The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. IV by Editor in Chief: Kuno Francke

E >> Editor in Chief: Kuno Francke >> The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. IV

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Kohlhaas, whose expression gave no hint of what was going on in his
mind, said that he was ready to follow the Baron to the market-place
and inspect the black horses which the knacker had brought to the
city. As the disconcerted Baron faced around toward him, Kohlhaas
stepped up to the table of the Chancellor, and, after taking time to
explain to him, with the help of the papers in his wallet, several
matters concerning the deposit in Luetzen, took his leave. The Baron,
who had walked over to the window, his face suffused with a deep
blush, likewise made his adieux, and both, escorted by the three
foot-soldiers assigned by the Prince of Meissen, took their way to the
Palace square attended by a great crowd of people.

In the mean time the Chamberlain, Sir Kunz, in spite of the protests
of several friends who had joined him, had stood his ground among the
people, opposite the knacker of Doebeln. As soon as the Baron and the
horse-dealer appeared he went up to the latter and, holding his sword
proudly and ostentatiously under his arm, asked if the horses standing
behind the wagon were his.

The horse-dealer, turning modestly toward the gentleman who had asked
him the question and who was unknown to him, touched his hat; then,
without answering, he walked toward the knacker's cart, surrounded by
all the knights. The animals were standing there on unsteady legs,
with heads bowed down to the ground, making no attempt to eat the hay
which the knacker had placed before them. Kohlhaas stopped a dozen
feet away, and after a hasty glance turned back again to the
Chamberlain, saying, "My lord, the knacker is quite right; the horses
which are fastened to his cart belong to me!" As he spoke he looked
around at the whole circle of knights, touched his hat once more, and
left the square, accompanied by his guard.

At these words the Chamberlain, with a hasty step that made the plume
of his helmet tremble, strode up to the knacker and threw him a purse
full of money. And while the latter, holding the purse in his hand,
combed the hair back from his forehead with a leaden comb and stared
at the money, Sir Kunz ordered a groom to untie the horses and lead
them home. The groom, at the summons of his master, left a group of
his friends and relatives among the crowd; his face flushed slightly,
but he did, nevertheless, go up to the horses, stepping over a big
puddle that had formed at their feet. No sooner, however, had he taken
hold of the halter to untie them, than Master Himboldt, his cousin,
seized him by the arm, and with the words, "You shan't touch the
knacker's jades!" hurled him away from the cart. Then, stepping back
unsteadily over the puddle, the Master turned toward the Chamberlain,
who was standing there, speechless with astonishment at this incident,
and added that he must get a knacker's man to do him such a service as
that. The Chamberlain, foaming with rage, stared at Master Himboldt
for a moment, then turned about and, over the heads of the knights who
surrounded him, called for the guard. When, in obedience to the orders
of Baron Wenk, an officer with some of the Elector's bodyguards had
arrived from the palace, Sir Kunz gave him a short account of the
shameful way in which the burghers of the city permitted themselves to
instigate revolt, and called upon the officer to place the ringleader,
Master Himboldt, under arrest. Seizing the Master by the chest, the
Chamberlain accused him of having maltreated and thrust away from the
cart the groom who, at his orders, was unhitching the black horses.
The Master, freeing himself from the Chamberlain's grasp with a
skilful twist which forced the latter to step back, cried, "My lord,
showing a boy of twenty what he ought to do is not instigating him to
revolt! Ask him whether, contrary to all that is customary and decent,
he cares to have anything to do with those horses that are tied to the
cart. If he wants to do it after what I have said, well and good. For
all I care, he may flay and skin them now."

At these words the Chamberlain turned round to the groom and asked him
if he had any scruples about fulfilling his command to untie the
horses which belonged to Kohlhaas and lead them home. When the groom,
stepping back among the citizens, answered timidly that the horses
must be made honorable once more before that could be expected of him,
the Chamberlain followed him, tore from the young man's head the hat
which was decorated with the badge of his house, and, after trampling
it under his feet, drew his sword and with furious blows drove the
groom instantly from the square and from his service. Master Himboldt
cried, "Down with the bloodthirsty madman, friends!" And while the
citizens, outraged at this scene, crowded together and forced back the
guard, he came up behind the Chamberlain and threw him down, tore off
his cloak, collar, and helmet, wrenched the sword from his hand, and
dashed it with a furious fling far away across the square.

In vain did the Squire Wenzel, as he worked his way out of the crowd,
call to the knights to go to his cousin's aid; even before they had
started to rescue him, they had been so scattered by the rush of the
mob that the Chamberlain, who in falling had injured his head, was
exposed to the full wrath of the crowd. The only thing that saved him
was the appearance of a troop of mounted soldiers who chanced to be
crossing the square, and whom the officer of the Elector's body-guards
called to his assistance. The officer, after dispersing the crowd,
seized the furious Master Himboldt, and, while some of the troopers
bore him off to prison, two friends picked up the unfortunate
Chamberlain, who was covered with blood, and carried him home.

Such was the unfortunate outcome of the well-meant and honest attempt
to procure the horse-dealer satisfaction for the injustice that had
been committed against him. The knacker of Doebeln, whose business was
concluded, and who did not wish to delay any longer, tied the horses
to a lamppost, since the crowd was beginning to scatter, and there
they remained the whole day through without any one's bothering about
them, an object of mockery for the street-arabs and loafers. Finally,
since they lacked any sort of care and attention, the police were
obliged to take them in hand, and, toward evening, the knacker of
Dresden was called to carry them off to the knacker's house outside
the city to await further instructions.

This incident, as little as the horse-dealer was in reality to blame
for it, nevertheless awakened throughout the country, even among the
more moderate and better class of people, a sentiment extremely
dangerous to the success of his lawsuit. The relation of this man to
the state was felt to be quite intolerable and, in private houses as
well as in public places, the opinion gained ground that it would be
better to commit an open injustice against him and quash the whole
lawsuit anew, rather than, for the mere sake of satisfying his mad
obstinacy, to accord him in so trivial a matter justice which he had
wrung from them by deeds of violence.

To complete the ruin of poor Kohlhaas, it was the Lord High Chancellor
himself, animated by too great probity, and a consequent hatred of the
Tronka family, who helped strengthen and spread this sentiment. It was
highly improbable that the horses, which were now being cared for by
the knacker of Dresden, would ever be restored to the condition they
were in when they left the stables at Kohlhaasenbrueck. However,
granted that this might be possible by skilful and constant care,
nevertheless the disgrace which, as a result of the existing
circumstances, had fallen upon the Squire's family was so great that,
in consideration of the political importance which the house
possessed--being, as it was, one of the oldest and noblest families in
the land--nothing seemed more just and expedient than to arrange a
money indemnity for the horses. In spite of this, a few days later,
when the President, Count Kallheim, in the name of the Chamberlain,
who was deterred by his sickness, sent a letter to the Chancellor
containing this proposition, the latter did indeed send a
communication to Kohlhaas in which he admonished him not to decline
such a proposition should it be made to him; but in a short and rather
curt answer to the President himself the Chancellor begged him not to
bother him with private commissions in this matter and advised the
Chamberlain to apply to the horse-dealer himself, whom he described as
a very just and modest man. The horse-dealer, whose will was, in fact,
broken by the incident which had occurred in the market-place, was, in
conformity with the advice of the Lord Chancellor, only waiting for an
overture on the part of the Squire or his relatives in order to meet
them half-way with perfect willingness and forgiveness for all that
had happened; but to make this overture entailed too great a sacrifice
of dignity on the part of the proud knights. Very much incensed by the
answer they had received from the Lord Chancellor, they showed the
same to the Elector, who on the morning of the following day had
visited the Chamberlain in his room where he was confined to his bed
with his wounds.

In a voice rendered weak and pathetic by his condition, the
Chamberlain asked the Elector whether, after risking his life to
settle this affair according to his sovereign's wishes, he must also
expose his honor to the censure of the world and to appear with a
request for relenting and compromise before a man who had brought
every imaginable shame and disgrace on him and his family.

The Elector, after having read the letter, asked Count Kallheim in an
embarrassed way whether, without further communication with Kohlhaas,
the Tribunal were not authorized to base its decision on the fact that
the horses could not be restored to their original condition, and in
conformity therewith to draw up the judgment just as if the horses
were dead, on the sole basis of a money indemnity.

The Count answered, "Most gracious sovereign, they are dead; they are
dead in the sight of the law because they have no value, and they will
be so physically before they can be brought from the knacker's house
to the knights' stables." To this the Elector, putting the letter in
his pocket, replied that he would himself speak to the Lord Chancellor
about it. He spoke soothingly to the Chamberlain, who raised himself
on his elbow and seized his hand in gratitude, and, after lingering a
moment to urge him to take care of his health, rose with a very
gracious air and left the room.

Thus stood affairs in Dresden, when from the direction of Luetzen there
gathered over poor Kohlhaas another thunder-storm, even more serious,
whose lightning-flash the crafty knights were clever enough to draw
down upon the horse-dealer's unlucky head. It so happened that one of
the band of men that Kohlhaas had collected and turned off again after
the appearance of the electoral amnesty, Johannes Nagelschmidt by
name, had found it expedient, some weeks later, to muster again on the
Bohemian frontier a part of this rabble which was ready to take part
in any infamy, and to continue on his own account the profession on
the track of which Kohlhaas had put him. This good-for-nothing fellow
called himself a vicegerent of Kohlhaas, partly to inspire with fear
the officers of the law who were after him, and partly, by the use of
familiar methods, to beguile the country people into participating in
his rascalities. With a cleverness which he had learned from his
master, he had it noised abroad that the amnesty had not been kept in
the case of several men who had quietly returned to their
homes--indeed that Kohlhaas himself had, with a faithlessness which
cried aloud to heaven, been arrested on his arrival in Dresden and
placed under a guard. He carried it so far that, in manifestos which
were very similar to those of Kohlhaas, his incendiary band appeared
as an army raised solely for the glory of God and meant to watch over
the observance of the amnesty promised by the Elector. All this, as we
have already said, was done by no means for the glory of God nor out
of attachment for Kohlhaas, whose fate was a matter of absolute
indifference to the outlaws, but in order to enable them, under cover
of such dissimulation, to burn and plunder with the greater ease and
impunity.

When the first news of this reached Dresden the knights could not
conceal their joy over the occurrence, which lent an entirely
different aspect to the whole matter. With wise and displeased
allusions they recalled the mistake which had been made when, in spite
of their urgent and repeated warnings, an amnesty had been granted
Kohlhaas, as if those who had been in favor of it had had the
deliberate intention of giving to miscreants of all kinds the signal
to follow in his footsteps. Not content with crediting Nagelschmidt's
pretext that he had taken up arms merely to lend support and security
to his oppressed master, they even expressed the decided opinion that
his whole course was nothing but an enterprise contrived by Kohlhaas
in order to frighten the government, and to hasten and insure the
rendering of a verdict, which, point for point, should satisfy his mad
obstinacy. Indeed the Cup-bearer, Sir Hinz, went so far as to declare
to some hunting-pages and courtiers who had gathered round him after
dinner in the Elector's antechamber that the breaking up of the
marauding band in Luetzen had been but a cursed pretense. He was very
merry over the Lord High Chancellor's alleged love of justice; by
cleverly connecting various circumstances he proved that the band was
still extant in the forests of the Electorate and was only waiting for
a signal from the horse-dealer to break out anew with fire and sword.

Prince Christiern of Meissen, very much displeased at this turn in
affairs, which threatened to fleck his sovereign's honor in the most
painful manner, went immediately to the palace to confer with the
Elector. He saw quite clearly that it would be to the interest of the
knights to ruin Kohlhaas, if possible, on the ground of new crimes,
and he begged the Elector to give him permission to have an immediate
judicial examination of the horse-dealer. Kohlhaas, somewhat
astonished at being conducted to the Government Office by a constable,
appeared with his two little boys, Henry and Leopold, in his arms; for
Sternbald, his servant, had arrived the day before with his five
children from Mecklenburg, where they had been staying. When Kohlhaas
had started to leave for the Government Office the two boys had burst
into childish tears, begging him to take them along, and various
considerations too intricate to unravel made him decide to pick them
up and carry them with him to the hearing. Kohlhaas placed the
children beside him, and the Prince, after looking benevolently at
them and asking, with friendly interest, their names and ages, went on
to inform Kohlhaas what liberties Nagelschmidt, his former follower,
was taking in the valleys of the Ore Mountains, and handing him the
latter's so-called mandates he told him to produce whatever he had to
offer for his vindication. Although the horse-dealer was deeply
alarmed by these shameful and traitorous papers, he nevertheless had
little difficulty in explaining satisfactorily to so upright a man as
the Prince the groundlessness of the accusations brought against him
on this score. Besides the fact that, so far as he could observe, he
did not, as the matter now stood, need any help as yet from a third
person in bringing about the decision of his lawsuit, which was
proceeding most favorably, some papers which he had with him and
showed to the Prince made it appear highly improbable that
Nagelschmidt should be inclined to render him help of that sort, for,
shortly before the dispersion of the band in Luetzen, he had been on
the point of having the fellow hanged for a rape committed in the
open country, and other rascalities. Only the appearance of the
electoral amnesty had saved Nagelschmidt, as it had severed all
relations between them, and on the next day they had parted as mortal
enemies.

Kohlhaas, with the Prince's approval of the idea, sat down and wrote a
letter to Nagelschmidt in which he declared that the latter's pretense
of having taken the field in order to maintain the amnesty which had
been violated with regard to him and his band, was a disgraceful and
vicious fabrication. He told him that, on his arrival in Dresden, he
had neither been imprisoned nor handed over to a guard, also that his
lawsuit was progressing exactly as he wished, and, as a warning for
the rabble who had gathered around Nagelschmidt, he gave him over to
the full vengeance of the law for the outrages which he had committed
in the Ore Mountains after the publication of the amnesty. Some
portions of the criminal prosecution which the horse-dealer had
instituted against him in the castle at Luetzen on account of the
above-mentioned disgraceful acts, were also appended to the letter to
enlighten the people concerning the good-for-nothing fellow, who even
at that time had been destined for the gallows, and, as already
stated, had only been saved by the edict issued by the Elector. In
consequence of this letter the Prince appeased Kohlhaas' displeasure
at the suspicion which, of necessity, they had been obliged to express
in this hearing; he went on to declare that, while he remained in
Dresden, the amnesty granted him should not be violated in any way;
then, after presenting to the boys some fruit that was on his table,
he shook hands with them once more, saluted Kohlhaas, and dismissed
him.

The Lord High Chancellor, who nevertheless recognized the danger that
was threatening the horse-dealer, did his utmost to bring his lawsuit
to an end before it should be complicated and confused by new
developments; this, however, was exactly what the diplomatic knights
desired and aimed at. Instead of silently acknowledging their guilt,
as at first, and obtaining merely a less severe sentence, they now
began with pettifogging and crafty subterfuges to deny this guilt
itself entirely. Sometimes they pretended that the black horses
belonging to Kohlhaas had been detained at Tronka Castle on the
arbitrary authority of the castellan and the steward, and that the
Squire had known little, if anything, of their actions. At other times
they declared that, even on their arrival at the castle, the animals
had been suffering from a violent and dangerous cough, and, in
confirmation of the fact, they referred to witnesses whom they pledged
themselves to produce. Forced to withdraw these arguments after many
long-drawn-out investigations and explanations, they even cited an
electoral edict of twelve years before, in which the importation of
horses from Brandenburg into Saxony had actually been forbidden, on
account of a plague among the cattle. This circumstance, according to
them, made it as clear as day that the Squire not only had the
authority, but also was under obligation, to hold up the horses that
Kohlhaas had brought across the border. Kohlhaas, meanwhile, had
bought back his farm at Kohlhaasenbrueck from the honest bailiff, in
return for a small compensation for the loss sustained. He wished,
apparently in connection with the legal settlement of this business,
to leave Dresden for some days and return to his home, in which
determination, however, the above-mentioned matter of business,
imperative as it may actually have been on account of sowing the
winter crops, undoubtedly played less part than the intention of
testing his position under such unusual and critical circumstances. He
may perhaps also have been influenced by reasons of still another kind
which we will leave to every one who is acquainted with his own heart
to divine.

In pursuance of this resolve he betook himself to the Lord Chancellor,
leaving behind the guard which had been assigned to him. He carried
with him the letters from the bailiff, and explained that if, as
seemed to be the case, he were not urgently needed in court, he would
like to leave the city and go to Brandenburg for a week or ten days,
within which time he promised to be back again. The Lord High
Chancellor, looking down with a displeased and dubious expression,
replied that he must acknowledge that Kohlhaas' presence was more
necessary just then than ever, as the court, on account of the
prevaricating and tricky tactics of the opposition, required his
statements and explanations at a thousand points that could not be
foreseen. However, when Kohlhaas referred him to his lawyer, who was
well informed concerning the lawsuit, and with modest importunity
persisted in his request, promising to confine his absence to a week,
the Lord Chancellor, after a pause, said briefly, as he dismissed him,
that he hoped that Kohlhaas would apply to Prince Christiern of
Meissen for passports.

Kohlhaas, who could read the Lord Chancellor's face perfectly, was
only strengthened in his determination. He sat down immediately and,
without giving any reason, asked the Prince of Meissen, as head of the
Government Office, to furnish him passports for a week's journey to
Kohlhaasenbrueck and back. In reply to this letter he received a
cabinet order signed by the Governor of the Palace, Baron Siegfried
Wenk, to the effect that his request for passports to Kohlhaasenbrueck
would be laid before his serene highness the Elector, and as soon as
his gracious consent had been received the passports would be sent to
him. When Kohlhaas inquired of his lawyer how the cabinet order came
to be signed by a certain Baron, Siegfried Wenk, and not by Prince
Christiern of Meissen to whom he had applied, he was told that the
Prince had set out for his estates three days before, and during his
absence the affairs of the Government Office had been put in the hands
of the Governor of the Palace, Baron Siegfried Wenk, a cousin of the
gentleman of the same name who has been already mentioned.

Kohlhaas, whose heart was beginning to beat uneasily amid all these
complications, waited several days for the decision concerning his
petition which had been laid before the person of the sovereign with
such a surprising amount of formality. A week passed, however, and
more than a week, without the arrival of this decision; nor had
judgment been pronounced by the Tribunal, although it had been
definitely promised him. Finally, on the twelfth day, Kohlhaas, firmly
resolved to force the government to proclaim its intentions toward
him, let them be what they would, sat down and, in an urgent request,
once more asked the Government Office for the desired passports. On
the evening of the following day, which had likewise passed without
the expected answer, he was walking up and down, thoughtfully
considering his position and especially the amnesty procured for him
by Dr. Luther, when, on approaching the window of his little back
room, he was astonished not to see the soldiers in the little
out-building on the courtyard which he had designated as quarters for
the guard assigned him by the Prince of Meissen at the time of his
arrival. He called Thomas, the old porter, to him and asked what it
meant. The latter answered with a sigh, "Sir, something is wrong! The
soldiers, of whom there are more today than usual, distributed
themselves around the whole house when it began to grow dark; two with
shield and spear are standing in the street before the front door, two
are at the back door in the garden, and two others are lying on a
truss of straw in the vestibule and say that they are going to sleep
there."

Kohlhaas grew pale and turned away, adding that it really did not
matter, provided they were still there, and that when Thomas went down
into the corridor he should place a light so that the soldiers could
see. Then he opened the shutter of the front window under the pretext
of emptying a vessel, and convinced himself of the truth of the
circumstance of which the old man had informed him, for just at that
moment the guard was actually being changed without a sound, a
precaution which had never before entered any one's head as long as
the arrangement had existed. After which, Kohlhaas, having made up his
mind immediately what he would do on the morrow, went to bed, though,
to be sure, he felt little desire to sleep. For nothing in the course
of the government with which he was dealing displeased him more than
this outward form of justice, while in reality it was violating in his
case the amnesty promised him, and in case he were to be considered
really a prisoner--as could no longer be doubted--he intended to wring
from the government the definite and straightforward statement that
such was the case.

In accordance with this plan, at earliest dawn he had Sternbald, his
groom, harness his wagon and drive up to the door, intending, as he
explained, to drive to Lockwitz to see the steward, an old
acquaintance of his, who had met him a few days before in Dresden and
had invited him and his children to visit him some time. The soldiers,
who, putting their heads together, had watched the stir which these
preparations were causing in the household, secretly sent off one of
their number to the city and, a few minutes later, a government clerk
appeared at the head of several constables and went into the house
opposite, pretending to have some business there. Kohlhaas, who was
occupied in dressing his boys, likewise noticed the commotion and
intentionally kept the wagon waiting in front of the house longer than
was really necessary. As soon as he saw that the arrangements of the
police were completed, without paying any attention to them he came
out before the house with his children. He said, in passing, to the
group of soldiers standing in the doorway that they did not need to
follow him; then he lifted the boys into the wagon and kissed and
comforted the weeping little girls who, in obedience to his orders,
were to remain behind with the daughter of the old porter. He had no
sooner climbed up on the wagon himself than the government clerk, with
the constables who accompanied him, stepped up from the opposite
house and asked where he was going. To the answer of Kohlhaas that he
was going to Lockwitz to see his friend, the steward, who a few days
before had invited him and his two boys to visit him in the country,
the clerk replied that in that case Kohlhaas must wait a few moments,
as some mounted soldiers would accompany him in obedience to the order
of the Prince of Meissen. From his seat on the wagon Kohlhaas asked
smilingly whether he thought that his life would not be safe in the
house of a friend who had offered to entertain him at his table for a
day.

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