Page images
PDF
EPUB

MODERN FRANKFORT.

In times like the present, when the most exciting political dishes are served up to us every day with an abundance and variety unprecedented in the annals of the world, we are apt to become dainty and fastidious, and to turn with indifference from those which are less highly flavored, or whose flavor is less to our taste. We must own that this has been the case with us as regards the so-called German National Parliament. We have regularly skipped those columns in the newspapers which stood under the unpromising heading of "State of Germany," or "Assembly at Frankfort;" or have only consented to wade through them when there was nothing better, or rather nothing worse to be had. Of all the provisional governments, dictatorships, and presidentships, which during the last few months have undertaken to reform the abuses of government, that belonging to Baron Gagern has interested us the least; and even the monstrous fact of the election of a power by those who had no power to elect, to be placed in authority over the powers that already exist though the most daring anomaly in these all-daring times-failed to excite us to more than a passing wonder as to what on earth the good Germans would now be about. In short, we felt that though, right or wrong, they were working at something, and that not in a corner but in the face of all nations, yet it would be long enough before any thing definite came of their consultations, and soon enough to try and understand it when that time came.

The truth is, we had never sufficient faith in the grievances of the Germans to have any interest in, or even patience with, the means they have undertaken to redress them. They had always appeared to us such a happy people, with their small taxes, cheap living, and petty titles their shut-up shops during dinnertime and siesta, their thin beer and delicious music in the evening, and their smothering cigar-smoke and unrestricted liberty of corpulency all the day long, that we could never bring ourselves to look upon them in the light of a persecuted race, but rather wondered why they were not a contented one. There is no doubt, however, that though the affairs of Germany were nominally administered by a Diet representing the different States of the Empire, yet that, in point of fact, Austria alone ruled the Diet; and that whatever reso

|

lutions for reform might be passed in the small representative chamber of the lesser powers, such as Baden, Darmstadt, &c., they were invariably stifled in their further necessary passage through the Diet itself. Still, even through this reluctant and impracticable channel, it is certain that some small amount of reform was occasionally wrung-witness the Zollverein throughout Germany—and more might have been expected had the people been content to wait, or rather, had the French Revolution not happened, or had the German students been locked up in their chambers. It is difficult for any one with sound English feelings to enter into the grievances of a people who, as they freely admit on all hands, have enjoyed great exemption from taxation, a flourishing commerce, an incorrupt administration of justice, and perfect freedom of religious opinion-even to the denial of religion itself; or to believe that, in the right of public discussion, in universal suffrage, and in the uncontrolled liberty of the press, will be found the panacea for all such evils as they may, nevertheless, have to suffer. But in this the Germans themselves have implicit faith; for with all their present disaffection to the old regime, the worst unkindness they lay to its charge is, that they were restricted from the discussion of politics, either in the form of popular meetings or through the medium of the press. Time, therefore, must prove whether these privileges will really bring them what they covet, or whether, in the means they have taken to acquire these and something more, they have not committed a great blunder, as well as no little sin.

Meanwhile, in the shower of pamphlets and babel of words which the first riotous jubilee of loosened pens and tongues has occasioned

every one looking eagerly at the future, but none dwelling upon the past-it has been so difficult, even upon the spot, to trace the events of the last few months, to know precisely what was meant by the "Pro Parlament,' or the "Sitting of the Fifty," that we scruple less in giving our readers a short summary of that which it gave us some trouble to learn.

[ocr errors]

It is well known that for many years the cause of Reform, more or less reasonable or treasonable in its demands, has been fighting and preparing in Germany, not only among associations of private individuals-illegal, of course-but also by an open party of public

[blocks in formation]

men in the Chambers of those States which as members of the Parliament itself. Mean

had granted their subjects a form of representation. Among these latter, Baron Gagern had long been known as the leader of the extreme Opposition in the Chambers of Hesse Darmstadt, of which he was a deputy. Disappointed, however, in his efforts, and finding no favorable occasion for action, he retired, as much in disgust as in disgrace, to his estate, where he lived in seclusion for nine years, devoting himself, Cincinnatus-like, to the pursuits of agriculture. The French Revolution now broke out; and almost every German State became convulsed to its centre. Gagern left his fields; men of kindred opinions rallied together; and seven of the leaders of the Reform party, Gagern being one of them, met at Heidelberg, to deliberate, both as to the means of stemming the exigences of the times and of taking advantage of them. It was now Reform against Revolution; a different order of things against total disorder. The result of this meeting was an invitation, in the names of these seven, to the chief men in Germany known as the friends of the liberal cause, summoning them to assemble upon a certain day at Frankfort, for the avowed discussion of public affairs. The day arrived, and with it the self-appointed deputies, to the number of six hundred, who were received in Frankfort with tears, and embraces, and triumphal arches. This was the "Pro Parlament."

Thus far every step they had taken, however justified by the general paralysis of rulers and cabinets, and by the increasing insubordination of the people, had been, strictly speaking, illegal. Now the sovereigns gave a certain sanction to the matter, by sending seventeen “Vertrauen's Männer,' or men of confidence, to Frankfort, not as protestants against the Assembly, or spies upon its acts, but as open and friendly participators in it, thus giving the body an indirect authority by their very presence. These six hundred individuals had no comfortable five florins a-day to maintain them, and some of them had come from a considerable distance, so, after a few days more of general festivity than of serious deliberation, they broke up and dispersed; leaving a committee of fifty to sit till the universal-suffrage elections should have returned the real representatives of the people. These fifty were of a very radical complexion-the restoration of German nationality their chief dream, and the war with Denmark the rash consequence. After sitting about a month, and doing this and other mischief, this body was again absorbed in the more regularly chosen deputies who now assembled again at Frankfort, many of the fifty retaining office

while the Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt, pursuing the same policy which most of the German sovereigns had adopted, or been compelled to adopt, namely, that of calling to their councils men whom they had most mistrusted, had appointed Baron Gagern his prime minister, an office which he accepted and held, till required to exchange it for that of President of the Parliament. From which time his history, as well as that of the Assembly, is too well known to be repeated.

Little, therefore, as one can sympathize with, or trust the proceedings of a body of men, who, while all was confusion around, and the utmost circumspection requisite to vindicate their position, have begun by an unjust aggressive war, and persist in continuing it; and difficult as it may be to justify the manner in which the parliament at Frankfort commenced, and perfectly impossible as it is to throw any light on what they intend doing; yet the outward face of this political drama farce or tragedy, as it may prove is one of no common interest. It has some of the most noted and most notorious characters of modern Germany for its actors, and the picturesque and historical locality of the old city of Frankfort for its scenery. Every thing that you see and hear shows that you are on the spot where experiments on a gigantic scale are in progress for better or for worse; that you are in the centre of a modern political fermentation, carried on, if not with much greater promise of a sound and healthy result than in Paris, yet, at all events, with a greater show of earnestness and decorum. You see that if the Germans are trying to deceive any body in their present expectations, it is first and foremost themselves; that they have the serious form and intention of business, though, from the noise they make about it, business to which they are unaccustomed, and for which it remains to be proved whether they be at all competent.

But there is no doubt that, as regards the locality, they are in the right place. Frankfort seems the natural home for all political meetings. It has been the neutral ground where all parties could meet. A free republic itself, it is within its walls that the most absolute monarchs have been chosen and crowned. There is a significant history of the past in its strong gates, and high houses, and narrow streets, and its Römer hall lined with the pictures of the emperors of Germany-where, by a strange coincidence, the last vacant space was filled up by the last monarch who formally bore that title which many modern deputy may, perhaps, read with an exulting sense of

[ocr errors]

a

present freedom; but there is also a deep moral in the lovely gardens into which the old belligerent walls have been transformed, and which now encircle the city with one verdant bower, on which we would have them more especially ponder with an earnest sense of future responsibility. The present walls of Frankfort have been literally reared by peace, and her bulwarks by prosperity. Every tree which now overshadows the groups daily swarming in these unique promenades, tells of that total freedom from all war's alarms which the country has enjoyed for the last thirty years; and with the Parliament must rest the blame if that freedom be interrupted.

Meanwhile, here in these gardens, as well as in every place of public resort in the city, may be seen and heard those signs of increased bustle and activity which the presence of the National Assembly excites. The hotels are crammed full, while, upon the strength of having six hundred and eightyfour additional individuals in the city-all of them with the unusually liberal sum of five florins, or nine shillings, a-day, to spend, and that not their own the hotel-keepers have most cunningly raised their prices. The cigar-venders should do the same, for the din of voices and the smoke of cigars are equally incessant. If you step into any public room toward dining or supping hours you are deafened and stifled. Never, even in Germany, was there known such a consumption of tobacco and waste of breath. Words and smoke are suspiciously close together. It is the fashion now for every body to talk politics, or, at least, to show that they may talk what they imagine to be politics, without let or hindrance, and at the top of their voices. Here and there may be seen a quiet, business-like individual, reading or writing in complete abstraction, or two friends engaged in confidential conversation in their usual tones of voice; for you might openly repeat to your neighbor the greatest State secret in the world, without fear of its going any further: but otherwise all are talking as loud as they can, and many thumping the table with their knives and forks besides. If you strain your ears you may hear the names of the favorite liberal deputies, or the words Patriotismus, Einheit, and Nationalität, with a few more similar expressions, recurring in the universal din, as regularly as the leading words in a catch; and a stranger might go away with the impression that all these noisy talkers were only saying the same thing over and over again, and perhaps not be so very far wrong either.

Even among the common walkers in the promenades, and passers in the streets, you

66

see that there is something unusual going on. They are decorous and orderly. that is, the higher and respectable classes- but they have a conceited, important look, as if the transactions of the day greatly increased their individual consequence. They knit their brows, and stroke their beards, with an air of profound senatorial abstraction, and even puff their cigars with a certain self-satisfied sense of having ein Parlament." In other respects, too, the state of the times is shown by the improved behaviour of the officials. They have the politeness of men who are trembling for their places, and who would not give offence for the world, by look or deed. Never were travellers so civilly treated in Germany, at post-office, passport-office, and other bureaux, as they are now. But, by the same reason, the people have as much deteriorated. They are rude and uncourteous if addressed, carry a scarce suppressed insolence in look and manner, while the remarks openly uttered as the well-appointed Bethmann carriage drives past. on the promenades, testify how much the same feeling against the rich, which exists in France, has extended here.

The German cockade, black, red, and yellow, is universally worn — generally in the shape of a large button, staring directly in front of the hat or cap, like a ferocious Polyphemus' eye; frequently in perfect harmony with the rough-bearded countenance beneath, but sometimes contrasting ludicrously with a peaceful inane face, which looks half frightened at what it has mounted. Roses of black, red, and gold, for the use of ladies, are to be seen in the shop windows; but, whether to their credit or not, we never saw a woman of any kind wearing the colors at all. On the contrary, vagaries of dress are entirely confined to the other sex, especially to snobbishlooking youths, anxiously nourishing beards which will not come, who walk about with ugly, open, bull-throats, and broad beaver hats and feathers, as if the unity of Germany all depended upon their looking like mountebanks.

The booksellers' shops are also highly significant of the times. Their shelves groan beneath the weight of new pamphlets. For it is the same with writing as with speaking. Every body is anxious to show that his pen as well as his tongue is at liberty; and there is no one so obscure who does not think it his duty to give a kick of spite at the dying lion of German Absolutism, or a helping hand to the rising form, indefinite and unsubstantial as it is, of German Unity, People's Sovereignty, Parliamentary Supremacy, Imperial Regency, or what not. The pamphlets lie piled in heaps,

for no ordinary bookseller's tables and shelves | regentship. His illustrious birth, all are eager

to assure you, is merely an accident, which in no way conduced to it. With the portrait of the archduke appear, too, as many of the principal deputies as the windows can hold,

ordinary lithographic prints, taken from daguerreotypes, the chief of them consisting merely of a pair of eyes peeping over a bushy beard, and only to be distinguished one from the other by their signatures written beneath, which, however, being genuine German autographs, are perfectly illegible.

But it is time to introduce the reader to some of the originals of these portraits, who are regularly to be seen in the Assembly from nine till two. The sovereignty of the emperor was proclaimed at the old Gothic hall of the Römer, and ratified at the old Catholic cathedral, and was the greatest ceremony of the century; that of the people is declared in the modern Lutheran church of St. Paul's where it is to be ratified remains to be proved

have room to show one-tenth of their faces. They have grown up, stage above stage, for want of ground space, like the Jews' houses in the Jewish quarter. Toss them over for a few minutes, and you see an epitome of the prevailing ideas collected in their titles. The word Deutsch, in various forms of conjunction, occurs over and over again. There are regular sets of das Deutsche Parlament, die Deutsche Pressfreiheit, die Deutsche Nation, das Deutsche Volk, and about five hundred of das Deutsche Reich. The old Deutsche Vaterland seemed quite superseded; there were not above half-a-dozen of him to be seen. If you trouble yourself to dip further than the surface, you find much creditable feeling and tolerable sense, with addresses to the people persuading them to order and peace, though never on any high principle. Also a large proportion of a very opposite tendency propositions for the abolition of the nobility, and treatises on the establishment of a-and is the fashionable lounge of the day. republic and the sovereignty of the people; for which the writers would, six months ago, have been imprisoned for life, and deserve to be so still. But there was one pamphlet which, without siding with either party, seemed to us in its mere title to sum up the whole essence of the present state of affairs. It was only three words, Was wollen wir? or, "What is it we wish for?" The Parliament must answer that question.

The windows, too, are full of caricatures. In this the Germans show their want of practice, if not their inherent inaptitude. At present their caricatures are as witless in meaning as they are wretched in drawing. Only one that we observed had some point in it—a printer handing over a paper to an individual, who draws back in astonishment. "The Annonce costs thirty kreutzers, if you please." "What, costs! Why, I thought we were to have the freedom of the press!

Various portraits of the Archduke John, or of the "Reichsverweser," as he is already universally called - which, at the first glance, we took for caricatures also - are, of course, also to be seen at every spare pane of glass, showing a benevolent face, with the undoubted length of line and weakness of expression which testifies his Hapsburg descent. The history of his marriage with the postmaster of Steiermarkt's daughter, is repeated in too many versions one more ridiculous, if not disgraceful, than the other for any one to attempt to decide upon the true one. At all events, it has furnished a delightful romance to the Liberal ladies of Germany, who seem to consider this act as his chief recommendation to the

St. Paul's Church is a large, circular building,
perfectly adapted to its present purpose, and
scarcely altered from its former. It is precise-
ly like a Presbyterian place of worship, with
galleries all round, supported on pillars, for
the public, and narrow pews divided into four
sections below for the deputies. These sec-
tions are significant of the opinions of their
occupants. The central right indicates the
Liberal Conservative, the central left the
moderate Liberal, and the extreme right and
left sections the extremes of each opinion,
all converging to a kind of magnified pulpit
for the president and his two secretaries, with
the tribune for the speaker like a precentor's
box below them. Beneath the pillars on each
side are the more select seats for spectators,
entered by tickets, the ladies on the left, the
gentlemen on the right; further on are the
places for the reporters; and behind the depu-
ties, almost out of reach of the voice from the
tribune, arc spaces partitioned off between the
pillars, which serve for committee rooms.
Otherwise there is no sign of the change
from the sacred to the secular purpose, ex-
cept in the three flags of the German colors
which wave over the president's head, and a
colossal figure of Germania painted in fresco
on the wall above him, her head crowned with
oak leaves, a sword in one hand, and the Ger-
man flag in the other, and the rising sun, of
course, behind her. Even though the business
of the day is going forward, it is difficult to
get rid of the first impression of the meeting-
house. A monotonous speaker of shabby
appearance is in the tribune; the atmosphere
has the true hot and drowsy feeling of a long.

« PreviousContinue »