Romannticism and The Rise of German

Romanticism and the Rise of German Nationalism Author(s): Hans Kohn Reviewed work(s): Source: The Review of Politics,
Vol. 12, No. 4 (Oct., 1950), pp. 443-472 Published by: Cambridge University Press for the University of Notre Dame du lac on behalf of Review of Politics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1404884 . Accessed: 03/02/2013 23:40
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Romanticism and the Rise of German Nationalism

By Hans Kohn
I ROMANTICISM, though in its beginninglittle concernedwith politics or the state, preparedthe rise of Germannationalism after 1800. It was an aestheticrevolution,a resort to imagination, almost femininein its sensibility;it was poetrymore deeply indebted to the spirit of music than the poetryof the eighteenthcenturyhad been, rich in emotionaldepth, more potent in magic evocation. But Germanromanticism and wishedto be more than poetry. It was was an interpretation life, nature and history and this philosophic of characterdistinguished from romanticism other lands. It was it in to the rationalism the eighteenth of sharplyopposed century;it mobilized the fascination the past to fight againstthe principles 1789. of of In that indirectway romanticism cameto concernitself with political and social life and with the state. It neverdevelopeda program a for modernGermannation-state, with its emphasison the peculiarity but of the Germanmind it helpedthe growthof a consciousness Gerof man uniqueness. It started as a movementof intellectuals, many of them of the of unsettledbohemians who are often found in the vanguardof type movementsof culturalrenovationwhich coincidewith the beginning of social change. They were the spiritualchildrenof the Storm and Stresswhichhad preceded themby thirtyyears,and theywerein ardent to the mature Goethe who had long outgrownhis brief opposition Storm and Stress period. They admiredhim as a creativeman of of letters,as the embodiment the princelyartist,but his conceptof the individualthey rejected. Goethe's goal of educationwas the wellroundedharmonious the individual,the "Persinlichkeit," personality whichwillinglysubordinated itself to bindingformsand to the obligation of universallaw, which rejoicesin measure,symmetry and prothe portion,whichacknowledges limits of the humanand the humane. The romanticindividual, the other hand, regarded on himselfnot as
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limits a representative the universal of but order, as unique, rejecting measure societyand demanding freedom his or full for imposed by creative in hemmed by genius.1 But the romanticist, feelinghimself the society whichhe foundaround rather beneath or did not himself, of acceptthe titanicloneliness the Stormand Stress.He wasdrawn a of who towards community like-minded individuals would longingly live a full life according theirinnermost to emotions. The complexity of for were and anguish this search a community heightened the by the underlying subjectivism; uniqueindividual longed all-demanding for a total self-assertion all his conflicting of and desires yet felt the of in union tragicneedfor fulfillment the miracle a trueharmonious in which the conflicting all of life wouldbe reconciled, a of opposites new goldenage whichseemed to accessible the magicpowerof the artist. Art became the romanticists newreligion. to the In theirquestfor the miraculous romanticists the foundthe rationof theeighteenth sense alismand common shallow superand century forceof the individual, ficial. The decisive to according the romanhim in whichdistinguished fromothers ticists,resided his sentiments men. The strength theindividual's him of andrendered unique among itself in desires whichhis trueego expressed validated them;the pasthe established rightto its object.The more sionof longing passionate was of manwas,the morefullyhe lived. Passion the prerogative the in seer who obeyeddeep impulses his innermost self. artist,poet, of Whilethis discovery the irrational enriched poetryand the underas of a standing man, it carried, Goetherecognized, threatto the
1 See on "personality"and "individuality"Fritz Strich, Dichtung und Zivilisation (Munich, 1928), p. 35, and his Deutsche Klassik und Romantik (Munich, 1922). See on romanticismin general the articlesby Arthur O. Lovejoy, Goetz A. Briefs and Eugene N. Anderson in Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. II, No. 3 (June, 1941). On the political implications see Paul Kluckhohn, Persinlichkeit und Gemeinschaft,Studien Zur Staatsauffasungder deutschen Romantik, (Halle, 1925); Carl Schmitt, Politische Romantik, 2nd ed. (Munich, 1925); Jakob Baxa, Einfihrung in die romantischeStaatswissenschaft (Jena, 1923); Gesellschaftund Staat im Spiegel deutscherRomantik,ed. by Jacob Baxa (Jena, 1924); Kurt Borries, Die Romantik und die Geschichte (Berlin, 1925); Andries David Verschoor, Die iltere deutsche Romantik und die Nationalidee, (Amsterdam, 1928); Gottfried Salomon, Das Mittelalter als Ideal in der Romantik (Munich, 1922); Reinhold Aris, History of Political Thought in Germany from 1789 to 1815 (London, 1936), pp. 205-341; Josef Kmrner,Die Botschaft der deutschen Romantik an Europa (Augsburg, 1933). Two more general works are Julius Petersen, Wesenbestimmung der deutschen Romantik (Leipzig, 1926), and Henri Brunschwig, La Crise de l'Etat Prussien a la fin du XVIIIe siecle et la genese de la mentalite romantique (Paris, 1947). On the differencebetween English and German romanticismsee Hoxie N. Fairchild, "The Romantic movement in England," part of a symposium on romanticismin PMLA, vol. 55 (March, 1940), pp. 1-60.
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rational orderof law and society it luredmanto lose oneselfin it if of instead challenging to control The desired him it. easilyappeared to poeticimagination the indispensable be achieved any cost; at as to couldbe turned of into an instrument full self-realization everything or self-enjoyment. idealcommunity theutopian The of dream refused of to acceptthe hard limitations realityimposed the interests in of it to equalfellow-men; promised uniteall in an organic in which way and wouldbe fully himself without limitations yet at everybody any the sametime fully part of the wholein a lovingembrace without conflictor friction. In such a perfectcommunity and individual wereno longerin needof legaland constitutional society guarantees in theirrelationship; two became sidesof individual community and the one perfect whichwouldbe all in all, far beyond above life and all legaldistinctions theneedforthem. The anarchic individualism and in found its complement the total community. Both theseextremes existedoutsidethe real societywith its necessary and adjustments of life" led a "pure in the imagination theromantic compromises; they artists.To mistake for realitywas boundto imagination desirable to the freeindividual to a society on and based law. spelldanger The romanticmovement began as an artisticrevolt against whichseemed to satisfythe soul and culture not eighteenth century not to warmthe heart. This apparently and uninspired uninspiring civilization seemed with in the recent inflated philistine pride progress of men. The romanticists nor found thereneitherchivalry poetry, neither nor miracle mystery. French rationalism contemptuously. had lookeddownupon the past and especially upon the MiddleAges. The romanticists in theseveryperiods wondrous the found fairyland whichthey missedin the present.Repelled theircontemporary by in and world,theydiscovered inspiration beauty history. On thisroadto the pasttheyfollowed M6serandHerder, Justus and of statesman, his love of the ruralfreeholders the MiddleAges wasrooted his native and in his personal in soil Herder's experience. like the romanticists saw creative visionwas infinitely he broader; of forcesat workin every a and phenomenon nature history, dynamic of organic all theseforceswereheld withina pantheism growth, yet
2 Hans Kohn, The Idea of Nationalism, pp. 413ff,
the forerunners Germannationalism.2 But Moser was a practical of
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of humanitarianism rational context enlightened and rejected morality, MoserandHerdervaluedthe past, the romanticists. though But by the to and theylivedin the present wished go forward; romanticists to the to and succumbed the lureof history wished enrich present by with so thepast. Theyfeltit so overflowing poetry, venerable reviving that withlegendandprophecy, theycouldnot studyit withrational it to to detachment;seemed themimpenetrabletheanalytical approach it of scholarly reason; couldbe embraced as a wholeby the inonly in the tuitionof greatlove whichimmersed longingindividual the and on in the present flow of the pastwhichwas organically living wascarrying into forward thefuture. Thus the individual foundhimself rootedin the past and deterof traditions minedby it. He appeared conditioned the peculiar by for the national foundation had no factual community. Thoughthey characteristics that were it, the romanticists convinced thesenational The artof knights werenever pronounced in theMiddle as as Ages. to seemed themto express truenational its creative the andguilds soul, alike forcenot yet corrupted a rationalism which makes everything by it andwhichdeprives of life. The national set the model,valid past it only for the one national community; gaineda new centralimfor all cultural of life. The concept individuality, portance unique to was from andall-containing, transferred the individual the national of The nationwasno longera legalsociety individuals community. into unionaccording generalprinciples for mutual to and entering it of and history, benefits; was now an original phenomenon nature its to leading own life according the lawsof its growth. Civilization of forces the people. This andlawweredeemed to the immanent due nationalindividuality often stirredby alive, growingand striving, for desires powerand expansion, of as a manifestation the appeared the divinewith a special mission fulfill;it overcame quietstatic to character stillness and the listeningwithin characteristic of of instead voicescallingit to and eighteenth century Germany followed unfoldits dynamic forcesandto liveand explore its potentialities. all The national or did community the state the romanticists not establish distinctions-became source all aesthetic soon clear of the and also of political ethicalcreativeness. was a personality It overand withlife andpulsating movement, a mechanical not with and flowing to the "dead" as the state of the Enlightenment concept appeared
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intimate of The relationship man to the statebecame romanticists. the and highlypersonal; state,an objectof deeplove and admiring the devotion. Such a stateeasilyresembled feudalpatriarchal state, a great heldtogether tiesof loveandmutual estate, responsifamily by and capitalism to the bility,deeplyhostileto the spiritof rational of of measures controland to mobility trade,but agreeable socialist Thisidealwasnot of within community. the protection theindividual to a return thepast,for thepastof which talked hardly it had anything in common withthe past reality; was a poeticdream whichtransit German the romanticist, figured pastintoa golden great age. The first von Freiherr Hardenberg or Novalis,livedin Friedrich (1772-1801), a strange border and landof poeticgenius, thought consuming mystic he of the malady; hatedthe Prussia Frederick Greatas a soulless II machine glorified mediocre Wilhelm and rational the and Frederick his touchingly of beautiful Louise as the fulfillment true Queen monarchy.
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Novalis'close friendand contemporary Friedrich Karl Schlegel (1772-1829)definedin 1798 theirpoetic ideal. Poetry "can be fathomed no theory, only divinatory and criticism couldpresume by to characterize ideal. It aloneis infinite, it its because aloneis free, as of and recognizes its firstlaw that the arbitrary caprice the poet 3 no tolerates law." Schlegel's brother Wilhelm(1767-1845) August in aboutthe unpoetic had already 1789bitterly character complained of the age. "Thetimes whena poetby thepresentation great of events of antiquity could become preserver folk sagas,the beloved the of of teacher his nation,are perhaps gone forever.It seemsalmostimto has heroicpoem. The wordFatherland possible writea national lost its magicpower; placeof patriotism beentaken a more the has by but also for With the degeneral therefore colderinterest mankind. of struction the folk religions old sagaperished the too. We have fromourancestors, beenalienated whilethe laterGreeks encountered of of the memory theirHomericheroesin thousands objects.But our peacefuleducation, whichis entirely directed towarddomestic
3 In an essay in the periodicalAthenaum (Berlin, 1798-1800), vol. 1, part 2, pp. 28f, quoted by John C. Blankenagel,PMLA, vol. 55, p. 3.
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to activities,seemsto have made us generallyless susceptible the im4 courageprevails." pressionof great deeds in whichwarrior the In spite of this lamentover the loss of heroicpatriotism, early romanticists national feeling. Though Novalis hardly betrayedany he endowedthe state with an unprecedented importance, did not see it as a German nationalstate. His famous"fragments" someof which were publishedin Athenium and many more only after his death were sometimescontradictory often non-consequential, ratherthe and resultof a deep intuitionthan part of a politico-philosophical system; their main tendencywas unmistakable. nevertheless, They all wished to make the state more of an intimaterealityin man's life. "It is a great mistake of our states, that one sees the state too little. The state should be visible everywhere and every man should be characterized as a citizen. Could one not introduceeverywhere marksof distinctionand uniforms? Whoever regardsthis as insignificant disan essentialpart of our nation." "The state is known too regards little to us. There should be heraldsof the state, preachers paof almost triotism. At presentmost citizensare on a ratherindifferent hostile footing with the state." "The state is a person like the individual. What man is to himself, the state is to men. The states will remaindifferent,as long as men are different. Essentiallythe state like man remainsalwaysthe same." "The perfect citizen lives entirelyin the state; he has no propertyoutsidethe state." This allembracingstate was howevernot a political concept,it was a poetic to of creation,the embodiment that perfection whichman aspires. "A life intensespiritual intellectual will by itself be political. state with and the the The morespiritual state is, the moreit approaches poetical,the more joyfully will every citizen out of love for the beautiful great sacriindividuallimit his demandand be readyto makethe necessary fices, the less will the state need it, the moresimilarwill the spiritof man who has exthe state becometo the spirit of a single exemplary 5 foreverone law only: be as good and as poeticalas possible." pressed
4 Review of "The Athenaid," an epic in thirty books published in 1787, two years after the death of its author, Richard Grover (1712-1785), in the GottingischeAnzeigen von gelehrtenSachen, 1789, p. 1988. 5 Novalis' Werke, ed. by Hermann Friedemann(Berlin: Deutsches Verlagshaus Bong & Co., n.d.), vol. 3, pp. 168, 159, 163 (Fragments 947, 884, 885, 887, 919). See also Friedrich von HardenRichard Samuels, Die poetische Staats- und Geschichtsauffassung bergs (Novalis), Frankfurta.M.: Diesterweg, 1925.
AND GERMAN NATIONALISM ROMANTICISM
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Novalis'emphasis the statewas a manifestation the same on of love whichhe foundin idealmarriage in religious a and mysticism, unionand interpenetration. ideal state was for him a The perfect divineworkof art. "A trueprince the artist artists. Every is of man shouldbecomean artist. Everything becomebeautiful can art."6 As every manshould become artistanda king,this truemonarchy an was compatible a truerepublic, fact theywerecomplimentary with in for the republic the of withthe demanded identification everycitizen state. Novaliscomplained in the German that citiesonlysmalllocal eventswerediscussed, whilegreatand general no aroused questions interest. "Thisis better republics in where stateis themainconcern the of every and feels tied person everybody hisexistence up in an immense his and livingwhole,andthusbroadens imagination hisunderstanding withgreatcausesand almostinvoluntarily self forgetshis narrow in the greattotality."True republicanism general was in participation the wholestate,intimate contact harmony all members the of of and state. Novaliswas convinced a king without republic a that a and without kingwerenothing emptywords.7 Neitherof a but republic themexistedfor the utilitarian of menhappier; the purpose making truestatemademenbetter stronger.It increased burdens and the imwithout their "The poseduponthem,not however increasing strength. bestamongthe former French to monarchs wished makehis subjects so richthateverypeasant wouldhaveevery and Sundaychicken rice on the table. But wouldnot a government preferable be which under a peasant havea sliceof moldybreadthana roastin wouldrather another and Godfor the goodluckof having been country, yet thank 8 bornin thisland?" Novalisnowhere a stressed German as a desirable state goal. "The standsas high overthe German the German as does over European the Saxon,the Saxonoverthe resident Leipzig.Abovethe Euroof "Ourold nationality trulyRoman. was peanis the cosmopolitan." The instinctive universal andtendency the Romans shared of is policy
6 Novalis Werke, p. 175 (Fragment 967). See also Fragment 946, "Alle Menschen sollen thronfiihigwerden," and Fragment980 which explains that there is only one king by reason of economy. "If we were not obliged to proceed economically, we would all be kings." 7 Ibid., pp. 155, 174, 169 (Fragments863, 965, 950). 8 Ibid., p. 165 (Fragment 936).
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by the German people. The best thing the Frenchgainedin the Revolution a shareof Germanity." is "Thereare Germans everyis where. As littleas Romanity, or Hellenicity Britannity, Germanity to characteristics human confined a peculiar state;theyall aregeneral whichonly havebecome is hereand theremoregeneral.Germanity 9 much truepopularity, therefore idea." Thoughhe expected an and fromthe true state,and sometimes hintedin his mysterious at way somefuturecultural of his greatness the Germans, visiondid not enit to the compass age of nationalism; lookedbackward an idealized whichhad brought to mediaeval Christianity spiritual unity Europe; of it lookedforward a newJerusalem the capital the earth to as where its dominion."Blood will wouldagainestablish spiritual Christianity not ceaseto flowoverEurope of untilthenations become aware their whichdrivesthem aroundin a circle,until the frightfulmadness nations,struckand soothedby divinemusic,stop beforethe altar to wordsof peace,until a loving feast of intermingling undertake with tearson smoking battlefields. peaceis celebrated burning Only can revive canmakethe nations can secure, reinstall religion Europe, in Christianity a newand visiblegloryon earthin its old peacemak10 office." ing This was the message Novalis'strangeand significant of essay "Die Christenheit Europa" oder to (1799) whichhe submitted the Athenaum.Its editors, Schlegels Tieck,rejected because the it and too theyfoundits historical ThoughNovalis,a conception arbitrary. of his descendant Protestant Pietists,neverembraced Catholicism, for the mediaeval Christian was too strongfor his praise hierarchy laterjoined Catholic Church.Butin spite the friends, manyof whom of the fact that the essaymingled withreligious poetry outpourings, it introducednewinterpretation history a of which counter that ran to of the eighteenth Likede Bonaldand de Maistre, Novalis century. the and rationalReformation, rejected claimsof reason progress.11 to fromthe truepathof ismand revolution seemed him a deviation universal of Europe,a rapiddescentfrom the spiritual monarchy
9 Ibid., pp. 137, 176 (Fragments 756, 972, 973). 10 Ibid., vol. 4, p. 145. 11 Though Novalis himself warned wisely: "It is strong proof how far we have really progressed,that we think so contemptuouslyof our progress, of the stage we have reached." Ibid., vol. 3, p. 139 (Fragment 768).
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brilChristendom the thirteenth in century. "Thesewerebeautiful liant times,"the essaybegan,"whenEuropewas a Christian land one interest unitedthe inhabited one Christianity; greatcommon by most distantprovinces this vast spiritual of realm. Withoutgreat one head directed unitedthe great and earthly possessions supreme forces. A numerous casteto whicheverybody access had political was immediately to his orders, to execute hints his submissive ready to andto try zealously strengthen benefits power." his Herewas and a newpicture theMiddle of the Ages,no longer DarkAge of savagery andsuperstition a haven peace spirituality. romanticists but of The and the rediscovered MiddleAges and presented themin the transfigured gloryof magic poetry.
III
For Novalisthe MiddleAges wasstill a universal period. Soon were it the however, romanticists to reinterpret as the fountainhead of national cultures.Through romanticism established imits history to overnationalism. EvenNovaliscontributed this historicism. pact the of evenas we havereceived their "We carry burdens ourfathers live and thusmenactually in the wholepastandin the future good, less mustoften and nowhere than in the present.""Thehistorian becomean orator. For he recitesgospels -the wholehistoryis a 12 gospel." Fromthis view,it was only one stepto a visionof the the were nation's as a gospelto which livinggenerations beholden past the to and to whichthey wouldhave to betakethemselves discover treasures whichweretheir own. Within one artisticand spiritual the decadea pioneerwork was accomplished the romanticists; by of literature the MiddleAges wascollected edited, poetry the and of The as courtsand knights well as the talesof the common people. romanticists found a modelin Johannes MullerwhoseGeschichten love schweizerischer (1786) combined for mediaeval Eidgenossenshaft to with and history skillin writing ability evokelocalcolor. His rhebut secured toricalbrilliancy, slightlysupported exactknowledge, by the under spellof Rousthe to hima vastaudience among generation whichhe put on old chronicles The seau'ssentimentalism. emphasis
12 Ibid., pp. 191, 192 (Fragments 1064, 1072).
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men of the Middle Ages and confirmed romantic the convictionthat the Middle Ages was a period of true patriotismand heroic manhood.13 Muller also drew attentionto the importance the Nibeof whichwas published 1782, after having been practically in lungenlied for unknown threecenturies. A few yearslater,Miillerdeclared his in Histories of the Swiss Confederation that the Nibelungenliedcould becomethe GermanIliad, an opinion in which August Wilhelm In Schlegellaterconcurred. an articlein Friedrich Schlegel'sDeutsches Museumin 1812, August Wilhelmdemanded that the Nibelungenlied be used as the chief classicin German education,so as to endowGerman history with a great poetic background.14His wish was soon Heinrichvon der Hagen (1780-1856), one of the fulfilled. Friedrich Germanistic scholarswho popularizedmediaevalpoetry, transearly lated the Nibelungenlied. So did August Zeume (1778-1853), the founderin 1814 of the Gesellschaftfur deutscheSprache,who gave Germanyouth on their way to war in 1815 a special edition of his translation,a Feld- und Zeltausgabe,to carry with them as an inonto the battlefield into theirtents. and spiration The firstdecadeof the new centurybroughta richcropof editions of mediaevalliterature.This quest for nationalculturalroots in the soil of the past, offeredan example the nationalawakening other to of central and eastern Europeanpeoples. Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853) who with the Schlegelsand Novalis belongedto the older generation
13 Later the romanticistsaccused JohannesMiller of a lack of patriotism. In reality, Miiller was fundamentallyan eighteenth century rationalist and cosmopolitan,an enthusiast for human rights and liberty. Adam Miiller in an article in Phoebus, a periodical which he published together with Heinrich von Kleist in Dresden in 1808, blamed the historian for being too impartial. Such an attitude, Adam Miiller conceded, could be admitted while discussing the domestic affairs of the fatherland but it was inadmissible regardingan external enemy. The heart of the historian must include hatred besides love which can be easily corrupted. "Every hero, therefore also the scholarly hero, needs a fatherland, a firm foundation, on which he could build his army camp, his place d'armes." An historian must take a stand; a cosmopolitanmentality was contraryto true humanity, Adam Muller maintained. 14 Josef Krnmer, in Nibelungenforschungen der deutschen Romantik, Untersuchungen ed. zur neuern Sprach- und Literaturgeschichte, by O. Walzel, N.F., no. 9 (Leipzig, 1911). Zeume was also the author of "Der Rheinstrom,Deutschlands Weinstrom, nicht Deutschlands Rainstrom"("printed on the Rhine in the second year of German liberty") which never achievedthe fame of Amdt's similar book.
endeared him as much to the romanticistsas his theory that a historian needs a soul. He wrote with patriotic fervor about the strong Swiss
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schwibischen Zeitalter (1803). "If we look back,"he wrote in the introduction, by "upon a period hardlypast which was characterized to of indifference and disregard the lettersand arts, then we shall be about the quickchangewhich in so short a time has come astonished of in about,so that one is not only interested the monuments the past but appreciates them." At a time when Germanpolitical fortunes seemedat so low an ebb as in the ThirtyYears War, when therewas called hardlyanywherean active national sentiment,the romanticists which the past to kindle spirits;they went back to the treasures up they believedburiedand yet alive in the minds of the people, in the Volksgemit which had not yet been influencedby the universalrational civilizationof the eighteenthcentury. Two years after Tieck's minnesongs,there appeareda collection of folk songs, Des Knaben of edited by two representatives the youngerromantic Wunderhorn, the generation, PrussianJunker,LudwigJoachim(called Achim) von ClemensBrentano (1778Amim (1781-1831), and the Rhinelander, In 1807 their friend Joseph G6rres (1776-1848) investi1842).15 gated popularalmanacsand other old story books;16 and the next decade brought the famous editions by the brothersGrimm,Jacob Ludwig(1785-1863) and Wilhelm Karl (1786-1859) the Kinder-und Hausmirchen(1812-1815) and the DeutscheSagen (1816-1818), an of analysisof the oldest epic traditions the Germans. In 1808 Amim edited the Zeitung fur Einsiedler("Joural for the themHermits"). In his introduction changedthemesannounced selves-the birth of a new patriotism: "Germany, poor, poor my he fatherland," wrote, "and tears began to flow out of our eyes, my
15 Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Alte deutsche Lieder appeared in Heidelberg in the fall of 1805 with the date of 1806. Two further volumes followed in 1808. The first volume contained an importantintroductionby Tieck. Arnim's letter "An Herrn Kapellmeister Reichardt" which appeared first in Reichardt's Berlinische Musikalische Zeitung was printed as a postscript to the "Wunderhorn." Both texts are reprinted and easily accessible in Deutsche Vergangenheit und Deutscher Staat, ed. by Paul Kluckhohn, Deutsche Literaturin Entwicklungsreihen, Reihe Romantik, vol. 10 (Leipzig, 1935), pp. 83-126. Under the impression of romanticism Stendhal wrote in 1807 to his sister Pauline: "Je ne sais pourquoi le moyen age est lie dans mon coeur avec l'idee de l'Allemagne." 16..Die Deutschen Volksbucher. Nahere Wiirdigung der schonen Historien-, Wetter-, und Arzneibuchlein,welche teils innerer Wert, teils Zufall Jahnhundertehindurch bis auf unsere Zeit erhalten hat. Von J. Gorres, Professor der Physik an der Sekondarschulezu Coblenz (Heidelberg, 1807).
of the romanticists, opened the cycle with his Minnelieder aus dem
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17 Jacob Grimm wrote: "In our eyes and the eyes of the readers." time a great love of folk songs has developed and will also draw attention to the sagas and folk tales which still circulate among the same people and are preservedin some forgotten places. The ever growing realization of the true nature of history and poetry has aroused the wish to save from oblivion what previously appeared contemptible, at the very last moment when it still could be collected." This literature of the common people seemed to the romantic enthusiasts of great value: truly national and superior to modern art-literature. "Only folk poetry is perfect," Wilhelm Grimm wrote, "because God himself wrote it like the laws of Sinai, it is not put together from pieces like human work is." Romantic nationality was based not upon a modem constitution but upon traditional customs which grow organically and which should not be interfered with from without. They represented the true folkspirit, the Volksgeist; there seemed in them much greater wisdom than in all the lofty constructions of rational principles. The folk traditions were securely founded in history and had stood the test of the time whereas, as the romanticists believed, the principles of 1789 had failed because they were conceived without regard for history and had claimed universal validity. Had the edifice so proudly built on these abstract foundations survived a few days of enthusiasm? Had it not crumbled in chaos and disorder, in terror and war? Surely, the romanticists argued, men could not find their salvation in rational generalizations but only in the concrete historical tradition. Even should the French Revolution establish a regime fitting for France, it could not be imitated in other countries where it must fail because it was alien to the national character. History alone was a safeguard for national destiny; and romanticism made the study of national history and the exploration of the national past important to statesmen who found therein an arsenal for fighting the spread of revolution and for establishing or maintaining national independence. The historical Volksgeist had to determine, according to the romanticists, not only the constitution but also the laws of a nation. In 1794 Prussia had introduced a new code of legislation, the Allgemeine
17 The full title of the journal read: "Zeitung Einsiedler. fir Alte und neueSagen undWahrsagungen, und Geschichten Gedichte." appeared onlyhalf a yearandwas It for then publishedin book form "Trist-Einsamkeit." was publishedas no. 3 of the It romantischer Seltenheiten Neudrucke (Munich,1924).
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Preussische in of conceived thespiritof the rationalism the Landrecht, all to enlightenment thoughmaking due concessions the aristocratic and militaristic structure Frederick's of kingdom.The romanticists it as a violation the Volksgeist of the lawsof history. of and regarded to In May, 1805Jacob Grimm Wilhelm: received "I wrote hisbrother in bad news,that a codeof lawsshallbe introduced yesterday very Hesse. Musteverything imitated sprouts of the flatPrusbe out that siansand? The newshas affected grievously." another me In letter of thattimehe expressed conviction the newcodewoulddehis that For stroyall truejudicalscholarship.18 truelawcouldbe only cuslaw, rootedin the remotepast and an almostunconscious tomary the Law to growth throughout generations. codified modern principles wasrejected the "historical schoolof law"as much wasthe conas by law on of ceptof natural founded reason. Boththeseconcepts law seemed universal therefore too and unhistorical unscholarly. and When AntonFriedrich Thibaut(1772-1840), of the leading one GerJustus manjurists that period, of afterthe defeatof Napoleonin pleaded his (Jberdie Nolwendigkeit einesallgemeinen Rechtes biirgerlichen for the unification Germany Deutschland of the fur (1814) through of introduction a civil law code common all German to thus lands, and of endingthe confusion diversity the manyantiquated laws,he was sharply answered Friedrich Karlvon Savigny(1779-1861), by thenprofessor law at the newlyfounded of of university Berlin.In his VomBerufunserer fur Gesetzgebung Rechtswissenschaft, Zeit und of new Savignydeniedthe vocation the age to introduce legislation andjurisprudence.19 "True" wasan emanation the Volksgeist, law of of andcourts lawacted its representatives, as theexponents a as not of commonreason.Karl Friedrich Eichhorn (1781-1854)inaugurated withhis Deutsche StaataundRechtsgeschichte, of which firstvolthe ume appeared 1808,research the history German for in into of law the promotion the continuity legal development accord of of in with the nationalcharacter the folk traditions.Romantic and historic had and scholarship its greatday;it couldexplain, if needbe excuse,
18 Hermann U. Kantorowicz,"Volksgeist und Historische Rechtsschule,"Historische Zeitschrift, vol. 108 (1912), p. 211. Not only law but also religion was a product of the Volksgeist. 19 A translationof Savigny's pamphlet by Abraham Hayward, Of the Vocation of Our Age for Legislation and Jurisprudence, was printed by Littlewood & Co., London, 1831 (?), "Not for Sale."
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everythingby appealingto the newly discoveredmysticallycreative forces of the folk, of the various Volksgeisterwhich formed and character events,art and religion,constitutions law. and determined and
IV
Earlierthan other Germanwriters,FriedrichSchlegel found the to way from rationaluniversalism a mysticnationalism.20Under the influence of Kant's essay on perpetualpeace he wrote in 1796 an in "Essayon the Concept of Republicanism" which he regardedpolitical liberty and equality as indispensable conditionsof the good on state. In the enthusiasm youthhe wroteto his brother May 27, of 1796: "I can not deny it beforeyou that divinerepublicanism still is a little nearerto my heart than divine criticismand the most divine of poetry." Like many Frenchmen that period,he looked to classical antiquityas the model for the ideal political form which could be nothing other than republican.21But he had alreadydiscoveredthe promiseof greatnessof the Germannationalcharacter. "One does not pay much attentionyet to the Germancharacter," wroteto his he brotheron November8, 1791. "RecentlyI think I have discovered that our peoplehas a very great character."He saw it accomplished so far only in a few greatmen,Frederick, WinckelGoethe,Klopstock, mann and Kant. "Thereis not much found anywhereto equal this race of men, and they have severalqualitiesof which we can find no tracein any knownpeople. I see in all the achievements the Gerof mans, especiallyin the field of scholarship, only the germ of an approachinggreat time, and I believe that things will happen among our people as never before among men. Ceaselessactivity,profound into the interiorof things, very great fitness for morality penetration I and liberty,these I find in our people. Everywhere see traces of and growth." becoming
20 Ernst Wieneke, Patriotismusund Religion in Friedrich Schlegels Gedichten (Munich, 1913); Richard Volpers, Friedrich Schlegel als politischer Denker und deutscher Patriot (Berlin-Steglitz, 1916). Similar was the developmentof his brother August Wilhelm who first welcomed the Revolution and the consulate and later changed under the influence of Madame de Stael. Otto Brandt, August Wilhelm Schlegel, der Romantiker und die Politik (Stuttgart, 1919). 21 The "Versuchiiber den Begriff des Republikanismus veranlasstdurch die Kantische Schrift zum ewigen Frieden"was printed in FriedrichSchlegel, ProsaischeJugendschriften 1794-1802, ed. J. Minor (Vienna, 1882), vol. II, pp. 57-71. There on page 68 Schlegel wrote in the Kantian way: "Nur universellerund vollkommenerRepublikanismuswiirde ein giltiger . . . Definitivartikelzum ewigen Frieden sein."
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in This newtunewasresumed a poem"Andie Deutschen" the in to their of beginning 1800. He calleduponthe Germans remember andpoetry anewin religion, mission to create and spiritual philosophy civilizations HellasandIndia. WhileEurope of theformer flowering the he decayed, foundin Germany sourceof new life whichwould awaken other the peoples.22
fliesst Geisterlosch:In Deutschland Europas Der Quell der neuenZeit: Die aus ihm tranken Sind wahrhaft deutsch:Die Heldenschar ergiesst Sich iiberall:Erhebtden raschen Franken, Den Italiener Natur und Rom zur Wird wach.
cultural to but had Schlegel beenconverted nationalism it wasa purely naor without nationalism. Had not the Greeks, desiring achieving of tionalstatehood, the and assured leadership mankind, had their character? Could not greatworks bornethe stampof theirnational of the the Germans followtheirexample become Greeks the not and similar new age? At aboutthe sametimeSchiller hopes expressed 23 in his fragmentary poem "DeutscheGrosse." The Germanswere unithe universal mission was"tofulfilin themselves it whose people, versalmankind to unitein a wreath mostbeautiful flowers and the of all peoples." The changecamewith Schlegel's to journey Parisin 1802. In the mountains the Rhineriverhe discovered and crossing Thuringian His in madehim conscious the alien of Germany. presence France of character the newenvironment. was deeplyimpressed the He by ruinsof the castleWartburg Eisenach near where famous contest the of the Minnesingers beenheld and whereLuther had and struggled "If worked. one seesobjects these,onecannot helpremembering like whatthe Germans formerly whenthemanstillhada fatherhad been, at like land. Looking suchhighcastles theWartburg, trulyfeels, one andwouldunderstand, ourancestors livedin theircastles always why on the top of mountains whatjoy of life wasconnected the and with in Sincemenhavegathered thevalleys around great the and heights. the for and roads, greedy alienwaysandalienmoney, heights castles Thus the MiddleAges and theirruinsbeganto standdeserted."
22 FriedrichSchlegel, Sammtliche Werke, 2. Originalausgabe,15 vols., ed. by E. von Feuchtersleben(Wien, 1846), vol. X, p. 14. 23 See The Idea of Nationalism, p. 413.
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recalla timeof joyouslivingand highmorality, whilein themodem to in assembled the cities,succumbed the lureof foreign age people, has times disappeared "Butthepoetry former of goldandimmorality. whichhad of andwithit virtue,its sister. Instead the furortedesco beenmentioned frequently the Italianpoets,patience now has so by to in become firstnational our virtueandbesideit humility, contrast who of the formerly a on account which Spaniard reigning mentality, with Emperor calledthe Gertraveled Charles through V Germany Alemanos. as faras we areconcerned, wishto we manslos fieros But of the image rather truth thesegreattimesandnot or the retain firmly lion the become confused the present by misery. Perhaps slumbering not will wakeup oncemoreandperhaps if we should live to see even will world it, future history be full of the deedsof theGermans." fromtheGreek of to turned Schlegel republic antiquity theGerman of Novalis,but with a new monarchy the Middle Ages, following no on but and emphasis, longer Christian spirituality unity, on German the of virtue. "Among worldconquering nations the past,the Gera them mansoccupy placeof the firstrank, whether compare and we or will withthe Romans the Arabsthe comparison be in theirfavor. them What distinguishes aboveall fromthe Romans theirgreater is it love of liberty; was withthemnot a merewordand rulebut an to innatesentiment.Thoughtheyweremuchtoo high-minded wish to imposetheircharacter struck upon othernations,it nevertheless rootwhere soil wasnot too unfavorable, thenhonor love, the and and and of courage loyaltygrewtheremightily.On account thisoriginal of of the German whichis an everlasting character the life, liberty it appears in its goodtimemoreoriginally enduringly also and nation, was romantic eventheoriental world. Its enthusiasm fullof than fairy without not and coveting, as one-sided destrucsimplicity, joy,childlike of who fanatics settheglobeon tiveas theenthusiasm thoseadmirable Rechtlichfirefasterand widerthaneventhe Romans.Einegefiihlte des und der Ehre, keit, die mehrist als die Gerechtigkeit Gesetzes eine kindlich Treue und aufrichtige unerschiitterliche und Herzlichist keit der Gesinnung der tiefsteund hoffentlich ganz zu vertilnie 24 Charakters." desdeutschen gende Zug
24 Schlegel's "Reise nach Frankreich"appeared in Europa, a periodical which he in edited in Frankfurt-am-Main 1803. There he wrote also: "How immensely farther would Europe be on the road to true liberty and culture,if the center of the Church in past times had not been in Italy but, as it ought to be, in Germany, where the natural greatness of the spirit and the freer heart had better fitted the great aim." In Paris Schlegel
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The Rhine impressedSchlegel as much as the Wartburg,as a natureand history.His poem"AmRheine"(1802) symbolof German markedthe beginningof the glorification the riverwhichhe called of "the all too faithfulimageof our fatherland, historyand our charour acter." "Der alte vaterlandische Stromerscheint wie ein machtiger uns Strom naturverkiindeter 25 Dichtkunst." These sentiments found their theoreticalexpressionin his Philosophische Vorlesungen aus den his Jahren1804 bis 1806, in whichhe for the firsttime expressed political philosophy.26 Eight years before, the republichad appearedto him the most perfectform of government the only safe guarantee and of peace. Now, however,republicanism become "a transient has meteorwhichshinesa few momentsin a splendorof light but quickly and goes out in a stormof civil discordand leavesbehinddestruction confusion." Only the monarchycould be a true guardianof peace, not a constitutional monarchybut the mediaevalmonarchyof the the Standestaat underthe moralguidanceof the Church. In Estates, the mediaeval of Empire Church, international among union and the tie nationswas guaranteed the hierarchy priestsand scholarswhich of by was above all national differences. But Schlegel went far beyond Novalis in his emphasison nationalitywithin this Christianuniversality, on the nation as a higherrealityof natureand history. "The that all its members should form as it were conceptof nation requires one individual." This fictitiouscorporate becamea only personality whichit jealousguardianof the lives of the single and real individual and which comprised whichit claimedto mold. It imposedconditions wentfar beyondthe conceptof a politicalnationality; was intimately it and intricatelytied up with the naturaland spirituallife of all its members. To form a true nation- and this meant to Schlegelto resemble a closely knit and all inclusivefamily-he demandedthat all its members held togetherby ties of blood, of descentfrom the same be ancestors. The antiquityand purity of this commondescent would
discoveredold German art; he praised Diirer because he had decided to paint not like the ancients or the Italians but in a German way. He went even so far as to prefer for national and religious reasons, old German poetry to Greek poetry and old German painting to Italian art. 25 See Sammtliche Werke, vol. X, p. 93 and vol. VI, p. 212. Schlegel was also the first to sing the glory of the romanticGerman forest, therein the precursorof Eichendorff. 26 They were edited after his death by his friend C. J. H. Windischmann, professor of philosophy at the University of Bonn, in two volumes (Bonn: 1836-37); a second edition appearedthere in 1846.
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customs the of, guarantee persistence and the loyaltyto, traditional habits: the greater community blood,and the stronger of and the form the therefore perseverancethepast,themore people of would the a nation. Secondto a common and affinity blood,Schlegel of past to in difficult underratedthe unityof language which for reasons all contradict historical evidence-he saw "the stand because they of of descent."This newtheory naindisputable testimony common characsentences tionalism in and culminated two summary apodictic to "It of teristic the age of nationalism: is muchmoreappropriate race nature thehuman be strictly that (strenge abgesondert) separated be nations intonations thanthatseveral should fusedas hashappened times .... Eachstateis an independent individual in recent existing for itself,it is unconditionally ownmaster, itspeculiar has its character,
27 and governsitself by its peculiarlaws, habitsand customs." From
of thatpointof viewSchlegel also the protested against assimilation a of nationto the higher and civilization the victor. defeated backward of moral character a "Thatwouldbe highlyimmoral.The original A as its customs peculiarities, be regarded sacred." must and people, but it as must be maintained a separate entity subjectnationality evenforcibly, far as thatbe comas mightbe educated the victor, by the In withits character. thatway,Schlegel maintained, Gerpatible the mans have educated and others. The many nations, Magyars to wereabusing theirsuperiority however, French, Schlegelthought, of the nationality otherpeoples. Such an attitude justified destroy in the in his opinion unionof all peoples threatened the French a by of war whichwould lead to the "totalannihilation" this "corrupt 2 of the writer renown was nation." Schlegel perhaps firstGerman war. call andfor a sacred to issuesucha strong for German nationality the was exhorting poetry, Schlegel also the firstto writepatriotic This to Germans a confident tyranny. struggle againstNapoleon's filledonly a few yearsof his life, from1805to 1809, poeticactivity took and like whenothers Amdt,Schenkendorff, Riickert up the task him and of national bards soonsurpassed by farin popularity. During Church a northGerman the Catholic thoseyearsSchlegel and, joined
27 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 358, 382. Schlegel was in his lectures, however, so fascinated by the mediaeval Standestaat and so hostile to all the innovationsof the French Revolution, that he was against universal military service of citizens and wished, in the interests of peace, to reservemilitary service to the aristocracy. 28 Ibid., p. 385.
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by birth,turnedto Austriaas the hope for German regeneration. Therehe became official an for cause;in propagandist the Austrian 1809in strong stirring and he the Germans proclamations,called upon to outside Austria standby herandto brave dangers unityand in all The samespiritbreathed the fervent courage. appealof his through
"Geliibde" ("The Vow") : 29
Es sei mein Herz und Blut geweiht, zu Dich Vaterland retten.... Der deutsche Stammist alt und stark, Voll Hochgefiihlund Glauben; Die Treue ist der EhreMark, Wankt nicht,wennStiirmeschnauben.... So spottejederder Gefahr, Die Freiheitruft uns allen;....
he "TheVow"marked end of Schlegel's the poetry, Though patriotic which in to his of continued elaborate theory nationalism, thelectures in he delivered Viennain 1810"OnModer History" the lecture and
in serieson "Historyof Ancient and ModernLiterature" 1812. Those
of 1810 glorified the heroes of German history, especially the Habsburg princes, Rudolf I, Ferdinand II, and Charles V. "If one does not look on details but on the whole, there is no better counterweight against the onrush of the age than the memory of a great past. For that reason I thought of adding to the interpretationof the three great world-shaking periods-the migration of the Germanic tribes, the Crusades and the Reformation- a picture of the former German nation painted in colors as strong as I could; of its oldest conditions when it lived in its original liberty and character, as well as of its development and culture in the Middle Ages. This demanded a spe29 Sammtliche Werke, vol. X, p. 159. The poem was also included into "Deutsche Wehrlieder," edited by Jahn in 1813. Schlegel's stepson, Philipp Veit who served in the free corps, wrote to him and Dorothea, his mother, from Schonhausennear Magdeburg on July 1, 1813: "Jahn is sending you herewith the first issue of a collection of songs which are being sung in our corps or are being rehearsed. You will find there one of your own which was sung here yesterday in church to a good melody by Zelter." His brother August Wilhelm had preceded Schlegel to Vienna. In a letter from Coppet he wrote in 1807 to Countess Louise von Voss, he declared that he knew only one aim for a writer in that historical age, "to present to the Germans the image of their ancient glories, their old dignity and liberty, and the mirrorof the past, and thus to kindle every spark of national sentiment which might be dormant somewhere." Briefe von und an 2 August Wilhelm Schlegel, ed. by Josef Kmrner, vols. (Vienna, 1930), vol. I, p. 199f.
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concernfor the great mediaevalforces and forms cial interpretative of the state, for the relationand unifyingtie of the Churchand of the old imperial position in Germany,Italy and Europe,and for the 30 had all the fervor which spirit of knighthood." His nationalism the age of nationalism later developedin centraland easternEurope, but it was turnednostalgicallybackward the period when the imto ideaof whichSchlegelthoughtthe Germans alone worthyperial and the universalism the churchstill maintained of some ethicalunity him amongnations. It was his Catholicreligionwhichprevented from the secularized with its unlimitedmoral selfglorifying popularstate sufficiency.31 The lectures of 1812-and the periodicalDeutsches Museum which Schlegel edited then-were devotedto the thesis that "every literaturemust and should be national; this is its vocation and this alone can give it its true and full value." The same nationalspirit should determinelanguageand music, paintingand philosophy.But the first place belongedto poetry, it must preservefor a people its memories and legends,embellish them and perpetuate gloriesof a the "as happensin the heroic epics wherethe miraclefreely great past, occurs and where the poet attaches himself to mythology." The spiritualgrowth of a nation dependedon its possessionof great national memories"whichoften lose themselvesin the darknessof its and of originsand the preservation glorification whichconstitutesthe most excellenttask of poetry. Such nationalmemories, most wonthe derfulheritage that a peoplecan have,are an advantage whichnothing else can replace;and if a peoplefinds itself in its own feelingselated and so to speakennobledby the possession a great past, of memof ories from prehistoric in brief by the possessionof poetry, it times, will be raisedby this very fact in our judgmentto a higher plane. Memorable to deeds,greateventsand destiniesalone are not sufficient
31 Friedrich Meinecke, Weltbirgertum und Nationalstaat, 7th ed. (Munich, 1928), p. 92, objected from the point of view of the modem German power-stateas much to the Christianpolitical ethics of the romanticistsas to the rational universalismof the enlightenment. "Beide schalten das als blinde Herrschsucht, was im Wesen des Staates selbst war." Meinecke begriindetlag, was Ausfluss seiner Selbsterhaltungund Selbstbestimmung argued that besides universal morality for individuals there exists an individual morality for the state and that this individual morality justifies the apparent immorality of the of power-egotism the state. "Denn unsittlich kann nicht sein, was aus der tiefsten individuellen Natur eines Wesens stammt," which would justify every strong state and every strong individual to establish his own "nature"as a yardstickof all morality.
30 Sammtliche Werke, vol. XI, p. 195.
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keep our admirationand to determinethe judgmentof posterity;a of people must also gain a clear consciousness its own deeds and
of itself destinies. This self-consciounsess a nationwhichexpresses in reflective and descriptive works,is its history." The romanticists pointedto Shakespeare's historicplays as the model for the to revive national andto makeit partof the national the attempt past of The theater to consciousness. seemed themthe most "national" in muchstronger Gerall the arts; unfortunately romanticists, the to a than wereunable create national manyin reflection in creation, von Kleist, dramatic theater. Even their strongest talent,Heinrich the never of reached popularity a Schiller.32
V
the again an objectof Throughthe romanticists state became it as something lofty and so and adoration; poetry they regarded so full of miracle mystery it couldno longerbe that and wondrous, the workof men. The words Hugo Grotius of the defining Western of the state-"Est autemcivitascoetusperfectus liberorum concept hominum fruendi communis et utilitatis sociatus"-did not causa juris It a being, applyto thestateof the romanticists. was,likethe human of will creation the unfathomable of God andof the elemental forces of nature, individual manhimself, an like and only infinitely greater von more Freiherr Eichendorff a (1788-1857), leader powerful. Joseph of the younger Catholic of called generation romanticism, the state"a for a life as perfect possible developing as the spiritual community by of mindand soul in a people,whichalonecouldbe called strength 33 who started a disciple the as of Werner, truly life." Zacharias Church the romantic and and enlightenment laterjoinedthe Catholic defined state as "a unionwhichshouldmakeit posthe movement,
32 The Germans owe to the romanticists,to A. W. Schlegel and Tieck, their first famous Shakespearetranslation. Shakespeareas a great national poet was praised by A. W. Schlegel, Sammtliche Werke, ed. by Eduard Bicking, 12 vols. (Leipzig, 1846-47), vol. VIII, p. 145; and by Tieck, KritischeSchriften, (Leipzig, 1848), vol. I, pp. 38, 327. 33 "Eine geistige Gemeinschaft zu einem m6glichst vollkommenenLeben durch Entwicklung der Geistes- und Gemiitskrafteim Volk, welche ja eben allein Leben genann werden kann." Joseph Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff, Sammtliche Werke. HistorischKritische Ausgabe, ed. by Kosch and Sauer, 24 vols. (Regensburg, 1908-13), vol. X, p. 159.
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sible for a groupof humanbeingsto fulfill theirhighestvocation. It form."34 in isolatesthis groupto give it backto mankind an ennobled too strongly artistic to Yet the romanticists were as individuals allow the state to imposea deadening uniformity. Accordingto their ideal, the individualshould serve and love the state with all his soul and mind,yet he shouldnot be a robotbut a free individual living his own personaland peculiarway and uniting with the otherswithout losing his individuality.35They praisedlibertybut it was libertynot In rootedin reasonand equalitybut in historyand peculiarity. Eichendoff's novel Ahnung und GegenwartLeontin shouted "Long live liberty,"but he did not mean the universal,natural, philosophical and libertyof 1789, whichwas the samefor everybody in whicheverybody felt himselfproudlyfree everywhere.He found this cosmopolitan and individualistic libertyas loathsomeas he found the natural of that periodwhichregarded religionsas equal manifestaall religion or tions of the Divine, withoutgradations preferences.To him liberty was the ancient and vital freedom (jene uralte, lebendigeFreiheit) whichhe found in the proudand simplelife of mountain peopleswho could not live except as honor dictates.36 The romanticconceptof the patriarchal state and its union of love, was compatible with the existence of strong and independentindividualsconsciousof their positionand their privileges. But it rejectedthe new age of individof ualism, of economicrationalism, equal rights, approaching apparently from the West; it was a defensiveattitudewhichlooked long34 Zacharias Werner (1768-1823), an east Prussian, served the Prussian government in Warsaw and in other Prussian parts of Poland where he became one of the first German poets expressing their sympathy for the Polish cause. See Robert F. Arnold, Geschichte der deutschen Polenliteraturvon den Anfangen bis 1800 (Halle, 1900), p. 277. 35 "So wird auch der grossen Genossenschaftdes Staates mit innerlich ausgewechselten Gesellen nicht gedient, sondern der der liebste sein, der ihr, weil mit ungebrochener Eigentumlichkeit, aus ganzer Seele dient, wie er eben kann und mag." Eichendorff, Sdimmtliche Werke, vol. X, p. 341. 36 Ibid., vol. III, p. 325. 37 The romanticists opposed capitalism, commerce and the "influence of money." Schlegel went as far as to oppose taxes because they might give to the moneyed classes the power to influence the state. He suggested that the state should receive its income from the ownership of land and from the monopoly of all foreign trade. To Iniebuhr in his "Roman History" the period when the Romans tilled their own fields represented the ideal, while the later period based upon commerceand trade, representeddecadence and moral corruption. Another romantic historian Karl Ottfried Muller (1797-1840) found in Greek history his model in Sparta and its constitutionfull of "deepest political
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which communities ingly to the good old times and to moreprimitive theirancienttraditions theirsocialorder. had preserved and Novalis and Eichendorffwere poets, the brothersSchlegel were literaryhistoriansand critics;38 Adam Miller (1779-1829) was the of politicalphilosopher romanticism.39With characteristic vagueness the limitsbetweenpoetryand scholarship werenot clearlydrawn. Yet amid its contradictions the romanticists were not systematic thinktheir work remainedmostly fragments or lectures romantic ers; held fast to the thesisthat the state was not man's politicalphilosophy workor established the benefitof the individual for who on the other hand was indissolubly part of the state and inevitablydetermined by
its past. "Man cannot be imagined outside the state. .. The state .
is the intimateunion of all physicaland spiritualneeds, of the whole wealth,of the whole inwardand outwardlife physicaland intellectual of a nation in a great energeticwhole infinitelyfull of movement and
life. ... It is the totality of all human concerns" (Der Staat ist die
Totalitat der menschlichenAngelegenheiten)40- in these words

wisdom." A romanticphilosopher,Franz Xaver von Baader (1765-1841) charged in his das "OCber damalige Missverhaltnisder Vermogenslosenoder Proletars zu den Vermogenbesitzenden Klassen der Sozietat in betreff ihres Auskommens, sowohl in materieller, als intellektueller Hinsicht, aus dem Standpunkte des Rechts betrachtet" (Munich, 1835) that plutocraticservility to gold under liberalism rendered the poor into serfs of money whose conditions were worse than those of rural serfs. See on his social philosophy David Baumgardt,Franz von Baader unde die philosophischeRomantik (Halle, 1927). 38 August Wilhelm Schlegel became a student of Sanskrit and Indian literature. FriedrichSchlegel regardedhis Standestaat as related to the Indian caste system and both as an Aryan heritage. Sammtliche Werke, vol. XII, p. 347. 39 Adam Muller was practicallyunknown in the second half of the nineteenth cenof tury. The German neo-romanticists the twentieth century rediscoveredhim. See Otto Weinberger, "Das Neue Schrifttum iiber Adam Miiller," Archiv fir Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, vol. LI (1924), p. 808 ff; Reinhold Aris, Die Staatslehre Adam Millers in ihrem Verhaltnis zur Deutschen Romantik (Tiibingen, 1929); Ferdinand Reinkemayer,Adam Millers ethische und philorophische Anschauungen im Lichte der Romantik (Osterwieckam Harz, 1926); Jakob Baxa, Adam Muller, Ein Lebensbild aus und aus der deutschenRestoration(Jena, 1930). At the same time den Befreiungskriegen many of his works were republished, Von der Notwendigkeit einer theologischen Grundlage der gesamten Staatswissenschaftenund der Staatswirtschaftinsbesondere (Leipzig, 1819) as vol. XVI of the Allgemeine Biicherei der 6sterreichischenLeo-Gesellschaft (Vienna, 1897); his Zwoilf Reden iber die Beredsamkeitund deren Verfall in Deutschland (Vienna, 1812) and his Vorlesungen iber die deutsche Wissenschaft und Literatur (Dresden, 1907) were edited by Arthur Salz (Munich, 1920); Othmar Spann's series "Die Herdflamme" published his Die Elemente der Staatskunst, 2 vols., ed. by Jakob Baxa, and his Versuche einer neuen Theorie des Gelds mit besondererRicksicht ed auf Grossbritannien, by H. Lieser (Vienna, 1922). 40 Die Elemente der Staatskunst,vol. I, pp. 29, 37, 48.
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Miillerexpressed to romantic state;he and his opposition the liberal of friendswere equallyfirmin theiruncompromising rejection the "the of economic doctrine liberalism. saw in Western He capitalism of of mostgeneral manifestation that anti-social spirit, that arrogant of for enthusiasm falsereason falseenlightand egotism, thatimmoral He enment" which therootsof theFrench Revolution.41 regarded were its liberty equality a change and as fromrural to serfdom wageslavery and foundthe latterinfinitely he worse; hadno doubtthatthe capitalisticsystem incompatible the divineorderof things. To with was the optimism theeighteenth of the which toward future, looked century of Miilleropposed optimism an the regarding past. Whilebothforms be equallyunfounded, past was knownto the the optimism might of to the research; futurewas memory men and accessible historical known Godalone, thismayexplain in thelongrunutopias to and why whichplacethe goldenage in the future--especially the distant in future exercise greater a attraction thoseplacing in thepast than it -especially a not too distant past. Miiller's revoltagainst enlightenment a revoltagainst the was his own youth. He was born,a son of a Prussian in the Berlin official, of Frederick While a studentin Gottingen, cameunderthe II. he of AdamSmith;only later,underthe influence Burke influence of and of his friendship Gentz,he turned an organic with to theoryof the state. "If oneregards stateas a great the individual encompassing all thesmallindividuals," wrote, he "then understands human that one cannot conceived be as an august complete and society except person-and one will neverwish to subject inward outward the and ality of to peculiarities thestate,the formof its constitution arbitrary speculation." In 1805he joinedthe Catholic for he remained a Church; few yearslongerin Dresden Berlinin closetouchwithPrussian and circles beforehe foundin Austria political spirconservative his and itualhome. After1817he became evermore traditionalist removed and fromthe mainstream German of intellectual political bent and life, of exclusively thepraise thepastandthevainhopefor its return. upon 1806and 1810,yearsof decisive But between in importance the deto of theGerman he national resistance mind, helped arouse velopment German confidence its mission. in to Western ideasandto strengthen cause lost After 1806,whenthe German seemed andfoundscarcely a
41 Ausgewihlte Abhandlungen, ed. by Jakob Baxa (Jena, 1921), p. 21.
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on Miillerdelivered Dresden in lectures German friendin Germany, "the and in scholarship literature whichhe proclaimed: development of the scholarly is event mindin Germany themostimportant in modem intellectual that foreignintellectual in life history. It is certain all its variety haveto attach will itselfin the course timeto thatof of tribes havefounded political the and Germany, that,just as German to was The Politically prostrate, leadership. Germany destined spiritual German morethanany other,Mullerclaimed, a universal was mind, found theirconsummation their and mind,in whichothercultures a harmonious all towards others infinite and mediation, mindtolerant in its longing. "TheGerman to to mindis forced ascribe itselfas an overall othernations obedient piousunderstanding and its advantage of everything and alien,even if this penetration understanding may of sometimes into the idolatry foreign habitsand persons. degenerate not We findourown happiness in the suppression in the highest but of the civilization ourneighbors, thusGermany, of and the flowering not needto denyits respect others will fortunate for when heartland, 43 it willdominate world its spirit." the by his German WhenMiillerdelivered addresses, and political social of life seemed a process transformation theimpact Western in under of reseemed ideas. Eventhe German governments eagerto introduce whichMiillercondemned innovations forms. Againsttheserational he of as inorganic, calledup the power the deadand the necessity of the traditions and the historyof the past (die continuity."Only the der letter Geschichte Vorwelt)cantransform meaningless of presenttimes, of thestate,intoa wordof light. The ancestors also evoked calledto testify;they respond, are not merelywitnesses by history of to the theycontinue act full of thewarmth life,because spellof the
42 Adam Miiller, Vorlesungeniber die deutsche Wissenschaft und Literatur,p. 4. 43 Ibid., pp. 14f. See also pp. 48, 59f. and passim. What Germany is to Europe, unseres Planeten strebt offenbar nach Europe is to the world. "Die gesamte Erdoberflache einer grossen Gesellschaft,bei deren ErrichtungEuropa im Ganzen dieselbe Vermittlerrolle spielen wird, nach der sich, unserer neulichen Auseinandersetzungzufolge, die deutsche Bildung im Verhaltnis zu dem Staat von Europa hinneigt. Mittelpunkt der Zivilisation der Welt, nicht bios ihr Gipfel, soll Europa werden." Ibid., p. 38. About the pangeringeresangelegt als die Vorziige der verschiedenenNationalitaten zu vereinigen,sich in humanismof the Germans see also A. W. Schlegel in Europa, I, 269: "Es ist auf nichts alle hineinzudenkenund hineinzufiihlen und so einen kosmopolitischenMittelpunkt des menschlichenGeistes zu stiften."
it." orderof Europe,the German mindwill sooneror laterdominate 42
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in one hearthas rousedthem: in theirpresence performs a loftierway not act for himselfand out of and with greaterfreedom. Man should himselfalone, as an absolutelynew beginning:his deeds should only continue the deeds of the ancestors;he should attach himself to a are whichhas alreadybeen in existence all communities community one but the nearestis the best to him; he should derivethe blood of his instinctive advice,the spiritof his decisionfromolderandeverolder ancestors. This is the immortality all greatnessand goodnesson of earththat wherever new life stirs, the old one alwayslives on, worthy and that only cold and vile souls speakof it as if it had gone forever into dust. The great and immortal and crumbled soul, for the welfare of which the hero exposed his mortalbody, must be called his true of of body,"for only in the immortality the nationalcommunity, the state could the passingindividual find his own immortality could and his life and actionsreceive meaning.44 of In this subordination the presentto the past, Miiller followed with the of Burke; in his identification the individual'simmortality Fichte. He called Burke he continuityof the fatherland, anticipated of all periodsand all nations"who belongedmore to the Germans than to the British who never understoodhim fully.45 But of the practicalwisdom of Burke, of his respectfor individualliberty and for constitutionalrights, of his understanding the living forces of knew little. His politicalsensewas hardlydeveloped. history,Muller Like Fichte, he wished to call the Germansto a fatherlandof the mind, first to be built in some awakenedhearts and throughsome miraculoustransformation triumphingover the enemy.46 The victoriousstate whichwould emergewas hardlydefinedas a state of the
German nation-Muller was little concerned with the problem of "the greatest, profoundest, most powerful and most human statesman
44 Vorlesungeniber die deutsche Wissenschaft und Literatur,p. 163 f. 45 Ibid., p. 165 f. See also Zwolf Reden iber die Beredsamkeit, pp. 124 ff. (describinghis oratory duel with Fox in the night of February 11th to 12th, 1891), 135 ff., 167 ff., 186 f. He paid his tribute also to the oratory of Fox and of the two Pitts des unsichtbaren but Burke was the greatest of all to him. He called him "Stellvertreter Englands, Geisterseherseiner Geschichte,Prophet seiner Zukunft; . . . Wenn die weltliche Beredsamkeit. . . in Fox einen Gipfel erreicht hat: so hat die heilige Beredsamkeitin diesem Jahrhundertnur durch Einen Mund geredet, durch den Mund Burkes." 46 "Bilde dein angewiesenes Werk nur ruhig fort, du vielfach verwundetesund unterdricktes, aber auch jetzt schon mit Guitern,die die spitesten Enkel deiner Unterdriicker noch segnen werden, vielfach entschadigtes Volk .. ." Vorlesungen uber die deutsche Wissenschaft und Literatur,p. 167, p. 169.
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of 1789 and to economicliberalism, theocraticstate much less ina spiredby Burkethan by the Vicomte de Bonald and his Theorie du Pouvoir Politique et Religieuxdans la socie'tecivile which had appearedin Constancein 1796, twelve yearsbeforeMiiller deliveredin the winter of 1808-09 his lectureson Die Elementeder Staatskunst. There he developedat length his theorythat "the state is not only the union of many familiesliving togetherat one time but also followingeach otherthroughtime, a union not only infinitelygreatin in on spacebut also immortal time." Against the emphasis the present and on the pursuitof happinesshe stressedeternityand duty: "A of people is the august communityof a long endurance past, living and future generations,who all hang together in a great intimate union for life and death,of whomeach single generation, and in each each individual, the commonunion, single generation again guarantee and are againguaranteed it in their whole existence;this beautiful by immortalcommunity itself to the eyes and sensesin a comrepresents mon language,in commoncustomsand laws, in thousandsof beneficentinstitutions, manylong-flourishing in familieswhichareespecially designedto link the periodsof historymoreclosely,finallyin the one immortal familywhich forms the centerof the state, the royal family, and to make the true center of the whole even more visible, in the present king of that family."47 Thus the hereditary nobility, and above all the royal house, was proclaimed guaranteeof the conthe tinuityand identityof stateand nation. Miiller believedthat the tragicerrorsof the Revolutionoriginated in the belief that the state was designedto assurethe securityand prosperityof its members. If that were true, the individualcould direct the life of the state into new channels,and every generation would be free to begin anew. But in reality,in the immutable nature of things,the individual none of thesefreedoms had and the state was, Miiller proclaimed, inextricably so linked up with everything human, so indispensable the fulfillmentof the most elementary for needs of man's heart, mind and body, that at no time could he hear or see, think or feel, live or love withoutthe state. Nor could scienceand of exist as "pure"effortsor responsibilities the individual scholarship
47 Die Elemente der Staatskunst, 3rd and 7th lectures. Adam Miiller, Vom Geiste der Gemeinschaft,ed. by FriedrichBillow (Leipzig, 1931), pp. 41, 81.
to German in unification it wasa stateopposed everything theideas
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of mind,independent the state.48 Theywouldlose all vigorif they the ever triedto develop theirown rightwithout in serving society life and the state. The political the intellectual wereonly two and sidesof bodyandsoulwhich couldexistbut as one. The highest was to goodof a nation according Miillerthe ideaof fromall others, its peculiarity, way in whichit wasdifferent its the A worldin whichtherewouldbe only one government, uniqueness. one law,one system weights measures overtheearth of all would and lack that creative whichsprings fromdifference forceof movement and conflict. Mullerregarded assured by perpetual peace,whether a universal or by a league republican of nations (permanenmonarchy ten Volker-Kongress), a misfortune as which dewouldbringhuman to a standstill.Nothingseemed hima firmer to velopment cementing of nationsand statesthan "the true war,"because common peril, sorrow and tearsbind betterthan luck and prosperity, because and that manifest everything can be hiddenin peacemustin warbecome andgivento thewhole. A truewarmore thananyothereventwould fill and saturate existence everyindividual the life of the the of with state.49 ThoughMiillerbelieved war as a vital and beneficial in forcewhichenhances character the state,he accepted other the of at as the Holy Alliancedid, a supra-national Christian order times, withinwhichnationscouldnot isolatethemselves."Theconcept of the fatherland, deeplyas it mightbe felt, is not sufficient: as thereis the of it only one world-idea, center all orderbecause is the idea of 50 itself:the Christian world order religion." FromDresden Miiller for returned a shortwhileto Berlin. There of Prussian in the like-minded noblemen romantic and company poets he couldnote with satisfaction "thebetterones amongus have that beenfortunately it was curedof cosmopolitanism; the chapter our of whichwe had to pass." Understandably found he historythrough muchto blamein Frederick Greatwho had rationalized adthe the
48 2nd lecture, pp. 20-23, 28, 34f. 49 Treitschke, Deutsche Geschichte im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, vol. I, p. 589, praised very highly a book Vom Kriege by Riihle von Lilienstern (1780-1847): "Nowhere did the keen political idealism of the War of Liberation find a nobler expression than in that book," which in Treitschke's opinion "proved victoriously the indestructible blissful necessity of war." He proposed to "nationalize the armies and militarize the nations." In reality the book was largely plagiarizedfrom Adam Muller. 50 34th lecture, p. 236.
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of ministration the state and had felt himself culturallyto be a disof the Frenchenlightenment.In the lectures the king and the on ciple natureof the Prussian whichhe delivered Berlinin 1810, in monarchy he stressedthat it must be for everyman a point of honor to have a
definite fatherland; to declare that one has none or that one belongs to a cosmopolitan society of independent rational minds, must be as insulting as to declare that one was without sex or honor.51 As regards a European community, Muller believed that it could be realized only through German ideas. "I, too, dreamt much of a union of that great nation of which we are only a branch," he declared, "I, too, expected revolutions and heroes and changes in the mentalities of peoples which would come and favor the realization of my dream. The great confederation of European nations will come some future day, and as truly as we live, will also wear German colors; for everything great, thorough and lasting in all European institutions is German- that is the only certainty which has remained from all those hopes." The Germans have sown their seeds over Europe; their growth should be left to the care of nature. "Our concern is the nearest and concrete, an enthusiasm foe, our own fatherland, for our own royal lord and for his centenary crown which with royal devotion he regards as something higher than himself."52 Miiller, while paying his respectsin Berlin to the Prussian monarch, was soon to follow the Schlegels to Austria but whether in Berlin or in Vienna, whether praising the Hohenzollern or serving the Habsburgs, he did not alter his fundamental conviction. He waged war
51 Ober Konig FriedrichII und die Natur, Wirde und Bestimmungder Preussischen Monarchie. Offentliche Vorlesungen gehalten zu Berlin im Winter 1810 von Adam Muller (Berlin, 1810), 1st lecture, p. 5. 5:2 2nd lecture, p. 52f. There is something of the spirit of Fichte's "Reden" in Miiller's eighth lecture: "Um die Zukunft mit Kraft und Bestimmtheit zu empfinden, muss man erst das Nationalleben empfunden haben. Was der Privatmann "Zukunft" nennt, ist ein weites Feld des Zufalls, woriiberdie Wetter Gottes und seine Winde und Zeiten walten, wovon das Herz nichts ahndet: eben weil es ein isoliertes Herz, ein Privatherz ist, und weil es den unendlichen Gott von sinem einsamen Standpunke nicht fassen kann, sein Gesetz in den Erziehungscalciilnicht aufnehmen kann. Was der nationale Burger "Zukunft" nennt, ist dagegen etwas sehr Bestimmtes und Besonderes;das Vaterland, d.h. Gott selbst und sein Gesetz, ist ja in der Rechnung. Nicht also der Privatmann, sonder nur der nationale Burger, kann erziehen; also ist die Nationalitat selbst conditio sine qua non aller Erziehung. Wie moigtihr denn erziehen,bevor ihr einen Altar, ein Heiligtum, ein vaterlandischesh6chstes Gut fest und fur die Ewigkeit erkannt habt? Ohne so ein Mittelstes, Nationales, Religioses, worauf alles bezogen werde, und welches die junge Generationund ihr ganzes Streben ordne und festhalte, erzieht Ihr nur Privatmanner,und ereuert die alte Misere."
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against Western ideas. After 1813 he was happy to see-partly throughhis efforts the tide turn. There "grewup in betternations a tremendouslonging for the discreditedbarbarians the Middle of Ages. Burke and some Germansdivined that there the lost jewel might be found. Thus the idea of nobilityagain reappeared."But with it also the theories and the realityof an anti-liberal, anti-Western a Germanophilism which becamethe model of the later nationalism, Slavophilism,a nationalismunknown to the Middle Ages and to Burke. The esoteric romanticists turneda centhoughtsof the German undera differentleadership with a differentemphasis, and tury later, into people's mystical nationalismsin central and eastern Europe. Theirunitinglinkwas "thewaragainstthe West."

Romannticism and The Rise of German

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Romannticism and The Rise of German

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Romanticism and the Rise of German Nationalism Author(s): Hans Kohn Reviewed work(s): Source: The Review of Politics,

Romanticism and the Rise of German Nationalism

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the forerunners Germannationalism.2 But Moser was a practical of

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AND GERMAN NATIONALISM ROMANTICISM

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Totalitat der menschlichenAngelegenheiten)40- in these words

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it." orderof Europe,the German mindwill sooneror laterdominate 42

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to German in unification it wasa stateopposed everything theideas

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