II. Freytag to Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Leipzig, January 30, 1867
My dear gracious lord!
A general election fever has broken out, and the election candidates’ exercises in [prose] style are occupying such an unreasonable amount of space in the press that I am probably taxing my dear Lord’s patience if I dare report on this topic.
However, since my dear Highness has shown such gracious interest in my Erfurt candidacy, let me relate the story of a comical trip there. After a number of preliminary negotiations, it appeared that the Conservatives had nominated Count Keller, and that the Liberals had nominated me, along with a Dr. med. [Robert] Lucius*, the lord of a manor, husband of a Frankfurt Souché with a dowry of 5 million, and son of an old Catholic family in Erfurt. The sovereign people were called upon to decide between us. Without being at all grateful for the burdensome situation in which the committee had put me only after I had accepted [the nomination], I traveled from Leipzig to the festival in Erfurt. Welcome by the committee at the train station: we looked at each other curiously, they being alien to me, I being alien to them. March to a large, desolate meeting room, where the voters sat dutifully, smoking and drinking beer. A certain bluish smoke had already settled over the assembly. The committee assumed its position on a raised platform in a large alcove; the candidate received a small chair up there as well. I saw that our platform was the stage of an emptied theater, with the rolled up curtain still hanging above me. This discovery was not opportune for my rival, since the ghosts of the place were at my service. Mr. Lucius himself was no ordinary person, still young, of a firm and simple character, had lived in England for some time, had sailed around the world on the Thetis, fought as a volunteer in the Danish and Bohemian campaigns; I liked him, and I first thought I’d wait for his speech and then decide in favor of him or myself. His debut as candidate was not good, however. He was too inexperienced in political affairs and uncertain with regard to facts and legal matters, as the inquiries revealed. Moreover, I noticed that the Liberals did not trust him, because they suspected that he wished to become district administrator, make a career, and deceive them.
During his speech, a thundering, angry knock could occasionally be heard at a small door leading from our stage to the foyer. When it was opened, a throng of contrary-minded voters barged into the hallowed space of the [nominating] committee and threateningly arrayed themselves behind us in a semi-circle, like the choir in an ancient tragedy; these were unkempt journeymen from Krackrügge’s** band and red-bearded, insolent Lassalleans. One of them immediately began asking the candidate shameless questions and, accompanied by the cheers and shouts of an excited gallery, annoyed the committee to such an extent that I thought the entire action would end, just like the third act of the Afrikanerin.*** Finally, the audience took a vote, deciding that this candidate could step down and that the second fencer ought to yield his sword.
* Freytag’s rival, Robert Lucius (1835-1914), was a friend of Bismarck, who helped him join the hereditary nobility with the title Baron Robert Lucius von Ballhausen in 1888. By that time Lucius had long been a leading Free Conservative parliamentarian, sitting in the Reichstag from 1870 until 1881. He served as Prussian Minister of Agriculture from 1879 to 1890 and was appointed to the Prussian House of Lords [Herrenhaus] in 1895 – ed.
** Goswin Krackrügge (1803- ), a revolutionary from 1848 – ed.
*** An opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer – trans.
print version
return to list
previous document