One morning, toward the end of February 1848, I sat quietly in my attic chamber,
working hard at my tragedy of Ulrich von Hutten, when suddenly a friend rushed
breathlessly into the room, exclaiming: "What, you sitting here! Do you not know what
has happened?"
"No; what?"
"The French have driven away Louis Philippe and proclaimed the Republic!"
I threw down my pen---ant that was the end of Ulrich von Hutten. I never
touched the manuscript again. We tore down the stair, into the street, to the market
square, the accustomed meeting place for all the student societies after their midday
dinner. Although it was still forenoon, the market was already crowded with young men
talking excitedly. There was no shouting, no noise, only agitated conversation. What did
we want there? This probably no one knew. But since the French had driven away Louis
Philippe and proclaimed the republic, something of course must happen here, too. Some of
the students had brought their rapiers along, as if it were necessary to make an attack or
to defend themselves. We were dominated by a vague feeling as if a great outbreak of
elemental forces had begun, as if an earthquake was impending of which we had felt the
first shock, and we instinctively crowded together. Thus we wandered about in numerous
bands---to the Kneipe, where our restlessness, however, would not suffer us long to
stay; then to other pleasure resorts, where we fell into conversation with all manner of
strangers, to find in them the same confused, astonished, and expectant state of mind;
then back to the market square, to see what might be going on there; then again somewhere
else, without aim and end, until finally late in the night fatigue compelled us to find
the way home.
The next morning there were the usual lectures to be attended. But how profitless! The
voice of the professor sounded like a monotonous drone coming from far away. What he had
to say did not seem to concern us. The pen that should have taken notes remained idle. At
last we closed our notebooks with a sigh and went away, impelled by a feeling that now we
had something more important to do---to devote ourselves to the affairs of the fatherland.
And this we did by seeking again as quickly as possible the company of our friends, in
order to discuss what had happened and what was to come. In these conversations, excited
as they were, certain ideas and catchwords worked themselves to the surface, which
expressed more or less the feelings of the people. Now had arrived in Germany the day for
the establishment of "German Unity," and the founding of a great, powerful,
national German empire. First in line the convocation of a national parliament. Then the
demands for civil rights and liberties, free speech, free press, the right of free
assembly, equality before the law, a freely elected representation of the people with
legislative power, responsibility of ministers, self-government of the communes, the right
of the people to carry arms, the formation of a civic guard with elective officers and so
on---in short, that which was called a "Constitutional form of government on a broad
democratic basis."
Republican ideas were at first only sparingly expressed. But the word democracy was
soon on all tongues, and many, too, thought it a matter of course that if the princes
should try to withhold from the people the rights and liberties demanded, force would take
the place of mere petition. Of course the regeneration of the country must, if possible,
be accomplished by peaceable means. A few days after the outbreak of this commotion I
reached my nineteenth birthday. I remember to have been so entirely absorbed by what was
happening that I could hardly turn my thoughts to anything else. Like many of my friends,
I was dominated by the feeling that at last the great opportunity had arrived for giving
to the German people the liberty which was their birthright and to the German fatherland
its unity and greatness, and that it was now the first duty of every German to do and to
sacrifice everything for this sacred object. We were profoundly, solemnly, in earnest.
Great news came from Vienna! There the students of the university were the first to
assail the Emperor of Austria with the cry for liberty and citizens' rights. Blood flowed
in the streets, and the downfall of Prince Metternich was the result. The students
organized themselves as the armed guard of liberty. In the great cities of Prussia there
was a mighty commotion. Not only Cologne, Coblenz, and Trier, but also Breslau,
Königsberg, and Frankfurt-am-der-Oder, sent deputations to Berlin to entreat the king. In
the Prussian capital the masses surged upon the streets, and everybody looked for events
of great import.
While such tidings rushed in upon us from all sides like a roaring hurricane, we in the
little university town of Bonn were also busy preparing addresses to the sovereign, to
circulate them for signature, and to send them to Berlin. On the 18th of March we too had
our mass demonstration. A great multitude gathered for a solemn procession through the
streets of the town. The most respectable citizens, not a few professors, and a great
number of students and people of all grades marched in close ranks. At the head of the
procession Professor Kunkel bore the tricolor---black, red, and gold---which so long had
been prohibited as the revolutionary flag. Arrived in the market square, he mounted the
steps of the city hall and spoke to the assembled throng. He spoke with wonderful
eloquence, his voice ringing out in its most powerful tones as he depicted a resurrection
of German unity and greatness and new liberties and rights of the German people, which now
must be conceded by the princes or won by force by the people. And when at last he waved
the black-red-gold banner, and predicted to a free German nation a magnificent future,
enthusiasm without bounds broke forth. People clapped their hands; they shouted; they
embraced one another; they shed tears. In a moment the city was covered with black, red,
and gold flags, and not only the Burschenschaft, but almost everybody wore a
black-red-gold cockade on his hat.
