Section 102 The Drama of the French Revolution of 1848 — II
What is to be done? The king is thunderstruck1, hesitates for a moment, and2 then, urged3 by the queen, instantly leaves the room. The4 queen follows5 her husband with her (S. 43, N. 9, A) eyes from the palace window. She sees6 him on horseback7 reviewing8 the National Guards9. She has no fear, neither10 has he. What11 more? He returns, accompanied3 by12 the man whom13, yesterday, to satisfy public clamour, he created Prime Minister. Has the Minister power to save his master? You (S. 92, N. 5) observe at14 a glance that15 he is far more anxious to save himself. He craves16 permission to resign. Permission17 is granted, when (S. 4, N. 2) a volley18 is (S. 4, N. 4) heard close19 to their ears. What does it mean? This20 man will tell you who now enters. The King has a pen in his hand, with which he is about (S. 6, N. 4) to appoint his new Prime Minister. “Sign21 not,” shouts the22 last comer, a23 man of the press, with the face24 of a student, and the spirit25 of a soldier. “Sign rather26 your own abdication.” The situation is fine27. The pen drops28 from the King’s fingers; the speaker29 takes it up, and quietly30 replaces31 it in the Monarch’s hand (see S. 43, N. 9).
S. 27, N. 4 will show the construction in connection with the passive voice.
Notes
1 wie vom Donner gerührt.
2 Here place the verb ‘leaves’.
3 The Past (Perfect) Participle is often used elliptically to denote an existing state or condition; as—
Urged by his father, he instantly left the room. Von seinem Vater gedrängt, verließ er eiligst das Zimmer.
4 Construe this period by beginning with the adverbial clause ‘from the palace window’, von den Fenstern des Palastes aus. The verb must then follow immediately. To denote a starting point with respect to place, the English preposition ‘from’ is generally translated by von followed by the prepositional adverb aus, or by aus... hinaus when the verb indicates a motion from one place to another. In relation to time we use von... an, which often corresponds to the English ‘beginning with’, or to ‘from’ followed by ‘forwards’; as—
Beginning with to-morrow (From to-morrow forwards) you must take a walk every day. Von morgen an müssen Sie jeden Tag spazieren gehen.
5 folgen requires the dative.
6 see S. 78, N. 14.
7 zu Pferde.
8 mustern.
9 the National Guards, die Nationalgarde.
10 neither has he = and he also not.
11 Was giebt’s weiter?
12 by the man, von einem Manne.
13 ‘whom — Minister’, construe ‘whom he only (erst) yesterday appointed Prime Minister, to satisfy (genügen, with the dat.) the impetuous (ungestüm) demands of the people’. To appoint, to create, ernennen. Verbs denoting choosing and appointing, as ernennen, machen, and erwählen, to choose, to elect, require in German an Accusative followed by the prep. zu with the dative, when in English they govern two Accusatives in the active voice; as—
The King appointed Prince Bismarck Prime Minister. Der König ernannte den Fürsten Bismarck zum Premierminister.
14 at a glance, augenblicklich.
15 that — anxious, daß es ihm viel mehr darum zu thun ist.
16 to crave permission to resign, um Erlaubnis bitten, sein Amt nie´derlegen zu dürfen.
17 Use the def. art. with this noun, and supply the dat. of the pers. pron. er after the auxiliary; the verb is in the passive voice.
18 Musketensalve, f.
19 close to their ears = in the immediate neighbourhood.
20 ‘This — enters’ may be briefly rendered: Der soeben Eintretende wird es uns zu erkennen geben.
21 unterschrei´ben, insep. comp. str. v., which use in the 3rd pers. pl. of the Imperative mood. As a mark of respect, the word ‘Sire’ may be inserted after this clause.
22 the — comer, der Hereingetretene.
23 ein Journalist.
24 ‘face’, here = impudence or boldness.
25 spirit = courage.
26 lieber.
27 fine = critical.
28 to drop from, entfallen, with the dat.
29 Form a noun of the present participle of the verb sprechen. The noun Sprecher applies, as a rule, to the Speaker in the English House of Commons. The Speaker in the Imperial German Reichstag is styled Präsident.
30 In German, when the subject stands before the verb, the adverb must never precede the latter or, in compound forms, the copula (auxiliary verb). Comp. App. § 9.
31 wieder geben.