Justus Hashagen

“ HECKER, FRIEDRICH FRANZ KARL (1811–1881) , German revolutionist, was born at Eichtersheim in the Palatinate on the 28th of September 1811, his father being a revenue official. He studied law with the intention of becoming an advocate, but soon became absorbed in politics. On entering the Second Chamber of Baden in 1842, he at once began to take part in the opposition against the government, which assumed a more and more openly Radical character, and in the course of which his talents as an agitator and his personal charm won him wide popularity and influence. ”

“ LEO, HEINRICH (1799–1878) , German historian, was born at Rudolstadt on the 19th of March 1799, his father being chaplain to the garrison there. His family, not of Italian origin—as he himself was inclined to believe on the strength of family tradition—but established in Lower Saxony so early as the 16th century, was typical of the German upper middle classes, and this fact, together with the strongly religious atmosphere in which he was brought up and his early enthusiasm for nature, largely determined the bent of his mind. ”

“ Again, in the war of 1866, Louis and his minister von der Pfordten took the side of Austria, and at the conclusion of peace (August 22) Bavaria had, in addition to the surrender of certain small portions of her territory, to agree to the foundation of the North German Confederation under the leadership of Prussia. The king’s Bavarian patriotism, one of the few steadfast ideas underlying his policy, was deeply wounded by these occurrences, but he was face to face with the inevitable, and on the 10th of August wrote a letter of reconciliation to King William of Prussia. ”

“ In nearly every respect he was the opposite of his father, having frugal, simple tastes, a passionate temper and a determined will. Throughout his life he was always the protector of the church and of religion. ”

“ There was a kind of friendship between Frederick Augustus and Napoleon. In 1809 Frederick Augustus fought with him against Austria. On several occasions (1807, 1812, 1813) Napoleon was entertained at Dresden, and when, on his return from his disastrous Russian campaign, he passed through Saxony by Dresden (December 16, 1812) , Frederick Augustus remained true to his friend and ally. It was only during April 1813 that he made overtures to Austria, but he soon afterwards returned to the side of the French. ”

“ The murder of Kotzebue by Karl Sand, however, shocked him out of his extreme revolutionary views, and from this time he tended, under the influence of the writings of Hamann and Herder, more and more in the direction of conservatism and romanticism, until at last he ended, in a mood almost of pessimism, by attaching himself to the extreme right wing of the forces of reaction. ”

“ Nevertheless, in the War of the Polish Succession against France (1734–1735) , Frederick William remained faithful to the emperor’s cause, and sent an auxiliary force of 10,000 men. The peace of Vienna, which terminated the war, led to a reconciliation between France and Austria, and so to a further estrangement between Frederick William and the emperor. Moreover, in 1738 the western powers, together with the emperor, insisted in identical notes on the recognition of the emperor’s right to decide the question of the succession in the Lower Rhine duchies. ”

“ In 1830 a rising in Dresden led to his being named joint regent of the kingdom along with King Anthony on the 13th of September; and in this position his popularity and his wise and liberal reforms (for instance, in arranging public audiences) speedily quelled all discontent. On the 6th of June 1836 he succeeded his uncle. Though he administered the affairs of his kingdom with enlightened liberality Saxony did not escape the political storms which broke upon Germany in 1848. ”

“ JOHN (1801–1873) , king of Saxony, son of Prince Maximilian of Saxony and his wife Caroline of Parma (d. 1804) , was born at Dresden on the 12th of December 1801. As a boy he took a keen interest in literature and art (also in history, law, and political science) , and studied with the greatest ardour classical and German literature (Herder, Schiller, Goethe) . ”

“ By upholding the Fürstenbund Hertzberg made many enemies, prominent among whom was the king’s brother, Prince Henry. Though the Fürstenbund failed to effect a reform of the empire, it at any rate prevented the fulfilment of Joseph II.’s old desire for the incorporation of Bavaria with Austria. The last act of state in which Hertzberg took part under Frederick the Great was the commercial treaty concluded in 1785 between Prussia and the United States. ”

“ But his history of the Tirolese rebellion is far from being impartial; for he always liked to put himself into the first place, and the merits of Andreas Hofer and of other leaders are not sufficiently acknowledged. In his later writings he appears as a keen opponent of the policy of the court of Vienna.
The following are among Hormayr’s more important works: Geschichte des Grafen von Andechs (1796) ; Lexikon für Reisenden in Tirol (1796) ; Kritisch-diplomatische Beiträge zur Geschichte Tirols im Mittelalter (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1802–1803, new ed., 1805) ; Gesch. der gefürst. ”

“ Frederick William turned for help to the western powers, England and France, and secured it by the treaty of alliance signed at Herrenhausen on the 3rd of September 1725 (League of Hanover) . But since the western powers soon sought to use the military strength of Prussia for their own ends, Frederick again turned towards the east, strengthened above all his relations with Russia, which had continued to be good, and finally, by the treaty of Wüsterhausen (October 12, 1726; ratified at Berlin, December 23, 1728) , even allied himself with his former adversary, the court of Vienna ”

“ Hecker was always very much beloved of all the German democrats. The song and the hat named after him (the latter a broad slouch hat with a feather) became famous as the symbols of the middle-classes in revolt. In America, too, he had won great esteem, not only on political grounds but also for his personal qualities.
See F. Hecker, Die Erhebung des Volkes in Baden für die deutsche Republik (Baden, 1848) ; F. Hecker, Reden und Vorlesungen (Neerstadt a. d. H., 1872) ”

“ FREDERICK AUGUSTUS I. (1750–1827) , king of Saxony, son of the elector Frederick Christian, was born at Dresden on the 23rd of December 1750. He succeeded his father under the guardianship of Prince Xavier in 1763, and was declared of age in 1768. ”

“ He had himself strong artistic tendencies, though his numerous poems show but little proof of this, and as a patron of the arts he proved himself as great as any who had ever occupied a German throne, and more than a mere dilettante. ”

“ The greater part of the beautiful furniture was sold. His importance for Prussia is twofold: in internal politics he laid down principles which continued to be followed long after his death. This was a province peculiarly suited to his genius; he was one of the greatest administrators who have ever worn the Prussian crown. His foreign policy was less successful, though under his rule the kingdom acquired some extension of territory. ”

“ For the rest, Lang did great service to the study of the history of Bavaria, especially by bringing fresh material from the archives to bear upon it. He also kept up his activity as a publicist, in 1814 defending in a detailed and somewhat biassed pamphlet the policy of the minister Montgelas, and he undertook critical studies in the history of the Jesuits. In 1817 Lang retired from active life, and until his death, which took place on the 26th of March 1835, lived chiefly in Ansbach. ”

“ In 1803 he married Therese Anderler von Hohenwald. During the insurrection of 1809, by which the Tirolese sought to throw off the Bavarian supremacy confirmed by the treaty of Pressburg, Hormayr was the mainstay of the Austrian party, and assumed the administration of everything (especially the composition of proclamations and pamphlets) ”

“ As a critic of independent views he won the approval of Goethe; on the other hand, he fell into violent controversy with Ranke about questions connected with Italian history. Up to the revolutionary year 1830 his religious views had remained strongly tinged with rationalism, Hegel remaining his guide in religion as in practical politics and the treatment of history. It was not till 1838 that Leo’s polemical work Die Hegelingen proclaimed his breach with the radical developments of the philosopher’s later disciples; a breach which developed into opposition to the philosopher himself. ”