The Avenger

Quiet City

That series of terrific events by which our quiet city anduniversity in the northeastern quarter of Germany were convulsedduring the year 1816, has in itself, and considered merely as ablind movement of human tiger-passion ranging unchained among men,something too memorable to be forgotten or left without its ownseparate record; but the moral lesson impressed by these events isyet more memorable, and deserves the deep attention of cominggenerations in their struggle after human improvement, not merelyin its own limited field of interest directly awakened, but in allanalogous fields of interest; as in fact already, and more thanonce, in connection with these very events, this lesson hasobtained the effectual attention of Christian kings and princesassembled in congress. No tragedy, indeed, among all the sad onesby which the charities of the human heart or of the fireside haveever been outraged, can better merit a separate chapter in theprivate history of German manners or social life than thisunparalleled case. And, on the other hand, no one can put in a

better claim to bethe historian than myself.    

I was at the time, and still am, a professor in that city anduniversity which had the melancholy distinction of being itstheater. I knew familiarly all the parties who were concerned init, either as sufferers or as agents. I was present from first tolast, and watched the whole course of the mysterious storm whichfell upon our devoted city in a strength like that of a West Indianhurricane, and which did seriously threaten at one time todepopulate our university, through the dark suspicions whichsettled upon its members, and the natural reaction of generousindignation in repelling them; while the city in its morestationary and native classes would very soon have manifested THEIRawful sense of things, of the hideous insecurity for life, and ofthe unfathomable dangers which had undermined their hearths belowtheir very feet, by sacrificing, whenever circumstances allowedthem, their houses and beautiful gardens in exchange for daysuncursed by panic, and nights unpolluted by blood. Nothing, I cantake upon myself to assert, was left undone of all that humanforesight could suggest, or human ingenuity could accomplish. Butobserve the melancholy result: the more certain did thesearrangements strike people as remedies for the evil, so much themore effectually did they aid the terror, but, above all, the awe,the sense of mystery, when ten cases of total extermination,applied to separate households, had occurred, in every one of whichthese precautionary aids had failed to yield the slightestassistance. The horror, the perfect frenzy of fear, which seizedupon the town after that experience, baffles all attempt atdescription. Had these various contrivances failed merely in somehuman and intelligible way, as by bringing the aid too tardily--still, in such cases, though the danger would no less have beenevidently deepened, nobody would have felt any further mystery thanwhat, from the very first, rested upon the persons and the motivesof the murderers. But, as it was, when, in ten separate cases ofexterminating carnage, the astounded police, after an examinationthe most searching, pursued from day to day, and almost exhaustingthe patience by the minuteness of the investigation, had finallypronounced that no attempt apparently had been made to benefit byany of the signals preconcerted, that no footstep apparently hadmoved in that direction--then, and after that result, a blindmisery of fear fell upon the population, so much the worse than anyanguish of a beleaguered city that is awaiting the storming fury ofa victorious enemy, by how much the shadowy, the uncertain, theinfinite, is at all times more potent in mastering the mind than adanger that is known, measurable, palpable, and human. The verypolice, instead of offering protection or encouragement, wereseized with terror for themselves. And the general feeling, as itwas described to me by a grave citizen whom I met in a morning walk(for the overmastering sense of a public calamity broke down everybarrier of reserve, and all men talked freely to all men in thestreets, as they would have done during the rockings of anearthquake), was, even among the boldest, like that which sometimestakes possession of the mind in dreams--when one feels oneselfsleeping alone, utterly divided from all call or hearing offriends, doors open that should be shut, or unlocked that should betriply secured, the very walls gone, barriers swallowed up byunknown abysses, nothing around one but frail curtains, and a worldof illimitable night, whisperings at a distance, correspondencegoing on between darkness and darkness, like one deep calling toanother, and the dreamer's own heart the center from which thewhole network of this unimaginable chaos radiates, by means ofwhich the blank PRIVATIONS of silence and darkness become powers

the most POSITIVE andawful.    

Agencies of fear, as of any other passion, and, above all, ofpassion felt in communion with thousands, and in which the heartbeats in conscious sympathy with an entire city, through all itsregions of high and low, young and old, strong and weak; suchagencies avail to raise and transfigure the natures of men; meanminds become elevated; dull men become eloquent; and when matterscame to this crisis, the public feeling, as made known by voice,gesture, manner, or words, was such that no stranger couldrepresent it to his fancy. In that respect, therefore, I had anadvantage, being upon the spot through the whole course of theaffair, for giving a faithful narrative; as I had still moreeminently, from the sort of central station which I occupied, withrespect to all the movements of the case. I may add that I hadanother advantage, not possessed, or not in the same degree, by anyother inhabitant of the town. I was personally acquainted withevery family of the slightest account belonging to the residentpopulation; whether among the old local gentry, or the new settlerswhom the late wars had driven to take refuge within our walls. It was in September, 1815, that I received a letter from the chiefsecretary to the Prince of M----, a nobleman connected with thediplomacy of Russia, from which I quote an extract: "I wish, inshort, to recommend to your attentions, and in terms stronger thanI know how to devise, a young man on whose behalf the czar himselfis privately known to have expressed the very strongest interest.He was at the battle of Waterloo as an aide-de-camp to a Dutchgeneral officer, and is decorated with distinctions won upon thatawful day. However, though serving in that instance under Englishorders, and although an Englishman of rank, he does not belong tothe English military service. He has served, young as he is, underVARIOUS banners, and under ours, in particular, in the cavalry ofour imperial guard. He is English by birth, nephew to the Earl ofE., and heir presumptive to his immense estates. There is a wildstory current, that his mother was a gypsy of transcendent beauty,which may account for his somewhat Moorish complexion, though,after all, THAT is not of a deeper tinge than I have seen amongmany an Englishman. He is himself one of the noblest looking ofGod's creatures. Both father and mother, however, are now dead.Since then he has become the favorite of his uncle, who detainedhim in England after the emperor had departed--and, as this uncleis now in the last stage of infirmity, Mr. Wyndham's succession tothe vast family estates is inevitable, and probably near at hand.Meantime, he is anxious for some assistance in his studies.Intellectually he stands in the very first rank of men, as I amsure you will not be slow to discover; but his long militaryservice, and the unparalleled tumult of our European history since1805, have interfered (as you may suppose) with the cultivation ofhis mind; for he entered the cavalry service of a German power whena mere boy, and shifted about from service to service as thehurricane of war blew from this point or from that. During theFrench anabasis to Moscow he entered our service, made himself aprodigious favorite with the whole imperial family, and even now isonly in his twenty-second year. As to his accomplishments, theywill speak for themselves; they are infinite, and applicable toevery situation of life. Greek is what he wants from you;--neverask about terms. He will acknowledge any trouble he may give you,as he acknowledges all trouble, en prince. And ten years hence youwill look back with pride upon having contributed your part to theformation of one whom all here at St. Petersburg, not soldiersonly, but we diplomates, look upon as certain to prove a great man,

and a leader amongthe intellects of Christendom."