and while absorbed in the share list of
bogus stocks utterly lost sight of the prices current of more
legitimate commodities, with results, as a rule, only too disas-
trous. The government and municipal employes could not strike
like the artisan, neither dared they emulate the recklessness
of the trader. The places of such few as ventured to dabbie
in speculative enterprizes soon " knew them no more," while
their more cautious brethren dragged on their habitual cheese-
paring existences, full of constant shifts and ceaseless privations.

" Victory," remarked the celebrated novelist Gustav Freytag,
" has given birth to many evils ; the honour, the loyalty of tlie
capital are suffering terribly. Every one is infected with this
senseless passion of gain — this thirst of gold; all are intoxicated
with it. Princes, courtiers, generals,high functionaries, alikeindulge
in the unbridled game; all seek to win the confidence of petty
capitalists ; all take advantage of their position to make a speedy
fortune. It spreads like wild-fire and renders one despondent.
The sight of so much corruption makes one doubt the future."

Yet with all this the Berlinese continued to assume a jubilant
air, and when the three Emperors met together at Berlin a
caricature made its appearance, representing a pair of scales, one
of which containing three milliards of francs, with little M. Thien,
hanging on below, was high up in the air ; while the other,
holding three imperial crowns, and directed by the tip of
Bismarck's little finger, was close to the ground, leading one to
infer that the meeting of the Emperors had been arranged with
the view of counter-balancing the favourable impression pro-
duced in Europe by the success of the recent French loan.

^ Dcr Borsen-und Cruii.uttigs schwindel in Berlin, von Otto Glagau.

BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT.

169

Cassandra-like warnings were not, however, wanting, and the
Volks ZcituHg observed, " When one notices the continual in-
crease of prices of
articles of the first
necessity, one is
led to ask oneself
seriously, What is
the benefit of the
strikes and of the
increase of sal-
aries ? What good
have the French
milliards done us ?
One thought that
these milliards

were going to
h'ghten the taxes
and bring opulence
into the country ;
whereas it is the
contrary which has
happened. The
dearness of every-
thing is a conse-
quence of the aug-
mentation of salaries and a result of the strikes, and the milliards
undoubtedly had much to do with it.

"Augmentation of salaries means augmentation of prices. When
the increase of salaries only applies itself to a few special branches
of industry, a greater salary may bring with it the possibility of
enjoying more easily the necessities of life. But when this aug-
mentation is general, and applies itself to every branch of labour,
its natural consequence is to oblige the workman to expend more
money in procuring less enjoyment. The illusion has prevailed
that the prices of the products of the soil do not augment when
the salaries of the town workmen increase. But inexorable
experience has shown that the augmentation of salaries does not
merely limit itself to the towns but unfailingly penetrates into
the rural districts. If the salaries of the country labourers do
not follow the progression as initiated by the towns, emigration
ensues either towards the towns or beyond the seas.

" Milliards, even if they rained from heaven, would not enrich a
people. If by magic each thaler changed itself into two during
the night, on the morrow that which cost one groschen before
would cost two. Spain experienced this in her palmy days, and
it is being experienced to-day in the countries where gold-fields
have been discovered. Money only conduces to easy circum-
stances when it is the result of labour which effectively enriches

I/O

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

a country. The milliards temporarily serve for speculation, but
the working classes do not profit by them. As they come by
degrees from France, living in Germany increases, and labour in
France diminishes in cost. The want of habitations is not known
in Paris as it is in Berlin. Provisions also are not so expensive
there, whereas here they increase in price every day. There
are certain industrial works in which we compete with France in
foreign countries. If here salaries augment while they decrease
in France — such is the logical consequence of the milliards —
the result will be that France will triumph in the competition."

The truths of political economy notwithstanding, Germany was
soon found regretting that so little as five milliards had been
exacted from her ancient enemy. When, however, the inevitable
financial crash came, the tone changed again, and the Berlinese
felt more sure than ever that " those accursed five milliards "
were the cause of all their ills. They unquestionably turned the

heads of even sober

ii'lfll^i'fi

people, and brought in
their train, swindling, a
foolish rage for wealth,
credulity about values
that never existed, over
production, gambling
on the Borse, exorbi-
tant wages, high rents,
the monstrous rise in
the prices of all the
necessaries of life, and
finallythe great "crash,"
the effects of which are
seen in the fall to a
nominal value, or total
extinction, of shares
quoted a little while
before at extravagant
premiums, the failure
of large banks, the
diminished attendance
at the University, the
number of empty houses, the stranding of numerous families
on the barren shore of poverty, and, as a necessary consequence
of tliis material destitution and its accompanying moral depres-
sion, an utter sterility in the realms of art and science.^

The lament was loud throughout Germany, where people

thought it very hard that, just as the nation had become

suddenly united and powerful, it should be called upon to make

such sacrifices. "The demons of swindlmg," exclaimed one

^ F. Spielhagen in the Atheiuruiit, Feb. 1876.

AFTER IHl-: CRASH.

BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT. I/I

indignant writer, " pounced upon it, and trampled it down in the
midst of its victorious joy and of the general enthusiasm. The
most sacred feelings of a people were played with by speculators
and swindlers for their own base ends and criminal purposes."
More than this, the Minister of Justice, in recommending the
adoption of a projected reform of the criminal code, urged its
necessity on the plea that, since the influx of the milliards,
popular manners had become more brutalized, respect for the
law and the authorities so much lessened, that public order could
scarcely be said to exist. With the Berlinese themselves, thus
dolefully lamenting the disasters born of the baneful five
milliards, it is not surprising to find a Frenchman chuckling over
their misfortunes in this somewhat exaggerated strain : —

" These five milliards falling into Count Bismarck's helmet,
like the golden eggs laid by the goose of the fable, literally
turned the Germans' heads. In Berlin it was believed that the
mythological era was about to return — that the Spree, like a new
Pactolus, would roll down sands of gold, and that it would only
be necessary to stoop to become rich. This hallucination lasted
for a year. A thousand enterprises were created : companies
sprung up like mushrooms after rain ; everything was turned
into shares — butcheries, breweries, groceries, streets, canals, roads;
houses were sold at the Borse, and in two hours changed owners
five or six times,^ A five-storeyed house fetched a million of
francs. Lodgings were classed like stocks and shares, and people
disputed over a garret. Building operatives made their fortunes,
worked ten hours a day, tossed off champagne in beer-glasses,
and drove in droschken from their work to the restaurant.
Money, in the heat of concupiscence, rushed forth from all its
places of concealment, darting upon the French gold in order to
become fecundated by the contact, and yield a profit of 50, 60,
and 80 per cent. The ground trembled at the rumbling of the
gold-laden trucks bearing the seals of the Bank of France, and,
opening as in the pantomimes, there arose up bier //alien as
splendid as palaces, restaurants as grandiose as cathedrals,
enchanted gardens, where the perfume of flowers and the sound
of music mingled during winter in the warm and voluptuous
atmosphere of vast conservatories, and during the summer in the
vicinity of refreshing fountains and cascades.

" Places of recreation and pleasure were necessary for this
people, who, like the Romans after the conquest of the provinces,
shouted ' Panem et Circenses ! ' The Kaisergallerie, with its
eccentric gilding, was built ; and the unique Flora of Charlotten-
burg, with its dining-rooms for 2,000 people, and its ballroom
looking on to a conservatory stocked with palms, odoriferous

* " The same house would pass in a single day through many a tribe of
Israel, through a dozen hands or more, each making five, ten, twenty, and
even fifty thousand thaler out of it." — Otto Glagau in De?- Gartenlaube.

172 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

trees, and bowers of roses, was created. Joint stock companies
fought with miUions as their weapons for the possession of the
feudal castles in the environs of Berlin, so as to transform them
into summer bier Iial/cn, with open-air theatres, lakes and boats,
artificial mountains, Swiss dairies, and the like. But this vision
of the Arabian Nights did not last a twelvemonth. The temples
of pleasure and the graces are to-day in a state of bankruptcy,
and the bailiffs have seized the quiver of Cupid.

" Entire Germany, 'this nation of thinkers.' as its philosophers
call it, allowed itself to be duped by this deceitful mirage. The
cunning ones made use of the milliards as decoys. Five and
even ten companies were projected in the course of a day;
directly the shares were subscribed the managers disappeared,
and nothing remained but the empty safes. They escaped all
control by bribing the authorities. At length matters came to such
a pass that people asked themselves whether it was prudent to go
to the Borse without a revolver in one's pocket. Rows occurred
every moment, and speculators fought like brewers' draymen.

" The governor of the Prussian Bank stated, in a report
published on the 1st of January, 1873, that the promoters of
companies had gained in two years several millions of thaler,
thanks to public credulity. If France paid dearly for her defeat,
Germany is to-day paying cruelly for her glory. Peace is
costing her more than war." ^

The agricultural labourer, or peasant, though he too had his
share of suffering through the indemnity, managed to escape the
best.^ So long as he can scrape together the few score thaler
needed for transport, either by fishing them out from the
proverbial stocking stowed away in one corner of his big chest,
or by disposing of the bulk of his household goods, he has the
world before him where to choose.

" I pay the men who lift those sacks twenty-five shillings
a week, whilst I can get a clerk for fifteen," recently remarked a
London wharfinger ; and muscle is a marketable article all over
the civilised world. Thanks to emigration agents, the most
obtuse of the Emperor Wilhelm's subjects have learnt to compare
their own persistent efforts to wring a scanty subsistence from

' Voyage au Pays des Milliards, par Victor Tissot, 1875.

' A brief explanation may here be given of how the indemnity received
from France was disposed of. Broadly speaking about four-fifths were de-
voted to military purposes, being either laid out in repairing the losses of the
last war, or in preparing for the successes of the next. Of the remaining fiftli,
143,000,000 thaler (^21,000,000) were apportioned to Prussia, to be applied
by her as she thought fit ; and fit she deemed it that not a penny of the
amount should find its way into the pockets of the tax-payers, or be applied
to purposes ordinarily defrayed out of their pockets. One-third, indeed, went
to redeeming loans, thus relieving the nation from paying the interest ; the
other two-thirds built a good many miles of Government railway — useful, no
doubt, for military purposes, but highly prejudicial to the shareholders of
those private companies whose lines had formerly sufficed for the traffic.

BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT. 1 73

the barren soil of their native provinces, with the comparative life
of luxury enjoyed by their brethren across the Atlantic ; and the
returns from the ports of Hamburg, Bremen, and Stettin, for the
last three years, clearly indicate the combined effects of the
milliards and the conscription upon the agricultural populations
of East and West Prussia, the Mecklenburgs, and Posen.

Concurrent with the influx of the milliards, there arose at
Berlin an insensate crusade against everything French, set on
foot by the leading newspapers. The war had revived in the
Berlinese many bitter reminiscences which the surpassing triumph
of the German legions had failed to efface. When, in 1807,
Napoleon I. carried off to Paris the colossal car of victory which
surmounts the Brandenburg Gate, and plundered the Berlin
Museum of its finest works,^ the feelings of the population, as
they watched the departure of their artistic treasures, must have
been almost as acute as those of the French, who saw their
bro7ize-dore clocks and their palissandre pianos carted off to the
Prussian frontier during the last war. The French seemed to
have forgotten this little piece of pilfering on the part of their
great Emperor, and the Prussians were perhaps not altogether
wrong in showing that they still remembered it, especially as
they contented themselves with such bagatelles as clocks and
pianos, and left the public galleries and art collections untouched.
But when the war was over, and France had been forced to make
ample reparation, one would have thought that the Prussians
would have stifled their animosity against their old enemy,
and if they had felt no pity for a nation that had sufTered so
grievously at their hands, that they would at all events have
been actuated by no ill-feeling towards it. Unfortunately, it was
not so ; and I doubt if it is possible for the Germans to be more
hated in Paris than the French are at Berlin, The Berlinese
know that a time must come when vanquished France will be
strong again, and possibly still eager for revenge ; and the
opinion that she has not been rendered sufficiently powerless,
troubles peace-loving shopkeepers as well as bellicose generals.

One reason why the Germans hate the French is that, not
being a witty people themselves, they cannot tolerate French
ridicule. They are also particularly sensitive at being styled
barbarians, and spoken of as ill-mannered and uncouth. The
silly yet contemptuous manner in which the French spoke of
every German who had lived in France before the war broke
out, as an espion, touched them, moreover, to the quick. One is

1 In the recently published Recollections of the Countess von Foss, we find
her writing under the date of the nth of November, 1807, "I received the
catalogue of all that the French have either despatched officially from Berlin
to Paris or simply stolen, as well from the Royal Palaces as from Potsdam,
mostly statues, pictures, china, vases, valuables, and works of art of every
description. The list is incredible."

174 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

here reminded of what befel a well-known German painter of
military subjects who had studied in France prior to the war,
residing for upwards of three years in Paris and Versailles
engaged in copying the works of Horace Vernet When the
war broke out he followed the Prussian army with the view
of making sketches for several pictures which the king had
commissioned him to paint, and while at Versailles called upon
different people he had formerly been on terms of intimacy
with. He was received everywhere with marked coldness, which
led him to suspect that he was regarded as one of " Bismarck's
spies." Nevertheless, chancing to meet one of the attendants
in the picture-gallery of the palace, to whom he was very well
known, he invited him to drink a bottle of wine. The old man
was nothing loth. " Ah !" thought the delighted painter, "here
at least is one who does not turn his back upon me." They
repaired to the painter's room ; the bottle was uncorked ; the
glasses were filled, and the usual compliments exchanged. As
the old adage has it, " When wine sinks, words swim," and while
sipping his last glass the old man gravely shook his head,
remarking, "Well, it's over now, mais cest tout de menie tin bien
vilain metier que vous avez fait Id, Monsieur."

" What do you mean ? " exclaimed the astonished painter, as
his belief in having found one old acquaintance who did not look
upon him as a spy was suddenly dispelled. " Ah ! " replied the
other, again wagginghis head, "you were always with the officers in
garrison here, and it was not without an object, you know. True,
it's all over now, mais cest neannwius 2111 bien vilain metier !"

Before the war the Berlinese went into ecstasies over every-
thing that came from foreign countries, and condemned, as bad
or worthless, -whatever was made at home. All the artificial
flowers, perfumery, cravats, collars, bonnets, and mantles, made
in the city, only found purchasers by the vendors telling false-
hoods concerning their origin. The best-loved ^<7;za' would have
risked his future happiness had he dared to suspect that his
betrothed's toilettes did not come direct from Paris, or at least
from Brussels or Vienna. It was very different after the war,
for when the troops re-entered Berlin the committee of manage-
ment unanimously resolved that the young girls charged with
presenting wreaths to the Emperor and princes should not be
attired a la Francaise, but in strict German fashion, whereupon
much perplexity ensued, and it was finally decided that the only
way to secure them a really German appearance was for them to
wear long flowing flaxen tresses in the style of Goethe's Gretchen.

Subsequently the Berlinese insisted upon French influence
being no longer allowed to assert itself in literature and the
drama, in drawing-rooms and kitchens, in apparel and cosmetics.
This proposed breaking off entirely with France, and dispensing
with all the results of French culture and industry, was not a

BERLIN WIRD WELTSTADT. 1 75

mere idle caprice, still the Berlinese had scarcely estimated how
deeply rooted French fashions and ideas had become among
them. A precisely similar movement had been started in 18 14
after the war of Liberation, but only to die out in the peace that
followed, possibly from want of any power at that epoch which
could keep Germany in combined action. In the present
instance the warfare against everything French was equally
bitter, if not as active, as in the days of Lessing. It was not for
long, however, that the latest Parisian mode found no favour
in the eyes of Berlin belles, and that they employed native
coutiiricres, who draped them in robes of Spartan simplicity ;
that chignons became as rare as they had formerly been com-
mon, and that German labels and inscriptions usurped the place
of French ones. Before the war there were only 200 French
workmen in Berlin, now there are estimated to be 2400, the
wages of whom range from two-and-a-half to five thaler a day.
The larger number are masons, sculptors, upholsterers, and
designers, to whom may be added at least a hundred French
cooks. The Prince von Pless, a rich Silesian landowner, has
recently been building in the Wilhelms-strasse, a palace after the
designs of M. Detailleur of Paris. In the construction of this
edifice, not only have French workmen been employed, but
most of the materials have been forwarded from France. The
journals acknowledge that the local architects know next to
nothing of the ornate Louis Ouinze style, which is utterly ignored
in their manuals, and admit that Berlin artisans, accustomed
for fifty years to the bald style of decoration known as Berlin
Greek, are incapable of working in the highly florid style which
the Second Empire restored in France.

Before the war, French language used to be spoken in the best
Berlin society almost as freely as German itself ; but although
the officers of the Guard, who reign over the salons of Berlin,
returned from the campaign with increased fluency in the latigage
i)ar excellence de la coJiversation — of itself a source of constant
temptation — scarcely a word of French was heard at either
evening party or military mess. Waiters, too, no longer pre-
sumed to air their PVench when addressed by a foreigner
in imperfect German ; and in certain Berlin clubs and drawing-
rooms it was the established rule to impose a small fine on
any one using a French word in the course of conversation.

These puerile attempts at suppressing the innumerable French
expressions which had crept into and been incorporated with the
German language proved far from successful. Three centuries
and a half ago Avelinus had complained of the evil, Stevin
followed in his footsteps, and Grimm and Radloff" thundered in
vain against the abuse. Recently a learned philologist ^ renewed
their protest ; but while bitterly criticising the writers and
^ Dr. Zung in his ^Deutsche briefe.

1/6 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE,

journalists who made use of what he termed so many barbarisms,
he was guilty of the very backslidings which he was censuring,
proving this habit of having recourse to French words to be far
too deeply rooted to be easily eradicated. A Frenchman on
arriving by railway at Berlin will be asked for his billet ; at the
hotel an individual in a cap with a gold band will announce
himself as the portier. Advertisements in the papers will
apprise him where he can live eii pension ; outside many lodging-
houses he will notice the inscription Maison Meiiblee, while the
better-class dining-places will style themselves restaurants, and
certain beer-rooms, where cofifee is never by any chance seen,
will call themselves cafis. If he visits the opera he can apply
for a billet de parquet, and it is at once given to him. If he asks
for a loge, a parterre, or a balcon, he will be equally well under-
stood; and has merely to pronounce the word /r^^rrt^/zw^? to have
one handed to him. Over the shops he will find MarcJiand
iailleur, Magasin de modes, &c., or such hybrid phrases as Rasir,
frisir, nnd haarschneide cabinet inscribed, while soieries de Lyon
and noiiveautes de Paris, and similar announcements, stare him
in the face in many of the windows. In the papers he will read of
ein arrondirtcs, separirtes, und isolirtes, Gut, znm reguliren, for sale,
and that So-and-So recominandirt sein renojnmirtes 7tJid assortirtes
Lager, er garantirt seine marchandise. Furniture-dealers vaunt
their mobilidr and tHeublemcnts. The newspapers announce the
price of an abonnernent, a journalist advertises for the post of
redactciir, and photographers speak of their ateliers, and adver-
tising agents of their a7inoncen expeditions. Theatrical pro-
grammes and the cartes of the better-class restaurants are
generally half in French, while the menus of private dinners are
entirely so — not such French perhaps as a Parisian would recog-
nize, but good enough to establish the rule. At regular intervals
the journals opened a vigorous campaign against the admixture
of French in the programmes, but without much success.

The extent to which the French language has been laid under
contribution for military purposes is certainly considerable ; still
we ourselves appear to be indebted to it in an equal degree.
The Prussian recruit is sent to the caserne, where he learns that
he has become a militair ; his uniform is given him ; as a
rekrut he learns to exerciren ; if tall and well built he will probably
be admitted to the cavallerie as a kUrassier, and enter into a
regiment of such a numero or into an escadron of "Cao. garde-corps.
If, on the other hand, he becomes an infa7iterist, he may be a
grenadier, or be incorporirt into a bataillon oi fusiliers ; or,
failing his admission into either of these divisions, he will be
placed in the artillerie.

^fy^ «|^^J-^

UNTER DEM LINDEN.
J^r/}»t the Illustrated LoitdoK News.

Page 177. I.

UNTER DEN LINDEN, FROM THE PARISER-FLATZ.

IX.

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

TWO striking features of Berlin — more characteristic of the
city than the Schloss, the museums, the mihtary monu-
ments, the Spree, the vast barracks, or the equally vast beer-
gardens — are Unter den Linden and the Thiergarten, the
favourite promenades, intra and extra muros, of the Berlinese.
Berlin, without Unter den Linden and the Thiergarten, would
be like Paris without its Boulevards and its Bois de Boulogne,
Vienna without its Ring and its Prater, London without its
Regent-street and its Parks. It is of these twin attractions that
we shaL now, therefore, speak, and first of Unter den Linden,
the Prussian via triumphalis, where the national history may be
said to be written in bronze, stone, and — stucco.

Unter den Linden is a pretty name ; there is euphony even in
the mere words, which suggest the title for a sentimental poem,
telling of lovers meeting in the silence of evening under an
avenue of branching limes ; of throbbing hearts and faltering
voices, soft endearments and whispered vows, broken only by the
warbling of the nightingale. It is an appropriate name, too, for
that slightly meretricious picture of Kaulbach's — engravings of
which are in all the Berlin printsellers' windows — representing a
bouncing young shepherdess, in a trifle too obvious dhhabille,
listening with rapture to the impassioned declarations of a gay
and daring troubadour beneath the shade of overhanging lime-
trees. Her hat, which, like her hair, is wreathed with roses, has
fallen on the ground, and lies beside her crook among the blue-
bells, daisies, and forget-me-nots, while her strayed flock stand
bleating in the distance. She herself reclines unresistingly in

N

178

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the minstrel's arms ; her hand, which a moment ago repulsed the
advances of the too impetuous youth, for whom the battle is
almost won, now reposes languidly on his shoulder, as gazing
into the limpid stream running at their feet she seems to lend a
willing ear to his persuasive pleadings.

Unter den Linden, however, applied to the principal street
in Berlin, is slightly inappropriate, for one might almost ask
where are the lime-trees .'' One looks up and down that broad
thoroughfare — which the Berlinese foolishly compare to the
Champs Elysees and boulevards of Paris, the Corso of Milan,
and the Prado of Madrid — for the wide-spreading foliage, which
one is apt to associate with the lime, and all that one perceives
are rows of sickly-looking trees shedding their withered leaves
as they sway backwards and forwards in the autumn breeze.
Lime-trees are there, it is true, but either so languishing or
else so small, and so mixed up with stunted chestnut and
maple-trees, that it is somewhat difficult to distinguish one from
the other. The fact is, there is scarcely a tree among them that
has seen threescore summers, and yet the Berlinese cheat
themselves into believing that Unter den Linden is the finest
thoroughfare in Europe.^

To obtain an idea of Unter den Linden,
all, a

imagine, first of
thoroughfare as
broad as Portland-
place. Trace out in the
centre a wide prome-
nade enclosed by mere-
ly a single iron rail
placed about a yard
from the ground; border
it with some scraggy-
looking trees ; dispose
along it a score or so of
seats and a few little
wooden houses for the
sale of fruit, walking-
sticks, and effervescing
drinks, with several
dumpy columns covered
with coloured announcements of the day's and night's entertain-
ments ; arrange a ride on one side by means of a second iron
rail ; border this with more trees, and reserve it to equestrians,

1 The debilitated condition of the trees in the Linden is stated to arise
from their being poisoned at their roots by escapes of gas. To obviate this
all newly-planted trees are inclosed within a stone wall sunk five feet below
the surface of the ground. Certain Berlin savants say it is to other causes,
and more especially the drought in summer, that the decrepit condition
of the Berlin lime-trees is really to be attributed.

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

179

taking care, however, that it is only just broad enough for a
couple of horsemen to ride abreast ; then, on the further side, set
apart a similar strip of ground for carriages, with a reasonably-
broad foot-pavement beyond, which bound with a palace orso.somc
stuccoed houses, large hotels, and second-rate shops. Imagine a
street disposed in the above fashion extending for nearly a mile in
a straight line, and intersected by smaller thoroughfares, with its
open drains in warm weather sending forth all the foul odours
which Coleridge professed to detect in Cologne. Place at one
end a stately gateway in the style of the Propylaeum at Athens,
and some sixty feet high and two hundred feet wide ; surmount
it by a colossal chariot of Victory harnessed to four prancing
steeds, and erect several ill-matched mansions in its vicinity.
Then, at the other end, in front of the Emperor William's
palace, place a handsome bronze equestrian statue of Friedrich
the Great standing on a tall pedestal, ornamented with finely-
designed alto-relievos, and you will have a very fair counterpart
of Unter den Linden, Berlin.

To give life to the scene there should be plenty of soldiers,
both on and off duty, including perhaps a squadron of the
famous White Cuirassiers, also helmeted officers, scintillating with
decorations, driving about in droschken, ambling aides-de-camp,
and orderlies, everlastingly on the trot, and young lieutenants
clattering their sabres on the pavement ; for at Berlin the
military element dominates every other. Add a fair number of
vehicles of all kinds, ,„, ,,,„i:iii

not forgetting primitive
country waggons and
carts drawn by dogs ;
with women carrying
baskets of cakes and
fruit; newsmen with
the journals of the day
in boxes slung before
them ; nursemaids from
the Spreevvald, in the
quaint coiffure and
scarlet " unterrock " of
the district, and escorted
by philandering guards-
men. Amongst the more
respectable pedestrians
there should be an oc-
casional ragged urchin,
with a good sprinkling
of greasy-coated, un-
washed bangel, or Berlin roughs, who seem to pass a large portion
of the day sleeping upon the benches under the central avenue,

N 2

l80 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

much to the disgust of the seedy loungers who will sit here
meditatively for hours together, with their crossed legs incon-
tinently exposing the dilapidated boots they are ordinarily
so careful to hide.

It is through the open arcades of the Brandenburger Thor — •
which rises up at the western extremity of Unter den Linden, on
the verge of the Thiergarten, and forms the grand approach
to the Prussian capital — that all the triumphal entries into
Berlin are made. At the conclusion of the late war with France,
the victorious legions, w^hich had recently passed in triumph
under the noble Arc de I'Etoile, in the Champs Elysees, marched
into Berlin by the Brandenburg Gate, acclaimed by an enthusi-
astic population. And when the first Napoleon, after the
battle of Jena, made his entry into the city as a conqueror, he
likewise passed through this gateway under the famous colossal
group of Victory — the laboured work of a common Berlin
coppersmith, after the sculptor Schadow's model — which a
few months later was on its way to Paris to swell the art-
spoils of Europe there accumulated. Seven years afterwards
it was brought back in triumph, and restored to its appro-
priate pedestal to again survey the broad Linden perspective. The
architect of the Brandenburg Gate is said to have borrowed the
idea of it from the Propylaeum, the entrance to the Acropolis.
If so, he certainly took great liberties with his model, for
his Doric columns are neither of classical proportions nor
artistically treated. Besides being too tall, they rest on bases,
and are fluted in the Ionic instead of the Doric style. The bas-
reliefs ornamenting the sides of the structure, and referring to
the military achievements of Friedrich the Great, are a sad
jumble of the historical and the mythical.

The wide Pariser-platz, immediately facing the Branden-
burger Thor, with its guard-house on the one hand, and a crowd
of ramshackle droschken standing at hire on the other, is bounded
on its two sides by some incongruous mansions and so-called
palaces, of no architectural merit, excepting one recently erected
by Prince Blucher von Wahlstadt, on the site of the historic
edifice presented by the city of Berlin to his illustrious
ancestor, who arrived so opportunely at Waterloo. At this end
of the Linden is the School of Artillery and Engineers, with a
couple of the Ministries, the remainder being installed in, or
adjacent to, Wilhelms-strasse — the Parliament and Downing-
street of Berlin — which intersects the lime-tree avenue at this
point, and forms the official quarter of the city. Higher up the
Linden, on the southern side, is the capacious hotel of the
Russian Embassy, between which and the Palace of Prince
Frederick of the Netherlands, the broad thoroughfare is occupied
on both its sides by shops, all, with rare exceptions, more or less
commonplace, hotels more or less stately, restaurants with beer-

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

l8l

gardens in their rear, and conditoreien with iron balustrades in
front, penning in the out-door habitues of these estabhshments,
like so many sheep.

Quite a recent and attractive feature of Unter den Linden is
the handsome Kaiser-gallerie. standing on the southern side, and
leading into Friedrichs-strasse. The Berlinese, who style it
" the Passage," point admiringly to its lofty proportions and
redundant ornamentation, and believe it to be without equal in
Europe. Yet, as a commercial speculation, it is a lamentable
failure. Well-dressed loungers are not attracted to it, simply
because its shops, iwith the exception of those adjoining the
Linden, are stocked with worthless articles. You may dine, more-
over, in perfect solitude at almost any hour of the day at its
grand restaurant, the entrance to which is almost on a par with
that of a first-class London club-house ; while, as regards its
capacious Wiener cafe, scarcely more than a dozen people are
usually encountered there, although it offers ample accommoda-
tion to upwards of a hundred, besides which it is commonly
deserted by nine o'clock at night, at a time when the Berlin beer-
houses are perhaps the most crowded.

Berlin is not a lively nor even a particularly bustling city.
It altogether lacks the gay, kaleidoscopic life of a great metro-
polis. None of the crowd of well-dressed loungers, encountered

IS2

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

on the Paris boulevards
or in our own Regent-
street, throng its prin-
cipal promenade, where,
moreover, elegantly-at-
tired women are rare-
ly seen. As a rule, the
Berlin belles seem to
know as little how to
dress as a large section
of our own country-
women, the same war
of colour prevailing in
their toilettes, which are
for the most part extra-
vagant caricatures of
Paris fashions.

The broad central
avenue of the Linden
is almost exclusively
appropriated by nursemaids and children and the "residuum"
of the Berlin population, while it is easy to perceive that the
few loungers along r-

the side-walks are
either foreigners or
provincials. Where
the straight and
wearisomely lengthy
Friedrichs - strasse
crosses the Linden
is its busiest part.
Here the traffic re-
quires mounted po-
lice to regulate it ;
here " droschken
kutscher " loiter for
fares; street-vendors
of newspapers find
their chief customers,
"dicnstmanner " in
scarlet caps hang
about for jobs, an
Berlinshoeblacksj/
their principal trad
Plereabouts, also,ai
the most frequent
conditoreien, where
more assignations

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

183

are made, more newspapers pored over, more coffee sipped,
and more pastry devoured, than anywhere else in Berlin.
Kranzler's, at the corner of Friedrichs-strasse, used to be the
favourite rendezvous of the officers of the garrison, but of late

KKANZLERS CORNER THIRTY YEARS AGO.

years they appear to have abandoned it to the smaller stock-
jobbing fraternity.

Ranch's admirable monument to Friedrich the Great, at the
eastern extremityof the Linden, dwarfs the adjacent two-storeyed
palace in which the Emperor resides. The colossal equestrian
statue of Friedrich in his habit as he lived — the accustomed
jeering smile playing over his cunning features, and the
legendary cane hanging from his right arm, stands on a bronze
pedestal, which, with its base of polished granite, gives to the
complete monument a total elevation of nearly forty-three feet.
At the corners of the lower pedestal are equestrian statues of
four of Friedrich's distinguished generals, the intervening spaces
being occupied by the effigies of different military heroes of the
time. The upper pedestal, on which the statue of Friedrich
rests, is ornamented by four sitting figures, symbolical of Wisdom,
Justice, Strength, and Moderation, and by bas-reliefs, repre-
senting, allegorically, certain incidents in the life of the soldier-
king. The monument may be said to illustrate an important
chapter in Prussian history, with no actor of that stirring epoch

1 84

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

absent from it. The sculptor, too, understanding how to recon-
cile historic truth with ideal beauty, has successfully overcome
the difficulty presented by an undignified style of costume, and
produced a work of which Berlin may well be proud.

The palace of the Kaiser — over which the handsome imperial
standard floats, and sculptured eagles hover with outspread wings
— might pass for a respectable club-house, or, were it a few storeys
higher, for a modern grand hotel. Unimposing though it be,
it has, in the eyes of the Berlinese, the especial merit of having
been constructed entirely of materials of home production, and
decorated exclusively by native artists.

Twice a day, while the Emperor is at Berlin, an interesting
scene is enacted in front of his palace, where the standards of the
various regiments quartered in the capital are for the time being

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

185

deposited. Soon after dawn in summer, and before that un-
seasonable hour in winter, when half the residents on the
Linden are between the conventional pair of feather-beds, early-
risers will assemble before the palace and await the arrival of
the detachment which — with uniforms and accoutrements alike
without a speck, and accompanied by a band playing martial
airs — comes to fetch away the standards for the morning
manoeuvres outside the city. The exercises over the colours are
brought back again — the detachment this time being smothered
with dust, or drenched with rain and splashed with mud — when
the band forming in front of the palace, strikes up some lively
march, and a general salute is given at the moment the stand-
ards are deposited in ceremonious fashion in their customary
resting-place.

THE EMPEROR S PALACE AND ROYAL LIBRARY.

The rococo fa9ade of the Royal Library which abuts on the
Emperor's palace at the eastern end is jocularly said to be the
reproduction of an 1 8th century commode, which Friedrich the
Great had chosen to serve as a model to the architect. Stored
within the building is a large collection of rare works, together
with an extensive and interesting assemblage of old music.
The former comprises an 8th century MS. of the four evan-
gelists, presented by Charlemagne to Duke Wittekind of
Saxony, a portion of Luther's translation of the Bible written by
himself, and more or less covered with his corrections, also both
Guttenberg's and Faust's Bibles and other rare early printed
books. Spread out in front of the Library is a small garden plot
across which a glance is obtained of the Roman Catholic Church
of St. Hedwig, while on the opposite side of the parterre and
facing the Royal Library is the Berlin Opera-house, a vast and
somewhat elegant structure, an adaptation on the part of Fried-

1 86

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

rich the Great's favourite architect, Knobelsdorf, of the Pantheon
at Athens. Damaged greatly by fire a century after its erection,
when the edifice was restored, the external walls were all pre-
served. Its principal front

STATUE OF MAkbHAl BI LCHER

more ornate edifice — surmounted

and enriched with sculptured friezes and military trophies

looks on to the broad Opern-
platz, where Unter den Lin-
den terminates — its five
straight roads, fringed with
sickly - looking trees, here
merging into a single broad
thoroughfare, whence a com-
plete view can be obtained of
the numerous neighbouring
public buildings without ele-
vating one's nose unduly in
the air.

Perched upon tall pedestals
m the open space eastward
of the Opera-house are bronze
statues of three notable
Prussian generals — York, Blii-
cher, and Gneisenau — relieved
by a rich back -ground of
foliage. Beyond rises the
so-called Prinzessinnen Palace
Imked by an archway to the
by statues and balustrades,

ill

PALACB OF THE PRINCE IMFERIAU

which the Prirxe and Princess Imperial reside. Prior to its
partial reconsti action in 1858, it had been the residence of the

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

1S7

father of the present Emperor, and also of Friedrich the Great,
antecedent to his mounting the throne. It had been entirely-
refitted up for the latter on the occasion of his marriage ; the
Governor of Berlin who then occupied it — old Field-marshal
Wartensleben, grandfather of the Prince's friend, Katte, be-
headed for complicity in his famous attempt to escape — being
bundled out to make room for the Crown Prince and his bride.

Facing the Palace of the Emperor is the Academy of Arts and
Sciences, a building with no pretensions to architectural beauty,
having been originally designed for the P21ectoral stables, but the
clock of which enjoys the honour of regulating Berlin time.

THE ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES.

Allusion has been already made to the origin of that promising
Academy of Sciences founded at the instigation of the Electress
Sophia, and which at the present day holds its meetings within
the walls of this edifice. Under the utilitarian reign of Friedrich
Wilhelm I., it had sunk so low as to submit to have the drunken
butt of the King's tobacco parliament imposed upon it for a
president, and have proposed to it by the King himself as a
proper subject for discussion, " Why champagne foamed .-* "
The academicians, more witty than the King, replied that they
needed the requisite material to experiment with, but his parsi-
monious majesty sent them merely a dozen bottles. In subse-
quent years the Berlin Academy caused some noise in the world
apropos of the law of thrift doctrine of its then perpetual president,
the mathematician, Maupertius, and the ridicule with which this
was assailed by Voltaire in the famous Diatribe du Docteur
Akakia — a satire heartily laughed over in private by Friedrich
the Great, although it drew from him the simulated indignant

1 88 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

observation that if Voltaire's " works deserved statues his conduct
deserved chains," and which, as already mentioned, was burnt by
his orders by the Berlin hangman.

Adjoining the Academy of Arts and Sciences is the more
imposing-looking University, formerly the Palace of Prince
Heinrich, brother of Friedrich the Great. The centre of the
edifice is thrown back some distance from the Linden, the quad-
rangular space in front being disposed in floral parterres. East-
ward of the University is the so-called Konig's VVache, designed
by Schinkel, an enthusiast in the cause of antique art, and much
admired by the Berlinese, who see no anachronism in soldiers in
loose pantaloons and spiked helmets mounting guard with needle
guns before so severely classical an edifice.

Rauch's admirable statues of the brave Biilow von Dennowitz,
and Scharnhorst the Hanoverian, who organised the Prussian
army under Friedrich Wilhelm III., flank the guard-house, which

is almost surrounded by a grove of chestnut trees, between the
trunks of which peep some ancient cannon of large calibre, cap-
tured from the French. Here at eleven o'clock daily, when the
guard is paraded, connoisseurs of the street, loungers on the
Linden, and nurses with their charges, assemble to listen to music
admirably executed by the band of the regiment on duty.
Occasionally in front of the guard-house a crowd of ofificers, com-
missioned and non-commissioned, of all ranks and in all uniforms,
will be passing rapidly to-and-fro as on the eve of a battle.
Among these picturesque groups the eye will perhaps light upon

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

189

some white-moustached old general, his breast covered with
decorations, who, enveloped in a cloak lined with scarlet and with
his hand resting on his sabre, listens grave and attentively to the
report of a booted, spurred, and helmeted lieutenant, resplen-
dent as a sun.

At all times the sentinel on duty at this post has to be

constantly on the qui vive to avoid neglecting to "spot" the
numerous officers passing backwards and forwards on foot and in
closed and open droschken. When they chance to be of the
higher grade, preparations to salute them have to be made the
instant they appear in sight. Pass the guard-house at any moment
and the sentinel will certainly be found saluting some captain or
calling out the guard to render due honour to some moustached
old general for whom you look in vain, till by the aid of your
eye-glass you detect him almost a hundred yards off. It is

1 90

BRRI.IX UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

always interesting to see the first salute given, when the move-
ments of the men are made with all the precision of mechanism,
so perfect is the drill.

Beyond the guard-house and facing the palace of the Prince
Imperial is the Royal Armoury, a huge square massive-looking
building which Berlin art connoisseurs pronounce to be an archi-
tectural cJief d'ceiivrc, and the handsomest edifice of which the
capital can boast. The credit of the original design belongs to
Nering, a Dutch architect, long settled at Berlin, whither he was
tempted by the Great Elector. Nering dying soon after the
building had been commenced, other architects in succession
were entrusted with the work, the completion of which was
ultimately confided to De Bodt, who became famous in after-
life as the architect of the Dresden Japanese Palace. De Bodt
was a French Protestant emigrd, who had met with a favourable
reception in Holland, and had accompanied the Prince of Orange
to England. Subsequently he entered the service of Prussia in
the somewhat dissimilar capacities of military captain and court
architect.

THR ROYAL ARMOURY AND GU AR D-HOl'SE.

The many important changes which De Bodt made in Nering's
platis entitle him to be regarded as the architect of the Armoury,
which bears some trifling resemblance to our Somerset House,
excepting that it is overlaid with military groups and trophies
which crowd as well as crown the roof Above the principal
entrance, which is flanked by four indifi"erent allegorical statues
by another Frenchman, named Hulot, is a vigorous gilt bronze
medallion by the same sculptor, of Friedrich I., with a fulsome
Latin inscription setting forth that this " terror to his enemies and
protector of his subjects and allies, built the present Armoury and
stored it with ammunition, war trophies, and booty of all kinds,
in the year 1706." Ornamenting the pediment and surmount-
ing the balustrade are some spirited groups by Schluter of the
old familiar allegorical type, one representing Mars reposing in
the midst of prisoners and war trophies, another showing him

UNTER DEN LINDEN.

191

surrounded by fettered slaves and preparing to rush into battle,
while Minerva encompassed by arms and warriors exhorts him
to moderation. Surmounting the windows of the lower storey
are richly-carved helmets, the details of which certainly display
remarkable fertility of invention, and the successful effect of
which seems to have led to this style of decoration, so consonant
with Prussian military tastes, being applied to many other Berlin
edifices, notably the Palace of the Prince Imperial, the Cadetten-
haus, the General Staff Office, &c. No attempt, however, has
been made to reproduce the far more interesting " Schliiter'sche
Masken " sculptured above the windows looking on to the inner
court of the building, and scarcely inferior to anything of their
kind within the range of ancient and modern art. They are twenty-
one in number, and consist of the heads of dying warriors, alike
youthful and aged, who are seized with all the pangs and con-
vulsions, the faintness and resignation of death. Schlliter, in giving
the expression of mental suffering to bodily anguish, judicious-
ly imparted dig-
nity alike to
the terrible and
the affecting. A
Berlin critic re-
marks that while
the sculptured
groups which
surmount the
outside of the
edifice deal with
the so-called
glories of war,
the bas - reliefs
within reveal to
us something of
the anguish and

the suffering which are inseparable from battles and military
triumphs.

Standing with one's back to the Linden at the foot of the
broad Schloss-briicke — spanning a narrow arm of the Spree, and
connecting the wide " platz " in front of the Armoury with the
Lustgarten — one takes in the finest coup d'ceil of which Berlin
can boast. The eight classical marble groups symbolical of the
life of a hero — it is always deeds of arms that Berlin sculpture
seeks to glorify — which line the bridge on its two sides are seen
disposed in graceful perspective, while beyond on the right hand
there rises up the imposing facade of the old Schloss, dominated
at one end by the distant tower of the Rath-haus, and at the
other by an imposing dome, and picturesquely varied by long
lines of windows, gilded balconies, sculptured gateways, garden

192

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

terraces, colossal bronze horse-tamers, and a great golden eagle
with expanded wings, posed on the summit of a marble column.
In front of the Schloss the Lustgarten — the former drill-ground
of Friedrich Wilhelm's gigantic guards — spreads itself out, the

centre part disposed in formal parterres around a fountain, which
throws up fantastic spiral jets of water. Close by stands the

THE SCHLOSS-BRUCKE.

colossal equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III., the pedestal
encompassed by a singular jumble of mythical and allegorical
figures representing Borussia brandishing a drawn sword, Father
Rhine with his conventional urn and vine branch, Frau Memel,
with wheatsheaf and ploughshare, Justice, holding her traditional
sceptre, Science, clasping a globe and a book, while Genius,
personified by a winged boy, lights him with the torch of truth.
Another group symbolizes the union of Art with Handicraft,
and finally Religion is shown covering a chalice with an olive
branch, to signify, we are told, what we certainly should not have

UNTER DEN LINDEN

MiM^^

i^pyj^^

,ai^'

MONUMENT TO FKIEDKICH WILHELM 111.

Otherwise have divined, namely the union of the Prussian evan-
geHcal churches.

Bounding the so-called Lustgarten on the opposite side and
vis-d^vis the Schloss is the Museum, surmounted by colossal
groups of the horse-taming Dioscuri. Its Ionic portico, which is
supported by eighteen columns, surmounted by as many eagles, and
decorated with over-glowing frescoes from the pencil of Cornelius,
is approached up a vast flight of steps in front of which stands a
Cyclopean polished granite basin. Flanking it are the familiar
groups in bronze of the Amazon on horseback defending herself

O

194

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

against a tiger, and a mounted warrior engaged in combat with
a lion — the one by Kiss, the other by Wolff. The drawback
to the tout ensemble is the Cathedral standing at the eastern
extremity of the Lustgarten and facing the Schloss-briicke, and
which, spite of its portico with its triad of colossal angels, its
twin towers and prominent dome, is about the baldest-looking
and least interesting cathedral church ever met with in a large
continental city.

BASKING IN THE SHINE.

X.

THE THIERGARTEN.

THE artistic attractions of the "Athens of the Spree"
compensate in a measure for its acknowledged deficiencies
on the score of natural beauty — deficiencies which none are
more conscious of than the Berlinese themselves. With the
exception of the Thiergarten, which is the Berliner's Eden,
all the immediate environs of the city are tame and common-
place in character. The Thiergarten, on the contrary, with the
inconvenient drawback that in summer the trees are grey with
dust, and only the sluggish meandering waters intersecting it
are green, is really a charming spot. If it cannot boast of
foliage equally venerable as the antiquated oaks and elms of
Hyde-park, it is by no means deficient in fine trees, besides
which it is far more densely wooded than Kensington-gardens,
and spite of the geometric avenues intersecting it, more naturally
picturesque than the Bois de Boulogne. Once within its
umbrageous precincts, you are walled in, as it were, by trees
which bound your view on every side, and, excepting in the
broader avenues, are screened alike from sun and wind, as well
as almost sheltered from the rain.

The Berlin Thiergarten — situated just outside the Branden-
burg Gate, and although much encroached upon of late )ears,
still about the size of Hyde-park — is a combination of Dutch
trimness in matters horticultural, with much of the studied
irregularity, and far more than the natural wildness of our

O 2

196

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

English system of landscape-garden incj. Unenclosed as it is
on every side, and bounded by the city on the east and south,
it is naturally a place of considerable resort with all clas'^es ; and
although it is intersected in all directions with straight and
winding footpaths and broad rectangular and radiating avenues
— the inevitable termination of which, according to one who
knows Berlin well, is either a beer-garden or a dancing-saloon —
sombre glades, into which the sun never penetrates, and seques-
tered solitudes, where errant footsteps rarely stray, exist within
a few minutes' walk of the Brandenburgfer Thor itself.

The Thiergarten takes its name from the deer and other
animals which ran wild there two or three centuries ago, when
it extended almost to the heart of the existing city, and formed,
in fact, a hunting-ground for the Electors just outside the doors
of the Schloss. It was then fenced in with the double object of
keeping the game from escaping and preserving it from the
poachers of the period. The first King of Prussia had the first
regular roads cut through its dense thickets, and the earliest
walks and pleasure-grounds formed. Since then succeeding
sovereigns have contributed their mite towards rendering the
Thiergarten the attractive spot it now is. Eriedrich the Great
especially had many alleys, basins, and flower borders, laid out
under the direction of his pet architect, Knobelsdorf.

A broad roadway, inmiediately opposite the Brandenburg
Gate, bordered by centenarian trees, and with a tramway at one
side, along which cars are continually running, divides the
Berlin park into two unequal parts, and conducts to Char-
lottenburg, by far the pleasantest suburb of lierlin, to which it
forms a kind of Kew. To the left of this avenue, and no great
distance down it, are the picturesque Apollo and Flora-platze,

THE THIERGARTEN.

197

separated by a basin of water known as the Goldfisch-teich, and
ornamented with statues, floral parterres, and cHpped hedges,
the whole hemmed in by shrubberies and forest-trees, and
rV7^v!>-^^. forming by no

means an ill-as-
sorted union of
the careless and
the precise. Out-
side the circular
walk, which en-
compasses the Flo-
ra-platz, and forms
a favourite pro-
menade during the
summer months, is
a broad ride, bor-
dered by fine trees,
the tangled boughs
of which meet over-
head, and here in
the morning cava-
:W Hers on prancing
steeds caracole and
canter to the ad-
miring gaze of Ber-
lin nursemaids and
the terror of their
youthful charges.

The Thiergar-
ten abounds with

198

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

shady drives and rides, more or less thronged during the season
by the rank and fashion of Berlin, and rendered gay by the
preponderance of uniforms of the Prussian guard, which at times
give to the gathering somewhat of the aspect of a military pro-
menade. Spite, how-

■^M

"l%i

ever, of the uniforms,

the fours-in-hand, the

handsome carriages

and splendid horses,

there is not the same

animation as prevails

in the Ride and Rot-
ten Row. One draw-
back is the marked

paucity of feminine

equestrians. Of the

few that are seen, the

majority are either

English or American,

for riding, spite of the

example set by the

Crown Princess, is not

an accomplishment ne-
cessary to the complete

education of a well-born

Berlin fraulein. A principal drawback of the Thiergarten is the

absence of chairs for the motley assemblage of promenaders, both

military and civil, com-
pelling them either to
keep continually on
their legs, or to seek for
a seat between nurse-
maids and vagrants —

" Dozing in the shade,
Or basking in the shine,''

on the crowded wooden
benches.

The hours at which
the Berlin beau monde
takes its habitual dust-
bath in the sandy
drives of the Thier-
garten is two o'clock
in the afternoon and
six o'clock in the even-
ing when the days have sufficiently lengthened. The hand-
somest private vehicles are encountered in the broad Hofjager-

THE THIERGARTEN.

199

allee, but invariably with a sprinkling of better-class droschken
among them. The grandest Berlin ladies quit their carriages,
and mingle with the very mixed company which promenades
there between two and four o'clock. Even the Empress, who

"dozi.ng in the shade.

makes her appearance in semi-state — in a carriage drawn by
four, and at times even six horses, and with outriders preceding
her — will frequently alight, and, attended merely by a lady-in-
waiting and a couple of footmen, pass quickly through the
bowing crowd to one or other of the more retired walks with
which the Thiergarten abounds. The Emperor, who drives alone,

200 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

wrapped in his traditional grey military cloak, arrives pretty
punctually from three to half-past three, and, as his carriage flits
rapidly by, the horsemen in the adjacent avenue rein in their
caracoling steeds to render him the customary salute, while
the ladies, who, in their exaggerated toilettes, resemble living
fashion-plates, curtsey low to the ground, like flowers swayed by
a breeze. The old Emperor has enough to do in puckering his
lips into a perpetual smile, and raising his hand incessantly to
his helmet.

Prince Bismarck generally rides out of the garden at the back
of his house opening into the Thiergarten about two o'clock,
attended by one of his secretaries or burgher adjutants. He
mixes freely with the assembled company, but, being short-
sighted, not unfrequently salutes ladies whom he does not know,
and passes his own wife and daughter by without recognizing
them. Count Moltke, who maintains his accustomed reserve and
habitual thoughtful aspect even among the gay crowds that
throng the Thiergarten, usually rides alone since the death of
his young wife, a bold horsewoman, who was fond of accom-
panying him.

To the right of the main intersecting avenue, at the north-
eastern verge of the Thiergarten, and no great distance from the
Spree, is the broad Konigs-platz, in the centre of which rises the
monument commemorating the triple victories of 1864, '66, and
'70, the Prussians, in their prudence or their modesty, having
contented themselves by celebrating a triad of triumphs by
a single trophy.

The memorial designed by Professor Strack is most pretentious but alto-
gether unsatisfactory as a work of art. A stumpy fluted column bound round
■nith brass, encircled with toy cannon cast out of captured artillery, dividing
it into three sections, and crowned by a huge gilt bronze figure of Victory —
rises from the centre of a circular colonnade of granite. This colonnade is
raised upon a lofty pedestal, also of granite, ornamented at its four sides with
large bas-reliefs ; the one on the eastern side — facing Berlin — referring to the
Danish war, and the storming of the Diippell redoubt, while that on the north
depicts the battle of Sadowa with the King embracing the Crown Prince, whose
action had decided the fortune of the day. On the western side is a represen-
tation of the battle and capitulation of Sedan, with the King receiving the
Emperor Napoleon's letter, the southern panel being devoted to the triumphal
entry of the German army into Berlin after the capitulation of Paris.
Calandrclli, Schutz, Keill and Wolff are the designers of these bas-rehefs.

The capital of the columns is encompassed by spread-eagles, and the winged
figure of Victory which surmounts it is of the familiar fat and florid feminine
type which constitutes the Germanic ideal of beauty. In her right hand she
holds a laurel wreath above her head, and in her left a spear or sceptre. This
statue modelled by Professor Drake is upwards of thirty feet in height.

The inner wall of the circular hall encompassed by the circular colonnade
is being decorated with a colossal composition, representing the struggle with
France for German unity, and designed by Anton von Werner. " In this
gigantic picture we are presented with a figure of Germany, rising in a threat-
ening attitude on this side of the Rhine, while on the bank a fisherman is
anxiously drawing his nets. From the clouds on the other side floats a pale

THE THIERGARTEN. 20I

figure of the CjEsars, who has in his train Pestilence, Famine, and Death.
From this side rush the German youth on foot and on horseback ; in front is
a figure that can be no other than the bold cavalrj' leader Prince Friedrich
Karl. In the next scene the Rhine is gone. On the battle-field, among
corpses and ruins, North and South Germany shake hands in token of
brotherly union, under the guise of two men on horseback, of whom one is
'our Fritz,' and the other the Bavarian General, von Hartmann. Next we
are in the Palace of Versailles, indicated by two columns. The German
Princes and the Paladms of the Empire, 13ismarck, Moltke, &c., salute
Wilhelm I. as German Emperor, Jan. i8, 1871, exactly 170 years after Fried-
rich I. made himself King of Prussia. Old Barbarossa wakes in his Kyff-
hauser, and the rav^ens, which for centuries have hung round the hill, fly
away."

At the north-west corner of the Konigs-platz are the offices of
the General Staff, and on its eastern side is the Raczinsky

KACZINSKY PALACE.

Palace, noted for its Art Gallery, comprising sculpture by
Thorwaldsen and paintings by Cornelius and Kaulbach, Leo-
pold Robert, Paul Delaroche, and other modern artists, with
various works of the old masters. Facing the Raczinsky
Palace is KroU's popular establishment, a respectable kind of
Cremorne, patronized by entire middle-class Berlin, and univer-
sally regarded — royalty itself having deigned to visit it — as one
of the institutions of the capital. For this reason a somewhat
detailed description of it may be ventured upon.

On the right-hand side of the garden-entrance rises a large and
stately-looking stucco building, some four hundred feet long and
upwards of a hundred feet in depth, with lofty central towers and
pavilions at the extremities of its two wings. The edifice stands
in a moderate-sized garden, of which the most has been cleverly
made. The interior comprises covered corridors and vestibules,
a spacious theatre, a so-called Roman dining saloon, and the
Ritter and Korb Sale, together with what the Berlinese term a
"tunnel," comprising an underground restaurant, beer-hall and
billiard-room, for the accomniodation of those numerous guests
who find the lingering hours pass pleasantest in a cellar.

On Sundays KroU's is the Berliner's Mecca, and on that day

202

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

is the place, of all others, to study him to advantage. The
entertainments commence with a table dliotc at two o'clock, to

which in summer
as many as a
couple of thousand
people will occa-
sionally sit down
in the dining-sa-
loons and the large
garden pavilion.
The charge, a
couple of shillings,
includes admission
to the grounds,
which are laid out
with the customary
terraces, arcades,
rectangular, ser-
pentine, and se-
questered walks,
studded with trees
and ornamented
with the conven-
tional fountains,
the waters of which,
trickling overmock
rock-work, bathe glassy green artificial aquatic plants, or
descend like dew on the gigantic metal leaves of illusory
bananas. Freshly-painted plaster gods and goddesses, branching
bronze candelabra, con-
nected by festoons of
coloured lamps, and
flower-beds, in which the
more intricate figures
of Euclid may be traced,
with countless chairs and
tables, occupy the larger
vacant spaces.

The repast concluded,
a band plays at frequent
intervals, and even con-
tinues its performances
after the entertainments
at the theatre have com-
menced for the amuse-
ment of those who pre-
fer a lounge in the open air, combined, of course, with continual
potations, for at no hour of the day or night does beer appear to

THE THIERGARTEN.

203

come amiss to the droughty Berliner. At dusk, when the gar-
dens are lighted up with artistically-arranged fantastic jets of
gas and thousands of coloured lamps, something of the effect of
a studied stage transformation scene is produced, excepting that,
in lieu of houris in gossamer, it is peopled with a thirsty crowd,
to do whose bidding agile kcllncr, bearing trays laden with
braten and kalte spcisen, and balancing half a score of glass beer
mugs in either hand, apparently strive in vain. In the meanwhile
the band, perched like stage brigands among a ma.ss of counter-
feit rock-work, are playing favourite airs from famous operas.
The scene is generally enlivened by the presence of numerous

officers, whose varied uniforms contrast with the over-bright tints
of the toilettes of the Berlin belles, and whose killing glances
evidently light on sympathetic eyes, which, as a matter of course,
indignantly scorn, not only the impassioned gaze of enamoured
near-sighted civilians, but of the chubby-cheeked youths of the
Cadetten corps as well. Mingled with the more respectable
company, is a sprinkling of the demi-monde, who, spite of ma-
nagerial efforts to chase them from their Eden with a flaming
sword, contrive to parade the garden walks in their finest feathers.

204

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The theatre is entered by a couple of spacious stone stair-
cases, which communicate with broad corridors, having issues on
both sides of the house, and admit of the crowd, divided into
two streams, pouring into the auditorium from opposite direc-
tions ; thereby effectually avoiding anything like confusion.
The tickets to all the seats in every portion of the house are
numbered, so that, instructed by the numerous attendants,
everyone can be in his place in the twinkling of an eye. The
theatre, instead of taking the conventional horse-shoe form,
resembles a spacious hall. Near the roof, as if supporting it, are
groups of capering caryatides posed in front of the white and
gold-fluted pilasters, while the ceiling is studded with medallions
of famous poets, composers, and artists. There are neither
dress-circle, upper boxes, nor gallery, but a vast number of
stalls ranged in successive tiers until they reach halfway up the
hall, with what would be called the amphitheatre rising up
behind them. The few proscenium boxes, with the rows of
stalls nearest the stage, are occupied by the ^/ife of the gathering.
The auditorium thus arranged, if less elegant in appearance than
when of the conventional form, enjoys the immense advantage
of being beautifully cool even in the height of summer.

One found the family element largely represented in

the audience, which was
il '-1 1 I composed of well-to-do
tradesmen, whom a life of
beer-drinking had rendered
inconveniently puffy, and
who came accompanied by
their wives and progeny ;
short-sighted young clerks,
wearing the brightest-co-
loured cravats, and munch-
ing the knobs of their
canes as they ogled all the
fraulein within range of
their spectacles ; children
of Judea, with an undue
nasal development ; young
lieutenants, leering at every
blonde beauty, and focus-
sing with theiropera-glasses,
with militaryprecision,each
pretty actress every time
she stepped upon the
stage; together with betrothed young couples, gazing spoqnily
into each other's eyes, as if searching for the little Cupids sup-
posed to be lurking in each pupil ; and not a few couples of a
riper age, whose earlier matrimonial illusions were by this time

x^£^

THE TIIIERGARTEN

205

completely dispelled. These, with some over-dressed members
of the Berlin dcmi-inonde, and a few dashing, dandified men of
pleasure, made up the audience in the midst of which we were
seated.

The piece was a comic opera, with the slightest of plots ; still
it was well acted, and everyone of the 800 spectators seemed
perfectly satisfied. A good-looking country clown is in love
with a distant cousin, a charming orphan heiress living lonely
by herself in the village Schloss, like another Mariana. Bashful-
ness, however, keeps the bumpkin from disclosing his passion,
and he confines his admiration to surreptitiously sighing beneath
the fair one's balcony, clandestinely nailing up her climbing
rose-trees, and placing bouquets of flowers furtively upon her
window-sill. While wasting his golden opportunities in such
puerile pursuits, a smart blade from the capital arrives upon the
scene, and the desolate heiress, although she has a sneaking
regard for the good-looking lout, her relative, yet mistakes his
silence for indifference, and, being in haste to be wooed and
wed, accepts the new suitor without further ado.

The sheepish cousin-german is of course dreadfully cast down,
and now, less than ever, can he muster up the requisite pluck to
give utterance to those two or three words which even the
boldest and most experienced in such matters amongst us often
find a difficulty in articulating. The old landlady of the village
bier-haus, however, takes pity on him, and suggests that switch
to sluggish tongues, a bottle of champagne, of which exhilarating
beverage the poor inno- f£^<^

never .^/ ' ^

cent looby had
even heard before. He
tastes it, however, and
finds the first glass
agreeable to the palate,
but nothing more. He
fills again and again,
and by the time he has
swallowed the best part
of a bottle, feels not only
more desperately ena-
moured than ever, but
burning to declare his

passion. Happy fortune — which is always falling in
in novels and on the stage, and rarely in real life-
wealthy orphan cousin on the scene at this opportune moment,
when he — suddenly transformed into a jaunty gallant, ready to
chuck any girl under the chin that comes in his way — not merely
puts the difficult question, but supplements it by a warm
embrace, to the perfect dismay of his jilted rival, who of course
enters from the back of the stage at this particular juncture.

/

one s way
brine's his

2o6

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The latter is of course the villain of the piece, and proves it
by privately informing the orphan heiress that he has on more
than one occasion seen her newly-accepted suitor not only con-
versing with, but positively kissing, some girl of the village. Of
course this brings about a quarrel, and the handsome bumpkin
hastens home, packs up his trunk, and forthwith starts on an
emigration tour to America. His way necessarily lies by the
Schloss, and his distant female relative, seeing him pass, of
course cannot refrain from saying "Adieu" to him. In the
course of the explanations which naturally follow, it comes to
light that it was simply his own sister he was talking to and
embracing, whereupon he is restored to favour and supremest
bliss ; while the treacherous villain finds his reward in being
united to the young woman in question, who is blessed with
a more than ordinarily loquacious tongue. The entertainment
was brought to a close with the inevitable ballet, without which
no Berlin popular theatrical performance would be considered
complete, and in the course of it well-shaped feminine legs were
thrown about with the most daring recklessness and an utter
disregard of propriety, in accordance with the fashion in vogue
at Berlin.

Westward of Kroll's, and bordering an islet of the Spree, are
four famous beer establishments, looking on to a large semi-
circular space, surrounded by lofty oaks, and known as the

TllK ZbLlk.

Kurfiirsten-platz. In the days of Friedrich the Great this was
the favourite rendezvous of the Berlin upper classes, more espe-
cially on Sundays and holidays, when the hautboy-players
belonging to the regiments of the garrison, concealing themselves
behind the trees, used to entertain the assembled company with

THE THIERGARTEN.

207

strains of martial music. This periodical gathering induced a
Frenchman, who knew how provocative the Berlin sand is of
thirst, to set up a canvas tent for the sale of liquid refreshments
on the banks of the Spree. The success he met with induced
other speculators to follow his example, and in time the tents
gave way to more substantial structures, such as now exist, but
which, although of
solid bricks and mor- C^

tar, still preserve their *

original designation of
the Ze/te (tents). To-
day they appear to
retain much of their
ancient popularity, as
no less than a dozen
roads converge to-
wards them, from all
parts of the Thier-
garten, for the conve-
nience of thirsty Teu-
ton souls, who sit here
and watch the equi-
pages of the Berlin
beau monde and the
millionaires of the
Borse rolling past in
the midst of attendant
clouds of sand.

In summer the Zelte are largely frequented, though not
by the aristocratic guests of yore, and on certain days open air
concerts are given there. It is on Sundays, however, that their
Weiss and Bayerisch beer are most in demand. Zelt No. 2 has
been recently christened the Kaiser Wilhelm, and in front of it a
colossal bronze bust of the German Emperor has been set up with
a huge coloured glass crown suspended above it, and which
lighted up at night indicates to the droughty Berliner, wandering
about the Thiergarten, where he can readily quench his thirst.
On the adjacent Spree there are always a few pleasure-boats
for making excursions in, and in winter-time, when the river is
frozen over and the skating season has commenced, people flock
in thousands to the spot and the Zelte drive a lively trade.

A few minutes' walk along the banks of the Spree brings us
to the seedy-looking Bellevue Palace, a two-storied yellow ochre
tinted building with red-tiled roof, and having a small well-
wooded park in the rear. The long rows of uniform windows
are relieved by occasional pilasters and a few dilapidated statues
surmount the central portion of the facade, while other statues,
equally dilapidated, support some lamps on either side of the

208

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

principal entrances. In front of the building
called Lc drolc, captured from the French
posted, and points down the long Bellevue
Thiergarten.

an old cannon
at Leipzig, is
avenue of the

sen LOSS BELLEVUE.

Bellevue owes its
origin to Friedrich
the Great who built
himself a country-
house here, but
finding it too damp
to live in consider-
ately presented it
to his youngest
brother. He in his
turn converted the
little villa into a
so-called Schloss,
added a small
park to it andchri.s-
tcned it Bellevue ;
not that there was
any kind of view to warrant the appellation, but simply because
his architect had attempted to impart to the edifice some faint
resemblance to the splendid Pompadour. Palace, thus named, near
Meudon. Prince Augustus, son of the builder of Bellevue, and a
handsome artillery officer, distinguished alike for his gallantry in
the field and towards the fair sex, long resided here, and formed
a remarkable gallery of portraits of beautiful and clever women
he had known, foremost among whom was the celebrated Julie
Recamier. He had made her acquaintance at Madame de Stael's
and used all his powers of persuasion to induce the lively and
gifted beauty to dissolve her marriage with her bankrupt banker
husband and become his bride. She hesitated for a long time
and eventually refused. Her portrait, in Grecian costume, painted
for the Prince, is or used to be one of the attractions of Schloss
Bellevue, in which the Grand-Duchess of Mecklenburg now
resides.

The opposite bank of the Spree forms an important suburb of
Berlin, which on account of the barrenness of its soil came to be
designated by the refugee Huguenot gardeners who settled there
in the reign of P'riedrich I. as the land of Moab, whence its
present name of Moabit. To-day, however, as if to refute the
(Frenchmen's dictum, Borsig, the great Berlin engineer, who has
his foundries here, has laid out some extensive and magnificent
gardens, which with their palm-house and conservatories de-
servedly rank among the sights of IBerlin.

To tlie left of Schloss Bellevue is the Grossfiirsten-platz, so-
named because of a memorable al fresco breakfast given there

THE TIIIERGARTEN.

209

about a century acjo by the brother of Friedrich the Great to
the Grand Duke Paul of Russia — afterwards the mad and luck-
less Emperor Paul — on the occasion of his betrothal at Berlin
to a princess of Wiirtemburg, and niece of the King of Prussia
The entertainment had a ludicrous termination, for a sudden
downpour of rain completely drenched the aristocratic guests,
who made their return entry into Berlin in a dreadfully draggled
plight.

On the south side of the centre avenue of the Thiergarten, and
beyond the Apollo- and Flora-platze, various paths conduct to
the Louisen-insel, so
named after the beau-
tiful Queen of Prussia,
and whereon stands r;
marble altar erectec
to commemorate her
return to Berlin. Near
this spot, begirt by
beds of flowers over-
hung by towering
trees, and with its face i=^ ^'F'^
turned towards the V^"^^
little island, stands a j^f

marble statue of the '*'^'
King her husband, '
whose vacillating po-
licy entailed needless
misfortunes on his ^
subjects. On the cir- c
cular pedestal are
some graceful alto-
relievos symbolizing ^^^^^ Vif^
it is said, the enjoy ''^'1^%^
ments of the Thiei ^j^^^^£$'
garten, and including ■'^'^-
chubby-cheeked chil
dren feeding swans
and peeping into ^

birds'-nests ; an old /^ 7^
man leaning on his
stick watching a
couple of little girls dancing with garlands, a squirrel just escaped
from an amazed young urchin, springing up a neighbouring tree,
a young mother gazing affectionately on the babe at her breast,
while its elder brother clasps her round the neck. These graceful
groups, which rank among the finest productions of the sculptor's
chisel, are, like the statue surmounting them, the work of Professor
Drake.

STATUE OF FRIEDRICH WILHELM III.

210

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

This part of the Thiergarten is the favourite resort of the
Berlinese. Mammas rest here in the heat of the day with
r, ^^,^, .... their tired offsprine:

1>i!:>^ffisS>lx&^^l^^h^ on the numerous
benches, while the

" Ancient trees, under-
neath whose shades
Wander nice young
nursery-maids "

attended by their
youthful charges,
form a special point
of attraction to
guardsmen off duty.
These obscure mili-
tary heroes have all,
of course, their tales
to tell to the ad-
miring Gretchens of
their choice, of pro-
digies of bravery
performed by them
among the woods
and vines of Worth, and while the mitrailleuses were shower-
ing bullets and the cannon belching shells at Spicheren and
Gravelotte, many of the more sympathising listeners

TIIK THIERGARTEN.

211

" Dropping gentle tears
While their lovers bluster fierce
About gunshots and gashes ! "

The path along the banks of the neighbouring sluggish stream
leads to the Rousseau-insel, the sheet of water surrounding which
is the resort during the skating season of the rank, fashion, and
beauty of Berlin. Hereabouts many a pleasant green nook and
tangled bosky dell are to be found, with the slight drawback,
however, that the sluggish and stagnant waters intersecting'
this portion of the Thiergarten give forth their full share of
noisome odours during the summer months and conduce to the
unhealthy condition of the capital. Recently the Emperor con-
tributed a considerable sum from his privy purse with the object
of remedying a state of things which has long reflected on the
authorities in whom the control of the Thiergarten is vested. So
crying was the nui-
sance that the Ber-
lin KladderadatscJi
humorously related
how a despairing
lover, determined
upon suicide, suc-
ceeded in "shuffling
off this mortal coil,"
by hovering for
several hours to-
gether on the banks
of these mephitic
watercourses.

The Berlinese of
opposite sexes being
equally prone to
philandering among
the trees, as the birds
themselves, it is not
surprising that the
groves of the Thier-
garten should be haunted by amatory couples. The latter secure
every seat which those persistent communers with nature, the
ragged philosophers who are found in great force at Berlin, have
not appropriated, and the amount of hugging which goes on quite
unconcernedly under the public gaze, even in broad daytime —
guardsmen and nursemaids being as usual the chief offenders —
is positively embarrassing to the phlegmatic promenader. When
such things happen in the sunlight, one may imagine what goes
on in the shade. At night time the Thiergarten with only a
few of its main avenues lighted up, and under scarcely any
kind of police supervision, is the scene of the most unrestrained

P 2

212

BERLIN UNDER TilE NEW EMPIRE.

depravity. During the summer months it is ihc common couch of

all the roofless
wretches who re-
gard house-rent as
^-s an intolerable ex-
tortion. Here they
sleep for weeks and
months, until in-
deed the police,
who require even
the most destitute
to pay their land-
lords what they
have not got, make
what is called a
" razzia," when
hundreds of these
i '^l^'WPBMyiirtP''"'^' " ■' ■/TlSSSilini'^v''' M outcasts are cap-
tured at a single
coup, and marched
off to the Polizei
^,-.- --^i^:^ , / ■ ^. vap^ iP> Vcrwahrsam, or

fc -^"H / _ -V- '^*^V^fli^^<^ Berlin lock-up.

^ ^ ■""'^=<;..\<£^"-^-'' *^^®S^ The Thiergarten-

THE THIERGARTEN. 213

strasse, which runs parallel with the Charlottenburg Avenue,
and bounds the Berlin park on the south, was formerly the high
road to a number of celebrated and, to some few, once fashion-
able places of entertainment in whose gardens concerts used
to be given during the summer months. With the exception,
however, of Krug's garden, all or nearly all of them have been
sacrificed to the exigencies of the city's rapid extension in this
direction, and on their sites many beautiful and even magnificent
villas have been erected, decorated occasionally with external
frescoes, paintings on marble in encaustic, and figure subjects
in mosaic, exhibiting a high order of purely domestic architec-
ture of which neither London nor even Paris presents the
counterpart, while the gardens surrounding several of these villas
may be classed among the master-pieces of horticultural art.

The Thiergarten-strasse is to-day one of the fashionable drives
of Berlin, and on special afternoons elegant vehicles and high-
bred horses are to be seen dashing through it at their top-
most speed to the adjacent Zoological Gardens, for like a
wheel within a wheel, this so-called animal garden of Berlin
comprises a zoological garden within its limits. The latter,
covering a surface of no less than ninety acres, is at the
south-western extremity of the Thiergarten, and is certainly
not excelled by any similar institution in Europe, either as regards
its picturesque laying out or the general perfection of its arrange-
ments. Thirty years ago the menagerie which had been established
on Peacock Island, at Potsdam, was transferred to Berlin and
formed the nucleus of the present Zoological Gardens. For years,
however, the institution, which offered no kind of attraction, lan-
guished, scarcely anyone visiting it. The ground was marshy,
and however adapted its stagnant pools may have been to the
water-fowl, they were certain death to animals from the tropics,
necessarily requiring the driest of atmospheres. The beasts of
prey, besides being shut up in cages without enough room for
them to turn, had an insufiiciency of air, light, and sunshine,
while the larger birds confined under contracted wire-netting
were deprived of the necessary space for freely expanding their
wings.

After five-and-twenty years of disastrous failure, the manage-
ment of the Berlin Zoological Gardens was entrusted to Dr.
Bodimas, who had proved his capacity while at the head of a
similar institution founded by him at Cologne. Under his rule
a gloomy wilderness was transformed into a charming landscape
varied by hills, lakes, islets, grottos, rivulets, cascades, fountains,
and leafy groves. He had the dwelling-places of all the animals,
furred and feathered alike, constructed upon a principle which
regarded " their physical well-being and happiness, as mainl}'
depending upon a minimum, of confinement combined with a
maximum of air and light."

214

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

-V

■?;..^

^t^

^^■^ ,-j.''''"".,^ "i^'^'^**' 1? The nobler beasts of prey, lions,
■"* ''-^ ^ -^^^ . ^^ tigers, leopards, and the like,

were installed in cages of ample
dimensions ranged down one side
of a wide airy hall lighted from
above, and ornamented with
creeping plants suspended in baskets from the ceiling. These
cages being designed for winter occupation, the building is warmed
with hot air during this season of the year. Sliding iron panels
divide the winter from the summer dwellings in the rear,
which, enclosed with strong iron bars and roofed in with thick
glass surmounted with ornamental wrought-iron crowns, are
sufficiently capacious to allow the animals a good run.
Here they breed freely, and what is more, successfully rear
their young.

The elephant house is a gorgeous-looking building in the
Hindoo style of architecture, constructed of coloured bricks and
painted tiles, decorated with architectonic elephants, rhinoceroses
and dragons, and surmounted by tall domes and corner towers
and great golden suns. Adjacent to it arc ample exercising
grounds for the animals. Inside the building the massive
columns, the capitals of which are ornamented with elephants'
heads and tusks, as well as the roof, are elaborately decorated
with colours and gold. The giraffes, zebras, antelopes, and other
animals of a similar species are housed in a moresque building
dominated by the orthodox minaret. Its handsome central hall
with its arched glass roof forms a kind of palm-house in which
all manner of tropical trees and plctnts are growing among arti-
ficial rocks and plashing fountains. Trailing plants cover the
walls, twine up the columns, encircle the arcades, and climb to
the summit of the lofty roof In the rear of the different stalls
the animals are provided with an open air run.

THE THIERGARTEN.

215

The bears are installed in a castellated stone structure flanked
with conical-capped circular corner towers, curved bars forming-
the front of their dens, which are open to the air at the top, and
are provided not only with pools of water and climbing poles,
but simulated caves, to which bruin, when he finds the heat too
oppressive, can retire. The various kinds of oxen have the run
of a spacious shady court enclosed with an iron fence, supple-
mented by stabling in the form of log huts ; the deer, too, have
their miniature park, the kangaroos their hopping grounds, the
beavers their rocky grottoes, while the monkeys, who give them-
selves no special airs since they have come under suspicion of
being related to us, as well as the wild-cats, are furnished with
branching trunks of trees up which they can scramble, spring, and
go through the most difficult gymnastic performances to their
heart's content.

The birds of prey are provided with a large aviary, 200 feet
in length, and including a central
cage upwards of thirty feet high,
surmounted by the Prussian spread-
eagle in the same way that the
poultry-house is decorated by a
couple of strutting cocks and the
bears' dens with sculptured heads
of bears. Within this space even the
bearded vultures from the Hima-
layas find ample room and verge
enough to test the power of their
pinions. Rock work with shady
recesses in addition to the neces-
sary perches has been constructed
for the general ajgcommodation, and
some of the grey carrion vultures
have even built their nests here —
a most rare occurrence.

Endless varieties of quain!|;,':water-
fowl find themselves perfeetly at
home in the adjacent lake with its
islets, fountain, and cascade, the
herons and other waders who cannot be trusted to strut among
the smaller birds being housed in picturesque kiosks along its
banks. The ostriches and cassowaries enjoy ample facilities
for exercise, while the tamer kinds of fowl are permitted to
wander through the grounds at their own sweet will. The glass
houses for the pheasants are bordered by garden-plots laid out
with turf and planted with evergreens and enclosed with wire
netting. Indeed the aviaries generally are charmingly arranged
with trees and rocky nooks, as well as fountains and basins
for the birds to bathe in.

2l6 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The Berlin Zoological Gardens now contain about 1,500 ^"i~
mals comprising nearly 400 different species, and including among
others lions, tigers, leopards, pumas, bisons, camels, antelopes,
kangaroos, ostriches, and no end of strange birds, all born and
reared there.

In the neighbourhood of the lake is an orchestra where mili-
tary and other bands perform, and close by is the principal
promenade shaded by fine oak and birch trees. On set afternoons
this is a sort of Vanity Fair, to which the elt^gantcs of the capital
and the elegants of the garrison resort, to pass one another in
review. At this gathering of the elite of Berlin, the one thing that
strikes the stranger is the variety ol ethnological types, including
Finns, Sclaves, Wends, Jews, and Germans, as well as evident
descendants of the French emigrants who settled in Brandenburg
during the seventeenth century. The Germans and the Jews pre-
dominate, the Teutonic type being represented in its perfection by
officers of the heavy cavalry and of the guard — tall and well-made
men with light hair and beards, fair complexions, blue eyes, straight
noses, round heads, slightly oblong faces, and square shoulders.
Their bearing is martial yet mild, their expression proud, and at
the same time modest, and with a certain air of awkwardness
which is, however, more apparent than real.

One marked feature of the Berlin Zoological Gardens is the
extensive restaurant erected on a kind of terrace just above the
promenade. Here during the fine weather on Sundays, when
the Berlin shopkeepers, employes and the better class artisans,
crowd the place with their wives and families, people will dine
almost by tens of thousands in the open air, contemplating
meanwhile the animated crowd promenading below, the little
lake v/ith its myriads of water-fowl, its miniature cascade and the
tiny Turkish kiosks erected along its banks, and listening to the
strains of some admirable military band.

To-day skating rinks, or as the Germans term them, Schliit-
schicii Baluien, are temporarily the rage at Berlin the same as else-
where. The principal of these rinks is in Kaiserin Augusta-strasse
on the verge of the Thiergarten. In all essential features it is
in the same style as Prince's in London, and it belongs moreover
to the same proprietor. The grounds, which are tastefully planted,
are furnished with the customary tables and surrounded by a high
palisade which is generally decorated with flags. The company
frequenting them is remarkably select, the price of admission, a
mark and a half {\s. 6d.), being sufficient to exclude the rabble.
The fashionable time to skate is from two till four o'clock in the
afternoon, and on the hottest day in summer rinkers may be seen
sweltering under a scorching sun and utterly disdaining the shelter
afforded by the covered portion of the l^ahn. A large propor-
tion of the habitut's are ladies, whose toilettes are often remark-
ably elegant. The garden is brilliantly lighted up at dusk, and

IN THE BERLIN ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.

Face 216. 1

Tllli THIERGARTEN.

217

a band plays throughout the evening-, when Engh"sh people located
at Berlin congregate there in considerable numbers. As a rule,
the English make by far the best appearance on the asphalte,
and the Berlinese, who regard skating rinks as English specialities
and who seem to be more or less mystified by them, readily
admit this. When the Schlittschuh Bahn in the Thiergartcn was
first opened, people used to congregate outside and peep through
the palings, looking all the while as though they were thunder-
struck. Although they have ceased to do this, they still regard
skating in the summer as a phenomenon not to be witnessed
without emotion.

XL

BERLIN EN FETE. THE MEETING OF THE EMPERORS.

SEPTEMBER 2, 1872, the second anniversary of the capitu-
lation of Sedan, saw BerHn en fete. The black eagle, and
the black-and-white Prussian banner reUeved by the slightly less
sombre imperial tricolor, floated from the forest of flagstaffs that
dominate the capital. At some few points was the black, red,
and gold standard of the old Roman empire of Barbarossa ; at
numerous others there waved the black-and-white flag of the great
Friedrich, combined with the black, white, and red of the empire
created by Sadowaand Sedan, and known as Bismarck's flag. Of
eagles in every shape, single and double-headed with ferine beaks
and truculent talons, there were legion. Regiment after regiment
of soldiers defiled through the streets from an early hour. Crowds
of Berlinese, with peasants from outlying villages in their Sunday
best, thronged the Linden. War medals and iron crosses innu-
merable were seen this day on civilian breasts, not unfrequently
beside empty sleeves, or in company with crutches and crippled
limbs. " Grosse militarische Concerte " with a more liberal
allowance than usual of schlacht or battle music were given
throughout the afternoon and evening at suburban biergarten

BERLIN EN FETE. 219

and city Caecilien-sale, whilst at night-time bursts of " Die
Wacht am Rhein," with other less patriotic effusions, were to be
heard issuing from many a bier-local and wein-stube in the quiet
side streets of the city.

The following morning preparations commenced 'in earnest for
the reception of the Russian Czar and Austrian Kaiser, who a
few days hence were to be the guests of the German Emperor.
"Francis, Alexander, William, take pity on us, quick! a con-
gress," sang Beranger, ironically, some half-century ago, and lo !
history once more prepares to repeat itself, and another Francis,
Alexander, and "William are about to assemble ; France, according
to rumour, being as usual the object of the imperial gathering.

Berlin showed no great enthusiasm in the way of outward
adorning. There was a partial patching up and embellishing of
the dingier houses on the Linden, and limited preparations for
illuminating. The Russian embassy, which the Czar was to grace
with his presence, had a fresh coat of paint given to it, and
attempts were made to relieve the tiresome monotony of its
long facade by decorating its balconies with flowers and creep-
ing plants, bran new sentry boxes for the guard of honour being
posted at the principal entrance. Some of the large hotels
went through a course of external and internal decoration which
their owners could very well afford, in view of the exorbitant
tariffs they had determined on, regardless as to whether their
contemplated extortions might not put many of the geese laying
the golden eggs to flight. Unter den Linden, especially, com-
menced to drape itself with many-coloured banners, representing
the various nationalities resident at Berlin, which had the effect
of relieving in some degree the funereal aspect of the Prussian
standards. If banners were abundant along the pet promenade,
sentry boxes were scarcely less so, owing to the recent influx of
royal and serene highnesses, attracted to Berlin by the approach-
ing imperial gathering, and who, as accommodation could or
would not be found for them at any of the royal palaces, were
reduced to put up at various hotels, and had to be mollified by
the cheap compliment of a guard of honour. Gala carriages and
four conducted by smart- postillions and attended by chasseurs
in magnificently plumed cocked hats, and gorgeous-looking
flunkies in long laced coats with huge shoulder-knots, commenced
to make their appearance in the streets, conveying grand-dukes
and princes on visits of high ceremony.

The afternoon of Thursday, September 5, had been fixed for
the arrival of the Emperor of all the Russias, and armed with a
piece of pink paste-board bearing the signature of Von Madai.
president of police, I made my way in a dowdy droschke to
the Ostbahnhof in a distant and dirty suburb of Berlin to be pre-
sent at the Czar's reception ; nearly all the uniforms of the Ger-
man army were encountered in the endless stream of carriages

220 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

rolling in this direction. Bright steel casques glittered in
the sun, nodding plumes fluttered in the breeze, as the pranc-
ing horses dashed swiftly past, bearing the German Emperor,
with a score or more of high-born guests, and all the military-
magnates of Berlin, across the Schloss- and Kurfiirsten-briicken,
and through the narrow and tortuous streets of the old town, to
the place of rendezvous. In the suburbs there were crowds of
working people, and noisy bands of dirty ragged urchins, with
heads thrust out of all the windows, and scrambling groups
scaling the house-tops, but scarcely any flags and no other
attempts at decoration.

The entrance to the station was ornamented with evergreens
and the standards of Russia and Prussia entwined. Inside at
the edge of the platform where the train was to arrive stood the
Emperor Wilhelm, hemmed in by a motley throng of princes,
ministers, generals, and dignitaries of the household, with bright
steel and gilt helmets, white plumes and brilliant uniforms, and
half the orders in the universe scintillating on their breasts.
Everyone wore the Russian uniform in compliment to the
coming guest. The Emperor was gay in scarlet trousers and blue
riband, the Crown Prince less conspicuous, in dark green and
silver. Prince Friedrich Carl, the red hussar, wore a cossack
lancer uniform of Muscovite cut and florid ornamentation, while
the Grand Duke of Baden was travestied as a red-breasted
uhlan, and Prince Carl as a Russian general. Altogether
it was a perfect military masquerade, and the principal per-
formers on the scene being attired in uniforms of a na-
tionality different to their own, rendered it extremely difficult
to determine who was who in this complimentary exchange of
regimentals.

A line traced in white chalk on the platform indicated the pre-
cise point where the imperial carriage was to come to a halt.
Here the old Emperor Wilhelm, who, spite of his lame foot,
looked remarkably hearty, stationed himself. As the train
approached, the guard of honour detached from the Alexander
regiment, of which the Czar is colonel, presented arms ; as it
passed into the station the drums beat a royal salute, and the
moment it stopped the band struck up the Russian national
anthem. The door of the imperial carriage was thrown open,
and the Czar bounding out was caught in the Emperor Wilhelm's
outspread arms. The greeting was gushingly affectionate. The
German Emperor, since his blushing honours had set so thick
upon him, could afford to be very gracious, and treat his dear
brother of Russia with marked deference. Neither was the
Czarewitch forgotten, and for several minutes there was a
succession of kissings and huggings between the members of
the Prussian royal family and the new arrivals. The burly,
not to say bloated-looking Reichs-kanzler, whom Berlin painters

BERLIN EN FETE. 221

had been recently idealizing under the guise of St. George,'
contemplated this scene v/ith a grim sort of satisfaction from
beneath the polished helmet which fell over his eyes, and after-
wards proceeded to offer his congratulations to Prince Gort-
schakoff, between whom and the German chancellor, physically
speaking, there could scarcely be a greater contrast.

The two monarchs were hemmed in by the crowd of petty
German princes, grey-headed old generals, and intriguing cour-
tiers, all eager for the slightest sign of recognition on the part
of the great northern potentate. And they were not disappointed,
for the Czar advanced towards one and the other in rapid suc-
cession, bowed, smiled, grasped them by the hand, and after
saying a few courteous words, turned on his heel to address some
of their less obtrusive companions whom his sharp eye recognised
among the throng. At last the crowd of brilliant uniforms
and jackboots and helmets, consented to allow the imperial
brothers to issue from their midst, and the two Emperors
advanced along the platform, the Czar casting gracious glances
on the group of elegantly attired beauties whom they passed
on their way.

Some Prussian officers now stepped forward to present the
daily reports of the regiments which have the honour of calling
the Czar their colonel. Military routine being thus satisfied, the
Emperors, cheered by the populace, entered their carriage, the
coal-black horses were touched up with the whip, and away they
dashed, followed by the Czarewitch, the princes, the generals, the
grand dukes, and the dignitaries, towards the royal palace, but
not sufficiently quick to prevent the Berlin drains carrying their
vile odours to the nostrils of the imperial visitors, who after
alighting for a few minutes to pay their respects to the Empress
Augusta and the princesses, drove along Unter den Linden to
the Russian Embassy. Here the crowd danced attendance for
hours, hoping to see a live Czar dining, smoking his cigar on the
balcony, taking tea in the drawing-room, or turning in for the
night. Next morning these same patient watchers were at their
post of observation, as if expecting to witness the levee of an

^ One of the most pretentious compositions suggested by the recent war
with France, and which was exhibiting during the visit of the Emperors at the
Berlin Konighche Akademie der Kiinste, was a commonplace allegory filling
a vast canvas and styled " The Triumph of Germany." At the first glance,
it appeared as if the artist had simply reproduced the old legend of St.
George, but at the second. you discovered that, instead of the chivalrous
young saint whose hneaments have engaged the pencils of artists for cen-
turies, the hero was none other than burly Fiirst von Bismarck in the uniform
of a Prussian cuirassier ; not, however, with the familiar fat, florid face, the
bald head, and all but grey moustache, but according to that more refined
version of the Imperial Chancellor's countenance much affected by certain
German artists — that is to say, a Chancellor with a thoughtful brow and almost
ascetic aspect.

222 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Emperor, and docile to the biddinfr of the martial-looking police-
men as a flock of sheep to its shepherd.

The following evening the Austrian Kaiser arrived, and the
trio of Emperors was complete. Francis Joseph, who came
accompanied by the Crown Prince of Saxony, alighted at
the new Potsdam Station in a precisely opposite direction
to that at which the Czar arrived, in the most fashionable
suburb and unquestionably the most inodorous quarter of
Berlin. There was the same display of flags and evergreens,
of military salutes, and martial music, as at the reception of
the Czar, save that the Prussian and German colours were
mingled with Austrian in place of Russian banners, that the
guard of honour was drawn from the Kaiser Franz-Josef regiment
instead of the Alexander, and that the Austrian national hymn
took the place of the "Boshe Czarya Chrani," of holy Russia.
As with the decorations and accessories, so with the performers,
who, with special exceptions, were the same, though in a mea-
sure transformed, the German Emperor and princes with their
satellites all donning the Austrian uniform in honour of the
Kaiser, who returned the compliment by appearing in Prussian
regimentals. The Germans suffered most from the travestie,
their brawny frames appearing to signal disadvantage in the chic
uniform so becoming to the slight and elegant Austrians, besides
which there was something comical of itself in the conceit of the
victors in the war of 1866, thus decking themselves out in the
uniform of the vanquished.

Spite, however, of all this assumed courtesy on the part of
hosts and guests, the reception can scarcely be said to have been a
propitious one. Either the white chalk line on the railway platform
had been forgotten, or from the length of time which had elapsed
since the German Emperor had disported himself in Austrian
uniform, the engine-driver failed to recognise him, for the train
was run much too far into the station, causing considerable em-
barrassment to the chief actors in the scene. The old Emperor-
King, however, regardless of his lame foot, rushed forward to try
and receive his dear brother of Austria at the moment he alighted
from the carriage, followed by the bedecorated crowd of princelets
and dukelings, and grave old generals, and dashing young aides-
de-camp in uniforms, the variety of which, to say nothing of the
gorgeousness of several of them, was absolutely bewildering. The
greeting was intended to be cordial, but it was evident that the
principal performers were by no means at their ease. The two
Emperors chased each other, as it were, about the platform
owing to this false movement of the train. Franz Josef, more-
over, hesitated to throw himself into the fraternal arms of his
successful rival to the imperial crown, and simply proffered his
hand. The incident lasted but a moment, still to those who
were watching the monarchs' movements the silent scene was a

BERLIN EN F^TE. 223

complete revelation. The German Emperor on his part seemed
equally embarrassed. The Czar, luckily, was not present. Being
himself a guest at Berlin, imperial etiquette forbade his making
the smallest advances to meet an equal in rank.

The Austrian Kaiser, who could scarcely be expected to feel
at ease on the occasion of his first visit to Berlin since the crushing
defeat of Sadovva, looked grave, and as if beset with a crowd of
thoughts. Presently, however, he put on a permanent smile as
if with the object of impressing the couple of hundred pairs of
eyes which were scrutinizing him, that the present was in truth
the happiest moment of his life. Shaking hands with Fritz and
the other princes, he passed, with apparent unconcern, before the
impassive visage of Count Moltke, and the next moment found
him greeting Prince Bismarck with effusive warmth. Recognitions
of various serene highnesses and high mightinesses now ensued,
followed by the presentation of the reports of the particular
crack Prussian regiments of which the Kaiser or the Crown
Prince of Saxony chanced to be colonels, and by eager castings
about for imperial " nods and becks and wreathed smiles," on
the part of the bedecorated military courtiers in attendance.

The Emperors, followed by a train of princes, dukes, counts,
generals, court dignitaries, and supernumeraries, more or less
pomaded, dyed, cosmetiqued, rouged, powdered and decked out
in martial or official finery, entered their carriage, and without so
much as a single trooper byway of escort, proceeded at a rattling
pace to the old Schloss, passing down the shady avenue — whose
stately trees with their wide-spreading branches offer a marked
contrast to the sickly limes ranged along the Linden — known as
Koniggratzer-strasse, and leading to the Brandenburg Gate, in
order to enable the cortege to enter Unter den Linden by this
favourite approach. The Berlinese condemned this selection of
a thoroughfare, the name of which recorded a recent Austrian
defeat when the almost equally convenient Leipziger-strasse,
which commemorates a signal triumph of the combined German
arms, might have been chosen. The incident was the more in-
explicable as all the paintings referring to the war of 1866 had
been scrupulously removed from the various royal palaces. Spite
of a certain show of politeness towards their new guest, the Ber-
linese still regarded him as a slightly insignificant personage in
comparison with the high and mighty austere Russian Czar,
before whom they seemed almost disposed to prostrate themselves,
while holding their noses high enough in air in presence of the
over-gracious Austrian Kaiser.

Franz Josef as he crossed the broad Pariser-platz could scarcely
have failed to notice that one large mansion had all its shutters
strictly closed, and no flag floating over its roof. This was the
residence of the ambassador of France, who certainly had no
reasons for rejoicing over this imperial gathering. Arrived at

224 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the vast old Schloss, the retreat of the mysterious white lady
whose apparition signals the approaching death of some member
of the royal house of Brandenburg, the Kaiser was conducted to
the apartments formerly occupied by Napoleon I., and after an
hour or two's repose was entertained at a somewhat expansive
family supper of eight-and-forty covers.

Early on the morning of the 7th of September, all Berlin was
astir making hasty preparations to witness the various sights that
were to follow each other in rapid succession throughout the day.
First an imposing spectacle was to be presented to the Russian
and Austrian Kaiser of the military power of their host, and
from seven o'clock the streets were crowded with carriages. An
hour afterwards everyone was upon the wing scudding through
clouds of sand to Tempelhof — thus named after an ancient
establishment of knight templars — in the southern environs of the
city, and a favourite place of Sunday resort with the working
classes of Berlin. On this side of the village and separated from
it by the railway is a vast plain of sand, known as the Tempel-
hofer-feld, divided into plots, disclosing a feeble and unhealthy
vegetation and intersected by a long and broad paved highway
bordered by some miserable-looking lime trees. It is on this
spot that the great Friedrich used to manoeuvre his soldiers, and
that the garrison of the capital is daily exercised. Although the
sandy soil, into which one sinks several inches at every step,
may be very good for the purpose of manoeuvring cavalry, it must
be terribly hard work for the infantry, who here get familiarised
in time of peace with some of the hardships and fatigues of war.

Our driver, a most intrepid individual, displayed the large
blue card which we had received from the Polizei-Prasidium in
front of his hat, thus at once securing us a free passage down the
long avenue bordered on one side with private and public vehicles
of all kinds, and carts of every description the owners of which
were vending salted meats and sausages, butter-brode and beer
christened for the nonce, " Das bier der drei Kaiser." We even-
tually reached the place where some couple of hundred privileged
carriages were drawn up, and after a considerable amount of
shouting and bellowing on the part of the police, took up what
appeared to them to be a satisfactory position on the opposite
side of one of the lime-tree avenues bordering the manoeuvring
ground. When at last we were fairly settled, and the wheels of
our conveyance and the horses' hoofs had sunk some few inches
into the sand, I mounted the seat and looked around. On the
right was a sea of sand which at each new arrival rose in huge
clouds and enveloped everything ; on the left was more sand
which did not however trouble us, so long as the carriages
covering it remained stationary. Behind there was still sand
bordered by the railway embankment, and before was more
sand stretching as far as the city, and continually upon the

BERLIN EN FETE. 225

whirl. In the distance rose a large red-brick building named
the Bock-bier Brauerei, where the Berlinese resort in early
spring to get more or less tipsy upon bock-bier at least once
before the season has regularly set in. The day was splendid ;
the sun shining high in the heavens poured its pitiless rays
upon the assembled crowds, causing the perspiration to stream
from beneath the helmets of the mounted police, tanning the
complexions of the lovely Jewesses whom one saw on every
side, half smothered in gauze and cashmere, and rendering the
glossy black carriage horses skittish and irritable, and the poor,
broken-down droschken hacks still more weary and dispirited.

At this moment the plain itself appeared completely naked.
All that could be distinguished was a few black dots — men of
the Berlin fire-brigade marking out with lances the spot where
the Emperors would station themselves during the march past.
On the horizon though, with the aid of a glass, one could
detect something gliding and glistening in the sun. Slowly the
brilliant moving lines approached, and proved to be detachments
of troops coming from all directions. Later, the arriving columns
had swollen to a concentrated mass ; a hundred banners were as-
sembled, and over them floated a cloud of dust resembling the
long trail of smoke from a locomotive. By about half-past nine the
troops were in position, and what a spectacle they then presented !
Two long lines stretching seemingly all the way to Berlin had
formed themselves on two sides of the plain. On the left were
stationed eleven regiments of infantry of the guard, and on the
right eleven regiments of cavalry and artillery, while between the
two lines was an open space nearly half a mile in extent.

Looking down from one's slightly elevated position upon the
long lines of infantry, the eleven regiments with their white, red,
rose colour and black plumes, gave one the idea of beds of lilies,
poppies, and roses. Glancing at them sideways they resembled
in their mathematical rectilinearity some long striped band dark
in the centre and light at either edge ; the bright helmets and
the white linen trousers forming the light borders, and the tunics
the dark central line.

Prince Augustus of Wiirtemburg, general of cavalry, had the
chief command, and placed himself in advance with the entire
mass opposite to him. The line of infantry was in two divisions,
the right being composed of a couple of brigades of two regiments
each, namely the 1st and 3rd and the 2nd and 4th of the guard,
of which the 1st was the only regiment that wore the old-
fashioned high-pointed gilded shako of a century ago. The left
wing comprised three brigades of two regiments each, including
the grenadier regiments of the Emperor Alexander and the Dow-
ager Queen Elisabeth, the Franz-Josef regiment and that named
after the German Empress, with the regiment of fusiliers of the
guard and a mixed regiment formed from battalions of the line.

226 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

In advance of the right wing were Count von Roon, minister
of war, the Emperor's aides-de-camp, the Prussian Marshals,
including von Moltke, and "der alte Wrangel," whose military-
experience went back to the wars against the first Napoleon,
and who strode his charger with ease and steadiness, while the
sun blazed down upon the great cuirassier helmet which he
seeks no excuse in his ninety winters for setting aside. Beside
them rode General Manteufifel, slight of figure and quick of
movement, with grey hair and beard and piercing eye. Then
came the staff of the regiments about to be passed in review,
and the military bands, and finally a detachment of mounted
police. Some little distance off with numerous foreign officers
in their suite were the Princes of the Imperial family, foremost
among whom were the Crown Prince and Prince Friedrich Carl,
"the right and left arms with which the head of the Hohenzollern
dynasty contrived to carve his way to the throne," once the
heritage of the Hohenstaufen and the Hapsburg. The line of
cavalry was composed of the regiment of the body-guard, huge
troopers with silver eagles on their burnished helmets, a regi-
ment of cuirassier guards — the famous white cuirassiers of
Prince Bismarck in their bright steel breastplates and helmets
surmounted by gilt eagles — a regiment of hussar guards in
scarlet uniforms with yellow facings, and composed in a great
measure of volunteers of good family ; two regiments of dragoon
guards, and three regiments of uhlans of the guard distinguished
by their red, white, and yellow plastrons, with the 3rd uhlans of
the line, of which the Czar is colonel. There were in addition
some battalions of riflemen, of the guard, of engineers, and of the
military train, while the artillery consisted of sixteen batteries of
four guns each.

As ten o'clock sounded from the red brick tower of the church
of Tempelhof, there issued from behind the huge brewery situated
at the extreme northern end of the manoeuvring ground, the
three Emperors, followed by a numerous and splendid suite.
At first a bright scintillating spot with a deep shade hanging over
it appeared on the horizon, then slowly approached, always with
the shadow hovering above. At length some helmets were dis-
cerned flashing in the sun, and the three Emperors became visible,
followed by a cortege of princes and generals enveloped in an
immense cloud of dust. Arms were presented, formidable
hurrahs rent the air, the bands struck up, some the Austrian,
others the Russian national hymn. Halting a moment before
the right wing of the infantry the Sovereigns saluted the regi-
mental colours, or rather shreds of colours, for many were in
tatters, while of others nothing remained but the flagstaff's with
a few embroidered streamers floating from the top.

When this gorgeous crowd turned the left wing and passed
near where I was stationed, my eyes instinctively singled out the

BERLIN EN f£tE. 22/

three Emperors — Wilhelm I. in the middle, brandishing his
drawn sword, Franz Josef on his right and Alexander on his left.
An indescribable scene succeeded. Following at a trot some ten
paces behind were hundreds of brilliant horsemen, comprising
princes of all ranks, officers of all the armies in Europe including
•even Cossack hetmen in their Astrakan caps and scarlet uniforms.
All were intermingled, all pressed together in one compact parti-
coloured mass in which red, blue, green, black, white, and grey,
picked out with gold, could be distinguished. Suddenly all
these fine uniforms disappeared. Nothing was to be seen beyond
clouds of sand, still one heard the sound of voices combined with
that clattering of accoutrements and neighing and tramping of
horses which one is apt to associate with an idea of battle. At
this spot not the smallest blade of grass or scrap of withered
vegetation of any kind was visible, the cannons which had passed
over the ground early in the morning had pulverised the soil
and the horses' hoofs sunk deep into the sand. It was not a mere
cloud of dust which arose, but the entire surface of the ground, so
to speak. Now and then a glimpse of some brilliant uniform
was obtained through the obscurity, only to be eclipsed however
a second afterwards.

The cortege past, the dust descended slowly to the ground,
and the Emperors with their suites were already far off when one
again perceived them. On arriving at the opposite end of the
plain they reined in their horses and the march past commenced,
all the regiments with their bands playing and colours flying,
defiling before the triad of crowned heads. At this moment the
two or three hundred privileged vehicles received permission to
cross the exercising ground in order that their occupants might
obtain a better view of what was going on. Vorwarts ! was
shouted from the lusty lungs of some stalwart sergeant of police ;
instantly the cry was taken up, and "Vorwarts!" "Vorwarts!"
resounded on all sides as droschke, caleche, barouche, and britzka
set off at a brisk trot. Suddenly some one exclaimed in a loud
voice to his driver, " Five thaler if you arrive first ;" others
repeated the words, and then ensued a scene of which it is
scarcely possible to form a conception. One almost shudders
while recalling the disorder which those five promised thaler
created. The coachmen anathematized and lashed their horses,
while the latter plunged and the carriages dashed onward as fast
as they could go, wheels grazing and bumping against each other
and roars of laughter mingling with the terrified exclamations of
fair ones in distress. Our driver continued yelling in spite of all
our efforts to restrain him. " Ich will siegen !" (" I will conquer")
and almost foamed at the mouth with excitement. Unfortunately
his fellows being equally determined to conquer, the utmost con-
fusion ensued. In vain the mounted police shouted out to the
coachmen to stop. Many were forced to gallop out of the way to

Q 2

228 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

avoid bein^ run ac^ainst and upset, the danger being considerably
increased by the olDscurity, as everj'thing was enveloped in a dense
cloud of sand which at once blinded and sufifocated us. Occa-
sionally one caught sight of shadowy figures on horseback yell-
ing out words of command, still it was solely the desire which
everyone felt to give his neighbour a wide berth which caused
the vehicles to become scattered and obviated any serious acci-
dent. As the dust prevented the goal from being seen, each
driver engaged on his own account in a doubtful chase. Even-
tually the police succeeded in reducing this chaos into something
like order, and the carriages were finally ranged in line opposite
to the saluting point.

All eyes were now turned towards the tall guardsmen, company^
after company of whom were striding past the trio of Emperors,
the bands of the respective regiments playing as the various
corps went by.

" Steady ! steady ! the masses of men

Wheel and fall in, and wheel again,

Softly as circles drawn with the pen."

This pretentious Prussian parade has been truly described as
a relic from the early days of the eighteenth century, when
military drill was raised to the dignity of a science, and so to say
infected by the narrow and pedantic spirit governing even the
more' intellectual pursuits in those over-methodical days. Pre-
served as a reminiscence of the olden time, it is as different as
possible from the thoroughly modern tactics adopted in the
Prussian army during the late reign. Imagine the upper part of
the body kept bolt upright with one leg firmly placed in the
same perpendicular position, while the other is spasmodically
lifted up at an angle of forty-five degrees ; imagine a hundred
legs in a row simultaneously performing this gymnastic exercise
with the utmost regularity, moving with an identity of step,
tread, and intent as though they belonged to one immense mul-
tiplied animal ; imagine every two lines of these combinations of
muscular humanity separated from each other by a comparatively
wide space, so as to expose everyone of them to the full gaze of
the scrutinizing beholder, and you have the bcaii-idcal of the
ceremonial march of this country. Judged by the pigtail and
pipe-clay standard no doubt the performance was a highly meri-
torious one, still anything more artificial could not be conceived.
It gave one the idea of dancing-school pupils being put through
their toe-pointing steps rather than soldiers in the field. Evi-
dently the movement could not have been kept up for long, as
many of the men trembled from head to foot, and would un-
questionably have broken down if they had had much more of
it to go through.

As the regiment came up of which the Czar is the honorary
colonel, his Russian majesty bowing low to the Emperor Wiihelm.

BERLIN EN FETE. 229

rode out and placing himself at its head, conducted it past the
saluting point. When the Emperor of Austria as colonel of the
Kaiser Franz-Josef regiment placed himself in like fashion at the
head of the very men who had fought so desperately against
him in the defiles of the Erzgebirge and presented the regiment
to the German Emperor, some strange reflections must have
passed through his mind.

The cavalry followed at a trot, the body-guard heading the
heaving tide of many coloured squadrons. The silver eagle
glittered on the top of their steel helmets and their swords flashed
in the bright rays of the sun as these mounted giants swept along.
They were succeeded by uhlans, tall, but wiry men, whose ap-
pearance called forth prolonged cheers. An electric spark of
sympathy passed to and fro between the public and the troopers,
and the pace of the horses became insensibly faster and faster.
Light blue dragoons and hussars of all the hues of the rainbow,
light-weighted men, on lithe, active steeds, brought up the rear.
And then rumbled up the sombre line of the artillery and train.

A military critic thus remarked on this most imposing gather-
ing : — " Much larger bodies of troops have undoubtedly been
massed together and been inspected, but thirty thousand of so
splendid soldiers have perhaps never been combined in one
review. There is, however, a limit to the human sight and to
human patience. After a certain time even the practised soldier
•can no longer distinguish between the recruit and the veteran, the
eye becomes wearied, the patience becomes exhausted, and how-
ever keen one may be, all curiosity is supplanted by one sincere
and heartfelt wish that the great spectacle, with its accompany-
ing heat, dust, and discomfort, were numbered among the events
of history. As a specimen of perfect rigidity and stiffness of
drill it was without its parallel."

Prince Bismarck was on the ground, attired in the uniform of
his cuirassier regiment, and wearing the order of St. Stephen
-across his shoulder. I observed him approach a carriage full of
ladies in a most unceremonious manner, and, after complimenting
them, ask if they " happened to have a sandwich to spare." " Oh !
Prince, why did you not ask before .'' " they answered in one
breath, and three pairs of fair hands immediately dived into a
hamper and produced some butterbrode, garnished in the centre
with slices of German sausage. " And what will the Prince have
to drink.?" inquired mamma. "A glass of Chambertin," said
Eismarck, if they had any ; that agreed with him, he said, better
than the German wines. But the beauties could find no Cham-
bertin, so that it had to be requisitioned at a neighbouring car-
riage. " He looks as if he does not deny himself the good things
of this world," said a poorly-clad individual, who was standing
by, and gazing upon the famous minister's florid countenance,
one was bound to admit that the speaker was not far wrong.

230 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

This slightly truthful remark cost the poor man his place and
the sight of the march past of the cavalry, for with the nonchalant
air of a man conscious of having said something pointed, he took
a whiff at his cigar, and blew a cloud of smoke from between his
lips in quite an important manner. Now, the carriage of her
Highness the Princess Imperial, our Princess Royal of England,
happened to be close by, and it seems that like many other
ladies, she objects to the smell of bad tobacco, so she whispered
to her footman, who carried the message to a policeman, who in
liis turn suddenly made a dive into the little group of people, and
seizingtheunfortunateoffenderbythccollar,exclaimed, "How dare
you smoke your bad cigars here .'' " and dragged him to the other
side of the carriages, when what more befell him one cannot say.

After the review the Emperor Franz Josef went over the
barracks of his regiment, inspected the monument erected in the
courtyard to the memory of the men who fell in the Austrian
and French campaigns, and partook of some refreshment at the
officers' mess. The Czar had paid a similar visit of inspection to
the head-quarters of the Alexander regiment on the previous
day. By the time the Emperors and their suites had returned
to Berlin and changed their dusty uniforms for gala regimentals^
their presence was required at the grand banquet given in the
famous Weisse-saal of the old Schloss. State equipages were
the rule for the principal guests who had received invitations —
carriages with over-decorated and richly gilt panels, prancing
steeds with elaborate trappings, coachmen with powdered heads
and scarlet breeches, chasseurs half buried under their ample
plumes, flunkies in tall cocked hats with taller feathers, long-
tailed gold and silver laced coats, and tightly-fitting snow-white
stockings displaying their muscular calves to advantage. The
German Empress and the Crown Princess came in carriages and
six, with postilions, outriders, and a bevy of footmen, while the
Emperors put up with simple carriages and pair. To ladies wha
came in robes a traine, their footmen acted as temporary pages
as they crossed the vestibule of the palace, and I noticed one
awkward lacquey, richly belaced from his head to his heels, who
was so confused by his mistress's multiplicity of jnpes that on
hastily grasping at them one after the other he very nearly
capsized her as she was mounting the grand staircase.

The Emperor Wilhelm, equally to oblige both guests, appeared
in Austrian uniform, with the blue scarf of the Russian order of
St. Andrew, while the Crown Prince reversed the compliment
and wore a Russian uniform relieved by an Austrian decoration.
Only the younger Princes of the Royal House, including the two
sons of the Crown Prince — who came out for the first time on a
gala occasion — had to content themselves with Prussian uniforms
with a sprinkling of foreign orders. Both the Imperial guests
wore Prussian regimentals, with the great star and chain of the

BERLIN EN FETE. 23 1

Black Eagle. The ladies being permitted to follow their own
individual inspirations, had adorned themselves with consum-
mate taste and skill. White and blue satin, interwoven with
golden threads, diadems and jewelled plumes abounded in the
^ noble hall. With studied richness of costume there was com-
bined the deliberate punctiliousness of etiquette. The Empress
Augusta, who was seated in the centre, had the Emperor of
Austria on her right, and the Emperor of Russia on her left
hand. The Czar being more nearly related to the host than the
Kaiser, and having also more recently ascended the throne, ceded
the pas to his Austrian brother not only in this instance but
throughout their sojourn at Berlin. Next to the Czar sat the
Crown Princess, next to the Emperor Franz Josef, the Emperor
Wilhelm. The Crown Princess had the Czarewitch on her right
and further on Princess Carl of Prussia and the Crown Prince
of Saxony ; the German Emperor having on his left the Grand
Duchess of Baden, and the Crown Prince, and further on the
Grand Duke Vladimir and the Grand Duke of Baden. In front
sat Prince Gortschakofif, Prince Bismarck, Count Andrassy, and
Count von Berg. Towards the close of the banquet the Em-
peror Wilhelm rose and proposed the first toast, the entire com-
pany rising with him. " Animated," he said, " by feelings of the
sincerest gratitude, I drink to the health of my imperial guests."
Scarcely had the cheers, accompanied by the melodious sounds
of the Austrian national hymn, subsided, when the Emperor Franz
Josef returned thanks — "From the bottom of my heart," said he,
" I thank his majesty for the words he has pronounced. May
God protect and preserve his Majesty the Emperor- King
Wilhelm of Prussia, the Empress Augusta, and the whole Royal
House of Prussia !" The Czar followed suit, saying, laconically,
" I drink to the welfare of the gallant Prussian army ! "

The banquet concluded, the imperial party proceeded to the
opera-house, but simply to witness the performance of some new
ballet. Few ladies were present, and these solely in the boxes
on the grand tier, all the remaining boxes and the stalls being
occupied by officers of various ranks and nationalities. While
the Emperors and the princes, the grand dukes and the generals,
the diplomatists and the dignitaries, were absorbed in the saltatory
gyrations of the faded figurantes of the Berlin Opera-house, there
were assembling in the broad Opern-platz in front — kept clear
by the troops for the occasion — the two-and-twenty military
bands which were to take part in the monster musical perform-
ance of the Zapfenstreich. They formed themselves into three
columns in front of the statue of the Great Friedrich, who from
his lofty pedestal seemed to gaze curiously down upon the
gathering beneath. At their head were 350 guardsmen bearing
tall lighted flambeaux, who, in the lurid glare, with their glitter-
ing helmets and waving plumes, seemed like soldiers of the
middle ages carrying fire and sword within some doomed city.

232

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Soon after the Cathedral clock had chimed the hour of nine, and
just as the last carriages from tlie opera were settin^r down their

occupants in the court-yard of the old Schloss, the report of a
cannon was heard, and the procession moved forward midst the
deafening sounds from more than a thousand musical instru-
ments. The drums beat the parade march, then the bands
played the triumphal march of the entry of the allies into Paris,
after which the drums beat again, and as the procession passed
over the handsome Schloss-briicke, the bands struck up the
march of General York. Just over the bridge on the right hand,
the thoroughfare known as the Schloss-freiheit communicates
between the Lust-garten and the Schloss-platz, and as the pro-
cession passed this point, there suddenly arose above the
exulting clang of the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal, loud
frantic shrieks and piercing cries of distress, startling the illus-
trious guests who thronged the windows of the Schloss, and others
who, like myself, were assembled on the terrace beneath,
watching the arrival of the musical host. No one, however,
could divine the reason of these heart-rending cries.

The procession defiled in the Lust-garten, the brilliant aspect
of which on this famous gala night is difficult to describe. Let,
however, the reader picture a vast open space with the fagade of

BERLIN EN f£tE. 233

a noble palace extending along one side, and having in front of
it flower-beds and fountains, with a colossal central sculptured
group, and beyond the long open colonnade of the Museum
approached up wide flights of steps, and decorated with frescoes
and statues. One of the remaining sides is bounded by the
Cathedral, and the other by the Arsenal and the Schloss-
briickc, with its finely-executed groups in marble. Erect
around this space hundreds of ornamental bronze braziers
sending forth myriad tongues of flame ; suspend to them festoons
of coloured lamps, and mass beneath them several thousand men
belonging to different corps in diverse and occasionally singularly
picturesque uniforms ; place in front of them the military bands
of the Berlin garrison numbering more than r,ioo musicians,
around whom group several hundred torch-bearers. At a given
signal the bandmasters mount the wooden stages erected for them,
and the leader of this monster concert ascends the lofty crimson-
draped platform immediately in front of the Palace balcony. Sud-
denly a deafening " boom, boom," from several score of big drums
startles everyone and commands attention ; and a few moments
afterwards the two-and-twenty military bands strike up the
Austrian national anthem in concert, leader and bandmasters
marking time with long lighted tapers, and the military torch-
bearers waving their blazing flambeaux excitedly over their heads
at all the more spirit-stirring passages. When the music ceased,
the crowd on the outskirts of the Place, set up a loud and frantic
hurrah, in response to which the torch-bearers again waved their
blazing flambeaux wildly in the air. After a brief interval of
silence, the 350 fifers and drummers commenced drumming and
piping the Alexander March in compliment to the Czar; then
the bands performed the " Entree des Invites," from Taun-
hauser, after which the Radetzki March was played by the
bands of the cavalry and the artillery. The " Boshe Czarya
Chrani " of holy Russia followed, and then commenced the
terrific Zapfenstreich, or Tattoo, in which certain critics, gifted
with the faculty of seeing further into millstones than ordinary
individuals, pretend to find " a perfect musical interpretation of
the military spirit of Prussia. Monotonous and sharp, sober, yet
inspiriting, it translates," say they, " the special characteristics
of the service into articulate, if not over-artistic sound." The
louder the drums beat, the shriller the fifes rent the air, the more
boisterous grew the crowd, until the steady beat of the tambour
was drowned by deafening hurrahs. Suddenly all became silent
again, as the bands passed over to the low diminishing roll
which precedes the evening prayer when the piece is performed
in camp. Then ensued a loud rushing sound, resembling the
fall of some immense volume of water, but which was produced,
I fancy, by the simultaneous roll of a couple of hundred drums,
and this singular performance came to a close.

234 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

While these thousand instruments were playing in concert,
from the roof of the Schloss flashes of electric light were thrown
upon the scene, and the buildings surrounding the open
space were illuminated with Bengal fire, imparting a marked
melodramatic efiect to a spectacle the weird phantasy of which
it is impossible to define — what with the clang of innumerable
musical instruments, sending forth now a shrill, now a sonorous
volume of sound, the lurid light and rolling clouds of smoke
from hundreds of waving flambeaux, the glittering of several
thousand helmets, and the waving of as many white and scarlet
plumes, the surging and clamorous crowds beyond the line of
soldiers, the bronze braziers with their darting tongues of flame,
the periodical illumination of the adjacent buildings, first with
the pale electric light, and then with brilliant coloured fires,
the stealthy love-making under the orange trees of the terrace,
between beardless lieutenants and Berlin belles, and finally, in
the balcony over one's head, the powerful potentates in whose
honour all this diablerie had been produced.

The illuminations of the city were nothing remarkable ; a coat
of arms in gas above the porticoes of several of the palaces, a
fringe of gas jets around certain of the windows, or along the
more important mouldings, coloured lamps over the entire facade
of the new Rathhaus, some isolated gas laurel branches, and
similar puerile devices at a few of the hotels, and Chinese
lanterns at several of the beer gardens, and that is all. Evidently
the authorities relied upon the liberal combustion of Bengal fire,
which was being continually kindled under the porticoes and on
the roofs and balconies of the public buildings, to compensate
for any shortcomings which Berlin may have presented in the
way of illuminations proper. After a morning spent on the
sandy plain of Tempelhof, and an evening devoted to being
jammed among the perspiring crowd Unter den Linden, while
listening to the distant music of the Zapfenstreich, the Berlinese
naturally felt thirstier than usual, so that no sooner was the
Tattoo over than there was a general rush to the bier-garten
on the Linden, which soon became completely crammed.
Individuals of regular habits after roaming the streets to look
at the few illuminations turned contentedly in-doors, while
those of more expansive principles still lingered in the bier-
garten, and the positively abandoned dived down into the less
respectable bier-locale, or prowled in parties through the prin-
cipal thoroughfares, coming naturally enough into occasional
collisions with the police. As there are no regulations at Berlin
exacting early closing on the part of the proprietors of drinking
establishments, a brisk trade was carried on until the small hours
chimed on Sunday morning, and it was time for people to think
of their accustomed devotions, Prussia being, as everybody
knows, a highly Protestant nation.

BERLIN EN FETE.

!35

Next morninp^ one learnt the origin of the piercing cries and
shrieks which had so startled everybody as the procession of
torch-bearers and bandsmen pressed forward towards the Lust-
garten. The police it seems had permitted the crowd to become
so densely packed in the Schloss-freiheit that every paving-
stone bore its man. To secure free passage past here for the
procession orders were given to drive back this solid mass of
humanity — an impossibility, as the hindmost row was already
jammed against the iron shutters of the shops, and there was no
kind of outlet for those who might desire to escape. Still, orders in
Prussia must be obeyed, and the mounted police gallantly spurred
their horses forward, causing them to rear and plunge in the
midst of screaming women and terrified men, while the soldiers
attempted to drive the helpless people back with brutal blows
from the butt-ends of their rifles. It was even said that the
torch-bearers thrust their blazing flambeaux into the faces of
those who were in the foremost rank. As the crowd swayed
backwards and forwards in its desperate struggle with the
military and the police, some of its weaker members were
thrown down and trampled under foot, the result being eight
individuals killed and ten dangerously wounded, after which
soldiers and police desisted from their futile eflbrts. The Berlin
newspapers loudly censured the police as being directly re-
sponsible for this tragic interlude, and the satirical journals
assailed them, and especially the President, for the blundering
arrangements which led to such a direful result. In one carica-
ture he was depicted as energetically squeezing the people to

236

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

death under a heavy screw-press, and in another as recklessly
galloping over the dead and dying victims of his criminal
nejrhVence.

With the Imperial guests the Sunday morning's devotions
were supplemented by a promenade through the Berlin Zoo-
logical Gardens, and an excursion in the afternoon to Potsdam,
where most of the lions of the place were visited. The
Emperors afterwards dined at Schloss Babelsberg, the Emperor
Wilhelm's modern Gothic toy palace among the Havel woods,
and were present later in the evening at a tea and garden party
given by the Prince and Princess Imperial at the Neue Palace,

BERLIN EN F^TE. 237

— a resplendent entertainment which seemed hkc some chapter
out of the Arabian Nights. Palace, gardens, and grounds were
equally illuminated. The moment twilight set in, the flower-
beds and clusters of shrubs disposed in stars, circles, and other
geometric patterns over the extensive lawn were lighted up with
thousands of brilliant coloured lamps, recalling to mind the
famous jewelled garden of Aladdin. The orange-trees at the
same time covered themselves with variegated orbs while the
lindens beyond shone with a soft mellow radiance, pleasantly
framing in the gorgeous picture. Piercing the wooded back-
ground with a flood of brilliancy, the great avenue of the park
was seen stretching away for miles — a galaxy of candelabra
and Venetian lanterns. Right and left were firs, which by the
aid of candles and a rich appendage of ornamental festoons
were converted into so many living Christmas trees ; forming a
perfect paradise of light and colour.

Towards half-past eight the Emperors alighted in the inner
court of the Palace. After dinner they had taken a drive
through the Potsdam parks, and past the verdant glades, the
broad lakes, and a continuous string of palaces and villas, had
made their way from the father's pseudo Gothic castle to the
rococo mansion of the son. At the moment of their arrival
the Neue Palace became enveloped in a flood of red light, sur-
mounted by sheaves of yellow flame on the roof.

It was not yet dark. The lingering rays of the sun subdued
the power of the artificial light and caused every blade of grass
to be distinctly seen amid the thousand flamelets playing on
the ground. Every polished leaf of the orange trees had its
light and shade, while on the limes you might have counted the
branches. As night began to assert herself the splendour of
the illuminations became too dazzling to permit the eye to
discern the less conspicuous details. You then saw nothing but
light ; but it was light of every imaginable tint and hue.

While the company were promenading on the terrace, and
sauntering down among the flowers, the Palace at intervals
glowed in the effulgence of Bengal fires. The gigantic crown
on the cupola had its special illumination, and later in the
evening a new surprise presented itself in the central avenue.
A fountain of rose-coloured water rose upwards to the sky,
surrounded by sea-green marble statues, backed by a high
hedge, over which hung an opaque white light resembling molten
silver. Presently the colours changed, the statues turning red
and the fountain green ; then the water subsided and a jet of
fiery flame took its place. The bands greeted this volcanic
pyramid by playing the Austrian national hymn. At ten
'o'clock the guests left the palace and were conveyed to the
capital by special trains.

xir.

THE AUTUMN MILITARY MAXffiUVRFS. — FLIGHT OF THE

EAGLES.

NO kind of respite was allowed the Imperial guests. Early on
Monday morning the autumn manoeuvres of the Prussian
guard corps commenced in earnest, and the Emperors had to
rise betimes to be present at the opening operations in front of
Spandau, some dozen miles from Berlin. General and special
ideas of the proposed manoeuvres had been promulgated by the
military authorities to the following effect : —

" General Idea.- — The guard corps is moving from the line of the Oder
to relieve the fortress of Spandau, which is besieged. On its approach the
enemy raises the siege, quits the left bank of the river, and crosses to the
right bank which it occupies in considerable force, so as to cover the
retreat of the siege train and artillery."

"The -Special Idea" is as follows: — "The general in command of the
guard corps, having approached near to Spandau with the principal portion
of his force on the 8th of September, and having sent his advance guard
through the fortress to the right bank of the river, on the gth determines
to attack the enemy, who have taken up a position on the heights of Staaken
and Amalienhof ; and to carry out this attack on the enemy's right wing,
so as to prevent him withdrawing his siege train and artillery."

On the Sunday the troops were marched out of Berlin, and
one division bivouacked between Charlottenburg and Spandau,
whilst the other passed through Spandau and bivouacked to the

THE AUTUMN MILITARY MANCEUVRES. 239

westward of that fortress. The Emperors came down by the
eight o'clock train on the Monday morning, accompanied by
innumerable military notabilities, and immediately after their
arrival, the advanced guard having already penetrated through the
fortress of Spandau, the troops com.menced their attack. As is
always the case in the Prussian manoeuvres the great object was
to turn the enemy's flank — in this instance his left flank. The
advance guard, therefore, as it came into action deployed, and
the artillery, which occupied a commanding position in the rear,
opened fire. The cavalry of the advance guard, composed of
one uhlan regiment, took up a position in echelon on the flank,
and the infantry were thrown forward according to the principles
of the new drill. The great object being to hold the enemy
in check on the extreme right while the main attack was de-
veloped on his left, every precaution was taken to strengthen
the position of the attacking force on that side ; skirmishers
advanced to the front, lay down and fired; about 120 paces
in the rear their supports dug shelter trenches in irregular order
offering gaps and enabling them to support each other. In easy
soil the trenches were dug and shelter was obtained in about
ten minutes. The supports in the rear remained in a concealed
position, while the remainder of the army gradually developed
its force, and gradually brought fresh and fresh troops up in
khelo7i on the enemy's left, driving him back with irresistible
force and turning his entire position.

I had left Berlin by an early train and eight o'clock found me
toiling along a sandy road towards the broad swift river Havel.
At the time the action commenced I was sailing across to the
opposite shore in one of those small, flat-bottomed boats,
dangerous for sailing trips should the slightest squall chance to
get up. While I was seated in the bottom of this punt —
speculating whether it would capsize as its side dipped from
time to time deeper into the water, and calculating the chances
of my being able to swim in my boots, I heard the report of
the signal cannon. We fortunately crossed without accident, and
soon afterwards the cavalry were marching over the pontoon
bridge which had been constructed overnight. It was a fine
sight to watch the tall uhlans with their long lances, and the
burly-looking cuirassiers, in their dusty-white uniforms and
shining helmets and breastplates, leading their horses down
from the wooded heights on the opposite bank of the river,
where they had been hidden among the foliage. Once across,
they vaulted into their saddles and dashed swiftly along the
steep sandy road till lost to sight under the hill overlooking the
river. In the meanwhile the artillery opened fire on the left,
and I followed the left wing of the infantry as it advanced
up the high ground bordering the lake. Here a battery was di-
recting its fire upon some houses where the enemy's advanced

240 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

guard were supposed to be posted ; and while their attention
was engrossed by the artillery, our infantry advanced towards
the left under cover of the lofty bushes and the apple trees
disposed in avenues across the fields. From here one had a
very good view of the field of battle. To the north-east was
Spandau, to the east the river Havel, and to the west, distant
some three miles from Spandau, with the village lying at its
feet, was the hill of Staaken, where the Emperors with their
respective suites and the ladies of the Imperial family had
stationed themselves. This was the point of attack. Our army
consisted of nine regiments of infantry, comprising the four
first regiments of the guard with the regiments of the Czar,
the Emperor Franz Josef, the Empress Augusta, and the
Dowager Queen Elisabeth, together with a regiment of light
infantry. There were also nine regiments of cavalry, including
three of cuirassiers, one of hussars, [two of dragoons, and three
of uhlans. We had in addition a regiment of artillery and a
battalion of pioneers. With this army, which numbered some-
thing like 25,000 men, we were to storm the hill of Staaken,
capture the village, and put the enemy to flight. The enemy
being imaginar>^, the affair was very simple, still one could not
help admiring the way in which the whole of the troops, both
infantry, cavalr)', and artiller}^ got over the ground in spite of
the clouds of dust and the sandy soil — without a scrap of hard
earth or even a stone — which was everj'where encountered,
whether upon high ground or low. One was, moreover, impressed
by the care with which everything was done, not even the merest
trifle being omitted which would be worth attending to if the
ragged lead were actually flying about. The men took
cover as if they were saving their lives instead of only going
through a drill, and were duly anxious never to let drive when
a comrade might thereby be endangered.

The jagers advanced with their knapsacks raised on high by
way of defence. The sharpshooters came out in swarms as
the reserve forces marched forward, the first rank kneeling down
and firing three rounds. Then the bugle sounded the advance,
which was accomplished with wonderful swiftness by the troops
in line, while behind came the columns covered on the left flank
by the advancing ordnance. The hussar guards having marched
up in squadrons, rattled ofl" for an attack in the direction of
the Karolinenhohe, the infantry advancing towards Amalien-
hof, surrounded by its belt of brushwood, to the sound of
drums and fifes, the crowd of spectators invariably hovering be-
tween the firing ranks. The guards having taken Amalienhof,
the finishing blow was given by the cavalry executing a grand
charge. This spectacle of a whole division of horse rushing for-
ward at once, was a most imposing one. As the four thousand
swords flashed in the air, and the four thousand horses galloped

THE AUTUMN MILITARY MANCEUVRES.

241

along, maintaining order and regularity even in the heat of the
onslaught, the earth shook, and the spectator could not help
admiring the effective result of military discipline and practice,
even while remembering and applying Marshal St. Arnaud's
pithy observation on the Balaclava charge — " C'cHait magnifiqiie,
mats ce nctait pas la guerre." When the drums beat the final
charge, the troops responded with loud hurrahs ; the artillery and
the reserves advanced, and the cannon opened a raking fire,
under cover of which the infantry pushed forward. The Emperor
rode out to meet the advancing troops and lead them against
the heights. The long line, flanked right and left by the bat-
teries, steadily advanced ; the fusillade became general ; and,
while clouds of smoke enveloped the entire field of battle, the
central position of the imaginary enemy, the hill of Staaken
where the two Emperors and the ladies of the Imperial family
and of the Court were posted, was carried. By about one o'clock
the bugles sounded the halt. The battle over, the great train
of waggons with straw for bivouacking made its appearance, and

the troops encamped on the ground, while the Emperors and
their satellites, the numerous foreign officers, and the crowds of
ordinary spectators hurried in the direction of the railway
station. All along the dusty road rickety tables spread under
the trees attracted droughty crowds clamorous for beer. Thirsty
souls, too, thronged every room in the village bierhaus, and
fought for mugs of beer under the huge projecting porch, deco-
rated for the occasion with autumn flowers and wreaths of
evergreen.

There was evidently no rest at Berlin for the Imperial guests,
for early the next morning they were conveyed by special train
to Wustermark, and at once mounted their horses, there awaiting
them in charge of army grooms and orderlies. Another battle

R

242 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

was to be fought in their presence, but this time, instead of the
attacking party having a mere phantom enemy to contend with,
they were to be opposed by a solid force of formidable troops.
On account of the presence of the three Emperors and the desire
to have certain results attained within a given time, less discre-
tion than usual was left to the commanding generals in the way
of tactical chess play. The strategy of this so-called battle of
Buchow Carpzow was of course entirely settled beforehand, and
all the commanders had to do was to see that the engagement
was smartly carried out, and that no blunder in detail was
allowed to pass unpunished. The West Division, commanded
by General von Pape, was supposed to be an enemy who had
advanced against Spandau for a certain distance, and, being
opposed by a strong force, had halted to give battle. Von Pape
occupied a line stretching from Beestow, a little way north of
the Wustermark station, to Falkenrede, some miles to the south
of it. His centre rested on the strong position of Buchow
meadows and a small lake impassable for troops. The weak
point was on the extreme right, where there was much open
ground favourable for the employment of his opponent's numerous
cavalry. The East Division attacking force was under General
von Budritzki, and had bivouacked in the wood near Doeberitz,
south-west of Dallgow railway station. It was a superb little
army composed of the four grenadier regiments of the guard,
a couple of cavalry brigades, and a large share of guard artil-
lery, with the schiitzcn battalion to counterbalance the guard
jager on von Pape's side, and the combined regiment of line
and instruction battalions. The West Division, though inferior
in artillery, and with but one cavalry brigade, had a force of
infantry equal to that of its opponent, comprising as it did the
four infantry regiments of the guard, the fusilier regiment, and
the jager battalion. Each side had a baggage and ammunition
train in perfect order.

Von Budritzki commenced his attack with determined vigour,
the Prussian tactics of hammering with artillery, flanking with
cavalry, and finally storming with infantry, being carried out to
perfection. Gradually the attacking line pressed home upon
their opponents, turning their right flank, and driving them from
the field. There was a tremendous fire of infantry and artillery
in the centre about eleven o'clock, whilst the cavalry of von Bu-
dritzki moved steadily towards Falkenrede. At one moment the
clouds of dust were so thick that nothing could be seen. When
these had cleared off, the 2nd grenadier regiment Kaiser Franz,
was on the edge of the wide ditch that hindered the attack upon
Buchow Carpzow. They v/ere evidently not expected to cross
the ditch, and the defending force calmly peppered them ; but
the grenadiers, constructing a slight bridge of boughs of trees,
came over one by one, and, forming on the other bank, captured

THE AUTUMN MILITARY MANCEUVRES.

243

a battery of guns, and might have captured some of the Imperial
staff had not these been neutral.

There was a great cavalry charge on the extreme left, near
Falkenrede, and the flank of the West Division was turned.
Sharper grew the fire of musketry, and through the dust glimpses
of cuirass and helmet were obtained as the waving mass of
cavalry swept on. Von Pape by slow degrees was forced off his
proper line of communications, and thrown towards the north-
west upon the Berlin and Hamburg railway at Naucn. The
bugles now sounded to cease firing. The dusty but undis-
mayed defending force tramped away gaily to the cantonments,
and the Imperial party with their suites returned to the Wuster-
mark station. Here, close to the railway, was a great tent,
wherein a sumptuous luncheon was served before the special
train conveyed the Emperors and their suites back to Berlin.
This was the finale of these displays, and the subsequent man-
oeuvres of the troops between September 12 and September
18, on which latter day they returned to their respective gar-
risons, were carried on independent of the presence of the three
Emperors.

The round of festivities complete, there simply remained
the doling out of the imperial pour-boires, in the shape of a
certain number of grand crosses, ere the Czar and the Kaiser
quitted Berlin. The latter showed himself the most liberal
in this way, confer-
ring orders alike upon
Bismarck and Gort-
schakoff, Manteuffel
and Redfern, Jomini
and Hamburger, Thile
and Delbruck, Backers
and Baelow, besides
individuals of inferior
note. In reference to
this shower of decora-
tions one of the satiri-
cal journals published
the subjoined carica-
ture, the inscription
beneath which ran —

The Emperor Wil-
helm with singular taste had appointed the Emperor Franz
Josef colonel of the Schleswig-Holstein regiment of hussars,
and more singular still, the latter condescended to make his
farewell visit to the German Emperor on the afternoon of
September nth, attired in the uniform of the regiment in
question. ^ At eight o'clock that evening the Austrian Kaiser
left Berlin in company with the Crown Prince of Saxony,

R 2

so MANV ORDERS AND
KO ROOM.

SO MUCH ROOM AND
NO ORDERS.

244 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

by the Gorlitz line of railway. There is nothing particularly-
picturesque about a departure by train, especially at night,
and that a rainy night. The carriages rattled over the stones ;
here and there the passers-by raised their hats where the
lamplight showed them whom those carriages contained ;
some mounted police rode along the street to see that
all was clear in front, and the first of the Imperial guests
had gone. The one thing which Franz Josef and his prime
minister, Count Andrassy, did not obtain in Berlin — and for
which, indeed, they scarcely cared — was the last word of the
conference. It was not until the following morning that
the Czar took his departure, and even then his Imperial
host, being also bound eastward, though only to Marienburg,
accompanied him for a part of the journey. The two Em-
perors, who caught the seven o'clock special train with military
punctuality, were loudly cheered by the crowd, which was not —
as may be supposed — very large at that hour, and with a dis-
tinguished company of princes and generals set forth towards
the Russian frontier.

The Emperors gone, the Berlinese returned to the sober
realities of life. The propitious W'Cather had suddenly changed.
Rain commenced to fall in torrents, pattering upon the pave-
ments and the house-tops, flushing the yawning gutters, and
carrying their accumulated filth into the almost stagnant Spree;
soaking the flags and banners which still floated from the roofs
of the palaces, public buildings, hotels and private residences ;
driving the people from Unter den Linden and the Thiergarten,
and obliging them to take refuge either at home or within the
overcrowded beer-rooms and cafes. Then came an easterly
wind, slamming open doors and windows, bending the tall
black and white flagstaffs, and sending the yellow autumn leaves
from the waning limes scudding along the Linden promenade.
Spite of their constrained attendance at fetes and banquets,
spectacles and military displays, the triad of Emperors had
nevertheless managed to snatch opportunities for serious con-
verse among themselves, besides which, Bismarck, Gortschakoff,
and Andrassy had many long interviews with each other.
In the comic papers eaves-dropping journalists were satirized
with an undue development of the acoustic organs listening at
the doors of the conference chamber. Speculation was rife
as to the object of these deliberations of the Emperors and
their ministers, and it was agreed it could be neither the bug-
bear of the International nor the Jesuits. It was commonly
thought there had been an interchange of ideas with regard to
the Pope and to the possible future attitude of France, and
above all that an understanding had been attempted and
perhaps arrived at in respect to Eastern affairs, so as to ensure
united action when the serious illness of the sick man next came

THE AUTUMN MILITARY MANCEUVRES.

245

AT THE MILITARY I'ARADE.

AT THE DOOR OF THE
CONFERENXE CHAMBER.

AT THE ZAl'FENSTREICH.

round again. A caricature of the moment represented the Pope
and the three Emperors, the former exclaiming, " By the sacred
anathema, if I only knew what those three were planning
against me ! " and the latter remarking, " Ah ! did we only know
what to do with this troublesome old man."

There was a general flitting when the eagles took to flight,
and Berlin seemed transformed as with the touch of Prospero's

246 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

wand. It lost its holiday aspect on a sudden. For days past
Emperors had been constantly driving about the city, attracting
crowds wherever they went. Princelcts and dukelings, and
foreign officers in the most brilliant uniforms had thronged the
Linden at all hours of the day. Aides-de-camp and orderlies
had been kept incessantly on the trot, just as sentries had been
kept perpetually saluting. Gala carriages had been running
continual rounds from one palace to another, and flunkeys in
elaborately laced coats— the full value of which was only known
to the tailor who made them — had condescended to stretch their
laggard legs on the common footways. Now the Linden was
comparatively silent and deserted ; the elegant equipages, the
high-stepping horses, the plumed chasseurs, the powdered
coachmen, and the liveried lacqueys were alike missing. The
brilliant uniforms had also disappeared. Gone too were the
grand dukes and princes of royal and noble German houses,
the field marshals, generals, and dashing aides-de-camp. The
army being cantoned in the environs, completing its autumnal
manoeuvres, there was not even the habitual liberal sprinkling
of military uniforms to enliven the pavement. The detachments,
too, no longer called at the Emperor's palace for their banners
before proceeding to morning exercise. The extra sentries
were all removed, the sentry boxes laid up in ordinary, the flags,
including blazoned Imperial banners, were every one struck,
the gas jets of the illuminations all taken down, and the Linden
was altogether slow. The hotels being empty and the better-
class shops deserted, hotel and shop keepers had nothing to do
but count their gains, the w^aiters were reduced to lounging at the
hotel doors, and the " dienstmann " to dozing on the hotel steps.
The droschken, save an occasional vehicle with luggage on the
box making for some railway station, remained unattended on
the stands, for the drivers, no longer in request, dived down
into the nearest bier-local. The gaping crowds that had hourly
found delight in loitering opposite one or the other of the
palaces returned to their ordinary work, the bangel too retired
to the Donhofs-platz and the Konigs-mauer, and the police
found their occupation gone.

The castles in the air which a fortnight ago had been erected
with all the lavish extravagance of a lively imagination by hotel,
shop, lodging-house, and livery-stable keepers, waiters, chamber-
maids, droschke drivers and commissionaires, had finally faded
away. Gone, too, were the fond hopes of the aristocratic beauties
of Berlin, based upon a mere passionate glance across the
Imperial table in the Weisse-saal of the old Schloss, a simple
pressure of the hand, or a whispered tete-a-tete in a silent avenue
in the illuminated gardens of the Neue Palace at Potsdam. It
was a shame, protested the injured fair ones, pouting their
pretty lips — the tears glistening in their big blue eyes, as they

THE AUTUMN MILITARY MANCEUVRES. 247

thought of some dashing young aide-de-camp in his beautiful
shiny-leather boots and spurs — and so it was. Had they not
most faithfully danced attendance upon the Imperial visitors
and their suites since the days of their arrival ? Had I not seen
them from the railway platform peering through the windows
of the first-class waiting room, eager to welcome that brilliantly-
attired crowd of princes, nobles, and officers ? Had they not
also made the most costly sacrifices at the altar of the Goddess
of Fashion ? And did they not, the very evening of the Czar's
arrival, enthroned in their satin-lined carriages, drive time after
time down Unter den Linden, in front of the Russian Embassy ?
Moreover were they not at the review at Tempelhof, braving
alike sun and sand ? Also at the opera and the Zapfenstreich ?
And if they did not all go to the Imperial banquet in the
Weisse-saal every one knows that it was because they were not
invited. But wherever they could go they did. They were at
the Zoological Gardens during their Imperial Majesties' visit ;
they secured admissions to the grounds of Babelsberg ; were
present at the tea and garden party in the Neue Palace at
Potsdam, and at the military manoeuvres at Staaken and
Wustermark. Now, however, all was over. The costly toilets
which poor, ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-remunerated work-girls toiled
at night and day to get finished were cast aside, the jewels
were locked up, the elegant barouche had returned to the coach-
house and the horses to the stable, the Baron vowing that his
wife and daughters had ruined that pair of flea-bitten greys,
which cost him a sack full of thaler. Cupid must have been
sadly inattentive to the whispers of his mother, Venus, to have
allowed such visions of orange blossoms and bridesmaids, and
dashing young officers, as troubled the slumbers of Berlin belles
during the Imperial meeting to fade away, leaving only the
recollection of a pair of high boots and spurs, a cavalry sword,
and a flaxen moustache to console them.

THE EMTEROK WILHELM.

XIII.

WILHELM I., KONIG AND KAISER.

THE visitor to Berlin passing down Unter den Linden, and
pausing before the statue of the Great Friedrich may often
notice drawn up beneath the portico of the small stuccoed palace
facing him, a pair-horse victoria, with a cocked-hatted and plumed
chasseur seated on the box beside the Russian coachman. The
sole occupant is a tall [elderly officer in the undress uniform of
the Prussian foot guards — a blue tunic with silver buttons and
epaulettes and red facings, half hidden beneath the ample folds
of a military cloak — who touches his spiked helmet in reply
to the salute of the sentries as he is driven rapidly off. This
officer is the German Emperor.

Wilhelm, King of Prussia by Divine right and hereditary
succession, and Emperor of Germany by the astuteness of the
able men with whom he has known how to surround himself,
the power of the army which he has made it his life-long business
to foster and discipline, and the welding together of diverging
national interests by the flame of patriotism enkindled by the

WILHELM I., KONIG AND KAISER. 249

war with France, was born at the palace Unter den Linden,
now occupied by the Imperial Crown Prince, on the 22nd March,
1797 ; the year that witnessed the death of Friedrich Wilhelm
II., the cession of the left bank of the Rhine to France by the
treaty of Campo Formio, and the surrender of Mayence. His
father was that half-hearted martinet, Friedrich Wilhelm III.,
then Crown Prince of Prussia, and his mother, the Queen
Luisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia, commonly known as the
beautiful Queen Luisa, who it is pretended died of a broken
heart at witnessing the havoc wrought upon her country by the
troops of the first Napoleon. This royal couple had formed the
resolution of putting to shame the prevalent PVench fashions by
having "a. domestic German household," and passed much of
their time at their country seat of Paretz in the Mark of Bran-
denburg, living in rustic simplicity, and feasting on the national
East Prussian dish, grey peas and salted meat. At Paretz the
future Emperor, who had been baptized Friedrich Wilhelm
Ludwig, spent much of his early childhood in company with his
brothers Friedrich Wilhelm and Friedrich Carl and his sister
Charlotte, afterwards the wife of Nicholas of Russia. As a
child the stalwart warrior of later years was of a weakly con-
stitution and had such delicate health as to cause the Queen
great anxiety for his life. In an address to his generals on his
accession to the throne, dated the 8th January, 1861, he says:
" I never expected to survive my dear brother. In my youth I
was so much the weaker that according to the lav/s of Nature
there was no prospect of my succeeding to the ancestral throne,
hence I looked for the work of my life in the service of the
Prussian army, and devoted myself to it with perfect love and
constancy, thinking that I should thus best fulfil the duties of
a Prussian Prince to his King and country."

The military spirit here indicated was inborn, and in his case the
child was truly father to the man. His royal sire aspired to be an
educational reformer, and his mother was an ardent admirer of
Pestalozzi, so a scheme of instruction was quickly drawn up for
the children, and the Prince commenced his studies under the
direction of Privy-Councillor Delbruck and Professor Reimann.
But the seeds that took firmest root were those sown by Cor-
porals Bennstein and Kleri, assisted perhaps by " Corporal
Schlague," in 1803 when, as a Christmas gift, he donned
the red dolman of the Ziethen hussars, and was presented
to the Queen with his elder brother and his cousin Fried-
rich, as one of the three youngest recruits in the Prussian
army. We are told that at a subsequent period the Prince
studied the art of war under Scharnhorst and Knesbeck, law
under Savigny, philosophy under Ritter and Ancillon, and the
fine arts under Schenkel and Rauch. The first two might justly
feel proud of their pupil, though his aspirations have not been

250 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

confined to shining in arms alone. Emulous probably of the
Great Friedrich, who wrote verses and played on the flute,
Prince Wilhelm, at the mature age of forty-three, produced a
poem. It is called " Der Obcr-Rhcin," and in it the royal author
after expressing the anxiety of Germany to regain her lost
possessions on the further bank of the river, says, prophetically
enough, to the people of Alsace and Lorraine, " Should you be
so lost to honour as not to feel the bondage you suffer, then
we will force you to do your duty. If you will not be Germans,
at least your children shall be, and they will rejoice that they
have overcome their ow^n fathers !"

The idyllic tranquillity of Paretz was disturbed by the war
with France. After the battle of Jena the young princes were
hurried from place to place to escape capture. On New Year's
Day, 1807, the King joined them at Konigsberg, and there
Prince Wilhelm at the age of ten received from his father his
first commission, as ensign, in the foot guards. The return of
tranquillity which followed the Peace of Tilsit was marked on
his part by study and constant practice in regimental duty with
the garrison at Konigsberg. At the close of the year he received
his lieutenancy, and the following spring the Queen, writing
to her father, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, says :
" Our son Wilhelm will turn out, if I am not much mistaken,
like his father — simple, honest, and intelligent. He also re-
sembles him most of all, but will not, I fancy, be so handsome."
The royal family returned to Berlin in December, 1809, and on
the 19th July following, the Queen died at Hohenzieritz.
During the period of preparation which preceded the resumption
of hostilities against Napoleon, Prince Wilhelm was actively
engaged in field manoeuvres and various military duties. In
18 1 3 he left Berlin, a captain on his first campaign, and under-
went his baptism of fire at Mannheim, when the allies crossed
the Rhine in the teeth of the French batteries, on the ist of
January, 18 14. At Bar-sur-Aube he gained the cross of St.
George of Russia and the Iron Cross of Prussia by personal
gallantry. After entering Paris with the allies, he crossed over
to London in company with his father and brother. In 18 18,
a week after the celebration of his twenty-first birthday, he
became a major-general, and from that hour his v^hole energies,
time and ambition were given to the improvement of the army.
Organization, drill, arms and uniforms all came under his notice,
and from the most elaborate scheme of mobilisation to the
right number of buttons for a soldier's tunic, nothing was
beyond his solicitude.

On the nth June, 1829, Prince Wilhelm married Princess
Maria Luisa Augusta Catherina of Saxe- Weimar, the future
recipient of countless pious telegrams. In 1840 the King, his
father, died, and his brother ascended the throne as Friedrich

WILHELM I., KONIG AND KAISER. 251

Wilhelm IV., a title for which many of his contemporaries,
from his royal habit of fuddling himself with champagne, sub-
stituted that of " King Clicquot." The new monarch, who
had been married seventeen years, was childless, and Prince
Wilhelm, recognized as heir-presumptive, was created Prince
of Prussia, and made Governor of Pomerania. The " Gamasch
Soldat," imbued with the principles of military absolutism, was
looked upon with fear and suspicion by the advanced party,
and when the outbreak of the P'rench Revolution of 1848 set all
Europe in a blaze, he found it expedient to effect a retreat to
England. Writing of him at this period, Varnhagen says : " It
is not merely in these days of riot that he has revealed his
military haughtiness, his thirst for retaliation, his wish to crush
the people by means of the soldiery, his contempt for all civic
rights, his ambition to consolidate the principles of authority
by the shedding of blood. This language has been continually
in his mouth for months past." The Sturm and Drang
paroxysm that convulsed the Prussian capital during those
memorable March days, when the stones of the Friedrichstadt
were reddened with the blood of slaughtered burghers, and
when the King from his palace windows bowed reluctant
homage to the corpses of the victims, passed over, and, by the
influence of the minister Camphausen, the Prince returned in
June, and took his seat in the Diet as member for Wirsitz. His
military duties prevented his appearing more than once in that
very heterogeneous assembly, and he soon found more congenial
work in quelling the insurrection that broke out the following
year in the Grand Duchy of Baden, under Mieroslawski and
Sigel, afterwards an American general.

Baden and the Palatinate tranquilHzed in approved military
fashion, and short shrift given to such of the insurgent leaders as
fell into his hands, the Prince hastened back to Berlin to receive
his reward in the shape of the Government of Westphalia and the
Rhenish provinces. He entered upon his duties with ardour,
" going about everywhere, making speeches, teaching everybody
his business, and laying down rules and regulations for all. Each
has his dose, Catholic and Protestant clergy, public functionaries,
burgomasters, merchants, manufacturers, members of the Land-
tag, savants, and especially general officers and soldiers, but
he is quite different in style to the King ; no point, no warmth,
no emotion in his addresses. They are all dry, pedantic, and
invariably disagreeable." The solution of the Hesse-Cassel
difficulty at Olmutz in 1850, prevented the war between Austria
and Prussia that King William was destined " under Provi-
dence" to bring to such a fortunate conclusion sixteen years
later. In 1857 the malady of the reigning monarch, whose
drunken habits had shattered his mind, and who at state dinners
was sometimes guilty of such breaches of etiquette as washing

252 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

his face in his soup, became too pronounced for further con-
cealment, and Prince Wilhelm was appointed Regent. His first
step was to place Manteufifel at the head of the War Office,
and shortly afterwards he made Moltke Chief of the Great
General Staff. On the 6th November of the following year he
took the constitutional oath, and pronounced peace and money to
be the prime necessities of the countr}^ but after the Italian
war he grew anxious, made von Roon War Minister, and harped
upon the need of reorganizing the army, declaring in presence
of the French ambassador that " he would never consent to
lose one square foot of German soil," and thereby to a certain
extent anticipating the historic utterance of M. Jules Favre.

On the 2nd January, 1861, King Clicquot died, and the present
sovereign became ruler de jure as well as dc facto. By the
month of July the cabinet was able to declare the new army
organisation complete, the popular answer to which was the
pistol shot fired against the King by the student Oscar Becker at
Baden-Baden. On the occasion of his coronation at Konigsberg,
on the 1 8th October, shortly after his return from the Com-
piegne fetes, he assembled the representatives of both Houses of
the Landtag, and said to them authoritatively, " The rulers of
Prussia receive their crowns from God. I will then to-morrow
take the crown from the Lord's table and set it on my head.
This signifies the kingdom by God's grace, and therein lies the
sacredness of the crown which is inviolable. I know that you
so understand the ceremony which I have summoned you to
witness. The crown is now surrounded by new institutions, and
you are by them appointed to advise. You will give me your
counsel and I will hear it." To hear did not mean to obey, for
with the aid of Otto von Bismarck, whom he summoned from
Paris to take the portfolio of foreign affairs and the presidency
of the council, he at once began that struggle with the chambers
on the subject of supplies which might have terminated in the
same manner as that of Charles the First with his parliament,
had Prussia but produced its Hampden. The fortunate outcome
of the Schleswig-Holstein war in 1864 prevented a crisis, though
the duchies once dismembered the old work of money-squeezing
and drilling was pushed on, the object of the minister being the
supreme command of Germany. It was a difficult task to per-
suade King Wilhelm to follow a new and audacious external
policy. Brought up in the severest and most exclusive notions
of legitimacy, prepared by his education and his position as a
younger brother to wield the sabre rather than the sceptre, and
to command an army rather than to rule a kingdom, a patriot
in a certain sense, but a Prussian before a German, full of super-
stitious respect for his royal dignity and for that of his brothers
and cousins, it was no easy task to win him over to the bold
policy of his Prime Minister. In 1866, however, all being in

WILHELM I., KONIG AND KAISEP. 253

readiness, war was declared against Austria, and the King left
Berlin at the end of June, joined the army under Prince
Friedrich Carl, shared in the advance of the Prussian troops, and
witnessed Benedek's last stand at Koniggriitz, from the heights
of Dub. Peace was signed at the end of September, the King
re-entered Berlin at the head of the victorious army, the
Landtag after granting a bill of indemnity, adopted the annexa-
tion of Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, and Frankfurt, whereby the
kingdom of Prussia was redeemed from the opprobrium of
resembling " a pair of braces," and the task of military organi-
sation and absorption was reserved. In 1867 King Wilhelm was
present at the Paris Exhibition and was lodged in the Tuileries,
for the subsequent destruction of which by the Communards he
may be said to have been indirectly responsible. On this occasion
he was entertained by the Paris municipality, and when Baron
Hausmann received him on the perron of the Hotel de Ville,
he naively remarked, in reply to the official address, that he had
not been to Paris since 181 5 (when he entered it with the allied
armies), and found it very much changed.

A lull preceded the great storm ushered in by the candidature
of Prince Leopold for the Spanish crown and the real or pretended
insult ofFered'by Count Benedetti at Ems in 1870. Arrangements
for war were made by the King during his journey back to Berlin,
where his son, von Roon, and Moltke were awaiting him, though
so little was the long-looked-for contest with France anticipated
at that particular juncture that the heads of sections of the Great
General Staff were mostly on leave. " I was in Switzerland with
my wife," says one of them, " when a telegraphic command —
' Return at once. — Moltke,' reached me. I set off instantly, and
drove direct from the Berlin station with my luggage to the Chief
of the General Staff My colleagues also arrived at the same
hour. We sat down to the maps at about half-past seven that
evening, by nine the war was planned, and we could go home
comfortably." Unter den Linden was black with surging crowds,
and the King was obliged again and again to appear and speak
from the palace window. The people would have carried
Bismarck on their shoulders from the palace to his house if he
would only have allowed it. The " Wacht am Rhein " was sung
for the first time, and the exhausted King might possibly have
had no peace that night had not a voice exclaimed, " Gentlemen,
his Majesty has still work to do, let us go home." " Home,"
was the answer, and the tide of humanity rolled away, " Heil
dir im Siegerkranz " resounding above their heads.

On the anniversary of Queen Luisa's death the King opened
the North German Reichstag, and the day the French crossed
the frontier at Saarbruck found him reinstituting the order of
the Iron Cross. A million of men were soon under their helmets,
and he proceeded to Mayence and thence to Foulquemont,

254 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

commanding the First Army in person at the battle of Vionville.
He was present at Gravelotte, and before lying down to rest
dictated to Bismarck his famous despatch to Queen Augusta.
Sedan and its memorable interview followed, and the King then
pushed on to Paris, installing himself at Versailles on the 15th
October. December brought the deputation from the Father-
land requesting him to assume the title of Emperor as a
Christmas gift ; and the bombardment of Paris. On the i8th
January, 1S71, he was proclaimed Emperor of Germany in the
Grande Galcrie des Glaces in the chateau of Louis XIV., an
atonement, it may be, for the architectural blemish which led
to the ravage of the Palatinate. The sortie towards Buzenval,
the armistice to allow of the general elections, the entry of the
German troops into Paris, the signature of a peace involving
the cession of Alsace and Lorraine, the Emperor's reception at
Frankfurt, and the triumphal entry into Berlin, are fresh in the
recollection of all. Since that time the Emperor VVilhelm has
been actively, if quietly, advancing the doctrine of absolutism,
of which he is the apostle and pontiff. He would seem, too, to
be imbued with a belief in the infallibility of his Imperial
attributes if the injunction imputed to him in the following
anecdote was uttered in a serious and not in a playful sense. A
summer or two ago, a young married couple sojourning some-
where on the banks of the Lake of Constance, visited the island
of Mainau, where the Emperor was residing with his son-in-law
the Grand Duke of Baden. On their departure, so furious a
storm came on that their boatman found it impossible to proceed,
and they were forced, after much buffeting from the waves, to
return to the island. The Emperor seeing their plight, met
them on the beach and ordering steam to be got up on his little
iron steamer, placed it at their service. The lady, alarmed at
her first encounter with the waves, demurred somewhat at in-
trusting herself again to their mercies. " Do not be alarmed,"
said the Emperor, "you can embark without any fear, the
steamer will carry you safely across. She bears my name,
the Emperor Wilhelm, and that ought to reassure you."

The Emperor is above the average height, few men in his army
overtop him, though the Mark and Pomerania are known as
"' the land of tall men," and his stature lends him an aspect of
dignity which is lacking to features with which all are more or
less familiar. His head is large and rests on shoulders pro-
portionately broad. His grey eyes tinged with yellow gleam
beneath his shaggy eyebrows, and with his bristling moustache
and long wiry whiskers give to him at the first glance some-
what of a cat-like aspect. The chin rounds off abruptly, the
moustache hides the smile, the lips are thin and slightly com-
pressed, and the protuberances above the temples indicate a
man of sudden resolutions. The eye small, steel-grey, and

WILHEI.M I., KONIG AND KAISER. 255

bright, twinkles coldly from behind the thick lashes that at
times almost entirely veil it. As a French writer has observed,
" One fails to trace in this strange physiognomy either the in-
trepidity of the warrior, the masterly glance of the general,
the far-sightedness of the statesman, the shrewdness of the
diplomatist, or the kindliness of the .sovereign. For my part, all I
could see in this old man of seventy-five was a colonel grown grey
under harness, whose vigour and activity had caused his retirement
to be postponed." If he has the appearance he has also the
habits and the bnisquerie of an old soldier. When General von
Voights Rhetz was the military representative of the government
before the parliamentary committee, the Emperor, displeased at
his management, summoned him to the palace, and demanded
in that snuffling intonation fashionable amongst Cromwell's
puritans, which distinguishes him, and in which his flatterers
find a resemblance to the tones of Friedrich the Great, " See
here, general. Why do you allow those pettifoggers and
screech-owls (schreier) of the Reichstag to meddle with my
Army Bill .■' " He is sorely ruffled by what he regards as civilian
presumption and impertinence. Before all things he is pre-emi-
nently a soldier ; from his earliest youth he has devoted
himself to his profession, and has spent his life in uniform. It
was he who when on a visit to Weimar made the acquaintance
of Dreyse, afterwards privy commissioner, and was the first
Prussian commander to recognize the importance of securing
such a man. To him, too, the introduction of the needle-gun
into the army and the development of the North German reserve
forces is mainly due. His habits smack of the camp and the
barrack-room, whilst the tradition of economy that has obtained
in the house of Hohenzollern since the days of Kurfurst Fried-
rich the First, and the greatest usurer of his epoch, finds especial
favour in his eyes. He lives in the same style as he did twenty
years ago, sleeping upon a camp-bedstead in a plainly furnished
room, and finding his chief relaxation in the pleasures of the
table, driving out continually, and until quite recently, aiding
his impaired digestion by horse exercise. This does not hinder
him from working several hours a day under the direction of his
prime minister. Not only is he able to sit at his desk day and
night, but he can still look on court ceremonies, state dinners,
balls, concerts, and especially field days, reviews and hunting
parties as relaxations.

The Emperor's study is on the ground floor at the corner of
the palace looking on the Opern-platz, and whenever he is in
Berlin, almost at the first flush of morn he maybe seen standing
in the recess of one of its windows. Here he transacts most of
his business, and gives audience to ministers and generals. In
front of this window rises Rauch's noble statue of P'riedrich the
Great astride his bronze charger, towering above his worthy

256 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

companions in arms, and seeming, as a French writer suggests, to
be showing his successors the road to victory. Beyond are the
Academy of Arts and the University ; to the right the classic
guard-house, and the trophy-overlaid facade of the Arsenal.
This window, says M, Victor Tissot,'is historical. In 184S bands
of insurgents halted in front of it shouting, " Death to the
Prince Royal ! " From here the King heard the flourish of
trumpets which celebrated his accession, witnessed the grand
defile of the standards of the regiments formed in accordance
with the military law of 1861, and announced with pride to the
assembled crowds the first victory gained by his son the Crown
Prince, namely that near Skalitz over the Austrians. It was in
this apartment moreover that the decisions were arrived at which
led to the conflict with Austria and paved the way for the
foundation of the German Empire.

On entering his study in the morning the Emperor proceeds
first of all to the side window which opens on to a veranda in front
of the Opera-house and consults a calendar hung up here for
his especial use. Each leaf is headed with a text from the Bible,
or a proverb or quotation from the works of some German
poet or philosopher, while underneath the date the more notable
events of Konig Wilhelm's reign of which it happens to be the
anniversary are inscribed. The first visitor the Emperor receives
is his doctor, who prescribes the regimen he is to observe during
the day. His work table stands close to the window on the
side of the palace facing the Linden, and arranged on a shelf above
are miniatures and photographs of his children and grand-
children, together with a few personal souvenirs, principally
warlike in character. On the walls of the apartment hang full-
length portraits of the Empress and the Russian Czar, and at
one end of it is the bronze statue of the sergeant-major who
planted the Prussian standard in the Diippel redoubt. Ranged
round the room on pedestals are the marble busts of Friedrich
the Great, Friedrich Wilhelm III., the Emperor's sister, the
Czarina Alexandra Feodorowna, and the Princess Charlotte of
Prussia. In the recesses of the windows are the statuettes of
the Emperors Nicholas and Alexander II., in Cossack and hussar
uniforms, with medallions of the Emperors Ferdinand and
Franz Josef of Austria. The sofa is covered vv'ith maps, papers,
drawings, and books, still the ordinary library of the Emperor
occupies merely a single shelf, being composed simply of a
Bible, a book of psalms, a state and court almanack, a history
of the different regiments of the Prussian army, the military
regulations and orders, and Prince Bismarck's speeches. A couple
of tables occupy the centre of the apartment on one of which
are laid out reports, telegrams, plans, petitions, and newspapers
— in a word the working materials of the Emperor ; while on
the other all the more highly-prized Christmas and birthday

WILPIELM I., KONIG AND KAISER. 257

gifts from the members of his own family are placed. There,
also, are albums bound by the Crown Prince — who learnt the
crafts both of printer and bookbinder — weapons of ebony carved
by Prince Friedrich Carl, and a cigar case emVjroidered by the
hands of the Empress. One little round table, the carved
pedestal of which is composed of a group of grenadiers, was
presented to the Emperor by Prince Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
It was formed out of the lime-tree beneath which Prince Louis
Ferdinand of Prussia fell mortally wounded at Saalfeld in 1806.
Summoned to surrender by some French cavalry soldiers who
were pursuing him, he replied whilst defending himself, " A
Prussian prince never surrenders," and the next moment fell
covered with wounds.^

About two o'clock in the afternoon, if his health admits of
it, the Emperor takes his accustomed hourly drive in the Thier-
garten, if not in his favourite Russian vehicle, in a small open
carriage. He is invariably in military uniform and wearing the
conventional spiked helmet, and is nearly always unaccompanied.
A few years ago his commanding figure might often be seen
among the foot-passengers in the Linden promenade, but now
his walks are exceedingly rare, and he scarcely ever stirs out
excepting for a ride or a drive.

On the Emperor's birthday the city blossoms with banners
waving not only from the public buildings, but above numerous
private houses as well. At daybreak a corps of trumpeters mount
to the roof of the palace and blow a prolonged choral in the
Emperor's honour, conveying the idea, as a cynical Frenchman
suggests, that the music comes from the clouds like that of the
angels at the birth of our Saviour. The churches are filled with
political and municipal functionaries, and the Academies of
Science and Art, the University and the Schools celebrate the
day with speeches and congratulatory addresses. In the
morning a procession of state carriages with eagles blazoned on
their panels, hammer-cloths, and footboards rattles up to the
palace — in front of which a large crowd is certain to be assem-
bled— conveying the members of the Imperial family with their
presents and their congratulations. This is the only day in the
year on which the Emperor indulges in the freedom of an un-
dress coat up to the hour of nine o'clock. After he has opened
his despatches and letters and laid them aside to be replied to,
he repairs to the colour-room of the palace to receive the con-
gratulations of the various court officials. Then with closed
doors he receives those of his family, after which he belongs to
the outside world and the grand reception commences. The
generals arrive in a body headed by old Field Marshal von
Wrangel, who by virtue of seniority is the recognised mouth-
piece of the army on these occasions. Here is the courtier-likc

* Voyage au Pays des Milliards, par M. Victor Tissot.

S

258 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

little speech of which the nonogenarian warrior delivered himself
on the Emperor Wilhelm's seventy-ninth birthday : —

" Your Imperial Majesty is the intrepid leader in battle, the
never-vanquished commander in Europe. We all pray that
God, in His mercy, may spare your Imperial Majesty through
long years yet to come in full vigour of life, a blessing to
Germany and the promoter of her welfare."

The Emperor has his display of birthday presents like any
other German liaus-vatcr, the gifts which come from all parts of
the country being laid out in what is termed the blue report-
room of the palace, which on this day is certain to be balmy
with the scent of countless flowers, however inclement the
season may chance to be. Tables, chairs, and window-sills are
crowded in fact with flowers in baskets and pots, with bouquets
and wreaths, including such floral triumphs as nosegays a couple
of yards in diameter, arranged in the form of a stool with a seat
of violets and a long hanging fringe of roses, or resembling a
vast star-shaped cushion composed entirely of violets, and
having an imperial crown in white camellias reposing thereon.
All the available room in the spacious apartment becomes occu-
pied, still these floral ofierings continue to arrive with the cards
of the donors attached, and the weary attendants receive them
in mute despair. The gardens of Sans Souci and Babelsberg
send their choice " firstlings of the year," and many private
gentlemen despatch fine specimens of their horticultural successes,
including early fruit, and such homely matters as young green
peas and new potatoes. Berlin haus-fraueii likewise send tarts
and cakes, and Easter eggs of vast dimensions, not even forget-
ting the national sausage. It is impossible to enumerate all
the Berlin wool-work, the cushions, pillows, blotting-pads, paper
ba.skets, screens, clocks, inkstands, paper weights, military caps
and slippers, that cause the tables on which they are laid out to
resemble a stall at some fancy fair. Congratulations, moreover,
come by telegraph in such numbers from all parts of the world
that the telegraph oflice has to arrange them in packets, only
telegrams from crowned heads and princely personages being
handed separately to the Emperor.

A second display is arranged in the Empress's apartments,
the red audience chamber being set apart for gifts from
children, grand-children, -and other members of the Imperial
family. Here, in addition to choice bronzes, elaborately-carved
brackets and statuettes, Gothic triptychs, renaissance candelabra,
portraits, antl the like, are more interesting, if less costly, trifles
wrought by the hands of the givers, such as Berlin wool-work
embroidered with gold by the Crown Princess, and a screen
painted with flowers by the Empress, whilst the drawings and
birthday letters of the grandchildren have a side table to
themselves.

WILHELM 1., KONIG AiND KAISER. 259

The seventieth anniversary of the Emperor's mihtary career
came round on New Year's day, 1877, when a deputation com-
posed of all the comniandin::^ officers of the army, with the Crown
Prince at their head, presented him' with a golden sword of antique
shape having the names of all the battles in which the Emperor
had taken part engraved on the blade. The Crown Prince con-
gratulated his father in the name of the army, addressing him in
high-flown language as — " Most powerful Emperor, most gracious
Emperor, King, and Lord of War," and characterising him as
the type of all soldierly virtues, and the creator of that military
organization which had raised Germany to its former greatness.
He then wound up by saying that — "To-day the German
nation, strong in arms, hopeful and united, looks up to the
Emperor and Lord of War with grateful love and losalty, and
prays God to preserve your Majesty for many years — the pro-
tector of peace, the guardian of the P^atherland ! "

In his reply the Emperor said, truly enough, that Prussia had
become what she was principally through the army, whose
deeds, he remarked, were enrolled imperishably in the annals of
the world's history.

The Emperor's consort, the "dear Augusta " of his pious tele-
grams, was born on the 30th September, 181 1, and on the nth
June, 1829, she accompanied Prince Wilhelm of Prussia to
Berlin as his bride. Young, witty, and beautiful, her praise was
sung by poets, and all Berlin admired her. Grand-daughter of
Carl August of Weimar, her proudest boast is that she is a
pupil of Goethe. Brought up at the feet of Herder in the
traditions of that intellectual court, she has ever shown herself a
conscientious patroness of art, science, and literature, even to the
extent of surrounding herself with their professors. Humboldt,
Dieffenbach, and Rauch were her friends, and when she became
Queen she drew to the court Berthold Auerbach, Werder, and
Gustav zu Putlitz, whilst no important literary or artistic work is
brought out without some expression of her interest. French
literature with which she became familiar during her early life,
still retains a certain hold upon her. She was able to exercise
but little influence over Friedrich Wilhelm HL, but on the acces-
sion of her husband's elder brother, Friedrich Wilhelm IV., who
highly appreciated her intellectual qualities, she became the
mainspring of the Prussian court. Her ultra-aristocratic spirit
could not understand that the royal will should submit to that
of the people, and to her is usually attributed the most obstinate
resistance to the withdrawal of the troops from Berlin in 1848.
Her desire for pompous display at the coronation ceremony in
1 86 1 is well known, and on that occasion every gesture bespoke
satisfied ambition. Nevertheless she does not sympathise with
the warlike aspirations of her husband, and set herself against
the contests with Denmark and Austria. Opposed to Bismarck,

S 2

26o

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

who is credited with having^ bestowed upon her the nickname
of " the muse of Weimar," she is suspected of favouring the
Ultramontanes. Tiiis opposition to the Chancellor places her
at the head of the " Court " party, just as the Crown Princess is
at the head of what is known as the " English" party. In this
position the Empress played an important part in the Arnim
affair, and the Vossisclic Zcitung went so far as to announce that
she was the mysterious personage spoken of in a letter from

^^

THt kMl-Kl'.SS AL'GUSTA.

Arnim to von BUlow. It has, moreover, been asserted that she
holds some of the famous abstracted despatches. On the other
hand. Count Arnim has emphatically denied that there had been
any intercourse whatever between the Empress and himself on
political or religious subjects.

The Empress showed to advantage during the late war,
although at the outset she is said to have been strongly opposed
to it. A story is told that when the King announced to her in
the garden at Coblentz, that the struggle was imminent, she

WII.IIELM I.. KONIG AND KAISKR. 261

fell upon her knees and besought him to turn a deaf ear to
Bismarck's sufrgcstions. A month afterwards she re-entered
Berlin, then swarming with troops and cannon, and penned her
patriotic appeal to the women of Germany to send succours to
the Rhine. She herself did much to relieve the vanquished,
supplj'ing the French prisoners with wine, tobacco, warm clothing,
and other comforts, and in this good cause contracting debts,
for her budget is a very limited one, and the Emperor is not
above saving the cost of a cannon or two out of her allowance.
Her benevolence during the war re-instated her in the half-
averted affection of the people, whilst the ambition she has been
reproached with can hardly soar beyond the Imperial Crown she
now wears.

Tall and imposing in appearance, she has the same upright
carriage as her husband, and though in reality delicate, manages
to undergo much exertion. Her habits are simple. The first
thing in the morning she listens to scientific works read to her
by Ahvina Frommann, her reader, a relic of the intellectual
epoch of Weimar. Audiences are then given from twelve till
one in an apartment where a marble angel stands by what are
known as the petition windows, so called because people come
and hold up petitions in front of them in order that the
Empress may see them. Close by is the balcony from which she
communicated the stirring war despatches to the crowd. The
audiences over, she daily visits some benevolent institution,
hospitals constantly, and also schools, and notably the peoples'
schools of cookery. She then allows herself a short drive in the
Thiergarten, where as already noted, she also takes several
turns on foot, attended by a lady-in-waiting and one or two
footmen. After dinner comes more reading, or perhaps, if a
classic piece is performed, a visit to the theatre. Otherwise the
windows of the tea-room glowing with light show that she is
presiding over one of those small gatherings of intellectual men
and women in which she delights, and in which she is well able
to hold her own, being no mean speaker, as she has often shown
on public occasions.

THE CROWN PRINCE OF PRUSSIA.

XIV.

SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN.

TALL and stalwart, with fair complexion, kindly blue eyes,
and flowing beard of }'ellowish brown, " Unser Fritz," whose
familiar nickname was taken from a song much in vogue amongst
the soldiers, is a splendid specimen of the typical Teuton. The
mildness of his aspect, which even the spiked helmet fails to dis-
guise, is borne out by his character. Those who know him best
look upon him as a pacific prince, incapable of enmity, and op-
posed to all ideas of conquest. He was born on the i8th Octo-
ber, 183 1, and christened in full Friedrich Wilhelm Nicolas Carl.
Like all Prussian princes of the second branch, he was at once
destined for a military life, though his mother's influence has
always been exerted to interest him in more pacific matters. At
eight years of age he began to drill with two comoanions of like
tender years, and courtly scribes relate with pride how, once
when it came on to rain as he was practising the goose-step at

SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN. 263

Babelsberg, a too zealous footman brought him an umbrella and
had to retire abashed at the withering rebuke, " Did you ever
see a Prussian helmet under an umbrella ? " He entered the ist
regiment of foot guards when he was twelve years old, still he
was trained in the arts of peace as well as those of war, being
crammed with all the " ologies " as only a German can be crammed,
by Colonel von Unruh and Dr. Curtius. In accordance, too,
with the custom that every scion of the Hohenzollcrns should
have a trade at his fingers' ends he was instructed in the art and
mystery of type-setting in the Royal Berlin Printing-office, where,
flatterers say, he was quicker at case than anyone else of his age
and standing.

In 1850 the Prince went to the University of Bonn, after which
Moltke became his adjutant and instructor. His visit to Balmoral
in 1856 and its result in the shape of his marriage with the
Princess Royal of England in the Chapel Royal of Saint James's
on the 25th January, 1858, found favour in the eyes of the Ber-
Hnese, for there was an old tradition current that good luck was
to come to the country with an English princess, who should
share the Prussian crown. Though his wedding gift from his
father was a pair of general's epaulettes, from this time forward
he evinced a decided interest in the arts of peace, and although
present during the operations of the allied forces in Schleswig-
Holstein he simply played the part of a spectator.

The Hohenzollcrns are, however, in their own belief at any
rate, heaven-born generals, and in 1866 the Prince was called
upon to show his skill under the mentorship of that grim old
bulldog, Steinmetz. He had to take the command of the Second
Army at Breslau, and protect Silesia. On the 23rd June he
began his advance into Bohemia, and after some hard fighting,
reached the position prescribed by Moltke, on the banks of the
Elbe, by the ist July, and on the following afternoon effected
the junction with the First Army on the field of Koniggratz which
decided the fate of the day. The King, advancing^to meet him,
clasped him in his arms, and taking from his own breast the
order " pour le Merite," gave it to his son, saying, " Take it,
you have earned it." The legacy of Carl Emil, the dead Ger-
manicus of the Brandenburg Mark, the highest and proudest of
Prussian military decorations, lay in the Crown Prince's hands.
The King afterwards held a review of the troops at Austerlitz,
and when the march past took place, rode with drawn sword at
their head. As he conducted them past the Prince, their com-
mander-in-chief, and General von Steinmetz, he lowered his
sword by way of salute, saying at the same time — " The King to
his commanding generals." ^

The Prince made a trip to Paris in 1867 to be present at the

^ Die Mdnncr der neiicn deulsc/wn Zeit, von A. E. Brachvogel.

264 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

distribution of prizes at the International Exhibition, and again
in 1869, after the opening of the Suez Canal by the Empress
Eugenie. His next and latest visit to the "capital of civiliza-
tion " was destined to be less favourably appreciated. In the war
of 1870 he took command of the South German Army, composed
of Prussians, Bavarians, Wurtemburgers, and Badenersat Munich,
on the 27th July, and on the 4th August had gained the battle
of Weissemberg. Woerth followed within two days, and it was
whilst praising the troops for their gallant behaviour in this con-
flict that an enthusiastic but oblivious Bavarian observed, " Ah !
if we had only had you with us in '66 we would soon have
thrashed those confounded Prussians!" The advance towards
Chalons, the bombardment of Toul, the junction with the Crown
Prince of Saxony's Army and the surrender of Sedan followed,
after which the Third Army marched on to Paris, the Prince
making Versailles his head-quarters. Here on the 27th Septem-
ber he distributed the first iron crosses, here, too, he was created
by the King a general field-marshal, and on the i8th January he
bent his knee in the Galerie des Glaces as the first subject of the
new German Empire. After taking part in the negotiations for
peace and entering Paris once more, this time helmet on head,
and sword by side, he returned with the army to Berlin.

The Prinre has a genuine appreciation of literature and art,
and thougii he makes no pretence to rival Maecenas, he does not
despise the company of philosophers, artists, and poets. He
takes, moreover, a warm interest in all new publications, and if a
book strikes him will send for the author to ask him for further
information. The platonic solicitude which he cherishes for
painting, literature, and fire-engines, he extends, in a more prac-
tical fashion, to the corn sprouting in the furrow, and the
asparagus shooting up from the earth like the spike of a pickel-
haube at his model farm of Bornstadt near Potsdam. From here
he sent dififerent specimens of his crops to the Agricultural Ex-
hibition at Bremen in 1874, gaining a first prize for turnips, and
on that occasion made a speech, of which the following is one of
the most striking pa.ssages : — " Who would deny that agricultural
prosperity benefits all classes, that its extension is indispensable
to the progress of civilization, and that in time of war or troubles
it is often agriculture alone that bids us hope for a better future ?
1 trust that the foreign exhibitors will return to their homes with
the conviction that the desire to increase the development of
civilization in favour of a permanent peace is nowhere greater
and more serious than in the new German Empire."

If the Prince who utters such sentiments as these had that
ascendency in the political affairs of the Empire, to which he is
entitled, the Fatherland would doubtless flow with milk and honey
and Herr Krupp have to turn his attention to forging plough-
shares instead of cannon. But the duo of von Moltke and von

SCIONS OF THK HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN. 265

Bismarck has always drowned the solo of the heir to the crown,
and therein lies the cause of the rivalry existing between Queen
Augusta's son and the terrible Chancellor, a rivalry known to
every gossip in Berlin, and though at present smothered, destined
to break out in face of all at some future period. By his politi-
cal and religious ideas the Prince belongs to what is called
the liberal school. He is grand master of the Prussian free-
masons, and president of the Protestant Verein, and recently
staggered an orthodox clergyman by asking him if he did not
think the national church needed a little fresh air. It is antici-
pated, therefore, that his reign will inaugurate the liberal and
constitutional empire, still his father once inspired similar hopes,
and Pope's reniarks on the claws of young lions may be borne
in mind.

As a general, " our Fritz " is far from enjoying the reputation of
his cousin the Red Prince, although he has been fortunate in all
his campaigns. He takes the field rather from a .sense of duty
than from military predilection. It is told of him that when he
gained the heights of Chlum, during his Bohemian campaign,
and saw victory everywhere around him, he turned with ill-
suppressed emotion to one of his staff, and pointing to the ghastly
battle-field below, exclaimed, " What a responsibility is incurred
by those who are the cause of war." The Prince is popular with
all who have ever served under him, whether high or low, by
reason of his kindness and affability, the great interest he takes
in the well-being of his troops, and his solicitude for the wounded.
There has never been much sympathy between the two princes,
and whilst Friedrich Carl is inspecting regiments, Fritz devotes
his time to visiting schools and hospitals. The sole attempt at
wit with which he is credited occurred when he was visiting one of
the latter. A keen wind was blowing, and when the head-surgeon
who was as bald as a coot, received him bare-headed in the court-
yard, the Prince, tapping him familiarly on the shoulder, said in
that pure Berlin slang, which he speaks so fluently, " Put on your
tile, or those two grey hairs of yours will catch cold."

Victoria has been a name of good omen to the Crown Prince,
in peace as well as in war. By his union with Victoria Adelaide
Mary Louisa, Princess Royal of Great Britain, he has become the
father of six children, the youngest of whom, however, Prince
Sigismund, died in 1866, just as the Crown Prince was about to
advance with his army into Bohemia. The eldest son, named
Friedrich Wilhelm, after his father, and born in 1859, early had
the order of the Black Eagle of Prussia, conferred on him like
all the princes of this house in virtue of his rank ; and on attain-
ing his majority in January 1877, he was invested at Berlin with
the English Order of tne Garter. When the German troops
made their triumphal entry into Berlin, the young Prince accom-
panied them, riding on a dapple-grey pony beside his grand-

266 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

father's high-stepping charger. The other offspring of this union
are the Princess Charlotte, Prince Heinrich, and the Princesses
Victoria and Sophia.

The Crown Princess takes great interest, not only in her own
children but in those of her future subjects, having introduced our
English system of rearing them into Berlin, and founded train-
ing schools for nurses, at which the fact that washing is beneficial
and not injurious to a child, is strongly inculcated. She has also
endowed the city with an Art Museum, on the South Kensington
model. Her artistic abilities and general culture are well known,
but English readers are not generally aware that she has become
an adept in rationalism and free-thought, perhaps from continual
contact with the pseudo-piety of the Emperor. David Strauss,
the theist philosopher, was in constant correspondence with her,
and at his death her portrait was hung over his bed like the
image of a patron saint. Das Lcbcti Jcsiis, Das Lcbcn Voltaire,
Dcr alte iind dcr neue Glaicbe, and works of a like character
occupy a prominent position on her bookshelves.

The literary and artistic tastes of the Princess and her husband
are altogether in common. If the sympathies of the Crown
Prince were not originally in this direction, he, like a faithful
husband, has adopted those of his wife. Whenever a new picture
is on exhibition they are among the first visitors ; whenever a
sale of paintings occurs they are liberal purchasers, and whenever
an unfortunate artist or author is to be helped their contribution is
always one of the earliest. While the Crown Princess shares her
husband's aversion to state ceremonies and pageants, her literary
and artistic soirees form a characteristic feature of Berlin court life.
They are frequented by the greatest savants, the ablest artists, and
the most popular authors of Germany. At her musical soirees,
too, the guests are not limited to ofificers in uniform. Civilians of
less imposing appearance, but of more real service to the best
interests of the national life, are among the most welcome, and
most appreciative guests. The Crown Princess, indeed, has done
more than anyone else to elevate and refine the tone of Berlin
court society, and is firm in her endeavours to subdue the pre-
dominant military element. Amongst the reasons alleged for the
coolness existing between her and Prince Bismarck is one to the
effect that the Chancellor would persist in appearing in her draw-
ing-room in full cuirassier uniform, although she professed not
to understand such a proceeding on the part of a civil functionary.
This difference of tastes has, however, been so far compromised
that the bellicose Chancellor now condescends to appear in a
black coat whenever he attends the Princess's receptions. Opposed
as the Princess may be to the pomp and circumstance of war,
there have yet been occasions when she herself has donned the
military uniform, notably at the parade at Haynau during the
Silesian manceuvrcs in 1875, when, in fur cap and embroidered

SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN.

267

jacket, she put herself at the head of the hussar regiment of which
she is the honorary colonel, and presented it to the Emperor.

THE CKOWN I'RINCESS OF FRUSSIA AT THE SII.ESIAN MANCEUVRES.

The Crown Prince's only sister, Maria Luisa Elisabeth, is
the wife of Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig, Grand Duke of Baden,
She is handsome in appearance, and has a great influence over
her father, who is extremely attached to her, as well as over her
husband, a somewhat ungracious-looking princeling who sees
only with her eyes, and seems fully to realize the fact that his
duchy is at the disposition of his papa-in-law at any moment the
latter may feel inclined to attach it.

Prince Carl, the Emperor's brother and Grand Master of the
Brandenburg Knights of St. John, whose palace stands in the
Wilhelms-strasse, closely resembles the Emperor in features,
though stronger and younger looking. He is not remarkable
for anything but his love for art ; and his palace at Glienicke near
Potsdam resembles a museum. His wife, born Princess Maria
Luisa Alexandrina of Saxe-Weimar, and sister to the Empress
Augusta, shares to a certain extent his artistic proclivities,
painting roses and lilies on marble with skill and taste ; still she
is chiefly interested in the brute creation, presiding over
several societies for the protection of animals, and devoting a
vast amount of time and trouble to the improvement of the

268

bi:ri,in under the new empire.

breeds of pij^eons which swarm at Glienicke. Their eldest
(laughter, Princess Luisa of Prussia, the divorced wife of the
Landgrave of Hesse PhiUipsthal, has the same tastes for art
and hterature, and is a well known patroness of female authors.
She ordinarily resides at Schloss Monbijou, a neglected oasis
in the heart of Berlin.

Shorter in stature than his uncle or his cousin, but broad-
shouldered, deep-chested, muscular, and active, Prince Carl's only
son General Field-Marshal Prince Friedrich Carl, christened by
his soldiers, " Prince AKvays-in-front," but better known to the
world at large as the Red Prince, from his affection for the uni-
form of the Ziethen Hussars, looks the model of a cavalry officer.
His proclivities are purely military, and his whole heart and soul
are wrapt up in the profession of arms. Like the first Napoleon

I'KINCE FRIEDRICH CAR!..

e has an almost fabulous memory for names and faces, and
has only to inspect a garrison twice to remember every man
comprised in it. Grave and serious he prefers sarcasm to mirth.
His least estimable quality is the exaggerated notion which he
entertains of his princely rank and position, and which induces
him to insist upon the most blind and abject submission to his
will from all who approach him. His officers readily acknow-
ledge his military skill, and speak of him with unfeigned respect,
but he is one of those who secure admirers rather than friends,
and with the outside world his military exploits are his sole
claims to popularity.

SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLEKX. 269

Born on the 20th March, 1828, Friedrich Carl showed himself
in early youth obstinate and unmanageable. Count Bethusy
was his first military instructor, and Heyni, now a court preacher,
his tutor, though little opportunity, it is said, was afforded to the
latter to carry out his duties. When he attained the age of sixteen
he passed under the charge of Captain von Roon, afterwards War
Minister, and with him spent a couple of years at the University
of Bonn. He failed to get on well with his fellow-students,
owing to those exaggerated ideas of his self-importance already
noted — ideas von Roon, who was a thoroughgoing conser-
vative Junker, did his best to foster. A true Hohenzollern,
the Prince's devotions were entirely centred in the career of
arms, and all connected with this he learnt rapidly and well.
Wrangel, for whom he had at an early age conceived a great
reverence, was counted the first cavalry authority of his day,
and under his guidance the Prince, who devoted himself more
particularly to this arm of the service, first smelt powder in 1848
on that Schleswig-Holstein territory where he was to reap
a future crop of laurels.

The first engagement in which he took part was fought near
the town of Schleswig, and here his natural independence of
spirit showed itself, though to a good purpose. As captain on
the stafi" he was sent by Wrangel with orders to the Royal
Pomeranian regiment. On reaching it he found the orders no
longer applicable, altered them on his own responsibility, turned
the regiment against the enemy's left flank and so helped to gain
the day. The following year he assisted his uncle to disperse
the free companies in Baden and the Palatinate, and when
charging the so-called Polish legion at the head of some forty
hussars received two wounds, from one of which he is still unable
to lift his left arm higher than his breast. In 1854 he married
Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt Dessin, by whom he has had
three daughters and a son, Prince Friedrich Leopold.

In 1855 Friedrich Carl visited Paris, where he studied the
composition and tactics of the French army, and afterwards
wrote his famous pamphlet to show how it was to be beaten.
Printed at first for private circulation only this pamphlet was
brought out in i860 by a Frankfurt publisher, with a preface of
his own and the Prince's initials on the title-page, whereupon the
latter brought an action against the bibliophile for daring to
take such a liberty, and, to his amazement, lost it. Created a
general of cavalry at the King's coronation in 1861, he took
part under Wrangel in the opening of the Schleswig-Holstein
campaign, and on the retirement of that veteran leader became
general-in-chief of the allied troops. In the war of 1S66 he
com.manded the First Army, and though displaying great skill,
laid himself open to the accusation of having attacked before
the appointed hour at Koniggratz, and thereby endangered the

270 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

success of the day, through a feeling of jealousy towards his
cousin the Crown Prince, whose forces, then approaching, he
wished to deprive of all share in the victory. In the recent war
with France his military talents were again called into play.
The part he took at Vionville and Saint Privat, the fall of
Metz which earned for him his marshal's baton, the battle of
Orleans, when his troops encamped around the statue of La
Pucelle yet decorated with votive garlands offered in hope of
her aid, and the campaign on the Loire against Aurelles de
Paladine and Chanzy, terminating in the final victory of Le
Mans, need no recapitulation.

Since then, Cincinnatus-like. Prince Friedrich Carl has mainly
occupied himself in the cultivation of his cabbages, passing
part of every season on the little estate of Drei Linden, an off-
shoot from his father's property at Glienicke, which he purchased
to gratify his agricultural tastes. Here, surrounded by his
family, he abandons his role of prince and soldier, and prunes
his trees and looks after his farm labourers. At Berlin he occu-
pies one of the upper stories of the old Schloss, and here his
pleasures are purely military, reviews and inspections supplying
the place of the great game of war in which he delights. This
uneventful life since the war has only been broken by his journey
to St. Petersburg in December, 1871, at the head of the German
deputation of the Knights of St. George to attend the festival
of that order.

Prince Albrecht, the Emperor's orphan nephew, and the
youngest of the grown princes, is tall and slender, with delicate
and intellectual features. His tastes are musical and he is him-
self a composer. For a long time he bore the reputation of a
misogynist, and among the ladies speculation ran high as to
whether he would ever marry. The much-discussed event, how-
ever, came off in April, 1873, together with the attendant
ceremony peculiar to the court of Berlin, namely the whimsical
torchlight dance of the cabinet ministers.

The state banquet over, lighted torches were handed to the
twelve ministers by pages, and the Emperor and Empress, sur-
rounded by the members of the royal house and the guests of
princely rank, having taken their position in front of the throne,
the orchestra struck up a solemn march. The Grand Marshal
holding his wand of office, then advanced, followed by the
ministers torch in hand, walking two by two, the juniors in front,
in the following order, Falk and Kamecke, Delbriick and von
Stosch, Camphausen and Leonardt, Eulenberg and von Itzen-
plitz, von Schleinitz and von Uhden, and lastly von Roon and
von Bismarck. The bride and bridegroom brought up the rear,
and with measured steps and slow the procession described a
large ellipse around the hall. The bride then stepped from
the ranks and making a deep curtsey to the Emperor invited

SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERX. 27 1

him to dance. He gave her his right hand and both described
a similar curve, marching behind the last couple of ministers.
On arriving opposite to the throne the Emperor resumed his
place, and the Princess invited the Crown Prince in the same
way to be her partner, and so with all the other princes, the
ministers, torches still in hand, continuing to describe the same
ellipse without halt or check, like stars revolving round the sun.

The sight might have been a useful one to arftbitious individ-
uals, who however much convinced of their mental fitness for
ministerial posts might yet hesitate at accepting them from the
conviction that their physical organization would never enable
them to support the fatigues of such a dance. On this occasion,
however, the chief performers bore up bravely, and even the white-
headed Minister of Commerce did not seem to find it necessary
to borrow support from the robust arm of his companion Count
Eulenberg. When the bride had danced with her last partner,
the young Prince Friedrich von Hohenzoliern, and had resumed
her place, the bridegroom in his turn made a low bow to the
Empress to invite her to join him, and the solemn dance re-
commenced behind the indefatigable ministry, till the last lady
had been called out. The ceremony had lasted about half an
hour, but the members of the cabinet had not yet arrived at the
end of their task. The Grand Marshal passed from the hall
into the picture gallery, and the entire procession, the bride and
bridegroom marching behind the last ministers, followed him to
the Queen's apartments. Here at length the wearied statesmen
were suffered to return their torches to the pages who proceeded
to light the young couple to their chamber.

The Krenz Zeitwig, describing the affair, remarked that the
performance is not properly a dance but a solemn procession,
a kind of polonaise executed in very slow time, consecrated
by the traditions of the House of Brandenburg. As on the
occasion just narrated it was danced on the 20th November,
173 1, at the wedding of Wilhelmina, Friedrich the Great's
elder sister to the Margrave of Baireuth. " In fact the wedding
went beautifully off," writes Mr. Carlyle, " with dances and
sublimities, slow solemn torch dance to conclude within those
unparalleled upper rooms. Such variegated splendour, such a
dancing of the constellations, sublunary Berlin and all the world
on tiptoe round it. Slow torch-dance winding it up, melted into
the' shades of midnight, for this time, and there was silence in
Berlin."

Prince Albrecht, the father of this happy bridegroom, and the
Emperor's youngest brother, who died recently at the age of
sixty-three, was born in 1809. In 1848 he aimed at political
notoriety and went so far as to sport the revolutionary black,
red, and gold in the streets of Berlin. He was then nicknamed
" the mock Duke of Orleans," and credited with views similar to

272 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

those entertained by Philippe Egalitc during the first French
revolution. Slighted by both court and populace he spent most
of his time in retirement on his estate of Albrechtsburg, near
Dresden, with his morganatic wife, Rosa von Rauch, Countess
von Hohenau — whom he married on obtaining a divorce from
the Princess Maria of Holland in 1849 — and her two sons. He
quitted this retreat, however, to command the cavalry in the late
war. A romantic and possibly baseless story is current as to
the origin of the private fortune that enabled him alone of all
the HohenzoUern princes to live a life independent of his family.
His mother, the beautiful Queen Luisa, during her stay at
Stettin was seen, it is said, by an invalid Englishman who fell
desperately in love with her. He dared not tell his love, but
dying shortly afterwards left all his fortune with characteristic
national eccentricity to the child to which she was expecting to
give birth. This was Prince Albrecht.

The charitable disposition of Prince Alexander of Prussia, the
Emperor's cousin, and the eldest son of Prince Friedrich, Stadt-
holder of the Rhenish provinces, who held his court during
Dusseldorfs palmy days, is so well known and so often appealed
to in Berlin, that his secretary must have acquired great ex-
perience in answering begging applications. He passes the
greater part of the year in Switzerland and at Schloss Rheinstein,
his castle on the Rhine. Prince George, his youngest brother,
dabbles in poetry, though his efforts are better appreciated
in the circle of the court, where some of his pieces have been
represented, than by the outer world.

Prince Adalbert, the Admiral Prince, who is a cousin of the
King, and was born in 1811, besides fulfilling the duties of
his office as commander-in-chief of the Prussian navy, devotes
much time to science and takes an interest in literature. He
owns a palace on the Leipziger Platz and lives there in seclusion
with his morganatic wife, a sister of Fanny Elsler. Their only
son, Baron Barium, died some years ago while on a scientific
expedition to Egypt.

PRINCE BISMARCK AT THE REICHSTAG.

XV.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK.

TWO individuals share the Emperor's popularity at Berlin,
Prince Bismarck and Count von Moltke. On all public
occasions whenever the full, bilious, and resolute-looking counte-
nance of the one, or the shrewd, placid features of the other is
caught sight of, it is the signal for a popular ovation. Their
effigies are encountered everywhere, in private houses and in
places of public resort. There is scarcely a restaurant or a beer
saloon where their portraits or their busts do not flank those of
the Emperor, just as their photographs figure beside his in every
album and every prints'eller's window. Artists too delight in
depicting the burly figure and the puffed face of the famous
Chancellor under the graceful guise of Perseus, or as the chival-
rous patron saint of England, trampling upon some winged and
scaly monster, in whom of course everybody recognizes the
" hereditary ene^ny " France ; whilst unquestionably amongst the
most popular of brochures, the Kleine Anekdote-biich of Fiirst
von Bismarck is to be classed. " He the greatest, comes home to
the smallest, to men's business and bosoms in a special manner ;
the likeness of him hangs in the humblest hut ; but for him Hans
and Michel had not laid down their lives in French mire and
clay; but for him, food were not so dear, nor widows so many.
nor wives so few ; but for him taxes had not been so rigorous,
nor money so scarce. Yet he is the idol of the populace — of
that populace which erewhile stoned, lampooned, caricatured,

T

274 BERLIN UNDliR THE NEW EMPIRE.

and reviled him." ^ His career has indeed exemplified the
proverb that nothing succeeds like success. Each material
adversary he has encountered, he has successively demolished,
and all former errors have been atoned for by triumphs that
have benefited his country. But since he has sought to grapple
with and stifle an intangible foe, since he has vainly striven to
meet on equal ground the invisible power of the Papacy, there
are signs of a rift within the lute. The hymn of universal
praise is mingled with curses and execrations, the venom of the
Ultramontane press has penetrated to thousands of hearts, and
the Chancellor of the Empire has had to yield to the warnings
of the police and to confine himself within his dwelling.

For the stranger who seeks in Berlin the things most im-
pressed with the personality of the man who has made the
Prussian capital that of a New Empire — the first street is not the
Linden, but the Wilhelms-strasse, in which arc situate half-a-
dozen so-called palaces and many of the chief administrative
departments of the State. Its most interesting edifice, however,
is No. ^6, a list of whose inhabitants, pace the Berlin Directory,
is as follows :

Bade — coachman.

von Bismarck-Schonhausen, Prince, Chancellor of the Empire.

Engel — valet.

Grams — house-servant.

Lindstedt— porter.

N icdergesass — servant.

Spitzenberg— house- servant.

Zimmermann — gardener.

These few individuals form the Prince Chancellor's entire
establishment. The house which he has inhabited since 1862 is
a stuccoed building of decidedly seedy aspect, completely thrown
into the shade by the neighbouring, though by no means mag-
nificent, palaces of Prince Radzivill and Prince Carl, and the
stately residences of Herren Pringheim and Krause. It dates
from the commencement of the last century and was purchased
by the government some forty years ago. The facade, pierced by
twelve windows and decorated with pilasters and a common-
place classic frieze relieved by a few masks, consists of a centre
and two small wings, the stuccoed surface of which, through the
want of a fresh coat of paint, is rapidly going to decay. The
ground floor is devoted to the offices, and the story above, con-
taining the principal rooms, is surmounted by a high pitched red
tiled roof with projecting mansard windows. The chief recom-
mendation lies in an extensive and park-like garden stretching
to the Koniggratzer-strasse.

The Chancellor's door-porter is in thorough keeping with this
unpretending residence ; he wears no livery, no badge of office,
and carries no pompous gold-headed staff". His lodge is on the
' " German Home Life,*' Frasers Magazine, December, 1875.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 275

right of a covered passage leading to the vestibule whence a
flight of steps, guarded by two stone sphynxes — fit emblems of
Prussian policy — conducts to the reception and living rooms.
The interior fittings of the Chancellor's residence correspond with
its exterior aspect, for when the government purchased the house,
the furniture was taken with it and has never been renewed. A
few absolutely necessary adjuncts, some presents from the King,
and a score or so of family portraits from SchcJnhauscn, are all
that have been added by the present tenant. Three halls, one
of which serves for the official reunions, a couple of salons and
a moderate suite of living rooms comprise the whole of the
dwelling. Once when the Chancellor gave a party, he jocularly
said, " I have invited the Minister of Finance to-night, that he
may see for himself that my house is too small."

The first apartment entered is known as the Chinese room
from its upholstery of figured silk representing fair celestials on
the banks of some river, and groups of fabulous birds. It serves
for the dining-room, and is of an extreme simplicity. Save its
table and chairs it is completely bare, not containing even a
sideboard. The adjoining apartment is the billiard-room, now
transformed into a museum of souvenirs. The billiard-table is
hidden under its green cover, and encumbered with knick-knacks
of all kinds, presents from every source, and diplomas of the free-
dom of various cities richly illuminated and framed. It might
be taken for the back room of a dealer in bric-d-brac. Three
objects alone are worth mentioning, a bronze model of Rauch's
monument of Friedrich the Great, the diploma of the freedom
of the city of Hamburg, in the form of a hrowze plaque, and an
inkstand of black marble, surmounted by a dying lion, worth
about ten thaler. The latter was a present from the Emperor
during the Chancellor's illness. " He thought I was like the
lion," said Bismarck, showing it before his departure for
Kissingen, " but, thanks to God, I am restored to health and his
Majesty is not yet quits with regard to some other little presents
he owes me."

The third and the most interesting apartment is the Chancellor's
study. It has only two windows, and the large mahogany writing
table is a very simple piece of furniture. The Prince occupies
a carved armchair and his secretary sits facing him. An etagere
packed with official papers and reports is within reach on either
side of him, and a bell-pull hangs from the ceiling. In front of
the table, over a bonheur die Jour, is a portrait of his wife when
young, a superb brunette, with luxuriant hair, large black eyes,
and rather square shoulders. " Madame de Bismarck," wrote
Merimee, " has the longest foot in the Empire, and her daughter
walks in her steps." The study contains no library. It has by
way of compensation a complete collection of meerschaum pipes
and military caps with red bands. Between the door and the

T 2

276 HERLIxN UNDKR rilE NEW EMPIRE.

bonJtciir dn jour is an assortment of swords and sabres that
would do honour to an arsenal, and buckskin gloves lie about on
all the articles of furniture. An iron couch of inordinate dimen-
sions occupies one end of the study and on this the Reichs-
Kanzler is in the habit of reposing to read the papers after
dinner. The Chancellor's huge dog usually crouches under this
piece of furniture when his master is engaged with isitors.

Contiguous to the Prince's study is his bedroom, where a screen
of blue silk surrounds an immense bed. A little table serves as
a washstand. One is struck by the many combs and brushes,
outnumbering the hairs on the Chancellor's head. One re-enters
the study to pass into the salon of the Princess which is simply
a gallery ornamented with family portraits and furnished with
couches and armchairs of red damask. The private apartments
of the Princess and her daughter which overlook the garden
open into this salon. The last and largest room serves as a re-
ception-room. The furniture is in the middle-class style, without
character or distinction ; one fails to discover among it a single
object of art, or in fact anything that appeals to the eye. The
hangings and chair coverings arc faded and almost threadbare.
The only object that e.xcites curiosity, thanks to the large brass
plate on it, is the table upon which peace was signed at Versailles.
The P'rench say that the owner of the house in which Bismarck
resided refused to give it up, and pretend that the Chancellor,
not to be baulked of the coveted spoil, had one made exactly
like it and substituted it for the real one, on his departure. On
leaving the reception-room my guide opened a door to the right.
"■Der Tanzsaaly' said he. This ballroom was once a chapel,
but the Chancellor has put so many bishops in prison that he
can have no scruple about putting dancers in a church.^

The Prince's style of living corresponds with the simplicity of
his surroundings. When in good health he rises early and
w orks, joining the family circle at breakfast towards ten, when
he glances through his letters and newspapers. He then receives
his councillors in his study, goes to report to the Emperor, rides
for an hour or so if he is not required by the Parliament, and
dines about five o'clock. After dinner he generally allows
himself an hour's rest on the sofa in his study, or else in the
Princess's drawing-room, where coffee is served, and then confers
again with councillors and ministers. Subsequently he works
alone and receives visitors up to a late hour, often till midnight,
or he closes the day with conversation in the Princess's apart-
ments, where a few guests usually assemble. Before retiring to
rest he drinks a bottle of champagne as a sleeping draught, for
he suffers terribly from insomnia, unless, indeed, he intends, as
is sometimes the case, to rise in the night and work. Latterly
his sleeplessness has arrived at such a pitch, that strong doses
' Voyage an Pays des Milliards, par Victor Tissot.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMAR' K. 277

of morphia have failed to procure him the necessary repose, and
his nervous system has been terribly affected in consequence.
This sleeplessness and nervousness are not owing to the irregular
hours enforced on him in a measure by his position, but are
due to old habits. "When I was a captain," says he, "atSchon-
hausen I could never sleep, and used to go out walking or riding
by night. I am always anxious to know when it will be dawn."

He gives neither balls nor dinners, but during the parlia-
mentary session he is in the habit of throwing open his rooms
on certain evenings to the representatives of ever}' part}', who
after a hot contest meet here on neutral ground, just as the
opposing armies taking part in the military manrcuvres, fraternize
after a battle and discuss their stratcgetic performances. Hither
come Moltke and Dr. Loewc, Prince William of Baden and
Lasker, Braun and Fordenbeck, Bennigscn, Volk, Prince Hohen-
lohe, the Duke of Ujest, and the rest. Ministers greet their
bitterest opponents in the Reichstag with a polite smile, and
shake their friends by the hand. The most important topics
of the day are discussed and commented upon with an absence
of the acrimony which sometimes makes its appearance in a
debate, and political adversaries learn to appreciate each other's
social as well as mental qualities.

Bismarck was the first to organise these gatherings, at which
the promotion of cheerful social intercourse is aimed at, and
which agreeably replace the stiff ceremonial dinners of his pre-
decessors and colleagues. A simple cold supper is accompanied
— another innovation in a Berlin salon — by genuine Bavarian
beer, served in small casks and drawn from the tap on the spot
This beverage is held in high esteem by the Chancellor, who
drinks it all day long, and w^ho further consumes large quantities
of wine at his meals, to which he brings an appetite propor-
tioned to his stature. The cigars that he used to smoke from
morning till night have been prohibited by his doctors, but he
consoles himself with pipes of colossal dimensions, of which he
has an ample collection. Amongst them is one presented by a
pipemaker of Oberhausen, who received in reply half a dozen
lines to the effect that the Prince had never had such a good one
since he left the university.

The Chancellor seldom goes to balls or parties, and almost
the only theatre he honours with his presence is the Wallner.
where local farces are commonly given. In his rides out, attired
in the eternal white cuirassier uniform, which he never seems to
lay aside, he used freely to return the salutations of the Berlin
gamins with evident gratification, and it was noticed that during
the French campaign he strolled alone about the streets of the
various towns occupied by the P'rench troops, with the same
indifference to danger that, but for the entreaties of the pohce,
he would continue to show at Berlin.

278

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

His daughter is entrusted with the task of collecting in an
album all the caricatures published about him, and over these

we are told he good-humouredly laughs. German pictorial
satire is, however, so devoid of point that if the Chancellor is

able to derive
amu semcnt
from the ef-
forts of the
Berlin carica-
turists' pen-
cils, he must
be a happily
c onstitut e d
individual in-
deed. That
the reader,
may judge for
himself, some
specimens of
them from
the K I adder -
adatscJi, the
Berliner Wes-
pc7i, the Ulk,
and the Bej'-
liner Figaro
arc here sub-
joined. In the
first we have
Bismarck un-
der the guise of a nutcracker which is stated to be of cast iron
and able to crack the very hardest nuts. The next, in which the
German Chancellor and Count Arnim are depicted dos-d-dos, has

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK.

279

an inscription beneath it to the effect that if Count Arnim would
but get the missing letters together, or Prince Bismarck would
consent to write them over again, there might then be peace
between the two. In the third we have the doughty Chancellor de-
picted as a corpulent crusader prodigal of good advice but indis-
posed to draw the sword against the Turk. Next he figures as an

archer, who having disposed of one adversary, Count Armm, is

directing his shafts against the Ultramontanes, the Socialists,

the annexed Alsatians, and the rest of his recognised enemies.

Then we have him

as the sea serpent

rising out of the

ocean to the great

terror of the poor

old Pope as he

passes by in his

bark. The lines

beneath, evident-
ly quoted from

some German

classic, are to the

effect that "An

old man sits in

the boat, and

knows not how to

save himself," no

very brilliant application of apparently some iamiliar quotation.

Finally the Chancellor is presented under a classic aspect in

the dubious guise of a Roman charioteer who appeals to his

28o

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

master the Kinperor, not to order him to set ofif again on
the plea that his horse is so fearfully jaded and requires both
rest and fodder before startincj on an\' new journe)^

tLxT

If the Chancellor is disposed to smile over such puerile
attempts at wit as the foregoing, he certainly does not regard
the bitter attacks of Majunke in the Gcrniania, or of Hassel-
mann in the Social Democrat, with the same equanimity.
Journalists are, indeed, no favourites of his ; it was he who
invented the term Reptilien, and when Jules Favre requested
troops to secure order in Paris during the armistice, he suggested
that " the journalists should be given up to him, and then order
would maintain itself" A yet more serious cause of annoyance,
and one which succeeded in shaking even his iron nerve, and
producing with the sleeplessness referred to a morbid irrita-
bility, was the scores of threatening letters which he was in
the habit of receiving every week. They were addressed to
him by both Frenchmen and Germans, the latter forming an
immense majority since his attacks upon the Ultramontanes.
The object of the writers was in most cases merely to terrify him
into retirement, but the police themselves profess that there are
genuine plots for hi.s destruction, and not only watch over him and
his house with tenfold precautions, but have persuaded him to go
out only in a close carriage, and instead of riding in the Thier-
garten to confine his horse exercise to the large garden of the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Strange irony of fate that the man
who can scarcely show himself without being made the object
of a popular ovation, should shrink from crossing his threshold
lest the knife or bullet of a fellow-countryman should be buried
in his heart !

As seven cities of Greece disputed the honour of having given
birth to Homer, so the Sclaves and Teutons both lay claim to
Bismarck, whose bare head indeed reveals the characteristics of
both these races. The former derive his name from the Wendish
bii sDiarkoH, "beware of the thorns," and in confirmation allege
that the golden trefoil of the family arms is a blackberry
leaf. The others maintain it comes from the little town of Bis-
marck on the Biese, in the circle of Stendhal, formerly inhabited

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 281

by his ancestors. It is quite certain that some five hundred
years ago Rule von Bismarck was excommunicated by the
Bishop of Haberstadt, for founding a school in the town of
Stendhal and refusing to place it under the direction of the
Church, so history has repeated itself in the Chancellor's passage
of the School Inspection Bill, and his enmity to the Ultramon-
tanes. This ancestor was one of the guild of tailors of the
same town, which has led to the Prince's enemies sneering at the
claim of the family to Junkcrdom, though the burghers of Stend-
hal proudly alluded to it on presenting the Chancellor with the
freedom of their place. A yet more damaging assertion in
patriotic eyes, namely, that his was one of the families that
supported the French between 1806 and 18 13, was contradicted
by himself by the publication of the list of half a dozen Bis-
marcks, who perished for Germany during the War of Liberation.
Friedrich the Great's Minister of Justice was a Bismarck, and
it was from him that Voltaire procured the warrant to arrest the
Jew Hirsch, with whom he had entangled himself in some scan-
dalous financial transactions during his residence at Berlin.

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was born on the ist April,
181 5, at Schonhausen in the Altmark, in an old-fashioned
manor-house, built at the end of the seventeenth century, on the
foundation of an older mansion destroyed during the Thirty
Years' War. It is a plain, square, rather heavy-looking building
of two stories with a high-pitched roof, standing on a hill over-
looking the town of Schonhausen, and near to a church and ceme-
tery, through which latter, somewhat strangely, the courtyard of
the house is reached. To the right is a fine park studded with
centenarian chestnut and lime-trees, and to the left lie the farm-
buildings of the estate. Above the principal entrance to the
house are a couple of shields, upon which are sculptured the
armorial bearings of the builders — Augustus von Bismarck and
his wife Dorothea Sophia von Katte. "The arms of the latter,"
observes a zealous Frenchman, who since the war has had the
curiosity to visit the birthplace of the man who imposed so
hard a sacrifice and so vast a burthen upon France, " are composed
of a cat playing with a mouse. Think cf all the mice with
which Bismarck has tragically played for ten years past before
choking them. Recall to mind the chiefs of the parliamentary
opposition at Berlin, the noble Diet of Frankfurt, the Prince of
Augustenburg, the Marquis de Lavallette, Count von Beust,
Napoleon III., the Duke de Gramont, M. Jules Favre, and M.
Thiers," — to whom, moreover, may now be added a score of
Catholic dignitaries, and Count Henry von Arnim — "and say if
ever allusive arms spoke more prophetically than those ot Sophia
Dorothea of the house of Katte, great-great-grandmother of Otto
Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck."

Bismarck's father was a retired officer, and his mother, a tall

282 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

blonde, was daughter of Privy-Councillor Menken. Besides the
future Chancellor two others of their six children have survived,
namely, his elder brother Bernhard, now a royal chamberlain,
and a }-ounger sister, Malvina, married to the chamberlain von
Arnim-Krochlendorf. His early childhood was spent on his
father's estate of Kniephoff in Pomerania, and after studying at
Dr. Plamann s school and at the Fricdrich Wilhclm Gymnasium
at Berlin, he entered the University of Gottingen in 1831. The
maddest of mad students at a time when the majority of these
were reckless and violent, he soon earned the name of "the
wild Bismarck," distinguished himself by his avoidance of
lectures and prowess with both bier-glas and schldger, and
was able to notch upon his student's stick, the registry of three
dozen encounters, the marks of one of which he carries pro-
minently on his face to this day. Nevertheless he managed to
pass his examination as Referenderer, and coming to Berlin
began to practise in the municipal court. On one occasion he
was examining a genuine Berliner who so exasperated him by his
impertinence that he jumped up and exclaimed, " Mind what you
are about, sir, or I will kick you out." The magi.strate, tapping
him upon the shoulder said quietly, but with a due regard to
the traditions of Prussian hierarchy, " Mr. Examiner, the kicking
out is my business." The examination proceeded, but ere long
Bismarck was up again thundering, " Take care, sir, or I will
have you kicked out by the magistrate." It was about this
time that he was presented at Court and was asked by the
present Emperor in allusion to his athletic appearance,
" Whether the Law required her sons to be of the same stature
as the Guards." Those were the days when in company with
numerous young officers he was accustomed to hear the chimes
at midnight, and to distinguish himself at drinking bouts and
with the dice-box.

After a short sojourn at Aix-la-Chapelle as Referenderer,
Bismarck served his year as a volunteer at Potsdam, in the jagers
of the guard, and was then recalled home to aid in relieving
the family estates, having succeeded in which he gave himself
up to a career of reckless dissipation. Respectable people
shuddered at the doings of the " wild Bismarck of Kniephoff,"
who with boon companions, selected from the officers of adjoining
garri.sons and the neighbouring Junkers, was wont to pass the
night in draining beakers of mingled champagne and porter.
Yet his father, keener sighted than the elder Mirabeau, detected
the germs of better things amidst all this exuberant flow of
animal spirits characterizing the Sturm mid Drang period of his
life, and said " We must not snuff this candle, for fear of extin-
guishing it." His brother Bernhard, too, kept urging him to go
to Berlin, maintaining, as P^rance and Austria have since learnt
to their cost, that he was cut out for public life and diplomacy.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 283

Yet even as Cromwell was once on the point of starting for
America, Otto von Bismarck, before he entered Parliament, had
serious thought of going to India to make his fortune.

It was during,this period, which was marked, moreover, by visits
to England and France, that he received his first decoration, a
medal, for saving, at great personal risk, the life of his groom
Hildebrand, whose horse had become unmanageable and had
dashed with him into the Lippener lake. This medal he always
wears amongst his grandest decorations and when a foreign
diplomatist once asked him what it meant, answered, with his
usual insolence towards his equals : " I have a habit of sometimes
saving a man's life."

On the death of his father, he began to interest himself in
politics, made the acquaintance of von Roon, and betrothed
. himself to his first love, Johanna von Puttkammer, whose parents'
consent he obtained in spite of themselves, by going straight to
their house and embracing their daughter before the whole house-
hold. The decree of the 3rd February, 1847, brought him to
Berlin as a member of the first Prussian Landtag, and a red-hot
Junker. He boasted of his mediaeval ideas, opposed the eman-
cipation of the Jews, and cried out against civil marriage, which
he has since so strenuously insisted on, as a degrading institution
that " made the Church the train-bearer of a subaltern bureau-
cracy." In national matters too he opposed the unity of Germany
and the annexation of Schleswig-Holstein, though the speeches
he made on these subjects have been carefully omitted from the
collection published at Berlin, together with the one he pro-
nounced in 1850 in defence of the ministry which had brought
about the Olmutz humiliation, wherein he maintained that
Prussia should give way to Austria in order to combat with her
the threatening democracy.

At the close of the session he married, made a wedding tour
through Switzerland and Italy — falling in at Vienna with the
late King of Prussia, much of whose confidence he gained — and
then settled down at Schonhausen. His union was blessed with
three children, Maria Elisabeth Johanna, Nicolas Heinrich
Ferdinand Herbert, a lieutenant in the 1st dragoon guards, and
Wilhelm Otto Albrccht — named after the German Emperor
who was his godfather — holding a similar rank. All of them
were born at short intervals from 1848 to 1852.

After fighting the Radicals in the Landtag with his tongue and
in the columns of the Kreuz Zeitiuig with his pen throughout
the stormy period of 1 848, he entered upon his diplomatic career
in 1 85 1 as First Secretary of the Embassy at Frankfurt. Here he
had a difficult part to play, for Prince Schwartzenberg had uttered
the memorable phrase, " Prussia must first be humbled in order
that we may destroy her," and as the representative of that power
he was not looked upon with favourable eyes. Count von Thun

284 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Holstein, the Austrian ambassador, sought to establish their
respective posil:ions by receiving him in his shirt sleeves. "You
are right," said Bismarck as he entered, " it is awfully hot in
here," and pulled off his own coat at once. Thun apologised,
and the two became better friends, l^ismarck succeeded Rochow
as ambassador and for the eight j'cars during which he was
connected with the Bundestag worked energetically against the
influence of Austria, though he found time to pay flying visits
to different parts of Europe, notably to Paris during the Interna-
tional Exhibition of 1855, and again in 1857, when he had his
first interview with the Erench Emperor. Towards the close of
his Erankfurt mission, he was present at a review, wearing on the
breast of his Landwehr uniform the numerous decorations he had
already received. The Austrian Archduke, in whose honour the
review was held, asked him, with a tinge of irony, whether these
had been won in presence of the enemy. " Certainly, your High-
ness, all in presence of the enemy — at Erankfurt," was his reply.

During this period the reins of Government passed into the
hands of the present Emperor who changed the ministry and
began to plan the reorganization of the army. Bismarck sup-
ported him in this, but his Italian sympathies led to his being
transferred to the court of St. Petersburg. " I am like champagne,
they put me in ice before serving me up," was his comment. This
pseudo-banishment and a severe illness, due to an injury to the
leg bone received whilst hunting, rendered him a passive spectator
of the Italian campaign, though it did not hinder him from
putting forth his views in that letter on " Prussia and the Italian
question," in which he developed the programme of 1866 and
declared that Prussia must become Germany.

In the spring of 1862, having previously declined a portfolio,
he was transferred from St. Petersburg to Paris, whence, however,
he was recalled in the month of September to assume the Minis-
tr}'- of Eoreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Council and to
attain the acme of impopularity. He accepted the heavy inheri-
tance of the old Liberal administration, the conflict between
which and the Tower House had already lasted a couple of years
" without conditions or reservations " saying that " the rest would
be shown by the future." Then began that long and bitter
struggle with the Prussian parliament upon the questions of army
reform and the supplies. So inflamed were men's minds at his
appointment, though he simply accepted the situation created by
others, that the sittings were suspended for five days. At the out-
set he endeavoured to gain the confidence of the liberal leaders
by exposing his plan of a bold foreign policy, but in vain.

The conflict about reorganization grew into a constitutional
question. Bismarck withdrew the budget and went on govern-
ing without it. The following year the House threw it out, and
censured him for making a secret treaty with Russia, and he in

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 281

return closed the House, declaring that he would carry on his
plans without supplies till the country was ready to furnish them.
" Voild 171011 incdccin," said the King, well pleased with the boldness
with which the minister contested even the president's discipli-
nary authority, and when a deputy asked why, if the Government
was dissatisfied with the House it did not dissolve it and appeal
to the country, "Gentlemen," was Bismarck's reply, "before
doing so, we should like to give the country an opportunity of
learning what its representatives are, that future elections may
be based on a more thorough personal knowledge."

The cavalier fashion in which the minister acted vis-d-vis with
the Prussian parliament was looked upon at the time as the
haughtiness of the noble in presence of a gathering of vassals,
whereas it was simply the impatience of a practical and
sceptical statesman in face of an assembly of honest ideologists,
inflexible slaves of principle. One can realize his scornful
irritation, when he had to listen to a long report on the reorgan-
ization of the army, learnedly drawn up by the illustrious
historian of the " trichinose," whose competence in military
matters, considering the bent of his previous studies, might fairly
be called into question. And one can excuse his impatience at
seeing a great assembly, which took upon ;tself the historical role
of the Long Parliament, fighting pitched battles over such mise-
rable questions as striking off a thousand or a couple of thousand
thaler from the secret service fund or the salary of some ambas-
sador. The somewhat violent sallies of the members of the
opposition might however have been allowed to pass unheeded,
and not have been made the subject of ill-advised judicial pro-
ceedings.^ It is said however that the minister was not responsible
for these repressive measures, and in proof of his real sentiments
a story is told of his taking a little sprig of olive from his cigar-
case and saying to some of the members of the extreme opposi-
tion in a half-jesting manner, "I gathered this in the South of
France and shall perhaps offer it one of these days to the Demo-
crats as a token of reconciliation, but as yet it is too soon."
Nevertheless neither the country, the legislature, nor Germany
would believe him in spite of the remarkable acts which followed
his accession to the premiership.

Three months after attaining power, he proposed the convoca-
tion of that German parliament which had been petitioned for so
long, and received for answer " tiinco Danaos." He intervened
in Hesse-Cassel to re-establish law, but people laughed at the
minister who acted in defiance of his own parliament whilst
defending the prerogatives of another. He espoused the cause
of the Holsteiners, especially dear to the German people, but the
reply was, " It is to deliver them up to Denmark as in 1850."
He signed commercial treaties with Italy and France, and
' La Pfusse Contcmporaine, par Carl Hillebrand.

286 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

imposed them on the recalcitrant petty princes ; he renewed the
Zollverein in accordance with pubHc opinion ; he prevented the
King from taking part in the congress of princes at Frankfurt, so
unpopular throughout Germany ; he again proposed the convoca-
tion of a German parliament ; he threatened to dissolve the
Frankfurt Diet, the object of the hatred and the scorn of all ; he
announced that his policy would be at once German and in
favour of union, seemingly a sure means of attracting the sym-
pathy of the whole of Germany. But all was of no avail.'

The passions that had been aroused, the antecedents, and the
frequently provoking language of the minister, notably his ex-
pression, " not through speeches and votes of the majority are the
great questions of the day to be decided, that was the blunder of
1848 and 1849, but by iron and blood," blinded them completely
to the fact that even at this period the ^' coup d'etat minister"
as he had been stj'lcd, on account of his intimacy with Napoleon
III., was founding German unity. The hatred he inspired, passed
the ordinary bounds of ministerial unpopularity, and strange to
say he positively took a pleasure in provoking it. A member of
a deputation introduced to him was so struck by his bearing as
to remark that in presence of such a man it was impossible to
say anything foolish. " One can see very well that you have
never been in the Chamber," was Bismarck's grim comment. In
proof of this hatred it is said that once when the Crown Prince
was looking on somewhat dejectedly at the departure of a num-
ber of German emigrants for America, a man stepped out from
the crowd and said, "Will your Royal Highness give me a thaler
if I tell you how to prevent this .'' " " Speak," said the Prince.
" Send Bismarck to America, and you may be sure no one will
follow him ! " At that time he had, to all appearances, more
detraction at his heels than fortune before him.

His foreign policy was based on his observation "that the
gravitating centre of Austrian policy must be sought at Buda-
pest " and at the commencement of 1863 he issued that bold circu-
lar despatch, in which he stated that the relations between Prussia
and Austria " must at once become either better or worse." This
did not prevent the two powers from uniting for a time in
the seizure of Schleswig-Holstein, " the bone on \yhich the
Germans are sharpening their teeth," as Metternich observed.
In July, 1864, he was in Vienna negotiating the peace, and as he
observes was "stared at by the people as if I were a new hippo-
potamus for the zoological gardens. . . This existence on the
stage is very uncomfortable if one wants to enjoy his beer in
peace." The Emperor Franz Josef fully recognised his value,
and on one occasion when a disparaging remark was made about
him exclaimed, " Ah J if I but only had him ! " But he did not
have him, and two years later came Koniggratz.

' La Prusse Contemporawe, par Carl Hillebrand.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK.

187

Meanwhile the relations between the two countries failed to im-
prove and the condition of home affairs was equally trying. The
successful results of the Schleswig-Holstein campaign had not
overcome the mistrust of the Prussian Lower House. Hot and
bitter debates, a personal challenge to a duel, averted by a com-
promise, and the declaration that the use made of the State funds
without the authority of the national representatives was uncon-
stitutional, marked the session. The next year the Cologne and
Minden railway was sold by the State to meet the expenses of
the army reorganization and Bismarck received the title of Count.

On the afternoon of the 7th May, 1866, as he was passing along
the Linden on his way home from a conference with the King two
shots were fired at him. Turning round he perceived a young
man with a revolver taking aim for the third time. Rushing in,
he seized his assailant, the third shot grazing his right shoulder.
Two more shots were fired as they struggled, one of which glanced
from the Count's ribs and then Bismarck handed over his captive
to the police. Politically speaking this was a lucky incident for
him, it aroused universal
sympathy, congratulations
poured in on all sides,
the King himself has-
tened to his house and the
people of Berlin flocked
in thousands beneath his
windows. His courage in
grappling with and se-
curing his opponent was
highly eulogised though
it is commonly believed
that he owed his safety to
a cuirass, and a cuirass,
moreover, composed of
folds of satin, the invul-
nerability of which some
Hungarian had pointed
out to him. The author
of this attempt, Cohen
Blind, son of Carl Blind,
the Republican leader,
committed suicide some
days afterwards in his cell.

This incident helped to
precipitate the war with
Austria towards which
the King had been urged with such difficulty and against
which public opinion was so strong. On the 27th June the news
of the first victory reached Berlin and crowds again assembled in

B

V-=^F^

-_^^=i"~^

^

-\

E^

^fr- -

\

^^■a*—

288 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

front of 76, Wilhelms-strasse to thank and applaud the man whom
they had so detested. The following day he left for the seat of
war, sure of success, and prepared for all the difficulties success
would bring. At Koniggriitz where, as he wrote home, he "rode
the big chestnut and was thirteen hours in the saddle without
food," and where in the evening " his first couch for the night
was the pavement of Horitz without straw or anything but a
carriage cushion," he was the first to discern through his glass
the arrival of the Crown Prince's army. Whilst the King and
his generals were almost confounded at the triumphant result of
Koniggriitz he steadily pursued his task of re-establishing peace,
passing eight days without taking his clothes off and sleep-
ing one night on the bare stones under a piazza in a Bohemian
village, and another, as he expressed it, "doubled up like a
jack-knife " in a child's crib, till all had been settled according
to his plans.

On the return of the King to Berlin, the farce of begging
indemnity from the Landtag was gone through and helped to
strengthen Bismarck's new popularity. He had now attained
that height of fame by which tailors and bootmakers hasten to
profit. The names of Blucherand Wellington have been immor-
talized by the followers of St. Crispin. Bismarck was fated to
give his to a shirt-collar and to a colour, which latter a bright
brown, was all the rage in Paris for a full year, and even
branched out into a paler variation known as Bismarck malade.
People too began calling their children after him, a compliment
with which he expressed himself disgusted. The following year
however witnessed the greatest triumph of his policy, the form-
ation of the North German Confederation, in spite of foreign
foes, South German antipathies, and the opposition of some of
the States composing it. " Let us put Germany into the saddle.
She is already able to ride," he exclaimed when he laid the sketch
of the new confederation before the Reichstag, whilst he con-
soled a somewhat dolorous deputation from a newly-annexed
State by the homely remark that " Prussia was like a flannel
waistcoat, rather uncomfortable when you put it on for the first
time, but a great comfort when you are used to it." To another
deputation that complained of the heavy taxation and general
hability to military service, he replied, w'ith feigned astonishment,
" Well, gentlemen, did you expect to become Prussian for
nothing .?" He had naught to say however in reply to the tell-
ing reproof of the wife of a foreign diplomatist, whose beauty
was supposed to have produced a great impression upon him,
when at a Court ball in Berlin, he, with that audacity which is his
especial characteristic, extended his hand to pluck without per-
mission a flower from her bouquet. " Pardon, Monsieur le
Comte," she remarked, smartly rapping his knuckles with her fan,
" that flower is not a German State, and must be asked for."

REICFIS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 289

His policy had been that of Horatius, to combat the enemies
of German unity in succession. Two of these Curatii
Denmark and Austria, had fallen, and France alone remained'
filled with jealous hatred. He was made Chancellor of the
New Confederation ; assisted in the pacific settlement of the
Luxembourg question, and paid a visit to the Paris Exhibition.
Overtaxed in strength by the heavy session of 1868, he retired
to Varzin, where, exhausted both bodily and mentally, he broke
down completely. His recovery was retarded by a fall from
his horse, as he was becoming himself again ; and remedies
innumerable were suggested by sympathising Germans, one
old soldier recommending him to smoke a pound of tobacco
daily. Bismarck sent the man a pipe and half-a-hundredweight
of tobacco, accompanied by the request that he would be good
enough to do the smoking for him. At the close of the year
he got back to Berlin, and worked at the consolidation of the
Confederation till the outbreak of the inevitable war with
France. He followed the army to the field ; received the
Emperor Napoleon on his surrender after Sedan, and, during
the siege of Paris, installed himself in a villa at Versailles.
Upon him devolved the adjustment of the terms of peace.
Whilst discussing the war indemnity with Jules Favre, he had
Bleichroder, the great Jewish banker, beside him, as a kind of
financial expert. Jules Favre was taken quite aback at the
demand for five milliards of francs, and, to render its excessive
nature apparent, observed, " Even if a man had begun to reckon
it at the birth of Christ, he would not have finished by the
present time." " For that reason," replied Bismarck, pointing
to Bleichroder, " I have brought this gentleman, who counts
from the Creation." Ernest Picard, who, at the beginning of
February, had to arrange the indemnity to be paid by Paris,
met with a similar jocular retort when endeavouring to obtain
a prolongation of the armistice. The Count expressed his
willingness to prolong it to the 25th, or even the 28th of the
month. "Then why not to the 30th.'" asked Picard. "Abso-
lutely impossible," was the dry reply. " Would your excellency
at least mind giving me the reasons of this impossibility."
" Oh ! certainly. It is because there are only twenty-eight days
in the month."

Crueller sayings are attributed to him ; and during the out-
break of the Communist struggle he was credited with the
remark, " We may not burn Paris, but we can let it be burnt ; "
whilst his recommendation that the Parisians should be left to
cook in their own gravy has almost passed into a proverb.
With all this, he could still spare a shaft for his own country-
men. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in conversation with
him, complained of the too liberal distribution of the Iron
Cross. "I am not of your opinion," replied Bismarck; "the

U

290 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Iron Cross has been given for two reasons. Either those who
are decorated with it have deserved it, and in that case there
is nothing to be said, or it has been bestowed as a pure matter
of courtesy upon people like your Highness or myself, and in
that case the less said about it the better."

On his return to Berlin, with the title of Prince, the lordship
of Schwartzcnbeck, which was valued at some ;^230,ooo, and
the dignity of Chancellor of the Empire, he turned his atten-
tion against internal foes. The Ultramontanes were assailed
by the law for the Inspection of Schools ; and the following
session the measures against the Jesuits were promulgated, the
contre coup of which was the pistol-shot fired two years later
by Kuhlmann at Kissingen. At the close of 1872, he resigned
the Presidency of the Prussian Cabinet in favour of Count von
Roon, to whom he entrusted the task of passing the Church
Laws, in order to devote himself exclusively to the administra-
tion of the German Empire, but resumed it within a twelvemonth.
There is no need to recapitulate the circumstance attendant
upon his prosecution of Count Arnim ; and his prolonged
struggle with Church and Press is elsewhere narrated at length.
In his great task of constructing a United Germany, the
Austrian war served to bring the scattered fragments into con-
tact ; and the patriotic fire, enkindled by the contest with
France, to weld them together. It yet remains to be seen
whether the spirit of resistance, engendered by continued per-
secution, will die out, or whether it may not explode with a
shock that will endanger the edifice.

The two greatest qualities of a statesman, and the two rarest
amongst public men in Germany, namely, clearness of views,
and determination of purpose, belong to Prince Bismarck in the
highest degree. He knows what he wants, and makes up his
mind to secure it. At no period of his career has he sought to
conceal his views, and his almost brutal frankness has been a
hard puzzle to diplomatists, unable to comprehend such a want
of reticence. This may be due to the fact that whenever he
has dissimulated he has exaggerated to such an extent as to
miss his aim, and has more often deceived his adversary by
telling him the truth than in trying to disguise it. With an
antagonist, too, although he may be spiteful, and even unjust,
there will be nothing spurious about him. He may openly
disregard justice and morality, but he will not aggravate this
by any affectation of the pathetic. He has always sought to
strike a decisive blow, when he had any object to attain, without
wasting his time in preliminary skirmishes. He has been
characterized, accurately enough, as not being one of those
" patient plodders who are content with slow and laborious
progress, with small victories, each won by painful strategy and
diffident venture. His forward strides are made with seven-

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 291

league boots ; his political plans of campaign are grand schemes,
culminating in general actions of a decisive character, not
studded with harassing skirmishes and insignificant encounters.
Moreover, he is the only public man in Europe who dares to
speak out his mind utterly, regardless of consequences. He
is indomitable, wholly unsusceptible of fear, resolute to have
his own way, thoroughly convinced that he knows better what
is for the good of his country than any other man, and not to
be deterred by any consideration whatever from saying exactly
what he tliinks."^ For these reasons he is scarcely the same
favourite with his equals and superiors in rank, or with his
colleagues — all of whom he subjugates unhesitatingly to his
indomitable will — as with the middle classes. It has been said
that there is no man in Prussia strong enough to stand up
against him.

Even with the Emperor, over whom he seems to exercise
some of that strange fascination which chained Louis XIII. to
Richelieu, Bismarck can afford to be resolute and unbending.
Whenever his absence from Berlin is not to be satisfactorily
accounted for — and the rumours of his retirement on the score
of ill-health are not so readily accepted now as they once were
— people say, "■ Er grollt (he is sulking) ; he has had a difference
with a certain person, and has gone off in a passion." Every
time that personage and he have fallen out, he has retreated
to Varzin, and shut himself up there until an amende honorable
has been made him. Concerning these retirements, the author
of the Pro NiJiilo pamphlet, published in defence of Count
Arnim, has remarked : — " In his own country Prince Bismarck
is believed to be indispensable ; and he is so, as long as this
belief continues. But suddenly a man made his appearance
who threatened to deprive him of the charm of indispensa-
bleness — who was indicated by public opinion as one who
could replace him. The fear of the instability of all human
fortune then stole over the Chancellor's mind. People see with
astonishment how an elephant can with the same instrument
raise hundredweights and pick up needles from the ground.
Prince Bismarck acts in a similar way ;■ only to the stolid,
unimaginative elephant a needle is but a needle, while to the
Chancellor it appears a poisonous and fatal weapon. We have
seen many such needles irritate the Chancellor's morbid nerves,
and exercise more influence on politics than many a cannon
shot — the Duchesne affair, articles in the press, speeches by
Windthorst, Lasker, Virchow, and so on. Those who will take
the trouble to follow up the chain of ideas of which we have
only given the first links, will understand why Prince Bismarck
remains more and more isolated in Varzin — whence he rules the
world like Tiberius from Capri — why he avoids more and more

1 Berlin correspondence of the Daily Telegraph.

U 2

292 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

the intercourse of other men, and why an unimportant incident
assumes in his eyes the proportions of an historical ev^ent."

It is well known that Bismarck at times expresses himself
slightin<:^ly enoui:^h of the Emperor, who, according to him, has too
much and too little of the Hohenzollern in him. Once he was in
the habit of regretting that he could not do what he liked
with him, because he was not a king of his own making.
Possibly a change has come over the Chancellor in this respect,
since he has made of the King an Emperor, for he has added
to Goethe's dictum, that "Every German has his own indi-
viduality, which he does not like to lose," the rider, " and
if he only had money enough each man would have a king
of his own." He, however, still compares the Emperor to a
hunter that needs to be well spurred before he will take a fence ;
which is only repeating in other words his phrase about its being
necessary to wind the King up every day like a watch, when
the quarrel with Austria over the Schleswig-Holstein spoils was
coming to a crisis.

His differences with the Crown Prince date back to 1862,
when the latter, whose liberal tendencies are well known, felt
bound to protest publicly against the President of the Council's
arbitrary proceedings, and even to express to the King his
condemnation of them as tending to endanger his own succes-
sion to the throne — a step that had no further result than
obliging him to retire from Court for a time. Prince Bismarck,
who, in spite of the past, claims to be in no respect an enemy
of parliamentary government, has since maintained that in these
proceedings he had but a single object in view, namely, the
consolidation of Northern Germany under the aegis of Prussia.
To attain this he was prepared, he said, to brave exile, and
even the scaffold, and had observed to the Crown Prince, " What
matter if they hang me, provided only that the cord firmly
bind your throne to this new Germany." And the view he
entertains of his own importance and position, is well shown
in a recent speech on the new Penal Code, wherein he said that,
whilst the House was quite right to reject the Bill if it thought
it incompatible with .the interests of the Empire, he, for his
part, could not retain the position of Foreign Minister unless
his hands were strengthened by its passage. He said : — " In
my double quality of President of the Council of Ministers in
Prussia, and Chancellor of the Empire, I am the point on which
all discontent concentrates itself In the railway-carriage, and
in the drawing-room, in every society, the impression is the
same. They complain of me as the farmer complains of the
bad weather. People treat me as if I could, by the effects
of my sole personal will, remove all the faults which are to be
found in the new legislation."

And yet, with all this arrogance. Prince Bismarck can be

REICHS-KANZI.ER VON BISMARCK. 293

reasonable enough in ordinary life. Credit is given him for
possessing a certain personal charm, such as many people mani-
fest in a teie-a-tcte, but which entirely forsakes them in the
presence of numbers. Haughty, provoking, and unconciliatory
in the Reichstag, he more or less succeeds in gaining over those
of his opponents who approach him in his drawing-room or
his study ; and a well-known diplomatist, comparing him with
the famous Italian minister, considered his brusque frankness
and cavalier abajidon more winning than the seductive boiiJiomie
and airy grace of Cavour. He has also been described as
amiable in society, talkative to excess, communicative to in-
discretion, full of wit and originality, not too impatient of
contradiction, and, when in good temper, quite open to argu-
ment. Whatever prejudices he may have, he knows how to
conceal and even to laugh at ; but as the boundary between
prejudice and conviction, fancy and belief is hard to define,
he too often ridicules what is looked upon by the mass of
mankind as most noble and sacred.

In illustration of Prince Bismarck's affability, one may refer
to a little incident that tran.'^pired during one's first sojourn in
Berlin, and which for the moment shared with the coming of the
Czar and the Kaiser the talk of the city. This was the Chan-
cellor's entertaining Herr Helmerding the popular Berlin come-
dian— noted for the lively and pointed style in which he sings —
at dinner on the very day the Emperor Franz Josef arrived, and
probably accounted for by his preferring the company of come-
dians who sing good songs to that of mere diplomatists and am-
bassadors. The actor has given his own version of the incident
which is sufficiently amusing to be quoted in cxtcnso.

'•My connection with Prince Bismarck," says Herr Helmerding, "dates
from the epoch of the constitutional conflict in 1863. At a stormy sitting of
the Lower House, he was severely dealt with, and whilst some orator was
shouting his loudest against the unpopular minister, Bismarck opened the
door of the little room reserved for members of the Government, and which
communicates with the chamber, and said in a disdainful way : ' The honour-
able gentleman need not shout so loud, we can hear him very well here.'

" The incident was reported in all the newspapers, and the following evening
Bismarck came to the theatre where I was performing and shook with laughter
whilst I was singing a verse in which he was sharply criticised. The curtain
fell, and plaudits resounded from all parts of the house. A sudden thought
seized me, I stepped before the curtain, and said to the audience : ' Not quite
so much noise gentlemen, one can hear you very well here.' The hit had a
tremendous success. Bismarck complimented me in person, and it is from
then that our relations date. Every lirst of January he sends me his card, to
show me the interest he takes in my feeble artistic talent.

" His favourite piece is a short act by David Kalisch, the most popular author
of Berlin ; this little sketch is entitled : ' Musical and declamatory evenings.'
In it I play the part of a German concierge who, during the absence of his
master, has invited his brethren of the neighbourhood. Each concierge
belonging to the foreign embassies of Berlin, is received by me with political
allusions more or less comical. The part which amuses Bismarck most is,

294 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

when I address the English concierge, whom I salute profoundly, saying to
him * My dear friend, I am enchanted to see you, I hope you will do me the
pleasure of passing the evening at my house very often.' And at the same
time I overwhelm him with kicks and blows, and knocks with the broom.

" Recently while at the sea-side, on the shores of the Baltic, close to the
Prince's country-house, I learnt that he was celebrating the twenty-fifth anni-
versary of his marriage, called by us the silver wedding. I sent him by tele-
graph, a little song of felicitation, for which he thanked me veiy graciously..
But to speak of our famous dinner. 1 was thus honoured when I least
expected it, for at the time the political world was greatly agitated by the
approaching meeting of the three Emperors. One afternoon the Baron von
Rosenberg called upon me and said with an almost official air : ' I am com-
missioned by Prince and Princess Bismarck to invite you to dine with them
on Friday next, the 6th of September, at two o'clock.'

" The day happened to be the same as that on which the Emperor of
Austria was expected. When it arrived I put on evening dress, hired a
first-class open vehicle, and said to the coachman in a grand off-hand way :
'To Prince Bismarck's.' Though vehicles were not allowed by the police
along the principal thoroughfares, my carriage was never once stopped. I
was, no doubt, recognised. When one has played for twenty years the
principal parts at the same theatre, every one knows you in Berlin, and I
heard some urchins cry : ' Hallo ! there's Helmerding ! ' At this moment I
caught sight of the Prince himself, in an open carriage, going in a perfectly
opposite direction. He saluted me as he passed and I saluted him in return ;
but without laughing, I assure you. I looked at my watch. It wanted only
a few minutes to the dinner hour, and yet my host was evidently going away !
I thought I was the victim of some hoax of Rosenberg's, and hesitated what
to do. Finally, with royal exactitude, I entered Prince Bismarck's house,
where I expected to find all possible luxury, instead of which there was nothing
of the kind. One of the shabbiest-looking porters came to me, and laughing
stupidly in my fare, said; 'Ah! there you are, Mr. Helmerding; I knew
you were coming.' And with this he commenced laughing all the more.
Well, its my business to make people laugh, and I like to hear them, when
Pm on the stage ; but that laugh at that particular moment was remarkably
disagreeable, I assure you. I passed him hurriedly by and was shown into a
small room, where I found several gentlemen who expressed their delight at
meeting me. A young lady more agreeable than handsome, with channing
manners, came up to me and said : ' Mr. Helmei'ding, my father has gone to
see the Emperor, but it will not be long before he returns.' Amongst those
present I remarked the Baron von Holstein, the same who appeared as a
witness in the Arnim trial ; also Baron Rosenberg, and the son of Prince
Bismarck, the Count Herbert, an officer in the dragoons. I noticed on the
table a decoration which the Prince had received from some petty potentate
or other. It was a very handsome cross, ornamented with diamonds, and I
was still admiring the richness of it when the Chancellor entered, saluted
everyone with his accustomed high spirits, offered me his hand, and excused
himself for being late.

" We talked of different things, but not of politics, as you will readily believe.
Whilst we were conversing the Princess entered, and as soon as dinner was
announced, she begged I would offer her my arm. 1 certify to you that I did
so with infinite grace. The repast was excellent, but very simple. 1 noticed
that the Prince did not use glasses, but goblets. He had two before him, of
different sizes ; the one, very large, was for his port, of which he is very
proud. He has several pipes of this wine in his cellar, and pretends his col-
lection of ports has no rival in the world. The second goblet, he uses for his
champagne. The Princess did me the honour to propose my health. We
clinked glasses and I was asked to relate the particulars of my life, my studies,
my theatrical career. I was so absorbed in my narrative that when we rose
from table, I forgot to reconduct the princess, who called my attention to the

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 295

circumstance, laughing heartily all the while at nny distraction. She brought
her husband the long porcelain pipe he smokes every day, for the Prince
cannot smoke cigars, being
forbidden by the doctors,
because he so chews the
tobacco that poisoning by
nicotine is feared. After a
time the Prince rose and
said graciously : ' My dear
Herr Helmerding, you must
forgive my running off, but
I am obliged to go to the
station to await the arrival
of the Emperor of Austria.'
Whereupon he withdrew to
put on his cuirassier's hel-
met, which is a good deal
too large for him, whilst I
drove to the Wallner
Theatre to paint my face preparatory to performing my part in ' Berlin that
cries and Berlin that laughs.' The Prince and I continue good friends, and
it is not without reason that I am made to say in a piece called ' Helmerding
in Olympus : ' — ' When I go to see my friend Otto, meaning the Prince, we
are so familiar that he sleeps on the sofa, whilst I get into his bed.' "

The German Chancellor has no pretensions to oratory. The
substance of what he says is of more moment to him than
the manner of delivery. His voice, though clear, is dry and un-
sympathetic, monotonous in tone and far from powerful ; indeed
the contrast it offers with his massy physique is one of the things
that strikes all who hear him for the first time. He frequently
interrupts himself and pauses, sometimes commences to stutter,
as though he had a difficulty in finding words to express his
ideas. Watching his face closely it is almost possible to trace
the workings of his brain. He will mentally attack a sentence
two or three times humming and hawing till he finds the exact
expression of his thoughts and by this method he never says
anything excepting what he precisely means to say. His uneasy
lolling attitude and careless movements in no way aid the effect
of his delivery. He cannot, it appears, speak without something
in his hand, and in the Reichstag twirls between his fingers a
grey goose-quill or one of those immense lead pencils which he
especially affects, or seizing on a sheet of paper rolls it up and
brandishes it like a marshal's baton.

All this awkwardness of delivery does not hinder both the
substance of his speeches and the language in which they are
couched from being excellent. The strong solid common sense
that forms their basis is relieved by a series of sallies, the biting
energy of which has rendered many of them almost proverbial.
His speeches have indeed been most aptly compared to his once
favourite drink, stout mixed with champagne. When he comes
to a climax in a speech, he collects all he has to say in his heart

296 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

into one powerful sentence, as if he were striking the last blow to
drive home the nail, and such sentences often re-echo throughout
Europe. As he warms up, too, he surmounts all the apparent
difficulties noted above, attains a greater facility of expression,
presents his propositions in sharp happy touches, pressing into
his service similes from real life, with wonderful audacity, and
in a cool unprejudiced kind of way, recklessly ovcrthowing revered
traditions. His boldness of speech rivals his boldness in action,
and whilst he will jest and even pun on all manner of subjects,
no one can better assume a tone of scornful disdain. " He speaks,
and it is as though the king of beasts sent his leonine roar before
him through the forests of which he is lord. That orator erst so
eloquent, seems now but froth and fribble ; the attempted epigram
of the penultimate patriot dwindles into mere spite ; prudence be-
comes pedantr)' ; warnings the mumblings of blind senile leaders
of the blind ; threat the mere futile squeak of peevish impotence."'
Such cutting sallies as that in which he declared that Kuhlmann
belonged to the right centre faction, and that thrust him away as
they would he still clung to their coat tails, are common enough,
and his perorations, as a rule, are only too vigorous.

Little need be said of his personal appearance with which all
the world may be said to be familiar. He stands over six feet
in height, is broad shouldered, and strongly built. His move-
ments are bold and dignified, and there is something of military
stiffness in his bearing. His countenance now generally wears an
anxious expression, and his complexion which used to be of pecu-
liar paleness has of late years become florid and bloated looking.
His forehead is large, high, and full, and a few grey hairs, three,
according to the popular sobriquet bestowed on him in Berlin,
are scattered over the top of his head, the rest falling behind his
immense projecting ears. His eyes, shaded by thick black eye-
brows, are large, and still clear, bright and lively, but their
orbits are puffed and swollen by lymph. A thick moustache
gives to the otherwise cleanly-shaven face a military character,
and veils the irony of his mouth, the lower lip of which now droops
instead of closing firmily with the upper one.

The collection of Bismarck's letters, chiefly addressed to his
wife and his sister, and published at Berlin by Herr Hezekiel, after
a careful revision by the author, are interesting enough from a
certain point of view, though, as a matter of course, anyone who
expects to find diplomatic or political revelations in them will
be grievously disappointed. They show, however, that the
Chancellor is possessed of a descriptive faculty of no mean order,
a dash of the sentimental, and a turn for the facetious extremely
creditable in a German, that family and domestic affairs have
ever occupied a great share of his attention, that shooting is one
of his favourite recreations, and that a happy retirement amidst
' "German Home Life." F7aset^s Magazine, December, 1875.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 297

green woods and fields presents itself to him as the height of
earthly felicity. Thus writing to his wife from Frankfurt in 185 I,
he says, " I feel as one does on a beautiful day in September,
when leaves are turning yellow, a little sad, a little home-sick, and
longing for woods, sea, desert, you and the children, sunset and
Beethoven," and to his sister in 1854, from the same place: " I
regret the country, the woods, and idleness, with the indispens-
able accessories of loving women and nice children." In 1863
he wrote to his wife, " I wish some intrigue would bring a change
of ministry, so that I could honourably turn my back on this
uninterrupted flow of ink and live quietly in the country."

Domestic details are plentiful. A family group at Schon-
hausen in 1851 is sketched by him as follows : " Johanna, at this
moment asleep in the arms of Lieutenant Morpheus, will have
told you of my present fate. The boy roaring in a major key,
the girl in a minor one, two nursery maids singing, whilst I, a
devoted paterfamilias, sit by in the midst of wet clothes and
feeding bottles. I resisted for a long time, but as all the mothers
and aunts were unanimous that nothing but sea water and sea
air could benefit poor little Marie, if I had not given in, every
cold which the child caught up to her seventeenth year would have
been laid upon my paternal cruelty and stinginess, with a 'There,
now, don't you see if the poor child had gone to the seaside.' "
He also notes that at the Hotel de Douvres at Paris, in 1857, he
had "five fireplaces, and yet I freeze, five clocks that go, and yet
I never know the time, eleven large looking-glasses, and yet my
cravat is never well tied." Another family picture from St
Petersburg, in 1862, runs as follows: '"Johanna has a cough
which quite exhausts her, and dares not go out. Bill is in bed
feverish with pains in the stomach and throat, and the doctors
do not yet know what it is. Our new governess has scarcely
any hopes of seeing Germany again, she has been in bed for
weeks past and grows worse every day. I for my part am only
well when out hunting ; as soon as 1 go to balls or theatres here I
catch cold and cannot eat or sleep."

Success or bad luck in sport are continually being noted in
these letters. Thus in 1872 he sends his wife a wild boar, killed
at Biankenburg by the King, whom he had accompanied there,
and writing from Konigsberg, in 1857, says: "Without counting
several deer I have killed five elands, one of them a magnificent
stag, measuring six feet eight inches from the foot to the throat,
with an immense head above this. He was dropped like a hare,
but as he still breathed I gave him the coup de grace with the
other barrel. Scarcely had I done so when I saw another yet
larger, which passed quite close to me, and which I could only
look at not having another shot to fire, I am not yet consoled
for this ill luck." In his letters from Russia too, he continually
mentions sport as his only relaxation.

298 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

When political topics are touched upon they are mainly in
reference to his personal aspirations. The views respecting him-
self early in 1862 are thus expressed in a letter from St. Peters-
burg to his sister. " I would go to Paris or to London without
regret or pleasure, or remain here as it pleases God and his
Majesty ; neither our policy nor my prospects will be much
affected whichever may happen. I should be ungrateful to God
and man if I said I was doing badly here and wished for change.
I dread a ministerial portfolio as a cold bath." Three years
before he had found his position "very agreeable," though he
had " a great deal to do, with 40,000 Prussians for whom I act
as policeman, lawyer, judge, recruiting officer, and country
magistrate, besides writing from twenty to fifty signatures a day,
without counting passports."

In many of his letters a due observance of the Prussian
principle of economy is noticeable. Thus in one from St
Petersburg to his sister, dated December, i860, he says: "I do
not receive, my means will not allow it ; an ambassador who only
receives 30,000 thaler must restrict himself. ... I receive at noon,
and people take pot luck with me, but I do not give soirees. . . .
The approach of Christmas renders me anxious ; I can find
nothing here for Johanna except at exorbitant prices. Be pleased
therefore to buy from twelve to twenty pearls, to match those
in her necklace, at Fricdbcrg's. I will consecrate about 300 thaler
for this. . . . Join to these some boxes of bonbons, but not too
much, since the children have no need of these to help them to
digest quickly." In an earlier letter from Frankfurt in 1857, he
gives a full catalogue of Christmas purchases to be made for his
wife, which include an article of jewellery that must not exceed
200 thaler, a white dress at about 100 thaler, a pretty gilt fan,
if one is to be picked up for 10 thaler, not more, since he cannot
"stand these inutilities," and a large warm travelling rug with a
tiger, or a hippopotamus, or a fox on it, that ought to cost the
same sum.

A few days after assuming his ministerial position in 1862, he
sends his wife news of his health written " at the table in the House
with an orator in the tribune in front talking nonsense to me."
He complains of "much work, no little fatigue, and not enough
sleep," but hopes after a time to become reconciled to "this life
in a glass-house," in which he says, " but for Roon and my
chestnut mare I should feel a little lonely, though I am never
alone." Three days later he thanks his sister for a gift of
sausages and liver, the best he had ever eaten.

In many instances he shows descriptive powers for which one
would hardly be prepared. Describing a swim down the Rhine
in 185 1, he becomes strongly poetical. "There is something
wonderfully dreamy in lying on the water like that on a warm
still night, slowly carried along by the stream, gazing up at the

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 299

sky, and moon, and stars above one, and on either side moonlit
castle towers, and wooded mountain tops, and hearing nothinn-
but the gentle splashing of one's own motion." When he is
travelling through Hungary in 1852, he notes the "thousands of
whitey-brown oxen with horns as long as one's arm, and timid as
deer ; innumerable shaggy-coated horses, tended by mounted
herdsmen half naked, and with goads like lances ; endless droves
of swine, with each of which is an ass to carry the sheepskin
coat of the swineherd ; then great flocks of bustards, and some-
times on a pond of brackish water wild geese, ducks, and grey
plover," that stud the face of the country.

A Swedish landscape is sketched as follows in 1857: "No
towns, no villages, as far the eye can reach ; only a few solitary
wooden huts with a little patch of barley and potatoes ; little
cultivated spots lost in the midst of stunted trees, rocks, and
bushes. A hundred square miles of tall heather, alternating
with tracts of short grass and marshes, and with birches, junipers,
pines, beeches, oaks, and alders, here clustered together, here
scattered apart, the whole intermixed with innumerable rocks
often as big as a house, and with here and there lakes with
fantastic outlines, bordered with heath-covered hills, and with
forests."

A Spanish frontier town is thus noticed in 1862 : "At Fonte-
rabia the street is very steep and only twelve feet wide ; to every
window there is a curtain and a balcony ; at every balcony black
eyes and mantillas, beauty and dirt ; in the market-place one
hears tambourines and fifes, and sees a hundred women, young
and old, dancing with each other, whilst the men look on, draped
in their cloaks and smoking their cigars."

Especially good is the description of the table dWiote at Nor-
derney which " changes its hours between one o'clock and five ; its
component parts varying between cod fish, beans, and mutton on
the odd days, and soles, peas, and veal on the even days, accom-
panied in the former case by porridge with sweet sauce, and in the
latter by plum pudding. Opposite to me sits the old minister, one
of those figures that appear to us in dreams when we are not
sleeping well ; a fat frog without legs, who at every morsel opens
his mouth like a carpet bag as far as his shoulders, so that I hold
fast to the table for fear of falling into it from giddiness. My
other neighbour is a Russian officer, a good fellow, but when I
look at his long thin body and short legs turned like a Turkish
sabre, he invariably puts me in mind of a boot-jack."

Prince Bismarck has his Sans Souci — though, as befits these
railway days, it is further from the capital than the Great
Friedrich's. This is Varzin, an estate lying in a remote corner
of Pomerania, three German miles south-west of the Schlawe
station, on the Stettin and Dantzig Railway, in the rridst of an
undulating tract of well-cultivated country, pleasantl) diversified

30O

BERLIN UNDKR THE NEW EMPIRE.

by wood and water, with here and there a stretch of Baltic sand,
and studded with Httle villages of low houses, the walls of red
brick or earth, and the roofs of tiles or thatch. The Schloss is
an unpretending- two-storied building capable of accommodating

from twenty to thirty guests, resembling the dwellings of the
bulk of the landed gentry of the district, and displaying in the
centre of its somewhat bald fagade the escutcheon of the von
Blumenthals its former owners. In the rear of the house is a
tastefully-arranged garden with ornamental water, fountains, and
statues, beyond which the ground .slopes upwards into a magni-
ficent park thickly studded with beech trees — the haunt of a
colony of herons — and gradually merging into the ocean of
rolling woods which surround it. It was this park and the woods
of oak, pine, fir, birch, and beech, abounding in wild boars and
other game, that led the Chancellor to purchase the estate, which
it takes about six hours to drive round, and the remainder of
which consists of tolerably fertile soil, producing rye, potatoes,
and the like. The Wipper flows through a part of the domain,
and forms its boundaries in other places. It adds both to its
beauty and its value, as the rapid stream, which is well stocked
with trout, is used to float the timber of Pomerania to the Baltic.
The Prince, however, only allows trees enough to be felled to let
sufficient air and light into his woods.

When at Varzin the Chancellor avoids business as much as he
can, seeking absolute quiet and repose, and hibernating as it
were by lying in bed till 1 1 o'clock in the day. He once
retorted to certain editors who had commented on his prolonged

REICMS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK. 3OI

retirements to this retreat, and admonished him to live in BerHn.
since his salary had been augmented with a view of enabling him
to do so, by the information that he always spent all his official
emoluments and more during the months he was in town.
Breakfast over, and the business that is absolutely necessary
despatched with the aid of Lothar Bucher (the only official who
accompanies him) beneath the shadow of the beech trees beside
the ornamental water in the rear of the house, the Chancellor
sallies forth on his rounds on foot or on horseback, but always
with his huge Bavarian dog at his 'heels, and his head covered
with a battered hat of soft felt which the peasants have nick-
named the "three master." His declaration "I should like to
be an ambassador ten years, and a minister ten years, in order
to end my life as a country gentleman," is characteristic of his
temperament and tastes.

The Pomeranian Squire, as he sometimes styles himself, or
the Hermit of Varzin, as he is dubbed by the Berlin papers,
passes the greater part of his time in the open air; interests
himself in his stock and his crops, entertains his relatives, and
neighbours, hunts or shoots at times in the surrounding forests,
keeps all intruders attracted by mere curiosity at a distance, and
avoids all discussion of political topics. He chats with all the
peasants he meets, pats the little children on the bead as they go
to school, and bids them be good, and sends alms to the sick
and distressed. But the malicious assert that he is without
honour in his own country, and that the peasants draw invidious
comparisons between the powerful Chancellor and his predecessor
Herr von Blumenthal. The harvest home and the anniversary
of Sedan are celebrated every year at Varzin with great rejoicing,
the festivities winding up with a ball, at which the Prince and
Princess do not disdain to foot it with their tenants. On a
recent occasion the Prince's first partner was a stalwart Pomera-
nian lass, who dashed into a waltz with an ardour and vigour
that almost twisted him off his legs, which are not so supple as
they used to be. He had to beg her to moderate her pace, and
thus a North German mddchen proved more successful than the
Ultramontanes in shaking and almost upsetting the Prince
Chancellor.

FIELD-MARSHAL COUNT VON MOLTKE.

XVI.

PRUSSIAN GEN'eRALS — MOLTKE, WRANGEL, AND ROON.

IT is afternoon, and the Linden is thronged with promenaders.
Amongst them there passes suddenly an elderly gentleman
in a flat undress cap, and the plainest of military frocks, whose
sole decoration is the funereal-looking Iron Cross. There is
nothing striking about his spare and somewhat bent figure —
which is sinewy rather than muscular, and spite of the stoop,
elastic as a good sword blade — or his pale clean-shaven face,
cross-hatched by innumerable little wrinkles and furrowed with
the traces of intellectual labour ; with its thin compressed lips,
suggestive of their being able to keep a secret close, its prominent
nose as transparent as horn, its quick eyes peering from a nest
of crows'-feet, and its arched forehead fringed at the sides with
scanty tufts of hair once fair and now grizzled. Nevertheless,
he is instantly recognized and saluted on all sides with respect
and admiration. The pert apprentice bawling at the top of his
voice the last street ballad, stops as suddenly as though he felt
the hand of the policeman upon his collar, the dandy ceases to
ogle the passing beauty, and the nursemaid for the moment loses
sight of her infant charges. The student, so slow to recognize any
authority, bows before the presence of genius, the hypochondriac
forgets his fancied ailments, the socialistic workman his hatred
for the military, and the invalid officer the wounds received in the
last war. The physiognomist scrutinizes the impassive features
before him, seeking to divine the character hidden beneath them.

MOLTKE, WRANGEL, AND ROON. 303

the artist strives to impress them upon his memory, and the
portly citizen turnint^ to his brood of Httle ones gives them a
short lesson on modern history.

Almost surprised at so much attention, the object of it hastens
on towards the Brandenburg Gate. Here, however, the sentry
calls out the guard, and the men come rushing forward to
present arms, although with a kindly gesture the old ofificcr seems
to deprecate the mark of honour paid him and passes on towards
the Thiergarten, either to the offices of the Great General Staff
or to seek some of the more secluded walks in the Berliner's
favourite woodland promenade. And should a stranger, struck
by so much attention bestowed upon so unpretending a personage,
ask his name, the Berliner will bestow upon the questioner a
look of wonderment and pity, before replying with proud
consciousness : — " Why that is our Moltke ! "

This mild-looking individual, whose melancholy and ascetic
face and student stoop, might but for his uniform cause him to
be taken for a poor professor of theology, is indeed Count
Helmuth Carl Bernhard von Moltke, General Field-Marshal and
Chief of the Great General Staff of the Prussian Army. His
career is to be summed up in a few words, for it is one to be
judged rather by results than by deeds. Born at Parchim, in the
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, on the 26th October, 1800, he
was the third son of Lieutenant-General von Moltke of the
Danish Army, by the daughter of Finance Councillor Paschen
of Hamburg. When he was six years old, as he tells us in his
concise autobiography, he went with his parents to Liibeck,
where their house was pillaged by the French, who the year
following burnt his father's property of Augustenhoff, with all
the produce of that year's harvest. Shortly afterwards his
grandfather died, having suffered such considerable losses from
the war that Moltke's mother, who was his residuary legatee and
had large expectations, found that she had nothing whatever
to receive. No wonder, therefore, that the great strategist
should harbour no particularly kindly feelings towards the
French.

Moltke was educated with his elder brother at the Cadet
Academy of Copenhagen, where his existence by his own
showing was anything but a happy one, and after serving as a
royal page, he entered the Danish army at eighteen. The small
chance of making his way which this offered, led to his trans-
ferring his services by the aid of the Duke of Holstein to
Prussia. He came to Berlin in 1822, and was gazetted to the
8th light grenadier regiment. He attended the military
school there, earned by his assiduity the nickname of the " Com-
pendium of Military Science," became an instructor in turn at
that of Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, and in 1827 assumed the crimson
badge of the Great General Staff, which he has never since laid

304 BERLIN Ux\DER THE NEW EMPIRE.

aside. In 1835. whilst on a visit to Constantinople, he was
introduced to Chosrcf Pacha, Minister of War and the right-
hand man of the reforming Sultan Mahmoud. Chosref and his
master were both greatly impressed by Moltke's talents, and
requested the Prussian Government to allow them to avail them-
selves of his ser\'ices. This was granted, and aided by three
other Prussian officers, he organised and drilled troops, built and
repaired fortresses, palaces, bridges, naval schools, and aqueducts,
surveyed frontiers and districts, and designed defences which
years afterwards caused the Russian General Luders to exclaim
that some one had passed through those places who knew what
he was about. His Letters on the State of Turkey, 1834-9,
first published anonymously, and his Rnsso-Tnrkish Campaign
in Enropeati Turkey iti 1828-9, stamped him as a scientific
military writer. After taking part in an expedition against the
Kurds, and in the campaign against Mehemet Ali, he resigned
his post consequent upon the battle of Nisib, the loss of which
is ascribed to the neglect of his advice by Hafiz Pacha, and
returned to Prussia.

Moltke's sister had married an Englishman named Burt,
settled in Holstein, and the letters written home by Moltke had
produced a profound impression upon her step-daughter, a girl
of sixteen. This impression was deepened when the writer
himself, then verging on forty, made his appearance, and though
up to this period he is said to have displayed all the indiffer-
ence to the fair sex with which Charles XII. is credited, he on
his part succumbed to the charms of Mary Burt to whom he was
shortly afterwards united. It was a real love match, and the
grave soldier positively idolized his young wife, whose death
on Christmas Eve, 1868, cast a sorrow over his whole life.

Attached as adjutant first to Prince Heinrich, with whom he
spent some time in Italy almost immediately after his marriage
with Mary Burt, and after Prince Heinrich's death to the present
Crown Prince, Moltke was made a general in 1857, and shortly
afterwards appointed chief of the Great General Staff. In the
Schleswig-Holstein war he directed the strategetical movements
from Berlin till the end of April, when he joined the allied
armies. The war with Austria followed, and it was the crowning
point of Moltke's career, when, on the afternoon of the 3rd
July, 1866, catching sight of the helmets of the Crown Prince's
army glittering in the sunlight as the troops advanced towards
the field, he removed the cigar which he had been smoking, with
the calm composure of a mathematician, certain beforehand of
the result of the problem he was working out and said, " It is
actually three o'clock." PVom that hour he secured in the eyes of
Europe that position of first strategist of his day, which he has
never relinquished. Two years later he took his seat in the
North German Reichstag and though he has the reputation of

MOLTKE, WRANGEL, AND ROON. 305

being " eloquently silent in seven languages," proved a frequent
and lucid speaker in his native tongue.

In 1868-9 he drew up his plan for a campaign against France
so as to be ready in case of necessity, and when the war came
he accompanied the King to the field. The part he played in
this contest was one peculiarly his own. He directed simul-
taneously the action of the several armies without himself taking
an ostensible command. Just as the strategy of the Danish war
of 1864 and the Austrian war of 1866 was all his own, so was
that of the war with France, and it was his brain, if not abso-
lutely his arm, which launched the German battalions to victory
at Worth, Vionville, Gravelotte, and Sedan. His strategetical
labours closed with the investment of Paris, though he subse-
quently took part in arranging the details of the treaty of peace,
and his reward assumed the shape of the title of Count, bestowed
upon him after the surrender of Metz, and a field-marshal's
baton on the return home of the victorious troops. His actuat-
ing principle may be summed up in the familiar axiom — " That
should be well considered which can be decided only once,"
which is akin in spirit to his heraldic motto, Erst zvdgeii, dann
wagen (First \veigh, then wage). The leading idea of his
strategy is the separate advance of each army corps and their
union on the field of action.

Every year since the war with France, the students of the
Berlin University celebrate their Kriegs-Commers in honour of
those members of their body who perished during this struggle,
and Count von Moltke scarcely ever fails to be present at these
assemblies. At the first of them, held on the evening of the
6th March, 1871, the hall of the Urania, which had been decked
out with banners and escutcheons in honour of the occasion,
was crowded with students, leading professors, and officials,
who had been invited to take part in the ceremony. When
Moltke entered accompanied by several officers of the General
Staff, all those present rose and cheered. The singing of
" Deutschland, Deutschland iiber alles," was the signal for the
commencement of the festivities. After the Emperor's health,
that of Field-Marshal Count von Moltke was proposed and
received with riotous enthusiasm. Loud shouts of " Silence for
the Great Taciturn," announced that Moltke was about to break
through his wonted reserve. In a short speech he attributed
the German success to the patriotism and devotion of the youth
of the nation, the representatives of which he saw around him.
The Fatherland, he said, still counted on their support whether
to sustain fresh conflicts or to enjoy the advantages it had won,
and to consolidate them by peaceful industry. At the end of this
brief oration, the students crowded round the speaker, every one
being eager to clink glasses with the great strategist of the age.

Though upwards of seventy and not very robust in appearance

X

306 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EiMPIRE.

von Moltke retains his freshness and vigour. He looks better
on horseback than on foot, for his stoop is not noticeable in the
saddle. Much as has been written and said about him, he talks
but little himself. Though a constant attendant at the Reich-
stag, his voice is now seldom raised there, excepting on some
special subject, like the Army Bill. His political convictions
include a cleep detestation of the socialistic democrats, and a
dislike but little less intense for the Catholic party. In 1874, he
was present at the meeting held in Berlin to thank the English
people for their expressions of sympathy with the religious policy
of the German Empire. He expresses his thoughts as briefly as
possible, and in supervising the written compositions of the
General Staff strikes out all superfluous phrases, and gives the
pith of a report in a few terse sentences. Simple and modest in
manners as in appearance, he is as sparing of money as of words,
and is economical even in trifles. His personal wants are few
and his only luxury a good cigar. The house he occupied in the
Behrenstrasse before taking up his quarters in the new building
of the General Staff, was small and plain-looking, and any well-
to-do burgher in Berlin fared better than the great general. In
his plainly-furnished study he works for eight or nine hours at a
stretch, on a glass of wine and a biscuit. He dines at two, and
sups at eight, excepting when the Reichstag is sitting, and his
only relaxations are a short walk in the Thiergarten and a rubber
in the evening with a few friends, chief amongst whom are von
Burt, his brother-in-law and adjutant, and the Finance-Coun-
cillor, Schiller. Quiet and silent in general society, in his inti-
mate circle he opens himself and exhibits remarkable conversa-
tional powers, tells a good story, and displays a keen but never
unkind wit, and indulges in that dry humour which prompted
him to reply to the army of English, Russian, and American in-
terviewers, who assailed him before he set out for the Rhine in
1870 — "You want to know how things are going on ; well, the
wheat has suffered a little from the rain, but the potatoes were
never looking better." He is credited with an almost feminine
tenderness of manner which renders him especially attractive to
women. Kind-hearted and considerate, too, as he is known to be
towards his subordinates and inferiors, quite a sensation was
created among the gossips of Berlin when it was known that he
had boxed the ears of a stable lad on his estate for smoking in
the stable in spite of repeated admonitions. Modesty itself, he
is still astonished at his popularity, and ascribes his victories to the
valour of the German troops and the experience of their leaders.
" The faults of the enemy," he remarked to an Italian officer,
" had much to do with our rapid victories. We were sure that
each of our corps d'armcc could hold on for twenty-four hours,
and in twenty-four hours everything can be made good, especially
with troops like our own,"

MOLTKE, WRANGEL, AND ROON. 307

We have already mentioned that Count von Moltke resides at
the General Staff offices some little distance outside the Bran-
denburg Gate. There he has a suite of private apartments
approached up a handsome marble staircase, to which access is
grained through a stately vestibule. The anteroom contains a
portrait of the Emperor and marble bust of the great strategist
himself Some folding doors lead into Moltke's study, a lofty
apartment lighted by three windows looking on to the
Konigs-platz, and sufficiently spacious to allow of its occupant
promenading up and down, while meditating, according to his
wont. Running along the upper portion of the walls is a frieze
in fresco symbolizing the development of the science of arms ;
and including such weapons as the catapult, the cross and long
bows, the mace, the battle-axe, the two-handed sword, &c., with
the earliest and latest forms of firearms, numerous appropriate
figures being introduced into the subject in the costume of their
respective epochs. The series, which includes the remoter and
the middle ages, the Thirty Years' War, the period of Friedrich
the Great, and the War of Liberation, terminates with the recent
contest with France and the introduction of the mitrailleuse,
which figures in a representation of a conflict between Prussian
grenadiers and ja^ers and French zouaves and turcos. Under-
neath this frieze hang som© engraved portraits of members of
the Imperial family.

Each of the three windows in the apartment has a table in
front of it, but it is at the one to the left that Moltke commonly
sits, in an antique-shaped carved arm-chair. We noticed that
all his papers had been discreetly put out of sight, save a few
unopened reports beside which his spectacles were lying. Maps
and plans were spread over the other tables together with an
elevation of the new military railway station in course of con-
struction between the Halle and Anhalt Gates, from which an
entire division will be able to be moved simultaneously ; also a
plan of the old fortifications of Strasburg, kept down at either
end by a couple of bronze paper-weights formed of fragments of
French and Austrian cannon, the latter inscribed " Koniggratz, 3
Juli, 1866." In one corner of the apartment stood a bookcase with
glass doors on the ledge of which was a box of Havannah cigars,
sufficient rarities at Berlin to attract special attention. It is in
this room that Moltke receives the numerous German and foreign
officers who call upon him ; that he reads the despatches con-
nected with his manifold occupations ; digests his schemes for
army organization, and meditates over his plans for possible
future campaigns.

In the adjacent bedroom we observed an iron camp bedstead
behind a screen, and beside it a small leather bag capable of
holding just what was absolutely necessary for a soldier on cam-
paign, together with a tin cylinder containing maps. There were

X 2

308 BERLIN UNDF.R THE NEW EMPIRE.

a couple of portraits of Moltke's deceased wife, one on a small
table, the other suspended a^^ainst the wall. The appointments
of the dininc^-room were botii limited and simple, indicating that
the Field-Marshal is not in the habit of entertaining guests, whilst
as regards the salon, or niusikzinuncr, this has never been used
since the lamented death of Moltke's young wife.

Like Bismarck, Moltke has a large estate in Silesia, situate in
the midst of a fair and fertile plain, stretching between the towns
of Schweidnitz and Reichenbach. An avenue of venerable lime
trees leads to the manor house, which lacks the lordly aspect of
most of the South German chateaux, being a large rambling
building with whitewashed walls and green shutters. The
entrance to the courtyard is guarded by the statues of two
warriors with lances couched and bucklers thrown forward, and
at the foot of the flight of steps leading to the main doorway
are two French cannon, a present from the Emperor at the close
of the war. Faithful to his old habits, the Field-Marshal is always
the first person astir in the house. At five o'clock every morn-
ing regularly he turns out of the narrow iron bedstead that con-
stitutes almost the whole of the furniture in his room, warms
for himself at a spirit lamp a cup of coffee prepared over-night,
and sallies forth to breathe the morning air. As he paces, deep
in meditation, up and down the park with his clean shaven face,
black cravat, long frock coat, and soft wide-awake, he might be
taken for a Lutheran minister thinking over his next Sunday's
sermon. At seven o'clock he begins his general inspection,
visiting the stables and cowhouses, the barn, the granary, the
mill and the distillery He winds up with the orchard and gar-
den, propping up a drooping sapling or cutting off a dead or
straggling branch as he walks along, and holding long consulta-
tions with his gardener, with whose aid he has carried ofl" prizes
at several horticultural shows. At ten o'clock he mounts to his
study on the second floor. Here a frugal breakfast, a bowl of
soup, or a slice or two of bread and butter and a glass of wine,
aw^aits him. Whilst eating he skims over the newspapers which
the post has just brought, opens his letters and then sets to work.
At noon he retires to his bedroom and has a nap till dinner,
which is served at two o'clock. On rising from table he smokes
a cigar and then returns to his study to finish and despatch his
correspondence. If there are guests at the manor-house they
usually await his leisure beneath the trees of the park, where he
joins them. Riding, walking, or a neighbourly visit passes away
the hours till supper-time, eight o'clock, after which, if the evening
is fine, the great strategist indulges in a solitary stroll to smoke a
cigar and plan the work of the morrow. His steps usually lead
him towards his wife's tomb, a marble mausoleum on the summit
of a hillock at the end of the park, veiled by a screen of cypresses.
He himself designed this tomb, the key of which never leaves

I

MOLTKE, WRANGEL, AND ROOX.

309

him, and which bears the inscription, " Die Liebe ist der Gezetze
Erfiillunr^." Whenever he comes to Creisau his first care before
crossing the threshold of the house is to visit this tomb. On Sun-
day he goes to church at the head of his workmen, in the morning,
and passes the rest of the day in reading rcHgious works.

The tall gaunt nonagenarian, attenuated almost to a skeleton,
and clad in the white uniform with blue facings of a Prussian
cuirassier colonel, who may.be sometimes seen, on a fine after-
noon, tottering towards the Emperor's palace, with a troop of
urchins at his heels,
and bowing right
and left in reply to
the numerous sal-
utations, and oc-
casionally kissing
his hand as his
eye lights upon a
pretty girl, is
Field-Marshal,Ge-
neral Count Fried-
rich von Wrangel,
whose years of ser-
vice in the Prus-
sian army out-
number those of
the present cen-
tury. He smelt
powder at Leipsic,
ranked as colonel
in the year of
Waterloo, and has
taken part in ten
pitched battles
and two-and-twen-
ty minor engage-
ments. Though
his eye has lost

much of its lustre and his limbs at times seem hardly able
to set themselves in motion, long years spent under harness
have stifi"ened his spare figure to the rigidity of a ramrod,
and he is still as upright as any corporal in the foot guards.
Occasionally the old cavalry leader, who is now in his dotage,
sallies forth on horseback from his residence on the Pariser-platz,
arrayed in the full dress uniform of a Prussian field-marshal, and
on these occasions he is followed by his usual escort of Berlin
boy.s, who hail the appearance of " Papa Wrangel," as he is
styled by the whole city, with unfeigned delight, it being his
habit to scatter specimens of the infinitesimal coinage of United

310 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Germany broadcast amongst them. Papa Wrangel is as much a
part and parcel of that Berh"n, which once hated him so bitterly,
as the statue of the Great Elector, and there is no doubt that
within the next fifty years as many popular myths will have
grown up around this relic of the War of Liberation, as have
gathered around the Great Friedrich, " Old Zicthen," Bliicher, and
the rest.

Marshal Wrangel was born in Stettin, in 1784, and on the 30th
April, 1873, he completed his fiftieth year of service as a general
in the Prussian army. The vigour with which in the latter year
he rallied from a stroke of paralysis is something remarkable,
even in this country of hale old men. It was during this illness
that he wrote at the top of the sheet of paper on which his
numerous visitors inscribed their names, "J. have not yet the least
mind to die." In 1796, when but twelve-and-a-half years old, he
quitted the benches of the Stettin gymnasium with the slightest
store of acquired knowledge, for the saddle of Werther's dragoons,
a regiment which now ranks under his immediate command as
the 3rd l£ast Prussian cuirassiers, and two years later he was a
lieutenant in that corps. In 1806 he fleshed his maiden sword
in a skirmish with Ney's cavalry near Gurczno, and the year
following received his first wound and the Merit Order, at Heils-
berg. In the War of Liberation, when breaking a French infantry
square at the head of his squadron at Gross Gorschen, his horse
was shot, and Wrangel falling under him with a painful wound in
his foot, remained all night on the field given up for dead. It
was characteristic of the economical principles which have always
distinguished him, that on being offered his choice of promotion
or the Iron Cross, he at once selected the former, though both
were subsequently awarded him. His chief exploit during this
struggle was covering the retreat from Etoges in February, 18 14.
Surrounded and summoned to surrender by the French, who
offered honourable terms of capitulation, he answered that as
long as he could hold his sabre and sit in his saddle he would
never yield, and on the envoy endeavouring to persuade the
cuirassiers to lay down their arms, Wrangel had him shot
despite the flag of truce he carried, " by virtue of the Prussian
articles of war."

The situation was desperate. Wrangel saw that the only
chance of his regiment was for it to fo-'ce its way in the darkness
through an adjacent wood occupied by the enemy, and in the
event of success to rejoin the main army. Addressing his men
he said, " Nothing is left but to cut our way through — Follow
me ! I will ride first and open the way." And forward they
u ent, first at a walk, then at a trot, and next at a rushing gallop,
with ringmg hurrahs, right into the wood, where it was crossed
by the road by which tiie enemy's infantry had penetrated. In
the darkness the latter could not discern the approach of the

MOI.TKE, WRAXGEL, AND ROOX. 311

cuirassiers and were terrified at the sabre thrusts which they made
at their heads as they rushed wildly by. No sooner, however,
were they recognized than the French infantry turned upon
them and fired at hazard. Still Wrangcl and his men rode on
undaunted. They flew as it were on the wings of the wind, past
the enemy's columns, their bold commander always leading the
way, undeterred by the many obstacles on the road — ditches,
trunks of trees, underwood, and the like. Onwards they went
over dead bodies and wounded horses, till the French infantry in
the wood were left far behind, and they emerged into open
country and finally came upon the Prussian head-quarters where
they had been given up for lost.

VVrangel was constrained to remain inactive in 181 5 ; still he
had been made a colonel, and eight years later, after rather more
than a quarter of a century of service he was promoted to the
rank of general. On the accession of Friedrich Wilhelm. IV. in
1840, he was actively engaged in organizing the Prussian cavalry,
which, according to that competent authority Prince Friedrich
Carl, is indebted to Wrangel for much of its existing efficiency.
In 1848 he successfully commanded the forces employed against
Denmark, and after the truce of Malmo was placed at the head
of the troops sent to Berlin to restore order to the riotous capital.
Before he entered the city he had been threatened with hanging
by the infuriated populace, but he drove in unattended in one of
the royal carriages, and personally faced the mob, who were
daunted by his pluck. When the city was occupied by the
troops, crowds used to assemble outside the Schloss where he
had taken up his quarters, and threaten him with the fate of
Count Latour whom the Viennese had recently strung up to a
lamppost. The present idol of the Berlinese was then the most
detested man in the city, but, like Wellington, he lived down
his unpopularity, and after several narrow escapes his tact and
firmness gained him general esteem.

In 1856, on completing his sixtieth year of service, Wrangel
was made a field-marshal, and the next year he became
Governor of Berlin, a post which he held for eight years. In his
eightieth year the old Pomeranian was despatched to the scene
of his former triumphs in Schleswig-Holstein, at the head of the
allied Prussian and Austrian forces, but the fatigues and exposure
of the winter campaign proved too much for him, and he resigned
his command to his pupil Prince Friedrich Carl, receiving the
title of Count on his retirement which he temporarily emerged
from in 1866, when he appeared in the saddle at the head of his
cuirassiers. To-day he still takes a part in all the great military
parades, although he is as deaf as a post.

On the occasion of the jubilee of Wrangel's eightieth j-ear of
military service, the Emperor presented him with a sword,
accompanying it with a letter, which, after speaking of the

312 BLRLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

veteran field-marshal's glorious deeds, of his being specially
favoured by Providence, and making constant reference to the
mercies of Almighty God, wound up by saying : —

" I wish to manifest to-day that I number you with all my heart among the
prominent men who have risen from the Prussian army, by informing you that
I have resolved one day to erect to you a monument, so that the most remote
passer-by may know of your deserts and my acknowledgment of them. As
a reminiscence of to-day, I send you the accompanying sword, a weapon
which you have now used for eighty years, with which at Etoges with your
present regiment you forced a passage through the enemy, and which has
everywhere shown to the troops you led the path of victory. As the monu-
ment will show to the world, so will the sword give testimony to your later
descendants of the gratitude and special high esteem of your gratefully
obedient King, Wilhiclm."

Somewhat of a martinet in military matters, and most rigidly
abstemious in private life, Papa VVrangel is notorious in Berlin
for having pushed the virtue of economy to absolute miserliness.
It is only of late years that the generosity which takes so
strange a form has developed itself. The principles of rigid
economy which have distinguished his whole existence and
enabled him to amass a handsome fortune, are reported to have
cost him the life of a son, who in a moment of despair at the
refusal of his father to advance him the sum necessary to pay
a debt of honour blew out his brains. Indeed slander goes so
far as to assert that the now childless old man is to a certain
extent no longer conscious of his actions, and that when scatter-
ing pfennige to the rabble of I^erlin, he thinks he is supplying
the troops with bullets to return the fire of the enemy.

The rcorganizer of the Prussian army, Albrecht Theodor Emil
von Roon, is the last representative of an old Dutch family
settled for some generations in Germany. He was born in April
30, 1803, at the family estate of Pleushagen, near Colberg, lost
his father while a child, and witnessed the siege of Stettin a few
years afterwards, when he was slightly wounded by a shell. At the
age of thirteen he entered the Cadet corps at Culm, went thence
to Berlin, and received his first commission in 182 1. His mother
died about this time and the family property had to be sold, so
that he began life very poor. After spending some years in the
capacity of teacher at the Berlin Cadetten-haus, where he
produced certain manuals of geography which helped to revolu-
tionize instruction in public schools, he joined in 1832 the army of
observation formed at Crefield to watch the Belgian revolution.

This decided Roon's future career, bringing as it did under his
notice the defects of the army organization of which he wrote :
" By hook and by crook we gathered together some thirty
thousand men of Aix-la-Chapelle, but what was their condition .-"
One commander of a battalion presented himself before the
governor of Coblenz, but without his battalion. His men did
not turn up at their appointed quarters till nightfall, when they

MOLTKE, WRANGEL, AND ROON. 313

came to receive their billets, and escape punishment for their
absence. But as to where they had spent the day the officer knew
nothing. Another landwehr commander could only get his men
on by having barrels of beer placed at intervals along the road !
Insubordination was the order of the day, and the greatest
excesses were committed on the march. Wherever the landwehr
came it either incurred hate or became an object of contempt."
After the siege of Antwerp Roon returned to Berlin, joined the
Topographical Office in 1833, and was attached to the General
Staff two years later.

He married, worked hard at his duties, and in 1842, being then
a major, was present at the grand manceuvres held at Euskirchen
in honour of the Queen of England. On this occasion, when the
eyes of all the world were turned to the Prussian army, its
defects were still more prominently displayed. "The landwehr
battalion which had to march in the midst of the dust during the
review, when they approached the inspecting general, von Pfuel,
in the march past, began to snort, groan, puff, and give such
signs of dissatisfaction, that the embarrassed general turned
aside to his suite, and commenced to tell them anecdotes." In
1844 von Roon became instructor to Prince Friedrich Carl, whom
he accompanied in his travels through Europe, served through
the Baden campaign of 1849, receiving the order of the Red
Eagle, and a sword for personal bravery, and working his way
steadily upwards, became a general of division in 1858.

The question of reorganization which the Prince Regent had
had at heart for thirty years was pending under the Bouin
ministry, when in 1858 Roon found himself on leave in Berlin,
and presented himself as in duty bound before the Prince at
Potsdam. The latter was on the point of starting for Berlin,
and asked the general to accompany him. During this memorable
ride Roon found an opportunity of setting forth the sad state of
the army with all the energy of his nature, and of pointing out
the importance of the question to the state. On being asked
how the system was to be altered he explained his views, which
the Regent on hearing asked him to put before him in writing.
This was done, and as soon as the demobilization was accom-
plished, he received orders to discuss the matter with a General
War Committee, and the completed plan of reorganization as
afterwards carried out was then produced. The leading idea was
to create by universal military duty and three years' service, a
standing army, and to retain the landwehr as a defence for the
country as soon as the line had taken the field.

Bouin resigning at the end of 1859, von Roon succeeded him
as Minister of War, well aware of the struggle on which he was
entering, but as full of courage to face the thunder of parlia-
mentary eloquence as when as a mere child at the siege of
Stettin he was seen flourishing a broom-stick surmounted by a

314 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

bayonet wherever the guns were roaring loudest. The country-
failed to see the necessity of the proposed reform, and the
hatred of the nation, and a personal insult in the House from
Herr von Vinckc, was the first result of his labours. He
struggled on nevertheless, and the task of reorganization Avas
accomplished, and the battle ground shifted to the term of
service, till in 1862 Bismarck became Premier and came to Roon's
aid, enabling him to devote more time to his own department.

The value of Roon's work was proved by the success of the
reorganized army in the Schleswig-Holstein war, but the cost of
this reorganization was unpaid, and the Lower House continued
to refuse the necessary subsidy till the war with Austria, and the
rapid mobilization of the troops in the Spring of 1866, established
Roon's reputation, and caused his measures to be finally recog-
nized, even by his most stubborn opponents, as highly beneficial
to the country. The war of 1870 brought him fresh honour,
saddened by the loss of his eldest son who fell at Sedan. On
the 9th of January, 1871, he celebrated his fiftieth year of service
at Versailles, and on the return of the troops to Berlin, was
created a Count, subsequently receiving a marshal's baton, though,
like Moltke, he had never commanded an army in the field. His
talent and activity were subsequently called into play to fill up
the gaps in the army and provide for the protection of United
Germany.

Created Premier in succession to Bismarck in 1873, though for
some time he had been seeking permission to resign his post as
Minister of War, on the grounds of ill-health, Roon found him-
self imable to discharge the new duties, and obtained leave to
retire to his estate of Neuhof, near Coburg. It was noticed that
whilst he was playing Premier the vacancies in the cabinet were
filled up with Bismarck's men, content to act as mere head clerks.
A staunch conservative, Roon cordially disliked the County
Reform Bill, but policy forbade him to oppose it, and he made
his illness an excuse for keeping away from the House.

In person Roon is tall and broad-shouldered, his manner is
determined, and his bearing stiff, though the fatigues of the
F"rench campaign, and a chronic asthma from which he suffers,
have told heavily upon his constitution. His natural rhetorical
gifts, striking in a military man, have been developed by
Parliamentary debate, till they have ripened into a rare eloquence.
As an author and a man of science he has some reputation, and
his philological acquirements rival those of Moltke. The phrase
" Might goes before Right." usually attributed to Bismarck, was
uttered by Roon in the House in a discussion on home affairs,
and is worthy of his Junker sentiments. And if to Bismarck be
due the creation of a United Germany, to Roon is certainly due
the welding of the implement by which that union was accom-
plished— the Prussian Army.

Ill LI 1 \ L II LI )1 b 1 U\ (jL AKD

11.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— HOW RECRUITED AND OFFICERED.

BERLIN swarms with soldiers. Perhaps no other capital in
Europe presents such a military aspect. Regiments sally-
ing forth in spick and span brightness, or returning to barracks
half-smothered in the dust or bespattered by the mud picked up
during the morning's manoeuvres, orderlies mounted or on foot
hurrying to-and-fro between the different ministries and public
offices, squads in charge of waggons laden with provisions or
munitions for the various barracks, rounds engaged in the sempi-
ternal task of relieving the countless sentries stationed at all
public buildings, groups of men lounging at the guard-houses
and ready to spring to attention, seize their arms and fall in
the moment a general officer is perceived in the distance by their
keen-eyed comrade on guard, officers hastening to obey the calls
of duty or plcas-ire, or strolling gravely about in knots of
two or three with their sabres clattering on the pavement, and

3i6

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

Others engaged in a quiet saunter towards the Thiergartcn with
their wives and famihes, are to be seen on all sides. Not only in
the streets but at tab/cs dliotc, restaurants, beer-rooms, and gar-
dens, conditoreien, theatres, and other places of public resort, the
dark blue uniform of the infantry or the somewhat gayer attire
of the mounted troops meets the eye at every turn, and at times
it appears as though civilian life were a mere adjunct to the
martial element.^

The city itself is the home of that immense number of officers
attached to the War Office, the General Staff, and the various
Military Schools, whilst all round the outskirts rise huge castel-
lated barracks, swarming with horse, foot, and artillery, and jus-
tifying the saying that in North Germany there arc no cathe-
drals but barracks and arsenals. The flat plain on which Berlin
is built furnishes admirable spaces for drill and parade grounds,

some of them of
vast extent. Here
from morn till eve
squadrons of ca-
valry trot, gallop,
and charge, wheel-
ing and swooping
amidst clouds of
sand, and battal-
ions of infantry
march and coun-
ter - march, now
drawn up in a
dark imposing

column, and now
expanding fanwise
in a cloud of scat-
tered skirmishers
and detached sup-
ports. The blast
of the bugle, the
roll of the drum,
and the guttural yells of tlic officers in command resound above

r^

1 The military population of Berlin in March, 1875, comprised 1,649
officers, 485 mihtary officials, and 18,550 rank and file, quartered. within the
city limits. They included the Kaiser Alexander regiment of grenadiers of
the Guard, the Kaiser Franz regiment of grenadiers of the Guard, the ist foot
Guards, the fusiliers of the Guard, a battalion of riflemen of the Guard, the
pioneers of the Guard, the railway battalion, the cuirassiers of the Guard, the
1st and 2nd dragooris of the Guard, the 2nd uhlans of the Guard, the 3rd
squadron of the Gardes du Corps, the ist regiment of field artillery of
the Guard, the ist and 2nd detachments of the 2nd regiment of field artillery
of the Guard, and the Guard train battalion, together with the 3rd train
battalion, staff of the 35th rtscrve landwchr battalion.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — IIOW RECRUITED, ETC. 317

the thunder of the hoof-beats and the heavy thud of measured
footfalls, thoucrh they in turn are drowned at times by the cheers to
which the infantry are permitted to give utterance when advanc-
ing to seize a position. Countless squads of recruits are to be seen
imder the command of loud-voiced and energetic drill sergeants,
some going through their facings, others practising the manual or
bayonet exercise, and others again performing the most wonder-
fully complicated extension movements, varied with the wildest
twists and leaps and bounds which seem to threaten instant dis-
location of their limbs and cause them to resemble for the time
being a row of toy scaramouches under the influence of an electric
battery, but which have much to do with transforming the un-
couth, hulking, and stiff-jointed peasant into the smart, straight,
and supple soldier. Ceaseless activity prevails on all sides and
it is evident that nothing is spared to render the Army what it
is — the first military machine in Europe. Prussia too has devoted
more study to the science of war than any other civilized nation,
and her officers have gained more real experience in its practice
than those of other European countries. The system of general
service and district corps organization has shown itself per-
fectly adaptable to both rapid mobilization and the steady con-
tinuance of a war. " One can scarcely comprehend," says an
eminent military writer, "the grandeur and completeness of the
German Army. There has been no parallel to it, and no nation,
unless favoured by distance, can hope to cope successfully with it."
The military element forms so important a constituent of Berlin
life, and dominates the various social elements of the capital
so completely, that the subject of the Prussian Army may here
be sketched with perfect relevancy in a somewhat comprehensive
fashion.

If Friedrich Wilhelm, the great Elector of Brandenburg, was
the founder of the Prussian nationality, it was his grandson and
namesake, the second King of Prussia, who, by parcelling his
dominions into cantons and assigning to each the duty of keep-
ing up a regiment to its effective strength from within its own
limits, laid the foundation of the existing military system.. His
method of instructing recruits yet prevails, and the splendid army
which he left behind him proved in the hands of his son Friedrich
the Great the instrument by which the position of the kingdom
was assured in Europe. His successors followed his traditions
with the servile fidelity that chooses the letter rather than the
spirit, making use of the true formation he had handled so suc-
cessfully, but neglecting the mobility by which he had attained
a larger development of fire than had been previously dreamt of,
and had succeeded in marching round and defeating his ponderous
antagonists whose inert formations had changed but little since
the days of Gustavus Adolphus. The battalion columns pre-
ceded by skirmishers of the French Republican Generals broke
and routed these immobile lines, and the old Prussian Army,

3i8

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EAIPIRE.

though animated by the patriotic fire enkindled by the aggres-
sion of Napoleon, was finally shattered on the heights of Jena.

During the period of degradation which followed, Stein and
Scharnhorst commenced the work of rehabilitation, the latter
devising the scheme of short terms of service in the regular
army, with a constant supply and discharge of recruits, on which
the present organization is based. In 1814 the law obliging

scharnhorst's monument in the grounds of the invaliden-haus.

every native of the state to enrol himself in the defensive force
on completing his twentieth year, establishing the standing army,
landwehr, and landsturm, and providing for the one year
volunteers, was passed. Gradually the landwehr, officered by
men of wealth and substance, and composed of men of riper
years, equal military importance, and greater social influence than
the regulars, began to show a jealousy of these latter, and display
a dissatisfaction at being called out when the object was not
thoroughly supported by national sentiment. In 1858, von
Roon seeing the imperfections of the existing system, brought
forward his plans, which were carried in spite of the constitu-

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — IIUW RLCRUITKI), ETC. 319

tional objections of the Lower House. The new laws lowered
the status of the landwchr, and gave importance to the regular
troops, by lengthening their term of reserve service a couple of
years, and enlarging the number of their battalions. The annual
supply of recruits was augmented from 40,000 to 63,000, and on
a peace footing the standing army was now as large as it could
have been before with the first call of the landwehr. A sop to
Cerberus was thrown to the latter in the shape of a reduction of
their term of service.

The war of 1866 proved the value of the new measure to the
government, the Army itself did all the fighting, and the landwehr
in the second line could effect but little by their disapproval of a
quasi-fratricidal struggle at the outset, and in case of reverses
would have been warmed to work by patriotism. The formation of
the North German Confederation whilst increasing the Army did
not materially modify the system, but after the war with Fiance
the necessity for fresh preparations led to the New Army Bill.

The Prussian Army is an integral portion of the German Army,^
to which it contributes twelve army corps. These are the corps
of the Guard, recruited throughout the Prussian dominions, and
eleven others taking their names from the provinces from which

' According to the Prussian military calendar the German Army on a war
footing consists of 1,324,934 men of all arms and ranks, and 2,740 guns. Out
of this number 401,659 men are always on active service, and in eight days
700,000 can be brought into the field. It is divided into eighteen army corps
each complete in itself.

In an analysis of the military strength of the various European nations
in 1875 by M. Amedee le Faure it is stated that Germany has an army com-
prising 469 battalions of infantry, 465 squadrons of cavalry, 300 campaign
batteries, 29 battalions of foot artillery, 18 battalions of pioneers, and 18 bat-
talions of service corps. When are added the reserves, the landwehr, and
the navy, a total of 1,700,000 men is arrived at, with annual estimates of
20,000,000/. Russia has an army in time of peace of 188 regiments of infantry,
82 battalions of riflemen, 48 battalions for frontier service, 56 regiments of
cavalry, 310 batteries of artillery, 14 battalions of engineers, besides irregulars
and reserves. With the fleet, the effective strength of the country is 1,550,000
with a budget of 27,200,000/. France has 132 regiments of infantry, 30 bat-
talions of chasseurs, 77 cavalry regiments, 40 regiments of artillery, 4 of
engineers, and 20 squadrons of service corps. With the reserve and navy
the total effective strength of the country is 1,700,000, costing 26,600,000/.
The English army and navy, including militia and volunteers, comprise
535,000 men, and costs 24,800,000/. Austria has 535,000 men, costing
10,800,000/., Italy, 760,000 men, expenditure 9,840,000/., Turkey, 300,000
men, with estimates of 5,680,000/. Spain, according to the regulations of
1870, possesses 270,000 men, with a yearly budget of 6,400,000/. The law
passed by the Cortes in 1872 has as yet been imperfectly applied. Sweden
has 160,000 men, costing 1,120,000/. The eftective strength of Switzerland
is approximately 180,000 men, costing only 360,000/ Holland, has 100,000
men, estimated at 1,120,000/, Portugal, 73,000 men, costing 180,000/.,
Denmark, 54,000 men, costing 366,000/, Greece, 51.000 men, with an
estimate of 360,000/, and Belgium 43,000, with an expenditure of 1,659,200/
On a war footing, therefore, the armies of Europe are 9,333,000 men, costing
annually 136,804,000/

320 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

they are drawn, namel}', East Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg,
Saxony, Posen, Silesia, Westphalia, Rhineland, Schleswig-
Holstein, Hanover, and Hesse-Nassau. The official returns at
the end of July, 1874, gave the strength of the Prussian Army,
officers and men, as follows: infantry, 210,780; jagers, 8,477;
cavalry, 53,294; artillery, 36,690; engineers, 7,790; train,
5,120; administrative and other troops, 6,199.^ On a war
looting the Army numbers over 700,000 men, exclusive of 200,000
garrison troops. When we look back we find that the Great
Elector who laid the foundation of Prussia's future greatness, by
beating ii,oco Swedes with 6,000 Brandenburgers at Fehrbellin,
left at his death an army of 26,000 men, raised by his son to
28,000. Under Friedrich Wilhelm I. it rose to 84,000, and
Friedrich the Great left it at 172,000. In 1806 Prussia fought
France with 212,000 men, and in 1813 had 238,000 in the field,
whilst the conclusion of the campaign of 1866 saw her with
640,000 men under arms.

Nominally every Prussian subject is a soldier, and serves
twelve years, three in the active army, four in the army of
reserve, and five in the landwehr, entering service as soon as he
completes his twentieth year. But despite missing conscripts,
and those who escape the call to arms by emigrating, not to
mention those rejected on account of physical infirmity, the
supply exceeds the demand, and the number of able-bodied men
who annually escape military service is considerable. In the
whole of the Empire the average annual number of recruits is
406,000, but from this number 42,000 refractory emigrants and
missing conscripts have to be deducted. There remain 364,000
men who go before the Council of Revision after having drawn
lots, for drawing lots exists in Germany, although the contrary
has often been asserted. Above 25,000 men are then rejected on
account of infirmity, malformation, &c., 250 for immorality
[iiniviirdigkcit), 500 as under judiciary examination, and from
500 to 600 for temporary incapacity, while the one year volun-
teers number some 15^000, in addition to which 10,000 men are
provisionally dispensed from serving for family reasons, or to
allow of their pursuing some special study, and other causes.
Of those remaining the majority are not considered good enough
for immediate employment, and have their period of service
adjourned, so that, in fact, the number of men annually enrolled
in the army and navy amounts to something beyond 160,000.
Some of the large proportion of able-bodied men who annually
escape military service are subsequently enrolled to form, accord-
ing to need, what are known as " Ersatz Truppen," supplementary

' The British army, according to Mr. Holms, consists of 230,000 men, of
whom 100,000 arc untrained militia, and of the rest only 73,500 are of the
proper age, namely, between 20 and 32. The number of horses is 15,000,
and there are 340 guns.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — HOW RFXRUITED, ETC. 32 I

troops, or troops employed for occupying foreif:^n territor>\
Nevertheless, a considerable number of able-bodied subjects
are never called upon to serve, the total number between
seventeen and forty years of age being estimated at half-a-
million at the least. The new Army Law however spreads
its net to catch all these fish, and carefully relegates those it
catches to the landsturm, with the men above thirty-two who
have successively served in the army, the reserve, and the
landwehr. This second category comprises 500,000 men, so
that the troops of the future landsturm can be estimated at a
million of men. The military authorities are thinking of
organizing at present only the first ban of these new troops,
and this would number about 300,000 men and 6,500 officers.
These last will be taken from among the retired officers, or those
not on active service. But there is in this project a feature which
gives it an almost warlike character. It is provided that the
battalions of the future landsturm may be employed to com-
plete the landwehr. Now, the landwehr can and ought to be
able to take the field outside the limits of the country. A
reinforcement of 300,000 men will, therefore, be brought to the
regular army which can make war in a foreign country.^

The money penalty in Prussia for non-appearance when called
upon for military service is as high as ^150, and it is proposed
that this shall be levied in contumaciam without the defaulter
having the opportunity of making any defence. Positive deser-
tions from the active army are not numerous, and amount in
proportion to merely a fraction of those which take place from
our own army, ranging as these latter do from five to six thousand
annually, some of the offenders, as shown by the police reports,
having deserted and re-enlisted again and again, as many as
seventeen times. In Prussia the desertions are principally from
the reserve and the landwehr, and in 1871 these formed one-third
of the total number of Prussian emigrants.-

Compulsory service in the Army, instead of acting injuriously
on the population and physique of the country, is credited with
quite a contrary effect. The young men are taken, it is said, out
of the way of temptation at the most critical period of their lives,
have their morals looked strictly after, are forced to work hard
and live soberly, are fed frugally but sufficiently, and have their

' Individuals not originally subjects of the German empire, who settle
within it, and owe no allegiance to other states, become liable to military
service ; but this liability ceases after their thirty-first birthday. In Germany
the number of men engaged in military service form 3"34 per cent, of the
population, in Austria it is 2'99 ; in France 2-98 ; in Italy 2-80 ; in England
172 ; and in Spain r30.

2 In the circle of Imwraelowin the province of Posen 1102 persons were
prosecuted for desertion. In the countries annexed in 1866, the introduction
of the Prussian mihtary law has certainly had much to do with the emigration
that in six years diminished their population by 1.70,000 souls.

Y

322 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

lungs and muscles developed by constant exercise, and at the end
of three years return home improved in every way, to follow their
old avocations and to marry, and as a rule, beget large families.
The medal, however, has its reverse, inasmuch as young men
in a respectable position are taken from their homes, or, what is
worse, from the posts in which they are already established, and
two or three of the best years of their life are as it were robbed
from them. During those years they not only have to associate
with the lowest classes of men, but are paid so miserably that to
live with any comfort they must expend any little savings they
have accumulated. Reliable data show that the Prussian levies
of to-day are larger and finer men than those who fought at Jena,
Leipsic, or Waterloo. The infantry of the entire guards corps
average 5 feet 9^ inches in height, and about 1 1 stone 8
pounds in weight, from six to seven thousand of them being over
six feet. In the Pomeranian, Brandenburg, and Westphalian
regiments the men as often weigh 12 stone as 10 stone, and even
in the Polish and East Prussian regiments, recruited from poor
and barren districts, where many of those brought into service
have never previously tasted meat, a man under 5 feet 5 in. in his
boots is a rarity. The men of the foot artillery, selected both
for strength and substance, range between 5 feet 8 inches and 6
feet in height.

Nor is the service without its moral influence on the character
of the nati6n at large. A man in the army learns exactitude,
punctuality, and obedience, and has acquired habits of thorough-
ness and order, which he brings into play in the habits of civil
life. The drawback, however, is that with promptness to obey
the word of command one finds a corresponding roughness and
readiness in giving it, and that the soldier when dismissed from
duty carries soldierly forms into private life, becomes brusque
and laconic in speech, and looks for a military exactitude of
obedience.

The "Einjahriger Freiwilliger," or one-year volunteer, is allowed
to serve one year instead of three in the regular army on condi-
tion of paying for his own equipment, food, and lodging, and if
in the cavalry, an extra sum for the use of his horse ; he is, how-
ever, still liable to full duty in the reserve and landwehr. The
Einjahriger sometimes aims at becoming an officer in the last-
named body, and by passing certain examinations succeeds in
this, but as a rule, his object is to get off with one year's service
in place of three, so as to interfere as little as possible with his
professional prospects. He may, for instance, be the son of a
rich merchant, banker, or financier, with no taste for a military
life, and only desirous of following in his father's footsteps as
soon as possible. Such a man would naturally profit by every
amelioration of his position that money could procure, and there
is a story of one of these yf/i- i/^/aw/Z/i? astounding and horrifying

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — HOW RKCRUITKD, ETC.

323

on account of the
orderly, by quietly

his h'eutenant, who had sing-led him out
smartness of his appearance to be his
remarking, " I
beg your pardon,
Herr Lieutenant,
I have already
two servants of
my own." In any
case the one-year
volunteer has to
find his own
clothing, food,
and lodging, and
the total expense
of these is about
;^I05. He must,
moreover, give
proof of a good
education either
by passing an
examination or
producing certifi-
cates from the
schools he has
attended. All
volunteers are
allowed to choose
their- own branch
of the service,
whereas ordi-
nary recruits have no choice in the matter, but are posted to the
arm for which they are the best physically qualified. They may
however, elect to serve from seventeen to twenty years of age
instead of from twenty to twenty-three, if they prefer it.

The soldier is early brought into the service. A third of a
German regiment is dismissed to their homes every year after
the September manoeuvres, and the recruits for the next year
are draughted into the ranks in. October; which may be termed
the commencement of the military year. After passing the
medical examination the recruit is sent at once to the head-
quarters of the landwehr battalion of his district, and thence to
his regiment, where he is handed over to the drill-sergeant. For
the first six weeks the newly-joined recruit is taught the posi-
tion of the soldier, facings, the goose-step, and the like ; also the
honours due to superiors, the distinctions and insignia of rank, and
generally the first principles of military duty. "As in the drill
the word ' attention ' forbids the slightest movement of the body,
so the word 'subordination' forbids in the strictest sense all

Y 2

324

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

independenceof thought or speech. Subordination means nothing
more nor less than ' hold your tongue,' and it is only when a
soldier neither grumbles nor reasons even in his thoughts — that
is, makes no impatient gestures — when he has learned exacti-
tude, punctuality, and obedience, to hear, not to speak, and to
obey," he is regarded as well disciplined. There is only one
expression he is permitted to make use of. If his officer says to
him, "You are an ass," he may answer, "At your service" (Zu

Befehl), and there
the matter will end.^
The soldier next
learns the manual,
his former instruc-
tion being continued
the meanwhile, and
finally takes his
place in the ranks
of his company. For
the first year the
drills occupy about
four hours in the
morning, and the
same time in the
evening, varying
somewhat in sum-
merwiththe weather.
During the second year they are a trifle lighter, but their range
is more extended, and includes battalion drill, manceuvring, &:c.
During the third year the cavalry, artillery, and engineers have
special instructions in their particular branches, the infantry
working hard at tactics. At the end of this year all receive
their furlough for the next four years, holding themselves in
readiness to be called out for annual exercise, or to join their com-
mands in time of war. During the three years' service barrack
schools have to be attended for instruction in swimming, gym-
nastics, duties in quarters, duties as sentries, in garrisons or on
outposts, target practice, the care of arms, the duties of soldiers
towards their officers, reading and writing for the few who need
it.^ and such higher studies as the cominanding officer may direct.
This instruction in barracks is a most important element in the
military system. Recruits four times a week, and older soldiers
never less than twice, are instructed and catechized in all duties
connected with service in the field, so that long before a private
has to act a? a vedette, he has been thoroughly grounded in the

' F. W. Hacklandcr's So 'dier in Time of Peace.

2 The average ot illiterate recruits in the Prussian army is 3 percent., and
in France 20 percent., whereas ihe number of men in the i>ritish army unable
to read or write was en the ist of January, '873, no less than 12,131.

THE PRUSSIAN AKMV.— lldW RECRUITED, ETC.

theory of his various duties, and only wants the opportunity of
practice. There are a number of simple text-books, and the
officers are held responsible that their men know them thoroughly.
In general, all instruction is imparted by the officers, who, not

only drill their men , , ,,,,

themselves, but look (n^''-il!i iP'fl^' i Si'y
after their moral as (i- ' *|l'l'^«^*'^'!f iiThiiV I
well as physical train-
ing, and deliverevening
lectures to them upon
military matters and
the rudiments of natu-
ral science. Oaestions
are put at the close of
the lectures to the men,
and as many of them
take advantage of the
occasion to go quietl}-
to sleep, the most ex-
traordinary responses
are sometimes obtain-
ed, not confined, how-
ever, to the sleepers
alone.

It was the practice
of Friedrich the Great
to be much more par-
ticular with regard to
the selection of the non-commissioned than the upper officers of
his army, and he would himself nominate the cadets to fill the
vacancies. He usually chose nobles, for said he, " Nobles have
honour; a noble that misbehaves or flinches in a moment of crisis
can find no refuge in his own class, whereas a man of lower birtii
can in his." The Prussian nobles of to-day have a soul above the
corporal's and sergeant's stripes and the keeping up the supply
of non-commissioned officers from men of "lower birth," is
attended with some difficulty. The non-commissioned officers
are obtained in two ways. The first is from the six schools
established for the purpose at Potsdam, Biebrich, Julich, Weissen-
fels, Ettlingen, and Marienwerder. To join one of these the
candidate must be between seventeen and twenty years of age,
and must be able to read, write, and cipher. The course of
instruction lasts three years, and comprises all that relates to
military exercises, gymnastics, and swimming, the first elements
of topography and temporary fortifications, history, geography,
and the German language. There are also classes to impart to
the pupils those branches of knowledge required to qualify them
to discharge the duties of posts in the civil service, reserved for

u6

BERLIN UXDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

them after twelve years in the Army. On'leavingthe school the
pupils undergo an examination. Those passing first are ap-
pointed non-commissioned officers at once, a method which
encourages all to work their hardest. The rest are entered as
privates in regiments in which vacancies are likely to occur, and
are promoted as occasion offers. Tliose who have failed to pass
the examination on leaving the school, have to prepare them-
selves, after joining the ranks, for a fresh one, and until this is
passed they cannot become non-commissioned officers.

All these men, whetlier they pass or not, are bound to serve
two years in the Army for every }'ear they have spent at the
school. The total number of sub-officers supplied to the Army
by the six schools previously mentioned, averages 990 yearly, or
5,940 in the whole, taking the six years' service into account. It
is at present i'ltended to increase the number of these schools,
and to form others specially designed for the instruction of sub-
officers for the cavalry and artillery, there being as yet only one
for these arms, namely the cavalry school at Hanover. The re-
maining non-commissioned officers are obtained from the "capitu-
lants " that is to say, the men who, having completed their three
years' active service, are allowed to re-engage, providing they
show the requisite knowledge and aptitude for the position they
aspire to.

The candidate is required to undergo an examination by a
uperior, officer and the class of men who are sometimes found pre-

sentingthemselvesmay
be judged of from
the following dialogue
between a corporal
fgefreiter), who does
not reckon as an
" unteroffizier," and the
officer to whom he
applies for promotion.
"Canst thou read?"
" At your service, llerr
Oberstwachtmeister. "
"Canst thou write?"
" At your service, Herr
Oberstwachtmeister. "
" Canst thou also ci-
})her.^" "At your
service, Herr Oberst-
wachtmeister." " What
was your position as
a civilian ? " " Doctor in Philosophy and Privatdocent at the
University ! "

With the exception of musicians, and under certain circum-

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — HOW RECRUITED, ETC.

327

stances, officers' servants, who however do not recciv^c the
capitulants' extra pay, no man is allowed to re-engage unless
there is a probability of his becoming a non-commissioned
officer.

P>ery soldier who has served twelve years and held the rank
of " unteroffizier " for three quarters of this term is certain of
employment under Government on his retirement from the
service. The system worked admirably up to the close of the
late war, but when the milliard fever sent up the general rate of
wages far beyond the salaries accorded by Government to the
holders of such posts as the retired non-commissioned officer
might aspire to, and the price of the necessities of life rose in an
almost corresponding ratio, the men in question amply exercised
their annual right of retirement, to accept the comparatively
lucrative private employments open to them, and a great dearth
of non-commissioned officers has been the result. For these
tried and proved men are eagerly sought to fill posts requiring
steadiness, integrity, and intelligence. Bank porters and mes-
sengers, daily entrusted with large sums of money, cash-takers at
theatres,and foremen carriers are almost exclusively recruited from
amongst this class. Railway companies too are most eager to
secure their services as country stationmasters, ticket clerks, and
guards. To this may be ascribed the military sternness and
brevity of speech characterizing all Prussian railway officials, who
are apt to treat passengers as though they were made for the
railway and not the railway for them. These posts all command
better pay than is to
be found in the Army,
and the duties are far
less irksome. Ser-
geants, it is true, are
proportionately much
better paid than in
England, though there
seems to be no rigidly
fixed rate of pay for
the non-commissioned
ranks, a bargain being
apparently made with
each man as with a
servant, to induce him
to serve on according
as his services are
valued. Still although
recently promulgated
regulations lighten the regimental work, do away with arbitrary
selection in promotion, and provide that on a non-commirsioned
officer depositing fifteen pounds as security that he will not

328 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

leave his widow in distress, he may be recommended by his
commanding officer for leave to marry and may when married
live out of barracks, it is not to be wondered at that a man
able to discharge all the varied, complicated, and responsible
functions of a sergeant-major in the Prussian Army should aspire
to a higher salary than tliirt}--six pounds per annum, when in
Berlin a good cook earns more and a good coachman twice as much.

The officers of the Prussian Army are drawn from two
sources, first the Cadetten-haus — an institution to be described
in detail in a subsequent chapter — and next the "advantageur"
class, the sj'stcm of which is rather peculiar. A young man
who is desirous of securing a commission obtains a nomination
from the colonel of some regiment admitting him to serve as a
private, but with the recognition of his being a candidate for
the rank of officer, whence he comes to be known as an advan-
tageur. His position so far resembles that of the volunteer in
our own service up to the close of the great French war. In the
Prussian Army the advantagcur before definitively obtaining his
commission is obliged to serve at least six months as a private;
he must then pass an examination in the usual subjects of a
liberal education known as the " portepee fahnrich " examination,
attend a war-school, and go through a course of about ten
months' military instruction. After passing a second examina-
tion in professional subjects to test his fitness for the rank of
officer, he returns to his regiment qualified for a commission if
a vacancy occurs. Before being recommended for one, however,
he has to pass through a further ordeal, as the officers of the
regiment meet to decide whether he is worthy of admission
amongst their number. The preliminary examination is dis-
pensed with in the case of j'oung men who, on quitting a civil
school, have obtained a certificate qualifying them for admission
to a university.

Some explanation may here be given with reference to the
rank of portepee-fahnrich or, as it is usually translated, ensign.
The gradation of rank in the Prussian service below that of
officer is as follows : — Feldwebel, or wachtmeister, equal to our
sergeant-major ; portepee-fahnrich, sergeant ; unteroffizier and
gefreiter, the two last nearly corresponding to our corporal and
lance-corporal. Above the rank of sergeant a distinctive silver
sword-knot, or portepee, is worn which gives rise to the name of
portepee fahnrich. In this title may be noted the French nomen-
clature introduced into the Prussian army by Friedrich the Great,
and so thoroughly adapted into the military vocabulary that
the troops could not possibly be handled in their native tongue.
The South Germans have done all in their power to substittue
purely Teutonic terms, but with only partial success, and in the
Prussian Army a party exists which would like their example to
be followed.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — HOW RKCRUITKD. ETC 329

Prussian officers look upon themselves as forming a single
corps — the " offizier " corps, admission to which is regarded as
conferring distinctive privileges and imposing particular duties.
There is no military service in the world in which class-spirit is
so strongly developed as that of Prussia, and the wearers of the
silver sword-knot form the nearest approach to a caste which
exists out of India. The espril dc corps is strongly aristocratic,
and every means are employed to keep it up. None but young
men of good social standing can obtain the nomination from
the colonel of a regiment necessary to enable them to take ser-
vice as an advantageur, and even when this is secured they have
to stand or fall by the verdict of their comrades upon whom
their ultimate admission to the regiment after passing their
examination for a commission depends The officers of each
regiment constitute a court of election and a court of honouf,
and when a cadet or advantageur has passed his examination
and is put down for a commission in their corps, they assemble
and sit upon him, something after the fashion of a coroner's
jury, the difference being that the facts of his life and not of
his death are investigdted. A certain time has previously been
devoted to inquiring into his character, social station, pecuniary
means, and the like, and if any officer has any objection to make
he is bound in honour to substantiate it. The decision of the
court is accepted as final at head-quarters, and if it is unfavour-
able to the candidate he is got rid of or another regiment is
tried, the whole proceedings being strictly confidential. Any
officer misconducting himself socially — misconduct so far as duty
is concerned coming under the notice of a court-martial — is tried
by the Court of Honour, and the verdict, if unfavourable, results
in his removal from the army or transfer to another corps. For
instance, not long ago Lieutenant Helmus of the 7th Battalion
of the Military Train was dismissed the service by the verdict
of a jury of honour for not drinking the Emperor's health. The
protocols in these cases are usually submitted to the Emperor
who decides what shall be done with the offender.

A body thus fenced in from all contamination learns to look
down on the outer world with a species of mild contempt. The
officer is a social Brahmin, for whether his birth be noble or
plebeian he is " court worthy " by virtue of his silver sword knot,
and has the pas of every other man who has not the right to
array himself in a uniform denoting the enjoyment of the pri-
vilege to slay his fellow-creatures. The spirit of caste and an
equally strong esprit dc corps exercise a material influence on
the cliaracter of the officer. Brought up for the Army he assigns
to the Army the principal role in the affairs of the world. He is
thoroughly penetrated with the idea of the superiority of his
calling. If religiously disposed, he regards himself as an instru-
ment in the hands of Providence ; if a philosopher, he looks

330 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

upon life as a combat for existence, in which the strongest has
the right and even the mission to crush the weakest. He pre-
tends to believe that periodical wars are necessary for the
good of mankind, and has not words to express his disdain for
those political economists who complain that war is unproductive.
Towards individual civilians he is politely reserved ; he does
not bully them, he looks down on them from so lofty an
eminence that to descend to such an action is too great a con-
descension. If however he does get involved in a dispute with
an unarmed citizen, and the latter so far forgets himself as to
strike him, he has no choice but to draw and cut his assailant
down. Unless he does so, he runs the risk of being tried by
court-martial and dismissed the service.

Despite this exclusiveness and the aristocratic spirit that
prevails in the Prussian Army, it is not entirely officered by the
scions of the nobility. The officers of the Guards are almost all
men of title, but nearl}- one-half of the names on the Army
List lack the distinguishing particle "von." Nevertheless it may
be noticed that whilst the names of the commoners figure thickly
in the ranks of the subalterns, they are few and far between
amongst the colonels, and disappear entirely amongst the
generals. It may be argued from these facts that though
commoners may obtain commissions, they must not expect to
rise be}-ond the rank of major, though an answer has been put
forward to the effect that after twelve years' service, which
entitles an officer to claim an appointment as a civil functionary,
many first lieutenants and captains abandon the military for
the more profitable civil career, whilst the richer officers and
members of noble and military families remain.

There is however another method of weeding out practised.
Promotion in the Prussian service goes by seniority, tempered
not generally by selection but by rejection very rigidly enforced.
Officers considered incapable through physical or mental in-
firmities, deafness, blindness, or stupidity, are ruthlessly weeded
out, it being considered better to hurt the feelings of one man
than to risk the lives of a thousand by the possible results of his
incompctenc)'. An officer who has been two or three times
passed over may consider that he has received an intimation to
retire from the service, and if he does not act on it will probably
be gazetted out. The class of officers who in England are known
as " her Majesty's hard bargains," and who shuffle through the
service and finally retire on pensions without knowing even the
elements of their profession, would not be tolerated for a moment
in the Prussian Army. Although in the junior ranks promotion
is somewhat slower than in the P^nglish army, which so many
gentlemen join temporarily either to enhance their social stand-
ing or to pass a few years before marrying and " settling down "
thereby continually creating vacancies below the rank of major,

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — HOW RECRUITED, ETC. 33 I

it is in the higher ranks infinitely quicker. Five years' service as
a major, gives the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and three as lieu-
tenant-colonel that of colonel. The average length of service to
rise to the command of a regiment, being twenty-three years,
and the length of such a command six.

So far as knowledge and practice of their military duties are
concerned, Prussian ofiicers surpass the officers of all other
European armies. " A Prussian general commands his own
division himself and is not dependent upon his staff officers for
information or instruction regarding the duties of his profession.
A Prussian colonel carries on the administration of his own
regiment and does not allow the adjutant to do his duty for him,
and above all in the Prussian Army, captains really command
their own companies to an extent that gives them pleasure,
interest and responsibility in carrying out the duties of their
commissions. A company of Prussian soldiers is never under
arms, except under its own officers, nor is it interfered with in
any way except through its own captain." Each one in his grade
is permitted to do his proper work without undue interference
from his superiors, and one of the most striking things in the Army
is the distribution of responsibility from the highest to the lowest
ranks. The generals commanding corps are supreme in ahnost
all matters pecuniary as well as military, and settle numerous
questions without referring to the War Office at Berlin, but they
are not overworked, because the generals of division under them
have their special duties and are allowed to perform them with-
out interference. So the officer commanding a battalion does
not attempt to command every compan}' in it and thus does his
own work well. Not only the drill, but the conduct, dress, and
appearance of the men, with the pay, the books, the quarters, and
the stores of the company are subject to the captain's imme-
diate control, and the consequence is that the men, learning to
look up to and rely upon their immediate commanders in all
things in camp, garrison, and action, are prompt in obedience.
The duties of the non-commissioned officers are, though arduous
and indispensable, comparatively non-important where officers
drill their men themselves, superintend their gymnastic exercises
and swimming, and look after their moral as well as their phy-
sical training by delivering lectures and imparting information.
All these duties do not prevent the officers from stud}-ing hard,
and more especially those quartered in the remoter districts.

The secret of the extraordinary successes of the Prussian
Army lies not in the genius of any one commander, nor of any
number of commanders, but in the military system by which
the officer? are educated and the rank and file trained. The
cardinal principle that by work and study alone, can military
excellence be attained, has long been recognized in the Prussian
Army. There is not another in which military science is more

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

highly valued, nor more universally cultivated, work and diligence
being regarded as the only sure roads to success in war. " Always
ready, such is the motto of the New Empire," said a young sub-
altern to M. Tissot ; " we do not rest upon our laurels, and have
never worked harder than after the victories of 1870 and 1871.
Our military organization has been perfected by the experience
acquired on the battle-field ; we have transformed our old war-
material, changed our guns twice, tried cannon after cannon
without making any fuss about it, and daily try fresh experiments
in the artillery camps. We are so little sure of peace that our
fortresses are all mounted with their cannon, our magazines filled
with provisions and forage. At the first signal eighteen army
corps of 40,000 men will be ready to take the field, and the
soldiers know that the plan they are to follow has long ago been
studied and worked out in the General Stafi" Office at Berlin."
The landwchr is officered from two sources. Officers of the
standing army who quit the service whilst still within the limits
of age which render them liable to serve in the landwehr pass
naturally into this force as officers. The others are obtained from
the one-year volunteers, and men who have distinguished them-
selves before the enemy. Such of these as desire to obtain com-
*^<--..-.>^ ^^ _... ^ missions in the land-

■■^■^'^ '""'^''''^''■'j-^^j'^^^^^^^^ • wehr apply to a board

that sits twice a year
for this purpose, and
on joining their regi-
ments are given oppor-
tunities of qualifying
themselves for their
future profession. At
the end of the year
they are examined, and
if they pass become
corporals. They then
serve two months more
in a regiment of the
line or take part in
one of the periodical
trainings of the land-
wehr. After the first
week or so of this
training they obtain
the rank of vice-feld-
webel. or lance ser-
geant-major, and at its
close if the commanding officer expresses himself satisfied
with their knowledge, are proposed for acceptance to the officers
of their battalion, and if approved are recomniendcd to the

THE PRUSSTAN AR.MV. — HOW RECRUITED, ETC. ^^^

Emperor for appointment as second lieutenants. They must
however be "men of honour and possessing sufficient means to
secure them such a position in life as is becoming to an officer."
As long as they are within the limits of age of the reserve
they are called officers of the reserve and afterwards officers of
the landwehr. During the war with France, a large proportion
of the non-commissioned officers in the field army consisted of
one-year volunteers summoned back to their colours with the
reserve, and several of these were promoted for gallantry. It is
the common ]Dractice for the sons of wealthy citizens, large manu-
facturers, land-owners, and others to obtain commissions in the
landwehr in this manner, and hence the officers of this corps
are not only far less exclusive than those of the Army but take
a far deeper and wider interest in the affairs of the nation. The
35th Berlin battalion has between seven and eight hundred
officers belonging to it representing every class of society,
noblemen, police officials, government clerks, civic magistrates,
members of the diplomatic service, merchants, students, lawyers,
doctors, professors, bankers, foresters, civil engineers, commission
agents, and others.

The fact that a second lieutenant's pay is something like forty
pounds a year renders it almost impossible, even with the rigid
economy distinguishing the Prussian service, for a subaltern to
live without some small additional private income, more especially
in Berlin. In certain cavalry regiments, the hussars, for instance,
it is quite impracticable, owing 'to the cost of the uniform
accoutrements, horse furniture, and other matters. Still the vast
majority of the officers are poor, and with a view of maintaining
the rigid equality in all matters of comradeship that prevails
in the Army, mess expenditure is adapted to the purses of this
class and not those of their wealthier associates, so that there can
be no excuse for the former involving themselves in pecuniary
difficulties through force of example. In country quarters and
garrison towns the cost of dinner usually ranges from ninepence
to a shilling, and a subaltern can live on as little as twenty
groschen y2s.) a day, whilst there is not a mess in the Guards corps
— the thirty thousand men of which are quartered in the capital
and its neighbourhood — in which an officer pays more than six-
teen-pence for his dinner, though they are mostly men of family
and comparative wealth. Champagne costs them about five and
sixpence, and excellent claret eighteenpence a bottle, for they
import it direct from the grower and enjoy certain privileges in
respect of dues.

in war time the pay of officers is increased and sundry extra '
allowances, to be hereafter noticed, are granted them. Though
the pay does not approach our own, the higher grades of officers
receive far more in proportion than their subordinates, whilst
there are also many allowances in kind such as fuel, light, quarters,

334 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

medical attendance, &c., for which money commutation can be
had. A general commanding an army corps has in addition to
his pay of lO.OOO tlialer a year, forage free for eight horses, a
roomy house, and other advantages, a general commanding a
division has besides 5, SCO thaler a year, forage for six horses, and
lodging allowance, and an officer commanding a regiment of
cavalry has forage for five and of infantry for three horses allowed
him with other advantages that render him practically as well off
as his English compeer. Captains in the cavalry receive forage
free for three, and subalterns for two horses, and can buy it from
the Government for as many more as they like to keep at a very
cheap rate.

The recreations of a Prussian officer are somewhat different
from those of his English compeer. Music is a favourite relax-
ation and the artillery of the Guard have an "Officers' Orches-
tral Union " which for the last quarter of a century have held
weekly meetings in the mess-room of their huge barracks, built
in the reign of Friedrich the Great, and situate in a sort of
debatable land called "Am Kupfergraben." The Union can
furnish an orchestra of fifty members, capable of performing the
most elaborately concerted works of the great masters, and com-
prises officers of all ranks from lieutenant-general down to second
lieutenant, each of whom has to qualify himself for admission by
a certain degree of proficiency on some musical instrument. The
peculiar bent of the German mind is shown by the formation of
two mock orders, with grand masters, chapters, degree crosses of
various grades, &c., known as the Order of the White Napkin,
confined to executants, arrangers, and composers, and that of the
Golden Ear for" listening members " of the Union, whilst the eco-
nomical spirit of the army crops up in the shape of fines of sixpence
inflicted for neglecting to wear these insignia of these orders, being
late at attendance, or failing to give notice of non-attendance.
This mess-room, in addition to musical practice, is also devoted
to lectures by officers on matters of social or topical interest cr
discussions on professional subjects.

Nevertheless there is not so much difference between the
wearers of uniform all the world over, so far as tastes are con-
cerned. The philosopher Schopenhauer, we are told, when dining
in company with Prussian officers used always to place a piece of
gold beside his plate. If asked why, he would say, " I am a philo-
sopher of the Diogenes school, and have made a vow to give
this piece of gold to a beggar the day you and your comrades do
not talk about women and horses. I have been waiting ten
years." Despite, too, the soothing effect of music upon the
savage breast, and the humanizing influence of the studies to
which most of the Prussian officers are supposed to deyote their
spare time, the talent for blood-letting, so assiduously cultivated
with reference to the enemy, is not above finding vent for

I s:

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — HOW RECRUITED, ETC. 335

exercise upon the body of a friend. "Comradeship" not-
withstanding, a German officer will quarrel upon the slightest
pretext, and a quarrel means a duel.

Since the war, these encounters, which are far from being so
harmless as those of French journalists, have increased to such
an extent that the Emperor has felt bound to interfere. He by-
no means wishes to put a stop to the practice but only to check
what he considers its abuse. Every officer who considers his
honour attacked is bound to give information to the Court of
Honour of his regiment, and no duel is allowed to come off
without its approval, and until no other solution of the dispute
is found possible. The president of the Court too is bound to
be present at the encounter to see all is duly and properly con-
ducted, and officers who, carried away by their feelings, forget to
appeal to their regimental court, and fight without the presence
of "this novel "referee," are subject to criminal proceedings.
A violation of the rules of honour, such as a serious unprovoked
insult, is only to be rectified by an appeal to the sword, and the
officer refusing to fight under such circumstances would be
dismissed the service.

Amongst minor regulations devised for the purpose of keeping
up the spirit of exclusiveness in which the offizier corps delight,
and of placing them on a pinnacle above their less-favoured fellow
mortals, may be mentioned those which forbid them to carry,
under any circumstances, an umbrella, a bundle, or a parcel,
even for a lady. The prevailing outward characteristics of
the Prussian officer have been summed up as "well-squared
shoulders, a well-belted waist, a regulation spine, an angular
elbow, a click of the heels, a salute that is meant to be at once
fascinating and haughty, and a pronounced contempt for ever^--
thing civilian beneath the grade of a privy councillor or a first
secretary."

The military class in Prussia enjoys particular privileges and
exemptions, but is at the same time subject to certain restric-
tions. No military man, for instance, can marry without the
permission of his superiors. He can decline or give up any
trusteeship. All existing State restrictions on his acquiring or
selling property are removed ; but, on the other hand, he cannot
carry on without permission any trade or occupation, with the
exception of such as may be indispensably connected with any
possession in land of which he is the owner. Military men are
subject to. the ordinary laws for all State taxation, but while
they are free from local rates, they are forbidden to exercise
any such civic right as that of voting or of joining any political
society. Finally, they are exempt from all jury service, as,
indeed, is the rule in other countries.

XVIII.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY,

-BERLIN BARRACK LIFE, DRILL, AND
DISCIPLINE.

BERLIN has often been styled a city of barracks, less from
the number of such edifices it really contains than from
the large size, countless windows, and uniform appearance of
the houses in particular districts. The largest and finest barracks
are those of the fusiliers in the Carl-strasse, and in the Chaussee-
strassc on the north side of the city, of the Czar Alexander's
grenadier regiment in Kleine Alexander-strasse, of the 2nd

foot guards in
Friedrichs-stras-
se, and of the
Kaiser Franz
grenadiers in
Pionier - strasse
just outside the
Halle Gate. In
the last-named
neighbo urhood
are several cav-
alry barracks,
including two
belonging to the
dragoons of the
Guard — one in
the Belle-Alli-
ance- and the other in the Alexandrinen-strasse — and the bar-^
racks of the cuirassiers of the Guard in the Linden-strasse,

BARRACKS OF THE CZAR ALEXANDER GRENAUIliKS.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC.

337

while at Moablt the extensive barracks of the uhlans of the
Guard are found in close proximity to the Zellengefangniss
model prison.

Barrack-life is held in high favour by the Prussian military
authorities, who consider that it calls into play and keeps alive
the military spirit, promotes order and discipline, banishes
the evil influence of the outer world, and by superior cleanliness
and airiness fosters the health of the men. Early to bed and
early to rise is a maxim of barrack life, and when a resident
near the Halle Gate is roused from his morning slumbers by the
trampling of troops and the sound of martial music, he knows
well enough that a regiment issuing from one of the neighbour-
ing barracks on its way to the Tempelhofer Feld is the cause of
the disturbance. Long before many a worthy citizen has left his
pillow, the regiment
has returned to its
quarters covered
with mud or dust.
A curious fact in
connection with Ber-
lin garrison life, and
one to which we
have already refer-
red, is that the
colours of all the
regiments quartered
in the city are kept
in the Emperor's
palace. The first
thing which a regiment does on marching into the Prussian
capital, is to send a detachment to deposit its colours in the
palace Unter den Linden. And whenever the colours are
required for marching out, parade, or other purposes, they have
to be fetched from the palace and are deposited there again
when the parade is over.

The men in barracks are aroused in summer at day-break,
and in winter an hour or so later by the sound of the bugle. A
newly-enlisted recruit who in his anxiety to be early the
morning after his arrival, had risen betimes, speaks of catching
sight in the passage of the bugler of the regiment, blowing away
in his nightshirt : —

" Sudden his trumpet he took,
And a mighty blast he blasted."

The bugler's task accomplished, he returned to his bed and
indulged in a couple of hours' extra sleep, a proceeding most
unworthy of one who should be the first in the field both for
courage and promptitude, for what cannot a bugler effect by a

z

■^=&>j,^<;^.^V^^^ t*^\<«6lVS>P^^C

THE UHLA.N B.'\KKACKS AT MOAI'.n

338

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

single blast of his trumpet. And yet so insensible was the man
to the dignity of his calling, that he had not even taken the

trouble to put on his
trousers before giving
the signal.

The instant the
sound of the bugle is
heard, the room, per-
fectly still before, be-
comes a scene of
busy confusion. As
soon as the men are
dressed, the room has
to be put in order,
and that as speedily
as possible. The
senior in each room
is responsible for this
being done, and two
men in turn clean it,
heat it, see to the
lamps, and other mat-
ters. After the rooms
have been put straight, an inspection is made and such men as
wish to be placed on the sick list present themselves before
the sursreon for examination.

ARMY DOCTORS,

The cavalry soldier has to hasten and attend to his horse,
without which, according to a quaint little book that is generally

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC.

339

put into his hands, " he cannot be a cavalry soldier, and in fact is
nothing at all." The first chapter of the work in question
treating of the grooming of the horse, commences in this wise,
" See, my dear little horse, here is the man whose duty it is
to groom and tend thee ; he must come to thee every morning
at five o'clock in sunmicr and at six in winter ; he must first
spread out the straw upon which thou hast slept, in the yard to
dry ; then, after shortening thy halter-chain, commence the ope-
ration of currying." In the preface to this eccentric work, it is

impressed upon the officers that they should insist upon their men
reading the book to their horses, by which means it is intimated
they would not only acquire a knowledge of their duties, but
also improve themselves in the art of reading aloud.

A military stable at day-break presents a lively scene. There
is an air of comfort and cheerfulness about it, and cleanliness is
the presiding genius ; the well-washed floors, the polished bails,
which separate the animals from each other, the men engaged in
a variety of occupations, some attending to their horses, others
polishing their accoutrements, some singing, others smoking
and chatting, the hum of voices, the snorting, neighing, and
pawing of the steeds, all combine to form a striking and
animated scene. Each man is required to clean from his horse

Z 2

340 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

as much dust as will make twelve lines a foot long and an inch
thick. The curn'-comb is cleared by being knocked on the
ground, and the dust thus removed, forms the lines mentioned.
To produce this quantity of dust from one horse twice daily, is
hard work even in the sandy Brandenburg mark, and the idle
soldier is said to be in the habit of slily adding chalk to
make up the desired amount and so save himself trouble.

The grooming at the best is but slight, when compared with
that which obtains in England ; and polishing equipments, and
burnishing bits, seem unknown, to judge from the appearance
of the saddlery. Probably the short service system and the
number of things a cavalry soldier has to acquire a knowledge of,
together with the severe work which ordinary barrack life entails,
make it impossible for him to become a first class groom.
Certainly, the horses, so far as smartness of appearance is
concerned, fail to come up to the English standard, and their
capacity for hard work is occasionally limited. During the
winter months they are not shod, and are kept constantly at
exercise in the riding-school, which forms but an indifferent
preparation for campaign duties. The riding-schools in the
Berlin barracks are excellent, and the latter, moreover, are pro-
vided with a large open manege of soft sandy soil, with
numerous made jumps of varied character, over which the
recruits are exercised almost daily.

The barrack breakfast consists of dry bread and a canful of
cofifee or gruel, and this despatched, the morning is mostly taken
up with drill, a short pause being made in the forenoon to allow
the men to partake of a slight luncheon, usually limited to a
slice of bread and a glass of spirits. As the government pro-
vide bread alone, the men are compelled to buy any other
items they require, either from the barrack sutler or at
the nearest shop. Those members of the company who are
possessed of money or credit, gratify themselves with such
luxuries as the barrack canteen affords, and will lunch to the
tune of a silver groschen off sausage and schnapps. In this
dingy den the privileged few spend their spare time, talking
over the service, criticising the officers, and narrating their own
adventures, and telling anecdotes and lies to each other with
equal facility.

Erom this pleasant pastime they are suddenly summoned to
present themselves on the parade ground for the dreaded roll-
call, when each man has to respond by a loud " Here," and all
shortcomings are pretty certain to be brought to light. The
scrutiny is most thorough, and woe to the man whose accoutre-
ments are not in perfect order. If an unfortunate fellow has
supplied the place of a lost button by such a nianceuvre de
force as fastening his braces and trousers together by a piece
of string, the makeshift, though it would never have been

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC. 34 1

detected at drill, is sure to be smelt out by some prying officer,
and the reward of ingenuity takes the shape of three days " on
the wood," as the being put under arrest is termed. The
sternest exactitude with reference to even the smallest minutise
when on parade conduces in the opinion of the Prussian mili-
tary authorities in a high degree to the formation of a steady
infantry which nothing can shake on the field of battle.

The non-commissioned officer frequently arrogates to himself
no little authority over the hapless recruit, and there is a familiar
sketch representing a captain, a sergeant, and a recruit, the
captain looking severe but just, the sergeant very angry, and
the unfortunate recruit apparently protesting by his expression
a state of perfect innocence. " Fusilier Eisenbaum," reports the
sergeant with animation, " was absent at roll-call. What excuse
has he to give .''" "Atyour service, I was — " "Silence," thunders
the unteroffizier — "how can he explain his unjustifiable conduct.-'"
" At your service, I was — " " Be silent," repeats the sergeant,
and then turning to his superior observes, " at your service, you
see, Herr Captain, that he has not a word to say for himself."

The sound of the bugle calls the soldiers to dinner, which at
Berlin usually takes the form of meat with pea, lentil, or bean
porridge. In the evening a slice of bread with a piece of ham
or sausage, and a glass of beer forms the soldier's frugal supper.
The whole of these repasts are paid for out of their own pockets,
with the exception of the bread of which they receive six pounds
every four days. Each company has its mess board, composed
of the captain, a lieutenant, a non-commissioned officer, and
some privates ; the latter deciding all questions pertaining to
themselves, regulating the bill of fare, and determining the cost
and hours of meals. The companies are divided into messes of
about twenty men, each under the charge of a non-commissioned
officer. The officers usually draw money commutations for
their rations and make their own arrangements. In the guards
regiments, the officers' messes are on the same system as prevails
throughout the whole of the English army, excepting that
much more economical principles are pursued, the dinner con-
sisting of simply three plain courses, for which each officer pays
about a shilling, whether he is present or not. There is very
Tittle extravagance as a rule, as although most of the officers
have long pedigrees, they have short purses, and do not indulge
in expensive entertainments or, indeed, extravagance of any
kind.

At Berlin, drill in the barrack-square, and instruction in the
barrack-room, go on throughout the winter, the latter being, as
already explained, an important element in the Prussian military
system. After fatiguing exercise the men are allowed to lie
down on their beds for an hour or so, but not after the ordinary
exercise gone through in the barrack -yard ; and those who have

342

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

been on guard during the night may sleep for some hours in
the daytime. A recruit, acting as sentry for tlie first time, is
expected to stand treat to the whole guard-room. The men pass
their spare time in enforced gymnastic exercises, in reading or
writing letters, staring out of the windows at the passers by,
playing cards, frequenting the popular theatres and beer-gardens,
courting nursemaids, but more especially cooks, and such
similar occupations as are common to soldiers all the world
over. The officers, on their part, pay and receive visits, study,
read, play at cards, or on some musical instrument, and frequent
the more attractive places of amusement. Every soldier in
barracks at Berlin receives an extra monthly allowance of 2|

groschen, about
3</., styled garrison
allowance. No one
knows exactly why
this is given ; some
say to permit of
his spending more
on pipe-clay and
rotten-stone than
in smaller towns,
and others that it
is to enable him to
have an infinitesi-
mal amount of ex-
tra enjoyment. At
nine in the evening
thegatesarcclosed,
the rounds are
made, and the re-
port is handed in.
The officer in
charge for the day
is informed by the
non-commissioned
officers on duty of
all occurrences, and is held responsible for all disturbances,
practical joke.s, &c., that may happen. The barrack guard is
under his command, but should it be called on to do duty
without the limits of the barracks, it passes under the authority
of the governor of the city. The health of the troops in
barracks is unusually good. Next to the Russian, the pro-
portion of men in the Prussian army on the sick-list is smaller
than in the armies of any of the other powers, England, Austria,
and France following in the order indicated. Diseases of the
eyes, by the way, form an exceptionally large proportion of
the illnesses among the troops in garrison at Berlin.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC.

343

If, in view of the exigencies of modern warfare, the traditional
tactics of Fricdrich the Great have been gradually abandoned
by the Prussian army, and if the rigid stiffness for which the
troops were proverbial in Europe at the commencement of the
present century has been materially modified, the iron discipline
and constant drill, to which Mr. Carlylc's favourite hero owed so
much of his success is still retained in full vigour. As in his
day, the aim is to create a system which shall be superior to
circumstances, and not depend upon the accidental genius of one
man, but upon the thorough training of all. Thus, in all drill
books and works of instruction, it is presupposed that the
intelligence of the pupil is of the densest description, and every
precaution is taken to prevent his going wrong. Nothing is
left to chance or accident. The Germans, as a race, are capable
of acquiring this minute instruction, and the Duke of Wellington
noticed long ago that the German sentinels of his auxiliary
forces were far superior to the ordinary British private in know-
ledge and intelligence.
Matters have not
changed since that
epoch, for, as already
noted, in the Prussian
Army the proportion
of men unable to read
and write is only 3 per
cent., whereas out of
90,000 men in the
13ritish army there are
upwards of 12,000, or
13^ per cent, of these
ignoramuses.

The ruling spirit
with regard to drill
was shown by the
sergeant who, being
ordered at the close
of the last war to
retire with his men to fixed quarters in France, found, on re-
suming the old drill, that things did not go very smoothly,
from the free practice of war having slackened the normal pre-
cision of movement, " Hiuimcldonncrzvetter, Kerls^' he broke out
"what disgraceful work is this. Don't you know that the play
is now over, and that you have to return to regular service } "
Both the drill and discipline, however, have for their object the
teaching of the art of war. The winter after they join, the
recruits are taught regular drill in the barrack-yard, of the
painful exactitude of which a well-known Prussian author has
recorded his experience : —

344 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

" I was now," he "says, " to receive my first instruction in infantry drill,
and for this purpose I was conducted by the sergeant to the barrack-yard
and handed over, with a few words of introduction, to Corporal Dose, who
was told off to superintend this part of my militar)' education. The exercise
began, and I held myself in readiness for the first word of command,
'Attention.' At that word I drew myself up like a flash of lightning, and
stood stiff as a post. So far so good. ' Now, listen ! ' shouted Uose ; ' when
I say " At ease," you may advance your right foot, and relax the muscles of
your body, but you must on no account speak ; when I again say "Attention,"
you must not only execute the order, but I must see, by the sudden shock
with which you instantly straighten your limbs in obedience to it, that you
are fully conscious of the importance of the movement ; that word, "Attention,"
should inspire every muscle, and convert the unformed mass into disciplined
soldiers ; now then, "Attention !"' I stood there an unfinished statue, and
the non-commissioned officer figured as sculptor before me. He surveyed
me sharply, took a few steps backwards, walked all round me, and remarked
on the want of posture, which he forthwith essayed to improve by bending
me first an inch to the right and then to the left, pushing back my shoulder-
blades, then, by a slight pressure under the chin, he raised my head sufficiently
to enable me to contemplate the heavens, and, lastly, he placed my hands
so as to bring the little fingers into contact with the red stripes down my
trousers ; this he seemed to consider indispensably necessary to the military
bearing of a soldier. He was tolerably well satisfied with my bearing on
this first day. 'Stand at ease;' I advanced my right foot, as I had been
directed, and I became once more 'an animal' — Dose's favourite term,
besides ' rank and file,' for recruits." '

A military writer has pointed out that the object of drilHng^
soldiers is clearly twofold, first to bring them more completely
under command, so that they will execute exactly what is
ordered, and next to place them in the best formation to meet
the enemy under certain groups of circumstances. It would be
impossible to provide for all the contingencies of war. To bring
them under command and marshal them at a certain spot with
the least possible delay, steadiness and swiftness are necessary
to be enforced and constantly practised. These are attained in
the Prussian Army by much regular drilling according to the
book, and perpetual marching by night as well as by day. It is
only in route marching that the men are not obliged to keep
step. During the early part of the year the recruits work with
the older soldiers, and then throughout the summer m.onths they
practise perpetually, not simple drill only, but the art of fighting.
The men are exercised by the subalterns under the superin-
tendence of the captains in squads, after which the whole com-
pany is manoeuvred by the captain, who likewise exercises it in
light infantry and piquets. Everything has to be done as quickly
as possible, but with no neglect of steadiness and precision. The
movements of the files are perfectly natural, and when the men
are marching in line or in fours the arm that does not carry the
rifle is allowed to swing backwards and forwards like that of an
ordinary pedestrian. The dressing of the largest companies,
notwithstanding this innovation, is perfectly preserve. " No
' F. W. Hackliinder's Soldier in Time of Peace.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC. 345

English drill sergeant," continues the writer, an officer in our
own service, " could find the slightest fault with the manner in
which the men handle their arms, which flash from one position
to another as though the whole company were animated by
a single mind. And when they stand with shouldered arms
there is a steadiness, a stillness, and a solidity which is rarely
witnessed."

" Felddienst," or field duty, commences in June, and comprises
not only outpost duty and all the work soldiers may be called
upon to perform in the field, but the men have in face of them
either a supposed enemy or one drawn from their own ranks.
On such occasions as these, mistakes are of course constantly
made, but they are at once pointed out and corrected. The men
are especially exercised in rapid firing, in judging distances, and
in profiting by the nature of the ground to make attacks. One
day they will seize a railway station, and after sending off the
employes as prisoners under an escort, will organize the service
themselves, as though in a conquered country. The youngest
Prussian officers are obliged to show their power of handling
their men, placing outposts, watching an enemy, attacking and
defending positions, and these summer experiences are to them
and to the men what the autumn manoeuvres are to the general
officers.

In the Prussian Army two branches of discipline are recognized
exactly analogous to drill and tactics, namely, barrack or camp
discipline and fire or fighting discipline. The latter should
include submission to heavy loss when necessary, without re-
turning a shot till ordered, care not to waste ammunition,
obedience to orders, especially when mixed up according to the
modern system of attack with other companies and battalions,
and withdrawal from fight, and a steady assembly at the officer's
command. In England great difficulty is found in repressing the
men, who sometimes in their eagerness and excitement are even
tempted to come to blows, whereas in Germany all are stolid
and undemonstrative, there being apparently no eagerness to
advance, no annoyance at being ordered to retire.

What is known as barrack discipline is pushed to the greatest
extreme. The soldier is deprived of his individuality and turned
into No. — of a company, squadron, or battery. His complete
subserviency to his superiors is insured in a hundred minute
ways. In General von Mirus's book it is laid down that " When
a superior offers, or causes to be offered, a glass of wine, beer,
&c., to a soldier, he must accept it without saying a word, and
empty it at a draught ; he must then hand the glass to a servant
or place it on the window ledge, or on a side-table, but never on
that at which the superior is seated." In the Prussian Army the
preservation of discipline is paramount to human life, as was
shown not very long ago in the case of a private at Cologne,

346

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

who, for some small ofifence was being escorted across the bridge
of boats to Deutz by a sergeant's guard, and who, not liking the
prospect of the military prison awaiting him on the other side,
jumped into the Rhine. The non-commissioned officer at once
ordered his men to make ready, and when the poor devil came
up to the surface his comrades, at the word " fire," shot him dead
in the water, though under the circumstances his recapture
would have been certain. Such is the effect of this rigid disci-
pline that during a riot in Berlin, an officer succeeded in checking
the advance of the mob by riding right up to them and calling
them to attention, when the old soldiers amongst them from force
of habit at once halted and drew themselves up.

The punishments in the German Army differ but little from
those inflicted in other states. The men are no longer hounded
on to battle by corporals armed with canes and striking right
and left, as was once the case, and picketing, riding the wooden
horse with a couple of firelocks tied to each ankle, and being
strapped neck and heels by a pair of slings, with a musket under
the hams, are things of the past. Corporal punishment is strictly

forbidden, and if a complaint
of this kind can be proved the
offender is supposed to be
severely punished ; but offi-
cers do strike their men in
the ranks, and if in cavalry
drill an officer should say
" that horse goes lazily," and
give the beast a slash over
the flank with his whip, the
rider cannot complain if his
leg happens to catch the best
part of the stroke. Punishment
. usually takes the form of ar-
rest. For the most trivial
breach of discipline or even
for an unfastened button,
boots or arms not sufficiently polished, a speck of rust, a
greatcoat lacking mathematical accuracy in its folds, a culprit
can be sentenced on the spot to three days' arrest. This is
usually spent in the military prison, to be found in every garrison
town. The culprit dressed in his worst clothes, an example
of that minute economy which is one of the characteristics of
the Prussian service, takes a two-pound loaf, representing two
days' allowance, under his arm, and is marched off to durance
vile. The cells are of the smallest dimensions, and their furni-
ture consists of a plank forming a bedstead, a bucket, and a
pitcher containing the water, which, with the bread already
mentioned, forms the prisoner's sole refreshment. The fol-

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC.

347

lowing gives the result of an experience acquired in one of
these cells : —

" It was now about five o'clock. The time passed very slowly, I could
distinctly hear the quarters strike and there seemed an eternity between
each. I traversed my cell, it only took two steps to get from one end to the
other, and I measured this space at least a thousand times. Sometimes I ate
a little of my bread, then I sat on my pallet, drank a little water, and stood
up again. 1 tried to sleep but my limbs ached after the first minute on the
hard wood. It was, moreover, rather cool, I ran up and down like a bear in
a menagerie — a resemblance further increased by my growls— holding out
my hands before me to prevent breaking my head against the wall. I
thought over all my sins, and also of a pretty young girl who perhaps at
that very moment was waiting for me, and at each sound would fancy she
heard me coming. I did what Jean Paul advises if one cannot sleep, and
counted up to a million. I conjugated irregular verbs until I became quite
puzzled.

All at once the rattle of the drums was heard before the guard-house, and
from the more distant town I could hear the tattoo sounding, so it was nine
o'clock and I
had still eight
hours to enjoy
before day re-
turned. I made
preparations
for sleep, fold-
ed my pocket-
handkerchief
and laid it un-
der my head,
rolled myself
up like a
hedge-hog and
covered my
breast and
arms with my
tunic which I
had taken off
for that pur-
pose as it
would keep me
warmer. After
numerous
changes of po-
sition I fell asleep at last, and had frightful dreams. Suddenly I awoke
with a start and recollected where I was. I heard a splash near me, a
little mouse had fallen into my water jug, I delivered it from a watery
grave, in return for which it bit my finger. I repeated my former manoeuvres,
rolling myself up and covering m)self over, and wished I had the horny
skin of Siegfried, and after many groans and sighs I slept again. I dreamt
many things, I was no longer a gay volunteer condemned to a short imprison-
ment for wearing a white waistcoat, I was a murderer and this was my last
night ; already I heai'd the clash of the arms of the guards coming to lead
me forth to death.

" 1 started up, awakened by a sudden light shining brightly in my eyes.
The door of my cell was open and before it stood the guard leaning on their
rifles, and the inspector, ' King of the Rats,' entered, ' He ! he!' said he, ' I
am the inspector come to examine the place and see if everything is in proper
order. So, my son, the tunic taken off. He ! he ! is that permitted.'' 1 have

348 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

a great mind to report you to the commandant, he does not understand
joking, and will give you three days' arrest, and you will not know whether
you are standing on your head or not. Put on that tunic immediately. He !
the green-horn has also spit on the ground. He ! what is the pail there for ?'
With that he shuffled out as quickly as his old legs would carry him, drew
the bolt, and I was again left in darkness. ...

"The night came to an end as everything does in this world. At six
o'clock my cell was again opened and surrounded by a guard — we were all
allowed to breathe the fresh air for a quarter of an hour in a little grated
court. The company assembled there resembled a band of marauders, the
remnant of a lingering war, rather than the peaceful soldiers of a well-regu-
lated force, who were in this horrible place, for some slight insubordination
or foolish prank. There were men of all sorts, infantry, artillery, pioneers,
in their oldest uniforms, become still more shabby after the sufferings of
several days' arrest, trousers without braces hung loose and showed a yellow
shirt, faces usually fresh and bright, had a grey look, for they were seldom
washed during arrest, the hair and beard straggled about in wild disorder,
for razors and combs were prohibited,

" During this morning promenade every one seemed to have forgotten the
sufferings of the night, there were laughter and joking going on, acquaintances
met and related to each other what brought them here, and they came to
the conclusion that all were equally innocent. The water jugs were re-
plenished, and when at the end of the appointed time ' Uncle' appeared in
the court and gave a significant sign, all followed him and were led back to
their respective cells. " ^

In the military prisons there are rooms, the walls and floors of
which are studded with sharp-pointed wooden spikes, so that
repose is all but impossible. These rooms go by the name of
the " Laths," and are no longer used excepting in very rare cases
as, for instance, when one of the chain gang becomes mutinous
to his guards. The mildest form of arrest is the guard-room, in
which the prisoner has a straw mattress in place of the wooden
bedstead, and a warm meal daily. The guard-room is also used
as a place of detention for soldiers awaiting trial by court-martial
for the commission of some crime, and the German susceptibility
makes this circumstance a cause of considerable annoyance to
those who are brought there only for some trivial offence. The
black hole is a place to which no ray of light penetrates, and in
which there is neither wooden bedstead nor straw mattress.
Confinement in this is generally awarded by sentence of court-
martial for serious offences, for periods of from three days to six
weeks.^

' F. W. Hacklander's Soldier in Time of Peace.

2 It should be noted that the morale of the Prussian Army is vastly superior
to our own, from the ranks of which year after year between i,6oo and 2,000
bad characters are expelled. The returns, moreover, show that in 1870
there were 3,303 British soldiers imprisoned in civil gaols and in the military
portion of Millbank penitentiary, without reckoning those contined in military
prisons and provost cells. In 1874 these numbers had increased to as
many as 5,584, or upwards of 60 per cent. Further, drunkenness would seem
to prevail to a fearful extent in the British army, as out of the money result-
ing from fines inflicted on those addicted to this vice by the authorities, no
less than 30,000/. was distributed during the year 1876 in gratuities to dis-
charged non-commissioned officers and men in the possession of good

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — BARRACK LIFE, ETC.

349

conduct badges. With regard to desertions from the army, the chaplain of
Millbank, who had made liimsclf acquainted with the reasons which induced
the deserters confined in that prison to quit the service, states that out of 6i6
men, 48 deserted through harshness of non-commissioned officers or bad
treatment from comrades, 114 through drink, i6i from dishke of the army,
72 through the persuasion of comrades, 12 from refusal of leave, i from
marriage without leave, 92 from having overstayed their furlough and not
liking to re-join, 100 to get something better to do, and 16 from debt.

Captain Creagh is of the opinion that " when it comes to pass that sum-
mary dismissal from the army will be looked upon as a punishment by all, as
it now would be by many, the social standing of the army will be raised in
the eyes of civilians, and its popularity and respectability increased as a
matter of course. In the army, as in many other classes of life, a few (!) black-
guards give a character to the mass, and people who say that our soldiers
are the dregs of the population, the oftscouring of gaols, and include them in
the usual categories of sin and wickedness under which they are popularly
supposed to be comprised, only show that they know very little about their
national defenders, and any man who knows soldiers well can say that in
every troop and company of the British army the majority of the non-com-
missioned officers and soldiers are men of the highest respectability, of whom
any army in the world might well be proud."

THE WAR OFFICE, BI2RLIN,

LIEUTENANT EXAMINING PRIVATE ON THE SUBJECT OF HIS PAY.

XIX.

TPIE PRUSSIAN ARMY,

-ORGANISATION, PAY, UNIFORMS AND

RATIONS.

EACH Prussian Army Corps, as already noted, is complete
in itself, consisting, with some slight exceptions, of two
divisions of infantry, one of cavalry, a regiment of field and a
regiment of siege artillery, a battalion of jagers, a battalion of
engineers, and a battalion of the military train.^ Each division
of infantry consists of two brigades, which in time of peace are
usually formed of two regiments of three battalions each. In war
the brigades are often reinforced by two regiments of landwehr.
A cavalry regiment is usually attached to each infantry division,
the remaining cavalry acting independently with batteries of
horse artillery. The Guards form an army corps of themselves,
and are quartered in and around Berlin. In peace each of the

' In a paper prepared by the Topographical and Statistical Department of
the Enghsh War Office, on the strength and organisation of a North German
Army Corps, it is stated that the numbers are in peace 21,599 men, with 915
officers ; in war 54,954 men, with 1,758 officers— making in the case of the
latter 56,712 in all. But after deducting the depot men left behind in the
corps province under a different command, the cavalry division often acting
independently, and the fusiliers abolished under the existing organisation,
the actual number of men brought into the field when a Prussian corps is
mobilized varies from 31,000 to 34,000.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — ORGANISATION, PAY, ETC. 35 I

Other army corps is assigned to its special province, so that the
regiments are recruited in the districts from which they take
their names. Princes and other individuals of rank and im-
portance are often placed at the head of Prussian regiments.
Thus Prince Bismarck is a colonel of cuirassiers, the Crown
Princess a colonel of hussars, and the Czar and Emperor of
Austria, with other members of foreign royal houses, command
regiments in the Prussian service. On all ceremonial occasions
the titular leader usually assumes the command, and a certain
number of fetes, dinners, with gifts of plate, are expected from
him.

With a centralised power and a decentralised administration,
wonderful results are effected. Subsistence for each corps is
drawn from its own province. In peace everything is kept
ready for the mobiHsation of the army for war, there being no
machinery for relieving subordinates in time of peace from the
responsibility they must necessarily assume in the event of a
contest. Every officer and every civil official knows what will be
his part when mobilisation is determined on, and the moment
this information is received, each springs to work without further
orders or explanations, but in so quiet and regular a way as to
be scarcely noticeable. Nor does this system date from )'ester-
day. Speaking of the rapidity with which Friedrich the Great's
father mobilised his forces, Mr. Carlyle remarks, " Captains, not
of an imaginary nature there, are always busy ; and the king
himself is busy over them. From big guns and waggon-horses
down to gun-flints and gaiter-straps, all is marked in registers ;
nothing is w^anting, nothing out of its place at any time in
Friedrich Wilhelm's army." The general commanding each
corps at once mobilises it ; the governors of fortresses take
steps to complete their armaments, and the heads of administra-
tion supply their needs for a war-footing.

The method is as follows. All orders are sent by telegraph to
the main stations, and the civil magistrates are required to serve
notices upon the reserves needed to be called out, at their homes
in their respective magistracies. The reserves at once assemble
at the head-quarters of the landwehr of the district, where they
undergo a medical examination, and are then forwarded to their
proper regiments. The field army is filled up to its full strength,
depot troops are formed, garrison troops are mustered, and
fortresses armed, the field administration is mobilized, and an
extensive staff, which performs home duties whilst the regular
field staff goes with the field army, is formed. At the conclu-
sion of a war and the disbandment of the extraordinary troops
called out, the standing army returns to a peace-footing, and
the reserves and landwehr are put upon furlough. Officers
called into service from the pension-list, and civil officials taken
from their ordinary posts, return to the places they occupied

352 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

before mobilisation. Paymasters, however, are retained upon the
war-footing for a sufficient time to allow of the settlement of their
accounts.

The interior economy of a regiment is regulated with an
almost painful minuteness, not only as regards matters of
discipline, but of administration. The arms, clothing, and
equipments are the property of the regiment, and are adminis-
tered by its own board of control, according to fixed regulations.
The commanding officer is president of the regimental board, and
should the funds of the regiment become exhausted, is authorised
to draw within certain limits on the general war fund. A certain
fixed sum is handed over annually to him for each soldier under
his command, a portion of which goes to the man as pay, the
rest being disbursed for arms, equipments, clothing, &c. The
lieutenant-colonel, as the second member of the board, super-
intends the business of the paymaster, and must see that the
books and accounts are properly kept and balanced. He is
responsible for the accuracy of all accounts, and in view of these
functions is excused from all field exercises. All organisations
manage their own funds, supplies of clothing, and entire equip-
ment. The regimental board has charge also of the funds for
keeping in order clothing and equipments, including the usual
equipments and arms, and for the messing arrangements. The
paymaster, who is an officer of the regiment, for there is no
pay-department proper in the Prussian army, receives and counts
the different regimental funds, keeps each in its proper safe, and
disburses them under the direction and supervision of the
regimental board. The money for the payment of troops,
together with allowances for the other funds, is received from
the War Department by the regimental commander, and the
paymaster's duties are those of a treasurer and cashier. He
directs the correspondences, calculations, and bookkeeping, and
does not attend drills or field manoeuvres.

Private deposits are not allowed to be made in the regimental
safes, but officers are allowed to receive the savings of their men
until the amount reaches about two pounds, when it must be
deposited, to secure interest. Contributions are made monthly
to the fund for officers' widows and to the officers' clothing fund.
The fund for the assistance of officers actually in want was
instituted by the War Department in 1869, and is for the benefit
of officers below the grade of captain. On mobilisation the
garrison troops receive stated amounts for this last fund and
for some others. The additional pension fund for artillery
officers is kept up by donations from officers of that corps,
and, together with a fund for the relief of widows of artillery
officers, is managed by a board selected from the artillery
brigade of the Guards at Berlin. The review fund accrues
from the sale of worn-out tools and unserviceable ordnance and

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — ORGANISATION, PAY, ETC. 353

building material, and from the rent of refreshment booths
on the review ground. It is applied to payment of damages
done to fields and crops during manoeuvres and for miscellaneous
purposes. Each battery of artillery receives a fund monthly
for repairs of harness and gun-carriages, and for making targets,
&c. There are also numerous other funds such as those for
the education of soldiers, for medical attendance and medicines
for the wives and children of soldiers, for horse medicines, for
regimental bands, for libraries and military charities, for swim-
ming schools, and for the decoration of cemeteries. All these
funds arc closely looked after and every groschen dispensed has
to be set down under its right heading. There is a story current
that von Moltke himself had to appear before a board of inquiry
at the close of the last campaign. A pound of snuff had been
supplied to him and the amount of one thaler ten groschen
figured in the accounts of the general war fund as its cost.
The board disapproved of this item, remarking that the Imperial
Treasury could not be charged with an expenditure affected to
the private needs of an individual, and the field-marshal was
requested to reimburse the amount. This is a fit pendant to the
story of how the English Ordnance Department for years
brought forward a claim against the Duke of Wellington for
sundry picks and shovels expended during the Peninsular
campaign, and not properly vouched for. Prussian generals
commanding armies and army corps, it may be noted, have to
supply their own office furniture.

Upon the mobilisation of the Prussian Army an extra allowance is made
by the Government for the purpose of providing an outfit for field service.
Mounted officers receive from 20 to 40 thaler for horse equipment. Members
of cadet corps promoted to lieutenancies, and non-commissioned officers
promoted to commissions, receive 20 thaler in the infantry and 40 in
the cavalry and artillery. The War Department also allows sergeants thus
promoted while on active service an equipment fee of 150 thaler. Loss of
uniform and equipments on active service validates a claim for 70 thaler.

The pay of all ranks in war time is supplemented by allowances. A bat-
tahon commander for instance receives 30 thaler, and a battalion adjutant
10 thaler per month extra. On taking the field both officers and soldiers
may arrange to have one half their pay handed over to their families. These
payments are made monthly in advance, and continue if the officer is sick
or under arrest, and in case of his death do not cease till the end of the
month. In peace a general receives 4,000 thaler per annum, a major-general
3,oco, a colonel of cavalry 2,600, of infantry 2,000, a lieutenant-colonel of
cavalry 1,800, of infantry 1,300, a captain of cavalr}', artillery, or engineers
from 720 to 1,300, of infantry from 600 to 1,200, a lieutenant from 300 to
420, according to his standing and the branch of the service to which he
belongs.

High civilian officials called on for the performance of their usual vocation
with the army are tolerably well paid. Surgeons, hospital inspectors, &c.,
receive from i thaler 24 groschen to 3 thaler 15 groschen per diem ; chap-
lains, who are paid from a special fund, and auditors 2 thaler, field post-
masters and field telegraph inspectors 2 thaler, field intendents 3 thaler,
railway officials i thaler 15 groschen to 3 thaler 15 groschen, or in an enemy's

A A

354 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

country 5 thaler. Ever)' civil official thus called into service at the mobilisa-
tion receives two or three months' salary in advance.

The monthly pay of a sergeant of cavaln.-, artillery, engineers, or train, is
from 8 to I2 thaler, of infantry from 8 thaler 15 groschen to 10 thaler 15
groschen ; of a corporal of cavalry, &c., from 6 thaler 15 groschen to 9 thaler,
of infantry 5 thaler to 7 thaler 15 groschen. Privates of artillery receive
5 thaler, of cavalry 4 thaler, and of infantry 3 thaler 15 groschen per
month.

A popular caricature depicts a Prussian lieutenant questioning
a grenadier with reference to the amount of his pay, and the
mode in which it is required to be disbursed, which will be
best understood by quoting the dialogue that ensues in detail. —
Lieutenant : " Grenadier Eisenbeiser, What is the daily pay
received by our foot soldiers ? " — Grenadier : " 3^ groschen (4^^-)
per day. — Lieutenant : "Yes, but from this i^ groschen has to be
set apart for messing ; now tell me what is the soldier required to
furnish himself with out of the remaining 2} groschen (2^d.)" —
Grenadier: " He has to provide his cleaning apparatus including
various brushes, such as blacking, polishing, clothes, tooth, gun,
and hair brushes, also wadding, stocks, varnish, blacking, stearine
and gun-oil, lime, lard, soap, combs, looking-glass." — Lieutenant :
" Yes, and beside these he has to pay for his washing, and also
his supper out of it ; that is to say he can if he pleases buy
a piece of brick-like cheese, to eat with his ammunition bread,
ajid if he is thirsty, there is a large jug of water standing in
every room. His instructions run that he is so to apportion his
pay, as never to exceed the due portion per diem, and further
that he is to lead a respectable life and never run into debt." ^

The sum set apart for messing is supplemented by an allow-
ance from the government, which varies according to the garrison,
and is fixed regularly every quarter, as well as by a daily ration
of i^ lb. of coarse bread per man. The result is that each
soldier has his bowl of gruel or coffee in the morning and a meal
in the middle of the day provided for him, and that for his supper
he is dependent on him.self The men are paid on the ist, i ith,
and 2 1 St of each month, and in the case of those who are in the
habit of spending it at once and saving nothing for their messing,
the money is handed to a non-commissioned officer who deducts
the sum required and hands the rest to the soldier.

In war time the reserves and garrison troops are on a peace-
footing, and when a man is made prisoner his pay ceases.
Officers and officials in hospitals receive full pay, and soldiers
sent to hospital receive a slight addition to their pay. When

• The low scale of pay in the Prussian Army tells in the aggregate, as Mr.
Holms estimates that for an outlay of 12,000,000/. Prussia has an army of
470,000 men, 86,000 horses, and 594 guns, whereas Great Britain for an
expenditure of 13,700,000/. has only 230,000 men, of whom 100,000 are un-
trained militia, while of the remainder no more than 78,500 are of the
proper military age, namely between 20 and 22. In place of 86,000 horses
Great Britain has nearly 15,000, and instead of 594 guns she has but 340,

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — ORGANISATION, PAV, ETC. 355

soldiers are taken ill on the march and there is no surgeon on
duty with the command, they are conveyed to the nearest suitable
house and a civil physician summoned to attend them, who is
entitled to a thaler a visit. Sick men in the reserve hospitals
receive pay as if on a peace-footing. Officers and soldiers on
sick-leave receive full pay, but on ordinary leave pay stops at
the end of six months. In case of death the family of the
deceased receives one month's pay, called a grace salary, upon
which the creditors have no claim. Soldiers under ordinary
arrest or confinement receive full pay. When under close arrest
they forfeit about i?> groschen a day. Officers in confinement or
suspended by sentence of court-martial receive no pay after the
forty-sixth day of such confinement or suspension. An addition
is made to the pay of military prisoners for activity and good
conduct, and their leisure hours are employed in work for them-
selves and at school.

A prisoner acting as teacher receives 40 groschen per week ; half of this sum
is deducted for tobacco and spirits, and the other half saved up and handed
to him at the expiration of his sentence. Soldiers in charge of prisoners
receive an addition to their pay of 2 thaler per month. Officers of the
enemy held as prisoners of war receive a monthly allowance of 25 thaler
paid in advance, but privates only receive food and clothing. Extra pay
according to length of service is given to drummers, buglers, and bandsmen.
The best marksman of a regiment receives additional pay, but for one year
only. Prizes are given to Polish soldiers for proficiency in learning the
German language, the best scholar in a company receiving 5 and the second
best 3 thaler per annum. Holders of the military merit cross receive 3
thaler, and of the military honour token of the first class i thaler per month
additional pay. Officers holding medals for bravery in action during the
years 18 13-4-5 get 8 thaler per month. Lieutenants detached as instructors
in technical schools receive 9 thaler per month, officers on duty at the
artillery school 50 thalers per annum, and officers detached for topographical
duties 20 thaler per month extra pay. To officers on duties connected with
trigonometrical surveys 40 groschen per day are allowed for travelling
expenses. Officers of the Militaiy Academy attending the Spring or Autumn
manoeuvres receive 8 thaler per month. During the annual drills a captain
of the landwehr receives 2 thaler 15 groschen, a lieutenant i thaler, and
a second heutenant 15 groschen per day.

The same categorical exactitude which marks all money
matters extends to the soldier's clothing. These are not the pro-
perty of the man by whom they are worn, but of the regiment,
though each man is held responsible for his arms and equip-
ments, and if any are lost by his fault the loss is usually made
up by the company if he has previously borne a good character ;
if not he must pay for them. The commanding officer of the
regiment is responsible for the clothing and entire equipment of
his command, and general officers have a like responsibility.
All materials for clothing are furnished to the tailors, who are
enlisted men, and are by them made up for the different regi-
ments, all articles of clothing being twice inspected before being
issued. Non-commissioned officers and privates, except one-year

A A 2

356 r.ERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

volunteers, are furnished with all articles of clothing and equip-
ment required during their term of service. The clothes are
kept in stock by the regiment. There are three suits for each
soldier. That for everj-day wear he hands in every Saturday
night and receives in exchange the one for Sundays. This is
also given out to him when he has leave to go into the town.
He has still another, brought out only on great occasions, such
as reviews before the king. The clothing is in charge of the first
sergeant, and though on an average each suit lasts only a year,
each of the old suits being degraded one degree in importance
as a new one is issued, such is the care taken that there are suits
in stock that have been in service twenty years. This applies
only to garrison life, for when the army takes the field only one
suit is worn. Soldiers discharged for disability during the
winter months, if of feeble constitution, are furnished with an
overcoat, which must be handed in to the proper authority on
their arrival at home. Each man on joining receives his
outfit.

For the infantry the outfit consists of a cap, a tunic, a linen jacket, one
pair each of cloth and linen trousers, a great-coat, stock, and one pair of
each of the following : drawers, stockings (which are necessarily only worn on
exceptional occasions), mittens, ear coverings, boots, shoes, and two pairs ot
half-soled ditto.

In the cavalry each man receives a cap, a linen jacket, one pair each
of kersey and cloth trousers, the latter faced with leather, together with
a pair of stable trousers, a great coat, stock, shirt, and one pair each of
drawers, stockings, long boots, shoes, gloves, and ear coverings. These ear
coverings are a kind of light hood worn under the helmet, the sides being
brought down and fastened under the chin.

The soldier is allowed annually two pairs of cotton drawers, two cotton
shirts, a cotton suit for drilling, two black cloth stocks, and two pairs of boots.
In garrison he receives two double blankets in winter and one in summer, one
coverlet, one mattress, one pillow, and a couple of sheets. The garrison
administration pays for the washing of the bed furniture, but each man is
required to see to the washing of his own clothes.

In time of peace the rations, with the exception of the govern-
ment allowance of bread, are determined by a board of officers,
and vary with the products and prices of different localities.
Although it is a theory with the Prussians that an army, like a
serpent, goes upon its belly in time of war, officers and soldiers
alike are only entitled to one ration in kind daily ; commutations
are not then allowed, excepting under special circumstances.

The ration consists of twelve ounces of beef or mutton, or two-thirds of
a pound of salt pork ; a pound and a half of bread, which may be increased
to two pounds ; four ounces of rice and four ounces of barley or grits, or
eight ounces of peas or beans ; half a pound of flour or three pounds of
potatoes ; four ounces of salt and four ounces of green coffee. The cost of
this ration is about eight or nifie groschen, and the general commanding
directs which of the component parts shall be issued, and in case of want of
means of transport has the power of reducing it. The general commanding
may also authorize the issue of beer, wine, tobacco, and butter when they are

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — ORGANISATION, PAY, ETC. 357

obtainable, together with dried fruit, sauerkraut, and vegetables. In the
field the ration may be increased to a pound of meat, a third of a pound of
rice, and the same of barley or grits, or two-thirds of a pound of peas or
beans, and four pounds of potatoes.

When troops are travelling by rail or steamboat an extra
allowance of money is made for procuring refreshments on the
line of travel, and commanding officers are required to see that
each man carries with him at least a pound of bread and a
suitable quantity of salt pork and spirits as a reserve ration. In
case there should be no proper accommodation for the men on
the line of travel, stores with butchers and bakers are sent
forward in charge of an officer, and warm meals are prepared in
advance for the troops. The issue of provisions must in every
case be witnessed by a company officer, and officers in command
of posts are required to thoroughly inspect all articles received.

In an enemy's country the rule is that " supplies are obtained
by requisitions upon the inhabitants through their own civil
officers, if possible, but no more than the home price of the
article so obtained is paid under any circumstances." This
sounds very prettily, but the payment consists of a piece of
paper on which is scrawled the sum considered by the officer
conducting the operation of requisitioning the foe equivalent for
what he receives, and as it very often happens that a town or
village is subjected to a monetary penalty for some real or
fancied infraction of the rules of war as laid down by Prussian
authorities, by the time debtor and creditor accounts are balanced,
if any money at all is to be received, it is by the invaders and
not by the invaded.

XX.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — INFANTRY AND CAVALRY.

WITH the Prussian infantry soldier every one is pretty well
acquainted. He has been sketched on the march as
follows : " His overcoat is made into a long, slender roll, and hung
on the left shoulder, the two ends coming together and being
fastened on the right hip. His haversack, of coarse white
canvas, and glass canteen covered with leather, are slung from
the right shoulder. Around the flask are buckled two broad
straps, used in peace to cover the sights of the gun. He wears
no shoulder-belt, but a pipe-clayed waist-belt, on which are
strapped two cartridge-boxes of black leather, carried on either
side, each box holding twenty cartridges. The knapsack is of
calf-skin, tanned with the hair on, and stretched on a wooden
frame, and is slung by two pipe-clayed leathern straps, hooked
to the waist-belt in front and then passing over the shoulders.
Two short straps attached to these in front pass back under the
armpits, and are fastened to the knapsack. On each end of this
outside is a deep box, in which is carried a case of twenty
cartridges. Within are one shirt of white flannel, one pair of
drawers, one pair of drill trousers, a short jacket, one pair of
boots, and the cleaning and toilet kit, consisting of four or five

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — INFANTRY AND CAVALRY. 359

brushes for the clothes, hair, teeth, gun, blacking, and polishin"-,
a box of rotten stone, a bottle of oil, and the usual number of
old greasy rags for cleaning, together with writing materials
and a roll of bandages. On the top of the knapsack is strapped
a galvanized iron pot, holding about three quarts, with a tight-
fitting cover, which is used separately for cooking. Within the
knapsack, slipped into little loops, are a spoon, knife, fork, comb,
and small mirror. In his haversack is carried whatever may be
the food for the day."

The knapsack itself is heavy and clumsy, and when fully
packed weighs some fifty pounds, which is a stone and a half
beyond the weight an English infantry soldier is required to
carry. This leads to the knapsacks being usually conveyed in a
cart which is attached to each company in time of war in order
to facilitate the speedy movements of the troops. The Prussians
are duly mindful of the familiar saying that more battles are
won by marching than by fighting, and have never forgotten
that much of the success of Friedrich the Great was due to
the celerity with which his troops had been trained to cover
the ground. They therefore do all they can to ensure excel-
lence in the locomotive powers of their men. Before a
recruit is entered in the infantry he is carefully examined in
order to see whether his feet will bear the strain of long
marches, and the greatest attention is paid to the fit of the
excellent boots with which each man is provided. The march-
ing of the Prussian troops in the late war and the way in
which MacMahon's army was overtaken despite its flying
start and hindered from joining Bazaine, is a proof that such
care is sure to reap its due reward.

The Prussian infantry soldier wears a single-breasted tunic
of blue cloth with red facings, very dark grey trousers, with
a red cord down the seam, half-wellington boots and no stock-
ings, but a greased linen rag wrapped around the foot. He
carries on his waistbelt a strong sword fifteen inches long,
which he can use for defence or for cutting wood, or materials for
fascines or gabions. His gun is unburnished, so that it may not
attract the enemy by flashing in the sun, and is pretty well
coated with grease. He carries no blanket, but hopes at night
to find some straw for his bed. He wears on his head either a
flat forage cap of blue cloth with a red band, or a glazed leather
helmet with a brass Prussian eagle displayed in front, and a
brass spike about two inches high at the top. A leather pouch
for money is hung about the neck, and also a zinc plate attached
to a cord on which is the soldier's name, number, company, and
regiment.

Each Prussian infantry regiment has a colonel, a Heutenant-colonel, and
a lieutenant acting as adjutant, and is divided into three battalions. Each
battalion has a major, an assistant, a surgeon, an assistant-surgeon, a pay-

360 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

master, a quarter-master, and two non-commissioned staff officers, and is
divided into four companies. The various companies are composed of a
captain, one first and one second lieutenant, and two hundred and fifty
enlisted men, but on a peace footing these are not all with the colours. Each
battalion of all regiments of the line on a peace footing has a strength of 18
officers and 532 men. The battalions of the fine old regiments of the Guards,
namely, the ist and 2nd foot Guards, the ist and 2nd grenadiers of the
Guard and the fusiliers of the Guard, number 22 officers and 684 men on
a peace footing. In these five regiments and in the 4th grenadiers of the Guard,
the regimental band, numbering 48 men, is borne on the staff. In the 40 old
regiments of the line 10 bandsmen are borne on the staff with 32 more taken
from the strength of the companies as assistants. In the remaining regiments,
whether of the (Guards or the line, 10 are borne on the staff and 12 taken
from the companies. As in the days of our " Tow-rows " and " Light Bobs,"
the Prussians btill embody the tallest men of the battalion in the right flank
company. Each battalion in war has one six-horse waggon with munitions,
one four-horse waggon containing the pay chest and accounts of the batta-
lion, articles of uniform in reserve, and the shoemakers' and tailors' tools,
one four-horse waggon for the ofTicers' equipage, one two-horse cart with
drugs and medicines, and four horses with pack saddles packed with the
books of the four companies.

The existing fusilier battalion of a line regiment differs from the other
battalions only in name. The jiiger battalions are armed with superior rifles,
and are formed, as far as possible, of men who have been foresters and as-
sistants to gamekeepers, and who wish to resume the same occupation on
leaving the service. A battalion of jagers on a peace footing consists of
22 officers and 532 men, each of the four companies being divided into
smaller commands of about 20 men each, at the head of which is a non-
commissioned officer. On a peace footing there are from six to eight such
commands, whereas in war time there are generally twelve. A body formed of
two or three of these smaller commands, and commanded by an officer, is
called an inspection, still it does not rank as an intermediate command
between the captaincy of the company and the command of the non-coni-
missioned officer.

The favourite fighting formation of the Prussian infantry is the
well-known company column. They have a line formation, but this
is only used for parade, being they maintain, too stiff for battle,
especially on broken ground. This parade line has three ranks, the
rear rank having hitherto been composed theoretically of skir-
mishers. The company is divided into two parts or zii^e, and in
forming the company column the first and second ranks of one
zicg form about six paces behind the first and second rank of the
other ziig, while the entire third rank stepping back the same
distance forms a third zng also two-deep. When a closer order
is required a column is formed of hdM-ziige, comprising four of
the two first ranks and two of the third or " shooting " rank.
The Prussians, recognising that with the present improved small
arms nothing presenting a fair target, either as line or column,
can advance and survive, depend greatly upon the employment
of skirmishers. They argue that small columns are best adapted
for concealment whilst at long range, because they can best take
advantage of inequalities of ground.

During the last war, the battalion being formed in company
columns, usually one or both of the flank companies were sent

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— INFANTRY AND CAVALRY. 36 1

forward, still on the flank, and their third ziig of skirmishers
covered the whole part of the battalion. Each company with its
mounted captain then worked almost as a free and separate
body. But it was found impossible to keep the companies
intact. As the men advanced, gathering behind hillocks, wind-
ing through hollows, and rushing on as best they could, the
different ziige became mixed up, and afterwards those of the
different companies, battalions, and even brigades and divisions.
There was no hindering this mixture of different bodies ; the
Prussians therefore, accepting it as a necessity of war, now seek
to train their men in such a manner as to accustom them to this
apparent but not real unsteadiness. The actual drill has not been
altered because the company column formation can adapt itself to
varying circumstances, but in practice little or no distinction is
made between the third rank, which formerly consisted of skir-
mishers, and the other two ranks. Two and sometimes three com-
panies are sent out in a body to skirmish while the remainder of
the battalion serves as a support or reserve. The entire battalion
is sometimes sent out in skirmishing order, but more commonly,
three companies skirmish to the front whilst a flank company
endeavours to gain the enemy's flank, attacking by skirmishing
when it grips the enemy. At other times one line of skirmishers
makes a rush forward, the men throwing themselves down and
firing to cover the advance of a second line through them, who
in their turn repeat the movement.

Even if the " column of attack " is employed, its way is paved
by swarms of skirmishers. As the range and rapidity of fire has
increased, a given number of men cover more ground by their
fire than they used to do. Therefore open spaces may be left
behind as well as on the flanks of advancing bodies, and un-
favourable and exposed ground may be avoided. This has
especially been the case of late, and instead of covering the
entire country with little detachments and corps without number,
the aim at recent manoeuvres has been mainly to be stronger
than the enemy at certain given points.

A Prussian military authority has laid down the rule that a
force of infantry in making an attack can never be too strong, as
its commander can never be perfectly sure of what forces he
may have to encounter, or at what moment the defender may
turn and make a counter-attack. Infantry, unlike cavalry, is not
put hors de combat by a repulse, and an attack made with merely
a portion of the force at command at once suggests the possi-
bility of failure. Moreover in these days, with the deadly effects
of the modern rifle, it is simply destruction to go back. When
attacks are made upon a large scale, three lines of troops are
formed, the first two being as a rule furnished by one battalion,
and the third by another regiment or brigade immediately in the
rear. Then long lines of skirmishers are thrown out and sup-

362 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

ported by company columns ; after attack comes the invariable
turning movement and then the final attack to beat of drum.
The whole system has been summed up as " offensive tactics
whenever they are at all possible, with swarms of skirmishers
taking every advantage of ground with the greatest independence
allowed to the smallest bodies." The danger of the men getting
mixed beyond recall is mitigated by their being constantly and
assiduously practised in rallying on their officers at voice or
bugle. When a position has been carried, the infantry no longer
seek to pursue the enemy as formerly. They remain stationary,
continuing their fire until the arrival of the artillery, which then
undertakes the real pursuit.

The cavalry always scouring the front renders the infantry
safe from attack and relieves them from harassing outpost duty.
The rule is : " Be as economical as is consistent with safety ; do
not place sentries where an enemy could not advance ; watch
especially the roads and hold them strongly. Move cavalry by
day, and infantry by night, but always with each infantry post
some cavalry to carry messages." In teaching the men outpost
duty they are not merely placed but something is given them to
do, and it is considered advisable to oblige patrols to bring in
certain information in order to show that they have not shirked
their duty. For instance, the officer may say " Patrol as far as
that stream, ascertain its depth, and see whether that bridge is of
wood or stone."

The arm with which the Prussian infantry is now supplied is
the Mauser rifle, though with some considerable modification of
the original design. It is on the central fire principle, with a
short needle and metal cartridge, and is lighter and handier than
the Bavarian Werder or the French Chassepot. It is loaded
in two moments and can be fired twenty-six times a minute,
twice more than the Werder. This represents about ten shots a
minute in volley firing in the hands of ordinary troops and from
ten to fifteen in independent firing. It is sighted up to about
seventeen hundred yards, and the flatness of trajectory answers
the highest expectations.

Ever since the advent of Prussia as a military power, the
cavalry arm has been one to which the most unwearying atten-
tion has been directed, and with results fully justifying the care
bestowed upon it. Friedrich Wilhelm I., that " great drill sergeant
of the Prussian nation," carefully studied the tactics of the Austrian
hussars, then the first in Europe, sending Ziethen amongst them
to learn their various evolutions, which he did with a success
most painfully convincing to his tutor Baronay when they met in
the saddle at Rothschloss. Ziethen and his fellow cavalry general
Seydlitz, the Achilles of the Prussians, are the two best known of
all the heroes that the Great PViedrich gathered around him, and
grim old Bliicher, equally high enshrined in the national Walhalla,

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — INFANTRY AND CAVALRY. ^6^

was also a cavalry leader. Ziethen and Seydlitz, whose dashing
charges alone saved the day when all looked desperate at Zorndorfir,
were the two best cavalry generals of their day, and their prin-
ciples, copied by friend and foe for many successive generations,
were those adopted in Napoleon's day by Kellermann and Murat.
After Waterloo the cavalry rested somewhat upon its laurels,
and in 1866 showed at a disadvantage compared to the infantry,
contributing little or nothing towards the success obtained. But
in J 870 it more than recovered its reputation, and military Europe

was astounded by the way in which it was employed to hover
about the enemy and to serve as the eyes, ears, and feelers
of an advancing army, whilst the French cavalry, reserved for
charging in masses in the old fashion against troops armed
with breech-loaders, was annihilated in every battle in which it
engaged.

If the uniforms of the Prussian infantry are sombre and
monotonous there is no lack of bright colours and fanciful
designs in those of the mounted troops. Cuirassiers with helmets
closely representing those of Cromwell's Ironsides, or crested with
the emblematical eagle of the monarchy, white tunics, and jack
boots rising to mid-thigh ; uhlans muffled in the long great-coats
that but for lance and schapska might cause them to be taken
for infantry on horseback, or displaying gay-coloured plastrons

3^4

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

on their manly beasts ; hussars in the brightest of skyblue from
neck to knee or in scanty red tunics Hberally befrogged with

white, darkish
green skin-
tight panta-
loons and hes-
sian boots, all
help to lend
that element
of smartness
and variety of
attire which
we associate
with military
spectacles.The
cuirassiers are
armed with
pistols and sa-
bre, the uhlans,
who are count-
ed as heavy
cavalry, with
lance, pistols,
and sabre,

and the light
cavalry with
carbine and sabre. German cavalry blades have always had
a good reputation, but the pistols are old-fashioned muzzle-
loading smooth-bores, likely to prove from their size and weight
far more useful when empty at close quarters than serviceable as
arms of precision ; the uhlan lances too are cumbersome and
heavy. By recent regulation thirty-two men in every squadron
of lancers are armed with breech-loading Chassepots shooting
well up to five hundred yards. The cuirass is still held in
esteem. Of the ten cuirassier regiments, seven have steel and
three brass cuirasses, which latter are reckoned the best on
account of their being easier to clean after rain. They are all
tested by being fired at at a distance of about four hundred
yards before being used.

With respect to the horse equipment, the valise is not carried,
and the weight is taken off the weakest part of the horse,
namely, the small of the back. Two kinds of saddles are used,
one, the Hungarian, for uhlans and hussars, and the other, the
German saddle, for cuirassiers only. The first of these saddles
has a tree " composed of two side-pieces of wood attached at
the ends by cast-iron forks made to form a decided pommel and
cantle, the latter being very high and terminating backward in
a handle by which the saddle is seized ; a strip of leather drawn

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— INFANTRY AND CAYALRY. 36:

tightly connects the two pieces of iron and is laced across with
leather thongs, thus supporting much of the weight of the rider.
The seat is covered with a close-fitting padded leather cushion.
Several strong cords are fastened to the under portion of these
side-pieces by means of which a temporary padding of straw, laid
straight and made to fit precisely to the shape of the horse, is
firmly attached to the tree. This can be changed in a few
minutes as the animal may alter in condition, or when the saddle
is shifted to another horse. The front portion of the padded
leather cushion terminates in a thin bag in which the trooper
carries his under-clothing. The girth ends in three buckle straps
and is made of some twenty or thirty small cords. A breast
strap and crupper and plain iron stirrups with ordinary straps
complete the saddle. A double wool blanket is carried under-
neath the saddle to cover the horse when necessary. Over the
whole is a shabrack of cloth lined with coarse linen. On each
side of the cantle are iron rings, to which are attached spare
shoes hanging under the shabrack. The mantle of the trooper
is fastened to the shabrack, and on the top of it one ration of
grain is carried in a small sack. Both mantle and sack are so
elongated as to lie across the cantle and hang down on
each side of it. On the right side of the pommel is a coiled
picket rope, and on the left a simple cooking kit. A surcingle of
leather is now put on and a narrow leather strap is fastened under
the thighs of the rider and passes around the pack in rear and
holster in front, under the cantle and pommel, holding everything
firmly in its place. In the left hand holster are carried brushes
and a personal kit, and in the other a pistol. A cotton stable
frock is thrown over the front of the saddle. The bridle is
double with a powerful curl- bit and a light snaftie rein buckling
on to the bottoms of the single check pieces. The weight of
this equipment is from seventy to eighty pounds." The objection
to the Hungarian saddle is that it gives an uncomfortable seat,
■whilst that employed by the cuirassier, resembling a large and
heavy English hunting saddle, though more agreeable for the
rider, is apt to give the horse a sore back.

Each cavalry regiment on a peace footing numbers 25 officers,
from 713 to 716 men, and 672 horses, divided into five squadrons,
but though the nominal strength of a squadron in peace is from
120 to 135 horses, only about 100 appear on parade. In war
one squadron remains in garrison, forming the nucleus of rein-
forcements, and 23 officers, 653 men, 705 horses, and 7 waggons
take the field. In consequence of the three years' service
system, the men are more employed in drilling and learning to
ride than in cleaning and polishing their dress, arms, and accou-
trements, and, save on gala occasions, a Prussian cavalry regi-
ment does not present the same appearance of smartness as one
of our own.

366

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The great central school of instruction for the cavalry of the
German army is at Hanover, but every cavalry [barracks has
both covered and open riding schools, the latter fitted with a
number of made jumps of various descriptions, over which
recruits are almost daily exercised. Officers and men are most

thoroughly instructed, not only in the mechanism of drills and
evolutions, but also in the details of field duty under all the
varying circumstances that may occur in war. In the summer
they practise outpost duty four days a week, one part of the
regiment opposing the other, and on the fifth day there is usually
a commanding officers' drill ; two days a week, including Sunday,
being kept as days of rest for the horses. The habit of rallying
as quickly as possible round the colours, the supports, or the
commander, is practised continually, and, indeed, the cavalry now
practise skirmishing and assembling at any point as industriously
as the infantry. They are exercised in the melee, and after every
charge or attack, squadrons either scatter to pursue, or on their
own ground disarrange their ranks, the men going through the
sword exercise with one another. They are then accustomed to
rally quickly in rear of the squadron border, and to manoeuvre
without waiting to tell off the ranks.

According to the present system, in time of war a regiment of
cavalry is attached to each division of infantry for advanced
guards, outpost duties, patrols, and orderlies. The remainder,
formed into divisions, veil the arrangement and movements of the
infantry corps, and collect information respecting the movements
of the enemy, and on an advance cover and clear the whole

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — INFANTRY AND CAVALRY. 367

country for at least a day's march if possible. On coming up with
the enemy they hold him in check till the arrival of the infantry
if necessary, or fall back to protect the flanks or maintain com-
munication between separated corps. A cavalry division of three
brigades, each brigade consisting of three regiments with at the
most three batteries, is strong enough, according to the latest
authorities, on the one hand to make a detached reconnaissance.
or to cover the advance of an army in its rear, or, on the other
hand, to co-operate decisively so as to ensure victory on the
battle-field.

The principles kept in view by the reformers of Prussian
cavalry tactics are in the main two, the greater independence of
subordinate officers, especially squadron leaders, in accordance
with the practice already adopted in the infantry, and the forma-
tion of the whole body into three lines instead of two, so as to
ensure a succession of reserves. The leaders of the first two
lines, or brigades, are, when fighting is to be done, not to wait
for orders from the leader of the division, but to act upon their
own judgment, and charge home at every opportunity, the
second following the movements of the first so as to be ready to
support it offensively or defensively. The third line, on the
other hand, is held specially at the orders of the divisional com-
mander, but its leader must never hesitate to use his own discre-
tion in aiding his comrades. " The squadron is formed in double
rank, and is divided into four divisions, each led and commanded
by an officer. The usual formation for a regiment in presence
of an enemy is squadrons in column of divisions at deploying
distance. Some are only formed for the purpose of charging,
and the previous formation is resumed as soon as the charge has
been executed." It is laid down, too, that, " the squadron, unin-
fluenced by its fellows on either side, has only to follow its
leader, who alone is responsible for the direction of his squadron
and its relative position to other squadrons."

The cavalry work mainly by sound of trumpet, and compara-
tively little by word of command. Each regiment has its
separate call, and there is a general call for each squadron
according to its number, so that by sounding the regimental
and then this numerical call a single squadron can be detached
and recalled. The general rules now laid down are, that it is the
mission of the first line to break through the enemy by a direct
attack, that of the second to turn his flank as his attention is
being occupied by the danger in his front, while the third line
acts as a reserve for the first or second as occasion may require,
but in all cases when charging to press boldly home.

The text-book of General von Mirus is the Koran of the
Prussian trooper. It especially illustrates the leading military
maxim that soldiers in their peace studies should always be
called upon to imagine an enemy before them. Every young

368 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

soldier is enjoined to make the best use of his time in peace, in
order that he may be efficient in war. It is necessary for him
to learn his drills, still he has to learn his field duty, which is
more important than all. Again and again too, in all German
books of instruction, officers and men are called upon to think
for themselves. General rules are given for all things, but a man
has to think for himself in applying them, and at all times it is
held to be no defence to quote a regulation as an excuse for
behaving with a want of intelligence.

On coming into contact with the enemy, the troopers when
ordered to advance are to charge boldly home. If there are gaps
in the enemy's line they are to dash through and cut a road for
those who follow. There must be no gaps in the charging line,
and no man is to hang back. The soldier is told to remember
" that his sovereign and country will honour and reward his
bravery, and that in the greatest danger his life is watched over
by Almighty God." If he sees a colour, an officer, or a comrade
in danger, he must hasten to the spot. No man is to yield
himself prisoner because he is surrounded, unless he is disabled
by a wound or has lost his horse. If captured, however, he is
to bear his misfortune with dignity, and so earn his adversary's
respect. If his horse is killed he is to try and save the saddlery,
or to catch a riderless horse and appropriate him, or if this is
impossible, he is expected to make his way to the nearest in-
fantry and fight in their ranks to the best of his power.

Directions are even given by General von Mirus for single
combat, the lancer being recommended to strike his adversary's
horse on the head to make it shy, and the swordsman to thrust
at his antagonist's stomach or to cut at him over the back of the
head, on the arms, or the bridle hand. The blade of the sword
must be sharp, " and its possessor must never dishonour nor
destroy it by putting it to a use for which it was never intended."
The necessity of subordination and obedience is strongly incul-
cated. " Every sign, look, or command must be obeyed in-
stantaneously and implicitly." Especially is this the case when
withdrawing from a fight or pursuit.

The efficiency of the Prussian cavalry is due, not only to the
intelligent training of the men, but to the wonderful endurance
of their horses. The greatest attention is paid to the mounting
of this branch of the service. About 7,000 horses are annually
required for the cavalry and artillery, and these are procured
partly from the government breeding-studs, and partly by pur-
chase. There are upwards of a dozen remount depots in North
Germany, and the government has possessed itself of some of
the best English animals, which are bred into the hardier native
stock for military purposes. Certain foals, bred by government
stallions, may be claimed at a fixed rate, which was lately 150
thaler. Those bought are generally three or four years old

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. - INFANTRY AND CAYAI.RY. 369

and are sent to a remount depot, not being allowed to take their
])lace in the ranks of a rcfjimcnt in the held till six years old.
All must conform to a fixed standard as rcgard.s age, height,
and condition, and must pass a board of inspection, consisting
of two commissioned officers, and a veterinary surgeon, and
which also condemns such horses in the regiment as are found
unfit for service. These are sold out, and an equal number
are bought to take their places. Horses captured from the
enemy must be turned over at once lo the officer in charge:
of the horse depot, a premium of eighteen thaler being paid
for each one found serviceable.

The forage ration is of two kinds, light and heavy. The
heavy ration consists of eleven-and-a-quarter pounds of oat.s,
barley, or rye, three pounds of hay, and three pounds and a
half of straw. In the light rations, the amount of corn is ten

pounds. Heavy rations are issued 10 horses of the cav^alry and
to officers' horses, light rations to all others. The actual delivery
of forage supplies to troops must be witnessed, and such sup-
plies thoroughly inspected at the time by an officer. The
horses of both cavalry and artillery are lighter looking than
our own, from this spare diet and the constant exercise to which
they are put. The principle of the Prussian cavalry in field
manoeuvres is rapidity of movement, and the animals always
look in condition to gallop for their lives. They are naturally

E B

3/0 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

hardy, and enduring qualities are secured by the practice of
leaving them free from all hard work in the army till they are
of a proper age. For this reason they are expected, if they
escape accidents, to continue in good working order until they
are seventeen years old.

An eye-witness of the manoeuvres of 1875, at Walstrode,
bears testimony to the extraordinarily hard-working condition
of the Prussian troop horses. Continually galloping, they never
seemed to blow or tire, and in the many long advances went at
a most rapid pace. Even at the close of the day, none were seen
lagging behind or falling back in the ranks, as invariably
happens with underbred and underfed horses. The kits were
fairly heavy, almost unnecessarily so ; the shabracks, wallets,
cloaks, mess tins, piquet ropes, &c., being worn. The cuirassiers
had on their cuirasses, and in fact, with the exception of the
forage, and probably some of the extra kit in the wallets, all
rode as heavy as they would on the march in a campaign.
The importance of great speed is well understood, since Moltke
himself remarks that the essential component of the cavalry arm
is the horse, and that a dragoon possesses in a well-fed, not
over-weighted animal, the best security against modern fire-arms,
by reason of the rapidity with which he can manoeuvre.

The excellence of the German cavalry horses is explained by
the circumstances of there being no hunting in the country, and
of but few men of wealth keeping large studs ; consequently,
nearly all the best horses, including those bred by the govern-
ment stallions, find their way to the Army. The choicest of
these are given to the officers, who, as a rule, are admirably
mounted, and who on their first joining, and every successive
five years, are presented with a horse free of charge by the
government.

XXI.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY AND TRAIN. -
ANNUAL MANCEUVRES.

-THE

LIKE the cavalry, the artillery failed to accomplish all that
might have been expected in 1866, and turned to little
account the excellent guns with which they were furnished,
owing to the scattered and untactical positiofi assumed by them
on the battle-field. In 1 870-1, however, all this was altered.
The necessity for the concentration of fire — which, though largely
adopted by Napoleon at Eylau, Friedland, Wagram, Borodino,
and Waterloo, seemed since to have been forgotten — was once
more acknowledged, and by Prussian artillerists, is now regarded
as a military axiom. It can only be accomplished, however,
with certainty by uniting batteries. These are now brought
to the front at the commencement of a fight, are massed under
superior command, and remain, when attacking, until the infantry
reserves have passed them, and when on the defensive, until
the enemy's skirmishers force them to retire. The reason
for bringing artillery at once into play, is, that this arm can
obtain great advantages without exposure to losses like infantry.
Thus a hundred yards of front occupied by .artillery exposes
eight guns, forty-five horses, and forty-eight men, whilst the
same space filled by infantry exposes 300 men. Besides artillery
opens its fire at 3,000 yards, and infantry barely at 1,500. This
circumstance and the murderous effect of infantry-fire rendering
a front attack in open country all but impossible, the artillery

B B 2

5/^

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

continues its fire, the infantry following it or marchinf^ on its
flank, so as not to interfere with its fire until it has paved the
way for their advance. The combined fire then increases in
intensity, and the decisive moment marking the close of the
combat arrives.

The nominal head of the Prussian artillery is General von
Podbielski, who has the title of Inspector-General. But each
general commanding an army corps has his artillery completely
under his own control, and the inspector-general, who is a
member of the general staff, gives no direct orders, bul; simply
issues reports. There are four " inspections " of artillery, com-
manded by lieutenant-generals and major-generals, having under
their orders three or four army corps brigades each. Each in-
.spector has two adjoints, and the commandants of the brigades
a single adjoint. The Prussian artiller}Mnen wear a dark-blue
uniform faced with black, and have their helmets surmounted by
that professional emblem, a ball, in place of the spike of the
infantry soldier. The foot artillerymen are armed with a short
sword, while the horse carry pistols and a tremendous curved
sabre.

The privates in the different branches of the artillery are
trained solely for their special services, but every one of the
officers receives instruction which makes him completely con-
versant with all the various branches, and enables him to take
a command in any one of them. The Prussian Army has
no ordnance department, all the duties relating thereto being
performed by the artillery.

A reg-iment of field artillery consists of three detachments of foot artillery,
each composed of four batteries and of a detachment of horse artillery, com-
prising three batteries, On a peace footing each battery numbers four guns,
in war six. A detachment of foot artillery numbers on a peace footing, one
staff officer, 6 captains, 13 lieutenants, 73 non-commissioned officers, 368
men, and 160 horses ; and in war 18 officers, 610 men, 516 horses, 24 guns,
and 41 vehicles. The field artillery and siege artillery are quite distinct.
Each siege artillery regiment consists of two detachments of four companies
each, each detachment in peace being composed of one staff officer, 5
captains, 13 other officers, 61 non-commissioned officers, and 340 men.
There is a detachment of artificers entrusted with the manufacture of fire-
works, rockets, fuses, &c., requiring technical skill. On mobilisation each
artillery regiment forms nine ammunition trains and a reserve ammunition
park. In the field the former marches directly in the rear of the army corps,
and the reserve two days' march behind.

During the late war the Prussian field artillery consisted of
four- and six-pounder steel breech-loaders of Krupp's pattern,
carrying an elongated shell, with a leaden jacket to make it fit
the grooves. They were bored through from errd to end, and
were loaded from the rear of the breech, the opening being
closed in the four-pounders by a key of steel inserted at the
side, and in the six-pounders by a plug fitted in at the rear and
fastened in its place by a pin. These guns were served by four

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY, ETC. 373

men, one to point, one to sponge and load, one to prick the
cartridge and fire the piece, and one to bring up ammunition.
The driver and horse-attendants have nothing to do with the
service of the gun. The field-gun at present adopted is a cast-
steel breech-loader, with a bore of eight centimetres, charged
with 2jlbs. of powder, and throwing an eleven pound shrapnel
projectile with a velocity of 1,522 feet. The Prussians have also
a gun of nine centimetres bore, which fires a shrapnel shell con-
taining 209 bullets, and weighing rather over 17 lbs., with a
charge of 3^1bs. of powder, the resulting velocity being 1,460
feet.^ In order to load, the breech-piece is screwed out at the left
side by about two turns of a screw fitted there, which allows
the insertion of the charge, when the breech-piece is screwed
back and the gun is ready to be fired. The limbers are larger
than those used in England, and contain twenty-four double-
cased shells and twelve shrapnels, which latter have been taken
into favour on account of the introduction of an improved fuse.
The gun-carriages, which in future are to be of cast-steel plates,
are to have a brake attached to their wheels, with the object of
regulating the recoil ; pebble powder, moreover, is to be used.
Three gunners are carried on the ammunition-box, and two on
the axle-tree seats, whilst a non-commissioned officer rides.
New pattern ammunition waggons are being prepared to accom-
pany the artillery in time of war.

The two parks of siege artillery lately attached to the
Prussian Army have been completed by the addition of sixteen
ammunition transport columns to each of them. Each column
consists of forty-six ammunition waggons, a field smithy and
rack, baggage and forage waggons. In addition to the guns
belonging to each park a certain number of the fifteen centi-
metre coil guns, placed in fortresses, have been utilised for siege
purposes ; the siege gun-carriages, moreover, have been newly
constructed of iron. One park of siege artillery is kept at
Spandau, while the other is divided between Coblenz and Posen.
The Prussian artillery presents a somewhat rough appearance
compared to our own, but both guns and horses are in excellent
condition and manoeuvre rapidly.

The principal Prussian cannon foundry is at Spandau, near
Berlin. The events of 1848 led the Prussian Government to
transfer all the great military establishments to fortified places,
and Spandau was naturally fixed upon as one of the most suit-

1 The English 9-pounder field battery gun throws a 9-lb. projectile, con-
sumes if lbs. of powder, and imparts to its projectile a velocity of 1,381 feet.
The i6-pounder gun, which weighs upwards of one-third more than the
German 9 centimetre gun, fires a shell of merely i6j lbs. with 3 lbs. of powder,
the resulting velocity being 1,352 feet. Notwithstanding the greater weight
of our i6-pounder, the German gun consumes a heavier charge of powder,
fires a more powerful shrapnel, and has a superiority of 100 leet in initial
velocity.

374 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

able for this particular purpose. The cannon-foundry which
formerly existed behind the Berlin arsenal was not, however,
transferred there until 1855. It was at first only of moderate
dimensions, and in i860 employed merely one hundred hands.
But the great changes in artillery and marine ordnance which
supervened rendered improvements and extensions necessary,
and the foundry and its dependencies have grown to a small
town, capable of turning out some two thousand pieces of
cannon in the course of the year.

In the Prussian Army the artillery and engineers have a close
relation to each other, their field duties running together, and
their school at Berlin being the same. The engineers are more a
technical than a tactical body, and in the field have a train laden
with construction and intrenching tools. The prejudice against
engineer officers rising above a certain grade, that prevails in
our own service, likewise existed amongst the Prussians, and in
the case of General von Kameke we have the first instance of
the spell being broken.

According to recently-promulgated regulations the peace establishment
of the officers of the engineer corps is fixed at 600. Under the inspector-
general are four engineer inspectors, each of whom has under his orders one
pioneer inspector commanding from three to four battalions, and two fortress
inspectors having charge of from four to eight fortresses apiece. A batta-
hon, numbering about 500 men, consists of three field pioneer companies
trained for pontooning and mining as well as for working in the trenches, with
a fourth destined to be employed exclusively in mining and only occasionally on
general service. On mobilisation merely the first three companies will take the
field, the fourth being broken up to supply detachments of sub-officers and
men to the other three, and forming with the rest the nucleus of a reserve
company. When the reserves are called in, each of these reserve companies
will be formed into three fortress pioneer companies, to be attached to the
landwehr or employed to defend fortresses. The guard battalion and the
fourth pioneer battalion will provide in place of the fortress companies 12
field telegraph detachments to be attached to various army corps. A pontoon
train will also be mobihsed with each pioneer battalion. It will consist of
two division trains, each of 14 waggons with 42 yards of pontoons, and one
corps train of 33 waggons with 143 yards of pontoons. The division trains
will be attached to the infantry divisions, each with a pioneer company, and
the corps train will remain with the third company at the disposal of the corps
commandant. Reserve pontoon trains are estabhshed in addition at Coblenz,
Glogau, Magdeburg, Graudenz, and other places.

The military train is composed of organised troops required
for the transport of munitions, provisions, pontoons, field-tele-
graphs, railways, and hospitals, and also furnishes drivers for the
baggage and munition carts of mobilised troops. The transport
corps following an army in the field, exclusive of the waggons of
each battalion, and the artillery, engineer, and field-telegraph
trains, is divided into two portions, the first and principal of
which is attached to the commissariat, and is formed solely for
the purpose of supplying food to men and horses. The second
belongs to the medical department, and carries medicines,

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY, ETC. 375

hospital .stores, and means of transportation for the sick and
wounded. The first portion is limited, in times of peace, to a
certain number of waggons, which, on the mobilisation of the
army, are provided with men and horses from the military train,
each army corps having its battalion of train troops. These are
under the entire control of a principal commissariat officer, with
the rank of captain, who is attached to the head-quarters of the
corps.

The commissariat columns of an army corps are five in number, each of
them having two officers, 28 men, 161 horses, and 32 waggons. These 160
waggons carry three days' provisions for every man in the corps. As soon as
the waggons which carry the first day's supply are emptied they are sent to
the magazines in the rear, and must be again with the troops to give them
their fourth day's food. Each army corps takes with it a field bakery, as
flour can be more easily carried than bread. This bakery consists of 10
officers, 118 men, 27 horses, and 5 waggons, distributed amongst the men as
is found most convenient.

The provision trains do nothing in the way of gathering food,
but merely bring it up from the depot magazines, which move as
the army moves. Means, therefore, have to be provided for
gathering food into these depots. So long as railways are
unbroken, and trains follow the troops, no difficulty is expe-
rienced, but as this is not always the case, it becomes necessary
to gather supplies. For this purpose, as well as to carry hay
and corn from the depots to the horses of the cavalry and
infantry in front, waggons and carts are hired, or rather impressed
into service in the country.

The medical train accompanying an army corps consists of
three heavy hospital trains, each of 14 waggons, 114 men, 69
horses, and 1 1 surgeons, and 3 light divisional trains. Each
train carries everything necessary for treating men in the
field and for establishing field hospitals. Every corps has, more-
over, a company of sick-bearers, who on the day of battle are
divided amongst the troops. Each battalion has also ten sick-
bearers, the men not being allowed to leave the ranks under fire,
to assist a wounded comrade, so that the advice of the American
general who recommended his men always to fire at their
adversaries' legs, since it required two sound men to help one
so wounded from the field, would not hold good in a contest
with Prussian troops. The sick-bearers convey the wounded but
a short distance to the rear, out of the range of fire, where they
are taken in charge by the hospital men.

Another important feature of the German Army, and one
excellently organised, is the field-post, the chief object of which
is the secure and rapid conveyance of the official correspondence,
parcels, &c., of an army in the field. Still the field post-offices
transmit private letters, newspapers, and ordinary remittances of
money and other small articles to and from the army. It will
be remembered that during the late war stories were current of

376 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

flannel under-garments being sent in sections by this means, as
well as sausages and similar luxuries. These offices are organised
simultaneously with the mobilisation of the troops, and in order
to maintain a secure postal communication between the armies
and the Prussian territory, field-post relays are placed at certain
points on the road from the frontier. The officials and men for
the field-post are held in reserve for this duty by the postal
authorities even in time of peace, and a list of them is kept at
the War Office. They are supplied by the director of the post-
office, on the requisition of the minister for war, who then issues
orders for their equipment and maintenance on the same footing
as the troops generally.

The military railway recently constructed between Berlin and
Zossen, forms an admirable practical school for what is termed
the railway corps of the Prussian Army. This line, which is
twenty-seven English miles in length, belongs to the State, and
was constructed by the corps in question. From Berlin to Zossen
the rails are laid alongside the Berlin and Dresden railway,
to which the military railway is connected by points and cross-
ings. At Zossen, however, the line branches ofif into the forest of
the same name, where the Polygon of Artillery is situated. The
railway, as its title implies, serves chiefly for military purposes ;
still the interests of the public are not neglected, and passengers
are carried by it. The direction and administration are composed
of the commander of the railway regiment, of one field officer
and two lieutenants. The working of the line is in the hands of
a captain, who receives his orders from the commander, and is
assisted by two lieutenants ; this department also comprises a
chef de bureau, a superintendent of rolling stock, an officer acting
as administrator of his depots, and a paymaster. For the in-
struction of the regiment, complete companies are placed at
the disposition of the working section.

The chief of the working company acts as inspector, and has
an officer to assist him. This company is composed of men
belonging to the eight companies which form the regiment,
and who are changed after a course of instruction of six
months. The service of the permanent way is conducted by
forty-two men, twenty-nine of whom belong to the Berlin and
Dresden line, whilst the other thirteen are pioneers of the
regiment, and are stationed between Zossen and the forest.
The whole of these men are under the superintendence of five
non-commissioned officers. The station duty is performed by
a station master and an assistant, both non-commissioned
officers, who are assisted by nine pioneers, who act as points-
men. The telegraph service is conducted by the officer who acts
as chief of the working section, aided by a non-commissioned
officer. During the first year of working, six engine-drivers —
non-commissioned officers — and six stokers — sappers — were em-

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY, ETC. 377

ployed. The trains were worked by eight non-commis.sioned
officers acting as guards, and sixteen pioneers acting as brakes-
men. The guards and stokers are under the orders of the
engine-drivers. The men receive no extra pay, beyond an allow-
ance made to the non-commissioned officers and men who are
away beyond a certain time from the garrison.

The original idea of those autumn manoeuvres, which have
been carried out with very partial success in our own country,
comes from Prussia. All the troops of the German Empire are
put through a certain amount of field-work every autumn, though
the so-called Imperial manoeuvres, at which the Emperor himself
inspects operations, only take place every three years. The
army corps, of the Guards quartered in and around Berlin, take
their full share of this kinu e.f work. On the Prussian plan that
the force on paper must be as nearly as possible actually brought
into line, the task of holding the country in the rear being that
of the reserves, some regiments of another army corps usually
undertake the necessary routine duties in Berlin, in order that
the whole of the Guards may take part in the manoeuvres. They
do not, however, go far from home, and are still available for
the protection of the district that surrounds the capital, from the
attack of an invading force. It is to be noted that in the
neighbourhood of Berlin, the inhabitants being thoroughly
blasts on military exhibitions, display comparative indifference
to the movements of troops, so that these parades as a rule,
hardly attract more spectators than an ordinary English
suburban race-meeting.

On all such occasions the principles which have proved so
effective in real warfare are rigorously acted upon. The cavalry
thrown out like a moving screen in front of the army, quarters
the country as a brace of pointers quarter a stubble-field. The
waving pennons of the uhlans flicker amongst the foliage, as
they carefully sound the pine woods and copses in quest of
lurking infantry, now disappearing in a bosky hollow, now seen
in bold outline against the clear blue sky as they mount the
slopes beyond. Behind them the artillery comes lumbering
along in clouds of dust, for artillery is now understood to be a
most active arm and opens the attack. The general in com-
mand has learnt from his scouting cavalry — who, though their
work is far from over, now begin to fall back to the flanks and the
rear of his army — the position of the enemy, and so prepares his
attack, giving to each corps commander general instructions, but
leaving to him the working out of the details. Formerly there
was often merely a supposititious enemy, but now, in cases where
two equal forces are not opposed to each other, the foe is always
indicated by detachments, flags, and other signs, so as to give
an appearance of reality to the field of battle, and serve as a
guide to the troops.

378 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The usual form of attack and defence is for a line of woods
and villages to be strongly occupied, the ground between them
being commanded but not held, and for the attack to be mainly
directed to these strong points with a view to their occupation.
With this object the guns are everywhere pushed on as near to
the enemy as possible. They halt and unlimber— here a group
of three or four batteries together, and elsewhere a couple of
detached field-pieces. Artillery, the Prussians hold, can protect
its front against anything, and is pushed on to within fifteen
hundred or at most two thousand yards of the enemy. Soon its
roar is heard, re-echoed back by that of the enemy in those- cases
in which he is represented by flesh and blood, and not by flags
and skeleton detachments, and the white smoke curls upward
from the summit of each height. In one part of the field
heavier metal begins to tell, the enemy's guns are withdrawn,
and the attacking force limbers up for pursuit. In another they
are hard pressed, and a battery has to dash off furiously across
country to their support. Roads and ditches are cleared by the
smoking horses, as they scour on with the cannon clattering
behind them like a tin kettle attached to a dog's tail. Some-
times an accident brings them to a temporary halt, but the
standing order under such circumstances is to repair damages
and push on. Hacklander relates an instance of a gun belonging
to a horse artillery battery coming so violently into collision with
a road boundary-stone that one wheel of the carriage was par-
tially shattered. At first there seemed no possibility of repairing
the damage according to directions, either by fastening the
pieces together with cords, or, if that would not do, by tying a
piece of wood underneath the carriage, so that the axle might for
a short time, in a measure, replace the wheel ; till one of the
drivers, noticing a finger-post at a little distance, tore it out of
the ground, and had it promptly lashed along the damaged
portion, the hand indicating his path to the wayfarer, being left
on to point, as it were, appealingly up to heaven.

Meanwhile the infantry, pushing steadily onward in battalion
columns, follow close behind the artillery, though they are not to
be hurled at the enemy until he has been shaken by the latter arm.
At length the first line advances, taking every advantage of the
ground, until they begin to feel the opposing fire. Then the batta-
lions deploy into company columns. Some of them, if the ground
serves, wind steadily onward through sheltered hollows, others
disperse in clouds of skirmishers and advance by a series of
rushes. In one quarter of the field they gain possession of a
wood, and darting out on some broken ground, lying a short dis-
tance in advance, fling themselves down and cover the approach
of their supports which follow in open order. The skirmishers
are continually reinforced, and profiting by every scrap of shelter
push steadily on. Gradually the engagement becomes general

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY, ETC. 379

all alonf^ the line, and the rattle of small arms deafens the spec-
tator. The second line comes to the support of the first, mixing
up with it, and dissolving into skirmishers also, whilst the artillery,
galloping up, seize upon every coign of vantage and from thence
pour grape and the shrapnel, which has grown into such high
favour since the last war, at the infantry of the foe. A village
receives the concentrated fire of many guns, and then the infantry
attack its weakest point, a rush of skirmishers trying at the same
time to turn it, since one of the most important lessons of the
last war was the futility of a direct attack against positions like
those held by the French at Amanvilliers and St. Privat, unless
such front attack is supplemented by one on the flank.

Finally an opening in the line is found, and through it quickly
pour a stream of troops, seizing every atom of shelter as they ad-
vance, each man apparently fighting on his own account, yet ready
in an instant to re-form into a solid and organised body. Cavalry
are from time to time hurled forward against infantry supposed
to be broken by artillery fire, in double lines, one immediately
in the rear of the other, as was done by Murat at Eylau. Their
headlong career is checked from time to time by opposing
squadrons advancing to the rescue, and then they break, skirmish,
rally, and meet in feigned melee. Now a man is dismounted
and his horse scours riderless away, and now steed and rider
come crushing down together, checked in their hot career by
the broken ground.

At length a retreat is sounded and the opposing forces draw
oft" to their respective quarters. The Prussians have no tents, and
the men are therefore quartered in the villages and farms of the
district in which they manoeuvre, crowding into the barns and
outhouses in accordance with the current saying that " the worst
quarter is better than the best bivouac." When they are obliged
to bivouac they make the best of what comes to hand, and there
is always something in the shape of turf, knapsacks, and
brushwood to build a wall of against the wind, wood for fires,
and straw, dead leaves, or young branches of trees to vary the
monotony of hard ground as a couch. The fire, once made, is
generally fed with pieces of wood four or five feet long leaning
against each other at the top so as to form a cone. Earth is then
heaped up for about a foot round their lower ends, and the result
is a blazing high fire, quite safe, because the burnt wood always
falls inwards towards the centre. A kind of shallow trench
slightly lowered towards the inside edge is cut round the fire, and
here a hundred men or so stretch themselves with their feet
towards the blaze. Great-coat collars are raised above the ears,
and after a few hearty choruses > accompanied by clouds of
tobacco, or even potato-leaf smoke, they drop off to sleep. The
old campaigners, however tired, take care to make their sleeping-
place as comfortable as they can, and above all as warm, for

380 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

there is always an hour before daylight when the air is chilled
and the body most susceptible of cold.

The scene presented on these occasions has been depicted by a
native writer from the results of his own experience as follows : —

" A clear moon shed its light over the encampment and the surrounding
battle-field of the day ; but no groans of the wounded and dying smote on
the ears of the passers by. The silence of the night was only broken by a
low song or an oath. No mortally wounded friend raised himself from the
ground to groan out ' Greet my Lottchen, friend ! ' Only here and there
a sutler was murmuring some scarcely intelligible words, offering a small
amount of brandy tor a large sum of money. Behind and close to us was
the bivouac, and we could distinctly hear the snorting and neighing of the
horses, the hum of men's voices, and at intervals a low song. We saw in-
fantry sentries with shouldered muskets walking to and fro with measured
steps, the uhlans, with their schapska over the right ear, by their horses, and
our artillerymen by their guns. The officers were grouped round a large fire
which flickered on their faces and which must have felt honoured at being
the light of such lights.

" During the night our rifles and uhlans had continual skirmishes with the
enemy's advanced guard, which gave us plenty of occupation. Their hussars,
enveloped in their cloaks, frequently rode through the shallow stream
and crept like ghosts up to the foot of the hill on which we were stationed.
We knew at once when they were going to fire by the gleaming of the moon-
beams on their carbines, the polished barrels of which as they raised them ta
take aim described brilliant circles in the moonlight ; having fired, they gal-
loped back across the stream under a volley from our rifles.

" All was life and movement in the bivouac. Round the great fire we saw
numerous epaulettes glittering, and the bands of the infantry and cavalry
played alternately. It was not until after midnight that the music ceased,
silence fell upon the camp, and the fires gradually died out. The rest of the
night passed pretty quickly, and soon the sky began to brighten. Gradually
the circle of light increased and the stars paled, and in a short time the
clouds which floated in the horizon became edged with crimson. Now the
reveille sounded from the other end of the encampment, the drums beat, and
the artillery and cavalry bugles played joyously in between.

" Daybreak revealed the comical confusion that had crept amongst us
during the night. In one place an officer, looking round with astonishment,
finds that he has slumbered in the closest proximity to his servant. The
awakening sutler contemplates her basket with consternation, for the best
contents have vanished during the night. Here a movement is seen under a
cloak ; it is a warrior who had rolled himself up securely the evening before,
and is now making painful efforts to disengage his head. The loud calls of
the bugles had suddenly produced animation where a moment before all had
been as still as death. The snorting and tossing of the horses as they ex-
panded their nostrils towards the rising sun, the hasty movements of the
soldiers who expected every instant to hear the signal for marching, all united
to form a lively picture which was contemplated on each occasion with fresh
pleasure."'

The country people, upon whom soldiers are billeted during
the manoeuvres, are bound to supply them with a certain
amount of food. During the Silesian manoeuvres in 1875 this
allowance consisted of about half a pound of bread, and rather
more than that amount of meat, with salt, pepper, &c., for which
eight silbergroschen (nearly <^d.) was paid, though it usually
' Hacklander's Soldier in Time of Peace.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.— THE ARTILLERY, ETC.

381

happens that the hosts give the soldiers more than the proper
ration, sharing Avith them whatever they have for themselves.
The troops complained very much of the way in which they
were fed by the contractors during these manoeuvres, for they
not only were forced several times, on account of the long hours
of exercise, to go without food from daybreak till seven in the
evening, but, when supper was prepared, found themselves
defrauded by the contractors who had to supply it. Old officers
maintained that their men suffered more than they ever did in
the late war. It is, therefore, not surprising that the soldier
when out manoeuvring should be ready enough, when he gets
the chance, to supplement his rations, and the fare provided for
him by those on whom he is billeted, with whatever he can
obtain. The sutlers who follow the troops have a plentiful
supply of custom er.s, especially from amongst the one year
volunteers, who flock around their carts and booths all day long.
In Berlin the cooks, who in England are supposed to reserve
their cold mutton and their affections exclusively for the blue-
coated representatives of the civil power, are the especial objects
of the soldier's amatory assaults. The votaries of Mars and the
exponents of the culinary art are to be encountered arm-in-arm
at every place of public resort, notably at the summer beer
gardens. When the troops
march into the country
they strive to extend the
sphere of their fascina-
tions, and the wives,
daughters, and servants of
the farmers and peasants
become the object of at-
tention often as hollow as
they are transitory. The
.sharp-witted and often im-
pecunious infantry man
practises on a minor scale
the art of surprising and
capturing a provision train,
by rising early in the
morning and sallying
forth in quest of what he
may devour. The chances
are that he may encounter
the temporary object of his
vows laden with a basket
of good cheer, destined either for his own especial benefit or for
that of one of his superiors. In either case he bears down upon the
convoy, and by his blandishments and lavish endearments soon
convinces the blushinsr mddchen that the transfer of her cargo

382

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

of wjirst, sell in ken, bra-
ten, bread, and spirits
can be devoted to no
better purpose than
that of fortifying him
against the coming
fatigues of the day.
That such a fortifying
is necessary was shown
by several deaths and
the invahding of nu-
merous men during the
1875 manoeuvres in
Baden and Alsace-
Lorraine. The troops,
however, suffer more
from sunstrokes and
apoplexy than from
exhaustion, and the
preceding year special
instructions on the
subject were issued by
the Berlin War Office,
the men being directed to march in open order with stocks off
and coats open, and all manoeuvres on a large scale being for-
bidden when the tem-
perature had reached
7^° Fahrenheit.

The special attri-
butes of the Prussian
Army have been thus
summarized. " The
absence of exemp-
tions and substitu-
tions which secures
for the army the best
men, and makes ser-
vice even and accept-
able ; general educa-
tion of officers and
soldiers ; an effective
system of keeping the
ranks full ; superior
training and selection
by merit of the higher
staff; a decentralised
administration ; the
certainty of recognition and reward for enterprise and industry

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTH.LERY, ETC. 2>^^

strict discipline and rigid economy." These qualities have been
steadily developed until they have placed the kingdom of Fried-
rich the Great at the head of the military powers of Europe.

It has been remarked with truth that the German Emperor
pointed out the veritable secret of the nation's military successes
when he reminded his grandson on the occasion of the entrance
of the latter on active service in the Prussian Army that in the
correct appreciation of what might appear to be a trifling
matter, was to be found a guarantee for the performance of great
things. This principle, he truly added, had been and should
remain the rule of the Prussian Army. " Careful organisation,
laborious attention to the most minute details, patience, and
thoroughness are the prosaic secrets of military triumphs which
rival those of Napoleon himself. There was nothing very
original in Scharnhorst's plan of quickly passing the whole of
the able-bodied population through the ranks, and thus securing
a huge reserve of drilled troops. The system chiefly depended
for success on the stubborn perseverance of the people — a per-
severance undaunted by the prowess of the greatest commander
in the world, and independent of the fitful triumphs which would
have been needed to spur the zeal of France. Count Moltke
has relied on precisely the same homely qualities in finishing
the work which was begun in the shadow of unparalleled defeat.
Even the artistic completeness of his organisation and the
success of his strategy are less wonderful than the almost
mechanical obedience and perseverance with which the whole
nation has gone through the exhausting, and what might have
seemed the useless, mill of the barrack-room. The system
might have been a disastrous failure if the people had been less
docile, plodding, and intelligent."

The nation had the advantage of " a born race of military
leaders in an aristocracy at once large, poor, well educated, and
disdainful of any work but that of the public service. The sons of
a German baron would scorn to become traders, or even, as a rule,
to enter any of the more intellectual professions. They go into
the army as a matter of course, and they bring with them those
habits of command which belong to an aristocratic caste. They
are equally marked by the habits of obedience natural to the
feudal society of a military state which has been little disturbed
as yet by an aspiring democracy. They study their duties with
German thoroughness, and take a pride in matters of detail
which the officers of other countries leave to plebeian sub-
ordinates. It would be impossible to find a class better qualified
to form the cog-wheels of the mighty machine which Count
Moltke puts in motion from the quietude of his bureau. The
rigidity and thoroughness of Prussian discipline could not be
safely applied to any nation which did not unite a highly-educated
intelligence to primitive habits of obedience. It is quite possible

384 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

to drill an army into such stolidity that it loses the power of
helping itself when it cannot be guided by rule. Thus misplaced
industry has sometimes been little else than a laborious pre-
paration for disaster, liut the Germans have gone to school as regu-
larly as to drill, and their best intelligence passes through the bar-
rack-room. It has been safe to give their movements the precision
of a machine, and yet to put great trust in the mother wit of the
officers and the men. The result is perhaps the most marvellous in-
strument of destruction ever fashioned by human labour and skill. "^
The social side of the question, however, needs to be viewed
imder different aspect. All other interests are sacrificed to those
of the army. The best and most promising youths are sent
to the drill ground for years ; the most accomplished young men
arc torn from the university, from the learned professions, from
the laboratory, or the factory, to fill the ranks. Literature and
science suffer from the diversion of the rarest mental qualities to
the purposes of war. Political freedom suffers in order that
discipline may be perfect. Trade is sacrificed that the country
may be covered with troops, railways are constructed in view
with strategetical schemes, and not in accordance with com-
mercial necessities, and the burden laid upon the nation
forces the most stalwart peasantry and the most skilful
artisans to seek refuge across the Atlantic. On the occasion
of the discussion of the new law on the landsturm, Herr
Schorlemmer Ast pointed out that this system of excessive
military preparations rendered the principal burden of the
Empire a heavy load for everybody to bear. " The milliards
that we have received," continued he, "are already converted
into fortresses, vessels, Mauser rifles, and cannons ; and there is
an augmentation of forty-nine millions of marks in the military
budget. This budget is like the sieves of the Danaides. We
throw into it all our resources, our savings, our reserves — still w^e
shall never be able to fill it up. Montecuculi laid down the prin-
ciples of war — money, more money, always money ! This is what
we are asked for at the risk of soon exhausting all our vital
strength." The Germania, too, alluding to a speech made by
M. Leon Say, respecting the prosperous internal and financial
condition of France, despite the burden imposed by the late war,
remarks: "The minister who speaks thus is minister of a country
that has recently undergone unparalleled catastrophes. Germany
on the contrary, although she has received fabulous sums, only
possesses a ruined trade, ruined industries, crowds of workmen
without work, and very little money. She has in perspective
new taxes, an increase in the war budget, the continuation of the
discharge of workmen, and the misery of the people." Such is
the price at which the New Empire has purchased the military
dictatorship of Europe.

' The Times, Feb. 14, 1877.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY. — THE ARTILLERY, ETC.

385

In order to retain her military supremacy Germany is com-
pelled to be continually on the alert with regard to new
improvements in the machinery of war, so that she may be the
first to profit by them. The latest novelty in this direction is a
machine termed a " telemetre," which is understood to indicate the
exact distance at which shots have been fired from an enemy's
cannon. One great advantage it offers is that it will enable the
gunners in a coast battery to determine the position in regard
to distance of a hostile ship, a calculation hitherto fraught with
the greatest difficulty. The adoption of the telemetre by the
German troops has been decided upon, and experiments have
been made with smaller machines designed to indicate the distance
of shots fired from rifles with perfectly satisfactory results.

Another sensational novelty in the artillery service is the
35 ^-centimetre Krupp gun, which, although weighing only 57
tons, is so firmly encased in mantle and rings as to admit of
firing a cartridge of 300 lbs. of prismatic powder, with a ball,
weighing 1,150 lbs. In the experiments made at Dulmen, the
Inflexible target, carrying 24 inches of solid iron, was pierced
right through, from a distance of 2,250 yards. The barrel of the
gun can be elevated to i8f deg., and inclined to 7 deg. It lies
high enough in its frame to fire over a two-feet breastwork, and is
moved by simple machinery, requiring only a few men to work it.
A third important innovation is the adoption of an iron bridge
to be carried by the engineers in order to replace any railway
bridge that may have been destroyed by the enemy. The bridge,
which can be rapidly put together, is easy of transport, and
capable of bearing any burden likely to pass over it. One
specimen that has been constructed is 90 feet long, and costs
only ^3,000. The Army is indebted for this clever contrivance
to Herr Stern, a Baden engineer.

PRUSSIAN RIFLE PRACTICE.

c c

THE BERLIN CADETTEN-HAUS.

XXII.

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF.

BERTJN, as the capital of a military monarch)'', is the seat
of many of the most important institutions established in
connection with the Army, and amongst the chief of these may
be reckoned the Central Cadet School, or Cadetten-haus, which
furnishes about one-third of the officers to the Prussian service.
This establishment and the six others situate at Potsdam, Culm,
Wahlstatt, Bensberg, Ploen, and Oranienstein form, as it were, so
many separate battalions subdivided into companies, and together
constitute a body known as the Royal Cadet Corps. The corps,
as originally established in 17 17 in accordance with the military
proclivities of Fricdrich Wilhelm I. for the benefit of the young
Crown Prince, afterwards Friedrich the Great, consisted of " a
miniature soldier company which, by degrees, rose to be a per-
manent institution. A hundred and ten boys about the Prince's
own age, sons of noble families, had been selected from the three
military schools then extant, as a kind of tiny regiment for him,
where, if he was by no means commander all at once, he might
learn his exercise in fellowship with others. An experienced
lieutenant-colonel was appointed to command in chief." ^ The
corps was reorganised by Friedrich the Great, and has always
been an object of special interest with subsequent Prussian
sovereigns.

The cadets are of two kinds — the pensioners, or paying cadets,
and the King's cadets, who are educated mainly at the expense

' Carlyle's Fried} ich the Great.

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 3S7

of the state. The pensioners in ordinary cases pay 260 thaler
a year. The King's cadets pay from 30 to 100 thaler a year,
and in very special cases are admitted without payment.
These latter cadetships are granted, according to the pecuniary
circumstances of the applicant, to the sons of officers who have
died on active service or been invalided from wounds received, the
sons of meritorious officers who have retired on pensions or died
in indigence, the sons of officers actually serving in reduced cir-
cumstances, the sons of non-commissioned officers who have been
killed or severely wounded in action, or who have served meritori-
ously for twenty-five years, and the sons of civilians who have
performed special services towards the state, by which personal
danger was incurred. In the Berlin Cadetten-haus the last class
used to be mainly composed of the sons of people who rendered
services to the Government in 1848 or who had distinguished
themselves by saving life. Pensioners are admitted from all
professions, according to priority of application and the number
of vacancies. The ordinary payment of 260 thaler may be
reduced to 150 thaler in the case of the sons of officers on
active service, who, though not entitled to King's cadetships, are
in poor circumstances. Foreigners are exceptionally admitted
with the King's permission, on payment of 360 thaler yearly.
■ The cadet corps is under the command of a general officer,
and has a special administrative staff of its own, who wear its
distinctive uniform, trimmed with the lace worn by the Great
Friedrich's guardsmen. The provincial cadet-houses are merely
training schools for the central institution at Berlin, and at these
boys are admitted at ten and remain till fifteen or sixteen years
of age, the ordinary stay at the Berlin school being from the age
of fifteen or sixteen to eighteen or nineteen. There is an ex-
amination on the first admission to the corps, the subjects of
which depend upon the candidate's age. Pupils passing through
the lower schools are transferred to that of Berlin without further
examination, being already members of the corps, but pupils
entering the Berlin school direct are examined. This class of
pupils is,, however, not encouraged, as it is considered that in
their case one of the chief advantages offered by the corps, that
of accustoming its members to military discipline from early
boyhood, is altogether lacking.

A military spirit pervades the schools, and though prepara-
tion for the army is not the exclusive, it is the predominating,
object of the course of training pursued, and the cadets in
almost all cases enter the service. The corps is, in fact, looked
upon as a nursery for officers. Admissions to it take place once
a year, on the ist of May. The six junior schools are divided
for purposes of instruction upon an uniform plan into four
classes, numbered up from six to three, that is, sexta at the
bottom and tertia at the top. The upper school at Berlin

C C 2

388 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

follows with four more classes — the second, first, upper first, and
special — secunda, prima, ober-prima, and selecta. The idea
which prevails, that no teacher can instruct more than twenty-
five or thirty pupils at a time, causes the classes to be split up
into sections, each pursuing a parallel course of instruction. In
the junior schools the subjects taught are Bible history, Latin,
German grammar and composition, elementary algebra and
geometry, history, the rudiments of natural philosophy, drawing,
and writing. There is plenty of drilling and gymnastics, with
bayonet exercise, and dancing, and in the two upper classes
instruction is given in military drawing.

Military training can hardly be said to commence until the
pupils enter the Berlin Cadetten-haus, which is the nearest
approach in Prussia to our Sandhurst and Woolwich establish-
ments. It is a spacious two-storied edifice, having the centre
portion of its long facade ornamented with columns and military
trophies, and is situated in the Neue Friedrichs-strasse, in the
midst of the old-fashioned houses with which this quarter of Berlin
abound.s. The buildings erected in 1775 by Friedrich the Great,
and dedicated by him "to the pupils of Mars and Minerva,"
have long since been found too small for their object, and though
various additions have from time to time been made, the accom-
modation is no longer sufficient for the number of cadets. The
situation is also objectionable from a sanitary point of view, the
school being hemmed in on all sides by houses, and the inten-
tion exists to move the entire establishment to a more open and
healthy situation at Lichterfelde, in the environs of Berlin.^

The main portion of the buildings at Berlin consists of a large
quadrangle in which are situated the quarters of the cadets and
company officers, the dining-hall, library,- and a large hall called
the Feld-Marschall Saal, in requisition on state occasions, and also
serving the purpose of an examination room, and which takes
its name from the life-sized portraits of Prussian field-marshals

' The new Lichterfelde Cadetten-haus, destined for the reception of cadets
from all parts of the empire except Bavaria, has been in process of construc-
tion for the last four or five years, and will require at least another three
years to bring it to completion. Part of the building, however, will shortly
be ready, when it is intended to remove the Berlin cadets there. The new
school is situate on a broad stretch of sandy ground distant about a mile
from the railway station. The buildings in 1876 consisted of six immense
blocks : a central mass flanked at some distance by two long wings facing
similar blocks of building at a distance of about 1 50 feet. Of the two central
blocks, the one nearest to the railway is intended for the class-rooms and the
examination hall, while among the buildings facing it is comprised the chapel.
Each wing contains a mess-room and a number of small but lofty rooms
arranged on each side of long corridors, and intended for sleeping apart-
ments and barrack-rooms. Six huge blocks of similar proportions to those
already completed have to be erected, and when the whole is perfect it will
form a small town in itself The situation is an excellent one for a cadet
school, there being nothing for miles around but a few scattered houses, so
that it will be completely isolated.

WAR SCHOOLS.— THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 389

lining its walls. There, moreover, is exposed the sword of the
First Napoleon, captured at Gemappes, and presented to the
institution by Marshal Blticher.

Beyond the quadrangle is a large court-yard used for drill and
exercise, in which are some indifferent marble statues of the
heroes of the Seven Years' War, that formerly stood in the
Wilhelms-platz until they were replaced by statues of bronze.
On one side of the quadrangle is a range of buildings containing
the class-rooms, and on the other the quarters of the professors
and instructors. The residence of the general commanding the
cadet corps and the commandant of the school, together with a
large red brick church, built for the accommodation of the
cadets, are situate on the opposite side of the Neue Friedrichs-
strasse.

The class-rooms, intended merely to accommodate about
thirty pupils, which is the largest number in a single class, are
fitted with rows of parallel desks, at which the cadets sit, the
instructor occupying a raised dais at one end of the room, and
having near him a black board, of which he makes frequent use
during the lessons. The quarters occupied by the cadets com-
prise a sitting-room and bed-room opening into each other, and
shared in common by a number of occupants varying from six
to fourteen or fifteen, the usual number thus lodged being
eight or ten, although deficiency of accommodation has led in
some degree to overcrowding. The bed-rooms are simply fur-
nished with iron barrack bedsteads, and narrow tables running
down the centre of each room, furnished with washing basins in
accordance with the number of its occupants. In the sitting-
rooms each cadet has a desk and cupboard to himself, in which
to keep his books and other effects ; a table and chairs com-
pleting the furniture, which is of the plainest description. The
senior of the room is responsible for order.

The dining-hall is a large handsome apartment capable of
accommodating the whole of the cadets, who take their meals
here in common. Three regular meals are provided in the
course of the day : breakfast, consisting merely of soup and
bread ; dinner, in the middle of the day; and supper, shortly before
bed-time. In addition, a trifling lunch of bread and butter is
served out to each cadet. At meals the cadets are seated at
tables each accommodating twelve, in addition to a senior who
occupies the head. The dinner consists of soup, meat, and
vegetables, pudding being given as an extra on Sunday, Water
is the only beverage drunk, neither wine nor beer being at any
time allowed within the school buildings. The cadets are
marched to their meals by companies under the charge of their
officers, and one officer remains on duty in the dining-room
during meal-time. Attached to each company is a kind of
buffet at which coffee, fruit, and confectionary are sold.

390 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The Berlin Cadctten-haus contains a good library, but the use
of it is confined to the officers and the senior cadets in the
selecta, or highest class, the others not being allowed to frequent
the room or to obtain books from it. There is, however, a smaller
library for each company under the charge of the captain, con-
taining novels and works of general literature, any of which may
be taken out. No general reading-room of any kind exists, but
the cadets, joining together, usually subscribe to some newspaper
among them. Each company has what is called its company
room, a large apartment very plainly furnished, but supplied
with no games or other means of amusement. The cadets of
each company, however, generally club together to hire a piano
for this room. Music and novel-reading seem to be the most
favoured recreations during leisure hours, though gymnastics
are also practised.

The daily routine is something as follows. The cadets rise at
half-past five in summer and six in winter, twenty minutes being
allowed them to dress in, after which they turn out of their
rooms, form on parade, and are marched to breakfast. Half an
hour's private study in their rooms to look over the lessons for
the day follows. A short time is then allowed for cleaning arms
and accoutrements before the morning roll-call, at which a most
minute inspection of each company is made by the captain, and
any cadet found with his things imperfectly cleaned is punished.
Prayers for the whole school in chapel follow the roll-call. Lessons
begin at eight and generally continue till one, with an interval of
twenty minutes at eleven o'clock for lunch. At one all the cadets
fall in by companies on parade, when the daily orders are read
and other routine business transacted. At half-past one the cadets
march in to dinner. The actual lessons in the class-rooms are,
excepting for the classes known as the selecta and ober-prima,
generally finished by one o'clock, the afternoon being chiefly
devoted to such subjects as singing, dancing, fencing, and gym-
nastics. Wednesdays and Saturdays are nominally half-holidays,
but the only difference between them and the other days appears
to be that the afternoon is occupied in battalion drill, for which
the cadets are marched to a drill-ground some distance off. From
half-past five to eight every evening the cadets are obliged to
study their lessons in their own rooms ; at eight supper is served,
after which their time is their own till half-past nine, when they
turn in, lights being put out at ten. Except with the selecta and
ober-prima the whole afternoon is seldom completely occupied,
but there is little or nothing in the shape of manly games during
recreation. For an hour in the afternoon, between half-past
four and half-past five, all cadets unemployed are obliged to take
exercise in the court-yard ; but this commonly consists of walking
up and down, usually with their arms about each other's necks, in
the orthodox German fashion. On Sundays dinner takes place

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 39 1

at twelve, to allow of more time for those who have leave. All
have the greater part of the day to themselves, but none are
allowed to leave the school without permission, though they are
frequently taken in bodies under the charge of officers to visit
places of interest in Berlin and its neighbourhood, and are also
on one or two occasions during the year taken to the opera or
theatre. The charge of the cadets out of school-hours devolves
upon the captains and subalterns of companies, principally upon
the latter, who must be unmarried and live amongst the cadets.
Besides looking after them, they are required to assist them in
their studies.

The number of cadets in the Cadetten-haus is about 700, which
is to be shortly increased to 850. They are divided into seven
companies of 100 each. The annual cost of a cadet is estimated
at 300 thaler. The staff of the school is both civil and military,
the latter comprising the commandant, the adjutant and a
captain, four subalterns, and two military instructors for each
company. The civilians comprise professors, instructors, writ-
ing, singing, drawing and dancing masters, &c. There are also
a Protestant and a Roman Catholic chaplain, and three surgeons.
The Cadetten-haus is under the direct control of the general
commanding the cadet corps, who resides close by, the immediate
superintendence of instruction, discipline and drill being in the
hands of the commandant. There is no special director of studies,
but a board exercises a general supervision, and the senior
civilian professor, who is a member of the board, has the superin-
tendence of the civilian instructors. These serve a certain time
on probation, and then receive permanent appointments; but the
military instructors, who are chosen for special qualifications, are
generally sent back to do regimental duty for a time after six or
seven years' employment in the school, though they are often
reappointed. Ihey receive a fixed addition to their regimental
pay, and also an honorarium in proportion to the number of lessons
given by them.

The instruction imparted in the secunda and prima comprises
religious indoctrination, Latin, German composition and litera-
ture ; French ; mathematics, with especial reference to their
application to military purposes ; history, especially that of Ger-
many ; geography, physical science, and military drawing.
Dancing is compulsory in the secunda as in all the junior classes.
It is regarded both as a gymnastical exercise and a necessary
accomplishment for an othcer, and the cadets have to display
their proficiency before the general commanding the corps at
the periodical inspections. The practical exercises comprise
battalion drill about twice a week, daily parade, gymnastics and
bayonet exercises, fencing and sword exercise, swimming, and
riding for the pupils of the selecta. Elementary instruction is
also given in military duties, but this is mainly confined to the

392

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

2i:5i:<>:^

mode of behaviour towards officers, and other points of mihtary
etiquette. The ordinary period for remaining in a class is a
year, but two are often allowed.

At the end of the year all who have passed through the prima,
after a preliminary examination in the school, go up for the
portepee-fahnrich examination. Those who reach the ordinary
standard are admitted at once as " ensigns designate," but they
must serve with the regiment six months and be of the age
of seventeen and a half before they obtain the patent actually
conferring that rank ; they attend a war school when they pass
their officer's examination, and finally obtain their commissions,
subject to the approval of the officers of the regiment. Of
those who are not allowed to go up for examination or who fail
in it, some are permitted to remain for another year at the
Cadetten-haus ; others, whose conduct has been exceptionally
good, are admitted as 'under-officers, a rank below that of
fahnrich ; and others, who have not this recommendation, as

privates. The majority
of the cadets enter the
army in this manner ;
but a certain number who
take honours at the ex-
amination of the prima
are formed into classes
known as the ober-prima
and selecta, and receive
the special military in-
struction which is given
to the others at a later
period at the war schools.
The course of study
pursued by the two classes
is the same, but the se-
lecta consists of cadets of
seventeen years of age
and having a good cha-
racter, and the requisite qualifications for admission, whilst
the ober-prima is com.posed of those who are below that
age, who are of weakly constitution, or below the regulation
standard of height, or whose conduct has not been quite satis-
factory. Their studies are confined to the science of arms,
tactics, fortification, instructions in military duties and regu-
lations, and in military composition, topography, and surveying,
with higher mathematics for those cadets intended for the
artillery and engineers. At the end of the year the classes go
up for the examination which qualifies for the officer's com-
mission. Those of the selecta who pass, enter the army at once
as officers, and in their case alone, in the whole service, is the

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF.

393

^''^^'^ l\\v\\')\'

right of veto usually exercised by the officers of a regiment as to
the admission of a new comrade dispensed with. Those of the
ober-prima enter as portepee-fahnrich, and must serve six months
in this grade, and be approved of by the officers before obtaining
their commissions ; they do not, however, attend a war school,
nor are they required to pass any further examination.

The cadets are not subjected to military law, but the discipline
maintained and the punishments inflicted are of a military charac-
ter. The officers are assisted in preserving discipline by the senior
cadets, who arc invested with the authority of under-officers.
One of the distinguishing features is the division of the cadets
into conduct classes, four in number and entirely independent of •
the classes for instruction. On entering, a cadet is placed in the
third class, in which he can only obtain leave on Sundayafternoons,
and at the invitation of some one known to the school authorities.
After a time he is promoted to the second class, and gets more
extended leave, the first class being almost entirely limited to the
selecta and ober-prima, who have many extra privileges. These
are the young fellows,
parties of whom are "'""^'

encountered on Sunday
afternoons at the Ber-
lin Zoo, KroU's, and
the better-class subur-
ban beer-gardens, and
Avho early affect a con-
temptuous bearing to-
wards the burgher or
philistine element of
the Prussian capital.
The fourth class is
reserved for those
guilty of serious mis-
conduct, and degrada-
tion to it is both a
disgrace and a punish-
ment. The cadets com-
posing it are not allowed
to go outside the walls,
and any one found in
it at the end of his

career has to enter the army as a private. The distribution
in classes mainly depends upon general conduct, but to a certain
extent upon diligence and study. The punishments inflicted
comprise reprimands, punishment parade, extra duty, extra
study, curtailment or stoppage of leave, forfeiture of class privi-
leges for a certain time, or reduction to a lower class, arrest in
quarters, close arrest, reduction to the ranks, and dismissal.

394 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

In minor matters the discipline is very strict : no watches,
rings, or jewelry, are allowed to be worn ; only a fixed sum of
pocket money, ranging from two thaler to three thaler twenty-
five groschen per month is allowed, and letters have to be opened
in presence of an officer to show that they contain no remittances.
Smoking is strictly prohibited within or without the school, and
the most scrupulous neatness with regard to dress is enforced.
The discipline is easily maintained, thanks to the early age at
which the cadets are brought under it, the system of conduct
classes, and the fact that a report in minute detail and termed
the curslun vitcs, of the cadet's conduct, is forwarded to the
regiment to which he is appointed, and may materially afi'ect
his future career. There is also the esprit de corps ; for every
cadet feels a pride in the body to which he belongs, and in its
privilege of taking precedence of all other troops when marching
past the sovereign, beneath the colours that were carried when
the Second Friedrich wore its uniform, and which still bear his
initials stamped upon their staff.

But it happens that neither the people at large nor the
majority of the commanding officers of regiments quite share
this feeling. The former say that the cadet school tends to keep
up the class spirit that forms so objectionable a feature in the
officers of the Prussian army, and that the education given is
much below that of a gymnasium ; while the latter hold that
the exclusively military atmosphere with which the cadets are
surrounded, from an early age, has a narrowing effect upon the
mind, and that the almost monastic system in which they are
brought up is fatal to freedom of thought and development of
character. They greatly prefer the Advantageur syscem which
has been explained in a preceding chapter.

The subjoined reminiscences of a cadet ^ furnish a graphic
account of the kind of life which is led at the Prussian pro-
vincial cadet schools, where, as already intimated, most of the
members of the corps go through their probationary course
before being admitted to the central establishment at Berlin.

The unaccustomed sound of the drum awoke me in the mornmg. Though
still half asleep, I hastily started up, rubbing my eyes. Where was It In a
wide and almost interminable room containing four long rows of iron bed-
steads with blue chocked coverlets, from beneath which peeped sleepy,
bewildered faces. I felt my narrow hard couch, the pillow of which was stiff
as a stone. I heard the roll of the drums outside, growing fainter and
fainter. My eyelids closed again heavily, and dead tired I sank back to
sleep ; but some one was already shaking me by the arm : "Up, up with
you !" cried a deep voice of command ; "don't you hear the drum.^" I
started up in alami, and saw the kind-looking face of a man in a blue
uniform, evidently trying to look very grave, but thinking in his heart, Poor
fellow ! how tired he still is after his long journey.

Close to the bed, on a brown wooden stool, lay my clothes. I slipped

' Aus tiicinen Kadettct^jalnen, von Johannes van Dewall.

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF.

395

The icy cold

into them mechani-
cally, trying hard to
finish dressing as
soon as my neigh-
bours. Following
the stream, holding
up my trousers with
one hand, and car-
rying my waistcoat
and jacket in the
other, I passed
through a bare cor-
ridor into another
room, in which were
clothes - pegs and
tables with large tin
washing-bowls, each
with its number on
the post above.
Stripped to our
waists, we splashed
and dipped in our

respective bowls, wasting the water and drenching the floor,
bath removed any feeling of drowsiness, and, red as a lobster, I got into my

clothes. I then
made a few
bold strokes
with a comb
through my
wet locks, and
my toilet was
complete.

" All you be-
longing to
room 8, you
there No. 88,
and you No.
1 13, wait out-
side till I
come," was the
aut horitative
command of a
bigger cadet,
who was just
buttoning his
waistcoat, and hanging on his gi-een silk strap. So Nos. 88 and 113,
which latter was myself, stood shyly outside in the passage waiting and
casting rather despondent glances at one another. " What is your name?"
asked No. 88 at length. " Hans van Dewall," replied No. 113;" and yours ?"
" Max Oehlschlagel,^' said No. 88.

A cadet, a regular dwarf, here running past thumped me with his fist
without the slightest provocation, crying, " You silly lout ! " My blood was
up at this insult, but I was forced to suppress my feelings, for the cadet
sprang down the stairs four steps at a time, and then, too, I had been told
agam and again that if a "knapsack," as a novice is termed, struck a real
cadet back again, he would be mercilessly beaten by the whole class, or even
be set upon by the entire corps.

I had not much time to ponder over this, for the same cadet who had
ordered us to wait emerged from the lavatory, and telling us that he was the

396

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

eldest in our room, ordered us to follow him. He led us downstairs and
into a large well-lighted corner room with four windows, on the door of which
was painted the figure 8. Two lamps hung suspended from the ceiling, and
beneath them stood large tables painted black. Against the walls were little
cupboards, marked with the names of individual cadets.

On one of these was " van Dewall," and to it I was led by the head of oar
room, who said as he opened it : "You can put your things in here ; but mind
you keep it always clean and tidy, or you'll catch it. 1 just tell you once for
all that I'll stand no nonsense, so you may look out ! " After this short
address, our senior took a chair, sat down at the large table, and began to
rummage ih his drawer. Meanwhile we arranged our small possessions
in the divisions of our cupboards, until the drum sounded again in the court.
" Sit down and work," exclaimed our tyrant, and we all obeyed. Each one
had his place and drawer assigned him at the table, and silently took his seat.
I had fetched my pen and paper to write to my parents, and was just
placing it before me on the table, when the red curtain of the glass door
opposite me was suddenly raised, and the face of our Governor Justus, the
same who had awaked me in the morning, was visible for a moment. I

began my letter, but only
wrote a few lines, for
my head was already
sinking heavily on the
table, and I fell asleep.

A clatter of cups
aroused me ; it was the
breakfast, brought in by
a waiter, who set his tray
down on the ground near
the stove and counted
the flat rolls on the win-
dow-sill, after satisfying
himself of the number of
people present. We
looked with longing eyes
at the smoking vessels
and the bread, for we
were ravenously hungry ;
but' we were not allowed
to touch anything, as the
hour for work was not
yet over.

Suddenly the beat of
the drum was heard out-
side, and we rushed at
once to the cups and
bread ; but, oh ! how cruelly was I undeceived ! Instead of coffee, I found
a thick gruel, with a skin on it as tough as leather ; the roll, too, was dry
and hard, and, worst of all, very little. And this was to appease the stomach
of a hungry boy till noon, and it was then only just seven.

As soon as breakfast was despatched we began to brush our clothes ; then
the drum summoned us to muster and to prayers. In the corridor outside,
the occupants of the different rooms were assembling, the eldest in the room
reporting that all were present to the eldest in the brigade (two rooms formed
a brigade), and then we were marched off. We little " knapsacks " fol-
lowed in the left wing, convulsively attempting to keep step like the rest.
On arriving in the large hall, the eldest in each brigade reported us to the
head of the company, who commanded the whole, and divided us into
proper squads with an air of importance. A profound silence then reigned
till Governor Justus came. That day, without holding a special early muster,

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF.

397

the governor gave
marching orders.
" Left wheel ! Com-
pany, march ! "
commanded the
leader in a clear
voice, and we wound
like a long snake
across the court into
the chapel.

After morning
prayers the new-
comers were ex-
amined as to their
preparatory know-
ledge, and then di-
vided into different
class-rooms for the
regular examina-
tion. This was the
anxious moment,
and the beginning
of the hard school
of Ufe. " Write ! "
was the order we
received from a tiny
man who had to
stand on tiptoe to
look at us over his
desk. Dictation fol-
lowed, both in German and Latin characters ; then we were examined in Latin,
and I rolled off glibly the rules for the third declension ; reading, arithmetic,
geography, and history followed, in which many proved very deficient, and we
ended with singing, when, in my bewilderment, I gave forth such execrable
sounds that the examiner stopped his ears and sent me back. These tortures
lasted for three hours, during which the victims' relatives were anxiously
pacing round the fountain in the great courtyard, anxious to see their little
ones in the royal uniform before returning home. How, when we were at
length dismissed, they questioned and kissed them ! while we friendless ones
looked on, sad and envious.

Then the drum summoned us all upstairs to clean our things, for the daily
parade was held at a quarter past twelve. Here for the first time we saw
assembled all the officers, governors, and cadets, and the commander of the
corps, a dried-up little man, whose thin beardless face peeped pleasantly out
beneath his over-large helmet, often absently put on the wrong way. He
was a noted savant, and had even translated the Nibelungen. Slowly,
with his hands behind him, he passed along the front, with kind and
searching glances, speaking now to one, now to another, and ordering an
hour's extra sleep that afternoon for those who had come a long way
(some had been an entire week on the journey), and finally giving orders
to march past. Two drummers placed themselves opposite to him, and then
began the parade march of the genuine cadets, in four ranks of two deep,
headed by a leader, all in strict accordance with rule, though, to save their
caps or promote the growth of their hair, all marched bareheaded.

From parade we went direct to the large dining-room. Grace was said,
and all fell to work with tremendous appetites on the barley soup and prunes,
and then on the beef and vegetables, till nothing was left. In the afternoon
we were free ; those whose relations still remained went with them to the
village inn, the rest looked about them. At four o'clock each had a dry roll,

598

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

at a quarter past seven supper, and at nine o'clock punctually we went to
bed.

How proud I was to write home that I had passed and was put in 5 a !
At eight o'clock next morning I received the news, and at ten had the delight
of dressing in my cadet's uniform, not hoivever until after I had been examined
as to my physical capacities by the surgeon of the regiment. '' Can you
hear.?" asked he with an important air, holding the watch close to my ear.
" To be siire I can." " Count;" and I did so. " Can you see well ? " " Yes."
"What time is \t?" "Half-past nine." " How many fingers are these ?"
"Five." "What is sitting on the roof up there?" "Nothing." Then
he made me jump over a string, pressed me all round my chest, and at
length muttered that I might go.

We were received by a droll couple in Sergeant-Major M. and his right hand
man Sergeant VV. — two important personages, who spoke in a strong pro-
vincial dialect ; they marched us to the topmost story, where the uniform

rooms were, when
we donned our uni-
forms, amidst many
interjections and
admonitions on the
part of our supe-
riors.

The poor little
cadet has to learn
betimes the truth
of many a hard
proverb ; he does
not wear the
splendid and much-
coveted uniform
with yellow cord,
the King's bluecoat,
without having to
pay for it. The
iron has to pass
through the fire
and under the ham-
mer to be converted
into good steel; and
so, from the very
first day, the boy
of eleven is taken
in hand and roughly
treated, in order to
turn him into a true
cadet. This hard
period of transition
is known as the "knapsack time," and the boy as a "knapsack." The
cadet corps is the severe school in v.'hich the foundation is laid of the many
qualities required in a good officer, who must know both how to command
and how to obey in every situation ; and, strange to say, this training is not
so much due to the officers and teachers as to the cadets themselves, who
carry on this system of education with relentless severity, beating into one
another all that goes to form their ideal of a true man, namely, obedience,
self-denial, honour, and esprit de corps, and learning to bear heat and cold,
hunger and pain without complaint. Woe to him who cries or " peaches,'"
or who shows himself a coward ; he is twitched and tortured from mom
tijl eve with pins or hot tongs, till he either improves or finds the place too
warm, and leaves the corps to return to the arms of an over-tender mother.

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 39^

Whilst we new-comers were battling against fatigue and home sickness, the
storm burst, and as I stood at the window that evening, a hand was laid on
my shoulder, and in rough tones I was ordered down to the gymnastic exer-
cise ground,by the senior of my room, while with his strong arm he pushed
me out at the door. I was told to swing myself up and down on the horse
twelve tiiries running, and not being able to do this, was first admonished by
some slaps on the muscles of the arms, and afterwards thoroughly beaten.

I grew angry, and gave an indignant challenge, whereupon they all exclaimed
at the impudence of the " knapsack," and I received a swinging box on the
ear, in reply to which I sprang like a young tiger on to my oppressor, felling
him to the ground and belabouring his face with both my fists. I held fast
to him — although the others rushed to his aid and blows rained upon me —
until we were interrupted by the deep bass voice of our astonished governor.
I was at once accused by my tyrant of having struck him for a little fun
which they had been having with me, and as I abstained from giving my
version of the affair, we escaped with an admonition to keep the peace, orders
being given that I was to be left alone. My adversary made an attempt to
attack me again after the governor's departure, but the others protected me as
a good fellow who had not " peached ;" some of them even offered their hands
and asked my name, and then took me to the well to wipe the bl lod from off
my face. My first fight ended with a lecture about never again daring to
return a blow from an older cadet or "breadsack ;" my transgression was to
be passed over in this instance because I had not " peached," but next time, I
was told, nothing would save me from the most terrible beating from the
whole class.

Hardly has the "knapsack" rushed into the lavatory on rising in the morning
than he receives a dig in the ribs from the senior of his room, who manages
everything by blows, and who tells him to wake up and strip more completely;
in the hour for study a ruler flies at his head to make him sit straight or pay
attention ; during breakfast-time he is ordered to clean a senior's buttons,
and if he aims at securing the largest roll, he is called greedy and punished
with the smallest. His pens, paper, and the like are considered public
property ; he receives the smallest portions at table, has to take the least
popular parts in the games, and is trained by blows into a regular Spartan.
All the boys read Grecian and Roman history and Cooper's novels, and aim
at imitating their heroes; they scorn to flinch under pain; and one cadet went
so far as co burn a piece of sponge on his hand in emulation of some similar
feat that he had read about. The " knapsacks " follow these examples of forti-
tude, until the yoke becomes easier each day ; they have companions in woe,
and the foundation of lifelong friendships is often the result.

As soon as the governor and the lieutenant had left the boys at study, and
their parting steps were heard, boys began to get help in their exercises, the
second senior occupied himself with cracking nuts secretly, while the senfor
himself fetched one of Cooper's novels from his cupboard to read. While
he was thus absorbed, talking, laughing, and letter- writing went on, with
occasional fighting, speedily repressed by a look from him. Some fell asleep
with their heads on the table, and one snored, whereupon another tickled
him with a goose feather, causing even the senior to forget his gravity. As
the boy failed to awake, a wisp of paper was lighted and put undrr his
nose, and finally a piece of india-rubber was stuck upon the little toe of
each boot and set on fire, making him dance about like a dervish, suddenly
awakened by pain from sweet dreams. Before he could get his boot off,
the fire had burnt through and blistered his foot. The boy proved to be
anything but a stoic ; he limped and went into the hospital next day with
the officer, when he told the doctor what had happened, in consrquence of
which we were reported and a storm broke over our heads at parade. The
first and second seniors, and the perpetrator of the trick, were all severely
punished, and when the victim returned among us, a week later, he was not
only declared " chief of the mollycoddles," but received a severe thrashing

400

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

report, a parcel from home, or a well-executed piece
holidays, when we could appear before our friends
Then we returned to school, " knapsacks " no longer
boys of twelve were
toughened into steel,
their bodies hardened,
their feelings of hon-
our stirred, and an
espi'it de corps aroused
ready for any self-
sacrifice.

Lesson hours were
very strict, and we were
all ambitious to reach
as high a place as we
could on the first
bench. Good or bad
reports were made of
us according to our
diligence. The indus-
trious were gradually
promoted to be second
and afterwards head
of their room or bri-
gade. These heads of
rooms and brigades,
eight in number, had
the distinction of sub-
alterns. There were
five different censure
classes which began

and was put in the
" Spanish stocks."
This consists in fast-
ening thedelinquent's
hands together with
a sledge strap or
pocket-handkerchief,
pushing them over
his knees, and stick-
ing a bat obliquely
imder the latter,
thereby rendering
him perfectly help-
less. In this condi-
tion he received a
few more hard blows,
with a lecture on tell-
ing tales and the
consequences ; and
was finally deposited
in a large metal
washing - bowl to
cool, till the drum
summoned the class.
The time passed
slowly, with occa-
sional alleviations in
the shape of a good
of mischief, until the
in our fine unifoiins.
; the worst was over ;

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE C.REAT GENERAL STAFF.

401

with the third and ended, according to the offender's conduct, in the first
or fifth. Any one placed in the latter was generally dismissed from the corps
as a sickly sheep.
Most of us found it
easy to learn, but to
some it was a trouble,
and the additional les-
sons which they re-
ceived in Latin or
French were an equal
torment to their teacher
and themselves. From
the sexta we rose up
to the tertia, by which
time our stay in the
preparatory corps was
completed.

The woes and con-
solations of the cadet
have been embodied
in verse by some pre-
cocious spirit, who
probably owed his in-
spiration to an after-
noon spent in the
" Black Angel," to
which he refers. The
woes enumerated are
the early rising and late going to rest, the hard bolster and cold bed-room,
the rude fare, poor cabbage, small rolls, hollow loaves, weak soup, tainted
meat, and weeds flourishing at the bottom of the water-bottles. The pickled
beans are said to be sweet, whereas the plums are sour, and the only
consolations are that none are tempted to make themselves ill by over-
eating, while the steward thrives and the cadets grow slim. As soon as they
are awake, and have slipped into their clothes, the tortures of study at the
black table begin, to be succeeded by prayers, which are every night as
well as morning. If the cadet does not manage to learn his lessons, he is
marked down in the class-book, and called to the front. The head of his
company shouts out " Half rations at dinner ! " and he receives corporal
punishment in addition. When the following Sunday arrives, and he
wishes for leave of absence, he finds his name crossed out of the book,
and on appealing to the captain is turned out of the room. The unlucky
thought of obtaining pity from the major occurs to him ; but for this he is
sentenced to two days in the " Black Angel," the room of arrest, where he
sits shivering and hungry. The time seems very long, but if the worst comes
to the worst, it is always possible to sham illness, spite of teacher and doctor.

Our sufferings from the cold in winter were very great ; woollen stockings
and underclothing were unknown luxuries, and our uniform furnished but
a slight protection against the cold wind which blew round the elevated castle.
Caps were only worn on state occasions; we generally went about bareheaded,
and a pair of regulation woollen gloves were put on only in the depth of
winter ; we were obliged to try to warm ourselves by running and gym-
nastics. The thermometer rarely rose to 14° in the living rooms, and we had
scanty food. In spite of this, our greatest fun was in winter, when we all
helped to build a great snow fortress in the courtyard, which was stormed and
defended by two parties. In this, and the snowballing matches between the
companies, there were frequently bleeding faces, for the courtyard was covered
with coarse gravel, which got mixed with the snow. But such spirit and
obstinacy were displayed in these fights, that the masters had often hard

D D

402

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

work in separating the combatants. They fought for the honour of their
company, as in later lite they faced the deadliest fire in the battle-field.

The sledging was less bloody, but all the merrier. There was a steep descent
inthecastle yard, closeto the entrance, and the wide straight hilly road, which
led down to the Post Office, presented a splendid course for sledging ! We
squatted two and two on the small, low, iron-shod sledges, clasping the board
firmly with our hands, and then rushed down the hill with the swiftness of
lightning. The one at the end guided the little conveyance with his extended
heels, making the sledge diverge to one side by touching the ground on the
other. Great skill was requisite in the management, and many came to
grief against the iron railings or the large stones by the road side.

Our only escape from the monotony of cadet life, the constant noise of the
tattoo, and the severe cold in which we had to stand sentry, was to get
ordered into the hospital, where quiet and warmth were to be found. The
cadets sometimes bought tapers for the purpose of dropping a little burning
wax on their bare feet so as to raise a blister, and they would then set to work
to bring off wax and skin together with a clothes-brush. A cadet in this
state would show his foot to the doctor, complaining of his boot having
blistered it, and would be ordered to hospital, to lie in bed for the wound
to heal. The only drawback to his enjoyment would be the half rations
ordered by the doctor. By dint of scratching the wound with his toe during
the night, he would make it bleed again, and so manage to prolong his stay
for a fortnight.

When 1 20 fresh healthy boys between the happy ages of 1 1 and 1 5 are
packed close together in a small space, there is an abundance of combustible
material, and their superabundant spirits are vented in mischief, practised
sometimes on each other, and sometimes on outsiders. The chief occupation
of the cadets in their play hours is gymnastics, these are their resource in
hunger, cold, or vexation. Another amusement is games at ball of various

kinds, Laufball, Rummel-
ball, Carr^ball, &c., in
which the masters and
officers now and then
take part. Occasionally,
by way of diversion, some
" mollycoddle " is tossed
by the boys, who, placing
themselves opposite to
one another in two long
rows, cross their hands,
and toss the selected
victim high in the air,
amid the general jubila-
tion.

If a "knapsack" is
found inquisitive, he is
made to look at the stars,
which he is told may be
counted in broad daylight
through any kind of tube,
the sleeve of his coat, for
instance. When he seems
incredulous, he is placed
on a chair near the win-
dow, made to pull off his
coat, which is hung over
his head, one of the sleeves being drawn out so that he can see through it.
Then he is told to look patiently, but presently a jug full of water is poured
down, and wets him through, while he is laughed at for his credulity.

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFE.

^o:

If any one sleeps in lesson time, his chair is dragged from under him, and
his face and fingers are smeared with ink, or a match is held to his nose.
Any one who is miserly and stores up eatables, a very rare occurrence, will
find his whole cupboard cleared out some fine day, or be treated even
worse. One of the cadets in our room, distributed very little of the good
things he received from home on his birthday, but kept them in his cupboard
to cat on the sly. Plans were concerted, each cadet brought up a handful
of salt from the dining-room, and during the afternoon one of them pre-
tended that his nose
bled, stole up to his
room, and stirred all
the salt into the large
pot of honey. The
owner soon discover-
ed the trick, but
being afraid of worse
befalling the honey,
ate it all up at once,
and had to be sent
to the hospital in
consequence. His
absence was employ-
ed in eating up his
cakes and chocolate,
extracting the kernels
from his nuts by care-
fully dividing the
shells with a knife,
and filling them up
neatly with sand and
ink before gumming
them together again.
On his return after
four days' illness, he found
nothing left but the horrible
down into the court, vowing to tell of us
used before we could dissuade him.

Any one who proved unbearable, was shut up in an empty cupboard to
quiet him ; if he told tales he received hard blows and was put into the
stocks ; if he repeated the offence every one avoided him like the plague,
and made his life as miserable as possible. This was so well managed that
the governors hardly ever knew about it, and it was rarely that anything
oozed out.

Every one in the cadet corps has a nickname which is more or less appro-
priate. Among us there was the Sloth, who was always the last to rush
into the lavatory, while half asleep, with all his things hanging untidily about
him. He would just dip the tip of his nose into the bowl and seize the
towel if the eldest in the room did not keep a sharp eye on him, and, much
to his disgust, force him to strip and wash, when he would be assisted by
many a splash of water from his companions. During the lesson hour the
Sloth would snore or nod over an atlas, but as soon as the clatter of break-
fast basins was heard, he would wake up, for he was idle, stupid, and greedy,
and no sooner had he finished his own porridge than he would try to secure
scrapings from the other basins.

On the early roll being called, he was nearly certain to have lost a button,
to have dirty ears or fingers, or marks on his coat, but punishment failed to
cure him. He slept during prayers and in class. Of course he sat on the last
bench, and never woke up till a question was put to him, or answered unless
he was prompted. When parade time came, he would be reprimanded for

some satirical verses in his cupboard and
nuts ; tears came to his eyes and he rushed
all, and many threats had to be

404

BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

untidiness and threatened with being removed to the 4th censure class on
the next offence, but nothing had any effect on him, until he was ordered to
fast the whole of that day. He would have to stand at the end of the dinner-
table, watching the others eat, and begging for bits of their bread on the
sly, till the meat and potatoes came, when, unable any longer to restrain
his grief, he would groan and sob, till he was removed by order of the officer
of the day.

He was the greatest trouble to the sergeant-lieutenant, always requiring
new clothes, as he grew out of his own about every six weeks. These clothes
had to be expressly made for him, as none of those on hand would fit him,
while the discarded ones were soiled all over with dirt and grease. At
Christmas he received a very bad report, was placed in the 4th censure class,
and had his furlough stopped. This was a hard blow, for he had been
dreaming of eating and sleeping to his heart's content throughout the holidays.
One morning, however, he vanished, and could nowhere be found, but four
or five days afterwards, word was received from his father of his having
reached home, half frozen, and nearly starved to death. The attempt to
humanise this animal seems to have been abandoned, for he never returned

to the corps.

The isolated holi-
days and festivals
standing out like re-
freshing isles in the
vast ocean of cadet
hfe may be headed
by Christmas day,
which brought its
Christmas trees, gin-
gerbread, bonbons,
and great bowls of
rice and currants, in
which we might revel.
But these pleasures
were alloyed by the
thought of all we were
missing at home.
Then came the King's
birthday, the second
great annual holiday,
when the whole corps
m.ustered for grand
parade in the court-
yard, dressed in their
new uniforms, and
the governor made a
splendid speech.

So months and
years passed in work
and play till I became sub-officer and eldest in the brigade, and reached the
4th form and ist censure class. Then came the summer's day when, dis-
missed by the sergeant-lieutenant with tears and parting words of advice, I
bade the school farewell, and started on my journev to the capital, to join the
corps at No. 13, Neue Fricdrichs-strasse.

The War Schools at which the advantageurs and cadets, not
belonging to the Sclecta, gain their military instruction, are seven
in number, and are situate at Potsdam, P>furt, Neisse, Engel,
Cassel, Hanover, and Anklam. Before entering one of them a

WAR SCIIOOI.S.^TIIE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 405

young man must have received a good education, and served six
months in the ranks. The course of instruction lasts ten months,
and comprises tactics of all arms, manoeuvres, the defence of
places, the transport of troops, the science of arms and their
manufacture, also the theory of projectiles, fortification, topo-
graphy and military drawing in all their branches, instruction
in military regulations and the duties of the service, including
the whole system of military correspondence and accounts, with
drill, riding, fencing, and gymnastics.

No civilians are employed in these schools, at which the daily
routine does not materially differ from that of the cadet schools, the
lectures leaving about three hours' spare time every day. Disci-
pline is mainly secured by the inspectors who live amongst the
pupils. The rules and regulations are very strict, and the con-
duct report may affect future promotion to a considerable degree.
Conduct unbecoming an officer is rigidly punished, and the
greatest neatness of dress is enforced. Plain clothes are not
allowed to be worn under any circumstances. As the pupils are
mostly nineteen or twenty years of age, much of the main-
tenance of discipline rests with themselves. Duelling as a pre-
ventative to bullying is permitted within certain limits. The
senior pupils, under the presidency of an officer, form a Board of
Honour, by which all quarrels are investigated. The board
decides which of the disputants is in the wrong, and whether a
duel should take place. These duels are fought with swords,
and it rarely happens that much damage is done; after they
are over the disputant pronounced by the board to be in the
wrong is punished by the director of the school. Under these
circumstances a man knowing himself to be in the wrong, and
certain that in whatever way the contest ends he will certainly
be punished, often tries his very hardest to wound his adversary
when standing up face to face with him.

The United Artillery and Engineer School, situate at No. 74
Unter den Linden, was founded in 18 16. None of the students
live at the school, but there is a mess establishment at which
about 140 of them dine together, the remainder messing at an
adjoining restaurant. On the ground floor are the offices, the
officers' mess-room, a chemical laboratory, very well furnished,
and a number of electrical and scientific instruments used in
illustrating the lectures on physical science, said to be the best in
Berlin, after those of the University. On the first floor are the
lecture rooms, larger than those of the Cadetten-haus, though
not generally intended for classes of more than thirty students,
together with two large halls especially devoted to drawing, and
which have their walls covered with topographical designs, plans
of fortifications, &c. On the second floor is the students'
mess-room, with billiard and card rooms, and also the library,
the latter well supplied with German and foreign military and

4o6 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

scientific works. Above the library are the model rooms and
museum, containing models of artillery carriages and fortifica-
tions, together with a large collection of surveying instruments.

Young men intending to join the artillery and engineers
receive no special education before entering the army. They
join their regiments as cadets or advantageurs, and after serving
a year, instead of the six months necessary in a line regiment,
proceed through the ordinary ten months' course at a war-
school. The reason why officers of all arms are called upon to
go through the same course, is partly to establish a more
complete sympathy between the different branches of the
service, and partly because it was thought unwise that young
men of the artillery and engineers, who had only been in service
a few months, should by proceeding direct to their special school
be left comparatively free from control in Berlin. After leaving the
military school and passing the officer's examination, they receive
a kind of provisional commission. They are officers in the army,
but in their own corps are merely supernumeraries, and before
actually becoming officers of artillery or engineers must serve with
their regiments two years in the former branch and one in the
latter, and then attend their special school for one or two years
respectively. The reason the artillery students spend two years
with their regiments is to give them a more thorough acquaint-
ance with their practical duties.

The course of instruction is both theoretical and practical.
The former comprises for both divisions the usual branches of
scientific military education, with certain special branches, such as
veterinary science for the artillery, and hydraulic construction for
the engineers. The practical course embraces visits to the
military establishments at Berlin and Spandau, laboratory opera-
tions, attendance at the exercise of the engineers of the guard
in sapping, mining, &c., tracing fieldworks, surveying, and artil-
lery practice. The professional examinations take place in July,
and those who pass join their regiments as second lieutenants.
In the event of a first failure a second trial is allowed, but a can-
didate who has twice failed is not eligible for appointment as
officer in a scientific corps and is transferred to the line. The
artillery and engineers are the only branches of the Prussian
service in which there are examinations for promotion. In both
corps first lieutenants must pass a further examination before
promotion to the rank of captain. These numerous examina-
tions render these services somewhat unpopular, and are con-
sidered a grievance by the ofificers themselves, though they are
in some degree made up for by better pay, subalterns receiving
about sixty thaler, and captains and majors about lOO thaler
per annum more than the holders of corresponding ranks in the
infantry.

The War Academy situated in the Burg-strasse, in the rear of

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GEXERAL STAFF. 407

the Schloss, was founded by General Scharnhorst in 18 10, on
the site of the Academie des Nobles, afterwards the Academie
Militaire of Friedrich the Great. There is nothing remarkable
about this building, the accommodation of which is on a limited
scale, but it contains a good library, a large collection of maps
and plans, a museum of models of artillery and fortifications, a
chemical laboratory and a cabinet of physical science well pro-
vided with apparatus. The War Academy, which was formerly
known as the War School till the institution of local war schools
led to its change of title, is not a staff school, for though the
ordinary means of obtaining a staff appointment is by passing
through it, such a course of instruction does not give a claim to
staff employment, nor is the education given exclusively intended
for staff officers. The general object of the institution is to
raise the scientific spirit of the army, while its special object is to
give such an education to the most talented officers of all arms
after they have proved themselves to be possessed of the practi-
cal qualifications of good regimental officers, as will fit them for
responsible positions of high rank and duties requiring attain-
ments of a higher degree than ordinary.

The course of the Academy extends over three years, and
admission is obtained by a competitive examination open to
officers of all branches of the service who have served as officers
for three years. The candidate must, however, produce certifi-
cates from his commanding officer, setting forth that he is well
acquainted with regimental duty and has on all occasions shown
himself a thoroughly practical officer, that he has the disposition
and abilities to profit by a high scientific education, health likely
to ensure his remaining in the service, strength of character and
firmness, and that he is not in pecuniary difficulties. The ex-
aminations of the candidates take place at the head-quarters of
the army corps to which their regiment belongs, the papers,
which are the same for all, being sent from Berlin. The subjects
are partly of a general, and partly of a professional, character,
and the questions are such as require not merely an effort of
memory to answer them, but allow the candidate to display his
mental capacity and power of thought. The papers are sent in
to the Board of Studies, and in cases of near equality the pre-
ference is given to candidates who have distinguished themselves
in the field, who, from personal qualifications, are likely to prove
useful members of the Academy, or who, from advanced age or
higher rank, would make the postponement of their admission a
disadvantage. The number received depends upon the vacancies.

The students are divided into three classes, one for each year,
and the course of instruction followed is of a very wide
character, embracing many subjects of a literary and scientific
nature that have no connection whatever with military matters.
The purely military subjects are of course obligatory, but a wide

408 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

latitude of choice is allowed in pursuing the others, so that
every one is encouraged to cultivate any special talent he may
possess, though all are obliged to attend a certain number of
lectures. Care is taken that the lectures shall be thoroughly
comprehensive in their character. Thus the professors are in-
structed that those on military history shall consist of some-
thing more than a dry chronological account of military events,
with an enumeration of the changes which have taken place in
tactics and strategy. It is necessary they should furnish a life-
like description of the circumstances under which war was waged
at different eras, and to present a finished picture of the cha-
racters of any great military leaders and of the troops which
they commanded. In the same way it is required that the lec-
tures on military geography shall embrace statistics as to the
population, commerce, and products of different countries, with
the social and political circumstances of the inhabitants, their
education, industrial occupations, military and civil institutions —
in fine, "everything that is of importance for military operations,
as these may be affected by the general defensive powers of a
country." At the War Academy, as at the other military schools,
the testimony is, that the men who have passed through the
public schools, show a marked superiority over those who be-
longed to the cadet corps. The students on leaving receive
certificates of proficiency, which do not however entitle them to
any appointment, though they set forth the branch of the service
for which the holders are best qualified.

Amongst other educational establishments connected with the
army and situate in Berlin, are the School of Gunnery, the
Central Gymnastic School for training instructors in gymnastics,
and the School of Pyrotechny for the instruction of non-com-
missioned officers of artillery in laboratory duties, together with
the two Army Medical Schools, the Friedrich-Wilhelm Institute
and the Military Medical Academy, and the Military Veterinary
School.^ One other military institution, the renown of which is
European, remains to be described, namely the establishment of
the " Grosser Generalstab," or Great General Staff.

Outside the Victory-crowned Brandenburg Gate, within a hun-
dred yards of Unter den Linden, and on the north side of the
Thiergarten, stands the imposing block of buildings compos-
ing the offices ot the General Staff of the German army. In
advance of them on one side is KroU's establishment, and on
the other the Raczinsky palace and picture, gallery, while in

' In March 1875 the number of the inmates, both professors and teachers,
of the War Academy was 480 ; of the United Artillery and Engineer School,
548 ; of the Cadetten-haus, 789 ; of the School of Gunners, 302 ; of
the School of Pyrotechny, 258 ; of the Gymnastic School, 237 ; of the
Military Veterinary School, 184; and of the Friedrich-Wilhelm Institute,
213. The Ministry of War had 147 inmates, and the General Staff, 139.

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 409

the centre of the Konigs-platz, in front, rises the stumpy fluted
Victory column, which the BerHnese have irreverently nick-
named "the bundle of asparagus."

The building in which the General Staff is installed has a
principal and two side fagadcs, enclosing a large court, with
ample room in the rear for the extension of the edifice, which,
though only occupied since 1871, is already found too small for
its intended purpose. Like the majority of modern public
buildings in Berlin, it is built of brick, with stone dressings ; it
is also ornamented in the prevailing style of ]5erlin military
architecture, with helmets, eagles, laurel wreaths, and palm and
oak branches, and with mythological groups of bellicose aspect.
The establishment of the General Staff includes such officers as
are not employed with the different military commands, and is pre-
sided over by Count von Moltke. It is perfectly distinct from the
War Office, or that department which answers to our own Horse
Guards. Count von Moltke has nothing whatever to do with
promotions or appointments in the army, or with any patronage
or routine work. He is Chief of the General Staff, and, as such,
the Emperor's principal adviser in time of war ; but he in no
way controls the army. Indeed, it would be wholly impossible
for him to work out the great questions and problems submitted
to him if he did. At the offices of the General Staff information
of every kind is received, digested, and applied to the steady
improvement of the military system ; here plans are prepared
for offensive and defensive campaigns against every nation in
Europe ; here the brightest wits and hardest workers of the
army come together and work out the grand principles of war,
and here also they are being trained to become first-rate Generals,
capable of handling, not tens of thousands only, but hundreds of
thousands of men. " In this vast factory," says M. Victor Tissot,
" war is prepared just like some chemical product ; within these
walls all the various directing strings that regulate the German
army are made to meet in order to be under the control of one
master-hand, so that the troops in fact scarcely march a step,
explode a cartridge, or fire a cannon shot without orders from
here, while not so much as a military gaiter button can be
sewn on anywhere in Europe without a note being taken
of it."

Attached to the General Staff is the Accessory Staff, com-
posed of officers employed in the strictly scientific work allotted
to this department, their appointments being of a permanent
nature ; these officers, as a ,rule, do not participate in the ad-
vantage of rapid promotion enjoyed by the officers belonging to
the active staffs

Three sections of the General Staff are charged with study-
ing the strength, organization, recruiting, equipment, drill, and

^ Account of the Pnissiati Staff, by Colonel Walker, C.B.

E E

410 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

distribution of foreign armies, and with keeping a minute account
of their effective force and their armaments, of the time neces-
sary for their mobilization and their concentration on the different
points of the frontier, together with their systems of reinforcement
and reserve. Their artillery strength is carefully recorded, and
scarcely a cartridge or a shell enters their arsenals without being
noted. The first section occupies itself with the armies of the
East — namely, those of Austria, Russia, Sweden and Norway,
Denmark, Turkey, Greece, and Asia ; the second with the armies
of middle Europe, including those of Prussia and Germany —
with particulars of their fortresses, magazines, forts, and inland
communication — and likewise those of Italy and Switzerland.
The third section charges itself with the armies of the West,
comprising those of France, Great Britain, Belgium, Holland,
Spain, Portugal, and the United States. The colonies are in all
instances noted under the section to which the mother country
belongs.

There is a sub-section, under the direction of Colonel von
Branderstein, charged with collecting information respecting
foreign railways, both from a strategical point of view and in
reference to the transport of troops and materiel. In the case
of an anticipated war, this section would have to draw up before-
hand a tableau of the halting-places in the particular foreign
country, regulated by the resources and wealth of the different
towns and districts. Certain officers are attached permanently to
this sub-section, who have not only to make themselves theoreti-
cally masters of their subject, but by travelling on the various
foreign lines of railway have to acquire practical acquaintance
with their transport capabilities in all their details. With a view
moreover of diffusing this class of knowledge as widely as possible,
ail the officers of the staff are required to attend a six weeks'
course of study with this sub-section.

The trigonometrical and topographical sections employ a
legion of geographical engineers, draughtsmen, engravers, &c.,
and the surveys of special localities made by the former are
afterwards verified by the troops between the 1st of May and
the 1st of October in each year. To the latter section a photo-
graphic workroom and lithographic printing-office, under the
direction of Major Regelz, have recently been annexed. The
geographical-statistical section collects and utilizes information,
and for this purpose is in constant communication with the re-
maining sections. It also charges itself with the scientific duties
connected with the map collection of the General Staff, one room
devoted to which contains maps on a large scale, relating to all
the countries in the world, arranged in the most perfect order.

Not the least important section of the General Staff is that of
military history, directed by Colonel Count von Wartensleben,
under the control of Count von Moltkc. It is this section which

WAR SCHOOLS. — THE GREAT GENERAL STAFF. 4I I

is engaged in preparing the history of the war of 1870 and 1871.
In the narrow and dark vestibule leading to its offices, the rare
military library which the Germans carried off from Metz is
installed. To the right an iron door conducts to a vaulted apart-
ment, wherein are deposited the national war archives, dating
from the epoch of the Elector Johann Sigismund. Orders, reports,
instructions, everything has been preserved in no fewer than five-
and-twenty thousand heavy folios, all classed and divided into
the different epochs, the principal being the Seven Years' War,
the War of Deliverance (1813-15), and the war of 1870-71.
The Danish War and the campaigns against Austria and the
French Republic of 1793 likewise furnish a vast number of
documents.

The rooms where the official history of the late war was being
prepared were encumbered with maps, plans, despatches, bulletins,
reports, notes, extracts, and French, English, German, Russian,
and American books and newspapers. " These are by no means
the whole of the materials which you see here," remarked the
officer who accompanied us. " Altogether, there is little short of
a million documents of one kind or another ; " and he opened the
doors of various rooms filled with piles of orders, despatches,
and other papers, reaching to the ceiling.

The staff of this section, it appears, not only occupies itself
with subjects of intermediate and recent .interest, but with the
collection and arrangement of papers referring to wars of former
times ; and it is said there is scarcely a European battle of any
importance of which a plan is not to be found in this repository.
The library attached to it is, moreover, rich in works on military
history, tactics, geography, and military science generally, in all
the languages of Europe.

In addition to the duties already enumerated, the General Staff
occupies itself with the preparation of printed reports on foreign
armies for distribution to staff officers not employed upon the
establishment. It also undertakes the training of officers for
Staff purposes, to which end young officers who have passed the
prescribed three years at the Military Academy are attached for
a year to the different sections. Here they are employed in
drawling up reports on strategical and tactical questions, critical
reports on the military events of past eras, descriptions of the
ground embraced in military operations, and of the military
organization of foreign countries. Whenever the foregoing
essays appear to be of special value, they are brought beneath
the notice of the Chief of the Staff.

The officers of the General Staff go on military tours of in-
struction, some of these being personally conducted by Count
von Moltke, when the theatre of operations and certain conditions
by which the latter are likely to be influenced are indicated, a
suppositious strength is given to two contending armies whose

E E 2

412 RERUN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

depots and means of reinforcement -are clearly laid down, while
the influence likely to be exerted by the movements of other
armies or bodies of troops on their flanks are duly taken into
calculation. According to these data, the senior officers present
form their plans of manoeuvre, employing their juniors in the
preparation of all the subordinate arrangements, the movement
of the troops, the selection of positions for attack or defence, the
arrangements for supply, and for retaining a communication with
the base. All these measures arc carried out on the spot, and
daily reports are made to the superintending officer, accompanied
when necessary with such rough sketches as are usually indicated
during the progress of a campaign. Officers of the General Staff
are moreover detached to attend the annual corps manoeuvres,
as well as those taking place in foreign countries, and are also
appointed to follow the active campaigns of friendly nations and
allies.^

The great value of the institution of the General Staff is due
to the composition of its official corps, and to the thorough exami-
nation to which Count von Moltke subjects even the man whom
he considers worthy of a prominent position in this body of picked
men. The officer who thinks himself fitted to enter the General
Staff must be not only blameless in his mihtary capacity, but
possessed of a large store of positive knowledge. Moreover,
he has to learn by degrees every branch of the science of war in
these various offices, and to show distinct activity in all of them
before he will be promoted a single step. And between times he
is ordered on active service to give proof of his capacity in com-
manding a battalion or a regiment. There is no patronage or
nepotism here ; only the best man is advanced. Throughout
the army the most capable men are sent to this High School of
the Science of War, while the least valuable are weeded out again
and transferred to ordinary military service.

By means like these Prussia has succeeded in gaining the best
instructed body of officers in Europe, and the diie of the army
in her General Staff There is no military qualification which
each of its members does not possess in a high degree. He
must be one of the best riders and most energetic officers in the
service ; a thorough historian, topographer and mathematician,
artilleryman and pioneer, tactician and strategist ; a general able
and ready to undertake the command of a division of the army,
and, if not as generalissimo, yet independently and successfully
to carry out his superior's plan and his own part in it.

^ Account of the Pnisszan Staff, by General Walker, C.B.

APPENDIX.

WILHELM I. KUNIG AND KAISER.
{Resumed from page 261.)

On the 22nd March, 1877, the celebration of the Emperor's
eightieth birthday was marked by an absolute flood of congra-
tulatory addresses and gifts ; conspicuous amongst the latter
being a gigantic oil-painting by Werner, representing the pro-
clamation of the German Empire at Versailles, which was
personally presented on behalf of the minor sovereigns by the
King of Saxony, and several of the German Grand Dukes. Of
course a due return was made in the shape of titles and crosses.
Bismarck, already loaded with all the civil and military digni-
ties in the country, was created, for want of something else,
Head-ranger of Pomerania, and Dr. Lauer, physician in
ordinary, was made a privy councillor, according to an old
promise, the Kaiser having often jestingly complained of Lauer
curtailing some of the delicacies of the Imperial table, in order
to make his patient an octogenarian, and himself in conse-
quence an Excellency.

Thanks to the constitution given him by nature and thus
cared for by Lauer, the Emperor was able, the following year,
to support a shock to the system which would very likely have
proved fatal to a weaker man. On the nth of May, as he and
his daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, were returning from
a drive in an open caleche along the Linden, a pistol-shot was
discharged at him from the side pavement nearly opposite the
Russian Embassy, by a socialist tin-smith named Hodel. The
Grand Duchess swooned away, but the old veteran had smelt
powder too often to feel much alarm, and at once ordered his
coachman to pull up and his chasseur to get down and secure
the would-be assassin. Perceiving that he had missed his aim
the latter ran to the opposite side of the road, crouched down and
fired a second time at the Emperor, who, to show the passers-by
that he was unhurt, stood up in the carriage. The second bullet
missed its mark, like the first, and Hodel took to flight after dis-
charging a couple more shots at the people near at hand, but was
pursued and captured opposite the end of Schadow-strasse by
several gentlemen, one of whom, Herr Kohler, died two days
afterwards through an internal injury received during the struggle.

414 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The antecedents and the fate of Hodel will be found narrated in
the chapter on German Socialism,

On his arrival at] the palace, where there soon poured in a flood
of congratulatory telegrams from all parts of the world, the
Kmperor received the princes, princesses, ambassadors, minis-
ters, generals, and high functionaries then in Berlin. After a
family dinner he visited, in company with the Grand Duchess of
Baden, both the Opera and the Schauspiel-haus, where an enthu-
siastic reception awaited him, the audience in either instance
rising to their feet, and, after a burst of applause, singing the
national hymn. As the Kaiser drove to and from the theatres
he was greeted with jubilant cheering by the excited multitude
assembled in the Linden, whilst in many of the principal streets
flags were displayed and houses illuminated in gratification at
his providential escape,

A yet more serious and deadly trial was, however, in store for
the aged monarch. With undismayed confidence in the affec-
tion of the Berlinesc, he continued to drive out without taking
any extra precautions which Hodel's attempt might have sug-
gested. This sense of security was taken advantage of by an-
other socialist of higher standing, a doctor of philosophy named
Nobiling. After a lengthy preliminary study of the most suit-
able method of accomplishing his purpose, he installed himself
in a room of the house, No. i8, overlooking the Linden, and
bided his time. On Sunday, the 2nd of June, he determined to
carry out his plan, and having written and laid in a prominent
position on his writing table a memorandum to the effect that he
owed some money to his landlady and his washerwoman, whom
he requested might be paid out of a sum of seven pounds odd
stowed away in the table-drawer, he placed his double-barrelled
gun and revolver near the window and watched for the passage
of the Emperor. At about 2 p.m. the latter passed down the
Linden in an open carriage as usual, and Nobiling fired at him.
The gun had been loaded with heavy charges of small shot, as
being more certain to hit a rapidly moving object at the range
than a bullet. A correspondent writing at the time observed
that—

" Nobiling must have covered the Emperor as the latter drove by the
Kaiser-gallerie, and became visible to him, clear of the chasseur sitting on
the box — and therefore between Nobiling and the Emperor — and have kept
the muzzle of his piece laid dead on his Majesty's head until the carriage had
arrived at a spot directly fronting the window at which he sate with levelled
gun. Then he fired — ^just as the Kaiser was returning some respectful greet-
ing from the trottoir — watched the effect of his shot, which he saw could not
have been mortal, as the Emperor partly rose and lifted his hand to his face
with some vivacity. The carriage stopped and was being turned by his
Majesty's orders when Dr. Nobiling took aim a second time, somewhat
lower than before, and fired again, directing his whole charge at the Emperor's
left side, probably in the hope of attaining the very centre of vitality. Thirty
seconds later his room door was burst in, and he had hardly time to shoot

APPENDIX. 415

down the foremost of his assailants when he was seized by three powerful,
furious men, who, however, failed to disarm him before he had twice dis-
charged his still smoking revolver into his own head. Pinioned, bleeding
from mortal wounds, his brain oozing from his fractured skull, he did not for
a moment lose his self-command or coolness, though execrations were being
yelled at him from a score of mouths, and he knew himself to be the accursed
of his countrymen. ^ (2uestioned, he avowed his deed, justifying it by his con-
victions, and, whilst admitting that he had accomplices, steadfastly refused
to denounce them."

Nobiling shortly afterwards became insensible, and expired
rather more than three months later from his self-inflicted wounds,
without having once recovered consciousness, so that no con-
fession was extracted from him.

Instead of the Kaiser escaping scathless as on the occasion
of Hodel's attempt, he was severely wounded in both arms and
in the right leg, while his cheek was pitted with shot. He bled
profusely from the face, to the consternation of the crowd, who
at first fancied he was dead. He was at once conveyed to the
palace and placed upon a camp bed, temporarily installed in the
council chamber, so as to afford greater convenience for the
surgical operations needed. Both arms having been injured and
requiring to be kept in bandages, an Imperial decree was drawn
up and issued, investing the Crown Prince with the duty of re-
presenting his father in the current business of government, and
of signing all documents requiring the royal sign-manual. As
soon as sufficiently recovered to bear the journey, the Emperor
w'as moved to Babelsberg, and thence to Toplitz and Gastein.
Subsequently he visited Cassel, Baden, and Wiesbaden.

On the 5th of December the Kaiser returned to Berlin, where
he was greeted with an enthusiasm rivalling that displayed on
his triumphal entry after the Franco-German war. The city
had been gaily bedecked in honour of his return, the route taken
from the Potsdam station to the palace being a continuous
avenue of Venetian masts entwined with evergreens and con-
nected with verdant garlands and adorned with flags and
pennons in the national colours. In the Potsdamer-platz was a
huge obelisk, having its pedestal guarded by enormous bronze
eagles, and supporting on its base facing the station two colossal
angels, bidding the Kaiser hail and welcome. Outside the
Brandenburg Gate was a double half-circle of pyramidal con-
structions in evergreens thirty feet high, resembling gigantic
Christmas-trees — the gate itself being bound with evergreens and
garlands and decorated with the Hohenzollern and Branden-
burg escutcheons.

At the entrance to the Linden there rose a magnificent trium-
phal arch one hundred feet high, and in the centre of the Pariser-
platz was St. George overcoming the dragon, with allegorical
figures of Germania and Borussia on each side. At the various
breaks in the Linden were enormous triumphal arches similar

4l6 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

to that erected in the Pariser-platz, and at the extremity of this
famous avenue, down which the Kaiser had last been borne
faint and bleeding from the assassin's shot, was a colossal figure,
symbolical of Prussia crushing under her foot the typical Social
Democrat and stretching both arms as if to welcome the Em-
peror, her eyes being raised as though she were offering a nation's
prayer for the sovereign's health and welfare.

At noon precisely, the Imperial train arrived at the Potsdam
station, the Emperor having already officially resumed the reins
of government at Gross Kreuz, where the Crown Prince had met
him. On alighting, he entered the waiting-room which had been
prepared for him and shook hands with Herr von Forckenbcck,
the chief burgomaster of Berlin, and then addressing himself to
the ministers, generals, and other dignitaries present, he said it
was with mixed feelings that he returned to the capital. With
the joy he experienced at the reception accorded to him and at
the various signs of devotion to himself and his Flouse, there was
mingled a feeling of pain at the recollection of what he had had
to endure, for his heart had bled more than his wounds. He would,
however, willingly bear anything, and would be glad to think he
had shed his blood, if he could feel the conviction that it would be
for the good of the country and the welfare of those of his people
who had been led astray.

The Emperor and Empress took their places in an open
landau drawn by six coal-black stallions, and with twenty-two
state carriages, in which were the members of the royal family
and their suites, following them, they proceeded at a walking
pace towards the palace. The route was lined by a crowd
estimated at half a million people, in addition to those blocking
the windows and covering the housetops, the line being kept by
the police and by a large number of students from the various
colleges and technical schools of the capital aided by some
trades' guilds and associations. As the Emperor passed between
their serried ranks, the mounted standard-bearers dressed in velvet
and gold lowered their banners to the strains of the national
hymn, and the students wheeling into line closed in the rear of
the procession and marched in close column with swords drawn
and flags flying.

" There were," remarks an eye-witness of the scene, " no symp-
toms of exuberant exultation, no manifestations of high spirit or
excitement. To me it seemed an anxious and somewhat gravely
preoccupied crowd. Only as the Emperor passed in safety along,
did each section of the immense multitude break out into a
passionate cry of welcome, which sounded quite as suggestive
and significant of mental relief as of glad jubilation. Peals of
bells, salvoes of cannon, and storms of stentorian cheering hailed
the sovereign's return with such convincing clamour, that the
grave expression upon his countenance when he arrived speedily

APPENDIX. 417

vanished, and was soon replaced by the old kindly and benevo-
lent smile familiar to every Berliner, He incessantly acknow-
ledged the hearty greetings of the populace, and every now and
then, as he recognized some old and familiar friend at a balcony
or before a window, he waved his hand in gay salutation." On
the Sunday following there were thanksgiving services at all the
churches in Berlin, the P2mperor, the Empress and the various
members of the royal family being present at the cathedral.

The "Golden Wedding" of the Emjoeror and Empress was
celebrated with great pomp and magnificence at Berlin on the
nth July, 1879. There was an open-air concert on the Don-
hofsplatz in the morning, and at noon the Kaiser and his Im-
perial Consort left their palace on the Linden and proceeded
through streets lined with dense masses of spectators to the
Schloss. In the chapel, which was crowded with members of
all the royal families allied to the Hohenzollerns, including
those of England, Russia, Holland, Saxony, and Bavaria, the
high military and civil functionaries of the Empire and of the
Kingdom, the diplomatic body, the representatives of the legis-
lature and the federal council, &c., the venerable pair were
formally re-united to each other in the bonds of matrimony by
the Rev. Dr. Kogel. They then adjourned to the Weiss-saal,
where what is known as a " Defilircour " was held. The Emperor,
who had been suffering from an injury to the leg due to a fall in
his apartment a few days before, stood up in front of the throne
to receive the congratulations proffered by the diplomatic body
as they filed past him in succession, and then resumed his seat.
Prince Bismarck at the head of the federal council. Count von
Moltke with an attendant cohort of marshals and generals, and
the deputations from the Reichstag, the Landtag, the different
Prussian provinces, the chief towns, the universities, &c., then
in turn expressed their good wishes, and after this lengthy
ceremony had come to an end the Emperor and Empress were
driven home by a circuitous route with the view of gratifying
the large crowds which had assembled in the gaily-decorated
streets. Bells were ringing and cannon booming throughout
the day, the close of which w^as marked by a brilliant illumi-
nation of the city and a grand gala performance at the Opcrn-
haus.

SCIONS OF THE HOUSE OF HOHENZOLLERN.

{Conti7iued from page 272.)

Princes and princesses are not exempt from the ordinary con-
tingencies of human existence. Since the early portion of this
volume was written several twigs have been lopped off the
Hohenzollern tree, but on the other hand, there are shoots which

4l8 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMriRE.

have budded into orange-blossoms, and have either become, or
promise to become, fruitful. Death has laid his hand upon
Prince Heinrich Wilhclm Adalbert of Prussia, the Emperor's
youngest brother and the High Admiral of the Prussian Navy,
who died on the 6th of June, 1873, and whose obsequies were
solemnized with much pomp and ceremony. His morganatic
widow, Frau Theresa von Parnim, better known as Theresa
Elsler, expired on the 19th November, 1878, at Meran. Further,
the 1 8th of January, 1877, witnessed the decease of Princess Carl
of Prussia, the grand-daughter of Goethe's patron, the Grand
Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar, and the mother of the Red
Prince Friedrich Carl.

The Prussian court newsman, if such functionary there be, has
had, however, happily more to do in chronicling wedding festivities
than funeral solemnities. Again grave statesmen " have pain-
fully gyrated through the intricacies of the torch dance ; arch-
chamberlains, glittering like Brazilian beetles, have meandered
past royal brides and bridegrooms, waving aloft huge guttering
flambeaux, and blandly smiling as they distributed splashes of
molten wax upon the gorgeous habiliments of their fellow per-
formers. Bridal garters, or rather the gold-and-silver embroi-
dered ribands symbolical of those concealed ligatures, have been
distributed to the wedding-guests of royalty by hundreds and
hundreds of yards ; and Court photographers have found their
incomes considerably increased by an extraordinary demand on
the part of the public for counterfeit presentments of Royal and
Serene betrothed and wedded couples."

On the 1 8th of February, 1878, a twofold marriage was cele-
brated in the Schloss chapel, by the Rev. Dr. Kogel, the court
chaplain. Princess Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the Crown
Prince, was united to Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen, eldest
son of the reigning Duke, George H., and captain in the Prussian
foot guards, and her cousin. Princess Elisabeth, second daughter
of Prince Friedrich Carl, to the Grand Duke George of Olden-
burg, in presence of the King and Queen of the Belgians, the
Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Connaught. There was a
supper in the Rittcr-saal, and a " Cour," as it is termed, in the
Weiss-saal, at which tlie orthodox Fackeltan::, or torch-light
procession of ministers already described, was duly executed.
The Reichs-Kanzlcr showed his superiority to all sublunary things,
even to the iron fetters of Prussian court etiquette, by neglecting
to join in this part of the ceremony, but his colleagues had to
make no less than two-and-twenty circuits of the extensive hall
before they were suffered to enjoy their much-needed repose.

On August 24, 1878, similar festivities took place at the some-
what hurried'ly arranged union of the Princess Marie, eldest
daughter of Prince Friedrich Carl, with Prince Henry of the
Netherlands, brother and heir presumptive of the King of Holland,

APPENDIX. 419

a union unhappily terminated by the death of the bridegroom
within six months of its celebration. The Red Prince had an
opportunity of judging whether our English method of conduct-
ing such ceremonies was preferable when he was present at the
wedding of his third daughter, Princess Luisa Margaretha, to the
Duke of Connaught in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on the 13th
March, 1879. On this occasion, despite the known partiality of
the Court for everything German, the Earl of Beaconsfield, the
Marquis of Salisbury, Sir Stafford Northcote, and Mr. W. H.
Smith were not called upon to execute any torch-dances for the
edification of the guests. A gloom was subsequently cast over
the rejoicings following upon this union by the untimely
death of Prince Waldemar, third son of the Crown Prince,
who expired suddenly from heart disease at Berlin a fortnight
afterwards.

REICHS-KANZLER VON BISMARCK.

{Continued from page 301.)

On various occasions during the last year or two, Prince Bis-
marck has indulged in his favourite cry of " Wolf," or " Resigna-
tion," for it really amounts to the same thing. In April, 1877, he
tendered his resignation, on the plea that von Stosch, the naval
minister, had granted to the Reichstag a reduction in the esti-
mates refused to himself Of course he was prevailed upon to
continue in office, and received the usual sop of leave of absence
on account of ill-health. Of this he profited to make his cus-
tomary retreat to Varzin, and in the ensuing November had his
study at this Pomeranian hermitage connected with the Foreign
Office at Berlin by means of a telephone. His real grievance
seemed to lie in the particularism of the Prussian Government,
as distinct from the German Chancellerie, cabinets in Prussia not
being responsible, but only individual ministers, and these owing
their responsibility, not to the premier, but to the sovereign alone.
What the Chancellor really wanted was Imperial instead of Prus-
sian ministers, and these responsible to himself. Accordingly a
bill was introduced in the Reichstag with this object, and also
empowering the Chancellor to authorise other functionaries to
act in his place in case of need. It having passed by a large
majority, Camphausen, the Prussian Finance Minister, hitherto
dependent as such upon his sovereign alone, and imbued with
the traditional spirit of the Prussian bureaucracy, resigned, and
was succeeded by Herr Hobrecht.

A notable change has taken place of late in Prince Bismarck's
personal appearance, through his allowing his beard to grow, per-
haps to conceal in some degree the traces of the illnesses from
which he suffers. His shadow, however, does not seem to have

420 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

grown less, for in Auc^ust, 1878, he was found to weigh 243 lbs.,
which is in excess of the weight of "the unfortunate nobleman "
in retirement at Dartmoor. The Chancellor's old epigrammatic
smartness occasionally cropped up during the Russo-Turkish
War, though his remarks were frequently more pointed than
accurate. One of his happiest Diets was in relation to the antici-
pated outbreak of war between England and Russia, which he
suggested would be a battle between a whale and an elephant.
In his long expected speech on the Russian demands on
Turkey in February, 1878, he observed that if it were a serious
question about men-of-war being allowed to pass the Dardanelles
in time of war, it was in his opinion a much more important
matter that merchantmen should pass in time of peace. And
alluding to the state of feeling between Austria and Russia, he
said that Germany wished to mediate between them, but did
not want to put forward a programme of her own. Her ambi-
tion was confined to the modest task of a broker who settled
a bargain between two parties.

One of the most important public positions in which the Reichs-
Kanzler has ever posed was as president of the Congress for the
settlement of the Eastern Question, which assembled at Berlin
in June, 1878. The Congress met at the Radzivill Palace,
recently purchased by the German Government and assigned to
the Prince as his official residence. It is an old-fashioned struc-
ture in the later style of the i8th century, and occupies three
sides of a quadrangle, having a paved court with a garden in
front. The large windows of the central section betoken halls
of noble proportions ; the low wings indicate indifference to the
economical use of space, whilst the obsolete architecture of the
edifice and the time-worn discoloured tiles of its roof combine
with the new pointing of the walls to exhibit antiquity in a care-
ful state of repair. A wide hall and spacious staircase lead to
the central circular saloon with its ceiling decorated with the
escutcheons of the various German States, in which the plenipo-
tentiaries of the various powers took their seats in alphabetical
order round a semicircular table. Close to the saloon is the
Prince's study, and a reception room furnished in oriental taste,
which, with several adjoining apartments, served as bitreaiix for
the Congress. With the actual work of the latter we have
nothing to do ; still allusion may be made to a melodramatic
incident that preceded its opening, and excited much attention
in Berlin at the time. On the occasion of a visit which Prince
Gortchakoff paid to Prince Bismarck here, the Chancellor's in-
separable companion, the huge Danish dog known as the Reichs-
hund, or " Dog of the Empire," who had never been guilty of
any such ill-mannered act before, suddenly '•' pinned " the Russian
diplomatist in the most effective fashion, and was only dragged
off him by the utmost exertion of his master's Herculean strength.

APPENDIX. 421

On November 6th, 1878, the Chancellor's only daughter, the
Countess Maria von Bismarck, was married to Count Kuno von
Rantzan, a scion of an ancient Schleswig-Holstcin family. The
ceremony was performed at Prince Bismarck's official residence
in the great hall in which the Congress had held its sittings, an
altar being erected there surrounded with orange and myrtle
trees. The Crown Prince and Princess and a small number of
intimate friends were alone present.

The Chancellor continues to give the tribunals plenty of work
with respect to offences against himself and his dignity. In
March, 1878, two authors and two publishers were sentenced in
conUiuiacmni, at Mainz, to long terms of imprisonment for " high
treason and insult against the Chancellor," in writing and issuing
certain works. The authors were German subjects, but one of
the publishers was a Swiss and the other a Frenchman, having an
establishment in Switzerland, in which country both the offend-
ing books were published. Nevertheless the court included them
in its judgment, as if the German Emperor and his Chancellor,
like his Roman prototype, claimed supreme jurisdiction over the
whole of Europe. The Chancellor himself insists on immunity
from all judicial troubles. In September, 1878, Baron Loe, ex-
Secretary of Legation, was accused before the Supreme Court
of Justice of Berlin of libelling Prince Bismarck by maintaining
that the latter's statement to the Emperor to the effect that the
British Cabinet had refused to receive Count Arnim as am-
bassador on account of his lying propensities, was a slander
disproved by both Lord Granville and Mr. Gladstone. The
Baron demanded that Prince Bismarck should be summoned as a
witness, and the Court consented ; but the Chancellor objecting
no doubt to the cross-examination that was in prospect, pro-
tested that as a high imperial functionary he could not be so
summoned, and the complaisant Court accepted the plea and
condemned the unlucky Baron to a year's imprisonment.

An ingenious Frenchman has been regarding the multifarious
prosecutions which are annually instituted for the protection of
the Imperial Chancellor and his dignity from a novel and highly
matter-of-fact point of view. He points out that in 1872 there
were 5,960 people tried for offences against the Prince, of whom
no less than 5,924 were found guilty. Their aggregate sentences
amounted to 993 years' imprisonment, and he calculates that the
maintenance of these offenders in prison will cost the country
some 54,000/., a large amount for the Chancellor to saddle the
Budget with for the mere gratification of his personal feelings.

Considerable sensation w^as created not only in Berlin, but
throughout Europe, in the autumn of 1878, by the pubhcation
of a book entitled, Prince Bismarck and his People during tJie
War of iZjo. The author was a certain Dr. Moritz Busch, a
native of Dresden. Educated at Leipzig, he took part in the

422 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

revolutionary movement of 1848, fled to the United States,
where he became pastor to a free-thinking German congregation,
returned to Europe in 1856 and entered the service of the
Austrian Lloyd till a general amnesty opened his native country
again to him. Here he became in turn editor of the Grcnzbote
of Leipzig, and salaried literary defender of the hereditary rights
of the Duke of Augustcnburg to the duchies of Schleswig-
Holstein. The ducal liberality being exhausted, Busch turned
round on his quondam patron, abused him most heartily, and
enrolled himself as a writcr-up of the Prussian cause and a
recipient of the Reptile, or Guelph Fund. Being a tolerable
linguist, this particular " Reptile " was selected to accompany
Bismarck on the French campaign, to post him up in any im-
portant utterances of the press, and keep the latter apprised of
the progress of the war. Busch profited by his position to note
down all the sayings and doings of the Chancellor with which he
became acquainted, prying into his chief's most private affairs
whenever he got the chance, and giving the public the result of
all he saw and heard in the book in question. Having been
thrust out from the Chancellor's staff, he commenced for the
Gartenlmibe a series of articles based on his experience ; but
these, though ridiculously personal, were harmless, and were
discontinued at the instance of the editor, who reproved their
author for " writing as a lackey." Seeing he was on the wrong
tack, Busch, some time later, produced his book, which had the
effect of a bombshell upon the upper ranks of Prussian society,
being crammed with the most scathing criticisms alleged to
have been uttered by Bismarck on every dignitary, living or
dead, with whom he has come in contact. Napoleon the Third
was pronounced to be —

" Stupid and sentimental — much more good-natured than is generally be-
lieved, and far less of the wiseacre than people have taken him for. What-
ever may be thought of the Coup d Etat, he is really good-natured, full of
feeling, and even sentimental ; as to intelligence and knowledge ( IVzsseu), he
has but little of either. He is particularly badly off with respect to geography,
although he was brought up and went to school in Germany ; he lived, more-
over, in all manner of fantastic imaginations. His acquirements are of that
sort that he would certainly not be able to pass our examination for the post
of referendary. I knew this long ago, but nobody believed me. He has not the
least idea how matters stand with us. When I was sent as Minister to Paris I
had a long conversation with him in 1862. It was then his opinion that we
should not last long — that there would be an d^neutc in Berlin and a revolu-
tion throughout the whole country, and that if a plebiscitum were held the
King would find everybody against him. I told him then that our people were
no barricade-builders, and that in Prussia nobody but Kings made revolutions;
that if the King only chose to endure the strain then existing for three or
four years he would win the game ; that if his majesty did not get weary of
the whole business, and did not give me up, I should not fall ;. and that if he
even then appealed to the people, and allowed them to vote, nine-tenths of
them would be in his favour. The Emperor, speaking of me at that time,
said, ' Ce n'est pas un homme sdrieux.' I did not remind him of this when
we met in the weaver's cottage at Uonchery ! "

APPENDIX. 423

Jules Favre's deportment at Ferri^res and Versailles elicited
from the Chancellor some cutting irony. The circumstance of
his weeping during the negotiations having been broached, Bis-
marck remarked : —

"True ; he certainly looked like it ; but when I watched him more closely,
I came to the conclusion that he had not squeezed out a single tear. He
probably thought he could work upon me by a theatrical performance, as the
Paris advocates do upon their audiences ; and I am positively convinced that
at Ferric;res he had painted his face white — especially the second time that he
came to see mc there. That morning he was of a much greyer tint than before,
in order to play the part of one overcome by grief and in deep suffering. Per-
haps he may really have felt something, but he ought to have known that
explosions of feeling are not appropriate to politics. When I mentioned
something about Strasburg and Metz he made a grimace, as though I had
been cutting a joke. I might have told him what the great furrier in Berlin
once said to me when I went to his shop for a fur coat, and he asked me a
long price for the one which best pleased me. ' You are surely joking,' I ob-
served. ' No,' he replied, '• nci'cr in business.' At Versailles Favre had got
still greyer, and stouter to boot — the latter probably on horse-flesh. He often
remarked to me that France was the land of freedom, whilst we were reigned
over by despotism. I mentioned to him that w^e were in want of money, and that
Paris would have to find some for us. He rejoined ' that we could issue a loan.'
I replied that we could not do that without Parliament. ' Ah ! ' he cried,
* you can manage to get hold of 500 millions of francs without the Chambers ! '
I answered, ' No ; not five francs !' He would not believe me ; but I told
him that I had lived for four years in a chronic state of war with the national
representatives ; but that the issue of a loan without the consent of the Diet
had always been the barrierwhich it had never even occurred to me to step over.
This appeared somewhat to shake his convictions ; he remarked that 'en
France on ne se generait pas ! ' and promptly returned to his theorem ' that
France was in possession of enormous liberties.' It is really uncommonly
funny to hear Frenchmen talk in this way. You can administer five-and-
twenty lashes to any Frenchman, if you will only make him a fine speech
about the freedom and human dignity expressed in those same lashes, making
the appropriate gestures to your oration ; he will forthwith persuade himself
that he is not being flogged ! "

A curious anecdote, especially if it be a true one, is related of
the Duke de Morny by his former diplomatic colleague at St.
Petersburg : —

" When Morny was appointed ambassador there, he arrived with a long
procession of splendid carriages, and countless trunks crammed full of laces,
silks, and ladies' toilettes, for which, as a foreign envoy, he had no duty to
pay. Every single servant had his own carriage, every secretary and attachd
at least two, and he himself five or six. Two days after his arrival he sold
the whole lot by auction— carriages, lace, fashionable costumes and all. The
profits by this transaction were enormous. He had no conscience whatso-
ever, but he was really a charming person ."

Thiers was described by Bismarck as —

" A wide-awake, amiable man, witty and intelligent, but without a trace of
a diplomatist— too sentimental for that business ! His is a higher nature,
doubtless, than Favre's. But he is not fit to be a negotiator : no, not to be
a horse-chaunter. He allows himself to be 'bluffed' too easily; he betrays
his feelings and he lets himself be pumped."

424 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

In connection with the " Liberator of the Territory " a Strasburg
journal narrated the following episode : — Count Enzenberg,
formerly representative of Hesse at Paris, was an indefatigable
collector of autographs. One day he presented his album to
Bismarck, asking him to write something. The leaf already con-
tained two sentences. The first was by M. Guizot, who wrote : —
" In my long life I have learned two rules of prudence : the first
to pardon much ; the second never to forget ! " M. Thiers had
written underneath, " A little forgetfulness would not lessen the
sincerity of the pardon." Bismarck added, " For my part I have
learned to forget much, and to ask that I may be forgiven much."
A sentiment, which coming from such a source, may be summed
up in modern slang, as " quite too idealistic."

The German Chancellor's own countrymen fare no better at
his hand than foreigners. During one of the after-dinner cmiseries
in the Rue de Provence at Versailles, somebody mentioned the
Prince of Augustenburg, who followed the campaign on the
" Zweiter Staftel," or staff of idlers, consisting almost exclusively
of German princes, and which was respectfully but steadily
snubbed by the fighting men of the army. His Highness gave
considerable umbrage at head-quarters by wearing the Bavarian
uniform, and maintaining somewhat of a " frondeur " attitude.
On hearing his name, Bismarck observed : —

" He might have got off much better than he did. I did not originally ^Yant
any more from him than the small Princes had given up in iS66. But he
would not give up anything at all, thanks to Divine guidance and the wisdom
of lawyers. I remember that during the conversation I had with him in 1864
— it was at my house — I began by calling him ' Your Highness,' and was
extremely civil. But when I spoke to him about the harbour of Kiel, which
we recjuired, and he said that would be at least a square (German) mile, and
when he also would not listen to any of our demands respecting military
matters, I put on quite another sort of face. I then addressed him by the title
of ' Your Serenity,' and finished up by saying to him, quite coolly, in Low
German, that, ' as we had hatched the chicken, we could also very well
wring its neck ! "

German dignitaries are freely tarred with the Chancellor's
brush. Of Heinrich von Gagern he says that " he is an utterly
stupid fellow — a watering-pot full of phrases, with whom it is of
no use to talk." Of the Minister Arnim-Boitzenburg he observes : —

" An amiable clever person, but not inclined to steady business or energetic
action. He is like an india-rubber ball, which hops and hops and hops, but
more weakly every time, and at last comes to a full stop. At first he would
have an opinion ; then weaken it by self-contradiction ; then, again, an
objection to the contradiction occurred to him, until at last nothing at all
remained, and nothing was done in the business on hand."

The condemnation of General von Stcinmetz's conduct and
character is so bitter and crushing that it is doubtful if the
collector of these remarks would have dared to publish it
had that stormy old soldier been alive.

APPENDIX.

425

The following sketch of Alexander von Humboldt, the illus-
trious traveller, savant, and author, certainly docs credit to
Prince Bismarck's humoristic capacities : —

" At the late King's evening parties," observed he, " Humboldt undertook
to amuse the company after his fashion. He used to read aloud, for hours at
a stretch, from the biography of a scientist or architect, in which not a living
soul but himself took the least interest. The Queen sewed away steadily at
some embroidery, and certainly did not hear a word. The King looked at
pictures and engravings, and made as much noise as he could in turning over
the leaves, in order that he might hear nothing either. The young people
chatted away to one another quite unrestrainedly, giggling, and rendering the
reading utterly inaudible. But it went on all the same, like a brook, inces-
santly murmuring. Gerlach, who was generally present, sat upon his little
round stool, over the edges of which his fat hung in flaps all round, and slept,
snoring with such vehemence that the King upon one occasion awakened him,
saying, ' Gerlach, don't snore so loud.' I was Humboldt's only listener, that
is to say, I held my tongue as if I were attending to his reading, and occu-
pied myself with my own thoughts until the time came for cold cakes and
white wine. The old gentleman used to be horribly annoyed when he could
not have all the talking to himself Once there was somebody there who took
up the conversation, quite naturally, for he could talk in an agreeable manner
about things that interested every one present. Humboldt was beside him-
self. Growling, he filled his plate with a pile of goose-liver pate, fat eels,
lobster tails, and other indigestible substances — a real mountain ! It was
quite astounding what the old man could put away. When he could positively
eat no more, he could no longer keep quiet, and so he made an attempt to get
the conversation into his own hands. ' Upon the peak of Popocatepetl,' he
began — but it was no use, the narrator would not be cut short, in his story.
' Upon the peak of Popocatepetl, seven thousand yards above . . .' — again he
failed to get in, for the narrator calmly went on. ' Upon the peak of Popo-
catepetl, seven thousand yards above the level of the sea,' ... he exclaimed
in a loud, agitated voice — but all to no purpose ; the other man talked away
steadily as before, and the company listened to him only. Such a thing had
never been heard of ! Humboldt sat down in a fury, and plunged into
profound meditations upon the ingratitude of humanity, even at Court. The
Liberals made a great deal of him, and reckoned him amongst their members ;
but he was a man to whom the favour of Princes was absolutely indispensable,
and who only felt comfortable when the sun of the Court shone upon him.
But that did not prevent him from discussing the Court with Varnhagen, and
from telling all sorts of evil stories about it. Varnhagen made up books from
his materials. They are the expression of Berlin acidity during a period
which produced nothing, and when ez'erybody talked with the same malicious
impotence ! "

Here is the famous ''cigar incident" of the defunct German
Bund, narrated in Bismarck's own words : —

" I went to see Rechberg, who was at work and smoking. He begged me
to excuse him for a moment. By and by I got rather tn-ed of waiting, and
as he did not offer me a cigar, I took one out of my case and asked him for a
light, which he gave me with a somewhat astonished expression of countenance.
But that is not all. At the meetings of the Military Committee, when Rochow
represented Prussia, Austria was the only member who smoked. Rochow
would have dearly liked to smoke too, but did not venture to do so. When I
came in, I felt that I wanted to smoke, and as I did not see why I should not,
I asked the Presiding Power for a light, which appeared to be regarded, both
by it and the other Powers, with equal wonder and displeasure. Obviously

F F

426 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

it was an 'event ' for them all. Upon that occasion, only Austria and Prussia
smoked. But the other gentlemen considered it such a momentous matter
that they reported upon it to their respective Governments. The affair de-
manded the gravest consideration, and fully six months elapsed during which
only the two Great Powers smoked. Then Schrcnkh, the Bavarian Envoy,
began to vindicate the dignity of his position by smoking. Nostitr, the
Saxon, yearned to do so too, but he had not as yet received permission from
his Minister. But as, at the next meeting, he saw that Bothmer, the Hano-
verian, lit a cigar, he came to an understanding with Rechberg ; drew a weed
from its leathern scabbard and 'blew a cloud.' The only ones now remaining
were the Wiirtemberger and the Darmstiidter, neither of them smokers. But
the honour and importance of their respective States imperatively exacted
that they should smoke ; and so, at the very next meeting, the Wiirtemberger
brought out a cigar. I can see it now ! a long, thin, light yellow thing !— and
smoked at least half of it, as a burnt-offering for his Fatherland ! "

A critic has remarked that in this anecdote "Bismarck hits oflf
with a masterly touch the ridiculous jealousies that animated the
petty German kinglets and princekins of twenty years ago.
Who can refuse his sympathy to the worthy Suabian, heroically
making himself sick /r^/rt^/r/^, and penetrated by the conviction
that he was deserving well of his country by braving all the
horrors of nausea, lest proud Prussia or arrogant Austria should
boast that Wiirtemberg had not dared to put itself upon a smok-
ing equality with the great German Powers ! "

If Dr. Busch be correct, the Prince's views of the homogeneity
of the French people, which has always been their strong point,
were very erroneous, since he makes him say —

" I believe that France, already broken up into parties, may shortly be de-
composed into various States. They are Legitimists in Brittany, Red Re-
publicans in the south, moderate Republicans farther north, and Imperialists
in the army. It is just possible that each division will work out its principles,
■ — when the country would be broken up."

In other passages the Prince descants at length and quite
seriously upon his idea of resuscitating Burgundy as an inter-
mediate State between Germany and France. During the war
he complained bitterly that the French were too well treated,
and the francs-tireurs too leniently dealt with. The three 7/io^s
('/'t?;'^^;'^ constantly in his mouth were "shoot, hang, and burn,"
and he praised the Bavarian soldiers because they showed less
consideration towards their adversaries than the North Germans
did. Bismarck is an admirer of the Poles, and tried to induce
the Crown Prince to have his eldest son taught Polish, but the
Crown Prince answered that it was unnecessary, as he intended
the Poles should all learn German.

Some of Bismarck's observations were anything but complimen-
tary to the English. When Russia cancelled the Black Sea stipu-
lations in the Treaty of 1856, he exclaimed, not without justice —

" There is as little to fear from these English now, as there was to hope from
them four months ago. If they had forbidden it when Napoleon declared
war against us, there would have been no war and no cancelling of the Treaty
of 1856."

APPENDIX.

427

Later with rcj^ard to the same subject, he remarked that he
had told Mr. Odo Russell that—

" He was of opinion gratitude should be recognized as carrying weight in
politics. The present Czar had always been on friendly terms with Ger-
many ; while, as regarded England, well everybody knew what reason
Germany had recently had to feel indebted to England."

About the same period the relations between Germany and
England were smartly commented upon in Bismarck's after-
dinner talk : —

" The English are very angry that we have defeated the French in a great
war, single-handed. In their eyes it is unpardonable of diminutive, despised
Prussia to presume to get on in the world. They fancied the object of
Prussia's existence was to fight England's battles, and get paid for it."

On the subject of diplomacy his utterances were as follows: —

"A great many communications from our diplomatic agents are well-written
fetiillctons with nothing in them. You read on and on, carried along by the
smooth flow of language, hoping to come to the pith of the matter. The end
is reached at length, and you are no wiser than you were before. It is all
sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Most diplomatic reports may be defined
as paper freely daubed with ink. Poor fellows, ye who have to write history
from such verbiage ! 1 believ^e it is usual to throw open archives to investi-
gators after thirty years. Considering the little to be culled from them, per-
mission might be given much earlier. Much more may be gathered from the
newspapers, Mhich are frequently made use of by Governments, and as a rule
speak more openly. But even these cannot be correctly interpreted without
adecjuate knowledge of attending circumstances. What is really going on is
transmitted in private letters and confidential communications, written and
oral, but never recorded in archives."

In a conversation with Baron Keudcll, about the introduction
of German as a diplomatic language, Bismarck said : —

" Official communications must be carried on in the language of the country,
not in a foreign tongue. Bernstorff was the first who tried to carry this prin-
ciple out with us, but he went too far. He wrote to all the foreign diplomatists
in German, and they all answered — it was, of course, a conspiracy amongst
them — in their respective mother tongues, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and I
don't know what, so that he had quite a swarm of translators at the Ministry,
when I entered office. Budberg sent me a note in Russian. That was not
fair. If they wanted to take their revenge, Gortschakoff ought to have written
in Russian to our Ambassador at Petersburg. But here, in Berlin, to write
to me in Russian, in answer to a German despatch, was clearly unfair. So
I gave the order that whatever should be sent in, not in German, French,
English, or Italian, should be let alone, and simply deposited with the archives.
Budberg wrote reminder upon reminder, always in Russian. They were put
away in the archive cupboard. At last he came in person to me, and asked
' Why did we not reply to him ? ' ' Reply ! ' I inquired, with the greatest as-
tonishment ; ' reply to what ? I have seen nothing of yours.' ' Why, he had
written four weeks ago, and reminded us several times since.' * Oh, quite so !
now I remember,' I said ; 'there is a bundle of documents downstairs in
Russian writing — perhaps your communications are amongst them. But none
of the people downstairs understand Russian ; and papers that reach us in
any incomprehensible language are stowed away amongst the archives ' '
Upon this, Budberg promptly agreed to write for the future in French."

F F 2

428 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The piece of table-talk, which, if sincere, affords the deepest
insight into Bismarck's nature, was that which he gave vent to at
Ferricres, on September 28, 1870. The conversation had turned
upon the German's sense of duty, as compared to the Frenchman's,
and Bismarck attributed the former to "the remaining scraps of
Faith possessed by our people." Then he went on to say : —

" How people can live toj^ether in an orderly manner, do their duty, and
allow everybody to enjoy what is his, without believing in a revealed religion,
in a God who wills what is good, in a higher Judge, and in a future existence,
I do not understand. Were I no longer a Christian, I would not remain for
an hour in my post. Why should I go on unflinchingly allowing myself to be
worried, and working in this world, exposing myself to embarrassments and
vexations, if I did not feel myself obliged to do my duty by reason of God ?
If I did not believe in a Divine ordinance, which has destined this German
nation to something good and great, I would forthwith give up the diplomatic
trade. Orders and titles do not tempt me. I have derived the steadfastness
that I have displayed during ten long years against all imaginable absurdities
solely from my determined belief. Take away that belief from me, and you
deprive me of my Fatherland. If I were not a stiffly faithful Christian, and
did not rest upon the marvellous basis of religion, you would never have had
such a Chancellor as I am at all. Get me a successor on that basis, and I
will take my departure at once. But I live amongst heathens ; I don't want to
make any proselytes, but it is necessary that I make this profession of faith."

Since the appearance of Count Harry Arnim's Pro Nihilo, no
work has created such a sensation in Germany as that of Dr.
Busch. With the exception of Prince Bismarck himself and the
persons to whom he is made to refer in his " table-talk," or their
relatives, every one revelled in its disclosures, and the sale was
enormous. The Chancellor disapproving, it is said, of the pub-
I'cation, had sent a friend round, when the work was in the press,
to revise the proof-sheets and cut out objectionable passages, but
this deputy seems to have done his excising somewhat gently, for
many of Bismarck's frank utterances have been published which
were never meant to be repeated. The Prince is evidently ani-
mated by a constitutional recklessness which prevents hini from
exercising the least control over his tongue when in the critical
m.ood, and is perfectly indifferent whether his comments reach
the ears of their objects, however influential or exalted the latter
may be. But publication Avas another matter, as was felt by a
number of living celebrities — princes, soldiers, statesmen, diplo-
matists, and politicians — and by the relatives of many departed
ones. German generals and diplomatists had been subjected to
castigations quite as freely as French ministers and statesmen,
and even German princes had not escaped the lash, the Chan-
cellor apparently following the Scripture ordinance and chastising
those he loves. No work was ever brought out in Prussia which
caused so much irritation amongst the Junkers. Many members
of the highest aristocratic families declared they had been in-
sulted, the Crown Prince was deluged with complaints against
the Chancellor for expos'ng fa-'thful subjects of the Prussian

Ari'KNDIX. 429

throne, including dead statesmen and ambassadors, to the laughter
of Europe ; the sons of the minister von Arnim-Boytzenburg
complained that Prince Bismarck had not even spared the honour
of reigning princes, and threats of action for libel against Busch
were many and loud. The staunch old Conservatives were hor-
rified, and doubted whether there could be any truth at the bottom
of the Chancellor's reactionary measures, nearly all the Bis-
marckian judgments on great personages having, they asserted,
a destructive and levelling tendency.

As regards Prince Bismarck himself, he has surely equal ground
of complaint, for not content with portraying his hero in uniform.
Dr. Busch exposes him in dressing-gown and slippers. His re-
ligious belief and his preference for one fish above another, his
opinions on political consistency and his appreciation of old port
are expressed in turn with equal affability and aplomb by the
Chancellor and recorded by his Boswell. Pages are devoted to
the culinary knowledge displayed by the Prince, who holds forth
by the hour on wines and spirits, displaying profound learning
with reference to cheeses, and claims to be a Heaven-sent bene-
factor to the inhabitants of Aix-Ia-Chapelle in having first taught
them to fry oysters. The Prince, it seems, plays a tremendous
knife and fork, and astonished the Crown Prince by the profusion
of good things set forth on his table at Versailles, whilst so
terrific are his bibacious achievements, that the King on witness-
ing his libations one dreadful day had recourse to his sovereign
word of command to prevent any further like display.

Bismarck is represented as a fiercer enemy to his enemies than
is quite compatible with his avowed convictions, and as perfect a
specimen of a "good hater" as Dr. Johnson could have desired
to encounter. Herr Busch states that the Chancellor lies awake
at night revolving and resenting injuries received. Another con-
stant nocturnal occupation is the perusal of the mystico-religious
books printed for the Herrnhuter or Moravian brethren, of which
lie keeps a constant stock in his bedroom, and which inculcate
the immediate and momentary interference of the deity in our
thoughts and acts, the divine influence of certain texts over cer-
tain days of the year, and the indication of the guiding-hand of
providence in the first verse the eye lights upon on opening the
bible for counsel. Their influence fosters his natural tendency
to superstition. He objects to sitting down thirteen to dinner,
will conclude no treaties on Fridays, and will not even negotiate
on the anniversaries of those black days for Prussia, the battles
of Hochkirch and Jena. He insists that no Pomeranian noble
created a count ever saw his progeny thrive, objected to his own
elevation on this score and is not yet at ease, and descants on
the pernicious influence of having one's hair cut when the moon
is on the wane, — though judging from his own baldness the op-
posite practice docs not seem to offer any particular ad\'antage.

430 r.EKLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

The Prince's latest stroke of policy has been the abrogation
by the joint action of Prussia and Austria of that clause in the
Treaty of Prague providing- for the restitution of North Schleswig
to Denmark. This action was prompted by the attitude assumed
by the Duke of Cumberland, son of the late ex-King of Hanover,
and his marriage with the Princess Thyra, daughter of the King of
Denmark. The failure of the Danes to obtain their undeniable
rights to North Schleswig, which were acknowledged at the time
the treaty was signed, was due to the dexterity of Privy-Councillor
Lothar Bucher, Prince Bismarck's right-hand man at the Im-
perial Foreign Office. Bucher is a Pomeranian who was in the
Government service as an assessor when elected a deputy to the
Lower House in 184S, upon ultra-liberal principles. In the
debates of that stormy assembly his name often occurs, and,
strange to say, frequently in connection with that of Bismarck,
who, as champion of the throne and altar, had many a tough
struggle with h's radical fellow provincial. After the forcible
dissolution of the Chambers, Bucher refused to pay taxes he
considered illegally imposed, and was sentenced to a long im-
prisonment, which he escaped by flight to England, where he
earned a scanty livelihood as teacher of languages and news-
paper correspondent. Profiting by the amnesty granted on the
Emperor's accession, he returned to Prussia, obtained employ-
ment in Wolft's telegraphic agency, and made several unsuc-
cessful applications to re-enter the Government service. At last
Bismarck, who had recently assumed the reins, and was in need of
clever heads to carry out his designs, remembering the ability
of his old opponent, sent for him, and after an interview or two,
installed him in the Foreign Office, to the great indignation of
Conservative circles. This indignation has continued to mani-
fest itself on each successive promotion, and is said to be partly
shared by the Emperor, who cannot forget Bucher's early
opposition.

His influence over the Chancellor is said to be unlimited, and
though violent scenes sometimes mark their intercourse, they
usually end in the Prince yielding to his subordinate. The
latter's gift of defining and expressing the Prince's thoughts is
regarded as something wonderful, and most of the important
State papers issued from the German Foreign Office, though
bearing Bismarck's name, are drawn up by Bucher. Small,
withered-looking, but with a sharply-cut face expressive of
great energy and intellect, his natural reserve makes him quite
a recluse. He only played a part in public when acting as
special plenipotentiary at Copenhagen, on which occasion, as
noted above, he baffled the Danes, though Napoleon III., then
at the height of his power, supported their claims.

Owing to this seclus'on, official relations with the corps diplo-
matique are maintained, in Bismarck's absence, by one of the

APPENDIX. 431

Reiclis-Kanzler's most able disciples, Baron Radowitz. Despite
his comparative youth, the astuteness and diplomatic skill shown
by him as charge cV affaires at Constantinople and Consul-General at
Bucharest, and his thorough knowledge of Eastern matters, have
made him a great favourite with the Reichs-Kanzler, and cause
him to enjoy quite an exceptional position at the Office for
Foreign Affairs.

Since the National Liberals of the Reichstag refused to gratify
Prince Bismarck's wishes with regard to the Socialists, the
Prince has returned to the loves of his youth and openly
espoused the cause of the Conservatives in the battle between
Protection and Free Trade which was waged at the commence-
ment of 1879. He even went so far as to seek the aid of the
Catholic party, and in the May of that year a profound impression
was created by the appearance at one of the Prince's soirees of
Herr Windthorst, the redoubtable leader of the Centre. He w^as
follow^ed by a number of the party, and was received by the
Chancellor with much the same kind of attention as a great
general would show to his military opponent on a day of truce
or pacificition. Prince Bismarck hurried forward, seized his
former antagonist by both hands, and the two rival chieftains of
the Kulturkajiipf remained for half an hour in close conversa-
tion. When the Prince left Herr Windthorst's side, a group
of deputies and journalists gathered round the leader in the
battle against the May laws, and tried to extract from him
some information concerning the subject-matter of his colloquy
with the Chancellor. To all questions put to him, Wind-
thorst replied, with the dignity and mystery of an augur,
" Extra centrum nulla salus." The marked attention shown by
the Chancellor to his late antagonist did not pass off without
a humorous episode. As Bismarck was reaching out his right
hand to shake hands with a new comer, he transferred his glass
o{ Maitrank to his left hand, and in doing so jerked out half its
sugary contents upon the head and shoulders of the Pope's
German champion, to the no small amusement of the little
detachment of National Liberals who were present.

By effecting this coalition of Conservatives and Catholics the
Prince has secured a majority in the Reichstag and achieved a
victory, the completeness of which is not to be measured by the
mere votes obtained. Such is the prestige attached to this man
of blood and iron, that the very leaders of the National Liberals
are eager to show themselves to be Nationalists first and
Liberals afterwards, and are as ready as when he leant entirely
upon them to support his foreign policy and to believe that he
is indispensable to the country. The most unmistakable
homage is paid to him by those who voted against his proposals.
Majorities come and go, but his ministry remains. Whatever
may be the dominant opinion in the Reichstag is indeed of little

432 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

concern to him, provided he can, by grouping together two or
three fractions, out-votc or out-manccuvre the largest individual
party.

The Chancellor's power is far from bjing depsndcnt upon
such an unnatural coalition as that by the aid of which the
new tariff has been passed and which has s"nce been menaced
by symptoms of dissolution. His popularity and influence are
practically unbounded and will certainly be made use of to
carry out those schemes upon which, as is evinced in his speech
of the 9th of August, 1879, he has set his heart. These schemes
include the purchase of all the Prussian railways by the State ;
the giving of greater stability to the Budget arrangements both
for Prussia and Germany; the doing away with the annual
meeting of the Reichstag ; the maintenance of the army upon
a strong footing, and rendering it unnecessary for the Minister
of War to obtain a new vote each Session. Parliamentary
government is acceptable to the Reichs-Kanzler as long as it
suits his purpose, but he has reminded the Reichstag in plain
terms, such as he alone dare employ, that dominant consti-
tutional power cannot exist, since the pivot upon which the
entire system of Government centres must be himself — the
representative of the Emperor.

PRUSSIAN GENERALS — MOLTKE, WR ANGEL, AND ROON.

{Contiiuied froni page 309.)

Although Count von Moltke's talents have not of late been
called into active requisition, he has indicated on several
occasions that he would be by no means unwilling to undertake
another campaign against the so-called "hereditary enemy " of
the Fatherland. In April, 1877, he appealed to the Reichstag
to vote the addition of 122 captaincies to the standing army,
pointing out that the French Government was concentrating
large masses of troops between Paris and the German frontier,
" a measure which sooner or later they would have to recipro-
cate." The 700,000 marks needed for the addition were voted
by a large majority, for the Parliament felt it would never do to
neglect precautions suggested by the man to whom the Emperor
observed at an inspection of the 7th Royal Silesian Fusiliers at
Leignitz, in the following June : " We all only carried out what
you, the thinker of the battle, chalked out for us." War is, in
fact, Moltke's element. Dr. Maurice Busch, in his amusing
work. Prince Bismarck and his People during the War of 1870,
narrates that Moltke having gallantly " seen out " the drinking-
up of a potent and vast bowl of sherry-punch at the little villa
in the Rue de Provence, at Versailles, where Count Bismarck

APPENDIX. 433

resided during the siege of Paris, one of Bismarck's guests
remarked, " how well the General looked after it." " Yes,"
replied Bismarck, " that is all the war's doing. War is his
business. I remember when the Spanish question became a
burning one, that he immediately began to look ten years
younger. Then, when I told him that the Hohenzollern had
given in, he at once got to look old and worn out. And when,
soon after, the French were not satisfied with even that con-
cession, 'Molk' was suddenly quite fresh and young again."

During the Russo-Turkish war all the different accounts by
native and foreign correspondents were carefully collected,
digested, and condensed day by day by the great General Staff
at Berlin, under Count von Moltke's supervision.

In March 1879 Count von Moltke went to spend a few days
with his brother in the country, so as to escape the general
ovation which threatened him on the occasion of the sixtieth
anniversary of his service in the army. He came back to
Berlin on Sunday the 9th, delighted at the idea of having
celebrated such a memorable date in a fashion suited to his
taste, but hardly had he reached his town residence ere deputa-
tions, presents, congratulatory telegrams, and the like came
pouring in from all points. From the Emperor he received the
Star of the Order of Merit — a decoration hitherto exclusively
reserved for Royal members of the order — containing a miniature
of Friedrich the Great, and an equestrian statuette of his pre-
sent Majesty. These were accompanied by a letter in the
course of which the Emperor, outstripping his accustomed
military fanaticism, remarked, " You will wear this Star and
likeness of my great ancestor with the elevating consciousness
of truly and for all time belonging to those who have faithfully
guarded the legacy of the great King — the glory of the Prussian
army, on which his eye has assuredly looked down from Heaven
with satisfaction!" The letter was signed, "Your ever grateful
King, Wilhelm." From the Empress there came to Count von
Moltke a letter casket, with the doner's portrait engraved on
silver, and from the Crown Prince his portrait in oil. Presents
were also sent to the veteran by the King of Bavaria, the
town of Leipzig, the general staff of the Prussian, Saxon,
Bavarian, and Wiirtemberg armies, and numerous other donors.

{Continued from page 312.)

Field-Marshal von Wrangel died on the 1st November, 1877,
in his ninety-fourth year. The one sorrow of the tough old
veteran during the past few years of his life had been the dread
of being pensioned off, a contingency which, to his military
mind, was tantamount to annihilation. The Emperor, in recog-
nition of his long and faithful services, had set his mind at rest

G G

434 BERLIN UNDER THE NEW EMPIRE.

on this point shortly before his death, by a solemn promise that
he should never be removed from the active army, and the old
field-marshal had the satisfaction of dying in harness after a
brief illness. A funeral service, at which the Emperor and the
Crown Princess were present, having been celebrated at Berlin
over his remains, the latter were transferred to Stettin, Wrangel's
birth-place, and there interred in presence of the garrison and a
large concourse of spectators.

{Continued from page 314.)

Field Marshal Count von Roon died at Berlin on the 23rd
February, 187Q, and on the 26th the funeral service of the former
War Minister was performed at the Garrison kirche with great
pomp. The Emperor was prevented from attending by a slight
cold, but amongst those present were the Empress, the Crown
Prince, Prince Carl, Prince Friedrich Carl, Count von Moltke,
Von Manteuffel, Von Kameke, and the principal civil and
military authorities present in Berlin.

END OF VOL. L

LOMJON : K. CLAY, SO.NS, AND TAYLOP, PKIN.EKS.

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