THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
levying of octroi duties which were levied at the gates of the city on the food-stuffs brought to the town. We did this in driving the revenue officers from their posts, which pleased the peasants, who were at once ready to bring their products free of duty into the city. This led to conflicts with the police in which, however, we easily had the upper hand.
Now it appeared to us unnecessary to seize upon the general
machinery of the tax-department. The next day a committee,
of which I was a member, appeared at the city hall to take
possession of it. The Burgomaster received us with great
politeness and listened quietly to what we had to say to him about
the authority of the Constituent Assembly and its power to stop
the payment of taxes; but he tried to amuse us with all sorts
of evasive talk. At last we became impatient and demanded
an immediate and definite answer according to which we would
resolve upon further measures. Suddenly we noticed a change
in the expression of the Burgomaster's face. He seemed to
hearken to something going on outside and then, still politely
but with a sort of triumphant smile on his lips, he said:
“Gentlemen, your answer you will have to receive from somebody
else. Do you hear that?” Now we hearkened too, and
heard a still distant, but approaching, sound of a military band
playing the Prussian national air. The music sounded nearer
and nearer in the street leading up from the Rhine. In a few
minutes it reached the market-place and behind it came the
heavy tramp of an infantry column which presently filled a
large part of the square in front of the city hall. Our conversation
with the Burgomaster of course came to a sudden end
and we thought it very decent on his part that he permitted us
to leave the building undisturbed.
The appearance of the military was easily explained. As soon as we began to refuse the payment of taxes, the authorities
[ 156 ]
