127b. Friedrich Schlegel to Wilhelm Schlegel in Amsterdam: Leipzig, 2 June 1793 [*]
[Leipzig] 2 June 1793
My dear brother, at your request I immediately burned your copies of C[aroline]’s letters and am herewith sending her pages back to you. [1] You made me very glad indeed by sharing them; I empathized enormously with her situation, which she feels so deeply. And yet completely the way she had to, as I myself hoped. — How pathetic would the helplessness of even the most clever, charming women be in her place? —
She has suffered much, and yet I do confess to you that I feared things would be much worse, feared she was somehow genuinely involved in things, had perhaps been reviled, and survived it for the child’s sake. It is a tremendous advantage that she is being viewed as a hostage; now her honor has been completely saved, and it is now nothing more than an extreme inconvenience.
Indeed! even more — it is wholly inappropriate to keep her as a hostage, since she is not a territorial citizen in any case [2] and is only Böhmer’s sister-in-law; and it seems those who will be deciding her fate are in fact quite reasonable, fair men; there will probably be very little room indeed for cabals. I do in any case believe the Hannoverian government will be able to requisition her successfully, as a territorial citizen. [3] —
Has Tatter not been active in this matter at all? [4]
I wish you had given me a more thorough account about your possible journey to Germany [5] and would like to request further news, if possible also passages from [Caroline’s] letters, which always illuminate things best for me. . . .
Notes
[*] Walzel, 89; KFSA 23:99. Back.
[1] Friedrich had requested the letters in a letter to Wilhelm on 8 May 1793 (letter 125b). None of these letters or excerpts seem to have survived. Back.
[2] Viz., of Mainz. Back.
[3] As a native of Göttingen, Caroline was still a subject of the Electorate of Hannover. See the chapter on Lower Saxony in the supplementary appendix on Germany in the late eighteenth century, esp. the section on the Elector of Hannover. Back.
[4] Georg Ernst Tatter was currently in Italy with Prince Augustus. Concerning his lack of action on Caroline’s behalf, see his letter to to Luise Michaelis on 11 May 1793 (letter 125c). Back.
[5] To be of service to Caroline. As disclosed later, at some point she requested poison from him in case she were not released before her pregnancy became noticeable. As it was, Wilhelm would indeed come, but his task would then be to escort Caroline to Leipzig after her release. Back.
Translation © 2011 Doug Stott