In the spring of 1813 Schleiermacher found the state of Berlin so dangerous that he considered it right to send his wife and children into Silesia, where he hoped they might be in safety. The following letters were interchanged during this period of separation.
Schleiermacher to his Wife.
[CCCLXXI.] Berlin, 13th May, 1813.
I was glad to find you gone when I came back from Göschen’s, and then I was quite startled to discover that I did feel glad. But I had no time to reflect; the deputation was already assembled, and over and above this a violation of our authority had taken place. Süvern was out of himself, he wanted to resign his command; I had enough to do to calm him down (but with his whole heart he will never enter into these matters), and afterwards I was obliged to hasten to the committee to get the affair sifted and settled. Nicolovius met me in the street, and confirmed the news of the dissolution of the department. Schuckmann has already started for Silesia to represent it there, and Nicolovius is to leave to-morrow for Pomerania or Prussia on a similar errand. Whether we are to conclude from this that the entire province, between the Elbe and the Oder, is in a condition to call for the embodiment of the Landsturm, I do not know; indeed I know nothing, for nothing is communicated.
In the midst of all this I have thought a thousand times of you, dearest, incomparable wife, and of our parting and our separation, and the many possibilities that may intervene to prolong the latter. Towards seven o’clock I was at last at liberty to come out here and to gather my thoughts. On the road I was overtaken by the Solgers, who came to present themselves for the first time as man and wife. They went in with me, and we enjoyed a few pleasant cheerful moments. In the evening I read a little in your Lavater; many passages pleased me and many strengthened me; but one section, addressed to a widower, I turned over without reading.
I have had my bed made upstairs, have written a few lines to B——, and these to you, and now I will go to rest. I wonder if you have got safely as far as Francfort. I hardly venture to hope so. And I wonder whether you will be able to do anything there? Ah, if I could but know!
Dearest Jette, how shall I be able to do without you and the dear children, and the sweet habitude of taking care of you all and of sharing everything with you! Instead of your dear presence, I have now nothing but wavering, indistinct pictures of you. In addition to this I have already had many disagreeable moments. The business which I have undertaken, and which I perform with the utmost fidelity, is becoming very irksome to me; not that anything very disagreeable occurs within our immediate sphere, but because it seems to me that the superior authorities are not doing their duty properly, and that the scheme will lead to no results, though there are excellent and powerful elements among the masses. You see that I stand sadly in need of the prayers which I have begged you to send up for me.
The candle is nearly burnt down, and it is high time I should get to bed: the nightingales and the gnats have, up to this moment, been contending for the mastery over me. Good-night, my darling wife! Alas! how disturbed may you not be at this moment, and how uncomfortably bedded! May the magic power of our dreams, at least, unite us.
[CCCLXXII.] 14th May.
I got up very late this morning, so as to be obliged to hurry away to get to the college in time. And what a confused, busy, and yet empty day it has been! When returning from the college I heard some good news, which almost made me regret having sent you away; but then, again, I thought of how many moments would come when I should be glad of having done so, and indeed they have not been long in coming, for this evening Pistor has again received bad news; but, then, he sees everything in the worst light! The whole story about Torgau is said to be fictitious. The Crown Prince of Sweden has really arrived; the English and the Spaniards mean to make an irruption into France with one hundred and sixty thousand men; such are the most favourable accounts that we have, and also that the Danes are helping to defend Hamburg. On the other hand, it is said that the French have really crossed the Elbe, somewhere between Wittenberg and Torgau, with the intention of marching upon this place, but no one knows where they are, and in what force. Bonaparte himself, they say, is to cross near Pirna, in order to offer battle to the combined armies, which, it is supposed, the latter will not accept, but retire farther into the land that is overflowing—not with milk and honey, but with Landsturm. The king himself has given orders that, in case of need, Berlin is to be defended; and they are beginning now to throw up entrenchments all along the Schafgraben, from the Köpnick Gate to the Potsdam Gate. Princess Wilhelm is still here—there is all the news for you in a lump.
After the lecture there was to be a conference of the defence committee at my house; they kept me waiting very nearly an hour, and I was glad that I had the church accounts to make up in the meanwhile. I dined at a little past twelve, and in the intervals between the soup and the vegetables, and the coffee, I went on with the church accounts. You know how furiously zealous I am in such matters, when once I have begun. From two to five there was a meeting of the Landsturm; at six there was a presbyterium at my house, and just as it was about to commence, I received an order to deliver a consecration sermon in the court in front of the university building, for the battalion of the Landwehr, which is to leave to-morrow morning; it is the one in which Reimer serves. As soon as the conference was over, I was, therefore, obliged to throw on my gown, and to resort to the court, where an eternal buzzing went on until eight o’clock, when the discourse was delivered, and thereupon the oath was taken. With what delight I look forward to a quiet morning to-morrow. I will not go to town1 until dinner-time, for I am to dine with Reimer, who will remain the day over. At tea-time I again read a little in Lavater. Why I have described to you the whole of this hurry-skurry day, I am sure I do not know. Very likely you may have spent an equally disagreeable one; I have a foreboding that to-day you are crawling on somewhere between Ziebingen and Francfort. Poor dear, to think of your being so forlorn! May the children but keep well, and may you thus escape the worst troubles that might befall you. Dear heart, do write to me as often as the bustle of the journey will allow, and be not abashed at what you may think too great dulness, for you see I set you an excellent example in writing uninteresting letters.
As you like to know everything, I must inform you that I have reported to Boyen what a very bad effect is produced on the public, by the silence which is maintained respecting the position of the armies. Unfortunately, I can hardly hope that any good will result from the step I have taken, for there is not a man among them who feels himself skilful enough to place indifferent news before the public in a form that shall not be too discouraging. For the rest, dearest heart, the fact that the king himself has given orders that Berlin shall be defended, has contributed very much to raise my spirits. Good-night, my own heart; God be with you!