Debit and Credit | Page 7

the Jews constitute in the country the class of
innkeepers and farmers; of course, they carry on some trade in addition.
The large banking establishments are partly, the smaller ones almost
exclusively, in their hands. They become, by these means, occasionally
the possessors of land; but they regard such property almost always as a
mere subject for speculation, and it is but rarely that the quondam
innkeeper or peddler settles down as a tiller of the soil. In Silesia, their
chief seat is in Breslau, where the general trade of the country, as well
as the purchase and the sale of land, is for the most part transacted. It is
a pretty general feeling in Germany that Freytag has not dealt
altogether impartially with this class, by failing to introduce in contrast
to the abandoned men whom he selects for exhibition a single honest,

upright Jew, a character not wanting among that remarkable people.
The inextinguishable higher element of our nature, and the fruits of
German culture, are manifested, it is true, in the Jewish hero of the tale,
ignorant alike of the world and its ways, buried among his cherished
books, and doomed to early death; but this is done more as a poetic
comfort to humanity than in honor of Judaism, from which plainly in
his inmost soul he had departed, that he might turn to the Christianized
spirit and to the poetry of the Gentiles.
The Polish element, however, is of still far greater importance. Forming,
as they once did, with the exception of a few German settlements, the
entire population of the province, the Poles have become, in the course
of the last century, and especially since the removal of restrictions on
the sale of land, less numerous year by year. In Posen proper they
constitute, numerically, perhaps the half of the population; but in point
of prosperity and mental culture their influence is scarcely as one fourth
upon the whole. On the other hand, in some districts, as, for instance, in
Gnesen, the Polish influence predominates in the towns, and reigns
undisputed in the country. The middle class is exclusively German or
Jewish; where these elements are lacking, there is none. The Polish
vassal, emancipated by the enactment of 1810, is gradually ripening
into an independent yeoman, and knows full well that he owes his
freedom, not to his former Polish masters, but to Prussian legislation
and administration. The exhibition of these social relations, as they
were manifested by the contending parties in 1848, is, in all respects,
one of the most admirable portions of our novel. The events are all
vividly depicted, and, in all essential points, historically true. One
feature here appears, little known in foreign lands, but deserving
careful observation, not only on its own account, but as a key to the
meaning and intention of the attractive narrative before us.
The two national elements may be thus generally characterized: The
Prusso-German element is Protestant; the Polish element is Catholic.
Possessing equal rights, the former is continually pressing onward with
irresistible force, as in Ireland, in virtue of the principles of industry
and frugality by which it is animated. This is true alike of landlord and
tenant, of merchant and official.

The passionate and ill-regulated Polish element stands forth in
opposition--the intellectual and peculiarly courteous and accomplished
nobility, as well as the priesthood--but in vain. Seeing that the law
secures perfect equality of rights, and is impartially administered; that,
besides, the conduct of the German settlers is correct and inoffensive,
the Poles can adduce no well-grounded causes of complaint either
against their neighbors or the government. It is their innate want of
order that throws business, money, and, at length, the land itself, into
the hands of Jews and Protestants. This fact is also here worthy of
notice, that the Jewish usurer is disappearing or withdrawing wherever
the Protestant element is taking firmer ground. The Jew remains in the
country, but becomes a citizen, and sometimes even a
peasant-proprietor. This phenomenon is manifesting itself also in other
places where there is a concurrence of the German and Slavonic
elements. In Prussia, however, there is this peculiarity in addition, of
which Freytag has made the most effective use--I mean the education
of the Prussian people, not alone in the national schools, but also in the
science of national defense, which this people of seventeen millions has
in common with Sparta and with Rome.
It is well known that every Prussian not physically disqualified, of
whatever rank he be, must become a soldier. The volunteer serves in
the line for one year, and without pay; other persons serve for two or
three years. Thereafter, all beyond the age of twenty-five are yearly
called out as militia, and drilled for several weeks after harvest. This
enactment has