BOOKS.

JOSEPH VON GORRES.•

[FIRST NOTICE.]

ON January 27, 1848, on the eve of the great political changes against which he had so often warned his contemporaries, there died at Munich, Joseph von Crones, known throughout Germany first as the celebrated author of the Rheinische Merkur, and in later years as the champion, at once praised and abused, of the Catholic cause.

For some time after his death, reviews and newspapers were busy in recording his life and in printing extracts from his writings. Then followed a nearly unbroken silence of twenty years, during which his only surviving daughter, Marie Gorres, edited her father's collected works. She had not completed her task when she died, and it is due to the devotion of friends that since then the correspondence of GOrres, at least, has been published in its integrity. Together with the letters to his family, it comprises in three volumes letters to and from Arnim, Brentano, Stein, Gneisenau, Gentz, Boisseree, Creuzer, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Perthes, Windischmann, Cornelius, Mohler, Diepenbrock, Monta- lembert, and is of the highest importance, not only for the appreciation of Giirres himself, but also for the knowledge of in- tellectual and political life during the first part of the century, and remains the most precious of the memorials collected in honour of the centenary of his birth, which was celebrated in his native country on January 25, 1876.

The circumstances under which that commemoration took place gave it a peculiar signification. On the one hand, the political ideal of Gorres had been realised ; what he had claimed for his country at the time of the first and second peace of Paris and since then in all his political writings, the restoration of the Empire, the security of the western frontier by the reunion of Alsace, the grant of constitu- tional government for the protection of political liberty, had been won by the nation. On the other hand, advantages as precious as this had been lost ; the State was at war with the Church, and an antagonism such as had been unknown in his days was dividing the people of Germany into two hostile camps.

Still the name of Gorres is of such weight in the scale of par-

• Brieffeecluel, lkinde VII., VIII., IL, der Gerantmelten Schriften von J. von Giirres. Munchen Literarisch-Artistische Anstalt. Herausgegeben von Marie von Giirres end F. Binder.

Sepp.—Giirres and seine Zeitgenossen. Beck: Nordlingen. 1877.

Galland.—Leben von Gorres. Herder : Freiburg im Breisgau. 1876.

A. Denk.—GUrres send seine Bedeutung fdr den Altkatholkismus. Kanze's .Nacnrotpr, Mainz. 1876.

ties, that each of them, under pretext of doing homage to his memory, has stretched him on the Procrustean bed of its passions, and has tried to shape his utterances in accordance with its wants or wishes. This proved the less difficult, as there were only a few, not only of his contemporaries, but even of his disciples still surviving. Amongst these latter it was Professor Sepp who under- took the task of writing his biography, and speaking of his great master as an eye-witness.

In the literary world, Sepp is best known for having brought to an end Count Stolberg's Life of Christ, and if faithful admira- tion and a variety of knowledge had been sufficient to ensure suc- cess, he would have deserved to write the life of Giirres. But un- fortunately for him, style, tact, fairness, and impartiality are no less important qualities for a good biographer, and in these Sepp is so utterly deficient, that his book, Gorres end seine Zeitge- nossen, ranks amongst the worst writings of its kind. To a careful' distribution of his materials, the author preferred chaotic disorder his narrative is perpetually diverted from its course by incidents extraneous to the subject ; not only recent events, but his own personal affairs thrust themselves between his reader and his subject, and to understand all the allusions and recriminations of Sepp, acquaintance with him and the changing fortunes of his public career would be required. After having said so much, it is hardly necessary to add that such a book can have no claim to a wider publicity. It is, however, only fair to add that it has not been surpassed by other writings on the same subject. A smaller biography of Giirres, by Galland, which gives a sketch of him from an exclusively Ultramontane. point of view, adds nothing to what was already known, and by insulting the living, acts in direct contradiction with the spirit oft the dead. Another shorter memorial, by Dr. A. Denk, at Mayence, bearing the title, Gorres and seine Bedeutung fur den Altkailmlicismus, tries to make use of his name for his own special point of view. Other more or less valuable- contributions for the knowledge of this remarkable man have been given by independent critics, like Professor Arnold Schaefer, at Bonn, who spoke of his influence as a poli- tician ; and Julian Schmidt, who gave a series of articles on the literary career of Gorres in the Allgemeine Zeitung of February, 18Th Before letting the grand figure of old Gorres retreat again into the past, we have thought it worth while to compare once more- the results of the above-named studies, with the contents of his- correspondence, the judgment passed upon him by the most re- markable of his contemporaries, and above all, with the personal reminiscences of the last surviving and the greatest of that group of men, which for a time at least, conquered for Catholic Germany the right of intellectual equality.

Joseph .von Gorres was born on January 24, 1776, of Catholic parents, at Coblenz, on the Rhine, where his father had made a small fortune in trade. It is worth noticing that on his mother's, side he was of Italian descent, an origin which made itself felt in his whole tone of mind, particularly in the natural eloquence and indomitable energy which made even the utterances of the old man glow with a youthful fire, very unlike the more measured and collected warmth of German writers. In youth, that spirit broke forth in boyish tricks and extravagances, which frightened his parents and neighbours, and well-nigh brought him, even then, into collision with the police, because, one of his favourite experi- ments being to attract the lightning with a little conductor, he- nearly set the town on fire. In his school-days, he studied physi- cal science, philosophy, and history, together with his Latin and Greek, and delighted in convincing his masters that their moderate means of information were no longer sufficient to solve the pro- blems which were pressing themselves on his restless mind. He left school with the intention of studying medicine, but this re- solve was destined never to be carried out. The revolution which raged over France found the soil nowhere better prepared for its reception than in the sunny land on the banks of the Rhine. The ecclesiastical princes of Treves, Cologne, and Mayence used to pay their costly households with French subsidies, and gratified their degenerate tastes with an imitation of the errors, if not of the splendours of Versailles. The evil had gone so far, that the conquest of Mayence by a French Republican army was saluted as a victory by the surrounding German populations, and Gorres, then an enthusiastic youth of eighteen, exchanged the study

of medical science for the prouder purpose of curing mankind from the plague of despotism. Das Rothe Blatt, afterwards called Rubezahl, which he edited in those days, and his first pamphlet, Der Allgemeine Friede, ein ideal (1798), were neither better nor worse than the usual schemes of those days, when philosophers dreamed of banishing all evil from the earth, and human blood flowed

freely to secure their philanthropic plans. The only exception to be made in favour of Gorres is this,—that he abstained from violence, and contented himself with pursuing the enemy by relentless sarcasm. There is a well-known passage in a speech of his, where he gravely informs his audience that the Holy Roman Empire of heavy memory died of atrophy, and having made its will, it had left the Rhine provinces to the Republic, the empty treasury of the Empire, together with the golden bull, to his Holiness at Rome, and the Emperor's income of nearly a 11,000 to the poor of Ratisbonne. His Excellency, General Bonaparte, was named executor.

This tone of buoyant exultation was, however, soon super- seded by one of resolute opposition, when it became evident that the French treated the Rhenish provinces like a con- quered land ; and Gorres was soon obliged to give up his newspaper, which had fought too hard against the abuses and extortions of French officials and military com- manders. Soon after, the confidence with which he inspired his countrymen induced them to entrust him, together with a -few other delegates, with a mission to Paris, the object of which was to secure for them an independent government, or if this could not be obtained, their reunion with the Republic. The envoys were already on their way when they heard of the 18th Brumaire, and when they reached the capital, Gorres soon con- vinced himself that his dream of liberty was over, and that be had no right to confide the future destinies of his country to the military despotism which was going to rule over France. "Take up Suetonins, the new Caesar is ready," was his laconic message to his friends. On his return home, he summed up the results of Ids mission in a special document, and then retired from political life, with the proud conviction that he had never abused power to inflict injustice upon others, or to attack what really deserved respect. "I have called others to influential posts," he said, speaking in after years of that time, " but for myself I took nothing, and debts were all I gained during my public career."

Soon after, he married, became professor at the Lyceum of Coblenz, and returned to the study of natural science. Like all striving young men of that generation, he was strongly influenced by Schelling's system of natural philosophy, and he published in 1805 an Exposition of Physiology, which created a great sensation at the time, but has since then become antiquated, like the system itself, based on a priori notions, which Schelling himself exchanged in after years for the historical method. Still the book of Gorres 'must be recorded as an effort of genius, and it remains unex- plained why he did not persevere in these studies.

In 1806, the pressure of French rule became so intolerable to 'him, that he preferred going to Heidelberg, where he met the most distinguished representatives of the romantic school, who, like Arnim, Brentano, and Creuzer, soon became his friends. A still greater attraction to him in Heidelberg was that it had become the centre of a new school of learning, which, inspired by Herder's ideas on the philosophy of history, created compara- tive philology and the science of religion, which, since then, have played so important a part in the development of human knowledge. The immediate practical result of these new currents of thought was the endeavour to become acquainted with the still hidden treasures of Northern and Oriental traditions and poetry ; and through them the roads of science led back to the old past of the Germans, which the first Romantic school had only explored for its poetical purposes. Creuzer's Studien, then the chief literary organ of Heidelberg, created in those days a profound sensation in the scientific world ; and soon after, while Creuzer was preparing the -Symbol& and Mythologie der Alten Volker, Gorres gave his first and best contribution to these investigations, Die Deutschen Volksbiicher, published in 1807, in which he traced the origin of German legends and poems. He also was the first who edited Lohen- srin. Another work of his, Die Mythengeschichte der Asiatischen Welt, which appeared in 1810, was premature ; it is only in our .days that the sources of information indispensable for such an undertaking have been made accessible. At the same time, while F. Schlegel studied Sanskrit, Gorres chose the Persian language, and wrote in June, 1812, that he bad redeemed the pledge he had given to himself, to master it in the course of two years. (Gesammelte Briefe II., 320.) In 1820 he published his German version, in prose, of Firdusi's great epic, Des Heldenbuch von „Iran. For a time it has been the fashion in Germany to make light of these efforts, because, since then, they have been super- seded by works more exact and complete, whereas it was not in the nature of Gorres to act as a mere translator, and without penetrating these subjects with something of his own. But if he cannot compete with unrivalled merits such as those of

Jacob Grimm, it is only fair to remember that both the latter and his brother Wilhelm Grimm thought very highly of what Gorres had done, that they asked his advice, and during eighteen years (1810-1828) kept up with him a scientific correspondence of the highest interest.

His stay at Heidelberg came to an end in 1808, after only two years' residence, because he could not obtain a professorship at the University, and found himself but little fitted for such an employment. (Ges. Briefe, II., 18.) He, who was so powerfully eloquent with his pen, never really succeeded in the professorial chair ; not only was his delivery monotonous, but he used to lose himself in details, which made his lectures difficult to follow for young men who had more practical purposes than the mere pleasure of listening to the meditations of a superior mind.

Gaffes had come back to Coblenz with the resolve of devoting his life and energies to his studies, when, after a few years, he was again called to play an active part in the political world. His scientific pursuits had not diminished the painful interest with which he followed the course of events, and his correspond- ence bears witness to the growing resistance of his manly spirit against the tyranny of foreign rule. " The old French style of gardening," he wrote to his friend Perthes, the printer and book- seller, " which in former days used to cut human forms out of trees, is now endeavouring to reduce all men to the same level. Napoleon took the smallest measure of humanity, and has resolved to strike off whatever is of a larger size." (Ges. Briefe, II., 179.) At the same time, he felt that in Germany many alterations were necessary before the past could be redeemed. "Without capacity for hatred and for love," he wrote, "there is no possible historical greatness for nations, as for individuals. Salvation must come from the rise of public opinion. If it breaks silence and asserts itself,—even the shame and misery of the past will have helped to prepare the coming renovation." (Ueber den Fall Deutschlands, u. die Bedingungen seiner Wiedergeburt.) It was Gorres himself who was destined to fulfil these wishes. The days of Bonaparte's power were numbered, and during the first night of the new year, 1814, Blucher's army crossed the Rhine. A few days later ap- peared the first number of the Rheinische Merkur which has remained an event in the history of the Press, and revealed to Germany the irresistible power of an eloquence which influenced its statesmen, inspired its soldiers, carried the nation with it, and forced from Napoleon himself the avowal that it had been the fifth great Power arrayed against him in the final struggle. The sharp and worldly Gentz himself, so little susceptible of enthusiasm, wrote in those days to Rebel Levin,—" There is hardly anybody who knows how to write more magnificently, terribly, and demoniacally than Gorres ;" and he goes on comparing him to Isaiah, Dante, and Shake- speare. Since the French Revolution and down to our days, pamphlets have played an important part in politics, and Church and State, parties and governments have alike availed themselves of their influence for attack or for defence. But still the "Pro- clamation of Napoleon to the Nations of Europe, on the Eve of his Departure for Elba," composed by Gorres, and inserted in one of the first numbers of the Merkur, with the famous passage in which the defeated Emperor hurls the curse of everlasting revo- lution as his supreme legacy to France, has remained unrivalled, and deserved the unparalleled honour to be compared with the Letters on a Regicide Peace, with which it offers remarkable affinities.

Wolfgang Menzel, in his history of German poetry, does not hesitate to place its author amongst the very first of the political poets of Germany, not only because of his eloquence, but still more because of his steadfast adherence to the ideal of a German Empire. Practically, this was the real object which Gorres had in view, and as neither the first nor the second peace of Paris fulfilled his expectations in that respect, he formulated a programme of his own, asking the Emperor of Austria to place himself once more at the head of Germany, and in close alliance with Prussia. He further claimed the integrity of the German soil, representative government, unity in the administration of justice and finance, and a free and enlightened commercial policy. " The time for mere words is past," the Merkur wrote ; " the nations have paid their debt of duty in bloody deeds, and deeds also must be their re- ward. There is nobody so blind as to try and shake the founda- tions of the State ; all are united in the desire to see the thrones secure and strong, and to place under their safeguard the destinies of the future." In 1814, Gorres, then the most popular name in the Rhenish provinces, was placed at the head of their educational system ; but a year after there came a change over the dispositions of the leading men at Berlin, and it soon

became evident that harmony was henceforth impossible between the reactionary policy adopted by the King and the ideas sup- ported by the Liberal patriot. After having refused to come to terms with Hardenberg, who had proposed that the re-establish- ment of the imperial dignity in the House of Habsbourg should no more be mentioned, the Merkur ceased to appear in 1816. As if in confirmation of the fears, it had so often expressed, that Germany, instead of earning liberty as the reward of her long struggle, would find in the end that she had only exchanged one tyrant for another, it was at the special wish of the Emperor Alexander, expressed to the Prussian Government, that it came to an end. (Ges. Briefe, IL, 489.) Achim von Arnim, who knew by experience what a hopeless thing it was to fight against the narrow views of Prussian officials, had, as early as 1814, given fair warning to his ardent friend. " Leave it alone," he wrote ; " they will make use of you as long as they want you, and as it is convenient to them, after which you will get neither position, nor money, nor influence for your pains. For my own part, I am sorry that you have turned from books to men, and I think you may call yourielf lucky if, by doing so, you lose nothing but time." (Ges. Briefe, IL, 414.) The truth of these words Gorres was soon destined to experience. The longer the new dominion lasted, the more people on the Rhine learnt to dislike it. They, who were so proud of the past, and who had a glorious history of their own before the name even of Prussia existed, would not submit now to be treated like a conquered province, and resistance to the Government became stronger every day. It was felt at last that something must be done, and in January, 1818, the King sent Hardenberg to Coblenz, for the purpose of examining the state of affairs and receiving the expression of the wishes of the people. An address, claiming the convocation of the States and the extension of political liberties, particularly freedom of the Press and free-trade, was resolved upon, and Correa placed at the head of the deputation which presented it to the Chancellor. During the hard winter of 1817, when the destitute people were threatened with famine, his energetic self-devotion had provided bread for them, and his popularity proved so inconvenient to the Government that tempting offers were made to attract him to Berlin. As on similar occasions before, however, he refused, and during the excitement produced by the murder of Kotzebue, he published the pamphlet Germany and the Revolution, in which he warned once more the German sovereigns against an interpre- tation of the Federal Constitution in the sense of despotism, and for the first time he pointed out the political necessity of an alliance between Church and State. " But in those days," says Gorres, "a spirit prevailed which looked at every sign of strength as a disharmony, at every talent as a danger, at every idea as an evil, at every feeling of enthusiasm as a folly," and for the mere fact of having broken a silence which had become nearly universal, an order was issued to arrest him. The timely warning of his friends made it possible for him to escape to Strasbourg before the police could lay hold of him. This exile, which he spent partly in Alsace, partly in Switzerland, lasted eight years ; it deprived him of his position, his income, his home, and the society of his friends, and even separated him during the first year from his wife and three children, whom he tenderly loved. His native town he never saw again, with the exception of twenty-four hours spent there in secret many years after, and, to the very last, his country refused him the favour of a fair trial before his lawful Judges. For the sake of finding a refuge, "he was driven, as he expresses it, to place his writing- table behind the high altar of French honour." It was at Strasbourg that, partly in self-defence and partly to explain his political views, he wrote the two pamphlets, Europe and the Revolution and The Holy Alliance and the Nations at the Con- gress of Verona. His sojourn in France confirmed his con- viction that the old European society was rotten to its very core, and nearly in the same words which La Mennais made use of a few years later, he wrote, in a private letter to a friend, " Our young generation is brought up in feelings of hatred against the ancient regime, carefully fostered by the rascals or the fools who undertook its defence, and so it will come to pass that, at the expiration of the century, not one stone of the old building will remain on the other." (Ges. Briefs, IL, 602.) In the last of the above-named pamphlets Gorres wrote that the holy alliance between the representatives of the three mightiest Churches in Christendom ought in truth to have been a religious alliance, established on the principles of Christian justice, and ought therefore to have begun with the restoration of Poland, and the federation of Italy under the honorary presi- dency of the Pope. In Germany an Imperial power would•prove

the best security against the evils of partition and the dangers of disunion. In regard to the religious interests, he urged the necessity of mutual toleration. " The, bloody war," he says, which during a century and a half raged between contending opinions in consequence of the Reformation, secured the North well-nigh entirely to liberty of thought ; while in the South, authority prevailed,—in both.cases, a wise dispensation of l'rovid- ence. The undisputed victory of Catholicism would undoubt- edly have led to petrifying Brahminism ; the triumph of Protest- antism would have made use of the powers of innovation for the destruction of positive belief. The two results, equally hateful to God and damaging to the interests of religion, were averted by that issue." (Die Heilige Allianz, ic., as. 24-25.) This was written in 1822,—from that time a change is noticeable in Gorres.