Germany, from the earliest period

EMPEROR WILLIAM II.

'£ 3JtBt (stories

GERMANY

FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD

BY

WOLFGANG MENZEL

TRANSLATED FROM THE FOURTH GERMAN EDITION

BY MRS. GEORGE HORROCKS

WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS

BY EDGAR SALTUS

IN FOUR VOLUMES

VOLUME FOUR

NEW YORK AND LONDON
THE CO-OPERATIVE PUBLICATION SOCIETY

971746

HISTORY OF GERMANY

VOLUME FOUR

THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

PART XXI

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA

(CONTINUED)

CCXLIV. Art and Fashion

ALTHOUGH art had, under French influence, become
unnatural, bombastical, in fine, exactly contrary to
every rule of good taste, the courts, vain of their
collections of works of art, still emulated each other in the
patronage of the artists of the day, whose creations, taste-
less as they were, nevertheless afforded a species of conso-
lation to the people, by diverting their thoughts from the
miseries of daily existence.

Architecture degenerated in the greatest degree. Its sub-
limity was gradually lost as the meaning of the Gothic style
became less understood, and a tasteless imitation of the Eo-
man style, like that of St. Peter's at Rome, was brought into
vogue by the Jesuits and by Ihe court architects, by whom
the chateau of Versailles was deemed the highest chef-
d'oeuvre of art. This style of architecture was accompanied
by a style of sculpture equally unmeaning and forced; saints
and Pagan deities in theatrical attitudes, fat genii, and co-
quettish nymphs peopled the roofs of the churches and pal-
aces, presided over bridges, fountains, etc. Miniature turn-
ery-ware and microscopical sculpture also came into fashion.
Such curiosities as, for instance, a cherry-stone, on which
Pranner, the Carinthian, had carved upward of a hundred

(1875)

1376 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

faces; a chessboard, the completion of which had occupied
a Dutchman for eighteen years; golden carriages drawn by
fleas; toys composed of porcelain or ivory in imitation of
Chinese works of art; curious pieces of mechanism, musical
clocks, etc., were industriously collected into the cabinets
of the wealthy and powerful. This taste was, however, not
utterly useless. The predilection for ancient gems promoted
the study of the remains of antiquity, as Stosch, Lippert, and
Winckelmann prove, and that of natural history was greatly
facilitated by the collections of natural curiosities.

The style of painting was, however, still essentially Ger-
man, although deprived by the Reformation and by French
influence of its ancient sacred and spiritual character. Na-
ture was now generally studied in the search after the beau-
tiful. Among the pupils of Rubens, the great founder of
the Dutch school, Jordaens was distinguished for bril-
liancy and force of execution, Van Dyck (1541), for grace
and beauty, although principally a portrait painter and inca-
pable of idealizing his subjects, in which Rembrandt (1674),
who chose more extensive historical subjects, and whose
coloring is remarkable for depth and effect, was equally
deficient. Rembrandt's pupil, Gerhard Douw, introduced
domestic scenes; his attention to the minutiae of his art
was such that he is said to have worked for three days at
a broomstick, in order to represent it with perfect truth.
Denner carried accuracy still further; in his portraits of old
men every hair in the beard is carefully imitated. Francis
and William1 Mieris discovered far greater talent in their
treatment of social and domestic groups; Terbourg and
Netscher, on the other hand, delighted in the close imita-
tion of velvet and satin draperies; and Schalken, in the effect
of shadows and lamplight. Honthorst2 attempted a higher
style, but Van der Werf's small delicious nudities and Van

1 Also his brother John, who painted with equal talent in the same style.
— Trans.

2 Called also Gerardo dalle Notti from his subjects, principally night-scenes
and pieces illuminated by torch or candle-light. His most celebrated pioture ia
that of Jesus Christ before the Tribunal of Pilate. — Ibid.

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1377

Loos's luxurious pastoral scenes were better adapted to the
taste of the times. While these painters belonged to the
higher orders of society, of which their works give evidence,
numerous others studied the lower classes with still greater
success. Besides Van der Meulen and Rugendas, the paint-
ers of battle-pieces, Wouvermann chiefly excelled in the de-
lineation of horses and groups of horsemen, and Teniers,
Ostade, and Jan Steen became famous for the surpassing
truth of their peasants and domestic scenes. To this low
but happily-treated school also belonged the cattle-pieces of
Berchem and Paul de Potter, whose "Bull and Cows" were,
in a, certain respect, as much the ideal of the Dutch as the
Madonna had formerly been that of the Italians or the Yenus
di Medici that of the ancients.

Landscape-painting alone gave evidence of a higher style.
Nature, whenever undesecrated by the vulgarity of man, is
ever sublimely simple. The Dutch, as may be seen in the
productions of Breughel, called, from his dress, " Velvet
Breughel," and in those of Elzheimer, termed, from his at-
tention to minutiae, the Denner of landscape-painting, were
at first too careful and minute; but Paul Brill (1626) was
inspired with finer conceptions and formed the link be-
tween preceding artists and the magnificent Claude Lorraine
(so called from the place of his birth, his real name being
Claude Gelee), who resided for a long time at Munich, and
who first attempted to idealize nature as the Italian artists
had formerly idealized man. Everdingen and Kuysdael, on
the contrary, studied nature in her simple northern garb,
and the sombre pines of the former, the cheerful woods of
the latter, will ever be attractive, like pictures of a much-
loved home, to the German. Bakhuysen's sea-pieces and
storms are faithful representations of the Baltic. In the
commencement of last century, landscape- painting also de-
generated and became mere ornamental flower- pain ting, of
which the Dutch were so passionately fond that they hon-
ored and paid the most skilful artists in this style like
princes. The dull prosaic existence of the merchant called

1378 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

for relief. Huysum was the most celebrated of the flower-
painters, with Rachel Ruysch, William von Arless, and oth-
ers of lesser note. Fruit and kitchen pieces were also greatly
admired. Hondekotter was celebrated as a painter of birds.

Painting was, in this manner, confined to a slavish imi-
tation of nature, for whose lowest objects a predilection was
evinced until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a
style, half Italian, half antique, was introduced into Ger-
many by the operas, by travellers, and more particularly by
the galleries founded by the princes, and was still further
promoted by the learned researches of connoisseurs, more
especially by those of Winckelmann. Mengs, the Raphael
of Germany, Oeser, Tischbein, the landscape-painters See-
katz, Hackert, Reinhardt, Koch, etc., formed the transition
to the modern style. Frey, Chodowiecki, etc., gained great
celebrity as engravers.

Architecture flourished during the Middle Ages, painting
at the time of the Reformation, and music in modern times.
The same spirit that spoke to the eye in the eternal stone
now breathed in transient melody to the ear. The science
of music, transported by Dutch artists into Italy, had been
there assiduously cultivated; the Italians had speedily sur-
passed their masters, and had occupied themselves with the
creation of a peculiar church-music and of the profane opera,
while the Netherlands and the whole of Germany were con-
vulsed by bloody religious wars. After the peace of West-
phalia, the national music of Germany, with the exception
of the choral music in the Protestant churches, was almost
silent, and Italian operas were introduced at all the courts,
where Italian chapel-masters, singers, and performers were
patronized in imitation of Louis XIV., who pursued a simi-
lar system in France. German talent was reduced to imitate
the Italian masters, and, in 1628, Sagittarius produced at
Dresden the first German opera in imitation of the Italian,
and Keyser published no fewer than one hundred and sixteen.

The German musicians were, nevertheless, earlier than
the German poets, animated with a desire to extirpate the

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1379

foreign and degenerate mode fostered by the vanity of the
German princes, and to give free scope to their original and
native talent. This regeneration was effected by the despised
and simple organists of the Protestant churches. In 1717,
Schroeder, a native of Hohenstein in Saxony invented the
pianoforte and improved the organ. Sebastian Bach, in his
colossal fugues, like to a pillared dome dissolved in melody, *
raised music by his compositions to a height unattained by
any of his successors. He was one of the most extraordinary
geniuses that ever appeared on earth. Handel, whose glori-
ous melodies entranced the senses, produced the grand ora-
torio of the "Messiah," which is still performed in both
Protestant and Catholic cathedrals; and Graun, with whom
Frederick the Great played the flute, brought private sing-
ing into vogue by his musical compositions. Gluck was the
first composer who introduced the depth and pathos of more
solemn music into the opera. He gained a complete triumph
at Paris over Piccini, the celebrated Italian musician, in his
contest respecting the comparative excellencies of the Ger-
man and Italian schools. Haydn introduced the variety and
melody of the opera into the oratorio, of which his "Crea-
tion" is a standing proof. In the latter half of the forego-
ing century, sacred music has gradually yielded to the opera.
Mozart brought the operatic style to perfection in the won-
derful compositions that eternalize his fame.

The German theatre was, owing to the Gallomania of the
period, merely a bad imitation of the French stage. Gott-
sched,2 who greatly contributed toward the reformation of
German literature, still retained the stilted Alexandrine and
the pseudo- Gallic imitation of the ancient dramatists to which
Lessing put an end. Lessing wrote his "Dramaturgy" at
Hamburg, recommended Shakespeare and other English
authors as models, but more particularly nature. The
celebrated Eckhof, the father of the German stage, who

1 Gothic architecture has been likened to petrified music.
5 He was assisted in his dramatic writings by his wife, a woman of splendid
talents. — Trans.

1380 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

at first travelled about with a company of actors and finally
settled at Grotha, was the first who followed this innovation.
He was succeeded by Schroeder in Hamburg, who was equally
industrious as a poet, an actor, and a Freemason. In Berlin,
where Fleck had already paved the way, IfHand, who, like
Schroeder, was both a poet and an actor, founded a school,
which in every respect took nature as a guide, and which
raised the Grerman stage to its well-merited celebrity.

At the close of the eighteenth century, men of education
were seized with an enthusiasm for art, which showed itself
principally in a love for the stage and in visits for the pro-
motion of art to Italy. The poet and the painter, alike dis-
satisfied with reality, sought to still their secret longings for
the beautiful amid the unreal creations of fancy and the rec-
ords of classical antiquity.

Fashion, that masker of nature, that creator of deformity,
had, in truth, arrived at an unparalleled pitch of ugliness.
The German costume, although sometimes extravagantly
curious during the Middle Ages, had nevertheless always
retained a certain degree of picturesque beauty, nor was it
until the reign of Louis XIV. of France that dress assumed
an unnatural, inconvenient, and monstrous form. Enormous
allonge perukes and ruffles, the fontange (high headdress),
hoops, and high heels, rendered the human race a caricature
of itself. In the eighteenth century, powdered wigs of ex-
traordinary shape, hairbags, and queues, frocks and frills,
came into fashion for the men; powdered headdresses an
ell in height, diminutive waists, and patches for the women.
The deformity, unhealthiness, and absurdity of this mode
of attire were vainly pointed out by Salzmann, in a piece
entitled, "Charles von Carlsberg, or Human Misery."

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1381

CCXLV. Influence of the Belles- Lettres

THE German, excluded from all participation in public
affairs and confined to the narrow limits of his family circle
and profession, followed his natural bent for speculative phi-
losophy and poetical reverie; but while his thoughts became
more elevated and the loss of his activity was, in a certain
degree, compensated by the gentle dominion of the muses,
the mitigation thus afforded merely aggravated the evil by
rendering him content with his state of inaction. Ere long,
as in the most degenerate age of ancient Eome, the citizen,
amused by sophists and singers, actors and jugglers, lost the
remembrance of his former power and rights and became in-
sensible to his state of moral degradation, to which the for-
eign notions, the vain and frivolous character of most of the
poets of the day, had not a little contributed.

After the thirty years' war, the Silesian poets became
remarkable for Gallomania or the slavish imitation of those
of France. Unbounded adulation of the sovereign, bombas-
tical "carmina" on occasion of the birth, wedding, accession,
victories, fetes, treaties of peace, and burial of potentates,
love-couplets equally strained, twisted compliments to fe-
male beauty, with pedantic, often indecent, citations from an-
cient mythology, chiefly characterized this school of poetry.
Martin Opitz 1639, the founder of the first Silesian school,'
notwithstanding the insipidity of the taste of the day, pre-
served the harmony of the German ballad. His most dis-
tinguished followers were Logau, celebrated for his Epi-
grams;8 Paul Gerhard, who, in his fine hymns, revived the
force and simplicity of Luther; Flemming, a genial and thor-
oughly German poet, the companion of Olearius3 during his

1 He was a friend of G-rotius and is styled the father of German poetry. — Trans.

2 Of which an edition, much esteemed, was published by Lessing and Ramler.

3 Adam (Elschlager or Olearius, an eminent traveller and mathematician, a
native of Anhalt. He became secretary to an embassy sent to Russia and Persia
by the duke of Holstein. — Trans.

1382 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

visit to Persia; the gentle Simon Dach, whose sorrowing
notes bewail the miseries of the age. He founded a society
of melancholy poets at Konigsberg, in Prussia, the members
of which composed elegies for each other; Tscherning and
Andrew Gryphius, the Corneille of Germany, a native of
Glogau, whose dramas are worthy of a better age than the
insipid century in which they were produced. The life of
this dramatist was full of incident. His father was poisoned;
his mother died of a broken heart. He wandered over Ger-
many during the thirty years1 war, pursued by fire, sword,
and pestilence, to the latter of which the whole of his rela-
tions fell victims. 'He travelled over the whole of Europe,
spoke eleven languages, and became a professor at Leyden,
where he taught history, geography, mathematics, physics,
and anatomy. These poets were, however, merely excep-
tions to the general rule. In the poetical societies — the ' ' Or-
der of the Palm" or "Fructiferous Society," founded in
1617, at Weimar, by Caspar von Teutleben, the "Upright
Pine Society," established by Rempler of Lowenthal at
Strasburg, that of the "Eoses, " founded in 1643, by
Philip von Zesen, at Hamburg, the "Order of the Pegnitz-
shepherds," founded in 1644, by Harsdorfer, at Nurem-
berg— the spirit of the Italian and French operas and acad-
emies prevailed, and pastoral poetry, in which the god of
Love was represented wearing an immense allonge peruke,
and the coquettish immorality of the courts was glowingly
described in Arcadian scenes of delight, was cultivated. The
fantastical romances of Spain were also imitated, and the in-
vention of novel terms was deemed the highest triumph of
the poet. Every third word was either Latin, French, Span-
ish, Italian, or English. Francisci of Liibeck, who described
all the discoveries of the New World in a colloquial romance
contained in a thick folio volume, was the most extravagant
of these scribblers. The romances of Antony Ulric, duke of
Brunswick, who embraced Catholicism on the occasion of the
marriage of his daughter with the emperor Charles VI., are
equally bad. Lauremberg's satires, written in 1564*, are ex-

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1383

cellent. He said with great truth that the French had de-
prived the German muse of her nose and had patched on
another quite unsuited to her German ears. Moscherosch
(Philander von Sittewald) wrote an admirable and cutting
satire iipon the manners of the age, and Greifenson von
Hirschfeld is worthy of mention as the author of the first
historical romance that gives an accurate and graphic ac-
count of the state of Germany during the thirty years' war.

This first school was succeeded by a second of surpass-
ing extravagance. Hoffman von Hoffmannswaldau, 1679,
the founder of the second Silesian school, was a caricature
of Opitz, Lohenstein of Gryphius, Besser of Flemming, Ta-
lander and Ziegler of Zesen, and even Francisci was outdone
by that most intolerable of romancers, Happel. This school
was remarkable for the most extravagant license and bom-
bastical nonsense, a sad proof of the moral perversion of the
age. The German character, nevertheless, betrayed itself
by a sort of na'ive pedantry, a proof, were any wanting, that
the ostentatious absurdities of the poets of Germany were
but bad and paltry imitations. The French Alexandrine
was also brought into vogue by this school, whose immoral-
ity was carried to the highest pitch by Giinther, the lyric
poet, who, in the commencement of the eighteenth century,
opposed marriage, attempted the emancipation of the female
sex, and, with criminal geniality, recommended his follies
and crimes, as highly interesting, to the world. To him the
poet, Schnabel, the author of an admirable romance, the
4 'Island of Felsenburg," the asylum, in another hemisphere,
of virtue, exiled from Europe, offers a noble contrast.

Three Catholic poets of extreme originality appear at the
close of the seventeenth century, Angelus Silesius (Scheffler
of Breslau), who gave to the world his devotional thoughts
in German Alexandrines; Father Abraham a Sancta Clara
(Megerle of Swabia), a celebrated Viennese preacher, who,
with comical severity, wrote satires abounding with wit
and humorous observations; and Balde, who wrote some
fine Latin poems on God and nature. Pratorius, 1680, the

1384 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

first collector of the popular legendary ballads concerning
Riibezahl and other spirits, ghosts and witches, also deserves
mention. The Silesian, Stranizki, who, 1708, founded the
Leopoldstadt theatre at Vienna, which afterward became so
celebrated, and gave to it the popular comic style for which
it is famous at the present day, was also a poet of extreme
originality, Gottsched appeared as the hero of Gallomania,
which was at that time threatened with gradual extinction
by the Spanish and Hamburg romance and by Viennese
wit. Assisted by Neuber, the actress, he extirpated all
that was not strictly French, solemnly burned Harlequin in
effigy at Leipzig in 1737, and laid down a law for German
poetry, which prescribed obedience to the rules of the stilted
French court-poetry, under pain of the critic's lash. He and
his learned wife guided the literature of Germany for several
years.

In the midst of these literary aberrations, during the first
part of the foregoing century, Thomson, the English poet,
Brokes of Hamburg, and the Swiss, Albert von Haller, gave
their descriptions of nature to the world. Brokes, in his
"Earthly Pleasures in God," was faithful, often Homeric,
in his descriptions, while Haller depictured his native Alps
with unparalleled sublimity. The latter was succeeded by
a Swiss school, which imitated the witty and liberal-minded
criticisms of Addison and other English writers, and opposed
French taste and Gottsched. At its head stood Bodmer and
Breitinger, who recommended nature as a guide, and instead
of the study of French literature, that of the ancient classics
and of English authors. It was also owing to their exertions
that Miiller published an edition of Kudiger Maness's collec-
tion of Swabian Minnelieder, the connecting link between
modern and ancient German poetry. Still, notwithstand-
ing their merit as critics, they were no poets, and merely
opened to others the road to improvement. Hagedorn,
although frivolous in his ideas, was graceful and easy in
his versification ; but the most eminent poet of the age was
Gellert of Leipzig, 1769, whose tales, fables, and essays

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1385

brought him into such note as to attract the attention of
Frederick the Great, who, notwithstanding the contempt
in which he held the poets of Germany, honored him with
a personal visit.

Poets and critics now rose in every quarter and pitilessly
assailed Gottsched, the champion of Gallomania. They were
themselves divided into two opposite parties, into Angloman-
ists and Graecomanists, according to their predilection for
modern English literature or for that of ancient Greece and
Rome. England, grounded, as upon a rock, on her self-
gained constitution, produced men of the rarest genius in
all the higher walks of science and literature, and her phi-
losophers, naturalists, historians, and poets exercised the
happiest influence over their Teutonic brethren, who sought
to regain from them the vigor of which they had been de-
prived by France. The power and national learning of Ger-
many break forth in Klopstock, whose genius vainly sought
a natural garb and was compelled to assume a borrowed
form. He consecrated his muse to the service of religion,
but, in so doing, imitated the Homeric hexameters of Milton;
he sought to arouse the national pride of his countrymen by
recalling the deeds of Hermann (Armin) and termed him-
self a bard, but, in the Horatian metre of his songs, imitated
Ossian, the old Scottish bard, and was consequently labored
and affected in his style. Others took the lesser English
poets for their model, as, for instance, Kleist, who fell at
Kunersdorf, copied Thomson in his '* Spring"; Zacharia,
Pope, in his satirical pieces; Hermes, in uThe Travels of
Sophia, ' ' the humorous romances of Richardson; Miiller von
Itzehoe, in his "Siegfried von Lindenberg," the comic de-
scriptions of Smollett. The influence of the celebrated En-
glish poets, Shakespeare, Swift, and Sterne, on the tone of
German humor and satire, was still greater. Swift's first
imitator, Liscow, displayed considerable talent, and Ra-
bener, a great part of whose manuscripts was burned dur-
ing the siege of Dresden in the seven years' war, wrote
witty, and at the same time instructive, satires on the man-

1386 THE HISTORY OF QERMAXY

ners of his age. Both were surpassed by Lichtenberg, the
little hump- backed philosopher of Gottmgen, whose compo-
sitions are replete with grace. The witty and amiable Thiim-
mel was also formed on an English model, and Archenholz
solely occupied himself with transporting the customs and
literature of England into Germany. If Shakespeare has
not been without influence upon Goethe and Schiller, Sterne,
in his ' * Sentimental Journey, ' ' touched an echoing chord in
the German's heart by blending pathos with his jests; Hippel
was the first who, like him, united wit with pathos, mock-
ery with tears.

In Klopstock, Anglo and Grascomania were combined.
The latter had, however, also its particular school, in which
each of the Greek and Roman poets found his imitator.
Voss, for instance, took Homer for his model, Ramler,
Horace, Gleim, Anacreon, Gessner, Theocritus, Cramer,
Pindar, Lichtwer, ^Esop, etc. The Germans, in the ridic-
ulous attempt to set themselves up as Greeks, were, in
truth, barbarians. But all was forced, unnatural, and per-
verted in this aping age. Wieland alone was deeply sensi-
ble of this want of nature, and hence arose his predilection
for the best poets of Greece and France. The German muse,
led by his genius, lost her ancient stiffness and acquired a
pliant grace, to which the sternest critic of his too lax mo-
rality is not insensible. Some lyric poets, Connected with
the Graecomanists by the " Gottingen Hainbund, " preserved
a noble simplicity, more particularly Salis and Holty, and
also Count Stolberg, wherever he has not been led astray
by Yoss's stilted manner. Matthison is, on the other hand,
most tediously affected.

The German, never more at home than when abroad,
boasted of being the cosmopolite he had become, made a
virtue of necessity, and termed his want of patriotism, jus-
tice to others, humanity, philanthropy. Fortunately for
him, there were, besides the French, other nations on which
he could model himself, the ancient Greeks and the English,
from each of whom he gathered something until he had con-

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1387

verted himself into a sort of universal abstract. The great
poets, who shortly before and after the seven years' war put
an end to mere partial imitations, were not actuated by a re-
action of nationality, but by a sentiment of universality. Their
object was, not to oppose the German to the foreign, but
simply the human to the single national element, and, al-
though Germany gave them birth, they regarded the whole
world equally as their country.

Lessing, by his triumph over the scholastic pedants, com-
pleted what Thornasius had begun, by his irresistible criti-
cism drove French taste from the literary arena, aided
Winckelmann to promote the study of the ancients and to
foster the love of art, and raised the German theatre to an
unprecedented height. His native language, in which he
always wrote, breathes, even in his most trifling works, a
free and lofty spirit, which, fascinating in every age, was
more peculiarly so at that emasculated period. He is, how-
ever, totally devoid of patriotism. In his "Minna von Barn-
helm," he inculcates the finest feelings of honor; his "Na-
than" is replete with the wisdom "that cometh from above"
and with calm dignity; and in "Emilia Galotti" he has
been the first to draw the veil, hitherto respected, from
scenes in real life. His life was, like his mind, independent.
He scorned to cringe for favor, even disdained letters of rec-
ommendation when visiting Italy (Winckelmann had devi-
ated from the truth for the sake of pleasing a patron), con-
tented himself with the scanty lot of a librarian at Wolfen-
biittel, and even preferred losing that appointment rather
than subject himself to the censorship. He was the boldest,
freest, finest spirit of the age.

Herder, although no less noble, was exactly his opposite.
Of a soft and yielding temperament, unimaginative, and
gifted with little penetration, but with a keen sense of the
beautiful in others, he opened to his fellow countrymen with
unremitting diligence the literary treasures of foreign na-
tions, ancient classical poetry, that, hitherto unknown, of
the East, and rescued from obscurity the old popular poetry

1388 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of Germany. In his " Ideas of a Philosophical History of
Mankind," he attempted to display in rich and manifold
variety the moral character of every nation and of every
age, and, while thus creating and improving the taste for
poetry and history, ever, with childlike piety, sought for
and revered God in all his works.

Goethe, with a far richer imagination, possessed the ele-
gance but not the independence of Lessing, all the softness,
pathos, and universality of Herder, without his faith. In
the treatment and choice of his subjects he is indubitably the
greatest poet of Germany, but he was never inspired with
enthusiasm except for himself. His personal vanity was
excessive. His works, like the lights in his apartment at
Weimar, which were skilfully disposed so as to present him
in the most favorable manner to his visitors, but artfully
reflect upon self. The manner in which he palliated the
weaknesses of the heart, the vain inclinations, shared by his
contemporaries in common with himself, rendered him the
most amiable and popular author of the day. French fri-
volity and license had long been practiced, but they had also
been rebuked. Goethe was the first who gravely justified
adultery, rendered the sentimental voluptuary an object of
enthusiastic admiration, and deified the heroes of the stage,
in whose imaginary fortunes the German forgot sad reality
and the wretched fate of his country. His fade assumption
of dignity, the art with which he threw the veil of mystery
over his frivolous tendencies and made his commonplace
ideas pass for something incredibly sublime, naturally met
with astonishing success in his wonder-seeking times.

Rousseau's influence, the ideas of universal reform, the
example of England, proud and free, but still more, the en-
thusiasm excited by the American war of independence,
inflamed many heads in Germany and raised a poetical oppo-
sition, which began with the bold-spirited Schubart, whose
liberal opinions threw him into a prison, but whose spirit
still breathed in his songs and roused that of his great coun-
tryman, Schiller. The first cry of the oppressed people was,

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA 1389

by Schiller, repeated with a prophet's voice. In him their
woes found an eloquent advocate. Lessing had vainly ap-
pealed to the understanding, but Schiller spoke to the heart,
and if the seed, sown by him, fell partially on corrupt and
barren ground, it found a fostering soil in the warm, un-
adulterated hearts of the youth of both sexes. He recalled
his fellow-men, in those frivolous times, to a sense of self-
respect, he restored to innocence the power and dignity of
which she had been deprived by ridicule, and became the
champion of liberty, justice, and his country, things from
which the love of pleasure and the aristocratic self-compla-
cency, exemplified in Groethe, had gradually and completely
weaned succeeding poets. Klinger, at the same time, coarsely
portrayed the vices of the church and state, and Meyern ex-
tra vagated in his romance uDya-Na-Sore" on Utopian hap-
piness. The poems of Muller, the painter, are full of latent
warmth. Burger, Pfeffel, the blind poet, and Claudius,
gave utterance, in Schubart's coarse manner, to a few trite
truisms. Musseus was greatly admired for his amusing popu-
lar stories. As for the rest, it seemed as though the spirit-
less writers of that day had found it more convenient to be
violent and savage in their endless chivalric pieces and ro-
mances than, like Schiller, steadily and courageously to at-
tack the vices and evils of their age. Their fire but ended
in smoke. Babo and Ziegler alone, among the dramatists,
have a liberal tendency. The spirit that had been called
forth also degenerated into mere bacchanalian license, and,
in order to return to nature, the limits set by decency and
custom were, as by Heinse, for instance, who thus disgraced
his genius, wantonly overthrown.

In contradistinction to these wild spirits, whicn, whether
borne aloft by their genius or impelled by ambition, quitted
the narrow limits of daily existence, a still greater number
of poets employed their talents in singing the praise of com-
mon life, and brought domesticity and household sentimen-
tality into vogue. The very prose of life, so unbearable to
the former, was by them converted into poetry. Although

1390 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the ancient idyls and the family scenes of English authors
were at first imitated, this style of poetry retained an essen-
tially German originality; the hero of the modern idyl, un-
like his ancient model, was a fop tricked out with wig and
cane, and the domestic hero of the tale, unlike his English
counterpart, was a mere political nullity. It is perhaps well
when domestic comforts replace the want of public life, but
these poets hugged the chain they had decked with flowers,
and forgot the reality. They forgot that it is a misfortune
and a disgrace for a German to be without a country, with-
out a great national interest, to be the most unworthy de-
scendant of the greatest ancestors, the prey and the jest
of the foreigner; to this they were indifferent, insensible;
they laid down the maxim that a German has nothing more
to do than "to provide for" himself and his family, no other
enemy to repel than domestic trouble, no other duty than
4 'to keep his German wife in order," to send his sons to the
university, and to marry his daughters. These common-
place private interests were withal merely adorned with a
little sentimentality. No noble motive is discoverable in
Voss's celebrated "Louisa" and Goethe's "Hermann and
Dorothea. ' ' This style of poetry was so easy that hundreds
of weak-headed men and women made it their occupation,
and family scenes and plays speedily surpassed the romances
of chivalry in number. The poet, nevertheless, exercised no
less an influence, notwithstanding his voluntary renunciation
of his privilege to elevate the sinking minds of his country-
men by the great memories of the past or by ideal images,
and his degradation of poetry to a mere palliation of the
weaknesses of humanity.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1391

PART XXII

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE

CCXLVL The French Revolution

IN NO other European state had despotism arrived at such
a pitch as in France; the people groaned beneath the
heavy burdens imposed by the court, the nobility, and
the clergy, and against these two estates there was no appeal,
their tyranny being protected by the court, to which they
had servilely submitted. The court had rendered itself not
only unpopular, but contemptible, by its excessive license,
which had also spread downward among the higher classes;
the government was, moreover, impoverished by extrava-
gance and weakened by an incapable administration, the
helm of state, instead of being guided by a master-hand,
having fallen under Louis XY. into that of a woman.

In France, where the ideas of modern philosophy ema-
nated from the court, they spread more rapidly than in any
other country among the tiers-etat, and the spirit of research,
of improvement, of ridicule of all that was old, naturally led
the people to inquire into the administration, to discover and
to ridicule its errors. The natural wit of the people, sharp-
ened by daily oppression and emboldened by Voltaire's un-
sparing ridicule of objects hitherto held sacred, found ample
food in the policy pursued by the government, and ridicule
became the weapon with which the tiers-etat revenged the
tyranny of the higher classes. As learning spread, the deeds
of other nations, who had happily and gloriously cast off the
yoke of their oppressors, became known to the people. The

1392 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

names of the patriots of Greece and Kome passed from mouth
to mouth, and their actions became the theme of the ris-
ing generation; but more powerful than all in effect, was
the example of the North Americans, who, in 1783, sepa-
rated themselves from their mot her- country, England, and
founded a republic. France, intent upon weakening her
ancient foe, lent her countenance to the new republic, and
numbers of her sons fought beneath her standard and bore
the novel ideas of liberty back to their native land, where
they speedily produced a fermentation among their mercurial
countrymen.

Louis XV., a voluptuous and extravagant monarch, was
succeeded by Louis XVI., a man of refined habits, pious and
benevolent in disposition, but unpossessed of the moral power
requisite for the extermination of the evils deeply rooted in
the government. His queen, Marie Antoinette, sister to
Joseph II., little resembled her brother or her husband in
her tastes, was devoted to gayety, and, by her example,
countenanced the most lavish extravagance. The evil in-
creased to a fearful degree. The taxes no longer sufficed;
the exchequer was robbed by privileged thieves; an enor-
mous debt continued to increase; and the king, almost
reduced to the necessity of declaring the state bankrupt,
demanded aid from the nobility and clergy, who, hitherto
free from taxation, had amassed the whole wealth of the
empire.

The aristocracy, ever blind to their true interest, refused
to comply, and, by so doing, compelled the king to have
recourse to the tiers- etat. Accordingly, in 1789, he con-
voked a general assembly, in which the deputies sent by the
citizens and peasant classes were not only numerically equal
to those of the aristocracy, but were greatly superior to them
in talent and energy, and, on the refusal of the nobility and
clergy to comply with the just demands of the tiers-etat, or
even to hold a common sitting with their despised inferiors,
these deputies declared the national assembly to consist of
themselves alone, and proceeded, on their own responsibility,

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1393

to scrutinize the evils of the administration and to discuss
remedial measures. The whole nation applauded the manly
and courageous conduct of its representatives. The Parisi-
ans, ever in extremes, revolted, and murdered the unpopular
public officers; the soldiers, instead of quelling the rebellion,
fraternized with the people. The national assembly, em-
boldened by these first successes, undertook a thorough
transformation of the state, and, in order to attain the object
for which they had been assembled, that of procuring sup-
plies, declared the aristocracy subject to taxation, and sold
the enormous property belonging to the church. They went
still further. The people was declared the only true sover-
eign, and the king the first servant of the state. All dis-
tinctions and privileges were abolished, and all Frenchmen
were declared equal.

The nobility and clergy, infuriated by this dreadful hu-
miliation, imbittered the people still more against them by
their futile opposition, and, at length convinced of the hope-
lessness of their cause, emigrated in crowds and attempted
to form another France on the borders of their country in
the German Rhenish provinces. Worms and Coblentz were
their chief places of resort. In the latter city, they continued
their Parisian mode of life at the expense of the avaricious
elector of Treves, Clement Wenzel, a Saxon prince, by whose
powerful minister, Dominique, they were supported, and
acted with unparalleled impudence. They were headed by
the two brothers of the French king, who entered into nego-
tiation with all the foreign powers, and they vowed to defend
the cause of the sovereigns against the people. Louis, who
for some time wavered between the national assembly and
the emigrants, was at length persuaded by the queen to
throw himself into the arms of the latter, and secretly fled,
but was retaken and subjected to still more rigorous treat-
ment. The emigrants, instead of saving, hurried him to
destruction.

The other European powers at first gave signs of inde-
cision. Blinded by a policy no longer suited to the times,

1394 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

they merely beheld in the French Eevolution the ruin of a
state hitherto inimical to them, and rejoiced at the event.
The prospect of an easy conquest of the distracted country,
however, ere long led to the resolution on their part of ac-
tively interfering with its affairs. Austria was insulted in
the person of the French queen, and, as head of the empire,
was bound to protect the rights of the petty Khenish princes
and nobility, who possessed property and ecclesiastical or
feudal rights1 on French territory, and had been injured by
the new constitution. Prussia, habituated to despotism,
came forward as its champion in the hope of gaining new
laurels for her unemployed army. A conference took place
at Pilnitz in Saxony, in 1791, between Emperor Leopold
and King Frederick William, at which the Count D'Artois,
the youngest brother of Louis XVI., was present, and a
league was formed against the Eevolution. The old minis-
ters strongly opposed it. In Prussia, Herzberg drew upon
himself the displeasure of his sovereign by zealously advis-
ing a union with France against Austria. In Austria, Kau-
nitz recommended peace, and said that were he allowed to
act he would defeat the impetuous French by his "patience" ;
that, instead of attacking France, he would calmly watch the
event and allow her, like a volcano, to bring destruction upon
herself. Ferdinand of Brunswick, field-marshal of Prussia,
was equally opposed to war. His fame as the greatest gen-
eral of his time had been too easily gained, more by his
manoeuvres than by his victories, not to induce a fear on his
side of being as easily deprived of it in a fresh war; but the

1 To the archbishopric of Cologne belonged the bishopric of Strasburg, to the
archbishopric of Treves, the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, Verdun, Nancy, St. Diez.
Wurtemberg, Baden, Darmstadt, Nassau, Pfalz-Zweibriicken, Leiningen, Salm-
Salm, Hohenlohe-Bartenstein, Lowenstein, Wertheim, the Teutonic order, the
knights of St. John, the immediate nobility of the empire, the bishop of Basel,
etc., had, moreover, feudal rights within the French territory. The arch-chan-
cellor, elector of Mayence, made the patriotic proposal to the imperial diet that
the empire should, now that France had, by the violation of the conditions of
peace, infringed the old and shameful treaties by which Germany had been de-
prived of her provinces, seize the opportunity also on her part to refuse to rec-
ognize those treaties, and to regain what she had lost. This sensible proposal,
however, found no one capable of carrying it into effect.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1395

proposal of the revolutionary party in France — within whose
minds the memory of Rossbach was still fresh — mistrustful
of French skill, to nominate him generalissimo of the troops
of the republic, conspired with the incessant entreaties of the
emigrants to reanimate his courage; and he finally declared
that, followed by the famous troops of the great Frederick,
he would put a speedy termination to the French Eevolution.

Leopold II. was, as brother to Marie Antoinette, greatly
imbittered against the French. The disinclination of the
Austrians to the reforms of Joseph II. appears to have chiefly
confirmed him in the conviction of finding a sure support in
the old system ; he consequently strictly prohibited the slight-
est innovation and placed a power hitherto unknown in
the hands of the police, more particularly in those of its
secret functionaries, who listened to every word and con-
signed the suspected to the oblivion of a dungeon. This
mute terrorism found many a victim. This system was, on
the death of Leopold II. in 17921 publicly abolished by
his son and successor, Francis II., but was ere long again
carried on in secret.

Catherine II. , with the view of seizing the rest of Poland,
employed every art in order to instigate Austria and Prussia
to a war with France, and by these means fully to occupy
them in the West. The Prussian king, although aware of
her projects, deemed the French an easy conquest, and that
in case of necessity his armies could without difficulty be
thrown into Poland. He meanwhile secured the popular
feeling in Poland in his favor by concluding, in 1790, an
alliance with Stanislaus and giving his consent to the im-
proved constitution established in Poland in 1791. Herz-
berg had even counselled an alliance with France and Po-
land— 'the latter was to be bribed with a promise of the
annexation of Galicia — against Austria and Russia; this

1 His sons were the emperor Francis II. , Ferdinand, grandduke of Tuscany,
the archduke Charles, celebrated for his military talents, Joseph, palatine of Hun-
gary, Antony, grand-master of the Teutonic order, who died at Vienna in 1835,
John, a general (he lived for many years in Styria), the present imperial vicar-
general of Germany, and Eayner, viceroy of Milan. — Trans.

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— B

1396 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

plan was, however, merely whispered about for the purpose
of blinding the Poles and of alarming Kussia.

The bursting storm was anticipated on the part of the
French by a declaration of war in 1792, and while Austria
still remained behind, for the purpose of watching Russia,
Poland, and Turkey, and the unwieldy empire was engaged
in raising troops, Ferdinand of Brunswick had already led
the Prussians across the Ehine. He was joined by the emi-
grants under Conde*, whose army almost entirely consisted
of officers. The well-known manifesto, published by the
duke of Brunswick on his entrance into France, and in
which he declared his intention to level Paris with the
ground should the French refuse to submit to the author-
ity of their sovereign, was composed by Kenfner, the coun-
sellor of the embassy at Berlin. The emperor and Frederick
William, persuaded that fear would reduce the French to
obedience, had approved of this manifesto, which was, on
the contrary, disapproved of by the duke of Brunswick, on
account of its barbarity and its ill- accordance with the rules
of war.1 He did not, however, withdraw his signature on
its publication. The effect of this manifesto was that the
French, instead of being struck with terror, were maddened
with rage, deposed their king, proclaimed a republic, and flew
to arms in order to defend their cities against the barbarians
threatening them with destruction. The Orleans party and
the Jacobins, who were in close alliance with the German
Illuminati, were at that time first able to gain the mastery
and to supplant the noble-spirited constitutionists. A Prus-
sian baron, Anacharsis Cloots,8 was even elected in the na-

1 Gentz, who afterward wrote so many manifestoes for Austria, practically
remarks that this celebrated manifesto was in perfect conformity with the intent,
and that the only fault committed was the non-fulfilment of the threats therein
contained.

2 From Cleve. He compared himself with Anacharsis the Scythian, a bar-
barian, who visited Greece for the sake of learning. He sacrificed the whole of
his property to the Revolution. Followed by a troop of men dressed in the cos-
tumes of different nations, of whom they were the pretended representatives, he
appeared before the convention, from which he demanded the liberation of the
whole world from the yoke of kings and priests. He became president of the

THE ORE AT WARS WITH FRANCE 1397

tional convention of the French republic, where he appeared
as the advocate of the whole human race. These atheistical
babblers, however, talked to little purpose, but the national
pride of the troops, hastily levied and sent against the in-
vaders, effected wonders.

The delusion of the Prussians was so complete that
Bischofswerder said to the officers, "Do. not purchase too
many horses, the affair will soon be over"; and the duke of
Brunswick remarked, "Gentlemen, not too much baggage,
this is merely a military trip.

The Prussians, it is true, wondered that the inhabitants
did not, as the emigrants had alleged they would, crowd to
meet and greet them as their saviors and liberators, but at
first they met with no opposition. The noble- spirited La-
fayette, who commanded the main body of the French army,
had at first attempted to march upon Paris for the purpose
of saving the king, but the troops were already too much
republicanized and he was compelled to seek refuge in the
Netherlands, where he was, together with his companions,
seized by command of the emperor of Austria, and thrown
into prison at Olmiitz, where he remained during five years
under the most rigorous treatment merely on account of the
liberality of his opinions, because he wanted a constitutional
king, and notwithstanding his having endangered his life
and his honor in order to save his sovereign. Such was the
hatred with which high-minded men of strict principle were
at that period viewed, while at the same time a negotiation
was carried on with Dumouriez, * a characterless Jacobin in-
triguant, who had succeeded Lafayette in the command of
the French armies.

Ferdinand of Brunswick now became the dupe of J)u-

great Jacobin club,and it was principally owing to his instigations that the French,
at first merely intent upon defence, were roused to the attack and inspired with
the desire for conquest.

1 Dumouriez proposed as negotiator John Muller, who was at that time teach-
ing at Mayence, and who was in secret correspondence with him. Vide Memoirs
of a Celebrated Statesman, edited by Ruder. Ruder remarks that John Muller
is silent in his autobiography concerning his correspondence with the Jacobins,
for which he might, under a change of circumstances, have had good reason.

1398 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

mouriez, as he had formerly been that of the emigrants. In
the hope of a counter-revolution in Paris, he procrastinated
his advance and lost his most valuable time in the siege of
fortresses. Verdun fell : three beautiful citizens' daughters,
who had presented bouquets to the king of Prussia, were
afterward sent to the guillotine by the republicans as traitor-
esses to their country. Ferdinand, notwithstanding this suc-
cess, still delayed his advance in the hope of gaining over the
wily French commander and of thus securing beforehand his
triumph in a contest in which his ancient fame might other-
wise be at stake. The impatient king, who had accompanied
the army, spurred him on, but was, owing to his ignorance
of military matters, again pacified by the reasons alleged by
the cautious duke. Dumouriez, consequently, gained time
to collect considerable reinforcements and to unite his forces
with those under Kellermann of Alsace. The two armies
came within sight of each other at Valmy; the king gave
orders for battle, and the Prussians were in the act of ad-
vancing against the heights occupied by Kellermann, when
the duke suddenly gave orders to halt and drew off the troops
under a loud vivat from the French, who beheld this move-
ment with astonishment. The king was at first greatly en-
raged, but was afterward persuaded by the duke of the pru-
dence of this extraordinary step. Negotiations were now
carried on with increased spirit. Dumouriez, who, like
Kaunitz, said that the French, if left to themselves, would
inevitably fall a prey to intestine convulsions, also con-
trived to accustom the king to the idea of a future al-
liance with France. The result of these intrigues was an
armistice and the retreat of the Prussian army, which
dysentery, bad weather, and bad roads rendered extremely
destructive.

Austria was now, owing to the intrigues of the duke of
Brunswick and the credulity of Frederick William, left un-
protected. As early as June, old Marshal Lukner invaded
Flanders, but, being arrested on suspicion, was replaced by
Dumouriez, who continued the war in the Netherlands and

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1399

defeated the stadtholder, Albert, duke of Saxon- Teschen
(son-in-law to Maria Theresa, in consideration of which he
had been endowed with the principality of Teschen and the
stadtholdership at Brussels), at Jemappes, and the whole of
the Netherlands fell into the hands of the Jacobins, who,
on the 14th of November, entered Brussels, where they pro-
claimed liberty and equality. A few days later (19th of
November) the national convention at Paris proclaimed lib-
erty and equality to all nations, promised their aid to all
those who asserted their liberty, and threatened to compel
those who chose to remain in slavery to accept of liberty.
Asa preliminary, however, the Netherlands, after being de-
clared free, were ransacked of every description of movable
property, of which Pache, a native of Freiburg in Switzer-
land, at that time the French minister of war, received a
large share. The fluctuations of the war, however, speedily
recalled the Jacobins. Another French army under Custines,
which had marched to the Upper Hhine, gained time to take
a firm footing in Mayence.

1400 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCXLVII. German Jacobins

IN Lorraine and Alsace, the Revolution had been hailed
with delight by the long-oppressed people. On the 10th of
July, 1789, the peasants destroyed the park of the bishop,
Kohan, at Zabern, and killed immense quantities of game.
The chateaux and monasteries throughout the country were
afterward reduced to heaps of ruins, and, in Suntgau, the
peasants took especial vengeance on the Jews, who had, in
that place, long lived on the fat of the land. Mulhausen
received a democratic constitution and a Jacobin club. In
Strasburg, the town-house was assailed by the populace,1
notwithstanding which, order was maintained by the mayor,
Dietrich. The unpopular bishop, Rohan, was replaced by
Brendel, against whom the people of Colmar revolted, and
even assaulted him in the church for having taken the oath
imposed by the French republic, and which was rejected by
all goo^ Catholics. Dietrich, aided by the great majority of
the citizens of Strasburg, long succeeded in keeping the sans
culottes at bay, but was at length overcome, deprived of his
office, and guillotined at Paris, while Eulogius Schneider,
who had formerly been a professor at Bonn, then court
preacher to the Catholic duke, Charles of Wurtemberg,2 be-
came the tyrant of Strasburg, and, in the character of pub-
lic accuser before the revolutionary tribunal, conducted the
executions. The national convention at Paris nominated as

1 Oberlin, the celebrated philologist, an ornament to German learning, a pro-
fessor at Strasburg, rescued, at the risk of his life, a great portion of the ancient
city archives, which had been thrown out of the windows, by re-collecting the
documents with the aid of the students. On account of this sample of old Ger-
man pedantry he pined, until 1793, in durance vile at Metz, and narrowly escaped
being guillotined.

8 At Bonn he had the impudence to say to the elector, "I cannot pay you a
higher compliment than by asserting you to be no Catholic. " — Van Alpen, History
of Rhenish Franconia.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE

his colleague Monet, a man twenty-four years of age, totally
ignorant of the German language, and who merely made
himself remarkable for his open rapacity. ' This was, how-
ever, a mere prelude to far greater horrors. Two members
of the convention, St. Just and Lebas, unexpectedly ap-
peared at Strasburg, declared that nothing had as yet been
done, ordered the executions to take place on a larger scale,
and, in 1793, imposed a fine of nine million livres on the
already plundered city. The German costume and mode of
writing were also prohibited; every sign, written in Ger-
man, affixed to the houses, was taken down; and, finally,
the whole of the city council and all the officers of the na-
tional guard were arrested and either exiled or guillotined,
notwithstanding their zealous advocacy of revolutionary
principles — on the charge of an understanding with Austria,
without proof, on a mere groundless suspicion, without be-
ing permitted to defend themselves — for the sole purpose of
removing them out of the way in order to replace them with
trueborn Frenchmen, a Parisian mob, who established them-
selves in the desolate houses. Schneider and Brendel con-
tinued to retain their places by means of the basest adulation.
On the 21st of November, a great festival was solemnized in
the Minster, which had been converted into a temple of Kea-
son. The bust of Marat, the most loathsome of all the mon-
sters engendered by the Kevolution, was borne in solemn
procession to the cathedral, before whose portals an immense
fire was fed with pictures and images of the saints, crucifixes,
priests' garments, and sacred vessels, among which Brendel
hurled his mitre. Within the cathedral walls, Schneider de-
livered a discourse in controversion of the Christian religion,
which he concluded by solemnly renouncing; a number of
Catholic ecclesiastics followed his example. All the statues
and ecclesiastical symbols were piled in a rude heap at the

1 He mulcted the brewers to the amount of 255,000 livres, "on account of their
well-known avarice," the bakers and millers to that of 314,000, a publican to
thatof 40,000, a baker to that of 30,000, "because he was an enemy of mankind, "
etc. — Vide Friese's History of Strasburg.

1402 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

foot of the great tower, which it was also attempted to pull
down for the promotion of universal equality; an attempt
which the extraordinary strength of the building and the
short reign of revolutionary madness fortunately frustrated.
All the more wealthy citizens had, meanwhile, been con-
signed either to the guillotine or to prison, and their houses
filled with French bandits, who revelled in their wealth and
dishonored their wives and daughters. Eulogius Schneider
was compelled to seek at midnight for a wife, suspicion hav-
ing already attached to him on account of his former profes-
sion. It was, however, too late. On the following morning,
he was seized and sent to Paris, where he was guillotined.
All ecclesiastics, all schoolmasters, even the historian, Friese,
were, without exception, declared suspected and dragged to
the prisons of Besangon, where they suffered the harshest
treatment at the hands of the commandant, Prince Charles
of Hesse. In Strasburg, Neumann, who had succeeded
Schneider as public accuser, raged with redoubled fury.
The guillotine was ever at work, was illuminated during the
night time, and was the scene of the orgies of the drunken
bandits. On the advance of the French armies to the fron-
tiers, the whole country was pillaged. *

In other places, where the plundering habits of the
French had not cooled the popular enthusiasm, it still rose
high, more particularly at Mayence. This city, which had
been rendered a seat of the Muses by the elector, Frederick
Charles, was in a state of complete demoralization. On the
loss of Strasburg, Mayence, although the only remaining
bulwark of Germany, was entirely overlooked. The war
had already burst forth; no imperial army had as yet been
levied, and the fortifications of Mayence were in the most
shameful state of neglect. Magazines had been established
by the imperial troops on the left bank of the Ehine, seem-
ingly for the mere purpose of letting them fall into the hands

1 It was asserted that the Jacobins had formed a plan to depopulate the whole
of Alsace, and to partition the country among the bravest soldiers belonging to
the republican armies.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1403

of Custine, but eight hundred Austrians garrisoned May-
ence; the Hessians, although numerically weak, were alone
sincere in their efforts for the defence of Germany. Cus-
tine's advanced guard no sooner came in sight than the
elector and all the higher functionaries fled to Aschaffen-
burg. Von Gymnich, the commandant of Mayence, called
a council of war and surrendered the city, which was unani-
mously declared untenable by all present with the exception
of Eikenmaier, who, notwithstanding, went forthwith over
to the French, and of Andujar, the commander of the eight
hundred Austrians, with whom he instantly evacuated the
place. The Illuminati, who were here in great number, tri-
umphantly opened the gates to the French in 1792. The
most extraordinary scenes were enacted. A society, the
members of which preached the doctrines of liberty and
equality, and at whose head stood the professors Blau,
Wedekind, Metternich, Hoffmann, Forster, the eminent nav-
igator, the doctors Bohmer and Stamm, Dorsch of Strasburg,
etc., chiefly men who had formerly been Illuminati, was
formed in imitation of the revolutionary Jacobin club at
Paris. l These people committed unheard-of follies. At first,
Notwithstanding their doctrine of equality, they were distin-

1 John Miiller played a remarkable part. This thoroughly deceptive person
had, by his commendation of the ancient Swiss in his affectedly written History
of Switzerland, gained the favor of the friends of liberty, and, at the same time,
that of the nobility by his encomium on the degenerate Swiss aristocracy. While
with sentimental phrases and fine words he pretended to be one of the noblest
of mankind, he was addicted to the lowest and most monstrous vices. His im-
morality brought him into trouble in Switzerland, and the man, who had been,
apparently, solely inspired with the love of republican liberty, now paid court,
for the sake of gain, to foreign princes ; the adulation that had succeeded so
well with all the lordlings of Switzerland was poured into the ears of all the
potentates of Europe. He even rose to great favor at Rome by his flattery
of the pope in a work entitled "The Travels of the Popes." He published the
most virulent sophisms against the beneficial reforms of the emperor Joseph,
and cried up the League, for which he was well paid. He contrived, at the
same time, to creep into favor with the Illuminati. He was employed by the
elector of Mayence to carry on negotiations with Dumouriez, got into office un-
der iho French republic, and afterward revisited Mayence for the express pur-
pose of calling upon the citizens, at that time highly dissatisfied with the conduct
of the French, to unite themselves with France. Vide Forster's Correspondence.
Dumouriez shortly afterward went over to the Austrians, and Miiller suddenly ap-
peared at Vienna, adorned with a title and in the character of an Aulic councillor.

1404 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

guished by a particular ribbon; the women, insensible to
shame, wore girdles with long ends, on which the word "lib-
erty" was worked in front, and the word "equality" behind.
Women, girt with sabres, danced franticly around tall trees
of liberty, in imitation of those of France, and fired off pis-
tols. The men wore monstrous mustaches in imitation of
those of Custine, whom, notwithstanding their republican
notions, they loaded with servile flattery „ As a means of
gaining over the lower orders among the citizens, who with
plain good sense opposed their apish tricks, the clubbists de-
molished a large stone, by which the Archbishop Adolphus
had formerly sworn, "You, citizens of Mayence, shall not
regain your privileges until this stone shall melt." This,
however, proved as little effective as did the production of a
large book, in which every citizen, desirous of transforming
the electorate of Mayence into a republic, was requested to
inscribe his name. Notwithstanding the threat of being
treated, in case of refusal, as slaves, the citizens and peas-
antry, plainly foreseeing that, instead of receiving the prom-
ised boon of liberty, they would but expose themselves to
Custine 's brutal tyranny, withheld their signatures, and the
clubbists finally established a republic under the protection
of France without the consent of the people, removed all the
old authorities, and, at the close of 1792, elected Dorsch, a
remarkably diminutive, ill-favored man, who had formerly
been a priest, president.

The manner in which Custine levied contributions in
Frankfort on the Maine1 was still less calculated to render
the French popular in Germany. Cowardly as this general
was, he, nevertheless, told the citizens of Frankfort a truth
that time has, up to the present period, confirmed. * ' You
have beheld the coronation of the emperor of Germany ?
Well! you will not see another."

Two Germans, natives of Colmar in Alsace, Eewbel and

1 While in his proclamations he swore by all that was sacred (what was so
to a Frenchman?) to respect the property of the citizens and that France coveted
no extension of territory.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1405

Hausmann, and a Frenchman, Merlin, all three members of
the national convention, came to Mayence for the purpose
of conducting the defence of that city. They burned sym-
bolically all the crowns, mitres, and escutcheons of the Ger-
man empire, but were unable to induce the citizens of May-
ence to declare in favor of the republic. Kewbel, infuriated
at their opposition, exclaimed that he would level the city
with the ground, that he should deem himself dishonored
were he to waste another word on such slaves. A number
of refractory persons were expelled the city,1 and, on the
17th of March, 1793, although three hundred and seventy
of the citizens alone voted in its favor, a Teuto-Khenish na-
tional convention, under the presidency of Hoffmann, was
opened at Mayence and instantly declared in favor of the
union of the new republic with France. Forster, in other
respects a man of great elevation of mind, forgetful, in his
enthusiasm, of all national pride, personally carried to Paris
the scandalous documents in which the French were hum-
bly entreated to accept of a province of the German empire.
The Prussians, who had remained in Luxemburg (without
aiding the Austrians), meanwhile advanced to the Rhine,
took Coblentz, which Custine had neglected to garrison
(a neglect for which he afterward lost his head), repulsed
a French force under Bournonville, when on the point of
forming a junction with Custine, at Treves, expelled Cus-
tine from Frankfort,8 and closely besieged Mayence, which,
after making a valiant defence, was compelled to capitulate
in July.

Numbers of the clubbists fled, or were saved by the

1 Forster was so blinded at that time by his enthusiasm that he wrote, "all
of those among us who refuse the citizenship of France are to be expelled the
city, even if complete depopulation should be the result." He relates: "I sum-
moned, at Griinstadt, the Counts von Leiningen to acknowledge themselves citi-
zens of France. They protested against it, caballed, instigated the citizens and
peasantry to revolt; one of my soldiers was attacked and wounded. I demanded
a reinforcement, took possession of both the castles, and placed the counts under
guard. To-day I sent them with an escort to Landau. This has been a disagree-
able duty, but we must reduce every opponent of the good cause to obedience.'*

8 Where the weak garrison left by the French was disarmed by the workmen.

1406 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

French, when evacuating the city, in the disguise of sol-
diers. Others were arrested and treated with extreme cru-
elty. Every clubbist, or any person suspected of being one,
received five and twenty lashes in the presence of Kalkreuth,
the Prussian general. Metternich was, together with nu-
merous others, carried off, chained fast between the horses
of the hussars, and, whenever he sank from weariness,
spurred on at the sabre point. Blau had his ears boxed
by the Prussian minister, Stein.1 A similar reaction took
place at Worms,8 Spires, etc.

The German Jacobins suffered the punishment amply
deserved by all those who look for salvation from the for-
eigner. Those who had barely escaped the vengeance of
the Prussian on the Rhine were beheaded by their pretended
good friends in France. Robespierre, an advocate, who, at
that period, governed the convention, sent every foreigner
who had enrolled himself as a member of the Jacobin club
to the guillotine, as a suspicious person, a bloody but in-
structive lesson to all unpatriotic German Gallomanists. 3

The victims who fell on this occasion were a prince of
Salm-Kyrburg, who had voluntarily republicanized his petty
territory, Anacharsis Cloots,4 and the venerable Trenk, who

1 Either the Prussian minister who afterward gained such celebrity or one of
his relations.

2 Where Skekuly forced the German clubbists, with the lash, to cut down
the tree of liberty.

3 Forster wrote from Paris, "Suspicion hangs over every foreigner, and the
essential distinctions which ought to be made in this respect are of no avail."
Thus did nature, by whom nations are eternally separated, avenge herself on the
fools who had dreamed of universal equality.

4 Cloots had incessantly preached war, threatened all the kings of the earth
with destruction, and, in his vanity, had even set a price upon the head of the
Prussian monarch. His object was the union of the whole of mankind, the abo-
lition of nationality. The French were to receive a new name, that of "Uni-
versel." He preached in the convention: "I have struggled during the whole
of my existence against the powers of heaven and earth. There is but one God,
Nature, and but one sovereign, mankind, the people, united by reason in one uni-
versal republic. Religion is the last obstacle, but the time has arrived for its
destruction. J'occupe la tribune de 1'univers. Je le repute, le genre humain
est Dieu, le Peuple Dieu. Quiconque a la debilite de croire en Dieu ne sauroit
avoir la sagacite de connaitre le genre humain, le souverain unique," etc. — Man-
iteur of 1793, No. 120. He also subscribed himself the "personal enemy of
Jesus of Nazareth."

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1407

had so long pined in Frederick's prisons. Adam Lux, a
friend of George Forster, was also beheaded for expressing
his admiration of Charlotte Corday, the murderess of Marat.
Marat was a Prussian subject, being a native of Neufchatel.
Gobel von Bruntrut, uncle to Eengger,1 a celebrated char-
acter in the subsequent Swiss revolution, vicar-general of
Basel, a furious revolutionist, who had on that account been
appointed bishop of Paris, presented himself, on the 6th of
November, 1793, at the bar of the convention as an associate
of Cloots, Hebert, Chaumette, etc., cast his mitre and other
insignia of office to the ground, and placing the bonnet rouge
on his head, solemnly renounced the Christian faith and
proclaimed that of "liberty and equality." The rest of
the ecclesiastics were compelled to imitate his example; the
Christian religion was formally abolished and the worship
of Eeason was established in its stead. Half-naked women
were placed upon the altars of the desecrated churches
and worshipped as "goddesses of Eeason." Gobel' s friend,
Pache, a native of Freiburg, a creature abject as himself,
was particularly zealous, as was also Proli, a natural son of
the Austrian minister, Kaunitz. Prince Charles of Hesse,
known among the Jacobins as Charles Hesse, fortunately
escaped. Schlaberndorf , 2 a Silesian count, who appears to
have been a mere spectator, and Oelsner, a distinguished
author, were equally fortunate. These two latter remained
in Paris. Eeinhard, a native of Wurtemberg, secretary to
the celebrated Girondin, Vergniaud, whom he is said to have
aided in the composition of his eloquent speeches, remained
in the service of France, was afterward ennobled and raised
to the ministry. Felix von Wimpfen, whom the faction of
the Gironde (the moderates who opposed the savage Jaco-

1 "Whose nephew, the celebrated traveller, Rengger, was, with Bonpland, so
long imprisoned in Paraguay.

2 He had been already imprisoned and was ordered to the guillotine, but not
being able to find his boots quickly enough, his execution was put off until the
morrow. During the night, Robespierre fell, and his life was saved. He con-
tinued to reside at Paris, where he never quitted his apartment, cherished his
beard, and associated solely with ecclesiastics.

1408 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

bins) elected their general, and who, attempting to lead a
small force from Normandy against Paris, was defeated and
compelled to seek safety by flight. The venerable Lukner,
the associate of Lafayette, who had termed the great Revo-
lution merely "a little occurrence in Paris," was beheaded.
The unfortunate George Forster perceived his error and died
of sorrow.1 Among the other Rhenish Germans of distinc-
tion, who had at that time formed a connection with France,
Joseph Gorres brought himself, notwithstanding his extreme
youth, into great note at Coblentz by his superior talents.
He went to Paris as deputy of Treves and speedily became
known by his works (Rubezahl and the Red Leaf). He also
speedily discovered the immense mistake made by the Ger-
mans in resting their hopes upon France. It was indeed a
strange delusion to suppose the vain and greedy Frenchman
capable of being inspired with disinterested love for all man-
kind, and it was indeed a severe irony, that, after such re-
peated and cruel experience, after having for centuries seen
the French ever in the guise of robbers and pillagers, and
after breathing such loud complaints against the princes
who had sold Germany to France, that the warmest friends
of the people should on this occasion be guilty of similar
treachery, and, like selecting the goat for a gardener, intrust
the weal of their country to the French.

The people in Germany too little understood the real
motives and object of the French Revolution, and were too
soon provoked by the predatory incursions of the French
troops, to be infected with revolutionary principles. These
merely fermented among the literati; the Utopian idea of
universal fraternization was spread by Freemasonry; num
bers at first cherished a hope that the Revolution would pre-
serve a pure moral character, and were not a little aston-
ished on beholding the monstrous crimes to which it gave

1 After an interview with his wife, Theresa (daughter to the great philologist,
Heyne of Gottingen), on the French frontier, he returned to Paris and killed him-
self by drinking aquafortis. Vide Crome's Autobiography. Theresa entered
into association with Huber, the journalist, whom she shortly afterward married.
She gained great celebrity by her numerous romances.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1409

birth. Others merely rejoiced at the fall of the old and in-
supportable system, and numerous anonymous pamphlets in
this spirit appeared in the Rhenish provinces. Fichte, the
philosopher, also published an anonymous work in favor of
the Revolution. Others again, as, for instance, Reichard,
Girtanner, Schirach, and Hoffmann, set themselves up as
informers, and denounced every liberal- minded man to the
princes as a dangerous Jacobin. A search was made for
Crypto- Jacobins, and every honest man was exposed to the
calumny of the servile newspaper editors. French repub-
licanism was denounced as criminal, notwithstanding the
favor in which the French language and French ideas were
held at all the courts of Germany. Liberal opinions were
denounced as criminal, notwithstanding the example first set
by the courts in ridiculing religion, in mocking all that was
venerable and sacred. Nor was this reaction by any means
occasioned by a burst of German patriotism against the tyr-
anny of France, for the treaty of Basel speedily reconciled
the self -same newspaper editors with France. It was mere
servility; and the hatred which, it may easily be conceived,
was naturally excited against the French as a nation, was
vented in this mode upon the patient Germans, ' who were,
unfortunately, ever doomed,' whenever their neighbors were
visited with some political chronic convulsion, to taste the
bitter remedy. But few of the writers of the day took a
historical view of the Revolution and weighed its irremedia-
ble results in regard to Germany, besides Gentz, Rehberg,
and the Baron von Gagern, who published an "Address to
his Countrymen, ' ' in which he started the painful question,
"Why are we Germans disunited?" The whole of these
contending opinions of the learned were, however, equally
erroneous. It was as little possible to preserve the Revolu-
tion from blood and immorality, and to extend the boon of

1 The popular work "Huergelmer" relates, among other things, the conduct
of the Margrave of Baden toward Lauchsenring, his private physician, whom he,
on account of the liberality of his opinions, delivered over to the Austrian general,
who sentenced him to the bastinado.

1410 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

liberty to the whole world, as it was to suppress it by force,
and, as far as Germany was concerned, her affairs were too
complicated and her interests too scattered for any attempt
of the kind to succeed. A Doctor Faust, at Buckeburg, sent
a learned treatise upon the origin of trousers to the national
convention at Paris, by which Sansculottism had been in-
troduced; an incident alone sufficient to show the state of
feeling in Germany at that time.

The revolutionary principles of France merely infected
the people in those parts of Germany where their sufferings
had ever been the greatest, as, for instance, in Saxony, where
the peasantry, oppressed by the game laws and the rights of
the nobility, rose, after a dry summer by which their misery
had been greatly increased, to the number of eighteen thou-
sand, and sent one of their class to lay their complaints
before the elector (1790). The unfortunate messenger was
instantly consigned to a madhouse, where he remained until
1809, and the peasantry were dispersed by the military. A
similar revolt of the peasantry against the tyrannical nuns of
Wormelen, in Westphalia, merely deserves mention as being
characteristic of the times. A revolt of the peasantry, of
equal unimportance, also took place in Buckeburg, on ac-
count of the expulsion of three revolutionary priests, Froriep,
Meyer, and Eauschenbusch. In Breslau, a great emeute,
which was put down by means of artillery, was occasioned
by the expulsion of a tailor's apprentice in 1793.

In Austria, one Hebenstreit formed a conspiracy, which
brought him to the gallows, in 1793. That formed by
Martinowits, for the establishment of the sovereignty of the
people in Hungary and for the expulsion of the magnates,
was of a more dangerous character. Martinowits was be-
headed, in 1793, with four of his associates.1 These at-

1 Schneller says: "The first great conspiracy was formed in the vicinity of
the throne in 1793. The chief conspirator was Hebenstreit, the commandant,
who held, by his office, the keys to the arsenal, and had every place of impor-
tance in his power. His fellow conspirators were Prandstatter, the magistrate
and poet, who, by his superior talents, led the whole of the magistracy, and

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1411

tempts so greatly excited the apprehensions of the govern-
ment that the reaction, already begun on the death of Joseph
II., was brought at once to a climax; Thugut, the minister,
established an extremely active secret police and a system of
surveillance, which spread terror throughout Austria and
was utterly uncalled for, no one, with the exception of a
few crack-brained individuals, being in the slightest degree
infected with the revolutionary mania. l

possessed great influence in the metropolis, Professor Riedl, who possessed the
confidence of the court, which he frequented for the purpose of instructing some
of the principal personages, and Hackel, the merchant, who had the manage-
ment of its pecuniary affairs. The rest of the conspirators belonged to every
class of society and were spread throughout every province of the empire. The
plan consisted in the establishment of a democratic constitution, the first step
to which appears to have been an attempt against the life of the imperial family.
The signal for insurrection was to be given by firing the immense wood-yards.
The hearts of the people were to be gained by the destruction of the govern-
ment accounts. The discovery was made through a conspiracy formed in Den-
mark. The chief conspirator was seized and sent to the gallows. The rest were
exiled to Munkatch, where several of them had succumbed to the severity of
their treatment and of the climate when their release was effected by Bonaparte
by the peace of Campo Formio, which gave rise to the supposition that the
Hebenstreit conspiracy was connected with the French republicans and Jacobins.
— The second conspiracy was laid in Hungary, by the bishop and abbot, Josephus
Ignatius Martinowits, a man whom the emperors Joseph, Leopold, and Francia
had, on account of his talent and energy, loaded with favors. The plan waa
an actionalis conspiratio, for the purpose of contriving an attempt against the
sacred person of his Majesty the king, the destruction of the power of the privi-
leged classes in Hungary, the subversion of the administration, and the establish-
ment of a democracy. The means for the execution of this project were furnished
by two secret societies." Huergelmer relates: "A certain Dr. Plank somewhat
thoughtlessly ridiculed the institution of the jubilee ; in order to convince him of
its utility, he was sent as a recruit to the Italian army, an act that was highly
praised by the newspapers. " On the 22d of July, 1795, a Baron von Riedel was
placed in the pillory at Yienna for some political crime, and was afterward con-
signed to the oblivion of a dungeon ; the same fate, some days later, befell Brand-
stetter, Fellesneck, Billeck, Ruschitiski (Ephemeridse of 1795). A Baron Taufner
was hanged at Vienna as a traitor to his country (E. of 1796).

"The increase of crime occasioned by the artifices of the police, who thereby
gained their livelihood, rendered an especial statute, prohibitory of such meas-
ures, necessary in the new legislature. Even the passing stranger perceived the
disastrous effect of their intrigues upon the open, honest character and the social
habits of the Viennese. The police began gradually to be considered as a nec-
essary part of the machine of government, a counterbalance to or a remedy for
the faults committed by other branches of the administration. Large sums, the
want of which was heavily felt in the national education and in the army, were
expended on this arsenal of poisoned weapons." — Hormayr's Pocket-Book, 1832.
Thugut is described as a diminutive, hunchbacked old man, with a face resem-
bling the mask of a fawn and with an almost satanic expression.

1412 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

It may be recorded as a matter of curiosity that, during
the bloodstained year of 1793, the petty prince of Seliwarz-
burg-Kudolstadt held, as though in the most undisturbed
time of peace, a magnificent tournament, and the fetes cus-
tomary on such an occasion.

CCXLVIII. Loss of the Left Bank of the Rhine

THE object of the Prussian king was either to extend his
conquests westward or, at all events, to prevent the advance
of Austria. The war with France claimed his utmost atten-
tion, and, in order to guard his rear, he again attempted to
convert Poland into a bulwark against Eussia.

His ambassador, Lucchesini, drove Stackelberg, the Eus-
sian envoy, out of Warsaw, and promised mountains of gold
to the Poles, who dissolved the perpetual council associated
by Eussia with the sovereign; freed themselves from the
Eussian guarantee; aided by Prussia, compelled the Eussian
troops to evacuate the country; devised a constitution, which
they laid before the cabinets of London and Berlin; con-
cluded an offensive and defensive alliance with Prussia on
the 29th of March, 1790, and, on the 3d of May, 1791, car-
ried into effect the new constitution ratified by England and
Prussia, and approved of by the emperor Leopold. During
the conference, held at Pilnitz, the indivisibility of Poland
was expressly mentioned. The constitution was monarchical.
Poland was, for the future, to be a hereditary instead of an
elective monarchy, and, on the death of Poniatowsky, the
crown was to fall to Saxony. The modification of the peas-
ants' dues and the power conceded to the serf of making a
private agreement with his lord also gave the monarchy
a support against the aristocracy.

Catherine of Eussia, however, no sooner beheld Prussia
and Austria engaged in a war with France, than she com-
menced her operations against Poland, declared the new
Polish constitution French and Jacobinical, notwithstanding
its abolition of the liberum veto and its extension of the

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1418

prerogatives of the crown, and, taking advantage of the
king's absence from Prussia, speedily regained possession
of the country. What was Frederick William's policy in
this dilemma ? He was strongly advised to make peace with
France, to throw himself at the head of the whole of his
forces into Poland, and to set a limit to the insolence of the
autocrat; but — he feared, should he abandon the Rhine, the
extension of the power of Austria in that quarter, and — cal-
culating that Catherine, in order to retain his friendship,
would cede to him a portion of her booty, ' unhesitatingly
broke the faith he had just plighted with the Poles, suddenly
took up Catherine's tone, declared the constitution he had
so lately ratified Jacobinical, and despatched a force under
Mollendorf into Poland in order to secure possession of his
stipulated prey. By the second partition of Poland, which
took place as rapidly, as violently, and, on account of the
assurances of the Prussian monarch, far more unexpectedly
than the first, Russia received the whole of Lithuania, Po-
dolia, and the Ukraine, and Prussia, Thorn arid Dantzig,
besides Southern Prussia (Posen and Calisch). Austria, at
that time fully occupied with France, had no participation
in this robbery, which was, as it were, committed behind
her back.

Affairs had worn a remarkably worse aspect since the
campaign of 1792. The French had armed themselves with
all the terrors of offended nationalism and of unbounded,
intoxicating liberty. All the enemies of the [Revolution
within the French territory were mercilessly exterminated,
and hundreds of thousands were sacrificed by the guillotine,
a machine invented for the purpose of accelerating the mode
of execution. The king was beheaded in this manner in the
January of 1793, and the queen shared a similar fate in
the ensuing October. a While Robespierre directed the execu-

1 Prussia chiefly coveted the possession of Dantzig, which the Poles refused
to give or the English to grant to him, and which he could only seize by the aid
of Russia.

2 After having been long retained in prison, ill fed and ill clothed, after sup-
porting, with unbending dignity, the unmanly insults of the republican mob be-

1414 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tions, Carnot undertook to make preparations for war, and,
in the very midst of this immense fermentation, calmly con-
verted France into an enormous camp, and more than a
million Frenchmen, as if summoned by magic from the clod,
were placed under arms.

The sovereigns of Europe also prepared for war, and,
1793, formed the first great coalition, at whose head
stood England, intent upon the destruction of the French
navy. The English, aided by a large portion of the French
population devoted to the ancient monarchy, attacked
France by sea, and made a simultaneous descent on the
northern and southern coasts. The Spanish and Portuguese
troops crossed the Pyrenees; the Italian princes invaded the
Alpine boundary; Austria, Prussia, Holland, and the Ger-
man empire threatened the Ehenish frontier, while Sweden
and .Russia stood frowning in the background. The whole
of Christian Europe took up arms against France, and enor-
mous armies hovered, like vultures, around their prey.

The duke of Coburg commanded the main body of the
Austrians in the Netherlands, where he was at first merely
opposed by the old French army, whose general, Dumouriez,
after unsuccessfully grasping at the supreme power, entered
into a secret agreement with the coalition, allowed himself
to be defeated at Aldenhoven1 and Neerwinden, and finally
deserted to the Austrians. At this moment, when the French
army was dispirited by defeat and without a leader, Coburg,
who had been reinforced by the English and Dutch under
the duke of York, might, by a hasty advance, have taken
Paris by surprise, but both the English and Austrian gen-
erals solely owed the command, for which they were totally
unfit, to their high birth, and Colonel Mack, the most promi-
nent character among the officers of the staff, was a mere
theoretician, who could cleverly enough conduct a campaign

fore whose tribunal she was dragged. The young dauphin expired under the ill-
treatment he received from his guardian, a shoemaker. His sister, the pres-
ent Duchess d'Angouleme, was spared.

1 Where the peasantry, infuriated at the depredations of the French, cast the
wounded and the dead indiscriminately into a trench. — Benzenberg's Letters.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1415

— upon paper. Clairfait, the Austrian general, beat the dis-
banded French army under Dampiere at Famars, but tem-
porized instead of following up his victory. Coburg, in the
hope of the triumph of the moderate party, the Girondins,
published an extremely mild and peaceable proclamation,
which, on the fall of the Gironde, was instantly succeeded
by one of a more threatening character, which his want of
energy and decision in action merely rendered ridiculous.
No vigorous attack was made, nor was even a vigorous
defence calculated upon, not one of the frontier forts in the
Netherlands, demolished by Joseph II. , having been rebuilt.
The coalition foolishly trusted that the French would be an-
nihilated by their inward convulsions, while they were in
reality seizing the opportunity granted by the tardiness of
their foes to levy raw recruits and exercise them in arms.
The principal error, however, lay in the system of conquest
pursued by both Austria and England. Conde, Valenciennes,
and all towns within the French territory taken by Coburg,
were compelled to take a formal oath of allegiance to Aus-
tria, and England made, as the condition of her aid, that of
the Austrians for the conquest of Dunkirk. The siege of
this place, which was merely of importance to England in
a mercantile point of view, retained the armies of Coburg
and York, and the French were consequently enabled, in
the meantime, to concentrate their scattered forces and to
act on the offensive. Ere long, Houchard and Jourdan
pushed forward with their wild masses, which, at first un-
disciplined and unsteady, were merely able to screen them-
selves from the rapid and sustained fire of the British by
acting as tirailleurs (a mode of warfare successfully prac-
ticed by the North Americans against the serried ranks of
the English), became gradually bolder, and finally, by their
numerical strength and republican fury, gained a complete
triumph. Houchard, in this manner, defeated the English
at Hondscoten (September 8th), and Jourdan drove the Aus-
trians off the field at Wattignies on the 16th of October, the
day on which the French queen was beheaded. Coburg, al-

1416 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

though the Austrians had maintained their ground on every
other point, resolved to retreat, notwithstanding the urgent
remonstrances of the youthful archduke, Charles, who had
greatly distinguished himself. During the retreat, an un-
important victory was gained at Menin by Beaulieu, the
imperial general.1 His colleague, Wurmser, nevertheless
maintained with extreme difficulty the line extending from
Basel to Luxemburg, which formed the Prussian outposts.
A French troop under Delange advanced as far as Aix-la-
Chapelle, where they crowned the statue of Charlemagne
with a bonnet rouge.

Mayence was, during the first six months of this year,
besieged by the main body of the Prussian army under the
command of Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick. The Aus-
trians, when on their way past Mayence to Valenciennes
with a quantity of heavy artillery destined for the reduction
of the latter place (which they afterward compelled to do
homage to the emperor), refusing the request of the king
of Prussia for its use en passant for the reduction of May-
ence, greatly displeased that monarch, who clearly perceived
the common intention of England and Austria to conquer
the north of France to the exclusion of Prussia, and conse-
quently revenged himself by privately partitioning Poland
with Kussia, and refusing his assistance to General Wurmser
in the Vosges country. The dissensions between the allies
again rendered their successes null. The Prussians, after the
conquest of Mayence, in 1793, advanced and beat the fresh
masses led against them by Moreau at Pirmasens, but Fred-
erick William, disgusted with Austria and secretly far from
disinclined to peace with France, quitted the army (which
lie maintained in the field, merely from motives of honor,
but allowed to remain in a state of inactivity), in order to
visit his newly acquired territory in Poland.

The gallant old Wurmser was a native of Alsace, where

1 The Hanoverian general, Hammerstein, and his adjutant Scharnhorst, who
afterward became so noted, made a gallant defence. When the city became no
longer tenable, they boldly sallied forth at the head of the garrison and escaped.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1417

he had some property, and fought meritoriously for the
German cause, while so many of his countrymen at that
time ranged themselves on the side of the French.1 His
position on the celebrated Weissenburg line was, owing to
the non -assistance of the Prussians, replete with danger, and
he consequently endeavored to supply his want of strength
by striking his opponents with terror. His Croats, the
notorious Eothmantler, are charged with the commission
of fearful deeds of cruelty. Owing to his system of paying
a piece of gold for every Frenchman's head, they would
rush, when no legitimate enemy could be encountered, into
the first large village at hand, knock at the windows and
strike off the heads of the inhabitants as they peeped out.
The petty principalities on the German side of the Ehine
also complained of the treatment they received from the
Austrians. But how could it be otherwise? The empire
slothfully cast the whole burden of the war upon Austria.
Many of the princes were terror-stricken by the French,
while others meditated an alliance with that power, like that
formerly concluded between them and Louis XI Y0 against
the empire. Bavaria alone was, but with great difficulty,
induced to furnish a contingent. The weak imperial free
towns met with most unceremonious treatment at the hands
of Austria. They were deprived of their artillery and treated
with the utmost contempt. It often happened that the aris-
tocratic magistracy, as, for instance, at Ulm, sided with the
soldiery against the citizens. The slothful bishops and ab-
bots of the empire were, on the other hand, treated with the
utmost respect by the Catholic soldiery. The infringement

1 Rewbel, one of the five directors of the great French republic, and several
of the most celebrated French generals, Germany's unwearied foes, were natives
of Alsace, as, for instance, the gallant Westermann, one of the first leaders of
the republican armies; the intrepid Kellermann, the soldiers' father; the im-
mortal Kleber, generalissimo of the French forces in Egypt, who fell by the
dagger of a fanatical Mussulman ; and the undaunted Rapp, the hero of Dant-
zig. The lion-hearted Ney, justly designated by the French as the bravest of
the brave, was a native of Lorraine. These were, one and all, men of tried
metal, but whose German names induce the demand, "Why did they fight for
France?" Wurmser belonged to the same old Strasburg family which had given
birth to Wurmser, the celebrated court-painter of the emperor, Charles IY.

1418 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of the law of nations by the arrest of Semonville, the French
ambassador to Constantinople, and of Maret, the French
ambassador to Naples, and the seizure of their papers on
neutral ground, in the Valtelline, by Austria, created a far
greater sensation.

The duke of Brunswick, who had received no orders to
retreat, was compelled, bongre'-malgre, to hazard another
engagement with the French, who rushed to the attack.
He was once more victorious, at Kaiserslautern, over Hoche,
whose untrained masses were unable to withstand the supe-
rior discipline of the Prussian troops. Wurmser took advan-
tage of the moment when success seemed to restore the good
humor of the allies to coalesce with the Prussians, dragging
the unwilling Bavarians in his train. This junction, how-
ever, merely had the effect of disclosing the jealousy rank-
ling on every side. The greatest military blunders were
committed and each blamed the other. Landau ought to
and might have been rescued from the French, but this step
was procrastinated until the convention had charged Gen-
erals Hoche and Pichegru, "Landau or death." These two
generals brought a fresh and numerous army into the field,
and, in the very first engagements, at Worth and Frosch-
weiler, the Bavarians ran away and the Austrians and Prus-
sians were signally defeated. The retreat of Wurmser,
in high displeasure, across the Ehine afforded a welcome
pretext to the duke of Brunswick to follow his example and
even to resign the command of the army to Mollendorf. In
this shameful manner was the left bank of the Ehine lost to
Germany.

In the spring of the ensuing year, 1794, the emperor
Francis II. visited the Netherlands in person, with the in-
tent of pushing straight upon Paris. This project, prac-
ticable enough during the preceding campaign, was, how-
ever, now utterly out of the question, the more so on account
of the retreat of the Prussians. The French observed on
this occasion with well-merited scorn: "The allies are ever
an idea, a year and an army behindhand. ' ' The Austrians,

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1419

nevertheless, attacked the whole French line in March and
were at first victorious on every side, at Catillon, where Kray
and Wernek distinguished themselves, and at Landrecis,
where the Archduke Charles made a brilliant charge at the
head of the cavalry. Landrecis was taken. But this was
all. Clairfait, whose example might have animated the in-
active duke of York, being left unsupported by the British,
was attacked singly at Courtray by Pichegru and forced to
yield to superior numbers. Coburg fought an extremely
bloody but indecisive battle at Doornik (Tournay), where
Pichegru ever opposed fresh masses to the Austrian artillery.
Twenty thousand dead strewed the field. The youthful em-
peror, discouraged by the coldness displayed by the Dutch,
whom he had expected to rise en masse in his cause, returned
to Vienna. His departure and the inactivity of the British
commander completely dispirited the Austrian troops, and
on the 26th of June, 1794, ' the duke of Coburg was defeated
at Fleurus by Jourdan, the general of the republic. This
success was immediately followed by that of Pichegru, not
far from Breda, over the inefficient English general,8 who
consequently evacuated the Netherlands, which were in-
stantly overrun by the pillaging French. And thus had
the German powers, notwithstanding their well-disciplined
armies and their great plans, not only forfeited their military
honor, but also drawn the enemy, and, in his train, anarchy
with its concomitant horrors, into the empire. The Aus-
trians had rendered themselves universally unpopular by
their arbitrary measures, and each province remained stu-

1 The Austrian generals Beaulieu, Quosdanowich, and the Archduke Charles,
who, at that period, laid the foundation to his future fame, had pushed victori-
ously forward and taken Fleurus, when the ill- tuned orders, as they are deemed,
of the generalissimo Coburg compelled them to retreat. Quosdanowich dashed
his sabre furiously on the ground and exclaimed, "The army is betrayed, the
victory is ours, and yet we must resign it. Adieu, thou glorious land, thou gar-
den of Europe, the house of Austria bids thee eternally adieu!" The French
had, before and during the action, made use of a balloon for the purpose of
watching the movements of the enemy.

2 The worst spirit prevailed among the British troops; the officers were
wealthy young men, who had purchased their posts and were, in the highest
degree, licentious. Vide Dietfurth's Hessian Campaigns.

GERMANY. VOL. IY. — C

1420 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

pidly indifferent to the threatened pillage of its neighbor by
the victorious French. Jourdan but slowly tracked the re-
treating forces of Coburg, whom he again beat at Sprimont,
where he drove him from the Maese, and at Aldenhoven,
where he drove him from the Roer. Frederick, Landgrave
of Hesse- Cassel, capitulated at Maestricht, with ten thou-
sand men, to Kldber; and the Austrians, with the exception
of a small corps under the Count von Erbach, stationed at
Diisseldorf, completely abandoned the Lower Rhine.

The disasters suffered by the Austrians seem at that time
to have flattered the ambition of the Prussians, for Mollen-
dorf suddenly recrossed the Rhine and gained an advantage
at Kaiserslautern, but was, in July, 1794, again repulsed at
Trippstadt, notwithstanding which he once more crossed the
Rhine in September, and a battle was won by the Prince von
Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen at Fischbach, but, on the junction of
Jourdan with Hoche, who had until then singly opposed him,
Mollendorf again, and for the last time, retreated across the
Rhine. The whole of the left bank of the Rhine, Luxem-
burg and Mayence alone excepted, were now in the hands
of the French. Resius, the Hessian general, abandoned the
Rheinfels with the whole garrison, without striking a blow
in its defence. He was, in reward, condemned to perpetual
imprisonment.1 Jourdan converted the fortress into a ruined

1 Peter Hammer, in his "Description of the Imperial Army," published in
1796, at Cologne, graphically depictures the sad state of the empire. The im-
perial troops consisted of the dregs of the populace, so variously arranged as to
justify the remark of Colonel Sandberg of Baden that the only thing wanting was
their regular equipment as jack-puddings. A monastery furnished two men ; a
petty barony, the ensign; a city, the captain. The arms of each man differed
in calibre. No patriotic spirit animated these defenders of the empire. An
anonymous author remarks: "For love of one's country to be felt, there must,
first of all, be a country ; but Germany is split into petty useless monarchies,
chiefly characterized by their oppression of their subjects, by pride, slavery,
and unutterable weakness. Formerly, when Germany was attacked, each of
her sons made ready for battle, her princes were patriotic and brave. Now,
may Heaven have pity on the land ; the princes, the counts, and nobles march
hence and leave their country to its fate. The Margrave of Baden — I do not
speak of the prince bishop of Spires and of other spiritual lords whose profes-
sion forbids their laying hand to sword — the Landgrave of Darmstadt and other
nobles fled on the mere report of an intended visit from the French, by which

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1421

heap. The whole of the fortifications on the Ehine were
yielded for the sake of saving Mannheim from bombardment.
In the Austrian Netherlands, the old government had
already been abolished, and the whole country been trans-
formed into a Belgian republic by Dumouriez. The reform
of all the ancient evils, so vainly attempted but a few years
before by the noble-spirited emperor, Joseph II., was suc-
cessfully executed by this insolent Frenchman, who also
abolished with them all that was good in the ancient sys-
tem. The city deputies, it is true, made an energetic but
futile resistance. ' After the flight of Dumouriez, fresh dep-
redations were, with every fresh success, committed by the
French. Liege was reduced to the most deplorable state of
desolation, the cathedral and thirty splendid churches were

they plainly intimated that they merely held sovereign rule for the purpose of
being fattened by their subjects in time of peace. Danger no sooner appears
than the miserable subject is left to his own resources. Germany is divided
into too many petty states. How can an elector of the Pfalz, or indeed any of
the still lesser nobility, protect the country? Unity, moreover, is utterly want-
ing. The Bavarian regards the Hessian as a stranger, not as his countryman.
Each petty territory has a different tariff, administration, and laws. The sub-
ject of one petty state cannot travel half a mile into a neighboring one without
leaving behind him great part of his property. The bishop of Spires strictly
forbids his subjects to intermarry with those of any other state. And patriotism
is expected to result from these measures ! The subject of a despot, whose rev-
enues exceed those of his neighbors by a few thousand florins, looks down with
contempt on the slave of a poorer prince. Hence the boundless hatred between
the German courts and their petty brethren, hence the malicious joy caused by
the mishaps of a neighboring dynasty." Hence the wretchedness of the troops.
"With the exception of the troops belonging to the circle there were none to
defend the frontiers of the empire. G-randes battues, balls, operas, and mis-
tresses, swallowed up the revenue, not a farthing remained for the erection of
fortresses, the want pf which was so deeply felt for the defence of the frontiers. "
1 "How can France, with her solemn assurances of liberty, arbitrarily inter-
fere with the government of a country already possessing a representative elected
by the people? How can she proclaim us as a free nation, and, at the same mo-
ment, deprive us of our liberty? Will she establish a new mythology of nations,
and divide the different peoples on the face of the earth, according to their strength,
into nations and demi-nations?" — Protest of the Provisional Council of the City of
Brussels. The President, Theodore Dotrenge. "Every free nation gives to itself
laws, does not receive them from another." — Protest of the City of Antwerp.
President of the Council, Van Dun. "You confiscate alike public and private
property. That have even our former tyrants never ventured to do when de-
claring us rebels, and you say that you bring to us liberty." — Protest of the
Hennegau. The most copious account of the revolutionizing of the Netherlands
is contained in Kau's History of the Germans in France, and of the French in
Germany. Frankfort on the Maine, 1794 and 1795.

1422 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

levelled with the ground by the ancient enemies of the bishop.
Treves was also mercilessly sacked and converted into a
French fortress.

CCXLIX. The Defection of Prussia— The Archduke

Charles

FREDERICK WILLIAM'S advisers, who imagined the vio-
lation of every principle of justice and truth an indubitable
proof of instinctive and consummate prudence, unwittingly
played a high and hazardous ga'me. Their diplomatic ab-
surdity, which weighed the fate of nations against a dinner,
found a confusion of all the solid principles on which states
rest as stimulating as the piquant ragouts of the great Ude
Lucchesini, under his almost intolerable airs of sapience, as
artfully veiled his incapacity in the cabinet as Ferdinand of
Brunswick did his in the field, and to this may be ascribed
the measures which but momentarily and seemingly aggran-
dized Prussia and prepared her deeper fall. Each petty ad-
vantage gained by Prussia but served to raise against her
some powerful foe, and finally, when placed by her policy
at enmity with every sovereign of Europe, she was induced
to trust to the shallow friendship of the French republic.

The Poles, taken unawares by the second partition of their
country, speedily recovered from their surprise and collected
all their strength for an energetic opposition. Kosciuszko,
who had, together with Lafayette, fought in North America
in the cause of liberty, armed his countrymen with scythes,
put every .Russian who fell into his hands to death, and at-
tempted the restoration of ancient Poland. How easily might
not Prussia, backed by the enthusiasm of the patriotic Poles,
have repelled the Russian colossus, already threatening Eu-
rope! But the Berlin diplomatists had yet to learn the
homely truth, that "honesty is the best policy." They
aided in the aggrandizement of Russia, drew down a na-
tion's curse upon their heads for the sake of an addition to
the territory of Prussia, the maintenance of which cost more

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1423

than its revenue, and violated the Divine commands during
a period of storm and convulsion, when the aid of Heaven
was indeed required. The ministers of Frederick William
II. were externally religious, but those of Frederick Wil-
liam L, by whom the Polish question had been so justly
decided, were so in reality.

The king led his troops in person into Poland. In June,
1794, he defeated Kosciuszko's scythemen at Szczekociny,
but met with such strenuous opposition in his attack upon
Warsaw as to be compelled to retire in September. * On the
retreat of the Prussian troops, the Eussians, who had pur-
posely awaited their departure in order to secure the triumph
for themselves, invaded the country in great force under
their bold general, Suwarow, who defeated Kosciuszko, took
him prisoner, and besieged Warsaw, which he carried by
storm. On this occasion, termed by Keichardt "a peaceful
and merciful entry of the clement victor, ' ' eighteen thou-
sand of the inhabitants of every age and sex were cruelly
put to the sword. The result of this success was the third
partition or utter annihilation of Poland. Kussia took pos-
session of the whole of Lithuania and Volhynia, as far as
the Eiemen and the Bug; Prussia, of the whole country
west of the Eiemen, including Warsaw; Austria, of the
whole country south of the Bug, in 1795. An army of
German officials, who earned for themselves not the best
of reputations, settled in the Prussian division: they were
ignorant of the language of the country, and enriched
themselves by tyranny and oppression. Von Treibenfeld,
the counsellor to the forest-board, one of Bischofswerder's
friends, bestowed a number of confiscated lands upon his
adherents.

The ancient Polish feof of Courland was, in consequence

1 The following trait proves the complete stagnation of chivalric feeling in
the army. Szekuli, colonel of the Prussian hussars, condemned several patriotic
ladies, belonging to the highest Polish families at Znawrazlaw, to be placed be-
neath the gallows, in momentary expectation of death, until it, at length, pleased
him to grant a reprieve, couched in the most offensive and indecent terms.

1424 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of the annihilation of Poland, incorporated with the Eussian
empire, Peter, the last duke, the son of Biron, being com-
pelled to abdicate in 1795.

Pichegru invaded Holland late in the autumn of 1794.
The duke of York had already returned to England. A
line of defence was, nevertheless, taken up by the British
under Wallmoden, by the Dutch under their hereditary stadt-
holder, William V. of Orange, and by an Austrian corps un-
der Alvinzi; the Dutch were, however, panic-struck, and
negotiated a separate treaty with Pichegru,1 who, at that
moment, solely aimed at separating the Dutch from their
allies; but when, in December, all the rivers and canals
were suddenly frozen, and nature no longer threw insur-
mountable obstacles in his path, regardless of the negotia-
tions then pending in Paris, he unexpectedly took up arms,
marched across the icebound waters, and carried Holland
by storm. With him marched the anti- Orangemen, the
exiled Dutch patriots, under General Daendels and Admi-
ral de Winter, with the pretended view of restoring ancient
republican liberty to Holland and of expelling the tyrannical
Orange dynasty.

The British (and some Hessian troops) were defeated
at Thiel on the Waal; Alvinzi met with a similar fate at
Pondern, and was compelled to retreat into Westphalia.
Some English ships, which lay frozen up in the harbor,
were captured by the French hussars. A most manly re-
sistance was made; but no aid was sent from any quarter.
Prussia, who so shortly before had ranged herself on the
side of the stadtholder against the people, was now an in-
different spectator. William Y. was compelled to flee to
England. Holland was transformed into a Batavian re-
public. Hahn, Hoof, etc., were the first furious Jacobins

1 A most disgraceful treaty. William's enemies, the fugitive patriots, had
promised the French, in return for their aid, sixty million florins of the spoil of
their country. William, upon this, promised to pay to France a subsidy of eighty
millions, in order to guarantee the security of his frontier, but was instantly out-
bid by the base and self -denominated patriots, who offered to France a hundred
million florins in order to induce her to invade their country.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1425

by whom everything was there formed upon the French
model. The Dutch were compelled to cede Maestricht,
Yenloo, and Vliessingen; to pay a hundred millions to
France, and, moreover, to allow their country to be plun-
dered, to be stripped of all the splendid works of art, pict-
ures, etc. (as was also the case in the Netherlands and on
the Ehine), and even of the valuable museum of natural
curiosities collected by them with such assiduity in every
quarter of the globe. These depredations were succeeded
by a more systematic mode of plunder. Holland was mer-
cilessly drained of her enormous wealth. All the gold and
silver bullion was first of all collected; this was followed by
the imposition of an income-tax of six per cent, which was
afterward repeated, and was succeeded by an income-tax on
a sliding scale from three to thirty per cent. The British,
at the same time, destroyed the Dutch fleet in the Texel com-
manded by de Winter, in order to prevent its capture by the
French, and seized all the Dutch colonies, Java alone ex-
cepted. The flag of Holland had vanished from the seas.

In August, 1794, the reign of terror in France reached its
close. The moderate party which came into power gave
hopes of a general peace, and Frederick William II. with-
out loss of time negotiated a separate treaty, suddenly aban-
doned the monarchical cause which he had formerly so zeal-
ously upheld, and offered his friendship to the revolutionary
nation, against which he had so lately hurled a violent mani-
festo. The French, with equal inconsistency on their part,
abandoned the popular cause, and, after having murdered
their own sovereign and threatened every European throne
with destruction, accepted the alliance of a foreign king.
Both parties, notwithstanding the contrariety of their prin-
ciples and their mutual animosity, were conciliated by their
political interest. The French, solely bent upon conquest,
cared not for the liberty of other nations; Prussia, intent
upon self-aggrandizement, was indifferent to the fate of her
brother sovereigns. Peace was concluded between France
and Prussia at Basel, April 5, 1795. By a secret article

1426 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of this treaty, Prussia confirmed the French republic in the
possession of the whole of the left bank of the Rhine, while
France in return richly indemnified Prussia at the expense
of the petty G-erman states. This peace, notwithstanding
its manifest disadvantages, was also acceded to by Austria,
which, on this occasion, received the unfortunate daughter
of Louis XVI. in exchange for Semonville and Maret, the
captive ambassadors of the republic, and the members of
the convention seized by Dumouriez. Hanover1 and Hesse-
Cassel participated in the treaty and were included within
the line of demarcation, which France, on her side, bound
herself not to transgress.

The countries lying beyond this line of demarcation, the
Netherlands, Holland, and Pfalz-Juliers, were now aban-
doned to France, and Austria, kept in check on the Upper
.Rhine, was powerless in their defence. In this manner fell
Luxemburg and Dusseldorf. All the Lower Rhenish prov-
inces were systematically plundered by the French under pre-
text of establishing liberty and equality.3 The Batavian re-
public was permitted to subsist, but dependent upon France;
Belgium was annexed to France in 1795.

1 Von Berlepsch, the councillor of administration, proposed to the Calemberg
diet to declare their neutrality in defiance of England, and, in case of necessity,
to place "the Calemberg Nation" under the protection of France. — Havemann.

2 "Wherever these locusts appear, everything, men, cattle, food, property,
etc., is carried off. These thieves seize everything convertible into money.
Nothing is safe from them. At Cologne, they filled a church with coffee and
sugar. At Aix-la-Chapelle, they carried off the finest pictures of Rubens and
Van Dyck, the pillars from the altar, and the marble- slab from the tomb of
Charlemagne, all of which they sold to some Dutch Jews." — PosseWs Annals
of 1796. At Cologne, the nuns were instantly emancipated from their vows, and
one of the youngest and most beautiful afterward gained great notoriety as a bar-
maid at an inn. This scandalous story is related by Klebe in his Travels on the
Rhine. In Bonn, Gleich, a man who had formerly been a priest, placed himself
at the head of the French rabble and planted trees of liberty. He also gave to
the world a decade, as he termed his publication. — Mutter, History of Bonn.
"The French proclaimed war against the palaces and peace to the huts, but no
hut was too mean to escape the rapacity of these birds of prey. The first-fruits
of liberty was the pillage of every corner." — Schwdben's History of Sieglurg.
The brothers Boisseree afterward collected a good many of the church pictures,
at that period carried away from Cologne and more particularly from the Lower
Rhine. They now adorn Munich and form the best collection of old German
paintings now existing.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1427

On the retreat of the Prussians, Mannheim was surren-
dered without a blow by the electoral minister, Oberndorf,
to the French. Wurmser arrived too late to the relief of
the city. Quosdanowich, his lieutenant-general, neverthe-
less, succeeded in saving Heidelberg by sheltering himself
behind a great abatis at Handschuchsheion, whence he re-
pulsed the enemy, who were afterward almost entirely cut
to pieces by General Klenau, whom he sent in pursuit with
the light cavalry. General Boros led another Austrian corps
across Nassau to Ehrenbreitstein, at that time besieged by
the French under their youthful general, Marceau, who in-
stantly retired. Wurmser no sooner arrived in person than,
attacking the French before Mannheim, he completely put
them to the rout and took General Oudinot prisoner. Clair-
fait, at the same time, advanced unperceived upon Mayence,
and unexpectedly attacking the besieging French force, car-
ried off one hundred and thirty-eight pieces of heavy artil-
lery. Pichegru, who had been called from Holland to take
the command on the Upper Ehine, was driven back to the
Yosges. Jourdan advanced to his aid from the Lower
Ehine, but his vanguard under Marceau was defeated at
Kreuznach and again at Meissenheim. Mannheim also
capitulated to the Austrians. The winter was now far ad-
vanced; both sides were weary of the campaign, and an
armistice was concluded. Austria, notwithstanding her
late success, was, owing to the desertion of Prussia, in a
critical position. The imperial troops also refused to act.
The princes of Southern Germany longed for peace. Even
Spain followed the example of Prussia and concluded a treaty
with the French republic.

The consequent dissolution of the coalition between the
German powers had at least the effect of preventing the for-
mation of a coalition of nations against them by the French.
Had the alliance between the sovereigns continued, the
French would, from political motives, have used their ut-
most endeavors to revolutionize Germany; this project was
rendered needless by the treaty of Basel, which broke up

1428 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the coalition and confirmed France in the undisturbed pos-
session of her liberties; and thus it happened that Prussia
unwittingly aided the monarchical cause by involuntarily
preventing the promulgation of the revolutionary principles
of France.

Austria remained unshaken, and refused either to betray
the monarchical cause by the recognition of a revolutionary
democratical government, or to cede the frontiers of the em-
pire to the youthful and insolent generals of the republic.
Conscious of the righteousness of the cause she upheld, she
intrepidly stood her ground and ventured her single strength
in the mighty contest, which the campaign of 1796 was to
decide. The Austrian forces in Germany were commanded
by the emperor's brother, the Archduke Charles; those in
Italy, by Beaulieu. The French, on the other hand, sent
Jourdan to the Lower Ehine, Moreau to the Upper Khine,
Bonaparte to Italy, and commenced the attack on every
point with their wonted impetuosity.

The Austrians had again extended their lines as far
as the Lower Ehine. A corps under Prince Ferdinand of
Wiirtemberg was stationed in the Bergland, in the narrow
corner still left between the Rhine and the Prussian line of
demarcation. Marceau forced him to retire as far as Alten-
kirchen, but the Archduke Charles hastening to his assistance
encountered Jourdan 's entire force on the Lahn near Kloster
Altenberg, and, after a short contest, compelled it to give
way. A great part of the Austrian army of the Ehine un-
der Wurmser having been, meanwhile, drawn off and sent
into Italy, the archduke was compelled to turn hastily from
Jourdan against Moreau, who had just despatched General
Ferino across the Lake of Constance, while he advanced
upon Strasburg. A small Swabian corps under Colonel
Eaglowich made an extraordinary defence in Kehl (the first
instance of extreme bravery given by the imperial troops at
that time), but was forced to yield to numbers. The Aus-
trian general, Sztarray, was, notwithstanding the gallantry
displayed on the occasion, also repulsed at Sasbach; the

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1429

Wurtemberg battalion was also driven from the steep pass
of the Kniebes,1 across which Moreau penetrated through
the Black Forest into the heart of Swabia, and had already
reached Freudenstadt, when the Austrian general, Latour,
marched up the Murg. He was, however, also repulsed.
The Archduke Charles now arrived in person in the coun-
try around Pforzheim (on the skirts of the Black Forest),
and sent forward his columns to attack the French in the
mountains, but in vain: the French were victorious at Ko-
thensol and at Wildbad. The archduke retired behind the
Neckar to Cannstadt; his rearguard was pursued through
the city of Stuttgard by the vanguard of the French. After
a short cannonade, the archduke also abandoned his posi-
tion at Cannstadt. The whole of the Swabian circle sub-
mitted to the French. Wurtemberg was now compelled to
make a formal cession of Mumpelgard, which had been for
some time garrisoned by the French,2 and, moreover, to pay
a contribution of four million livres; Baden was also mulcted
two millions, the other states of the Swabian circle twelve
millions, the clergy seven millions, altogether twenty-five
million livres, without reckoning the enormous requisition
of provisions, horses, clothes, etc. The archduke, in the
meantime, deprived the troops belonging to the Swabian
circle of their arms at Biberach, on account of the peace
concluded by their princes with the French, and retired be-
hind the Danube by Donauwrerth. Ferino had, meanwhile,
also advanced from Huningen into the Breisgau and to the
Lake of Constance, had beaten the small corps under Gen-
eral Frohlick at Herbolsheim and the remnant of the French

1 "Had Wurtemberg possessed but six thousand well-organized troops, the
position on the Roszbuhl might have been maintained, and the country have
been saved. The millions since paid by Wurtemberg, and which she may still
have to pay, would have been spared." — Appendix to the History of the Cam-
paign of 1796.

2 The duke, Charles, had, in 1791, visited Paris, donned the national cockade,
and bribed Mirabeau with a large sum of money to induce the French government
to purchase Mumpelgard from him. The French, however, were quite as well
aware as the duke that they would ere long possess it gratis.

1430 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

emigrants under Conde at Mindelheim,1 and joined Moreau
in pursuit of the archduke. His troops committed great
havoc wherever they appeared. a

Jourdan had also again pushed forward. The archduke
had merely been able to oppose to him on the Lower Rhine
thirty thousand men under the Count von Wartensleben,
who, owing to Jourdan 's numerical superiority, had been
repulsed across both the Lahn and Maine. Jourdan took
Frankfort by bombardment and imposed upon that city a
contribution of six millions. The Franconian circle also
submitted and paid sixteen millions, without reckoning the
requisition of natural productions and the merciless pillage.8

The Archduke Charles, too weak singly to encounter the
armies of Moreau and Jourdan, had, meanwhile, boldly re-
solved to keep his opponents as long as possible separate,

1 Moreau generously allowed all his prisoners, who, as ex-nobles, were
destined to the guillotine, to escape.

2 Armbruster's "Register of French Crime" contains as follows: "Here and
there, in the neighboring towns, there were certainly symptoms of an extremely
favorable disposition toward the French, which would ill deserve a place in the
annals of German patriotism and of — German good sense. This disposition
was fortunately far from general. The appearance of the French in their real
character, and the barbarous excesses and heavy contributions by which they
rendered the people sensible of their presence, speedily effected their conver-
sion." The French, it is true, neither murdered the inhabitants nor burned
the villages as they had during the previous century in the Pfalz, but they
pillaged the country to a greater extent, shamefully abused the women, and
desecrated the churches. Their license and the art with which they extorted
the last penny from the wretched people surpassed all belief. "Not satisfied
with robbing the churches, they especially gloried in giving utterance to the
most fearful blasphemies, in destroying and profaning the altars, in overthrow-
ing the statues of saints, in treading the host beneath their feet or casting it to
dogs. — At the village of Berg in Weingarten, they set up in the holy of holies
the image of the devil, which they had taken from the representation of the
temptation of the Saviour in the wilderness. In the village of Boos, they
roasted a crucifix before a fire." — Vide Hurter's Memorabilia, concerning the
French allies* in Swabia, who attempted to found an Alemannic Republic.
Scha/hausen, 1840. Moreau reduced them to silence by declaring, "I have
no need of a revolution to the rear of my army. ' *

3 Notwithstanding Jourdan 's proclamation, promising protection to all private
property, "Wurzburg, Schweinf urt, Bamberg, etc. , were completely pillaged. The
young girls fled in hundreds to the woods. The churches were shamelessly
desecrated. When mercy in God's name was demanded, the plunderers replied,
"God! we are God!" They would dance at night-time around a bowl of burn-
ing brandy, whose blue flames they called their etre supreme. — The French in
Franconia, by Count Soden.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1431

and, on the first favorable opportunity, to attack one with
the whole of his forces, while he kept the other at bay with
a small division of his army. In pursuance of this plan, he
sent Wartensleben against Jourdan, and, meanwhile, drew
Moreau after him into Bavaria, where, leaving General La-
tour with a small corps to keep him in check at Rain on the
Lech, he recrossed the Danube at Ingolstadt with the flower
of his army and hastily advanced against Jourdan, who was
thus taken unawares. At Teiningen, he surprised the French
avant-garde under Bernadotte, which he compelled to retire.
At Amberg, he encountered Jourdan, whom he completely
routed (1796). The French retreated through the city, on
the other side of which they formed an immense square
against the imperial cavalry under Wernek; it was broken
on the third charge, and a terrible slaughter took place, three
thousand of the French being killed and one thousand taken
prisoner. The peasantry had already flown to arms, and
assisted in cutting down the fugitives. Jourdan again made
a stand at Wurzburg, where "Wernek stormed his batteries
at the head of his grenadiers and a complete rout ensued,
September 3. The French lost six thousand dead and two
thousand prisoners. The peasantry rose en masse, and
hunted down the fugitives.1 On the Upper Ehone, Dr.
Eoder placed himself at the head of the peasantry, but,
encountering a superior French corps at Mellrichstadt, was
defeated and killed. The French suif ered most in the Spes-
sart, called by them, on that account, La petite Vendee.
The peasantry were here headed by an aged forester named
Philip Witt, and, protected by their forests, exterminated
numbers of the flying foe. The imperial troops were also
unremitting in their pursuit, again defeated Bernadotte at
Aschaffenburg and chased Jourdan through Nassau across

1 "They deemed the assassination of a foreigner a meritorious work." —
Ephemeridcs of 1797. "The peasantry, roused to fury by the disorderly and
cruel French, whose excesses exceeded all belief, did not even extend mercy
to the wounded ; and the French, with equal barbarity, set whole villages on
tin*."— Appendix to the Campaign of 1796.

1432 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the Ehine. Marceau, who had vainly besieged Mayence,
again made stand at Allerheim, where he was defeated and
killed.1

Moreau, completely deceived by the archduke, had, mean-
while, remained in Bavaria. After defeating General La-
tour at Lechhausen, instead of setting off in pursuit of the
archduke and to Jourdan's aid, he was, as the archduke had
foreseen, attracted by the prospect of gaining a rich booty, in
an opposite direction, toward Munich. Bavaria submitted to
the French, paid ten millions, and ceded twenty of the most
valuable pictures belonging to the Dusseldorf and Munich
galleries. The news of Jourdan's defeat now compelled
Moreau to beat a rapid retreat in order to avoid being cut
off by the victorious archduke. Latour set off vigorously in
pursuit, came up with him at Ulm and again at Baverisberg,
but was both times repulsed, owing to his numerical inferi°
ority. A similar fate awaited the still smaller imperial
corps led against the French by Nauendorf at Eothweil and
by Petrosch at Villingen, and Moreau led the main body of
his army in safety through the deep narrow gorges of the
Hollenthal in the Black Forest to Freiburg in the Breisgau,
where he came upon the archduke, who, amid the accla-
mations of the armed peasantry (by whom the retreating
French3 were, as in the Spessart, continually harassed in
their passage through the Black Forest), had hurried, but
too late, to his encounter. Moreau had already sent two
divisions of his army, under Ferino and Desaix, across the

1 When scarcely in his twenty-seventh year. He was one of the most
distinguished heroes of the Revolution, and as remarkable for his generosity
to his weaker foes as for his moral and chivalric principles. The Archduke
Charles sent his private physicians to attend upon him, and, on the occasion
of his burial, fired a salvo simultaneously with that of the French stationed
on the opposite bank of the Rhine. — Mussinan.

2 The peasants of the Artenau and the Kinzigthal were commanded by a
wealthy farmer, named John Baader. Besides several French generals, Haus-
mann, "the commissary of the government, who accompanied Moreau's army,
was taken prisoner. — Mussinan, History of the French War of 1796, etc. A
decree, published on the 18th of September by Frederick Eugene, Duke of
"Wurtemberg, in which he prohibited his subjects from taking part in the
pursuit of the French, is worthy of remark.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1433

Rhine at Huningen and Breisach, and covered their retreat
with the third by taking up a strong position at Schliesgen,
not far from Freiburg, whence, after braving a first attack,
he escaped during the night to Huningen. This retreat, in
which he had saved his army with comparatively little loss,
excited general admiration, but in Italy there was a young
man who scornfully exclaimed, u It was, after all, merely a
retreat!"

CCL. Bonaparte

THIS youth was Napoleon Bonaparte, the son of a lawyer
in the island of Corsica, a man of military genius, who, when
a mere lieutenant, had raised the siege^of Toulon, had after-
ward served the Directory by dispersing the old Jacobins
with his artillery in the streets of Paris, and had been in-
trusted with the command of the army in Italy. Talents,
that under a monarchy would have been doomed to obscur-
ity, were, under the French republic, called into notice, and
men of decided genius could, amid the general competition,
alone attain to power or retain the reins of government.

Bonaparte was the first to take the field. In the April
of 1796, he pushed across the Alps and attacked the Aus-
trians. Beaulieu, a good general, but too old for service (he
was then seventy- two, Napoleon but twenty- seven), had in-
cautiously extended his lines too far, in order to preserve a
communication with the English fleet in the Mediterranean.
Bonaparte defeated his scattered forces at Montenotte and
Millesimo, between the 10th and 15th of April, and, turning
sharply upon the equally scattered Sardinian force, beat it in
several engagements, the principal of which took place at
Mondovi, between the 19th and 22d of April. An armistice
was concluded with Sardinia, and Beaulieu, who vainly at-
tempted to defend the Po, was defeated on the 7th and 8th
of May, at Fombio. The bridge over the Adda at Lodi,
three hundred paces in length, extremely narrow and to all
appearance impregnable, defended by his lieutenant Sebot-

1434 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tendorf, was carried by storm, and, on the 15th of May, Bo-
naparte entered Milan. Beaulieu took up a position behind
the Mincio, notwithstanding which, Bonaparte carried the
again ill-defended bridge at Borghetto by storm. While in
this part of the country, he narrowly escaped being taken
prisoner by a party of skirmishers, and was compelled to fly
half -naked, with but one foot booted, from his night quarters
at St. Georgio.

Beaulieu now withdrew into the Tyrol. Sardinia made
peace, and terms were offered by the pope and by Naples.
Leghorn was garrisoned with French troops; all the En-
glish goods lying in this harbor, to the value of twelve mil-
lion pounds, were confiscated. The strongly fortified city
of Mantua, defended by the Austrians under their gallant
leader, Canto d'Irles, was besieged by Bonaparte. A fresh
body of Austrian troops under Wurmser crossed the moun-
tains to their relief; but Wurmser, instead of advancing
with his whole force, incautiously pressed forward with
thirty-two thousand men through the valley of the Adige,
while Quosdanowich led eighteen thousand along the west-
ern shore of the Lake of Grarda. Bonaparte instantly per-
ceived his advantage, and, attacking the latter, defeated
him on the 3d of August, at Lonato. Wurmser had entered
Mantua unopposed on the 1st, but, setting out in search of
the enemy, was unexpectedly attacked, on the 5th of August,
by the whole of Bonaparte's forces at Castiglione, and com-
pelled, like Quosdanowich, to seek shelter in the Tyrol. This
senseless mode of attack had been planned by Weirotter, a
colonel belonging to the general staff. Wurmser now re-
ceived reinforcements, and Laner, the general of the engi-
neers, was intrusted with the projection of a better plan.
He again weakened the army by dividing his forces. In
the beginning of September, Davidowich penetrated with
twenty thousand men through the valley of the Adige
and was defeated at Boveredo, and Wurmser, who had,
meanwhile, advanced with an army of twenty-six thou-
sand men through the valley of the Brenta, met with a

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1435

similar fate at Bassano. He, nevertheless, escaped the pur-
suit of the victorious French by making a circuit, and threw
himself by a forced march into Mantua, where he was, how-
ever, unable to make a lengthy resistance, the city being over-
populated and provisions scarce. A fresh army of twenty-
eight thousand men, under Alvinzi, sent to his relief1 through
the valley of the Brenta, was attacked in a strong position at
Arcole, on the river Alpon. Two dams protected the bank
and a narrow bridge, which was, on the 15th of November,
vainly stormed by the French, although General Augereau
and Bonaparte, with the colors in his hand, led the attack.
On the following day, Alvinzi foolishly crossed the bridge
and took up an exposed position, in which he was beaten,
and, on the third day, he retreated. Davidowich, mean-
while, again advanced from the Tyrol and gained an advan-
tage at Eivoli, but was also forced to retreat before Bona-
parte. Wurmser, when too late, made a sally, which was,
consequently, useless. The campaign was, nevertheless, for
the fifth time, renewed. Alvinzi collected reinforcements
and again pushed forward into the valley of the Adige, but
speedily lost courage and suffered a fearful defeat, in which
twenty thousand of his men were taken prisoners, on the
14th and 15th of January, 1797, at Eivoli. Provera, on
whom he had relied for assistance from Padua, was cut off
and taken prisoner with his entire corps. Wurmser capit-
ulated at Mantua with twenty-one thousand men.

The spring of 1797 had scarcely commenced when Bona-
parte was already pushing across the Alps toward Vienna.
Hoche, at the same time, again attacked the Lower and
Moreau the Upper Rhine. Bonaparte, the nearest and most
dangerous foe, was opposed by the archduke, whose army,
composed of the remains of Alvinzi' s disbanded and discour-
aged troops, called forth the observation from Bonaparte,

1 Clausewitz demands, with great justice, why the Austrians so greatly
divided their forces on this occasion for the sake of saving Italy, as they had
only to follow up their successes vigorously on the Rhine in order to gain, in
that quarter, far more than thev could lose on the Po.

1436 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

"Hitherto I have defeated armies without generals, now I
am about to attack a general without an army!" A battle
took place at Tarvis, amid the highest mountains, whence it
was afterward known as "the battle above the clouds. " The
archduke, with a handful of Hungarian hussars, valiantly
defended the pass against sixteen thousand French under
Massena, nor turned to fly until eight only of his men re-
mained. Generals Bayalich and Ocskay, instead of sup-
porting him, had yielded. The archduke again collected
five thousand men around him at Glogau and opposed the
advance of the immensely superior French force until two
hundred and fifty of his men alone remained. The conqueror
of Italy rapidly advanced through Styria upon Vienna. An-
other French corps under Joubert had penetrated into the
Tyrol, but had been so vigorously assailed at Spinges by the
brave peasantry1 as to be forced to retire upon Bonaparte's
main body, with which he came up at Villach, after losing
between six and eight thousand men during his retreat
through the Pusterthal. The rashness with which Bona-
parte, leaving the Alps to his rear and regardless of his dis-
tance from France, penetrated into the enemy's country,
had placed him in a position affording every facility for the
Austrians, by a bold and vigorous stroke, to cut him off and
take him prisoner. They had garrisoned Trieste and Fiume
on the Adriatic and formed an alliance with the republic of
Venice, at that time well supplied with men, arms, and gold.
A great insurrection of the peasantry, infuriated by the pil-
lage of the French troops, had broken out at Bergamo. The

1 At Absom, in the valley of the Inn, a peasant girl had, at that time, dis-
covered a figure of the Virgin in one of the panes of glass in her chamber win-
dow. This appearance being deemed miraculous by the simple peasantry, the
authorities of the place investigated the matter, had the glass cleaned and
scraped, etc., and at length pronounced the indelible figure to be simply the
outline of an old colored painting. The peasantry, however, excited by the
appearance of the infidel French, persisted in giving credence to the miracle
and set up the piece of glass in a church, which was afterward annually visited
by thousands of pilgrims. In 1407, the celebrated pilgrimage to Waldrast, in
the Tyrol, had been founded in a similar manner by the discovery of a portrait
of the Virgin which had been grown up in a tree, by two shepherd lads.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1437

gallant Tyrolese, headed by Count Lehrbach, and the Hun-
garians, had risen en masse. The victorious troops of the
Archduke Charles were en route from the Rhine, and Mack
had armed the Viennese and the inhabitants of the thickly-
populated neighborhood of the metropolis. Bonaparte was
lost should the archduke's plan of operations meet with the
approbation of the Viennese cabinet, and, perfectly aware of
the fact, he made proposals of peace under pretence of spar-
ing unnecessary bloodshed. The imperial court, stupefied by
the late discomfiture in Italy, instead of regarding the pro-
posals of the wily Frenchman as a confession of embarrass-
ment, and of assailing him with redoubled vigor, acceeded to
them, and, on the 18th of April, Count Cobenzl, Thugut's
successor, concluded the preliminaries of peace at Leoben, by
which the French, besides being liberated from their danger-
ous position, were recognized as victors. The negotiations
of peace were continued at the chateau of Campo Formio,
where the Austrians somewhat regained courage, and Count
Cobenzl1 even ventured to refuse some of the articles pro-
posed. Bonaparte, irritated by opposition, dashed a valuable
cup, the gift of the Kussian empress, violently to the ground,
exclaiming, "You wish for war? Well! you shall have it,
and your monarchy shall be shattered like that cup. ' ' The
armistice was not interrupted. Hostilities were even sus-
pended on the Ehine. The archduke had, before quitting
that river, gained the tetes de pont of Strasburg (Kehl) and
of Huningen, besides completely clearing the right bank of
the Rhine of the enemy. The whole of these advantages
were again lost on his recall to take the field against Napo-
leon. The Saxon troops, which had, up to this period, stead-

1 Cobenzl was a favorite of Kaunitz and a thorough courtier. At an earlier
period, when ambassador at Petersburg, he wrote French comedies, which were
performed at the Hermitage in the presence of the empress Catherine. The
arrival of an unpleasant despatch being ever followed by the production of
some amusing piece as an antidote to care, the empress jestingly observed,
"that he was no doubt keeping his best piece until the news arrived of the
French being in Vienna." He expired in the February of 1809 a year preg-
nant with fate for Austria.

1438 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ily sided with Austria, were recalled by the elector. Swabia,
France-ma, and Bavaria were intent upon making peace with
France. Baron von Fahnenberg, the imperial envoy at
Eatisbon, bitterly reproached the Protestant estates for their
evident inclination to follow the example of Prussia by sid-
ing with the French and betraying their fatherland to their
common foe, but, on applying more particularly for aid to
the spiritual princes, who were exposed to the greatest dan-
ger, he found them equally lukewarm. Each and all refused
to furnish troops or to pay a war tax. The imperial troops
were, consequently, compelled to enforce their maintenance,
and naturally became the objects of popular hatred. In this
wretched manner was the empire defended ! The petty im-
perial corps on the .Rhine were, meanwhile, compelled to
retreat before an enemy vastly their superior in number.
Wernek, attempting with merely twenty-two thousand men
to obstruct the advance of an army of sixty-five thousand
French under Hoche, was defeated at Neuwied and de-
prived of his command.1 Sztarray, who charged seven
times at the head of his men, was also beaten by Moreau
at Kehl and Diersheim. At this conjuncture, the armistice
of Leoben was published.

A peace, based on the terms proposed at Leoben, was
formally concluded at Campo Formio, October 17, 1797.
The triumph of the French republic was confirmed, and
ancient Europe received a new form. The object for which
the sovereigns of France had for centuries vainly striven was
won by the monarchless nation; France gained the prepon-
derance in Europe. Italy and the whole of the left bank of
the Ehine were abandoned to her arbitrary rule, and this
fearful loss, far from acting as a warning to Germany and
promoting her unity, merely increased her internal dissen-
sions and offered to the French republic an opportunity for
intervention, of which it took advantage for purposes of gain
and pillage.

1 He indignantly refused the stipend offered to him on this occasion and
protested against the injustice of his condemnation.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1439

The principal object of the policy of Bonaparte and of
the French Directory, at that period, was, by rousing the
ancient feelings of enmity between Austria and Prussia,
to eternalize the disunion between those two monarchies.
Bonaparte, after effectuating the peace by means of terror,
loaded Austria with flattery. He flattered her religious feel-
ings by the moderation of his conduct in Italy toward the
pope, notwithstanding the disapprobation manifested by the
genuine French republicans, and her interests by the offer
of Venice in compensation for the loss of the Netherlands,
and, making a slight side-movement against that once pow-
erful and still wealthy republic, reduced it at the first blow,
nay, by mere threats, to submission ; so deeply was the an-
cient aristocracy here also fallen. The cession of Venice to
the emperor was displeasing to the French republicans.
They were, however, pacified by the delivery of Lafayette,
who had been still detained a prisoner in Austria after the
treaty of Basel. Napoleon said in vindication of his policy,
"I have merely lent Venice to the emperor, he will not keep
her long." He, moreover, gratified Austria by the exten-
sion of her western frontier, so long the object of her ambi-
tion, by the possession of the archbishopric of Salzburg and
of a part of Bavaria with the town of Wasserburg. ' The
sole object of these concessions was provisionally to dispose
Austria in favor of France/ and to render Prussia's ancient
jealousy of Austria implacable.8 Hence the secret articles

1 Bavaria regarded these forced concessions as a bad reward for her fidelity
to Austria. Napoleon appears to have calculated upon relighting by this means
the flames of discord, whence he well knew how to draw an advantage, between
Bavaria and Austria.

2 "Thus the emperor also now abandoned the empire by merely bargaining
with the enemy to quit his territories, and leaving the wretched provinces of the
empire a prey to war and pillage. And if the assurances of friendship, of con-
fidence, and of affection between Austria and Venice are but recalled to mind,
the contrast was indeed laughable when the emperor was pleased to allow that
loyal city to be ceded to him. The best friend was in this case the cloth from
which the emperor cut himself an equivalent." — ffuergelmer.

3 A curious private memoir of Talleyrand says : " J'ai la certitude que Berlin est
le lieu, ou le traite du 26 Yendemiaire (the reconciliation of Austria with Prance
at Campo Formio), aura jette le plus d'etonnement, d'embarras et de crainte."
He then explains that, now that the Netherlands no longer belong to Austria,

1440 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of peace by which France and Austria bound themselves not
to grant any compensation to Prussia. Prussia was on her
part, however, resolved not to be the loser, and, in the sum-
mer of 1797, took forcible possession of the imperial free
town of Nuremberg, notwithstanding her declaration made
just three years previously through Count Soden to the
Franconian circle, "that the king had never harbored the
design of seeking a compensation at the expense of the em-
pire, whose constitution had ever been sacred in his eyes !' '
and to the empire, "He deemed it beneath his dignity to re-
fute the reports concerning Prussia's schemes of aggrandize-
ment, oppression, and secularization. ' ' Prussia also extended
her possessions in Franconia1 and Westphalia, and Hesse-
Cassel imitated her example by the seizure of a part of
Schaumburg-Lippe. The diet energetically remonstrated,
but in vain. Pamphlets spoke of the Prussian reunion-
chambers opened by Hardenberg in Franconia. An attempt
was, however, made to console the circle of Franconia by
depicturing the far worse sufferings of that of Swabia under
the imperial contributions. The petty Estates of the empire
stumbled, under these circumstances, upon the unfortunate
idea "that the intercession of the Russian court should be
requested for the maintenance of the integrity of the Ger-
man empire and for that of her constitution' ' ; the interces-
sion of the Eussian court, which had so lately annihilated
Poland !

Shortly after this (1797), Frederick William II. , who had,

and that Austria and France no longer come into collision, both powers would
be transformed from natural foes into natural friends and would have an equal
interest in weakening Prussia. Should Russia stir, the Poles could be roused
to insurrection, etc.

1 "Exactly at this period, when the empire's common foe was plundering
the Franconian circle, when deeds of blood and horror, when misery and want
had reached a fearful height, the troops of the Elector of Brandenburg overran
the cities and villages. The inhabitants were constrained to take the oath of
fealty, the public officers, who refused, were dragged away captive, etc. Ellin-
gen, Stopfenheim, Absperg, Eschenbach, Nuremberg, Postbaur, Yirnsperg,
Oettingen, Dinkelspuhl, Bitzenhausen, G-elchsheim, were scenes of brutal out-
rage."— The History of the Usurpation of Brandenburg, A.D. 1797, with the
original Documents, published by the Teutonic Order.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1441

on his accession to the throne, found seventy-two millions
of dollars in the treasury, expired, leaving twenty-eight
millions of debts. His son, Frederick William III., placed
the Countess Lichtenau under arrest, banished Wollner, and
abolished the unpopular monopoly in tobacco, but retained
his father's ministers and continued the alliance, so pregnant
with mischief, with France. — This monarch, well-meaning
and destined to the .severest trials, educated by a peevish
valetudinarian and ignorant of affairs, was first taught by
bitter experience the utter incapacity of the men at that time
at the head of the government, and after, as will be seen,
completely reforming the court, the government, and the
army, surrounded himself with men, who gloriously deliv-
ered Prussia and Germany from all the miseries and avenged
all the disgrace, which it is the historian's sad office to
record.

Austria, as Prussia had already done by the treaty of
Basel, also sacrificed, by the peace of Campo Formio, the
whole of the left bank of the Ehine and abandoned it to
France, the loss thereby suffered by the Estates of the em-
pire being indemnified by the secularization of the ecclesias-
tical property in the interior of Germany and by the pros-
pect of the seizure of the imperial free towns. Mayence was
ceded without a blow to France. Holland was forgotten.
The English, under pretext of opposing France, destroyed,
in 1797, the last Dutch fleet, in the Texel, though not
without a heroic and determined resistance on the part of
the admirals de Winter and Eeintjes, both of whom were
severely wounded, and the latter died in captivity in Eng-
land. Holland was formed into a Batavian, Genoa into a
Ligurian, Milan with the Yaltelline (from which the Grisons
was severed) into a Cisalpine, republic. Intrigues were,
moreover, set on foot for the formation of a Eoman and
Neapolitan republic in Italy and of a Ehenish and Swabian
one in Germany, all of which were to be subordinate to the
mother republic in France. The proclamation of a still-born
Cisrhenish republic (it not having as yet been constituted

1442 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

when it was swallowed up in the great French republic), in
the masterless Lower Ehenish provinces in the territory of
Treves, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Cologne, under the influence
of the French Jacobins and soldiery, was, however, all that
could at first be done openly.

The hauteur with which Bonaparte, backed by his de-
voted soldiery, had treated the republicans, and the con-
tempt manifested by him toward the citizens, had not failed
to rouse the jealous suspicions of the Directory, the envy of
the less successful generals, and the hatred of the old friends
of liberty, by whom he was already designated as a tyrant.
The republican party was still possessed of considerable
power, and the majority of the French troops under Moreau,
Jourdan, Bernadotte, etc., were still ready to shed their
blood in the cause of liberty. Bonaparte, compelled to veil
his ambitious projects, judged it more politic, after sowing
the seed of discord at Campo Formio, to withdraw a while
in order to await the ripening of the plot and to return to
reap the result. He, accordingly, went meantime, in 1798,
with a small but well-picked army to Egypt, for the os-
tensible purpose of opening a route overland to India,
the sea- passage having been closed against France by the
British, but, in reality, for the purpose of awaiting there a
turn in continental affairs, and, moreover, by his victories
over the Turks in the ancient land of fable to add to the
wonder it was ever his object to inspire. On his way thither
he seized the island of Malta and compelled Baron Hom-
pesch, the grand-master of the order of the Knights of
Malta, to resign his dignity, the fortress being betrayed
into his hands by the French knights.

At Eastadt, near Baden, where the compensation men-
tioned in the treaty of Campo Formio was to be taken into
consideration, the terrified Estates of the empire assembled
for the purpose of suing the French ambassadors for the
lenity they had not met with at the hands of Austria and
Prussia. — The events that took place at Eastadt are of a
description little calculated to flatter the patriotic feelings

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1443

of the German historian. The soul of the congress was
Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Perigord, at one time a bishop,
at the present period minister of the French republic. His
colloquy with the German ambassadors resembled that of
the -fox with the geese, and he attuned their discords with
truly diabolical art. While holding Austria and Prussia
apart, instigating them one against the other, flattering both
with the friendship of the republic and with the prospect of
a rich booty by the secularization of the ecclesiastical lands,
he encouraged some of the petty states with the hope of
aggrandizement by an alliance with France, * and, with cruel
contempt, allowed others a while to gasp for life before con-
signing them to destruction. The petty princes, moreover,
who had been deprived of their territory on the other side
of the Ehine, demanded lands on this side in compensation;
all the petty princes on this side consequently trembled lest
they should be called upon to make compensation, and each
endeavored, by bribing the members of the congress, Talley-
rand in particular, to render himself an exception. The
French minister was bribed not by gold alone; a consider-
able number of ladies gained great notoriety by their liaison
with the insolent republican, from whom they received noth-
ing, the object for which they sued being sold by him some-
times even two or three times. Momus, a satirical produc-
tion of this period, relates numerous instances of crime and
folly that are perfectly incredible. The avarice manifested
by the French throughout the whole of the negotiations was
only surpassed by the brutality of their language and be-
havior. Eoberjot, Bonnier, and Jean de Bry, the dregs of the
French nation, treated the whole of the German empire on
this occasion en canaille, and, while picking the pockets
of the Germans, were studiously coarse and brutal; still the
trifling opposition they encountered, and the total want of
spirit in the representatives of the great German empire,

1 His secret memoirs, even at that period, designate Baden, Wiirtemberg,
and Darmstadt as states securely within the grasp of France.

GERMANY. VOL. IV. — D

1444 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

whom it must, in fact, have struck them as ridiculous to see
thus humbled at their feet, forms an ample excuse for their
demeanor.

Grustavus Adolphus IV., who mounted the throne of
Sweden in 1796, distinguished himself at that time among
the Estates of the empire, when Duke of Pomerania and
Prince of Rugen, by his solemn protest against the depreda-
tions committed by France, and by his summons to every
member of the Grerman empire to take the field against their
common foe. Hesse-Cassel was also remarkable for the
warlike demeanor and decidedly anti-Grallic feeling of her
population; and Wurtemberg, for being the first of the Ger-
man states that gave the example of making concessions
more in accordance with the spirit of the times. By the
abolition of ancient abuses alone could the princes meet
the threats used on every occasion by the French at Eastadt
to revolutionize the people unless their demands were fully
complied with. In Wurtemberg, the duke, Charles, had
been succeeded, in 1793, by his brother, Louis Eugene,
who banished license from his court, but, a foe to enlighten-
ment, closed the Charles college, placed monks around his
person, was extremely bigoted, and a zealous but impotent
friend to France. He expired in 1795, and was succeeded
by the third brother, Frederick Eugene, who had been dur-
ing his youth a canon at Salzburg, but afterward became a
general in the Prussian service, married a princess of Bran-
denburg, and educated his children in the Protestant faith
in order to assimilate the religion of the reigning family with
that of the people. His mild government terminated in 1797.
Frederick, his talented son and successor, mainly frustrated
the projected establishment of a Swabian republic, which
was strongly supported by the French, by his treatment of
the provincial Estates, the modification of the rights of chase,
etc., on which occasion he took the following oath: "I repeat
the solemn vow, ever to hold the constitution of this country
sacred, and to make the weal of my subjects the aim of my
life." He nevertheless appears, by the magnificent fetes,

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1445

masquerades, and pastoral festivals given by him, as if in a
time of the deepest peace, at Hohenheim, to have trusted
more to his connection with England, by his marriage with
the princess royal, Matilda,1 with Eussia, and with Austria
(the emperor Paul, Catherine's successor, having married
the princess Maria of Wurtemberg, and the emperor Francis
II. , her sister Elisabeth), than to the constitution, which he
afterward annihilated.

The weakness displayed by the empire and the increasing
disunion between Austria and Prussia encouraged the French
to further insolence. Not satisfied with garrisoning every
fortification on the left bank of the Ehine, they boldly at-
tacked, starved to submission, and razed to the ground, dur-
ing peace time, the once impregnable fortress of Ehrenbreit-
stein, on the right bank of the Ehine, opposite Coblentz.3
Not content with laying the Netherlands and Holland com-
pletely waste, they compelled the Hanse towns to grant them
a loan of eighteen million livres. Lubeck refused, but Ham-
burg and Bremen, more nearly threatened and hopeless of
aid from Prussia, were constrained to satisfy the demands
of the French brigands. In the Netherlands, the German
faction once more rose in open insurrection; in 1798, the
young men, infuriated by the conscription and by their en-
rolment into French regiments, flew to arms, and torrents
of blood were shed in the struggle, in which they were un-
aided by their German brethren, before they were again
reduced to submission. The English also landed at Ostend,
but for the sole purpose of destroying the sluices of the canal
at Bruges.

The French divided the beautiful Ehenish provinces,
yielded to them almost without a blow by Germany, into
four departments: First, Eoer, capital Aix-la-Chapelle; be-

1 He fled on Moreau's invasion to England, where he formed this alliance.
There was at one time a project of creating him elector of Hanover and of
partitioning Wurtemberg between Bavaria and Baden.

2 The commandant, Faber, defended the place for fourteen months with a
garrison of 2,000 men. During the siege, the badly-disciplined French soldiery
secretly sold provisions at an exorbitant price to the starving garrison.

1446 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

sides Cologne and Cleves. Secondly, Donnersberg, capi-
tal Mayence; besides Spires and Zweibrucken. Thirdly,
Saar, capital Treves. Fourthly, Rhine and Moselle, capi-
tal Coblentz; besides Bonn. Each department was subdi-
vided into cantons, each canton into communes. The depart-
ment was governed by a perfect, the canton by a sub- prefect,
the commune by a mayor. All distinction of rank, nobility,
and all feudal rights were abolished. Each individual was
a citizen, free and equal. All ecclesiastical establishments
were abandoned to plunder, the churches alone excepted,
they being still granted as places of worship to believers,
notwithstanding the contempt and ridicule into which the
clergy had fallen. The monasteries were closed. The peas-
antry, more particularly in Treves, nevertheless, still mani-
fested great attachment to Popery. Guilds and corporations
were also abolished. The introduction of the ancient Ger-
man oral law formerly in use throughout the empire, the
institution of trial by jury, which, to the disgrace of Ger-
many, the Ehenish princes, after the lapse of a thousand
years, learned from their Gallic foe, was a great and signal
benefit. .

Liberality, equality, and justice were, at that period, in all
other respects, mere fictions. The most arbitrary rule in
reality existed, and the new provinces were systematically
drained by taxes of every description, as, for instance, reg-
ister, stamp, patent, window, door, and land taxes: there
was also a tax upon furniture and upon luxuries of every
sort; a poll-tax, a percentage on the whole assessment, etc. ;
besides extortion, confiscation, and forced sales. And woe
to the new citizen of the great French republic if he failed
in paying more servile homage to its officers, from the pre-
fect down to the lowest underling, than had ever been ex-
acted by the princes!1 Such was the liberty bestowed by

1 Klebe gave an extremely detailed account of the French government: "It
is, for instance, well known that a pastry cook was nominated lord high warden
of the forests over a whole department, and a jeweller was raised to the same
office in another. — The documents proving the cheating and underselling carried

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1447

republican France ! Thus were her promises fulfilled ! The
German Illuminati were fearfully undeceived, particularly
on perceiving how completely their hopes of universally rev-
olutionizing Germany were frustrated by the treaty of Basel.
The French, who had proclaimed liberty to all the nations
of the earth, now offered it for sale. The French character
was in every respect the same as during the reign of Louis
XIY. The only principle to which they remained ever faith-
ful was that of robbery. — Switzerland was now, in her turn,
attacked, and vengeance thus overtook every province that
had severed itself from the empire, and every part of the
once magnificent empire of Germany was miserably pun-
ished for its want of unity.

on by Pioc, the lord high warden of the forests, and By his assistant, Gauthier,
in all the forests in the department of the Rhine and Moselle, are detailed at full
length in 'Rubezahl,' a sort of monthly magazine. It is astonishing to see with
what boundless impudence these people have robbed the country. — Still greater
rascalities were carried on on the right bank of the Rhine. Gauthier robbed
from Coblentz down to the Prussian frontiers." These allegations are con-
firmed by Gorres in a pamphlet, "Results of my Mission to Paris," in which
he says, "The Directory had treated the four departments like so many
Pashalics, which it abandoned to its Janissaries and colonized with its favor-
ites. Every petition sent by the inhabitants was thrown aside with revolting
contempt ; everything was done that could most deeply wound their feelings in
regard to themselves or to their country." "The secret history of the govern-
ment of the country between the Rhine and the Moselle," sums up as follows:
"All cheated, all thieved, all robbed. The cheating, thieving, and robbing were
perfectly terrible, and not one of the cheats, thieves, or robbers seemed to have
an idea that this country formed, by the decree of union, a part of France." A
naive confession ! The French, at all events, acted as if conscious that the land
was not theirs. The Rhenish Jews, who, as early as the times of Louis XIV.,
had aided the French in plundering Germany, again acted as their bloodhounds,
and, by accepting bills in exchange for their real or supposed loans, at double
the amount, on wealthy proprietors, speedily placed themselves in possession
of the finest estates. Yide Reichardt's Letters from Paris.

1448 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLI. The Pillage of Switzerland

PEACE had reigned throughout Switzerland since the bat-
tle of Villmergen, in 1712, which had given to Zurich and
Berne the ascendency in the confederation. The popular dis-
content caused by the increasing despotism of the aristocracy
had merely displayed itself in petty conspiracies, as, for in-
stance, that of Henzi in 1749, and in partial insurrections.
In all the cantons, even in those in which the democratic
spirit was most prevalent, the chief authority had been seized
by the wealthier and more ancient families. All the offices
were in their hands, the higher posts in the Swiss regiments
raised for the service of France were monopolized by the
younger sons of the more powerful families, who introduced
the social vices of France into their own country, where they
formed a strange medley in conjunction with the pedantry
of the ancient oligarchical form of government. In the great
canton of Berne, the council of. two hundred, which had un-
limited sway, was solely composed of seventy- six reigning
families. In Zurich, the one thousand nine hundred towns-
men had unlimited power over the country. For one hun-
dred and fifty years no citizen had been enrolled among
them, and no son of a peasant had been allowed to study
for, or been nominated to, any office, even to that of preacher.
In Solothurn, but one-half of the eight hundred townsmen
were able to carry on the government. Lucerne was gov-
erned by a council of one hundred, so completely monopo-
lized by the more powerful families that boys of- twenty suc-
ceeded their fathers as councillors. Basel was governed by
a council of two hundred and eighty, which was entirely
formed out of seventy wealthy mercantile families. Seventy-
one families had usurped the authority at Freiburg: similar
oligarchical government prevailed at St. Gall and Schaff-
hausen. The Junker, in the latter place, rendered themselves

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1449

especially ridiculous by the innumerable offices and chambers
in which they transacted their useless and prolix affairs. In
all these aristocratic cantons, the peasantry were cruelly har-
assed, oppressed, and, in some parts, kept in servitude, by
the provincial governors. The wealthy provincial govern-
ments were monopolized by the great aristocratic families. *
Even in the pure democracies, the provincial communes were
governed by powerful peasant families, as, for instance, in
Grlarus, and the tyranny exercised by these peasants over
the territory beneath their sway far exceeded that of the
aristocratic burgesses in their provincial governments. The
Italian valleys groaned beneath the yoke of the original can-
tons, particularly under that of Uri,a the seven provincial
governments in Unterwallis under that of Oberwallis, the
countship of Werdenberg under that of the Glarner, the
Yaltelline under that of the Orisons.3 The princely abbot
of St. Gall was unlimited sovereign over his territory. Sepa-
rate monasteries, for instance, Engelberg, had feudal sway
over their vassals.

Enlightenment and liberal opinions spread also gradually
over Switzerland, and twenty years after Henzi's melancholy
death, a disposition was again shown to oppose the tyranny
of the oligarchies. In 1792, Lavater and Fuszli were ban-
ished Zurich for venturing to complain of the arbitrary con-
duct of one of the provincial governors;4 in 1779, a curate

1 "The peasant, when summoned into the presence of a governor, lord of
the council, head of a guild, or preacher, stood there, not as a free Swiss, but
as a criminal trembling before his judge." — Lehmann on the imaginary Freedom
of the Swiss. 1799.

2 "The important office of provincial secretary was, in this manner, heredi-
tary in the family of the Beroldingen of Uri. ' ' — Lehmann.

3 "In the Grisons, the constitution was extremely complicated. The lord-
ships of Meyenfeld and Aspermont were, for instance, subject to the three
confederated cantons and under the control of the provincial governors nomi-
nated by them ; they were at the same time members of the whole free state,
and, as such, had a right of lordship over the subject provinces, over which
they, in their turn, appointed a governor." — Meyer von Knonau's Geography.

4 The best information concerning the authority held by the provincial
governors, who enjoyed almost unlimited sway over their districts, is to be
met with in the excellent biography of Solomon Landolt, the provincial governor
of Zurich, by David Hesz. Landolt was the model of an able but extremely

1450 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

named Waser, a man of talent and a foe to the aristocracy,
was beheaded on a false charge of falsifying the archives;'
in 1794, the oppressed peasantry of Lucerne revolted against
the aristocracy; in the same year, the peasantry in Schwyz,
roused by the insolence of the French recruiting officers, re-
volted, and, in the public provincial assembly, enforced the
recall of all the people of Schwyz in the French service, be-
sides imposing a heavy fine upon General .Reding on his re-
turn. In 1781, a revolt of the Freiburg peasantry, occasioned
by the tyranny of the aristocracy, was quelled with the aid
of Berne; in 1784, Suter, the noble-spirited Landammann of
Appenzell, fell a sacrifice to envy. His mental and moral
superiority to the rest of his countrymen inspired his rival,
Geiger, with the most deadly hatred, and he persecuted him
with the utmost rancor. He was accused of being a free-
thinker; documents and protocols were falsified; the stupid
populace was excited against him, and, after having been
exposed on the pillory, publicly whipped, and tortured on
the rack, he was beheaded, and all intercession on his be-
half was prohibited under pain of death. Solothurn, on the
other hand, was freed from feudal servitude in 1785. The
popular feeling at that time prevalent throughout Switzer-
land was, however, of far greater import than these petty
events. The oligarchies had everywhere suppressed public
opinion; the long peace had slackened the martial ardor of
the people; the ridiculous affectation of ancient heroic Ian-
tyrannical governor (he ruled over G-reisensee and Eglisau) and gained great
note by his Salomonic judgments and by his quaint humor. He founded the
Swiss rifle clubs and introduced that national weapon into modern warfare.
He was also a painter and had the whim, notwithstanding the constant triumph
of the French, ever to represent them in his pictures as the vanquished party.
1 Hirzel wrote at that time, in his "Glimpses into the History of the Con-
federation," that Captain Henzi had been deprived of his head because he was
the only man in the country who had one. Zimmerman says in his "National
Pride," "A foreign philosopher visited Switzerland for the purpose of settling
in a country where thought was free ; he remained ten days at Zurich and then
went to — Portugal." In 1774, the clocks at Basel, which, since the siege of
Rudolph of Habsburg, had remained one hour behindhand, were, after immense
opposition, regulated like those in the rest of the world. Two factions sprang
up on this occasion, that of the Spieszburghers or Lalleburghers (the ancient
one), and that of the Francemen or new-modellers (the modem one).

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1451

guage brought into vogue by John Muller rendered the con-
trast yet more striking, and, on the outburst of the French
^Revolution, the tyrannized Swiss peasantry naturally threw
themselves into the arms of the French, the aristocracy into
those of the Austrians.

The oppressed peasantry revolted as early as 1790 against
the ruling cities, the vassal against the aristocrat, in SchafE-
hausen, on account of the tithes; in Lower Yalais, on ac-
count of the tyranny of one of the provincial governors.
These petty outbreaks and an attempt made by Laharpe to
render the Vaud independent of Berne1 were suppressed
in 1791. The people remained, nevertheless, in a high
state of fermentation. The new French republic at first
quarrelled with, the ancient confederation for having, un-
mindful of their origin, descended to servility. The Swiss
guard had, on the 16th of August, 1792, courageously de-
fended the palace of the unfortunate French king and been
cut to pieces by the Parisian mob. At a later period, the
Austrians had seized the ambassadors of the French republic,
Semonville and Maret, in the Valtelline, in the territory of
the Orisons. The Swiss patriots, as they were called, how-
ever, gradually fomented an insurrection against the aristo-
crats and called the French to their aid. In 1793, the vassals
of the bishop of Basel at Pruntrut had already planted trees
of liberty and placed the bishopric, under the name of a
Eauracian republic, under the protection of France, chiefly
at the instigation of Gobel, who was, in reward, appointed
bishop of Paris, and whose nephew, Eengger, shortly after-
ward became a member of the revolutionary government in
Berne. In Geneva, during the preceding year, the French
faction had gained the upper hand. The fickleness of the
war kept the rest of the patriots in a state of suspense, but,
on the seizure of the left bank of the Ehine by the French,
the movements in Switzerland assumed a more serious char-

1 Laharpe was at the same time a demagogue.. in the Vaud and. tutor to the
emperor Alexander at Petersburg.

1452 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

acter. The abbot, Beda, of St. Grail, 1795, pacified his sub-
jects by concessions, which his successor, Pancras, refusing
to recognize, he was, in consequence, expelled. The unre-
lenting aristocracy of Zurich, upon this, took the field against
the restless peasantry, surrounded the patriots in Stafa, threw
the venerable Bodmer and a number of his adherents into
prison, and inflicted upon them heavy fines or severe cor-
poreal chastisement.

The campaign of 1796 had fully disclosed to Bonaparte
the advantage of occupying Switzerland with his troops,
whose passage to Italy or Germany would be thereby fa-
cilitated, while the line of communication would be secured,
and the danger to which he and Moreau had been exposed
through want of co-operation would at once be remedied.
He first of all took, advantage of the dissensions in the
Orisons to deprive that republic of the beautiful Yaltelline, l
and, even at that time, demanded permission from the peo-
ple of Valais to build the road across the Simplon, which he
was, however, only able to execute at a later period. On his
return to Paris from the Italian expedition, he passed through
Basel, a where he was met by Talleyrand. Peter Ochs, the
chief master of the corporation, was, on this occasion, as he
himself relates in his History of Basel, won over, as the ac-
knowledged chief of the patriots, to revolutionize Switzer-
land and to enter into a close alliance with France. The
base characters, at that time the tools of the French Direc-
tory, merely acceded to the political plans pi Bonaparte and

1 Valtelline with Chiavenna and Bormio (Cleves and Worms) were ill- treated
by the people of the Orisons. Offices and justice were regularly jobbed and sold
to the highest bidder. The people of Valtelline hastily entered into alliance with
France, while the oppressed peasantry in the Orisons rebelled against the ruling
family of Salis, which had long been in the pay of the French kings, and had,
since the revolution, sided with Austria. John Miiller appeared at Basel as
Thugut's agent for the purpose of inciting the confederation against France. —
Ochs' History of Basel.

8 While here, he gave Fesch, the pastry-cook, whose brother, a Swiss lieu-
tenant, was the .second husband of Bonaparte's maternal grandmother, a very
friendly reception. The offspring of this second marriage was the future
Cardinal Fesch, Letitia's half-brother and Napoleon's uncle, whom Napoleon
attempted to create primate of Germany and to raise to the pontifical throne.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1453

Talleyrand in the hope of reaping a rich harvest by the plun-
der of the federal cantons, and the Swiss expedition was,
consequently, determined upon. The people of Valais, whose
state of oppression served as a pretext for interference, re-
volted, under Laharpe, against Berne, 1798, and demanded
the intervention of the French republic, as heir to the dukes
of Savoy, on the strength of an ancient treaty, which had,
for that purpose, been raked up from the ashes of the past.
Nothing could exceed the miserable conduct of the diet at
that conjuncture. After having already conceded to France
her demand for the expulsion of the emigrants and having
exposed its weakness by this open violation of the rights of
hospitality, it discussed the number of troops to be furnished
by each of the cantons, when the enemy was already in the
country. Even the once haughty Bernese, who had set
an army, thirty thousand strong, on foot, withdrew, under
General Wysz, from Valais to their metropolis, where they
awaited the attack of the enemy. There was neither plan1
nor order; the patriots rose in every quarter and struck terror
into the aristocrats, most of whom were now rather inclined
to yield and impeded by their indecision the measures of
the more spirited party. In Basel, Ochs deposed the oli-
garchy; in Zurich, the government was induced, by intimi-
dation, to restore Bodmer and his fellow-prisoners to liberty.
In Freiburg, Lucerne, Schaffhausen, and St. Gall, the oli-
garchies resigned their authority; Constance asserted its
independence.

Within Berne itself, tranquillity was with difficulty pre-
served by Steiger, the venerable mayor, a man of extreme
firmness of character. A French force under Brune had
already overrun Vaud, which, under pretext of being deliv-
ered from oppression, was laid under a heavy contribution ;
the ancient charnel-house at Murten was also destroyed, be-
cause the French had formerly been beaten on this spot by

1 Some of the cantons imagined that France merely aspired to the possession
of Valais, and, jealous of the prosperity and power of Berne, willingly permitted
her to suffer this humiliation. — Meyer von Knonau.

1454 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the Germans. But few of the Swiss marched to the aid of
Berne; two hundred of the people of Uri, arrayed in the
armor of their ancestors, some of the peasantry of Glarus,
St. Gall, and Freiburg.1 A second French force under
Schauenburg entered Switzerland by Basel, defeated the
small troops of Bernese sent to oppose it at Dornach and
Langnau, and took Solothurn, where it liberated one hun-
dred and eighty self-styled patriots imprisoned in that place.
The patriots, at this conjuncture, also rose in open insurrec-
tion in Berne, threw everything into confusion, deposed the
old council, formed a provisional government, and checked
all the preparations for defence. The brave peasantry, basely
betrayed by the cities, were roused to fury. Colonels Ry-
hiner, Stettler, Crusy, and Goumores were murdered by
them upon mere suspicion (their innocence was afterward
proved), and boldly following their leader, Grafenried, against
the French, they defeated and repulsed the whole of Brune's
army and captured eighteen guns at the bridge of Neuenegg.
But a smaller Bernese corps which, under Steiger, the mayor,
opposed the army of Schauenburg in the Grauen flolz, was
routed after a bloody struggle, and, before Brlach, the newly-
nominated generalissimo, could hurry back to Berne with the
victors of Neuenegg, the patriots, who had long been in the
pay of France, threw wide the gates to Schauenburg. All
was now lost. Erlach fled to Thun, in order to place him-
self at the head of the people of the Oberland, who descended
in thick masses from the mountains; but, on his addressing
the brave Senn peasantry in French, according to the mal-
practice of the Bernese, they mistook him for a French spy
and struck him dead in his carriage. The loss of Berne
greatly dispirited them -and they desisted from further and
futile opposition. Steiger escaped. Hotze, a gallant Aus-
trian general, who, mindful of his Swiss origin, had attempted
to place himself at the head of his countrymen, was compelled

1 Two Bernese, condemned to work in the trenches at Yferten, on being
liberated by the French, returned voluntarily to Berne, in order to aid in the
defence of the city. A rare trait, in those times, of ancient Swiss fidelity.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1455

to retrace his steps. In Berne, the French meanwhile pil-
laged the treasures of the republic.1 Besides the treasury
and the arsenal, estimated at twenty-nine million livres, they
levied a contribution of sixteen million. Brune planted a
tree of liberty, and Frisching, the president of the provisional
government, had the folly to say, "Here it stands! may it
bear good fruit! Amen!"

Further bloodshed was prevented by the intervention of
the patriots. The whole of Switzerland, Schwyz, Upper
Yalais, and Unterwalden alone excepted, submitted, and,
on the 12th of April, the federal diet at Aarau established,
in the stead of the ancient federative and oligarchical gov-
ernment, a single and indivisible Helvetian republic, in a
strictly democratic form, with five directors, on the French
model. Four new cantons, Aargau, Leman (Vaud), the
Bernese Oberland, and Constance, were annexed to the an-
cient ones. Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, and Zug were, on
the other hand, to form but one canton. Kapinat, a bold
bad man, Eewbel's brother-in-law, who was at that time
absolute in Switzerland, seized everything that had escaped
the pillage of the soldiery in Berne and Zurich, sacked Solo-
thurn, Lucerne, Freiburg, etc., and hunted out the hidden
treasures of the confederation, which he sent to France.
The protestations of the directors, Bay and Pfyffer, were
unheeded ; Eapinat deposed them by virtue of a French war-
rant and nominated Ochs and Dolder in their stead. The
patriotic feelings of the Swiss revolted at this tyranny;
Schwyz rose in open insurrection; the peasantry, headed
by Aloys Keding, seized and garrisoned Lucerne and called
the whole country to arms against the French invader. The
peasantry of the free cantons also marched against Aarau,
but were defeated by Schauenburg at Hacklingen; two hun-
dred of their number fell, among others a priest bearing the
colors. Schauenburg then attacked the people of Schwyz at

1 A good deal of it was spent by Bonaparte during his expedition into Egypt,
and, even at the present day, the Bernese bear is to be seen on coins still in cir-
culation on the banks of the Nile. — Meyer von Knonau.

1456 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Kichtenschwyl, where, after a desperate combat that lasted
a whole day, he at length compelled them to give way.
They, nevertheless, speedily rallied, and two engagements
of equal obstinacy took place on the Schindeleggy and on
the mountain of Etzel. The flight of Herzog, the pastor of
Einsiedeln, was the sole cause of the discomfiture of the
Swiss. Keding, however, reassembling his forces at the
Ked Tower, in the vicinity of the old battlefield of Morgar-
ten, the French, unable to withstand their fury, were re-
pulsed with immense loss. They also suffered a second de-
feat at Arth, at the foot of the Rigi. The Swiss, on their
part, on numbering their forces after the battle, found their
strength so terribly reduced that, although victors, they were
unable to continue the contest, and voluntarily recognized
the Helvetian republic. The rich monastery of Einsiedeln
was plundered and burned; the miraculous picture of the
Virgin was, however, preserved. Upper Valais also sub-
mitted, after Sion and the whole of the valley had been
plundered and laid waste. The peasantry defended them-
selves here for several weeks at the precipice of the Dal a.
Unterwalden offered the most obstinate resistance. The
peasantry of this canton were headed by Liissi. The French
invaded the country simultaneously on different sides, by
water, across the lake of the four cantons, and across the
Briinig from the Haslithal; in the Kernwald they were vic-
torious over the masses of peasantry, but a body of three or
four thousand French, which had penetrated further down
the vale, was picked off by the peasantry concealed in the
woods and behind the rocks. A rifleman, stationed upon a
projecting rock, shot more than a hundred of the enemy one
after another, his wife and children, meanwhile, loading his
guns. Both of the French corps coalesced at Stanz, but met
with such obstinate resistance from the old men, women and
girls left there, that, after butchering four hundred of them,
they set the place in flames.1 The sturdy mountaineers, al-

1 The venerable Pestalozzi assembled the orphans and founded his celebrated
model academy at Stanz. Seventy-nine women and girls were found among

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1457

though numerically weak, proved themselves worthy of their
ancient fame.— The four Waldstatte were thrown into one
canton, Waldstatten; Glarus and Toggenburg into another,
Linth; Appenzell and St. Gall into that of Santis. The old
Italian prefectures, with the exception of the Valtelline, were
formed into two cantons, Lugano and Bellinzona (afterward
the canton of Tessin). The canton of Vaud also finally ac-
ceded to this arrangement, but was shortly afterward, as
well as the former bishopric of Basel, Pruntrut,1 and the city
and republic of Genoa, incorporated with France.

The levy of eighteen thousand men (the Helvetlers, Gal-
loschwyzers or eighteen batzmen) for the service of the
Helvetian republic occasioned fresh disturbances in the be-
ginning of 1799. The opposition was so great that the
recruits were carried in chains to Berne. The Bernese
Oberland, the peasantry of Basel, Solothurn, Toggenburg,
Appenzell, and Glarus rose in open insurrection, but were
again reduced to submission by the military. The spirit of
the mountaineers was, however, less easily tamed. In April,
1799, the people of Schwyz took four hundred French pris-
oners; those of Uri, under their leader, Vincenz Schmid,
stormed and burned Altorf, the seat of the French and their
adherents; those of Valais, under the youthful Count Cour-
ten, drove the French from their valleys, and those of the
Grisons surprised and cut to pieces a French squadron at
Dissentis. General Soult took the field with a strong force
against them in May and reduced them one after the other,
but with great loss on his side, to submission. Twelve hun-
dred French fell in Valais, which was completely laid waste
by fire and sword; in Uri, stones and rocks were hurled upon
them by the infuriated peasantry as they defiled through
the narrow gorges; Schmid was, however, taken and shot;

the slain. A story is told of a girl who, being attacked, in a lonely house, by
two Frenchmen, knocked their heads together with such force that they dropped
down dead.

1 Not far from Pruntrut is the hill of Terri, said to have been formerly occu-
pied by one of Caesar's camps. The French named it Mont Terrible and created
a department du Mont Terrible. Yide Meyer von Knonau's Geography.

1458 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Schwyz was also reduced to obedience; in the Grisons, up-
ward of a thousand French fell in a bloody engagement at
Coire, and the magnificent monastery of Dissentis was, in re-
venge, burned to the ground. The beautiful Bergland was
reduced to an indescribable state of misery. The villages lay
in ashes; the people, who had escaped the general massacre,
fell victims to famine. In this extremity, Zschokke, at that
time Helvetic governor of the Waldstatte, proposed the com-
plete expulsion of the ancient inhabitants and the settlement
of French colonists in the fatherland of William Tell. l

The imperial free town of Muhlhausen in the Suntgau, the
ancient ally of Switzerland, fell, like her, into the hands of
the French. Unable to preserve her independence, she com-
mitted a singular political suicide. The whole of the town
property was divided among the citizens. A girl, attired in
the ancient Swiss costume, delivered the town keys to the
French commissioner; the city banner and arms were buried
with great solemnity.3

The French had also shown as little lenity in their
treatment, of Italy. Rome was entered and garrisoned with
French troops; the handsome and now venerable puppet,
Pope Pius VI., was seized, robbed, and personally mal-
treated (his ring was even torn from his hand), and dragged
a prisoner to France, where he expired in the August of 1799.

1 In his "Political Remarks touching the Canton of Waldstatteu, " dated the
23d of June, 1799, he says: "Let us imitate the political maxims of the con-
querors of old, who drove the inhabitants most inimical to them into foreign
countries and established colonies, composed of families of their own kin, in
the heart of the conquered provinces." His proposal remaining unseconded,
he sought to obliterate the bad impression it had made, by publishing a proc-
lamation, calling upon the charitably inclined to raise a subscription for the un-
fortunate inhabitants of the "Waldstatte.

» Vide Graf's History of Muhlhausen.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1459

CCLII. The Second Coalition

PRUSSIA looked calmly on, with a view of increasing her
power by peace while other states ruined themselves by war,
and of offering her arbitration at a moment when she could
turn their mutual losses to advantage. Austria, exposed to
immediate danger by the occupation of Switzerland by the
French, remained less tranquil and hastily formed a fresh
coalition with England and Eussia. Catherine II. had ex-
pired, 1796. Her son, Paul I. , cherished the most ambitious
views. His election as grand-master of the Maltese order
dispersed by Napoleon had furnished him with a sort of
right of interference in the affairs of the Levant and
of Italy. On the 1st of March, 1799, the Ionian Islands,
Corfu, etc., were occupied by Eussian troops, and a Eussian
army, under the terrible Suwarow, moved, in conjunction
with the troops of Austria, upon Italy. The project of the
Eussian czar was, by securing his footing on the Mediterra-
nean and at the same time encircling Turkey, to attack Con-
stantinople on both sides, on the earliest opportunity. Austria
was merely to serve as a blind tool for the attainment of his
schemes. Mack was despatched to Naples for the purpose
of bringing about a general rising in Southern Italy against
the French, and England lavished gold. The absence of
Bonaparte probably inspired several of the allied generals
with greater courage, not the French, but he, being the ob-
ject of their dread. The conduct of the French at Eastadt
had revolted every German and had justly raised their most
implacable hatred, which burst forth during a popular tumult
at Vienna, when the tricolor, floating from the palace of
General Bernadotte, the French ambassador, was torn down
and burned. The infamous assassination of the French am-
bassadors at Eastadt also took place during this agitated
period. Bonnier, Eoberjot, and Jean de Bry quitted Eastadt

1460 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

on the breaking out of war, and were attacked and cut to
pieces by some Austrian hussars in a wood close to the city
gate. Jean de Bry alone escaped, although dangerously
wounded, with his life. This atrocious act was generally
believed to have been committed through private revenge,
or, what is far more probable, for the purpose of discovering
by the papers of the ambassadors the truth of the reports at
that time in circulation concerning the existence of a conspir-
acy and projects for the establishment of republics through-
out Germany. The real motive was, however, not long ago,1
unveiled. Austria had revived her ancient projects against
Bavaria, and, as early as 1798, had treated with the French.
Directory for the possession of that electorate in return for
her toleration of the occupation of Switzerland by the troops
of the republic. The venerable elector, Charles Theodore,
who had been already persuaded to cede Bavaria and to
content himself with Franconia, dying suddenly of apoplexy
while at the card-table, was succeeded by his cousin, Maxi-
milian Joseph of Pfalz-Zweibrucken, from whom, on account
of his numerous family, no voluntary cession was to be ex-
pected either for the present or future. Thugut and Lehr-
bach, the rulers of the Viennese cabinet, in the hope of
compromising and excluding him, as a traitor to the empire,
from the Bavarian succession, by the production of proofs of
his being the secret ally of France, hastily resolved upon the
assassination of the French ambassadors at Kastadt, on the
bare supposition of their having in their possession docu-
ments in the handwriting of the elector. None were, how-
ever, discovered, the French envoys having either taken the
precaution of destroying them or of committing them to the
safe-keeping of the Prussian ambassador. This crime was,
as Hormayr observes, at the same time, a political blunder.
This horrible act was perpetrated on the 28th of April, 1799.
The campaign had, a month anterior to this event, been
opened by the French, who had attacked the Austrians in

y Scenes during the War of Liberation.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1461

their still scattered positions. Disunion prevailed as usual
in the Austrian military council. The Archduke Charles
proposed the invasion of France from the side of Swabia.
The occupation of Switzerland by the troops of Austria was,
nevertheless, resolved upon, and General Auffenberg, ac-
cordingly, entered the Orisons. The French instantly per-
ceived and hastened to anticipate the designs of the Austrian
cabinet. Auffenberg was defeated by Massena on the St.
Luciensteig and expelled the Orisons, while Hotze on the
Vorarlberg and Bellegarde in the Tyrol looked calmly on at
the head of fifteen thousand men. The simultaneous inva-
sion of Swabia by Jourdan now induced the military council
at Vienna to accede to the proposal formerly made by the
Archduke Charles, who was despatched with the main body
of the army to Swabia, where, on the 25th of March, 1799,
lie gained a complete victory over Jourdan at Ostrach and
Stockach.1 The Orisons were retaken in May by Hotze,
and, in June, the archduke joining him, Massena was de-
feated at Zurich, and the steep passes of Mont St. Oothard
were occupied by Haddik. Massena was, however, notwith-
standing the immense numerical superiority of the arch-
duke's forces, which could easily have driven him far into
France, allowed to remain undisturbed at Bremgarten. The
French, under Scherer, in Italy, had, meanwhile, been de-
feated, in April, by Kray, at Magnano. This success was
followed by the arrival of Melas from Vienna, of Bellegarde
from the Tyrol, and lastly, by that of the Kussian vanguard
under Suwarow, who took the chief command and beat the
whole of the French forces in Italy; Moreau, at Cassano
and Marengo, in May; Macdonald, on his advance from
Lower Italy, on the Trebbia, in June; and finally, Joubert,
in the great battle of Novi, in which Joubert was killed,
August the 15th, 1799. Dissensions now broke out among
the victors. A fourth of the forces in Italy belonged to Aus-

1 Jourdan might easily have been annihilated during his retreat by the im-
perial cavalry, twenty-seven thousand strong, had his strength and position been
better known *o his pursuers.

1462 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tria, merely one-fifth to Bussia; the Austrians, consequent-
ly, imagined that the war was merely carried on on their
account. The Austrian forces were, against Suwarow's ad-
vice, divided, for the purpose of reducing Mantua and Ales-
sandria and of occupying Tuscany. The king of Sardinia,
whom Suwarow desired to restore to his throne, was forbid-
den to enter his states by the Austrians, who intended to
retain possession of them for some time longer. The whole
of Italy, as far as Ancona and Genoa, was now freed from
the French, whom the Italians, imbittered by their preda-
tory habits, had aided to expel, and Suwarow received or-
ders to join his forces with those under Korsakow, who was
then on the Upper Rhine with thirty thousand men. The
archduke might, even without this fresh reinforcement, have
already annihilated Massena had he not remained during
three months, from June to August, in a state of complete
inactivity; at the very moment of Suwarow's expected ar-
rival he allowed the important passes of the St. Gothard to
be again carried by a coup de main by the French under
General Lecourbe, who drove the Austrians from the Sim-
plon, the Furca, the Grimsel, and the Devil's bridge. The
archduke, after an unsuccessful attempt to push across the
Aar at Dettingen, suddenly quitted the scene of war and ad-
vanced down the Rhine for the purpose of supporting the
English expedition under the Duke of York against Holland.
This unexpected turn in affairs proceeded from Vienna. The
Viennese cabinet was jealous of Russia. Suwarow played
the master in Italy, favored Sardinia at the expense of the
house of Habsburg, and deprived the Austrians of the lau-
rels and of the advantages they had won. The archduke,
accordingly, received orders to remain inactive, to abandon
the Russians, and finally to withdraw to the north; by this
movement Suwarow's triumphant progress was checked, he
was compelled to cross the Alps to the aid of Korsakow, and
to involve himself in a mountain warfare ill-suited to the
habits of his soldiery. ' Korsakow, whom Bavaria had been
1 Scenes during the War of Liberation.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1463

uribed with Russian gold to furnish with a corps one thou-
sand strong, was solely supported by Kray and Hotze with
Twenty thousand men. Massena, taking advantage of the
departure of the archduke and the non-arrival of Suwarow,
crossed the Limmat at Dietikon and shut Korsakow, who
had imprudently stationed himself with his whole army in
Zurich, so closely in, that, after an engagement that lasted
two days, from the 15th to the 17th of September, the Kus-
sian general was compelled to abandon his artillery and to
force his way through the enemy. Ten thousand men were
all that escaped.1 Hotze, who had advanced from the Ori-
sons to Schwyz to Suwarow 's rencounter, was, at the same
time, defeated and killed at Schannis. Suwarow, although
aware that the road across the St. Gothard was blocked by
the lake of the four cantons, on which there were no boats,
had the folly to attempt the passage. In Airolo, he was
obstinately opposed by the French under Lecourbe, and,
although Schweikowski contrived to turn this strong posi-
tion by scaling the pathless rocks, numbers of the men were,
owing to Suwarow's impatience, sacrificed before it. On
the 24th of September, 1799, he at length climbed the St.
Gothard, and a bloody engagement, in which the French
were worsted, took place on the Oberalpsee. Lecourbe blew
up the Devil's bridge, but, leaving the Urnerloch open, the
Russians pushed through that rocky gorge, and, dashing
through the foaming Reuss, scaled the opposite rocks and
drove the French from their position behind the Devil's
bridge. Altorf on the lake was reached in safety by the
Russian general, who was compelled, owing to the want of
boats, to seek his way through the valleys of Shachen and
Muotta, across the almost impassable rocks, to Schwyz.
The heavy rains rendered the undertaking still more ardu-
ous; the Russians, owing to the badness of the road, speed-

1 The celebrated Lavater was, on this occasion, mortally wounded by a
French soldier. The people of Zurich were heavily mulcted by Massena for
having aided the Austrians to the utmost in their power. Zschokke, who was
at that time in the pay of France, wrote against the "Imperialism" of the Swiss.
Vide flaller and Landolt's Life by Hess.

1464 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ily became barefoot; the provisions were also exhausted. In
this wretched state they reached Muotta on the 29th of Sep-
tember and learned the discouraging news of Korsakow's
defeat. Massena had already set off in the hope of cutting
off Suwarow, but had missed his way. He reached Altorf,
where he joined Lecourbe on the 29th, when Suwarow was
already at Muotta, whence Massena found on his arrival he
had again retired across the Bragelberg, through the Klon-
thal. He was opposed on the lake of Klonthal by Molitor,
who was, however, forced to retire by Auffenberg, who had
joined Suwarow at Altorf and formed his advanced guard,
Rosen, at the same time, beating off Massena with the rear-
guard, taking five cannons and one thousand of his men
prisoners. On the 1st of October, Suwarow entered Gla-
rus, where he rested until the 4th, when he crossed the
Panixer mountains through snow two feet deep to the val-
ley of the Rhine, which he reached on the 10th, after losing
the whole of his beasts of burden and two hundred of his
men down the precipices; and here ended his extraordinary
march, which had cost him the whole of his artillery, almost
all his horses, and a third of his men.

The archduke had, meanwhile, tarried on the Rhine,
where he had taken Philippsburg and Mannheim, but had
been unable to prevent the defeat of the English expedition
under the Duke of York by General Brune at Bergen, on
the 19th of September. The archduke now, for the first
time, made a retrograde movement, and approached Korsa-
kow and Suwarow. The different leaders, however, merely
reproached each other, and the czar, perceiving his project
frustrated, suddenly recalled his troops and the campaign
came to a close. The archduke's rearguard was defeated
in a succession of petty skirmishes at Heidelberg and on the
Neckar by the French, who again pressed forward.1 These

1 Concerning the wretched provision for the Austrian army, the embezzle-
ment of the supplies, the bad management of the magazines and hospitals, see
"Representation of the Causes of the Disasters suffered by the Austrians,"
etc. 1802.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1465

disasters were counterbalanced by the splendid victory gained
by Melas in Italy, at Savigliano, over Championnet, who at-
tempted to save Genoa,

Austria was no sooner deprived in Suwarow of the most
efficient of her allies than she was attacked by her most dan-
gerous foe. Bonaparte returned from Egypt. The news of
the great disasters of the French in Italy no sooner arrived,
than he abandoned his army and hastened, completely unat-
tended, to France, through the midst of the English fleet,
then stationed in the Mediterranean. His arrival in Paris
was instantly followed by his public nomination as general-
issimo. He alone had the power of restoring victory to the
standard of the republic. The ill success of his rivals had
greatly increased his popularity; he had become indispensa-
ble to his countrymen. His power was alone obnoxious to
the weak government, which, aided by the soldiery, he dis-
solved on the 9th of November (the 18th Brumaire, by the
modern French calendar); he then bestowed a new constitu-
tion upon France and placed himself, under the title of First
Consul, at the head of the republic.

In the following year, 1800, Bonaparte made preparations
for a fresh campaign against Austria, under circumstances
similar to those of the first. But this time he was more
rapid in his movements and performed more astonishing
feats. Suddenly crossing the St. Bernard, he fell upon the
Austrian flank. Genoa, garrisoned by Massena, had just
been forced by famine to capitulate. Ten days afterward,
on the 14th of June, Bonaparte gained such a decisive vic-
tory over Melas, the Austrian general, at Marengo,1 that he
and the remainder of his army capitulated on the ensuing
day. The whole of Italy fell once more into the hands of
the French. Moreau had, at the same time, invaded Ger-

1 The contest lasted the whole day : the French already gave way on every
side, when Desaix led the French centre with such fury to the charge that the
Austrians, surprised by the suddenness of the movement, were driven back and
thrown into confusion, and the French, rallying at that moment, made another
furious onset and tore the victory from their grasp.

1466 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

many and defeated the Austrians under Kray in several en-
gagements, principally at Stockach and Moskirch, l and again
at Biberach and Hochstadt, laid Swabia and Bavaria under
contribution, and taken Ratisbon, the seat of the diet. An
armistice, negotiated by Kray, was not recognized by the
emperor, and he was replaced in his command by the Arch-
duke John (not Charles), who was, on the 3d of December,
totally routed by Moreau's manoeuvres during a violent
snowstorm, at Hohenlinden. A second Austrian army,
despatched into Italy, was also defeated by Brune on the
Mincio. These disasters once more inclined Austria to
peace, which was concluded at Luneville, on the 9th of
February, 1801. The Archduke Charles seized this oppor-
tunity to propose the most beneficial reforms in the war
administration, but was again treated with contempt. In the
ensuing year, 1802, England also concluded peace at Amiens.
The whole of the left bank of the Rhine was, on this oc-
casion, ceded to the French republic. The petty republics,
formerly established by France in Italy, Switzerland, and
Holland, were also renewed and were recognized by the
allied powers. The Cisalpine republic was enlarged by the
possessions of the grandduke of Tuscany and of the duke
of Modena, to whom compensation in Germany was guaran-
teed. Suwarow's victories had, in the autumn of 1799, ren-
dered a conclave, on the death of the captive pope, Pius VI. ,
in France, possible, for the purpose of electing his successor,
Pius VII. , who was acknowledged as such by Bonaparte,
whose favor he purchased by expressing his approbation of
the seizure of the property of the church during the French
Revolution, and by declaring his readiness to agree to the
secularization of church property, already determined upon,
in Germany.

1 The impregnable fortress of Hohentwiel, formerly so gallantly defended by
"Widerhold, was surrendered without a blow by the cowardly commandant,
Bihinger. Rotenburg on the Tauber, on the contrary, wiped off the disgrace
with which she had covered herself during the thirty years' war. A small
French skirmishing party demanded a contribution from this city; the council
yielded, but the citizens drove off the enemy with pitchforks.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1467

The Helvetian Directory fell, like that of France, and
was replaced by an administrative council, composed of
seven members, in 1800. The upholders of ancient cantonal
liberty, now known under the denomination of Federalists,
gained the upper hand, and Aloys Keding, who had, shortly
before, been denounced as a rebel, became Landammann of
Switzerland. Bonaparte even invited him to Paris in order
to settle with him the future fate of Switzerland, Reding,
however, showing an unexpected degree of firmness, and
unmoved by either promises or threats, obstinately refusing
to permit the annexation of Yalais to France, Bonaparte
withdrew his support and again favored the Helvetlers.
Bolder and Savari, who had long been the creatures of
France, failing in their election, were seated by Yerninac,
the French ambassador, in the senate of the Helvetian re-
public, and Reding, who was at that moment absent, was
divested of his office as Landammann. Reding protested
against this arbitrary conduct and convoked a federal diet
to Schwyz.

Andermatt, general of the Helvetian republic, attempted
to seize Zurich, which had joined the federalists, but
was compelled to withdraw, covered with disgrace0 An
army of federalists under General Bachmann repulsed the
Helvetlers in every direction and drove them, together with
the French envoys, across the frontier. Bonaparte, upon
this, sent a body of thirty to forty thousand men, under Ney,
into Switzerland, which met with no opposition, the federal-
ists being desirous of avoiding useless bloodshed and being
already acquainted with Bonaparte's secret projects. He
would not tolerate opposition on their part, like that of Red-
ing: he had resolved upon getting possession of Yalais at
any price, on account of the road across the Simplon, so im-
portant to him as affording the nearest communication be-
tween Paris and Milan: in all other points, he perfectly
coincided with the federalists and was willing to grant its
ancient independence to every canton in Switzerland, where
disunion and petty feuds placed the country the more se-

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— E

1468 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

curely in his hands. With feigned commiseration for the
ineptitude of the Swiss to settle their own disputes, he in-
vited deputies belonging to the various factions and cantons
to Paris, lectured them like schoolboys, and compelled them
by the Act of Mediation, under his intervention, to give a
new constitution to Switzerland. Yalais was annexed to
France in exchange for the Austrian Frickthal. Nineteen
cantons were created.1 Bach canton again administered its
internal affairs. Bonaparte was never weary of painting
the happy lot of petty states and the delights of petty citizen-
ship. ' *But ye are too weak, too helpless, to defend your-
selves; cast yourselves therefore into the arms of France,
ready to protect you while, free from taxation, and from the
burdensome maintenance of an army, ye dwell free and
independent in your native vales." The Swiss, although
no longer to have a national army, were, nevertheless, com-
pelled to furnish a contingent of eighteen thousand men to
that of France, and, while deluded by the idea of their free-
dom from taxation, the fifteen millions of French bons given
in exchange for the numerous Swiss loans were cashiered by
Bonaparte, under pretext of the Swiss having been already
sufficiently paid by their deliverance from their enemies by
the French.9 The real Swiss patriots implored the German
powers to protect their country, the bulwark of Germany

1 The ancient ones, Berne, Zurich, Basel, Solotharn, Freiburg, Lucerne,
Schaffhausen ; the re-established ones, Uri, Schwyz, Uriterwalden, Zug, G-larus,
Appenzell, St. Gall (instead of Waldstatten, Linth, and Santis), Valais (instead
of Leman), Aargau, Constance, Orisons, Tessin (instead of Lugano and Bellin-
zona). The Bernese Oberland again fell to Berne. The ambassador, attempting
to preserve its independence, was asked by Napoleon: "Where do you take
your cattle, your cheese, etc.?" "A Berne," was the reply. "Whence do
you get your grain, cloth, iron, etc." "De Berne." "Well," continued
Napoleon, "de Berne, a Berne, you consequently belong to Berne." — The
Bernese were highly delighted at the restoration of their independence, and
the re-erection of the ancient arms of Berne became a joyous fete. A gigantic
black bear that was painted on the broad walls of the castle of Trachselwald
was visible far down the valley.

8 Murald, in his life of Reinhard, records an instance of shameless fraud,
the attempt made during a farewell banquet at Paris to cozen the Swiss depu-
ties out of a million. After plying them well with wine, an altered document
was offered them for signature; Reinhard, the only one who perceived the fraud,
frustrated the scheme.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1469

against France; but Austria was too much weakened by
her own losses, and Prussia handed the letters addressed
to her from Switzerland over to the First Consul.

The melancholy business, commenced by the empire at
the congress of Eastadt, and which had been broken off by
the outbreak of the war, had now to be recommenced. Fresh
compensations had been rendered necessary by the robberies
committed upon the Italian princes. The church property
no longer sufficed to satisfy all demands, and fresh seizures
had become requisite. A committee of the diet was in-
trusted with the settlement of the question of compensation,
which was decided on the 25th of February, 1803, by a
decree of the imperial diet. All the great powers of Ger-
many had not suffered; all had not, consequently, a right
to demand compensation, but, in order to appease their jeal-
ousy, all were to receive a portion of the booty. The three
spiritual electorates, Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, were
abolished, their position on the other side of the Ehine in-
cluding them within the French territory. The archbishop
of Mayence alone retained his dignity, and was transferred
to Eatisbon. The whole of the imperial free cities were
moreover deprived of their privileges, six alone excepted,
Lubeck, Hamburg,1 Bremen, Frankfort, Augsburg, and
Nuremberg. The unsecularized bishoprics and abbeys were
abolished. The petty princes, counts and barons, and the
Teutonic order, were still allowed to exist, in order ere long
to be included in the general ruin.

Prussia retained the bishoprics of Hildesheim and Pader-
born, a part of Munster, numerous abbeys and imperial free
towns in Westphalia and Thuringia, more particularly Er-
furt. Bavaria had ever suffered on the conclusion of peace
between France and Austria; in 1797, she had ceded the
Ehenish Pfalz to France and a province on the Inn to Aus-
tria; by the treaty of Luneville she had been, moreover,

1 Hamburg was, however, compelled to pay to the French 1,700,000 marcs
banco, and to allow Rumbold, the English agent, to be arrested by them within
the city walls.

1470 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

compelled to raze the fortress of Ingolstadt.1 The inclina-
tion for French innovations displayed by the reigning duke,
Maximilian Joseph, who surrounded himself with the old
Illuminati, caused her, on this occasion, by Bonaparte's aid,
to be richly compensated by the annexation of the bishoprics
of Bamberg, Wurzburg, Augsburg, and Freisingen, with
several small towns, etc. ; all the monasteries were abolished.
Bavaria had formerly supported the institutions of the ancient
church of Rome more firmly than Austria, where reforms
had already been begun in the church by Joseph II. Han-
over received Osnabruck ; Baden, the portion of the Pfalz
on this side the Ehine, the greater part of the bishoprics of
Constance, Basel, Strasburg, and Spires, also on this side the
Ehine; Wurtemberg, both Hesses (Cassel and Darmstadt);
and Nassau, all the lands in the vicinity formerly belonging
to the bishopric of Mayence, to imperial free towns and petty
lordships. Ferdinand, grandduke of Tuscany, younger
brother to the emperor Francis II. , was compelled to relin-
quish his hereditary possessions in Italy,8 and received in
exchange Salzburg, Eichstadt, and Passau. Ferdinand,
duke of Modena, uncle to the emperor Francis II. and
younger brother to the emperors Leopold II. and Joseph II.,
also resigned his duchy,3 for which he received the Breisgau
in exchange. William V., hereditary stadtholder of Hol-
land, who had been expelled his states, also received, on this
occasion, in compensation for his son of like name (he was
himself already far advanced in years), the rich abbey of
Fulda, which was created the principality of Orange-Fulda.4

1 The university had been removed, in 1800, to Landshut.

* Bonaparte transformed them into a kingdom of Btruria, which he bestowed
upon a Spanish prince, Louis of Parma, who shortly afterward died and his king-
dom was annexed to France.

8 He was son-in-law to Hercules, the last duke of Modena, who still lived,
but had resigned his claims in his favor. This duke expired in 1805.

4 Which he speedily lost by rejoining Napoleon's adversaries. Adalbert von
Harstall, the last princely abbot of Fulda, was an extremely noble character ; he
is almost the only one among the princes who remained firmly by his subjects
when all the rest fled and abandoned theirs to the French. After the edict of
secularization he remained firmly at his post until compelled to resign it by the
Prussian soldiery.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1471

The electoral dignity was at the same time bestowed upon
the Archduke Ferdinand, the Landgrave of Hesse- Cassel,
the duke of Wurtemberg, and the Margrave of Baden.

Submission, although painful, produced no opposition.
The power of the imperial free cities had long passed away, '
and the spiritual princes no longer wielded the sword. The
manner in which the officers of the princes took possession,
the insolence with which they treated the subject people, the
fraud and embezzlement that were openly practiced, are
merely excusable on account of the fact that Germany was,
notwithstanding the peace, still in a state of war. The de-
cree of the imperial diet can scarcely be regarded as the
ignominious close of a good old time, but rather as a violent
but beneficial incisure in an old and rankling sore. With
the petty states, a mass of vanity and pedantry disappeared
on the one side, pusillanimity and servility on the other ; the
ideas of the subjects of a large state have naturally a wider
range; the monasteries, those dens of superstition, the petty
princely residences, those hotbeds of French vice and degen-
eracy, the imperial free towns, those abodes of petty burgher
prejudice, no longer existed. The extension of the limits of
the states rendered the gradual introduction of a better ad-
ministration, the laying of roads, the foundation of public
institutions of every description, and social improvement,
possible. The example of France, the ever-renewed war-
fare, and the conscriptions, created, moreover, a martial
spirit among the people, which, although far removed from
patriotism, might still, when compared with the spirit for-

1 The citizens of Esslingen were shortly before at law with their magistrate
on account of his nepotism and tyranny without being able to get a decision from
the supreme court of judicature. — Quedlinburg had also not long before sent en-
voys to Vienna with heavy complaints of the insolence of the magistrate, and
the envoys had been sent home without a reply being vouchsafed and were
threatened with the house of correction in case they ventured to return. Vide
Hess's Flight through Germany, 1793. — Wimpfen also carried on a suit against
its magistrate. In 1784, imperial decrees were issued against the aristocracy of
Ulm. In 1786, the people of Aix-la-Chapelle rose against their magistrate.
Nuremberg repeatedly demanded the production of the public accounts from the
aristocratic town-council. The people of Hildesheim also revolted against their
council. Vide Schlozer, State Archives.

1472 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

merly pervading the imperial army, be regarded as a first
step from effeminacy, cowardice, and sloth, toward true,
unflinching, manly courage.

CCLIII. Pall of the Holy Roman- Germanic Empire

A GREAT change had, meanwhile, taken place in France.
The republic existed merely in name. The first consul,
Bonaparte, already possessed regal power. The world be-
held with astonishment a nation that had so lately and so
virulently persecuted royalty, so dearly bought and so strictly
enforced its boasted liberty, suddenly forget its triumph and
restore monarchy0 Liberty had ceased to be in vogue, and
had yielded to a general desire for the acquisition of fame.
The equality enforced by liberty was offensive to individual
vanity, and the love of gain and luxury opposed republican
poverty. Fame and wealth were alone to be procured by
war and conquest. France was to be enriched by the plun-
der of her neighbors. Bonaparte, moreover, promoted the
prosperity and dignity of the country by the establishment
of manufactures, public institutions, and excellent laws.
The awe with which he inspired his subjects insured their
obedience; he was universally feared and reverenced. In
whatever age this extraordinary man had lived, he must
have taken the lead and have reduced nations to submission.
Even his adversaries, even those he most deeply injured,
owned his influence. His presence converted the wisdom of
the statesman, the knowledge of the most experienced gen-
eral, into folly and ignorance; the bravest armies fled panic-
struck before his eagles; the proudest sovereigns of Europe
bowed their crowned heads before the little hat of the Cor-
sican. He was long regarded as a new savior, sent to im-
part happiness to his people, and, as though by magic, bent
the blind and pliant mass to his will. But philanthropy,
Christian wisdom, the virtues of the Prince of peace, were
not his. If he bestowed excellent laws upon his people, it
was merely with the view of increasing the power of the

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1473

state for military purposes. He was ever possessed and tor-
mented by the demon of war.

On the 18th of May, 1804, Bonaparte abolished the French
republic and was elected hereditary emperor of France. On
the 2d of December, ho was solemnly anointed and crowned
by the pope, Pius VII., who visited Paris for that purpose.
The ceremonies used at the coronation of Charlemagne were
revived on this occasion. On the 15th of March, 1805, he
abolished the Ligurian and Cisalpine republics, and set the
ancient iron crown of Lombardy on his head, with his own
hand, as king of Italy. He made a distinction between la
France and F empire, tho latter of which was, by conquest,
to be gradually extended over the whole of Europe, and to
be raised by him above that of Germany, in the same man-
ner that the western Koman- Germanic empire had formerly
been raised by Charlemagne above the eastern Byzantine
one.

The erection of France into an empire was viewed with
distrust by Austria, whose displeasure had been, moreover,
roused by the arbitrary conduct of Napoleon in Italy. Fresh
disputes had also arisen between him and England; he had
occupied the whole of Hanover, which Wallmoden's1 army
had been powerless to defend, with his troops, and violated
the Baden territory by the seizure of the unfortunate Due
d'Enghien, a prince of the house of Bourbon, who was car-
ried into, France and there shot. Prussia offered no interfer-
ence, in the hope of receiving Hanover in reward for her
neutrality.3 Austria, on her part, formed a third coalition

1 He capitulated at Suhlingen on honorable terms, but was deceived by
Mortier, the French general, and Napoleon took advantage of a clause not to
recognize all the terms of capitulation. The Hanoverian troops, whom it was
intended to force to an unconditional surrender to the French, sailed secretly
and in separate divisions to England, where they were formed into the German
Legion.

2 England oif ered the Netherlands instead of Hanover to Prussia ; to this
Russia, however, refused to accede. Prussia listened to both sides, and acted
with such duplicity that Austria was led, by the false hope of being sec-
onded by her, to a too early declaration of war. — Scenes during the War of
Liberation.

1474 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

with England, Kussia, and Sweden. ' Austria acted, undeni-
ably, on this occasion, with impolitic haste; she ought rather
to have waited until Prussia and public opinion throughout
Germany had been ranged on her side, as sooner or later
must have been the case, by the brutal encroachments of Na-
poleon. Austria, unaided by Prussia, could scarcely dream
of success.2 But England, at that time fearful of Napoleon's
landing on her coast, lavished her all- persuasive gold.

The Archduke Ferdinand was placed at the head of
the Austrian troops in Germany; the Archduke Charles,
of those in Italy. Ferdinand commanded the main body
and was guided by Mack, who, without awaiting the arrival
of the .Russians, advanced as far as Ulm, pushed a corps,
under Jellachich, forward to Lindau, and left the whole of
his right flank exposed. He, nevertheless, looked upon Na-
poleon's defeat and the invasion of France by his troops as
close at hand. He was in ill -health and highly irritable.
Napoleon, in order to move with greater celerity, sent a
part of his troops by carriage through Strasburg, declared
to the Margrave of Baden, the duke of Wurtemberg, and
the elector of Bavaria, his intention not to recognize them
as neutral powers, that they must be either against him or
with him, and made them such brilliant promises (they were,
moreover, actuated by distrust of Austria), that they ranged
themselves on his side. Napoleon instantly sent orders to
General Bernadotte, who was at that time stationed in Han-
over, to cross the neutral Prussian territory of Anspach,8

1 Gustavus Adolphus IV. of Sweden, who had wedded a princess of Baden,
was at Carlsruhe at the very moment that the Due d'Enghien was seized as it
were before his eyes. This circumstance and the ridicule heaped upon him by
Napoleon, who mockingly termed him the Quixote of the North, roused his bitter
hatred.

3 Bulow wrote in his remarkable criticism upon this war: "The hot coalition
party — that of the ladies — of the empress and the queen of Naples — removed
Prince Charles from the army and called Mack from oblivion to daylight ; Mack,
whose name in the books of the prophets in the Hebrew tongue signifies defeat. "

* Napoleon gained almost all his victories either by skilfully separating his
opponents and defeating them singly with forces vastly superior in number, or
by creeping round the concentrated forces of the enemy and placing them be-
tween two fires.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1475

without demanding the permission, of Prussia, to Mack's
rear, in order to form a junction with the Bavarian troops.
Other corps were at the same time directed by circuitous
routes upon the flanks of the Austrian army, which was at-
tacked at Memmingen by Soult, and was cut off to the north
by Ney, who carried the bridge of Elchingen1 by storm.
Mack ; had drawn his troops together, but had, notwith-
standing the entreaties of his generals, refused to attack the
separate French corps before they could unite and surround
him. The Archduke Ferdinand alone succeeded in fighting
his way with a part of the cavalry through the enemy.3
Mack lost his senses and capitulated on the 17th of October,
1805. With him fell sixty thousand Austrians, the elite of
the army, into the hands of the enemy. Napoleon could
scarcely spare a sufficient number of men to escort this enor-
mous crowd of prisoners to France. Wernek's corps, which
had already been cut off, was also compelled to yield itself
prisoner at Trochtelfingen, not far from Heidenheim.

Napoleon, while following up his success with his cus-
tomary rapidity and advancing with his main body straight
upon Vienna, despatched Ney into the Tyrol, where the
peasantry, headed by the Archduke John, made a heroic
defence. The advanced guard of the French, composed of
the Bavarians under Deroy, were defeated at the Strub
pass, but, notwithstanding this disaster, Ney carried the
Schaarnitz by storm and reached Innsbruck. The Arch-
duke John was compelled to retire into Carinthia in order to
form a junction with his brother Charles, who, after beat-
ing Massena at Caldiero, had been necessitated by Mack's
defeat to hasten from Italy for the purpose of covering Aus-
tria. Two corps, left in the hurry of retreat too far westward,
were cut off and taken prisoner, that under Prince Kohan at

1 Ney was, for this action, created Duke of Elchingen.

2 Klein, the French general, also a German, allowed himself to be kept in
conversation by Prince, afterward field-marshal Schwarzenberg, who had been
sent to negotiate terms with him, until the Austrians had reached a place of
safety. — Prokesch, Schwarzenberg' s Memorabilia.

1476 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Castellfranco, after having found its way from Meran into
the Venetian territory, and that under Jellachich on the Lake
of Constance; Kinsky's and Wartenleben's cavalry threw
themselves boldly into Swabia and Franconia, seized the
couriers and convoys to the French rear, and escaped unhurt
to Bohemia.

Davoust had, in the meanwhile, invaded Styria and de-
feated a corps under Meerveldt at Mariazell. In November,
Napoleon had reached Vienna, neither Linz nor any other
point having been fortified by the Austrians. The great
Eussian army under Kutusow appeared at this conjuncture
in Moravia. The czar, Alexander I., accompanied it in per-
son, and the emperor, Francis II. , joined him with his re-
maining forces. A bloody engagement took place between
Kutusow and the French at Durrenstein on the Danube, but,
on the loss of Vienna, the Russians retired to Moravia. The
sovereigns of Austria and Russia loudly called upon Prussia
to renounce her alliance with France, and, in this decisive
moment, to aid in the annihilation of a foe, for whose false
friendship she would one day dearly pay. The violation of
the Prussian territory by Bernadotte had furnished the
Prussian king with a pretext for suddenly declaring against
Napoleon. The Prussian army was also in full force. The
British and the Hanoverian legion had landed at Bremen
and twenty thousand Russians on Rugen; ten thousand
Swedes entered Hanover; electoral Hesse was also ready for
action. The king of Prussia, nevertheless, merely confined
himself to threats, in the hope of selling his neutrality to
Napoleon for Hanover, and deceived the coalition.1 The
emperor Alexander visited Berlin in person for the purpose
of rousing Prussia to war, but had no sooner returned to
Austria in order to rejoin his army than Count Haugwitz,
the Prussian minister, was despatched to Napoleon's camp

1 "Prussia made use of the offers made by England (and Russia) to stipu-
late terms with France exactly subversive of the object of the negotiations of
England (and Russia)." — The Manifest of England against Prussia. AUgemeine
Zeitung, No. 132.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1477

with express instructions not to declare war. The famous
battle, in which the three emperors of Christendom were
present, took place, meanwhile, at Austerlitz, not far from
Brunn, on the 2d of December, 1805, and terminated in one
of Napoleon's most glorious victories.1 This battle decided
the policy of Prussia, and Haugwitz confirmed her alliance
with France by a treaty, by which Prussia ceded Cleves,
Anspach, and Neufchatel to France in exchange for Han-
over.a This treaty was published with a precipitation equal-
ling that with which it had been concluded, and seven hun-
dred Prussian vessels, whose captains were ignorant of the
event, were seized by the enraged English either in British
harbors or on the sea. The peace concluded by Austria, on

1 On the 4th of December, Napoleon met the emperor Francis in the open
street in the village of Nahedlowitz. That the impression made by the former
upon the latter was far from favorable is proved by the emperor's observation,
"Now that I have seen him, I shall never be able to endure him!" On the 5th
of December, the Bavarians under Wrede were signally defeated at Iglau by the
Archduke Ferdinand.

2 "After the commission of such numerous mistakes, I must nevertheless
praise the minister, Von Haugwitz, for having, in the first place, evaded a war
unskilfully managed, and, in the second, for having annexed Hanover to Prussia,
although its possession, it must be confessed, is somewhat precarious. Here,
however, I hear it said that the commission of a robbery at another's suggestion
is, in the first place, the deepest of degradations, and, in the second place, un-
paralleled in history." — Von Bulow, The Campaign of 1805. It has been as-
serted that Haugwitz had, prior to the battle of Austerlitz, been instructed to
declare war against Napoleon in case the intervention of Prussia should be re-
jected by him. Still, had Haugwitz overstepped instructions of such immense
importance, he would not immediately afterward, on the 12th of January, 1806,
have received, as was actually the case, fresh instructions, in proof that he had
in no degree abused the confidence of his sovereign. Haugwitz, by not declar-
ing war, husbanded the strength of Prussia and gained Hanover; and, by so
doing, he fulfilled his instructions, which were to gain Hanover without making
any sacrifice. His success gained for him the applause of his sovereign, who
intrusted him, on account of his skill as a diplomatist, with the management of
other negotiations. Prussia at that time still pursued the system of the treaty
of Basel, was unwilling to break with France, and was simply bent upon selling
her neutrality to the best advantage. Instead, however, of being able to pre-
scribe terms to Napoleon, she was compelled to accede to his. Napoleon said
to Haugwitz, "Jamais on n'obtiendra de moi ce qui pourrait blesser ma gloire."
Haugwitz had been instructed through the duke of Brunswick: "Pour le cas quo
vos soins pour retablir la paix e"chouent, pour le cas ou 1'apparition de la Prusse
sur le theatre de la guerre soit juge"e inevitable, mettez tous vos soins pour con-
server & la Prusse 1'epee dans le fourreau jusqu'au 22 Decembre, et s'il se peut
jusqu'a un terme plus recule encore." — Extract from the Memoirs of the Count
von Haugwitz.

1478 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the 26th of December, at Presburg, was purchased by her at
an enormous sacrifice. Napoleon had, in the opening of the
campaign, when pressing onward toward Austria, compelled
Charles Frederick, elector of Baden,1 Frederick, elector of
Wurtemberg, and Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria (in
whose mind the memory of the assassination of the ambassa-
dors at Bastadt, the loss of Wasserburg, the demolition of
Ingolstadt, etc., still rankled), to enter into his alliance; to
which they remained zealously true on account of the im-
mense private advantages thereby gained by them, and of
the dread of being deprived by the haughty victor of the
whole of their possessions on the first symptom of opposition
on their part. Napoleon, with a view of binding them still
more closely to his interests by motives of gratitude, gave
them on the present occasion an ample share in the booty.
Bavaria was erected into a kingdom,8 and received, from
Prussia, Anspach and Baireuth; from Austria, the whole
of the Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Lindau, the Margraviate of
Burgau, the dioceses of Passau, Eichstadt, Trent, and
Brixen, besides several petty lordships. Wurtemberg was
raised to a monarchy and enriched with the bordering
Austrian lordships in Swabia. Baden was rewarded with
the Breisgau, the Ortenau, Constance, and the title of
grandduke. Venice was included by Napoleon in his king-
dom of Italy, and, for all these losses, Austria was merely
indemnified by the possession of Salzburg. Ferdinand,
elector of Salzburg, the former grandduke of Tuscany,
was transferred to Wurzburg. Ferdinand of Modena lost
the whole of his possessions.

The imperial crown, so well maintained by Napoleon,
now shone with redoubled lustre. The petty republics and

1 He married a Mademoiselle von Geyer. His children had merely the title
of Counts von Hochberg, but came, in 1830, on the extinction of the Agnati, to
the government.

2 On the 1st of January, 1806; the Bavarian state newspaper announced it
at New Tear with the words, "Long live Napoleon, the restorer of the kingdom
of Bavaria!" Bavarian authors, more particularly Pallhausen, attempted to
prove that the Bavarians had originally been a Gallic tribe under the Gallic
kings. It was considered a dishonor to belong to Germany.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1479

the provinces dependent upon the French empire were erected
into kingdoms and principalities and bestowed upon his rel-
atives and favorites. His brother Joseph was created king
of Naples; his brother Louis, king of Holland; his stepson
Eugene Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy; his brother-in-law
Murat, formerly a common horse- soldier, now his best gen-
eral of cavalry, grandduke of Berg; his first adjutant,
Berthier, prince of Neufchatel; his uncle, Cardinal Fesch,
was nominated successor to the elector of Mayence, then
resident at Batisbon. In order to remove the stigma at-
tached to him as a parvenu, Napoleon also began to form
matrimonial alliances between his family and the most an-
cient houses of Europe. His handsome stepson, Eugene,
married the Princess Augusta, daughter to the king of Ba-
varia; his brother Jerome, Catherine, daughter to the king
of Wurtemberg; and his niece, Stephanie, Charles, heredi-
tary prince of Baden. All the new princes were vassals of
the emperor Napoleon, and, by a family decree, subject to
his supremacy. All belonged to the great empire. Switzer-
land was also included, and but one step more was wanting
to complete the incorporation of half the German empire
with that of France.

On the 12th of July, 1806, sixteen princes of Western
Germany concluded, under Napoleon's direction, a treaty,
according to which they separated themselves from the
German empire and founded the so-called Ehenish Alliance,
which it was their intention to render subject to the suprem-
acy of the emperor of the French. ' On the 1st of August,

1 In 1797, the anonymous statesman, in the dedication "to the congress of
Rastadt," foretold the formation of the Rhenish alliance as a necessary result
of the treaty of Basel. "The electors of Brandenburg, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel,
and all the princes, who defended themselves behind the line of demarcation
against their obligations to the empire, and tranquilly awaited the issue of the
contest between France and that part of the empire that had taken up arms ; all
those princes to whom their private interests were dearer than those of the em-
pire, who, devoid of patriotism, formed a separate party against Austria and
Southern Germany, from which they severed and isolated themselves, could,
none of them, arrogate to themselves a voice in the matter, if Southern Ger-
many, abandoned by them, concluded treaties for herself as her present and
future interests demanded."

1480 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Napoleon declared that lie no longer recognized the empire
of Germany! No one ventured to oppose his omnipotent
voice. On the 6th of August, 1806, the emperor, Francis II.,
abdicated the imperial crown of Germany and announced
the dissolution of the empire in a touching address, full of
calm dignity and sorrow. The last of the German emperors
had shown himself, throughout the .contest, worthy of his
great ancestors, and had, almost alone, sacrificed all in order
to preserve the honor of Germany, until abandoned by the
greater part of the German princes, he was compelled to
yield to a power superior to his. The fall of the empire that
had stood the storms of a thousand years, was, however, not
without dignity. A meaner hand might have levelled the
decayed fabric with the dust, but fate, that seemed to honor
even the faded majesty of the ancient Caesars, selected Na-
poleon as the executioner of her decrees. The standard of
Charlemagne, the greatest hero of the first Christian age,
was to be profaned by no hand save that of the greatest hero
of modern times.

Ancient names, long venerated, now disappeared. The
holy Roman- German emperor was converted into an em-
peror of Austria, the electors into kings or granddukes, all
of whom enjoyed unlimited sovereign power and were free
from subjection to the supremacy of the emperor. Every
bond of union was dissolved with the diet of the empire and
with the imperial chamber. The barons and counts of the
empire and the petty princes were mediatized; the princes
of Hohenlohe, Oettingen, Schwarzenberg, Thurn and Taxis,
the Truchsess von Waldburg, Furstenberg, Fugger, Leinin-
gen, Lowenstein, Solms, Hesse-Homburg, Wied-Kunkel, and
Orange-Fulda became subject to the neighboring Rhenish
confederated princes. Of the remaining six imperial free
cities, Augsburg and Nuremberg fell to Bavaria; Frank-
fort, under the title of grandduchy, to the ancient elector of
Mayence, who was again transferred thither from Eatisbon.
The ancient Hanse towns, Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen,
alone retained their freedom.

THE ORE AT WARS WITH FRANCE 1481

The Khenish confederation now began its wretched exist-
ence. It was established on the basis of the Helvetian re-
public. The sixteen confederated princes were to be com-
pletely independent, and to exercise sovereign power over
the internal affairs of their states, like the Swiss cantons,
but were, in all foreign affairs, dependent upon Napoleon as
their protector.1 The whole Khenish confederation became
a part of the French empire. The federal assembly was to
sit at Frankfort, and Dalberg, the former elector of May-
ence, now grandduke of Frankfort, was nominated by Napo-
leon, under the title of Prince Primate, president. Na-
poleon's uncle, and afterward his stepson, Eugene Beau-
harnais, were his destined successors, by which means the
control was placed entirely in the hands of France. To this
confederation there belonged two kings, those of Bavaria
and Wurtemberg, five granddukes, those of Frankfort,
Wurzburg, Baden, Darmstadt, and Berg, and ten princes,
two of Nassau, two of Hohenzollern, two of Salm, besides
those of Aremberg, Isenburg, Lichtenstein and Leyen.
Every trace of the ancient free constitution of Germany,
her provincial Estates, was studiously annihilated. The
Wurtemberg Estates, with a spirit worthy of their ancient
fame, alone made an energetic protest, by which they merely
succeeded in saving their honor, the king, Frederick, dis-
solving them by force and closing their chamber.3 An ab-

1 "Oldenburg affords a glaring proof of the insecurity and meanness char-
acteristic of the Rhenish alliance. The relation even with Bavaria was not al-
ways tHe purest, and I have sometimes caught a near glimpse of the claws." —
Gagerri*s Share in Politics.

2 No diet had, since 1770, been held in Wurtemberg, only the committee had
continued to treat secretly with the duke. In 1797, Frederick convoked a fresh
diet and swore to hold the constitution sacred. Some modern elements appeared
in this diet; the old opposition was strengthened by men of the French school.
Disputes, consequently, ere long arose between it and the duke, a man of an ex-
tremely arbitrary disposition. The Estates discovered little zeal for the war
with France, attempted to economize in the preparations, etc., while the duke
made great show of patriotism as a prince of the German empire, nor gave the
slightest symptom of his one day becoming an enemy to his country, a member
of the Rhenish alliance, and the most zealous partisan of France. Moreau, how-
ever, no sooner crossed the Rhine than the duke fled, abandoned his states, and
afterward not only refused to bear the smallest share of the contributions levied

1482 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

solute, despotic form of government, similar to that existing
in France under Napoleon, was established in all the confed-
erated states. The murder of the unfortunate bookseller,
Palm of Nuremberg, who was, on the 25th of August, 1806,
shot by Napoleon's order, at Braunau, for nobly refusing to
give up the author of a patriotic work published by him,
directed against the rule of France, and entitled, "Germany
in her deepest Degradation," furnished convincing proof,
were any wanting, of Napoleon's supremacy.

CCLIV. Prussia's Declaration of War and Defeat

PRUSSIA, by a timely declaration of war against France
before the battle of Austerlitz, might have turned the tide
against Napoleon, and earned for herself the glory and the
gain, instead of being, by a false policy, compelled, at a
later period, to make that declaration under circumstances
of extreme disadvantage. Her maritime commerce suffered
extreme injury from the attacks of the English and Swedes.
War was unavoidable, either for or against France. The
decision was replete with difficulty. Prussia, by continuing
to side with France, was exposed to the attacks of England,
Sweden, and probably Russia; it was, moreover, to be feared
that Napoleon, who had more in view the diminution of the
power of Prussia than that of Austria, might delay his aid.
During the late campaign, the Prussian territory had been
violated and the fortress of Wesel seized by Napoleon, who
had also promised the restoration of Hanover to England as
a condition of peace. He had invited Prussia to found, be-

upon the country by the French, but also seized the subsidies furnished by Eng-
land. The duke, shortly after this, quarrelling with his eldest son, William,
the Estates sided with the latter and supplied him with funds, at the same time
refusing to grant any of the sums demanded by the duke, who, on his part,
omitted the confirmation of the new committee and ordered Grosz, the coun-
cillor, Stockmaier, the secretary of the diet, and several others, besides Batz,
the agent of the diet at Vienna, to be placed under arrest, their papers to be
seized, and a sum of money to be raised from the church property, 1805. Not
long after this, rendered insolent by the protection of the great despot of France,
he utterly annihilated the ancient constitution of Wurtemberg.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1483

sides the Rhenish, a northern confederation, and had, at the
same time, bribed Saxony with a promise of the royal dig-
nity, and Hesse with that of the annexation of Fulda, not to
enter into alliance with Prussia. Prussia saw herself scorned
and betrayed by France. A declaration of war with France
was, however, surrounded with tenfold danger. The power
of France, unweakened by opposition, had reached an almost
irresistible height. Austria, abandoned in every former cam-
paign and hurried to ruin by Prussia, could no longer be
reckoned on for aid. The whole of Germany, once in favor
of Prussia, now sided with the foe. Honor at length de-
cided. Prussia could no longer endure the scorn of the inso-
lent Frenchman, his desecration of the memory of the great
Frederick, or, with an army impatient for action, tamely
submit to the insults of both friend and foe. The presence
of the Russian czar, Alexander, at Berlin, his visit to the
tomb of Frederick the Great, rendered still more popular by
an engraving, had a powerful effect upon public opinion.
Louisa, the beautiful queen of Prussia and princess of Meck-
lenburg, animated the people with her words and roused a
spirit of chivalry in the army, which still deemed itself in-
vincible. The younger officers were not sparing of their
vaunts, and Prince Louis vented his passion by breaking
the windows of the minister Haugwitz. John Muller, who,
on the overthrow of Austria, had quitted Vienna and had
been appointed Prussian historiographer at Berlin, called
upon the people, in the preface to the "Trumpet of the Holy
War, ' ' to take up arms against France.

War was indeed declared, but with too great precipita-
tion. Instead of awaiting the arrival of the troops promised
by Russia or until Austria had been gained, instead of man-
ning the fortresses and taking precautionary measures, the
Prussian army, in conjunction with that of Saxony, which
lent but compulsory aid, and with those of Mecklenburg and
Brunswick, its voluntary allies, took the field without any
settled plan, and suddenly remained stationary in the Thu-
ringian forest, like Mack two years earlier at Ulm, waiting

1484 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

for the appearance of Napoleon, 1806. The king and the
queen accompanied the army, which was commanded by
Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, a veteran of seventy-two,
and by his subordinate in command, Frederick Louis, prince
of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, who constantly opposed his meas-
ures. In the general staff the chief part was enacted by
Colonel Massenbach, a second Mack, whose counsels were
rarely followed. All the higher officers in the army were
old men, promotion depending not upon merit but upon
length of service. The younger officers were radically bad,
owing to their airs of nobility and licentious garrison life;
their manners and principles were equally vulgar. Women,
horses, dogs, and gambling formed the staple of their con-
versation; they despised all solid learning, and, when deco-
rated on parade, in their enormous cocked hats and plumes,
powdered wigs and queues, tight leather breeches and great
boots, they swore at and cudgelled the men, and strutted
about with conscious heroism. The arms used by the sol-
diery were heavy and apt to hang fire, their tight uniform
was inconvenient for action and useless as a protection against
the weather, and their food, bad of its kind, was stinted by
the avarice of the colonels, which was carried to such an
extent that soldiers were to be seen, who, instead of a waist-
coat, had a small bit of cloth sewn on to the lower part of
the uniform where the waistcoat was usually visible. Worst
of all, however, was the bad spirit that pervaded the army,
the enervation consequent upon immorality. Even before
the opening of the war, Lieutenant Henry von Bulow, a
retired officer, the greatest military genius at that period in
Germany, and, on that account, misunderstood, foretold the
inevitable defeat of Prussia, and, although far from being
a devotee, declared, "The cause of the national ignorance lies
chiefly in the atheism and demoralization produced by the
government of Frederick II. The enlightenment, so highly
praised in the Prussian states, simply consists in a loss of
energy and power."

The main body of the Prussian army was stationed around

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1485

Weimar and Jena, a small corps under General Tauenzien
was pushed forward to cover the rich magazines at Hof, and
a reserve of seventeen thousand men under Eugene, duke of
Wurtemberg, lay to the rear at Halle. It was remarked that
this position, in case of an attack being made by Napoleon,
was extremely dangerous, the only alternatives left for the
Prussian army being either to advance, form a junction
with the gallant Hessians and render the Rhine the seat of
war, or to fall back upon the reserve and hazard a decisive
battle on the plains of Leipzig. That intriguing impostor,
Lucchesini, the oracle of the camp, however, purposely de-
clared that he knew Napoleon, that Napoleon would most
certainly not attempt to make an attack. A few days after-
ward Napoleon, nevertheless, appeared, found the pass at
Kosen open, cut off the Prussian army from the right bank
of the Saal, from its magazines at Hof and Naumburg,
which he also seized, from the reserve corps stationed at
Halle, and from Prussia. Utterly astounded at the negli-
gence of the duke of Brunswick, he exclaimed, while com-
paring him with Mack, "Les Prussiens sont encore plus
stupides que les Autrichiens!" On being informed by some
prisoners that the Prussians expected him from Erfurt when
he was already at Naumberg, he said, "Us se tromperont
furieusement, ces perruques. " He would, nevertheless, have
been on his part exposed to great peril had the Prussians
suddenly attacked him with their whole force from Weimar,
Jena, and Halle, or had they instantly retired into Franconia
and fallen upon his rear; but the idea never entered the
heads of the Prussian generals, who tranquilly waited to be
beaten by him one after the other.

After Tauenzien 's repulse, a second corps under Prince
Louis of Prussia, which had been pushed forward to Saal-
feld, imprudently attempting to maintain its position in the
narrow valley, was surrounded and cut to pieces. The
prince refused to yield, and, after a furious defence, was
killed by a French horse-soldier. The news of this disaster
speedily reached the main body of the Prussians. The duke

I486 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of Brunswick, at that time holding a military council in the
castle of Weimar, so entirely lost his presence of mind as
to ask in the hearing of several young officers, and with
embarrassment depicted on his countenance, "What are we
to do?" This veteran duke would with painful slowness
write down in the neatest hand the names of the villages
in which the various regiments were to be quartered, not-
withstanding which, it sometimes happened that, owing to
his topographical ignorance, several regiments belonging
to different corps d'armee were billeted in the same village
and had to dispute its possession. He would hesitate for an
hour whether he ought to write the name of a village Mun-
chenholzen or Munchholzen.

The Prussian army was compared to a ship with all sail
spread lying at anchor. The duke was posted with the main
body not far from Weimar, the Saxons at the Schnecke on the
road between Weimar and Jena, the prince of Hohenlohe at
Jena. Mack had isolated and exposed his different corps
d'armee in an exactly similar manner at Ulm. Hohenlohe
again subdivided his corps and scattered them in front of the
concentrated forces of the enemy. Still, all was not yet lost,
the Prussians being advantageously posted in the upper
valley, while the French were advancing along the deep
valleys of the Saal and its tributaries. But, on the 13th of
October, Tauenzien retired from the vale, leaving the steeps
of Jena, which a hundred students had been able to defend
simply by rolling down the stones there piled in heaps, open,
and, during the same night, Napoleon sent his artillery up
and posted himself on the Landgrafenberg. There, never-
theless, still remained a chance; the Dornberg, by which the
Landgrafenberg was commanded, was still occupied by
Tauenzien, and the Windknollen, a still steeper ascent,
whence Hohenlohe, had he not spent the night in undis-
turbed slumbers at Capellendorf, might have utterly anni-
hilated the French army, remained unoccupied. The thunder
of the French artillery first roused Hohenlohe from his couch,
and, while he was still under the hands of his barber, Tauen-

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1487

zien was driven from the Dornberg. The duties of the toi-
let at length concluded, Hohenlohe led his troops up the
hillside with a view of retaking the position he had so fool-
ishly lost; but his serried columns were exposed to the de-
structive fire of a body of French tirailleurs posted above,
and were repulsed with immense loss. General Euchel
arrived, with his corps that had been uselessly detached, too
late to prevent the flight of the Hohenlohe corps, and, mak-
ing a brave but senseless attack, was wounded and defeated.
A similar fate befell the unfortunate Saxons at the Schnecke
and the duke of Brunswick at Auerstadt. The latter, al-
though at the head of the strongest division of the Prussian
army, succumbed to the weakest division of the French army,
that commanded by Davoust, who henceforward bore the
title of duke of Auerstadt, and was so suddenly put to the
rout that a body of twenty thousand Prussians under Kalk-
reuth never came into action. The duke was shot in both
eyes. This incident was, by his enemies, termed fortune's
revenge, "as he never would see when he had his eyes
open." '

Napoleon followed up his victory with consummate skill.
The junction of the retreating corps d'armee and their flight
by the shortest route into Prussia were equally prevented.
The defeated Prussian army was in a state of indescribable
confusion. An immensely circuitous march lay before it
ere Prussia could be re-entered. A number of the regiments
disbanded, particularly those whose officers had been the
first to take to- flight or had crept for shelter behind hedges
and walls. An immense number of officers' equipages, pro-
vided with mistresses, articles belonging to the toilet, and
epicurean delicacies, fell into Napoleon's hands. Wagons
laden with poultry, complete kitchens on wheels, wine
casks, etc., had followed this luxurious army. The scene

1 On the 14th of October. On this unlucky day, Frederick the Great had,
in 1758, been surprised at Hochkirch, and Mack, in 1805, at Ulm. On this
day, the peace of Westphalia was, in 1648, concluded at Osnabriick, and, in
1809, that of Vienna. It was, however, on this day that the siege of Vienna
was, in 1529, raised, and that, in 1813, Napoleon was shut up at Leipzig.

1488 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

presented by the battlefield of Jena widely contrasted with
that of Hossbach, whose monument was sent by Napoleon
to Paris as the most glorious part of the booty gained by
his present easy victory.1

The fortified city of Erfurt was garrisoned with fourteen
thousand Prussians under Mollendorf , who, on the first sum-
mons, capitulated to Murat, the general of the French cav-
alry. The hereditary Prince of Orange was also taken pris-
oner on this occasion. Von Hellwig, a lieutenant of the
Prussian hussars, boldly charged the French guard escorting
the fourteen thousand Prussian prisoners of war from Erf art,
at the head of his squadron, at Eichenrodt in the vicinity of
Eisenach, and succeeded in restoring them to liberty. The
liberated soldiers, however, instead of joining the main body,
dispersed. Eugene, duke of Wurtemberg, was also defeated
at Halle, and, throwing up his command, withdrew to his
states. History has, nevertheless, recorded one trait of mag-
nanimity, that of a Prussian ensign fifteen years of age,
who, being pursued by some French cavalry not far from
Halle, sprang with the colors into the Saal and was crushed
to death by a mill-wheel.

Kalkreuth's corps, that had not been brought into action
and was the only one that remained entire, being placed
under the command of the prince of Hohenlohe, its gallant
commander, enraged at the indignity, quitted the army.
Hohenlohe 's demand, on reaching Magdeburg, for a supply
of ammunition and forage, was refused by the commandant,
Yon Kleist, and he hastened helplessly forward in the hope
of reaching Berlin, but the route was already blocked by
the enemy, and he was compelled to make a fatiguing and
circuitous march to the west through the sandy March.
Magdeburg, although garrisoned with twenty-two thousand
Prussians, defended by eight hundred pieces of artillery

1 The whole of these disasters had been predicted by Henry von Biilow,
whose prophecies had brought him into a prison. On learning the catastrophe
of Jena, he exclaimed, "That is the consequence of throwing generals into prison
and of placing idiots at the head of the army !"

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1489

and almost impregnable fortifications, capitulated on the
llth of November to Ney, on his appearance beneath the
walls with merely ten thousand men and a light field- bat-
tery. Kleist, in exculpation of his conduct, alleged his
expectation of an insurrection of the citizens in case of a
bombardment. Magdeburg contained at that time three
thousand unarmed citizens. It is not known whether Kleist
had been bribed, or whether he was simply infected with the
cowardice and stupidity by which the elder generals of that
period were distinguished; it is, however, certain that among
the numerous younger officers serving under his command
not one raised the slightest opposition to this disgraceful
capitulation. l

The Hohenlohe corps, which consisted almost exclusively
of infantry, was accompanied in its flight by Blucher, the
gallant general of the hussars, with the elite of the remain-
ing cavalry. Blucher had, however, long borne a grudge
against his pedantic companion, and, mistrusting his guid-
ance, soon quitted him. Being surrounded by a greatly
superior French force under Klein,8 he contrived to escape
by asserting with great earnestness to that general that an
armistice had just been concluded. "When afterward ur-
gently entreated by Hohenlohe to join him with his troops,
he procrastinated too long, it may be owing to his desire to
bring Hohenlohe, who, by eternally retreating, completely
disheartened his troops, to a stand, or owing to the impos-
sibility of coming up with greater celerity. 3 He had, indu-
bitably, the intention to join Hohenlohe at Prenzlow, but

1 The young "vons," on the contrary, capitulated with extreme readiness,
in order to return to their pleasurable habits. Several of them set a great shield
over their doors, with the inscription, "Herr von N. or M., prisoner of war on
parole." In all the capitulations, the commandants and officers merely took
care of their own persons and equipages and sacrificed the soldiery. Napoleon,
who was well aware of this little weakness, always offered them the most flat-
tering personal terms.

2 The same man who had been imposed upon by a similar ruse at Ulm by
the Archduke Ferdinand. Napoleon dismissed him the service.

3 Massenbach published an anonymous charge against Blucher, which that
general publicly refuted.

1490 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

unfortunately arrived a day too late, the prince, whose am-
munition and provisions were completely spent, and who,
owing to the stupidity of Massenbach, who rode up and
down the Ucker without being able to discover whether he
was on the right or left bank, had missed the only route by
which he could retreat, having already fallen, with twelve
thousand men, into the enemy's hands. This disaster was
shortly afterward followed by the capture of General Hagen
with six thousand men at Pasewalk and that of Bila with
another small Prussian corps not far from Stettin. Blucher,
strengthened by the corps of the duke of Weimar and by
numerous fugitives, still kept the field, but was at length
driven back to Lubeck, where he was defeated, and, after
a bloody battle in the very heart of the terror-stricken city,
four thousand of his men were made prisoners. He fled
with ten thousand to Badkan, where, finding no ships to
transport him across the Baltic, he was forced to capitu-
late.

The luckless duke of Brunswick was carried on a bier
from the field of Jena to his palace at Brunswick, which he
found deserted. All belonging to him had fled. In his dis-
tress he exclaimed, "I am now about to quit all and am
abandoned by all!" His earnest petition to Napoleon for
protection for himself and his petty territory was sternly
refused by the implacable victor, who replied that he knew
of no reigning duke of Brunswick, but only of a Prussian
general of that name, who had, in the infamous manifest of
1792, declared his intention to destroy Paris and was unde-
serving of mercy. The blind old man fled to Ottensen, in
the Danish territory, where he expired.

Napoleon, after confiscating sixty millions worth of En-
glish goods on his way through Leipzig, entered Berlin on
the 17th of October, 1806. The defence of the city had not
been even dreamed of; nay, the great arsenal, containing
five hundred pieces of artillery and immense stores, the
sword of Frederick the Great, and the private correspond-
ence of the reigning king and queen, were all abandoned to

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1491

the victor.1 Although the citizens were by no means mar-
tially disposed, the authorities deemed it necessary to issu^
proclamations to the people, inculcatory of the axiom, ' * Tran-
quillity is the first duty of the citizen. ' ' Napoleon, on his
entry into Berlin, was received, not as at Vienna, with mute
rage, but with loud demonstrations of delight. Individuals
belonging to the highest class stationed themselves behind
the crowd and exclaimed, "For God's sake, give a hearty
hurrah! Cry Vive 1'empereur! or we are all lost." On a
demand, couched in the politest terms, for the peaceable de-
livery of the arms of the civic guard, being made by Hulin,
the new French commandant, to the magistrate, the latter,
on his own accord, ordered the citizens to give up their arms
"under pain of death." Numerous individuals betrayed the
public money and stores, that still remained concealed, to
the French. Hulin replied to a person who had discovered
a large store of wood, "Leave the wood untouched; your
king will want a good deal to make gallows for traitorous
rogues." Napoleon's reception struck him with such aston-
ishment that he declared, "I know not whether to rejoice or
to feel ashamed." At the head of his general staff, in full
uniform and with bared head, he visited the apartment occu-
pied by Frederick the Great at Sans Souci, and his tomb.
He took possession of Frederick's sword and declared in
the army bulletin, "I would not part with this weapon for
twenty millions." Frederick's tomb afforded him an oppor.
tunity for giving vent to the most unbecoming expressions of
contempt against his unfortunate descendant. He publicly
aspersed the fame of the beautiful and noble- hearted Prus-
sian queen, in order to deaden the enthusiasm she sought to

1 While the unfortunate Henry von Biilow, whose wise counsels had been
despised, was torn from his prison to be delivered to the Russians, whose be-
havior at Austerlitz he had blamed. On his route he was maliciously represented
as a friend to the French and exposed to the insults of the rabble, who bespat-
tered him with mud, and to such brutal treatment from the Cossacks that he
died of his wounds at Riga. Never had a prophet a more ungrateful country.
He was delivered by his fellow-citizens to an ignominious death for attempting
their salvation, for pointing out the means by which alone their safety could be
insured, and for exposing the wretches by whom they were betrayed.

GERMANY. YOL. IV. — F

1492 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

raise. But he deceived himself. Calumny but increased the
^esteem and exalted the enthusiasm with which the people
beheld their queen and kindled a feeling of revenge in their
bosoms. Napoleon behaved, nevertheless, with generosity
to another lady of rank. Prince Hatzfeld, the civil governor
of Berlin, not having quitted that city on the entry of Napo-
leon, had been discovered by the spies and been condemned
to death by a court-martial. His wife, who was at that time
enceinte, threw herself at Napoleon's feet. With a smile,
he handed to her the paper containing the proof of her hus-
band's guilt, which she instantly burned, and her husband
was restored to liberty. John Muller was among the more
remarkable of the servants of the state who had remained
at Berlin. This sentimental parasite, the most despicable
of them all, whose pathos sublimely glossed over each fresh
treason, was sent for by Napoleon, who placed him about
his person. Among other things, he asked him, "Is it not
true the Germans are somewhat thick-brained?" to which
the fawning professor replied with a smile. In return for
the benefits he had received from the royal family of Prus-
sia, he delivered, before quitting Berlin, an academical lec-
ture upon Frederick the Great, in the presence of the French
general officers, in which he artfully (the lecture was of
course delivered in the French language) contrived to flatter
Napoleon at the expense of that monarch.1 Prince Charles
of Isenberg raised, in the very heart of Berlin, a regiment,
composed of Prussian deserters, for the service of France.2
The Prussian fortresses fell, meanwhile, one after the

1 In the "Trumpet of the Holy "War," he had summoned the nation to take
up arms against the heathens (the French). He breathed war and flames. In
his address to the king, he said, "The idle parade of the ruler during a long
peace has never maintained a state!" He excited the hatred of the people
against the French, telling them to harbor "such hatred against the enemy, like
men who knew how to hate!' After thus aiding to kindle the flames of war,
he went over to the French and wrote the letter to Bignon which that author
has inserted in his History of France: "Like Ganymede to the seat of the gods,
have I been borne by the eagle to Fontainebleau, there to serve a god."

2 The conduct of these deserters, how, decorated with the French cockade,
they treated the German population with unheard-of insolence, is given in detail
by Seume.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1493

Other, during the end of autumn and during the winter, some
from utter inability, on account of their neglected state, to
maintain themselves, but the greater part owing to their
being commanded by old villains, treacherous and cowardly
as the commandant of Magdeburg. The strong fortress of
Hameln was in this manner yielded by a Baron von Scholer,
Plassenburg by a Baron von Becker, Nimburg on the Weser
by a Baron von Dresser, Spandau by a Count von Benken-
dorf. The citadel of Berlin capitulated without a blow, and
Stettin, although well provided with all the materiel of war,
was delivered up by a Baron von Eomberg. Custrin, one
of the strongest fortified places, was commanded by a Count
von Ingersleben. The king visited the place during his
flight and earnestly recommended him to defend it to the
last. This place, sooner than yield, had, during the seven
years7 war, allowed itself to be reduced to a heap of ruins.
When standing on one of the bastions, the king inquired its
name. The commandant was ignorant of it. Scarcely had
the king quitted the place than a body of French hussars
appeared before the gates, and Ingersleben instantly ca-
pitulated.

Silesia, although less demoralized than Berlin, viewed
these political changes with even greater apathy. This fine
province had, during the reign of Frederick the Great, been
placed under the government of the minister, Count Hoym,
whose easy disposition had, like insidious poison, utterly en-
ervated the people. The government officers, as if persuaded
of the reality of the antiquarian whim which deduced the
name of Silesia from Elysium, dwelt in placid self-content,
unmoved by the catastrophes of Austerlitz or Jena. No
measures were, consequently, taken for the defence of the
country, and a flying corps of Bavarians, Wurtembergers,
and some French under Yandamme, speedily overran the
whole province, notwithstanding the number of its fortresses.
At Glogau, the commandant, Von Reinhardt, unhesitatingly
declared his readiness to capitulate and excluded the gallant
Major von Putlitz, who insisted upon making an obstinate

1494 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

defence, "as a revolutionist," from the military council.
Being advised by one of the citizens to fire upon the enemy,
he rudely replied, uSir, you do not know what one shot costs
the king. ' ' In Breslau, the Counts von Thiele and Lindner
made a terrible fracas, burned down the fine faubourgs, and
blew up the powder-magazine, merely in order to veil the
disgrace of a hasty capitulation, which enraged the soldiery
to such a pitch that, shattering their muskets, they heaped
imprecations on their dastard commanders, and, in revenge,
plundered the royal stores. Brieg was ceded after a two
days' siege, by the Baron von Cornerut. The defence of the
strong fortress of Schweidnitz, of such celebrated importance
during the seven years' war, had been intrusted to Count
von Haath, a man whose countenance even betokened imbe-
cility. He yielded the fortress without a blow, and, on the
windows of the apartment in which he lodged in the neigh-
boring town of Jauer being broken by the patriotic citizens,
he went down to the landlord, to whom he said, "My good
sir, you must have some enemies!" The remaining fort-
resses made a better defence. Glatz was taken by surprise,
the city by storm. The fortress was defended by the com-
mandant, Count Gotzen, until ammunition sufficient for
twelve days longer alone remained. Neisse capitulated from
famine; Kosel was gallantly defended by the commandant,
Neumann; and Silberberg, situated on an impregnable rock,
refused to surrender.

The troops of the Rhenish confederation, encouraged by
the bad example set by Vandamme and by several of the
superior officers, committed dreadful havoc, plundered the
country, robbed and barbarously treated the inhabitants. It
was quite a common custom among the officers, on the con-
clusion of a meal, to carry away with them the whole of
their host's table-service. The filthy habits of the French
officers were notorious. Their conduct is said to have been
not only countenanced but commanded by Napoleon, as a
sure means of striking the enervated population with the
profoundest terror; and the panic in fact almost amounted

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1495

to absurdity, the inhabitants of this thickly-populated prov-
ince nowhere venturing to rise against the handful of rob-
bers by whom they were so cruelly persecuted. A Baron
von Puckler offered an individual exception: his endeavors
to rouse the inert masses met with no success, and, rendered
desperate by his failure, he blew out his brains. When too
late a prince of Anhalt-Pless assembled an armed force in
Upper Silesia and attempted to relieve Breslau, but Thiele
neglecting to make a sally at the decisive moment, the Poles
in Prince of Pless's small army took to flight, and the whole
plan miscarried. A small Prussian corps, amounting to
about five hundred men, commanded by Losthin, afterward
infested Silesia, surprised the French under Lefebvre at
Kanth and put them to the rout, but were a few days after
this exploit taken prisoners by a superior French force.

Attempts at reforms suited to the spirit of the age had,
even before the outbreak of war, been made in Prussia by
men of higher intelligence; Menken, for instance, had la-
bored to effect the emancipation of the peasantry, but had
been removed from office by the aristocratic party. During
the war, the corruption pervading every department of the
government, whether civil or military, was fully exposed,
and Frederick William III. was taught by bitter experience
to pursue a better system, to act with decision and patient
determination. The Baron von Stein, a man of undoubted
talent, a native of Nassau, was placed at the head of the
government; two of the most able commanders of the day,
Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, undertook the reorganization of
the army. On the 1st of December, 1806, the king cashiered
every commandant who had neglected to defend the fortress
intrusted to his care and every officer guilty of desertion or
cowardly flight, and the long list of names gave disgraceful
proof of the extent to which the nobility were compromised.
One of the first measures taken by the king was, conse-
quently, to throw open every post of distinction in the army
to the citizens. The old inconvenient uniform and firearms
were at the same time improved, the queue was cut off, the

1496 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

cane abandoned. The royal army was indeed scanty in
number, but it contained within itself germs of honor and
patriotism that gave promise of future glory.

The reform, however, but slowly progressed. Ferdinand
von Schill, a Prussian lieutenant, who had been wounded at
Jena, formed, in Pomerania, a guerilla troop of disbanded
soldiery and young men, who, although indifferently pro-
vided with arms, stopped the French convoys and couriers.
His success was so extraordinary that he was sometimes
enabled to send sums of money, taken from the enemy, to
the king. Among other exploits, he took prisoner Marshal
Victor, who was exchanged for Blucher. Blucher assembled
a fresh body of troops on the island of Eugen. Schill, being
afterward compelled to take refuge from the pursuit of the
French in the fortress of Colberg, the commandant, Lou-
cadou, placed him under arrest for venturing to criticise the
bad defence of the place.

The king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus IV., might
with perfect justice have bitterly reproached Prussia and
Austria for the folly with which they had, by their disunion,
contributed to the aggrandizement of the power of France.
He acted nobly by affording a place of refuge to the Prus-
sians at Stralsund and Eugen.

Colberg was, on Loucadou's dismissal, gloriously de-
fended by Gneisenau and by the resolute citizens, among
whom Nettelbek, a man seventy years of age, chiefly distin-
guished himself. Courbiere acted with equal gallantry at
Graudenz. On being told by the French that Prussia was
in their hands and that no king of Prussia was any longer
in existence, he replied, "Well, be it so! but I am king at
Graudenz. " Pillau was also successfully defended by Herr-
mann.1 Polish Prussia naturally fell off on the advance of
the French. Calisch rose in open insurrection ; the Prussian
authorities were everywhere compelled to save themselves

1 Courbiere, Herrmann, and Neumann of Cosel were bourgeois: the com-
mandants of the other fortresses, so disgracefully ceded, were, without excep-
tion, nobles.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1497

by flight from the vengeance of the people. Poland had
been termed the Botany Bay of Prussia, government officers
in disgrace for bad conduct being generally sent there by
way of punishment. No one voluntarily accepted an ap-
pointment condemning him to dwell amid a population in-
spired by the most ineradicable national hatred, glowing
with revenge, and unable to appreciate the benefits bestowed
upon them in their ignorance and poverty by the wealthier
and more civilized Prussians.

The king had withdrawn with the remainder of his
troops, which were commanded by the gallant L'Estoc, to
Kcenigsberg, where he formed a junction with the Eussian
army, which was led by a Hanoverian, the cautious Bennig-
sen, and accompanied by the emperor Alexander in person.
Napoleon expected that an opportunity would be afforded
for the repetition of his old manoeuvre of separating and
falling singly upon his opponents, but Bennigsen kept his
forces together and offered him battle at Eylau, in the
neighborhood of Koenigsberg; victory still wavered, when
the Prussian troops under L'Estoc fell furiously upon Mar-
shal Ney's flank, while that general was endeavoring to sur-
round the Eussians, and decided the day. It was the 8th of
February, and the snow-clad ground was stained with gore.
Napoleon, after this catastrophe, remained inactive, await-
ing the opening of spring and the arrival of reinforcements.
Dantzig, exposed by the desertion of the Poles, fell, although
defended by Kalkreuth, into his hands, and, on the 14th of
June, 1807, the anniversary, so pregnant with important
events, of the battle of Marengo, he gained a brilliant vic-
tory at Friedland, which was followed by General Euchel's
abandonment of Koenigsberg with all its stores.

The road to Lithuania now lay open to the French, and
the emperor Alexander deemed it advisable to conclude
peace. A conference was held at Tilsit on the Eiemen be-
tween the sovereigns of France, Eussia, and Prussia, and a
peace, highly detrimental to Germany, was concluded on
the 9th of July, 1807. Prussia lost half of her territory, was

1498 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

restricted to the maintenance of an army merely amounting
to forty-two thousand men, was compelled to pay a contribu-
tion of one hundred and forty millions of francs to France,
and to leave her most important fortresses as security for
payment in the hands of the French. These grievous terms
were merely acceded to by Napoleon "out of esteem for his
Majesty the emperor of Russia," who, on Ms part, deprived
his late ally of a piece of Prussian- Poland (Bialystock)
and divided the spoil of Prussia with Napoleon. ' Nay, he
went, some months later, so far in his — generosity, as, on
an understanding with Napoleon and without deigning any
explanation to Prussia, arbitrarily to cancel an article of the
peace of Tilsit, by which Prussia was indemnified for the
loss of Hanover with a territory containing four hundred
thousand souls.

The Prussian possessions on the left bank of the Elbe,
Hanover, Brunswick, and Hesse- Cassel,a were converted by
Napoleon into the new kingdom of Westphalia, which he
bestowed upon his brother Jerome and included in the Rhen-
ish confederation. East Friesland was annexed to Holland.
Poland was not restored, but a petty grandduchy of Warsaw

1 Bignon remarks that the queen, Louisa, who left no means untried in order
to save as much as possible of Prussia, came somewhat too late, when Napoleon
had already entered into an agreement with Russia. Hence Napoleon's inflexi-
bility, which was the more insulting owing to the apparently yielding silence
with which, from a feeling of politeness, he sometimes received the personal
petitions of the queen, to which he would afterward send a written refusal. The
part played in this affair by Alexander was far from honorable, and Bignon says
with great justice, "The emperor of Russia must at that time have had but little
judgment, if he imagined that taking Prussia in such a manner under his protec-
tion would be honorable to the protector." With a view of appeasing public
opinion in Germany and influencing it in favor of the alliance between France
and Russia, Zschokke, who was at that time in Napoleon's pay, published a
mean-spirited pamphlet, entitled, "Will the human race gain by the present
political changes?"

2 The elector, William, who had solicited permission to remain neutral, hav-
ing made great military preparations and received the Prussians with open arms,
was, in Napoleon's twenty- seventh bulletin, deposed with expressions of the
deepest contempt. "The house of Hesse-Cassel has for many years past sold
its subjects to England, and by this means has the elector collected his immense
wealth. May this mean and avaricious conduct prove the ruin of his house."
— Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, was threatened with similar danger for
inclining on the side of Prussia but perceived his peril in time to save himself
from destruction.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1499

was erected, which Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony,
received, together with the royal dignity. Prussia, already
greatly diminished in extent, was to be still further en-
croached upon and watched by these new states. The ex-
ample of electoral Saxony was imitated by the petty Saxon
princes, and Anhalt, Lippe, Schwarzburg, Keuss, Meck-
lenburg and Aldenburg joined the .Rhenish confederation.
Dantzig became a nominal free town with a French garrison. '

The brave Hessians resisted this fresh act of despotism.
The Hessian troops revolted, but were put down by force,
and their leader, a sergeant, rushed frantically into the
enemy's fire. The Hessian peasantry also rose in several
places. The Hanse towns, on the contrary, meekly allowed
themselves to be pillaged and to be robbed of their stores
of English goods.

Gustavus Adolphus IV. of Sweden, who had neglected
to send troops at an earlier period to the aid of Prussia, now
offered the sturdiest resistance and steadily refused to nego-
tiate terms of peace or to recognize Napoleon as emperor.
His generals, Armfeldt2 and Essen, made some successful
inroads from Stralsund, and, in unison with the English,
might have effected a strong diversion to Napoleon's rear,
had their movements been more rapid and combined. On
the conclusion of the peace of Tilsit, a French force under
Mortier appeared, drove the Swedes back upon Stralsund,
and compelled the king, in the August of 1807, to abandon
that city, which the new system of warfare rendered no
longer tenable.

1 Marshal Lefebvre, who had taken the city, was created duke of Dantzig.
The city, however, did not belong to him, but became a republic; notwithstand-
ing which, it was at first compelled to pay a contribution, amounting to twenty
million francs, to Napoleon, to maintain a strong French garrison at its expense,
and was fleeced in every imaginable way. A stop was consequently put to trade,
the wealthiest merchants became bankrupt, and Napoleon's satraps established
their harems and celebrated their orgies in their magnificent houses and gardens,
and, by their unbridled license, demoralized to an almost incredible degree the
staid manners of the quondam pious Lutheran citizens. Vide Blech, The Mis-
eries of Dantzig, 1815.

2 One of the handsomest men of his time and the Adonis of many a princely
4ame.

1500 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLV. The Rhenish Confederation

THE whole of western Europe bent in lowly submission
before the genius of Napoleon; Eussia was bound by the
silken chains of flattery; England, Turkey, Sweden, and
Portugal, alone bade him defiance. England, whose fleets
ruled the European seas, who lent her aid to his enemies,
and instigated their opposition, was his most dangerous foe.
By a gigantic measure, known as the continental system, he
sought to undermine her power. The whole of the continent
of Europe, as far as his influence was felt, was, by an edict,
published at Berlin on the 21st of November, 1806, closed
against British trade; nay, he went so far as to lay an em-
bargo on all English goods lying in store and to make pris-
oners of war of all the English at that time on the continent.
All intercourse between England and the rest of Europe was
'prohibited. But Napoleon's attempt to ruin the commerce
of England was merely productive of injury to himself; the
promotion of every branch of industry on the continent could
not replace the loss of its foreign trade; the products of Eu-
rope no longer found their way to the more distant parts of
the globe, to be exchanged for colonial luxuries, which, with
the great majority of the people, more particularly with the
better classes, had become necessaries, and numbers who
had but lately lauded Napoleon to the skies regarded him
with bitter rage on being compelled to relinquish their wonted
coffee and sugar.

Napoleon, meanwhile, undeterred by opposition, enforced
his continental system. Eussia, actuated by jealousy of Eng-
land and flattered by the idea, with which Napoleon had, at
Tilsit, inspired the emperor Alexander, of sharing with him
the empire of a world, aided his projects. The first step
was to secure to themselves possession of the Baltic; the
king of Sweden, Napoleon's most implacable foe, was to be

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1501

dethroned, and Sweden to be promised to Frederick, prince-
regent of Denmark, in order to draw him into the interests
of the allied powers of France and Russia. The scheme,
however, transpired in time to be frustrated. An English
fleet, with an army, among which was the German Legion,
composed of Hanoverian refugees, on board, attacked, and,
after a fearful bombardment, took Copenhagen, and either
destroyed or carried off the whole of the Danish fleet, Sep-
tember, 1807. l The British fleet, on its triumphant return
through the Sound, was saluted at Helsingfors by the king
of Sweden, who invited the admirals to breakfast. The isl-
and of Heligoland, which belonged to Holstein and conse-
quently formed part of the possessions of Denmark, and
which carried on a great smuggling trade between that
country and the continent, was at that time also seized by
the British.

Napoleon revenged himself by a bold stroke in Spain.
He proposed the partition of Portugal to that power, and,
under that pretext, sent troops across the Pyrenees. The
licentious queen of Spain, Maria Louisa Theresa of Parma,
and her paramour, Godoy, who had, on account of the
treaty between France and Spain, received the title of
Prince of Peace, reigned at that time in the name of the
imbecile king, Charles IV. His son, Ferdinand, placed
himself at the head of the democratic faction, by which
Godoy was regarded with the most deadly hatred. Both
parties, however, conscious of their want of power, sought
aid from Napoleon, who flattered each in turn, with a view
of rendering the one a tool for the destruction of the other.
The Prince of Peace was overthrown by a popular tumult;
Ferdinand VII. was proclaimed king, and his father, Charles
IV., was compelled to abdicate. These events were appar-
ently countenanced by Napoleon, who invited the youthful
sovereign to an interview ; Ferdinand, accordingly, went to

1 See accounts of this affair in the Recollections of a Legionary, Hanover,
1826, and in Beamisch's History of the Legion.

1502 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Bayonne and was— taken prisoner. The Prince of Peace,
on the eve of flying from Spain, where his life was no longer
safe, with his treasures and with the queen, persuaded the
old king, Charles, also to go to Bayonne, where his person
was instantly seized. Both he and his son were compelled
to renounce their right to the throne of Spain and to abdicate
in favor of Joseph, Napoleon's brother, the 5th of May, 1808.
The elevation of Joseph to the Spanish throne was followed
by that of Murat to the throne of Naples. The haughty
Spaniard, however, refused to be trampled under foot, and
his proud spirit disdained to accept a king imposed upon him
by such unparalleled treachery. Napoleon's victorious troops
were, for the first time, routed by peasants, an entire army
was taken prisoner at Baylen, and another, in Portugal, was
compelled to retreat. Napoleon's veterans were scattered by
monks and peasants, a proof, to the eternal disgrace of every
subject people, that the invincibility of a nation depends but
upon its will.

Napoleon did not conduct the war in Spain in person dur-
ing the first campaign; the tranquillity of the North had
first to be secured. For this purpose, he held a personal
conference, in October, 1808, with the emperor Alexander
at Erfurt, whither the princes of Germany hastened to pay
their devoirs, humbly as their ancestors of yore to conquer-
ing Attila. The company of actors brought in Napoleon's
train from Paris boasted of gaining the plaudits of a royal
parterre, and a French sentinel happening to call to the
watch to present arms to one of the kings there dancing
attendance was reproved by his officer with the observation,
*'Ce n'est qu un roi." ! Both emperors, for the purpose of

1 A graphic description of these times is to be met with in Joanna Schopen-
hauer's Tour on the Lower Rhine. The kings of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, West-
phalia, Saxony, the prince primate, the hereditary prince of Baden and of Meck-
lenburg-Strelitz, the duke of Weimar, the princes of Hohenzollern, Hesse- Roten-
burg, and Hesse-Philippsthal, were present. No one belonging to the house of
Austria was there: of that of Prussia there was Prince William, the king's
brother. The Allgemeine Zeitung of that day wrote: "The fact of Napoleon's
sending for the privy-councillor, Von Goethe, into his cabinet, and conversing
with him for upward of an hour, appears to us well worthy of mention. What

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1503

offering a marked insult to Prussia, attended a great hare-
hunt on the battlefield of Jena. It was during this confer-
ence that Napoleon and Alexander divided between them-
selves the sovereignty of Europe, Eussia undertaking the
subjugation of Sweden and the seizure of Finland, France
the conquest of Spain and Portugal.

The period immediately subsequent to the fall of the an-
cient empire forms the blackest page in the history of Ger-
many. The whole of the left bank of the Ehine was annexed
to France. The people, notwithstanding the improvement
that took place in the administration under Bon Jean St.
Andre, groaned beneath the exorbitant taxes and the con-
scription. The commerce on the Ehine had almost entirely
ceased.1 — The grandduchy of Berg was, until 1808, gov-
erned with great mildness by Avar, the French minister. —
Holland had, since 1801, remained under the administration
of her benevolent governor, Schimmelpenninck, but had been
continually drained by the imposition of additional income
taxes, which, in 1804, amounted to six per cent on the capi-
tal in the country. Commerce had entirely ceased, smug-
gling alone excepted. In 1806, the Dutch were commanded

German would not rejoice that the great emperor should have entered into such
deep conversation with such a fitting representative of our noblest, and now,
alas, sole remaining national possession, our art and learning, by whose preserva-
tion alone can our nationality be saved from utter annihilation." Notwithstand-
ing which the company of actors belonging to the theatre at Weimar, which was
close at hand and had been under Goethe's instruction, was not once allowed to
perform on the Erfurt stage, which Napoleon had supplied with actors from
Paris. "Wieland was also compelled to remain standing for an hour in Napo-
leon's presence, and when, at length, unable, owing to the weakness of old age,
to continue in that position, he ventured to ask permission to retire, Napoleon is
said to have considered the request an unwarrantable liberty. The literary heroes
of Weimar took no interest in the country from which they had received so deep
a tribute of admiration. Not a patriotic sentiment escaped their lips. At the
time when the deepest wound was inflicted on the Tyrol, Goethe gave to the
world his frivolous "Wahlverwandschaften," which was followed by a poem in
praise of Napoleon, of whom he says:

"Doubts, that have baffled thousands, Tie has solved;

Ideas, o'er which centuries have brooded,

His giant mind intuitively compassed."

1 The great and dangerous robber bands of the notorious Damian Hessel,
and of Schinderhannes, afford abundant proof of the demoralized condition of
the people.

1504 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

to entreat Napoleon to grant them a king in the person of
his brother Louis, who fixed his residence in the venerable
council- house at Amsterdam, and, it must be confessed, en-
deavored to promote the real interests of his new subjects.1

The Swiss, with characteristic servility, testified the
greatest zeal on every occasion for the emperor Napoleon,
celebrated his fete-day, and boasted of his protection,2 and
of the freedom they were still permitted to enjoy. Free-
dom of thought was expressly prohibited. Sycophants, in
the pay of the foreign ruler, as, for instance, Zschokke, alone
guided public opinion. In Zug, any person who ventured to
speak disparagingly of the Swiss in the service of France
was declared an enemy to his country and exposed to severe
punishment.8 The Swiss shed their blood in each and all of
Napoleon's campaigns, and aided him to reduce their kin-
dred nations to abject slavery.4

The Khenish confederation shared the advantages of
French influence to the same degree in which it, in com-
mon with the old states on the left bank of the Ehine, was
subject to ecclesiastical corruption or to the upstart vanity
incidental to petty states. Wherever enlightenment and
liberty had formerly existed, as in Protestant and constitu-
tional Wurtemberg, the violation of the ancient rights of the
people was deeply felt, and the new aristocracy, modelled on
that of France, appeared as unbearable to the older inhabi-
tants of Wurtemberg as did the loss of their ancient inde-

1 On the 12th of January, 180*7, a ship laden with four hundred quintals of
gunpowder blew up in the middle of the city of Leyden, part of which was
thereby reduced to ruins, and one hundred and fifty persons, among others the
celebrated professors Luzac and Kleit, were killed.

2 On the opening of the federal diet in 1806, the Landammann lauded "the
omnipotent benevolence of the gracious mediator." In earlier times, the Swiss
would, on the contrary, have boasted of their affording protection to, not of
receiving protection from, France.

3 In order to prove of what importance they considered the benevolent pro-
tection of Napoieon the Great. — Allgemeine Zeitung of 1810, No. 190.

4 Their general, Vori der Wied, who was taken prisoner at Talavera in Spain
and died shortly afterward of a pestilential disease, had done signal service to
France, in 1798 in Switzerland, in 1792 in Italy, in 1805 in Austria, in 1806 in
Prussia, and finally in Spain. — AUgemeine Zeitung of 1811, No. 46.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1505

pendence to the mediatized princes and lordlings. King
Frederick, notwithstanding his refusal to send troops into
Spain, was compelled to furnish an enormous contingent for
the wars in eastern Europe; the conscription and taxes were
heavily felt, and the peasant was vexed by the great hunts,
celebrated by Matthisson, the court-poet, as festivals of
Diana.1 In Bavaria, the administration of Maximilian
Joseph and of his minister, Montgelas, although arbitrary
in its measures, promoted, like that of Frederick II. and
Joseph II., the advance of enlightenment and true liberty.
The monasteries were closed, the punishment of the rack
was abolished, unity was introduced in the administration
of the state; the schools, the police, and the roads were im-
proved, toleration was established; in a word, the dreams of
the Illuminati, thirty years before this period, were, in almost
every respect, realized. But, on the other hand, patriotism
was here more unknown than in any other part of Germany.
Christopher von Aretin set himself up as an apparitor to the
French police, and, in 1810, published a work against the few
German patriots still remaining, whom he denounced, in the
fourteenth number of the Literary Gazette of Upper Ger-
many, as "Preachers of Germanism, criminals and traitors,

1 Personal "freedom was restricted by innumerable decrees. Freedom of
speech, formerly great in Wurtemberg, was strictly repressed ; all social confi-
dence was annihilated. A swarm of informers insnared those whom the secret
police were unable to entrap. The secrecy of letters was violated. Trials in
criminal cases were no longer allowed to be public. The sentence passed upon
the accused was, particularly in cases of the highest import, not delivered by
the judge as dictated by the law, but by the despot's caprice. — The conscrip-
tion was enforced with increased severity and tyranny. — The natural right of
emigration was abolished. — The people were disarmed, and not even the in-
habitants of solitary farms and hamlets were allowed to possess arms in order
to defend themselves against wolves and robbers. A man was punished for
killing a mad dog, because the gun used for that purpose had been illegally
secreted. Pass-tickets were given to and returned by all desirous of passing
the gates of the pettiest town. The members of the higher aristocracy were
compelled, under pain of being deprived of the third of their income, to spend
three months in the year at court. — The citizen was oppressed by a variety of
fresh taxes, by the newly-created monopolies of tobacco, salt, etc., and colonial
imposts, by the tenfold rise of the excise and custom-house dues, etc. Tide
Zahn in the Wurtemberg Annual. Zschokke, meanwhile, in his pamphlet
already mentioned, "Will the human race gain," etc., advocated republican
equality and liberty under a monarchical constitution.

1506 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

by whom the Rhenish confederation was polluted." The
crown prince of Bavaria, who deeply lamented the rule of
France and the miseries of Germany, offers a contrary ex-
ample. A constitution, naturally a mere tool in the hand
of the ministry, was bestowed, in 1808, upon Bavaria.

The government of Charles von Dalberg, the prince pri-
mate and grandduke of Frankfort, was one of the most despi-
cable of those composing the Rhenish confederation. Equally
insensible to the duties attached to his high name and station, l
he flattered the foreign tyrant to an extent unsurpassed by
any of the other base sycophants at that time abounding in
the empire; with folded hands would he at all times invoke
the blessing of the Most High on the head of the almighty
ruler of the earth, and celebrate each of his victories with
hymns of gratitude and joy, while his ministers misruled
and tyrannized over the country,2 whose freedom they
loudly vaunted.8 — In Wiirzburg, the French ambassador
reigned with the despotism of an Eastern satrap.4 Saxe-
Coburg6 and Anhalt-Grotha,6 where the native tyrant was

1 The Von Dalbergs of Franconia were the first hereditary barons of the
holy Roman empire, and one of their race was dubbed knight at each imperial
coronation. Hence the demand of the imperial herald, "Is no Dalberg here?"
And a Dalberg it was, who, in Napoleon's name, declared to the German
emperor that he no longer recognized an emperor of Germany. — In 1797,
Dalberg had, at the diet, and again in 1805, expressed himself with great zeal
against France; on the present occasion he was Napoleon's first satrap.

2 They sold the demesnes of Hanau and Fulda and received the sums pro-
duced by the sale in gift from the grandduke. — Gorres"1 Rhenish Mercury, A.D.
1814, No. 168.

3 They were barefaced enough to bestow a constitution, and, in 1810, to
open a diet at Hanau, although all the newspapers had, five days previously,
been suppressed, and orders had been issued that the editor of the only news-
paper permitted for the future was to be appointed by the police. — Allgemeine
Zeitung, No. 294.

4 Count Montholon-Semonville sold justice and mercy. Vide Brockhaus'
Deutsche Blatter, 1814, No. 101.

5 The duke, Francis, allowed the country to be mercilessly drained and
impoverished by the minister, Yon Kretschmann. He lived on extremely bad
terms with his uncle, Frederick Josias, duke of Coburg, the celebrated Austrian
general. Francis died in 1806. Ernest, his son and successor, delivered the
country, in 1809, from Kretschmann's tyranny, and, in 1811, bestowed upon
it a constitution, which was, nevertheless, merely an imitation of that of West-
phalia.

6 The prince, Augustus Christian Frederick, contracted debts to an enormoua
amount, completely drained his petty territory, and even seized bail-money. Mili-

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1507

sheltered beneath the wing of Napoleon, were in the most
lamentable state. — In Saxony, the government remained
unaltered. Frederick Augustus, filled with gratitude for
the lenity with which he had been treated after the war
and for the grant of the royal dignity, remained steadily
faithful to Napoleon, but introduced no internal innovations
into the government. The adhesion of Saxe- Weimar to the
Rhenish confederation was of deplorable consequence to
Germany, the great poets assembled there by the deceased
Duchess Amalia also scattering incense around Napoleon.
The kingdom of Westphalia was doomed to taste to the
dregs the bitter cup of humiliation. The new king, Jerome,
who declared, " Je veux qu'on respecte la dignite de I'homme
et du citoyen," bestowed, it is true, many and great benefits
upon his subjects; the system of flogging, so degrading to
the soldier, was abolished, the judicature was improved, the
administration simplified, and the German in authority, not-
withstanding his traditionary gruffness, became remarkable
for urbanity toward the citizens and peasants. But Napo-
leon's despotic rule ever demanded fresh sacrifices of men
and money and increased severity on the part of the police,
in order to quell the spirit of revolt. Jerome, conscious of
being merely his brother's representative, consoled himself
for his want of independence in his gay court at Cassel.1
He had received but a middling education, and had, at one
period, held a situation in the marine at Baltimore in North
America. While still extremely young, placed unexpectedly
upon a throne, more as a splendid puppet than as an inde-
pendent sovereign, he gave way to excesses, natural, and,
under the circumstances, almost excusable. It would be

tary amusements, drunkenness and other gross excesses, the preservation of
enormous herds of deer which destroyed the fields of the peasantry, formed
the pleasures of this prince. — StenzeVs History of Arihalt.

1 Napoleon nicknamed him roi de, coulisses, and gave him a guardian in his
ambassador, Reinhard, a person of celebrity during the Revolution. Jerome's
first ministers were friends of his youth ; the Creole, Le Camus, who was created
Count Fiirstenstein, and Malchus, whose office it was to fill a bottomless treas-
ury. Vide Hormayr, Archive 5, 458, and the Secret History of the Court of
"Westphalia, 1814.

1508 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ungenerous to repeat the sarcasms showered upon him on
his expulsion. The execrations heaped, at a later period,
upon his head, ought with far greater justice to have fallen
upon those of the Germans themselves, and more particu-
larly upon those of that portion of the aristocracy that vied
with the French in enriching the chronique scandaleuse of
Cassel, and upon those of the citizens who, under Bongars,
the head of the French police, acted the part of spies upon
and secret informers against their wretched countrymen. —
The farcical donation of a free constitution to the people put
a climax to their degradation. On the 2d of July, 1808,
Jerome summoned the Westphalian Estates to Cassel and
opened the servile assembly, thus arbitrarily convoked, with
extreme pomp. The unfortunate deputies, who had, on the
conclusion of the lengthy ceremonial, received an invitation
assister au repas at the palace and had repaired thither,
their imaginations, whetted by hunger, revelling in visions
of gastronomic delight, were sorely discomfited on discover-
ing that they were simply expected "to look on while the
sovereign feasted." The result of this assembly was, natu-
rally, a unanimous tribute of admiration and an invocation
of blessings on the head of the foreign ruler, the principal
part in which was played by John Miiller, who attempted
to convince his fellow countrymen that by means of the
French usurpation they had first received the boon of true
liberty. This cheaply-bought apostate said, in his usual
hyperbolical style, "It is a marked peculiarity of the north-
ern nations, more especially of those of German descent,
that, whenever God has, in His wisdom, resolved to bestow
upon them a new kind or a higher degree of civilization, the
impulse has ever been given from without. This impulse
was given to us by Napoleon, by him before whom the
earth is silent, God having given the whole world into his
hand, nor can Germany at the present period have a wish
ungratified, Napoleon having reorganized her as the nur-
sery of European civilization. Too sublime to condescend
to every- day polity, he has given durability to Germany!

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1509

Happy nation ! what an interminable vista of glory opens
to thy view!" Thus spoke John Miiller. Thousands of
Germans had been converted into abject slaves, but none
other than he was there ever found, with sentimental phrases
to gild the chains of his countrymen, to vaunt servility as
liberty and dishonor as glory.1 John Miiller' s unprincipled
address formed, as it were, the turning-point of German
affairs. Self -degradation could go no further. The spirit
of the sons of Germany henceforward rose, and, with manly
courage, they sought, by their future actions, to wipe oif the
deep stain of their former guilt and dishonor.

1 Vide Strombeck's Life and the Allgemeine Zeitung of September, 1808.
Besides John Miiller and Aretin, mention may, with equal justice, be made of
Crome of Geissen and Zschokke, a native of Magdeburg naturalized in Switzer-
land, who, in 1807, ventured to declare in public that Napoleon had done more
for Swiss independence than William Tell five hundred years ago; who, paid by
Napoleon, defamed the noble-spirited Spaniards and Tyrolese in 1815, decried
the enthusiastic spirit animating Germany, and afterward whitewashed himself
by his liberal tirades. With these may also be associated Murhard, the pub-
lisher of the Moniteur Westphalien, K. J. Schiiltz, the author of a work upon
Napoleon, the Berliriese Jew, Saul Asher, the author of a scandalous work,
entitled "Germanomanie, " and of a slanderous article in Zschokke's Miscel-
lanies against Prussia, Kosegarten the poet, who, in 1809, delivered a speech
in eulogy of Napoleon, far surpassing all in bombast and mean adulation. Ben-
turini, at that time, also termed Napoleon the emanation of the universal Spirit,
a second incarnation of the Deity, a second savior of the world. In Posselt's
European Annals of 1807, a work by a certain "W. upon the political interests
of Germany appeared, and concluded as follows: "Let us raise to him (Napo-
leon) a national monument, worthy of the first and only benefactor of the na-
tions of Germany. Let his name be engraved in gigantic letters of shining gold
on Germany's highest and steepest pinnacle, whence, lighted by the effulgent
rays of morn, it may be visible far over the plains on which he bestowed a
happier futurity!" This writer also drew a comparison between Napoleon and
Charlemagne, in which he designated the latter a barbarous despot and the
former the new savior of the world. He says, "Napoleon first solved the enigma
of equality and liberty — his chief aim was the prevention of despotism — his chief
desire, to eternalize the dominion of virtue." In the course of 1808, it was said
in the essay, "On the Regeneration of Germany," that the Germans were still
children whom it was solely possible for the French to educate: "Our language
is also not logical like French — if we intend to attain unity, we must adhere
with heart and soul to him who has smoothed the path to it, to him, our secur-
est support, to him, whose name outshines that of Charlemagne — foreign princes
in German countries are no proof of subjection, they, on the contrary, most
surely warrant our continued existence as a nation." In France sixty authors
dedicated their works, within the space of a year, to the emperor Napoleon— in.
Germany, ninety.

1510 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLVI. Resuscitation of Patriotism Throughout Germany--
Austria's Demonstration

THE general slavery, although most severely felt in East-
ern Germany, bore there a less disgraceful character. Aus-
tria and Prussia had been conquered, pillaged, reduced in
strength and political importance, while the Rhenish states,
forgetful that it is ever less disgraceful to yield to an over-
powering enemy than voluntarily to lend him aid, had shared
in and profited by the triumph of the empire's foe. Austria
and Prussia suffered to a greater extent than the Ehenish
confederation, but they preserved a higher degree of inde-
pendence. Prussia, although almost annihilated by her late
disasters,1 still dreamed of future liberation. Austria had,
notwithstanding her successive and numerous defeats, re-
tained the greater share of independence, but her subjection,
although to a lesser degree, was the more disgraceful on ac-
count of her former military glory and her preponderance as
a political power in Germany. "With steady perseverance
and unfaltering courage she opposed the attacks of the for-

1 The whole of the revenues of Prussia were confiscated by the French until
1808. The contribution of one hundred and forty millions was, nevertheless,
to be paid, and the French garrisons in the Prussian fortresses of G-logau,
Kiistrin, and Stettin were to be maintained at the expense of Prussia. The
suppression of the monasteries in Silesia was far from lucrative, the commis-
sioners, who were irresponsible, carrying on a system of pillage, and lauded
property having greatly fallen in value. The most extraordinary imposts of
every description were resorted to for the purpose of raising a revenue, among
other means, a third of all the gold and silver in the country was called in. A
coinage, still more debased, was issued, and one more inferior still was smuggled
into the country by English coiners. In 1808, silver money fell two-thirds of
its current value and was even refused acceptance at that price. — The French,
moreover, lorded over the country with redoubled insolence, broke every treaty,
increased their garrisons, and occasionally laid the most inopportune commands,
in the form of a request, upon the king ; as, for instance, to lay under embargo
and deliver up to them a number of English merchantmen that had been driven
into the Prussian harbors by a dreadful storm. Bliicher, at that time governor
of Pomerania, restrained his fiery nature and patiently endured their insolence,
while silently brooding over deep and implacable revenge.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1511

eign tyrant against the empire, and, France's first and last
antagonist, the most faithful champion of the honor of Ger-
many, she rose, with redoubled vigor, after each successive
defeat, to renew the unequal struggle.

Prussia had been overcome, because, instead of uniting
with the other states of Germany, she had first abandoned
them to be afterward deserted by them in her turn, and be-
cause, instead of arming her warlike people against every
foreign foe, she had habituated her citizens to unarmed
effeminacy and had rested her sole support on a mercenary
army, an artificial and spiritless automaton, separated from
and unsympathizing with the people. The idea that the sal-
vation of Prussia could now alone be found in her reconcilia-
tion with the neighboring powers of Germany, in a general
confederation, in the patriotism of her armed citizens, had
already arisen. But, in order to inspire the citizen with
enthusiasm, he must first, by the secure and free possession
of his rights and by his participation in the public weal, be
deeply imbued with a consciousness of freedom. The slave
has no country; the freeman alone will lay down his life in
its defence. In those times of Germany's deepest degrada-
tion and suffering, men for the first time again heard speak
of a great and common fatherland, of national fame and
honor; and liberty, that glorious name, was uttered not only
by those who groaned beneath the rule of the despotic for-
eigner, but even by those who deplored the loss of the inter-
nal liberty of their country, the gradual subjection of the
proud and free- spirited German to native tyranny. The
king of Prussia, not content with morally reorganizing his
army, also bestowed wise laws, which restored the citizen
and the peasant to their rights, to their dignity as men, of
which they had for so long been deprived by the nobility,
the monopolizers of every privilege. The emancipation of
the peasant essentially consisted in the abolition of feudal
servitude and forced labor; that of the citizen, in the dona-
tion of a free municipal constitution, of self-administration,
and freedom of election. The nobility were, at the same

1512 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

time, despoiled of the exclusive appointment to the higher
civil and military posts and of the exclusive possession of
landed property. Each citizen possessed the right, hitherto
strictly prohibited, of purchasing baronial estates, and the
nobility were, on their part, permitted to exercise trades,
which a miserable prejudice had hitherto deemed incompati-
ble with noble birth. These new institutions date from 1808
and are due to the energy of the minister, Stein.

This noble-spirited German was the founder of a secret
society, the Tugendbund, by which a general insurrection
against Napoleon was silently prepared throughout Grer-
many. Among its members were numerous statesmen, offi-
cers, and literati. Among the latter, Arndt gained great
note by his popular style, Jahn by his influence over the
rising generation. Jahn reintroduced gymnastics, so long
neglected, into education, as a means of heightening moral
courage by the increase of physical strength. ' Scharnhorst,
meanwhile, although restricted to the prescribed number of
troops, created a new army by continually exchanging
trained soldiers for raw recruits, and secretly purchased an
immense quantity of arms, so that a considerable force could,
in case of necessity, be speedily assembled. He also had all
the brass battery guns secretly converted into field-pieces
and replaced by iron guns. Napoleon's spies, however,
came upon the trace of the Tugendbund. Stein, exposed
by an intercepted letter, was outlawed8 by Napoleon and
compelled to quit Prussia. He was succeeded by Harden-
berg, by whom the treaty of Basel had formerly been con-

1 When marching with his pupils out of Berlin, he would ask the fresh ones
as he passed beneath the Bradenburg gate, "What are you thinking of now?"
If the boy did not know what to answer, he would give him a box on the ear,
saying as he did so, "You should think of this, how you can bring back the four
fine statues of horses that once stood over this gate and were carried by the
French to Paris."

2 Decree of 16th December, 1808: "A certain Stein, who is attempting to
create disturbances, is herewith declared the enemy of France; his property
shall be placed under sequestration, and his person shall be secured." The
Allgemeine Zeitung warns, at the same time, in its 330th number, all German
savants not to give way to patriotic enthusiasm and to follow in John Miiller's
footsteps.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1513

eluded and whose nomination was publicly approved of by
Napoleon. Scharnhorst and Julius Gruner, the head of the
Berlin police, were also deprived of their offices. The Berlin
university, nevertheless, continued to give evidence of a bet-
ter spirit. Enlightenment and learning, on their decrease
at Frankfort on the Oder, here found their headquarters.
Halle had become Westphalian, and the universities of
Kinteln and Helmstadt had, from a similar cause, been
closed.

Austria also felt her humiliation too deeply not to be
inspired, like Prussia, with an instinct of self-preservation.
The imperial dignity and Catholicism were here closely asso-
ciated with the memory of the Middle Ages, whose magnifi-
cence and grandeur were once more disclosed to the people
in the masterly productions of the writers of the day. Hence
the unison created by Frederick Schlegel between the roman-
tic poets and antiquarians of Germany and Viennese policy.
The predilection for ancient German art and poetry had, in
the literary world, been merely produced by the reaction of
German intelligence against foreign imitation; this literary
reaction, however, happened coincidently with and aided that
in the political world. The Nibelungen, the Minnesingers,
the ancient chronicles, became a popular study. The same
enthusiasm inspired the liberal-spirited poets, Tieck, Arnim,
and Brentano; Fouqud charmed the rising generation and
the multitude with his extravagant descriptions of the age
of chivalry ; the learned researches of Grimm, Hagen, Busch-
ing, Grater, etc., into German antiquity, at that time excited
general interest, but the glowing colors in which Joseph
Gorres, himself a former Jacobin, and amid the half Galli-
cized inhabitants of Coblentz, revived, as if by magic, the
Middle Age on the ruin- strewed banks of the Khine caused
the deepest delight. Two men, Stein, now a refugee in Aus-
tria, and Count Munster, first of all Hanoverian minister
and afterward English ambassador at Petersburg, who kept
up a constant correspondence with Stein and conducted the
secret negotiations in the name of Great Britain, were un-

1514 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

wearied in their endeavors to forge arms against Napoleon.
In Austria, Count John Philip von Stadion, who had, since
the December of 1805, been placed at the head of the minis-
try, had both the power and the will to repair the blunders
committed by Thugut and Cobenzl.

The Eusso-gallic alliance was viewed with terror by
Austria. Europe had, to a certain degree, been partitioned
at Erfurt, by. Napoleon and Alexander. Fresh sacrifices
were evidently on the eve of being extorted from Germany.
Russia had resolved at any price to gain possession of either
the whole or a part of Turkey, and offered to confirm Napo-
leon in that of Bohemia, on condition of being permitted to
seize Moldavia and Wallachia. ! The danger was argent
Austria, sold by Russia to France, could alone defend her-
self against both her opponents by an immense exertion of
the national power of Germany. The old and faulty system
had been fearfully revenged. The disunion of the German
princes, the despotism of the aristocratic administrations,
the estrangement of the people from all public affairs, had
all conduced to the present degradation of Germany. Neces-
sity now induced an alteration in the system of government
and an appeal to the German people, whose voice had hith-
erto been vainly raised. The example set by Spain was to
be followed. Stein, who was at that time at Vienna, kin-
dled the glowing embers to a flame. The military reforms
begun at an earlier period by the Archduke Charles were
carried out on a wider basis. A completely new institution,
that of the Landwehr or armed citizens, in contradistinction
with the mercenary soldiery, was set on foot. Enthusiasm
and patriotism were not wanting. The circumstance of the
pope's imprisonment in Rome by Napoleon sufficed to rouse
the Catholics. Everything was hoped for from a general
rising throughout Germany against the French. Precipita-
tion, however, ruined all. Prussia was still too much weak-
ened, her fortresses were still in the hands of the French,

1 Bignon's History of France.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1515

and Austria inspired but little confidence, wnile the .Rhenish
confederation solely aimed at aggrandizing itself by fresh
wars at the expense of that empire, and, notwithstanding the
inclination to revolt evinced by the people in different parts
of Germany, more particularly in "Westphalia, the terror in-
spired by Napoleon kept them, as though spellbound, beneath
their galling yoke.

While Napoleon was engaged in the Peninsula, Austria
levied almost the whole of her able-bodied men and equipped
an army, four hundred thousand strong, at the head of which
no longer foreign generals, but the princes of the house of
Habsburg, were placed. The Archduke Charles1 set off, in
1809, for the Ehine, John for Italy, Ferdinand for Poland.
The first proclamation, signed by Prince Eosenberg and
addressed to the Bavarians, was as follows: "You are now
beginning to perceive that we are Germans like yourselves,
that the general interest of Germany touches you more nearly
than that of a nation of robbers, and that the German nation
can alone be restored to its former glory by acting in unison.
Become once more what you once were, brave Germans ! Or
have you, Bavarian peasants and citizens, gained aught by
your prince being made into a king ? by the extension of his
authority over a few additional square miles ? Have your
taxes been thereby decreased ? Do you enjoy greater secur-
ity in your persons and property?" The proclamation of
the Archduke Charles "to the German nation," declared:
"We have taken up arms to restore independence and na-

1 He undertook the chief command with extreme unwillingness and had long
advised against the war, the time not having yet arrived, Prussia being still ad-
verse, Germany not as yet restored to her senses, and experience having already
proved to him how little he could act as his judgment directed. How often had
he not been made use of and then suddenly neglected, been restrained, in the
midst of his operations, by secret orders, been permitted to conduct the first or
only the second part of a campaign, been placed in a subaltern position when
the chief command was rightfully his, or been forced to accept of it when all
was irremediably lost. Even on this occasion the first measure advised by him,
that of pushing rapidly through Bohemia and Franconia, met with opposition.
On the Maine and on the Weser alone was there a hope of inspiring the people
with enthusiasm, not in Bavaria, where the hatred of the Austrians was irradi-
cably rooted. It, nevertheless, pleased the military advisers of the emperor at
Vienna to order the army to advance slowly through Bavaria.

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— G

1516 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tional honor to Germany. Our cause is the cause of Grer-
many. Show yourselves deserving of our esteem! The
German, forgetful of what is due to himself and to his
country, is our only foe." An anonymous but well-known
proclamation also declared: "Austria beheld — a sight that
drew tears of blood from the heart of every true-born Ger-
man— you, O nations of Germany! so deeply debased as to
be compelled to submit to the legislation of the foreigner
and to allow your sons, the youth of Germany, to be led to
war against their still unsubdued brethren. The shameful
subjection of millions of once free-born Germans will ere
long be completed. Austria exhorts you to raise your hum-
bled necks, to burst your slavish chains!" And in another
address was said: "How long shall Hermann mourn over
his degenerate children? Was it for this that the Cherusci
fought in the Teutoburg forest ? Is every spark of German
courage extinct ? Does the sound of your clanking chains
strike like music on your ears ? Germans, awake ! shake off
your death-like slumber in the arms of infamy ! Germans !
shall your name become the derision of after ages ?' '

The Austrian army, instead of vigorously attacking and
disarming Bavaria, but slowly advanced, and permitted the
Bavarians to withdraw unharassed for the purpose of form-
ing a junction with the other troops of the Rhenish confed-
eration under Napoleon, who had hastened from Spain on
the first news of the movements of Austria. The hopes of
the German patriots could not have been more fearfully dis-
appointed or the German name more deeply humiliated than
by the scorn with which Napoleon, on this occasion, placed
himself at the head of the nations of western Germany, by
whose arms alone, for he had but a handful of French with
him, he overcame their eastern brethren at a moment in
which the German name and German honor were more
loudly invoked. "I have not come among you," said Napo-
leon smilingly to the Bavarians, W urtembergers, etc., by
whom he was surrounded, "I am not come among you as
the emperor of France, but as the protector of your country

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1517

and of the German confederation. No Frenchman is among
you; you alone shall beat the Austrians." \ The extent of
the blindness of the Khenish confederation3 is visible in their
proclamations. The king of Saxony even called Heaven to
his aid, and said to his soldiers, "Draw your swords against
Austria with full trust in the aid of Divine providence!" 3

In the April of 1809, Napoleon led the Bhenish confed-
erated troops, among which the Bavarians under General
Wrede chiefly distinguished themselves, against the Aus-
trians, who had but slowly advanced, and defeated them in

1 "None of my soldiers accompany me. You will know how to value this
mark of confidence." — Napoleon's Address to the Bavarians. Bolderndorfs
Bavarian Campaigns. "I am alone among you and have not a Frenchman
around my person. This is an unparalleled honor paid by me to you." —
Napoleon's Address to the Wurtemberg troops. Arndt wrote at that time:

"By idle words and dastard wiles

Hath he the mastery gained ;
He holds our sacred fatherland

In slavery enchained.
Fear hath rendered truth discreet,
And Honor croucheth at his feet.

Is this his work? ah no! 'tis thine t

This thou alone hast done.
For him thy banner waved, for him

Thy sword the battle won.

By thy disputes he gaineth strength,

By thy disgrace full honor,
And 'neath the German hero's arm

His weakness doth he cover.*
Glittering erewhile in borrowed show,
The Gallic cock doth proudly crow."

2 The states of Wurtemberg imparted, among other things, the following
piece of information to the house of Habsburg: "That the heads of a demo-
cratical government should spread principles destructive to order among its
neighbors was easily explicable, but that Austria should take advantage of the
war to derange the internal mechanism of neighboring states was inexcusa-
ble."— Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 113. The Bavarian proclamation (Allgemeine
Zeitung, No. 135) says, "Princes of the blood royal unblushingly subscribed to
proclamations placing them on an equality with the men of the Revolution of
1793." The Moniteur, Napoleon's Parisian organ, said in August, 1809, after
the conclusion of the war, "The mighty hand of Napoleon has snatched Ger-
many from the revolutionary abyss about to engulf her."

3 Posselt's Political Annals at that time contained an essay, in which the
attempt made by the Austrian cabinet to call the Germans to arms was desig-
nated as a "crime" against the sovereigns "among whom Germany was at that
period partitioned, and in whose hearing it was both foolish and dangerous to
speak of Germany." Derision has seldom been carried to such a pitch.

1518 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

five battles, on five successive days, the most glorious tri-
umph of his surpassing tactics, at Pfaffenhofen, Thann,
Absenberg, Landshut, Eckmuhl, and Ratisbon. The Arch-
duke Charles retired into Bohemia in order to collect rein-
forcements, but General Hiller was, on account of the delay
in repairing the fortifications of Linz, unable to maintain
that place, the possession of which was important on account
of its forming a connecting point between Bohemia and the
Austrian Oberland. Hiller, however, at least saved his
honor by pushing forward to the Traun, and, in a fearfully
bloody encounter at Ebelsberg, capturing three French
eagles, one of his colors alone falling into the enemy's
hands. He was, nevertheless, compelled to retire before
the superior forces of the French, and Napoleon entered
Vienna unopposed. A few balls from the walls of the inner
city were directed against the faubourg in his possession, but
he no sooner began to bombard the palace than the inner
city yielded. The Archduke Charles arrived, when too late,
from Bohemia. Botty armies, separated by the Danube, stood
opposed to one another in the vicinity of the imperial city.
Napoleon, in order to bring the enemy to a decisive engage-
ment, crossed the river close to the great island of Lobau.
He was received on the opposite bank near Aspern and
Esslingen by the Archduke Charles, and, after a dreadful
battle, that was carried on with unwearied animosity for
two days, the 21st and 22d of May, 1809, was for the first
time completely beaten1 and compelled to fly for refuge to
the island of Lobau. The rising stream had, meanwhile,
carried away the bridge, Napoleon's sole chance of escape to
the opposite bank. For two days he remained on the island

1 The finest feat of arms was that performed by the Austrian infantry, who
repulsed twelve French regiments of cuirassiers. This picked body of cavalry
was mounted on the best and strongest horses of Holstein and Mecklenburg (for
Napoleon overcame Germany principally by means of Germany), and bore an
extremely imposing appearance. The Austrian infantry coolly stood their
charge and allowed them to come close upon them before firing a shot, when,
taking deliberate aim at the horses, they and their riders were rolled in confused
heaps on the ground. Three thousand cuirasses were picked up by the victors
after the battle.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1519

with his defeated troops, without provisions, and in hourly
expectation of being cut to pieces; the Austrians, however,
neglected to turn the opportunity to advantage and allowed
the French leisure to rebuild the bridge, a work of extreme
difficulty. During six weeks afterward the two armies con-
tinued to occupy their former positions under the walls of
Vienna on the right and left banks of the Danube, narrowly
watching each other's movements and preparing for a final
struggle.

The Archduke John had successfully penetrated into
Italy, where he had defeated the viceroy, Eugene, at Salice
and Fontana fredda. Favored by the simultaneous revolt
of the Tyrolese, his success appeared certain, when the news
of his brother's disaster compelled him to retreat. He with-
drew into Hungary,1 whither he was pursued by Eugene, by
whom he was, on the 14th of June, defeated at Eaab. The
Archduke Ferdinand, who had advanced as far as Warsaw,
had been driven back by the Poles under Poniatowski and
by a Eussian force sent by the emperor Alexander to their
aid, which, on this success, invaded Galicia. Napoleon re-
warded the Poles for their aid by allowing Eussia to seize
Wallachia and Moldavia.

The fate of Austria now depended on the issue of the
struggle about to take place on the Danube. The arch-
duke's troops were still elate with recent victory, but Na-
poleon had been strongly reinforced and again began the
attack at Wagram, not far from the battleground of As-
pern. The contest lasted two days, the 5th and 6th of July.
The Austrians fought with great personal gallantry, lost one
of their colors, but captured twelve golden eagles and stand-
ards of the enemy ; but the reserve body, intended to protect
their left wing, failing to make its appearance on the field,
they were outflanked by Napoleon and driven back upon
Moravia. Every means of conveyance in Yienna was put

1 Napoleon proclaimed independence to the Hungarians, but was unable to
gain a single adherent among them.

1520 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

into requisition for the transport of the forty-five thousand
men, wounded on this occasion, to the hospitals, and this
heartrending scene indubitably contributed to strengthen
the general desire for peace. An armistice was, on the 12th
of July, concluded at Znaym, and, after long negotiation,
was followed, on the 10th of October, by the treaty of
Vienna. Austria was compelled to cede Carniola, Trieste,
Croatia, and Dalmatia to Napoleon, Salzburg, Berchtolds-
gaden, the Innviertel, and the Hausruckviertel to Bavaria,
a part of Galicia to Warsaw and another part to Russia.
Count Stadion lost office and was succeeded by Clement,
Count von Metternich. — Frederick Stabs, the son of a
preacher of Naumburg on the Saal, formed a resolution
to poniard Napoleon at Schonbrunn, the imperial palace
in the neighborhood of Vienna. Rapp's suspicions became
roused, and the young man was arrested before his purpose
could be effected. He candidly avowed his intention. ' ' And
if I grant you your life ?' ' asked Napoleon. ' ' I would merely
make use of the gift to rob you, on the first opportunity, of
yours," was the undaunted reply. Four-and-twenty hours
afterward the young man was shot.1 The ancient German
race of Gotscheer in Carniola and the people of Istria rose
in open insurrection against the French and were only put
down by force.

Although Prussia had left Austria unsuccored during
this war, many of her subjects were animated with a desire
to aid their Austrian brethren. Schill, unable to restrain
his impetuosity, quitted Berlin on the 28th of April, for
that purpose, with his regiment of hussars. His conduct,
although condemned by a sentence of the court-martial, was
universally applauded. Dornberg, an officer of Jerome's

1 Aretin about this time published a "Representation of the Patriots of
Austria to Napoleon the Great," in which that great sovereign was entreated
to bestow a new government upon Austria and to make that country, like che
new kingdom of Westphalia, a member of his family of states. A fitting pen-
dant to John Miiller's state speech, and so much the more uncalled-for as it was
exactly the Austrians who, during this disastrous period, had, less than any of
the other races of Germany, lost their national pride.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1521

guard, revolted simultaneously in Hesse, but was betrayed
by a false friend at the moment in which Jerome's person
was to have been seized, and was compelled to fly for his
life. Schill merely advanced as far as Wittenberg and
Halberstadt, was again driven northward to Wismar, and
finally to Stralsund, by the superior forces of Westphalia
and Holland. In a bloody street-fight at Stralsund he split
General Carteret's, the Dutch general's head, and was him-
self killed by a cannon-ball. Thus fell this* young hero, true
to his motto, ' ' Better a terrible end than endless terror. ' ' The
Dutch cut off his head, preserved it in spirits of wine, and
placed it publicly in the Leyden library, where it remained
until 1837, when it was buried at Brunswick in the grave of
his faithful followers. Five hundred of his men, under Lieu-
tenant Brunow, escaped by forcing their way through the
enemy. Of the prisoners taken on this occasion, eleven offi-
cers were, by Napoleon's command, shot at Wesel, fourteen
subalterns and soldiers at Brunswick, the rest, about six
hundred in number, were sent in chains to Toulon and con-
demned to the galleys.1 Dornberg fled to England. Katt,
another patriot, assembled a number of veterans at Stendal
and advanced as far as Magdeburg, but was compelled to
flee to the Brunswickers in Bohemia. What might not
have been the result had the plan of the, Archduke Charles
to march rapidly through Franconia been followed on the
opening of the campaign ?

William, duke of Brunswick, the son of the hapless Duke
Ferdinand, had quitted Oels, his sole possession, for Bohemia,
where he had collected a force two thousand strong, known
as the black Brunswickers on account of the color of their
uniform and the death's head on their helmets, with which
he resolved to avenge his father's death. Victorious in petty
engagements over the Saxons at Zittau and over the French
under Junot at Berneck, he refused to recognize the armis-

1 They were afterward condemned to hard labor in the Hieres Isles, nor was
it until 1814 that the survivors, one hundred and twenty in number, were re-
stored to their homes. —Allgemeine Zeitung, 1814. Appendix 91.

1522 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tice between Austria and France, and, fighting his way
through the enemy, surprised Leipzig by night and there
provided himself with ammunition and stores. He was
awaited at Halberstadt by the Westphalians under Wel-
lingerode, whom, notwithstanding their numerical supe-
riority, he completely defeated during the night of the
30th of July. Two days later he was attacked in Bruns-
wick, in his father's home, by an enemy three times his
superior, by the Westphalians under Bewbel, who advanced
from Celle while the Saxons and Dutch pursued him from
Erfurt. Aided by his brave citizens, many of whom fol-
lowed his fortunes, he was again victorious and was enabled
by a speedy retreat, in which he broke down all the bridges
to his rear, to escape to Elsfleth, whence he sailed to Eng-
land.

In August, an English army, forty thousand strong,
landed on the island of Walcheren and attempted to create a
diversion in Holland, but its ranks were speedily thinned by
disease, it did not venture up the country and finally returned
to England. The English, nevertheless, displayed hencefor-
ward immense activity in the Peninsula, where, aided by
the brave and high-spirited population, ' they did great detri-
ment to the French. In the English army in the Peninsula
were several thousand Germans, principally Hanoverian ref-
ugees. There were also numerous deserters from the Rhen-
ish confederated troops, sent by Napoleon into Spain.

During the war in June, the king of Wurtemberg took
possession of Mergentheim, the chief seat of the Teutonic
order, which had, up to the present period, remained un-
secularized. The surprised inhabitants received the new
Protestant authorities with demonstrations of rage and re-
volted. They were the last and the only ones among all the
secularized or mediatized Estates of the empire that boldly
attempted opposition. They were naturally overpowered
without much difficulty and were cruelly punished. About

1 Vide Napier's Peninsular War for an account of the military achievements
of the Spaniards. — Trans.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1523

thirty of them were shot by the soldiery; six were executed;
several wealthy burgesses and peasants were condemned as
criminals to work in chains in the new royal gardens at
Stuttgard. Thus miserably terminated the celebrated Teu-
tonic order.

CCLVII. Revolt of the Tyrolese

THE Alps of the Tyrol had for centuries been the asylum
of liberty. The ancient German communal system had there
continued to exist even in feudal times. Exactly at the time
when the house of Habsburg lost its most valuable posses-
sions in Switzerland, at the time of the council of Constance,
Duke Frederick, surnamed Friedel with the empty purse,
was compelled by necessity and for the sake of retaining the
affection of the Tyrolese, to confirm them by oath in the pos-
session of great privileges, which his successors, owing to a
wholesome dread of exciting the anger of the sturdy moun-
taineers, prudently refrained from violating. The Tyrol was
externally independent and was governed by her own diet.
No recruits were levied in that country by the emperor, ex-
cepting those for the rifle corps, which elected its own com-
manders and wore the Tyrolean garb. The imposts were
few and trifling in amount, the administration was simple.
The free-born peasant enjoyed his rights in common with
the patriarchal nobility and clergy, who dwelt in harmony
with the people; in several of the valleys the public affairs
were administered by simple peasants; each commune had
its peculiar laws and customs.

The first invasion of the Tyrol, in 1703, by the Bavarians,
was successfully resisted. The Bavarians were driven, with
great loss on their side, out of the country. A somewhat
similar spirit animated the Tyrolese in 1805, and their anger
was solely appeased by the express remonstrances of the
Archduke John, whom the inhabitants of the Austrian Ty-
rol treated with the veneration due to a father. They now
fell under the dominion of Bavaria, whose benevolent sov-

1524 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ereign, Maximilian Joseph, promised, under the act dated
the 14th of January, 1806, "not only strongly to uphold the
constitution of the country and the well-earned rights and
privileges of the people, but also to promote their welfare";
but, led astray by his, certainly noble, enthusiasm for the
rescue of his Bavarian subjects from Jesuit obscurantism,
he imagined that similar measures might also be advanta-
geously taken in the Tyrol, where the mountaineers, true to
their ancient simplicity, were revolted by the severity of the
cure, attempted too by a physician of whose intentions they
were mistrustful. Bavaria was overrun with rich monas-
teries; the Tyrol, less fertile, possessed merely a patriarchal
clergy, less numerous, more moral and active. There was
no motive for interference. The conscription that, by con-
verting the idle youth of Bavaria into disciplined soldiery,
was a blessing to the martial-spirited and improvident popu-
lation, was impracticable amid the well- trained Tyrolese, and,
although the control exercised by a well-regulated bureau-
cracy might be beneficial when viewed in contradistinction
with the ancient complicated system of government and ad-
ministration of justice during the existence of the division
into petty states and the manifold contradictory privileges,
it was utterly uncalled for in the simple administration of
the Tyrol. For what purpose were mere presumptive amel-
iorations to be imposed upon a people thoroughly contented
with the laws and customs bequeathed by their ancestors ?
The attempt was nevertheless made, and ancient Bava-
rian official insolence leagued with French frivolity of the
school of Montgelas to vex the Tyrolese and to violate their
most sacred privileges. The numerous chapels erected for
devotional purposes were thrown down amid marks of ridi-
cule and scorn; the ignorance and superstition of the old
church was at one blow to yield to modern enlightenment. l

1 Without any attempt being made on the part of the government to prepare
the minds of the people by proper instruction, the children were taken away by
force in order to be inoculated for the smallpox. The mothers, under an idea
that their infants were being bewitched or poisoned, trembled with rage and
fear, while the Bavarian authorities and their servants mocked their dismay.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1525

The people shudderingly beheld the crucifixes and images of
saints, so long the objects of their deepest veneration, sold to
Jews. Notwithstanding the late assurances of the Bavarian
king, the Tyrolean diet was, moreover, not only dissolved,
but the country was deprived of its ancient name and desig-
nated "Southern Bavaria," and the castle of the Tyrol, that
had defied the storms of ages, and whose possessor, accord-
ing to a sacred popular legend, had alone a right to claim
the homage of the country, was sold by auction. The na-
tional pride of the Tyrolese was deeply and bitterly wounded,
their ancient rights and customs were arbitrarily infringed,
and, instead of the great benefits so recently promised, eight
new taxes were levied, and the tax-gatherers not infre-
quently rendered themselves still more obnoxious by their
brutality. Colonel Dittfurt, who, during the winter of 1809,
acted with extreme inhumanity in the Fleimserthal, where
the conscription had excited great opposition, and who pub-
licly boasted that with his regiment alone he would keep
the whole of the beggarly mountaineers in subjection, drew
upon himself the greatest share of the popular animosity.

Austria, when preparing for war in 1809, could therefore
confidently reckon upon a general rising in the Tyrol. An-
drew Hofer, the host of the Sand at Passeyr (the Sandwirth),
went to Vienna, where the revolt was concerted. * A con-

1 Hofer was, in 1790, as the deputy of the Passeyrthal, a member of the
diet at Innsbruck which so zealously opposed the reforms attempted by Joseph
II. ; he had fought, as captain of a rifle corps, against the French in 1796, and,
in 1805, when bidding farewell to the Archduke John on the enforced cession of
the Tyrol by Austria to Bavaria, had received a significant shake of the hand
with an expressed hope of seeing him again in better times. Hofer traded in
wine, corn and horses, was well known and highly esteemed as far as the
Italian frontier. He had a Herculean form and was remarkably good-looking.
He wore a low-crowned, broad-brimmed black Tyrolean hat, ornamented with
green ribbons and the feathers of the capercailzie. His broad chest was covered
with a red waistcoat, across which green braces, a hand in breadth, were fast-
ened to black chamois-leather knee-breeches. His knees were bare, but his
well-developed calves were covered with red stockings. A broad black leathern
girdle clasped his muscular form. Over all was thrown a short green coat with-
out buttons. His long dark-brown beard, that fell in rich curls upon his chest,
added dignity to his appearance. His full, broad countenance was expressive of
good-humor and honesty. His small, penetrating eyes sparkled with vivacity.

1526 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

spiracy was entered into by the whole of the Tyrolese peas-
antry. Sixty thousand men, on a moderate calculation, were
intrusted with the secret, which was sacredly kept, not a sin-
gle townsman being allowed to participate in it. Kinkel,
the Bavarian general, who was stationed at Innsbruck and
narrowly watched the Tyrol, remained perfectly unconscious
of the mine beneath his feet. Colonel Wrede, his inferior
in command, had been directed to blow up the important
bridges in the Pusterthal at St. Lorenzo, in order to check
the advance of the Austrians, in case of an invasion. Sev-
eral thousand French were expected to pass through the
Tyrol on their route from Italy to join the army under Na-
poleon. No suspicion of the approach of a popular outbreak
existed. On the 9th of April, the signal was suddenly given;
planks bearing little red flags floated down the Inn; on the
10th, the storm burst. Several of the Bavarian sappers sent
at daybreak to blow up the bridges of St. Lorenzo being
killed by the bullets of an invisible foe, the rest took to flight.
Wrede, enraged at the incident, hastened to the spot at the
head of two battalions, supported by a body of cavalry and
some field- pieces. The whole of the Pusterthal had, how-
ever, already risen at the summons of Peter Kemnater, the
host of Schabs,1 in defence of the bridges. W rede's artillery
was captured by the enraged peasantry and cast, together
with the artillerymen, into the river. Wrede, after suffer-
ing a terrible loss, owing to the skill of the Tyrolean rifle-
men, who never missed their aim, was completely put to
rout, and, although he fell in with a body of three thousand
French under Brisson on their route from Italy, resolved,
instead of returning to the Pusterthal, to withdraw with
the French to Innsbruck. The passage through the valley
of the Eisack had, however, been already closed against
them by the host of Lechner,- and the fine old Eoman bridge
at Laditsch been blown up. In the pass of the Brixen, where

1 A youth of two-and:twenty, slight in person and extremely handsome, at
that time a bridegroom, and inspired by the deepest hatred of the Bavarians, by
whose officers he had been personally insulted.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1527

the valley closes, the French and Bavarians suffered immense
loss; rocks and trees were rolled on the heads of the appalled
soldiery, numbers of whom were also picked off by the un-
erring rifles of the unseen peasantry. Favored by the open
ground at the bridge of Laditsch, they constructed a tempo-
rary bridge, across which they succeeded in forcing their way
on the llth of April. Hofer had, meanwhile, placed himself,
early on the 10th, at the head of the brave peasantry of Pas-
seyr, Algund, and Meran, and had thrown himself on the
same road, somewhat to the north, near Sterzing, where
a Bavarian battalion was stationed under the command of
Colonel Barnklau, who, on being attacked by him, on the
llth, retreated to the Sterzinger Moos, a piece of tableland,
where, drawn up in square, he successfully repulsed every
attempt made to dislodge him until Hofer ordered a wagon,
loaded with hay and guided by a girl,1 to be pushed forward
as a screen, behind which the Tyrolese advancing, the square
was speedily broken and the whole of Barnklau 's troop was
either killed or taken prisoner.

The whole of the lower valley of the Inn had, on the self-
same day, been raised by Joseph Speckbacher, a wealthy
peasant of Rinn, the greatest hero called into existence by
this fearful peasant war. The alarm-bell pealed from every
church tower throughout the country. A Bavarian troop,
at that time engaged in levying contributions at Axoms
as a punishment for disobedience, hastily fled. The city of
Hall was, on the ensuing night, taken by Speckbacher, who,
after lighting about a hundred watch-fires in a certain quar-
ter, as if about to make an attack on that side, crept, under
cover of the darkness, to the gate on the opposite side, where,
as a common passenger, he demanded permission to enter,
took possession of the opened gate, and seized the four hun-
dred Bavarians stationed in the city. On the 12th, he ap-
peared before Innsbruck. Kinkel was astounded at the au-

1 The daughter of a tailor, named Camper. As the balls flew around her,
she shouted, "On with ye! who cares for Bavarian dumplings!"

1528 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

dacity of the peasants, whom Dittfurt glowed with impatience
to punish. But the people, shouting "Vivat Franzl! Down
with the Bavarians !" again rushed upon the guns and turned
them upon the Bavarians, who were, moreover, exposed to
a murderous fire poured upon them from the windows and
towers by the citizens, who had risen in favor of the peas-
antry. The people of the upper valley of the Inn, headed
by Major Teimer, also poured to the scene of carnage. Ditt-
furt performed prodigies of valor, but every effort was vain.
Scornfully refusing to yield to the canaille, he continued,
although struck by two bullets, to fight with undaunted
courage, when a third stretched him on the ground; again
he started up and furiously defended himself until a fourth
struck him in the head. He died four days afterward in a
state of wild delirium, cursing and swearing. Kinkel and
the whole of the Bavarian infantry yielded themselves
prisoners. The cavalry attempted to escape, but were dis-
mounted with pitchforks by the peasantry, and the remain-
der were taken prisoners before Hall.

Wrede and Brisson, meanwhile, crossed the Brenner. At
Sterzing, every trace of the recent conflict had been carefully
obliterated, and Wrede vainly inquired the fate of Barnklau.
He entered the narrow pass, and Hofer's riflemen spread
death and confusion among his ranks. The strength of the
allied column, nevertheless, enabled it to force its way
through, and it reached Innsbruck, where, completely sur-
rounded by the Tyrolese, it, in a few minutes, lost several
hundred men, and, in order to escape utter destruction, laid
down its arms. The Tyrolese entered Innsbruck in triumph,
preceded by the military band belonging to the enemy, which
was compelled to play, followed by Teimer and Brisson in an
open carriage, and with the rest of their prisoners guarded
between their ranks. Their captives consisted of two gen-
erals, ten staff-officers, above a hundred other officers, eight
thousand infantry, and a thousand cavalry. Throughout
the Tyrol, the arms of Bavaria were cast to the ground and
all the Bavarian authorities were removed from office. The

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1529

prisoners were, nevertheless, treated with the greatest hu-
manity, the only instance to the contrary being that of a
tax-gatherer, who, having once boasted that he would grind
the Tyrolese down until they gladly ate hay, was, in re-
venge, compelled to swallow a bushel of hay for his dinner.

It was not until after these brilliant achievements on the
part of the Tyrolese that Lieutenant Field- Marshal von
Chasteler, a Dutchman, and the Baron von Hormayr, the
imperial civil intendant, entered Innsbruck with several
thousand Austrians, and that Hormayr assumed the reins
of government. Two thousand French, under General Le-
moine, attempted to make an inroad from Trent, but were
repulsed by Hofer and his ally, Colonel Count Leiningen,
who had been sent to his aid by Chasteler. The advance
of a still stronger force of the enemy under Baraguay d'Hil-
liers a second time against Botzen called Chasteler in person
into the field, and the French, after a smart engagement
near Volano, where the Herculean Passeyrers carried the
artillery on their, shoulders, were forced to retreat. It was
on this occasion that Leiningen, who had hastily pushed too
far forward, was rescued from captivity by Hofer.1 The
Vorarlberg had, meanwhile, also been raised by Teimer. A
Dr. Schneider placed himself at the head of the insurgents,
whose forces already extended in this direction as far as
Lindau, Kempten, and Memmingen.

Napoleon's success, at this conjuncture, at Eatisbon, en-
abled him to despatch a division of his army into the Tyrol
to quell the insurrection that had broken out to his rear.
Wrede, who had been quickly exchanged and set at liberty,
speedily found himself at the head of a small Bavarian
force, and succeeded in driving the Austrians under Jel-
lachich, after an obstinate and bloody resistance, out of Salz-
burg, on the 29th of April. Jellachich withdrew to the pass

1 The Austrian general-, Marschall, who had been sent to guard the Southern
Tyrol, was removed for declaring that he deemed it an insult for the military to
make common cause with peasants and for complaining of his being compelled
to sit down to table with Hofer.

1530 THE HISTORY OF GERM AN \

of Lueg for the purpose of placing himself in communication
with the Archduke John, who was on his way from Italy.
An attack made upon this position by the Bavarians being
repulsed, Napoleon despatched Marshal Lefebvre, duke of
Dantzig, from Salzburg with a considerable force to their
assistance. Lefebvre spoke German, was a rough soldier,
treated the peasants as robbers instead of legitimate foes,
shot every leader who fell into his hands, and gave his sol-
diery license to commit every description of outrage on the
villagers. The greater part of the Tyrolese occupying the
pass of Strub having quitted their post on Ascension Day in
order to attend divine service, the rest were, after a gallant
resistance, overpowered and mercilessly butchered. Chas-
teler, anxious to repair his late negligence, advanced against
the Bavarians in the open valley of the Inn and was over-
whelmed by superior numbers at Worgl. Speckbacher, fol-
lowed by his peasantry, again made head against the enemy,
whom, notwithstanding the destruction caused in his ranks
by their rapid and well-directed fire, he twice drove out of
Schwatz. The Bavarians, nevertheless, succeeded in forc-
ing an entrance into the town, which they set on fire after
butchering all the inhabitants, hundreds of whom were
hanged to the trees or had their hands nailed to their
heads. These cruelties were not, even in a single instance,
imitated by the Tyrolese. The proposal to send their nu-
merous Bavarian prisoners home maimed of one ear, as a
mode of recognition in case they should again serve against
the Tyrol, was rejected by Hofer. The unrelenting rage
of the Bavarians was solely roused by the unsparing ridi-
cule of the Tyrolese, by whom they were nicknamed, on ac-
count of the general burliness of their figures and their
fondness for beer, Bavarian hogs, and who, the moment
they came within hearing, would call out to them, as to a
herd of pigs, "Tschu, Tschu, Tschu— JSIatsch, Natsch." The
Bavarians, intoxicated with success, advanced further up the
country, surrounded the village of Vomp, set it on fire amid
the sound of kettledrums and hautboys, and shot the inhab-

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1531

itants as they attempted to escape from the burning houses.
Chasteler and Hormayr were, during this robber-campaign,
as it was termed by the French, proscribed as chefs de brig-
ands by Napoleon. Count Tannenberg, the descendant of
the oldest of the baronial families in the Tyrol, a blind and
venerable man, who was also taken prisoner en route, re-
plied with dignity to the censure heaped upon him by
Wrede, and at Munich defended his country's cause before
the king. 1 The officers, whom he had treated with extreme
politeness, rose from his hospitable board to set fire to his
castle over his head. The Scharnitz was yielded, and the
Bavarians under Arco penetrated also on that side into the
country. — Jellachich, upon this, retired upon Carinthia, and
was followed through the Pusterthal by Chasteler, who
dreaded being cut off. The peasants, incredulous of their
abandonment by Austria, implored, entreated him to remain,
to which, for the sake of freeing himself from their importu-
nities, he at length consented, but they had no sooner dis-
persed in order to summon the people again to the conflict
than he retired. Hofer, on returning to the spot, merely
finding a small body of troops under the command of Gen-
eral Buol, who had received orders to bring up the rear,
threw himself in despair on a bed. Eisenstecken, his com-
panion and adjutant, however, instantly declared that the
departure of the soldiers must, at all hazards, be prevented.
The officers signed a paper by which they bound themselves,
even though contrary to the express orders of the general, to
remain. Buol, upon this, yielded and remained, but, during
the fearful battle that ensued, remained in the post'- house on
the Brenner, inactively watching the conflict, which termi-
nated in the triumph of the peasantry. Hormayr completely
absconded and attempted to escape into Switzerland.

Innsbruck was surrendered by Teimer to the French, on
the 19th of May. Napoleon's defeat, about this time, at

1 Proclamation of the emperor Francis to the Tyrolese: "Willingly do I
anticipate your wish to be regarded as the most faithful subjects of the Austrian
empire. Never again shall the sad fate of being torn from my heart befall you. "

1532 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Aspern having however compelled Lefebvre to return ^astily
to the Danube, leaving merely a part of the Bavarians with
Greneral Deroy in Innsbruck, the Tyrolese instantly seized
the opportunity, and Hofer, Eisenstecken, and the gallant
Speckbacher boldly assembled the whole of the peasantry on
the mountain of Isel. Peter Thalguter led the brave and
gigantic men of Algund. Haspinger, the Capuchin, nick-
named Redbeard, appeared on this occasion for the first time
in the guise of a commander and displayed considerable
military talent. An incessant struggle was carried on from
the 25th to the 29th of May.1 Deroy, repulsed from the
mountain of Isel with a loss of almost three thousand men,
simulated an intention to capitulate, and withdrew unheard
during the night by muffling the horses' hoofs and the wheels
of the artillery carriages and enjoining silence under pain of
death. Speckbacher attempted to impede his retreat at Hall,
but arrived too late.8 Teimer was accused of having been
remiss in his duty through jealousy of the common peasant
leaders. Arco escaped by an artifice similar to that of Deroy
and abandoned the Scharnitz. The Vorarlbergers again
spread as far as Kempten. Hormayr also returned, retook
the reins of government, imposed taxes, flooded the country
with useless law- scribbling, and, at the same time, refused to
grant the popular demand for the convocation of the Tyro-
lean diet. After the victory of Aspern, the emperor de-
clared, "My faithful county of Tyrol shall henceforward
ever remain incorporated with the Austrian empire, and I
will agree to no treaty of peace save one indissolubly uniting
the Tyrol with my monarchy. ' ' During this happy interval,
Speckbacher besieged the fortress of Cuffstein, where he per-
formed many signal acts of valor. 3

1 The Count von Stachelburg from Meran, who fought as a volunteer among
the peasantry, fell at that time. He was the last of his race.

2 He was joined here by his son Anderl, a child ten years of age, who
collected the enemy's balls in his hat, and so obstinately refused to quit the
field of battle that his father was compelled to have him carried by force to a
distant alp.

8 He paid a visit, in disguise, to the commandant within the fortress, extin-
guished a grenade with his hat, crept undiscovered into the fortress and spoiled

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1533

The disaster of Wagram followed, and, in the ensuing
armistice, the Emperor Francis was compelled to agree to
the withdrawal of the whole of his troops from the Tyrol.
The Archduke John is said to have given a hint to General
Buol to remain in the Tyrol as if retained there by force by
the peasantry, instead of which both Buol and Hormayr
hurried their retreat, after issuing a miserable proclamation,
in which they "recommended the Tyrolese to the care of the
duke of Dantzig." Lefebvre actually again advanced at
the head of thirty to forty thousand French, Bavarians and
Saxons. The courage of the unfortunate peasantry natu-
rally sank. Hofer alone remained unshaken, and said, on
bidding Hormayr farewell, "Well, then, I will undertake the
government, and, as long as God wills, name myself Andrew
Hofer, host of the Sand at Passeyr, Count of the Tyrol."
Hormayr laughed. — A general dispersion took place. Hofer
alone remained. W hen, resolute in his determination not to
abandon his native soil, he was on his way back to his dwell-
ing, he encountered Speckbacher hurrying away in a car-
riage in the company of some Austrian officers. * ' Wilt thou
also desert thy country?" was Hofer's sad demand. Buol,
in order to cover his retreat, sent back eleven guns and nine
hundred Bavarian prisoners to General Kusca, who contin-
ued to threaten the Pusterthal.

In the mountains all was tranquil, and the advance of
the French columns was totally unopposed. Hofer, con-
cealed in a cavern amid the steep rocks overhanging his na-
tive vale, besought Heaven for aid, and, by his enthusiastic
entreaties, succeeded in persuading the brave Capuchin,

the fire-engines, cut loose the ships moored beneath the walls, etc. Joseph
Speckbacher of the Innthal was an open-hearted, fine-spirited fellow, endowed
with a giant's strength, and the best marksman in the country. His clear
bright eye could, at the distance of half a mile, distinguish the bells on the necks
of the cattle. In his youth, he was addicted to poaching, and being, on one
occasion, when in the act of roasting a chamois, surprised by four Bavarian
Jager, he unhesitatingly dashed the melted fat of the animal into their faces,
and, quick as lightning, dealt each, of them a deathblow with, the butt-end of
his rifle.

1534 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Joachim Haspinger, once more to quit the monastery of
Seeben, whither he had retired. A conference was held at
Brixen between Haspinger, Martin Schenk, the host of the
Krug, a jovial man of powerful frame, Kemnater, and a
third person of similar calling, Peter Mayer, host of the
Mare, who bound themselves again to take up arms in the
Eastern Tyrol, while Hofer, in person, raised the Western
Tyrol. Speckbacher, to the delight of the three confed-
erates, unexpectedly made his appearance at this conjunc-
ture. Deeply wounded by the reproach contained in the few
words addressed to him by Hofer, he had, notwithstanding
the urgent entreaties of his companions, quitted them on
arriving at the nearest station and hastened to retake his
post in defence of his country.

Lefebvre had already entered Innsbruck, and, according
to his brutal custom, had plundered the villages and reduced
them to ashes; he had also published a proscription- list1
instead of the amnesty. A desperate resistance now com-
menced. The whole of the Tyrol again flew to arms; the
young men placed in their green hats the bunch of rosemary
gathered by the girl of their heart, the more aged a pea-
cock's plume, the symbol of the house of Habsburg, all car-
ried the rifle, so murderous in their hands; they made can-
nons of larch- wood, bound with iron rings, which did good
service; they raised abatis, blew up rocks, piled immense

1 He cited the following names immortal in the Tyrol : A. Hofer, Straub of
Hall, Reider of Botzen, Bombardi, postmaster of Salurn, Morandel of Kaltern,
Resz of Fleims, Tscholl of Meran, Frischmann of Schlanders, Senn, sheriff of
Nauders, Fischer, actuary of Landek, Strehle, burgomaster of Imbst, Plawen,
governor of Reutti, Major Dietrich of Lermos, Aschenbacher, governor of the
Achenthal, Sieberer of Cuffstein, Wintersteller of Kisbiichl, Kolb of Lienz,
Count Sarntheim, Peer, counsellor to the court of appeal. Count Sarntheim was
taken prisoner and carried into Bavaria, together with the heroic Baroness of
Sternbach, who, mounted on horseback and armed with pistols, accompanied
the patriot force and aided in the command. She was seized hi her castle of
Muhlan, imprisoned in a house of correction at Munich, and afterward carried to
Strasburg, was deprived of the whole of her property, ignommiously treated,
and threatened with death, but never lost courage. — Beda, Weber's Tyrol.
Wintersteller was a descendant of the brave host of the same name who, in
1703, adorned his house, which was afterward occupied by Wintersteller, with
the trophies won from the Bavarians*

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1535

masses of stone on the extreme edges of the precipitous rocks
commanding the narrow vales, in order to hurl them upon
the advancing foe, and directed the timber-slides in the for-
est-grown mountains, or those formed of logs by means of
which the timber for building was usually run into the val-
leys, in such a manner upon the most important passes and
bridges, as to enable them to shoot enormous trees down
upon them with tremendous velocity.

Lefebvre resolved to advance with the main body of his
forces across the Brenner to Botzen, whither another corps
under Burscheidt also directed its way through the upper
valley of the Inn, the Finstermunz, and Meran, while a
third under Kusca came from Carinthia through the Pus-
terthal, and a fourth under Peyry was on the march from
Verona through the vale of the Adige. These various corps
d'arme'e, by which the Tyrol was thus attacked simultane-
ously on every point, were to concentrate in the heart of the
country. Lefebvre found the Brenner open. The Tyrolese,
headed by Haspinger, had burned the bridges on the Oberau
and awaited the approach of the enemy on the heights com-
manding the narrow valley of Eisach. The Saxons under
Eouyer were sent in advance by Lefebvre to shed their blood
for a foreign despot. Eocks and trees hurled by the Tyro-
lese into the valley crushed numbers of them to death.
Eouyer, after being slightly hurt by a rolling mass of rock,
retreated after leaving orders to the Saxon regiment, com-
posed of contingents from Weimar, Gotha, Co burg, Hild-
burghausen, Altenburg, and Meiningen, commanded by
Colonel Egloffstein, to retain its position in the Oberau.
This action took place on the 4th of August. The Saxons,
worn out by the fatigue and danger to which they were ex-
posed, were compelled, on the ensuing day, to make head
in the narrow vale against overwhelming numbers of the
Tyrolese, whose incessant attacks rendered a moment's re-
pose impossible. Although faint with hunger and with the
intensity of the heat, a part of the troops under Colonel
Egloffstein succeeded in forcing their way through, though

1536 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

at an immense sacrifice of life, ' and fell back upon Kouyer,
who had taken up a position at Sterzing without fighting a
stroke in their aid, and who expressed his astonishment at
their .escape. The rest of the Saxon troops were taken pris-
oners, after a desperate resistance, in the dwelling-houses of
Oberau.3 They had lost nearly a thousand men. The other
corps d'armee met with no better fate. Burscheidt merely
advanced up the valley of the Inn as far as the bridges of
Pruz, whence, being repulsed by the Tyrolese and dreading
destruction, he retreated during the dark night of the 8th of
August. His infantry crept, silent and unheard, across the
bridge of Pontlaz, of such fatal celebrity in 1703, which was
strictly watched by the Tyrolese. The cavalry cautiously
followed, but were betrayed by the sound of one of the
horses' feet. Rocks and trees were in an instant hurled
upon the bridge, crushing men and horses and blocking up
the way. The darkness that veiled the scene but added to
its horrors. The whole of the troops shut up beyond the
bridge were either killed or taken prisoner. Burscheidt
reached Innsbruck with merely a handful of men, com-
pletely worn out by the incessant pursuit. Eusca was also
repulsed, between the 6th and the llth of August (particu-
larly at the bridge of Lienz), in the Pusterthal, by brave
Antony Steger. Eusca had set two hundred farms on fire.
Twelve hundred of his men were killed, and his retreat was
accelerated by Steger' s threat to roast him, in case he fell

1 When incessantly pursued and ready to drop with fatigue, they found a
cask of wine, and a drummer, knocking off its head, stooped down to drink,
when he was pierced with a bullet, and his blood mingled with the liquor,
which was, nevertheless, greedily swallowed by the famishing soldiery. —
Jacob's Campaign of the Gotha-Altenburgers.

2 The Tyrolese aimed at the windows and shot every one who looked out.
As soon as the houses were, by this means, filled with the dead and wounded,
they stormed them and took the survivors prisoner. Two hundred and thirty
men of Weimar and Coburg, commanded by Major G-ermar, defended themselves
to the last ; the house in which they were being at length completely sur-
rounded and set on fire by the Tyrolese, they surrendered. This spot was
afterward known as the "Sachsenklemme. " Seven hundred Saxon prisoners
escaped from their guards and took refuge on the Krimmer Tauern, where they
were recaptured by the armed women and girls.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1537

into his hands, like a scorpion, within a fiery circle. Peyry
did not venture into the country.

Lefebvre, who had followed to the rear of the Saxon
troops from Innsbruck, bitterly reproached them with their
defeat, but, although he placed himself in advance, did not
succeed in penetrating as far as they had up the country.
At Mauls, his cavalry were torn from their saddles and
killed with clubs, and he escaped, with great difficulty,
after losing his cocked hat. His corps, notwithstanding its
numerical strength, was unable to advance a step further.
The Capuchin harassed his advanced guard from Mauls and
was seconded by Speckbacher from Stilfs, while Count Arco
was attacked to his rear at Schonberg by multitudes of Tyro-
lese. The contest was carried on without intermission from
the 5th to the 10th of August. Lefebvre was finally com-
pelled to retreat with his thinned and weary troops. * On
the llth, Deroy posted himself with the rearguard on the
mountain of Isel. The Capuchin, after reading mass under
the open sky to his followers, again attacked him on the
13th. A horrible slaughter ensued. Four hundred Bava-
rians, who had fallen beneath the clubs of their infuriated
antagonists, lay in a confused heap. The enemy evacuated
Innsbruck and the whole of the Tyrol.8 Count Arco was
one of the last victims of this bloody campaign.

The Sandwirth placed himself at the head of the govern-
ment at Innsbruck. Although a simple peasant and ever

1 Bartholdy relates that Lefebvre, disguised as a common soldier, mingled
with the cavalry in order to escape the balls of the Tyrolese sharpshooters. A
man of Passeyr is said to have captured a three-pounder and to have carried it
on his shoulders across the mountain. The Tyrolese would even carry their
wounded enemies carefully on their shoulders to their villages. A Count Mohr
greatly distinguished himself among the people of Yintschgau. The spirit shown
by an old man above eighty years of age, who, after shooting a number of the
enemy from a rock on which he had posted himself, threw himself, exclaiming
"Juhhe! in God's name!" down the precipice, with a Saxon soldier, by whom
he had been seized, is worthy of record.

2 Von Seebach, in his History of the Ducal Saxon Regiment, graphically
describes the flight. During the night time, all the mountains around the
beautiful valley of Innsbruck were lighted up with watch-tires. Lefebvre
ordered his to be kept brightly burning while his troops silently withdrew.

1538 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

faithful to the habits of his station,1 he laid down some ad-
mirable rales, convoked a national assembly, and raised the
confidence of the people of Carinthia, to whom he addressed
a proclamation remarkable for dignity. He hoped, at that
time, by summoning the whole of the mountain tribes to
arms and leading them to Vienna, to compel the enemy to
accede to more favorable terms of peace. Speckbacher pen-
etrated into the district of Salzburg, defeated the Bavarians
at Lofers and Unken, took one thousand seven hundred pris-
oners, and advanced as far as Reichenhall and Melek. The
Capuchin proposed, in his zeal, to storm Salzburg and in-
vade Carinthia, but was withheld by Speckbacher, who saw
the hazard attached to the project, as well as the peril that
would attend the departure of the Tyrolese from their coun-
try. His plan merely consisted in covering the eastern fron-
tier. His son, Anderle, who had escaped from his secluded
alp, unexpectedly joined him and fought at his side. Speck-
bacher was stationed at Melek, where he drove Major Rum-
mele with his Bavarian battalion into the Salzach, but was
shortly afterward surprised by treachery. He had already
been deprived of his arms, thrown to the ground, and seri-
ously injured with blows dealt with a club, when, furiously
springing to his feet, he struck his opponents to the earth

1 He did not set himself above his equals and followed his former simple
mode of life. The emperor of Austria sent him a golden chain and three
thousand ducats, the first money received by the Tyrol from Austria; but
Hofer's pride was not raised by this mark of favor, and the naivete of his reply
on this occasion has often been a subject of ridicule: "Sirs, I thank you. I
have no news for you to-day. I have, it is true, three couriers on the road,
the "Watscher-Hiesele, the Sixten-Seppele, and the Memmele-^ranz, and the
Schwanz ought long to have been here; I expect the rascal every hour."
The honest fellow permitted no pillage, no disorderly conduct ; he even guarded
the public morals with such strictness as to publish the following orders against
the half-naked mode, imported by the French, at that time followed by the
women: "Many of my good fellow -soldiers and defenders of their country have
complained that the women of all ranks cover their bosoms and arms too little,
or with transparent dresses, and by these means raise sinful desires highly dis-
pleasing to God and to all piously-disposed persons. It is hoped that they will,
by better behavior, preserve themselves from the punishment of God, and, in
case of the contrary, must solely blame themselves should they find themselves
disagreeably covered with . Andre Hofer, chief in command in the Tyrol."

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1539

and escaped with a hundred of his men across a wall of rock
unscalable save by the foot of the expert and hardy moun-
taineer. His young son was torn from his side and taken
captive. The king, Maximilian Joseph, touched by his cour-
age and beauty, sent for him and had him well educated. —
The Capuchin, who had reached Muhrau in Styria, was also
compelled to retire.

The peace of Vienna, in which the Tyrolese were not
even mentioned, was meanwhile concluded. The restoration
of the Tyrol to Bavaria was tacitly understood, and, in order
to reduce the country to obedience, three fresh armies again
approached the frontiers, the Italian, Peyry, from the south
through the valley of the Adige, and Baraguay d'Hilliers
from the west through the Pusterthal; the former suffered
a disastrous defeat above Trent, but was rescued from utter
destruction by General Yial, who had followed to his rear,
and who, as well as Baraguay, advanced as far as Brixen.1
Drouet d'Brlon, with the main body of the Bavarians, came
from the north across the Strub and the Loferpass, and
gained forcible possession of the Engpass. Hofer had been
persuaded by the priest, Donay, to relinquish the anterior
passes into the country and Innsbruck, and to take up a
strong position on the fortified mountain of Isel. Speck-
bacher arrived too late to defend Innsbruck, and, enraged
at the ill-laid plan of defence, threw a body of his men into
the Zillerthal in order to prevent the Bavarians from falling
upon Hofer' s rear. He was again twice wounded at the
storming of the Kemmberg, which had already been forti-
fied by the Bavarians. On the 25th of October, the Bava-
rians entered Innsbruck and summoned Hofer to capitulate.
During the night of the 30th, Baron Lichtenthurn appeared
in the Tyrolese camp, announced the conclusion of peace,
and delivered a letter from the Archduke John, in which
the Tyrolese were commanded peaceably to disperse and no

1 During the pillage of the monastery of Seeben by the French, a nun, in
order to escape from their hands, cast herself from the summit of the rock into
the valley.

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— H

1540 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

longer to offer their lives a useless sacrifice. There was no
warrant for the future, not a memory of an earlier pledge.
The commands of their beloved master were obeyed by the
Tyrolese with feelings of bitter regret, and a complete dis-
persion took place. Speckbacher alone maintained his
ground, and repulsed the enemy on the 2d and 3d of No-
vember, but, being told, in a letter, by Hofer, "I announce
to you that Austria has made peace with France and has
forgotten the Tyrol," he gave up all further opposition, and
Mayer and Kemnater, who had gallantly made head against
General Kusca at the Muhlbacher Klause, followed his
example.

The tragedy drew to a close. Hofer returned to his na-
tive vale, where the people of Passeyr and Algund, resolved
at all hazards not to submit to 'the depredations of the Ital-
ian brigands under Kusca, flocked around him and compelled
him to place himself at their head for a last and desperate
struggle. Above Meran, the French were thrown in such
numbers from the Franzosenbuhl, which still retains its
name, that "they fell like a shower of autumnal leaves into
the city." The horses belonging to a division of cavalry
intended to surround the insurgent peasantry were all that
returned; their riders had been shot to a man. Eusca lost
five hundred dead and one thousand seven hundred prison-
ers. The Capuchin was also present, and generously saved
the captive Major Doreille, whose men had formerly set fire
to a village, from the hands of the infuriated peasantry.
But a traitor guided the enemy to the rear of the brave
band of patriots ; Peter Thalguter fell, and Hofer took ref-
uge amid the highest Alps. — Kolb, who was by some sup-
posed to be an English agent, but who was simply an enthu-
siast, again summoned the peasantry around Brixen to arms.
The peasantry still retained such a degree of courage, as to
set up an enormous barn-door as a target for the French
artillery, and at every shot up jumped a ludicrous figure.
Kesistance had, however, ceased to be general; the French
pressed in ever- increasing numbers through the valleys, dis-

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1541

armed the people, the majority of whom, obedient to Hofer's
first mandate, no longer attempted opposition, and took their
leaders captive. Peter Mayer was shot at Botzen. His life
was offered to him on condition of his denying all participa-
tion in the patriotic struggles of his countrymen, but he dis-
dained a lie and boldly faced death. Those among the peas-
antry most distinguished for 'gallantry were either shot or
hanged. Baur, a Bavarian author, who had fought against
the Tyrolese, and is consequently a trusty witness, remarks
that all the Tyrolese patriots, without exception, evinced the
greatest contempt of death. The struggle recommenced in
the winter, but was merely confined to the Pusterthal. A
French division under Broussier was cut off on the snowed-
up roads and shot to a man by the peasantry.

Hofer at first took refuge with his wife and child in a
narrow rocky hollow in the Kellerlager, afterward in the
highest Alpine hut, near the Oetzthaler Firner in the wintry
desert. Vainly was he implored to quit the country; his
resolution to live or to die on his native soil was unchange-
able. A peasant named Eaffel, unfortunately descrying the
smoke from the distant hut, discovered his place of conceal-
ment, and boasted in different places of his possession of the
secret of his hiding-place. This came to the ears of Father
Donay, a traitor in the pay of France;1 Eaffel was arrested,
and, in the night of the 27th of January, 1810, guided one
thousand six hundred French and Italian troops to the moun-
tain, while two thousand French were quartered in the cir
cumjacent country. Hofer yielded himself prisoner with
calm dignity. The Italians abused him personally, tore
out his beard, and dragged him pinioned, half naked and
barefoot, in his night-dress, over ice and snow to the val-
ley. He was then put into a carriage and carried into Italy
to the fortress of Mantua. No one interceded in his behalf.

1 Donay had devoted himself to the service of the church, but having com-
mitted a theft, had been refused ordination. Napoleon rewarded him for his
treachery with — ordination and the appointment of chaplain in the Santa Casa
at Loretto.

1542 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Napoleon sent orders by the Paris telegraph to shoot him
within four- and- twenty hours. He prepared cheerfully for
death.1 On being led past the other Tyrolese prisoners, they
embraced his knees, weeping. He gave them his blessing.
His executioners halted not far from the Porta Chiesa, where,
placing himself opposite the twelve riflemen selected for the
dreadful office, he refused either to allow himself to be blind-
folded or to kneel. "I stand before my Creator," he ex-
claimed with a firm voice, "and standing will I restore to
Him the spirit He gave!" He gave the signal to fire, but
the men, it may be, too deeply moved by the scene, missed
their aim. The first fire brought him on his knees, the sec-
ond stretched him on the ground, and a corporal, advanc-
ing, terminated his misery by shooting him through the
head, February 29, 1810. — At a later period, when Mantua
again became Austrian, the Tyrolese bore his remains back
to his native Alps. A handsome monument of white marble
was erected to his memory in the church at Innsbruck; his
family was ennobled. Count Alexander of Wurtemberg has
poetically described the restoration of his remains to the Ty-
rol, for which he so nobly fought and died.

"How was the gallant hunter's breast

With mingled feelings torn,
As slowly winding 'mid the Alps,
His hero's corpse was borne!

"The ancient Gletcher, glowing red,
Though cold their wonted mien,
Bright radiance shed o'er Hofer's head,
Loud thundered the lavine!"

Haspinger, the brave Capuchin, escaped unhurt to Vienna,
in which Joseph Speckbacher, the greatest hero of this war,

1 Four hours before his execution he wrote to his brother-in-law, Pohler,
"My beloved, the hostess, is to have mass read for my soul at St. Marin by the
rosy- colored blood. She is to have prayers read in both parishes, arid is to let
the sub-landlord give my friends soup, meat, and half a bottle of wine each.
The money I had with me I have distributed to the poor ; as for the rest, settle
my accounts with the people as justly as you can. All in the world adieu, until
we all meet in heaven eternally to praise God. Death appears to me so easy
that my eyes have not once been wet on that account. Written at five o'clock
in the morning, and at nine o'clock 1 set off with the aid of all the saints on my
journey to God."

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1543

also succeeded, after unheard-of suffering and peril. — The
Bavarians in pursuit of him searched the mountains in troops,
and vowed to "cut his skin into boot- straps, if they caught
him." Speckbacher attempted to escape into Austria, but
was unable to go beyond Dux, the roads being blocked up
with snow. At Dux, the Bavarians came upon his trace,
and attacking the house in which he had taken refuge, he
escaped by leaping through the roof, but again wounded
himself. During the ensuing twenty-seven days, he wan-
dered about the snow-clad forests, exposed to the bitter cold
and in danger of starvation. During four consecutive days
he did not taste food. He at length found an asylum in a
hut in a high and exposed situation at Bolderberg, where he
by chance fell in with his wife and children, who had also
taken refuge there. The watchful Bavarians pursued him
even here, and he merely owed his escape to the presence of
mind with which, taking a sledge upon his shoulders, he ad-
vanced toward them as if he had been the servant of the
house. No longer safe in this retreat, he hid himself in a
cave on the Gemshaken, whence he was, in the beginning
of spring, carried by a snow-lavine a mile and a half into
the valley. He contrived to disengage himself from the
snow, but one of his legs had been dislocated and rendered
it impossible for him to regain his cave. Suffering unspeak-
able anguish, he crept to the nearest hut, where he found
two men, who carried him to his own house at Einn, whither
his wife had returned. But Bavarians were quartered in the
house, and his only place of refuge was the cow-shed, where
Zoppel, his faithful servant, dug for him a hole beneath the
bed of one of the cows, and daily brought him food. The
danger of discovery was so great that his wife was not made
acquainted with his arrival. He remained in this half-buried
state for seven weeks, until rest had so far invigorated his
frame as to enable him to escape across the high mountain
passes, now freed by the May sun from the snow. He ac-
cordingly rose from his grave and bade adieu to his sorrow-
ing wife. He reached Vienna without encountering further

1544 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

mishap, but gained no thanks for his heroism. He was com-
pelled to give up a small estate that he had purchased with
the remains of his property, the purchase-money proving in-
sufficient, and he must have been consigned to beggary, had
not Hofer's son, who had received a fine estate from the
emperor, engaged him as his steward.

CCLV1II. Napoleon's Supremacy

NAPOLEON had, during the great war in Austria, during
the intermediate time between the battles of Aspern and
Wagram, caused the person of the pope, Pius VII., to be
seized, and had incorporated the state of the church with his
Italian kingdom. The venerable pope, whose energies were
called forth by misfortune, astonished Christendom by his
bold opposition to the ruler over the destinies of Europe, be-
fore whom he had formerly bent in humble submission, and
for whose coronation he had condescended to visit Paris in
person. The re- establishment of Catholicism in France by
Napoleon had rendered the pope deeply his debtor, but Na-
poleon's attempt to deprive him of all temporal power, and
to render him, as the first bishop of his realm, subordinate to
himself, called forth a sturdy opposition. Napoleon no sooner
spoke the language of Charlemagne than the pope responded
in the words of Gregory VII. and of Innocent IV. : * ' Time
has produced no change in the authority of the pope; now
as ever does the pope reign supreme over the emperors and
kings of the earth." The diplomatic dispute was carried on
for some time, owing to Napoleon's expectation of the final
compliance of the pope. l But on his continued refusal to
submit, the peril with which Napoleon's Italian possessions
were threatened by the landing of a British force in Italy
and by the war with Austria, induced him, first of all, to

1 The pope, among other things, long refused his consent to the second mar-
riage of the king of Westphalia, although that prince's first wife was merely a
Protestant and an American citizen.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1545

throw a garrison into Ancona, and afterward to take posses-
sion of Kome, and, as the pope still continued obstinate,
finally to seize his person, to carry him off to France, and
to annex the Koman territory to his great empire. The
anathema hurled by the pope upon Napoleon's head had at
least the effect of creating a warmer interest in behalf of
the pontiff in the hearts of the Catholic population and of
increasing their secret antipathy toward his antagonist.

In 1810, Napoleon annexed Holland and East Friesland
l'as alluvial lands" to France. His brother Louis, who had
vainly labored for the welfare of Holland, selected a foreign
residence and scornfully refused to accept the pension settled
upon him by Napoleon. The first act of the new sovereign
of Holland was the imposition of an income tax of fifty per
cent. Instruction in the French language was enforced in
all the schools, and all public proclamations and documents
were drawn up in both Dutch and French.1 Holland was
formed into two departments, which were vexed by two
prefects, the Conte de Celles and Baron Staffart, Belgian
renegades and blind tools of the French despot, and was,
moreover, harassed by the tyrannical and cruel espionage,
under Duvillieres, Duterrage, and Marivaux, which, in 1812,
occasioned several ineffectual attempts to throw off the yoke.3
In 1811, Holland was also deprived of Batavia, her sole re-
maining colony, by the British.

Lower Saxony, as far as the Baltic, the principalities of
Oldenburg, Salm, and Aremberg, the Hanse towns, Ham-
burg, Bremen, and Lubeck, were, together with a portion
of the kingdom of Westphalia, at the same time also incor-
porated by Napoleon with France, under pretext of putting
a stop to the contraband trade carried on on those coasts,

1 Bilderdyk, whom the Dutch consider as their greatest poet, was, neverthe-
less, at that time, Napoleon's basest flatterer, and ever expressed a hypochon-
driacal and senseless antipathy to Germany.

2 At Amsterdam, in 1811 ; in the district around Leyden, in 1812. Insurrec-
tions of a similar character were suppressed in April, 1811, in the country around
Liege ; in December, 1812, at Aix-la-Chapelle ; the East Frieslanders also rebelled
against the conscription.

1546 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

more particularly from the island of Heligoland. He openly
aimed at converting the Germans, and they certainly discov-
ered little disinclination to the metamorphosis, into French.
He pursued the same policy toward the Italians, and, had
he continued to reign, would have followed a similar system
toward the Poles. The subjection of the whole of Italy, Ger-
many, and Poland lay within his power, but, to the nations
inhabiting those countries he must, notwithstanding their
incorporation with his universal empire, have guaranteed
the maintenance of their integrity, a point he had resolved
at all hazards not to concede. He, consequently, preferred
dividing these nations and allowing one-half to be governed
by princes inimical to him, but whose power he despised.
His sole dread was patriotism, the popular love of liberty.
Had he placed himself, as was possible in 1809, on the im-
perial throne of Germany, the consequent unity of that em-
pire must, even under foreign sway, have endangered the
ruler: he preferred gradually to gallicize Germany as she
had been formerly romanized by her ancient conquerors.
His intention to sever the Ehenish provinces and Lower
Saxony entirely from Germany was clear as day. They re-
ceived French laws, French governors, no German book was
allowed to cross their frontiers without previous permission
from the police, and in each department but one newspaper,
and that subject to the revision of the prefect, was allowed
to be published. — In Hamburg, one Baumhauer was arrested
for an anti-gallic expression and thrown into the subterranean
dungeons of Magdeburg, where he pined to death. The same
tyranny was exercised even on the German territory belong-
ing to the Rhenish confederation. Becker, privy-councillor
of the duke of Gotha, was transported beyond the seas for
having published a pamphlet against France. Several authors
were compelled to retire into Sweden and Russia; several
booksellers were arrested, numerous books were confiscated.
Not the most trifling publication was permitted within the
Rhenish confederated states that even remotely opposed the
interests of France. The whole of the princes of the Rhenish

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1547

confederation were, consequently, under the surveillance of
French censors and of the literary spies of Germany in the
pay of France. Hormayr's Archives contain a pamphlet
well worthy of perusal, in which an account is given of all
the arrests and persecutions that took place on account of
matters connected with the press. — Madame de Stael was
exiled for having spoken favorably of the German character
in her work "de 1'Allemagne, " and the work itself was sup-
pressed; Napoleon, on giving these orders, merely said, "Ce
livre n'est pas Frangais."

His treatment of Switzerland was equally unindulgent.
The Valais, which, although not forming part of Switzer-
land, still retained a sort of nominal independence, was for-
mally incorporated with France; the canton of Tessin was, as
arbitrarily, occupied by French troops, an immense quantity
of British goods was confiscated, the press was placed under
the strictest censorship, the Erzdhler of Muller-Friedeberg,
the only remaining Swiss newspaper of liberal tendency, was
suppressed, while Zschokke unweariedly lauded Napoleon to
the skies as the regenerator of the liberties of Switzerland
and as the savior of the world. A humble entreaty of the
Swiss for mercy was scornfully refused by Napoleon. In-
stead of listening to their complaints, he reproached their
envoys, who were headed by Keinhard of Zurich, in the
most violent terms, charged the Swiss with conspiracy, and
said that a certain Sydler had ventured to speak against
him in the federal diet, etc. ; nor could his assumed anger
be pacified save by the instant dissolution of the federal diet,
by the extension of the levy of Swiss recruits for the service
of France, and by the threat of a terrible punishment to all
Swiss who ventured to enter the service of England and
Spain. The Swiss merely bound their chains still closer
without receiving the slightest alleviation to their suffer-
ings. Reinhard wrote in 1811, the time of this ill-success-
ful attempt on the part of the Swiss, "a petty nation possesses
no means of procuring justice." Why then did the great
German nation sever itself into so many petty tribes ?

1548 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

The marriage of Napoleon on the 2d of April, 1810, with
Maria Louisa, the daughter of the emperor of Austria, sur-
rounded his throne with additional splendor. This marriage
had a double object; that of raising an heir to his broad em-
pire, his first wife, Josephine Beauharnais, whom he divorced,
having brought him no children, and that of legitimating his
authority and of obliterating the stain of low birth by inter-
mingling his blood with that of the ancient race of Habs-
burg. Strange as it must appear for the child of revolution
to deny the very principles to which he owed his being and
to embrace the aristocratic ideas of a bygone age, for the
proud conqueror of all the sovereigns of Europe anxiously
to solicit their recognition of him as their equal in birth,
these apparent contradictions are easily explained by the
fact that men of liberal ideas were the objects of Napoleon's
greatest dread and hatred, and that he was consequently
driven to favor the ancient aristocracy, as he had formerly
favored the ancient church, and to use them as his tools.
Young and rising nations, not the ancient families of Eu-
rope, threatened his power, and he therefore sought to con-
firm it by an alliance against the former with the ancient
dynasties.1 The nuptials were solemnized with extraordi-
nary pomp at Paris. The conflagration of the Austrian
ambassador's, Prince von Schwarzenberg's, house during a
splendid fete given by him to the newly-wedded pair, and
which caused the death of several persons, among others,
of the Princess Pauline Schwarzenberg, the ambassador's
sister-in-law, who rushed into the flaming building to her
daughter's rescue, clouded the festivities with ominous
gloom. In the ensuing year, 1811, the youthful empress

1 It was during this year that Napoleon caused the seamless coat of the
Saviour, which had, during the Revolution, taken refuge at Augsburg, to be
borne in a magnificent procession to Treves and to be exposed for eighteen days
to public view. The pilgrims amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand. —
Hormayr, who had, during the foregoing year, summoned the Tyrolese to arms
against Napoleon, said in his Annual for 1811, "By the marriage of the emperor
Napoleon with Maria Louisa, the Revolution may be considered as completely
terminated aud peace durably settled throughout Europe."

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1549

gave birth to a prince, Napoleon Francis, who was laid in
a silver cradle, and provisionally entitled "King of Home,"
in notification of his future destiny to succeed bis father on
the throne of the Roman empire. '

Austria offered a melancholy contrast to the magnificence
of France. Exhausted by her continual exertions for the
maintenance of the war, the state could no longer meet its
obligations, and, on the 15th of March, 1811, Count Wallis,
the minister of finance, lowered the value of one thousand
and sixty millions of bank paper to two hundred and twelve
millions, and the interest upon the whole of the state debts
to half the new paper issue. This fearful state bankruptcy
was accompanied by the fall of innumerable private firms;
trade was completely at a standstill, and the contributions
demanded by Napoleon amounted to a sum almost impossible
to realize. Prussia, especially, suffered from the drain upon
her resources. The beautiful and high-souled queen, Louisa,
destined not to see the day of vengeance and of victory, died
in 1810, of a broken heart.2

While Germany lay thus exhausted and bleeding in her
chains, Napoleon and Alexander put the plans, agreed to be-
tween them at Erfurt, into execution. Napoleon threw him-
self with redoubled violence on luckless Spain, and the Rus-
sians invaded Sweden.

The Germans acted a prominent part in the bloody wars
in the Peninsula. Four Swiss regiments, that had at an
earlier period been in the Spanish service, and the German
Legion, composed of Hanoverian refugees to England, up-
held the Spanish cause, while all sorts of troops of the Rhen-
ish confederation, those of Bavaria and Wurtemberg ex-

1 His birth was celebrated by numerous German poets and by general public
rejoicings, but with the basest adulation in Switzerland. Meyer of Knonau re-
lates, in his History of Switzerland, that the king of Rome was at one of the
festivals termed "the blessed infant." G-oethe's poem in praise of Napoleon
appeared at this time. The clergy also emulated each other in servility.

2 At that time the noble-hearted poet, Seume, who had formerly been a
victim of native tyranny, died of sorrow and disgust at the rule of the foreigner
in Germany, at Tceplitz, 1810.

1550 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

cepted, several Dutch and four Swiss regiments, fought for
Napoleon.

The troops of the Rhenish confederation formed two corps.
The fate of one of them has been described by Captain Rigel
of Baden. The Baden regiment was, in 1808, sent to Bis-
cay and united under Lefebvre with other contingents of
the Rhenish confederation, for instance, with the Nassauers
under the gallant Von Schafer, the Dutch under General
Chasse, the Hessians, the Primates (Frankforters), and
Poles. As early as October, they fought against the Span-
iards at Zornoza, and at the pillage of Portugalete first be-
came acquainted with the barbarous customs of this terrible
civil war. The most implacable hatred, merciless rage, the
assassination of prisoners, plunder, destruction, and incen-
diarism, equally distinguished both sides. The Germans
garrisoned Bilbao, gained some successes at Molinar and
Valmaseda, were afterward placed under the command of
General Victor, who arrived with a fresh army, were again
victorious at Espinosa and Burgos, formed a junction with
Soult and finally with Napoleon, and, in December, 1808,
entered Madrid in triumph. —In January, 1809, the German
troops under Victor again advanced upon the Tagus, and,
after a desperate conflict, took the celebrated bridge of Al-
maraz by storm. This was followed by the horrid sacking
of the little town of Arenas, during which a Nassauer named
Hornung, not only, like a second Scipio, generously released
a beautiful girl who had fallen into his hands, but sword in
hand defended her from his fellow- soldiers. In the follow-
ing March, the Germans were again brought into action, at
Mesa de Ibor, where Schafer's Nassauers drove the enemy
from their position, under a fearful fire, which cut down
three hundred of their number; and at Medelin, where they
were again victorious and massacred numbers of the armed
Spanish peasantry. Four hundred prisoners were, after the
battle, shot by order of Marshal Victor. Among the wounded
on the field of battle there lay, side by side, Preusser, the
Nassauer, and a Spanish corporal, both of whom had severely

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1551

suffered. A dispute arose between them, in the midst of
which they discovered that they were brothers. One had
entered the French, the other the Spanish service. — A Dutch
battalion under Storm de Grave, abandoned at Merida to the
vengeance of the enraged people, was furiously assailed, but
made a gallant defence and fought its way through the enemy.
In the commencement of 1809, Napoleon had again
quitted Spain in order to conduct the war on the Danube
in person. His marshals, left by him in different parts of
the Peninsula, took Saragossa, drove the British under Sif
John Moore out of the country, and penetrated into Portu-
gal, but were ere long again attacked by a fresh English
army under the Duke of Wellington. This rendered the
junction of the German troops with the main body of the
French army necessary, and they consequently shared in
the defeats of Talavera and Almoncid. Their losses, more
particularly in the latter engagement, were very considera-
ble, amounting in all to two thousand six hundred men;
among others, General Porbeck of Baden, an officer of
noted talent, fell: five hundred of their wounded were
butchered after the battle by the infuriated Spaniards.
But Wellington suddenly stopped short in his victorious
career. It was in December, 1809, when the news of the
fresh peace concluded by Napoleon with Austria arrived.
On the Spaniards hazarding a fresh engagement, Wellington
left them totally unassisted, and, on the 19th of November,
they suffered a dreadful defeat at Ocasia, where they lost
twenty- five thousand men. The Ehenish confederated troops
were, in reward for the gallantry displayed by them on this
occasion, charged with the transport of the prisoners into
France, and were exposed to the whole rigor of the climate
and to every sort of deprivation while the French withdrew
into winter quarters. The fatigues of this service greatly
thinned their ranks. The other German regiments were
sent into the Sierra Morena, where they were kept ever on
the alert guarding that key to Spain, while the French
under Soult advanced as far as Cadiz, those under Massena

1552 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

into Portugal; but Soult being unable to take Cadiz, and
Massena being forced by the Duke of Wellington to retire,
the German troops were also driven from their position, and,
in 1812, withdrew to Valencia, but, in the October of the
same year, again advanced with Soult upon Madrid.

The second corps of the Khenish confederated troops
was stationed in Catalonia, where they were fully occupied.
Their fate has been described by two Saxon officers, Jacobs
and Von Seebach. In the commencement of 1809, Reding
the Swiss, who had, in 1808, chiefly contributed to the cap-
ture of the French army at Baylen, commanded the whole
of the Spanish forces in Catalonia, consisting of forty thou-
sand Spaniards and several thousand Swiss; but these gue-
rilla troops, almost invincible in petty warfare, were totally
unable to stand in open battle against the veterans of the
French emperor, and Reding was completely routed by St.
Cyr at Taragona. In St. Cyr's army were eight thousand
Westphalians under General Morio, three thousand Berg-
landers, fifteen hundred Wurzburgers, from eight to nine
hundred men of Schwarzburg, Lippe, Waldeck, and Reuss,
all of whom were employed in the wearisome siege of Ge-
rona, which was defended by Don Alvarez, one of Spain's
greatest heroes. The popular enthusiasm was so intense
that even the women took up arms (in the company of St.
Barbara) and aided in the defence of the walls. The Ger-
mans, ever destined to head the assault, suffered immense
losses on each attempt to carry the place by storm. In one
attack alone, on the 3d of July, in which they met with a
severe repulse, they lost two thousand of their men. Their
demand of a truce for the purpose of carrying their wounded
off the field of battle was answered by a Spaniard, Colonel
Bias das Furnas, "A quarter of an hour hence not one of
them will be alive!" and the whole of the wounded men
were, in fact, murdered in cold blood by the Spaniards.
During a second assault on the 19th of September, sixteen
hundred of their number and the gallant Colonel Neuff,
an Alsatian, who had served in Egypt, fell. Gerona was

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1553

finally driven by famine to capitulate, after a sacrifice of
twelve thousand men, principally Germans, before her walls.
Of the eight thousand Westphalians but one battalion re-
mained. St. Cyr was, in 1810, replaced by Marshal Auge-
reau, but the troops were few in number and worn out with
fatigue; a large convoy was lost in an unlucky engagement,
in which numbers of the Germans deserted to the Spanish,
and Augereau retired to Barcelona, the metropolis of Cata-
lonia, in order to await the arrival of reinforcements, among
which was a Nassau regiment, one of Anhalt, and the iden-
tical Saxon corps that had so dreadfully suffered in the
Tyrol. l The Saxon and Nassau troops, two thousand two
hundred strong, under the command of General Schwarz,
an Alsatian, advanced from Barcelona toward the cele-
brated mountain of Montserrat, whose hermitages, piled up
one above another en amphitheatre, excite the traveller's
wonder. Close in its vicinity lay the city of Manresa, the
focus of the Catalonian insurrection. The German troops
advanced in close column, although surrounded by infuri-
ated multitudes, by whom every straggler was mercilessly
butchered. The two regiments, nevertheless, succeeded in
making themselves masters of Manresa, where they were
instantly shut in, furiously assailed, and threatened with
momentary destruction. The Anhalt troops and a French
corps, despatched by Augereau to their relief, were repulsed
with considerable loss. Schwarz now boldly sallied forth,
fought his way through the Spaniards, and, after losing a
thousand men, succeeded in reaching Barcelona, but was
shortly afterward, after assisting at the taking of Hostal-
rich, surprised at La Bisbal and taken prisoner with almost
all the Saxon troops. The few that remained fell victims to
disease. a The fate of the prisoners was indeed melancholy.

1 This regiment was merely rewarded by Napoleon for its gallantry with 15
gros (Is. 6±d.) per man, in order to drink to his health on his birthday. — Von
Seebach.

2 What the feeling among the Germans was is plainly shown by the charge
against General Beurmann for general ill-treatment of his countrymen, whom

1554 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Several thousand of them died on the Balearic Islands,
chiefly on the island of Cabrera, where, naked and house-
less, they dug for themselves holes in the sand and died in
great numbers of starvation. They often also fell victims
to the fury of the inhabitants. The Swiss engaged in the
Spanish service, sometimes saved their lives at the hazard
of their own.

Opposed to them was the German Legion, composed of
the brave Hanoverians, who had preferred exile in Britain
to submission to Jerome, and had been sent in British men-
of-war to Portugal, whence they had, in conjunction with
the troops of England and Spain, penetrated, in 1808, into
the interior of Spain. l At Benavente, they made a furious
charge upon the French and took their long-delayed re-
venge. Linsingen's cavalry cut down all before them;
arms were severed at a blow, heads were split in two; one
head was found cut in two across from one ear to the other.
A young Hanoverian soldier took General Lefebvre prisoner,
but allowed himself to be deprived of his valuable captive
by an Englishman. — The Hanoverians served first under Sir
John Moore. On the death of that commander at Corunna,
the troops under his command returned to England: a ship
of the line, with two Hanoverian battalions on board, was
lost during the passage. The German Legion afterward
served under the Duke of Wellington, and shared the dan-
gers and the glory of the war in the Peninsula. "The ad-
mirable accuracy and rapidity of the German artillery under
Major Hartmann greatly contributed to the victory of Tala-
vera, and received the personal encomiums of the Duke."

he was accused of having allowed to perish in the hospitals, in order to save the
expense of their return home. Out of seventy officers arid two thousand four
hundred and twenty-three privates belonging to the Saxon regiment, but thirty-
nine officers and three hundred and nineteen privates returned to their native
country. Vide Jacob's Campaigns of the Gotha-Altenburgers and Von See-
bach's History of the Campaigns of the Saxony Infantry. Von Seebach, who
was taken prisoner on his return from Manresa, has given a particularly detailed
and graphic account of the campaign.

1 Beamish has recounted their exploits in detail. The "Recollections of a
Legionary," Hanover, 1826, is also worthy of perusal.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1555

Langwerth's brigade gained equal glory. The German
Legion was, however, never in full force in Spain. A divis-
ion was, in 1809, sent to the island of Walcheren, but shared
the ill-success attending all the attempts made in the North
Sea during Napoleon's reign. The conquest and demolition
of Vliessingen in August was the only result. A pestilence
broke out among the troops, and, on Napoleon's successes in
Austria, it was compelled to return to England. A third
division, consisting of several Hanoverian regiments, was
sent to Sicily, accompanied the expedition to Naples in 1809,
and afterward guarded the rocks of Sicily. The Hanoveri-
ans in Spain were also separated into various divisions, each
of which gained great distinction, more particularly so, the
corps of General Alten in the storming of Ciudad-Rodrigo.
In 1812, the Hanoverian cavalry broke three French squares
at Garcia Hernandez.

The Russians had, meanwhile, invaded Sweden. Gus-
tavus Adolphus, hitherto Russia's firmest ally, was suddenly
and treacherously attacked. General Buxhovden overran
Finland, inciting the people, as he advanced, to revolt
against their lawful sovereign. But the brave Finlanders
stoutly resisted the attempted imposition of the yoke of the
barbarous Russ, and, although ill-supported by Sweden, per-
formed prodigies of valor. Gustavus. Adolphus was devoid
of military knowledge, and watched, as if sunk in torpor,
the ill-planned operations of his generals. While the flower
of the Swedish troops was uselessly employed against Den-
mark and Norway, Finland was allowed to fall into the
grasp of Russia.1 The Russians were already expected to
land in Sweden, when a conspiracy broke out among the
nobility and officers of the army, which terminated in the
seizure of the king's person and his deposition, March, 1809.
His son, Gustavus Yasa, the present ex- king of Sweden, was
excluded from the succession, and his uncle Charles, the im-

1 The gallant acts of the Finlanders and the brutality of the Russians are
brought forward in Arndt's "Swedish Histories."

1556 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

becile and unworthy duke of Sudermania,1 was proclaimed
king under the title of Charles XIII. He was put up as a
scarecrow by the conspirators. Gustavus Adolphus IY. had,
at all events, shown himself incapable of saving Sweden.
But the conspirators were no patriots, nor was their object
the preservation of their country; they were merely bribed
traitors, weak and incapable as the monarch they had de-
throned. They were composed of a party among the an-
cient nobility, impatient of the restrictions of a monarchy,
and of the younger officers in the army, who were filled with
enthusiasm for Napoleon. The rejoicings on the occasion of
the abdication of Ghistavus Adolphus were heightened by
the news of the victory gained by Napoleon at Eatisbon,
which, at the same time, reached Stockholm. The new and
wretched Swedish government instantly deferred everything
to Napoleon and humbly solicited his favor; but Napoleon,
to whom the friendship of Eussia was, at that time, of
higher importance than the submission of a handful of in-
triguants in Sweden, received their homage with marked
coldness. Finland, shamefully abandoned in her hour of
need, was immediately ceded to Eussia, in consideration
of which Napoleon graciously restored Eugen and Swedish-
Pomerania to Sweden. Charles XIII. adopted, as his son
and successor, Christian Augustus, prince of Holstein-Au-
gustenburg, who, falling dead off his horse at a review,8 the
aged and childless monarch was compelled to make a second
choice, which fell upon the French general, Bernadotte, who
had, at one time, been a furious Jacobin and had afterward
acted as Napoleon's general and commandant in Swedish-
Pomerania, where he had, by his mildness, gained great
popularity. The majority in Sweden deemed him merely
a creature of Napoleon, whose favor they hoped to gain by

1 When regent, on the death of Gustavus III., he had spared his murderers
and released those criminated in the conspiracy. On the present occasion, he
yielded in everything to the aristocracy, and voted for the dethronement of his
own house, which, as he had no children, infallibly ensued on the exclusion of
the youthful Gustavus.

8 An extremely suspicious accident, which gave rise to many reports.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1557

this flattering choice; others, it may be, already beheld in
him Napoleon's future foe, and knew the value of the sa-
gacity and wisdom with which he was endowed, and of
which the want was so deeply felt in Sweden at a period
when intrigue and cunning had succeeded to violence. The
Freemasons, with whom he had placed himself in close com-
munication, appear to have greatly influenced his election.1
The unfortunate king, Gustavus Adolphus, after being long
kept a close prisoner in the castle of Gripsholm, where his
strong religious bias had been strengthened by apparitions,8
was permitted to retire into Germany; he disdainfully re-
fused to accept of a pension, separated himself from his con-
sort, a princess of Baden, and lived in proud poverty, under
the name of Colonel Gustavson, in Switzerland. — Berna-
dotte, the newly adopted prince, took the title of Charles
John, crown prince of Sweden. Napoleon, who was in ig-
norance of this intrigue, was taken by surprise, but, in the
hope of Bernadotte's continued fidelity, presented him with
a million en cadeau; Bernadotte had, however, been long
jealous of Napoleon's fortune, and, solely intent upon gain-
ing the hearts of his future subjects, deceived him and se-
cretly permitted the British to trade with Sweden, although
publicly a party in the continental system.

This system was at this period enforced with exaggerated
severity by Napoleon. He not only prohibited the importa-
tion of all British goods, but seized all already sent to the
continent and condemned them to be publicly burned. Mil-
lions evaporated in smoke, principally at Amsterdam, Ham-
burg, Frankfort, and Leipzig. The wealthiest mercantile
establishments were made bankrupt.

in addition to the other blows at that time zealously
bestowed upon the dead German lion, the king of Denmark

1 Vide Posselt's Sixth Annual.

2 This castle was haunted by the ghost of King Eric XI V., who had long
pined here in close imprisonment, and who had once before, during a sumptuous
entertainment given by G-ustavus Adolphus IV. to his brother-in-law, the Mar-
grave of Baden, struck the whole court with terror by his shrieks and groans.

1558 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

attempted to extirpate the German language in Schleswig,
but the edict to that effect, published on the 19th of January,
1811, was frustrated by the courage of the clergy, school-
masters, and peasantry, who obstinately refused to learn
Danish. '

CCLIX. The jRussian Campaign

AN enormous comet that, during the whole of the hot
summer of 1811, hung threatening in the heavens, appeared
as the harbinger of great and important vicissitudes to the
enslaved inhabitants of the earth, and it was in truth by an
act of Divine providence that a dispute arose between the
two giant powers intent upon the partition of Europe.

Napoleon was over-reached by Russia, whose avarice,
far from being glutted by the possession o£ Finland, great
part of Prussian and Austrian Poland, Moldavia, and Wal-
lachia, still craved for more, and who built her hopes of Na-
poleon's compliance with her demands on his value for her
friendship. Belgrade was seized, Servia demanded, and the
whole of Turkey in Europe openly grasped at. Napoleon
was, however, little inclined to cede the Mediterranean to
his Russian ally, to whose empire he gave the Danube as a
boundary. Russia next demanded possession of the duchy
of Warsaw, which was refused by Napoleon. The Austrian
marriage was meanwhile concluded. Napoleon, prior to his
demand for the hand of the archduchess Maria Louisa, had
sued for that of the grandduchess Anna, sister to the em-
peror Alexander, who was then in her sixteenth year, but,
being refused by her mother, the empress Maria, a princess
of Wurtemberg, and Alexander delaying a decisive answer,
he formed an alliance with the Habsburg. This event natu-
rally led Russia to conclude that she would no longer be per-
mitted to aggrandize herself at the expense of Austria, and
Alexander consequently assumed a threatening posture and
condescended to listen to the complaints, hitherto condemned

1 Wimpfen, History of Schleswig.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1559

to silence, of the agricultural and mercantile classes. No
Kussian vessel durst venture out to sea, and a Kussian fleet
had been seized by the British in the harbors of Lisbon. At
Kiga lay immense stores of grain in want of a foreign mar-
ket. On the 31st of December, 1810, Alexander published a
fresh tariff permitting the importation of colonial products
under a neutral flag (several hundred English ships arrived
under the American flag), and prohibiting the importation of
French manufactured goods. Not many weeks previously,
on the 13th of December, Napoleon had annexed Oldenburg
to France. The duke, Peter, was nearly related to the ein-
peror of Kussia, and Napoleon, notwithstanding his declared
readiness to grant a compensation, refused to allow it to
consist of the grandduchy of Warsaw, and proposed a
duchy of Erfurt, as yet uncreated, which Kussia scorn-
fully rejected.

The alliance between Kussia, Sweden and England was
now speedily concluded. Sweden, who had vainly demanded
from Napoleon the possession of Norway and a large supply
of money, assumed a tone of indignation, threw open her
harbors to the British merchantmen, and so openly carried
on a contraband trade in Pomerania that Napoleon, in order
to maintain the continental system, was constrained to gar-
rison Swedish-Pomerania and Kugen, and to disarm the
Swedish inhabitants. Bernadotte, upon this, ranged him-
self entirely on the side of his opponents, without, however,
coming to an open rupture, for which he awaited a declara-
tion on the part of Kussia. The expressions made use of by
Napoleon on the birth of the king of Kome at length filled
up the measure of provocation. Intoxicated with success,
he boasted, in an address to the mercantile classes, that he
would in despite of Kussia maintain the continental system,
for he was lord over the whole of continental Europe; that
if Alexander had not concluded a treaty with him at Tilsit,
he would have compelled him to do so at Petersburg. — The
pride of the haughty Kussian was deeply wounded, and a
rupture was nigh at hand.

1560 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Two secret systems were at this period undermining each
other in Prussia, that of the Tugendbund founded by Stein
and Scharnhorst, whose object being the liberation of Ger-
many at all hazards from the yoke of Napoleon, conse-
quently favored Russia, and that of Hardenberg, which
aimed at a close union with France. Hardenberg, whose
position as chancellor of state gave him the upper hand, had
compromised Prussia by the servility with which he sued
for an alliance long scornfully refused and at length con-
ceded on the most humiliating terms by Napoleon. l

Eussia had, meanwhile, made preparations for a war
unanticipated by Napoleon. As early as 1811, a great Rus-
sian army stood ready for the invasion of Poland, and might,
as there were at that time but few French troops in Ger-
many, easily have advanced as far as the Elbe. It re-
mained, nevertheless, in a state of inactivity.2 Napoleon
instantly prepared for war and fortified Dantzig. His con-
tinual proposals of peace, ever unsatisfactory to the ambition
of the czar, remaining at length unanswered, he declared
war. The Rhenish confederation followed as usual in his
train, and Austria, from an interested motive, the hope of
regaining in the East by Napoleon's assistance all she had
lost by opposing him in the West, or that of regaining her
station as the third European power when the resources of
the two ruling powers, whose coalition had threatened her
existence, had been exhausted by war. Prussia also fol-
lowed the eagles of Napoleon: the Hardenberg party, with
a view of conciliating him, and, like the Rhenish confedera-
tion, from motives of gain: the Tugendbund, which pre-
dominated in the army, with silent but implacable hate.

In the spring of 1812, Napoleon, after leaving a sufficient
force to prosecute the war with activity in Spain and to

1 Vide Bignon.

2 From a letter of Count Minister in Hormayr's Sketches of Life, it appears
that Russia still cherished the hope of great concessions being made by Napoleon
in order to avoid war and was therefore still reserved in her relations with Eng-
land and the Prussian patriots.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1561

guard France, Italy, and Germany, ' led half a million men
to the Russian frontiers. Before taking the field, he con-
voked all the princes of Germany to Dresden, where he
treated them with such extreme insolence as even to revolt
his most favored and warmest partisans. Tears were seen
to start in ladies' eyes, while men bit their lips with rage at
the petty humiliations and affronts heaped on them by their
powerful but momentary lord. The empress of Austria2 and
the king of Prussia3 appear, on this occasion, to have felt the
most acutely.

For the first time — an event unknown in the history of
the world — the whole of Germany was reduced to submis-
sion. Napoleon, greater than conquering Attila, who took
the field at the head of one- half of Germany against the
other, dragged the whole of Germany in his train. The
army led by him to the steppes of Eussia was principally
composed of German troops, who were so skilfully mixed up
with the French as not to be themselves aware of their nu-
merical superiority. The right wing, composed of thirty
thousand Austrians under Schwarzenberg, was destined for
the invasion of Yolhynia; while the left wing, consisting of
twenty thousand Prussians under York and several thou-
sand French, under the command of Marshal Macdonald,
was ordered to advance upon the coasts of the Baltic and
without loss of time to besiege Riga. The centre or main
body consisted of the troops of the Rhenish confederation,

1 French troops garrisoned German fortresses and perpetually passed along
the principal roads, which were for that purpose essentially improved by Napo-
leon. In 1810, a great part of the town of Eisenach was destroyed by the burst-
ing of some French powder-carts that were carelessly brought through, and by
which great numbers of people were killed.

2 "Who was far surpassed in splendor by her stepdaughter of France.

3 Segur relates that he was received politely but with distant coolness by
Napoleon. There is said to have been question between them concerning the
marriage of the crown prince of Prussia with one of Napoleon's nieces, and of
an incorporation of the still unconquered Russian provinces on the Baltic, Li-
vonia, Courland, and Bsthonia, with Prussia. All was, however, empty show.
Napoleon hoped by the rapidity of his successes to constrain the emperor of
Russia to conclude not only peace, but a still closer alliance with France, iu
which case it was as far from his intention to concede the above mentioned
provinces to Prussia as to emancipate the Poles.

1562 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

more or less mixed up with French; of thirty -eight thousand
Bavarians under Wrede and commanded by St. Cyr; of six-
teen thousand Wurtembergers under Scheeler, over whom
Marshal Ney was allotted the chief command; single regi-
ments, principally cavalry, were drawn off in order more
thoroughly to intermix the Germans with the French; of
seventeen thousand Saxons under Eeynier; of eighteen thou-
sand Westphalians under Vandamme; also of Hessians,
Badeners, Frankforters, Wurzburgers, Nassauers, in short,
of contingents furnished by each of the confederated states.
The Swiss were mostly concentrated under Oudinot. The
Dutch, Hanseatic, Flemish, in fine, all the Germans on the
left bank of the Ehine, were at that time crammed among
the French troops. Upward of two hundred thousand Ger-
mans, at the lowest computation, marched against Eussia,
a number far superior to that of the French in the army, the
remainder of which was made up by several thousand Ital-
ians, Portuguese, and Spaniards, who had been pressed into
the service.1

The Prussians found themselves in the most degraded
position. Their army, weak as it was in numbers, was
placed under the command of a French general. The Prus-
sian fortresses, with the exception of Colberg, Graudenz,
Schweidnitz, Neisse, and Glatz, were already garrisoned
with French troops, or, like Pillau near Koenigsberg, newly
occupied by them. In Berlin, the French had unlimited
sway. Marshal Augereau was stationed with sixty thou-
sand men in Northern Germany for the purpose of keeping
that part of the country, and more particularly Prussia, in
check to Napoleon's rear; the Danish forces also stood in
readiness to support him in case of necessity. Napoleon's
entire army moreover marched through Prussia and com-
pletely drained that country of its last resources. Napoleon
deemed it unnecessary to take measures equal in severity

1 Napoleon said at that time to a Russian, "Si vous perdez oinq Russea,
ne perds qu un Francais et quatre cochons."

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1563

toward Austria, where the favor of the court seemed to be
secured by his marriage, and the allegiance of the army
by the presence of Schwarzenberg, who neither rejected
nor returned his confidence. A rich compensation was, by
a secret compact, secured to Austria in case the cession of
Galicia should be necessitated by the expected restoration
of the kingdom of Poland, with which Napoleon had long
flattered the Poles, who, misled by his promises, served him
with the greatest enthusiasm. But, notwithstanding the re-
moval of the only obstacle, the jealousy of Austria in regard
to Gralicia, by this secret compact, his promises remained
unfulfilled, and he took possession of the whole of Poland
without restoring her ancient independence. The petitions
addressed to him on this subject by the Poles received dubi-
ous replies, and he pursued toward his unfortunate dupes his
ancient system of dismembering and intermingling nations,
of tolerating no national unity. Napoleon's principal motive,
however, was his expectation of compelling the emperor by
a well- aimed blow to conclude peace, and of forming with
him an alliance upon still more favorable terms against the
rest of the European powers. The friendship of Kussia was
of far more import to him than all the enthusiasm of the
Poles.

The deep conviction harbored by Napoleon of his irresist-
ible power led him to repay every service and to regard every
antagonist with contempt. Confident of victory, he deviated
from the strict military discipline he had at one time enforced
and of which he had given an example in his own person,
dragged in his train a multitude of useless attendants fitted
but for pomp and luxury, permitted his marshals and gen-
erals to do the same, and an incredible number of private
carriages, servants, women, etc., to follow in the rear of the
army, to hamper its movements, create confusion, and aid
in consuming the army stores, which being, moreover, merely
provided for a short campaign, speedily became insufficient
for the maintenance of the enormous mass. Even in Eastern
Prussia, numbers of the soldiery were constrained by want

GERMANY. VOL. IV. — I

1564 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

to plunder the villages. — On the 24th of June, 1812, Napo-
leon crossed the Niemen, the Eussian frontier, not far from
Kowno. The season was already too far advanced. It may
be that, deceived by the mildness of the winter of 1806 to
1807, he imagined it possible to protract the campaign with-
out peril to himself until the winter months. No enemy
appeared to oppose his progress. Barclay de Tolly,1 the
Eussian commander-in-chief, pursued the system followed
by the Scythians against Darius, and, perpetually retiring
before the enemy, gradually drew him deep into the dreary
and deserted steppes. This plan originated with Scharn-
horst, by whom General Lieven was advised not to hazard
an engagement until the winter, and to turn a deaf ear to
every proposal of peace.9 General Lieven, on reaching Bar-
clay's headquarters, took Colonel Toll, a German, Barclay's
right hand, and Lieutenant-Colonel Clausewitz, also a Ger-
man, afterward noted for his strategical works, into his con-
fidence. General Pfull, another German, at that time high
in the emperor's confidence, and almost all the Eussian gen-
erals opposed Scharnhorst's plan and continued to advance
with a view of giving battle; but, on Napoleon's appearance
at the head of an army greatly their superior in number
before the Eussians had been able to concentrate their forces,
they were naturally compelled to retire before him, and, on
the prevention, for some weeks, of the junction of a newly-
levied Eussian army under Prince Bragation with the forces
under Barclay, owing to the rapidity of Napoleon's ad-
vance, Scharnhorst's plan was adopted as the only one
feasible.

Napoleon, in the hope of overtaking the Eussians and
of compelling them to give battle, pushed onward by forced
marches; the supplies were unable to follow, and numbers

1 This general, on the opening of the war, published a proclamation to the
Germans, summoning them to throw off the yoke of Napoleon. — Allgemeine
Zeitung, No. 327. Napoleon replied with, "Whom are you addressing ? There
are no Germans, there are only Austrians, Prussians, Bavarians," etc.— All
Zeitung, No. 328.

8 Vide Clausewitz's Works.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1565

of the men and horses sank from exhaustion owing to over-
fatigue, heat, and hunger.1 On the arrival of Napoleon in
Witebst, of Sehwarzenberg in Yoihynia, of the Prussians
before Eiga, the army might have halted, reconquered Po-
land have been organized, the men put into winter quarters,
the army have again taken the field early in the spring, and
the conquest of Eussia have been slowly but surely com-
pleted. But Napoleon had resolved upon terminating the
war in one rapid campaign, upon defeating the Eussians,
seizing their metropolis, and dictating terms of peace, and
incessantly pursued his retreating opponent, whose footsteps
were marked by the flames of the cities and villages and by
the devastated country to their rear. The first serious oppo-
sition was made at Smolensko,3 whence the Eussians, how-
ever, speedily retreated after setting the city on fire. On
the same day, the Bavarians, who had diverged to one side
during their advance, had a furious encounter — in which
General Deroy, formerly distinguished for his services in the
Tyrol, was killed — at Poloczk with a body of Eussian troops
under Wittgenstein. The Bavarians remained stationary in
this part of the country for the purpose of watching the
movements of that general, while Napoleon, careless of the
peril with which he was threatened by the approach of
winter and by the multitude of enemies gathering to his
rear, advanced with the main body of the grand army from
Smolensko across the wasted country upon Moscow, the
ancient metropolis of the Eussian empire.

Eussia, at that time engaged in a war with Turkey,
whose frontiers were watched by an immense army under
Kutusow, used her utmost efforts, in which she was aided
by England, to conciliate the Porte in order to turn the
whole of her forces against Napoleon. By a master-stroke

1 At each encampment the men were left in such numbers in hastily erected
hospitals that, of thirty- eight thousand Bavarians, for instance, but ten thou-
sand, of sixteen thousand Wiirtembergers, but thirteen hundred, reached Smo-
lensko.

2 The Wiirtembergers distinguished themselves here by storming the faubourgs
and the bridges across the Dnieper.

1566 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of political intrigue,1 the Porte, besides concluding peace at
Bucharest on the 28th of May, ceded the province of Bes-
sarabia (not Moldavia and Wallachia) to Russia. A Russian
army under Tschitschakow was now enabled to drive the
Austrians out of Yolhynia, while a considerable force under
Kutusow joined Barclay. Had the Russians at this time
hazarded an engagement, their defeat was certain. Moscow
could not have been saved. Barclay consequently resolved
not to come to an engagement, but to husband his forces and
to attack the French during the winter. The intended sur-
render of Moscow without a blow was, nevertheless, deeply
resented as a national disgrace; the army and the people3
raised a clamor, the venerable Kutusow was nominated com-
mander-in-chief, and, taking up a position on the little river
Moskwa near Borodino, about two days' journey from Mos-
cow, a bloody engagement took place there on the 7th of
September, in which Napoleon, in order to spare his guards,
neglected to follow up his advantage with his usual energy
and allowed the defeated Russians, whom he might have
totally annihilated, to escape. Napoleon triumphed; but at
what a price! After a fearful struggle, in which he lost
forty thousand men in killed and wounded,3 the latter of
whom perished almost to a man, owing to want and neglect.4

1 The Greek prince, Moruzi, who at that time conducted Turkish diplomacy,
accepted a bribe, and concluded peace in the expectation of becoming Prince of
Moldavia and Wallachia. Sultan Mahmud refusing to ratify this disgraceful
treaty, gold was showered upon the Turkish army, which suddenly dispersed,
and the deserted sultan was compelled to yield. Moruzi was deprived of his
head, but the Russians had gained their object. It must, moreover, be consid-
ered that Napoleon was regarded with distrust by the Porte, against which he
had fought in Egypt, which he had afterward enticed into a war with Russia,
and had, by the alliance formed at Erfurt with that power, abandoned;

2 Colonel Toll was insulted during the discussion by Prince Bragation for
the firmness with which he upheld Scharnhorst's plan, and avoided hazarding
a useless engagement. Prince Bragation was killed in the battle.

8 A Russian redoubt, the key of the field of battle, was taken and again Jost.
A Wiirtemberg regiment instantly pushed through the fugitive French, retook
the redoubt and retained possession of it. It also, on this occasion, saved the
life of the king of Naples and delivered him out of the hands of the Russians,
who had already taken him prisoner. — Ten Campaigns of the Wurtembergers.

4 Everything was wanting, lint, linen, even necessary food. The wounded
men lay for days and weeks under the open sky and fed upon the carcasses of
horses.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1567

Moscow was now both defenceless and void of inhabi-
tants. Napoleon traversed this enormous city, containing
two hundred and ninety-five churches and fifteen hundred
palaces rising from amid a sea of inferior dwellings, and
took possession of the residence of the czars, the 14th of
September, 1812. The whole city was, however, deserted,
and scarcely had the French army taken up its quarters in
it than flames burst from the empty and closely shut-up
houses, and, ere long, the whole of the immense city became
a sea of fire and was reduced, before Napoleon's eyes, to
ashes. Every attempt to extinguish the flames proved un-
availing. Eostopchin, the commandant of Moscow, had,
previously to his retreat, put combustible materials, which
were ignited on the entrance of the French by men secreted
for that purpose, into the houses. ' A violent wind aided the
work of destruction. The patriotic sacrifice was performed,
nor failed in its object. Napoleon, instead of peace and
plenty, merely found ashes in Moscow.

Instead of pursuing the defeated Eussians to Kaluga,
where, in pursuance of Toll's first laid-plan, they took
up a position close upon the flank of the French and threat-
ened to impede their retreat; instead of taking up his winter
quarters in the fertile South or of quickly turning and fixing
himself in Lithuania in order to collect reinforcements for
the ensuing year, Napoleon remained in a state of inaction
at Moscow until the 19th of October, in expectation of pro-
posals of peace from Alexander. The terms of peace offered
by him on his part to the Eussians did not even elicit a re-
ply. His cavalry, already reduced to a great state of ex-
haustion, were, in the beginning of October, surprised before
the city of Tarutino and repulsed with considerable loss. This
at length decided Napoleon upon marching upon Kaluga, but
the moment for success had already passed. The reinforced
and inspirited Eussians made such a desperate resistance at

1 This combustible matter had been prepared by Schmid, the Dutchman, un-
der pretext of preparing an enormous balloon from which nre was to be scattered
upon the French army.

1568 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Malo-Jaroslawez that lie resolved to retire by the nearest
route, that by which he had penetrated up the country,
marked by ashes and pestilential corpses, into Lithuania.
Winter had not yet set in, and his ranks were already
thinned by famine.1 Kutusow, with the main body of the
Eussian army, pursued the retreating French and again
overtook them at Wiazma, the 3d November. Napoleon's
hopes now rested on the separate corps d'armde left to his
rear on his advance upon Moscow, but they were, notwith-
standing the defeat of Wittgenstein's corps by the Bavarians
under Wrede, kept in check by fresh Kussian armies and ex-
posed to all the horrors of winter.8 In Yolhynia, Schwarz-
enberg had zealously endeavored to — spare his troops,8 and
had, by his retreat toward the grandduchy of Warsaw, left

1 As early as the 2d of November the remainder of the Wiirtembergers tore
off their colors and concealed them in their knapsacks. — Roos's Memorabilia
of 1812.

2 On the 18th of October, the Bavarians, who were intermixed with Swiss,
performed prodigies of valor, but were so reduced by sufferings of every descrip-
tion as to be unable to maintain Poloczk. Segur says in his History of the War
that St. Cyr left Wrede 's gallant conduct unmentioued in the military despatches,
and that when, on St. Cyr's being disabled by his wounds, Wrede applied for
the chief command, which naturally reverted to him, the army being almost en-
tirely composed of Bavarians, Napoleon refused his request. Volderndorf says
in his Bavarian Campaigns that St. Oyr faithlessly abandoned the Bavarians in
their utmost extremity, and when all peril was over returned to Poland in order
to retake the command. During the retreat from Poloczk he^had ordered the
bridges to be pulled down, leaving on the other side a Bavarian park of artillery
with the army chest and two-and- twenty ensigns, which for better security had
been packed upon a carriage. The whole of these trophies fell, owing to St.
Cyr's negligence or ill-will, into the hands of the Russians. "The Bavarians
with difficulty concealed their antipathy toward the French." On St. Cyr's
flight, Wrede kept the remainder of the Bavarians together, covered Napoleon's
retreat, and, in conjunction with the "Westphalians and Hessians, stood another
encounter with the Russians at Wilna. Misery and want at length scattered his
forces; he, nevertheless, reassembled them in Poland and was able to place four
thousand men, on St. Cyr's return, under his command. He returned home to
Bavaria sick. Of these four thousand Bavarians but one thousand and fifty were
led by Count Rechberg back to their native soil. A great number of Bavarians,
however, remained under General Zoller to garrison Thorn, and about fifteen
hundred of them returned home. — At the passage of the Beresina, the Wurtem-
bergers had still about eighty men under arms, and in Poland about three hun-
dred assembled, the only ones who returned free. Some were afterward liberated
from imprisonment in Russia.

8 This was Austria's natural policy. In the French despatches. Schwarzen-
berg was charged with having allowed Tschitschakow to escape in order to pursue
tbe inconsiderable force under Sacken.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1569

Tschitschakow at liberty to turn his arms against Napo-
leon, against whom Wittgenstein also advanced in the de-
sign of blocking up his route, while Kutusow incessantly
assailed his flank and rear. On the 6th of November, the
frost suddenly set in. The horses died by thousands in a
single night; the greater part of the cavalry was conse-
quently dismounted, and it was found necessary to abandon
part of the booty and artillery. A deep snow shortly after-
ward fell and obstructed the path of the fugitive army. The
frost became more and more rigorous; but few of the men
had sufficient strength left to continue to carry their arms
and to cover the flight of the rest. Most of the soldiers
threw away their arms and merely endeavored to preserve
life. Napoleon's grand army was scattered over the bound-
less snow-covered steppes, whose dreary monotony was solely
broken by some desolate half-burned village. Gaunt forms
of famine, wan, hollow-eyed, wrapped in strange garments
of misery, skins, women's clothes, etc., and with long- grown
beards, dragged their faint and weary limbs along, fought
for a dead horse whose flesh was greedily torn from the car-
cass, murdered each other for a morsel of bread, and fell one
after the other in the deep snow, never again to rise. Bones
of frozen corpses lay each morn around the dead ashes of the
night fires.1 Numbers were seen to spring, with a horrid cry
of mad exultation, into the flaming houses. Numbers fell
into the hands of the Eussian boors, who stripped them
naked and chased them through the snow. Smolensko was
at length reached, but the loss of the greater part of the
cannon, the want of ammunition and provisions, rendered
their stay in that deserted and half -consumed city impos-

1 The following anecdote is related of the Hessians commanded by Prince
Emilius of Darmstadt. The prince had fallen asleep in the snow, and four Hes-
sian dragoons, in order to screen him from the north wind, held their cloaks as
a wall around him and were found next morning in the same position — frozen to
death. Dead bodies were seen frozen into the most extraordinary positions,
gnawing their own hands, gnawing the torn corpses of their comrades. The
dead were often covered with snow, and the number of little heaps lying around
alone told that of the victims of a single night.

1570 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

sible. The flight was continued, the Eussians incessantly
pursuing and harassing the wornout troops, whose retreat
was covered by Ney with all the men still under arms. Cut
off at Smolensko, he escaped almost by miracle, by creeping
during the night along the banks of the Dnieper and succes-
sively repulsing the several Russian corps that threw them-
selves in his way.1 A thaw now took place, and the Bere-
sina, which it was necessary to cross, was full of drift-ice,
its banks were slippery and impassable, and moreover com-
manded by Tschitschakow's artillery, while the roar of
cannon to the rear announced Wittgenstein's approach.
Kutusow had this time failed to advance with sufficient
rapidity, and Napoleon, the river to his front and enclosed
between the Eussian armies, owed his escape to the most
extraordinary good luck. The corps d'armee under Oudi-
not and Victor, that had been left behind on his advance
upon Moscow, canie at the moment of need with fresh troops
to his aid. Tschitschakow quitted the bank at the spot
where Napoleon intended to make the passage of the Bere-
sina under an idea of the attempt being made at another
point. Napoleon instantly threw two bridges across the
stream, and all the able-bodied men crossed in safety. At
the moment when the bridges, that had several times given
way, were choked up by. the countless throng bringing up
the rear, Wittgenstein appeared and directed his heavy artil-
lery upon the motionless and unarmed crowd. Some regi-
ments, forming the rearguard, fell, together with all still
remaining on the other side of the river, into the hands of
the Eussians.

The fugitive army was, after this fearful day, relieved,
but the temperature again fell to twenty-seven degrees below
zero, and the stoutest hearts and frames sank. On the 5th
of December, Napoleon, placing himself in a sledge, hurried
in advance of his army, nay, preceded the news of his disas-

1 Napoleon said, "There are two hundred millions lying in tiie cellars of the
Tuileries; how willingly would I give them to save Neyl"

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1571

ter, in order at all events to insure his personal safety and to
pass through Germany before measures could be taken for
his capture.1 His fugitive army shortly afterward reached
Wilna, but was too exhausted to maintain that position.
Enormous magazines, several prisoners, and the rest of the
booty, besides six million francs in silver money, fell here
into the hands of the Kussians. Part of the fugitives escaped
to Dantzig, but few crossed the Oder; the Saxons under
Reynier were routed and dispersed in a last engagement at
Calisch; Poniatowsky and the Poles retired to Cracow, on
the Austrian frontier, as it were, protected by Schwarzen-
berg, who remained unassailed by the Eussians, and whose
neutrality was, not long afterward, formally recognized.

The Prussians, who had been, meanwhile, occupied with
the unsuccessful siege of Eiga, and who, like the Austrians,
had comparatively husbanded their strength,2 were now the
only hope of the fugitive French. The troops under Mac-
donald, accordingly, received orders to cover the retreat of
the grand army, but York, instead of obeying, concluded
a neutral treaty with the Eussians commanded by Diebitsch
of Silesia and remained stationary in Eastern Prussia. The
king of Prussia, at that time still at Berlin and in the power
of the French, publicly3 disapproved of the step taken by his

1 He passed with extreme rapidity, incognito, through Germany. In Dresden
he had a short interview with the king of Saxony, who, had he shut him up in
Konigstdin, would have saved Europe a good deal of trouble. — Napoleon no
sooner reached Paris in safety than, in his twenty-ninth bulletin, he, for the
first time, acquainted the astonished world, hitherto deceived by his false ac-
counts of victory, with the disastrous termination of the campaign. This bul-
letin was also replete with falsehood and insolence. In his contempt of human-
ity he even said, "Merely the cowards in the army were depressed in spirit and
dreamed of misfortune, the brave were ever cheerful." Thus wrote the man
who had both seen and caused all this immeasurable misery I The bulletin con-
cluded with, "His Imperial Majesty never enjoyed better health."

3 In the French despatches, General Hiinerbein was accused of not having
pursued the Russians under General Lewis.

3 The secret history of those days is still not sufficiently brought to light.
Bignon speaks of fresh treaties between Hardenberg and Napoleon, in which he
is corroborated by Fain. These two Frenchmen, the former of whom was a
diplomatist, the other one of Napoleon's private secretaries, admit that Prussia's
object at that time was to take advantage of Napoleon's embarrassment and to
offer him aid on certain important considerations. Prussian historians are silent

1572 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

general, ! who was, on the evacuation of Berlin by the French,
as publicly rewarded.

The immense army of the conqueror of the world was
totally annihilated. Of those who entered Moscow scarcely
twenty thousand, of the half million of men who crossed the
Eussian frontier but eighty thousand, returned.

CCLX. The Spring of 1813

THE king of Prussia had suddenly abandoned Berlin,
which was still in the hands of the French, for Breslau,
whence he declared war against France. A conference also
took place between him and the emperor Alexander at Ca-
lisch, and, on the 28th of February, 1813, an offensive and
defensive alliance was concluded between them. The hour
for vengeance had at length arrived. The whole Prussian
nation, eager to throw off the hated yoke of the foreigner,
to obliterate their disgrace in 1806, to regain their ancient
name, cheerfully hastened to place their lives and property
at the service of the impoverished government. The whole
of the able-bodied population was put under arms. The
standing army was increased: to each regiment were ap-
pended troops] of volunteers, Jaegers, composed of young
men belonging to the higher classes, who furnished theif
own equipments: a numerous Landwehr, a sort of militia,

in this matter. In Yon Rauschnik's biographical account of Blucher, the great
internal schism at that time caused in Prussia by the Hardenberg party and that
of the Tugendbund is merely slightly hinted at , the former still managed diplo-
matic affairs, while York, a member of the latter, had already acted on his own
responsibility. Shortly afterward affairs took a different aspect, as if Harden-
berg's diplomacy had merely been a mask, and he placed himself at the head of
the movement against France. In a memorial of 1811, given by Hormayr in the
Sketches from the War of Liberation, Hardenberg declared decisively in favor
of the alliance with Russia against France.

1 Hans Louis David von York, a native of Pomerania, having ventured, when
a lieutenant in the Prussian service, indignantly to blame the base conduct of
one of his superiors in command, became implicated in a duel, was confined in
a fortress, abandoned his country, entered the Dutch service, visited the Cape
and Ceylon, f ought'against the Mahrattaa, was wounded, returned home and re-
entered the Prussian service in 1794.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1573

was, as in Austria, raised besides the standing army, and
measures were even taken to call out, in case of necessity,
the heads of families and elderly men remaining at home,
under the name of the Landsturm.1 The enthusiastic peo-
ple, besides furnishing the customary supplies and paying
the taxes, contributed to the full extent of their means
toward defraying the immense expense of this general arm-
ing. Every heart throbbed high with pride and hope. Who
would not wish to have lived at such a period, when man's
noblest and highest energies were thus called forth ! More
loudly than even in 1809 in Austria was the German cause
now discussed, the great name of the German empire now in-
voked in Prussia, for in that name alone could all the races
of Germany be united against their hereditary foe. The
following celebrated proclamation, promising external and
internal liberty to Germany, was, with this view, published
at Calisch, by Prussia and Kussia, on the 25th of March,
1818. It was signed by Prince Kutusow and drawn up by
Baron Eehdiger of Silesia.

"The victorious troops of Kussia, together with those of
his Majesty the king of Prussia, having set foot on German
soil, the emperor of Eussia and his Majesty the king of
Prussia announce simultaneously the return of liberty and
independence to the princes and nations of Germany. They
come with the sole and sacred purpose of aiding them to
regain the hereditary and inalienable national rights of
which they have been deprived, to afford potent protection
and to secure durability to a newly-restored empire. This
great object, free from every interested motive and therefore
alone worthy of their Majesties, has solely induced the ad-
vance and solely guides the movements of their armies. —
These armies, led by generals under the eyes of both mon-
archs, trust in an omnipotent, just God, and hope to free the
whole world and Germany irrevocably from the disgraceful
yoke they have so gloriously thrown off. They press for-

1 Literally, the general levy of the people. — Trans.

1574 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ward animated by enthusiasm. Their watchword is, Honor
and Liberty. May every German, desirous of proving him-
self worthy of the name, speedily and spiritedly join their
ranks: may every individual, whether prince, noble, or citi-
zen, aid the plans of liberation, formed by Eussia and Prus-
sia, with heart and soul, with person and property, to the
last drop of his blood ! — The expectation cherished by their
Majesties of meeting with these sentiments, this zeal, in
every German heart, they deem warranted by the spirit
so clearly betokened by the victories gained by Kussia over
the enslaver of the world. — They therefore demand faithful
co-operation, more especially from every German prince, and
willingly presuppose that none among them will be found,
who, by being and remaining apostate to the German cause,
will prove himself deserving of annihilation by the power of
public opinion and of just arms. The Ehenish alliance, that
deceitful chain lately cast by the breeder of universal dis-
cord around ruined Germany to the destruction of her an-
cient name, can, as the effect of foreign tyranny and the
tool of foreign influence, be no longer tolerated. Their Maj-
esties believe that the declaration of the dissolution of this
alliance being their fixed intention will meet the long- har-
bored and universal desire with difficulty retained within the
sorrowing hearts of the people. — The relation in which it is
the intention of his majesty, the emperor of all the Eussias,
to stand toward Germany and toward her constitution is, at
the same time, here declared. From his desire to see the
influence of the foreigner destroyed, it can be no other than
that of placing a protecting hand on a work whose form is
committed to the free, unbiased will of the princes and peo-
ple of Germany. The more closely this work, in principle,
features and outline, coincides with the once distinct char-
acter of the German nation, the more surely will united Ger-
many retake her place with renovated and redoubled vigor
among the empires of Europe. — His Majesty and his ally,
between whom there reigns a perfect accordance in the senti-
ments and views hereby explained, are at all times ready to

THE GREAT WAES WITH FRANCE 1575

exert their utmost power in pursuance of their sacred aim,
the liberation of Germany from a foreign yoke. — May France,
strong and beauteous in herself, henceforward seek to con-
solidate her internal prosperity! No external power will
disturb her internal peace, no enemy will encroach upon her
rightful frontiers. — But may France also learn that the other
powers of Europe aspire to the attainment of durable repose
for their subjects, and will not lay down their arms until the
independence of every state in Europe shall have been firmly
secured."

Nor was the appeal vain. It found an echo in every
German heart, and such plain demonstrations of the state
of the popular feeling on this side the Ehine were made
that Davoust sent serious warning to Napoleon, who con-
temptuously replied, "Pah! Germans never can become
Spaniards!" With his customary rapidity, he levied in
France a fresh army three hundred thousand strong, with
which he so completely awed the Ehenish confederation as
to compel it once more to take the field with thousands of
Germans against their brother Germans. The troops, how-
ever- x reluctantly obeyed, and even the traitors were but luke-
warm, for they doubted of success. Mecklenburg alone
cided with Prussia. Austria remained neutral.

A Eussian corps under General Tettenborn had preceded
the rest of the troops and reached the coasts of the Baltic.
As early as the 24th of March, 1813, it appeared in Ham-
burg and expelled the French authorities from the city.
The heavily oppressed people of Hamburg,1 whose com-

1 The exasperation of the people had risen to the utmost pitch. The French
rascals in office, especially the custom-house officers, set no bounds to their
tyranny and license. No woman of whatever rank was allow to pass the
gates without being subjected to the most indecent inquisition. Goods that had
long been redeemed were continually taken from the tradesmen's shops and con-
fiscated. The arbitrary enrolment of a number of young men as conscripts at
length produced an insurrection, in which the guard-houses, etc. , were destroyed.
It was, however, quelled by General St. Cyr, and six of the citizens were exe-
cuted. On the approach of the Russians, St. Cyr fled with the whole of his
troops. The bookseller Perthes, Prell, and von Hess, formed a civic guard.—
Von Bess's Agonies.

1576 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

merce had been totally annihilated by the continental sys-
tem, gave way to the utmost demonstrations of delight, re-
ceived their deliverers with open arms, revived their ancient
rights, and immediately raised a Hanseatic corps, destined
to take the field against Napoleon. Dornberg, the ancient
foe to France, with another flying squadron took the French
division under Morand prisoner, and the Prussian, Major
Hellwig (the same who, in 1806, liberated the garrison of
Erfurt), dispersed, with merely one hundred and twenty
hussars, a Bavarian regiinent one thousand three hundred
strong and captured five pieces of artillery. In January, the
peasantry of the upper country had already revolted against
the conscription,1 and, in February, patriotic proclamations
had been disseminated throughout Westphalia under the
signature of the Baron von Stein. In this month, also,
Captain Maas and two other patriots, who had attempted
to raise a rebellion, were executed. As the army advanced,
Stein was nominated chief of the provisional government of
the still unconquered provinces of Western Germany.

The first Russian army, seventeen thousand strong, under
Wittgenstein, pushed forward to Magdeburg, and, a';f Mo-
kern, repulsed forty thousand French, who were advancing
upon Berlin. The Prussians, under their veteran general,
Blucher, entered Saxony and garrisoned Dresden, on the
27th of March, 1813; an arch of the fine bridge across
the Elbe having been uselessly blown up by the French.
Blucher, whose gallantry in the former wars had gained for
him the general esteem, and whose kind and generous dispo-
sition had won the affection of the soldiery, was nominated
generalissimo of the Prussian forces, but subordinate in
command to Wittgenstein, who replaced Kutusow as gen-
eralissimo of the united forces of Kussia and Prussia. The

1 The people rose en masse at Ronsdorf , Solingen, and Barmen, and marched
tumultuously to Elberfeld, the great manufacturing town, but were dispersed by
the French troops. The French authorities afterward declared that the sole
object of the revolt was to smuggle in English goods, and, under this pretext,
seized all the foreign goods in Elberfeld.

8 Kutusow had, just at that conjuncture, expired at Bautzen.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1577

emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia accompanied the
army and were received with loud acclamations by the peo-
ple of Dresden and Leipzig. The allied army was merely
seventy thousand strong, and Blucher had not formed a
junction with Wittgenstein when Napoleon invaded the
country by Erfurt and Merseburg at the head of one hun-
dred and sixty thousand men. Ney attacked, with forty
thousand men, the Russian vanguard under Winzingerode,
which, after gallantly defending a defile near Weissenfels,
made an orderly retreat before forces far their superior in
number. The French, on this occasion, lost Marshal Bes-
sieres. Napoleon, incredulous of attack, marched in long
columns upon Leipzig, and Wittgenstein, falling upon his
right flank, committed great havoc among the forty thou-
sand men under Ney, which he had first of all encountered,
at Gross-Grorschen. This place was alternately lost and re-
gained owing to his ill-judged plan of attack by single bri-
gades, instead of breaking Napoleon's lines by charging them
at once with the whole of his forces. The young Prussian
volunteers here measured their strength in a murderous con-
flict, hand to hand, with the young French conscripts, and
excited by their martial spirit the astonishment of the vet-
erans. Wittgenstein's delay and Blucher' s too late arrival
on the field1 gave Napoleon time to wheel his long lines
round and to encircle the allied forces, which immediately
retired. On the eve of the bloody engagement of the 2d of
May, the allied cavalry attempted a general attack in the dark,
which was also unsuccessful on account of the superiority of
the enemy's forces. The allies had, nevertheless, captured
some cannons, the French, none. The most painful loss was
that of the noble Scharnhorst, who was mortally wounded.
Bulow had, on the same day, stormed Halle with a Prussian
corps, but was now compelled to resolve upon a retreat,

1 The nature of the ground rendered a night march impossible. The Rus-
sian, Michaelofski Danilefski, however, throws the blame upon an officer in
Blucher's headquarters, who laid the important orders committed to his charge
under his pillow and overslept himself.

^1578 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

which was conducted in the most orderly manner by the
allies. At Koldiz, the Prussian rearguard repulsed the
French van in a bloody engagement on the 5th of May.
The allies marched through Dresden1 and took up a firm
position in and about Bautzen, after being joined by a re-
inforcement of eighty thousand Bavarians. Napoleon was
also reinforced by a number of French, Bavarian, Wurtem-
berg, and Saxon troops,8 and despatched Lauriston and Ney
toward Berlin; but the former encountering the Kussians
under Barclay de Tolly at Konigswartha, and the latter the
Prussians under York at Weissig, both were constrained to
retreat. Napoleon attacked the position at Bautzen from
the 19th to the 21st of May, but was gloriously repulsed by
the Prussians under Kleist, while Blucher, who was in dan-
ger of being completely surrounded, undauntedly defended
himself on three sides. The allies lost not a cannon, not a
single prisoner, although again compelled to retire before the
superior forces of the enemy. The French had suffered an
immense loss; eighteen thousand of their wounded were
sent to Dresden. Napoleon's favorite, Marshal Duroc, and
General Kirchner, a native of Alsace, were killed, close to
his side, by a cannon ball. The allied troops, forced to re-
tire after an obstinate encounter, neither fled nor dispersed,
but withdrew in close column and repelling each successive
attack.3 The French avant-garde under Maison was, when

1 It may here be mentioned as a remarkable characteristic of those times that
Goethe, Ernest Maurice Arndt, and Theodore Korner at that period met at Dres-
den. The youthful Korner, a volunteer Jaeger, was the Tyrtaeus of those days :
his military songs were universally sung : his father also expressed great enthu-
siasm. GToethe said almost angrily, "Well, well, shake your chains, the man
(Napoleon) is too strong for you, you will not break them!" — E. M. Arndt' 's
Reminiscences.

2 "Unfortunately there were German princes who, even this time, again sent
their troops to swell the ranks of the oppressor; Austria had, unfortunately, not
yet concluded her preparations; consequently, it was only possible to clog the
advance of the conqueror by a gallant resistance. " — Clausewitz. The Bavarians
stood under Raglowich, the Wurtembergers under Franquemont, the Saxons un-
der Reynier. There was also a contingent of Westphaliaris and Badeners.

3 Blucher exclaimed on this occasion: "He's a rascally fellow that dares to
say we fly." Even Fain, the Frenchman, confesses in his manuscript of 1813,
in which he certainly does not favor the Germans: "The best Marshals, as it
were, killed by spent balls. Great victories without trophies. All the villages

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1579

in close pursuit of the allied force, almost entirely cut to
pieces by the Prussian cavalry, which unexpectedly fell
upon it at Heinau. The main body of the Kusso- Prussian
army, on entering Silesia, took a slanting direction toward
the Riesengebirge and retired behind the fortress of Schweid-
nitz. In this strong position they were at once partially se-
cure from attack, and, by their vicinity to the Bohemian
frontier, enabled to keep up a communication, and, if nec-
essary, to form a junction with the Austrian forces. The
whole of the lowlands of Silesia lay open to the French,
who entered Breslau on the 1st of June. ' Berlin was also
merely covered by a comparatively weak army under Gen-
eral Bulow,8 who, notwithstanding the check given by him
to Marshal Oudinot in the battles of Hoyerswerda and
Luckau, was not in sufficient force to offer resistance to
the main body of the French in case Napoleon chose to pass
through Berlin on his way to Poland. Napoleon, however,
did not as yet venture to make use of his advantage. By
the seizure of Prussia and Poland, both of which lay open to
him, the main body of the allied army and the Austrians,
who had not yet declared themselves, would have been left
to the rear of his right flank and could easily have cut off
his retreat. His troops, principally young conscripts, were
moreover worn out with fatigue, nor had the whole of his
reinforcements arrived. To his rear was a multitude of bold
partisans, Tettenborn, the Hanseatic legion, Czernitscheff,
who, at Halberstadt, captured General Ochs together with

on our route in flames which obstructed our advance. 'What a war ! "We shall
all fall victims to it!' are the disgraceful expressions uttered by many, for the
iron hearts of the warriors of France are rust-grown." Napoleon exclaimed
after the battle, "How! no result after such a massacre? No prisoners? They
leave me not even a nail!" Duroc's death added to the catastrophe. Napoleon
was so struck that for the first time in his life he could give no orders, but de-
ferred everything until the morrow.

1 But they merely encamped in the streets, showed themselves more anxious
than threatening, and were seized with a terrible panic on a sudden conflagration
breaking out during the night, which they mistook for a signal to bring the
Landsturm upon them. And yet there were thirty thousand French in the city.
How different to their spirit in 1807 !

2 Brother to the unfortunate Henry von Billow.

1580 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the whole of the Westphalian corps and fourteen pieces of
artillery, Colomb, the Herculean captain of horse, who took
a convoy and twenty-four guns at Zwickau, and the Black
Prussian squadron under Lutzow. Napoleon consequently
remained stationary, and, with a view of completing his
preparations and of awaiting the decision of Austria, de-
manded an armistice, to which the allies, whose force was
still incomplete and to whom the decision of Austria was of
equal importance, gladly assented.

On this celebrated armistice, concluded on the 4th of
June, 1813, at the village of Pleisswitz, the fate of Europe
was to depend. To the side that could raise the most power-
ful force, that on which Austria ranged herself, numerical
superiority insured success. Napoleon's power was still ter-
rible; fresh victory had obliterated the disgrace of his flight
from Eussia; he stood once more an invincible leader on
German soil. The French were animated by success and
blindly devoted to their emperor. Italy and Denmark were
prostrate at his feet. The Rhenish confederation was also
faithful to his standard. Councillor Crome published at
Giessen, in obedience to Napoleon's mandate and with the
knowledge of the government at Darmstadt, a pamphlet
entitled "Germany's Crisis and Salvation," in which he
declared that Germany was saved by the fresh victories of
Napoleon, and promised mountains of gold to the Germans
if they remained true to him.1 Crome was at that time gra-
ciously thanked in autograph letters by the sovereigns of
Bavaria and Wurtemberg. Lutzow' s volunteer corps was,
during the armistice, surprised at Kitzen by a superior corps

1 Crome was afterward barefaced enough to boast of this work in his Auto-
biography, published in 1833. Napoleon dictated the fundamental ideas of this
work to him from his headquarters. His object was to pacify the Germans. He
promised them henceforward to desist from enforcing his continental system, to
restore liberty to commerce, no longer to force the laws and language of France
upon Germany. L'empereur se fera aimer des Allemands. The Germans were,
on the other hand, warned that the allies had no intention to render Germany
free and independent, they being much more interested in retaining Germany in
a state of division and subjection. The unity of Germany, it was also declared,
was alone possible under Napoleon, etc.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1581

of Wurtembergers under Normann and cut to pieces. Ger-
mans at that period opposed Germans without any feeling
for their common fatherland.1 The king of Saxony, who
had already repaired to Prague under the protection of Aus-
tria, also returned thence, was received at Dresden with
extreme magnificence by Napoleon, and, in fresh token of
amity, ceded the fortress of Torgau to the French.2 These
occurrences caused the Saxon minister, Senfft von Pilsach,
and the Saxon general, Thielmann, who had already de-
voted themselves to the German cause, to resign office. The
Polish army under Prince Poniatowsky (vassal to the king
of Saxony, who was also grandduke of Warsaw) received
permission (it had at an earlier period fallen back upon
Schwarzenberg) to march, unarmed, through the Austrian
territory to Dresden, in order to join the main body of the
French under Napoleon. The declaration of the emperor
of Austria in favor of his son-in-law, who, moreover, was
lavish of his promises, and, among other things, offered
to restore Silesia, was, consequently, at the opening of the
armistice, deemed certain.

The armistice was, meanwhile, still more beneficial to the
allies. The Russians had time to concentrate their scattered
troops, the Prussians completed the equipment of their nu-
merous Landwehren, and the Swedes also took the field.
Bernadotte landed on the 18th of May in Pomerania, and
advanced with his troops into Brandenburg for the purpose,
in conjunction with Bulow, of covering Berlin. A German
auxiliary corps, in the pay of England, was also formed,
under Wallmoden, on the Baltic. The defence of Hamburg
was extremely easy; but the base intrigues of foreigners,

1 This arose from hatred to the party that dared to uphold the German cause
instead of a Prussian, Saxon, etc., one, and by no means by chance, but, as
Manso remarks, intentionally, "through low cunning and injustice."

2 The king of Saxony was, in return, insulted by Napoleon, in an address to
the ministers was termed une veille hete, and compelled to countenance immoral
theatrical performances by his presence, a sin for which he each evening re-
ceived absolution from his confessor. Vide Stein's Letter to Miinster in the
Sketches of the War of Liberation.

1582 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

who, as during the time of the thirty years' war, paid them-
selves for their aid by the seizure of German provinces and
towns, delivered that splendid city into the hands of the
French. Bernadotte had sold himself to Eussia for the price
of Norway, which Denmark refused to cede unless Ham-
burg and Lubeck were given in exchange. This agreement
had already been made by Prince Dolgorucki in the name of
the emperor Alexander, and Tettenborn yielded Hamburg to
the Danes, who marched in under pretext of protecting the
city and were received with delight by the unsuspecting citi-
zens. The non-advance of the Swedes proceeded from the
same cause. The increase of the Danish, marine by means
of the Hanse towns, however, proved displeasing to Eng-
land; the whole of the commerce was broken up, and the
Danes, hastily resolving to maintain faith with Napoleon,
delivered luckless Hamburg to the French, who instantly
took a most terrible revenge. Davoust, as he himself
boasted, merely sent twelve Grerman patriots to execution,1
but expelled twenty- five thousand of the inhabitants from
the city, while he pulled down their houses and converted
them into fortifications, at which the principal citizens were
compelled to work in person. Dissatisfied, moreover, with a
contribution of eighteen millions, he robbed the great Ham-
burg bank, treading underfoot every private and national
right, all, as he, miserable slave as he was,2 declared, in
obedience to the mandate of his lord.

Austria, at first, instead of aiding the allies, allowed the
Poles3 to range themselves beneath the standard of Napo-
leon, whom she overwhelmed with protestations of friend-

1 He also said, like his master, "I know of no Germans, I only know of
Bavarians, Wurtembergers, Westphalians, " etc.

3 His written defence, in which he so lyingly, so humbly and mournfully
exculpates himself that one really "compassionates the devil," is a sort of satis-
faction for the Germans.

3 Poniatowsky's dismissal with the Polish army from Poland was apparently
a service rendered to Napoleon, "but was in reality done with a view of disarming
Poland. Poniatowsky might have organized an insurrection to the rear of the
allies, and would in that case have been far more dangerous to them than when
ranged beneath the standard of Napoleoa

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1583

ship, which served to mask her real intentions, and mean-
while gave her time to arm herself to the teeth and to make
the allies sensible of the fact of their utter impotency against
Napoleon unless aided by her. The interests of Austria fa-
vored her alliance with France, but Napoleon, instead of
confidence, inspired mistrust. Austria, notwithstanding the
marriage between him and Maria Louisa, was, as had been
shown at the congress of Dresden, merely treated as a tribu-
tary to France, and Napoleon's ambition offered no guaran-
tee to the ancient imperial dynasty. There was no security
that the provinces bestowed in momentary reward for her
alliance must not, on the first occasion, be restored. Nor
was public opinion entirely without weight.1 Napoleon's
star was on the wane, whole nations stood like to a dark
and ominous cloud threatening on the horizon, and Count
Metternich prudently chose rather to attempt to guide the
storm ere it burst than trust to a falling star. Austria had,
as early as the 27th of June, 1813, signed a treaty, at
Keichenbach in Silesia, with Russia and Prussia, by which
she bound herself to declare war against France, in case
Napoleon had not, before the 20th of July, accepted the
terms of peace about to be proposed to him. Already had
the sovereigns and generals of Eussia and Prussia sketched,
during a conference held with the crown prince of Sweden,
the llth July, at Trachenberg, the plan for the approaching

1 The people in Austria fully sympathized with passing events. How could
those be apathetic who had such a burden of disgrace to redeem, such deep re-
venge to satisfy? An extremely popular song contained the following lines :

"Awake, Franciscus! Hark! thy people call !
Awake! acknowledge the avenger's hand!
Still groans beneath the foreign courser's hoof
The soil of G-ermany, our fatherland.

"To arms! so long as sacred Germany
Feels but a finger of Napoleon.
Franciscus! up! Cast off each private tie!
The patriot has no kindred, has no son."

All the able-bodied men, as in Prussia, crowded beneath the imperial stand-
ard and the whole empire made the most patriotic sacrifices. Hungary sum-
moned the whole of her male population, the insurrection, as it was termed, to
the field.

1584 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

campaign, and, with the permission of Austria, assigned to
her the part she was to take as one of the allies against
Napoleon, when Metternich again visited Dresden in person
for the purpose of repeating his assurances of amity, for the
armistice had but just commenced, to Napoleon, The French
emperor had an. indistinct idea of the. transactions then pass-
ing, and bluntly said to the Count, ' ' As you wish to mediate,
you are no longer on my side. ' ' He hoped partly to win
Austria over by redoubling his promises, partly to terrify
her by the dread of the future ascendency of .Eussia, but,
perceiving how Metternich evaded him by his artful diplo-
macy, he suddenly asked him, "Well, Metternich, how much
has England given you in order to engage you to play this
part toward me ?" This trait of insolence toward an antag-
onist of whose superiority he felt conscious, and of the most
deadly hatred masked by contempt, was peculiarly charac-
teristic of the Corsican, who, besides the qualities of the lion,
fully possessed those of the cat. Napoleon let his hat drop
in order to see whether Metternich would raise it. He did
not, and war was resolved upon. A pretended congress for
the conclusion of peace was again arranged by both sides;
by Napoleon, in order to elude the reproach cast upon him
of an insurmountable and eternal desire for war, and by the
allies, in order to prove to the whole world their desire for
peace. Each side was, however, fully aware that the palm
of peace was alone to be found on the other side of the bat-
tlefield. Napoleon was generous in his concessions, but
delayed granting full powers to "his envoy, an opportune
circumstance for the allies, who were by this means able to
charge him with the whole blame of procrastination. Na-
poleon, in all his concessions, merely included Eussia and
Austria to the exclusion of Prussia.1 But neither Eussia

1 Russia was to receive the whole of Poland, the grandduchy of Warsaw
was to be annihilated. Such was Napoleon's gratitude toward the Poles ! — Illy-
ria was to be restored to Austria. Prussia, however, was not only to be ex-
cluded from all participation in the spoil, but the Rhenish confederation was to
be extended as far as the Oder. Prussia would have been compelled to pay the
expenses of the alliance between France, Russia, and Austria.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1585

nor Austria trusted to his promises, and the negotiations
were broken off on the termination of the armistice, when
Napoleon sent full powers to his plenipotentiary. Now, was
it said, it is too late. The art with which Metternich passed
from the alliance with Napoleon to neutrality, to mediation,
and finally to the coalition against him, will, in every age,
be acknowledged a master-piece of diplomacy. Austria,
while coalescing with Kussia and Prussia, in a certain de-
gree assumed a rank conventionally superior to both. The
whole of the allied armies was placed under the command
of an Austrian general, Prince von Schwarzenberg, and if
the proclamation published at Calisch had merely sum-
moned the people of Germany to assert their independence,
the manifesto of Count Metternich spoke already in the tone
-of the future regulator of the affairs of Europe.1 Austria
declared herself on the 12th of August, 1.813, two days after
the termination of the armistice.

1 "Everywhere," said this manifesto, "do the impatient wishes of the people
anticipate the regular proceedings of the government. On all sides, the desire
for independence under separate laws, the feeling of insulted nationality, rage
against the heavy abuses inflicted by a foreign tyrant, burst simultaneously forth.
His Majesty the emperor, too clear-sighted not to view this turn in affairs as the
natural and necessary result of a preceding and violent state of exaggeration, and
too just to view it with displeasure, had rendered it his principal object to turn
it to the general advantage, and, by well-weighed and well-combined measures,
to promote the true and lasting interests of the whole commonwealth of Europe.''

1586 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXI. The Battle of Leipzig

IMMEDIATELY after this — for all had been previously
arranged — the monarchs of Kussia and Prussia passed the
Riesengebirge with a division of their forces into Bohemia,
and joined the emperor Francis and the great Austrian
army at Prague. The celebrated general, Moreau, who
had returned from America, where he had hitherto dwelt
incognito, in order to take up arms against Napoleon, was
in the train of the czar. His example, it was hoped, would
induce many of his countrymen to abandon Napoleon. The
plan of the allies was to advance, with their main body
under Schwarzenberg, consisting of one hundred and twenty
thousand Austrians and seventy thousand Russians and
Prussians, through the Erzgebirge to Napoleon's rear. A
lesser Prussian force, principally Silesian Landwehr, under
Blucher, eighty thousand strong, besides a small Russian
corps, was, meanwhile, to cover Silesia, or, in case of an
attack by Napoleon's main body, to retire before it and draw
it further eastward. A third division, under the crown
prince of Sweden, principally Swedes, with some Prussian
troops, mostly Pomeranian and Brandenburg Landwehr
under Bulow, and some Russians, in all ninety thousand
men, was destined to cover Berlin, and in case of a victory
to form a junction to Napoleon's rear with the main body
of the allied army. A still lesser and equally mixed division
under Wallmoden, thirty thousand strong, was destined to
watch Davoust in Hamburg, while an Austrian corps of
twenty-five thousand men under Prince Reuss watched the
movements of the. Bavarians, and another Austrian force
of forty thousand, under Hiller, those of the viceroy Eugene
in Italy.

Napoleon had concentrated his main body, that still con-
sisted of two hundred and fifty thousand men, in and around

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1587

Dresden. Davoust received orders to advance with thirty
thousand men from Hamburg upon Berlin; in Bavaria,
there were thirty thousand men under Wrede; in Italy, forty
thousand under Eugene. The German fortresses were,
moreover, strongly garrisoned with French troops. Napo-
leon had it in his power to throw himself with his main
body, which neither Blucher nor the Swedes could have
withstood, into Poland, to levy the people en masse and
render that country the theatre of war, but the dread of the
defection of the Rhenish confederation and of a part of
the French themselves, were the country to his rear to be
left open to the allies and to Moreau, coupled with his dis-
inclination to declare the independence of Poland, owing to a
lingering hope of being still able to bring about a reconcilia-
tion with Russia and Austria by the sacrifice of that country
and of Prussia, caused that idea to be renounced, and he
accordingly took up a defensive position with his main body
at Dresden, whence he could watch the proceedings and take
advantage of any indiscretion on the part of his opponents.
A body of ninety thousand men under Oudinot meantime
acted on the offensive, being directed to advance, simultane-
ously with Davoust from Hamburg and with Girard from
Magdeburg, upon Berlin, and to take possession of that
metropolis. Napoleon hoped, when master of the ancient
Prussian provinces, to be able to suppress German enthusi-
asm at its source and to induce Russia and Austria to con-
clude a separate peace at the expense of Prussia.

In August, 1813, the tempest of war broke loose on every
side, and all Europe prepared for a decisive struggle. About
this time, the whole of Northern Germany was visited for
some weeks, as was the case on the defeat of Varus in the
Teutoburg forest, with heavy rains and violent storms. The
elements seemed to combine, as in Russia, their efforts with
those of man against Napoleon. There his soldiers fell vic-
tims to frost and snow, here they sank into the boggy soil
and were carried away by the swollen rivers. In the midst
of the uproar of the elements, bloody engagements con-

GEEMANY. YOL. IY. — J

1588 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tinually took place, in which the bayonet and the butt-end
of the firelock were almost alone used, the muskets being
rendered unserviceable by the wet. The first engagement
of importance was that of the 21st of August between Wall-
moden and Davoust at Yellahn. A few days afterward,
Theodore Korner, the youthful poet and hero, fell in a
skirmish between the French and Wallmoden's outpost at
Gadebusch. — Oudinot advanced close upon Berlin, which
was protected by the crown prince of Sweden. A murder-
ous conflict took place, on the 23d of August, at Gross-
Beeren between the Prussian division under General von
Bulow and the French. The Swedes, a troop of horse artil-
lery alone excepted, were not brought into action, and the
Prussians, unaided, repulsed the greatly superior forces of
the French. The almost untrained peasantry comprising the
Landwehr of the Mark and of Pomerania rushed upon the
enemy, and, unhabituated to the use of the bayonet and
firelock, beat down entire battalions of the French with
the butt-end of their muskets. After a frightful massa-
cre, the French were utterly routed and fled in wild disorder,
but the gallant Prussians vainly expected the Swedes to aid
in the pursuit. The crown prince, partly from a desire to
spare his troops and partly from a feeling of shame — he was
also a Frenchman — remained motionless. Oudinot, never-
theless, lost two thousand four hundred prisoners. Davoust,
from this disaster, returned once more to Hamburg. Gi-
rard, who had advanced with eight thousand men from
Magdeburg, was, on the 27th, put to flight by the Prussian
Landwehr under General Hirschfeld.

Napoleon's plan of attack against Prussia had completely
failed, and his sole alternative was to act on the defensive.
But on perceiving that the main body of the allied forces
under Schwarzenberg was advancing to his rear, while
Blucher was stationed with merely a weak division in Si-
lesia, he took the field with immensely superior forces against
the latter, under an idea of being able easily to vanquish his
weak antagonist and to fall back again in time upon Dresden.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1589

Blucher cautiously retired, but, unable to restrain the martial
spirit of the soldiery, who obstinately defended every posi-
tion whence they were driven, lost two thousand of his men
on the 21st of August. The news of Napoleon's advance
upon Silesia and of the numerical weakness of the garrison
left at Dresden reached Schwarzenberg just as he had crossed
the Erzgebirge, and induced him and the allied sovereigns
assembled within his camp to change their plan of operations
and to march straight upon the Saxon capital. Napoleon,
who had pursued Blucher as far as the Katzbach near Gold-
berg, instantly returned and boldly resolved to cross the Elbe
above Dresden, to seize the passes of the Bohemian moun-
tains, and to fall upon the rear of the main body of the allied
army. Yandamme's corps d'armee had already set forward
with this design, when Napoleon learned that Dresden could
no longer hold out unless he returned thither with a division
of his army, and, in order to preserve that city and the
centre of his position, he hastily returned thither in the hope
of defeating the allied army and of bringing it between two
fires, as Van damme must meanwhile have occupied the nar-
row outlets of the Erzgebirge with thirty thousand men and
by that means have cut oft' the retreat of the allied army.
The plan was on a grand scale, and, as far as related to
Napoleon in person, was executed, to the extreme discomfit-
ure of the allies, with his usual success. Schwarzenberg
had, with true Austrian procrastination, allowed the 25th
of August, when, as the French themselves confess, Dres-
den, in her then ill- defended state, might have been taken
almost without a stroke, to pass in inaction, and, when he
attempted to storm the city on the 26th, Napoleon, who had
meanwhile arrived, calmly awaited the onset of the thick
masses of the enemy in order to open a murderous discharge
of grape upon them on every side. They were repulsed after
suffering a frightful loss. On the following day, destined
to end in still more terrible bloodshed, Napoleon assumed
the offensive, separated the retiring allied army by well-com-
bined sallies, cut off its left wing, and made an immense

1590 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

number of prisoners, chiefly Austrians. The unfortunate
Moreau had both his legs shot off in the very first encounter.
His death was an act of justice, for he had taken up arms
against his fellow-countrymen, and was moreover a gain for
the Grermans, the Russians merely making use of him in
order to obscure the fame of the German leaders, and, it
may be, with a view of placing the future destinies of France
in his hands. The main body of the allied army retreated
on every side; part of the troops disbanded, the rest were
exposed to extreme hardship owing to the torrents of rain
that fell without intermission and the scarcity of provisions.
Their annihilation must have inevitably followed had Yan-
damme executed Napoleon's commands and blocked up the
mountain passes, in which he was unsuccessful, owing to
the gallantry with which he was held in check at Culm by
eight thousand Eussian guards, headed by Ostermann, l who,
although merely amounting in number to a fourth of his
army, fought during a whole day without receding a step,
though almost the whole of them were cut to pieces and
Ostermann was deprived of an arm, until the first corps of
the main body, in full retreat, reached the mountains. Van-
damme was now in tarn overwhelmed by superior numbers.
One way of escape, a still unoccupied height, on which he
hastened to post himself, alone remained, but Kleist's corps,
also in full retreat, unexpectedly but opportunely appeared
above his head and took him and the whole of his corps
prisoners, the 29th of August, 1813. a

At the same time, the 26th of August, a most glorious
victory was gained by Blucher in Silesia. After having
drawn Macdonald across the Katzbach and the foaming
Neisse, he drove him, after a desperate and bloody engage-

1 This general belonged to a German family long naturalized in Russia.

2 He was led through Silesia, which he had once so shamefully plundered,
and, although m> physical punishment was inflicted upon him, he was often
compelled to hear the voice of public opinion, and was exposed to the view of
the people to whom he had once said, "Nothing shall be left to you except your
eyes, that you may be able to weep over your wretchedness. " — Manso's History
of Prussia.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1591

ment, into those rivers, which were greatly swollen by the
incessant rains. The muskets of the soldiery had been ren-
dered unserviceable by the wet, and Blucher, drawing his
sabre from beneath his cloak, dashed forward exclaiming,
''Forward!" Several thousand of the French were drowned
or fell by the bayonet, or beneath the heavy blows dealt by
the Landwehr with the butt- end of their firelocks. It was
on this battlefield that the Silesians had formerly opposed
the Tartars, and the monastery of Wahlstatt, erected in
memory of that heroic day,1 was still standing. Blucher
was rewarded with the title of Prince von der Wahlstatt, but
his soldiers surnamed him Marshal Yorwarts. On the de-
cline of the floods, the banks of the rivers were strewn with
corpses sticking in horrid distortion out of the mud. A part
of the French fled for a couple of days in terrible disorder
along the right bank and were then taken prisoner together
with their general, Puthod.a The French lost one hundred
and three guns, eighteen thousand prisoners, and a still
greater number in killed; the loss on the side of the Prus-
sians merely amounted to one thousand men. Macdonald
returned almost totally unattended to Dresden and brought
the melancholy intelligence to Napoleon, "Votre armee du
Bobre n'existe plus."

The crown prince of Sweden and Bulow had meanwhile
pursued Oudinot's retreating corps in the direction of the
Elbe. Napoleon despatched Ney against them, but he met
with the fate of his predecessor, at Dennewitz, on the 6th
of September. The Prussians, on this occasion, again tri-
umphed, unaided by their confederates. 3 Bulow and Tauen-

1 A n ancient battle-axe of serpentine stone was found on the site fixed upon
for the erection of a fresh monument in honor of the present victory. — Attge-
menie Zeitung, 1817.

2 This piece of good fortune befell Langeron, the Eussian general, who
belonged to the diplomatic party at that time attempting to spare the forces
of Russia, Austria, and Sweden at the expense of Prussia, and, at the same
time, to deprive Prussia of her well-won laurels. Langeron had not obeyed
Bliicher's orders, had remained behind on his own responsibility, and the scat'
tered French troops fell into his hands.

3 The proud armies of Russia and Sweden (forty-six battalions, forty squad-

1592 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

zien, with twenty thousand men, defeated the French army,
seventy thousand strong. The crown prince of Sweden not
only remained to the rear with the whole of his troops, but
gave perfectly useless orders to the advancing Prussian
squadron under General Borstel, who, without attending to
them, hurried on to Bulow's assistance, and the French
were, notwithstanding their numerical superiority, com-
pletely driven off the field, which the crown prince reached
just in time to witness the dispersion of his countrymen.
The French lost eighteen thousand men and eighty guns.
The rout was complete. The rearguard, consisting of the
Wurtembergers under Franquemont, was again over-
taken at the head of the bridge at Zwettau, and, after a
frightful carnage, driven in wild confusion across the dam
to Torgau. The Bavarians under Kaglowich, who, probably
owing to secret orders, had remained, during the battle,
almost in a state of inactivity, withdrew in another direc-
tion and escaped. * Davoust also again retired upon Ham-
burg, and his rearguard under Pecheux was attacked by
Wallmoden, on the 16th of September, on the Gorde, and-
suffered a trifling loss. On the 29th of September, eight
thousand French were also defeated by Plato w, the Hetman
of the Cossacks, at Zeitz; on the 30th, Czernitscheff pene-
trated into Cassel and expelled Jerome. Thielemann, the
Saxon general, also infested the country to Napoleon's rear,
intercepted his convoys at Leipzig, and at Weissenfels took
one thousand two hundred, at Merseburg two thousand,
French prisoners; he was, however, deprived of his booty by
a strong force under Lefebvre-Desnouettes, by whom he was
incessantly harassed until Platow's arrival with the Cos-
sacks, who, in conjunction with Thielemann, repulsed Le-
febvre with great slaughter at Altenburg. On this occasion,

rons, and one hundred and fifty guns) followed to the rear of the Prussians
without firing a shot and remained inactive spectators of the action. — Plotho.
1 In order to avoid being carried along by the fugitive French, they fired
upon them whenever their confused masses came too close upon them. — Bold-
er ndorf.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1593

a Baden battalion, that had been drawn up apart from the
French, turned their fire upon their unnatural confederates
and aided in their dispersion. '

Napoleon's generals had been thrown back in every quar-
ter, with immense loss, upon Dresden, toward which the
allies now advanced, threatening to enclose it on every side.
Napoleon manoeuvred until the beginning of October with
the view of executing a coup de main against Schwarzen-
berg and Blucher; the allies were, however, on their guard,
and he was constantly reduced to the necessity of recalling
his troops, sent for that purpose into the field, to Dresden.
The danger in which he now stood of being completely sur-
rounded and cut off from the Rhine at length rendered
retreat his sole alternative. Blucher had already crossed
the Elbe on the 5th of October, and, in conjunction with the
crown prince of Sweden, had approached the head of the
main body of the allied army under Schwarzenberg, which
was advancing from the Erzgebirge. On the 7th of Octo-
ber, Napoleon quitted Dresden, leaving a garrison of thirty
thousand French under St, Cyr, and removed his headquar-
ters to Duben, on the road leading from Leipzig to Berlin,
in the hope of drawing Blucher and the Swedes once more
on the right side of the Elbe, in which case he intended to
turn unexpectedly upon the Austrians; Blucher, however,
eluded him, without quitting the left bank. Napoleon's plan
was to take advantage of the absence of Blucher and of the
Swedes from Berlin in order to hasten across the defenceless
country, for the purpose of inflicting punishment upon Prus-
sia, of raising Poland, etc. But his plan met with opposition
in his own military council. His ill success had caused those
who had hitherto followed his fortunes to waver. The king
of Bavaria declared against him on the 8th of October,2 and

1 Vide Wagner's Chronicle of Altenburg.

2 Maximilian Joseph declared in an open manifesto ; Bavaria was compelled
to furnish thirty-eight thousand men for the Russian campaign, and, on her
expressing a hope that such an immense sacrifice would not be requested, France
instantly declared the princes of the Rhenish confederation her vassals, who
were commanded "under punishment of felony" unconditionally to obey each

1594 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the Bavarian army under Wrede united with instead of
opposing the Austrian army and was sent to the Maine in
order to cut off Napoleon's retreat. The news of this defec-
tion speedily reached the French camp and caused the rest
of the troops of the Rhenish confederation to waver in their
allegiance; while the French, wearied with useless manoeu-
vres, beaten in every quarter, opposed by an enemy greatly
their superior in number and glowing with revenge, despaired
of the event and sighed for peace and their quiet homes.
All refused to march upon Berlin, nay, the very idea of re-
moving further from Paris almost produced a mutiny in the
camp.1 Four days, from the llth to the 14th of October,
were passed by Napoleon in a state of melancholy irresolu-
tion, when he appeared as if suddenly inspired by the idea
of there still being time to execute a coup de main upon the
main body of the allied army under Schwarzenberg before
its junction with Blucher and the Swedes. Schwarzenberg
was slowly advancing from Bohemia and had already al-
lowed himself to be defeated before Dresden. Napoleon
intended to fall upon him on his arrival in the vicinity of

of Napoleon's demands. The allies would, on the contrary, have acceded to all
the desires of Bavaria and have guaranteed that kingdom. Even the Austrian
troops, that stood opposed to Bavaria, were placed under Wrede 's command. —
Kaglowich received permission from Napoleon, before the battle of Leipzig, to
return to Bavaria; but his corps was retained in the vicinity of Leipzig without
taking part in the action, and retired, in the general confusion, under the com-
mand of General Maillot, upon Torgau, whence it returned home. — JBolderndorf.
In the Tyrol, the brave mountaineers were on the eve of revolt. As early as
September, Speckbacher, sick and wasted from his wounds, but endued with all
his former fire and energy, reappeared in the Tyrol, where he was commissioned
by Austria to organize a revolt. An unexpected reconciliation, however, taking
place between Bavaria and Austria, counter orders arrived, and Speckbacher
furiously dashed his bullet- worn hat to the ground. — Brockhau8t 1814. The
restoration of the Tyrol to Austria being delayed, a multitude of Tyrolese forced
their way into Innsbruck and deposed the Bavarian authorities ; their leader,
Kluibenspedel, was, however, persuaded by Austria to submit. Speckbacher
was, in 1816, raised by the emperor Francis to the rank of major; he died in
1820, and was buried at Hall by the south wall of the parish church. His son,
Andre, who grew up a fine, handsome man, died in 1835, at Jenbach (not Zen-
bach, as Mercy has it in his attacks upon the Tyrol), in the Tyrol, where he
was employed as superintendent of the mines. Mercy's Travels and his account
of Speckbacher in the Milan Revista Europea, 1838, are replete with falsehood.
1 According to Fain and Coulaincourt.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1595

Leipzig, but it was already too late. — Blucher was at hand.
On the 14th of October,1 the flower of the French cavalry,
headed by the king of Naples, encountered Blucher's and
Wittgenstein's cavalry at Wachau, not far from Leipzig.
The contest was broken off, both sides being desirous of
husbanding their strength, but terminated to the disadvan-
tage of the French, notwithstanding their numerical supe-
riority, besides proving the vicinity of the Prussians. This
was the most important cavalry fight that took place during
this war.

On the 16th of October, while Napoleon was merely
awaiting the arrival of Macdonald's corps, that had re-
mained behind, before proceeding to attack Schwarzen-
berg's Bohemian army, he was unexpectedly attacked on
the right bank of the Pleisse, at Liebert-wolkwitz, by the
Austrians, who were, however, compelled to retire before
a superior force. The French cavalry under Latour-Mau-
bourg pressed so closely upon the emperor of Russia and
the king of Prussia that they merely owed their escape to
the gallantry of the Kussian, Orlow Denisow, and to La-
tour's fall. Napoleon had already ordered all the bells in
Leipzig to be rung, had sent the news of his victory to Paris,
and seems to have expected a complete triumph when joy-
fully exclaiming, "Le monde tourne pour nous!" But his
victory had been only partial, and he had been unable to
follow up his advantage, another division of the Austrian
army, under General Meerveldt, having simultaneously oc-
cupied him and compelled him to cross the Pleisse at Dol-
nitz; and, although Meerveldt had been in his turn repulsed
with severe loss and been himself taken prisoner, the diver-
sion proved of service to the Austrians by keeping Napoleon
in check until the arrival of Blucher, who threw himself
upon the division of the French army opposed to him at

1 On the evening of the 14th of October (the anniversary of the battle of
Jena), a hurricane raged in the neighborhood of Leipzig, where the French lay,
carried away roofs and uprooted trees, while, during the whole night, the rain
fell in violent floods.

1596 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Mockern by Marshal Marmont. Napoleon, while thus oc-
cupied with the Austrians, was unable to meet the attack of
the Prussians with sufficient force. Marmont, after a mas-
sacre of some hours' duration in and around Mockern, was
compelled to retire with a loss of forty guns. The second
Prussian brigade lost, either in killed or wounded, all its
officers except one.

The battle had, on the 16th of October, raged around
Leipzig; Napoleon had triumphed over the Austrians, whom
he had solely intended to attack, but had, at the same time,
been attacked and defeated by the Prussians, and now found
himself opposed and almost surrounded — one ioad for retreat
alone remaining open — by the whole allied force. He in-
stantly gave orders to General Bertrand to occupy Weissen-
•fels during the night, in order to secure his retreat through
Thuringia; but, during the following day, the 17th of Octo-
ber, neither seized that opportunity in order to effect a re-
treat or to make a last and energetic attack upon the allies,
whose forces were not yet completely concentrated, ere the
circle had been fully drawn around him. The Swedes, the
Kussians under Bennigsen, and a large Austrian division
under Colloredo, had not yet arrived. Napoleon might with
advantage have again attacked the defeated Austrians under
Schwarzenberg or have thrown himself with the whole of
his forces upon Blucher. He had still an opportunity of
making an orderly retreat without any great exposure to
danger. But he did neither. He remained motionless dur-
ing the whole day, which was also passed in tranquillity by
the allies, who thus gained time to receive fresh reinforce-
ments. Napoleon's inactivity was caused by his having sent
his prisoner, General Meerveldt, to the emperor of Austria,
whom he still hoped to induce, by means of great assurances,
to secede from the coalition and to make peace. Not even a
reply was vouchsafed. On the very day, thus futilely lost
by Napoleon, the allied army was reintegrated by the ar-
rival of the masses commanded by the crown prince, by
Bennigsen and Colloredo, and was consequently raised to

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1597

double the strength of that of France, which now merely
amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand men. On the
18th, a murderous conflict began on both sides. Napoleon
long and skilfully opposed the fierce onset of the allied
troops, but was at length driven off the field by their su-
perior weight and persevering efforts. The Austrians, sta-
tioned on the left wing of the allied army, were opposed by
Oudinot, Augereau, and Poniatowsky; the Prussians, sta-
tioned on the right wing, by Marmont and Ney ; the Rus-
sians and Swedes in the centre, by Murat and Regnier. In
the hottest of the battle, two Saxon cavalry regiments went
over to Bliicher, and General Normann, when about to be
charged at Taucha by the Prussian cavalry under Billow,
also deserted to him with two Wiirtemberg cavalry regi-
ments, in order to avoid an unpleasant reminiscence of the
treacherous ill-treatment of Liitzow's corps. The whole of
the Saxon infantry, commanded by Regnier, shortly after-
ward went, with thirty-eight guns, over to the Swedes, five
hundred men and General Zeschau alone remaining true to
Napoleon. The Saxons stationed themselves behind the lines
of the allies, but their guns were instantly turned upon the
enemy. l

In the evening of this terrible day, the French were
driven back close upon the walls of Leipzig.3 On the cer-
tainty of victory being announced by Schwarzenberg to the
three monarchs, who had watched the progress of the bat-
tle, they knelt on the open field and returned thanks to God.
Napoleon, before nightfall, gave orders for full retreat; but,

1 Not so the Badeners and Hessians. The Baden corps was captured almost
to a man ; among others, Prince Emilius of Darmstadt. Baden had been gov-
erned, since the death of the popular grandduke, Charles Frederick, in 1811, by
his grandson, Charles. — Franquemont, with the "Wiirtemberg infantry, eight to
nine thousand strong, acted independently of Normann 's cavalry. But one
thousand of their number remained after the battle of Leipzig, and, without
going over to the allies, returned to Wiirtemberg. Normann was punished by
his sovereign.

2 The city was in a state of utter confusion. "The noise caused by the pas-
sage of the cavalry, carriages, etc., by the cries of the fugitives through the
streets, exceeded that of the most terrific storm. The earth shook, the windows
clattered with the thunder of artillery," etc. — The Terrors of Leipzig, 1813.

1598 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

on the morning of the 19th, recommenced the battle and
sacrificed some of his corps d'armee in order to save the
remainder. He had, however, foolishly left but one bridge
across the Elster open, and the retreat was consequently re-
tarded. Leipzig was stormed by the Prussians, and, while
the French rearguard was still battling on that side of the
bridge, Napoleon fled, and had no sooner crossed the bridge
than it was blown up with a tremendous explosion, owing to
the inadvertence of a subaltern, who is said to have fired the
train too hastily. The troops engaged on the opposite bank
were irremediably lost. Prince Poniatowsky plunged on
horseback into the Elster in order to swim across, but sank
in the deep mud. The king of Saxony, who to the last had
remained true to Napoleon, was among the prisoners. The
loss during this battle, which raged for four days, and in
which almost every nation in Europe stood opposed to each
other, was immense on both sides. The total loss in dead
was computed at eighty thousand. The French lost, more-
over, three hundred guns and a multitude of prisoners; in
the city of Leipzig alone twenty-three thousand sick, with-
out reckoning the innumerable wounded. Numbers of these
unfortunates lay bleeding and starving to death during the
cold October nights on the field of battle, it being found
impossible to erect a sufficient number of lazaretti for their
accommodation. Napoleon made a hasty and disorderly
retreat with the remainder of his troops, but was overtaken
at Freiburg on the Unstrutt, where the bridge broke, and a
repetition of the disastrous passage of the Beresina occurred.
The fugitives collected into a dense mass, upon which the
Prussian artillery played with murderous effect. The French
lost forty of their guns. At Hanau, Wrede, Napoleon's
former favorite, after taking Wiirzburg, watched the move-
ments of his ancient patron, and, had he occupied the pass
at Gelnhausen, might have annihilated him. Napoleon, how-
ever, furiously charged his flank, and, on the 20th of Octo-
ber, succeeded in forcing a passage and in sending seventy
thousand men across the Rhine. Wrede was dangerously

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1599

wounded. ' On the 9th of November, the last French corps
was defeated at Hochheim and driven back upon Mayence.
In the November of this ever memorable year, 1813, Ger-
many, as far as the Ehine, was completely freed from the
French." Above a hundred thousand French troops, still
shut up in the fortresses and cut off from all communication
with France, gradually surrendered. In October, the allies
took Bremen; in November, Stettin, Zamosk, Modlin, and
those two important points, Dresden and Dantzig. In Dres-
den, Gouvion St. Cyr capitulated to Count Klenau, who
granted him free egress on condition of the delivery of the
whole of the army stores. St. Cyr, however, infringed the
terms of capitulation by destroying several of the guns and
sinking the gunpowder in the Elbe; consequently, on the
non-recognition of the capitulation by the generalissimo,
Schwarzenberg, he found himself without means of defence
and was compelled to surrender at discretion with a garri-
son thirty-five thousand strong. Eapp, the Alsatian, com-
manded in Dantzig. This city had already fearfully suf-
fered from the commercial interdiction, from the exactions
and the scandalous license of its French protectors, whom
the ravages of famine and pestilence finally compelled to
yield.3 Lubeck and Torgau fell in December; the typhus,
which had never ceased to accompany the armies, raged
there in the crowded hospitals, carrying off thousands, and
greater numbers fell victims to this pestilential disease than
to the war, not only among the troops, but in every part of
the country through which they passed. Wittenberg, whose

1 The king of Wiirtemberg, who had fifteen hundred men close at hand, did
not send them to the aid of the Bavarians, nor did he go over to the allies until
the 2d of November.

2 In November, one hundred and forty thousand French prisoners and seven
hundred and ninety-one guns were in the hands of the allies.

3 Dantzig had formerly sixty thousand inhabitants, the population was now
reduced to thirteen thousand. Numbers died of hunger, Rapp having merely
stored the magazines for his troops. Fifteen thousand of the French garrison
died, and yet fourteen generals, upward of a thousand officers, and about as many
controllers belonging to the grand army, who had taken refuge hi that city,
were, on the capitulation of the fortress, made prisoners of war.

1600 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

inhabitants had been shamefully abused by tlie French under
Lapoype, Custrin, Glogau, Wesel, Erfurt, fell in the begin-
ning of 1814; Magdeburg and Bremen, after the conclusion
of the war.

The Rhenish confederation was dissolved, each of the
princes securing his hereditary possessions by a timely seces-
sion. The kings of Westphalia and Saxony, Dalberg, grand-
duke of Frankfort, and the princes of Isenburg and von der
Leyen, who had too heavily sinned against Germany, were
alone excluded from pardon. The king of Saxony was at
first carried prisoner to Berlin, and afterward, under the
protection of Austria, to Prague. Denmark also concluded
peace at Kiel and ceded Norway to Sweden, upon which the
Swedes, quasi re bene gesta, returned home. l

CCLXII. Napoleons Fall

NAPOLEON was no sooner driven across the Rhine, than
the defection of the whole of the Rhenish confederation, of
Holland, Switzerland, and Italy ensued. The whole of the
confederated German princes followed the example of Bava-
ria and united their troops with those of the allies. Jerome
had fled; the kingdom of Westphalia had ceased to exist,
and the exiled princes of Hesse, Brunswick, and Oldenburg
returned to their respective territories. The Rhenish prov-
inces were instantly occupied by Prussian troops and placed
under the patriotic administration of Justus Gruner, who
was joined by Gorres of Coblentz, whose Rhenish Mercury
so powerfully influenced public opinion that Napoleon termed
him the fifth great European power.2 The Dutch revolted
and took the few French still remaining in the country
prisoner. Hogendorp was placed at the head of a provis-

1 The injustice thus favored by the first peace was loudly complained of. —
Manso.

2 His principal thesis consisted of "We are not Prussians, "Westphalians,
Saxons, etc., but Germans."

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1601

ional government in the name of William of Orange. * The
Prussians under Bulow entered the country and were received
with great acclamation. The whole of the Dutch fortresses
surrendered, the French garrisons flying panic-stricken.

The Swiss remained faithful to Napoleon until the arrival
of Schwarzenberg with the allied army on their frontiers.*
Napoleon woula gladly have beheld the Swiss sacrifice them-
selves for him for the purpose of keeping the allies in check,
but Eeinhard of Zurich, who was at that time Landam-
mann, prudently resolved not to persevere in the demand
for neutrality, to lay aside every manifestation of opposition,
and to permit, it being impossible to prevent, the entrance of
the troops into the country, by which he, moreover, ingrati-
ated himself with the allies. The majority of his country-
men thanked Heaven for their deliverance from French
oppression, and if, in their ancient spirit of egotism, they
neglected to aid the great popular movement throughout
Germany, they, at all events, sympathized in the general ha-
tred toward France.8 The ancient aristocrats now naturally
reappeared and attempted to re-establish the oligarchical
governments of the foregoing century. A Count Senfft von
Pilsach, a pretended Austrian envoy, who was speedily dis-
avowed, assumed the authority at Berne with so much as-
surance as to succeed in deposing the existing government
and reinstating the ancient oligarchy. In Zurich, the con-
stitution was also revised and the citizens reassumed their
authority over the peasantry. The whole of Switzerland
was in a state of ferment. Ancient claims of the most varied

1 This prince took the title not of stadtholder, but of king, to which he had
no claim, but in which he was supported by England and Russia, who unwill-
ingly beheld Prussia aggrandized by the possession of Holland.

2 Even in the May of 1813, an ode given in No. 270 of the Allgemeine Zei-
tung, appeared in Switzerland, in which it was said, "The brave warriors of
Switzerland hasten to reap fresh laurels. With their heroic blood have they
dyed the distant shores of barbarous Haiti, the waters of the Ister and Tagus,
etc. The deserts of Sarmatia have witnessed the martial glories of the Helvetic
Region."

3 Shortly before this, a report had been spread of the nomination of Marshal
Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, as perpetual Landammann of Switzerland,—
MuraWs Eeinhard.

1602 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

description were asserted. The people of the Grisons took
up arms and invaded the Valtelline in order to retake their
ancient possession. Pancratius, abbot of St. Gall, demanded
the restoration of his princely abbey. — Italy, also, deserted
Napoleon. Murat, king of Naples, in order not to lose his
crown, joined the allies. Eugene Beauharnais, viceroy of
Italy, alone remained true to his imperial stepfather and
gallantly opposed the Austrians under Hiller, who, neverthe-
less, rapidly reduced the whole of Upper Italy to submission.

The allies, when on the point of entering the French ter-
ritory, solemnly declared that their enmity was directed not
against the French nation, but solely against Napoleon. By
this generosity they hoped at once to prove the beneficence
of their intentions to every nation of Europe and to prejudice
the French, more particularly, against their tyrant; but that
people, notwithstanding their immense misfortunes, still re-
mained true to Napoleon nor hesitated to sacrifice themselves
for the man who had raised them to the highest rank among
the nations of the earth, and thousands flocked anew beneath
the imperial eagle for the defence of their native soil.

The allies invaded France simultaneously on four sides,
Bulow from Holland, Blucher, on New Year's eve, 1814,
from Coblentz, and the main body of the allied army under
Schwarzenberg, which was also accompanied by the allied
sovereigns. A fourth army, consisting of English and Span-
iards, had already crossed the Pyrenees and marched up the
country. The great wars in Eussia and Germany having
compelled Napoleon to draw off a considerable number of
his forces from Spain, Soult had been consequently unable
to keep the field against Wellington, whose army had been
gradually increased. King Joseph fled from Madrid. . The
French hazarded a last engagement at Vittoria, in June,
1818, but suffered a terrible defeat. One of the two Nassau
regiments under Colonel Kruse and the Frankfort battalion
deserted with their arms and baggage to the English. The
other Nassau regiment and that of Baden were disarmed by
the French and dragged in chains to France in reward for

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1603

their long and severe service.1 The Hanoverians in Wel-
lington's army (the German Legion), particularly the corps
of Victor von Alten (Charles's brother), brilliantly distin-
guished themselves at Vittoria and again at Bayonne, but
were forgotten in the despatches, an omission that was loudly
complained of by their general, Hinuber. Other divisions of
Hanoverians, up to this period stationed in Sicily, had been
sent to garrison Leghorn and Grenoa.2 — The crown prince of
Sweden followed the Prussian northern army, but merely
went as far as Liege, whence he turned back in order to de-
vote his whole attention to the conquest of Norway.

In the midst of the contest a fresh congress was assem-
ble^ at Chatillon, for the purpose of devising measures for
the conclusion of the war without further bloodshed. The
whole of ancient France was offered to Napoleon on condi-
tion of his restraining his ambition within her limits and of
keeping peace, but he refused to cede a foot of land, and
resolved to lose all or nothing. This congress was in so far
disadvantageous on account of the rapid movements of the
armies being checked by its fluctuating diplomacy. Schwarz-
enberg, for instance, pursued a system of procrastination,
separated his corps d'armee at long intervals, advanced
with extreme slowness, or remained entirely stationary.
Napoleon took advantage of this dilatoriness on the part
of his opponents to make an unexpected attack on Blue her' s
corps at Brienne on the 29th of January, in which Blucher
narrowly escaped being made prisoner. The flames of the
city, in which Napoleon had received his first military les-
sons, facilitated Blucher's retreat. Napoleon, however, neg-
lecting to pursue him on the 30th of January, Blucher, rein-
forced by the crown prince of Wurtemberg and by Wrede,
attacked him at La Eothiere with such superior forces as to
put him completely to the rout. The French left seventy-
three guns sticking in the mud. Schwarzenberg, neverthe-

1 Out of two thousand six hundred and fifty-four Badeners but five hundred
and six returned from Spain.

3 Beamisch, History of the Legion.

1604 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

less, instead of pursuing the retreating enemy with the whole
of his forces, again delayed his advance and divided the
troops. Blucher, who had meanwhile rapidly pushed for-
ward upon Paris, was again unexpectedly attacked by the
main body of the French army, and the whole of his corps
were, as they separately advanced, repulsed with considera-
ble loss, the Kussians under Olsufief at Champeaubert, those
under Sacken at Montmirail, the Prussians under York at
Chateau- Thierry, and, finally, Blucher himself at Beaux-
champ, between the 10th and 14th of February. With
characteristic rapidity, Napoleon instantly fell upon the
scattered corps of the allied army and inflicted a severe
punishment upon Schwarzenberg, for the folly of his sys-
tem. He successively repulsed the Russians under Pahlen
at Mormant, Wrede at Yilleneuve le Comte, the crown
prince of Wurtemberg, who offered the most obstinate re-
sistance, at Montereau, on the 17th and 18th of February. l
Augereau had meantime, with an army levied in the south
of France, driven the Austrians, under Bubna, into Switzer-
land; and, although the decisive moment had arrived, and
Schwarzenberg had simply to form a junction with Blucher
in order to bring an overwhelming force against Napoleon,
the allied sovereigns and Schwarzenberg resolved, in a
council of war held at Troyes, upon a general retreat.

Blucher, upon this, magnanimously resolved to obviate
at all hazards the disastrous consequences of the retreat of
the allied army, and, in defiance of all commands, pushed
forward alone.8 This movement, far from being rash, was

1 Several regiments sacrificed themselves in order to cover the retreat of the
rest. Napoleon ordered a twelve-pounder to be loaded and twice directed the gun
with his own hand upon the crown prince. — Campaigns of the Wurtemberg ers.

2 Blucher 's conduct simply proceeded from his impatience to obtain by force
of arms the most honorable terms of peace for Prussia, while the other allied
powers, who were far more indulgently disposed toward France and who began
to view the victories gained by Prussia with an apprehension which was further
strengthened by the increasing popularity of that power throughout Germany,
were more inclined to diplomatize than to fight. Blucher was well aware of
these reasons for diplomacy and more than once cut the negotiations short with
his sabre. A well-known diplomatist attempting on one occasion to prove to
him that Napoleon must, even without the war being continued, "descend from

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1605

coolly calculated, Blucher being sufficiently reinforced on
the Marne by Winzingerode and Bulow, by whose aid he,
on the 9th March, defeated the emperor Napoleon at Laon.
The victory was still undecided at fall of night. Napoleon
allowed his troops to rest, but Blucher remained under arms
and sent York to surprise him during the night. The French
were completely dispersed and lost forty- six guns. Napo-
leon, after this miserable defeat, again tried his fortune
against Schwarzenberg (who, put to shame by Blucher 's
brilliant success, had again halted), and, on the 20th of
March, maintained his position at Arcis sur Aube, although
the crown prince of Wurtemberg gallantly led his troops
five times to the assault. Neither side was victorious.

Napoleon now resorted to a bold ruse de guerre. The
peasantry, more particularly in Lorraine, exasperated by the
devastation unavoidable during war time, and by the ven-
geance here and there taken by the foreign soldiery, had risen
to the rear of the allied army. Unfortunately, no one had
dreamed of treating the German Alsatians and Lothringians
as brother Germans. They were treated as French. Long
unaccustomed to invasion and to the calamities incidental to
war, they made a spirited but ineffectual resistance to the
rapine of the soldiery. Whole villages were burned down.
The peasantry gathered into troops and massacred the for-
eign soldiery when not in sufficient numbers to keep them in
check. Napoleon confidently expected that his diminished
armies would be supported by a general rising en masse
and that Augereau, who was at that time guarding Lyons,

his throne," a league having been formed within France herself for the restora-
tion of the Bourbons — he answered him to his face, "The rascality of the French
is no revenge for us. It is we who must pull him down — we. You will no
doubt do wonders in your wisdom ! — Patience ! You will be led as usual by the
nose, and will still go on fawning and diplomatizing until we have the nation
again upon us, and the storm bursts over our heads." He went so far as to set
the diplomatists actually at defiance. On being, to Napoleon's extreme delight,
ordered to retreat, he treated the order with contempt and instantly advanced.
— Rauschnictf s Life of Blucher. "This second disjunction on Bliicher's part, " ob-
serves Clausewitz, the Prussian general, the best commentator on this war, "was
of infinite consequence, for it checked and gave a fresh turn to the whole, course
of political affairs."

1606 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

would form a junction with him; and, in this expectation,
threw himself to the rear of the allied forces and took up a
position at Troyes with a view of cutting them off, perhaps
of surrounding them by means of the general rising, or, at
all events, of drawing them back to the Rhine. But, on the
self-same day, the 19th of March, Lyons had fallen and
Augereau had retreated southward. The people did not
rise en masse, and the allies took advantage of Napoleon's
absence to form a grand junction, and, with flying banners,
to march unopposed upon Paris, convinced that the posses-
sion of the capital of the French empire must inevitably
bring the war to a favorable conclusion. In Paris, there
were numerous individuals who already regarded Napoleon's
fall as un fait accompli, and who, ambitious of influencing
the future prospects of France, were ready to offer their ser-
vices to the victors. Both parties speedily came to an under-
standing. The corps d'armee under Marshals Mortier and
Marmont, which were encountered midway, were repulsed,
and that under Generals Pacthod and Amey captured, to-
gether with seventy pieces of artillery, at La Fere Champe-
noise. On the 29th of March, the dark columns of the allied
army denied within sight of Paris. On the 30th, they met
with a spirited resistance on the heights of Belleville and
Montmartre; but the city, in order to escape bombardment,
capitulated during the night, and, on the 31st, the allied
sovereigns made a peaceful entry. The empress, accompa-
nied by the king of Eome, by Joseph, ex- king of Spain, and
by innumerable wagons, laden with the spoil of Europe, had
already fled to the south of France.

Napoleon, completely deceived by Winzingerode and Tet-
tenborn, who had remained behind with merely a weak rear
guard, first learned the advance of the main body upon Paris
when too late to overtake it. After almost annihilating his
weak opponents at St. Dizier, he reached Fontainebleau,
where he learned the capitulation of Paris, and, giving way
to the whole fury of his Corsican temperament, offered to
yield the city for two days to the license of his soldiery

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1607

would they but follow him to the assault. But his own
marshals, even his hero, Ney, deserted him, and, on the 10th
of April, he was compelled to resign the imperial crown of
France and to withdraw to the island of Elba on the coast
of Italy, which was placed beneath his sovereignty and as-
signed to him as a residence. The kingdom of France was
re-established on its former footing; and, on the 4th of May,
Louis XYI1I. entered Paris and mounted the throne of his
ancestors.

Davoust was the last to offer resistance. The Russians
under Bennigsen besieged him in Hamburg, and, on his final
surrender, treated him with the greatest moderation.1

On the 30th of May, 1814, peace was concluded at Paris.9
France was reduced to her limits as in 1792, and conse-
quently retained the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, of
which she had, at an earlier period, deprived Germany.
Not a farthing was paid by way of compensation for the
ravages suffered by Germany, nay, the French prisoners of
war were, on their release, maintained on their way home at
the expense of the German population. None of the chefs-
d'ceuvres of which Europe had been plundered were restored,
with the sole exception of the group of horses, taken by Na-
poleon from the Brandenburg gate at Berlin. The allied
troops instantly evacuated the country. France was allowed
to regulate her internal affairs without the interference of
any of the foreign powers, while paragraphs concerning the
internal economy of Germany were not only admitted into
the treaty of Paris, and France was on that account not

1 Gorres said in the Rhenish Mercury, "It is easy to see ho wall are inclined
to conceal beneath the wide mantle of love the horrors there perpetrated. The
Germans have from time immemorial been subjected to this sort of treatment,
because ever ready to forgive and forget the past." Davoust was arrested
merely for form's sake and then honorably released. He was allowed to retain
the booty he had seized. The citizens of Hamburg vainly implored the re-estab-
lishment of their bank.

2 Bliicher took no part in these affairs. "I have," said he to the diploma-
tists, "done my duty, now do yours! You will be responsible both to God and
man should your work be done in vain and have to be done over again. I have
nothing further to do with the business!" — Experience had, however, taught
him not to expect much good from "quill-drivers."

1608 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

only called upon to guarantee and to participate in the inter-
nal affairs of Germany, but also afterward sent to the great
Congress of Vienna an ambassador destined to play an im-
portant part in the definitive settlement of the affairs of
Europe, and, more particularly, of those of Germany.

The patriots, of whom the governments had made use
both before and after the war, unable to comprehend that
the result of such immense exertions and of such a complete
triumph should be to bring greater profit and glory to France
than to Germany, and that their patriotism was, on the con-
clusion of the war, to be renounced, were loud in their com-
plaints. ' But the revival of the German empire, with which
the individual interests of so many princely houses were
plainly incompatible, was far from entering into the plans
of the allied powers. An attempt made by any one among
the princes to place himself at the head of the whole of Ger-
many would have been frustrated by the rest. The policy
of the foreign allies was moreover antipathetic to such a
scheme. England opposed and sought to hinder unity in
Germany, not only for the sake of retaining possession of
Hanover and of exercising an influence over the disunited
German princes similar to that exercised by her over the
princes of India, but more particularly for that of ruling
the commerce of Germany. Russia reverted to her Erfurt
policy. Her interests, like those of France, led her to pro-
mote disunion among the German powers, whose weakness,
the result of want of combination, placed them at the mercy
of France, and left Poland, Sweden, and the East open to
the ambition of Russia. A close alliance was in consequence
instantly formed between the emperor Alexander and Louis
XVIII. , the former negotiating, as the first condition of
peace, the continuance of Lorraine and Alsace beneath the
sovereignty of France.

Austria assented on condition of Italy being placed exclu-

1 The Rhenish Mercury more than all. It was opposed by the Messenger
of the Tyrol, which declared that the victory was gained, not by the "people,"
as they were termed, but by the princes and their armies. — July,

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1609

sively beneath her control. Austria united too many and
too diverse nations beneath her sceptre to be able to pursue
a policy pre-eminently German, and found it more conven-
ient to round off her territories by the annexation of Upper
Italy than by that of distant Lorraine, at all times a posses-
sion difficult to maintain. Prussia was too closely connected
with Kussia, and Hardenberg, unlike Blucher at the head of
the Prussian army, was powerless at the head of Prussian
diplomacy. The lesser states also exercised no influence
upon Germany as a whole, and were merely intent upon
preserving their individual integrity or upon gaining some
petty advantage. The Germans, some few discontented
patriots alone excepted, were more than ever devoted to
their ancient princes, both to those who had retained their
station and to those who returned to their respective terri-
tories on the fall of Napoleon ; and the victorious soldiery,
adorned with ribbons, medals, and orders (the Prussians, for
instance, with the iron cross), evinced the same unreserved
attachment to their prince and zeal for his individual inter-
est. This complication of circumstances can alone explain
the fact of Germany, although triumphant, having made
greater concessions to France by the treaty of Paris than,
when humbled, by that of Westphalia.

1610 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXIII. The Congress of Vienna — Napoleon1 s Return

and End

FROM Paris the sovereigns of Prussia1 and Kussia and
the victorious field-marshals proceeded, in June, to London,
where they, Blucher most particularly, were received with
every demonstration of delight and respect by the English,
their oldest and most faithful allies.3 Toward autumn, a
great European congress, to which the settlement of every
point in dispute and the restoration of order throughout Eu-

1 From London, Frederick William went to Switzerland and took possession
of his ancient hereditary territory, Walsch-Neuenburg or Neufchatel, visited the
beautiful Bernese Oberland, and then returned to Berlin, where, on the 7th of
August, he passed in triumph through the Brandenburg gate, which was again
adorned with the car of victory and the fine group of horses, and rode through
the lime trees to an altar, around which the clergy belonging to every religious
sect were assembled. Here public thanks were given and the whole of the citi-
zens present fell upon their knees. — Allgemeine Zeitung, 252. On the 17th of
September, the preparation of a new liturgy was announced in a ministerial proc-
lamation, "by which the solemnity of the church service was to be increased, the
present one being too little calculated to excite or strike the imagination."

2 Oxford conferred a doctor's degree upon Blucher, who, upon receiving this
strange honor, said, "Make G-neisenau apothecary, for he it was who prepared
my pills." On his first reception at Carlton House, the populace pushed their
way through the guards and doors as far as the apartments of the prince -regent,
who, taking his gray-headed guest by the hand, presented him to them, and
publicly hung his portrait set in brilliants around his neck. On his passing
through the streets, the horses were taken from his carriage, and he was drawn
in triumph by the shouting crowd. One fete succeeded another. During the
great races at Ascot, the crowd breaking through the barriers and insisting upon
Bliicher's showing himself, the prince-regent came forward, and, politely telling
them that he had not yet arrived, led forward the emperor Alexander, who was
loudly cheered, but Bliicher's arrival was greeted with thunders of applause far
surpassing those bestowed upon the sovereigns, a circumstance that was after-
ward blamed by the English papers. In the Freemasons' Lodge, Blucher was
received by numbers of ladies, on each of whom he bestowed a salute. At
Portsmouth, he drank to the health of the English in the presence of an im-
mense concourse of people assembled beneath his windows. — The general rejoic-
ing was solely clouded by the domestic circumstances of the royal family, by
the insanity of the aged and blind king and by the disunion reigning between
the prince regent and his thoughtless consort, Caroline of Brunswick. — Although
the whole of the allied sovereigns, some of whom were unable to speak English,
understood German, French was adopted as the medium of conversation. — All-
yemeine Zeitung, 174-

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1611

rope were to be committed, was convoked at Vienna. At
this congress, which, in the November of 1814, was opened
at Vienna, the emperors of Austria and Bussia, the kings
of Prussia, Denmark, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and the greater
part of the petty princes of Germany, were present in per-
son; the other powers were represented by ambassadors
extraordinary. The greatest statesmen of that period were
here assembled; among others, Metternich, the Austrian
minister, Hardenberg and Humboldt, the Prussian min-
isters, Castlereagh, the English plenipotentiary, Nesselrode,
the Russian envoy, Talleyrand and Dalberg, Gagern, Bern-
storff, and Wrede, the ambassadors of France, Holland,
Denmark, and Bavaria, etc. The negotiations were of the
utmost importance, for. although one of the most difficult
points, the new regulation of affairs in France, was already
settled, many extremely difficult questions still remained to
be solved. Talleyrand, who had served under every govern-
ment, under the republic, under the usurper, Napoleon ; who
had retaken office under the Bourbons and the Jesuits
who had returned in their train, and who, on this occasion,
was the representative of the criminal and humbled French
nation, ventured, nevertheless, to offer his perfidious advice
to the victors, and, with diabolical art, to sow the seed of
discord among them. This conduct was the more striking
on account of its glaring incongruity with the proclamation
of Calisch, which expressly declared that the internal affairs
of Germany were wholly and solely to be arranged by the
princes and nations of Germany, without foreign, and nat-
urally, least of all, without French interference.1 Talley-
rand's first object was to suppress the popular spirit of liberty

1 "There are moments in the life of nations on which the whole of their future
destiny depends. The children are destined to expiate their fathers' errors with
their blood. Germany has everything to fear from the foreigner, and yet she
cannot arrange her own affairs without calling the foreigner to her aid. — Who, in
the congress, chiefly oppose every well-laid plan? "Who, with the dagger's point
pick out and reopen all our wounds, and rub them with salt and poison? "Who
promote confusion, provoke, insinuate, and attempt to creep into every commit-
tee, to interfere in every discussion? who but those sent thither by France?" —
The Rhenish Mercury.

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— K

1612 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

throughout Germany, and to rouse against it the jealous
apprehensions of the princes. He therefore said, "You wish.
for constitutions; guard against them. In France, desire
for a constitution produced a revolution, and the same will
happen to you." He it was who gave to the congress that
catchword, legitimacy. The object of the past struggle was
not the restoration of the liberties of the people but that of
the ancient legitimate dynasties and their absolute sover-
eignty. The war had been directed, not against Napoleon,
but against the Kevolution, against the usurpation of the
people. By means of this legitimacy the king of Saxony
was to be re-established on his throne, and Prussia was on
no account to be permitted to incorporate Saxony with her
dominions. Prussia appealed to her services toward Ger-
many, to her enormous sacrifices, to the support given to her
by public opinion; but the power of public opinion was itself
questioned. The seeds of discord quickly sprang up, and,
on the 3d of January, 1815, a secret league against Prussia
was already formed for the purpose of again humbling the
state that had sacrificed all for the honor Germany, of
frustrating her schemes of aggrandizement, and of quench-
ing the patriotic spirit of German idealists and enthusiasts.1
The want of unanimity amid the members of the con-
gress had at the same time a bad effect upon the ancient
Rhenish confederated states. In Nassau, the Landwehr
was, on its return home after the campaign, received with
marks of dissatisfaction. In Baden and Hesse, many of the
officers belonging to the army openly espoused Napoleon's
cause. In Baden, the volunteer corps was deprived of its
horses and sent home on foot.9 In Wurtemberg, King Fred-

1 Fate willed that Stein should not be called upon to act with firmness, but
Hardenberg to make concessions. Stein disappeared from the theatre of events
and was degraded to a lower sphere. Hardenburg was created prince.

2 Napoleon had such good friends among the Rhenish confederated princes
that Augustus, duke of G-otha, for instance, even after the second occupation
of Paris, on the return of his troops in the November of 1815, prohibited any
demonstrations of triumph and even deprived the Landwehr of their uniforms,
so that the poor fellows had to return in their shirt-sleeves to their native villages
during the hard winter. — Jacob's Campaigns.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1613

erick refused to allow the foreign troops and convoys a pas-
sage along the highroad through Cannstadt and Lud wigs-
burg, and forbade the attendance of civil surgeons upon the
wounded belonging to the allied army. In Wurtemberg
and Bavaria, the Khenish Mercury was suppressed on ac-
count of its patriotic and German tendency. At Stuttgard,
the festival in commemoration of the battle of Leipzig was
disallowed; and in Frankfort on the Maine, the editor of a
French journal ventured, unreprimanded, to turn this fes-
tival into ridicule.

Switzerland was in a high state of ferment. The people
of the Grisons, who had taken possession of the Valtelline,
and the people of Uri, who had seized the Livinenthal, had
been respectively driven out of those territories by the Aus-
trians. The Yalais, Geneva, Neufchatel, and Pruntrut were,
on the other hand, desirous of joining the confederation.
The democratic peasantry were almost everywhere at war
with the aristocratic burghers. Berne revived her claim
upon Vaud and Aargau, which armed in self-defence.1
Keinhard of Zurich, the Swiss Landarnmann, went, mean-
while, at the head of an embassy to Vienna, for the purpose
of settling in the congress the future destinies of Switzerland
by means of the intervention of the great powers. Talley-
rand, with unparalleled impudence, also interfered in this
affair, threatened to refuse his recognition to every measure
passed without his concurrence, and compelled the Swiss to
entreat him to honor the deliberations with his presence.
On Austria's demanding a right of conscription in the Gri-
sons alone, France having enjoyed that right throughout the
whole of Switzerland at an earlier period, Talleyrand advised
the Swiss to make a most violent opposition against an at-

1 An attack upon Berne had already been concerted. Colonel Bar marched
with the people of Aargau in the night time upon Aarburg, but his confederates
failing to make their appearance, he caused the nearest Bernese governor to be
alarmed and hastily retraced his steps. The Bernese instantly sent an armed
force to the frontier, where, finding all tranquil, the charge of aggression was
thrown upon their shoulders.

1614 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tempt that placed their independence at stake. "Cry out,"
he exclaimed, "cry out, as loud as you can!" *

The disputes in the congress raised Napoleon's "hopes. In
France, his party was still powerful, almost the whole of the
population being blindly devoted to him, and an extensive
conspiracy for his restoration to the imperial throne was
secretly set on foot. Several thousands of his veteran sol-
diery had been released from foreign durance; the whole of
the military stores, the spoil of Europe, still remained in the
possession of France; the fortresses were solely garrisoned
with French troops; Elba was close at hand, and the emperor
was guarded with criminal negligence. Heavy, indeed, is
the responsibility of those who, by thus neglecting their
charge, once more let loose this scourge upon the earth!8
Napoleon quitted his island, and, on the 1st of March, 1815,
again set foot on the coast of France. He was merely ac-
companied by one thousand five hundred men, but the whole
of the troops sent against him by Louis XVIII. ranged them-
selves beneath his eagle. He passed, as if in triumph,
through his former empire. The whole nation received him
with acclamations of delight. Not a single Frenchman shed
a drop of blood for the Bourbon, who fled hastily to Ghent;
and, on the 20th of March, Napoleon entered Paris unop-
posed. His brother-in-law, Murat, at the same time revolted
at Naples and advanced into Upper Italy against the Aus-
trians. But all the rest of Napoleon's an-cient allies, per-
suaded that he must again fall, either remained tranquil or
formed a close alliance with the combined powers. The
Swiss, in particular, showed excessive zeal on this occasion,
and took up arms against France, in the hope of rendering
the allied sovereigns favorable to their new constitution.
The Swiss regiments, which had passed from Napoleon's
service to that of Louis XVIII., also remained unmoved by

1 Vide Muralt's Life of Reinhard.

* Bliicher was at Berlin at the moment when the news of Napoleon's escape
arrived. He instantly roused the English ambassador from his sleep by shout-
ing in his ear, "Have the English a fleet in the Mediterranean?"

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1615

Napoleon's blandishments, were deprived of their arms and
returned separately to Switzerland.

The allied sovereigns were still assembled at Vienna, and
at once allowed every dispute to drop in order to form a fresh
and closer coalition. They declared Napoleon an outlaw, a
robber, proscribed by all Europe, and bound themselves to
bring a force more than a million strong into the field against
him. All Napoleon's cunning attempts to bribe and set them
at variance were treated with scorn, and the combined pow-
ers speedily came to an understanding on the points hitherto
so strongly contested. Saxony was partitioned between her
ancient sovereign and Prussia, and a revolt that broke out
in Liege among the Saxon troops, who were by command
of Prussia to be divided before they had been released from
their oath of allegiance to their king, is easily explained by
the huiry and pressure of the times, which caused all minor
considerations to be forgotten. ' Napoleon exclusively occu-
pied the mind of every diplomatist, and all agreed in the
necessity, at all hazards, of his utter annihilation. The lion,
thus driven at bay, turned upon his pursuers for a last and
desperate struggle. The French were still faithful to Napo-
leon, who, with a view of reinspiring them with the enthu-
siastic spirit that had rendered them invincible in the first
days of the republic, again called forth the old republicans,
nominated them to the highest appointments, re-established
several republican institutions, and, on the 1st of June, pre-

1 The blame was entirely upon the Prussian side. The Saxons, as good sol-
diers, naturally revolted at the idea that they would at once be faithless to their
oath and mutinied. G-eneral Muffling was insulted for having spoken of "Saxon
hounds." Bliicher even was compelled secretly to take his departure. The
Saxon troops were, however, reduced to obedience by superior numbers of Prus-
sians, and their colors were burned. The whole corps was about to be decimated,
when Colonel Romer came forward and demanded that the sentence of death
should be first executed on him. Milder measures were in consequence reverted
to, and a few of the men were condemned to death by drawing lots. Kanitz,
the drummer, a youth of sixteen, however, threw away the dice, exclaiming,
"It is I who beat the summons for revolt, and I will be the first to die." He
and six others were shot. Borstel, the Prussian general, the hero of Dennewitz,
who had steadily refused to burn the Saxon colors, was compelled to quit the
service.

1616 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

sented to his dazzled subjects the magnificent spectacle of a
field of May, as in the times of Charlemagne and in the
commencement of the Kevolution, and then led a numer-
ous and spirited army to the Dutch frontiers against the
enemy.

Here stood a Prussian army under Blucher, and an
Anglo-German one under Wellington, comprehending the
Dutch under the Prince of Orange, the Brunswickers under
their duke, the recruited Hanoverian Legion under Wall-
moden. These corps d'armee most imminently threatened
Paris. The main body of the allied army, under Schwarz-
enberg, then advancing from the south, was still distant.
Napoleon consequently directed his first attack against the
two former. His army had gained immensely in strength
and spirit by the return of his veteran troops from foreign
imprisonment. Wellington, ignorant at what point Napo-
leon might cross the frontier, had followed the old and ill-
judged plan of dividing his forces; an incredible error, the
allies having simply to unite their forces and to take up a
firm position in order to draw Napoleon to any given spot.
Wellington, moreover, never imagined that Napoleon was so
near at hand, and was amusing himself at a ball at Brussels,
when Blucher, who was stationed in and around Namur,
was attacked on the 14th of June, 1815. 1 Napoleon after-
ward observed in his memoirs that he had attacked Blucher
first because he well knew that Blucher would not be sup-
ported by the over- prudent and egotistical English com-
mander, but that Wellington, had he been first attacked,
would have received every aid from his high-spirited and
faithful ally. Wellington, after being repeatedly urged by
Blucher, collected his scattered corps, but neither completely
nor with sufficient rapidity; and on Blucher's announcement

1 For a refutation of Menzel's absurdly perverted relation of these great events
the reader is referred not only to the Duke of Wellington's despatches and to
Colonel Siborne's well-established account of the battles of Ligny, Wavre,
Quatre Bras, and Waterloo, but also to those of his countrymen, Muffling, the
Prussian general, and "Wagner. — Trans.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1617

of Napoleon's arrival, exerted himself on the following morn-
ing so far as to make a reconnoissance. The duke of Bruns-
wick, with impatience equalling that of Blucher, was the
only one who had quitted the ball during the night and had
hurried forward against the enemy. Napoleon, owing to
Wellington's negligence, gained time to throw himself be-
tween him and Blucher and to prevent their junction; for
he knew the spirit of his opponents. He consequently op-
posed merely a small division of his army under Ney to the
English and turned with the whole of his main body against
the Prussians. The veteran Blucher perceived his intentions1
and in consequence urgently demanded aid from the Duke
of Wellington, who promised to send him a reinforcement of
twenty thousand men by four o'clock on the 16th. But this
aid never arrived, Wellington, although Ney was too weak
to obstruct the movement, making no attempt to perform his
promise. Wellington retired with superior forces before Ney
at Quatre Bras, and allowed the gallant and unfortunate
Duke William of Brunswick to fall a futile sacrifice. Blucher
meanwhile yielded to the overwhelming force brought against
him by Napoleon at Ligny, also on the 16th of June. Vainly
did the Prussians rush to the attack beneath the murderous
fire of the French, vainly did Blucher in person head the
assault and for five hours continue the combat hand to hand
in the village of Ligny. Numbers prevailed, and Welling-
ton sent no relief. The infantry being at length driven back,
Blucher led the cavalry once more to the charge, but was
repulsed and fell senseless beneath his horse, which was shot
dead. His adjutant, Count Nostitz, alone remained at his
side. The French cavalry passed close by without perceiv-
ing them, twilight and a misty rain having begun to fall.
The Prussians fortunately missed their leader, repulsed the
French cavalry, which again galloped past him as he lay on
the ground, and he was at length drawn from beneath his

1 Shortly before the battle, Bourmont, the French general, set up the white
cockade (the symbol of Bourbon) and deserted to Blucher, who merely said, "It
is all one what symbol the fellows set up, rascals are ever rascals 1"

1618 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

horse. He still lived, but only to behold the complete defeat
of his army.

Blucher, although a veteran of seventy • three, and
wounded and shattered by his fall, was not for a mo-
ment discouraged.1 Ever vigilant, he assembled his scat-
tered troops with wonderful rapidity, inspirited them by his
cheerful words, and had the generosity to promise aid, by
the afternoon of the 18th of June, to Wellington, who was
now in his turn attacked by the main body of the French
under Napoleon. What Wellington on the 16th, with a
fresh army, could not perform, Blucher now effected with
troops dejected by defeat, and put the English leader to the
deepest shame by — keeping his word.8 He consequently fell
back upon Wavre in order to remain as close as possible in
Wellington's vicinity, and also sent orders to Billow's corps,
that was then on the advance, to join the English army,
while Napoleon, in the idea that Blucher was falling back
upon the Meuse, sent Grouchy in pursuit with a body of
thirty-five thousand men.3

Napoleon, far from imagining that the Prussians, after
having been, as he supposed, completely annihilated or
panic-stricken by Grouchy, could aid the British, wasted
the precious moments, and, instead of hastily attacking
Wellington, spent the whole of the morning of the 18th
in uselessly parading his troops, possibly with a view of in-
timidating his opponents and of inducing them to retreat
without hazarding an engagement. His well-dressed lines
glittered in the sunbeams; the infantry raised their tschakos
on their bayonet points, the cavalry their helmets on their

1 The surgeon, when about to rub him with some liquid, was asked by him
what it was, and being told that it was spirits, "Ah," said he, "the thing is of
no use externally!" and snatching the glass from the hand of his attendant, he
drank it off.

2 Against all expectation to aid an ally who on the previous day had against
all expectation been unable to give him aid, evinced at once magnanimity, sense,
and good feeling. — Glausewitz.

3 A Prussian battery, that on its way from Namur turned back on receiving
news of this disaster and was taken by the French, is said to have chiefly led
to the commission of this immense blunder by Napoleon.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1619

sabres, and gave a general cheer for their emperor. The
English, however, preserved an undaunted aspect. At
length, about midday, Napoleon gave orders for the at-
tack, and, furiously charging the British left wing, drove
it from the village of Hougumont. He then sent orders to
Ney to charge the British centre. At that moment a dark
spot was seen in the direction of St. Lambert. Was it
Grouchy ? A reconnoitring party was despatched and re-
turned with the news of its being the Prussians under Bu-
low. The attack upon the British centre was consequently
remanded, and Ney was despatched with a considerable por-
tion of his troops against Bulow. Wellington now ventured
to charge the enemy with his right wing, but was repulsed
and lost the farm of La Haye Sainte, which commanded his
position on this side as Hougumont did on his right. His
centre, however, remained unattacked, the French exerting
their utmost strength to keep Bulow' s gallant troops back at
the village of Planchenoit, where the battle raged with the
greatest fury, and a dreadful conflict of some hours' dura-
tion ensued hand to hand. But about five o'clock, the left
wing of the British being completely thrown into confusion
by a fresh attack on the enemy's side, the whole of the
French cavalry, twelve thousand strong, made a furious
charge upon the British centre, bore down all before them,
and took a great number of guns. The Prince of Orange
was wounded. The road to Brussels was already thronged
with the fugitive English troops, and Wellington, scarcely
able to keep his weakened lines together,1 was apparently on
the brink of destruction, when the thunder of artillery was
suddenly heard in the direction of Wavre. " It is Grouchy !"
joyfully exclaimed Napoleon, who had repeatedly sent orders

1 The Hanoverian legion again covered itself with glory by the steadiness
with which it opposed the enemy. It lost three thousand five hundred men,
the Dutch eight thousand ; the German troops consequently lost collectively as
many as the English, whose loss was computed at eleven or twelve thousand
men. The Prussians, whose loss at Ligny and Waterloo exceeded that of their
allies, behaved with even greater gallantry.

1620 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

to that general to push forward with all possible speed. But
it was not Grouchy, it was Blue her.

The faithful troops of the veteran marshal (the old
Silesian army) were completely worn out by the battle, by
their retreat in the heavy rain over deep roads, and by the
want of food. The distance from Wavre, whence they had
been driven, to Waterloo, where Wellington was then in ac-
tion, was not great, but was rendered arduous owing to these
circumstances. The men sometimes fell down from extreme
weariness, .and the guns stuck fast in the deep mud. But
Blucher was everywhere present, and notwithstanding his
bodily pain ever cheered his men forward, with ''indescriba-
ble pathos," saying to his disheartened soldiers, "My chil-
dren, we must advance ; I have promised it, do not cause me
to break my word!" While still distant from the scene of
action, he ordered the guns to be fired in order to keep up
the courage of the English, and at length, between six and
seven in the evening, the first Prussian corps in advance,
that of Ziethen, fell furiously upon the enemy: "Bravo!"
cried Blucher, "I know you, my Silesians; to-day we shall
see the backs of these French rascals!" Ziethen filled up
the space still intervening between Wellington and Bulow.
Exactly at that moment, Napoleon had sent his old guard
forward in four massive squares in order to make a last at-
tempt to break the British lines, when Ziethen fell upon their
flank and dealt fearful havoc among their close masses with
his artillery. Bu low's troops, inspirited by this success, now
pressed gallantly forward and finally regained the long-con-
tested village of Planchenoit from the enemy. The whole
of the Prussian army, advancing at the double and with
drums beating, had already driven back the right wing of
the French, when the English, regaining courage, advanced,
Napoleon was surrounded on two sides, and the whole of his
troops, the old guard under General Cambronno alone ex-
cepted, were totally dispersed and fled in complete disorder.
The old guard, surrounded by Bulow' s cavalry, nobly re-
plied, when challenged to surrender, "La garde ne se rend

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1621

pas"; and in a few minutes the veteran conquerors of Eu-
rope fell beneath the righteous and avenging blows of their
antagonists. At the farm of La Belle Alliance, Blucher
offered his hand to Wellington. "I wiJl sleep to-night in
Bonaparte's last night's quarters," said Wellington. "And
I will drive him out of his present ones!" replied Blucher.
The Prussians, fired by enthusiasm, forgot the fatigues they
had for four days endured, and, favored by a moonlight
night, so zealously pursued the French that an immense
number of prisoners and a vast amount of booty fell into
their hands and Napoleon narrowly escaped being taken
prisoner. At Genappe, where the bridge was blocked by
fugitives, the pursuit was so close that he was compelled to
abandon his carriage leaving his sword and hat behind him.
Blucher, who reached the spot a moment afterward, took
possession of the booty, sent Napoleon's hat, sword, and star
to the king of Prussia, retained his cloak, telescope and car-
riage for his own use, and gave up everything else, including
a quantity of the most valuable jewelry, gold, and money,
to his brave soldiery. The whole of the army stores, two
hundred and forty guns, and an innumerable quantity of
arms thrown away by the fugitives, fell into his hands.

The Prussian general, Thielemann, who, with a few
troops, had remained behind at Wavre in order, at great
hazard, to deceive Grouchy into the belief that he was still
opposed by Blucher's entire force, acted a lesser, but equally
honorable part on this great day. He fulfilled his commis-
sion with great skill, and so completely deceived Grouchy as
to hinder his making a single attempt to throw himself in
the way of the Prussians on the Paris road.

Blucher pushed forward without a moment's delay, and,
on the 29th of June, stood before Paris. Napoleon had,
meanwhile, a second time abdicated, and had fled from
Paris in the hope of escaping across the seas. Da-voust,
the ancient instrument of his tyranny, who commanded in
Paris, attempting to make terms of capitulation with Bluch-
er, was sharply answered, "You want to make a defence?

1622 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Take care what you do. You well know what license the
irritated soldiery will take if your city must be taken by
storm. Do you wish to add the sack of Paris to that of
Hamburg, already loading your conscience?" ' Paris sur-
rendered after a severe engagement at Issy, and Muffling,
the Prussian general, was placed in command of the city,
July the 7th, 1815. It was on the occasion of a grand ban-
quet given by Wellington shortly after the occupation of
Paris by the allied troops that Blucher gave the celebrated
toast, "May the pens of diplomatists Dot again spoil all that
the swords of our gallant armies have so nobly won!"

Schwarzenberg had in the interim also penetrated into
France, and the crown prince of Wurtemberg had defeated
General Kapp at Strasburg and had surrounded that fort-
ress. The Swiss, under General Bachmann, who had, al-
though fully equipped for the field, hitherto prudently
watched the turn of events, invaded France immediately
after the battle of Waterloo, pillaged Burgundy, besieged
and took the fortress of Huningen, which, with the permis-
sion of the allies, they justly razed to the- ground, the inso-
lent French having thence fired upon the bridges of Basel
which lay close in its vicinity. A fresh Austrian army under
Frimont advanced from Italy as far as Lyons. On the 17th
of July, Napoleon surrendered himself in the bay of Koche-
fort to the English, whose ships prevented his escape; he
moreover preferred falling into their hands than into those
of the Prussians. The whole of France submitted to the
triumphant allies, and Louis XVIII. was reinstated on his
throne. Murat had also been simultaneously defeated at
Tolentino in Italy by the Austrians under Bianchi, and
Ferdinand IV. had been restored to the throne of Naples.
Murat fled to Corsica, but his retreat to France was pre-
vented by the success of the allies, and in his despair he,

1 The French were extremely affronted on account of this communication
being made in German instead of French, and even at the present day German
historians are generally struck with deeper astonishment at this sample of Bliich-
er's bold spirit than at any other.

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1623

with native rashness, yielded to the advice of secret intri-
guants and returned to Italy with a design of raising a
popular insurrection, but was seized on landing and shot
on the 13th of October.1

Blucher was greatly inclined to give full vent to his justly
roused rage against Paris. The bridge of Jena, one of the
numerous bridges across the Seine, the principal object of his
displeasure, was, curiously enough, saved from destruction
(he had already attempted to blow it up) by the arrival of
the king of Prussia.2 His proposal to punish France by
partitioning the country and thus placing it on a par with
Germany, was far more practical in its tendency.

This honest veteran had in fact a deeper insight into
affairs than the most wary diplomatists.8 In 1815, the same
persons, as in 1814, met in Paris, and similar interests were

1 Ney, "the bravest of the brave," who dishonored his bravery by the basest
treachery, met with an equally melancholy fate. Immediately after having, for
instance, kissed the gouty fingers of Louis XYIII. and boasting that he would
imprison Napoleon within an iron cage, he went over to the latter. He was
sentenced to death and shot, after vainly imploring the allied monarchs and per-
sonally petitioning Wellington for mercy. — Alexander Berthier, prince of Neuf-
chatel, Napoleon's chief confidant, had, even before the outbreak of war, thrown
himself out of a window in a fit of hypochondriasis and been killed.

2 Talleyrand begged Count von der Groltz to use his influence for its preserva-
tion with Blucher, who replied to his entreaties, "I will blow up the bridge, and
should very much like to have Talleyrand sitting upon it at the time!" An at-
tempt to blow it up was actually made, but failed.

3 Many of whom were in fact wilfully blind. Hardenberg, by whom the
noble-spirited Stein was so ill replaced, and who, with all possible decency, ever
succeeded in losing in the cabinet the advantages gained by Blucher in the field,
the diplomatic bird of ill omen by whom the peace of Basel had formerly been
concluded, was thus addressed by Blucher: "I should like you gentlemen of the
quill to be for once in a way exposed to a smart platoon fire, just to teach you
what perils we soldiers have to run in order to repair the blunders you so thought-
lessly commit. " An instructive commentary upon these events is to be met with
in Stein's letters to G-agern. The light in which Stein viewed the Saxons may
be gathered from the following passages in his letters: "My desire for the ag-
grandizement of Prussia proceeded not from a blind partiality to that state, but
from the conviction that Germany is weakened by a system of partition ruinous
alike to her national learning and national feelings." — "It is not for Prussia but
for Germany that I desire a closer, a firmer internal combination, a wish that
will accompany me to the grave : the division of our national strength may be
gratifying to others, it never can be so to me. " This truly German policy mainly
distinguished Stein from Hardenberg, who, thoroughly Prussian in his ideas,
was incapable of perceiving that Prussia's best-understood policy ever will be to
identify herself with Germany.

1624 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

agitated. Foreign jealousy again effected the conclusion of
this peace at the expense of Germany and in favor of France.
Blucher's influence at first reigned supreme. The king of
Prussia, who, together with the emperors of Kussia and
Austria, revisited Paris, took Stein and Gruner into his
council. The crown prince of Wurtemberg also zealously
exerted himself in favor of the reunion of Lorraine and
Alsace with Q-ermany.1 But Kussia and England behold-
ing the reintegration of Germany with displeasure, Austria,8
and finally Prussia, against whose patriots all were in league,
yielded.8 The future destinies of Europe were settled on the
side of England by Wellington and Gastlereagh; on that of
Eussia by Prince John Eazumowsky, Nesselrode, and Capo
d'Istria; on that of Austria by Metternich and Wessenberg;
on that of Prussia by Hardenberg and William von Hum-
boldt. The German patriots were excluded from the discus-
sion,4 and a result extremely unfavorable to Germany natu-
rally followed:5 Alsace and Lorraine remained annexed to

1 Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 285.

8 It was proposed that Lorraine and Alsace should be bestowed upon the
Archduke Charles, who at that period wedded the Princess Henrietta of Nassau.
The proposition, however, quickly fell to the ground.

8 Even in July, their organ, Gorres' Rhenish Mercury, was placed beneath
the censor. In August, it was said that the men, desirous of giving a constitu-
tion to Prussia, had fallen into disgrace. — Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 249. In Sep-
tember, Schmalz, in Berlin, unveiled the presumed revolutionary intrigues of the
Tugendbund and declared "the unity of Germany is something to which the spirit
of every nation in Germany has ever been antipathetic." He received a Prus-
sian and a "Wurtemberg order, besides an extremely gracious autograph letter
from the king of Prussia, although his base calumnies against the friends of his
country were thrown back upon him by the historians Niebuhr and Runs, who
were then in a high position, by Schleiermacher, the theologian, and by others.
The nobility also began to stir, attempted to regain their ancient privileges in
Prussia, and intrigued against the men who, during the time of need, had made
concessions to the citizens. — Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 276.

4 The Allgemeine Zeilung, No. 349, laughs at the report of their having with-
drawn from the discussion, and says that they were no longer invited to take
part in it.

6 On the loud complaints of the Rhenish Mercury, of the gazettes of Bremen
and Hanau, and even of the Allgemeine Zeitung, the Austrian Observer, edited
by Gentz, declared that "to demand a better peace would be to demand the ruin
of France." — Allgemeine Zeitung, Nos. 345, 365. On Gorres' repeated demand
for the reannexation of Alsace and Lorraine, of which Germany had been so un-
warrantably deprived, the Austrian Observer declared in the beginning of 1816,
"who would believe that Gorres would lend his pen to such miserable argu-

THE GREAT WARS WITH FRANCE 1625

France. By the second treaty of Paris, which was defini-
tively concluded on the 20th of November, 1815, France was
merely compelled to give up the fortresses of Philippeville,
Marienburg, Sarlouis, and Landau, to demolish Huningen,
and to allow eighteen other fortresses on the German fron-
tier to be occupied by the allies until the new government
had taken firm footing in France. Until then, one hundred
and fifty thousand of the allied troops were also to remain
within the French territory and to be maintained at the ex-
pense of the people. France was, moreover, condemned to
pay seven hundred millions of francs toward the expenses of
the war and to restore the chefs-d'ceuvre of which she had
deprived every capital in Europe. The sword of Frederick
the Great was not refound: Marshal Serrurier declared that
he had burned it. ' On the other hand, however, almost all
the famous old German manuscripts, which had formerly
been carried from Heidelberg to Kome, and thence by Na-
poleon to Paris, were sent back to Heidelberg. One of the
most valuable, the Manessian Code of the Swabian Min-
nesingers, was left in Paris, where it had been concealed.
Blucher expired, in 1819, on his estate in Silesia.2

The French were now sufficiently humbled to remain in
tranquillity, and designedly displayed such submission that

merits* Alsace and Lorraine are guaranteed to France. To demand their res-
toration would be contrary to every notion of honor and justice." In this man-
ner was Germany a second time robbed of these provinces. "Washington Paine
denominated Strasburg, "a melancholy sentry, of which unwary Germany has
allowed herself to be deprived, and which now, accoutred in an incongruous
uniform, does duty against his own country."

1 The Invalids had in the same spirit cast the triumphal monument of the
field of Rossbach into the Seine, in order to prevent its restoration. The alarum
formerly belonging to Frederick the Great was also missing. Napoleon had it
on his person during his flight and made use of it at St. Helena, where it struck
his death-hour.

2 He was descended from a noble race, which at a very early period enjoyed
high repute in Mecklenburg and Pomerania. In 1271, an Ulric von Blucher
was bishop of Ratzeburg. A legend relates that, during a time of dearth, an
empty barn was, on his petitioning Heaven, instantly filled with corn. In 1356,
"Wipertus von Blucher also became bishop of Ratzeburg, and, on the pope's re-
fusal to confirm him in his diocese on account of his youth, his hair turned gray
in one night. Vide Kliiwer's Description of Mecklenburg, 1728.

1626 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the allied sovereigns resolved, at a congress held at Aix-la-
Chapelle, in the autumn of 1818, to withdraw their troops.
Napoleon was, with the concurrence of the assembled pow-
ers, taken to the island of St. Helena, where, surrounded by
the dreary ocean, several hundred miles from any inhabited
spot, and guarded with petty severity by the English, he
was at length deprived of every means of disturbing
the peace of Europe. Inactivity and the unhealthiness of
the climate speedily dissolved the earthly abode of this
giant spirit. He expired on the 5th of May, 1821. His con-
sort, Maria Louisa, was created Duchess of Parma; and his
son lived, under the title of Duke of Reichstadt, with his im-
perial grandfather at Vienna, until his death in 1832. Napo-
leon's stepson, Eugene Beauharnais, the former viceroy of
Italy, the son-in-law to the king of Bavaria, received the
newly- created mediatized principality of Eichstadt, which
was dependent upon Bavaria, and the title of Duke of
Leuchtenberg. Jerome, the former king of Westphalia,
became Count de Montfort;1 Louis, ex-king of Holland,
Count de St. Leu.

1 His wife, Catherine of Wiirtemberg, was, in. 1814, attacked during her flight,
on her way through France, and robbed of her jewels. — Allgemeine Zeitung,
No. 130.

THE LATEST TIMES 1627

PART XXIII

THE LATEST TIMES

CCLXIV. The German Confederation

THUS terminated the terrible storms that, not without
benefit, had convulsed Europe. Every description
of political crime had been fearfully avenged and
presumption had been chastised by the unerring hand of
Providence. At that solemn period, the sovereigns of Kus-
sia, Austria, and Prussia concluded a treaty by which they
bound themselves to follow, not the ruinous policy they had
hitherto pursued, but the undoubted will of the King of
kings, and, as the viceroys of God upon the earth, to main-
tain peace, to uphold virtue and justice. This Holy Alliance
was concluded on the 26th of September, 1815. All the
European pow_ers took part in it; England, who excused
herself, the pope, and the sultan, whose accession was not
demanded, alone excepted.

The new partition of Europe, nevertheless, retained almost
all the unnatural conditions introduced by the more ancient
and godless policy of Louis XIY. and of Catherine II. Ger-
many, Poland, and Italy remained partitioned among rulers
partly foreign. Everywhere were countries exchanged or
freshly partitioned and rendered subject to foreign rule.
England retained possession of Hanover, which was ele-
vated into a German kingdom, of the Ionian islands, and
of Malta in the Mediterranean. Eussia received the grand-
duchy of Warsaw, which was raised to a kingdom of Po-
land, but was not united with Lithuania, Volhynia, Podo-

1628 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

lia, and the Ulraine, the ancient provinces of Poland stand-
ing beneath the sovereignty of Russia, and Finland, for which
Sweden received in exchange Norway, of which Denmark
was forcibly dispossessed. Holland was annexed to the old
Austrian Netherlands and elevated to a kingdom under "Wil-
liam of Orange.1 Switzerland remained a confederation of
twenty- two cantons,2 externally independent and neutral,
internally somewhat aristocratic in tendency, the ancient
oligarchy everywhere regaining their power. The Jesuits
were reinstated by the pope. In Spain, Portugal, and Na-
ples, the form of government prior to the Revolution was
re-established by the ancient sovereigns on their restoration
to their thrones.

Alsace and Lorraine, Switzerland and the new kingdom
of the Netherlands, the provinces of Luxemburg excepted,
were no longer regarded as forming part of Germany. Aus-
tria received Milan and Venice under the title of a Lorn-
bardo- Venetian kingdom, the Illyrian provinces also as a
kingdom, Venetian Dalmatia, the Tyrol,8 Vorarlberg, Salz-
burg, the Inn, and Hausruckviertel, and the part of Galicia
ceded by her at an earlier period. The grandduchy of Tus-
cany and the duchies of Modena, Parma, and Placentia were,

1 William V. , the expelled hereditary stadtholder, died in obscurity at Bruns-
wick in 1806. His son, "William, had, in 1802, received Fulda in compensation,
but afterward served Prussia, was, in 1806, taken prisoner with Mollendorf at
Erfurt and afterward set at liberty, served again, in 1809, under Austria, and
then retired to England, whence he returned on the expulsion of the French to
receive a crown, which he accepted with a good deal of assurance, complaining,
at the same time, of the loss of his former possession, Fulda, a circumstance
strongly commented upon by Stein in his letters to Gagern. William, in return
for his elevation to a throne by the arms of Germany, closed the mouths of the
Rhine against her.

2 Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, TJnterwalden, G-larus, Zug, Freiburg,
Solothurn, Basel, Schaffhausen, Appenzell, St. Gall, the Grisons, Aargau, Con-
stance, Tessin, the Vaud, Valais, Neuenburg (Neufchatel), Geneva. The nine-
teen cantons of 1805 remained in statu quo, only those of Yalais, Neufchatel,
and Geneva were confederated with them, and Pruntrut with the ancient bish-
opric of Basel were restored to Berne.

3 The deed of possession of the 26th June, 1814, runs as follows: "Not by
an arbitrary, despotic encroachment upon the order of things, but by the hands
of the Providence that blessed the arms of your emperor and of the allied princes
and by a holy alliance are you restored to the house of Austria."

THE LATEST TIMES 1629

moreover, restored to the collateral branches of the house of
Habsburg. ' — Prussia received half of Saxony, the grand-
duchy of Posen, Swedish- Pomerania,2 a great portion of
Westphalia, and almost the whole of the Lower Khine from
Mayence as far as Aix- la- Chapelle. 3 Since this period Prussia
is that one which, among all the states of Germany, possesses
the greatest number of German subjects, Austria, although
more considerable in extent, containing a population of which
by far the greater proportion is not German. Bavaria, in
exchange for the provinces again ceded by her to Austria,
received the province of Wurzburg together with Aschaffen-
burg and the Upper Khenish Pfalz under the title of Khen-
ish- Bavaria. Hanover received East Friesland, which had
hitherto been dependent upon Prussia, Out of this impor-
tant province, which opened the North Sea to Prussia, was
Hardenberg cajoled by the wily English. The electorates
of Hesse, Brunswick, and Oldenburg were restored. Every-
thing else was allowed to subsist as at the time of the Khen-
ish confederation. All the petty princes and counts, then
mediatized, continued to be so.

The ancient empire, instead of being re-established, was,
on the 8th of June, 1815, replaced by a German confedera-
tion, composed of the thirty -nine German states that had
escaped the general ruin ; Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony,
Hanover, Wurtemberg, Baden, electoral Hesse, Darmstadt,
Denmark on account of Holstein,4 the Netherlands on ac-
count of Luxemburg, Brunswick, Mecklenburg-Schwerin,

1 Tuscany fell to Ferdinand, the former grandduke of Wurzburg ; Modena
to Francis, son of the deceased duke, Ferdinand ; Parma and Placentia to Maria
Louisa, the wife and widow of Napoleon.

2 Not long before, in the treaty of Kiel, there had been question of bestow-
ing Swedish-Pomerania upon Denmark ; to this Prussia refused to accede and
Denmark agreed to take 2,600,000 dollars in compensation. Prussia was also
compelled to pay 3,500,000 dollars to Sweden.

3 Rehfues, the director of the circle, a Wurtemberg Protestant, published a
circular at Bonn, in which he promised full religious security to the Catholic in-
habitants, whom he reminded of Prussia's having been "the last supporter of
the order of Jesus." — Allgemeine Zeitung of 1814, No. 23^.

4 Holstein alone, not Schleswig, was enumerated as belonging to the German
confederation, although both duchies were long ago closely united by the nexus
socialis, more particularly in the representation at the diet.

1630 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Nassau, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Grotha (where the reigning dy-
nasty became extinct, and the duchy was partitioned among
the other Saxon houses of the Ernestine line), Saxe-Coburg,
Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Hildburghausen, Mecklenburg-Stre-
litz, Holstein- Oldenburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg,
Anhalt-Kothen, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-
Budolstadt, Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Lichtenstein, Hohen-
zollern-Sigmaringen, Waldeck, Keuss the elder, and Reuss
the younger branch,1 Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold,
Hesse- Homburg: finally, the free towns, Lubeck, Frankfort
on the Maine, Bremen, and Hamburg.11 At Frankfort on
the Maine a permanent diet, consisting of plenipotentiaries
from the thirty-nine states, was to hold its session. The
votes were, however, so regulated that the eleven states of
first rank alone held a full vote, the secondary states merely
holding a half or a fourth part of a vote, as, for instance, all
the Saxon duchies collectively, one vote; Brunswick and
Nassau, one; the two Mecklenburgs, one; Oldenburg, An-
halt, and Schwarzburg, one; the petty princes of Hohenzol-
lern, Lichtenstein, Reuss, Lippe, and Waldeck, one; all the
free towns, one; forming altogether in the diet seventeen
votes. In constitutional questions relating to regulations of
the confederation the plenum was to be allowed, that is, the
six states of the highest rank were to have each four votes,
the next five states each three, - Brunswick, Schwerin, and
Nassau, each two, and all the remaining princes without
distinction, each one vote.8 — Austria held the permanent

1 The Reusses, formerly imperial governors of Plauen, diverged into so many
branches that, as early as 1664, they agreed to distinguish themselves by num-
bers, which at first amounted to thirty, but at a later period to a hundred, after-
ward recommencing at number one. The family took the name of Reuss from
the Russian wife of its founder, in the beginning of the fourteenth century.

2 Hamburg had vainly petitioned for the restitution of her bank, of which
she had been deprived by Davoust. She received merely a small portion of the
general war tax levied upon France.

3 Austria and Prussia contain forty-two million inhabitants; the rest of Ger-
many merely twelve million ; the power of the two former stands consequently
in proportion to that of the rest of Germany as forty-two to twelve or seven to
two, while their votes in the diet stood not contrariwise, as two to seven, but as
two to seventeen in the plenary assembly, and as two to fifteen in the lesser one.

THE LATEST TIMES 1631

presidency. In all resolutions relating to the fundamental
laws, the organic regulations of the confederation, the jura
singulorum and matters of religion, unanimity was re-
quired. All the members of the confederation bound them-
selves neither to enter into war nor into any foreign alliance
against the confederation or any of its members. The thir-
teenth article declared, "Each of the confederated states will
grant a constitution to the people." The sixteenth placed
all Christian sects throughout the German confederation on
an equality. The eighteenth granted freedom of settlement
within the limits of the confederation, and promised "uni-
formity of regulation concerning the liberty of the press."
The fortresses of Luxemburg, Mayence, and Landau were
declared the common property of the confederation and occu-
pied in common by their troops. A fourth fortress was to
have been raised on the Upper Ehine with twenty millions
of the French contribution money. It has not yet been
erected.

This was the new constitution given to Germany. Ac-
cording to the treaty of Paris it could not be otherwise mod-
elled, and it is explained by the foreign influence that then
prevailed. The diet assembled at Frankfort on the Maine,
and was opened by Count Buol-Schauenstein with a solemn
address, which excited no enthusiasm. An orator in the
American assembly at that time observed, "The non-develop-
ment of the seed contained in Germany appears to be the
common aim of a resolute policy. ' '

All now united for the complete suppression of the Ger-
man patriotic party. In the former Rhenish confederated
states, it had been treated with open contempt1 ever since
Gentz had given the signal for persecution in Austria. Prus-
sia, however, also drove all those who had most faithfully

1 Aretin, who, at the time of the Rhenish confederation, insolently mocked
and had denounced every indication of German patriotism, ventured to say in his
"Alemannia, " in the beginning of 1817, " 'The patriotic colors,' 'the voice of
the people,' 'nationality, ' 'the extirpation of foreign influence,' are words now
forgotten, magic sounds that have lost their power."

1632 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

served her in her hour of need from her bosom. Stein was
compelled to withdraw to Kappenberg, his country estate.
Gruner was removed from office and sent as ambassador
to Switzerland, where he died. The Ehenish Mercury, that
had performed such great services to Prussia, was prohibited,
and Gorres was threatened with the house of correction.1
All other papers of a patriotic tendency were also suppressed.
In Jena, Oken and Luden, in Weimar, Wieland the younger,
alone ventured for some time to give utterance to their liberal
opinions, but were finally also reduced to silence.

Patriotic enthusiasm was, however, not so speedily sup-
pressed amid the youthful students in the academies and
universities. Jahn's gymnastic schools (Turnschulen), the
members of which were distinguished by the German cos-
tume, a short black frock coat, a black cap, linen trousers,
a bare neck with turned-over shirt-collar, extended far and
wide and were in close connection with the Burschenschaf-
ten of the universities. The prescribed object of these Turn-
schulen was the promotion of Christian, moral, German man-
ners, the universal fraternization of all German students,
the complete eradication of the provincialism and license
inherent in the various associations formed at the universi-
ties. They wore Jahn's German costume and always acted
publicly, until their suppression, when the remaining mem-
bers formed secret associations. On the 18th of October,
1817, the students of Jena, Halle, and Leipzig, and those
of some of the more distant universities, assembled in order
to solemnize the jubilee of the three hundredth anniversary
of the Eeformation, on the Wartburg, where, in imitation of
Luther, they committed a number of servile works, inimical
to the German cause, to the flames, as Gorres at that time
said, "filled with anger that the same reformation required

1 By Sack, the government commissary, who even confiscated the Rhenish
Mercury, an earlier and unprohibited paper, and arrested the printer, against
which Gorres violently protested in a letter addressed to Sack. Gorres made a
triumphant defence before the tribunal at Treves, and observed, "Strange that
the most violent enemy to Prance should seek the protection of French courts 1"

THE LATEST TIMES 1633

of the church by Luther should be sanctioned, but at the
same time refused, by the state." The black, red, and yel-
low tricolor was hoisted for the first time on this occasion.
These were in reality the ancient colors of the empire and
were regarded as such by the patriotic students, but were
purposely looked upon by the French and their adherents in
Germany as an imitation of the tricolored flag of the French
republic. The festival solemnized on the Wartburg was
speedily succeeded by others. The Turner, more particu-
larly at Berlin and Breslau, rendered themselves conspicuous
not only by their dress but by their insolence, boys even of
the tenderest years putting themselves forward as reform-
ers of the government and of society, and singing the most
bloodthirsty songs of liberty. The Prussian government
interfered, and the gymnastic exercises, so well suited to
the subjects of a warlike state, were once more prohibited.
At the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, Stourdza, the Eussian
councillor of state, a Wallachian by birth, presented a me-
morial in which the spirit of the German universities was de-
scribed as revolutionary. The Burschenschaft of Jena sent
him a challenge. Kotzebue, the Eussian councillor of state
and celebrated dramatist, at length published a weekly paper
in which he turned every indication of German patriotism
to ridicule, and exercised his wit upon the individual eccen-
tricities of the students affecting the old German costume,
of precocious boys and doting professors. The rage of the
galled universities rose to a still higher pitch on the discov-
ery, made and incontestably proved by Luden, that Kotze-
bue sent secret bulletins, filled with invective and suspicion,
to St. Petersburg. To execrate Kotzebue had become so
habitual at the universities that a young man, Sand from
"Wunsiedel, a theological student of Jena, noted for piety and
industry, took the fanatical resolution to free, or at least to
wipe off a blot from his country, by the assassination of an
enemy whose importance he, in the delusion of hatred, vastly
overrated; and he accordingly went, in 1819, to Mannheim,
plunged his dagger into Kotzebue' s heart, and then at-

1634 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

tempted his own life, but only succeeded in inflicting a
slight wound. He was beheaded in the ensuing year.
Loning, the apothecary, probably excited by Sand's ex-
ample, also attempted the life of the president of Nassau,
Ibell, who, however, seized him, and he committed suicide
in prison.

These events occasioned a congress at Carlsbad in 1819,
which took the state of Germany into deliberation, placed
each of the universities under the supervision of a gov-
ernment officer, suppressed the Burschenschaft, prohibited
their colors, and fixed a central board of scrutiny at May-
ence, ' which acted on the presupposition of the existence of
a secret and general conspiracy for the purposes of assassi-
nation and revolution, and of Sand's having acted not from
personal fanaticism and religious aberration, but as the agent
of some unknown superiors in some new and mysterious tri-
bunal. This inquisition was carried on for years and a crowd
of students peopled the prisons; conspiracies perilous to the
state were, however, nowhere discovered, but simply a great
deal of ideal enthusiasm. The elder men in the universities,
who, either in their capacity as tutors or authors, had fed
the enthusiasm of the youthful students, were also removed
from their situations. Jahn was arrested, Arndt was sus-
pended at Bonn and Fries at Jena; Grorres, who had perse-
veringly published the most violent pamphlets, was com-
pelled to take refuge in Switzerland, which also offered an
asylum to Dewette, the Berlin professor of theology, who
had been deprived of his chair on account of a letter ad-
dressed by him to Sand's mother. Oken, the great natural-
ist, wbo refused to give up "Isis," a periodical publication,
also withdrew to Switzerland. Numbers of the younger
professors went to America.9 The solemnization of the

1 The names of these inquisitors were Schwarz, Grano, Hermann, Bar, Pfis-
ter, Preusschen, Moussel.

2 Charles Follen, brother to the poet Louis Adolphus Follen, private teacher
of law at Jena, a young man of great spirit and talent, who at that period exer-
cised great influence over the youth of Germany, was wrecked, in 1840, in a
steamer on the coast of North America and drowned.

THE LATEST TIMES 1635

October festival was also prohibited, and the triumphal
monument on the field of Leipzig was demolished.

CCLXY. The New Constitutions

GERMANY had, notwithstanding her triumph, regained
neither her ancient unity nor her former power, but still
continued to be merely a confederation of states, bound to-
gether by no firm tie and regarded with contempt by their
more powerful neighbors. The German confederation did
not even include the whole of the provinces whose popula-
tion was distinguished as G-erman by the use of the German
language. Several of the provinces of Germany were still
beneath a foreign sceptre; Switzerland and the Netherlands
had declared themselves distinct from the rest of Germany,
which, hitherto submissive to France, was in danger of fall-
ing beneath the influence of Eussia, who ceaselessly sought
to entangle her by diplomatic wiles.

There were still, however, men existing in Germany who
hoped to compensate the loss of the external power of their
country by the internal freedom that had been so lavishly
promised to the people on the general summons to the field.
The proclamation of Calisch and the German federative act
guaranteed the grant of constitutions. The former Ehenish
confederated princes, nevertheless, alone found it to their
interest to carry this promise into effect, and, in a manner,
formed a second alliance with France by their imitation of
the newly introduced French code and by the establishment,
in their own territories, of two chambers, one of peers, the
other of deputies, similar to those of France; measures by
which, at that period of popular excitement, they also re-
gained the popularity deservedly lost by them at an earlier
period throughout the rest of Germany, the more so, the less
the inclination manifested by Austria and Prussia to grant
the promised constitutions. Enslaved Illuminatism char-
acterizes this new zeal in favor of internal liberty and con-
stitutional governments, to denote which the novel term of

GERMANY. VOL. IY. — L

1636 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Liberalism was borrowed from France. Liberty was ever
on the tongues — of the most devoted servants of the state.
The ancient church and the nobility were attacked with in-
credible mettle — in order to suit the purposes of ministerial
caprice. Prussia and Austria were loudly blamed for not
keeping pace with the times — with the intent of favorably
contrasting the ancient policy of the Rhenish confederation.
None, at that period, surpassed the ministers belonging to
the old school of Illuminatism and Napoleonism in liberal-
ism, but no sooner did the deputies of the people attempt to
realize their liberal ideas than they started back in dismay.
The first example of this kind was given by Frederick
Augustus, duke of Nassau, as early as the September of
1814. Ibell, the president, who reigned with unlimited
power over Nassau, drew up a constitution which has been
termed a model of " despotism under a constitutional form."
The whole of the property of the state still continuing to be
the private property of the duke, and his right arbitrarily
to increase the number of members belonging to the first
chamber, and by their votes to annul every resolution passed
by the second chamber, rendered the whole constitution illu-
sory. Trombetta, one of the deputies, voluntarily renounced
his seat, an example that was followed by several others. —
The second constitution granted was that bestowed upon the
Netherlands in 1815, by King William, who established such
an unequal representation in the chambers between the Bel-
gians and Dutch as to create great dissatisfaction among the
former, who, in revenge, again affected the French party.
This was succeeded, in 1816, by the petty constitutions of
Waldeck, Weimar, and Frankfort on the Maine. — Maxi-
milian, king of Bavaria, seemed, in 1817, to announce an-
other system by the dismissal of his minister, Montgelas,
and, in 1818, bestowed a new constitution upon Bavaria; but
the old abuses in the administration remained uneradicated;
a civil and military state unproportioned to the revenue, the
petty despotism of government officers and heavy imposts,
still weighed upon the people, and the constitution itself was

THE LATEST TIMES 1637

quickly proved illusory, the veto of the first chamber annul-
ling the first resolution passed by the second chamber. Pro-
fessor Behr of Wurzburg, upon this, energetically protested
against the first chamber, and, on the refusal of the second
chamber to vote for the maintenance of the army on so high
a footing, unless the soldiery were obliged to take the oath
on the constitution, it was speedily dissolved. — In Baden the
Grandduke Charles expired, in 1818, after having caused a
constitution to be drawn up, which Louis, his uncle and
successor, carried into effect. Louis having, however, pre-
viously, and without the consent of the people, entered into
a stipulation with the nobility, to whom he had granted
an edict extremely favorable to their interests, Winter, the
Heidelberg bookseller, a member of the second chamber,
demanded its abrogation. The answer was, the dissolution
of the chamber, personal inquisition and intimidation, and
the publication of an extremely severe edict of censure,
against which, in 1820, Professor von Eotteck of Freiburg,
supported by the poet Hebel and by the Freiherr von Wes-
senberg, administrator of the bishopric of Constance, pro-
tested, but in vain. — At the same time, that is, in 1818,
Hildburghausen, and even the petty principality of Lichten-
stein, which merely contains two square miles and a popula-
tion amounting to five thousand souls, also received a con-
stitution, which not a little contributed to turn the whole
affair into ridicule. — To these succeeded, in 1819, the con-
stitutions of Hanover and Lippe-Detmold, the former as
aristocratic as possible, completely in the spirit of olden
times, solely dictated and carried into effect by the nobility
and government officers. The sittings of the chambers,
consequently, continued to be held in secret. — The dukes of
Mecklenburg abolished feudal servitude, which existed in no
other part of Germany, in 1820. — In Darmstadt, the constitu-
tion was granted by the good-natured, venerable Grandduke
Louis (whose attention was chiefly devoted to the opera),
after the impatient advocates, who had collected subscrip-
tions in the Odenwald to petitions praying for the speedy

1638 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

bestowal of the promised constitution, had been arrested,
and an insurrection that consequently ensued among the
peasantry had been quelled by force. — Petty constitutions
were, moreover, granted, in 1821, to Coburg, and, in 1829,
to Meiningen. The Grotha-Altenburg branch of the ducal
house of Saxony became extinct in 1825 in the person of
Frederick, the last duke, the brother of Duke Augustus
Emilius, a great patron of the arts and sciences, deceased
1822. Gotha, consequently, lapsed to Coburg, Altenburg to
Hildburghausen, and Hildburghausen to Meiningen.

In Wurtemberg, the dissatisfaction produced by the an-
cient despotism of the government was also to be speedily
appeased by the grant of a constitutional charter. The king,
Frederick, convoked the Estates, to whom he, on the 15th
of March, 1815, solemnly delivered the newly enacted con-
stitution. But here, as elsewhere, was the government in-
clined to grant a mere illusory boon. The Estates rejected
the constitution, without reference to its contents, simply
owing to the formal reason of its being bestowed by the
prince and being consequently binding on one side alone,
instead of being a stipulation between the prince and the
people, and moreover because the ancient constitution of
Wurtemberg, which had been abrogated by force and in
direct opposition to the will of the Estates, was still in legal
force. The old Wurtemberg party alone could naturally
take their footing upon their ancient rights, but the new
Wurtemberg party, the mediatized princes of the empire,
the counts and barons of the empire, and the imperial free
towns, nay, even the Agnati of the reigning house,1 all of
whom had suffered more or less under Napoleon's iron rule,
ranged themselves on their side. The deputy, Zahn of Calw,
drew a masterly picture of the state of affairs at that period,
in which he pitilessly disclosed every reigning abuse. The
king, thus vigorously and unanimously opposed, was con-

1 The king bitterly reproached his brother Henry, to whom he said, "You
have accused me to my peasantry." — Pfister. History of the Constitution of
Wurtemberg.

THE LATEST TIMES 1639

strained to yield, and the most prolix negotiations, in which
the citizen deputies, headed by the advocate, Weisshaar,
were supported by the nobility against the government,
commenced.

The affair was, it may be designedly, dragged on ad
infinitum until the death of the king in 1816, when his son
and successor, William, who had gained a high reputation
as a military commander and had rendered himself extremely
popular, zealously began the work of conciliation. He not
only instantly abolished the abuses of the former govern-
ment, as, for instance, in the game law,1 but, in 1817, deliv-
ered a new constitution to the Estates. Article 337 was
somewhat artfully drawn up, but in every point the con-
stitution was as liberal as a constitutional charter could pos-
sibly be. But the Estates refused to accept of liberty as a
boon, and rejected this constitution on the same formal
grounds upon which they had rejected the preceding one.
The Estates were again upheld by a grateful public, and the
few deputies, more particularly Gotta and Griesinger, who
had defended the new constitution on account of its liberality
and who regarded form as immaterial, became the objects of
public animadversion. The populace broke the windows
of the house inhabited by the liberal-minded minister, von
Wangenheim. The poet Uhlan'd greatly distinguished him-
self as a warm upholder of the ancient rights of the people.9
The king instantly dissolved the Estates, but at the same
time declared his intention to guarantee to the people, with-

1 Pfister mentions in his History of the Constitution of Wurtemberg that
merely in the superior bailiwick of Heidenheim the game duties amounted, in
1814, to twenty thousand florins, and five thousand two hundred and ninety-
three acres of taxed ground lay uncultivated on account of the damage done by
the game, and that in march, 1815, one bailiwick was obliged to furnish twenty-
one thousand five hundred and eighty-four men and three thousand two hun-
dred and thirty-seven horses for a single hunt.

2 Colonel von Massenbach, of the Prussian service, who has so miserably de-
scribed the battle of Jena and the surrender of the Prentzlow in which he acted
so miserable a part, and who had in his native Wurtemberg embraced the aristo-
cratic party, was delivered by the free town of Frankfort, within whose walls
he resided, up to the Prussian government, which he threatened to compromise
by the publication of some letters. He died within the fortress of Custrin.

1640 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

out a constitution, the rights he had intended constitution-
ally to confer upon them; to establish an equal system of
taxation, and "to eradicate bureaucracy, that curse upon the
country. ' ' The good-will displayed on both sides led to fresh
negotiations, and a third constitution was at length drawn
up by a committee, composed partly of members of the gov-
ernment, partly of members belonging to the Estates, and,
in 1819, was taken into deliberation and passed by the re-
assembled Estates. This constitution, nevertheless, fell far
below the mark to which it had been raised by public ex-
pectation, partly on account of the retention, owing to an-
cient prejudice, of the permanent committee and its oligarch-
ical influence, partly on account of the too great and per-
manent concessions made to the nobility in return for their
momentary aid,1 partly on account of the extreme haste that
marked the concluding deliberations of the Estates, occa-
sioned by their partly unfounded dread of interference on
the part of the congress then assembled at Carlsbad.

In Wurtemberg, however, as elsewhere, the policy of the
government was deeply imbued with the general character-
istics of the time. Notwithstanding the constitution, not-
withstanding the guarantee given by the federative act,
liberty of the press did not exist. List, the deputy from
Keutlingen, was, for having ventured to collect subscriptions
to petitions, brought before the criminal court, expelled the
chamber by his intimidated brother-deputies, took refuge in
Switzerland, whence he returned to be imprisoned for some
time in the fortress of Asberg, and was finally permitted to
emigrate to North America, whence he returned at a later
period, 1825, in the capacity of consul. Liesching, the editor
of the German Ohiardian, whose liberty of speech was si-

1 The mediatized princes and counts of the empire sat in the first chamber,
the barons of the empire in the second. The prelates, once so powerful, lost,
on the other hand, together with the church property, in the possession of which
they were not reinstated, also most of their influence. Instead of the fourteen
aristocratic and independent prelates, six only were appointed by the monarch
to seats in the second chamber. Government officers were also eligible in this
chamber, which ere long fell entirely under their influence.

THE LATEST TIMES 1641

lenced by command of the German confederation, also be-
came an inmate of the fortress of Asberg.

In Hesse and Brunswick, all the old abuses practiced in
the petty courts in the eighteenth century were revived.
William of Hesse-Cassel returned, on the fall of Napoleon,
to his domains. True to his whimsical saying, "I have slept
during the last seven years," he insisted upon replacing
everything in Hesse exactly on its former footing. In one
particular alone was his vanity inconsistent: notwithstand-
ing his hatred toward Napoleon, he retained the title of
Prince Elector, bestowed upon him by Napoleon's favor,
although it had lost all significance, there being no longer
any emperor to elect.1 He turned the hand of time back
seven years, degraded the councillors raised to that dignity
by Jerome to their former station as clerks, captains to lieu-
tenants, etc., all, in fact, to the station they had formerly
occupied, even reintroduced into the army the fashion of
wearing powder and queues, prohibited all those not bearing
an official title to be addressed as "Herr," and re-established
the socage dues abolished by Jerome. This attachment to
old abuses was associated with the most insatiable avarice.
He reduced the government bonds to one-third, retook pos-
session of the lands sold during Jerome's reign, without
granting any compensation to the holders, compelled the
country to pay his son's debts to the amount of two hundred
thousand rix- dollars, lowered the amount of pay to such a
degree that a lieutenant received but five rix-dollars per
mensem, and offered to sell a new constitution to the Estates
at the low price of four million rix-dollars, which he after-
ward lowered to two millions and a tax for ten years upon
liquors. This shameful bargain being rejected by the Es-
tates, the constitution fell to the ground, and the prince
elector practiced the most unlimited despotism. Discontent
was stifled by imprisonment. Two officers, Huth and Kots-

1 He endeavored, but in vain, to persuade the allied powers to bestow upon
him the royal dignity.

1642 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

mann, who had got up a petition in favor of their class, and
the Herr von Gohr, who by chance gave a private fete while
the prince was suffering from a sudden attack of illness,
were among the victims. The purchasers of the crown
lands vainly appealed to the federative assembly for redress,
for the prince elector "refused the mediation of the federa-
tive assembly until it had been authorized by an organic law
drawn up with the co-operation of the prince elector him-
self."— This prince expired in 1821, and was succeeded by
his son, William II., who abolished the use of hair-powder
and queues, but none of the existing abuses, and demon-
strated no inclination to grant a constitution. He was,
moreover, the slave of his mistress, Countess Beichenbach,
and on ill terms with his consort, a sister of the king of
Prussia, and with his son. Anonymous and threatening let-
ters being addressed to this prince with a view of inducing
him to favor the designs of the writer, he had recourse to
the severest measures for the discovery of the guilty party;
numbers of persons were arrested, and travellers instinctively
avoided Cassel. It was at length discovered that Manger,
the head of the police, a court favorite, was the author of
the letters.

Similar abuses were revived by the house of Brunswick.
It is unhappily impossible to leave unmentioned the conduct
of Caroline, princess of Brunswick, consort to the Prince of
Wales, afterward George IV., king of England. Although
this German princess had the good fortune to be protected
by the Whig party and by the people against the king and
the Tory ministry, she proved a disgrace to her supporters
by the scandalous familiarity in which she lived in Italy
with her chamberlain, the Italian, Pergami. The sympathy
with which she was treated at the time of the congress was
designedly exaggerated by the Whigs for the purpose of giv-
ing the greatest possible publicity to the errors of the mon-
arch. Caroline of Brunswick was declared innocent and
expired shortly after her trial, in 1821.

Charles, the hereditary duke of Brunswick, son to the

THE LATEST TIMES 1643

duke who had so gallantly fallen at Quatre Bras, was under
the guardianship of the king of England. A constitution
was bestowed in 1820 upon this petty territory, which was
governed by the minister, Von Schmidt- Phiseldek. The
youthful duke took the reins of government in his nineteenth
year. Of a rash and violent disposition and misled by evil
associates, he imagined that he had been too long restricted
from assuming the government, accused his well- deserving
minister of having attempted to prolong his minority, posted
handbills for his apprehension as a common delinquent, de-
nied all his good offices, and subverted the constitution. He
was surrounded by base intriguers in the person of Bosse,
the councillor of state, formerly the servile tool of Napo-
leon's despotism, of Frike, the Aulic councillor, "whose pliant
quill was equal to any task when injustice had to be glossed
over," of the adventurer, Klindworth, and of Bitter, the
head of the chancery, who conducted the financial specula-
tions. Frike, in contempt of justice, tore up the judgment
passed by the court of justice in favor of the venerable Herr
von Sierstorff, whom he had accused of high treason. Herr
von Cramm, by whom Frike was, in the name of the Estates,
accused of this misdemeanor before the federative assembly,
was banished, a surgeon, who attended him, was put upon
his defence, and an accoucheur, named Grimm, who had
basely refused to attend up&n Cramm' s wife, was presented
with a hundred dollars. Haiberlin, the novelist, who had
been justly condemned to twenty years' imprisonment with
hard labor for his civil misdemeanors, was, on the other
hand, liberated for publishing something in the duke's favor.
Bitter conducted himself with the most open profligacy, sold
all the demesnes, appropriated the sum destined for the re-
demption of the public debt, and at the same time levied the
heavy imposts with unrelenting severity. The federative
assembly passed judgment against the duke solely in refer-
ence to his attacks upon the king of England.

1644 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXVI. The European Congress — The German
Customs1 Union

THE great political drama enacting in Europe excited at
this time the deepest attention throughout Germany. In
almost every country a struggle commenced between liberal-
ism and the measures introduced on the fall of Napoleon.
In France more particularly it systematically and gradually
undermined the government of the Bourbons, and the cry of
liberty that resounded throughout France once more found
an echo in Germany.

The terrible war was forgotten. The French again be-
came the objects of the admiration and sympathy of the
radical party in Germany, and the spirit of opposition, here
and there demonstrated in the German chambers, gave rise,
notwithstanding its impotence, to precautionary measures on
the part of the federative governments. In the winter of

1819, a German federative congress, of which Prince Metter-
nich was the grand motor, assembled at Vienna for the pur-
pose, after the utter annihilation of the patriots, of finally
checking the future movements of the liberals, principally
in the provincial diets. The Viennese Act of 1820 contains
closer definitions of the Federative Act, of which the more
essential object was the exclusion of the various provincial
diets from all positive interference in the general affairs of
Germany, and the increase of the power of the different
princes vis-a-vis to their provincial diets by a guarantee of
aid on the part of the confederates.

During the sitting of this congress, on New Year's Day,

1820, the liberal party in Spain revolted against their un-
grateful sovereign, Ferdinand VII., who exercised the most
fearful tyranny over the nation that had so unhesitatingly
shed its blood in defence of his throne. This example was
shortly afterward followed by the Neapolitans, who were

THE LATEST TIMES 1645

also dissatisfied with the conduct of their sovereign. Prince
Metternich instantly brought about a congress at Troppau.
The czar, Alexander, who had views upon the East and
was no stranger to the heterarchical party which, under the
guidance of Prince Ypsilanti, prepared a revolution in Greece
(which actually broke out) against the Turks, was at first
unwilling to give his assent unconditionally to the interfer-
ence of Austria, but on being, in 1821, to his great surprise,
informed by Prince Metternich of the existence of a revolu-
tionary spirit in one of the regiments of the Eussian guard,
freely assented to all the measures proposed by that min-
ister.1 The new congress held at Laibach, in 1821, was
followed by the entrance of the Austrians under Frimont
into Italy. The cowardly Neapolitans fled without firing a
shot, and the Piedmontese, who unexpectedly revolted to
Frimont 's rear, were, after a short encounter with the Aus-
trians under Bubna at Novara, defeated and reduced to sub-
mission. The Greeks, whom Eussia now no longer ventured
openly to uphold, had, in the meantime, also risen in open
insurrection. The affairs of Spain were still in an unsettled
state. The new congress held at Yerona, in 1822, however,
decided the fate of both these countries. Prince Harden-
berg, the Prussian minister, expired at Genoa on his return
home, and Lord Castlereagh, the English ambassador, cut
his throat with his penknife, in a fit of frenzy, supposed to
have been induced by the sense of his heavy responsibility.
At this congress the principle of legitimacy was maintained
with such strictness that even the revolt of the Greeks
against the long and cruel tyranny of the Turks was, not-
withstanding the Christian spirit of the Holy Alliance and
the political advantage secured to Eussia and Austria by
the subversion of the Turkish empire, treated as rebellion
against the legitimate authority of the Porte and strongly
discouraged. A French army was, on the same grounds,
despatched with the consent of the Bourbon into Spain, and

1 Yide Binder's Prince Metternich.

1646 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Ferdinand was reinstated in his legitimate tyranny in 1823.
Bussia, in a note addressed to the whole of the confeder-
ated states of Germany, demanded at the same time a dec-
laration on their parts to the effect that the late proceedings
of the great European powers at Verona "were in accord-
ance with the well-understood interests of the people."
Every member of the federative assembly at Frankfort
gave his assent, with the exception of the Freiherr von
Wangenheim, the envoy from Wurtemberg, who declaring
that his instructions did not warrant his voting upon the
question, the ambassadors from the two Hesses made a
similar declaration. This occasioned the dismissal of the
Freiherr von Wangenheim; and the illegal publication of a
Wurtemberg despatch, in which the non-participation of
the German confederation in the resolutions passed by the
congresses, to which their assent was afterward demanded,
was treated of, occasioned a second dismissal, that of Count
Winzingerode, the Wurtemberg minister. In the July of
1824, the federal diet resolved to give its support to the mon-
archical principle in the constitutional states, and to maintain
the Carlsbad resolutions referring to censorship and to the
universities. The Mayence committee remained sitting until
1828.

On the sudden decease of Alexander, the czar of all the
Kussias, amid the southern steppes, a revolution induced by
the nobility broke out at Petersburg, but was suppressed by
Alexander's brother and successor, the emperor Nicholas I.
Nicholas had wedded Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the
king of Prussia. This energetic sovereign instantly invaded
Persia and rendered that country dependent upon his empire
without any attempt being made by the Tory party in Eng-
land and Austria to hinder the aggrandizement of Eussia,
every attack directed against her being regarded as an en-
couragement to liberalism. Eussia consequently seized this
opportunity to turn her arms against Turkey, and, in the
ensuing year, a Eussian force under Count Diebitsch, a
Silesian, crossed the Balkan (Haemus) and penetrated as

THE LATEST TIMES 1647

far as Adrianople; while another corps d'arme'e, under
Count Paskiewicz, advanced from the Caucasus into Asia
Minor and took Erzerum. The fall of Constantinople seemed
near at hand, when Austria and England for the first time
intervened and declared that, notwithstanding their sym-
pathy with the absolute principles on which Eussia rested,
they would not permit the seizure of Constantinople. France
expressed her readiness to unite with Kussia and to fall upon
the Austrian rear in case troops were sent against the Rus-
sians.1 Prussia, however, intervened, and General Muffling
was despatched to Adrianople, where, in 1829, a treaty was
concluded, by which Russia, although for the time compelled
to restore the booty already accumulated, gained several con-
siderable advantages, being granted possession of the most
important mountain strongholds and passes of Asia Minor,
a right to occupy and fortify the mouths of the Danube so
important to Austria, and to extend her aegis over Moldavia
and Wallachia.

In the midst of this wretched period, which brought fame
to Russia and deep dishonor upon Germany, there still
gleamed one ray of hope; the Customs' Union was pro-
posed by some of the German princes for the more inti-
mate union of German interests.

Maximilian of Bavaria, a prince whose amiable manners
and character rendered him universally beloved, expired in
1825. His son, Louis, the foe to French despotism, a Ger-
man patriot and a zealous patron of the arts, declared him-
self, on his coronation, the warm and sincere upholder of the
constitutional principle and excited general enthusiasm. His
first measures on assuming the government were the reduc-
tion of the royal household and of the army with a view to
the relief of the country from the heavy imposts, the removal
of the university of Landshut to Munich, and the enrichment
on an extensive scale of the institutions of art. The union

1 Official report of the Russian ambassador, Count Pozzo di Borgo, from
Paris, of the 14th of December, 1828.

1648 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of the galleries of Dusseldorf and Mannheim with that of
Munich, the collection of valuable antiques and pictures, for
instance, that of the old German paintings collected by the
brothers Boissere'e in Cologne during the French usurpation,
the academy of painting under the direction of the celebrated
Cornelius, the new public buildings raised by Klenze, among
which the Glyptothek, the Pinakothek, the great Konigsbau
or royal residence, the Ludwigschurch, the Auerchurch, the
Arcades, etc. , may be more particularly designated, rendered
Munich the centre of German art. This sovereign also founded
at Eatisbon the Walhalla, a building destined for the recep-
tion of the busts of all the celebrated men to whom Germany
has given birth. The predilection of this royal amateur for
classic antiquity excited within his bosom the warmest sym-
pathy with the fate of the modern Greeks, then in open in-
surrection against their Turkish oppressors, and whom he
alone, among all the princes of Germany, aided in the hour
of their extremest need. — With the same spirit that dictated
his poems, in which he so repeatedly lamented the' want
of unity in Germany, he was the first to propose the union of
her material interests. Germany unhappily resembled, and
indeed immediately after the war of liberation, as De Pradt,
the French writer, maliciously observed, even in a mercan-
tile point of view, a menagerie whose inhabitants watched
each other through a grating. Yainly had the commercial
class of Frankfort on the Maine presented a petition, in 1819,
to the confederation, praying for free trade, for the fulfilment
of the nineteenth article of the federal act. Their well-
grounded complaint remained unheard. The non-fulfilment
of the treaty relating to the free navigation of the Ehine to
the sea was most deeply felt. In the first treaty concluded
at Paris, the royal dignity and the extension of the Dutch
territory had been generously granted to the king of the
Netherlands under the express proviso of the free navigation
of the Rhine to the sea. The papers relating to this trans-
action had been drawn up in French, and the ungrateful
Dutch perfidiously gave the words "jusqu' a la mer" their

THE LATEST TIMES 1649

most literal construction, merely "as far as the sea," and as
the French, moreover, possessed a voice in the matter on
account of the Upper Khine, and the German federal states
were unable to give a unanimous verdict, innumerable com-
mittees were held and acts were drawn up without produc-
ing any result favorable to the trade of Germany.

Affairs stood thus, when, shortly after Louis's accession
to the throne of Bavaria, negotiations having for object the
settlement of a commercial treaty took place between him
and William, king of Wurtemberg. This example was imi-
tated by Prussia, which at first merely formed a union with
Darmstadt; afterward by Hesse, Hanover, Saxony, etc., by
which a central German union was projected. This union
was, however, unable to stand between that of "Wurtem-
berg and Bavaria, and that of Prussia and Darmstadt. The
German Customs' Union was carried into effect in 1828.
An annual meeting of German naturalists had at that time
been arranged under the auspices of Oken, the great natu-
ralist, and at the meeting held at Berlin, in 1828, the Frei-
herr von Cotta, by whom the moral and material interests
of Germany have been greatly promoted, drew up the first
plan for a junction of the commercial union of Southern Ger-
many with that of the North, as the first step to the future
liberation of Germany from all internal commercial restric-
tions. The zeal with which he carried this great plan into
effect gained the confidence of the different governments,
and he not only succeeded in combining the two older unions,
but also in gradually embodying with them the rest of the
German states.

The attachment of King Louis to ancient Catholicism
was extremely remarkable. He began to restore some of the
monasteries, and several professors inclined to Ultramon-
tanism and to Catholic mysticism, the most distinguished
among whom was Gorres, the Prussian exile, assembled at
the new university at Munich. Here and there appeared a
pious enthusiast. Shortly after the restoration, a peasant
from the Pfalz named Adam Muller began to prophesy, and

1650 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Madame von Krudener, a Hanoverian, to preach the neces-
sity of public penance ; both these persons gained the ear of
exalted personages, and Madame von Krudener more particu-
larly is said not a little to have conduced to the piety dis-
played by the emperor Alexander during the latter years of
his life. At Bamberg, Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe,
then a young man, had the folly to attempt the performance
of miracles, until the police interfered, and he received a
high ecclesiastical office in Hungary. In Austria, the Ligo-
rians, followers in the footsteps of the Jesuits, haunted the
vicinity of the throne. The conversion of Count Stolberg
and of the Swiss, Yon Haller, to the Catholic church, created
the greatest sensation. The former, a celebrated poet, sim-
ple and amiable, in no way merited the shameless outbursts
of rage of his old friend, Yoss; Haller, on the other hand,
brought forward in his "Restoration of Political Science"
such a decided theory in favor of secession as to inspire a
sentiment of dread at his consistency. The conversion of
Ferdinand, prince of Anhalt-Kothen, to the Catholic church,
in 1825, excited far less attention.

In France, where the Bourbons were completely guided
by the Jesuits, by whose aid they could alone hope to sup-
press the revolutionary spirit of their subjects, the reaction
in favor of Catholicism had assumed a more decided char-
acter than in Germany. Louis XYIIL was succeeded by
his brother, the Count d'Artois, under the name of Charles
X., a venerable man seventy years of age, who, notwith-
standing his great reverses, had "neither learned nor forgot-
ten anything. ' ' Polignac, his incapable and imperious min-
ister, the tool of the Jesuits, had, since 1829, impugned every
national right, and at length ventured, by the ordinances of
the 25th July, 1830, to subvert the constitution. During
three days, from the 27th to the 30th of July, the greatest
confusion reigned in Paris; the people rose in thousands;
murderous conflicts took place in the streets between them
and the royal troops, who were driven from every quarter,
and the king was expelled. The chambers met, declared

THE LATEST TIMES 1661

the elder branch of the house of Bourbon (Charles X. , his
son, the Dauphin, Duke d'Angouleme, and his grandson,
the youthful Duke de Bordeaux, the son of the murdered
Duke de Berri) to have forfeited the throne, but at the same
time allowed them unopposed to seek an asylum in England,
and elected Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, the son of the
notorious Jacobin, the head of the younger line of the house
of Bourbon and the grand- master of the society of Free-
masons, king of the French. The rights of the chambers
and of the people were also extended by an appendix to the
charta signed by Louis XVIII.

The revolution of July was the signal for all discontented
subjects throughout Europe to gain, either by force or by
legal opposition, their lost or sighed- for rights. In October,
the constitutional party in Spain attempted to overturn the
despotic rule of Ferdinand VII. In November, the prime
minister of England, the renowned Duke of Wellington, was
compelled by the people to yield his seat to Earl Grey, a man
of more liberal principles, who commenced the great work
of reform in the constitution and administration of Great
Britain. During this month, a general insurrection took
place in Poland: the grandduke, Constantine, was driven
out of Warsaw, and Poland declared herself independent.
A great part of Germany was also convulsed: and a part
of the ill- raised fabric, erected by the statesmen of 1815, fell
tottering to the ground.

1652 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXVIL The Belgian devolution

A NATION'S self-forgetfulness is ever productive of na-
tional disgrace. The Netherlands were torn from the em-
pire and placed partly beneath the tyranny of Spain, partly
beneath the aegis of France; the dominion of Austria, at a
later period, merely served to rouse their provincial spirit,
and, during their subsequent annexation to France, the
French element decidedly gained the ascendency among
the population. When, in 1815, these provinces fell under
the rule of Holland, it was hoped that the German element
would again rise. But Holland is not Germany. Estranged
provinces are alone to be regained by means of their incor-
poration with an empire imbued with one distinct national
spirit; the subordination of one province to another but in-
creases national antipathy and estrangement. Holland, by
an ungrateful, inimical policy, unfortunately strove to sepa-
rate herself from Germany.1 And yet Holland owes her
whole prosperity to Germany. There is her market; thence
does she draw her immense wealth ; the loss of that market
for her colonial productions would prove her irredeemable
ruin. Her sovereign, driven into distant exile, was restored
to her by the arms of Germany and generously endowed
with royalty. Holland, in return for all these benefits, de-
ceitfully deprived Germany of the free navigation of the
Rhine to the sea guaranteed to her by the federal act and
assumed the right of fixing the price of all goods, whether
imported to or exported from Germany. The whole of Ger-
many was, in this unprecedented manner, rendered doubly
tributary to the petty state of Holland.

1 "The Netherlands formed, nevertheless, but a weak bulwark to Germany.
Internal disunion, superfluous fortresses, a weak army. On the one side, a wit-
less, wealthy, haughty aristocracy, an influential and ignorant clergy; on the
other, civic pride, capelocratic pettiness, Calvinistic brusquerie. The policy pur-
sued by the king was inimical to Germany." — Stein's Letters.

THE LATEST TIMES 1653

Belgium, annexed to this secondary state instead of being
incorporated with great and liberal Germany, necessarily re-
mained a stranger to any influence calculated to excite her
sympathy with the general interests of Germany. Cut off,
as heretofore, from German influence, she retained, in oppo-
sition to the Dutch, a preponderance of the old Spanish and
modern French element in her population. Priests and lib-
erals, belonging to the French school, formed an opposition
party against the king, who, on his side, rested his sole sup-
port upon the Dutch, whom he favored in every respect.
Count Broglio, archbishop of Ghent, first began the contest
by refusing to take the oath on the constitution. Violence
was resorted to and he fled the country. The impolicy of
the government in affixing his name to the pillory merely
served to increase the exasperation of the Catholics. Hence
their acquiescence with the designs of the Jesuits, their op-
position to the foundation of a philosophical academy, inde-
pendent of the clergy, at Louvain. The fact of the popula-
tion of Belgium being to that of Holland as three to two
and the number of its representatives in the states-general
being as four to seven, of few, if any, Belgians being allowed
to enter the service of the state, the army or the navy, still
further added to the popular discontent. The gross manners
of the minister, Van Maanen, also increased the evil. As
early as January, 1830, eight liberal Belgian deputies were
deprived of their offices, and De Potter, with some others,
who had ventured to defend them by means of the press,
were banished the kingdom under a charge of high treason.

The Dutch majority in the states- general, notwithstand-
ing its devotion to the king, rejected the ten years' budget
on the ground of its affording too long a respite to ministe-
rial responsibility, and protested against the levy of Swiss
troops. Slave-trade in the colonies was also abolished in
1818.

The position of the Netherlands, which, Luxemburg ex-
cepted, did not appertain to the German confederation, con-
tinually exposed her, on account of Belgium, to be attacked

1654 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

on the land side by France, on that of the sea by her ancient
commercial foe, England, and had induced the king to form
a close alliance with Kussia. His son, William of Orange,
married a sister of the emperor Alexander.

The colonies did not regain their former prosperity. The
Dutch settlement at Batavia with difficulty defended itself
against the rebellious natives of Sumatra and Java.

The revolution in Paris had an electric effect upon the
irritated Belgians. On the 25th of August, 1830, Auber's
opera, "The Dumb Girl of Portici," the revolt of Masaniello
in Naples, was performed at the Brussels theatre and in-
flamed the passions of the audience to such a degree, that,
on quitting the theatre, they proceeded to the house of
Libry, the servile newspaper editor, and entirely destroyed
it: the palace of the minister, Van Maanen, shared the same
fate. The citizens placed themselves under arms, and sent
a deputation to The Hague to lay their grievances before the
king. The entire population meanwhile rose in open insur-
rection, and the whole of the fortresses, Maestricht and the
citadel of Antwerp alone excepted, fell into their hands.
William of Orange, the crown prince, ventured unattended
among the insurgents at Brussels and proposed, as a medium
of peace, the separation of Belgium from Holland in a legis-
lative and administrative sense. The king also made an
apparent concession to the wishes of the people by the dis-
missal of Yan Maanen, but shortly afterward declared hie
intention not to yield, disavowed the step taken by his son,
and allowed some Belgian deputies to be insulted at The
Hague. A fanatical commotion instantly took place at
Brussels; the moderate party in the civic guard was dis-
armed, and the populace made preparations for desperate
resistance. On the 25th of September, Prince Frederick,
second son to the king of Holland, entered Brussels with a
large body of troops, but encountered barricades and a heavy
fire in the Park, the Place Koyal, and along the Boulevards.
An immense crowd, chiefly composed of the people of Liege
and of peasants dressed in the blue smock of the country,

THE LATEST TIMES 1655

had assembled for the purpose of aiding in the defence of
the city. The contest, accompanied by destruction of the
dwelling-houses and by pillage, lasted five days. The Dutch
were accused of practicing the most horrid cruelties upon the
defenceless inhabitants and of thereby heightening the popu-
lar exasperation. At length, on the 27th of September, the
prince was compelled to abandon the city. On the 5th of
October, Belgium declared herself independent. De Potter
returned and placed himself at the head of the provisional
government. The Prince of Orange recognized the absolute
separation of Belgium from Holland in a proclamation pub-
lished at Antwerp, but was, nevertheless, constrained to quit
the country. Antwerp fell into the hands of the insurgents;
the citadel, however, refused to surrender, and Chasse, the
Dutch commandant, caused the magnificent city to be bom-
barded, and the well- stored entrepot, the arsenal, and about
sixty or seventy houses, to be set on fire, during the night of
the 27th of October, 1830. l The cruelties perpetrated by the
Dutch were bitterly retaliated upon them by the Belgian
populace. On the 10th of November, however, a national
Belgian congress met, in which the moderate party gained
the upper hand, principally owing to the influence of the
clergy. De Potter's plan for the formation of a Belgian
commonwealth fell to the ground. The congress decided in
favor of the maintenance of the kingdom, drew up a new
constitution, and offered the crown to the Prince de Ne-
mours, second son of the king of the French. It was, how-
ever, refused by Louis Philippe in the name of his son, in
order to avoid war with the other great European powers.
Surlet de Chokier, the leader of the liberal party, hereupon
undertook the provisional government of the country, and
negotiations were entered into with Prince Leopold of
Ooburg.

1 So bitter was the enmity existing between the Belgians and the Dutch that
the Dutch lieutenant, Van Speyk, when driven by a storm before Antwerp, blew
up his gunboat in the middle of the Scheldt rather than allow it to fall into the
hands of the Belgians.

1656 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

On the 4th of November, a congress, composed of the
ministers of England, Bussia, Austria, and Prussia, met at
London for the purpose of settling the Belgian question
without disturbing the peace of Europe, and it was decided
that Prince Leopold of Coburg, the widower of the princess
royal of England, a man entirely under British influence,
and who had refused the throne of Greece, should accept
that of Belgium. Eighteen articles favorable to Belgium
were granted to him by the London congress. Scarcely,
however, had he reached Brussels, on the 31st July, 1831,
than the fetes given upon that occasion were disturbed by
the unexpected invasion of Belgium by a numerous and
powerful Dutch force. At Hasselt, the Prince of Orange
defeated the Belgians under General Daine, and, imme-
diately advancing against Leopold, utterly routed him at
Tirlemont, on the 12th August. The threats of France and
England, and the appearance of a French army in Belgium,
saved Brussels and compelled the Dutch to withdraw. The
eighteen articles in favor of Belgium were, on the other
hand, replaced by twenty- four others, more favorable to the
Dutch, which Leopold was compelled to accept. The king
of Holland, however, refusing to accept these twenty- four
articles, with which, notwithstanding the concessions therein
contained, he was dissatisfied, the Belgian government took
advantage of the undecided state of the question not to
undertake, for the time being, half of the public debt of
Holland, which, by the twenty-four articles, was laid upon
Belgium.

Negotiations dragged on their weary length, and protocol
after protocol followed in endless succession from London.
In 1832, Leopold espoused Louisa, one of the daughters of
the king of the French, and was not only finally recognized
by the northern powers, but, by means of the intervention
of England, being backed by a fleet, and by means of that
of France, being backed by an army, compelled Holland to
accept of terms of peace. The French troops under Gerard,
unassisted by the Belgians and watched by a Prussian army

THE LATEST TIMES 1657

stationed on the Meuse, regularly besieged and took the cita-
del of Antwerp, on Christmas eve, 1832, gave it up to the
Belgians as pertaining to their territory, and evacuated
the country. King William, however, again rejecting the
twenty-four articles, all the other points, the division of
the public debt, the navigation of the Scheldt, and, more
than all, the future destiny of the province of Luxemburg
— which formed part of the confederated states of Germany,
had been declared hereditary in the house of Nassau- Orange,
and which, by its geographical position and the character of
its inhabitants, was more nearly connected with Belgium —
remained for the present unsettled. In 1839, Holland was
induced by a fresh demonstration on the part of the great
powers to accept the twenty- four articles, against which
Belgium in her turn protested, on the ground of the procras-
tination on the part of Holland having rendered her earlier
accession to these terms null and void. Belgium was, how-
ever, also compelled to yield. By this fresh agreement it
was settled that the western part of Luxemburg, which had
in the interim fallen away from the German confederation,
should be annexed to Belgium, and that Holland (and the
German confederation) should receive the eastern part of
Limburg in indemnity; and that Belgium, instead of taking
upon herself one-half of the public debt of the Netherlands,
should annually pay the sum of five million Dutch guldens
toward defraying the interest of that debt.

The period of the independence of Belgium, brief as it
was, was made use of, particularly under the Nothomb
ministry, for the development of great industrial activity,
and, more especially, for the creation of a system of rail-
roads, until now without its parallel on the continent. Un-
fortunately but little was done in favor of the interests of
Germany. The French language had already become so
prevalent throughout Belgium that, in 1840, the provincial
councillors of Ghent were constrained to pass a resolution to
the effect that the offices dependent upon them should, at all
events, solely be intrusted to persons acquainted with the

1658 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

"Flemish dialect, and that their rescripts should be drawn
up in that language. — Holland immensely increased her
public debt in consequence of her extraordinary exertions.
In 1841, the king, William I., voluntarily abdicated the
throne and retired into private life, in the enjoyment of an
enormous revenue, with a Catholic countess whom he had
wedded. He was succeeded by his son, William II.

CCLXYIII. The Swiss devolution

THE restoration of 1814 had replaced the ancient aristoc-
racy more or less on their former footing throughout Switz-
erland. In this country the greatest tranquillity prevailed;
the oppression of the aristocracy was felt, but not so heavily
as to be insupportable. Many benefits, as, for instance, the
draining of the swampy Linththal by Escher of Zurich,
were, moreover, conferred upon the country. Mercenaries
were also continually furnished to the king of France, to the
pope, and, for some time, to the king of the Netherlands.
France, nevertheless, imposed such heavy commercial duties
that several of the cantons leagued together for the purpose
of taking reprisals. This misunderstanding between Switzer-
land and France unfortunately did not teach wisdom to the
states belonging to the German confederation, and the Ehine
was also barricade*d with custom-houses, those graves of com-
merce. The Jesuits settled at Freiburg in the Uechtland,
where they founded a large seminary and whence they
finally succeeded in expelling Peter Girard, a man of high
merit, noted for the liberality of his views on education. '

The Paris revolution of July also gave rise to a demo-
cratic reaction throughout Switzerland. Berne, by a cir-
cular published September 22, 1830, called upon the other

1 In Lucerne, the disorderly trial of a numerous band of robbers, which had
been headed by an extremely beautiful and talented girl, named Clara Wendel,
made the more noise on account of its bringing the bandit-like murder of Keller,
the aged mayor, and intrigues, in which the name of the nuncio was mixed up,
before the public. 1825.

THE LATEST TIMES 1659

Swiss governments to suppress the revolutionary spirit by
force, and, by so doing, fired the train. The government of
Zurich wisely opposed the circular and made a voluntary re-
form. In all the other cantons popular societies sprang up,
and, either by violence or by threats, subverted the ancient
governments. New constitutions were everywhere granted.
The immense majority of the people was in favor of reform,
and the aristocracy offered but faint resistance. Little towns
or villages became the centre of the movements against the
capitals. Fischer, an innkeeper from Merischwanden, seized
the city of Aarau; the village of Burgdorf revolutionized the
canton of Berne, the village of Murten the canton of Frei-
burg, the village of Weinfelden the canton of Constance;
this example was followed by the peasantry of Solothurn and
Yaud; the government of St. Gall imitated that of Zurich.

Basel was also attempted to be revolutionized by Liestal,
but the wealthy and haughty citizens, principally at the in-
stigation of the family of Wieland, made head against the
peasantry, who were led by one Grutzwyler. The contest
that had taken place in Belgium was here reacted on a
smaller scale. A dispute concerning privileges commenc-
ing between the citizens and the peasantry, bloody excesses
ensued and a complete separation was the result. The peas-
antry, superior in number, asserted their right to send a
greater number of deputies to the great council than the
cities, and the latter, dreading the danger to which their
civic interests would be thereby exposed, obstinately refused
to comply. Party rage ran high; the Baselese insulted some
of the deputies sent by the peasantry, and the latter, in retal-
iation, began to blockade the town. Colonel Wieland made
some sallies; the federal diet interfered, and the peasantry,
being dispersed by the federal troops, revenged themselves
during their retreat by plundering the vale of Keigoldswyler,
which had remained true to Basel. In Schwyz, the Old-
Schwyzers and the inhabitants of the outer circles, who,
although for centuries in possession of the rights of citizen-
ship, were still regarded by the former as their vassals, also

GERMANY. YOL. IV.— M

1660 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

fell at variance, and the latter demanded equal rights or
complete separation. In Neufchatel, Bourguin attempted a
revolution against the Prussian party and took the city, but
succumbed to the vigorous measures adopted by General
Pfuel, 1831.

The conduct of the federal diet, which followed in the
footsteps of European policy, and which, by winking at the
opposing party and checking that in favor of progression,
sought to preserve the balance, but served to increase party
spirit. In September, 1831, the Radicals founded, at Lan-
genthal, the Schutzverein or protective union, which em-
braced all the liberal clubs throughout Switzerland and was
intended to counteract the impending aristocratic counter-
revolution. Men like Schnell of Berne, Troxler the philoso-
pher, etc., stood at its head. They demanded the abolition
of the constitution of 1815 as too aristocratic and federal,
and the foundation of a ne^ one in a democratic and inde-
pendent sense for the increase of the external power and
unity of Switzerland, and for her internal security from
petty aristocratic and local views and intrigues. In March,
1832, Lucerne, Zurich, Berne, Solothurn, St. Gall, Aargau,
and Constance formed a Concordat for the mutual main-
tenance of their democratic constitutions until the comple-
tion of the revisal of the confederation. The aristocratic
party, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden (actuated by ancient pride
and led by the clergy), Basel, and Neufchatel meanwhile
formed the Sarner confederation. In August, the deposed
Bernese aristocracy, headed by Major Fischer, made a futile
attempt to produce a counter-revolution. In the federal diet,
the envoys of the Concordat and the threatening language
of the clubs compelled the members to bring a new federal
constitution under deliberation, but opinions were too divided,
and the constitution projected in 1833 fell to the ground for
want of sufficient support. At the moment of this defeat of
the liberal party, Alt-Schwyz, led by Abyberg, took up arms,
took possession of Kiissnacht, and threatened the Concordat,
the Baselese at the same time taking the field with one thou-

THE LATEST TIMES 1661

sand two hundred men and fourteen pieces of ordnance. The
people were, however, inimical to their cause; Abyberg fled;
the Baselese were encountered by the peasantry in the Hart-
wald and repulsed with considerable loss. The federal diet
demonstrated the greatest energy in order to prevent the
Concordat and the Schutzverein from acting in its stead.
Schwyz and Basel were occupied with soldiery ; the former
was compelled to accept a new constitution drawn up with a
view of pacifying both parties, the latter to accede to a com-
plete separation between the town and country. The Sarner
confederation was dissolved, and all discontented cantons
were compelled, under pain of the infliction of martial law,
to send envoys to the federal diet. Intrigues, having for
object the alienation of the city of Basel, of Neufchatel, and
Valais from the confederation, were discovered and frus-
trated by the diet, not without the approbation of France,
the Yalais and the road over the Simplon being thereby pre-
vented from falling beneath the influence of Austria.

In 1833, five hundred Polish refugees, suspected of sup-
porting the Frankfort attempt in Germany, quitted France
for Switzerland, and soon afterward unsuccessfully invaded
Savoy in conjunction with some Italian refugees. Crowds
of refugees from every quarter joined them and formed a
central association, Young Europe, whence branched oth-
ers, Young France, Young Poland, Young Germany, and
Young Italy. The principal object of this association was
to draw the German journeymen apprentices (Handwerks-
bursche) into its interests, and for this purpose a banquet
was given by it to these apprentices in the Steinbrolzle near
Berne. These intrigues produced serious threats on the side
of the great powers, and Switzerland yielded. The greater
part of the refugees were compelled to emigrate through
France to England and America. Napoleon's nephew was,
at a later period, also expelled Switzerland. His mother,
Queen Hortense, consort to Louis, ex- king of Holland,
daughter to Josephine Beauharnais, consequently both
stepdaughter and sister-in-law to Napoleon, possessed the

1662 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

beautiful estate of Arenenberg on the Lake of Constance.
On her death it was inherited by her son, Louis, who, dur-
ing his residence there, occupied himself with intrigues
directed against the throne of Louis Philippe. In concert
with a couple of military madmen, he introduced himself
into Strasburg, where, with a little hat, in imitation of that
worn by Napoleon, on his head, he proclaimed himself em-
peror in the open streets. He was easily arrested. This act
was generously viewed by Louis Philippe as that of a sense-
less boy, and he was restored to liberty upon condition of
emigrating to America. No sooner, however, was he once
more free, than, returning to Switzerland, he set fresh in-
trigues on foot. Louis Philippe, upon this, demanded his
expulsion. Constance would willingly have extended to him
the protection due to one of her citizens, but how were the
claims of a Swiss citizen to be rendered compatible with
those of a pretender to the throne of France ? French troops
already threatened the frontiers of Switzerland, where, as in
1793, the people, instead of making preparations for defence,
were at strife among themselves. Louis at length volun-
tarily abandoned the country in 1838.

In the beginning of 1839, Dr. Strauss, who, in 1835, had,
in his work entitled "The Life of Jesus," declared the Gos-
pels a cleverly devised fable, and had, at great pains, sought
to refute the historical proofs of the truth of Christianity,
was, on that account, appointed, by the council of education
and of government at Zurich, professor of divinity to the
new Zurich academy. Burgomaster Hirzel (nicknamed "the
tree of liberty" on account of his uncommon height) stood
at the head of the enthusiastic government party by which
this extraordinary appointment had been effected; the peo-
ple, however, rose en masse, the great council was com-
pelled to meet, and the anti- Christian party suffered a most
disgraceful defeat. Strauss, who had not ventured to ap-
pear in person on the scene of action, was offered and ac-
cepted a pension. The Christian party, concentrated into a
committee of faith, under the presidency of Hurliman, be-

THE LATEST TIMES 1663

haved with extreme moderation, although greatly superior
in number to their opponents. The radical government,
ashamed and perplexed, committed blunder after blunder,
and at length threatened violence. Upon this, Hirzel, the
youthful priest of Pfa'ffikon, rang the alarm from his parish
church, and, on the 6th of September, 1839, led his parish-
ioners into the city of Zurich. This example was imitated
by another crowd of peasantry, headed by a physician named
Rahn. The government troops attacked the people and killed
nine men. On the fall of the tenth, Hegetschwiler, the
councillor of state, a distinguished savant and physician,
while attempting to restore harmony between the contend-
ing parties, the civic guard turned against the troops and
dispersed them. The radical government and the Strauss
faction also fled. Immense masses of peasantry from around
the lake entered the city. A provisional government, headed
by Hiesz and Muralt, and a fresh election, insured tranquillity.

In the canton of Schwyz, a lengthy dispute, similar to
that between the Yettkoper and Schieringer in Friesland,
was carried on between the Horn and Hoof-men (the wealthy
in possession of cattle and the poor who only possessed a cow
or two) concerning their privileges. In 1839, a violent oppo-
sition, similar in nature, was made by the people of Wad
against the oligarchical power assumed by a few families.

The closing of the monasteries in the Aargau in 1840
gave rise to a dispute of such importance as to disturb the
whole of the confederation. In the Aargau the church and
state had long and strenuously battled, when the monastery
of Muri was suddenly invested as the seat of a conspiracy,
and, on symptoms of uneasiness becoming perceptible among
the Catholic population, the whole country was flooded with
twenty thousand militia raised on the spur of the moment,
and the closing of the monastery of Muri and of all the
monasteries in the Aargau was proclaimed and carried into
execution. The rest of the Catholic cantons and Rome
vehemently protested against this measure, and even some
of the Reformed cantons, for the sake of peace, voted at the

1664 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

diet for the maintenance of the monasteries: the Aargau,
nevertheless, steadily refused compliance.

CCLXIX. The Revolution in Brunswick, Saxony,
Hesse, Etc.

THE Belgian revolution spread into G-ermany. Liege
infected her neighbor, Aix-la-Chapelle, where, on the 30th of
August, 1830, the workmen belonging to the manufactories
raised a senseless tumult which was a few days afterward
repeated by their fellow-workmen at Elberfeld, Wetzlar,
and even by the populace of Berlin and Breslau, but which
solely took a serious character in Brunswick, Saxony, Han-
over and Hesse.

Charles, duke of Brunswick, was at Paris, squandering
the revenue derived from his territories, on the outburst
of the July revolution, which drove him back to his native
country, where he behaved with increased insolence. His
obstinate refusal to abolish the heavy taxes, to refrain from
disgraceful sales, to recommence the erection of public build-
ings, and to recognize the provincial Estates, added to his
threat to fire upon the people and his boast that he knew
how to defend his throne better than Charles X. of France,
so maddened the excitable blood of his subjects that, after
throwing stones at the duke's carriage and at an actress
on whom he publicly bestowed his favors, they stormed his
palace and set fire to it over his head, September 7, 1830.
Charles escaped through the garden. His brother, William,
supported by Hanover and Prussia, replaced him, recog-
nized the provincial Estates, granted a new constitution,
built a new palace, and re-established tranquillity. The
conduct of the expelled duke, who, from his asylum in the
Harzgebirge, made a futile attempt to regain possession of
Brunswick by means of popular agitation and by the procla-
mation of democratical opinions, added to the contempt with
which he treated the admonitions of his superiors, induced
the federal diet to recognize his brother's authority. The

THE LATEST TIMES 1665

ex- duke bas, since this period, wandered over England,
France, arid Spain, sometimes engaged in intrigues with
Carlists, at others with republicans. In 1836, he accompa-
nied a celebrated female aeronaut in one of her excursions
from London. The balloon accidentally upset and the duke
and his companion fell to the ground. He was, however, as
in his other adventures, more frightened than hurt.

In Saxony, the progress of enlightenment had long ren-
dered the people sensible of the errors committed by the old
and etiquettish aristocracy of the court and diet. As early
as 1829, all the grievances had been recapitulated in an
anonymous printed address, and, in the beginning of 1830,
on the venerable king, Antony (brother to Frederick Au-
gustus, deceased 1827), declaring invalid the settlement of
his affairs by the Estates, which evinced a more liberal
spirit than they had hitherto done, and on the prohibition
of the festivities on the 25th of June, the anniversary of the
Augsburg Confession, by the town council of Dresden and
by the government commissioner of the university of Leip-
zig from devotion to the Catholic court, a popular tumult
ensued in both cities, which was quelled but to be, a few
weeks later, after the revolution of July, more disastrously
renewed. The tumult commenced at Leipzig on the 2d of
September and lasted several days, and, during the night
of the 9th, Dresden was stormed from without by two im-
mense crowds of populace, by whom the police buildings and
the town- house were ransacked and set on fire. Disturb-
ances of a similar nature broke out at Chemnitz and Baut-
zen. The king, upon this, nominated his nephew, Prince
Frederick, who was greatly beloved by the people, co- regent;
the civic guard restored tranquillity, the most crying abuses,
particularly those in the city administration, were abolished,
and the constitution was revised. The popular minister,
Lindenau, replaced Einsiedel, who had excited universal
detestation.

In the electorate of flesse, the period of terror occasioned
by the threatening letters addressed to the elector was sue-

1666 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ceeded by the agitation characteristic of the times. On the
6th of September, 1830, a tumultuous rising took place at
Cassel; on the 24th, the people of Hanau destroyed every
custom-house stationed on the frontier. The public was so
unanimous and decided in opinion that the elector not only
agreed to abolish the abuses, to convoke the Estates, and
to grant a new constitution, but even placed the reins of
government provisionally in the hands of his son, Prince
William, in order to follow the Countess Reichenbach, who
had been driven from Cassel by the insults of the populace.
Prince William was, however, as little inclined as his father
to make concessions; and violent collisions speedily ensued.
He wedded Madame Lehmann, the wife of a Prussian officer,
under the name of the Countess von Schaumburg, and closed
the theatre against his mother, the electress, for refusing to
place herself at her side in public. The citizens sided with
the electress, and when, after some time had elapsed, she
again ventured to visit the theatre, the doors were no longer
closed against her, and, on her entrance, she found the house
completely filled. On the close of the evening's entertain-
ment, however, while the audience were peaceably dispers-
ing, they were charged by a troop of cavalry, who cut down
the defenceless multitude without distinction of age or sex,
December 7, 1830. The Estates, headed by Professor Jor-
dan, vainly demanded redress; Giesler, the head of the po-
lice, was alone designated as the criminal; the scrutiny was
drawn to an interminable length and produced no other re-
sult than Giesler' s decoration with an order by the prince.

In Hesse-Darmstadt, where the poll-tax amounted to 6fls.
12krs. (10s. 4d.) a head, the Estates ventured, even prior to
the revolution of July, to refuse to vote 2,000,000fls. (£166, •
666 13s. 4d.) to the new grandduke, Louis II. (who had just
succeeded his aged father, the patron of the arts), for the
defrayment of debts contracted by him before his accession
to the ducal chair. In September, the peasantry of Upper
Hesse rose en masse on account of the imposition of the sum
of 100,000fls. (£8,333 6s. 8d.) upon the poverty-stricken com-

THE LATEST TIMES 1667

munes in order to meet the outlay occasioned by the festivi-
ties given in the grandduke's honor on his route through the
country; the burdens laid upon the peasantry in the media-
tized principalities, more particularly in that of Ysenburg,
had also become unbearable. The insurgents took Budingen
by storm and were guilty of some excesses toward the public
officers and the foresters, but deprived no one of life. Ere
long convinced of their utter impotence, they dispersed be-
fore the arrival of Prince Emilius at the head of a body of
military, who, blinded by rage, unfortunately killed a num-
ber of persons in the village of Sodel, whom they mistook
for insurgents owing to the circumstance of their being
armed, but who had in reality been assembled by a forester
for the purpose of keeping the insurgents in check.

In this month, September, 1830, popular disturbances,
but of minor import, broke out also at Jena and Kahla, Al-
tenburg, and Gera.

In Hanover, the first symptoms of revolution appeared in
January, 1831. Dr. Konig was at that time at the head
of the university of Osterode, Dr. Rauschenplatt of that of
Gottingen. ' The abolition of the glaring ancient abuses and
the removal of the minister, Count Munster, the sole object
of whose policy appeared to be the eternalization of every
administrative and juridical antiquity in the state, were de-
manded. The petty insurrections were quelled by the mili-
tary. Konig was taken prisoner; most of the other dema-
gogues escaped to France. The Duke of Cambridge, the
king's brother, mediated. Count Munster was dismissed,
and Hanover received a new and more liberal constitution.

While these events were passing in Germany, the Poles
carried on a contest against the whole power of Eussia as
glorious and as unfortunate as their former one under their
leader, Kosciuszko. Louis Philippe, king of the French, in

1 Also the unfortunate Dr. Plath, to whom science is indebted for an excel-
lent historical work upon China. He became implicated in this affair and re-
mained in confinement until 1836, when he was sentenced to fifteen years'
further imprisonment.

1668 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the hope of gaining favor with the Northern powers by the
abandonment of the Polish cause, dealt not a stroke in their
aid. Austria, notwithstanding her natural rivalry to Russia,
beheld the Polish revolution merely through the veil of legiti-
macy and refused her aid to rebels. A Hungarian address
in favor of Poland produced no result. Prussia was closely
united by family ties to Russia. The Poles were consequently
left without external aid, and their spirit was internally
damped by diplomatic arts. Aid was promised by France,
if they would wait. They accordingly waited: and in the
interim, after the failure of Diebitsch's attempt upon War-
saw and his sudden death, Paskewitch, the Russian general,
unexpectedly crossed the Vistula close to the Prussian fort-
ress of Thorn and seized the city of Warsaw while each party
was still in a state of indecision. Immense masses of fugi-
tive Polish soldiery sought shelter in Austria and Prussia.
The officers and a few thousand private soldiers were per-
mitted to pass onward to France: they found a warm wel-
come in Southern Germany, whence they had during the
campaign been supplied with surgeons and every necessary
for the supply of the hospitals. The rest were compelled to
return to Russia.

The Russian troops drawn from the distant provinces, the
same that had been employed in the war with Persia, over-
ran Poland as far as the Prussian frontier, bringing with
them a fearful pestilence, Asiatic cholera. This dire malady,
which had, since 1817, crept steadily onward from the banks
of the Ganges, reached Russia in 1880, and, in the autumn
of 1831, spread across the frontiers of Germany. It chiefly
visited populous cities and generally spared districts less
densely populated, passing from one great city to another
whither infection could not have been communicated. Cor-
dons de sante and quarantine regulations were of no avail.
The pestilence appeared to spread like miasma through the
air and to kindle like gas wherever the assemblage of num-
bers disposed the atmosphere to its reception. The patients
were seized with vomiting and diarrhoea, accompanied with

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violent convulsions, and often expired instantaneously or
after an agony of a few hours' duration. Medicinal art was
powerless against this disease, and, as in the 14th century,
the ignorant populace ascribed its prevalence to poison.
Suspicion fell this time upon the physicians and the public
authorities and spread in the most incredible manner from
St. Petersburg to Paris. The idea that the physicians had
been charged to poison the people en masse occasioned dread-
ful tumults, in which numbers of physicians fell victims and
every drug used in medicine was destroyed as poisonous.
Similar scenes occurred in .Russia and in Hungary. In the
latter country a great insurrection of the peasants took
place, in August, 1831, in which not only the physicians,
but also numbers of the nobility and public officers who had
provided themselves with drugs fell victims, and the most
inhuman atrocities were perpetrated. In Vienna, where the
cholera raged with extreme virulence, the people behaved
more reasonably.

In Prussia, the cholera occasioned several disturbances
at Koenigsberg, Stettin, and Breslau. At Koenigsberg the
movement was not occasioned by the disease being attributed
to poison. The strict quarantine regulations enforced by the
government had produced a complete commercial stagnation,
notwithstanding which permission had been given to the Rus-
sian troops, when hard pushed by the insurgent Poles, to
provide themselves with provisions and ammunition from
Prussia, so that not only Kussian agents and commissaries,
but whole convoys from Russia crossed the Prussian fron-
tier. The appearance of cholera was ascribed to this circum-
stance, and the public discontent was evinced both by a pop-
ular outbreak and in an address from the chief magistrate of
Koenigsberg to the throne. The Prussian army, under the
command of Field-Marshal Gneisenau, stationed in Posen
for the purpose of watching the movements of the Poles,
was also attacked by the cholera, to which the field- marshal
fell victim. It speedily reached Berlin, spread through the
north of Germany to France, England, and North America,

1670 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

returned thence to the south of Europe, and, in 1836, crept
steadily on from Italy through the Tyrol to Bavaria.

The veil had been torn from many an old and deep-rooted
evil by the disturbances of 1830. The press now emulated
the provincial diets and some of the governments that sought
to meet the demands of the age in exposing to public view all
the political wants of Germany. Party spirit, however, still
ran too high, and the moderate constitutionalists, who aimed
at the gradual introduction of reforms by legal means, found
themselves ere long outflanked by two extreme parties.
While Gentz at Vienna, Jarcke at Berlin, etc., refused to
make the slightest concession and in that spirit conducted
the press, Eotteck's petty constitutional reforms in Baden
were treated with contempt by Wirth and Siebenpfeiffer, by
whom a German republic was with tolerable publicity pro-
claimed in Ehenish Bavaria. Nor were attempts at media-
tion wanting. In Darmstadt, Schulz proposed the retention
of the present distribution of the states of Germany and the
association of a second chamber, composed of deputies elected
by the people from every part of the German confederation,
with the federal assembly at Frankfort.

The Tribune, edited by Dr. Wirth, and the Westboten,
edited by Dr. Siebenpfeiffer, were prohibited by the federal
diet, March 2, 1832. Schuler, Savoie, and Geib opposed
this measure by the foundation of a club in Ehenish Ba-
varia for the promotion of liberty of the press, ramifica-
tions of which were intended by the founders to be extended
throughout Germany. The approaching celebration of the
festival in commemoration of the Bavarian constitution
afforded the malcontents a long- wished- for opportunity for
the convocation of a monster meeting at the ancient castle
of Hambach, on the 27th of May. Although the black, red
and gold flag waved on this occasion high above the rest,
the tendency to French liberalism predominated over that
to German patriotism. Numbers of French being also pres-
ent, Dr. Wirth deemed himself called upon to observe that
the festival they had met to celebrate was intrinsically Ger-

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man, that he despised liberty as a French boon, and that the
patriot's first thoughts were for his country, his second for
liberty. These observations greatly displeased the numer-
ous advocates for French republicanism among his audience,
and one Bey, a Strasburg citizen, read him a severe lecture
in the Mayence style of 1793. ' There were also a number of
Poles present, toward whom no demonstrations of jealousy
were evinced. This meeting peaceably dissolved, but no
means were for the future neglected for the purpose of crush-
ing the spirit manifested by it. Marshal Wrede occupied
Spires, Landau, Neustadt, etc., with Bavarian troops; the
clubs for the promotion of liberty of the press were strictly
prohibited, their original founders, as well as the orators of
Hambach and the boldest of the newspaper editors, were
either arrested or compelled to quit the country. Sieben-
pf eifier took refuge in Switzerland ; Wirth might have effected
his escape, but refused. Some provocations in Neustadt, on
the anniversary of the Hambach festival in 1833, were brought
by the military to a tragical close. Some newspaper editors,
printers, etc. , were also arrested at Munich, Wurzburg, Augs-
burg, etc. The most celebrated among the accused was Pro-
fessor Behr, court- councillor of Wurzburg, the burgomaster
and former deputy of that city, who at the time of the meeting
at Hambach made a public speech at Gaibach. On account of
the revolutionary tendency manifested in it he was arrested,
and, in 1836, sentenced to ask pardon on his knees before the

1 All national distinctions must cease and be fused in universal liberty and
equality; this was the sole aim of the noble French people, and for this cause
should we meet them with a fraternal embrace, etc. Paul Pfizer well observed
in a pamphlet on German liberalism, published at that period, "What epithet
would the majority of the French people bestow upon a liberty which a part of
their nation would purchase by placing themselves beneath the protection of a
foreign and superior power, called to their aid against their fellow-citizens? If
the cause of German liberalism is to remain pure and unspotted, we must not,
like Coriolanus, arm the foreign foe against our country. The egotistical ten-
dency of the age is, unhappily, too much inclined (by a coalition with France)
to prefer personal liberty and independence to the liberty and independence
(thereby infallibly forfeited) of the whole community. The supposed fellowship
with France would be subjection to her. France will support the German liberals
as Richelieu did the German Protestants.'*

1672 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

king's portrait and to imprisonment, a punishment to which
the greater part of the political offenders were condemned.

The federal diet had for some time been occupied with
measures for the internal tranquillity of Germany. The
Hambach festival both brought them to a conclusion and
increased their severity. Under the date of the 28th of
June, 1832, the resolutions of the federal assembly, by which
first of all the provincial Estates, then the popular clubs, and
finally the press, were to be deprived of every means of op-
posing in any the slightest degree the joint will of the princes,
were published. The governments were bound not to toler-
ate within their jurisdiction aught contrary to the resolutions
passed by the federal assembly, and to call the whole power
of the confederation to their aid if unable to enforce obedi-
ence; nay, in cases of urgency, the confederation reserved
to itself the right of armed intervention, undemanded by the
governments. Taxes, to meet the expenses of the confedera-
tion, were to be voted submissively by the provincial Estates.
Finally, all popular associations and assemblies were also
prohibited, and all newspapers, still remaining, of a liberal
tendency, were suppressed.

The youthful revolutionists, principally students, assem-
bled secretly at Frankfort on the Maine, during the night
of the 3d of April, 1833, attacked the town-watch for the
purpose of liberating some political prisoners, and possibly
intended to have carried the federal assembly by a coup-
de-main had they not been dispersed. These excesses had
merely the effect of increasing the severity of the scrutiny
and of crowding the prisons with suspected persons.

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CCLXX.— The Struggles of the Provincial Diets

THE Estates of the different constitutional states sought
for constitutional reform by legal means and separated them-
selves from the revolutionists. But, during periods of great
political agitation, it is difficult to draw a distinctive line,
and any opposition, however moderate, appears as danger-
ous as the most intemperate rebellion. It was, consequently,
impossible for the governments and the Estates to come to
an understanding during these stormy times. The result
of the deliberations, whenever the opposition was in the
majority, was protestations on both sides in defence of right;
and, whenever the opposition was or fell in the minority, the
chambers were the mere echo of the minister.

In Bavaria, in 1831, the second chamber raised a violent
storm against the minister, von Schenk, principally on
account of the restoration of some monasteries and of the
enormous expense attending the erection of the splendid
public buildings at Munich. A law of censorship had,
moreover, been published, and a number of civil officers
elected by the people been refused permission to take their
seats in the chamber. Schwindel, von Closen, Cullmann,
Seyffert, etc., were the leaders of the opposition. Schenk
resigned office ; the law of censorship was repealed, and the
Estates struck two millions from the civil list. The first
chamber, however, refused its assent to these resolutions,
the law of censorship was retained, and the saving in the
expenditure of the crown was reduced to an extremely insig-
nificant amount. In the autumn of 1832, Prince Otto, the
king's second son, was, with the consent of the sultan,
elected king of Greece by the great maritime powers in-
trusted with the decision of the Greek question, and Count
Armansperg, formerly minister of Eavaria, was placed at

1674 THE HISTORY OF GERMANS

the head of the regency during the minority of the youthful
monarch. Steps having to be taken for the levy of troops
for the Greek service, some regiments were sent into Greece
in order to carry the new regulations into effect. The Ba-
varian chambers were at a later period almost entirely
purged from the opposition and granted every demand made
by the government. The appearance of the Bavarians in
ancient Greece forms one of the most interesting episodes
in modern history. The jealousy of the great powers ex-
plains the election of a sovereign independent of them all:
the noble sympathy displayed for the Grecian cause by King
Louis, who, shortly after the congress of Verona, sent con-
siderable sums of money and Colonel von Heideck to the
aid of the Greeks, and, it may be, also the wish to bring
the first among the second-rate powers of Germany into
closer connection with the common interests of the first-rate
powers, more particularly explains that of the youthful Otto.1
The task of organizing a nation, noble, indeed, but debased
by long slavery and still reeking with the blood of late rebel-
lion, under the influence of a powerful and mutually jealous
diplomacy, on a European and German footing, was, how-
ever, extremely difficult. Hence the opposite views enter-
tained by the regency, the resignation of the councillors of
state, von Maurer and von Abel, who were more inclined
to administrate, and the retention of office by Count Armans-
perg, who was more inclined to diplomatize. Hence the
ceaseless intrigues of party, the daily increasing contumacy,
and the revolts, sometimes quenched in blood, of the wild
mountain tribes and ancient robber- chiefs, to whom Eu-
ropean institutions were still an insupportable yoke. King
Otto received, on his accession to the throne, in 1835, a visit

1 Thiersch, the Bavarian court-councillor, one of the most distinguished con-
noisseurs of Grecian antiquity, who visited Greece shortly after Heideck and
before the arrival of the king, was received by the modern Greeks with touching
demonstrations of delight. No nation has so deeply studied, so deeply become
imbued with Grecian lore, as that of Germany, and the close connection formed,
on the accession of the Bavarian Otto to the throne of Greece, between her sons
and the children of that classic land, justifies the proudest expectations.

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from his royal parent; and, in the ensuing year, conducted
the Princess of Oldenburg to Athens as his bride.

In Wurtemberg, the chambers first met in 1833, and
were, two months later, again dissolved on account of the
refusal of the second chamber to reject "with indignation"
Pfizer 's protestation against the resolutions of the confedera-
tion. In the newly-elected second chamber, the opposition,
at whose head stood the celebrated poet, Uhland, brought
forward numerous propositions for reform, but remained in
the minority, and it was not until the new diet, held in 1836,
that the aristocratic first chamber was induced to diminish
socage service and other feudal dues twenty-two and one-half
per cent in amount. The literary piracy that had hitherto con-
tinued to exist solely in Wurtemberg was also provisionally
abolished, the system of national education was improved,
and several other useful projects were carried into execution
or prepared. A new criminal code, published in 1838, again
bore traces of political caution. The old opposition lost
power.

In Baden, the venerable grandduke, Louis, expired in
1830, and was succeeded by Leopold, a descendant of the
collateral branch of the counts of Hochberg. Bavaria had,
at an earlier period, stipulated, in case of the extinction of
the elder and legitimate line, for the restoration of the Pfalz
(Heidelberg and Mannheim), which had, in 1816, been se-
cured to her by a treaty with Austria. The grandduke,
Louis, had protested against this measure and had, in 1817,
declared Baden indivisible. Bavaria finally relinquished her
claims on the payment of "two million florins (£166,666
13s. 4d.) and the cession of the bailiwick of Steinfeld, to
which Austria moreover added the county of Geroldseck.
The new grandduke, who was surnamed "the citizen's
friend," behaved with extreme liberality and consequently
went hand in hand with the first chamber, of which Wessen-
berg and Prince von Furstenberg were active members, and
with the second, at the head of which stood Professors Kot-
teck, Welcker, and von Itzstein. Rotteck proposed and car-

1676 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ried through the abolition of capital punishment as alone
worthy of feudal times, and, on Welcker's motion, censor-
ship was abolished and a law for the press was passed. The
federal assembly, however, speedily checked these reforms.
The grandduke was compelled to repeal the law for the press,
the Freiburg university was for some time closed, Professors
Rotteck and Welcker were suspended, and their newspaper,
the "Freisinnige" or Liberal, was suppressed in 1832. Rot-
teck was, notwithstanding, at feud with the Hambachers,
and had raised the Baden flag above that of Germany at a
national fete at Badenweiler. This extremely popular dep-
uty, who had been presented with thirteen silver cups in
testimony of the affection with which he was regarded by
the people, afterward protested against the resolutions of the
confederation, but his motion was violently suppressed by
the minister, Winter. The Baden chamber, nevertheless,
still retained a good deal of energy, and, after the death of
Rotteck, in 1841, a violent contest was carried on concerning
the rights of election.

In Hesse-Darmstadt, the Estates again met in 1832; the
liberal majority in the second chamber, led by von Gagern,
E. E. Hoffmann, Hallwachs, etc., protested against the
resolutions of the confederation, and the chamber was dis-
solved. A fresh election took place, notwithstanding which
the chamber was again dissolved in 1834, on account of the
government being charged with party spirit by von Gagern
and the refusal of the chamber to call him to order. The
people afterward elected a majority of submissive members.

In Hesse- Cassel the popular demonstrations were instantly
followed by the convocation of the Estates and the proposal
of a new and stipulated constitution, which received the
sanction of the chambers as early as January, 1831; but,
amid the continual disturbances, and on account of the dis-
inclination of the prince co-regent to the liberal reforms, the
chamber, of which the talented professor, Jordan of Mar-
burg, was the most distinguished member, yielded, not-
withstanding its perseverance, after two rapidly successive

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dissolutions, in 1882 and 1833, to the influence of the (once
liberal) minister, Hassenpflug, and Jordan quitted the scene
of contest. Hassenpflug's tyrannical behavior and the lapse
of Hesse- Rotenburg (the mediatized collateral line, which
became extinct with the Landgrave Victor in 1834), the
revenues of which were appropriated as personal property
by the prince elector instead of being declared state property,
fed the opposition in the chambers, which was, notwith-
standing the menaces of the prince elector, carried on until
1838. Hassenpflug threw up office.

In Nassau, the duke, William, fell into a violent dispute
with the Estates. The second chamber, after vainly solicit-
ing the restitution of the rich demesnes, appropriated by the
duke as private property, on the ground of their being state
property, and the application of their revenue to the pay-
ment of the state debts, refused, in the autumn of 1831, to
vote the taxes. The first chamber, in which the duke had
the power of raising at will a majority in his favor by the
creation of fresh members, protested against the conduct
of the second, which in return protested against that of the
first and suspended its proceedings until their constitutional
rights should have received full recognition; five of the
deputies, however, again protested against the suspension
of the proceedings of the chamber and voted the taxes dur-
ing the absence of the majority. The majority again pro-
tested, but became entangled in a political lawsuit, and
Herber, the gray-headed president, was confined in the
fortress of Marxburg.

In Brunswick, a good understanding prevailed between
William, the new duke, and the Estates, which were, how-
ever, accused of having an aristocratic tendency by the
democratic party. Their sittings continued to be held in
secret.

In Saxony, the long-wished-for reforms, above all, the
grant of a new constitution, were realized, owing to the in-
fluence of the popular co-regent, added to that of Lindenau,
the highly-esteemed minister, and of the newly-elected Es-

1678 THE HISTORY OF GERMAN*

tates, in 1831. The law of censorship, nevertheless, con-
tinued to be enforced with extreme severity, which also
marked the treatment of the political prisoners. Count
Hohenthal and Baron Watzdorf, who seized every oppor-
tunity to put in protestations, even against the resolutions
of the confederation, evinced the most liberal spirit. On
the demise of the aged king, Antony, in 1835, and the acces-
sion of the co-regent, Frederick, to the throne, the political
movements totally ceased.

Holstein and Schleswig had also, as early as 1823, so-
licited the restitution of their ancient constitutional rights,
which the king, Frederick IV., delayed to grant. Lornsen,
the councillor of chancery, was arrested in 1830, for attempt-
ing to agitate the people. Separate provincial diets were,
notwithstanding, decreed, in 1831, for Holstein and Schles-
wig, although both provinces urgently demanded their union.
Frederick IV. expired in 1839 and was succeeded by his
cousin, Christian.

Immediately after the revolution of July, the princes of
Oldenburg, Altenburg, Coburg, Meiningen, and Schwarz-
burg-Sondershausen made a public appeal to the confidence
of their subjects, whom they called upon to lay before them
their grievances, etc. Augustus, duke of Oldenburg, who
had assumed the title of grandduke, proclaimed a constitu-
tion, but shortly afterward withdrew his promise and strictly
forbade his subjects to annoy him by recalling it to his re-
membrance. The prince von Sondershausen also refused
the hoped-for constitution. In Sigmaringen, Altenburg,
and Meiningen the constitutional movement was, on the
contrary, countenanced and encouraged by the princes.
Pauline, the liberal-minded princess of Lippe-Detmold, had
already drawn up a constitution for her petty territory with
her own hand, when the nobility rose against it, and, aided
by the federal assembly, compelled her to withdraw it.

In the autumn of 1833, the emperor of Eussia held a con-
ference with the king of Prussia at Munchen-Ghratz, whither
the emperor of Austria also repaired. A Grerman ministerial

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congress assembled immediately afterward at Vienna, and
the first of its resolutions was made public late in the autumn
of 1834. It announced the establishment of a court of arbi-
tration, empowered, as the highest court of appeal, to decide
all disputes between the governments and their provincial
Estates. The whole of the members of this court were to
be nominated by the governments, but the disputing parties
were free to select their arbitrators from among the number.
A fresh and violent constitutional battle was, notwith-
standing these precautions, fought in Hanover, where
Adolphus Frederick, duke of Cambridge, had, in the name
of his brother, William IV., king of England, established
a new constitution, which had received many ameliorations
notwithstanding the inefficiency of the liberals, Christiani,
Luntzel, etc., to counteract the overpowering influence of
the monarchical and aristocratic party. William IV., king
of England and Hanover, expired in 1837 and was succeeded
on the throne of Great Britain by Victoria Alexandrina, the
daughter of his younger and deceased brother, Edward, duke
of Kent, and of the Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg; and
on that of Hanover, which was solely heritable in the male
line, by his second brother, Ernest, duke of Cumberland, the
leader of the Tory party in England. No sooner had this
new sovereign set his foot on German soil1 than he repealed
the constitution granted to Hanover in 1833 and ordained
the restoration of the former one of 1819, drawn up in a less
liberal but more monarchical and aristocratic spirit. Among
the protestations made against this coup d'etat, that of the
seven Gottingen professors, the two brothers Grimm, to
whom the German language and antiquarian research are
so deeply indebted, Dahlmann, Gervinus, Ewald, Weber, and

1 He did not restore the whole of the crown property that had, at an earlier
period, been carried away to England. A considerable portion of the crown
jewels had been taken away by George I., and when, in 1802, the French occu-
pied Hanover, the whole of the movable crown property, even the great stud,
was sent to England. On the demise of George III. , the crown jewels were
divided among the princes of the English house. — Copied from the Courier of
August, 1838.

1680 V THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Albrecht, is most worthy of record. Their instant dismis-
sion produced an insurrection among the students, which
was, after a good deal of bloodshed, quelled by the military.
In the beginning of 1838, the Estates were convoked accord-
ing to the articles of the constitution of 1819 for the purpose
of taking a constitution, drawn up under the dictation of the
king, under deliberation. Many of the towns refused to elect
deputies, and some of those elected were not permitted to
take their seats. The city of'Osnabruck protested in the
federal assembly. Notwithstanding this, the Estates mean-
while assembled, but declared themselves incompetent, re-
garding themselves simply in the light of an arbitrative com-
mittee, and, as such, threw out the constitution presented
by the king, June, 1838. The federal assembly remained
passive.1 In 1839, Schele, the minister, finally succeeded,
by means of menaces and bribery, and by arbitrarily calling
into the chamber the ministerial candidates who had received
the minority of votes during the elections, in collecting as
many deputies devoted to his party as were requisite in order
to form the chamber and to pass resolutions. The city of
Hanover hereupon brought before the federal assembly a
petition for redress and a list of grievances in which Schele' a
chamber was described as 4 ' unworthy of the name of a con-
stitutional representative assembly, void of confidence, un-
possessed of the public esteem, and unrecognized by the
country." The king instantly divested Bumann, the city
director, of his office, but so far yielded to the magistrate,
to whom he gave audience in the palace and who was fol-
lowed by crowds of the populace, as to revoke the nomina-
tion, already declared illegal, of Kumann's successor, and
to-promise that the matter at issue should be brought before
the common tribunal instead of the council of state, July

1 The Darmstadt government declared to the second chamber, on its bringing
forward a motion for the intercession of Darmstadt with the federal assembly in
favor of the legality of the ancient constitution then in force in Hanover, that
the grandduke would never tolerate any co-operation on the part of the Estates
with his vote in the federal assembly.

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17th. Numerous other cities, corporations of landed pro-
prietors, etc., also followed the example set by Hanover and
laid their complaints before the federal assembly, which here-
upon declared that, according to the laws of the confedera-
tion, it found no cause for interference, but at the same time
advised the king to come to an understanding consistent with
the rights of the crown and of the Estates, with the "pres-
ent" Estates (unrecognized by the democratic party), con-
cerning the form of the constitution. In the federal assem-
bly, Wurtemberg and Bavaria, most particularly, voted in
favor of the Hanoverians. Professor Ewald was appointed
to the university of Tubingen; Albrecht, at a later period,
to that of Leipzig; the brothers Grimm, to that of Berlin;
Dahlmann,' to that of Bonn. Among the assembled Estates,
those of Baden, Wurtemberg, and Saxony most warmly
espoused the cause of the people of Hanover, but, as was
natural, without result.1

In 1840, the king convoked a fresh diet. The people re-
fused to elect members, and it was solely by means of intrigue
that a small number of deputies (not half the number fixed
by law) were assembled, creatures of the minister, Schele,
who were disowned by the people in addresses couched in
the most energetic terms (the address presented by the citi-
zens of Osnabruck was the most remarkable) and their pro-
ceedings were protested against. This petty assembly, never-
theless, took under deliberation and passed a new constitution,
against which the cities and the country again protested.
The king also declared his only son, George, who was af-
flicted with blindness, capable of governing and of succeed-
ing to the throne.

1 "This defeat is, however, not to be lamented: the battle for the separate
constitutions has not been fought in vain if German nationality spring from the
wreck of German separatism, if we are taught that without a liberal federal con-
stitution liberal provincial constitutions are impossible in Germany." — Pfizer.

1682 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXXI. Austria and Prince Metternich

AUSTRIA might, on the fall of Napoleon, have maintained
Alsace, Lorraine, the Breisgau, and the whole of the terri-
tory of the Upper Bhine in the same manner in which Prussia
had maintained that of the Lower Ehine, had she not pre-
ferred the preservation of her rule in Italy and rendered her
position in Germany subordinate to her station as a Euro-
pean power. This policy is explained by the peculiar cir-
cumstances of the Austrian state, which had for centuries
comprised within itself nations of the most distinct character,
and the population of whose provinces were by far the greater
part Slavonian, Hungarian, and Italian, the great minority
German. By this policy she lost, as the Prussian Customs'
Union has also again proved, much of her influence over Ger-
many, while, on the other hand, she secured it the more
firmly in Southern and Eastern Europe. Austria has long
made a gradual and almost unperceived advance from the
northwest in a southeasterly direction. In Germany she
has continually lost ground. Switzerland, the Netherlands,
Alsace, Lorraine, the Swabian counties, Lusatia, Silesia,
have one by one been severed from her, while her non- Ger-
man possessions have as continually been increased, by the
addition of Hungary, Transylvania, Galicia, Dalmatia, and
Upper Italy.

The contest carried on between Austria, the French Revo-
lution, and Napoleon, has at all events left deep and still visi-
ble traces ; the characters of the emperor Francis and of his
chancellor of state, Prince Metternich, that perfect represen-
tative of the aristocracy of Europe, sympathize also as closely
with the Austrian system as the character of the emperor
Joseph was antipathetical to it. This system dates, however,
earlier than those revolutionary struggles, and has already
outlived at least one of its supporters.

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Austria is the only great state in Europe that comprises so
many diverse but well-poised nationalities within its bosom;
in all the other great states, one nation bears the preponder-
ance. To this circumstance may be ascribed her peaceful
policy, every great war threatening her with revolt of
some one of the foreign nations subordinate to her sceptre.
To this may, moreover, be ascribed the tenacity with which
she upholds the principle of legitimacy. The historical he-
reditary right of the reigning dynasty forms the sole but
ideal tie by which the diverse and naturally inimical nations
beneath her rule are linked together. For the same reason,
the concentration of talent in the government contrasts, in
Austria, more violently with the obscurantism of the prov-
inces than in any other state. Not only does the overpower-
ing intelligence of the chancery of state awe the nations be-
neath its rule, but the proverbial good nature and patriarchal
cordiality of the imperial family win every heart. The army
is a mere machine in the hands of the government; a stand-
ing army, in which the soldier serves for life or for the period
of twenty years, during which he necessarily loses all sym-
pathy with his fellow-citizens, and which is solely reinte-
grated from militia whom this privilege renders still more
devoted to the government. The pretorian spirit usually
prevalent in standing armies has been guarded against in
Austria by there being no guards, and all sympathy between
the military and the citizens of the various provinces whence
they were drawn is at once prevented by the Hungarian troops
being sent into Italy, the Italian troops into Galicia, etc., etc.
The nationality of the private soldier is checked by the Ger-
manism of the subalterns and by the Austrianism of the staff.
Besides the power thus everywhere visible, there exists an-
other partially invisible, that of the police, in connection with
a censorship of the severest description, which keeps a guard
over the inadvertencies of the tongue as well as over those
of the press. The people are, on the other hand, closely
bound up with the government and interested in the mainte-
nance of the existing state of affairs by the paper currency,

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— N

1684: THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

on the value of which the welfare of every subject in the
state depends.

To a government thus strong in concentrated power and
intelligence stands opposed the mass of nations subject to the
Austrian sceptre whose natural antipathies have been art-
fully fostered and strengthened. In Austria the distinctions
of class, characteristic of the Middle Ages, are still preserved.
The aristocracy and the clergy possess an influence almost
unknown in Germany, but solely over the people, not over
the government. As corporative bodies they still are, as in
the days of Charles VI. , convoked for the purpose of hold-
ing postulate diets, whose power, with the exception of that
of the Hungarian diet, is merely nominal. The nobility,
even in Hungary, as everywhere else throughout the Aus-
trian states (more particularly since the Spanish system
adopted by Ferdinand II.), is split into two inimical classes,
those of the higher and lower aristocracy. Even in Galicia,
where the Polish nobility formed, at an earlier period and ac-
cording to earlier usage, but one body, the distinction of a
higher and lower class has been introduced since the occupa-
tion of that country by Austria. The high aristocracy are
either bound by favors, coincident with their origin, to the
court, the great majority among them consisting of families
on whom nobility was conferred by Ferdinand II., or they
are, if families belonging to the more powerful and more an-
cient national aristocracy, as, for instance, that of Esterhazy
in Hungary, brought by the bestowal of fresh favors into
closer affinity with the court and drawn within its sphere.
The greater proportion of the aristocracy consequently reside
at Vienna. The lower nobility make their way chiefly by
talent and perseverance in the army and the civil offices,
and are therefore naturally devoted to the government, on
which all their hopes in life depend. The clergy, although
permitted to retain the whole of their ancient pomp and their
influence over the minds of the people, have been rendered
dependent upon the government, a point easily gained, the
pope being principally protected by Austria.

THE LATEST TIMES 1685

The care of the government for the material welfare of
the people cannot be denied; it is, however, frustrated by
two obstacles raised by its own system. The maintenance
of the high aristocracy is, for instance, antipathetic to the
welfare of the subject, and, although comfort and plenty
abound in the immediate vicinity of Vienna, the population
on the enormous estates of the magnates in the provinces
often present a lamentable contrast. The Austrian govern-
ment moreover prohibits all free intercourse with foreign
parts, and the old-fashioned system of taxation, senseless
as many other existing regulations, entirely puts a stop to
all free trade between Hungary and Austria. Consequently,
the new and grand modes of communication, the Franzen
Canal, that unites the Danube and the Thiess, the Louisen-
strasse, between Carlstadt and Fiume, the magnificent road
to Trieste, the admirable road across the rocks of the Stilfser
Jock, and, more than all, the steam navigation as far as the
mouths of the Danube and the railroads, will be unavailing
to scatter the blessings of commerce and industry so long as
these wretched prohibitions continue to be enforced.

Austria has, in regard to her foreign policy, left the in-
creasing influence of Kussia in Poland, 'Persia, and Turkey
unopposed, and even allowed the mouths of the Danube to
be guarded by Eussian fortresses, while she has, on the other
hand, energetically repelled the interference of France in the
affairs of Italy. The July revolution induced a popular in-
surrection in the dominions of the Church, and the French
threw a garrison into the citadel of Ancona; the Austrians,
however, instantly entered the country and enforced the res-
toration of the ancien regime. In Lombardy, many amel-
iorations were introduced and the prosperity of the country
promoted by the Austrian administration, notwithstanding
the national jealousy of the inhabitants. Venice, with her
choked-up harbor, could, it is true, no longer compete with
Trieste. The German element has gained ground in Galicia
by means of the public authorities and the immigration of
agriculturists and artificers. The Hungarians endeavored

1686 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

to render their language the common medium throughout
Hungary, and to expel the German element, but their ap-
prehension of the numerous Slavonian population of Hun-
gary, whom religious sympathy renders subject to Russian
influence, has speedily reconciled them with the Germans.
Slavonism has, on the other hand, also gained ground in
Bohemia.

The emperor, Francis L, expired in 1835, and was suc-
ceeded by his son, Ferdinand I., without a change taking
place in the system of the government, of which Prince
Metternich continued to be the directing principle.

The decease of some of the heads of foreign royal fami-
lies and the marriages of their successors again placed sev-
eral German princes On foreign thrones. The last of the
Guelphs on the throne of Great Britain expired with Wil-
liam IV., whose niece and successor, Victoria Alexandrina,
wedded, 1840, Albert of Saxe-Coburg, second son of Ernest,
the reigning duke. That the descendant of the steadfast
elector should, after such adverse fortune, be thus destined
to occupy the highest position in the reformed world, is of
itself remarkable. One of this prince's uncles, Leopold, is
seated on the throne of Belgium, and one of his cousins,
Ferdinand, on that of Portugal, in right of his consort,
Donna Maria da Gloria, the daughter of Dom Pedro, king
of Portugal and emperor of the Brazils, to whom, on the
expulsion of the usurper, Dom Miguel, he was wedded in
1835. These princes of Coburg are remarkable for manly
beauty.

The antipathy with which the new dynasty on the throne
of France was generally viewed rendered Ferdinand, Duke
of Orleans, Louis Philippe's eldest son, for some time an
unsuccessful suitor for the hand of a German princess; he at
length conducted Helena, princess of Mecklenburg- Schwerin,
although against the consent of her stepfather, Paul Fred-
erick, the reigning duke, to Paris in 1837, as future queen of
the French. He was killed in 1842, by a fall from his car-
riage, and left two infant sons, the Count of Paris and the

THE LATEST TIMES 1687

Duke of Chartres. The Czarowitz, Alexander, espoused
Maria, Princess of Darmstadt.

The French chambers and journals have reassumed to-
ward Germany the tone formerly affected by Napoleon, and,
with incessant cries for war, in which, in 1840, the voice of
the prime minister Thiers joined, demand the restoration
of the left bank of the Ehine. Thiers was, however, com-
pelled to resign office, and the close alliance between Aus-
tria, Prussia, and the whole of the confederated princes, as
well as the feeling universally displayed throughout Ger-
many, demonstrated the energy with which an attack on
the side of France would be repelled. The erection of
the long- for gotten federal fortresses on the Upper Ehine
was also taken at length under consideration, and it was
resolved to fortify both Eastadt and Ulm without further
delay.

Nor have the statesmen of France failed to threaten Ger-
many with a Eusso- Gallic alliance in the spirit of the Erfurt
congress of 1808; while Eussia preseveres in the prohibitory
system so prejudicial to German commerce, attempts to sup-
press every spark of German nationality in Livonia, Cour-
land, and Esthonia, and fosters Panslavism, or the union
of all the Slavonic nations for the subjection of the world,
among the Slavonian subjects of Austria in Hungaria and
Bohemia. The extension of the Greek church is also con-
nected with this idea. "The European Pentarchy," a work
that attracted much attention in 1839, insolently boasts how
Russia, in defiance of Austria, has seized the mouths of the
Danube, has wedged herself, as it were, by means of Poland,
between Austria and Prussia, in a position equally threaten-
ing to both, recommends the minor states of Germany to
seek the protection of Eussia, and darkly hints at the alli-
ance between that power and France.

Nor are the prospects of Germany alone threatened by
France and Eussia; disturbances, like a fantastic renewal
of the horrors of the Middle Age, are ready to burst forth
on the other side of the Alps, as though, according to the

1688 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

ancient saga of Germany, the dead were about to rise in
order to mingle in the last great contest between the gods
and mankind.

CCLXXII. Prussia and Rome

WHILE Austria remains stationary, Prussia progresses.
While Austria relies for support upon the aristocracy of the
Estates, Prussia relies for hers upon the people, that is to
say, upon the public officers taken from the mass of the pop-
ulation, upon the citizens emancipated by the city regula-
tion, upon the peasantry emancipated by the abolition of
servitude, of all the other agricultural imposts, and by the
division of property, and upon the enrolment of both classes
in the Landwehr. While Austria, in fine, renders her Ger-
man policy subordinate to her European diplomacy, the in-
fluence exercised by Prussia upon Europe depends, on the
contrary, solely upon that possessed by her in Germany.

Prussia's leading principle appears to be, "All for the
people, nothing through the people!" Hence the greatest
solicitude for the instruction of the people, whether in the
meanest schools or the universities, but under strict political
control, under the severest censorship; hence the emancipa-
tion of the peasantry, civic self -administration, freedom of
trade, the general arming of the people, and, with all these,
mere nameless provincial diets, the most complete popular
liberty on the widest basis without a representation worthy
of the name; hence, finally, the greatest solicitude for the
promotion of trade on a grand scale, for the revival of the
commerce of Germany, which has lain prostrate since the
great wars of the Ke formation, for the mercantile unity of
Germany, while it is exactly in Prussia that political Unita-
rians are the most severely punished.

The greatest measures were commenced in Prussia imme-
diately after the disaster of 1806: first, the reorganization of
the army and the abolition of the privileges of the aristoc-
racy in respect to appointments and the possession of landed

THE LATEST TIMES 1689

property; these were, in 1808, succeeded by the celebrated
civic regulation which placed the civic administration in the
hands of the city deputies freely elected by the citizens; in
1810, by freedom of trade and by the foundation of the new
universities of Berlin (instead of Halle), of Breslau (instead
of Frankfort on the Oder), and, in 1819, of Bonn, by which
means the libraries, museums, and scientific institutions of
every description were centralized; in 1814, by the common
duty imposed upon every individual of every class, without
exception, to bear arms and to do service in the Landwehr
up to his thirty- ninth year; in 1821, by the regulation for
the division of communes; and, in 1822, by the extra post.

In respect to the popular representation guaranteed by
the federal act, Prussia announced, on the 22d of May, 1815,
her intention to form provincial diets, from among whose
members the general representation or imperial diet, which
was to be held at Berlin, was to be elected. When the
Rhenish provinces urged the fulfilment of this promise in
the Coblentz address of 1817, the reply was, "Those who
admonish the king are guilty of doubting the inviolability
of his word." Prussia afterward declared that the new reg-
ulations would be in readiness by the February of 1819. On
the 20th of January, 1820, an edict was published by the
government, the first paragraph of which fixed the public
debt at $180,091,720,' and the second one rendered the con-
traction of every fresh debt dependent upon the will of the
future imperial diet.' The definitive regulations in respect
to the provincial Estates were finally published on the 5th of
June, 1823, but the convocation of a general diet was passed
over in silence.

The prosperity of the nations of Germany, wrecked by
the great wars of the Reformation, must and will gradually
return. Prussia has inherited all the claims upon, and con-
sequently all the duties owing to Germany. Still the gen-
eral position of Germany is not sufficiently favorable to

1 £26,263,375 16s. 8d.

• The Maritime Commercial Company, meanwhile, entered into a contract.

1690 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

render the renovation of her ancient Hanseatic commerce
possible.1 It is to be deplored that the attachment of the
Prussian cabinet to Russian policy has not at all events
modified the commercial restrictions along the whole of the
eastern frontier of Prussia," and that Prussia has not been
able to effect more with Holland in regard to the question
concerning the free navigation of the Ehine.3 Prussia has,
on the other hand, deserved the gratitude of Germany for
the zeal with which she promoted the settlement of the Cus-
toms' Union, which has, at least in the interior of Germany,
removed the greater part of the restrictions upon commer-
cial intercourse, and has a tendency to spread still further.
Throughout the last transactions, partly of the Customs'
Union, partly of Prussia alone, with England and Holland,
a vain struggle against those maritime powers is percepti-
ble. England trades with Germany from every harbor and
in every kind of commodity, while German vessels are re-
stricted to home produce and are only free to trade with
England from their own ports. Holland finds a market for
her colonial wares in Germany, and, instead of taking Ger-
man manufactured goods in exchange, provides herself from
England, throws English goods into Germany, and, in lieu
of being, as she ought to be, the great emporium of Ger-
many, is 'content to remain a mere huge English factory.

1 "We have long since lost all our maritime power. The only guns now
fired by us at sea are as signals of distress. Who now remembers that it was
the German Hansa that first made use of cannons at sea, that it was from Ger-
mans that the English learned to build men-of-war?" — John's Nationality.

3 Prussia, of late, greatly contributed toward the aggrandizement of the power
of Russia by solemnly declaring in 1828, when Russia extended her influence
over Turkey, that she would not on that account prevent Russia from asserting
her "just claims," a declaration that elicited bitter complaints from the British
government; and again in 1831, by countenancing the entry of the Russians into
Poland, at that time in a state of insurrection.

3 The reason of the backwardness displayed from the commencement by
Prussia to act as the bulwark of Germany on the Lower Rhine is explained by
Stein in his letters: "Hanoverian jealousy, by which the narrow-minded Castle-
reagh was guided, and, generally speaking, jealousy of the German ministerial
clauses, as if the existence of a Mecklenburg were of greater importance to Ger-
many than that of a powerful warlike population, alike famous in time of peace
or war, presided over the settlement of the relation in which Belgium was to
stand to Prussia."

THE LATEST TIMES 1691

The Hanse towns have also been converted into mercantile
depots for English goods on German soil.

The misery consequent on the great wars, and the power-
ful reaction against Gallicism throughout Germany, once
more caused despised religion to be reverenced in the age
of philosophy. Prussia deemed herself called upon, as the
inheritor of the Reformation brought about by Luther, as
the principal Protestant power of Germany, to assume a
prominent position in the religious movement of the time.
Frederick William III., a sovereign distinguished for piety,
appears, immediately after the great wars, to have deemed
the conciliation of the various sects of Christians within his
kingdom feasible. He, nevertheless, merely succeeded in
effecting a union between the Lutherans and Calvinists.
He also bestowed a new liturgy upon this united church,
which was censured as partial, as proceeding too directly
from the cabinet without being sanctioned by the concur-
rence of the assembled clergy and of the people. Some Lu-
therans, who refused compliance, were treated with extreme
severity and compelled to emigrate; the utility of a union
which, two centuries earlier, would have saved Germany
from ruin, was, however, generally acknowledged. It never-
theless was not productive of unity in the Protestant world.
In the universities and among the clergy, two parties, the
Rationalists and the Supernaturalists, stood opposed to one
another. The former, the disciples of the old Neologians,
still followed the philosophy of Kant, merely regarded Chris-
tianity as a code of moral philosophy, denominated Christ a
wise teacher, and explained away his miracles by means of
physics. The latter, the followers of the old orthodox Lu-
therans, sought to confirm the truths of the gospel also by
philosophical means, and were denominated Supernatural-
ists, as believers in a mystery surpassing the reasoning pow-
ers of man. The celebrated Schleiermacher of Berlin me-
diated for some time between both parties. But it was in
Prussia more particularly that both parties stood more rigidly
opposed to one another and fell into the greatest extremes.

1692 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

The Rationalists were supplanted by the Pantheists, the dis-
ciples of Hegel, the Berlin philosopher, who at length formally
declared war against Christianity; the Supernaturalists were
here and there outdone by the Pietists, whose enthusiasm
degenerated into licentiousness.1 The king had, notwith-
standing his piety, been led to believe that Hegel merely
taught the students unconditioned obedience to the state, and
that Pantheist was consequently permitted to spread, under
the protection of Prussia, his senseless doctrine of deified hu-
manity, the same formerly proclaimed by Anacharsis Cloots
in the French Convention. When too late, the gross decep-
tion practiced by this sophist was perceived: his disciples
threw off their troublesome mask, with Dr. Strauss, who
had been implicated in the Zurich disturbances, at their
head, openly renounced Christianity, and, at Halle, led by
Buge, the journalist, embraced the social revolutionary ideas
of "Young France," to which almost the whole of the
younger journalists of literary "Young Germany" acceded;
nor was this Gallic reaction, this retrogression toward the
philosophical ideas of the foregoing century, without its
cause, German patriotism, which, from 1815 to 1819, had
predominated in every university throughout Prussia, hav-
ing been forcibly suppressed. Hegel, on his appearance in
Berlin, was generally regarded as the man on whom the
task of diverting the enthusiasm of the rising generation for
Germany into another channel devolved.9 Everything Ger-
man had been treated with ridicule.3 French fashions and
French ideas had once more come into vogue.

While Protestant Germany was thus torn, weakened, and

1 At Konigsberg, in Prussia, a secret society was discovered which was
partly composed of people of rank, who, under pretence of meeting for the
exercise of religious duties, gave way to the most wanton license.

2 The police, while attempting to lead science, was unwittingly led by it.
The students were driven in crowds into Hegel's colleges, his pupils were pre-
ferred to all appointments, etc., and every measure was taken to render that
otherwise almost unnoted sophist as dangerous as possible.

3 In this the Jews essentially aided: Borne more in an anti-German, Heine
more in an anti-Christian, spirit, and were highly applauded by the simple and
infatuated German youth.

THE LATEST TIMES 1693

degraded by schism, the religious movement throughout
Catholic Germany insensibly increased in strength and unity.
The adverse fate of the pope had, on his deliverance from
the hands of Napoleon, excited a feeling of sympathy and
reverence so universal as to be participated in by even the
Protestant powers of Europe. He had, as early as 1814,
reinstated the Jesuits without a remonstrance on the part of
the sovereign by whom they had formerly been condemned.
The ancient spirit of the Romish church had revived. A
new edifice was to be raised on the thick- strewn ruins of the
past. In 1817, Bavaria concluded a concordat with the pope
for the foundation of the archbishopric of Munich with the
three bishoprics of Augsburg, Passau, and Katisbon, and
of the archbishopric of Bamberg, with the three bishoprics
of Wurzburg, Eichstadt, and Spires. The king retained the
right of presentation. In 1821, Prussia concluded a treaty
by which the archbishopric of Cologne with the three bish-
oprics of Treves, Munster, and Paderborn, the archbishopric
of Posen with Culm, and two independent bishoprics in
Breslau and Ermeland were established. The bishoprics
oi Holdesheim and Osnabruck were re-established in 1824 by
the concordat with Hanover. In southwestern Germany,
the archbishopric of Freiburg in the Breisgau with the bish-
oprics of Rotenburg on the Neckar, Limburg on the Lahn,
Mayence, and Fulda arose. In Switzerland there remained
four bishoprics, Freiburg in the Uechtland, Solothurn, Coire,
and St. Gall; in Alsace, Strasburg and Colmar. In the
Netherlands, the archbishopric of Malines with the bishoprics
of Ghent, Liege, and Namur. In Holland, three Jansenist
bishoprics, Utrecht, Deventer, and Haarlem, are remarkable
for having retained their independence of Borne.

The renovated body of the church was inspired with fresh
energy. On the fall of the Jesuits, the other extreme, II-
luminatism, had raised its head, but had been compelled
to yield before a higher power and before the moral force of
Germany. The majority of the German Catholics now clung
to the idea that the regeneration of the abused and despised

1694 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

church was best to be attained by the practice of evangelical
simplicity and morality, that Jesuitism and Illuminatism
were, consequently, to be equally avoided, and the better
disposed among the Protestants to be imitated. Sailer, the
great teacher of the German clergy, and Wessenberg, whom
Borne on this account refused to raise to the bishopric of
Constance, acted upon this idea. In Silesia, a number
of youthful priests, headed by Theimer, impatient for the
realization of the union, apparently approaching, of this
moderate party with the equally moderately disposed party
among the Protestants into one great German church, took,
in 1825, the bold step of renouncing celibacy. This party
was however instantly suppressed by force by the king of
Prussia. Theimer, in revenge, turned Jesuit and wrote
against Prussia. Professors inclined to Ultramontanism
were, meanwhile, installed in the universities, more par-
ticularly at Bonn, Munster and Tubingen, by the Protestant
as well as the Catholic governments; by them the clerical
students were industriously taught that they were not Ger-
mans but subjects of Eome, and were flattered with the
hope of one day participating in the supremacy about to be
regained by the pontiff. Every priest inspired with patriotic
sentiments, or evincing any degree of tolerance toward his
Protestant fellow citizens, was regarded as guilty of betraying
the interests of the church to the state and the tenets of the
only true church to heretics. Gorres, once Germany's most
spirited champion against France, now appeared as the
champion of Eome in Germany. The scandalous schisms
in the Protestant church and the no less scandalous contro-
versies carried on in the Protestant literary world rendered
both contemptible, and, as in the commencement of the sev-
enteenth century, appeared to offer a favorable opportunity
for an attack on the part of the Catholics.

A long- forgotten point in dispute was suddenly revived.
Marriages between Catholics and Protestants had hitherto
been unhesitatingly sanctioned by the Catholic priesthood.
The Prussian ordinance of 1803, by which the father was

THE LATEST TIMES 1695

empowered to decide the faith in which the children were
to be brought up, had, on account of its conformity with
nature and reason, never been disputed. Numberless mixed
marriages had taken place among all classes from the high-
est to the lowest without the slightest suspicion of wrong
attaching thereto. A papal brief of 1830 now called to mind
that the church tolerated, it was true, although she disap-
proved of mixed marriages, which she permitted to take
place solely on condition of the children being brought up in
the Catholic faith. Prussia had acted with little foresight.
Instead of, in 1814, on taking possession of the Rhenish
provinces and of Westphalia, concluding a treaty with the
then newly-restored pope, Hardenberg had, as late as 1820,
during a visit to Rome, merely entered upon a transient
agreement, by which Rome was bound to no concessions.
The war openly declared by Rome was now attempted to be
turned aside by means of petty and secret artifices. Several
bishops, in imitation of the precedent given by Count von
Spiegel, the peace-loving archbishop of Cologne, secretly
bound themselves to interpret the brief in the sense of the
government and to adhere to the ordinance of 1803. On
Spiegel's decease in 1835, his successor, the Baron Clement
Augustus Droste, promised at Vischering, prior to his pres-
entation, strictly to adhere to this secret compact; but,
scarcely had he mounted the archiepiscopal seat, than his
conscience forbade the fulfilment of his oath; God was to be
obeyed rather than man ! He prohibited the solemnization
of mixed marriages within his diocese without the primary
assurance of the education of the children in the Catholic
faith, compelled his clergy strictly to obey the commands
of Rome in points under dispute, and suppressed the Her-
mesian1 doctrine in the university of Bonn. The warnings
secretly given by the government proved unavailing, and he
was, in consequence, unexpectedly deprived of his office in

1 Hermes, it is true, recognized the tenets of the church, not, however, on
account of their being taught by the church, but because he had arrived at simi-
lar conclusions in the course of his philosophical researches.

1696 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the November of 1837, arrested, and imprisoned in the fort-
ress of Minden. This arbitrary measure caused great excite-
ment among the Catholic population; and the ancient dislike
of the Ehenish provinces to the rule of Prussia, and the dis-
content of the Westphalian nobility on account of the eman-
cipation of the peasantry, again broke forth on this occasion.
Gorres, in Munich, industriously fed the flame by means of
his pamphlet, " Athanasius. " Dunin, archbishop of Gnesen
and bishop of Thorn, followed the example of his brother of
Cologne, was openly upheld by Prussian Poland, was cited
to Berlin, fled thence, was recaptured and detained for some
time within the fortress of Colberg, in 1839. — The pope,
Gregory XVI. , solemnly declared his approbation of the
conduct of these archbishops and rejected every offer of
negotiation until their reinstallation in their dioceses. A
crowd of hastily established journals, more especially in
Bavaria, maintained their cause, and were opposed by num-
berless Protestant publications, which generally proved in-
jurious to the cause they strove to uphold, being chiefly
remarkable for base servility, frivolity, and infidelity.

On the demise of Frederick William III., on the 7th of
June, 1840, and the succession of his son, Frederick William
IV., the church question was momentarily cast into the
shade by that relating to the constitution. Constitutional
Germany demanded from the new sovereign the convoca-
tion of the imperial diet promised by his father. The Cath-
olic party, however, conscious that it would merely form the
minority in the diet, did not participate in the demand.1
The constitution was solely demanded by Protestant Eastern
Prussia; but the king declared, during the ceremony of fealty
at Koenigsberg, that "he would never do homage to the idea
of a general popular representation and would pursue a
course based upon historical progression, suitable to Ger-
man nationality." The provincial Estates were shortly

1 Gorres even advised against it, although, in 1817, he had acted the princi-
pal part on the presentation of the Cologne address.

THE LATEST TIMES 1697

afterward instituted, and separate diets were opened in each
of the provinces. This attracted little attention, and the
dispute with the church once more became the sole subject
of interest. It terminated in the complete triumph of the
Catholic party. In consequence of an agreement with the
pope, the brief of 1820 remained in force, Dunin was rein-
stated, Droste received personal satisfaction by a public royal
letter and a representative in Cologne in von Greissel, hitherto
bishop of Spires. The disputed election of the bishop of
Treves was also decided in favor of Arnoldi, the ultramon^
tane candidate.

Late in the autumn of 1842, the king of Prussia for the
first time convoked the deputies selected from the provincial
diets to Berlin. He had, but a short time before, laid the
foundation-stone to the completion of the Cologne cathedral,
and on that occasion, moreover, spoken words of deep import
to the people, admonitory of unity to the whole of Germany.

1698 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXXIII. The Progress of Science, Art, and Practical
Knowledge in Germany

IN the midst of the misery entailed by war and amid the
passions roused by party strife the sciences had attained to
a height hitherto unknown. The schools had never been
neglected, and immense improvements, equally affecting the
lowest of the popular schools and the colleges, had been con-
stantly introduced. Pestalozzi chiefly encouraged the proper
education of the lower classes and improved the method of
instruction. The humanism of the learned academies (the
study of the dead languages) went hand in hand with the
realism of the professional institutions. The universities,
although often subjected to an overrigid system of surveil-
lance and compelled to adopt a partial, servile bias, were,
nevertheless, generally free from a political tendency and
incredibly promoted the study of all the sciences. The mass
of celebrated savants and of their works is too great to per-
mit of more than a sketch of the principal features of modern
German science.

The study of the classics, predominant since the time of
the Reformation, has been cast into the shade by the Ger-
man studies, by the deeper investigation of the language,
the law, the history of our forefathers and of the romantic
Middle Age, by the great Catholic reaction, and, at the same
time, by the immense advance made in natural history,
geography, and universal history. The human mind, hith-
erto enclosed within a narrow sphere, has burst its trammels
to revel in immeasurable space. The philosophy and empty
speculations of the foregoing century have also disappeared
before the mass of practical knowledge, and arrogant man,
convinced by science, once more bends his reasoning facul-
ties in humble adoration of their Creator.

THE LATEST TIMES 1699

The aristocracy of talent and learned professional pride
have been overbalanced by a democratic press. The whole
nation writes, and the individual writer is either swallowed
up in the mass or gains but ephemeral fame. Every writer,
almost without exception, affects a popular style. But, in
this rich literary field, all springs up freely without connec-
tion or guidance. No party is concentrated or represented
by any reigning journal, but each individual writes for him-
self, and the immense number of journals published destroy
each other's efficiency. Many questions of paramount im-
portance are consequently lost in heaps of paper, and the
interest they at first excited speedily becomes weakened by
endless recurrence.

Theology shared in the movement above mentioned in
the church. The Eationalists were most profuse in their
publications, Paulus at Heidelberg, and, more particularly,
the Saxon authors, Tschirner, Bretschneider, etc. Ancient
Lutheran vigor degenerated to shallow subtleties and a sort
of coquettish tattling upon morality, in which Zschokke's
"Hours of Devotion" carried away the palm. Neander,
Gieseler, Gfrorer and others greatly promoted the study of
the history of the church. The propounders of the Gospels,
however, snatched them, after a lamentable fashion, out of
each other's hands, now doubting the authenticity of the
whole, now that of most or of some of the chapters, and
were unable to agree upon the number that ought to be
retained. They, at the same time, outvied one another in
political servility, while the Lutherans who, true to their
ancient faith, protested against the Prussian liturgy, were
too few in number for remark. This frivolous class of theo-
logians at length entirely rejected the Gospels, embraced the
doctrine of Hegel and Judaism, and renounced Christianity.
Still, although the Supernaturalists, the orthodox party, and,
the Pietists triumphantly repelled these attacks, and the ma-
jority of the elder Rationalists timidly seceded from the anti-
christian party, the Protestant literary world was reduced
to a state of enervation and confusion, affording but too good

1700 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

occasion for an energetic demonstration on the part of the
Catholics.

Philosophy also assumed the character of the age. Fichte
of Berlin still upheld, in 1814, the passion for liberty and
right in their nobler sense that had been roused by the French
Ke volution, but, as he went yet further than Kant in setting
limits to the sources of perception and denied the existence
of conscience, his system proved merely of short duration.
To him succeeded Schelling, with whom the return of phi-
losophy to religion and that of abstract studies to nature and
history commenced, and in whom the renovated spirit of the
nineteenth century became manifest. His pupils were partly
natural philosophers, who, like Oken, sought to comprehend
all nature, her breathing unity, her hidden mysteries, in
religion; partly mystics, who, like Bschenmaier, Schubert,
Steffens, in a Protestant spirit, or, like Gorres and Baader,
in a Catholic one, sought also to comprehend everything
bearing reference to both nature and history in religion. It
was a revival of the ancient mysticism of Hugo de St. Vic-
toire, of Honorius, and of Kupert in another and a scientific
age; nor was it unopposed: in the place of the foreign scho-
lasticism formerly so repugnant to its doctrines, those of
Schelling were opposed by a reaction of the superficial mock-
enlightenment and sophistical scepticism predominant in the
foregoing century, more particularly of the sympathy with
France, which had been rendered more than ever powerful
in Grermany by the forcible suppression of patriotism. Ab-
stract philosophy, despising nature and history, mocking
Christianity, once more revived and set itself up as an ab-
solute principle in Hegel. None of the other philosophers
attained the notoriety gained by Schelling and Hegel, the
representatives of the antitheses of the age.

An incredible advance, of which we shall merely record
the most important facts, took place in the study of the physi-
cal sciences. Three new planets were discovered, Pallas, in
1802, and Vesta, in 1807, by Olbers; Juno, in 1824, by Hard-
ing. Enke and Biela first fixed the regular return and brief

THE LATEST TIMES 1701

revolution of the two comets named after them. Schroter
and Madler minutely examined the moon and planets ; Struve,
the fixed stars. Fraunhofer improved the telescope. Chladni
first investigated the nature of fiery meteors and brought the
study of acoustics to perfection. Alexander von Humboldt
immensely promoted the observation of the changes of the
atmosphere and the general knowledge of the nature of
the earth. Werner and Leopold von Buch also distinguished
themselves among the investigators of the construction of
the earth and mountains. Scheele, Gmelin, Liebig, etc.,
were noted chemists. Oken, upon the whole, chiefly pro-
moted the study of natural history, and numberless researches
were made separately in mineralogy, the study of fossils,
botany, and zoology by the most celebrated scientific men
of the. day. While the travellers visited every quarter of the
globe in search of plants and animals as yet unknown and
regulated them by classes, other men of science were en-
gaged at home in the investigation of their internal con-
struction, their uses and habits, in which they were greatly
assisted by the improved microscope, by means of which
Ehrenberg discovered a completely new class of animalculae.
The discoveries of science were also zealously applied for
practical uses. Agriculture, cattle-breeding, manufactures
received a fresh impulse and immense improvements as
knowledge advanced. Commerce by water and by land
experienced a thorough revolution on the discovery of the
properties of steam, by the use of steamers and railroads. —
Medical science also progressed, notwithstanding the num-
ber of contradictory and extravagant theories. The medi-
cal practitioners of Germany took precedence throughout
Europe. Animal magnetism was practiced by Eschenmaier,
Kieser, and Justin Kerner, by means of whose female seer,
von Prevorst, the seeing of visions and the belief in ghosts
were once more brought forward. Hahnemann excited the
greatest opposition by his system of homoeopathy, which
cured diseases by the administration of homogeneous sub-
stances in the minutest doses. He was superseded by the

1702 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

cold-water cure. During the last twenty years the natur-
alists and medical men of Germany have held an annual
meeting in one or other of their native cities.

The philologists and savants have for some years past
also been in the habit of holding a similar meeting. The
classics no longer form the predominant study among phi-
lologists. Even literati, whose tastes, like that of Creuzer,
are decidedly classic, have acknowledged that the knowledge
of the Oriental tongues is requisite for the attainment of a
thorough acquaintance with classic antiquity. A great
school for the study of the Eastern languages has been
especially established under the precedence of the brothers
Schlegel, Bopp, and others. The study of the ancient lan-
guage of Germany and of her venerable monuments has,
finally, been promoted by Jacob Grimm and by his widely
diffused school.

The study of history became more profound and was ex-
tended over a wider field. A mass of archives hitherto secret
were rendered public and spread new light on many of the
remarkable characters and events in the history of Germany.
Historians also learned to compile with less party spirit and
on more solid grounds. History, at first compiled in a Prot-
estant spirit, afterward inclined as partially to Catholicism,
and the majority of the higher order of historical writers
were consequently rendered the more careful in their search
after truth. Among the universal historians, Eotteck gained
the greatest popularity on account of the extreme liberality
of his opinions, and Heeren and Schlosser acquired great
note for depth of learning. Von Hammer, who rendered
us acquainted with the history of the Mahometan East,
takes precedence among the historical writers upon foreign
nations. Niebuhr's Eoman History, Wilken's History of
the Crusades, Leo's History of Italy, Eanke's History of
the Popes, etc., have attained well-merited fame. — The his-
tory of Germany as a whole, which Germany neither was
nor is, was little studied, but an immense mass of facts con-
nected with or referring to Germany was furnished by the

THE LATEST TIMES 1703

numberless and excellent single histories and biographies
that poured through the press. All the more ancient collec-
tions of script, rerum were, according to the plan of Stein,
the celebrated Prussian minister, to be surpassed by a crit-
ical work on the sources of German history, conducted by
Pertz, which could, however, be but slowly carried out.
Grimm, Mone, and Earth threw immense light upon Ger-
man heathen antiquity, Zeusz upon the genealogy of nations.
The best account of the Ostrogoths was written by Manso,
of the Visigoths by Aschbach, of the Anglo-Saxons by Lap-
penberg, of the more ancient Franks by Mannert, Pertz, and
Lobell, of Charlemagne by Diebold and Ideler, of Louis the
Pious by Funk, of the Saxon emperors by Ranke and his
friends, Wachter and Leutsch, of the Salic emperors by
Stenzel, of the German popes of those times by Hofler, of
the Hohenstaufen by Raumer, Kortum, and Hurter, of the
emperor Richard by Gebauer, of Henry VII. of Luxemburg
by Barthold, of King John by Lenz, of Charles IV. by Pelzel
and Schottky, of Wenzel by Pelzel, of Sigismund by Asch-
bach, of the Habsburgs by Kurz, Prince Lichnowsky, and
Hormayr, of Louis the Bavarian by Mannert, of Ferdinand
I. by Buchholz, of the Reformation by C. A. Menzel and
Kanke, of the Peasant War by Sartorius, Oechsle, and Ben-
sen, of the Thirty Years' War by Barthold, of Gustavus
Adolphus by Gfrorer, of Wallenstein by Forster, of Bern-
hard of Weimar by Rose, of George of Liineburg by von
der Decken. Of the ensuing period by Forster and Guh-
rauer, of the Eighteenth Century by Schlosser, of the Wars
with France by Clausewitz, of Modern Times by Hormayr.
Coxe, Schneller, Maila"th, Chmel, and Gervay also wrote
histories of Austria, Schottky and Palacky of Bohemia, Beda,
Weber, and Hormayr of the Tyrol, Voigt of the Teutonic
Order, Manso, Stenzel, Forster, Dohm, Massenbach, Colin,
Preusz, etc., of the Kingdom of Prussia, Stenzel of Anhalt,
Kobbe of Lauenburg, Liitzow of Mecklenburg, Barthold of
Pomerania, Kobbe of Holstein, Wimpfen of Schleswig, Sar-
torius and Lappenberg of the Hansa, Hanssen of the Dit-

1704 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

marses, Spittler, Havemann, and Strombeck of Brunswick
and Hanover, van Kampen of Holland, Warnkonig of Flan-
ders, Rommel of Hesse, Lang of Eastern Franconia, Wach-
ter and Langenn of Thuringia and Saxony, Lang, Wolf,
Mannert, Zschokke, Yolderndorf of Bavaria, Pfister, Pfaff,
and Stalin of Swabia, Glutz-Blotzheim, Hottinger, Meyer
von Knonau, Zschokke, Haller, Schuler, etc., of Switzer-
land. The most remarkable among the histories of cele-
brated cities are those of St. Grail by Arx, of Vienna by
Mailath, of Frankfort on the Maine by Kirchner, of Ulm
and Heilbronn by Jaeger, of Eotenburg on the Tauber by
Bensen, etc.

Ritter, and, next to him, Berghaus, greatly extended the
knowledge of geography. Maps were drawn out on a greatly
improved scale. Alexander von Humboldt, who ruled the
world with his scientific as Napoleon with his eagle glance,
attained the highest repute among travellers of every nation.
Krusenstern, Langsdorf, and Kotzebue, G-ermans in the ser-
vice of Russia, circumnavigated the globe. Meyen, the noted
botanist, did the same in a Prussian ship. Baron von Hugel
explored India. Griitzlafl: acted as a missionary in China.
Ermann and Ledebur explored Siberia; Klaproth, Kupfer,
Parrot, and Eichwald, the Caucasian provinces; Burckhardt,
Riippell, Bhrenberg, and Russegger, Syria and Egypt; the
Prince von Neuwied and Paul William, duke of Wiirtem-
berg, North America; Becher, Mexico; Schomburg, Guiana;
the Prince von Neuwied and Martius, the Brazils; Poppig,
the banks of the Amazon; Rengger, Paraguay. The Mis-
sionary Society for the conversion of the heathen in distant
parts and that for the propagation of the gospel, founded at
Basel, 1816, have gained well-merited repute.

At the commencement of the present century, amid the
storms of war, Grerman taste took a fresh bias. French fri-
volity had increased immorality;to a degree hitherto unknown.
Licentiousness reigned unrestrained on the stage and per-
vaded the lighter productions of the day. If Iffland had,
not unsuccessfully, represented the honest citizens and peas-

THE LATEST TIMES 1705

antry of Germany struggling against the unnatural customs
of modern public life, Augustus von Kotzebue, who, after
him, ruled the German stage, sought, on the contrary, to
render honor despicable and to encourage the license of
the day. In the numerous romances, a tone of lewd senti-
mentality took the place of the strict propriety for which
they had formerly been remarkable, and the general dif-
fusion of these immoral productions, among which the
romances of Lafontaine may be more particularly men-
tioned, contributed in no slight degree to the moral per-
version of the age.

Jean Paul Friedrich Kichter stands completely alone. He
shared the weaknesses of his times, which, like Goethe and
Kotzebue, he both admired and ridiculed, passing with ex-
traordinary versatility, almost in the same breath, from the
most moving pathos to the bitterest satire. His clever but
too deeply metaphysical romances are not only full of do-
mestic sentimentality and domestic scenes, but they also
imitate the over-refinement and effeminacy of Goethe, and
yet his sound understanding and warm patriotic feelings led
him to condemn all the artificial follies of fashion, all that
was unnatural as well as all that was unjust.

Modern philosophy had no sooner triumphed over ancient
religion and France over Germany than an extraordinary
reaction, inaptly termed the romantic, took place in poetry.
Although Ultramontanism might be traced even in Fried-
rich Schlegel, this school of poetry nevertheless solely owes
its immense importance to its resuscitation of the older poetry
of Germany, and to the success with which, it opposed Ger-
manism to Gallicism. Ludwig Tieck exclusively devoted
himself to the German and romantic Middle Ages, to the
Minnesingers, to Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Calderon, and
modelled his own on their immortal works. The eyes of his
contemporaries were by him first completely opened to the
long-misunderstood beauties of the Middle Ages. His kin-
dred spirit, Novalis (Hardenberg), destined to a too brief
career, gave proofs of signal talent. Heinrich von Kleist,

1706 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

who committed suicide, left the finest-spirited and most
delightful dramas. Ludwig Achim von Arnim, like Tieck,
cultivated the older German Saga; his only fault was that,
led away by the richness of his imagination, he overcolored
his descriptions. Aided by Brentano, he collected the finest
of the popular ballads of Germany in "des Knaben Wunder-
horn. ' ' At Berlin, Fouque, with true old German taste, re-
vived the romances of chivalry and, shortly before 1813, met
the military spirit once more rising in Prussia with a number
of romances in which figured battle-steeds and coats of mail,
German faith and bravery, valiant knights and chaste dames,
intermixed, it must be confessed, with a good deal of affecta-
tion. On the discovery being made that many of the ancient
German ballads were still preserved among the lower classes,
chiefly among the mountaineers, they were also sought for,
and some poets tuned their lyres on the naive popular tone,
etc., first, Hebel, in the partly extremely natural, partly ex-
tremely affected, Alemannic songs, which have found fre-
quent imitators. Zacharia Werner and Hoffman, on the
other hand, exclusively devoted themselves to the darker
side of days of yore, to their magic and superstition, and
filled the world, already terror-stricken by the war, with su-
pernatural stories. Still, throughout one and all of these
productions, curiously as they contrasted, the same inclina-
tion to return to and to revive a purely German style was
evident. At that moment the great crisis suddenly took
place. Before even the poets could predict the event, Ger-
many cast off the yoke of Napoleon, and the German "Sturm
and Freiheitslieder" of Theodor Korner, Arndt, Schenken-
dorf, etc., chimed in like a fearfully beautiful Allegro with
the Adagio of their predecessors.

This was in a manner also the finale of the German notes
that so strangely resounded in that Gallic time; the restora-
tion suppressed every further outburst of patriotism, and the
patriotic spirit that had begun to breathe forth in verse once
more gave place to cosmopolitism and Gallicism. The lyric
school, founded by Ludwig Uhland, alone preserved a Ger-

THE LATEST TIMES 1707

man spirit and a connection with, the ancient Minnelider
of Swabia.

The new cosmopolitic tendency of the poetry of these
times is chiefly due to the influence exercised by Goethe.
The quick comprehension and ready adoption of every nov-
elty is a faculty of, not a fault in, the German character,
and alone becomes reprehensible when the German, forgetful
of himself and of his own peculiar characteristics, adopts a
medley of foreign incongruities and falsifies whatever ought
to be preserved special and true. Goethe and his school,
however, not content with imitating singly the style of every
nation and of every period, have interwoven the most diverse
strains, antique and romantic, old German and modern
French, Grecian and Chinese, in one and the same poem.
This unnatural style, itself destructive of the very peculiarity
at which it aims, has infected both modern poetry and mod-
ern art; the architect intermixes the Grecian and the Gothic
in his creations, while the painter seeks to unite the styles of
the Flemish and Italian schools in his productions, and the
poet those of Persia, Scandinavia, and Spain, in his strains.
— Those are indeed deserving of gratitude who have compre-
hended and preserved the character peculiar to the produc-
tions of foreign art, in which the brothers Friedrich and
August Wilhelm Schlegel have been so eminently successful.
Hammer and, after him, Kuckert have also opened the East-
ern world to our view. Count Platen, on the other hand,
hung fluctuating between the antique Persian and German.
— Cosmopolitism was greatly strengthened by the historical
romances in vogue in England, descriptive of olden time,
and which found innumerable imitators in Germany. They
were, at all events, thus far beneficial; they led us from the
parlor into the world.

But no sooner was genuine German taste neglected for
that of foreign nations than Gallomania revived; all were
compelled to pay homage to the spirit and the tone prevalent
throughout Europe. The witty aristocratic medisance and
grim spirit of rebellion emulating each other in France, were,

GERMANY. VOL. IV. — 0

1708 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

in Germany, represented by Prince Piichler, the most spirit-
uel drawing-room satirist, and by the Jew, Borne, the most
spirited Jacobin of the day. The open infidelity again dem-
onstrated in France, also led to its introduction into Ger-
many by the Jew, Heine, while the immoral romances with
which that country was deluged speedily became known to
us through the medium of the translations and imitations
of "Young Germany," and were incredibly increased by our
literary industry; all the lying memoirs, in which the French
falsify history, view Napoleon as a demigod, and treat the
enthusiasm with which the Germans were animated in 1813
with derision, were also diligently translated. This tendency
to view everything German with French eyes and to ridicule
German honor and German manners was especially promoted
by the light literature and numerous journals of the day,
and was, in the universities, in close connection with the
anti- Christian tendency of the school of Hegel. — The late
Catholic reaction, too exclusively political, has as yet exer-
cised no influence over the literary world, and would scarcely
succeed in gaining any, being less German than Roman.

While German poetry follows so false a course, it natural-
ly follows that art also must be deprived of its natural char-
acter. Architecture has, it is true, abandoned the periwig
style of France, but the purer antique or Byzantine taste to
which it has returned is generally insipidly simple, while the
attempts at Gothic and Moorish are truly miserable. A more
elevated feeling than the present generation (which, in
Goethe's manner, delights in trifling alternately with every
style, or is completely enslaved by the modes imposed by
France) is fitted to comprehend, is requisite for the revival
of German or Gothic architecture. Still it may be, as is
hoped, that the intention to complete the building of the
Cologne cathedral will not be entirely without a beneficial
influence.

The art of painting aspires far more energetically toward
national emancipation. In the present century, the modern
French style affecting the antique presented a complete con-

THE LATEST TIMES 1709

trast with the German romantic school, which, in harmony
with the simultaneous romantic reaction in the poetical
world, returned to the sacred simplicity of the ancient Ger-
man and Italian masters. Overbeck was in this our greatest
master. Since this period, the two great schools at Munich
and Dusseldorf, founded by Peter Cornelius, and whose great-
est masters are Peter Hesz, Bendemann, Lessing, Kaulbach,
etc. , have sought a middle path, and with earnest zeal well
and skilfully opposed the too narrow imitation of, and the
medley of style produced by the study of, the numerous old
masters on the one hand, and, on the other, the search for
effect, that Gallic innovation so generally in vogue. Were
the church again to require pictures, or the state to employ
the pencil of the patriot artist in recording the great deeds of
past or present times or in the adornment of public edifices,
painting would be elevated to its proper sphere. — Germany
has also produced many celebrated engravers, among whom
Muller holds precedence. Lithography, now an art of so
much importance, was invented by the Bavarian, Senefelder.
The art of painting on glass has also been revived.

In music, the Germans have retained their ancient fame.
After Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, etc., have gained immense
celebrity as composers. Still, much that is unnatural,
affected, bizarre, and licentious has crept into the com-
positions of the German masters, more particularly in the
operas,, owing to the imitation of the modern Italian and
French composers. A popular reaction has, however, again
taken place, and, as before, in choral music, by means of the
"singing clubs," which become more and more general
among the people.

The stage has most deeply degenerated. At the com-
mencement of the present century, its mimic scenes afforded
a species of consolation for the sad realities of life, and
formed the Lethe in whose waters oblivion was gladly
sought. The public afterward became so practical in its
tastes, so sober in its desires, that neither the spirit of the
actor nor the coquetry of the actress had power to attract an

1710 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

audience. The taste and love for art were superseded by
criticism and low intrigues, the theatre became a mere politi-
cal engine, intended to divert the thoughts of the population
of the great cities from the discussion of topics dangerous to
the state by the all-engrossing charms of actresses and ballet-
dancers.

The Germans, although much more practical in the pres-
ent than in the past century, are still far from having freed
themselves from the unjust, unfitting, and inconvenient
situation into which they have fallen as time and events
rolled on.

A mutual understanding in regard to the external posi-
tion of the German in reference to the Slavonian nation has
scarcely begun to dawn upon us. Scarcely have we become
sensible to the ignominious restrictions imposed upon Ger-
man commerce by the prohibitory regulations of Russia, by
the customs levied in the Sound, en the Elbe, and Rhine.
Scarcely has the policy that made such immense concessions
to Russian diplomacy, and scarcely has the party spirit that
looked for salvation for Germany from France, yielded to a
more elevated feeling of self-respect. And yet, whoever
should say to the people of Alsace, Switzerland, and Hol-
land, "Ye are Germans," would reap but derision and in-
sult. Germany is on. the point of being once more divided
into Catholic and Protestant Germany, and no one can
explain how the German Customs' Union is to extend to the
German Ocean, on account of the restrictions mutually im-
posed by the Germans. Could we but view ourselves as the
great nation we in reality are, attain to a consciousness of
the immeasurable strength we in reality possess, and make
use of it in order to satisfy our wants, the Germans would
be thoroughly a practical nation, instead of lying like a dead
lion among the nations of Europe, and unresistingly suffer-
ing them to mock, tread underfoot, nay, deprive him of his
limbs, as though he were a miserable, helpless worm.

More, far more has been done for the better regulation
of the internal economy of Germany than for her external

THE LATEST TIMES 1711

protection and power. The reforms suited to the age, com-
menced by the philosophical princes and ministers of the
past century, have been carried on by Prussia in her hour
of need, by constitutional Germany by constitutional means.
Everywhere have the public administration been better regu-
lated, despotism been restrained by laws, financial affairs
been settled even under the heavy pressure of the national
debts. Commerce, manufactured industry, and agriculture
have been greatly promoted by the Customs' Union, by gov-
ernment aid and model institutions, by the improvements in
the post-offices, by the laying of roads and railways. The
public burdens and public debts, nevertheless, still remain
disproportionately heavy on account of the enormous mili-
tary force .which the great states are compelled to maintain
for the preservation of their authority, and on account of the
polyarchical state of Germany, which renders the mainte-
nance of an enormous number of courts, governments, gen-
eral staffs and chambers necessary.

The popular sense of justice and legality, never entirely
suppressed throughout Germany, also gave fresh proof of its
existence under the new state of affairs, partly in the end-
lessly drawn-out proceedings in the chambers, partly in the
incredible number of new laws and regulations in the dif-
ferent states. Still, industriously as these laws have been
compiled, no real, essential, German law, neither public nor
private, has been discovered. The Roman and French codes
battled with each other and left no room for the establish-
ment of a code fundamentally and thoroughly German. The
most distinguished champions of the common rights of the
people against cabinet-justice, the tyranny of the police and
of the censor, were principally advocates and savants. The
Estates, as corporations, were scarcely any longer repre-
sented. The majority of governments, ruled by the principle
of absolute monarchy and the chambers, ruled by that of
democracy, had, since the age of philosophy, been unanimous
in setting the ancient Estates aside. The nobility alone pre-
served certain privileges, and the Catholic clergy alone re-

1712 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

gained some of those they had formerly enjoyed; all the
Estates were, in every other respect, placed on a level. The
ancient and national legal rights of the people were conse-
quently widely trenched upon.

The emancipation of the peasant from the oppressive
feudal dues, and the abolition of the restraint imposed by
the laws of the city corporations, which had so flagrantly
been abused, were indubitably well intended, but, instead
of stopping there, good old customs, that ought only to have
been freed from the weeds with which they had been over-
grown, were totally eradicated. The peasant received a
freehold, but was, by means of his enfranchisement, gen-
erally laden with debts, and, while pride whispered in his
ear that he was now a lord of the soil and might assume the
costume of his superiors, the land, whence he had to derive
his sustenance, was gradually diminished in extent by the
systematic division of property. His pretensions increased
exactly in the ratio in which the means for satisfying them
decreased; and the necessity of raising money placed him
in the hands of Jews. The smaller the property by reason
of subdivision, the more frequently is land put up for sale,
the deeper is the misery of the homeless outcast. The res-
toration of the inalienable, indivisible allod and of the fed-
eral rights of the peasant, as in olden times, would have
been far more to the purpose. — Professional liberty and the
introduction of mechanism and manufactural industry have
annihilated every warrant formerly afforded by the artificer
as master and member of a city corporation, and, at the same
time, every warrant afforded to him by the community of
his being able to subsist by means of his industry. Manu-
factures on an extensive scale that export their produce must
at all events be left unrestricted, but the small trades carried
on within a petty community, their only market, excite,
when free, a degree of competition which is necessarily pro-
ductive both of bad workmanship and poverty, and the
superfluous artificers, unaided by their professional freedom,
fall bankrupt and become slaves in the establishments of

THE LATEST TIMES 1713

their wealthier1 competitors. The restoration of the city
guilds under restrictions suitable to the times would have
been far more judicious.

The maintenance of a healthy, contented class of citizens
and peasants ought to be one of the principal aims of every
German statesman. The fusion of these ancient and power-
ful classes into one common mass whence but a few wealthy
individuals rise to eminence would be fatal to progression in
Germany. By far the greater part of the people have already
lost the means of subsistence formerly secured to all, nay,
even to the serf, by the privileges of his class. The insecure
possession, the endless division and alienation of property,
an anxious dread of loss, and a rapacious love of gain, have
become universal. Care for the means of daily existence,
like creeping poison, unnerves the population. The anxious
solicitude to which this gives rise has a deeply demoralizing
effect. Even offices under government are less sought for
from motives of ambition than as a means of subsistence;
the arts and sciences have been degraded to mere sources
of profit, envious trade decides questions of the highest im-
portance, the torch of Hymen is lit by Plutus, not at the
shrine of Love; and in the bosom of the careworn father
of a family, whose scanty subsistence depends upon a pa-
tron's smile, the words "fatherland" and "glory" find no
responsive echo.

Among the educated classes this state of poverty is allied
with the most inconsistent luxury. Each and all, however
poor, are anxious to preserve an appearance of wealth or to
raise credit by that means. All, however needy, must be
fashionable. The petty tradesman and the peasant ape
their superiors in rank, and the old-fashioned but comfor-
table and picturesque national costume is being gradually
thrown aside for the ever- varying modes prescribed by Paris
to the world. The inordinate love of amusements in which
the lower classes and the proletariat, ever increasing in

1 Because more skilful. — Trans.

1714 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

number, seek more particularly to drown the sense of mis-
ery, is another and a still greater source of public demorali-
zation. The general habit of indulging in the use of spirit-
uous liquors has been rightfully designated the brandy pest,
owing to its lamentable moral and physical effect upon the
population. This pest was encouraged not alone by private
individuals, who gain their livelihood by disseminating it
among the people, but also by governments, which raised a
large revenue by its means; and the temperance societies,
lately founded, but slightly stem the evil.

The public authorities throughout Germany have, it must
be confessed, displayed extraordinary solicitude for the poor
by the foundation of charitable institutions of every descrip-
tion, but they have contented themselves with merely allevi-
ating misery instead of removing its causes; and the benev-
olence that raised houses of correction, poor-houses, and
hospitals is rendered null by the laxity of the legislation.
No measures are taken by the governments to provide means
for emigration, to secure to the peasant his freehold, to the
artificer the guarantee he ought to receive and to give, and
the maintenance of the public morals. The punishment
awarded for immorality and theft is so mild as to deprive
them of the character of crime, pamphlets and works of the
most immoral description are dispersed by means of the cir-
culating libraries among all classes, and the bold infidelity
preached even from the universities is left unchecked. But
— is not the thief taught morality in the house of correction ?
and are not diseases, the result of license, cured in the hos-
pitals with unheard-of humanity ?

Private morality, so long preserved free from contamina-
tion, although all has for so long conspired against the lib-
erty and unity of Germany, is greatly endangered. Much
may, however, be hoped for from the sound national sense.
The memory of the strength displayed by Germany in 1813 has
been eradicated neither by the contempt of France or Kussia,
by any reactionary measure within Germany herself, by so-
cial and literary corruption, nor by the late contest between

THE LATEST TIMES 1715

church and state. The Customs' Union has, notwithstand-
ing the difference in political principle, brought despotic
Prussia and constitutional Germany one step nearer. The
influence of Kussia on the one hand, of that of France on
the other, has sensibly decreased. The irreligious and im-
moral tendencies now visible will, as has ever been the case
in Germany, produce a reaction, and, when the necessity
is more urgently felt, fitting measures will be adopted for
the prevention of pauperism. The dangers with which Ger-
many is externally threatened will also compel governments,
however egotistical and indifferent, to seek their safety in
unity, and even should the long neglect of this truth be
productive of fresh calamity and draw upon Germany a
fresh attack from abroad, that very circumstance will but
strengthen our union and accelerate the regeneration of our
great fatherland, already anticipated by the people on the
fall of the Hohenstaufen.

1716 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

CCLXXIV. German Emigrants

THE overplus population of Germany has ever emigrated;
in ancient times, for the purpose of conquering foreign pow-
ers; in modern times, for that of serving under them. In
the days of German heroism, our conquering hordes spread
toward the west and south, over Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa,
England, and Iceland; during the Middle Ages, our mail-
clad warriors took an easterly direction and overran the
Slavonian countries, besides Prussia, .Transylvania, and Pal-
estine; in modern times, our religious and political refugees
have emigrated in scarcely less considerable numbers to coun-
tries far more distant, but in the humble garb of artificers
and beggars, the Pariahs of the world. Our ancient war-
riors gained undying fame and long 'maintained the influ-
ence and the rule of Germany in foreign lands. Our modern
emigrants have, unnoted, quitted their native country, and,
as early as the second generation, intermixed with the people
among whom they settled. Hundreds of thousands of Ger-
mans have in this manner aided to aggrandize the British
colonies, and Germany has derived no benefit from the emi-
gration of her sons.

The first great mass of religious refugees threw itself
into Holland and into the Dutch colonies, the greater part
of which have since passed into the hands of the British.
The illiberality of the Dutch caused the second great mass to
bend its steps to British North America, within whose wilds
every sect found an asylum. William Penn, the celebrated
Quaker, visited Germany, and, in 1683, gave permission to
some Germans to settle in the province named, after him,
Pennsylvania, where they founded the city of Germantown.1

1 The abolition of negro slavery was first mooted by Germans in 1688, at
the great Quaker meeting in North America.

THE LATEST TIMES 1717

These fortunate emigrants were annually followed by thou-
sands of exiled Protestants, principally from Alsace and the
Palatinate. The industry and honesty for which the Ger-
man workmen were remarkable caused some Englishmen to
enter into a speculation to procure their services as white
slaves. The greatest encouragement was accordingly given
by them to emigration from Germany, but the promises so
richly lavished were withdrawn on the unexpected emigra-
tion of thirty- three thousand of the inhabitants of the Pala-
tinate, comprising entire communes headed by their preach-
ers, evidently an unlocked and unwished for multitude.
These emigrants reached London abandoned by their pat-
rons and disavowed by the government. A fearful fate
awaited them. After losing considerable numbers from
starvation in England, the greater part of the survivors
were compelled to work like slaves in the mines and in the
cultivation of uninhabited islands; three thousand six hun-
dred of them were sent over to Ireland, where they swelled
the number of beggars; numbers were lost at sea, and seven
thousand of them returned in despair, in a state of utter des-
titution, to their native country. A small number of them,
however, actually sailed for New York, where they were
allotted portions of the primitive forests, which they cleared
and cultivated; but they had no sooner raised flourishing
villages in the midst of rich cornfields and gardens, than
they were informed that the ground belonged to the state
and were driven from the home they had so lately
found. Pennsylvania opened a place of refuge to the
wanderers. '

The religious persecution and the increasing despotism of
the governments in Germany meanwhile incessantly drove
fresh emigrants to America, where, as they were generally
sent to the extreme verge of the provinces in order to clear
the ground and drive away the aborigines, numbers of them
were murdered by the Indians. Switzerland also sent forth

1 Account of the United States by Eggerling.

1718 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

many emigrants, who settled principally in North Carolina.
The people of Salzburg, whose expulsion has been detailed
above, colonized Georgia in 1732. In 1742, there were no
fewer than a hundred thousand Germans in North America,
and, since that period, their number has been continually on
the increase. Thousands annually arrived; for instance, in
the years 1749 and 1750, seven thousand; in 1754, as many
as twenty-two thousand; in 1797, six thousand Swabians.
The famine of 1770, the participation of German mercenaries
in the wars of the British in North America, at first against
the French colonies, afterward against the English colonists
(the German prisoners generally settled in the country), in-
duced the Germans to emigrate in such great numbers that,
from 1770 to 1791, twenty-four emigrant ships on an average
arrived annually at Philadelphia, without reckoning those
that landed in the other harbors. *

The passage by sea to the west being continually closed
during the great wars with France, the stream of emigration
took an easterly direction overland. Russia had extended
her conquests toward Persia and Turkey. The necessity of
fixing colonies in the broad steppes as in the primitive forests
of America, to serve as a barrier against the wild frontier
tribes, was plainly perceived by the Russian government,
and Germans were once more made use of for this purpose.
Extensive colonies, which at the present date contain hun-
dreds of thousands of German inhabitants, but whose his-
tory is as yet unknown, were accordingly formed northward
of the Black and Caspian Seas. Swabian villages were
also built on the most southern frontier of Russia toward

1 One of the most distinguished Germans in America was a person named
John Jacob Astor, the son of a bailiff at Walldorf near Heidelberg, who was
brought up as a furrier, emigrated to America, where he gradually became the
wealthiest of all furriers, founded at his own expense the colony of Astoria, on
the northwestern coast of North America, so interestingly described by Wash-
ington Irving, and the Astor fund, intended as a protection to German emigrants
to America from the frauds practiced on th6 unwary. He resided at New York.
He possessed an immense fortune and was highly and deservedly esteemed for
his extraordinary philanthropy.

THE LATEST TIMES 1719

Persia, and in 1826 suffered severely from an inroad of
the Persians.

The fall of Napoleon had no sooner reopened the passage
by sea than the tide of emigration again turned toward
North America. These emigrants, the majority of whom
consisted of political malcontents, preferred the land of lib-
erty to the steppes of Kussia, whither sectarians and those
whom the demoralization and irreligion of the Gallomanic
period had filled with disgust had chiefly resorted. The
Busso-Teuto colonies are proverbial for purity and strict-
ness of morals. One Wurtemberg sectarian alone, the cele-
brated Eapp, succeeded during the period of the triumph of
France in emigrating to Pennsylvania, where he founded
the Harmony, a petty religious community. An inconsider-
able number of Swiss, dissatisfied with Napoleon's suprem-
acy, also emigrated in 1805 and built New Yevay. But it
was not until after the wars, more particularly during the
famine in 1816 and 1817, that emigration across the sea was
again carried on to a considerable extent. In 1817, thirty
thousand Swiss, Wurtembergers, Hessians, and inhabitants
of the Palatinate emigrated, and about an equal number
were compelled to retrace their steps from the sea- coast in a
state of extreme destitution on account of their inability to
pay their passage and of the complete want of interest in
their behalf displayed by the governments. Political discon-
tent increased in 1818 and 1819, and each succeeding spring
thirty thousand Germans sailed down the Ehine to the land
of liberty in the far west. In 1820, a society was set on foot
at Berne for the protection of the Swiss emigrants from the
frauds practiced upon the unwary. The union of the Arch-
duchess Leopoldine, daughter to the emperor Francis, with
Dom Pedro, the emperor of the Brazils, had, since 1817, at-
tracted public attention to South America. Dom Pedro took
German mercenaries into his service for the purpose of keep-
ing his wild subjects within bounds, and the fruitful land
offered infinite advantages to the German agriculturist; but
colonization was rendered impracticable by the revolutionary

1720 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

disorders and by the ill-will of the natives toward the set-
tlers, and the Germans who had been induced to emigrate
either enlisted as soldiers or perished. Several among them,
who have published their adventures in the Brazils, bitterly
complained of the conduct of Major Schafer, who had been
engaged in collecting recruits at ^Hamburg for the Brazils.
They even accused him of having allowed numbers of their
fellow-countrymen to starve to death from motives of gain,
so much a head being paid to him on his arrival in the Bra-
zils for the men shipped from Europe whether they arrived
dead or alive. The publication of these circumstances com-
pletely checked the emigration to the Brazils, and North
America was again annually, particularly in 1827 and after
the July revolution, overrun with Grermans, and they have
even begun to take part in the polity of the United States.
The peasants, who had been settled for a considerable
period, and who have insensibly acquired great wealth and
have retained the language and customs of their native
country, form the flower of the German colonists in the
West. '

1 The Allgemeine Zeitung of September, 1837, reports that there were at
that time one hundred and fifty-seven thousand Germans in North America who
were still unnatural! zed, consequently had emigrated thither within the last two
or three years. In Philadelphia alone there were seventy- five thousand Ger-
mans. Grund says in his work, "The Americans in 1837," "The peaceable
disposition of the Germans prevents their interfering with politics, although their
number is already considerable enough for the formation of a powerful party.
They possess, notwithstanding, great weight in the government of Pennsylvania,
in which State the governors have since the revolution always been Germans.
This is in fact so well understood on all sides that even during the last election,
when two democrats and a "Whig candidate contended for the dignity of gov-
ernor, they were all three Germans by birth and no other would have had the
slightest chance of success. In the State of Ohio there are at the present date,
although that province was first colonized by New-English, no fewer than forty-
five thousand Germans possessed of the right of voting. The State of New-
York, although originally colonized by Dutch, contains a numerous German
population in several of its provinces, particularly in that of Columbia, the birth-
place of Martin Van Buren, the present Vice-President and future President of
the republic. The State of Maryland numbers twenty-five thousand Germans
possessed of votes; almost one- third of the population of Illinois is German, and
thousands of fresh emigrants are settling in the valley of the Mississippi. I
believe that the number of German voters or of voters of German descent may,
without exaggeration, be reckoned on an average annually at four hundred thou-

THE LATEST TIMES 1721

ID the Cape colonies, the Dutch peasants, the boors, feel-
ing themselves oppressed by the English government, emi-
grated en masse, in 1837, to the north, where they settled
with the Caffres, and, under their captain, Praetorius,
founded an independent society, in 1839, at Port Natal,
where they again suffered a violent aggression on the part
of the British.

Thus are Germans fruitlessly scattered far and wide over
the face of the globe, while on the very frontiers of Germany
nature has designated the Danube as the near and broad
path for emigration and colonization to her overplus popu-
lation, which, by settling in her vicinity, would at once
increase her external strength and extend her influence.

sand, and certainly in less than twenty years hence at a million. In the city of
New York, the Germans greatly influence the election of the burgomaster and
other city authorities by holding no fewer than three thousand five hundred votes.
These circumstances naturally render the German vote an object of zealous con-
tention for politicians of every party, and there is accordingly no dearth of Ger-
man newspapers in any of the German settlements. In Pennsylvania, upward
of thirty German (principally weekly) papers are in circulation, and about an
equal aumber are printed and published in the State of Ohio. A scarcely lower
number are also in circulation in Maryland."

1722 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER

FROM THE FALL OF NAPOLEON TO THE
PRESENT DAY

THE Confederation of the Bhine, wounded to the death
by the campaign of 1812, was killed by the fall of
Napoleon. From that event to the present time the
accompanying pages must be restricted to a consideration of
those matters which have been of capital importance to the
German people. These matters may be summarized as con-
sisting in the formation of the German Confederation , the
Danish war, the Austro- Prussian war, the Franco- Prussian
war, and the refounding of the empire.

As the fall of Sennacherib was sung by the Hebrews, so
was the fall of Napoleon sung by the Germans. They had
been at his mercy. He had deposed their sovereigns, dis-
membered their states, crippled their trade, and exhausted
their resources. Yet in 1814, by the Peace of Paris, they
had restored to them all they had possessed in 1792, but as
a reconstruction of the former empire was impracticable,
those states which still maintained their sovereignty coalesced.

This was in 1815. At the time there remained of the three
hundred states into which the empire had originally been di-
vided but thirty- nine, a number afterward reduced, through
the extinction of four minor dynasties, to thirty-five. A diet,
recognized as the legislative and executive organ of the Con-
federation, was instituted at Frankfort. Instead, however,
of satisfying the expectations of the nation, it degenerated
into a political tool, which princes manipulated, which they
made subservient to their inherent conservatism, and with

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1723

which they oppressed their subjects. The French revolution
of 1830 influenced to a certain extent their attitude, and a
few of them were induced to accord constitutions to their
people, but the effect was transient. Reforms which had
been stipulated they managed to ignore. It took the insur-
rectionary movements of 1848 to shake them on their thrones.
Forced then to admit the inefficiency of the diet, and attempt-
ing by hasty concessions to check the progress of republican
principles, they consented to the convocation of a national
assembly. Over this body the Archduke John of Austria
was elected to preside. The choice was not happy. Meas-
ures which he failed to facilitate he succeeded in frustrating.
As a consequence, matters went from bad to worse, until,
after the refusal of the king of Prussia to accept the impe-
rial crown which was offered to him in 1849 and the election
of a provisional regency which ensued, the assembly lapsed
into a condition of impotence which terminated in its disso-
lution.

Meanwhile republican demonstrations having been forci-
bly suppressed, there arose between Prussia and Austria a
feeling of jealousy, if not of ill-will, which more than once
indicated war, and which, though resulting in the restoration
of the diet and temporarily diverted by a joint attack on
Denmark, culminated in the battle of Sadowa.

Into the details of this attack it is unnecessary to enter.
The casus belli was apparently an entirely virtuous endeavor
to settle the respective claims of the king of Denmark and
the duke of Augustenburg to the sovereignty of Schleswig-
Holstein. The fashion in which the claims were settled con-
sisted in wiping them out. The direction not merely of
SchJeswig-Holstein but of Lauenberg was assumed by Aus-
tria and Prussia, who, by virtue of a treaty signed October
30, 1864, took upon themselves their civil and military ad-
ministration.

The administration which then ensued was announced as
being but a temporary trusteeship, and throughout Europe
was generally so regarded. But Prussia had other views.

1724 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

In the chambers Bismarck declared that the crown had no
intention of resigning the booty, that, come what might,
never would it give up Kiel. Bismarck was seldom wrong.
In this instance he was right. In the month of August fol-
lowing the treaty the Emperor Francis of Austria and King
William of Prussia met at Gastein and concluded a conven-
tion by which it was agreed that Schleswig should belong to
Prussia, Holstein to Austria, with Kiel as a free port under
Prussian rule.

These proceedings, as might have been expected, created
the greatest indignation in England, France, and among the
minor states. Earl Russell declared that all rights, old and
new, had been trodden under by the Gastein Convention,
and that violence and force had been the only bases on which
this convention had been established^ while utter disregard
of all public laws had been shown throughout all these trans-
actions. On the part of France, her minister said that the
Austrian and Prussian governments were guilty in the eyes
of Europe of dividing between themselves territories they
were bound to give up to the claimants who seemed to have
the best title, and that modern Europe was not accustomed
to deeds fit only for the dark ages; such principles, he added,
can only overthrow the past without building up anything
new. The Frankfort Diet declared the two powers to have
violated all principles of right, especially that of the duchies
to direct their own affairs as they pleased, provided they did
not interfere with the general interests of the German nation.
Nevertheless, a Prussian governor was appointed over Schles-
wig, and an Austrian over Holstein, both assuming these
duchies to be parts of their respective empires.

E-arly in 1866, it was evident that no real friendship could
long continue between Prussia and Austria, and that these
two great robbers would surely fall out over the division of
the plunder; making it the ostensible cause for dispute, which
was in reality their rivalry for the leadership in Germany.
In June, the Prussians crossed the Eyder, and took posses-
sion of Holstein, appointed a supreme president over the two

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1725

duchies which passed under Prussian rule, and settled, after
a summary fashion, the vexed question. There were also
other causes which tended to war. The weak side of Aus-
tria, weaker far than Hungary, was her Italian province of
Yenetia, one, indeed, that few can say she had any real or
natural right to hold, beyond having acquired it by the treaty
of 1813. To recover this from German rule had been the in-
cessant desire of Italy, and grievous was her disappointment
when the emperor of the French thought fit to stop immedi-
ately after the battles of Magenta and Solferino, instead of
pushing on, as it was hoped he would have done, to the con-
quest of Venetia.

In the spring of 1866, Italy was making active prepara-
tions for war, and Austria, on the other hand, increased
largely the number of her troops, Prussia choosing, in defi-
ance of all fair dealing, to assume that all these armaments
were directed against herself; and, on this supposition, sent
a circular to the minor states to tell them they must decide
which side to take in the impending struggle. A secret
treaty was made between Prussia and Italy: that Italy
should be ready to take up arms the moment Prussia gave
the signal, and that Prussia should go on with the war until
Venetia was ceded to Italy. Angry discussions took place
in the diet between Austria and Prussia, which ended in
Prussia declaring the Germanic Confederation to be broken
up, and both sides preparing for war.

Austria began early to arm, for she required longer time
to mobilize her army. Prussia, on the contrary, was in readi-
ness for action. Every Prussian who is twenty years old,
without distinction of rank, has to serve in the army, three
years with the colors, five more in the reserve, after which
he is placed for eleven years in the Landwehr, and liable to
be called out when occasion requires. In peace everything
is kept ready for the mobilization of its army. In a wonder-
fully short time the organization was complete, and 260,000
men brought into the field in Bohemia. In arms, they had
the advantage of the needle-gun. The Prussian forces were

1726 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

in three divisions, the "First Army" under the command of
Prince Frederick Charles: the "Second Army" under that
of the crown prince; and the "Army of the Elbe," under
General Herwarth. The supreme command of the Austrian
army of the north was given to Feldzeugmeister von Bene-
dek, that of the south to the Archduke Albert.

On June 14, Prussia sent a telegraphic summons to Han-
over, Hesse-Cassel, and Saxony, demanding them to reduce
their armies to the peace establishment, and to concur with
Prussia respecting the Germanic confederation; and that if
they did not send their consent within twelve hours, war
would be declared. The states did not reply, Prussia de-
clared war, and on the 16th invaded their territories. The
occupation and disarmament of Hanover and Hesse were
necessary to Prussia for a free communication with her
Khenish provinces, and she effected her purpose by means
of well- planned combinations, so that in the course of a few
days these states were overrun by Prussian troops, and their
sovereigns expelled.

The rapid progress of events, and the Prussian declara-
tion of war, had taken Hanover by surprise. Her army was
not yet mobilized ; Austria had evacuated Holstein, or she
could have looked to her for support. To attempt to defend
the capital was hopeless; so King George, suffering from
blindness, moved with his army to Gottingen, with a view
of joining the Bavarians. Prussia entered by the north,
and, assisted by her navy on the Elbe, was by the 22d in
possession of the whole of Hanover. Closed round on all
sides by the Prussians, unassisted by Prince Charles of Ba-
varia, Gotha having declared for Prussia, the king of Han-
over, with his little army, crossed the frontier of his kingdom,
and at Langensalza, fifteen miles north of Gotha, encountered
the Prussians, and remained master of the battlefield. But
victory was of little avail; surrounded by 40,000 Prussians,
the king was forced to capitulate. The arms and military
stores were handed over to the enemy, and the king and his
soldiers allowed to depart. Thus, through the supineness of

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1727

Prince Charles of Bavaria, a whole army was made captive,
and Hanover erased from the roll of independent states.

More fortunate than his neighbor, the elector of Hesse-
Cassel saved his army, though not his territory, from the
invader. His troops retired toward the Maine, where they
secured a communication with the federal army at Frank-
fort. The elector remained in Hesse, and was sent a state
prisoner to the Prussian fortress of Stettin, on the Oder.
The Prussians overran his territory, declaring they were
not at war against "peoples, but against governments."

Two bodies of Prussian troops entered Saxony — the First
Army and the Army of the Elbe — and the Saxon army
retired into Bohemia to effect a junction with the Austrians.
On the 20th, Leipzig was seized, and the whole of Saxony
was in undisturbed possession of the Prussians; Prince Fred-
erick Charles issuing a most stringent order that private
property should be respected, and every regard shown to
the comfort of the inhabitants. His order was strictly ob-
served, and every measure taken to prevent the miseries
attendant on the occupation of a country by a foreign
army.

The invasion of Saxony brought immediately open war
between Prussia and Austria, and on the 23d the Prussian
army crossed the Bohemian frontier — only a week since it
had entered Saxony. It is needless here to detail the battles
which immediately followed; suffice it to say, the Prussians
were victorious in all — at Podoll, where the needle-gun did
such terrible work; Munchengratz, which gave them the
whole line of the Iser; Trautenan, Gitschen, and others.
On the 1st of July, the king of Prussia arrived from Berlin
and took the supreme command of the army. The follow-
ing day brought news from the crown prince that he was
hastening from Silesia with the Second Army, whereby the
whole of the Prussian forces would be concentrated. On
the 3d of July was fought the decisive battle of Koniggratz,
or Sadowa, as it is sometimes called, from the village of that
name, a cluster of pine-wood cottages, enclosed by orchards,

1728 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

with a wood-crowned hill at the back, which was fiercely
disputed by the contending parties.

On that day, General von Benedek had taken his position
with the Austrian army in front of the frontier fortress of
Koniggratz, on the right bank of the Elbe, about fifty-five
miles east of Prague, to oppose the passage of the crown
prince from Silesia. In his front lay the marshy stream of
Bistritz, upon which Sadowa and a few other villages are
situated. At half- past seven in the morning the battle be-
gan, and continued with great slaughter without any marked
advantage on either side till the arrival of the crown prince
decided, like the advance of Bliicher at Waterloo, the fort-
une of the day. The Austrians were completely routed, and
fled across the Elbe to save the capital. They lost 40,000
men in this sanguinary conflict, the Prussians 10,000. The
forces in the field were 200,000 Austrians and Saxons, and
260,000 Prussians.

Immediately after her crushing defeat, Austria surren-
dered Venetia to France, and the Emperor Napoleon at once
accepted the gift and gave it over to Victor Emmanuel.

On July 26, preliminaries of peace were signed at Nikols-
burg, and peace was finally concluded at Prague, August
23, between Prussia and Austria, and about the same time
with the South German states. The Prussian House of
Deputies voted the annexation of the conquered states, and
in October peace was concluded with Saxony. By these ar-
rangements, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and Frankfort became
provinces of Prussia, as well as the long- disputed duchies of
Denmark. All the German states north of the Maine con-
cluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, for the maintenance
of the security of their states. Prussia increased her terri-
tory by 32,000 square miles and her population 4,000,000;
and in October, 1866, the whole of northern Germany was
united into a Confederation.

This Confederation, known as the North German, pos-
sessed a common parliament elected by universal suffrage,
in which each state was represented according to its popu-

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1729

lation. The first or constituent parliament met early in 1867,
and adopted, with a few modifications, the constitution pro-
posed by Count Bismarck. The new elections then took
place, and the first regular North German parliament met
in September, 1867. According to this constitution, there
was to be a common army and fleet, under the sole com-
mand of Prussia; a common diplomatic representation
abroad, of necessity little else than Prussian; and to
Prussia also was intrusted the management of the posts
and telegraphs in the Confederation.

The Southern German states which up to this point had
not joined the Bund, were Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg,
Hesse- Darmstadt, and Lichtenstein, with a joint area of
43,990 square miles, and a total population (1866) of 8,524,-
460. But, though these states were not formally members
of the Bund, they were so practically, for they were bound
to Prussia by treaties of alliance offensive and defensive, so
that in the event of a war the king of Prussia would have
at his disposal an armed force of upward of 1,100,000 men.

During the next few years the North German Confedera-
tion was employed in consolidating and strengthening itself,
and in trying to induce the southern states to join the league.
The Zollverein was remodelled and extended, until by the
year 1868 every part of Germany was a member of it, with
the exception of the cities of Hamburg and Bremen, and a
small part of Baden. This paved .the way for the formal
entrance of the southern states into the confederation; but
they still hung back, though the ideal of a united Germany
was gradually growing in force and favor.

Meanwhile the terms of the treaty of Prague, together
with the complete removal of alien powers from Italy, had
wrought a radical change in the political relations of the
European States. Excluded from Germany, the dominions
of Austria still extended to the verge of Venetia and the
Lombard plains, but her future lay eastward and her centre
of gravity had been removed to Buda-Pesth. In the South
German courts, no doubt, there was a bias toward Vienna,

1730 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

and a dislike of Prussia; yet both the leaning and the repug-
nance were counterbalanced by a deeper dread of France
rooted in the people by the vivid memories of repeated and
cruel invasions. Kussia, somewhat alarmed by the rapid
success of King William, had been soothed by diplomatic
reassurances, the tenor of which is not positively known,
although a series of subsequent events more than justified
the inference made at that time, that promises, bearing
on the czar's Eastern designs, were tendered and accepted
as a valuable consideration for the coveted boon of benevo-
lent neutrality, if not something more substantial. Like
Eussia, France had lost nothing by the campaign of 1866;
her territories were intact; her ruler had mediated between
Austria and Prussia; and he had the honor of protecting the
pope, who, as a spiritual and temporal prince, was still in
possession of Eome and restricted territorial domains. But
the Napoleonic court, and many who looked upon its head
as a usurper, experienced, on the morrow of Sadowa, and
in a greater degree after the preface to a peace had been
signed at Nikolsburg, a sensation of diminished magnitude,
a consciousness of lessened prestige, and a painful impres-
sion that their political, perhaps even their military place in
Europe, as the heirs of Richelieu, Louis XIV., and Napo-
leon, had been suddenly occupied by a power which they
had taught themselves to contemn as an inferior. Until the
summer of 1866 the emperor Napoleon fancied that he was
strong enough to play with Bismarck a game of diplomatic
chess.

In that he erred profoundly. As early as the first week
in August, 1866, M. Benedetti, the French ambassador to
the court of Berlin, was instructed to claim the left bank
of the Ehine as far as and including Mainz. Bismarck re-
plied that "the true interest of France is not to obtain an
insignificant increase of territory, but to aid Germany in con-
stituting herself after a fashion which will be most favorable
to all concerned." Delphos could not have been more orac-
ular. But Napoleon III. could not or would not heed. A

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1731

week later Benedetti was instructed to submit a regular
scale of concessions — the frontiers of 1814 and the annexa-
tion of Belgium, or Luxemburg and Belgium. Benedetti
received the most courteous attention and nothing more.
This was irritating. The French had been accustomed for
more than two hundred years to meddle directly in Germany
and find there allies, either against Austria, Prussia, or Eng-
land; and the habit of centuries had been more than con-
firmed by the colossal raids, victories, and annexations of
Napoleon I. A Germany which should escape from French
control and reverse, by its own energetic action, the policy
of Henry IY. , Kichelieu, Louis XIV. , his degenerate grand-
son, Louis XV., and of the great Napoleon himself, was an
affront to French pride, and could not be patiently endured.
The opposing forces which had grown up were so strong
that the wit of man was unable to keep them asunder; and
all the control over the issue left to kings and statesmen was
restricted to the fabrication of means wherewith to deliver
or sustain the shock, and the choice of the hour, if such
choice were allowed.

Then presently the opportunity occurred. On July 4,
1870, the throne of Spain was offered to Prince Leopold
of Hohenzollern. The fact created the greatest excitement
in France. Threatening speeches were made. On July 12
Prince Leopold declined the offer. On the morrow Bene-
detti was instructed to demand a guarantee that any future
offer of the kind would be refused. The king of Prussia
would not listen to the proposition. The French minister,
through whom the demand had been transmitted, then asked
for his passports. "War was imminent.

At the prospect Paris grew mad with enthusiasm. Crowds
assembled in the streets, shouting "Down with Prussia!'7
"Long live France!" "To the Ehine!" "To Berlin!" The
papers abounded with inflammatory appeals, and, after the
impulsive French fashion, glorified beforehand the easy tri-
umphs that were to be won over the Prussians. Men told
one another that they would be across the Ehine in a week,

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— P

1732 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

and at Berlin in a fortnight. The excitement in Prussia
was not less than that in France. The people, with scarcely
an exception, declared their readiness for war, and seemed
to find a pleasure in the opportunity now presented for set-
tling old quarrels. Like the people of Paris, the Prussians
shouted "To the Khine!" The French cry of "To Berlin!"
had its counterpart in the German ejaculation of "To Paris!"

Perhaps a sentence spoken by M. Guyot Montpayroux
best illustrates the predominant feeling. "Prussia," he
said, "has forgotten the France of Jena, and the fact must
be recalled to her memory. ' ' Thus was war declared on the
night of July 15. Thiers, who desired a war with Prussia
"at the proper time," has left on record his judgment that
the hour then selected was "detestably ill-chosen." Yet
even he and Gambetta were both anxious that "satisfac-
tion" should be obtained for Sadowa; while the thought
which animated the court is admirably expressed in the
phrase imputed to the empress who, pointing to the prince
imperial, said, "This child will never reign unless we repair
the misfortunes of Sadowa. ' ' Such was the ceaseless refrain.
The word haunted French imaginations incessantly, and it
was the pivot on which the imperial policy revolved; it
exercised a spell scarcely less powerful and disastrous upon
monarchists like Thiers and republicans like Gambetta.
Long foreseen, the dread shock, like all grave calamities,
came nevertheless as a surprise, even upon reflective minds.
Statesmen and soldiers who looked on, while they shared in
the natural feelings aroused by so tremendous a drama, were
also the privileged witnesses of two instructive experiments
on a grand scale — the processes whereby mighty armies are
brought into the field, and the methods by means of which
they are conducted to defeat or victory.

The French field army, called at the outset the "Army
of the Rhine," consisted nominally of 336,000 men with 924
guns. It was considered that of these, 300,000 would be
available for the initial operations. The infantry of the
army was provided with a breech- loading weapon, called

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1733

after its inventor the Chassepot. The Chassepot was a
weapon in all respects superior to the famous needle-gun,
which was still the weapon of the Prussian army. Attached
likewise to the divisional artillery was a machine gun called
the Mitrailleuse, from which great things were expected.
But this gun had been manufactured with a secrecy which,
while it prevented foreign inspection, had withheld also the
knowledge of its mechanism from the soldiers who were to
work it. In the field, therefore, it proved a failure.

Since the Crimean and Austrian wars, while the armies
of the other European states had advanced in efficiency, the
French army had deteriorated. The reason was that favorit-
ism rather than merit had been made the road to court favor.
The officers who had pointed to the training of the Prussian
soldiers, as indicating the necessity for the adoption of sim-
ilar modes for the French army, had been laughed at and
left in the cold. The consequence was, that for ten years
prior to the war of 1870, the French army had received in-
struction only of the most superficial character. It had been
considered sufficient if the soldiers were brought to the point
of making a good show on the parade ground. Little more
had been required of them. Field training and musketry
training had been alike neglected. The officers had ceased
to study, and the government had taken no pains to instruct
them. What was more vicious still, the alienation between
officers and men, which had been noticed even in the war
of 1859, had widened. The officers generally had ceased to
take the smallest interest in the comfort of the men in camp
or in quarters. These matters were left to the non-commis-
sioned officers. Needless to add, they were not always prop-
erly attended to. It may be added that the system of drill
was so devised as to give no play to the reasoning powers of
the officer. He was a machine and nothing more.

Of the artillery of the French army it has to be said, that
it was far inferior to that of the Germans, and known to be
so by the French war department. In the matter of reserves,
France had comparatively nothing.

1734 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

Far different were the composition and the state of prep-
aration of the Prussian army; far different, also, those of
her German allies; far higher the qualities of their general
officers ; far superior the discipline and morale of their troops ;
far more ready, in every single particular, to begin a war;
far more thoroughly provided to carry that war to a suc-
cessful issue.

The German infantry had been thoroughly organized on
a system which gave to every officer the necessity of exercis-
ing independent action, and to the men the faculty of under-
standing the object of the manoeuvre directed. Its cavalry
had been specially instructed in duties of reconnoissance, of
insuring repose for the infantry, of collecting intelligence,
of concealing the march of armies, of acting as a completer
of victory, or as a shield in case of defeat. It had profited
greatly by the lessons it had learned in the war of 1866.

The German artillery had likewise been greatly improved
in efficiency of manoeuvre since 1866. It was in all respects
superior to that of the French.

Of the Prussian and South German leaders, I will only
say that we shall meet again the men from whom we parted
on the conclusion of the armistice of Nikolsburg. What
was their task and how they executed it will be described in
the pages that follow. In mere numbers, the king of Prus-
sia had a great advantage over his enemy. For, while
without any assistance from South Germany, and after
allowing for three army corps which might be necessary
to watch Austria and Denmark, he could begin the cam-
paign with a force of 350,000 men, he was certain of the
assistance of Southern Germany, and confident that, unless
the French should obtain considerable successes at the out-
set, neither Austria nor Denmark would stir a hand to aid
them.

To counterbalance this superiority of numbers the French
emperor had cherished a vague hope that, in a war against
Prussia, he might possibly count upon the ancient friendship
for France of Bavaria and Saxony, and to a still greater

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1735

extent upon Austria and Italy. With regard to Bavaria and
Saxony he was speedily undeceived. Moreover, contrary to
expectation, other German states decided to support Prussia
and placed their armies, which were eventually commanded
by the crown prince, at the disposal of King William. With
regard to Austria and Italy, Colonel Malleson in a work on
this subject,1 to which we are much indebted, states that
their co-operation was made dependent on the initial suc-
cesses of the French troops. Colonel Malleson adds:

u It was not only understood, but was actually drafted in
a treaty — the signing of which, however, was prevented by
the rapid course of the war — that if, on the 15th of Septem-
ber, France should be holding her own in Southern Ger-
many, then Austria and Italy would jointly declare war
against Prussia.

These conditions made it clear that ultimate success in
the struggle about to commence would accrue to the power
which should obtain the first advantages.

That Germany — for it was Germany and not Prussia only
which entered upon this great struggle — would obtain these
initial advantages seemed almost certain. Count Moltke
had for some time previous been engaged in planning for a
war with France. So far back as 1868 all his arrangements
for the formation of the armies to be employed, the points to
be occupied, the nature of the transport, had been clearly
laid down. These instructions had been carefully studied by
the several corps commanders and their staff. Not one mat-
ter, however apparently trivial, had been neglected. When,
then, on the 16th of July, the king of Prussia gave the order
for mobilization, it required only to insert the day and the
hour on which each body of troops should march. With
respect to the armies of the states of Southern Germany,
Moltke, anticipating that the French emperor would throw
his mam army as rapidly as possible into Southern Ger-

1 G. B. Malleson: The Refoundiug of the German Empire.

1736 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

many, had recommended that the contingents from that
part of the country should march northward to join those
of Prussia on the middle Ehine, to assume there a position
which should menace the flank and rear of the invading
army. This position would be the more practical, as in the
event of the French not invading Southern Germany, the
combined force, stretching from Saarbrucken to Landau,
would be ready to invade France, and sever the communica-
tions with Paris of the French armies on the frontier. Count
Moltke had calculated that the German troops intended to
cross the French frontier would be in a position to make
their forward movement by the 4th of August. Pending
the development of the French strategy with respect to
Southern Germany, therefore, he thought it prudent to de-
lay the march of the southern contingents, in order that
no part of the army might be suddenly overwhelmed by a
superior force. On the actual frontier he placed, then, only
a few light troops, for the purposes of reconnoitring, and for
checking the first advance of the enemy until supports should
arrive.

The French emperor had, indeed, been keenly alive to the
advantages which would accrue to himself from a prompt
invasion of Southern Germany. He designed to concentrate
one hundred and fifty thousand men at Metz; one hundred
thousand at Strasburg; to cross into Baden with these
armies; while a third, assembling at Chalons, should pro-
tect the frontier against the German forces. The plan itself
was an excellent one had he only been able to execute it, for,
as we have seen, early success in Southern Germany would
have meant the armed assistance of Austria and Italy. But
the French army was in a condition more unready, one
might truly say, of greater demoralization, thus early, than
its severest critics had imagined. Considerable forces were
indeed massed about Metz and Strasburg. But the commis-
sariat and transport departments were in a state of the most
hopeless confusion. The army could not move. To remedy
these evils time was wanted, and time was the commodity

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1737

the generals could not command. Every day which evoked
some little order out of chaos brought the Germans nearer
to positions, the occupation of which would render impossi-
ble the contemplated invasion. The emperor had quitted
Paris for Metz, accompanied by the prince imperial, on the
28th of July, and had arrived there and taken the supreme
command the same day. The day following he met his gen-
erals at St. Avoid, and unfolded to them his plans. Since
war had been declared he had lost many illusions. It had
become clear to him that he was warring against the con-
centrated might of Germany; that he could not make the
inroad into Southern Germany originally contemplated with-
out exposing Paris to an attack from forces already occupy-
ing the country between Treves and Mannheim: that he was
bound to hold that line. Anxious, however, to assume the
offensive, he dictated the following plan to his marshals.
Bazaine, with the Second, Third, and Fifth Army Corps,
should cross the Saar at Saarbriicken, covered on his left by
the Fourth Corps, which should make a show of advancing
against Saarlouis, while MacMahon, pushing forward from
his position near Strasburg, should cover his right. The
emperor had some reason to believe that the Saar was
weakly held.

But his own generals showed him that his plan was im-
possible. They represented to him that instead of the three
hundred thousand men whom, in the delirium of the Paris
enthusiasm, he believed he would find available for his pur-
poses, he had at the utmost one hundred and eighty-six
thousand; that in every requirement for moving the army
was deficient; that there was* scarcely a department which
was not disorganized. He was compelled, therefore, to re-
nounce bis plan for decisive offensive action. He came to
that resolve most unwillingly, for Paris was behind him,
ready to rise unless he should make some show of advanc-
ing. It was to reassure the excited spirits of the capital,
rather than to effect any military result, that, on the 2d of
August, he moved with sixty thousand men in the direction

1738 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

of Saarbrucken. The garrison of that place consisted of
something less than four thousand men with six guns. The
emperor attacked it with the corps of Frossard, eighteen
battalions and four batteries. These compelled the slender
German garrison to evacuate the place, but Frossard, though
the bridges across the Saar were not defended, made no
attempt to cross that river. The soldierly manner in which
the Germans had covered their retreat had left on his mind
the impression that they were more numerous than they
were, and that there was a larger force behind them.

Still, for the only time in the war, the emperor was able
to send a reassuring telegram to Paris. The young prince,
upon whom the hopes of the nation would, he hoped, rest,
had undergone the "baptism of fire." French troops had
made the first step in advance.

Soon, however, it became clear to him that the enemy
had concentrated along the line of the frontier, and were
about to make their spring. Moltke, in fact, from his head-
quarters at Mayence, was, by means of solitary horsemen
employed in profusion, keeping himself thoroughly well ac-
quainted not only with the movements of the French, but
with their vacillation, their irresolution, their want of plan.
The sudden appearance from unexpected quarters of these
horsemen conveyed a marked feeling of insecurity to the
minds of the French soldiers, and these feelings were soon
shared by their chiefs. It was very clear to them that an
attack might at any moment corne, though from what quar-
ter and in what force they were absolutely ignorant. This
ignorance increased their vacillations, their uncertainties.
Orders and counter-orders followed each other with start-
ling rapidity. The soldiers, harassed, began to lose confi-
dence; the leaders became more and more incapable of
adopting a plan.

Suddenly, in the midst of their vacillations, of their
marchings and counter-marchings, the true report reached
them, on the evening of the 3d of Augusty that a French
division, the outpost of MacMahon's army, had been sur-

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1739

prised and defeated at Weissenburg by a far superior force.
Napoleon at once ordered the Fifth Corps to concentrate at
Bitsche, and despatched a division of the Third to Saargue-
miind. These orders were followed by others. Those of
the 5th of August divided the army of the Rhine into two
portions, the troops in Alsace being placed under MacMahon,
those in Lorraine under Bazaine, the emperor retaining the
Guard. Those of the 7th directed the Second Corps to pro-
ceed to Bitsche, the Third to Saarguemund, the Fourth to
Haut-Homburg, the Guard to St. Avoid. These instruc-
tions plainly signified the making of a flank movement in
front of a superior enemy. With such an army as the em-
peror had, inferior in numbers, many of the regiments as yet
incomplete, all his resources behind him, and these becoming
daily more unavailable, his one chance was to concentrate in
a position commanding the roads behind it, and yet adapted
for attack if attack should be necessary. As it was, without
certain information as to the movements of the Germans,
anxious to move, yet dreading to do so, until his regiments
should be completed, the French emperor was confused and
helpless. He forgot even to transmit to the generals on one
flank the general directions he had issued to those on the
other. Bazaine, for instance, was left on the 5th in igno-
rance of the emperor's intentions with respect to MacMahon;
on the 6th none of the subordinate generals knew that the
flank march was contemplated. Frossard, who had fallen
back to Spicheren, considered his position so insecure that
he suggested to Leboeuf that he should be allowed to retire
from the Saarbriicken ridge. He was ordered in reply to
fall back on Forbach, but no instructions were given him as
to the course he should pursue in the event of his being at-
tacked, nor were the contemplated movements of the emperor
communicated to him. In every order that was issued there
was apparent the confused mind of the issuer.

Turn we now to MacMahon and the movements of him-
self and his generals. When the war broke out MacMahon
was in the vicinity of Strasburg with forty-five thousand

1740 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

men; General Douay with twelve thousand men at Weis-
senburg. The same confusion prevailed here as at Metz.
The orders given to MacMahon were of the vaguest descrip-
tion: Douay had no instructions at all. Yet, in front of
him, the German hosts had been gathering. The com-
mander of the left wing of the German army, the crown
prince of Prussia, had, in obedience to the instructions he
had received, crossed the frontier river, the Lauter, on
the 4th of August, with an army composed of the Second
Bavarian and Fifth Prussian army, numbering about forty
thousand men, and marched on Weissenburg. As his ad-
vanced guard approached the town, it was met by a heavy
fire from the French garrison. The crown prince resolved
at once to storm the place. Douay had placed his troops in
a strong position, a portion of his men occupying the town
defended by a simple wall; the bulk, formed on the Gais-
berg, a hill two miles to the south of it. Against this posi-
tion the crown prince directed his chief attack. The contest
which ensued was most severe, the assailants and the de-
fenders vying with one another in determination and cour-
age. But the odds in favor of the former were too great to
permit Douay to hope for ultimate success. After a resist-
ance of five hours' duration the Germans carried the Gais-
berg. Douay himself was killed; but his surviving troops,
though beaten, were not discouraged. They successfully
foiled an attempt made by the Germans to cut off their re-
treat, and fell back on the corps of MacMahon, which lay
about ten miles to the south of Weissenburg.

The same day on which the crown prince had attacked
and carried Weissenburg, another German army corps,, that
of Baden- Wurtemberg, a part of the Third Army, under the
command of" the crown prince, had advanced on and occu-
pied Lauterburg. That evening the entire Third Army, con-
sisting of one hundred and thirty thousand men, bivouacked
on French ground. Meanwhile MacMahon, on hearing of
Douay 's defeat, had marched to Eeichshol'en, received there
the shattered remnants of Douay 's division, and, with the

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1741

emperor's orders under no circumstances to decline a battle,
took up a position on the hills of which Worth, Froschweiler,
and Elsasshausen form the central points. He had with him
forty-seven thousand men, but the Fifth Corps, commanded
by De Failly, was at Bitsche, seventeen miles from Reichs-
hofen, and MacMahon had despatched the most pressing in-
structions to that officer to join him. These orders, however,
De Failly did not obey.

The ground on which MacMahon had retired offered
many capabilities for defence. The central point was the
village of Worth on the rivulet Sauerbach, which covered
the entire front of the position. To the right rear of Worth,
on the road from Gundershofen, was the village of Elsass-
hausen, covered on its right by the Niederwald, having the
village of Eberbach on its further side, and the extreme right
of the position, the village of Morsbronn, to its southeast.
Behind Worth, again, distant a little more than two miles
on the road to Reichshofen, was the key to the position, the
village of Froschweiler. From this point the French left
was thrown back to a mound, covered by a wood, in front
of Reichshofen.

On the 5th of August the crown prince had set his army
in motion, and had rested for the night at Sulz. There in-
formation reached him regarding the position taken by Mac-
Mahon. He immediately issued orders for the concentration
of his army, and for its march the following morning toward
the French position, the village of Preuschdorf, on the direct
road to Worth, to be the central point of the movement. But
the previous evening General von Walther, with the Fifth
Prussian Corps, had reached Gorsdorf, a point whence it
was easy for him to cross the Sauerbach, and take Worth
in flank. Marching at four o'clock in the morning Walther
tried this manoeuvre, and at seven o'clock succeeded in driv-
ing the French from Worth. MacMahon then changed his
front, recovered Worth, and repulsed likewise an attack
which had in the meanwhile been directed against Frosch-
weiler by the Eleventh Prussian and Fifth Bavarian Corps.

1742 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

For a moment it seemed as though he might hold his posi-
tion. But between eleven and twelve the enemy renewed
his attack. While one corps again attacked and carried
Worth, the Eleventh Prussian Corps, aided by sixty guns
placed upon the heights of Gunstett, assailed his right. They
met here a most stubborn resistance, the French cuirassiers
charging the advancing infantry with the greatest resolu-
tion. So thoroughly did they devote themselves that they
left three-fourths of their number dead or dying on the field.
But all was in vain. The Prussians steadily advanced,
forced their way through the Niederwald, and threatened
Elsasshausen. While the French were thus progressing
badly on their right, they were faring still worse in the
centre.

The Germans, having seized Worth, stormed the hilly
slopes between that place and Froschweiler, and made a
furious assault upon the latter, now more than ever the
key of the French position. For while Froschweiler was
their objective centre, their right was thrown back toward
Elsasshausen and the Niederwald, their left to Eeichshofen.
While the Eleventh Prussians were penetrating the Nieder-
wald, preparatory to attacking Elsasshausen on the further
side of it, the Fifth Prussian Corps with the Second Bava-
rians were moving against Froschweiler. It was clear then
to MacMahon that further resistance was impossible. Still
holding Froschweiler, he evacuated Elsasshausen, and drew
back his right to .Reichshofen. The safety of his army de-
pended now upon the tenacity with which Froschweiler
might be held. It must be admitted, in justice to the
French, that they held it with a stubborn valor not sur-
passed during the war. Attacked by overwhelming num-
bers, they defended the place, house by house. At length,
however, they were overpowered. Then, for the first time,
the bonds of discipline loosened, and the French, struck by
panic, fled, in wild disorder, in the direction of Saverne.
They reached that place by a march across the hills the fol-
lowing evening. On their way they fell in with one of the

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1743

divisions of the corps of De Failly, and this served to cover
the retreat.

Though their defeat, considering the enormous superiority
of their assailants, might be glorious, it was doubly disas-
trous, inasmuch that it followed those perturbations of spirit
alluded to in a previous page, which had done so much to
discourage the French soldier. A victory at Worth might
have done much to redeem past mistakes. A defeat empha-
sized them enormously. It was calculated that, inclusive of
the nine thousand prisoners taken by the Germans, the
French lost twenty- four thousand men. The loss of the
victors amounted to ten thousand. They captured thirty-
three guns, two eagles, and six mitrailleuses.

The emperor was deeply pained by the result of the bat-
tle. To keep up, if possible, the spirits of his partisans, he
wired on the evening of the 7th to Paris, with the news of
the defeat, the words, "tout se peut retablir." He was mis-
taken. While the crown prince was crushing MacMahon at
Worth, the imperial troops were being beaten at Spicheren
as well.

Thereafter the German advance was hardly checked for
a moment, though the losses on both sides were heavy. On
the 18th of August was fought the battle of Gravelotte, in
which King William commanded in person, and though his
troops suffered immense loss, they were again victorious, and
forced Bazaine to shut himself up in Metz, which he subse-
quently surrendered. In this battle, one of the most decisive
of the war, it is worth noting that the Germans outnumbered
the French by more than two to one. The exact figures are
uncertain, but we shall probably be correct in accepting
230,000 as the strength of the Germans, and in estimating
the French outside of Metz at 110,000.

We now come to Sedan. With the army of Bazaine be-
leaguered, there remained, in the opinion of the German chiefs
— an opinion not justified by events — only the army of Mac-
Mahon. To remove that army from the path which led to
Paris was the task intrusted to the crown prince.

1744 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

MacMahon, meanwhile, after his defeat at Worth, had
fallen back with the disordered remnants of his army on
Chalons, there to reorganize and strengthen it. Much prog-
ress had been made in both respects, when, after the result of
the battle of Gravelotte had been known in Paris, he re-
ceived instructions from the Count of Palikao to march with
the four army corps at his disposal northward toward the
Meuse, and to give a hand to the beleaguered Bazaine.

MacMahon prepared to obey. But circumstances ordered
otherwise. On the night of August 31st, accompanied by
the emperor — who, having transferred his authority to the
Empress Eugenie and his command to Bazaine, followed
the army as mere spectator — MacMahon reached Sedan,
and there ranged his troops so as to meet an attack which
he foresaw inevitable, and fatal too. Placing his strongest
force to the east, his right wing was at Bazeilles and the left
at Illy. The ground in front of his main defence was natu-
rally strong, the entire front being covered by the Givonne
rivulet, and the slopes to that rivulet, on the French side
of it.

The possibility that the French marshal would accept
battle at Sedan had been considered at the German head-
quarters on the night of the 31st, and arrangements had
been made to meet his wishes. The army of the crown
prince of Saxony (the Fourth Army) occupied the right of
the German forces, the Bavarian Corps formed the centre,
and the Prussians the left wing. The advanced troops of
the army were ranged in the following order. On the right
stood the Twelfth Corps, then the Fourth Prussian Corps,
the Prussian Guards, and finally the Fourth Cavalry Di-
vision, their backs to Remilly. From this point they were
linked to the First and Second Bavarian Corps, opposite
Bazeilles; they, in turn, to the Eleventh and Fifth Corps;
and they, at Dom-le-Mesnil, to the Wurtembergers. The
Sixth Prussian Corps was placed in reserve between Attigny
and Le Chene.

A word now as to the nature of the ground on which the

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1745

impending battle was to be fought. Sedan lies in the most
beautiful part of the valley of the Meuse, amid terraced
heights, covered with trees, and, within close distance, the
villages of Done her y, Iges, Villette, Glaire, Daigny, Ba-
zeilles, and others. Along the Meuse, on the left bank, ran
the main road from Donchery through Frenois, crossing the
river at the suburb Torcy, and there traversing Sedan. The
character of the locality may best be described as a ground
covered with fruit gardens and vineyards, narrow streets
shut in by stone walls, the roads overhung by forests, the
egress from which was in many places steep and abrupt.
Such was the ground. One word now as to the troops.

The German army before Sedan counted, all told, 240,000
men; the French 130,000. But the disparity in numbers was
the least of the differences between the two armies. The one
was flushed with victory, the other dispirited by defeat. The
one had absolute confidence in their generals and their officers,
the other had the most supreme contempt for theirs. The
one had marched from Metz on a settled plan, to be modified
according to circumstances, the drift of which was apparent
to the meanest soldier; the other had been marched hither
and thither, now toward Montmedy, now toward Paris, then
again back toward Montmedy, losing much time; the men
eager for a pitched battle, then suddenly surprised through
the carelessness of their commanders, and compelled at last
to take refuge in a town from which there was no issue.
There was hardly an officer of rank who knew aught about
the country in which he found himself. The men were long-
ing to fight to the death, but they, one and all, distrusted
their leaders. It did not tend, moreover, to the encourage-
ment of the army to see the now phantom emperor, without
authority to command even a corporal's guard, dragged about
the country, more as a pageant than a sovereign. He, poor
man, was much to be pitied. He keenly felt his position,
and longed for the day when he might, in a great battle,
meet the glorious death which France might accept as an
atonement for his misfortunes.

1746 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

The battle began at daybreak on the morning of the 1st
of September. Under cover of a brisk artillery fire, the Ba-
varians advanced, and opened, at six o'clock, a very heavy
musketry fire on Bazeilles. The masonry buildings of this
village were all armed and occupied, and they were defended
very valiantly. The defenders drove back the enemy as they
advanced and kept them at bay for two hours. Then the
Saxons came up to the aid of the Bavarians, and forced the
first position. Still the defence continued, and the clocks
were striking ten when the Bavarians succeeded in entering
the place. Even then a house-to-house defence prolonged
the battle, and it was not until every house but one1 had
been either stormed or burned that the Germans could call
the village, or the ruins which remained of it, their own.
Meanwhile, on the other points of their defensive position;
at Floing, St. Menges, Fleigneux, Illy, and, on the extreme
left, at Iges, where a sharp bend of the Meuse forms a penin-
sula of the ground round which it slowly rolls; the French
had been making a gallant struggle. In their ranks, even
in advance of them, attended finally by a single aide-de-camp,
all the others having been killed, was the emperor, cool, calm,
and full of sorrow, earnestly longing for the shell or the bul-
let which should give a soldier's finish to his career. Mac-
Mahon, too, was there, doing all that a general could do to
encourage xhis men. The enemy were, however, gradually
but surely making way. To hedge the French within the
narrowest compass, the Fifth and Eleventh Corps of the
Third Army had crossed the Meuse to the left of Sedan, and
were marching now to roll up the French left. But before
their attack had been felt, an event had occurred full of sig-
nificance for the French army.

Early in the day, while yet the Bavarians were fighting
to get possession of Bazeilles, Marshal MacMahon was so
severely wounded that he had to be carried from the field

1 The house is called "A la derniere Cartouche," and is the subject of De
Neuville's splendid painting.

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1747

into Sedan. He made over the command of the army to
General Ducrot. That general had even before recognized
the impossibility of maintaining the position before Sedan
against the superior numbers of the German army, and had
seen that the one chance of saving his army was to fall back
on Mezieres. He at once, then, on assuming command, is-
sued orders to that effect. But it was already too late. The
march by the defile of St. Albert had been indeed possible at
any time during the night or in the very early morning. But
it was now no longer so. The German troops swarmed in
the plains of Donchery, and the route by Carignan could
only be gained by passing over the bodies of a more numer-
ous and still living foe. Still Ducrot had given the order,
and the staff officers did their utmost to cause it to be obeyed.
The crowded streets of Sedan were being vacated, when sud-
denly the orders were countermanded. General Wimpffen
had arrived from Paris the previous day to replace the in-
capable De Failly in command of the Fifth Corps, carrying
in his pocket an order from the Minister of War to assume
the command-in-chief in the event of any accident to Mac-
Mahon. The emperor had no voice in the matter, for, while
the regency of the empress existed, he no longer represented
the government. The two generals met, and, after a some-
what lively discussion, Ducrot was forced to acknowledge
the authority of the minister. Wimpffen then assumed com-
mand. His first act was to countermand the order to retreat
on Mezieres, and to direct the troops to reassume the positions
they had occupied when MacMahon had been wounded. This
order was carried out as far as was possible.

Meanwhile the Germans were pressing more and more
those positions. About midday the Guards, having made
their way step by step, each one bravely contested, gave
their hand to the left wing of the Third Army. Then Illy
and Floing, which had been defended with extraordinary
tenacity, as the keys of the advanced French position, were
stormed. The conquest of those heights completed the in-
vestment of Sedan. There was now no possible egress for

1748 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

the French. Their soldiers retreated into the town and the
suburbs, while five hundred German guns hurled their mis-
siles, their round shot and their shells, against the walls and
the crowded masses behind them.

Vainly then did Wimpffen direct an assembly in mass of
his men to break through the serried columns of the enemy.
In the disordered state of the French army the thing was
impossible. The emperor, who had courted death in vain,
recognized the truth, and, desirous to spare the sacrifice of
life produced by the continued cannonade, ordered, on his
own responsibility, the hoisting of a white flag on the high-
est point of the defences, as a signal of surrender. But the
firing still continued, and Wimpffen, still bent on breaking
through, would not hear of surrender. Then Napoleon de-
spatched his chief aide-de-camp, General Eeille, with a letter
to the king of Prussia."

King William early that day had taken his stand on an
eminence which commanded an extensive view and which
rises a little south of Frenois. There, his staff about him,
he watched the progress of the fight. Toward this eminence
Keille rode. Walking his horse up the steep, he dismounted,
and raising his cap presented the letter. King William,
breaking the imperial seal, read these phrases, which, if
somewhat dramatic, are striking in their brevity:1

"MONSIEUR MON FRERE — N'ayant pu mourir au milieu
de mes troupes, il ne me reste qu' a remettre mon epee entre
les mains de Votre Majeste.

"Je suis de Votre Majeste,
"le bon Frere,

"NAPOLEON.

"Sedan, le 1" Septembre, 1870."

"Only one half hour earlier," writes Mr. George Hooper
in his "Campaign of Sedan," "had the information been

1 "Not having been able to die in the midst of my troops, nothing remains
for me but to place my sword in the hands of your Majesty."

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1749

brought that the emperor was in Sedan." Mr. Hooper
adds:

"The king conferred with his son, who had been hastily
summoned, and with others of his trusty servants, all deeply
moved by complex emotions at the grandeur of their victory.
What should be done ? The emperor spoke for himself only,
and his surrender would not settle the great issue. It was
necessary to obtain something definite, and the result of a
short conference was that Count Hatzfeldt, instructed by the
chancellor, retired to draft a reply. ' After some minutes he
brought it,' writes Dr. Busch, 'and the king wrote it out,
sitting on one chair, while the seat of a second was held up
by Major von Alten, who knelt on one knee and supported
the chair on the other.' The king's letter, brief and busi-
ness-like, began and ended with the customary royal forms,
and ran as follows:

" 'Regretting the circumstances in which we meet, I ac-
cept your Majesty's sword, and beg that you will be good
enough to name an officer furnished with full powers to treat
for the capitulation of the army which has fought so bravely
under your orders. On my side I have designated General
von Moltke for that purpose. '

"General Reille returned to his master, and as he rode
down the hill the astounding purport of his visit flew from
lip to lip through the exulting army which now hoped that,
after this colossal success, the days of ceaseless marching
and fighting would soon end. As a contrast to this natural
outburst of joy and hope we may note the provident Moltke,
who was always resolved to 'mak siker.' His general order,
issued at once, suspending hostilities during the night, de-
clared that they would begin again in the morning should
the negotiations produce no result. In that case, he said,
the signal for battle would be the reopening of fire by the
batteries on the heights east of Frenois.

"The signal was not given. Late on the evening of
September 1st a momentous session was held in Donchery,
the little town which commands a bridge over the Meuse

1750 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

below Sedan. On one side of a square table covered with
red baize sat General von Moltke, having on his right hand
the quartermaster-general Von Podbielski, according to one
account, and Von Blumenthal according to another, and
behind them several officers, while Count von Nostitz stood
near the hearth to take notes. Opposite to Von Moltke sat
De Wimpffen alone; while in rear, 'almost in the shade,'
were General Faure, Count Castelnau, and other French-
men, among whom was a cuirassier, Captain d'Orcet, who
had observant eyes and a retentive memory. Then there
ensued a brief silence, for Von Moltke looked straight before
him and said nothing, while De Wimpffen, oppressed by the
number present, hesitated to engage in a debate 'with the
two men admitted to be the most capable of our age, each
in his kind. ' But he soon plucked up courage, and frankly
accepted the conditions of the combat. What terms, he
asked, would the- king of Prussia grant to a valiant army
which, could he have had his will, would have continued to
fight ? ' They are very simple, ' answered Von Moltke. ' The
entire army, with arms and baggage, must surrender as
prisoners of war.' 'Very hard,' replied the Frenchman.
'We merit better treatment. Could you not be satisfied with
the fortress and the artillery, and allow the army to retire
with arms, flags and baggage, on condition of serving no
more against Germany during the war?' No. 'Moltke,'
said Bismarck, recounting the interview, 'coldly persisted in
his demand,' or as the attentive d'Orcet puts it, 'Von Moltke
was pitiless.' Then De Wimpffen tried to soften his grim
adversary by painting his own position. He had just come
from the depths of the African desert; he had an irreproach-
able military reputation ; he had taken command in the midst
of a battle, and found himself obliged to set his name to a
disastrous capitulation. 'Can you not,' he said, 'sympathize
with an officer in such a plight, and soften, for me, the bit-
terness of my situation by granting more honorable condi-
tions ?' He painted in moving terms his own sad case, and
described what he might have done ; but seeing that his

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1751

personal pleadings were unheeded, lie took a tone of defiance,
less likely to prevail. 'If you will not give better terms,' he
went on, 'I shall appeal to the honor of the army, and break
out, or, at least, defend Sedan. ' Then the German general
struck in with emphasis, 'I regret that I cannot do what you
ask,' he said; 'but as to making a sortie, that is just as im-
possible as the defence of Sedan. You have some excellent
troops, but the greater part of your infantry is demoralized.
To-day, during the battle, we captured more than twenty
thousand unwounded prisoners. You have only eighty thou-
sand men left. My troops and guns around the town would
smash yours before they could make a movement; and as to
defending Sedan, you have not provisions for eight-and-forty
hours, nor ammunition which would suffice for that period. '
Then, says De Wimpffen, he entered into details respecting
our situation, which, 'unfortunately, were too true,' and he
offered to permit an officer to verify his statements, an offer
which the Frenchman did not then accept.

"Beaten off the military ground, De Wimpffen sought
refuge in politics. 'It is your interest, from a political stand-
point, to grant us honorable conditions,' he said. 'France is
generous and chivalric, responsive to generosity, and grate-
ful for consideration. A peace, based on conditions which
would flatter the amour-propre of the army, and diminish
the bitterness of defeat, would be durable; whereas rigorous
measures would awaken bad passions, and, perhaps, bring
on an endless war between France and Prussia.' The new
ground broken called up Bismarck, 'because the matter
seemed to belong to my province, ' he observed when telling
the story; and he was very outspoken as usual. 'I said to
him that we might build on the gratitude of a prince, but
certainly not on the gratitude of a people — least of all on the
gratitude of the French. That in France neither institutions
nor circumstances were enduring; that governments and
dynasties were constantly changing, and the one need not
carry out what the other had bound itself to do. That if the
emperor had been firm on his throne, his gratitude for our

1752 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

granting good conditions might have been counted upon;
but as things stood it would be folly if we did not make full
use of our success. That the French were a nation full of
envy and jealousy, that they had been much mortified by
our success at Koniggratz, and could not forgive it, though
it in nowise damaged them. How, then, should any mag-
nanimity on our side move them not to bear us a grudge for
Sedan?' This Wimpffen would not admit. 'France,' he
said, 'had much changed latterly; it had learned under the
empire to think more of the interests of peace than of the
glory of war. France was ready to proclaim the fraternity
of nations;' and more of the same kind. Captain d' Greet
reports that, in addition, Bismarck denied that France had
changed, and that to curb her mania for glory, to punish
her pride, her aggressive and ambitious character, it was
imperative that there should be a glacis between France and
Germany. 4We must have territory, fortresses and fron-
tiers which will shelter us forever from an attack on her
part. ' Further remonstrances from De Wimpffen only drew
down fresh showers of rough speech very trying to bear, and
when Bismarck said, 'We cannot change our conditions,' De
Wimpft'en exclaimed, 'Very well; it is equally impossible for
me to sign such a capitulation, and we shall renew the
battle. '

"Here Count Castelnau interposed meekly to say, on be-
half of the emperor, that he had surrendered, personally,
in the hope that his self-sacrifice would induce the king to
grant the army honorable terms. Ms that all ?' Bismarck
inquired. 'Yes,' said the Frenchman. 'But what is the
sword surrendered,' asked the chancellor; 'is it his own
sword, or the sword of France?' 'It is only the sword of
the emperor,' was Castelnau' s reply. 'Well, there is no use
talking about other conditions,' said Yon Moltke, sharply,
while a look of contentment and gratification passed over his
face, according to Bismarck; one 'almost joyful,' writes the
keen Captain d' Greet. ' After the last words of Von Moltke, '
he continues, 'DeWimpffen exclaimed, "We shall renew the

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1758

battle." "The truce," retorted the German general, "ex-
pires to-morrow morning at four o'clock. At four, precisely,
I shall open fire." We were all standing. After Von
Moltke's words no one spoke a syllable. The silence was
icy.' But then Bismarck intervened to soothe excited feel-
ings, and called on his soldier-comrade to show, once more,
how impossible resistance had become. The group sat down
again at the red baize-covered table, and Von Moltke began
his demonstration afresh. 'Ah,' said De Wimpffen, 'your
positions are not so strong as you would have us believe
them to be.' 'You do not know the topography of the coun-
try about Sedan,' was Von Moltke's true and crushing an-
swer. 'Here is a bizarre detail which illustrates the pre-
sumptuous and inconsequent character of your people,' he
went on, now thoroughly aroused. 'When the war began
you supplied your officers with maps of Germany at a time
when they could not study the geography of their own coun-
try for want of French maps. I tell you that our positions
are not only very strong, they are inexpugnable.' It was
then that De Wimpffen, unable to reply, wished to accept
the offer made but not accepted at an earlier period, and to
send an officer to verify these assertions. 'You will send
nobody,' exclaimed the iron general. 'It is useless, and you
can believe my word. Besides, you have not long to reflect.
It is now midnight; the truce ends at four o'clock, and I will
grant no delay.' Driven to his last ditch, De Wimpffen
pleaded that he must consult his fellow-generals, and he
could not obtain their opinions by four o'clock. Once more
the diplomatic peacemaker intervened, and Von Moltke
agreed to fix the final limit at nine. 'He gave way at last,'
says Bismarck, 'when I showed him that it could do no
harm.' The conference so dramatic broke up, and each one
went his way; but, says the German official narrative, 'as
it was not doubtful that the hostile army, completely beaten
and nearly surrounded, would be obliged to submit to the
clauses already indicated, the great headquarter staff was
occupied, that very night, in drawing up the text of the

1754 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

capitulation,7 a significant and practical comment, showing
what stuff there was behind the severe language which, at
the midnight meeting, fell from the Chief of that able and
sleepless body of chosen men.

' ' From this conference General de Wimpffen went straight
to the wearied emperor, who had gone to bed. But he re-
ceived his visitor, who told him that the proposed conditions
were hard, and that the sole chance of mitigation lay in the
efforts of his Majesty. 'General,' said the emperor, 'I shall
start at five o'clock for the German headquarters, and I
shall see whether the king will be more favorable;' for he
seems to have become possessed of an idea that King Wil-
liam would personally treat with him. The emperor kept
his word. Believing that he would be permitted to return
to Sedan, he drove forth without bidding farewell to any of
his troops; but, as the drawbridge of Torcy was lowered and
he passed over, the Zouaves on duty shouted 'Vive 1'Em-
pereuri' This cry was 'the last adieu which fell on his ears,'
as we read in the narrative given to the world on his behalf,
He drove in a drosky toward Donchery, preceded by Gen-
ejal Reille, who, before six o'clock, awoke Bismarck from his
slumbers, and warned him that the emperor desired to speak
with him. 'I went with him directly,' said Bismarck, in a
conversation reported by Busch; 'and got on my horse, all
dusty and dirty as I was, in an old cap and my great water-
proof boots, to ride to Sedan, where I supposed him to be.'
But he met him on the highroad near Frenois, 'sitting in a
two- horse carriage.' Beside him was the Prince de la Mos-
kowa, and on horseback Castelnau and Reille. 'I gave the
military salute,' says Bismarck. 'He took his cap off and
the officers did the same; whereupon I took off mine, although
it was contrary to rule. He said, "Couvrez-vous, done." I
behaved to him just as if in St. Cloud, and asked his com-
mands.' Naturally, he wanted to see the king, but that
could not be allowed. Then Bismarck placed his quarters
in Donchery at the emperor's disposal, but he declined the
courtesy, and preferred to rest in a house by the wayside.

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1755

The cottage of a Belgian weaver unexpectedly became fa-
mous; a one-storied house, painted yellow, with white shut-
ters and Venetian blinds. He and the chancellor entered the
house, and went up to the first floor where there was 'a little
room with one window. It was the best in the house, but
had only one deal table and two rush-bottomed chairs. ' In
that lowly abode they talked together of many things for
three-quarters of an hour, among others about the origin of
the war — which, it seems, neither desired — the emperor assert-
ing, Bismarck reports, that 'he had been driven into it by the
pressure of public opinion, ' a very inadequate representation
of the curious incidents which preceded the fatal decision.
But when the emperor began to ask for more favorable
terms, he was told that, on a military question, Yon Moltke
alone could speak. On the other hand, Bismarck's request
to know who now had authority to make peace was met by
a reference to 'the Government in Paris' ; so that no progress
was made. Then 'we must stand to our demands with re-
gard to the Army of Sedan, ' said Bismarck. General von
Moltke was summoned, and 'Napoleon III. demanded that
nothing should be decided before he had seen the king, for
he hoped to obtain from his Majesty some favorable conces-
sions for the army. ' The German official narrative of the
war states that the emperor expressed a wish that the army
might be permitted to enter Belgium, but that, of course, the
chief of the staff could not accept the proposal. General von
Moltke forthwith set out for Yendresse, where the king was,
to report progress. He met his Majesty on the road, and
there 'the king fully approved the proposed conditions of
capitulation, and declared that he would not see the emperor
until the terms prescribed had been accepted'; a decision
which gratified the chancellor as well as the chief of the
staff. 'I did not wish them to come together,' observed the
count, 'until we had settled the matter of the capitulation';
sparing the feelings of both and leaving the business to the
hard military men.

"The emperor lingered about in the garden of the weav-

GERMANY. VOL. 1Y.— Q

1756 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

er's cottage; he seems to have desired fresh air after his un-
pleasant talk with the chancellor. Dr. Moritz Busch, who
had hurried to the spot, has left a characteristic description
of the emperor. He saw there 'a little thick-set man,' wear-
ing jauntily a red cap with a gold border, a black paletot
lined with red, red trousers, and white kid gloves. 'The
look in his light gray eyes was somewhat soft and dreamy,
like that of people who have lived hard. His whole appear-
ance,' says the irreverent Busch, 'was a little unsoldierlike.
The man looked too soft, I might say too shabby, for the
uniform he wore. ' While one scene in the stupendous drama
was performed at the weaver's cottage, another was acted
or endured in Sedan, where De Wimpffen had summoned
the generals to consider the terms of capitulation. He has
given his own account of the incident; but the fullest report
is supplied by Lebrun. There were present at this council
of war more than thirty generals. With tearful eyes and a
voice broken by sobs the unhappy and most ill-starred De
Wimpffen described his interview and conflict with Von
Moltke and Bismarck, and its dire result — the army to sur-
render as prisoners of war, the officers alone to retain their
arms, and, by way of mitigating the rigor of these condi-
tions, full permission to return home would be given to any
officer, provided he would engage in writing and on honor
not to serve again during the war. The generals, save one
or two, and these finally acquiesced, felt that the conditions
could not be refused; but they were indignant at the clause
suggesting that the officers might escape the captivity which
would befall their soldiers, provided they would engage to
become mere spectators of the invasion of their country. In
the midst of these mournful deliberations Captain von Zing-
ler, a messenger from Von Moltke, entered, and the scene
became still more exciting. 'I am instructed,' he said, 'to
remind you how urgent it is that you should come to a deci-
sion. At ten o'clock, precisely, if you have not come to a
resolution, the German batteries will fire on Sedan. It is
now nine, and I shall have barely time to carry your answer

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1757

to headquarters.' To this sharp summons De Wimpffen an-
swered that he could not decide until he knew 'the result of
the interview between the emperor and the king,' 'That in-
terview,' said the stern captain, 'will not in any way affect
the military operations, which can only be determined by
the generals who have full power to resume or stop the
strife.' Tt was, indeed, as Lebrun remarked, useless to
argue with a captain charged to state a fact; and at the
general's suggestion De Wimpffen agreed to accompany
Captain von Zingler to the German headquarters.

"These were, for the occasion, the Chateau de Bellevue,
where the emperor himself had been induced to take up his
abode, and about eleven o'clock, in a room under the impe-
rial chamber, De Wimpffen put his name at the foot of the
document drawn up, during the night, by the German staff.
Then he sought out the emperor, and, greatly moved, told
him that lall was finished.' His majesty, he writes, 'with
tears in his eyes, approached me, pressed my hand, and em-
braced me,' and 'my sad and painful duty having been ac-
complished, I remounted my horse and road back to Sedan,
"la mort dans Tame." '

" So soon as the convention was signed, the king arrived,
accompanied by the crown prince. Three years before, as
the emperor reminds us in the writing attributed to him, the
king had been his guest in Paris, where all the sovereigns
of Europe had come to behold the marvels of the famous
Exhibition, 'Now,' so runs the lamentation, 'betrayed by
fortune, Napoleon III. had lost all, and had placed in the
hands of his conqueror the sole thing left him — his liberty.'
And he goes on to say, in general terms, that the king
deeply sympathized with his misfortunes, but nevertheless
could not grant better conditions to the army. 'He told the
emperor that the castle of Wilhelmshohe had been selected
as his residence; the crown prince then entered and cordially
shook hands with Napoleon; and at the end of a quarter of
an hour the king withdrew. The emperor was permitted
to send a telegram in cipher to the empress, to tell her

1758 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

what had happened, and urge her to negotiate a peace.*
Such is the bald record of this impressive event. The tele-
gram, which reached the empress at four o'clock on the
afternoon of the 3d, was in these words: 'The army is de-
feated and captive; I myself am a prisoner.'

"For one day more the fallen sovereign rested at Belle-
vue to meditate on the caprices of fortune or the decrees of
fate. But that day, at the head of a splendid company
of princes and generals, King William, crossing the bridge
of Donchery, rode throughout the whole vast extent of the
German lines, to greet his hardy warriors and be greeted by
them on the very scene of their victories. And well they
deserved regal gratitude, for together with their comrades
who surrounded Metz, by dint of long swift marches and
steadfast valor, they had overcome two great armies in
thirty days.

"During the battle of Sedan, the Germans lost in killed
and wounded, 8,924 officers and men. On the other hand,
the French lost 3,000 killed, 14,000 wounded, and 21,000
captured in the battle. The number of prisoners by capitu-
lation was 83,000, while 3,000 were disarmed in Belgium,
and a few hundreds, more or less, made their way by devi-
ous routes near and over the frontier, to Mezieres, Recroi,
and other places in France. In addition, were taken one
eagle and two flags, 419 field guns and mitrailleuses, 139
garrison guns, many wagons, muskets, and horses. On the
day after the surrender, the French soldiers, having stacked
their arms in Sedan, marched into the peninsula formed by
the deep loop of the Meuse — 'le Camp de Misere' as they
called it — and were sent thence in successive batches, num-
bered by thousands, to Germany. Such was the astonish-
ing end of the Army of Chalons, which had been impelled
to its woful doom by the Comte de Palikao and the Paris
politicians."

Here closes the first and most dramatic phase of the
war. Thereafter the enemy was smitten hip and thigh.
At once hurry orders were given to open the line which

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1759

led from Nancy to Paris. What followed must be briefly
told.

On the 5th of September the king of Prussia entered
Rheims. On the 8th Laon surrendered. On the 15th ad-
vanced troops halted within three hours of the capital of
France, making a half circle round its defences. This in-
vestment Ducrot — who had escaped from Sedan — attempted
to prevent. His resources consisted in the Thirteenth Corps
under General Vinoy, and the Fourteenth under General
Renault, and 18,000 marines, excellent soldiers, a total of
88,000 regular troops. He had also in the camps of Vin-
cennes and St. Maur 100,000 Garde- Mobiles, only very im-
perfectly disciplined; 10,000 volunteers from the provinces,
resolute men, prepared to give their lives for their country;
the National Guard, composed of sixty old and a hundred
and ninety-four new battalions which, with other miscella-
neous volunteers of Paris, numbered perhaps 200,000 men,
not, however, thoroughly to be depended upon. Altogether
the defenders numbered about 400,000, but of these only the
88,000 regular troops and the 10,000 volunteers from the
provinces could be reckoned as trustworthy.

Nevertheless, the Third German Army had no difficulty in
establishing itself in a position embracing the southern and
southeastern front of the city, from Sevres to the Marne;
the Fourth Army faced the northeast and northern front,
the cavalry the west front, so far as the windings of the
Seine would permit it. On the 5th of October the crown
prince took up his headquarters at Versailles, those of the
king being at Ferrieres, the seat of the Paris Rothschilds.
Here took place, on the 19th October, the famous interview
between the French foreign minister, Jules Favre, and Bis-
marck, in which the former made his declaration that France
would surrender neither one inch of her territories nor one
stone of her fortresses. The interview remained without
result.

Meanwhile the fortress of Toul had surrendered. Stras-
burg, after a siege of six weeks, also surrendered, and, on

1760 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

October 27, Bazaine handed over Metz and an army consist-
ing of three marshals of France, 6,000 officers, and 173,000
soldiers — an act for which after the conclusion of the war
he was court-martialled, declared guilty of treason, and sen-
tenced to death and degradation. The then president of the
republic, Marshal MacMahon, commuted the death sentence
into one of imprisonment for twenty years. Confined in the
fort of the island St. Marguerite, near Cannes, Bazaine es-
caped, and lived in Spain till his death.

Bazaine' s surrender made the Germans masters of one of
the strongest fortresses in Europe, with 800 heavy guns, 102
mitrailleuses, 300,000 Chassepots, and placed at the disposal
of the king an entire blockading army.

If was at that juncture that Gambetta astonished the
world. Reaching Tours in a balloon from Paris, and there
assuming the ministry of war, he became practically dictator
of France. Thence he issued a proclamation to the people of
France, urging them to continue their resistance to the bit-
ter end, and directed that all men, capable of bearing arms,
should lend their hands to the work, and should join the
troops of the line at Tours. In this way he formed an Army
of the North, and an Army of the Loire, and, later, an Army
of the East. In all respects he displayed a fertility of re-
source which astounded. He obtained arms, uniforms, mu-
nitions, and other necessaries from foreign countries, espe-
cially from England. He bestowed the greatest pains in
selecting as generals of the new levies men who should be
real soldiers. Under his inspiring influence the war in the
provinces assumed a very serious complexion. France had
responded nobly to the call he had made upon her people.
Early reverses gave vigor to the new levies, and they fought
with energy against the Bavarians under Von der Than at
Arthenay and Orleans, and against the division of Wittich at
Chateaudun and Chartres. But they were fighting against
increasing odds. Every day brought reinforcements to the
Germans.

With the exception of a momentary gleam of success on

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1761

the Loire, France met with nothing but disaster. In Paris
matters were critical. Every one of the different sorties
made by her defenders had been repulsed; the hope by
which the spirits of her defenders had been buoyed was
vanishing fast: famine was approaching with giant strides,
the strong places outside the circle of her defences were fall-
ing one after another; the fire of the enemy was, by the
nearer approach of their troops, becoming more concentrated
and more severe. Peace must be had. On January 28th,
then, there was concluded at Versailles an armistice for
three weeks. Then a national assembly was summoned to
Bordeaux to consider how peace might be restored. In that
assembly Thiers received full administrative powers, includ-
ing the power of nominating his own ministers. He himself,
with Jules Favre, undertook the negotiations with Bismarck.
To insure the success of those negotiations the armistice was
twice prolonged. This was done at the instance of Thiers,
for the conditions insisted upon by Bismarck were hard, and
the French statesman struggled with all his energies to in-
duce him to abate his demands. Especially did he strive
to save Metz, or, at least, to receive Luxemburg in com-
pensation.

But his endeavors were fruitless. The utmost that Bis-
marck would do was not to insist upon securing the still
unconquered Belfort. Despairing of moving him further,
Thiers and Favre gave way on the 24th of February, and
signed the preliminaries of peace. They were, first, the
transfer to Germany of the northeast portion of Lorraine,
with Metz and Diedenhofen, and of Alsace, Belfort excepted;
second, the payment to Germany by France of one milliard
of francs in 1871, and four milliards in the three years fol-
lowing; third, the Germans to begin to evacuate French ter-
ritory immediately after the ratification of the treaty; Paris
and its forts on the left bank of the Seine and certain depart-
ments at once; the forts on the right bank after the ratifica-
tion and the payment of the first half milliard. After the
payment of two milliards the German occupation of the de-

1762 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

partments Marne, Ardennes, Upper Marne, Meuse, the
Vosges, and Meurthe, and the fortress of Belfort should
cease. Interest at five per cent to be charged on the mil-
liards remaining unpaid from the date of ratification; fourth,
the German troops remaining in France to make no requisi-
tions on the departments in which they were located, but to
be fed at the cost of France; fifth, the inhabitants of the
sequestered provinces to be allowed a certain fixed time in
which to make their choice between the two countries; sixth,
all prisoners to be at once restored; seventh, a treaty embody-
ing all these terms to be settled at Brussels. It was further
arranged that the German army should not occupy Paris,
but should content itself with marching through the city.

Meanwhile, negotiations between the statesmen and gov-
ernments of Germany resulted in a proposal to King William
that, as head of the confederation, he should assume the title
of German emperor. A resolution to that effect was passed
by the North German Reichstag on the 9th of December, and
a deputation proceeded to the royal headquarters at Versailles,
where, on the 18th of December, the imperial crown was of-
fered to the brother of the king who had once refused it.
Deeply touched, King William accepted, and in the palace
of Louis XIV., surrounded by a brilliant assembly of princes,
officers, and ministers of state, the venerable monarch was
proclaimed Deutscher Kaiser.

Then at last was the dream of centuries realized. At last
was the empire restored. Not the holy Roman empire, not
the empire of the Middle Ages, but the empire as a national
state.

Under the leadership of Bismarck, to whom the restora-
tion of the empire was directly due, the new Reich began its
organization as a united federation. Among its earliest diffi-
culties was an ecclesiastical contest with the Church of Rome.
Known as the Kulturkampf, this struggle was an effort to
vindicate the right of the state to interfere in the affairs of
all German religious societies. Another difficulty which de-
manded government interference was the Judenhetze, or per-

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1763

secution of the Jews, which reached a climax in 1881. A
further difficulty was encountered in the quick growth of
socialism. Two attempts on the life of the kaiser were at-
tributed to it, and a plot being discovered, which had for
object the elimination of the emperor and other German
rulers, repressive measures resulted. Meanwhile an alliance
offensive and defensive between Germany and Austria had
been formed, into which Italy subsequently entered.

On March 9, 1888, the Emperor William I. died. His
son, Frederick, at that time suffering from a cancerous affec-
tion of the throat, became kaiser. Three months later he
also died, and William II. succeeded him.

The latter's first step of any importance was to get in
front of half a million bayonets. Coincidently he declared
that those bayonets and he — or rather he and those bayonets
— were born for one another. Incidentally he announced
that he was a monarch, specially conceived, specially created,
specially ordained by the Almighty.

The step and the remarks were tantamount to a call to
quarters. It would be dramatic to state that the circum-
jacent territories trembled, but it is exact to affirm that there
was a war scare at once, one which by no means diminished
when a little later he showed Bismarck the door.

As already noted, the refounding of the empire was Bis-
marck's work. To achieve his purpose he had — to again
quote .Colonel Malleson — defied parliaments and people. He
had led his master and his country over abysses, in the trav-
ersing of which one false step would have been fatal. Aided
a great deal by the wretched diplomacy of Austria, by the
deterioration of the powers of the French emperor, and by
his sublime audacity, he had compelled to his will all the
moral difficulties of the undertaking. Von Eoon and Moltke
had done the rest. No longer, however, was he allowed to
put forth his hand to sustain the work which he had created.
For him it had been better to die, like Yon Eoon, like Moltke,
keeping to the end the confidence of his sovereign, than to
feel himself impelled, dismissed from office, to pour out his

1764 THE HISTORY OF GERMANY

grievances to every passing listener, to speak in terms not far
removed from treason of the sovereign who had declined to
be his pupil. Was it for this, he must have muttered, that
1 forced on the war which gave Prussia Schleswig and Hoi-
stein in 1864; that I compelled unwilling Austria to declare
war in 1866; that, by the freest circulation of exaggerated
statements, I roused a bitter feeling in Germany against
France, and excited the statesmen, and, above all, the mob,
of Paris in 1870 ? — for this, that, the work accomplished, an
empire given to the Hohenzollerns, I might be cast aside like
a squeezed-out orange ? Well might these be his thoughts,
for it was he who made possible the task of German unity,
though in a manner which will commend itself only to those
who argue that the end justifies the means.

A journalist wrote a pamphlet on the subject. In it he
compared the kaiser to Caligula. For his pains he was sent
to jail. He might better have been sent to school. Caligula
was a poet in love with the moon. The kaiser is a poseur in
love with himself. One of Caligula's many diversions was
killing his people. Such slaughter as the kaiser has effected
consists in twenty-five thousand head of game. The career
of Caligula is horrible, yet in the horrible is sometimes the
sublime. The career of the kaiser has been theatrical, and
in the theatrical is always the absurd. The single parallel
between the two lies in the fact that all young emperors
stand on a peak so lofty that, do they look below, vertigo
rises, while from above delirium comes. There is nothing
astonishing in that. It would be astonishing were it other-
wise. What does astonish is the equilibrium which the kaiser,
in spite of his words, his threats and actions, has managed
to maintain. Kegarded as a firebrand and a menace to the
peace of Europe, with the exception of two big blunders — an
invitation to King Humbert to promenade with him through
Strasburg, and the message which he sent to President Kruger
of the Transvaal after the failure of the Jameson raid — with
these exceptions he has exhibited a regard for international
etiquette entirely immaculate, and not always returned.

FALL OF NAPOLEON TO PRESENT DAY 1765

In recompense for overtures to France he has been
snubbed. In recompense for others to Kussia he has been
ignored. Neither Austria nor Italy love him. He has
weakened the Triple Alliance, alienated England, and lost
his place. When he ascended the throne Germany's posi-
tion on the continent was preponderant. That position is
Kussia' s to-day.

Had he had the power — which he has always denied — to
return to France the keys of Metz and Strasburg, and had
he had the ability — which others have denied for him — to
coalesce with France and Eussia he would have been war-
lord indeed. As it is, failing in an effort to realize the dream
of Napoleon I., he has at present writing subsided into a
martinet.

What the future holds for Germany and for him the
future will tell. But into the future it is not given to any
one, even to an emperor, to look.

THE END

INDEX

ABEL, the usurper of Denmark, 625; his death, ib.

Abelard, the free-thinker, 501.

Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen, 426; succeeds to the regency of Henry
IV., 482.

Adalbert, archbishop of May e nee, chancellor of Henry V., 481; goes
over to the papal party, 482; opens an assembly opposed to em*
peror, 484; his defeat at Mayence, 485; citizens of Mayenoe rebel
against, ib.; excommunicates the emperor, 486; propitiated by Thu-
ringian tithes, 487.

Adalbert, St., bishop of Prague, 887; visits Rome, 891; death, in Prus-
sia, ib.

Adalgis, son of Desiderius, 255, 263.

Adelheid, widow of Lothar, 869; queen of Otto I., 870, 888, 890.

Adolf IV. of Holstein, wars of, with the Danes, 582-8.

Adolf VII., Count von Berg, 709-10.

Adolf of Nassau, 713; elected emperor, by craft, 714; his character, 715;
dethroned by Albert von Habsburg, 717; his death, 718.

<5Sgidius elected king of the Salii, 195.

JEmilius defeats the Gaesatse, 77.

<££neas Sylvius Piccolomini, secretary of the council of Basel, 835-27.

uEtius, commands the Roman armies against Theodorich, 158; against
Attila, 159; his death, 163.

Agilulf, husband of Theodolinda, 219.

Agnes, Countess von Mansfeld, 969-70.

Agnes, empress of Henry IH., 419; regent of the empire, 424-5; resigns
regency and enters a convent, 480.

Agnes of Burgundy, empress of Rudolf von Habsburg, 708, 718L

Agrippa, Cornelius, von Nettesheim, 1114.

Aistulf , king of Lombardy, 254-5.

Alani, their irruption into Spain, 151.

Alaric, chief of the Qoths, serves in the imperial armies, 147; elected
king, ib.; his invasion of Greece, ib.; of Italy, 146; takes Rome by
storm, 150; death and burial, 151.

(1767)

1768 INDEX

Alaric, son of Eurich, 197.

Alatheus, a chief of the Ostrogoths, 143, 147.

Alba, Duke of, 928; his cruelties in the Netherlands, 948-52.

Albert the Great, bishop of Ratisbon, 655.

Albert the First, 709; deceived by Gerhard of Mayence, 714; dethrones
Adolf of Nassau, 717; leagues with Philip the Handsome, 719; seeks
to acquire absolute sovereignty, 721; rejected by the Bohemians,
723; slain by his nephew, ib.

Albert the Degenerate, of Misnia and Thuringia, 710, 711, 715.

Albert the Second, 821; elected emperor, 822.

Albert, Duke of Prussia, 939.

Albert, Prince of Saxe-Ooburg, weds Victoria of England, 1686.

Albigenses, origin of, 564; extermination of, 565-6.

Alboin, chief of the Longobardi, 215-16; invades Italy, ib. ; slain, 217.

Alboin, duke of Eastphalia, his brave resistance to Charlemagne, 266-9.

Albrecht, archbishop of Magdeburg, 571.

Albrecht the Proud, 551.

Albrecht von Apeldern, bishop of Yxktill, 595.

Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon, 288.

Alemanni, the, 123; their warriors, 125.

Alexander, duke of Parma, 956; his successful campaigns in the Nether-
lands, 959-60; his death, 962.

Alexander III., pope, 522, 530.

Alexander IV., pope, 864.

Alexander I., emperor of Russia, 1476 ; conference of Tilsit, 1497; of
Erfurt, 1502; breach with Napoleon, 1558; the Russian campaign,
1560; battle of Borodino, 1566; burning of Moscow, 1567; retreat of
the grand army, 1568-72; war of liberation, 1572-9; armistice of
Pleisswitz, 1580 ; battle of Leipzig, 1586 ; advance of the allied
armies into France, 1600 ; capitulation of Paris, 1607 ; congress of
Vienna, 1610; return of Napoleon, 1614; Holy Alliance, 1627.

Alexius, emperor of Constantinople, 463, 464, 466.

Allod, the, or freehold property of the ancient Germans, 36.

Anabaptists, the, 880-81, 906; their extravagance at Munster, 907.

Anacharsis Cloots, 1396, 1406.

Andreas Baumkirchner, 837.

Andreas Doria, doge of Venice, 897.

Anglo-Saxons, their settlement in Britain, 240.

Anna, Duchess of Courland, 1336-7.

Anno, archbishop of Cologne, 429; seizes upon the regency of the empire,
at the death of Henry III., 430; his quarrel with the city of Cologne,
431; death and character, 431-2.

Antwerp, siege of, 1655.

Arcadius, emperor of the West, 147.

Argobastes, chief of the Franks, 134, 147.

INDEX 1769

Arians, tenets of the, 169.

Ariovistus, 90; ordered by Julius Caesar to quit Gaol, £>.; defeated fcy

Caesar, ib.

Armagnacs, the, invasion of, 829-80.
Armin, 99; his defeat of the Romans under Varus, 101; under Ger-

manicus, 108; death, 108.
Arminius, proscription of his adherents, 965.
Arnheim, general of the Swedes, 1029.
Arnold of Brescia, disciple of Abelard, 602; expels the pope from Rome,

ib.\ his death, 513.
Arnold von Winkelreid, 782.
Arnulf, archbishop of Rheims, 891.
Arnulf, emperor of Germany, 885; defeats the Normans, 838; invades

Italy, 339; takes Rome by storm, 840; poisoned, i6.
Arnulf the Bad, 34&-50, 352.
Artevelde, Jacob von, 760; assassinated, 761.
Ataulph, son-in-law of Alaric, 150, 152; marries Placidia, tfc,
Athanagild, king of the Visigoths, 288.
Athanarich, prince of the Visigoths, 141, 148, 146.
Attila. SeeEtzel.

Augereau, Marshal, replaces St. Cyr, 1558.

Augsburg, diet of, under Maximilian, 873; under Charles V., 900; Con-
fession of Augsburg, 901; Interim, 919.
Augustus, elector of Saxony, 929, 940.
Augustus III., elector of Saxony, 1287, 1840.
Aurelian, his wars with the Goths, 139-40.
Aurelius, Marcus, war of, with the Marcomanni, 132.
Aurora, Countess von Koenigsmark, mother of Maurice, marshal of

Saxony, 1235.
Austerlitz, battle of, 1477.
Austria, composition of its empire, 1682; causes of its peaceful policy,

1683; its army and government, 1688-4; nobility and clergy, 1684;

foreign policy, 1685.

Autharis, king of the Longobardi, 218; death, 219.
Avari, subdued by Charlemagne, 276-8.

BAJAZET, his invasion of Hungary, 781.
Balamir, prince of the Huns, 148.
Baldwin, Count of Flanders, 826.
Balthasar, Gerard, assassin of William of Orange, 900.
Banner, General, 1017, 1020; ravages Saxony, 1043; his masterly retreat,
1050; passion for Princess Johanna, 1051; death, 1052.

1770 INDEX

Barbatius, defeated by the Alemanni, 127.

Barclay de Tolly, Russian Commander-in-chief, 1564.

Barne veldt, Olden, 965; unjustly sentenced to death, 966.

Basel, council of, 816-19, 835.

Basin a, mother of Chlodwig the Great, 195.

Bazaine, French general, 1737-40; surrenders Metz, 1760; court-mar-
tialled, ib.; death, ib.

Beatrice, daughter of Philip the Gentle, 560-1.

Beatrix, empress of Frederick Barbarossa, 515, 521 note, 529, 548.

Beguines of Liege, origin of, 566.

Bela, king of Hungary, 612.

Belgium, its separation from Holland, 1652-3.

Belisarius, 206-8, 210-11, 216.

Benedetti, French ambassador to Berlin, 1780; submits scale of conces-
sions to Prussia, 1731; instructed to demand guarantee as to Spanish
throne, ib. ; receives his passports, ib.

Benedict, founder of the Western Monks, 175-6.

Benedict XIII., anti-pope, deposed, 792, 797, 801.

Berengar II. seizes the government of Italy, 869, 876.

Bernadotte, General, 1459, 1474; elected king of Sweden, 1556; breach
with Napolean, 1559.

Bernard, Markgraf of Barcelona, 817-21.

Bernard von Weimar. See Weimar.

Bernhard, grandson of Charlemagne, 313-14.

Bernhard, St. , preaches a crusade, 504.

Berserkerwuth, a malady of the ancient Germans, 25-26, 58.

Bertarit, king of Lombardy, 230-2.

Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne, 293.

Bertha, empress of Henry IV., 434, 438.

Berwik, Marshal, 1218, 1227.

Bethlen Gabor, prince of Transylvania, 977; elected king of Hungary,
982; resigns the crown, 986.

Billung, Hermann, 862-79.

Bisinus, king of Thuringia, 195.

Bismarck, 1730; at conference with Von Moltke and DeWimpffen, 1750;
goes to meet Napoleon, 1754; arranges terms of peace with Thiers
and Favre, 1761.

Black Death, its appearance and ravages, 762.

Blake, Admiral, 1154.

Blilcher, 1489-90; assumes command of Prussian forces, in war of libera-
tion, 1576; battle of Leipzig, 1586; victory over Macdonald, 1590-1;
entry into France, 1602; defeat and victory, 1603; pushes forward
alone, 1604; defeats Napoleon at Laon, 1605; reception in England,
1610; battles of Ligny and Waterloo, 1617, 1620; surrender of Paris,
1622.

INDEX 1771

Bcehme, Jacob, 1081; his doctrines, 1115.

Boetius, the philosopher, 193; his imprisonment and death, ib.

Bohemia, rise of the Reformation in, 797; Hussite war, 803-21; extinc-
tion of the Reformation by Ferdinand II., 987-88.

Bohemund, joins the crusades, 464; made prince of Antioch, 467.

Boii, their invasion of Italy, 74; of Greece and Asia Minor, 76.

Bojorix, a chief of the Cimbri, 81-2, 86-7.

Boleslaw Chrobry of Poland, 895, 457.

Boleslaw of Bohemia, 895.

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 1483; takes the command of the French forces in
Italy, {&.; his successful campaign, 1434-5; defeats the Archduke
Charles, 1436; armistice of Campo Formio, 1437; conciliates Aus-
tria, 1489; sails to Egypt, 1443; his return and dissolution of the
Directory, 1465; victory of Marengo, #>.; peace of Luneville, 1466;
elected emperor, 1478; capitulation of Ulm, 1475; battle of Auster-
litz, 1477; Rhenish alliance, 1479; battle of Jena, 1487; enters Berlin,
1490; battle of Eylau, 1497; peace of Tilsit, 1497-8; continental
system, 1500; invasion of Spain, 1501; holds conference with Alex*
ander at Erfurt, 1503; renewal of the war with Austria, 1617; battle
of Esslingen, 1518; Wagram, 1519; treaty of Vienna, 1530; attempt
on his life, ib.; annexes Holland and East Friesland to France,
1545; his marriage with Maria Louisa, 1548; campaign in Spain,
1549; quits Spain for the Danube, 1551; the Russian campaign,
1558; composition of his army, 1561-2; deceives Poland, 1563; crosses
the Russian frontier, 1564; battle of Borodino, 1566; burning of
Moscow, 1567; retreat of the grand army, 1568-72; war of libera-
tion, 1572-9; armistice of Pleisswitz, 1580; conference with Metteiv
nich, 1584; battle of Leipzig, 1586; advance of the allied armies into
France, 1601; capitulation of Paris, 1607; his abdication, #>.; return
from Elba, 1614; Ligny and Quatrebras,1617; Waterloo, 1619: flight,
1621; exile and death, 1626.

Boniface IX., 784, 786.

Bonifacius, St., 255; his religious and political influence, 256-9.

Borodino, battle of, 1566.

Brennus, 74; his destruction of Rome, 75.

Britomar, leader of the Gsesatse, 77.

Bruhl, Count, minister of Augustus HI. of Saxony, 1387, 1277, 1840.

Brunehilda, the Princess, 222-8.

Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, 872.

Bruno, St., of Cologne, founder of the order of the Carthusians, 500.

Burkhard d'Avesnes, 570, 614.

1773 INDEX

on the ancient Germans, 17, 24; his campaigns in Gaul, 90; on
the Rhine, 91-2.

Calixtus II., pope, 485-6.

Calvin, 904; proscription of his tenets in Germany, 937-42.

Camel, sultan of Egypt, 574, 577.

Canisius of Nimwegan, 928.

Capistrano, general of the Capuchins, 832; saves Belgrade from the
Turks, 888.

Carinthia, ceremony attending the election of the dukes of, 278.

Carlmann, son of Charles Martell, 253.

Carlo Borromeo, 929.

Carlovingians, the, 818-50.

Caroline Matilda, queen of Christian VII., 1882-4.

Caroline, .Princess of Brunswick, 1642.

Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Culmbach, 891, 898.

Caspar Schlick, chancellor of Sigmund, 820; his character, 824.

Cathedrals of the Middle Ages, 660, 1129.

Catherine von Habsburg, 744.

Catherine, empress of Russia, 1306; invades Poland and Turkey, ib.;
character of her government, 1338; instigates war with the French
republic, 1895; regains possession of Poland, 1418.

Cava, daughter of Count Julian, 236 note.

Charietto, first prefect of the Salic Franks, 133.

Charles Martell, 249-53.

Charlemagne, his marriage and divorce, 260; seizes upon the throne of
France, ib.; grandeur of his policy, 261; annexes to his empire the
kingdom of Lombardy, 262; his wars for the subjugation of the
Saxons, 264-71; against the Moors in Spain, 272; in Bavaria, 273;
with the Slavi, 274; with the Avari, 276; with the Norsemen, 278;
extent of his empire, 279-81; its constitution and government, 282;
discipline of the church, 286; state of learning, commerce, and
manufactures, 288-91; his personal appearance and habits, 292; his
children, 293; death and burial, 294; poetical and legendary re-
nown, ib.

Charles the Bald, king of France, 316-27.

Charles the Thick, inherits German and Lothringian territory, 833-5.

Charles the Simple, 338; restored to liberty, 853.

Charles the Good, of Flanders, 491.

Charles of Anjou, 622; invades Italy, 623; defeats and puts to death Con-
radin, 630-1; seeks to exterminate the Ghibellines, 631; loses Sicily,
633,

INDEX 1773

Charles IV., 700; his policy on succeeding- to the empire, 765; diplomatic
skill, 766; visits Italy, 767; conciliates Pope Urban V., 768; personal
appearance and manners, 770; government, ib.; internal feuds of
the empire, 773-5; his death, 776.

Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, 839; invades Switzerland, 841; his
defeat and death, 842.

Charles V., 874 ; extent of his empire, 876 ; cites Luther to appear at
Worms, 878 ; his victories over Francis I. in Italy, 895; storm of
Rome, 896; fails in his endeavors to suppress the Reformation,
900-5; diet of Augsburg, 900; league of the Protestant princes, 902;
the Schmalkald war, 913-31; council of Trent, 915, 918; abdication
and death, 925; his policy in the Netherlands, 943.

Charles de Bourbon, general of Charles V., 895; killed at the storm of
Rome, 896.

Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden, 1145; declares war against Poland,
tb.; his death, 1146.

Charles XII. , king of Sweden, 1192; his campaigns in Russia and Ger-
many, 1193-7; retreats into Turkey, 1197; his return to Sweden, 1200;
assassination, 1201.

Charles VI., 1217; contests the crown of Spain, 1218-19; succeeds to the
imperial throne, 1219; treaty of Utrecht, 1221-2; his campaigns in
Turkey, 1230-1; condition of the empire at his death, 1231-4.

Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, 1239; claims imperial throne, 1270.

Charles William, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, 1240.

Charles Eugene, duke of Wurtemberg, 1342-3.

Charles Theodore, king of Bavaria, 1341.

Charles, Archduke of Austria, 1395 note, 1416, 1419, 1428-9; routs the
French under Jourdan, 1431; defeated by Bonaparte, 1436; success-
ful campaign in Swabia, 1461; gains the battle of Esslingen, 1518;
defeat of Wagram, 1519.

Charles IV., king of Spain, 1501.

Charles, duke of Brunswick, 1643, 1664.

Charles X., deposition of, 1650-1, 1664.

Childebert of Austrasia, 223-5.

Childerick, king of the Salii, 194.

Chilperich, king of Soissons, 222-3.

Chiltruda, daughter of Charles Martell, 253.

Chivalry in the Middle Ages, 676-85; its regulations, 676-9; influence
on the national character of Germany, 677-80; tournaments, 678-9;
the courts of love, 680; Minnelieder, or love songs, 681; romance
literature, 683.

Chlodomir, king of Orleans, 201, 205.

Chlodwig the Great, birth of, 195; marriage with Chlotilda, 196; bap-
tism, ib.; the founder of the kingdom of France, 198.

Chlotar, king of Soissons, 201, 204, 221-2.

1774 INDEX

Chlotar II., son of Fredegunda, 324, 227-8.

Chlotilda, queen of Chlodwig the Great, 196, 205.

Chnodomar, chief of the Alemanni, 127.

Cholera, its ravages in Germany and Russia, 1668-70.

Christian of Mayence, general of Barbarossa, 528-7.

Christian VIL, king of Denmark, 1382-4.

Christianity, its propagation, 166; spirit, 167; the Catholic doctrine in
the first ages, 169; commencement of the hierarchy, 172; the mon-
asteries, 175; the Catholic form of worship, 177; the hierarchy in
the Middle Ages, 645; ceremonials, Roman Liturgy, and church
festivals, 651; ecclesiastical division of Germany, 652-8; disputes of
the Franciscan and Dominican orders, 658; German Mysticism and
Italian Scholasticism, 654; Gothic architecture, 658; council of Con-
stance, 794; doctrines of Huss, 797-8; Hussite wars in Bohemia,
808-21; council of Basel, 816; corruption of the church, 864; the Re-
formation, 872; Erasmus and Repuchlin, 869; Melancthon, 871;
Luther, 872; the Augsburg Confession, 901; the Jesuits, 927, 1068;
the Lutheran and Reformed churches, 1078, 1691; the Rationalists
and Super-naturalists, 1691-2; IHuminatism, 1694.

Christiern II. of Sweden, 908.

Christina, queen of Sweden, 1145.

Chronicles and histories of the Middle Ages, 688, 699.

Cimbri, the, chivalric usages of, 27; irruption into Gaul and Italy, 80;
defeated by Marius, 85.

Clement XII., pope, 881, 884.

Coinage of Germany in the Middle Ages, 694.

Cologne Cathedral, 660.

Cologne, civil disturbances at, 641.

Conde, the great, 1059; his wars against France, 1144.

Confession of Augsburg, 901.

Conrad (Hohenstaufen), duke of Franconia, 484; his bold resistance to
Lothar HI., 489; elected emperor at Coblentz, 498; heads a crusade,
505; its failure, 508; his return and death, 510.

Conrad I., emperor of Germany, 845.

Conrad the Red, 867, 871-4.

Conrad II., his election, 407; crowned at Rome, 410; revolt and out-
lawry of Duke Ernst, 411-12; seizes on Burgundy, 415; quells the
revolt in Italy, 416.

Conrad, son of Henry IV., 458; appointed to the government of Italy,
ib.\ his marriage, #>.; revolt, tb.; remorse and death, t*Z>.

Conrad of Montserrat, 544, 546-7.
Conrad, chancellor of Henry VI., 554.

Conrad IV., son of Frederick II., 590, 604; regent of Germany, 611; wars
with Henry Raspe, and William the Rude, 611-16; takes refuge in
Italy and dies, 620.

INDEX 1775

Conrad von Hochstetten, archbishop of Cologne, 641.

Conrad von Marburgh, a Dominican monk, 585; attempts to introduce
the Inquisition in Germany, 585-7.

Conradin, the last of the Hohenstaufen, 628; is brought up at the court
of Bavaria, #>.; crosses the Alps to head the Ghibellines, 629;
treachery and meanness of his relatives, ib. ; welcomed in Northern
Italy, 630; rout of his forces by Charles of Anjou, ib.; his betrayal
and execution, 631.

Constance, council of, 794; its rival factions, 795; condemnation of
Huss, 800; abortive conclusion, 802-3.

Constantina, empress of Henry VI., 552-3, 555.

Constantina, empress of Frederick II., 568.

Constantino, emperor, defeats the Alemanni, 126; and the Franks, 132.

Copenhagen, bombardment of, 1501.

Coranda, a leader of the Hussites, 806.

Coribut, Prince, a leader of the imperial Hussites, 812-15.

Cornelius, school of painting of, 1709.

Coronation of the German emperors, ceremony of, 1084.

Crecy, battle of, 761.

Crescentius, 384, 391-2.

Crusades, the, 458; their rise and origin, 460-2; early expeditions, 460,
462; their disastrous fate, 462-4; expedition under Godfred of
Bouillon, 464; battle of Antioch, 465-6; storm of Jerusalem, 469;
principalities founded in Palestine, 470-1; later crusades, 472-6; their
influence on Europe, ib.; crusade under Conrad III., 503; under
Frederick Barbarossa, 537-43; Richard Coeur de Lion and Leopold of
Austria, 546; under Baldwin of Flanders, 561; under Leopold the
Glorious, 573; the last crusade, 633.

Cunigunda, queen of Henry II., 397-9.

Custine, general of the French republic, 1399, 1403-4.

Cymburga, wife of Ernest the Iron, 787.

DAQOBERT, king of Austrasia, 243.
Dandolo, doge of Venice, crusaders detained by, 561.
Danes, the, their origin and early history, 298; establishment of Chris-
tianity in Denmark, 387.
Dante, 742 note, 743.

Dantzig, spoliation of, by the French, 1599.

D'Assisi, Francisco, founder of the Order of the Franciscans, 5d7-8
Daun, general of Maria Theresa, 1284-6, 1289.
Davoust, Marshal, 1575, 1582, 1586.
Derflinger, Marshal, 1165-6.

1776 INDEX

De Ruyter, naval victories of, against the English, 1154-4J, 1W8,

Desiderata, wife of Charlemagne, 255, 260.

Desiderius, king of Lombardy, 255-68.

DeWimpffen, General, takes command of army before Sedan, 1747;

arranges terms of capitulation with Von Moltke, 1750-8; signs

capitulation, 1757.
De Witt, John, stadtholder of Holland, 1158-7, 1160; he and his brother

Cornelius put to the rack, 1161.
Dezebal, his wars with the Romans, 114-15.
Diephold, Count d'Acerra, 556, 561.

Diet of the German empire, its constitution, etc., 1081-3.
Dietrich, von Bern. See Theodorich the Great.
Dietrich, Markgraf of Brandenburg, 885-6.
Dietrich, Count of Alsace, 498; obtains the dukedom of Flanders, #>.;

popularity of his rule, 494; death, 586.
Dietrich, the Oppressed, 551.

Don Juan, son of Charles V., stadtholder of the Netherlands, 955-6.
Drusus, his campaigns in Germany, 95-8.
Dschingischan, leader of the Tartars, 603.
Dumouriez, 1897; intrigues with the king of Prussia, 1896.

E

EBEBHABD, Count of Wurtemberg, 677, 704, 731, 741, 751-8,

Edessa, taken by Zengis, 504.

Edgar Atheling, 486-7; joins the crusaders, 468.

Eginhart, secretary of Charlemagne, 288; -eeend of his marriage to the

daughter of Charlemagne, 293.
Egmont, Count, 944, 947; executed, 949.
Einheriar, the, of the Walhalla, 29, 66.
Eitel Hans Muller, leader in the peasant war, 885, 889.
Ekbert, Graf of Brunswick, 429.
Ekbert, Margrave of Meissen, 480, 456.
Eleonora, empress of Frederick III., 881, 838-4.
Eleonore, queen of Gustavus Adolphus, 1014, 1018, 1019, 1028. '
Eleonore, queen of Louis VII. of France, 508; accompanies him to the

crusades, i&.; her infidelities, 608-9.
Elisabeth, St., of Hungary, 585-6, 592.
Elisabeth, empress of Russia, 1278; joins the league against Frederick

II., 1280, 1289.

Elisabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia, 1025-6.
Emma, daughter of Charlemagne, legend of her marriage, 298.
Engelbert, archbishop of Cologne, 576; founder of the secret tribunal of

Feme, 581; his death, ib.

INDEX 1777

Engelbert von Falkenberg, archbishop of Cologne, 642.

England, her naval war with Holland, 1155; with Napoleon, 1501-1626.

Enzio, son of Frederick II., 604; receives the throne of Sardinia, 606; his
wars with the Guelphs in Italy, 609, 618; imprisonment and un-
timely fate, 618, 632.

Erasmus, 869-70.

Erfurt, conference of Alexander and Napoleon at, 1502-8.

Ernest Augustus, first Elector of Hanover, 1244r-6.

Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, 1679; succeeds William IV., as king of
Hanover, ib. ; constitutional struggles of his subjects, 1679-81.

Ernest the Iron, of Styria, 787.

Ernst, Duke, revolts from Conrad II., 410; outlawed, 412; his death, ib.

Etzel, king of the Huns and Ostrogoths, 157; ravages Greece and Ger-
many, 158; is defeated at Chalons, 160; his invasion of Italy, and
death, 161.

Eudoxia, widow of Valentinian, 163.

Eudoxia, wife of Hunerich, 163.

Eugene, prince of Savoy, 1179, 1191; his campaign against the French
in Italy, 1205; on the Rhine, 1209; second campaign in Italy, 1213;
battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet, 1216; intercedes with Queen
Anne in behalf of Marlborough, 1221; attends the congress of Rastadt,
1222; defeats the Turks, 1224; condition of the imperial army at his
death, 1229.

Eugene Beauharnais, created viceroy of Italy, 1419, 1602; duke of
Leuohtenberg, 1626.

Eugene HE., pope, his scheme for a crusade, 504.

Eugenius IV., pope, 816-25.

Ezzelino di Romano, 605, 618-21.

FARAMUND, elected king of the Salii, 156.

Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, 898-4; succeeds to the throne of Ger-
many as Ferdinand I., 925; his vacillating policy, 929-30.

Ferdinand of the Tyrol, 984.

Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, 976; his treatment of the Protestants,
976-7; elected emperor (Ferdinand II.), 981; commencement of the
thirty years' war, ib.; his perfidy in Bohemia, 987; revolt of the
Upper Austrians, 990-1; dismissal of Wallenstein, 1007; his rein-
statement, 1021; assassination of Wallenstein, 1032; results of his
reign, 1048-4.

Ferdinand III., 1042-53.

Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, commands under Frederick II. in seven
years' war, 1288-9; character of his government, 1348; opposed to

1778 INDEX1

war with the HVench republic, 1894; defeats the French at Kaisers-
lautern, 1418; resigns the command, ib.; defeated by Napoleon at
Jena, 1488; flight and death, 1490.

Ferdinand VII., king of Spain, 1501, 1644, 1651.

Ferdinand I., emperor of Austria, 1686.

Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, son of Louis Philippe, 1686.

Ferrand, Count of Portugal, 570, 618.

Feudal system, the, 186, 282.

Fichte, philosophy of, 1701.

Flagellants, origin of the, 621; denounced by Clement VL, 763.

Flanders, encroachments on, by Philip of France, 724-6 ; battle of
Spurs, 728.

Fouqu6, romances of, 1706.

Francis I. of France, 862; his invasion of Italy, t&.; gains the battle of
Marignano, t&.; aspires to the crown of Germany, 876; defeated and
taken prisoner at Pa via, 895.

Francis of Lorraine, consort of Maria Theresa, 1225, 1266, 1276, 1310.

Francis II., emperor of Austria, 1418, 1476; abdicates the Roman-Ger-
manic empire, 1480; renewal of the war with Napoleon in 1809, 1515-
17; battle of Esslingen, 1518; Wagram, 1519; treaty of Vienna, 1520;
marriage of his daughter Maria Louisa to Napoleon, 1548.

Franconian, Salic emperors of Germany, 407-97.

Franks, the, origin of, 129; national character, 184.

Franz von Sickingen, 874, 882-8.

Fredegunda, mistress of Chilperich, 222-5.

Frederick the One-eyed, of Hohenstanfen, 484; his courageous resist-
ance to Leopold IIL, 490.

SVederick Barbarossa, son of Frederick the One-eyed, 499, 505; elected
emperor, 510; his personal appearance and character, 611; his
policy, ib. ; successful campaign in Italy, 512; permits the execu-
tion of Arnold of Brescia, 518; insurrection at Borne, 514; return to
Germany, #>.; marriage, 515; pacification of the empire, 516-17;
second visit to Italy, 518; decrees for its government, 518-19; revolt
of the Italian cities, 519-20; sieges of Crema and Milan, 520; re-
newal of feuds in Germany, 521; maladministration and revolt of
Italy, 522-4; defection of Henry the Lion, 529; defeat at Legnano,
#>.; his interview with Alexander m., 680; war with Henry the
Lion, 531-2; heads the crusade, 540; his victories over the Turks,
542; death, ib.; legendary fame, 548.

Frederick of Hohenstaufen, advancement of, 458.

Frederick, duke of Swabia, 585, 542.

Frederick H., birth of, 558 note; minority, 555; marriage, 568; crosses
the Alps and takes possession of the German empire, 671; performs
the crusade, 576; enters Jerusalem, 577; intrigues of the pope
during his absence, 578; gayety of Frederick's court in Italy,

INDEX ma

079; bis political aims, 580; internal condition of Germany, 681;
attempts to introduce the Inquisition, 586; usurpation of his son
Henry, 590; marriage with Isabella of England, «&.; decrees for the
government of Germany, 591; its internal condition, 598; invasion
of the Tartars, 602; wars in Italy with the popes, 605-11; and in
Germany, 611-16; his misfortunes and death, 618-19.

Frederick the Warlike, of Austria, 592; his character, #>.; enmity to
Frederick II., 605, 608; killed at Neustadt, 612-13.

Frederick " of Austria," the companion of Oonradin, 628-81.

Frederick with the Bitten Cheek, 711, 715-16; regains his inheritance,
722, 746-7.

Frederick the Handsome of Habsburg, 739-40; contests the empire with
Louis of Bavaria, 748-55.

Frederick of Wolfenbuttel, 784.

Frederick HI., 828-4; marries Eleonora of Portugal, 881; makes a pil-
grimage to Home, 887; his ware against Charles the Bold, 841$
against the Flemings, 845.

Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 874.

Frederick, Elector of the Pfalz, 941.

Frederick V., Elector of the Pfalz, elected king of Bohemia, 988; his in-
capacity, 988; defeat and flight, 985; death, 1025.

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, 1054, 1145, 1161; his war
with the Swedes, 1165; government of his dominions, 1167-6.

Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony, 1188; elected king of Poland,
*&.; defeated by Charles XH., 1198-5; his death, 1235; character of
his government, 1286.

Frederick I., king of Prussia, 1190-2, 1215.

Frederick William L, king of Prussia, 1226; receives the Salzburg
emigrants, 1256-7; his government, 1264; ill-treatment of his son,
1268-9; death, 1271.

Frederick II., king of Prussia, 1271; invades and conquers Silesia, #>.;
excellence of his administration, 1276-7; makes preparation for the
seven years' war, 1281; invades Saxony, 1282; defeated at Collin,
1284; victorious campaign in Silesia, 1286; battle of Zorndorf, 1287;
campaign of 1759, 1289; bloody defeat at Cunnersdorf, {b.\ campaign
of 1760, 1292; battle of Torgau, 1298; honorable close of the war,
1396-7; internal government of his dominions, 1297; personal ap-
pearance, 1800; his influence on the spirit of the times, ib.\ writings,
1804; death, 1824.

Frederick William II., king of Prussia, 1824; imbecility of his govern*
ment, 1324-5; leagues with Austria against the French republic,
1894; his treachery to Poland, 1412-18; his selfish and short-sighted
policy, 1422; treaty with France, 1425-6; death, 1440-1.

Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, 1840.

Frederick, Margrave of Baireuth, 1348.

GERMANY. VOL. IV.— R

1780 INDEX .

Frederick William III,, king of Prussia, 1441; attempts neutrality in the
war of Napoleon with Austria, 1459, 1476; driven to take up arms,
1488; condition of the Prussian army, 1484; battle of Jena, 1487;
Eylau, 1497; peace of Tilsit, 1497-8; reorganizes the government,
1511-12; degraded position of Prussia, 1562; war of liberation, 1572;
armistice of Pleisswitz, 1580; battle of Leipzig, 1586; advance of
the allied armies into France, 1601; capitulation of Paris, 1607;
congress of Vienna, 1611; return of Napoleon, 1614; his defeat and
exile, 1616-26; Holy Alliance, 1627; the German confederation, ib. ;
the new constitution, 1635; German Customs' Union, 1649; progress
of Prussia, 1688.

Frederick, king of Wurtemberg, 1638.

Frederick William IV., king of Prussia, 1696.

Freemasonry, in the Middle Ages, 689; its spread in the eighteenth
century, 1328.

Fridigern, a chief of the Visigoths, 143, 146.

Friesland, freedom of its peasantry, 695.

Frigga, the wife of Odin, 67.

Fritz the Bad, 836; defeats the emperor's confederates, #>.; his mar-
riage, 887.

their march upon Rome, 77.
Gallas, General, 1081; receives Friedland, 1032; attacks Banner, 1050;

lays the country waste, ib.i opens campaign of 1643, 1055; shuts

Torstenson up in Jutland, ib.; escapes to Bohemia, ib.
Gallienus, emperor, marriage of, 125.
Gambetta, 1732; assumes ministry of war, 1760.
Gebhard, Elector of Cologne, 968-70.
Geiserich, king of the Vandals, 153; conquers the north of Africa,

162; takes Rome by storm, 163; death, 164.
Gelimer, king of the Vandals, 206.
Genoveva, St., of Brabant, 258.
Geographical knowledge in the Middle Ages, 701.
George, Truchsess von Waldburg, 885-91.
George von Frundsberg, 892; comes to the rescue of Pescara, 895;

mutiny of his soldiers, 896.

George Mertenhausen, monk, and his intrigues, 932.
George von Luneburg, 1017, 1019.

George I. of England, 1245; his neglect of Hanover, 1246e
George III., king of England, 1349.
George IV., king of England, 1349.
George, prince of Darmstadt, killed in the Spanish war of succession,

1217-ia

INDEX 1781

Gerhard, archbishop of Mayence, 714, 716-17,

Germanicus, his campaigns on the Rhine, 102-5.

GERMANY. FIRST PERIOD, HEATHEN ANTIQUITY. Part L: Origin and
Manners of the Ancient Germans. The primitive forests of Ger-
many, 5; origin of the Germans, 7; the dark ages, 10; the division
of the Germans into separate tribes, 12; the Suevian tribes, 17; the
tribes of Lower Germany, 20; the Germans, 21; ancient German
heroism, 23; ancient fellowship in arms, 26; armed communities,
29; public offices and popular assemblies, 31; public property, Meres
and Guilds, 84; the allods or freehold property, 86; the division into
classes, 88; single combat and fines (wergeld), 40; courts of jus-
tice and laws, 48; hospitality, 46; customs and arts, 47; honor of
women, 49; Wolen and Walkyren, 53; ancient German poesy, 55;
publio worship, 57; pagan superstitions, 61; the ancient idea of
nature, 63; the gods, 65; historical ideas, 69.— Part IL: The Wars
with the Romans. The Romans, 72; the Senones and the Boii in
Italy, 74; the Senones and the Boii in Greece and Asia Minor, 76;
the Romans in the Alps, 77; the Getas and Bastarnae, 79; irruption
of the Cimbri and Teutones, 80; the destruction of the Teutones by
Marius, 83; the destruction of the Cimbri, 85; Mithridates, the in-
surrection of the Cambrian slaves, the Suevio confederation, 88;
Ariovistus, 90; Caesar on the Rhine, 91; Ambiorix, 92; Boirebistas,
94; Drusus, 95; Varus in Germany, 98; the battle in the Teutoburg
forest, 100; Germanicus on the Rhine, 102; Marbod, 105; the death
of Armin, 108; Civilis and Velleda, 111; internal dissensions among
the Germans, 118; Dezebal, 114; Roman provinces on the Rhine
and Danube, 115.— Part 111.: The Migrations. Revolt of the whole
German nation against Rome, 119; the war of the Marcomanni,
121; the Alemanni, 123; Alemannic warriors, 125; the Franks, 129;
Frankish upstarts and traitors, 181; the Saxons, 184; the Goths,
136; great irruption against Rome, 187; the great empire of
Hermanarich, origin of "the Huns, 141; migration of the Goths
into the Roman empire, 148; Alaric, 147; the Vandals, Alani,
Suevi, and Visigoths in Spain, 151; the Alemanni in Switzerland,
the Burgundians in Alsace, 154; the Salic law, 155; Etzel, 157; Gei-
serich, 162; Odoachar, 164.— Part IV.: The Transition from Pagan-
ism to Christianity. The propagation of the gospel, 166; the spirit
of Christianity, 167; the Catholic doctrine, 169; commencement of
the hierarchy, 172; the monasteries, 176; the Catholic form of
worship, 177; the Christian kings, 179; state assemblies, dukes and
counts, 181; the laws, 183; the feudal system, 186; migrations and
new languages, 188.— Part V.: The Contests "between the Goths and
Franks. Theodorich the Great, 190; Chlodwig, 194; Gundebald,
199; the extension of France under the sons of Chlodwig, 201; fall
of the kingdoms of Thuringia and Burgundy, 203; fall of the king-

1782 INDEX

dom of the Vandals, 306; the Ostrogothic war, Vitigis, 207; Totilas,
Tejas, fall of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, 210; origin of the
Longobardi, end of the Heruli and Qepida9, 213; Alboin in Italy, 216;
Theodolinda, 218; the crimes of the Merovingians, 220; Fredegunda,
222; Brunehilda, 226; Grimoald, 229; fall of the Suevian and Visi-
gothic kingdom in Spain, 232; Mahomet and the Arabians, 237;
the Anglo-Saxons, 239. — Part VI.: Charlemagne. The Australian
mayors of the palace, 242; Pipin von Landen, 248; Pipin von
Heristal, 245; Charles Martell, 249; Pipin the Little, 253; St. Boni-
facius, 256; Charlemagne, 260; fall of the kingdom of Lombardy,
262; the Saxon wars, 264; the progress of the Saxon wars, 266; ter-
mination of the Saxon wars, 269; the wars in Spain, 272; Thassilo,
273; the wars with the Slavi, 274; the wars with the Avari, 276;
the wars with the Norsemen, 278; Charlemagne, the first of the
German Caesars, 279; the empire under Charlemagne, 282; the
church under Charlemagne, 286; the state of learning under Char-
lemagne, 288; Charlemagne, 292.— Par t VII.: The History of the
North. Odin, 295; the kings, 296; the Danes, 298; the Swedes, 801;
the Norwegians, 302; Christianity and the feudal system in the
North, 306; Iceland and Greenland, 307; the Norsemen, 810.—
SECOND PERIOD, THE MIDDLE AGES. Part VIII.: The Carlovin-
gians. Louis the Pious and his sons, 818; the incursions of the
Norsemen, 324; rise of the great vassals and of the .popes, 328;
Charles the Thick and Arnulf, 383; the Babenberg feud, the Hun-
garians, 841; Conrad I., 345.— Part IX.: The Saxon Emperors.
Henry the Fowler, origin of the middle classes, 850; conquests in
the Slavian northeast, defeat of the Hungarians, 857; Otto I., 861;
the reincorporation of Italy with the empire, 369; Otto II. and
Otto III., 382; Henry II. the Holy, 893; immunities, increasing im-
portance of the churches and cities, and consequent decrease of
the ducal power, 399. — Part X.: The Franconian, Salic Emperors.
Conrad II., 407; Henry III., 418; ecclesiastical government of the
empire, 426; Henry IV., 433; Gregory VII., 445; the papal kings,
451; the crusades, 458; Henry V., 477; Lothar III., 488.— Part XL:
The Swabian Dynasty. Conrad III., 497; the crusade of Conrad
III., 503; Frederick Barbarossa, 510; Henry the Lion, 524; Bar-
barossa's crusade and death, 537; Leopold of Austria and Richard
Coeur de Lion, 544; Henry VI., 549; Philip and Otto IV., 556;
Frederick II., 568; the Inquisition, the humiliation of Denmark,
580; German rulers in Livonia and Prussia, the Tartar fight, 593;
the last battles of Frederick II., 605; Conrad IV. and Conradin, 619;
the interregnum, 635.— Part XII.: Summit of the Middle Ages. The
hierarchy, 645; Gothic architecture, 658; the emperor and the em-
pire, 662; the aristocracy and the knighthood, 674; the chivalric
poetry of Swabia, 681; the cities, 685; the peasantry, 695; the liberal

INDEX 1783

sciences, 698.— Part Xlll. : Supremacy of the Pope. Rudolf von

Habsburg, 703; Adolf of Nassau, 713; Albert I., 718; the encroach*
ments of France, the battle of Spurs, 734; William Tell and the
Swiss, 730; Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 737; Louis the Bavarian, and
Frederick of Austria, 748; the electoral diet at Rense, 765; the bat-
tle of Crecy, the black death, the Flagellants, the murder of the
Jews, 760; Charles IV., 765; contests between the citizens and the
aristocracy, wars of the Hansa, 772; Wenzel, great struggle for
freedom, 777; Rupert, the Netherlands, 784.— THIBD PERIOD, THB
AGE OF THE REFORMATION. Part XIV. : The Hussite Wars. Sig-
mund, 791; the council of Constance, 794; disturbances in Bohemia,
Zizka, 803; the reign of terror, the council of Basel, end of the
Hussite war, 814; disturbances in the Hanse towns, Albert II., frus-
tration of the Reformation, 821.— Part XV. : The Age of Maxi-
milian. The Swiss wars, the Armagnacs, George von Podiebrad,
828; Fritz the Bad, the German Hospitallers, the Burgundian wars,
Mary of Burgundy, 836; Matthias of Hungary, affairs in Italy,
Maximilian I., 847; separation of Switzerland from the empire,
wars of the Friscians and Ditmarses, civil dissensions, the Bund-
schuh, wars of Venice and Milan, 855.— Par* XVL : The Reformer
tion. The church, the Humanists, the art of printing, Luther, 864;
Charles V., the diet at Worms, Thomas Munzer, Zwingli, Pope
Adrian, internal feuds, 876; the peasant war, defeat of the peasants,
884; increasing power of the house of Habsburg, victories in Italy, the
intermixture of diplomacy with the Reformation, the Augsburg Con-
fession, 893; disturbances in the cities, the Anabaptists in Munster,
great revolution in the Hansa, dissolution of the German Hospital*
lers, Russian depredations, 906; the council of Trent, the Schmalkald
war, the Interim, Maurice of Saxony, 912.— Part XVII. : The War
of Liberation in the Netherlands. Ascendency of the Spaniards and
Jesuits, courtly vices, 925; contests between the Lutheran church
and the princes, 937; revolt in the Netherlands, the Geuses, 942;
William of Orange, 949; the republic of Holland, 961; Rudolph II.,
966.— Par* XVIII. : The Thirty Years' War. Great religious dis-
turbances in Austria, defeat of the Bohemians, 975; revolt of the
Upper Austrians, Count Mansfeld, 989; Wallenstein, the Danish
campaign, 998; Gustavus Adolphus, 1009; Wallenstein's second com-
mand, the battle of Lfttzen, the Heilbronn confederacy, death of
Wallenstein, 1019; the battle of Noerdlingen, the treaty of Prague,
defeat of the French, 1088; death of Ferdinand II., pestilence and
famine, Bernard von Weimar, Banner, 1042; Torstenson, John von
Werth, the peace of Westphalia, 1053.— Par* XIX. : The Internal
State of Germany during the Reformation. The Jesuits, 1068; the
Lutheran and Reformed churches, 1078; the empire, the princes and
the nobility, 1081; the cities and the peasantry, 1004; the erudition

1784 INDEX

of the universities, 1102; the dark sciences, superstition, 1110;
witchcraft, 1115; poetry and art, 1133; histories and travels, 1133.
—FOURTH PERIOD, MODERN TIMES. Part XX. : The Age of Louis
XIV. Louis XTV., 1189; the Swiss peasant war, 1147; Holland in
distress, 1153; the great Elector, 1161; ill-treatment of the imperial
cities, the loss of Strasburg, 1169; Vienna besieged by the Turks,
1174; French depredations, 1180; German princes on foreign thrones,
1187; the Northern war, Charles XII., 1193; the Spanish war of suc-
cession, 1203; Charles VI., 1317; the courts of Germany, 1335; the
ecclesiastical courts, the Salzburg emigration, 1250. — Part XXI. :
The Rise of Prussia. Frederick William I., 1262; Maria Theresa, 1270;
the seven years' war, 1282; Frederick Sanspareil, 1297; Joseph II.,
1310; Frederick William II., 1824; German influence in Scandinavia
and Russia, 1333; the minor German courts, 1340; the last days of
the empire, 1856; the liberal tendency of the universities, 1865; art
and fashion, 1375; influence of the belles-lettres, 1381.— Part XXIL:
The Great Wars with France. The French Revolution, 1891; Ger-
man Jacobins, 1400; loss of the left bank of the Rhine, 1412; the
defection of Prussia, the Archduke Charles, 1422; Bonaparte, 1433;
the pillage of Switzerland, 1448; the second coalition, 1459; fall of
the holy Roman-Germanic empire, 1472; Prussia's declaration of
war and defeat, 1482; the Rhenish confederation, 1500; resuscitation
of patriotism throughout Germany, Austria's demonstration, 1510;
revolt of the Tyrolese, Hofer, 1538; Napoleon's supremacy, 1544;
the Russian campaign, 1558; the spring of 1818, 1572; the battle of
Leipzig, 1586; Napoleon's fall, 1600; the Congress of Vienna, Napo-
leon's return and end, 1610. — PartXXIIL : The Latest Times. The
German confederation, 1627; the new constitution, 1635; the Euro-
pean Congress, the German Customs' Union, 1644; the Belgian
Revolution, 1653; the Swiss Revolution, 1658; the Revolution in
Brunswick, Saxony, Hesse, etc., 1664; the struggles of the provincial
diets, 1673; Austria and Prince Metternich, 1683; Prussia and Rome,
1688; the progress of science, art, and practical knowledge in Ger-
many, 1698; German emigrants, 1716.

Gerold, Count of Swabia, 271, 277-8.

Gessler, governor of Uri, and William Tell, 732-6.

Geuses, the, 946-53.

Geyer, Florian, leader in the peasant war, 887-90.

Ghibellines, origin of the term, 498.

Gibraltar, capture of, and Prince George of Darmstadt, 1318.

Gisilbrecht, duke of Lothringia, 353, 364.

Godemar, king of Vienne, 199, 205.

Godfred of Bouillon, 454; heads the crusade, 464; proclaimed king of
Jerusalem, 470; his death, 471.

Godoy, Prince of Peace, 1501.

INDEX 1785

Gods of the ancient Germans, 65.

Goethe, character of his writings, 1888; his interview with Napoleon,
1502-3 note.

Goetz von Berlichingen, 888; becomes a leader in the peasant war, 889.

Gorres, 1649, 1694, 1696.

Goths, the, their migrations, 136; irruptions against Greece and Rome,
137-65.

Gothic architecture, its rise and development, 658; symbolism, 659;
sculptures and paintings, 660-1.

Gottsched, literary influence of, 1379, 1884-5.

Graevenitz, Mademoiselle von, 1241.

Granvella, Cardinal, adviser to Margaret, stadtholderess of the Nether-
lands, 945.

Greenland, its discovery by the Norwegians, 809.

Gregory V., pope, 391.

Gregory IX., pope, his struggles with Frederick II., 576-609.

Grimoald, duke of Benevento, 229^-82.

Grimoald, nephew of Charlemagne, 264.

Grippo, son of Charles Martell, 253-4.

Grot ins, Hugo, 965; imprisonment and escape, 966.

Grouchy, General, sent in pursuit of Blucher, 1618; kept in check by
Thielemann, 1621.

Guelphs, origin of the term, 498.

Guido, the Incapable, of Flanders, 725.

Guilds of the ancient Germans, 84-5; of the Middle Ages, 687-8.

Guillaume de Dampierre, 614.

Gundebald, king of Burgundy, 191, 196-200.

Gunthachar, slain in opposing the progress of Attila, 159.

Guntram of Orleans, 222-5.

Gustavus Adolphus, 1008-9; takes up arms in behalf of Protestantism,
1010; state of parties in Germany, 1010-11; lands in Pomerania,
1011; defeat of Tilly at Leipzig, 1016-17; his conquests on the Rhine,
1017, and Bavaria, 1018; victory and death at Liitzen, 1023-4.

Gustavus III., king of Sweden, 1334-5.

Gustavus Adolphus IV., king of Sweden, 1444; deposed, 1555.

Gutenberg, John, of Mayence, printing from movable letters invented
by, 870.

HAKON, surnamed the Good, elected king of Norway, 804.
Hamburg, pillage of, by Davoust, 1582.
Hannibal, 77; his invasion of Italy, 78.

Hanseatic League, 640, 689; extent of its influence, 691; its commerce,
692; navy, 709; projected revolution, 908; its failure, 910.

1786 INDEX

Harald Haardrade, king of Norway, 485; his adventures, #>.; invades
England with Toste, son of Godwin, 486; defeated and slain by
Harold, 437.

Harald Schonhaar, 802.

Hardenberg, chancellor of Prussia, 1513, 1560, 1571 note\ attends the
Congress of Vienna, 1611; Congress of Verona, 1645.

Harold, son of Godwin^ 486; raised to the English throne, t&.; defeats
Harald Haardrade and Toste, ib.; slain at the battle of Hastings, 437.

Haroun al-Raschid, his presents to Charlemagne, 271.

Hasting, leader of the Normans, 325-7.

Hatto, archbishop of Mayence, 841; his perfidy, 842; legend of his death,
848.

Hatzfeld, General, 1038, 1042, 1057.

Helena, wife of Manfred, 622; her imprisonment and death, 623.

Henry, bishop of Augsburg, tortured to death, 480.

Henry the Fowler, elected emperor of Germany, 850; refuses anoint-
ment, 851; his military regulations, 854; reduction of the Slavi, and
defeat of the Hungarians, 857-61; death, 861.

Henry, brother of Otto I., 868-74; death, 875.

Henry the Wrangler, 383, 889.

Henry II., the Holy, 893; crowned emperor, 894; his wars with the Poles
and Bohemians, 895; with the Italians, 896; founds the bishopric of
Bamberg, 898; death, 899.

Henry III., his character, 418; subdues the disturbances in Bohemia,
Burgundy and Hungary, 419; quells the schism in the popedom,
420; dangerous condition of the empire at his death, 424.

Henry IV., emperor, his minority, 424-88; campaign in Hungary, 488;
assumes the government, 484; successful conspiracy against, #>.;
anarchy of the empire, ib. ; his character, 489; contemptuous treat-
ment of the Saxons, 440; their revolt, 448; his flight and abandon-
ment, ib.i defeat of the Saxons, 444; laid under an interdict by
Gregory VII., 448; escapes to Italy to obtain its removal, 449; hu-
miliations heaped upon him, 450-1; his wars with the papal kings,
451-8; takes Eome by storm, 454; deposes Gregory, 455; returns
again to Italy, 458; his son Conrad rebels, #».; revolt of his son
Henry, 477; deposed by him, 479; his death, tb.

Henry V., revolts against his father, 477; compels him to abdicate, 479;
is proclaimed emperor, #>.; his wars'in Bohemia and Poland, 480; is
estranged from the Roman hierarchy, 481; defeats the Saxons under
Lothar, 482; marries Matilda, daughter to Henry I. of England, ib.;
his disastrous defeat at Welfisholz, 488; visits Italy, and seizes the
Countess Matilda's bequests to the church, 484; dissensions in Ger-
many during the remainder of his reign, 485-8.

Henry the Proud, of Bavaria, 489, 494.

Henry the Lion, of Saxony, 499, 605, 511; obtains the duchy of Saxony,

INDEX 1787

014; allowed a free hand in the north, 534; his estrangement and
defection from Frederick^Barbarossa, 537-9; defeat and exile, 581-fy
return, 549; death, 551.

Henry Sammirgott, duke of Austria, 514, 538.

Henry VI., emperor of Germany, 535; his character and policy, 551-3;
treatment of the Normans in Italy and Sicily, 558; despatches a
crusade, 554; sudden death, 555.

Henry, Pfalzgraf of the Rhine, 551, 558.

Henry von Kelten, 553-4.

Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia, 586; usurps the empire, 611; defeat
and death, 613.

Henry, son of Frederick II., 588; seeks to usurp the crown of Germany,
590; death, ib.

Henry the Pious, 603; slain at Katzbach, in repelling the Tartars, 608.

Henry of Misnia, 688-9.

Henry the Pilgrim, Prince of Mecklenburg, 713; his death, 718.

Henry of Carinthia, 733-8.

Henry of Melchthal, 781.

Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 787; elected emperor of Germany, 788; enters
Italy, 743; is crowned at Milan, {&.; poisoned at Buonconvento, 745.

Henry, duke of Brunswick, 918, 933.

Henry II. of Franc«,;918-81.

Herder, character of his writings, 1887.

Hermanarich, extent of his empire, 141-8.

Hermann Billung, 863-79.

Hermann of Luxemburg, proclaimed king by the Saxons, 455; his im-
becile character and death, 456.

Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, 550, 569, 585; strife of the minstrels
at his court in the "Wartburg, 684.

Hieronymus of Prague, 801.

Hildebrand, his origin and rise, 431; character and aims, 436-8; assumes
the tiara, under the name of Gregory VII., 445; decrees for refor-
mation of church, 445-7; lays an interdict on Henry IV. 448.

Hildegarde, wife of Charlemagne, 393-3.

Hildegarde, Countess von Sponheim, 501.

Histories and legends of the Middle Ages, 688, 699; of the Reformation,
1183.

Hofer, Andrew, 1535; concerts the revolt of the Tyrol, 1535-6; his be-
trayal and death, 1541-3.

Hohenstaufen dynasty, 497, 683.

Holland, formation of its republic, 958; rapid growth of its commerce
and prosperity, 963; its naval war with England, 1154-6; invasion
of, by Louis XIV., 1159, 1163; annexed to France by Napoleon,
1545; the Belgian revolution, 1653.

Honoria, sister of Valentinian, 160.

1788 INDEX

Honorius Augustodunensis, 601, 654-6.

Honorius, emperor of the West, 147.

Horebites, the, 808.

Hospitality, usages of, among the early Germans, 46-7.

Hospitallers, German, dissolution of, 910.

Hoyer von Mansfeld, commander-in-chief of Henry V., 480-8.

Hugh Capet, king of France, 888-9.

Humboldt, Alexander von, 1704.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, appealed to by Jacobeaof Holland, 789,

Hunerich, son of Geiserich, king of the Vandals, 205.

Hungary, invasion of, by the Turks, 1175; suppression of the national

liberties, 1179.
Hunilda, the Amazon, 140.
Hunimund, son of Hermanarich, 148.
Huns, the, chivalrio customs of, 26; their origin, 142.
Huss, John, 797; his doctrines, 798; summoned to the council of Coa*

stance, tfr.; condemnation and death, 800.
Hussites, war of the, 803-31.

I

ICELAND, its discovery, 806; colonization and government, ib.

Bdegunda, and the death of Btzel, 161.

mow, Field-Marshal, under Wallenstein, 1061.

lUnminati, secret society of, 1880-1? Illuminatism, 1694.

Innocent III., pope, 555-6; seeks to revive the crusades, 561-4; rise of
heretical doctrines, 564; persecution of the Albigeuses,565; institu-
tion of religious orders, 566-7.

Innocent IV., pope, his wars with Frederick IL, 609-18.

Inquisition, attempts to introduce it in Germany, 585; in the Nether-
lands, 946.

Srene of Greece, empress of Philip the Gentle, 557, 560.

Isaac, emperor of Constantinople, 541; his treachery, t&.

Isabella of England, her marriage with Frederick II., 590.

Ivan Wasilewicz 0., czar of Russia, devastates Livonia and Oourland,
911.

|

JAOOBEA of Holland, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 789.

Jacobea of Baden, marries imbecile duke, John William, 978.

Jerome Bonaparte, created king of Westphalia, 1496; bis government*

1507-8.

Jerusalem, stormed by the crusaders, 469.
Jesuits, foundation of the, 916; character of the order, 987; introduced

in Germany, 938; their policy, 1070-7 ; downfall, 1804-6.
Joan, pope, 829-80.
Johanna of Constantinople, 570, 61ft

INDEX 1789

Johanna of Naples, 788, 790.

Johanna, wife of Philip the Handsome, 880; imprisoned by her father,
857; becomes insane, «'&.; death, 858.

Johannes, pope, imprisoned by Theodorich the Great, 193; death, ib.

Johannes, lieutenant of Belisarius, 209.

John XII., pope, 877; crowns the emperor Otto I., to.

John, king of Bohemia, 739, 744, 751-2, 755, 758; death at Crecy, 761.

John XXII., pope, 751; summons the emperor to Avignon, 752; deposed
by Louis, 754; death, 756.

John XXIII., pope, 792, 795-6.

John Hunyadi, leader of the Hungarians, 832.

John Zapolya, 894, 900, 903.

John, Elector of Saxony, Luther's zealous partisan, 898, 900-8.

John of Leyden, the Anabaptist leader, 907.

John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, 913-14, 917, 920.

John Sigismund Zapolya, king of Hungary, 932-8.

John von Werth, 1027, 1040, 1045-6, 1057, 1059-61.

Joseph I., of Austria, 1180; declares war against Louis XIV., 1184;

Joseph II., emperor of Austria, 1304, 1307; his liberal administration,
1810, 1312-13; ecclesiastical reforms, 1314; obstructions offered by
the clergy and nobility, 1315-16; leagues with Catherine EL, 1318?
revolt of the Austrian Netherlands, 1320; his death, 1822; personal
appearance and character, 1323.

Joseph Napoleon, created king of Naples, 1479; of Spain, 1502.

Jourdan, commands the forces of the French republic in the Nether-
lands, 1415, 1420; defeated by Archduke Charles, 1428, 1481.

Jovinus, general, under Valentinian, 128.

Julian the Apostate, his victories over the Alemanni, 138; and the
Franks, 133.

Jutta, queen of Louis the Pious, 315.

K

KANT, philosophy of, 1374.

Kara Mustapha, grand vizier of the Sultan, 1175-7.
Kaunitz, minister of Maria Theresa, 1276; his policy and character, 1279

note; opposed to war with the French republic, 1894.
Kerbugha, the vizier, 466; defeated by the crusaders at Antioch, 467.
Klopstock, 1386.
Knighthood, institution of, in Middle Ages, 676; influence on national

character, 677-80; and on German poetry and literature, 681-5.
Knipperdolling, the Anabaptist, elected burgomaster of Munster, 907.
Konigsmark, Swedish general, 1049, 1057, 1061.
Kosciuszko, attempts the restoration of ancient Poland, 1422-3.
Kotzebue, Augustus von, 1705.
Kutusow, generalissimo of the Russian forces, 1665-76.

1790 BWEX

LANSLAW, king of Hungary, 690; and Bohemia, 881; death, 838.

Lafayette, 1897; imprisoned in Austria, i&.

Laudon, general of the Austrians under Maria Theresa, 1287-94, 1819.

Leipzig, battles of — Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein, 1038; Napoleon
and the allied armies, 1586.

Leo, bishop of Rome, and the Huns, 161.

Leo X., pope, 866; publishes indulgences, 865-6.

Leopold I. of Austria, 889.

Leopold of Austria, commands the German forces at the crusades, 646;
his quarrel with Richard Coeur de Lion, 547; imprisons Richard on
his return from Palestine, 548; death, 549.

Leopold the Warlike, of Austria, 728, 748-58.

Leopold III. of Austria, 1838.

Leopold, prince of Coburg, elected king of Belgium, '1656; marries
Louisa, daughter of Louis Philippe, tb.

Leopold, Prince, of Hoheneollern, offered the throne of Spain, 1781*

Lessing, his beneficial influence on German literature, 1887.

Leyden, siege of, 953.

Leibnitz, system of, 1878.

Livonia, invasion of, by the Lithuanians, 595.

Longobardi, origin of, 213.

Lothar, son of Louis the Pious, 816-21.

Lothar n., 821.

Lothar HI., duke of Supplinburg, 488; elected emperor, 489; humbles
the Hohenstaufen, 489-90; dies while on his return from Italy, 494.

Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, 818; his perfidy to his nephew
Bernhard, 814; imbecile character, *&.; is imprisoned by his children,
817-18; death, 819.

Louis the German, 816.

Louis VII. of Prance, 608; fate of his expedition to the Holy Land, 509.

Louis, Landgrave of Thuringia, 616-17, 631-2, 544-5.

Louis of Bavaria, 628-80.

Louis the Bavarian, 748; elected emperor, 749; contests the empire with
Frederick the Handsome, 749-63; visits Italy, 754; dissensions with
the pope, 752-9; succeeds to Holland and Hennegau, 759; death, 760,

Louis IX. of France, 889-44.

Louis. Margrave of Baden, 1176-1215.

Louis XIV., age of, 1189; its characteristics, 1189-41; his diplomatic
intrigues in Germany, 1142; conquests in the Netherlands, 1148;
projects the seizure of the Spanish Netherlands, 1156; his encroach-
ments on Germany, 1167; invasion of Holland, 1159-62; seizure of
Strasburg, 1172; intrigues at Constantinople, 1175; invades the
Pfalz, 1181; war of the Spanish succession, 1900-16; peace of
Utrecht. 1221; his death, 1224.

INDEX 1791

Louis XV., 1988; his unsuccessful campaigns against Maria Theresa,
1270-5; treaty of Versailles, 1380; his visit to Strasburg, 1854.

Louis XVI., 1892; condition of France at his accession, 1898-8; bis fljgfei,
1398; deposed, 1896.

Louis Eugene, duke of Wurtemberg, 1444.

Louis, king of Bavaria, 1647.

Louis Napoleon, created king of Holland, 1470; Is deprived of tsfe
kingdom, and refuses pension, 1545.

Louis Napoleon, son of Louis the ex-king of Holland, 1662.

Louis Philippe, elected king of the French, 1651.

Louisa, queen of Frederick William III., 1488, 1496; death of, 1549.

Loyola, Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, 1078.

Ludolf, son of Otto I., 870-2; death, 878.

Lupicinus, Roman governor of Marcianople, 144.

Luther, Martin, 872; his Theses, #>.; appears at the diet of Augsburg,
878; spread of his opinions, 874; burns the papal bull, 875; diet of
Worms, 877; put out of the ban of the empire, 878; translates the
Bible into German, 879; condemns the peasant war, 887-8; his mar*
riage, 898; death, 915.

Lutheran church in Germany, its constitution and discipline, 1098-60$
the Rationalists and Superoaturalists, 16081

MAGDONALD, Marshal, 1561; defeated byBluoher, 1590.

Mack, Austrian general, despatched to Naples, 1459; capitulates,

MacMahon, French General, 1737-40; defeated at Worth, 1741-8; reaches
Sedan, 1744; wounded, 1746; president of French republic, 1780.

Macrian, leader of the Catti, 128.

Magdeburg, sack of, 1018-14.

Magyars, their invasion of Hungary, 887; warlike character, 844-5.

Mahomet and the Arabians, 287-9.

Malplaquet, battle of, 1216.

Manfred, son of Frederick II., 620; heads the Ghibellines, £>.; his mar-
riage, 622; honorable death, 628.

Mansfeld, Count von, 981; 986; his campaigns against Tilly, 904-03*
defeated by Wallenstein, 1008.

Manuel, emperor of Constantinople, 506-7.

Marbod, leader of the Suevi, 105-7.

Marcomanni, war of the, with the Romans, 121-8.

Margaret of Parma, stadtholderess of the Netherlands, 045, 048.

Maria Theresa, consort of Louis XIV., 1208. .

Maria Theresa, empress of Austria, 1225; her accession, 1870; appeals to
the Hungarian diet, 1271-2; attacked by Frederick II., cedes Silesia,
1878; successes against the French, 1278-4; the seven years'
1882-97; protests against the partition of Poland, 1800.

1792 INDEX

Maria Louisa, marriage of, with Napoleon, 1948.

Marie Antoinette, queen of Louis XVI., 1892.

Marius destroys the Teutones, 83-5.

Marlborough, Duke of, 1196; victory of Hochst&dt, 1209; of Ramillies,
1215; diplomatic triumphs, ib.\ battles of Oudenarde and Malpla-
quet, 1216; intrigues which caused his dismissal, 1220-21.

Marriage customs of the ancient Germans, 50-1.

Martell, Charles, son of Pipin von Heristel, 249-53.

Martin V., pope, 802-16.

Martinitz, left in charge of Bohemia by Ferdinand, 980.

Mary of Burgundy, 840; her marriage with Maximilian, 848; death, 844.

Massena, 1461; his campaign in Switzerland, 1462-3.

Matthias, Archduke, the, of Austria, son of Maximilian II., 956-8.

Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, 883; his treachery to George von
Podiebrad, 835; attempts to seize Bohemia, 847.

Matthias, emperor, 978-9.

Maurice of Saxony, 916-17; his victories and death, 020-3.

Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, embraces Calvinism, 970.

Maurice the Strong, Marshal of Saxony, 1226, 1285, 1275.

Maximilian I., 884, 840; wedded to Mary of Burgundy, 843; wars with
the Flemings, 845; proclaimed emperor, 849; his alliances, 850;
character, 851; condition of the empire, 852-4; loses Switzerland,
855; wars of Venice and Milan, 860-1; holds a diet at Augsburg,
875; death, 874.

Maximilian II., emperor of Germany, 931; his pernicious and vacillating
policy, 932-6.

Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, 984, 1020, 1288.

Maximin, the emperor, his slaughter of the Germans, 124

Mayors of the palace, under the Merovingian kings, 242-55.

Mazarin, Cardinal, minister of France, 1144.

Meinhart von Neuhausz, 814; perfidy, 820; imprisonment, death, 831.

Melancthon, Philip, 871; advises the Elector Louis to break his word,
890; draws up the Confession of Augsburg, 901; his death, 939.

Mellobaudes, second prefect of the Salic Franks, 133, 145.

Merobaudes, the Roman poet, 164.

Merovingian sovereigns, the, 194-255.

Merowich, son of Chilperich, 223.

Metternich, Count, 1583; his conference with Napoleon at Dresden, 1584;
diplomatic art, 1685; attends the Congress of Vienna, 1611; German
federative Congress, 1644; Congress at Troppau, 1645; his foreign
and domestic policy in the government of Austria, 1682.

Meyer, Mark, commander of the forces of Lubeck, 90^-10.

Milan, siege of, under Frederick Barbarossa, 520-L

Minnelieder, or love songs of Germany, 681.

Minnesingers of Germany, 682.

INDEX 1793

Miseko, king of Poland, his invasion of Saxony, 418; concludes peace, 414»
Mistevoi, prince of the Obotrites, 886.

Mithridates, king of Pontus, his contests with the Romans, 88.
Moltke, Count von, 1735; prepares plans for invasion of France, 1735-6}

arranges for capitulation of French army after Sadowa, 1749-63.
Monasteries, their foundation, 175-6.
Montecuculi, General, 1146-7, 1162-8.

Montmartin, prime minister of duke of Wurtemberg, 1348-5.
Moore, Sir John, 1551, 1554.
Moreau, General, commands the forces of the French republic on the

Upper Rhine, 1428; his skilful retreat, 1432-8; invades Germany,

1465-6; victory of Hohenlinden, 1466; returns from America, 1586;

death, 1590.

Moscow, burning of, 1667.

Munster, destruction of the Anabaptists at, 907-8.
Munzer, Thomas, leader of the Anabaptists, 879-81, 887, 892.
Murat, created grandduke of Berg, 1479; king of Naples, 1600; joins the

allies against Napoleon, 1602; favors the Bonaparte cause, 1614; de»

feated at Tolentino, 1622; seized and shot, 1603.
Music, cultivation of, in Germany, 1878-0.

NAPOLEON HI., emperor of France, 1790; plans for invasion of Germany,
1786; accompanies MacMahon, 1744; letter to king of Prussia, 1748;
leaves Sedan, 1754; attempts to procure better terms, 1755-7;
meeting with Prussian king, 1757.

Narses, the eunuch, 211; invites the Longobardi into Italy, 216.

Nassau, princes of, 949; their wars in the Netherlands against Philip
II., 949-60.

Nepomuck, John von, murder of, 778; ceremony of his canonization,
1234.

Netherlands, the, 942; their prosperity under Charles V., 943-4; nncon*
stitutional rule of Philip II., 945; attempt to introduce the Inquisi-
tion, 946; treachery of the Duke of Alba, 948; slaughter of heretics,
950; general insurrection in Holland, 950-1; naval victories of the
Dutch, 952; siege of Leyden, 953; election of William of Orange,
ib. ; successes of the Prince of Parma, 957-8; assassination of William
of Orange, 960; succeeded by Maurice, 961; siege of Ostend, 962;
separation of the northern and southern states, i&.; rapid growth
of the commerce and population of Holland, 963-8; Maurice of
Orange, his character, 964-5; attempted conquest of, by Louis XIV.,
1156; campaigns in, during the Spanish war of succession, 1204-16;
decay of their power and prosperity, 1325-7; overrun by the armies
of the French republic, 1424-6; annexed to France by Napoleon, 1545;
Belgian revolution, 1652.

1794 INDEX

Ney, Marshal, 1407, 1475, 1489, 1497, 1570, 15M, 1619; his treachery and

death, 1633 note.
Nibelungenlied, 159 rote, 683-8.

Nicholas I., of Russia, 1646; his invasion of Persia and Turkey, 1646-7.
Niclas von Hussinez, a leader of the Hussites, 804; defeats the emperor

Sigmund, 808-9.

Nicolas I., pope, extends the power of the church, 330.
Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Pramonstra tensers, 500.
Norsemen, the, wars of Charlemagne with, 278; their spread over

Europe, 310; their incursions in France, 834; on the Mediterranean

coast, 835-6.
Norwegians, the, early kings of, 303-5.

ODIN, worship of, 30-1; government, 39; ancient ideas of his divinity,

66; legendary account of, 395; his descendants, 396.
Odoachar, prince of the Heruli, conquers Rome, and is proclaimed king

of Italy, 164-5; is defeated and put to death by Theodorich the

Great, 191.

Odoin the Brave, and the daughter of Charlemagne, 398; death, 818.
Osiander and Agricola, doctrines of, 938.
Ostend, siege of, 963.

Otto, duke of Saxony, offered the crown, 846.
Otto I., emperor of Germany, 361; family dissensions of, 868; reincor-

porates Italy with the empire, 369-83; defeats the Hungarians, 874;

condition of the empire at his death, 383.
Otto II., his marriage, 381; character, 383-3; his wars in France and

Italy, 883-5; narrow escape from the Greeks, 384-6.
Otto HI., his minority, 888-90; raises Gregory V. to the popedom, 891;

opens the tomb of Charlemagne, 393.
Otto, bishop of Freysingen, joins the crusade, 505, 507-8.
Otto of Nordheim, greatest general of the age, 430, 440-5, 448, 458-6.
Otto von Wittelsbach, 514, and Cardinal Roland, 515; driven out of

Milan, 519; receives Bavaria, 583.
Otto IV., contests the empire with Philip the Gentle, 557; defeated,

558; marries the daughter of Philip, 560; vanquished by Frederick

II., 569-70; death, 571.

Otto of Bavaria, 590, 608, 613; receives Austria, 618.
Otto of Brandenburg, 704, 707, 711.
Otto the Guelph, of Brunswick, 789.
Otto, king of Greece, 1678-4.
Ottocar of Bohemia, his conquest of Austria and Styria, 635-6; subdued

and humbled by Rudolf von Habsburg, 706; his revolt and death, ib.
Overbeck, school of painting of, 1709.
Oxenstierna, chancellor of Sweden, 1036.

INDEX

PAGAN superstitions of the ancient Germans, ft-*

Paintings, religions, of the Middle Ages, 661.

Pandolf, Prince of Benevento, 879.

Pappenheim, defeats the Upper Austrians, 908; slain a&Lntseo,

Paracelsus, physician and philosopher, 1107-8.

Paschasius Badbert, popularity of his religious doctrines in the Kiddle

Ages, 881.

Paul L, emperor of Russia, 1450; bis ambitions projects, ib,
Paul IV., pope, 037; commences a reform of the church, 98&
Pavia, battle of, 805.
Peasant war, the, in Germany, 884-98.
Pescara, commander of Charles V.t in Italy, 895; death, 696.
Peter the Hermit, 460; heads a crusade, 462; its fate, 468,
Peter the Great, 1189; his wars with Charles SJL, 119&-7; eg&xxit &•

empire, 1198; league with Charles XH.» 1200.
Peter m., emperor of Russia, 1305.
Peter de Vineis, chancellor of Frederick IL, 680, 006; his treachery ana

death, 6ia
Peterborough, Lord, commander of the English forces in the Spanish

war of succession, 18181
Petrarch, notice of German superstitions by, 08; his anneal to Gbartes

IV., 768.

Peucer, son-in-law of Melanctbon, 940-1.

Philip the Gentle, son of Barbarossa, 585, 555; elected emperor, 557; op-
posed by Otto IV. and Innocent HI., ft.; is slain, 559.
Philip Augustus, of France, 570, 614.
Philip the Handsome, of France, 719, 734; endeavors to annex Flanders,,

724-5; the battle of Spurs, 728.

Philip of Burgundy, uncle of Charles VI. of France, 788-40.
Philip von Artevelde, leader of the citizens of Ghent, 787-81
Philip the Handsome, son of Maximilian, 850, 857.
Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, 898-905, 917.
Philip IL of Spain, 925, 928, 981; drives the Netherlands into revolt,

945-6; defeat of his fleets and armies, 450-5; procures the assassft*

nation of William of Orange, 960.
Philip, duke d'Anjou, 1208; contests the crown of Spain with Charles

VL of Germany, 1217-19; seeks to reannex Italy, 1225.
Philippina Welser, and Ferdinand of the Tyrol, »35.
Piccolormni, Octavio, 1020, 1040, 1051; betrays Wallenstein, 1081.
Pichegru, General, 1418, 1424.
Pipin von Landen, 243.— Pipin von Heristal, 245.
Pipin the Little, 258; seizes the Prankish throne, 859; assists the pope

against the Lombards, 255.
Pipin, son of Charlemagne, &4, 876, 294.

1796 INDEX

Pipin, son of Louis the Pious, 816-19.

Pius VI., pope, 1313; visits the emperor Joseph II., 1814; maltreated by
the French, 1458; dies in France, ib.

Pius VII., pope, 1544.

Placidia, sister of Honorius, 152-8, 159.

Podiebrad, George von, 823; seizes government of Bohemia, 831; raised
to the throne, 833; his victories over the Catholics, and death. 836.

toe try, its influence on the northern nations, 55; religious hymns and
poetry of the Middle Ages, 656; chivalrio poetry of Swabia, 681.

Poland, partition of, 1806-9.

Pompadour, Marchioness of, 1274, 1279-80.

Poniatowsky, Prince, 1581-2; plunges into the Elster, 1598.

Pragmatic Sanction, the, 1225-6.

Prague, university of, 797-8.

Printing, discovery of, 870.

Probus, emperor of Borne, 125, 130; killed by his soldiers, 181.

Frocop Holy, leader of the Taborites, 814-20.

Prussia, its formation into a kingdom, 1191; convention of Gastein,
1724; seizes Schleswig, ib.; secret treaty between, and Italy, 1725|
disagreement with Austria in the diet and preparations forwar,t&.?
declares war, 1726; seizes Hanover, Hesse-Cassel and Saxony, 1726-7;
army crosses the Bohemian frontier, 1727; battle of Sadowa, 1727-8;
peace concluded at Prague, 1728; North German confederation, tfe.|
war with France, 1782-62; condition of its army, 1734; Saar-
brucken, 1738; Weissenburg, 1789; Worth, 1741; Gravelotte, 1748?
Sedan, 1744-48; negotiations for surrender of Sedan and army,
1748-58; king of Prussia enters Bheims, 1759; Strasburg and Met*
surrendered, 1759-60; Paris surrenders, 1761; conditions of peace,
t*5.; King William proclaimed German emperor, 1762; attempts on
his life, 1763; death, ib.; succeeded by Frederick, ib.; his death, ib.;
William IL, ib.

Pullanes, the, 508-10.

R

BADEGUNDA, and Chlotar of Orleans, 204

Baimund, Count of Toulouse, joins the crusades, 464-75.

Bamillies, battle of, 1215.

Bapp, General, 1520, 1599.

Rationalists, the, 1692.

Batisbon, Ulrich of, reformer of the monastery of Clugny, 600.

Beccared, king of the Visigoths, 234.

Beformation, the, 791-1138; Wycliffe, 792; John Huss, 797-800; Hussite
war, 808-21; Zwingli, 880; peasant war, 884-9£; embraced by the
princes and nobility, 897-8; confession of Augsburg, 901; league of
the Protestant princes, 902; Calvin, 904; the Anabaptists in
Munster, 907; Sohmalkald war, 912-80; council of Trent, 915-19.

INDEX 1797

Gatholio reaction, 937-81; assembly at Naumburg-, 980; decay of
religion among the Protestant princes of Germany, 985-6; theo-
logical parties and factions, 938-43; revolt of the Netherlands,
943-66; thirty years' war, 975-1068; internal state of Germany
during the Reformation, 1068-1188.

Regnar Lodbrok, comes to the Danish throne, 299.

Reinald de Chatillon, 588-9; death, 540.

Remold, archbishop of Cologne, 521-4.

Religious rites of the Northern nations, 57-68.

Rhabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mayence, 881.

Rhenish alliance, the, 1479-82.

Richard Coeur de Lion, 546; his quarrel with Leopold of Austria, 547;
imprisonment, 548; ransom, 549.

Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III. of England, 604, 609 note;
obtains by purchase the crown of Germany, 627.

Richelieu, Cardinal, intrigues of, during the thirty years' war, 998, 1008,
1012, 1017, 1020, 1027, 1036, 1038, 1089, 1047, 1049.

Richomer, leader of Frankish auxiliaries, under Valens, 145.

Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich, 1705.

Ricimer, the Sueve, king of the Visigoths, 164.

Rienzi, Cola di, leader of the Roman republic, 767.

Robert d'Artois, slain at the battle of Spurs, 728.

Roderick, king of the Visigoths, 285; dishonors the daughter of Count
Julian, 286; eight days' engagement with the Moors, ib.

Rohan, Cardinal, bishop of Strasburg, 1858.

RoMzana, leader of the imperial Hussites, 818-21, 881-2.

Roland, peer of Charlemagne, his death at Ronceval, 272.

Rome, its rise, 72; its struggles with the German tribes, t&.; destroyed
by Brennus, 75; campaigns of JEmilius, 77; Marius, 88-5; Caesar,
91-2; Drusus, 95; Varus, 98; Germanicus, 102; Marcus Aurelius,
122; Maximin, 124; Julian, the Apostate, 127; Probus, 180; Con-
stantine the Great, 181; Aurelian, 189; Valens, 145; Theodosius,
146; Stilico, 148; stormed by Alaric, 150; and by Geisericb, 163; fall
and subjugation of the empire, 165.

Rome, papal, 173; occupied by Belisarius, 208; origin of the holy Roman
empire, 280-1; storming of Rome by Arnulf, 840; by Henry IV., 454;
under Charles de Bourbon, 896.

Romilda, duchess of Priuli, widow of Gisulph, 229.

Ronceval, slaughter of, 272.

Rosamunda, daughter of Kunimund, 216.

Rossbach, battle of, 1285.

Rudolf of Swabta, 448; endeavors to supplant Henry IV., 449-08; slain
at Grona, 454.

Rudolf, Count von Habsburg, 641; elected emperor by the pope and
princes of the empire, 708; his subserviency, 704; reduces the lower

1798 INDEX

nobility to submission, i&.j humbles Ottocar of Bohemia, 705; his
popularity among the people, 707; marriages of bis daughters, 104-
7; his policy, 704-0; death, 700; anarchy of the empire, 700-ia

Rudolph II., character of, 967; deposed, 078.

Kuisbrock, journey of, to Persia and Tartary, 001, 701.

Runic characters of the ancient Germans, 89.

Rupert, the Pfalzgraf, 783; proclaimed emperor, 785; becomes unpop-
ular, {&.; death, 786.

Russia, its rise and prosperity under Peter the Great, 1108-4808.

8

SALAHEDDIN, the caliph, 587, 544.

Salentin von Ysenburg, 068; weds the Countess von Ahremberg, 060.
Salic law, the, 105.

Salomon, bishop of Constance, 848, 840.
Salzburg emigration, the, 1353-61.
Sarus, the Goth, 140-50; death, 153.
Saxons, the, their origin, 184; migrations, 185; wars with Charlemagne,

264-71.

Saxon emperors of Germany, 850-407.
Schelling, philosophy of, 1701.
Schili, Ferdinand von, 1406, 1530.
Schiller, influence of his writings, 1888-01
Schlegel, Friedrioh, 1705-7.
Schmalkald war, the, 019-81.
Schwarzenberg, Prince, 1568, 1571; generalissimo Of the aKfed armies

against Napoleon, 1585.

Sciences, study of, in the Middle Ages, 608-708.
Sculpture in the Middle Ages, 660.
Selvaggia, daughter of Frederick n., and Ezaelino, 006.
Senones, the, their invasion of Italy, 78-5; of Greece and Asia Minor, m
Seven years' war, the, 1388-07.
Siagrius, son of JBgidius, attacked by Chlodwig, 106.
Sicilian Vespers, the, 638.

Siegfried von Westerburg, archbishop of Cologne, 709-30.
Siegmund, king of Burgundy, 804.
Sigebert, king of Metz, 333; death, 888.
Sigmund Jorsalafar, 475.
Sigmund, son of Charles IV., 777-81, 785-7; elected emperor, 708; his

character, ib.; convokes the council of Constance, 704; visits

Spain, France, and England, 801-3; defeated by the Hussites, 800.
Sigmund, Count von Dietriohstein, despatched into the Tyrol, 808.
Silvanus, betrays Magnentius to Constantius, 183.
Slavi, their wars with Charlemagne, 374-5.
Slawata, left in charge of Bohemia by Ferdinand, 06Ql

INDEX, 1799

Sobieski, John, king of Poland, 1179-8.

Sophia, Duchess of Brabant, 637-8.

Spanish war of succession, 1203-17.

Speckbacher, Joseph, a leader in the revolt of the Tyrolese, 1537-44;
his escape into Austria, 1543-4.

Spurs, battle of, 728.

Stanislaus Lescinsky, 1226, 1228.

Stedingers, the, crusade against, 587.

Stein, minister of Frederick William" III., 1512; his legal reforms, 1511-
12; founds the Tugendbund, 1512.

Stilico, commands the Roman armies against Alaric, 148.

Strasburg, seizure of, by the French, 1172; visit of Louis XV. to, 1854;
plundered by the Jacobins, 1401.

Strauss, Dr., author of " The Life of Jesus," 1662.

Struensee, prime minister of Christian VII., 1332-4.

Sturleson, Snorri, his division of the ancient world, 17; history of Nor*
way, 306.

Suatopluk, king of Moravia, 223.

Suatopluk, king of Bohemia, 478-80.

Suevi, the, 17, 22, 34, 88.

Suleiman II., his invasion of Hungary and Austria, 900, 90b>.

Sunichilda, wife of Charles Kartell, 250, 253.

Snpernaturalists, the, 1691.

Suwarow, General, defeats Kosciuszko, and captures Warsaw, 142Br
his successful campaign against the French in Italy, 1461? receives
orders to proceed to the Upper Rhine, 1462; crosses the St. Qotbard,
1463-4; recalled, 1464.

Swedes, the, solemn festival of, 59; early kings of, 801.

Swiss peasant war, the, 1147.

Switzerland, its condition at the outbreak of the French Revolution,
1448; overrun and pillaged by the French, 1453-7; servility to Napo-
leon, 1504; revolution in 1880, 1658.

Sylvester II., pope, 892; death, 893.

Symmachus, bishop, put to death by Theodorich the Great,

T

TABORITES, the, 806-21, 918.

Tachulf, created Markgraf of Thuringia by Louis the German,
Tacitus, on the ancient Germans, 13, 15, 17, 82, 39, 44, 50-2, 57.
Taddeo di Suessa, defends the emperor at the council at Lyons, 610;

killed at the siege of Parma, 618.
Talleyrand, 1443; his intrigues, at Eastadt, 1443-4; at the Congress of

Vienna, 1611.

Tancred, joins the crusades, 464; becomes Count of Galilee, 470.
Ifencred, Count of Lecce, 558; death, tb.

1800 INDEX

Tartars, incursion of, into Germany, 602.

Tejas, chief of the Ostrogoths, 211; marches through Italy, *M defeat

by Narses, and death, 212.
fetzel, the retailer of indulgences, 867-8, 871.
Teutones, irruption of, 80; destroyed by Marios, 88.
Thankmar, son of Henry the Fowler, 863; deprived of bis right, and

rebels, #>.; slain, 864.
Thassiio, duke of Bavaria, 278.
Theodolinda, queen of the Longobardi, 218.
Theodorich, king of the Goths, 153, 159; death, 160.
Theodorich the Great, birth of, 162; succeeds to the Gothic throne, 190;

conquers Italy, 191; his able administration, 192; wise policy, 193;

its frustration, 198-4; death, 194.

Theodorich, king of Anstrasia, 208; murders Siwald, 204.
Theodosius the Great, emperor of Rome, his victories over Goths, 146.
Theadebert and Theuderich, sons of Childebert, 225-7.
Theuphano, queen of Otto II., 881, 890.
Theutelaoa, daughter of Theudebert, 227.
Thiers, 1782; signs preliminaries of peace, 1761.
Thirty years' war, commencement of, 980; Tilly, 984, 1018; suppression

of Protestantism in Bohemia* 987; revolt of the Upper Austrians,

989; Pappenheim, 993; Count Mansfeid, 994; Wallenstein, 998-1088;

Gustavus Adolphus, 1009-25; sack of Magdeburg, 1018; battle of

Leipzig, 1016; of Lutzen, 1028; the Heilbronn Confederacy, 1027-80;

Bernard von Weimar, 995-1048; battle of Noerdlingen, 1084; General

Banner, 1041-58? Torstenson, 105$-?; John von Werth, £027-61;

peace of Westphalia, 1062-8; state of Germany at the close of the

war, 1067-8.
Thorismund, king of the Visigoths, avenges his father's death, 160;

slain by his brother, 194.
meek, Ludwig, 1705.
Tilly, Count von, 984, 1000; storming and sack of Magdeburg, 1018; de*

feated at Leipzig by Gustavus Adolphus, 1016; death, 1018.
Torstenson, general of the Swedes, 1054; defeats the imperialists at Leip»

zig, 1055; his campaign in Denmark, 1056; advance to Vienna, 1057*
Totilas, king of the Ostrogoths, 210; his humanity, ib.
Tournaments of the Middle Ages, 678.
Trent, council of, 915-19.
Tugendbund, the, 1512, 1560.
Turenne, crosses the Rhine, 1059; goes to the Netherlands, 1060; defeats

Conde, 1144; in charge of the Netherlands, 1161; marches to the

Upper Rhine, 1168.

Turks, the, their invasion of Hungary and siege of Vienna, 1174-9.
Tyrolese, revolt of the, against Bavaria and France, 1638; Holer,

1525-42; Speckbacher, 1527-44.

INDEX 1801

ULDES, prince of the Huns, pats Gainas, the Goth, *> death, 148.
Ulphilas, bishop, Gothic translation of the Bible by, 14»-4, 107.
Urban V., pope, visited by Charles IV. at Avignon, 768.
Utrecht, peace of, 1231.

V

VADOMAB, a leader of the Alemanni, becomes a Roman general, 138.

Valens, emperor of Rome, 14&-5.

Valentinian III., emperor of Rome, 153, 159; murdered by Maximus, 16&

Vandals, the, their irruption into Spain, 151.

Van Tromp, Admiral, victorious over the English, 1164.

Varingi, or Gothic mercenaries of Rome, 145.

Varus, defeat of the Romans under, 98-9.

Velleda, the prophetess, taken prisoner by the Romans, 112*

Vendome, Marshal, 1205-16.

Versailles, treaty of, in 1766, 1280.

Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, 1205-16.

Victoria Alexandrina, queen of England, 1686.

Vienna, siege of, by Turks, 1175-6; character under Charles VL, 1881-8

Villars, Marshal, 1181-1216.

Villeroi, Marshal, 1205, 1209.

Virgin Mary, poetry and legends on, in the Middle Ages, 656-7.

Viticabius, leader of the Alemanni, resists the emperor Valentinian, 128s

Vitigis, king of the Ostrogoths, 208; besieges Rome, ib.

Voltaire, influence of writings, 1268; intimacy with Frederick IL, 1277.

W

WALDAMARA, widow of Winithar, marries Balamir, the Han, 143.

Waldemar IL, king of Denmark, 581-2.

Walhalla, the, 29, 54, 64-5; description of, 66-7.

Walkyren, or celestial women of the ancient Germans, 54, 67.

Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, 998; his rise, 999; victories in Northern
Germany, 1004; his dismissal, 1007; second command, 1021; defeated
at Lutzen, 1023; his secret negotiations, 1080; betrayal and as-
sassination, 1032.

Wallia, king of the Goths, 158.

Walram von Limburg, commander-in-chief of German crusaders, 554

Walther Sensavehor, a leader of the crusades, 461-8; slain, 464.

Walther, Count de Brienne, 556.

Walther von der Vogelweide, the Minnesinger, 581, 592, 682.

Warnefried, Paul, the historian of Lombardy, 263, 288.

Weimar, Bernard von, 995, 1020; his gallantry at Lutzen, 1024; succeeds
to the command of the Protestant army, 1027; defeated at Noerd-
Hngen, 1034; visits Paris, 1039; campaigns in Burgundy and on the
Upper Rhine, 1045; death, 1048.

1808 INDEX

Welf of Bavaria, 407-8; Joins the crusades, 005; bis return and revolt

510; death, 537.
Wellington, Duke of, 1051; his victories in the Peninsula, 1550, 1000;

Quatrebrasand Waterloo, 1617, 1619-31.
Wenzel, king of Bohemia, 716>17; death, 790.
Wetusel, emperor of Germany, 777; his character, 777-8; incapacity,

783, 784; dethroned, 785; retains the crown of Bohemia, 793-806.
Wergeld of the Ancient Germans, 40-3.
Werner, Count von Homburg, knight and Minnesinger, 744.
Wernherr von Stauffach, 788.
Westphalia, peace of, 1062-8.
William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, 486; his invasion of

land, 487.

William, son of Robert, duke of Normandy, 499.
William the Rude, Count of Holland, usurps the empire, 618, 615; driven

In contempt from the empire, 634; his wretched end, 635.
William of Cologne, his school of painting, 663.
William of Juliers, canon of Maastricht, 797; commands the Flemings at

the battle of Spurs, 797-8; honorable death at Mons-en-puelle, 793.
William Tell, story of, 784-6.
William of Orange, 945; his flight from the Netherlands, 947; campaign

against Alba, 940-59; elected stadtholder, 958; assassinated, 960.
William von der Mark, Count von Lumay, 951; dies in prison, 954.
William, Prince of Orange, 1160; accession to throne of England, 1188.
William, duke of Brunswick, 1591-9.
William, king of Wurtemberg, 1689-40.

Winithar, prince of the Ostrogoths, defeated by Balamir, 148.
Wittekind, duke of Westphalia, his brave resistance to Charlemagne,

965-9; submission, 969; death, 971.
Wittenagemot, the Anglo-Saxon, 81.
Wladislaw, elected King of Hungary, 880; death, ft
Wolen, or prophetesses of the ancient Germans, 54.
Worms, diet of, under Charles V., 877.
Wrangel, Gustavus, general of the Swedes, 1057, 1060.
Wratislaw of Bohemia, 455, 457.

Wullenweber, Jurgen, president of the Hansa, 908-10; death, A.
Wycliffe, 793; Bohemians acquainted with his writings, 797.

&ETHEN, general of the Hussars under Frederick II., 1994, 1690.
£inzendorf, Count, 1978; founds the Moravian Brethren, 1864-8.
£i*ka, John, 804; commands the Hussites, 805; his war of extermina-
tion, 810; victories over the imperial party, 811; death, 814.
gschokke, servile tendency of his writings, 1504, 1509 note, 1547*
gwingli, Ulric, of Toggenburg, 880, 904.

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1899

Menzel, Wolfgang

Germany, from the earliest
period

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