1 JULY 1854, Page 26

MRS. AUSTIN'S GERMANY FROM 1760 TO 1 8 1 4.*

This picture of social manners and public feeling or opinion in Germany, from about the termination of the Seven-Years War to the expulsion of the French in 1814, is a very pleasant and in- forming book. Some readers may be already familiar with por- tions of the matter, for the work is to some extent founded on papers in the Edinburgh and the British and Foreign .Review. The form or manner may partake too much of the "article," and there is a greater quantity of direct extract than is customary. These, however, touch the absolute originality rather than the attraction of the writing. In Germany from 1760 to 1814 will be found a series of lifelike pictures of oldfashioned manners in the early part of the period ;- an account of the corrupt state of the German courts, aristocracies, and armies and of the feelings with which the French Revolution was regarded by the middle classes ; indications of the oppression which the French occupation brought upon the country ; and the manner in which the national character of Germany was finally: purified and roused by that oppression to join almost as one man in the war of Liberation.

Mrs. Austin's facts are in a great measure derived from the numerous memoirs, letters, and autobiographies, that have of late years been published in Germany. These works abound in quaint and curious matter of oldfashioned times, and not unfrequently exhibit scenes of bustle, anxiety, and suffering, in relation to war. They are all, however, so minute in facts, and verbose in sentiment, that few if any are fit for English trans- lation: one of the best, the memoirs of Steffens has been of ne- cessity reduced to adapt it to the British public. The extraction of the more striking parts from such a mass of very often tedious verbiage is a useful labour; but Mrs. Austin brings to her task much more than a careful and extensive readine. of German books and the power of characteristic selection. In addition to a wide knowledge of German literature, she exhibits a familiar acquaint- ance with German manners, mingled with illustrative reminis- cences of " auld lang sync" at home. Even where this actual knowledge is not visible it is felt, pervading the whole book with a vital spirit. Pictures of primitive modes of life, of ridiculous formalities, absurd pomp, and actual corruption in petty princes, or for that matter in great, of arrogance and self-sufficiency in soldiers before trial and faintheartedness when trial came, and of the terrors, dis- orders, and humiliations of invasion, are not the only features of the book. Mrs. Austin frequently points the moral of her tale on the transition state in which we live—where the sense of duty as mere duty, apart from the idea of interest or liking, has almost vanished ; on the necessity of drawing more closely together the different classes of society, in a country that Wishes to preserve its nationality and freedom; on the hatred which the insolence of foreign domination creates in the governed, rather than the domi- nation itself; and on the effects of war upon a country which is the seat of war. Perhaps the one of these evils which seems the least is in reality the greatest. Foreign conquest, or the warlike occupation of a country, only occurs occasionally. Individuals cannot do much in bringing classes together ; but every one is

----"-niore or less influenced by social and family relationships, and feels or exhibits that sense of entire independence of authority in oppo- sition to self-will, whether justified or not, which is certainly a characteristic of the day. The following, a foot-note to a passage on servants and domestic habits in the olden time, contains a pro-

found remark as well as a singular trait.

"Mademoiselle Schopenhauer told me that she paid a visit to Danzig long after her mother had quitted it, and was attended while there by a Polish wo- man who had formerly been in the service of her family. On her return from

balls parties, she invariably found this woman, at whatever hour, stand- ing in the open entrance to the house, with a lantern in her hand, ready to i light her mistress up-stairs. It was n the depth of a most severe winter, and the cold in that Northern latitude was hardly endurable. Mademoiselle Schopenhauer expostulated with her, and desired that she would not persist in giving her such painful proofs of devotion. So far from being grateful for the consideration which prompted this command, she looked hurt, and said, 'I hope I don't now want to be taught my duty. I might have fallen asleep up-stairs: at any rate, you would have had to wait while I came down.' Mademoiselle Schopenhauer said she was persuaded the devoted creature would have died there without the smallest idea of being hardly treated. I shall scarcely be suspected of regarding this as a desirable or a tolerable state of things; but, human infirmity being what it is, it is quite certain that a connexion of any kind which is to last only until one of the parties has cause to be displeased with the other, will not last long. In the case of children, nature has generally provided in the parental relation a store of love which is proof against defects and disgusts ; and where this is wanting, law and public opinion afford security against caprice. In the conjugal re- lation, human institution and Divine command come in aid of our impatience, our restless hopes, and exaggerated expectations, and relieve us from the burden of a liberty too heavy for man to hear. But as matters now stand, what is the bond between master and servant, a relation so obnoxious to all the chances of passing disgusts? Here, as in so many of the relations of human society, we are in a state of transition. The acquiescence in a certain

• Germany from 1760 to 1814; or Sketches of German Life, from the Decay of the Empire to the Expulsion of the French. By Mrs. Austin. Published by Longman and Co.

amount of evil, which was produced by authority and tradition, no longer exists ; and, as yet, the acquiescence which must in time result from reason, and from an accurate estimate of the evils attendant on every condition of human existence, is not attained."

The general sentiment of the 'Germans. towards the Russians has an interest just now, when there is a- possibility of war be-. tween them arising.

"Whatever unfavourable impressions I may have of the higher classes in Russia, I owe entirely to the reports of Austrians and Prussians—men of high station, unquestioned honour and veracity. They had an exhaustless fund of anecdotes of Russian mendacity, cheating, venality—pilfering, even ; in short, evtry form and kind of improbity, which nothing but absolute faith in the narrator, and the concurring testimony of various witnesses, could have rendered it possible for me to believe. On the other hand, the few young Russians who have come in my way impressed me very favour- ably : they were well-bred, well-informed, enlightened, and apparently eager to be more so. Perhaps they were exceptions; and if so, the more to be admired—and pitied. I particularly remember two—each sprung from one of the most conspicuous families of the empire, the one a representa five of the Slavonic, the other of the Teutonic element of the population— who were quite on a level with the most instructed and accomplished young Englishmen or Frenchmen. But it is certain that in Vienna and Berlin the reputation of Russians generally stood at a very low point. The Prussian officers, especially, who had lately returned from the camp of Kalisch, spoke with disgust and contempt of what they had witnessed."

The following, from the days of Sena and the other battles that destroyed Prussia, beats the story of the gentleman usher on Ro- land's shoe-ties; for the substitution of strings for buckles did in- dicate a vast change of manners, as well as an ominous disregard of etiquette.

"And now came the spectacle of the shameful and disorderly retreat of these very soldiers.

"As the confused rout came in by the same gate through which they had i marched forth, the people gathered n knots, looking on with alarmed and still incredulous wonder. 'These are the first fugitives,' I heard people say : they are never in order ; have patience, the regular regiments will soon come.' But noon came—afternoon came—evening drew on, and the pell-mell had not ceased; the disorderly mob which had been an army still filled the streets. At length came some troops in marching order, as excep- tions to the miserable rule : covered were now the banners which had floated so proudly in the breeze. Most of them marched in hi silence,--once only the music sounded, loud and clear, like the laughter of despair. It was the trumpeters of a cuirassier regiment : their regiment was not behind them,—they were quite alone, and blew the Dessauer march, just tie if all were in the best possible order. They looked well too, and were mounted on high-fed horses. Indeed, generally speaking, the men did not look jaded, nor hungry, nor worn ; and the contrast between their personal good condi- tion with the general destruction, exhibited in the strongest light the depth of the calamity. In the evening everybody knew that a Prussian army no longer existed. A helpless grief sat on men's faces. But even then, the indescribable spirit which characterized that, period was not extinguished. I heard a man say to his neighbour, That may be as it will: things have gone badly, no doubt : but we have lost with honour ; for I heard just now that the Prussians did not once lose the step through the whole battle.' "

But for the obvious good faith of the narrative this would read like satire ; and there are undoubtedly men in all countries, espe- cially when they have grown old in bureaucratic forms, who lose sight of the end in looking at the means, and would rather lose a battle than "lose the step.' At the same time, means are very ne- cessary; and in certain quarters just now there is exhibited some- thing like an "ignorant impatience" of forms and methods which is more mischievous in its way than formalism itself. An army is not to be sacrificed to keeping step, but unless soldiers learn to keep step there can be no army.