I had discussed the general situation with my friend Uhlig, as
well as the efficacy of the water-cure system; he had just come
home fresh from orchestral rehearsals at the Dresden theatre, and
found it very difficult to agree to a drastic change in human
affairs or to have any faith in it. He assured me that I could
not conceive how miserable and mean people were in general, but I
managed to delude him into the belief that the year 1852 would be
pregnant with great and important events. Our opinions on this
subject were expressed in the correspondence which was once more
diligently forwarded by Figaro.

Whenever we had to complain of any meanness or untoward
circumstance, I always reminded him of this year, so great with
fate and hope, and at the same time I hinted that we had better
look forward quite calmly to the time when the great 'upheaval'
should take place, as only then, when no one else knew what to
do, could we step in and make a start.

I can hardly express how deeply and firmly this hope had taken
possession of me, and I can only attribute all my confident
opinions and declarations to the increased excitement of my
nerves. The news of the coup d'etat of the 2nd of December in
Paris seemed to me absolutely incredible, and I thought the world
was surely coming to an end. When the news was confirmed, and
events which no one believed could ever happen had apparently
occurred and seemed likely to be permanent, I gave the whole
thing up like a riddle which it was beneath me to unravel, and
turned away in disgust from the contemplation of this puzzling
world. As a playful reminiscence of our hopes of the year 1852, I
suggested to Uhlig that in our correspondence during that year we