Memoirs of Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

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(Ernest II, fluke of <Sax£-€ob«rg-©otha

PR INCH ALBF.RT

IN HIS TWENTIETH YEAR.

MEMOIRS OF ERNEST II

of

VOLUMES I AND II
EMBRACING PERIOD

1818-1850

VOL. I

SEEN BY
PRESERVATION

SERVICES
DATE..

WITH PORTRAIT OF PRINCE ALBERT

$ 0 n b 0 n

REMINGTON & CO., PUBLISHERS
HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN

1888

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CONTENTS

PREFACE, . . . xiii

CHAPTER I

EARLY LEGEND OP THE COBURG FAMILY. — ITS REAL HISTORY. — FALL OF
ERNESTINE BRANCH. — FRANZ JOSIAS ENFORCES PRIMOGENITURE. —
THE MARSHAL'S LETTER AS TO THE SUCCESSION. — ACCESSION OF

THE DUKE'S FATHER. STATE OF THE HOUSE OF COBURG. TREATY

OF 4TH MAY, 1805. — KING LEOPOLD'S VIEW OF THE SITUATION. —

ANECDOTE OF FREDERICK WILLIAM III. LETTERS TO FREDERICK

JOSIAS. THE DUKE GAINS LICHTENBERG ; ENTERS THE RHINE CON-
FEDERACY. HIS MARRIAGE. — BIRTH OF THE PRINCES ERNEST AND

ALBERT. — SANGUINE ANTICIPATIONS. — THE DUCHESS LOUISE DIES.

THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF LEININGEN. PARENTAL INFLUENCE

OF THE DUKE — A SPARTAN CODE. — EARLY INSTRUCTORS. GREEK

NEGLECTED FOR SCIENCE. FLORSCHUETZ. CONFIRMATION OF THE

YOUNG PRINCES. — LETTER FROM KING LEOPOLD. — PRINCE ERNEST'S

REPLY . . . . . ..'.'. I

CHAPTER II

FROM THE VIENNA CONGRESS TO 1848. — DEVELOPMENT OF GERMANY
ARRESTED. — THE HELLENIC QUESTION. — CROWN OFFERED TO PRINCE
LEOPOLD. — DECLINED. — THE JULY REVOLUTION IN PARIS. — THE
BELGIAN QUESTION. — THE COURT OF COBURG IN DISGRACE. —
GERMAN CONFEDERACY UNDERMINED. — BANISHMENT OF THE DUKE
OF BRUNSWICK. — HISTORY OF THE GOTIIA SUCCESSION. — ATTITUDE
OF SAXE-MEININGEN. — SEPARATION OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS. —
LETTER FROM THE CZAR. — CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN METTERNICH
AND THE DUKE. — THE PLANS OF TERRITORIAL DIVISION. — SOLEMN
ENTRY INTO GOTHA. — STATE ECONOMICAL DIFFICULTIES. — VISIT TO

CONTENTS

MECKLENBURG SCHWERIN FOR THE JUBILEE. MEET CROWN PRINCE

OF PRUSSIA. IMPRESSIONS. TO VIENNA AND TEPLITZ. BEGINNING

OF RUSSIAN ASCENDANCY IN GERMANY. DEATH OF WILLIAM IV OF

ENGLAND AND HANOVER. THE NEW KING'S MEASURES ; POPULAR

DISAPPROVAL. PORTUGAL AND SPAIN. ACCESSION OF DONNA

MARIA. MARRIED TO FERDINAND OF COBURG. HELLENIC AFFAIRS.

— OTTO OF BAVARIA CHOSEN KING. — STRANGENESS BETWEEN
FRANCE AND ENGLAND ....... 30

CHAPTER III

PRINCES ERNEST AND ALBERT START ON THEIR TRAVELS. THEIR

MUTUAL AFFECTION. VISIT ENGLAND. THIS VISIT NO BEARING

ON THE SUBSEQUENT ENGLISH MARRIAGE. WILLIAM IV ANTAGO-
NISTIC TO THE MATCH. PRINCE ALEXANDER OF THE NETHER-
LANDS. MEETING WITH DISRAELI. PARIS. AMIABILITY OF LOUIS

PHILIPPE AND THE ORLEANS FAMILY. ATTEMPT TO MARRY

PRINCE ERNEST TO PRINCESS CLEMENTINA ABANDONED ON

RELIGIOUS GROUNDS. BRUSSELS. — THE TWO PRINCES' STUDIES

ARRANGED BY KING LEOPOLD. QUETELET. HIS AFTER INFLU-
ENCE ON PRINCE ALBERT. MILITARY STUDIES. — THE CARBONARI.

— ARRIVABENE. SILVIO PELLICO. OBJECTIONS OF THE GERMAN

FAMILIES TO THE PRINCES' UNIVERSITY CAREER. — STUDENT LIFE

AT BONN. WINS A SWORD. FICHTE, PERTHES, SCHLEGEL, ETC.

— PARTING OF THE BROTHERS. PRINCE ALBERT TO WINTER IN

ITALY.— PRINCE ERNEST ENTERS THE SAXON SERVICE. DRESDEN.

— LIFE AT THE SAXON COURT. — SAXON POPULACE UNPREPOSSESS-
ING. TIECK, THE DEVRIENTS, SCHRODER. PRINCE ERNEST COMES

OF AGE. — PRINCE ALBERT DECLARED OF AGE AT THE SAME TIME
BY SPECIAL ACT. — HUMOROUS INCIDENT AT THE SOLEMNITY 68

CHAPTER IV

RETURN OF PRINCE ERNEST FROM DRESDEN TO COBURG. PRINCE ALBERT

WITH HIS FATHER AT CARLSBAD ; DISLIKED IT. THEY VISIT ENG-
LAND IN 1839. — PRINCE ALBERT BETROTHED TO QUEEN VICTORIA.

— PARALLEL BETWEEN QUEENS VICTORIA AND ELIZABETH. SMALL

INFLUENCE OVER HER DAUGHTER OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT. —
BARONESS LEHZEN THE GOVERNESS ; HER SCHEME FOR RETAIN-
ING POWER. POSTPONEMENT OF THE MARRIAGE DISTASTEFUL TO

PRINCE ALBERT. DIFFICULTIES WITH THE GOVERNMENT AS TO HIS

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATUS. — MARRIAGE DEFINITELY FIXED
FOR 10TH FEB. 1840. THE COBURG FAMILY ARRIVE AT DOVER.

CONTENTS vii

TRIUMPHANT POPULAR RECEPTION. — PRINCE ERNEST'S RESIDENCE
AT THE BRITISH COURT. - TESTIMONY TO THE HARMONY OF THE
QUEEN AND PRINCE'S MARRIED LIFE. - FURTHER UNPLEASANTNESS
IN PRINCE ALBERT'S POSITION. — PRINCE ERNEST VISITS PORTUGAL.

— HIS ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGESE COURT, LISBON, ETC. — EX-
PEDITIONS IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN. — ADVENTURE WITH BRIGANDS.

— BARCELONA. - ESPARTERO's REBELLION. - INTERVIEW WITH
QUEEN CHRISTINA. - SHE CONSENTS TO REVIEW THE TROOPS. —
RETURN TO DRESDEN. — THE THIERS MINISTRY IN FRANCE. —
RUMOURS OF WAR. - CONTRADICTORY ATTITUDE OF LOUIS PHILIPPE.

— PRINCE ALBERT'S OPINION. — KING LEOPOLD'S LETTER TO
METTERNICII. - FALL OF THIERS. - THE GUIZOT MINISTRY. —
ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV OF PRUSSIA. - INTERVIEW
BETWEEN HIM AND PRINCE ERNEST AS TO THE PROPOSED CESSION
OF LICHTENBERG. - VIOLENT SCENE. - FAILURE OF NEGOTIATION

CHAPTER V

MARRIAGE OF PRINCE ERNEST. — PREVIOUS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE
HOUSES OF FRANCE AND BAVARIA. — THE CAMP OF NUREMBERG. —
KING LOUIS AT THE MONKEY SHOW, PRINCE ALBERT RESPECTING
HIS BROTHER'S EARLY MARRIAGE. — INTRODUCTION TO THE HOUSE
OF BADEN. -- HIS FATHER'S WISHES. - AT THE HUNT. - IN LEIPZIG.

— NEWS OF PRINCESS MARIE'S BETROTHAL. — THE QUEEN OF SAXONY
INTERESTS HERSELF. — THE VISIT TO SCHWETZINGEN. - INTERVIEW
WITH THE GRAND-DUKE, DUCHESS AND PRINCESS ALEXANDRA. -
SHE CONSENTS TO THE BETROTHAL. - PRINCE ERNEST'S LETTER TO
KING LEOPOLD. -- THE MARRIAGE TAKES PLACE. - VISIT TO BRUSSELS
AND LONDON. - THE RETURN HOME. — BECOMES AN ACTIVE MEMBER
OF THE MINISTRY. - STAY AT ST CLOUD. - THREATENING ASPECT OF
AFFAIRS. - THIERS ; OUDINOT J GERARD. — DEATH OF THE REIGNING
DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA, AND ACCESSION OF PRINCE ERNEST.

— HIS POLITICAL VIEWS AT THE TIME. - AFFAIRS BETTER IN GOTHA
THAN IX COBURO. — ENMITY OF GERMAN COURTS. — THE VEXED
QUESTION OF TITLES. - JOINT MANIFESTO OF THE THREE DUKES -
8AXE-ALTENBURG, SAXE-MEININGEN AND SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA. —
THE DUKE'S MEETING WITH PRINCE ALBERT. — THEY DIFFER ON
MANY POINTS, AS REGARDS THE GOVERNMENT. — THE DUKE'S
SUMMARY OF PRINCE ALBERT'S CHARACTER. - STOCKMAR, AND HIS
INFLUENCE. — SEPARATION OF DUCAL AND STATE AFFAIRS. —
RESIGNATION OF VON LEPEL. — PRINCE ALBERT REGRETS IT. —
CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES IN COBURG : AND IN GOTHA. —
PRINCE ALBERT'S COMMENTS ON HIS BROTHER'S SPEECH AT
OPENING OF GOTHA ASSEMBLY. - STATE OF AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA
AND AUSTRIA. - KING LEOPOLD'S OPINION 122

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

THE YEAR 1848. PARIS THE REAL BATTLEFIELD OF REVOLUTION.

LOUIS BLANC. INFECTION OF GERMAN WORKMEN WITH REPUBLICAN

THEORIES. PRUSSIA AGAIN LOOKED TO TO REGENERATE GERMANY.

— FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. HIS VACILLATION. THE CONSTITU-
TIONAL WAR. THE KING OF PRUSSIA LED BY METTERNICH AND

THE CZAR. THE ROYAL ORDINANCE. KING LEOPOLD'S VIEW OF

THE SITUATION. ASSEMBLY OF THE DIET. THE DUKE VISITS

BERLIN. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. PRINCE ALBERT'S LETTER

TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA. WARNINGS FROM BAVARIA AND BADEN.

— BECK ENTERS THE MINISTRY. — BREAD RIOTS AT STUTTGART. —
RADOWITZ: HIS CHARACTER. BUNSEN. PRINCE ALBERT'S AT-
TEMPT TO GAIN PERSONAL INFLUENCE OVER THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

— URGES HIM TO ADOPT MODERN STATE IDEAS. MEMORIAL OF llTH

SEPTEMBER. — THE DUKE VISITS HUNGARY, ETC. KING LEOPOLD'S

CORRESPONDENCE WITH METTERNICH. — THE AUSTRIAN POLICY
THRICE DEFEATED . . . . . . . 15!

CHAPTER VII

THE SPANISH MARRIAGES. — THE DUKE AND DUCHESS START ON A TOUR

THROUGH SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. TOULON. QUEEN CHRISTINA

AND HER FORTUNES. AT BARCELONA. LESSEPS. EN ROUTE FOR

MALAGA. THE SHIP CAUGHT IN A STORM. SERVICE : THE BULL-
FIGHT. VISITS TANGIERS. RECEIVED BY THE PACHA. IN THE

SERAIL. FLIGHT OF ITS DENIZENS. THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS. —

ARRIVAL OF THE ' PH(ENIX ' WITH THE DUCHESS AND SUITE. —

IMPOSSIBLE TO LAND. GIBRALTAR. PROJECTED MARRIAGE OF

QUEEN ISABELLA. CONFUSION OF DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS WITH

FRANCE AND ENGLAND. — STOCKMAR WRONG AS TO PRINCE
ALBERT'S POSITION. — PRINCE LEOPOLD AS A CANDIDATE. — QUEEN
CHRISTINA'S LETTER TO THE DUKE. — ITS SECRET MEANING. —

THE DUKE'S LETTER TO KING LEOPOLD TO QUEEN CHRISTINA.

— WISHES TO RETURN BY WAY OF ENGLAND. OPPOSED BY

PRINCE ALBERT. HIS LETTER re ANSWER TO QUEEN CHRISTINA.

— DON FRANCESCO AND THE DUG DE MONTPENSIER MARRIED TO
THE TWO PRINCESSES. QUEEN VICTORIA'S VIEWS ON THE SPAN-
ISH MARRIAGES. IN PORTUGAL. INTREPIDITY OF DONNA MARIA.

AT OSBORNE. THE RETURN HOME. DIETZ — DON MIGUEL.

TROUBLES IN PORTUGAL. ENGLAND AND SPAIN TO THE RESCUE.

— LOUIS PHILIPPE AND METTERNICH PROTECT THE SWISS JESUITS.

— THE FRENCH KING'S PERSONAL CHARACTER. DEATH OF THE

DUC D'ORLEANS . . . . . . . . 177

CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER VIII

REVOLUTIONARY FEELING IN GERMANY. — TRAGI-COMIC VIEW OF THE
SITUATION. — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GREAT POWERS OF
EUROPE. — THE DUKE VISITS BERLIN, BRUSSELS, AND LONDON, ON
A VOYAGE OF OBSERVATION. — BUNSEN AND PRINCE ALBERT DESIRE

A JUNCTION BETWEEN ENGLAND AND PRUSSIA. RELUCTANCE OF

THE PRUSSIAN KING. — FLIGHT OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. — HASTY RETURN
HOME. — DEATH OF THE DUKE*S GRANDMOTHER. — REFORM IN THE
LAWS OF GOTHA. — VON STEIN'S LETTER TO THE DUKE. — ENTHUSI-
ASTIC RECEPTION IN GOTHA. — SYMPTOMS OF DISCONTENT IN COBURG
AND GOTHA. — DEMAND FOR A GERMAN PARLIAMENT, ETC. — THE
COBURG ADDRESS. — THE DUKE's REPLY. — SOCIALISTIC TENDENCIES

IN THE TUURINGIAN STATES. THE DUKE's LETTER TO KING

LEOPOLD. — RIOTS IN COBURG AND GOTHA. — PROMPTLY SUPPRESSED.
— THE CASE OF CELLA ST BLASII. — 'THE GRACE OF GOD.' — THE
OAME LAWS RELAXED. — THE QUESTION OF THE COBURG-GOTHA
UNION. — THE DUKE OFFERS TO OPEN THE DIET IN HUNTING-DRESS.
— COLLAPSE OF THE CAVILLERS AT STATE. — HIS SCHEMES OF
REFORM. — HIS POSITION SECURE. — THE VISIT TO ALTENBURG. —
WEIMAR DESIRES TO HEAD A THURINGIAN CONFEDERACY. — LETTER
TO PRINCE ALBERT. — THE CONFERENCE. — SUPPRESSION OF THE
RISING IN UEINARDSBRUNN. — PRINCE ALBERT'S VIEWS TOUCHING
THE THURINGIAN KINGDOM. — KING LEOPOLD'S LETTER. — VON
STEIN'S OPINION. — PRINCE ALBERT'S MEMORIAL. — VISITTO DRESDEN.
— CONDITION OF SAXON COURT AND MINISTRY. — BROHMER AND VON
STEIN. — THE DUKE'S LETTER TO RROHMER. — HIS REPLY. — IN
SCHLESWIG. — RETURN TO GOTUA - . 21 7

CHAPTER IX

THE PERIOD OF REACTION. — LETTERS TO KING LEOPOLD AND PRINCE
ALBERT. — UNIVERSAL SCARE AMONGST THE GOVERNING CLASSES.—
PROCLAMATION OF THE CONFEDERATE ASSEMBLY. — METTERNICIl's
REAL INTENTIONS. — PROPOSES A MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE IN
DRESDEN; HIS CIRCULAR DESPATCH. — AGREEMENT OF PRUSSIA. —
HAVARIA OBJECTS TO DRESDEN. — THE COUNTESS OF LANDSFELD
(LOLA MONTEZ) DRIVEN FROM MUNICH. — PRINCE LEININGEN'S
ADVICE AS REGARDS THE BAVARIAN HOUSES. — KING LOUIS* ABDICA-
TION.— AGITATION IN THE SMALLER WESTERN STATES. — RIOTS OF
THE PEASANTRY. — PRINCE ALBERT. — HIS FAVOURABLE VIEWS OF
THE REVOLUTION. — HE REFUSES TO BE DISABUSED. — HIS LETTER
TO KING LEOPOLD. SCHEME FOB A UNITED GERMANY. — THE

CONTENTS

MARCH DAYS IN VIENNA FALL OF THE METTERNICH SYSTEM. —

METTERNICH'S FLIGHT. — THE KING OF SAXONY AND HIS INSURGENT

SUBJECTS. — NEW SAXON MINISTRY. RISE OF VON DER PFORDTEN. —

ATTITUDE OF PRUSSIA. — THE OLD COUNCILLORS REFUSE SERVICE. —
FREDERICK WILLIAM EXONERATED FROM CONTEMPORARY CHARGES.

LETTERS TO PRINCE ALBERT. THE PRINCE'S REPLY. — HIS

SYMPATHY WITH FREDERICK WILLIAM. MISMANAGEMENT OF THE

KING OF PRUSSIA. — WEST GERMANY'S VIEWS OF GERMAN REGENERA-
TION. POPULAR DEMANDS FOR A REPUBLIC. THE PARLIAMENTS

MEET AT HEIDELBERG. THE CONFEDERATE ASSEMBLY SUMMONED

TO POTSDAM. — THE AUSTRIAN PROHIBITIVE DESPATCH. THE

ASSEMBLY ABANDONED. — PRINCE ALBERT'S ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE
THE DUKE'S VIEWS AS TO A CENTRAL POWER. THE DUKE'S OBJEC-
TIONS TO PRUSSIA. THE FRANKFORT TENDENCY. FREDERICK

WILLIAM PROPOSED AS HEAD OF THE CONFEDERATION. PRINCE

ALBERT'S MEMORIAL OF THE 28TH MARCH. — HIS SCHEME FOR

GERMAN UNITY. — FREDERICK WILLIAM'S OBJECTIONS. THE COM-
MITTEE OF SEVENTEEN PROXIES IN FRANKFORT. — CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN THE DUKE AND PRINCE ALBERT AS TO UNIVERSAL GERMAN

RELATIONS. THE BILL OF THE SEVENTEEN.— PRINCE ALBERT'S

CRITICISMS DISCOURAGE THE COMMITTEE. — ANTICIPATED DISRUP-
TION OF AUSTRIA. — THE DUKE'S VIEWS AS TO THE PROPER ACTION
OF THE GERMAN PRINCES 288

CHAPTER X

THE SITUATION IN FRANKFORT. —PRUSSIA S PROPOSAL REFUSED.

A DICTATORSHIP PROPOSED. THE PRESIDENCY OF THE CON-
FEDERATION.— VON SCHMERLING. — PROPOSALS OF THE ENVOY

FROM BADEN. THE ILLEGAL COMMITTEE OF FIFTY. — REPORT OF

VON GABLEXZ — DESIRE FOR RESTORATION OF HEREDITARY IM-
PERIAL DIGNITY. ASSEMBLY OF GERMAN REPRESENTATIVES IN

FRANKFORT. — STOCKMAR's LOSS OF INFLUENCE. — PRINCE ALBERT

AND THE HANDKERCHIEF. CLOSE OF THE DELIBERATIONS OF THE

COMMITTEE FOR THE INSTITUTION OF THE CENTRAL POWER. —
APPOINTMENT OF ARCHDUKE JOHN OF AUSTRIA AS ADMINISTRATOR

OF THE EMPIRE. PRUSSIAN OBJECTIONS. THE CELEBRATIONS IN

COBURG AND GOTHA. — (WHO IS TO PAY THE BILL?). — INCAPACITY

OF THE ARCHDUKE. HIS LETTER TO THE DUKE. PRINCE KARL

VON LEININGEN UNDERTAKES THE PRESIDENCY. HIS RADICAL

VIEWS. — ANNOYANCE OF PRINCE ALBERT. LEININGEN's CHAR-
ACTER.— THE KING OF BAVARIA ESTABLISHES CLOSE RELATIONS

WITH THE AUSTRIAN COURT. PRUSSIAN OBJECTION TO THE

GERMAN MILITARY COLOURS. POPULAR FESTIVAL AT GOTHA ON

CONTENTS

XI

gTH AUGUST. — FREDERICK WILLIAM'S OPPOSITION TO THE PARTY
OF UNITY. — PRUSSIA'S ARMISTICE WITH DENMARK. — THE DUKE
VISITS FRANKFORT. — THE MEETING IN ST PAUL'S CHURCH. —

RETIREMENT OF PRINCE LEININGEN. THE DUKE'S LETTER ON THE

SITUATION TO PRINCE ALBERT. — REPUBLICAN RISING IN FRANKFORT.

STREET FIGHTING. MURDER OF LICHNOWSKY AND AUERSWALD.

— THE BARRICADES STORMED. — LICHNOWSKY's LAST LETTER TO
THE DUKE. — SYMPATHY OF PRINCE ALBERT. — DENSENESS OF THE
PLENIPOTENTIARIES ....... 329

CHAPTER XI

PRESSURE ON THE IMPERIAL MINISTRY OF THE GREAT POWERS OF
GERMANY. — THE AUSTRIAN COURT AND GOVERNMENT DRIVEN TO
OLMUTZ. — SCHWARZENBERG ASSUMES THE CONTROL OF AFFAIRS. —
PROGRAMME OF THE NEW MINISTRY. — SECRET INSTRUCTIONS TO
THE ARCHDUKE. — COUNT BRANDENBURG. — THE DUKE's PERSONAL
FEELINGS TOWARDS THE KING OF PRUSSIA. — RIVALRY BETWEEN

AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA. GAGERN*S LEADERSHIP. SCHEME FOR

THE ELECTION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA. GENERAL OPPOSITION.

VON STEIN ON THE CRISIS. — THE DUKE*S LETTER TO FREDERICK
WILLIAM. — URGES HIM TO HEAD THE FATHERLAND. — AUSTRIA
NEGOTIATING WITH HANOVER. — HUMILIATION OF THE KING OF
PRUSSIA. — PRINCE ALBERT'S COMMENTS. — LAST ACT OF THE
FRANKFORT IMPERIAL TRAGEDY. — RECALL OF THE PRUSSIAN
DEPUTIES. — GRAVELL'S ABSURD MANIFESTOES. — ESCAPE OF THE
ARCHDUKE FROM FRANKFORT. — HIS SUBTERFUGE. — THE SCIILES-
WIG-HOLSTEIN WAR. — POPULARITY OF DUKE ERNEST. — WHIMSICAL
APPEAL TO HIM TO ASSUME THE LEADERSHIP . . . 366

PREFACE

IT has often been complained in earlier times, that in
one of the most important branches of literature, of
which English and Frenchmen were complete masters
—in historical-political memoirs — much less has
been done by us Germans. In these days the most
varied subjects are comprised under the name of
Memoirs : sometimes collections of events in private
life and letters, sometimes publications of public cor-
respondence and diplomatic documents. Also political
dogmas, philosophical observations, confessions of
beautiful minds, are not seldom clothed in this form.
Everywhere, where revelations of a like kind are made
during the course of a single human life, or presented
in a certain chronological order, it is thought necessary
to dub them Memoirs. Goethe thought otherwise of
his Memoirs, which he wished to have recognised in
the character of a well-written work of art, all the
more, as, in spite of the truth of the contents, he did
not give it a title which might prevent one from
believing it to be of a poetical nature.

It should be easier to find this ideal form for the
VOL. i. c

xiv PREFACE

representation of personal reminiscences, where the
inner life of a human being is more artistically por-
trayed by its means, than when one attempts to
reproduce the political events of a man's life and the
relations of the former to the latter. I had at first
intended to clothe my recollections also in a purely
personal form ; but I perceived during the course of
the work that the rate of political events since the
time of my assuming the reins of government had
gained so overpowering an influence over the whole
history of my life, that it was hardly possible at any
point to abstain from continually considering the
coherent modern state development, more particularly
that of Germany.

In consequence of my continual participation in
German politics, my recollections have quite uninten-
tionally assumed the character of an uninterrupted
representation of the events of the past decades ; I have
even been often a chance witness of great and decisive
affairs. When I looked back to all I had gone through
I involuntarily formed a mental picture of the whole
epoch. And thus this work, which I am now publish-
ing, has assumed the character of a description which
at times does not touch upon my individual life.

I openly express my conviction, that, in our busy
times, when the success of a thing is only judged by
outward appearances, the man of action must now,
more than ever, feel the necessity of preventing his
views of political life and his part therein from being
entirely lost sight of.

PREFACE xv

In their results, politics are always the product of
great strength. Just as great Generals retain in their
memory the clear consciousness of the co-operation of
thousands, so do the strongest and most farseeing
statesmen best know, how little it was a single will
alone which expressed itself in the great development.
In the history read by our descendants, only the man
who has taken care that written information of his
struggles exist, can hope with any certainty to have a
place.

This conviction has helped me to overcome the
reflection that it always seemed undesirable to my
German State contemporaries — apart from a great,
incomparable exception in the past — to encroach
personally upon this kind of historical literature.
And yet such a step is particularly justified now-a-
days, when one casts a glance over many books of
contemporary history.

When reading memoirs and descriptions of the
past ten years, I was sometimes surprised to find
personages of whom I had a distinct recollection as
being men whom we had to thank as the initiators of
certain events, either very insufficiently mentioned, or
not at all. Here and there it may have been owing
to the desire not to expose the actions of reigning
persons to unavoidable criticism at such an early date.
Nevertheless, such a manner of observation and
handling must needs give rise to considerable re-
flection.

The constitutional principle is silent concerning the

xvi PREFACE

actions of the crown from reverence, and history some-
times passes over the wearers of crowns in silence
from principle. Thus it cannot fail that one is not
seldom reminded of the great importance of Mr Nemo
in the narratives and traditions of the present ; and
this nobody appears chiefly in the epos of most recent
history, when Princes and Regents have had a
personal part to play.

The cause, as well as the effect, of such historical-
political representations are fresh in my memory.
The impulsive forces of development remain unmen-
tioned and unknown ; and because, in the circles in
which they are found, there rules a great and universal
shrinking from making public use of written words, a
fable convenue can spread itself indefatigably over im-
portant moments in our time also.

On the other hand, few of the dissuasions which
are usually tried, are tried at the right time, with re-
gard to their own pre-eminence through the testimony
of the Press. I cannot make up my mind to let my
right perish, to describe things as I myself have
seen, felt and helped to bring them about. The
opportunity has been continually offered me during
the past half century, to take my place in the van-
guard ; I have had much experience, I have closely
observed events, and no one really acquainted with
the times can wish to cast a doubt on my modest
share in the shaping of our Fatherland.

This work, which is now to be made public, I
have written with an amount of care, reflection, and I

PREFACE xvii

may say, critical nicety, of which not many of the
large number of like publications can boast.

I was continually occupied for nearly ten years
in making my description of things as consistent as
possible with the truth, without giving anyone reason
to feel injured. I have often made up my mind
rather to neglect the form of my narrative in order to
make the important contents more certain. Nor have
I been willing, like many other narrators, to rely upon
my good memory alone ; I have, on the contrary,
most carefully compared my recollections with all the
documents at my disposal.

Neither will I speak of the fruit of most personal,
I might say most private, reminiscences, which have
helped me in this work. My Memoirs are based upon
a comprehensive investigation and use of rich mines
of material. My collection of documents for the
history of the times is greatly increased by the
uncommonly voluminous correspondence which flowed
into my house. The public archives have also contri-
buted valuable help ; and for the history of my
personal adventures, I have the diaries which have
been kept since my earliest youth, as a leading line.
I was aided by friends and officials with copies of
original deeds.

Armed with such a fund of material, I may say
that I was in a better position to settle and hand
down facts than many others of my contemporaries.
Under these circumstances I could set down, according
to rule, what I thought of things and how I judged

xviii PREFACE

them. I have everywhere striven to place the reader
in the very midst of the movements of former times.

I have lived through the mighty period of the
struggle for the national possessions ; I have never
co-operated otherwise than with pleasure and devotion,
always keeping in sight the great results of which
the generation to which I belong may now thankfully
boast. Of course, no single man, and perhaps still
less any single party, will claim the credit of having
always striven in the right direction to reach the goal
of our present development.

Nevertheless, the purely neutral interest which is
certain to gain friends for my portrayal, will allow no
room for mere malevolence ; I think I may be certain
that my work will serve, even after the lapse of many
years, as a source of information concerning our
remarkable epoch.

As regards the description of the early years of
my life — somewhere near the time of the Oriental
development — I must not omit to refer the reader
generally to the books written by the Queen of
England about my brother. The affectionate relations
which existed between me and my brother would have
rendered it impossible for me to refer to a single
passage in those well-known works. For not only
brotherly love, but a uniformity of political convictions
and work bound us inseparably together.

May this work, therefore, written by an eye-
witness and fellow-worker to the best of his knowledge,
furnish the minds of contemporary and future friends

PREFACE xix

of the history of a great epoch of our national develop-
ment with a closer understanding of the same ; but
for the narrator himself may it win and keep warm
hearty appreciation.

E. D. OP S.

JEUmoirs ot
litke ®tm0t of Saxe-Ccrburg-tictha

CHAPTER I

EARLY LEGEND OP THE COBURG FAMILY. — ITS REAL HISTORY. — FALL OF
ERNESTINE BRANCH. — FRANZ JOSIAS ENFORCES PRIMOGENITURE. —
THE MARSHAL'S LETTER AS TO THE SUCCESSION. — ACCESSION OF

THE DUKE'S FATHER. STATE OF THE HOUSE OF COBURG. TREATY

OF 4TH MAY, 1805. — KING LEOPOLD'S VIEW OF THE SITUATION. —

ANECDOTE OF FREDERICK WILLIAM III. LETTERS TO FREDERICK

JOSIAS. THE DUKE GAINS LICHTENBERG ; ENTERS THE RHINE CON-
FEDERACY. HIS MARRIAGE. — BIRTH OF THE PRINCES ERNEST AND

ALBERT. — SANGUINE ANTICIPATIONS. THE DUCHESS LOUISE DIES.

— THEPRINCE AND PRINCESS OF LEININGEN. PARENTAL INFLUENCE

OF THE DUKE — A SPARTAN CODE. — EARLY INSTRUCTORS. GREEK

NEGLECTED FOR SCIENCE. — FLORSCHUETZ. — CONFIRMATION OF THE
YOUNG PRINCES. — LETTER FROM KING LEOPOLD. — PRINCE ERNEST'S

REPLY.

THERE is perhaps no second event in the history of the Saxon
Land and Royal Family, which has been so often and so
willingly related in my Thuringian home, rich as it is in
traditions, as the legendary abduction of the Princes and the
romantic crime of the Chevalier Kunz von Kaufungen.

Both political and non-political moralists discovered in
this national tradition a rich supply of matter for good pre-
cepts, and countless picture books have from the earliest times
depicted the hard fate of the two young Princes Ernest and
Albert, who have become the ancestors of two families which
have taken a prominent position in German history. As late

VOL. i. A

2 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

as the year 1822, a fine monument was unveiled on the Saxon
Fiirstenberg, by which the memory of the two founders of
the Houses of Ernest and Albert was once more made green.

That I and my younger brother bore the names of the
stolen sons of Frederick the Gentle, in exactly the same order
and with almost exactly the same difference in age, seemed to
our narrow family circle a circumstance fitted to furnish grand-
mothers and relations with material for reflection and with
many pleasant hopes for our future.

The charcoal-burner Georg Schmidt, the Abbe Ciborius, the
capture of the Chevalier Kunz and the servant Schweinitz,
the mortal danger of Prince Ernest in the devil's cleft, the
good-natured woodmen in the forest, the worthy upper-
bailiff Frederick von Schonburg, and, finally, the punish-
ment and death of the criminal, in fact the whole story, often
repeated, afforded us children, as well as the relaters, an
inexhaustible source of interest. In this way a picture of
their own desires and struggles was perhaps presented to
future leaders of the nation in the children's rooms of old
Germany, moved by fancy and energy, through the similarity
of names and places and the unchangeability of the natural
features of their country.

The first years of my childhood, when the mighty Emperor
of the French was known to be banished to the solitude of a
rocky island, were an epoch in the intellectual life of the
German nation, in which numberless circles, turning from the
present, buried themselves with passionate ardour in the
bygone times of monks and cavaliers. Thus it happened that
the youngest branches of the Ernest Coburg family grew up
with the names and amidst the memories of a past and gone
age of romance which they considered exceedingly fascinating,
and that hardly anyone wrote or spoke of me and my brother
without recalling the words of my grandmother, that her
boys bore exactly the same names as the sons of the Elector
Frederick, who were stolen by Kunz von Kaufungen.

The real history of the Saxon House was not, however, as
is known, so pleasant as the historical myths of the ancient
Wettins, and the great schism in our House became for it a

FALL OF THE ERNESTINE BRANCH 3

source of numerous recollections of misfortunes. Would not
the great Elector, to whom the German nation owe their
freedom of creed, have been the fittest man to lead the
Empire into new ways and solidify his house, when the whole
Wettins land lay in his hand ? His divided possession did
not give him the courage to accept the offered crown which
fell to Charles V. Then followed the downfall of the Ernestine
branch, and ever widening divisions amongst the rest.

A still greater fall, in relation to Coburg-Saalfeld, was
obviated by my great-grandfather Franz Josias in 1822, by
means of a family law, which firmly established the absolute
right of primogeniture. The numberless princes of the house
were thus thrown on their own resources and made dependent
on their gains. My great-grandfather's brothers were all
forced to enter foreign service, and have made our name
known throughout all Europe. The youngest of them outlived
the Romish German Empire for ten years as Field-Marshal.
He was still living when my father began to reign, and helped
him with faithful adherence to the family to bear the hard
times of the Rhine Confederacy and the Napoleonic dominion.
Characteristic of his cares is a letter, which the good old
Marshal addressed to the Ministry on the death of my grand-
father, and which reveals the disturbed state of the affairs of
even my small home in the year 1806 :

'RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR, —

' VERY HIGHLY HONOURED LORD MINISTER, — As it has
pleased God to call His Grace my nephew, the reigning Lord
Duke, out of this world, and I cannot believe that the Patent
issued by His Majesty the French Emperor excludes every
reigning Lord of the country from assuming the reins of
power, the Lord Hereditary Prince as little as His Highness
the present Prince Ferdinand, and as Prince Leopold has not
yet attained his majority, I therefore wish to inquire of Your
Excellency if full permission has been given the Lord
Hereditary Prince to take into his hands the reins of Govern-
ment ? If this is not the case, I should indisputably have to
undertake the control of affairs myself until the attainment

4 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

of majority of either one or the other of my Lord nephews !
I remain, with the highest respect, your Excellency's
obedient servant

'FR. JOSIAS PRINCE OF SAXE-COBURG.
'Coburg,9th Dec. 1806.'

It was not found necessary to accept the proffered
services, as my father himself came forward and assumed the
government.

Old Frederick Josias, to whose warlike deeds my uncle,
King Leopold of Belgium, through von Witzleben, raised a
beautiful literary monument, wrote down in his diary with
painful elaborateness, every occurrence of moment which took
place up to the time of his death. The book, with its simple
details, is not important enough to be used here, but many
pages as well as other daily notes, show how hard and oppres-
sive it was to a German to be forced to bear the French
dominion. The old conqueror of the Turks had, however, the
satisfaction of outliving the tyrant's fall. He died on the
5th of February 1815, almost at the moment when Napoleon,
flying from Elba, reached the coast of France. My father had
just returned home from the Congress of Vienna, the assembly
which had been looked to with so little hope of success as a
healer of the many ills of former years The later King
Leopold affirmed in his notes, that my father had equally
embittered the Prussian King and his statesmen by his par-
tizanship in the Saxon question, and had nearly been com-
pelled to forego every advantage. The slight enlargement of
territory on the Rhine with the chief town of St Wendel,
which Prussia did not like as a limit and even at last would not
acknowledge as accepted in the agreement, was obtained by
Prince Leopold only with the greatest effort.

In order, however, to appreciate all the difficulties which
beset my father at this date, it is necessary to recall the state
of the House of Coburg at that time. The complete union of
Coburg-Saalfeld first took place through a treaty signed on
the 4th of May 1805. Up to that time the Coburgers only
participated in the Saalfeld part of the country, the other

STATE OF THE HOUSE OF COliURG 5

part of which belonged to Saxe-Altenburg, that is, to the Duke
of Gotha, who at the same time enjo}red the right of sovereignty
over the Saalfeld territory. Through a treaty in 1805 Saal-
feld, with the Gotha portion of the domain of Themar, was
given over to Coburg, and Coburg surrendered Roemhild to
Gotha, thus equalising the two domains to a great extent.
Thus my father's possessions included the domains of Coburg
and Themar, and, of the Saalfeld territory, the domains of
Saalfeld and Graefenthal-Probstzella, making altogether 17f
square miles with 57,266 inhabitants, according to a census of
the year 1812. As King Leopold has already related in his
Memorial,* the fortune of my ancestors was greatly lessened
by mishandling of every description. The national want had
reached its crisis through the French war. The year 1806
found my father with the army of the allied Prussians and
Russians, and on the death of my grandfather, Franz Friedrich
Anton, on the 9th of December 1806, the French treated
Coburg as a rich booty. Coburg was by no means unknown
to the French, and had earned their hatred in the years of the
Revolution, because French emigrants had settled there after
the 1st of November 1792. Coburg had in consequence, and
perhaps more than it deserved, gained the reputation of a
reactionary and legitimate nest, where the French governor
and intendant might with particular satisfaction give free vent
to his enmity.

Only with great trouble was my father able to get his
rights admitted and recover his dukedom under the conditions
made on his entrance into the Rhine Confederacy. But he
naturally had no part in the favours and elevation of rank
attained by the other Princes belonging to the Rhine Con-
federacy, a deprivation which his sons and grandsons may set
down to his credit.

Six long years were spent in quiet retirement, devoted to
the zealous restoration of the little dominion's pecuniary pro-

* Mention is made here once for all of this Memorial, which may be found in
Grey's Early Years, as a reference book for the older history and personal matters.
German edition : The Youthful Years of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, pp.
309-335. For the supplement to these Memoirs see : Deutsche Revue, for June
1884 : ' King Leopold as a critic.'

6 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO EURO -GOT HA

sperity ; general politics had to be considered a sealed book,
not to be touched by a Prince of the Rhine Confederacy with-
out stirring the Emperor's anger. My father was forced to be
all the more careful, as the relations of his two brothers with
Austria and Russia were well known to Napoleon, and, as King
Leopold relates, he was even made responsible for the latter's
not having entered the French service. Not until on the first
of January 1813 — to quote King Leopold's own words, —
was Germany happier than she had been for a long time.

How quickly and decidedly my father and his brothers
took their place in military and political affairs, will be but
briefly mentioned here, as my uncle has already told the
whole story so clearly with all the modesty of his rare
character. It was only natural that the occurrence during
the war of liberation and the part taken by the father and
uncle, should furnish an inexhaustible supply of food for con-
versation in ours as in every family, in the days of my child-
hood and youth. Nowadays, when the world is no less
inclined to romance and fables than it was formerly, one must
call up a vivid mental picture of the soldier comrades in 1813,
in order to realise what an enormous influence these recollec-
tions of hot fighting and hard days had over the thoughts and
feelings of youth, and how every nerve quivered when father
or uncle, both excellent relaters, told the eagerly listening
boys of what they had seen and gone through. I might
repeat an abundance of anecdotes word for word, which King
Leopold, in particularly cheerful moments, was always ready
to relate of the year 1813.

Some of them were so characteristic of many of the chief
persons who took part in the great drama, that it would be a
pity if they were entirely forgotten, for it is undeniable that
history, which has a leaning towards completely personifying
great deeds, does not always offer up sacrifice on the altars of
rightly chosen gods.

Immediately after the battle of Kulm, King Leopold, then
commander of a Russian brigade of Horse Guards, retired into
Teplitz. He found the town overflowing with troops, and, in
order to furnish quarters for himself and his staff, nothing

FREDERICK WILLIAMS DILEMMA 7

remained to him except to go to the Clary Palace, where the
Emperor Francis had already taken up his quarters. As the
Prince entered the house to ask the Emperor if a portion
of the apartments could be vacated for the tired officers, he
found him taking part in a trio, in the most comfortable
frame of mind, but not more cheerful than he had been during
the thundering of the cannon of Kulm, when he had given
himself up to the gratification of his passion for music. The
Emperor at once expressed himself willing to grant the
desired request, adding with immovable calm, ' Oh, yes, will-
ingly, we can fiddle below just as well.' So he continued to
fiddle gaily on the first floor.

The King was fond of relating another amusing intermezzo
of the battle of Leipzig. He had been sent to King Frederick
William III, in order to inform him of some arrangement or
other.

Notwithstanding the importance of his commission, Prince
Leopold was not admitted, and he found, besides, Gneisenau
was in the same painful position, awaiting the signature of a
royal order. But the King did not appear, and sent no com-
mands. They became more pressing, and sent a request
through the officer on service that something might be decided
upon. At length Frederick William himself appears, in an
angry frame of mind, and explains that hours ago he had sent
to the Emperor Alexander to inquire if he should appear in
Russian or Prussian uniform on the day of battle, and he was
astonished that Prince Leopold had brought no decisive mes-
sage on the subject. The latter now venturing upon a modest
remonstrance, the King broke out wrathfully, ' First of all, I
must know what uniform I am to wear, for I certainly shall
not be able to go on the march without trousers ! '

Happily the longed-for news at length arrived, and
Frederick William in his turn, signed the orders. Graver and
more thrilling were the uncle's tales when he spoke of Kulm,
Brienne and Paris, which he entered on the 31st of March with
the Russian cavalry, being present at that never to be for-
gotten moment, which has since then been often enough
depicted, and the remembrance of which fell like a fruitful

8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

seed on the minds of the rising generation. The letters
written during these years of Europe's regeneration to the old
Prince Frederick Josias are of some historical interest. They
reveal my uncle's character and mode of thought, which the
youth of to-day, even by paying the greatest attention to
those parts of history which have rightly been consecrated to
him, have not really learned to know.

' Carlsbad, 12 th July 1813.

' I have all this while deprived myself of the pleasure of
writing to you, because both opportunity and matter were
often awanting, and most of all the leisure to do so, as you
yourself will remember is so often the case in time of war.
Up to the present I have had the good luck to escape all
dangers, and can be thankful to God for it, for they have been
plentiful enough. The present quiet after so many fatigues
has been of great benefit. It would have given me great
pleasure to see Ferdinand and Mensdorf here, besides my dear
Ernest, and their letters lead us to hope that they will come.
It would seem, however, as if their presence here were almost
unnecessary, for according to all appearances an unsatisfactory
peace seems to be preferred by the country to war, although if
all would hold together, proposals would be most favourable.
I leave Ernest to tell you the political news, as well as the
little which concerns myself, as it might be too voluminous in
writing, and put you to inconvenience. When I say good-bye
to Ernest, which I shall soon do, I shall go to Prague, where I
shall perhaps remain two days during the Congress, in order
to furnish information concerning the peace, and give a few
new impressions.

'Then I shall return to Peterswaldau near Reich enbach in
Silesia, where the Emperor has his headquarters, and after
that to the heavy cavalry at Ossig, a village near Liegnitz.'

' Paris, 2nd June 1814.

' It is impossible for me to leave Paris without recommend-
ing myself to your gracious thoughts. To have spent two
months in garrison in a city which during the past twenty

RETURN OF THE BOURBONS OF FRANCE 9

years has posed as the capital of the world, and to enter it as
victors after such brilliant engagements as those of Fere
Champenoise and Paris itself, is an event which cannot be
forgotten. Our stay here has been very pleasant, particularly
the latter part. My brothers have contributed much to our
pleasure. Ferdinand lived with me, and Ernest farther off ;
also good Mensdorf, who is still very sad at the loss of his son,
has visited me very often. Our occupation gives us a great
deal to do, and I hope that things will take a happier turn
than at first appeared. As the Emperor has had the kindness
to allow me to follow him to England, I shall seize this
favourable opportunity of seeing that interesting country,
which must at this moment present a very brilliant appear-
ance, owing to the many celebrations which are to take place.

' The Emperor of Austria left early this morning for
Vienna, and the Russian Emperor for London, but he will stop
for several days at Boulogne, in order to inspect the public
institutions, I shall join him there.

' Heaven grant that a lasting peace may be the result
of so many sacrifices.

' I greatly fear that there will be a civil war in France.
The masses are too heterogeneous for it to do them any good,
and I pity the poor Bourbons, who will have to bear many a
hard thrust in order to keep their seat on the throne ; I advise
them to be severe, a few heads — falling — will help a great
deal.

' I do not think that the stay in England will be lengthy.
I hope to be expected in Coburg by my gracious uncle by the
end of July or the beginning of August, and look forward with
pleasure to that happy moment.

' P.S. — His Majesty the Emperor Franz has had the
graciousness to present me with the Theresa Cross, for
services rendered on the fields of Kulm and Fere Champe-
noise.'

' Vienna, 8th November 1814.

' As General Tettenborn is very wisely passing through
Coburg on his journey, I seize with great eagerness this

io MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTUA

opportunity of assuring my most gracious uncle of my respect.
I wished to do it earlier, but had so much writing and busi-
ness to see to, that I was obliged to postpone it from day to
day.

' Things have not gone so quickly with the good Congress
as one might have expected, and I risked having to lengthen
my stay in Coburg to a considerable extent. The supposed
preparative business was not, as I have already said, transacted
at all, as everything had first to be gone over and settled.
Things went here just as they do with private persons who
hesitate long before they can decide upon looking up an
unpleasant affair.

' None of the great Powers would handle the unpleasant
questions with prompt earnestness, they tried to temporize,
hoping that the condition of things would assume a better
aspect, which, however, was not the case to my knowledge.
This is the reason why the Congress had to be delayed until
the 1st of November, and even now they are trying to gain
more time, with this object in view. The Congress, as such,
is embarrassing to the Great Powers, and principally to
Russia, Austria and Prussia, because such an assembly of the
whole of the European Powers naturally must result in con-
sideration being given not only to the interests of these
Great Powers, but to the well-being and equilibrium of all
Europe as well, which makes an important difference. France
makes the most noise, as was to be expected all along, and
demands to remain in possession of Saxony, whilst Russia on
the other hand, is to give up a large piece of Poland to
Prussia, in order to supply the population formerly guaranteed
to her. England also upholds this claim more or less, which
is, indeed, very important for the proper maintenance of
equilibrium.

'The whole matter is really confined to this one point.
Russia will not give up the dukedom of Warsaw, and Prussia
wants Saxony in consequence; whereas the other Powers
insist upon Russia giving Prussia the greater portion of
Warsaw, and saving Saxony. If they all continue thus to
insist upon having their own way, the Congress will have

THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS AT VIENNA n

been useless, and an early, if not an immediate, war is to be
feared, which would be the most unhappy of all things, as the
confusion which would thus arise is not to be conceived of.

' Providence which heretofore has ordered all for the best,
will not, it is to be hoped, leave its beautiful work unfinished
and allow war and destruction to spread once more over poor,
sorely plagued Europe.

1 Until these great questions are settled, there is desperately
little to be said about our own hopes and views for the
future, yet I hope for something, even if it be but a little, but
the Congress must not break up, otherwise our fate is decided,
and we shall obtain nothing.

'The sovereigns are very gay, dancing, hunting, and so
forth, their journey to Ofen has amused them right well.
Entertainments of all sorts were given them there, and the
Hungarian nationality appeared remarkable to them. A
journey to some other spot will soon be taken ; I hear that
the chief sovereigns are going to Graz, and that they seem to
have some desire to visit Trieste and perhaps even Venice ;
the gracious lords seem to have taken such a fancy to travel-
ling in their old age as to be quite unable to stop. They say,
too, that the Austrian Emperor has promised to go to Peters-
burg in May, when there will naturally be a great deal
going on.

' The noble guests cost the Court here an unheard of sum
of money. It is affirmed that it amounts to no less than
60,000 florins daily, and this does not strike me as being too
much when one remembers the immense number of people
who make up the royal suites ; several hundred persons sit
down daily at the Marshal's table alone, moreover, all the
servants are liberally fed.

' The Court is more splendid than I had ever thought it
could be, and the former French one cannot be compared
with it. I have had the pleasure of having the Grand-Duke
here, but, unfortunately, he was obliged to leave on Tuesday
the 8th, and return to Warsaw ; he charged me to present
his compliments to my gracious uncle, and remembers with
great pleasure the few days he passed with us in Coburg last

12 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

year. He has exercised his regiment, which is stationed
here, several times, and invariably to his entire satisfaction.
His intention was to take me to Warsaw with him, but I
preferred remaining here.

' As I am forced to close this letter, which must go at once,
I beg my gracious uncle to remember me to aunt Caroline,
and to keep in mind the unchangeable love and veneration
with which I shall always remain, etc.'

' Vienna^ 20th December 1814.

' As the happy day is almost at hand on which you were
presented to the world, I hasten to lay my heartfelt and
respectful congratulations at your feet ; may just Providence
protect for long years to come the life of an uncle so beloved,
and so universally esteemed.

' I had greatly hoped and wished to be able to say all this
verbally on my beloved and gracious uncle's birthday, but
Heaven has ordered it otherwise, and prolonged this Congress
even longer than I had at first expected. Although I sus-
pected it would last rather long, yet I had thought that more
good-will and rectitude would be shown than has as yet
been the case.

' Affairs are in a cruel state of stagnation, and I fear war,
if things continue thus, although every visible advantage
demands peace. In this important moment one must lean
upon Providence even more than ever, the Providence which,
although it does not appear so, will certainly direct everything
for the best ; for the human mind is at times unable to under-
stand, in its misery and despair, why matters, which are so
easy to smooth over, are deliberately complicated by higher
hands. The past Advent has drawn a line through the list of
entertainments and amusements here, and there were none at
all in the Catholic families ; on the other hand, many were
given by Russians, Razumoffsky, for instance, and by English
families.

' The Russian Emperor's birthday will take place in a few
days, and will be celebrated in many ways, amongst others
by a Court show from which I shall unfortunately be absent.

PRINCELY VIEWS OF THE WAR OF LIBERATION 13

It is thought that some of the smaller kings will then be able
to leave, such as those of Wiirtemberg and Bavaria.

' We have had several weeks of the most beautiful weather
that one can imagine, and it often seems as if the spring had
arrived, the sun shines so warmly. For some time past one
has been unable to wear an overcoat, as it is much too warm,
and on the Bastion, where the fashionable world promenades,
there is a daily concourse as if it were a masquerade. If the
weather is equally favourable at home, ray gracious uncle will
have been able to have several good days' hunting.

' Nothing is said of the departure of the great sovereigns,
and this is deemed a proof that the business is not yet near
its end.

• But I will no longer weary my most gracious uncle with
my writing, especially as news is scarce. If God will, I shall
soon have the happiness of talking with my gracious uncle,
and wish to return my most respectful thanks for the two
letters.'

From these letters it will be seen that the princely races
of Germany did not look upon the war of liberation exactly in
the light of a national regeneration, as was done later. Even
in the principal persons of the allied armies it was only a
strongly developed longing for the peace of nations, and a
love for the old legitimate order, and even the most intellectual
and important amongst them, such as King Leopold, looked
upon the great campaign of Paris, as hardly more than a
mighty international undertaking against the predominance
of France. This great epoch of our national history appeared
first to the sons of those brave fighters in the light of a
national opinion, and the following generation first coined
the historical medal of the so-called war of liberation in their
inner consciousness.

Neither in Prussian nor in other German families existed a
thought which could have had the slightest resemblance to

O O

that which, during my life, has been adopted as the fruit of
reflection on the national possibilities and Germany's form of
constitution under Prussia's leadership. Yes, I think I may

i4 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

with full right lay claim to a reward for my contemporaries
and the existing generation, which, through pragmatic hasti-
ness on the part of history, has been designated as a barren
inheritance.

Many great and good men as there were amongst the
princes, commanders and statesmen, in the war of liberation
everyone who had any social intercourse with them in youth-
ful days must admit that their national and political views
embraced an entirely, incomparably different point of view.
What Germany now is, that is, according to the fundamental
notion — abstractly from all special questions on which one
might have different opinions, — she has undoubtedly become
through work done in the present period ; I have no hesita-
tion in the beginning of this resume of my life, in inserting a
speech made by the Emperor William, which will bear
decisively upon the question. It was in Versailles, where the
then assembled princes had congregated around the Emperor
just before the beginning of the world-renowned ceremony.
As he greeted me, he distinctly spoke the following words :
' I do not forget that you are also deserving of thanks for
your efforts on behalf of the chief object for which we are
here to-day.'

In this way he proved in the most personal manner, as
may easily happen in moments of overpowering feelings, the
fact that the work of unity would never have been completed
if a number of true-minded men had not been piling up the
stones for the masonry during half their lives. In the year
1815, on the other hand, it would certainly have been looked
upon in most of the families of Germany as something very
astounding if anyone had prophesied that fifty years later,
the sons of those princes would vote the German Empire to
Prussia's King with the most heartfelt singlemindedness.
Even my father would hardly have realised the divergence in
the stream of time if he could have heard the words which
William I uttered to me in that decisive moment, and at no
point of German development can one better see the great
change in the spirit of politics than in relation to Prussia's
position in the Germany of to-day.

LICUTESBERG GAINED 15

In 1815, only after long negotiations and solely through
the help of the Emperor Alexander, my father obtained
possession of Lichtenberg on the Rhine. The raising of the
little twelve mile square territory to a dukedom met with
Prussia's opposition, so that it seemed as if my father had
staked every advantage of his ducal possession when, one of
the first princes to join the Rhine Confederacy, he deserted
Napoleon.* In the war of 1814, he had command of the
Fifth German Army Corps, which took Mainz. When war
broke out again in 1815, he commanded the Observation
Corps of Alsace, and in every campaign he furnished a not
inconsiderable contingent of troops, although the little land
of Coburg had been almost exhausted by the extensive
recruiting during the period of the Rhine Confederacy.

Under these circumstances, the advantages now gained by
my father's house were very modest,-f* and its future depended
more than ever on the activity and thoroughness of its
members. My father devoted all his care to the prosperity of
his land and his small capital. He skilfully directed not only
his own finances, but those of his country, placed experienced
men at the head of the administration, and in the year 1821
gave a liberal constitution to the dukedom of Coburg-Saalfeld,
founded on the well-known articles of the Act of Confederacy,
which demanded certain lawful regulations for every con-
federate land.

He dared, even after the acceptance of the Carlsbad
resolutions, to oppose the steps taken by the presiding Powers
which according to Gentzen's memorial wished to deprive the
state's constitution of all the elements of popular repre-
sentation.

Soon after the conclusion of peace in Paris, the three
brothers, on whom rested the hopes of the House of Coburg,
married almost at the same time.

Prince Ferdinand, who was a little more than a year

* My father's entrance into the Alliance was occasioned by an agreement with
Russia, 12th and 24th November, with Prussia 23, and with Austria on the 24th of
November.

t An enlargement of Coburg's frontier touching Bavaria had been considered,
to which Metternich — as may have been seen in his document concerning the same,
in Secret Archives, IA, 13x — had signified his consent.

16 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

younger than my father, was highly thought of in the
Austrian army. He had distinguished himself during the
past wars on many occasions, particularly at Eckheim, where
he won the Cross of Theresa, and immediately enlisted in the
war of freedom of 1813, under a foreign name, as Napoleon
had raised objections to seeing a Prince of Coburg in active
service in Austria.*

In the year 1816, Prince Ferdinand married the young
Princess Kohary and obtained possession of the large estates
in Hungary, on which the Emperor Francis settled the
Coburg entail. Meanwhile Prince Leopold had also married
in the same year, his wife being the Princess Charlotte,
daughter of George IV, which union, as is known, was dis-
turbed only too soon by the death of the excellent Princess,
heiress to the throne of England.

On the 13th of July, 1817, my father married Louise, the
only child of Duke August of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg, of
the now extinct family of Gotha- Altenburg. My mother was
born on the 31st December, 1800. At the time of her marriage
with my father, her stepmother Caroline was still living, a
Princess of Hesse Cassel, whom Duke August of Gotha-
Altenburg had married as early as the year 1802, after the
death of his first wife.

It appeared as if my parents' marriage must turn out most
happily, and the universal joy reached the highest possible
pitch, when, in the course of two years, two sons appeared as
securities for the future of the House.

I was born on the 21st of June, 1818 and my brother
Albert on the 26th August, 1819, the latter at the Castle of
Rosenau, and I in the Ehrenburg at Gotha. They named me :
Ernest August Charles John Leopold Alexander Edward.
I was to be called Ernest. The christening took place, with
all pomp, on the 24th June in the principal church of St
Moritz.

When the ceremony was over my grandmother Augusta,

* Mention is made of the part taken by Prince Ferdinand in the French wars
when belonging to the Austrian army in the lately published 'History of the
Imperial Austrian 8th Hussar Regiment.'

CHRISTENING OF THE PRINCES 17

a Princess of Reusz Ebersdorf, whose second husband my
grandfather was, embraced her son, my father, and said aloud,
so that the large assembly might hear, ' I hope that little
Ernest will become as good a son to you as you have been to
me.'

I heard these words on another occasion, when I was con-
firmed, for the same clergyman who baptised me, reminded
my father on my confirmation of what my grandmother had
said to him sixteen years before.

I must not omit to mention as worthy of attention, that
the land of Coburg-Saalfeld made me a present of 12,455
florins as a baptismal present, the voluntary contributions of
offices and towns, which was to be put out at compound
interest, until my majority. I cannot think without emotion
of this sacrifice on the part of the faithful burghers, a sacrifice
which was considerable, after so many years of war.

It is known from the publications of the Queen of England
respecting my brother's life, how short a time we enjoyed the
advantage of growing up under our mother's eyes, and how
quickly our family happiness was clouded over, after promis-
ing to be imperishable.

But I will not here deal with these matters again. That
world which is designated under the widely significant name
of historical does not look upon these more personal feelings
of private life as of great worth, and they sink into the ocean
of forgetfulness, with all the tears which they called forth.

After my mother's death my father took as his second wife
the Wiirtemberg Princess Marie, his niece, who remained child-
less, but also formed a friendly gathering point for our widely
scattered family until her death which occurred in 1860 only.
Just as my father and his brothers furnished a rare example
of unity in work, they remained in the closest relations with
their sisters and their posterity so that my brother and I
were accustomed from our earliest youth to look upon our
beloved father as the head of an unusually large circle of
relations.

From this strong family bond must have arisen the so
commonly imagined Coburg family politics, which were really

VOL. I. B

1 8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

nothing more than the friendly feeling of each separate mem-
ber, a feeling which is so often wanting in princely families.
Of my father's four sisters the Princess Julia was married to
the Grand-Duke Constantine, and Antoinette to Duke Alex-
ander of Wiirtemberg, then in the Russian service. The eldest
and youngest need not be especially mentioned, and nearly
every page will contain some remembrance of the fate of their
families.

In 1804 Sophia married Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, whose
four sons, of whom Alexander was best known, were in constant
intercourse with us. My father's youngest sister, Victoria,
was at first married to Prince Leinigeii, and after his early
death, became the wife of the Duke of Kent, of which
marriage, as is known, Queen Victoria was the issue.

But my aunt Kent's eldest children, Charles and Feodora,
Leinigen were also the founders of nearly allied families, who
belonged altogether to our circle. Both were possessed of
great mental gifts, and immensely beloved by their half-sister
Queen Victoria. The letter which appeared in pi'int of
Feodora, who married Prince Hohenlohe, gives the best
insight into the affectionate footing on which all these relations
stood.

But loving as the friendship was which knit them together,
nothing can be compared with the close intimacy in which my
brother and I grew up. From our earliest years we shared
every joy and sorrow together, as they came. And as, even
after our separation, we continued to confide our thoughts
and plans fully to each other, I may say that even amongst
the people so close a bond between brothers is not often to be
met with.

So undivided an influence did life, the world and our whole
surroundings exert on us, that it would afford me the greatest
pleasure, if, through these recollections of my growth and
experiences I could impart something more particular con-
cerning the habits and character of my dear brother, than
can be done in any other way. By nature we were neither
bodily nor mentally much alike. From earliest childhood my
brother was the best loved, and enjoyed the good-will of

PRINCE ALBERTS CHILDHOOD 19

mankind as much as his greater bodily weakness seemed to
require. His physical development did not keep pace with
the quick unfolding of his remarkable mental powers ; he
needed protection, and had the physical leaning of the weaker
towards the stronger.

As long as we remained together he willingly accepted the
part of the one who needed help, which, however, did not pre-
vent his following his own very decided will.

Our faithful governor Florschuetz has related so much
concerning these things in the Queen's book that I in turn
need only supply deficiencies. Florschuetz wrote a small
essay on me, as well as on my brother, which has been a help
to me in setting down the following reminiscences of my
youthful days.

I must first of all lay the greatest weight upon my father's
influence. After the separation from our mother, especially,
he took the keenest interest and most unflagging in anything
and everything which concerned our bringing-up, and even in
our lessons.

With us were his pleasantest and almost his only daily
conversations, and a more beautiful bond between a father
and his sons it would be difficult to find. And he was one of
those rare persons who, devoid of all pedagogic maxims, knew
how to make an impression on young people through their
very manner.

My father joined to his rare personal beauty a mind evenly
balanced in every way and a deep inward calm. Had he not
been born at a time when the education of young princes was
carried out according to set rules, which are insufficient for the
wants of the present day, he would have been a much greater
man than was possible under existing circumstances. It
would not be right to say that he would have devoted himself
to science, though in those times princes were seldom allowed
to visit the universities, and in the smaller Duchies the tutors
were often not more than of mediocre education. Notwith-
standing this, my father was at home in many branches of
science, and had, as was necessary in his duties as Regent,
become a far-seeing and sharp witted man of business.

2o MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

What won all hearts was the earnest mildness with which
he interested himself in everything, the delicacy of feeling
and the undesigned attention to custom of every kind. I
never heard a harsh or ugly word from his lips, never saw an
action of his which would not have satisfied every idea of
good-breeding ; we children looked upon him — and with right
— as the ideal of perfection, and although he never spoke a
stern word to us, we felt for him, not only love and adherence,
but a degree of respect which bordered on fear.

He never instructed, he seldom blamed, praised unwill-
ingly, and nevertheless, his personal influence was so powerful
that we exerted ourselves more than if we had been either
blamed or praised. Once, when he was asked by a relation
if we studied diligently and behaved well, he answered : ' My
children cannot misbehave, and they know of themselves
that they must learn something in order to become able men,
so I do not trouble myself further about them.' He under-
stood how to awaken ambition and self-respect in the most
skilful manner. His greatest enjoyment consisted in having
us always with him as far as was possible.

The love of nature, the meaning of art and aesthetics were
taught us by him almost involuntarily, as if in play ; on the
other hand, his demands on our attention, appreciation and
quick grasp of the subject, were often too great. He never
allowed a negligence in dress or carelessness of demeanour,
any transgression was punished by a look alone, but a look
which was so grave that it said more than a long lecture.
As he assumed that we worked with diligence and persever-
ance to complete our education, he tried, in order to keep us
fresh and courageous, to give us every pleasure on which he
knew we had set our hearts. Hunting, fishing, riding, driving,
were allowed us from our ninth year. On the other hand, he
would never suffer the least complaint of bodily incon-
venience, even of pain ; we were hardened in every way. I
remember that we once rode in the depth of winter over the
mountain road from Coburg to Gotha, and suffered fearfully
from the intense cold. On such an occasion my father
expected us to show the self-command of grown men, and we

PATERNAL TREATMENT OF THE PRINCES 21

had to behave in a manly way in every such uncomfortable
situation.

It will therefore be understood that we took part in every-
thing which more actively occupied iny father; under this
head I will particularly mention building, the beautifying of
the neighbourhood and the theatre. And even as boys, we
obtained an insight into many government measures and
affairs of state ; as, in a fatherly way, my father had no
secrets from us in such matters.

Although he leaned towards Conservatism, and, since the
peace, looked upon ideas of freedom rather unfavourably than
otherwise, yet, when but small boys, we were enthusiastic
over everything which concerned the nation. The uncertain
political longing for freedom, with which almost all young
minds in Germany were at that time filled, stirred us too, and
influenced our whole lives.

When our education began to assume a definite form, our
governor, Florschuetz, became also our tutor in many branches,
and bestowed particular attention on our Latin and mathe-
matics. I think it will be not uninteresting to mention a few
particulars concerning our studies, which in many respects
differed from the usual course followed in the city schools.

The Gymnasium illustre Casimirianum in Coburg had
enjoyed great consideration for a long time, but we were
influenced on both sides to follow a different course from that
which was set forth in the prospectus of this Institute. He
left Greek out altogether, whereas natural history, chemistry
and physics were imparted to us with a thoroughness then
quite uncommon in Germany. I cannot say to how great an
extent all were indebted to the influence and example of these
useful changes from the Gymnasium course.

Florschuetz chose as his colleague in instruction in these
departments of natural science a very distinguished man,
Professor Hassenstein, whose son was afterwards my family
physician for many years. The well-known gifted Griesz
taught us mathematics.

The interest in and understanding of everything concerning
nature and our progress in learning were not the only things

22 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

which we owed to these fruitful studies of realistic branches.
The knowledge of natural science has something very satisfy-
ing about it, and I may say that my brother and I did not
remain uninfluenced by the workings of this mental enfran-
chisement.

We were more advantageously brought up than many
other princes, no form of obscurantism had the slightest
power over us. The want of Greek was made up for by wide
reading of translations or imitations of classical literature
and the copious study of modern languages.

We spoke but one language at home. German was really
our mother tongue, and reigned alone in our childish ideas, — a
state of things which cannot fail to be of influence over the
later unfolding and course of thought of everyone.

During the last century the French were carrying the cult
of their language to the highest point in the education of
their aristocracy ; the German nobility, with a view to their
material interests as well as their mental development, were
growing up amidst a number of foreign languages. My
brother and I, though not to our disadvantage, only began the
study of French and English later on, and we made up
by thoroughness and practice for any loss which we might
have suffered through the want of acquaintance with the
modern languages in childhood. Our Latin studies were also
carried so far that they afforded us not only a rich source of
formular cultivation, but a ready mastering of the Latin
modes of expression.

WTe were also so competent in the conversational use of
Latin that I was fond of debating in that tongue at the
University, and therein excelled many of my college com-
panions fresh from the Gymnasium. Of my brother it may
particularly be said that he showed at an early date an original
doctrinary way of handling all subjects. He was particularly
skilled in the logical ordering of the most difficult themes of
debate ; and his views, even if not always the most correct,
were invariably successfully brought to bear on the question
by means of the keenest dialectics.

It was that mental talent and practice which, later, so

EDUCATION OF THE PRINCES 23

often gave him a superiority over others, and concerning
which the Emperor Napoleon once characteristically said to
me : ' His mind is so accurate that one is always afraid of
entering into discussion with him, he is always right.'

The success attendant on such an education was also shown
by the fact that we afterwards showed our ability as fluent
speakers on many public occasions. The strong point of our
tutor Florschuetz, was his wide and thorough grasp of historical
knowledge.

He did not, as was then the case elsewhere, limit his
lessons to antiquity, but extended them, by means of every
help at hand, to the Middle Ages and the present epoch.
German antiquity, which had but just been scientifically dug
out of the accumulated rubbish of years, was made familiar
to us to a certain degree by Florschuetz. At least we boys
already knew that there was a great epoch of German life
and culture, which may have been but too little prized by our
half French forefathers of past centuries. So that, from the
first, without being insensible to the charms of the German
Middle Ages, by observing moderation, we were prevented
from feeling the enthusiastic leaning which at that time
influenced so many celebrated and clever men. The remark-
able passion for going back to the childish prepossession for
a long forgotten age and the romantic distortion of the
century remained unknown to us, with all our vividly
awakened interest in the poetry of the ancient German
Christian era. This partiality was all the more obviated by
the working of our religious and dogmatic studies. As is
known, in Thuringian provinces rationalism was clung to
with all tenacity, and when Frederick Perthes departed for
Gotha, as is related in the description of his life, he felt
himself very lonely with his sharply defined historical -
Christian tendencies. It was but natural, for St Paul's
doctrine was kept here as in an impregnable fortress. People
took an interest in the often unspeakably prosaic and some-
times absurd explanations of the Biblical wonders, just as
others warmed more and more over the subject of mysticism.
It is a real piece of good fortune that in those passionate days

24 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTJIA

of religious disputes such earnest and excellent men were
forming our minds, like Bretschneider. He was like a friend
of the family. His extraordinary learning and rare activity,
his important scientific services, as well as his easy, com-
panionable ways, shielded both him and us from the reproach
of taking too light a view of religious things and the historical
puzzles of dogmatics ; but our Christianity lay in Bret-
schneider's hand, and his fellow-thinkers in a pleasant unan-
imity with the ideas of modern men and, one might almost
say, with a comfortable security concerning the union of

»/ ' «, O

reason and faith.

Although we looked upon it neither as our task nor as
particularly necessary to solve the many difficulties attendant
on these ticklish matters, yet we were able to look forward
cheerfully to our confirmation, being neither too alarmed by
the indiscoverable or already discovered, nor too much
hemmed in by the ideas of a bigoted church. Lessons in
religion itself had been given us brothers by a clergyman of
the name of Jakoby, formerly Gymnasium director in Rinteln,
and the Court preacher at Coburg, the pattern of a sensible
as well as intelligent teacher. He was possessed of good
knowledge in church history. The preparation which he
caused us to make for confirmation was encyclopaedic, so that
we were able at our examination to display a surprising
amount of familiarity with church questions.

If the official statement extols the fact that no single
question put by the examiner was so worded as to be
answered simply by the word Yes or No, we for our part can
be glad that no formula was thus forced upon us through the
strict and simple confession of faith in which we might have
felt wounded in the conscientiousness of our young minds.

As I was then very near my eighteenth birthday it is not
to be wondered at that I thought it necessary to begin to
consider what public confession I should make, for the time of
na'tce consent to what was desired of me was almost past.

My brother also took up the question in all its difficulty,
for what Florschuetz .says of him is quite true, that, ' he was
unusually earnest and full of reflection.' But when Martin in

CONFIRMATION OF THE PRINCES 25

his Biography of Prince Albert also speaks of his ' natural
piety,' it was probably on account of the English public, for
this description suited him certainly even less than it did me.

At length the question whether we intended to remain true
to the Evangelical Church had to be answered. My answer
has been made known through the official report.

'I and my brother,' said I, 'are determined to remain faith-
ful to the acknowledged truth.' One of my uncle's letters
addressed to me on the occasion of my confirmation has
always remained highly interesting to me on account of the
man and the occasion, and with it I shall close this chapter.
The reader will allow me to acquaint him with the reply of
the youthful candidate, as he must have the intention of
bestowing some interest in the following leaves on my person
as well as on the history of the times. My uncle wrote with
the peculiar, humorous, worldly wisdom which, as will be seen,
characterised all his correspondence, on the llth of August,
1835, from Ostend : —

' MY DEAR ERNEST, — It has not been possible for me to
answer your friendly letter sooner, but as the young gentlemen
did not write to me any too soon after their confirmation, I
shall not allow my conscience to prick me too much on the
subject.

'I heard with great sympathy and pleasure that the
important ceremony which closes your childhood was so well
gone through, and that you took part so well in a matter
wliich must greatly move the heart of every good young man.
Although I have seen so little of you during the past years, I
have a fatherly affection for you, and wish, as far as in me
lies to contribute in every way to your happiness.

' It is gratifying to me that you have had a home educa-
tion ; even if it is less practical in many things, it makes both
heart and mind kinder and more full of feeling, which I con-
sider a great blessing. You are now old enough to prepare
for the affairs of life in addition to your studios ; your future
field of labour is a fine one, and contains fewer thorns and
vexations than many others ; it is always wide enough for

26 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTUA

you to be able to sow a great deal of good seed. Life, which,
as you stand half inside half outside of its portals, may seem
uncommonly long to you, is nevertheless not so ; time flies by
quickly, and neglected work cannot always be made up for.

'The most beautiful aim in life is to do good, as much as
possible. The real spirit of Christianity demands that man
shall work every moment during life, and without ostentation
benevolently and humbly towards Gcd and mankind to in-
fluence the lives of others.

' He only is a real Christian who steadily and really
follows through life the teaching of his beautiful and gentle
religion.

' It is very hard to carry this out fully, by reason of the
many failings of human nature, but much can and must be
done. Let this, my son, be your aim. Before all things, be
strictly just to everyone, be he who he may ; the Christian
himself must be more, he must be indulgent, must reflect be-
fore he exclaim against others, and judge if they do not merit
indulgence. Two things are also extraordinarily important
in a public man, he must be strictly honest and truthful.

' By considering these points with intelligence, one will be
able to prevent much unhappiness and vexation, and assure
for one's self a very important possession, the esteem of others.
Education is universal in these days, and it is therefore an
easy task to distinguish one's self amongst other men of
intelligence and education ; just, true characters, which re-
main always the same, which can be depended upon, are very
seldom to be found on severe trial, so that the man who is
good, honest and true, assures to himself through these straits
a position whose security will give him a high place amongst
his fellow creatures, and at the same time more than all, the
peace of soul so necessary in the many storms of life, a peace
without which one cannot but feel miserable even when
the greatest success has been attained.

' Beware, as eldest son, of selfishness ; it is to the interest
of many to encourage this most unlovely of traits in a young-
Prince, and afterwards to exploit it as a fertile mine.

' The 1 easily becomes overmastering in a man, do not lose

CORRESPONDENCE WITH KING LEOPOLD 27

sight of this, and do not allow it to get the upper hand ; the
egotist serves no one with love, and prepares much trouble
for himself besides, for many things are continually happening
to wound the feelings, and the 7, when spoiled, is incredibly
sensitive.

'I will not administer too strong a dose of maxims at one
time, and I beg you to confide to me your views on what I have
written. I should like to know them, I hope to see you con-
tinue a thorough course of study ; at your age learning is
more usefully digested because better understood. The
languages should also be carefully kept up, for their own
sake, for they have the advantage of enlarging the point of
view.

'Write to me often, it will be useful to you, and affords me
the opportunity of giving you much good advice ; few men
have earned so painful and varied an experience as I ; and
I will gladly give you the benefit of it.

1 My letter is so long that it is time to say farewell to you.
Greet your Counsellor Florschuetz for me, and believe me, my
dear Ernest, ever your faithful Uncle and Friend,

' LEOPOLD R.'

' Rosenau, 6th September 1835.

' MOST GRACIOUS UNCLE, — Accept my most heartfelt thanks
for your letter, which was as instructive as it was friendly ;
and which caused me all the more pleasure, as it was the first
which I have received from you. You gave me therein such
useful and excellent advice, for life in general and for my own
particular calling, that my becoming a good and practical man
depends only on my following the same.

' What could be more salutary to me, most gracious uncle,
than to attend to your instruction, with the most heartfelt
earnestness, for no one has learned to know life in its
pleasantest and saddest aspects as you have.

' Be sure, dear uncle, that your words are a mighty incite-
ment to me to keep a-guard on my actions during life, and so
to shape them as to earn your esteem and increase the pleasure
of my parents.

2 8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

' I feel plainly, that, as you say, I have reached the turning-
point. My boyhood is past, and although golden chains still
hold me back, I do not forget for a single moment that the
earnest period of life is near at hand.

' The time of trial is before me, when I shall have to fur-
nish tangible proofs that the instruction and warnings which
were given me as a boy, have struck root, and to show whether
I have strength enough to follow them.

' My parents' great love, my governor's friendly advice,
and now the certainty in your dear letter that you take no
less an interest in our happiness, will make me even more
stable in this time of trial and give me strength as youth and
man always to preserve clearness of mind, and the love of
truth and justice.

' I think of the past only with the greatest pleasure. It
contains for the most part pleasant memories, and although
life was easier and joined to more pleasures, than that of
others of my age, yet I realise to what that is owing, and
know that we cannot excel by means of appearances alone,
but by inner worth, by the superior performances through
which we raise ourselves above the level of others.

'I am on this account very grateful to everyone who
reminds me of it, and thank you particularly, most gracious
uncle, for having shown me the way with such wise obser-
vations.

'That /, which, as you say, must not have its own way,
unfortunately asserts itself only too often in mankind, and,
to be quite honest with you, in me also. How many faults do
I not find in me, when I thoroughly consider your admoni-
tions, and how shall I not have to work in order to become
such as to win your whole love.

' How little I have learned, when I compare it with what
I still have to learn, and when I think how much is expected
of a Prince in these days ! But the more exacting the era
is the more firmly must a man stand, and you will certainly
not refuse me your wise counsel respecting my further
improvement.

' Oh ! how I should like it if rny brother and I could stay

PRINCE ERNESTS REPLY TO THE UNCLE 29

with you for a while, to learn in your school and strengthen
ourselves by your superior example. We would do every-
thing which lay in our power to please you, and you should
certainly not be dissatisfied with us.

' Yet I fear it may be wearisome to you, with your many
occupations, if I write to you at greater length. May I
venture to hope soon to have another letter from you ?

' You do not know how much pleasure you thus afford me.

' Again thanking you for your hearty letter, I recommend
myself to your further favour, and remain with the deepest
respect, — Your faithful nephew,

' ERNEST.'

CHAPTER II

FROM THE VIENNA CONGRESS TO 1848. DEVELOPMENT OP GERMANY

ARRESTED. THE HELLENIC QUESTION. CROWN OFFERED TO PRINCE

LEOPOLD. DECLINED. THE JULY REVOLUTION IN PARIS. THE

BELGIAN QUESTION.— THE COURT OF COBURG IN DISGRACE. —

GERMAN CONFEDERACY UNDERMINED. BANISHMENT OF THE DUKE

OF BRUNSWICK. — HISTORY OF THE GOTHA SUCCESSION. ATTITUDE

OF SAXE-MEININGEN.

SEPARATION OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS. LETTER FROM THE CZAR. —

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN METTERNICH AND THE DUKE. THE

PLANS OF TERRITORIAL DIVISION. SOLEMN ENTRY INTO GOTHA. —

STATE ECONOMICAL DIFFICULTIES. VISIT TO MECKLENBURG

SCHWERIN FOR THE JUBILEE. MEET CROWN PRINCE OF PRUSSIA. —

IMPRESSIONS. TO VIENNA AND TEPLITZ. BEGINNING OF RUSSIAN

ASCENDANCY IN GERMANY. DEATH OF WILLIAM IV OF ENGLAND

AND HANOVER. THE NEW KING'S MEASURES j POPULAR DIS-
APPROVAL. PORTUGAL AND SPAIN. ACCESSION OF DONNA MARIA.

MARRIED TO FERDINAND OF COBURG. HELLENIC AFFAIRS. —

OTTO OF BAVARIA CHOSEN KING. STRANGENESS BETWEEN FRANCE

AND ENGLAND.

GERMANY'S development was, so to speak, interrupted in the
first half of the century, and the wheel of time stuck fast in
its course, through the encroachment of mightier reactionary
powers of state. The creations of the Vienna Congress will
therefore be looked upon simply as hindrances to the national
spirit, and the German Confederacy and its conditions as a
preparation for immortalizing the calm and the political lazi-
ness of the burghers, and the exclusive dominion of a chosen
few over the widely-extending mass of the German nation.

On the other hand, the course of events, even in this appa-
rently quiet decade, strikes the man who culls and sets together
his recollections, chosen from amongst the copious particulars,
and the large number of exciting occurrences of daily life,

ARREST OF GERMAS DEVELOPMENT 31

and who, with the consciousness of mighty detail, to this day
feels the effects of the disturbance of times when everything
was in ferment, the efforts and striving of a restless national
war of minds.

Only in the most private notes of statesmen, in the docu-
mentary intercourse of prominent men, in diaries and fine
works of literature is shown the political excitement, which
was less loud, though perhaps of greater inner force than is
the case to-day.

It is true that that which is known as public opinion,
found little occasion, since the time of the Vienna Congress
up to the year which was often known in reactionary circles
as the ' mad year ' to show itself conveniently and fearlessly
on the surface of political life.

Anyone who wished to become intimately acquainted with
the ideas of that time, with the wants of the century, could
not let himself be deceived by its contingencies and many
falsehoods, nor the momentary political aspect; but in these
ideas, which were more reserved and kept under, more sought
for than self-asserting, lay a hidden charm which had the
power to harden both character and belief. The rising
generation enjoyed a political schooling which was more
intrinsic and aimed more at spontaneity.

The means of obtaining, and aids to, scientific learning being
far poorer, far less convenient and less advantageous, political
education in Germany was not to be so easily gained by the
pleasant reading of newspapers and stereographed parliamen-
tary speeches, nor from freely offered state documents and
rich diplomatic sources, such as now render it possible for the
lowest subject to gain a certain insight into state life.

To acquire knowledge of mankind, statesmen, princes and
monarchs, was, even in the highest positions, a task which
could not be completed without strong effort and the deepest
study. But the generation to whom the gain of widely-
embracing and political worldly experience was made more
difficult, often guarded the acquired possession, the conviction
gained, the mode of thought, even with greater care and
enthusiasm. The signs of the time were on the whole, if
not founded upon, yet to a certain degree more fitted for the

32 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

development of political character and its establishment on
a firmer footing.

Germany's universal condition was looked upon by out-
siders as very desperate, and was by preference and with
great satisfaction represented as being in this state. The
rising generation had a feeling of opposition against the men
of former times and their systems, and they gave way to it
with angry negation and sometimes violent action ; but there
was not a total want of positive elements and efforts in the
reigning circles of the European world, with which to work
a change in Europe's condition by means of progressive
development. My father's whole house took a well-known
prominent part in this great alteration and transformation of
European forms of state, so obstinately opposed by the ideas
of the century. The greatest and most important of the
questions which occupied the European Powers and the
public mind of the entire educated world at the end of the
twentieth year, was the Greek question, the restoration of
Hellenism in the states and ideas of Europe.

In the centre of this great movement stood a Prince of
Coburg. The interest of the diplomatic world was for a time
concentrated on this prince and his position with reference to
the newly-erected throne, as they reached to a personal
solution of the important matter. No one has known how to
tell of the older relations and family bonds of our House as a
whole, and the single members of the same, so well and so
characteristically as King Leopold.

Whether his own life is depicted in an entirely satisfactory
way is doubtful. Concerning his attitude in the Greek question
particularly, no universal criticism has been brought to light,
and the extraordinary wisdom in affairs of state and deep
foresight of the man who unwillingly renounced his ambition
for an inspiring idea which tilled his whole soul, has by no
means been recognised to a sufficient degree. If character and
clearness of will were ever shown in their full renunciation,
they were shown here. It is true that personal inclination
was not in this case entirely without influence on my uncle.
I can still perfectly remember my grandmother's angry com-

LEOPOLD AND THE HELLENIC THRONE 33

plaints and outbursts of grief, over the fact that her beloved
son Leopold was forced to look forward to an uncertain fate.
She tried as well as she could to warn him against it, and to
oppose it. I myself have copied many of her letters which
were intended to remain strictly secret, and which she tried
so to word as to shake my uncle's determination. But he
really felt the deepest interest in the Greek question ; and has
done so all his life. That the throne of the wavering de-
cendants of the ancient Hellenes, was denied the House of
Coburg, he considered up to the last years of his life as a piece
of ill-luck, which he felt himself bound to make up for.

Two opinions, so to speak, might be held of the Phil-
hellenists of those days in England and on the Continent,
opinions which could only be put into words, the one by
Byron, and the other -by Canning. Louis of Bavaria stands
before us as one of the princely friends of the Greeks in
Germany, in analogous relation to his youthful friend of
many years, Leopold of Coburg. They say that the latter's
sympathy for the Greeks also arose solely from personal
influence. His relations to the Greeks do not however extend
further back than the year 1825.

Meanwhile, how little question there was of a future Greek
throne remains undecided. But Prince Leopold never allowed
himself to be so completely mastered by his kindly and
intellectual interest in the freedom of the Greeks, as to
misunderstand the political conditions of the state which was
to be founded anew, as has been done both before and since.
The explanation with which, on the 21st of May, 1830, he
definitely withdrew as candidate for the Greek throne, was,
and still remains one of the most brilliant state documents of
modern times, by which the actually established relations
were justified in a rarely able manner.

One remark in this explanation deserves more attention
than has been accorded it in historiography. My uncle
positively denied having given the President reason to believe
that he was willing to adopt the Greek religion. Though his
candidature was supported mainly by the Czar of Russia and
the King of France, yet the Prince's views were too deeply

VOL. I. c

34 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

rooted in the English system of politics for him to accept the
part chosen by them of a ' diplomate of the allied Powers, to
keep Greece in subjection by force of arms.'

The momentary situation was spoiled for the Prince through
the reigning English Cabinet, which opposed the candidature
of a son-in-law of King George IV. As early as in December
1829, Lord Wellington expressed his views on the question of
the Greek throne in a letter to Lord Aberdeen, they being
that he considered the choice of the Greeks of great import-
ance indeed, but that he wished first of all to see English
interests vouched for by the new king. When Prince Leopold
was plainly declared not to be the candidate chosen by the
British Cabinet, it may be supposed that he would have been
even less ready to play the part of a tool in the interests of
any foreign state whatever.

His endeavours in November, 1829, to bring King Charles
X, and at the same time the English Government, by means of
personal influence, to decide more in the interests of the
Greek throne had, as is known, but little success ; the change
of candidates for the throne made by the Great Powers
showed how little decisive was the neuter point of view which
Prince Leopold so clearly brought forward in the already
mentioned declaration of May 21, 1830.

The latter severed the binding link of the negotiations
which were to bring about the transplantation of the House
of Coburg into the new kingdom of Greece. But two years
later the attention of the political world was again fastened
on our House, as a definite settlement in the condition of
things could no longer be neglected.

I will later on relate something concerning the remarkable
transactions which were carried on with my father himself
concerning the adoption of the Greek throne; and which
have hitherto remained entirely unknown to his biographers.
I will merely remark here how strangely it moved me when,
a quarter of a century later, the same question arose concern-
ing me, the nephew of the man who had with rare keenness
of insight refused the throne because he recognised that the
state, which had yet to be formed, would be too small and weak.

FRENCH REVOLUTION OF JULY 35

A few months later the interest of the entire world was
suddenly, one might almost say for ever, turned aside from
the little Greek nation.

The July revolution and its effect on the whole of Europe
caused all further-lying political interest to disappear as
through a stage trap -door. People had a feeling of having
assisted with lively sympathy, loud applause and classical
delight at a mighty representation of deliverance given far
away in Turkey, and then suddenly returning home to find
so many things badly looked after and in the deepest disorder.
They thought of themselves, of their neighbours, their
country, the condition of their own state, of the untenable-
ness and perishableness of old and the uncertainty of new
things.

News of the occurrences in Paris reached the German
capitals slowly and uncertainly enough, yet always too soon
to find the reigning powers in even a tolerable state of
readiness. From the course of events in Paris, one need
hardly have been astonished at the fall of the legitimate
king, once the shock of the people's bloody victory during
the three days' fighting was over ; still everyone lived in a
state of continual excitement. The king's abdication, the
installation of the Regency, the flight of Charles X, Louis
Philippe's kingship, each separate crisis of events had en-
gendered its particular retroaction and singular anxiety.
Were we drifting into another war with revolutionary
France, or should the old powers recognise the new state of
things ?

People hardly had time to think over these questions
before the revolutionary brand had been thrown across the
frontiers of France.

The Belgian provinces rebelled in September ; on the 4th
of October followed the declaration of independence of the
provisory Brussels government ; November brought the
Polish Revolution as a frightful sequel to the Parisian July
days. Such shocks had not been remembered by our fathers
since the end of the last century, whereas the sons had bright
hopes of an entirely new age.

36 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Was not the youthful world right in letting these events
convince it, that they had a great future before it, and that
its fathers had omitted to do much which ought to have
been done ?

The Belgian question next unfolded itself in a decisive
way for the House of Coburg. on the 12th of January, 1831,
M. Paul Devaux brought forward in the National Congress in
Brussels the candidature of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, in
opposition to that of the Due de Nemours, of the Duke of
Leuchtenberg and the still boyish Prince Otto of Bavaria :
' I know,' said he, ' how great is the prepossession in this
assembly against an English Prince, but you forget that the
Prince of Saxe-Coburg, by accepting the Belgian crown.annexes
himself to France, and will therefore be more French than
English.'

Devaux spoke in an equally clever and decisive way of
the Prince's evangelical confession of faith, which could be
no hindrance to his election, as the future constitution of the
kingdom must remain in the power of the majority.

' As the majority here is Catholic,' said he, 'it will perhaps
be desirable that the Head of the executive Power is not also
a Catholic.'

On the 3rd of June 1831, Prince Leopold of Coburg was
chosen king, by 152 out of 196 votes, on condition he accepted
the constitution.

After my uncle had made his state entrance into Brussels
on the 21st of July, he took the oath of the constitution
and then made a tour through the country, when on the 1st of
August, at Liittich, the news arrived that the Dutch intended
to open hostilities on the 4th.

Then followed the negotiations with the guaranteeing
Powers concerning the French intervention, which King
Leopold demanded without delay or hypocritical lingering,
for he well knew that the more bindingly the western Powers
were engaged to carry out the London Protocol, the more
secure his throne would be.

The short war with the Dutch could only serve to settle
the new state more firmly on its basis. The loyal way in

VISIT TO BELGIUM IN 1832 37

which he kept all constitutional promises, even those for
which the king had no special liking, soon aroused almost
universal enthusiasm for his person, and only a short space
of time was necessary to establish Belgium as the constitu-
tional pattern state of the Continent. Henceforth, the new
king was looked upon as a living example of the union of
monarchy with the political freedom of the people, and in the
bond between the Houses of Coburg and Orleans, the world
contemplated the most certain foundation for the final victory
of liberal principles in Europe.

My father desired his sons to receive a fixed impression of
the country whose fate had just been so intimately linked
with that of our throne. He therefore allowed my brother
and myself to accompany him on a journey which he made to
Belgium to see my uncle at the end of July, 1832. It forms
one of my first recollections of a personal share in the great
political events of that time.

In Brussels, where every public square and every street
told of the mighty struggle which had taken place two years
before, I first conceived an idea of what the modern European
world with its startling events is striving to gain. We
accompanied our father and uncle to see the first review held
by the King of a newly organised portion of the Belgian army,
near Alost, and obtained permission to visit the Belgium out-
posts near Antwerp, where the citadel was still in the hands
of the Dutch under General Chasse'. As my uncle and my
father had so very little opposition to the revolutionary gait
of things in Belgium, it was only natural that I and my
brother developed no excessive conservative views. In the
Princely Houses, on the other hand, and particularly at the
German Court, a certain hatred had arisen in consequence of
this very reaction against the state regulations of other
countries. They could not and would not understand how a
German Prince belonging to one of the oldest families, could
allow himself to be chosen King on pretext of an open re-
volution. This was carried so far that in many circles the
name of our House was for a time uttered only with a
certain aversion.

38 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

It was so much talked about that in a large club, Prince
Edward of Altenburg was much applauded by the older men
for having remarked that it was a great pity that the Coburg
Court could no longer be visited, because one would always
expect to hear the word Belgium spoken there. I must
mention this particularly, as this attempt, made for thirty
years, to exclude our House, deeply influenced me and my
brother's whole development. We were often put aside, and.
as it were, forced into a pqsition opposed to the popular views
of our circles in Germany.

Can anyone think that the powerful victory of modern
ideas of State, left no trace behind them on the German
nation ?

The German Confederacy had been undermined since the
year 1819. There was no way of leading the Germany,
created by the Vienna Congress, into a quiet and healthy line
of development. The deep corruption must not be sought
only in the unwieldy, severe and aimless use of means of pre-
vention against all opposing measures as done by the govern-
ment of police. The greatest injury to national development
lay much more in the secret political wars, in which the
members of the Confederacy were set against one another by
the Carlsbad resolutions !

A design to strengthen the smaller Powers by the help of
the greater, as it appeared during the conference of Ministers
at Carlsbad and Vienna, must have called forth an opposition
through which the most important national fundamental
principles would have to be sacrificed. An interminable
gradation of power amongst the members of the Confederacy,
without the real state membership, and healthy friction of
the natural difference in the various classes and divisions of
the nation, undermined confidence in every familiar govern-
ment measure, and, in fact, severed every bond of feeling in
the Confederacy.

In reigning circles the feeling for Germany was null ; the
consideration for the Confederacy, shown by the single states
was regarded only as a sad necessity. Amongst governments
of such unequal strength, the experiences of twenty years

GUIZOTS VIEWS ON POLITICAL LIBERTY 39
disturbed all thought of state bonds to the same degree in

O O

which they began to grow in the nation. Whilst the separa-
tion between the reigning heads and those over whom they
reigned was growing ever wider, the desire to bring about a
complete downfall was gradually gaining the upper hand.
Public opinion was everywhere more republican than national.

The July revolution found Germany in this condition.

The movements which followed were next to the form of
state and the constitutional questions regarded by the middle
and smaller states as that which was known as liberalism, in
imitation of the French struggles. The ancient mode was
looked upon by conservative statesmen for the most part as
untenable by virtue of the financial condition of the states, as
for that reason success had hardly anywhere been obtained in
putting straight the pecuniary affairs disturbed by years of
war. The upper classes were obstinate about giving their
consent to extra taxes and least of all inclined towards com-
plying with the quickly increasing wants of the modern state
particularly, as well as those of the army/

People therefore expected from the introduction of as like
constitutions as possible, for instance, the French in its cor-
rected form of 1830, or that which had just been adopted in
Belgium, — the healing of all the morbid diseases of the nation.
The important experience to which Guizot once gives expres-
sion, that political liberty is by no means inherent in an
exclusive form of Government, was then only too greatly
misapprehended in Germany, and it was believed that an
only too sporadic political freedom might be conjured up in
the smaller and middle states by bringing as quickly as pos-
sible, the form of Government into force, which was regarded
in the exclusive sense of the word as the only constitutional one.

At the present day one can hardly imagine what an
obstinate and stiff notion the fourth and fifth decade had of
political freedom, and in half a lifetime more it will perhaps
not be understood at all. Guizot's bent was looked upon in
France as doctrinaire, but the constitutional doctrines of
Germany accepted the peculiarities of a dogmatic form of
wisdom.

40 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Meanwhile, powerful upheavals had taken place in Southern
and Western Germany. As early as the year 1830, noticeable
tumults had broken out in the Prussian Rhine provinces.
The movement in Cassel began on the 6th of September and
was not stopped by the acceptance of the new constitution by
the Grand-Duke on the 5th of January 1831. The September
seditions in Leipzig and Dresden were followed by disturb-
ances in almost all the large towns, and particularly 'in the
manufacturing ones of Saxony. Prince Frederick's nomina-
tion as co-regent and the appeal of the orders which were
occupied with the working out of a new constitution, were of
little use in reducing things to order. The deliberations and
debates over the new constitutions had partly revealed a
character of unfruitfulness, which gave continual rise to new
and more excessive demands and disturbances. In Hanover,
where the reign of King William IV opposed no difficulties
to a constitutional revision, the new state's fundamental law
was first published on the 26th of September 1833.

The monarchical principle in Germany received its worst
blow through the banishment of the Duke of Brunswick,
whose attempts to regain possession of his power by main
force threw Gotha for some time into a state of disquiet. I
can still clearly remember the excitement when Prince Charles
was making his preparations here, and improvising has
attempted coup de main.

A certain degree of uncertainty was felt in reigning circles
as to what it would be best to do in the case.

When the Confederacy expressed itself against the Duke,
and Metternich negatived Bellinghausen's question whether
the exiled Duke would receive help from the Confederacy, it
seemed as if everything had all at once been changed.

The German Great Powers and many smaller states had no
clear perception of the fact that a forced compliance, un-
attended by a real change of system, must become more
hurtful and dangerous than the inflexibility which the Czar
Nicholas manifested towards the Poles.

Now, when I cast a special glance over the Thuringian
Dukedoms, it is to be first remembered that a far-reaching

HISTORY OF THE GOTHA SUCCESSION 41

change in the state of possession had taken place here but a
few years before. It was therefore somewhat to be feared
that the revolutionary movements in the west might also
react on these small states. But it may be said that my
father, in Coburg, as well as in the newly acquired Gotha,
understood so well, through his great forbearance with and
keen foresight into new wants, how to arrange matters, that,
in the midst of the greatest commotion, everything remained
quiet and tranquil.

The time has now come to give a somewhat more exact
account of the history of the Gotha succession, which fell to
my father after manifold and, to some extent, very interesting
negotiations.

It was, so to speak, the first matter of state which happened
during my life, and which, through its immediate effect made
a deep impression on me. But there were special moments in
these small quarrels over the Gotha succession, which must
have been of some worth as regarded the relation between
the State and Confederacy, as well as the personal and
dynastic condition of things.

At the death of my grandfather Duke Augustus of Saxe-
Gotha and Altenburg on the 17th of May 1822, the only
living representative of his house, besides my mother, was
Duke Frederick IV, who became a Catholic in 1807. It is
certainly characteristic of the deeply-rooted dynastic tenacity
which filled the particular states of even the single branches
of a House, that in Gotha, at the death of Duke Augustus, no
livelier wish was formed than that Duke Frederick, whose
faculties were notoriously weak, should marry, because they
did not want to come under a ' strange Government.'

My grandfather had meantime, as early as the year 1821,
made preparations in case his branch should die out, and pro-
posed through Privy Counsellor von Lindenau to a conference
of the Suxon Houses at Arnstadt in October, certain measures
as the basis of a future negotiation concerning the succession.
1. Saxe-Meiningen was to abandon the expected
gradual-heirship, and on the other hand Saxe-Coburg
and Saxe-Hildburghausen would not demand the fulfil-

42 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

ment of the portion to be expected by them from the
inheritance of Ernest the Pious.

2. The strict segregation of the allodiums of the fief
would be entirely abandoned, whereas Saxe-Meiningen and
Saxe-Hildburghausen would pay the Duchess of Saxe-
Coburg a fixed sum of money as allodial heiress-pre-
sumptive.

3. Three Dukedoms w7ere to be formed out of the
assembled possessions of the entire ducal Houses.

(a) For Saxe-Meiningen from the present Meiningen
lowlands and the Dukedom of Gotha.

(?>) For Saxe-Coburg from the Meiningen high-
lands, the Dukedom of Hildburghausen and the present
possessions of Saxe-Coburg.

(c) For Saxe-Hildburghausen from the Dukedom of
Altenburg.

Although these propositions made by Duke August were
only generally accepted ad 'referendum, still it was at least
agreed that in the case of Duke Augustus' unexpected death,
the Government, in case Frederick IV's ability to succeed
became doubtful, would be carried out in Gotha-Altenburg,
in the name of the three related Saxon Courts, until the
matter of succession was decided.

Meanwhile Freiherr von Konitz. came forward immediately
after the Arnstadt meeting of the Meiningen Ministers, with
a written explanation that the lineal-gradual succession in
the Ducal House of Saxonv still held, and that the Meinino-en

*J O

line would therefore have the next rio'ht to succeed. But

O

this was on no account to occur, in case of dissatisfaction on
the part of the other Houses concerned, particularly through
a supplement to the inheritance of the house of Ernest
perhaps expected by them.

Whilst Meiningen was taking this standpoint more and
more decisively, and interceding for the lineal-gradual succes-
sion by means of various historically correct transactions,
both of the other Saxon Houses appealed to the Roemhilder
agreement of 1791, which established the strict inheritance of
heirs of the line, and on the strength of this, tried particularly

DUKE BERN HARD ERICH'S CLAIMS 43

to place my father in opposition to Duke Bernhard Erich
Freund. At my father's suggestion it was first decided,
several months later in Meiningen, to entrust the affair of
intervention between the related Courts to the Privy Coun-
sellor von Lindenau of Gotha.

As Duke Bernhard Erich agreed to take possession of the
territory in the name of all three Courts should Duke Frederick
die, the proposed future division of the land was so completely
negatived that in the beginning of the year 1824, the feeling
between the Courts was highly hostile. On the 16th of
January 1 824, Duke Bernhard Erich wrote as follows to my
father : —

' To your .... esteemed letter of the 5th of this month I
have, after ripe reflection, the following humble reply to
make : —

'I am fully convinced that I do not desire anything to
which I have no right. But I cannot conceal from your, etc.,
that my confidence in my rights has been much strengthened
of late. Regard for the interest of my House and the territory
of Gotha and Altenburg does not allow me to return to the
offers of July in the last year, nor to your, etc., negotiations ; I
therefore invite your, etc., again openly expressing my humble
views, to examine our several rights in the coinpromisory
manner agreed upon, with the help of the Ducal Lord Agnates,
named in the communication of the Lord Privy Councillor,
and to have them rightly recognised.

' Nothing which may occur between us in consequence of
this matter, can lessen the great respect and friendly and
cousinly, etc.'

As the divisional transactions appeared in the main to be
completely shipwrecked, my father no longer neglected making
sure of the allodial inheritance of the Gotha-Altenburg land
for his consort and sons. Already, on the 12th of May 1823,
the Duchess Louise, my mother, as daughter to Duke August
and sole heiress of the Gotha line, gave full powers to
Counsellor of the Regency, Lotz, in accordance with the condi-

44 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

tions of the established rules of the assembled lines of the
Ducal House of Saxe-Gotha, on the 28th of July 1791, at
Roemhild, to examine and settle the above-mentioned allodium,
that it might be delivered up in case of the decease of
Frederick IV.

This settlement of the matter, which might be considered
as an allodial inheritance, could not self-evidently be very
well refused by the government of Gotha, and the more
thoroughly and trustworthily this work was completed, the
greater was the impression produced by the results themselves
on the Duke Bernhard Erich.

He might indeed have raised objections against the claims
to a number of possessions as allodial inheritances, but this
could only entangle the matter in a still greater degree.

In consequence of my parents' separation, the rights of
possession over the allodium of Gotha naturally descended to
me and my brother Albert, on the 2nd of September 1824.

When Duke Frederick IV died on the llth of February
1825, Counsellor of the Regency, Lotz, had by particular
command taken possession in my name and my brother's, of
all offices and lands which appeared to belong to the allodial
inheritance. This caused no inconsiderable excitement in
Meiningen as well as in Hildburghausen. As both Courts
protested against the allodial nature of the claimed property
on the 25th of February and the llth of March, my father
expressed himself on the 25th of April as ready to accept
any reasonable accommodation on condition that his rights
should not be too roughly handled. But the principal thing
was that the case of the extinction of the line of Gotha had
really occurred, and that even the basis of an understanding
such as my grandfather had tried to establish in the year
1822 had been completely destroyed.

What was one to do, where could we find a solution
according to state rights of the Thuringian inheritance
question ?

It is of interest that the arbitration gained the full con-
sent of all statesmen, as well those of the smaller states as those
of Austria and Prussia, on one point only. They were all

THE THURINGIAN INHERITANCE 45

decided on preferring every tribunal to that of the German
Confederacy. If the absolute emptiness, according to law, of
the regulations of the Confederacy was ever shown, it was
shown in the affair of the Thuringian inheritance.

If it had been in any way possible, the Thuringian Courts
would have preferred to raise the matter to an international
question. Duke Frederick's death and the state of things at
that moment were known to every Court, and from both
German and foreign Governments came expressions of sym-
pathy and the heart-felt wish that the matter might be
reduced to arbitration amongst the Saxon Houses alone.
Here and there only was a notion that ' the co-operation of
the assembled Confederacy might be necessary ' — thought of
as possible.

The King of Wiirtemberg declared that in this case, he
would be influenced in the view he took of this case, only by
what was right, as was his custom.

Frederick William II, on the contrary, limited himself to
assuring the Saxon Houses of his honest sympathy in this
painful affair. King Max Joseph of Bavaria alone spoke at
some length of the whole case, and was the first to suggest an
idea which was afterwards to lead to the untying of the knot.
' This situation fills me with an honest desire to see such
pitiable misunderstandings cleared away as soon as possible
by an amicable agreement. As a just decision is connected
through arbitration, partly with a process of mediation as
fruitless as it is far-fetched, partly as tiresome in itself, it
would, in my estimation, be more advantageous for both sides,
if, failing to come to an agreement concerning this purely
family matter, they would submit to some compromise, the
rules of which might perhaps be requested of His Royal
Majesty of Saxony, as the Head of the whole House, or the
Grand Duke of Weimar, as the Head of the Ernestine line.'

The whole question of succession assumed, through the
introduction of foreign Powers, an aspect all the more grave,
that, with few exceptions, everyone was convinced that in
Germany's new rule of Alliance, Germany by no means
possessed inward strength enough to make a just decision.

46 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF XAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

The Emperor Alexander was also tempted to raise himself
up in private German affairs, and it may further be said that
it was a great piece of good luck that the matter occurred
before the Emperor Nicholas ascended the throne, for he
would have taken advantage of such an opportunity to make
Germany feel the supremacy which he would fain have had
over her.

The Emperor Alexander, on the contrary, showed himself
unwilling to accede to the request for intervention, made to
him in the hurry of affairs. On the 14th of March, 1825, he
wrote with acknowledged unselfishness : —

' I hear with real pain from Your Most Serene Highness's
letter of the 19th February that divers opinions have arisen
amono\st the different branches of the House of Saxe-Gotha,

t> *

owing to the extinction of the line of Gotha-Altenburg.
The questions which have been brought forward by this
unfortunate event too nearly touch the quiet and well-being
of an interesting portion of Germany for me not to feel a
sincere wish to see them settled as soon as possible, according
to principles of strict justice and political reasoning.

' But, faithful to the line of conduct which I have invari-
ably set down for myself, with regard to the affairs of Germany,
I could not take part in any intervention like that which at
this moment fills their Ducal Highnesses of Saxony with
solicitude. Doubtless Your Most Serene Highness will not
fail to appreciate the motives which lead me to act in this
way. I beg you to accept the assurance of my distinguished
consideration. ALEXANDER.

'St Petersburg, the 1-ith March, 1825.'

Austria's attitude, which must doubtless have made a
steady impression upon Duke Bernhard Erich also, was all
the more important under these circumstances.

The state of affairs in the Thuringian Dukedom was too
well known to Prince Metternich for him to have been able
to decide the lineal-gradual succession represented by Mein-
ino;en.

47

A very good understanding had already existed between
Metternich and my father, born of the campaigns of 1813 and
1814, as well as the time of Congress. In his journeys to
Johannisberg, Metternich seldom failed to make an excursion
to Coburg, of which he was very fond. My father had thus
learned the most important events of the Congress of 1820-
22 from Metternich, and therefrom sprung a lively and most
friendly interchange of letters between the two men, of which
I shall however make no use, as they date farther back than
ray remembrance ; I may, however, be allowed to fully repro-
duce Metternich's energetic letter of the 27th February 1 825,
on the Gotha succession affair, as it was not without import-
ance on account of its juridical contents, and at the same
time showed in what moral and political preponderance the
Austrian Chancellor stood with regard to German matters.

' MOST SERENE DUCAL HIGHNESS, — The information so
kindly conveyed to me by your Serene Highness, through the
honoured letter of the 14th inst., concerning the sudden
decease of your Serene Highness's Lord Uncle his late
reigning Serene Highness, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, I allow

n o c*

myself the honour hereby to express my most hearty con-
dolence, as well as my honest desire that kind Providence
may be inclined to compensate for this sad occurrence by
pleasant and cheering events for your Serene Highness's self
and your Serene Highness's House.

' As your Serene Highness was at the same time pleased to
generally express yourself on this occasion concerning the
succession to the land of the now extinguished House of Saxe-
Gotha and Altenburg, and to acquaint me particularly with
the steps already taken in this affair by your Serene Highness
and the two Agnatic Houses of Saxe-Hildburghausen and
Meiningen, I look upon it as a pleasant duty, in return for the
valuable confidence reposed in me by your Serene Highness,
to lay bare to you, through a confidential communication, the
views which his Majesty the Emperor, my Most Gracious Lord,
has, after ripe judgment and consideration, taken of this
affair.

4 8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

' His Majesty, the Emperor, is considering the claims of the
three courts to the Gotha succession, in every way befitting
the existing state of things, under the commonly published
patent of the llth of this month, as this document and its
firmly established provisions sufficiently warrant not only
the continuance of peace and order, and a settled condi-
tion of things in the interior of the suddenly orphaned land
but at the same time vouched for an agreeable proof of the
careful consideration of those beneficent rules which, according
to its spirit, form the basis of the confederate German states.

' It is with real regret that His Majesty the Emperor owns
his ability to see but one substantial anomalous rule of
measure in the entirely correct line of conduct marked out by
His Serene Highness the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, in his
recently issued proclamation, which was followed on the 13th
inst. by the partly extorted declarations of your Serene
Highness and that of my Lord Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen,
and through which the matter has assumed a contentious
character which should only be permissible in case it helped
towards the settlement of the existing controversy in the form
of a resort legitimately referred to, and then only in case of
the unexpected non-success of the heartfelt wishes and atten-
dant efforts of the Imperial Court to unite the three Princes
concerned in a definite regulation and equalisation of this
family matter.

' Concerning the grounds on which His Majesty the Emperor
thinks it necessary to regard the latter as such only, and the
manner in which it is therefore to be handled, in order to
bring about a settlement, I allow myself with all possible
curtness to give Your Serene Highness the following informa-
tion : — As the indivisibility of a hitherto independent territory
belonging to the German Confederacy is by no means required
and decided by any clause in the act of Confederacy and
settlement, — particularly when it is a question, as here, of
the revival of the rights of succession of several parties — and
as, consequently, the matter of succession in question is, as
regards its settlement, in no way hindered from outside by
any principle disturbing to the development and consideration

VIEWS OF THE AUSTRIAN COURT 49

of the sources and stopping point which present themselves, it
will therefore come to pass that the present family compact
of the Saxe-Gotha line and their stipulations will receive a
proper application.

' Now, the task of bringing this about should first of all
be the object of negotiations, begun without delay by the
three Courts interested, the success of which, notwithstanding
the preliminaries which have already pointed to the contrary,
may still be hoped for as, in such cases of modality, there are
so many according to whom the single demands can be reci-
procally equalised, but particularly when the latter adhere to
the essential point of view, that an amicable alliance between
near relations and members of one and the same ancient and
venerable race would, in the eyes of the world, furnish a
pleasing and honourable proof of the moderation of German
Princes, and, in the real interest of those concerned, will
therefore avoid all those accidents which invariably occur,
and often contrary to all probability, when the influence of
justice is brought to bear on a matter, a negotiation thus
fitted for the free expression of the will of the different parties
will also show itself to be necessary and useful, if all attempts
to bring about an amicable equalisation between the three
Courts remain fruitless, for it would then be necessary to
investigate the matter, and bring about an understanding at
least, by which means the much talked of question of succes-
sion would be settled, and a decision arrived at, as to what
judicial influence should be brought to bear according to the
measures named in Art. 24, of the Settlements Act.

4 If, however, such an alliance is not to be arrived at, the
principal question in dispute would have to be brought before
the Confederate Assembly and left to them, and the proceed-
ings observed which the Confederate and Settlements Act have
indicated for quarrels between members of the Confederacy.

' That, in any case, the proviso made by a free alliance of
the three Courts must be strictly kept up, as regards the
temporal stewardship of the object to be inherited, the con-
formability of which I have already had the honour of showing,
and that the proclamation issued in common by the three

VOL I. D

50 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Courts on the llth of February in the present year has
furnished a basis for their provisory possession, to which the
decisions of Arts. 19 and 20 of the Settlements Act must be
applied, His Majesty the Emperor is so convinced, that be
himself by virtue of the duties which you have undertaken to
fulfil towards the Confederacy, would take an interest in
providing the necessary opening for these principles.

' Whilst flattering myself that Your Serene Highness may
find in this explanation of the views of my most high Court
a clue to the correct path, I have the honour to be, with
the greatest reverence, — Your Serene Highness's obedient
Servant,

' METTERNICH.

' Vienna, Feb 27, 1825.'

After this letter it was impossible to believe that nearty
two years would pass before this affair had been brought to
a close.

At length my father united with the Duke of Hildburg-
hausen, in asking for the intervention of the King of Saxony.
The Hildburghausen Privy Councillor von Braun travelled to
Dresden, to win the King over to act as intervener. In a
very amiable letter to the kindred Courts, Frederick Augustus
declared his readiness, and after a careful choice of the fitting
persons the negotiations proper began in the spring of 1826.

Privy Councillor von Braun, for Coburg and Hildburg-
hausen, was instructed from the beginning that only such
mterveners could be accepted as were decidedly against the
lineal gradual-succession principle. In this way the affair
had fallen to Privy Councillor of Justice Schaarschmidt and
General von Minckwitz.

When these latter made their first visit to the Court of
Meiningen in May 1826, things still appeared in a bad light
to them. Three of the proposed plans for the division of the
land of Gotha-Altenburg were altogether rejected, and when
the Grand-Duke of Weimar came to Meiningen, Freiherr von
Kautz informed my father that they had made up their minds
there to lay the whole matter before the Confederacy. How-

THURINGIAN RIGHTS OF POSSESSION 51

ever, in July, Duke Bernhard Erich, travelling to Teplitz had
met King Frederick William III, and tried, it seems, to win
Prussia over to getting the Confederacy to look after the
matter. But, as could hardly be doubted, he made a great
mistake in expecting Prussia to take any side in a German
affair after the outspoken opinion of the Austrian Cabinet.

After Duke Bernhard Erich's return from Teplitz, he
showed himself less opposed to the plans of division, and the
conferences held in the beginning of August 1826, at Lieben-
stein, by Councillors Minckwitz, Schaarschmidt, Braun, Car-
lowitz, Konitz, Wiistemann, Lotz and Fischer, at length ren-
dered possible the forming of a preliminary agreement, which
fully contains every principal trait on which rests the present
rights of possession of the three Thuringian Dukedoms.

Whilst on the 17th of July 1826, the plans of division still
rested on the principle of the surrender of Gotha to Meiningen,
Altenburg to Hildburghausen and the extension of Coburg,
in the sense of the territory being rounded off through Hild-
burghausen as far as Saalfeld, a basis of union was suddenly
erected, through which the Dukedom of Coburg as such would
certainly gain the least.

Its power of endurance was placed in question by its
cessions and isolation. My father was indeed Duke of Gotha,
and if it had lain more in the German character to give up
the more weighty particularistic tendencies sooner and more
quickly than was the case, the extension of territory for the
new family possession might have made up for the loss of a
number of Coburg offices ; but as things were, the common
administration of Coburg and Gotha did not seem far off.
The tangled matter looked as if it would last until my
accession, even outlive the great storms of the year 1848, and
give rise to endless labour, discord and waste of time.

Although under these circumstances the decision of the
question of succession was allied to many inconveniences for
my father, and the satisfaction in Coburg itself was not very
great, yet he may be said to have been the man who conquered
the little territory's opposition ; he therefore did not hesitate
a moment before ratifying the Liebenstein preliminaries. In

52 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

his own way he was already completely filled with the thought
of taking possession of Gotha, and receiving the homage of
his new subjects with all ceremony. I still well remember
the two cold November days on which we journeyed from
Coburg to Gotha, my father in front with the Prince of
Leiningen, and my brother, myself and Florschuetz in the
second carriage. The entire household was also on the move,
some preceding, others following us.

We assembled together on the 25th of November, at
Siebleben, to form the grand procession which was to enter
the new capital.

My father was on horseback, my brother and I drove in
an open carriage, drawn by six horses, with the Chamberlain
Erffa and Counsellor Florschuetz, whilst a second empty six-
horse conveyance followed behind, and the gentlemen of the
bed-chamber and courtiers followed in the third and fourth
only. Mounted gendarmes preceded the procession, together
with all the Post-Office officials and postillions, the young men
in office, the volunteers, and the ducal huntsmen. Soldiers
and mounted Gendarmes closed the procession, which moved
solemnly through the gates of the town towards the castle.
It will be easy to imagine the entertainment and festivities,
which lasted a whole week in Gotha, and concerning which
the foreign newspapers published manifold bits of news.
There is a characteristic remark of Perthes', whose words must
nowhere fail to be repeated, when my poor father and his
entrance into power are in question.

' My monarchical principles,' wrote Frederick Perthes in
the year 1826, have gained new followers, for everything
suddenly devolves to the new Prince ; he is indeed, like King
Saul, a head taller than everybody else, is full of princely
worth, very well-informed and consequently very popular ;
he knows everything and takes an interest in everything;
everyone is enchanted, and the Napoleonic reasoners, the
men of Wartburg and the Republicans of the Greek and
Romish authors have acquired a ducally-inclined heart over-
night.'

My father produced the same effect in the year 1830, when

THE ANCIENT GERMAN ORDER 53

as Perthes said, ' everything round showed Gotha cracked and
rumbled.'

The Duke at once took the initiative, so as to remedy real
injuries and took in hand the necessary changes in state
affairs. Thus he could point out how, in 1821, he gave a
constitutional government to the Dukedom of Coburg-Saal-
feld of his own accord.

The complaints of the Coburgers were not of an intrinsi-
cally political nature ; their griefs sprung from local causes,
which allowed of momentary help with regard to forestry and
venery, but which, if further looked into, were connected
with questions of right of demesne, which were first regulated
and fully carried out much later by me. At any rate, the
movement of the year 1830 passed over the Dukedoms without
any inner disturbance, and both at home and abroad the
Duke increased greatly in popular consideration.

He at least furnished proof that through good and well-
regulated administration, a great deal could be done in
countries where the population recognise good-will in these
matters on the part of the Government, and in this way the
most dangerous weapons were wrested from the passionately
followed political doctrines and experiments.

In the year 1833 my father associated himself, after long
negotiations, which had been going on since the Gotha succes-
sion question, with the Dukes of Meiningen and Altenburg,
with a view to reviving the ancient order of German probity.
Its new foundation was based upon the common rights of all
three founders. The Dukes assembled in Gotha on the 2oth
of December, where the new statutes of the Order were
ratified by a solemn act. On the other hand, the possession
of Lichtenberg on the Rhine proved itself to be a heavy
burden in these disturbed years. My father had continued
the negotiations concerning the definite cession of the terri-
tory to Prussia in most earnest and honest manner. But it
will yet be shown how many difficulties he found and how
little he was met half-way in this matter in Berlin.

A lasting settlement of the economical relations of the
small states could, of course, be made only after the proposed

54 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

endeavours of the years 1815 and 1820, to unite in the
departments of commerce and industry had become an actual
fact.

The German Confederacy could do nothing in this matter
at their Assembly.

The reorganisation of German political economy was
accomplished by toll-unions, apart from the States' institutions,
on which the Confederacy was based, and the necessities of
material intercourse brought the small States into new relations
with Prussia.

It must not be supposed that the political bearing of the
development of the toll-union apart from the Confederacy,
and with the exemption of Austria, was not appreciated, or
that the dangers to the States' union arising from it were
underrated. But the desire for a total change in the econo-
mical relations made it so exceedingly important, that no
political consideration could have prevailed against it. Even
the Austrian States' Chancellor, who with just eye immediately
recognised in the toll-unions the beginning of the end of the
German Confederacy, as is seen in his published Memoirs, was
entirely incapable of doing anything against this pressure of
material unavoidabilities.

My father was by no means inclined to adopt the Prussian
toll politics, but he might expect that the union of single
territories would be of some use.

The Prussian bureaurocracy, however, treated these
matters solely from the point of view of the lion's share.
Therefore, it was natural that misunderstandings arose, which
I am unable to describe, but concerning which I must not be
silent, as they have hitherto found but partial judgment,
It was characteristic of the might of Prussian politics in those
days, that they did not even want to ask for a road to be
made through the forest, without which the Prussian toll-
union must become the total ruin of the small Thuringian
industries.

Prussia had meanwhile begun to domineer over both
intellectual and material interests. As she did not like to
rival Austria and the Confederacy politically, and was far

SECRET SOCIETIES IN GERMANY 55

from making concessions to Liberalism itself, she saw with
pleasure how the Diet exhausted and wore itself out in police
regulations against the invading party — undertakings of a
national and republican tendency.

The history of the secret societies of Germany, in 1830-
1848 has not yet been written, and is certainly to be formed
of material which has the worst historical source. The police
reports of the revolutionary societies and assemblies which
are to be found in sufficient abundance, cannot be entirely
believed, and the partly examined papers of the central
commission of inquiry newly appointed on the 20th of June,
1833, have been of but little use.

The secrecy with which trials were carried on, throughout
the greater part of Germany, and the fact that in the public
courts the accused were generally acquitted, gave birth to a
suspicious spirit, to banish which the Government showed
themselves absolutely unable. Secrectly distributed books
and pamphlets, full of the maddest radicalism, were placed in
masses in the hands of the people and the young men at the
Universities. The decisions of the German Confederacy
began therefore to be turned by preference against the Press
from the year 1832.

Through the ever deepening effort to stop the baleful
influence of these writings by means of preventive measures,
the Confederacy saw itself drawn into juridical monstrosities
on account of the dissimilarity in the handling of licences,
that writings which had been already passed by the censor
should be afterwards criminally prosecuted.

As the deliberations of the Confederacy were carried on
in a slow and dragging manner, as was natural to it, a new
conference of Ministers was called in the summer of 1834 in
Vienna, from which proceeded a treatise which embraced sixty
articles, and which in any case marked the highest point of
the repressive rules, under which Germany suffered for more
than ten years.

That the pretended dangers to the state were now to be
discovered not only in the revolutionary risings, but in the
meetings and representations of the classes was shown in the

56 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

prohibition to publish the speeches and business of the House
of Representatives.

My and my brother's acquaintance with the official world
of Europe happened during this reactionary time. We went
away after Easter 1835, immediately after our confirmation,
to attend the fifty years' Jubilee of the Grand-Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was our grandfather on the
mother's side.

On our way thither we spent the first night at Gottingen,
in order to visit our countryman Blumenbach, the celebrated
naturalist. Arrived in Schwerin, we found a rare crowd of
important persons belonging to all the allied German Houses.
More than fifty near relations of the old Duke were counted,
who had assembled here in beautiful harmony ; many amongst
them looked not without wonder on that German State, over
which the revolutionary storms of the century had passed
without leaving a trace behind them, and whose firm, patri-
archical condition, as in the Middle Ages, might well fill other
princes with envy.

Amongst these assembled princes there were many who
promised a glorious future, and some who afterwards really
played great parts. My attention was particularly attracted
to the Crown Prince of Prussia, who had long had the name
amongst the rising generation of being the most extraordinary
and intellectual Prince of our times. Everyone spoke of the
man who was destined to rule the largest German State.

This clever Crown Prince of Prussia, the learned scientist,
the deep thinker and free -minded politician, as he was
universally considered, was looked upon by some with uneasy
fear on account of the uncertainties of these times of innova-
tion, while his appearance caused others to wonder what the
results would be if, after the lapse of a hundred years, another
important man at length mounted the throne of Prussia.
Thus, and not without the greatest attention, my brother and
I too saw the Prince who played a great part in my life, I
may even say, with regard to the course of German politics,
the greatest part, and whose strange, enigmatical ways, whicli
up to the present day have never been rightly delineated,

THE JUBILEE AT MECKLENBURG-SCIIWERIN 57

were destined to heap so much pain on men singly, as well
as on the whole nation.

Frederick William IV was at that time in his forty-first
year, and was remarkably corpulent for his age. His fine,
intellectual expression, the freshness of his conversation, his
ever ready sarcastic remarks could not fail to produce, in
young men, like my brother and myself, a degree of en-
thusiasm for the much courted successor to the throne of
Prussia. Added to that, the Crown Prince bestowed unusual
attention upon us.

He asked with the greatest amiability about our studies
and plans, and appeared well pleased at the happy, confident
way in which we young people viewed life. Under the pre-
supposition that we as German Princes would one day make
up our minds to help in the improvement of the world and
the condition of the Fatherland, he promised us his friendly
protection.

He seemed persuaded that it was time to lay the axe to
the evils of the time ; he could speak fine words about
Germany's wants, and showed himself entirely different from
all the other Princes in his whole original views on every-
thing.

When the festive days of Schwerin had come to an end,
my father thought it proper that we should be introduced at
the Court of Berlin. Therefore, whilst we were still staying
behind in Schwerin, my father drove first to the Prussian
capital, and waited there for us. We received the heartiest
reception from Frederick William III, lived at the Castle,
and wore the uniform of our officers.

King Frederick still looked very vigorous, and had some-
thing winning and fatherly about him. The young people
were met on all sides by kindness and friendliness, and our
near acquaintance with the Princes of the Prussian House
dated from this moment. We then travelled to Dresden, and
stayed awhile at the old Court. King Anton and Prince Max
still lived entirely in the reminiscences of the preceding
century ; the latter caused us great astonishment by never
wearing any covering on his head.

58 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Our journey then led us to Vienna, where we stopped
for several weeks with our uncle Prince Ferdinand. The
Emperor Francis had died shortly before, and the moment at
which we happened to be there thus appeared all the more
important. For, added to the Emperor Ferdinand's ascension
of the throne, was the expectation that the Emperor Francis'
fixed, absolute system would in some degree be modified.
People spoke of the ruler's good nature, and said that the all-
powerful Minister would now gain more freedom with which to
make good many a plan of action, by means of which, during
the past years, Austria's politics had burdened Germany like
a mighty mountain.

It was then that I, for the first time, saw Prince Metternich,
who had so long been a friend of my father's, and remained
in correspondence with him. He was very talkative, and
showed a great deal of interest in all the members of our
House. He always felt the greatest admiration for our
mother.

As further regarded the Austrian Court, we were as frostily
received in Vienna as we had been warmly welcomed in
Berlin. It is true that of the older Princes, the Archduke
Charles had been my guardian since the year 1826, but this
relation was no inducement to him to be a little freer. His
sons Albert and Frederick stood nearer to us, two princes who
passed for the most gifted and promising of all the young
Archdukes.

The close unity of the whole system of the Court was
remarkable. The different lines of the House were almost
like different dynasties, and next came the family of the Arch-
duke Francis Charles, whose clever Bavarian consort brought a
fermenting element into the barren Lothringian world, which
little by little threw religiously and politically old-fashioned
Austria out of order. Before we left Vienna to return to our
Austrian hosts we made many an excursion with our cousins
to Hungary and Mahren.

Instructive and remarkable as was everything which we
saw on this journey, it nevertheless inspired us with less
interest than the Congress of Teplitz the same year, at which

ASSEMBLY OF MONARCHY IN TEPL1TZ 59

we were also present with our father. An event which was
to bring guarantees for the principles of stability and alliance
of the Eastern Powers to the European States, which had
been so deeply shaken since the year 1830.

The great military celebration of fraternisation between
Prussia and Russia had just been brought to a close in Kalisch.
The Emperor Nicholas wished the new Emperor of Austria
to be received into the brotherhood which had just been
completed before the whole world, and thus arose the
Assembly of Monarchs in Teplitz, where, without being
directly invited, almost all the reigning German Princes were
present with their sons, to offer their homage to the new
Austrian Emperor, and really more principally to the Russian
monarch.

One point was clear to the Princes present at Teplitz, that
with regard to old Frederick William III and the new
Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia held the power
completely in his own hands. Some time previously he had
conceived the idea of contesting the succession of sickly
Ferdinand of Austria, and now that Austrian politics were
entirely subordinate, he was remarkably attentive to the new
monarch in person, and together with all the other Princes,
followed the Emperor of Austria to renewed festivities in the
Bohemian capital. From that time forth began the Russian
ascendency in Germany.

As regards anything personal which occurred to us during
the Congress of Teplitz, my first meeting here with the Arch-
duke John may be cited as an interesting reminiscence. This
Prince's simple mode of thought, his great learning, his warm
sympathy in German affairs singled him out from the other
personages whose acquaintance we had made a few months
before in Vienna.

How greatly the pressure of the Alliance of the Eastern
Powers, or rather Russia's domineering influence reacted on
German affairs, was soon shown in Hanover, where the legal
consistency of a constitution was cancelled and went un-
punished by Confederate jurisdiction.

After the death of King William IV of England and

60 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Hanover, the personal bond between the two lands was
loosened, after having lasted 123 years. The peculiar re-
actions which this bond had produced in the entire political
history of Germany ceased. King Ernest Augustus made his
entry into Hanover on the 30th of June 1837, and began his
reign with an unequalled revolution. The adjournment of
the States Assembly on the 3rd of July was followed on the
1st of November by a political stratagem, which, on account
of its complete uselessness raised astonishment and horror
even in Conservative circles. Only where there was total
ignorance of the relations and state of things, particularly in
the small German States, could approval of the Hanoverian
King's actions be found.

Austria's and Russia's influence in the German Diet might
denote a momentary triumph by adoption of the principles
of non-intervention; only the more foreseeing amongst the
existing generation at once recognised the seed sown in the
Hanoverian conflict, and very open speeches were made as to
the consequences of the affair.

When the expulsion of the Gottingen seven from the
university followed and a personal martyrdom was coupled
with the abstract breach of law, the excitement was all the
deeper, as these events almost went beyond the pale of politics
and touched upon the tender subject of private rights and
morals.

If ever the universally wrong and at the same time worn
out phrase that a mistake in politics is worse than a crime,
ever turned out to be correct, it was in connection with the
English Prince's appearance in Germany. The younger genera-
tion had no doubt that a mistake as well as a crime lay in
the shattering of the constitution of Hanover. In later times
this matter has been more quietly and soberly judged, and
there have not even failed to be some who grudged the seven
poor men of Gottingen, the faded laurels of their former
popularity. The Hanoverian breach of constitution was
approved of by the German Confederacy, but the impression
which this deed made caused the fall of this kingdom, thirty
years later, to appear as a just punishment. I myself ex-

DISSATISFACTION IN HANOVER 61

pressed my indignation to my uncle, in Brussels, who was of
my opinion, in a letter written on the 18th of July, 1837, and
running as follows :

' Everyone is full of Hanover and her misfortune, as people
freely express it. Every step which has already been taken
seems to point to the fact that the new king wishes to over-
throw the constitution.

' Popular feeling in Hanover is said to be very much roused.
It would really be dreadful if Germany's peace were to be
disturbed by such wilful, revolting measures, and if it should
be allowed to go so far unpunished that the people would be
forced to regain their rights by fighting.'

In Hanover, as in most of the German States, these events
were followed by a kind of apathy, to which only the southern
territories, particularly Baden, made an exception. Liberalism
had been able to develop unhindered in the transactions of
the Court there, and found the greatest consideration through
the attacks made from Baden on the Confederacy and its
decisions. However, whilst in internecine matters monarchical
principles particularly met with uneasiness or secret opposi-
tion, the Great Powers were almost entirely taken up by the
universal European question.

Spain, Portugal and the Orient were the battlefield on
which they fought their diplomatic engagements.

Since 1832, Belgium formed the real connecting link in
the relation between France and England. If the still
unsettled disputes with Holland, and their refusal to recognise
the articles of peace drawn up by the London Conference, were
to be taken as expressions of the opposition of the Western
Powers to those of East Europe, King Leopold's personal and
pleasant relations with the Courts of England and France
formed an unusual kind of cement.

The alliance between France and England was still re-
garded at that time as something new and unheard of. Not
yet settled and partly in contradiction to the economical and
national interests of both lands, this connection therefore
needed ever new impulse, new food and new support from
th'-ii Governments.

62 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-C01WRG-GOTHA

The condition of things on the Iberian Peninsula, partially
forced Louis Philippe into the system which England had
uninterruptedly followed since Canning ; but on the other
hand, this also gave him many grounds for jealousy.
Palmerston could now regard as a splendid prize his success
in obtaining the conclusion of the Quadruple Alliance on the
22nd of April 1834. But all after effects of the same
depended on whether Spain and Portugal would find the right
men to guarantee to the allied States, a firm support against
the pretenders and their despotism in the unhappy countries
themselves.

England was in this respect luckier in the adoption of
measures in Portugal, than Louis Philippe with his protegees
in Spain. No wonder, then, that the English Cabinet suc-
ceeded with difficulty only in keeping the King of France
bound fast to the stakes of the Quadruple Alliance. Palmer-
ston warned and blamed, he prophesied mischief and punish-
ment, if France did not keep closer to the spirit of the
agreement, which had not been otherwise looked upon except
as a means of driving Don Carlos from Spain.

Meanwhile the Portuguese question had been brought to a
happier close, in which King Leopold's hand was also to be
recognised. The return of the Emperor Don Pedro to
Europe had quickly put an end to Don Miguel's dominion.

After the defeats which his partisans suffered at Santa
Maria through General Saldanha, and at Affeiceira through
Yillaflor on the 18th of February and the 15th of May 1834,
Don Miguel was forced to surrender, to resign and to leave
the country. He went first to Italy where he denied all his
former statements. In after years he settled in Germany,
where, by means of intrigues and granting orders he caused
himself to be much talked about. The Chronique Scandaleuse
told the most various stories concerning his relations with the
Jesuits.

Although the Miguelists had tried by every means in their
power to make the victory of Liberalism in Portugal retro-
gressive, still Donna Maria succeeded, after Don Pedro's
death on the 24th of September 1834, in tightly grasping the

MARRIAGE OF PRINCE FERDINAND 63

reins of power in her hand, and her first marriage with the
Duke of Leuchtenberg promised a happy solution of all
difficulties. Unluckily, however, the Prince died three months
after his marriage.

In later years I learned to know Donna Maria personally,
and looked upon her as the most prominent woman of our
times. But in 1835 I still felt very little interest in the
dangerous struggles of a far-off land, whence an Embassy
Extraordinary, with Count Lavradio, afterwards Minister and
Leader of the Liberal party, came to Coburg, to marry my
cousin Ferdinand to the young Queen of Portugal, who seemed
unfortunate in more than one respect. My uncle Ferdinand's
whole family had already come to Coburg in the autumn,
with the object of settling the business matters under my
father's directions. On the 6th of December 1835 Stockmar
and Minister von Carlowitz drew up the contract of marriage
with the Portuguese Plenipotentiaries, and the marriage took
place by proxy in January.

We young people parted from our loved and talented kins-
man and comrade not without anxiety, when we prepared in
the spring for the journey to the land which then appeared so
extraordinarily far off, and where, on the 9th of April, the
marriage with Donna Maria was to be celebrated at Lisbon.
This matter had doubtless been brought to pass by Lord
Palmerston, whilst Louis Philippe had tried to make the Due
de Nemours the successful candidate.

My uncle Ferdinand himself had not been easily won over
to the project. But his son was more fitted for the difficult
position through his many gifts and great knowledge than
any other of the German Princes.

His father accompanied him to Lisbon by way of Brussels
and London, at which Courts the Prince was shown royal
honours much to the displeasure of many German diplomates.
He was followed to Portugal by his former governor, an
excellent German, a Coburger of the name of Dietz, who after-
wards earned the highest merit by his part in- the settling of
affairs in Lisbon, and who was especially clever in bringing
about the best terms between Donna Maria and her consort.

64 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Whoever visited Portugal in after years received most of
all the impression that our House has become at home in the
proper sense of the word. According to the constitutional
custom of Portugal the Prince Consort assumed the title of
King, after the edge of all intrigues against my cousin had
been dulled by the birth of a royal Prince on the 16th of
September 1837.

If the fortification of Donna Maria's throne was not
decidedly attained during the next few years, the cause lay
to a great degree in the condition of the neighbouring kingdom
of Spain, where the principles of the Quadruple Alliance had,
as already remarked above, been much less deeply implanted
through France's uncertain attitude, than might have been
desired. As the question of Spain's peace likewise depended
later upon the bringing about of a marriage in which the
House of Coburg was involved, I shall refer very frequently
to the state of things in the Iberian peninsula.

Meanwhile the Oriental question of the Allies of 1834,
whose union, as has been seen, never stood on a very firm
foundation, became more and more divided. As I must here
touch upon Oriental affairs, even if only superficially, in order
to explain the differences between the Western Powers, it will
be allowable to go back to the events which had meantime
occurred in Greece, as my recollections, and the documents
which now lie before me call up a list of circumstances which
have hitherto been completely ignored. They show how much
trouble my uncle still gave himself, even after his resignation
of the Greek kingdom, to help in these matters, and bring
about the well-being of Greece.

After the murder of President Capodistrias on the 9th of
October 1831, the greatest anarchy reigned in Greece, and it
appeared as if the state laboriously erected by European
statesmen must fall again.

The friends of Greece, in Germany, England and France,
feared they would be driven to despair over their work, as it
was quite impossible to succeed in satisfying the strong
monarchical tendencies of the nation by raising a throne. A
.sort of continual complaint appeared to be made against my

KING LEOPOLD'S HELLENIC SCHEMES 65

uncle by the course taken by Greek affairs, through his having
refused a position for which he seemed more fitted than any
other Prince. The enduring interest which he fostered for
Greek concerns caused him fits of remorse, and he was con-
tinually busied in trying to find a substitute. At the same
time, with rare conviction, he held fast to the principles which
he looked upon as absolutely necessary to the existence of the
new state, and on the acceptance of which he looked upon the
whole matter as dependent. It was thus that the thought
occurred to him of bringing forward his own brother, my
father, as a candidate for the Greek throne, and for this
purpose he opened negotiations with the English and French
Governments.

As Capodistria's brother Count Augustin could not succeed
in being fully recognised as his successor in the Presidency,
and could utter nothing but complaints to Eynard and
Palmerston of his burdensome task, seeking, on the other
hand, with ill judged haste, the most partial dependence on
Russia, the choice of a king was very important to the two
Western Powers, as it had become a life and death question of
their political position in the Orient.

King Leopold seized this moment with the right perception,
that under this condition of affairs it might more easily be
possible to induce the Western Powers to grant him con-
cessions for a fresh candidate, which had been refused to him-
self two years before.

It is certainly very worthy of notice, that on the 21st of
January, 1832, he expressed his sorrow to my father, that an
improvement in the boundary lines of Greece had not been
granted him, otherwise he would have been there. My father
also had from the first moment of the negotiations exacted the
boundary lines for the new state which King Leopold had
demanded. Besides this, it was at that time hoped that the
Ionian Islands would be given up to Greece, a present due to
England's generosity, which would have uncommonly lightened
the King's position.

It is not to be doubted that the Western Powers may have
been frightened back by the slow progress of the negotiations

VOL. I. E

66 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

with my father ; for when the latter sent his final conditions
to King Leopold, King Louis of Bavaria had already completed
an agreement for his son Otto. But the London Protocol of the
13th of February, 1832, offering the Greek throne to Prince Otto
of Bavaria, vouched for none of all the things which my uncle
and my father had looked upon as necessary, and therefore it
would not perhaps be quite just to say that the King of Bavaria
had shown great foresight in the carrying out of this matter.

If one now reads the documentary reports of the trans-
actions between King Leopold and my father, and notices that
they conducted themselves quite strictly at the time towards
Bavaria, one will be forced to acknowledge that King Louis
was in a great hurry with the matter. It is true that, as is
to be seen from the published letters of Thiersch, he \vould
not acknowledge it to his friends. However, when one reads
in his biography that the expulsion of his son from Greece
had wounded him more than any other stroke of fortune, it
may be inferred without question that the royal old man
must to a certain degree have stood his own accuser. Yet
he had depreciated the great care which my father and my
uncle took in this matter, at the founding of the new king-
dom, and exhausted his own fortune as well as that of his
country in order to bring about the election of his son, even
under less favourable conditions.

Only a few months after Otto and his Bavarian officers
and advisers had arrived in Greece, it was complained that
the just claims to the natural bounding of Hellenic territory
had been left unfulfilled, and had even robbed the future
Greek state of its islands. Everyone tried to point to an
endeavour to bind the efficacy of Hellenism within the circle
of Bavarian guardianship. With all this England found as
great difficulty in pushing her modest claims with the Porte,
as if the latter had taken equally grave and decisive steps
towards the welfare of Greece.

The head boundary of the ne\v state was only recognised
by Turkey on the 22nd of November, 1834, and then only
because of the most immediate threats.

Meanwhile Russian influence had been successful against

MEHEMED ALI 67

the Western Powers, and there ensued the diplomatic play of
an endless struggle between England and Russia for the
protectorate of the fallen Porte.

A growing strangeness also came between France and
England, as Mehemed Ali's Egyptian Kingdom began through
the Treaty of Kutahin (6th May, 1837) to extend its dominion
over Syria, if only in the form of a feudal tenure.

The English Cabinet were now supported by Louis
Philippe in their opposition to the Russian arrangements of
Hunkiar Skelessi, although it would affect the conflicting
interests of France if turned against the Egyptian ideas of
the Great Powers.

In these contradictions lay the difficulty which made the
Oriental question appear to the diplomates of the fourth
decade in the light of an inextricable tangle.

The old traditions of France pointed to Egypt as the
point at which all French influences must work, if she was to
keep any place at all in the Orient, and every English interest
hindered the rising of a powerful state which would rule the
road to India. The foregoing events and occurrences which
took place with reference to these matters for half a century,
incessantly demanded such careful preludes, and consequently
went at so slow a pace, that the contemporaries were some-
times convinced that the great question was stagnating.

The fact is, however, that in the whole history of the
politics of the European states during the past and present
generations, no event had occurred through which the Powers
have worked upon the whole mass of party questions of each
nation in such an equal and conclusive manner.

When in 1840 it looked as if the die were being cast by
the Rhine and the Bosphorus to decide Syria's fate, the
connection between these political matters remained almost
incomprehensible to our nation.

The lightly slumbering feeling of opposition between the
German and French peoples now awoke with renewed strength
and gave rise to a rumour of war which was happily only a
rumour, but which, however, exercised an influence on the
national consciousness which will be spoken of later on.

CHAPTER III

PRINCES ERNEST AND ALBERT START ON THEIR TRAVELS. THEIR

MUTUAL AFFECTION. VISIT ENGLAND. THIS VISIT NO BEARING

ON THE SUBSEQUENT ENGLISH MARRIAGE. WILLIAM IV ANTAGO-
NISTIC TO THE MATCH. PRINCE ALEXANDER OF THE NETHER-
LANDS. MEETING WITH DISRAELI. PARIS. AMIABILITY OF LOUIS

PHILIPPE AND THE ORLEANS FAMILY. ATTEMPT TO MARRY

PRINCE ERNEST TO PRINCESS CLEMENTINA ABANDONED ON

RELIGIOUS GROUNDS. BRUSSELS. THE TWO PRINCES' STUDIES

ARRANGED BY KING LEOPOLD. QUETELET. HIS AFTER INFLU-
ENCE ON PRINCE ALBERT. MILITARY STUDIES. THE CARBONARI.

ARRIVABENE. SILVIO PELLICO. OBJECTIONS OF THE GERMAN

FAMILIES TO THE PRINCES' UNIVERSITY CAREER. STUDENT LIFE

AT BONN. WINS A SWORD. FICHTE, PERTHES, SCHLEGEL, ETC.

PARTING OF THE BROTHERS. PRINCE ALBERT TO WINTER IN

ITALY. PRINCE ERNEST ENTERS THE SAXON SERVICE. DRESDEN.

LIFE AT THE SAXON COURT. SAXON POPULACE UNPREPOSSESS-
ING. TIECK, THE DEVRIENTS, SCHRODER. PRINCE ERNEST COMES

OF AGE. PRINCE ALBERT DECLARED OF AGE AT THE SAME TIME

BY SPECIAL ACT. HUMOROUS INCIDENT AT THE SOLEMNITY.

IN May 1836, began the years of apprenticeship and travelling
of my brother's life and mine.

Our being thrown together during this period of freer
development, depending upon each other, following the same
studies, and dividing the joys and sorrows of youth, became
for both of us a source of mental and moral riches and assured
us a mutual understanding which \vas to last during our
whole lives. We had seen and experienced much concerning
the political and scientific world, which served to awaken in
us a desire for more solid education. Yet in what way this
want was to be supplied at a time when the sons of reigning
heads were rarely sent to a university, it was difficult to say.
We therefore decided to adopt my uncle's view of the matter,

KING WILLIAM IV ON HIS NIECE'S MARRIAGE 69

as he had proposed a stay in Brussels, where we would have
the best tutors and all the advantages of a life in the great
world. I venture to tell the reader something more par-
ticularly of these reminiscences in respect of this epoch of my
life, as I wish at the same time to furnish a better under-
standing of my brother and his education than has up to the
present been possible in any published work.

The moment seemed no unimportant one to us in which we
left our home for a long time, to go out into the world, more
independent than we had hitherto been. Accompanied by
our father, we went at once to Holland, where we visited
Amsterdam, Ley den, and the Hague, and embarked at Rotter-
dam for England. My father and my uncle may on their side
have had another object in view of which I must speak here,
as by most of the works of history which treat of my brother's
subsequent marriage with Queen Victoria, a too immediate
reason for our stay in England at that time has been attributed.

It is possible that my uncle may have clung to his
favourite idea, that the heiress to the English throne should
marry one of his nephews. Meanwhile, in the year 1836,
these plans met with decided opposition on the part of King
William IV, who was not favourably impressed with the
Coburg proposition, and had rather turned his thoughts to the
Netherlands Prince Alexander, as a husband for his niece.

When he heard of our journey he arranged for Prince
Alexander to come to Windsor with his brother, then Prince
of Orange and now King of the Netherlands.

Thus our stay in London was without any significance
whatever as far as concerned the question which later became
so important, and the first meeting between the two cousins
who afterwards made the most admired marriage of the whole
world, was hardly marked by any deeper feeling. We had
fixed our attention solely upon everything which London
offered us, and which makes old England appear so peculiar
to the inhabitants of the Continent. We went everywhere
unaccompanied and lived in Kensington with our aunt, in
whose house German was not usually spoken. We thus felt
the wish as well as the necessity of making the English

70 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

language our own. We had been commanded to Windsor for
one day only, by King William IV, and could boast of no
particular attention on his part. On the other hand, Queen
Adelaide, born a Princess of Meiningen, showed us the utmost
friendliness, which was of great use to us in later years.

The King was already sickly at that time, and I remember
that he fell fast asleep during dinner. He impressed one as
being a thorough sailor, unimportant in all other respects.
As we received many invitations from the Ministers and
other prominent persons, our visit may be looked upon as a
preparation for our later relationship with England.

On this occasion I met Disraeli, whose rising fame as
author, speaker and Minister at that time filled the world
with ever increasing wonder. At this period he produced the
impression of a vain young Jew, of remarkably radical
tendencies. The time came later when he understood how to
make calculated use of the Conservative Tories. He carried
his left arm in a black sling, which peculiarity was sneered at
by his enemies, who said that he only did it in order to make
himself interesting, as he had never suffered any accident
which rendered it necessary. He seemed to belong to the
class of men who have made up their minds to play a great
part, and who are certain to gain the end in view.

We came into contact with Lords Grosvenor, Claude
Hamilton, and Westminster, of whom the latter had been
acquainted with my father at the time of the great wars ;
neither did we seek in vain for an opportunity of seeing and
knowing the Iron Marshal Lord Wellington. Amongst other
military men in London society, we found Captain Marryat
at the height of his popularity as a novelist ; his works were
then in everybody's hands.

We had ourselves to thank for all these acquaintances, for
our aunt the Duchess of Kent lived a very retired life, and
went little into society ; our cousin Victoria had not yet been
introduced into the great world, whereas we were allowed to
accept all the invitations of the season.

If English society with all its great formality had an al-
most depressing effect on our youthful minds, Paris and the

LOUIS PHILIPPE AND HIS COURT 71

House of Orleans, on the other hand, made almost too fascina-
ting an impression upon us. Although we were not guests at
the Court, the old King treated us with the most perfect
kindness and amiability. I may say that a kind of sympathy
arose between him and me, such as may be imagined between
a youth and a man standing on the threshold of old age.

He was a perfect master of the German language, and
could even speak the dialects of the different countries. I
particularly remember the zeal and pleasure with which he
showed us the plans for his great Versailles museum. His incli-
nation to relate, to explain and to instruct had something
uncommonly pleasant about it, something simple and stimu-
lating, and many years later I recognised the debt I owed this
experienced man for many a bit of knowledge concerning
matters which I should otherwise have had no means of
acquiring.

We also learned to know Louis Philippe's sons, Joinville,
who was just my age, and the younger Aumale. The Duke
of Orleans, who soon afterwards married my cousin, Helena
of Mecklenburg, was at that time in Africa.

The family life of the whole Court had something so
homelike and attractive, that it made the most beneficial
impression upon my brother and myself.

I was not at that time aware, however, that the idea had
occurred to marry me to the Princess Clementina. A few
months after this my first stay in Paris, my uncle Leopold
asked me if the Princess Clementina did not please me, and
whoever knew her will understand that I could only answer
in the affirmative. The thought of entering into such
relationship with the Family of Orleans would have had
something especially attractive to me. But one consideration
availed at the French Court, which might well have been
unexpected on account of the King's well-known liberality of
sentiments as regarded religious and confessional matters, and
must on that account be mentioned.

It was looked upon as inadmissible for a member of the
French House to adopt the evangelical belief. Now, this
ought not to have raised any barrier to a union between

72 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

myself and the Princess Clementina, as, with regard to
religious questions, I possessed a far-reaching idea of the
right of individual feeling. It was hinted, that in case of a
mixed marriage, the King would have to demand for his
daughter that the female offspring, at least, should be brought
up in the faith of the French Court. The matter thus fell
through. The Princess Clementina, to whom I shall again
refer later on, married my cousin Augustus, in the year 1843,
and I remained single many years, without any other cares
than those imposed upon me by the pursuit of my own ideals
in life.

In June 1836, we arrived in Brussels and proceeded to
make ourselves at home. No more charming and fitting life
can be imagined as a means of reaching the goal of a develop-
ment as free as it was intense. Nothing disturbed us, every-
thing seemed formed to help us to gain the end in view. We
kept house on our own account, and occupied a cosy little
villa, with a garden, situated in the Boulevard de L'Observa-
tion. Here it was possible for us to enjoy comprehensive
intercourse with home and foreign scientists and politicians,
and by special desire of the King the society of a select circle
which deserves a more particular description. As regarded
our studies, King Leopold had set us the task of preparing
for life, and of obtaining at the same time an introduction to
the graver studies at the University. Our old tutor Counsellor
Florschuetz was ever by our side, like a true mentor. Baron
Wichmann was specially assigned to us for all outside matters,
a worthy and experienced man, the choice of whom for the
position had been happily made. He had belonged to the
German English Legion, and had taken part under Wellington
in the Spanish campaigns and the battle of Waterloo, was a
thoroughly unprejudiced man and much loved in Brussels
society.

The most prominent of our tutors was Qudtelet, with
whom we remained in communication during our whole lives.
If it were not otherwise well-known, my uncle's great know-
ledge of mankind would have been impressed upon me by the
fact that he chose this man as our leader, a man of whom

QUSTELET 73

mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers, and statisticians
had an equally high opinion, and who, a king in the way of
theoretical learning, was at the same time possessor of great
experience in the practical questions of states administration.

Que'telet's wonderfully extensive knowledge made it appear
possible to our uncle to give us an encyclopaedic course of
instruction in the most varied branches. This, however,
would have far overstepped the boundary line of what was
attainable by young men in so short a space of time. Que'telet
therefore fixed our attention more on mathematics and
statistics, in order to lay a preparatory foundation for further
study of political science. The application of the rule of pro-
babilities concerning the questions of political economy, then
just adopted, was one of the things which particularly made
so great an impression on us, as on all the world, and it may
be added that Que'telet's influence over my brother in this
respect was one which formed his whole manner of viewing
the world. During his entire lifetime he preserved the
statistically mechanical grasp of social and political questions,
and in more than one of his speeches and works of later years
I was reminded of the deep observations and lectures which
we had heard from Que'telet in Brussels.

Thus Que'telet had full right to address himself to my
brother in the dedication of his celebrated book : ' Du Systeme
Social et des Lois qui le Re'gissent,' for it would have been
impossible to place a more enthusiastic adherent to this
doctrine at the beginning of the work.

What I, for my part, intensely admired in Que'telet was
his wide comprehension, his really free mode of thought and
his amiable manner of imparting learning. He introduced us
to every man of importance then living in Brussels ; a number
of Belgian and foreign scholars and statesmen assembled in
our drawing-rooms. Here we learned to know President
Gerlache, who had stood at the head of the deputations when
the crown was offered to my uncle. Although this excellent
man was a strict ultramontane as befitted his position in his
party, he enjoyed the most unlimited esteem. His scientific
prominence and the consideration which his nomination as

74 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF 8 AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

President of the Academy and the Belgian Commission for
the Monuments Historiques gave him, lifted him beyond the
reach of all personal attacks.

Our intercourse with the two Brouckeres was also of the
greatest interest, and exceedingly instructive. The elder,
Charles, was, as is known, Minister for a time, and was much
thought of by my uncle. As he was theoretically as well as
practically versed in finance affairs, and a master of national
economy, when he left the Ministry he held lectures at the
University. His younger brother Henry was more deeply
involved in the party strife of the day, and when we were in
Brussels, he was already considered one of the most capable
Liberal leaders. King Leopold made a great deal of him, but it
was against his principles to take any immediate part in parlia-
mentary disputes. He often said jestingly : ' that he was
married to neither of the two ever strengthening national
parties.' It would be too much for me to recall all the
interesting persons whom we knew in Brussels. I will only
mention de Weyrs, de Vaux, and Van Praet, the last of whom
was the King's Cabinet Secretary. Amongst foreigners I will
point out Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, who, then just beginning
his career as a Diplomate, was in Brussels as Secretary to the
Legation, and who was sent thence immediately to Constanti-
nople, where he found more room to exercise his great talents.

According to my uncle's plans, our knowledge of languages
was to be perfected by these chosen surroundings ; we received
besides special lessons in French and English from Professor
Bergerou and Lord Byron's former playmate, the English
clergyman Mr Drury, who was himself a poet, and gave most
stimulating lectures on English Literature.

Brussels had, through King Leopold, received an impulse
in every way favourable to painting. De Keyser and Gallait
made their appearance. We diligently visited the studios of
the most celebrated painters, and Wappers and Madou allowed
us to paint and draw under their direction. My brother, who
was known to have much talent for this art, imbibed here
the impressions which fitted him later for so fruitfully
influencing art life in England.

THE CARBONARI 75

Besides this, King Leopold did not forget to give us a
military education befitting our position. We worked at
gunnery with Colonel Borman, the well-known improver of
the Shrapnel gun, and clever military writer, who had
belonged to the Saxon army. We visited the camp twice ;
for as the King of Holland had not decided to sign the treaty
of London, the Dutch and Belgian armies still stood on a war
footing. The Dutch army lay near Maestricht, the Belgian in
barracks on the heath of Beverloo. Although neither side
thought of renewing the war, yet the unusual situation had
the effect of making military matters more seriously looked
after, than in an ordinary exercising camp.

I was acting as General Staff Officer to Magnan, afterwards
a French Marshal, and my brother fulfilled the same duties
for General Kutalsk. A man was, however, assigned to
instruct me specially who filled one with unusual interest.
He was the well known Polish General Prodzinsky, then a
colonel on the general staff, one of the most well informed
men whom I ever met. Of course he told me all sorts of
things about his Polish experiences, and an immediate view
was opened to me of relations and conditions which I should
never have come to know without him, who grew to be a
true friend to me.

As will be already concluded, we were in no way guarded
from the current of public events and affairs by the wise
and careful King. We had intercourse with men of all
colours and aims, even the entrance to the remarkable house
near Brussels was not forbidden us, where the fugitives from
Italy and the Carbonari discharged from prison formerly led
a quiet life of waiting. I have a lively remembrance of those
fugitive oath-takers, who were mentioned at many Courts
only with a kind of horror, yet who were so humane and so
perfectly modest in their conversation, or looked ill, like the
much pitied poet, whose verses, as they said, did more harm
to the Austrian Government than a whole army. Next to the
Marchese Arconati, the learned Count Arrivabene and Berger,
Silvio Pellico naturally excited our interest the most. He
had not come to Brussels to make a long stay, but was visiting

76 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Arrivabene at the same time we were there, Arrivabene being
the central rallying point of the Carbonari.

It can no longer be understood how much this unlimited
intercourse meant to two German sons of a prince in those
days, and what an effect was produced in Germany by an
education and bringing up such as King Leopold gave us in
his residence.

The diplomatic corps in Brussels must surely have had a
great deal of news to write concerning the royal nephews !
But we ourselves, as may be imagined, had not at that time
the slightest idea that there might be anything questionable in
our management ; nevertheless, it was not very long before
we began to perceive more and more clearly that our entire
stay in Brussels had made a highly doubtful, even a most bad
impression on the different families in Germany.

I know of no other particulars to relate, yet I distinctly
remember that at more than one meeting with other German
princes, we noticed a certain coldness in their manner, as if
they wished to keep away from us or thrust us off. My
brother's indignation at this often reached a very high point.
He could be irritated to the utmost pitch by such stiffness on
the part of German princes, and would give reins to his talent
for making the weaknesses of others ludicrous.

Through this unjust judgment we saw ourselves only all
the more surely forced into opposition against them, and were
convinced that we should not go far if we depended upon
these antiquated and decayed principles. One was, so to
speak, pushed into the ranks of reform, hardly being given
any choice, and, if one had thought over matters in English,
the well-known words would exactly have described the
situation : ' I did not go over from the Tories to the Whigs,
but when I awoke and looked about me I found myself a
Whig.'

How good and lucky it is that the beliefs of youth are
disturbed by no presentiment that in both one and the other of
life's paths, but few disappointments are spared us.

Meanwhile our stay in Brussels was drawing to a close t
and we counted up, not without satisfaction and some self-

MATRICULATE AT BONN 77

consciousness, the sum of intellectual winnings, which so much
social, political, and scientific stimulation had given us. We
were of the conviction that a course of study such as is
peculiar to the German universities, is to be replaced in no
other way. Thus we had soon planned to induce our uncle to
gain permission from our father for us to make such a stay.
Meantime there were very many difficulties attendant on this,
as the Head of no reigning House would be too willing to see his
sons allowed to follow a public course of study at a university.

At length it was settled that we should go to Bonn for
three semestres, as Jena and Gottingen, upon which we had
also reflected, appeared less advantageous. So we left Brussels
in April 1837, made first a visit to the Court in Berlin, and
then hastened with the ecstacy of novices in the way of a
university, to Alma Mater of Bonn, that creation of Frederick
William III, which was then in its full bloom.

Like the flag at the head of the tall staff, shone to us the
name of the old singer of the war of freedom, and one of our
first visits was made to Ernest Moritz Arndt, who, though he
no longer worked as a teacher, still formed a central point for
all freethinking and patriotic men.

The old gentleman always treated us with much tenderness,
and dedicated some verses to me and my brother.

On the 3rd of May 1837 we were July matriculated under
the Rectorate of Wilhelm Wutzer, and then began a never-to-
be-forgotten time, which our friend and comrade in study,
Prince William Lowenstein has charmingly described, parti-
cularly from a humorous point of view, in his history of Prince
Albert. And, indeed, there was no lack of jovial events in the
youthful circle to which, besides Prince Lowenstein, belonged
the three cousins Henckel-Donnersmark, Count Erbach, the
later Minister of Baden, von Sternberg, the future head of the
Imperial Cabinet in Berlin, von Wilmovsky, the poet Jager, and
many others. In the summer we made many excursions, in
the winter we rode and fenced diligently, and on the 17th of
March 1838, after a great trial of fencing I carried away a
sword as an honorary distinction and a diploma for proven
expertness with the foils, which I have to this day.

78 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

With all our conviviality we were all nevertheless very
diligent and possessed of a kind of reading rage, which caused
us to devour a huge quantity of books, thereby satisfying a
kind of rival ambition. The numerous lectures, most of
which we attended quite privately, were taken down in our
beloved notebooks and gone over with the greatest conscienti-
ousness. Some of the professors, particularly Fichte, usually-
had conversaziones, in which there was a great deal of ardent
discussion. We attended nearly the entire cycle of lectures of
the law faculty, which prepared students for state service,
Bethmann-Hollweg, Nissen, Gartner, Perthes and Walter ;
besides this, we attended Kaufmann for the science of financ-
ing, Fichte for philosophy, Lobell for history, Schlegel for
literature, Alten for the history of art, and Lasson for French
literature.

We also dipped into anatomy with Wurzer and natural
sciences with Noggerath and Rehfuss. We took lessons in
music with Professor Breitenstein, and occupied ourselves
not only with the historical branches of this art but also with
thorough bass.

I do not wish, by this long account of our stay at college,
to give the impression that it was our intention to attempt to
obtain a professional education. The habits of our German
universities are well enough known for the reader to be able
to judge of their best influence in the way of producing a
general fund of knowledge and mental stimulation. The
having moved for a few semestres in the peculiar atmosphere
of this ideal world without constraint and, as far as was
possible, without having to think of practical matters, was
without doubt the time which we more rightly prized than all
others.

The easy intercourse with men of all shades of opinion and
tendencies, the esteem in which mental capability alone is
held, the unsparing strife of opinion in this imaginary
republic, all worked upon us with an unequalled power of
attraction. We entered into real bonds of friendship with
some of the professors, which was rendered all the more
hearty by the many ludicrous peculiarities attendant on the

FICUTE, PERTUES 79

learned world of Germany. This reminds me first of all of the
excellent Fichte, with whom we zealously philosophised.

He was at that time a man between thirty and forty years
of age, and suffered in many circles from the fact that he was
looked upon only as the son of his father. His outward
appearance and manner of lecturing gave the students oppor-
tunities for many jokes. He was incredibly awkward in the
society of others, but when once he began to talk, his mental
powers had the most attractive effect, and silenced all the
derision of his youthful revilers. But we adhered all the
more closely to him, and as his lectures were so planned for
us that we might sometimes talk with him, state a thesis or
enter into discussion, we looked forward to the next lesson as
soon as the last one was over.

Our position with regard to Perthes was a peculiar one.
As is known, he was the son of our friend in Gotha, and it
was only natural that we should allow ourselves to treat him
rather as a countryman. Now he was the representation of
a doctrine which differed intrinsically from the honestly
natural mode of thought of former times, and which smacked
strongly of a kind of piousness which was quite new to us.

As concerns the latter point of view, I will not deny, that
the lectures of many of the professors, amongst whom I will
particularly mention Walter, produced an astonishingly con-
servative, even reactionary impression on us. It seemed to
us as if we, the descendants of an ancient race, whose fore-
fathers had so carefully protected their God-given rights, were
at bottom much more liberal than the completely forefatherless
professors, who at that period were very zealous against
radicalism. This gave rise to many laughable scenes.

Perthes had during his lectures on states rights, dwelt with
a comprehensive chapter on God's grace, during which we
frequently interrupted him with half-loud exclamations.
But when he expressed a fine conviction of the God-sent ex-
traction of certain state institutions, we intimated to his great
vexation that it was quite impossible for us to take this
home, set down in black and white in our note-book.

The pattern of dialectically brilliant eloquence who shone

So MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

brighter than all the star professors was old A. W. Schlegel,
whom we also learned to know, and in whose house we shared
in the seldom attained pleasure of hearing him read Shake-
speare. His clever and brilliant delivery made one forget his
incredibly senile manner and problematical character. His
delineation in his ' History of Literature ' of modern German
poetry since Schiller, in which he enlarged particularly on the
romantic style, forms one of the most unfading impressions
which I ever received. These lectures were public, and im-
mensely sought after. My brother and I attended them like
other students, and were looked upon as such by everyone. On
the other hand, during the later half-years of our stay at Bonn,
other princes belonging to reigning thrones came there, who
exacted the ceremony due to their rank, and had thus to deal
with many difficulties attendant on their taking part in the
public lectures. This was the case at the University with the
later Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg, and the then Hereditary
Prince of Lippe Biickeburg. When he first intimated that
he would be present at Schlegel's lecture, a chair was set apart,
and looked after by the beadle. When the unconscious Prince
entered the room, a soft murmur arose. When the Professor
opened his address by solemnly welcoming the Hereditary
Grand-Duke, and then turned to the rest of the audience, an
unexampled uproar ensued, so that Schlegel had trouble in
making himself heard.

The three half-years at Bonn passed by thus quickly.
During the vacation we made many excursions. In the
autumn of 1837, we went by way of Strasbourg to Switzerland,
over which we wandered in every direction, and mostly on
foot. We climbed the Alps for the first time through the
Simplon pass, visited Milan and the upper Italian lakes, and
on the 12th of December we entered Venice. At the end of
the following year at the University, I was to separate from
my brother, and the earnest duties of life pointed out to each
of us his particular path.

When we parted with much grief we promised each other
to remain true friends as we had always been, and kept this
promise until relentless death came between us.

ENTERS THE SAXON ARMY 81

In the preceding March, during a visit to Brussels, a re-
markable conversation had taken place between King Leopold
and my brother, which was decisive for Albert's future. For
the first time the English marriage was seriously spoken of.
Nevertheless it was decided that my brother should spend the
next winter in Italy, whereas I was to enter the Saxon
military service in Dresden.

Although I had had the intention of spending one or two
half-years more, at one of the large universities, yet it was
hardly pleasant to me when my father insisted this time upon
my going to Jena, it being the cradle of our home knowledge.
As this brought about the entire defeat of all my plans of
studies, the question arose which army I was to enter. I
urgently desired to be received into Prussian service, but my
father, on the contrary, was more inclined by family tradition
for the Austrian army. His objections to Berlin were not so
much political as economical, as he imagined that my stay
there would be very expensive on account of my relations
with the Prussian Princes.

As regarded my entering the Austrian service, my father
hoped that I would be given the rank of a cavalry captain,
and I was much pleased when a negative and almost cold
answer came, for the prospect of thinking over what I had
seen during several years in Europe's most blooming countries,
whilst I sat in some Bohemian or Hungarian village, was
remarkably unattractive, quite apart from the fact that
opinions I had formed through contact with the world, were
little in harmony with the Austria of those days. Under
these circumstances I was forced to seek my military career
in the Saxon army, where I was received with the utmost
willingness as a captain in the King's regiment of Mounted
Guards. I was especially lucky in being stationed in Dresden,
where everything made me think that I should find a welcome
continuation to my visit in Brussels. My personal relations
alone were of the most pleasant description. King Frederick
Augustus received me in the most affectionate manner, like a
fatherly friend. I was at once drawn into the immediate

VOL. I. F

82 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

circle of this noble and highly educated family, and treated
like a son and companion of long date.

Life at the Posen Court made an unlimited and beneficial
impression upon me. There ruled in everything a higher tone
of manner, the keynote to which was given by the excellent
King. His beautiful interest for botany, his travels and his
talent as a landscape painter lent a peculiar charm to his
society.

Monosyllabic as he was in ordinary intercourse, when there
were affairs to be settled, he could relate his wanderings
heartily and gaily in private company. He had just spent
the past spring in the Saxon Alps, a locality seldom visited
by tourists, and was full of the impressions made upon him
by the Dalmatian towns and the Montenegrin mountains.
He was unequalled as a describer of nature, and one never
left him without having learned something from him.

Prince John was not behind the King in mental acquire-
ments. But his studies were known to lie in another direc-
tion, and had at an early date led him into a special form of
learning, which gave the so far elder man a double superiority
over me. If one had been desirous to show one's self entirely
and openly to him, with his nature, more than with other
men, it would have been necessary to possess a fund of greater
and more positive knowledge of his school and tendencies.

Even if the Prince's thoroughly noble mind prevented his
ever bringing his want of church tendencies and religious
opinions into prominence when with those who were not of
the same mind as he, yet a certain religious feeling was in-
separably mingled with his historical studies. He expected
an affectionate understanding of this turn of mind, which
belonged rather to the middle ages, and shrank from the con-
tact of freethought, which formerly often assumed a character
of frivolous superficiality.

As he wished to see all human education stamped with
solid positivism, he was particular to procure the most careful
teaching for his young sons, on whom rested many hopes.
Besides this, they were brought up in a manner which was
simple and unassuming, in the best sense of the words.

INNER LIFE OF THE SAXON COURT 83

Although he often gained real triumphs as a speaker in the
House, and was an excellent lawyer, sometimes in the political
and legislative questions of the time, sometimes in opposition
to the Government propositions, he still found it necessary to
apply himself incessantly to his scientific studies. At the
time of my stay he was occupied in completing for publication
his translation of a commentary on the Divina Commedia.
He often read aloud parts of the poem, and interpreted to a
chosen crowd of listeners difficult passages, and the whole
plan of Dante's work, of the general scope of which he was
indeed the most fitting exponent.

The intimate family harmony was particularly added to
by its amiable feminine members. Queen Marie and Princess
Johanna exercised a kind of witchcraft over the whole Court,
which revered their intense refinement of customs. I need
only mention the King's sister, the Princess Amalia. Many
of her literary productions belong to the best and most
pleasing efforts of literature of the day, and it was but right
that her daily notes should have been lately gathered together,
and care taken that the German lady, who, with so disadvan-
tageous an exterior, knew how to place herself on a level
with the most eagerly read authoresses of France, should not
sink too quickly into oblivion. One cannot help being sur-
prised that the everyday life at the Saxon Court, which, in
its then learned state reminded one of the times of the
Renaissance, has never yet found a mention in history.

The political relations of Saxony had undergone an agree-
able change since the revolutionary events of the thirtieth
year, a state of things which was owing to the unequalled
activity of Frederick Augustus. Many improvements were
made during the first years of the co-regency, in judicature
and scholarship. When old King Anton died, in the year
1836, Frederick Augustus was free to choose his advisers, and
tried to work for the lasting material growth of his kingdom.

During these years was formed the trustworthy adminis-
tration which worked long after the close of the King's life-
time. I was personally acquainted with most of those states-
men, who, like von Wietersheim, Zeschau and Carlowitz,

84 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

deserved many thanks from Saxony for their help in estab-
lishing a firm administration, and I gained many an insight
into the arrangements made by them, a which were afterwards
of use in my Government.

In spite of the well-ordered state of the country, there
was no good feeling amongst the great mass of people. In
Dresden I particularly noticed a roughness of mind which one
might have called democratic in the bad sense of the word,
and which gave me an idea of a state of things which ten
years later filled many with astonishment, for the very reason
that few would have thought Saxons capable of it.

A spirit all the better in comparison ruled the Saxon
army in the year 1840. The body of officers in my regiment
were of unequalled honour; the closest comradeship bound
them together, and the refined tone which made social inter-
course pleasant with each member, was probably also owing
to the fact that many officers had married highly-educated
wives.

I had my own house in Dresden, and was free to receive
the officers of my regiment as well as many other persons in
the most varied positions and circles. Chamberlain von
Loewenfels was my Court Marshal, and accompanied me on the
journeys of which I shall speak later on.

My love of art, towards which Dresden contributed so
much, was furthered by a particular circumstance. My
former Chief of the Squadron, Baron von Mangold, was a
painter and very fond of amateur occupation with palette and
brush. Many an hour of service time was spent in art work
or in some gallery. The Dresden art exhibitions also offered
a great stimulant.

I saw a great deal of Haufstangel, the publisher of the
Dresden gallery, and of Bendemann, who was painting the
frescoes in the Castle.

If I had to depict the intellectual life of which Dresden
was then the central point, I would prefer to stop at the circle
which assembled around Tieck ; here I came into relationship
with Tiedge and Baudissin — here I came into contact for the
first time with the theatrical world. Besides Edward and

THE PRINCES DECLARED OF AGE 85

Emil Devrient, I knew Sophie Schroder, who spread a noble
brightness and that idealistic glamour over theatrical matters
which is remembered to this day.

A whole world of clever and celebrated men used to
assemble at Major Serr's house, belonging to science, art or
the theatre. Music was represented by preference by music
director Reisziger; nevertheless we had many opportunities
of coming in contact with Mendelssohn and Schumann in
Leipzig.

Thus a year's stay in Dresden, during which I attained
the ranks of major and colonel, really gave me what I had
wished for and expected — I lived amidst a stream of art
and literature.

Although until the year 1842, 1 had my own residence and
profession in Dresden, my stay there was broken by long and
eventful journeys and undertakings, which all the more
demand a description, the more universal their influence was
on things in which I had to take part during those years.
The memorable year which began for me on the 21st of June,
1839, forms, to a certain degree an independent episode of my
life in Dresden.

I had reached my twenty-first year, and was, according
to the rules of our house, of age, The declaration was made
in Coburg with much solemnity ; and in order to join my
brother's fate with mine, in this important point, it was made
possible by the legislation of a special decree that the celebra-
tion of his coming of age was to follow immediately and be
publicly announced.

In the document which was drawn up concerning my
brother, my father emphasized his expression of acknowledge-
ment, 'of the heartfelt and affectionate relations existing
between our two beloved sons, which makes it desirable that
they may enjoy so important and significant an event
together.'

Both town and country in Coburg took the liveliest part
in the ceremonies of our coming of age.

It is not uninteresting to notice in the documents con-
cerning me, now lying before me, that my and my brother's

86 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUEG-GOTHA

public studies in Bonn were mentioned with particular
pleasure, a proof of how unusual this manner of education for
Princes of reigning Houses was looked upon as being.

I can still remember a humorous episode which occurred
whilst the official addresses were being made. The President
of the State Assembly suddenly began to flounder hopelessly
in the middle of a stream of deeply affecting words, and only
through the lucky and well-meaning striking in of the answer-
ing speaker was a most unpleasant mishap prevented and the
painful situation thus brought to an end.

CHAPTER IV

RETURN OF PRINCE ERNEST FROM DRESDEN TO COBURG. — PRINCE ALBERT
WITH HIS FATHER AT CARLSBAD ; DISLIKED IT. THEY VISIT ENG-
LAND IN 1839. — PRINCE ALBERT BETROTHED TO QUEEN VICTORIA.

— PARALLEL BETWEEN QUEENS VICTORIA AND ELIZABETH. SMALL

INFLUENCE OVER HER DAUGHTER OF THE DUCHESS OF KENT. —
BARONESS LEHZEN THE GOVERNESS ; HER SCHEME FOR RETAIN-
ING POWER. POSTPONEMENT OF THE MARRIAGE DISTASTEFUL TO

PRINCE ALBERT. — DIFFICULTIES WITH THE GOVERNMENT AS TO HIS
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STATUS.— MARRIAGE DEFINITELY FIXK1)

FOR 10TH FEB. 1840. THE COBURG FAMILY ARRIVE AT DOVER. —

TRIUMPHANT POPULAR RECEPTION. PRINCE ERNEST'S RESIDENCE

AT THE BRITISH COURT. TESTIMONY TO THE HARMONY OF THE

QUEEN AND PRINCE'S MARRIED LIFE. — FURTHER UNPLEASANTNESS
IN PRINCE ALBERT'S POSITION. — PRINCE ERNEST VISITS PORTUGAL.
— HIS ACCOUNT OF THE PORTUGESE COURT, LISBON, ETC. — EX-
PEDITIONS IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN. ADVENTURE WITH BRIGANDS.

BARCELONA. ESPARTERO's REBELLION. INTERVIEW WITH

QUEEN CHRISTINA. — SHE CONSENTS TO REVIEW THE TROOPS. —

RETURN TO DRESDEN. THE THIERS MINISTRY IN FRANCE. —

RUMOURS OF WAR. — CONTRADICTORY ATTITUDE OF LOUIS PHILIPPE.
— PRINCE ALBERT'S OPINION. — KING LEOPOLD'S LETTER TO
METTERNICH. — FALL OF THIERS. — THE GUIZOT MINISTRY. —

ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV OF PRUSSIA. INTERVIEW

BETWEEN HIM AND PRINCE ERNEST AS TO THE PROPOSED CESSION
OF LICHTENBERG. — VIOLENT SCENE. — FAILURE OF NEGOTIATION.

IN the beginning of July 1839 I returned from Dresden to
Coburg, whilst my father, accompanied by my brother, went
to Carlsbad. The stay there did not please Albert very much,
and he wrote me despairing letters about the wearisomeness
of the days. We had hardly a thought of how much tli«;
further course of the year 1839 promised both of us, and
Albert in particular. In the autumn we once more found
ourselves with my father in Reinhardsbrunn, united in tlie

88 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

closest bonds, and were enjoying a visit from the King of
Saxony, after whose departure we all set out to spend a while
in England, during which the engagement between Albert and
Queen Victoria was brought to a settlement wished for by
everyone. On leaving London in October we went to Brussels
where we stayed with our uncle.

The event which took place here is an eminently historical
one, often related by the person who took the greatest part
in it. For me it had the twofold significance that on the one
side it formed the greatest turning-point in the life of my
only brother, and on the other gave our whole House a
political position never thought of until then. Through Prince
Albert's marriage with the Queen of England a new dynasty
was founded for the mightiest kingdom of Europe, but the
personal position which the founder was to assume hid
difficulties and dangers which might fill a brotherly heart
with heavy cares. Even to this day, fifty years later, when I
write down these recollections, I have such a strong and
distinct impression of what I have gone through, that it gives
me much real trouble to furnish posterity with the objective
matter of many a purely personal view.

The desire to forget any mistakes which may have been
made, will in any event cause the matter to appear in the
best and mildest light.

The Queen herself would not have been so completely and
passionately filled by the principal event, if the remembrance
of her inward happiness had not guided her pen every time
she herself described that day, or caused it to be described by
others.

Queen Victoria not seldom appears to historians as the
Queen Elizabeth of the nineteenth century, She has a
number of personal and political traits of character identical
with those of the great and admired monarch of the sixteenth
century. She stands on the same intimate footing with all
European culture, thanks to her extensive knowledge of
languages, as the friend and patroness of Protestantism stood
with reference to the culture of the world in her time.

Full of interest for and attention to the work and the

QUEEN VICTORIA 89

welfare of her people, like Elizabeth, she seized the reins of
government with a strong personal energy which appeared as
if it would estrange her from the ancient ruling nobility, as it
had her great predecessor. If parallels of the kind did not
offer something of a scholastic character, the comparison
between the two queens might be carried still further, but as
regards the personal impression which is mentioned by
persons habitually near the presence, such attempts appear
not only inadequate, but even childish.

But the eminent skill with which Victoria uses her pen,
the way in which she combines the cool reflection of a man
with the womanly need of an affectionate heart for a diary,
her possession in a high degree of that trait in great monarchs,
a faithful remembrance of old friends and servants, of valuable
relations and men, and, lastly, the manner in which she has
fulfilled her difficult duties in life, with the utmost queenly
understanding, all these points may lend some justice to the
attempted comparison.

Regarding them from a point of view of feeling only, a
difference shows itself between the two Queens of England,
to the great advantage of the latter. For the extraordinary
affection for her family, which existed in Queen Victoria, the
full and free abandonment of herself to the circle of her
relations, children and grandchildren, one might almost say,
the yearly increasing wish to provide and care for that family
even in the smallest particular, is what makes our Queen
appear as far removed as possible from the lonely daughter
of Henry VIII. This prominent family feeling was not so
much an inheritance from her forefathers, as the result of a
happy life, the consequence of her marriage with my brother.
The warm capacity for happiness, as she afterwards found
it, was a splendid present given her by nature, but fifty years
ago the appreciation of such feelings was naturally not yet
developed and in full force.

In her youth, Victoria stood alone, isolated, without
proper guidance.

My aunt, the Duchess of Kent, was a woman of very ex-
cellent traits of character, but she had no great influence over

9o MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

her daughter, thus, given the loveliness and gifts of the
quickly developed and early grown heiress to the Crown of
England, it could not fail that the seventeen year old ruler
showed an indomitable will.

In the book about Prince Albert a small traitor has
sneaked into one of the notes, which speaks of a state of
things which gave rise to much more suffering than is
generally imagined.

As is known, Victoria's governess was afterwards the
Baroness Lehzen. The wise woman confesses in a letter to
having played a little trick, which may have been attractive
enough to a governess, as she desired in some degree to play
the part of providence towards the twelve-year-old Princess.
She therefore laid a genealogical tree, behind the tutor's
back, in the history book, from which the Princess was to
learn that she was the real heiress to the throne of England.
To this discovery she joined a speech in which — one might
humorously say — she plainly indicated the undoubted talent
for reigning possessed by a governess.

The time came for the acquisition of Victoria's hand.
That all the combinations with regard to my brother's
marriage with the Queen which had been made since their
childhood were nothing more than idle ideas, or good wishes,
is well known.

Since Stockmar, as well as the Queen herself, had written
concerning these matters, there is no need for further contra-
diction of a mistake which I have already pointed out above.
But as late as to-day, the assertion that the bridegroom's
journey in October, 1839, was only the formal close of an
already decided matter, deserves a grave denial. Although
several of the six suitors whom the Queen mentions in her
life of Prince Albert, were not regarded after the death of
King William IV, yet very powerful rivals still remained :
for instance, at Louis Philippe's Court the hope of Victoria's
marriage with Nemours was still so great that only Leopold's
wife, Queen Louise, was told anything about Prince Albert's
settled engagement.

The plan of having the marriage take place in three years'

PRINCE ALBERTS AWKWARD POSITION 91

time only was a really depressing thought, particularly to my
brother ; the Queen herself was sorry afterwards that it could
ever have been supposed that Prince Albert would be willing
to wait so long. But things of this, kind no doubt sprang from
the brain of the Baroness Lehzen, who wished to keep up her
dominion still longer.

Without wishing to lay too great stress upon the
governess's small campaigns, I must nevertheless say that her
influence with regard to the Queen's entrance into rule was
not without political danger. When we arrived in England
the Queen's relations to the Government parties were of a
highly unpleasant if not delicate nature. The regiment of
Whigs was in every way unconstrainable ; and the Tories had
been made impossible through a Court lady affair which had
given rise to the greatest vexations in the preceding May.
The publication of Stockmar's Memoirs has earned the merit
of having first thrown some light upon these matters. But
even here the account is by no means complete, nor fully
explained.

The surroundings in which the Queen was placed made
the Prince's allotted task a difficult one indeed. My brother
never expressed himself definitely concerning the value it
would have been to him not to have to walk this path alone.
But it would be mere prudery of friendship if to-day, nearly
fifty years later, I were to consider before saying openly that
he really needed my brotherly sympathy on the journey to
England before his marriage. As is known, the engagement
was settled on the 15th of October. There is no finer proof
of the Queen's really great and open mind than the fact that
she freely recognised in a letter to King Leopold, how much
my brother was sacrificing in order to obtain a position which
was made bitter to him in every conceivable way.

Even if Grey's assertion in his history of the Prince's
youth be true, that the Queen spoke a great deal about the
Prince's desirable title and position, yet in this important
respect only too little was obtained. I know that the most
decided declarations had to be made at the time, signifying
that the Prince would never be satisfied with the dignity of

92 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

an English Peer. When, therefore, it was settled that he
should take precedence of everyone in England after the
Queen, this did not prevent most angry conflicts on the
subject from arising for long years afterwards. But, at best,
the difficulties of his rank were set aside by the English
Court rather theoretically than practically ; in international
relations, on the other hand, the Prince remained in the
unpleasant position of having first to dispute for the place
due to him. If the Queen, to whom the many cases of pre-
cedence in English history would look, furnished ample
grounds for the intention, had offered the Prince the title of
King, the weak Ministry would not have had the courage to
lay such a decree before Parliament.

After the Queen had made the settlement of her betrothal
known to the Privy Councillors, began the most uncomfortable
debates over my brother's dotation and position, disputes on
which I need not enlarge, as they are known through Parlia-
mentary documents, with all the attendant chicanery. That
even his Protestant faith was made an object of discussion
and doubt, appeared even at that time inexplicable to the
German reader, and will never be understood by him, except
when he recalls the fact that the Opposition wished to use
that excuse as a lever for overthrowing the Melbourne Cabinet.

Many things attendant on this matter would have been
otherwise, if, from the first the Prince had been willing to
assume a more friendly position with regard to the old
English aristocracy.

Long after we had again left England, the marriage was
finally settled to take place on the 10th of February 1840, for
the idea of a three years' postponement had, in consequence
of a public declaration, which I had encouraged my brother
to make, to be abandoned. So the moment came when my
brother was to take leave of his Fatherland for ever. We
travelled first to Brussels with our father, where a solemn
reception of the Royal Consort of England took place, after
which we set out for Calais ; an English fleet squadron awaited
the Prince and his wedding guests. We had a stormy passage,,
and it exercised a depressing influence on even those who

PRINCE ALBERTS MARRIAGE 93

were not personally inclined to have superstitious misgiv-
ings.

At length arrived at Dover, our passage through the
different towns and cities of the kingdom was like a triumphal
procession. In London, however, an accident spoiled the
ceremonial and joyful welcome prepared by the people, the
bridegroom happening, in the most incomprehensible manner,
to be driven through side streets, whilst the vainly waiting
masses of the people had assembled in another part of the
city.

I shall not go into a minute description of the festivities
which accompanied my brother's marriage.

But I looked upon it as a real happiness that I was to
remain nearly three months with my brother after his
marriage, whereas my father left immediately after the
rejoicings were over. Thus I was a witness of the daily in-
creasing understanding between the young married pair, to
both of whom their strongly defined characters made it by no
means an easy task to understand the art of yielding one to
the other. Nevertheless I could see the beginning of the
heartfelt relations which afterwards bound them so closely
together. In the correspondence which I carried on with my
uncle during my stay in London, I often so vividly and
drastically described the pleasures and pains of this process of
heart training, that even Baron Stockmar once allowed him-
self to write the words ' all good and true,' beneath a humor-
ous letter of this kind.

Yet I was essentially convinced that ' what my brother
had succeeded in as a betrothed lover he would certainly not
fail to attain as a husband.' ' Victoria,' I was able to
write on the 2nd of March, ' remains consistent, she is invari-
ably a loving, attentive, and even tender wife to Albert, and
tries to find out his small preferences.'

For my part, my stay at the English Court gained me
much experience in a certain way, which was that I thus had
an opportunity of immediately learning English customs and
modes of living. Many of the peculiarities of English society
were more agreeable to me than they ever became to my

94 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

brother in after years. The passion for every kind of sport
inherent in the nobility found more approbation and compre-
hension with me than it did with him, and in this way I
obtained access into the otherwise reserved English nature.

I cannot say whether Prince Albert adopted from the first
the right tone in his relations with this people. I have often
affectionately disputed with my brother on this point, and
always felt that his lot was hard, having to bring about an
understanding with the Island nation.

When, during the last days we spent together, we rode
out side by side and Albert was making his invariably
apposite and clever remarks about everything which we saw,
he would add with a sigh, ' When you are gone, I shall have
no one with whom I can speak openly about these things.
An Englishman cannot grasp or understand such matters, and
only sees in words like those I have just uttered an arrogant
desire to blame on the part of the foreigner.

The softening influence of a friend and never failing

o o

cheerfulness would have been of great advantage to the
Prince in this awkward position with reference to English
ways, and to a large portion of the aristocracy. People ought
to have tried to make him more friendly. The Prince was
now given an English secretary, as it were by virtue of office,
and without having his wishes consulted in the matter, and
this was not calculated to help the case as it then stood. He
was an intellectual and gifted young man, Mr Anson, but
filled with violent animosity towards large numbers of
families.

He had been secretary to the Prime Minister, and had a
very poor opinion of all Germans, so that Prince Albert fell
into the danger of becoming little by little isolated from all
his former friends. The only man with whom Mr Anson
wisely tried to keep on a good footing was Stockmar, because
he looked upon the Queen as not to be shaken in her affection
for this old friend. As regards the remainder, besides several
servants in the Prince's immediate service, the only German
there was a private secretary, who took charge of the German
correspondence. This place was then filled by a certain

VISIT TO SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

95

Professor Schenk, who had once given us brothers lessons in
English, and was formerly secretary to the Duchess of
Kent, a good man, but beset by all the faults of a German
Philistine. After he left, another mistake was made in the
choice of his successor. Thus my brother's position in
England was in every way difficult, and I may say quite
objectively that he had to be the fashioner of his own
happiness, in the strictest sense of the word. Nothing could
be more unjust than the impression made by envy in Germany,
that he owed his later distinguished position to good luck
alone.

During my stay in England, the continual intercourse
between the Island Kingdom and Portugal, gave me an
opportunity of visiting my relations in the far -South. So I
made up my mind to take a journey southwards, which en-
abled me to recover from the manifold fatigues of the past
months, as well as to obtain a great deal of the most interest-
ing instruction.

A journey to Spain and Portugal then ranked amongst
the great rarities of the Continent. I do not know that any
German Prince travelled through the Peninsula as a simple
tourist previous to the year 1840. My two chamberlains von
Loewenfels and Gruben, and Doctor Florschuetz, my tutor's
nephew, accompanied me.

At Lisbon, we found King Ferdinand and Queen Maria in
an apparently firm, unshakeable political position ; the affairs
of the country were in order, and peace was assured; the
internecine war appeared to be as entirely forgotten, as if
more than one generation had sprung up since then. The
Pretender was hardly ever mentioned.

My first impressions of Portugal and the Court, I described
so completely and entirely in a letter, written at the time to my
brother and sister-in-law in England, that I may be per-
mitted, instead of giving my recollections here again, to copy
a portion of it, since it may perhaps be of interest to the
historians of Portugal, as coming from an eye-witness of the
year 1840.

96 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

'DEAR ALBERT, — I am taking advantage of the next
steamer again, in order to give you and Victoria my opinion
on what I have seen and experienced. In order to do this
with some method, I shall divide my letter into six principal
parts.

' I. Ferdinand, as I have already said in my last letter,
has grown to be a very agreeable young man, both physically
and mentally. His figure is slender and well-formed, of the
same height as papa, and his face, although it is on the whole
unchanged, has assumed a much milder expression.

' His movements are very graceful, and his demeanour
quite that of a king. His character, too, has developed in
proportion ; the sharpness, f retf ulness and want of feeling
which he sometimes showed have entirely disappeared, and he
has gained a certain amount of good nature and cordiality. As
I have talked about this a good deal with him, and openly told
him what I had noticed, he in turn has told me with pleasure
how great a difference he feels within himself, compared with
the state of mind in which he came here, and how ashamed
he is of his former faults and want of education and know-
ledge of the world. Now he takes pleasure in and looks
forward to a great many things, concerning which he used to
be perfectly indifferent. He can bring together a most
charming circle, too, and chats with each member, sometimes
in French, sometimes, as most of the gentlemen assure me, in
fluent Portuguese.

' We have talked a great deal about our old life together in
Coburg and Gotha; I have noticed with pleasure how dear these
memories still are to him, and how he has preserved every-
thing which reminds him in the least of those beautiful days.

'II. Donna Maria is at the first glance a psychological
conundrum, if I may be allowed to use the word. I have set
myself the special task of studying her.

' She is stout, yet by no means as ill formed as people
pretend ; her head is fine, and her eyes remind me very much
of Aunt Louise. None of the pictures which exist of her do
her justice.

' She never speaks to strangers ; wastes but few words

OPINION OF DONNA MARIA

97

on the courtiers, but to us and our acquaintance she talks a
great deal. What is taken for embarrassment is really design,
and what so many have called want of education is simply
originality.

' I take her for a thoroughly clever woman, for, as long as
I have been here, I have never heard a mistaken or illogical
opinion from her lips, nor any flat or hasty remark, and that
means a great deal, for I am more with Ferdinand and Maria
than I was with you. Everything which Donna Maria says
is apposite, and generally accompanied by a keen display of
wit. She hears and notices everything, and, as Ferdinand
often assures me, can comprehend the most difficult matter at
a glance.

' You may imagine that we have talked on the most varied
subjects, and naturally often touched upon matters which lie
further removed from a woman's range of ideas, yet I have
often noticed with pleasure how much interest she takes in
everything, and how little she is inclined to be prejudiced.

' She is an exemplary wife and mother ; both my gentle-
men are perfectly delighted with the domestic qualities of
their consorts. Such an affectionate surrender is rarely to be
seen, she knows nothing of obstinacy, moodiness, etc., she
lives only for and in her family.

1 Both the children are most lovely, and will certainly
bring their parents an increase of happiness year by year.

' III. I could say much concerning Dietz and his relations
with the Royal Family and the country, as I now know them
thoroughly, but as, for many reasons, I think it better to pass
them over, I will only remark that one must never judge a
matter at a distance, when one knows nothing about it ; that
is, that we have all been mistaken, and his position is by no
means so monstrous as we have thought ; and I shall certainly
take the man himself under my protection, which will pro-
bably astonish you.

• IV. As regards the present internal state of Portugal, all
seems to be going on very well ; everything is quiet and con-
tented in the provinces, and a few days ago the last Guerilla-
leaders in the north gave themselves up to the Government.

VOL. I. G

98 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

In Lisbon alone there are still several Republican societies and
many Liberal ones.

' However, one notices nothing of all this ; on the contrary,
the excessive politeness of the lower, as well as the higher
classes, when they meet the King in the streets, fills one with
astonishment.

' During the past three years, roughly speaking, Ferdinand
has been steadily increasing in popularity, and I have noticed,
not without great wonder, how willingh7, with what zeal and
circumspection he engages in the work of governing, which
the Queen, who thus shows her wisdom, has given into his
hands.

' Lisbon may thank Ferdinand for two things of the
greatest importance. Firstly, the cleaning of the city and the
improvement of the police. I can assure you, that I have
seen no city in Italy which could compare with Lisbon
for cleanliness, and the suburbs of Brussels would create
astonishment here by their dirt. Secondly, the improvement
and support of agriculture.

' Here too we can reap golden fruit. For centuries past
quantities of corn of all sorts had been brought here from
France and Germany, and Portugal has now been exporting a
not unimportant amount of grain since the past two years.
As regards the inner political events, even the very Liberal
Ministers themselves must own that it is an impossibility to
govern with the new Constitution. Unfortunately, however,
it cannot be altered, and it appears to me that it would be a
very good thing if it were left to rot alone, until it falls to
pieces, and the Ultra-Liberals are at length disposed of.

' The Ministers are, as I have discerned partly for myself,
partly from Ferdinand's description, very mediocre creatures.
But few amongst them are possessed of any knowledge and
understanding, and those of whom this may be said, are
mostly false, dishonourable and very untrustworthy, besides
being invariably poor. The Diplomatic corps, whom Ferdi-
nand himself introduced to me, have, with few exceptions, made
no favourable impression on me. The English Minister, Lord
H , particularly struck me as being a highly narrow-minded

LIFE AT THE PORTUGUESE COURT 99

man. Ferdinand complains greatly of his stubbornness and
want of insight.

'V. The Court state is about the same as that of every
German sovereign Prince, and the gentlemen are neither
better nor worse than they are everywhere at Court.
Ferdinand's adjutants are four tried and experienced officers,
who all pleased me well. After Lavradio's description, I
expected the Necessidades palace to be a magnificent castle,
and was therefore not a little surprised to find myself in a
house which, as regards fitting up, might both inside and
outside be placed on a footing with Rodach. Indeed I con-
sidered the latter almost too good to be compared with it.
The arrangements in the castle itself, such as table, cellar,
service, are in good order, and are on exactly the same scale
as at the Saxon Court. The cooking is particularly good, as
it bears a great resemblance to our beloved household fare ; I
have already been surprised to see dumplings. The order of
the day, since I have been here, is about as follows :

' At ten o'clock we sit down to breakfast ; those who are
present are, the Grand Almoner, the Chief Ministers of Cere-
monies with the Court ladies, the Chamberlain, the Adjutant
on service, and the Officers of the Watch. It is a kind of
luncheon, at which rice constitutes the principal dish.

' I generally spend the morning with Ferdinand and
Donna Maria; the Ministers often come to hand in some
document, as do the Chamberlains and Generals. The Queen
receives no one alone, but everyone comes to Ferdinand, who
listens to them, arranges their affairs for them, and then only
admits them to kiss the Queen's hand. When the person
enters the drawing-room, Ferdinand always precedes him,
and usually kisses her hand first. This struck me particularly.
At two o'clock we generally ride out with the Queen, to
examine anything worthy of notice in the city, or beautiful
views and landscapes ; we rarely return home before half-past
five o'clock. Dinner is at seven, at which meal it is the
exception for more persons to be present, than are at break-
fast. After dinner, people come to pay their respects, as they
do at Grandmamma's in Gotha. In the evening one is quite

ioo MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

free to go or stay as one likes, which I look upon as a very
pleasant arrangement, for those who live at Court. I play
billiards almost daily with Ferdinand and several gentlemen.

' VI. If I were to attempt to describe to you only half of
the beauties of the city, the neighbourhood, the climate, in a
word everything which one can enjoy with the senses here, I
would need a year's time and a library full of blank sheets. I
have never been able to feel enthusiastic about the South, but
I realise now what the southern zone is. Even Gruben who
lived some time in Italy, cannot get over his delight. Heaven
really seems to have particularly blessed this land. The trees
are greener, the sky is bluer, the earth is more fruitful, the
mountains are higher and better formed, and the streams are
more beautiful. One thinks one's self in Paradise. The
charms of Lake Maggiore, which I had until now considered
greater than any others, appeared to me like a daisy beside a
full-blown rose, when I compare them with those of this
country.

' The city is very remarkable ; it lies like an amphitheatre
on a row of hills, surrounded by the Tagus, and the streets
follow without plan the hollows and elevations of the soil. I
know of none like it. As regards the architectural style, it
bears not the slightest resemblance to any Italian city, and
the houses remind one of the old German towns. I might
compare Lisbon to a Northerner, who is not willing to give up
his native dress, yet through the influence of the climate is
forced to make certain alterations in it.

' The vegetation is particularly pleasing, even if one can-
not quite admit its beauty as a whole. We were hunting the
day before yesterday in a wood lying near Lisbon, in the
celebrated Depada. I imagined myself in India, or in the
forests of Brazil. The tall trees were olives and orange-trees,
and the undergrowth and thickets were a wonderful tangle of
dwarf-oaks, aloes, cacti and wild asparagus, which grows
nearly to the height of a man.

' ERNEST.

' Lisbon, Qth June.'

CINTRA 10 1

As will be seen from the foregoing sketches, I had grown
quite at home in Lisbon. Life, nature and climate, all suited
ine uncommonly well. On the other hand, I was not very
much delighted with the works of art, with but few exceptions.
The Palace of Ajuta, built of white marble, but unfortunately
only half-completed, and the convent in Belem, where the
Queen had her country-seat, were buildings of great richness
and thorough originality ; the mixture of Gothic, Moorish and
northern Italian styles, in spite of its variety of forms, strikes
the eye not unpleasantly.

On the 3rd of June we left for the magnificent Cintra,
where we occupied the old, indescribably beautifully situated
castle, and made daily excursions which lasted for hours.
We generally dined on the way in the open air, and returned
home only when night was coming on.

The beauty of the view from the castle is so overpowering
that one can find no words with which to reproduce its
effect. The place is built high upon the Sierra de Cintra, and
these mountains are covered partly with orange and citron
forests, partly with fantastically spired masses of rock. The
picturesquely scattered country houses peep forth from the
orreen of the forests, and in the distance lies the ocean.

o

From Cintra we took a three days' trip to Maffra, the
favourite resort of John VI. This castle and convent, built
with indescribable magnificence, of white marble, is un-
doubtedly in the worst taste of any building I have ever seen.

Added to that, it lies in u dreary and uninteresting neigh-
bourhood. An idea may be gained of its dimensions when
one hears that 8000 men were comfortably quartered there
during the Peninsular war, and even then it was not found
necessary to use the principal rooms.

On the 27th of June I took passage for Cadiz, and found,
as I had done during my whole travels through Spain, that it
far exceeded my expectations. We were enabled to see a
-i vat deal to which strangers are not admitted, and I looked
upon it as a particular piece of good luck that I was able to
endure the heat — it was often 27° Reaumur in the shade —
proportionally well.

102 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

At Seville we owed the English Consul, who helped us to
many an enjoyment, a debt of thanks. When we left he
gave us his son as a travelling guide. The Queen had com-
manded through a Cabinet order, that I and my suite were to
be received in every Spanish town with Royal honours. We
had many advantages from this command, although on the other
hand, we could not escape from much ceremony and formality.

As the Gibraltar steamer had already left, we went in the
English man-of-war Magician to Tangiers, paid a visit to the
Pasha, cruised for several days along the coast of Africa, and
returned to Gibraltar as soon as the wind became contraiy.
We spent six days here as guests of the governor, Sir Charles
Wilson. Parades, picnics, and balls made our stay most
pleasant. After that we turned towards Malaga.

The journey from Malaga to Granada, through the moun-
tains, deserves a short description on account of its adven-
turous character.

As the burdensome overland day passage under the July
sun would have been unbearable, a fantastic train set out from
Malaga towards one o'clock in the morning.

Loewenfels, the British Consul, and I, on horseback, all in
the Spanish national costume, then a couple of two-horse
carriages, calesas, only to be seen in Spain, and to be com-
pared rather to a rack than a carriage, bearing Gruben,
Florschuetz. and the luggage. Besides this, two merchants
had joined us. The gentleman who owned the horses and his
groom followed. The rear was brought up by six ragged
Uhlans, whom the Governor of Malaga had given us ' as a
protection.'

The next morning, after a tedious passage over the
mountains, we reached a charming spot, where a solitary inn
provided us with but poor shelter. In the evening we set
out again, although our body guard of Uhlans had returned
home in the morning. The innkeeper, whose sons were
known throughout the district as dangerous robbers, assured
me with the sincerest face that we might go on our way
without anxiety. We made up our minds to keep our
weapons ready and started at six o'clock in the evening.

ENCOUNTER WITH ROBBERS 103

The road lay between high rocks and steep declivities.
The peculiar yellow appearance of the Spanish mountains
showed in charming outlines when the moon rose behind the
mighty masses of rocks and flooded the whole surroundings
with soft light.

We went on in silence until the grey dawn appeared, when
suddenly, from behind a bend in the road, ten or twelve
adventurous riders, whose business was not to be mistaken,
sprang in front of us. One of the band, in a most picturesque
costume, and with the most courteous manners, introduced
himself to us as the leader of the Garda ca/mina, that is, in
other words, we had immediately to pay a certain sum in
order to secure the protection of these gentlemen.

A few of them understood and spoke a little English, and
we had quite a long conversation, during which we had an
opportunity of recognizing the innkeeper himself, who had
inspired us with such courage for the continuation of our
journey on the preceding evening.

When everything was settled, the leader made himself
known as Santa Maria, who, we afterwards learned, was one
of the most notorious robbers, and we exchanged pistols in
the most friendly manner. Loewenfels received his girdle.
The band stayed with us for two days, during the ascent of
the pathless Sierra. They rode with vanguard and rearguard,
and until we arrived before the gate of Granada, we were
their more or less willing captives.

Half starved, and tired to death, we reached the old
Moorish capital, whence we returned to Malaga by another
route, and, after a sea passage which lasted six days, reached
Barcelona on a Spanish packet steamer.

During our voyage we dropped anchor almost daily at
the different Spanish ports, and thus it happened that I
landed for a few hours at Taragona. Fate decreed that I
was to meet an old man in an uninviting coffee-house, who
revealed himself as a countryman of mine from Gotha.
Being wounded, he had remained behind at Taragona, where
the Gotha regiment had been stationed, and never returned
home. Loaded with presents and shedding tears of joy, he

io4 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE COBURG-GOTHA

accompanied me on board ship. In Barcelona I was an
accidental witness of the most remarkable political occurrences
which characterise the recent history of Spain.

Queen Christina's regency appeared to have escaped the
dangers prepared for her by Don Carlos, after he had taken up
his abode on French soil, only to be all the more driven by the
progressive party from that time forth.

During a journey made by the Queen Regent, the insurrec-
tion of June 1840, under the leadership of Espartero, broke
out, finding its repressal in Barcelona.

I will now introduce my letter of the 2nd of August,
addressed to my brother.

'DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER, — Our return journey from
Malaga was happily accomplished; we stayed there several
days, in order to see the incomparably beautiful neighbour-
hood, and at length on the 26th of July, we steamed out of
the port in the little Mercurio. Yesterday, we arrived here
at Barcelona, after a tedious, fatiguing and exceedingly
unbearable passage of six days.

'We generally travelled only at night, and during a
portion of the morning, and stopped during the day, going on
again in the evening. In this way we became acquainted
with the towns of Almeria, Carthagena, Alicante, Valencia
and Taragona; we were everywhere received with the most
unbearable formalities.

' Valencia is indisputably the most interesting of all the
towns, as the surroundings are also green and cultivated.
The greatest excitement reigned everywhere, on account
of the triumph which the ultra-liberals have so easily
obtained by force of arms; no man considered himself safe,
and the lives of several hundreds of unprotected officials hang
by a hair. As I conceive that a detailed account of the
present state of Spain will be of interest to you, I will give
you a sketch of what is but indistinctly related in the news-
papers, and not to be really imagined unless one is in Spain,
and what I have heard from the lips of several highly

ESPARTERO'S INSURRECTION 105

enlightened men belonging to the moderate Liberal party, as
well as what I have seen with my own eyes.

' Yesterday, that is, on the 31st of July, we landed towards
one o'clock in the magnificent port of Barcelona, and were not
a little surprised, as well as somewhat pleased, to see that not
the slightest tokens of honour were offered us, but had trouble
on the contrary, to prevent our luggage being searched after
we had been kept waiting for three hours.

' The reason was that Espartero had declared the town to
be in a state of siege, in order to have greater freedom to do
as he liked.

' We wandered on foot to a hotel, where we were about to
ask for rooms, when a deputation appeared, sent by the town
and English Consul, to lead us to a palace especially prepared
for us. A few hours later, the Queen's chief master of
ceremonies made his appearance, for the purpose of compli-
menting me and begging my pardon in the Queen's name for
my unheard of reception.

' We were now really ushered to a large, roomy palace
which had belonged to some exiled or escaped Grandee, but
which barely contained chairs and tables. Nevertheless, a
good dinner made up for everything, and the night unex-
pectedly brought millions of jumping creatures which
languished for our blood, the end of all our fatigues, as we
had been obliged for the last six nights to lie on hard benches
on the deck for want of any better place.

'The English Consul and officers, who are with the
army, had given us a short description of the following
facts.

' The Queen is held a prisoner in the castle by Espartero,
the army has blindly given itself up to him; as well as the mob
and the ultra-liberals, but the Guards are less enthusiastic.
4000 men are stationed in the town, 16,000 in the immediate
neighbourhood, and with them 3000 men more belonging to
the disaffected National Guards. A mass of troops surround
the castle day and night, the former Ministers have fled. The
town authorities, as well as the Ministers, are low, stupid men
and entirely the creatures of the Radical party, just like

io6 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

General Espartero himself, who has so shamefully turned the
tables.

' Early in the morning the chief master of the ceremonies
appeared again, and informed me of the Queen's wish to see
me at five o'clock. Meanwhile, the great Duke of Vittoria
(Espartero) made his appearance, covered from head to foot
with gold embroidery, accompanied by his entire general
staff, consisting of over thirty men, and the whole body of
generals, as well as all the civil authorities in immense
numbers.

' At length, at three o'clock, we climbed into a frightful
carriage, to drive to Court. The Court itself consists of the
unfortunate master of ceremonies alone, who led me with fear
and trembling to the Queen, who received me in person at the
door, surrounded by the little minor Queen and her sisters.
I saw neither ladies nor gentlemen, not even a servant. The
dwelling struck me as being even worse than mine, and the
mighty ruler herself but very poorly clad. She is a very
handsome and attractive lady, and at the same time exceed-
ingly amiable and condescending, and I may boast that she
talked to rne as if I were an old friend. The events of the day
were naturally the only subject of conversation, and she
described her present position in a heart-broken way, ending
with tears in her eyes, and the words: " Je suis la plus
malheureuse femme du monde."

' I could not conceal the real state of the provinces from
her, -and noticed with pleasure that she was informed of
everything, but deeply depressed at not having the means to
help.

'After a conversation which lasted nearly an hour, she
left me and we then returned Espartero's visit.

' He is an uncomely little man, without any figure what-
ever, awkward and bashful, and speaks very broken French.

' Nevertheless, I conversed a long time with him, and ob-
tained a pretty clear insight into the army and the present
position of affairs. The war may be said to have been con-
cluded four days since, and one sees detachments of soldiers,
wounded, and prisoners pass by daily. All the troops I saw

QUEEN CHRISTINA REVIEWS THE TROOPS 107

had a fine military appearance, and seem to be under good
discipline. The town itself swarms with soldiers.

' The English Consul has just written me, that I can de-
spatch you a letter this afternoon, so I will close. If it is
possible, I will let "you" hear from me again from Marseilles,
where I shall arrive on the 6th. Farewell, dear ones ; I have
heard nothing from you for three weeks ; it is to be hoped
that you are well. — With heartfelt affection, your faithful
brother,

' ERNEST.

' P.S. — Whilst I was writing I received news from an
adjutant of Espartero's that he had ordered a parade to be
held in my honour, and would send for me this afternoon.
6000 men are to be present.'

What I announced in the postscript of the above letter
really took place on the afternoon of the 2nd of August.
Espartero held as imposing a review as possible in my honour.
The troops had, however, for want of a proper exercising
ground, to be drawn up along the Boulevards of the town.
When we had ridden along the line, Espartero turned to me
with a request, that I should go to the Queen and persuade
her to see the troops pass by from the balcony of her prison.
The influence, added Espartero, which I was more in a position
to exercise over the Queen than anyone else at this moment,
would make it easy for me to accomplish a task so important
to the peace of the country.

And indeed, in the present position of affairs, it seemed as
if the best thing would be for the Queen to make up her mind
to save the appearances of authority, as she was no longer
able to hold the reins of real power.

So I rode to the castle and laid my request before the Queen.
I tried to talk her into acceding to the wishes of the man in
power. But she was hard to persuade. A scene followed which
was still more moving, than that which I had gone through
with her earlier in the day, and which is described in my
letter. At length the Queen yielded, really appeared on the

io8 MEMOIRS OF THE DVKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

castle balcony, and insisted upon my remaining by her
side.

People saw in this suddenly improvised event, a kind
of reconciliation between the Queen and Espartero, and
whereas much had been said up to that moment of the unruly
spirit which had begun to show itself amongst the Guards
against Espartero, an understanding was now regarded as
possible.

Espartero led the troops past with the customary marks of
honour, and the Queen showed by her presence on the balcony
that she retained her rights with regard to the Duke and the
army. The victorious army and its insurgent General had
paid a kind of homage to the monarchical principle. That,
however, the relations which appeared to be thus established
would be of much worth or of long duration I did not hope,
and therefore the further course of events could not surprise
me.

The Regency of the radical General assumed at least a law-
ful form. But when I revisited Spain five years later, Narvaez
had assumed the control, and the Western and European
Powers were seriously beginning to try to set affairs in Spain
on a firmer footing, by bringing about the marriage of the
minor Queen. It will be necessary for me to resume the
thread of this narrative later on.

I then set out after an absence of more than six months
for Coburg, going by way of Marseilles and Switzerland, the
Duchess of Kent being on a visit there. As the leave which
had been granted me by the King of Saxony had meantime
come to an end, I went back to Dresden. I found Germany
in one of those exciting moments which I still remembered to
have shared in during my youth. Just at that time the
world looked upon a general conflict of the European Powers
as unavoidable, that they were on the brink of a new war of
coalition against the predominance of France.

Twenty days after Queen Victoria's wedding the Thiers
Ministry entered into office in Paris, and this Ministry was
destined to raise a storm in European affairs such as no one
had witnessed for a quarter of a century.

LOUIS PHILIPPE AND HIS ADVISERS 109

Louis Philippe had unwillingly accommodated himself to
the loss of the personal rule which he had exercised by virtue
of his domineering influence in the Cabinet of the 12th of May
1839.

If the Opposition headed by Thiers and Guizot showed
itself inimical to the King in either large or small matters,
neither could Marshal Soult boast of very great success in
foreign politics.

The Oriental question had lapsed into the alarming stage
of a struggle between Egypt and the Porte, which latter was
protected by both England and Russia. The battle of Nisib
on the 24th of June dispelled all the illusions concerning
moral support, and the avoidance of immediate warlike
measures on the part of Russia and England in the fight
against the Egyptian Pacha. The death of Sultan Mahmoud,
the betrayal of the Turkish fleet, and the occupation of the
throne by the six year old Abdul Medjid looked as if the
Porte had ceased to be a Power.

The conqueror of Nisib prepared to seize the inheritance
himself, and with much gnashing of teeth acceded to Francis'
request that he would extend his conquests no further. But
this demand, which was brought to Major Cullier, Soult's Ad-
jutant, contained the promise that King Louis Philippe would
become security for Mehemet Ali's possession of Syria. In
this manner France and the Eastern Powers assumed a
mutually unfriendly aspect.

Louis Philippe must have doubted his success in retaining
England on the side of the French, at least as long as Lord
Palmerston stood at the helm of foreign politics, for the latter,
as he himself openly said, had made up his mind to humble
France. The Opposition played Soult's wavering Ministry
the usual trick of making Parliament refuse the Duke of
Nemours the dotation on the occasion of his marriage with
my cousin.

Regarding this latter, the King considered that the
Ministry had not done enough in the matter. Thus Thiers'
position was in no way enviable, when he placed himself at
the head of the Government. That the King, even in the

no MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

smallest questions and matters, was forced to capitulate to
the Ministerial rule, is well-known, and the victorious Opposi-
tion did not spare Louis Philippe the humiliation of seeing
them show in the most public manner that the personal
influence of the Crown had given way before the strict con-
stitutional system.

Whilst the opinions in France against England and Russia
were being expressed in a more and more irritated manner,
the question of peace or war was laid before the Government
by the four great Powers, France being excluded, on the 15th
of July. Rumours of war in Germany and France were
raised. No one liked to draw back from the popular cry on
either side. Just as the literary men yonder, such as Edgar
Quinet, who had for years striven for and preached the
scientific and mental equalisation of Germany and France,
were seized by an irresistible longing for German soil, even
so the remembrance of the great war of freedom quickly dis-
turbed in Germany the liberalising sympathies for the free-
minded France of the July dynasty.

Those are good words with which one of the Germans who
knew France best, described the situation of affairs, and
which I would now like to cite as the development of my own
German feelings arising from this period.

Those were the days of Germany's conception. The
thought of union, which it had fostered for thirty years, and
grumbled at too, first took root when the French deliverer of
nations, and they who made them prosperous, so carelessly
betrayed themselves as conquerors greedy of land ; the heart
of the nation was done with French ideals, the Imperialism
of Heine, the Jacobinism of Borne, the Constitutionalism of
Rotteck-Welcker — the hitherto dammed-up stream of national
historical love of freedom won the upper hand for ever, during
those hours of excitement.

Louis Philippe's attitude in the struggle between the Powers
was in many respects very contradictory, and men were not
wanting to assert that it had never been the King's intention
to let himself be drawn into a war which would place his
crown in danger.

KING LEOPOLD OX THE SITUATION in

At that very time the Napoleonic reminiscences took a
firmer hold in France than they had ever had before. Thiers
unfettered the political ideas of the Empire, and Louis Philippe
tried to soften the Emperor's shade by means of the honours
and homage which were offered to his ashes in virtue of the
office he had once held.

Whilst the living heir to the Empire, Louis Napoleon, was
waiting for his doom after the Boulogne attempt, the passions
of the nation had again been roused against the coalition
which his uncle had overthrown.

Did Louis Philippe really feel himself strong enough to
play with those mighty questions ? Was it only, as others say,
that he might raise fortifications around Paris which were at
length to hold the city in check, which only a year before saw
the fearful ghost of the socialistic revolution appear in the
form of the insurrection headed by Barbes and Blanquis ?

There are no thoughtful historians who, with the materials
hitherto furnished them, would like to give a certain answer
to these questions. The man who probably held the best-
grounded opinions concerning these highly personal and inti-
mate courses of important events was King Leopold. During
the most decisive days, after the close of the Convention of
the 12th of July, he himself was the only person in Paris of
the rank of a King who had an opportunity of at once talking
to and observing the ruler of France and his father-in-law.
He had thus been able to form an opinion without the help of
Ministers, all of whom Louis Philippe hated.

The King's opinions on all the rumours of war will perhaps
be best understood from a few words in a letter from my
brother written on the 22nd of August.

' Louis Philippe is said to be beside himself about it,—
there is some talk of Lord Palmerston's politics, which are
favourable to the Spanish Espartero, — and this turns him
more against England than even the Oriental affairs. Uncle
Leopold has been here about a fortnight, and has tormented
himself with all the Ambassadors and Ministers in order to
keep the peace, which is placed in danger by the want of
sense of a great many people.

ii2 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

' Yesterday he said to me, with half-closed eyes and that
smile of his : " Oxenstierna has said that it is astonishing
with how little wisdom the world is governed." '

In the following September King Leopold was at
Wiesbaden, and wrote from there a very impressive letter to
Metternich, who, there can be no doubt, contributed not a
little to the present war :

' Wiesbaden, Sept. 15th 1840.

' It would be difficult for me to express to your Serene
Highness how much pleasure your long and confidential letter
gave me, and how deep an impression your practical and mild
comprehension of these tangled and unpleasant complications
has made on me. It is more necessary than ever to bring
these complications to a practical and comprehensive solution.

' I received from Lord Palmerston the announcement con-
tained in the despatch, which at length arrived, accompanied
by a letter dated the 4th of September, in which he was very
much excited over the speeches made by M. de Pontois at
Constantinople.

'I have no objection 'to much that is contained in the
despatch ; it was natural for him to defend himself, in the
same way, it was our opinion at Windsor that it would not
be necessary to mention that the attitude of the Porte with
reference to the principal point had always been understood ;
also, that the Powers had no other aim in view, than to seek
their own advantage in the matter.

' One might have wished the despatch to be more propi-
tiating, also that it had said decidedly that the five Powers
must now come to an understanding about the joint questions.
This, on the contrary, seems to have been put off again, and
only to be admitted as the consequences of the complete
execution of the Convention.

' Palmerston explained to me on the 23rd of August, that
the despatch can only be looked upon as a trifle, against
which our declaration, through a communication from the
Convention, after the successful ratification of France, would
be able to assert more positively the necessity of further
immediate negotiations with France.

LETTER TO METTERNICH 113

'Yesterday, the 14th, as I had wished first to wait for
several pieces of information, I declared to the Queen,
Melbourne and Palmerston my honest opinion of the dangers
of the present condition of affairs.

' These notices will reach their destination on the 17th, in
consequence of the increased ease of communication.

' I now consider it my duty not to hesitate an instant before
informing your Serene Highness also of my conscientious
and, heaven knows, my [entirely unbiassed opinion. You
alone, my dearest Prince, can work healing here, for whose
counsel, whose opinion ought to make a deeper impression in
England, than yours !

' The view of the case is this :

' If all further negotiations with France are put off until
after the execution of the Convention, I think that France
will not then enter into any, and particularly that war and
confusion are unavoidable.

'As one must demand nothing of others which they
cannot admit without delay, I have examined the attitude of
the English Ministry with regard to a propitiatory and yield-
ing line of conduct, and it appears to me as follows : The
Convention has set aside the, to Englishmen, very unpleasant
treaty of Unkiar Skelessy. Further, the Convention, if
handled with moderation, will most probably be the means of
settling the Turkish-Egyptian question. Thus the English
Cabinet has evidently had a real success.

' Nothing is wanting now, for all this to be settled with the
European Powers without a quarrel. There is only one way
in which to accomplish this, even after your Serene Highness's
valuable verdict, and that is : to negotiate with France con-
cerning the joint questions, which transactions the Convention
might then absorb, as the treaty of the 19th of April 1839, in a
certain measure, puts an end to the treaty of the loth of
November 1837, .as well as the Convention of the 27th of
May 1833.

' Your Serene Highness's clear, discerning practical eye will
at once see that negotiations of this kind are the only shield
with which both King and Ministers can defend themselves

VOL. I. H

ii4 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

from parties and the extravagant Press. Yes, the sole means,
in case anything of the kind should occur, of admitting a
change of Ministry in France.

' Without existing negotiations for a joint contract, it is
impossible now to make Thiers discontinue his war prepara-
tions, nor would it be possible for a new Ministry to step into
oiiice. We must be able to tell the country that " Negotiations
are now on foot which allow of the Oriental Question being
arranged, without our having to sacrifice honour; only let
the Government vouch for this and quiet yourselves."

1 If, however, this is refused, to begin negotiations at once,
which will continually cause some delay or other, I'amour
propre Fran$ais will be exasperated, so that, with the exces-
sive want of patience of this people, an open war cannot be
avoided. Palmerston also naturally does not wish for war,
yet he thinks that it is sufficient to demonstrate the logical
reason of this to the French as much as possible.

' But I have not withheld my views on this subject : if
France remains perfectly free and unconfined, through the
negotiations now in hand,themeans of compulsion which render
the execution of the Convention necessary, might contain
either an insulte in specie for France, or bring about occur-
ences of which France might say that they were dangerous to
the balance of power in Europe or to French interests. If
met half-way, this would either lead to war or to the giving
of some pledge, Canclia, for instance.

'In conclusion, I must entreat your Serene Highness to
remember that the entire youth of France longs for nothing
so passionately as for war, that the present state of un-
certainty is reviving all sorts of bad passions which until now
did not waste time on impossibilities, and that I know that
German liberals have announced that we can get rid of the
present state of things by means of war alone.

'Palmerston really thinks as I do about all this, but, since
he was opposed on a sensitive point by Louis Philippe in the
Spanish Question four years ago, he is not yet pacified, and is
inclined through a desire for revenge to treat France in a by
no means forbearing manner. I write you this under the seal

GUIZOT AT THE HEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT 115

of confidence only, yet I know from Melbourne himself that it
is so.

' Even at the present moment the English Cabinet is eagerly
partial to the Anarchists in Spain. I had a great battle to
fight on account of Espartero, but bravely defended my views
concerning his shameful conduct. When one knows all about
this, one cannot fail to wonder at the strange complication
which will perhaps be the cause of an Austrian and Prussian
war, the reason being that Palmerston is discontented because
of his unsuccessful intervention in Spain against Don Carlos.

' The present moment is in my opinion the most dangerous
which we have lived through for a long time, far more so than
1830. and the thing is to help France out of her false position.

' It gave me a great deal of pleasure to make the acquaint-
ance of the President of the Confederate meeting : his manner
pleases me immensely, and conversation with him is easy and
useful. It is time to end my long letter, and I will only add
the expression of my hearty and earnest respect, I was able
to do this by word of mouth last year, and would it were
only possible now. ' LEOPOLD.'

As may be seen, King Leopold was convinced that Louis
Philippe did not seriously desire war, and he acted accordingly.
The counsels which he gave Metternich for the correct dip-
lomatic balance were in fact strictly followed. How rightly
King Leopold had judged King Louis Philippe and his French
nation was shown by the events which followed, amongst
which the fall of Thiers meant in any case the preservation
of peace.

On the 29th of October, Guizot placed himself at the head
of the Government. He began by making peace with
England and a friendly system of politics which quieted
matters, but the new Ministry was soon nicknamed the
' English Ministry.' The cannon of the now allied Western
Powers worked with such effect in the East that Syria was
freed from Egypt's yoke and Mehemet AH was humbled.
Russia, however, took care that the Porte's useful rival should
not be entirely destroyed.

n6 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Guizot also established an understanding with Prussia
and Austria, so that the universal breaking up of the armies
of the Continent might continue peacefully. It is true that
King Louis Philippe was forced to declare to the German
Powers, that everything should be done to reduce his army as
much as possible, and that he only kept it up in order to pro-
tect France from revolution. For as the army was the only
real supporter on which France could rely, therefore, he added
pleadingly, he hoped his safety-valve would not be cut, if he
was to keep his ground at all. This was indeed more than
the national pride could bear. Slowly, but in ever widening
circles, it was felt that the kingdom of July was retro-
gressing.

The diplomatic triumph over warlike France had at first
a good effect on the German Powers. But when one observed
the helplessness with which Germany had looked forward to
the French attack, one saw that it contained a warning, from
which the nation might expect that it would spur the two
great Powers on to recognise the relations of the Confederacy.

Immediately after the great war scare of the year 1840,
Frederick William III died on the 7th of June, and, with a
superstitious belief in numbers, people based the greatest
hopes on the fact that the name and person of the successor
are connected with the notice of the secular celebration of
the beginning of the reign of Frederick II.

Old Europe still found pleasure in the patriarchal habit
of publishing wills, in which deceased monarchs were wont
to address their people and successor for the last time, with
political and moral advice.

Everyone in Prussian Conservative circles was deeply
moved on reading the last will of Frederick William III, ' to
his dear Fritz,' whom he warned against the spreading desire
for innovation, as well as all exaggerated preference for the
old systems.

Even more noticeable than this well-meant phrase was the
fact that the old gentleman had no better advice to give his
son concerning high politics than that he should remain in the
most perfect harmony and unshakeable union with Russia and

Austria. And this at a time when, in the great strife between
nations, Germany was most of all threatened, and looked to
Prussia, which made no motion to enroll the flags of 1813.

Frederick William IV explained to the French Ambassador
Bresson that he had ratified the agreement of the 16th July,
only on condition that he would not be forced to take up the
sword. For an instant he assumed the position of an inde-
pendent man, only to bow before Russia's predominance the
next moment.

The Prussian generals came to Dresden and Vienna to
settle the eventual rules of measure in case of war, but were
recalled as quickly and demonstratively, when peace was
barely hinted at. The hopes raised by the new King brought
him many heavy cares, on account of the fulfilment of the
promises which had been already made by his father for the
introduction of a constitutional state of things, but never
redeemed.

When the new King went through the ceremony of corona-
tion, on the 7th of September, in Konigsberg he let fall for
the first time some mysterious words which shut out the
system of a representative constitution in Prussia. His speech
was only half understood ; the Liberals persuaded themselves
that the most intellectual of all Princes could not possibly be
a Reactionist.

The peculiar garnishing, amalgamation and distortion of
progress and freedom, with the beliefs of the Middle Ages and
authorities, had not yet assumed a tangible political form,
and could not easily be understood. The future was to furnish
instruction enough.

There was rejoicing at Eichhorn's nomination as Minister
of Public Worship, as Altenstein had soon followed his King
to the grave, and it could not be imagined that a trusted friend
of Schleiermacher would soon begin to follow an exactly
contrary course.

The time came for Schelling's official philosophy and
romanticism on the throne. It would be fascinating to me to
describe here, in all its aspects, the remarkably intellectual
and yet to a certain degree so unfortunate personality of

n8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Frederick William IV ; the King rises before my eyes with
much greater distinctness than most of my living con-
temporaries, but it will be allowed me to impart in these my
life reminiscences, as in a good drama, the full knowledge of
persons only at such moments when they are necessary to the
course of events. And as it was granted me to be one of the
persons who took part in the most important moments of
Frederick William's history, there will be plenty of oppor-
tunity to depict the King fully and minutely.

I soon had a little meeting with Frederick William IV, a
meeting which nearly concerned my personal affairs and those
of Coburg, and which was so characteristic that it may be
described more in detail.

The change of government in Prussia had inspired my
father with the hope that a settlement might be effected of a
particular matter between Coburg and that kingdom. As it
was known that Frederick William IV, when Crown Prince,
had given me certain tokens of his inclination for me, I was
chosen, not only to greet the King personally, but to act as an
intermediate in the complicated question of the rights of our
House. The matter concerned was the accomplishment of an
exchange of the little territory on the Rhine which Prussia so
unwillingly saw given into my father's hands as a boundary
at the Vienna Congress. The storms of the July revolution
had, as I said above, more plainly betrayed the untenableness
of the little possession.

In the year 1833, an agreement between the Governments
on both sides had at length been come to, and now needed the
ratification of the King of Prussia only. The matter appeared
to be as good as settled, however, and Coburg was to receive
domains in the province of Saxony as a compensation for the
loss of the principality of Lichtenberg. We were so certain
that everything was in order, that my father informed Prince
Metternich of it, and received the following letter in reply
after reading which, no one can doubt that the matter was
really looked upon as settled. On the 31st of July, Metternich
wrote to my father : —

THE LICHTENBERG AFFAIR 119

' YOUR SERENE HIGHNESS, — I received your honoured
letter of the 24th inst. yesterday. I understand the feelings
which your Serene Highness fostered with regard to the
settlement of the affair. Even if it must have given pain to
exchange a sovereign territory for domains, yet the business
matter is, on the other hand, based on such considerations
that its results must nevertheless be reckoned on the good side.

' The German Government has trouble enough, in these
unquiet times, to keep order in the different territories, which
stand under the control of the central government. How it
is with far removed territories, especially when they lie in a
bad tract of land as on the left bank of the Rhine, is shown
by daily experience.

'I therefore honestly wish your Serene Highness good
luck with the successful measures, it is one of quiet for your-
self and the country.

'Your Serene Highness will be pleased to accept the
assurance of the profound attachment and reverence with
which I remain, — Your Serene Highness's obedient and devoted
servant,

' METTERNICH.

' Konigswarth, July Zlst, 1833.'

The thought alone that we had reached our goal soon
showed itself to be a mistaken one. My father made the
mistake of inspecting the domains in the province of Saxony
which he thought would be his, and thus arousing the attention
of the public. The then Chief President and late Minister
Rochow called the Crown Prince's attention to this settled
agreement which was highly unprofitable to the Prussian
Crown, on the occasion of an inspection of troops in the
province of Saxony, and, as we heard later, it was the Crown
Prince himself who hindered the ratification of the agreement
by his royal father.

When Frederick William IV mounted the throne, my
father considered it the proper moment to carry the matter
into execution with the new King.

I left Dresden for Berlin and tried at once to gain informa-

120 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

tion from the Ministers concerning the reason of the refusal
to ratify the agreement. I received little more than shrugs
of the shoulders as a reply from these officials, and mysterious
hints about the difficulties in the way, which are now no
longer neutral, but of a very personal nature.

As I had tried the usual means with so little success, I
decided to take a more direct road, and seized an occasion
when at the King's table to remark that I would never succeed
in this matter unless an opportunity were offered me of laying
it before the King himself. With the greatest amiability his
Majesty invited me to a conference the following morning.

I set out at the right time, and, well armed with documents
and papers, entered the King's presence, not having failed to
sketch out a well-considered lawful expose.

The King listened almost as if in consent, but when I had
said all I had to say, and reminded him last of all of the
royal promise which his father had made, he flew into a
most incredible temper.

' Do you think that I am going to continue all the stu-
pidities which my father began ? ' he cried, his face red with
anger. ' Those counsellors who spoiled and used everything,
were blockheads ! ' and continuing to thunder out his ill-
feeling against the past Government, he broke the inkstand
in two, so that the ink flew out in all directions, and the
painful moment was brought to a close through the accident.
Upon this he excused himself, grew perfectly mild again, and
went on in the most friendly and polite manner to say that
he really could not agree to the exchange of the territory
for domains.

Thus ended the conference.

I think it hardly necessary to add, that I was astounded,
and I no longer recollect all the thoughts which agitated me
concerning this enigmatical man. I well remember the
historical affair of the costly cup broken by Napoleon in the
Castle of Leoben, but I did not find the occurrence of equal
importance nor sufficiently historical to play the Napoleon
on its account. It was the King's real nature to go out of
himself in this way. The King, who still held me bound

FRIENDSHIP FOR FREDERICK WILLIAM IV 121

by the magic of his former friendliness as Crown Prince, was
at that time a man of forty -four years of age, and exactly
twice as old as I was. This difference in age occurs only once
during the lives of two human beings ; it disappears with
every advancing year, and only too often the illusions which
one has concerning the importance of others, disappear with
it.

With King Frederick William IV, I gained this experience
after the lapse of ten years only.

CHAPTER V

MARRIAGE OF PRINCE ERNEST. — PREVIOUS NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE

HOUSES OF FRANCE AND BAVARIA. THE CAMP OF NUREMBERG. —

KING LOUIS AT THE MONKEY SHOW, PRINCE ALBERT RESPECTING
HIS BROTHER'S EARLY MARRIAGE. — INTRODUCTION TO THE HOUSE

OF BADEN. HIS FATHER'S WISHES. AT THE HUNT. IN LEIPZIG.

—NEWS OF PRINCESS MARIE'S BETROTHAL. THE QUEEN OF SAXONY

INTERESTS HERSELF. THE VISIT TO SCHWETZINGEN. INTERVIEW

WITH THE GRAND-DUKE, DUCHESS AND PRINCESS ALEXANDRA. —

SHE CONSENTS TO THE BETROTHAL. PRINCE ERNEST'S LETTER TO

KING LEOPOLD. THE MARRIAGE TAKES PLACE. VISIT TO BRUSSELS

AND LONDON. THE RETURN HOME. BECOMES AN ACTIVE MEMBER

OF THE MINISTRY. STAY AT ST CLOUD. THREATENING ASPECT OF

AFFAIRS. THIERS ; OUDINOT ; GERARD. — DEATH OF THE REIGNING

DUKE OF SAXE COBURG-GOTHA, AND ACCESSION OF PRINCE ERNEST.

HIS POLITICAL VIEWS AT THE TIME. AFFAIRS BETTER IN GOTHA

THAN IN COBURG. — ENMITY OF GERMAN COURTS. — THE VEXED

QUESTION OF TITLES. JOINT MANIFESTO OF THE THREE DUKES —

SAXE-ALTENBURG, SAXE-MEININGEN AND SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA. —

THE DUKE'S MEETING WITH PRINCE ALBERT. THEY DIFFER ON

MANY POINTS, AS REGARDS THE GOVERNMENT. THE DUKE'S

SUMMARY OF PRINCE ALBERT'S CHARACTER. — STOCKMAR, AND HIS

INFLUENCE. SEPARATION OF DUCAL AND STATE AFFAIRS. —

RESIGNATION OF VON LEPEL. PRINCE ALBERT REGRETS IT. —

CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES IN COBURG : AND IN GOTHA. —
PRINCE ALBERT'S COMMENTS ON HIS BROTHER'S SPEECH AT

OPENING OF GOTHA ASSEMBLY. STATE OF AFFAIRS IN PRUSSIA

AND AUSTRIA. — KING LEOPOLD'S OPINION.

IT is said that princely marriages in the present century have
long since ceased to have any political meaning. The world,
people intimate, has grown enlightened enough no longer to
allow itself, as formerly, to be influenced by the way in
which chance marriages may turn out, and the path of events
in the Europe of to-day lies far above the personal relations

PRINCELY MARRIAGES 123

and affairs of a number of historical families. I consider this
view of state life fundamentally mistaken, and think, rather,
that the right understanding of a large number of historical
events is thus deliberately prevented.

Meanwhile, it is not my intention to express myself
generally on the subject of the political importance of
marriages in reigning families ; looking back upon my own
experiences, I can only say, that amongst the countless
marriages which I have seen take place in the houses of my
relations and friends, or at which I have assisted, I could
mention but few which, in the course of events, have in no
way influenced general affairs.

But I could say of many, that they have immediately and
decisively, even in our day, affected the politics of both
foreign and home states. More than one marriage story can
be said to be little behind those of the Bourbons, Hapsburgs,
Tudors, and Stuarts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
in this respect.

When will the time come when royal ladies will not have
a direct and, what is more, an indirect influence over affairs !

In going over the past, I need only mention the four
sisters belonging to the House of Bavaria. How could one
think of European, and particularly German, politics, without
at the same time thinking of those intellectual and energetic
women ? Talleyrand's ' && est la femme ' nowadays applies to
the other sex only where politics are concerned.

If, following the course of the events which have filled my
life, I now speak of my own marriage, I by no means intend,
by virtue of my own position, to imply that these views
might be applied to the same ; but when, after nearly fifty
years of married life, two people who harmonise completely,
feel as great friendship for one another as they felt on the
first day, I may be allowed to say that the recollections which
I shall relate here, are almost as equally those of the good and
noble woman whom I brought home in the year 1842, as they
are mine.

As I have already mentioned, an attempt to marry me to
a daughter of Louis Philippe was frustrated by our belonging to

124 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

different faiths. The intention to unite me to the House of
Bavaria was likewise impracticable, because at Catholic
Courts a prejudicial view had gained the upper hand which
in previous times of religious indifference would have seemed
almost incomprehensible.

Amongst the children of King Louis, with whom my
father, and particularly my uncle, King Leopold, had been on
the best terms since the time of the French dominion, Princess
Adelgunde, who afterwards married Duke Francis of Modena,
was destined for me.

Queen Marie of Saxony would have been very much
inclined to favour this union if the demands for the education
of Catholic children, which were already beginning to be made
in Germany in mixed marriages, had had any prospect of
being granted. Under these circumstances, the Bavarian
project of marriage had already been abandoned, when, on my
return from Spain in the summer of 1840, I visited the camp
of Nuremberg with a number of Saxon officers.

During this visit, which lasted from the 1st to the loth of
September, I had daily opportunities of seeing King Louis
and his family, and learning to know them better. His
peculiar nature, which showed itself in many a joke and comic
idea, made an indelible impression on all who had any inter-
course with him, and during the stay in Nuremberg also he
furnished much food for lasting anecdotes.

At that time the camp of Nuremberg and the drill of the
Bavarian army were of but little interest. The hours during
which we were neither attending manoeuvres nor sitting at
tables were difficult enough to fill up, and there was a per-
ceptible want of amusements for the many strangers and
native officers.

One warm afternoon, after a rather mediocre royal dinner
at the Castle, as I was about to take leave, the King asked
me the following critical question : ' Where in the world are
you going to kill time this evening ? ' I was forced to
acknowledge the truth, and said with some embarrassment
that, for want of anything better to do, I had had the inten-
tion of going to a monkey show. The King seized upon the

THE MONKEY SHOW 125

idea with childish delight, ' Then I'll go with you,' he ex-
claimed, and although I attempted to protest, he would have
his own way, and in a short time I and the crowned head
had taken our places in the booth near the town gates,
amongst sutlers, non-commissioned officers and a crowd of
common people.

The monkeys went through their parts amidst ringing
applause, and at the end, when they were being rewarded by
the audience with apples and bread, a certain commotion
arose from the fact that the Burgomaster had suddenly
appeared in the booth, arrayed in full official uniform, and
began making a speech, in which he expressed his patriotic
joy at the presence of his King. His words were interrupted
by applause from all sides. Upon this the King leaped upon a
bench and asked in his well-known loud voice: 'Now, for whom
is this intended, for me or for the monkeys ? ' This put an
end to everything. Years afterwards, when we met again,
the King often asked me if I wouldn't take him to another
monkey show.

My friendly intercourse with the Bavarian family was
never broken off on account of the non-fulfilment of my wish
to become one of them. Concerning other Princesses whose
hand I might obtain, my brother wrote to me on the 4th of
September, expressing the most earnest desire to see me soon
married.

' As we are in the same position as England and France.
Belgium and Portugal, we must act honourably in this matter.
Meanwhile, I look upon your marriage as necessary, and the
choice very limited. . . . The only desirable match would
be with the daughter of the Grand-Duke of Baden. I cer-
tainly recommend this, after all that I have learned concern-
ing her ; Victoria also and uncle Leopold willingly consent to
it. She is, moreover, the easiest of access and the least
dangerous to sound. I would visit Karl Leiningen in the
autumn, and take this opportunity of seeing her, without
drawing attention to it, and then think the matter over. She
is said to be very amiable.'

Meanwhile, I had an opportunity of coming into contact

u6 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

with the House of Baden even sooner and more unrestrainedly
than my brother thought.

In the autumn of 1840 there was an assembly of the
Eighth Army Corps at Schwetzingen, at which I was com-
manded by the King of Saxony to be present with the same
officers who were with me at Nuremberg. The Grand-Duke
of Baden had naturally established his Court at Schwetzingen,
and was there with his whole family. Here I saw the
Princess Alexandra, his eldest daughter, who had not then
completed her twentieth year, simple and natural, that is,
adorned with what remained most precious in her during her
whole life, and which was most admired in her by both high
and low. But it would not be quite true if I were to say that
this meeting was the cause of the marriage which took place
afterwards, as it was to be brought about by a peculiar chain
of events more quickly than I had expected.

My father's greatest wish was to see me settle in Coburg,
and my early marriage appeared to him as the principal
means of bringing this about. During a short stay made by
Prince William of Prussia and his family at Reinhardsbrunn,
my father conceived a very strong desire for me to take the
Princess Marie for my wife.

This gave rise to an agreement that, although it should
not be looked upon as a binding engagement, both sides
should remain disengaged for some time.

Whilst I was living the life of a soldier in Dresden, in the
winter of 1841-42, I accompanied the King once to a hunt, to
which the town of Leipzig had invited him. On my way
thither, as I was thinking of the disagreeable winter's day,
and the probably equally disagreeable hunt, and gazing
through the window at the tiresome plain, one of my comrades,
who had lately been appointed aide-de-camp to the King,
asked me if I had heard of the latest engagement in Berlin.

He then told me that the Crown Prince of Bavaria was
betrothed to the Princess Marie, and that the marriage would
take place during the coming year.

The man had no idea how nearly his story concerned me,
but I could perceive from the King's having kept it from me,

THE PRINCE WISHES TO MARRY 127

that there must be truth in the matter, and that I, the only
sufferer, was probably the only one from whom the matter
had been concealed ; no pleasant situation, but what could I
do except remain silent !

That evening we spent the night in Leipzig. Chance
willed it that at the hotel I should meet the Prince of
Fiirstenberg, who was married to the Princess Amalia, the
sister of the Grand-Duke of Baden, and was consequently the
uncle of the Princess who afterwards became my wife.

Still full of what I had heard that morning, I was but
little inclined to fix my attention as closely as was necessary
on a game of cards to which the Prince had invited me late
in the evening.

I soon turned the conversation to the subject which
secretly occupied me most, and remembering that I had seen
the family of Baden and the Princess Alexandra at Schwetz-
ingen, I explained to the uncle that I would like to marry, and
asked him with sudden frankness if he thought I could win
the hand of his niece. He expressed his opinion that I would
be gladly welcomed at the Court of Baden, and that I could
not possibly make a happier choice.

This helped me to make up my mind decidedly, and
when I returned to Dresden, I told the Queen everything, as
I knew that she took the greatest interest in what befell me.
I begged her, as the conduct of the Prussian Court could not
leave me indifferent, to do something for me in this other
matter, upon which she promised to make inquiries at the
Court of Baden. But the answer was painfulty slow in
corning, and although I repeatedly met the Queen, she never
recurred to the affair.

I had intended to leave Dresden on New Year's day, in
order to celebrate my father's birthday, which took place on
the 2nd of January, in Gotha. On the 28th of December, the
Qeeen sent for me and informed me that I could rest assured
that I should be heartily received at Karlsruhe, if I were to
make a visit there.

I hastened to Gotha, having decided to go straight to
Karlsruhe from there. The only question now was how to

i28 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

obtain my father's consent. He said that the matter had been
neither sufficiently prepared, nor rightly begun. But I
remained steadfast, and without allowing the reason for my
journey to be known, I started for Karlsruhe, in accordance
with the invitation of the Court there.

When I presented myself to the Grand-Duke, I received
the pleasantest and most friendly reception at his hands, but
when our conversation was over I became less and less able
to banish the thought that the excellent Prince had either
been left ignorant of my own intentions, or that he had
intentionally avoided the subject. My position was a very
odd one, and I thought in my heart of my father and his dis-
agreeable prophecies.

But when the same farce was played by the Grand-
Duchess, and she appeared anxious to hear about everything
except the reason for my journey thither, my embarrassment
reached an exceedingly high point, and I saw that something
unusual must be going on.

However, the favourable news given me by Queen Marie
could not possibly be the result of a misunderstanding, and it
could not be doubted that I had been expected at Karlsruhe.
Therefore, I no longer hesitated, but spoke to the Grand-
Duchess of the wish which, as she was aware, had brought
me thither. She then told me that they were heartily glad
of it, but that the principal thing now was to obtain the
Princess's decision.

I need not say how suddenly the whole situation grew all
at once clear to me, and cannot deny that my journey in
search of a bride was by no means lessened in interest by this
little intermezzo.

The Princess came, and we were left alone. There was a
moment of silence. Could my father have been right when
he said that the affair had not been managed right from the
first. As I looked at the Princess, I was overcome by the
conviction that hers was a nature to whom nothing but the
most open character and the completest truth could be
pleasing.

So I said frankly that I had come to Karlsruhe for the

A SHOUT BETROTHAL 129

purpose of asking her hand in marriage. 'Either,' I con-
tinued, ' tell me that you consent, and then I shall stay and
we will learn to know one another better, or simply say the
one word which your parents perhaps kept back out of
anxiety and consideration for me. I shall in that case leave
this house with the firm conviction that no one else will ever
know anything of what has taken place to-day/

It will not be wondered at, that after the lapse of so many
years, I am unable to repeat word for word the conversation
which followed. Still, I can remember that the Duchess said
that nothing could please her more, than to have a husband
who spoke so openly, freely and honourably, adding, with the
most amiable knowledge of human nature, that a near
acquaintance often led to great disappointment, and that the
best things of all were belief and trust. In these words she
gave her consent, and said that we might at once declare
ourselves betrothed.

My father was right so far, my marriage was indeed
diplomatically unprepared. But it was to be all the happier,
humanly speaking.

I myself will only add what I said to my uncle Leopold in
a letter dated the 7th of April 1842 :—

' Heaven has let me find in Alexandra all that I ever
wished for.'

Our time of betrothal lasted an uncommonly short time.
The affairs of the House of Baden had much to do with this.
Quite unintentionally, and only because of the confiding trust
with which I was met by the greater part of the relations
living at Karlsruhe, I had conceived an ardent wish to have
my bride safe at home as soon as possible.

Our wedding, therefore, took place as early as the 3rd of
May 1842, and the quick result of my wooing was the reason
why my father and Prince Leiningen were the only members
of my family who were present in Karlsruhe.

My brother and the Queen of England wished us to spend
the honeymoon with them, as any other arrangement was
rendered quite impossible by the political situation of England
at that time, as may also be seen in Prince Albert's book.

VOL. I. I

1 3o MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

However, I took my young wife at once to her new home,
where my father gave us Kallenberg Castle as a residence.
We entered Coburg triumphantly amidst signs of the greatest
enthusiasm on the part of the people.

A few days later we stood together on the well-known
balconies of Kallenberg Castle, and gazed over the wide
stretch of country which lay before us, and the sunny land-
scape seemed to promise us the happiest future. My father
was no less pleased than myself with my wife's winning
person, and the most affectionate and sincere family relations
soon developed between him and her.

In July we at length started on the way to visit our
relations in Brussels and London. So beautiful a bond of
friendship has seldom been seen as that which grew between
the Queen of England and my young wife, and it outlived all
the storms of later years.

In her book about Prince Albert the Queen herself men-
tions the pleasant days of our stay, which were unfortunately
clouded by the startling news of the death of the Duke of
Orleans in Paris.

We spent most of our time at Claremont during our visit
to England, returning to Kallenberg on the 21st of August,
and only leaving for a short time in the autumn to go to
Dresden, where I introduced my wife at Court. Besides, the
time was approaching when I should seriously begin to study
the affairs of Government. My father himself showed me the
way.

I became a real member of the Ministry, in the meetings
and work of which I took an active part. It was only natural
that I did not always agree with my father's views on ques-
tions of administration, but it was pleasant to me that no
difference of any important nature arose. I turned my ener-
gies principally to gaining information, and had not the
slightest foreboding that the moment was so near when I would
have to put my new studies and experience to Government
uses ; but the sad day was to come very soon.

Meantime I carefully kept up my relations with the Saxon
army in Coburg also.

MARRIAGE OF PRINCE AUGUSTUS 131

Shortly before my marriage I had been promoted to the
rank of Major-General, and although not on immediately
active service, I was summoned by the King's desire to attend
the exercises in the autumn of 1843, on which occasion I took
command of a mixed brigade, in order to become proficient in
the handling of large bodies of troops.

In the year 1843, on the 20th of April, took place the
marriage of my cousin Augustus with the Princess Clementine,
the daughter of Louis Philippe, in Paris. I was sent thither
by my father as representative of the House of Coburg, and
made use of this opportunity to introduce my wife at the
French Court. We spent the first part of our stay with the
Royal Court at St Cloud, the latter part at the Elyse'e
Bourbon Castle, where a household was placed at our disposal.
I had ample time in the two months during which our stay
lasted to become acquainted with the state of things as well
as the important personages, and could not but be convinced
that matters there were becoming more and more disquieting.

The secret societies, whose fermenting activity could be
seen everywhere, appeared to have succeeded in awakening
the greatest anxiety even in the minds of most of the
members of the Royal Family. They felt as if they were
standing on the edge of a volcano.

Those amongst the Princes who, like the Due de Nemours,
had already by reason of their age, received important com-
mands in the army, gave their whole minds up to military
matters. The Due d'Aumale sometime afterwards organised
the Zouaves, wrote a very able pamphlet on the subject, and
became more or less the discoverer of a new order of battle
for the French army, particularly as regards the use of light
infantry.

I renewed my acquaintance with Thiers, begun in the
year 1837. After he was banished to England I saw him
frequently, and at length at Versailles again in 1870, where
we had rooms next to one another, and often reminded one
another of the time when he was leader of the Opposition
against Louis Philippe.

Amongst the commanding officers with whom I grew

1 32 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

acquainted at that time were Marshals Oudinot and Ge'rard,
and I found both of them to be interesting relaters of the
Napoleonic campaigns. Both were well acquainted with the
land of my birth, for Oudinot commanded our Saxon con-
tingent in 1812, and Gerard was for a long time a commander
in Gotha. In the middle of June I returned home, and
was not to see Paris again under the government of the
Orleans.

Fate had decreed that I was to be called only too soon
from my contemplative life to perform the duties of my own
reign, for my good father died unexpectedly on the morning
of the 29th of January, 1844, having just completed his
sixtieth year.

When it is said in the Queen's book that my brother had
been prepared by Stockmar for the possibility of such an
event, it is only an hypothesis, founded upon the fact that
the latter had foreseen this in his quality of physician. My
brother was as much staggered by this severe and unexpected
blow, as I myself was, and the country, which deeply deplored
the loss of the vigorous Prince who had enjoyed the greatest
popularity until the end.

It proves but little, when one collects the papers which
tell of one's state of mind during days of enduring pain.
Even the very words which have been wrung from a suffer-
ing heart, give the reader but a very incomplete idea of how
and what one has suffered.

I will therefore avoid everything in these notes which
relates to purely personal feeling, or which can have no claims
on the memory of the world. The place where the departed
stood is empty, and another comes and fills it. Fate has this
hard rule for great and little, high and low. After the lapse
of years and centuries history sometimes joins this change of
men to periods and epochs of state, but in the real course of
life even kings and mighty princes die, without making the
slightest change in the immediate present.

But within the family the gap remained unclosed for years,
as my father, being the senior of the whole House, formed the
central point of all intercourse. Now I stood alone ; of the

COMES TO THE GOVERNMENT 133

older generation only ray stepmother and grandmother lived
at home in the strictest retirement.

The latter, with whom the reader has become intimately
acquainted through the life history of my brother, had hardly
one enemy during her whole long life, and was looked upon
until her death in the year 1848, with really rare veneration
throughout the land.

o

Meanwhile I had neither the wish nor the necessity, in
my new field of work, to make the change of government
immediately felt.

I was perfectly convinced that the world, and particularly
Germany, stood on the brink of an epoch of the most power-
ful political changes, and that not one of the Princes of
Germany, who had become rulers, could look forward to a
quiet existence such as had been the lot of my father's genera-
tion for the last thirty years ; but I was far from thinking,
modestly situated as I was, of setting the stone rolling. The
task which seemed to me to have been set for me, placed at
the head of two of the smallest German states, was not to
forget to reef the sails before the storm.

I had addressed to my uncle a tolerably comprehensive
letter, a kind of memorial, which now lies before me, and in
which I furnished him with accurate information concerning
the condition of Germany both far and near. The defects of
former Governments, and the improvements of those to come,
were enlarged upon, and attention called to them. I tried to
make clear to myself what position I was to take with rela-
tion to the greater Powers of Germany ; I tried in every way
to place myself on the real level of political affairs, and, most
of all, to finish everything that my father had begun.

' More than a fortnight has gone by since that dreadful
morning,' I wrote on the 14th of February to my uncle in
Brussels, ' the wounds are still bleeding, but I have turned to
my difficult calling, and try to account to myself for the way
I am to go, the principles which I must cherish.'

I found the inner state of things better in Gotha than in
Coburg. In Gotha order reigned in most branches of adminis-
tration. One of the results of this was the quiet and

i34 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COEURG-GOTHA

prosperity which increased every day throughout the entire
principality. An excellently planned network of streets
facilitated business, and the condition of the city of Gotha
could not be said to be other than prosperous. Amongst the old
Gotha nobility there were many noble and competent men, and
great progress had therefore been made in legislation during the
past years. I did not consider it necessary to make any great
change at once in the constitution of local affairs ; but it was
clear to me that what both duchies needed first of all was similar
constitutional laws, and to a certain degree, like institutions.

I will not conceal the fact that after the lapse of a year
things did not look so bright to me, and I had a feeling of not

o o ' o

being upheld sufficiently literally and without prejudice by
the men in office. But I will only say at present how dis-
inclined I felt from the first to pull down what I considered
as in any way useful.

Things were different in Coburg to what they were in
Gotha, for the former had not increased in prosperity, and the
relations of the different orders had grown very uncomfortable
through misapprehension of constitutional principles. But
where it appeared impossible any longer to neglect making a
change, with relation to internal government I could keep to
the path already trodden by my father, for only a few hours
before his end I had spoken with him of a plan of general
reform, with the principles of which he had expressed himself
as being entirely satisfied.

The most important moment of my discussion with King
Leopold, was without any doubt that concerning the position
of my House in relation to other German Princes. Even at
this day, I can hardly make the document public, yet it will
be permitted me to say, that I could see no satisfaction in the
relations in which the whole House of Coburg stood at that
time as regarded most of the German Courts.

I imagined that the enmity which was shown our House
by some, was owing to our want of activity with regard to
German questions, and may now say plainly that it was
surely an honourable German thought, when I wrote to King
Leopold in dry terms :

LETTER TO KING LEOPOLD 135

'We have brought things to such a point that we can
never again act as German Confederate Princes belonging to
one of the oldest German Houses, but rather as related to the
Great Western Powers, that Coburg is looked upon as the
seat of all anti-German intrigues against the Confederacy, as
the seat of the ultra-liberalism which has spread throughout
the West, and is cried down as an infamous spot. . . . We
must become honourably German again, . . . and bury all
questions of strife. . . .

' I must, as a young German Confederate Prince, be able
to recommend myself freely and with a good conscience to
the discretion and indulgence of thirty-six colleagues.

' This is the point which I must enforce upon the Con-
federate Princes, but not upon the high kindred in the west,
for I am not to blame that you are the King of Belgium,
Albert, Consort to the Queen of England, and Ferdinand
King of Portugal. It is a pleasure to me that you are all my
relations, and, God willing, friendly disposed towards me, that
you are in the eyes of the world great and splendid as men
and rulers, but I must certainly not clothe myself in your
fame before my Confederate colleagues.'

It is true that I could have written thus to none but as
great and noble minded a man as my uncle was, without
being misunderstood ; but my uncle did not for a moment
mistake my meaning. He understood that I must strive ' to
bind myself to the principal Courts, particularly to those of
Vienna and Berlin by virtue of my position as a German
Prince.'

But I did not hide from myself how difficult this was at
the time. It was unfortunately, hardly possible for me to
keep up relations with the Imperial House, as pains appeared
to be taken to prevent a warm return of my advances. In
spite of the personally friendly relations with the King, it
was no less difficult a matter for the politician to obtain sup-
port from Berlin.

' The seat of everything which is not clear, of everything
which is contradicting, is at this moment in Berlin,' I wrote
at the end of my expose ; ' the principles most dangerous to

136 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

the endurance of the Prussian Monarchy are hatched by the
King himself, and yet real liberalism is not honoured.'

The good intentions which I had in remaining true to the
German Confederacy were soon to be severely tried by the
progress of an unexpected event which had begun long before
I had entered into power. Concerning this I can only repeat
what I wrote to King Leopold on the 10th of May,
1844:

'You will laugh a great deal over all this, one might
imagine one's self back in the days of the peace of West-
phalia.'

The Saxon Dukes, strange to say, had passed from the
times of the Rhine Confederacy with new titles, of which all
other princely houses had known how to possess themselves
in the most grasping manner, to the days of German Confede-
racy, and had retained the rank which could not be contested
by those who had been mediatised.

The question of titles had therefore arisen more than
once in the Saxon Ducal Courts, and negotiations were set
on foot concerning the adoption of the title 'Highness/
which, however, dragged on for an unconscionable length of
time.

It was not to be denied that, in our intercourse with
foreign Courts particularly, we suffered many a disadvantage
on account of our title, which was at that time by no means
suitable, as though reigning Princes we ranked after all the
Princes in the western kingdom who bore the title ' Royal
Highness.'

That something must be done under these circumstances
was clear, and the fact was recognised on all sides, even by
German Governments. But as, on my entering into power, I
had undertaken this matter, it must be acknowledged that I
had been too hasty.

After the decisions of Aix-la-Chapelle, there could be no
doubt that the whole matter was not one for the German
Confederacy ; and, on the other hand, the title ' Highness '
could not warrant an independent recognition in Vienna and

ALTERATION IN TITLES 137

Beflin, but, at the best, promised protection for the German
Diet, whose competence was again questionable.

I was thus certain that an accomplished fact only could
rescue us from this dilemma, and as I feared nothing more
than the diplomatically juridical examination of a matter like
this, as was usual with the German Diet, I joined in a House
and Family resolution with the Dukes of Altenburg and
Meiningen, the contents of which were as follows :

By the Grace of God,

We, JOSEPH, DUKE OF SAXE-ALTENBURG,
We, BERNHARD, DUKE OF SAXE-MEININGEN,
We, ERNEST, DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA,

Do, in consideration of the change made in the titles and
relations of rank during the course of time, particularly
because of the extension made in the predicate ' Serene
Highness,' and the increasing injury arising therefrom to the
rights of honour conceded to the Dukes of Saxony, consider it
fit and necessary to raise the rank and worth of our Ducal
Houses by means of an alteration in the above-mentioned
predicate, and are therefore bound by the following House
and Family resolutions :

ART. I. — The reigning Dukes of Saxony, their heirs — pre-
sumptive and direct descendants of the first generation, will
henceforth assume the predicate ' Highness,' instead of that
of 'Ducal Serene Highness,' which they have hitherto
borne.

ART. II. — The brothers of the reigning Duke of Saxe-
Altenburg, as well as Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
will also receive the same predicate.

ART. III. — This raising of predicate is to be promulgated
at the same time in the Duchies of Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-
Altenburg and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, also all foreign Courts will
be notified thereof, and it will be announced to the German
Confederate Assembly by all the envoys of the German
Diet.

In witness whereof we have had the present House and

138 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Family resolution drawn up in the copies of the same tenour,
and completed it with our own hand, by prefixing thereto our
Ducal seal.

Altenburg, April \bth, 1844.

Meiningen, April 2nd, 1844.

Coburg, April 10th, 1844.

L. S. JOSEPH, D. OF S.

L. S. BERNHARD ERICH FREUND, D. OF S.

L. S. ERNEST, D. OF S.

We looked for a storm of some kind, but we did not
expect that the affair would give rise to such lasting and
persevering excitement as it did amongst the German Powers.
In these days the matter no doubt appears too unimportant
for it to be followed throughout all its stages. I expressed
my opinion at the time in a letter to King Leopold, which
ran as follows: — 'Of course you have not remained ignorant
of the intense excitement caused by the adoption of the title
" Highness," and how people are trying on all sides either not
to acknowledge this step at all, or at any rate to speak very
unfavourably of it, and make things very unpleasant. Let
them do as they will. The business is an accomplished fact,
and must be considered as such, and whoever says a, must
say b also.'

We knew very well beforehand that, as we had had the
boldness to leave out the little word 'Ducal' before 'Highness,'
contrary to the express wish of both great Cabinets, we should
hear from them in not exactly a friendly manner. But that
the remaining German Confederate States, to whom we sent
our notification, would also make no answer, was not exactly
what we had expected.

Under these circumstances, I could build hopes only on the
recognition of the title by the Courts of Paris, London and
Brussels, but the very fact that this was the case, gave rise
to fresh difficulties concerning the translation of the word
' Highness,' and the circumstance that no corresponding
expression could be found in diplomatic language for the
usual and strictly distinct Highnesses, was still seriously

MEETING WITH PRINCE ALBERT 139

occupying the Cabinet of Germany as well as at length the
German Diet also, as late as the following August.

When one thinks of these things nowadays, one has the
feeling that the year 1848 cut a deep notch in the constitu-
tion as well as in the handling of State affairs, and one can
hardly understand the excitement occasioned by this pure
matter of form.

It went so far in Berlin, that the army was forbidden by
a special order, to give the Saxon Dukes, even in private,
any other title than ' Serene Highness.' The diplomatic world
calmed itself only by degrees about this affair, and my wise
uncle in Brussels had prophesied rightly when, as early as
the 3rd of June, he wrote :

' The proverb " All's well that ends well " may be applied
to this case.'

In a few years the Saxon Dukes' much quarrelled about
title had become as much naturalised as if they had never
borne any other, and many who do not give themselves up
with equal zeal to historical minutiae, will wonder to-day
how the German Diet could grow angry over them at a time
when signs were being given of far more serious conflicts
than the petty storms in a glass of water which antiquated
policy raised at that time.

Before I enter, at this point, into an objective representa-
tion of the universal condition of Europe and Germany, which
preceded and heralded the revolutionary movement, it will be
permitted me to furnish some information concerning my
personal affairs, and to mention a few events which occurred
in my own territories during the first years of my reign.

On the 31st of March I met my brother, who had come
from England to Gotha.

This first painful meeting after the death of my father
gave us an opportunity to confer seriously about the wants of
both countries, the political relations of Germany, and the
ground which I was to break during my government.

I must not conceal the fact that we differed on many
points, and that my brother was by no means inclined to
consent to an energetic rule, such as I adopted immediately

140 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

afterwards for the perfection of the constitutional system.
Then, and in later years, he opposed the separation of state and
family matters, which I had from the first looked upon as
unavoidable, and still clung to the thought that the
patriarchal rule, which in German States was still most
decidedly shown in income and questions of domain, could
be kept up.

Whoever judges and describes Prince Albert from his
letters and official speeches and documents only, when all
are dead who knew him, can give but a one-sided picture of
his prominent but singularly formed character.

What almost wonderful antitheses slumbered in his
nature, what contradictions warred in his honourable mind,
will never be imagined from the descriptions which even at
the present day appear to be most thought of.

His mild amiability really went hand in hand with a
critical severity, which seemed like a psychological enigma.
The greatest warmth and self-sacrificing love would sometimes
change to painful coldness, and he often stood on the brink of
what is so alluring to the high and mighty, that of allowing
himself opinions and views which are wont to arise from con-
tempt of mankind in the abstract.

Yet, I never met with anyone, during my whole life, who
had more feeling for mankind.

Everything beautiful and noble which has ever been
understood under the words 'a philanthropic soul,' lived in
him. His constant thought was how to make people happy,
and he could be as hard as possible to those same people. It
was then that all his sharp, logical reasoning came into
powerful play; he dissected the intentions and actions of
others with unmerciful dialectics, it seemed as if the rich
register of feeling in his heart could be silenced with a touch,
like the swell of an organ.

But if he was in the habit of mercilessly criticising
political, as well as artistic and scientific things, yet the friend
who knew him intimately could never mistake the good
roots which had grown in a wrong direction through too deep
thought.

KING LEOPOLD ON THE ENGLISH 141

His nature was inimical to all dimidiation, he despised
untruth and phrasemaking. Just because he thus saw
through the weakness of men and their works more quickly
and felt them more strongly, the battle of life made him
rougher and more positive in his judgments.

The very fact that he wound himself up more and more
in his own doctrines made him only too often lose the natural
pleasure and satisfaction with which he might otherwise have
regarded his own creations.

I am far from saying that my brother's magnificently
endowed character was so altered by English life and manners;
but one portion of a letter of King Leopold's, written with an
entirely different meaning and in entirely different relations,
recurs to me :

' The English have no idea of what the words "to be glad"
mean ; if they laugh, it is over the laceration of a fellow-
citizen ; if a festival, which is always looked upon as work, is
successful, they say " it went off very well," as if they were
speaking of an accomplished task. In America it is said to be
still worse, and a joyous person a rarity.'

It gives rise to the reflection that they nevertheless-
adhere to the aim of life, as this gift of heaven must not be
used in an exaggerated manner. But if it may seem probable
at first sight, that the hard surroundings of English ways
could bring about so great a change in a kindly German Prince,
yet I cannot doubt that it was caused by an entirely different
influence, which brought the hardness in my brother's disposi-
tion to the surface.

Historical literature during the past years has placed
Stockmar's name in a light which can, on the whole, be no
other than a pleasing one. It is seldom that posterity does
justice to the works of men who have not played a great
part in the public positions of State or on the parliamentary
benches. Only too often, the quiet influence which sometimes
faithful servants, sometimes honest friends, or secret coun-
sellors immediately exercise over great events, is forgotten
amidst the tumult of public opinion.

If, therefore, the far-reaching activity of a man like

1 42 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOTH A

Stockmar, were, so to speak, firmly established by the most
celebrated writers, it could be regarded only with real
pleasure, as an addition to the knowledge of the history of
the timea But for the very reason that Stockmar ranks in
the list of indisputably historical personages, it seems as if
one is justified in giving a more correct picture of everything
concerning this excellent man. On obtaining a nearer view of
things, one cannot deny that Stockmar's hand often appeared
to give more than it ever really offered. I am not aware
whether anyone has ever written in history about the political
dilettantism of medical scientists. But it is certain that, both
in former and present times, there have been many physi-
cians who, through their practice amongst princely personages
and statesmen, have made more or less energetic researches in
the department of politics. Stockmar also belongs to this
list of almost invariably remarkable and historically most
interesting persons and characters.

The part played by Stockmar, entirely apart from his
personal relations to our House, at Frankfort in the year
1848, lifts him for ever above the generality of the men of
his time, and many of his treatises and newspaper articles
were distinguished by a clearness rare in Germany at that
time.

He was penetrating, rich in attainments and gifted with a
certain personal power of presentiment. But his aptitude,
close observation and knowledge of the affairs and events of
State were borrowed from a small circle of refined, highly
educated and enlightened persons, who were, however, not
always looked upon by the world as being decisive forces.

As a council of physicians regards laymen of both high
and low rank with contempt, and at the most, smilingly looks
upon anyone outside of their charmed circle who pretends to
any knowledge of their science, so Stockmar handled political
business matters, and judged mankind.

This mode of thought gave the greatest stimulus to the
doctrinaire vein which my brother already possessed in our
student years. Both of them grew more and more disapprov-
ing in their judgment of the aristocratic, as well as the meaner

DIFFICULTIES IN COBURG AND GOT HA 143

political sphere, which boldly invaded life and practised
there.

As such vocations, in which the learned man is easily dis-
tinguished from the layman, easily develop a certain haughti-
ness, so a certain spirit of caste appeared in Stockmar's circle,
which almost pretended to infallibility.

Stockmar's peculiar position in our house allowed him
continually to appear as a counsellor, but he was never held
responsible for anything which might happen; he was a
faithful companion, like the chorus in a Greek tragedy, but
he could never have been a responsible servant who would
have answered for his master's deeds, or made open war for
his own ideas.

If, during the first years of my rule, I complained to King
Leopold about everything which surrounded me, how I had
found many a public institution decaying from neglect, I may
add that in no way were things made easier for me. A proof
of this is furnished by a letter which I wrote on the 12th of
April 1845.

' We are, that is, I am, for one thing, busy trying by means
of organic improvements, to pull much out of the mire which
seems to have been intentionally allowed to get stuck fast in it.

' Unfortunately it is we who must often taste the fruit of
old sins, and so much of the public body lies ill. I have
carried out a great deal during the past few years, and have
at least succeeded in re-establishing the trust which had been
entirely withdrawn from us, and my good-will and firm
intention to continue in this path have been recognised.

' A great deal more ought to have been done, but, with few
exceptions, I am badly supported, and my good old Lepel
cannot forget either, that he once wore a queue. We have to
fight against the want of the most necessary means as well as
of intelligence.'

The organic improvements, which I mentioned in this
letter, referred to the administration and the constitution. Very
soon after my brother had left home again, in the beginning
of April, 1844, weighty difficulties arose in both Coburg and
Gotha concerning the different classes of both Duchies. In

i44 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Coburg, where the constitution was liberal, the arrangement
of the domain question gave rise to disputes. In Gotha, on
the other hand, a positive war was waged against the ranks of
lord and knight, which, with the narrow-mindedness usual to
these, opposed every change in the constitution.

As regards the administration, on the 24th of July and
the 1st of August, I had, by means of an ordinance, brought
about a complete separation between private ducal and state
affairs. The Ministry received the appellation of a 'Ducal
States Ministry,' and was released from the guidance of the
personal and private matters which concerned the reigning
Prince. In consequence of [this, an almost entirely new
appointment amongst the higher officials was found to be
necessary, and I may add that the choice of persons was by
no means easy.

Up to that time, Freiherr von Lepel had stood at the head
of the Ministry, a man who, although of large experience in
state matters, was as little suited as he was inclined to retain
the leadership of affairs. He was not only opposed to every
innovation in the administration, and every change in govern-
ment organisation, but knew how to impede the proposals of
representative arrangements which I had in view. This led
to a positive stoppage in the transactions of the States
Assembly, in the year 1845, and when I wished to insist upon
the carrying out of my intentions, Lepel requested leave to
retire.

I am still in possession of the documents in which this con-
servative man gives the motives for his withdrawal, and
although the amount of matter is too considerable for me to
give it all here, yet, what he wrote in December 1845, is too
significant of the time immediately preceding the year 1845,
for me not to give at least a part of it : he said he ' looked
upon it as a great evil, that in most of the German States
representative constitution after the English and French
pattern had been adopted. The smaller the States are, the
greater is the hindrance of such a constitution for their

O

government. Meanwhile, in those where such is already in
existence, as in the Duchy of Coburg, they must indeed be

LEPEL'S RETIREMENT 145

maintained, but every extension of States' rights, every further
contraction of government power, is dangerous ; for conces-
sions such as these cannot be repealed.

' The attempt is made on the part of the Commons, or. what
is as a rule the same thing, on that of the Liberals, to call it
by the fine name of continued cultivation of the constitutional
principle, but in reality it is nothing more than to govern
co-operatively, or to procure the decision of contested questions
of administration through the civil courts, where one may be
certain that out of ten cases, nine will be decided to the
disadvantage of the Government.

' It is this which gives rise to the ceaseless attempts to
intimidate and bind the servants of the State, and particularly
the higher members of the administration, by means of laws
of responsibility, whereas the different classes will be answer-
able only to their God and to their consciences.

' Well knowing what the late most high lord wished to give
us by means of the constitution of 1827, and what he did give
us, I have not only justified myself in opposing the claims of
the different classes, but have held it as my duty so to act ;
the measure of what I can make up my mind to grant by
those to whom I have yielded in this respect is full.

' If your Highness has the intention of granting still more,
I do not wish, as I have several times plainly declared, to
have any part in it, and for this reason alone would be obliged
most humbly to beg to be allowed to ask for my pension.'

Lepel's other grounds for retiring from the service of the
State arose principally from the innovations with regard to
affairs of administration. He closed his document with an
attestation which I willingly accepted, as it ran thus : — ' Your
Highness has a strong leaning towards the Liberal side, and I
am Conservative through and through.

' Your Highness is hasty in forming decisions, and would
like to see them carried out with equal promptitude ; I honour
the maxim "hasten slowly"; I like to consider a matter
deliberately, and unwillingly make up my mind to a change
before I feel convinced of its usefulness.

'Your Highness allows yourself to be easily led to make

VOL. I. K

146 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

exceptions through the impression of the moment ; I am con-
sistent to the verge of obstinacy. Your Highness would like
to see all hindrances and considerations put aside, but I dis-
cover them everywhere, and therefore hesitate to dispose of
them. Moreover, I am too old to change.'

The person who reads these lines to-day will not doubt
that the success of my plans taught the lesson that it would
have been no misfortune for Germany if, before the stormy
years, our Princes had been ' more strongly inclined to the
Liberal side.' But in the year 1845 it was made so difficult
to lead matters into a channel suited to the times, that even
my brother was very unhappy about my conflict with
Lepel.

' Lepel's withdrawal,' he wrote, on the 17th of December
1846, ' I regret intensely ; he had the inestimable qualities of
honour, experience, economy, and great consistency, which
are difficult to find united in one man.'

My chief care was now to the domain question in a consti-
tutional manner with the assistance of the Diet.

I therefore laid before the Assembly a bill according to
which ' the income arising from the patrimonial nature of the
possession of crown-lands was, without injury to itself, to
contribute to the defrayment of the cost of the States' admini-
stration according to a regulated assessment.'

The conditions which the carrying out of this principle
individually illustrated, gave rise in August 1846 to very
excited debates. The Commons strove to prove as circum-
stantially as possible that the land had rights to our demesnes
to such an extent, that the yearly demand could not be met by
the combined incomes of these possessions. The Commons also
wished, as it were only out of a sense of justice, to make an
equal division of the net profits of the crown-lands between
the land and the Prince, and I could not assent to having my
voluntary proposition amended in this way.

' We think rather,' so ran the rescript of the Government
to the Commons, ' that it is Our duty in the position of Lord of
the Land, as well as that of the land itself, in consideration of
the equitableness to us, as has been hinted by the Commission

BREAKING UP OF THE DIET 147

of the classes, to renounce voluntarily, and would, accordingly,
in case the Assembly of our faithful Commons were to approve
of the above mentioned views entertained by their chosen
Commission, honestly regret to see Ourselves forced to the
necessity of withdrawing Our proposition on account of the
resignation of a quota of the net profits of Our crown-lands to
the State Treasury ; but if, on the other hand, Our faithful
Commons will renounce the pretended claims of the country to
the income of the crown-lands, we will again make and carry
out Our proposal in a constitutional manner. For the more
inclined we were to make the sacrifice, willingly imposed
upon Ourselves, to grant Our faithful subjects here a consider-
able alleviation, the less would it agree with our maxims of
government to admit a pretension on the part of Our faithful
Commons, which, according to its meaning, would impose upon
the land the duty of withdrawing all just demands on Our
favour.'

Meantime the Diet broke up without having attained any
result, and at its reopening on the 12th of November 1846,
there was no unanimity on the subject. Only at its dismissal,
on the 5th of July 1847, was I able to express my pleasure at
the fact that the proposal with regard to the crown-lands had
been thoroughly settled, and the law concerning the contribu-
tions of the same towards the expenses of Government
accepted.

As, during the same session, a law touching the responsi-
bility of State officials with regard to violations of the consti-
tution, and a new order of election had been established, one
might well say that in the little Duchy of Coburg all constitu-
tional guarantees, which were stormily disputed over in the
large States during the following years, had been most amply
provided.

The constitutional question in the Duchy of Gotha was
meantime developing far less favourably. When, in the
winter of 1846, I had summoned the Diet, I opened with a
speech which plainly expressed my wish to revise the entire
constitutional form of Government. Both in and out of
Germany, my words were taken as a promise in the matter,

148 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OP SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

and my brother wrote to me somewhat anxiously and
timorously about it :

' I read your speech on the opening of the Gotha Assembly
with much interest. I only hope that the passage: "If it
should come to pass that we should wish for universal changes
in the honourable forms inherited from our forefathers, and
by which our land is now represented," may not lead to any
misunderstanding; the newspapers have at once perceived
in this the promise of a new Constitution, and it has also been
thus accepted by the English Press.'

Even at the State Assembly, the feudal body of the Counts
and the Knighthood sharply opposed my proposition, and,
besides this, the smallest possible amount of interest was
shown in certain circles of the citizens of Gotha. I should
have been driven to the necessity of bluntly overthrowing
the existing Constitution, if I had persisted in my intention.

But this old States' Constitution was of ' recognised lawful
efficiency,' and had a complaint been laid before the German
Diet by the Commons, as happened ten years later, this lan-
guishing body would not have hesitated a moment to proscribe
the views and reforms of a Prince who was penetrated by the
conviction that only in quiet times can one really and bene-
ficially alter an unenduring and antiquated condition of
things and remains of the Middle Ages, and that one must go
to meet the coming storm, whose signs are not to be mistaken.

As things were, the obstinacy shown in all German regula-
tions, and particularly the State matters in Gotha, drove us
without any hope of salvage into the Revolution.

For my part, after my intended path had been blocked up
by one hindrance after the other, which could not be set
aside, and as I had a good political conscience, I had no need
to feel any fear whatever concerning the unknown dangers of
a clearly foreseen movement. I still knew that I had some
ideas which were ahead of the times, and I only wished that
everyone in Germany, where the greatest excitement and bad
feeling increased day by day could say the same.

From my point of view I also needed, as far as was
possible to the government of a small country, according to

THE DUK&S EFFORTS IN GOTHA 149

the laws of the Confederacy and the constitution, to shrink
from no popular impulse, or to hinder it. The Press enjoyed
the greatest possible freedom, and as early as July 1844 the
Thuringian Sdngerbund could give undisturbed expression to
every German song of freedom or unity in Gotha.

As politics would not make any immediate progress, I at
once attempted to work in the interest of the land in some
other way, All intellectual elements in Gotha were supported
by me in every way ; the material advancement of the
country gained a powerful impulse through the formation of
the Thuringian railway. The completion and opening of this
railroad in the year 1847 was all the more gladly welcomed
in our lands as, even amongst the lowest grades of the people,
the great worth of the railway in this year of scarcity and
dearth was at once recognised and understood. The greatest
exertions were also made by my Government in the year 1845
to bring about the construction of the Werra railroad ; to my
great vexation the matter was long delayed by the useless
and partly shortsighted preliminaries of the Bavarian and
Meiningen Governments.

It was clear on the whole that in the smallest States of
Germany also, no great step could be taken as long as Prussia
and Austria were working in entirely opposite directions.

As things in Prussia seemed to banish all hope of a better
future, the opinion that we were on the eve of a revolution
grew stronger and stronger. How this developed and was
transplanted to Germany will be told in another chapter. At
the close of this one, a letter written by me to King Leopold
on the 6th of March 1847 shall be inserted, as it perhaps
characterises the situation rather well, and at the same time
gives vent to the discouragement daily arising from the
political proceedings of Prussia.

' Your letter convinces me again of an old observation, that
Prussia's King and her statesmen still fancy themselves in the
last century. They cannot grasp a really constitutional idea,
and still think that one can be monarchist to-day, and
liberal democrat to-morrow, just as one pleases, — in a word,
that they can act despotically.

150 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAZE-COBURG-GOTHA

' Everything which occurs in Prussia bears this character
and this is why the present state of things is dangerous. The
German race emancipates itself slowly, but it progresses surely.
The universal ideas of popular representation, noise and
publicity are continually gaining more ground, and are no
longer to be repressed. A constitutional administration is
being sought for as much as a protection against despotism,
as inversely as a victory of the monarchy over the latter.
Most German Princes are foolish despots either openly, or
under the cloak of Liberalism.

' But few can understand the real meaning of a monarch
according to our modern States' law, and amongst these the
King of Prussia will not be found, any more than the King of
Bavaria. Constitutional life will assume a different develop-
ment in Germany, from that of France or England, and her
internal politics will therefore have a different character.

' We shall not need to live much longer in order to realise
that many a secret plot which has been hatched in German
Cabinets can no longer be carried out, as no means can be
found with which to do so.

' According to experience, when fire breaks out, it will do
so during the coming years in Austria. The fuel is being
heaped up, and the people in the States belonging to the old
Houses will want to take the leap suddenly, which the rest of
Germany is taking by degrees.

' Apart from the frightful dearth, we live here in happy
quiet.

' The Thuringian is obstinate, it is true, but he is also a
very reflecting, steady man. The good traits of the German
are really shown in him.

' We are about to open the railroad here.'

CHAPTER VI

THE YEAR 1848. — PARIS THE REAL BATTLEFIELD OF REVOLUTION. —
LOUIS BLANC. — INFECTION OF GERMAN WORKMEN WITH REPUBLICAN
THEORIES. — PRUSSIA AGAIN LOOKED TO TO REGENERATE GERMANY.
— FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. — HIS VACILLATION. — THE CONSTITU-
TIONAL WAR. — THE KING OF PRUSSIA LED BY METTERNICH AND
THE CZAR. — THE ROYAL ORDINANCE. — KING LEOPOLD'S VIEW OF
THE SITUATION. — ASSEMBLY OF THE DIET. — THE DUKE VISITS
BERLIN. — ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. — PRINCE ALBERT'S LETTER

TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA. WARNINGS FROM BAVARIA AND BADEN.

— BECK ENTERS THE MINISTRY. — BREAD RIOTS AT STUTTGART. —
RADOW1TZ : HIS CHARACTER. BUNSEN. PRINCE ALBERT'S AT-
TEMPT TO GAIN PERSONAL INFLUENCE OVER THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

URGES HIM TO ADOPT MODERN STATE IDEAS. MEMORIAL OF 11TH

SEPTEMBER. THE DUKE VISITS HUNGARY, ETC. KING LEOPOLD'S

CORRESPONDENCE WITH METTERNICH. — THE AUSTRIAN POLICY
THBICE DEFEATED.

THE events of the year 1848 were foreseen by many skilled
politicians, and plainly prophesied by more than one of
them. During the first year of my rule I had, apart from
my extensive correspondence, the opportunity of becoming
thoroughly acquainted with the condition of almost all
European countries by means of immediate observation.

My opinion of the public relations of most of the States
was a very hopeless one, and I expressed it in more than one
of my letters. Meanwhile, I admit having a conviction that
it would not have developed into an enduring and successful
movement in most places, as was shown in the year 1848, if
the Orleans in France had not so completely worn themselves
out.

Paris was without doubt to be regarded as the real battle-
field of the revolution. One can hardly form any idea

152 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

nowadays of the measure in which France dominated over
and influenced political thoughts and actions immediately
before the year 1848. The masses of the people were much
more roused by radical and socialistic teaching than is gener-
ally admitted.

Louis Blanc had, during the past decade, found an enormous
and perhaps as extensive a circle in Germany for his doctrines
as in France, and the translations of radical French writings
had been diffused amongst even the lower classes of citizens,
in spite of all censure and measures of prevention. I can
well remember that even during the very earliest years of my
reign, I often found occasion to wonder how, under such
relatively smally developed means of intercourse, it was
possible, even in the smallest and most hidden spots, to print
books and pamphlets, whose existence was a continual subject
of care to both secret and public police.

A second important matter was added to this, which was
still more difficult to remedy. Many German workmen had
been occupied in Paris during the past twenty years. They
were received into the secret societies, and had now and then
won high grades in them, returning to Germany as they
grew older and propagating the radical doctrines with all the
more success, as advanced France had been everywhere
recommended by the educated classes of Germany as a pattern
of State administration.

Many of these workmen had taken part in the July
Kevolution, and had appeared in after days in their birth-
places, surrounded with the halo of soldiers who had fought
for liberation. I remember a shoemaker named Ludwig, and
a master- locksmith named Menzel in Gotha, with whom I
came into personal contact in the days of the disturbance.
They were members of the Marianne Society in Paris, and
always found a grateful and admiring audience to listen to
their radical and sometimes revolutionary speeches.

In manufacturing towns and districts on the Rhine and in
Saxony, so it was asserted, the secret societies of France
played a still greater part.

I was by no means so horrified by these things, as was

UNFULFILLED PROMISES OF 1815 153

the paralysing case in many other seats of government, but I
was of the opinion that something must be done in order to
lead the oppressed political existence into other paths.

But how could this be possible ? As regarded the landed
and educated classes, the promises made in the year 1815 had
in no case been fulfilled, and had excited a great feeling of
distrust, to which the mistaken way in which youth was
restricted by means of demagogical stratagems added a great
deal of bitterness. Moreover the lawfully founded constitu-
tions of the Governments were looked upon by most of the
reigning heads not only as a continual source of vexation, but
as a danger to the State as well. They had neither the quiet
nor the strong will to allow political life, which was still in
its childhood and wished to go through the list of childish
ailments, to develop naturally.

In the parliaments there was much misunderstood consti-
tutionalism and liberalism. The Opposition rarely rose against
the world of Government officials, but concealed a sting
which at times wounded the Princes in their good intentions.
Instead of the sovereigns seeing in the Opposition a controlling
power over the official world, they felt themselves threatened,
and there were not wanting some who discovered a Republican
spirit and pictured the dangers as increasing. Whilst it was
growing plainer and plainer, that great rules of measure could
proceed from the preponderating Powers alone, in order to
place German political relations in a more favourable position,
we began to grow accustomed to the entire impossibility of a
regeneration for Germany in connection with polyglot Austria,
and to turn our gaze more and more on Prussia.

Thus since 1840, everyone had been anxiously and impetu-
ously waiting for the rescuing deed of Frederick William IV.
Finally, however, the King, hastening from one extreme to the
other, only succeeded in preventing anyone from having the
slightest idea what his aim and opinion really might be.
Only later was the physiological enigma solved which this
Prince had presented in his person by the continually begun
and never ended actions of his reign.

No one nowadays thinks of reproaching the King for not

154 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

showing himself in the first years of his reign, by his consti-
tutional atonements, to be an admirer of that constitutional
model which had often been passed upon Germany in blind
imitation of the Western administrations of Europe. Cer-
tainly no one blames the King for having had historical
panegyrists who valued his disinclination to represent a vulgar
constitutionalism as being a kind of farseeing clearsighted-
ness, and who moreover inform us that he was far ahead of
his contemporaries in recognising the wants of this system.

On the other hand, one may oppose to this idea the fact
that if the King wished to infuse something new or essentially
different into political life, an uncommon degree of energy and
strong will would have been necessary to enable him to do so.

When, however, a ruler is in such great need of these
qualities as was Frederick William IV, his merit diminishes
greatly for having wished to possess something which was
not exactly according to the pattern of State laws, and will
easily make the impression on the nation that he is obstinate
about having his own way. Nor must we mistake the fact
that there is always something doubtful about wishing to
decide from the throne which is the best form of state. Even
in the past century, when monarchs still had so much more
power, and were met by so much more confidence than
nowadays, as many rulers were ruined by trying to con-
struct forms of state. How much more must a Prussian
King, surrounded by existing constitutional regulations, and
who had only to redeem his word, which had been given
ten years before, be wrecked by innovations of principle in
the department of regulations relating to the public law. At
the best, one may say that he could not be understood.

I will touch but slightly upon the events of the consti-
tutional war, when the King, after the stormy demands of the
Provincial Assembly of Konigsberg and Stettin in the year
1842, first brought forward his unlucky idea of the union of
class committees.

'This union/ said the King on August 19th 1842, ' is a
development of the class institutions, such as those given by
His Majesty my late father after ripe reflection concerning

FREDERICK WILLIAM IVs POINT OF VIEW 155

the wants of his people, as it supplies the element of unity
to the class advice of single provinces.

' The independent preservation of the separate divisions
of the country is fully insured by the provincial, communal
and county class constitutions, but a point of union had
hitherto been wanting in order to bring about a balance in
the anomalous interests everywhere where such a balance was
shown to be necessary for the common weal of the State, and
to produce the co-operation of class organs where the sovereign
esteemed it necessary to do so by the speediest means possible.
This point of union has now been laid before the committees.'

It is now universally known from Bunsen's published
papers, that the King's principal point of view was to allow
no State of the Empire to be decided by class committees.
He had formed the extraordinary plan in May 1845, of sum-
moning the entire provincial classes to a universal assembly in
Brandenburg, and to declare to them that this would also be
summoned in future during any great events of the monarchy.

Among the circle of politicians who surrounded the King,
there was formerly an idea of the particular predestination
of the nature and the state of the Germanic nations. The
representative system which began in 1789, was attacked as
a growth of Romanism, and although even Bunsen had to
admit, that this form stands like a ghost which cannot be
banished behind every Germanic Government, which the
historical class constitution had not skill and courage enough
to restore unreservedly once and for all, at the right time that
is, before being forced to do so, the King still lacked full power
to give his pet plan the realisation of a historical-Germanic
original constitution. Fear of Austria and Russia were the
chief reasons for the paralysing of his will.

Finding little belief accorded by the two allied Powers to
his promises earnestly to oppose every attempt to naturalise
the principles of 1789 in Germany, he allowed himself to be
completely led by Metternich's dilatory counsels, and intimi-
dated by the Emperor Nicholas. How entirely this was the
case, was shown by the King's conference with Lord Aberdeen
on the 10th of August 1845, of which Bunsen has given us a

156 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTIIA

description. Characteristically enough, Frederick William
IV expected Austria to allow him the benefit of ' his co-opera-
tion ' in the constitutional question. Aberdeen assured him,
however, that he had not understood the King, and when he
spoke to Prince Metternich a few days afterwards, he was in
doubt whether the latter had repulsed the King's ideas con-
cerning the Empire, or if he himself did not know what was
to be done. Metternich expressed himself more plainly in
Frankfort, where Lord Aberdeen found him in much better
spirits than he had been before having a fresh conference
with the King. ' It seems that the plan for the constitution
has been challenged, I even hope that he has entirely given
it up.'

As Metternich is reported to have said : ' There is no
longer any question of the constitution in Prussia, I have done
away with that project,' at the same date in Johannisberg, one
cannot doubt that it was the King's want of decision which
brought about the deluge attendant on the constitutional
question, which caused the matter to be resisted in Prussia,
and not internal difficulties, as has been maintained by a
senile historical work.

It was part of Frederick William IVs character to be
intentionally mysterious, in order to retain freedom of action
in every direction. Added to this, it was his secret opinion
that his own cleverness exceeded that of everyone else.

Only on the 3rd of February 1S47; appeared the Royal
Ordinances, treating of the arrangements of State and solving

' O ' } O

the question of the state of the Empire by means of the con-
struction of a united assembly from all the jurisdictions of the
provinces. Thus the King's most remarkable projection of
constitution, which he had been cherishing for years, as is
known in modern history, was brought into existence in a
manner entirely unexpected by the masses, and was in no
way satisfactory. My prognostic concerning all this delay,
all these half-measures, I expressed to my uncle Leopold in the
following words :

O

' The political horizon of Germany is steadily growing
darker ; the Liberals arc victorious, and the Princes for the

PRINCE METTERNICH DYING 157

most part blind. In Austria, Prince Metternich is dying
politically as well as bodily. Storms are already brewing in
Prussia, the air is so heavy, that the sovereign himself can no
longer breathe as freely as formerly. Everything is prepar-
ing for an immediate struggle. Prospects are really very
bad.'

King Leopold it must be admitted, adopted a somewhat
more conservative point of view concerning these events and
relations, than we younger men, and he consequently looked
upon things differently, yet much more darkly and doubtfully.

He never was a man, as has sometimes been assumed, to
habitually wrap himself in the learned and lawful mantle of
constitutional doctrine. He was accustomed to look at
political relations from a practical point of view, estimating
the value of their results and judging them with regard to
their consequences.

' The Prussian Constitution, after all, looks quite innocent,
will it remain so ?' — he writes on the 27th of February, and
in a letter of the 6th April, he says : — ' What will be preferred
in Germany cannot yet be decided; if the Prussian orders
content themselves with what is offered them, and if no
regularly fixed period is established for their reassembly, it
will do good for a time only. Yet Assemblies are not so easy
to manage after a time as they are in the beginning. The
National Assembly of 1790 was gentle and good, and in
January 1793 King Louis XVI was quite decently guillotined :
it is not very encouraging.

'As, however, the King talks to the people so much about
progressing, it must lead to something. As, however, the
earth is round, one is bound some day to begin to go back-
wards. That does not matter, it only proves that humility is
most natural to the children of the earth.'

Meanwhile, in spite of all preventive measures and contra-
dictions on the part of the Liberals of the country, the Diet
had assembled on the 10th of April 1847, and offered the
German people, for at least the first time, the sight of a great
parliamentary body. Many speeches were made, and much
work done by the corporations and commissions, and a list of

158 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

splendid personages first made their appearance here, who
have formed epochs in the destiny of Germany.

In the year 1846 as well as in 1847 I stayed some
time in Berlin, and stood by the cradle of the political
operations of most of the men who founded the later consti-
tutional life of Germany. Besides, I had already known
many of the members of the nobility for a long time.

As I looked on for a while in May 1847 at the political
performances, I was not able to doubt for a moment that my
uncle in Brussels was perfectly right in what he foretold
concerning the Assemblies.

I had relations with Prince Lichnovsky, of whom I
thought a great deal, in spite of many warnings which had
reached me from all sides, and also from my relatives. He
was of an energetic nature such as had never been too
frequent in Germany. He was plainly and certainly intended
for a greater political range. If, in spite of all these favour-
able traits, there was anything to his disadvantage it was his
defective education and his love of adventure.

In the circles of the noble members of the Diet, where
Lichnovsky was looked upon as the leader of an advanced
mode of thought, there was little hope that the King would
make any further concessions. Even a binding promise
concerning the periodical resuming of the transaction of the
Diet was not expected of him.

I must not, by the bye, omit to make mention of a man
whose name was uttered by the whole world with love and
esteem. I mean Alexander von Humboldt, whom I had
learned to know well years before, and whose sympathy and
liking I had now, to my great delight. He gave me many
interesting hints with regard to politics also, and in after
years called my attention to many matters.

Meanwhile the wits of Berlin had everywhere made
themselves masters of the King's speeches and supposed
utterances, and in the Chambers one proposal after the other
was made, with a view to helping the doubtful embryo to a
fine constitutional birth, over which Frederick William IV
gave vent to the bitterest irony. The Jews caused him the

PRINCE ALBERTS LETTER TO THE KING 159

most anxiety thereby ; for the beautiful ideas of the Christian
character of his creation filled him with the greatest pleasure
and with equally great, though unfortunately transitory, pride.
It is not my intention to follow the progress of the debates
and decisions one by one. When the Diet of the Assemblies
was closed on the 26th of June, after the King, irritated and
showing signs of the deepest anxiety for the possible conse-
quences of his undertaking, had gone to Silesia, one saw that
the whole project was wrecked ; a revolutionary tendency
began to show itself everywhere, one could trace the reaction
in the smaller States.

In Hesse the Elector made preparations to put the consti-
tution aside. I myself had not advanced a step with the
Commons in the Gotha constitutional question.

Prussia's influence also showed itself in the fact that
people like Blittersdorf, Hassenpflug, etc., were everywhere
supported. Thus it came to pass that, after the fall of the
former in Baden, Frederick William IV showed no faint
desire to intimidate the movements of Parliament by trans-
ferring the troops. He wanted to place a Prussian brigade
privately at the disposal of the Grand-Duke. All this
happened in consequence of Welcker's appearance on the
scene.

Perhaps this is now the time to insert a hitherto un-
published letter written by my brother to the King, and which
refers in the first part to the events of all Germany, but the
principal aim of which is to attempt to lead the King into a
better path with regard to the constitutional question.

My brother reposed great confidence in King Frederick
William, and clung to the thought that the regeneration of
the single States and of all Germany must go out from him.
He wrote thus, one might say, in the last hour before the
flood.

'Osb&rne, 12th Dec. 1847.

' YOUR MAJESTY, — I am only too eager on the receipt of your
most gracious and confidential letter of the 6th of last month,
immediately to return my warmest thanks for this fresh
proof of your friendship. Nothing could recompense me

160 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO EURO-GOT HA

better and, at the same time, encourage me more than the
assurance that " my memorial to me is — with the exception of
two portions — the written expression of my own thoughts."

' If I unintentionally omitted to satisfy this desire, it was
because, feeling the necessity of coming to an understanding
on all points with your Majesty, and of knowing that we
both agreed, I had had the intention of sending you a larger
answer, in which my brother-in-law's, von Leiningen's views,
which have been misunderstood by your Majesty, would have
been more completely developed. And even now, before I see
through this matter clearly, a fresh and, for Germany at
least, a still more dangerous event has happened, which drives
me to beg you first of all to take immediate steps against this
danger, yes, to implore you to do so.

' I mean the threatened overthrow of the Hessian constitu-
tion.

' Indeed, 1 share with your Majesty the cares concerning
the radical social ferment in Europe, and particularly in
Germany, as well as concerning the impulse which this move-
ment must receive from the victory of the Radicals in
Switzerland.

' Here, too, they have shown wherein their power consists,
namely in their numbers and the strangely firm link between
political, social and religious — that is, anti-religious — principles,
by which they are driven to oppose the State and the Church,
both of which are in a remarkable state of indecision and
want of unanimity concerning their own calling and their
mutual relations.

' But it is my firm conviction the only way in which this
threatening pressure may be met, is to bind the moneyed and
* itelligent portion of the people (that is, the real people) to
the Government by means of confidential admittance to a part
of the administration of its own land, whereas this people, as
long as it is kept divided from the Government, has neither
the interest nor the capability to stand by it in its unequal
struggle ; yet, it cannot forbear, even over the possible defeat
of a bureaucracy which it hates, (hates because it sees itself
shut out by it from its proper activity and all immediate

LETTER FROM PRINCE ALBERT 161

intercourse with its Prince) it cannot forbear, being secretly
pleased to offer itself on account of this very restraint as a
fulcrum for radicalism, in spite of the latter's plans of demoli-
tion.

' But if it is unwise of a government to refuse this certain
means of safety which stands ready at hand, how much more
insane does it seem to wish to keep this means under where
it has already existed, and — I may say — to force the people
itself, — not the radical party — through an attack on its already
political right of activity, to lawful insurrection. Could the
bad spirit of revolution, and at the same time the bitterest
enemy of Germany, wish for a better ally than a Prince who
let himself be led to make such attacks ?

' Would this not be a foolhardy provocation of the radi-
calism which is yet drunk with the victory of its success in
Switzerland, to a fight with the principle of monarchy, par-
ticularly when the representative of the same is most decidedly
in the wrong and who would have the public opinion of all
Europe against him ? The moment is certainly badly chosen
in which, after so many former accidents, to remind the
German people again that in Germany it was not the peoples,
but the princes, who began to overthrow what already stood,
and that the source of the present monarchical principle, which
represents itself as being legitimate and historical, is, never-
theless, in fact, no other than an imitation of French absolutism,
as it was devolved by Richelieu and Mazarin, and by Louis
XIV, and placed on exhibition, above the ruins of the rights of
the classes and the people of ancient history.

' In Germany, as your Majesty knows even better than I,
these rights remained almost everywhere untouched until the
treaty of Westphalia, and I cannot look upon a demand for the
same on the part of the German peoples, and where they have
been restored, a courageous clinging to them, as French and
radical, but as truly German and conservative.

' In the present case of Hesse, your Majesty knows from
the documents, that a lessening or annulling of the class con-
stitution bestowed by the late Elector, and documentarily
ratified by his successor, would be a manifest breach of your
VOL. I. L

162 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Princely word. For if one supposes that a sovereign is not
bound by the promises and actions of his predecessor, a
principle would be destroyed which I look upon as the chief
basis of monarchy, the principle, namely, that ' the king never
dies,' or ' le roi est mort, vive le roi.'

' A State, whose constitution would be at the mercy of every
change of mind and the arbitrariness of the sovereign, would
not prosper any more than the unfortunate Polish optional
monarchy, As for the Elector, there is the additional fact
that he was Regent with and under the constitution for seven-
teen years, that same constitution which he now wishes to
overthrow, and his own antecedents, as well as those of his
father and grandfather are not of a kind to awaken the con-
fidence of a nation in an absolute rule.

' Your Majesty can hardly fail to know, concerning this,
that the people of Germany are universal in saying that the
Elector's intended overthrow of the constitution is the fulfil-
ment of a condition imposed on him by Prince Metternich, in
order to obtain the recognition of the children born of his
marriage with Madame Lehmann ; for such an object he
would pay the price of his people's written Rights and
Freedom ! Whether this rumour be true or not, the step
proposed by him is still a matter which, if anything might
ever be described as wrong and godless and ' subversive ' in
the worst sense of the word, might be thus described.

' On whom, if not on your Majesty, is the gaze of Germany,
even of Europe, fixed in this new danger ? From whom can
Germany expect protection and help except from your
Majesty ?

' Of you, Most Gracious King, as of the recognised real
protector of existing rights, it is hoped that you will oppose with
all your might an attempt upon these rights ; from you, as the
rock of Germany's union and strength, we confidently expect
the hindrance of a plan which in Germany, as well between
princes and nations, as between the single States themselves,
must scatter new seeds of discord ; concerning you, as the
clearest mirror of German princely honour, we feel convinced
that you will try to hold back the hand with which a German

WARNINGS FROM THE SOUTH 163

Prince is in the act of spotting and at the same time again
endangering the dearest possession of his State, the confidence
between prince and people.

' Your Majesty must allow me, for these reasons, as German
Prince and politician, to entreat you to take advantage of
every means within your power, to prevent an affair which
would hinder lawful development of Germany, stain our
princely honour, and at this moment fling the firebrand into
an already monstrous heap of explosive material.

' Begging your Majesty kindly to excuse the perhaps too
violent entreaties of the letter, on account of the necessities
of the case, I remain, my Most Gracious King, with grateful
submission and sincere attachment, etc., etc.,

' ALBERT.'

I will add, that the entreaties in this letter were chiefly
intended to make an impression on the King himself with
regard to his own position and constitutional affairs.

It will be shown later on how the idea had occurred to our
circles to bring the great German question into play by means
of Prussia's influence over the Confederacy ; but when Prussia
allowed the most absurd measures in the Electorate of Hesse,
the reactionary classes in all the small States were protected
and encouraged by the authority of the Prussian Great Power,
it was nevertheless clear that the combined political operation
was devoid of any sound basis.

What with the rebel spirit which had ruled the larger
towns of Saxony since 1845, and the half wars in the tolls-
union negotiations which had been carried on between
Hanover, Brunswick and Prussia since 1843, the Prussian
Government, and, before all else, the Prussian King himself,
would have had ample grounds for listening to the voices of
his friends.

The most earnest warnings to think of Germany's fate,
came at that time with ever increasing plainness from the
South. -Bavaria and Baden made even greater claims on the
attention of the German statesmen. Baden was then going
through the personal political change of her monarch, and we

1 64 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

had long since grown accustomed to see the agitation for the
national questions brought into the immediate consequences
of the constitutional strife.

The preponderance of the German-Baden opposition party
may be said to date from the retirement of Blittersdorf from
the Ministry in 1843. If the wars of the Liberals against
Blittersdorf were carried on with great violence, yet he was
the man out of whose hands the superior power of the State
could never be snatched. But his successors were all weak
men.

Nebenius and Rettig had unsuccessfully wasted their last
means of becoming masters of the rising movement in the
breaking up of the Diets in the year 1846. The Grand-Duke
was completely filled by the most loyal wish to reign in peace
with the different classes of his Duchy.

Beck's entrance into the Ministry and the opening of the
Diets by the Grand-Duke on the 9th of December 1847, gave
the Liberals here the superiority, and this fact was of influence
far beyond the bounds of the little State.

From the 1st of July 1847, the German newspapers became
a common organ for the patriotic Liberals of both north and
south, and since the Assembly of Members of the Diets of
almost all German States had taken place in Heppenheim in
October, people became accustomed to see the first move for-a
reform of the national mode by the Liberal party.

The German question had already been as it were taken
from the hands of the Conservative circles, and above all, of
the reigning Powers of Germany. This alliance was of most
decisive purport for the further settlement of matters, and a
difficulty, if one will, which had not unexpectedly and un-
deservedly beset the Governments.

As the alliance of the princes had always been hindered in
its progress, the world became accustomed to the belief that
the restoration of the unity of the States in Germany could
only be brought about in spite of the leaders of the Govern-
ments, and finally only by democratic means.

And now, ultra-catholic Bavaria had suddenly become a
convert to the Liberal side. I have no slight recollection of a

BREAD RIOTS AT STUTTGART 165

still more surprising political piece of^news, the informa-
tion of Abel's fall in Bavaria. In later time emphasis was
placed, and I think rightly, upon the fact that King Louis
had already become distrustful of Abel during rthe Diet of
1846, and the crisis of this Ministry doubtless began with the
nomination of Schenk to the post of Minister of Instruction.
The peculiar manner, however, in which the liberalism of
Munich drove Jesuitical Bavaria out of the field, furnished
much food for thought. In any case, a hot war against
church tendencies had been brought about by States Councillor
Maurer and Prince Wallerstein, who, however, was not really
a Liberal, in one part of Germany, where such a thing had
least been expected.

In Wiirtemberg the Liberal Opposition had grown still
more inflexible and distrustful through the marriage of the
Crown Prince with the daughter of the Emperor Nicholas,
and bureaucratic measures against Bischer and Robert Mohl
had given rise to bitterness in far-reaching circles.

In the Bread Riots which took place in Stuttgart during
the course of the year 1847, a very bad spirit was shown by
the people on the interposition of the King. The preceding
occurrences in Switzerland were the cause of so great a
reaction on the kindred populations of Wiirtemberg, that in
the speech from the throne of the 22nd of January, 1848, it
was thought fit to make mention of the same and to attempt
some words of appeasal.

Swabian Liberalism might be depicted in still darker
colours than that of neighbouring lands ; it did not, for the
time being, assert itself so noisily as in Baden, but it was
more democratic in substance and meaning, and more dangerous
in case of a progressive movement. Bureaucracy had been
better taught there in former times, and at that moment it
held the reins of government even tighter in hand ; but
amongst the educated classes, the line of connection between
nation and dynasty was overstepped far more than anywhere
else.

When in these circles one spoke of Germany and her
unity, one thought perhaps of more distant days and remoter

166 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

times, only the words uttered later, that the King must be
rubbed with democratic oil, were quietly but universally
repeated.

In the year 1847 I considered North and South Germany
to be extraordinarily similarly developed on this point.
Particularism, which had certainly not grown weaker other-
wise, equalised the opposition between North and South more
and more in the decrease of piety and the peculiar attachment
of the peoples to their sovereigns. In South Germany particu-
larly there was an unquestionable current of strong republi-
canism, which presently substantially excelled the desire for
German unity.

Meanwhile, the best and most cautious forces were in fact
at work, shaping anew the common relations of the States
and Confederacy of Germany. A list of proposals for the
improvement of the Confederate concerns, especially promoted
by Radowitz, have already been mentioned above.

It was undoubtedly of great importance that, on the 22nd
of July 1846, Prussia made the proposal to dissolve the pro-
visory determinations over the Press in Frankfort, and
brought forward a plan for a new Press legislature. From
Wiirtemberg the proposal to publish the Confederate protocol
had been brought forward, but the half heartedness and
weakness with which all such matters were negotiated, allowed
every decision to be delayed.

I am following the declarations of Radowitz himself, who
asserts in his document that King Frederick William IV had
made it his first and highest duty, ' to bring Austria to the
final knowledge that it is high time to make an end of the
deathlike sleep of the Confederacy, and to awaken it to new
life ' ; but that he had the intention, when this goal was
attained, to retire from the leadership and to 'leave the
direction of further steps to Austria.

There can hardly ever have been a more annihilating
judgment passed on any political action, than that which
Radowitz here utters in a few words about Prussia's whole
attitude with regard to the German question. However, I
am sorry to say that I must admit the fitness of this judg-

GENERAL RADOWITZ 167

ment. Only the most extreme political optimism could have
suggested to Frederick William IV the idea that Austria
would undertake ' the leadership ' of the Confederate reforms.

General Radowitz's merit in the development of Germany
is, moreover, undisputed and, as it were, prophetic. I after-
wards learned to know this clever and rare man better and
better ; he seemed to have been intended by fate to shape
the thoughts of Germany's present form, at a time when the
personal relations showed no possibility whatever of its being
fulfilled.

Radowitz was like a figure out of the Middle Ages, a
soldier who talked politics, as in the days of Friindsberg and
Schartlin, and at the same time equipped like a bishop, of
great knowledge and wide reading. He came of a Hungarian
family, but was born at Blankenburg in the Harz. He had
received his education at a Lyceum in Altenburg, if I am not
mistaken, and had belonged to the Westphalian-French army,
where he had acquired most thorough military knowledge.
During the battle of Leipzig he commanded a French battery.
Then he became a Prussian general staff officer, and as
military plenipotentiary at the Frankfort Alliance, he turned
the deliberations to German politics and reform.

He possessed a phenomenal memory which far exceeded
that of most other men. He could read a book of ordinary
size in an afternoon, and would afterwards be able to repeat
almost every sentence by heart, even giving the number of
the page on which it could be found. He could find a place
again in an instant. By means of this peculiarity, he had
gained his extensive knowledge one might almost say in play,
as is but poorly shown by his books.

The best proof of the readiness of memory of this remark-
able collective mind is to be found in his iconography of the
saints and his mottoes and devices, nearly all of which he had
arranged from his memory.

He quoted books in such a manner that people said it
could not be correct ; but I have often taken him at his word,
and made the experiment of writing down the quotation and
looking it up. I nearly always found it to be correct.

1 68 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

The only disagreeable arising from this mass of learning,
was that he had grown accustomed to adopt a lecturing tone,
which could be stopped by no one, besides his sovereign and
King, with whom besides, he had many traits of character in
common.

The result was that he took possession of every matter,
and proceeded to prevent all discussions concerning all. He
had a species of poetical conception of most things, and this
inclined him to take view of religious questions of which one
might be doubtful whether it allowed him freedom in every
way, or whether he was not bound in many questions of
volition by the set impulses or rules of his catholic circle.
But this in no way hampered his personal judgment. Clear-
sighted and farseeing in all things which related to politics,
he was an excellent teacher for every painstaking politican.
But he was not a man of negotiations. He might be rather
dangerous than useful to any prince or statesman, who did
not himself possess strength of will and initiative power ; he
belonged to the class of invaluable counsellors, always ready
and intelligent ; he was a critic, but he certainly did not be-
long to those who acted according to rules of measure.

His position and importance in politics, and especially as
regarded the development of Prussian affairs, was therefore
greater in 1848 than afterwards, when it was not a question
of counsels and possibilities, but of strong will and ability.
No one had known how to explain the wants of the Con-
federacy to King Frederick William so plainly and well as
he ; as long as it was only a question of doing so theoretically
and academically. But if he thought afterwards that what
the King had done, or had wanted to do, for Germany when
he mounted the throne would be appraised as having been
caused principally through his influence, it certainly displayed
the weakness of a nature not intended for negotiations.

On the 20th of November 1847 he handed the King a
memorial of the measures to be adopted by the German Con-
federacy. It was a bill of indictment against the Confederacy
since it had first been founded. It proved clearly and
decisively the unmistakeable necessity for a legislature for

BUNS EN'S OPTIMISM 169

the Press with relaxation of censorship, the publishing of the
proposals of the German Diet, the institutions for the defence
of Germany, for the protection of rights, and for material
interests.

The memorandum expressed in plain words to the King
everything which he ought to do, but the path which he was
to adopt in order to succeed in the fulfilment of his intentions
was by no means to be pointed out so surely.

Finally, and this should be particularly noticed, Radowitz
had even at that time a presentiment ' that one should also
consider the results in case the influence of Vienna and the
selfish notions of men singly should render it impossible to
accomplish anything useful with the German Diet.'

When, however, he went on to say in the memorandum
that Prussia must then adopt other measures, one is curious
to know what Radowitz advised his King to do in this case,
but is, to tell the truth, very much disappointed to learn
nothing better than that he must ' unite with the better spirit
of the nation.'

Meanwhile, however, much had taken place in an official
way to prepare for the adoption of a new form for the
German Confederacy. Bunsen had already been asked by his
Foreign Minister, Baron Kanitz, during the course of the
summer of 1847, to consider whether it would not be possible
to come to a more practical understanding with England con-
cerning the leading articles of the present time. This was an
inducement for him also to discuss the German question in a
manner which was intended to lead the King to the opinion
that ' the scale of Prussia's political influence in England was
greater than her power in Germany, that is, her ability to
lead German progress.'

Bunsen tried in every way to make it clear to the
Prussian Government that the ground of understanding of a
new form for Germany had been levelled in England. One
may leave undecided the question whether Bunsen really
derived this optimist view from the interest which the English
nation and the English Government was supposed to have
taken in the German question, or whether this was only a

170 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

way of boasting of his influence, in order to propel his King
forward in the direction aimed at by himself.

If anyone in England really cherished this warm feeling
for Germany and her desired elevation, it was my brother,
and, influenced by him, the Queen. Whether, on the other
hand, Bunsen's remarks in his memorial of the 25th of
September 1847 were in any degree significant and expressive
of Palmerston's views, and those of the existing Government
is really to be doubted.

Only in my brother's immediate circle had ideas respecting
the duties and calling of the King of Prussia been expressed
for and against Germany, and here these questions were a
continual subject of discussion and sometimes of strange
hopes.

The first incitements for the consideration of the German
question dated with my brother from his stay with the
Queen in Coburg and Gotha in August and September 1845.
At that time the plan was originated of attempting to attain
an immediate influence over King Frederick William.

My brother found a numerous princely circle in Coburg.
The Grand-Duke of Baden was present with the Hereditary
Prince, my brother-in-law ; all the Saxon Dukes had come
there on a visit, and German affairs were thoroughly discussed.
In the following summer I again spent some time in England,
and my observations concerning Berlin in May 1847, which I
have already mentioned above, had been made thoroughly
known to my brother, and induced him to persuade the
Queen as earnestly as possible.

In this way Albert had since the year 1846 engaged in a
correspondence with the King of Prussia, of the contents and
aim of which, besides King Leopold, myself, and our cousin
Karl of Leiningen, Stockmar, and Bunsen were also informed.

It will naturally be understood that the degree of hope
with which this experiment was regarded, varied with
different people. Ensuing events had unfortunately proved
me to be only too right, when, in 1846, I expressed my con-
viction that King Frederick William would never become a
German Emperor.

PRINCE ALBERTS MEMORANDUM 171

As is seen from the Queen's book even, although it is
modestly mentioned, and then only because necessary, Prince
Albert also often could not forbear thinking that ' no great
advance could be made with the subjective Brandenburg,
Hohenzohlern, Frederick William views.'

Already in the year 1846, on the occasion of the Polish
affair, and in consequence of the Cracow spoliation, Albert
urged the King at length to abandon the pursuit of the sacred
alliance, and to make room for modern State ideas.

Little by little he went more particularly into the German
constitutional question, and at length he sent the King the
deeply energetic memorandum of adverikie of the llth of
September 1847, which, according to the times, had somewhat
the start of the above mentioned memorial of General von
Radowitz, and therefore stands alone in importance. It was
very fortunate that our cousin Prince Leiningen, furnished as
he was with the necessary personal energy, was the elegant
interpreter of the views declared in the memorandum.
Stockmar, on the other hand, behaved very wrongly, holding
Prince Albert back in every way, and, as was his habit, getting
out of the way when matters grew serious.

In opposition to Stockmar, the rest of us were convinced
that no one could be more fitted than my brother to speak
perfectly clearly and openly with the King of Prussia, on
account of his independent and firmly established position
with regard to the latter. People might have been of very
different opinions concerning the success of this step, but to
have declared with equal severity his opinion of the epoch-
forming principles of the German politics of the future re-
mains Prince Albert's indisputable merit in the history of our
times.

It was precisely my brother's talent and peculiarly diligent
way of bringing to a decided shape, and working into a kind
of system, thoughts which had been universally recognised
and stated.

Thus, at the beginning of the memorial of the llth of
September, stand two bluntly expressed theses which had
been stated with much circumlocution by public men and

172 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

statesmen, but which my brother alone might without any
reserve whatever utter to the King of Prussia :

1. Improvement of popular forms of Government.

2. Restoration of a united Germany.

The proposals contained in the memorial with reference to
the accomplishments of these aims were very moderate and
thoroughly practical. It is true that no exact understanding
could be arrived at concerning Austria's relation to the Con-
stitution of the Confederacy, at the head of which Prussia
would have to stand, as a radical separation of the Austrian
confederate territories still appeared dangerous and impractic-
able ; but the fundamental idea of the memorandum, that
there were affairs concerning the Confederacy which demanded
a stricter uniformity of institutions, was at bottom the same
at which all politicians were working during the following
years, and which really became proportionate to the develop-
ment of Germany

When Stockmar persuaded Prince Albert that Germany's
condition of affairs, especially in the year 1847, had been of
an anti-dynastic character, his declarations were in this case
always significant for the present state of things, but they
were negative and discomposing. He succeeded far less in
advising something positive than my brother, who, in his
intercourse with Prince Karl and myself, had come much
nearer the truth and the necessity in this case than anyone
else.

As regards the answer of Frederick William IV, it may
already be seen from Prince Albert's letter of the 12th
of December 1847, as introduced above, that the King acted
as if he agreed to everything except two points ; but deliberat-
ing and acting are two very distinct things. Most of all, the
relations with Austria still offered to Frederick William IV
unconquerable difficulties. He thought that he must go so
far as to carry out the reform of the German Confederacy as
a commission, so to speak, and as if he were the Austrian
Emperor's attorney. Yes, he even went so far as to say, ' I
am only here to hold the Emperor of Austria's stirrup.' But
anyone who knew Austrian affairs was forced to reflect that

JOURNEY THROUGH HUNGARY, ETC. 173

in that state not only the will, but the possibility as well was
wanting for any readiness and compliance with regard to the
reform of the German Confederacy.

I had a closer knowledge of these things than the so-called
best informed diplomates and reporters. For I was probably
better informed concerning the extensive kingdom of Haps-
burg-Lothringia, through my considerable possessions in the
heart of Austria and the branch of our family residing in
Vienna and Hungary, than anyone else in Germany.

In the summer of 1847, I had moreover thoroughly gone
over the Austrian and Hungarian lands with the Duchess.
In July, we not only stayed some time in Austria and Vienna,
but in August we came into contact in Pressburg and Pesth
with many Hungarian gentlemen, and recognised the entire
impossibility of any determination being come to here.

I undertook a special journey through .Hungary, Sieben-
biirgen and Buckowina, partly in order to examine the studs
and husbandry, partly to stay sometime with several noble-
men there. Amongst others, I made a visit of some duration
to an estate belonging to Prince Paul Esterhazy. A crowd of
the most influential Hungarians of all colours of opinion had
assembled here, and from their conversations it became clear
to me that, in this remarkable country also, everything would
be ripe for revolution in the shortest possible time ; the Arch-
duke Stephen, who had just placed himself at the head of
the Government, could not succeed in uniting the chief
oppositions.

A kingdom which, so to speak, was bereft of all monarchic
government, which was in the bitterest financial need, and
pressed and threatened on every side, could be prevented
from falling only by the maintenance of existing relations.
When one reflected that, in addition to this, the only states-
man whom it possessed was Prince Metternich, who in his
youth had looked upon this principle of preservation as his
highest maxim, and now in his advancing years regarded all
innovations as the beginning of the end of the combined
States' systems of Europe, it was a highly doubtful expecta-
tion that Prussia could he called upon by the Austrian side to

i74 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

undertake the transformation of Germany. Above all, the
large kingdom afforded no prospect internal!}*- of consolidating
itself according to the constitution. The illusive idea con-
cerning the Austrian Empire, which made the foreign
politician imagine that he had to do with a united State, dis-
appeared before the traveller, when he stepped over the
Hungarian boundary-line ; a boundary line which was marked
by strict toll duties, and presented itself far more plainly to
our eyes than the limits which the German had known in his
land in the times before the tolls-union. Added to this was
the openly expressed endeavour to separate themselves more
and more from the so-called monarchy, and the fact that the
first nobility of the land stood at the head of a movement
which made the founding of a special Hungarian state appear
a question of time only.

That, under these circumstances, the expectations of the
Prussian King and his statesmen concerning the agreement
of the Austrian Government with regard to the national
reform could not be fulfilled, could not but be clear to me, as
will be admitted, when I returned in September with the
Duchess to Coburg, going by way of Prague, Karlsbad and
Eger.

Characteristic of the conception which Metternich had
of the Prussian constitutional experiment, were his conversa-
tions and correspondences with King Leopold, through which
I was always seasonably informed of the entirely unchanged
attitude of the Austrian Cabinet. Even my uncle allowed
himself to be towed by the Austrian States Chancellor's cable
in this question, and it is characteristic by what a continual
state of revolutionary fever such prominent persons as
Metternich and King Leopold were attacked.

Thus the latter wrote to Prince Metternich amongst others
on the 9th of May 1847 :

' Since O'Sullivan's departure for Vienna, we have had no
dearth of important events. One of them has interested ine
intensely, I speak of the opening of the Assembly in Berlin.
On this occasion I recalled what your Serene Highness said
to me concerning it in the Castle at Coblenz, 1845.

KING LEOPOLD'S LETTER TO METTERNICH 175

' It is a dangerous game which is being played there, and
the pleasure of making speeches seemed to be dearly bought.
Practical wisdom demands here that everything must go
slowly, and that the next reunion of the Assembly should not
be appointed for too early a date. The interruption delays
the climax, which is otherwise unavoidable in tolerably well-
made-up assemblies.

' The Spanish question has grown quieter, but it is unfor-
tunatety a chronic evil ; if the Queen bears no children it will
certainly give rise to great jealousy.

'Your Serene Highness will be sorry to hear of a part
change in the French Ministry ; it cannot work favourably,
and yet a Conservative Ministry is particularly important for
France. The danger would be great if revolutions were recom-
mended from that quarter as the normal condition of nations.

' Count W . . ., with whom I am very well satisfied, and
who is very much liked here, will be able to give your
Serene Highness information concerning all this.

'The Catholics, through their original hatred of the
Government, have burdened us here with the mad constitution
of which the perpetual elections is the most dissolving ele-
ments ; as I had told them from the beginning, it is they who
are the greatest sufferers by it.

' They are already driven from the cities, and I fear that
the approaching elections will again weaken them. Since
Belgium existed, and even since 1815, there has been no

o *

more able Ministry here than the present one ; nevertheless
everything is done to make its existence difficult. One is
inclined, on contemplating the remarkable events which are
now going on in Europe, to think of a large madhouse.

' May the approaching beautiful time of the year work
favourably on your Serene Highness ; illness is driving me in
a few days to Wiesbaden.

' But I will not be too prolix, and close with the assurance
of my most heartfelt respect.

'LEOPOLD R.'

Nothing is more significant of the unshaken hopes which

1 76 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Conservative Europe set on Austria, than the fact that my
uncle was not to be weaned from the unfortunate idea that
we should have in the decaying Imperial state on the Danube
a suitable reserve against the Revolutions, which were ad-
mitted to be threatening us everywhere.

Yet already at that time, the Austrian policy had three
defeats to note down, from which the Metternich system would
never recover. Cracow had been annexed in order to choke
the Polish movement, and the Western Powers' most bitterly
blamed violation of the contract, so carefully adhered to by
the Austrian Government, had no other consequences than to
force a state, which already stood on the brink of financial
destruction, to make enormous war preparations, which were
nevertheless not fitted to bring the Polish movement to a
standstill.

Metternich had, at the same time, at the election of Pope
Pius IX, experienced a shameful repulse in the circles of his
good friends, and in Upper Italy the possession of the
monarchy began to waver seriously. And to these internal
difficulties was joined that of the Sonderbundskrieg in
Switzerland, where the old Metternich policy had, as it were,
been lamentably shipwrecked before the eyes of all Europe.
Thus old Austria found herself in a situation through which,
if Prussia had only had an energetic will, Germany's inde-
pendence might have been secured. Meanwhile, it would
have been idle to start the question what should be done, if
Frederick William IV had really been worthy of the hopes
which were set on him. In the actual course of things, the
birth of a new epoch of European political relations was,
however, to come from France, and be introduced by a
revolution in Paris.

What the causes were which from the year 1846 led to
the overthrow of Louis Philippe, it will not be difficult for
me to show, by relating a few personal experiences in the
next chapter.

CHAPTER VII

THE SPANISH MARRIAGES. — THE DUKE AND DUCHESS START ON A TOUR
THROUGH SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. — TOULON. — QUEEN CHRISTINA
AND HER FORTUNES. — AT BARCELONA. — LESSEPS. — EN ROUTE FOR
MALAGA. — THE SHIP CAUGHT IN A STORM. — SEVILLE : THE BULL-
FIGHT.— VISITS TANGIERS. — RECEIVED BY THE PACHA. — IN THE
SERAIL. — FLIGHT OF ITS DENIZENS. — THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS. —
ARRIVAL OF THE ' PHCENIX ' WITH THE DUCHESS AND SUITE. —
IMPOSSIBLE TO LAND. — GIBRALTAR. — PROJECTED MARRIAGE OF

QUEEN ISABELLA. CONFUSION OF DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS WITH

FRANCE AND ENGLAND. — STOCKMAR WRONG AS TO PRINCE
ALBERT'S POSITION. — PRINCE LEOPOLD AS A CANDIDATE. — QUEEN
CHRISTINA'S LETTER TO THE DUKE. — ITS SECRET MEANING. —
THE DUKE'S LETTER TO KING LEOPOLD. — TO QUEEN CHRISTINA.
— WISHES TO RETURN BY WAY OF ENGLAND. — OPPOSED BY

PRINCE ALBERT. HIS LETTER re ANSWER TO QUEKN CHRISTINA.

— DON FRANCESCO AND THE DUG DE MONTPENSIER MARRIED TO
THE TWO PRINCESSES. — QUEEN VICTORIA'S VIEWS ON THE SPAN-
ISH MARRIAGES. IN PORTUGAL. INTREPIDITY OF DONNA MARIA.

— AT OSBORNE — THE RETURN HOME. — DIETZ. — DON MIGUEL. —
TROUBLES IN PORTUGAL. — ENGLAND AND SPAIN TO THE RESCUE.
— LOUIS PHILIPPE AND METTERNICH PROTECT THE SWISS JESUITS.
— THE FRENCH KING'S PERSONAL CHARACTER. — DEATH OF THE
DUC D'ORLEANS.

THE history of the so-called Spanish marriage became decisive
for Louis Philippe's position in France, and his relations with
England during the last years of his reign. Few people can
have any idea, in these days, what a wide importance the
question as to whom the two daughters of the widowed Queen
Maria Christina should marry exercised in European politics.

Since Thiers' overthrow all the efforts of the French
Ministry were directed towards the support of the laboriously
gained intimacy between the two neighbouring kingdoms, but
the circumstances of the Pyrenean peninsula were a continual
subject of jealousy and irritation in the relations of the
Cabinets of St James' and Versailles. In England France's

VOL. I. M

1 78 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

demeanour in the Spanish marriage affair was regarded as
the real touch-stone of Louis Philippe's loyalty and that of
his House, and in France they would not renounce the influ-
ence gained over Spanish affairs. It is therefore compre-
hensible that, durino- the latter years of his life. Guizot felt

O */

the need of particularly justifying in his Memoirs the attitude
which he had observed with regard to these events. Everyone
was convinced that the breaking-up of the Anglo-French
alliance was of such consequence to all Europe, that each
party strove to throw the blame on the other.

Just at that time, when the politicians of all the Powers
were watching with anxious expectation the occurrences in
Spain, I was about to undertake a journey with my wife
through this country, which in those days was still considered
as lying entirely out of the way, and was but rarely visited
by tourists.

One prepared for a jaunt through the beautiful peninsula
as one undertakes an expedition to the interior of Africa
nowadays, and the attempt to travel with women through the
unsafe provinces of the ancient kingdom was looked upon as
an adventurous and difficult enterprise. I had the intention
of taking a trip to Africa from Spain, and going thence to
Portugal, where I wished to introduce my young consort to
the dear relations at the Royal Court. Such an undertaking
was almost impossible without the support of the French and
English Governments, and as we had this amply my appear-
ance in Spain was looked upon as an event of political import-
ance. It was nothing more than a strange accident which

Cj O

involved me in the great question of the day, and which
appeared to have selected me to play a certain part in the
history and development of the celebrated Spanish marriage.

Without the slightest intention to connect myself with the
politics of the Peninsula, I left Germany on the 23rd of March
1840, accompanied by my wife and my cousins, Alexander and
Arthur Mensdorff, with two gentlemen and a lady. We went
to Marseilles by way of Strasburg, Besancon, Lyons and
Avignon. We had manifold skirmishes with impudent post-
masters and untrustworthy postillions, and only the voyage
down the Rhone, which we made in the steamboat Syrius
restored our good spirits and power to enjoy nature in the South.

CHRISTINA RESUMES THE GOVERNMENT 179

Although I was travelling under an assumed name, official
ceremonial receptions could not be entirely avoided. Louis
Philippe's government was not to be prevented from making
my undertaking a public affair, ostensibly on account
of the diplomatic disputes which were then going on. We
tried in every way to escape from the tiresome official recep-
tions, but it was in vain, and gave rise to many a laughable
incident.

After a short examination of the sights of Toulon, the
fortifications, arsenals and prisons, we left for Marseilles and
took passage for Barcelona on the 2nd of April, on board the
Amsterdam, a French ship, which I had chartered. Here,
where I had six years before witnessed the overthrow of
Queen Christina and the rise of Espartero, we landed on the
Spanish peninsula.

What had not happened since those days in the pattern
land of military revolution ! The Queen, who had then had
to give way to the fortunate General, was back again, and had
once more seized the reins of government. Whilst Espartero
was going to encounter General Prim in the battle-field, on
the 21st of June 1843, with 8000 men, General Prim being
engaged in uniting the Dictator's opposers in Catalonia with
the Queen's money, Narvaez landed in Valencia and hoisted
the flag of the Moderados. He brought an army of 30,000
men, before which Espartero's faction dispersed, and the
Dictator was forced to flee to the South. On the 30th July
he left Spain on an English ship sailing from Cadiz, without
having had justice done him as to his endeavours to bring
about the peace and security of Spain.

But the Progressionists had engaged in too deep a conflict
with the Church of Spain to endure their rule any longer in
the fourth decade. When Queen Isabella was declared a
major on the 10th of November 1843 in the Cortes, Narvaez,
it is true, made a short truce with the Progressionists, by
taking Olozoga into the Cabinet ; but in three weeks the
latter was again dismissed, and a moderate Camarilla
assembled round the French Ambassador General Bresson,
who had trouble in restraining his party from perpetrating the
most extreme follies against the Progressive party. This was
the moment at which Maria Christina thought she might

i8o MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

emerge from her exile in Paris, and appeared in Spain to
demand the full rights of a Queen Mother.

On the 4th of February 1844 she entered Barcelona, on
the 23rd Madrid. Shortly before that occurred the death of
her sister-in-law Louisa Charlotta, the wife of Franz de
Paulas, who had zealously tried to bring about the marriage
of one of her sons with Queen Isabella, in order to obtain in
this way a greater degree of influence over the Govern-
ment.

But Maria Christina was now once more mistress of the
situation, and the whole world thought that this Government
would establish the preponderance of the French Cabinet in
Spain

That the Queen nevertheless went her own way in many
things was shown in the affair of her daughter's marriage,
which had begun in those years to be the turning point of
European politics.

Meanwhile the good understanding between Maria Chris-
tina and Narvaez did not last long. The all-powerful General's
position had been shaken by the Minister of Finances, Sala-
manca. When a portion'of the Moderados began to dispute
Narvaez's excessive reactionary measures in the Cortes, Mira-
flores undertook in the year 1846 to form a new, and, it must
be admitted, very transitory Ministry. The recall of the still
apparently indispensable General in March, ended on the 4th
of April with his sudden downfall, through which he was
forced to leave Spain.

On the same day I received at Barcelona, through the
French Consul-General Lesseps, with whom I have always
remained on friendly terms since then, and whose name
became celebrated by the Suez Canal, the first news of the
great events in Madrid.

The Duchess recorded with astonishment in her diary the
impression produced by the contrast between the splendours
of the scenery and the hopeless political condition of the
country. Nothing could be a greater proof of the transmuta-
bility of things than the fact that in 1840, almost on the
same day I had left Spain, after seeing this Queen Maria
Christina forced to humble herself to a Progressionist officer,
and that I returned to find her treading in the dust a loyal

FROM VALENCIA TO MALAGA ; THE STORM 181

and moderate General, who was thoroughly devoted to the
monarchy.

Concerning this strange coincidence of events my brother
sent me a long letter at Gibraltar on the 20th of April.

' You seem to exercise an unfavourable kind of magnetic

o

influence on the fate of Spain, for every time you show your-
self there, the Regent is driven away, and risings, murder and
death occur in every portion of the land. You will at length
come to be looked upon as a kind of banshee whose apparition
forebodes evil for the House.'

In reality, however, the turn of events in Spain was
received much more earnestly in England than appears from
these words, for people still saw in Maria Christina only a
tool of Louis Philippe, led by General Bresson, the French
envoy ; they even grew more and more bitter in rivalry and
jealousy of France.

Meanwhile, we travellers in Spain had found but little
time in which to occupy ourselves with high politics. We
avoided the capital ; the goals of our journey were Malaga
and Granada, the Mecca of our pilgrimage hither the Alham-
bra. Since those days this tour has been described often
enough, but then it has grown much more convenient.
Whereas the Duchess was taking down with delight several
daguerreotypes of splendid buildings, with which one had
formerly to content one's self, the most excellent copies of
Spain's former greatness are now in everybody's hands.

On the way from Valencia to Malaga we were overtaken
by the heaviest storm which I ever experienced on the sea.
Already at our departure on the 7th we had a bad wind, and
during the following night threatening clouds gathered on the
horizon. The moon, described by poets as the peaceful, still
moon, had, to our astonishment and to the small satisfaction
of the crew, gathered around her a tricoloured halo. During
the night the weather was so stormy as to drive me from my
place on deck into the saloon which I had long hated, and
where I battled for hours amidst frightful heat with sea-
sickness. At length, certain of defeat, I rushed up on deck
and, followed by the waves as if by furies, staggered to a
cooler retreat which the captain's care had arranged for me.
The sea had meanwhile grown furious, and the waves swept

182 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

high over the deck. The ship flew from side to side, and
often lay so that the water rushed into the funnel and
threatened to extinguish the fire in the engine-room. The
storm grew worse every hour, the sea howled frightfully, and
the morning went by in the fruitless struggle of our ship
against the contrary wind ; in the afternoon the captain
appeared with the request to be allowed to put the ship about
in order to seek shelter in a bay on the coast. I gladly gave
my consent, and slowly as we had previously progressed, only
making a mile in five hours, so quickly did we fly to the
shore, driven by the gale. We anchored towards evening in
the small bay of La Roquetas, where more than twenty large
and small crafts had taken refuge.

We reached Malaga only on the morning of the 10th of
April. The journey to Granada was continued hence over
the mountains from Colmenar on horseback and in carriages.

O

The beautiful days which we devoted to seeing the wonderful
remains of Arabian culture, made up to us for the heavy
fatigues which it was then necessary to undergo in order to
obtain the enjoyment of those beautiful sights.

We drove to Seville by way of Cordova and Bailen. A
great bull-fight was held in our honour, the excitements of
which were endured by the ladies only through the summoning
of all their courage. We continued our journey to Cadiz on
the Guadalquivir, whence we could make an interesting trip
to Africa, as Queen Victoria had placed at our disposal the
man-of-war Phoenix, Captain Dennis.

We anchored before Tangiers, and after spending several
days there, our company separated, as I wished to undertake
a trip by land to Tetuan, whereas the Duchess was to remain
on the Phoenix and go thither by sea.

Tangiers was the capital of one of the most important
provinces of the Moroccan Empire, and stood under the
charge of the Pacha Russelham ben Ali Astod. As no German
sovereign had probably ever entered the Moroccan territory,
the Pacha had resolved, after thoroughly communicating with
the English Consul, to show us extraordinary honour.

As, however, Mahommedan customs were still strictly
adhered to in Morocco, and these customs forbade a Mussul-
man to enter a house occupied by a Christian, the governor

TANGIERS AND TETUAN 183

of the Sultan paid his visit in the open square facing the
haven.

A portion of the Pacha's body-guard appeared, bringing a
charger and most richly ornamented saddle, which I had to
mount, whilst the Pacha himself rode up with a large train of
followers, to greet me solemnly. He was a very stately man
of about sixty, of upright carriage and energetic features.
After a few compliments, which we paid each other through
the medium of the English Consul, we set ourselves in motion
in order to pay the Pacha a visit at his Alcazor, which was
by a special favour to be shown to us entirely.

The castle stands on a considerable height at the upper
end of the city. We alighted at the gates, the Pacha offered
me his hand and led me alone into the inner hall of the serail.
The order that all the women and slaves were to be gone at
the proper time had probably not been punctually carried out,
for when I entered the Pacha's apartments all kinds of charm-
ing figures started up like frightened deer ; the way was
only gradually cleared, so that the Pacha could lead me further
with more composed countenance.

In one of the halls a Moorish luncheon consisting of tea
and a peculiarly prepared dish of maize was served. After I
had taken my departure, I rode to the heights which overlook
the city, and which afford a most charming view.

On the following morning, which was the 1st of May, we
began our wanderings over the smaller Atlas Mountains
towards Tetuan. We rode with an escort given us by the
Pacha, with vanguard and rearguard, going inland by heavy
paths, towards the most mountainous part of the country, and
only halted at noon on the peak of a woody mountain.

From this point our way led over steep, thickly-grown
slopes, and grew more and more romantic. When we had
climbed the heights it descended over masses of rock into
deep defiles, whence the stony way opened through narrow
passes into a luxuriantly grown valley, shut in on every side
by the wooded mountains and reminding one of many parts
of the Welsh Alps.

Tetuan emerged from an almost precipitous ridge in the
full light of the afternoon sun, and when we were within a
short hour's distance of the city, a troop of horsemen appeared

1 84 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXECOBURG-GOTHA

at whose head, an old, grey-haired soldier and the younger
Mr Butler, the son of the English Consul, came to meet us.
When we entered the old Moorish city the entire population
seemed to be on their feet, so that we could hardly press
through the crowd.

Quartered in old Mr Butler's house, I enjoyed at sunset,
from the roof of the Consul's comfortable villa, built in the
Moorish style, the charming view of the dazzlingly white city
with its many cupolas and turrets, built regularly in a longish
square. In the background rose the mountains, which we
had descended that afternoon. Towards the north stretched
a wide plain, covered with gardens and fertile fields, bounded
by pine woods, and in the distant horizon one could catch a
glimpse of a shining blue band of water, which betrayed the
vicinity of the Mediterranean sea.

The Phoenix was to anchor there the same evening, bring-
ing, as has already been said, the ladies of the party. But a
frightful storm had driven the voyagers as far as the heights
of Algiers, and only after a twelve hours' battle with the
waves had the Phcenix succeeded in approaching the shores
of Tetuan. When, on the morning of the 2nd of May, I rode
down to the seashore, it was no small surprise to behold the
Phoenix in a situation which rendered landing impossible.

Whilst I stood on the coast watching the fearful rolling of
the ship on the angry sea, the Duchess had in vain entreated
the Captain to let her land in a boat. The despair of the poor
ladies was boundless, yet the Phoenix had for that day to be
left to her fate.

I rode back alone and disappointed to the city, where I
repaired to Pacha Hadschi Abdullah Aschach, who was await-
ing me at the gate of his Alcazar. He had had everything
prepared not only for my arrival, but for that of my wife as
well, but fate had willed it otherwise, and he was forced to
content himself with giving expression to his gallantry
through the sending of a rose which he handed me with an
Arabic poem, and numerous other presents.

I had some trouble getting on board the Phcenix with my
attendants next day, on account of the continually agitated
sea, for when we appeared on shore the state of things was but
little changed, and Captain Dennis even now refused to land his

THE SPANISH MARRIAGE 185

passengers. When, towards mid-day, he himself was at length
rowed to shore in his gig, we had already made up our minds
to turn our face towards Gibraltar, and trusted ourselves to
the rocking boat, which took over half-an-hour to bear us to
the Phoenix. We weighed anchor and shaped our course for
Ceuta, where we had a magnificent view of the African coast
and of Hercules' Pillars, then the torrid zone disappeared
behind us and we were confronted by the rocks of Gibraltar
rising majestically from the sea. Here we were for several
days overwhelmed with kindness from the English commander
and the officers of the army and marine, and parted unwill-
ingly from this memorable bulwark of English power, as the
time had been marked out for us at which we were expected
in Portugal.

It was precisely during the days of my interesting stay in
Morocco that I was much more deeply involved in matters of
high politics by the ruler of the Spanish monarchy, Queen Maria
Christina, than I had ever expected or had reason to desire.

For over four years the Cabinets of the Western Powers had
occupied themselves with the question who the lucky chosen
one was to be, who was destined to help young Queen Isabella
to rule beautiful Spain.

' Queen Isabella,' as Guizot remarked in his Memoirs, ' was
only twelve years old, but her marriage had become the
object of the reflections of all even tolerably foresighted
politicians in Spain, France, and all Europe. On this occasion
the leading French statesman forgot even to mention that it
was he himself who had started the matter unnecessarily
early. In his apology he laid much weight on the fact that
Queen Christina and the moderate party in Spain particularly
wished to have the Due d'Aumale as King Consort of Spain,
and could not boast enough of Louis Philippe's extraordinary
moderation and loyalty, through which this project, so advan-
tageous for France, had been cut short from the first.

One of the consequences of this would have been the
assembling of the most different candidates, the choice of whom
could not be indifferent to France. One can admit, yet with-
out recognising the fact, that much too great weight was laid
upon Queen Maria Christina's leaning towards an Orleans
marriage for her daughter. She was always ready to flatter

186 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Louis Philippe when she needed his help ; on the other hand,
when she felt herself free, she did not hesitate to take steps
which could by no means be reconciled with her entire devo-
tion and submission to her uncle in Paris. During my stay
there in 1843 I had the opportunity of often seeing and speak-
ing intimately with Maria Christina in the Royal House.

Whilst she was living here in banishment, she could find
no more pleasant assurance for the King than that she and
the Moderados would try to bring about an Orleans marriage
for Queen Isabella. This was naturally on condition that she
should regain the rule in Spain, towards which end she was
endeavouring to obtain Louis Philippe's support.

But when Maria Christina reached the wished-for goal in
1844, she in no way fulfilled the hopes of the Orleans with
regard to the Spanish throne, but was in reality endeavouring
to gain her daughter's hand for her brother, the Duke of
Trapani. The confusion of diplomatic negotiations, which
had grown endless since the year 1844, brought more disap-
pointments than explanations, for it is incredible how much
dust was raised by the less diplomatic Bulwer and Bresson in
order to make their own importance in the affair appear in
the most dazzling light possible.

This diplomatic opposition, which received the strongest
impression in Guizot's Memoirs, through the communication
of every trifling episode and every small dissension, led the
most modern historian of these events to form the opinion
that the Spanish marriage had from the first been taken up
with a view to the interests of the Houses of Coburg and
Orleans. But if Hillebrandt also was right in saying in his
History of France, that the ' hearty understanding ' between
England and France had been shipwrecked in Spain on the
same rock on which, ten years before, it had been piloted by
Thiers and Palmerston, yet, from the first, there had not been
the slightest trace of rivalry between the Courts on the
subject of the Spanish marriage.

It must not be forgotten that the Coburg relationship
had just formed a link which also bound the English and
French Courts, and that nothing was less thought of than the
possibility that a separation between the related Houses could
be caused by a new family alliance. ,

ROYAL ENGLISH VISIT TO EU 187

If Palmerston cherished the opinion that the candidature
of a Coburg as the Spanish Queen's Consort was much more
of a French than an English interest, this really corresponded
to the state of affairs, and one must not think that Palmerston
wished by this remark to say something favourable for the
Coburg prospects in Spain ; he only wished to offer every
possible opposition to Aberdeen's attitude.

His candidate was Don Enrique, the second son of Franz
de Paulas, who also appeared the most dangerous to Queen
Christina, because he had the greatest connexion with the
Progressionists, who were her worst and most unreconcilable
enemies.

If, on the other hand, his elder brother, the Duke of
Cadiz, appeared just as repulsive to the Queen Mother from
a moral point of view, as he did from a political one, yet one
must hardly blame her for it. The fact alone that there was
ever any talk in diplomatic circles of the marriage of this
totally unfit man, is without question the most obscure part
of the whole matter, which did no honour to any of these
concerned in it.

It is no secret that the man, who was afterwards forced
upon Queen Isabella as her husband, was no man, rather it
was everywhere spoken about and jested over, yet the diplo-
macy of those days did not hesitate to deliberate over the
eventuality of such a marriage for Queen Isabella. This
union was all the more insisted upon on some sides, so that
the Queen, as they foolishly flattered themselves, should
remain childless.

Matters stood thus at the time when the visits of the two
Courts of France and England in the year 1843-45 seemed all
the more to be assuring the friendship known throughout
Europe. In 1843, Queen Victoria appeared at Eu with my
brother, Louis Philippe thereupon came to Windsor with
Guizot, and in the following year the second visit of the
English sovereigns took place at Eu.

During the latter, certain agreements were made concer-
ning the Spanish marriage affair. Many particulars of the
meeting of the monarchs have become generally known from
the Queen's book of my brother's life.

The real matter of the mutual promises has, until now,

i88 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

never been told otherwise than conjecturally. What has
been said about them has been more or less correctly guessed,
but they will have been first authenticated only by a letter
which my brother wrote to me, and which I will communicate
further on.

I will only mark here, that in Stockmar's Memorabilities
my brother's position with regard to the matter seems not to
be quite rightly defined, and the points which were looked
upon at Eu as settled by no means coincided. The entire
representation of the latter question in this often quoted work
is also not of much more worth than that of a historical
combination.

The English sovereigns doubtless had, during the pleasant
days at Eu, bound themselves rather too firmly by their
promise to take all pains to bring about a Bourbon marriage.
Lord Aberdeen, who was trying at this price to make himself
agreeable to King Louis Philippe, entirely neglected to find a
suitable formula for the reciprocal obligations, so that each
party could afterwards refer to the arrangements of Eu, and
all the later well known recriminations were on account of
these highly unfortunate punktations.

Queen Victoria and my brother had, through their promise
to support the Bourbon candidature, deprived themselves of
all freedom of action, whereas Guizot had, according to the
extensive ideas of the House of Bourbon, to turn and twist
everything, until no one was left for Queen Isabella except
the Duke of Cadiz, which meant as much as not getting
married at all.

In that case Guizot thought he might secure the throne of
Spain to the House of Orleans, through the marriage of the
Due de Montpensier with Christina's second daughter.

When my uncle Ferdinand undertook a journey to
Portugal in the year 1846, with his youngest son, the French
Government at once ascribed to it a motive which seemed to
be opposed to the agreement of Eu, and the English sovereigns
felt this to be all the more unpleasant, as they were hardly in
a position to react upon Guizot's undertaking.

It was the weak point in their position, that their hands
had been more tightly bound by Aberdeen's unhappy conduct
than they were willing to admit to themselves.

PRINCE LEOPOLD 189

When I in turn undertook the Spanish journey already
described, they tried in France, as has been said above, to give
it as official a character as possible, so that it might be insinu-
ated to the English sovereigns that the House of Coburg had
by no means given up its Spanish ambition. To tell the
truth, we were all equally far from wishing to bring about an
event which might make a rift in the carefully fostered
relations of the House of Orleans. Added to this, the princi-
pal person in this drama, Prince Leopold himself, in no way
took a powerful initiative. His travels through Spain and
Portugal had never assumed the form of an attempt to gain
the sympathies of the Spaniards or their Court.

He avoided going to Madrid, and his father, who had
already given his consent with the greatest reluctance to the
marriage of his eldest son in Portugal, and had just found the
latter in a no very pleasant position, was still less inclined to
grow enthusiastic over the prospects of his youngest son.
They had therefore the greatest trouble to prevent the
possibilities which presented themselves from being counter-
acted on the spot through the members of the House
themselves.

As for me, personally, I was convinced that the marriage
of Prince Leopold would have been a great piece of good luck
for Spain. He had developed well during the past few years,
and King Leopold, who verily was not wanting in knowledge
of mankind, praised him, and said that he gave promise of
good things.

It would certainly have been more to Spain's interests to
bind the young, lively, and single-minded Queen of the country
to such a man, who could be her support and who would have
brought her into the way of leading a proper family life. I
may therefore say openly, and without prepossession for my
family, that I was of the opinion that the marriage should
have been brought about.

This may have become known at the Spanish Court, and
especially to Queen Christina, without my having wished or
been able to make myself in any way officially noticeable.
But the difference between iny brother's position and mine
was, that the Queen knew me personally, and that I came
into contact with a great many people, who had either a

1 9o MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTRA

direct or an indirect influence over the government in
Spain.

That Queen Christina should now turn to me under these
difficult circumstances, was a step concerning which diplomacy
made the most remarkable conjectures in their despatches.
How she came to do it, and what decided her, made Guizot
rack his brains for months together. He put the blame of
the whole matter on Bulwer, as is seen in his despatch, as he
pretended that the latter had inspired the Queen with the
extraordinary idea of cutting the knot by a direct demand for
Prince Leopold's hand. I am convinced that Bulwer really
meant as little to take any step in favour of the House of
Coburg as Palmerston afterwards did. When Lord Aberdeen
said to St Aulaire : ' Do not accuse Bulwer, he has done and
will do nothing to favour this marriage,' he was certainly
right, and I do not understand how the latter could add with
such certainty : 'With regard to the latter Lord Aberdeen
was mistaken.'

The only thing which is certain is, that people in England
at length began to believe that Bulwer had acted too arbitrarily
in the affair, as that shortly before his fall Lord Aberdeen
made a last sacrifice to the connivance against France, by
recalling the pretended author of Queen Christina's exciting
epistle from his post.

In the much talked about letter, however, which will be
made known here for the first time, the plain alternative,
towards which the Queen wavered in her choice between
Prince Leopold and the Duke of Trapani, does not exactly
point to the fact that the English diplomates of Bulwer's
school, with their openly declared tendency for Progressionist
Don Enrique, had stood behind the chair of the letter- writer.
She wrote on the 2nd of May 1846 :

' To His ROYAL HIGHNESS

' THE REIGNING DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG.
'YouR ROYAL HIGHNESS. — The contents of this letter
will explain why I address myself to Your Royal High-
ness, as the friend and the head of the family of Saxe-
Coburg.

' Queen Isabella's happiness and the tranquillity of Spain

QUEEN CHRISTINA'S LETTER 191

demand the prompt solution of the question of my daughter's
marriage with a properly chosen man.

' Now, the views which have been formed with regard to
this appear more difficult of realisation every day, as the
Princes of the House of Spain are away on account of the
greater or less part which they took in the parties which
agitate the country, and the Prince, my brother, does not
seem to have gained the liking of the people.

' The King of Belgium is aware that, under these circum-
stances, I have always thought of Prince Leopold ; I still
think of him, and should like this alliance, as I consider that
it would be the one fitted to reconcile my daughter's happiness
with that of the Spanish nation.

' I therefore beg Your Royal Highness, who, through His
Royal Highness Prince Albert are sufficiently identified with
the Court of England, to inform Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
who as Queen and mother will understand the interest which
I have in the establishing of my daughter and in the peace
and welfare of this kingdom.

'A just appreciation of Spain's position, the family
relations which bind me .to the Court of France, and the
gratitude which I feel for the friendship of His Majesty the
King of the French, will alwaj^s make me desire to see
Queen Isabella keep up the most intimate relations with
France and King Louis Philippe, and that the politics of
Spain may never give so powerful a neighbour just causes of
complaint.

' With this end in view, I should feel disposed to unite the
two families of France and Spain by the marriage of my
second daughter with the Due de Montpensier.

' With this end in view I have tried until now to favour
the marriage of Queen Isabella with Count Trapani, still I
must not forget that my daughter is the sovereign of a
country which I myself have governed, and which is justly
jealous of an independence which no one has either the right
to take away, nor any reason to dispute.

' I have always heard that Her Majesty the Queen of
England is animated like myself by feelings of sincere friend-
ship towards France, and that His Majesty has been prepared
to consent to and even to support a combination which, with-

1 92 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

out being fatal to English interests, was preferred by His
Majesty the King of France ; but I have always heard also,
that Her Majesty the Queen of England upheld, as I do, the
independence of Spain in this matter, which is first of all a
Spanish matter, and I should like to be told as frankly as
I have expressed myself in this letter, if, in case my daughter
were to choose Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, this choice
would be agreeable to his family, and if the Queen of England
would then uphold, as I have been assured she has hitherto
upheld, the principles of independence of which I have spoken,
and would then help us to mitigate any unjust resentment, if
such should arise, which I can hardly believe.

' In the actual position of this affair, I think that this step
will better be taken in the form of a particular question
between the two Courts and the two families, than between
two Cabinets, as in the latter case, the matter would perhaps
be prematurely made public.

'Your Royal Highness will therefore take this strictly
private and confidential communication in good part.

' I profit by this occasion to assure Your Royal Highness
of the sentiments entertained for. you and all your family,
and the constant desire for your happiness felt by Your
Highness's devoted

' MAEIA CHRISTINA.'

As may easily be seen, the text of this letter in no way
shows a very great understanding of the ways of English
politics.

If one wished to find out the secret meaning of Queen
Christina's letter, one would perhaps have to assume that she
wished to force the English Court, to make a final declaration
and decision one way or the other, in order at length to obtain
freedom of action for herself.

The inactive reserve which the English Government had
found it necessary to assume since the unfortunate meeting of
Eu, made it easy to understand that Isabella's mother was at
length forced to act for herself, and this all the more, the less
she appeared able to come to an understanding with King
Louis Philippe during those weeks. For a memorial which
appeared at that time in the Madrid newspaper, signed by

THE DUKE'S ANSWER TO QUEEN CHRISTINA 193

the secretary to the Duke of Rianzares, which was in favour
of the candidature of the Duke of Trapani, aroused great
indignation in Louis Philippe, and he expressed himself
plainly on the subject to Queen Christina.

Without prejudice against or prepossession for either the
one or the other of those concerned in this matter, I might look
upon the letter as the natural expression of a mother's wish
to assure the real happiness of a daughter, and the advantage
of Spain, after so many fruitless negotiations.

I considered it right to inform my relations of this my
free comprehension of the matter, without wishing to take
any important part in an affair which was of a nature
principally to occupy the Courts and politics of Western
Europe. I wrote to this effect, on the 16th of May, 1846, from
Lisbon, where I had received the letter, to King Leopold :

' I send you herewith the copy of a letter from the Queen
Mother of Spain, which she addressed to me here, and which
Ferdinand handed to me. Although I can conjecture that
you will already have been informed in an indirect manner
of the contents of this remarkable document, yet the manner
and method in which it is composed, as well as the matter
itself of which it treats, remain a very important event for
us all.

' A question concerning our family has been brought up
with much adroitness, the settlement of which may be of
unbounded consequence. This is neither the place, nor is it
my task, to throw a light on the matter itself and to give
advice to either the one or the other. I must leave all this
to you alone ; nevertheless I think it right, as the Queen has
addressed herself in so peculiar a manner to me, to remain
the mediator in the transactions until she officially relieves
me of this duty.

' I think I have acted rightly in announcing to the Queen
the receipt of her letter in the most obliging manner, and
offering her my thanks as well as my services. The copy of
this letter lies near me. I have written to Albert also, to the
same effect as to you, and thus performed my commission.

The above mentioned preliminary answer to the Queen's
letter ran as follows :

'MADAM, — It was only on my quite recent arrival in

VOL. I. N

i94 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOT HA

Lisbon that I received the letter with which Your Majesty
has seen fit to honour me, and I hasten to express my pro-
found gratitude for this proof of confidence, and fresh evidence
of the good-will with which Your Majesty has never ceased
to overwhelm me, and which has always given me such
happiness.

' It will therefore be a pleasant duty to me to inform Queen
Victoria, my sister, of the sentiments which Your Majesty
was good enough to communicate to me with all frankness,
and I venture to express a most sincere desire that the future
may bring the fulfilment of all the wishes which Your
Majesty has formed for the happiness of Her Majesty Queen
Isabella, your august daughter, as well as for the peace and
welfare of Spain.

' If, meanwhile, Your Majesty judges me worthy of your
confidence, you will always find me discreet and ready to
place myself at your orders.

' I profit by this happy occasion, madam, again to express
to Your Majesty my sincerest wishes for the constitution
of your happiness, as well as that of your august family, and
to renew the expression of the profound respect with which I
remain Your Majesty's very humble and very devoted
servant,

' ERNEST.
1 Lisbon, 12th May 1846.'

It will be seen in this letter, that any hint concerning the
true object of the question, and therefore a positive answer,
was most carefully avoided. Indeed I had guessed that the
decision of the matter would afterwards be delayed, but I
could form no idea, from the awkward position of English
politics, how the affair would be received.

In order to give a correct description of the real impres-
sion which had been made in England by the careful
' consideration ' which was at 'that moment the predominant
feeling with regard to the French Court, I must again
mention that at that time, I had the intention of returning by
way of England. But many hindrances to this plan had
arisen, and my brother, as he remarks in the following letter,
had to regret that the Spanish letter would prevent this

LETTER FROM PRINCE ALBERT 195

journey from taking place. But if anyone thinks that Queen
Victoria and my brother were entirely delighted with this
affair of pretended Coburg House politics, this would, on the
other hand, be no less a mistake. Everyone was afterwards
very much pleased, as our return journey was nevertheless
made by way of England, and the first feeling of embarrass-
ment, which was expressed in the following letter from my
brother, was not a very enduring one.

As the really most important portion of the following
letter will meantime, as I have already said, relate what my
brother had to tell me about the arrangements made in Eu,
and which, to tell the truth, do not represent Lord Aberdeen's
policy as being particularly neutral.

' Buckingham Palace, May 2Qth 1846.

'DEAR ERNEST, — Under these circumstances you will
understand how sorry we are not to be able to answer your
wish to come over here. Another point is now added, the
offer which Queen Christina has made. It has thrown us into
the greatest embarrassment.

'We had bound ourselves towards France, in case the
King kept his word, and did not push forward any of his
sons, to use all our influence towards bringing about a Bourbon
marriage, which would be desired by the King and by Queen
Christina, and popular in Spain also.

' We have also explained at the same time, that we do not
admit France's right to lay down any rules whatever, to the
Spaniards, for the marriage of Queen Isabella, or to dictate to
them, that we would honourably uphold Spain's independence,
and her right to order her own affairs, that, therefore, in case
a Bourbon marriage would not be acceptable to Spain, in spite
of our effort to accomplish it, any other marriage, from the
moment it was desired by Spain, would be perfectly right in
our eyes.

'This was on the point of being fulfilled, the Bourbons
have become impossible, and a declaration of Spain's, that
this is the case, would have unloosed the knot.

' Bulwer then made up his mind to take part in a step of
Queen Christina's which, on account of King Louis Philippe,
she did not venture upon alone.

196 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

' This gives us the appearance of faithlessness, intrigue,
perfidiousness, etc., etc., and affords France just reason to
complain.

' We have seen ourselves forced to wash our hands of the
matter, and to explain to France that we are no parties to
this step. This is naturally not believed, and your entirely
inexplicable journey to Spain during Uncle Ferdinand's
presence there, is a fact which makes appearances seem very
much against us.

' Should the marriage with Leopold succeed, there is only
one thing to be done, and that is for France to enter into it
heartily, otherwise, even if the matter is carried through,

*/ ' O

Spain and Portugal will be endangered for the future. For
this it is necessary that France should not appear to the world
to be overreached by us, and thus wounded in her patriotic
feelings ; that is, that the marriage must not appear to be an
English work, but, as far as possible, a French one. There-
fore, to come here now, after what has happened, would for
ever destroy Leopold's prospects.

' There is no question that the choice of Leopold is by far
the best for Spain, and France would have to understand this.
If it could be connected with the marriage of Montpensier
with the Infanta, and represented to the world as being
brought about by France, it is assured, and we must work to
that end. Whether it is to be desired for Leopold himself I
dare not decide ; the question now is, whether he has the will
and the courage for it. In that case, the position, being a
high, honourable and powerful one, is also a good one for
him, if it should not be the case, the small charms of the
Queen, and the many political worries which will beset him,
will become an unbearable burden. Ferdinand knows the
most concerning this, and has, I think, been made Leopold's
confidant on the subject.

' I close with the request that you will give Uncle
Ferdinand and Ferdinand (cousin) this letter to read, as my
time does not allow me to repeat it. — Always }'our faithful
Brother,

' ALBERT.'

The idea with which my brother showed himself to be

LETTER FROM KING LEOPOLD 197

completely filled was, therefore, to win King Louis Philippe
over to the Coburg marriage.

King Leopold also approved of this idea, and it was there-
fore natural that the answer which I owed Queen Christina
was very long in coming. When I left Lisbon with my
Spanish travelling companions in June, and went to England,
no one had the slightest notion what was to be done in the
matter. The fact that during this time Louis Philippe and
Maria Christina had hopelessly fallen out over the choice of
the Bourbon Princes might perhaps have been no unfavour-
able circumstance, and the Coburg candidature might there-
fore have more chance of winning. But one could hardly
expect that the French Government should lead Prince
Leopold into Madrid with ringing of bells. This idea of the
English Government reminded one, if one may be allowed to
compare a peaceable diplomatic transaction with a great war,
of the demand which was laid before King Louis XIV in the
Spanish War of Succession, 130 years before, that he should
himself drive his grandson out of Spain.

Besides, nothing could be done during my presence in
England. After the birth of her third daughter the Queen
needed greater care and longer rest, and moreover, the fall of
Palmerston's Ministry and the transfer of foreign affairs from
Aberdeen to Lord Palmerston were not calculated to sub-
stantially aid the Coburg marriage matter.

There was never any talk of a family council, as has been
pretended by later authors. It was painful that Maria
Christina must remain without an answer, and King Leopold
was forced to make up his mind to excuse himself to her for
it. He therefore wrote to me from :

1 Buckingham Palace, August 5th, 1846.

' I am taking advantage of the Courier's departure to write
to you. I have already sent your excuses by word of mouth
to Queen Christina, and the letter which Albert has forwarded
to you does so clearly and concisely, and really deserves your
approbation.

' As matters now stand, it was necessary to come to an
explanation. First of all, it must be made clear that the
Spanish candidates are inadmissible. In this case it is

198 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

desirable for France to accept it. Without these two things
the position of the candidates would be wretched. . . .

' If political difficulties were to arise in addition to this, the
situation would be very painful. The affair will either come
to nothing at all, or it will be accepted on tolerably good
chances, and gives promise of being tenable.' Now when one
remembers that Maria Christina had meantime learned that
her letter had caused great vexation in London, so that Lord
Aberdeen wished for that reason to recall his envoys, as has
already been mentioned, it may be understood that, in her
correspondence of June and July with King Louis Philippe,
the Coburg candidature was no longer thought of, and that
she regarded our final answer only as a matter of form. I
sent the letter word for word, as appeared to be desired by my
brother and uncle. Albert had given his motives for it in a
long epistle, and I, for my part, could not see the slightest
reason for crossing the wishes of the English sovereigns, but
I must confess just here, that I could not understand why
they afterwards opposed King Louis Philippe so eagerly.

On the 2nd of June my brother very calmly replied to my
communication of the preliminary answer which I had given
Queen Christina.,

'Your reply to Queen Christina was cautious and wise,
and cannot further compromise the matter. We have, as yet,
had no reply to Lord Aberdeen's exposition to Comte St
Aulaire. Further steps in opposition to France would pro-
bably cost Guizot his elections and his Ministry. I have
therefore nothing to add at present to my last letter concerning
this matter.'

And now followed, under the same date on which King
Leopold despatched me the above quoted letter, my brother's
decisive one, which was equally pregnant with fates for
Spain and for the Anglo-French Alliance :

' Buckingham Palace, August 5th 1846.

' DEAR ERNEST, — I send you Benda as courier, who will

carry this letter to you. The object of it is the Spanish

affair, which is daily becoming more involved, not being made

easier by the substitution of Lord Palmerston for Lord

LETTER FROM PRINCE ALBERT 199

Aberdeen, and which may bring universal danger through
the really insane persistency of Louis Philippe and Guizot in
obtaining what they have demanded. It is clear to us, that
even if Leopold can be placed on the throne by the desire of
Queen Christina, it will give him no chance of success, if he has
all France as a personal enemy, and Don Enrique at the head
of the Spanish Democrats, supported by Lord Palmerston and
the Morning Chronicle, as a political rival in Spain. The
Bourbons and Don Enrique are impossibles, but this must first
be recognised by Spain herself and by France, before another
can have any chances. Poor Queen Christina is meantime
being shamefully treated on account of the step she took with
you, and in France people go so far as to burden poor
Ferdinand with all possible difficulties, in order to be able to
use his inability as a reason against Leopold.

' The Queen is still expecting a definite answer from you,
to her letter written three months ago, and which cannot, for
the sake of decency, remain any longer neglected. I send
you herewith the substance of the letter which Victoria,
King Leopold and I should like you to write. It has been
composed after long reflection, accurate inquiry into the state
of affairs, and in complete unison with the position which we
have taken in the matter, and I beg that you will adopt it
word for word, and send us the letter sealed and addressed
to the Queen through Benda as soon as possible ; we will
then see that the further necessary steps are taken with
it.

' P.S. — You should send Uncle Ferdinand a copy of your
letter to the Queen of Spain by a sure messenger. He must
be made acquainted with the matter, and it is best it should
be done through you.'

As a supplement to the foregoing, a notice may here be
added, taken from a later letter of my brother's, written on
the 31st of August, concerning the attitude of the English

o o o

Government. For before the letter desired by my relations
had reached Queen Christina, the new Ministry had already
taken powerful measures to embitter her to the utmost
against everything which might be advised or expected of her

200 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAZE-COBURG-GOTHA

in England, through their support of Don Enrique's candi-
dature.

Concerning this, my brother wrote to me at the above-
mentioned date, with a calmness which, when I compared it
with the excitement of the English Court afterwards, filled
me with astonishment :

' I have sent your letter to Madrid ; Lord Palmerston is
exerting himself to secure Don Enrique's success. As he lies
within the French candidature, and Lord Palmerston has the
task of not falling out with Louis Philippe, nothing can be
done to oppose it.'

That, however, under these circumstances, my letter to
Queen Christina was indeed to be regarded only as a matter
of politeness, seems clear, and I may add, that the further
course of affairs therefore surprised me far less, not to say
that I was riot inclined after that to judge Louis Philippe's
conduct too strictly.

The above-mentioned draft of the letter to the Queen
ran as follows : —

' To HER MAJESTY

1 THE QUEEN DOWAGER OF SPAIN.

' MADAM, — Your Majesty has too thorough a knowledge
of the affairs and the political situation of Europe, not to have
already explained to yourself the reasons for the delay which
I have made in sending a more positive answer to the letter
with which Your Majesty has honoured me. Nevertheless, I
have been anxious to enter into details with regard to this
matter, that my silence might not be attributed to indifference,
with regard to the high proof of confidence which Your
Majesty has given me. Your Majesty had hardly taken this
step before it was known in Paris and elsewhere.

' This kind of publicity has already given rise to a pre-
liminary and great difficulty, the gravity of which cannot but
be recognised by Your Majesty. Nevertheless, that alone
would not have stopped me, if, on arrival in England, I had
not encountered others still, which in some degree forced
inaction upon me. I found the English Ministry disposed to
abandon the direction of affairs, and no resolution could be
made before knowing what political opinion the new Cabinet,

REPLY TO QUEEN CHRISTINA 201

whose advent was daily expected, would entertain with regard
to this important affair.

' At length my uncle, the King of the Belgians, sent me
word that he intended to go to England, and to make the
important news which I had received, the subject of a serious
conversation with Her Majesty Queen Victoria, my brother
Prince Albert, and the English Ministers.

'This gave me a new motive for awaiting the result of
the consultation.

' I am happy, madam, to be able to answer Your Majesty
to-day. You are aware that His Majesty the King of the
French, persisting in his first declaration that the hand of
the Queen, your august daughter, ought by right, to be
bestowed upon a Prince of the House of Burgundy, has until
now shown himself hostile to the combination which Your
Majesty has with equal constancy ever preferred to any other.

' Given this state of things, and the question having been
examined in every light in London, it has seemed, madam,
that, in the interest of Spain as well as that of the happiness
of Spain's sovereign, it would be of importance not to provoke
the enmity of a neighbour whose concurrence or opposition
would always be of such great weight.

' Besides this, it seems that the position of a Prince who,
on his arrival, would have to struggle against this enmity
and against the opinion that a Spanish Prince would better
fulfil the wishes of the nation, that this position, I say, would
become very difficult, even dangerous, unless it has been
previously ascertained that there exist insurmountable objec-
tions to the choice of a Bourbon, and that this conviction has
entered the minds of the Powers who defended Spain by the
treaty of the Quadruple Alliance, and particularly of the
august head of the House of Bourbon, who seems to be far
from entertaining any such conviction.

' Your Majesty will understand that any other step would
expose Spain to unpleasant complications, and would be con-
trary to the resolution formed by Her Majesty Queen Victoria
not to depart from the line of conduct laid down by her
Ministry. I have reason to believe that at the present
moment Your Majesty has learned through your ordinary
correspondence with London the developments necessary to

202 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

understand this thought which I look upon as being full of
wisdom and prudence and dictated entirely by the most
disinterested views.

' When Your Majesty receives these ulterior explanations,
whether written or verbal, you will, I hope, be convinced
that I shall be as highly flattered by the continuation
of your confidence as I was by the first mark I received of it.

' Accept, madam, the expression of the sentiments with
which I am Your Majesty's devoted cousin

' ERNEST.'

Matters at the Spanish Court now began to take a rapid
course. The more Lord Palmerston tried to work for Don
Enrique, the better became the prospects of his brother, the
Duke of Cadiz, whom Guizot now began to declare openly
was the only possible candidate. But Isabella's marriage
with this pitifully weak man was to secure a particular
triumph for French politics through the simultaneous union
of Isabella's sister with the Due de Montpensier.

The more the French Court saw themselves nearing the
longed-for goal, the cleverer they grew in diplomatic tricks.
It soon began to be said that Bresson in Madrid had abused
his authority, and Louis Philippe's manner of dealing was
soon justified by the Coburg candidature. Seldom has political
material so much resembling a comedy led to such tragic
results.

It will be understood that I omit to multiply the anecdotes
which this affair recalls to my mind. The Infant Franz de
Paula, who was now to become King of Spain, was naturally
the subject of endless tales. The fact that Queen Isabella did
not remain ignorant of how little her married happiness was
considered in the choice of a husband, gave rise to the bitterest
sarcasm.

Whilst the uncharitable world was jesting over these little
stories, which were not exactly calculated to recommend the
monarchical principle in Europe, hardly any one imagined
that a fit of ill-temper had broken out amongst the con-
federates of EU over the mad marriage affair, which did
indeed obtain great influence over a course of historical
events, and which so greatly and essentially helped to ship-

PERFIDY OF THE FRENCH COURT 203

wreck the foundering boat of royalty of the July monarchy
in France.

In these days this great difference between the monarchs
of the West is not known in its smallest details, and the
statesmen concerned therein, as well as the monarchs them-
selves, have most copiously explained their policy and the
steps they took, and attempted to give their reasons for them
and to justify them.

In the Queen's book about my brother much space was
devoted to the affair, and there is probably hardly any
thoughtful historian who would not give a testimonial of
honour and love of truth to the plain, noble letters of Queen
Victoria as compared with the interminable effusions of Louis
Philippe, — particularly those addressed to his daughter, King
Leopold's consort.

Everything which the Queen of England said and wrote
about this affair bears the impress of deep wounding of a heart
inclined to friendliness only, but it is not to be denied that
the indecision and change of policy of the English Ministers
had made it quite impossible for the noble Queen to take up
from the first a position which would have assured our not
being duped by France. That this painful feeling existed in
England, and that the anger aroused by it became greater
and greater, can be followed stage by stage, as it were, in a
letter from my brother.

' You also,' he wrote on the 17th of September 1846, from
Osborne, ' will have wondered at the sudden, remarkable
issue of the Spanish affair.

' Nothing can be more perfidious than the policy followed
by the French Court. They have cheated us, and are now
triumphing ; a poor triumph to have duped a friend, and the
only one whom one has, and at the moment when he is offer-
ing a sacrifice to his friendship. For the poor Queens clung
to Leopold up to the last moment, and only gave it up when
Bulwer declared to them that we could not give our consent
to it, and must appear for Don Enrique, who, as a Bourbon,
had the consent of France also.

1 Upon this, Bresson took advantage of the vexation of
the ladies to press Don Francesco upon them . . . and
settled with the Infanta about Montpensier. King Louis

204 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Philippe had given us his word of honour never to think of
the second marriage until the Queen was married and had
children, et cela ne serait pas une affaire politique.

' He now explains that he is released from his promise,
because Leopold was named as a candidate, which Aberdeen
had promised should never happen. Quite a discovery!
The good understanding has ceased to exist, but it will now
no more be said " no moving, no rattling," for we are justly
highly provoked. In Spain the populace are in the greatest
commotion. We must follow the proverb : " Honour lasts the
longest." '

A far calmer conception of the matter was King Leopold's,
who, without hesitation, made Lord Palmerston answerable
for the bad issue of the affair.

'The Spanish story,' he wrote to me on the 13th of
November, ' could not have failed had it not been for Lord
Palmerston, for by chosing Don Enrique and wishing to bring
the Progressionists to Spain with him, he forced Queen
Christina to make a quick end of the matter.'

And he watched with anxiety the ever widening gulf
between the two Western Powers, through which the whole
system which had ruled politics since the year 1830, threatened
to be overthrown.

' The great policy,' complained the King on the 25th of
February 1847, — is, unfortunately, since such a high stand has
been taken in England with more zeal than patience, in a
highly precarious condition.'

If Queen Victoria again at the end of September, in her
beautiful and dignified letter to the Queen Louisa of Belgium
expressed the expectation that the Spanish double marriage
must yet retrograde, this hope was quickly dispelled.

The double wedding was celebrated as early as the 10th
of October, in Madrid. But Queen Victoria had rightly con-
jectured, when she said that this event would bring great
dangers to the family of Orleans itself.

It finally came to grief, not in Spain, but in France. But,
also in the land where the French Cabinet thought to have
obtained an irresistible influence by means of the double
marriage, it had an incredibly quick defeat.

Queen Isabella's consort, was in a few weeks driven from

QUEEN CHRISTINA RETIRES TO PARIS 205

the side of his newly made bride. The Due de Montpensier
did not succeed in gaining the slightest influence in Spain.
If the Government was not entirely given over to a favourite,
the reason was that he had been perhaps too much pressed
upon the Queen. She united herself politically to the Pro-
gressionists, and the rule of the Moderados was broken up by
Pacheco and Salamanca. Queen Christina retired to Paris,
and though Narvaez again succeeded in October 1847 in
placing himself at the head of the Ministry, yet it was im-
possible for him to imagine that he was thereby making peace
with Espartero and the Progressionists.

Guizot's French policy, in spite of its dazzling exterior,
had suffered a defeat from which it never recovered.

Spain's political relations and the complication of the
House of Coburg in the same, have meantime led me far from
the path in my regital, which, as the reader will remember, I
entered upon with my travelling companions in the spring of
1846. Just as the friendly neighbourhood of Portugal drew
us from the coasts of Spain and Africa, so might there be
said to exist a certain parallel and inner connection between
the political conditions of the two Iberian kingdoms.

This circumstance will allow me to bring the small events
of our journey into a certain connection with the universal
condition and political occurrences of those days, and to let
them appear in my description as forming an inseparable
whole in the mind of the writer.

The reader will, therefore, merely be requested to leave
the confusion of angry despatches and documents relating to
the great worldly negotiations and return to the quiet diaries
which we kept during our travels, undisturbed and without
any thought of the political manoeuvres of the southern world.

After a two days' voyage from Gibraltar on the Pfioenix
we landed on the forenoon of the llth of May, in Belem near
Lisbon, where the whole Royal Family of Portugal were
assembled, and made our appearance at a time when the
country, only then quieted, stood on the brink of a new and
lasting revolution.

Already on my first visit to Portugal, I had had oppor-
tunities of learning and valuing Queen Maria's great superiority,

206 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

and now the bravery with which she behaved under the most
difficult circumstances, precisely during our presence in
Portugal, showed a rare degree of strength of mind.

The impression which this great woman made upon us all
in the midst of the revolutionary struggle was indescribably
deep. In order to describe her in this character, I will recall
one special occurrence which is still vivid to my recollection.

It was on the 24th of May, whilst we were taking a long
ride with their Majesties in the neighbourhood of Lisbon. In
the capital the opposing parties had come to open conflict. A
portion of the troops stood by the Government, and then
fought with the Opposition in the streets. Whilst everything
made us feel as if the city and its surroundings were in open
revolution, the Queen was everywhere greeted by the people
with enthusiasm.

Late in the evening we sat at tea on the terrace in Belem ;
just in front of the Rhede lay a frigate ordered there to pro-
tect the Royal Family, her band was playing the well-known
Gabriel waltz, as if in irony. From the other side of the
Tagus, where stood Fort Almada, on a high mountain ridge,
one could hear the thundering of cannon, and the rattle of the
musketry of attacking columns could be distinguished.

The fort was manned by hardly more than a company of
Royal troops, and the personal safety of the Queen hung
without doubt in no small degree upon whether they would
be able to hold their position.

The fighting lasted for more than an hour, only the hoarse
cries of the attacking party and the noise of firearms did not
lessen until towards midnight. But the Queen had hardly
paid any real attention to the exciting scene. When she
retired, her spirits seemed to be the same as they were on any
other evening. We others, however, thought that a catas-
trophe might occur at any moment, to which opinion we
were all the more inclined by the King's earnestness. We
therefore threw on our national uniforms and remained to-
gether until morning, when everything at length seemed to
have grown quiet.

When the Queen heard of it the next day, she laughed at
the men's cautiousness, and would on no account admit that
the revolution could become dangerous for her. She felt

VISIT TO OSBORNE 207

safe in the consciousness of her good intentions, and nothing
was more just than the words written in the Duchess's diary
concerning her and King Ferdinand :

' I can speak of both of them only with admiration, and
prize the courage and devotion with which they, particularly
Donna Maria, in her advanced state, bears all the adversities,
and boldly and steadfastly face the dangers which threaten
them. She is a dear, strong, honourable soul, whom one
must heartily love and respect, when one has the good for-
tune to know her intimately.'

The political troubles did not prevent the Court from
going over to Cintra with us, whence we made the most inter-
esting excursions ; the castle and magnificent park of Pe'na
particularly occupied our attention. On the way thither we
went through Quelus Castle, where, in the billiard saloon, an
eye-witness, General Count St Leger, showed us the spot
where King Don Miguel had throttled his friend Marquis
Louie', in the presence of the Court, after a dispute which he
had had with him between the acts of an amateur theatrical
performance.

Our stay in Portugal had lasted nearly a month. At
length, after a painful farewell, we sailed up the Tagus in a
royal steamer, on the 12th of June, and joined the English
man-of-war Polyphemus, which soon bore us out to sea.
Several times we watched the eastern horizon to see the
appearing and disappearing coasts of the beautiful land which
we had left so unwillingly, in the troubled times of a threatened
civil war. But we were soon beyond Oporto and Cape
Finisterre, and after a stormy passage we landed in South-
ampton Harbour.

As has already been mentioned, our plan of travel was at
last altered, and it was possible for us to see the Queen and
Albert once more, which made a charming ending to our
eventful journey. My unsought-for political experiences,
which I had gained during my stay in the Peninsula, supplied
much food for conversation, but no one dreamed as yet that
all these events would afterwards have the sad ending which
has already been related.

We spent a few pleasant days at Osborne, after landing at
Cowes on the 19th, and celebrated my birthday in the circle

208 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

of the Royal Family, which had been rejoiced four weeks
previously by the birth of the Princess Helena.

On the 22nd of June we started for Ostend, stayed three
days in Laeken with King Leopold, and returned home on the
27th of June, by way of Mainz and Frankfort, happy and

Meanwhile, after our departure, affairs had remained so
complicated in Portugal, that great circumspection and atten-
tion were necessary before one could venture upon giving an
opinion concerning them. The most decisive point was, that
the constitutional forms here, as everywhere, had not produced
so quick and satisfying an improvement in the universal
condition of the State as was everywhere anticipated with
unfortunate haste in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The character of the southerners, the deep complication of
the army in the political relations, and the ease with which
the different parties could enrich themselves at the cost of
the State, continually inclined the constitutional diseases of
Portugal to revolution.

The change of officials was carried as far as the lowest
grades at every change of Government, the army took part
in every political affair through the exchanging of most of
the officers. Added to this, England's influence as an out-
sider made itself felt, and English politics might be called
anything else than disinterested in Portugal.

During the six years since I had seen the country, much
had apparently been done. Improvements in every way
could plainly be seen. A beginning had at last been made of
the restoration of the streets. Many new buildings which
General Eschwege was superintending in the Royal Castle at
Pena, lent greater splendour to the Court.

The outside affairs of the Royal Household, particularly,
had been put in order by our frequently mentioned Coburg
fellow-countryman, Dietz. In the administration of the State,
the continual change of Ministry and the never-dying inclina-
tion of the nobility to enrich themselves by gaining possession
of offices of State, was still the order of the day, but here also
one could see the beginning of better arrangements.

The middle classes began to rise, feeling the need of peace

REMO VAL OF DIETZ

209

and order, and gradually became a securer support for the
monarchy. All this progress advanced slowly, but could be
seen, even if the noise of outside events and party strife often
over-clouded it.

In England, however, people were inclined to regard the
continual revolutionary movements [as the consequences of
bad management for which the Court was universally held
answerable. And as the English Charge's d'Aflairs desired to
conceal their unpopularity in the country and at Court, they
took care to represent a man who deserved the utmost from
Portugal and the Royal Family as the real scapegoat of all
wrong-doing. Dietz was the man in whose path the diplo-
mates seemed to stand, and, wonderful to say, our cousin
Alexander Mensdorff, whom Queen Victoria had repeatedly
trusted with the examination of affairs, was not exactly
favourably inclined towards King Ferdinand's unpretending
German governor.

In consequence of all these circumstances a formal circle
of traditions was formed around the man who was really
deserving of the greatest thanks from the Royal House, and
had exercised the most beneficial influence over the condition
of the country. The English papers, which took their news
from foreign officials, did not hesitate so to represent the case
as if the disturbances in Lisbon had been directed particularly
against Dietz, as a stranger and a favourite.

In some of the newspapers and books his departure from
the Portuguese Court in the following year was hinted at as
being a concession which had had to be made to the insurgent
party, whereas it was just the contrary. Dietz had hardly a
single enemy amongst the Portuguese politicians of all
opinions, and least of all amongst the Progressionists, towards
whom he seemed rather to be inclined through his liberal
religious views. He knew so well how to keep within the
limits assigned to a stranger, that he was hardly ever person-
ally attacked by any party. His removal from Queen Maria's
Court was solely the work of the English Cabinet, which was
not a little surprised that, after he was gone, things in
Portugal became not better, but worse.

O

Whereas Dietz restrained King Ferdinand from mixing
himself up in the disputes of the clubs and the personal

VOL. I. O

210 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

rivalries of their leaders, the Court appeared afterwards to
identify themselves more with the party position recommended
by the English, and a scene which we ourselves had witnessed
in Belem, in which the Queen stood entirely above the fight-
ing factions, would hardly have been possible later on.

I will only shortly mention the common course of these
events.

The revolution of 1846 was really nothing else than an
attempt to break through the constitutional course of affairs
which had grown peaceful some time back, by means of a
coalition of the most extreme parties. Miguelists and
Septembrists would have been too weak alone to shake the
constitutional basis of the monarchy so lately obtained ; the
absolutists and church reactionaries tried what could be done
by means of what has since then become known throughout
all European countries as effective, by using Radicalism as a
battering-ram against the constitution. Thus that fearful
alliance was made between the two extremes, for the master-
ing of which the excellent Queen was no longer strong enough,
but found it necessary to call in Spanish and English aid.

I had watched the mysterious beginning of this movement
during our presence in Belem ; a Palmella-Saldanha Ministry
had been created. After the latter had come to an under-
standing with the Duke of Terceira in October, and had
placed himself at the head of the Ministry, the Septembrists
hoisted their insurrectionary flag at Oporto, where a pro-
visionary government was formed under the rule of Dos Antas,
la da Bandeira and Bomsin. The Queen was forced to sup-
port the constitutional law of guarantee, and a regular civil
war broke out, in which both contending parties were counter-
balanced.

Don Miguel was already preparing to make an expedition
to Portugal, and in England the utmost was being done.
Queen Victoria again sent Alexander Mensdorff to Lisbon,
but the documents which are at my service concerning this
remarkable episode of English politics, would be calculated
not only to supplement the Blue-Book which Lord Palmerston
at that time published concerning the Portuguese affair, but
to refute it fully. But one would have to write a complete
history of Portugal in order to show how entirely mistaken

ENGLISH POLICY IN PORTUGAL 211

the opinion was in England, particularly through Colonel
Wylde's despatches, as he always tried to represent the
revolutionists as a kind of English Whigs, and thus really
gave rise to the antipathy against a monarchy which united
in itself the most excellent domestic and statesman- like
politics, and which, if rightly recognised, would without any
doubt have won the greatest respect from the English nation
itself.

King Leopold's judgment of the English policy, which he
expressed to me on the 13th of November 1846, will be of
interest here :

' The Portuguese affair appears in a bad light, I fear that
it has been managed with great carelessness. England is
behaving scandalously about it; she not only almost en-
couraged the rebellion, but she also hindered Spain from
showing herself helpful, so that, after ruining Leopold's
Spanish prospects, she will now perhaps be able to ruin
Ferdinand.'

On the 6th of April 1847, the King expressed his opinion
even more clearly, when he wrote : ' The times are now some-
what confused, to which, I must own, England, that is, the
present Cabinet, has contributed beyond all expression. They
have acted in a silly manner throughout the Spanish affair,
and as Lord Palmerston feels this very much, he is becoming
angry, coarse and threatening ; all of which are leading him
to commit fresh false steps ; thus we now have unexpected
traps set for us, possibilities of war, etc.'

Exactly a year after our presence in Belem, poor Donna
Maria was forced to conclude this treaty of intervention in
London on the 22nd of May 1847, which gave rise to great
complaints against her on the part of the English Liberals.
Meantime, Dos Antas had been taken prisoner with more than
2000 men, through Admiral Parker. In June 1847, Spanish
troops entered Portugal under command of General Mendez
Vigo, and garrisoned Braganza.

La da Bandeira gave himself up to the English at Setubal.
Although the Junta at Oporta had still refused the conditions
of peace, yet Oporto also was at length forced to capitulate to
the Spanish troops. On the 2nd of July, Saldanha himself

212 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

marched in. The Queen promised a general amnesty, as soon
as peace was restored after the summoning of the Cortes and
the new elections had been settled.

Although in Portuguese matters the rivalry between France
and England played a far smaller part than during similar
events in Spain, yet in this case also the effect of the cessation
of the entente cordiale was perceptible.

According to the principle of the agreements of the
Quadruple Alliance, the intervention of Spain and England in
Portugal was hardly possible without France's consent.
During the whole matter, however, Louis Philippe was com-
pletely ignored. It was but a very poor consolation to the
French Government, that the attempt was being made to
convince the Liberals that Louis Philippe's Cabinet had pur-
posely held themselves aloof from measures which they pre-
tended to be so reactionary, like the suppression of the
Portuguese revolution. In fact, the first plain answer to Louis
Philippe's attitude in the marriage question was to be seen in
England's independent, indiscreet conduct, in union with
Spain. Louis Philippe was forced by the necessities of his
position to take the last step on the steep declivity of his ever
increasing unpopularity, and to seek support from Austria.
Thus Metternich enjoyed the triumph of seeing the grey-haired
favourite of revolution and his doctrinary Ministers going
over to his camp, where all conservative forces — although
very much weakened — had assembled together, in order to
smother the encroaching fire of revolution in Italy, in Swit-
zerland, and in Germany.

It is true that the new Austro-French alliance was to
some degree endangered by the Polish affairs and the incor-
poration of Cracow. But Metternich sensibly added the
unmeaning bombast of a French protest to his other docu-
ments, at the same time admitting the clever way in which
the French Cabinet thought to have appeased the public
opinion of the country. This was why Metternich had
positively refused to take any part in a declaration against
Montpensier's Spanish marriage, which Palmerston would
have liked to obtain from all the Powers, and by this refusal
delighted King Louis Philippe.

And now it came to pass that the King of the July

213

Revolution, hand in hand with Metternich, took the Jesuits in
Switzerland under the common Protectorate. The alliance
had reached the point when the two Powers had to meet in
Switzerland, and furnish Europe with the comedy of two old
enemies uniting in beautiful harmony in a military occupation
which was to make the new order of things in Switzerland
retrograde. The King of Prussia also showed his full gratifi-
cation at the reactionary tendencies of both great Cabinets
with regard to Switzerland, by sending Radowitz to Paris.

Louis Philippe likewise placed himself on Austria's side
when she occupied Ferrara, in order to assure the peace of
Italy even against the Pope's will.

Palmerston now found an opportunity of systematically
undermining France's authority. As Louis Philippe had also
united with Metternich in order to hold Italy in check by
means of common military measures, and whilst Austria was
reinforcing her troops in Lombardy, France gathered a corps
together at Toulon, and held the transport fleet in readiness
to go to Civita Vecchia, Lord Palmerston was supporting
struggling Sardinia and the reforms in the ecclesiastical state,
amidst the applause of the French Opposition.

With ever increasing blindness Guizot wrote to Prince
Joinville :

'I do not trouble myself about the sudden growth of
popularity with which England is now flaunting about in
Italy. It is a hollow and vain popularity. ... I know how
to bear the fleeting unpopularity, and to wait for the lasting
popularity.'

Three months later the kingdom of July was overthrown,
and half Europe in revolution.

A description has often been given, and sometimes most
excellently, and with many psychological characteristics, of
the gradual, and as it were logically regular increasing trans-
formation of Louis Philippe, from the most liberal and popular
monarch, to the self-willed reactionary, but what is usually
less considered, is the particulars of the Royal Family, which
had far more influence over the course of events than is
usually admitted.

Louis Philippe was a character full of personal and good-
natured instincts. How greatly and deeply he was impressed

214 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

and influenced by the whole existence of his intensely amiable
family, could only be rightly gauged when one had frequently
seen and observed him in his patriarchal relations. His good
humour was poured out on the things which did not belong
to his household, on the State and her servants. He must
and would have something personal in his relations with his
Ministers.

Guizot's and Thiers' position is explained by this contra-
diction of sympathy and antipathy.

Guizot only considered his as being lasting from the
moment when the former coldness was swallowed up in an
honest friendship. Thiers and the King never understood
one another, and a chasm which could not be bridged over
always remained between them. When I saw Thiers a few
years later in England, he once uttered the apposite remark
to me :

' King Louis Philippe would never understand me.'

In fact, Louis Philippe felt a dislike for the little man
which bordered on superstition. I still remember, during my
first stay at the Royal Court, the amusing episode, when, as
we were looking at the pictures at Versailles, Thiers, being
very short-sighted, struck his nose very hard against an easel,
and the King called out to him, amidst the laughter of all
present, ' See what happens when one pokes one's nose into
everything ! '

Even in the last hours of his reign, when the King was
trying to make up his mind to call Thiers to the wheel of state,
the thought of abdication appeared to be almost more agree-
able to him, than intercourse with the hated Minister. Louis
Philippe was far more tired of reigning than incapable of
doing so.

The greatest blow for Louis Philippe was and remained,
as has already been remarked, the death of the Duke of
Orleans. He was the King's counsellor. After the loss of
the Duke, there was no one in the family with whom Louis
Philippe sought a hearty understanding, or found harmony,
especially as the Princes Joinville and Aumale were in Africa
at the most decisive moments. The King was thus thrown
back upon the ladies, who, however, depended entirely upon
the clergy.

LOUIS PHILIPPE AND HIS FAMILY 215

Of his sons, Nemours alone was not a Radical.
There were frightful scenes and disputes with Joinville.
When Joinville published his well-known pamphlet, Louis
Philippe was thunderstruck. He never quite recovered from
this 'fall of his House,' as he called it, and had serious
thoughts of abdicating the throne. It is known to but few
that the King had for some time entertained a wish to place
the Government in the hands of his son-in-law, the Kinor of

* O

the Belgians, for his grandson, who was under age. Perhaps
he had not yet entirely dismissed the idea of uniting with
Belgium. I recollect that my uncle once jokingly said to me :
'Yes, the old gentleman likes to eat his soup himself.'

There was therefore a certain feeling of insecurity and
weakness in the Tuileries from the year 1846, and matters
grew more and more gloomy.

The King's sons enjoyed unlimited consideration and the
greatest respect in the army, but their dependence on the
King prevented them from venturing upon taking matters in
hand at the right time. If the dynasty had decided upon
using force under all circumstances, there would have been no
danger for the House of Orleans in France. But the dagger
had fallen from the King's hand long before the reform
banquet, and he might well shudder at the thought that his
reign could be upheld only by means of bloodshed.

His nature grew to a certain degree effeminate, and it is
perhaps interesting to know that in this respect a book which
then occupied his attention, produced rather a weakening
effect upon him : Lamartine's ' Girondists.' The King not
only read this work aloud to his family in the evening, but
supplemented it with explanations from his lively recollections.
Thus in his old age he lived again amongst the terrors of his
youth, and pictures of misery and banishment were constantly
flitting before the eyes of the ladies of his House.

Behind the seemingly firm character of the King lay a
hidden feeling of intimidation over which the priest-led women
had the greatest influence. It thus happened that he no longer
had the firmness to strike when the hour of danger arrived,
although the army was thoroughly faithful and trustworthy.
I saw him in 1849 at Richmond during his banishment ; he was
still greatly excited when he spoke of the end of his reign.

216 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Pacing up and down he said with his old familiar vivacity : ' Je
vous expliquerai tout. Mes Ministres m'ont trompe sur la
situation ; ce riest que I' ambition de M. Thiers qui amena la
chute du trdne.' He would have been powerful enough to resist
every opposition of the masses, but he said : ' <Tai vu assez
de sang.' He often repeated these last words, the same with
which he had refused on the decisive day to order the troops
to the attack.

CHAPTER VIII

REVOLUTIONARY FEELING IN GERMANY. — TRAGI-COMIC VIEW OF THE
SITUATION. — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GREAT POWERS OP
EUROPE. — THE DUKE VISITS BERLIN, BRUSSELS, AND LONDON, ON

A VOYAGE OF OBSERVATION. BUNSEN AND PRINCE ALBERT DESIRE

A JUNCTION BETWEEN ENGLAND AND PRUSSIA. — RELUCTANCE OF
THE PRUSSIAN KING. — FLIGHT OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. — HASTY RETURN
HOME. — DEATH OF THE DUKE's GRANDMOTHER. — REFORM IN THE
LAWS OF GOTHA. — VON STEIN'S LETTER TO THE DUKE. — ENTHUSI-
ASTIC RECEPTION IN GOTHA. — SYMPTOMS OF DISCONTENT IN COBURG
AND GOTHA. — DEMAND FOR A GERMAN PARLIAMENT, ETC. — THE
COBURG ADDRESS. — THE DUKE's REPLY. — SOCIALISTIC TENDENCIES
IN THE THURINGIAN STATES. — THE DUKE's LETTER TO KING
LEOPOLD. — RIOTS IN COBURG AND GOTHA. — PROMPTLY SUPPRESSED.
— THE CASE OF CELLA ST BLASII. — 'THE GRACE OF GOD.' — THE
GAME LAWS RELAXED. — THE QUESTION OF THE COBURG-GOTHA
UNION. — THE DUKE OFFERS TO OPEN THE DIET IN HUNTING DRESS.

COLLAPSE OF THE CAVILLERS AT STATE. HIS SCHEMES OF

REFORM. —HIS POSITION SECURE. — THE VISIT TO ALTENBURG. —
WEIMAR DESIRES TO HEAD A THURINGIAN CONFEDERACY. — LETTER

TO PRINCE ALBERT. THE CONFERENCE. SUPPRESSION OF THE

RISING IN REINARDSBRUNN. — PRINCE ALBERT'S VIEWS TOUCHING
THE THURINGIAN KINGDOM. — KING LEOPOLD'S LETTER. — VON
STEIN'S OPINION. — PRINCE ALBERT'S MEMORIAL. — VISIT TO DRESDEN.
— CONDITION OF SAXON COURT AND MINISTRY. — BROHMER AND VON
STEIN. — THE DUKE'S LETTER TO BROHMER. — HIS REPLY. — IN
8CHLESWIG. — RETURN TO GOTHA.

To the events of the year 1848 one might apply the maxim
that that which we most certainly expect to happen always
astonishes us the most. It had long been known that we
were on the eve of great agitations and important public
changes, and many had drawn the political horscope of 1848
almost entirely correctly, but no one had any idea of the mad
doings and remarkable actions which were to follow the
March days. Everyone everywhere had long been watching
for the expected outbreak of the volcano, but no one seemed

2i8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

to be prepared to be personally attacked by the fire which
was to burst forth from the soil in every spot.

Thus all Germany was outflanked by the events which
took place, and most Governments lost their balance, and even
their self-possession, at the first shock.

I can certainly count myself amongst those who had
foreseen the revolution in our own lands also, but what came
upon me unexpectedly was the universality of its effects, and
the synchronism of its appearance in both large and small
States. What astonished me most was the total want of
power of opposition in the Government authorities, and the
helplessness with which the whole company, high and low,
allowed themselves to fall a prey, some to the most foolish
notions, others to the mosb paralysing terror. One witnessed
scenes of deepest dejection on the one hand, and shameless-
ness on the other, which would never have been possible if
strength, insight, and quiet of conscience had not been wanting
in the right place and at the proper time.

In most States the power was snatched suddenly, entirely
and hopelessly out of the hands of the reigning sovereigns.
The organs of public power, filled with secret sympathy for
the revolution, refused service, as often from desire as from
cowardice. Throughout the official world a deeply penetrat-
ing feeling of discontent had ripened. The principal reason
of this phenomenon lay in the widely spread feeling against
the unfounded partiality to the nobility, who, without there
being any either physical or moral justification for it, had
been appointed to the high positions and offices of most States.
Besides this, there was, amongst the lower grades of the all-
powerful bureaucracy, a kind of emulation which was to help
to raise the flood of revolution to higher places and greater
devastation. The oftener and more enduringly the Ministerial
portfolios were changed in the thirty-six States of Germany
during the endless agitation, the better was the progress made
by the younger officials who occupied inferior positions.

Thus the incarnate bureaucratic spirit, which Germany
had controlled since the Peace of Westphalia, had as it were
attested its possession of a lash with which blows were
struck against the higher classes, and most of all against the
reigning sovereigns. And, remarkable to relate, hardly any-

HE BB EL'S ' TR A GED Y IN SICIL Y ' 219

one had noticed, amidst the wild doings, that this professional
envoy amongst the officials steadily increased the evil, and
that the seat of the disease, now become chronic, was therefore
not to be radically cured because those who should have
restored order rather secretly undermined it.

As is known, the poet Hebbel has described a state of
things in his ' Tragedy in Sicily,' when the guardians of the
law themselves become criminals, and thought by the intro-
ductory words in this antithesis to have correctly disclosed
the nature of the tragi-comical. In a certain sense the contents
of the piece were descriptive of the revolution in Germany,
where the appointed representatives of order had, it is true,
not become thieves and robbers, but by means of every kind
of political neglect of duty gave an impulse to the movement
and with faces full of innocence helped to increase and pro-
mote the want of presence of mind and helplessness.

Herein there certainly lay something tragi-comical, which
involuntarily strikes us when we refresh our memories con-
cerning the year 1848, with its sad and serious events and its
comical episodes. It was only natural that people should be
unmanned at that time by the tragic side of things, whereas
afterwards everything seemed to be forgotten in the foolish-
ness and laughableness of those days. Thus the descriptions
of this intricate state of affairs is always in danger of leaning
too much to the one side or the other, so that a ridiculous
picture of this excited period may well be considered as one
of the greatest rareties. In this twofold nature of the agita-
tion lies the reason why there is hardly a single history of
this revolution which suitably describes the real state of
affairs. Some darken the picture through too great and often
mistaken pathos, the others flatter it by under-estimating the
deep seriousness and really sad moments of this strange
epoch.

At the beginning of the year the political situation had
ripened into a serious difference between the Great Powers of
Europe. The dangers of a new alliance, of unexpected
changes of the political balance were added to the strong
home disquiet felt in every State on the Continent. The
cessation of the entente cordiale, which I have already de-
scribed, gave rise to a certain uneasiness in England. As the

220 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

French King was seen to be returning to the path followed
by old reactionary Europe, the entirely unprotected state of
their coasts, the deficiency of their military arrangements
recurred forcibly to the English, and the Duke of Wellington
thought it expedient to restore the courage of his countrymen
by assuring them that their insular position by no means
offered that guarantee which they regarded as in every case
desirable.

The thought entertained by old English politicians, that
the mistress of the seas would not be able to entirely dispense
with a Continental alliance, was again awakened to a lively
degree in the circles of the English Government during the
time of the withdrawal from the French Alliance.

Russia and Prussia had not yet entirely committed them-
selves to the new Austro-French Alliance, but a great deal
was already being done to bring about a close Confederacy
of the four great Continental Powers, in order to be able in
future to face the serious condition of Southern Europe with
greater success. It must have been in a great degree tempt-
ing to Russia to try to draw nearer to France by means of
Austria, in order to isolate England all the more.

In this state of things, my brother naturally fixed his
gaze with preference upon Prussia, from whom he hoped that,
through the King's advanced views, she would now be most
certainly driven to join with England. Already for two
years past he had, as we have seen, been trying to get nearer
to the King of Prussia in this respect. Through Bunsen's
position as Prussian Ambassador to the English Court the
idea of an understanding between the two kingdoms had as
it were been outwardly represented and constantly kept
awake. The so-called friendship of the King for Bunsen
moreover allowed the latter again and again to rouse the
deceptive hope that Frederick William IV, would soon free
himself from his Austrian engagements as well as his equally
conditional submission to the Emperor Nicholas.

Amongst these general political constellations a voyage of
observation which I undertook in the beginning of the year
1848 to the Court of Berlin, as well as to my relations in Brussels
and London, will be of the very greatest interest. On the
22nd of January, I went to the Prussian capital, and had an

PRUSSIA AND ENGLAND 221

opportunity of thoroughly seeing through the political situa-
tion there. Whilst a strong sense of power began to make
itself felt amongst the masses, in the Government there was
vacillation and uncertainty of every kind. The whole state
of things gave one a very uneasy impression. The Ministry
appeared neither to be rightly informed of the danger of its
position, nor to have reached any maturity of thought. I
found the King himself without an idea of what the future
had in store for him, yet full of uneasiness and irresolution.
He would on no account realise that the Kingdom had come
to an end in France, he insisted that Louis Philippe would
long remain upon the throne. The Crown Prince of Prussia
took a more pessimistic view of things, and therefore came
to the right conclusion that something must necessarily be
done for German affairs, and that very soon.

The fact that the incitement in this respect was expected
of Prussia had not passed unnoticed in the Government circles
of Berlin, but everyone was totally ignorant concerning the
proposals of reform which would perhaps have had to be made
in the Diet. The so-called demands in accordance with the
age for freedom of the Press and the constitution in the
Confederate States remained highly distasteful to the King ;
a transformation of the Confederacy, in the sense of a more
united guidance by Prussia, was indeed, as we know, recog-
nised as necessary on many sides, but the decisive word which
hovered on every lip could not be uttered out of consideration
for the friendly Governments.

As far as the junction with Prussia, wished for by my
brother and recommended by Bunsen, regarded English
politics, Frederick William IV shuddered at it principally on
account of the favour shown by the English Cabinet to the
ever-increasing revolutionary action in Italy. That there
might be a policy for Prussia which would be able in any
way to oppose Austria's traditional power in Italy, was
looked upon by the King as a mere nothing. When I was in
Berlin he could not say anything bad enough against a
Cabinet which seemed to be acting in concert with the hated
conspirators of Italy.

If, notwithstanding, the King established friendly relations
with the English Court, and particularly with my brother

222 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

through me, and to some degree in opposition to the English
Cabinet, yet one could not help feeling convinced that a
formal renunciation and separation of Prussia from her old
alliances and friendships would soon be again regarded in
London as a chimera of Bunsen's brain, for the realisation of
which there was not the slightest grounds for hope.

I had enough opportunities in Berlin to notice that there
would be a want of energy should an unexpected catastrophe
occur ; and on the 22nd of February I left the Prussian
capital in a most uneasy state of mind concerning the immedi-
ate future. The Duchess, who had followed me to Berlin,
accompanied me to Brussels, whither we went by way of
Cologne, and where I found King Leopold as full of care, and
as much affected by the condition of French affairs as Frederick
William had shown himself confident. My uncle uttered
remarks full of foreboding concerning the state of things in
Paris, and explained that Louis Philippe's position was hope-
less. ' My father-in-law,' he told me, ' will soon be driven
away, like Charles X. The catastrophe is coming unavoidably
over France, and, in consequence, into Germany also.' That
his words were to prove true, even before we had returned
to Germany, would certainly never have been imagined.

On the 6th of February we embarked at Ostend on the
Guarland, bound for Dover, and reached Windsor at five
o'clock in the afternoon. Here and in Claremont, as well as
in London, we spent the decisive four weeks of the eventful
year, during which the volcano had at length burst forth.
Prince Albert and the Queen were almost hourly expecting the
weighty event, and it was looked upon as almost self-under-
stood that it must come, when the news arrived from Paris on
the 24th of February.

Louis Philippe's arrival in England, and the tragic fate of
the whole House who were so closely allied to our family,
kept us in as- great suspense from day to day, as if we our-
selves had been immediately affected by the revolution. The
exciting circumstances under which almost the entire family of
Orleans was dispersed, and the sad experiences of many of its
single members made a painful impression. It is sufficiently
well-known how the poor Duchess de Montpensier arrived in
England after manifold adventures, destitute of the most

THE DUKKS GRANDMOTHER DIES 223

necessary things, so that the Queen was obliged to send her
clothing before she could see her at Windsor.* I myself
welcomed the Due de Nemours when he landed. The Queen
sent a special train to Dover to bring him quickly to London.
It would be tiresome to recall all the scenes which we were
continually witnessing.

The news which came to me from my own territories
made it necessary for me to hasten my departure from
England. A family bereavement, which furnished a bad sign
for the beginning of the year was not spared us in these days
of political excitement. During our stay in England my
grandmother, the Duchess Caroline, died in Gotha, on the
22nd of February, and from this moment, news of misfortunes
was showered upon us from home. My Minister, von Stein,
also, did not spare most pressing warnings for us to return.
He wished for my personal co-operation in Thuringian affairs,
which were daily assuming a worse appearance, and told me
in every letter that my presence was greatly desired in both
lands.

I may say that public opinion in these difficult times was
rather for than against me, and that from the March days to
the end of the hard times during the year 1848, Ministers and
officials invariably looked to me as the man who would protect
them against the approaching storm, whereas only too many
sovereigns in Germany were forced to seek shelter against
the perversity of their own subjects behind the transitory
popularity of their hastily changed Ministries.

Already, before my departure from Gotha in January, I
had a fresh opportunity of showing my advanced opinions, by
publishing on the 19th a law concerning the publicity of the
transactions of the board of aldermen. Two days later I
received the representatives of the States who were present
in Gotha at the meeting of the Deputies, and expressed to
them my conviction of the untenableness and faultiness of
the constitutional state of our land.

It would not therefore have been my fault if improve-
ments in this respect had not been made. It was not long
before I received information from Herr von Stein concerning
loud expressions of discontent with the existing arrangements

* Prince Albert II, 24. Hillebrand II, 786.

224 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

for Gotha. On the 9th of February the Minister wrote to me
in London :

' YOUR HIGHNESS, — .... The observer cannot but notice
a slight irritability in the masses against the indolence of
former days. The old company, thoroughly material as it
was, is dying away by degrees, and the new one is even more
hot about political questions. This was particularly to be
seen, for example, in the representations of pieces of a tendency
like " Zopf und Schwert " and " Uriel Acosta," in which certain
portions were very quickly caught up and applauded, which
never used to happen. The petition also, concerning which I
asked Your Highness some time ago, and a copy of which I
enclose, is circulating more and more widely throughout the
land, and has, as I hear, many signatures.

' A little while ago about twelve mayors from good places
in the country were together on business concerning fire
insurances, and von Buszleben, who is something of a scholar,
as well as an uhlan and a lover of sport, brought the con-
versation round to the constitution, and all had soon agreed
that " we are just as good as the Coburgers, we want a share
in the country too ! "

' Your Highness will not believe that such speeches can
disquiet me, but in such small signs one sees the times, and
whoever takes no notice of them will never be able to foresee
the political weather. Your Highness is also sufficiently
acquainted with my opinions concerning the constitutional
question, therefore I will be silent on that subject, but I think
it impossible to repeat one thing too often. The later steps
are taken for the unavoidably necessary reform of the state
of the country here, the farther we shall have to go. The
expectations increase every year, the demands grow more
pressing, and what was gladly accepted last year is hardly
sufficient this year, and will on no account be satisfactory
next year. Conservative Triitschler even said to me yester-
day : " It can't go on thus any longer, we must have another
mediation here." '

Revolution was already in sight after the lapse of four
weeks. ' Until to-day,' wrote Stein, ' we have succeeded in
keeping peace and lawful order in town and country tolerably

RECEPTION AT GOT HA 225

well, yes, in comparison with many other places, I may even
say very well. The good people of Gotha are, however, be-
coming more excited day by day, and I will not undertake to
keep lawful order three days longer, if Your Highness does
not return home meanwhile. It is not necessary for me to
give any assurance of the real longing with which I await
Your Highness's return.'

I was already on my way home. We had left England on
the 4th of March, and were hastening back by way of Ostend,
Brussels and Cologne. A short stay with my uncle inspired
me with the pleasant conviction that the waves of the French
Revolution were breaking over the constitutional kingdom of

o o

Belgium. I also talked the Gotha constitutional question
over with King Leopold, and was happy to see that he agreed
with my views and plans on all points.

I had worked out a constitutional project suited to the
state of things in Gotha, which received the entire approba-
tion of the King.

On the evening of the 7th March, I met the Duchess in
Gotha, and was received with enthusiasm by a densely
crowded mass of people. On the same evening I signed a
decree which abolished all censure of the Press.

The petitions which reached me during the next few days
were reasonable and sensible, and I did not think it necessary
to feel any anxiety concerning the maintenance of peace in
Gotha. The members of the committee of the deputation of
the same representatives who had curtly refused my proposals
a year before, had now come to beg me to give them a repre-
sentative constitution. They asked for laws, according to the
times and the states of the country, for all the subjects of the
country, which would enable them to participate in the
making of laws and the management of the income of the
State, and I could only refer to the fact that, as was known,
my intentions concerning the same had up to the present been
opposed by the States' representatives alone.

A petition of town and country parishes which stated
their motives in a somewhat circumstantial, yet most reason-
able and becoming form, showed both knowledge, learning
and goodwill in the representatives of the country up to that
time, and hardly contained more than the request of which it

VOL. I. P

226 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUBG-GOTHA

was known how greatly it corresponded with my views and
wishes.

Thus, on the loth of March, I could send out a proclama-
tion with good courage and without the slightest appearance
of compulsion, in which there was a prospect given of a
representative constitution for the Duchy of Gotha, founded
on the same principles as that of the Duchy of Coburg. But
my desire was, now as before, to unite the new constitutional
law with the existing state of representation.

The Government therefore expressed their intention of
summoning the country according to the old form. The pro-
clamation to the Extraordinary Diet was prepared, and I
wished to demand the agreement of the classes to the adop-
tion of a representative constitution in accordance with my
declarations already made in the year 1846. However,
before the proclamation summoning the Diet was published,
the Government felt convinced that they might expect certain
opposition not only from the benches of princes and counts,
but also from the greater part of the commoners.

Under these circumstances I had to decide upon the sum-
moning of a constituent assembly of Deputies, for the purpose
of consulting about a new fundamental law, and signed the
decisive document on the 19th of March. At the same time
my Government was able to set to work to cast off the ballast
of reactionary measures and laws, which were still in force.
On the 26th of March the Confederate exceptional laws of the
20th of September 1819, 30th May, 28th June and the 8th of
November 1834 were repealed by sovereign order. The
limits were thus removed which had been fixed by the Con-
federacy in the single States for a lawful development of
constitutional state.

The question now was, whether in this way the rebellious
spirit of the times might be banished, which daily showed
more threatening symptoms in the neighbouring lands.

Since the first days in March an uneasy movement and a
more excited state of mind were noticeable in Coburg as well
as in Gotha. The rising had already begun in the latter place
on the 3rd of March. On this day the then so-called Mann-
heim address had found its way to the Coburg burghers.
Four demands were made in this address, which, as they

THE CO BURG ADDRESS 227

touched upon the universal German and national affairs, were
different from the other storms of petitions from particular
corporations. At the top of these addresses, after the Mann-
heim model, which had spread throughout Germany, stood
the striking words, ' A German Parliament.'

Besides this, they demanded the freedom of the Press, the
arming of the people, and trials by jury. Several burghers
of Coburg presented the magistrate of the town with the
plan of a ' Petition to the Duke,' in order to promote a council
concerning the same in the Public Assembly of Burghers.
The plan contained, as far as concerned me personally, the
most universal assurances of fidelity and adherence, but were,
on the whole, so characteristic of the state of things and the
public mind, that one would receive but an incomplete idea,
if one attempted to depict the year 1848 without quoting the
remarkable bombast which at that time ruled the world.

During the time when addresses were all the rage, a
remarkable kind of dialogue had developed between princes
and their peoples, of which my loyal Coburgers also sent me
a finely modelled example on the 6th of March.

' Concord between Prince and people, unity of all Germany,
is now the cry which rises from all the well intentioned men
of the Fatherland, of the German Press and the German
Confederacy. If this cry is to find an echo in the German
people, as find it it must, the Press must be free, the German
Confederacy must be national. But the Confederacy is only
national when it is an organ of the efforts of all Germany to
bring about an intrinsic unity, when it is, in the full sense
of the word, a representative of the German people, as well as
of the German Princes. Only under these conditions will an
armament of the people fulfil its aim, that of preserving peace
in the interior and securing against anything exterior.

' Most Gracious Duke, most honoured Prince ! if it were
only a question of the preservation of concord, between Your
Highness and your people, really ! everything would be well
with us. Your Highness has, through your noble reign,
earned the thanks of your whole country. The strongest link
is that which binds all those belonging to the land, particularly
the Coburg Representative Assembly, to Your Highness. But
it is now a question of the highest and most noble possession

228 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG-GOT HA

of a great nation — the national existence of the Fatherland,
that the whole German people may stand facing a common foe
together, like one man, can only be reached through the ful-
filment of the long cherished wish and the just demands of all
races of Germany and national institutions — a fulfilment
which also lies in the hand of Your Highness as a member of
the Confederacy.

' We therefore lay this most humble declaration with con-
fidence before our Most Gracious Duke and Sovereign, that
during the next few days we shall unite in all the petitions
for freedom of the Press, representation of the people in the
German Confederacy, armament of the people and trials by
jury which come to our knowledge in all parts of Germany,
being convinced that the Fatherland can be secured from out-
side dangers, and rejuvenated internally by means of the
adoption of these institutions.

' In consideration of the present pressing state of affairs we
think, however, that it will greatly help to reassure the
country if the Assemblies stand by our Most Gracious
Prince. We therefore most humbly beg Your Highness most
graciously, to order the immediate breaking up of the Repre-
sentative Assembly.'

My reply to this address followed on the 10th of March
in the form of a proclamation :

' Burghers of my residence of Coburg ! The address of the
6th of this month sent me by you affords me the welcome
opportunity of expressing to you my most entire satisfaction
at the quiet and lawful behaviour which you have shown
during these days of universal political excitement. For the
sentiments of true attachment which you expressed therein
receive my warmest thanks. All this must indeed be an
unerring good sign of the promised concord.

' To strengthen this concord between me and my people more
and more shall be the object of my most earnest endeavours.
The confidence with which you have as freely and openly
expressed your wishes, as I like you to do, does my heart
good, as far as in me lies to justify it. I have decided to
assemble the representatives of my Duchy of Coburg on
the 2nd of next month, in order to deliberate with them
as to what, in this serious moment, the interests of the

THE DUKE'S REPLY 229

country demand with regard to the interests of all united
Germany.

' Meanwhile I shall have prepared a law to lay before them
respecting the adoption of complete freedom of the Press.
The latter entirely agrees with my principles, and I will
gladly warrant it. A plan for a law respecting the alteration
of section 79 of Magna Charta will also be proposed to them,
so that the right of petition and the right of the people's
assembly may be freely carried out. I have already long
since recognised the superiority of openness and publicity in
the administration of justice by means of trials by jury, and
the necessary preparatory measures for the adoption of this
mode of administration were already ordered by me during
the last year. My Duchy of Coburg shall also share in this
constitution corresponding with the times.

1 1 will very gladly lend a helping hand to the adoption
of the armament system, which lightens the burden of the
standing armies of the Confederate States and affords the
necessary defence for the safety of the Confederacy. I shall
hold a consultation with regard to this with the allied German
Princes. Until then, wherever it would be possible to
establish the universal arming of the people, I should gladly
allow a guard of burghers in the towns. A proposed law for
the taking of the oath by the military on the constitution
will be laid before the Assembly.

' As a man of German sentiments and tilled with the
warmest love for the Fatherland, I most willingly joined the
Confederate Princes, who recognise the representation of the
German nation in the Confederacy to be the most effective
means of strengthening Germany and furthering her common
interests. I have already instructed my envoys to the Con-
federate Diet to support the proposal of a universal German
Parliament as strongly as possible.

' Burghers of Coburg ! may these declarations furnish you
with a proof of my great willingness to fulfil wishes which
accord with the real wants of the times. Stand by me
further with tried faithfulness, that we may maintain public
quiet and order in these uneasy times. I confidingly place
them under your protection.

<ERNKST.'

230 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

As may be seen, the movement had, as yet, in the be-
ginning, been made entirely and universally in a German
patriotic direction, and I can say with truth that it had my
sympathy from the first.

Whilst, during the first days in March this — one might
say ideal — trait was still uppermost, influences of an entirely
different kind, nevertheless, soon made themselves apparent
in the small Thuringian States, and antimonarchic, socialistic
and anarchic tendencies came to the surface, Numerous
assemblies of the people were held, petitions and resolutions
poured in from all sides ; one found one's self suddenly in the
midst of aimless proceedings, which one might only hope
would be but transitory, and that it would be counterbalanced
by the association of the representatives of the country.

Doubtful matters soon came to light : release from all
feudal burdens as regarded all rights of pasture, the setting
aside of all difference of classes, and the right to inherit the
position of representative of the country, the incorporation
of the crown-land revenues with the public property, the
appointment of 'national men' to all State offices, the establish-
ment of publicity throughout the administration, the assur-
ance of a supply of wood for the wants of the people, release
from the excise on materials for consumption, the abatement
of toll-moneys, abolishment of rights of the chase, etc.

The first blast of the furious hurricane of political sense-
lessness sometimes struck me as being rather comical, and I
was impressed by this when I wrote as follows to King
Leopold on the 15th of March : —

' In Coburg they also quite violently demanded everything
of the Government — even health and long life — all that a
mortal can possibly ask for, amongst other things. " Freedom
of speech." The quietly disposed are invisible as well in
political life as in the field of the Press.'

That the intervening events in the larger German States,
particularly in Prussia and Saxony, as well as in Austria,
materially increased the political disorder and the disturbing
tendencies in the Thuringian countries also, was to be expected,
and a few weeks later I found it necessary to characterise
the movement as more serious and critical. What I wrote at
that time to my uncle in Brussels concerning it I still consider

REMOVAL OF EBERHARDT 231

to be for the most part an exact description, and therefore
think it right to repeat it here :

' We are going through a frightful period. Internal and
external storms have destroyed the organism of all German
states, respect for the law has disappeared, and the power of
the masses alone makes itself felt. The Governments must
submit to a state of things which borders on the scandalous.
I have not the smallest hope, either, as the universal confid-
ence in any form of Government is entirely gone, and complete
discouragement reigns on the one hand and universal licence
on the other.

' We have had no universal revolution as regards general
principles and tendencies ; such a state of things would have
given rise to something certain ; but in every little territory,
in every little town, in every village we have suffered from a
peculiar disturbance which usually has divers grounds, and is
therefore followed by different consequences. Only one result
has been the same everywhere, that complete anarchy has
gained the upper hand, which yet cannot be conquered every-
where, but naturally by degrees only. Business and traffic
are neglected, and workmen without bread are growing more
imperious day by day. Added to this, the want of money is
so frightful that we shall all have reached States' bankruptcy
in a few months. Railway companies and small and large
bankers are already discontinuing payment. All those who,
three weeks ago, through fear of a reaction, hindered the
Government with impertinent violence, from maintaining
lawful order and using its power, are showing their brutality,
and demand that we shall support anarchy, now that our
power is void, but obedience is no longer shown.'

If, at the close of this letter, I was still in a position to
say, ' I am still able to do much, as implicit confidence is
reposed in me ' — I did indeed find opportunities enough during
the next few weeks to do a great deal in my own person for
order and law. In almost every place unpopular persons and
officials were badly handled.

Amongst the latter Chief Commissary of police Eberhardt
was universally disliked, and it became unavoidably necessary
to remove him. It was the same with States Councillor Hess

232 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

who even during the first days of the movement fell a victim
to the popular excitement. He was accused of being inimical
to the constitution, and I had to release him from service for
a time.

The miserable system of proscribing the officials by means
of the Press came more and more into fashion, and I was
called upon numberless times to protect my own officials. In
Coburg as well as in Gotha serious disturbances had occurred
since the beginning of April. In Gotha many attempts had
been made on the loan-offices ; the workmen demanded
increased wages and showed intentions of obtaining their
demands by means of force ; even the prison was stormed. I
was forced to have cartridges dealt out to 400 men of the
Gotha battalion, and the Citizens' Guard had to remain under
arms during the night of the 16th April.

One of the worst features of the revolutionary year was
the attempts to undermine the discipline of the troops, nor
were we in Thuringia to be spared this evil. People inter-
fered in matters of military justice, they set the men against
the officers. In Coburg, events of this kind had already
become so serious in April, that I was forced to adopt stern
measures. As the people had taken part with the soldiers
against several officers, I summoned the members of the
magistracy and the board of aldermen, as well as the captains
of the militia to the Castle on the 21st of April, and declared
my point of view to them with the greatest decision. I gave
the court-martial alone the right to judge the accused, and
said plainly that military matters were not to be measured
according to the views of civilians.

I went down into the courtyard of the castle amongst the
assembled officials, and successfully showed them how I must
act in order to accomplish the aim of the inquiry, whether a
condemning or absolving judgment was passed or not. 'As
I have always followed the rules marked out by the law/ I
added in a louder tone, ' I shall now perform the duties
demanded by my position. I hope that the civilians present
are of my opinion, that law and order must prevail. I have
no further warning or request to make.'

One could nevertheless see that a personal grasp was not
wanting in effect, but one would have had to be omnipresent

CELL A ST BLASII

233

to successfully oppose the attempts against social and political
order. I remember a most amusing passage characteristic of
the time, which happened in the month of May, when, during
one of my many small trips between Coburg and Gotha, I
one day met a carriage, coming down from the Thuringian to
the Henneberg forest, whose occupants I at once recognised as
officials belonging to the departments, Justice, Finance and
Forest in Cella St Blasii.

They were in a most excited state, and told me that they
were escaping to Gotha. They had been driven from Cella
St Blasii by the revolution, and were going to seek the pro-
tection of the Government. The workmen belonging to the
gum manufactory of the place had united with the rabble and
threatened the lives of the officials. Their wishes and
demands had been so tumultuously uttered that nothing
remained but to hasten from the fearful place. These gentle-
men were in so despairing a moral condition that my first
idea of at once conducting them back personally to the spot
could not be carried out.

I therefore drove into the little town alone, and alighted
at a public house which stood near the market place. Several
hundred people had assembled in the public square and
impromptu speeches were made.

I made the half-drunken innkeeper, who had recognised
me, open a kind of dancing-room, and took possession of a
parish clerk who happened to be there, and who seemed to
suit, in order to make out a protocol.

Meantime, the news of my arrival had spread, and I did
not hesitate to have it made known through the landlord and
a forest overseer, who had made his appearance, th.-it I was
prepared personally to hear their complaints and grievances.
The magistrate of the town, as well as the better class

o

burghers and manufacturers were nowhere to be found, and

O

had either hidden themselves, or, like my officials, had
departed. The room in which I had stationed myself soon
filled with a motley crowd of factory hands, woodcutters and
lower class burghers, who surrounded me with much noise.
I demanded a regularly chosen deputation in order to obtain
information concerning the state of affairs, and to settle the
same. This was received with approbation, and the crowd

234 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

left the room ; after the lapse of an hour, during which it had
been very lively in the square, a deputation of about fifty
persons appeared, who in most unparliamentary form laid
before me a number of complaints against the officials.

I now attempted to make the men understand that it was
impossible to attain any end in these matters by using force
with the officials, and that it would therefore be necessary to
send a deputation to the Ministry in Gotha, in order to have
the wishes of the people granted. But meantime it would be
taken for granted that the officials would be allowed to return
quietly to Cella, as I could not allow them to be hindered in
the performance of their duty by threats and expressions of
violence. Although this was admitted after some opposition,
yet no one was prepared to guarantee the protection and
safety of the officials, and I was obliged to remind them that
in this case a company of soldiers would have to be quartered
in the place, to remain there some time, and whose mainten-
ance would have to be borne by the inhabitants of Cella.
The so-called deputation now said that they would ask
instructions of their party, and they then left the room again,
to return only after the lapse of another half hour.

My question whether the assembled citizens of the town
were willing to answer for the protection of the officials was,
it is true, answered in the affirmative ; but because of the
great excitement and the many strangers who, it was pre-
tended, were at that time staying there, they would give no
guarantee. In order to put an end to the matter, I turned to
several of the men who stood nearest to me, praised their
good sentiments and intentions, and persuaded them to sign
a short protocol in which they bound themselves to answer
for the safety of the officials whenever they returned to Cella.
Thirty persons at length signed it.

Other citizens belonging to the better classes soon dropped
in, and a kind of society for the protection of officials and
maintenance of order was formed. Meanwhile I sent a
servant to Gotha to fetch the escaped officials, and in a few
days they resumed their posts. The grievances of the people
of Cella once set down on paper melted down to a very small
number, and were redressed by the Government. In the
following year I had the satisfaction of seeing that when two

GENERAL RISING OF THE PEOPLE 235

of the officials there were to be promoted, the community sent
a request to the Government not to tear these valued and
beloved men from the scene of their beneficent activity.*

The existing state of affairs had, as it were, forced me to
try an only too personal rule amidst the most extravagant
projects of liberty, and when I wrote to my brother from
Gotha so early as the 20th of March : ' My house is like a
headquarters, whence all orders must be issued personally,' I
did not think that this uncomfortable and disquieting state of
things would go on for weeks and months to come. Such
were the contradictions furnished by this extraordinary time.

Whilst the people were rising against the Princes every-
where, the most immediate and personal activity, and often
enough the most impossible things were expected of them.
Whilst all power and even their possessions were being dis-
puted and cavilled at, they were to protect the property of
their subjects and care for their acquired rights. ' How am I
to find words/ I wrote to my brother, ' in which to describe
my feelings ? Were I a private citizen, I should perhaps
rejoice with them. But in my position, with all the duties
which my calling imposes upon me, recognising the hopeless-
ness of the present condition of affairs, I can only see the
precipice yawning before and behind me. — It is enough to
make one lose one's reason.

' My decision is the same which I would follow as a soldier
in battle : to endure until the end, true to my duty, true to
my people through all coming storms. The beautiful days of
the past lie like an expiring life, like an exquisite dream
behind me, after all that we have experienced and gone
through during the past four weeks, and I thank Providence
for not having given me any children, for I should tremble
for them. I will not give way to my feelings any longer,
but which of us German Princes will think otherwise, feel
otherwise ? '

It was still more significant of my opinion of the existing
condition of things when, a few days later, I said, describing
the state of Germany : ' We Princes are very wavering, as we

* Concerning the occurrence in Cella, Herr von Stein wrote to me : ' The Regent's
personal power is, thank God, still very effective amongst the people, even the most
excited. Your Highness's clear, firm and immediate adjudication has certainly done
more than it would have been possible to accomplish by means of a whole regiment.
Bailiff Kegel was quite struck by the good effect produced.

236 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG-GOTH A

have too little intelligence, courage and understanding of the
spirit of the times.'

Meanwhile the Assembly of Representatives had been
opened in Coburg as well as in Gotha. It is time now to
remind the reader that in most German States the year 1848
had brought a change in the titles, and that the decrees and
proclamations of the sovereign Princes were at that time
designated ' By the grace of God.' I had not begun this
doubtful innovation, but had willingly adopted it, without
expecting that this matter of form also would shortly be
turned into an important reason for the reaction in Germany.

Little weight as I should like to lay upon the fact that
the ' Grace of God/ adopted by the duodecimo States without
any pious conviction, had been rejected during the storm of
1848, yet I have never been able to understand how I should
have been able to make up my mind to adopt the once rejected
formula later and repentantly, after the example of many
middle-sized and even the smallest of the German States.

In Coburg and Gotha the old-fashioned form of my title
of sovereignty was therefore laid aside, not only during the
bad times, but actually and for ever, without visibly altering
the worth of the law of the country.

As now regarded the Coburg Diet, it was, as I had already
promised in my proclamation to the citizens, summoned to an
extra session. Bills for the points already mentioned in other
places, above all for the introduction of complete freedom of
the Press, the free use of the right to petition, the publicity
of trials and many other things were drawn up. But during
the time between the 13th of March and the 3rd of April, on
which last day the assembling of the Diet took place, a good
deal of agitation had arisen in the country, concerning the
forest and hunting rights.

In Thuringia, as everywhere, they tried to force the
population into a democratic socialistic tendency by means
of questions of this kind. Under these circumstances I
decided upon a step which caused no little astonishment. In
the speech from the throne with which I opened the extra
session of the Diet, I voluntarily expressed my views of the
rights of chase on strange lands and grounds, and granted it

OPENING OF THE COBURG DIET 237

without demand of payment to those parishes, to whose
boundaries the ground to be hunted over belonged. I only-
made the condition that it should not be shot over by the
members of the parish, but by regular sportsmen or tenants,
and the produce given to the parish funds.

Something similar had already been done by Herr von
Stockmar for his property, as well as that of King Leopold in
the way of private rights. I therefore thought it right to
mention in the speech from the throne, that all others who
had hunting rights in my Duchy would follow this example ;
yet this did not find much approval. A perfect war of
destruction against all that runs on the ground, flies in the
air and swims in the water, was at once begun in the
Thuringian forest, and, by preference, on my own lands.

Besides this, I had still another proposal to make in my
opening speech to the Coburg Diet, which was attended by
lasting discussions and many a great political action, and
which touched upon one of the most important vital questions
of my two Duchies :

'Many another highly important matter,' I said at the
close of my speech, ' will need most earnest consideration.

' Amongst these I reckon a desire which I have long had,
and the fulfilment of which depends upon an understanding
between my two territories, I mean the union of my Duchies
of Coburg and Gotha by means of a common constitution.

' The immense advantages of this are too evident for a
more particular summary of them to be given here, and a
more favourable time than the present could hardly be
found for the carrying out of this plan, when it not only
appears necessary to institute a reform and a timely revision
of the fundamental laws of these states, but when a repre-
sentative constitution corresponding to the demands of the
times is to be given to Gotha.

' Examine this project, the execution of which would be a
real pleasure to me in the interests of my two territories.'

For the carrying out alone of such an energetic change,
which was also so nearly related to the public law, the quiet
and thoughtful co-operation of all factors concerned would
have been necessary. Whilst the whole world was then
considering the highest questions of national state life, and

238 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG-GOT HA

the greatest matters were being discussed with all the greater
preference in every small circle, the less the influence which
could be brought to bear upon them, most men were quite
unfit to consider and regulate those which were the simplest
and therefore the most practical.

In the matter of the Coburg-Gotha Union, it was all the
more impossible to come to a decision, as the chief councillors
of both lands hindered each other in the most jealous manner,
and opposed each other in provincial divisions. The efforts
of several years were needed in order to manage the establish-
ment of even an approach to a constitutional union between
the two small States. The Diet which assembled in April
had held itself aloof from every demand of the times and the
country in this respect, and were, as it were, forced in conse-
quence to resign in favour of a new House which was to be
summoned on a more widely democratic basis of elective
rights. This new extraordinary Diet was summoned by me
on the 20th of September, during the most uneasy period in
Germany, of which I shall speak later on in another connec-
tion. The bills which were proposed provided for the release
from ground taxes, the abolition of patrimonial jurisdiction,
the nature of mortgages, the adoption of a universal income
tax, the carrying out of the abolition of the game laws. The
proposals of the Government were often carried unanimously.
But when I again attempted to prepare the way for the union
of Coburg and Gotha I had no more success than before.

' If,' I said in the opening speech on the 22nd of September,
' I were to mention this plan as a wish, the fulfilment of which
would be a pleasure to me in the interests of both territories,
it shows itself in the light of a really unavoidable necessity,
now that the want of a code as equal and as common to the
State arrangements of the German territories as possible is
srrowino; more and more evident.

O O

' You will find this, gentlemen, more nearly confirmed and
carried out in the proposal which will next be laid before
you.

' I think it necessary only to bring forward the fact that
without this union of both lands in an organic whole, the
pressingly necessary changes and simplification of the admini-
stration can be attained in but an incomplete degree ; yes,

LETTER FROM VON STEIN 239

even the independence hitherto enjoyed by the land may be
placed in danger.

' May you, gentlemen, as well as the representatives who
are soon to be summoned together in the Duchy of Gotha,
recognise the necessity of such a union, and the hindrances
which may perhaps be opposed to it here and there cannot
then fail to be entirely removed.'

In order to explain the events which soon after occurred
with regard to this question, I must here observe that neither
my Coburg nor Gotha councillors seriously and deeply shared
the convictions to which I had given utterance. The remark-
able state of things in the year 184-8, also allowed me to
deviate in a certain measure from the usual constitutional
practice of presenting a purely Ministerial programme by
means of the speech from the throne. What I said to the
Coburg representatives with regard to the union question,
were my own words in the strictest sense, and I can hardly
doubt that States Councillor Brohmer, who managed the affairs
of Coburg with ministerial authority, scarcely approved of
all the consequences they would bring. He did not meet me
quite frankly in this desired matter, and tacked from one
point to the other, in order to make Gotha out as being in
fault should it not succeed.

And, in fact, the dislike for the relinquishment of the
greatest particularism was not greater there than in Coburg.
Whilst most senseless republican dreams, based on the abol-
ishment of territorial and feudal institutions were ripening
more and more, one noticed that the Church seemed to be the
most inextirpable inheritance of the Germans, and while even
modestly good and intelligent men had fallen victims to a
great national madness, there was no possibility of fitly solv-
ing the simplest matter relating to the country.

This situation was strikingly shown in a letter from
States' Minister von Stein, when he wrote on the 24th of
October :

'JEven if the majority of the National Assembly express
their opposition to the mediatisation of the small States, they
must nevertheless be destroyed, for what is left of it by the
central power will be so cut up and worn away by special
law-makino- assemblies, that the small single government will

24o MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

be unable to last out much longer. To this may be added the
financial embarrassment, and they must therefore consume
away. For Coburg and Gotha there is, besides, the infliction
of the spirit of separation between Coburg and Gotha, which
is increasing here and leading to the most unpleasant disturb-
ances. I gained some new experiences concerning this only
yesterday ! '

In the above letter the eventful word mediatisation
appears for the first time in rny description of the year 1848,
but it played a part in all the constitutional disputes of the
small lands throughout the year, and also during the times
which followed, of which I shall speak at length. The
question laid before the Coburg Diet concerning the union of
my two territories leads me to the Gotha constitutional affairs,
of which I must at least mention the principal outlines.

In the earlier relations of Gotha the nobility had known
how to maintain a great preponderance for themselves.
Since the old times they ruled Court and State affairs so
greatly that no change could have been accomplished without
immediately encroaching upon the sovereign power. If the
revolution was to be hindered from breaking through all
bounds of order, the Government itself would have to put its
hand to the work of reorganisation. I therefore considered
that the time had come to take steps to restore order.

In the Court arrangements the old institution of noble
gentlemen-of-the-bedchamber was abolished by a ministerial
decision, and the division which separated people and Court
everywhere in Germany to a serious degree, was all at once
destroyed. The nobility of Gotha have never forgiven me
for taking this step, but have also waited in vain for the
time when their standing aloof would make me decide to
follow the popular path of reaction and restoration, while
efforts were being made elsewhere to forget what had taken
place in 1848 as quickly as possible. The Court of Gotha
had for a considerable space of time been able to get on
without the ' Grace of God ' as well as without gentlemen-of-
the-bedchamber.

In the same way, the attempt of the nobility of Gotha to
delay the settlement of the constitution was very unsuccessful,
although the knightly representatives had expressed them-

THE GOVERNMENT ORDER 241

selves favourably concerning the town suffrage at the Diet of
Deputies in February 1848. The Government was now forced
to make a provisory arrangement which in some degree
swerved from the line of the constitution. An Assembly of
Notables was called together, which was to be decided by
universal suffrage and which would deliberate concerning a
new States fundamental law. The order was explained in
the following words :

' We, Ernest, etc., have willingly complied with the wish
which our subjects in the Duchy of Gotha have laid before us
regarding a change according to the times of the constitution
of the country, and given them the assurance by means of a
promulgation of the 7th inst. that equal political rights will
be given them by means of a representative constitution, as
are now lawfully established in our Duchy of Coburg.

' Whereas, We immediately made the necessary arrange-
ments for the preparation of the constitutional plan, it has
appeared fit to Us to assemble around Us delegates from the
different orders and classes of the people of Our Duchy of
Gotha, in greater numbers than the State arrangements have
hitherto admitted, in order to lay the bill before them, to
take counsel with them concerning this important matter
which so nearly concerns the future welfare of our subjects,
and to definitely establish the conditions, one by one, with
their consent.

' We therefore provisorily prescribe for the composition of
this Assembly of Delegates, the conditions of being entitled to
vote and eligibility with participation in the Assembly, and as
regards the form of votes in the separate classes themselves,
with regard to the determinations concerning the same con-
tained in the constitutional laws of Our Duchy of Coburg, etc.'

After the order of vote proposed and expected by me, the
relations of the town and country, delegated to those be-
longing to the nobility, was materially improved for the former,
yet there were many disputes, protests and discussions before
the votes were settled. At length, apart from the votum
virile of the Princes Hohenlohe, which was retained for them
as lords of the Earldom of Obergleichen, one representative
was sent by the Town Councillor of Gotha, five in all by the
citizens of the towns of Ohrdruff, Waltershausen, and Gotha

VOL. I. Q

242 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

five by the nobility and twelve by the official towns of Fleckeii
and Ddrfer, to this Extraordinary States Assembly which was
summoned together on the 18th of June. I had the intention
of opening the new Assembly of popular representatives with
the same solemnity usual in the Diet. To my great amuse-
ment I received a letter apparently sent from the representa-
tive circles, in which I was informed that a better impression
would be made if I avoided all military and princely pomp.
I therefore gave the gentlemen to understand that if the
forms hitherto observed did not please them, I would gladly
appear in hunting costume. This little joke brought them to
their senses, and I opened the Assembly in the usual manner
with the following words :

' Gentlemen ! I bid you heartily welcome ! A few years
ago I stood in this same spot and frankly announced with
pleasure to the members of the old provincial diet that it was
my desire and intention to supply the wants of the times, and,
whenever the opportunity offered itself, to thoroughly reform
the constitution of the country. The more approbation this
promise received, and the more the universal desire for a
representative rule according to the times was made known
to me, the more eager I was to fulfil this desire.

'But internal and external hindrances imperiously opposed
my purpose, and I soon recognised the fact that time alone
could overcome them. My views were confirmed, and that of
which one formerly hardly dared to think, has already become
a reality. A renewed lease of life has come to our Fatherland:
I joyfully join myself to it. The goal of my efforts is the
realisation of freedom and the welfare of the one, as of the
whole. May all my faithful subjects endeavour with decision
and truth, yet with a perfect comprehension of the real truth,
to reach this goal with me.

'This goal lay pleasantly before my eyes at the drawing up
of the States' fundamental law, the sketch of which will now be
laid before you, and which has been founded on the basis of
extensive participation for the citizens of the State in public
matters and on a safe guarantee of the rights of the people.

' I address myself confidently to you, gentlemen, asking for
your unbiassed consideration of the following matters. When
I summoned you together after the provisory arrangement

COMPLIANCE OF THE ASSEMBLY 243

for the election made by means of the order of the 19th
of March, which formerly appeared sufficient for the con-
venience as well as the demands of the time, it was not to be
imagined that time would go more quickly than the election,
in consequence of which I see you assembled here before me.

' The judicial view of the present with regard to election
and the share begun to be taken by the people in the legisla-
ture, the matters relating to the community and to political
economy, is now altered. The only right recognised as belong-
ing to such an assembly is the right to represent the will of the
people, for which deputies have been chosen from the people
according to the principle of a similar right, principles which
are contained in the bill for the constitutional law and the
order of election.

' I hope, gentlemen, that you have not misunderstood me,
and that, as regards the business mentioned you will limit
your consultations to the " order of election " and the enclosed
paragraphs of the bill, in order to form, in co-operation with
the States' Government, a lawful foundation by means of
which a new election may be arranged and a more suitable
organ of the people's will be called into life, which will
examine and settle the remaining portions of the constitu-
tional law in co-operation with the States' Government, con-
cerning which I expect that a more close union of the now so
widely divided parts of the Duchies of Coburg and Gotha
will be recognised as being useful to the whole.'

My speech, which was intended to be the freest possible
expression of my convictions, and was therefore not strictly
after the model of similar enunciations, was calculated to
prevent the Assembly from setting to work in a wrong
manner. The time at which the notables of the country had
assembled had already shown such strong symptoms of the
universal cessation of a lawful state of things, that one could
not but fear that the chamber should be transformed into a
kind of miniature legislature and render every peaceful and
legal restoration of a new constitution very difficult. Mean-
while the elements which were brought together were of the
best kind, and I may say that my conciliatory and decisive
attitude had disarmed even the radicals amongst them. The
Assembly complied with my desire, and only that portion of

244 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

the universal bill for the fundamental law was taken into
consideration which related to election and the order of
voting. Most of the decisions were almost entirely conform-
able to the proposals made by the Government, and thus the
order of election to the Diet for the Duchy of Gotha was
accepted and established in four sittings.

This shortest of the many preliminary parliaments, of
the year 1848 we were able to break up as early as the 23rd
of June. The new law was based on the system of universal
but indirect election, with the exemption of all representative
membership, and with the approximate calculation of five
hundred men born in the State to one deputy. According to
this the Diet of the Duchy consisted of twenty members.
As early as the 28th of June the publication of the new law
of election followed, on the basis of which a regular Diet was
summoned on the 2nd of October.

There were many restless and radical elements chosen for
this chamber, and the Government possessed no very energetic
representative in the person of States Minister von Stein. In
Austria and Prussia they had at length succeeded in assigning
a limit to the anarchic movement ; in the small States on the
contrary, the revolutionary spirit appeared to think itself all
the more sure, and now really began to spread. Under these
circumstances the negotiations concerning the proposals for
the constitution appeared as if they would never come to an
end, and the Deputies were difficult to manage.

The tasks which were set the Diet were, it is true, of a
very comprehensive nature. At the final settlement of the
Constitutional Bill brought forward for consideration, the
conclusions had to be taken into consideration, which had
meantime been come to by the National Assembly, with re-
gard to the particular rights of the German States. Many of
them laid greater restrictions on the constitutional rights of
the single States than had been expected ; in other points the
questions of the balance, between the kingdoms and the single
States, as well as the States amongst themselves, could still be
kept equal.

Apart also from these difficulties, the bill for the Gotha
fundamental law extended to over a hundred paragraphs, the
conscientious and thorough consideration of which would

DUCAL SCHEMES FOR REFORM 245

have occupied many months, even in quieter times. Besides
this, a law for the alteration of the charges on the proprietory
and the seigneurial rights had to be accomplished, to which
were added bills for the cessation of the rights of hunting and
shooting on strange land and ground, as well as an executive
order concerning it. The Diet also had a tax-reform bill to
consider. The Government hoped to find a means of lessening
the charges in the poorer division of those belonging to the
State towards the burden of State expenses in the universal
income-tax.

Finally, I had a new organisation of military duties in
view. At that time it was hoped that a system of universal
national defence might be instituted by means of an arrange-
ment with the neighbouring States, and a reservation of the
permission of the central power, whereby, by means of the
greatest extension of service duty, the weary burdens would
be decreased, and a strengthening of the combative force
brought about without too great an increase of expenditure.

Great as was the programme of work which was thus
presented to the newly reformed Diet, the less I was able to
conceal the fact that the principal task assigned it was to be
found in the alteration relating to the public law of the
relations between Coburg and Gotha. I therefore laid some
weight on this point in my opening speech to the Gotha Diet,
as I had when mentioning my views concerning the same
point in Coburg.

' The execution alone,' — were my closing words — ' of all
these plans, as well as principally the thriving success of ray
efforts so honestly made in behalf of the welfare of this
country, is by preference conditional on a union of the
former with the Duchy of Coburg in a common constitu-
tion.

' Already at the opening of the last Diet I pointed out the
usefulness of such a measure, now that the want of as equal
a legislature and as common a state arrangement as possible
in the different lands of Germany is becoming more and more
evident, when the idea of a single united Fatherland is making
practical demands, particularly in the smaller constituent
parts of the same, now that these demands may possibly form
one condition of the continuance of the existence of the

246 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

latter, nor does this union indeed appear in the light of an
unavoidable necessity.

' It is with these feelings that I have laid before you the
bill for the fundamental law which I also proposed to the
Diet opened in Coburg on the 22nd of last month as the basis
of political equality of both divisions of the country. I allow
myself to hope that you, as well as the representatives in
Coburg, will recognise with me the necessity of such an
equality, and the greatest possible community in the organs of
government, and that you will regard the attainment of this
object adopted by me, and at the same time pointed out to
you, as one of the nearest as well as the principal fields for
your activity.'

It is not my intention to weary the reader with the details
o£ the transactions of the Diet, which lasted until March of
the year 1849. That a list of determinations in the States'
fundamental law was now laid before my Government by the
Deputies which unmistakeably bore the signature of the year
1848, was not to be mistaken for a moment. But the time
was hardly suitable for a constitutional conflict in a small
land ; the unsuitable form of many a constitutional paragraph
was also to be laid to the account of the part compliance of
Minister von Stein.

According to this constitution a mere prohibitive veto on
the decisions of the Chamber was left to the sovereign prince.
The granting and refusal of taxes was to be the right of the
representatives alone. The confiscation of the domain to the
expenses of State struck the sovereign and the rights of rny
House a still harder blow.

I nevertheless confirmed the so often altered statute, with
the expectation that the representatives themselves would
find a remedy for this want in a perfectly lawful way. As
regarded the crown-lands' question, it had been turned in a
wrong direction more through the Minister than the Deputies
themselves. A protest had immediately been raised by my
brother and my two uncles, Leopold and Ferdinand, against
the constitutional decrees which limited the rights of the
Regent, and which preserved the domain question for me
personally at that time, but in later years for all agnates,
their rights with regard to the decisions of the Diet.

PRINCE ALBERT DISAPPROVES 247

On this point my brother was decided in his intention to
appear in the defence of justice against the conditions of the
new constitution, and grew very angry and bitter against me
in his letters, which by no means lightened my task.

It is almost impossible to describe the violence with which
people at that time attempted to solve involved questions of
property. The representatives assembled at the Diet, started
with the conclusion that all princely income, even dwellings
and castles were to be declared the property of the State.
Amongst these there was much which came from the allodial
possessions of my mother, and it would have been a very
exhausting task to search through the different titles of
possession by means of deeds. This was very convenient for
the revolutionary time, as a conclusion could simply be arrived
at. In section 14 of the new constitution the free use at least
of a number of castles and court buildings particularly
mentioned by name was allowed. I had great trouble in
obtaining the right of disposal over the Court theatre, which
was solely a princely creation. To this end I was obliged to
sacrifice other advantages, as, for example, the right to use
the castle at Tenneberg, etc.

But I had, on the whole, the satisfaction of knowing that
the States' fundamental law could be regarded as a work which
was made to last, and which would not need to be overthrown
in a short time, as has happened to so many other constitu-
tions of the year 1848. This result was only attained, how-
ever, through the fact that even in the worst months of the
year 1848 I never ceased to exercise a certain purely personal
authority, by means of which I was able to keep the more
moderate elements above the surface, and to decisively repulse
the republican and anarchic efforts which had spread only too
universally throughout the other Thuringian lands.

My position in Coburg and Gotha remained so unalterably
secure during the unpleasant year, that I myself was able in
some particulars to work for the universal welfare of the
Saxon Duchies, with some degree of consideration and success.
In the eastern portion of Thuringia, there had been an
increasing movement since the beginning of July, which had
arisen in the Saxon manufacturing districts, and which the

248 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

governments were in no wise a match for. All business had
been stopped in Altenburg, particularly through the dangerous
influence of a few talented republicans, who, however, were
not particular as to the means they employed. The poorer
classes had been excited by means of the most impossible
promises. In the Assembly, Minister von Planitz, had not
attempted to put a stop to the wildest proposals for procuring
money to support starving workmen.

As the financial impossibility of such plans could not be
doubted, the artfully generated excitement of the people in-
creased more and more. The Duke and the entire Court were
accused of hindering the friendly intentions which the radical
entertained for the people, and it was supposed that the re-
actionary party wished to call out the Royal Saxon troops in
order to suppress the boasted acquisitions and freedom of the
people. Revolutionary bands surrounded the castle in which
the entire ducal family were, as it were, held imprisoned.
People said everywhere that it was a certain fact that the
Duke would in a few days be forced to abdicate, and the Re-
public would immediately be proclaimed in Altenburg. There
was indeed a universal ferment and blustering. The demo-
cratic republican unions had spread all through Thuringia, and
were closely bound together. In Jena a central union had
been formed under the presidency of the communistically-
minded Dr Lafaurie, which began an open agitation for the
abolition of the Thuringian Duchies. They hoped to get
through with the small Princes of these lands most quickly ;
after they were driven away, they had the intention of found-
ing a United Thuringian Republic which, secured in the very
heart of Germany, would be a point of issue for further demo-
cratic conquests. Disturbances had been intentionally raised
at the same time in the bordering princedoms, in Gem and in
Rudolstadt. In the former a very serious meeting of soldiers
had moreover taken place on the 5th of July. The troops
formally revolted under pretence of not wanting the Articles
of War read to them, and the calling out of the Saxon military
was quite unavoidable.

All these disturbances had a double meaning ; they were
dangerous in themselves for the Thuringian Duchies, but they
had a deeper reason with regard to the universal political

VISIT TO ALTENBURG 249

tendency towards mediatising of the small States. In the
Frankfort National Assembly, the question whether a union of
all Saxon territories was not to be striven for in the interests
of Germany was the order of the day. The union of the
Thuringian States under the sovereignty of Weimar was
equally seriously considered. The more untenable the
smaller Governments showed themselves in opposition to the
republican measures, the more reason the central power had
for insisting on mediatisation, and one of the most interesting
episodes of the year, which has been almost entirely forgotten,
and which may be seen by following the councils and negotia-
tions, is that which now aimed at founding a Thuringian Cor-
porative State, then at the union of the Ducal Saxon territories
with the Kingdom of Saxony.

Events such as had taken place in Altenburg were almost
desired for these half and whole tendencies to mediatise. In
order to gain information concerning the predominant feeling
in Weimar I hastened thither and conferred with the
Ministers there. They complained greatly of the dangerous
condition of the Thuringian States, and for the sake of the
safety of the Archduchy itself were by no means inclined to
relinquish the idea of the united Thuringian House. Concern-
ing the state of things in Altenburg most incredible things
were related, and they asserted decisively that the Ducal
Family were in the greatest danger. No one could vouch for
a few days more of life for the unfortunate Prince.

Alarmed to the utmost by the news which I had received,
I made up my mind to go at once to Altenburg. Accompanied
by my secretary, afterwards States Councillor Bruckner, I
took my place like any ordinary traveller in a second-class
railway carriage, and arrived almost unrecognised in Alten-
burg. My companion and I then went to a hotel which stood
near the station, where we had an opportunity during dinner
of making inquiries of the landlord as to what had occurred,
and how things were there. The landlord assured us, with an
appearance of the deepest conviction, that the people of
Altenburg were on the eve of the greatest event : it was quite
true and correct that the Duke was imprisoned and cut
off from everyone. To the question : By whom ? the man
answered with the pathos of a schoolmaster, who has just

250 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

described the terrors of the French Revolution and the suffer-
ings of the prisoners : ' He is in the power of the Provisory
Government, and is watched by the citizens' guard.'

' Would it be impossible to get into the Ducal palace ? '

' Quite impossible,' answered the landlord without hesita-
tion ; and I asked still more inquisitively about Court Marshal
von Minckwitz, as I had intended to visit him, he assured
me with great confidence that it would also be quite impossible,
for then von Minckwitz also was being guarded in his
house.

I was so astonished and provoked by all this, that it made
me all the more eager to carry out my intention at any price.
In spite of Bruckner's dissuasions I went to the Court
Marshal's house, where a militiaman of not too imposing a
military appearance, and, if I am not mistaken, armed with
an old halbard, rather good-naturedly refused me entrance, in
the Altenburg dialect. I cannot now say how it happened,
but with a tolerably gentle push I thrust the man aside and
went unhindered into the house. When I appeared before
Minckwitz he seemed to be greatly startled and anxiously
inquired what I wanted, and how I had managed to come in.

' I desire nothing more than that you shall at once conduct
ine to the Duke,' was my short answer, which caused the
Court Marshal to pour out a flood of excuses and descriptions
from which nothing was after all to be gathered except that
everyone in the place had lost their minds. As Herr von
Minckwitz refused, as he expressed it, to 'go to meet
certain death ' with me, nothing remained except for me to
try my luck alone.

The drive up to the high castle of Altenburg led around
the next street corner through a closed barricade, and the
guard had orders to let no one in or out. At the moment I
reached it, it fortunately happened that an officer belonging
to the militia came up to change the guard. I immediately
addressed myself to him and told him who I was and that I
wished to speak to the Duke. My very friendly words and the
quite extraordinary and by no means foreseen fact that a neigh-
bouring Prince had unexpectedly come on a visit to the Duke,
may have greatly shaken the good Altenburger citizen in his
revolutionary character. I thought it worth while to employ

DR KRUTZIGER 251

a little cunning which would in any case prevent the so-called
provisory government from playing me any bad trick. Taking
it for granted that the officer of the citizens' guard would not
fail to inform his authorities concerning everything which
had happened and been said, I remarked casually that an active
column of troops were in the neighbourhood of the town and
that they would certainly march in if I did not soon return.

After all these negotiations I at length got into the castle,
and thought I had conquered all the chief difficulties. But I
was mistaken in this, for my worst experiences were to be
made with the Duke himself. The moral state in which I
found Joseph himself, as well as his long since ailing consort
and the unfortunate daughters, is hardly to be described.
Wavering between yielding and hopelessness, it appeared
almost impossible at first to hold a quiet discussion with the
Duke. Some time passed before the whole state of affairs at
length became clear to me.

Amongst the Duke's officials, Government President Herr
von Seckendorf was particularly hated by the revolutionary
party. He was more fitted for anything than for a business
man. He was known as an author of polite literature, under
the name of Isidorus Orientalis, and evidently in good favour
with the ladies of the Court. The Duke, however, had but
small support from him, for when the tumult began, the
Government President crept into every corner he could find
and left everything to a countryman, Dr Krutziger, before
whose pompous speeches and freezing presence the entire
Government had struck sail. After the movement which
took place in June, the Duke was forced to decide upon
appointing him as third Minister, and on the 21st of June he
assumed the duties of one.

He was, so to speak, the proxy of the popular party in
the Cabinet, but the Duke tried to keep him as far as
possible from his person. As he had meantime succeeded a
few days after my visit to Altenburg in overthrowing his
former colleagues and had taken the power into his own
hands, he assumed the part of a statesman from amongst his
rich repertoire, showed himself tolerably moderate, and was
afterwards by no means a bad German Minister.

As things stood, it became at once clear to me that the

252 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

people's man must first of all be sent for, and that the Duke
must establish nearer and better relations with him. At any
rate, one would be able to learn from Herr Krutziger what
' the people's will ' was, and what end was to be attained by
means of the incomprehensible revolutionary measures. But
the Duke would not hear of such a proposal ; throughout his
whole family the thought that Herr Krutziger might enjoy
the honours of a Minister and be brought to Court, was
regarded as the height of conceivable misfortune. Only after
a long argument on my part was it at length decided to
summon Krutziger and negotiate with him.

At first, however, he was not willing to enter into personal
negotiations and take the consequences upon himself. At
length he appeared, accompanied by friends and representa-
tives of republican societies and a great debate began, in
which the people at first made their demands in a very
stormy manner, but soon became more modest when they
saw that I in no way allowed myself to be intimidated.
Sometimes I^was forced to employ drastic means in order to
bring them to reason, and described the horrors of the Con-
federate execution, by which they would in all probability
very soon be overtaken. I did riot find the inclination of the
gentlemen very great, on the whole, for a battle with firearms.

My Minister, von Stein, to whom the affair was related a
few days afterwards in Gotha, by States Councillor Bruckner,
afterwards wrote to me in Coburg, on the loth of July,
characteristically enough of the situation : ' Bruckner's relation
interested and pleased me in the highest degree. According
to that Your Highness must have completely conquered
Krutziger, and basted him like a roast during the discussion.'

The interference which I undertook to make really made
it necessary for the Duke, even with a heavy heart, to sign
a kind of capitulation. A few days afterwards President
von Seckendorf obtained his dismission, on the excuse of
' shattered health.'

As regarded the neutral questions, in the conference which
the Duke and I held with Ministers von Planitz and John, and
afterwards with Krutziger also, a protocol was established in
consequence of which the Altenburg Government denied any
intention of abdicating in favour of the King of Saxony. If

WANT OF REPUBLICAN ENERGY 253

the disturbances in Altenburg lasted, I undertook in the
interests of the agnates to interpellate the Confederate central
power and demand execution. On the other hand, the
motion for formation of a united Thuringian State was to
be taken into consideration by the Altenburg Government,
only in so far as it was thought right by all sides to work for
a closer union of the Thuringian States, in respect of the un-
prejudiced administration of the rights of the Kingdom and
the Central Power.

The principal thing now was that the Duke was released
from a very frightful position, and that the continuance of
the Princedom in Altenburg remained assured. The local
relations became so much better during the following weeks
that the constitutional unions were once more able to raise
their heads. The quickly raised lion of the day himself,
Herr Krutziger, found it also wiser to look back a little.
When, a few days after the great interference I drove through
the once more peaceably open gates of Altenburg Castle, the
entire population was astir. Herr Krutziger still, it is true,
in the costume of a people's man, made the most obliging
speeches, and even if not in a white cravat, yet did the
honours at my departure as well as an important Court official.

Although the republican element in the Thuringian lands
had but little promise of gaining the upper hand, yet wild
proceedings, such as I had just experienced in Altenburg,
could not fail to make a terrifying impression on outsiders.
The Royal Government in Frankfort therefore conceived the
plan of maintaining quiet and safety in the smaller States by
means of Confederate troops. The War Office ordered two
or three army corps to be put in motion, of which one was to
be stationed in the Thuringian territories. It was difficult to
believe that no afterthought was entertained with regard to
this, which related to the mediatising tendencies of St Paul's
Church. There was, in my opinion, no real danger to order
and quiet in the Thuringian States.

Energy was entirely wanting in the republican conventicles
which were springing up on all sides, and a little courage on
the part of the smaller Governments should have been plainly
shown in order to break the neck of the mad performances.

254 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

In reality it was only the bloodthirsty speeches of the leaders
and the exciting articles in the radical papers which gave
these lands the appearance of being in full revolution. It is
indeed difficult to imagine to what a degree the entire Press in
Germany had at that time everywhere exceeded the limits
allowed for free discussion concerning the form of State to be
established, and how impossible it was to expect any just
treatment in matters of the Press. Added to this, all the
different parties strove to excel each other as it were in
violent and exciting assertions and phrases ; it was as if the
political disorganisation had brought with it a complete
alienation of refinement and good taste.

One could hardly take up a newspaper without reading
the most ridiculous nonsense, painted in the colours of the
party to which it belonged. Papers of all opinions were
almost without exception pretty equal in this respect. I once
read in the otherwise well-edited, and really well-meaning
Coburg paper, which had also come into existence during the
March days, the following amusing paragraph against the
October Revolution : ' Dishonour and shame on the enemies
of the Fatherland, who wish to sow the seed of Princes teeth
in the uprooted fields of time, without reflecting that this
Cadmus seed must itself generate throttling despots.' The
small Republican papers were all edited by an uneducated
class of men, who, in the coarsest language and roughest
manner, daily made the most insane demands for and incite-
ments to a civil war.

That the governments were unable to obtain the mastery
over these wretched publications was a fact which was,
however, by no means limited to the small States. In the
latter, however, it was to be inferred that they were unable
to maintain themselves, and as in Frankfort, the members of
the more serious circles of my Thuringian home mooted the
question of their suppression. It may be imagined that the
most different opinions were entertained concerning the
manner, in which the small States were to be ' absorbed ' by
the larger ones.

Historical reminiscences of the most remote centuries were
brought forward, in order to prove by document that there
had been a false establishment of unity. Now the community

LETTER TO PRINCE ALBERT 255

of race of the Thuringians was to be adopted as the basis of a
new formation, then the idea of old Saxony under the Emperor
Otto, again the dynastic joint suitableness of the whole
Wettinic House.

I thoroughly explained my view of this matter to my
brother on the 19th of July, and kept it unchanged through
all disorders. At that moment the Weimar project was the
first on the list, against which my objections were directed,
and which cannot fail to be of some general historical interest :

' In our immediate neighbourhood also things are happen-
ing which make me very uneasy, and against which I try to
work with all my might. Weimar, which has long entertained
the thought of getting out of a situation by means of a coup
d'etat, which must by degrees become very destructive, has
plainly shown her colours, and, upholding the monstrous state
of affairs in Altenburg, regards the union of the united
Thuringian States, namely that of the Grand-Duchy and the
three Duchies of Saxony, all Reusz and the two Schwarzburgs
in a whole, under the rule of the Weimar Regency as an
unavoidable necessity, for the unity of Germany, then parti-
cularly for the welfare of the lands concerned. Both reasons
are founded on false premises and the whole plan is sophism.

' I will not dispute the matter here, as it is evidently all the
same to Germany if there are to be other sovereignties,
whether they contain other States which number one or five
hundred thousand souls ; the single small States would be
more willingly and advantageously absorbed by Germany, as
a great whole, than by Weimar. It is really nonsensical in a
moment when things are being so arranged in Frankfort in
order to undertake rapid and therefore important changes of
the kind, and especially against the will of the subjects. I
could give a number of reasons against it besides, but I
consider it unnecessary, as I should look upon the whole
matter as less important if Weimar had not already secretly
taken steps behind our backs which now render a quick
settlement all the more necessary.

' Weimar first attempted to make an agreement with Alten-
burg according to which the whole of the latter with its
rights of sovereignty was to go over to Weimar. Greatly as
this negotiation would have defied all laws of order of sue-

256 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

cession, this might easily have been accomplished, as the
Duke of Altenburg can no longer reign after all that has
occurred and is occurring, and is inclined to retire personally
as soon as possible. He has even opened negotiations with
the King of Saxony, in order to unite his territory with that
country.

' Secondly, Weimar has also carried on similar negotiations
with the Government of Reusz, as well as with that of Rudol-
stadt, and found great willingness on their parts ; that is
what the Weimar Ministers say ; as regards Altenburg I
myself have seen the documents.

' Thirdly, Weimar has in the delegate Wydenbrugk in
Frankfort a zealous advocate of her plans, and the matter
will, I am sorry to say soon come before Parliament which is
highly favourable to it, as Weimar has made it appear by
means of the Press as if the Duchies were inclined to adopt the
plan of union. All this demanded speedy and energetic
opposition, I hastened first to Weimar, and meeting with no
frankness and favour on the part of the Ministers, I went to
Altenburg. They gave me full information, and I even
succeeded in being chosen as a mediator by Altenburg, as well
in the project of union as for private affairs. I at once began
on the latter, tried to form a new Ministry and negotiated
personally with the republican association which rules
Altenburg. I fought with the " Jacobins " for nine hours but
went forth victorious.

' Very little interference was necessary for success, and I
think that the machinery of State will work for at least a few
weeks longer. I had to treat the Duke like a sick man,
.... and by this means the state of things was made clearer
to me.

' The poor people parted from me with bitter tears, and I
could hardly refrain from sadness, as I saw how we were
going to meet destruction. On the 22nd, I succeeded in pre-
vailing upon Weimar, Altenburg, Meiningen, Reusz and
Rudolstadt to send delegates to Gotha, to a great conference
at which I myself would preside. The chief battle must then
be fought. Stockmar is entirely of my opinion that the
constituencies should not anticipate, but must submit to what

THE WEIMAR UNITED STATES PROJECT 257

is decided by the majority and the administrators of the
Empire.

The Conference did really begin on the 22nd of July.
During the sitting the question of the union of all the Thur-
ingian States was very eagerly discussed, but what the Weimar
Minister, Herr von Watzdorf, heard on all sides must have
been of but small consolation to him. The opposers of the
Weimar project quite correctly founded their point of view
on the fact that a number of reforms in the departments of
justice and administration would be made possible by means
of a closer co-operation of the governments, without recognising
that an amalgamation into a united Thuringian State would
be worth striving for from a monarchic point of view.

As regarded a certain community of institutions a begin-
ning had already been made. In Jena, Head Ecclesiastical
Councillor Schwarz had already mentioned a united church
constitution at an assembly of Thuringian clerical authorities
which took place a fortnight earlier. On my side there was
all the less hindrance to an organic alliance of the Church in
Thuringia, as I was about to refuse the rights allowed me as
Head Bishop of the country in the bill to be laid before the
Deputies according to Magna Charta, section 43.

In the same way it would be possible to form a number of
common institutions in the Thuringian countries, and one
marvelled all the more that they had not come to life much
sooner and in less troubled times, as they were greatly needed.
I may say of my Minister von Stein that he showed himself
very favourably inclined towards all such practical questions
of unity, and later also, as will be seen, worked towards their
solution. On the other hand, he opposed the aspirations of
the Weimar Government as decidedly as I did.

Eight days after the above mentioned Conference of
Ministers, the constitutional unions of Thuringia also held an
assembly of delegates in Gotha, at which it was also seen that
in these circles also the Weimar united States project had but
few supporters. In spite of all argumentative efforts, the
Weimar affair was not brought to a sufficiently favourable
conclusion.

The usual resolutions concerning the constitutional mon-
archy with a democratic basis could not but help over the

VOL. I. R

258 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

real difficulties, or at least seem to, but in reality the repre-
sentatives of the constitutional union were more disposed to
expect the constituency of Germany from Frankfort athan to
seek the ordering of home affairs in Weimar. For as regarded
the private affairs there they were far behind the develop-
ment of the constitution of the other territories. At the
assembly of the town delegates the proceedings had not once
been made public, and in the Diet the proposals to be made
for the reform of the jurisdiction and the administration were
not yet to be brought forward.

The Republican party in Thuringia might accordingly
hope that their affairs would really be thoroughly attended
to through the mediatisation of the small States. As, how-
ever, these prospects were soon done away with, the so-called
people's union began in September, on their own account, to
prepare for revolution and to rouse the masses of the people.

The weakness and want of courage of the governing heads
everywhere and at all times afforded an opportunity for this.
Thus there was a really sad occurrence in Schleiz during the
last days of July, as a deputation from the radical unions
presented a petition to the Prince, which so irritated the
latter, that he went so far as to utter hard words to the
leaders. An assembly of the people was immediately held,
they sent a large and threatening deputation to the Prince,
demanded satisfaction, and really succeeded not only in
obtaining all that had before been refused, but a written
reparation of honour from the Prince.

The most serious danger did not, however, come from the
princely residences, but from the fortress of Erfurt, where a
regular revolutionary committee had built its nest in the
midst of the Prussian troops, and systematically agitated for
the republicanising of Thuringia. At the head of this move-
ment was Berlepsch, who at length succeeded in bringing
about bloody battles in Erfurt.

The republican uprising would, it was said, be supported
by the Thuringian forest districts, after which they were
going to obtain possession of the fortress. The revolutionary
committee had been particularly successful in raising propa-
ganda in the Gotha public domain of Georgenthal. As the
Ministry were strictly informed of the preparations which the

RISING IN FINSTERBERGEN 259

republicans had made in order to strike on an appointed day,
I confined four companies in Gotha, so that we might at once
interfere.

Whilst I was in Reinhardsbrunn, I was awakened during
the night a few days before the outbreak of the Erfurt
revolution. They brought me information that the meeting
place was in the Finsterbergen, where the insurgents were to
assemble. I sent at once to Gotha, ordered two companies to
move out, and that the troops were to be quickly sent on in
waggons which must be procured, in order to take up their
position at seven o'clock in the morning in front of the place,
which was three miles off. I myself went on horseback to
Finsterbergen and found the troops in the place, as my orders
had been punctually carried out. Without exciting too much
inquiry, I had the paths to the high-standing place occupied,
and rode to the spot accompanied by an adjutant. Many
barricades had been raised which were filled with a large
number of excited wood-cutters and many strangers. At my
energetic address the nearest barricade was cleared so far
that I managed to reach the common-hall, where the burgo-
master and a good number of well-meaning people had
assembled, who were delighted at my appearance, and once
more restored to courage and presence of mind.

I explained in a few words that I demanded the ring-
leaders to be delivered up, and that I would otherwise have
them taken by force. But as was to be expected, the parish
director and officials were not in a position to fulfil my de-
mands, and it was indeed hardly to be carried out, considering
the mob which had collected together. I therefore sent the
troops an order to enter, and in a few moments the tumultuous
crowd had retired from the barricades. The two companies
marched unhindered up to the hall, and I took from twenty to
thirty persons prisoners. They were tied to waggons, taken
to Gotha, and given over to justice, which sentenced most of
them to heavy punishments.

Popular feeling throughout the whole forest at once began
to cool down after the failure of the rising in Finsterbergen.
A large assembly of the people which Berlepsch had called
together before the town of OhrdrufF, ended most pitiably.
He appeared there armed and carrying a red flag, and it was

260 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF 8 AXE-CO EURO -GOT HA

said that he wished to proclaim the Republic, but a large
number of woodcutters, who were on the side of the Govern-
ment, had decided to put a complete stop to the affair, if the
announced intention was carried out. As the revolutionists
had been informed of this eddy in the river of excitement,
they thought it more prudent to avoid all provocation, and
left the field.

As regarded the mediatising tendency, the events in
Coburg and Gotha had added but little to the stock already
in hand. Nevertheless, I never doubted for a moment that
circumstances might intervene, which, in the interests of the
whole German Fatherland would render a more extensive
renunciation of rights of sovereignty fitting, I may even say,
that I fearlessly looked forward to this eventuality. As
regards the latter, my brother and uncle did not on all points
agree with my views, but were rather far more conservative
with regard to the rights of sovereignty of our family ; never-
theless, the Prince was so patriotic in relation to the universal
German questions, that he would not for an instant have hesi-
tated to cast off the semblance of a power which could find no
room in the wide German kingdom, if it had really and en-
tirely become fitting.

' The Thuringian kingdom,' said my brother, in reply to a
letter from me of the 19th July, 'would make the German
confusion still more confused, and Weimar has no claim what-
ever to say that it belongs to her. Meanwhile, I do not think
that this idea originated at the Court of Weimar. The Thur-
ingian idea is an old one, raised by the burschenschaft* of
Jena, as, indeed, most of the ideas of to-day which are not of
French origin, are the result of the student dreams of former
days. Meyer knew most of the heroes of the university, and
finds all their views unchanged. He himself took part in the
development of the Thuringian idea twenty years ago at Jena.
This circumstance is worthy of notice, as it suggests a large
number of supporters of this idea, of whom one knows nothing.
Besides, a standing means of negotiating co-operatively for
the Saxon Houses and territories would be of great value.
The latter would be the fruitful part of the plan, and should
therefore be cultivated. This seems to have been your feeling

* A certain political association of students at the German university.

KING LEOPOLD ON MEDIATISATION 261

also, when you summoned the Congress in Gotha. The prin-
cipal thing will be to bring forward the practical advantages,
and to contrast them with the poetical idea, for example, the
meeting of a committee of Deputies of the different lands every
three years to come to an agreement over a thousand different
interests would be highly beneficial.' ^n this respect my
brother also was very well satisfied with the results of the
Conference at Gotha, and on the 9th of August he wrote con-
cerning this : ' The points which were considered are all
practical, and one only wonders that the Revolution of the
year 1848 was needed to bring about so ostensibly a necessary
explanation. The governments and the bureaucrats really
have much to answer for.'

If the matter of the union of the Thuringian lands was

O

grasped and judged in so objective a manner by my brother,
a letter written by my uncle on the 16th of October 1848
about the mediatisings question of the smaller States, un-
doubtedly belongs to the most important statesmanlike
documents of the time, and I gladly seize the opportunity
of preventing it from falling into oblivion :

'Laeken, 16th October 1848.

' . . . . Now I am coming to the principal point, which is
the reason of my sending you my faithful Liebmann. Dr
Meyer arrived in the evening of the 14th from Frankfort, and
informed me of the success of the efforts there to make the
small Princes abdicate willingly, and that Karl Leiningen
especially is at the bottom of this business. Meyer says that
he saw you a short time ago, and that he told you what
opinion he entertained of the position which he looks upon as
the fittest which could be adopted with regard to the
constituent classes (in Gotha). What he says on this subject
appears to me to be good. These constituent representations
are a great danger to you, and indeed, as the National Assembly
meets in Frankfort, I do not see what their aim is. In any
case you must endeavour to remain on a friendly footing with
them, and to make them understand what they would have to
lose if they become constituent parts of a larger State.

' Next, you must explain to them that you would do any-
thing in order to help to establish a general union and the

262 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

respective unity of Germany. Already before the Revolution
of February the idea of making military affairs a matter for
the Confederacy was put into words. Many other concessions
can be made in this sense. But with regard to one thing, do
not allow yourself to be shaken, do not accept a civil list for
the House Domains! As things are, that would be the greatest
misfortune which could befall you. I do not need to explain
this to you.

'Now for the second part. The real Unitarians had an
idea that Prussia should be absorbed by Germany, that it
should be placed at the head of the German communities and
that the other States could only follow the example of
Prussia allowing herself to be absorbed by Germany. This
was Stockmar's idea. Hard as this notion may appear to me,
yet it cannot be denied that if the idea of unity is more
closely examined it must almost appear thus. The complica-
tions in Prussia prevented this plan from being carried out,
and several new plans came to light, all of which you know.
The very newest one, of which I had already heard from
Meyer, is, that those States are to be persuaded into giving
up their existence themselves, which apparently do not possess
sufficient vital power to keep up alone.

' Among these are reckoned — 1. Baden. 2. Kurhesse. 3.
Nassau. 4. Hohenzollern. 5. Altenburg, Meningen, etc. ;
they wish to extend this to all the small ones, and they are
to relinquish their position of sovereignty of their own accord.
I have heard two versions of the results which are to come of
this. The first is, that the first immediate Imperial country
will have to be created from this as a future kernel. Prussia,
who still took a rather lively part in the matter in September,
noticed, however, what it was coming to, and was very much
opposed to it.

'The second version is, that the small States which are
incapable of governing themselves are to be given up to the
larger ones.

' If an end is put once for all to the matter according to the
wish for the'common unity of the single States, I understand
that the small States will resign themselves to it ; but if the
small States are given up to the larger ones, this will of
course hinder the unity of Germany still more, as it will

KING LEOPOLD'S ADVICE 263

strengthen the particularism of the kingdoms still more, and
the union will therefore be more difficult to attain. To add
to such a state of things by willingly abdicating, when it
would work no good for the unity, would be to act like a bad
patriot, and, what is more, would be a really silly manner of
committing suicide. One must never give up one's rights
one's self, for then they are lost beyond hope of recovery ;
force is not right, let him insist upon it who will. Moreover,
you cannot undertake such a self abdication without consult-
ing the agnates, and I would advise you as regards the consti-
tutional representatives, to entrench yourself behind the
agnates. The agnates are collective, which is always an
advantage; they have undoubted rights, which cannot be taken
away from them without their being consulted, to do which,
you in your position have no right whatever. The nearest
agnate is in England in a very poor position, the other most
important one is here, with the key to Germany in his hands,
which also deserves some respect.

' The historical position may now be taken into considera-
tion. Almost all the larger States and several of the smaller
ones are a mosaic of different territories. This is the case with
Baden, Nassau, Wiirtemberg, Bavaria and Prussia. Saxony
alone possesses nothing on both sides, which the House has
not possessed for centuries. Both lines have even been
deprived of a portion of their old and, in part, real family
possessions. The losses of the elder line, which drew the
chestnuts out of the fire for the reformation of that time, were
large enough three hundred years ago. Of this elder line,
the not important branches in Europe are the very ones
which have rendered brilliant service to constitutional
concerns !

' I resume : A great deal of friendliness and disposition to
come to an understanding in representative transactions, to
make a sacrifice, also, but to accept no civil list, which always
makes the Prince a kind of state beggar. As regards the
kingdom : To give up all moments of sovereignty which may
do good to the whole kingdom. If the kingdom insists upon
the abolishments of all separate States ; a hearty and patriotic
consent to such a step. If, however, it is only a matter of
separate spoliation and suicide, a polite reference to the

264 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

common right, le droit commun, and to international right
and in no case to abdicate of yourself ! — . . . .'

My uncle's letter, which in spite of the haste of the moment,
betrays his whole grasp and style, was written on the supposi-
tion that I was only too much inclined to yield to the current
of the times, which could not be said to be very correct. But
if one follows his description of the universal situation, one
must give him credit for a deep political perception of the
situation. How far I agreed with his conception will be best
seen in a letter from me, which informed him of the Prussian
proposals for the institution of a college of Princes of which I
shall have more to say later on in connection with greater
matters. I will only bring forward that here which I especially
wished to mention as my answer to the fears of the King :

' . . . . The way to a partial execution of the Prussian
proposals is now clear. . . . By this means I hope that I
have made the fatal melting down of the small States into a
Thuringian kingdom at the head of wThich Weimar wished to
place himself, quite impossible. Did I not care for the uni-
versal welfare and were I not an enemy to all revolutionary,
efforts, it would have been an easy task for me to place myself
at the head of a much larger union.

' It sounds like arrogance, but — unfortunately — I might say
I am at present enjoying a degree of popularity and influence
in this part of Germany, such as I never dreamt of. Uncon-
sciously, and without having in the least sought it, I have
attained the doubtful honours of a " people's man," and incon-
venient and ticklish as the position is, I have nevertheless
the ability to push the German matter very powerfully, by
serving the whole while neglecting my own interests. I have
in this way already rendered many a service to different
reigning cousins, but they are none the less envious of the
position which I occupy.'

Anyone, however, who knew the relations from personal
observation and adhered to no empty theories, could not help
noticing during this time how the spectre of the small States
had taken a much deeper hold on the most extended masses
of the people than would be admitted in Frankfort. The
larger number of the Thuringians wished to know very little
of all ideas of melting down, and the thought of mediatisation

ADDRESS OF THE DIET OF GOT HA 265

also, if it had assumed a form, would certainly not have
helped on the work of unity. Remarkable to say, my own
cousin, Leiningen, was one of the most prominent personages
in Frankfort who wished to see the small States set aside.
As President of the Ministry of the Kingdom he had really
put this idea into motion, and was continually telling me
that I ought to adopt this view. Concerning him, this may
be the moment to bring forward an address of the Diet of
Gotha, which treats this theme in an exhaustive manner. It
was drawn up by men who, on the ground of the most
extended election represented the country, and who said
that no guarantees liberal and democratic enough could be
demanded in relation to internal affairs. On the 10th of
November they drew up the following readable letter to the
Frankfort National Assembly :

' We are appointed by the unbiassed election of the inhabi-
tants of the Duchy of Saxe -Gotha to consider and establish a
constitution suitable to the wants of the land, drawn up by
our liberal-minded Duke, as well as to exercise the rights
thereby pertaining to the whole body of our fellow-citizens.
The land to which our calling is limited, is of but mean com-
pass. The Duchy of Gotha numbers about 105,000 inhabi-
tants, but the Gothaer feels a deep attachment for his small
Fatherland — for the Thuringian mountains and their nearest
surroundings in a northern direction — he honours a long list
of noble princes, the landgraves of Thuringia and the Dukes
of Saxony are his ; he loves the town of Gotha, as the abode of
highly deserving German men, as the princely ancestral seat,
whence Duke Ernest the Pious, the progenitor of the whole
House of Gotha, reigned over the duchy, when it still embraced
Meiningen, Hildburghausen, Coburg-Saalfeld and Altenburg.
We have been together for six weeks, in order to ensure to
the country freedom and order according to the demands of
the new times, and partly to do away with, partly to lessen
heavy burdens dating from the Middle Ages, in order to
distribute the duties of the State in right proportion, in order
so to shape the constitution as the consideration of that unity
of Germany demands, which is being striven for by your
highly honoured men in whom is reposed the confidence of
our great universal Fatherland. Nor do we doubt that we

266 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXECOBURG-GOTHA

shall succeed by means of a convention with our Duke, in
soon meeting and opposing the scruples likewise raised by
the defenders of the system of mediatisation, as well as the
supporters of the Republic, in consideration of the excessive
expenses of Government in a manner corresponding to the
wishes of the inhabitants of our land. In the midst of the
fulfilment of our duties our gaze is fixed on the resolution of
the high National Assembly of the 30th of October in this
year, according to which various proposals for the mediatis-
ation or the union of the smaller German States have
been assigned to the constitutional committee for discussion
and report.

' In respect of the decision of this question we may be
allowed to repose the greatest confidence in the circumspection
and justice of our eminent National Assembly ; hereby we
particularly find the Duchy of Gotha most completely repre-
sented through the description which our fellow-citizen J. G.
Becker of Gotha elected as a fellow-member of the Assembly
of the States of the German Empire by the Duchy of Gotha,
delivered to the great Assembly on the 4th inst. Meanwhile
we will in any case hereby plainly express our confident hope,
that the Duchy of Gotha will be recognised as an ancestral
land, most of the constituent parts of which have been torn
from it by former distributions of provinces.'

The address was signed by all the members of the Diet.
Whilst their aim and intention is clearly to be seen in it, I
need hardly remark that the whole Thuringian question
really lay in the lap of the National Assembly, and therefore
threatened to assume all the more acute a character from the
fact that the military measures adopted by the States
Ministry immediately concerned Thuringia, and numbers of
Confederate troops transported thither, the billeting of which
was highly burdensome to the land, gave rise to the wide-
spread belief that it was a matter of forced mediatisation.
In consequence of this, Deputy Becker had also received a
large number of petitions and counter-declarations from
country parishes also, and had added them to his above-
mentioned representation in the address of the Diet to the
National Assembly. An Imperial Commissioner had been
added to the Confederate troops, who, in the person of Herr

VON STEIN'S INFORMATION 267

von Miihlent'els in every way encouraged the Thuringian
union project. In the National Assembly itself, the Weimar
plenipotentiary, Herr von Wydenbrugk, was working for it
and, wonderful to say, was supported in this matter by
Prussian Deputies of the Province of Saxony. That, however,
Prussia had not won a single friend in Germany that would
support her in founding of a new middle State, but only
strengthened the opposition of Saxony and Hanover seemed
clear.

Concerning this situation Herr von Stein sent me informa-
tion in December from Frankfort, which will, it is true, some-
what anticipate the events and negotiations which immediately
followed, but which may be said to be suitably introduced
here on account of its objective and scientific statement of the
existing state of affairs :

' Right as it seems to me to stand by Saxony, and to go
with Saxony in the accomplishment of the German Empire,
this might yet be doubtful if, on the other hand, the Royal
Saxon Cabinet were to withdraw more from Prussia with
Bavaria and Saxony. If the break which it is feared will
occur in German affairs does occur, it will certainly be to the
interest of the small German States to unite themselves as
strongly and cordially with Prussia as possible.

' But be German with Prussia, otherwise rather Prussian.
This, at least, is my opinion, and I believe that of the majority
in Central Germany. In Frankfort I laid upon myself the
task of finding out what grounds our Royal Commissioner
and the Ministers of the Empire as well, have for their
dislike for and evident distrust of Saxony, and the following
facts became evident to me. Miihlenfels is the intimate
university friend of Wydenbrugk, and is the brother-in-law
of Professor Duncker in Halle ; the former is known to be the
creator of the idea of the united Thuringian State, and the
latter the chief advocate in Frankfort of the Prussian pre-
dominance. The Prussians and friends of Prussia in Frank-
fort, do not trust Saxony on account of her still continued
dislike to everything Prussian, and, although it has been
admitted to me that the excited antipathy would be lessened
by the alliance with a million Thuringians or eight such
territories which were accustomed to act according to Prussia's

268 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

example, yet people are anxious, and indeed rightly so, lest a
republican heart might be formed by this alliance in Germany,
for which anxiety, only too good reason was and is given by
the elections made by Saxony of members of the Parliament,
and latterly to the Saxon Diet. Against this the only means
to be resorted to, is a strong show of Imperial power, and if
this is not done, it will then certainly be better not to seek an
alliance with Saxony.'

In the foregoing words, Herr von Stein already took into
consideration a phase of the transactions which only set in
after the overthrow of the Weimar project. In order to
describe the development of matters connectedly, I must once
more return to the decisions of the National Assembly.

When the General Constitutional Bill came under con-
sideration, all the proposals made in paragraphs 5 and 6 for
the mediatisation or union of the smaller States, were first re-
ferred to the constitutional committee on the 30th of October
for discussion and report. Nevertheless, the Royal Com-
missioner von Miihlenfels was given the task in Thuringia
of furthering the work of uniting the smaller States by means
of conferences with the Ministers. The principal Assembly
had been called together in Gotha on the 15th of December,
and took place in order, as it says in the protocol, ' to debate
and to come to an understanding concerning the future
political position of the Thuringian States, partly for the
whole united Fatherland, partly for each other, and the
respective assemblies of delegates.'

How far the Imperial Ministry had instructed the com-
missioner concerning single questions, or whether the latter
thought himself free to act a good deal on his own account,
I cannot say with certainty ; and, as the conference only
arrived almost exclusively at negative results, it did not
strike me as necessary to follow the matter in all its devia-
tions. During the whole negotiations, so much that was
unpractical and arbitrary appeared side by side with so many
necessary and desirable efforts, that, on the whole, one would
have been glad to see matters entrusted to more skilled
hands and more favourable times. But, concerning the
Ministers who had assembled at Gotha, the testimony must
not be withheld that they recognised, with the greatest

THE THURINGIAN STATES 269

resignation, all the evils of smaller States, picked them out,
and published them in a protocol without, it is true, any
possible practical proposal being made, or anything being
said, which might lead to a new manner of development.

Herr von Muhlenfels had proposed three points for discus-
sion in the form of questions : (1) How far is it possible or
necessary for the Thuringian States everywhere to maintain
the status quo of their independence with regard to the
Central Power ? (2) In case this status quo cannot be main-
tained, how far, then, is the annexation of these States, singly
or all together, to larger States, and to which ones advisable ?
(3) Or, if this should not meet with approval, is it possible
and advisable that the Thuringian States should unite in a
kind of united state ?

These questions were tolerably comprehensively answered
in the form of a protocol by Watzdorf from Weimar, Stein
from Gotha, Spessart from Meiningen, Gablenz from Alten-
burg, Chop from Sondershausen, Roder from Rudolstadt,
Brohmer from Coburg, and Otto from Greiz. Of the
Ministers present, with the exception of Herr von Watzdorf,
they all unanimously agreed, that the prevalent inclination of
the people as a whole was certainly for the maintenance of
the independence of the individual States. If one reads over
at this day the utterances of the certainly not preponderant
Conservative members of the conference, one cannot help
receiving the impression that a large part of the audible
expressions of so-called public opinion had no great founda-
tion amongst the people, but were for the most part only those
of a small circle of the middle classes.

The insight into the necessity for a political unity was
clearly stronger amongst Government circles than amongst
the great masses, and a salutary influence on the great ideas
of the times could therefore only arise from the honest
co-operation of the Princes and their Ministers. But this was
the very point, which had been the most overlooked and mis-
apprehended by the liberal parties in the single assemblies as
well as the German National Assembly.

Amongst the Saxon Ministers, as regarded this affair, Herr
von Spessart had, at any rate, chosen the simplest view
conceivable. He openly declared to the conference in the

2 70 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

name of the Meiningen Government, that no changes were
necessary in the political relations of the small States generally
or particularly. He did, indeed, admit that, as regarded
German Confederate affairs, the German National Assembly
had now been summoned to influence by their eventual
decisions the future of the constitution as well as the state of
individual rights and separate constitutions, but as for the
rest, he ended his speech for the preservation of the inde-
pendence of the small States with a declaration worthy of
notice for its acknowledged frankness :

' I will bring forward still another reason for our inde-
pendence in relation to the Central Power and its wishes :
We ourselves have a more secure position than the Central
Power. We have for ourselves a historical foundation,
whereas that of the Central Power is certainly a loose one.'

In the course of the debate the Royal Commissioner had
found an opportunity of emphasising the fact that, besides
the representation for Meiningen, no one regarded the preser-
vation of the status quo as possible. Nevertheless, no one was
in a position to propose a new form for any union whatever
of the Thuringian States, and the Royal Commissioner himself
was forced, as it were, to acknowledge the fruitlessness of the
discussion as far as this was concerned.

Minister von Stein regretted that they had not agreed to
a division on this project. Herr von Watzdorf declared him-
self decidedly against the absorbtion of the small States by
one of the larger ones ; in this respect he would listen to as
little about Saxony as about Prussia. Amiably disposed as
the Saxon people had shown themselves, he said with regard
to the German question, they would not be better than the
Prussian nation, and were just as particular as the latter.

A common Thuringian Diet was proposed, which found
much general approbation, but when a question was raised
as to its competency, it became evident that it would be
exceedingly difficult to employ it in a suitable way. No one
would admit a union of finances as being possible, military
matters were still presumptively reserved for the Central
Power and the Parliament, general commercial matters were
claimed by the tolls' union.

When at length Herr von Watzdorf brought forward a

THE GOVERNMENT OF WEIMAR S PLAN 271

bill, drawn up by himself for a State convention, which
would bring the Governments into closer relations with
Weimar, Herr von Spessart burst forth after the reading
with the words : ' The closing paragraph of this bill should
really run thus : " From this time forth you Thuringian States
are no longer independent, but belong to Weimar ! "

The result of the consultation concerning the 18th para-
graph, containing the Thuringian States project, was, on the
whole, purely a negative one, and an idea, which at any other
time, and principally ten or twenty years earlier, would not
have been without worth and merit, looked as if it would
soon be buried. The further attempts to establish a greater
bond between the Thuringian States, were founded on an
entirely different basis. After the opposition which had been
shown the first project, Weimar succeeded in inclining popular
opinion more to the Saxon idea.

In February 1849, Herr von Watzdorf came forward with
a very comprehensive project for a great Saxon-Thuringian
States Union. He sent a bill from Frankfort to the Govern-
ments, according to which nine States, with the kingdom of
Saxony at their head, were to form the States Union, which
provided military matters, as well as the making of laws and
the administration, and was to bring about the common
representation of the United States with regard to their
relations to the German Confederacy.

Amongst the proposals which had hitherto been made in
this direction, the new plan of the Government of Weimar
distinguished itself by its great clearness and determination.
Towards this, my Government demeaned themselves in a
thoroughly benevolent and responsive manner, without, how-
ever, there being any possibility of doing anything decisive,
as long as no understanding could be come to concerning the
settlement of the German question, which pointed ever more
decidedly towards the Prussian Empire. The worst of the
project was that the Royal Saxon Government did not throw
off the discreet reserve which they had shown from the first
in all questions of union.

Nevertheless, Weimar, as well as Saxony, had particularly
burdened my Government with the blame for the non-success
of these plans. I myself not only gave the matter my

272 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

closest attention, but made my brother fully acquainted with
the negotiations. He enlarged on the December proposal in
a very widely embracing memorial, which was of the greatest
interest, both personally and objectively.

' Windsor Castle, 9th January 1849.

' I have carefully read the Protocol of the conference of
the Ministers of the Thuringian States, and their agreement
concerning the formation of a Thuringian States Union, and
the following ideas have occurred to me thereby: 1. Desir-
able as the foundation of this States Union certainly is, and
necessary as it is that the Governments should now come to
an understanding respecting the formula of this plan, yet it
appears wise to me to delay the execution of this work until
the definite settlement of the German Imperial constitution,
considering that the success and endurance of this work will
depend upon the energetic grasp of the wheelwork of the
great German machine of State to be set up in Thuringia.
Therefore let the plan be carried on as far as possible, but let
the final execution be delayed until the Imperial Constitution
has been firmly established.

' 2. In the very small States a complete carrying out of the
constitutional system, and particularly one which is laid on
the widest democratic foundation, as is now universally
demanded in Germany, may be realised only to a certain
degree with the purely personal relations of the individual
Thuringian States. These States have only obtained the
possibility of a complete realisation through a united popular
representation. It looks now, however, as I see with regret,
as if that system with all its intricacies for the united Diet, is
also to be continued in the individual States. I should consider
this a political mistake. For if the consciousness of the want
of many essential preliminary conditions for representing a
complete constitutional State appear to have already contri-
buted to bring the Thuringian States to a decision, to seek
the o-uarantee of their endurance in their union, how much

O

more will this want be felt if all the greater German interests
are decided by a German Imperial Diet and the responsible
Ministry, but the more partial interests by a Thuringian Diet,
and the elbow-room of the individual constitutions will there-

PRINCE ALBERTS MEMORIAL 273

fore be limited solely to the smallest local interests. Certainly,
the representation of the single States must also continue, but
it must here be assigned to a space which, according to my
judgment, would only suffice for the competency of provincial
assemblies and administrative authorities, and to whom, for
instance, a Double-House system and the responsibility of the
Ministry would of course be denied.

3. This Double-House system, however, without which a
really constitutional system cannot be carried out, I demand
for the organisation of the united Diet, and, indeed, that it be
such, that representatives of the individual States may form
the Upper House, after the pattern of the constitution of the
empire and the Prussian constitution, but chosen representa-
tives must form the Lower House for the whole States Union.
Such an organisation would be in harmony with the principle
according to which the constitutional system in Germany
generally aspires to establish itself. Moreover, the States
must take into consideration the appointing of a seat in the
Upper House for the major Princes of their reigning Houses,
as it is of more importance now than ever to afford these
Princes the possibility of a public, constitutional and popular
education, and an early, active share in promoting the welfare
of their lands.

' 4. If the Thuringian Regents and Princely Houses wish
to maintain their princely position founded on the respect and
love of their subjects in the impending transformation of their
former patrimonial States into democratically constituted
ones, and at the same time the change of the German State
Confederacy into a single Constitutional Confederate State,
they must accept no civil list, but must possess a House
income for the support of their Court and household, which,
if possible, needs no additions from the taxes, and over which
no chamber can exercise any authority. The domains of the
Saxon Duchies were until now mixed possessions, of mixed
origin, and from their revenues, which, again, were mingled
with taxes, provided the means to meet the expenses of the
Regent as well as the State. As a division is to be made
therein, it is but right and just, according to principle, that
the domains themselves should be divided between State and
Regent, that is, that one portion of the same shall become tha

VOL. I. s

274 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

sole property of the State, the other the sole possession of the
Regent's family. But the taxes should then be given to the
State. This is the only just solution which I can see of a
very difficult question, as advantageous for the people as for
the Regent, which, if not thus solved, must continually
endanger the existence of the State as well as that of the
Regents. The Thuringian States should make the proposed
solution as a part of their agreement, leaving the provisional
settlement of the divisional modalities to the individual
States.'

As may be seen from my brother's memorial, our House
opposed no hindrance to any of the Unions striven for in
Germany, nor to any matters relating to the great questions
of the individual or combined fatherland. If it obtained no
practical success either here or there, we could say on our
side that the Power was wanting to assure the execution of
the best intentions on our part. But if nothing was to be
attained in the political department, one might at least hope
that the endeavours to bring about unity in military affairs
would meet with better success.

Movements for a new order of army regulations had been
repeatedly made by the Imperial Ministry. In August 1848,
proposals had been made to bring about a closer annexation
of the Thuringian contingent to the Saxon army, In February
1849, conferences were summoned to Weimar by Major
General von Holtzendorf, to consider the formation of the
Thuringian and princely Reusz imperial contingent into an
independent division.

In order to obtain information beforehand concerning the
sentiments and intentions of the Saxon Court and Ministry,
I went on the 18th of January to Dresden and stayed there
some time. Unfortunately the only impression made upon
me was that people there were at that time in a situation
which rendered any kind of decision impossible. Herr von
Stein had quite rightly written to me on the 26th of
December :

'If it will be any great comfort to Your Highness to
speak with the King of Saxony and his Ministers before the
Conference, I will not advise against it. The door to Saxony
can, and must not be closed to us through the Conference,

POSITION IN RELATION TO SAXONY 275

and Meiningen will certainly stand by us with Saxony in
military matters at least. That, however, the relations of
the Cabinet to Austria and Prussia will at once be truly and
plainly disclosed in Dresden, so that one will be able to say
what will be done, if the imperial project falls to the ground,
I doubt all the more, because I am rather inclined to think
that even in Dresden it is not yet known.'

The latter remark showed the situation at the Court as
well as in the Saxon Ministry. Remarkable to relate, the
blame was later laid on me in Dresden, because the project of
a Saxon military convention had failed. As I myself belonged
to the Saxon military union, and adhered most faithfully to
the Saxon army, this pained me greatly, and gave rise to an
exceedingly unpleasant correspondence with the Saxon War
Minister Rabenhorst, whose retrospective observations throw
a light on the state of things in 1848 and 1849.

As may be understood, the reasons for the non-success
which has been laid to my door by the Saxon Government,
lay rather in the political relations of the year 1850, than in
my attitude in the question of the military convention, but in
the feeling of complete triumph with which the Austro-Saxon
policy came out of the affair, I was made to feel that the
Thuringian-Saxon project had not been accomplished. I will
only treat that portion of the correspondence here, which
related to the question of the military convention, reserving
the other for later use in my narrative. From this the reader
will best be able to see my real position in relation to
Saxony.

' I will only remind your Excellency,' I wrote to the war
Minister, ' of the Conferences which occupied the winter of the
year 1849, and which had as an object the lasting release of
the Duchies of Saxony from their agnatic union, and the
formation of a so-called Thuringian United State. My activity
and my efforts alone were successful in frustrating that fatal
project. But I did not wish to stop there ; foreseeing new
complications, I tried to induce the Royal Saxon Government,
by [taking advantage of the universal striving for a closer
union of the smaller middle German States, to establish a con-
federacy at the head of which the Kingdom of Saxony would
have stood, and the immediate consequences of which would

276 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

have been the union of those smaller contingents with the
Saxon army. My efforts remained unrewarded. The Saxon
Ministry of that time had not the earnest desire to carry out
this plan, so important for Saxony as well as for us.

' Springtime arrived, the campaign in Schleswig put an
end in every sense of the word to further negotiations, the
crisis in Dresden followed, and shortly afterwards the king-
dom of Saxony concluded the so-called Confederacy of the
three Kings in alliance with Prussia and Hanover. The more
important this step was, the more I marvelled, even at that
time, that the Duchies could be left entirely unregarded ;
they were forsaken by their nearest agnates and individually
forced by circumstances to take part in the alliance under
many different conditions imposed on them.

' How important it would have been if Saxony had closed
this important alliance by a closer Union with the Duchies !
Only a few months passed before Saxony found herself forced
to withdraw from the Union, for reasons which I am not
called upon to criticise, until she at length succeeded in
definitely separating herself from her allies. Has Saxony
perhaps tried during all this time, painful to us as it was, to
win us over to her interests and plans ? We were left un-
noticed, and Saxony sought alliances opposed to our interests,
yes, even inimical to them, so that a chasm was opened
between us which might easily have led to the most deplor-
able conflicts.'

In Minister von Rabenhorst's reply, of which I will only
mention the most essential portions, he said, amongst other
things : ' The Royal House of Saxony has not failed to see
that the realisation of the idea of a Thuringian United State
with the dissolution of the agnatic relations to the Royal
House has been wrecked with the distinct co-operation of
Your Highness. Your Highness's sharp glance had seen that
the ideas of a Herr von Muhlenfels — a man, who formerly, at
least, devoted himself to entirely different aims than the
fortification of Thuringia's individual States, or to a Thurin-
gian United State, — that, I say, the realisation of this idea
would have advanced the interests of neither the kingdom of
Saxony nor those of the Thuringian States themselves,
especially not the interests of those amongst the smaller ones,

VON RABENHORST'S LETTER 277

which would perhaps have devolved to a larger Thuringian
State.

' Equally little do I allow myself to doubt for a moment
that a confederacy of the smaller States of Central Germany
with the Kingdom of Saxony would have accorded with the
intentions of Your Highness; and I frankly deplore with
Your Highness the fact that Your Highness found so little
support in these efforts amongst the other Princes of Thuringia.
No inclination of the Thuringian Heads of the States for a
closer alliance with the Kingdom of Saxony was to be per-
ceived from the utterances of their Ministers. It even
appeared to me, that, since Minister von Stein was accredited
to the Central Power in Frankfort, shortly after the Gotha
negotiations, that a not unsubstantial change even in the
policy of Your Highness's Cabinet was perceptible at the same
time as the perceptible alteration in Herr von Stein's views,
without, as far as I know, this having been deserved by the
Royal House of Saxony. There appeared to be almost a
dislike of such an alliance on the part of the smaller States
during the conferences. A universal consent appeared more
than improbable. The prepared union of the contingents to
Weimar's decidedly shown inclination for the interests of the
throne of Prussia likewise failed; and the plenipotentiary
from Meiningen seemed in this case to have been supplied
with no instructions, or at least with but very incomplete
ones.

'The Royal Government of Saxony nevertheless, with
frank liking for Your Highness, hastened to meet your wishes
on the occasion of the campaign in Schleswig, as far as they
went, and it afforded hearty pleasure to my Royal Sovereign
to anticipate those who felt themselves moved to thank Your
Highness with honest warmth for your very successful efforts
in this campaign.

' His Majesty the King, my Sovereign, still feels the same
towards Your Highness; His Majesty will, with undivided
partiality, strive no less to preserve the link which unites the
Royal House to all the other Thuringian States.'

In the further course of the letter, Rabenhorst spoke of
Saxony's general German policy during the years 1849 and
1850, and I will return in due time to this part of his letter.

278 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

It need only be said here, that the War Minister failed even
remotely to defend the attitude and proceedings of the
Oberland Ministry. In Dresden the Saxons were so confused,
by the crisis of May 1849, that nothing offered itself to the
Saxon Ministry in which on one part did not breathe the
extremest Radicalism, and on the other was represented by
Herr von Pfordten.

German affairs generally assumed an aspect in which
Prussia alone had to decide, and in Thuringian House affairs
all projects of union, all military conventions had fallen to the
ground.

I therefore began in the first months of the year 1849 to
strive still more earnestly than before to bring about, at least
in my own territories, an amelioration of affairs by means
of the union of Coburg and Gotha, and now directed all
my efforts towards establishing a common basis of State ad-
ministration at least in the constitutions of both Duchies.

But, strange to say, I now met with a degree of opposition
from my own officials as well as in the Diets and the classes,
which is too significant of the times for me not to speak
somewhat more at length of it. Little importance as these
difficulties of administration and official life, which I now
experienced, might have for the development of historical
affairs on the whole, yet it may be proper to close this
chapter with the description of those misfortunes of govern-
ment, which in the year 1848 were not even to spare us, the
man who was so powerful and so secured as to have nothing
to fear personally.

The two men who, occupying the highest offices, led the
affairs of State, were not, according to the older organism
of administration, really subordinate to one another. As
regarded internal affairs, States Councillor Brohmer in Coburg
was as independent as Minister von Stein in Gotha. External
affairs were managed by the latter.

In order to keep the destructive condition of the divided
administration and constitutions of the two lands continually
before their eyes, as it were, the two high officials pursued
one another with a passionate hate which could not be
described. Brohmer, in Coburg, who saw himself continually
snubbed and mortified by the Gotha Minister, was plagued

VON STEIN AND BROUMER 279

by most painful envy, and wore himself out writing endless
letters about his rival.

What Brohmer could never get over.as regarded Stein's posi-
tion in official hierarchy, was the fact that the latter had never
gone through any regular law course, but had been promoted
from the service of the administration, and was originally a
forester. He therefore looked upon him as a sort of parvenu,
and flaunted his own superiority in jurisprudence on every
possible occasion.

My absence in the beginning of the year 1848 furnished
an opportunity for the two statesmen to take one another by
the hair, metaphorically speaking, now that the dawning
Revolution demanded the most complete union of Government
forces. Instead of this, the two Governments of Coburg and
Gotha made war against one another by means of every
conceivable artifice of bureaucracy, both openly and secretly,
whilst I, called upon by both sides as the sovereign ruler of
both lands, was forced to smooth matters over here, and to
reconcile there.

Herr von Stein was an exceedingly independent, opulent
man, an aristocrat in the good old sense of the word, un-
selfish, without any personal interests or pretensions, and, in
quieter times, an excellent Government official. In the
time of the great movement he showed himself by no means
averse to the rising ideas, he entered into many things with
almost youthful sympathy. On the other hand, he had not
the talent for taking things into his own hands and com-
manding the storm, or even to defend the views of his
sovereign, whose representative he should have been. Neces-
sity and political distress worked too greatly on his views,
and the wish to escape unpopularity of any kind rendered
him more wavering during the time of such powerful excite-
ments than he otherwise appeared.

I have been a witness, as I shall soon show, of the most
remarkable scenes between him and Brohmer, and controlled
the most obstinate fights, but Stein always remained refined,
whereas Brohmer became noisy and excited, and exhibited a
talent for written utterances against his sovereign ruler of
which it would be a pity if at least a few had not been
preserved.

280 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Nevertheless, in spite of all this, I always felt a certain
affection for Brohmer, arid received the most impossible things
which he allowed himself with regard to me mostly with a
certain amount of friendly humour. This arose from the fact
that I saw in this remarkable man, a person who was most
uncommon both inwardly and outwardly.

He had formerly been a member of the old burschenschaft.
A Democrat at heart, he was not able entirely to suppress the
expiring demagogic nature even in his prominent position.
The more he inclined in his heart to fanciful idealism, the
more his office and the ' unhappy princely service ' impelled
him to juridical pettifogging. His fine and widely-embracing
juridical education, rendered him capable of carrying out
everything which he earnestly desired, but his convictions
were not at all steadfast, because he had set his heart on much
loftier political things, even when he clearly saw that they
were unattainable.

Thus he could, it is true, be the faithful and devoted servant
of a master for whom he felt a personal attachment, and who
infused into him a mental and moral interest, but this faith-
fulness was rather for the person than the master which he
was to serve officially. If one wished to inquire into the
ministerial custom of retiring from service at the slightest
difference, which has grown so prevalent in the political world
during the past thirty years, one might without question give
my old Brohmer the merit of being one of the chief founders
of this constitutional method of later times. In fifteen months
he sent in a written request for dismission no less than ten
times, yet he always remained in office.

In so small a State as Coburg, the imitation of the great
constitutional island kingdom and its Ministerial crises could
not easily be brought to a pitch so exciting and so satisfying
to the ambition, but Brohmer formally threatened me more
than once, that he would appear before the representatives
and bring the latent crisis to an open break.

I had hardly returned from England in March 1848,
before he requested leave to retire from State service,
although, as he himself admitted in his letter, ' the warning
to quit the service came at a very unseasonable time.' I
could only deplore and appease. ' That you have again been

THE TWO MINISTERS AT VARIANCE 281

offended at my letter/ I answered on the 30th of March,
amongst others, ' and have applied my remarks to yourself,
grieves me. But with the present business pressure and the
daily crowd of suppliants, I have no time to study my words
when writing to my " most humble councillors " during these
bad times.'

But one could not expect that my Privy States Councillor
would have received friendly utterances of that kind in a
particularly good spirit. The rights of the chase, the crown-
lands question, the union of Coburg and Gotha, and military
matters, furnished ever new reasons for the continually
recurring declaration that he now found himself forced to
refuse office.

When the war agitation during the last months of the
year 1848 could not be subdued, I tried to rouse Brohmer as
well as Minister von Stein to resort at length to more
energetic measures. When, weary of the unlawful doings of
the masses in Gotha, I went to Coburg, I wrote to the
Minister that the lawless condition of affairs had driven me
away. Herr von Stein's turn immediately came to propose
retirement.

' If that was seriously meant,' answered Herr von Stein,
' I cannot understand how Your Highness can allow me to
retain my place a day longer. Someone will certainly be
found who does not manage so miserably as Your Highness
seems to think I have done. The danger is pressing, for I
cannot see my pretended wrong-doing, and a change cannot
therefore be expected.'

The chief battle with the two Ministers took place before
that, however, when the question of the union of the Duchies
was more seriously taken up in the beginning of 1849. I had
conceived the idea of transferring the leadership of the com-
bined Ministries of both Duchies to States Councillor
Brohmer, as Stein would no longer take the matter on his own
shoulders. Brohmer, on the contrary, was willing to lead
a Ministry with Stein, but he demanded a formal, recognised
one for Coburg, because, he said, the Coburgers would not
allow themselves to appear as merely an annex to Gotha.

When I talked the matter over with Brohmer, he was
usually willing in principle, and at most made objections to

282 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

its execution. But the zeal of the Coburg States Councillor
came to light when he had to speak out before the Assembly,
but clad in the semblance of an official who knows his duty,
and who defended an idea objectively and with strict official
air, concerning which he spoke in an entirely different strain
privately or amongst friends.

I soon obtained proof that no one was at the bottom more
inimical to the union of the Duchies, either in Coburg or
Gotha, than the officials themselves. In private intercourse
what had been declared a necessity in official speech, was re-
tracted with half words, ambiguous speeches and important
face. Thus the whole project was finally made to appear in
the light of a caprice of the Prince, to whom the concession
had, indeed, been made that it was to be officially negotiated
and defended, but they were quite pleased when people wrote
and spoke against it.

In February 1842, under these circumstances, I composed
the following letter to Brohmer, in which I expressed myself
as openly as possible, as the intimacy of our correspondence
allowed this :

' MY GOOD BROHMER, — I had already finished a letter to
you, when I received yours of the 6th. It now seems necessary
to me to answer its contents otherwise than I would have before
I received it. Allow me, openly and unrestrainedly, to tell you
my views as a friend, as I am accustomed to do. I will not
further discuss your whole conduct hitherto, which often
appeared incomprehensible, I will also forget the insight which
I was able to have into things during the past year, and which
revealed much that was enigmatical ; but, before it is too late,
I will call out " halt " to you, in order to lead you from a path
which you have trodden, to the misfortune of the country as
well as of our family.

' I say frankly and openly, that after all which has occurred,
and in spite of your efforts to prevent your real aim from
being recognised, I see with pain that you were from the first
opposed to a close union of the Duchies, and since a number
of months, every time you had the opportunity of working in
this important matter, have done everything in order to
establish a formal separation.

' Your free, independent position in Coburg, the unlimited

THE DUKE'S LETTER TO BROHMER 283

confidence which I reposed in you on account of your learning
and unusual aptitude in all matters relating to the land, yes,
even my unceasing efforts to obtain for you the universal
liking of the public, which often hesitated about adopting
your views because they remembered the past, which popu-
larity a Minister must have in these days, was taken advantage
of by you solely in order to carry out your plans. The
incessant quarrels and jealousies in the Ministry, often over
matters of form, were used by you as a means of driving the
poor deceived people to believe that, if they now withdraw
themselves entirely from the uncertain union with Gotha and
increase the number of Confederate States by one, they may
expect golden times under your paternal guidance, whilst I,
like you, know with all clear sightedness that only through
the union of the Duchies will there be any possibility of
retaining them both, and Coburg alone would certainly at
once be set up as a real object of State ridicule. You suggest
articles with this meaning, you call forth addresses in a well-
meaning union of citizens which must show me your views
you even seize the final means, and use my Representative
Assembly, which is entirely led by you, and in which every
member stands far below you in mind, knowledge and ex-
perience, to help you to execute your plans with regard to
the sovereign. Supposing I were blind, or weak enough to
submit in order to found an independent Duchy of Coburg,
what would then be gained ?

' Up to the present, I have quietly allowed you to act,
speak and write. I have accepted the reproaches which you
made me with the same equanimity as your excited effusions
and the continual prospect of your retirement. I have sought
only good and excellent traits in you, and have overlooked
your many peculiarities, as I knew how highly your good
qualities were to be valued ; but do not think that I shall
remain neutral in a matter which concerns the welfare of my
lands, my House, my honour even. Once more, I call to you
as an old friend " Halt."

' Read these lines through with the same calmness with
which they were written ; they are not meant to insult,
they only speak the truth. Do not answer me at once, but
reflect quietly, how you are to end this game, which is

284 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

unworthy of you. I send you herewith a proposal, which is
intended for a kind of justification. Be great, when others
are small, and believe me, I had good reasons for so earnestly
asking you to undertake the direction of the Ministry.

' Why do you reject it, and yet wish to establish a similar
one but for Coburg alone ? Is that wise and noble ? Let me
close, and wait for your reply, and do not come to me again
about dismission. You must drink the cup which you filled
for me. — Yours, etc.'

Brohmer's reply followed immediately, in spite of my
warning :

'MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, — Your Highness's letter of
the 8th inst. came to hand last night. You do not wish me
to answer it t<5-day, as I might be wanting in the necessary
quiet and composure. Most Gracious Sovereign, the necessary
time is wanting owing to the pressure of business which could
not be delayed, and such manifold personal disturbances, for
me to be able to answer your letter circumstantially, but not
the necessary calmness of mind. Attacks against my office
and that which is thereby confided to me, can rouse me to
battle passionately. Your accusations are aimed at my person,
and as they are unfounded, and I have a good conscience, they
do not disturb my peace of mind. I may go no further
to-day. Flowers of speech are unknown to me. Where it is
necessary I speak with the most decided frankness, and there-
fore do so here also. Most Gracious Sovereign ! Your accusa-
tions are of such a remarkable kind, that the contents of your
letter, when I read it early this morning, towards two o'clock,
astounded me. Whoever the persons may be who place them-
selves between Your Highness and me, and be my future fate
what it may, I am convinced that Your Highness will regret
having written the letter now in my hands. Your Highness
will receive my forced reply to-morrow. As Your Highness
desires of me, I most submissively beg Your Highness to act
magnanimously, wisely and justly. — I remain with the deepest
reverence, Your Highness's most submissive

' G. J. BROHMER.

' Coburg, February 9th 1849.'

IN SCHLESWIG 285

In the more circumstantial document of justification which
followed this, BrShmer had simply juridically metamorphosed
my friendly representations into a list of accusations which
he pretended were, if true, simply and solely calculated to
prove him guilty of high treason. More straightforward, and
to the purpose, was his reference that, in the confidential
sitting of the States Assembly 'notwithstanding the con-
sciousness that I was hereby losing the greater part of my
hitherto enjoyed popularity, I have attempted to represent
the union of the two lands as possible in every way, as
advisable, even as a necessary measure.'

The matter was really taken more earnestly in hand
during the following months, and negotiations were continued
and documents exchanged by the Diets on both sides.

It was now the turn of the Gotha Representatives and
officials to begin to raise up opposition. ' The Assembly of
Representatives in Gotha,' Brohmer was now able to com-
plain on the 14th of June, — ' has also the new proposals of the
Representatives here in relation to the union affair, and the
Ministry there has, as before, remained silent with regard to
this refusal, as did the Government Commissioner, and has
not made the slightest attempt to make the Representatives
show just consideration for the hitherto flourishing sisterland
here, which has become poor and unhappy through Gotha.'

During these latter negotiations I was in Schleswig and
breathing the fresh air of a national undertaking, the pre-
liminary tragical ending of which I was to see very near. I
shall be able to tell of this at the proper time, let it only be
said here that in this position also I found myself to a certain
degree in opposition to my Ministry.

The greatest difficulties beset me from Coburg and Gotha
with regard to the management of my command in the army
of Schleswig. The two Ministers worried me continually
with the remonstrance that I should not leave my lands
during such hard times. And the confusion did indeed
increase during my absence. The House quarrels between
the class representatives and the officials amongst themselves
and with one another had reached the furthest point. The
attitude of both Governments with regard to the German
question, their relations with the Central Power and the

286 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUBG-GOTHA

neighbouring States had completely disturbed the balance of
the governing factions, and the reins of power had fallen
more and more out of the hands of Herr von Stein in Gotha,
as well as of Brohmer in Coburg.

Under the pressure of the universal German situation
fresh conflicts with my Ministers had become unavoidable.
Brohmer showered intensely long epistles on me, expressing
the wish and hope that I would return to Coburg as soon as
possible. ' This return,' said he, ' is growing more and more
necessary, it has now become a pressing demand. Your
Highness must surround yourself with a new Ministry. Your
Highness must not allow yourself to think that, as I myself
shall retire, I wish for this reason to know that the members
for Gotha belonging to this administration are also removed.'

As I had, at the same time, to assume a more certain
attitude with regard to the German question, this was also
opposed by Brohmer, and he saw himself 'driven to the
necessity' on the 3rd of July 1849, 'of most humbly re-
questing most gracious permission to withdraw from the
States Ministry, even before the return of Your Highness.'
New fuel for the quarrels between Stein and Brohmer was at
that time supplied by several financial questions, concerning
which the latter had reproached the former with every con-
ceivable misuse of official power.

It was now time for me to return home, and to attempt
to restore order in home affairs, to which one might apply a
word of Metternich's, which we always used in those years
with a certain satisfaction and preference, and with which he
thought he exculpated his method of government. On my
return I did indeed find ' Confusion on all sides ' in Coburg
and Gotha.

On the 2nd of August I entered Gotha. On account of the
troublous times I had, both here and in Coburg, where I
arrived later the next evening, forbidden all ceremonies of
welcome. All that had happened during the past month
could only leave an impression of the deepest pain and the
complete overthrow of all rising hopes of the past year, both
in the smaller towns as well as in the broad Fatherland.

In order to understand the course of things, one must
consider the events in the great centres of Germany since

THE GREAT AND UNIVERSAL QUESTION 287

the beginning of the year 1848, particularly in Frankfort
and Berlin. What I had first to relate of my Thuringian
mountains and valleys, and of the storms which had spread
since the March days into the farthest corners of the forest,
were mostly pictures which were of local interest, yet char-
acteristic of the whole period : they were therefore presented
to the reader with many individual traits. But I took so
great a share during this epoch in the great and universal
questions, that I shall now be able to depict them in all their
historical connection.

CHAPTER IX

THE PERIOD OP REACTION. — LETTERS TO KING LEOPOLD AND PRINCE
ALBERT. — UNIVERSAL SCARE AMONGST THE GOVERNING CLASSES. —

PROCLAMATION OP THE CONFEDERATE ASSEMBLY. METTERNICfl's

REAL INTENTIONS. PROPOSES A MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE IN

DRESDEN ; HIS CIRCULAR DESPATCH. AGREEMENT OF PRUSSIA. —

BAVARIA OBJECTS TO DRESDEN. THE COUNTESS OF LANDSFELD

(LOLA MONTEZ) DRIVEN FROM MUNICH. — PRINCE LEININGEN'S
ADVICE AS REGARDS THE BAVARIAN HOUSES. KING LOUIS* ABDICA-
TION. AGITATION IN THE SMALLER WESTERN STATES. RIOTS OP

THE PEASANTRY. PRINCE ALBERT HIS FAVOURABLE VIEWS OP

THE REVOLUTION. HE REFUSES TO BE DISABUSED. HIS LETTER

TO KING LEOPOLD. SCHEME FOR A UNITED GERMANY. THE

MARCH DAYS IN VIENNA. FALL OF THE METTERNICH SYSTEM. —

METTERNICH'S FLIGHT. — THE KING OF SAXONY AND HIS INSURGENT

SUBJECTS. NEW SAXON MINISTRY. RISE OF VON DER PFORDTEN.

ATTITUDE OF PRUSSIA. THE OLD COUNCILLORS REFUSE SERVICE.

FREDERICK WILLIAM EXONERATED FROM CONTEMPORARY CHARGES.

LETTERS TO PRINCE ALBERT. THE PRINCE'S REPLY. HIS

SYMPATHY WITH FREDERICK WILLIAM. MISMANAGEMENT OP THE

KING OP PRUSSIA. WEST GERMANY'S VIEWS OF GERMAN REGENERA-
TION. POPULAR DEMANDS FOR A REPUBLIC. THE PARLIAMENTS

MEET AT HEIDELBERG. THE CONFEDERATE ASSEMBLY SUMMONED

TO POTSDAM. THE AUSTRIAN PROHIBITIVE DESPATCH. THE

ASSEMBLY ABANDONED. PRINCE ALRERT!S ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE

THE DUKE'S VIEWS AS TO A CENTRAL POWER. THE DUKE'S OBJEC-
TIONS TO PRUSSIA. THE FRANKFORT TENDENCY. FREDERICK

WILLIAM PROPOSED AS HEAD OF THE CONFEDERATION. PRINCE

ALBERT'S MEMORIAL OF THE 28TH MARCH. — HIS SCHEME FOR

GERMAN UNITY. FREDERICK WILLIAM'S OBJECTIONS.— THE COM-
MITTEE OF SEVENTEEN PROXIES IN FRANKFORT. CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN THE DUKE AND PRINCE ALBERT AS TO UNIVERSAL GERMAN

RELATIONS. THE BILL OF THE SEVENTEEN. PRINCE ALBERT'S

CRITICISMS DISCOURAGE THE COMMITTEE. ANTICIPATED DISRUP-
TION OF AUSTRIA. THE DUKE'S VIEWS AS TO THE PROPER ACTION

OP THE GERMAN PRINCES.

DURING the period of reaction, after the year 1850, people
tried on all sides to prove how little the German States which

THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES 289

had adopted constitutional laws had been furnished by this
circumstance with even the smallest protection against the
Revolution of 1848.

In many places this observation was happily applied to
the constitutional system ; this argument was rendered appli-
cable particularly with regard to those who were fond of
referring to Belgium or England, and who declared that the
peace and quiet in those countries during the revolutionary
years was owing to their institutions.

It may be understood that I do not intend to enter here
into a general political discussion, nor to investigate the
question whether the consequences of the Paris Revolution
might have been avoided in Germany if a constitutional
system of Government had been honourably maintained in
the States of Central Europe, as in England, Holland and
Belgium. It is a fact that, during the storms of the year
1848, there existed a kind of consolation and satisfaction for
most liberal-minded men in the quiet deportment of the
really constitutional countries ; and I wrote more than once
in this sense to King Leopold and to Prince Albert (12th
April 1848):

' Our only moral support is Belgium, for she furnishes a
proof that monarchy can exist with liberal institutions, and
at the same time forms a sure guarantee against anarchy.
We feel all this quite plainly, and this view has also
penetrated through the people.'

With reference to my own experiences, the decision con-
cerning the worth of my constitutional principles was made
difficult enough to me ; as has been shown in the preceding
chapter, I had two lands to attend to, of which one had long
since possessed its representative constitution, and the other
its old-fashioned regulations, but one could not have said
afterwards that the difference between the agitations on the
one side and the other was very great. Nevertheless, I may
say, that State authority was never entirely lost in my little
Duchies.

When, however, the reproach is made by the reactionary
side of the German Governments that instead of temporising
and yielding during the unhappy March days, strength alone
should have been seriously resorted to, they forget that this

VOL. I. T

290 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

strength was in the hands of men who were oppressed and
uncertain in their own consciences, through that very neglect
of timely constitutional demands.

The worst thing everywhere in the large as well as the
small States was, as I wrote to my brother on the 25th of
March in regard to many German Princes, in a jesting tone,
but with a correct view of the situation, ' The poor sovereigns
boasted of their sentiments as anti-liberal ; but when it came
to action, they simply made wry faces; under cover of this
they are all full of reactionary ideas, as may be seen at the
first glance.'

The universal fright which suddenly seized the governing
classes in Germany, really took its origin in the German Diet
itself. It was peculiarly ghostlike, when this instrument of
obdurate reaction all at once began to sing liberal and national
airs.

On the first of March the Confederate Assembly had sent
out a proclamation in which Princes and Nations were called
upon to unite in concord ; all the Governments were conscious
of their duties in the face of the dangers of the time. The
German Diet intended to take the demands of the national
interests and the national life courageously into its own
hands.

People inquired with surprise whence came this altered
speech, and what intentions the two great Powers had ; and,
as they did not like to hint at the worst, the measures of the
German Diet were regarded solely as a consequence of the
fear of revolution. Metternich really only wished to make
a slight evolution in the ideas popular in Germany, in order
better to secure the help of the German Confederacy for
himself and Austria.

In the Paris Revolution he had seen only the beginning
of a movement against Italy : he thought that the Milan
demonstrations against Austria and the agitations in the Papal
territory hung together immediately with the event in Paris,
and he expected that the French would soon break into Italy.

Old habit of thought and the differences with the Sardinian
and Papal Governments necessarily fixed the gaze of the
Austrian States Chancellor on the German States, the only
reserve which could be looked forward to, in case it came to

METTERNICH'S 'SWAN-SONG' 291

warlike complications. The old Austrian method of calling
upon the Holy Roman Kingdom in Franco-Italian cases of
need, was to be used once more, and it succeeded in arousing
cheerfulness in Germany. People resigned themselves to the
astonishing address of the German Diet to the German
people, and hardly seemed to guess that a real fire was
already burning here, on which oil was being poured.

Although the old Prince always insisted that he had
foreseen everything, yet nothing is more certain than that
during the first week in March he had no real knowledge of
the seething state of Germany, or underestimated it. He
negotiated with Prussia concerning the military measures to
be adopted against the French Revolution, he let public news-
papers emphasize the idea of Confederate reform in the
individual States of Germany and in that of the Austrian
Government. Finally, he brought forward the unexpected,
bold proposal for a Ministerial Conference in Dresden, which
was to meet the wants of the times.

A circular despatch which was addressed to the German
Governments on the 7th of March 1848, may be said to have
pretty well represented Metternich's swan song, and it was a
strange closing commentary to all that had been neglected
during the past thirty years. It runs thus :

'As regards the pregnant occurrences which have just-
transpired in France, and the dangers arising therefrom to
Germany, the German Confederate Assembly have certainly
adopted the first measures offered by the situation.

' Further communications concerning the most powerful
defence of the German Confederate territories against that
attack from outside will shortly be made to the Confederate
Assembly by the two Courts of Vienna and Berlin, and
doubtless be brought to a decision there at once. By this
means these Courts do not, however, for a moment imagine
that they have exhausted the measure of their duties which
they owe in this decisive moment to the universal Father-
land.

' The efforts of the united forces of this Fatherland, the
deepest union of the different races of Germany, as well as
their princes and peoples will be needed in order to preserve
for ourselves and our successors the independence, the

292 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

freedom and the highest possessions which are offered by
human beings.

In such a state of things, the fortifying of the national
link, which surrounds all parts of Germany, the strengthening
of the spirit of the Fatherland by means of the guaranteeing
of property, which all Germans enjoy and are to enjoy under
the protection of the Confederation — the granting of the just
wishes of the nation, in a word, in so far as this is compatible
with the maintenance of the rights of the Crown and the true
welfare of the people — are matters which must be at once kept
in sight, and concerning which Germany's princes and towns
must at once come to a decision.

' We propose, in company with Prussia, on behalf of such
a consultation, the immediate assembling of a Congress of
Ministers. This would have to take place during the next
few weeks and in Dresden. Each one of the seventeen voices
in the close council of the German Confederacy would be re-
presented at the Congress by a plenipotentiary. The pro-
gramme of the points to be brought under discussion, as well
as that for its opening on a fixed day, will shortly be given
to your Confederate allies by us in company with Prussia.
The task set the Congress would be the drawing up of rules
and leading principles, the execution of which would then be
the affair of the Confederate Assembly. In the meantime,
will Your . . . inform the Government by which you are
accredited, of our views and invite them at once to agree with
the united Governments concerning the choice of the pleni-
potentiaries to be sent to Dresden, and to supply us with
information concerning the same.

' The feeling which we presuppose all our allies to entertain,
that help as speedy as it is efficacious must at once be given
against these dangers which beset the Fatherland, this feeling
is guarantee to us for the joyful readiness with which all the
Governments of Germany will meet the proposal made by
Prussia and ourselves. Accept, etc.'

In the eleventh hour before the outbreak of the volcano,
the Austrian Govei'nment thought that they could once more
succeed in supporting the German princes with the old
fashioned means of their policy, but even if individual ones
amono-st them had been inclined to consent to the renewed force

THE BAVARIAN CIRCULAR-NOTE 293

of the Conference, yet from the wide masses of the people to
the highest educated classes all confidence had been lost. The
liberal drapery of the old German Diet no longer deceived
them, and the empty phrases in their toothless mouths really
worked exhilaratingly for the Revolution.

Prussia had, it is true in all honesty, made herself a party
to this last phase of Metternich's policy, but she nevertheless
expected some concessions with regard to her position in
Germany and in the affairs of the Confederacy. Accustomed
to expect all improvements of her position from the complais-
ance of Austria, she hoped by means of good services rendered,
in case of a Franco-Italian complication to obtain a few slight
advantages. But Frederick William IV was not thinking of
anything more than perhaps the change in the Presidency of
the German Diet. Besides, in Berlin Government circles
many national attacks and turns of speech were made, and
the Prussian journals soon delivered the watchword of the
German United State instead of the States Union.

With regard to this, however, on the 12th of March a
circular note was issued by Bavaria, who flatly declared
herself against the useless Ministerial Conferences and par-
ticularly in Dresden, as being too far off. The despatch
pretended that conferences of this kind could only serve as
reminders of ' Carlsbad, Verona and Vienna :

' The King has the intention of willingly co-operating in
everything which can promote the great aim of the national
strengthening of Germany ; but in the true, benevolent
interests of the Governments as well as of those who govern,
he can only consent to take part in the councils concerning
German questions in case the consultation takes place in a
form befitting the German Diet, and the results of the council
are, it is to be hoped, incorporated with the Confederate
Protocols about to be published.'

Prince Metternich was no longer in a position to answer
the Bavarian circular note, and in Prussia also entirely
different hands were already busied with the further develop-
ment of the German question. Even in the first weeks of
March no one either in Vienna or in Berlin had expected so
quick a fall of the machine of State. People were greatly
inclined to attribute the events in the smaller States to local

294 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

or special Court relations ; in the large States, on the contrary,
it seemed as if the fidelity and surety of the armies must
necessarily provide a certain protection against the revolution.

Meanwhile, the example of Bavaria would have shown
how easily, in those days, special and local relations gave rise
to universal changes, and small causes produced great effects.
The removal of the unfortunate Countess Landsfeld appeared
to have wiped out the personal discord between the King and
his people of Munich, but since the 2nd of March the agitation
had assumed a purely revolutionary character. The removal
of Minister Beck was demanded, and on the 4th and the 6th
of March matters culminated in an open uproar, which was
only quelled by the extensive concessions of the King.

My cousin, Prince Leiningen, had already advised the
King on the 2nd of March to anticipate the agitation, and to
summon the Houses. This promise was now forcibly extorted
from the King, and he had to declare that the Houses would
be opened on the 16th of March. With regard to Prince
Leiningen, Wrede had known how to convince the King that
he ought to rely entirely upon the troops. But when the
riots of the 4th and 6th of March occurred no one seriously
thought of really striking, and the consequences were, as was
later to be so disastrous everywhere, that the rabble imagined
they had gained a great victory over the ' King's mercenaries.'
In Munich, this mad idea which had sprung up during the
March days amongst the lower classes concerning the
military power of Princes, was as in all German towns, par-
ticularly the larger ones, the real source of all the evils
which followed.

The so-called binding by oath of the military might be
said to have been the confirmation of the supposed triumph of
the people as regarded the Constitution which King Louis, as
one of the first Princes in Germany, had abolished on the 6th
of March. At the same time the Ministry of Wallerstein was
dismissed, without there being any possibility of substituting
even a single one of the Prince's followers. Bavaria was
really without any Government at all for several days, until
Count Waldkirch came to Munich, having been summoned
from Carlsruhe to assume the control of the Ministry.

Thus everything had begun to fluctuate during the past

COUNTESS LANDSFELD 295

few days, and the King found himself in an almost desperate
position, in which the thought of abdication grew ever stronger
and more assertive. Since the Lola episode he had had to
endure great inward struggles and the most indescribable
anger and grief. For this unfortunate affair had undermined
the peace of his own House and family, far more than might
have been seen from the sanguine nature of the intellectual
and good-hearted King.

When, on the 16th of March the rumour of the presence
of Countess Landsfeld in Munich gave rise to fresh disturb-
ances, even in the most intimate Court circles people hesitated
to tell one another that the King had had a long conversation
with Countess Landsfeld in the police office buildings.

All these circumstances united in making the King decide
to relinquish the Government. The people, having heard the
rumour that he had this intention, at once seized upon the
idea of compulsory abdication. Quiet was only restored when
Louis himself assured a deputation of citizens that no outside
influence whatever had affected his decision.

With regard to the political revolution which had just
taken place, one might say generally that Countess Landsfeld,
or her party, had forced the King in a direction which made
the position of Bavaria in Germany so much to be desired by
him appear possible of attainment.

But the course of events had become entirely unbearable
and disastrous to King Louis on two sides.

The new relations which the kingly power was to assume
towards the responsible Ministers of State appeared just as
unacceptable to the King as the dependent position in which
Bavaria threatened to fall with regard to the German unity,
which was everywhere insisted upon. In both respects the
tendencies which even such persons as the Princes Leiningen
and Wallerstein exhibited, were deeply hated by the King.
When Leiningen's letters to the King were published in a
pamphlet, the King gave expression to his indignation at the
disastrous leaning of the times towards bringing State
matters into publicity, in the strongest words against Prince
Wallerstein. In the King's autograph letter to the latter,—
at least such was the information given us, without my
being able exactly to warrant it, — there was even a passage

296 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

to the effect that 'the King had, moreover, never had the
slightest confidence in the Prince.'

The Government of Maximilian II announced itself as
strictly constitutional. A bill for the responsibility of the
Ministers was made public. The Diet which King Louis had
summoned on the 23rd was opened by his successor.

Meantime the agitations in the smaller Western States if
not so stormy, had been of no less consequence than in
Bavaria. In Baden, on the 1st of March, a kind of storming
petition was handed into the Assembly, only just opened, by a
deputation from Mannheim, the twelve points of which were
consented to by the Ministry. The tendency of the move-
ment was chiefly in the direction of the universal German
questions, which will soon be spoken of.

In Wiirtemberg the King first showed a desire to oppose
the demands of the masses. At length on the 9th of March he
appointed a Ministry from amongst the hitherto chief opposi-
tion party in the Diet. In the Grand Duchy of Hesse the
influence of Mainz, which from the beginning had been one of
the chief centres of revolution, made itself felt. The Grand
Duke took his son, the successor to the throne Louis III. as a
co-regent, on the 5th of March, and Heinrich von Gagern
was placed at the head of the Ministry.

In Nassau the confusion was so complete, that not only
were all possible and impossible concessions made at the first
scare, but all the crown-lands were at once given up also.
The amusing anecdote was told of the then Minister Count
von Dungern, that he himself had given the order to make
the railroad impassable, so that no Confederate troops could
come to his aid.

In the Electorate of Hesse, the revolution assumed, in the
year 1848, as in the year 1831, a peculiarly sharply defined
personal character. Whereas political demands were much
more moderate than in many small States, the people rose
against the person of the Elector with expressions which had
never until then been heard in Germany.

In Hanau a provisory Government had been formed,
which sent an ultimatum to the Elector, in which it was said
that he must submit within three days, for not only his
Government was suspected, but himself personally also. On

OUTRAGES BY THE PEASANTS 297

the 10th of March everything was granted which the people
of Hanau demanded ; the Elector capitulated, but with the
firm intention of taking back his promises on the first
opportunity.

In Oldenburg and Brunswick the usual concessions were
wrung from the Princes by means of tumultuous scenes during
the week between the 3rd and the 10th of March, and the
same was done with the town magistrates in Hamburg, Frank-
fort and Bremen.

No timely concessions anywhere ; everywhere the expecta-
tion of injurious tumults and the wild cries of the so-called
people. Herein lay the really shameful and demoralising
future of the German agitation, through which, even in the
smallest places, all official authority was completely under-
mined during the following months. The matter was still
worse in some parts of Upper Germany, where the peasants
followed the example of the town riots still more roughly,
and seized the property of the nobility. The Frankish
nobility particularly suffered in this way, and unfortunately
no help or support whatever could be given by the Govern-
ments against the wanton and barbarous devastation of their
property.

People imagined themselves to be going through the
Peasant's War of 1525. But things of this kind had to
happen, in order to open the eyes which did not seem to
recognise the deep revolutionary meaning of events. My
brother in England also appeared greatly inclined to picture
the disturbances in Germany much more favourably, and to
underestimate the social difficulties which had arisen so
threateningly.

My brother had welcomed the beginning of the German
agitation almost with enthusiasm, and the optimistic academic
manner in which he at first handled the matter was shown in
a letter of the 14th of March in the most remarkable way.

' In Germany,' — thus it ran — ' it looks gloomy, yet I have
not lost the hope that when the first outbreak is over, as some
of the things neglected by the Governments have been set
right, a plainer recognition of the right course will be arrived
at. The proofs of devotion to the Princes and their Houses
are surely not to be despised, and the striving for German

298 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-COTHA

unity is worthy of praise. It is to be deplored that the
excitement in Germany makes it impossible for thinking
Germans to follow the Paris experiment with undivided
attention.

' It is one of the most remarkable plays which history has
ever offered us, and full of useful teaching for all statesmen
and those skilled in State affairs. One thus rightly sees how
the bold interference of the madly confident human hand in
the wheels of the social machine, which is propelled more by
natural forces and according to natural laws, all through
human wisdom, disturbs the machine and unchains all the
natural forces against society. The circle is growing narrower
and narrower, and the catastrophe is approaching visibly.
An outbreak in Germany can hardly be avoided ; and God
help the Germans, when they too have sinned against nature,
and are not united.'

Even the shocks which now occurred in Vienna and Berlin
could not cloud my brother's bright hopes. He even wrote
to my uncle on the 21st of March, as follows :

' Since then a fresh catastrophe has occurred : in Vienna !
Metternich wanders about a fugitive ! Shocking as is such
a destruction of a system which has existed so long, and much
as one must tremble at the excesses, yet I see in these events
the saving of Germany and of Italy also. In Germany the
confidence of the people will again be given to the Princes,
who are now no longer moved by secret influences to play
false, to give much and secretly take it back again ; it will
place the King of Prussia on his feet, and obviate the impossi-
bility of uniting constitutional and absolute States in a
confederacy for political universal work.

' In Italy the pretext of Austrian aggression will fall to
the ground, and even Lombardy will obtain that for the
possession of which she wished to tear herself away from
Austria.

' What is now occurring in Berlin is highly important, un-
fortunately our news is abruptly ended with a tight in the
streets ; God grant that the King has remained victorious at
least in the streets ! Russia's influence over Germany has
now pretty well ceased to be, and this pressure on the
Governments, this suspicion of the populace has, at least, been

PRINCE ALBERTS BRIGHT HOPES 299

removed. I imagine that the new state of things will be as
follows: Austrian provincial representative chambers in
Bohemia, Moravia, Tyrol, Austria, Carniola, Steyermark,
Venice, Lombardy — a united Diet in Vienna, after the pattern
of the Prussian one. An entirely modern constitution in
Hungary. A popularly organised German Confederation
with German Representative Parliaments, an administration
of the Empire alternating between Austria and Prussia (with
certain executive prerogatives), tolls-union for all Germany.

' When this is organised and appears good, an imitation of
the same in Italy, an Italian Confederate and tolls-union,
into which Austria will also enter with her provinces there;
Austria's power making her the centre of gravity in both
State Confederations and thus the connecting link between
the two. The whole centre of Europe reduced to a single
conservative mass, which keeps the Asiatic barbarian within
bounds, as well as the restless mischief-maker, the Gaul :
Modern, constitutional, industrial realisation of the middle-
age idea of the Holy Roman Kingdom.'

In those days of distuibance and the unceasing necessities
of the moment, seldom has a greater, and, if one will, clearer
political fancy -organisation been painted by a politically
thoughtful and influential man than the above ; for my part,
however, I was convinced that, even if the primary idea of a
political system, such as my brother thought of, might be
attractive enough, there was no immediate prospect of its
realisation.

The revolution in the large States of Germany, of whose
future my brother thought he could paint so hopeful a picture
in the above letter, by no means justified his prophecies. As
regarded Austria first of all, the shocks given to the old
Hapsburg alliance were much more destructive to the country
than Prince Albert imagined. From the first moment of the
agitation a tendency towards complete dissolution showed
itself in the heterogeneous masses of the formerly independent
kingdoms and nationalities. The existence of the monarchy
was more than doubtful, and the Austrian funds and notes
at once suffered a depreciation such as had not been heard of
since the Napoleonic wars in Europe.

Even the agitation of the March days bore in the beginning,

300 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

in Vienna, more the character of a Court and Palace Revolu-
tion than that of a rising of the people; for the first time
after the overthrow of the existing Government were people
alienated from all political matters, driven to a revolutionary
behaviour, which was kept up particularly by the Italians,
Hungarians and Poles. Amidst the noise of the academic
school youth, the working classes and the street rabble, which
the most different Ministries could not succeed in mastering,
the unfortunate source of the Vienna revolution was almost
entirely forgotten, and is not entirely recognised, in all its
simplicity, even at this date.

The mysterious reason of the fall of the Metternich system
in Austria, lay chiefly in the fact that the old Chancellor was
striving until the end to extinguish the revolutionary brands
all over Europe, and hardly noticed that he was immediately
threatened with dangers in the old historical citadel itself. As
is known, the guardian government of the Emperor Ferdinand,
the triumvirate Metternich, Kolowrat and the Archduke
Louis had already for years past maintained themselves
only with the greatest trouble, against the Court party which
gathered more around the Archduchess Sophia.

As in the kingdom the extraordinary case occurred that
a Regency performed the functions of a monarch incapable
of governing, without its being authorised by any State law,
parliamentary recognition, or any public act whatever, it was
not very difficult to bring about the overthrow of the system.
Amongst the general public there was hardly .any correct
knowledge of the duration of this Regency, and, as the
monarch was still capable of writing his name, the fiction of
Ferdinand's Government was continued until the moment
when the Imperial family itself strove to bring about a
change in this Government. In the Council of Three, how-
ever, considerable differences had already arisen since the
outbreak of the Italian movement, and unity was no longer
to be attained in the handling of the internal questions re-
garding Hungary, Poland and Bohemia.

With Metternich's flight and the driving away of the
entirely innocent burgomaster from Vienna, all laws of order
were cast aside ; complete anarchy, at first good-natured, set
in. Nevertheless the revolutionary agitation stopped signifi-

VIENNESE REACTION ON THE GERMAN STATES 301

cantly before the name of the Emperor and the person of the
childish monarch. The vain game with institutions and
government programmes which was played during the next
few weeks between poor Ferdinand and the burghers, who
were, on the whole, inclined to cling to patriarchal customs,
at least insured the monarchy against the more serious
attacks of the provinces.

One had to be content with maintaining the central point
in an upright position, and thus the original plans for the
change of throne were put off until a more fitting time.

The main points of the administration were once more
brought together by an old bureaucrat who fortunately hap-
pened to be popular at the moment, and the Chancery of
State was far too lazy for the quick change in the successors
of the powerful prince of ancient diplomacy, to be able to
make any great alteration in the external relations of the
Hapsburg-Lothringian hausmacht.

Fiquelmont, Lebzeltern, Wessenberg, threw themselves all
three with great vehemence into the German question and
adopted as their chief task the maintenance of the doctrine
of the departed master ; to allow everything to happen sooner
and rather than a strengthening of the Prussian power in the
Confederate kingdom of Central Europe.

One of the most remarkable consequences of the events in
Vienna was their reaction on the German States themselves.
The overthrow of the system in Austria, in which so many
German Governments had seen their only reserve, robbed the
Conservative forces in the smaller States of their last hope
and remaining courage. Only now did the revolutionary
Philistinism of the small residences find itself quite drunk
with victory, now that the feared master of the German
Confederate police could no longer be dangerous from his safe
corner on the Danube.

Thus in Saxony also the proper self-confidence with which
the King opposed the pressure of the rioters for nearly fourteen
days was shaken by the news of the occurrences in Vienna.
The Leipzig demonstrations during the first days of March
were courageously repulsed by the King, and nothing appeared
to be able to turn him from the decision to permit reforms
only when made by lawful parliamentary negotiations. But

302 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

the demand for the complete abolishment of the censorship
was too well founded for anyone to wish to wait for the
decision of the Assembly. On the 6th of March Minister von
Falckelstein sent in his resignation, but in the King's proclama-
tion of the same day the summoning of Parliament was pro-
mised for the 1st of May. A Press Bill would then be laid
before it. The King thought he might still be able to work
by means of exhortation, and requested that the confidence
refused him should not be made a reason for acting before it
had been warranted by the self-constituted representatives.

But the formation of a new Ministry could not be delayed
until the assembly of parliament, and a reconstruction of the
old one under the Presidency of Konneritz and von Wietersheim,
who were retained, belonged to the impossibilities, unless they
were prepared to maintain peace and quiet in Leipzig and
Dresden by main force. The King thus saw himself forced
in a few days to go more and more to the left, and to seek
new councillors for his crown. At length, on the 16th of
March the Braun Ministry was formed, which contained in
itself all shades of opposition even to the radical Oberland,
and which from the first moment abandoned the constitutional
path marked out by the King, in order to warrant to the land,
by means of grants, every possible freedom according to the
usual custom of the strange times until the end of March.

The War Minister in the new Cabinet was Colonel von
Rabenhorst, the same who, as I showed in the preceding
chapter, had assumed as his task the union of the Saxon and
Thuringian armies. The Leipzig Professor von der Pfordten
had begun his political career with him in this Ministry, a
career which he afterwards continued in Bavaria, and which
became important and pregnant for universal German affairs.
He had, as they said in Leipzig, in no way pushed himself
forward during the March days, and not being a Saxon he
was timid about mixing himself up in the external affairs of
the country.

It is said to have been a pure accident that, as the Rector
was not able to get it ready owing to the calls on his time,
the drawing up of this address presented by the University
to the King was given over to him, and resolved upon by the
Senate on the 3rd of March. This circumstance was decisive

THE ATTITUDE OF PRUSSIA 303

for von der Pfordten's future ; for it caused him to be known
at Court and amongst the people, and he was not allowed to
be absent from the Liberal Ministry of the 16th of March.

A peculiar chain of circumstances had prevented Herr von
Beust, who was then Ambassador in London, from undertak-
ing the Foreign Ministry ; the King had really intended him
for this and summoned him to Dresden. But Herr von der
Pfordten had taken his place with suddenly acquired popu-
larity, and six months later, in the spring of the year 1850,
worked in unison with him to destroy the last hopes of the
unity of Germany. Such were the peculiar paths which were
marked out for the most aspiring and energetic men of the
next ten years through the Revolution of 1848. That the
two statesmen who most greatly hindered the progress of the
idea of German unity should reveal themselves in Saxony, of
all countries, where they did not seem to be able to advance
radically enough, was, after a short time, a patent surprise
which no one had certainly foreseen less than the frank and
honourable King Frederick Augustus.

Meanwhile Germany's immediate future depended on
Berlin ; the form which affairs would take there, must
necessarily be decisive, considering the fact that everything
was uncertain. Hence the strained attention with which all
thoughtful politicians watched the King. In the circle
immediately surrounding me, as amongst my relations, there
was a feeling of the utmost confidence. Prussia's attitude
appeared to assume a particularly favourable aspect, as Berlin
remained tolerably quiet during the first two weeks in March,
and it looked as if the King had everything in his own hands.
On the 6th of March he closed the session of the united
committees, and took occasion to speak of the periodicity of
the United Diet in the most unconstrained manner as a matter
founded on the nature of the institution.

In the provinces, particularly in Cologne, a few disturb-
ances of the peace had, it is true, occurred, which were
followed by similar ones in Breslau, Magdeburg, Konigsberg,
but the addresses which had been received by the authorities
of these and other towns had been sent to Berlin, were con-
tained within narrow limits, and with the exception of
Konigsberg, matters assumed nowhere a dangerous character.

3o4 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Nevertheless the Ministry lost all self-possession at these
most insignificant agitations. They neither ventured upon
energetic measures nor could they decide to make any con-
cessions. The demand of freedom for the Press, was yielded
to in principle, in a most unfortunate Cabinet order of the
8th of March, whereas its execution was prevented by a post-
ponement, until the Confederate Press law could be established.

During these days the King exhausted himself in endless
speeches to the different deputations. The Berlin ' Magistrate '
published some of these Royal words, and yet one could only
wonder at hearing so many theoretic explanations from the
highest office at such a pressing time. There was again a
talk of the innate steadfastness of the German nature, there
should a course and an aim have been pointed out with the
words ' free Princes, free people,' with mottoes like ' Bold and
Discreet,' so that they could not be mistaken, even if they
only slightly touched upon the plainly marked grooves of the
Prussian administration.

Under these circumstances the old councillors positively
refused service. The androgynal creatures in whom the
King reposed confidence, who, with their partial piety and
partial liberalism had supported all half-measures of the
State since 1840, suddenly found themselves too weak, and
counselled him to make concessions which they were never-
theless not willing to answer for. They thought it right to
propose others who could undertake to carry out the new
order of things. For, in order to please the Royal Sovereign
and act according to his views and to be able, nevertheless, to
say, at the same time, that they had early advised the necessity
of reform, they tendered their resignation at the most difficult
moment, and the King privately consented. Thus, there was
actually no Government in Prussia on the important day of
the 18th of March, and the King stood alone, and found
himself in a position which was really unique of its kind and
only too calculated to give rise to misunderstandings of every
description.

One feels moved, when casting a backward glance histori-
cally at this unhappy time to exonerate Frederick William
IV in some degree from the charges which contemporaries
and particularly the military have heaped upon him. It

LETTERS TO PRINCE ALBERT 305

remained enigmatical to me also what relation it could have
to the order for the retreat of the troops, after they had been
completely victorious.

The little knowledge which I was able to gain on the
subject, I imparted to my brother in several letters during the
month of March 1848.

' Gotha, March 20th.

1 Alvensleben has just returned from Berlin, where he
witnessed the most frightful events ! The last capital of
Germany has now fallen a prey to the Ultra-Liberal principle.
The monarchy there has lost the last battle. " Who will not
hear, must feel," remains a true proverb. It is uncertain as
yet, whether the King will be able to hold his position. He
had yielded, and wished to fight again afterwards ; blood has
flowed in streams; the troops fought like lions, as did the
burghers, I may say like knights, for the burghers threw
themselves on the troops without anger, and, after the battle
had lasted for two days without being decided, they accom-
panied the troops with rejoicings when the King sent them
out of the city. The city was illuminated yesterday.

' King and kingdom have surrendered themselves to the
mercy or the mercilessness of the armed mass of the people,
and what orders and decisions they make will now depend
upon their generosity. Until now there has been much to be
done in order perhaps to check the revolution in union with
the Liberals and all well-intentioned men.'

1 March 25th.

' The situation in Berlin threatens the greatest dangers.
The King wishes to place himself at the head and will give
way, in order not to be immediately thrown overboard ; but
he will never serve the German matter honestly.

' All this makes us fear that he is the man for the Ultra-
Radicals, who are numerous and powerful, who are desirous
completely to overthrow all orderly relations, and are entirely
anti-constitutional : they use him in order to unseat us quiet
Liberals, and particularly all Princes, and will then drop him
at the proper time. We shall then naturally fall with him,
and relations will be established like those in Switzerland,

VOL. i. U

306 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

which is very satisfactory to people in general. This fear is
universal, and we are approaching a very dangerous period.
If you are able to use your influence, do so, try particularly
to find out what the King's design is. Everyone is saying
that, in order to secure himself, he is thinking of sacrificing
us small Princes. Public opinion is at present entirely against
him.'

My brother, on the contrary, would not allow his con-
fidence in the King to be shaken, and it will be of interest to
hear his answer, at least in some characteristic principal
points :

' Buckingham Palace, March 30th.

' I have received two welcome letters from you, for which
I heartily thank you. Although the excitement in Germany
must still be very great, and the situation in Europe is
becoming more and more complicated, yet it looks as if
Germany wished once more to become consolidated. I do not
understand why the King of Prussia's manner of acting does not
meet with your approbation. He alone has done what was left
to be done, and thereby rendered Germany an immense service.
The new Germany will and must be reformed, and if an
important German Prince does not undertake it, the work will
fall into the hands of clubs, unions, professors, theoreticians,
swindlers ; and if the work be not soon begun, democracy will
run away with it. Without an Emperor as Chief Head, a
Republic will arise, and the final solution will be a state of
things such as exists in America or in Switzerland.

' I have also given myself the task of working out a con-
stitutional plan, which gives me more guarantees for a good
future than the Heidelberger with his Parliament of ninety,
imitated from the Paris Constituent Assembly. If it pleases
you, adopt it and try to support it as much as possible ; it will
be of aid in producing some quick result. I have also sent it
to Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Munich, etc. Do all you can for
it.

' P.S. — The poor Prince of Prussia is greatly to be pitied
at being under a cloud and most unjustly, for he is frankly
trying to bring about a new state of things.

HEINRICH VON ARNIM 307

' P.S. — (2) A few more words. I have just received your
welcome letter of the 25th. I again find want of confidence
in the King of Prussia. I can assure you that I see in the
King's character the greatest guarantees for the safety of the
other sovereigns. He has committed most of his political
faults out of regard for the scruples which he entertains for
Austria and the other sovereigns, and safety is to be sought
only in his energetic march forward ; hence the rage of the
Radicals about it. Their chief trick will be to keep the
Princes separated by means of petty considerations and thus
weaken them. For God's sake do not let yourselves be caught
in this trap. Your sovereignly would be most endangered
in this way, and would at length succumb to a republic.
Preach this right and left.'

As may be seen from the foregoing letters and many
others besides, to which I shall presently return, my brother
had entirely identified Prussian affairs and events with those
of Germany. He could hardly believe that King Frederick
William had made his decisions during the most eventful days
in March from any other point of view, than that of the work
of the German Union. In this view he was partly, like all
the world, confirmed by the appearance of things after the
retirement of the troops from Berlin.

As is known, Frederick William IV had already announced
before the outbreak of the Revolution that he was on the
point of making proposals for the regeneration of the Con-
federacy ; but the remarkable words which seemed to be the
most flagrant contradiction of facts, and according to which
the King declared himself ready to undertake the direction
and management of Germany, only appeared on the 21st of
March. If he now said that Prussia should ' be absorbed '
in Germany, one saw in this speech only the cry of a stricken
man, and for the same reason, arose the old Prussian feeling
against a national idea, which had been invoked for deliver-
ance.

When Heinrich von Arnim who was now appointed to a
place in the Ministry formed by Count Arnim-Boitzenburg
afterwards asserted * that the King's proclamation of the

* Frankfort and Berlin, p. 18. Stockmar Denkwiirdigkeiten, p. 457.

3o8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

21st of March ' had been received by the remainder of
Germany with sneers and contempt, and that Germany was
therefore not yet ripe for such thoughts,' this does not, as is
seen from my letter introduced above, fully suit the case.

They heaped scorn on the King riding about with the
black, red and yellow flag, because they noticed that he did
this at a moment when he had lost all the power which he
had not known how to use when he still possessed it.

If Stockmar himself, to whom the admission was in-
tolerably hard, at that time owned that the King had mis-
managed in every way, yet it certainly must not be said that
the other Germans were not ripe for the unity of Germany.

The change of popular opinion in Prussian concerns was
then complete, even in the nearest States and territories.
Everything turned away from the northern sun in order to
hail the star of the national regeneration, highly doubtful as
it was, which had risen in the south-west.

In the West of Germany, where they still lived amongst
the traditions of the old German kingdom, where they still
cherished memories of the old centres of Frankish and
Suabian Imperial Power, they could not think otherwise than
that the regeneration of Germany must be accomplished in
the most thorough manner, and that the people and Assemblies
of these peculiar provinces of the Empire were first of all
called upon to bring about the national reorganisation.

But the ideas which were diffused from here concerning
the restoration of the Central Power were of so misty and
uncertain a character, that one could hardly form an idea of
how such a kingdom was really to exist with provincial
parliaments which claimed the most unlimited rights of
legislation.

In the individual States they would not hear of reserva-
tions in favour of the Confederate legislature, and I myself
had made the experience in my own Duchies that the ex-
pressions of faithfulness to the Confederation were exactly
what gave the best satisfaction in my proclamations. They
wanted everything arrived at and settled in a moment, and as
regarded the German kingdom, the larger number of national-
minded Germans pictured to themselves some kind of a

THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTY 309

republican organisation in the visionary form of old Imperial
memories.

I do not know whether the anecdote so often related of
those days which tells of the demand of the people for a
Republic was founded on some actual event with the Grand-
Duke, but according to this the thoughts of most of them were
really fixed on Germany in a form of which the more closely
united Fatherlands had thought with all the penetration of
independent constitutional monarchies, but the German Em-
pire as a whole was only represented as a republican ideal.

The assembling of the members of the German Parliaments
at Heidelberg brought about by Romer and Itzstein took
place on the 5th of March. The first declarations of the
German Diet, regarding the German reform, followed on the
days included between the 6th and the 10th of March, and
the German proclamation of the King of Prussia on the 18th
of the same month. The Heidelberg tendency, as is known,
made itself felt in the preliminary parliament in Frankfort,
which sat from the 31st of March until the 3rd of April, and
instituted the Committee of Fifty. The German Diet strength-
ened itself during the interval with the proxies of the Seven-
teen, and reformed its ranks with men of liberal and popular
views.

In Berlin, on the other hand, the greatest efforts were
made in order to identify the national movement with
Prussia's endeavours, and it really looked for a moment as if
the ideas to which Radowitz had for years been trying to win
the King over, had some prospect of being realised. As the
invitation jointly issued by Austria and Prussia, to attend the
Conferences in Dresden had found no acceptance, the happy
idea had occurred to them in Berlin to summon the Confede-
rate Assembly to Potsdam, and it is one of the most remark-
able facts of history, now entirely forgotten, that Austria
really signified her full consent to this measure during the
March days. Count Colloredo, as President of the German
Diet, had already received an order from his Government to
close the sessions in Frankfort and to proceed to Potsdam,
whither, as they expressed it in the despatch, the German
Diet would be temporarily transferred.

But before the Conferences in Potsdam could be opened, an

3io MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

extraordinary change had taken place in Austrian politics,
and they rose against Prussia's proposals with the same
decision as they had previously shown in agreeing to them.
The order given the President of the German Diet to go to
Potsdam was recalled, and in a circular despatch of the 24th
of March, distrust was sown and opposition raised against all
Prussian intentions.

' It is true,' said the despatch, ' that we readily agreed to
the King of Prussia's idea of removing the German Diet for a
time to Potsdam, but in this we only wished to continue the
existing state of things.' — •' However,' remarked the Austrian
Minister verbally, ' since the sending off of circular relating
to this case, the Proclamation of the 21st of March, made by
His Royal Prussian Majesty, has come to our knowledge
through the public papers.

' This substantially alters the situation in our eyes. If no
communication has up to the present been made to us con-
cerning the immediate consequence and development which
will be given to the ideas mentioned from a Royal Prussian
direction, — as well as the form in which its realisation is to
follow, and we afterwards, as is but right, reserve our full
verdict, yet so much is already assured to us, that no revision,
but a complete reformation of the existing state of things may
be contemplated, and this not by means of free and conven-
tional, but partially arbitrary precedence.

' Under these circumstances His Majesty the Emperor is
more decided than ever to hold fast the basis of the agree-
ment which Your Highness's reigning ancestors now asleep
in God made on the 8th of July 1815 with Germany's
Princes and free towns ; and which, though altered and im-
proved by universal consent, cannot, however, be partially
cancelled by lawful means.

' The existing alliance is — whatever its admitted defects
and wants may be — still the Palladium of German unity and
German strength against foreign countries. No Prince can
be found in Germany who is desirous of shaking off this holy
bond.

' The city of Frankfort is according to Article 9 of the Act
of Confederacy, the seat of the Confederate Assembly. Only
in Frankfort, and only in the Confederate Assembly which

THE POTSDAM ASSEMBLY GIVEN UP 311

meets there according to existing Confederate laws, will the
Imperial presiding envoy take part in the transactions which
will decide the institution of the work of revision, and the
form under which it is to be accomplished, but withdraws
at once from any other partially and irregularly conducted
negotiation, and to reserve anything further for His Majesty
the Emperor.

' Germany ought and must be renovated, this is Austria's
decided desire and firm intention in her present attitude.
But we have an equally unalterable conviction that this high
aim is only to be attained by legitimate means and with the
co-operation of all.

Will your .... acquaint the Government which you
represent with this our determination. They will certainly
not fail to do justice to the mind, faithful to the Confederation
and the Fatherland, with which they are delivered, and will,
as heretofore, attach themselves willingly to the Imperial
Court which desires nothing for itself, only equal rights, and
— by means of united forces — an equal protection for all of
the constituent parts of our great, glorious German Father-
land.'

Under these circumstances it was found necessary in
Berlin to give up the Potsdam Assembly ; but it was by no
means thought on this account that the Prussian plans for a
thorough reorganisation of the Confederation would have to
be given up. The presence of a number of plenipotentiaries
and Ministers of German States was taken advantage of in
order to prevent free conferences, concerning which the
Ministry sent circumstantial instructions in a circular despatch
of the 27th of March, and in which a programme of German
development officially accepted by Prussia appeared, for the
realisation of which unfortunately only a decided royal will
was wanting.

At the Berlin Conferences Wiirtemberg, Saxony, Baden,
Darmstadt and Nassau were represented ; amongst the
plenipotentiaries Gagern already at that time enjoyed the
greatest consideration, and in his co-operation people saw a
warrant for the carrying into execution of the Prussian
programme in the Assemblies of the individual States.
Although the decisions of the Conference were communicated

3i2 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

in the modest form of questions, yet the greatest and most
desirable clearness was shown in the picture which was
drawn of Germany's future.

It was presupposed that the united leadership of the Con-
federation would be under one Head. There was to be an Upper
House, formed by the members of the Confederacy or their
delegates, and a Lower House from the representatives of the
individual States at the rate of one Deputy to 100,000 inhabi-
tants. The competency of the Head of the Confederacy and
both Houses of the German Parliament extended to military
affairs and arming of the people, legislation of home and States
citizens' rights, the administration of justice, criminal law,
commercial law, Confederate jurisdiction, the establishment of
a universal system of customs, of money, measures, weights,
railroads, river-beds, lastly, the restoration of common repre-
sentation of the Confederacy in foreign countries.

This Prussian programme was set forth as clearly theoreti-
cally, as it was doubtful by what means it was to be put into
execution. Whilst the resolutions arrived at concerning the
above points were withheld from the former German Diet
and even from the constitutional powers of the single States,
the time had come when deeds alone could decide in the
damage done by the popular agitations which had originated
in Frankfort.

The Prussian Cabinet did not, indeed, omit to give the
most binding assurances of the decided wish of the King to
bring about the sole leadership of the Confederacy under one
Head, and it referred to His Majesty's declaration that he
himself would undertake this leadership during the days of
present danger, but the weakness which had been shown with
regard to the riot in Berlin awakened but little confidence in
the Conservatives, but little enthusiasm for the Prussian leader-
ship of German affairs in the progressive and Liberal party.

Everyone turned in blind excitement from the Prussian
attempts to bring about the national unity, and followed the
syren's song of the Frankfort assailants. The quietly
thoughtful politician who knew that no further step was to
be expected of Prussia, which would satisfy the enthusiasm
of the time, had to try to content himself with wondering
what turn things would next take.

THE FRANKFORT TENDENCY 313

My brother, for his part, had left nothing undone in order
to force me to adopt his view of a strong Central Power, and
that with a Prussian head, but I could only find that engage-
ments were soon met prematurely on all sides. Even if I
entirely approved of Albert's views in theory, yet I cherish
well-founded doubts that with such a personality as that of
Frederick William IV anything great and enduring was to
be created by Prussia. Finally, Stockmar had gone over
more and more completely to the Frankfort view of faithfulness
to the Confederacy, although he hesitated for a long time
before accepting the proffered representation of Coburg in the
committee of proxies. He was very undecided and altogether
undetermined in every way, when the occurrences in Berlin
had as it were completely destroyed all his plans.

Under these circumstances the Frankfort tendency assumed
an ever increasing preponderance, and the personages who
had assembled there since the beginning of April, partly as
envoys to the Diet, partly as proxies, lent a seeming brilliancy
to it, by which it was difficult not to be impressed, no matter
how practically and realistically one judged things. Added to
this, the representatives of Prussia, Usedom and Dahlmann,
spread the report through Frankfort itself that it was possible
that the King and the Prussian Government might adopt the
course now become national.

In England, Bunsen spread the belief that the King, over
whom he appeared to exercise personal influence, would allow
himself to be induced to accept the hand held out to him from
Frankfort. It produced the impression that one could sail
well if one would trust one's self for the moment to the current
of air proceeding from the newly organised Confederate
Assembly.

As Austria also appeared to submit to the desire of the
Empire by nominating Schmerling as envoy to the German
Diet, the hope of a solution of the question from the point
of view of the federal laws increased in the circles nearest to
me, and the legal means of development would unquestionably
have remained most apparent if a general understanding
could possibly have been arrived at and the Confederate
State had, as it were, organically developed from the former
States Confederation.

3i4 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

With this view, my brother drew up the Memorial of the
28th of March, of which he spoke in the letter introduced
above. Copies of the same had reached the larger Govern-
ments and particularly the King of Prussia, who annotated
my brother's project with original remarks and answered it
with his own hand.

I will now introduce the text of this interesting document.*

'Buckingham Palace, March 28.

'Germany, from a States Confederation must become a
Confederated State — that is the task which must be accom-
plished. If this solution is healing and enduring, it must be
developed from the present matter and become the issuing
point of all German history. It must not be a made theory,
but the final representation of a State long expected and
desired by the German nation, a State in which all conditions
and exigencies of the individual territories will be fully
satisfied. We have individually different nations in Germany,
states, dynasties, crowns complete in themselves, which must
all be united. To level and blot out the individualities of the
nations by a centralisation upon the same model, would be
sinful, for the manifold vital powers and freshness of life of the
German people consist in their peculiarity and legality. The
crowns and dynasties which are one with the personality of
this State, must not be injured or degraded, if the personality
and executive power of the individual States represented by
them is not to be disturbed ; but both States and peoples must
be politically brought together as a whole and vividly repre-
sented.

' My conception of the solution is as follows :

'The Princes of the German Confederacy together with the
four burgomasters of the free cities form a Princely Diet and
choose from amongst their number for life, or a certain
number of years (ten ?) a German Emperor. (X)

' The Parliaments of the different German States choose

* They are all in one publication: ' Zum Verstandniss der Deutschen Frage,'
Stuttgart 1807, but the pamphlet is so rare that I consider myself justified in having
them republished from my own papers. The lines and crosses, red in the original,
black here, originate, as will be seen from the following letter written by the King,
from the latter.

3'5

from amongst the members of their two Houses,* a number of
members according to the number of inhabitants and im-
portance of the individual States, and form therewith a
German Imperial Diet.

' A Supreme Court of the Empire, presided over by a
Chancellor who can not be removed, would form the highest

O

Court of Judicature, composed of the juridical faculties of the
German universities, deciding all questions between the
different individual Governments and their Parliaments, such
as German questions of succession and regency, as well as
divisions and inheritances.

' The representation of Germany falls to the Emperor.
All business concerning the Empire will be carried on in his
name. He appoints the offices together with the Princely
Diet. At the head of the Princely Diet he will regularly
open the Imperial Diet. He can refuse the proposals of the
Princes, and a decree of the Empire only becomes lawful
through his sanction. He can occasionally allow himself to
be represented by another Prince. His Ministers are the
Minister for Foreign Affairs and the two Presidents of a
Chamber of Commerce and a Councillor of War. These
Ministers are answerable to the Imperial Diet. The Foreign
Ministry has to negotiate with Foreign Ambassadors, and, in
extraordinary cases, to send messengers to foreign Courts.

' The German Chamber of Commerce, formed of servants
of the individual States, has under it the affairs concerning
the German customs, navigation, streets, railways, post-office
and traffic.

' The German Council of War, formed by the Generals of
the different armies, rules the organisation of the combined
German army, formed by the troops of the different individual
States, at the head of which stands a Confederate Commander-
in-chief in times of war. In the same way the German
fortresses are under a council of war and (in prospect) the
German fleet.

The German sovereigns themselves form the Princely Diet,
or the Princes of their House who represent them. It has a
veto against the decisions of the Imperial Diet, and against
the appointment to offices by the Emperor. It fills the three

* On the margin the King has written 'optime.'

316 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Imperial Houses of Parliament under the Presidency of the
Emperor. It has to sanction the proposals made by the
Emperor to the Imperial Diet. It votes according to the
majority, but in such a manner that the Princes of larger
States have a comparatively larger number of votes. Every
Prince can dissent by procuration. The Princely Diet elects
the Confederate Commander-in-Chief with the Emperor, in
case of a lasting war.

' The Imperial Diet assembles every three years. The
Deputies (Imperial messengers ?) of both Chambers of the
different States sit and transact business together, but vote in
two bodies corresponding to the Chambers. (X)

' Every member speaks from his seat. The Imperial Diet
votes by majority, so that the agreement of both bodies is
necessary. The number of members must not be too large.
Not over 50 in the first, not over 150 in the second Chamber,
200 altogether. Marshal of the Empire, elected by the whole
Imperial Diet from the first House, must have the Presidency.

(X)

' Thus we have an Emperor as the representative and
personification of German unity, and as the chief handler of
the executive power — his worthiness vouched for by the
choice of and from amongst thirty-seven sovereign heads,
upon whom, on the other hand, falls part of the splendour of
the dignity created by themselves.

' Further, as members of the executive power, a responsible
Ministry in the Presidents of the three Imperial Chambers
and a Confederate Field Marshal, whose ability is warranted
by the time of his election. Further, a Princely Diet as
immediate participants of the executive power, as well as the
representative importance of the Emperor, who, through this
necessary participation, fully assures the unimpaired continua-
tion of the might and highness of all German crowns. Then
an Imperial Diet as the expression of the united will of the
whole German nation, yet so united, that the individuality of
each separate German people and State is thoroughly repre-
sented through the sending of Imperial messages from their
own parliaments. Finally, we have a high Supreme Court of
the Empire as an expression of the united German juridical

THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S COMMENTS 317

wisdom, removed from all external influences through its
immovability.

' The warrant of all these authorities naturally reaches only
as far as matters of universal German importance — which we
shall be able to decide more nearly — without encroaching
upon the legislature and administrative department.

' ALBERT.'

When my brother sent me the copy of this plan, I at once
perceived an error in the attempt to have an Emperor chosen
for only ten years, or even for life, which would be fatal to
the whole project, and I was afterwards glad to see from the
reply and the remarks of King Frederick William IV, that I
had not made a mistake in this respect. Meanwhile, on the
other hand, the King of Prussia's comprehension evidently
rivalled so greatly with my brother's plan in the doctrinary
statement of improbabilities and impossibilities, that nothing
could be done in this way either. I can feel pleased even at
this time, that I at once frankly discussed both sides of the
question at the time.

The King was at Potsdam when my brother's document
arrived, and he let his answer, which was not especially
addressed to any one person, become known as a kind of con-
fidential circular at friendly Courts. In this way, which
suited the extraordinary times, a remarkable exchange of
opinion was brought about amongst the sovereigns, which
was continued for more than two years, without a real insight
of kheir knowledge of the course of affairs being possible.

The non-official circular note of Frederick William IV to
the colleague princes of Germany ran as follows :

' Of all the constitutional projects for Germany, this one
imagined by the clever and intellectual prince corresponds
most with my views. But as regards individual matters I
cannot assent to this project. That to which I particularly
agree I have underlined with red ; that which I consider
unsuitable is marked with a black St Andrew's cross. I do
not relish the idea of an Emperor as Head of the Confederacy.
An Emperor elected for a time is a monstrosity against which
I particularly protest. If the Confederate Head is only
elected for a time (which I look upon as wrong) the name of

3i8 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Emperor must not be squandered and dishonoured through
him. He should be called Regent. Even to the life-long
Head the title of Emperor cannot be given, on account of
Austria, as I will show later on.

' The German nation has a right, dating back a thousand
years, to make its head the indisputable First Head of
Christendom. But it is not conceivable that the heir of
thirty Roman Emperors, that is, the first hereditary Emperor,
would give precedence to this chosen Head. It cannot even
be expected. But it is as certain as anything can be, that
the Russian Emperor would never grant such dignity to this
kind of a German Emperor. Out of all this I know a very
easy way, — for the German matter even a self-evident one.
Let the Roman Emperor be again accepted as the Honourable
Head of the German nation. Let the Roman Imperial
dignity be renewed, and indissolubly with the hereditary
Empire of Austria, as it was until the year 1806 — pro honoris
causa, if one will. Let certain significant honours be also
paid to him. I am altogether in favour of the choice of a par-
ticular German Head of the Empire. If he is elected, as I
hope to God he will be — for life, and then — in true German
style — is also accepted as the royal authority appointed by
God, (and is not regarded, d la polonaise ; as the football of
the ambitions of magnates) — let him be called " King of the
Germans " — as in olden times, I would like for the Kings of
the Confederacy (who should once more associate their title
with that of Elector) to stand the election alone ; but after-
wards to call upon the remaining sovereign Princes for their
consent. Both should be done in a few hours, the Kings
and Grand-Dukes perhaps in the so-called conclave of the
Cathedral of St Bartholomew in Frankfort, the Princes in the
choir. Upon this let them address themselves to the Romish
Emperor and respectfully request him to ratify the election.
This can be done by an Archduke to whom plenipotentiary
powers have been given, at the same moment. Then the
Cathedral should be opened to the people as in olden times
and their acclamations would complete the election. Soon
after this the German King should be anointed and crowned
(like the Roman Emperor at his hereditary entrance into
power) and, if he is a Roman Catholic, by the Archbishop of

THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S COMMENTS 319

Cologne, who would become Chancellor of the Empire — if he
is Evangelical, by an Archbishop of Magdeburg, who should
be nominated Primas Germaniae.

' By means of thus placing the Roman Imperial dignity on
the head of the Austrian hereditary Emperor, Austria will
then become secure to the German Empire. Austria will
have won Germany for ever, and with Germany the most
beautiful and best lands of Germany will be secured for the
new (old) kingdom — Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Upper and Lower
Austria, Steyermark, Carinthia, Carniola and Istria, If
Austria does not wear the highest crown, it is impossible to
expect her to bow before a German elected Head, if she ever
comes to herself again. And who can doubt it ? The Princely
Diet appears to me to be an uncommonly happy thought.
Only I picture it to myself formed like the old Imperial Diet,
into a college of Kings and Grand-Dukes, of Dukes and
Princes, strengthened by the mediatised Princes and Counts
(partly vimtim, partly divided into benches), the Princely
Diet would form the German Upper House of the Imperial
Diet every three years, the Lower House of which would be
the House or Assembly of Imperial Messengers. Only I
pressingly recommend that it should never be forgotten in
the relative position of the Upper to the Lower House, that
sovereign Princes form its kernel, and under them two Great
Powers (may God have mercy on them !)

' The providing of a responsible Ministry also appeals
greatly to rne. Whether the Head, that is when it is the
King of the Germans himself, cannot be allowed a little more

o

freedom of action, I leave undecided. But under certain
circumstances, for instance in case of war or rebellion, I would
insist upon the King being made Dictator. ... I had for-
gotten my formal protest against the combined deliberation of
the Houses of Princes and Imperial Messengers. That never
does any good, and may possibly expose the highest sovereigns
to insult, which must be avoided. The forcing together of
fifty Princes and 150 Imperial Messengers is unjust and would
certainly end in the victory of the Imperial Messengers.
Amongst the Imperial Messengers I should like to see the
immediate nobility of the Empire represented with assessors
for the remaining German nobility ; then Deputies for the

320 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

towns and country constituencies, who, however, must not
be forced to vote out of their constituencies, whose option
is free.

' I will close my remarks now, and warmly recommend
them to the reader.'

As may be seen, the constitutional construction of the
German Empire had become an absorbing occupation for the
highest circles, and no one would be in a position correctly to
understand the whole attitude of King Frederick William
during the next two years, who had not imprinted on his
memory the fixed limits marked out in the above memorial.
Frederick William IV had actually chosen the fundamental
ideas just explained for his unchangeable rule of precept during
the events which were happening around him.

Meantime the committee of Seventeen Proxies had begun
active work in Frankfort in April, and besides this, the pre-
paratory Parliament had begun to hold council. In both
assemblies Dalhmann came forward with certain proposals, and
his elaborat concerning the future form of the Empire was
spread abroad as the bill for the constitution of the Seven-
teen, and recommended for acceptance.

In America and England, as on the Continent, people
occupied themselves seriously with it, whilst in Germany the
agitation concerning it had long since died out, and both
favourable and unfavourable criticisms could only appear in
the light of innocent and academical dissertations.

It is known that Frederick William IV personally gave
all his attention to the bill for the constitution, King Max of
Bavaria answering him through his Government.*

The unfavourable criticism which my brother finally made
of the bill, cannot be fully understood without my inserting
several portions of our correspondence :

' Coburg, 5th April 1848.

' I am writing to you again to-day, as every day brings
forth something new, and the development of our universal
German relations advances so quickly that one hardly has
time to keep pace with it. We shall soon have gained the
end in view, when it will be seen whether there are to be

* All these documents are known through Dahlmann's remission, and have been
repeatedly communicated.

PRINCE ALBERTS SCHEME 321

princes in Germany, or the Republic is to be formed after the
American pattern. In case of the first, the following conditions
must be accepted, or rather consented to by the reigning
sovereigns :

'1. Constitution of a Confederate Head under the name
of President.

' 2. A German Parliament, but one House.

' 3. A Ministry answerable to this Parliament.

'4. A Confederate Field-Marshal.

'5. The German Princes must give up all rights of
sovereignty, which they formerly claimed as their own for the
increase of the dignity of their supremacy. To this belongs the
rule that no sovereign may have his own military power, etc.

' 6. Arming of the people, abolition of all standing armies.

' 7. Alteration of the already existing Constitution ; abolition
of the two House system.

' 8. Abolition of the nobility and all feudal burdens.

' 9. Introduction of a universal German system of weights,
coinage, customs, etc.

' All historical ground must be abandoned, and it must be
worked and constituted only after the American pattern. I
have only introduced the most important points here ; but
there are many others of less universal interest.

' If all that has been mentioned above were the furthest
goal which we are striving to reach, one might at least indulge
in the hope that one could perhaps get through with fewer
ultra-liberal principles : As it is, these points are the nearest
goal and the last hope which remains to us before we come to
the Republic.

' One must not think that this would perhaps be universally
desired ; it is however, unfortunately evident that in the
universal rivalry always to be first in Liberalism, the German
races have brought themselves so far that they have arrived,
to their own astonishment, before the gates of the Republic,
without really having wished to do so. This is the true state
of affairs, which is unfortunately no imaginary picture of a
depressed mind, but the sad result, which I have experienced
through the medium of Briegleb, from the communications

o o

of the leaders of the whole movement, such as Welcker,
Bassennann, Itzstein ....

VOL. I. x

322 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

'To-morrow, the 30th, envoys from all the German Princes
will assemble in Frankfort, to consider the introduction and
carrying out of those points. Unfortunately, however, it will
only be a question of whether they can accept these points
pure or not. If the sovereigns do not quietly accommodate
themselves to everything, the envoys of most of the southern
and middle German States have decided to engage in no
negotiations whatever, and to join the Second Assembly, an
illegal body, it is true, which comes together in Frankfort at
the same time, and consists of men from all parts of Germany,
who have united of their own free will, and who wish to carry
out their private views and decisions by means of force. It
will then be a question of leading this dangerous body, and
preventing the mischief as far as possible. In any case,
everything looks very black for us. In order to remain stead-
fast I have sent Briegleb to Frankfort. He is young, strong
and of sharp understanding and certainly no Conservative.
I shall communicate to you the news he sends me, it will be
the most correct which one can obtain concerning the
agitation.

' P.8. — I have just received your letter of the 25th. I am
sorry that Stockmar is momentarily not in a position to
undertake a mission, such as Briegleb's, and think that his
reflective nature would have suited the Enrages too little, who
are now about to lay down laws for us. One ought to hate
everything, when one thinks that if the King of Prussia had
three days earlier done what he now feels himself forced to
do, Germany might have looked forward to a safe future.'

' Gotha, April 6th 1848.

' I received your two letters with enclosure regarding the
formation of the Confederacy, and only regret having no
time to answer you at length concerning this matter. You
will excuse me if I own to a fear that, in consequence of your
surroundings and your close acquaintance with Bunsen, as
well as the presence of the Prince of Prussia, you are viewing
the whole state of affairs in Germany too much from a
Prussian point of view.

' I have no feeling of distrust against the King of Prussia,
but I look upon him— and this is the opinion of all Germany,

PRINCE ALBERT TOO OPTIMISTIC 323

as impossible at the present moment! His name alone is
unfortunately enough to spoil any cause whatever which he
joins. His portrait also has been abused and publicly burned
by the people in Munich, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Frankfort.
If such terrible mistakes had not been made in Berlin, the
King might seize upon the leadership of the matter if it is in
any way to be undertaken by a monarch. Things are unfor-
tunately far worse than you consider them, and than they
can possibly appear at a distance.

' Rest assured that up to the present the most complete
anarchy reigns in Germany, and that everything now depends
upon the "sovereign" people. The transactions of the 800
men in the church of St Paul in Frankfort, the paper of
which I send you, you must read attentively ; they are the
proof that the Republicans have retired for a moment only ;
unfortunately they, that is, their leaders have been again
nominated as substitutes for the fifty permanent members,
Briegleb was also nominated as one of the fifty.

' Illegal as is this Assembly, the German Diet has neverthe-
less entered into a kind of communication with it, and will
for a while maintain itself by this means. Meanwhile the
elections for Parliament are about to begin in Germany.
One Deputy to every 500,000 inhabitants. One must really
be present on the spot in order to be able to conceive the real
circumstances. If you took a great many German newspapers
now, you would soon see that your proposal, excellent as it
is, seems to have come a century too late. Your presupposition
is nearer to realisation than you thought a week ago. The
democrats have really triumphed already. The matter now
in hand is the conditions of peace. If Prussia had acted four
days earlier, before being forced to do so, there would have
been prospects of a perfect state of things. Now it has come
too late.'

In the same state of mind I wrote to my brother on the
17th of April that he judged the course of things much too
optimistically. It was indeed characteristic that the Com-
mittee of Fifty, which possessed no legal power whatever, not
only drew up proclamations, but Sent decrees to the Govern-
ments, and nevertheless remained entirely unmolested by the
Confederate Assembly and the Seventeen.

324 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUBG-GOTHA

' Further,' said I in my letter, ' it is a fact that at this
moment the Committee of Fifty governs Germany with the
German Confederacy as a sort of Co-regent, and illegally as
it has constituted itself, it has nevertheless been recognised
by all the German Governments. It has even been referred
to regarding commerce. The reason of this cannot possiblj"
lie in any plan of the people or of any Government, I call it
the " consequence of the spirit of the times." '

At the time the frequently mentioned Bill of the Seventeen
appeared, it was no longer so much as fitted for exercising
great influence over the Parliamentary elections which had
meantime been begun. It was characteristic of my Duchy of
Gotha, that Briegleb was already looked upon at that time as
an Ultra-Conservative, and could only be carried against the
Radicals with great trouble.

Phenomena of this kind showed the Bill of the Seventeen
as the really unpractical and hopeless result of a doctrine
which met with but little sympathy from the greater mass of
the people. Only one fact can be granted, that at least a
substratum had been formed for the questions to be discussed
for the future Constitution which could prevent the negotia-
tions from being entirely neglected.

I was therefore really glad when Albert criticised the Bill
in a way which, as is known, made a deeply discouraging
impression on the members of the Committee of Seventeen.
My brother had already seen in the middle of April that
the proceedings in Frankfort were only too favourable to
radical and doctrinary productions, and therefore wrote to me
from Osborne on the llth of April :

' Exert yourself to prevent Frankfort from remaining the
capital of Germany. It is a bad place, and so easily overrun
by mobs from Baden, Mainz, Darmstadt, Mannheim, etc., also
much too near the French frontier. Nuremberg is the centre
of Germany and lies in a good region.'

As for the rest, even on the 13th of April my brother
would not admit the hopelessness of the work of the German
Constitution, and with his usual frankness wrote almost
reproachfully concerning my descriptions of the 6th : ' That
those who desired order should not immediately cry out that
anarchy had come !' He still believed that we ought only to

PRINCE ALBERTS LETTER 325

' throw the right yeast into the brew,' and blamed me ' for
keeping perfectly neutral.'

' Whether Prussia ' he continued, ' places herself at the head
or not, has remained quite untouched in my plan (of the
28th of March), its essential difference from the Heidelberg-
Frankfort plan consists in the fact that commons remain
commons, peers peers, sovereigns sovereigns and yet they
form a constitutional whole. And only thus can something
come of it ; for the Emperor of Austria can certainly not be
Emperor at home and Peer in Germany ! The points were
entirely passed over in Frankfort, because people fixed their
utmost attention on the construction of the Assembly and the
parts of the Constitution only, in which they themselves would
figure in future; how the remainder was done was all the
same to them. Do not thrust the matter so lightly from you :
you will regret it when it is too late.'

My brother's last warning was hardly necessary, yet up
to the present I had seen no useful means of managing the
development of German affairs, and was therefore glad when
I arrived at full agreement with Albert in regard to the Bill
of the Seventeen. He himself spoke in much plainer terms
to me than in the Memoir, which reached Dahlmann through
Bunsen.

' The principal thing,' he wrote on the 4th of May, ' is now
the Constitution for Germany. The plan which I hear has
been accepted by the Seventeen, is shocking / You must do
your utmost in order to modify, at least, one point. Patriotism
can submit to everything, but not to a change of principles.
That the sovereign should sit in the Confederation with other
Councillors of the Empire, as such, is not possible, rather not
at att I Obey the German Emperor and Parliament — if you
will — but do not let it be expected of you that you will be
Dukes, Grand-Dukes, Electors and Kings at home, and in
Frankfort one of the two hundred Imperial Councillors. I
do not understand how anyone can commit such a blunder.
But it will be necessary for you sovereigns to come to an
understanding at some time concerning these things, and
insist upon the removing of the residence from Frankfort.
It is a frightful place to be the central point of Germany !

' P.S. — Your letter with enclosures has just arrived ... As

326 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

regards universal German affairs, I certainly advise subor-
dination to a temporary Central Power, if such an one can be
formed, and in future to work principally towards making
Austria remain in the German States Confederation, and then
sail in the same boat with them. It would be absurd to ask
certain things of Austria, Prussia and Bavaria. If Prussia
alone is left, her preponderance will be so great that one may
expect ignominy for the rest. The individual States must be
limited, and greatly limited, but they need not be put down
in order to obtain unity.'

My letter of the 9th of May was written in answer to this.

' We are hastening forward to the day of decision with
giant steps. The hope of constituting a united compact state
of things for Germany is no small one ; but, on the other hand,
the hope of preserving the small German Princes is null.
The most important thing which I have now to communicate
to you is that we small princes will, as regards the constituent
Assembly, let ourselves be represented in the corporation of
the Confederation, as we cannot appear in person. Every
little territory will then have its civil vote. To this end I
felt myself bound to choose a particular man as Ambassador
for Coburg-Gotha also. Stockmar alone could be the man !
And I am glad to be able to tell you that he not only con-
sented willingly, but feels so much better, that he will be able
to set out for Frankfort to-morrow. I look upon his appear-
ance in the Confederacy as a lucky event. He asked me
to-day to inform you of this, as he would only be able to write
to you from Frankfort.

' All eyes are now turned in anxious expectation towards
Frankfort, where daily and hourly the Deputies of the people
are arriving for the settlement of the Constitution. Briegleb
who has up to the present been secretary to the Fifty, and
has not entered Parliament, hastened here for a few hours in
order to consult with Stockmar and me concerning the
important questions of the future. I shall take pains to
explain to you in a few words the state of affairs, as Briegleb
judges them in Frankfort and we judge them here.

' The Republic has but few if energetic supporters on her
side. These are for the most part anarchists. They want
law from above internally as well as externally. They do

THE DUKE'S REPLY 327

not want monarchy for the sake of the Princes, but because
they see that the Republic is more dangerous to freedom than
monarchy, naturally only the constitutional monarchy is
meant.

' All dynastic, personal considerations of Princely Houses,
as for us individually, have been left in the background,
much as individual races cherish and express love and respect
for their Princes. — Prussia and her King are to be placed at
the head, but only because it is Prussia, the largest and most
important of the Confederate States. The person of the King,
hated as it may appear to be, is a secondary thing, and is
not taken into consideration at all. To unity and strength
both inwardly and outwardly, immense sacrifices are to be
made, — in order to form a commanding Great State. May
Heaven bless the cause ; but many a heart must break first,
and many tears must flow. Hundreds of families will be
reduced from an existence poor, it is true, but free from care,
to beggary. May the time never come when they will regret
what they now firmly intend to carry out.

' Austria is now on the point of being torn into pieces.
If the Germans in the Imperial State do not wish to be
destroyed by Slavs, Czechs and Magyars, they must surrender
at discretion to the Parliament. It is very probable that
Russia is thinking of playing Austria a trick in return for her
long friendship. They have been working for years to seduce
the Southern Provinces.

' I have just received your welcome letter of the 4th inst. —
I am glad that you are against the Bill for the Constitution
drawn up by the Seventeen Proxies. I look upon the work
as bad, and the views as unpractical, and many think as I do.
Nevertheless, it will come to something of the same kind, as
no place will be made for us small Princes. We are not to
have the position of the mediatised, but are to descend with
them and the nobility to the democratised burghers. Their
intentions are quite friendly. But one thing is certain, that
we small Princes cannot possibly maintain ourselves, since we,
after the Emperor has been presented with the chief rights of
sovereignty, and we have, with regard to the legislature,
received everything necessary, generally, from the future
Parliament, should really make too dear and too bad Chief

328 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUEG-GOTHA

Presidents. But I will say no more about this, for in a few
weeks we shall know what to expect.'

A few days later I received the Memoir drawn up by
my brother himself against the Bill of the Seventeen, and
answered on the 16th of May.

'Your denunciations agree entirely with my views, and
your reasons are unanswerable; unfortunately, however,
entirely in opposition to the wishes of our Liberals, who only
want a mock Emperorrwho would be more preferable to them
in his unimportance, than if hereditary or elective.

' In my opinion, the meaning of the whole bill has been
enclosed in the frame of the French centralisation idea, with-
out any understanding of the condition of things in Germany
having been brought forward in opposition.'

' If we Princes,' I wrote at the close of the above quoted
letter, ' now act as we ought and should like, we would have
quickly united with the Moderates in a firm alliance, and then
have made a new Constitution with them. But as it is, we
are still under the yoke of distrust, which, even if it is light,
will nevertheless be held fast by the Ultra-Liberals. The cry
against attempts to react is still sounded, ungrounded as
it is.'

CHAPTER X

THE SITUATION IN FRANKFORT. —PRUSSIA'S PROPOSAL REFUSED. —
A DICTATORSHIP PROPOSED. — THE PRESIDENCY OP THE CON-
FEDERATION.— VON SCHMERLINO. — PROPOSALS OF THE ENVOY
FROM BADEN. — THE ILLEGAL COMMITTEE OF FIFTY. — REPORT OF
VON GABLENZ. — DESIRE FOR RESTORATION OF HEREDITARY IM-
PERIAL DIGNITY. — ASSEMBLY OF GERMAN REPRESENTATIVES IN
FRANKFORT. — STOCKMAR's LOSS OF INFLUENCE. — PRINCE ALBERT

AND THE HANDKERCHIEF. CLOSE OF THE DELIBERATIONS OF THE

COMMITTEE FOR THE INSTITUTION OF THE CENTRAL POWER. —
APPOINTMENT OF ARCHDUKE JOHN OF AUSTRIA AS ADMINISTRATOR
OF THE EMPIRE. — PRUSSIAN OBJECTIONS. — THE CELEBRATIONS IN
COBURG AND GOTHA. — (WHO IS TO PAY THE BILL ?). — INCAPACITY
OF THE ARCHDUKE. — HIS LETTER TO THE DUKE. — PRINCE KARL
VON LEININGEN UNDERTAKES THE PRESIDENCY. — HIS RADICAL
VIEWS. — ANNOYANCE OF PRINCE ALBERT. — LEININGEN's CHAR-
ACTER.— THE KING OF BAVARIA ESTABLISHES CLOSE RELATIONS
WITH THE AUSTRIAN COURT. — PRUSSIAN OBJECTION TO THE
GERMAN MILITARY COLOURS. — POPULAR FESTIVAL AT GOTHA ON
6TH AUGUST. — FREDERICK WILLIAM'S OPPOSITION TO THE PARTY
OF UNITY. — PRUSSIA'S ARMISTICE WITH DENMARK. — THE DUKE
VISITS FRANKFORT. — THE MEETING IN ST PAUL'S CHURCH. —

RETIREMENT OF PRINCE LEININGEN. THE DUKfi's LETTER ON THE

SITUATION TO PRINCE ALBERT. — REPUBLICAN RISING IN FRANKFORT.
— STREET FIGHTING. — MURDER OF LICHNOWSKY AND AUER8WALD.
— THE BARRICADES STORMED. — LICHNOWSKY's LAST LETTER TO
THE DUKE. — SYMPATHY OF PRINCE ALBERT. — DENSENE8S OF THE
PLENIPOTENTIARIES.

IN order to comprehend the situation in Frankfort at the
time of the meeting of the National Assembly, one must go
back to the events which had occurred in the German Diet
itself since the middle of March. People were quite clear on
one point, that the old Confederate Assembly could continue
to exist neither over or with a German Parliament, the
summoning of which had been agreed upon. But it had
been far easier to form the National Assembly than to form a

330 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

governing power which could keep its stand against it. That
the former German Diet would never be accepted by the
National Assembly as the executive organ of the Empire,
was a fact, concerning which no one could be deceived.
Unless they wished to resign all continuance of justice, and
expose Germany to all the uncertainties of a democratic
Constituent Assembly, an organ must be formed which
might be legally entrusted with the powers of the German
Diet.

Prussia's proposal to undertake the direction of affairs had
been refused, and the independent attempts of the Prussian
Ministry to bring about a reform of the Confederacy had
fallen to the ground. Concerning these tendencies on the
part of the Berlin Government, the King of Bavaria did not
hesitate to declare through his Ambassador in Frankfort : ' If
there be any means by which the frightfully excited national
feelings can be driven to the height of an explosion and the
German diet completely nullified, those means are to be found
in such demonstrations.' The ^ Governments of Baden, Hesse,
Nassau also drew quickly back from this plan, and declared
the impossibility of being able to follow the programme of
the Prussian Ministry at that time.

I was, as may have been seen from my letter already
quoted, no less of the opinion that the energetic adoption of
the Prussian policy, the position of the King being such as it
was, would have meant the same thing in most lands as giving
themselves up entirely.

If the King of Prussia desired to prove the truth of his
words uttered on the 21st of March with regard to the Ger-
man question, he must .not avoid the roundabout way through
Frankfort. But when, in most of the description of the Par-
liamentary history of the year 1848 it is asserted that in this
case the interest and conduct of the Southern Germans had
opposed an unavoidable hindrance to the Prussian policy, it is,
at least as far as regards the beginning of the agitation, only
correct in a very small degree.

Immediately at the beginning of the proposals of the
united Courts of Darmstadt and Karlsruhe to establish a
dictatorship and a national representation, Wiirtemberg had
answered in a manner which had hitherto received barely

EXPLANATIONS FROM WURTEMBERG 331

sufficient attention. Even the documents exchanged in those

o

days between the Southern German States, and which were
therefore independent of Prussian influence, showed how
remarkably favourable the clauses were for Frederick William
IV there also, where, after later events, nothing but opposi-
tion was usually offered. The King of Wurtemberg not only
approved of the intentions of the Courts which were working,
according to the Prussian idea, to bring about a reform of the
Confederacy, but himself offered the following explanations,
which were much too little regarded :

' His Majesty the King considers it unavoidable for the
safety of the common Fatherland that the hitherto united
Governments should declare their readiness to propose the
leadership of affairs to that one of the chief German Regents
whom the united votes shall elect, and His Majesty is
prepared to entrust that leadership to Prussia ; as, however,
it is the conviction of the united Courts that Prussia's leader-
ship only should be possible, and the public opinion and
support of all Germany could only then be won if Prussia
essentially grants her people the same rights and freedom
which the Southern and Western German lands already
possess, the hitherto united Courts would be able to look
forward to some success for their efforts only under the above
presupposition.

'The plenipotentiaries of the United Courts hope and
expect to receive a communication from Prussia as soon as
possible, and in case of consent would consider themselves
authorised to journey to Berlin and uniting with the pleni-
potentiaries of all German Courts there, if possible, to arrive
at some decision, be it a definite one, or only preparatory,
while awaiting the consent of a Congress of Princes which
will meantime have been proposed by Prussia.'

Meanwhile the good-will and the favourable moment had
borne no fruit, and all immediate negotiations on the part of
the Princes and their Governments had been broken up. Thus
it would have indeed been urgently necessary and useful if
Prussia had decided upon a higher kind of activity ; but her
envoy, Count Donhoff, exhausted his strength by the old-
fashioned means of jealously watching the Presidency of the
Confederation, which had been entrusted during the last days

332 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

of March, to the hands of Count Colloredo, and six weeks
later to Herr Anton von Schmerling.

Positive activity was in no way shown by the Prussian
envoy in Frankfort, and what had been done in this respect
in Berlin aroused the suspicion, that it was not a question
of united Germany, but only of the aggrandisement of Prussia.

Considering the complete absence of a leader of the German
Diet, it could hardly fail to happen that the entirely illegal
Committee of Fifty gained a predominating influence. No
session of the German Diet took place without the members
having to occupy themselves with proposals from this man-
dateless body. The foundation of a provisory Central Power
was always being talked about on all sides, but no decisions
of any kind were arrived at. With dumb expectancy we
looked forward to the meeting of the National Assembly
which was not to take place until the 13th of May, and then
at Prussia's urgent request, the opening was postponed until
the 18th of May. The sole action, if not exactly a difficult
one, in which Prussia had succeeded, was in effectuating the
adoption of the Eastern Provinces which did not belong to
the Confederacy by the new Germany, and thus placing
herself in a position to essentially increase the number of her
members in Parliament.

During the 37th session of the German Diet, on the 18th
April the envoy from Baden had given expression to the
pressure on all sides for the creation of a Confederate execu-
tive committee by means of several formal proposals. The
executive committee was to be furnished with the widest
authority ' to carry out in the name of the Confederacy the
measures fitting to the circumstances and relations in all
passing events.' It was to be formed by three commissioners,
one of whom Austria was to appoint, the other Prussia, and
the third all the remaining Confederate States, and three
more were to be proposed by Bavaria.

Similar proposals had already been specially brought
under discussion by the Weimar Minister von Watzdorf in
the Saxon Parliament, and it was undeniable that the Govern-
ments would have a stronger and more secure position with
regard to the National Assembly if they were united in this
way by an executive committee. On the other hand, it was

VON GABLENZ'S REPORT 333

not to be mistaken that Prussia might easily be outvoted in a
triumvirate with Austria and Bavaria, whilst the endurance
of the old Confederate relations would at least not prejudice
a reorganisation by means of Prussian proposals. Unfor-
tunately we waited in vain for a proposal from Prussia con-
cerning the executive organ, which we might have agreed to
in the Confederate Assembly.

The Committee of Fifty had previously urged the German
Diet to agree to transactions which were of a highly doubtful
nature. They began to allow themselves to be represented
in foreign countries without there being any legal subject of
representation to define. The Committee of Seventeen also
urged several transactions regarding the German naval power
which had better been left alone, particularly as regarded
England, where they wished to obtain the ships. — Thus the
relations of the German Diet in Frankfort towards the end of
April had become quite untenable, and I repeat here a report
drawn up at this time by the Saxon envoy von Gablenz,
which, it appears to me, explained the situation clearly and
with great knowledge of the matter, and which reached me
on the 27th of April from Frankfort :

' The relations here are very much to be deplored, and it is
urgently necessary that the Princes of Germany should soon
assume a more decided attitude with regard to the constituent
Assembly, unless complete anarchy and the triumph of the
Republican party is desired.

' The Confederate Assembly is at present much too weak to
fulfil its high destiny. Count Colloredo is not fitted for
the Presidency, and Count Donhoff, although an able man, is
certainly no longer in the right place. It is incomprehensible
that they have not provided in Berlin for his substitution by
a more popular man. Herr von Wessenberg is pointed out as
the successor to Count Colloredo.*

' Even now the mutual jealousy of Austria and Prussia
shows them at a great disadvantage. Each of the two
envoys is afraid of the other's obtaining greater popularity,
and thus it happens that neither dares to oppose the exactions
of the Fifty, as soon as the other makes a motion of yielding.
Besides this, elements have lately come into the Confederate

* It was Schmerling, as is known.

334 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Assembly, concerning which it is not at all certain whether
they are not purposely playing into the hands of the extreme
party itself, or whether it is only a total want of energy,
failing to oppose where it is necessary to do so.

' Thus it may happen that the Constituent Assembly will
openly ally themselves with the Fifty, and not with the
German Diet, especially if they meet, as decided, on the 1st
of May, when the republican Southern Germans will arrive
here in superior numbers, and will have the upper hand. As
an agreement between all the Governments concerning the

o o

acceptance of the Weimar proposals, or that of the envoy
from Baden with regard to the appointment of a triumvirate
is difficult to settle in time, I also am of the opinion that the
monarchical principle, or, at least, the continuance of the
smaller Princely Houses, may yet be saved by voluntary
recognition of a Head on the part of the Princes. For this,
it is not at all necessary that all Princes agree concerning
the choice of a Head, as individual ones also can preside
with such a voluntary submission, and then we shall be able
to count all the more certainly on favourable conditions.

' Considering the situation of affairs, the choice would lie
between Austria and Prussia alone. But I think that the
former is much too near internal dissolution to warrant any
support. Besides this, they are by no means inclined in Austria
to sacrifice the unity of the Austrian monarchy to the unity
of Germany, so that the complete union of Germany with
Austria is not to be thought of. This is becoming more and
more recognised, and the enthusiasm which was at first felt

O '

for the Austrians who had entered the Assembly of the Fifty,
is beginning to cool.'

How very well-founded the judgment of my informant
was concerning the wide separation between all the parties in
the German Diet, was also shown in military matters, which
in spite of the determination* already arrived at on the 27th
of April, never came to the election of a Confederate Com-
mander-in-Chief. For my part, I had taken pains to direct
the nomination for the position of Commander-in-Chief to
General von Wrangel, and for that of Lieutenant-General to
Prince Theodore of Thurn and Taxis.

* Compare separate Protocol of the 42nd session of the German Confederate
Assembly of the 27th April 1848.

VON DER PFORDTEN'S MEMORANDUM 335

At the same time, the last hopes of the Liberal statesmen
of the Confederate Assembly had been set on the proposed
bill for the Constitution drawn up by the Seventeen. They
pretended that the German Diet would be forced to cling to
the last anchor of safety for a legal development of affairs.
The judgment concerning most of the Courts given by the
middle and smaller States alone had long prepared us to
expect a negative vote from the Diet, and a memorial, com-
piled by Herr von der Pfordten in Dresden, which was
zealously circulated and which, not without cleverness, ex-
pressed opposition to the foundation of a hereditary imperial
dignity confirmed us in this :

'The restoration of a hereditary Imperial dignity,' said
Herr von der Pfordten in his memorandum, ' is indeed very
much to be desired/and to be kept in view for the future;
for the present it appears impossible for many reasons which
can hardly be explained. Austria is passing through a crisis,
the end of which cannot be conjectured, but she can hardly
continue to keep her strength, according to German opinion ;
her new Constitution has founded a Slav State rather than
a German one. Prussia is not consolidated either, and almost
the entire nation has a feeling of antipathy for her. The
remaining States are not strong enough to bear a hereditary
Imperial crown, and an Emperor without an Empire is con-
ceivable theoretically, but not possible practically.

c If, therefore, a hereditary Emperor is impossible, an elected
Empire should be rejected for good, and unless one wishes to
forget all the lessons taught by history. We must declare
ourselves with equal firmness against a collective Head,
whether it be the whole German Diet or a College of
Three, which would only continue the weaknesses hitherto
shown by the Confederate Power. Only a single Head with
a responsible Ministry at his side can be the bearer of a strong
Central Power, such as Germany needs, unless she is to fall a
prey to outside foes and anarchy, and only such a monarchical
Central Power can form a guarantee for the monarchical con-
stitution of the individual States. If the Central Power is
formed by Republicans, it will very soon swallow up the indi-
vidual monarchs.

' After all these considerations the following proposal alone

336 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OP SAXE-COBURG-GOTBA

appears to be feasible. The dignity of the Head should alter-
nate every five years between the Emperor of Austria and the
German Kings according to the order of rank they have
hitherto held, in such a manner, nevertheless, that the first
Head would now be elected by the majority by the votes of
the members of the Confederacy in a close council, but the
Emperor of Austria, if not elected, should in any case be the
first to begin.'

I should not like to assert that Herr von der Pfordten's
proposal would have had any prospects of meeting with
approval, but it actually put an end to the Bill of the Com-
mittee of Seventeen. Bavaria also made a move against the
latter by bringing forward a programme of her own, in which
the triumvirate idea of Baden was largely developed and im-
proved. I was very doubtful if the Saxon and Bavarian
Cabinet were in the remotest degree in earnest regarding
these proposals, they only wished to complicate the case, in
order to have a back door of escape in case of universal
dissent.

What remained decided at the moment was the riotous noisi-
ness and the opposition of the Committee of Fifty in Frank-
fort, which took care that the Governments should be entirely
disarmed as far as the constituent National Assembly was
concerned. The triumvirate, as well as every other consoli-
dation of the Confederacy, was fought against to the utmost
here, and as the weakness of the Princes and their want of
unity had cleared the field for the Committee of Fifty, the
future alone was left for the Parliament to strive for.

Since the beginning of May the representatives of all the
German peoples had assembled in Frankfort, to which city of
old reminiscences the unpractical mind of the German poli-
tician would cling. Every other place would have been
better, as my brother had correctly asserted beforehand, for
the meeting of the great National Assembly. Nevertheless,
it cannot be denied that our fears concerning the construction
of the first great legal representation of Germany had been
exaggerated.

The conviction was soon borne in upon us that the body
which had come together here concealed in its midst, in
the majority, a power of intellect and education, which

STOCKMAR'S LOSS OF INFLUENCE 337

would have been admirable if political experience and know-
ledge of real states and personal relations had accompanied it
in an equal degree. The fault here was, that most of the
Moderates had come to Frankfort without any clear idea of
their task, and were, so to speak, waiting for some kind of
inspiration ; thus it was that the members allowed themselves
to be ruled by casual events and the influence of clever
speakers.

I had early taken measures to procure exact information
concerning the events in and outside of St Paul's Church.
Since the middle of May the Saxon Duchies, as well as all the
other States, had sent a special representative to the Con-
federacy for the civil votes. The consequence, as I have
already remarked, was that Stockmar had been made plenipo-
tentiary for Coburg-Gotha ; Meiningen elected my old, closely
connected tutor of Bonn, Professor Perth es. Besides this, I
had sent an excellent observer and minute informant to
Frankfort in Herr von Meyern, who supplied me with the
most correct knowledge of persons and things.

It is not my intention to furnish a history of the great
Assembly from the rich materials supplied me by these
excellent men, but only to bring forward the chief points
which, according to their nature, exercised an influence over
me, as over all individual Governments. Since the Presidency
of the Confederacy had been conferred by the Austrian
Government on their former proxy in the Council of Seventeen,
Herr von Schmerling, the German Diet had unquestionably
succeeded in gaining a somewhat more honourable position
before its complete breaking up, but the question of the
reorganisation of the Confederacy had gained but little
thereby ; rather the tendency and party which Germany was
striving to place under Prussian leadership, had been crowded
still more into the background.

Under these circumstances Stockmar had no influence in
Frankfort; he was disappointed and more reserved than
ever. Herr von Gagern had in the beginning of May,
during a tour round the European Courts, visited my
brother in London. Thus the latter, as he wrote to me,
' was given an opportunity of being able to see the cards.'
In a disappointed frame of mind, in which my brother's

VOL. I. Y

338 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

ironical style came to his aid, he remarked concerning the
'acquisitions of the new times:' 'Mine consists in a hand-
kerchief with the German colours which was sent me from
Frankfort, the seat of the I myself German husbands,
brothers, citizens, representatives, Fifties, qualified-opinion
men, and I can now blow my nose in accordance with the
spirit of the age.'

Whilst the German Diet was in every way being hindered
from forming a provisory Imperial authority, the institution
of an executive power was pointed out as the first and most
necessary task immediately on the meeting of the National
Assembly. Radicalism only desired to take away the important
affairs from the German Diet, as the representative of the
rights of Princes ; ' the will of the people,' as they were fond
of expressing it, ' must not be anticipated,' but the National
Assembly referred the hastily brought forward proposal for
the institution of an executive power to a committee of fifteen
members.

With regard to the matter itself, one soon began to observe
that exactly the same difficulties would arise in the National
Assembly which had succeeded in preventing the German
Diet from arriving at any determination. Other persons
were acting, but the same principles prevailed. Just as in the
German Diet, Austria and Prussia faced one another in an
inimical attitude, and here, as there, the resource of the Triade
was attempted. The idea of the Triumvirate was resuscitated
in Parliament in a more democratic form, as they wished to
see the future ruler of Germany invested not as the plenipo-
tentiary of the Governments, but really as the proxy of the
Parliament.

The Governments were only to point out the triumvirs,
but their election and plenipotence were really to be the
business of the National Assembly. Gagern, Schmerling and
Camphausen were named as the future Imperial regents, and
consolation was proffered the supporters of the rights of Princes
in the assurance that these popular men were only to admini-
strate provisorily. At the constitution of a definite Central
Power, they said, it would be remembered that Princes also
existed.

THE ARCHDUKE JOHN 339

Only in the middle of June had the Committee for the
institution of the Central Power closed their protracted
deliberations, and gone as far as to formulate proposals for
a provisory Confederate directory with as far-reaching a
sphere of activity as possible. But at this time a complete
change of disposition had already taken place, and there was
a decided leaning towards a more monarchical form of govern-
ment. In the circles of the German Diet, as well as amongst

O

the Austrian and Southern German envoys, the name of the
Archduke John had insensibly begun to be passed from
mouth to mouth, and grown popular.

The Austrian Government might have every reason to
bring forward, or, more correctly speaking, to play the Duke,
who had but little influence at the Court of Vienna, as a fit
person for the Confederate Presidency against the aspirations
of Prussia. In order to procure votes for him, the Austrians
spread a perfect atmosphere of Liberalism around his person,
and the assurances of the German sentiments, which he was
supposed to have already declared at the festival of Cologne
Cathedral in 1842, were very happily circulated, a fitting
change having been made in the text of his utterances.
Hardly a single one of all the German national representa-
tives assembled in Frankfort knew the Austrian Prince,
whom Raveaux nevertheless called ' the first German patriot.'
Several romantic tales of his marriage, manner of life and
pretended neglect at the Imperial Court won for him, like
popular fairy tales, the hearts of good men. Other German
Princes were still less known amongst the representatives of
the people than he was, and could not therefore be taken into
consideration.

In Prussia, on the other hand, they were by no means of
the opinion that the raising of an Austrian Archduke to the
position of Administrator of the Empire was to be taken so
naturally, as was the case in St Paul's Church. In Berlin the
political background of such a choice was not misunderstood,
and they struggled against it as. long and as successfully as
they could. But before the proposals, so carefully and
thoroughly considered by the committee, for the establishment
of the executive power had been laid before the whole
Assembly, a firmly established majority had been formed

340 MEMOIRS OF THE DVKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

which had been won over to the one ruler scheme. At the
night session of the 12th of June the Centre, consisting of
about 300 representatives, voted for the establishment of one
provisory Head.

They said that ' a Prince ' also could and must submit to
the conditions which had been made for the provisory
Triumvirate, in order to undertake the government in a
monarchical sense. The name ' Administrator of the Empire '
was then added to the carefully prepared affair. At the same
time the Rights had been won over to the one ruler scheme,
out of consideration for the monarchical principle, and thus it
became possible for even Vincke to give utterance in Parlia-
ment on the 21st of June, to the confident expectation that :
' Prussia also will gladly join in the election of Archduke
John.' Without going more minutely into the particulars of
the parliamentary struggle, I will communicate a piece of
information of the 23rd of June from my Charge' d' Affaires
in Frankfort who cannot deny its worth even at this date.

' At last the decision has become almost indubitable, the
Triumvirate appears to have been entirely abandoned, not
because there were reasons for refuting it — on the contrary,
this has been universally acknowledged, even by its oppo-
nents— but because they wished to see the principle of unity
preserved throughout, and because the supporters of the
Triumvirate in the National Assembly have defended the latter
either very lamely or not at all, to which may be added the
fact that these supporters consist of the most learned and
deepest thinkers in Parliament, but who are no speakers at
all, and therefore are exposed, with their best proposals, to
attacks from all sides against which they are unable to defend
themselves. Briegleb says that the Triumvirate has fallen
chiefly through the confidence with which all its opponents
outside of St Paul's Church asserted : " It will not do ! No
one is seriously thinking of it ! It has no supporters ! " Thus
its real supporters, who had not known their own numbers,
had looked upon themselves as isolated, and relinquished the
whole project. During last night's session, which, besides,
was so unimportant, and mostly such a repetition of what
had already taken place, that I consider a special description
superfluous, they passed the Triumvirate over without notice,

SHALL IT BE A PRINCE OR A PRIVATE MAN? 341

and the debates turned for the most part on the quality of
the one Head to be provisorily elected.

' The question now is, shall it be a Prince or a private man ?
If it be a Prince, it will mean a future Emperor, if a private
man, it will mean a future President. This is clear to every-
one. But whatever reasons may be brought forward for or
against this, the decision of the majority is certain. Austria,
Prussia and Bavaria will unite against the Republic, and for
that anchor of monarchy, the provisory Prince. It will only
depend upon whether the majority is important, for no one
conceals from himself that the greatest possible unanimity in
the choice of the Central Power will give the greatest possible
strength and vitality.

' With this view it is of the greatest importance that
Gagern has most decidedly declared that he will in no case
and at no price accept the provisory place of President, as
he does not consider himself fitted for it, and because he is
well aware that by this nomination they only wish to remove
him from his present post in which he can be useful to the
Fatherland.

' The choice of a Prince will therefore depend more on the
Left Centre, which would have decided more for a provisory
Presidency with regard to Gagern's personality. A pre-
liminary mumber of over 300 votes is said to have been
already given for the Prince.

' But the majority have united not only concerning the
rank, but the person also. The Archduke John is an old
man, hence the great policy of Vincke, when he said yester-
day that Prussia would no doubt gladly subordinate herself
to the Archduke. He is already thinking of the inherit-
ance.

' There appears to be no doubt of the Archduke's accept-
ance of the nomination. At least, Schmerling said it would
certainly be the case, considering the importance of the
post, and asked Herr von der Gabelentz whether, in case, as
is expected, the proposal is left to the Princes, he would ask
for instructions from his Government concerning it ; besides,
as it appears, many of the envoys took the authorisation to
propose the Archduke for granted.'

Little, that was certain, had been made public concerning

342 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUEG-GOTHA

the events which took place in the German Diet itself during
the last days of its existence.

A formal instruction, in favour of the impending election of
the Archduke John to the post of Administrator of the
Empire, could probably not be furnished by any of the
Princes at Frankfort ; yet the envoys were more or less
assured that they must not formally oppose the attempts of
the Austrian Presidency to bring about a legal vote of the re-
tiring German Diet in favour of the administration of the
Empire.

Prussia's attitude had until then been wavering, but it was
at length universally recognised that firm decisions were not
to be counted upon from that quarter; Stockmar also was
convinced that the King would do nothing. My representa-
tive in the German Diet had secretly escaped, if I may so put
it, from Frankfort, on the 2nd of June, in a way which could
only be explained by the singularity of this remarkable man,
and, without giving any information either to me or my
Ministry, had gone to Berlin, in order to bring the King into
action at the last moment. He reaped no reward, meeting
with no success whatever. The particulars of this are to be
found with all desirable details in his memorials as well as
Bunsen's.

It is an interesting fact that Secretary of the Legation
von Meyern also remained unenlightened concerning Stock-
mar's undertaking, and could only report that he had ' unex-
pectedly gone away early this morning.' Of course the newshad
been spread in Frankfort that a last attempt had been made to
force Frederick William IV to act, and the consequence was
that the inimical operations of the last week in June were
kept as secret as possible from my envoy by the circles of the
German Diet. Meanwhile it could not be denied that the
expiring Confederate Assembly had contrived the setting up
of the administration of the Empire in a rather clever manner.
They wrote to me from Frankfort on the 30th of June as
follows: 'The German Diet has anticipated the National
Assembly at the very last, and will now become for that
reason the object of the bitterest attacks of the Left.

' Immediately after the close of the session of Parliament it
held a session yesterday, and carried and sent off without

RETIREMENT OF STOCKMAR 343

delay, per estafet, a congratulatory address, which had already
been drawn up, to the Archduke John, in which, amongst
other things, they expressed their pleasure at being able to
inform him that all the Governments had beforehand declared
their unanimity respecting his election,* and that they
invited him to occupy his high post as soon as possible. Thus
the Archduke receives the first news of his election from the
German Diet, as the deputation from the National Assembly
only leaves this morning.'

That the disappointment in Stockmar's circle was painful
and cruel is self understood. And it was not his sixty years,
as he said in his memorials, but the conviction of the utter
untenableness of his position, which moved him to announce
his retirement on the day of the breaking up of the German
Diet, and to recommend Dr Perthes, who was also the repre-
sentative of Meiningen, for the representation of the Duchies
to the Administrator of the Empire.

Meanwhile the great universal satisfaction represented in
the newspapers as being felt for the election of the Prince of
a House of which one could not say that it had had much
German sympathy of late years, was very imaginary. In
Frankfort also, the pleasant excitement had been aroused
only very gradually, and many toasts were necessary in
order, as they said, to make 'John Landless' really popular
with his electors. Even Gagern, whose bold grasp, or mistake,
as others said, had made the affair successful, remained very
still during the following days, as observers informed me, and
accepted the homage which was offered him with dignity, but
without pleasure.

A very droll recollection is connected in my mind with
the election of the Administrator of the Empire, which was
solemnly celebrated in Coburg and Gotha, as everywhere
else, and which gave rise to a long and angry trial as to who
should pay for the rejoicing. For the public exchequer, the
provincial exchequers, the town exchequers, in short, every-
one refused to pay for the various hundredweights of powder

* If such a unanimity in the German Diet, which can hardly be ascertained at
this date, really reigned, it could only be explained by the fact that Stockmar's vote
•was not counted, as the vote was probably carried in close council, and Stockmar by
no means led the Saxon civil vote. Besides, Stockmar demeaned himself, as is seen
from the above, so independently, that even I had not the slightest influence over
his actions.

344 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

which had been shot off for the new Administrator of the
Empire on the 9th of June, as well as later on the 6th of
August.

Meanwhile the Imperial deputation had hastened from
Frankfort to Vienna, and the Archduke John was informed
of his election to the administration of the Empire in the
familiar way, and then solemnly brought to the residential
city of the new, weak provisory Imperial power. He travelled
by way of Dresden and Eisenach to Frankfort, and I did not
fail on receiving this news, to go at once from Coburg to
Gotha, in order fittingly to welcome the Head of the Empire
to my land. As the Archduke remembered me from former
meetings, our short conversation was of such a kind that I at
once touched upon the burning questions. As, for my part, I
had nothing to conceal, I spoke of the necessary sacrifices
which the German Princes owed the work of unity, and may
have shown greater vivacity in so doing than the Archduke
expected, for he expressed himself afterwards to Stockmar in
Frankfort as being greatly pleased, but almost in a surprised
manner, at meeting with much cordiality on the part of
Princes whom he had thought on the side of Prussia.

On the other hand, it was entirely wanting in tact of Herr
Heckscher, afterwards the Archduke's Minister, not only to
give a kind of certificate of good conduct concerning me as
well as the King of Saxony and the Grand-Duke of Weimar
on the tribune of the National Assembly, in his statement of
the journey and reception of the Administrator of the Empire,
but even to recommend us three as examples to the other
German rulers whose fidelity to the Empire was not above all
doubt — a proceeding which was considered very offensive,
particularly in Prussia, and for which we were to a certain
degree held responsible.

As for the rest, the Archduke, as I faintly remember, did
not make the impression, as far as many points were con-
cerned, of being fully at home in German matters. He
plainly maintained the greatest reserve, whereas I expressed
myself without dissembling and with the knowledge of all
the consequences of the events of that time. We had long
since become accustomed in Germany to regard the situation
of the individual States as dangerous, and no longer discussed

THE ARCHDUKES FIRST ACT 345

the question of greater or less mediatisation, as the reader has
seen in the preceding chapter, with anxious fear in confiden-
tial circles only, but generally very frankly and entirely
officially. The Archduke kept up his wavering prograinme-
less attitude in Frankfort, honestly and undoubtedly well
meaning as it at that time was, and, as I was later able
to observe, retained the feeling of being a man who was
suddenly forced to establish entirely new relations.

His first act as ruler was to give notice of the constitution
of the provisory Central Power, the leadership of which he
had undertaken on the 12th of July, and the completion of
which was placed on the 15th of July in the hands of a
Ministry, which at first consisted only of Heckscher, the
Prussian Major-General von Peucker and Herr von Schmerling.

The latter was able to unite the internal as well as the
external affairs for the former with all the greater ease, as the
sphere of activity of both was a very imaginary one. The
Administrator of the Empire immediately announced his
entrance into power by a circular note addressed to all the
Confederate States. Although, remarkable to relate, this
announcement was addressed to the States Ministries only,
and not by a Prince to Princes, I nevertheless thought it right
to answer it personally, and in a form such as is used on a
real entrance into rule. I do not know now whether this
was done by all rulers, or whether my personal homage pro-
duced a particular impression, at any rate, the Administrator
of the Empire felt himself bound to thank me in a letter
without any ministerial countersign, and which therefore
deserves to be given here :

' Your Highness 's honoured letter of the 25th inst., reached
me yesterday by way of Vienna. I find with pleasure that
it contains the expression of the same sentiments which,
considering the serious circumstances under which I have
entered upon the dignity of an Administrator of the Empire,
and which surround us at the present hour, must be of all the
greater value to me.

' The task which has been entrusted to me, and which
only the purest love of my country could move me to accept,
is great and difficult. May the help of God, as well as the

346 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

firm support which is given me by the full confidence and
honest liking of the German Princes and peoples, give me
strength and courage to carry out with success the work
begun for the universal welfare. I can, therefore, only accept
it with heartfelt thanks, if, as Your Highness has done in so
friendly a way, the assurance of this support, this unlimited
confidence is given me. It shall be my sacred duty to return
both honestly, and, as union makes strength and happiness,
we may hope that our splendid German Fatherland will also
become so in the same way. My first care after my return
to Frankfort was the completion of the Imperial Ministry.
I have succeeded in establishing it, and in giving the leader-
ship of affairs to men whose experience, insight, popularity,
and well-known patriotism will offer a guarantee for the just
and salutary administration of universal matters.

' I beg Your Highness to accept the renewed assurance of
my hearty personal esteem and devotion.

' ARCHD. JOHN.
'Frankfort, August 9th, 1848.'

The completion of the Imperial Ministry, of which the
Archduke spoke in the above letter, was, that my cousin,
Prince Karl von Leiningen, had decided to undertake the
Presidency, whilst Duckwitz, Beckerath and Mohl repre-
sented Commerce, Finance and Justice, with the already
appointed Ministers of the Interior, for Foreign Affairs and
War, and thus formed a complete Ministry. Leiningen's
election was certainly happy, and calculated to decrease the
poor opinion of the German Kingdom entertained by the
great European world. My cousin's name would also vouch,
particularly in England, for the restoration of diplomatic
relations, and, in spite of all democratic phrases, the respect of
persons also which was necessary in 1848.

The Prince was considered very energetic, and, so far as
regarded the Unity of Germany, as decided to shrink from
nothing, not even the mediatisation of the Princes.

He had also spoken earnestly and without concealment to
my brother and myself, regarding the fact that the small
lands were entirely untenable. In this respect he revealed a
degree of Radicalism which would perhaps have been entirely

PRINCE VON LEININGEN 347

inexplicable in such a man, if one had not remembered that,
as head of a Mediatised House, he saw in this course of
development only a kind of compensating justice.

Concerning him, my brother wrote rather angrily to me
on the 29th of July :

'Karl has written again that the Princes cannot retain
their position, and advises them to abdicate quickly and to
make at least a good bargain. This is, however, a low con-
ception of higher interests — I still believe in the union of a
federal monarchy. Prussia's start will have a good effect,
only the Archduke must be surrounded by envoys from the
individual States. Whom shall you send to him? — Camp-
hausen goes from Prussia, I hear; Bunsen will perhaps be
Foreign Minister, for he has suddenly been summoned to Berlin.'

When the news of Leiningen's nomination reached England,
my brother nevertheless wrote with a certain degree of
pleased interest :

' Karl has now taken his place in Frankfort, at the head
of the First Ministry. I thought at once that he would
become somebody, when he had the letter inserted in the
General Post-Office newspaper, which act I so disapproved
of that I at once attacked him on the subject. Meantime it
is highly important that a man of standing should be at
the head of the Ministry, and Karl has a talent for Foreign
politics. Whether he will have the necessary endurance must
remain to be shown. Stockrnar will probably do some
prompting. I am receiving the most various kinds of
information.'

As regarded my own views of the election of our cousin
and friend to the post of President of the Ministry, I in no
way concealed from myself that, in spite of his excellent
intellectual gifts, his reign could not last long. ' To such a
calling belong stability of views and actions, and the complete
surrender of all private interests and convenience,' — I re-
marked to Albert on the llth of August.

Born in the year 1804, Leiningen was in the very prime
of life and in the zenith of his political consideration and
influence. His activity for many years as Imperial Councillor
in the Bavarian and Baden Parliaments, previous to the year
1848, had schooled him in parliamentary forms, and he

348 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

possessed what is called the courage of his opinions in the
greatest degree. The early death of his father and the
marriage of his mother with the Duke of Kent had caused
him to spend the greater part of his youth in England, and
thence he had in a certain measure formed English views.

o

Yet he studied at Gottingen, and educated himself to a
thorough knowledge of German law. The intellectual life of
the German nation was in every way familiar to him, and
he had many relations with the most important scientists
and authors. Above all he was a great friend of Humboldt,
through his intercourse with whom his familiarity with
Berlin affairs had been increased.

He wrote very cleverly and with rare quickness ; at the
same time, in accordance with his whole temperament, he paid
little attention to form. But he always showed himself to be
sharp and correct in his judgment of persons and things, and
was not easily inclined to illusions. If his letters had been
collected, they would furnish a much stronger commentary on
the events of the time than those of my brother, for his
speech was very cutting on all occasions. He was more
Southern German than Prussian in his views of the questions
of the day, and often angered my brother by his injurious
expressions concerning the importance of Prussia, which he
would not admit against Germany. There were times when
his pessimism rivalled that of King Leopold, to whom he had
stood nearest of all the older members of the family.

Everything might have been expected of him sooner than
a firm persistence in the same opinions — he seized an idea
quickly and decidedly, but he let it go again with equal quick-
ness. If he now proclaimed mediatisation, I was nevertheless
far from believing that he was in a position to carry it out ;
but the consequence of this was, that most of the Princes of
Germany had been filled with unconquerable mistrust of him,
as well as against the whole Ministry of the Empire, and the
National Assembly. — When they formally prescribed the
transactions of Hanover, because the King had not agreed to
the unconditional acceptance of the decisions concerning the
Central Power in July, deep depression showed itself even
amongst those Princes who would have been inclined to make
sacrifices for the unity of Germany.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE SOVEREIGNS 349

The Duke of Meiningen was accidentally present at a
session of Parliament during which, amongst other things,
the proposal was made to depose the King of Hanover and to
declare his kingdom to be the property of the Empire.
Almost at that same date the King of Wiirtemberg, the Grand-
Dukes of Baden and Darmstadt, and the King of Bavaria were
present in Frankfort.

The impressions with which the sovereigns went away are
indescribable. — I found the Duke of Meiningen, who still
lived amidst all the traditions of the strictest legitimacy of
Princes, stiff with horror when he returned home. If the
example of Hanover was not immediately followed by all, it
was only because they were held back by fear and the
momentary bad condition of things. Most of them regarded
Prussia and Bavaria with real satisfaction, as they, along with
the Government of Kurhesse, no longer neglected to strengthen
and complete the particular elements in the army and also in
the Representative Assembly.

Towards the end of July I was informed, from a very
trustworthy source, that the King of Bavaria had established
the closest relations with the Austrian Court, then staying at
Innsbruck, and especially with that party which held all the
threads of clerical and military reaction. An uninterrupted
secret exchange of letters took place between Munich and
Innsbruck through persons who were in the secret, such as
Herr von Tiirkheim and others. The aristocracy and clergy
had already joined hands in the Catholic South and East, in
order to maintain the individual independence against the
Central Power as strongly as possible. In Bavaria all hopes
were set on the elections to Parliament, with the help of which
they hoped to oppose the National Assembly.

In Prussia the opposition to the Frankfort extortions was
shown in the order issued by the Central Power concerning
the acceptance of the German colours by the armies. As is
known the troops of all German States were to adopt the
black, red and gold cockade, and through this symbol to pay
a kind of homage to the Central Power. But even in liberal
circles this demand had touched a point which aroused all the
traditions of Prussian consciousness.

Thus, to my great regret, the Central Power had with its

350 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-CQBURG-GOTHA

first general measure obtained but very poor, indeed, almost
shameful success on the whole. Nothing was more significant
of this than the fact that my faithful attitude towards the
Empire was not only represented in Frankfort on this
occasion as a remarkably praiseworthy and pleasing event,
but that they henceforth pointed me and other small
sovereigns out, of whose necessary and speedy mediatisation
and setting aside they were still convinced, as ' supporters of
the Central Power.'

I succeeded in celebrating the 6th of August as solemnly
as possible in Gotha. I had arranged a great people's festival
on a heath in the neighbourhood of the town, and summoned
my contingent of troops to it, as well as the men on active
service. As I undertook the personal command of this large
crowd of people, numbering about 10,000 persons, I made a
speech which has remained valuable to me as a personal
recollection of the day. The words were spoken at the front,
where I had stationed myself on horseback, and did not fail
to make an impression :

' In accordance with the expressed wish of our Adminis-
trator of the Empire, all German troops are to assemble
around their Princes on this day, and, in unison with him,
declare their readiness to give both blood and life in obedience
to the ordinances of the Administration of the Empire.

' My heart beat high at this command, and, with the
consciousness that not I alone in these meadows have the
beautiful aim of the universal Fatherland before my eyes, I
summoned all the men amongst my faithful people capable of
carrying arms, besides the standing troops.

' My eye rests with pride and pleasure on this numerous
company. So let us heartily proclaim that we are all
Germans, and, like unto a brazen wall, will protect our beauti-
ful Fatherland from the pressure of outside foes, just as, like
a fiery sword, we will destroy those who attempt to insult
our memories, our rights, our freedom.

'As a sign of your earnest intentions join me in the
inspiriting cry : Long live the Administrator of the Empire ! '

The national celebration in Gotha might be called brilliant.
Numberless visits from neighbouring territories lent an im-
portance to it which extended far beyond the Duchy. It had

NATIONAL CELEBRATION IN GOTH A 3;i

vw

not remained unknown to me that in Prussia and other
kingdoms they had officially tried to suppress the rejoicings
on the 6th of August. In contrast to this, Gotha was a spot
well-situated for a demonstration, which had, for me, the
two-fold aim of working against the democratic and repub-
lican proceedings in the Thuringian towns and particularly
in Gotha, and to set — I will say — a good example to my
princely neighbours.

It was well known to me that the Prussian War Minister
von Schreckenstein had addressed a circular note to the
Generals in command, in which the order of the Central
Power concerning the adoption of the German cockade had
been interpreted in a very odd manner. On command of the
King, it said, the army was to receive the communication of
the establishment of a German Central Power in accordance
with existing circumstances, but any promulgation was
especially to be most earnestly avoided on the 6th of August.
Whereas the repugnance for the efforts in Frankfort was thus
being fully expressed, Frederick William IV did not hesitate
a few days later to meet the Administrator at the celebration
of the building of the Cathedral in Cologne.

The meeting consequently assumed the character of a
diplomatic game of chess, at which I was glad not to have
accepted the opportunity of appearing. For on the arrival of
the Frankfort deputation and the Ministry, at the torchlight
procession of the citizens and at the table of Princes, every-
thing was done in order to prove to the world the exceeding
harmony which was supposed to exist between the King and
his Archducal guests.

To the initiated, and particularly in military circles, it was
no regret that the bridge between Berlin and Frankfort had

o O

been torn down since the 6th of August.

At the same time the delusions of the members of Parlia-
ment who inclined towards Prussia were remarkable. The
only too well known words of Frederick William, with which
he reminded the Representatives in the National Assembly,
that there were still Princes in Germany, and that he also was
one of them, were interpreted in a way which led to further
doctrinary extortions. Gagern even asserted, in his reports of
the Cathedral celebration made for the National Assembly,

352 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

that this utterance of the King's was to be taken only as an
innocent jest, such as the witty man was fond of making.

The King was in reality decidedly opposed to all the
programmes drawn up by the party of unity, and at that
time I, as well as King Leopold, and my brother also, who was
certainly well informed, was assured that he was not to be
won over to the founding of Imperial territories in conse-
quence of mediatisation, nor to the absorbtion of Prussia by
Germany, but would at most give some support to the project
formerly begun by his Ministry for the States Representative
of seven of the German Princes in a Confederate Council.
But he made this concession only in a very half-hearted
manner, and the real significance was without doubt what I
wrote at that time on the llth of August 1848, to King
Leopold :

' King, army, Ministry, and people are all pulling in
different directions, and not one of the eminent men has
consideration and decision enough to direct a blow of any
importance whatever. Amongst these, I count the Prussian
proposals for a representation in the Central Power. There
is no doubt that Germany with a Central Power needs an
organ of the individual States Governments in the National
Assembly, and that even the provisory constitution of the
Empire cannot well do without such a mediating body which
can appease outside interests.

' In the law pertaining to the Central Power the need of a
union between the Administrator of the Empire and the
Individual Governments is recognised, and they have tried to
obtain this by appointing embassies in Frankfort. Neverthe-
less, the Prussian proposal goes too far, and they wish to
form a College of the States plenipotentiaries which can
decree in opposition to the National Assembly. Agreeable
to the purpose as it would be to see the senseless discord
lessened between Prussia and the National Assembly, yet it
is only too apparent that this proposal can by no means be
carried out without consulting the National Assembly.'

As is known, Prussia's disinclination remained strong
enough to hinder any vital institution of States representa-
tion to the Administrator of the Empire, and if one wished
to consider the reasons for the failure of the idea of unity on

ARMISTICE OF ifAlMOM 353

the whole, this circumstance was certainly one of the most
evident of them. For the National Assembly became more
and more fruitless in its one-sided democracy, and each fresh
conflict with the individual States could not fail to reveal the
powerlessness of the latter all the more clearly to the real
politician.

Amidst these oppositions there now arose a question con-
cerning the armistice which Prussia had agreed upon with
Denmark at Malmoe, which was calculated to increase the
bitterness to the utmost degree : In a particular chapter I will
explain the affairs relating to Schleswig-Holstein in connection
with other matters, and limit myself here to hints concerning
these things in connection with the development of the
National Assembly. It was during the last days in August,
when the National Assembly undertook its first great errantry
in the affairs of foreign politics, and it could not happen other-
wise than that an immense gap should be made between their
will and their ability.

The policy which Prince Leiningen and the Imperial
Ministry first adopted with regard to external affairs, suffered
from both children's complaints and senility. Of the men who
would have known how to move on diplomatic ground there
were none who could have taken charge of the affairs of the
Embassy. Bunsen's duties prevented him from being in a
position to accept an office in the Central Power, and Stockmar,
who was always giving advice and making prophecies, was
not further removed from anything than from really under-
taking and co-operating in the matter.

The three envoys who were sent to the Great Powers
were Auerswald, Raumer, and Andrian, excellent men to be
sure, but without the necessary diplomatic past, and probably
also without any future of the kind. Thus the failure inside
the country had been added to the failure outside. At the
end of August a number of embassies had been created, which,
however, according to Heckscher's own declaration, had
nothing more to do than to give official notice of the entrance
into rule of the Administrator of the Empire, and to furnish
explanations of the relations in Frankfort. Any serious
foreign work on the part of the Ministry had, however,
already been rendered impossible by the ceaseless interpola-

VOL. I. Z

354 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

tions with which the National Assembly busied itself for days
together. To these matters, discussed, in the eyes of all
Europe, with so little dignity, the Schleswig armistice
question belonged first of all.

The storm which arose concerning the latter, and which
was to bring about the most lamentable events, burst forth in
the National Assembly on the 4th of September. On the
following day it was decided not to allow the Imperial troops
to return to Schleswig-Holstein. All the members of the
Imperial Ministry handed in their resignation. Dahlmann,
whose critical spirit had succeeded in accomplishing the
rejection of the armistice, had the courage to take upon him-
self the entire responsibility and burden of this affair, without
being able to effect the formation of a new Cabinet.

At this moment of the greatest excitement in and outside
of St Paul's Church, and on the eve of a frightful revolution,

O

I entered Frankfort. I had for a long time had the intention
of going there in person, in order to form an opinion of my
own. As the situation daily assumed a more threatening
character, I hastened my journey, arrived on the morning of
the 6th of September, and, to my astonishment, found the
Ministry overthrown.

I had had the particular intention of regulating some of
the affairs pertaining to the Coburg contingent with General
von Peucker as War Minister, now it was only possible for
me to make observations on what had occurred, and to ascer-
tain the state of helplessness in which they all were. For the
greater part of the Deputies were concerned at their own
victory, and the proposers of the cessation of the armistice
knew least of all what should be done.

I paid my respects to the Administrator of the Empire
on the same day, was with Leiningen for some time, and paid
Gagern a visit. I learned from my cousin that England,
France and Russia had sent threatening letters, and demanded
unconditionally of the Imperial Government that the con-
ditions of the Malmoe armistice were to be complied with.
The hopes of the Ministry were set on the fact that Dahlmann,
who had overthrown it, would not be able to form a new
Cabinet, and that they might therefore hope to make up the
difference of twenty votes, with which Dahlmann had won,

STORMY SESSION AT ST PAUL'S 355

when the principal question was voted for. Besides, Leiningen
showed but little desire to continue the direction of affairs.

When I went to the Administrator of the Empire, I found
him more composed than I had imagined he would be, after
what had been told me. He spoke rather quietly about the
decision arrived at by the National Assembly, on the preced-
ing day, and had worked out a system in which he blamed
Prussia as sharply as possible, but which he asserted would
assure the carrying out of the armistice : ' The question of a
war with Denmark,' said he, ' must by all means be separated
from the question of Prussia's conduct. The armistice must
be accepted, although Prussia has gone beyond her full
power.'

He then began to speak of Prussia with great anger, and
I noticed that it came from his heart when he judged Prussia's
conduct from the worst point of view. It angered him
especially that of the three conditions, under which the Central
Power had conferred the authority to conclude the armistice,
not a single one had been considered. It was not difficult to

O

see that the Administrator of the Empire regarded this
omission as an intentional neglect of his person and position.
He was confirmed in this by the fact that the envoy of the
Imperial Administration had been purposely deceived by
General von Below, on pretence of secret instructions having
arrived from Berlin.

Greatly as the Archduke John gave vent to his Prussian
antipathy, and greatly as he showed a kind of sympathy for
the insulted National Assembly, yet he appeared to be
entirely ignorant of everything which should have been done
without delay. It was hoped that Heckscher's retirement
from the Ministry would lull the storm in St Paul's, and that
the remaining Ministers could be retained. The long and
stormy session of the National Assembly, at which I was
present on the following day, did not make the impression
upon me that quiet days were to be expected.

In the part of St Paul's where I had a place, I was glad to
see several old acquaintances, .such as Erbach, Fiirstenberg
and Lichnowsky, as well as Radowitz and my old tutor
Lobell of Bonn, whose instructive information helped me
through the meaningless phrases of most of the speakers, and

356 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

the frightful contentions between Wesendonck, Vogt and
President Gagern. As on the second day also these scandalous
proceedings, which they assured me were not the rule, were
not calculated to give me any better opinion of the future of
Germany, I left Frankfort, going on the 10th of September
with a feeling of real comfort but full of the greatest dis-
appointment as well.

I had talked with and become acquainted with a great
many persons. At the house of the Consort of the Admini-
strator of the Empire, the Baroness von Brandhof, I again
met the latter, and he drew me into a conversation about the
Ministerial crisis. He asked nothing less than that I should
use my influence with Stockmar and get him to form a new
Ministry. In this I could not fail to perceive a want of
knowledge of the persons with whom the Administrator had
any dealings, and at once felt doubtful of the possibility of a
new Ministry. Stockmar laughingly assured me immediately
afterwards that it would never occur to him to assent to such
a desire on the part of the Administrator of the Empire, he
even said that it would now be the best thing for Prince
Leiningen to withdraw, as he would not soon find a more
favourable opportunity of doing so.

As is known, Leiningen retired from office, although the
Malmoe armistice was afterwards ratified by the National
Assembly, and Herr von Schmerling undertook the Presidency.
I described the impressions produced upon me by everything
— perhaps somewhat strongly — in a letter to my brother,
which strikes me to-day as being a historical document, and
therefore to be published here, on account of the main point ;
but the reader must remember that the pressure and excite-
ment of the moment caused me to use many a harsher word
than I should perhaps have done if only taking a calmly re-
trospective view :

' DEAR ALBERT, — As I presume that you are aware of my
stay here from Alexandrina's letter to Victoria, you will no
doubt excuse me if I only give you hasty sketches of the
immense impressions which the state of things here has made
upon me.

' The aim of my journey was to bespeak certain matters

LETTER TO PRINCE ALBERT 35 7

with the Ministers and individual Deputies, particularly our
own, which regard Saxon interests only. The fall of
Leiningen's Ministry, and the frightfully pregnant crisis,
naturally altered many things in my plan of operations. I
have got into the midst of the agitation, through my acquaint-
ance with most of the men of the day, and the good feelino-
which is entertained for me here gave me an opportunity on
the one hand of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the
existing state of things, and on the other of exercising some
influence over them. It is impossible for me to write more at
present ; but I will give you the following sketches :

' 1. Ministry. — Want of all vitality and therefore a speedy
downfall. Karl, with Peucker, is the only one who is now
personally sufficient. The others are nearly all unfitted for
being Ministers under present circumstances. There are long
lists of perverse actions which those gentlemen performed
with rare coolness.

' 2. National Assembly. — A company of men who for the
one part either do not understand their task, nor for the
other how they ought to behave in Parliament. Individually
great capacity, but they think they can work separately, and,
because they alone wish to shine, to eclipse one another and
raise themselves. A Right and a Left, but no regular party.
No regular leader and no party fidelity. The Ministry fell
principally because a few fools — even if Dahluiann is cata-
logued with them — in order to have themselves pitied as
martyrs, wished to belong to the minority, and so overcame
the Assembly by their speeches that they obtained a majority,
and overthrew their own Ministry. They now stand on
the ruins and cannot possibly form a Ministry from this
majority.

' All Germany is in anxious suspense. I have attended
frightful sessions. I understand now why Stockmar will not
belong to this Ministry at any price ; he cannot wish to have
anything in common with such people as we have here.

'3. Administrator of the Empire.— He is not trusted. I
cannot say whether this is right or wrong.

'The people here have no conception of real politics, of
the manner in which one must hold intercourse with Foreign
Powers. One's hair stands on end when one thinks what we

358 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

are coming to, if they continue as they are now doing. Many,
it is true, are only beginning to see, and they are horrified at
themselves, but many are blind from arrogance and self-
interest.

' I have wished you here with your calm understanding, in
order to cure their blindness. When you see Karl again,
remind him of this period and you will find a confirmation of
what I have written. — Your

' ERNEST.
' Frankfort, September 8, 1848.'

My gloomy views of things in Frankfort were in a few
days to be confirmed in a manner which was terrible beyond
all expectation. If, on the 16th of September, the crafty
majority of St Paul's had arrived at the decision not to hinder
the completion of the armistice of Malmoe, it was no longer
secure from the elements which the Left had figuratively and
openly called forth. That to which, in Parliament, under the
name of republican and democratic principles, they shame-
facedly tried to give the appearance of a legal battle, had
been already fully unveiled before the parliamentary simple-
tons on the 17th and laid the naked revolution bare to the
light of day. The arguments which had not been able to gain
a victory in the war of speeches at the eleventh hour, were to
be made clear to the conservative and honourable men in this
unlucky Assembly by the fists of the rabble.

They were only able by means of a trick to save the
members of the Right from the masses waiting at the gates
for them to leave St Paul's, making them go out through
a side exit which was left unguarded, thus outwitting the
friends of the republican Left.

On the 17th of September the republican unions in
Frankfort had sent a petition to the National Assembly, in
which they demanded the decision regarding the armistice to
be cancelled. All those who had voted for it, said the petition,
were traitors to their country. When the session of Parlia-
ment was opened on the 18th, armed crowds of people pressed
into the church, but were driven back by Gagern's presence
of mind ; but barricades were raised outside.

In the night between the 17th and 18th, Hessian, Prussian

RIOT IN FRANKFORT 359

and Austrian troops were sent for from Mainz, who on the
following noon were able to master the agitation without
shedding blood. In the afternoon, however, the fiorht be^an

° O t>

to assume a more serious and general aspect ; not the tenth part
of the militia had assembled to protect the National Assembly,
on the contrary, there were many who sided with the rioters,
amongst whom there were even members of the parliamentary
Left.

Accustomed as people at that time were to scenes of horror,
yet, as I had seen and spoken to so many of the threatened
men only a week before, I was deeply moved by the news
from Frankfort. Hardly had the first intelligence of the
rapacious attack on the National Assembly been spread, before
it was followed by the news of the death of Auerswald and
Lichnowsky. I shall never forget those moments, and
although the thrilling events are well known, yet it will
perhaps be of more than personal value if I introduce here a
few of the accurate descriptions which my well-informed and
quiet observer in Frankfort sent me, derived from his own
immediate experience :

'After the session/ von Meyern informed me on the 18th,
at four o'clock in the afternoon, ' the game became somewhat
more serious. At the entrance of the Hasengasse * a barricade
had been raised — the Heckerlied sounded from behind it.
The Austrian sappers charged, and it was splendid to see how
the white coats assaulted it and the rebels did honour to the
name of the street. Not a shot had as yet been fired. But
this did not last long, and near the Catholic church, from
behind a new barricade, they shot two Austrians dead. A
discharge in files was the reply. The result is as yet unknown.

' I went away to the Roman Emperor, to dine with Head
Marshal Wangenheim. About 150 paces from here, where
the line is extended to two small streets, two barricades,
larger than the first were built. A Prussian detachment

O

stationed itself underneath the Roman Emperor. They were
derided from the barricade, but did not move. Some of them
were shot dead before my eyes by men in the houses armed
with rifles ; they did not move. At length they were allowed
to shoot. A few discharges in files scattered the insurgents ;

* Hare Street or Lane.

360 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

but from behind the barricades and the windows several more
of their men were wounded with rifle bullets at a good
distance. The Prussians could do nothing without sappers
and cannons. In order to avoid unnecessary losses they
withdrew to the side of the street. Smoking my cigar on the
balcony of the Roman Emperor, I heard a bullet whistle
before my nose, and — my cigar was out, for the bullet had
cut it in two.

' The poor wounded men who are lying downstairs are
universally pitied. I saw one of the poor fellows die very
tranquilly. To-day, towards evening, about 10,000 men will
be here, Wiirtemberg artillery, troops from Nassau, Grand-
Ducal Hessian troops, and auxiliaries from Mainz. Early
to-morrow morning the cowardly mass of democrats, who are
always running away in the open streets, will have escaped
by every possible exit. The only consequence will be that
the National Assembly will be removed to Nuremberg, of
which many are already talking.'

' Frankfort, \§th September, early in the morning.

' YOUR HIGHNESS, MOST GRACIOUS DUKE AND SOVEREIGN. —
It is a sad duty which I have to perform, when I address
myself to Your Highness in my budget of to-day, in order to
announce the sad fate of Prince Lichnowsky. He was
mortally wounded yesterday evening in a most cruel manner,
and can hardly have lived through the night. He was so
rash as to ride out to meet General Auerswald of the
Wiirtemberg Artillery, and at the Eschenheimer Gate he fell
into the hands of a band of democrats, who at once shot after
the two riders, and wounded Lichnowsky, their sworn foe,
" whose entrails," they had sworn in the People's Assembly of
the day before yesterday, " to strew in the streets." Driven
to straits, they jumped down from their horses and fled into
a house. But here, unarmed as they were, they were seized ;
old General Auerswald was beaten to death with cudgels, and
Lichnowsky — it is too revolting — Lichnowsky, the valiant,
was held by two of these assassins and shot through the body
by a third at a distance of two paces.

' With this death wound, and arms almost cut in pieces,
besides a wound in the head, they carried him — I do not

DEA TU OF LIC UNO WSKY 36 1

know how it came to pass — to Bethmann's, where he is said
to have related the whole scene : " They have shot me," such
are said to have been his words, — "but poor Auerswald — I
cannot speak about it." Yesterday evening he was said to be
lying unconscious and beyond hope in the hospital.* It is so
revolting, that the occurrences in the city are almost driven
into the background.

' After I had carried my yesterday's budget to the post,
the firing ceased. Representatives belonging to the Left
thought it right as Members of Parliament to go to the
barricades in order to mediate. There was an armistice until
half-past six o'clock. Meanwhile troops arrived from all sides,
also Darmstadt and Wurtemberg artillery as well as cavalry.
Nevertheless the impudent insurgents demanded the with-
drawal of the troops outside of the city. " You have no con-
ditions whatever to make," General Nobili. the commander, is
said to have answered the barricade envoys, and sent them
back at once. All the blood which may be shed is naturally
laid to his account.

' After the expiration of the respite for parley, they broke
up the barricades at the entrance to the street with a few
cannon shots, — as I was again able to witness from the
balcony of the Romo,n Emperor — and stormed them with
Prussian and Darmstadt infantry.

'Herr von Boddien, now adjutant to the Archduke, rode in
several times amongst the insurgents, and on one occasion
received a whole discharge in file from them. The firing in
the streets of the more distant quarters of the city lasted
until nearly 11 o'clock in the evening, then everything grew
quiet. Frankfort has been declared in a state of siege by
the Imperial Ministry, and a court-martial has been announced.
I heard it read aloud in the English Court amidst great
rejoicing. It was necessary.

' The poor troops, in thick masses in the streets — almost
defenceless, one may say — were shot down, and they — took
prisoners, who will perhaps be some day condemned to
imprisonment. Our German troops are awfully good-
natured, as I have had an opportunity of noticing. Yester-

* Lichnowsky was staying at Bethmann's and was carried there at his own
request.

362 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF S AXE-CO BURG -GOT HA

day evening the Prussians had one officer, Captain Jiirgens,
killed, and a second one wounded ; the Darmstadters had a
staff officer severely wounded, shot through the body, and a
second one wounded. The Kurhessian battalion, now the
Fuldaer, were not trusted, and were kept back.

' Lieutenant von Griesheim, of Mainz, with whom I
spoke in the evening in the English Court, made an excursion
yesterday to Hanau, with fifty men, tore up the rails there,
in order to prevent a new relay from this abode of robbers,
and on the way back, captured a perfect den of robbers in a
village in which they shot at his men ; his men spiked a
Pole, and captured six ringleaders, amongst them a Frankfurter
militiaman in uniform, who had shot with them. As regards
the Frankfort militia generally, my opinion of them has been
confirmed ; at the general march not one-tenth appeared, and
several were seen behind the barricades. Also representa-
tives on the extreme Left are said to have been recognised
amongst the insurgents. The Prussians also arrested a
stranger at the Roman Emperor, who had the impudence to
shoot out of one of the windows.

' Everything appears quiet this morning. The Prussian
Deputies are holding a conference, and the National Assembly
will continue in the right course.
' With the deepest respect, etc.,

' VON MEYERN.'

In a letter which followed, von Meyern told me that,
besides Auerswald and Lichnowsky, old Jahn had also been
chased and wounded by the insurgents. Heckscher, however,
who had remained in Soden on the 18th, was only dragged
out of the railway carriage and roughly handled. His clothes
were torn from his body, and the escort saved him at the risk
of their own lives, and got him to Mainz. At the attack on
St Paul's, eighteen members of the Right, amongst whom was
Gagern, were on the list of the proscribed. Finally, Meyern
informed me, as the worst example of the horrible fanaticism,
that it was a woman who had shown the murderers Lich-
nowsky's hiding-place. The frightful woman struck him
furiously on the head with her parasol as he lay dying and
deserted on the ground. Considering the relations which I

A REMARKABLE PRESENTIAfENT 363

had had for so many years with Lichnowsky, one can imagine
what an impression this news made upon me. I had a feeling
of honest friendship for the much slandered, valiant martyr
of the German Revolution. In spite of his eccentric manners
he had something gentle and very sympathetic about him.
During my stay in Frankfort, I once had an opportunity of
seeing how well known and greatly hated the Prince was.
For, as he was accompanying me home late in the evening
from an entertainment at Bethmann's, we were presently
surrounded by a mass of people, who gave loud utterance to
their dislike of the Prince. I tried to get him quickly away
from this suspicious company, and did not fail to represent to
him the dangers by which he was surrounded, if he continued
to exasperate the democrats in his old way.

I have kept the last letter which he wrote me, and which
was probably the last one he wrote at all. His words, which
showed a remarkable presentiment, reached me almost at the
same time I received the news of his death. One cannot
read of his intention to start for Berlin on the 18th of
September without deep emotion, ' providing the events in
Frankfort did not prove too much for him.' I will contribute
what I can towards the memory of the brave warrior by
repeating his words here. It had occurred to me to prepare
a surprise for him on my return from Frankfort by sending
him the Order of the Ernestine House. He answered :

' MOST GRACIOUS SIR, — I have had the honour of receiv-
ing Your Highness's gracious letter of the 14th. The Order
which Your Highness has been pleased to bestow upon me,
and which Herr von Meyern brought me, will always remain
a valuable pledge of the sentiments which you, most gracious
sir, express so amiably in your letter, and on which I set a
high value. I beg Your Highness to allow me to express my
warmest thanks here for both.

' Herr von Meyern will have furnished information of the
important day yesterday, and the session of twelve hours. It
was the painfully won victory of healthy reason and order
over insanity and subversion. The Dahlmann and Herrmann
combination was already choked at the very outset ; a patch-
ing up of the former Cabinet was shown to be impossible

364 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

yesterday. Consequently a complete Prussian Cabinet is
possible, as yesterday proved more than anything the victory
of Prussian predominance, to which the two deputies of Your
Highness's division manfully and honestly contributed your
part. — Gagern also seems to realise this, for my departure is
fatal to him, and on his advice the Archduke sent this morn-
ing for Count Schwerin. — Nevertheless, I shall not let myself
be detained, and go early to-morrow to Potsdam, and thence to
Silesia. I expect to return in from ten to twelve days, and
shall then, if events do not prove too much for me, pay my
respects to Your Highness in Gotha. This is all that I can
say to-day. We had a riot yesterday ; to-day a still hotter
edition is expected. Laying myself respectfully at the feet of
Her Highness the Duchess, I remain with sincere attachment,
Your Highness' most obedient servant, ' F. LICHNOWSKY.'

Before the mail left Lichnowsky had added a leaf to the
letter, in which he made a request of me regarding a private
matter, and closed as follows :

' Things look bad in Berlin and Potsdam. There have been
excesses amongst the Cuirassier Guards. — They are talking
of an interim-Cabinet here, and then of a Gagern Ministry.
NOILS verrons !

1 Frankfort, September 17, Evening.'

My brother, who, as will be remembered, had formerly
mistrusted Lichnowsky on account of his Spanish adventures,
pleased me by the acknowledgment which he paid the fallen
man :

' Little as I used to like Lichnowsky's proceedings, yet I
have always greatly admired his talents as a speaker, and his
political courage, a gift which is more rare than any other in
our times, and his dreadful end moved me deeply. It is to
be hoped that severe measures will now be adopted against
the agitators, otherwise one stone will not be left upon the
other, and the misery will become unbounded.'

The Imperial Ministry, after the rising in September in
Frankfort, had the most praiseworthy intentions of providing
for the restoration of order in the different parts of Germany,
where the measures of the respective Governments did not

TOTAL WANT OF CO-OPERATION 365

appear sufficient ; unfortunately, as regarded this, there was a
total want of co-operation of united will and successful exe-
cution of suitable measures amongst the public authorities.
In no way supported by the territorial authorities, in open
conflict with Prussia, the combined Imperial troops were
never directed to the right spot, and in many lands, par-
ticularly in Thuringia, they aroused the suspicion that they
were only serving to put in practice the intentions of media-
tisation entertained by the National Assembly.

Whilst open insurrection ruled in different parts of the
Prussian monarchy, the inhabitants of neighbouring lands
felt themselves burdened and inconvenienced by the Imperial
troops, without considering their presence necessary. In the
kingdom of Saxony the internal dissolution was making ever
increasing progress, but the mobilised corps of the Imperial
army lay in the Saxon Duchies. In Baden, the invasion of
the Struwesian volunteers had been repulsed by the native
troops before the arrival of the Imperial contingent, at the
time of and in connection with the uprising in Frankfort, and
when they arrived they were as little able to prevent the
secret activity of the revolutionary propaganda there as in
Hesse and the Palatine.

It was a remarkable time ; whilst the uselessness of
princes was being preached and demonstrated in almost every
spot, the plenipotentiaries of the moment could not under-
stand that nothing could be done, unless legitimate and
historical activity of rule went hand in hand with the
founding of new Powers and new institutions.

CHAPTER XI

PRESSURE ON THE IMPERIAL MINISTRY OF THE GREAT POWERS OP
GERMANY.— THE AUSTRIAN COURT AND GOVERNMENT DRIVEN TO
OLMUTZ. — SCHWARZENBERG ASSUMES THE CONTROL OF AFFAIRS. —
PROGRAMME OF THE NEW MINISTRY. — SECRET INSTRUCTIONS TO

THE ARCHDUKE. COUNT BRANDENBURG. THE DUKE*S PERSONAL

FEELINGS TOWARDS THE KING OF PRUSSIA. RIVALRY BETWEEN

AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA. — GAGERN's LEADERSHIP. SCHEME FOR

THE ELECTION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA. GENERAL OPPOSITION. —

VON STEIN ON THE CRISIS. THE DUKE'S LETTER TO FREDERICK

WILLIAM. URGES HIM TO HEAD THE FATHERLAND. AUSTRIA

NEGOTIATING WITH HANOVER. HUMILIATION OF THE KING OF

PRUSSIA. PRINCE ALBERT'S COMMENTS. LAST ACT OF THE

FRANKFORT IMPERIAL TRAGEDY. — RECALL OF THE PRUSSIAN
DEPUTIES. — GRAVELL'S ABSURD MANIFESTOES. — ESCAPE OF THE

ARCHDUKE FROM FRANKFORT. HIS SUBTERFUGE. THE SCHLESWIG-

HOLSTEIN WAR. POPULARITY OF DUKE ERNEST. WHIMSICAL

APPEAL TO HIM TO ASSUME THE LEADERSHIP.

THERE could only be talk of an independent action on the
part of the Imperial Ministry, in so far as the two great
Powers of Germany left it the necessary elbow-room. As
long as the state of things in Prussia and Austria hindered
any decided activity on the part of the Governments, and in
Berlin, as well as in Vienna, the keeping up of the State
appeared to be placed in question every day. They could
still lull themselves to rest with illusions in Frankfort, as if
the Central Power really had a certain moral and material
support in the convictions of all the great land of Germany.

All these illusions in St Paul's were dispelled by the
events in Austria and Prussia during October and November.
Whilst the two great Powers were strengthening themselves
internally, stifling the Revolution in their midst, recovering,
as it was, that which they had lost, the universal doctrinary
discussions in Frankfort concerning a future Germany as-

AUSTRIAN COURT DRIVEN TO OLMUTZ 367

sumed a serious political aspect. Then, when one spoke of
the predominance of Prussia, of Austria's position in Germany,
of the hereditary or election Empire question, it had been
given a foundation in so far that, as a politically thoughtful
man could really conceive, the one might be expected of this
or that Power, and the other not.

In Austria after the October storms which had driven the
Court and the Government to the fortress of Olmiitz, Prince
Felix Schwarzenberg assumed the control of affairs on the
21st of November. Through this energetic man Austrian
politics at length again assumed a decided direction and colour,
they were able in Germany to count on a real factor. The
Ministry which Schwarzenberg had formed appeared before
the public on the 27th of November with a programme in
which it declared that it was its task to unite all the lands
and races of the monarchy in one State body. ' This point of
view,' it continued, ' points out at the same time the way in
the German question ; only when rejuvenated Austria and
rejuvenated Germany have assumed new and settled forms,
will it be possible to decide upon their mutual relations. Until
then Austria will continue faithfully to perform her duties as
a member of the Confederacy.'

This announcement appeared to raise some hope that an
understanding between Germany and Austria was possible,
but what Prince Schwarzenberg had understood in the words
' rejuvenated Germany ' was only later to be realised with
horror. That, however, Austria's aims were diametrically
opposed to all that which had formerly been denoted in
Frankfort, first by the decisive expression of the larger
States Confederation, and soon afterwards by the name of
the Gagern programme, could not long be concealed even from
the most incorrigible Optimists.

I had been able to obtain complete information of these
opposite tendencies in the course of Bavarian politics, from an
attentive observer in Munich. How far, meanwhile, the Arch-
duke in Frankfort was aware of the recession of the Schwar-
zenberg policy from the ways of every party which naturally
wished to maintain its place in the National Assembly is more
than I should like to decide.

As the Administrator of the Empire and his Ministerial

368 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

President were able to keep their negotiations with Schwar-
zenberg a complete secret, it was not possible to see through
the ways of the Austrian Government in Frankfort ; but in
the end it could not but remain the same thing for the issue
of events, whether the Administrator of the Empire was only
deceived or whether he himself was taking an active part in
the game of the Schwarzenberg policy. Under any circum-
stances the task consisted in so interpreting Austria's pro-
mised fidelity to the Confederacy, that the Archduke should
maintain the Austrian position in Frankfort as long as pos-
sible, until the proper time arrived for the real views of
Austria to be brought forward.

The relations of the Frankfort parties to the new Prussian
Ministry had developed otherwise, and, if one may so put it,
more honourably. For when, after the short Pfuel-Eichmann
Ministry, Count Brandenburg undertook the formation of a
Ministry on the 2nd of November, his first task consisted in
ensuring the Continuance of the Prussian monarchy according
to the Constitution, but he was also decided not to let the
German question drop.

With a complete understanding of the wants of Prussia,
Count Brandenburg had a warm heart for Germany, and
seriously intended to perform the duties of Prussia towards
her in a more complete manner than had hitherto been done.
As his plenipotentiary Camphausen in Frankfort at once
began to exercise a more serious influence, the hopes of the
party of unity at St Paul's who sympathised with Prussia
rose greatly. When, on the 9th of November, Count Branden-
burg appeared at the Berlin Parliament and read a Royal
message which ordered the removal of the Assembly to Bran-
denburg, where the session was to be resumed on the 27th, a

o7

feeling of ease spread throughout Germany, of having a great
weight removed, everyone thought that Prussia would at
length collect herself and was preparing to take a great step.

I will not go into particulars here ; it is known how the
Prussian National Assembly was broken up, and the Constitu-
tion of the oth of December was granted. Count Brandenburg's
intentions only partly suited the King from the beginning.
Prussia's misfortune was the union of the Ministerial Presi-

THE MANTEUFFELS 369

dency with a man who was much more in accordance with
the sentiments of the King than the latter himself.

In order to carry out the measures mentioned, Count
Brandenburg needed an unscrupulous colleague for internal
matters, and such a one would perhaps be difficult to find
outside the circles of those men, who were just beginning to
transform the really good traditions of the Prussian official
circles and the army into a political programme of reaction.
In this new party the Manteuffels played a part which was
well pleasing to the King and which enabled the Minister of
the Interior, chosen by Count Brandenburg himself, to exer-
cise an influence over German matters which incessantly
crossed the wishes of the President of the Ministry.

During the unhappy months of the year 1848 the party
had been able to weave a net around the entire Court, and as
they were only half sure of the King personally, they took all
the greater care to remove all influences which might work
upon Frederick William in opposition to them. Lichnowsky,
who was trusted by the party, informed me that they had
also chosen me as an object of attack with the King, and the
same thing was afterwards told me by the other side. They
tried with extraordinary skill to prevent all those persons
particularly from having any intercourse with the King, who
threatened to alter his attitude of aversion in the much hated
German question.

I by no means had, as my brother so often reproached me,
a feeling of personal mistrust towards the King, and still less
did I dislike him, I was even very much on his side. But
when one reflected that one of the leaders of that party of
the Ministry of the Interior now led, and possessed every
means of influencing the King, one could not possibly cherish
the hope that an understanding could be arrived at between
Frankfort and Prussia. Under these circumstances one could
not oppose a union with other Great Powers, when such a
union could promote the insurance of State order.

As the idea of the Ducal Saxon military contingent with
the Royal Saxon army had therefore been brought forward at
that time in the National Assembly, I made no opposition, as
has already been said in another chapter. Indeed, I did not
conceal from myself, that in case Saxony did not remain

VOL. i. A 2

370 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

faithfully German, a concurrence would be formed by the
annexation of Thuringia by the Prussian State which might
become very dangerous to the establishment of unity in
Germany.

Meanwhile the rivalry in Frankfort between the aspirants
of Austria and Prussia had given rise to a strange state of
things, which was to become extremely fatal. Instead of the
restoration of order in the large States becoming a signal for
the possibility of the formation of a Conservative Party
which would insist upon the unity of the Kingdom, nearly
all divisions of Parliament let themselves be moved to raise
an abominable clamour at the reaction, and no one had the
courage definitely to cast aside the cant of freedom. Even
the Imperial Ministry did not dare to go straight forward,
but always acted as if it had to support the freedom of
Austria and Prussia in the matter, and must be the watchman
of the so-called universal improvement.

Entirely undiplomatic missions to the Austrian and
Prussian Governments were sent, at least apparently, so that
the Imperial Ministry should not loose the support of the
whole, or half of the Left. They did not recoil before the
most desperate measures to gain their end. Thus, one rightly
had a feeling that Austria would hardly be inclined, after
they had allowed Blum to be shot, to negotiate much with his
colleagues.

A man of rank was therefore needed in order to keep up
the consideration for Imperial Government desired by Parlia-
ment, and the idea occurred to them to send my cousin to
Olmiitz. Without having asked him beforehand, they
attempted to force instructions upon him, which would forever
have made a man experienced in foreign politics ridiculous,
and he therefore, declared his inability to accept them.
Nevertheless the Ministry boasted of its unlucky idea to the
National Assembly, and explained its entire willingness to
inform the House of the instructions laid before Prince
Leiningen. Prince Leiningen's nomination was really made
public in the official Post-Office organ, without the latter
having given his consent.

Still more remarkable was their attitude in regard to
Prussian affairs, when the Ministry appeared to be almost in

GAGE RUTS ACCESSION 371

emulation of the Left in anxiety concerning the Berlin
National Assembly which had formerly been so striven
against. They sent Imperial commissioners to the Prussian
Government, demanding the removal of the Houses to Berlin !

People imagined that they could perceive a certain amount
of mischievous joy against Prussia on the Ministers' bench,
when the most nonsensical proposals were made in Parliament,
as, for example, the collection of the Imperial troops against
Prussia; the instructions to the war Minister to carry into
effect, to this end, the raising of the contingents of the smaller
and middle States within twice twenty-four hours ; or the
demand that the Imperial commissioners in Berlin were to
bring about the appointment of a Ministry there, which would
possess the confidence of the country, and much more of the
same kind. It is true that follies of the kind were suppressed
by the National Assembly itself, but the moral fall of the
great Assembly was more perceptible every day.

A more compact majority of Prussian envoys and those
who sided with Prussia was only formed very gradually,
under Gagern's leadership.

The latter had gone to Berlin at the end of November,
and on his return it was thought in Frankfort that an under-
standing had been established between him and the Prussian

O

Government. But whereas the tendencies towards the found-
ing of a Prussian-German Empire appeared to be strengthened,
a decision had been arrived at by Austria and Bavaria to blow
up the whole proud edifice of new Imperial unity at any
price. Towards this end the Austrian and Ultramontane
Deputies in St Paul's were partly drawn into service, and
partly the Administrator of the Empire himself. The latter
had, indeed, to submit to Schmerling's withdrawal from the
Ministry, and, good or bad, to accept a Cabinet under Gagern's
presidency which was inclined towards Prussia, but, with the
help of an alliance between the extreme Left and the Austrians,
they hoped to make the Constitution as democratic and the
new throne to be raised as uncomfortable for King Frederick
William IV as possible.

It will be of interest to insert here a piece of information
from von Meyern, who, in the middle of December, a few days
before the accession of Gagern to the Ministry, described the

372 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

general position to me in a way which, I think, was most
correct :

' "With regard to the future Head of the Empire, and the
definite Constitution of Germany in general connection with
this matter, and also the relation of Austria to Germany,
much has recently been done in secret here. The result which
I have been able to make out of the present condition of the
matter, according to the most varied information, and what
Privy Imperial Councillor Kohlschiitter confirmed and ex-
plained to me to-day, is pretty much as follows :

' The committee for the Constitution, having reached the
paragraph relating to the Head of the Empire in the Bill for
the Constitution, has again chosen a sub-committee for a
preliminary consultation. This committee, in which are
Dahlmann, Beseler, and I think Droysen, also, has finished
its work and has gone back in it to the hereditary Empire,
which is to be conferred on the Prussian dynasty. The
National Assembly is to elect, the King of Prussia is to
accept, and the opposition of the other States must give way
before the fait accompli, whilst Austria will be left out of
this States Confederation provided with a Prussian Head.
The States of second rank are to be compensated in an
Imperial Council, which would support the Emperor only
with their advice.

' This idea is, like the continuation of the " bold grasp,'' to
be seen in the self-election of the National Assembly, together
with that of Gagern. Gagern, with his centres, would also
provide a majority for it in the National Assembly, although
the left (the March union with 140 votes) would oppose it on
account of the hereditary Empire, and the Right (Vincke
with forty votes) on account of the self -election and the want
of union.

' Not only inside, but outside the National Assembly, it is
opposed by the most important hindrances. First of all, the
King of Prussia himself, whom Gagern tried in Berlin to
induce to accept, has made his consent dependent upon the
consent of the remaining German reigning Houses. Gagern
is also said to have returned from Berlin with the supposition
that the King would suspend the Prussian Constitution until
the proclamation of the one here, in order then to be able to

VON MEYERN ON THE POSITION 373

accept the German Constitution for Prussia along with
the German crown. Gagern alone appears to consider the
granting of a Prussian Constitution, which has meantime
become necessary, as no hindrance to the main point, and
must also have hopes that the King, once elected by the
National Assembly, will accept, as, since his return from
Berlin, he is said to be working for the idea more zealously
than ever.

' Further, according to the newspapers, Austria is said to be
opposed to her exclusion from Germany in favour of Prussian
predominence, and, what is more, to have had her claims to
equal rights for her German States with the other German
States founded on the Confederate Act, and her views of the
bond which is moreover to bind all German States without
exception more closely, openly asserted through an Archduke.
This would therefore, in any case, be a States Confederation,
even if more closely united, which Gervinus prophesied as
being the Austrian policy in his Article of the 6th inst., in
the supplement to the German newspaper.

' But, finally, Bavaria and the other South German Powers
of second and third rank, already known to be inimical to
Prussian predominence, particularly under the form of a
hereditary Empire, are said to be quite decided against the
self-election of the National Assembly, and as they are
thoroughly informed of what will be advised in this respect,
intend soon — as Herr Kohlschiitter tells me — in order to
protect themselves against the proposed fait accompli, to lay
a declaration before the National Assembly, in which they
will demand the exercise of their rights to the union.

'According to what Herr Kohlschiitter asserts, Hanover

O

appears to be in harmony with Bavaria (and Austria) regard-
ing this. He does not speak openly about Saxony especially,
but gives one to understand that she will also take part in
this, as, shrugging his shoulders, he said : " One could not but
deplore the fact that the pious wish for German unity would
not be fulfilled ; but there was no help for it, as one must go
with those who would last the longest." Thus, nothing great
could ever be arrived at !

' Even the Foreign diplomatists here are said to have inti-
mated that their Cabinets would interfere and not agree to

374 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

Prussian predominance. As regards the small States, the Powers
of secondary rank appear to expect that they would strike in
this difference on the side of Prussian predominence. The
Powers of secondary rank had the intention of proposing,
with Austria, a Confederate Directory in place of the Head
of the Empire. As a final blow, Herr von Blittersdorff thought
it necessary to nominate himself as Chief Defender of the
Gagern idea, his name alone being sufficient to injure it more
than any Power would do. Von Arnim belongs with him to
its supporters.'

To the difficulties mentioned in the above information,
which were expected to beset the Prussian Empire, I may add
that since the 2nd of December 1848, the ascension of the
throne by the son of the Archduke Charles and the abdication
of the Emperor Ferdinand, gave rise to the thought of an
Austro-German Empire in circles inclined towards Austria.

Although Austria's introduction into the limits of a
German Constitution was daily shown to be more difficult and
impossible in Parliamentary negotiations, yet the Austrians
by no means thought of receding from their position, and since
the middle of December, even the Administrator of the
Empire, throwing aside the veil of German patriotism with
ever increasing abandon, showed himself as the representative
of Austrian interests and intentions. His position with
regard to the Gagern Ministry chosen by him, or rather,
pressed upon him, was most singular, and only to be imagined
at a time when people were accustomed to see the most
opposite and unnatural elements side by side and working
together.

Complete pessimism with the one, new hopes of revolution
and anarchy with the others, were the consequences of the
schism between the Administrator of the Empire and his
Ministry. The observations which Herr von Stein found an
opportunity of imparting to me during his stay in Frankfort
before Christmas were very interesting :

' Our whole German question has again reached a bad
crisis, and if a solution is not soon arrived at, contrary to
hope, a complete sundering is inevitable, and even a worse
than before. Prince Leiningen, as well as the old experienced
diplomatist Smidt von Bremen, told me, that they could

VON STEIN'S OBSERVATIONS 375

form no idea whatever as to how the united Fatherland
would be brought about ; a German Diet appeared to be more
acceptable to both for the time being than the Imperial Diet ;
the settlement of the Imperial Constitution appears to be
highly doubtful.

' They think it possible that a provisory Head for three
years would suffice, that the present Administrator of the
Empire should make way for the King of Prussia, and that
the latter would only be elected by a small majority for a
time. Prince Leiningen, who unfortunately went to Karls-
ruhe yesterday, is very gloomy, believes that the particular
interests are being brought forward more and more, that the
revolutionary scenes will be repeated, and that anarchy is
prevalent in many circles, already sees the Empire falling, and
therefore advises for the present that there be no absorption
by it ; but that the less powerful Princes of Germany should
seek a point of support in the inner union, or in annexation
to more powerful States.

'The Thuringian alliance pleased him, although he is of
the opinion that an annexation to the Crown of Saxony would
be preferable, as the privileged position of Prince of the
House would seem to be more certainly assured. The
immediate province of the Empire was only mentioned before
me as a requisite spot, in which the Imperial Diet might hold
its sessions.

'The soiree given by the Administrator of the Empire
yesterday evening, and which was largely attended by the
Deputies and diplomatists, came just at the right time, but
made the comical impression upon me of a gathering of
passers-by in the common room of a post-office, or the waiting-
room of a railway station, for the fate of everything earthly
shone forth only too plainly, and the unsafety of the provisory
government was perceptible, at least to me, in the enter-
tainment.

' I spoke with nearly all the Ministers and Deputies. The
person of the Administrator of the Empire is perhaps too
unimportant, and his wife's presence in the drawing-room
could not improve it. Smiling satirically, I met Minister
Nothomb in the crowd, who, on his way from Berlin to
Brussels, is staying here for a few days. He is not distrustful

376 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

of Prussian affairs, and is at least expecting something fit to
eat from the German kitchen here. To see Radowitz and
Vogt of Giessen engaged in a long and eager conversation
would have been laughable, if it had not furnished a melan-
choly picture of the path taken by the groups in Parliament ;
both extremes are striving against reason, and have the
common wish that nothing may be accomplished.'

As Gagern's Ministry, now barely two weeks old, has
begun to waver a great deal during the past few days,
Herr von Stein remarked that it was a question whether
another Ministry could be formed at all. 'As a lure,' he
wrote, ' 2000 florins monthly have been voted for the Ministry,
but it would be more advisable to pay them by the week.'

It may be seen that at the end of the year, with regard to
the German question, a kind of humour made itself felt which
promised to put a quick end to things. Meantime worse was
to come, for time had been granted the Parliament really to
complete the work of the Constitution by the temporising
attitude of the Austrian and Bavarian Government. The
impossibility of carrying it out was not to be proclaimed by
those who intrigued the most against it, but by Prussia and
her King in person.

Meantime it could not but be admitted that during the
past six weeks of the new year Gagern's party worked
seriously, perseveringly and not without parliamentary skill
to bring the Constitution under shelter, even against the
strongest minorities. A long-wanted stricter discipline had
nevertheless at length been established by the necessities of
the day amongst the patriotic functions of Parliament. Nor
could it be prevented that a number of determinations were
taken up in the work of the constitution which would not
have appeared acceptable even to a Prince much more liberal
personally than Frederick William IV, yet, in the end, the
hereditary Empire had really been established by a very
small majority, as well as the election of the King of
Prussia.

For my part I had not waited for the result before doing
all I could to urge the King into a course of conduct which
would be the only remedy for Germany. As soon as I was
certain that the committee for the Constitution had come to

LETTER TO FREDEEICK WILLIAM IV 377

a determination with regard to the Imperial question, I
addressed the following letter to King Frederick William IV:

' Gotha, 1 4th January 1849.

'MOST ILLUSTRIOUS, MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY KING ! MOST
HIGHLY HONOURED SOVEREIGN COUSIN, — The committee for
the Constitution of the German National Assembly in Frank-
fort-on-the-Main has decided in a majority that an Emperor
shall be placed at the head of the German Empire.

' Only in this way can Germany attain greater unity, by
means of which her elevation to higher political importance
externally and the prospering of real freedom internally is
certain.

' I therefore hope that the future decision of the National
Assembly will join in this determination, but that the fate
of Germany will be placed in the hands of a Prince who
possesses will and strength thoroughly to fulfil his high
calling.

' Your Majesty is henceforth intended by divine Providence
to lead the German Fatherland to a happier future. Your
Majesty will therefore have no hesitation in obeying the call
to till this high position, as soon as it has reached Your
Majesty.

' I am expressing a wish which is certainly equally
entertained by the majority of the Princes of Germany, and
do not delay particularly to lay at the feet of Your Majesty
the declaration that I shall be pleased to see Your Majesty at
the head of Germany.

' I beg Your Majesty to accept the assurance of my dis-
tinguished regard and devotion, and remain, — Your Majesty's
obedient friend, cousin, and servant,

« ERNEST, D. of S. C. and G.

' Von Stein. To His Majesty the King of Prussia.'

In Berlin the greatest value had always been placed on
the accomplishment of the election of the German Emperor
by the unanimous vote of the princes; iny cordial letter
would at least have served to be taken as a symptom that
there were really princes in Germany, who were decided on
following with me the path indicated; but in Berlin they

378 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

passed over such utterances, or at most vouchsafed a negative
answer, the reasons for which were invariably the same, and
which are expressed in the now well-known letter of Frederick
William concerning the Imperial question. The only proper
means of summoning a Congress of Princes was not brought
under consideration in it.

Whilst in Frankfort the parliamentary battle over the
Constitution and the hereditary Empire thrust everything else
into the background, in Berlin the actions of the different
parties on diplomatic ground became more and more passion-
ate. It was as if Heaven and Hell should strive for the soul
of the irresolute King. Whereas, on the one hand, those
faithful to the Empire, a kind of idealistic diplomatist, the
Gagerns, Stockmars, Bunsens, Dahlmanris, made the utmost
endeavours to draw Frederick William IV over to the German
course, three elements united, in order to free the King
from the snare of what was already being called the Revolu-
tion : Foreign diplomacy, a German- Austrian Court coalition,
and Prussian particularism.

In order not to succumb to this threefold attack, Camp-
hausen in Frankfort tried to win the plenipotentiaries of all
the individual Governments over to assuming a certain
attitude and position before the second reading of the bill for
the Imperial Constitution. Gagern and the constitutional
party put off the consultation and decision of the Parliament
until the necessary instructions for the plenipotentiaries of
the individual States had arrived. The latter strove in every
way to obtain the information asked of them.

During the first two weeks in February conferences con-
cerning the bill for the Constitution, took place in the Council
of Confederate envoys under Camphausen's presidency. Un-
fortunately, however, a number of the plenipotentiaries in
Frankfort could not be induced to take part in these inde-
pendent transactions. Thus Welcker and Wydenbrugk for
Baden and Weimar, because they were under all circumstances
hostile to Prussia, and the Altenburg Republican Krutziger,
and as regarded the Saxon envoy Kohlsch titter, he had orders
from his Government to keep aloof.

Austria negotiated directly with Hanover, in order to nip
the work of the Constitution in the bud, and Herr von

AUSTRIAN PROPOSALS 379

Schmerling, who, since his retirement from the Ministry,
performed the functions of Austrian plenipotentiary, raised
a project according to which the entrance of the German
provinces belonging to Austria into a closer Confederate
State was to be agreed upon, if, on the other hand, they
declared themselves willing to admit a directory of six votes,
those of the Emperor and the five Kings. In return for this
the most complete possible acknowledgment of their natural
rights, and, after a time, the entrance into the tolls-union was
promised.

Of course these Austrian proposals were only calculated to
win back Bavaria, Hanover and Saxony all the more surely
from the idea of the Prussian Head, and in the Middle States
everything had accordingly been done in order to arouse oppo-
sition against Prussia. The most had been done in Bavaria
towards this, where the Ultramontanes raised their heads with
a prophetic look into the future of the coming years. But in
Saxony also they preferred to let the Republican creed thrive
and grow, because they saw in it a means against the pre-
tended intentions of Prussia.

In reality these intentions did not exist at all, for in
Berlin they allowed themselves, it is true, to be pushed and
urged, but they regarded their immediate task as being nothing
else than the putting down of the revolution, wherever and
however it should show itself. The King expressed these
ideas in all kinds of the most polite forms, to the various
envoys of the Frankfort Parliament, and to Gagern himself,
but secretly he desired and hoped nothing else than that the
National Assembly would play its part out as soon as possible,
and make a quick end of the Frankfort episode.

In order to effectuate this, they left everything, in Berlin,
with the greatest confidence, and according to the old method,
to their dear confederate Austria and her Administrator of
the Empire, who could not have been more fitted than he was
to wait phlegmatically in order to gain his end, whilst appear-
ing to be very busy. The Archduke, as everyone knows,
really was able so to arrange matters, that he let every con-
ceivable evil be heaped upon him until the end of June in
Frankfort, solely so as not to give up the last post. With
praiseworthy resignation he saw the work, with which his

380 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

good name was again connected, completely ruined, and finally
become an object of derision.

But the King of Prussia himself was not to play his
double part in the Frankfort Imperial dream without being
punished for it. Severe humiliation lay without doubt in
the lamentable way in which his election was laboriously
brought about by his party in Frankfort, and in the really
painful situation in which he found himself forced to refuse
an offered crown of the most imaginary kind, with the
appearance of feeling himself flattered thereby.

I am well aware that the customary manner of compre-
hending and describing these things is a very different one ;
vanity and a desire to dispute have almost entirely concealed
the fact in history, that the Empire was finally carried by a
majority of four votes in the National Assembly. They
forgot, or tried to forget, that at the election of Frederick
William IV not much more than a third of that proud
Assembly which had met a year before, and in which the
rights of Princes were more than once declared to be an
empty trifle, had taken part in the voting. That it is still
possible in books of history to spread the opinion that a less
powerful Prince would have been pleased to accept this
rump Empire from such hands is one of the tokens of small
political insight.

In reality Frederick William IV could have no other
feeling concerning the results of the long pains in labour of
the Frankfort Empire, than one of heavy defeat. Added to
this, not the least thing had been done by the Prussian
Government during the three months which had elapsed since
the Constitutional Committee had finished their work, in
order to obtain a consent, such as I had thought it right to
give the King, for my small part, on the 14th of January,
without being asked. The result of the whole action could
be none other than the refusal of the Empire by Frederick
William IV.

My brother, who was really not wanting in seriousness,
as far as regarded the German question, to which he had so
often devoted much reflection, nevertheless could not help
making the jesting remark :

' What is now to become of the poor nation, as the King

PRUSSIA'S REFUSAL 381

of Prussia has thrown the Emperor of the Germans into the
water, just when he was trying to stand on his feet ? '

When the last act of the Frankfort Imperial tragedy was
played at the end of March, and the refusal followed on the
3rd of April, I was in Schleswig-Holstein, and had had my
wish to take the field, away from the misery of politics,
fulfilled. In the next chapter I will relate these matters
connectedly, but at present I shall only bring up a few
principal points to complete the whole of what may be said
concerning the development of German affairs in general.

Even after, and in spite of Prussia's refusal, the question
of the acceptance of the Constitution worked out by the
National Assembly was not to be settled as regarded the
individual Governments. The Central Power supplied the
plenipotentiaries of the Governments with authentic copies of
the Imperial Constitution decided upon ; whether it was to be
recognised in the individual lands, and proclaimed, was a point
which would have to be immediately decided.

In a conference between the Imperial Ministry and the
Charge's d'Affaires of the individual lands on the 14th of April,
the declaration was made in Frankfort that the Central Power
henceforth regarded it as their task to show the value of the
Imperial Constitution and carrying into execution. Upon this
Schmerling arose in his quality of Austrian plenipotentiary,
in the name of his Government, with the communication
that Austria did not admit the final value of the Constitution,
but now, as before, insisted upon her views of union.

The hereditary Imperialists answered that they were just
about to formulate an answer to the refusal of the Imperial
Crown, and were therefore still on a business footing with
Prussia.

The further consequences were, that the Austrian envoys
in Frankfort were recalled by their respective Governments.
The Governments of the middle States, on the contrary,
adopted a temporising policy. In Bavaria, the painfully
formed Ministry under Pfordten had begun written negotia-
tions concerning the acceptance of the Imperial Constitution,
and critically settled the acceptable and unacceptable con-
ditions of the Imperial Constitution in extensive documents.

As these examinations were made on both sides with great

382 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBUBG-GOTHA

German thoroughness, one may say, that in the thirty-six
States of Germany an amount of written material was heaped
up over this Constitution which never saw the light, the
ordering of which will probably never be arrived at by the
pen of any author. As regarded my Government, it simply
accepted the Imperial Constitution.

In Saxony, Baden and the Palatine, the republican and
anarchical elements had made a last effort to organise a revolt
against the authorities of the land, under the apparently law-
ful flag of the Frankfort Constitution. The battle against the
revolution once more gave the Prussian State a favourable
opportunity of attempting to preserve the legitimate ideas of
her unity by ensuring the safety of Germany.

The only possible way which offered itself was to step
with strong hand into the place of the ever more and more
sinking Central Power. But the King avoided this very
thing in the most decided manner, although the Administrator
of the Empire assumed a more and more hostile attitude
towards Prussia, and at length the last consideration for the
Prussian Government was cast aside through the setting aside
of Gagern's Ministry.

A comical farce came near being played at the instalment
of the Gravell-Jochmus Ministry, concerning which I received
news which I should like to see preserved by posterity as
characteristic of the present state of things in Frankfort.

It must first be mentioned that in Prussia, on the 15th of
May, an edict of the King was promulgated, according to
which the Prussian envoys in Frankfort had their mandates
withdrawn, and that at the same time the opinion was held
in Berlin, that the Archduke would lay the office of Adminis-
trator of the Empire in the hands of the King of Prussia, as
information was then really being sent from Frankfort that
the Archduke was already prepared for the journey. But at
the last moment these plans of the Administrator of the
Empire were altered, and the session of the National Assembly
of the 16th of May offered a picture of a situation which could
never be forgotten :

' The recall of the Prussian Deputies was announced. The
reply of the latter, as well as of the entire National Assembly
— all against two voices — was, that no government had the

GRA VEIL AS PRESIDENT 383

right to recall representatives. The Prussian Deputies par-
ticularly explained, besides, that they would only go if, in
accordance with their views, the Assembly further forsook
the legal way of carrying out the Constitution. Deputy
Gravell announced his retirement in writing. After a while
he nevertheless appeared in person, and then on the Ministers'
bench. He was received with scornful laughter from every
side, and some voices were heard calling " out ! " Warned by
good friends, he really preferred to leave, as he had retired as
a Deputy, and was not yet introduced as a Minister. After
such an unfortunate beginning of the President of the Im-
perial Ministry, it may be necessary to say something about
him as a person.

' Gravell, Prussian Deputy, a man with a crimson face and
snow-white hair, but not, it appears, whitened by age, is the
only member of the National Assembly who rivals Moritz
Mohl in ridiculousness. Partly on account of his comical
ways, partly on account of the meaningless proposals brought
forward by him during the past year, he has hardly ever
mounted the tribune without being laughed at, he even usually
laughs at himself. This man, otherwise what is known as an
honest man, has been found fit by the Archduke to fill the
offices of President of the Ministry and Minister of the In-
terior. When the news was spread the day before yesterday
and yesterday everyone looked upon it as a bad joke, but it
was true, soon after his unlucky retirement Gravell returned
and handed the President a letter.

' Upon this the President read out his official nomination.
The new President mounted the tribune amidst a perfect
storm of shouts. But only after many and continued calls of
"order" could the uproar be stopped, when he named his
colleagues : Detmold, the small thoroughly German advocate
of the Directory of the Extreme Right, Minister of Justice.—
Mar, an unimportant Hamburger, Minister of Commerce ; a
War Minister not yet to be named on account of a condi-
tion made with him ; (Prince Wittgenstein. General from
Darmstadt, where, it is said, he had to retire), and as the best
of all, Jochmus, formerly a Hamburger clerk, then a Turkish
general, also a Pasha with two horsetails, of unknown life and
doubtful faith, German Imperial Minister for Foreign Affairs.

384 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

1 The indignation raised by such a farce and such mockery
flung into the face of the nation, is universal amongst all
parties, but it is greatest, if I may believe certain signs, on
the part of the Prussian plenipotentiaries — (that is, the
Government authorities which side with Prussia).

'To-day at four o'clock the Ministry will lay down a
programme which is formed on the lines, that the Central
Power will not worry itself about the work of the Constitu-
tion, and hopes that the National Assembly will not interfere
with the Administration. That a vote of mistrust will
follow this is certain, but it is also not improbable that the
Administrator of the Empire will be deposed.

' Regarding this latter event, the Committee of Thirty has
already sent in a notice of the installation of an Imperial
Regency of five members, and formally proposed it.'*

The gradual dissolution of the National Assembly and the
journey of the remnant to Stuttgart, the declaration of the
Administratior of the Empire that this Assembly was unlaw-
ful, its insane decisions and proclamations, and its final and
thorough military measures, are all either fresh in the reader's
recollection, or known from countless descriptions, which offer,
it is true, as a rule, a confused picture of the hopelessness and

* One of the most charming characteristics which Minister Gravell displayed to
all the world concerning himself and his Archducal master, has almost fallen into
oblivion. Under the title ' My Confession of Faith, regarding the political State
of Germany,' he had a Memoir printed after his entrance into the Ministry, which
he had handed the Administrator of the Empire as his programme, and which,
as he said, decided the latter to choose him for a Minister. The exceedingly
ridiculous nonsense which this document contains, and concerning which Herr
Gravell assures the public 'that it is the best justification of his appointment,' can
probably be found in numbers in different libraries. Gravell's circular note is less
well-known, that in which he informed the Government of his wretched so-called
programme. It is of the 20th of May, and runs as follows : ' It is my deep
conviction that the intellectual activity of the German nation has received an
impression which is indelible, and against which every other force will strive in
vain. This is the frank opinion of a Power which not only demands respect, but
with which only the presumptuous will neglect to establish friendly relations.

' Every force depends upon what direction it takes, and the direction of the
determinations of men and peoples is either decided by reason, or by the sensual
appetitive faculty. The more reflection, enlightenment of ideas, and clearness of
insight increase, the more influence and strength must reason win over public
opinion and the strength of will which it governs.

' These observations have made it appear essentially useful to me to circulate
the accompanying document throughout all parts of Germany, as it is at the same
time a fact and an appeal to German understanding. I enclose eighty copies of it,
with the humble request that you will hand one to your sovereigns, and send the
remainder to your Governments to be distributed, — The Imperial Minister of the
Interior,

' DR GRAVELL.

' To the Plenipotentiaries at the Provisory Central Power.
' The Honourable Minister of State, Baron von Stein.'1

THE ARCHDUKE ABSCONDS 385

defeat of its contemporaries. For that the national effort to
establish unity would come to so ignominious an end, was
even more than the worst pessimist had expected.

Not less depressing, however, was the part which the
Administrator of the Empire played out to the end in Frank-
fort. All Prussia's diplomatic attempts by means of Con-
ferences between the plenipotentiaries of the twenty-nine
States which had expressed themselves in favour of the Im-
perial Constitution, to obtain positive conclusions and the
leadership of the affairs of the Empire, were defeated by the
calculations of the Administrator of the Empire, who had
been cleverly prompted by the Austrian Cabinet under no
circumstances to give up his post. In order, therefore, to pre-
vent the occurrence of a gap in the executive power of the
Empire, the Archduke behaved in a remarkable manner, even
officially clothing his departure from Frankfort, which might
really rather be compared to an escape, in the form of a
journey to a bath, and pretending to the plenipotentiaries of
the States that he was thinking of unweariedly carrying on
the government of the Empire, as he was taking his Jochmus
Ministry with him, and would keep it near his person.

When the Darmstadt plenipotentiary Eigenbrodt, who
had been ordered to Berlin by his Government, took leave of
the Archduke on the 25th of June, the latter said, ' he would
go to a bathing place for six weeks, and take General Jochmus
with him, as he hoped that during this time Austria would
have mastered Italy and Hungary, and Prussia would then
assume a different tone.'

The recall of the Prussian plenipotentiary, and his ex-
planation that his Government no longer recognised the
Central Power, in no way altered the comedy played by the
Archduke in obedience to orders from Vienna, as may be
imagined. When he left Frankfort on the 30th of June with
his Minister Jochmus, unnoticed, the latter issued the follow-
ing circular note to all the plenipotentiaries of the German
States at the Central Power, which became known at that
time, indeed, but which must not be absent from any descrip-
tion of the characteristics of the desperate policy of those
times :

' His Imperial Highness the Archduke, Administrator of

VOL. I. B 2

386 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

the Empire has decided that the undersigned Imperial Minister
for Foreign Affairs and the Marine shall accompany His
Imperial Highness during his absence from Frankfort to the
Baths of Gastein, and has accordingly, by a decree issued
to-day, entrusted the Honourable President of the Imperial
Ministry Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg with the
control of the affairs of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and
the Marine.

'The undersigned while informing all the Honourable
Plenipotentiaries of the above, cannot refrain from expressing
his regret at the discontinuance of the friendly relations
which have hitherto existed during the short time of his
official activity, and at the same time expressing the pleasant
hope that after his return in the course of time to his post,
such relations will again be established. — The Imperial
Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Marine,

' JOCHMUS.
' Frankfort, 29th June 1849.'

Thus forsaken, and, to an extent, betrayed, the German
nation saw the hopes fall which had been nourished during
thirty years, and which appeared to fulfil the deceptive
beginning of the year 1848. It was, as Dahlmann expressed
it, a ' shipwreck in the bay.' No wonder, then, that under
these circumstances the better spirit of the nation was com-
promised by the May Revolution of the year 1849, and
that the anarchical and deserting elements of the Baden,
Palatine, and Saxon rebels chose a legitimate sign-board for
their blameable intentions.

One saw people, who had otherwise been faithful to their
patriotic duties and obligations, fall into deep political errors.
The statistics showed an exorbitant increase of cases of
madness in every part of Germany, and society appeared to
be entangling itself to the same degree in a labyrinth of re-
actionary fits and paroxysms, by which it was held in feverish
dreams of downfall.

As I was, at that time, somewhat more conspicuously in
popularity through my share in the popular Schleswig-Hol-
stein war, I had more than one opportunity of perceiving
the disturbances in the political conscience of otherwise quiet

AN AMUSING DOCUMENT 387

and good men. I have retained almost tragi-comical recol-
lections of the numerous invitations and importunities for me
to place myself at the head of a great national uprising.

A letter of this kind from a well known man, written to
me in May 1849, was perhaps more significant of the political
situation at that time, than all the articles supplied to public
newspapers. Therefore, the amusing document, but without
the name of the author, shall close the Frankfort tragedy in
not too serious a manner. As the man describes himself in his
letter as having an affection of the liver, no one will be very
much surprised if, in the oak forests of Kissingen, perhaps in
romantic remembrance of the times when the Franconian
peasantry wished to form the Empire which was to last a
thousand years, or the nobility revolted against the faithless
Princes, he thought of me as the leader of a great national
army, who was once more to do honour to the crown of
Charles the Great.

' Kissingen, \\th May 1849.

' MOST ILLUSTRIOUS DUKE ! MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE
AND SOVEREIGN, — Whilst Your Highness is fighting devotedly
for the German cause in Schleswig-Holstein, and holding it
against an insolent foe, it has been betrayed and forsaken by
those to whom the Germans looked as being those whose
power and position seemed to have called them to obtain the
victory. Your Highness knows the declarations made by the
King of Prussia and the Kings of Bavaria, Hanover and
Saxony who go with him, and Your Highness is aware of the
indignation of the German people at that declaration, as well
as of their enthusiasm for the Imperial Constitution, of the
events in Stuttgart and Dresden, and of the conduct and
uprising of the people, that is, in the Bavarian Rhineland, in
the three Franconias, in the Prussian Rhineland, Westphalia
and Hanover.

'No thoughtful man is any longer doubtful that the
German cause will win ; the only question is, whether this
victory will cost a thousand— or, as the King's attitude will
decree — a hundred thousand human lives, perhaps the noblest,
the best ; whether this victory will be gained in a few months,
or in ten years, whether it will be fought on the ground of

388 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA

rights or in the bloody revolution with the overthrow of
everything now existing, with the destruction of prosperity
and the education of Germany for a long time.

1 In this terrifying position Germany is looking for a
deliverer, and this deliverer is no other than yourself, High-
ness ; not I say this, all the voices in Germany are uttering
the same more or less loudly. All thinkers — their number is
great, who recoil from the betrayal of the German cause, as
before the horror-inspiring red Republic, are saying that
deliverance is only to be found if a German prince will place
himself at the head of the movement for the establishment
and carrying out of the Imperial Constitution ; that no other
Prince has the German sentiments, the sacrifice of the German
cause, the heroic courage, the great-heartedness necessary for
this, than yourself, Highness, the victor of Eckernfb'rde ; that
no other Prince than you, the branch of a highly celebrated
princely race, who is plainly called to lead the fate of the
nations of Europe, can accomplish this heroic work, that, if
Your Highness would appear with a troop of German warriors,
with a call to the German people, to gather around you for
the Imperial Constitution, for the German cause, all those
capable of carrying arms in every different people would
hasten to you, so that in a short time you would be the
master of a power which would at once gain the victory for
the German cause, which would put an end to the destructive
internecine war in a moment, perhaps even without a single
blow ; that the love, the veneration, the thanks of a great
nation would be given you, and history would rank you
amongst the first and noblest heroes.

' It may well appear presumptuous in me to interfere in
matters which I am not called upon to undertake ; but love
for my people, which I see on the verge of a frightful abyss,
the certainty that Your Highness is fitted for it through your
high position and your heroism, makes it my duty to express
to Your Highness with what confidence, with what hopes,
the German nation looks to you ; the conviction that I am
addressing a great-hearted Prince, whom I saw part from us
glowing, with enthusiasm for the German cause, that I speak
to my Prince, whom I am happy really to love and honour,

AN AMUSING DOCUMENT 389

has driven me to take this step, even with the possibility of
doing something improper.

'Your Highness will be the deliverer of your people.
Perhaps, for God is with the just cause, you will be that in a
few days.

'I am writing this from Kissingen, where I have been
staying for some weeks past in order to take the waters for a
bad liver complaint, and where I daily have an opportunity
of learning that the hearts of almost all German peoples
beat for Your Highness. — With the deepest respect, Your
Highness's, etc.'

Abel, 165

Aberdeen, Lord, 34, 155, 156, 187, 188,

190, 195, 197, 198, 199, 204
Adelaide, Queen, 70
Albert, Prince, of Austria, 58
Albert, Prince, 1, 19, 25, 44, 77, 81, 87,

88, 90, 91, 93, 94, 96, 129, 130, 140,

163, 170, 171, 172, 193, 19G, 198, 201,

207, 222, 289, 299, 313, 317, 324, 32o,

347,356

Aldegunde, Princess, 124
Alexander, Emperor, 7, 15, 46
Alexander, Duke of Wiirtemberg, 18
Alexander, Mensdorff, 18
Alexander, Netherlands, Prince, 69
Alexandra, Princess, of Baden, 126, 127,

129

Alexandrina, 356
Alten, 78
Altenburg, 53, 256
Altenstein, 117
Alvensleben, 305
Amalia, Princess, 83, 127
Andrian, 353
A:. -"ii. Mr, 94
Antas, das, 210, 211
Anton, Franz Friedrich, 5, 57, 83
Antoinette, Princess, 18
Arconati, Marchese, 75
Arndt, Ernest Moritz, 77
Arnim, von, 307, 374
Arrivabene, Count, 75, 76
Aschach, Pacha, Hadschi Abdullah, 184
Astod, Pacha, Kusselham ben Ali, 182
August, Duke of Saxe Gotha, 16, 41, 42,

43, 72, 131

Augusta, Princess, 16
Augustin, Count, 65

Auerswald, 353, 359, 360, 361, 362
Aulaire, St, 190, 198
Aumale, Duke of, 71, 131, 185, 214
Austria, Emperor of, 9, 11, 47, 48, 50, 59,
172, 325, 336

B

Baden, Grand Duke of, 125, 126, 127

128, 159, 170, 349
Baden, Hereditary Prince, 170
Bandiera, 210, 211
Barbes, 111
Basserman, 321
liaudissin, 84

Bavaria, Crown Prince of, 126
Bavaria, King of, 13, 150, 330, 349, 387
Beck, 164, 294
Becker, 266
Beckerath, 346
Bellinghausen, 40
Below, von, General, 355
Hernia, 198, 199
Bendemann, 84
Berger, 75

Bergerou, Professor, 74
Berlepsch, 258, 259
Bernhard, Erich Frund, Duke, 43, 44,

46, 51, 137, 138
Beseler, 372
Bethmann, 361
Bethmann-Hollweg, 78
Beust, von, 303
Bischer, 165
Blanc, Louis, 1*>2
Blanquis, 111
Blittersdorff, 159, 164, 374
Blum, 370

392

INDEX

Blumenbach, 56

Boddien, von, 361

Bomsin, 210

Borman, Colonel, 75

Borne, 110

Bourbons, the, 9, 123, 195, 199, 201

Brandenburg, Count, 368, 369

Brandhof, von, 356

Braun, von, 50, 51

Breitenstein, Professor, 78

Bremen, von, 374

Bresson, General, 179, 181, 186, 202, 203

Bressor, Ambassador, 117

Bretschneider, 24

Briegleb, 321, 322, 324, 326

Brohmer, von, 239, 269, 278, 279, 280,

281, 282, 284, 285, 286
Brouckeres, the two, 74
Brtichner, 249, 250, 252
Brunswick, Duke of, 40
Bulwer, Sir Henry Lytton, 74, 186, 190,

195, 203
Bunsen, 155, 169, 170, 220, 221, 222, 313,

322, 325, 342, 347, 353, 378
Buszlaben, von, 224
Butler, Mr, 184
Byron, 33

Cadiz, Duke of, 187, 188, 202

Camphausen, 338, 347, 368, 378

Canning, 33, 62

Carlos, Don, 62, 104, 115

Carlowitz, Councillor, 51, 63, 83

Carolina, Princess, 12, 16, 223

Cassel, Grand-Duke of, 40

Capodistrias, President, 64, 65

Charles, Archduke, 58, 374

Charles, Leiningen, 18

Charles, Prince, 40

Charles V, 3

Charles X, 34, 35, 222

Charlotte, Princess, 16

Chass^, General, 37

Chop, 269

Christina, Queen, 104, 179, 187, 188, 189,

190, 193, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200, 204,

205

Ciborias, Abbe', 2
Clementina, Princess, 71, 72, 131
Coburg, Prince of, 16, 32
Coburg-Saalfeld, 15, 34, 53
Colloredo, Count, 309, 332, 333
Constantine, Grand-Duke, 18
Cullier, Major, 109

Dahlmann, 313, 320, 325, 354, 357, 363,

372, 378, 386

Darmstadt, Grand-Duke of, 349
Dante, 83

De Keyser, 74

De Paulas, Franz, 180, 187, 202

Debaux, M. Paul, 36

Dennis, Captain, 182, 184

Detmold, 383

Devrient, Edward, 84

Devrient, Emil, 85

Dietz, Governor, 63, 97, 208, 209

Disraeli, 70

Donhotf, Count, 331, 333

Dowager Queen of Spain, 200

Droysen, 372

Drury, Rev. Mr, 74

Duckwitz, 346

Duncker, Professor, 267

Dungern, Count von, 296

Eberhardt, 231

Edward, Prince of Altenburg, 38

Eichhorn, Minister, 117

Eigenbrodt, Plenipotentiary, 385

Elector Frederick, 2

Elizabeth, Queen, 88, 89

England, Queen of, xiv., 129, 130, 135,

197, 207
Enrique, Don, 187, 190, 199, 200, 202,

203, 204

Erbach, Count, 77, 355
Erifa, Chamberlain, 52
Ernest Augustus, King, 60
Ernest, Coburg family, 2
Ernest, Prince, 1, 2, 8, !), 16, 29, 100,

107, 137, 138, 194, 195, 198, 202, 229,

241, 358, 377
Ernest the Pious, 42, 265
Ernestine Branch, 3
Eschwege, General, 208
Espartero, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 111,

115, 179, 205

Esterhazy, Prince Paul, 173
Eynard, 65

Falckelstein, von, 302

Ferdinand, Emperor, 58, 300, 301, 374

Ferdinand, King, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 135,

188, 196, 207, 209, 246
Ferdinand, Prince, 3, 8, 9, 15, 16, 58, 59,

63, 137, 193, 196, 199, 211
Feodora Leiningen, 18
Fichte, 78, 79
Fischer, Councillor, 51
Fiquelmont, 301

Florschuetz, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 52, 72
Florschuetz, Dr, 95
Francesco, Don, 203
Francis Charles, Archduke, 58
Francis, Duke of Modena, 124
Francis Emperor, 16, 58, 109

INDEX

393

Franz Josias, 3, 4, 9

Frederick, Augustus, 50, 81, 83, 303

Fredeiick, Duke IV, 41, 42, 43, 44 45

Frederick, II, 110

Frederick, Josias, old, 4, 8

Frederick, Perthes, 23, 52, 53

Frederick, Piince, 40, 58

Frederick the Gentle, 2

Frederick William II, 45

Frederick William III, 7, 51, 57, 59, 77,

110
Frederick William IV, 57, 117, 118, 119,

121, 153, 154, 150, 158, 159, 100, 107.

1(J8, 170, 171, 172, 170, 220, 221, 222,

293, 304, 307, 313, 317, 320, 331, 312.

351, 309, 371, 370, 377, 378, 380
French, Emperor of the, 2, 3
Frundsberg, 107
Fiirstcnberg, Prince of, 127, 355

Gabelentz, Herr von der, 341

Gablenz, 209, 333

Gagern, von, 290, 311, 337, 338, 341, 343,

351, 354, 3o(>, 358, 364, 371, 372, 373,

370, 378, 379, 382
Gallait, 74
Gartner, 78
George IV, 34
Gerard, Marshal, 132
Gerlache, President, 73
Gentzen, 15
Gneisenau, 7
Goethe, xiii

Gotha, Duke of, 5, 47, 51
Gottingen, seven, the, GO
Gravell, Deputy, 383, 384
Grieshcim, Lieutenant von, 3C2
Grey, 91

Grosvenor, Lord, 70
Gruben, 95
Guizot, 39, 109, 115, 116, 178, 185, 186,

187, 188, 190, 198, 199, 202, 205, 213,

214

H

Hamilton, Lord Claude, 70
Hanover, King of, 349, 387
Hapsburgs, The, 123
Hassenpthig, 159
Hassenstein, Professor, 21
Haufst angel, 84
Hebbel. Poet, 219

Heckscher, Herr, 344, 345, 353, 355, 362
Heine, 110

Helena of Mecklenburg, 71
Helena, Princess, 208
Henckel-Donnersmark, 77
Henry VIII, 89
Herrmann, 363
VOL. I.

Hess, Councillor, 231
Hillebrandt, 186
Hohenlohe, Prince, 18, 241
Holland, King of, 75
Holtzendorf, General von, 274
Humboldt, Alexander von, 158, 348
Huukiar, Skele^si, 07

I

Isabella, Queen, 179, 180, 185, 187, 188,

190, 191, 194, 1S»5, 202, 204
Itzstein, 309, 321

Jager, Poet, 77

Jakoly, 24

Jochimm, Minister, 383, 385, 386

Johanm, Princess, 83

John, Archduke, 59, 339, 340, 341, 342

343, 344, 34(5, 355
'John Landless, '3 13
John, Minister, 252
John, Prince, 82
John VI, 101

Joinville, Prince, 71, 213, 214, 215
Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, 137,

138

Julia, Princess, 18
Jurgens, Captain, 362

K

Kanitz, Baron, 169

Karl, Prince, 172

Kaufmann, 78

Kaitfungen, Chevalier Kunz von, 1, 2

Kent, Duchess of, 70, 89, 95, 108

Kent, Duke of, 18, 348

Kohary, Princess, 16

Kohlschutter, Councillor, 372, 373, 378

Kolowrai, 300

Kiinitz, Freiherr von, 42, 50, 51

Konneritz, 302

Kriesz, 21

Krutziger, Dr, 251, 252, 253, 378

Kutaluk, General, 75

Lafaurie, Dr, 248
Lamartine, 215
Landxfeld, Countess, 294, 295
Losson. 78

Lavradio, Count, 63, 99
Lebzelteni, 301
Lehmann, Madame. 162
Lehzcn, Baronew, 90, 91
Leibmann, 261

C 2

394

INDEX

Leiningen, Prince, 18, 52, 125, 129, 160,
170, 171, 261, 265, 294, 295, 346, 347,
353, 355, 35(5, 357, 370, 374, 375

Leopold, of Belgium, King, 4, 5, C, 13,
27, 32, 36, 01, 62, 65, 66, 71, 72, 74, 75,
76, 81, 90, 91, 111, 112, 115, 124, 125,
129, 134, 136, 138, 141, 143, 149, 157,
170, 174, 175, 189, 191, 193, 1!<7, 198,
203, 204, 208, 211, 222, 225, 230, 237,
246. 239, 348, 352

Leopold, Prince, 3, 7. 16, 33, 34, 36, 189,

190, 191, 192, 196, 197, 199, 2'J4
Lepel, 143, 111, 145, 146
Lesseps, 180

Leuchtenberg, Duke of, 36, 63
Lichnowsky, Prince, 158, 355, 359, 360,

362, 363, 364, 309

Lindeiiau, Privy Councillor von, 41, 43
Lippe Btickeburg, Prince of, 80
Lobell, 78, 355
Lotz, Councillor, 43, 44, 51
Louis, Archduke, 300
Louis III, 296
Louis, of Bavaria, 33, 66, 124, 165, 294,

295, 296
Louis Philippe, 35, 62, 63, 67, 71, 90,

109, 110, 111, 114, 115, 116, 123, 176,

177, 178, 179, 181, 185, 186, 187, 188,

191, 192, 193, 195, 197, 198, 199, 200,
202, 203, 204, 212, 213, 214, 215, 221

Louis XIV, 161, 197
Louis XVI, 157
Louisa Charlotta, 180
Louise, of Saxe-Gotha, 16, 43, 96
Louise, Queen, 90, 204
Louie', Marquis, 207
Loweufels, von, 84, 95, 102, 103
Lowenstein, Prince, 77
Ludwig, 152

M

Madon, 74

Magnan, General, 75

Mahmond, Sultan, 109

Mangold, Baron von, 84

Manteuffels, The, 369

Mar, 383

Maria Christina, 177, 179, 180, 181, 185,

186, 192, 197, 198
Maria, Donna, 62, 63, 96, 97, 99, 205,

207, 209, 211
Marie, Princess, 17, 126
Marie, Queen, 83, 95, 124, 128
Marryat, Captain, 70
Martin, 24
Maurer. 165

Max Joseph, King, 45, 320
Max, Prince, 57
Maximilian II, 296
Mazariu, 161
Medjid, Abdul, 109
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand-Duke, 56,

80

Mehemed AH, 67, 109, 115
Melbourne, Lord, 113, 115
Mendelssohn, 85
Mensdorff, Alexander and Arthur, 178,

209, 210

Mensdortf, Pouilly, Count, 8, 9, 18
Menzel, 152
Metternich, 15, 40, 46, 47. 50, 58, 112,

115, 118, 119, 155, 156, 157, 162, 173,

174, 176, 212, 213, 286, 290, 291, 293,

298, 300

Meyer, 200, 261, 262
Meyern, von, 337, 342, 359, 302, 363, 371
Miguel, Don, 62, 207, 210
Minckwitz, General von, 50, 51
Minckwitz, Court Marshal von, 259
Mirattores, 180
Mohl, Moritz, 383
Mohl, Robert, 165, 346
Montpensier, Due de, 188, 191, 196, 202,

2C.3, 205, 212

Montpensier, Duchess, 222
Muhlenfels, von, 267, 268, 269, 276

N

Napoleon, 4, 6, 15, 16, 23, 120

Napoleon, Louis, 111

Narvaez, 108, 179, 180, 205

Nebenius. 104

Nemours, Due de, 36, 63, 90, 109, 131,

215, 223

Nicholas, Czar, 40, 46, 59, 155, 165, 220
Nissen, 78
Nobili, General, 361
Noggerath, 78
Nothomb, Minister, 375

Olozoga, 179

Orange, Prince of, 69

Orientalis, Isidorus, 251

Orleans, Duke of, 71, 130, 214

O'Sullivan, 174

Otto, Emperor, 255

Otto of Greiz, 209

Otto, Prince of Bavaria, 36, 66

Oudinot, 132

Oxenstierna, 112

Pacheco, 205

Palmella-Saldanha, Ministry. 210

Palmerston, 62, 63, 65, 109, 111, 112,
113, 114, 115, 170, 186, 187, 190, 197,
19?, 199, 200, 2C2, 204, 210, 211, 212,
213

Parker, Admiral, 211

Pedro, Emperor Don, S3

Pellico, Silvio, 75

INDEX

395

Perthes, 78, 79, 337, 343

Peucker, Major General von, 345 354

357
Pfordten, Herr von, 278, 302, 303 335

336, 381
Pius IX, 176

Planitz, Minister von, 248, 252
Pontois, M. de, 112
Pope, The, 213
Portugal, Queen of, 63
Prim, General, 17!)
Prince, English, 00
Prodzinsky, General, 73
Prussia, Crown Prince of, 56, 221. 306.

322
Prussia, King of, 14, 149, 150, 103, 170,

171, 172, 174, 213, 220, 2!)8, 300, 307,

300, 310, 314, 317, 322, 327, 330 372

375, 380, 382, 387

Queen Mother of Spain, 193
Queen of England, 170, 222, 223
Qu^telet, 72, 73
Quinet, Edgar, 110

Rabenhorst, Minister, 275, 276, 277, 302
Radowitz, ItiO, 167, 169, 171, 213, 309,

355, 376
Raumer, 353
Raveaux, 339
Razumoffsky, 12
Re*el, Bailiff, 235
Rehfuss, 78
Reisziger, 85
Rettig, 164

Rianzares, Duke of, 193
Richelieu, 161
Rochow, 119
Roder, 269
Romer, 30!)
Rotteck-Welcker, 110
Russia, Emperor of, 9, 12

Salamanca, 180, 205

Saldanha, General, 62, 211

Santa Maria, 103

Saxe-Coburg, Prince of, 36, 190, 265

Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duke of, 48, 50

Saxe-Meiningen, Duke of, 48, 53, 349

Saxon Royal Family, 1

Saxony, Ducal Highness, 46

Saxony, King of, 45, 50, 88, 108, 126,

256, 274, 344, 387
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Prince,

3>6
Seck«ndorf, Herr von, 251, 252

Serr, Major, 85

Schaarschmidt, Privy Councillor, 50, 51

Schulling, 117

Schenk, U5, 1G5

Schiller, 80

Schlartin, 167

Schlegel, 78, 80

Schleiemiacher, 117

Schmerling, 313, 332, 337. 338, 341, 345
350, 371, 379, 381

Schmidt, Georg, 2

Schiinburij, Frederick von, 2

Schreckenstein, von, 351

Schroder, Sophie, 85

Schumann, 80

Schwartz, Councillor, 257

Schwarzenberg, Prince Felix, 367, 368

Schweinitz, 2

Schwerin, Count, 364

Shakesi>eare, 80

Sophia, Princess, 18

Soult, Marshal, 109

Spessart, 269, 271

St Leger, General, 207

Stein, von, 223, 235, 239, 244, 24«, 252.
257, 207, 268, 269, 270, 274, 277, 278,
279, 281, 2HO, 374, 376, 377, 384

Stephen, Archduke, 173

Stockmar, 63, 90, 91, 93, 94, 132, 14L
142, 170, 171, 172, 188, 237, 256, 202,
308, 313, 322, 326, 337, 342, 343, 344,
347, 353, 350, 357, 378

Stuarts, The, 123

Talleyrand, 123

Terceira, Duke of, 210

Tettenborn, General, 9

Theodore, Prince of Thurn and Taxis. 334

Thiers, 108, 109, 111, 114, 115, 131, 177,

186, 214, 216
Tieck, 84
Tiedge, 84

Trapani, Duke of, 186, 190, 191, 193
Triitschler, 224
Tudors, The, 123
Turkheim, Herr von, 349

U

Ubedom, 313

Van Praet, 74

Vaux, de, 74

Victoria, Prince**, IS

Victoria, Queen, 18, 69, 70, 88, 90, 93
96, 108. 125, 182, 187, 188, 191, 194.'
195, 199, 201, 203. 204, 209. 210. 35«

Vigo, General Mendez, 211

396

INDEX

Villaflor, 62
Vincke, 340, 341, 372
Vittoria, Duke of, 106
Vogt, 356, 376

W

Waldkirch, Count, 294

Wallerstcin, Prince, 165, 295

Walter, 78, 79

Wangenheim, H. M., 359

Wappers, 74

Watzdorf, Herr von, 257, 269, 270, 271,

332
Weimar, Grand-Duke of, 45, 50, 264, 271,

277, 344

Weitersheim, 83, 302
Welcker, 159, 321, 378
Wellington, Lord, 34, 70, 72, 220
Wesendonck, 356
Wesenberg, 301, 333
Westminister, Duke of, 70

Wettins, the ancient, 2

Weyrs, de, 74

Wichmann, 72

William, Emperor, 14

William IV, 40, 59, 69, 70, 90

William, Prince of Prussia, 126

Wilmovsky, von, 77

Wilson, Sir Charles, 102

Wittgenstein, Prince, 383

Witzleben, von, 4

Wrangel, General von, 334

Wrede, 294

Wiirtemberg, King of, 13, 45, 331, 349

Wurzer, 78

Wustemann, Councillor, 51

Wutzer, Wilhelm, 77

Wydenbrugk, 256, 267, 378

Wylde, Colonel, 211

Zeschau, 83

END OF VOL. I.

DD

205

E72A3

1888

V.I

C.I

ROBA