Markus Moesslang,Chris Manias and Torsten Riotte,eds,British Envoys to Germany 1816–1866. Vol IV: 1851–1866

Reviewed by: David Brown, University of Strathclyde, UK

This is the final volume of reports from British diplomats posted to the states of the German Confederation in the half century before the war between Prussia and most of the other German states in 1866 which served as a prelude to a dramatic reconfiguration of power in Germany. As with the previous volumes (published in 2000, 2002 and 2006) the dispatches presented here represent a selection from the voluminous files in the National Archives at Kew. In identifying and making accessible this material the series serves a very valuable function in helping to refine understandings of Anglo-German relations during a crucial period.

One of the great strengths of a collection of reports from the German states at this time is the continuity one finds in terms of authorship. As the editors point out, very many of the envoys included here enjoyed lengthy tenures of office allowing their reports to be infused with deep understandings of the states they reported on. (An appendix to Frank Lorenz Müller’s Britain and the German Question (2002), a study which might usefully be read alongside these documents, provides further detail to illustrate the point.) While demands for retrenchment in Britain might have led to numerous calls for a reduction in the diplomatic postings to the German states in the 1850s and 1860s, it is fortunate for all concerned that these were clearly rebuffed by ministers (in 1850 Palmerston said simply ‘No’, while Minto suggested a little more diplomatically that it would be ‘unadvisable’). While some British politicians may have found the intricacies of German federalism less than compelling, the picture of German politics built up by these reports was useful precisely because it was based on a wide-ranging survey of opinion and events throughout the German states and did not succumb to calls for a simplified digest. It may have been that this also meant that the missions to Germany created an ‘indispensable’ ‘job market for diplomats’ (4), but there was more at stake here than individuals’ careers. To take but one example, it is interesting to compare popular responses to the war in the Crimea as evidenced in these reports. From Hamburg, George Lloyd Hodges reported in September 1855 that while the nobility there (and ‘throughout all Germany’) ‘are inclined to Russia’, the commercial classes were in favour of France and Britain (190). In Hanover at the same time, however, John Duncan Bligh found ‘except from Newspapers, this apathetic People is little disposed to trouble themselves about seeking for political knowledge or inspirations’ (235). It is not surprising to read, therefore, that the British government was keen to explore the possibility of establishing pro-British newspapers in Germany, such as was outlined in a letter from Alexander Malet at Frankfurt in August 1855 (42–4).

The volume is structured geographically with reports gathered together from the Diet of the German Confederation (Frankfurt), Prussia (Berlin), Hanse Towns (Hamburg), Hanover, Saxony (Dresden), Württemburg (Stuttgart), Bavaria (Munich) and Austria (Vienna). Inevitably, perhaps, Prussia dominates, but only slightly, and overall the selection of reports is fairly evenly balanced between the different missions. The emphasis is decidedly political and reflects the editorial policy of ignoring material dealing with non-German affairs that says nothing about Anglo-German relations. Episodes and themes such as the Crimean War, relations between the individual German states, the political contest between Prussia and Austria, and crises such as the Schleswig Holstein question, therefore, loom large (whatever Palmerston might have said about that latter issue, it is clear that there were more than two or three people who understood it). There is also a good deal of discussion of internal German politics and social developments within the states. This is all extremely valuable and fully confirms the editor’s claim that this period ‘should be seen as more than just a time of transition between revolution and unification’. While these political subjects account for the vast majority of the material gathered here, it is interesting to read about other topics that were seen to impact on relations between Britain and Germany in this period: thus we learn something about the traffic in English prostitutes abducted and forced into ‘a life of the most degrading vice’ as reported from Hamburg (191–2); and of the merits of the penal system in Saxony (which employed a ‘system of private execution’, beyond the public gaze, which ‘might well be introduced everywhere’ (307–8). Elsewhere, reports furnish observations on subjects as varied as British and German shared interests and trade in agricultural technology and livestock (209–10); on architecture in Saxony (306–7); on cultural events such as the ‘Monster Choral Meeting’ in Dresden in July 1865 (330–1); and on the work of Professor Liebig to extract the ‘essence of meat’ from the flesh of animals slaughtered for their hide and tallow as a means of producing cheap but nutritious food. Such examples allow us to examine relations between these states from intriguing new perspectives.

The letters are usefully, accurately, and clearly annotated and indexed (and this may be supplemented by reference to the excellent on-line combined index for all four volumes). As such, this edition is an invaluable resource for studies of British perceptions of German affairs and will satisfy the needs and interests of most students of the subject. It is good news, therefore, that the project is now to be extended, and we can look forward to similar volumes focused on the reports of British Envoys to the Kaiserreich.