ſ.ſ. ſ. | ſ. . ：（）|-|×， ||× ：）ſ.|-|-№，. - - ，ſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſ.. ）|-|- · |×. ·.|× ： |- º º Lºuis Y. º - . EDWARD H | } |ſae.，ſae ſ.ſ.|-- （） |ſ.ſ.ſ. ſ.ſ. ſ.№. ſae ſae |× ： |- ſſſſſſſſſſ. \，|- --| |- |×ſ.·|× ſ.|-|× ſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſſ ſae|-- ·ſ.|- ſ. } ： |- №. ſ. ， |. |- |- .№. ſae|- ſae |-. ）ſ.. |- （） ：） ſ.ſ. |× ſ. º º º … º º |- |-ſ. ſae ſ. |×ſ. №. ||- - |× ： |× |- -}， ſſſſſſſſſſſſ. ſ. |- º |-| ſ. . . . . . |ſ. |-| ſ. |- ſae |- |× ſae. №. №. |-|-} |- |- （）. ſae º - - º º - º º - º - º º |- }，}í， §§ |-3 №&{3，}; ſýĒĢĒĢĒĢĒĢğ@ğ· ? ſaeſºlſ ， \ Y，±:@șièºj; - -• -~ =ºs ：: ::· •■ ■،«）.*/*A..!%،�•*4 - "-*…*…»*• e\#*#·×y！#-w，-* •- -• •-* -§§§§§ý;·£§§©®· „*ſae -- Sºº-NĀ IZ）， ， ，- ſą*4·A*«¡ ¿●ae*p�/*la•*·•！{<7?t.*،{·*5) AN，{ - - -« »•*#{\tae\vae i «· �ae|-*►-p***-*•** { - -→ •- •- --*… " -->-：،· → wę·ºſ º ~-- - -� • • •S ！- •…№tą- - - - - -º : * I • 74， º ſi{ - -••.•-----«* •---،-…-- #u！ 4A»�*{º， a،A،ae●•�*'a'，!A·A+V *#*•º ººſº），v،-w●ſą•w#w،*£ €| 3\�º ay; ſ\ • T •§@₪ff;%@₪<！-- - -- - -- -~~~~ -…，- - -•.→ ·-！· · · -（ 1 ） ( --- - • • ►-~ ，• ... ----. - ： w - - ſãº; - \，·→2» }ğ- %$§ §§§ §§§§§§§§ žši§$%$§$%#€$£§§§§§§§§§§§ Mae ſae,§§§§§§§¿ *、、、、、、、、。 §§§§§§§§§§ •g ）（S.º &ž#$%$§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ {）}{șģ« à§@₪§ ”* »**< …" $3！ „--~--~！&vº > 2-a （¿?-§ýſtº， wae… … ，■■■■§§§ ğ@ğĢĒ §§§§§§ • ！ - Aſa {{！}{&ýá №}§.S）'; Řğ@Ğžģìğ@ğ? §§§$§$%$§§§§ ¿ŠŇ%@Řēģ§§ſ@ yx， ،§§&& šiº ：ſãº：Sſeſ§§§- §§§Ķ№ķ$$$$$§§¿>&&§ýſą ſi ： * • • •{};-§;|-§;§N！§•§§·ſae'., ，Ñý！§ ×\\§§§§$$$$§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ §§}·§§‘; §§§§§§§§ ， ！ ،};§§ă§§ § ，»，.± §§§§ �Ģ№ º§§gėſ**\ →، *+-• •-• →× 3|- （*） º.aeył*tae»،∞#\4*�, ，، |-！-- «…«»！• %\&\（\\ſ*N،ºg º^*?• ſew+•،ww، �\，*p●،}A * №- --**，§ 2• •§ 4- - -••• • •- - -• w،w•*£ €ww• e-\ ->=-- «...•----- ••-|-> •T ^-* ~ ~|-- -- - - ~~“ºſº”， -eſae、。ae -• •••- --• •--•- *… •º <-}， {{！ •••،，�A！ae•� -- -- --- -- ·*\\*A# ！w\*●w• ſ*#v#:：|-، ،！.ae·£ €\ s*t./!* ~~ ~~~.|--- -�a. $ $ $33;áſ№ſſſſſſſſſ， №.3§ 3Ñ 4！ 2→ →----（ 2-->\，2，ÂNȘ№ſw * ， ， ，！"£$%ANGAY，* -• ... *-”... --• -• ...---- _ - »→→*- < •}-، ،،/|- • ---- }%،�a. •（.*）\ ！ ， ！|-• X\ ،• •--- --• •~- - - áſ--•w•«• •} _• •- _ -ſaeſººſ£”）, ”LºȚ，…» «…” º） S&-º ..?··|×-، § £*\«: ?! W*�¿№n�~^*ay！**-/ -：æ æ）• • -•º· ¿?-�►-· --{�t.�\*· £ €!\W*{$x !¿š-！&*ș*）\!�-\£ €\*4ș \·،*?.aº�{، *• • • . .cºlº ſºffÁ!}\,\！ …”2**… ••* * * -，\ （ſ） + … ，\3y） ·\ ¿-?, º x. ».*¿¿.*¿.*{！• • A’.•-* *-ºº..e. ، ،!…ºi（; ; ae -（！！！）.*..*/V\，^ ！ !！！ §$:$*w*، čačſéÀ№#{@}{&ºſ:§§§@%→%à！ 2�ſ@ §§§§§§§ §§§§§§§§ §§§§@₪ēģğ@ğ---- §ý§§#Ë{ * A** » → ș ！ 3---rt. ' !&«?A **•’- - …» -！~ ~-· 。§ğåſ Èff|（929©ſae ~~±� w ſ@₪[] ·A sw ：\● • 2. 2. • •- !！ ·/ ！ §§§§§ ،* － º ！\ *…*tw！lºA•• • • •- - -- - •！→ · --c ：， ， ،* A →• • •• • .*..*\{ w#ø}>}} |-* * ·•••• • •yw：• • •w·3，\！ſ įș* • `-»Ñ 2r. º.Ņ（ ）- - _ ••* •• ！-• ... --¿№ſťSģ3?№ſſae; }w•-^-- -- Sº c. • • ！AſºA،{ºlae ſºr;{！，•{�* •w»\\**T. a\#2*● •G- º ->• - -'）;Š&- ،�* w/*• ••• •- • - ~A |-w. <--.• ،{ *#r &ý;- •§§Ģ¿?§§ }>Ž§§§§§§§§ §$%$§ ×já©iſéýž@Èýſíºſ\，{ſ}}{ſ\\ §$%$§$%$§$%$§§ -• - ► → „” Ñ Ny \ ！ ） ■ ■ ■ ■/…N§§§§§§\, §§§ýž{ºº}Ģēģğ@Ğğ@Èģ\ÈějžáÂȘş, №ſſaeŅ§§-§§§§§\ ğ\ğ@ğ@Èğ@ğ@ğ@ÈğĢģĞğ $£§§§§§§§§§§§$%$§$%$§$%$§$%$§ žºàğ@Èējğ@Èș#{@₪ğ@w§@₪ğ№ §§§§§§§§§）;©&® * ſä#>$·• §§$§$%$§$ × • ~ -• • • • •- ſ Caeſaeğ@ğ@₪@ →-！3!！! ∞ ∞ w• - - -• •· ●ŘýžÈMAY№ºſ ſ…» - -•_<…” -，- \،z'●NS• w·· \wfaeſ（ ）*• - - - _ - _ - ：）• →Ñ ºn?È 2 №ſ* }。'>.<§@₪• §§§§ @ N º№}}3 ！« ، w ·ų ، .aº\ -> <- ● |× ſeſ ：::: {{！}}${}} ± − × 1\,.*{ ſae\ſ_ ： ★• ！ ！ ！ ！ſ ſ §§§ ، ، ،sºſ@¿@ķºſ ſ.¿?Ģģğ@$！ §§§-§§§-§§§ş， • ！!! ：-）•{ºi§§ %\N} §§ž$ºz - » （~~~* * *• -�→ · - - - -• • •|-• •!， º ،�� *…！A yº*№v \،*ę\#- •\�w، |-• •|-- -： ·-|- §（A）}}}{{{g}, ！ź№ • •-<∞ → |-- æ، @$ #*!w-！la4•+W§ .#w، w •·\,\w�،�•*£ €\,！ 2\ ·• 7 •-- -~••șéſ@š•！\* • * * t; §§§§§@₪ējſ&\（\）;:4@Èș%Èężſáèſèſ fâși，§§§$%$&#%$§$£§§ ¿ §§§§§§§§§#$%$$��§$%$§$%w%ſ*$Nºſſae（;#3€$ $g §§ • • • V. - 3;%@ș §§§§ 4+, POLITICS AND POLITICAL THEORY IN THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HEINRICH von KLEIST. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. by Edward Henry Lauer. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1916. INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . - e --------------- * * * *--------e e-e: * * * ----- CONTENTS. The change in the general estimate of Kleist.— The difficulties in solving the problems of his life. - The political side of Kleist's career. — The treatment it has received. – The purpose of the present inves- tigation. II. KLEIST THE MAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The necessity of having a clear conception of the man. - His independent nature. - The various interpre- tations of his character. - Kleist a genius. - His characteristics. - His struggles. – The tragedy of his life. KLEIST'S POLITICAI, ACTIVITY: 1. The Earlier Years . . . . . . 15 The general periods in the political life of Kleist. - The relation of the two periods. - The character of the change in 1807–1809. – The earlier w years a period of preparation. – General character. — The determining factors of these years. - a. Rank and family association. - b. Relations to the King and II. Queen. - c. Kleist in the service of the King. — In the army. - In the civil-service. - d. His love of fatherland. – e. "Weltbuergertum" or " Staats- buergertum". – f. His relation to the French Rev- olution. IV. KLEIST tS POLITICAL ACTIVITY: 2. The Critical Years. • * * * * 65 The effect of the French captivity. - The resi- dence in Dresden. - The Phoebus. - Adam Mueller. - The Austrian circle at Dresden and Teplitz. - Fried- rich Gentz. – The change in the attitude of Kleist. W. KLEIST'S POLITICAL ACTIVITY: 3. The Active Politician. . . . 79 His intensity. - Kleist and the secret societies. - Educator and agitator. - His relation to the move— ments of the time. - a. Napoleon. - b. Internal re- form in Prussia. – The importance of these questions. -- Kleist's attitude on reform in general. – Adam Smith. – Die Berliner Abendblaetter. — Their nature and pro- gram. – Their political career. — Kleist and Hardenberg. =º Kleisto and the Junker party. - The causes for the failure of the paper. - c. The German question. -- Kleist and Austria. – The empire. - The levée ºn Iſlä.38 e. TT- – The question of reconstruction. – His conservatism. WI - KLEIST! S PO LTTT CAL CONTRTBÜTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 The nature of his contribution. - a. Eis concep- tion of Freiheit. – In his works. – In his letters. – The Prinz von Homburg. – b. His conception of the state. – Earlier views. – His development . – Ehe Kulturstaat . – Fichte. – The nature of Kleist" s ideal state. - G . His patriotism. – Was gilt es in diesem Kriege? - WTT - CONCLUSTON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 IV. º NOTE. The quotations from the works and letters of Kleist which appear in the thesis are from the edition of Kleist's works, in five volumes, which was prepared by Erich Schmidt, Georg Minde-Pouet, and Reinhold steig and pub- lished by the Bibliographisches Institut of Leip- zig and Vienna. References in the foot-notes are to that edition. The full title of all works quoted can be found in the bibliography . I. INTRODUCTION. But little more than a century has elapsed since the death of Heinrich von Kleist and yet that century has been marked by a revolution in the general opinion and estimate of the man. If one could revert to the year 1815, one would find the name and memory of Kleist alive only with a small group of his former friends and associates. When these passed away or their ardor cooled because of the general indifference, the name of Kleist was practically forgotten, his works consigned to an undeserved oblivion, his fate unwept and unsung. Thus it remained for several decades. Between 1860 and 1870 there came however, a change of attitude, and gradually the memory of Kleist was rescued from that obscurity in which it had so long lingered. Nor was it the memory of a mediocre talent which more modern investigation has brought about. From his place among the countless thousands of forgotten spirits, Kleist has been advanced to a place among the great names of German literature. Once emerging from the shadow, he has made his way until today, his position as a poet of excellence and power is practically unchallenged. It wag no mere chance that caused the revival of the Kleist tradition to be coincident with the years which witnessed the birth of a united Germany. It was Kleist the patriot who cleared the way for Kleist the poet, and the German people, flushed with the victories of 1870–1871, and enthusiastic over the long hoped-for unification of their fatherland, turned with reverence and pride to one, who many years before, had labored for such victories and had dreamed of such unification. The scholarly investigation which naturally followed this awakened interest soon shifted the emphasis, and rightly so, to the question of Kleist's poetical contribution, with the result, that in all subsequent discussions, there has been the gusºle tendency to subordinate other phases of his activity to the purely poetical. In addition to this mast important side of Kleist's life, later investigators, who aimed at a more comprehensive study of the man, found other activities which had as yet not received satisfactory treatment. All discussion of these phases was, how- ever, rendered difficult by the fact that for a long period of years Kleist had been virtually forgotten. It was no doubt this meagerness of the Kleist material which led scholars to proceed on the assumption, parodoxical as it seems, that Kleist, whose patriotism was generally recognized, was after all a man who stood rather apart from the main currents of his time. Conse- quently he was for a long time regarded as a genius who had found it impossible to adjust himself to the tendencies of his age, a problematic nature out of tune with the universe, and one whose poetic labors formed the only outlet for a temperament otherwise doomed to silence. It has remained for very recent investigation to show that this is a mistaken idea. The careful labor of º ^4 several modern scholars" has brought together a mass of material which shows conclusively that Kleist was firmly rooted in the life of his time, that he stood in close relation to the main currents of his age, and that he was a nature in which the pulse of the epoch beat with all its vigor. This point of view finds support in Kleist's own words: Sie haben mich immer in der Zurueck- gezogenheit meiner Lebensart fuer isolirt von der Welt gehalten, und doch ist niemand inniger damit verbunden, als ich. ** - a statement which had been deemed applicable only to the imme- diate moment in which it was written. The later investigation with its collection of relevant data, giving as it does a truer conception of the real Kleist, offers furthermore the material for penetrating more deeply into some of the unsolved problems which up to the present time have, of necessity, have been the subject of much conjecture and hypothesis. These biographical problems are unfortunately not made easy of solution by the mere fact of the collection of material. A number of factors render difficult the solution of questions other than the purely poetical. In the first place the continu- ity of the Kleist tradition is hopeleesly broken and as a result ----------- * Among those who have rendered special service may be mentioned Steig, Rahmer, Hoffman, Minde-Pouet, and Meyer- Benfey. ** To Marie von Kleist (?); Chalons, June, 1807; Werke : V. 341. much valuable material is irretrievably lost. The family of Kleist was itself guilty of much negligence in this matter, al- though the unhappy circumstances in connection with his death had much to do with their apparent indifference. Seconjdly, the testimony of contemporaries, which is always to be used with caution, must in the case of Kleist be subjected to special scru- tiny, since in addition to being meager and vague, it is in many instances incorrect and far too often intentionally adverse. * It was only too easy to malign the memory of a man whose life and activity had been so little understood and appreciated. Finally, the first-hand material of literary works and extant letters presents new difficulties when examined for facts which might explain the problems of his life. The productions with the exception of those which have an apparent tendency, are objective , and the author disappears almost cohnpletely behind his creations. While there is no doubt that the works are written in the heart 's blood of the poet, and are also in their way "fragments of a great confession", nevertheless, the lack of supplementary evi- dence makes the determination of the writer's characteristics a difficult matter. The letters are of course the great source for all investigation of Kleist problems, but even here the student, must reckon with numerous sources of error. In many of them there occals to N all are #iferºe slips on the part of the writer which mar the value ------------ ancies in the testimony of such friends and contemporaries as Pfuel, Fouqué, Brentano, and Rahmer. of the letters as accurate testimony of unquestioned validity. Even when there can be no question of the accuracy of the state- ments, it is still necessary to subject all the letters to a close and careful psychological study before their bearing on any particular problem can be evaluated. None of the phases of Kleist's life is of more interest and significance than that of his political activity and point of view. The determination of the place which politics and polit- ical theory took in the life and writings of Kleist is a problem whose solution is necessary for a correct estimate of the worth of the man. It is of importance second only to the solution of the question of his poetical contribution. The matter of his politics has up to the present received only subordinate or fragmentary treatment, and in every larger and more comprehensive biographi- cal work the question spoken of only in so far as it has a bearing on the various poetical productions. One recent biographer * has made the attempt to attack this problem more directly, but even this work does not deal solely or even primarily with Kleist's political activity. With regard to the political side, its results by its nature and purpose to a study of only the last few years of Kleist's activity; it makes little or no attempt to explain his political attitude of that later period in the light of his earlier activity and association; it falls, as a result, into the - tº------------ Berlin und Stuttgart, 1901. error of making Kleist merely a member of the Junker party, re- gardless of much evidence to the contrary; and finally, it fails to emphasize the larger aspects of Kleist's political life and has little to say of its historical significance. With the material made accessible by this and other recent investigations it is now possible to survey Kleist's political life in its entirety and in this survey determine his relation to the political movements of his time. A study of his letters and writings, in the light of the se biographical data, makes it possible to arrive at his idea of fundamental political concepts and to trace his relation to the political thought of his own and of preceding ages. Finally, with such information determined , the historical significance of his position and principles can be evaluated. It is the purpose of the present investigation to re- view the political life of Heinrich von Kleist along the lines herewith indicated. } II. KLEIST THE MAN. To proceed intelligently in a discussion of the politi- cal activity of Kleist it is necessary to have in mind a defi- nite conception of the nature of the man. This is so imperative because Kleist was a man who was characterized by extreme in- dependence of thought and one in whom the influence of others was of relatively small moment. It is no doubt true that in the field of politics all men are necessarily influenced in a great measure by the contemporary political theories and by the political as- sociations and affiliations which they may have occasion to form. It is only the deep political theorist who can make an original contribution in this field, whose province is to deal with that side of man's nature which is developed only through contact and intercourse with his fellow beings. Again, it is undoubtedly true that Kleist was no such political theorist of original power and that he was influenced both by the general political thinking of his time and by the men with whom he came in contact. But even here it is a dangerous proceeding to attribute the presence of this or that principle to external stimulus only. In almost every case the reason for its presence is to be sought in the man's independent personality. What has been said of his poetical work . can, with some modification, be considered true of his activity A 4% in general : Niemand ist so sehr Eigentuemer seiner Werke als er, und wer litterarhistorische Wuerdigungen nur in einer chemischen Stoff- analyse suchend, fragt: Woher hat der Dichter dies? Wem dankt er das?– der wird bei dieser schroffen orinalitaet verhaeltnissmaessig wenig º Beschaeftigung finden. * In aldiscussion of any phase of the activity of Kleist, the final answer to most of the problems will be found in an anal- ysis of the character and nature of the man. It is this nature of the man which has been the subject of much discussion and debate and about which there has been a wide diversity of opinion. Even at the present time there is as yet no general interpretation, commonly and universally accepted, of the character of Kleist. New solitions of the so-called Kleist-problem appear every year and criticism has fluctuated, in the discussion of Kleist's life and activity, between two extremes of interpre- tation. On the one hand is the opinion held by a group of schö- Żars to which most of the investigators of the last century º a few of the present belong. This group stresses the abnormal, the unusual, and the pathological in Kleist's life and tempera- ment. For them the numerous mysterious points in his life-his- tory are to be interpreted and explained by reference to pecu- ------------------- liarities and even perversities in the character of the man. Opposed to this view is the opinion held by a number of more re- cent investigators who were not willing to accept the bizarre figure of the older criticism. With their serious efforts there Caſtlé 3. change in the estimate of Kleist. When the collection of h; material showed Kºst to be a man who stood in close and active relation to the life of his time, much of the supposed abnormal- ity of his nature fell away, and many of the mysterdous episodes received a more rational and at the same time a more satisfac- tory explanation. The result has been, however, that in their zeal to absolve Kleist from any charge of pathological perversity, some of these moderns have gone too far towards the other extreme, for in their attempt to making him ordinary. In contradictory in itself necessarylfor the Kleist der to arrive at a true roughly human genius of make Kleist normal they have ended by' the midst of this mass of evidence, often and always so in its application, it is student to pick his way carefully in or— conception of the extraordinary yet tho- the man. To understand that genius with its struggles in the midst of a hostile environment and in an un- appreciative age is the only real Kleist problem. Such an under- standing must form the basis for any study of his life's activity. An analysis of genius will in all cases be but fragmentary and yet the genius has the right to demand that in passing judg- ment on its activity, it shall be judged in accordance with its own laws. Kleist made that plea when he said: 1 O r Du musst, was ich Dir auch sagen werde, mich nicht mehr nach dem Mass stabe der Welt be- ur teilen. ” For us, although it is impossible to arrive at the final anal- ysis of the underlying essence of genius, it will suffice to pass in review those qualities in Kleist which gave to his life and activity their peculiar physiognomy. As the fundamental characteristic in the mental make-up of the man stood his lofty idealism. In the pursuit of what he held to be his ideal, he dealt with himself with all the rigor of an uncompromising nature. No half-way measures would suffice for him- all or nothing was his demand. None was a sharper cri- tic of his work than he himself when he measured the completed product with the ideal which he had in mind. The span of a human life seemed to himſtoo short to enable him to fulfill what he believed to be his mission, and this fact led to an intensity in his existence which only his strong will and his equally strong mentality enabled him to endure. But a few short years were era; yed to him in this world and yet no years in the life of any man have been so full of intense striving and sincere effort. Everywhere he followed his ideal with little regard for consequen- ces, and when defeated in his efforts, he renewed the struggle, eagerly, ardently, in the hope of ultimate victory. But it was a losing battle which he was doomed to wage. - - - - - - - - - - - * To Wilhelmine von Zenge; Paris, Oct. 10, 1801; Werke : V. 259. *. - 2. ll Blow upon blow descended with overwhelming force on the striving man. When the belief in his ideal demanded a break with the tra- ditions of his family and rank, he unhesitatingly made the sac- rifice and gave up all that the accident of birth held in store for him, to pthrsue the fleeting phantom of knowledge; ſhut the sacrifice was a useless ane. His first reading of Kant swept away from under him, as he thought, the foundation of his belief in absolute truth, which seemed to him the necessary basis of all human knowledge. The effect was so staggering that he left Kant With this fragmentary and negative conception of the great sys- tem. All seemed lost and he was in a fair way of becoming as he himself said: ... eines von den Opfern der Thorheit. . . deren die kantische Philosophie so viele auf das Gewiseen hat. . . . Mein einziges und hoechstes Ziel ist gesun- ken, ich habe keines mehr. * In spite of the shock of this blow he gathered himself, and sought to realize, in the field of poetry, his artistic º 3, n & W. form of the drama. This was to be the contribution of the Robert Guiscard and in vain he strove to add one more laurel to the many already won by the members of his family. The power of even his great genius was not sufficient and he resigned himself to his fate. After the destruction of his manuscript, he wrote : Und so sei es denn genug. . . . Thoerigt was re -------------- * To Ulrike von Kleist; Berlin, March 23, 1801; Werke : W. 207. 12 SS wenigstens, wenn ich meine Kraefte laenger an ein Werk setzen wollte, das, wie ich mich endlich ueberzeugen muss, fuer mich zu schwer ist. Ich trete vor Einem zuruek, der noch nicht da ist, un / . beuge mich, ein Jahrtausend im Voraus, vor seinem Geiste. Denn in der Reihe der menschlichen Er– findungen ist diejenige, die ich gedacht habe, un- fehlbar ein Glied, und es waechst irgendwo ein Stein schon fuer den, der sie einst ausspricht. * - Once more he rallied after having stared destruction in the face. Convinced that the time demanded his active participation in the struggle against the conqueror, Napoleon, he threw him- Self into this new field With all the ardor of his nature. Again in vain, and for the last time he s&nk exhausted. Und staerker rauscht der Saenger in die Saiten, Der Toene ganze gTFe Macht lockt er hervor, Er singt die Lust, fuers Vaterland zu streiten, Und machtlos schlaegt sein Ruf an jedes Ohr, Urld Wie er flatternd das Panier der Zeiten Sich weiter pflanzen sieht, von Tor zu Tor, Schliesst er sein Lied; er wuenscht mit ihm zu enden, Und legt die Leier traenend aus den Haenden.** The effect of these defeats on a temperament so consti- erne-- - - - -me-"---- * To Ulrike; Geneva, Oct. 5, 1803; Werke: V. 300. ** Das letzte Lied; Terke: TV. 39. 13 tuted as was that of Kleist can be easily determined. On his intense nervous nature, with its firm belief that the success or failure of his life's work depended on the attainment of his goal, and with its uncompromising severity, the blows must have been little short of annihilating. They caused periode of phy- sical break-down during which the body was unable tº gear the mighty will. Only too often were such times either accompanied or followed by moments of mental depression out of which only his strong will and the belief in his mission succeepded in rescuing him. Such an unfortunate moment was certainly the cause of the unhappy incident at St. Omer, and a similar one is cer- tainly to be ascribed as the reason for the precipitation of the final catastrophe. There is no need of the scientific investi- gation of a pathologist to explain these incidents; it needs only a sympathetic insight into the psychology of the man in question. arº º * * * *-reneers, were was but little deepair, and that which there was, was far from being morbid. His belief in his ideal was * shaken and he merely bowed in humble resig- nation before the commands of an inexorable faite. When skeptical thoughts succeeded in breaking through, they did not utter the petty pessimism of a disappointed or a disgruntled man. :=e as tºe GEEEEEy. He recognized in his own struggles, the problem of Wollen and Koennen. In his defeat he saw the tragic solution which was inevitable in the career of a man endowed with the powers of a god and yet standing as an infinitesimal atom in 14 } the midst of a mighty universe. Denn wer kennt die Namen der Magier und ihre Weisheit * Wer wird mach Jahrtausenden von uns und unserm Ruhme reden? Was Wissen Asien, und Afrika, und Amerika von unsern Genien? Und nun die Plane ten-- ? Und die Sonne--? Und die Milchstrasse--? Und die Nebelflecke—- ? Ja, unsinnig ist es, wenn wir nicht grade fuer die Quadratruthe leben, auf welcher, und fuer den Augenblick, in welchem wir uns bef inden. * In this larger conception of the meaning of existence lies the problem in Kleist's life, and also the reason for his failure to solve that problem. His final surrender, after blow upon blow had fallen, was inevitable, because he was one who fell crushed by his appreciation of the colossal greatness of the universe and the mighty import of our brief span of years in this life. His striving was Prometheanlin its compass, entirely in agcord and harmony with the gigantesque proportions of his zºº---------~~ view of life and of the universe. His powers were after all those of a mortal and he fell far short of his ideal. Severe, stern, he kept his ideal where he had put it: uncompromising in the criticism of his own self, he measured himself as he was by that which he felt he ought to be. He sºuggled on, hopefully and yet hopelessly, until the power of resistance was finally beaten down. Then he bowed the head which had up till then been proudly raised and closed the eyes which had always been fixed on the ultimate yet unattainable goal. e----------- * To Wilhelmine; Paris, Aug. 15, 1801; Werke : V. 250. III. KLEIST tS POLITICAL ACTIVITY: 1. The Earlier Period. From the point of view of his political activity the life of Heinrich von Kleist falls into two distinct periods, very different in character and yet bearing an intimate relation to each other. The earlier and longer period is one in which poli- tics and political theory played a subordinate role in the life of the man, whereas the later and shorter period is one in which the interest in political affairs predominaté. The years which mark the tansition from the first to the second period can be determined with more than relative certainty, and such a deter- mination is furthermore of value since it throws a bright light on the relation which exists between the two periods. It was undoubtedly the catastrophes of the year 1806, culminating in the ignominious Treaty of Tilsit of the follow- ing year, that brought Kleist to a realization of the seriousness to take part actively in the march of public events. Crushing as the fall of his native state was for Kleist, it had not been en- tirely unlooked for by him, for even before 1806 he had viewed with alarm the coming contest with France. In December of 1805 of the political situation, and to the belief that it was necessary 16 yº, a fº.s- tºº º he wrote : Denn so wie die Dinge stehn, kann man kaum auf viel mehr rechnen, als auf einen schoenen Unter gang. * and soon after Jena, he said: Wie sehr hat sich alles bestaetigt, was wir vor einem Jahre schon voraussahen. Man haette das ganze Zeitungsblatt von heute damals schon schreiben koennen. ** But even if the events of 1806–1807 were the real impetus gº tº º - which sussariest to determine to plunge into the political life of his age, there was, nevertheless, a combination of cir- cumstances preventing him from immediately taking the step which marked the end of the earlier, and the beginning of the later period. An illness in the fall of 1806, the hopeless con- fusion following the break-down of the Prussian governmental machinery after the defeat at Jena, the resulting uncertainty as to his future career, and finally, his captivity in France from January to July of the year 1807, postponed for a time his participation in the great European movements coincident with -- -------------- ** To Ulrike; Koenigsberg, Oct. 24, 1806; Werke: V. 328-329. 17 and during his subsequent residence at Dresden (July, 1807– April, 1809) that an actual change in the attitude of Kleist becomes apparent. It was in the latter half of the year 1808 that circumstances made it possible for him to assume his part in the political life of his age. This was the year of the spanish Revolution, of the Austrian preparation against Napo- leon, of the beginning of the real propoganda in Prussia against the French oppression, and of the writing of Kleist's Hermannschlacht. Much has been written about this change in the life of Kleist and many have been the inquiries into its causes. Momen- tous it was, to be sure, for the future career of the man, but it is necessary to discard any explanation which seeks to attrib- ute this step to a revolution in the political thought of Kleist. The change to be chronicled here was entirely one of attitude, and not in the slightest degree occasioned by any shift in Kleist's fundamental ideas or principles. If it had been of the latter nature, it would be exceedingly difficult to ascribe reasons and causes for such a change, and recourse would have to be taken to the possibility of external influences- a method of procedure which is always dangerous when dealing with such 3.11 independent nature as that of Kleist. Regarded as a change in atti-tude towards political affairs, the step can with little difficulty and with little possibility of error be attributed to a combination of circumstances more or less occasional and acci- dental. 18 It follows from what has been said that, much as the two periods are dissimilar in character- the one assuredly non- political and the other primarily political- they are neverthe- less intimately connected by the fact that the political prin- ciples which appear in the later period are to be found devel- oping in the earlier. A survey of Kleist's entire career shows a consistency with regard to his opinions on matters strictly political. In a discussion of Kleist's political career the ear- lier and longer period extending to the year 1808 may be looked upon as a period of preparation. From the critical years lè08- 1809 Kleist emerged as an active participant in public affairs, who, in the few remaining years of his existence, consecrated his life and his endeavor to the service of his people and his fatherland. a. The Earlier Period in General. When the earlier years of Kleist's life are spoken of as non-political, a characteristic is applied to the career of in German -* Kleist, in particular, which, is applicable to the age in general. a=t FEH as far as éº #s sease=5. It has become a con- vention to speak of the meagerness of active public life in a - larger sense of the word, in all biographies of the German lit- erary men of the last half of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. In so far as the efforts of his ear- lier years were preeminently of a non-political nature Kleist 19 4. 40… &rvić”. | was again a representative of his time, and there are to be found in him the general tendencies of the epoch. He very early took up with the ideal of a scholar and believed that self-culture was one of his most urgent duties. Before him also there lay in a happier future the beautiful "Humanitaet sideal" which for a time at least filled the minds of all the principal thinkers and philosophers of the latter half of the eighteenth century. For a discussion of the poet Kleist, the statement of this general relation to his age, its ideas, and its ideals, is suf- ficient. But in a discussion of his political career it is neces- (2. sary to gºeeply. It is not sufficient to seek in Kleist merely the reflection of the thought of his time, and it is imperative to measure more accurately the exact degree to which Kleist may be termed a child of his age. This deeper inquiry brings to light in the earlier life of Kleist a number of circumstances, by means of which, in spite of the non-political character of the age and often even contrary to his own inclinations and wishes, Kleist was brought into contact with public men and political affairs. By means of this contact he was forced, very often against his will, to take part in that political life which did exist for the individual subject. In this connection it is of great sig– nificance for Kleist that he was a Prussian, and a Prussian of the days succeeding the great Frederick, when political questions which under the personal rule of Frederick had not existed, came to be discussed in the reigns of his less illustrious successors. 2O Prussia, moreover, had been raised to the position of a European power and this brought with it questions of policy larger than those which the people of the smaller German states would ever be called upon to meet. Even the benevolent despotism of Weimar would not have sufficed in Prussia where the whole relation of sovereign to subject was receiving a readjustment preparatory to its solution in the development of the modern state. In this developing state Kleist was, furthermore, of the nobility, and of a nobility which stood close to the ruling house. The result was that, early in life, the relations of Kleist to his sovereign, his entrance into the army and into the civil-service, his in- timacy with men in public position, brought him into closer touch with public affairs than was the case with the vast major- ity of his literary contemporaries. As a consequence of these factors in his earlier years, he was inevitably led to form{opinions and to gather ideas concerning questions and principleg in the field of politics and political economy. Later, when the progress of events had show& him that his first and foremost duty lay in an active participation in the political life of his day, it was these latent ideas of the fundamental principles geverning man in his social capacity, that influenced the character and nature of Kleist's political thought and activity. The clue for an understanding of Kleist in his poſſ- £itical activity from 1808 to the end of his life is to be sought in the time precesding these years. Here are to be found a num- ber of factors which combined to determine the cast of his mind 21 and the tendency of thought in the field of politics. To ex- plain the standpoint of Kleist in his later period by reference only to the immediate influence of , or the occasional intercourse with, the men of that period, is to miss the real significance and meaning of his activity. Only through a discussion of the factors in what may be called the period of preparation , can the basis and foundation be determined on which the later edi- fice of Kleist's political life was built. b. Rank and Family Association. Among the many elements of this earlier period, there is none perhaps which is of more influence, though an influence which is often exceedingly difficult to determine, than the fun- damentallfactor of rank and family association. Kleist came of a family which belonged to the older nobility of the kingdom, and one which in its long history could boast of a number of illus- trious and distinguished names. The family was respected as one of the best, and its favored position was felt by Heinrich von Kleist. By virtue of his family association alone he was admitted to one of the most aristocratic and exclusive regiments of the Prussian guard. * He was furthermore on very intimate terms with the princes Of the royal family and stood close to both the King, Frederick William III. and the Queen, Luise. As a member of such a family, Kleist in his earlier years often showed that he was proud of the --------------- * Rahmer, H. v. Kleist als. Mensch und Dichter, 7. 22 ancestry whose name he bore. For him the aristocracy ef birth and gentle blood were, if not of primary importance, at least of ºn and value. It would, however, be going todfar to say that this accident of birth was the deciding element in the determination of his attitude on any political controversy or question of public policy concerning the welfare of his state and people. Kleist was strong enough, in all matters of larger significance, to raise himself above all considerations of rank and family association. No better proof of this is needed than the fact that he did not hesitate one moment to break with all traditions of his family and the rank to which he belonged, when he felt that those traditions stood in the way of the attainment of his great aim and purpose in life. There were, moreover, a number of factors in his earlier life which made him stand rather apart from, and at times hostile to, the rank into which he had been, born. The Kleist family itself ſºrrºw-ſectºr wºrd “” though it (stood in a respected position)was not wealthy; and the little property which it had nea, barely sufficed to meet the owdºnataſ? - . financial needs of the household. Kleist's share had been paid out to him early in his career, and he can surely not be spoken of as one of the landed gentry. Now the owning and management of land were the distinguishing characteristics of the members who formed the later Junker party. It follows that, whereas Kleist had but little personal concern in the questions of agrarian legislation -------tºc----- 23 * } and reform, these were matters in which the Junker regesentatives were much concerned and in which they were too often selfishly interested. Furthermore, Kleist early broke with the traditions ...A., º/Arzºº, ºw a rºº ºwſº of his rank by leaving the only two walks of life which lay open * 2/v to the young sons of noble families. He resigned from the army, and although he later entered the civil-service, it was not with º º the idea of following it as a profession but with the determination *(? to resign as soon as a favorable opportunity should present itself. Again, Kleist was a student – a rarity in the ranks of the you: per nobility of his day. There were many, to be sure, who showed º, a dilettantic interest in matters academic and literary, but \there were few if any who would have sacrificed everything, fam- ily, rank, and career, to devote themselves to the pursuit of knowledge. When, in after years the Junker party needed an able pen in its struggles with the Hardenberg reform program, it was forced to enlist the doubtful services of Adam weilerº was not only a student; £e was an author sind one who settre++y wrote for money, both matters extremely distasteful to the mem- bers of his family. His earlier letters after his retirement from the army contained only hidden reference to his writings, for he feared the hostility of his relatives. In the question of writing for money he had to overcome many serious prejudices in his own mind. ---------- * Adam Heinrich Mueller (1779-1829) : journalist and author of a number of works on aesthetics and political science; co- editor with Kleist of the Phoebus (1808). 24 * * * 3.4% ºf Of greater moment than all these littlee differences stands the fact that Kleist cherished in his heart a personal hostility to his rank. This enmity has been wer much emphasized and its nature has been gios; often misunderstood. Although Kleist was a student of Rousseau and lived in the age of fiev- olution, his attitude towards his rank is not to be interpreted as an echo of the movements in France. There was little or nothing of a revolutionary nature in his hostility to the nobil- ity, and his objections to the evils of class distinction did not arise out of asºnat the idea of a division into classes was wrong and should be abolished. The mere omission of the "von" in the signature of his name would not be of sufficient weight even if it could be admitted as direct evidence. For even in this minor matter there was no consistency in his practice, and,what is more important, nowhere is the "von" omitted where social usage and practice demanded its use. There was also nothing of political significance in his hostility. For Kleist the rank into which he was born was not the exponent of a political program. If a question of party or policy had arisen in these earlier years it would certainly have been answered by Kleist with a standard of judgment above all the mere questions of class interest and distinction. Kleist was an aris- toorat through and through, but he was not blind to the shortcom- ings of his own class. Though he was not hostile to his rank as such, he was opposed to its narrow prejudices and conventions, as he himself said: . . . und sollte ich mich auch mit Gewalt von allen Worurtheilen losreissen, die mich binden. * Where passages in his letters are to be found which sound ex- tremely democratic and revolutionary” and in which it seems that Kleist was opposed to all privileges of rank, the reason is generally to be sought in the fact that in his case, the con- ventions of rank stood in the way of the exercise of his per- sonal freedom. The union with Wilhelmine von Zenge; *ās he wished it, was made impossible by the questions of conventional- ity. It was only by sacrificing his own convictions and by enter- ing the government service that the relations to his tº re- mained unbroken. The conventions of his rank had to be swept a- side before he could follow his natural bent as a student; the prejudices of his family had to be overcome before he could fol- low his destiny as a poet. It was only natural that the suppressee anger which these differences caused, at times broke forth in Words which were bitter and scornful. Also ich wuensche es mit meiner ganzen Seele und ent sage dem ganzen Bettel von Adel und Stand und Ehre und Reichthum, wenn ich nur Liebe bei Dir finde. **** er, men as “” -- **** *To Ulrike; Berlin, Nov. 25, 1800; Werke: W. 170. ** To Wilhelmine; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke : V. 153. * * * Wilhelmine von Zenge (1780—1852): the betºothed of Kleist. The relation was broken off in 1882 and she later married WilhelmTraugott Krug, Professor of Philos- ophy in Koenigsberg. * * * * To Wilhelmine; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke : V. 154. Such outbursts are, however, to be judged in the light of the disappointment of the moment which gave them utterance and are to be discounted accordingly. Kleist remained an aristocrat at heart even though a number of factors had entered his life which made him stand apart from the class of which he was a member. How much this isolation had to do with his later attitude in political matters is a subject of conjecture. The estrangement, however, certainly made it possible for him to judge of any pro- posed legislation from a larger view-point than its effect on a class, of which he was indeed a member, but whose weaknesses had always been apparent to him. When in the later years he is found assuming an attitude of independence to the Junker party, the reason is to be sought largely in those factors which early led him to disregard the force of rank and family association. c. Relations to the King and Queen. Fundamental in the thought and life of the nobility to which Kleist belonged was the principle of loyalty to the legal sovereign, and the qualities of devout allegiance and fealty are virtues of which the nobles may be justly proud: At bottom it was a like devotion which beat in the heart of Kleist. It was after ----------- * The famous remark of Bishop Eylert to the Minister Wom Stein " You may take my life but you will never force me to do anything to the detriment of the best of Kings and Queens. " ( Seeley: II. 454. ) was spoken out of the hearts of all the members of the class. 37 all his idea and conception of loyalty that tempered all his principles regarding the position of the kingship in the state, and the relation which exists between sovereign and subject. There are to be found in his works several instances in which the reader may seek for Kleist's ideal of a sovereign. The Robert Guiscard of the earlier period, Hermann at the turning point, and the Kurfuerst in the most mature work of the later years - these are types of rulers in whicº incorporated many of the qualities which he thought a ruler should have. Although there are many dissimilarities in the characters, there are, nevertheless, many points of likeness, and especially in those characteristics which are more particularly attributes of their position as rulers of a people. They are all men of great ability who bring to bear on the problems before them the weight of a great mind and of a sºngū of waii. xii are ºf ambition who consecrate their lives to great undertakings. Finally, all look upon themselves as exponents of their people and down deep in the heart of each lies the question of fatherland. They are patriots in the larger sense of the word. If these qualities may be taken as some of those which Kleist would have wished for in the ideal ruler, it is immediate- ly evident that, measured by these standards, his own king, Frederick William III., fell far short of the ideal. Modern cri- ticism has done much to rescue the memory of this ruler, and he is today more highly respected than he was in his own time. The tendency at the present is to measure the value of his policy º 28 in the light of the larger results for Prussia rather than by the effects of that policy on his immediate age. Many of his seeming errors, modern investigators seek to attribute to the necessities of policy and expediency rather than to weaknesses in the personal character of the monarch. Kleist had much to find fault with in the King and openly criticised his indecision and lack of initiative. For him, as for the most of his contemporaries, the King's COUr 33 was enigmatical. In his abhorrence of diplomatic methods, Kleist took exception strongly to the temporizing policy of neutrality before 1805. After the catastrophe he had little sympathy with any program which did not aim at immediate action. As a result he condemned the delay which the King's caution imposed on the preparation for the contest with France. All these criticisms ºf [...") - - Kiełst is: perfectly) free to express in language very often far re- moved from the respectful tone which is met with in the writings of the day. The openness of this criticism is to be attributed to the peculiar conception which Kleist had of his relation to his mon- arch. His loyalty was of that old type of Junker loyalty which believed that the relation of subject to sovereign was primarily a personal one and that the subject might criticize freely. At --- bottom Kleist thought of the office of king entirely apart from its adminstrative significance in the state. It was only as his conception of the state as a political institution grew and de- veloped that the position of king came to have for him a political 39 significance. Until then the King was for him a personal ruler, and his own relation to the King a primarily per Bonal relation. Consequently, his intensely independent nature led him in moments' of anger to say boldly that the relation might be broken off by - the subject.” It is evident in the light of Kleist's idea of the position of **** such outbursts are not to be taken as be- tokening disloyalty to the state. It must be kept in mind that king and state are two entirely diséâsociated ideas, in so far as their political significance is concerned. As an undercurrent in Kleist's thought, however, growing º gradually stronger and stronger, was the conception of the king- ship as an institution in connection with the social organism. The King at times seemed to him the exponent of the nation,and a favorite maxim of Kleist's in his letter a was : - Wenn die Koenige trauern, so trauert auch das Land. * * Gradually the loyalty to the King became synonymous with loyalty to the state. This development reached its culmination in the later years and found its best expression in Kleist's letter to Frederick William in June of 1811 : ------------------ * . . . und wenn er meiner nicht bedarf, so bedarf ich seiner noch weit weniger. Denn mir moegte es nicht schwer werden ei- nen andern Koenig zu finden, ihm aber sich andere Unter- thanen auf zusuchen. ( To Ulrike; Berlin, Nov. 25, 1800; Werke : W. 168. ** To Wilhelmine; Dresden, Sept. 3, 1800; Werke: V. 98; and to Karoline von Schlieben; Paris, July, 18, 1801; Werke : W. 236. 3O . . . keine anderen Interessen als die Ew. Koenig- lichen Majestaet, welche, wie immer, so auch die smal, mit denen der Nation voellig zusammenfielen. * State, nation, king were now closely bound up with each other and no longer isolated terms. Loyalty to the king now meant loyalty to him in his capacity as an exponent of the nation and the head of the state. In Kleist's devotion to Queen Luise there is expressed much the same emphasis on a personal relation of the noble to his sovereign. He stood very close to the Queen, had received a pension from her, and looked to her for support in his hours of need. There was no one of his contemporaries who appreciated more thoroughly the strength of character of this the greatest of all German queens. No one saw more clearly than he the value of -tº- her efforts in the geeat cause of the liberation of Prussia. Af- Žer the dark days of Jena, he wrote: Man sieht sie einen wahren koeniglichen Charakter entwickeln. ** - In this homage to the queen Kleist breathed forth a sº #it of reverence and respect which sprang from the very depths of his being. There was in all his devotion to her a decidedly mystico-religious strain which lent to his loyalty a particular charm and beauty. She was for him the incarnation of something holy and divine. -------------- ** To Ulrike; Koenigsberg, Dec. 6, 1806; Werke : V. 331. º º º - º º º 31 So zieht ein Cherub mit gespreizten Fluegeln Zur Nachtzeit durch die Luft. . . . * Denn eine Glorie, in jenen Naechten Umglaenzte Deine Stirn. . . . * Dein Haupt scheint wie von Strahlen mir umschimmert. ** The deepest expression of this worship is found in the brief and laconic yet fervid Anzeige in the Berliner Abendblaetter , on the tenth of March, 1811. A predicted eclipse occurred on the birthday of the Queen, and for Kleist this was symbolic of the loss which the nation had suffered in her death. The terse par- agraph concluded: Uebrigens ist es Sonntag. **** In all this mystic, religious reverence” there is the same fervent spirit of devotion which Novalis uttered in his greeting to the new King and Queen on the occasion of their accession to the throne. ***** It has been pointed out that Kleist stood close to Novalis in many respects and that of all the --------------ºn-- * An Ihro Majestaet die Koenigin Louise von Preussen; Werke; - IV. 41. ** An die Koenigin von Preussen; Werke : IV. 42. * * * If the famous Rosensonett may be claimed for Kleist there may be found in it the same mystic devotion: Wom Himmel steigt die heilge Schoenheit nieder Hier ueberirdisch wundervoll zu bluehen. (Werke : IV. 244) * * * * Kalendar-Betrachtung; Werke : IV. 183. * * * * * Novalis, Werke : Blumen, I. 361-363, and Glauben und Liebe, oder, Der Koenig und die Koenigin, II. 146-170. These poems and fragments appeared first in the Jahrbuecher der Preussischen Monarchie, 1798. 32 merely as a mortal. The King and Queen were for him " jenes This is what the devotion to the Queen meant for Kleist and this writers of the older Romantic school his relations to Novalis” were the most intimate. This is probably due to the fact that there was a great similarity in the mental constitution of the two men, in spite of the robust manliness of Kleist and the - delicate femininity of Novalis. In the enumeration of the points of similarity this one of the sameness in their attitude to the Queen should not be omitted. For Noval is also felt the spirit of the divine in the Queen, and he hesitated to think of her himmlische Paar" ** Not the least of their services was to keep alive in the life of man the reverence for something above the mere earthly and material, Novalis said: . . . so sollte man mit dem Koenig und der Koenigin das gewoehnliche Leben weredein, "Wie sonst die Alten es mit ihren Goettern taten. *** is why her death was to him not only a personal loss, but a great public calamity. d. Kleist in the Service of the King. In all discussions of the poet Kleist the treatment -- * * can gº ºn "ma--- * Weissenfels, 7tsch. f. Vgl. Litgsch., I. 301-323. ** Novalis, Werke : I. 262. *** Novalis, Werke: II. 156. 33 wº cºv than soldier” and while in the civil-service he was more poet of his activity as a public servant is quite rightly of secondary interest only. This is all the more justifiable since the inter- est of Kleist, during his career in the service of the king, was º not primarily in the official duties which demanded his attention. He had other interests at heart and so, soon withdrew from the took a civil appointment only under compulsion. He never *—- army and _tº-º-º: **t ſ - was happy either as an officer or as an official, and both his entrance into the ranks and his appointment to the civil-service - were sacrifices which he found himself forced to make. Aside from the effect on his temperament of the natural irritation caused by irksome duties which he found himself obliged to perform, the periods had but little effect on the natuee of his poetical con- tributions. As an officer he himself said that he was more student - than public official. For his political career, however, these periods, unhappy and galling as they were to him, are of more importance. Therefore they merit a more detailed treatment than they need receive in ºny discussion in which the interest in Kleist as a poet predominates. A great deal in his political viewpoint and many of his later political principles are to be traced in their origins to influences and associations which came into his life or developed in his mind while he was in the service of the king. ---------------- * To Christian Ernst Martini; Potsdam, March 19, 1799; Werke : W. 32. 34 a. As an Officer. Kleist's withdrawal from the army was not due to a sudden whim or caprice on his part, Nor was the step taken in a fit of anger or disappointment. The decision was a momentous one. It meant a break with all the traditions of his rank, a sacrifice of the benefits of the patronage at court which hºresay had occasion to enjoy, and a choice of a very uncertain future in preference to an assured career as a soldier. Consequently it was only after mature deliberation” that he brought himself to give up this military career, which, as far as factors other than his personal inclination were concerned, offered bright prospects of advancement and promotion. His decision can, moreover, not be at tributed to any pacifistic ideas which might have made the call- ing of a soldier impossible for him. He longed, to be sure, for peace during the ill-starred Rhine campaign of 1792–1795, and bewailed * which the long drawn-out operations occasioned:* Such longing was due, however, to his military insight, which saw that little was to be hoped from a campaign so badly conducted as this one had been. *** Kleist was a soldier through and through - - - - - - - - - - - - - * To Martini; Potsdam, March 18. 19, 1799; Werke : W. 25. 31. ** To Ulrike; Eschborn, Feb. 25, 1795; Werke; v. 23. *** For a vivid account of the character of this campaign see the narration of Magister Laukhard in his Memoirs, Stuttgart, 1908. 35 and never hesitated to advocate the submission of the larger questions of national polity to the decision of arms. There is furthermore every reason to believe that Kleist was a good sol- dier. He would. undoubtedly have made an excellent officer, as in matters of military ####s and tactics his insight was keen - and his judgments usually correct. He was always interested in the tactical side of the profession of arme, and what he had to report of the numerous campaigns of his time was always presented in the clear, concise, accurate language of the military historian. * Even in the character of the great enemy of his country, Napol- eon, Kleist admired and grudgingly admitted his ability as a mil- itary leader. ºf interest in military affairs did not cease, moreover, with his withdrawal from the army. All through his - life he stood close to army circles and was intimate with the military leaders both before and after Jena. At various times he was in correspondence and very often in personal touch with such generals as Massenbach, Kalkreuth, Knesebeck, and Hueser of the old school and particularly, Gneisenau of the new . * * * º ------tº-ºº---- * For instance his description of the troop movements in Saxony in 1809. ( To Heinrich Joseph von Collin; Dresden, April 20, 1809; Werke : V. 385–386. ) ** Kate chismus der Deutschen; Werke : IV. 105. *** Christian von Massenbach (1758–1827); a brother-in-law of - Marie von Kleist; member of the French party. - Friedrich Adolf Graf von Kalkreuth (1737–1818); An officer from the time of Frederick II. - Karl Friedrich v. d. Knese- beck (1768–1848); later Prussian field-marshall. - Neit– hart Graf von Gneisenau (1760–1831); one of the leaders of the movement for army reform. 36 by his first-hand knowledge of the efficiency of the Austrian The later intimacy with Gneisenau is significant since it shows Kleist in relation to one of the main reform movements of º his time. He presented to Gneisenau a number of manuscripts which he had worked out, and he said he felt sure that the general would procure for him an appointment if the occasion arose. # These manuscripts have not been preserved, but they may very like- ly have had something to do with the many army reforms then in progress. That Kleist was an ardent supporter of the program as planned by Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Boyen; *and others becomes clear from his earlier experiences. In the great trial of strength with the mighty France, Kleist felt that the hope of the ſ nation lay in the army around which the levée en masse of a - popular uprising might rally. In this view he was confirmed by many circumstances in his life. He had come in contact with the armies of the Revolutionary France which at that time lacked that nucleus. He read Edmund Burke who emphasized the lack of diſci- pline and respect in the French system. Later he came in touch with Gentz ºf , often reiterated that the hope of Austria lay in the regular army. Finally, Kleist was strengthened in his views * To f ; Berlin, Aug. 1811; Werke : W. 428-429. ** Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst (1755–1813); author of many of the reforms. - Leopold Hermann Ludwig Boyen (1771–1848); one of the first advocates of universal service. * * * Friedrich Gentz (1764–1832); journalist and opponent of the French Revolution and Napoleon. But the army which Kleist thought of as the main-stay of the nation's defense was not the army such as he had left it. To learn what Kleist hoped to find in the new army, it is only ne- cessary to ask what faults he had to find with the old. As an Officer he had said : Ich war oft gezwungen zu strafen, wo ich gern verziehen haette, oder verzieh, wo ich haette strafen sollen, und in beiden Faellen hielt ich mich fuer strafbar. In solchen Augenblicken musste natuerlich der Wunsch in mir entstehen einen Stand zu verlassen, in welchem ich von zwei entgegengesetzten Prizipien unaufhoerlich gemartert wurde, immer zweifelhaft war, ob ich als Mensch oder als Officier handeln musste; denn die Pflichten beider zu vereinigen halte ich bei dem jetzigen Zustande der Armeen fuer unmoeglich. * Kle ist did not, in this, auestion the value Of dirline and Of strict deipline. The stern assertion which appears later in the Prinz von Homburg, that only in obedience lies efficiency, Was not a sudden development of Kleist"s later years. As a soldier Kleist had a wholesome respect for the beneficent results coming from adherence to the rules Of the service. But he demazaded that observance to these rules should not degenerate into mere - - - - - - - - - - - - * To Martini; Potsdam, March 19, 1799; Werke: V. 31. 32. 38 formalism, which he found to be the case in an army which had none of the spirit of the great Freerick and yet rested compla: cently on the laurels which his genius had won. One of the most serious defects in the life of the army Kleist expressly stated when he said of his withdrawal: Nicht aus Unzufriedenheit mit meiner besseren Lage . . . sondern aus Neigung zu den wissenechäften, aus dem eifrigen Best reben nach einer Bildung, welche, nach meiner º Ueberzeugung, in dem Militaerdienst nicht - zu er langen ist, verlagse 1sh denselben. It was the consequent lack of this "Bildung" in army—circles - and more especially in the corps of the officers which he deplor- ed. In the insistence on the development of a more intelligent - spirit among the officers of the army he was again at one with the later reformers. They strove to raise the intellectual level of the officers' ranks by making the position less of a sinecure and an exclusive privilege of the nobility; by eradicating the numerous chances for dishonesty; and by making merit and ability the bases for advancement. Although in the elabor ºf Scharn- horst and Gneisenau this matter was but one phase, for Kleist it was the crux of the whole reform. Nothing to his mind would raise the morale and efficiency of the army more than the insistence on "Bildung" in the ranks of the officers. Then only could the -------------- * To Martini; Potsdam, March 19, 1799; Werke : V. 35. 39 code of diſcipline be placed on a humanly rational basis. Then only could the soldier in the ranks submit to the code without doing violence to his own individual judgment. To the soundness Of Kleist's position, the history of the later wars of the century bears ample testimony. Nothing has contributed so markedly to the brilliant success of the German arms as the high intellectual plane to which the morale of the body of of - fic \ers has been raised. a... " ". As an Öfficial in the civil-service (*) *, The activity of Kleist in the civil-service is of more significance for his later career than his experiences in the army. In actual extent of time his services as a public official filled but a short period in his life. But in this short time more so than in his army career there came into his life that ac- tive contact with men and affairs which distinguished the life of Kleist from that of most of his contemporaries and . predeces- sors in the literary world. His experience as an official came, moreover, at a very significant point in his personal development. When he left the army in 1799 he was still an immature youth, one, to be sure, in whom there were great plans and a lofty ideal, but nevertheless a young man, inexperienced and rather unused to the ways of the world. By the spring of 1805, however, when he finally brought himself to take up his modest duties as an of- ficiallin the government service, he was a different man. The great catastrophes, as they may be called, had passed over him, and al- 40 though they had left their imprint upon him, they were, after all, a matter of history. Hardened by these crises through which he had fought his way, Kleist was now entering on a period of maturity. After this his judgment and discrimination were keen and alert, and he was eminently able to face squarely such questions of policy as those which were to arise before him. From now on he did not hesitate to express his own opinions on political mat- ters of K serious r moment. Kleist entered on his duties as an official in anything but an enthusiastic frame of mind. He had fought long against taking any position, and it was the break-down of the years 1803–1804 which finally forced him, very largely for financial reasons, to enter the civil-service. He objections to the Ser- - - * ... }º - º $ *A*º - º, ſº vice were very tº parallel to those which he ###, up against #e position as an army officer. “He chafed at the restraint which"; position would put upon him. He rebelled at becoming a mere tool or machine to execute the orders of superiors regard— less of his own opinions as to the merit or justice of these commands. The point of difficulty in this earlier attitude of Kleist was that he had not yet arrived at the conclusion that it was necessary to subordinate private interests to the demands of the state. Much as he realized that the state had many just demands to make on the citizen, he contended, nevertheless, that it was morally wrong to ask the individual to sacrifice that --------------------- * To Wilhelmine; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke : V. 151. 4l which concerned him most nearly to the interests of the whole. The duty to his individual self stood first and the demands of the state were secondary. It is interesting to speculate on the probable nature of Kleist's activity, if , later in 1811, his request for appointment to the civil-service had been granted. The intervening years had brought him to a realization that the demands of the state were to be placed first. This later attitude would certainly have determined the nature of his conduct as a --- public official. of his actual life in office or the nature and scope of 1 rvfo RM4ſ, ow his work in an official capacity, but little accurate Acan be gleaned. What there is consists entirely of scattered references in his letters. By piecing these bits together it is possible, however, to arrive at some conclusions regarding the nature of his labors, both during the months of study in Berlin (1800) in preparation for his career as an official, and also during his ac- tual term of office at Koenigsberg (1805–1807). In the first º place it becomes apparent that, in spite of his chafing at becom- ing an official, he labored diligently in office. His letters - bear witness to this fact and there is furthermore the testi- mony of his sister Ulrike * who speaks of his earnest efforts to please his superiors through arduous reading and study: *The char- -------------- * Ulrike Philippine von Kleist ( 1774–1849 ); a step-sister of Kleist and his favorite. ** Euph. X. lll. 42 * * º º }. - * & (fºr * ) acter of his labors” is of interest and significance. His duties, were mainly to read books and periodicals, to make digests of their contents, and to report the same to the various chambers and commissions with which he was connected. Here his thorough- ness stood him in good stead for he said of himself that what- ever he under took he tried to do thoroughly. #43-44%. , intensive work” (when brought into play) while (he was in office made him acquainted with the more important literature in the fields in which he was engaged. It was, moreover, in these fields that the most thorough- going reforms were afterward undertaken, ~in finance, industry, and economics in general. It is not to be deplored that Kleist did not receive the position of attache with the Spanish em- bassy of Major von Gualtieri *** which he so long hoped to secure. The knowledge of problems of internal reform which he gleaned º while preparing for office was of vastly more importance to him in his later activity. Not all these problems were entirely new - sºvº ones to him. Questions of agriculture and of an agrarian nature had claimed his attention in Switzerland, for in 1802 he wrote that he was at that time studying farming and hoped to gather a good deal of information on the subject. **** - ----------------- * To Ulfike; Berlin, Feb. 5, 1801; Werke : W. 196, and To Pfuel; Berlin, Jan. 7, 1805; Werke : V. 316. ** To Martini; Potsdam, March 19, 1799; Werrke: V. 32. *** Peter von Gualtieri, a brother of Kleist's cousin Marie von Kleist. He died while in the diplomatic service, in Spain, in 1805. - * * * * To Ulrike; Bern, Jan. 12, 1802; Werke : W. 277. 43 f official. This labor gave to Kleist a fund of information neces- Of all the books which he read none claimed his attention more, and probably had a greater influence on his thought, than the already famous Wealth of Nations of Adam Smith. Hardenberg had suggested to Kleist that he prepare himself more directly for a position in the department of finance by attending the lectures of Kraus” in Koenigsberg. This teacher was an ardent advocate of the Smithian system of political economy and was later the sub- --------- --- --- - - ject of much bitter controversy in Kleist's Abenariaetter. “ The personal influence of Kraus on Kleist was no doubt small, but - Kleist certainly read and studied the work of Smith in the trans- lation and interpretation of Kraus. The laconic close of a letter to Pfuel;,” - Adieu, den Smith brauche ich selbst, **** is but a slight clue, but it casts a light on his continued study of this most important book. The reading and study of this work among many others on questions of finance and economics in gener- º al were primary factors in this period of his life as a public sary for the assútion of an intelligent attitude on any question of econoštic reform. ** See page ‘2’ * * * Ernst von Pfuel (1779–1866); a friend of Kleist from the garrison days in Potsdam. Later became general and minis- ter of war. * * ** To Pfuel; Koenigsberg, July, 1805, Werke : V. 333. 44 But not only books entered as factors of influence into this earlier period. It must not be forgotten that Kleist came into personal touch with many of the most influential men in the governmentallservice at that time. Many of these men became later the recognized leaders in the regeneration of the Prussian state. How much influence they actually had on Kleist is, of course, under the circumstances, hard to determine exactly, and yet it must have been of moment for Kleist's political life that he had known personally many of the men who took such an active part in the economic reconstruction of Prussia. His earlier re- lations to Hardenberg, if not of long duration, were at least in- timate enough to mislead some of the friends of Kleist to speak of Hardenberg as Kleist's patron. * With Altenstein; *whose ser– vices to his state were second only to those of Stein and Har- denberg, Kleist stood on a very familiar footing, extending even into social circles. The same may be said of his friendship with Staegemann, “** whereas the relations to Struensee and Auers- wald “** were more strictly of an official nature. Kleist's teach- er in the earlier Berlin period had been Kunth; * the follower of *Johann Georg Scheffner in his biography (Leipzig, 1816–1823) ; quoted in Kleist's Gespraeche, 102, #56. ** Karl Freiherr von Stein zum Altenstein (1770–1840); minister of finance, l808–1810. ... " *** Friedrich August von Staegemann (1763–1840); an official º in the department of finance. **** Karl August von Struensee (1735–1804); Prussian minister of state. - Hans Jakob von Auerswald (1757–1833); was Kleist's superior and president of East Prussia. * * * * * Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth (1757–1829); director of the technical commission. - 45 * # º º Laº Kaº, ... ? tº ºrº with the various economic movements, then current in Prussia, in Adam Smith, the friend of Stein, and the able teacher of the Humboldt's. Later in Koenigsberg Kleist had, as has been said, been the student of Kraus, the apostle of Smith. Although Kleist found himself forced to enter into official circles, the personal re- lation to many of these men formed the one bright spot in the otherwise unpleasant surroundings. The active intercourse with such leaders brought Kleist, perhaps unconsciously, into contact which these men were vitally interested. The movements of these years were, moreover, of deep mean- ing and of far-reaching significance for the future. At first glance it seems that reform in Prussia was entirely subsequent | to the Battle of Jena. The whole old system broke down at this time, to be sure, And in point of chronology the reforms actu- ally followed the cataclysm of 1806. But the way had been paved for the numerous sweeping changes, and to find their inception and beginnings it is necessary to look to the decade from 1795 to 1805. If this labor of clearing the ground had not been under- taken it would not have been possible to do so much in so short a time. The emancipating edict of 1807 came with surprising swift- ness after the dark October days of 1806, but it had been pre- pared long since. The first ministry of Stein made use of the pioneer work which had been done by Altenstein, Niebuhr: shā Schotºn, -------------- ment of finance in 1810 because of disagreement with Har- denberg. Became Professor of Roman History in Berlin. — Heinrich Theodore Schoen (1773–1856); so-called political testament of Stein largely the Work of Schoen; organized the East Fäsää 1.É. " 2 -- 46 and a number of others. In the final judgment of the neutrality policy of Prussia following the treaty of Basle it is well to re- member not alone its evil effects on the prestige of Prussia among the European states. It was the period of peace caused by this neutrality that gave the necessary opportunity for the mo- mentous program of reorganization and reform to crystallize and develope. It is the fact that this period of quiet preparation is generally ignored which makes the regeneration of the Prussian state seem so phoenix-like. The rebirth of the nation dates far back beyond the defeats of Jena and Auerstaedt. It was in this important preparatory period that Kleist came into contact, directly and personally, with the tendencies of his time. What is more, his correspondence bears ample testimony to the fact that he thought seriously about the numerous problems which confronted him. A perusal of the letters of this period establishes the striking fact that, barring an occasional angry outburst against the French, there is little or no mention of foreign affairs. There are on the other hand many references to the questions of internal policy in Prussia. This Prussia within lºne line of demarcation was left to work out ite own salvation. It was doomed to feel the iron hand of the conqueror. but his n yoke was at the same time a service. By sweeping away all vesti- - ges of the old regime, the conqueror gave free play 'to those tendencies which had been developing quietly and unobtusivly away from the strife and turmoil of the world's affairs. 47 The first of these tendencies with which Kleist came in contact was the gradual change from a personal government such as had existed under Frederick the Great to the more modern bu- reaucratic system which developed particularly under the reign of Frederick William III. * Secondly, Kleist came to see while in office the extreme importance of financial legislation and the need of a thorough reorganization of the revenue system of the country. His field was finance and the importance of financial queetions was early brought home to him. Hand in hand with this went the question of the application of tha. Smithian system of political economy to Prussian affairs and the place which the doctrines of Smith were to occupy in the new order of things. No matter what his opinions on the teaching of the Wealth of Nations was, Kleist was not one to decry the application of sound econom- º ic principles to the organization of the state. As a corollary to this larger question came the important problem of industrial evolution. The modern industrial state was just beginning to emerge and the relative importance of agrarian and industrial demands busied the mind of Kleist himself. In the final analysis and in so far as the development of Kleist's politics are concerned, all these questions can be looked upon as minor manifestations of one fundamental matter. There will be occasion later in a discussion of Kleist as an active politician º to analyze his standpoint on these several questions. Here it will ----------- * Es gehoert zu den charactert\ristischen Erscheinungen der Zeit der Freiheitskriege dass der innige Zusammenhang zwięhen volk und Regierung noch nicht hergestellt war, der heute den Demokratismus aller Staaten, auch die mehr oder minder absolut regierten, kennzeichnet. - Lamprecht. 48 suffice to point out that the importance of his meeting with these questions lies in the fact that his conception of the state must of necessity have widened and deepened because of such con- tact. The larger question of the function of the state and the problem of interference or non-interference as a governmental program, now rise before him. Kleist did not strive, to be sure, to solve these problems in the labors of a political theorist. ------- But his acquaintance with these questions served to tincture - later on . Such a governmental policy was the Hardenberg reform- programof Kleist's later years. Kleist's attitude between sup- port and hostility towards it is to be explained very largely by his labors in office. These labors were distasteful to him and he rebelled at performing them. They gave him, however, a fund of information of inestimable value; they brought him into contact with men and affairs; they led him to see the broader and deeper meaning of the state as a political institution; they made it possible for him to assume later an intelligent attitude towards all questions of reform. That later attitude, as will be shown, was not based on the bias of party affiliation or on the accidence of occasional circumstance. It was largely the in- evitable result of the scientific knowledge gleaned while he was a public official in the service of the state. e. His Love Of Country. Of all the factors which served to give to this period of preparation its peculiar character, there was none more marked than Kleist's love of fatherland. The remark of his friend Dahl- mann * in later years: Einen gluehenderen Freund des deutschen s Waterlandes hat es nie gegeben, als inn. ** was true of the Kleist of these earlier years. The literary pro- ductions and letters of the period impress one with the important role which a patriotic devotion to his country played in his º every-day life and thought. In his poetical works there is no need to wait for the really patriotic productions such as the Hermannschlacht, or the Kriegelieder, or the prinz von Homburg, to find an emphasis on the love of fatherland. His earlier works are full of such emphasis, and the devotion to home and country is a dominant trait in many of his most interesting characters. The Michael Kohlhaas is in- complete without it, and it is found in the Gustav von der Ried in the Verlobung in Sankt Domingo. Gerichtsrat Walter in the Zerbrochene Krug is another in whom this quality is felt to be present. It is not mere chance which makes him answer, regarding his choice of wine, to Adam's question " Franz7 oder Rhein: º Walter. - Won unserm Rhein. * * * The whole atmosphere of the mighty Guiscard fragment is permeated ** Dahlmann to Gervinus, Oct. 1840, Kleists Werke : II. 319. *** Der Zerbrochene Krug, zehnter Auftritt, Werke : I. 397. 50 with the love of fatherland and it finds expression in the power- ful line with which the fragment closes: Fuehr' uns zurueck, zurueck, ins Waterland. * An examination into the use of the word * waterland " which is to be met with in his letters of this earlier period throws a bright light on his conception of the exact meaning of the term. He showed no consistency in the matter. At one point he used the word with reference to Brandenburg-Prussia – the country of his birth. On other occasions he used it with reference to Germany er the Ger- man-speaking territories in general. From the Saxon boundary he cast a glance back on his fatherland, ** this " trauriges, maer- ki sches Waterland " *** which he loved so well. While in Paris he wondered whether the German fatherland **** in a larger sense would ever see him again, and as a prisoner he longed to return to this same fatherland. # At one place the word was nothing more than a synonym for home, ## although here again applied to a German-speaking community. This laxness in the use of the term is to be explained by the fact that although Kleist felt himself a Prussian subject and cherished the Prussian state in his heart, he considered * Roger Guiscard, zehnter Auftritt, Werke : I. 192. ** To Wilhelmine; Leipzig, Aug. 30, 1800; Werke; W. 94. * * * To waihelmine; Zwickau, Sept. 4, 1800, Werke : V. lil. # * * * To Karoline von Schlieben; Paris, July 18, 1801; Werke :W. 238 # To Ulrike; Chalons, June 8, 1807; Werke : V. 339. || To Ulrike; Basel, Dec. 16, 1801; Werke: W. 270. 51 - - larger community was for him in this earlier period all the himself at the same time a member of a larger community. This German-speaking territories. Everywhere he spoke of himself as a German. " Ich bin ein Deutscher, " was his reply to Hardenberg's question, " Sind Sie ein Schliesier? " * This emphasis on the larger German affiliation is best shown in that episode in his life in which there arose the question of Swiss citizenship. He had almost decided to become a citizen of the republic and felt on particular qualms at changing from Brandenburg to Switz- erland. When, however, it seemed as if he would be in danger of becoming a French citizen, his whole being revolted at the idea. ** This is to be explained not sº by his hatred of the French, since that was, at that time, not so pronounced and apparent. His repugnance was in large part due to the fact that as a French citizen he would no longer have felt himself a member of that larger German community. His earlier idea of settling in France did not carry with it the idea of becoming a French citizen. *** His plan at that time was a patriotic one and contemplated the spread of German learning, among other ideas, the Kantian philo- sophy in France. The letters speaking of this plan nowhere contai any intimation of permanent French citizenship. It can not be doubted for an instant that in case of a serious question of a ------------------- • Englaender's Salon, III. 1847; quoted in Gespraeche, 122, #66. ** To Heinrich Zschokke; Thun, March 2, 1802; Werke: v. 283. *** To Wilhelmine; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke: V. 156. 52 change of citizenship, the decision would always have been as Kleist afterwards wrote : Denn niemals, wohin ich mich auch, durch die Umstaende gedraengt, wenden muss, wird mein Herz ein anderes Waterland waehlen, als das worin ich gebohren bin. * In Kleist is to be found the further development of that idea of nationality which was born with the reign of Frederick II. The great king had made the hearts of his countrymen even beyond the bounds of Prussia beat with the pride of being German, and had implanted in their minds the germ of an idea of a larger united German community above and beyond the petty provincial jealousies and dissensions. Kleist was a Prussian and yet one in whom this germ of an idea was most carefully nurtured. He --- cherished this feeling for a German nationality (in his heart) Without &ny serious thought as to the political realizability of the dream. Fichte, in his Reden an die Deutsche sation, spoke the same attitude when he said: - . . ich erblicke diese Einheit schon als ent- standen, vollendet, und gegenwaertig dastehend. ** For him as for Kleist, " Deutschland " was as yet only a name, but a name without which the political thought of both men would have lacked real significance. It was a name on which rested their fondest hopes and dreams. -------------- * To Altenstein; Dresden, Dec. 22, 1807; Werke: W. 366. ** Fichte, Reden: 21. 53 f. Weltbuerger or Staatsbuerger. From what has been said in the preceding section it is apparent that from a purely political standpoint, Kleist had but little i in common with the ideal of Weltbuergertum. Indeed, as far as his strictly political thought is concerned, it would be unnecessary to enter into a discussion of his relation to this º rather hazy concept. There has been, however, a tendency to make of Kleist's change in attitude in 1807–1809 primarily a shift in his relation to this question of worlºitizenship. The step which he took in these years has been explained by means of the alluring but (very) misleading formula – " Der Weltbuerger wurde Staatsbuerger. " It should be pointed out that there exists here a confusion of terms, and that whereas "Staatsbuerger" must nat- urally emphasize the political aspect, the former term, as used in Germany during the latter half of the eighteenth century, had little or no political significance. From a political viewpoint consequently the two categories of the formula are not mutually exclusive, nor are they diametrical opposites. The point of interest in the German movement lies in the fact that the hope sprang up in the minds of men that by some sort of a salto mortale it would be possible to leap into a state transcending nationality before nationality had ever existed among them. It is obvious that in a non-political era this tran- scendent something could have but little meaning as a political concept. When real political problems came to the front and brought 54 with them the necessary emphasis on nationality, the idea of º world-citizenship soon lost its hold on the minds of its adherents. Fichte, who in his lectures of 1804–1805, "had spoken of the lar- ger community of enlightened Europe, gave little thought to a political meaning of his expression. When in 1807–1808 his lec- tures ** stirred the nation he had gone seemingly with a sudden change of front to an emphasis on nationality. There was, however, in his attitude no such change of front. The latent feeling of nationality had merely come into its own and Fichte openly de- clared that for him a world-citizenship without an underlying national citizenship was untilinkable. Of the relation between then he said that patriotism was the real and definite cosmopolitan- ism. * * * Undoubtedly Kleist was one of those who had been stirred by the message of the "Humanitaetsbriefe: He also believed himself a citizen of that transcendent nation of culture and enlightenment which was not and never should be bound by the accidental national boundaries and resulting national prejudices. It is not necessary to attempt to prove that Kleist and his fellow-believers ever gave up this dream of a new Utopia. The significance of the develop- º ment in Kleist, as in most of his contemporaries, is however that - Published, Berlin, 1806, as - Grundzuege des. Gegenwaertigen Zeitalter 3. ** Published, Berlin, 1808, as - Reden an die Deutsche Nation. * * * Bérº Patriotism und sein Gegenteil; Nachgel. Werke : I. 237-339. ºt he brought himself to believe that this transcendent something could come only subsequent to the development of a German natio- nality. In Kleist these two ideas ran parallel to each other. In { ***, to be sure, to the "Humanitaet 3- the earlier years he ideal". But everywhere he felt himself more specifically a cit- izen of a national state, which if not as yet decidedly Prussian in character, was at least German in its constitution. His use of the word "Weltbuergertum" was in itself inter- esting and significant enough to make one doubt the depth of Kleist 's conception of the term. At one place " the adjective "weltbuergerlich" appeared in his letters as an incorrect trans- scription of "cosmologisch" – a rather serious slip if he had been 3. world-citizen and had had a clear conception of the exact - significance of the meaning of the term. The term was applied correctly in but one instance and here Kleist used it with refer- ence to the academic profession. ** The republic of letters *** was in his mind and in a time of political inactivity no doubt occupied him very much. But along with this idea there flowed in a parallel current and one which gained strength with every year, the idea that he was first of all a citizen of a state, if not national, at least racial in its character and constitution. In the letters to Wilhelmine there is a constant reference --- ** * -- * * * * * * ***** ** To Wilhelmine; Frankfort a.d. Oder, 1800; Werke : V. 59. * * * Fichte also dealt with this idea in his work, Der Geschlos- sene Handelsstaat, Werke : III. 513. 56 to the fact that man is born a citizen of a state with certain duties with regard to the social whole. Along with this convic- tion, the idea gradually grew and developed that the state had certain demands which it must make on the individual, since it was only through the individual that the purposes of the atate could be fulfilled. These demands might impinge on the preroga- tives of the individual and in his own life he had bitterly exper- ienced such unhappy contradictions. Yet he set down as his aim to become Staatsbuerger. This goal of citizenship he interpreted in a larger and more altruistic sense and had in mind to make of himself a useful member of society. * That Kleist was serious in these utterances is shown by his later career. When the time finally came in which a field was opened for his efforts, he threw himself heart and soul into the currents and tried to make of himself one of that type of useful citizens of which he had spoken. World-citizenship was an ideal which he among many others had had before him. Because of his patriotism and because of his contact with men and affairs it was forced to occupy a position never more than equal with that of the idea of a citizenship in a national state. * To W67héâmine; Frankfort a. d. Oder, May 30, 1800; Werke; W. 67-68; Wuerzburg, Sept. 18, 1800; Werke : V. l.22; Oct. 10, 1800; Werke : V. 144; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke : V. 152; Nov. 22, 1800; Werke : V. 166. 57 g. Kleist and the French Revolution. In this non-political age in which the earlier years of Kleist's life fell there was, however, one movement which was des- tºined to bring the Germans face to face with questions of a pol- itical nature. Even then its effects were not fully appreciated in Germany until it had practically run its course in the land of its birth. This was the mighty upheaval of the French Revolution. It was not destined to be limited to France, and it will remain the great serviee of the man of destiny that he gave to this re- volution, which was essentially French in its origin, a decidedly European character. Under his victorious eagles and in the wake of his mighty armies the principles of the Revolution were carried to the several ends of Europe. There was no thinking man in all - Europe who sooner or later was not brought into contact with the Çü revºlutionary propºganda. In the case of Kleist and in connection §t with his political career tº is of special significance to in- quire into his relation and attitude towards this tremendous movement which emanated from France, Kleist early became acquainted with the writings of Rousseau, and all the evidence (points to the fact) that he read and studied - these epoch-making works thoroughly. As early as 1799 * he showed indications of his knowledge of Rousseau and he must have begun to read the French Philosopher during his garrison life in Pots- ----------------- 58 --areswº" ----" dam. He never ceased to recommend the reading of Rousseau to his betrothed Wilhelmine and to his sister Ulrike. * His knowledge of Rousseau led to many passages in his letters which have a de- cided Rousseauie tinge, in which the simplicity of country life is glorified and the virtues of the common man are exalted. ** His own plan of a rural life in Switzerland *** can be brought into connection with his Rousseauism. The Rousseauio tenor of many passages in his letters is , - however, not to be attributed solely to the reading of Rousseau. º There was much in the life of Kleist at that time which would have led him to long for the simplicity of rural surroundings, and to disgust him with the artificiality of his own environment. He turned to Rousseau with avidity and eagernees since he found in hima confirmation of his own struggles against conventions and narrow prejudices. Rousseau did not cººrs. to the exist- € n Ce of these prejudices, but it was the struggles against such conventions that made him find in Rousseau an apostle of that naturalism for which he longed. Beyond this Rousseau meant little to him, and Kleist was little interested in the deeper signifi- cance of the philosopher who was in every way a forerunner of the - Revolution. That there existed an intimate relation between the * ea --- **** *** - nºw ex---- April 14, 1801; Werke; W. 218; also Goettingen, June 3, 1801; Werke : W. 227. ** To Wilhelmine; Leipzig, May 21, 1801; Werke : V. 325; and Paris, Oct. 10, 1801; Werke: W. 262. *** To Wilhelmine; Paris, Oct. 10, 1801; "erke: V. 368. 59 doctrines of Rousseau and the principles of the Revolution was self-evident. Kleist, however, could with difficulty bring him- self to see that the revolution was an inevitable and logical out- growth of the Rousseauism of which he himself had been a aepe. While in Paris he WrOte : - Rousseau ist immer das 4te Wort der Franzosen; und wie wuerde er sich schaemen, wenn man ihm sagte, dass dies sein Werk sei. * Nor was it long before the weaknesses of Rousseau" s doctrines be Came evident to him. When Kleist "s serious nature came face to face with the real problems of human knowledge, he soon saw the One-sidedness of Rousseau, and he said: Und doch – gesetzt, Rousseau haette in der Beantwortung der Frage, ob die Wissenschaften den Menschen gluecklicher gemacht haben, recht, wenn er sie mit nein beantwortet, welche seltsamen Wider- sprueche wuerden aus dieser Wahrheit folgen . . . . Denn der Mensch hat ein unwidersprechliches Beduerf- nis sich aufzuklaeren. Ohne Aufklaerung ist er nicht viel mehr als ein Thier. Sein moralisches Beduerfnis treibt ihn zu den Wissenschaften an, wen Äuch kein physisches taete. ** This reading and knowledge of Rousseau is but one of the circumstances which rea to the fact that Kleist had a wide - - - - - - - - - - - -,"-"- ** To Wilhelmine; Paris, Aug. 15, 18Ol; Werke: V. 248. 60 knowledge of French literature and French matters in general. the culture of the time demanded a knowledge of French, and Kleist early acquired proficiency in the language. While still a boy he had been placed in the care of datel, * a French emigré under º whose tutelage he no doubt acquired an ability to speak, write, and read French. His earlier letters are full of references to French literature and history, and point, if not to a profound study of these subjects, at least to a wide reading and a large acquaintance with them. There are to be found among his works an adaptation of a fable by Lafontaine ** and a reinterpretation of thá Amphitryon theme which began as a translation of the comedy Of Molière. *** This wide reading was supplemented by actual con- tact with France and the French. The campaign of 1798-9s is of little moment in this connection, but it is necessary to men- tion the first visit to Paris in 1801, the residence in Switzer- land with its close relations to France in 1801–1803, the second visit to Paris and other parts of France in 1803–1804, and finally the French captivity of 1807. These various episodes served to give Kleist a first-hand knowledge of France and the French of his day. - In all these moments of contact it was a revolutionary France with which he came in touch, and his attitude was consis- tently unsympathetic and very often openly hostile. In the cam- - “m ºn e-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º- ** Die Beiden Tauben; Werke : IV. 16. *** Amphitryon, ein Lustspiel mach Moliere; Werke : I. 193. 61 paign of 1793–95 the Prussian guardsman looked with contempt, on the raw levies of France and he spoke of the French troops º as "Raeuberge sindel" * In 1801 he wrote of "Graeuel und Laster." as earmarks of the French. ** From about the same time dates the narrative of the horrors of the Revolution which appears in the Verlobung in Sankt Domingo as a description of the excesses which took place in Strassburg. *** Later, in Switzerland, he again broke out in a denunciation of the French "Brutalitaet" “** Here also he spoke of the French as "Affen der Vernunft" and expressed his contempt for the populace as well as the army of the French Re- public. # These impressions had been only intensified by his - visit to Paris, "das stolze, ungezuegelte, ungeheure Paris." + In spite of the fact that he acknowledged himself to be here in "dieser Schule der Welt" 4++ he saw through the artificiality of his surroundings and felt that the whole structure of the French º state and society was standing on the brink of an abyss. Wohin das Schicksal diese Nation fuehren wird-? Gott weiss es. Sie ist reifer zum Unter gange als crºss - - - *-* * * ºn ea tº tº tº * To Auguste Helene von Massow; Frankfort a. M., March 13–18, 1793; Werke : V. 18. ** To Wilhelmine; Strassburg, June 28, 1801; Werke : W. 231. * * * Werke : III. 329. * * * * To Ulrike; Thun, March 18, 1802; Werke : V. 384. # Ibid. ## To Karoline von Schlieben; Paris, July 18, 1801; Werke : V. 233. 4 Ibid.; Werke: W. 238. irgend eine andere Nation. * Since this hostility to * Revolutionary France can not be attributed to any enmity to the French as such, it is to be as- cribed to hostility to the Revolution. His attitude to this - mighty movement, in its consistent opposition was after all dif- ferent from that of the great majority of his contemporaries and practically all of his predecessors. In the case of the most of the literary men of the time the Revolution had been at first hailed with great acclaim. Such had been the earlier attitude of Klopstock, Herder, Goethe, Kant, Schiller, among a host of others. Then the excesses of the revolutionists and the spectacle of un- bridled passion run riot had turned these men from an attitude of enthusiasm, to cool tolerance, and finally in almost every case to bitter denunciation and open hostility. With Kleist there was always from the first an attitude of hostility, and the causes for this consistency are not hard to find. Kleist was a mere child when the fires of revolt first brdke out in France. Even by the - time of the war of the first coalition against this revolutionary France, he was still an immature lad of barely fifteen years. What is more, his life had been spent in Brandenburg-Prussia, the far thest removed from the vortex. Everything in that life - his º: rank, his family association, his education, the seclusion of the garrison environment – all combined to keep from him any great in- fluence of the outside world. Consequently by the time he arrived at an age and a position in whizh he could have looked with dis- ------------------- 63 criminating judgment on the course of events, the Revolution had - entered, its second stage and was about ready to go over into the Napoleonic era. Then Kleist, whose every other word was "Freiheit", 3poke only of "Brutalitaet und Graeul und Laster" when he thought of the events in France. Kleist, who in his deeper moments had said, Es waltet ein grosses, unerbittliches Gesetz ueber die ganze Menschheit, dem der Erste wie der Bettler unterworfen ist. * - saw nothing in the French Egalité other than a situation such as he described, concerning ... zwei fuerstlichen Hotels, welche seit der Emigration ihrer Besitzer das Eigenthum inrer Koeche geworden sind. ** Then he refused to see in Rousseau, whose works he had studied and revered, the apostle of this revolt and he thought of him as nothing more than the antagonist and foe of artificiality and prejudice. In spite of the democratic tendencies, such as a disregard for formality “ and a hatred of social convention **** Kleist is never a revolutionist, seldom really democratic, but always nothing more than strongly individualistic. It is this peculiarity in Kleist's attitude to the Rev- ---ºn-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º- * To Martini; Potsdam, March 18, 1799; Werke : W. 29. ** To Luise von Zenge; Paris, Aug. 16, 1801; Werke : W. 255. *** To Aug. von Massow; Frankfort a.M., March 13, 1793; Werke; W. 18, * * * * To Wilhelmine; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke; W. 153. 64 | olution which prevented him from appreciating to the full its great historical significance. In his condemnation his hostility was not tempered by any previous enthusiasm. He was not ready to admit that some of the principles which had caused rivers of blood to flow in France, were the very doctrines which were to be applied to his own Prussian state. Later when his more mature years would have made it possible for him to assume a more liber- al attitude towards the doctrines underlying the Revolution, that movement had entered, its third and final phase - the era of º Napoleon. For Kleist then all was swallowed up in the hatred of this incarnation of revolt. Until this demon of destruction was removed the hostility to all things French must continue. It was then that he wrote in his Katechismus der Deutschen : - Frage. Wer sind deine Feinde, mein Sohn? Antwort. Napoleon, und so lange ºr ihr Kaiser ist, die Franzosen. * -------------------------- * Werke : IV. 103. 65 IV. Kleist' Political Activity: 2. The Critical Years 1807–1809. Kleist returaed from his captivity in France in August of the year 1807. He went immediately to Dresden and entered on that extremely significant residence from 1807 to 1809 which marked º the turning point and transition in his life's history. For the subsequent course of Kleist's activity these are in every sense the criſtical years of his career, since they mark the end of the period of preparation and the beginning of the age of mature endeavor in the political field. If anything had been needed to make Kleist realize the seriousness of the situation in which his native land stood, the French captivity would have served to bring him to such reali- zation. His person had been seized and he had been held a prison- er in a most high-handed and tyrannical manner. No specific charge had been brought against him. It had been said that his movements - in the rear of the French army had been suspicious and had caused him to be looked upon as a spy. No attempt had been made to prove or disprove these suspicions, and meanwhile, Kleist had been forced to languish in French prisons, awaiting the pleasure of º the war department at Paris. There can be no question here of the innocence of Kleist. No definite accusation other than these suspicions had been brought up against him, and the openness of the movements of himself and his comrades would seem to preclude any guilt of espionage on their part. Kleist had been merely one of 7. the many victims of (the) French tyranny and injustice. Upon his return to Germany he saw more clearly than ever before the al- º most inevitable fate which awaited the German states if they fell completely into the hands of an enemy so unscrupulously perfid- ious as the France of the imperial Napoleon. º The immediate effect of his personal experiences with this French despotism was to strengthen in Kleist the determination to devote his energies to the service of his ratherland. The grasp of the oppressor was tightening on the German lands and it was the duty of every patriotically-minded person to labor in the cause of shaking off this foreign yoke. As early as 1801, long before Kleist saw any definite sphere for his a cit vity, he had appreciated the value of a close relation to the movements of his time. At that time he'had said: *.…" Aber ein Talent bildet sich im Stillen, doch ein 6haracter nur in dem Strome der Welt. * The defeats of 1806 and the consequent downfall of the Prussian monarchy had confirmed him in his conviction of the necessity of such a relation to the world. It was in Dresden in the years 180? to 1809 that the determination reached its final conclusion: Ich auch finde, man mus's sich mit seinem --------------- * To Ulrike; Berlin, Feb. 5, 1801; Werke : V. 198. 67 ganzem Gewicht, so schwer oder leicht es sein mag, in die Waage der Zeit werfen. * Such was the decision when the 6pportunity fºlinally presented it self to Kleist. The firm belief that such must be his decision was strengthened by the memory of his experiences during the months which he had spent as a prisoner in France. In the earlier months of the Dresden residence the poli- tical activity was, to be sure, pushed into the background by other affairs of a more immediate nature. Upon his arrival into the Saxon capital, Kleist was welcomed into the literary circle which centered very largely around the Koerner household. ** Amid these congenial surroundings he set to work and for a time the labors as an author took up very much of the time and the attention of Kleist. He had returned to Dresden practically pen- niless. The question of immediate moment was to win for himself an independent existence. This could ºnly) come through his pen. He had brought with him from France several manuscripts, more or less completely worked out, and his first concern was to finish these and to get them published. But this was only one reason why Kleist turned to labors which made it appear as if the agitation against Napoleon was forgotten. The city was the center of a state whose sympathies Werke: V. 385. ** The Koerner letters (Rundschau, XV. 461–479, and XVI. 115–136) contain many interesting references to Kleist and to the works A&hich he finished at this time. 68 were decidedly French, so that any anti-French propaganda had to be carried on with great secrecy and discretion. As a result but little of a political nature found its way into the letters of the period, and purely literary interests occupied most of the º attention of Kleist. This was especially true of the magazine º Phoebus which Kleist, in collaboration with Adam Mueller, edited º during the year 1808. The general attitude and tone of the pub- lication were literary and Kleist expressly stated his purpose to be : einen, der Politik in jeder Hinsicht gleich- gueltigen, litterarischen Plan aus zufuehren. * The "Politik" here had He reference, no doubt, to the larger questions of both domestic and foreign affairs and Kleist meant to warn his friends not to look for a tendency in the publication. But even in the Phoebus there was noticeable a subdued undercur- (, , , º, rent of political moment. The proposed publishing company which he ºf a 4- A * --- been super seded by the plan of the magazine had been spoken of O - by Kleist: diesen Plan, der noch eine weit hoehere Tendenz hat, als die merkantilische. ** This higher purpose may well have been in connection with the other activities of the later editors of the magazine. Of these other activities of Mueller and Kleist, while publishers of the ---------------- To Ulrike; Dresden, Sept. 17, 1807; Werke : V. 350. 69 Phoebus, there is much significant testimony. Contemporaries spoke of the political activity of Mueller in particular although Kleist is also mentioned as helping him in his efforts. * Kietet was, moreover, in correspondence with the secret societies as is borne out by the testimony of General von Hueser. - so bin ich zum Beispiel mehrmals bis Baruth geritten, um dort an den als Dichter belcannten Heinrich von Kleist, der unse: Gesinnungsgenosse war und in Dresden lebte, Briefe auf die Post zu bringen. ** Although the editors had endeavored to keep the journal apart from the political movements with which they were most intimately connected, there were, nevertheless, many passages, particularly from the pen of Adam Mueller, which had direct reference to the political conditions of the time. For Mueller poetry itself was a militant force and was to be made to serve the cause of national liberation.Mueller dić not hesitate, even in the literary Phoebus. to speak of the yoke which rested on the land. In spite of these tendencies on the part of the editors, however, the general tone of the magazine remained literary. A number of reasons can be assigned for this. The time was not yet ripe for a propaganda of open agitation by means of a journalistic publication, and Dresden was certainly not the place in which a periodical of such a nature could have flourished. There was, a------------ ** Gespraeche, 154, # 94. 70 º moreover, in the circle of friends a journal which, if not one of agitation, did, nevertheless, deal with questions of a political nature. This was the Pallas edited by Ruehle * and called "eine º Zeitschrift fuer Staats- und Kriegskunst". Kleist was not a con- tributor to this paper, but Mueller wrote for it articles on Adam Smith, the hereditary nobility, finance, and on numerous other subjects of similar nature. ** The tendency of the Phoebus was educational and in this it was in accord with the general theory of the age, which believed that enlightenment was a necessary precursor of all progress in any field of human endeavor. The ultimate aim of all this under current of a political nature can not be mistaken. 1: ..rue as Kleist later said: Es ist nur ein Gegenstand, ueber den der Deutsche jetzt zu reden hat. *** This one matter was for Kleist to prepare the nation for the com- ing contest with Napoleon, and it was this which the circle of friends in Dresden had in mind. Kleist came to Dresden with a hatred of Napoleón in his heart, and there is every reason for believing that this hostility was only intensified by his life in a Napoleonic dependency such as the Saxony of his day had be- come. The proposed publishing company had planned, indeed, the printing of the Code Napoleon and also of the official French ------------ * Otto August Ruehle von Lilienstern (1780- 1847); later inspector of the military academies. Kleist's comrade in Potsdam. ** Rahmer, H. W. Kleist als. Mensch und Dichter, 33. *** To Friedrich von Schlegel; Prague, June 13, 1809; Werke : V. 389. 71 communications. In speaking of this part of their project, how- ever, Kleist had been very quick to say: Du wirst nicht voreilig sein, politische Folgerungen aus diesem Schritt zu ziehen, ueber dessen eigentliche Bedeutung ich mich hier nicht weitlaeufiger auslassen kann. * - The plan with regard to the printing of the Code was, at bottom, * of a business nature and would have assured the financial success of the undertaking. It is furthermore possible, that in this era of hidden, secretive measures, the group of friends in Dresden hoped by this seeming friendship for the French, to avert sus- picion from their real aims and motives. Of the two collaborators on the Phoebus it was Mueller who was essentially the political agitator. For Kleist but little real evidence of real political activity can be found, although various hints such as the above quotations from his letters might be taken as pointing to such endeavor. The result of this dis- --- similarity in the attitude of the two men has led some commenta- tors to attribute almost solely to the influence of Mueller, the shift in attitude which manifested itself in the life of Kleist during these years. Other more recent critics have been rather unwilling to look upon Mueller as the immediate cause of this most important change: *From a political viewpoint it is undoubted- * To Ulrike; Dresden, Oct. 25. 1807; Werke : V. 354. ** Notably Rahmer, H. v. Kleist als. Mensch und Dichter, 34f. ly true that the influence of Mueller on Kleist has been over- - estimated. Much has been credited to Mueller which must have been in Kleist's thought long before the Dresden period. In the attempt to explain a seemingly sudden development in Kleist, recourse was had to the influence of Mueller, regardless of a number of cir- cumstances which tended to make Kleist hesitate to follow his comrade as a guide and leader. Kleist had but little sympathy with the nature of Mueller, who was on the whole too vague and visionary for the straightforwardédness of Kleist. Mueller was, moreover , essentially theóetical and would have been included by Kleist in the latter's arraignment of those theorists who placed action second to knowledge. "Handeln ist besser als. Wissen" was Kleist's dictum * and those were the days in which this maxim was most applicable. What is more, Kleist had no sympathy with the Catholic tendency in Mueller. In his earlier letters from South Germany during the Wuerzburg journey Kleist often spoke harshly of the Catholic south and its belief. ** Although he himself was not untouched by the aesthetic Catholicism of the later Romantic movement, nevertheless, at the time of the Dresden residence, the - conversion of Mueller could not have won his approbation. Added to these points of difference came many little causes for friction --------------- * This was the motto of Brockes ( To Wilhelmine; Berlin, Jan. 31, 1801; Werke : V. 188) Kleist caught up the phrase ( To Ul- rike; Berlin, Feb. 5, 1801; Werke : W. 198) and emphasized it in all his writings to the end. In Wissen, Schaffen, Zerstoeren, Erhalten, an essay in the Abendblaetter ( Werke; IV. 182) the two are again contrasted. ** To Wilhelmine; Wuerzburg, Sept. 11.12, 1800; Werke : V. lla-lló. 73 ºute R course in the business and social r-eiattieri's of the two * which caused the relations between them to be strained. In the field of polit- ical theory - a field in which Kleist felt himself unqualified to º write - Kleist always retained his high opinion of the writings of Mueller. But to assign to Mueller the place of preeminence in the Dresden period is to underestimate the independent nature º: of Kleist and to disregard the many differences which served to militate'against the influence of Mueller. Whereas the influence of Adam Mueller has been much Over- stated, the influence of a group of men, on the other hand, has been much underestimated. This was the group which may be desig- nated as the Austrian circle and which gathered around the Aus– trian charge d'affaires, Baron Buol-Schauenstein'tm Dresden, but more especially about Friedrich Gentz in the near-by Teplitz. (It is to the influence of these men and of the movements with which they were connected, that must be attributed the step which Kleist took in 1809, whereby he cast in his lot definitely with | the fortunes of affairs in Austria. The events of the preceding year were the revolt of the Spaniards against Napoleon and the active preparation of the Austrians for the coming struggle with the French colossus. It was these events which gave to the Kleist the opportunity for which he had been waiting, to enter, the con- test with Napoleon. His intimacy with the Austrian circle Hăd ----ºr-º----------- * This is borne out by the letter to Georg Moritz Walter; Dresden April 5, 1809; Werke : V. 383. ** Johann Rudolf von Buol-Schauenstein (1763–1834); not the Austrian ambassodor as has long been supposed. 74 had brought him into direct contact with these developments. From these men he had learned to read the signs of the times correctly, and their efforts had pointed out to him the definite means with which the contest with Napoleon was to be carried on. º This intimacy with the Austrians dated from the very begin- néng of the Dresden residence. Kleist did not arrive in the city until some time in August of 1807 and yet as early as September first he took a trip with Buol to Teplitz for the purpose of vi- siting Gentz. * It was probably this visit to which Kleist referred on the seventeenth of september, 1807. Kuerzlich war ich mit dem oestr. Gesandten in Toeplitz: bei Genz, wo ich eine Menge grosser Bekannt, Schaften machte . * * With this Baron Buol of the Austrian legation Kleist had the most friendly relations. The embassy was the gathering place of the literary circle, and Buol was an active patron of Kleist's literary labors. The closeness of the connection with the Austrian embassy is attested by later references which emphasize the fact that Kleist was continually in active intercourse with the Austrians. Kleist spoke of "literarische und politische Connexionen" and the embassy was often visited by him. It was through the legation also that he carried on his correspondence with Collin regarding º-º-º-º-º-o-º-º-º-º-º- - - ** To Ulrike; Dresden, Sept. 17, 1807; Werke : V. 351 75 the production of Kleist's plays in Vienna. * The circle in Teplitz was of even more significance. This little resort had become the center of agitation against Napoleon. Ardent spirits and exiled enthusiasts who found the censorious circles of Berlin and Vienna too much under the French surveil- lance, retired to this little secluded place, and it became, be- cause of this, a veritable hot-bed of dissent and revolt. After a while its seclusion no longer shielded it from French suspicion ana Napoleon himself watched the circle at Teplitz with an anxious eye since he rightly divined that nothing to his benefit was being formulated there. During Kleist's Dresden period the center of the Teplitz circle was the journalist, political adventurer, and man of the world, Friedrich Gentz, the opponent of the French Revolution and the enemy of Napoleon. Kleist felt drawn to Gentz by the latter's favorable criticism of Amphitryon “” and he seized the earliest opportunity of making Gentz' acquaintance. The friend- ship must have been an ačeable and congenial one. Gentz found in Kleist just the kind of a man he felt the time needed to carry on the struggle against Napoleon. He felt that the flame of revolt which was burning in Spain and Austria must spread to the rest of Europe. To North Germany especially he looked with hope and long- ing. Kleist was a Prussian, young, energetic, eager, a noble, and filled with a hatred of the revolutionary movement. Hence Gentz --------------- * Heinrich Joseph von Collin (1772-1811); Austrian poet; the author of a number of patriotic poems called Lieder oestreichischer Wehrmaenner. - ** Kleist's Werke : I. 199. 76 welcomed this acquaintance with Kleist. Kleist, on the other hand found in Gentz a man whose theories were sympathetic to him and whose practical knowledge of the world made it possible for him to set younger men in a definite attitude of opposition towards tºº ** Napoleon. Gentz confirmed Kleist in his ătăţūe to the corsican, and the later invective of Kleist is paralleled in the contempo- rary letters and essays of Gentz. Gentz was, moreover, the follows: of Burke and had translated the latter's Reflections on the Rev- º olution in France. Kleist had very likely read Burke before he - came to Dresden and probably in the translation of Gentz since it had appeared in 1793. Mueller also had urged the reading of Burke largely because of Mueller's intimacy with Gentz. But the actual meeting with Gentz must certainly have brought home to Kleist º the real significance and the practical application of the attack of Burke on the Revolution. Kleist found, moreover, in Gentz that conservative respect for the old institutions which the Revolution was rapidly sweeping away. In his strong hostility to the Revolu- tion Gentz had become, with his teacher Burke, the advocate of that argument of legitimacy which was continually used with much effect in the various attempts at a restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. He had dedicated his energies to the struggle against the Revolution and found in Kleist an eager partisan. Gentz saw clearly the ultimate effect of the preponderance of France in the affairs of Europe. To combat that preponderance he was one of the first to think deeply concerning the doctrine of the balance of 77 power and in L'Etat de l'Europe these thoughts found their best expression. * To restore the disturbed balance he advocated most strongly a close union and alliance between Austria and Prussia”- an idea which was seized upon by Kleist and became during this - period the dominant principle of his activity. Under the influ- ence of Gentz, Kleist came to believe that union of Prussia and Austria was a prime, necessity. For this reason, the Prussian Kleist seemed at this period to be swallowed up entirely by the imperialistic supporter of the House of Austria. The question of a popular uprising was also discussed at this time and here Gentz in his fear of the populace did not go so far as the enthusiastic Kleist. Gentz always feared the effects of popular demonstration*** whereas Kleist was ready to turn Germany into a Spain and trans- * * fer the Spanish revolt to German soil. Kleist later e away from *…*** this extreme position and stood closer to Gentz, who saw the hope of success in a strong regular army. ****. #: The result of this intercourse during the life in Dresden was far-reaching in its effects on Kleist's º on the * #} º: *: , ºtº. character of his later activity. Secret hostility, was no longer sufficient for him. His hatred and hostility had received confir- mation and support from Gentz. The larger significance of the * * = -- ~~~ **** **cº erº presents a clear statement of the English attitude to the question of so-called buffer states. **Reiff, Friedrich, Gentz., 94. * * *Rundschau : XLIX. 102; CXLIV. 239; and CL.II, 440. * * * * Rundschau; XLIX, 103. 78 Napoleonic wave was fixed in his thoughts and the duty of every patriot ahone clearly before him. The struggle against Napoleon was the large German question and in this struggle each must play his part. The movement of 1809, although it ended in failure and defeat, pointed the way to greater things. The hopes and dreams - of the war-party in Prussia in 1808 were deeply tinged with aes- pair, but they were, afterall, those which found realization in the wars of liberation. For Kleist these years in Dresden meant the beginning of a period of activity, in which the questions of poli- tical import stood foremost in his thought, and in which his ef- forts were consecrated directly to the service of his country. 79 W. Kleist's Political Activity: 3. The Active Politician. It was the downfall of Prussia which awoke in Kleist the realization of his duty to his fatherland, and the first opportu- nity for the performance of that duty came during the Dresden period. There the influence of the Austrian circle in the light of affairs in Austria made it possible for Kleist to take an ac- tive part in the movements of the year 1809. The call to arms was the Hermannschlacht which was begun in 1808 and finished before the close of that year. From its writing may be dated the begin- ning of Kleist's career as an active participant in the political movements of his time. It is of significance that after the step had once been taken, all other activities of his life were subor- dinated to the one great purpose before him. From the date of the Hermannschlacht, Kleist's pen is almost entirely in the service of what he called "die gute Sache" — that is to say, the freeing of Prussia and the German states from the yoke of Napoleon. For rea- sons mainly financial he was forced very often to devote his time to works with but little reference to his main activity. All in all, however, by far the greater part of his writings which date from these later years, were written with reference to the age in which he lived and to the large problem before him. In this strict devotion Kleist again showed the intensity of his nature 30 When once decided, he threw himself into the chosen field of en- deavor with all the enthusiasm of his nature. / With the writing of the Hermannschlacht began (then) Kleist's active political career. In this play, which is a work of art in spite of its tendency and passion, Kleist urged that union of Austria and Prussia which, under Gentz, he had come to look upon as the preliminary step in the over throw of Napoleon. Here is to be - found also a statement of the means by which, with Austria, and Prussia united, this overthrow is to be accomplished, -, the levée en masse. From this play can be gathered many hints as to the nature and organization of the new, liberated Germany of which Kleist dreamed. The message of the Hermannschlacht was destimed, however, to have little or no effect on the immediate time. It was probably too bold in its passion; no stage was opened to it; and it remained unknown - a cry in the dark. The same fate awaited most of the prose essays and mani- festos which Kleist wrote at about the same time as the Hermann- schlacht and which 4. planned by-him to furnish ** contents of the proposed Germania. This was the project of a periodical whose purpose was to (have been to) fan the fires of revolt in North Germany. Planned as these contributions wereº to have an immediate effect on the time, they are testimonials to the ear- nestland intense enthusiasm of Kleist in his efforts as an agi- tator. The same fervent spirit permeates the Kriegslieder which date from the same period. The burning appeal of such ringing 81 verses as are contained in Germania an Ihre Kinder and Kriegs- lied der Deutschen * have given a new name to such poetry. It is aptly called "Poesie der Rache". This power did not come to Kleist only when he was called upon to pour out his venom on the "Franz- mann". The writer who had portrayed the bestial rage of a Pen- the silea, or the ferocity of popular fanaticism in the Erdbeben in Chile was eminently able to breathe forth a cry for revenge in the Kriegslieder. In the opening verses of his first play Die Familie Schroffensteinºhe had written a hymn of vengeance that in many ways was a striking parallel to the fury of Germania an ihre Kinder. Not only in his writings, but also by actual participation in the great drama did Kleist try to play his part. No sooner had hostilities broken oujin Austria, than he, in company with Dahl- º mann, went to that country. It is not quite clear what Kleist's motives were in this expedition, and Dahlmann referred to the undertaking as "einePrivatangelegenheit" ***. The reasons for \ going were, however, certainly in the hope that the occasion might arise in which his actual presence might be of value. The two men were for some time in the company of Knesebeck who at that time was proceeding to Austrian headquarters with proposals regarding the entrance of Prussia into the war. Of him Dahlmann said: - en -- *** * * * * * ~ *erm. * Werke: IV. 30 and 33. ** Act I., Scene l; Werke : I. 13–14. * * * Mitteilungen von Dahlmann in Tiecké edition quoted in Gespraeche, 163-173, # 101. 82 | Nickt Knesebeck war sonst politisch,so recht Ulrig ºr Mann," but with his mission the two friends were in accord and no doubt would have done all in their power to further its success. The de- feat at Wagram found Kleist at Ptague trying to organize the pre- liminaries for the publication of the Germania. All hope for this magazine was swept away by the truce and the preliminaries of peace which followed the defeat of the Archduke Charles, and Kleist's whereabouts were for a time unknown to his friends and relatives. He appeared at various places in Germany, in Frankfort am Main, in Gotha, and finally in Berlin. Various activities have been as- signed as the cause for these wanderings in this period of ob- scurity. In the light of Kleist's determination to devote himself in every way to the cause, there seems no real reason why these trips should not have been in connection with some of the many secret societies and movements by means of which the patriots of North Germany found it necessary to further their cause. There is no testimony to the contrary, and the only point which has been made against such an assumption is the seeming contempt which Kleist, in the Hermannschlacht :expressed for the members of these secret organizations. The reason for this hostility was the fact that Kleist believed the time for open action had arrived for as he said : --------------------- ** Act IV., Scene 3; Werke : II. 394. e p 83 Es braucht der Tat, nicht der Verschwoerungen. ” The majority of the conspirators were too timid and urged delay. Kleist himself knew the general value of these secret mºvements and had been connected with them during his Dresden residence. ** There has arisen as yet no valid reasºn for doubting the truth and accuracy of the statement of General von Hueger. On its tes- timony the fact may be established that Kleist was connected with the propaganda of the secret societies. With this in mind the ac- º tivity of Kleist in the early months of 1810 may be reasonably explained as travels in the interests of the geod cause. - In Berlin Kleist's activity finally centered in the pub- lication of the Berliner Abendbla.etter, a daily newspaper which was to do its share in the furtherance of the public welfare. Here more than anywhere else were expressed his relations to the great questions of internal reform in Pruaaia and especially his relations to the Hardenberg program which was at that time occu- pying the largest share of public attention. In addition to this journalistic endeavor, Kleist had relations to Gneisenau “In these relations can be found indications that Kleist stood close to those circles which aimed at a reform of the army. Into this army Kleist once more entered when his other ventures failed him. When he did enlist he was firm in the belief that he would be ----------------- ** Gespraeche, 154, # 94. (o * * * See above ºt- 84 called upon to fight against the tyrant. It was unthinkable to him that the King would deem it advisable to enter into an alli- ance with Napoleon, and nothing contributed more to Kleist's final breakdown than the fear that this alliance was about to be consum- mated. Despair Over the political situation of his fatherland is one of the direct causes of his suicide. - Die Allianz, die der Koenig jetzt mit den Franzosen schliesst, ist auch nicht eben gemacht mich im Leben fest zuhalten. . . . Was soll man doch, wenn der Koenig diese Allianz abschlies et, laenger bei ihm machen? Die Zeit ist ja vor der Thuer, wo man wegen der Treue gegen ihn, der Aufopferung und Standhaftigkeit und ailer ander en buergerlichen Tugenden, von ihm selbst gerichtet, an den Galgen kommen kann. * Before the end however he hall completed his most mature work, the Prinz yon Homburg which again was doomed to be unnoticed by the age for which it was written. This powerful drama is to be understood in its full significance only by reference to that age. In the play are set down Kleist's deepest utterances regarding the state and the subject's relation to the state. But even this masterpiece was ignored, and Kleist's prophetic words which he had prefixed to the Hermannschlacht as a motto, had found their complete fulfillment. - - - - tº-cº º- - - -na “* - - - - - 85’ Wehe, mein Waterland, dir! die Leier zum Ruhm dir zu Schlagen Ist, getreu dir im Schoos, mir deinem Dichter verwehr tº . * In all his activity Kleist tried to combine the efforts of an educator and an agitator. In everything he strove to find the means by which the particular work cauld be made to apply to the specific movements and tendencies of the age. A discussion of his particular relation to these various movinents, interpreted in the light of his earlier ideas, gives the best idea of the significance of Kleist's position. ** There is first the relation to Napoleon; secondly the relations to the problems of internº Prussia, and in the third place his vicews on the constitution of Germany subsequent to the expulsion of the French. finally it is in the ideas on which his relations to these movements are based that the larger significance and the permanent value of his political ac- tivity will be found to rest. A. Napoleon. The first mention of Bonaparte which is to be met with in the letters of Kleist date a from the time of Kleist's residence in ** = ** - ame ºn --~ * * * * * * ** Will man ein Werturteil ueber Kleists politische Dichtung und Schrift stellerei gewinnen so muss dasselbe historisch begruendet sein. - Gaudig, Wegweiser, 278. 86 Switzerland in 1801. Here, when the French encroachments threaten- ed the liberty of the Swiss republic Kleist spoke of the French leader as the "Allerweltskonsul". No doubt there was contained in this term the contempt which Kleist felt for the revolutionary - leaders, and Kleist very likely had Napoleon's campaigns in mind in his outbreaks against the brutality and excesses of the revol- utionary armies. Barring this one reference there is no further direct mention of Napoleonuntil the time of the war between France and Prussia in 1806. For a while Kleist had looked with apparent indifference on the developments in France and it was only when the advances of the French directly threatened the very existence of his Prussian fatherland that he was aroused. The gradual spread of the revolutionary propaganda had been witnessed by him in si- º lence, and not until after Austerlitz, when the real designs of Napoleon became apparent, did he give utterance to his fear 3. By that time Napoleon was no longer Consul but Emperor, at the head º of a strong, united nation that idealized the child of revolution as the greatest of the Caesars. Then Kleist spoke of Napoleon as "der glueckgekroente Abenteurer" and "Emigrant " +* as he afterwards spoke of Jerome, the brother of Napoleon and destined to become the King of Westphalia, as " ein Handelskommis ºf 4. En this method of attack Kleist united himself to the general hostility which - ºn ------ ºr *** ºn tº *-* ºn ** To Ruehle; Koenigsberg, Dec. 1805; Werke : V. 324. *** Satirische Briefe, Werke: IV. 90. 8 7 A *** { #". a menace to all the thrones of Europe was the firm bomd which was aroused by Napoleon's assumption of the imperial dignity. Queen Luise spoke of him as "von dem Koth emporgeschwungen" sº and there is an anecdote that tells how Frederick William III. said to Napoleon at Tilsit that Bonaparte naturally could not know what it meant for an hereditary sovereign to lose "ange- stammte Untertanen" +*. The nobility of the day saw in the self- § - made Emperor nothing but an illegitimate usurper, a man of the rabble, not even of gentle birth, occupying the throne of the Bour- bons. The combat against this principle of illegitimacy which was held together the coalition of legitimate sovereigns which fiaal- ly overthrew the parvenu. The final downfall of Napoleon must be looked upon more as the triumph of this doctrine of legitimacy thanºhe triumph of the will of the peoples of Europe. Napoleon W 3.3 3. usurping tyrant, and against this illegitimate sovereign Kleist poured forth a torrent of invective, bitter and scathing in its passion. The writings destined for the Germania were full of, expressions as "der Hoelle ent stiegenen watermoerééegeist" “* This extravagance on his part was, homever, not isolated tº the tiº nor limited to the pages of Kleist. The letters of Arnaº, Gentz, Stein, and Hardenberg teemed with epithets hardly less vehement. Even Queen Luise could find no words ugly enough with which to * ea = * * * * * ca. *** - ** Rundschau, 6XXXVI. 258. *** Katechismus der Deutschen, Werke : IV. 105. 88 excortiate the base conqueror. Her letters to the King are filled with such expressions as "griffe", "infame assassin", "des In- famen", and " cet etre infernäl". " The hatred of Napoleon which had not been so outspoken or visible before 1805, had by 1807 spread over the whole of Prüssia, so that Napoleon himself said that all Prussians were burning with the desire to wreak vengeance on him. ** When Kleist first came in contact with Napoleon he saw through the plans of the French general and viewed with alarm the methods of his policy. At that time Kleist stated the very funda— mental expedient of Napoleon's methods, in this case as applied º to Switzerland, but in reality the basic principle on which Napol- eon's success in Germany was founded. Zwar tut, er sein Moegliches, dieses arme Land durch innere Unruhen Amer schwach zu erhalten. *** Later when Prussia and Austria were making their last dying at- tempts Kleist saw clearly the plans of the conqueror. Before Jena, he wrote : Es wird sich aus demganzen cultivierten Theil von Europa ein einziges, grosses System von Reichen bilden und die Throne mit neuen, von Frankreich 3 abhaenºgen, Fuerstendynastien besetzt werden. . . . --------------------- ** Rundschau, CX. , 231. *** To Ulrike; Thun, Feb. 19, 1802; Werke: v. 282. 89 in kurzer Zeit werden wir in den Zeitungen lesen: man spricht von grossen Veraenderungen in der deutschen Reichsverfassung. * After the defeat of Austria and Prussia Kleist was sure that Na- poleon had in mind the complete subjugation of the German peoples, and he looked upon the wars against him as a struggle for the very existence of the German states. He spoke of his people : º: das arme Wolk, auf deseen Auspluenderung und Unter jochung es angesehen ist. ** In moments of despair he said: Wer weiss ob jemand noch, nach hundert Jahren, in dieser Gegend deutsch spright. “ How true this discernment of Kleist was can not be established, since to the end Napoleon kept up the pretense that an indepen- dent Prussia was part of his plan for the reorganization of Eu- rope. What his course would have been had he returned victorious from Russia in 1812 is another question. Against this evil genius, bent, as Kleist believed, on the annihilation of the Prussian state, Kleist's attitude was one of consistent hostility. There was but one quality in Napoleon which he grºssingly respected and that was. his genius as a general. The other qualities of his character which Kleist emphasized were mere cunning, skill, and personal e- ºr cº-º-º-º-º-º-º--------> -- **Satirische Briefe; Werke; IV. 85. - – -- . 4 * 4 To Ulrike; Dresden, Aug. 1808; Werke : V. 378. 90 bravery " - not at all attributes which are characteristics of genius. The Varus in the Hermannschlacht was not a representation of Napoleon. It is a mistake to attribute the absence of dis- tortion in his character to Kleist's admiration of the genius of Napoleon. ** The attack on Napoleonin the play was of larger di- mensions. Varus is only the instrument of a force which is bent ) on the subjugation of Germany. That force is the representation of Napoleon. Rome is France but Varus is not Napoleon. He is merely the blind instament of an annihilating force. Kleist was too much of an artist not to see the artistic weakness of distor- tion and caricature. The role which Napoleon plays in the Hermannschlacht shows the position which he then occupied in the mind of Kleist. Napol- eon had become for him the personification of everything French, and the hostility to the French would have to continue so long as Napoleon remained at the head of affairs in France. In this enmity against everything French because of the hatred of Napoleon Kleist was at one with many of the men of his time, notably Arndt and Stein. *** The result was that Kleist, like many an other of his contemporaries, was blinded by this hatred to the larger, more positive mission of Napoleon in the general affairs of the century. Even when Kleist thought of Bonaparte as the incarnation of the Revolution, the lack on his part af all historical attitude * * * *** - - - - - - - - - - - ** Meyer-Benfey makes this error. Dramen; II. 291. *** Seeley; II. 494 and 502. 91 towards the Revolution made it impossible for him to see in the creature of revolt any greater historical significance. For Kleist Napoleon remáined the instrument of evilland he refused to think of him at any time as the exponent of progress. The hatred of Na- poleon tinctured every activity of Kleistand every later program was to be measured as to ite merit from the standpoint of what it did or did not do to free the country from the French yoke. The propaganda against Napoleon took precedence over everºise in the subsequent thought and life of Kleist. b. Internal Reform in Prussia. By far the most important problem in the political history of Kleist's age was the question of the economic regeneration of the Prussian state. If to many it seemed that these matters of ad- justment must be postponed until the country was freed from the yoke of foreign oppression, to others, and many of them the most influential men of their age, it was apparent, that the problem of the reorganization of internal affairs in the monarchy was a question of the most vital importance. Hardenberg was one of this ſt rººt) latter group and in all determination of the wisdom of his poli- cies, this steadfast adherence to his belief in the necessity Of internal reform must be set down to his credit. He insisted that the supreme problem was an economic one and that it was a question of discovering new resources by means of a reorganization of the governmental machinery. * To confirm Hardenberg's position, this economic reorganization of the country has been recognized by la- ter historians as the great problem of the age. ** In the face of such a situation it was the duty of every thinking patriot to strive to take an intelligent attitude towards the questions of internal policy. This many failed to do. Their indifference is no doubt to be explained by the fact that the general public in Prussia was not yet ready to take an active in- terest in questions of government. The paternal rule of Frederick II. was still a vivia memory in the minds of men and there was a fatal tendency to think back to those days as the good old times. With the question of French tyranny it was different. On that sub- ject the hearts of all Prussians beat high and they were only too eager to forget the importance of other questions in their agi- tation concerning the expulsion of the French. A resident of Ber- lin during the critical years of lè05–06 has written: Statt auf richtiger Liebe fuer die oeffentliche Wohlfahrt hat man unver soehnlichen Franzosenhass verbreitet . * * * eme -- ºr--~~ *-** *- * Seeley, I. 25l. ** Die Monarchie konnte dem Bankerott nur entgehen wenn eine rad- ikale Umgestaltung des gesammten Finanzwe sens die Steuerkraft der hoehern Staende zu den Staatslasten heranzog. — Treit- schke, I. 333. Also - After Prussia's fall ordinary measures were of no avail. It was nee essary to enquire of political economy what measures there were of increasing the wealth of the nation. - Seeley, I. 423. - * * * Rundschau, C.W. 48. 93 Kleist was also one who, to some extent at least, was struck by this criticism. Although it is not to be supposed that he did not have his opinions on the matters of internal reform, it is never- theless true that he did not consider these problems of supreme importance, nor did he hesitate to subordinate such affairs to the question of the war with Napoleon. -- But in spite of this disinclination on the part of Kleist to deal primarily with matters of internal policy, there are to be found in his letters and writings of both periods many hints as to his position on the question of governmental reform in gen- eral. In this connection it is of interest to note that nowhere in all the Kleist material which has been collected is there any direct mention of the reforms of Stein which were introduced du- ring the first ministry. The fact that neither the name of Stein nor any reference, either direct or indirect, to his great plans appear in the letters of Kleist is almost incomprehensible to a later generation which sees in these measures the great construc- tive work of the Napoleonic age in Germany. The causes for such indifference on the part of Kleist are, however, not hard to finj, for it is certainly a matter of indifference towards, and not a mat- ter of ignorance of , these reforms. The labors of Stein came when º Kleist was busy in Dresden and at a time when , under the influ- ence of tendencies in Austria, he was looking forward to a general uprising against France. Stein's reforms were, moreover, local and decidedly Prussian in character, with the result that but little 9 4 news of their introduction and a correspondingly slight concep- tion of their moment spread beyond the boundaries of Prussia. Later when Kleist dia actually enter into Prussian affairs and come into contact with the further development of Stein's program he ac- º cepted the reforms which had been introduced as a fait accompli about which there was no need of further discussion. That the name of Stein does not appear in Kleist's writings is further con ceivable because of the fact that Kleist undoubtedly stood with the majority of the nobility in their dislike of Stein and his methods. Although later the opposition to Hardenberg was keen and bitter, in the earlier days of the Hardenberg ministry the nobles were more ready to deal with the born courtier and diplomat, than with Stein whose brusque almost brutal directness angered * -- H= at every turn. It was Stein whom the nobility accused of bringing the French Revolution down upon them. * Aside from this lack of any reference to the reforms of Stein, there are occasional passages in Kleist's writings which ex- press his views on the matter of change in the governmental machinery. His attitude in general was cºnservative although not narrowly so, since in many instances he exhibited a acetaea ice- al tendency. Nothing distinguished Kleist sº much from the ultra- conservatism of Mueller than this liberal conservatism. Kleist was perfectly frank to say: . . . dass in der Verfassung so wie sie seit Fried- rich dem Grossen be stand, mancherlei vorhanden war --------------- ºr-----> * A remark made by Marwitz; quoted by Seeley, I. 462. S 5 das, auf ganz augenscheinliche Weise, einer Aus- besserung oder eines Umbaus bedarfte . * 2. - - He saw that the old order of things was due to be revised and re- organized, but everywhere he wanted these reforms to be undertaken . . . ohne irgend die Grundlage der Verfassung anzuruehren. ** As is to be expected he was opposed to arbitrary changes in the constitution of the land and demanded everywhere evolution in- staad of revolution. At a time when all that was old was being swept aside, the way was opened to all manner of phantastic mea- sures. Kleist allowed his anger against such changes to have full away when he said : Zu welchen abenteuerlichen Unternehmungen, sei es um das Beduerfnis, sich auf eine oder die andere Weise zu ernaehren, oder auch die blosse Sucht neu zu sein, die Menschen verfuehren. . . davon gc-EFE moege folgender Aufsatz . . . eine Probe sein. *** Whér eupon followed the sharply satirical article against the latest ideas in education, entitled AllerneuesteR Erziehungsplan. On one important matter there is in his letters a more de- tailed statement by Kleist regarding his own position. This is the question of the extent to which the government could and should further industry, arts, and sciences. It was during his service - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * Ueber die Finanzregeln der Regierung; Werke : IV. 227. ** Ibid. 226. *** Werke : TV. 2 O . S6 with Kunth in Berlin that the matter of industrial promotion on the part of the government was first beginning to receive serious consideration. In this sonnection Kleist WrOte : Uebrigens ist so viel ich einsehe, das ganze preussische Commerzsystem sehr militairisch – ich zweifle, dass es an mir einen eifrigen Unterstuetzer finden wuerde. Die Industrie ist eine Dame und man haette sie fein und hoeflich aber herzlich einladen sollen, das arme Land mit ihrem Eintritt zu begluecken. Aber da will man sie mit den Haaren herbei ziehen – ist es ein Wunder, wenn sie schmollt? Kuenste lassen sich nicht wie die militairischen Handgriffe erzwingen. Aber da glaubt man, man habe alles gethan, wenn man Messen zerstoert, Fabriken baut, Werkstuehle zu haufen anlegt.– Wem man eine Harmonika schenkt, ist der darum schon ein Kuenstler ? Wenn er nur die Musik erst verstuende, so wuerde er sich schon selbst ein Instrument bauen. Denn Kuenste und Wissenschaften wenn sie sich selbst nicht helfen, so hilft ihnen kein Koenig auf. Wenn man sie in ihrem Gange nur nicht stoert, das ist alles was sie von den Koenigen begehren. * There is much in this passage which might have been occa- «-e--e- - - -" - e-- 9'? sioned by apareful reading of Adam Smith. That Kleist was first introduced to Smith at this time seems certain, since his teacher Kunth was an active exponent of the Smith teaching and the warm friend of Stein who certainly used much of the Smithian doctrine in his earlier labors as an official in the department of finance. How much Kleist subscribed to the teachings of Smith will always remain a matter of conjecture. Kleist said later in the Abend- bla.etter that he had taken his decision in regard to the question as to whether the the principles of the ºth of nations should bw applied to the Prussian state. He did not say, however, what that decision was , and that he was intentionally vague is a metter of significance. The exigencies of the situation demanded caution on the part of Kleist and by this indefinite statement he escaped from being accused either of hostility or support. It is certainly far from "eine feste Wendung" as it has been called. * There was much in the teabhing of Smith that did not appeal to Kleist but it was not so much in principle as in the whole democratic tenor of the Wealth of Nations. In spite of the shock to his aristo- cratic nature, Kleist must have welcomed the emphasis which Smith laid on the principle of personal liberty. What Smith had to say of Kleist's order, even in its criticism, was in sympathy with Kleist’s own views. The interest of the first of these three great orders. . . is strictly and inseparably connected with the -------------- 99 general interests of the society. Whatever either promotes or obstructs the one, necessarily promotes or obstructs the other. When the public deliberates concerning any regulation of commerce or police, the proprietors of land never can mislead it, with a view to promote the interest of their own particular order; at least if they have any tolerable knowledge of that interest. They are indeed too often defective in this tolerable knowledge. * The opposition of Mueller to the Smithian system is, of course, not to be underestimated in the determination of Kleist's attitude, but it must be remembered that Kleist's knowledge of Smith ante- dated by a number of years his intimacy with Adam Mueller. The above passage from a letter of Kleist, in which governmental of ſº- meddling and interference are 'denied, points very distinctly to a reading of the Smith doctrine. Much of the Smith teaching could have been assented to by Kleist with but little difficulty. The vague character of his statement regarding his position may just as well have been indicative of support as hostility. A decided statement of either position would have been of evil consequences for Kleist at the time. With these general ideas of reform Kleist entered on his period of activity in Berlin. It was destined to be but a short intense epoch. He arrived in the capital in February of 1810 and cº---------------- 100 the November of the following year saw the sad culmination of his short, eventful career. But these few months were momentous ones both for Kleist and for Prussia. Europe was nominally at peace. The fires of revolt still smouldered in the Spanish penin- sula and England still held the seas against Napoleon. But in Central Europe he was supreme. Prussia had been crushed between the two mill-stones, France and Russia. Austria had risen only to be defeated again, and now was bound to its conqueror by the marriage of an Austrian princess of the blood to the Corsican adventurer. - Napoleon, as the protector of the Rheinbund, stood on equal terms with Prussia and Austria in the control of German affair 8. While he was on friendly terms with Alexander of Russia, the Continental system prevailed and the French emperor was left free to incorpo- rate the North Sea coast and the Hanseatic towns into his colossal empire. Deep students of European affairs saw, to be sure, the coming struggle between France and Russia. Few if any fore saw the defeat of Napoleon. For the moment he was unchallenged and all thought of organized opposition to his rule had to be postponed untila more favorable day should dawn. In such a situation the patriots who chafed at the fetters of French tyranny were reduced almost to despair. Their activities were restricted to secret plottings and conspiracies whose serious- ness was after all limited. Anything like a concerted propaganda. have would, drawn down upon itself the wrath of the argus-eyed French agents. Open hostility was out of the question and the labors of 101 … ºº) For Kleist's political attitude there is a fundamental ther real patriots had to be devoted to preparation for the contest which everyone felt was destined tº come. The thinking men soon saw that even though the time was most galling it gave an oppor- tunity for that reform, which had been inaugurated in the hour of distie ess, to develope and find its practical application. It was the duty of every patriot to attempt to keep alive in the populace the spark of nationality which was in danger of being extinguished; to instruct the people concerning the numerous reforms which were in progress; to educate them to the larger conception of the duties of the individual to his fatherland; to awaken in thema sense of their responsibility as Germans; and to nourish the hatred of f preign oppression which lay in the nature of each. Although open hostility was impossible there was much that an earnest man could do. Such a man was Kleist and no one was more eager to play his part. His direct contribution to the cause of the freeing of Prus- sia was the periodical called Die Berliner Abendblaetter which he began to edit on the first of October in 1810 and which ran until March of 1811. * This publication was the third of a journalistic nature to - - - - -------------- * Any detailed discussion of the Abendbla.etter is really made pos- sible by the careful and scholarly labor of Reinhold Steig in his book Heinrich von Kleists Berliner Kaempfe. For a chronological narrative of the actual events connected with the publication and for a thorough discussion of Kleist's literary contributions to the paper it is only necessary to refer to the detailed account which appears in this book. weakness in Steig's viewpoint. Kleist is put down as a re- presentative of the Junkertum and from this entirely a priori standpoint the author, judges Kleist's activity. Walzel in his able review (Anz. F. D. Alt. , XXIX. 104-131) ºl,ſº º 102 which Kleist had given his attention. The first had been the Phoebus, decidedly literary in character but still an undertaking in which there flowed the under current of political moment. The Phoebus was, moreover, not merely a literary magazine per se. It was to be militant in every sense of the word and the plans of the editors looked, if not to didactic, at least towards educational ends. Following this pretentious publication there came the idea. of the Germania. Little of the actual plans concerning the techni- cal details of publication are known and an estimate of the nature of the periodical must be based on the fragments which Kleist wrote for it. All the contributions would certainly not have been of this stamp but the general tone of the publication would have been de- cidedly one of agitation. It was to be "der erste Athemzug der deutschen Freiheit * * The new Berlin publication of the year 1810 was to combine the various programs of the earlier periodicals. Its purpose was also to be educational and that particularly by the publication of interesting reading matter of literary excellence. It was to dis- cuss the questions of public policy which were agitating the minds ------------ doubts whether this assumption is based on fact and until iCt is so based it must be accepted with reservations. Until the proposed publication of the complete Abandbla.etter be- comes available to the most distant student we must defer judgment on many of the contributions which Steig reads from the point of view that Kleist was a representative of th Junker party and that his paper was the official organ of that party. * Einleitung fuer die Germania; Werke: IV. 81. 103 of the people and was to attempt to give in every case an unpre- judiced view of these questions. Underneath all this was, however the program of agitation. Behind the educational and literary side and of more importance to Kleist than all discussion of eco- nomic questions was to be the furtherance of the propaganda against Napoleon. This was after all the primary aim in the establishment of the publication as it was the main-spring of by far the greater part of the activity of Kleist after the year 1808. It is wrong to make of the Abendbla.etter the mouthpiece of a party. * Kleist was entirely independent in his conception of the idea of his paper and it is impossible to trace the influence º of anyone in the preliminaries of its establishment. Kleist's hope for the success of his enterprise seemed to him to lie in keeping his paper entirely apart from any ent angling political connections. Such connections would in his mind have only been to the detriment of the paper which he hoped would be able to survey impartially the whole field of public interest. The one deep-seated purpose of the paper was one on which there were no questions of party. All were united on the issue of hostility to Napoleon. The general tone of the publication would, as a matter of course, be militant, since Kleist believed that only in the eradication of error could the true cause of liberation be furthered. His purpose was best shown by the Gebet with which he opened his first issue. * Steig makes this error. He says of the paper : "... deren Redak- tion in die Haende Heinrichs von Kleist gelegt wurde." This is not supported by fact. (Kaempfe, 41 Durchdringe mich ganz . . . mit der Einsicht in alle Erbaermlichkeiten, Halbheiten, Unwahrhaft- igkeiten und Gleisnereien. ... Staehle mich, mit Kraft den Bogen des Urteils ruestig zu spannen. * The new venture was, moreover, to be a paper which was to appear daily with the exception of Sundays and holidays. Its com- pass was therefore smaller than that of the more pretentious journals and its character typographically less elegant and rich. There is no point in a comparison of the Phoebus and the Abend- blaetter from the point of view of their appearance. The legs elegant dress of the latter is not necessarily a commentary on the poverty of Kleist or on the less dignified character of his paper. The Phoebus was a monthly journal, destined for a literary class, and worthy, in bound form, to take its place on the book-shelves of a library. The Abendriaetter. were a daily to be read at any and all { - times and places. Its format was convenient for this and of course not as ponderous as that of the literary monthly destined for more permanent ends but for a narrower circle of readers. The Abengolaeº- ter. were to be for the populace, and Kleist had in mind the publica- tion of a "Volksblatt" in every sense of the word. For such a paper if it succeeded in becoming popular in this sense, the time was ripe. It was not due wholly to the character of the age that the Abend- º blaetter_ were not a success. To be sure, many elements of the time were opposed to the fortune of such an undertaking with such aims. - - - - - - --------- * Gebet des Zoroaster; Werke : IV. 127-8. 105 These elements certainly contributed to the failure of the journal, but they were elements, which in the hands of a skillful journa- list could have been overcome. Kleist was not a born editor and to that fact as much as to any other can be attributed the failure of -- his enterprise. How deeply Kleist in the planning of his journal, thought of entering into the field of economic questions is a matter of some conjecture. If his program embraced the discission of all. matters relating to the public welfare he must surely have contem- plated the discussions of such problems in the columns of his paper. He felt that he himself was unable to carry on such discussion, -- because of his hatred of theoretical investigation. So he evident- ly planned to give these matters into the hands of such of his º friends as were capable of writing in the required vein. The prin- cipal one of these friends was Adam Mueller and from his pen came the numerous articles which unfortunately gave to the paper the ap- pearance of a journal in opposition to the governmental program. Of Kleist's own articles of opposition little need be said. His attacks on governmental measures which appeared in such articles as those concerning the Bombenpost + and the Quinenlotterie ** are rather harmless in their nature. They satirize, to be sure, some of the parts of Hardenberg's plan but are, on the whole, directed against minor questions and have little to say regarding the more ------------- * Werke : IV. 218. ** Werke : IV. 221. 106 fundamental principles. The stºic, of these larger measures was left almost entirely to his co-workers and in *†ause on it. 1. only necessary to enquire in how far these opposition articles re- flected the attitude of Kleist. - Aside from the minor skirmishes, the opposition to the Har- denberg reform program, which was carried on in the Abendbla.etter centered around two main points. The first real struggle took place over an article , or rather a series of articles, concerning Kraus the former teacher of Kleist and the follower of Adam Smith. * The second contest turned on a series of more direct attacks by Mueller on the financial legislation of Hardenberg in its various as- pects. ** In these two contests it is necessary to try and determine the attitude of Kleist, for in that attitude will be found the re- lation of Kleist to the whole great movemnefit comprised in the Har- denberg program of reform. It is undoubtedly true that Kleist was much influenced by º Mueller in the matter of political theory. Of Mueller's Elemente der Staatskunst he said that the book would penetrate thought much as the roots of plants finally break through the hardest stone. *** This dependence on Mueller must, however, not be carried too far and the influence of Mueller must not be sought in matters on which Kleist might well have had opinions of his own. The mere fact that ---------------- * "Ueber Christian Jakob Kraus", Oct. 12, 1810, opened a contro- versy in which a number of men took part. (Steig, 55 f) ** "Fragmente ueber den Credit." Nov. 15, 1810, and "Vom National- credit", Nov. 16, 1810. ( Steig, 72f. ) *** Rahmer, H. v. Kleistals Mensch und Dichter, 427 10 Kleist made no changes in the articles which Mueller handed to him is of little moment eiße he would have hesitated to make alterations in articles which dealt with matters in which he was little at home. nor must the fact that Kleist printed articles be taken to mean that he was entirely in sympathy with the principles which these articles advocated. His paper was to be a symposium in which these questions were to be discussed. He was free to open his columns to men of both camps. All these facts must be borne in mind when an at- tempt is made to unravel the problem of Kleist's attitude by refer- ence to the Mueller articles which the Abendblaetter contained. The criticism of Kraus which began in the earlier numbers of the paper dealt primarily, to be sure, with the whole question of - the application of the economy of the Wealth of Nations to the Prussian state. Kleist's position on this question was not one of utter opposition to the Smith teaching. He did not feel himself capable of judging with finality in the matter and one thing is certain: Kleist had enough faith in the theory of Smith to permit ther side. The articles of Mueller were anti-Smith, to be sure, but they would, in Kleist's mind, open the discussion. Kleist's deliberate refusal to state his position definitely was an encou- ragement to such discussion. He was only too glad to print the articles if for no other reason than this. But there was another reason and for Kleist a very vital res- son. The discussion of Kraus and his doctrines soon led over to a 108 discussion of the Hardenberg reforms. When it had arrived at this point ( which was after all the real purpose of the articles ) Mueller boldly questioned the fitness of Hardenberg to legislate or at least to propose legislation. In fact, Mueller questioned - whether it would be possible to find any man to whom matters might be entrusted which fºrested so directly the fortunes of the upper classes in particular and the welfare of the whole populace in gen- eral. Here lay the crux of the whole matter. Here was the point at which the attack on Hardenberg was opened by the Junker party and º º - º members of that party. It was the opposition to the Chancellor idea . one of the points at which Kleist was entirely in sympathy with the The nobility still harked back to the days in which the members of their rank stood close to the throne, in a favored position, and in personal touch with the ruler. It was unthinkable to them that an official, a mere paid subject and servant of the King. should be clothed with dictatorial powers and should become the necessary medium between their class and the sovereign. They rose in revolt - against this intrusion on their prerogatives, and it was on Har- denberg, who first filled this most important post, that their anger fell. The growth of a bureaucracy with the cabinet idea and the prime-ministerial position was a necessary step in the develop- ment of the modern state, and in setting themselves in opposition to this movement the nobles were waging a losing fight. The state had taken large strides since the days of Frederick II., and a personal • ? rule such as his would have been impossie and most likely a failure 109 in the crucial days of 1810. The nobles could not see this and Kleigt, undoubtedly stood with them in their hostility to the chancellor idea. The second point of attack on the Hardenberg policy occurred in a series of articles by Mueller concerning the financial oper- º ations of tha. Chancellor. The importance of a reform in the revenue system of the country was paramount. The success of the Hardenberg ministry was to be measured by his ability in organizing the finances of the kingdom in such a way that the enormous indemnity to France might be paid and a balance left for the much-needed reorganization of the army. Up to this time neither Austria Nor Prus- sia, had ever felt able to take up arms against France unless as- º sured of English subsidies. Hardenberg had in mind to make Prussia independent of this financial ate ºf ºcea. To meet these heavy demands there was imperative, a complete readjustment of the basis of taxation and, more especially, a cessation of those privileges to the nobility which exempted them from the most of the common º levies. The suspension of practically all of such privileges and the #position of many new taxes especially on luxuries, roused the enmity of the Junker party whose ill-will Hardenberg had incurred before. This hostility found expression in the Abendbla.etter in a series of articles of attack by Mueller, and it was largely due to these articles that the paper fell under the displeasure of Harden- berg. Again the question arises as to how far these articles of Mueller reflected the generaj attitude of Kleist. But in this case 110 it is not necessary to depend on mere conjecture, for it can be said with assurance that Kleist was not in sympathy with the stand- point of Mueller. Two articles by Kleist in the later history of his paper; Ueber das Luxussteueredikt 8om 38. Okt. , 1810 ; and Ueber. die Finanamaserekein der Regierung” fri the editions of December the twentieth, 1810, and of January the eighteenth, l8ll, respectively, enter here as evidence of Kleist's position in the matter of finan- cial reform. TWO general attitudes are possible in the interpretation of these articles. The one is the attitude taken by Steig. *** If Kleist is made the spokesman of the Junker party and hence the un- qualified opponent of Hardenberg, then the point of view of these articles must be explained, sire they are couched in language which if anything is friendly to the policy of the minister. Steig at- tempts such an explanation by pretending to find in these articles's another hand than that of Kleist. He at first was inclined to ex- clude them entirely from the works of Kleist but the authorship, as he himself afterward admitted, is unmistakable. To over come the attributed the tone of these articles to dictation from the bureau of the prime-minister. That this construction presents a number of inherent weaknesses is apparent. Aside from these, however, the ---------------- * Werke : IV. 223. ** Werke : IV. 226. *** Anmerkungen zu Kleists kleineren Schriften; Werke : IV. 279. lll whole structure falls and its logic becomes unnecessary when the premise on which the it all rests must be rejected. Kleist is not the spokesman of the Junker party. It has already been pointed out that this premise could then only be accepted if conclusive evi- dence were brought up in support of it. * Such evidence can not be produced other than Kleist's intercourse with men of his rank and his membership in the "Christlich-deutsche Tischgesellschaft". As an argument that this made him an out and out adherent of the prij- ciples of the Junker party, these facts are of little weight. On the other hand, much can be brought up to show that Kleist stood apart - from the members of the Junker party. His earlier career had es- tranged him very largely from his rank and in many respects he was in reality an outsider. There was, moreover, no question on which - Kleist was better qualified to judge than this one of finance. while in office he had seen the necessity of financial reform and could surely find no fault with any program which in its attempt to equa- lize the burdens, swept away the privileges of rank which meant nothing to Kleist. He would have been one of the first to advocaté this since he firmly believed that all were equal before the law, and that the demands of the state should strike all equally. Kleist was well qualified in matters of taxation to assume an attitude which was not dictated by the narrow prejudices of party affiliation. It is then necessary to take the other attitude in interpre- ting these two articles. They are to be taken literally and the opin- ------------ * See above, p. 2'- ions in them in support of the Hardenberg policies are to be attrib uted to Kleist. His hostility to the chancellor in other mattera. need not render this procedure illogical. Kleist was opposed to the chancellor idea, he chafed at the seemingly dilatory measures of the prime-minister, he found many minor points in his scheme fai- lacious. But in the matter of tax-reform he was in accord with the general plan of the Chancellor. The exclusion of Mueller from a voies in the Abendblaetter made it naces sary for Kleist to speak in these matters and it was then that Kleist took up with that part of the Hardenberg program of which he did approve. How really Kleistian is the answer which he made to the fictitious corregpondent who pointed out how the noble might escape the irksome taxes: Gaebe es der begueter ten Staatsbuerger, welche so denken, mehrere: so was re es allerdings besser, weder die Luxus- noch ir gend eine andere Steuer waare ausgeschrieben worden. Denn, ob ein Staat, der aus solchen Buergern zusammengesetzt ist, besteht , oder ob er, von den Stuermen der Zeit, in alle Luefte ver- weht wird: das gilt voellig gleichviel. give ºrweise aber fehlt es an wackern, der Aufopferung faehigen Leuten, die den Drang des Augenblicks und die Zweck- males sigkeit der Luxussteuer begreifen, im Lande nicht? The whole tenor of the second article shows the exact attitude of Kleist. He wished that the reforms might have been undertaken with ------------ * Ueber das Luxussteueredikt vom 38. Okt. , 1810; Werke : IV. 235. l 13 less change of the old and with more confidence in the nobility on the part of the goverment. He admitted that there was but little s justify such confidence but felt that in the hour of need, patrio- tism and the readiness to sacrifice al1 would have pointed the way to the nebles. It is not just that the closing words of this article should be taken from Kleist and their spirit attributed to Pressure from above . They are a patriotic utterance on the part Of Kleist in which he says plainly that it is the duty of everyone to be ready to stand by the government. Aber ihr Urtheil, mein teurer Freund, moecht" ich Sie, wenn es sein kann, bewegen, vor der Vollen- dung des Werks, von dem uns einige Grundlinien vor Augen gelegt worden sind, gefangen zu nehmen – moechte Ihr Vertrauen schaerfen zu einer Regierung, die es se- haft, wie je eine, verdient, und, in einer so verhaens- nisvollen Zeit, wie die jetzige, mehr als irgend eine andere, falls die Wolken, die uns umringen, zerstreut werden sollen, in ihren Massregeln, gross und klein, die sie zu ergreifen fuer gut befindet, bedarf. * so frequent in the life of Kleist. Since in them had been proba- bly the most important of his political contributions, the reasons for the failure are of more than mere passing interest. Various - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ll.4 causes have been assigned; by some, the activity of Mueller, by others, the hostility of Hardenberg. Some have even gone so far as to say that the paper was literally suppressed by the chancellor. As in so many similar cases, no one single cause can be assigned for the failure of the paper and it is necessary to mention a number of reasons and circumstances of varying importance which combined º to make the success of the undertaking a very doubtful prospect. It is always of tragic moment for a journal when the main part of its program is made impossible of fulfillment. So it was with the Abendblaetter. The program of the paper was to be one of agitation, and agitation against the French was early found to be out of the question. The first conflict with the censor had come as a result of the complaint of the French ambassador” and the ep- º isode showed the watchfulness of the French authorities. There was, moreover, a French party in the Berlin circles, and, it must be | remembered, not a party who advocated an alliance with France merely on the basis of expediency but through the unpatriotic belief in the superiority of the French. Finally in a combat with the Napoleonic º º agents Kleist could not reckon on the support of the prime-minister. The reason for this lay in the fact that Hardenberg was forced to assume a policy of friendship for France. That in fact was the most difficult problem of his ministry. ** Hardenberg in his able diplom- * The very harmless report of French reverses in Portugal had caused the first complaint. (Steig , Kaempfe, 71.) ** Die ganze Geschicklichkeit eines geuebten Diplomater, gehoerte dazu, um dem preussischen Staat fuer seine Wiederer- hebung Raum zu verschaffen; Und dabei doch die Feind- seligkeit des uebermaechtigen Gegners nicht vorzeitig zu erwecken. - Ranke, IV. 452. acy succeeded so well in this that he duped both friend and foe. Even Stein who had advised Hardenberg to follow the maxims of a Richelieu, * had been deceived by this diplomacy. ** There is then but little wonder that Kleist misconstrued the Chancellor's lack of support in the agitation against France. º The second cause for the failure of the paper lay in the fact - that the paper from the first was militant and oppositional. The labor 8 of Mueller drove Kleist to seek support in the Junker party and he naturally came to be regarded as a member of that party. That this had not been his plan in the founding of the paper is apparent since as a party-organ his sheet would not have had that currency which he demanded. The Junker opposition was, however, only one of the propagandas which were carried on in the columns of the º º - Abendblaetter. The journal was of course anti-French. It took up arm sº against Iffland and his management of the Royal Theatre. It was against the spirit of the academic teaching in the art circles of the day. In educational matters it was opposed to the advanced º principles of Fichte and Pestalozzi, although, in earlier years, both had won the approbation of Kleist. The paper ridiculed and satirized Philistinism in all walks of life and included in that satire the two established journals of Berlin - the Speneris whe Zeitung and the Wossische Zeitung. Everywhere the Abendblaetter - raised for itself enemies and gradually the combination against it - - º -º-º- º * * * *** ---n ---n -------- * Pertz, II. 492. ** Seeley, III. 49. 116 became too strong. The opposition of Hardenberg was of course the most import- ant factor and undoubtedly one of the direct causes of the failure of the paper. The reasons for his hostility to the journal were ev- ident. It s columns were open to his enemies and it was looked upon as the opposition organ. He succeeded in excluding the hostile ele- ments but could have saved the enterprise only by giving it in re- turn an official or at least a semi-official position. This he felt himself unable to do * and for various reasons. The other papers º would, of coyºrse, have opposed such action, but, beyond this, there was a far deeper difficulty. It was impossible for Hardenberg to º link his name with any organ whose sympathies would be decidedly - anti-French. It would have endangered his position, # the former expulsion of Stein and his own enforced resignation showed him - what he might expect if the suspicions of the French Emperor should be aroused. Kleist failed utterly to appreciate the position of - Hardenberg although he would have needed only to turn to his own Hermannschlacht to find a parallel situation: º º * º . º Der Bund. . . sei ihm nur aufgedrungen Und stets im Herzen, nach wie vor, , Sei er der Roemer unver soehnter Feind. * * * Raumer says that Hardenberg did not wish to give an official character to any Berlin journal. (Steig, Kaempfe, 108) The changes which Hardenberg made in the announcement of second quarter of the Abendbla.etter showed his attitude in the matter. His name was scrupulously omitted in the revised form. (Steig, Kaempfe, 123.) ** Act IV., Scene l; Werke : II. 385. Finally, to all these reasons for the failure of the paper must be added the fact that Kleist was not the skillful editor and journalist who would have been needed to keep the enterprise from the shoals of ruin. His umcompromising nature made it impos- - sible for him to stoop to the methods of the contemporary business world. What is more, he did not succeed in giving to his paper that - quality of a Volksblatt which he wished it to have and which he ad- mired and envied in other publications. * The reasons for this lay in a large measure in Kleist's own nature. In his own intensity he did not catch entirely the spirit of his clientele, so that after the first enthusiasm had waned, the paper appealed only to a small circle of readers and those members of the class to which Kleist - belonged. The ordinary reader found but little in it of value to him. As an agitator Kleist's field was circumscribed and recourse had . to be taken to cryptic articles with veiled and hidden meanings, absolutely unintelligible to the general public. ** Kleist was not editor enough to see the fallacy of these methods and the paper gradually lost the popular support on which it was forced to reckon. What has been said of German journalism in general applies partic- º ularly well to Kleist. ... ein echter deutscher Characterzug, eine nationale Schwaeche, wovon nur wenige Publizisten ganz frei ge- ------------ *-*-*. ** Wielleicht liegt vie] daran dass unsere Literatur nie auch nur im mindest enº volksmaessig war. Alle unsere guten Schrift- steller gleichen einer Freimaurer-loge; man muss ein Einge- weihter sein. – Wilhelm von Humboldt. (Herzog, 409. ) 118 blieben sind. Die eigentuemliche Unfaehigh eit Dimen— sionen der Menschen und der Dinge recht zu sehen. Das Grosse und das Echte von dem Kleinen und Vergaeng lichen zu unter scheiden. * c. The German Question The feeeing of his country from the yoke of Napoleon was in the opinion of Kleist the paramount issue of the time and to that issue he unhesitatingly subordinated all others. Until the French oppression was broken all aſsoussion of the future organization and government of the bleeding country lacked real meaning. That the country would be freed, Kleist did not hesitate one moment to be- lieve, even if in dark periods of despair he seemed to see the German-speaking people's blotted from the map of Europe. But in epite of the tact that he emphasized the H = H = useles", "as- cuss the future of Germany while the wolf was still in the land, ** there were in his letters numerous reference 3 to the idea, he held of the nature of the reconstructed Germany. He was doomed to die before the yoke of oppression was raised from his people, but all his serious labors in the later years of his life were attempts at driving his countrymen to the conflict with Napoleon. The expulsion of Napoleon was to Kleist a decidedly German question and lacked for him the larger significance which it had in ------------- * Treitschke, I. 298. Hermannschlacht : Act I., Scene 1; Werke : II. 336. 119. the minds of many of his contemporaries. In his idea it had come to be after Wagram, indeed, a narrowly Prussian affair. In his plans and hopes he was little concerned with the other states of Europe outside of the German-speaking communities. Italy, Spain, and Hol- land did not appear as factors in his calculations. But if on the one hand he had but little regard for territories other than Ger– man, he had, on the other hand, a correspondingly small regard for European coalitions and combinations against Napoleon. During the Abenauestºre was, indeed, expressed in his paper a friendly attitude towards England because that nation alone was still at war with the French. Russia does not appear in Kleist's letters, and nowhere is there a thought of that gigantic alliance of the Eurºpean nationalities which was finally brought into the field against the conqueror. In 1808–1809 Kleist was of course ab- sorbed in the possible alliance of Prussia and Austria - a Germanic alliance - and he was ready to grant to Austria the leadership. How little Kleist saw the real motives which gover \ned the policies of nations was shown by the fact that he endowed Austria in the up- rising of 1809 with pure aºitrustic motives. It seemed to him that Austria, must be fighting for the interests of Germany. In this he was in error, as he was in his interpretation of the Austrian policy in 1807. The peace of Tilsit of tha'had not hindered Aus- tria from coming to the help of Prussia. * She would not have entered the war if hostilities had continued for Austria was not overly cº---------------- 120 pained at the humiliation of Prussia. She was fighting primarily for her own ends, and these did not include, as Kleist believed, a restoration of the Empire as a magnanimous gift to all suffering Germans. ** The Emperor was now Emperor of Aystria and not of the mythical German nation – a fact which Kleist seems to have ignored - and whose significance he did not appreciate. He could not bring him - self to see that there were selfish interests separating Austria and Prussia. He failed to realize that the guiding principles in the affairs of these states were after all the copy of the Napole- onic policy of indemnities which had been taken up by these govern- º ments. * * * *The traffic in souls and square miles was no invention of Napoleon" “** But after 1809 and even during the later phase of the war of that year Kleist began to perceive the real designs of Austria, for he wrote: . Zuvoerderst muss die Regierung von Oesterreich sich ueberzeugen dass der Krieg, den sie fuehrt, we der fuer den Glanz noch fuer die Unabhaengigkeit, noch selbst fuer das Dasein ihres Thrones gefuehrt werde, welches, so wie die Sache liegt, lauter niedere und untergeordenete Zwecke sind. ***** a- are cº-º-º-º-ºr------- ** Kateghismus der Deutschen; Werke : IV. 101; and Ueber die Rettung von Oesterreich; Werke : IV. 121. * * * L'avidité que deployerent a la fois l'Austriche et la Prusse lors de la répartition des indemnités, achéva de rendre presque irréconciliable les deux grands puissances de la Germanie.- Rambaud, 61. ***** Fisher, Napoleonic Statemanship, 8. * * * * * Ueber die Rettung von Oesterreich ; Werke: "W. **** 131 The ignominious close of the war excluded Austria from any further consideration and the over throw of Napoleon became now a Prussian matter to be undertaken by Prussian leaders and in the interests of the Prussian nationality. As the inevitable means of this overthrow Kleist advocated recourse to the levée en masse. In spite of the fact that he was an aristocrat and had none too much confidence in the man of the people * he urged such an uprising of the masses. He was not one to fear / fered from the most of his rank and from many of the men in influ- the consequences of an appeal to the populace, and in this he dif- ential positions. Yorck, for instance, had no confidence in the popular uprising,” Gentz feared it , and even the king had little hope of its success. *** In his negotiations with other powers he continually tried to avoid any reference to such an appeal. **** The younger enthusiasts believed firmly in its efficacy, notably Arndt, and they were supported by such officers as the fiery Bluecher. ***** Kleist had no qualms and tried to calm the fears of the du- 'bious with the statement : Jede grosse und umf assende Gefahr gibt, wenn ihr wohl begegnet wird, dem Staat, fuer den Augen- Wuerzburg, Sept. 12, 1800; Werke : V. 119. **Seeley, II. 530. * * * Rundschau, CXXIX. 33. * * * * Seeley, III. 79. * * * * * Rundschau, CIV. 26. 122. blick ein demokrat isches Ansehen. * He wanted to transfer the Spanish revolt to German soil and hailed the uprising in the Tyrol. In the impetuous enthusiasm of these years he failed to see that in Germany a revolution of the Spanish type was impossible. In Spain a nation rose, a people homogeneous in character and held together by ties of religion as well sºase. º They were aided by the peculiar topography of the country which rendered quick, decisive military movements impossible. Prussia, however, was a natural battlefield. Kleist was misled by the upris– } ing of Austria into believing that the hour had come. But the Austrian demonstration of 1809 had but little of the enthusiasm and fervor of the Spanish revolt. It was these disappointing experiences in 1809 that led Kleist to temper somewhat his extreme position. Later he still believed that the populace must rise but now urged that the uprisiúg must be a guided revolution and must be directed by the legally con- stituted authorities. His popular revolt was to win back a kingdom for his sovereign rather than to essert the personal liberty of the masses. The regular army, reformed to be sure, was to be the nu- cleus around which the irregulars could gather. Everywhere Kleist looked to the leaders, the emperor, the king, the ministers, or the generals. ** The soldier in Kleist had rightly diagnosed the disas- * Ueber die Rettung von Oesterreich; Werke : IV. ll:9. ** Germania an inre Kinder ; Werke : IV. 33; to Ruehle; Koenigsberg, Dec. 1805; Werke : W. 334; to Ulrike; Koenigsberg, Dec. 6, 1806; Werke : V. 331; to Collin; Dresden, April 20, 1809; Werke : V. 386; and to ? ; Stockerau, May 25, 1809; Werke : V. 388. 123 ters of 1806 and 1809 as due more to the mistakes of the leaders than to the faults of rank and file. Even the Hermannschlacht is an instance of the dependence of Kleist on the leaders. How far distant this play is, even in all its fervor and patriotism, from a real Volksstueck! It need only be compared with such a work as Wilhelm Tell to bring out this peculiarity of the play of Kleist. The folk-scenes with their note of popular enthusiasm are absent and the Germanic peoples are far from being the real hero of the play. At the end it seems that it was a coalition of princes and not a mighty uprising of the masses which swept the German lands clean of the invader. The reconstruction of the country and the future constitution of the Germany freed of her despoilers, were matters which concerned Fiest but little. In 1809 he spoke of a restoration of the Empire and failed to see that Austria her self was not particularly con- cerned with this plan. During his Prussian period, when the matter had become a Prussian problem, he would have demanded the restor- at ion to Prussia of the territories which had been torn from her. This would have meant the expulsion of the Napoleonic satraps from their dependencies. Towards the Rheinbund Kleist had the deepest enmity and everywhere urged the people to refuse allegiance * to princes who had sold their countries to the common foe. Kleist would not have hesitated to dispossess these Confederate princes as a punishment for their perfidy. In this recovered Germany, ---------------- * Katechismug der Deutschen; Werke : IV. 108. 124 Austria and Prussia would no doubt have been of equal rank and would have shared the hegemony in a union or confederacy of the German- º speaking peoples. The existence of an issue between Austria and Prussia, did not occur to Kleist. The nimbus of the old imperial government still hovered over him, and the real German question as to whether Prussia, or Austria should have the primacy did not enter as a potent factor intº his calculations. That the general consti- tution of this new Germany was to be different from the old Kleist was loath to grant. One of the demands of the people which arose out of the turmoil of the Revolution was the cry for representative government. In this matter Kleist was conservative and was opposed to the institution in Prussia of a representative assembly on the model of the English parliament. In a note to an article in the Abendbla.etter Kleist spoke of such an organization as "ein Unding. " * His contention and that of his friends was that an assembly of this nature would infringe on the power of the crown. Such an encroach- ment on the imperial prerogative would have been bitterly resented by the opponents of the innovation , since they were monarchists to the core. -------------- * Steig, Kaempfe, 148. 125 WI. KLEIST tS POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION. Inspeaking of Kleist's political contribution it is necessar to repeat that it is not a question here of a political theorist whose position in the history and development of political science is to be determined by the value of a series of original contribu- tions. Kleist was no such theorist and made no such original con- tributions. There were, however, in his thought several factors which were of significance not only for the personal career of Kleist but also for the larger history of the German people. Again it must be remembered that these principles were not the subject of active propaganda on the part of Kleist and that they were at bottom neither entirely original nor unique with him. But they formed the foundation of his thinking and were the main-spring of his activity, since they smbraced, in fact, some of the fundamental principles on which any conception of the social organism must be based. They were matters which have agitated the minds of his countrymen down to the present time, and in many ways Kleist pointed forward in his ideas on these fundamental questions. His conception of "Freiheit", the resulting theory of the state, and his larger conception of the meaning of citizenship inthat state, are matters which in a modest way may be regarded as Kleist's political contribution. 126 a. Freiheit. There is no word or idea which occurred with greater fre- quency in the writings of Kleist than the term "Freiheit." What is more, an examination of the numerous occurrences of the word shows a consistency with regard to the meaning which he associated with the term. In the earlier period, there was, to be sure, no politi- cal significance attached to the idea and for Kleist Freiheit had little or nothing in common with the Liberté of the French Revolu- º tion. Later when his interest in political affairs was quickened the extreme position on the question of Freiheit may have been modified to some extent, although it is doubtful whether the funda- mantal idea ever underwent any radical change. It is very evident, on the other hand, that the idea of Freiheit colored his conception of the state. In the earlier period his idea of freedom had a more decidedly individualistic aspect, whereas in the later period the attempt was made to extend this idea to the collectivistic whole. In the earlier period the idea may be transcribed to read "das Recht der Selbstbestimmung". - Ich trage eine innere Worschrift in meiner Brust, gegen welche alle aeussern, und wenn sie auch ein Koenig unterschrieben haette, nichtswuerdig sina. #: Innumerable examples might be gleaned from his letters to show how ever-present and important this idea was in the mind of Kleist. * * * * * * * *-------e-e- * To Wilhelmine; Paris, Oct. 10, 1801; Werke : V. 259. 27 Falsch ist jedes Ziel, das nicht die reine Natur dem Menschen steckt. * Ist mir nicht jede ehrliche Arbeit willkommen, und will ich einen groessern Preis, als Freiheit, ein eignes Haus und Dich. ** Freiheit, ein eignes Haus, und ein Weib, meine drei Wuensche, die ich mir beim Auf- und Untergange der Sonne wiederhole, wie ein Moench seine drei Ge- luebde. o um diesen Preis will ich allen Ehrgeiz fahren lassen und alle Pracht der Reichen und allen Ruhm der Gelehrten . *** Freiheit, die edelste Art der Arbeit, ein Eigen- tum, ein Weib – ach, des Maedchen, fuer mich ist kein LOOs wuenschenswerter als dieses - **** The same conception also finds expression in the literary Productions of his earlier years. A survey of the main characters which appear in these dramas and stories shows that a motive in the action of almost every one is an insistence on this prerogative Of the individual . In most cases the dramatic conflict arises from an opposition, either conscious or unconscious, on the part of the in- dividual character to a convention Or even to a legally constituted law of society. This is true of the Marquise von O. . . . . , the Erd- e- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ** To Wilhelmine; Paris, June 21, 18Ol; Werke: V. 242. *** To Wilhelmine; Paris, Aug. 15, 1801; Werke: V. 250. **** To Wilhelmine; Paris, Oct. 27, 18Ol; Werke: V. 264. 128 beben in Chile, and the Verlobung in Śākt Domingo. It is most --- strikingly illustrated in the Michael Kohlhaas whose insistence on personal liberty made of himea. criminal outlaw from society. Das Rechtsgefuehl aber machte ihn zum Raeuber und Moerder. * - In the dramas many situations of a like nature are presented. The Penthesilea has its tragic moment in a breach of law; the Keezhchen von Heilbronn defies every rule, law, and convention of her soci- ety; and even in the Adam of the Zerbrochene Krug there is por- trayed in a mild and lighter vein the contest of the individual with the law. It is no mere chance that a favorite and ever-recur- ring scene in the drama of Kleist is the trial scene. The funda– mental idea in most of his works dealt with a breach of law and made the actual trial of the individual a necessary expedient. When this idea of individualistic freedom came to be harmon- ized with the conception of the individual as a member of the social organism, a number of complications arose. From his own experiences Kleist had learned that, as at that time constituted, the state did not afford the individual the opportunity for a consistent exercise of this most important prerogative. As an officer in the army he had not been able to reconcile the dictates of his conscience with the rules of the military code which he found himself called upon to fol - low. He had given up his career as an official because he had been asked to do what the state demanded regardless of his own feeling -- *-eſ------- * Werke : III. 141. 129 - as to the right or wrong of that action. From these experiences it will be seen that Kleist everywhere insisted that the individual - must have the right to examine into the law which he is to obey or execute. In Michael Kohlhaas this attitude was carried to its final conclusion. Revolt rather than submission to injustice was the them of this work. - The underlying principle of the greatest of his plays, the Prºffiz von Homburg is the best example of this. The drama has been rightly interpreted as a grandiose expression of the value of dis- cipline and obedience to law, in this case to the military code. In it undoubtedly the value of such obedience is shown and empha- sized as one of the most important qualities of those necessary for the security of the Prussian state. But it is well to enquire a little more closely into the nature of that obedience and es- pecially into the underlying principle as related to Kleist's idea of freedha. e. iſ ºn - The exemplification of the submission to law is , of course, in the character of the Prince himself. He disobeys orders and al- º though a victory has been won in spite of his disobedience, he is condemned to death for a violation of the military ordinance. The constructive message of the play lies in the fact that the Prince is brought to see the justice of the sentence imposed upon him. But a deeper investigation is necessary before the real significance of the play is brought to light. The act of the Prince is nothing more nor less than an act of disobedience. Nor is his preoccupation 130 during the giving out of the orders of the day a palliation for his misdemeanor. Immediately before his advance he is definitely told - by his fellow-officers what the orders of the Elector had been . * He *** disobeys. It is a significant fact of the first im- portance that, though the battle was not lost through the Prince's disobedience, the victory was of far less magnitude than the plans of the Elector had comprehended. The premature attack of the Prince had allowed the enemy to escape. Had he waited the whole Swedish army would have been cut off and forced to capitulate. The Prince was guilty in a double sense. He had disobeyed orders and by that disobedience he had caused the plans of the Elector to fail. Before entering into an analysis of the principles which are involved in this situation it is necessary to point out that there is in the play a second disregard of orders which also casts a bright light on Kleist's fundamental conception of obedience. An added clue to *= attitude is to be sought in the episode of Kot; tºwitz and Natalie. These two are led to a disobedience even more deliberate than that of the Prince. Their action is a protest a- gainst what seems to them to be injustice on the part of the Elec- tor. This disobedience of Kottwitz (who is of course made to bear the blame of Natalie's orders) is a flagrant one and in amore crit- ical situation would have led to serious results. It is not only open rebellion against the rules of the service but also a disre- gard for law in general. The first step of Michael Kohlhaas was of no more serious nature. Whereas in the case of the Prince it is - - - - - - - - - - - * Act II., Scene 2; Werke : III. 51. 131 nothing more than a conscious failure in the execution of a mili- tary command, in the case of Kottwitz it is an attack on the very foundations of the state. Since in the Prinz von Homburg there is undoubtedly Kleist's maturest statement of his idea of the relation of the individual to the state, it is well to enter more thoroughly into an investi- gation of the exact significance of these two cases of disobedi- ence. Both the Prince and Kottwitz are pardoned and in the I'83.60 ſlº for this leniency is to be found the real constructive message of the play as far as Kleist's idea of personal liberty is concerned. The misdemeanor of Kottwitz is pardoned because his action, although from the point of view of the law criminal, 18, after all, humanly right. He protests against that which he considers tyranny and which as a matter of fact is tyranny. To take the life of the Prince would be the act of a despot and Kottwitz is within the rights of his individual freedom in refusing to abide by a tyrannical in- º: º terpretation of the law. With Kottwitz it is not a question of the guilt or innocence of the Prince. His concern is not with the vio- lated law but with the interpretation which the Elector shall put upon that violation. It will be seen that the rebellion of Kott- witz is not then against the law itself but against a false inter- pretation of the law. This leads over to the case of the Prince. His real error as Kleist shows , is not his actual disregard for orders, but the fact that he refuses to see the necessity of a strist obed- ience to the law. It must be remembered that it is not the inter- 132 cession of Natalie, or the attempted coercion of Kottwitz, or even the tendernees of his own feelings in the matter, which moves the Elector to leniency. The Prince wine his liberty for himself by his acknowledgement of the gravity of his error. But it is necessary to go one step farther. Even if the Prince is brought to a reali- zation of his error — is he by that any the less guilty of the disobedience? Is not the inexorable military code still operative and does it not even now demand the death of the Prince 7 From every legal standpoint it does and yet the Prince is pardoned. The reason is that if the Blector had allowed the strict military code to be carried out it would again have been a false interpretation of the law, against which Kottwitz with justice protested. Here lies the significance of the monologue - Seltsam – wenn ich der Dei von Tunis wasre, u. s.v. * In other words a deepot would have planted his howitzers at the gate and have scattered the squadrons of Kottwitz. After that the Prince would have been shot down by a firing squad and the law, as such, would have been upheld. What Kleist wished to emphasize was, however that the law must be interpreted. The man living under the law must have the right to judge of the justice of that which he is to obey; the regent who is to execute the law must look upon it as his duty to interpret that which he is called upon to execute. The dead letter is of no value. In the interpretation lies en- lightenment and progress. ---------------- * Act V., Scene 2; Werke : III. 104. 133 From this play, moreover, and particularly from the famous monologue, can be gained the meaning of Kleist's Prussianism. Much has been made of this and the glorification of the obedience to law has been made the cardinal principle in it. The abject subjugation of the individual to the will of the state has been pointed out as the dominant characteristic of the Prussian type of government. It needs but a brief examination into the attitude of Kleist to see that this statement stands in need of a very necessary qualifi- - cation. From the above discussion can be drawn the significant facts which taken in connection with Kleist's development show the exact nature of the Prussianism of which he certainly was an exponent. Kleist early in his career had been brought to see the necessity of a government which would be strong enough to insure that security for the individual which was necessary for his happi- ness and well-being. His experiences in office, his contact with the greater European movements, his perception of the Napoleonic plans showed him that only by the erection of a strong government could the German peoples continue their existence. He was one of the First who came to the realization that the salvation of his countrymen º lay in their being very "much-governed". The Germans and the Prus- sians in particular have, since the days of Jena, felt the need of much government. For a man of the individualistic nature of Kleist this realization that the scope of government must be broadened brought with it the necessity of sacrifices on the part of the in- dividual citizen. In order that these sacrifices would not become º 134 overwhelming he naturally demanded not only that his people should be much-governed but also that they should be well-governed. A monarchy was the only possible fºrm of government for his state, but it was not to be a despotism. Instead of "Dei von Tunis" in his monologue Kleist would not have hesitated to write Elector of Hesse. The government was not to be one which saw in its sub- ject smere cattle to be bartered away at will. The individual man must be of moment in the state and he could GT) be this if he retained some of his individual prerogatives. How to organize the state so as to do this was the great problem of government. The state which could not afford to grant to the individual the exer- cise of his prerogatives as a citizen and still be assured of his allegiance and obedience was faulty in its construction and in need of radical reform. There never was a time when Kleist thought that the righteous demands of the individual should be modified if an ideal state should be brought into existence. In Kleist's con- ception of this ideal state is to be found what he considered the solution of this great problem of government. b. State. For the man of strongly developed individualistic tenden- cies, the question of the relation of the individual to the state will always be of deeper moment. For Kleist who with such ten- dencies became engaged in a political career the problem was of even 135 more consuming interest. As matters stood in the Prussia of his day, he found a reconciliation of the two forces well-nigh impossible and he was patriot enough to sacrifice the demands of the individu- al to the welfare of the whole. But it must not be understood from this that he gave up his original idea. The expeaiency of the moment might force into the background his ideal and the exigen- cies of the time might cause him to forget for a while its eignifi- cance. In his heart, however, there was the dream of an ideal state in which the demands of both the individual and the social whole would be reconciled. The approach to this ideal state, which probably never was and never will be, can best be traced by a sur- vey of the development of the idea of state in the mind of Kleist. In one of his earliest letters there is to be found a state- ment of his idea of the state at that time, and this passage may be taken as the starting point from which his conception of the state developed. Der Staat fordert von uns weiter nichts, als dass wir die zehn Gebote nicht uebert reten. . . . Der Staat sichert uns unger Eigentum, unare Ehre, und unger Leben. * This primitive conception of the function and the nature of the º state is interesting in the light of his later development. The state is here a necessary something with police duties and regu- lative authority. It has but few demands to make on the individu- --------------- * To Ulrike; Frankfort a.d. Oder, May, 1799; Werke : V. 44. 136 al and the latter has but few duties towards such astate. This con- ception was set down in 1799, soon after the return of Kleist from his garrison life in Potsdam. If this statement be compared with the scattered references to the state which appear in the letters to Wilhelmine, written during the next few years, a remarkable change in attitude is to be noted. In these later letters there is constant reference to the rightful demands which a state may make on the individual, to the numerous duties which the individu- al owes the state, and finally, to the fact that a man must of neces- sity think of himself as a citizen of a state. The change in atti- tude is so striking that its cause is of more than passing interest. There was nothing in the immediate experience of Kleist at that time, which in any way was designed to bring home to him the rela- tion of the individual to the atate. In fact this period in his life was of all times the most decidedly non-political. Here then, in an attempt to explain this shift in attitude , it is necessary to look for some external influence. The clue is undoubtedly to be found in the studies which Kleist carried on at the university at Frankfort a. d. Oder during the years 1799 and 1800. Among the courses of lectures which he at- tended there he mentioned one given by Madihn * who was at that - time Professor of Jurisprudence. ** In one of these semesters Kleist ~y2. followed a course of lectures on"Naturrecht"“” and his change in -- *--------------- * Ludwig Gottfried Madihn (1748–1834); Professor at Leipzig, later º at Berlin. Author of Grundzuege des Naturrechts, 1789-1795. ** To Ulrike; Berlin, Aug. 26, 1800; Werke: W. 91. *** Herzog, 44. 1.37 his conception of the state can be attributed very largely to the study and reading which he undoubtedly did in connection with this series of lectures. From a comparison of the scattered utterances of Kleist with the literature which was then available it seems evident that Kleist must have known the Grundzuege des Naturrecht's which Fichte had issued from Jena, the first part in 1796 and the second part in 1797. It is more than likely that reference was made to this book in the lectures of Madihn, and much in the book seems to account for the change in attitude in Kleist. The emphasis cºn the relation of the individual to the state and the statement of the various duties and privileges of each might have been taken by Kleist from the pages of Fichte. In one other respect do the letters to Wilhelmine seem an echo of the reading of Fichte. The pages are full of a continued disquisition on the various relations which - the sexes hold in the social organism, with a continued emphasis on the more important position of the stronger sex. There is much discussion of the relations of the sexes to each other and of the comparative importance of their respective duties and privileges. This all seems to go back to the appendix of Fichte's work which discussed as he termed it "Grundriss des Familien rechts". * Here the whole relation of the sexes to the social organism is thoroughly discussed. The general attitude with its decided masculinity is the same as that which] is met with in Kleist's letters to his be- trothed. --------------- 138 With this awakened conception of the larger significance of the state Kleist entered the service of the King. The result was, as has been pointed out, that his idea of the state with its various functions widened, and his conseption of the constitution of the state deepened. Although he did not as yet realize that the state might demand all from the individual, he began to appreciate the tremendous gravity of the problem of reconciling the demands of the individual with those of the state. As yet there was no COIl- tingency that called for an extreme sacrifice of the individual de- mands and hence he quitted the service. Later when such a pressing occasion did arise Kleist was among the first to devote all his life º and endeavor and energy to the service of his fatherland. Again it must be repeated that this did not mean that he gave up his ideal of the state in relation to the individual. He merely bowed his head - in recognition of the favt that the present demanded such sacri- --- fices. This second decided change in attitude fell in with the gen- eral change in Kleist's activity, and it was during the Dresden years , 1807 to 1809, that the shift occurred. It has been spoken of as a development from a coneeption of a "Rechtsstaat" to that of a "Nationalstaat". * Here is a second formula which presents much the same difficulty as the other discussed above —"Weltbuerger zum 1) Staatsbuerger. The idea of a national state was present withKleist from the beginning and certainly before the Dresden period although --- *---------------- 139 it was at the same time the idea of a state whose fundamental quality was the postulation and observance of law. It would be ex ceedingly difficult to sum up the development of Kleist in these years in any sort of a formula. The reason for this lies in the - fact that there was no radical change in his conception of the state as such, but more a change in his conception of what the attitude - of the individual citizen should be to the state. In all of the career of Kleist he had more or less clearly in mind an idea of a national state, but only in the later period was it a state which röghtly demanded that the individual should place the interests of the state before his own. Even though in the earlier period this national state had not been narrowly Prussian , it was certain- German. In the last years it must indeed be spoken of as Prussian. 2 The ideal state remáined for Kleist the "Kulturstaat". In his earlier career he passed from a very primitive conception of a mechanical state to the idea of a more necessary organism based on mutual rights and obligations embodied in law and the obser- vance of law. It was with this"Rechtsstaat" that the later thought of Kleist ozcupied itself. The problem was to constitute this state in such a way that the rights of the individual might be respected. The growing idea of the "Verfassungsstaat" as a development of the - "Rechtsstaat" was not enough. What was needed was a sort of tran- scendental Rechtsstaat which would make up the deficiencies which Kleist found in the then existing states. There can be found no better term for this ideal than Kulturstaat. In its application, howeeer, to the ideal state of Kleist it is necessary to guard 140 against an error which might be made. All the men who subscribed to the Humanitaet sideal had spoken of the Kulturstaat, and for most of them the European states as constituted before the Revolution in France came under this category. Kleist would have denied with all the vigor of his nature the application of Kulturstaat to the states as they were in the time in which he lived. For him the Kultur staat was an ideal, a state of the future in which it would be possible to reconcile the one and the many without the subju- gation of the individual. There was however among his contemporaries one who had in mind a Kultur staat similar to the idea of Kleist and different from the conception which was held by the most of his associates. This man was Fichte. In a discussion of the essential qualities of the ideal state as Kleist conceived it, it is almost impossible to avoid reference to the writings of Fichte which in the more im- portant particulars offer striking parallels to the views of Kleis, To determine the characteristics which Kleist attached to his Kul- tºur 3 taat recourse must be had to numerous scattered references in his letters and to a few passages in his literary works. Some of these are definite, to be sure, but many are rather vague and un- certain. Kleist was no philosopher and theorist, and he nowhere pre- tended to set down a definite scientific statement of the nature of the Kultur staat. Such a scientific and philosophic discussion of the matter is to be found in the pages of Fichte. The parallelism is in many instances so striking that before taking up an analysis 141 2 : . .ſº ºva & Cº., ^ Rºº, º of the principles involved, it is necessary to inquire into the matter of the relation existing between the two men and to take up the question of probable influence. To attempt a reconstruction of an actual relation between sº the work of Fichte and that of Kleist is a problem which presents really baffling difficulties. Jn 3.11 earlieſ. was conjectured t tº ºn . º that Kleist must have been acquainted with one of the earlier Works of Fichte on political matters, the Grundzuege des Natur- rechts. This hypothesis was grounded, however, entirely on a series of parallels between the letters of Kleist and the content of Fichte. Beyond that there was little support in the way of supplementary evidence of an authoritative nature. So in the whole question of leist and Fichte. As in the case of Stein, the situation presents itself that nowhere in the letters of Kleist does there appear any reference to Fichte. Again it must not be argued from this that Kleist was vin ignorance of the labors of Fichte any more then he was in ignorance of the reforms of Stein. In his earlier years it is of course problematic as to how close he stood to the Jena. circle. It is also a question as to how far Kleist was acquainted - with the labors of Fichte in Berlin before the catastrophe of 1806. It seems reasonable to believe that Kleist in his public life in Koenigsberg was acquainted with the 3rundzuege des gegenwaertigen Zeitalters which Fichte published in Berlin in 1805. After 1806 the attention of Kleist was diverted to Austrian affairs and the Reden an die Deutsche Nation probably did not claim his serious attention until his own return to North Germany. When he did re- 142 turn to Berlin he most certainly read the Reden and other works and lectures of Fichte, sire it must be set down as unthinkable that Kleist could have been in the Prussian capital without coming into more than superficial contact with Fichte. There is indeed direct evidence in the article of the Abendblaetter entitled Allerneuerster Erziehungsplan in which the scheme of universal education such as Fichte advocated in the Reden is attacked and ri- diculed. A close reading of this article, however and a comparison of it with the sections of Fichte's lectures shows that it is more 3N attack on the Pest, alozzi methods of teaching than on Fichte's idea of universal education. Fichte, to be sure, exalta Pestaloz- zi's methods and subscribes to them. Kleist on the other hand re- jects them, although in earlier years he had been drawn to Pesta- lozzi. This change was occasioned by the fact that Kleist probably found the democratic nature of the system distasteful to him and also had no patience with a system that did not make for immediate action. * One thing is certain. Kleist was surely at one with the general tone of the Reden and must have held with the author that a quickening of the intellectual life of the people was necessary in the crisis which hung over the age. The intense patriotism of the Reden and the boldness of the man who dared to utter such in- spired appeals while a French army was still quartered on Prussian soil - these were matters which won the approval of Kleist. Fichte and Kleist stood together in their patriotism, and Kleist's opposi- tion to Fichte was to a mere detail in the general scheme of moral awakening. --- --------- * Steig, Kaempfe, 337. lA3 º, sº wº *- wº _f tº iº 13 ), Z' How much Kleist, had read or was acquainted with the philo- sophical work of Fichte is even more a matter of conjecture. His experiences with Kant would *:::::::::: the belief that he was not tempted by any further speculations of a man who was the acknow- ledged pupil of Kant and at the same time the elaborator of his system. In fact, there is but little evidence in the later history of Kleist of his deeper study of any philosophy. The fiascó, with Kant had left a serious scar on his nature. If he had read the Fichtean philosophy there would have been one element in Fichte which would have appealed to Kleist. Fichte in all his labor's exalted the moral will and this would have struck a responsive chord in the soul of Kleist. More than this, the emphasis on the in- dividual in the Fichtean system would have been added confirmation for Kleist in his intense individualism. ſºvº From the above discussion it will be seen that aſ hypothesis of an actual influence of Fichte on Kleist must be set aside. When parallelisms occur they may be by conjecture attributed to influ- encebut for such conjecture the actual supplementary proof is in every way lacking. The unusual similarity of their views of the \ state must be looked upon as a clear case of literary analogy. The two men stood together in their patriotic endeavors to further the interests of their people. Both were impressed with the gravity of the problems which confronted the state. Both were able to read the signs of the times correctly. Finally, both were idealists, and in their discussion of the future of their fatherland they arrived, lA4 perhaps independently of each other, at conclusions, strikingly similar in their lofty idealism. - This situation is rendered even more plausible by a com- parison in the two men of their courses of development in regard to matters political. The earlier development of Kleist is paralleled in a rather amazing way in the life of Fichte. Fichte too laid stress on the liberty of the individual. In fact it is easy to transcribe the idea of Fichte much as was done with Kleist's con- ception. With Fichte it too is synonymous with " perso enliche Selbstbest immung "... * For Fichte also it was inevitable that the problem of the relation of the individual to the state should arise and his formulation of the problem is the scientific state- ment of the question which busied the mind of Kleist. - Es ist die erste Aufgabe des Staatsrechts einen Willen zu finden in welchem Privatwille und gemein- samer synthetisch vereinigt sind. ** Just like Kleist, Fichte had in his earlier years begun by saying that the individual is not only a member of the social whole. *** At first this was emphasized but gradually, as in the case of Kleist, he was led to stress|what had appeared side by side with this in- dividualistic attitude. That idea was that the atate might demand in its service the full powers of the individual. **** ------------- * Fischer, Fichte, 393. ** Grundlage des Naturrechts, I. 180. *** Ibid., II. 19 ff. **** Ibid., I. 166 ff. 145 Fichte too had been touched by the cosmopolite dreams. He also had tried to combine cosmopolitanism and nationality. This endeavor on the part of Fichte not to let his nationalism be swallowed up in the cosmopolitan wave, led to the following state- ment which is rather naive in its simplicity. Welches is t denn das Water land des wahrhaft ausgebildeten christlichen Europäers? Im allgemeinen ist es Europa; insbesondere ist es in jedem Zeit alter derjenige Staat in Europa, der auf der Hoehe der Kultur Steht . * And for Fichte as for Kleist that state was Germany. Fichte aimed at a cosmopolitanism but on a grander scale. It was what might be º called "ein Weltbuergertum der Freiheit". To gain that he definite- ly asserted that it was necessary for each individual land to de- º velope within itself a national state of freedom and reason. ** - The development of the single state was therefore the immediate * and here with Kleist Fichte pointed the way to the Kulturstaat. - An examination of the idea of Kleist with regard to the ideal state will in every point find confirmation and support in the writings of Fichte. -- Tô discover the first and perhaps the primary characteristic of the Kultur staat it is necessary merely to discern the true º meaning of Kleist's demand that, in the matter of observance of --------------- ** Der Geschlossene Handelsstaat, III. 518; and Grundzuege, 455-457 146 - law there must be granted to each individual the right of exercise of his own personal judgment. This means nothing more nor less than that the state shall value the intellect of the individual, that - the thought of the individual shall be a constructive force in the state, and that the state will be as it were, the composite intel- ligence of the members of the social organism. With Fichte there is the formulation: - Richtung aller individuellen Kraefte auf den Zweck der Gattung ist der absolute Staat seiner Fºrm nach. * That this did not mean with either man the imposition (on the con- -----------------"-- - duct of affairs) of the opinion of the mob is self-evident. It - meant the influence of the enlightened. It was the fact that the en- lightened were not represented in the counsels of the nation that º Kleist deplored. That is what he meant when he said that he missed Geist and Bildung in the governmental circles. That was his arraign- ment of the French nation. He missed as he termed it "Wahrheit * which may be interpreted to mean the ºvernunft "which Schiller € ſº- º phasized **** Briefe . The inevitable means then for the approach to the ideal state was by a general program of education . In this Schiller, Kleist, Fichte, and Schleiermacher went together and this accounts for the eausational nature of much of their work. Again it is in Fichte that may be found the same ideas ex- pressed in the more systematic and dignified language of the phil- -------------- 47 O BOpher : Der Zweck unserer Gesetzgebung war die Mensch- heit in der Nation allseitig auszubilden. * MUCh als Schleiermacher had Written : Bildung ist die Aufgabe des Staates. ** The ideal state is further characterized by Fichte: Der Zweck der Gattung ist Kultur . . . im Staate gebraucht jeder seine Kraefte unmittelbar gar nicht fuer den eignen Genuss, sondern fuer den Zweck der «- - Gattung; und er haelt dafuer zurueck, den ganzen Kultur zustand desselben. *** In this state of Kultur the governing power must be full of the same genius. The Elector in the Prinz von Homburg may be taken als Kleist' s ideal ruler and to him may be applied what Fichte Wrote of the regent of the state: Der Staatsbeamte muss daher ein Gelehrter sein in seinem Fach. Es koenne kein Fuerst wohl regieren der nicht der Ideen teilhaftig sey , sagt Platon : una das ist gerade dasselbe was wir hier sagen . . . . Obscu- rantismus ist unter anderen auch ein Verbrechen gegen den Staat, wie er sein soll – Es ist dem Regenten, der seine Bestimmung kéennt, Gewissenssache, die Aufklaer- ung zu unterstuetzen. **** =------ * - - - - * Fichtes Werke : WTT - 532. ** Aphorismen, ITI . 8; 319. *** Gruend zuege, 319. **** System der Sittenlehre, IV. 357–380. lá8 The "Best immung des Gelehrten" is analyzed by Fichte, and here again the man of enlightenment is looked upon not merely as the spiritual teacher and educator of mankind, but also as the one in ley: whom the actual progress of the race rests. He is the #ºr. * With this in mind it is easily seen that the view of Kleist as well as that of Fichte embraced an idea of the state which was progressive in its nature. The states as then existent were faulty in their construction. For a time it was necessary that the indi- vidual should submit to a scheme of government which did violence to his personal prerogatives. But the comfort in these dark days K| (2. st lay in an ideal. Both Fichte and KHH, were true political idealists and dreamed of a future state in which their hopes and aspirations would be realized. Fichte expressed the necessity of such a pro- gressive conception. In his earlier work on the French Revolution the theme had been, the necessity of change in the forms of govern- ment, that the frame work could not be static, and that a progres- sive changeable form was imperative. ** The ideal was a state of º freedom and "Kultur zur Freiheit" was to Fichte and to Kleist the general scheme of progression. - In this distant future these men saw this ideal state. Kleist and Fichte thought of it under the name of Kultur staat. Schleier- macher saw in it a state in which the religious life of his people would be deepened and quickened. Schiller spoke of it as a "Ver.- nunftreich". His term is synonymous with the Kultur staat and the * Ueber die Best immung des. Gelehrten; V.I., 328-334. ** BEitraege zur Berichtigung der Urteile ueber die fraazoesische Revolution; VI. 101-103. 149 manner of approach to it was the same as it was with Kleist, and Fichte, and Schleiermacher. Fichte at times substituted the term "Vernunftreich" and spoke of the latter as that golden age in which the actions of mankind would not be determined by the natural impulses but by the insight of the higher reason. * - c. Patriotism. It is in his devotion to his country and fatherland that is tombe found the deepest expression of Kleist's nature. As a patriot Kleist was ready to give his all to the welfare of his - native land. In his most mature years he had consecrated all his en- deavor to the service of his state and would not have hesitated to - sacrifice life itself in the defence of his country. Everywhere in his writings he preached the doctrine that the man must be ready to sacrifice all, life and liberty,when his country called. Life was for him a jewel to be sacrificed at will. - Das Leben ist viel wert, wenn man's verachtet. ** This was repeated in his letters time and again. Ach, es ist nichts ekelhafter als diese Furcht vor dem Tode. Das Leben ist das einzige Eigentum, das nur dann etwas werth ist, wenn wir es nicht achten. Veraechtlich ist es, wenn wir es nicht leicht fallen --------------- * Staatslehre ; IV. , 432-433. ** Die Familie Schroffenstein; Act IV., Scene 5; Werke : I. 137. 5O lassen koennen. , und nur der kann es zu grossen Zwecken nutzen, der es leicht und freudig wegwerfen koennte. Wer es mit Sorgfalt liebt, moralisch todt ist er schon, denn seine hoechste Lebenskraft, naemlich es opfern zu koennen modert, indessen er es pflegt. * The proposed Germania was to foster this spirit: Sie will herabsteigen, wenn die Schlacht braust und sich mit hochrot gluehenden Wangen, unter die streiten- den mischen, und ihren Mut beleben, und ihnen Unerschrocken- heit und Ausdauer und des Todes Verachtung ins Herz giessen. * These are, however qualities and expressions of patriotism - which have , with justice, been demanded of men at all times and in all epochs of the history of nations. The deeper meaning of Feste patriotism is revealed in its best expression in his conception - of the larger significance of the wars against Napoleon. In l805 he hoped the King would go before his people to impress upon them the magnitude of the struggle upon which they were entering. Warum hat der Koenig nicht gleich, bei Gelegenheit des Durchbruchs der Franzosen durch das Fraenkische, seine Staende zusammangerufen, warum ihnen nicht, in einer rueh- renden Rede (der blosse Schmerz haette ihn ruehrend gemacht) seine Lage eroeffnet. Wenn er es bloss ihrem eignen Ehrge- fuehl anheim gestellt haette, ob sie von einem gemisshandel- ten Koenige regiert sein wollen, oder nicht, wue sich nicht * To Wilhelmine; Paris, July 21, 18Ol; Werke: V. 244. ** Einleitung fuer die Germania; Werke: IV. 82. l 5 l etwas von Nationalge ist bei ihnen geregt haben. Und wenn sich diese Regung gezeigt haette, waere dies nicht die Gelegenheit gewesen, ihnen zu erklaeren, dass es hier nicht auf einen gemeinen Krieg ankomme. Es gelte Sein oder nicht- sein . * In the dark days after Jena he wrote : Es waere schrecklich. Wenn dieser Wueter iWh sein Reich gruendete. Nur ein sehr einer Teil der Menschen begreift, was fuer ein Verderben es ist, unter seine Herr- schaft zu kommen. Wir sind die unterjochten Voelker der Roemer. Es ist auf eine Auspluenderung von Europa abgesehen Urſ Frankreich reich zu machen . ** Of the Queen in this time of disteess he said: Sie hat den ganzen grossen Gegenstand, auf den es jetzt ankommt, umfasst . . . ja, sie ist es, die das was noch nicht zusammengestuerzt ist, haelt. *** Always the struggle against the conqueror was for him "die gute Sache" and it meant more than the mere freeing of the German peoples from the yoke of tyranny. In the struggle against Napoleon he saw the assertion of the German nationality with all that it stood for in the realms of art and culture and all that it meant for the pro- gress of the race. In his very earliest years he had felt with pride this pre- dominance of German intellectual attainment, for in 1800, with regard . Fue eroenigsberg, Dec. 1805; Werke: V. 323. ** To Ulrike; Koenigsberg, Oct. 24, 1806; Werke: v. 330. *** To Ulrike; Koenigsberg, Dec. 6, 1806; Werke: v. 331. 152 to the proposed residence in France, he wrote that: . . . doch von der Akademie und von allen franzoe Bischen Gelehrten unaufhoerlich die Erlernung der deutschen Sprache anempfohlen wird, weil man wohl einsieht, dass jetzt von keinem Volke der Erde mehr zu lernen ist, als von den Deutschen. * Even in the midst of the disintegration of the country after Tilsit, the purpose of the Phoebus was as Kleist himself said : º ... zur Festhaltung deutscher Kunst und Wis senschaft. * * with this firm faith in the importance of German culture the combat with France appeared to him to have a larger meaning for the future. The best expression of this conviction is to be found in an essay destined for the Germania. To it. Kleist gave the highly significant title, Was gilt es in diesem Kriege?" ** The work merits an extended analysis as it is Kleist's formulation of the mission of German culture and of the meaning of the German nationality. Kleist began by pointing out that this war was of a nature different from all preceding wars. It was not one of the "Kabinet t- kriege "to which Europe had been accustomed. It was not being waged for the glory of any monarch nor to win recognition for any favorite It was not being fought over any particular province, to make good any claims, nor to win any indemnity. What then was at stake? Kleist - To Mineinine; Berlin, Nov. 13, 1800; Werke : V. 156. ** To Johann Fr. Cotta; Dresden, Dec. 21, 1807; Werke : V. 363. *** Werke: IV. 115–117. 153. answered this query directly: Eine Gemeinschaft gilt es . . . * and this nationality of which he spoke was the German nationality. He then proceeded with an analysis of the spirit of that national- ity in Words of love and pride which admit of no paraphrase . Eine Gemeinschaft gilt es deren Wurzeln tausend- ae stig, einer Eiche gleich, in den Boden der Zeit eingrei- fen. . . . die ihren Ruhm nicht einmal denken kann, sie muesste denn den Ruhm zugleich und das Heil aller üebrigen denken, die den Erdkreis bewohnen. Eine Gemeinschaft . . . die an ihre eigene Herrlichkeit nicht geglaubt hat; die herumgeflattert ist, unermuedlich, einer Biene gleich, alles was sie Vortreffliches fand, in sich aufzunehmen, gleich als ob nichts von Ursprung herein Schoenes, in ihre elber Waere . ** How aptly this characterized the centuries in which Germany had see- ed to lag behind the other nations of Europe ! But Kleist went on and asserted boldly the present predominance of Germany in deren Schoss gleichwohl (wenn es zu sagen erlaubt ist) ae Goetter das Urbild der Menschheit reiner als in irgend einer andern aufbewahrt hatten. zk 3 : This nationality had gone on and repaid all that it had taken from its neighbors. - - - - - - - - - - - * Was gilt es in diesem Kriege ?Werke : TV. ll 5. ** Ibid. , Werke: IV. 115–116. *** Ibid., werke: Tv. 116. 154 Eine Gemeinschaft, die dem Menschengeschlecht nichts in dem Wechsel der Dienstleistungen, schuldig geblieben ist; die den Voelkern, ihren Bruedern und Nachbarn, fuer jede Kunst des Friedens, welche sie von ihnen erhielt, eine andere zurueckgab; eine Gemeinschaft, die, an dem Obelisken der Zeiten, stets unter den wackersten und rue stigsten taetig gewesen ist : ja, die den Grundstein desselben gelegt hat, und vielleicht den Schlussblock darauf zu setzen, bestimmt War . * The existence of this nationality was then at stake, and its preser- vation was a question of world interest, sie as Kleist said : Eine Gemeinschaft mithin gilt es die dem ganzen Menschengeschlecht angehoert . . . . deren Dasein keine deutsch Brust ueberleben, und die nur mit Blut, vor dem die Sonne verdunkelt, zu Grabe gebracht werden soll. ** It must not be considered for a moment that this lofty oon- ception was an isolated phenomenon existing in the mind of Kleist alone. Stein, Fichte, Schleiermacher, and in fact all the real leaders in the mighty movements of 1805 to 1815 were imbued to some degree by such patriotism. The minister Stein looked far be- yond the boundaries of Prussia. For him the civilization and culture of Germany were in separably bound up with the welfare of the Prus- sian monarchy *** and in his letters he too continually pointed to Fazi es assº- Kriege? Werke : IV. 116-117. * * Ibid. , Werke: TV. 117. *** Seeley, T. 141. 155. the relation in which this state stood to European civilization. * Fichte in his Reden looked upon the German people as chosen and said that humanity would fall with the annihilation of the Ger- manic races: * It is to the honor of Kleist that he was at one with these leaders in the broader conception of the meaning and mission º of the German nationality. No one gave a finer expression to that conviction, and no one felt more deeply that patriotism meant ser- vice in the fulfillment of that mission. No one in his life strove more sincerely to devote his energies to the performance of the duties of such patriotism. * -- ***--------- tº---- * Seeley, I. 266. ** Feden an die deutsche Nation, 36. --º---- 156 VII CONCLUSION. In the beginning of this discussion it was pointed out that it was Kleist the patriot who had cleared the way for Kleist the poet. It is fitting that this survey of one phase of his activity should close with an emphasis on the larger meaning of his patrio- tism. For no matter how much in his political life was in opposi- tion to movements and tendencies which afterward gained the stamp of approval – in all his career he was first and foremost a patriot. The primary significance of Kleist for the present age will be, to be sure, in his contributions as a poet. The literary historians have, however, always found him a man most difficult to classify in the general literary currents of his time. There was undoubtedly a Sturm und Drang in the labors of Kleist, and yet in the course of his brief existence he passed into a relation to the classicism of Goethe and Schiller. He had relations to the Otder Romantic movement and certainly stood close to the Younger Romanticists. It is this diversity in the literary affiliations of Kleist which accounts to a certain degree for the seeming aloof– ness of his whole activity. That there was in fact no such isolation recent investigation has conclusively proved and this view finds º added confirmation in a ## of his political activity. Whereas in the literary field his position is not to be determined by his in- 157 clusion in any literary group or coterie, in his politics he stood shoulder to shoulder with the men who labored for the rebirth of the Prussian state. A survey of his political activity is a neces- sary supplement to a discussion of his position as a poet if the present is to gain a well-rounded conception of the genius of Kleist. - | Such a survey has shown- +hat there is a consistency in his political thought and that the change in attitude of 1807–1809 is not one of principle as well; that this shift in the critical years was due largely to the influence of the Austrian group in - Dresden and Teplitz, centering about Friedrich Gentz; that the nature of Kleist's attitude after 1808 is to be explained by the tenden- º cies and currents in his earlier life up to that year. An inquiry into Kleist's position with regard to the political parties of his day has shown that he is not to be regarded as a member of the Junkertum or as the spokesman of that party, since in their strug- gle with the Hardenberg reform program, Kleist, although an aris- tocrat and a conservative, was not unutterably opposed to the Har- denberg policy. An analysis of his political thought has shown that he arrived, through his conception of persänal freedom at an idea of government in which the thought of the enlightened indi- vidual, through the exercise of his personal liberty, would be a * *--- ------ ---- constructive force in an efficient etate; that this state, Kleist together with Fichte, conceived as a progressive, developing or— ganism, approaching the ideal or Kulturstaat. A discussion of his 158 patriotism has shown that he believed in the larger meaning and the peculiar mission of the German nation in the culture and pro- gress of the human race. 59 ETBL.TOGRAPHY. A . Editions . Werke t Berlin, Hempel. herausgegeben von Heinrich Kurz, Leipzig und Wien, Bibliographisches Institut. mit Einleitung von F. Muncker, Stuttgart, Cotta. herausgegeben von Theophil Zolling, Deutsche National Literatur, Bd. 149–15O, Berlin und Stuttgart, W. Spemann. – auf Grund der Hempelschen Ausgabe neu herausgegeben mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen von Hermann Gilow, Willy Mauthey, und Wilhelm Waetzoldt. Mit biographischer Einleitung von Adolf Wilbrandt, Berlin, Deutsches Verlagshaus, Bong & Co. herausgegeben von Wilhelm Herzog, Leipzig, Insel Verlag, 1908. im Verein mit Georg Minde-Pouet und Reinhold Steig herausgegeben von Erich Schmidt, Leipzig und Wien, Bibliographisches Institut. 160 H. v. Kleists Erzaehlungen - Binleitung von Erich Schmidt, Leipzig, 1908. H. v. Kleists Leben und Briefe – von Eduard von Buelow, Berlin 1848. H. v. Kleists Briefe an seine Schwester Ulrike - herausgegeben von August Koberstein, Berlin, 1860. H. v. Kleists Briefe an seine Braut - von Karl Biedermann, Breslau, 1884. B. On Kleist. Berger, Arnold – Besprechung von Kayka "Kleist und die Romantik", Euphorion, 1907; XIV. , 811–821. Biedermann, K. - Heinrich von Kleists Gespraeche, Leipzig, 1912. Bobeth, J. - Zeitschriften der Romantik, Leipzig, 1911. Phoebus, 167–194. Kleists Politische Zeitschriften, 233-256. Bonafous, R. – H. de Kleist. Sa vie et ses oeuvres, Paris, 1894. -º 161 Brahm, Otto – Das Leben Heinrichs von Kleist, Neue Ausgabe, Berlin, 1911. British Quarterly Review - Review of Editions and Critical Works, 1860; XXXII. , 367–389. - Caro, H. C. — Heinrich von Kleist und das Recht, Zum 100 jaehrigen Tode stage Kleists, Berlin, 1911. Davidts, Hermann – Die novellistische Kunst Heinrich von Kleists: Bonner Forschungen, Berlin, 1913. Dombrowsky, Alex. — Miszellen zu Kleist V. 388, 358, und 340. Euphorion, 1907; XIV. , 791-793. fº t? – Weiteres zu Heinrich von Kleist, Euphorion, 1908; XV. , 172-174. 11 º - Miszellen zu Kleist und Adam Mueller, Euphorion, 1908; XV., 570-573. Ewald, O. — Die Probleme der Romantik als Grundfrage der Gegenwart, - 1905. Gaudig, H. - In Frick und Gavaig - Wegweiser durch die klassischen Schuldramen, W., vierte Abteilung, Gera, und Leipzig, 1899. t Gilow, Hermann, - S. H. Catel, ein Lehrer Heinrich von Kleists, Euphorion, 1907; XIV. , 287-308. Guenther, K. – Hellmann, Hanna – Heinrich von Kleist - das Problem seines Lebens Herzog, Wilhelm - Heinrich von Kleist, sein Leben und sein Werk, Hoffmann, Paul º t! t? º Isaac, Hermann Kayka, Ernst – Kuehn, Walter – Heinrich von Kleist und das Deutsche Theater, Lex, M. – Die Idee im Drama bei Goethe, Schiller, Grillparzer, Die Konzeption von Kleists Verlobung in Sankt Domingo, Euphorion, 1910; XVII.,68-95, 313-331. und seiner Dichtung, Heidelberg, 1908. - Heinrich von Kleist, Darstellung des Problems, Heidelberg, 1911. Muenchen, 1911. - Ulrike von Kleist ueber ihren Bruder Heinrich, Euphorion, 1903; X. , 105-152. — Zu den Briefen Heinrich von Kleists, Studien z. Vgl. Litgsch. , III., 332–366. — Heinrich von Kleists "Mutwille des Himmels", Euphorion, 1907; XIV., 565–577. - Schuld und Schicksal im Leben Heinrich von Kleists, - Preussische Jahrbuecher, 1885; LV. , 433–478. Kleist und die Romantik, Forschungen zur neuern - Literature-senſente, XXXI. , Berlin, 1906. Muenchen, 1912. Kleist, Muenchen, 1904. 1.63 Meyer-Benfey, H. - Die innere Geschichte des Michael Kohlhaas, Euphorion, 1908; XV., 99–144. º ºt " - Kleists Leben und Werke, Goettingen, 1911. º t? " – Das Drama Heinrich von Kleists, Goettingen, I. 1911, II. 1913. Minde-Pouet, G. - Heinrich von Kleist: Seine Sprache und sein Stil, Weimar, 1897. Rahmer, S. - Das Kleist Problem, Berlin, 1903. ſt " -Heinrich von Kleist als Mensch und Dichter, Berlin, 1909. Rang, Florenz – Der Wert Heinrich von Kleists, Preussische Jahrbuecher, 1906; CXXIV., 401–425. Schmidt, Erich – Charakteristiken, Erste Reihe, Berlin, 1886. Heinrich von Kleist, 350-381. Q , ºf " – Berliner Poesie vor Hundert Jahren, Rundschau, 1910; CXLIV., 321-330. Scholl, J. W. - Kleist at Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pub. of the M. L. A., 1914; XXIX. , 359-387. Schur, Ernst – Heinrich von Kleist in seinen Briefen, Charlottenburg, 1911. Servaes, Franz - Heinrich von Kleist, Leipzig, 1902. 164 Steig, Reinhold — Heinrich von Kleists Berliner Kaempfe, Berlin und Stuttgart, 1901. º º - Neue Kunde zu Heinrich von Kleist, Berlin, 1902. Schulze, Berthold – Neue Studien ueber Heinrich von Kleist, Heidelberg, 1904. Treitschke, H. v. - Heinrich von Kleist, Preussische Jahrbuecher, 1858; II. 599–624. Wagner, A. M. – Goethe, Kleist, Hebbel und das religioese Problem ihrer dramatischen Dichtung, Leipzig und Hamburg, 1911. Walzel, O. — Besprechung von Steigs "Berliner Kaempfe", Anz. f. a. Alt., 1904; xxix., 104-131. Weissenfels, R. - Vergleichende Studien zu Heinrich von Kleist, Kleist und Novalis, Zts. f. vgl. Litgsch. , 1888; Neue Folge , I. 301-323. Zolling, Th. – Heinrich von Kleist in der Schweiz, Stuttgart, 1882. C. General. Arndt, E. M. – Geist der Zeit in Sämmtliche Werke, VIII. IX. X., Leipzig 165 Ashley, W. J. - Select passages and Chapters from the Wealth of Nations of Adam Smith, London, less. Aus der Berliner Hofgesellschaft der Jahre 1805–1806. Tagebuch Auf- zeichenungen einer jungen Dame, Rundechau, 1899; CXIV., 273–294, 376-387. Die Schlacht von Auerstaedt. Eigenhalendige Relation Bailleu, Paul Koenig Friedrich Wilhelme des Dritten, Rundschau, 1899; CI., 382–399. º " – Die Verhandlung in Tilsit (1807). Briefwechsel Koenig F. W. III. und der Koenigin Luise, Rundschau, 1902; CX. , 29–45, ºf " – Die Preussische Politik im Winter 1812-1813, Rundschau, 1913; CL.IV . , 311-236. º ſº º Zur Geschichte des Jahres 1809, - Hist. Ztech., 1900; Neue FolgexLVIII., 451–45a. Berlin im Oktober und November l806. Tagebuch Aufzeichnungen eines Diplomaten, Rundschau, 1900; CV. , 40–67. Blunt schli, J. C. — Lehre vom Modernen Staat, Stuttgart, 1875. ºt t? - Article "Staat" in Blunt schli und Brater Staatswoerterbuch, IX. , 612-630. Stufügart und Leipzig, 1865. 166 Burgess, J. W. – Political Science and Comparative Constitutional Law Boston, 1891. Burke, Ed. - Reflections on the Revolution in France, edited by F. G. Selby, London, 1890. Dilthey, W. – Das Leben Schleiermachers, I. Berlin, 1870. Dombrowsky, Alex. - Adam Mueller, die historische Weltanechauung und die politische Romantik, Zts. f. d. g. Stw. , 1909; LXV., 377-403. Duncker, M. – Graf Haugwitz und Freiherr von Hardenberg, Pr. Jhb., 1879; XLII. , 571-625. ºf " - Friedrich Wilhelm der Dritte im Jahre 1809, Pr. Jhb., 1878; XLI. , 136–159. Eylert, R. F. Charakter zuege und. Historische Fragmente aus dem Leben des Koenigs von Preussen F. W. III., Magdeburg, 1846. Fichte, J. G. - Grundlage des Naturrecht's nach Prinzipien der Wissenschaftslehre. Jena und Leipzig, I. 1796, II. 1797. t º - Die Grundzuege des Gegenwaertigen Zeitalters, Berlin, 1806. ºt º – Reden an die Deutsche Nation, Berlin, 1808. l67 Fichte, J. G. - Saemmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von J. H. Fichte, Berlin 1845. Particularly — Der Geschlossene Handelsstaat, 1800. (VIII. 389-513) Zurueckforderung der Denkfreiheit von den Fuersten Europens die sie bigher unterdrueckten, , 1793. (VI. 3–35) Beitraege zur Berichtigung der Urteile des Publicums, ueber die Franzoesische Revolution, 1793. (VI. 39–388) Einige Vorlesungen ueber die Best immung des Gelehrten, 1794. (VI. 391-346) - Reden an die Deutschen Krieger zu Anfange des Feldzugs 1806. (VII. 509–512) Der Patriotismus und sein Gegenteil. (Nachg. Werke, III. 230-74 Bruchstuecke aus einem Unvollendeten Politischen Weeke (VII. 519-545) System der Sittenlehre. (IV. 1-365) Die Staatslehre oder ueber das Verhaeltniss des Urstaats zum Vernunftreiche. (IV. 370-600) Fisher H. A. L. - Napoleonic Statemanship Germany, Oxford, 1903. Fischer, Kuno - Geschichte der Neueren Philosophie. Band VI. Fichte's Leben, Werke und Lehre, Dritte Auflage, Heidelberg, 1900. Fournier, Aug. - stein und Gruner in Oesterreich, Rundschau, LIII. , 120–142, 314-247, 348-363. º t - Friederich von Gentz und der Friede von Schoenbrunn. Rundschau, 1886; XLIX. , 102–115 - 1910; CXLIV., 223-251. 168 Geiger, Lud. – Berlin 1688–1840. Geschichte des Geistigen Lebens der Preuse ischen Hauptstadt, Berlin, 1895. Gentz, Fr. – L'Etat de l'Europe. Review in Edinburgh Review. 1803; II. , 1-30. Goldschmidt, Paul - Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth, - A. D. B. , XVII. , 391-394. Gumplovitz, Lud. - Allgemeines Staatsrecht, Dritte Auflage, Innsbruck, 1907. Haeus ser, Lud. - Deutsche Geschichte vom Tode Friedrichs des Gros- sen bis zur Gruendung des Deutschen Bundes, Wierte Auflage, III., Berlin, 1869. Hardenberg, Fr. v. (Novalis) - Schriften her ag. von J. Minor, Jena, 1907. Hirschfeld, L. v. - Ein Throner be als. Diplomat. Historische Studie aus der Rheinbundzeit, Rundschau, 1892; LXX., 203-233, 356-388; 1893; LXXI., 50-69. Kaufmann, Georg - Politische Geschichte Deutschlands im 19ten, Jht., Berlin, 1900. Koser, R. – Die Preussische Reformgesetzgebung in ihrem Verhaeltnis zur Franzoesischen Revolution, Hist. 7ts. , 1894; Neue Folge, XXXVII. 193-210. Lamprecht, K. - Deutsche Geschichte, IX., Berlin, 1907. 169 Levy-Bruhl, L. - L'Aliemagne depuis Leibniz. Essai sur la develop- pement de la conscience nationale en Alle- magne 1740–1848. Paris, 1890. Loening, Edgar - Article "Staat" in Handwoerterbuch der Staats- wissenschaften. Zweite Auflage VI. 907–940. Jena, 1901. Louise de Prusse, Princesse Antoine Rédziwill, - Quarante Cinq Annees de ma, vie. Publies par la Princesse Radziwill. Paris, 1912. - Merriam, C. E. – History of the Theory of Sovereignity since Rousseau. New York, 1900. Mitschler, A. - Adam Heinrich Mueller, A. D. B., XXII. , 501-511. Mueller, Adam - Gesammelte Schriften, I., Muenchen, 1839. Muesebeck, E. – Ernst Moritz Arndt, ein Lebensbild. Erstes Buch. 1769–1815. Gotha, 1914. Nasse, E. – Die Preussische Finanz- und Ministerkriseim Jahre 1810 und Hardenbergs Finanzplan, - Hist. Zts. , 1871; XXVI., 382–342. Oncken, W. – Das Zeitalter der Revolution, des Kaiserreiche und der Befreiungskriege. Allg, Gesch. IV. l. Berlin, 1886. 17O Perthes, C. T. - Politische Zustaende und Personen in Deutschland zur Zeit der Franzo e si schen Herrschaft. Gotha, 1869. Pertz, G. H. - Das Leben des Ministers Freiherrn von Stein, Berlin, 1849. Petersen, W. — Magister F. C.H. Laukhards Leben und Schicksale. Von ihm selbst geschrieben. Deutsche und fran- zoesische Kultur-und Sittenbilder aus dem 18ten Jahrhundert .. Vierte Auflage, Stuttgart, 1908. Rambaud, A. - L'Allemagne sous Napoleon I., Paris, 1897. Ranke, L. v. - Denkwuerdigkeiten des Staatskanzlers Fuersten von Hardenberg, Leipzig, 1877. Reiff, P. F. - Friedrich Gentz, an opponent of the French Revolu- tion and Napoleon, Univ. of Ill. Diss., 1912. Salzer, Ernst - Ungedrucktes aus den Briefwechsel zwischen Gentz - und Metternich in den Jahren 1803-1813. Rundschau, 1912; CL.II. , 361-375, 439–463. Schleiermacher, Fr. - Saemmtliche Werke, Berlin, 1845. Particularly Aphorismen ueber den Staat, 1808-1814. (III. 8, 218-237) Predigten, 1801–1814. (II.1) Ueber die Religion. Reden an die gebildeten unter in ren Veraechtern. (I.1, 133-461) 171 Seeley, J. R. - The life and Times of Stein, Boston, 1879. Smith, Adam – Works, The wealth of Nations, II., III., & IV. , London, 1813. Stephenson, E., and A. - Sixty-nine years at the Court of Prussia from the recollections of the Mistress of the Household Sophie Marie Countess von Voss, London, 1876. Stern, Alfred - Briefe Bluechere aus dem Jahre 1809 nebst ergaen- zenden Aktenstuecken. Rundschau, 1900; orv., 26-38. Thimme F. - Zu den Erhebungsplaenen der Preussischen Patrioten im Sommer 1808, Hist. Zst. , 1901; Neue Folge, L. 78-110. Treitschke, H. v. - Deutsche Geschichte im 19ten Jahrhundert, Zweite Auflage, Leipzig, 1879. Vehse, Ed. - Geschichte der Deutschen Hoere seit aer Reformation : Preussen W., Wi. , Hamburg, 1851. - Wagner, Adolph – Article "Staat (in nationaloekonomischer Hinsicht)" in Handwoerterbuch der Staatswissenschaftem, WI. 940–951. - Zweite Auflage, Jena, 1901. Weber, Albr. — Briefe der Familie Koerner (1804–1815), Rundschau, XV. 461–479; XVI. , 115–136. | 72 Wenck, W. – Deutschland vor Hundert Jahren, Leipzig, 1887. Werthheimer, E. – Geschichte Oesterreichs und Ungarns im Ersten Jahrzehnt des 19ten Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, 1890. Wittichen, F. C. – Briefe von und an Friedrich von Gentz, Muenchen und Berlin, 1909–1910. Ziegler, Theobald – Die Geistigen und Socialen Stroemungen des 19ten Jahrhundert, Berlin, 19Ol. RULES COVERING USE OF MANUSCRIPT THESES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARY AND THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OFFICE Unpublished theses submitted for the doctor's degrees and deposited in the University of Michigan Library and in the Office of the Graduate School are open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. For this reason it is necessary to require that a manuscript thesis be read within the Library or the Office of the Graduate School. If the thesis is borrowed by another Library, the same rules should be obseryed by it. Bibliographical refer- ences may be noted, but passages may be copied only with the permission of the authors, and proper credit must be given in subsequent written or published work. Extensive copying or publication of the thesis in whole or in part must have the consent of the author as well as of the Dean of the Graduate School. This thesis by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . has been used by the following persons, whose signatures attest their acceptance of the above restrictions. A Library which borrows this thesis for use by its readers is expected to secure the signature of each user. NAME AND ADDRESS DATE /9*… 4… C PTFEDTTS RING BINDER PATENTED { : ; !: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN