The Student Life of Germany Part 39

When we have decided upon the advantage which the student derives from the academical life, we shall then feel ourselves prompted to say a few words upon the tendency of certain inst.i.tutions of the German universities; on the scientific and moral spirit which prevails amongst the students. We shall further proceed a little to explain some singular-seeming customs and, practices, and, so far as these are concerned, as we always speak particularly of Heidelberg, to cast some glances of comparison upon other German and foreign universities. In such a parallel it is also interesting to observe how the universities, as inst.i.tutions of education, operate thus essentially on the political relations of states, and on the other hand, how they are determined in their developement by these. These proposed points are difficult; and their thorough discussion would lead us too far. We must therefore content ourselves with distinctive indications.

Justly says Thiersch--"The universities are a vastly intertwined and entangled whole, at which people and ages have laboured, in order to bring it to its present extension."

The first and only true object of the academician is, and for ever remains, the study of science. This const.i.tutes the central point, which all intently seek, and where all find themselves, without regard to external circ.u.mstances. Knowledge, and the strife after it, are sacred to the student; and these are the anchor, which, dropped into the heart of every one, has lashed to it that internal spiritual bond which embraces the whole cla.s.s. The single aim of the academician is the free pursuit of knowledge.

It is true that the majority of those who seek the university, have the object, at a later period, of entering on state offices; and the acquisition of knowledge made at the university, places them in a condition to be able properly to discharge the duties of those offices, which are the means of their future existence. But the later practical application of this knowledge, which is so far the medium of his profession, comes before the eye of the student in the background. In the society of young people who are in the pursuit of knowledge, in the intercourse with teachers whose object is the diffusion of the same, and surrounded by external inst.i.tutions which all bear upon the advancement and the facilitation of study, he remains far from the thought that knowledge is to be regarded as a milch-cow, which will furnish him hereafter with b.u.t.ter. The unfolding of his intellectual capacity in every direction; the following out one or the other in particular, appears to him the business of life in these years. It is exactly this which essentially distinguishes the corporation of students above every thing else;--of which the student is so proud. He despises the Philistine, who, in all circ.u.mstances of his life, is only thinking of his petty gains.

It is grounded psychologically on this feeling of individual worth as a disciple of wisdom, that the Burschen honour springs up, and holds every student equally high and equally dear. As a corporation, one stands for all, and all for one; and without drawing a moral death upon it, this honour cannot suffer itself to be wounded. Study is pursued at the German universities with zeal and radicality. Proofs of this, are the great numbers of young men who every year pa.s.s through the State's-examinations, and testify their ability in all the offices of their country: proofs are, the writers of Germany, who owe their accomplishment to these inst.i.tutions: proofs, finally, are, the preponderating number of well-educated men compared with those of other countries, who draw their support from the academical foundations. But we must not go so far. Let any one compare the German student, whose acquirements are weighed by a competent judge, with the student of any foreign university.

Manifold indeed have been the complaints of the laziness of the first period of the academical life; and we can only repeat what we have said on this subject in an earlier portion of our volume. There is an abrupt transition from the studies of the Gymnasium to those of the University; and the newling at the university wastes and wears away much time, especially in the first months, and indeed during the whole first semester, before he has accustomed himself to the free condition, and the free and fresh atmosphere of the university. But is this of such mighty importance? It is the transition into a state of greater self-dependence which demands this sacrifice; and he only who has no conception of the strengthening and fortifying influence of university life,--he who does not perceive with what higher advantage this material loss is counterbalanced, can alone break out into lamentations on this head. He who is accustomed to chase youth out of one pen into another, and to begrudge every free breath, every lighter moment, every refreshment of over-pa.s.sing Muse--who trembles and shakes lest by such trivial circ.u.mstances they should have lost both body and soul; will indeed judge otherwise, but deserves, in fact, to be sent back into the school of literary and pedagogic necessity, out of which he was expelled by some mischance. That portion of the youth however, who have arrived on the threshold of the university honest and well-disposed--and this portion is so predominant that the remainder appears in comparison insignificant--this large and elect portion of the better endowed, soon pa.s.s through the first rude shock of difficulty and surprise, and through the mere pleasure-rambling in the garden of the Muses. The student zealously busied to develope his intellectual const.i.tution, healthily and in all its members, will find himself in the strongest manner supported by the regulations of the German university; and of these we will speak anon.

On the other hand, the free intercourse with his cotemporaries operates most favourably. When the youth enters the university, he steps at once into a corporation composed of the most opposite materials. Every student brings with him the peculiarities of his Fatherland, in manners and speech; and how manifold is the variety! To say nothing of the foreigners who frequent our different universities, what a difference is there yet between the different races which speak the German tongue.

What gradations from the cold, ceremonial North German, who clings fast to etiquette, and with difficulty attaches himself to others, to the good-natured South German, who, knowing little of outward forms, readily finds a friend to whom he can ally himself. Every foreigner retains the characteristics of his own land, and often takes a pride in exhibiting them, by which means he becomes a person detached from the ma.s.s. We find the strongest antagonisms of this kind; and it might make one doubtful of the reciprocating influence of this cause, had we not found by experience that the result was a favourable one. The intellectual bond of knowledge here embraces the sons of all nations; and thus these apparently heterogeneous elements can only operate auspiciously, since the advantage is not to be overlooked which the close and mutual contact affords, of learning to know foreign manners and customs, and for each to recognise his own in the true light.

And here we must again call attention to the fact, of the essential difference between the result of academical life, and that of burger life. As to the moral side of the question, there have not been wanting people who have laboured to represent the university as a gulf which swallows up the flower of the youth, as a pool out of which only a few are happy enough to escape without ruin of soul and body. These are ridiculous and malicious exaggerations. No one will attempt to deny the dangers of university life, the temptations to deviations from propriety; and according to time and situation must every university, in a greater or less degree, be exposed to these; but every one who is not blinded by excess of prejudice or enmity, knows that, besides those who give way to temptation, by far the greater number return to their friends from the High-school, as sound in body and mind as they came to it.

The hope would be idle, to chase evil quite away; such a hope is opposed to the total experience of all people and times, to the nature of advancing manhood, and to that degree of freedom, which must be allowed to youth in the years of its growing developement for the prosperous completion of this developement itself, and which every where, though it may be under different forms, will be afforded. There is no law, no precaution, which can possibly preserve the youngling on the higher steps of his career if he does not watch over himself; and one cannot forget the just observation of the old English vicar, that the virtue that needs continual watching, is not worth the cost of a sentinel. But this is the common lot of all manly youth; and we may boldly a.s.sert, that aberrations amongst the other cla.s.ses--amongst the younger ranks of the military, of the mercantile, and of other departments of trade, are not less, but probably more extensive; yes, it is satisfactory to know that in these respects the academical life is in a progressive state of steady improvement.

But if we inquire further what are those things which most particularly strike the foreigner in the student; those things which are most ridiculous, and disapproved; we find that, briefly, they are the following,--the singular dress of the student, the strong smoking, and his habits of beer-drinking and duelling.

That the student in early times, more than at present, adopted a singular costume, arose from two causes, either out of convenience or vanity. In both cases, the matter is a very innocent one, and the academical boards did wisely to permit him these fancies, so far as they were not the signs of an interdicted verbindung. The life at the university, as we have had now abundant occasion to observe, is a peculiar one. When this extends itself so far that a separate court of justice is allowed to the students, is it at all to be wondered at, that the Student who feels himself in every respect so distinct from the Philistine, should also seek to express this distinction by his costume? He only does this so long as he belongs to the High-school, and with the conclusion of this period, ceases also naturally, the occasion for this peculiarity. Considerations of _convenance_ weigh little with the students amongst themselves,--they weigh little with them towards those who surround them, as it is by no means an object of the student to seek advantage from those moving around him, nor to render himself particularly acceptable to them. Therefore in small cities these peculiarities of dress, chosen according to every individual fancy, strike the eye more; while in larger cities the student, playing a more subordinate part, unites himself more to the general ma.s.s of society, and loses himself more in family circles.

There he will surrender himself to the existing order and convenances of society, since, so soon as he enters the salon, he conducts himself strictly by the rules of etiquette. But he is no slave of fas.h.i.+on. This is repugnant to his freedom of thought; and he believes himself to have as good a right to choose his own dress, as the lawgiver of fas.h.i.+on has from the capital of France to prescribe what shall be held good ton in external appearance. He is by no means so tyrannical as that personage, since he desires from no comrade that he shall herein follow his example; since he leaves, herein to every one perfect freedom, and allows the native student to observe the stricter ceremonial of his father-city.

And is his, really as it often is a most fantastic costume, more singular or more contrary to nature, than the fas.h.i.+onable attire in which many show themselves in the capitals of the whole world, and above all, in which they present themselves to the eyes of the public in the fas.h.i.+onable watering-places? Is he indeed the only one who herein overleaps the bounds of etiquette? They who have seen the grotesque paraphernalia in which the foreigners from beyond the Channel suffer themselves to appear in Germany, will certainly not a.s.sert this.

And these do this in a foreign country; the student only in his German Fatherland. Are there so many sects too, who distinguish themselves by their peculiar dress, and shall this be so sharply objected to in the student?

The smoking of tobacco is an accusation which the student shares in common with the other cla.s.ses of the community, and which only looks the more striking in him. We will not defend this practice, on which so much has already been said, nor that of beer-drinking; but we must again take leave to observe, that in all this there is no compulsion.

The reader has probably alarmed himself by perusing the Beer-code, which we have given at the end of this volume. It is well known that in older times much more was drunken at the university, and that this pernicious custom, especially in some of the German universities, prevailed to a most lamentable degree. In those times many of these beer-laws might be of great advantage, insomuch that they restrained from greater excesses. As they now exist, no student is subjected to them, who does not voluntarily submit himself to them, by a.s.sociating himself with the companies that a.s.semble at the kneip. And even here it is at his perfect option, at any moment, to declare that he will drink no more, only he cannot break this declaration without paying the penalty.

We are as little disposed to defend the duel. A reconciliation of disputes between contenders, by the exertion of and through the means of reason, either in the disputants themselves, or through their friends; or if this were found impracticable, through the establishment of a court of honour amongst the students, or through an appeal, in serious cases, to the academical court, would certainly be a more civilized proceeding. We may, indeed, hope that this will be accomplished in time, and the more so, because the number of duels at the universities, compared with former times, is already so much diminished, and as the voices of many students are now raised against this practice. Yet we must not judge the students too hardly on account of the duel, but ought to take into the account the following considerations in mitigation of our opinion.

No one is compelled to fight, who in the commencement declares that it is contrary to his principles. Let it be recollected, that in the university cities, more than elsewhere, young people are crowded together, and compelled briskly to push and jostle each other, as it were, in their course. Let it be remembered, that though we may p.r.o.nounce of the bulk of them, that they are well-educated youths, yet at the same time, in comparison with the circ.u.mstances of other young people, it is undeniable that far more frequent and greater occasions for antagonist attrition occur amongst them--in part, no doubt, on account of the greater pecuniary means in their possession, and still more on account of the unavoidable necessity of social life amongst themselves, especially in the lesser university cities, in which they cannot mingle with the family circles.

The foreign universities, where the duel does not exist, cannot be brought in evidence on this head, because they want other peculiarities of the German universities, which are of apparently great advantage.

The const.i.tution of the English universities, in particular, is totally different to ours, and more resembles that of our seminaries, where the students enjoy no such freedom. It must also be remembered that the regulations of our universities make them accessible to those without property, and who spring out of the lower cla.s.ses, while in England only the rich young men, and those out of the higher cla.s.ses of society, can possibly exist, with a few exceptions, at the great universities of England. The advantage of the German universities in this respect no one can deny, if he only turns his regard on the great number of the most distinguished of the learned men of Germany, whose talents have, through this very accessibility of the universities, been made beneficial to the public.

On the other hand, one cannot expect from the student who has sprung from one of the lower grades of society, the same degree of refinement as graces those of a higher stand. Thus, no wonder, if through these who have been accustomed to move in a ruder sphere of society, occasions for contentions are more readily created. It must be remembered that the student, be he who he may, regards himself on an equality with his fellow-student; but on that account so much the more jealously watches over his own honour, and on that account also more readily believes himself insulted. Hence the customary formula of a challenge, "Stupid youth!" which inevitably draws a duel after it, is characteristic, as it clearly indicates that the feeling of burschen-honour is grounded on the dedication to knowledge, whose disciples can naturally in no way be so insulted as by the epithet "stupid," which implies that he is totally unfit for a priest of Minerva.

Let these facile occasions of strife be borne in mind, and then let persons of practical experience be asked how many young people of other grades are wounded and even killed in scuffles and cudgellings, they will then be induced to judge more leniently of the duel amongst students, and rather pardon the extremes of a feeling of honour, than that the chance should possibly arise of a provoked student becoming in effect the homicide of his fellows.

Thus we may regard the duel, under its regular form, as a sort of discipline which the students exercise amongst themselves, and thus banish every ruder and not seldom dangerous explosion of pa.s.sion. We say the duel in its regular form, and thereupon recall to the reader's memory the following particulars. According to the regulations for the arrangement of duels in Heidelberg, every challenge must be withdrawn when the opponent declares that he gave the insult in a state of intoxication. Every duel shall, before it is undertaken, be made known to the Senior-Convention, and by it an accommodation shall be attempted.

When these regulations are violated, this does not arise from the regulations themselves, but from the partisans who have neglected to demand from the seniors the execution of their own laws. The completion of the duel, according to the Comment regulations, by sword stroke and not by lunging, and with defensive costume, which covers almost every exposed part of the body, renders any dangerous consequences almost impossible. There is no instance, from time immemorial, of any such regularly and formally completed duel in Heidelberg, being attended with fatal consequences, or one which rendered life thereafter a burden, as is only too frequently the case at universities where the duel in _every_ form is punished more severely than as a breach of discipline, and where, on that account, more dangerous but more easily concealed weapons are resorted to.

By these observations we would by no means defend duels, but merely, in some degree, excuse them. Laws against such customs, which are fast rooted in old prejudices, are seldom very effectual. As little as the fist-law could by power and at once be extirpated, so little, according to our opinion, can this be accomplished with the duel. It is true that there lies in the hands of the German governments, by means of the State's-examination, a power of punis.h.i.+ng and suppressing this practice which foreign realms do not possess. They might, it may be said, pa.s.s a law, that whoever had been engaged in a duel, should forfeit his right to the State's-examination, and thereby state service. But it must be answered, that this would be in the highest degree severe for a small offence, which in itself the regular duel really is; thus, to punish a young man in such a manner that this one folly should put an end irrevocably to the whole of his life's prospects and career. Further, it has been seen, that exactly at those times when the duel of every kind was the most strictly interdicted and repressed, the most dangerous duels by lunge and shots became more than ever frequent. And yet these draw a punishment after them which has often made a young man miserable for the remainder of his life. So long as it is not the general opinion amongst the students, that the duel cannot be held as satisfaction, so long will they, in case of actual insult, not be deterred by the most stringent punishments from resorting to it. Till then, would it not be the most reasonable course to visit the most dangerous kinds of duelling with the most severe punishments of the law, but to pursue the ordinary and less dangerous not so harshly? If this alone remains to the student, he will by degrees convince himself of the ridiculousness of such a sham-fighting, and the duel will, as it is already become less piquant, cease altogether. It will be the duty of the teacher to promulgate better views upon the nature of duelling by speech and by writing, and thus to conduct their pupils out of the spirit of it. This the greater number of them have even taken suitable opportunities of doing. As an example we quote a part of the speech which the Obermedizinalrath and Professor Dr. J. N. Ringseis delivered on the 3d of December, 1828, in the hall of the High-school at Munich, at a time when the duel there had become exceedingly predominant and reckless.

"It is a sign of a n.o.ble mind to regard true honour as the highest good, as higher than life itself. He only who does not fear death, really possesses life. We will all strive after higher honour; and every one of us must be prepared at any hour to sacrifice our life for it. It is a duty through n.o.ble manners to honour ourselves; he only who maintains a n.o.bility of conduct himself, can respect the manners of another. It is honourable to belong to a brave union; more mightily works the spirit of every one in union. It is honourable to love your native place, be it on the Isar, the Danube, the Rhine, or the Main, since what German territory has not a host of glorious recollections?

It is an honourable, proud feeling to be able to wield the sword skilfully, as if it were a member of our body. But he who honours himself, his society, his native home, honours this feeling in another; he who recognises the sacred destiny of the sword to be the protection of the highest good of mankind, dishonours it not by unholy aims. The officers of our army covered themselves with evergreen laurel,--how rare is the duel amongst them! The hero youth of the universities of North Germany performed miracles of bravery in the memorable Liberation war; and the duel was, amongst those who returned, almost without example. Rare indeed is it in the circles of the highest society; to the n.o.blest nations of antiquity, the Greeks and Romans, it was wholly unknown.

"I repeat not the thousand-times-reiterated arguments against the irrationality of the duel, since I know well that they have fought, even excellent men, although convinced of the perversion of the practice--have fought, bowing to the lords.h.i.+p of opinion, spite of the certainty of losing office, property, freedom, and life itself. Truly there belonged to such conduct a kind of obstinate bravery; but greater, n.o.bler, more worthy of the sight of heaven is the courage which tames itself; the courage of him, who although fearless, although practical in arms, although secure from discovery and punishment, yet fights not; the hero-courage of a free obedience, which our poet sings:--

Courage has the Mameluke--obedience in the Christian law.

"How is it, friends, that we feel ourselves too effeminate to contend for this loftiest laurel of courage and obedience? Certainly the n.o.bler, the more honourable, in every accomplishment the more advanced, a man, a union, a people,--there for ever is and was the more rarely to be found the duel. What, then, must be thought of men to whom the duel is become a chief business of life? of youths called hereafter to become the leaders and the lights of your people? How, ye jurists! ye who hereafter will nicely weigh in the balance the right--will sharply reprove insolent opposition to the law--and would rather suffer shame and death than perpetrate the smallest injustice,--will you open the way through audacious contempt of the laws?

"Medical men! called to wound that they may heal, not to destroy, will you commit that double crime against the state?

"And could a philosopher--a theologist, so grossly deride the Divine Teacher's word--'Do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who despitefully use you?'

"And, n.o.ble friends! can true honour prevail, where drinking, quarrelling, and insult give the shameful occasions for the duel? True honour! where he who refuses to fight a duel is exposed in rude verses in public places, and is even maltreated with vulgar violence? True honour! where in aggravation of disobedience, dishonourable lies are also added? I glow with shame to the very depths of my mind, that any amongst us, however few in number, could be so mean as to deny the deed, could harden themselves shamelessly to make the denial a point of honour! Oh! hideous spectre of honour, without the courage of truth and of obedience! The courage of truth and obedience is the highest honour; and he who binds himself to a union pledged to lies and to disobedience, he has from the beginning no conception of honour; unfit for a priest, unfit for a judge, unfit for a physician!

"O my friends, I see you burn with a n.o.ble indignation; you are all on fire for honour, for the highest honour of manhood. Up then! there is a vast, a boundless field of laurels for you, for us all, to contend for.

Shame to ignorance! shame to immorality! shame to the rude might of arms, without knowledge, without morals, without obedience! shame to obedience towards unions in things which G.o.d and the king forbid! In knowledge, in morals, in obedience, in glowing love to King and Fatherland--in them let every individual endeavour to outstrip another, every union the other, our university all others. I call you, my friends, to such a n.o.ble contest; and to it call you your honour, the fame of our university, the fame of the Fatherland, and of our King!"

These abuses, which we have just now alluded to, that is, the pa.s.sion for the duel, and the strong drinking, are the causes which make the Verbindungs, which are known under the name of Landsmannschafts and Ch.o.r.es, odious. In fact, if one puts these dark adjuncts out of mind, then the student life, and in particular the Ch.o.r.e life, has only a cheerful aspect. The close incorporation of students into unions, which have regular meetings in some particular place, from which every uninvited disturber of order is banished; meetings for social entertainment and exhilaration; for practice in bodily exercises, as in fencing and gymnastics; these could only serve to a more speedy accomplishment of active and intellectual men, and would be certainly approved of by all reasonable persons. These dark adjuncts have brought the Ch.o.r.e life into great unpopularity, and have induced many governments to prohibit the Ch.o.r.es themselves, as the vehicles which contain and maintain these pernicious practices. Yet it must be remembered that practices so deeply rooted are not to be expelled by force, but only through the advancing march of humane knowledge; and it must be further acknowledged, that the Ch.o.r.es by the maintainance of order in these things themselves, only prevent a greater outburst of the wild Burschen-spirit. The governments have made use of the Ch.o.r.es frequently in order to bring the student youth to a quicker adoption of resolutions which would be for the good of the university, or of the state; and this continues to be the case in those states where they are yet allowed.

Let us imagine the Ch.o.r.es purified from their dross; they would then represent unions which had their own const.i.tutions, and where those in reality who distinguished themselves most in outer life, would take the first places. Let it not be believed that in such a case the proper acknowledgment would be denied to him who, uninc.u.mbered with social life, devoted himself exclusively to knowledge. This happens by no means to those who belong to the present Ch.o.r.es under their present circ.u.mstances. That the student jealously watches over his honour; that he easily imagines this honour affected, grounds itself on the equal standing which he gives to every one of his fellow-members. He makes this sufficiently obvious himself, in that he will not permit the usual duel between the Student and the Philistine. We cannot blame this strict vigilance over the Burschen honour; but the means resorted to, to restore wounded honour, are truly foolish, and worthy of punishment.

If we imagine the duel superseded by the sentence of a court of honour, which condemned the guilty to beg pardon, or some other proportionate punishment, there would be nothing further to be desired.

But the reasons which the government a.s.signed for the proscription of the Burschenschaft were totally different. They were determined to this prohibition by this principle; that the student who is at the High-school in order further to develope his intellectual faculties, and to arrive at a scientific and political freedom in his views--that he, the scholar, is not called to step forth here already as a teacher of the people; that he is not called upon to overturn the const.i.tutions of states, before he has yet learned properly to a.n.a.lyse their nice and elaborate construction; since it is a true a.s.sertion, that it is much more easy to pull down than to build up; and it was a piece of presumption in the youth to attempt to hurl down by violence a fabric, which the best and wisest of the people had with their best strength erected.

In Heidelberg, since the Marching-Forth of 1828, the Burschenschaft, as its especial promoter, was anew strictly proscribed, but the Landsmannschafts were sanctioned; and from each new-springing Verbindung the word of honour was taken, by the academical board, that it was no Burschenschaft. After some years, however, these Landsmannschafts were forbidden also.

So far as the Burschenschaft was a union which, on account of its ideal object, claimed prerogatives beyond the other Verbindungs, in so far by that prohibition is its return to the High-school made impossible. But so far as the Burschenschaft spirit is a real const.i.tutional spirit, we may in Heidelberg a.s.sert with pride, that it never was abandoned by the young burgers of our High-school, and that all our present existing Verbindungs are animated by this same n.o.ble feeling. This const.i.tutional mind has already displayed itself prominently on so many occasions, that it is not necessary to bring evidences of it. We may simply allude in confirmation, to the interest which the students have always manifested in the proceedings of the Landtag, and to the testimonies of acknowledgment which they have always given to those teachers who have there exerted themselves for the good of the people, and for the maintenance of const.i.tutional freedom. We may notice the sympathy with the unhappy state of Poland, which the students publicly, by word and deed, expressed to the Polish officers who pa.s.sed through the city. Hence, because these unions do not a.s.sume as their object the preparation for the realization of some certain idea, but merely a pleasant social life during the university years, it does not follow that the hearts of these young do not beat warmly for knowledge, for right and freedom, and that no individual amongst them pursues this n.o.ble aim, nor does it follow that these unions set themselves in opposition to such more ideal aims as may already be begun there to be pursued.

An esteemed German philologist says--"Most of our German universities bear the humane character of fine manners and chivalric bearing. They array themselves in the clear, radiating colours of the dreams of youthful pleasure; and is there conspicuous, indeed, in the academic life itself, the foam of a bubbling fermentation, this clears itself with time, and becomes in the end a n.o.ble and strong spirit." A finer panegyric we cannot p.r.o.nounce; but we may corroborate it, when we add to the observations already made, how much the spirit of the young man is stimulated at the university to activity; and with what n.o.ble energy, which so eminently distinguishes the student cla.s.s, he employs this activity in all directions. As there is no rule without its exception, so there is, indeed, such here; but we must not lay the measuring-wand of a general judgment on these few extravagances, though in the full elucidation of the subject we may not pa.s.s them entirely without observation.

Abroad, people have had such singular notions of the German students, that they could not for their lives conceive what could be made, in after-life, of such wild fellows; and have been amazingly astonished to hear, that they afterwards became like other reasonable people, and administered all sorts of offices of the state conscientiously, and with the most exemplary and calm discretion. We recollect a pa.s.sage in the humorous work of Mr. Hood, "Up the Rhine;" at which certainly many a German student has already heartily laughed, as he has read it there as something new--that "it is notorious that these Burschen come in, according to the proverb, as Lions and go out as Lambs,--some of the wildest of them settling down in life as very civil civilians, sedate burgomasters, and the like."

Let it never be forgotten that the students represent a peculiar cla.s.s, of which they who compose it, however, are but temporary members. Shall the student then carry over with him into the Philisterium, his singular attire, and his Ch.o.r.e-colours? It would seem as if foreigners had quite supposed this must be so. But we would ask them whether it ever occurs that a member of parliament makes a speech in his place in the House, arrayed in the student-gown which he wore at Cambridge?

Shall the student, indeed, carry with him his sword, that with eccentric courage he may defend the Burschen honour, when he has himself long become a Philistine? Shall the quondam student forsake wife and children, in order to go and vindicate the injured majesty of studentdom, in order to join himself to the Marching-Forth? Could such things be, then must the German academies truly be regarded as so many great lunatic asylums, and nothing better or wiser could be done than to extirpate them, root and branch.

A few words yet remain to be said on the actual advantage derived by the German student from this life, and carried forward with him out of the green Burschendom, into the seriousness of his later vocation, and on what his after-vocation may be.

The great business of the student, as already stated, is the pursuit of science; and it is less the ma.s.s of knowledge here harvested, which brings him future advantage, than the capacity which he acquires, let him move in later life in what circle he may, of comprehending and acting in a pure scientific and philosophical spirit, upon every matter which may be thrown into his path. The student-life has many favourable influences on the character of a young man. Though the Bursch, as it regards his social position, naturally allies himself most closely to his landsmen, yet he feels himself compelled by those causes already pointed out, to exert a general tolerance towards his brethren, which though often abandoned and again submitted to, yet inoculates him with a greater degree of sufferance, which on his departure from the academical, for a more general life, unfolds itself more freely, and extends itself to all social relations. The student, indeed, as such, knows little tolerance towards non-students; yet the patience which he learns to exert towards his fellow-students, is not without its consequence, and when he steps out of his confined sphere, it then clothes itself in another outward form, and takes a general direction.

The student maintains strictly and perseveringly his own views, though consequently, often erroneous ones; but this serves in after-life, to lay the ground-work of greater steadfastness of character. This firmness continues with him to his grave, though his views and principles modify and purify themselves, as his growing intelligence directs him more and more into the track of truth. And as the student stands upon his honour, for which full of the highest enthusiasm he glows, and joyfully offers up property and life, so stands he in the bonds of truth and friends.h.i.+p. Such bond of friends.h.i.+p is to him sacred as his own life, and it is to him continually a guiding-star through the gloomy paths of existence. It is to him the n.o.blest treasure which he carries with him into the tumult of life, and he continues to it inviolably faithful.

In addition to this, the student has learned to arrive at the poetical side of life. He has continually sought and enjoyed pleasure and satisfaction; and let no man imagine that these foretell only a future trifler. No, he is thereby invited to enliven the stupidity of every-day life, and to throw new interests around the path of existence. That, however, every character, according to its own individuality, more or less favourably developes itself, and that these influences of student-life here described differ in degree in different individuals, needs no stating. We seek only to show general causes, and these are certain. Scientific merit, self-confidence, consciousness of being able to thank his own individual strength for his existence, the honour of men, and the truth of friends,--can more beautiful or delightful results than these be found? Even on the outward appearance of the quondam Bursch, the student-life has a favourable influence. The moment that the young man has entered the Philisterium he adopts the existing convenances, so far as appear conducive to his purpose, but only so far as that he can yet maintain that independence of fas.h.i.+on which he has already a.s.serted. His outward manner of life continues free and unrestrained; and this, united to the practice of making a greater tour after his examination has pa.s.sed, as well with scientific as with other objects, gives to the former academician a higher bearing, an acquired tact, which adheres to him through existence, and again p.r.o.nounce in their consequences the greatest advantages of student-life.

That the Burschen-life, through the greater freedom which it enjoys, may also bring great disadvantages to him who has abused it, and which may poison later life; who will attempt to deny? We have already pointed out the rocks and breakers of this ocean of transition life.

The Burschenschaft agitations of a former period also plunged many into misfortune; but this danger is now in a great measure past, and for the last time gleamed up a political tendency for a few moments in the Verbindung, like glimmering ignis-fatui, in the years 1830-32.

When the student now quits the university, where he has left behind him the follies of youth, and bearing with him a greater or less amount of intellectual acquisition, he enters immediately on the service of the state. After his State's-examination it is very customary to make a tour, before the young man for ever knits himself to one abode. Besides those who in practical state's-service, or as teachers in the schools and universities, work themselves forward, step by step, with more or less speed, according to the degree of their ability and of their diligence, or in proportion as they are favoured by fortune,--others exert themselves in the wide field of daily literature, zealously labouring to win the fame of authors and of poets. But follow whichever path he may, let fortune smile on him or not--let him crown himself with laurels, or strive for the wreath of glory in vain--never will he who has been a genuine Bursch, become a Philistine; that is, in that sense in which the student understands it. The words of the celebrated Arndt express most lucidly this meaning of the word Philistine. "A Philistine is a lazy, much-speaking, more-asking, nothing-daring man; such a one who makes the small great, and the great small, because in the great he feels his littleness and his insignificance. Great pa.s.sions, great enjoyments, great dangers, great virtues,--all these the Philistine styles nonsense and frenzy. He will rather have life in the pocket edition than in the folio, so that it can but be carried through with the very least possible acting, thinking, and daring.

Rest, and rest again, and at any rate; a state of laziness, that he loves, that he desires, that he preaches up, and for that he cries to heaven and earth, if there is any chance of his being disturbed in it."

Into these faults he will never fall, who has once imbibed the principles of a German university; and will only in so far belong to the Philistines, as the student in a wider sense terms every one a Philistine who no longer belongs to the Burschen.