the background being closed by a gigantic
outline of the much-cherished, highly-venerated
Pagoda Tree.

CAUSE AND EFFECT.

ONE September evening ten years ago I
rode into Carlsruhe. I made my entry in a
crazy hackney cab behind a lazy horse that
had been dragging me for a long time with
cheerless industry between a double file of
trees, along a road without a bend in it; a
long, lanky, Quaker road, heavily drab-
coated with dust; a tight-rope of a road that
comes from Mannheim, and is hooked on to
the capital of Baden. Out of that allée I
was dragged into the square-cut capital itself,
which had evidently been planned by the
genius of a ruler—not a prince, but the
wooden measure. The horse stopped at the
City of Pfortzheim, and as his decision on the
subject of our halting-place appeared to be
irrevocable, I got out.

At the capital of a grand dukedom, except
Weimar, I always sleep (it is the only thing
to be done there) and pass on; but it so
happened that on that particular evening
Carlsruhe was in a ferment:  there was
something brewing. I heard talk of a procession
and of certain names, particularly
the names Kugelblitz and Thalermacher.
Never having heard those names before, and
caring therefore nothing in the world
about them, I tumbled into bed. To my
delight, when I got up in the morning, I
found the little town turned upside down.
Landlord, boots, and chambermaid, overwhelmed
me with exclamations, surmises, and
incoherent summaries of the night's news.
There had been an outbreak. Lieber Herr, a
revolution. One entire house razed to the
ground. "Hep! hep!" that is the old cry,
"Down with the Jews." All their bones
would be made powder of. Tremendous
funeral of Kugelblitz. Students on their way
in a body from Heidelberg. Thalermacher
the rich Jew, soldiers, the entire court,
Meinheer, all in despair; a regular sack.
Not only Kugelblitz, but Demboffsky the
Russian officer killed. O hep! hep! a
lamentable tragedy. "For they were two
such fine-looking young men," mourned
the chambermaid. "especially Demboffsky."
"You had better," said the landlord, "stay
in Carlsruhe till to-morrow. Bed two florins,
breakfast (knife and fork) two florins, dinner
three." Very moderate. I did stay.

Roused by the incoherent tidings, I
hurried to the centre of the tumult. The
house of the firm of Thalermacher and
Company was situated in the High Street;
and though, certainly, it had a doleful look,
it was there situated still: it held its ground.
Not a brick was displaced; but—gaunt and
windowless, disfigured with great blotches of
ink and dirt, its little shop rent from the wall
and split up into faggots—it looked like a
house out of which all life had been knocked;
but there was the carcase. In the street
before the house, there were by that time a
few splinters of furniture remaining; the
rest had been broken up or hidden by kind
and cunning neighbours. The shop had been
cobbled together with the broken shutters;
and half-a-dozen soldiers, quite at their ease,
were lounging pleasantly about the broken
door.

The outbreak, I was told by the bystanders,
was quite unpremeditated. A few stragglers
had halted before the house at about eight
o'clock on the preceding evening, and had
been discussing there the dreadful tale
connected with its owner. One gossip, in a
sudden burst of anger, hurled a bottle of ink—
then by chance in his hand—at the Jew's
house. The idea was taken up with such
good will that a hard rain of stones, bottles,
and other missiles, was soon pelting against
Thalermacher's walls. Where all are unanimous
it is not difficult to come to a conclusion.
An hour's labour, lightened by yells and
shouts of "Hep, hep!" was enough; and, the
zeal of the people, burning like a fire, soon left
of the house nothing but its shell.

The authorities in Germany, usually so
watchful and so prompt to interfere, were
either taken completely off their guard, or
tacitly permitted the rude work of vengeance;
for, although there was a guard-post in the
immediate vicinity, the whole efforts of the
military were confined to conducting
Thalertnacher and his family into a place of safety.
The protection Thalermacher received was of
a peculiar kind. Under the plea of insuring
him against public attack, he was conducted
under escort, to the fortress of Rastadt, and
there held a close prisoner, until the whole
affair could be investigated.

The funeral procession of Lieutenant
Kugelblitz was not a thing to be missed. I
went, therefore, to the other end of the
city, whence the procession was to start.
The scene was impressive. Not merely his
brothers-in-arms of the artillery; but the
general staff—all officers of distinction in the
Baden army, whose duties allowed them to be
present—and even the Russian companions of
his antagonist Demboffsky, acted as mourners.

As the procession came before the house of
Thalermacher, I observed that a strong guard
had been posted there for its protection. The
funeral passed by without any demonstration
whatever. Presently we turned up a narrow
passage, leading from the high street towards
the cemetery, and our progress became
tediously slow as we moved through the close
mass of people. At the burial-place every
mound and stone was occupied. Flowers
were trampled under foot, shrubs broken or
uprooted, and the grass all stamped into the
mould. The whole crowd listened to the
impressive tone—only a few could hear the
words—of the funeral harangue, and to the
solemn hymn which followed. The service