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3  3433  08253758  A- 


MEN  WHO  HAVE  MADE  THE  NEW 
GERMAN  EMPIRE. 


MEN  WHO  HAVE  MADE  THE  NEW 

GERMAN  EMPIRE. 


A    SERIES    OF 


BRIEF    BIOGRAPHIC    SKETCHES. 


BY 


G.  L.  M.  STKAUSS, 


TWO     VOLUMES. 
VOLUME  II. 


i 


TINSLEY  BROTHERS,  8,  CATHERINE  STREET,  STRAND. 

1875. 


s\ 


F  ; 


ASTOP,  LENOX     lfD 

TIJ-DEN   f-OUNDATIONS 
R  27  L 


LONDON : 

R.    CLAY,    SONS,   AND  TAYLOU,  1'KINTKKS, 
BREAD  STREET  HILL. 


CON  T  E  N  T  S. 


EDWARD  LASKER 


V. 

FIELD-MARSHAL  Vox  WRANGEL  .  19 


VI. 

THE  CROWN  PRINCE  OF  PRUSSIA  AND  GERMANY  33 


VII. 

PRINCE  FREDERICK  CHARLES  OF  PRUSSIA  80 


VIII 

KING  ALBERT  OF  SAXONY   .  106 

(THE  LATE  KING  JOHN  OF  SAXONY,  107 — 121. 

IX. 

FIELD-MARSHAL  GENERAL  HERAVARTH  VON  BITTENFELD     140 


t  'UH  tctltS. 


X. 

PAUE 

FIELD-MARSHAL  STEINMKTZ  151 


XI. 

FlELD-MARSHAl    MANTEUFFEL  163 


XII. 

GENERAL  VOGEL  VON  FALCKENSTEIN  181 


XIII. 

GENERAL  GOBEN  102 


XIV. 

GENERAL  WERDER  203 


XV. 

GENERAL  VON  DER  TANN    .  236 

XVI. 

GENERAL  HARTMANN  258 


XVII. 

GENERAL  ALVENSLEBEX  II.  266 


Contents.  vii 


XVIII. 

PAGE 

GENERAL  HINDERSIN  271 


THE  MONEY  MARSHALS  ,  277 


XIX. 

UEYDT  278 


XX. 

UAMPHAUSEN  280 


BISMARCK'S  STAFF  294 


XXI. 

PRESIDENT  DELJBRUCK  295 


XXII. 

LoTHAR   BUCHER  307 


Yin  Contents. 


XXIII. 

1)KKY> 


AK.MS  ANI>  VICTUALLING    I)I-:I'\I;T.MI-:NT  :»ls 


XXIV. 
KKUPP  M28 


XXV. 

GUUXBEKG  333 


EEEATA  TO  VOL.  II. 

Page      5,  line  12  from  the  bottom,  fcr  "Frscbel,"  read  "Frobel," 

,,        6,  .,       1  ,,  ,,       for  "  superior,"  read  "chiefs." 

,,        7,  „    10  „  ioip,  dele  "  of." 

,,      36,  ,,     13  ,,  ,,     for  "  Emperor,"  read  "Emperors." 

„       „  ..,15  ,,  ,,     after  "Mirnbeiy,"  dtle  « ,". 

,,       „  ,,       8  ,,  bottom,  lefore  "  \'2] 8"  and  "1230,"  insert  "d." 

,,      40,  ,,       6  ,,  top,  for  "Prittnitz."  rtad  "Prittwitz." 

,,      43,  ,,      9  .,  ,,    /or  "Elberfeldes,"  read  "Elberfelder" 

,,      49,  ,,     13  ,,  bottom, /or"  100.000,"  read"  130,000." 

51,  ,,       8  ,,  top,  after  "  Austrian,"  insert  "  corpp.  ' 

59,  ,,     11  ,,  bottom,  for  "  pieces,"  read  "  guns." 

6.3,  ,,     12  ,,  „       after  "July,"  insert  ",". 

,,      69,  ,,  14&15  .,  top,  for  "  consideraMe,"  read  "numerous." 

,,      80,  ,,       1  „  bottom,  for  "delight  in,"  read  "predilection." 

.,      8;5,  ,,       3  ,,  ,,       for  "was  form ed,"  read  "sprung  up." 

,,      85,  ,,     13  ,,  top,  for  "  chances,"  read  "  chance.'' 

,,      f'4,  ,,     14  ,,  top,  and  in  other  places,  for  "  Colin,"  read  "Kolin, '' 

.,    112,  ,,       1  ,,  ,,     for  "4melia,"  read  "Arnalia." 

,,     115,  ,,     14  ,,  „    Jor  "present,"  read  "late." 

.,    131,  ,,       3  ,,  ,,     for  "in  through,"  read  "through  in." 

„    150,  ,,      8  „  ,,    for  "healthy,"  read  "hale." 

,,    172,  ,,     12  ,,  ,,     for  " unsold ierly,"  read  "suddenly.'' 

„    177,  „       8  ,,  ,,     after  "placed,"  dele  "in." 

,,    179,  ,,       8  ,,  ,,     after  "was,"  tide  "to  be." 

,,    184,  „       3  ,,  „    for  "orders,"  read  "  order." 


1  9 
•  J 
;  J 


lead  us  too  far.  Suffice  it  just  to  hint,  that  the 
motives  which  induced  the  German  government  to 
insist  upon  the  project  of  law  being  carried  intact  as 
proposed,  and  as  a  permanent  and  not  merely  a 
triennial  or  quinquennial  measure,  lay  much  deeper 

VOL.  II.  B 


VIH 


Contents. 


SPECIAL  ARMS  AM>  VICTUALLING  I)KI>.\I;T.MKNT 


318 


XXIII. 


MEN   WHO    HAVE   MADE   THE 
NEW   GERMAN   EMPIRE. 


EDWARD  LASKER. 

THE  leader  of  the  most  important  section  of  the  great 
National-Liberal  party  in  the  German  Reichstag, 
upon  whose  decision  seemed  to  hinge  some  time  back 
the  momentous  question  of  a  possible  renewal  of  the 
old  conflict  between  crown  and  parliament,  so  happily 
terminated  on  a  former  occasion  by  the  indemnity 
vote  given  in  1866,  occupies  such  a  prominent 
position  just  now  in  German  and.  indeed,  in  European 
politics,  that  a  few  facts  and  notes  anent  the  man 
and  his  career  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

There  is  no  need  here  to  discuss  the  great  question 
of  the  German  Army  Bill.  Such  a  discussion  would 
lead  us  too  far.  Suffice  it  just  to  hint,  that  the 
motives  which  induced  the  German  government  to 
insist  upon  the  project  of  law  being  carried  intact  as 
proposed,  and  as  a  permanent  and  not  merely  a 
triennial  or  quinquennial  measure,  lay  much  deeper 

VOL.  II.  B 


Men  wlio  have  m<i<lc  the 


than  was  apparent  on  the  outside.  Moltke  had  been 
compelled  to  put  forward  what  has  been  termed  the 
"  French  plea '  as  the  chief,  if  not  the  sole,  cause  of 
the  necessity  of  the  new  Army  Bill.  lie  could  not 
well  be  expected,  under  the  circumstances,  to  hint  at 
possible  hostile  coalitions  against  the  German  empire. 
But  the  Emperor  William,  the  great  chancellor, 
Moltke,  and  the  other  military  advisers  of  the  crow^n 
were  painfully  conscious  of  the  probability,  rather 
than  the  simple  possibility,  of  certain  by  no  means 
distant  contingencies  that  might  be  expected  to  try 
and  test  to  the  utmost  stretch  all  the  vigour  and 
resources  of  the  new  empire. 

Had  Bismarck  been  able  to  plead  the  cause  of 
government  personally  before  the  Eeichstag,  there 
can  barely  be  a  doubt  but  he  would  have  fully 
succeeded  in  carrying  with  him  the  votes  of  the 
National-Liberals  and  the  more  reasonable  of  the 
progressists.  Unhappily,  the  chancellor's  illness  had 
thrown  the  entire  machinery  out  of  gear.  When 
Atlas  bends,  however  slightly,  the  burthen  he  carries 
must  necessarily  begin  to  oscillate. 

It  was  not  very  surprising,  then,  that  Lasker, 
who  before  1866  was  himself  one  of  the  most 
advanced  and  uncompromising  progressists,  should 
dislike  to  grant  the  government  such  an  extensive 
vote  of  confidence  as  was  implied  in  the  Army  Bill, 
especially  in  the  absence  of  the  all-conquering  influ- 
ence of  the  sole  supreme  chief  of  that  government. 


New  German  Empire. 


The  vile  suggestion  which  has  been  thrown  out  in 
some  quarters,  that  disappointed  ambition  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  Lasker's  reluctance  to  vote  the  Army 
Bill,  must  be  repudiated  with  scorn.  Lasker  is  the 
last  man  in  the  world  to  be  guided  by  unworthy 
motives.  The  matter  is  happily  settled  now.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  "  septennial  *  compromise 
was  first  suggested  to  Bismarck  by  Lasker. 

It  was  in  August,  1866,  that  the  writer  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  M.  Lasker  for  the  first  time.  It 
was  at  Baron  Keudell's  office  we  met,  where  Professor 
Tellkampf,  member  of  the  Prussian  House  of  Lords 
for  the  University  of  Breslau,  kindly  introduced 
me  to  a  small,  rather  insignificant-looking  gentle- 
man of  unmistakable  Hebrew  cast  of  countenance, 
with  delicate  features,  fine,  intelligent  eyes,  and 
high,  thoughtful  brow.  This  was  Lasker.  Al- 
though only  in  his  thirty -seventh  year  at  the  time, 
his  dark  hair  began  to  show  slight  tinges  of  grey. 
After  listening  for  half  an  hour  or  so  to  the  charms 
of  his  marvellous  eloquence,  there  remained  no  longer 
the  least  trace  of  insignificance  about  the  man  in  my 
eyes.  He  stood  fully  revealed  to  me  as  a  giant  in 
intellect,  power,  and  aspirations. 

Edward  Lasker  was  born  on  the  14th  of  October, 
1829,  in  the  small  township  of  Jarocin,  near  the 
Polish  frontier.  He  was  one  of  a  rather  numerous 
family.  Hir?  father,  a  Hebrew  merchant  in  a  small, 
way  of  business,  justly  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  for 

B  2 


Men   who  hare   n««l<'  ////• 


integrity.  His  mother,  an  excellenl  woman,  gifted 
with  much  natural  shrewdness,  bestowed  the  utmost 
care  upon  the  moral  training  of  licr  children.  A. 
voiin"'  Hebrew  teacher  was  engaged  as  house  tutor 

J  O 

to  the  children,  to  teach  them  the  Hebrew  language 
and  the  Talmud  and  other  sacred  books  of  the  Jews. 

Little  Edward  made  very  rapid  progress  in  his 
educational  course.  He  was  barely  eight  years  old 
when  he  agreeably  surprised  his  parents  and  his  tutor 
with  a  really  meritorious  Hebrew  translation  of  one 
of  Schiller's  poems. 

In  his  fourteenth  year  he  had  the  misfortune  to 
lose  his  beloved  mother.  Soon  after  this  sad  loss 
his  father  sent  him,  together  with  his  elder  brother,  to 
Breslau,  to  enter  the  gymnasium  there,  where  he  was 
admitted  to  the  fourth  form. 

He  here  bestowed  upon  the  acquisition  of  Latin 
and  Greek  the  same  untiring  zeal  and  unwearying 
diligence  with  which  he  had  studied  Hebrew,  and  so 
rapid  was  his  progress  in  learning  that  the  fastest 
permitted  routine  advance  from  class  to  class  was 
much  too  slow  for  him.  So  he  left  the  gymnasium, 
resolved  to  prepare  himself  by  private  study  for 
the  severe  examination  to  be  passed  by  young  men 
who  wish  to  enter  a  Prussian  university  as  students. 
Had  he  continued  to  pursue  his  career  at  the  gym- 
nasium, it  would  have  taken  him  till  the  age  of  nine- 
teen before  routine  would  have  allowed  him  to  show 
that  he  was  ripe  for  the  University.  But  the  young 


New  German  Empire. 


enthusiast  passed  brilliantly  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
and  a  half,  thus  gaining  a  clear  saving  of  eighteen 
precious  months  of  the  best  part  of  his  life. 

He  had  at  first  intended  to  study  medicine,  but 
his  father  for  some  reason  objected,  and,  obedient  to 
the  paternal  wish,  he  turned  his  chief  attention  to 
mathematics  instead.  This  was  in  the  year  1847. 

Like  most  young  students  of  the  period,  Edward 
Lasker  was  an  ardent  and  enthusiastic  Liberal.  He 
joined  the  Burschenschaft.  The  great  events  of  1848 
stirred  him  to  his  inmost  depths.  In  October  of 
that  annus  mirabilis  he  went  to  Vienna  to  hear 
the  lectures  of  the  famous  Professor  Endlicher. 
These  were  the  sad  times  when  the  unhappy 
city  of  Vienna  was  besieged  by  Windischgriitz 
with  overwhelming  forces,  and  defended  by  a 
mere  handful  of  brave  men  under  Bern,  Franck, 
Messenhauser,  Robert  Blum,  Julius  Fraebel,  and  a 
few  more  stanch  champions  of  freedom.  Edward 
Lasker  threw  himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  cause  : 
he  joined  the  famous  academic  legion,  and  narrowly 
escaped  sharing  the  fate  of  Eobert  Blum,  who  was 
basely  and  cowardly  murdered  by  Windischgratz 
on  tho  morning  of  the  9th  of  November,  1848. 

Lasker,  with  his  clear  head,  soon  understood  that 
revolutionary  risings,  such  as  those  of  Berlin,  Vienna, 
and  other  German  cities,  wrere  not  exactly  calculated 
to  promote  the  great  cause  of  true  liberty  and  rational 
progress.  He  withdrew  from  political  agitation  and 


Men  ivlio  have  made  tJte 


devoted  himself  with  all  the  energy  of  his  character 
to  the  study  of  the  law.  In  less  than  eighteen  months 
he  was  ready  to  pass  his  first  examination  as  auscul- 
tator  (the  first  step,  by  the  by,  in  Bismarck's  career), 
and  less  than  two  years  after  (in  1852)  he  brilliantly 
passed  his  final  state  examination. 

At  this  period  of  his  career  he  had  the  grievous 
misfortune  to  lose  his  beloved  and  revered  father. 
He  sought  solace  for  his  deep  grief  in  foreign  travel, 
and  came  to  England. 

Here  he  was  powerfully  attracted  by  the  social 
and  political  life  of  the  nation.  He  found  firmly 
established  here  that  constitutional  liberty  which 
formed  the  object  of  his  most  ardent  aspirations,  and 
he  resolved  to  make  the  institutions  of  this  favoured 
land  the  subject  of  a  searching  study.  He  remained 
in  England  nearly  three  years  and  a  half.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say,  that  there  is  hardly  another  German 
to  be  found  who  can  justly  boast  of  anything  even 
remotely  approaching  the  profound  and  absolute 
knowledge  of  England  and  everything  English  which 
Edward  Lasker  possesses. 

In  1856  he  returned  to  Prussia,  and  re-entered 
the  service  of  the  state.  Of  course  he  had  to  begin 
again  on  the  lowest  steps  of  the  ladder.  In  1858 
he  obtained  the  appointment  of  assessor  at  the  Berlin 
City  Court,  where  the  heaviest  and  most  complicated 
affairs  were  constantly  thrown  on  his  shoulders,  as 
his  superior  had  soon  discovered  his  singular  abilities 


New  German  Empire. 


and  his  marvellous  working  energy  and  endurance.. 
He  cheerfully  bore  the  burthen  of  all  these  arduous 
labours,  although  his  office  was  a  mere  titular  one 
in  a  pecuniary  sense,  and  though  he  wras  quite  aware 
of  how  little  chance  of  promotion  and  lucrative  em- 
ployment there  was  for  him- -the  Jew  Lasker.  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  return  to  this  point  to  show 
that  there  are  still  powerful  social  and  religious 
prejudices  of  which  the  enlightened  Germans  will 
have  to  get  rid  of  before  they  can  justly  claim  to 
rank  among  the  most  civilized  nations. 

When  Prince  William  was  named  regent,  and  the 
wretched  rule  of  Frederick  William  IV.  and  Eliza- 
beth was  thus  brought  to  a  close,  Lasker  again  began 
to  occupy  himself  earnestly  with  political  questions. 
He  wrote  some  of  the  most  remarkable  political 
papers  of  the  day.  In  an  article  from  his  pen,  wiiich 
appeared  in  Oppenheim's  Political  and  Literary 
Annual  for  the  year  1861,  under  the  title  "The 
Powers  of  the  Police  and  the  Protection  of  the  Law/' 
he  severely  and  caustically  castigates  the  monstrous 
principle  of  the  Prussian  law  of  the  llth  of  May,  1842, 
which  refers  all  complaints  against  police  officers  for 
abuse  of  power  and  excess  of  duty  to  the  decision  of 
the  police  authorities  themselves  whose  officers  are 
complained  against ! 

"  England,"  Lasker  says  in  this  paper,  "  has  attained 
to  mighty  power,  not  on  account  of  her  insular  posi- 
tion, not  by  the  strength  of  her  wide  commercial 


o  Jtfirc  made  the 


connections  ;  not,  as  is  sometimes  said  by  those  who 
do  not  think  deeply  upon  the  matter,  despite  of  the 
narrow    legality    within  which    her    movements    are 
confined,    but    by   the   very    force    of    that   narrow 
legality,    that   absolute   supremacy   of    the    law.     It 
is   this  absolute    supremacy   of   the    law  which   has 
made  England  great,   and  which  has  bestowed  true 
freedom  upon  her.     The  certainty  of  finding  protec- 
tion in  the  law  of  the  land  against  all  attempts  to 
commit   arbitrary   acts   inspires   the  English    citizen 
with    that    noble  self-consciousness    and  self-reliance 
which  more  excites  the  envy  of  the  sensible  continental 
citizen  than  the  wealth  and  the  many  other  advan- 
tages possessed   by  England.     This    proud   self- con- 
sciousness and  self-reliance  constitute  the  chief  source 
of  the  Englishman's  energy  of  thought  and  action, 
of  his  prosperity,  of  his  active  participation  in  the 
political  life  of  the  nation,  of  his  cheerful  willingness 
to   bear  his  share  of  the    national    burthens,   of  his 
moderation,  of   the  power  of  the  state,    and    of  the 
undisturbed  order  which  reigns  through  the  land." 

High  praise  this,  indeed  ;  a  pity  the  picture  should 
be  so  glaringly  overdrawn  and  overcoloured.  There 
is,  however,  some  excuse  for  Lasker's  somewhat 
extravagant  praise.  At  the  time  when  he  penned 
this  marvellous  panegyric  upon  the  supremacy  of  law 
and  justice  in  England,  and  the  total  absence  of  all 
arbitrary  will  and  power  in  this  highly-favoured 
country,  the  Tichborne  trial  and  its  sad  lessons  lay 


Neiv  German  Empire. 


still  buried   in  the   womb   of    the   future.     Now   of 
course  we  know  better. 

Lasker  soon  became  renowned  as  one  of  the  most 
eminent  political  writers  of  the  day.  In  every 
article  from  his  pen  it  was  clearly  apparent  that  he 
had  thoroughly  mastered  the  subject  he  was  writing 
upon.  His  clear  exposition,  lucid  diction,  and  ner- 
vous style  gave  even  to  his  lightest  and  most 
fugitive  papers  the  character  of  political  essays  of 
the  highest  order. 

All  this  time  the  great  writer  continued  in  his 
humble  office  of  assessor,  without  pay,  to  the  Berlin 
City  Court.  Being  a  man  of  singularly  simple  and 
frugal  habits,  he  has  always  found  it  easy  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  his  living,  &c.,  out  of  the  proceeds 
of  his  literary  labours  and  his  chamber  practice  as  a 
jurisconsult.  Had  he  ever  felt  disposed  to  turn  his 
immense  talents  and  knowledge  and  his  indefatigable 
working  powers  to  profitable  account  in  the  manner 
of  so  many  of  his  contemporaries,  he  might  easily 
have  acquired  wealth.  But  Lasker  is  cast  in  an 
antique  mould :  the  eager  pursuit  of  wealth  has 
no  charms  for  him  ;  he  freely  gives  his  best  services 
to  his  country  and  his  fellow-men  with  rare  disin- 
terestedness. 

If  I  mistake  not  he  is  still  a  bachelor.  He  is  of 
a  most  amiable  temper  and  most  affectionate  dis- 
position ;  children  more  especially  he  loves  dearly. 
I  do  not  know  whether  he  still  continues  to  lodge 


10  Men  who  have  made  the 


with  his  old  landlord  and  landlady,  with  whom  he 
lived  for  years  in  the  third  story  of  a  most  un- 
pretending mansion,  and  whom  he  followed  to 
even  more  modest  quarters  when  the  unconscionable 
rise  of  rents  in  Berlin  compelled  them  to  "  move  on  ;  ?; 
but  I  should  believe  so. 

In  1862,  if  I  mistake  not,  Lasker  became  a  member 
of  the  Berlin  Press  Union,  also  of  the  great  Berlin 
Workmen's  Union,  where  he  soon  took  a  leading  part 
as  a  public  lecturer  on  the  subjects  most  interesting 
to  working  men. 

When  the  great  conflict  between  crown  and  parlia- 
ment was  raging,  Lasker  treated  the  constitutional 
and  budget  questions  in  a  series  of  papers,  published 
in  the  "  German  annuals/7  which  excited  universal 
attention  and  made  the  great  Liberal  and  Progressist 
party  anxious  to  secure  the  writer  for  one  of  their 
champions  in  parliament. 

This  was,  however,  much  more  easily  conceived 
to  be  a  most  desirable  thing  to  clo  than  to  be 
carried  into  effect.  There  was  a  formidable  obstacle 
in  the  path-  -the  same  obstacle,  in  fact,  which  opposed 
itself  to  Lasker's  promotion  in  the  legal  profession,  of 
which  he  yet  was  universally  admitted  to  be  one  of 
the  brightest  ornaments.  As  has  already  been  men- 
tioned, Lasker  is  a  Jew. 

Here  in  England,  where  we  have  only  recently 
bestowed  the  second  highest  equity  office  in  the  laud 
upon  a  Jew  gentleman,  who,  be  it  said  without  dis- 


New  German  Empire.  11 

paragement  of  ids  legal  attainments,  cannot  possibly 
claim  comparison  with  such  a  giant  of  the  law  as 
Lasker  is,  we  can  barely  conceive  that  Germany 
should  still  lag  so  far  behind  in  true  civilization  and 
enlightenment  as  to  be  actually  capable  of  tabooing 
for  years  one  of  her  greatest  men  simply  and  solely 

because  he  claims  descent  from  the  ancient  Chaldean 
warrior  princes  of  Palestine,  and  holds  fast  by  the 

faith  of  his  fathers. 

There  are  a  great  many  most  excellent  institutions 
and  customs  in  Germany,  more  particularly  in  Prussia; 
but  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  are  also  a  great 
many  glaring  abuses  and  defects  blotting  the  political 
and  social  system  of  the  land ;  and  this  extremely 
stupid  professed  prejudice  against  Jews  is  assuredly 

\ 

one  of  the  most  glaring  of  these  blots. 

When  King  Frederick  William  III.  appealed  to  his 
people  in  1813,  his  Jewish  subjects  obeyed  the  call 
with  the  same  alacrity  as  the  followers  of  Christ,  and 
fought  as  bravely  and  as  well. 

A  few  years  after,  in  1817,  a  Jew,  bearing  the 
unmistakable  name  of  Joshua  Aaron,  who  had  greatly 
distinguished  himself  in  the  war  of  liberation,  and  who 
felt  strong  within  him  the  fierce  spirit  of  his  illus- 
trious ancestors,  presented  himself  before  the  exami- 
nation commission  with  a  modest  request  to  allow 
him  to  pass  his  examination  for  an  officer's  commission 
in  the  army. 

Lieu  tenant-General  von  HoltzendoriF,  the  president 


1-2  J/o/   /'•//<>  ftcrve  mode  the 

of  '  the  commission,  stood  literally  aghast  at  the 
Jew's  impertinence.  He  rushed  incontinently  into 
the  king's  presence  to  shock  his  majesty's  reformed 
Christian  ears  with  the  dire  report.  What  !  a  Jew 
wanting  to  be  an  officer  in  his  majesty's  forces ! 
The  thought  was  madness.  The  horrified  monarch  at 
once  issued  an  order  sternly  prohibiting  the  children 
of  Israel  from  daring  to  repeat  Joshua  Aaron's  bold 
experiment. 

This  was  some  sixty  years  ago,  you  will  per- 
haps say,  and  does  not  apply  to  the  present  time. 
"Well,  some  fourteen  years  ago,  if  my  memory  serves 
me  right,  General  Steinmetz,  who  is  now  •  a  field- 
marshal,  obtained  a  somewhat  unenviable  notoriety 
by  issuing  an  order  forbidding  certain  classes  of  men, 
Jews  among  the  number,  to  apply  for  officers'  com- 
missions in  his  division.  I  remember  the  case  very 
well,  because  poor  Otto  Hagen,  the  then  editor  of 
the  Insterburger  Zeitung,  got  into  sore  trouble  for 
publishing  the  obnoxious  order  in  his  paper ;  for 
Steinmetz,  having  performed  his  good  and  heroic 
deed  in  secret,  blushed  to  find  it  fame,  and  came 
down  heavily  upon  the  poor  journalist  for  his 
indiscretion. 

At  last,  on  the  3rd  of  July,  1869,  a  kind  of  Bill  of 
Eights  and  removal  of  religious  and  other  disabilities 
was  passed,  which,  one  would  certainly  have  supposed, 
ought  to  have  rendered  impossible  the  repetition  of 
such  foolish  tricks  as  those  played  by  Steinmetz 


New  German  Empire.  13 

and  Holtzendorff.  But  volenti  nil  difficile :  when 
a  fool  lias  made  up  his  foolish  mind  to  perpe- 
trate an  act  of  folly  he  is  safe  to  succeed  in  his 
purpose. 

A  Jewish  gentleman,  named  Gottfried  Hirsch, 
having  duly  passed  his  examination,  entered  the 
Prussian  army  in  1866  as  a  one-year  volunteer.  He 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  Sadowa  and  Chluni, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  cool  bravery. 
He  served  at  the  time  in  the  famous  division  of 
General  Fransecky,  to  whose  heroic  endurance  the 
success  of  the  day  was  mainly  due.  Well,  in  1870 
Gottfried  Hirsch  was  called  out  again,  and  again 
he  fought  bravely  throughout  the  campaign,  but 
especially  in  the  desperate  encounter  before  Belfort, 
where  General  Werder  gained  his  well-earned  laurels. 
Gottfried  Hirsch  aided  might  and  main  in  achieving 
the  great  and  glorious  result.  Indeed,  so  brilliantly 
did  he  distinguish  himself  that  his  captain  and  his 
major,  both  of  them  Christian  gentlemen,  wTarmly 
recommended  the  brave  sub-officer  for  a  commission. 

But  if  they  expected  to  see  Gottfried  Hirsch  soon 
one  of  themselves,  and  if  the  man  Gottfried  Hirsch 
himself  indulged  in  the  flattering  thought,  they  calcu- 
lated without  their  divisional  commander,  one  Herr 
von  Debschiitz,  who  felt  as  horrified  as  Holtzendorff 
had  felt  of  old  at  the  audacious  presumption  of  a  Jew 
wanting  to  be  an  officer ! 

This    excellent    Herr    von    Debschiitz    accordingly 


14  Men   who  lid  re  made  the 

sent  back  an  indignant  refusal  to  sanction  the  major's 
and  the  captain's  recommendation,  accompanied  by  a 
remarkably  stiff  official  intimation,  that  he  must  beg 
never  to  be  troubled  again  with  recommendations  of 
Je\vs  for  officers'  commissions  ! 

So  Gottfried  Hirsch,  who,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
had  certainly  distinguished  himself  quite  as  much  as 
the  sublime  Debschtitz,  whose  name  most  likely  would 
never  have  been  handed  down  to  fame  but  for  this 
curious  little  episode,  had  to  take  his  leave  in  his 
old  non-commissioned  capacity,  the  stupid  divisional 
commander  being  left  untouched  and  unreproved, 
because  poor  old  Roon,  with  all  his  brilliant  attain- 
ments, and  despite  his  real  greatness,  happened  to  be 
just  as  brimful  of  foolish  class  prejudice  as  Debschtitz 
himself;  and  Bismarck,  with  a  multitude  of  hornets 
swarming  and  buzzing  about  his  ears,  of  course  felt 
reluctant  to  put  his  fingers  into  another  nest  of  the 
interesting  insects.  Well,  luckily,  Roon  is  gone  at 
last,  and  Kamecke  is  said  to  be  pretty  free  from  his 
predecessor's  foibles. 

Still,  such  men  as  Holtzendorff,  Steinmetz,  Deb- 
schtitz, Roon,  and  others  of  the  same  stamp,  might 
plead  inveterate  class  prejudice  in  extenuation  of 
their  ridiculous  conduct.  But  what  can  possibly  be 
urged  in  excuse  of  the  so-called  Ultra-Liberal  electors 
in  Prussia,  who  for  a  long  time  declined  admitting  the 
candidature  of  Edward  Lasker,  pleading  that  they 
must  draw  the  line  somewhere ;  and  that  they 


New  German  Empire.  15 

sincerely  believed  they  ought  to  draw  it  at  Jews ! 
And,  mark,  not  alone  the  provincial  liberal  con- 
stituencies acted  upon  this  almost  incredibly  stupid 
notion,  but  the  most  highly  intelligent  first  electoral 
district  of  Berlin,  the  capital  of  intelligence,  where 
only  the  most  advanced  champions  of  progress  ever 
have  a  chance  of  election,  repeatedly  rejected  Lasker 
the  Jew  for  infinitely  smaller  men  of  the  Christian 
persuasion.  Yet  many  of  the  electors  of  this  first 
district  would  be  angry  indeed  if  their  freedom  from 
ail  religious  prejudice  and  superstitious  taint  were 
called  in  question. 

So  it  was  only  in  March,  1865,  when  Professor 
Temme  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Prussian  parliament, 
that  Edward  Lasker  was  at  last  chosen  to  represent 

i 

the  fourth  electoral  district  of  Berlin. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1865,  the  newly  elected 
deputy  delivered  his  maiden  speech.  It  was  late  in 
the  afternoon,  and  the  house  was  more  than  tired- -in 
fact,  completely  knocked  up.  Parliamentary  practice 
had  not  then  of  course  polished  Lasker's  organ  and 
attuned  it  to  the  sensitive  ears  of  his  hearers ;  there 
was,  it  is  said,  even  a  little  of  the  Jew  dialect  in  his 
enunciation.  No  wonder,  then,  that  the  maiden 
speech,  like  our  own  Disraeli's,  turned  out  anything 
but  a  success. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  within  a  few  brief  months  after, 
Edward  Lasker  had  overcome  all  drawbacks,  and  the 
members  of  the  house  were  placed  in  a  position  to 


16  Mi'n  wlio  Jtare  made  the 

freely  and  ungrudgingly  admire  the  marvellously 
clear  intellect  and  the  amazing  extent  of  knowledge 
of  the  new  representative  of  the  fourth  electoral 
district  of  Berlin.  Lasker  had  of  course  joined 
the  Progressists,  and  he  fought  his  first  great  battles 
under  the  venerable  Waldeck,  the  supreme  leader  of 
that  fraction  of  the  house. 

With  his  clear  head  and  lucid  understanding, 
Edward  Lasker  soon  discovered  that  the  Progressists, 
with  all  their  sincere  honesty  of  purpose  and  their 
\  undoubted  high  talents,  were  too  closely  wedded  to 
party  prejudices  and  crotchets  ever  to  lay  down  a 
thoroughly  intelligible  and  practical  programme,  and 
to  carry  it  out.  So  when,  after  the  great  events  of 
1866,  the  first  electoral  district  of  Berlin  sent  him  at 
last  into  the  new  parliament,  he  seceded  from  the 
Progressist  fraction  and  became  one  of  the  chief 
founders  and  leaders  of  the  National  Liberal  party, 
to  which  he  continues  to  belong;. 

o 

His  secession  from  the  Progressists,  and  his  open 
declaration  that  the  passing  of  the  constitution  of  the 
North  German  Confederation  was  of  paramount  im- 
portance, and  ought  to  override  all  party  considera- 
tions, cost  him  the  confidence  of  his  constituents. 
However,  this  was  a  matter  of  very  little  importance 
to  him,  as  there  were  now  plenty  of  constituencies 
only  too  happy  to  secure  the  Jewr  Lasker  for  their 
representative. 

From  that  time  forward  it  may  be  truthfully  said 


New  German  Empire.  17 

that  no  law  of  any  importance,  touching  either  the 
Prussian  kingdom,  the  North  German  Confedera- 
tion, or  the  German  empire,  has  been  passed  that 
does  not  bear  the  stamp  of  Lasker's  mind.  The 
great  tribune  has,  ever  since  1866,  honestly  en- 
deavoured to  give  the  chancellor  of  the  North 
German  Confederation  and  of  the  German  empire 
his  most  powerful  support. 

In  the  early  part  of  last  year  Edward  Lasker 
rendered  one  of  the  most  signal  services  to  his 
country  by  laying  bare  with  a  firm  and  unsparing 
hand  the  cancer  of  corruption  in  the  Ministry  of 
Commerce,  that  was  threatening  to  eat  into  the 
very  heart  of  the  official  machinery  of  the  state  in 
Prussia.  It  would  have  been  difficult  indeed  to 
find  another  man  equally  fit  for  the  delicate  task, 
and  one  so  absolutely  free  from  the  remotest  sus- 
picion of  taint  as  Lasker  may  honestly  claim  to  be. 

Although  the  Jew  has  been  permitted  at  last  to 
find  his  way  into  parliament,  the  door  of  official 
promotion  is  still  kept  jealously  closed  against  him. 
Yet  after  the  removal  of  Lippe  from  the  Ministry 
of  Justice,  one  would  have  thought  Dr.  Leonhardt, 
Lippe's  successor,  would  have  been  proud  to  push 
a  man  like  Lasker.  But  the  great  lawyer  is  still 
left  standing  on  the  lowest  steps  of  the  ladder.  The 
city  of  Berlin,  however,  has  bestowed  upon  him  a 
somewhat  remunerative  appointment.  The  state 
would  seem  to  find  it  difficult  indeed  to  get  rid  of 

VOL.    II.  C 


1  .s  Men    trim   Imrc   nni<1t'   flu1 

its  ant i- Jewish  prejudices,     h   is  \ny  inn-  that 

late  Dr.  Stahl,  wlio  was  a  .Irw  by  birth,  was  per- 
mitted to  attain  high  oilier  in  the  Prussian  state  ; 
but  then  he  had  Manningized  from  the  ancient  faith, 
and  had  become  a  shining  light  of  ultra-orthodox 
Prussian  Protestantism  of  the  most  exclusive  and 
intolerant  description.  So  the  instance  does  not 
apply  to  Lasker's  case. 

lu  1871  an  anecdote  was  told  in  Berlin,  and  was 
much  commented  upon  at  the  time,  as  to  how  the 
chancellor  on  the  occasion  of  one  of  his  meetings 
with  Lasker,  having  listened  with  rapt  attention 
to  one  of  the  great  parliamentarian's  lucid  disqui- 
sitions on  a  question  of  the  day,  had  warmly  shaken 
hands  with  him,  saying,  "My  dear  Herr  Lasker,  de- 
cidedly wre  must  be  colleagues  one  of  these  days." 
To  which  Lasker  wras  reported  to  have  replied,  "  How 
so,  your  highness  ?  Can  it  really  be  your  intention 
to  return  once  more  to  the  noble  profession  of  the 
law  V  What  might  have  seemed  a  joke  then,  may, 
perchance,  now  ere  long  acquire  the  substantial  pro- 
portions of  a  reality.  It  is  well  known  that  Bismarck 
is  entirely  free  from  the  narrow7  prejudices  of  his  class. 
Lasker  certainly  would  make  a  very  good  minister  of 
justice,  or,  better  still,  an  excellent  home  secretary. 

In  1872,  if  my  memory  serves  me  right,  the  Law 
Faculty  of  the  University  of  Leipzig  bestowed  the 
diploma  of  Honorary  Doctor  of  Laws  upon  Edward 
Lasker. 


New  German  Empire.  19 


V. 

FIELD-MARSHAL  VON   WRANGEL. 

IN  the  memoir  of  Bismarck,  mention  has  been  made 
of  a  certain  illuminated  transparent  scroll,  seen  by 
the  writer  in  Elberfeld  at  the  celebration  of  the 
first  anniversary  of  Sedan,  recording  the  rearing  of 
the  "noblest  structure  of  the  world's  history,"  to 
wit — the  new  German  empire. 

As  the  foundation  pillars  of  this  noble  edifice,  the 
scroll  recited  —  Civism,  education,  industry,  intelli- 
gence, order,  faith,  honour,  loyalty,  patriotism,  dis- 
cipline, duty,  endurance,  fortitude,  active  obedience, 
valour. 

It  is  as  the  typical  representative — the  very 
incarnation,  in  fact — of  many  of  these  high  qualities 
that  old  Field-Marshal  Wrangel  finds  a  place  assigned 
him  here  among  the  makers  of  the  new  German 
empire. 

Whoever  has  attentively  followed  the  victorious 
career  of  the  Prussian  armies  from  1864  to  1871,  and 
has  intelligently  endeavoured  to  trace  the  effects 

c  2 


20  Men  rwho  //•<•/>    made  the 

back  to  their  causes,  cannot  but  have  been  struck 
with  the  large  share  which  must  be  assigned  in  the 
latter  to  the  ingrained  stern  discipline,  the  deep  sense 
of  duty,  the  tenacious  endurance  and  fortitude  in 
doing  and  suffering,  the  intelligent,  active  obedience 

O  O'  O  ' 

(so  very  different  from  the  mere  stolid,  passive 
submission  to  the  word  of  command  found  in  certain 
other  continental  armies),  which  have  throughout 
characterized  the  Prussian  soldier. 

Now  these  high  qualities  existed  in  the  old  Prussian 
army  long  before  Eoon  and  Prince  William  had  con- 
ceived their  reorganization  plan,  which  was  not 
indeed  intended  to  create  a  new  soldiering  spirit ;  but 
simply  contemplated  turning  to  the  best  and  most 
efficient  account  the  splendid  material  in  that  line 
already  abundantly  existing,  and  strenuously  and 
incessantly  cultivated  many  long  years  by  the  old 
school  of  officers  dating  from  the  great  liberation  war, 
of  whom  Field-Marshal  Wrangel  may  fairly  be  taken 
as  the  prototype. 

This  tough  old  soldier,  Frederick  Henry  Ernest 
Count  von  Wrangel,  was  born  on  the  13th  of  April, 
1784,  at  Stettin,  in  Pomerania.  His  education  was 
slightly  defective,  and  although  the  popular  notion 
is  founded  in  error,  that  the  field-marshal  is  even 
very  indifferently  up  in  High  Dutch,  and  can  express 
himself  with  proper  fluency  only  in  Pomeranian 
patois  and  in  vernacular  Berlin  cockney,  yet  it  is  said 
to  be  very  questionable  whether  he  could  ever  at 


New  German  Empire.  21 

any  period  of  his  career  have  passed  the  mildest 
competitive  examination  in  any  but  the  rudimentary 
branches  of  knowledge. 

o 

He  certainly  forms  a  curious  contrast  with  such 
men  as  Moltke,  Koon,  Goben,  Voigts-Rhetz,  Blu- 
menthal,  Sperling,  Zastrow,  Fransecky,  Podbielski, 
Wartenberg,  Holleben,  and  an  almost  innumerable 
host  of  others  of  the  same  high  class  of  brilliant 
attainments. 

At  the  very  early  age  of  twelve  he  entered  the 
military  service  of  his  country.  However,  the 
regiment  of  dragoons  in  which  he  served  was  only 
mobilised  after  the  defeat  of  Jena,  and  he  was  full 
twenty-three  years  of  age  before  he  had  the  first 
opportunity  afforded  him  of  fleshing  his  maiden 
sword.  Of  this  opportunity  he  availed  himself  to 
such  excellent  purpose  in  the  campaign  of  1807,  more 
particularly  in  the  fight  at  Heilsberg,  that  the  king 
bestowed  upon  him  the  distinguished  military  order 
pour  le  merite. 

This  order  was  originally  created  under  the  style 
and  title  of  Ordre  de  la  Generosite,  by  Mar- 
grave Frederick  of  Brandenburg,  afterwards  Elector 
(Frederick  III.)  and  King  of  Prussia  (Frederick  I.). 
It  was  reorganized  in  1740  by  King  Frederick  II., 
under  the  style  and  title  of  Ordre  pour  le  Merite 
Civil  et  Militaire.  Subsequently,  in  1810,  King 
Frederick  William  III.  reorganized  it  anew  as  Ordre 
du  Merite  Militaire.  Frederick  William  IV.  added 


•2'2  Men   trho  hare  mo</<'  the 

a  civil  class  to  it  for  eminent  artists  and  distinguished 

men  of  learning  (31st  of  May,  1842). 

After  the  peace  of  Tilsit  the  dragoon  regiment  in 
which  young  Wrangel  served  was  completely  re- 
organized, or,  more  correctly  speaking,  two  in-w 
regiments  were  formed  out  of  its  material.  In 

o 

one  of  these,  the  East  Prussian  Cuirassiers,  Wrangel 
was  appointed  captain. 

In  the  campaign  of  1813,  Captain  Wrangel  did 
good  service  at  Hainan,  Liebertwolkwitz,  and  Leipzig, 
for  which  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  major. 

In  1814  he  first  assisted  in  the  blockade  operations 
round  Luxemburg,  then  took  a  prominent  share  in 
the  hard  fighting  in  February.  On  the  retreat  to 
Etoges  he  was  complimented  by  Bliicher  upon  the 
excellent  manner  in  which  he  had  led  his  regiment 
and  kept  his  men  in  hand.  He  gained  honourable 
distinction  also  at  Laon  and  Sezanne. 

In  short,  wherever  he  appeared  in  the  field  he 
showed  himself  a  most  valuable  and  efficient  officer ; 
so  in  April  of  the  same  year  (1814)  he  was  promoted 
to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy,  and  made  commander  at  the 
same  time  of  the  2nd  West  Prussian  Regiment  of 
Dragoons. 

This  new  regiment  took  no  part  in  the  campaign  of 
1815,  which  was  always  a  very  sore  point  .with 
Wrangel,  who  used  to  declare,  with  comic  indignation, 
that  "  old  Blticher  had  no  business  to  finish  the  matter 
right  slick  off  at  Belle  Alliance  (Waterloo),  thereby 


Neiv  German  Empire.  23 

depriving  a  poor  fellow  of  all  chance  of  coming  in  for 
his  legitimate  share  of  the  slashing.  He  would  like 
to  know  what  old  Marshal  Forward  would  have 
said  if  he  (Wrangel)  had  played  him  such  a  mean 
trick  as  that.  Why,  he  would  have  sworn  like  a 
trooper ;  and  so  would  he  (Wrangel),  only  that 
he  knew  he  must  not,  as  it  was  against  the  rules 
of  the  service." 

But  though  Wrangel  thus  took  no  part  in  the 
campaign  of  1815,  he  was  promoted  in  the  same  year 
to  the  rank  of  full  colonel. 

In  1821  he  obtained  the  command  of  the  10th 
Cavalry  Brigade,  and  two  years  after,  ere  he  had 
reached  his  fortieth  year,  he  was  made  major- 
general. 

In  1834  he  was  appointed  commander  of  the  13th 
Division.  The  head-quarters  of  this  division  was  at 
Miinster,  in  Westphalia, 

Three  years  after  the  whole  of  Ehineland- Westphalia 
was  plunged  in  sad  religious  troubles ;  for  it  is  a 
grievous  error  to  suppose  that  there  were  no  difficulties 
with  the  Ultramontane  clergy  in  Prussia  before  the 
days  of  Bismarck. 

Even  as  early  as  1837,  the  then  Archbishop  of 
Cologne  (Droste-Vischering)  tried  his  hand  at 
something  like  the  same  game  Messieurs  Forster, 
Krementz,  Martin,  Ledochowski,  and  Melchers  are 
now  trying  their  hardest  to  play  against  the  imperial 
government,  to  the  greatest  possible  damage  to  the 


24  Met/   ii'liu  linn'  mad  I-  flip 

state,  and  the  deepest  injury  to  that  very  religion  in 
whose  name  and  interest  they  profess  to  act. 

Frederick  William  III.  was  alw.-iys  very  stiff  in 
matters  touching  the  supremacy  of  the  crown,  and 
he  speedily  made  the  recalcitrant  archiepiscopal 
dignitary  feel  that  he  was  determined  to  submit  to  no 
imperium  in  imperio,  to  no  self-assumed  license  on 
the  part  of  an  antagonistic  Roman  establishment  in 
Protestant  Prussia. 

The  Ultrarnontanists,  who  have  never  yet  hesitated 
to  act  wherever  practicable  upon  the  beautiful  Jesuit 
maxim,  that  where  the  end  may  seem  good  and 
desirable,  all  means  conducive  to  that  end  are  equally 
allowable,  did  their  worst  to  support  the  archbishop's 
falling  cause  by  the  argument  of  religious  disturbance 
and  riot  in  Rhineland- Westphalia. 

General  Wrangel's  position  at  Minister  was  one  of 
very  considerable  difficulty,  which  required  equally 
delicate  and  energetic  handling.  He  showed  himself 
fully  up  to  the  occasion,  however,  and  managed  to 
keep  the  province  under  his  especial  guardianship  in 
most  excellent  order. 

It  is  said  that  he  sent  for  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Roman  Church  in  Westphalia,  more  especially  in 
Minister,  and  that  he  addressed  these  gentlemen  in 
very  good  and  unmistakably  plain  and  intelligible 
High  Dutch,  telling  them  that  he  should  hold  them, 
collectively  and  individually,  personally  responsible  for 
all  popular  disturbances  that  should  require  the  strong 


» 

New  German  Empire.  25 

hand  to  put  them  down.  He  was  not  going  to  shoot 
down  an  ignorant,  priest-excited,  and  misguided  fanat- 
ical mob  in  the  streets  of  Munster,  or  elsewhere  ;  but 
he  would,  with  inexorable  severity  and  unwavering 
firmness,  strike  down  the  priestly  plotters  and  wire- 
pullers who  were  directing  the  moves  of  the  pawns 
in  the  game.  He  assured  them  that  he  would  be  as 
good  as  his  word,  and  they  wisely  believing  him,  the 
dreaded  troubles  were  nipped  in  the  bud. 

It  was  partly  to  reward  him  for  the  signal  services 
he  had  rendered  the  crown  in  this  emergency  that 
Wrangel  was  made  lieutenant-general  in  1838. 

The  year  after,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of 
the  1st  Army  Corps  at  Konigsberg,  in  Prussia.  Here 
his  military  bluntness,  it  would  appear,  led  to  a  clash 
with  some  of  the  high  authorities  of  the  province, 
which  induced  the  government  to  transfer  him  to  the 
command  of  the  2nd  Army  Corps  at  his  own  native 
city  of  Stettin. 

In  autumn,  1842,  he  commanded  the  evolutions  of 
fifty-six  squadrons  of  cavalry,  with  thirty-two  guns, 
which  took  place  near  Berlin,  before  the  late  Emperor 
Nicholas  of  Eussia,  who  personally  expressed  to  the 
general  his  warmest  approbation  of  the  thorough 
efficiency  of  the  troops  under  his  command.  Three 
years  after  King  Frederick  William  IV.  reviewed  the 
2nd  Army  Corps  under  WrangeFs  command.  He 
was  so  delighted  with  the  splendid  appearance  of 
the  corps,  that  he  presented  Wrangel  with  •  the 


have  made  ///» 


Regiment  of  dura-KTs  as  a  mark  of  his  royal 
satisfaction. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  Germany  and 
Denmark  in  1S4S,  General  AVrangel  was  appointed 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  Prussian  and  German 
confederate  forces,  in  which  capacity  he  gained  a 
vietorv  over  the  Danes  at  Schleswig  on  the  23rd  of 
April,  1848.  He  subsequently  invaded  Jutland,  but 
the  war  was  conducted  languidly  by  Prussia,  and  the 
authorities  in  Berlin  did  everything  to  impede  and 
thwart  the  military  operations  in  the  Elbe  Duchies 
and  in  Jutland.  So  Wrangel  was  glad  indeed  when 
he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  in  the  Marches 
in  September,  1848. 

It  had  at  that  time  become  perfectly  clear  that 
the  revolutionary  party,  who  had  so  easily  suc- 
ceeded in  the  spring  of  the  year  in  overthrowing 
the  old  absolutist  government,  had  played  their 
cards  badly  ever  since,  and  had  now  finally  lost 
the  game  ;  and  the  only  question  was  howr  to  trium- 
phantly lead  the  inevitable  reaction  back  to  Berlin 
without  incurring  the  risk  of  those  deplorable  scenes 
of  bloodshed  and  cruel  oppression  which,  unhappily, 
but  too  often  attend  "  victories  "  of  this  nature. 

The  task  required  a  man  of  proved  energy  and 
good  sense,  with  a  certain  amount  of  kindly  feeling 
in  him. 

TTrangel  was  selected  for  the  post,  and  a  better 
choice  could  hardly  have  been  made. 


New  German  Empire.  27 

Having  carefully  made  all  necessary  preparations, 
and  collected  a  sufficient  military  force  to  make  the 
utter  futility  of  attempted  resistance  perfectly  clear 
to  the  common  sense  of  all  but  the  most  exalted  of 
the  revolutionary  leaders,  the  general  marched  into 
Berlin  on  the  9th  of  November,  1848,  proclaiming 
the  state  of  siege.  He  speedily  restored  the  authority 
of  the  government,  without  disgracing  his  name 
and  fame  by  the  establishment  of  murdering  courts- 
martial  and  Satory  shambles. 

For  his  eminent  services  on  this  critical  occasion, 
King  Frederick  William  IV.  made  him  general  of 
cavalry,  and  conferred  upon  him,  in  addition  to  his 
command  in  the  Marches,  also  the  command-in- chief 
of  the  3rd  Army  Corps. 

In  1856  General  Wrangel  celebrated  the  sixtieth 
anniversary  of  his  service  in  the  Prussian  army,  on 
which  occasion  he  was  raised  to  the  highest  militarv 

o  •/ 

rank  of  field-marshal  (15th  of  August).  The  honour 
thus  conferred  was  the  more  distinguished,  as  Field- 
Marshal  Wrangel  was  then  the  only  officer  of  that 
highest  rank  in  the  Prussian  army  (Prince  Charles, 
the  king's  brother,  was  Master- General  of  the  Ordnance, 
and  Prince  William,  the  present  German  emperor, 
was  Colonel-General  of  Infantry,  two  high  military 
charges  held  to  rank  equal  with  the  fiekl-marshalate). 
In  1864,  when  the  war  broke  out  between  Austria 
and  Prussia  and  Denmark,  Wrangel,  then  eighty 
years  old,  took  the  command  of  the  allied  Prussian 


28  Men    wlto   In* re   inmle   the 

and  Austrian  forces.  He  retained  it  till  after  tin1 
storming  of  Diippel,  when  he  asked  to  retire  on 
account  of  his  great  age.  He  had,  in  fact,  originally 
accepted  the  proffered  command  with  reluctance  ; 
hut  these  were  the  days  when  venerable  age  was 
still,  occasionally  at  least,  thought  an  indispensable 
condition  in  a  commander  of  the  forces  in  the  field. 

The  subjoined  historic  reminiscence  may  serve  to 
show  how  far  this  strange  notion  was  occasionally 
carried  :- 

In  1813,  when  the  question  was  mooted  of  ap- 
pointing General  Bllicher  to  the  command  of  the 
Silesian  army,  there  were  objections  urged  on  the 
king  from  all  sides  against  the  proposed  appointment, 
some  declaring  the  general  to  be  a  man  of  over- 
sanguine  disposition,  and  much  given  to  boldness, 
bordering  dangerously  on  temerity  ;  others  that  he 
was  too  old  and  too  cautious  (!),  and  too  much  given 
to  act  upon  the  advice  of  others.  But  the  strangest 
objection  urged  against  him  certainly  was,  that  he 
was  too  young,  the  general  being  about  seventy-one 
at  the  time. 

Old  Field-Marshal  Mollendorf,  a  veteran  then 
nigh  upon  ninety  years  old,  felt  particularly  sore 
upon  the  excessive  juvenility  of  General  Bliicher. 
"  Sir !  "  he  exclaimed  to  a  high  officer  with  whom  he 
was  discussing  the  appointment,  then  just  completed, 
of  the  general  to  the  command  of  the  Silesian  army— 
"  Sir !  the  service  is  going  to  the  dogs — to  the  dogs, 


New  German  Empire.  29 


sir,  I  say.  What  but  defeat  and  disgrace  can  be 
expected  in  the  field  when  they  intrust  high  command 
to  a  mere  youth  like  Bliicher  ? ; 

Tt  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  in  stiff  old 
Mollendorf 's  notion  General  Bliicher  had  at  the  time 
only  had  twenty-six  years'  service  in  the  army, 
Captain  Bliicher  had  been  passed  over  in  a  promo- 
tion by  Frederick  II. ,  a  younger  and  by  no  means 
a  meritorious  officer  having,  thanks  to  his  powerful 
family  influence,  been  made  major  over  Bliicher's 
head.  This  had  led  to  the  fiery  captain's  resignation 
of  his  commission  (in  1772) ;  and  it  was  only  in  1787 
that  Frederick  II. 's  successor,  Frederick  William  II., 
succeeded  in  inducing  Blticher  to  re-enter  the  service 
as  major. 

In  the  instance  of  the  Dano-German  war,  moreover , 
Wrangel  was  the  only  officer  whose  appointment  to 
the  chief  command  would  not  be  likely  to  rouse 
international  jealousies  and  heartburnings  between 
the  allies. 

With  his  resignation  of  the  command  of  the  allied 
forces  in  the  Elbe  Duchies,  Field- Marshal  von 
Wrangel,  though  still  nominally  retaining  his  seat 
in  the  state  council  and  the  chief  command  in  the 
Marches,  with  the  governorship  of  Berlin,  may  be 
said  to  have  retired  from  the  political  and  military 
stage,  but  certainly  not  from  the  busy  scenes  of  active 
life,  in  which  even  now,  with  the  snow  of  ninety 
winters  upon  his  brow,  he  is  found  to  the  fore. 


30  Mri'     >'7/<>    Juirc    nmdc    tin- 


Iii  1  s<>()?  when  the  wjir  between  Prussia  and  the 
Austro-Gennan  eoidition  broke  out,  nothing  would 
satisfy  the  old  man  but  he  must  accompany  the  army 
to  the  field-  as  a  volunteer  ! 

The  writer  remembers   having  >een   the  i>-reen  old 

o  o 

man  on  one  occasion  at  Nachod,  in  the  military 
hospital,  where  he  was  dispensing  kind  words  of 
sympathy  and  encouragement,  and  trifling  money 
gifts  to  the  unhappy  wounded. 

The  writer  saw  him  again  on  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber, the  day  of  the  triumphant  entry  of  the  Prussian 
army  into  Berlin,  high  on  horse,  firm  in  the  saddle, 
ridino-  with  the  nerve  and  skill  of  an  accomplished 

O  -L 

young  cavalier,  and  gallantly  blowing  kisses  to  every 
pretty  girl  his  lively  eyes  could  espy  in  his  ride  along 
the  Linden. 

And  five  years  after,  in  1871,  the  well-nigh  nona- 
genarian was  still  to  the  fore,  on  horseback,  and  still 
gallantly  blowing  kisses  ! 

In  January,  1872,  the  late  Count  Bernstorff,  then 
German  ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St.  James's,  made 
a  temporary  stay  at  Berlin,  where  he  had  taken  up 
his  quarters  at  the  Hotel  Royal.  Here  the  old 
field-marshal  paid  the  count  a  friendly  visit.  He 
came  on  foot.  It  was  one  of  the  coldest  winter 
clays  —  something  like  twenty  degrees  of  cold.  Yet 
there  the  old  man  was  in  his  thin  military  undress 
coat,  without  great-coat  or  wrapper  about  him,  and 
with  his  spiked  helmet,  which  must  realty  begin 


New  German  Empire.  31 

to  weigh  heavy  upon  his  head,  tightly  fixed  on 
as  usual. 

The  day  after,  he  went  to  visit  the  crown  prince, 
this  time  in  an  open  carriage,  in  which  he  might  be 
seen  sitting  stiff  and  grim,  with  the  same  scanty  pro- 
tection against  the  cold  as  the  clay  before,  yet 
apparently  not  the  least  heeding  the  cutting,  icy 
wind  blowing  right  through  him  ! 

His  last  public  appearance  was  at  the  funeral  of 
the  late  Queen  Dowager  Elizabeth,  when  he  is  said  to 
have  looked  just  the  least  little  bit  shaky,  but  for 
all  that,  likely  to  live  long  enough  to  add  another 
instance  in  confutation  of  the  anti- centenarian 
theory. 

Field-Marshal  Wrangel  is  Knight  and  Chancellor 
of  the  Order  of  the  Black  Eagle  in  brilliants,  Knight 
of  the  Order  of  St.  John,  of  the  Ordre  pour  le  Merite, 
and  a  heap  of  others  too  numerous  to  mention  ;  Chief 
of  the  East  Prussian  Cuirassier  Eegiment,  No.  3,  and 
of  the  Brandenburg  Fusilier  Eegiment,  No.  35  ;  pro- 
prietor of  the  Imperial  and  Eoyal  Austrian  2nd 
Eegiment  of  Dragoons,  and  of  the  Imperial  Eussian 
33rd  Infantry  Eegiment.  He  had  only  one  son, 
Frederick,  born  in  1821,  who  died  in  1867,  leaving 
an  only  son  behind,  Gustavus  von  Wrangel,  born 
the  21st  of  October,  1847,  who  is  now  an  officer  in 
the  Prussian  army. 

On  the  1 3th  of  April  last,  Field-Marshal  Wrangel 
celebrated  his  ninetieth  birthday,  when  he  is  reported 


32  Mm   icho  hure   made 


to  have  looked  as  green  and  as  jolly  as  ever.  The 
emperor  and  empress,  the  crown  prince,  and  all  the 
princes  of  the  royal  house,  the  ministers,  &c.,  and 
the  municipal  council  of  the  city  of  Berlin  sent 
their  hearty  congratulations  to  the  veteran.  Ob- 
serving that  one  of  the  members  of  the  municipal 
council,  who  came  with  the  burgomaster  to  present 
the  congratulations  of  the  city,  did  not  look  quite 
well,  "My  dear  sir,"  said  green  old  ninety,  "you 
must  take  care  of  yourself.  I  hope  you  will  be  in 
better  trim  when  you  are  deputed  again  next  year 
upon  the  same  pleasant  errand  to  rue,"  -taking  it 
as  a  matter  of  course  that  he  would  have  to  be  con- 
gratulated upon  his  ninety-first  birthday  !  Where 
does  the  old  man  intend  to  stop  ? 


New  German  Empire.  33 


VI. 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  OF  PRUSSIA  AND 

GERMANY. 

THE  arduous  and  perilous  match  for  the  great 
"  German  Unit}7 '  stakes  had  to  be  played  chiefly 
on  the  battle-field.  At  least  two  out  of  the  three 
great  military  powers  of  Europe  had  to  be  over- 
thrown by  Prussia  and  cleared  off  the  ground  ere 
the  foundations  of  the  new  German  empire  could  be 
securely  laid.  The  accomplishment  of  this  feat  re- 
quired the  highest  military  leadership. 

Now  Prussia  had,  indeed,  an  almost  incalculable 
advantage  on  her  side  in  the  stupendous  struggles 
with  Austria  and  France,  in  the  possession  of  the 
greatest  military  strategist  the  world  has  ever  yet 
seen.  Still,  this  was  not  of  itself  sufficient  to  secure 
victory  to  her  arms.  War  nowadays  is  a  game  of 
the  nicest  combination — every  -possible  contingency 
had  to  be  foreseen  and  provided  for,  and  it  is  indis- 
pensable to  be  equally  armed  at  all  points. 

The  supreme  chief  and  leader  of  the  host  may  be 
a  strategist  of  transcendent  genius,  yet  to  secure  the 

VOL.  ii.  D 


34  Men  ivlw  1m re  mode  the 

success  of  his  plans  he  requires  the  support  of  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  sub-leaders  of  the  highest  tactical 
ability.  Failure  on  the  part  of  even  only  one  of  the 
sub-leaders  may  seriously  compromise,  if  not  altogether 
imperil,  the  whole  plan  of  campaign. 

The  defeats  of  Oudinot  and  Ney  at  Grossbeeren 
and  Dennewitz  more  than  counterbalanced  Napoleon's 
half- victories  of  Bautzen  and  Liitzen-  -Macdonald's 
defeat  at  the  Katzbach  overthrew  all  the  emperor's 
ingenious  combinations.  Vandamme's  blunder  at 
Kulm  made  Napoleon  lose  all  the  prospective  brilliant 
fruits  of  his  great  victory  at  Dresden  over  Schwarzen- 
bersr,  and  Marmont  and  Macdonald's  failure  at 

O" 

Mockern  decided  the  defeat  of  the  French  at  Leipzig. 
Moltke  has  enjoyed,  in  his  two  great  campaigns, 
the  singular — one  would  almost  be  tempted  to  say  the 
phenomenal- -good  luck  of  being  supported  through- 
out by  military  commanders  of  the  highest  ability, 
who  always  thoroughly  understood  their  instructions, 
and  knew  how  to  carry  them  out  most  effectively. 
Indeed,  with  the  single  exception  of  Bonin's  blunder- 
in  £  at  Trautenau.  the  work  intrusted  to  the  tactical 

O  ' 

leaders  of  the  Prussian  and  German  host  in  the 
Austro-  and  Franco-German  campaigns  of  1866  and 
1870-71  was  neatly  and  cleverly  done  throughout, 
though  partial  failure  might  perhaps  be  imputed  alone 

to   Herwarth   von   Bittenfeld   and    Manteuffel.     The 

» 

tactical  leaders  of  the  Prussian  and  German  armies  in 
the  two  great  wars  are  therefore  justly  entitled  to 


New  German  Empire.  35 

claim  a  place  among  the  men  who  have  made  the 
new  German  empire.  The  principal  of  these  leaders 
are  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  and  Germany,  Prince 
Frederick  Charles,  King  Albert  of  Saxony,  General 
Vogel  von  Falckenstein.  Field-Marshals  Herwarth  von 

o  7 

Bittenfeld,  Steinmetz,  and  Manteuffel,  General  von 
der  Tann,  and  Generals  von  Goben  and  Werder. 

First  and  foremost  among  these  ranks  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Prussia  and  Germany,  not  because  he 
happens  to  be  the  heir  apparent  of  the  Emperor 
William,  but  simply  because  he  is  really  the  greatest 
and  most  genial  of  the  German  generals — with  the 
single  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  great  Vogel  von 
Falckenstein,  who  affords  a  most  rare  combination  of 
the  highest  strategic  genius  with  the  highest  tactical 
ability. 

The  house  of  Hohenzollern  is  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  renowned  houses  in  Europe.  The  Hohenzollerns 
trace  their  origin  back  to  the  end  of  the  eighth  century, 
when,  as  family  tradition  avers,  Count  Thassilo,  one 
of  the  Suabian  magnates  of  the  time,  built  the  strong 

o  •*  o 

castle  of  Zolre,  upon  the  summit  of  the  Zolrenberg  or 
Zollernberg,  which  lies  about  an  English  mile  south 
of  the  present  town  of  Hechingen.  The  Zollernberg 
rises  2,663  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  about 
900  feet  above  the  level  of  the  city  of  Hechingen. 
One  tradition,  as  just  now  mentioned,  attributes  the 
building  of  the  castle  to  Count  Thassilo ;  another 
tradition,  which  may  claim  a  safer  foundation,  says 

D  2 


36  Men  who  have  made  the 

the  castle  was  erected  ill  the  eleventh  century.  The 
old  chapel  of  St.  Michael,  which  exists  to  the  present 
day,  forming  part  of  the  castle,  belongs  to  the  style  of 
architecture  of  that  century.  In  faet,  it  was  in  the 
eleventh  century  that  the  Counts  of  Zolre  were  first 
heard  of  in  history. 

Burchard  and  Wenceslas  of  Zolre  were  slain  in 
1061,  in  the  troubles  which  distracted  poor  Germany 
during  the  minority  of  Henry  IV.  From  Burchard 
descended  Frederick  I.  of  Zolre,  who  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  first  Zollern  Burgraves  of  Ntirnberg.  Frederick 
III.  of  Zolre  was  one  of  the  most  intimate  friends  and 
councillors  of  the  Emperor  Barbarossa  and  Henry  VI. 
He  espoused  Sophy  of  Eatz,  daughter  of  Conrad,  last 
Burffrave  of  Niimberff,  of  the  Austrian  family  of 

O  O7  J 

Eatz.  Sophy  brought  her  husband,  besides  the 
burgraveship,  the  rich  allodial  possessions  of  the  Eatz 
family  in  Austria  and  in  Franconia.  As  Burgrave  of 
Ntirnberg  this  Frederick  III.  is  called  Frederick  I. 
In  the  old  documents  of  the  period  he  figures  first 
as  burgrave  on  the  8th  of  July,  1192.  He  left  two 
sons,  Frederick  II.  (1218)  and  Conrad  I.  (1230),  who, 
according  to  the  custom  of  these  old  times,  enjoyed 
their  paternal  estates  in  common,  and  were  both  of 
them  jointly  Counts  of  Zolre  and  Burgraves  of  Ntirn- 
berg. It  was  only  eight  years  after  Frederick's 
death,  in  1226,  that  Conrad  divided  the  estates  with 
his  nephew. 

There   were  now  two  distinct  lines  of  Zollern,  the 


New  German  Empire.  37 

Suabian  and  the  Franconian.  Conrad,  of  the  Fran- 
conian  line,  was  the  first  Zollern  who  styled  himself 
simply  Burgrave  of  Niirnberg.  His  son,  Frederick 
III.,  married  Elizabeth,  one  of  the  allodial  heiresses 
of  the  last  Count  of  Meran,  who  brought  her  husband 

7  o 

the  greater  portion  of  the  Meran  estates,  more  particu- 
larly Baireuth,  with  its  rich  mines. 

From  the  earliest  times  of  their  known  history  the 
Zollerns  have  been  famous  for  their  frugal  lives  and 
their  wise  economy.  Frederick  III.  was  therefore 
already  possessed  of  much  cash,  which  the  proceeds 
of  the  Baireuth  mines  increased  considerably.  He 
was  mainly  instrumental,  in  conjunction  with  Arch- 
bishop Werner  of  Mayence,  in  placing  Eudolph 
of  Hapsburg  (Hawksburg)  upon  the  imperial 
throne  of  Germany  (1273).  He  was  also  mainly 
instrumental  in  inflicting  the  crushing  defeat  of  the 
Marchfield  upon  the  Bohemians  and  their  'King 
Odoaker,  or  Ottokar  (1278).  He  bore  the  banner 
of  the  empire  in  this  battle.  Some  historians  assert 
that  the  Emperor  Eudolph  had  promised  to  bestow 
the  Austrian  Duchies  upon  him,  which  the  death  of 
Frederick  of  Austria,  basely  butchered,  together  with 
Conradin  of  Hohenstaufen,  by  the  monster  Charles 
of  Anjou,  had  rendered  vacant. 

However  this  may  be,  Kudolph  thought  better  of 
it,  and  gave  fair  Austria,  with  Styria  and  Carniola, 
to  his  own  sons,  indemnifying  the  burgrave  for  the 
disappointment  of  his  brilliant  hopes  by  bestowing 


38  Men  icJ/o  have  made  tJie 

upon  him  a  considerable  number  of  estates  and 
privileges,  to  which  that  wise  and  far-seeing  prince 
added  many  more  estates,  purchased  with  the  fruits 
of  his  own  and  his  ancestors'  wise  economy.  He 
died  in  1297.  His  son  and  second  successor,  Frede- 
rick IV.,  continued  the  same  policy.  He  cleverly 
used  the  necessities  of  the  Emperors  Albrecht,  Henry 
VII.,  and  Louis  the  Bavarian,  to  increase  his  posses- 
sions and  strengthen  his  influence.  He  bought 
Ansbach  of  Count  QEttingen,  and  many  other  towns, 
castles,  and  estates.  He  was  the  most  powerful 
dynast  in  Franconia.  Frederick  V.,  called  the  Con- 
queror, largely  increased  the  possessions  of  the  Fran- 
conian  branch  of  the  Hohenzollerns,  and  prevailed 
at  last  upon  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  to  raise  him  to 
the  highest  dignity  of  an  hereditary  prince  of  the 
empire.  His  son,  Frederick  VI.,  lent  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  a  large  sum  of  money,  for  which  the 
emperor  gave  him  the  Electorate  of  Brandenburg, 
at  first  in  pledge  (1411),  but  a  few  years  after,  in 
1415,  upon  a  further  advance  of  cash,  in  full  legiti- 
mate possession.  The  purchase-money  amounted  alto- 
gether to  60,000/.,  a  most  moderate  sum,  even  making 
the  fullest  allowance  for  the  high  value  of  money 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  As  first 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  of  the  house  of  Hohenzol- 
lern,  Frederick  VI.,  Burgrave  of  Nlirnberg,  ranks  as 
Frederick  I.  He  was  one  of  the  shrewdest  men  of 
the  age.  Not  content  with  his  new  acquisition,  he 


New  German  Empire.  39 

aspired  actually  to  acquire  the  Electorate  of  Saxe  in 
addition  to  it ;  but  so  soon  as  he  found  the  matter 
more  difficult  and  perilous  than  he  had  anticipated 
he  wisely  withdrew.  After  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  he  put  himself  forward  as  a  candidate  for 
the  imperial  throne,  with  very  fair  chances  of  success 
at  first ;  but  when  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence  began 
to  exert  his  powerful  influence  in  favour  of  Albrecht 
of  Austria,  the  son-in-law  of  the  late  emperor,  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  gracefully  abandoned  his  pre- 
tensions, and  spent  the  money  which  he  had  intended 
to  bestow  in  electoral  manoeuvres  upon  the  acquisition 
of  a  number  of  additional  estates.  He  died  in  1440. 
Some  eight  years  after  his  removal  to  the  banks  of 
the  Spree,  the  old  ancestral  castle  of  the  Hohenzollerns 
came  to  grief.  It  was  taken  on  the  8th  of  May, 
1423,  by  the  league  of  the  Suabian  cities,  and  was 
demolished,  with  the  exception  of  the  Chapel  of  St. 
Michael.  The  castle  was  rebuilt  some  thirty  years 
after,  the  foundation  stone  being  laid  by  Margrave 
Albrecht  of  Brandenburg  on  the  24th  of  May,  1454. 
Being  considered  a  point  of  the  greatest  strategic 
importance,  it  was  repeatedly  besieged  and  taken  in 
the  course  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  by  the  Swedes 
and  by  the  Wiirtembergers,  and  was  in  the  end 
demolished,  with  the  exception  of  the  chapel.  King 
Frederick  William  IV.,  with  his  mediaeval  predilec- 
tions, had  the  castle  rebuilt  in  the  style  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  famous  architect  Stiller 


40  Mt: a    "7/0    ]/<>!'<>    ilKxlc    tin* 

designed  the  plan  of  the  building.  It  was  begun 
in  1850,  and  completed  in  1855.  It  is  a  magnificent 
royal  castle,  with  live  towers,  and  contains,  besides 
the  restored  old  Catholic  chapel,  an  elegant  small 
Evangelical  church.  It  was  strongly  fortified  by 
(ieneral  Prittnitz,  and  fully  armed  in  185G.  The 
notion  of  using  it  as  a  fortified  place  has,  however, 
been  abandoned  since,  and  no  garrison  has  ever  been 
sent  to  it. 

Nearly  all  the  successors  of  Frederick  I.  in  the 
Electorate  of  Brandenburg  were  men  of  considerable 
ability.  Even  George  William,  the  father  and  pre- 
decessor of  the  great  elector,  who  is  generally  repre- 
sented by  historians  as  a  weak  and  vacillating  prince, 
managed,  with  singular  prudence  and  success,  to  keep 
his  electorate  comparatively  free  from  the  worst 
plagues  and  terrors  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  to 
hold  aloft  the  banner  of  the  Reformation.  All  these 
princes  added  more  or  less  to  the  possessions  of  the 
house,  until  the  eleventh  successor  of  the  first  Frede- 
rick (Frederick  III.  of  Brandenburg)  found  himself 
actually  powerful  enough  to  place  the  royal  crown  of 
Prussia  on  his  head.  This  was  Kin^  Frederick  I.  of 

o 

Prussia,     twelfth    Elector    of    Brandenburg    of    the 

o 

Hohenzollern  line.  The  Emperor  William  is  his 
sixth  successor. 

The  Crown  Prince  is  the  eighteenth  in  the  line  of 
succession  from  the  Elector  Frederick  I.  Of  the 
eighteen  Hohenzollern  princes  who  have  preceded 


New  German  Empire.  41 

him,  five  at  least  may  be  truly  called  great  men,  to 
wit,  the  first  Frederick,  the  founder  of  the  line,  the 
great  elector,  King  Frederick  William  L,  King 
Frederick  II.,  and  the  Emperor  William.  To  say, 
then,  that  the  Crown  Prince  fairly  promises  to  be 
the  greatest  of  all  Hohenzollerns  may  seem  extra- 
vagant praise.  The  brief  sketch  of  the  Crown 
Prince's  past  career,  which  it  is  intended  to  give 
here,  will  show,  however,  that  the  fact  simply  is  so. 

Frederick  AVilliam  Nicholas  Charles,  Crown  Prince 
of  the  German  Empire  and  of  Prussia ;  Field- 
Marshal-General,  Inspector-General  of  the  Fourth 
Inspection  of  the  Army  of  the  German  Empire  ; 
Field-Marshal-General  in  Russia;  Chief  of  the  1st 
Grenadier  Regiment  Crown  Prince,  of  the  5th  West- 

O  ' 

phalian  Infantry  Regiment,  and  the  2nd  Silesian 
Dragoons;  First  Commander  of  the  1st  (Berlin) 
Battalion  of  the  Landwehr  Guards ;  attached 
to  the  1st  Regiment  of  Foot  Guards,  and  to  the 

<D  " 

2nd  Regiment  of  Silesian  Grenadiers ;  Chief  of  the 
llth  Regiment  of  Russian  Hussars  (Isum)  ;  pro- 
prietor of  the  Austrian  Infantry  Regiment,  No.  20  ; 
Lord- Lieutenant  of  Pomerania ;  Doctor  and  Rector 
of  the  University  of  Konigsberg ;  Grand  Master 
of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Germany ;  Knight  Grand 
Cross  of  the  Iron  Cross  of  the  high  Military  Ordre 
pour  le  Merite,  &c.,  and  member  of  the  honourable 
craft  of  Typos,  was  born  on  the  18th  of  October, 
1831,  at  the  new  palace  in  Potsdam.  He  is  the 


42  Men  u'lio  Jn i  re  made  the 

eldest  and  only  son  of  the  Emperor  William  and  the 
Empress  Marie  Louise  Augusta  Gatherum,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  late  Grand  Duke  Charles  Frederick 
of  Saxe- Weimar.  His  only  sister,  Princess  Louise 
Marie  Elizabeth,  born  the  8th  of  December,  1838, 
was  married  on  the  20th  of  September,  1856,  to 
Frederick  William  Louis,  reigning  Grand  Duke  of 
Baden.  Like  all  the  princes  of  the  royal  house  of 
Hohenzollern,  the  young  prince  had  to  embrace  the 
military  career  from  his  earliest  boyhood.  His  uncle 
— the  then  Crown  Prince,  afterwards  Kin^  Frederick 

'  O 

William  IV. --had  been  married  since  1823.  How- 
ever, as  direct  issue  from  this  marriage  seemed  very 
doubtful,  the  young  prince  was  most  carefully 
educated,  with  a  view  to  his  ultimate  accession  to 
the  throne.  He  had  the  best  masters  in  every 
department  of  learning,  and  he  amply  requited  their 
labour  and  care  by  the  most  unwearying  diligence 
and  industry.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  there 
is  barely  a  branch  of  human  lore  in  which  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  does  not  excel.  History 
he  has  made  his  special  study,  and  it  may  be 
fairly  hoped  that  Germany  and  the  world  will  one 
day  reap  the  benefit  of  the  lessons  inculcated  by 
that  study.  He  is  a  doctor  of  the  University  of 
Konigsberg,  of  which  university  he  is  also  rector. 
History  tells  us  that  the  Persian  princes  of  old 
used  to  be  taught  some  handicraft,  so  that  they 
might  not  be  quite  helpless  in  the  not  altogether 


New  German  Empire.  43 

impossible  event  of  their  being  driven  into  exile 
and  misery.  The  royal  house  of  Hohenzollern  has 
always  acted  upon  the  same  wise  rule.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen,  Prince  Frederick  William  chose 
typography  for  his  trade.  He  learned  the  business 
practically  at  Hsenel's  Eoyal  Printing  Office  in  Berlin, 
and  it  is  said  that  he  is  a  first-rate  compositor. 
Some  years  ago  the  writer  met  one  of  Hsenel's  old 
hands  at  the  office  of  the  Elberfeldes  Zeitung,  who 
told  him  that  he  had  had  the  distinguished  honour 
of  setting  up  a  triglot  book  (German,  Greek,  and 
Latin)  jointly  with  his  royal  highness,  and  that  he 
had  found  it  no  easy  task  to  hold  his  own  against 
his  exalted  competitor  ;  so  that  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Prussia  will  not  find  himself  thrown  helpless 
upon  the  world  and  without  resources,  even  should 
the  French  communists,  the  Marxes,  Hasenklevers, 
Bebels,  Mendes,  &c.,  of  Germany,  and  our  own 
radical  reformers  ever  succeed  in  sweeping  away 
the  old  fabric  of  society. 

The  young  prince  led  a  quiet,  studious  life, 
diligently  preparing  himself  for  his  high  vocation. 
His  name  has  never  figured  in  the  Chronique  scan- 
daleuse.  In  fact,  except  in  court  and  military  circles, 
it  was  hardly  ever  prominently  mentioned  ;  although 
all  who  had  the  happiness  of  coming  in  contact 
with  him  spoke  enthusiastically  of  the  kindliness 
of  his  disposition,  his  frank  cordiality,  his  simple 
and  unassuming  manners,  his  vast  and  varied  know- 


44  Men-  /'7/o  Jtnre  ma<l<>  flic 


lediM\  and  the  charm  of  liis  society  and  conver- 
sation. On  the  28th  of  January,  1858,  ho  married 
Victoria,  Princess  Koyal  of  England-  -a  happy  union 
in  more  than  one  respect,  but  more  particularly  as 
forming  a  new  fast  bond  between  the  two  great 
Protestant  powers  of  the  world,  and  the  two 
natural  champions  of  the  safe  and  gradual  develop- 
ment of  freedom  of  thought  and  conscience,  and  of 
political,  social,  and  religious  liberty  and  progress. 
The  royal  houses  of  England  and  of  Prussia  are 
the  two  oldest  houses  in  Europe.  Our  own  Victoria 
can  trace  her  descent  back  to  Egbert  of  Wcssex, 

O  ' 

and  through  him  to  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  princes. 
Prince  Albert  was  also  descended  from  a  very 
ancient  and  most  renowned  house,  and  the  Guelphs 
can  go  back  to  the  Frankish  Count  Warm  of 
Altorf,  who  flourished  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne, 
and  whose  son  Isenbrand  had  bestowed  upon  him 
by  his  contemporaries  the,  in  our  view  perhaps, 
by  no  means  flattering  nickname  of  Whelp,  or 
young  hound,  on  account,  it  is  said,  of  his  quarrel- 
some and  somewhat  currish  disposition.  In  those 
days,  however,  when  might  was  right  and  force  was 
]aw,  the  name  might  have  been  held  in  very  different 
estimation.  At  all  events,  Isenbrand  of  Altorf  had 
his  eldest  son  and  heir  christened  Welp,  or  Welf 
(Guelph),  who  figures  in  history  as  the  first  of  the 
name.  We  are  justified,  then,  in  saying  that  the 
royal  houses  of  England  and  of  Prussia  are  indeed 


New  German  Empire.  45 

the  oldest  houses  in  Europe.  The  descent  claimed 
by  the  houses  of  Hapsburg  and  Lorrain  from  the 
Frankish  Duke  Eticho  of  Alsatia,  who  died  about 
the  year  690,  is  very  doubtful  at  the  best,  and  the 
Bourbons  and  Delmenhorst-Komanoffs  date  not  very 
far  back,  comparatively.  We  may  also  take  some 
pride  and  pleasure  in  the  fact  that  the  descendants 
of  our  own  beloved  Queen  will  one  day  rule  over  the 
great  German  empire,  and  that  the  two  countries, 
united  by  the  strong  and  lasting  bond  of  com- 
munity of  religious  faith  and  political  interests,  may 
be  expected  to  march  together  for  centuries  to  come 
at  the  head  of  Europe  in  the  path  of  progress  and 
enlightenment. 

o 

In  the  year  1864  the  Crown  Prince  had  the  first 
opportunity  afforded  him  of  gathering  actual  mili- 
tary experience  on  the  battle-field.  He  had  then 
reached  the  grade  of  lieutenant-general,  and  com- 
manded the  first  infantry  division  of  the  Guards. 
His  position  in  the  Dano-German  war  was,  however, 
almost  purely  observant,  the  chief  command  being 
intrusted  to  Field-Marshal  Wrangel,  and  subsequently, 
after  the  resignation  of  that  commander,  to  the  Crown 
Prince's  cousin,  Prince  Frederick  Charles  of  Prussia. 

It  was  two  years  after,  in  1866,  that  the 
Crown  Prince  was  permitted  to  appear  on  the  field 
as  a  leader  of  armies,  and  to  afford  the  world  bril- 
liant proof  of  his  high  military  genius. 

The  Prusso-German  war  was  certainly  not  of  his 


46  Men   who   1i< i re    made   the 

seeking,    nor    of    his    liking.      He  looked  upon  that 
war  as  a  fratricidal  contest,  and  there  was  a  strong 

'  O 

feeling  in  him  of  honourable  repugnance  to  imbrue 
his  1  lauds  in  the  blood  of  his  German  brethren. 
Moreover,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  was 
sincerely  opposed  at  the  time  to  Bismarck  and  his 
policy.  The  great  minister  had  not  yet  been  able 
to  show  to  the  world  the  true  side  of  his  character, 
and  to  reveal  the  true  tendency  of  his  political  ideas 
wishes,  and  aspirations. 

Heirs   to  the   crown  are  proverbially  apt  to   pro- 
fess  unbounded   liberalism,  though,  as   a   rule,   their 
conduct    after    they   have    come    to    the    throne    is 
equally  apt   to   give  the  lie  to    their  former  profes- 
sions.    Now,  indeed,  the  case  is  very  different  with 
the  Imperial  Crown  Prince    of   Germany.     Although 
he   is  in  his   forty-third   year,  it   would  be    difficult 
indeed  to  say,  from  any  "  professions  '    ever  made  by 
him,  what  his  true  political  creed  may  happen  to  be. 
He  has  always  scrupulously  abstained  from  all  inter- 
ference in  state  matters — at  all  events,  from  all  overt 
interference.     His  profound  filial  piety  and  his  un- 
bounded reverence  for  his  great  father,  who  is  known 
to  be  jealously  tenacious  of  his  supreme  power,  have 
always  sufficed  to  suppress  all  outward  manifestations 
at  least  of  any  antagonistic  feeling  he  might  harbour 
against  that  father's  policy.     So  it  would  appear  a 
very  difficult  question  to  decide  whether  the  Crown 
Prince's  political  leanings  and  tendencies  are  liberal 


Neiv  German  Empire.  47 

or  otherwise.  But  it  is  known  that  in  his  religious 
belief  he  is  an  advanced  member  of  the  Eeformed 
Church,  of  large  and  enlightened  views  on  all 
questions  of  faith,  and  a  most  uncompromising  foe 
equally  to  popery  and  Eomish  pretensions  and 
superstitions,  and  to  Muckerdom  and  "  evangelical " 
bigotry,  from  which  even  men  like  Eoon  and  the  great 
Moltke  are  not  absolutely  free.  The  Crown  Prince 
has  not  the  slightest  pietistic  taint  in  his  compo- 
sition. He  is  also  a  freemason — not  one  who  simply 

V 

plays  at  freemasonry,  but  an  earnest,  sincere,  and 
active  brother  of  the  craft.  He  is  Grand  Master  of 
the  Prussian  Lodges  and  of  the  Grand  Land  Lod^e 

o  o 

of  Germany.  The  latter  celebrated  its  first  cen- 
tenary on  the  24th  of  June,  1870,  on  which  occasion 
the  Crown  Prince,  in  his  capacity  of  master  of  the 
order  and  representative  of  the  protector  of  the 
lodges — his  father  the  king — delivered  a  remarkable 
address,  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  recur 
more  at  length  in  the  course  of  this  memoir,  when 
it  will  be  clearly  seen  that  the  large  views  and 
enlightened  sentiments  of  the  speaker  wrould  be 
altogether  incompatible  with  his  holding  narrow  poli- 
tical ideas,  and  being  chained  to  mediaeval,  illiberal, 
feudalist,  and  absolutist  notions  and  principles. 

However,  be  this  as  it  may,  this  much  is  certain, 
that  the  Crown  Prince  did  not  like  the  projected 
war  against  Austria  and  the  German  Confederation. 
The  anecdote-mongers  of  the  time  made  capital  out 


48  Men  who  have  made  tlte 

of  the  prince's  patent  repugnance  to  the  war :  they 
invented  a  cock-and-bull  story  about  a  stormy 
encounter  between  the  prince  and  Bismarck  in 
presence  of  the  king,  in  which  the  minister  was 
stated  to  have  actually  advised  his  majesty  to 
send  his  royal  highness  to  the  fortress  of  Spandau ! 
It  need  hardly  be  stated  that  there  was  not  a 
semblance  of  foundation  for  this  pretty  little  tale. 
The  Crown  Prince's  honourable  repugnance  to  the 
war  never  rose  to  such  a  height  or  intensity  as  the 

» 

"  story '  would  indicate.  Any  difference  of  opinion 
on  his  part  anent  the  "propriety'  of  the  intended 
war  notwithstanding,  the  Crown  Prince  nobly  did 
his  duty  to  his  king  and  country.  There  is  also 
every  reason  to  believe  that  he  soon  learned  to 
appreciate  more  correctly  the  true  position  of  affairs, 
and  the  honesty  and  patriotism  of  his  father's  great 
minister.  It  was  even  currently  reported  at  the 
time,  that  the  Crown  Prince  and  Bismarck  had  had 
a  meeting  before  the  battle  of  Sadowa,  at  Miliutin, 
in  Bohemia,  where  a  perfect  and  cordial  understand- 
ing was  arrived  at  between  the  two  eminent  men. 

o 

It  may  safely  be  averred  that  this  understanding 
has  never  been  disturbed  since,  and  that  the  Crown 
Prince  has  not  a  more  loyal  friend  than  Bismarck, 
nor  the  great  chancellor  a  more  sincere  admirer  and 
well-wisher  than  his  imperial  and  royal  highness. 

The   Austrian  army,  under  the  supreme  command 
of    Feldzeiigmeister    (Master-General)    Benedek    (at 


New  German  Empire.  49 

least  nominally,  although  not  in  reality,  for  the 
emperor  and  his  military  cabinet  were  constantly 
interfering  with  the  plans  of  the  Commander-in- 
chief),  consisted  of  the  1st,  2nd,  4th,  6th,  8th, 
and  10th  corps,  numbering  altogether  some  200,000 
men,  with  762  guns.  Besides  these  forces,  Benedek 
could  draw  reinforcements  from  the  garrisons  of 
Cracow,  Olmtitz,  Theresienstadt,  Josephstadt,  and 
Koniggratz,  numbering  altogether  close  upon  60,000 
men.  And  in  the  night  of  the  15th-16th  of  June 
the  Saxon  army  of  some  40,000  excellent  troops, 
well  found  in  every  way  and  amply  provided  with 
artillery,  crossed  the  Saxon  frontier  into  Bohemia 
and  joined  Benedek's  forces.  Some  10,000  Austrian s 
had  been  sent  also  to  swell  the  hosts  of  the  German 
Confederation,  calculated  in  the  rouo*h  at  about 

J  O 

100,000  men. 

Against  this  formidable  hostile  array  Baron 
Moltke,  the  chief  of  the  Prussian  staff,  had  formed 
four  distinct  armies,  to  wit,  the  so-called  first  army, 
under  the  command  of  Prince  Frederick  Charles, 
consisting  of  the  2nd,  3rd,  and  4th  corps  of  the 
Prussian  army,  and  one  cavalry  corps  ;  the  so-called 
second  army,  under  the  command  of  the  Crown 
Prince,  consisting  of  the  Guards,  and  the  1st,  5th, 
and  6th  corps  of  the  army  ;  the  army  of  the  Elbe, 
under  the  command  of  General  Herwarth  von  Bit- 
tenfeld,  consisting  of  the  8th  corps  of  the  army, 
the  1st  division  of  the  7th  corps,  and  a  reserve 

VOL.  n.  E 


50  Men  who  have  made  the 


corps  of  Landwrlir;  and  the  army  of  the  Main, 
under  the  command  of  ( rciieral  Yogel  von  Falcken- 
stein,  consisting  of  the  other  division  of  the  7th 

*  o 

corps,  the  Prussian  garrisons  withdrawn  from  May- 
cnce  and  Eastatt,  reserves,  and  a  variety  of  other 
troops. 

The  Crown  Prince  was  the  youngest  of  the  four 
chief  commanders  of  the  Prussian  forces,  his  cousin 
Frederick  Charles  being  his  senior  by  three  years. 
To  him  was  intrusted  the  arduous  task  of  leading 
his  army  through  the  so-called  three  gateways  to 
Bohemia  -  •  the  mountain  defiles  of  Trautenau, 
Braunau,  and  Naehod. 

He  collected  his  forces  in  a  camp  round  the 
strong  fortress  of  Neisse.  On  the  22nd  of  June 
this  camp  was  broken  up.  About  noon  that  day 
the  writer  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  one  of 
the  prince's  most  telling  simple  speeches,  which  was 
delivered  to  the  military  and  civil  authorities  of  the 
fortress  and  city  of  Neisse  in  the  courtyard  of  the 
War  School.  Every  word  of  that  brief  patriotic 
address  went  home  to  the  hearts  of  the  hearers. 

A  series  of  elaborate  manoeuvres,  and  marches 
and  counter-marches,  intended  to  puzzle  and  mis- 
lead the  Austrians  in  Bohemia,  occupied  the  time 
from  the  23rd  to  the  26th  June.  On  the  evening: 

o 

of  that  day  the  6th  corps,  under  General  Mutius, 
had  taken  up  its  position  about  Habelschwerdt,  in 
the  Glatz  district,  which  was  then  threatened  by 


New  German  Empire.  51 

the  2nd  Austrian  corps  under  Count  Thun's  com- 
mand. The  1st  corps,  under  General  Benin's  com- 
mand, was  ready  to  march  into  Bohemia  through 
the  Trautenau  defile.  The  Guards,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Prince  Augustus  of  Wurtemberg,  through 
the  Braunau  Pass ;  and  the  5th  corps,  under  the 
command  of  General  Steinmetz,  through  the 
Nachod  defile.  The  10th  Austrian  under  the 
command  of  General  Gablentz,  had  been  detached 
by  Benedek  to  guard  Trautenau ;  the  6th  corps, 
under  the  command  of  General  Eaniming,  had 
been  directed  to  Skalitz  to  protect  Nachod ;  and 
the  8th  corps,  under  the  command  of  the  Archduke 
Leopold,  to  Jaromierz,  to  support  Eaniming  in  case 
of  need.  Subsequently  Benedek  sent  the  4th  corps, 
under  the  command  of  General  Festetics,  to  the 
same  point. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  June  the  Guards 
and  the  1st  and  5th  corps  effected  their  entry  into 
Bohemia  through  the  three  passes  of  Braunau, 
Trautenau,  and  Nachod. 

The  comparative  failure  of  the  1st  corps,  under 
General  Bonin,  has  been  related  in  the  memoir  of 
Moltke,  so  we  need  not  further  recur  to  it  here. 

The  vanguard  of  the  5th  corps,  under  the  command 
of  General  Lowenfeld,  had  hardly  passed  the  narrow 
defile  of  Nachod  into  Bohemia  when  it  found  itself 
confronted  by  vastly  superior  forces  forming  part 
of  the  6th  Austrian  corps  under  Ramming.  A 

E  2 


,V2  J/i?/z   who  hare  made 


(lrsj»cr;ii«-  strii^'_rl«'  ensued.  T\vo  squadrons  of  Prussian 
cavalry  hud  to  encounter  the  iinve  onset  of  the 
celebrated  Windischgratz  iv-i  incut  of  riders  and  of 
another  cuirassier  regiment.  The  two  squadrons 
were  driven  back  into  the  defile  just  at  the  very  time 
when  the  Prussian  artillery  was  somewhat  slowly 
and  painfully  wending  its  way  through  the  p;> 

This  was  a  most  critical  moment.  The  Austrians 
might  have  improved  the  advantage  gained  by  them, 
and  crushed  the  small  force  under  Lowenfeld,  in 
which  case  it  mio'ht  afterwards  have  been  found 

o 

impracticable  for  the  5th  Prussian  corps  to  force 
the  pass. 

It  is  related  that  it  was  General  Steinmetz's 
coolness  and  excellent  tactical  command  which  saved 
the  day. 

But  the  writer  heard  another  version  of  the  affair 
at  the  time.  He  was  told  by  some  officers  that  at 
the  critical  juncture  when  the  Prussian  cavalry  had 
just  been  swept  back  into  the  defile,  the  Crown  Prince, 
attended  by  General  Blumenthal,  his  chief  of  the 
staff,  arrived  on  the  spot,  and  that  his  royal  highness 
passed  some  severe  strictures  upon  the  curious  tactics 
of  blocking  up  a  narrow  mountain  defile  with  artillery 
when  it  must  seem  of  the  utmost  importance  to  push 
the  infantry  and  cavalry  through  ;  but  his  highness 
forbore  adding  another  word  the  instant  he  was  in- 
formed that  the  general  commanding  the  corps  was 
responsible  for  the  arrangement. 


New  German  Empire.  53 

His  royal  highness  dismounted,  clambered  over  the 
guns,  made  his  way  to  the  front,  ordered  the  artillery 
back,  pushed  a  few  battalions  of  infantry  rapidly 
through  the  cleared  pass,  and  ordered  them  to  occupy 
certain  commanding  knolls  at  the  Bohemian  outlet 
of  the  defile,  with  instructions  to  hold  and  defend 
these  positions  to  the  last  extremity.  Battalion  after 
battalion  of  infantry  was  then  marched  through  the 
pass  in  the  most  beautiful  order.  Two  regiments  of 
cavalry  followed,  which  made  short  work  of  the  two 
Austrian  cuirassier  regiments,  whose  two  standards 
were  taken  by  the  victorious  Prussians. 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  considerable  ap- 
prehension in  the  Prussian  army,  lest  their  cavalry 
should  not  be  able  to  hold  its  own  against  the  Aus- 
trian crack  riders.  From  the  day  of  Nachod  this 
fear  was  dissipated  for  ever.  The  Austrian  light 
cavalry  did  not  fare  much  better  in  subsequent  en- 
counters with  the  Prussians,  although  a  distinguished 
war  correspondent  of  a  leading  English  journal  would 
persist  in  scoring  victory  after  victory  for  their  com- 
mander, Edelsheim--a  pity  only  that  every  one  of 
these  "  victories  "  should  have  eventuated  in  a  more  or 
less  rapidly-accelerated  retreat  of  the  victorious  forces. 

So  soon  as  the  Prussians  had  once  secured  a  fair 
hold  of  the  other  side  of  the  pass,  the  needle-gun 
began  to  tell  fearfully  upon  the  Austrians.  But  it 
was  not  this  new  formidable  weapon  alone  which  de- 
cided the  fate  of  the  day  ;  it  was  also  the  bayonet. 


54  Men,  irlio  hare  in<.«l>'  the 

The  strong  positions  of  the  Austrians  were  carried 
one  after  another,  and  in  the  evening  of  the  day 
Ramming  found  that  his  corps  had  sustained  such 
fearful  losses  in  the  desperate  struggle  that  he  would 
be  unable  to  hold  Skalitz,  the  next  station  on  the 
Austrian  line  of  defence,  unless  very  largely  rein- 
forced. 

The  despatch  to  this  effect,  which  he  sent  off  in 
the  evening  to  the  Austrian  headquarters,  was  inter- 
cepted by  the  Prussians.  However,  Archduke  Leopold 
came  up  to  Hamming's  aid  with  the  8th  Austrian 
corps  from  Jaromierz  (suburb  of  Josephstadt).  The 
two  corps  combined  took  up  strong  positions  around 
Skalitz,  where  they  were  attacked  next  day  by  the 
5th  Prussian  corps  under  the  command  of  the 
Crown  Prince  and  General  Steinmetz. 

That  corps  had  suffered  much  the  day  before  at 
Nachod,  and  the  odds  seemed  largely  in  favour  of  the 
Austrians,  who  greatly  outnumbered  the  Prussians, 
and  had,  besides,  a  large  proportion  of  fresh  troops 
to  oppose  to  their  harassed  and  jaded  assailants.  But 
the  noble  Poseners  went  into  the  fight  undismayed; 
they  drove  the  Austrians  from  all  their  strong  posi- 
tions, and  carried  ultimately  the  important  stronghold 
of  the  railway  station,  and  the  town  of  Skalitz.  On 
the  evening  of  the  28th  of  June  both  the  6th  and 
the  8th  Austrian  corps  might  be  considered  fully 
accounted  for. 

On    the    same   day,   the   28th   of  June,    1866,   the 


New  German  Empire.  55 

Guards,  under  the  command  of  Prince  Augustus  of 
Wurtemberg,  went  in  for  their  innings,  and  a  pretty 
game  they  played.  Gablentz,  who  had  been  victorious 
the  day  before  against  Bonin  and  the  1st  Prussian 
corps,  had  made  his  position  at  Trautenau  as  strong 
as  circumstances  would  admit ;  he  had  also  taken  up 
very  strong  positions  at  Alt-Rognitz,  Neu-Rognitz, 
and  Burgersdorf. 

When  the  Prussian  Guards  made  their  first  onset 
they  found  sixty-four  Austrian  guns  opposed  to  twelve 
of  their  own  pieces,  and  they  had  the  odds  very  much 
against  them,  too,  in  infantry  and  cavalry.  But  the 
men  of  this  truly  splendid  corps  carried  everything 
before  them  in  fine  style.  They  took  the  positions  of 
Burgersdorf  and  Alt-Rognitz,  and  finally  carried 
Trautenau  by  storm,  despite  the  most  desperate 
resistance  of  the  enemy. 

Of  the  magnificent  10th  corps,  which  Gablentz  had 
led  forth  to  battle  on  the  morning  of  the  27th,  to  the 
number  of  nigh  upon  50,000  men,  there  remained  on 
the  evening  of  the  28th  only  a  mass  of  some  25,000 
men  that  could  claim  to  be  considered  anything  like  a 
compact  body. 

On  the  29th  of  June  the  same  irresistible  Prussian 
Guards  stormed  Koniginhof  (Divor  Kralowe,  Queen's 
Court),  a  most  important  position.  This  opened  the 
way  to  a  proximate  union  of  the  second  army,  com- 
manded by  the  Crown  Prince,  with  the  first  army  and 
the  Elbe  army,  under  the  command  severally  of  Prince 


56  Men  u-ho  have  'made  tic 

Frederick  Charles  and  General  Her\varth  von  J>ittenfeld, 
which  had  entered  Bohemia  from  the  side  of  Saxony, 
and  were  fighting  their  way  up  to  Koniggratz. 

On  the  same  29th  day  of  June  the  5th  Prussian 
corps  advanced  from  Skalitz  upon  Schweinschiidel, 
where  a  fresh  Austrian  corps,  under  the  command  of 
the  brave  General  Festetics,  had  taken  up  a  strong 
position.  This  corps,  the  4th  of  the  Austrian  army, 
shared  the  same  fate  with  the  6th,  the  8th,  and 
the  10th.  It  was  badly  beaten. 

The  general  commanding,  Festetics,  was  so  severely 
wounded  in  one  of  his  legs,  that  the  limb  had  to  be 
amputated.  The  operation  had  just  been  performed, 
and  the  nerves  of  the  poor  sufferer  were  still  writhing 
with  the  pain  of  the  saw  slowly  biting  its  way  through 
the  acutely  sensitive  bone  membrane,  when  the  general 
caught  sight  of  his  servant,  a  brave  old  Magyar 
Honved,  whose  eyes  were  suffused  with  tears, 
which  the  poor  fellow  tried  to  hide  by  turning  his 
face  the  other  way.  "Ah,  you  rascal/'  said  Festetics, 
with  a  good-humoured  shake  of  his  finger  at  the  old 
soldier,  "ah,  you  pretend  to  weep,  when  your  heart 
is  actually  leaping  with  joy  at  the  happy  thought  that 
you  will  now  have  only  one  boot  to  clean  for  your 
maimed  master." 

On  the  30th  of  June  the  6th  Prussian  corps,  under 
the  command  of  General  Mutius,  then  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  officers  in  the  Prussian  service,  and 
the  beau  ideal  of  a  preux  chevalier  of  ancient  times, 


New  German  Empire.  57 

came  up  to  join  the  5th  corps  at  Gradlitz.  Poor 
General  Mutius,  who  a  few  days  after  did  eminent 
service  at  Sadowa,  was  not  permitted  to  see  the  end 
of  this  war.  Soon  after  the  battle  of  Koniggratz  he 
was  carried  off  by  an  attack  of  cholera. 

The  6th,  or  Silesian  corps,  which  General  Mutius 
commanded,  was  then,  as  it  continues  to  the  present 
day,  one  of  the  best  in  the  Prussian  army,  and  the 
two  sub-commanders  at  the  time,  Generals  Zastrow 
and  Prondzynski,  ranked  even  then  already  among 
the  most  accomplished  officers  in  the  service. 

On  the  same  day  that  the  union  of  the  5th  and  6th 
corps  was  effected,  the  dragoons  of  the  Guard,  sent 
on  by  Prince  Frederick  Charles  to  open  communica- 
tion with  the  second  army,  came  upon  the  right  wing 
of  that  army,  thus  fully  establishing  the  connection 
between  the  two  hosts. 

Next  day,  the  1st  of  July,  a  section  of  the  second 
army  reached  Miliutin,  or  Mile  tin,  where  the  famous 
interview  between  the  Crowrn  Prince  and  Bismarck 
is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  night  from  the  1st 
to  the  2nd  of  July.  (This  alleged  meeting  between 
Bismarck  and  the  Crown  Prince  is  looked  upon  by 
many  as  a  mere  historic  fiction.  The  writer  will  not 
undertake  to  decide  whether  it  really  did  take  place 
or  not.  He  can  only  say  that  at  the  time  he  heard 
the  statement  repeatedly  upon  good  authority.) 

Benedek,  half  stunned  by  the  great  successes  of  the 
three  Prussian  armies,  now  fairly  established  in  the 


58  Men  wlto  1m  re  made  tlie 

heart  of  Bohemia  [tlie  exploits  of  the  first  Prussian 
army  and  the  Elbe  army  will  be  found  recorded  in 
the  memoirs  of  Prince  Frederick  Charles  and  General 
Henvarth  von  Bittenfeld],  resolved  to  concentrate  the 
whole  of  his  forces  in  a  well-chosen  position  near 
Koniggratz,  and  leaning  upon  that  strong  fortress. 

Here  the  Austrian  positions  along  the  line  of  the 
Bistritz  were  attacked  early  in  the  morning  of  the 
3rd  of  July,  at  Sadowa,  by  Prince  Frederick  Charles, 
at  Przim  and  Nechanitz,  by  General  Herwarth  von 
Bittenfeld. 

In  the  memoirs  of  these  two  commanders  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  give  a  brief  description  of  this  part 
of  the  operations.  Suffice  it  here  to  state,  that  the 
Elbe  army  made  only  slow  progress  on  the  left  flank 
of  the  attack,  and  that  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
fought  desperately  all  the  morning  in  the  centre, 
with  but  indifferent  success  upon  the  whole. 

The  prince  had,  in  fact,  occasion  to  wish  by  noon 
for  the  advent  of  the  Crown  Prince  on  the  right 

o 

flank,  as  ardently  as  Wellington  wished  for  the 
promised  arrival  of  his  Prussian  allies  at  Waterloo. 

It  was,  indeed,  said  at  the  time  that  Prince 
Frederick  Charles  had  rashly  begun  his  attack 
upon  the  Austrian  positions  in  the  centre  two  hours 
too  soon. 

The  Crown  Prince,  who  had  had  to  dispose  first  of 
the  corps  of  Legeditch,  in  his  advance  over  Kukus, 
and  had  had  to  contend  against  formidable  difficulties 


New  German  Empire.  59 

of  the  road,  arrived  at  last  on  the  right  flank  in  the 
early  part  of  the  afternoon. 

With  the  eagle  eve  of  the  born  commander  in  the 

C-7  «/ 

field  he  took  in  the  whole  position  at  a  glance.  With 
prompt  decision  he  ordered  the  6th  corps  under 
Mutius  to  cross  the  Trotina  brook,  and  two  battalions 
of  the  Guard  to  storm  the  hill  of  Chlum,  which  his 
inborn  military  genius  perceived  to  be  the  true  key  of 
Benedek's  position,  instead  of  Sadowa,  which  Prince 
Frederick  Charles  had  been  so  fiercely  assailing  all  the 
morning. 

Mutius  executed  the  order  given  him  with  brilliant 
success.  He  forced  the  passage  of  the  Trotina,  and 
compelled  Benedek  to  change  and  shift  the  position 
of  his  right  wing — in  itself  a  difficult  operation,  and 
a  hazardous  proceeding  in  the  face  of  a  brave  and 
skilful  enemy. 

The  Guards,  on  their  part,  carried-  Chlum  in  fine 
style,  capturing  some  thirty  Austrian  pieces  defending 
the  position,  and  killing  most  of  the  gunners  at  their 
pieces.  The  two  storming  battalions  lost  fearfully. 
Out  of  some  1,600  men,  884  were  left  on  their  way 
up,  killed  or  wounded.  But  the  capture  of  Chlum  de- 
cided the  fortune  of  the  day. 

«/ 

The  victorious  Crown  Prince  was  decorated  on  the 
battle-field  by  his  enraptured  father  with  the  highest 
Prussian  military  order,  Pour  le  Merite. 

Had  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  with  the  Elbe  army 
been  as  brilliantly  successful  as  the  Crown  Prince,  th< 


flu  Men  trim  /inrc  made  t/«' 


fate  of  Benedek's  army  had  been  sealed.  The  l)iilk  of 
it  could  barely  liavc  escaped  ca]»tur<';  a  fc\v  straggling 
Lands  alone  might  have  found  their  \\-ay  into  Moravia. 
(It  must  once  mmv  be  observed  here  that  the  fault 
was  gi'iierallv  said  at  the  time  to  have  lain  at  the 
door  of  Frederick  Charles,  and  not  of  Henvarth  von 
Bittenfeld.) 

Even  as  matters  actually  stood,  it  is  difficult  to 
account  for  the  extreme  laxness  and  supineness  of  the 
Prussian  pursuit  of  the  defeated  enemy. 

After  Waterloo  the  Prussians  drove  the  fugitive 
French  before  them  in  merciless,  never-ceasing,  never 
even  relaxing,  chase  throughout  the  fearful  night  of 
the  18th-19th  of  June,  hurling  them  in  headlong 
flight  over  the  bridge  and  through  the  village  of 
Genappe,  through  Quatre-Bras,  and  beyond  Frasnes, 
and  leaving  them  at  last  to  regain  the  left  bank  of 
the  Sambre  only  as  a  thoroughly  broken  and  dis- 
organized mob  ;  whereas,  after  Koniggratz,  the 
defeated  Austrians  were  almost  tenderly  left  to  a 
comparatively  safe  retreat. 

After  Waterloo  the  British  army  was  so  thoroughly 
exhausted  by  its  stupendous  toils  and  sufferings 
during  its  Titanic  struggle  on  that  appalling  field, 
that  it  was  physically  incapacitated  for  further 
exertion  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  Moreover,  the 
Prussians  were  quite  fresh,  and  the  pursuit  might 
well  and  safely  be  handed  over  to  them. 

But  at  Konigeratz,  although  two  out  of  the  three 


New  German  Empire.  61 

Prussian  armies  engaged  had  severally  suffered  in  the 
long  and  arduous  contest,  and  the  third  army,  besides 
some  most  severe  fighting,  had  done  much  hard 
marching  that  day,  there  surely  remained  some 
reserve  force  to  push  the  victory  achieved  to  its 
extremest  consequences. 

Dis  aliter  visum,  it  would  appear,  however :  and 
so  Benedek  was  permitted  to  effect  his  retreat  with 
comparative  ease. 

Still  the  Austrian  losses  were  enormous.  Some  180 
guns  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  and  what  with 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  and  the  somewhat 
large  item  of  missing,  the  day  of  Koniggriitz  cost 
Benedek  some  60,000  men. 

Altogether  the  seven  days'  campaign  had  knocked 
off  more  than  one  clear  half  of  the  powerful  host 
which  a  few  brief  weeks  before  had  so  proudly  taken 
the  field. 

Benedek  was  truly  a  great  general.  It  may  even 
be  left  a  moot  question  for  future  historians  to  discuss 
whether  the  Bohemian  campaign  would  have  eventu- 
ated as  it  did  had  the  master-general  been  left  per- 
fectly free  to  act  as  he  listed,  and  had  he  not  had, 
among  other  impediments,  three  archdukes  thrown  in 
his  path  as  sub-commanders,  not  to  mention  Tbun 
and  Clam-G  alias. 

His  retreat,  at  least,  after  the  battle,  was  masterly. 
He  led  the  bulk  of  his  forces  in  rapid  marches  side- 
ways to  Olmutz,  leaving  only  the  10th  corps,  under 


62  Men  who  hare  made  the 


Gablentz  ;  the  S;ixmis,  under  Crown  Prince  Albert; 
three  divisions  of  heavy  cavalry,  and  the  light  horse, 
under  Edelsheim,  to  proceed  in  the  direction  of 
Vienna. 

He  expected  to  draw  the  whole  Prussian  army  after 
him.  He  was  grievously  disappointed,  however,  in 
this  expectation.  Moltke  simply  directed  the  second 
army,  under  the  Crown  Prince,  to  follow  Benedek, 
and  pushed  the  first  army,  under  Prince  Frederick 
Charles,  rapidly  on  to  Brunn,  and  the  Elbe  army, 
under  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  to  Iglau,  on  the 
direct  road  to  Vienna. 

Although  the  battle  of  Koniggratz  had  terminated 
the  famous  seven  days'  Bohemian  campaign  of  1866, 
the  war  continued  a  few  weeks  longer. 

o 

General  La  Marmora  had  disloyally  communicated 
to  the  French  emperor  the  plan  of  campaign  which 
had  been  recommended  to  Italy  by  the  chief  of  the 
Prussian  staff  (through  the  Prussian  ambassador  to 
the  Italian  court)- -a  plan  which,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  Prussian  convention  with  Klapka  and  other 
Hungarian  leaders,  must  have  totally  destroyed  the 
power  of  Austria  had  it  been  implicitly  followed  by 
the  Italian  chiefs. 

The  immediate  result  of  La  Marmora's  act 
had  been,  that  Louis  Napoleon  had  urgently  advised 
the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  to  consent  to  the 
cession  of  Venetia.  The  emperor  had  taken  the 
advice,  and  had  thereby  set  free  the  Austrian  army 


New  German  Empire.  63 

of  the  south,  and  its  skilful  commander,  the  victor 
of  Custozza. 

The  Archduke  Albrecht,  named  by  the  emperor 
coinmander-in-chief  of  the  whole  of  the  Austrian 
forces,  had  given  general  JBenedek  imperative  orders 
to  leave  Olmutz  with  the  troops  under  his  command, 
and  endeavour  to  make  his  way  to  Florisdorf,  to  join 
there  in  the  defence  of  the  Austrian  capital. 

The  Crown  Prince  had,  as  already  stated,  been 
sent,  with  the  greater  part  of  the  second  army,  after 
Benedek. 

The  prince  sent  the  cavalry  division  Hartmann  and 
the  infantry  division  Malotki  to  Prerau  to  cut  of 
Benedek's  line  of  communication  with  Vienna.  A 
severe  fight  ensued,  on  the  15th  July,  at  Tobitschau, 
in  which  the  Prussians,  who  had  found  before  them 
the  8th  Austrian  corps,  suffered  severely,  but  de- 
feated the  enemy  with  great  loss.  It  was  here  that 
the  8th  Cuirassiers  took  twenty  Austrian  guns  in  fire. 

Large  masses  of  troops  (the  1st  Austrian  corps) 
being  observed  in  the  act  of  marching  off,  General 
Hartmann  advanced  at  the  head  of  eight  squadrons 
to  reconnoitre.  It  was  here  where  the  Prussian  forces, 
having  ventured  too  far  forward,  ran  considerable 
risk  of  being  cut  off,  and  where  their  retreat  was 
so  nobly  covered  by  the  regiment  of  hussars  of  the 
Landwehr. 

Benedek's  line  of  march  to  Vienna  was,  however, 
cut  off  at  another  important  point — Lundenburg — on 


G4  Men  ivlto  /tare  made  the 

the  IGtli  of  July,  by  Horn's  divisiun  of  the  first 
army,  under  command  of  Priuce  Frederick  Charles. 
Benedek  was  forced  to  cross  over  to  the  left  bank 
of  the  river  March,  and  to  try  to  make  good  his 
retreat  to  Vienna  over  the  lesser  Carpathian  moun- 
tains. This  retreat  the  Austrian  general  effected 
successfully  with  consummate  skill. 

Soon  after,  the  armistice  and  peace  preliminaries 
of  Nikolsburg,  followed  by  the  treaty  of  Prague,  put 
an  end  to  the  war,  leaving  the  Crown  Prince  free 

'  O 

to  return  once  more  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  quiet 
and  happy  family  life. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1870,  the  Grand  Land  Lodge 
of  Germany  celebrated  its  first  centenary.  On  this 
occasion  the  Cro\vn  Prince,  in  his  capacity  of  Grand 
Master  of  the  order  and  representative  of  the 
protector  of  all  Prussian  lodges,  his  father  the  king, 
delivered  a  remarkable  address  to  the  brethren 
assembled,  full  of  the  noblest  sentiments  and  the 
largest  and  most  liberal  views,  and  breathin^ 

O  '  O 

throughout  an  exalted  spirit  of  enlightenment. 

He  spoke  of  the  lodge  in  its  connection  with  the 
Swedish  Parent  Lodge,  from  which  it  had  sprung, 
and  with  the  Universal  Lodg;e  of  St.  John. 

O 

He  pointed  out  to  the  brethren  how,  in  the  age  of 
general  progress  in  which  we  were  living,  it  was 
indispensable  that  the  venerable  order  should  also 
advance  beyond  certain  antiquated  notions,  and,  more 
particularly,  should  not  so  persistently  continue  to 


New  German  Empire.  65 

cultivate  mystery  as  had  been  the  case  through  the 
past. 

He  invited  the  brethren  to  strive  to  the  best  of 
their  power  and  ability  to  shed  the  rays  of  the 
higher  intelligence  and  knowledge  possessed  by  them 
over  a  wider  field  than  certain  antiquated  narrow 
rules  would  now  seem  to  allow.  The  entire  tenor 
of  the  prince's  speech  showed,  in  fact,  that  liberty, 
progress,  and  enlightenment  could  have  no  warmer  and 
no  more  powerful  champion  than  his  royal  highness. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  delivery  of  this  address, 
the  Crown  Prince  had  to  tear  himself  away  once 
more  from  his  household  gods.  France  had  rashly 
declared  war  against  Germany,  and  the  prince  had 
intrusted  to  him  the  chief  command  of  one  of  the 
three  great  armies  directed  upon  France  by  Moltke, 
and  the  leadership  of  the  south  German  contingent. 

The  Crown  Prince  left  Berlin  on  the  26th  of  July 
travelling  by  Leipzig,  Munich,  Stuttgart,  and  Karl- 
sruhe to  the  head-quarters  of  the  third  army.  The 
people  received  him  everywhere  with  enthusiastic 
acclamations.  The  manliness  of  his  character,  his 
frank  cordiality,  and  his  affable  manner,  quite  free 
from  all  studied  or  ostentatious  condescension,  gained 
him  all  hearts.  The  south  German  soldiers  more 
particularly,  whom  he  came  to  lead  against  the  here- 
ditary enemy  of  the  great  Fatherland,  were  delighted 
with  him,  and  felt  proud  to  be  commanded  by  the 
true  victor  of  Nachod,  at  least,  and  Clilum. 

VOL.  II.  F 


CU  Mi'it    who   Jitfrc    u«i</<>    tin' 

On  the  2nd  of  August  three  French  divisions,  under 
the  personal  eye  of  the  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon, 
had  made  a  fierce  onset  upon  the  town  of  Saar- 
brucken,  the  centre  of  the  famous  coal-basin,  which, 
if  all  the  truth  of  the  matter  were  fully  known, 
would  Lave  to  be  held  chiefly  responsible  for  the 
outbreak  of  the  Franco-German  war.  At  least  there 
can  hardly  be  a  reasonable  doubt  that  if  Prussia 
had  consented  to  the  cession,  or  even  to  the  sale,  of 
these  rich  coal  mines  to  France,  the  Hispano-Hohen- 
zollern  imbroglio  might  have  been  peaceably  settled. 

The  town  was  held  by  a  few  companies  of  the 
Hohenzollern  Fusiliers,  who  fought  so  bravely,  and 
with  such  consummate  skill,  that  it  took  the  as- 
sailants several  hours  to  force  this  handful  of  gallant 

men  to  retreat  at  last. 

The  telegraph  had  played  strange  pranks  with  this 
very  small  military  achievement,  trumpeting  it  forth 
to  the  world  as  a  most  signal  French  success,  the 
herald  and  pledge  alike  of  many  others  to  follow. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  a  little  after  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  left  Lan- 
dau, attended  by  his  staff  and  suite.  The-  army 
under  his  command  had  been  directed  to  advance 
upon  Weissenburg. 

Weissenburg  had  always  been  held  a  point  of 
considerable  importance,  and  some  of  the  fiercest 
fights  had  been  fought  for  its  possession  in  the 
French  revolutionary  war. 


New  German  Empire.  67 

On  this  occasion  the  city  was  occupied  by  the 
division  of  General  Abel  Douay,  who  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  one  of  the  best  leaders  of  the  French. 
The  division  belonged  to  the  corps  of  Marshal 
M'Mahon,  to  whom  two  flukes,  in  the  Crimea  and  at 
Magenta,  had  given  an  exaggerated  reputation  of 
high  tactical  skill.  It  numbered  sixteen  battalions 
of  very  excellent  infantry,  among  them  two  battalions 
of  Zouaves  and  one  of  Turcos,  and  had  a  numerous, 
powerful,  and  well-served  artillery. 

The  important  eminence  of  the  Gaisberg,  which 
commands  Weissenburg  from  the  south  side,  had 
been  very  strongly  fortified,  and  was  held  by  a  large 
body  of  troops. 

A  little  after  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  Crown 
Prince  arrived  on  the  heights  at  the  east  of  Schweigen, 
just  when  the  vanguard  of  the  German  division  Both- 
mer  were  making  their  first  attack  upon  the  city. 

About  half  an  hour  or  so  later  the  17th  Infantry 
Brigade  (of  the  famous  5th  corps,  that  had  fought 
so  well  in  1866  at  Nachod,  Skalitz,  Schweinschadel, 
&c.),  having  crossed  the  Lauter,  made  its  appearance 
at  St.  Eemy  and  Waghausel,  and  proceeded  to  assault 
the  heights  opposite. 

Soon  after,  the  18th  brigade  of  the  same  corps 
took  its  position  on  the  right  of  the  17th  brigade, 
attacked  and  carried  Altenstadt,  and,  making  its 
way  to  the  southern  bank  of  the  Lauter,  prepared 
to  attack  the  Gaisberg. 

F  2 


TJ/r'y/    irj/o   Jntrr    made 


Tin*  9  tli  division  having  thus  crossed  the  Lauter, 
it  became  practicable  t<>  attack  the  town  of  Weissen- 
buro-  also  from  the  south-*  .  Two  battalions  of  the 

o 

5  7  th  regiment  and  one    of  the   5Sth    were  sent  for- 

o 

ward  from  Altenstadt  for  the  purpose  of  this  opera- 
tion. At  twelve  o'clock  the  town  of  Weissenburg 
was  vigorously  assailed  by  these  troops  and  by 
Bothnier's  division,  and,  after  a  desperate  struggle, 
carried. 

Half  an  hour  later,  the  18th  Infantry  Brigade,  of 
the  5th  corps,  and  the  41st,  of  the  llth  corps, 
delivered  a  fierce  assault  upon  the  Gaisberg,  the 
King's  Grenadier  Eegiment  leading  the  van. 

The  Germans  suffered  severely,  more  especially 
from  the  chassepot  fire  of  the  French  tirailleurs,  who 
occupied  the  vineyards  all  around. 

The  superior  carrying  power  of  the  chassepot,  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  needle-gun,  was  made 
clearly  manifest  here,  whilst  the  much-vaunted  mitrail- 
leuses were  found  wanting. 

The  Prussian  infantry,  however,  marched  up  the 
steep  height  steadily  and  without  flinching,  and 
carried  the  fortified  farm  and  the  castle  behind  at 
the  first  onset,  despite  the  desperate  resistance 
opposed  by  the  French. 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Gaisberg 
had  changed  masters.  Half  an  hour  after,  the 
Crown  Prince  rode  up  the  heights  to  express 
to  the  noble  infantry  of  the  5th  and  llth  corps 


New  German  Empire.  69 

his    warmest   acknowledgments   of    their   undaunted 
bravery. 

The  Gaisberg  being  the  centre  and  key  of  the 
French  position,  after  its  plucky  capture  by  the 
Germans  there  was  nothing  left  for  the  defeated 
corps  to  do  but  to  effect  its  retreat  in  an  orderly 
manner.  This  the  French  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ing, moving  off  in  three  columns  in  a  south-westerly 
direction,  pursued  by  the  two  cavalry  regiments  of 
the  5th  and  10th  divisions. 

General  Douay  had  been  killed  in  the  fight.  The 
loss  of  the  French  amounted  to  some  1,200  killed 
and  wounded.  The  victorious  Germans,  whose  losses 
in  killed  and  wounded  were  even  more  consider- 
able (no  wonder,  considering  the  strength  of  the 
positions  captured  and  the  superiority  of  the  chasse- 
pot  over  the  needle-gun),  captured  some  1,000  un- 
w^ounded  prisoners,  with  thirty  officers,  the  French 
camp,  baggage,  &c.,  and  one  gun,  taken  by  the  5th 
battalion  of  rifles. 

The  capture  of  the  Gaisberg  and  the  lines  of 
Weissenburg  was  the  first  real  deed  of  arms  in  the 
campaign. 

The  day  after  the  battle  the  Crown  Prince  advanced 
to  Sulz,  to  follow  up  his  first  success. 

Marshal  M'Mahon  with  his  entire  corps,  reinforced 
by  divisions  from  De  Failly  and  Canrobert's  corps, 
had  taken  up  an  advantageous  position  all  along  the 
hilly  ground  surrounding  the  small  town  of  Worth. 


70  Mf'U    i'.'/iu    Inii'f    imult'    the 

The  village  of   Froschweiler   formed  the  centre  and 
key  of  the  French  position. 

The  Crown  Prince  had  under  his  command  the  two 
Bavarian  corps,  the  Wurtemberg  division,  and  the 
5th  and  llth  Prussian  corps.  The  battle  began  at 
nine  in  the  morning,  and  lasted  till  night,  though 
Frosehweiler  had  been  carried  before  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  by  a  combined  attack  of  the  Bava- 
rian s  from  the  north,  the  Prussians  from  the  east 
and  the  west,  and  the  Wurtembergers  from  the 
south. 

The  French  army  was  totally  routed.  It  suffered 
enormous  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  and  war 
material.  Six  thousand  unwounded  prisoners,  two 
eagles,  some  thirty  guns,  and  six  mitrailleuses  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  victors. 

At  Eeichshofen  the  Wurtemberg  cavalry  cut  in 
upon  the  French  line  of  retreat  and  inflicted  further 
losses  upon  the  fugitives,  taking  from  them  four  guns, 
vast  military  stores,  &c. 

The  Germans  also  had  suffered  most  severely,  the 
French  having  defended  their  positions  with  des- 
perate bravery. 

Prussians,  Bavarians,  and  Wurtembergers  alike  had 
fought  with  the  same  steady  determination. 

When  the  Crown  Prince  took  occasion,  after  the 
victory,  to  express  to  the  Bavarians  his  very  particular 
satisfaction  with  their  admirable  conduct  in  the  battle, 
a  Bavarian  sergeant  told  the  prince  it  was  all  a 


New  German  Empire. 


question  of  leadership.  "  Under  your  royal  highness's 
command  we  can  go  anywhere  and  do  anything/7  said 
the  simple-minded  soldier  ;  then  added  naively,  "  Had 
we  been  commanded  by  you  in  1866,  instead  of  by  a 
muff,  we  should  have  given  those  Prussians  the 
greatest  hiding  they  ever  got ! '  -a  curious  comment, 
apparently,  upon  the  union  of  all  Germany,  just 
cemented  on  the  battle-field. 

The  Crown  Prince  pursued  his  victory  with  the 
most  consummate  skill.  He  gave  M'Mahon  no 
breathing  time. 

Besides,  after  the  crushing  defeat  inflicted  upon 
General  FrossarcTs  corps  at  Spicheren,  on  the  day 
of  the  battle  of  Worth,  by  Generals  Kameke  and 
Goben,  the  French  marshal  had  really  no  chance 
left  him  of  making  a  successful  stand  anywhere  on 
the  Alsatian  side  of  the  Vosges.  So,  there  re- 
mained nothing  for  him  to  do  but  to  save  the 
remnant  of  his  army  by  a  rapid  retreat,  and  to 
re-form  it  at  the  Chalons  camp. 

In  the  great  Bohemian  campaign  of  1866  the 
victories  achieved  by  the  Crown  Prince  were  by 
many  entirely  placed  to  the  credit  of  General 
Blumenthal,  the  Crown  Prince's  chief  of  the  staff. 

Now  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  General  Blumen- 
thal is  one  of  the  most  highly  accomplished 
military  leaders  of  the  day  ;  in  fact,  he  ranks  im- 
mediately after  Moltke  and  Vogel  von  Falckenstein, 
with  such  men  as  Voisrts-Kketz,  Stielile,  Goben,  and 


72  M~en   n'ho  hare  made  the 

Werder.  Notwithstanding,  it  would  bo  gross  in- 
justice to  say  that  lie  had  organized  the  Crown 
Prince's  victories. 

Blumenthal  himself  .  er  advanced  any  such 
pretension  :  he  is  a  truly  great  man,  who  knows 
that  he  need  not  covet  the  palm  justly  belonging 
to  another.  The  writpr  has  good  reason  to  know 
that  General  Blumenthal  often  spoke  with  enthu- 
siastic admiration  of  the  high  military  genius 
displayed  by  his  royal  chief  in  the  Bohemian 
campaign. 

The  general,  who  is  a  thorough  soldier  every 
inch  of  him,  would  occasionally  complain,  indeed, 
of  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  the  Crown  Prince's 
indolence  in  military  pursuits.  He  even  once  wrote 
a  letter  in  English  to  this  effect  to  his  wife,  who 
is  an  English  lady,  which  letter  was  unfortunately 
intercepted  by  the  Austrians,  who  were  mean 
enough  to  publish  a  German  translation  of  it. 

With  a  smaller  man  than  the  Crown  Prince,  this 
might  have  tended  to  produce  a  certain  coldness 
between  the  chief  of  the  army  and  the  chief  of 
the  staff.  Not  so  with  the  Crown  Prince,  who 
quietly  admitted  to  Blumenthal  that  he  was  quite 
aware  of  his  laxness  and  personal  laziness  in  military 
matters ;  but  he  must  beg  the  general's  indulgence 
for  his  shortcomings  in  this  respect,  as  he  really 
could  not  help  it.  He  did  not  like  the  occupation 
sufficiently  well  to  give  his  whole  soul  and  mind 


New  German  Empire.  73 

to  it.  With  this  the  matter  was  passed  over,  and 
the  cordial  friendship  between  the  prince  and  the 
general  suffered  no  interruption  or  diminution. 

In  the  French  campaign  General  Blumenthal  was 
again  chief  of  the  staff  to  the  Crown  Prince  ;  yet, 
with  all  due  respect  to  the  high  talents  of  the 
general,  it  certainly  did  not  occur  to  anyone  to 
attribute  the  organization  of  the  victories  of 
Weissenburg  and  Worth  to  the  chief  of  the 
staff,  at  the  expense  of  the  genial  leader  of  the 
host. 

The  third  German  army  followed  in  the  wake 
of  the  retreating  French,  although  it  would  appear 
that  touch  with  the  latter  was  soon  lost. 

The  small  fortress  of  Lichtenberg,  in  the  Yosges, 
was  summoned  to  surrender  by  a  corps  of  Wurtem- 
bergers  on  the  8th  of  August.  Upon  the  command- 
ant's refusal  a  heavy  destructive  cannonade  was  opened 
upon  the  place.  It  capitulated  two  days  after. 

Another  of  the  small  fortresses  in  the  Vosges, 
Ltitzelstein,  or  La  Petite  Pierre,  was  hastily  aban- 

f  '  V 

doned  by  the  French,  and  occupied  by  troops  of 
the  2nd  Bavarian  corps  on  the  9th  of  August. 
In  such  hot  haste  had  the  French  evacuated  the 
place,  that  large  stores  and  much  war  material  were 
found  there  by  the  conquerors. 

Nancy  was  abandoned  by  the  French  on  the  1 2th  of 
August,  and  soon  after  taken  possession  of  by  four 
German  lancers.  The  small  fortress  of  Marsal  also 


71  Men    /''/to   have    ni"<1t' 


Was  Speedily  reduced  by  troops  of  tin-  '1\\(\  Bavarian 
corps. 

On  the  Kiili  of  August  tin-  Crown  Prince  took  up 
his  head-quarters  at  Nancy.  Here  lie  remained  with 
his  army,  to  cover  the  operations  of  the  first  and 
second  German  armies  before  Metz,  and  to  be 
ready  at  hand  in  case  of  need. 

After  the  battle  of  Gravelotte,  when  .Baxaine  was 
securely  shut  up  in  Metz,  the  Crown  Prince  moved 
on  again,  westward,  over  Commercy,  Bar-le-Duc, 
Point-du-Jour,  and  Vitry,  upon  Chalons,  which  was 
reached  on  the  24th  of  August,  when  it  was  dis- 

<~s  * 

covered  that  the  camp  on  the  Mourmelon  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  French.  Vitry  capitulated  on  the 
morning  of  the  25th  of  August. 

It  was  speedily  ascertained  that  Marshal  M'Mahon 
was  not  retreating  upon  the  French  capital,  but  was 
moving,  at  the  head  of  150,000  men,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Eheims  and  Bethel,  with  the  evident  inten- 
tion of  endeavouring,  in  co-operation  with  Bazaine 
and  his  host  of  200,000  then  shut  up  in  Metz,  to 
fall  upon  the  Germans  before  that  great  fortress,  and 
to  crush  them  by  the  force  of  overwhelming  numbers. 
The  plan  of  this  campaign  had  been  bunglingly 
conceived  in  Paris  by  Palikao  (Montauban).  Its 
execution  was  attempted  still  more  bunglingly  by 
the  present  chief  of  the  French  government. 

The  Crown  Prince  retraced  his  steps  with  the 
utmost  rapidity,  and  effected  his  junction  with  the 


New  German  Empire.  75 

newly-formed  army  of  the  Meuse,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Saxon  Crown  Prince  Albert,  the 
present  King  of  Saxony,  in  ample  time  to  con- 
tribute to  the  victory  of  Beaumont,  and  share  in 
the  "  crowning  mercy '  of  Sedan. 

The  future  impartial  historian  alone,  who  can 
keep  his  pen  equally  free  from  personal  predilec- 
tion as  from  prejudice,  will  be  able  to  assign  to 
the  memory  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  the  due 
share  of  glory  that  ought  to  fall  to  his  name  in 
connection  with  this  most  marvellous  achievement. 
Here  we  need  say  simply,  that  the  Crown  Prince's 
excellent  tactics  contributed  largely  to  crown  Moltke's 

CD         «/ 

splendid  strategy  with  the  fullest  success. 

M'Mahon  had  set  out  from  the  camp  of  Chalons 
with  a  fine  army  of  150,000  men.  Of  all  this 
formidable  host  there  escaped  only  a  small  fraction 
of  some  3,000  across  the  Belgian  frontier.  About 
115,000  men,  including  about  4,000  officers,  fell 
into  the  conquerors'  hands  as  prisoners  of  war  in  the 
battles  of  Beaumont  and  Sedan,  and  by  the  sub- 
sequent capitulation.  Fourteen  thousand  wounded 
were  also  found  in  Sedan.  The  rest  lay  stretched 
stiff  and  cold  on  the  bloody  fields  of  Beaumont 
and  Sedan,  and  at  Nouart  and  Mousson. 

From  Sedan  the  united  victorious  German  armies 
(the  3rd  under  command  of  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Prussia,  and  the  army  of  the  Meuse  under 
command  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony)  moved 


76  Jf<'it   irJio  h«rc  made  the 

on  in  the  direction  of  Paris  under  tlie  p'-rsnnal 
l'-;idership  of  Ki  AVilliam,  who  established  his 
head-quarters  in  the  old  French  coronation  city  of 
Jvlieims  on  the  f;ih  of  h'eptembcr. 

It  is  an  incalculable  Messing  for  Germany  and 
Europe  that  the  Crown  Prine.3  of  Prus  -as  has 
been  more  than  once  before  observed  in  the  course 
of  this  memoir- -is  not  a  soldier  through  and  through, 
and  from  natural  inclination. 

He  goes  to  the  field  of  battle  as  a  matter  of 
duty.  Under  the  conscious  inspiration  of  his  deep 
sense  of  duty,  he,  indeed,  gives  the  widest  and  fullest 
scope  and  play  to  his  high  military  genius ;  but  the 
fight  once  done,  he  is  not  the  man  to  revel  in  the 
intoxication  of  victory.  He  shudderingly  beholds 
the  stern  realities  of  the  unspeakable  miseries  of 
war,  and  instead  of  insatiably  striving,  like  a 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  to  add  fresh  leaflets  to  the 
laurel  crown  encircling  the  victor's  brow,  he  bethinks 
him  only  of  how  to  soften  the  miseries,  how  to 
assuage  the  sufferings  inflicted  by  the  awful  deity 
whose  dread  rites  he  has  just  been  solemnizing  as 
hierarch. 

So,  no  wonder  that  we  should  find  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Prussia,  five  short  days  after  the  storming 
of  Sedan,  issuing  a  pleading  and  warm  appeal  to 
every  German  man  and  woman  in  the  great  Father- 
land to  put  their  shoulders  energetically  to  the 
wheel  to  establish  a  general  fund  for  the  relief  of 


New  German  Empire.  77 

invalided  warriors  and  their  families — an  appeal  so 
gloriously  seconded  by  his  august  wife,  our  own 
Princess  Royal. 

*/ 

On  the  17th  of  September  the  vanguard  of  the 
Germans  reached  Paris.  With  the  same  strange, 

o 

wilful  blindness  to  the  most  patent  facts  which 
characterized  the  Austrians  in  their  Bohemian  cam- 
paign of  1866,  when,  to  give  one  instance  out  of 
many,  they  ruthlessly  destroyed  a  wooden  bridge 
leading  over  the  Elbe  at  Kukus,  where  the  width 
of  the  river  is  not  quite  that  of  a  moderately- 
sized  brook,  and  the  depth  about  knee-deep,  the 
French  had  sternlv  sacrificed  all  bridges,  viaducts, 

«/  \~t       ' 

and  other  facilities  of  communication  on  roads  and 
railways,  without  being  able  to  impose  thereby  one 
single  hour's  delay  upon  the  irresistible  advance  of 
the  foe. 

On  this  day  (17th  of  September)  a  portion  of  the 
17th  brigade  overthrew  several  battalions  of  the 
French  to  the  north  of  the  Brevannes  forest  ;  on 
the  day  after  the  French  were  driven  back  again 
at  Bicetre ;  and  on  the  19th  the  Crown  Prince 
effected  the  inclosing  of  Paris  all  along  the  line 
from  Versailles  to  Vincennes,  having  on  the  after- 
noon of  that  day  beaten  off  three  divisions  of  General 
Vinoy's  army,  which  had  taken  up  a  strong  position 
on  the  heights  of  Sceaux. 

The  2nd  Bavarian  corps  and  the  5th  Prussian 
corps  were  engaged  in  this  feat  of  arms,  under  the 


Men   n-/n>  have  ni>«l<>  tJn> 

personal  command  ofilic  Crown  Prince.  The  French 
suffered  heavy  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners, 
besides  leavinn;  seven  guns  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 

o  o 

queroix  General  Vinoy  was  the  French  commander 
on  the  occasion. 

From  this  day,  the  19th  of  September,  forward  to 
the  termination  of  the  siege  of  Paris,  the  Crown 
Prince  held  the  line  Bougival,  Sevres,  Meudon, 
Bourg  1'Hay,  Chevilly,  Thiais,  Choisy-le-Eoi,  and 
Bonnevil.  He  again  in  person  directed  the  fight 
against  Vinoy  on  the  30th  of  September,  when  the 
French  were  driven  back  with  heavy  loss. 

On  the  27th  of  October  Metz  capitulated  to  the 
besieging  German  army  under  Prince  Frederick 
Charles.  The  momentous  importance  of  this  event, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  glorious  days  of 
Weissenburg,  Worth,  and  Sedan,  induced  King 
William  to  depart,  for  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Hohenzollerns.  from  the  old  traditionary 
custom  of  the  family,  which  excluded  princes  of 
the  reigning  house  from  attaining  the  highest  mili- 
tary grade. 

King  William  himself,  when  Prince  of  Prussia, 
had  only  held  the  position  of  Colonel-General  of 
infantry,  whilst  his  brother,  Prince  Charles,  had 
been  made  Master- General  of  the  Ordnance,  both 
with  the  rank  of  field-marshal,  indeed,  but  without 
the  full  title.  Now,  the  king  resolved  for  the  first 
time  to  raise  the  Crown  Prince  and  Prince  Frederick 


New  German  Empire.  7!) 

Charles  to  the  full  rank  and  title  of  general  field  - 
marshals  in  the  army. 

In  the  several  desperate  attempts  made  by 
the  French  in  the  course  of  November  and 
December,  1870,  and  more  particularly  on  the  19th 
of  January,  1871,  the  Crown  Prince  firmly  main- 
tained the  position  before  Paris  intrusted  to  his 
keeping. 

The  day  before  the  last  effort  of  General  Trochu 
to  break  through  the  iron  lines  which  the  Germans 

o 

had  drawn  round  Paris,  to  wit,  the  18th  of  January, 
1871,  his  majesty  King  William  of  Prussia,  having 
on  that  day  assumed  the  imperial  crown  and  sceptre 
of  the  ancient  German  empire,  issued  a  decree  raising 
the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  to  the  high  state  of 
Crown  Prince  of  the  German  empire. 

After  the  happy  conclusion  of  peace,  the  Crown 
Prince,  always  eager  to  bid  adieu  to  war  and  strife, 
left  Versailles  on  the  7th  of  March,  1871.  On  the 
llth  of  March  he  passed  through  Eouen,  on  the  14th 
through  Nancy,  and  so  on,  in  a  veritable  blaze  of 
triumph,  which  his  unassuming  and  unpretending 
modesty*  would  gladly  have  eschewed,  to  the 
Prussian  capital,  where  his  happy  royal  father 
bestowed  upon  him,  on  the  22nd  of  March,  the 
high  insignia  of  Grand  Cross  of  the  Order  of  the 
Iron  Cross. 

On  the  16th  of  June  he  took  the  lion's  share  of 
popular  enthusiasm  and  admiration  in  the  triumphal 


80  '       •'•          -    'de  tic 


riitrv   into    P'Tlin,  and,  exactly  one    month  after,  in 
the  iriunipli.il  entry  into  .Munich. 

Since    that     time     tin-    imperial    and    royal    Crown 

of  Germany   and    "Prussia    has   once    more- 
and   liow   gladly!-        aced  him>elf,   as  it   were,  from 
the   pvat    poiiiiial    sla^e,  and  taken   a  happy  refuge 
from  its    r roubles   and   turmoil   in   the          >m  of  his 
family,    where    his    wife    and    his     children    are    all 

«     * 

the    world    to    him. 

There  is  no  need  to  dwell  here  upon  the  deep 
devotion  which  all  under  his  genial  command  have 
ever  borne  him,  and  how  the  hearty  "  Good  morn- 
ing," with  which  he  likes  to  greet  the  assembled 
regiments,  finds  an  equally  hearty  responsive  echo 
in  all  ranks  of  the  great  host.  Nor  need  we  ex- 
patiate upon  the  affectionate  love  felt  for  him 
everywhere  by  the  people  of  Germany.  The  pro- 
found, racking  anxiety  with  which  his  illness  last 
year  was  watched  throughout  the  land  afforded 
ample  proof  of  this. 

In  the  love  and  affection  of  the  people,  his  wife, 
our  own  Princess  Koyal,  shares  most  fully  and 
most  deservedly.  This  august  lady,  unassuming 
and  unpretending,  like  her  noble  husband,  delights 
only  in  setting  a  bright  example  to  all  the  women 
in  the  land,  in  her  household,  in  her  nursery,  in 
the  schoolroom  of  her  children,  and  in  that  glorious 
little  model  farm  of  hers  and  her  husband's  at 
Borns tacit,  near  Potsdam,  a  delight  in  which  her 


New  German  Empire.  81 

imperial  and  royal  highness  has  inherited  from 
her  great  father,  the  late  Prince  Consort.  The 
august  lady  has  also  given  to  Berlin  a  museum 
of  art,  in  imitation  and  emulation  of  the  South 
Kensington  Museum  in  London  ;  and  she  is  always 
striving  in  every  way  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  poor  and  suffering  of  her  own  sex,  and  to 
devise  new  means  and  channels  of  female  occupa- 
tion. 

Need  any  excuse  be  pleaded  here  for  thus  intro- 
ducing the  name  and  person  of  the  Crown  Princess 
in  this  memoir  ?  May  it  not  be  honestly  affirmed, 
indeed,  that  her  beneficent  influence  has  also  largely 
contributed  to  the  making  of  the  new  German 
empire  ? 


VOL,  IT, 


irho  haL\    iii<t<li'  the 


VII. 

PRINCE  FREDERICK  CHARLES  OF  PRUSSIA. 

PRINCE  FREDERICK  CHARLES  is  unquestionably  a 
great  military  commander,  who  deserves  to  be  placed 
high  among  the  tactical  leaders  who  have  so  largely 
contributed  to  make  the  new  German  empire.  But 
to  claim  for  him,  as  some  military  writers  have 
attempted  to  do,  the  first  and  foremost  rank  among 
the  successful  commanders  in  the  wars  of  1864, 
1866,  and  1870-71,  seems  really  an  exaggerated 
stretch  of  appreciation  of  the  merits  of  the  man. 

With  some  of  these  adulatory  admirers  of  the 
prince  it  has,  indeed,  become  the  fashion  to  throw 
sneering  doubts  upon  the  high  military  capacity  and 
tactical  genius  of  the  Crown  Prince,  who,  to  believe 
these  would-be  detractors,  has  simply  reaped  what  his 
chief  of  the  staif  had  sown. 

In  the  memoir  of  the  Crown  Prince  I  have  already 
demonstrated  the  utter  groundlessness  of  this 
gratuitous  assertion,  and  I  have  also  shown  that 
"  Our  Fritz,"  as  the  old  emperor  so  affectionately  calls 
his  first-born,  has  not  committed  a  single  blunder  in 


New  German  Empire.  83 

the  campaigns  of  1866  and  1870-71,  but  that  he  has, 
on  the  contrary,  displayed  a  rare  aptitude  for  re- 
pairing the  grievous  mistakes  of  others,  including, 
for  instance,  Prince  Frederick  Charles's  patent 
miscalculation  at  Sadowa. 

The  Crown  Prince  is  a  born  general,  with  no  war- 
like predilections  ;  his  cousin  is  a  soldier  through  and 
through,  with  the  most  emphatic  military  proclivities. 

Prince  Frederick  Charles  Nicholas  was  born  at 
Berlin  on  the  20th  of  March,  1828.  He  is  the  eldest 
and  only  son  of  Prince  Charles  of  Prussia,  only 
surviving  brother  of  the  German  emperor,  and 
Princess  Marie  of  Saxe-Weimar,  sister  of  the  Empress 
Augusta. 

As  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Prussia  he  was,  of 
course,  from  early  infancy,  intended  for  and  brought 
up  in  the  military  career. 

His  education  was  most  carefully  attended  to.  He 
enjoyed  in  his  military  and  scientific  studies  the 
guidance  of  the  most  eminent  and  most  renowned 
teachers,  more  particularly  of  Major  Roon,  subse- 
quently Minister  of  War. 

The  major  was  expressly  selected  by  Prince  Charles 
to  attend  the  *  young  prince  in  his  studies  at  the 
University  of  Bonn,  where  Frederick  Charles  remained 
about  two  years,  from  1846  to  1848. 
.  An  intimate  friendship  was  formed  here  between 
the  brilliant  major  and  his  young  charge,  who,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say,  formed  himself  almost  exclusively 

G  2 


84  Men    trhu  /utre   nimh    (he 

upon  the  model  of  his  teacher,  in  his  high  qualities 
as  well  as,  unhappily,  also  in  his  glaring  defects.  The 
prince's  somewhat  exaggerated  notions  of  his  high 
princely  rank  and  position,  and  his  slightly  ex- 
travagant insistance  upon  the  blindest  and  most  abso- 
lutely submissive  obedience  to  his  will  and  command 
on  the  part  of  all  who  happen  to  be  placed  under  his 
rule,  may  truly  be  said  to  have  been  instilled  into  his 
mind  by  Eoon. 

In  1848  he  was  made  captain  of  cavalry,  and 
appointed  in  that  capacity  to  the  staff  of  General 
Wrangel,  whom  he  attended  accordingly  in  the 
Schleswig  campaign.  A  valiant  soldier,  like  all 
Hohenzollerns,  and  a  fearless  rider,  he  gained  some 
personal  distinction  in  the  fight  of  Schleswig. 

In  1849  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  major,  and 
attached  to  the  staff  of  his  uncle,  Prince  William  of 
Prussia,  whom  he  attended  in  the  Baden  campaign. 
In  the  fight  of  Wiesenthal  (June  20),  where  Franz 
Sigel  was  very  near  snatching  a  victory  over  the 
Prussian  troops  opposed  to  him,  the  young  hussar 
officer  made  several  brilliant  charges  at  the  head  of 
his  squadron. 

Here  he  was  severely  wounded  in  the  arm  and 
shoulder.  His  recovery  was  rather  long  and  tedious. 
He,  however,  turned  the  time  of  this  enforced  leisure 
to  most  excellent  account ;  he  studied  hard,  more 
particularly  military  sciences  and  history,  the  lives 
and  campaigns  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  of  the 


Neiv  German  Empire.  85 

first   Napoleon   forming   the  subject   of    his    special 
predilection. 

After  his  recovery  he  returned  to  his  military 
duties,  and  advanced  gradually  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-general of  cavalry. 

In  1854  he  married  Princess  Maria  Anna,  daughter 
of  Duke  Leopold  Frederick  of  Anhalt  Dessau,  one  of 
the  wealthiest  of  the  princes  of  Germany. 

In  1859  his  uncle,  the  Prince  Begent,  placed  him 
at  the  head  of  the  3rd  army  corps. 

Francis  Joseph's  obstinate  dislike  of  Prussian 
assistance  deprived  Frederick  Charles  of  the  eagerly 
anticipated  chances  of  trying  conclusions  with  the 
French.  But,  although  thus  compelled  to  look  on  as 
an  idle  spectator  of  the  deeds  of  others,  he  yet 
managed  to  turn  the  Austro-Italian  campaign  to  the 
most  profitable  account  for  his  military  schooling. 
He  eagerly  watched  the  French  tactics  in  this  war, 
and,  with  the  lessons  of  his  great  teacher  (Eoou) 
impressed  on  his  mind,  he  easily  detected  their 
palpable  defects. 

He  clearly  saw  that  it  was  certainly  not  the 
superior  prowess  of  the  French  or  the  high  military 
ability  of  their  commanders  which  had  overthrown  the 
Austrians  in  the  field,  but  that  it  was  chiefly,  if  not 
even  exclusively,  the  gross  incapacity  of  Giulay,  and 
the  still  grosser  incapacity  of  Francis  Joseph  himself 
and  the  gentlemen  of  his  military  cabinet,  which  had 
led  to  the  catastrophes  of  Magenta  and  Solferino. 


JA.'//.    trJt't  Imrr   made   tin' 


The  primr  gathered  round  him  a  somewhat  ex- 
tensive circle  of  superior  officers,  to  whom  he 
explained  his  views,  and  with  whom  he  discussed  the 
many  important  questions  arising  therefrom  or  in 
connection  therewith.  Those  privileged  to  join  in 
the  prince's  dissertations  on  strategic  and  tactical 
questions  soon  began  to  entertain  the  highest  opinion 
of  this  young  general's  ability. 

Some  of  the  most  prominent  of  his  military  essays 
Frederick  Charles  had  lithographed  for  private 
circulation  among  his  own  circle. 

However,  one  of  these  essays  obtained  a  wider 
publicity,  much  against  the  will  and  wish  of  the 
prince. 

It  appeared  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  1860,  with 
the  unpretending  title,  "A  Military  Memorial,  by 
P.  F.  C."  It  was  simply  an  essay  on  the  ways  and 
means  of  the  Prussian  army  to  overcome  the  French 
in  fight  It  created  great  stir,  more  especially  in 
France,  where  it  made  much  bad  blood,  it  would 
seem,  and  provoked  several  "  victorious  refutations/' 
ai  attendant  the  chance  of  teaching  the  presuming 
Prussians  better  at  the  first  opportunity  on  the  field 
of  battle. 

Frederick  Charles  himself  was  greatly  annoyed  by 
the  unauthorized  publication  of  his  essay.  He  even, 
against  the  advice  of  his  friends,  brought  an  action 
against  the  publisher,  who  had  taken  the  unwarrant- 
able liberty  to  add  a  preface  of  his  own  manufacture 


New  German  Empire.  87 

to  the  prince's  essay- -a  preface  thoroughly  alien  to 
Frederick  Charles's  own  personal  views.  The  action 
ended  in  the  prince's  discomfiture ;  the  publisher 
being  triumphantly  acquitted. 

In  1861  Frederick  Charles  attained  the  high  rank 
of  general  of  cavalry  in  the  Prussian  army. 

When  the  Danish  war  broke  out  in  1864  the  prince 
had  intrusted  to  him  the  command  of  the  right 
wing  of  the  Prussian  corps. 

Wrangel  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the 
allied  Austro-Prussian  forces.  Considering-  the  great 

o  o 

age  of  the  old  marshal,  it  was  almost  transparent  that 
the  command  was  meant  to  be  more  nominal  than 
real,  and  that  it  had  been  bestowed  upon  the  old 
man  simply  to  guard  against  hurting  Austrian  sus- 
ceptibilities. 

At  all  events,  Prince  Frederick  Charles  might  fairly 
be  considered  to  be  almost  independent  in  his  sub- 
command, and  to  have  pretty  free  hand  to  devise 
and  execute  his  own  plan  of  campaign,  so  that  the 
unsuccessful  attempt  upon  Missunde  (2nd  of  February) 
must  be  put  down  entirely  to  the  debit  side  of  the 
prince's  account. 

However,  he  soon  retrieved  this  first  failure  by 
turning  off  to  the  right  and  marching  on  Amis, 
where  he  successfully  crossed  the  Schley  on  the  6th 
of  February — a  clever  strategic  move,  which  com- 
pelled the  Danes  to  evacuate  the  famous  Dannewerk. 

The  prince  now  marched  upon  the  fortified  position 


88  M<  u   ichu  //<'"    made  the 

of  Diippcl,  which  he  found  a  very  hard  nut  to  crack. 
It   took,  in  fact,  a  regular  siege   of  two  months'  dura- 
tion to  prepare  the  way  for  the  final  storm  upon  tin 
Diippel  lines,  which  were  gallantly  carried  at  last  on 
the  18th  of  April. 

Preparations  had  now  to  be  made  to  cross  over  to 
Alsen ;  this  operation,  however,  was  not  executed 
by  the  prince,  for  after  Wrangel's  resignation  (the  old 
man  thought  he  had  no  business  there),  the  prince  suc- 
ceeding to  the  command -in-chief,  General  Herwarth 

O  ' 

von  Bittenfeld,  his  successor  in  the  command  of  the 
right  wing  of  the  Prussian  corps,  effected  the  capture 
of  the  important  island  of  Alsen. 

All  things  duly  considered,  and  taking  into  ac- 
account  also,  and  more  especially,  the  very  great 
disproportion  of  the  forces  engaged  on  both  sides, 
no  conscientious  historian  would  venture  to  claim 
a  very  large  laurel  wreath  for  Frederick  Charles 
because  of  his  high  deeds  in  the  Danish  campaign 
of  1864. 

But  two  years  after,  in  1866,  the  prince  had  a 
much  better  and  more  promising  opportunity  afforded 
him  to  gain  the  reputation  of  a  great  commander, 
and  it  must  be  conceded  by  all,  even  by  those  whose 
belief  in  the  prince's  military  ability  is  by  no  means 
absolute,  that  Frederick  Charles  fully  and  most  suc- 
cessfully availed  himself  of  this  opportunity. 

He  was  intrusted  by  the  king  with  the  command 
of  the  first  Prussian  army,  formed  of  the  2nd, 


New  German  Empire.  89 

3rd,  and  4th  corps,  numbering  altogether  93,000 
effectives.  With  this  army  the  prince  started  from 
his  head- quarters  in  Saxon  Lusatia  on  the  22nd  of 
June,  and  crossed  into  Bohemia  the  day  after,  where 
he  was  speedily  joined  (28th  of  June)  by  General 
Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  with  the  army  of  the  Elbe, 
numbering  some  46,000  effectives,  so  that  the  prince 
had  under  his  supreme  command  altogether  about 
140,000  men. 

Three  days  before  the  junction  of  the  two  armies 
the  prince  had  defeated  part  of  the  Austrian  forces 
opposed  to  him  at  Liebenau. 

This  first  encounter  was  almost  entirely  limited 
to  an  artillery  fight,  and  of  no  very  great  importance. 
But  the  day  after  (26th  of  June)  he  attacked  the 
Austrians  again  at  Podol,  where  a  most  obstinate  and 
bloody  fight  ensued,  which  ended  only  at  midnight, 
when  Podol  was  at  last  finally  taken  by  the  Prussians. 

It  was  at  Podol  where  the  needle-gun  for  the  first 
time  came  into  terrible  play.  An  entire  battalion  of 
Austrian  rifles  was  annihilated  here  almost  to  a  man. 

On  the  28th  the  prince,  having  now  effected  his 
junction  with  the  army  of  the  Elbe,  made  a  grand 
attack  upon  the  corps  of  Clam-Gallas  and  the  Saxon 
army  which  had  joined  it. 

The  battle  took  place  at  Miinchengratz .  It  ended 
in  the  defeat  of  the  Austrians  and  Saxons,  and  in 
their  retreat  to  Gitschin,  where  they  took  up  a  for- 
midable position  on  a  steep  rock  before  the  town. 


90  M<  n   "7/o  hare  made  the 

Next  day  (29th  of  June)  the  prince  had  this  position 
attacked  by  two  Prussian  divisions,  which,  after  a  most 
obstinate  and  bloody  fight,  in  which  heavy  loss  was 
inflicted  and  suffered  on  both  sides,  drove  the  Aus- 
trians  from  it  headlong  into  the  town  of  Gitschin. 
The  victorious  Prussians  relentlessly  pursued  the 
defeated  enemy,  and  continued  the  fight  in  the 
streets  of  Gitschin.  After  one  of  the  fiercest  struggles 
in  the  history  of  this  war  the  Austrians  were  ulti- 
mately driven  out,  and  compelled  to  retreat  to 
Horziz. 

The  corps  of  Clam-Gallas  had  suffered  fearfully  in 
these  battles.  It  was  almost  disorganized.  But  the 
Austrian  general  had  bravely  done  his  duty.  Bene- 
dek's  faulty  dispositions  had  contributed  most  largely 
to  bring  about  the  catastrophe. 

But  Benedek  was  unfortunately,  to  the  grievous 
damage  of  his  own  reputation,  mean  enough  to  en- 
deavour to  cover  his  own  responsibility  by  sacrificing 
his  sub-commander,  whom  he  accused  in  his  reports 
to  Vienna  of  having,  by  his  want  of  military  capacity, 
caused  the  overthrow  and  dissolution  of  his  corps, 
adding  that  this  grievous  failure  of  Clam-Gallas  alone 
had  compelled  him  (Benedek)  to  relinquish  offensive 
operations,  and  to  concentrate  his  army  rearward 
upon  Koniggratz. 

This  false  charge  led  to  the  summary  dismissal  of 
poor  Clam-Gallas  from  his  command,  which  he  had 
to  hand  over  to  Count  Gondrccourt.  Clam-Gallas 


New  German  Empire.  91 

afterwards  succeeded  in  proving  the  "  unfairness," 
to  use  no  harsher  word,  of  Benedek's  conduct  to 
him  in  the  affair. 

On  the  2nd  of  July,  King  William,  attended  by 
Eoon,  Moltke,  and  Bismarck,  arrived  at  Gitschin. 

It  had  been  intended  to  give  the  Prussian  army 
one  or  two  days'  rest,  but  on  the  evening  of  the  2nd 
of  July  General  Yoigts-Ehetz,  chief  of  the  staff  to 
Prince  Frederick  Charles,  and,  soil  dit  en  passant, 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  accomplished  officers  of 
the  Prussian  army,  reported  to  his  chief  that  the 
Austrians  were  crossing  the  Bistritz  over  to  Sadowa. 

This  report  decided  General  Moltke  to  bring  on  a 
general  engagement  the  next  day. 

Orders  were  immediately  despatched  to  the  Crown 
Prince  to  come  up  from  Kukus,  and  to  take  up  his 
position  on  the  right  flank,  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
occupying  the  front,  and  General  Herwarth  von 
Bittenfeld  the  left  flank  or  wing. 

The  ball  was  opened  by  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
in  the  centre  earlv  in  the  morning  of  the  3rd 

«/  o 

of  July ;  indeed,  report  will  have  it,  two  hours 
sooner  than  General  Moltke  had  contemplated,  and 
in  the  very  teeth  of  the  general's  injunctions  to 
that  effect. 

The  prince,  it  is  asserted,  is  a  man  of  towering 
ambition,  and  not  without  jealousy  of  his  royal 
cousin,  the  Crown  Prince.  He  was  eager,  it  is 
said,  to  snatch  a  complete  victory  over  the  Austrians 


92  Men   who  hair   ///Wr  the 

before  his  cousin  should  be  able  to  come  up  to  share 
in  the  laurels  gained  by  him. 

The  time  has  not  yet  come,  nor  are  all  the  requisite 
materials  at  hand,  to  decide  whether  there  is  actually 
some  foundation  for  this  accusation  made  against  the 
prince,  or  whether  it  ought  to  be  relegated  into  the 
extensive  domain  of  historic  fictions. 

It  has  been  pleaded  that  it  was  not  the  premature 
attack  upon  the  Austrian  position  made  by  the 
prince,  but  the  "  unforeseen '  delay  of  the  Crown 
Prince  in  his  advance  from  Kukus  to  Chlum,  that 
imperilled  for  a  time  the  fortune  of  the  day.  This 
plea  is  peremptorily  rejected  by  Prince  Frederick 
Charles's  critics,  who  maintain  that  there  was  nothing 
unforeseen  in  the  delay  of  the  Crown  Prince's  march, 
but  that  Moltke  had  previously,  in  fullest  anticipa- 
tion of  such  delay,  fixed  the  time  of  attack  at  two 
hours  later. 

If  Prince  Frederick  Charles  really  allowed  himself 
to  be  led  away  in  the  matter  by  his  ambition,  he 
certainly  must  have  discovered,  at  an  inconveniently 
early  period  of  the  day,  that  ambition  is  a  most 
unsafe  guide,  and  he  must  have  longed  for  the 
advent  of  his  royal  cousin  on  the  right  flank  as 
ardently  as  Wellington  did  for  the  coming  of 
Bliicher's  Prussians  at  Waterloo. 

It  must  be  conceded,  however,  by  all  parties, 
even  those  with  a  strong  bias  against  the  prince, 
that  he  bore  himself  right  valiantly  throughout  the 


New  German  Empire.  93 

fierce  fight   of    Sadowa,    and  that  his    tactical    dis- 
positions were  most  masterly. 

His  army,  also,  did  its  fighting  with  desperate 
valour,  and  with  unswerving,  toughest  firmness 
throughout.  General  Fransecky's  division,  more 
especially,  gained  high  distinction  in  the  battle,  and 
the  heroic  courage  of  the  26th  and  27th  regiments 
(Magdeburgers),  in  the  capture  of  the  small  wood  of 
Sadowa,  was  truly  beyond  all  praise. 

Still  the  fate  of  the  day  remained  suspended  in 
the  scales  of  Fortune,  and  as  noon  came  there  wras 
clearly  a  preponderating  incline  to  the  Austrian 
side.  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  advanced  but  slowly 
from  the  left  wing,  and  the  king,  who  acted  as  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  combined  armies,  was  over- 
long  detained  on  Problus-hill,  where  he  had  taken  up 
his  station  early  in  the  morning.  His  majesty  also 
ardently  longed  for  the  arrival  of  his  son  and  heir, 
but  did  meanwhile  his  best  to  keep  the  fight  in 
suspense,  at  least,  by  the  most  formidable  display 
of  artillery. 

To  this  latter  splendid  branch  of  the  Prussian 
service  belonged  unquestionably  a  considerable  share 
of  the  glory  of  the  ultimate  victory,  which,  as  has 
been  stated  already  in  the  memoir  of  the  Crown 
Prince,  was  finally  gained  by  the  magnificently- 
executed  movement  of  the  Silesians  under  Mutius 
across  the  Trotina — compelling  Benedek,  at  a  most 
critical  juncture,  to  change  the  position  of  his  right 


!)  1-  M(  it     ''7/<>    have    ni<nJr    fix 

wiii^  -and  by  the  heroic  capture  of  Chlum,  effected 
by  the  Augusta  and  Elizabeth  battalions  of  the  guard. 

To  return  once  more  to  the  precipitation  of  the 
attack  in  the  morning  imputed  to  Prince  Frederick 
Charles,  the  prince's  critics  maintain  that  it  was  owing 
in  a  great  measure,  at  least,  to  the  exhaustion  of  his 
and  Bittenfeld's  forces  that  the  battle  did  not 
eventuate  in  the  total  destruction  of  the  Austrians, 
which  might  have  led  to  more  surprising  results  even 
than  those  achieved  in  the  end. 

The  prince's  alleged  "  mistake,  or  miscalculation ' 
has  by  some  of  his  critics  been  compared  in  its  issue 
and   results    with   the    famous    blunder    of   General 
Manstein,  at  Colin,  in  the  Seven  Years'  War. 

Now  I  must  candidly  confess  that  this  seems  to  me 
a  stretch  far  beyond  anything  ever  yet  before  at- 
tempted to  throw  discredit  upon  the  achievements 
and  reputation  of  a  truly  great  commander  in  the 
field. 

To  make  this  clear  I  will  give  a  brief  sketch  here 
of  the  political  and  military  position  of  affairs  at 
the  battle  of  Colin. 

At  the  time  of  that  battle,  Frederick  the  Great, 
having  just  before  (6th  of  May,  1757)  gained  the 
great  victory  of  Prague,  with  the  prospect  of  com- 
pelling the  surrender  of  the  beaten  Austrian  army, 
which  had  taken  refuge  in  that  city,  held  apparently 
a  most  promising  position,  politically  and  militarily. 

Of   the   great    coalition    formed  against   him,   one 


New  German  Empire.  95 

of  the  most  important  members,  Saxony,  was  abso- 
lutely in  his  hands.  The  French  were  only  just 
making  their  appearance  on  the  scene,  the  Russians 
were  still  far  off,  and  the  princes  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire  were  just  being  frightened  into  the  speediest 
withdrawal  from  the  an  ti- Prussian  coalition  by 
Colonel  Meyer's  expedition  into  Franconia. 

Had  the  great  king  succeeded  in  defeating  the 
other  Austrian  army  in  the  field,  which  was  com- 
manded by  Marshal  Daun,  and  had  taken  up  a 
formidable  position  at  Colin,  Prague  must  have 
surrendered ;  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  must  have 
accepted  any  conditions  of  peace  it  might  have 
pleased  the  victorious  Borussian  king  to  impose 
upon  its  members  ;  France  and  Russia  would  have 
thought  twice  before  they  had  gone  on  with  the 
war ;  and  Maria  Theresa  would  have  been  compelled 
to  make  peace  again,  at  the  additional  sacrifice, 
perhaps,  of  another  province  ceded  to  the  con- 
queror. 

I  have  said  Marshal  Daun  had  taken  up  a  for- 
midable position  at  Colin.  The  Austrian  front, 
or  centrum,  looking  to  the  north,  was,  in  fact, 
unassailable  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  Not  so 
the  right  wing,  which,  if  properly  attacked  by  over- 
whelming forces,  could  hardly  avoid  being  rolled 
up  and  forced  upon  the  centre. 

The  execution  of  this  tactical  manoeuvre  was  in- 
trusted by  the  king  to  Generals  Ziethen  and  Hlilscn, 


06  M^cn    wJirt  In i re  mtnfe  tJte 

who  commanded  the  left  Prussian  win--.  The  Prus- 
sian centre,  under  Maurice  of  Dessau,  and  the  right 
wing  under  the  Duke  of  Bevern,  were  strictly  ordered 
by  the  king  to  abstain  from  all  offensive  operations 
upon  the  Austrians  opposed  to  them,  and  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  to  give  the  most  energetic 
support  to  the  attacking  left  wing  of  the  Prussian 
army. 

One  of  Prince  Maurice's  sub-commanders  in  the 
Prussian  centre,  a  General  Man  stein,  a  man  of 
towering  ambition,  under  pretext  of  an  order  from 
the  king  alleged  to  have  been  brought  him  by  M. 
de  Varennes,  a  French  refugee  in  the  king's  service, 
engaged  the  fight  in  the  centre,  where  the  Austrian 
position  was  absolutely  unassailable. 

This  gross  blunder  proved  fatal.  The  Prussian 
army  was  badly  defeated,  despite  the  most  heroic 
courage  and  endurance  ;  it  suffered  enormous  losses, 
and  the  siege  of  Prague  had  to  be  raised  at  once  and 
Bohemia  evacuated  by  the  Prussians. 

General  Mansteiri  had  committed  a  similar  blunder 
at  the  battle  of  Prague,  but  with  less  dire  results, 
and  the  king,  in  the  joy  of  victory,  had  forborne  to 
visit  with  deserved  punishment  the  general's  want 
of  strict  obedience  to  commands. 

To  pretend  to  detect  the  least  similarity  between 
Prince  Frederick  Charles's  premature  attack  on  the 
morning  of  the  3rd  of  July,  even  admitting  the 
justice  of  this  charge  against  him  (which  I  for  one 


New  German  Empire.  97 

will  not  concede),  and  Manstein's  bold  defiance  of 
orders  at  Colin,  seems  to  me  positively  monstrous. 

After  the  battle  of  Koniggratz,  Prince  Frederick 
Charles  moved  with  his  army  into  Moravia  upon 
Brtinn,  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  being  directed  upon 
Iglau,  both  in  the  direct  road  to  Vienna. 

The  Archduke  Albrecht,  having  meanwhile  taken 

'  O 

the  chief  command  of  all  the  Austrian  forces,  ordered 
Benedek  up  from  Olmiitz  to  Florisdorf,  to  see  whether 
Vienna  might  not  be  successfully  defended  there. 

The  Crown  Prince  tried  to  cut  off  Benedek's  direct 
line  of  march  to  Vienna,  but  he  failed,  as  has  been 
stated  already  in  his  memoir.  Prince  Frederick 
Charles  was  more  successful.  He  sent  the  division  of 
Horn  to  Lundenburg,  where  he  succeeded  (16th  of 

« 

July)  in  forcing  Benedek  to  cross  to  the  left  bank  of 
the  March  river.  The  Austrian  general  had  there- 
fore to  effect  his  retreat  to  Vienna  across  the 
lesser  Carpathian  mountains. 

The  last  deed  of  arms  performed  in  this  war  by 
the  army  of  Prince  Frederick  Charles  was  the  battle 
of  Blumenau.  Here  General  Fransecky  vigorously 
attacked  the  Austrians  in  front  (22nd  of  July),  whilst 
General  Bose  undertook  to  turn  them  by  a  masked 
march  over  the  hills.  This  operation  succeeded  fully, 
and  there  was  every  prospect  of  another  great  vic- 
tory, which  would  have  laid  Hungary  open  to  the 
Prussians,  when,  at  noon,  the  news  was  brought  of 
the  conclusion  of  an  armistice  at  head-quarters. 

VOL.   II.  H 


98  Men  who  Jinve  made  the 

Four  days  after  followed  the  preliminaries  of  peace. 

In  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870-71,  Prince 
Frederick  Charles  had  the  command  of  the  Second 
German  Army  intrusted  to  him. 

V 

He  left  Berlin  on  the  26th  of  July  for  his  head- 
quarters. 

He  first  appeared  actively  on  the  scene  on  the 
16th  of  August,  in  the  fierce  fight  of  Mars-la-Tour. 
He  had  been  moving  swiftly  upon  the  French  line 
of  retreat.  In  co-operation  with  this  movement, 
General  Steinmetz  had,  on  the  14th  of  August, 
engaged  the  retreating  French  at  Courcelles,  and  had 
forced  them  back  behind  the  fortifications  of  Metz. 
This  had  given  the  prince  an  additional  day,  which 
he  had  turned  to  the  best  account. 

The  3rd  corps,  under  the  command  of  General 
von  Alvensleben  II.,  bore  the  brunt  of  this  engage- 
ment at  Mars-la-Tour,  which  was  one  of  the  fiercest 
and  bloodiest  battles  of  the  war.  It  stood  opposed 
for  hours  to  overwhelming  French  forces ;  at  last  it 
was  supported  by  part  of  the  10th  corps,  and  of 
the  8th  and  9th  corps,  under  the  personal  command 
of  the  prince.  Even  then  the  French  forces  were 
numerically  greatly  preponderating  over  the  Germans. 
Yet,  after  twelve  hours'  incessant  struggle,  the  French 
were  thrown  back  into  Metz. 

It  was  in  this  terrible  battle  of  Mars-la-Tour  that 
six  squadrons  of  German  cavalry  (7th  Cuirassiers  and 
16th  Lancers)  made  the  famous  dashing  attack  upon 


New  German  Empire.  99 

the  French  centre  at  Vionville,  which  delayed  Can- 
robert's  attempt  to  break  through  until  it  was  too 
late. 

Surprise  has  often  been  expressed  how  this  attack, 
however  dashing,  made  by  so  small  a  force,  could 
possibly  have  hindered  the  French  centre,  consisting 
of  two  entire  corps,  from  forcing  a  way  through 
its  Prussian  opponents. 

Quite  lately  the  Milit.  Wochenblatt  contained  a 
query  in  this  same  sense,  with  a  suggestion  added, 
whether  the  leaders  of  the  French  were  not  perhaps 
completely  confounded  and  misled  by  the  dash  of 
the  attack. 

To  this  Count  Schmettau,  who  had  himself  com- 
manded one  of  the  two  attacking  regiments  (the 
7th  Cuirassiers),  replied  in  the  same  military  journal, 
that  he  had  had  occasion,  some  time  after  the  capitu- 
lation of  Metz,  to  discuss  this  very  affair  with  the 
French  General  Henri,  who  was  chief  of  the  staff 
of  Marshal  Canrobert  on  the  16th  of  August,  1870 
(the  day  of  the  battle  of  Mars-la-Tour),  and  who 
was  present  in  the  field  during  this  attack.  General 
Henri,  in  reply  to  a  question  addressed  to  him  by 
General  Schmettau,  said,  "  We  could  not  think  that 
two  regiments  would  so  madly  ride  into  the  open 
jaws  of  death  unless  they  knew  themselves  powerfully 
supported." 

It  would  seem,  accordingly,  that  it  was  the  slender 
force  of  the  attacking  horse  which  misled  the  French, 

H  2 


29Gb 


100  M^cn  who  have  made  tin1 

and  made  them  hesitate  at  the  very  time  when  they 
might  have  succeeded  in  their  object,  since  the  weak- 
Prussian  forces  then  opposed  to  them  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  hindered  them,  as  Count  Schmettau  fully 
admits.  The  count  claims  for  the  commander  of  the 
Prussian  corps,  General  Alvensleben  II.,  the  high 
credit  of  having  with  prompt  decision  made  up  his 
mind  to  incur  the  risk  of  the  certain  loss  of  two 
regiments  of  cavalry — but  of  only  two- -to  purchase 
thereby,  perchance,  a  very  great  success. 

At  Gravelotte  also  the  prince  was  present,  and 
contributed  much  to  the  favourable  result  of  the 
day. 

Personal  dissensions  between  the  prince  and  General 
Steinmetz,  which  will  be  found  mentioned  more  at 
length  in  the  memoir  of  the  general,  led  to  the 
latter's  withdrawal  from  the  army  before  Metz, 
leaving  the  prince  in  undivided  and  undisturbed 
command  of  the  German  besieging  forces. 

Here,  with  some  120,000  men,  he  kept  Bazaine  shut 
up  in  the  fortress  and  fortified  camp  of  Metz,  with 
close  upon  180,000  men,  victoriously  repulsing  the 
repeated  most  desperate  attempts  of  the  French 
marshal  to  break  through  the  iron  circle  he  had 
drawn  round  him  and  his  host. 

The  two  most  formidable  of  these  French  sorties 
were  made  on  the  31st  of  August  and  the  1st  of 
September,  and  on  the  7th  of  October,  the  former,  in 
which  the  fight  raged  almost  incessantly  from  the 


New  German  Empire.  101 

morning  of  the  31st  of  August  till  noon  of  the  1st  of 
September,  is  known  in  the  history  of  the  war  as 
the  battle  of  Noisseville.  In  this,  as  well  as  in  the 
latter  sortie,  when  the  French  attacked  from  the 
direction  of  Woippy,  the  noble  division  Kumrner  had 
the  lion's  share  of  the  fighting. 

At  last,  on  the  27th  of  October,  Bazaine  capitulated 
with  his  whole  army,  some  173,000  men,  including 
three  marshals  of  France  and  over  6,000  officers, 
whilst  the  conquerors  did  not  much  exceed  110,000 
effectives  at  the  time  of  the  surrender — a  capitulation 
unique  in  the  annals  of  history ;  for  at  Sedan  the 
circumstances  were  vastly  different,  and  the  surrender 

V  * 

of  Paris  also  affords  no  true  point  of  comparison. 

The  day  after  the  capitulation  of  Metz  the  king 
raised  both  Prince  Frederick  Charles  and  the  Crown 
Prince  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  army,  that  of  field- 
marshal-general. 

In  the  oldest  traditions  of  the  house  of  Hohen- 
zollern  the  attainment  of  this  highest  military 
position  had  never  before  been  open  to  a  prince 
of  the  royal  family.  The  king's  brother,  Prince 
Charles,  the  father  of  Frederick  Charles,  figures  in 
the  rank  list  of  the  army  simply  as  master-general 
of  ordnance,  and  the  king  himself,  w^hen  Prince 
of  Prussia,  had  only  held  the  position  of  colonel- 
general  of  infantry.  But  the  extraordinary  events 
and  the  stupendous  successes  of  the  French  war 
might  well  be  deemed  by  the  king  to  fully  justify 


102  Mt'it-  I'-Jto  have  made  the 


this  double  depart  ure  from  the  old  traditionary  rule 

uf  the  family. 

The  .^urivnder  of  Mrtz  was  a  most  opportune  event  ; 
for  just  about  that  time  Gambetta's  patriotic  exertions 
wen-  bi-o-mninc  to  succeed  in  sending  fresh  French 

o  o  o 

armies  into  the  field. 

On  the  9th  of  November  General  d'Aurelle  de 
Paladinrs  forced  the  Bavarians,  under  Von  der  Tann, 
to  evacuate  Orleans.  Although  he  was  himself  com- 
pelled to  stop  the  pursuit,  as  General  Wittich,  Prince 
Albrecht  (father),  and  the  Grand  Duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg rapidly  joined  Von  der  Tann,  yet  this  new  army 
of  the  Loire  became  a  real  danger  to  the  Germans 
besieging  Paris. 

To  meet  this  threatening  peril  effectively,  Frede- 
rick Charles  received  orders  from  head-  quarters  to 
march  as  rapidly  as  possible  from  Metz  to  the 
Loire. 

On  the  2nd  of  November  already  the  prince  had 
transferred  his  own  head-quarters  from  Corny,  where 
they  had  been  since  the  7th  of  September,  to  Pont-a- 
Mousson.  On  the  10th  of  November  he  was  at 
Troyes.  He  advanced  rapidly  over  Sens,  Bambouillet, 
Nemours,  and  Pithiviers,  until  he  came  in  collision, 
on  the  28th  of  November,  with  d'Aurelle's  army  (the 
army  of  the  Loire),  at  Beaune-la-Eolande. 

He  here  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  on  the  French, 
who  lost  some  5,000  killed  and  wounded,  and  about 
2,000  un  wounded  prisoners. 


New  German  Empire.  103 

On  the  3rd  of  December  the  prince,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Grand  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  defeated  the 
French  again  at  Chevilly  and  Chilliers-aux-Bois, 
driving  them  back  upon  Orleans,  which  important 
city  was  re-taken  by  the  Germans  on  the  5th  of 
December. 

On  this  grand  occasion  more  than  10,000  un- 
wounded  prisoners  were  made,  and  close  upon  eighty 
pieces  of  artillery  taken,  together  with  four  gunboats, 
each  of  them  armed  with  a  24-pounder. 

The  prince  continued  his  advance  upon  Tours.  On 
the  12th  of  December  he  transferred  his  head -quarters 
to  Beaugency,  where  the  Grand  Duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg had  had  several  days'  hard  fighting  against 
vastly  preponderating  French  forces.  Blois  wras 
occupied  on  the  13th  of  December,  Vendome  on  the 
16th  of  December. 

By  this  time  the  Loire  army,  commanded  now  by 
General  Chanzy,  had  been  reduced  to  about  half  its 
original  formidable  strength.  On  the  4th  of  January, 
1871,  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  having  completed  his 
preparations,  moved  forward  to  meet  General  Chanzy. 

He  came  upon  the  army  of  that  general  advancing 
on  Vendome,  and  threw  it  back  beyond  Azay  and 
Montoire  (6th  of  January). 

The  day  after,  the  French  were,  by  a  series  of 
obstinate  fights,  driven  successively  back  to  Nogent- 
le-Eotrou,  Sarge,  Savigny,  and  La  Chartre,  and  on 
the  8th  beyond  St.  Calais  and  Bouloire.  On  the  12th 


104  Men  who  have,  m«<l<'  the 

of  January,  finally,  Le  Mans  was  taken  by  the 
victorious  prince,  who  also  carried  the  French  posi- 
tions at  St.  Corneille,  to  the  north-east  of  Le  Mans. 

The  losses  of  Chanzy's  army  in  the  seven  days' 
incessant  fighting,  from  the  Gth  to  the  12th  of 
January,  were  enormous.  Twenty  thousand  un- 
wounded  prisoners  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors, 
together  with  many  guns  and  large  war  stores,  &c. 

The  famous  camp  of  Conlie  was  occupied  on  the 
14 tli  of  January. 

With  this  last  successful  operation  we  may  fairly 
close  here  our  brief  account  of  Prince  Frederick 
Charles's  glorious  campaign  on  the  Loire. 

On  the  28th  of  January  the  armistice  was  concluded, 
which  was  followed,  less  than  a  month  after,  by  the 
signing  of  the  preliminaries  of  peace. 

On  the  22nd  of  March  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
received  from  the  emperor  and  king,  as  a  crowning 
proof  and  most  signal  mark  of  his  high  regard 
and  his  full  appreciation  of  the  prince's  great 
achievements  in  the  field,  the  Grand  Cross  of  the 
Iron  Cross. 

The  prince  is  now  in  his  forty-seventh  year,  in  the 
prime  and  vigour  of  manhood.  He  is  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  among  the  prosperous,  one  of  the 
most  fortunate  among  the  fortunate. 

Although,  owing  no  doubt  to  his  somewhat  haughty 
bearing  towards  those  placed  under  his  command,  and 
his  rigorous  enforcement  of  the  sternest  and  most 


New  German  Empire.  105 

unbending  discipline,  it  cannot  be  said  that  lie  enjoys 
the  devoted  love  of  the  army  as  the  Crown  Prince 
does,  yet  officers  and  soldiers  alike  look  up  to  him 
with  the  most  respectful  esteem,  and  they  will  follow 
his  lead  blindly,  and  with  the  most  absolute  con- 
fidence in  his  high  military  capacity. 

They  have  bestowed  upon  him  the  name  of  the  "Iron 
Prince,"  but  he  is  more  generally  known  still  as  the 
"  Eed  Prince/'  from  the  colour  of  the  hussar  uniform 
which  he  most  affects  to  wear. 

What  may  the  future  still  have  in  store  for  this 
favourite  of  Fortune  ?  Who  can  tell  ?  Of  late  his 
name  has  been  brought  forward  again  more  than  once 
and  in  several  quarters,  with  evident  intention,  in 
connection  with  the  throne  of  Spain.  Well,  Quien 
sctbe  ?  Of  course  his  truest  friends  can  only  wish  the 
prince  a  lucky  escape  from  such  a  windfall  of  fortune 
as  the  glittering  bauble  of  the  Spanish  crown  and 
sceptre ;  but  ambition  is  a  strange  and  most 
dangerous  passion — and  so  again,  who  knows  ? 


100  Men  w/«>  lace  made,  tie 


VIII. 

KING    ALBERT    OF    SAXONY. 

THOUGH  placed  here  third  in  our  list  of  leaders  of 
the  German  host  in  the  ever-memorable  Franco- 
German  war  of  1870-71,  yet  ranking  second  to  none 
in  that  glorious  galaxy  of  great  commanders,  King 
Albert,  a  namesake  of  our  own  unforgotten  and 
never-to-be-forgotten  Prince  Consort,  springs  also 
from  the  same  most  ancient  and  most  noble  house 
of  Wettin. 

Wettin  is  now  only  a  small,  wholly  unimportant 
place,  of  some  four  thousand  souls.  Yet  a  thousand 
years  ago  it  was  the  (legendary)  cradle  and  chief 
seat  of  power  of  the  mighty  Wettinkind,  or  Widukin, 
the  antique  Saxon  hero,  who  for  thirteen  years  nobly 
withstood  the  overwhelming  giant  power  of  the 
Frankish  King  Charles,  dubbed  Carolus  Magnus  by 
that  capricious  jade  Clio,  who  so  dearly  likes  to 
adulate  success. 

However  little  substantial  foundation  in  truth  there 
may  be  for  the  legendary  connection  between  Wettin 
and  Wettinkindj  thus  much  is  certain,  at  all  events, 


New  German  Empire.  107 

that  Wettin  was  the  ancestral  seat  of  the  Thanes,  or 
Counts,  of  that  ilk,  to  whom  all  the  royal  and  ducal 
Saxon  and  Thuringian  houses  of  the  present  day  trace 
their  origin  and  pedigree. 

King  Albert's  father,  the  late  King  John  of  Saxony, 
played  an  important  part  in  the  great  events  of  the 
last  few  years.  It  was  more  especially  dread  of  his 
action  in  the  matter  which  induced  King  Louis  of 
Bavaria  to  be  beforehand  with  him  in  tendering  the 
crown  of  a  new  German  empire  to  King  William  of 
Prussia.  Had  the  Bavarian  not  taken  time  by  the 
forelock  on  the  occasion,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  new  empire  would  have  been  established 
at  the  time  at  once  upon  a  much  more  rational  and 
satisfactory  basis  than  that  on  which  it  happens  to 
stand  now,  and  without  the  wretched  trammels  of 
those  foolish  reserved  sovereign  rights  of  its  king- 
lets and  princelets,  which  may  yet  unhappily  prove 
the  fruitful  source  of  internal' convulsions  and  foreign 
intrigue  complications.  For  this  reason  King  John 
may  well  claim  a  place  among  the  men  who  have 
been  instrumental  in  creating  the  new  German 
empire.  A  brief  biographic  sketch  of  the  father 
may  therefore  serve  here  as  a  suitable  introduction 
to  the  memoir  of  the  son. 

THE    LATE    KING   JOHN    OF    SAXONY. 

It  is  a  trite  old  saying,  that  the  people  have  rarely 
cause  to  mourn  when  kin^s  die.    Still  there  are  cxcep- 


]OS  Mai  'wlo  h(( re  made  the 

tions  from  time  to  time,  just  to  prove  the  rule.  One 
of  such  rare  exceptional  instances  had  to  be  chronicled 
in  the  annals  of  history  on  29th  of  October,  1873, 
when  Kin;.--  John  of  Saxony  departed  this  life. 

The  deceased  monarch  was  not  a  great  king  in  any 
of  the  generally  received  senses  and  acceptations  of 
the  term.  His  dominions  did  not  quite  cover  the 
limited  area  of  six  thousand  English  square  miles, 
whilst  the  number  of  his  subjects  fell  far  short  of 
the  figure  of  the  population  of  the  British  metropolis. 
No  warrior-king  was  he  ;  no  new  provinces  annexed 
he  to  his  realm.  He  did  not  gather  round  him  poets, 
artists,  and  musicians,  that  he  might  bask  in  second- 
hand reflected  "  intellectual '  glory  ;  ay,  he  did  not 
even  start  an  international  exhibition  of  works  of 
industry  and  art,  that  his  name  might  thereby  be 
made  great  and  renowned  among  men. 

But  he  was  emphatically  a  noble  specimen  of  the 
noblest  work  of  the  Almighty  Father  of  all — an 
honest  man,  and  a  worthy  king  of  men.  Indeed,  of 
him  and  of  his  life  and  deeds  the  truth  may  be 
recorded  undisguisedly,  without  fear  of  offending 
against  the  spurious  old  canon  that  naught  should  be 
spoken  of  the  dead  but  the  things  redounding  to  their 
praise. 

John — for  a  truly  great  man  such  as  the  father  of 
the  present  King  of  Saxony  needs  not  the  benefit  of 
that  full  string  of  baptismal  belongings  which  is 
generally  bestowed  upon  Catholic  princes ;  and  with 


New  German  Empire.  109 

his  people  "Our  King'  and  "Father  John'  had  for 
many  years  past  become  interchangeable  terms- -was 
one  of  the  younger  sons  of  Duke  Maximilian  of 
Saxony  and  Caroline  Maria  Theresa  of  Parma,  of  the 
Italian-Spanish  branch  of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  He 
was  born  on  the  12th  of  December,  1801,  and  had 
the  misfortune  of  losing  his  mother  when  not  much 
more  than  two  years  old.  His  father,  Duke 
Maximilian,  was  not  a  great  prince,  but  he  was  an 
excellent  parent,  and  he  bestowed  the  utmost  care 
and  solicitude  upon  the  proper  education  of  his 
children. 

Prince  John's  instructors  were  distinguished  officers 
and  scholars,  such  as  Generals  Forell  and  Watzdorf, 
Councillor  Stiibel,  the  famous  criminalist  and  legist, 
who  fired  his  young  pupil  with  his  own  ardent  love 
for  the  law,  and  that  noblest  priest  of  the  non-Romish 
Catholic  Church,  Baron  Ignatius  Wessenberg,  Vicar- 
General  of  Constance,  the  intimate  friend  of  the  great 
Chancellor  Dalberg,  and  the  man  who  strove  so  hard 
to  establish  in  Germany  a  National  Catholic  Church 
-a  German  Catholic  Church,  under  an  independent 
German  Primate,  and  free  alike  from  all  connection 
with  the  Baal  of  Borne  and  the  poisonous  teachings 
of  the  Vatican.  He  failed  :  the  time  was  not  ripe 
for  his  high  and  noble  aspirations.  But,  happily,  a 
greater  and  stronger  man  than  he  has  taken  up  the 
glorious  work  anew,  and,  with  God's  blessing,  will 

t 

carry  it  to   a  glorious  consummation.      Bismarck  is 


110  Me n,  irJto  hut r  rn« <!<•  the 

the  St.  Patrick  \vhn  will  ultimately  chase  the  Romish 
vipers  out  of  the  fair  land. 

Under  the  intelligent  guidance  of  these  and  other 

o  o 

kindred  teachers,  Prince  John  gathered  a  rich  store  of 
sound  knowledge  in  nearly  every  field  of  human  lore 
and  branch  of  human  knowledge.  The  great  and 
wise  men  who  presided  over  the  political  and  social 
department  of  his  studies  used  their  best  endeavours 
to  teach  him  practical  statesmanship  in  preference  to 
mere  hollow  statecraft.  And  they  succeeded  marvel- 
lously well  in  their  endeavours.  Ere  yet  he  had 
reached  the  twentieth  year  of  his  life  he  was  fit  to 
enter  the  Board  of  Finance  as  an  adept,  and  he  there 
soon  shone  as  one  of  the  most  clear-headed  and 

hardest  workers. 

His  assiduous  labour  affecting  his  health,  his  anx- 
ious father  insisted  upon  his  accompanying  his  elder 
brother  Clement  on  a  journey  which  the  latter  was 
then  just  about  to  make  to  their  deceased  mother's 
native  land  (1821).  The  two  Saxon  princes  made  a 
long  stay  in  Italy,  where  the  elder  of  them  died. 

It  was  here  where  Prince  John  imbibed  that  pas- 
sionate admiration  and  love  of  Petrarch,  Ariosto,  and 
more  especially  of  the  divine  Dante,  which  he 
retained  through  life. 

o 

After  his  return  to  his  native  land  he  resumed 
his  old  position  on  the  Board  of  Finance  (1823),  of 
which  he  became  vice-president  a  few  months  after. 

Even  the  surprising  amount  of  sterling  work  which 


New  German  Empire.  Ill 

lie  did  in  this  department,  and  of  which  the  little 
kingdom  reaped  the  benefit,  did  not  satisfy  his  eager 
craving  for  doing.  In  his  rare  leisure  hours  he  pro- 
duced a  German  version  of  the  first  ten  cantos  of 
Dante's  Inferno,  done  in  blank  Hendecasyllabics, 
with  critical  annotations  that  fully  showed  the  ripe 
scholar.  This  work  was  printed  for  private  circu- 
lation among  his  personal  friends.  It  was  signed 
"  Philalethes,"  a  signature  which  soon  became  known 
as  that  of  a  distinguished  contributor  to  several  of 

o 

the  leading  literary  periodicals  of  Germany. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  Saxon  Antiquarian 
and  Archaeological  Society  was  formed,  which  he 
eagerly  joined,  and  of  which  he  was  soon  made  presi- 
dent, a  position  held  by  him  for  many  years  after- 
not  in  the  mere  honorary  way  in  which  so  many 
princes  accept  titular  positions  of  this  nature,  but  truly 
and  actually  as  the  facile  prineeps  of  the  members. 

About  this  time  he  found  that  his  estate  of 
Jahnishausen  did  not  yield  him  a  revenue  corre- 
sponding to  what  practical  landowners  obtained  from 
their  properties ;  so  he  threw  himself,  with  his  accus- 
tomed ardour,  upon  the  study,  theoretical  and 
practical,  of  farming  and  rural  economy,  and  with 
such  brilliant  success  that  his  Jahnishausen  estate 
in  a  few  brief  years,  from  worse  than  indifferent,  as  it 
had  long  been,  leaped  to  the  high  position  of  a  perfect 
model  farm  on  a  large  scale. 

On  the  21st  of  November,  1822,  Prince  John  married 


112 


Princess  Amelia  Augusta,  one  of  the  daughters  of 
Kinnf  Maximilian  I.  of  Bavaria,  who  survives  him. 

o 

By  her  lie  had  issue  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  One 
of  the  sons  is  dead.  The  Crown  Prince,  now  Kin^ 

o 

Frederick  Augustus  Albert,  was  born  the  23rd  of  April, 
1828;  his  sister  Maria  Elizabeth,  Dowager  Duchess 
of  Genoa,  was  born  the  4th  of  February,  1830,  and  his 
only  surviving  brother,  Frederick  Augustus  George, 
who  also  distinguished  himself  in  the  late  Franco- 
German  war,  and  commanded  the  Saxon  corps  after 
his  brother  Albert  had  been  appointed  general-in- 
chief  of  the  army  of  the  Meuse,  wyas  born  the  8th  of 
August,  1832. 

Prince  George  is  married  (since  the  llth  of  May, 
1859)  to  the  Portuguese  Infanta  Maria  Anna,  daughter 
of  King  Ferdinand  (of  the  house  of  Saxe-Coburg  Gotha) 
and  Queen  Maria  II.  da  Gloria,  by  whom  he  has  issue 
three  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  present  king  has 
no  issue. 

The  revolutionary  wave  which  swept  over  a  great 
part  of  Europe  in  1830  struck  also  the  little  kingdom 
of  Saxony. 

Old  King  Anton  was  not  a  good  king  by  any 
means,  so  his  subjects  politely  requested  him  to  hand 
the  reins  of  government  over  to  Prince  Frederick 
Augustus,  John's  elder  brother,  and  the  next  prince 
in  succession,  the  father,  Duke  Maximilian  of 
Saxony,  having  resigned  his  claim  to  the  throne,  by 
Act  of  the  13th  of  September,  1830.  On  the  same  day 


New  German  Empire.  113 

Prince  Frederick  Augustus  was  named  co-regent. 
Prince  John  took  the  command  of  the  Communal 
Guard,  which  he  retained  for  many  years  after.  He 
also  entered  the  Privy  Council,  and  after  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  latter  he  accepted  the  proffered  presidency 
of  the  Council  of  State,  together  with  the  presidency 
of  the  Board  of  Finance. 

In  all  these  high  and  important  offices,  his  clear, 
practical  mind,  his  urbane  and  conciliatory  manners, 
and  his  immense  working  capacity,  gained  him  golden 
opinions  from  all  quarters.  He  took  a  most  active 
part  and  share  in  the  framing  of  the  new  liberal  and 
representative  constitution  of  the  realm. 

After  the  passing  of  that  constitution  he  took  his 
seat  in  the  Upper  House  as  a  prince  of  the  blood. 
His  statesmanlike  views,  his  simple,  natural  eloquence, 
and  his  power  of  clear  exposition,  soon  gained  him 
a  prominent  place  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the  leaders 
of  that  august  assembly.  Many  of  the  most  prac- 
tical and  liberal  measures  of  the  time  originated  with 
him,  or  owed  their  success  to  his  energetic  support. 

His  wisdom  and  moderation  carried  him  through 
the  revolutionary  excitement  of  1848  with  his  per- 
sonal popularity  undiminished.  In  1839-49  he  pub- 
lished a  splendid  German  version  of  Dante's  "  Divina 
Commedia  '  in  three  volumes,  with  numerous  critical 
and  historical  notes. 

After  the  death  of  King  Anton,  who  since  Sep- 
tember, 1830,  had  simply  continued  the  nominal  head 

VOL.  n.  l 


114  Men   trJto  have  made  fin- 

of  the  state,  Prinee  Frederick  Augustus,  the  co-re- 
gent, succeeded  to  the  Saxon  throne,  Gth  of  June, 
1836.  On  the  9th  of  August,  1854,  King  Frederick 
Augustus  II.  came  to  an  untimely  death,  universally 
mourned  and  regretted  by  his  people.  As  he  left 
no  issue,  Prince  John  inherited  the  crown. 

The  new  king  expressed  his  firm  resolve  to  tread 
in  the  footsteps  of  his  late  lamented  brother 
and  predecessor ;  and  this  resolve  he  kept  reli- 
giously from  the  day  of  his  accession  to  the  last 

day  of  his  life. 

Among  the  most  glorious  measures  of  his  reign, 
most  of  which  proceeded  from  his  own  initiative, 
may  be  mentioned  more  particularly  the  new  law 
organization ;  an  extensive  and  comprehensive  series 
of  codifications  of  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  land  ; 
the  removal  of  all  obsolete  and  vexatious  trammels 
that  impeded  the  free  development  of  trade  and  in- 
dustry, and  the  extension  and  improvement  of  the 
great  Saxon  railway  net. 

Every  year,  up  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he  made  an 
annual  journey  of  careful  and  conscientious  inspection 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  his  small  king- 
dom, more  particularly  through  the  manufacturing 
districts ;  seeing  everywhere  with  his  own  eyes,  and 
hearing  with  his  own  ears — quite  against  the  ordi- 
nary custom  of  kings — and  suggesting  and  carrying 
out  everywhere  measures  admirably  calculated  to  bene- 
fit the  working  classes. 


Neiv  German  Empire.  115 

No  wonder  they  so  affectionately  called  him 
"Father  John."  He  was  indeed  a  father  to  them. 

That  he  was  not  so  successful  in  foreign  politics 
as  in  the  internal  administration  of  his  kingdom  was 
truly  not  so  much  a  fault  of  his,  but  was  owing 
almost  entirely  to  a  fortuitous  combination  of  fatal 
circumstances  over  which  he  had  but  little  control. 

Both  his  late  brother  and  he  had  married  prin- 
cesses of  the  house  of  Bavaria,  daughters  of  King 
Maximilian  I.  His  brother's  wife  was  a  twin  sister 
of  the  Archduchess  Sophia  of  Austria,  the  late  mother 
of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  ;  his  own  wife  was  a 
twin  sister  of  the  present  Queen  Dowager  of  Prussia. 

These  four  Bavarian  princesses  exercised  for  many 
years  a  most  pernicious  action  and  influence  upon 
German  affairs. 

Sophia  of  Austria  was  the  moving  and  guiding 
spirit  of  the  palace  intrigue  which  compelled  poor 
Emperor  Ferdinand  to  abdicate,  and  threw  the  whole 
power  of  the  state  into  her  own  hands.  It  was  she 
who  committed  the  horrible  murders  of  the  Hungarian 
patriot  generals  at  Arad,  and  all  those  atrocities  for 
which  the  London  draymen  assaulted  Haynau. 

Queen  Elizabeth  of  Prussia  had  gained  complete 
mastery  over  the  weak  and  uxorious  mind  of 
Frederick  William  IV.  It  was  her  fatal  influence 
which  brought  the  humiliation  of  Olmiitz  upon  the 
land  that  had  the  misfortune  to  call  her  queen. 

The  two  Saxon  queens,  the  dowager  and  the  wife 

i  2 


116  3fcit   who  hace  made  the 

of  King  John,  worked  in  all  political  questions 
band  in  hand  with  their  Austrian  and  Prussian 
sisters  ;  and  with  them,  and  inspired  and  guided  by 
the  four,  laboured  Baron  Beust,  the  leading  minister 
of  state  of  Saxon}7,  and  the  ministers  of  Bavaria, 
Wurtemberg,  and  Hesse — all  joining  in  the  noble 
task  of  curbing  and  if  possible  destroying  the  rising 
and  growing  power  of  Prussia. 

King  John  of  Saxony,  with  his  clear  mind,  saw 
indeed  through  their  intrigues,  and  for  a  time  at 
least  did  his  best  to  discourage- and  counteract  them. 

Thus,  in  1862,  when  the  continued  existence  of  the 
Prussian  Customs  Union  was  gravely  imperilled  by 
Austria's  machinations,  he  was  the  first  to  declare 
for  the  renewal  of  that  union,  and  to  give  his  ad- 
hesion to  the  Franco-Prussian  Treaty  of  Commerce. 

He  also  adhered  to  the  Prusso-Italian  Treaty  of 
Commerce,  and  disregarding  alike  the  solicitations 
and  the  remonstrances  of  the  two  queens  and  the 
wily  counsel  and  insinuations  of  the  minister  of  state, 
frankly  recognized  the  new  kingdom  of  Italy. 

But  King  John  was  a  loyal  member  of  the  Ger- 
man Confederation,  and  a  sincere  professor  of  the 
Eoman  Catholic  faith ;  for,  strange  to  say,  the  kings 
of  Saxony,  although  descended  from  what  may  w7ell 
be  called  the  oldest  Protestant  house  in  Germany, 
and  ruling  over  a  Protestant  people  (the  number  of 
Catholics  in  Saxony  barely  exceeds  2  per  cent,  of  the 
population),  have  been  Roman  Catholics  ever  since 


New  German  Empire.  117 

the  Elector  Frederick  Augustus  of  Saxony  was 
beguiled  into  placing  the  glittering  but  worse  than 
worthless  bauble  of  the  Polish  crown  upon  his 
head  (1697). 

Now  the  smaller  kings  and  princes  of  the  Ger- 
man Confederation  had,  from  the  first,  always  shown 
a  leaning  to  Austria  and  distrust  of  Prussia.  Joining 
their  votes  to  that  of  the  former  power,  their  anti- 
Prussian  policy  could  always  secure  a  majority  in  the 
councils  of  the  Confederation.  The  kings  of  Saxony 
had  always  voted  with  the  majority,  and  King  John 
thought  himself  in  honour  bound  to  go  with  that 
majority,  at  least  in  all  important  questions.  As  a 
Romanist,  also,  he  preferred  the  interests  of  Catholic 
Austria  to  those  of  Protestant  Prussia. 

Upon  the  death  of  King  Frederick  of  Denmark,  the 
old  Schleswig-Holstein  question,  which  had  been  per- 
mitted to  slumber  for  a  time,  came  suddenly  again  to 
the  surface,  as  lively  as  ever. 

After  some  ineffectual  attempts  at  a  settlement 
with  the  new  Danish  king,  the  German  Confedera- 
tion passed  a  resolution  to  occupy  the  Duchy  of  Hoi- 
stein  militarily  (7th  of  December,  1863),  Saxony  and 
Hanover  being  selected  by  the  Confederation  to  carry 
out  the  decree.  A  mixed  Saxon  and  Hanoverian 
corps  accordingly  took  military  possession  of  Holstein. 

Soon  after,  Otto  von  Bismarck  made  the  first  great 
move  in  his  surprising  political  game,  in  persuading 
Austria  to  join  with  Prussia  in  a  war  against  Den- 


118  3[<'ii   «'!><>  In  t  re.  made 


mark,  with  ;i  view  to  settle  the  Schleswig-Holstein 
<]Urstion  for  ever,  by  taking  the  Elbe  Duchies  away 
from  Denmark. 

Austria  and  Prussia  carried  matters  with  a  high 
hand,  and  paid  but  seanty  respect  to  the  Confedera- 
tion, which  saw  itself  soon  compelled  to  order  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Saxon  and  Hanoverian  forces  from 
Holstein  (by  resolution  of  the  5th  of  December,  1864). 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  king  felt  per- 
sonally hurt  by  the  slight  put  upon  the  Confedera- 
tion and  upon  himself,  which  he  attributed  almost 
wholly  to  the  agency  of  Prussia  and  of  Bismarck. 

So  when  the  complications  of  1866  arose,  he  was 
easily  prevailed  upon  by  the  petticoat  coterie  and 
the  whisperings,  and  promptings  of  Beust  to  take  the 
side  of  Austria  in  the  diplomatic  conflict  roused  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Confederation.  Beust  had  perfectly 
free  hand  now. 

Urged  on  blindly  by  his  froggy  ambition,  and  en- 
dowed by  nature  with  an  intriguing  spirit  and  with 
all  the  mischievous  restlessness  of  the  squirrel  Eata- 
tasker  of  the  mythic  fable,  this  shallow  politician, 
this  Brummagem  Briihl  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
patted  on  the  back  by  the  four  Bavarian  princesses, 
devised  a  pretty  little  scheme  to  bring  the  house  of 
Hohenzollern  to  humiliation  and  grief. 

As  he  was  joined  in  this  scheme  by  Von  der 
Pfordteit,  Varnbliler,  Dalwigk,  and  the  representative 
of  the  physically,  morally,  and  intellectually  blind 


New  German  Empire.  119 

King  of  Hanover,  and,  lastly,  by  the  great  Victor 
Strauss,  the  mighty  plenipotentiary  of  the  powerful 
Prince  of  Schaumburg-Lippe,  he  succeeded  in  splitting 
Germany  into  two  hostile  camps. 

The  first  effect  of  this  success  was  to  drive  King 
John  from  his  kingdom,  which  was  taken  possession 
of  by  the  invading  Prussians.  Indeed  Bismarck, 
Roon,  and  Moltke  had  planned  so  well  that  had  it 
not  been  for  the  fatal  delay  of  one  day's  respite 
granted  to  Saxony  and  Hanover  (from  the  15th  to  the 
16th  of  June)  by  King  William,  in  compliance  with 
the  vehement  prayer  of  the  Dowager  Queen  Elizabeth, 
the  whole  Saxon  army  of  40,000  effectives  would  pro- 
bably have  been  cut  off  from  Bohemia  and  compelled 
to  surrender,  and  the  battle  of  Langensalza  need  not 
have  been  fought. 

I  have  placed  the  effective  strength  of  the  Saxon 
army  which  marched  into  Bohemia  to  join  Benedek 
at  40,000  men,  a  figure  which  1  think  corresponds 
with  the  fact  of  the  case.  Certain  Saxon  historians 
would  appear  to  place  it  much  higher,  from  patriotic, 
but  surely  most  unhistoric,  motives.  They  assert  that 
60,000  Saxons  joined  Benedek,  although  they  are 
compelled  to  admit  that  the  Saxon  army  consisted 
of  only  two  infantry  divisions  of  four  regiments  each, 
one  cavalry  division,  and  the  corresponding  force  of 
artillery.  The  same  historians  also  assert  that  the 
Saxons  were  never  defeated  in  the  Bohemian  war,  but 
had  to  retire  from  the  field  by  Benedek's  special  orders 


120  Men   who  have  made  the 

-at  Gitschin,  for  instance.  This,  though  not  true, 
might  be  indulgently  passed  over,  and  put  down  to 
an  excess  of  laudable  patriotic  pride.  But  to  exalt  the 
bravery  of  the  Saxons  and  the  military  talents  of 
thuir  commander  at  the  expense  of  the  Austrians  and 
of  Benedek,  and  to  say,  as  these  historians  do,  that 
the  Saxons  constituted  the  backbone  of  Benedek's 
forces,  and  were  the  only  troops  who  fought  valiantly 
and  well  and  were  properly  led,  seems  to  me  a  most 
reprehensible  open  perversion  of  the  truth  and  the 
facts  of  the  case.  However,  enough  of  this  in  this 
place. 

After  the  defeat  of  Benedek,  King  John  retired  to 
Vienna ;  subsequently  to  Teplitz.  When  peace  was 
concluded,  he  returned  to  his  little  kingdom  amidst 

}  C1 

the  joyful  acclamations  of  his  faithful  and  loving 
people  (November,  1866). 

When  Saxony  had  become  a  member  of  the  North 
German  Confederation,  King  John  showed  the  most 
steadfast  loyalty  to  Prussia. 

In  1870  he  promptly  sent  his  army,  under  the 
command  of  his  two  sons  (Crown  Prince  Albert,  and 
Prince  George),  to  swell  the  German  host. 

The  high  deeds  wrought  in  France  by  the  Saxon 
contingent  and  its  heroic  leaders  are  matters  of  his- 
tory, and  will,  in  slight  part  at  least,  be  found 
recorded  also  in  the  memoir  of  King  Albert  shortly 
to  follow. 

It  must  indeed  have  been  a  proud   day  for  King 


New  German  Empire.  121 

John  when  the  23rd  division  made  its  triumphal 
entry  into  Dresden  (llth  of  July,  1871),  and  when 
he,  the  happy  father,  acting  as  representative  and 
in  the  name  of  the  German  emperor,  placed  the 
field-marshal's  staff  in  the  hands  of  the  victor  of 
Beaumont,  his  own  beloved  son  Albert- -the  same 
golden  staff  of  command  which  John  Sobiesky  had 
so  proudly  waved  in  his  chivalrous  right  hand  on 
hife  triumphal  entry  into  Vienna,  freed  by  his 
gallantry  and  skill  from  the  Turkish  besiegers. 

A  few  months  later  there  came  another  great 
national  celebration- -the  unveiling  of  Theodore 
Korner's  statue,  18th  of  October,  1871,  the  anniversary 
of  the  great  victory  over  the  French  at  Leipzig. 
And,  finally,  some  thirteen  months  after,  on  the  21st 
of  November,  1872,  King  John  celebrated  his  own 
"  golden  "  day,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  marriage 
with  his  wife  Amalia,  amidst  the  warmest  congratu- 
lations sent  by  all  the  princely  houses  of  Europe,  and 
the  heartiest  and  most  loving  manifestations  of  sym- 
pathy and  kindest  wishes  of  his  own  true  Saxon  people. 

Altogether,  the  last  two  years  of  King  John's  life 
were  peaceful  and  happy. 

He  now  sleeps  with  his  fathers,  a  good  king  and 
a  worthy  man. 

There  is  small  need  to  perpetuate  his  memory  in 
stone  or  marble,  or  in  brass  or  bronze ;  he  has  raised 
for  himself  an  everlasting  monument  in  the  faithful 
hearts  of  his  loving  people. 


I  -J2  Mi  ,<  '"//o  Jitit-f  made  ! 


After  this  brief  biographic  sketch  <>f  the  father, 
we  will  now  proceed  with  the  memoir  of  the  son. 

Frederick  Augustus  Albert  was  born  on  the  -.'>rd  of 
April,  IS128.  ile  rercixvd  a  most  careful  education 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  his  royal  father 
and  of  his  grandfather  Duke  Maximilian,  who,  how- 
ever, departed  this  life  ere  his  young  grandson  had 
completed  his  tenth  year. 

Albert  had  for  his  chief  guides  in  the  paths  of 
learning  Lieutenant-Colonel  Minkwitz  and  General 
Engel,  both  of  them  highly  accomplished  officers  ; 
Dr.  Langern,  afterwards  president  of  the  High  Court 
of  Appeal,  one  of  the  leading  legists  of  Germany,  as 
well  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  historians  of  the  age  ; 
Dr.  Schneider,  afterwards  Minister  of  State,  also  an 
eminent  legist,  and  some  other  men  of  the  same 
high  intellectual  stamp. 

Prince  Albert  showed  from  a  very  early  age  a 
decided  predilection  for  the  military  career.  When 
barely  fifteen  (1843)  he  entered  the  Saxon  artillery 
as  lieutenant.  Two  years  after,  another  distin- 
guished officer,  Major  Mangoldt,  afterwards  general, 
was  appointed  the  prince's  military  tutor  ;  he  also 
went  with  him  to  Bonn  in  the  fall  of  1847.  Here, 
in  this  favourite  resort  of  royal  students,  Prince 
Albert  attended  the  lectures  of  Dahlmann  and  Perthes, 
and  other  celebrities,  but  the  revolutionary  outbreak 
of  1848  cut  short  his  stay  at  that  highly-favoured 
seat  of  the  Muses. 


New  German  Empire.  123 

On  liis  return  to  Saxony  he  preferentially  sought 
the  society  and  conversation  of  distinguished  officers, 
such  as  Fabrics,  Stieglitz,  Abendroth,  Montbe,  and 
others,  and  -  eagerly  seized  every  opportunity  to  in- 
crease his  store  of  military  knowledge. 

In  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war  of  1848—49  he  was 
attached  to  the  staff  of  the  Prussian  General  Pritt- 
witz.  It  is  said  he  distinguished  himself  in  that 
most  melancholy  of  all  campaigns,  that  most  lugu- 
brious of  all  farces.  His  uncle,  King  Frederick 
Augustus,  bestowed  upon  him  as  a  reward  the  mili- 
tary Saxon  Order  of  St.  Henry. 

In  1849  Prince  Albert  was  advanced  to  the  rank 
of  major,  and  the  year  after  to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy 
and  the  command  of  the  3rd  infantry  brigade.  In 
1851  he  was  made  major-general,  and  the  year  after 
lieutenant-general  and  commander  of  the  1st  infantry 
division.  He  was  then  twenty-four  years  old.  It 
may  be  remarked  here,  en  passant,  that  princes  of 
the  royal  house  of  Prussia  do  not  advance  quite  so 
fast  as  this  in  the  Prussian  army.  Even  Prince 
Frederick  Charles,  who  was  born  in  the  same  year 
with  King  Albert,  and  whose  advancement  was  ex- 
ceptionally rapid,  had  to  wait  a  few  years  longer  for 
the  high  rank  of  lieutenant-general. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1853,  Prince  Albert  married 
Princess  Carola,  or  Caroline,  daughter  of  Gustavus 
Prince  of  Wasa,  whom  Louis  Napoleon  had  the  year 
before  wished  to  espouse,  it  was  at  the  time  generally 


1-4  3Fcn   irJto  hnve  made  the 

reported,    but   only  to   see   Lis   suit   contumeliously 

rejected  by  the  proud  Lackland  of  the  old  Swedish 
king  family.  Had  Gustavus  Wasa  been  less  stiffly 
proud  and  more  yielding,  and  had  Carola  become 
the  modern  Coesar's  wife- -instead  of  Eugenie  Montijo 
-how  immense  would  have  been  the  effect  upon  the 
history  of  the  last  fifteen  years  or  so  !  However,  Dts 
alder  visiun.  So  there  is  an  end  of  it,  and  no  use 
whatever  to  speculate  upon  what  miylit  have  been  if. 
In  1861  Crown  Prince  Albert  of  Saxony  (his 
father  had  succeeded  his  uncle  on  the  throne  of 
Saxony  some  seven  years  before)  was  sent  to  Konigs- 
berg  in  Prussia,  to  witness  the  coronation  of  King 

o  o 

William  I.  It  was  here  where  he  met  for  the  first 
time  the  then  darling  of  Fortune,  M'Mahon,  Marshal 
of  France,  Duke  of  Magenta.  Nine  years  after,  he 
was  destined  to  meet  him  again  on  the  battle-field  of 
Beaumont,  the  portentous  precursor  of  the  cataclysm 
of  Sedan  ! 

In  1866  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony  commanded 
the  Saxon  army  of  40,000  effectives,  in  every  way 
well  found  and  equipped,  and  provided  with  a  well- 
schooled  artillery,  which  was  marched  into  Bohemia 
to  swrell  the  Austrian  host  there  under  Benedek,  and 
to  help  to  break  the  Prussian  columns  that  were 
invading  the  old  battle-ground  again  in  the  style 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War. 

On  the  22nd  of  June  the  Saxons  joined  the  corps 
of  Clam  G alias,  and  shared  the  subsequent  grievous 


New  German  Empire.  125 

of  that  corps.  The  Saxons  fought  with 
desperate  bravery,  and  were  extremely  well  handled 
by  their  royal  leader.  This  is  the  simple  truth  ; 
but  to  assert  that  they  did  ail  the  fighting,  and  the 
Austrians  little  or  none  of  it,  as  has  been  attempted 
to  be  done,  and  that  they  (the  Saxons)  would  have 
carried  the  day  repeatedly,  more  especially  at  Gitschin, 
had  they  not  been  compelled  by  Benedek's  express 
orders  to  retire  from  the  field,  victoriously  held  by 
them  at  the  time,  is  really  a  stretch  over-much 
beyond  what  is  admissible  and  allowable  even  in 
historic  fiction.  Such  things  ought  to  be  left  to  the 
French. 

At  Konio-oratz  Prince  Albert  and  his  Saxons  again 

oO  O 

shared  the  defeat  of  Benedek  and  the  Austrians. 
Here  also  the  Saxons  fought  extremely  well,  and 
the  Saxon  artillery  contributed  largely  to  cover  the 
retreat  of  the  defeated  army. 

The  royal  family  of  Saxony,  the  Crown  Prince 
included,  now  took  up  their  residence  in  Vienna 
till  the  conclusion  of  peace,  after  which  they  returned 
to  Dresden. 

The  king  and  the  Crown  Prince  both  declared 
that  they  would  henceforth  be  as  loyal  to  the  North 
German  Confederation,  under  the  leadership  of 
Prussia,  as  they  had  proved  themselves  to  the  now 
defunct  old  German  Confederation.  The  Crown 
Prince  showed  such  vigorous  good  will  in  aiding  in 
the  reorganization  of  the  Saxon  army  as  an  integral 


126  Men   irho  Jiare  made 


part  of  the  ^ivnt  North  German  host,  that  King 
William  I.  at  once  bestowed  upon  him  the  inde- 
pendent command  of  the  12th  (Saxon)  Army  Corps. 

The  Crown  Prince  and  his  friend,  General  Fabrice, 
the  Saxon  Minister  of  War,  were  both  indefatigable 
in  doing  everything  to  bring  the  Saxon  Contingent 
to  the  highest  state  of  perfection,  and  their  efforts 
succeeded  to  the  fullest  extent,  as  the  Franco-German 
war  amply  proved. 

In  this  war  Crown  Prince  Albert  continued  at  first 
simply  in  the  command  of  the  12th  corps.  His 
orders  were  to  bring  up  his  force  to  Mayence  by  the 
2nd  of  August.  He  and  his  men  were  on  the  ap- 
pointed spot  in  perfect  readiness  two  days  before 
the  time  fixed!-  -no  mean  achievement,  considering 
that  the  exacting  demands  made  by  the  general  staff 
of  the  Prussian  army  upon  the  physical  and  moral 
powers  of  doing  and  enduring  of  the  soldiers  do  not 
leave  much  margin  for  the  performance  of  such  tours 
deforce. 

Prince  Albert,  with  his  corps,  reached  the  great 
army  before  Metz  on  the  16th  of  August,  in  the  even- 
ing, and  just  when  he  was  presenting  himself  before 
King  William  at  Pont-a-Mousson,  news  of  the  hard- 
fought  glory  of  Mars-la-Tour  came  in. 

On  the  day  of  Gravelotte  the  Saxons  had  their 
first  innings  :  here  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony  had 
the  first  real  opportunity  given  him  to  make  good 
his  claim  to  the  title  of  a  great  military  commander. 


New  German  Empire.  127 

Both  he  and  his  troops  came  gloriously  out  of  the 
ordeal. 

The  Saxons  fought  at  St.  Privat  with  the  same 
death-daring  boldness  and  the  same  unconquerable 
tenacity  as  their  forefathers  of  old  had  combated 
under  Widukin  and  Alboin  against  the  ruthless 

o 

Franks  ;  under  great  King  Henry,  the  builder  of 
cities,  and  his  son,  the  Emperor  Otto,  against  the 
savage  Magyars  ;  under  Duke  Magnus  against  the 
united  power  of  all  other  German  tribes,  and  on 
so  many  other  occasions.  Prince  Albert  proved  him- 
self a  consummate  commander.  He  closed  up  the  last 
possible  loophole  through  which  Bazaine's  army  might 
have  .crept  away  from  the  trap  in  which  Moltke's 
sublime  skill  and  the  unyielding  bravery  of  the 
Germans  had  caught  the  great  French  host  of  the 
Ehine,  ere  it  had  fairly  set  out  yet  on  its  anticipated 
triumphal  promenade  militaire  d  Berlin! 

King  \Yilliam  knew  how  to  appreciate  at  their 
true  value  the  immense  services  rendered  to  the 
German  cause  by  Prince  Albert  and  his  Saxons  on 
the  decisive  day  of  Gravelotte.  When  he  met  the 
prince  in  the  evening  of  that  hot  day,  he  affixed  to 
his  breast  with  his  own  hand  the  Order  of  the  Iron 
Cross;  and  the  day  after  he  intrusted  to  him  the 
command  over  a  new  army,  formed  of  the  Saxon 
corps,  the  Prussian  guards,  under  their  glorious  chief, 
Prince  Augustus  of  Wurtemberg,  the  4th  corps,  com- 
manded by  General  Alvensleben,  and  the  cavalry 


128  IFcn  icho  larr  'innde  fir 


divisions  Rheinhaben  and  Duke  William  I.  of  A 
lenburg.  This  new  army,  a  true  corps  d'tilite  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  term,  received  afterwards  the 
name  of  Mcuse  army.  For  his  chief  of  the  stall' 
Crown  Prince  Albert  had  assigned  him  General  Schlo- 
theim,  the  very  same  staff  officer  who,  some  four 
years  back,  had,  under  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  stood 
opposed  to  him  at  Prim  and  Problus  in  the  battle 
of  Koniggratz.  In  sober  truth,  the  whirligig  of  time 
performs  strange  gyrations,  and  brings  with  it  mar- 
vellous changes  and  wonderful  mutations  ! 

At  the  time  it  was  believed  at  the  German  head- 
quarters that  the  whole  of  the  disposable  French 
forces  would  be  found  concentrated  for  the  protection 
of  Paris.  So  the  so-called  third  army,  under  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia,  was  pushed  on  rapidly  to 
the  old  Catalaunian  fields,  where,  in  450,  Theodorick 
the  Visigoth  had  gained  for  the  Roman  Aetius  his 
decisive  victory  over  Attila  the  Hun,  the  scourge 
of  God. 

The  so-called  fourth  army,  under  Prince  Albert, 
was  ordered  to  cross  the  Meuse  and  move  on  in  the 
same  direction.  More  than  half  the  march  was  done 
already,  when  Lieutenant-Colonel  Verdy  du  Vernois, 
of  the  general  staff,  one  of  Moltke's  most  distinguished 
and  most  trusted  aids,  suddenly,  in  the  night  of  the 
2  5-2  6th  of  August,  appeared  at  the  prince's  head- 
quarters, with  the  startling  news  that  M'Mahon  was 
marching  over  Rheims  in  the  direction  of  Mezieres, 


New  German  Empire.  129 

with  the    evident   intention   of  raising   the    siege  of 
Metz. 

It  was  imperative  then  to  make  a  complete  change 
in  the  disposition  of  the  army,  and  to  march  off, 
with  the  utmost  rapidity,  northward,  to  the  right,  a 
movement  which  was  executed  by  the  seven  corps 
comprised  in  it  with  •  a  skill,  swiftness,  and  precision 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  war. 

On  the  26th  of  August  Prince  Albert  took  up  his 
head-quarters  at  Clermont-en-Argonne  ;  a  little  later 
on  in  the  evening  King  William  established  his  own 
head- quarters  general  in  the  same  place. 

At  10  o'clock  that  night  Schlotheim  had  an  inter- 
view with  Moltke,  upon  whom  he  waited  again,  in 
company  this  time  with  Prince  Albert,  at  7  o'clock  in 
the  morning  of  the  27th  of  August.  Here  the  prince 
and  his  chief  of  the  staff  received  their  last  instruc- 
tions from  the  great  strategist. 

On  the  27th  occurred  the  brilliant  cavalry  encounter 
of  Buzancy,  when  the  French  were  taken  completely 
by  surprise.  They  clearly  had  not  expected  to  meet 
an  enemy  in  their  path  here. 

On  the  29th  the  vanguard  of  the  Saxons  had  a 
successful  fight  with  the  French  at  Nouart,  and  the 
day  after  the  Meuse  army  gained  the  most  important 
victory  of  Beaumont,  which  decided  the  fate  of 
M'Mahon's  army.  It  was  here  where  Failly  allowed 
himself  to  be  completely  surprised  by  the  advancing 
Germans,  and  where  M'Mahon  showed  that  the  lesson 

VOL.  II.  K 


130  M<'n    trim    }mr<'    u««!<' 


of  Worth  had  been   t;iuglit  him    in  vain.     Yet  Fa  illy 
has    not    been    called    before    a    court-martial,    and 
M'Mahon    sits   in    the    presidential   chair    of    France, 
whilst  poor  lia/ainc,  who  at  least  has  shown  himself 
va>tly  superior   in    every  respect  to   these  men,  after 
languishing    in    prison,    is   an    exile    with    tarnished 
honour.     The  French  are  indeed  a  queer  people. 

A  few  days  after,  on  the  ever-memorable  1st  of 
September,  1870,  Crown  Prince  Albert  gloriously  com- 
pleted at  Sedan  what  he  had  so  brilliantly  initiated 
at  Beaumont. 

On  the  4th  of  September  the  prince  went  to  King 

William's  head-quarters  general  at  Vendresse,  where 

the  old  warrior  received  him  with  a  warm  and  cordial 

embrace,  and,  with  the  heartiest  acknowledgment  of 

his  high  deeds   at  Beaumont  and   Sedan,   presented 

to  him  the  rare  distinction  of  the  Iron  Cross  of  the 

first   class.     Prince    Albert   also   received   the   warm 

congratulations  of  General  Moltke  upon  the  brilliant 

manner  in  which  he  had  carried  out  the  conceptions 

of  the  great  strategist.     It  was  on  this  occasion  that 

o  o 

the  distinctive  name  of  "  Army  of  the  Meuse  '  was 
given  to  the  several  corps  combined  under  the 
prince's  chief  command. 

On  the  5th  of  September  the  Germans  moved  once 
more  forward  upon  the  French  capital.  Before  Prince 
Albert  left,  he  went  to  express  his  warm  regretful 
feelings  of  sympathy  to  poor  Marshal  M'Mahon 
who  was  lying  grievously  wounded  in  Sedan.  The 


New  German  Empire.  131 

statement,  said  to  have  been  made  bv  the  wounded 

*  •/ 

French  marshal  on  the  occasion,  that  he  had  intended 
on  the  1st  of  September  to  break  in  through  the 
direction  of  Montmedy,  instead  of  Mezieres,  as  had 
been  erroneously  thought  at  German  head-quarters, 
cannot  be  discussed  here.  It  would  be  travelling 
beyond  our  record ;  and  the  avowed  sketchy  nature 
of  these  brief  memoirs  must  necessarily  preclude  all 
attempts  of  the  kind. 

On  the  forward  march  on  Paris  there  occurred,  on 
the  9th  of  September,  the  sad  catastrophe  of  Laon, 
where  a  maddened  French  artillerv  sergeant.  Henriot 

ti  O 

by  name,  treacherously  blew  up  the  powder  magazine 
in  the  duly  surrendered  citadel,  killing  and  wounding 
thereby  about  one  hundred  Germans  and  some  three 
hundred  of  his  own  countrymen. 

On  the  19th  of  September,  1870,  the  Meuse  army 
took  up  its  position  in  the  great  iron  zone  of  in- 
closure  thrown  round  Paris  by  Moltke.  The  right 
wing  of  the  Meuse  army,  formed  by  the  4th  corps, 
embraced  the  western  part  of  Paris,  from  Chatou, 
Bezons,  Argenteuil,  Epinay,  Pierrefitte,  to  the  ridge  of 
the  high  road  from  St.  Denis  to  Luzarches  ;  the  guards 
extended  from  Stains,  over  Dugny,  Le  Bourget,  and 
Blanc-Mesnil,  to  Aulnay ;  the  left  wing  (the  Saxons), 
from  Sevran,  over  Sivry,  Clichy,  and  Montfermeil,  to 
Chelles. 

The  Crown  Prince    of   Saxony  took  up  his  head- 
quarters  at    Grand   Tremblay,  where  they  remained 

K  2 


132  ^^cn  wlw  have  wttdc  flic 

till  the  8 tli  of   October,  when  they  were  transferred 
to  Margency. 

Prince  Albert  justified  most  fully  the  high  confi- 
dence which  King  William  reposed  in  him.     Through- 
out  the  long  and   tedious  siege  he  was  never  once 
caught  napping,  and  the  vigour  and  decision  of  his 
character  served  more  than  once  to  nip  in  the  bud 
what  might  otherwise  have  proved  later  on  an  annoy- 
ance or  even  a  danger  to  the  besieging  army.     Thus, 
when  the   French  had,  in  the  morning  of  the  28th 
of  October,  succeeded  in  carrying  the  village  of  Le 
Bourget,  and  it  was  represented  to  the  prince  that 
the  position  was  barely  of   sufficient   importance  to 
justify  the  expenditure  of   many  human  lives  upon 
its    recapture,    he,    seeing   at   once,    with    his    clear 
military  mind,   how  dangerous  the  place  might  turn 
out  in  the  end  should  the  enemy  establish  powerful 
and  well-supported  batteries  there,  gave  peremptory 
orders  to  re-take  it  at  any  cost — orders  which  were 
brilliantly   executed  by  the  guards,  unhappily   with 
heavy  loss. 

On  the  30th  of  November  the  Saxons  and  the 
Wurtembergers  (who  had  by  this  time  been  added 
to  the  forces  constituting  the  army  of  the  Meuse) 
had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  fierce  sortie  made  by 
General  Ducrot.  About  1,000  Saxons  and  1,500 
Wurtembergers  fell,  killed  and  wounded,  in  that  most 
hotly-contested  encounter,  which  still  left  the  import- 
ant positions  of  Brie  and  Champigny  in  the  hands  of 


New  German  Empire.  133 

the  French.     This   was  the   so-called   first  battle  of 
Villiers-sur-Marne. 

Two  clays  after,  on  the  2nd  of  December,  Ducrot 
made  his  second  great  effort  to  break  through  the 
besieging  lines.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the 
French  general,  in  French  theatrical  fashion,  parodied 
the  Spartan  mother's  farewell  address  to  her  son 
departing  for  the  battle — "With  this  shield,  or  on 
this  shield  " — by  a  grandiloquent  proclamation  that 
Paris  should  see  him  return  victorious,  or  brought 
back  dead  !  He  returned  neither  victorious  nor  dead, 
but  in  a  perfectly  satisfactory  state  of  comparative 
physical  well-being.  The  great  effort  may  be  said  to 
have  been  doomed  to  failure  from  the  first,  as  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Saxony  was  not  only  fully  prepared 
to  receive  the  onset  of  the  enemy,  but  had  even  been 
beforehand  with  the  French,  and  had  already  re- 
captured Brie  and  Champigny  before  they  came  out. 
But  the  French  sortie  en  masse  had  been  planned 
with  great  military  skill  notwithstanding,  and  the 
French  fought  most  bravely,  as  the  great  losses 
suffered  by  the  Germans  amply  showed.  One  Saxon 
regiment  alone  lost  nearly  forty  officers  and  nine 
hundred  men  in  the  fight ! 

The  attempts  made  from  the  20th  to  the  25th  of 
December  proved  equally  fruitless. 

On  the  27th  of  December  Mont  Avron  was  bom- 
barded, and  on  the  30th  the  works  erected  by  the 
French  were  destroyed  by  Prince  Albert's  troops. 


134  M<  n   n'/iu  l/aoe  ma<lr  flu 

On  the  18 tli  of  January  Prince  Albert  attended  tin- 
proclamation  of  the  new  German  Empire,  when  the 
new  emperor  bestowal  upon  him  the  high  Ordre 
pour  /'•  JA'/'/'/r,  with  oak  leaves.  The  day  after, 
the  artillery  of  the  4th  corps,  under  the  prince's 
orders,  aided  General  Kirchbacli's  5th  corps  in  re- 
pulsing Troclm's  last  desperate  attempt  to  break 
through. 

On  the  9th  of  March  the  army  of  the  Meuse  and 
the  third  army,  up  to  this  date  led  by  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Prussia  and  Germany,  were  joined  together, 
and  the  chief  command  over  the  whole  force  before 
Paris  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  Crown  Prince  Albert 
of  Saxony,  who  took  up  his  head-quarters  at  Com- 
piegue,  where  his  forty-third  birthday  was  celebrated 
on  the  23rd  of  April  with  jousts  and  quadrilles  on 
horseback,  and  other  similar  military  rejoicings  and 
amusements. 

Prince  Albert  had  to  keep  his  eyes  open  during 
the  troublous  days  of  the  Commune  and  the  fierce 
struggle  between  the  latter  and  the  Versailles  govern- 
ment. On  the  17th  of  May  he  was  forced  to  retrans- 
fer  his  head-quarters  from  Compiegne  to  Margency,  to 
be  nearer  the  scene  of  the  actual  conflict. 

On  the  28th  of  May  he  received,  the  second  time 
within  four  months,  the  news  of  the  capture  of 
Paris. 

On  the  9th  of  June  he  set  out  on  his  return  to 
Germany.  He  received  most  hearty  welcome  from 


New  German  Empire.  135 

the  people  of  Berlin  on  the  day  of  the  triumphal  entry, 
when  the  emperor  bestowed  upon  him  the  rare  dis- 
tinction of  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Iron  Cross. 

On  the  llth  of  July  he  held  his  triumphal  entry 
into  Dresden,  where  he  received  the  staff  of  a  field- 
marshal  general  of  the  German  empire,  as  has 
already  been  stated. 

After  the  death  of  King  John,  his  father,  on  the 
29th  of  October,  1873,  he  ascended  the  throne  of  the 
kingdom  of  Saxony. 

Now  a  few  words  about  the  future.  It  would  be 
a  singular  misapprehension  of  the  political  situation 
of  the  present  to  believe  it  at  all  likely  that  the 
military  career  of  a  general  like  King  Albert  can 
be  at  an  end.  He  will  have  to  appear  in  the  field 
again  sooner  or  later.  The  question  may  seem  of 
some  importance,  then,  whether  he  has  ever  frankly 
accepted  the  result  of  the  war  of  1866. 

There  are  many  people  in  Prussia,  even  among 
the  officers  of  the  army,  who  seem  at  least  to  doubt 
the  absolute  sincerity  of  the  present  King  of  Saxony 
in  his  submission  to  the  lead  of  Prussia.  They  will 
not  believe  that  the  bitter  antagonist  of  1866,  the 
man  who  then  threw  the  whole  ardour  of  his  soul 
into  the  contest  with  Prussia,  can  have  altogether 
dropped  and  forgotten  his  former  intensely  hostile 
feelings,  and  taken  instead  to  a  frank  and  sincere 
friendship  a  toute  epreuve  for  his  former  foes. 

There  is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  Saxony  an 


, 


136  Mt'/t    <'•//•>  //'"''    in<nl<'  tin 

awkward  episode-  -in  1813,  at  the  battle  of  Leipzig 
when  the  Saxons  went  over  in  a  body  from  the 
French  to  the  German  camp  in  the  midst  of  the 
fight.  It  may  be  called  over  and  over  again  a  daring 
deed  of  unconquerable  patriotism  that  they  did  so  ; 
still  there  is  always  something  revolting  to  the  moral 
feeling  in  an  act  of  treachery.  If  the  Saxons  had 
boldly  declared  before  the  battle  that  they  would 
no  longer  consent  to  be  led  into  the  fight  against 

O  O  O 

their  own  fellow  -countrymen,  the  matter  would  have 
stood  very  differently.  But  to  wait  till  the  battle 
was  fairly  engaged,  and  then  to  go  over  to  the  other 
side,  may  be  defended,  indeed,  upon  the  score  of 
prudence,  or  rather  of  serpent  wisdom.  But  before 
the  forum  of  conscience  it  must  be  condemned  as 
a  most  immoral  act  notwithstanding. 

That  the  then  King  of  Saxony  had  no  direct  con- 
nection with  this  act  of  treachery  of  his  army 
seems  to  have  been  pretty  conclusively  established 
at  the  time.  Personally  he  remained  faithful  to  the 
fallen  man  whose  fortunes  he  had  shared  in  the 
times  of  his  phenomenal  prosperity.  Still  he  did 
not  altogether  escape  what  I,  in  this  particular 
instance,  feel  disposed  to  call  the  brand  of  calumny. 
There  were  people  unbelieving  enough  in  his  sincerity 
to  impute  to  him  a  crafty  calculation  to  secure  a 
friendly  footing  in  both  camps. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  however,  to  return  to  the  present 
King  of  Saxony,  there  were  not  few,  it  appears,  who 


New  German  Empire.  137 

looked  suspiciously  upon  the  dangerous  delay  which 
occurred  in  the  attack  of  the  Saxon  corps  in  the 
battle  of  Gravelotte.  The  1st  brigade  of  the  Prus- 
sian guards  had  made  desperate  attempts  to  carry 
the  key  of  the  enemy's  position  at  St.  Privat ;  but 
the  French  fire  had  proved  too  murderous.  The 
Saxony  artillery,  which  was  expected  to  come  up 
from  Eon  court,  to  take  the  French  positions  in  flank, 
did  not  come  up  for  hours,  it  is  said,  and  the 
Prussian  guards  had  a  most  anxious  time  of  it. 

He  who  remembers  how  the  French  at  the  Alma, 
exposed  to  a  murderous  Eussian  artillery  fire,  felt 
much  inclined  to  quarrel  with  us  for  our  apparent 
delay  in  coming  effectively  to  their  aid,  and  how 
the  aides-de-camp  of  the  French  commander  were 
riding  up  to  the  English  lines  shouting,  "Mais 
Dieu  de  dieux,  que  faites-vous  done,  vous  autres  ? 
Vous  ne  voyez  done  pas  quon  nous  ecrase!'  —he 
who  remembers  this,  I  say,  will  easily  understand 
also  the  impatient  feelings  of  the  Prussian  guards 
before  St.  Privat ;  and  will  not  find  it  altogether 
inexplicable,  perhaps,  that  a  momentary  doubt  should 
have  taken  possession  of  some  minds  whether  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Saxony  might  not  be  meditating 
a  coup  de  Leipzig. 

I,  for  one,  feel  most  fully  convinced  that  anything 
more  absolutely  unfounded  could  not  well  be  conceived. 
Yet  I  have  heard  the  assertion  made,  and  in  more 
than  one  quarter.  The  explanation  of  the  delay  in 


I  :>>  MI  a    ti'/H)  h't.rc    /txtJc    tin 


the  appearance  of  tin-  Saxon  artillery  on  tin-  field,  is 
very  simple.  The  wood  between  Maluncourt  and 
Jioiieourt  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French,  who  had  to 
be  driven  out  first,  before  the  Saxon  artillery  could 
take  up  its  proper  position  behind  Roncourt.  This 
was  accomplished  at  last  by  two  battalions  of  the  7th 
infantry,  led  on  by  Colonel  Abendroth  and  Captain 
Brezecki.  So  soon  as  the  wood  had  been  taken, 
Hxteen  Saxon  batteries  took  the  French  position  in 
Hank,  and  soon  after  the  Prussian  guards  and  the 
Saxon  grenadiers  combined  carried  St.  Privat  in 

o 

right  good  style. 

The  least  shadow  of  a  foundation  for  the  grave  im- 
putation insinuated  by  some  upon  the  present  King 
of  Saxony's  secret  contingent  intentions  on  the  day 
of  Gravelotte  may  therefore  fairly  be  dismissed. 

Still,  on  the  other  hand  it  would  certainly  be  going 
too  far  to  claim  for  King  Albert  any  very  warm  and 
sincere  feeling  for  the  new  German  empire  and  for 
the  emperor.  King  Albert  and  his  brother  George- 
the  latter,  perhaps,  still  more  than  the  former  —  con- 
tinue to  the  present  day  Saxon  particularists, 
omitting  no  opportunity,  fitting  or  unfitting,  to  show 
that  they  are  but  lukewarmly-inclined  towards  the 
empire,  and  that  they  are  always  ready  to  go  in  for 
the  defence  of  their  reserved  rights  and  privileges, 
both  real  and  fancied. 

King  Albert  continues  to  the  present  the  very 
warm  friend  of  the  Austrian  emperor,  and,  in  the 


Neiv  German  Empire.  139 

event  of  certain  contingencies  and  complications,  it 
might  not  be  altogether  wise,  perhaps,  to  intrust 
this  very  hot  Austrian  and  Eomanist,  and  warm 
admirer  of  Beust  and  his  most  fatal  anti-German 
policy,  with  the  command  of  the  Saxon  portion  of 
the  great  German  army.  At  least,  this  seems  to  be 
the  feeling  in  more  than  one  German  military  circle 
in  which  the  writer  of  this  memoir  has  had  occasion 
to  move, 


140  Men  irJto  have   nude  tJte 


IX. 


FIELD-MARSHAL  GENERAL  HERWARTH 
VON   BITTENFELD. 

AT  the  time  when  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870- 
71  broke  out,  the  Prussian  army  numbered  only 
one  field-marshal  general,  to  wit,  old  Father  Wrangel, 
and  one  master-general  of  ordnance,  to  wit,  Prince 
Charles,  the  only  now  surviving  brother  of  the 
present  emperor  of  Germany. 

On  the  28th  of  October,  1870,  the  Crown  Prince 
and  Prince  Frederick  Charles  were  raised  to  the 
rank  of  field-marshal  general.  On  the  16th  of  June, 
1871,  the  great  Moltke  was  invited  to  shed  additional 
lustre  upon  the  highest  rank  and  position  in  the  army 
by  joining  his  own  name  to  the  glorious  list.  Prince 
Albert,  a  younger  brother  of  the  emperor,  was  at 
the  same  time  named  col  on  el- general  of  cavalry, 
with  the  rank  of  field-marshal  in  the  army  (he  died 
on  the  14th  of  October,  1872).  On  the  llth  of 
July,  1871,  the  present  King  of  Saxony  received  the 
marshal's  baton. 

The  rank  of  field-marshal  general  has  been  bestowed 


New  German  Empire.  141 

also  by  the  emperor-king  upon  Generals  Steinmetz 
and  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  with  date  of  the  8th  of 
April,  1871  ;  upon  General  Eoon  at  the  end  of  the 
year  1872,  and,  lastly,  upon  General  Manteuffel  and 
Prince  Frederick  of  the  Netherlands. 

Field-Marshal  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  is  a  scion 
of  the  ancient  noble  house  of  the  Herwarths  von 
Hohenburg,  an  old  Catholic  family  of  Wiirtemberg. 
The  grandfather  of  the  field-marshal  seceded  to  the 
Protestant  faith  in  the  first  part  of  the  18th  cen- 
tury, and  took  service  in  the  Prussian  army.  He  fell, 
bravely  fighting  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  (Prince 
of  Wied),  in  the  murderous  battle  of  Kolin.  One  of 
his  sons  fell  in  the  disastrous  battle  of  Jena,  1806, 
whilst  the  other  son,  the  father  of  the  field-marshal 
and  of  General  Hans  (John)  von  Bittenfeld,  was 
grievously  wounded  the  same  day  at  Auerstadt.  He 
recovered,  however,  and  died  afterwards  at  Berlin  as 
general,  in  1832. 

Charles  Eberhard  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  the 
subject  of  this  memoir,  was  born  on  the  4th  of 
September,  1796,  at  Grosswerther,  in  the  Prussian 
province  of  Saxe.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered 
the  then  so-called  normal  infantry  battalion  in  the 
simple  capacity  of  a  private  soldier  (15th  of  October, 
1811).  The  year  after,  he  was  made  ensign,  and  on 
the  21st  of  February,  1813,  second  lieutenant. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  1813,  the  second 
regiment  of  the  foot  guards  was  formed,  Herwarth's 


142  M^en  ivho  have  made  the 

battalion  being  one  of  the  constituent  parts.  The 
young  officer  gained  some  distinction  in  the  campaign 
of  1813,  and  more  especially  in  1814,  when  he  was 
present  at  the  storming  of  Montmartre,  on  the  30th  of 
March,  and  took  two  French  guns  near  the  village  of 
Pantin. 

After  the  definitive  conclusion  of  peace  in  1815, 
Lieutenant  Herwarth  acted  as  adjutant  up  to  1821, 
when  he  attained  his  captaincy.  It  took  him  fourteen 
years  to  move  up  another  step  in  the  army,  so  that 
his  advancement  could  not  be  called  very  rapid.  It 
was  on  the  30th  of  March,  1835,  that  he  was  trans- 
ferred as  major  to  the  Landwehr  infantry  regiment 
of  the  guard  (reserve),  with  whom  he  joined  in  the 
Kalisch  manoeuvres  that  same  year.  Twelve  years 
after,  on  the  27th  of  March,  1847,  he  was  made  lieu- 
tenant-colonel and  commander  of  the  1st  regiment 
of  foot  guards,  having  previously  held  the  temporary 
command  of  the  Emperor  Francis  regiment. 

In  1849  he  attained  his  full  colonelcy,  and  the 
year  after  the  command  of  the  16th  infantry  brigade 
was  conferred  upon  him. 

When,  somewhat  later  on,  the  signs  of  the  times 
seemed  to  point  unmistakably  to  war  with  Austria, 
Herwarth  received  the  command  of  the  combined 
brigade  of  the  division  Bonin,  concentrated  at 

o 

Kreuznach  in  anticipation  of  the  event — which  after 
all  did  not  take  place,  the  whole  affair  ending  in 
smoke  and  in  the  disgrace  of  Olmtitz. 


New  German  Empire.  143 

Colonel  Herwarth  exchanged  the  command  of  the 
combined  brigade  for  that  of  the  Prussian  garrison 
of  Frankfort-on-the-Maine. 

On  the  23rd  of  March,  1852,  the  king  made  him 
major-general ;  and  two  years  after,  the  highly  import- 
ant position  of  governor  of  the  fortress  of  Mayence 
was  intrusted  to  him.  In  1856  he  took  the  command 
of  the  7th  division  of  the  Prussian  army.  Two 
years  after  he  was  made  lieutenant-general,  and 
appointed  to  the  inspection  of  the  Austrian  con- 
tingent of  the  German  federal  army. 

In  1860  he  was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the 
7th  corps  of  the  Prussian  army  (the  Westphalians), 
which  he  led  the  year  after  in  the  grea,t  autumn 
manoeuvres  on  the  Rhine.  As  a  special  mark  of  his 
satisfaction  with  the  excellent  state  of  his  corps, 
King  William  bestowed  upon  General  Herwarth  von 
Bittenfeld  the  chiefship  of  the  1st  Westphalian 
infantry  regiment,  No,  13, 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1863,  Herwarth  von 
Bittenfeld  attained  the  rank  of  general  of  infantry. 

In  1864  he  led  a  division  of  his  corps  in  the 
Danish  war,  and  after  the  transfer  of  Prince 
Frederick  Charles  to  the  chief  command  of  the 
allied  Austrian  and  Prussian  forces,  vice  Field  - 
Marshal  Wrangel,  retired  from  service,  he  had  the 
command  of  the  Prussian  corps  intrusted  to  his 
hands. 

After  the  lamentable    fiasco   of  the   London    Con- 


144  Men  who  hare  made  the 

ference,  and  its  final  ending  in  smoke,  the  25th  of 
June,  Herwarth  resolved  to  take  the  Island  of  Alsen. 
He  made  his  dispositions  entirely  upon  his  own 
personal  responsibility,  but  with  such  transcendent 
skill  and  such  absolute  foresight  of  every  possible 
contingency,  that  the  operation  was  triumphantly 
accomplished,  29th  of  June,  1864.  This  capture  of 
Alsen  stands  forth  brilliantly  as  one  of  the  rarest 
deeds  of  arms  in  the  history  of  war.  It  would  of 
itself  suffice  to  establish  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld's 
claim  to  the  name  and  fame  of  a  great  commander 
in  the  field. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  Vienna, 
Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  was  appointed  to  the 
supreme  command  in  the  Elbe  duchies.  He  took 
up  his  residence  at  Kiel.  He  had  by  no  means 
an  easy  position  there,  as  he  found  himself  brought 
constantly  into  collision  with  the  foolish  Pretender 
of  Augustenburg,  whose  overweening  conceit,  joined 
to  his  blind  reliance  upon  Austria  and  the  Frankfort 
clique,  under  the  leadership  of  Beust,  made  it  a 
matter  of  extreme  difficulty  to  keep  on  terms  of 
even  common  courtesy  with  him. 

Herwarth  did  not  see  the  last  of  it,  however. 
Even  before  the  conclusion  of  the  convention  of 
Gastein,  in  1865,  he  was  recalled  from  the  duchies, 
and  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  8th  corps  of 
the  Prussian  army,  with  head-quarters  at  Coblentz. 
In  1866,  when  General  Moltke,  in  conformity  with 


New  German  Empire.  145 

his  great  principle,  to  march  in  separate  columns,  but 
strike  the  decisive  blow  with  united  forces,  formed 
three  distinct  armies  for  the  projected  Bohemian 
campaign,  the  distinguished  honour  of  leading  one  of 
these  armies,  to  which  Schlotheim  and  Brandenstein 
afterwards  gave  the  distinctive  name  of  the  army 
of  the  Elbe,  was  conferred  upon  General  Herwarth 
von  Bittenfeld. 

The  army  of  the  Elbe  numbered  from  40,000  to 
43,000  effectives.  The  Austro- Saxon  army,  which 
had  the  special  task  assigned  to  it  to  defend  the  line 
of  the  Iser,  and  interpose  between  the  junction  of 
the  Elbe  army  with  the  first  army  under  Prince 
Frederick  Charles,  exceeded  this  number  by  nearly 
70  per  cent. 

The  rapidity  of  Herwarth's  movements  seems  to 
have  disconcerted  the  Austrian  general,  Clam- Gal  las, 
under  whose  chief  command  the  Saxon  corps  under 
Prince  Albert  had  also  been  placed.  Already  as 
early  as  the  26th  of  June  the  Prussian  general  made 
his  appearance  with  part  of  his  forces  at  Huhner- 
wasser,  a  small  place  in  the  Bunzlau  district  in 
Bohemia. 

The  Austrian  brigade  Leiningen,  forming  the  left 
wing  of  the  Austro- Saxon  Iser  army,  pushed  forward 
from  Miinchengratz,  had  taken  up  a  very  strong  posi- 
tion here.  Count  Gondrecourt,  the  adlatus  of  Olam- 
Gallas  (and  subsequently  his  successor),  commanded 
in  person. 

VOL.  IT.  L 


14G  Men  ivho  hare  made  the 

The  fi^lit  commenced  on  the  morning  of  the  2Gth 

O  D 

of  June  with  a  most  vigorous  attack  of  the  Prussians 
upon  the  wood  situate  before  lliilmerwasser,  in  the 
direction  of  the  frontier.  The  Austrians  were,  after 
hard  fighting,  driven  from  the  wood  into  the  small 
town,  and  from  there  again  into  the  open  beyond, 
the  Prussians  having  by  noon  succeeded  in  taking  up 
an  advanced  position  in  the  direction  of  Weisswasser 
and  Miinchengratz.  In  the  evening  Count  Gondre- 
court  made  several  desperate  attempts  to  dislodge 
the  Prussians,  which  ended,  however,  in  his  total 
discomfiture,  his  forces  being  driven  back  across  the 
Toperberg  and  beyond  Upper  Gruppay. 

There  was  now  no  further  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  an  advance  of  the  Elbe  army  upon  Miinchengratz, 
to  effect  its  junction  there  with  the  army  under 
Prince  Frederick  Charles. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Benedek's  strangely  con- 
fused and  contradictory  orders  (for  which  the  general 
was  perhaps  not  altogether  responsible,  however,  as 
he  was  driven  nearly  to  his  wits'  ends  by  the  emperor 
and  his  military  cabinet's  constant  stupid  interference 
with  his  plans  and  projects)  placed  Clam-Gallas  and 
Albert  of  Saxony  in  an  extremely  difficult  position. 
They  had  had  orders  to  hold  the  Iser  line  to  the  last 
extremity ;  yet  barely  had  the  news  of  the  disaster  of 
Hiihnerwasser  reached  the  ears  of  Benedek,  when 
that  general  at  once  gave  the  opposite  order — to  wit, 
that  Clam-Gallas  and  the  Saxons  should  at  once 


New  German  Empire.  147 

retire  upon  Gritschin,  a  most  difficult  operation,  which 
they  were  called  upon  to  execute  in  the  face  of  a 
victoriously  advancing  foe. 

They  had  no  choice,  however.  So  they  accepted 
the  battle  at  Miinchengratz. 

This  small  town,  of  about  four  thousand  souls, 
lies  also  in  the  Bunzlau  district,  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Iser,  on  the  Kralup  and  Turnau  Railway  line, 
some  seven  English  miles  south-west  of  Turnau. 

The  corps  of  Clam-Gallas  and  the  Saxons  under 
Albert  stood  here  opposed  to  a  portion  of  the  army 
of  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  and  part  of  the  former 
under  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld.  The  latter  had  to 
take  the  Kloster  village,  the  former  Musky  Hill  and  the 
village  of  the  same  name.  Herwarth  crossed  the  Iser 

o 

above  Miinchengratz  on  a  pontoon  bridge,  stormed 
the  village,  climbed  up  the  steep  heights  of  the 
Austro- Saxon  position  before  Miinchengratz,  and 
almost  entirely  turned  the  corps  of  Clam-Gallas ; 
whilst  Prince  Frederick  Charles  carried  Musky  Hill, 
the  villages  of  Musky  and  Dneboch,  and  the  ruins 
of  Bossin.  There  remained  but  little  more  fighting 
to  be  done  to  occupy  Miinchengratz,  and  to  complete 
the  junction  of  the  two  Prussian  armies  and  the 
capture  of  the  line  of  the  Iser.  The  Austrian  losses 
were  very  heavy.  Fourteen  hundred  unwounded 
prisoners  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  who  paid 
for  their  great  success  the  comparatively  small  price 
of  some  330  men  killed  and  wounded,  almost  equally 

L  2 


148  M'cn  icho  hare  n,ade  tJ/r 

distributed   between  the  first   army  and  the  army  of 
the  Elbe. 

In  the  decisive  battle  of  Koniggratz,  Herwarth 
von  Bittenfeld  played  a  most  prominent  part.  It  has 
been  said,  indeed,  by  some  critics,  that  in  this  battle 
he  had  not  carried  out  thoroughly  Moltke's  instruc- 
tions, and  that  the  lack  of  vigour  shown  by  him  had 
subsequently  made  possible  the  escape  of  Benedek's 
beaten  army.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  these  critics 
could  support  this  charge  against  the  marshal  were 
they  seriously  called  upon  to  prove  it.  Herwarth  von 
Bittenfeld  acted  with  the  utmost  vigour  throughout 
that  hot  day  of  the  3rd  of  July.  By  storming  the 
villages  of  Problus  and  Prim  (or  Przim),  he  absolutely 
crushed  the  Austrian  left  wing.  It  seems  to  me  that 
all  these  charges  brought  against  different  generals 
and  troops  may  in  the  end  find  their  answer  in 
Frederick  Charles's  alleged  precipitate  opening  of 
the  ball  two  hours  sooner  than  the  other  leaders  had 
been  led  to  expect. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  King  William  showed  his  appre- 
ciation of  the  general's  great  services  on  the  3rd  of 
July,  by  bestowing  upon  him  even  in  the  evening  of 
that  glorious  day  the  high  distinction  of  the  Order  of 
the  Black  Eagle,  a  sad  consolation,  after  all,  for  the 
loss  of  a  dearly-beloved  son  who  fell  in  the  attack 
on  Problus. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Austria,  General 
Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  was  placed  d  la  suite  of  the 


New  German  Empire.  149 

second  regiment  of  foot  guards.  He  resumed  his 
command  of  the  8th  corps. 

In  1870  the  king  intrusted  to  him  the  highly  re- 
sponsible and  most  important  charge  of  governor- 
general  on  the  Khine  and  of  all  the  western  provinces 
of  the  kingdom.  He  proved  himself  worthy  of  the 
high  trust  reposed  in  him,  by  organizing  with  the 
utmost  vigour  and  rapidity,  and  with  consummate 
skill,  an  effective  defence  of  the  land  placed  under 
his  protecting  care.  Happily,  the  war  took  a 
very  different  turn ;  but  the  excellent  defensive 
measures  taken  on  the  Khine  by  Herwarth  von 
Bittenfeld  excited  the  admiration  of  all  men  able  to 
judge  of  such  matters;  and  they  would  no  doubt 
have  brilliantly  stood  the  test  of  an  actual  French 
invasion. 

Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld  had  lost  a  son  in  1866,  at 
Problus,  as  we  have  seen.  In  1870  he  was  doomed  to 
suffer  other  most  grievous  losses.  A  second  son  fell 
at  A^ionville,  a  third  at  St.  Privat,  whilst  a  fourth  was 
grievously  wounded  at  Courcelles.  Military  glory  is 
an  expensive  luxury,  and  the  price  to  be  paid  for  it  is 
occasionally  most  bitter. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  1871,  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld 
was  finally  raised  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  army, 
and  permitted  to  rest  at  last  on  his  well-earned 
laurels. 

He  took  up  his  residence  at  Bonn,  where  he  cele- 
brated, on  the  15th  of  October,  1871,  in  rare  bodily 


150  Man  trfi o  Itave  made  the 

and  mental  vigour,  the  jubilee  of  the  sixtieth  anniver- 
sary of  his  taking  service  in  the  army.  Congratu- 
lations poured  in  on  him  from  all  sides  on  this  festive 
occasion. 

The  field-marshal,  who  is  now  in  his  seventy- 
ninth  year,  continues  still  in  vigorous  health.  His 
younger  brother,  John,  who  is  seventy-five,  is  also 
still  a  healthy,  active  man.  He  retired  from  the 
service  some  time  since,  as  general  of  infantry.  In 
1866  he  was  military  governor  of  the  province  of 
Saxony.  He  has  taken  up  his  residence  in  the 
Prussian  capital. 

A  cousin  of  the  two,  Frederick  Adrian,  who  is  also 
seventy-four,  retired  from  the  service  some  time  ago, 
as  general  of  infantry.  Up  to  1870  he  was  governor 
of  Konigsberg.  He  now  lives  at  Merseburg. 


New  German  Empire.  151 


X. 

FIELD-MARSHAL   STEINMETZ. 

CHARLES  FREDERICK  VON  STEINMETZ  was  born  at 
Eisenach,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1796.  He  was 
a  mere  youth  of  sixteen  when  the  momentous  events 
of  1812-13  called  him,  along  with  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  other  sons  of  Germany  standing  equally 
on  the  very  threshold  of  youth,  under  the  glorious 
banner  of  liberation,  unfurled  to  free  the  great  father- 
land from  the  vilest  and  most  crushing  yoke  an 
insolent  conqueror  had  ever  yet  in  the  history  of 
the  world  attempted  to  fasten  upon  a  noble  people. 

Having  been  originally  destined  and  educated  for 
the  military  career,  he  entered  the  Prussian  army 
as  lieutenant.  His  daring  bravery  gained  him  the 
rare  distinction  of  the  Order  of  the  Iron  Cross 
(1814). 

When  peace  was  at  last  concluded,  in  1815,  young 
Steinmetz  eagerly  and  assiduously  took  up  again 
the  pursuit  of  his  military  studies,  interrupted  by 
the  war.  His  advancement  in  the  service  was  by 


152  Men  ivlio  have  ii«i<l<'  flic 

no  means  rapid,  as  we  find  him  in  1835  still  a 
simple  captain,  in  command  of  a  company  of  grena- 
diers in  the  Emperor  Francis  regiment. 

A  few  years  after  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  major,  and  placed  in  command  of  the  Diisseldorf 
Landwehr  battalion  of  the  guards.  This  position 
he  exchanged  soon  after  for  the  command  of  the 
reserve  battalion  of  the  guards,  then  in  garrison 
at  Spandau. 

In  1848  we  find  him  lieutenant-colonel  in  command 
of  the  2nd  regiment  of  infantry.  At  the  head  of 
t\vo  battalions  of  this  regiment  he  took  his  fair  share 
in  the  Berlin  street  fight  of  the  18th  of  March. 
He  afterwards  \vent  with  his  regiment  to  the  war 
in  Schleswig-Holstein. 

After  the  armistice  of  Malmo,  Colonel  Steinmetz 
was  appointed  Governor  of  the  Berlin  Cadet-house, 
and  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general.  He 
commanded  for  a  time  a  brigade  of  the  guards,  then 
a  division  in  the  army,  being  raised  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-general,  until  he  was  finally  named  general 
of  infantry,  and  had  the  command  of  the  5th  Prussian 
corps  bestowed  upon  him,  with  head-quarters  at 
Posen. 

It  was  only  in  1866,  w^hen  he  was  near  seventy 
years  old,  that  the  first  real  opportunity  was  afforded 
him  to  justify  the  high  trust  reposed  in  him.  His 
5th  corps  formed  part  of  the  second  army,  under  the 
command  of  the  Crown  Prince.  With  this  corps, 


New  German  Empire.  153 

aided  only  by  a  brigade  of  the  6th  corps,  General 
Steinmetz  defeated  successively  at  Nachod,  Skalitz, 
and  Schweinschadel,  the  6th  Austrian  corps  under 
Kamming,  the  8th  under  the  Archduke  Leopold,  and 
the  4th  under  Festetics,  taking  from  them  two  ban- 
ners, two  standards,  eleven  guns,  and  six  thousand 
unwounded  prisoners.  Altogether  the  losses  inflicted 
upon  these  three  corps,  which  constituted  nearly  the 
half  of  Benedek's  army,  were  most  crushing  ;  and 
it  may  well  be  said  that  the  three  days  of  Nachod, 
Skalitz,  and  Schweinschadel,  so  disastrous  to  Austria, 
prepared  and  initiated  as  it  were  the  great  final  defeat 
at  Koniggratz. 

The  battles  of  Nachod,  Skalitz,  and  Schweinschadel 
have  been  sufficiently  recorded  already  in  the  memoir 
of  the  Crown  Prince.  The  meed  of  glory  justly 
claimed  there  for  the  royal  commander  of  the  second 
army  does  not  detract,  however,  from  the  high  merit 
of  General  Steinmetz,  which  was  indeed  most  fully 
acknowledged  by  the  noble  chief  himself,  who  de- 
manded and  obtained  for  the  general  the  rare  dis- 
tinction of  the  Order  of  the  Black  Eagle,  gained 
on  the  field  of  battle. 

After  these  hard  days  Steinmetz  and  his  corps 
were  placed  in  the  reserve,  so  that  they  took  no 
active  share  in  the  battle  of  Koniggratz.  Steinmetz 
was  one  of  the  generals  upon  whom  the  gratitude 
of  the  king  and  nation  bestowed  a  handsome  dotation 
after  the  conclusion  of  peace. 


154  Men  w/to  have  made  the 

Soon  after  the  termination  of  the  war  of  1866, 
lie  attended  the  Crown  Prince  on  his  visit  to  St. 
Petersburg,  where  the  Emperor  Alexander  II.  be- 
stowed upon  him  the  Order  of  Alexander  Newskji 
in  brilliants. 

In  1867  General  Steinmetz  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  constituent  assembly  of  the  North  German 
Confederation.  He  represented  the  district  of  Zlilli- 
chau-Krossen.  He  took  his  seat  on  the  Conservative 
benches,  but  did  not  join  very  actively  in  the  discus- 
sion of  the  business  before  the  assembly.  He  was 
also  subsequently  elected  a  member  of  the  first  Diet 
of  the  Confederation. 

In  the  Franco  -  German  war  of  1870,  Steinmetz 
was  intrusted  with  the  command  of  the  first  army, 
which  consisted  of  the  1st  corps  under  General 
Bentheim,  the  7th  corps  under  General  Zastrow,  the 
8th  corps  under  General  Goben,  and  the  1st  and 
3rd  cavalry  divisions.  The  1st  corps  was,  however, 
at  first  retained  in  Germany  (along  with  the  2nd 
and  6th),  as  the  intentions  of  Austria  looked  suffi- 
ciently doubtful  then  to  justify  every  possible  measure 
of  precaution  against  an  Austrian  surprise.  Subse- 
quently, about  mid-August,  when  this  threatening 
danger  might  be  considered  at  an  end,  the  1st  corps 
joined  Steinmetz's  army  before  Metz,  together  with 
the  division  Kummer,  and  (temporarily)  the  Meck- 
lenburg division. 

The   first   great   feat   of  arms   which   fell    to   the 


New  German  Empire.  155 

share  of  the  army  under  Steinmetz  was  the  cap- 
ture of  the  heights  of  Spicheren,  near  Saarbrticken, 
and  the  crushing  defeat  of  a  French  army  of 
four  divisions,  under  command  of  General  Frossard. 
This  battle  was  fought  on  the  6th  of  August,  on 
the  same  day  as  the  battle  of  Worth. 

Frossard's  corps,  supported  by  nearly  the  whole 
of  two  more  French  divisions,  and  'by  a  most 
powerful  artillery,  had  taken  up  a  strong  position 
on  the  Spicheren  heights  and  in  Spicheren  wood. 

The  7th  German  corps  was  on  the  morning  of  the 
6th  of  August  stationed  at  Guichenbach,  some  six 
English  miles  from  Saarbrlicken  on  the  German  side. 
About  noon  the  cavalry  division  of  Eheinhaben 
passed  through  the  town  of  Saarbriicken,  which  had 
been  evacuated  by  the  French.  The  14th  division 
of  infantry,  under  command  of  General  Kameke, 
followed.  The  Germans  having  passed  through  the 
town,  and  issuing  from  the  other  side,  were  received 
by  a  warm  artillery  and  infantry  fire. 

General  Kameke  at  once  ordered  the  attack  on 
the  heights.  The  German  troops  had  to  make  their 
way  to  the  foot  of  the  hills,  across  an  open  which 
afforded  no  protection  whatever  against  the  fierce 
French  fire  from  the  heights  ;  notwithstanding  which 
formidable  obstacle,  they  advanced  steadily  and  with 
the  utmost  intrepidity  from  the  Winterberg  southward 
upon  the  steep  heights  held  by  the  French. 

They  made  some   progress   up  to  three  o'clock  iii 


156  Men  who  hare  made  the 

the  afternoon,  although  fighting  against  fearful  odds. 
At  last  the  thunder  of  the  cannons  brought  portions 
of  the  divisions  of  Barnekow  and  Stulpuagel  to  the 
aid  of  the  desperately  struggling,  sadly  overmatched 
14th  division. 

General  Kameke  now  tried  to  take  the  French  in 
the  left  flank,  moving  down  upon  them  over  Stiring. 
This  attempt  was  frustrated  by  the  French.  Fortu- 
nately General  Goben  arrived  with  further  reinforce- 
ments, and  took  the  command. 

At  this  time  the  French  had,  indeed,  been  driven 
from  Spicheren  wood,  but  powerful  reserves  coming 
up,  the  Prussians  had  to  give  way  again  for  a  time. 

Soon  after  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  the  French 
left  wing  began  to  press  hard  upon  the  Prussians 
round  Stiring,  when  the  arrival  of  a  few  regiments 
of  Brandenburg  infantry,  belonging  to  the  second 
army  (Prince  Frederick  Charles),  changed  the  face 
of  affairs,  the  Prussians  now  succeeding  at  last  in 
carrying  the  rocky  wood-covered  declivities  of  the 
heights. 

Spicheren  wood  was  taken  once  more,  and  General 
Goben  ordered  the  final  attack  upon  the  top  of 
the  Spicheren  hill.  The  6th  division  succeeded  in 
getting  two  batteries  along  a  mountain  path  up  to 
this  top,  and  the  assault  was  crowned  with  com- 
plete success. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  General  Steinnietz 
arrived  on  the  field  of  action.  He  completed  what 


New  German  Empire.  157 

bis  great  lieutenant,  Goben,  had  so  gloriously  begun. 
The  defeated  French  were  forced  to  retreat. 

At  first  Frossard  retired  in  good  order.  He  in- 
tended to  fall  back  upon  St.  Avoid,  where  due  pre- 
parations had  been  made  for  such  a  contingency. 
But  Steinmetz  rapidly  pushed  forward  the  13th 
division  (Glimier),  which  cleverly  managed  to  inter- 
pose between  the  French  general  and  St.  Avoid. 

Complete  demoralization  set  in  now  in  Frossard's 
corps.  The  orderly  retreat  degenerated  into  some- 
thing very  like  wild  flight,  so  that  important  military 
magazines,  the  camp  of  an  entire  French  division, 
numerous  pieces  of  artillery,  a  complete  pontoon 
train,  10,000  woollen  rugs,  some  200  tons  of  pro- 
visions and  tobacco,  &c.,  were  allowed  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  victorious  Germans.  Two  thousand 
five  hundred  unwounded  French  prisoners  were 
taken  by  the  Prussians. 

The  French  had  fifty-two  strong  battalions  in  the 
fight,  supported  by  a  most  powerful  artillery.  The 
Germans  had  only  twenty-seven  battalions,  with  the 
artillery  of  a  single  division  ;  besides  which,  the 
French  had  in  their  favour  the  immense  advantage 
of  an  extremely  strong  position.  Yet  the  Germans 
carried  the  day.  Their  losses  were  fearfully  heavy  ; 
215  officers  and  5,034  men  killed  and  wounded- -an 
enormous  percentage  upon  the  numbers  engaged. 

The  French  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  may  be 
estimated  at  about  6,000,  as  Frossard  admitted  a 


158  Men  ?r//o  hare  mode  tie 

loss  in  his  own    special   corps    alone   of  270  officers 
and  4,000  mm. 

The  1  >;it tie  of  Spicheren  gave  rise  at  the  time  to 
considerable  controA^ersy  and  comment.  It  was  main- 
tained that  Steinmetz  had  allowed  the  fight  to  be 
engaged  in  in  the  very  teeth  of  strict  instructions 
to  the  contrary  received  from  General  Moltke,  wdio, 
it  was  said,  had  intended  to  cut  Frossard's  corps 
off  by  a  series  of  strategic  manoeuvres. 

In  times  of  excitement  the  most  extraordinary 
statement  will  pass  current  and  find  believers.  I,  for 
one,  am  convinced  that  there  was  no  foundation  what- 
ever or  truth  for  the  serious  imputation  made  upon 
the  old  general,  that  he  had  deliberately  and  of  malice 
prepense  set  at  naught  an  explicit  command  from 
head-quarters. 

Nor  can  I  believe  in  the  other  version  of  the  story, 
which  was  started  at  the  time,  to  wit,  that  Kameke 
had  attacked  the  French  position  without  orders, 
and  that  Go'ben,  instead  of  breaking  off  the  attack, 
had  continued  it  against  express  orders.  Both 
Kameke  and  Goben  have  been  brought  up  in  too 
good  a  school  of  military  discipline  and  subordination 
ever  to  allow  the  excitement  of  the  moment  to  run 
awny  with  their  discretion. 

I  think  these  stories  had  their  origin  at  the  time 

o 

chiefly  in  the  regret  naturally  felt  at  the  fearful  losses 
suffered  by  the  Germans  in  this  desperate  battle. 
The  French  had  apparently  intended  to  defend  a 


New  German  Empire.  159 

carefully-prepared  position  on  the  French  Nied  ;  but 
on  the  llth  of  August,  the  fifth  day  after  the  battle 
of  Spicheren,  they  retreated  to  the  other  bank  of  the 
Moselle  at  Metz,  where  they  took  up  a  new  position 
under  the  protection  of  the  fortress.  Steinmetz 
followed. 

On  the  14th  of  August,  the  first  army  under 
General  Steinmetz  occupied  the  following  positions  :- 

The  1st  corps,  1st  division,  was  placed  at  Cour- 
celles-Chaussy,  on  the  road  leading  from  Metz  to 
St.  Avoid  ;  the  second  division  at  Les  Etangs,  on 

o    ' 

the  road  leading  from  Metz  to  Boulay. 

The  13th  division  (7th  corps)  was  placed  at  Dom- 
maugeville. 

The  8th  corps  was  placed  in  reserve  at  Varize,  near 
Vionville.  The  3rd  cavalry  division  had  its  station 
on  the  right  wing,  at  St.  Barbe ;  the  first  cavalry 
division,  on  the  left  wing,  at  Frontigny.  The  14th 
division  and  the  18th  division,  belonging  both  to  the 
second  army,  under  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  were 
leaning  on  the  left  wing  of  the  first  army. 

Well,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  14th  of  August,  the 
vanguard  of  the  first  army  thought  there  were  signs 
of  an  intended  move  of  the  French  encamped  under 
the  walls  of  Metz. 

Now,  as  it  was  a  matter  of  the  utmost  importance 
for  the  Germans  to  keep  the  French  in  their  actual 
position  before  Metz  until  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
could  move  upon  their  line  of  retreat,  Steinmetz  at 


1  6 0  Men  wli o  liai *c  ma de  tlic 

once  gave  orders  to  the  brigade  Goltz  to  attack  the 
rear-guard  of  Decaen's  departing  corps  (which  had 
formerly  been  commanded  by  Bazaine). 

The  attack  was  made  with  such  spirit  and  deter- 
mination that  the  corps  was  compelled  to  halt,  and 
to  make  front.  Parts  of  Frossard's  corps  had  also  to 
join  in  repelling  the  Prussian  onset.  Immediately 
General  Gliimer  was  sent  forward  with  the  brigade 
Osten-Sacken,  to  support  Goltz.  Kameke  and  Wrangel 
joined  in  the  fray  on  the  left  wing,  and  the  final  result 
was  that  the  French  had  to  abandon  for  the  nonce  all 
notion  of  moving  away  from  their  encampment. 

The  French  corps  Ladmirault  had  meanwhile 
endeavoured  to  make  an  impression  upon  the  right 
wing  of  the  1st  corps,  but  the  assailants  were  met 
by  General  Manteuffel  at  the  head  of  his  reserves 
with  such  determination,  that  they  had  also  to  retire 
ultimately  behind  the  fortifications.  The  result  of 
this  battle  of  Courcelles  was,  that  Prince  Frederick 
Charles  had  an  additional  day  given  him  to  bring  his 
army  up,  which  he  turned  to  most  excellent  account. 

On  the  18th  of  August,  Steinmetz  and  the  army 
under  his  command  again  took  a  prominent  share  in 
the  glory  of  Gravelotte. 

Steinmetz  joined  afterwards  in  the  siege  of  Metz. 
If  the  least  reliance  could  ever  be  placed  upon  camp 
reports  and  military  gossip,  one  might  be  led  to 
believe  that  General  Steinmetz  had  given  offence  at 
head-quarters  by  acting  too  much  upon  his  own 


New  German  Empire.  161 

impulse,   instead   of    yielding   proper    obedience    to 
superior  orders. 

Other  reports,  more  likely  to  have  some  foundation 
in  truth,  would  simply  have  it  that  the  obstinate  old 
man  (seventy -four)  could  not  be  brought  to  see 
that  he  owed  obedience  to  Prince  Frederick  Charles, 
to  whom  the  command  of  the  siege  of  Metz  had  been 
intrusted. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  however,  it  was  suddenly  dis- 
covered at  head-quarters  that  Eussian  neutrality 
might  after  all  not  be  implicitly  relied  upon,  and 
that  it  would  only  be  a  wise  measure  of  precaution 
to  send  an  energetic  and  skilful  chief  back  to  Prussia, 
to  watch  over  the  safety  of  the  frontier.  General 
Steinmetz  was  the  very  man  for  it,  as  the  king  said. 
So  the  old  man  was  graced  with  the  high  title  and 
full  power  of  Governor- General  of  Posen  and  Silesia 
— and  sent  back  to  Germany. 

The  new  Governor- General  of    Posen  and  Silesia 

> 

must  somehow  have  seen  through  the  matter  after- 
wards, for  he  repeatedly  tendered  his  resignation  to 
the  king. 

It  was,  however,  only  after  the  conclusion  of  peace, 
on  the  8th  of  April,  1871,  that  his  majesty  granted  the 
general's  request,  bestowing  upon  him  at  the  same 
time  the  highest  rank  in  the  army — that  of  field- 
marshal  general. 

Field-Marshal  Steinmetz  also  had  his  share  in  the 
dotations  voted  subsequently  by  parliament  and 

VOL.  II.  M 


Men   irfio  have  made  the 


1)V  tlie  kino*.  He  lives  now  in  Gorlitz, 
Lower  Silesia,  in  the  enjoyment  still  of  excellent 
health. 

In  1870  lu?  ivct'ivi-d  also  once  again  the  high  Order 
of  the  Iron  Cross,  which  he  had  received  first  in  1814 
when  ;i  mere  stripling.  He  is  the  only  man  in  the 
Prussian  army  who  can  boast  of  having  had  bestowed 
upon  him,  at  an  interval  of  nearly  sixty  years,  the  two 
••lasses  of  the  same  order. 


Neiv  German  Empire.  163 


XL 


FIELD-MARSHAL  MANTEUFFEL. 

THIS  is  one  of  the  latest  of  his  German  and  Prussian 
majesty's  marshal  creations,  and,  as  has  indeed  been 
the  case  with  every  other  mark  of  favour  ever 
bestowed  upon  Mariteuffel  by  the  king  and  his 
predecessor,  the  one  most  coldly  received  and 
most  adversely  commented  upon,  not  alone  by  the 
general  public,  but  also  in  high  and  low  military 
circles. 

It  is,  indeed,  altogether  difficult  to  account  for  the 
very  large  measure  of  apparently  groundless  popu- 
lar dislike  that  seems  to  have  fallen  to  the  share 
of  this  man.  Surely  one  would  think  that  his  very 
distant  relationship,  or,  perhaps,  rather  his  mere 
namesakeship  with  Otto  Theodor  von  Manteuffel,  who 
steered  the  Prussian  state  bark,  foolishly  confided  to 
his  guidance  by  King  Frederick  William  IV.,  right 
under  the  Caudine  Forks  of  Olmlitz,  should  not  in 
itself  be  deemed  such  a  very  heinous  offence,  and 
that  the  enjoyment  of  even  the  very  highest  court 

M  2 


164  Men  who  have  made  the 

favour  could  barely  warrant  the  attempted  clouding 
and  staining  of  his  name  and  fame  in  the  estimation 
of  the  people. 

Yet  the  fact  would  seem  to  be  so ;  for  certainly  the 
life  and  the  acts  and  deeds  of  the  man,  who  has 
throughout  his  career  proved  himself  a  loyal  servant 
of  his  king  and  his  country,  afford  no  patent  clue 
to  this  deep-rooted  general  hostility  which  the  masses 
bear  him,  and  in  which  so  many  persons  moving  in 
the  higher  circles  of  society  seem  to  join  with  equal 
bitterness  —  unless  it  be,  perhaps,  in  some  slight 
measure,  at  least,  his  action  as  president  of  the 
military  cabinet,  to  which  reference  will  be  made 
hereafter  in  the  course  of  this  memoir. 

Karl  Eochus  Edwin,  Baron  von  Manteuffel,  was 
born  at  Magdeburg  on  the  24th  of  February,  1809. 
He  was  intended  and  educated  for  the  military 
career.  In  1826  he  entered  the  regiment  of  dra- 
goons of  the  guard,  and  ha  obtained  his  lieutenancy 
in  the  same  regiment  two  years  after. 

Having  served  fifteen  years  as  a  lieutenant,  he  was 
promoted  to  a  squadron  in  1843.  Soon  after,  he 
became  adjutant  to  Prince  Albrecht. 

In  1848  his  good  fortune  brought  him  into  personal 
contact  with  the  king.  This  was  in  the  days  of  the 
great  March  rising  in  Berlin,  during  which  Frederick 
William  IV.  betrayed  the  whole  deplorable  weakness 
of  his  character.  The  young  cavalry  officer  stood 
manfully  by  the  poor  trembling  king's  side,  and 


New  German  Empire.  165 

tried  hard  to  instil  some  of  his  own  courage  into  the 

o 

king's  heart. 

When  the  worst  was  over,  the  grateful  monarch 
made  Manteuffel  his  personal  aide-de-camp  :  from  this 
time  forward  his  fortune  was  secured.  Six  years  later 
we  find  him  already  in  full  command  of  the  5th 
regiment  of  lancers,  then  in  garrison  at  Dtisseldorf. 

As  his  majesty  fancied  he  could  detect  under  the 
outer  shell  of  Manteuffel's  military  ruggedness  a  fine 
talent  for  diplomacy,  the  cavalry  colonel  was  in- 
trusted with  several  diplomatic  missions,  particularly 
to  Vienna,  which,  it  is  said,  he  performed  to  the 
perfect  satisfaction  of  the  king  and  the  government. 

In  1857  Major- General  Manteuffel  was  appointed 
to  the  performance  of  somewhat  delicate  and  rather 
invidious  functions.  He  was  named  chief  of  the  so- 
called  military  cabinet,  in  which  capacity  he  had  to 
deal  principally  with  the  "  personalia '  of  the  army. 
He  had  to  recommend  officers  for  promotion,  and  to 
propose  the  removal  of  officers  from  active  service,  &c. 

If  we  are  to  judge  General  Manteuffel's  action  and 
conduct  in  this  most  ticklish  position  by  the  results 
of  the  wars  of  1864,  1866,  and  1870-71,  we  shall 
surely  feel  inclined  to  believe  that  he  must  have  been 
guided  in  his  weedings — ruthless,  no  doubt,  more 

i 

particularly  regarding  the  higher  ranks  of  the  army- 
by  a  most  sincere  and  anxious  desire  to  consult  the 
truest  and  best  interests  of  the  country. 

Unluckily  for  him,  people   felt   little   inclined  to 


Men  ivho  have  in<t<l<>  tic 


believe  so  at  the  time  ;  and  even  now  they  will  sneer 
at  his  assertion,  apparently  founded  in  fact,  however, 
that  lie  had  been  the  first  to  clearly  and  thoroughly 
discern  Moltke's  high  genius,  and  that  he  can  justly 
claim  as  his  doing  the  appointment  of  that  distin- 
o-uished  man  to  the  highest  place  on  the  general  staff 
of  the  Prussian  army. 

There  are,  indeed,  many  officers  who  will  fully 
admit  the  beneficial  character  of  Manteuffel's  man- 
agement of  the  military  cabinet  ;  but  they  will  add, 
with  a  bitter  sneer,  that  the  chief  had  stopped  short 
in  his  work  of  salutary  weeding,  and  that,  whilst 
he  had  avowedly  removed  many  incapable  and  in- 
competent officers  from  the  Prussian  active  service, 
he  had  unhappily  left  himself  untouched-  -the  most 
incompetent,  the  most  incapable,  the  most  inefficient 
of  all-  -which  sweeping  assertion  they  will  then 
proceed  to  support  by  numerous  references  to  the 
patent  inefficiency  betrayed  by  the  general  in  the 
wars  of  186£  and  1870-71. 

However,  the  candid  historian,  who  duly  examines 
the  material  placed  before  him,  soon  discovers  that 
most  of  these  proffered  references  are  not  references  to 
actual  facts,  but  to  more  or  less  baseless  and  ground- 
less fictions,  and  that  Manteuffel,  so  far  from  betray- 
ing gross  incapacity,  as  is  so  roundly  asserted  by  his 
detractors,  has  shown  himself  on  several  leading 
occasions  a  most  efficient  commander  in  the  field. 
At  the  time  of  Manteuffers  greatest  activity  in 


New  German  Empire.  167 

the  military  cabinet,  his  close  connection  with  the 
high  Conservative  military  party,  and  his  almost 
over-ostentatiously  displayed  feudalist  and  absolutist 
professions  and  tendencies,  joined  to  his  singularly 
inconciliatory,  haughty,  and  arrogant  bearing  towards 
political  opponents,  excited  against  him  the  bitterest 
and  intensest  hostility  of  the  whole  Liberal  party, 
which  the  circumstance  that  the  prince  regent  con- 
tinued to  show  the  general  the  same  favour  as  his 
brother  the  king  had  done  before  him,  was  certainly 
not  calculated  to  lessen  or  appease. 

Thus,  in  1858  Manteuffel  was  made  general  d  la 
suite;  and  in  18G1,  after  the  accession  of  King 
William  to  the  throne  of  Prussia,  he  was  raised  to 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-general. 

o 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Councillor  Twesten, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party,  who,  however, 
was  not  yet  much  known  at  the  time  beyond  his 
own  circle,  published  a  pamphlet,  destined  to  become 
temporarily  famous,  under  the  title,  "  What  may  still 
preserve  us."  In  this  pamphlet  Twesten,  among 
other  things,  made  a  sharp  direct  attack  upon 
Manteuffel,  whom  he  qualified  as  "a  disastrously 
fatal  man  in  a  disastrously  fatal  position." 

The  chief  of  the  military  cabinet  felt  stung  to 
the  quick.  He  sent  a  friend  to  the  bold  councillor 
to  demand  satisfaction  for  his  wounded  honour.  A 
duel  was  the  consequence,  in  which  poor  Twesten 
was  wounded.  The  general  had  to  suffer  a  short 


168  Men  who  have  made  the 

imprisonment,   but   he   was   left   undisturbed   in   his 
position  as  chief  of  the  military  cabinet. 

In  1863  Bismarck  (so  it  is  asserted,  at  least)  turned 
to  the  best  account  the  great  "  popularity '  -if  such 
an  expression  may  be  allowed  under  the  circum- 
stances— which  the  general  was  known  to  enjoy  at 
the  Hofburg  of  Vienna,  where  he  certainly  was  looked 
upon  as  a  persona  gratissima — not  a  very  strange 
or  surprising  fact,  indeed,  considering  the  strong 
pro-Austrian  proclivities  which  Manteuffel  professed 
in  common  with  his  cousin  Otto  Theodor.  It  is 
said  that  Manteuffel  had  a  considerable  share  in 
bringing  about  the  temporary  alliance  between 
Austria  and  Prussia  against  Denmark. 

In  the  early  part  of  1864,  when  signs  were  be- 
coming apparent  of  a  certain  lack  of  vigour  in 
the  conduct  of  the  war,  the  general  was  sent  to 
Vienna  to  stimulate  the  Austrian  cabinet.  He  was 
successful  in  so  far,  that  the  occupation  of  Jutland 
by  the  allied  forces  was  resolved  upon. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace,  when  difficulties 
arose  between  the  two  good  allies,  Manteuffel  was 
always  active  in  endeavouring  to  smooth  them  away. 
The  Gastein  convention,  which  postponed  for  a  time 
the  inevitable  final  settlement  between  Austria  and 
Prussia  on  the  field  of  battle,  was  in  a  great  measure 
Manteuffel's  wrork. 

From  Gastein  the  general  proceeded  direct  to 
Schleswig.  He  had  been  appointed  governor  of  that 


New  German  Empire.  169 

duchy  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  Prussian  army 
of  occupation.  Bismarck  had  willed  it  so. 

The  great  statesman,  who  clearly  foresaw  the  in- 
evitable issue  of  affairs  between  Austria  and  Prussia, 
and  was  equally  conscious  of  the  almost  insuperable 
difficulties  in  his  way  to  convince  King  William  of 
the  unavoidable  necessity  of  war  with  Austria, 
selected  •  Manteuffel,  the  stanchest  Austrophile  in 
Prussia,  and  the  man  most  after  Francis  Joseph's 
own  heart,  to  represent  Prussia  in  the  jointly-con- 
quered, jointly-occupied  Elbe  duchies,  and  to  try  to 
find  a  modus  Vivendi  between  the  joint-occupants. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  that  if  even  Man- 
teuffel failed  in  his  honest  endeavour  to  find  such 
a  modus  vivendi,  the  king  would  take  it  as  the  most 
decisive  proof  of  Austria's  determination  not  to  come 
to  a  fair  and  equitable  understanding  with  Prussia. 
And  this  conviction  once  fairly  established  in  King 
William's  mind,  the  minister  might  hope  to  convince 
the  monarch  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  this  war 
from  which  his  majesty  was  so  sensitively  shrinking. 

Manteuffel  had  a  hard  stand  in  Schleswig.  Gablenz, 
the  Austrian  commander  in  Holstein,  had  a  much 
easier  task  of  it.  He  might  readily  enough  conciliate 
the  Holsteiners  and  the  Augustenburg  pretender, 
the  more  readily  as  the  policy  of  Austria  pointed  to 
the  ultimate  acknowledgment  of  the  latter  as  sove- 
reign duke  of  the  two  duchies. 

Manteuffel,   on    the    contrary,  had    to    oppose   the 


170  Men  who  lucre  made 


wishes  of  the  people  of  SdnYswig,  which  were  at 
that  time  pointing  in  the  same  direction.  In  his 
dealings  with  the  Augustenburg  pretender,  who,  in 
his  ineffable  conceit,  dared  to  treat  Prussia  with 
contemptuous  disregard,  the  general  had  also  to 
show  the  rough,  side  of  his  character. 

CD 

What  Bismarck  had  foreseen  came  to  pass  very 
speedily.  Manteuffel's  eyes  were  opened  -to  what 
Austria  really  wanted,  and  the  general,  who  with  all 
his  Austrian  proclivities  had  still  a  very  sound  foun- 
dation of  Prussian  patriotism  in  him,  was  rapidly 
cured  of  his  illusions  anent  the  noble  and  chival- 
rous feelings  entertained  at  the  Vienna  Hofburg. 

He  acted  with  proper  spirit  and  energy  to  guard 
the  interests  of  his  country.  When  the  Augustenburg 
pretender,  feeling  secure  of  the  support  of  Austria, 
Hanover,  and  Saxony,  coolly  proceeded  to  have  him- 
self proclaimed  duke,  on  the  14th  of  October,  1865, 
at  Eckernforde,  Manteuffel  briefly  informed  his 
highness,  on  the  16th  of  October,  that  if  he  did 
not  at  once  desist  from  his  aggressive  proceedings, 
he  (the  general)  would  be  compelled  to  have  him 
arrested. 

From  this  time  forward  the  last  spurious  shade  of 
the  imaginary  entente  cordiale  between  the  two  great 
German  powers  was  gone-  -irretrievably  gone;  and 
matters  rushed  on  henceforth  irresistibly  to  the  final 
appeal  to  ordeal  by  battle. 

When  General  Gablenz,  in  violation  of  the  Gastein 


New  German  Empire.  171 

convention,  and  in  most  flagrant  encroachment  upon 
Prussia's  good  right,  summoned  the  Holstein  Estates 
to  assemble  in  general  meeting  at  Itzehoe  on  the  llth 
of  June,  1866,  Manteuffel,  by  order  of  his  king, 
sent  word  to  Gablenz  that,  Austria  having  chosen 
to  tear  the  Gastein  convention  asunder,  he  (Man- 
teuffel) was  resolved  to  assume  the  co-government  in 
both  duchies  ;  and  that  he  would  accordingly  march 
into  Holstein  with  his  corps  on  the  7th  of  June. 
Upon  this  Gablenz  evacuated  Holstein,  taking  the 
Augustenburg  pretender  away  with  him. 

On  the  7th  of  June  Manteuffel  occupied  Itzehoe, 
which  of  course  put  an  end  to  the  intended  meeting 
of  the  Estates. 

On  the  llth  of  June  Gablenz  evacuated  Altona, 
and  recrossed  the  Elbe. 

The  nice  little  plan  hatched  between  King  George 
of  Hanover,  the  Austrian  Gablenz,  and  the  Augus- 
tenburg pretender  had  been  to  call  the  Schleswig- 
Holsteiners  to  arms,  and  to  march  them  jointly 
with  Gablenz's  corps  and  the  Hanoverian  army  direct 
upon  Berlin ! 

Manteuffel  was  beforehand  with  these  poor  plotters. 
On  the  15th  of  June  he  entered  the  kingdom  of 
Hanover,  and  on  the  18th  he  occupied  Stade,  the 
very  place  which  had  been  intended  for  the  joint 
gathering  of  the  "  three  hosts '  that  were  to  march 
upon  Berlin.  He  found  at  Stade  large  stores  of 
munitions  of  war,  &c.,  which  he  took  possession  of. 


172  Men  who  have  made  the 

As  tie  was  moving  rapidly  forward,  General  Gablenz 
retreated  precipitately  over  Harburg  to  Cassel. 

General  ManteufFel  was  present  at  the  affair  of 
Langensalza.  He  was  under  the  supreme  command 
of  General  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  with  whom  he 
made  that  marvellous  one  month's  campaign  in 
Hesse  and  Fran  cony,  which  must  always  be  looked 
upon  as  the  most  glorious  episode  in  the  great 
war  of  1866. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  1866,  Vogel  von  Falckenstein, 
who  on  the  16th  had  entered  the  free  city  of  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  was  most  unsoidieiiy  and  un- 
expectedly recalled  from  his  command,  under  the 
very  colourable  pretext,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  that 
certain  circumstances  and  contingencies  imperatively 
demanded  the  presence  of  an  energetic  Prussian 
governor-general  in  Bohemia ! 

Manteuffel  succeeded  Vogel  von  Falckenstein  in 
the  command  of  the  army  of  the  Main.  It  was  an 
unlucky  advancement  for  him,  as  Falckenstein's 
strange  recall  from  the  scene  of  his  triumphs  was 
by  many  imputed  to  Manteuffel's  machinations,  an 
imputation  which  must  now  be  considered  to  have 
been  utterly  groundless,  although  it  would  appear 
that  one  of  the  parties  most  interested  in  the  aflfair, 
Falckenstein  himself,  believed  in  it. 

Years  after,  in  1871,  when  the  great  dotation 
question  was  being  eagerly  and  warmly  discussed, 
more  especially  in  connection  with  the  share  the  king 


New  German  Empire.  173 

intended  to  bestow  on  Manteuffel,  an  injudicious 
friend  of  the  general's  ventured  to  allege,  in  a  paper 
sent  to  the  Augsburger  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  and 
to  the  Kreuz  Zeitung,  among  other  things,  that 
Vogel  von  Falckenstein  had,  in  1866,  from  personal 
hostility  to  Manteuffel,  given  the  latter  no  chance  of 
exchanging  shots,  or  crossing  swords  with  the 
enemy. 

It  became  soon  patent  now  to  all  the  world  that 
Vogel  von  Falckenstein  had  not  forgotten  1866,  and 
that  he  retained  still  his  original  impression  of 
Manteuffel's  complicity  in  his  removal,  for  the  article 
in  the  two  journals  at  once  brought  old  "  rough-and- 
ready  J  into  the  field  in  full  armour  and  red-hot 
fighting  humour. 

In  a  brief  cavalier  missive  to  the  Kreuz  Zeitung, 
he  said,  with  a  covert  sneer,  that  the  writer  of  the 
Manteuffel  laudation  was  evidently  not  aware  that 
the  general  had  had  the  occasion  given  him  on  the 
day  of  Kissingen,  and  the  day  after,  to  exchange 
shots  with  the  enemy,  and  the  troops  of  Manteuffel 
had  also  been  engaged  at  Langensalza — in  the  latter 
battle,  indeed,  not  by  his  (Falcken stein's)  orders. 

To  perceive  the  force  of  this  sneer,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  days  mentioned  ranked  not 
among  the  most  brilliant  achievements  of  the  cam- 
paign of  1866. 

Falckenstein  then  went  on  to  observe,  that  if  the 
writer  of  the  article  in  question  could  succeed  by  no 


174  Men  who  have  made  tin- 

other  means  in  glorifying  General  Manteuffel  than 
by  assailing  the  reputation  of  other  men,  he  was 
certainly  rendering  no  good  service  to  the  general. 
He  (Falckenstein)  must  call  upon  the  writer  to 
produce  proof  in  support  of  his  assertions ;  and  if 
he  should  fail  to  do  so,  he  could  only  look  upon 
his  production  in  the  light  of  a  paid  article,  written 
by  a  hired  scribe,  and  accordingly  beneath  contempt. 

Vogel  von  Falckenstein  is  not  the  only  openly- 
avowed  foe  of  the  former  chief  of  the  military 
cabinet.  The  unfortunate  affair  with  General  Groben 
also  lives  still  in  the  public  recollection.  By  the 
by,  the  authorship  of  the  famous  letter  in  the  Frank- 
furter Zeitung,  which  questioned  the  soldiership  of 
General  Manteuffel  in  the  war  of  18/0-71,  was 
attributed  to  General  Groben — rightly  or  wrongly, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  prove ;  but  I  believe  without 
a  shadow  of  foundation  in  fact. 

General  Manteuffel  is  said  to  have  borne  himself 
towards  the  poor  conquered  Frankforters  with  undue 
severity  and  haughty  arrogance.  He  might,  perhaps, 
plead  in  justification  that  he  acted  upon  explicit 
instructions.  Great  indignation  was  at  the  time  felt 
against  the  Frankforters  in  the  highest  quarter. 

Manteuffel  was  instructed  to  insist  upon  a  war 
contribution  of  some  £2,000,000,  in  addition  to 
about  £500,000  already  exacted  by  Vogel  von 
Falckenstein. 

A  demand  of  so  much    hard    cash    was    certainly 


New  German  Empire.  175 

not   the   way   best    calculated    to    ingratiate    himself 
with  the  good  Frankforters. 

With  regard  to  the  war  in  South  Germany,  Vogel 
von  Falckenstein  had  left  his  successor  very  little 
to  do. 

When  the  armistice  was  concluded,  Manteuffel  was 
sent  on  a  special  mission  to  St.  Petersburg,  where 
he  succeeded  in  conciliating  the  Russian  government, 
and  obtaining  its  tacit  assent  to  the  contemplated 
annexation  to  Prussia  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  Hanover, 
Nassau,  Electoral  Hesse,  and  Frankfort. 

After  his  return  from  St.  Petersburg,  he,  for  a 
time,  took  the  command  again  of  the  Prussian 
troops  in  the  Elbe  duchies. 

Then  he  temporarily  resigned  his  military  functions, 
and  retired  to  Naumburg,  where  he  happens  to  enjoy 
a  rich  prebend.  "  One  leg  in  the  army,  the  other  in 
the  church,  his  head  in  diplomacy,  and  his  heart 
nowhere'  -so  runs  the  bitter  sneer  of  one  of  his 
most  prejudiced  and  unjust  enemies. 

In  August  1868,  General  Manteuffel  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  1st  corps  of  the  Prussian 
army,  vice  Vogel  von  Falckenstein  retired. 

In  1870  he  led  the  1st  corps  to  Metz,  to  join 
the  1st  army  under  Steinmetz.  He  arrived  on  the 
14th,  when  he  at  once  joined  in  the  fight  of  that 
day,  repulsing  all  attacks  made  upon  his  corps  by 
Ladmirault,  and  driving  the  French  back  behind  the 
fortifications  of  Metz. 


17G  Men  who  have  made  the 

In  the  subsequent  siege  of  Metz,  Manteuffel  held 
the  eastern  line  of  inclosure.  Here  it  was  his  good 
fortune  to  fight  the  battle  of  Noisseville,  on  the 
31st  of  August  and  1st  of  September,  when  Marshal 
Bazaine  made  his  first  desperate  attempt  to  break 
through  the  iron  chain  drawn  around  him  and 
his  army. 

The  French  call  this  battle  the  battle  of  St.  Barbe. 
Early  in  the  morning  of  the  31st  of  August,  Bazaine 
led  the  French  guards,  with  the  4th  and  6th  corps, 
numbering  altogether  some  90,000  men,  across  the 
Moselle.  It  took  the  French  marshal  nigh  upon 
twelve  hours  to  effect  this  movement ;  and  the  attack 
upon  the  German  positions  began  only  about  half- 
past  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  languidly  at  first. 

Manteuffel  had  only  the  1st  corps,  the  Division 
Kurnmer,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse  division,  one 
cavalry  division,  and  a  few  regiments  of  the  10th 
corps,  to  oppose  to  the  overwhelming  French  forces. 

At  half-past  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  French 
carried  Noisseville  and  Nouilly,  drove  the  Germans 
back  upon  Eetonfay,  and  occupied  Coincy,  and 
subsequently  also  Servigny. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  Germans  had 
retaken  Noisseville  and  most  of  the  other  important 
positions,  when  General  Changarnier  (it  is  said)  led 
another  furious  French  attack  at  ten  o'clock  at  night, 
which  succeeded  in  driving  the  Germans  back  upon 
the  plateau  of  St.  Barbe.  Servigny  was,  indeed, 


New  German  Empire.  177 

retaken  by  the  Germans,  but  Noisseville,  Coincy,  and 
Flanville  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  French. 

'» 

Next  morning,  the  1st  of  September,  the  1st  corps 
and  Kummer's  division  held  the  first  line  on  the 
battle-field  of  the  day  before ;  the  25th  division  (the 
Hessians)  and  the  9th  corps  (Mannstein)  held  the 
second  line.  The  7th  and  8th  corps  were  placed  in 
a  cheval  south  and  west  of  the  river.  The  2nd,  3rd, 
and  10th  corps  held  the  left  bank  of  the  Moselle,  in 
the  direction  of  Montmedy. 

At  four  in  the  morning  the  Prussians  began  their 
attack  upon  Noisseville,  which  in  the  space  of  four 
hours  was  taken  and  retaken  three  times.  The 
French  directed  all  their  efforts  upon  the  plateau  of 
St.  Barbe,  which  they  were  evidently  resolved  to 
carry  by  storm. 

Prince  Frederick  Charles,  from  his  head-quarters  at 
Malancourt,  ordered  the  7th  corps  up  to  Noisseville,  the 
8th  being  directed  to  take  up  the  position  left  vacant 
by  the  7th.  Kummer  was  ordered  to  place  himself 
at  Man teuff el's  disposition  with  his  entire  division. 

Flanville  and  Coincy  were  carried  by  storm ;  Noisse- 
ville was  partly  burned,  and,  after  seven  hours'  hard 
fighting,  the  valiant  3rd  French  corps,  which  this  day 
had  joined  in  the  attack  upon  the  German  positions, 
was  finally  forced  to  retreat. 

At  four  in  the  afternoon  the  French  were  driven 
back  everywhere,  at  Noisseville,  Mercy-le-Haut,  in  the 
centre  and  on  the  right  wing,  and  soon  after  the 

VOL.  n.  N 


178  Men  who  have  made  the 

Germans  fully  re-occupied  the  same  positions  which 
they  had  held  on  the  31st  of  August  before  the 
French  sortie  en  masse. 

The  losses  of  the  Germans  in  this  fierce  fight  were 
120  officers  and  2,358  men  killed  and  wounded.  The 
French  lost  141  officers  and  2,664  men. 

After  the  capitulation  of  Metz  the  old  first  army 
was  formed  anew  (1st,  7th,  and  8th  corps,  3rd 
reserve  division,  and  three  cavalry  divisions),  Man- 
teuffel  being  appointed  Commander-in-chief  over  it. 

Leaving  the  7th  corps  behind,  Manteuffel  started 
on  the  7th  of  November  over  Rheims,  in  the  direction 
of  Compiegne,  when  he  suddenly  turned  off,  and 
marched  rapidly  upon  Amiens.  Here  he  defeated 
a  French  army  of  30,000  men  on  the  27th  of 
November,  throwing  them  back  across  the  Somme 
upon  Arras.  On  the  30th  of  November  the  citadel 
of  Amiens  surrendered. 

La  Fere  had  been  taken  on  the  27th  already. 

On  the  5th  of  December  General  Manteuffel 
occupied  Eouen.  He  then  concentrated  his  army, 
and,  after  a  series  of  hard  fights  on  the  Hallue,  to 
the  north-east  of  Amiens,  on  the  23rd  and  24th  of 
December,  he  defeated  the  French  north  army  under 
Faidherbe,  compelling  the  enemy  to  retire  into  the 
northern  fortresses. 

Upon  a  renewed  attempt  of  Faidherbe,  Manteuffel 
gained  another  victory  over  him,  at  Bapaume,  on  the 
2nd-3rd  of  January,  IS 71. 


New  German  Empire.  179 

In  all  these  battles  the  French  army  of  the  north, 
whose  object  it  was  to  march  to  the  relief  of  the 
besieged  Parisians,  outnumbered  the  forces  under 
Manteuffel  in  the  proportion  of  two  to  one. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1871,  the  king  intrusted 
to  General  Manteuffel  the  command  over  a  newly- 
formed  army,  called  the  army  of  the  south,  whose 
arduous  task  it  was  to  be  to  march  across  the 
mountains  to  the  aid  of  General  Werder,  then 
threatened  by  overwhelming  French  forces  under 
General  Bourbaki. 

That  General  Moltke  should  ever  have  given  his 
consent  to  intrust  the  command  of  an  expedition  of 
such  momentous  importance  as  this  to  an  "  inefficient, 
incapable,  and  incompetent '  leader,  is  really  a  little 
too  much  to  be  asked  to  believe. 

Moreover,  the  brilliant  manner  in  which  the  trust 
reposed  in  him  was  justified  by  Manteuffel,  ought 
surely  to  be  held  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  calumnies 
of  his  detractors. 

Despite  the  severe  cold  and  the  heavy  snowfalls, 
the  general  led  some  45,000  men  with  marvellous 
rapidity  over  the  Cote  d'Or  (Mons  Duranus)  and  the 
Jura,  cut  off  the  French  army  of  the  east  under 
Bourbaki  from  all  its  lines  of  retreat  upon  Lyons,  and 
forced  it  finally,  by  the  fight  at  Pontarlier,  where  the 
Germans  took  two  eagles,  nineteen  guns,  and  some 
15,000  prisoners,  to  cross  over  into  the  neutral 
territory  of  Switzerland. 

N   2 


180  Men  ivho  have  made  the 

It  was  this  final  catastrophe  which  determined 
Gambetta  to  give  way,  and  may  thus  be  said  to  have 
had  a  leading  share  in  the  conclusion  of  peace. 

The  king  appreciated  General  Manteuffel's  great 
services  at  this  critical  juncture.  The  Grand  Cross 
of  the  Iron  Cross  and  the  Order  of  the  Black  Eagle 
were  bestowed  upon  him. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  army  of  the  south, 
Manteuffel  was  appointed  commander  of  the  second 
army  (30th  of  March),  and  subsequently,  on  the  20th 
of  June,  1871,  commander-in-chief  of  the  German 
army  of  occupation  remaining  on  French  soil.  His 
head-quarters  were  established  at  Nancy. 

In  this  position  General  Manteuffel  certainly  proved 
himself  the  right  man  in  the  right  place. 

After  the  final  evacuation  of  France,  his  majesty 
the  emperor  and  king  raised  Manteuffel  to  the 
highest  military  rank,  and  bestowed  upon  the  new 
field-marshal  also  the  important  post  of  Governor 
of  Berlin. 


Neiv  German  Empire.  181 


XII. 

GENERAL  VOGEL  VON  FALCKENSTEIN. 

NEXT  to  Moltke  this  is  unquestionably  the  greatest 
strategist  and  the  most  accomplished  staff- officer  of 
the  Prussian  and  German  armies,  also  the  most  con- 
summate tactical  leader  in  the  field,  and  altogether 
the  first  of  the  great  military  captains  of  the  age, 
though  not  yet  a  field-marshal. 

Ernest  Frederick  Edward  Yogel  von  Falckenstein 
was  born  at  Breslau  (I  believe)  on  the  5th  of 
January,  1797.  His  father  was  a  retired  Prussian 
major,  who  unfortunately  died  early,  leaving  his 
family  in  extremely  embarrassed  circumstances.  The 
widow  having  no  means  to  pay  for  the  education 
of  her  son,  was  forced  to  claim  the  assistance  of  a 
relative  of  the  family,  who  occupied  the  high  position 
of  Prince-Bishop  of  Breslau. 

The  worthy  prelate  willingly  consented  to  take  the 
boy  off  the  poor  mother's  hands,  but  on  condition 
only  that  he  should  devote  himself  to  the  clerical 
profession,  for  which  the  unhappy  lad  had  not  the 


182  Men  who  have  //««/<: 

least  vocation  nor  the  slightest  liking  or  inclination. 
Seeing  no  other  way  before  him,  however,  the  boy 
consented,  and  devoted  himself  eagerly  and  assiduously 
to  those  studies  which  were  to  prepare  and  fit  him 
for  his  intended  future  career. 

Meanwhile  came  the  great  year  1813,  with  the 
universal  uprising  of  the  Prussian  people  to  shake 
off  the  detested  French  yoke.  Young  Edward,  though 
only  sixteen  then,  felt  that  he  was  a  Prussian  and 
the  son  of  a  soldier.  He  was  resolved  to  join  in 
the  war  of  liberation.  With  rare  firmness  he  resisted 
the  bishop's  most  powerful  arguments,  and  even  his 
mother's  passionate  prayers  and  tears. 

After  a  hard  struggle  he  at  last  succeeded  in 
extorting  his  family's  reluctant  consent  to  enter  the 
army.  But  here  again  he  had  to  contend  against 
formidable  difficulties.  The  boy  looked  sickly,  and 
his  appearance  clearly  betrayed  a  weak  constitution. 
He  was  therefore  rejected  by  corps  after  corps  to 
which  he  applied  for  admission. 

At  last  Colonel  Kliise,  an  old  friend  of  his  late 
father,  took  compassion  upon  young  Falckenstein,  and 
obtained  for  him  admission  as  volunteer  in  the  West 
Prussian  Grenadiers.  From  the  instant  he  had  the 
chance  given  him  the  new  volunteer  proved  his  nature 
and  character  as  a  true  soldier  by  the  calm,  resolute 
courage  which  he  showed  on  every  occasion. 

After  the  battle  on  the  Katzbach  he  was  made 
ensign,  and  in  December,  1813,  lieutenant. 


New  German  Empire.  183 

With  Bliiciier  he  crossed  the  Khine  at  Caub,  in 
the  New  Year's  night  of  1814.  He  distinguished 
himself  on  every  occasion,  more  especially  in  the 
affair  of  Montmirail,  where  every  officer  of  his 
battalion  fell,  so  that  the  command  ultimately 
devolved  upon  him.  Here  the  youth  of  seventeen 
conducted  himself  with  the  cool  self-possession  of 
an  old  officer,  and  showed  the  most  consummate 
skill  in  the  handling  of  his  men.  By  way  of 
reward  he  was  made  first  lieutenant  on  the  spot, 
besides  receiving  the  rare  distinction  of  the  Iron 
Cross  Order. 

AVhen  the  war  was  over,  there  was  of  course  no 
more  talk  of  the  clerical  profession.  Young  Falcken- 
stein  stuck  to  the  army.  He  was,  however,  painfully 
conscious  of  his  nearly  total  lack  of  everything  in 
the  shape  of  military  training,  and  of  all  technical 
knowledge  of  his  profession.  He  therefore  threw 
himself  with  ardour  upon  the  study  of  the  military 
art  and  science  in  all  its  branches,  and  he  succeeded 
so  well  in  his  efforts  that  he  was  soon  sent  to  the 
topographic  bureau. 

Here  he  suddenly  discovered  that  he  had  a  real 
talent  for  design  and  also  for  painting.  This  talent  he 
cultivated  with  his  accustomed  ardour  and  assiduity. 
He  tried  his  hand  more  especially  at  oil-painting. 
His  really  excellent  productions  in  the  various 
branches  of  the  art  attracted  the  attention  and 
gained  the  young  officer  the  favour  of  the  then  Crown 


184  Mi/n   trln>  hare  /mn1r  the 

Prince,  who  subsequently  ascended  the  Prussian  throne 
as  Frederick  William  JV. 

By  orders  of  this  prince,  Falckenstein  established 
at  a  later  period  the  Eoyal  Institute  for  Painting 
on  Glass,  of  which  he  himself  remained  for  a  time 
the  distinguished  head.  The  magnificent  painted 
window  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary,  near  Dantzic,  is 
a  sample  of  Falckenstein's  art-productions  in  this  line. 

His  military  advancement  was  rapid  at  first,  for 
we  find  him  as  early  as  1818  in  command  of  the 
battalion  of  the  Emperor  Francis  Grenadiers,  which, 
jointly  with  a  battalion  of  the  Emperor  Alexander 
Grenadiers,  formed  the  guard  of  honour  of  the  mon- 
archs  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  during  the  congress  which 
assembled  there  on  the  29th  of  September  of  that  year. 

After  this  he  had  to  wait  a  long  time  for  further 
promotion,  for  in  1848  he  was  still  only  a  lieutenant- 
colonel.  On  the  18th  of  March  of  that  year  he  was 
wounded  in  the  great  Berlin  street  fight,  which  did 
not  prevent  him,  however,  from  joining  in  the  Hoi- 
stein  campaign. 

Soon  after,  he  obtained  his  full  colonelcy,  together 
with  the  command  of  the  rifles  of  the  guard.  He 
subsequently  was  appointed  chief  of  the  staff  to 
General  WrangeL 

In  1864  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  who  had  mean- 
while attained  the  rank  of  general,  was  Wrangel's 
chief  of  the  staff  in  the  Schleswig  -  Holstein  war, 
till  after  the  capture  of  Dlippel,  when  he  was 


New  German  Empire.  185 

appointed  Governor  of  Jutland, — Moltke  taking  his 
place  as  chief  of  the  staff. 

It  was  in  this  Danish  campaign  that  Vogel  von 
Falckenstein  first  had  the  opportunity  afforded  him 
of  displaying  his  rare  strategic  and  tactic  gifts  on 
a  wider  field.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  simply  been 
known  as  a  most  meritorious,  hard-working,  and 
painstaking  staff-officer,  and  a  most  excellent  artist 
on  glass  and  porcelain.  Now  he  suddenly  jumped  to 
the  foremost  front  rank  of  leaders  in  the  field. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Denmark, 
General  Yogel  von  Falckenstein  was  intrusted  by  the 
king  with  the  command  of  the  7th  army  corps. 

In  1866  the  danger  which  threatened  Prussia 
from  the  side  of  the  Austrian  allies  in  the  German 
Confederation  was  real  and  formidable,  though  the 
plot  hatched  between  Gablenz,  George  of  Hanover, 
and  the  Augustenburg  pretender  had  been  stifled 
ere  its  possible  full  development. 

There  remained,  however,  the  Hanoverian  army, 
numerous,  brave,  and  well  appointed  and  provided 
in  every  way- -except  in  its  direction  and  guidance 
— and  the  armies  of  the  south  German  states, 
which,  on  paper,  reached  the  formidable  figure  of 
above  200,000  men,  and  numbered  even  in  sober 
reality  some  120,000  to  130,000  effectives. 

Vogel  von  Falckenstein  was  the  general  chosen 
to  meet  this  formidable  danger.  The  forces  placed 
at  his  disposal  were  simply  one  division  of  the 


186  Men  who  have  made  the 

7th  corps,  the  Prussian  garrisons  withdrawn  from 
Ma  voice  and  Eastatt,  and  a  few  regiments  of  the 
reserve,  with  some  Thuringian  and  other  troops,  the 
whole  never  exceeding  50,000  effectives  at  any  one 
time  whilst  he  held  command,  and  falling  most  of 

o 

the  time  considerably  short  of  this  figure. 

He  succeeded  first  in  disposing  of  the  Hanoverians, 
whose  surrender  he  compelled.  This  was  no  doubt 
a  very  good  beginning ;  but  it  was  not  all-  -far 
from  it ;  for  the  immensely  hard  problem  was  now 
placed  before  the  general,  how  to  wedge  himself 
between  two  hostile  armies,  each  of  them  very 
greatly  exceeding  in  numbers  the  whole  force  at 
his  command. 

Falckenstein's  campaign  in  1866  was  so  crowded 
with  marches  and  countermarches  and  manoeuvres 
of  every  kind,  and  with  actual  encounters  in  the 
field,  that  even  a  mere  outline,  to  be  at  all  intelli- 
gible to  the  reader,  would  occupy  considerably  more 
space  than  we  can  afford  to  give  here.  Besides,  a 
brief  sketch  of  the  campaign  will  be  found  in  the 
memoirs  of  Generals  von  der  Tann  and  Hartmann. 
Let  it  suffice  then  to  say  in  this  place,  that  Vogel 
von  Falckenstein  in  this  marvellous  campaign,  where 
he  literally  stood  always  one  to  three  on  the  as- 
sumption most  favourable  to  his  forces,  displayed  the 
highest  genius  as  a  military  captain. 

The  boldness   of  his   plans,    the   precision    of  his 
operations,  the  rapidity  of  his  movements,  the  skill 


New  German  Empire.  187 

of  his  dispositions,  and  the  vigour  of  his  attacks, 
more  than  neutralized  the  formidable  advantage  of 
threefold  numbers  and  of  excellent  positions  on  the 
other  side. 

He  wedged  himself  successfully  between  the  two 
opposing  hosts,  badly  beating  each  of  them  alter- 
nately in  detail.  When,  on  the  16th  of  July,  about 
one  month  after  he  had  first  taken  the  field,  he 
entered  the  ancient  free  city  of  Frankfort- on-the- 
Main  as  conqueror,  there  remained  very  little  to  be 
done  to  complete  the  utter  discomfiture  and  military 
annihilation  of  Austria's  south  German  allies. 

It  has  been  said  that  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  in 
his  dealings  with  the  conquered  Frankforters,  showed 
over-ostentatious] y  the  very  roughest  side  of  his 
character.  However,  there  would  seem  to  be  good 
reason  for  the  probable  supposition  that  he  acted 
in  this  upon  express  instructions  from  the  highest 
quarter,  and  that  he  did  so  with  the  greatest  reluct- 
ance only.  Nay,  it  would  even  appear  that  he  took 
upon  himself  to  lower  the  demand  of  twenty-five 
millions  of  florins  war  contribution,  which  he  had 
been  instructed  to  make,  to  six  millions,  and  that 
he  gave  thereby  great  offence  in  the  highest  quarter. 

Whatever  may  be  the  real  facts  of  the  case,  thus 
much  is  certain,  that  on  the  1 9th  of  July,  three  days 
after  his  triumphant  entry  into  Frankfort,  General 
Vogel  von  Falckenstein  was  recalled  from  his  com- 
mand most  suddenly,  and  upon  the  very  colourable 


188  Men   tvho  have  made  tin 

pretext  that  the  state  of  affairs  in  Bohemia  absolutely 
required  the  immediate  presence  in  that  province  of 
a  most  energetic  and  skilful  commander.  General 
Manteuffcl,  who  was  appointed  his  successor, 
speedily  showed  by  his  harsh  and  haughty  bearing 
towards  the  Frankforters,  and  by  the  infliction  of 
a  war  fine  of  £2,000,000,  in  addition  to  Falcken- 
stein's  demand  of  £500,000,  that  the  old  general  had 
certainly  not  been  removed  from  the  command  he 
had  held  so  gloriously  on  account  of  any  reprehensible 
roughness  in  his  behaviour  to  the  citizens  that  had 

o 

excited  disapprobation  in  the  higher  quarters. 

Take  it  as  we  may,  we  cannot  but  look  upon  it 
as  a  very  strange  proceeding,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  to 
remove  from  his  command  an  approved  general  after 
a  most  brilliantly  successful  campaign,  with  all  the 
work  fully  accomplished  by  him,  and  nothing  re- 
maining for  him  to  do  but  to  cull  his  hard-earned 
and  well-deserved  laurels. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace,  Vogel  von  Falcken- 
stein  was  of  course  included  in  the  list  of  com- 
manders to  whom  the  grateful  king  and  nation  voted 
and  gave  dotations.  With  the  sum  voted  to  him  he 
purchased  the  Dolzig  estate. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  he  exchanged  the 
command  of  the  7th  corps  for  that  of  the  1st, 
on  which  occasion  the  troops  up  to  this  under  his 
command  manifested  their  high  regard  for  him  by 
presenting  him  with  a  magnificent  testimonial. 


New  German  Empire.  189 

The  city  of  Konigsberg,  the  head-quarters  of  his 
new  command,  elected  him  for  its  representative  in  the 
constituent  assembly  of  the  North  German  Confedera- 
tion. He  took  his  seat  on  the  Conservative  benches. 

In  the  debates  upon  the  organization  of  the  con- 
federate army,  he  strongly  insisted  upon  the  three 
years7  term  of  service  in  the  line,  declaring  it  to  be 
of  the  utmost  importance  in  war  that  a  commander 
should  know  and  feel  that  he  had  under  his  com- 
mand soldiers  who  fully  knew  the  service  and  could 
be  absolutely  relied  upon.  The  consciousness  of  this 
would  inspire  a  commander  with  courage  to  dare  even 
venturesome  enterprizes,  as  he  (Falckenstein)  could 
tell  the  house  from  his  own  personal  experience. 

In  1868  Falckenstein  retired  from  active  service, 
and  went  to  reside  on  his  Dolzig  estate. 

But  in  1870,  when  the  war  with  France  broke 
out,  the  old  general,  who  was  then  seventy-three,  had 
once  more  a  high  trust  confided  to  him. 

Prussia  had  no  adequate  fleet  to  cope  with  the 
French  navy,  and  it  was  to  be  foreseen  then  that 
the  French  would  be  likely  to  endeavour  to  turn  their 
vast  naval  superiority  to  the  most  profitable  account, 
by  harassing  the  North  German  coasts,  and  per- 
haps attempting  landings  here  and  there ;  nay,  it 
seemed  even  probable  that  they  would  try  to  throw 
some  fifty  thousand  men  upon  some  inviting  spot  of 
the  coast,  which  might  have  proved  a  very  serious 
diversion  indeed, 


190  Men  irl/o  liare  ma<1<'  tJie 


It  was  indispensable,  tlicn,  to  have  a  most  skilful  ;m<l 
energetic  commander  on  the  spot,  to  whom  the  defence 
of  the  coast  lands  might  confidently  be  intrusted. 

There  was  truly  only  one  man  in  the  Prussian 
army  of  whom  it  could  l>e  said  that  he  fulfilled  all 
the  conditions  required  for  this  high  and  most  diffi- 
cult position-  -Vogel  von  Falckenstein. 

So  he  was  chosen  for  the  trust.  He  was  appointed 
governor-general  of  all  German  coast  lands  —  that  is  to 
say,  of  the  entire  region  of  the  1st,  2nd,  9th,  and 
10th  corps  of  the  army  of  the  North  German 
Confederation. 

The  17th  division,  belonging  to  the  9th  corps,  was 
left  behind  to  form  the  nucleus  of  the  coast  defences. 
The  25th  division  (Hessians)  took  the  place  of  the 
17th  in  the  9th  corps. 

Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  who  made  the  city  of 
Hanover  his  head-quarters,  displayed  all  the  energy  of 
his  character  and  the  wonderful  resources  of  his  high 
military  genius  in  providing,  within  a  surprisingly 
short  space  of  time,  a  most  efficient  system  of  coast 
defence.  He  organized  a  numerous  and  effective 
sea-coast  guard  ;  he  completely  shut  up  the  mouths 
of  the  rivers  and  the  entrances  to  the  harbours  ;  and 
he  established  so  thoroughly  efficient  a  system  of 
communication  and  rapid  connection  all  along  the 
coasts  of  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic,  that  the 
French  fleet  did  not  succeed  in  even  a  single 
attempt  to  land. 


New  German  Empire.  191 

In.  his  internal  administration  he  energetically  put 
down  all  attempts  at  socialist  agitation,  and  he  also 
speedily  made  the  French  officers  interned  within  the 
bounds  of  his  government  sensible  that  all  attempted 
misuse  or  violation  of  their  word  of  honour  was  a 
dangerous  game  to  play  with  him. 

When  the  war  was  over,  and  General  Vogel  vori 
Falckenstein  was  relieved  from  his  command,  his  ma- 
jesty the  emperor  and  king  rewarded  the  great  man 
by  bestowing  upon  him  the  Order  of  the  Black  Eagle, 
whilst  Steinmetz,  Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  and 
Manteuffel  were  made  field-marshals — all  three  no 
doubt  good  men  and  excellent  efficient  officers,  but 
assuredly  not  one  of  the  three  the  equal,  even 
approximately,  of  Vogel  von  Falckenstein. 

It  must  be  left  to  the  future  historian  to  find  the 
cause  for  Vogel  von  Falckenstein's  sudden  removal 
from  his  command  in  1866,  and  the  reason  for  his 
being  passed  over  in  the  marshals'  promotion 
of  1871. 


192  Men  who  have  i>i«<1<-  t/«> 


XIII. 

GENERAL    GOBEN. 

THIS  is  another  of  the  most  highly  theoretically 
and  practically  accomplished  general  officers  in  the 
German  army. 

Augustus  Charles  von  Goben  was  born  on  the 
10th  of  December,  1816,  at  Stade,  in  the  then 
kingdom  of  Hanover.  His  father  was  a  retired 
half-pay  captain,  who  subsequently  obtained  the 
honorary  rank  of  major. 

When  the  boy  was  about  ten  years  old,  he  was 
sent  to  the  gymnasium  at  Celle,  which  at  the  time 
enjoyed  a  well-deserved  high  reputation  as  one  of 
the  best  educational  institutes  in  the  north  of 
Germany.  Here  he  devoted  himself  most  diligently 
to  the  acquisition  of  solid  learning  in  the  several 
branches  of  knowledge  that  then  constituted  a  sound 
education,  with  special  reference  to  a  future  military 
career. 

In  October,  1833,  young  Goben  entered  the  Prus- 
sian service  as  a  military  aspirant.  He  joined  the 


New  German  Empire.  193 

24th  regiment  of  infantry  (musketeers),  then  stationed 
at  New  Euppin. 

About  a  twelvemonth  after,  he  attained  his  ensigncy, 
and  on  the  15th  of  February  1835,  he  was  gazetted 
lieutenant. 

Goben  was  a  born  soldier  in  the  fullest  sense  of 
the  word.  His  theoretical  military  studies,  which 
he  pursued  with  the  greatest  ardour,  could  not  quite 
satisfy  his  soldierly  craving.  He  thirsted  for  an 
opening  that  might  enable  him  to  practise  his 
darling  profession  in  actual  warfare.  As  there 
seemed  but  little  hope  that  the  Prussian  service 
would  for  a  long  time  to  come  afford  any  such 
opening,  the  young  officer  resolved,  after  mature 
reflection,  to  resign  his  commission  in  the  Prussian 
army,  and  to  carry  his  sword  to  Spain,  where  just 
at  that  time  Don  Carlos  and  Donna  Christina  (in 
the  name  of  her  daughter  Isabel),  or  rather  their 
respective  partisans,  were  fighting  for  the  crown. 
This  was  in  the  year  1836. 

Considering  that  of  the  two  pretenders  to  the 
thorny  throne  of  Spain,  Don  Carlos  might  at  least 
fairly  be  looked  upon  as  the  more  legitimate  and  the 
more  respectable,  or  rather  the  less  disreputable, 
young  Goben  resolved  to  offer  his  sword  and  service 
to  him. 

The  appearance  of  an  accomplished  young  officer 
was  hailed  with  pleasure  at  the  pretender's  head- 
quarters. Goben  received  a  commission  as  second 

VOL.  II.  O 


1 94  J/<'/'   "'/M  have  made  the 

lieutenant,   ;m«l    fmind    at   once   employment   on    the 

ff. 

In  the  iirst  year  of  his  service  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  distinguishing  himself  at  the  battle  of 
Fuciitaral-ia,  which  ^aim-d  him  his  promotion  to 
a  first  lieutenancy. 

The  year  after,  he  was  present  at  the  battles  and 
encounters  of  Peralta,  Zembrano,  Segovia,  Navreda, 
Lerma,  Yalladolid,  and  Aranda. 

In  1838,  he  joined  as  captain  in  the  expedition 
to  Castile,  in  which  he  was  severely  wounded  at 
Sotoca. 

In   1839,  he  served  at  first  in  the  engineers,  but 

tcr  a  time  he  was  transferred  to  the  infantry.     He 

led  his  company  with  great  distinction  in  the  fights 

of    Chulilla    and    Carboneras,    and    in    the    winter 

campaign  in   Valencia  and   Aragon. 

In  1840,  Major  Goben  was  again  severely  wounded 
at  Teruel.  He  was  now  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel  in  the  engineer  corps ;  but  with 
this  promotion  his  promising  military  career  in 
Spain  came  to  a  close.  He  remained,  indeed,  faith- 
ful and  loyal  to  the  last  to  the  cause  which  he  had 
espoused,  and  it  was  only  after  the  pretender  himself 
had  given  up  the  struggle  in  despair  that  Goben 
took  his  leave  of  him  and  of  Spain. 

Besides  tho  two  severe  wounds  which  he  had 
received  at  Sotoca  and  Teruel,  he  had  been  wounded 
more  slightly  three  times  in  the  course  of  the  war. 


New  German  Empire.  195 

He  had  also  twice  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Christines,  but  he  had  each  time  been  speedily 
exchanged  again. 

Ex-Lieutenant-Colonel  Goben  had  to  leave  Spain 
almost  penniless,  and  to  wander  through  France  on 
foot.  It  was  a  painful  journey,  full  of  bitter 
privations.  But  he  bore  all  with  stoic  calm,  cheer- 
fully, with  the  buoyant  light-heartedness  of  a  true 
soldier  of  fortune. 

He  reached  his  father's  house  in  September,  1840. 

The  year  after,  he  published  his  war  adventures, 
under  the  title,  "  Four  Years  in  Spain."  This  book 
created  some  sensation  at  the  time  in  military  and 
political  circles. 

His  inborn  passionate  love  of  a  soldier's  life  left 
him  no  rest  until  he  had  succeeded  in  obtaining 
permission  to  re-enter  the  Prussian  service.  He 
had  of  course  to  begin  de  novo  at  the  foot  of 
the  ladder. 

On  the  26th  of  February  1842,  he  was  gazetted 
to  a  commission  in  the  8th  regiment  of  infantry,  but 
ordered  at  once  on  the  general  staff  of  the  army. 

The  high  reputation  which  he  had  gained,  his 
extensive  and  sound  knowledge  of  the  military 
sciences,  and  his  practical  experience  smoothed  the 
path  for  him  to  a  more  rapid  advancement  than 
falls  ordinarily  to  the  share  of  young  officers  without 
powerful  influence  to  push  them. 

In   three  years  he  passed  through   the   grades   of 

o  2 


196  M^<>n    V'],n   lure    -,,nuli>    t],r 

second  lieutenant   and   first    lieutenant  to  the  rank  of 
captain  on  the  staff. 

In  1848,  he  was  sent  to  the  bead-quarters  of  the 
4th  corps  at  Magdeburg, 

In  May  1840,  he  was  attached  to  the  division 
Hanneken,  which  was  charged  to  put  down  the 
insurrection  in  Westphalia. 

He  was  afterwards  ordered  on  the  staff  of  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army  sent  into  Baden. 

Here  he  had  occasion  to  prove  his  high  military 
capacity  in  the  several  affairs  of  Ludwigshafen, 
Waghausel,  Ubstadt,  Bruchsal,  Durlach,  Kuppen- 
heini,  and  Eastatt. 

After  a  brief  period  of  service  in  the  16th 
infantry  regiment,  Goben,  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
major,  was  ordered  back  to  the  staff. 

In  1855,  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel  and 
chief  of  the  staff  of  the  6th  corps,  from  which  he 
was  transferred,  in  May  1858,  to  the  8th  corps. 

In  1860,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel, 
and  sent  with  several  other  Prussian  officers  to  the 
Spanish  army  operating  under  O'Donnell  in  Morocco. 
Here  he  met  many  of  his  former  antagonists  in  the 
Carlist  w^ar. 

He  remained  with  the  Spanish  army  throughout 
the  campaign  of  1860,  and  wras  present  at  the 
fights  at  Samsa  and  Dad-Has. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  this  expedition  he  was 
raised  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  and  in  1863, 


New  German  Empire.  197 

he  obtained  the  command  of  the  26th  infantry 
brigade,  which  he  led  in  the  campaign  of  1864 
against  Denmark,  before  Diippel,  in  the  storm  of 
the  fortifications,  in  the  crossing  to  Alsen,  and  in 
the  capture  of  that  island,  everywhere  in  such 
brilliant  fashion  that  he  was  rewarded  with  the 
Ordre  pour  le  Merite,  as  well  as  with  other 
Prussian,  German,  and  Austrian  orders  and  war 
decorations. 

He  was  also  promoted  to  the  command  of  the 
10th  division,  from  which  he  was  soon  after  (in 
May  1865)  transferred  to  that  of  the  13th  division, 
with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general. 

His  advancement  was  altogether  most  exceptionally 
rapid.  In  twenty- three  years  he  attained  the  same 
rank  of  lieutenant-general  which  it  had  taken  such 
men  as  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  Herwarth  von  Bitten- 
feld,  and  Steinmetz  forty-seven  long  years  to  climb 
up  to.  Even  the  so  highly-favoured  Manteuffel  had 
been  quite  thirty-five  years  about  it. 

This  fact,  whilst  affording  irrefragable  proof  of 
Goben's  brilliant  talents  and  his  high  military 
capacity,  speaks  also  volumes  in  favour  of  the 
system  which  thus  permits  the  most  rapid  pro- 
motion of  a  deserving  officer,  though  he  happens 
to  be  altogether  unsupported  by  the  accident  of 
rank  or  wealth,  or  by  powerful  family  connections. 

In  1866,  Goben  operated  first  in  Hanover  at  the 
head  of  his  division ;  subsequently  he  was  Vogel 


198  Men  ivho  have  made  the 

von  Falckenstein's  most  efficient  aid  in  the  cam- 
paign on  the  Main.  That  great  general  knew 
how  thoroughly  to  appreciate  him  at  his  just  high 
value.  Goben  commanded  the  forces  in  the  suc- 
cessful affairs  of  Dermbach,  Kissingen,  Laufach, 
Aschaffenburg,  Werbach,  Tauber-Bischofsheim,  and 
Gerchsheim. 

He  subsequently  published  a  series  of  papers  on 
some  of  these  fights  (in  the  Allgemeine  Militdr- 
zeitung),  which  by  competent  judges  are  held  to 
rank  amoDg  the  most  sterling  productions  in  the 
military  literature  of  the  day. 

When  the  Franco-German  war  broke  out,  Goben, 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  general  of  infantry,  had 
the  command  of  the  8th  corps  intrusted  to  him. 
The  8th  corps  formed  part  of  the  first  army  under 
Steinmetz. 

In  the  memoir  of  that  leader  will  be  found  a 
brief  record  of  the  great  battle  of  Spicheren,  which 
was  fought  on  the  very  first  day  of  the  opening  of 
the  campaign,  and  in  which  General  Goben  again 
brilliantly  proved  his  high  military  genius. 

General  Goben  took  a  glorious  part  also  in  the 
tremendous  fights  of  Mars-la-Tour  and  Gravelotte, 
on  the  16th  and  18th  of  August. 

The  8th  corps  formed  part  of  the  army  under 
Prince  Frederick  Charles,  which  kept  Bazaine  shut 
up  in  Metz  from  the  19th  of  August  to  the  26th 
of  October  1870. 


New  German  Empire.  199 

After  the  capitulation  of  Bazaine's  army  and  of 
the  fortress  of  M'etz,  the  8th  corps  formed  again 
part  of  the  first  army,  which  was  reconstituted  under 
the  command  of  General  Manteuffel,  and  sent  to  the 
north  of  France,  to  watch  the  new  French  army  of 
the  north  formed  there  under  the  command  of  General 
Faidherbe,  one  of  the  best  and  most  skilful  among: 

o 

the  French  leaders. 

The  battles  of  Amiens,  on  the  Hallue,  and  of 
Bapaume  were  fought  and  gained  by  three  divisions 
only  of  Manteuffel's  army,  as  the  entire  7th  corps 
had  been  left  behind  at  Metz ;  and  out  of  these 
three  divisions  Goben  commanded  two.  The  success 
may  fairly  be  set  down  then,  in  great  part,  to  his 
share. 

On  the  8th  of  January  1871,  General  Manteuffel, 
having  been  appointed  commander-in- chief  of  the 
new  army  of  the  south,  intended  for  the  relief  of 
General  Werder,  handed  over  the  command  of  the 
first  army  to  General  Goben. 

The  new  chief  had  barely  been  ten  days  in 
command  when  he  dealt  the  French  army  of  the 
north  the  crushing  blow  of  St.  Quentin. 

The  city  of  St.  Quentin  had  been  occupied  and 
held  for  twenty -four  hours  by  the  army  of  the 
Meuse,  on  the  21st  of  October  1870. 

On  the  26th  of  December  it  was  re-occupied 
by  troops  of  the  first  army,  who  had  to  abandon 
it  again  on  the  15th  of  January,  when  General 


200  Men  who  have  made  the 

Faidherbe,  by  a  strategic  move  threatening  a  diver- 
sion in  the  roar  of  the  first  German  army,  compelled 
General  Goben  to  change  his  position. 

On  the  17th  of  January  General  Faidherbe  took 
possession  of  St.  Quentin  with  the  bulk  of  his  army, 
which  consisted  of  the  22nd  and  23rd  French  corps, 
and  greatly  exceeded  in  numbers  the  forces  under 
Goben,  who  only  had  present  the  8th  corps,  part  of 
the  1st  corps,  part  of  the  3rd  cavalry  division,  the 
Saxon  cavalry  division  under  Count  Lippe,  the  6th 
battalion  of  Saxon  rifles,  and  the  2nd  Saxon  horse 
battery. 

On  the  18th  there  was  a  preliminary  encounter 
between  the  vanguards  of  the  two  armies,  which 
terminated  in  the  retreat  of  the  French  from 
Beauvais  to  St.  Quentin. 

On  the  19th  General  Goben  attacked  the  French 
most  vigorously  in  their  positions  at  Javy,  Gougis, 
Neuville,  St.  Amand,  and  Gauchy. 

There  was  a  radical  fault  in  Faidherbe's  position  : 
the  two  corps  of  his  army  were  separated  by  the 
canal  of  Crozal,  so  that  they  could  only  come  to  the 
aid  and  support  of  one  another  by  the  circuitous 
way  through  St.  Quentin. 

After  several  hours'  hard  fighting,  the  villages  held 
by  the  French  were  carried  by  Goben's  forces,  both 
wings  of  Faidherbe's  army  being  turned,  and  the  en- 
tire French  host  being  thereby  forced  back.  At  two 
o'clock  Faidherbe  made  a  last  desperate  effort  with 


New  German  Empire.  201 

the  22nd  French  corps,  supported  by  a  most  powerful 
artillery  force,  to  recover  the  lost  ground ;  but  it 
was  all  in  vain,  and  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
the  French  were  in  full  retreat,  which  soon  de- 
generated into  wild  flight  in  the  direction  of  Cam- 
bray  and  Guise,  Valenciennes  and  Lille. 

The  Saxon  cavalry  contributed  to  the  success  of 
the  day  by  several  brilliant  attacks. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  railway 
station  of  St.  Quentin  was  most  valiantly  carried 
by  the  19th  regiment  of  infantry,  under  the  lead 
of  a  younger  brother  of  the  commander-in- chief. 

In  this  battle  of  St.  Quentin  the  German  loss  in 
killed  and  wounded  was  94  officers  and  about  3,400 
non-commissioned  officers  and  privates.  The  French 
left  several  thousand  wounded  behind  in  St.  Quentin. 
Their  total  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  must  have 
been  about  6,000.  Besides  this,  12,000  unwounded 
prisoners  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victorious  pursuers. 
The  French  also  lost  six  guns. 

The  French  army  of  the  north,  the  last  hope  of 
besieged  Paris,  had  literally  ceased  to  exist. 

Goben's  victory  of  St.  Quentin  forms,  indeed,  one 

of  the  greatest  feats  of  arms  in  this  war,  so  rich  in 
glorious  triumphs. 

In  June  1871,  when  the  first  army  was  dis- 
solved, General  Goben  received,  besides  many  other 
orders,  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Iron  Cross,  and 
was  presented  also  with  the  2nd  Khenan  Infantry 


20:2  Men  who  In  ire  /mule  tl/r 

Eegimcnt,   No.   28.     The  city  of  Minden  made  him 
an  honorary  <-iti/rn. 

General  Goben  continues  still  in  command  of  the 
stli  corps  of  tlit-  <i'Tinan  army,  and  has  his  head- 
quarters at  Coblenz. 


New  German  Empire.  203 


XIV. 

GENERAL  WERDER. 

THOUGH  placed  here  among  the  last  in  our  gallery  of 
glory,  this  general  ranks  incontestably  in  every  way 
the  equal  of  the  most  distinguished  war  chiefs  of  the 
new  German  empire- -with  the  single  towering  ex- 
ception of  Vogel  von  Falckenstein. 

Augustus  von  Werder,  a  scion  of  an  ancient,  noble 
family,  settled  since  the  fourteenth  century  in  the 
old  Wenden  land  between  the  rivers  Elbe  and  Havel, 
was  born  on  the  12th  of  September  1808,  at  Schloss- 
berg,  Bailiwick  Norkitten,  in  Eastern  Prussia,  where 
the  regiment  of  dragoons  in  which  his  father  (died  in 
1837,  at  Glogau,  as  lieutenant-general)  was  then  a 
captain  was  lying  in  cantonments  after  the  disastrous 
campaign  of  1807. 

The  boy  received  his  first  education  partly  at  home, 
partly  at  the  military  divisional  school  in  Glogau, 
the  father  himself  taking  a  prominent  share  in  the 
mental  and  intellectual  training  of  his  son.  An 
earnest  man,  and  a  hater  and  despiser  of  all  mere 


204  Men  icho  have  made  the 

superficial  show,  lie  took  the  most  anxious  care  that 
Augustus  should  be  thoroughly  grounded  in  every 

• 

branch  of  his  studies.  The  boy  had  considerable 
natural  gifts,  and  great  facility  of  apprehension. 
Assiduous  and  diligent  withal,  he  soon  gathered  a 
rich  store  of  varied,  sound,  and  solid  information,  so 
that  ere  he  had  yet  completed  his  seventeenth  year, 
he  was  in  every  way  well  prepared  for  his  intended 
profession-  -the  army. 

On  the  14th  of  June  1825,  young  Augustus  von 
"Werder  entered  the  regiment  of  Gardes  du  Corps, 
in  the  initial  capacity  of  avantageur,  or  aspirant. 

In  March  1826,  he  got  his  commission  of  sub- 
lieutenant ;  at  the  express  desire  of  his  father  he  was 
transferred  at  the  same  time  to  the  1st  foot-guards, 
where  it  was  probably  thought  there  would  not  be 
so  many  temptations  to  pleasure,  calculated  to  with- 
draw the  young  man  from  his  more  serious  studies, 
as  in  the  more  brilliant  Gardes  du  Corps. 

Young  Werder  remained  for  seven  years  in  the 
foot-guards,  acquiring  a  thorough  practical  know- 
ledo-e  of  the  service.  He  continued  all  the  while 

o 

also  his  theoretical  studies  with  such  excellent 
success,  that  in  1833  he  was  selected  as  one  of  the 
favoured  few  in  the  Prussian  service  who  are  sent 
to  the  General  War  School  in  Berlin  to  finish  their 
scientific  military  education. 

After  the  completion  of  the  customary  course  of 
three  years  at  the  war  school,  young  Werder  was 


New  German  Empire.  205 

sent  back  to  his  regiment  for  two  more  years' 
practical  service.  He  was  then  transferred,  in  1838, 
to  the  8th  pioneer  division,  that  he  might  acquire 
practical  knowledge  also  of  that  highly  important 
branch  of  the  service. 

In  1839  he  was  attached  as  instructor  to  the  cadet 
school  in  Berlin. 

In  1840  he  was  sent  to  the  topographic  bureau, 
and  had  several  important  surveys  intrusted  to  him. 

In  1842  he  gained  his  first  step  in  promotion, 
being  made  first  lieutenant,  after  stopping  sixteen 
years  on  the  ]owest  rung  of  the  ladder — another 
signal  instance  of  slow  advancement  in  the  initial 
stages  of  the  Prussian  service. 

o 

At  this  time  holy  Eussia  was  hard  at  work 
civilizing  the  barbarians  of  the  Caucasus,  and 
endeavouring  to  overcome  the  stubborn  opposition  of 
the  Lesghians,  Tschetschenzes,  and  other  tribes, 
who  were  clinging  to  their  assailed  independence  with 
desperate  tenacity. 

Here  was  a  splendid  opportunity  for  the  new 
lieutenant  to  learn  something  of  actual  warfare,  which 
his  superiors  determined  should  not  be  lost.  So 
Lieutenant  Werder  was  duly  provided  with  credentials, 
and  sent  to  the  Caucasus  as  a  kind  of  Prussian 
military  commissioner  unattached,  that  he  might 
study  mountain  warfare  and  the  mode  of  fighting  of 
both  parties. 

He  fully  justified  the  choice  which  had  fallen  upon 


-06  Men   //•//<>  1i<u\'  made  tl>' 


]ihn.  He  was  indefatigable  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
many  and  varied  duties  which  his  position  imposed 
upon  him.  Thus  he  would  ride  or  march  along 
with  the  Cossacks  on  their  reconnoitring  expeditions 
into  the  inmost  depth  of  the  mountains,  or  attend  the 
Eussian  infantry  and  Asiatic  militia  in  their  perilous 
marches  through  ravines  and  defiles.  Every  pause 
which  occurred  in  the  active  operations  of  the 
Kussians  he  turned  to  good  account  by  visits  to 
Tiflis,  Kertsch,  and  the  Eussian  coast  defences. 
The  lessons  which  he  learnt,  more  especially  respecting 
the  proper  mode  of  using  artillery  to  the  greatest 
advantage  in  the  defence  of  long  lines  of  mountain 
positions,  he  turned  some  thirty  years  after  to 
brilliant  account  in  his  desperate  struggle  against 
Bourbaki's  overwhelming  forces. 

On  the  24th  of   June  1843,  he  was  present  at   a 
fight  between  the  Tschetschenzes  and  Cossacks,  near 

O 

the  fortress  which  the  Eussians  were  then  erecting 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Kefar.  Here  a  ball,  fired 
from  an  ambush  of  the  Tschetschenzes,  struck  him  in 
the  left  upper  arm,  smashing  the  bone.  This  brought 
his  services  in  these  quarters  to  an  involuntary  close. 
He  luckily  escaped  amputation,  however,  and  re- 
covered his  health  completely  by  the  beneficial  heal- 
ing action  of  the  waters  of  Patigorsk  and  Teplitz. 

The  Emperor  of  Eussia  bestowed  the  Order  of  St. 
Wladimir  upon  him,  to  which  his  own  king  added 
that  of  St.  John. 


New  German  Empire.  207 

In  March.  1846,  Yferder  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  captain,  and  attached  to  the  general  staff  of 
the  army.  Soon  after,  he  was  attached  to  the  general 
staff  of  the  1st  corps.  In  August  1848,  he  w^as 
ordered  to  take  his  place  as  captain  in  the  1st 
regiment  of  infantry. 

In  March  1851,  he  gained  another  step,  being 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  major,  and  appointed  to  the 
command  of  a  battalion  of  the  33rd  regiment  of 
infantry.  In  October  1853,  he  was  called  to  the 
command  of  the  Landwehr  battalion  Grafrath  (40th 
regiment),  whence  he  was  again  transferred,  in 
February  1856,  to  the  4th  battalion  of  rifles. 

In  October  1856,  he  attained  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel,  and  about  a  year  after,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  fusilier  battalion 
of  the  2nd  regiment  of  foot-guards. 

In  May  1858,  he  was  made  deputy  inspector  (with 
full  performance  of  the  inspectorial  functions)  of  the 
rifles  and  carabineers,  and  also  commander  of  the 
corps  of  royal  field  couriers.  The  year  after,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  full  colonel,  and 
appointed  inspector  of  the  rifles  and  carabineers,  the 
functions  of  which  office  he  had  performed  already 
since  the  year  before,  He  was  at  the  same  time 
named  also  a  member  of  the  directorial  board  of 
the  Central  Army  Institute  of  Gymnastics  at  Berlin. 

In  January  1863,  Colonel  Werder  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  the  8th  infantry  brigade,  stationed 


J/o/     f'/Ht    litirr    nui<l<'    flic 


at  Bromberg.  Three  months  al'irr,  lie  was  made 
major-general,  and  in  January  1SG4,  transferred  to 
Berlin  as  commander  of  the  4tli  infant  iy  brigade 
(guards). 

In  J\Iay  1865,  he  was  charged  with  the  command 
of  the  3rd  division,  stationed  at  Stettin,  and  the  year 
after  he  was  definitely  appointed  to  the  command 
of  tliis  division,  the  appointment  being  followed 
a  few  weeks  later  by  his  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-general.  It  had  accordingly  taken  Werder 
forty  years  to  reach  the  same  rank  which  Goben  had 
attained  in  twenty-three  years,  or,  if  we  go  back  even 
to  Goben's  first  connection  with  the  service,  in  thirty- 
two  years,  a  convincing  proof  of  the  extraordinary 
rapidity  of  the  latter's  promotion  in  the  army,  which 
I  have  pointed  out  in  his  memoir. 

I  have  given  General  Werder's  promotions  and 
transfers  thus  minutely  here  in  illustration  of  the 
Prussian  military  system,  which  sends  a  promising 
officer  from  regiment  to  regiment,  as  it  were,  and 
from  one  branch  of  the  service  to  another.  That 
officers  thus  trained  and  schooled  must  necessarily  be 
superior  to  others  who  have  not  had  the  same 
opportunities  afforded  them  to  gather  experience  and 
expertness  in  every  branch  of  their  profession  is 
self-evident. 

It  is  this  excellent  system  to  which  Prussia  may 
be  said  to  owe,  in  a  great  measure  at  least,  her 
present  military  preponderance.  In  this  admirable 


New  German  Empire.  209 

practical  school  the  conquerors  of  1866  and  1870-71 
were  formed. 

In  the  Prusso- German  War  of  1866,  General 
Werder  commanded  the  3rd  infantry  division, 
which  took  a  prominent  share  in  the  victory  of 
Gitschin,  where  it  forced  the  corps  of  the  Austrian 
General  Eingelheini  back  upon  the  line  of  retreat 
of  Count  Clam-Gallas.  At  the  battle  of  Konig- 
gratz,  again,  General  Werder's  Pomeranians  gained 
great  and  well-deserved  glory  by  the  cool  and 
steady .  courage  with  which  they,  unshaken  and  un- 
dismayed, withstood  a  most  heavy  and  destructive 
artillery  fire.  General  Werder  had  the  Ordre  pour 
le  Merit e  bestowed  upon  him  for  his  services  in 
this  campaign. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace,  General  Werder 
was  sent  back  to  Stettin,  as  commander  of  the  3rd 
infantry  division. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Franco- German  war  of 
1870,  General  Werder  was  specially  attached  to 
the  staff  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia,  coni- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  third  German  army.  In  the 
battle  of  Worth  he  commanded  the  combined  corps 
of  Wiirtemberg  and  Baden. 

General  Beyer,  to  whom  the  siege  of  Strasburg 
had  been  intrusted,  falling  ill,  General  Werder  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him  in  the  command  of  the 
army  collected  before  Strasburg,  which  consisted  of 
the  Baden  division  (eighteen  battalions  of  infantry, 

VOL.  II.  P 


•J10  Men    «'li»    Inii'i*    m<nJf>    tin' 

twelve  si|U;i<lmiis  nf  cavalry.  ;m<l  ten  batteries),  tlie 
Prussian  Landwdir  of  tin-  guards  division,  the  first 
Prussian  Reserve-Laudwehr  division  (under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Tiv>k«>\v,  who  subsequently  con- 
ducted the  siege  of  Belfort),  the  37th  company  of 
foruv»  artillery,  one  battalion  of  Prussian  pioneers, 
and  one  company  of  Bavarian  pioneers, — the  whole 
numbering  above  50,000  effectives. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  here  to  give  the  details 
of  the  siege  of  Strasburg.  Suffice  it  to  state  that 
that  fortress  capitulated  on  the  27th  of  September 
1870,  after  a  siege  of  about  six  weeks.  On  the 
day  of  the  capitulation  of  Strasburg,  Lieut  enant- 
General  Werder  wras  raised  to  the  rank  of  general 
of  infantry. 

The  forces  set  free  by  the  capitulation  of  Stras- 
burg were  now  formed  into  a  separate  new  corps, 
the  fourteenth  of  the  German  army,  which  was 
placed  under  the  command  of  General  Werder. 

To  this  new  corps  was  joined  also  the  4th 
Prussian  reserve  division,  which  had  meanwhile 
been  organized  at  Freiburg,  in  the  Breisgau. 

General  Werder  had  the  arduous  task  assigned 
him  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Alsatia,  watch 
over  the  safety  of  the  conquered  province,  and  pro- 
tect the  lines  of  communication  of  the  great  German 
army  before  Paris. 

To  this  latter  end  it  was  indispensable  to  stifle 
in  the  germ,  if  possible,  the  organization  of  fresh 


New  German  Empire.  211 

French  armies,  which  was  just  at  this  critical  junc- 
ture beginning  to  assume  tangible  shape  and  sub- 
stance, and  might  speedily  attain  to  formidable 
proportions  if  not  resolutely  met  at  once,  and 
effectually  crushed.  The  fortresses,  the  natural 
centres  of  such  organization,  were  therefore  neces- 
sarily also  the  first  and  chief  object  of  Werder's 
new  campaign. 

With  a  clear  and  correct  appreciation  of  the  actual 
circumstances  and  of  the  foe  opposed  to  him,  General 
Werder  determined  upon  a  bold  offensive. 

The  grand  total  of  the  forces  under  his  command 
might  reach  some  55,000  effectives.  But  the  Land- 
wehr  of  the  guards  division  had  to  be  left  in  Stras- 
burg  as  a  garrison ;  and  the  4th  reserve  division  was 
required  to  besiege  and  reduce  the  fortresses  of 
Schlettstadt  and  Neu  Breisach.  So  it  was  with  a 
comparatively  very  slender  force  that  the  general 
had  to  open  the  campaign. 

The  first  task  was  to  clear  the  Vosges  of  the 
numerous  bands  of  franc-tireurs  who  were  endea- 
vouring to  establish  themselves  in  these  quarters. 
On  the  1st  of  October  the  brigade  Degenfeld,  which 
formed  the  vanguard  of  the  14th  corps,  moved 
forward  on  its  march  through  the  Vosges,  closely 
followed  by  the  main  body  of  the  corps.  The  German 
troops  had  to  remove  enormous  abatis  and  barricades 
from  their  line  of  march  through  the  passes  ;  but  there 


was  no  fighting. 

D  O 


-2, 


212  Men  who  hare  made  the 

The  first  serious  encounter  with  the  French  took 
place  on  the  western  slope  of  the  mountain,  between 
Eaon  L'Etape  and  St.  Die.  Six  battalions  of  Baden 
infantry,  numbering  barely  4,000  men,  had  a  hard 
tight  with  a  portion  of  General  Cambriel's  army 
(French  army  of  the  east),  newly  formed  for  the 
defence  of  the  Vosges. 

The  French  forces,  commanded  by  General  Dupre, 
consisted  of  some  8,000  regulars  of  the  line  and  about 
the  same  number  of  franc-tireurs  ;  they  were  amply 
provided  with  artillery.  Yet,  after  seven  hours' 
desperate  fighting,  General  Degenfeld,  with  his  4,000, 
drove  them  headlong  from  the  field.  The  French 
losses  exceded  2,000  men,  of  whom  300  were  killed, 
and  600  made  prisoners  of  war.  The  Degenfeld 
brigade  lost  about  400  men  in  killed  and  wounded. 
The  discomfited  French  fled  in  the  greatest  disorder 
to  Besan£on.  The  blow  had  so  demoralized  them,  that 
Cambriel's  corps  was  in  a  few  brief  days  reduced, 
chiefly  through  wholesale  desertion,  from  55,000  to 
24,000  men  ! 

General  Werder  had  originally  been  instructed  by 
Moltke  to  march  upon  Troyes.  However,  as  Cam- 
briel  was  making  desperate  efforts  to  reorganize  his 
forces  under  the  shelter  of  Besan^on  and  Belfort, 
the  commander  of  the  14th  corps  deemed  it  the 
wiser  course  first  to  deal  effectively  with  this  enemy 
before  starting  in  search  of  adventures  in  the  interior 
of  France. 


New  German  Empire.  213 

Having  obtained  General  Moltke's  sanction  to 
extend  his  operations  to  Besan^on,  Werder  marched 
upon  Vesoul,  which  was  occupied  by  the  14th  corps 
on  the  18th  of  October,  the  French  retreating  pre- 
cipitately to  Belfort  and  Dijon. 

Meanwhile  the  French  army  of  the  east,  re-organized 
by  Cambriel  and  considerably  increased  in  numbers, 
had  taken  up  a  strong  position  on  the  river  Ognon,  or 
Oignon  (an  affluent  of  the  Saone),  at  Kuoz  and 
Etuz. 

General  Beyer  was  directed  by  Werder  to  dislodge 
them  and  throw  them  back  into  Besangon.  Beyer 
had  with  him  only  the  Degenfeld  brigade,  with  part 
of  Keller's  brigade,  and  the  brigade  of  Prince  William 
of  Baden  and  two  battalions  of  regiment  No.  30. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  the  very  great  disproportion  of 
numbers,  he  defeated  Cambriel,  carrying  all  his 
positions,  driving  him  in  disorder  across  the  river, 
and  finally  compelling  him  to  seek  shelter  once  more 
behind  the  strong  walls  of  Besangon. 

This  battle,  which  was  fought  on  the  22nd  of 
October,  disposed  effectively  of  the  French  army  of  the 
east  for  the  next  fortnight  to  come  at  least,  in  so  far 
as  regarded  the 'possible  resumption  of  the  offensive  by 
Cambriel.  Moltke's  latest  instructions  had  directed 
Werder  to  march  over  Dijon  to  Bourges,  a  most 
perilous  task  even  for  a  much  larger  force  than 
Werder  had  with  him  then,  considering,  more  par- 
ticularly, the  dangerous  fact  that  he  would  have  to 


214  Men  who  have  made  the 

leave  in  flank  and  rear  the  important  strongholds  of 
Belfort,  Besancon,  Langres,  and  Auxonne. 

However,  the  march  to  Dijon  and  Bourges  had  to 
be  postponed  for  the  time  at  least,  as  a  new  enemy  had 
meanwhile  made  his  appearance  on  the  scene.  Gari- 
baldi, to  wit,  to  whom  Gambetta  had  intrusted  the 
formation  of  a  new  corps,  together  with  the  supreme 
command  over  all  bands  of  franc-tireurs  and  other  free 
corps  in  the  Vosges. 

The  famous  Italian  chieftain  was  just  then  hard  at 
work  at  Dole  to  put  something  like  organization  into 
his  omnium-gatherum  mob  of frcmc-tireurs  de  I'egalite, 
du  Midi,  du  Doubs,  des  Vosges,  de  Nice,  de  la  croix, 
dc. ;  Compagnies  de  la  revanche,  de  la  demi-lune,  des 
vengeurs,  espagnole,  polonaise,  grecque,  egyptienne  (/), 
franco-espagnole,  &c. ;  Carabiniers  de  Genes,  Chas- 
seurs de  Caprera,  de  Marseille,  d'Oran,  du  Mont 
Blanc,  de  I' Atlas,  &c. 

To  provide  effectively  against  any  danger  that  might 
threaten  from  this  quarter,  General  Werder  recrossed 
the  Saone,  and  took  up  a  suitable  position  at  Gray. 
This  apparently  retrograde  movement  was  hailed  by 
the  French  population  around  as  the  result  of  a  total 
defeat  inflicted  upon  the  Germans  by  the  army  of  the 
east.  So  they  arose  in  insurrection.  Numerous 
bands  of  franc-tireurs  and  other  volunteers  were 
formed. 

As  this  movement  among  the  people  threatened  to 
become  dangerous,  the  general  resolved  to  put  it 


New  German  Empire.  215 

down  at  once  with  a  strong  hand.  He  proclaimed 
that  he  would  shoot  any  man  taken  with  arms  in  his 
hands  who  should  be  unable  to  show  that  he  belonged 
to  a  corps  possessed  of  some  degree  of  organization 
and  forming  part  of  the  French  army. 

The  attempted  rising  was  speedily  put  down,  and 
the  country  all  around  disarmed.  Only  four  men, 
convicted  of  having  treacherously  slain  German 

• 

soldiers,  were  shot  by  the  general's  orders. 

Garibaldi  not  yet  having  completed  his  organiza- 
tion, it  was  not  thought  prudent  at  Tours  to  leave 
the  great  Italian  chieftain  at  Dole,  where  he  was 
exposed  to  a  crushing  attack  by  Werder.  So  Gari- 
baldi was  ordered  with  his  corps  to  Autun,  to 
complete  his  organization  there. 

Werder  was  thus  left  free  to  resume  his  advance 
upon  Dijon.  As  his  scouts  had  brought  him  certain 
news  of  the  formation  of  fresh  French  armies 
proceeding  rapidly  behind  the  front  of  the  Gari- 
baldians,  and  as  he  found  the  difficulties  of  the 
transport  of  his  supplies  increasing  with  every  league 
of  advance,  he  resolved  to  content  himself  for  the 
time  being  with  the  capture  and  occupation  of 
Dijon,  and  the  holding  of  a  strong  position  at 
Yesoul, 

On  the  27th  of  October,  Prince  William  of  Baden's 
brigade  came  upon  the  newly-formed  Armee  de  la 
Cote  d'Or.  This  corps,  which  was  commanded  by 
Lavalle,  president  of  the  Dijon  committee  of  defence, 


216  Men  wlio  Juice  mo'Ir  //« 

barely  a\vaitt-d  the  attack  of  the  German  vanguard, 
but  retreat^!  ;it  once  precipitately  to  Dijon. 

The  total  effective  force  of  General  Werder's  ex- 
peditionary corps  amounted  at  this  time  to  twenty- 
three  battalions  of  infantry,  twenty  squadrons  of 
cavalry,  and  seventy-two  pieces  of  artillery. 

It  had  before  it  the  Armee  de  la  Cote  cTOr ; 
to  the  south  the  fortress  of  Auxonne ;  at  Besan- 
£on  the  army  of  the  east,  under  Cambriel,  some 
30,000  strong:  on  the  right  flank  the  fortress  of 

'  O   *  O 

Langres,  with  a  garrison  of  6,000  ;  in  the  rear, 
Belfort,  with  a  garrison  of  10,000.  Adding  the 
Garibaldians  and  the  numerous  bands  of  franc-tireurs, 
&c.,  to  these,  there  were  certainly  French  forces 
enough  to  crush  the  small  German  corps  among 
them. 

On  the  30th  of  October  1870,  General  Beyer  and 
Prince  William  of  Baden  assailed  Dijon. 

The  French  had  brought  up  10,000  men  by  rail, 
and  the  citizens,  even  the  women,  joined  most 
energetically  in  the  defence.  The  resistance  was 
obstinate  in  the  extreme,  and  the  Germans  suffered 
heavy  losses.  But  Prince  William  of  Baden  carried 
the  heights  of  St.  Apollinari  in  gallant  style,  and 
occupied  the  suburbs,  from  which  the  Germans 
ultimately  forced  their  way  into  the  city,  where 
fierce  fights  from  barricade  to  barricade,  from  house 
to  house,  lasted  till  midnight, 

'  O 

On  the  morning  of  the  31st  of  October,  the  ancient 


New  German  Empire.  217 

capital  of  Burgundy  was  formally  surrendered  by  the 
mayor.  The  loss  of  Dijon  was  a  heavy  blow  and 
sad  discouragement  to  the  French. 

The  possession  of  Belfort  being  deemed  indispen- 
sable to  the  safety  of  Alsatia,  the  1st  reserve  division 
under  command  of  General  Treskow,  was  detached 
to  lay  siege  to  this  most  important  fortress. 

General  Schmeling,  who  commanded  the  4th  reserve 
division,  had  meanwhile  paid  a  visit  to  Muhlhausen, 
and  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  carry  the 
fortress  of  Neu  Breisach  by  what  might  be  termed  a 
coup  de  bombardement,  occupied  Colmar,  after  which 
he  laid  siege  to  Schlettstadt,  a  most  important 
point  on  the  railway  line  from  Strasburg  to  Bale, 
which  commands  moreover  the  road  to  Luneville 
and  Nancy. 

Schlettstadt  surrendered  on  the  24th  of  October, 
two  days  after  Werder's  victory  on  the  Ognon. 

After  the  capture  of  Schlettstadt,  Schmeling  re- 
sumed the  siege  of  Neu  Breisach  with  the  greatest 
vigour,  and  compelled  this  fortress  also  to  capitulate 
(10th  of  November).  Fort  Mortier  had  surrendered 
three  days  before.  Pfalzburg  and  Bitsch  were  thus 
the  only  two  strong  places  in  Alsatia  still  remaining 
in  the  hands  of  the  French. 

The  fall  of  Metz  having  set  free  Prince  Frederick 
Charles's  large  army,  which  was  at  once  pushed  on  by 
forced  marches  towards  the  Loire,  there  was  no  longer 
need  now  of  Werder's  advance  into  the  interior  of 


218  Mat  who  have  made  the 

France,  and  the  general  could  freely  make  his  dis- 
positions to  encounter  the  many  enemies  who  sur- 
rounded him. 

Werder  resolved  upon  a  vigorous  offensive  in  all 
directions.  He  had  only  about  22,000  men  to 
oppose  to  some  70,000  foes. 

The  French,  however,  thinking  the  general  had 
received  large  reinforcements  from  the  army  of  Metz, 
gave  way  at  once  on  all  sides. 

On  the  14th  of  November  1870,  Werder  concen- 
trated his  small  force  about  Dijon,  ordering  the  4th 
reserve  division  under  Schmeling  up  to  Vesoul. 

Garibaldi  had  meanwhile  completed  the  organiza- 
tion of  his  corps,  and  had  again  advanced  from 
Autun  to  the  Cote  d'Or.  He  meditated  a  coup  de 
main  upon  Dijon. 

Werder,  who  was  admirably  served  by  his  scouts, 
knew  that  a  large  French  force  was  being  concen- 
trated about  Lyons  ;  he  also  knew  that  the  army 
of  the  east,  now  under  command  of  General  Michel, 
who  had  replaced  Cambriel,  was  about  to  resume  the 
offensive.  He  knew  also  all  about  Garibaldi's  in- 
tended surprise  "of  Dijon,  and  he  took  his  precautions 
accordingly.  The  mayor  of  Dijon  was  duly  warned 
that  the  first  attempt  at  a  rising  would  inevitably 
lead  to  the  total  destruction  of  the  ancient  city,  and 
the  warning  had  its  due  effect. 

o 

On  the  26th  of  November,  early  in  the  morning, 
General  Degenfeld,  out  upon  a  reconnoitring  expe- 


New  German  Empire.  219 

dition,  discovered  that  Menotti  Garibaldi  was  ad- 
vancing with  a  numerous  body  of  Garibaldians  from 
the  direction  of  Pasques. 

Just  as  night  was  setting  in,  the  outposts  of  the 
fusilier  battalion  of  the  3rd  regiment  were  vehemently 
attacked.  They  fell  back  upon  the  main  body 
of  their  own  battalion,  and  the  battalion  Unger. 
These  steady  soldiers  ]et  the  assailants  come  up 
to  within  fifty  yards,  when  they  suddenly  opened 
upon  them  a  terribly  close  and  fast  fire,  which  drove 
the  Garibaldians  back  in  disorder. 

Three  times  the  same  manoeuvre  was  repeated ; 
after  the  third  repulse  the  Garibaldians  took  to  flight 
in  a  complete  panic,  wildly  throwing  away  their  arms 
and  baggage. 

Next  day,  General  Welder,  at  the  head  of  three 
brigades,  assumed  the  offensive.  He  came  up  near 
Pasques  with  a  rear-guard  that  turned  out  to  be  a 
portion  of  the  French  army  of  the  Loire.  The  Gari- 
baldians had  fled  back  to  Autun.  General  Keller, 
sent  forward  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  found  a  fresh 
French  corps  posted  in  a  strong  position  at  Nuits, 
south  of  Dijon.  This  corps,  then  some  12,000 
strong,  was  commanded  by  General  Cremer,  late 
captain  of  the  staff  in  M'Mahon's  army.  This 
officer  was  one  of  the  prisoners  of  Sedan  who  had 
disgracefully  broken  his  plighted  parole,  and  had  been 
raised  by  Gambetta  per  salt-urn  to  the  rank  of  general 
of  division. 


220  Men  who  have  made  the 

Cremer,  though  lie  had  broken  his  parole,  was  yet 
an  excellent  officer.  He  endeavoured,  with  great  skill 
and  pertinacious  bravery,  to  intercept  the  return  of 
Keller's  corps  to  Dijon ;  but  the  men  of  Baden 
proved  more  than  a  match  for  the  utmost  efforts  of 
the  French,  and  Keller  brilliantly  effected  his  junction 
with  Werder  at  Dijon,  where  the  14th  corps  was  now 
once  more  concentrated. 

From  here  Werder  despatched  General  von  der 
Goltz  with  a  small  corps  to  lay  siege  to  the  fortress 
of  Langres.  This  officer  came  upon  the  French, 
strongly  posted  at  Longeau,  on  the  16th  of  De- 
cember. He  at  once  attacked  them,  and,  after  three 
hours'  hard  fighting,  drove  them  back  into  Langres, 
to  which  he  then  laid  siege. 

General  Werder's  force  at  Dijon  was  now  reduced 
to  16,000  effectives,  against  whom  more  than  50,000 
French,  with  a  large  artillery  force,  were  advancing 
from  the  south  and  the  Cote  d'Or. 

The  most  immediately  dangerous  foe  was  Cremer, 
who  had  meanwhile  raised  his  force  to  above  20,000 
men,  and  was  holding  a  naturally  very  strong  posi- 
tion at  Nuits  and  Pesmes,  which  he  had  skilfully 
strengthened  still  more  by  field-works. 

Werder  resolved  to  dislodge  him  from  this  position. 
The  lead  of  this  expedition  was  intrusted  to  General 
Gliimer.  Werder  could  only  spare  him  11,000  men, 
as  he  was  compelled  to  retain  a  firm  hold  upon 
Dijon. 


New  German  Empire.  221 

On  the  1 8th  of  December,  General  Gliimer  attacked 
the  French,  who  outnumbered  his  small  force  in  the 
proportion  of  two  to  one  at  least.  Cremer  defended 
his  position  most  valiantly,  and  with  no  mean  skill. 
The  battle  lasted  six  hours,  and  it  wras  only  at  night 
that  Nuits  was  finally  carried  by  the  Germans,  who 
made  some  600  prisoners. 

Cremer  retreated  upon  Chalons-sur-Saone,  pursued 
by  the  victorious  Germans.  The  French  acknow- 
ledged a  loss  of  2,200  men.  Cremer's  corps  was  so 
shaken  by  this  blow  that  it  took  a  long  time  to  make 
it  fit  again  for  offensive  operations.  The  Germans 
also  had  suffered  heavy  losses — amounting  to  close 
upon  1,100  killed  and  wounded,  including  many  high 
officers.  Prince  William  of  Baden  also  was  severely 
wounded  in  this  battle  of  Nuits. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Gambetta  conceived 
his  truly  brilliant  and  most  threatening  plan  of  an 
invasion  of  South  Germany,  which,  had  it  been  suc- 
cessful, must  not  alone  have  brought  unspeakable 
miseries  upon  the  invaded  land,  but  might  have 
turned  out  a  most  formidable  diversion,  and  would 
have  protracted  the  war  for  many  months. 

Long  ere  it  was  known  at  head-quarters  that 
General  Bourbaki  had  commenced  his  threatening 
movement,  General  Werder  received  authentic  in- 
formation from  the  German  envoy  at  Berne,  Baron 
von  Eoder,  that  the  French  were  concentrating  their 
new  army  of  the  east,  consisting  of  the  15th,  18th, 


Mt>it    irlut   Inir,'    ///m/r    tin 


20th,  and  24th  mrps.  l>rt\veni  hole  and 
;iinl  that  it  was  elearlv  their  intention  to  relieve 
Belfnrt,  ami  «-ut  the  lines  of  communication  of  the 
German  armies.  \Vlicn  General  Werder  received  the 
alarming  news  of  the  imminent  approach  of  Bourbaki 
with  some  1  GO,  000  men,  he  was  not  quite  sure 
whether  it  might  not  be  the  French  commander's 
intention  to  march  upon  Nancy,  to  break  the  German 
line  of  communication  there  ;  or  whether  he  really 
purposed  to  endeavour  to  raise  the  siege  of  Belfort, 
and  make  his  way  into  Alsatia  and  thence  into  the 
southern  part  of  Germany. 

But  he  fully  saw  and  realized  at  once  the  im- 
mensity of  the  danger  threatening  the  cause  of 
Germany  from  that  quarter,  no  matter  which  of 
the  two,  Nancy  or  Belfort,  might  form  the  proximate 
object  of  Bourbaki's  intended  operations. 

With  prompt  decision  he  determined  to  abandon 
Dijon  immediately.  He  ordered  General  von  der 
Goltz  to  raise  the  siege  of  Langres,  and  rejoin  him  with 
his  corps.  On  the  27th  of  December,  the  Germans 
left  Dijon,  and  made  their  way  by  forced  marches  to 
Vesoul. 

The  4th  reserve  division,  set  free  by  the  capitu- 
lation of  Schlettstadt  and  Neu  Breisach,  was  ordered 
up  to  Villersexel,  some  eighteen  English  miles  to  the 
west  of  Belfort. 

In  this  well-chosen  flank  position  at  Vesoul  and 
Villersexel,  which  was  admirably  adapted  to  meet 


New  German  Empire.  223 

all  eventualities,  Werder  resolved  to  watch  the  course 
of  events. 

General  Treskow,  in  command  of  the  1st  reserve 
division,  had  laid  siege  to  Belfort  on  the  3rd  of 
November.  Exactly  one  month  after  the  German 
batteries  had  opened  their  fire  upon  the  place. 
To  cover  the  operation  of  the  siege  in  the  west, 
General  Debschitz  had  been  ordered  up  with  eight 
battalions  of  Landwehr. 

From  the  3rd  to  the  8th  of  January,  1871,  the 
Germans  were  victorious  in  a  series  of  small  recon- 
noitring fights  at  Vellefaux,  Villersec,  Levrecy,  and 
Velle  le  Chatel,  from  which  Werder  gained  the 
certainty  that  the  immense  army  of  the  east  (some 
160,000  men)  was  moving  to  the  right  upon  Belfort. 

It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  he  should 
arrive  there  before  them.  He  had  already  con- 
templated an  eventuality  of  this  nature,  and  had 
partly  provided  against  it,  by  selecting  an  excellent 
position  on  the  Lisaine  or  Luxienne,  which  was  well 
adapted  to  cover  the  siege  of  Belfort. 

On  the  7th  of  January  1871,  Werder  resolved  to 
attack  the  enemy's  left  wing.  The  French  de- 
clined the  combat,  which  fully  confirmed  Werder's 
opinion  that  they  were  moving  to  the  right  upon 
Belfort. 

So  on  the  9th  of  January,  he  fell  upon  Bourbaki's 
left  flank  with  fierce  impetuosity.  On  the  German 
side  the  Baden  division  was  chiefly  engaged,  on 


12:24  M^cn  ?r//o  lt<irc  made  the 


the  French  sid<-   the  18th  ;m<l  i20th  corps.     Bourbaki 
commanded   in   person. 

Tin-  |K.  -----  <\an  of  \'illersexel  was  the  chief  object 
of  the  fight. 

Yillerscxel  is  a  small  place  in  the  arrondissement 
Lure,  Haute-fSaone.  It  lies  at  the  confluence  of 
the  rivers  Ognon  and  Scey,  on  the  road  from  Vesoul 
to  Hericourt  and  Montbeliard. 

The  German  attack  was  made  with  extraordinary 
vigour.  Yillersexel  was  carried  by  storm,  Moimay 
and  Marat  sharing  the  same  fate.  This  latter  place 
was  taken  in  the  evening.  All  attacks  made  by  the 
French,  who  brought  more  and  more  considerable 
forces  into  the  field,  were  victoriously  repulsed. 

The  whole  French  army  was  brought  to  a  stand- 
still. Bourbaki  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  the 
German  attack  would  be  renewed  in  the  morning 
of  the  10th,  and  made  his  dispositions  accordingly. 

His  conviction  that  a  renewal  of  the  battle  was 
intended  for  next  day  was  strengthened  by  the 
entire  apparent  bearing  of  Wercler,  who  actually 
had  a  bridge  thrown  over  the  Ognon,  in  Bourbaki's 
right  flank. 

Werder,  however,  having  thus  craftily  misled  his 
antagonist,  marched  quietly  off  in  the  night  of 
the  9th—  10th  of  January,  the  general  with  his 
staff  hastening  on  in  advance  to  the  position  marked 
out  from  Delle  to  Lure,  to  make  his  final  prepara- 
tions for  the  impending  titanic  struggle. 


brerman  Empire.  225 


A  forced  march,  rendered  peculiarly  difficult  by 
the  deep  snowdrifts  and  the  slippery  state  of  the 
roads,  brought  the  whole  of  the  troops  to  the 
intended  position  on  the  llth  of  January. 

On  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  January  Bourbaki 
had  found,  to  his  intense  amazement  and  grief,  that 
the  Germans  were  clean  gone. 

The  battle  of  Villersexel  had  inflicted  severe  losses 
upon  the  French.  Besides  many  killed  and  wounded, 
they  lost  also  two  guns,  two  eagles,  and  some  800 
unwounded  prisoners,  with  two  superior  officers  and 
fourteen  subalterns. 

The  whole  of  Warder's  forces,  with  every  man 
counted  whom  Treskow  could  possibly  spare  from 
the  siege  of  Belfort,  amounted  to  forty-eight  weak 
battalions,  with  whom  the  general  had  to  hold  a 
most  extended  position.  The  force  of  the  assailants 
was  fourfold  stronger.  The  defence  had  to  be  made, 
moreover,  with  a  strong  well-garrisoned  hostile  for- 
tress in  the  rear,  and  under  the  threatening  danger 
of  a  sortie  en  masse  from  that  fortress,  which  would 
place  the  German  defenders  of  the  extended  line 
from  Lure  to  Delle  between  two  fires. 

General  Werder  was  not  a  whit  dismayed,  how- 
ever. His  old  Caucasian  experience  of  the  defence 
of  extended  mountain  positions  stood  him  in  ex- 
cellent stead  now.  He  knew  he  could  fully  rely 
upon  General  Treskow,  to  whom  he  left  the  difficult 
task  of  watching  and  engaging  the  Belfort  garrison, 

VOL  IT.  o 


M'.'H    irho  lt«rc  iinn/e  the 


and  warding  off  any  danger  that  might  threaten 
i'rci'i  that  (juartcr. 

The  position  chosen  covered  not  alone  the  siege  of 
Belfort,  l>ut  also  Alsatia  and  southern  Germany. 

The  Lisaine,  or  Luxienne,  a  brook  some  three  to 
f.  >ur  feet  deep,  flanked  on  both  banks  by  marshy 
meadows,  constituted  the  principal  line  of  defence, 
extending  some  eight  English  miles  in  length.  The 
left  flank  rested  on  the  Allaine  and  the  Rhine  and 
Rhone  canal,  which  runs  parallel  with  it.  The  left 
wing  found  a  most  valuable  point  of  support  in 
the  old  castle  of  Montbeliard,  which  Werder  had 
mounted  with  heavy  artillery,  garrisoned  by  an  ade- 
quate force,  and  amply  stored  with  provisions  and 
ammunition  for  twenty-one  days. 

General  Werder  established  his  head-quarters  at 
Brevilliers,  near  Hericourt,  which  formed  the  centre 
and  key  of  the  position. 

Hericourt  lies  in  the  valley  of  the  Luxienne, 
which  is  commanded,  in  the  direction  of  Belfort  as 
well  as  in  that  of  Arcey,  by  thickly-  wooded  moun- 
tains, and  through  which  runs  the  high  road  from 
Besancon  to  Belfort. 

To  guard  against  all  chances  of  being  outflanked, 
the  German  line  of  defence  had  to  be  extended  from 
Frahier  over  Echevanne,  Chenebier,  and  Chagey  to 
Lure;  thence  to  Hericourt,  the  key  of  the  posi- 
tion ;  from  Hericourt  southward,  over  Bussarel  and 
Bethoncourt,  to  Montbeiiard,  and  from  Montbeliard 


New  German  Empire.  227 

finally   eastward    to    Delle,    or    Dattenried,    on   the 
Swiss  frontier. 

General  Treskow  had  sent  up  thirty-six  heavy 
position  guns,  which  were  judiciously  placed  on 
Mont  les  Baragues,  at  Chalonsvillars,  and  other 
important  points.  Other  parts  of  the  line  were  held 
by  battalions  of  infantry,  with  field-batteries  placed 
at  proper  intervals  between  them.  All  villages  and 
places  along  the  line  were  thoroughly  got  ready  for 
the  most  obstinate  defence,  rifle-pits  being  dug, 
and  barricades  and  abatis  placed  at  all  suitable 
points. 

By  noon  of  the  13th  of  January  all  preparations 
were  fully  completed.  Whilst  the  front  of  the 
position  was  defended  by  the  Baden  division,  the 
4th  reserve  division,  and  part  of  the  1st  reserve 
division,  eight  battalions  of  Landwehr,  under  com- 
mand of  General  Debschitz,  covered  the  ground  south 
of  the  Allaine  up  to  the  Swiss  frontier.  Three  regi- 
ments of  cavalry,  under  Colonel  Willisen,  were 
pushed  forward  in  front  of  the  right  wing,  to  harass 
the  left  flank  of  the  advancing  enemy. 

To  General  von  Schmeling,  the  conqueror  of 
Schlettstadt  and  Neu  Breisach,  was  intrusted  the 
command  of  the  centre  at  Hericourt ;  General  von 
Debschitz  commanded  on  the  left  wing,  General 
von  der  Goltz  on  the  right,  where  General  von 
Degenfeld  was  placed  with  the  Baden  division. 
Generals  Gliimer  and  Keller  led  the  reserves. 

Q  2 


•2-28  M<'n    "'//n   Intrc    ni<i<l<    //,, 

General    Wcrdrr    himself    (<><>k     ii]>     liis    position 
in    the    centre    of    the     line    of    defence,     near    L 
Ha  ra^ues,    where    lie    could    keep   up    constant   com- 
munication  with    the    field-telegraph    at    BreVilliers 
through  cavalry  relays. 

The  prelude  to  the  ball  was  opened  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  13th  of  January,  when  the  small  German 

vanguard,   which    had    been   stationed    on    the   other 

~         7 

bank  of  the  Lisaine,  was  attacked  by  overwhelming 
numbers,  and  compelled  to  fall  back  across  the 
brook. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  January  the 
Germans  stood  in  their  position,  fully  prepared  and 
ready  to  receive  the  French  onset. 

A  simple  change  in  the  weather  had  meanwhile, 
in  the  course  of  the  preceding  night,  very  consider- 
ably altered  the  aspect  of  affairs,  and  changed  the 
prospects  of  the  German  defence  very  much  for  the 
worse. 

The  thermometer  had  suddenly  dropped  to  zero 
on  Fahrenheit's  scale,  which  means  14  to  15  degrees 
cold  on  Eeaumur's  scale.  The  Lisaine  and  the 
swampy  meadows  along  its  banks,  which  had  the 
day  before  constituted  the  chief  bulwark  of  the 
defence,  were  now  solidly  frozen  over,  opposing  thus 
no  further  obstacle  to  the  advance  of  the  French. 

General  Werder  correctly  estimated  the  full  import 
of  the  change.  He  did  not  conceal  from  himself  the 
danger  which  he  might  incur  of  the  destruction  of 


New  German  Empire.  229 

his  corps,  or,  at  least,  the  loss  of  his  artillery,  if  he 
accepted  the  fight  in  this  position  against  an  enemy 
four  times  his  own  numerical  strength  under  the 
now  so  vastly  altered  circumstances  of  the  case. 

His  mind,  indeed,  was  not  shaken  in  the  least. 
He  was  not  dismayed  by  the  extreme  danger  of  his 
position.  He  remained  fully  resolved  to  fight  to 
the  last  man  and  the  last  bullet  for  the  safety  of 
South  Germany.  But  he  wished  not  to  incur  the 
sole,  undivided  responsibility  of  the  event ;  so  he 
telegraphed  to  head-quarters  for  instructions.  The 
answer,  which  fully  accorded  with  his  own  resolu- 
tion, reached  him  only  on  the  evening  of  the  15th 
of  January,  when  the  first  fierce  onslaught  of  the 
French  masses  had  been  triumphantly  repulsed. 

The  struggle  began  on  the  15th  of  January,  1871. 

Bourbaki  directed  the  20th  corps  coming  up  from 
Villersexel  against  the  right  wing  of  the  Germans, 
the  18th  corps,  with  the  24th  corps  in  reserve,  against 
the  centre  at  Hericourt,  and  the  15th  corps  against 
the  left  wing.  Numerous  field-batteries  and  several 
batteries  of  mitrailleuses  were  brought  to  the  French 
front. 

The  French  attack  was  made  with  the  utmost 
vigour.  The  artillery  played  the  principal  part  in 
it.  The  battle  raged  for  nine  hours- -from  8.30  A.M. 
to  5.30  P.M.  Of  course,  with  the  overwhelming 
superiority  of  numbers  on  the  side  of  the  French, 
there  could  be  no  question  of  offensive  operations 


230  Mr/i    //•//'>  lt«r<- 


on  tlie  part  of  tin1  Germans,  who  had,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  strain  every  n<-rve  to  hold  their  extended 
line  of  d.Tcnce,  and  more  especially  Hericourt,  the 
key  of  the  position,  the  fall  of  which  would  certainly 
have  led  to  the  most  disastrous  consequences  for 
them. 

After  a  hard  struggle  the  French  succeeded  in 
gaming  possession  of  Champey  and  some  others 
of  the  less  important  points.  They  also  succeeded 
in  establishing  field  batteries  at  Byan  and  Tavez, 
and  on  the  wooded  heights  around,  which  up  to  four 
in  the  afternoon  hailed  down  an  incessant  storm  of 
projectiles  upon  the  ground  in  front  of  them,  the 
French  infantry  trying  meanwhile  their  utmost 
to  break  through  the  German  positions,  but  without 
success.  The  destructive  fire  of  the  German  batteries, 
and  the  cool,  steady  bravery  of  the  German  infantry, 
which  was  brought  up  incessantly  and  indefatigably 
to  every  point  seriously  threatened  by  the  enemy, 
proved  too  much  for  the  French.  They  could  not 
even  gain  an  additional  foot  of  ground.  Their  last 
attempt  was  made  upon  Chagey.  It  failed  like  the 
rest.  When  night  put  an  end  to  the  struggle,  the 
position  of  the  two  armies  remained  still  nearly  the 
same  as  it  had  been  in  the  morning. 

The  Germans  had  to  bivouac  on  the  battle-field, 
without  fire,  the  whole  of  the  bitterly  cold  nicrht  of 
the  15th-16th  of  January,  when  the  thermometer 
fell  to  sixteen  degrees  cold  on  Eeaumur's  scale. 


New  German  Empire.  231 

At  break  of  day  the  Germans  were  ready  again 
in  their  old  positions.  A  thick  fog  covered  the  valley 
of  the  Lisaine,  which  cleared  up  only  at  noon  suf- 
ficiently to  permit  the  artillery  to  join  in  the 
struggle. 

But  despite  the  fog,  the  small-arms  fire  began  at 
7.30  A.M.  The  French  tried  hard  to  break  through 
the  German  positions  in  the  centre  and  on  the  left 
wing.  They  made  most  desperate  efforts  to  seize 
the  old  Castle  of  Montbeliard. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  battle  was 
suspended,  but  at  eight  o'clock  it  was  renewed  once 
more  with  the  utmost  fierceness,  more  especially  on 
the  left  wing,  where  the  French  tried  to  carry  by 
nocturnal  surprise  the  positions  from  which  they 
had  been  repulsed  in  the  day.  Here  the  fight  lasted 
till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  17th. 

All  assaults  of  the  French  upon  the  centre  and 
the  left  wing  had  been  gallantly  repulsed. 

On  the  right  wing,  however,  the  assailants  had 
been  partially  successful.  Here  the  18th  French 
corps  and  Cremer's  two  divisions  had  thrown 
themselves  upon  General  Degenfeld's  three  bat- 
talions and  three  batteries,  and  had,  after  tei] 
hours'  fierce  fighting,  succeeded  at  last  in  com- 
pelling Degenfeld  to  leave  Chenebier  and  Frahier 
in  their  hands,  and  retreat  to  a  strong  position  in 
the  rear,  which  had  been  provided  and  prepared 
for  such  a  contingency. 


1:2  M<  'it   t>'li<>  linri'  made 


\\Yrder,   who  fullv   uiid«Tsinnd   tin-,  disastrous  con- 

quences    that   must    result    from    further   successes 

•  >f  the   enemy   mi   the  ri^lit   winu;,  and   who  had  no 

V  ^^  ^J 

more  reserves  to  bring  up,  ordered  General  Keller 
to  recapture  the  lost  positions  without  delay  by 
iKx-timial  surprise.  The  general's  attack  proved 
eminently  successful.  Frahier  was  carried  by  storm, 
and  Chenebier  by  surprise.  In  the  latter  village 
seven  French  officers  and  400  men  were  made 
prisoners. 

General  Treskow  sent  also  three  twenty-four 
pounder  position  pieces  from  Belfort  to  strengthen 
the  defences  on  the  right  wing.  These  heavy  pieces 
had  to  be  dragged  up  all  the  way  by  men. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  January,  at  about 
eight  o'clock,  the  French  made  repeated  attacks  upon 
Chagey,  which  were  repulsed.  A  vehement  assault 
upon  Bethoncourt,  and  several  fierce  attacks  upon 
Montbeliard,  shared  the  same  fate. 

About  noon  the  French  offensive  began  to  slacken 
perceptibly.  Columns  of  the  enemy  were  seen  to 
march  off  in  a  westerly  direction.  Eifle-pits  were 
being  dug  at  many  points,  and  other  defensive 
measures  adopted  by  the  French. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  French 
essayed  a  last  overwhelming  attack  upon  the  positions 
occupied  by  General  Keller.  They  succeeded  in 
retaking  Chenebier,  but  failed  in  their  most  desperate 
assaults  upon  Frahier. 


New  German  Empire.  233 

Soon  after  a  general  advance  of  the  German  forces 
over  Chagey  and  Echevanne  ended  in  the  final  repulse 
of  the  French  along  the  whole  line. 

Bourbaki,  thus  foiled  in  his  most  desperate  efforts 
to  break  through  the  German  line  of  defence  thrown 
between  him  and  Belfort,  saw  at  last  that  there 
was  naught  left  him  now  but  to  secure  a  safe 
retreat. 

The  fortress  of  Belfort  had  remained  all  the  while 
perfectly  quiescent,  though  the  garrison  must  have 
heard  the  incessant  thunder  of  artillery. 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  January  it  was 
found  that  the  great  French  host  had  marched  off. 
General  Werder  immediately  ordered  the  movements 
of  the  retreating  enemy  to  be  vigilantly  followed. 

A  pursuit  en  masse  was  altogether  out  of  the 
question.  The  German  troops  required  a  few  days' 
rest  at  least  afcer  their  almost  superhuman  exertions. 
It  was  only  on  the  20th  of  January  that  the  Baden 
division  could  start  in  pursuit,  executing  a  general 
evolution  to  the  left,  in  order  to  compel  the  French 
to  fall  back  in  the  direction  of  the  Doubs. 

The  French  had  suffered  very  heavy  losses  in  this 
three  days'  desperate  struggle.  Their  casualties  in 
killed  and  wounded  amounted  to  some  7,000  men, 
besides  which  they  lost  2,000  prisoners.  Two  French 
eagles  and  one  standard  were  also  taken. 

The  German  losses  amounted  altogether  to  some 
60  officers  and  2,200  men  killed  and  wounded. 


•J;J  1  M>-n     /'7/'>    //"/v    iiinilr    tin1 

The  ulterior  operations  of  \\Ynln-  and  his  corps 
were  executed  in  conjunction  witli  tin1  army  of  the 
smith  under  Manteuffel,  of  which  tlie  14th  corps 
formed  part  since  the  9th  of  January. 

Wcrder   had    saved   South    German v  from   the   un- 

•/ 

spcakable  horrors  of  a  French  invasion.  Manteuffe] 
completed  subsequently  what  Werder  had  so  well 
begun.  Manteuffel's  part  of  the  task  was  com- 
paratively easy,  as  Bourbaki's  defeat  before  Werder's 
line  of  defence  had  well-nigh  thoroughly  demoralized 
the  huge  French  force  commanded  bv  that  general. 

O  •> 

The  Emperor  "William — the  new  German  empire 
had  been  proclaimed  at  Versailles  on  the  18th  of 
January,  the  day  after  Bourbaki's  last  desperate 
attempt  to  break  through  Werder's  position — appre- 
ciated at  its  just  value  the  immense  service  rendered 
to  Germany  by  General  Werder  through  his  stubborn 
and  heroic  defence. 

He  tendered  his  warm  thanks  to  the  general  in  a 
special  letter  written  with  his  own  hand.  He  sent 
him  also  the  oak-leaves  to  wear  with  the  Ordre  pour 
le  Merite,  and  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Red  Eagle, 

O       ' 

with  swords ;  and  on  the  22nd  of  March  he 
bestowed  upon  him,  as  a  crowning  distinction,  the 
Grand  Cross  of  the  Iron  Cross,  which  Werder  shares 
with  only  six  other  leaders  of  the  German  army, 
viz.,  the  Crown  Prince  of  Germany,  Prince  Frederick 
Charles,  Kinsj  Albert  of  Saxon  v,  Field-Marshals 

O  «/   7 

Moltke   and  Manteuffel.   and  General  Goben. 


New  German  Empire.  235 

Altogether  General  AYerder  is  grand  cross  of  eight 
of  the  principal  orders. 

After  the  conclusion  of  peace  General  AYerder  was 
definitively  appointed  to  the  command-in-chief  of  the 
14th  corps  of  the  German  army,  which  consists 
chiefly  of  the  Baden  contingent.  The  head-quarters 
are  at  Carlsruhe. 

General  AYerder  is  also  chief  of  the  4th  Khenan 
infantry  regiment,  No.  30. 

The  German  people,  more  especially  those  of  the 
south  of  Germany,  have  worthily  manifested  their 
deep  sense  of  gratitude  to  the  general. 

Many  cities  have  proudly  enrolled  him  among 
their  honorary  citizens.  The  University  of  Freiburg 
has  bestowed  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  doctor 
of  laws.  Swords  of  honour,  silver  helmets,  silver 
shields,  silver  cups,  magnificent  editions  of  the  Bible, 
consignments  of  rare  wines,  and  other  precious  gifts 
have  literally  rained  in  upon  him. 

The  sculptor,  Moest,  of  Carlsruhe,  is  at  present 
engaged  upon  a  memorial  monument,  which  is 
shortly  to  be  erected  at  Freiburg  in  honour  of 
General  AYerder  and  his  brave  troops. 


23G  Mvn  who  hare  made  the 


XV. 

GENERAL  VON   DER  TANN. 

THE  Bavarian  troops  played  a  prominent  part,  and 
had  a  very  considerable  share,  in  some  of  the  hardest- 
fought  fights  and  the  most  dearly-bought  successes 
of  the  ever- memorable  Franco-German  war  of 
1870-71.  The  two  commanders  of  the  Bavarian 
contingent,  Generals  von  der  Tann  and  Hartmann, 
are  therefore  justly  entitled  to  figure  in  the  glorious 
list  of  the  great  war-chiefs  who  have  contributed  so 
largely  to  the  creation  of  the  new  German  empire. 

Baron  Ludwig  Samson  von  der  Tann-Kathsam- 
hausen  is  descended  from  one  of  the  principal  branches 
of  an  ancient  baronial  family,  widely  spread  through 
Francony  and  Hesse. 

He  was  born  on  the  18th  of  June,  1815,  on  the 
day  of  the  great  battle  of  Waterloo,  which  finally 
put  to  rest  all  apprehensions  of  the  possible  resump- 
tion of  the  detested  French  sway  over  the  fair  land 
of  Germany. 

His  father,  Baron  Heinrich  von  und  zu  der  Tann, 
who  died  in  1848,  was  chamberlain  to  Kino-  Louis  I. 

*  rn 


New  German  Empire.  237 

of  Bavaria,  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Bavarian  army, 
and  one  of  the  chief  district  inspectors  of  the  national 
militia.  He  enjoyed  the  intimate  friendship  of  the 
king,  who  appointed  young  Louis  one  of  his  own 
pages  when  almost  in  his  cradle,  and  had  the  boy 
educated  with  the  greatest  care  at  the  Pages5  Institute. 
Young  Louis,  however,  declined  to  enter  the 
brilliant  court  career  so  temptingly  opening  before 
him.  His  mind  was  set  upon  sterner  and  more 
arduous  pursuits.  He  was  resolved  to  be  a  soldier, 
and  with  characteristic  firmness  carried  his  point 
against  the  wish  of  his  father  and  the  will  of  the 

o 

king, 

He  was  barely  eighteen  when  he  obtained  a  com- 
mission as  second  lieutenant  in  the  Bavarian  artillery. 
Unlike  most  young  officers  of  noble  birth  who  were 
serving  at  that  time  in  the  South  German  armies, 
more  for  the  allurement  of  the  glittering  outer 
trappings  and  the  charm  of  an  idle,  indolent  life  of 
pleasure  than  for  love  of  the  service,  the  young 
artillery  lieutenant  took  his  pursuit  an  grand 
serieux,  and  threw  himself  into  the  study  of  all 
branches  of  the  profession  of  his  choice  with  all  the 
ardour  of  his  temperament  and  all  the  assiduous 
steadfastness  of  his  disposition. 

He  soon  gained  the  reputation  of  a  singularly 
well-informed  officer  ;  and  in  1840  he  was,  despite  his 
youth,  and  although  he  had  only  attained  the  rank  of 
first  lieutenant,  appointed  to  an  important  position  on 


238  Men    trln>   Jmrc   tn<«l<'   the 

the  general  staff  of  the  army.  His  promotion  to  the 
rank  of  captain  followed  soon  after. 

In  1844,  the  king,  who  by  this  time  had  got  over 
his  disappointment  about  the  slighted  pageship,  and 
who  remained  to  the  last  day  of  his  life  Tann's  well- 
affected  patron,  made  the  brilliant  young  staff  officer 
adjutant  to  the  Crown  Prince  Maximilian. 

This  position,  in  which  he  was  after  a  time  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  major,  he  held  four  years,  up  to  1848, 
when  the  German  rising  in  Schleswig-Holstein 
impelled  him  irresistibly  to  devote  his  sword  and  his 
talents  to  the  patriotic  cause  of  the  Elbe  duchies.  He 
obtained  King  Maximilian's  permission  (King  Louis 
having  abdicated  in  March,  1848),  and  the  sanction 
of  the  Ministry  of  War,  to  take  the  command  of  a 
German  free  corps  in  the  duchies,  where  he  gained 
some  brilliant  successes  over  the  Danes,  more 
especially  in  the  great  surprise  of  Hoptrupp,  on  the 
7th  of  June,  1848.  The  government  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein  bestowed  his  name  upon  one  of  their  new 
gunboats  in  graceful  acknowledgment  of  his  important 
services  in  the  war. 

In  1849  he  acted  as  chief  of  the  staff  to  Prince 
Ernest  of  Saxe-Altenburg,  who  commanded  one  of  the 
divisions  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  forces.  In  1850 
he  was  made  colonel  and  chief  of  the  staff  of 'the 
army  under  General  Willisen. 

After  the  sad  collapse  of  the  German  cause  in  the 
duchies,  Colonel  Tann  returned  to  Bavaria,  resuming 


New  German  Empire.  239 

his  old  position  as  aide-de-camp  to  King  Maximilian, 
with  whom  he  continued  as  great  a  favourite  as  he 
had  been  with  King  Louis. 

He  was  soon  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major- 
general,  and  in  1860  he  was  made  lieutenant-general, 
and  had  the  command  of  a  division  bestowed  upon 
him.  His  promotion  had  been  exceptionally  rapid  : 
it  had  only  taken  him  twenty-seven  years  to  reach 
the  high  grade  of  divisional  commander,  whereas  it 
took  his  friend  and  fellow-commander  Hartmann  more 
than  fifty  years  to  achieve  the  same  position ;  but 
then  Hartmann,  who  certainly  was  in  nearly  every 
way  as  brilliant  an  officer  and  as  excellent  a  soldier  as 
Tann,  was  not  so  much  of  a  special  royal  favourite 
as  the  latter  had  the  good  fortune  to  be. 

King  Maximilian,  one  of  the  best  and  most  en- 
lightened rulers  of  the  small  kingdom  of  Bavaria, 
died  on  the  10th  of  March,  1864,  at  the  early  age 
of  fifty-three.  He  died,  unhappily,  at  a  most  critical 
juncture- -just  when  the  temporary  forced  league 
between  Austria  and  Prussia  for  the  conquest  of  the 
Elbe  duchies  was  laying  the  germ  for  the  fierce 
war  almost  sure  to  followr  between  these  two  most 
unnatural  allies.  Had  King  Maximilian  lived,  the 
chances  of  the  possible  avoidance  of  the  great  in- 
testine contest  in  Germany,  which  broke  out  subse- 
quently in  1866,  would  certainly  have  been  much 
more  promising  than  they  turned  out  to  be  after. 
King  Maximilian  would  surely  have  given  Yon  der 


Mr,  i    n'ho   7/rr/v    nxi'fc   tin' 


Pfonltcn  very  different  instructions  from  those  given 
to  the  Bavarian  ambassador  to  the  German  Confedera- 
tion by  his  son  and  successor,  Louis,  who  was  really 
too  young  and  inexperienced  at  the  time  to  fully 
realize  the  actual  position  of  affairs,  and  to  under- 
stand the  true  interests  of  South  Germany,  and  who 
was  surrounded  and  ear-wigged  by  a  most  uncom- 
promising Ultramontanist,  anti-Prussian  clique. 

Baron  von  der  Pfordten  finding  himself  abso- 
lutely unrestricted  by  pacific  or  cautious  instructions 
from  his  king  and  court,  joined  with  Beust,  Varn- 
btiler,  Dalwigk,  and  the  Hanoverian  Platen  in  the 
nefarious  and  ill-considered  plot  to  humble  Prussia. 
The  participation  of  South  Germany  in  the  war  of 
1866  was  the  natural  consequence  of  this  most 
absurd  policy. 

General  von  der  Tann,  a  man  of  the  warmest 
German  feelings,  bitterly  deplored  the  share  which 
his  beloved  country  was  going  to  take  in  this 
fratricidal  war.  The  Ultramontanist  scribblers  and 
gabblers  prated  insanely  of  the  formidable  military 
force  which  the  South  German  states,  jointly  with 
Saxony  and  Hanover,  could  put  into  the  field  —  exceed- 
ing half  a  million  of  effectives,  it  was  asserted  by 
those  ignorant  twaddlers  and  their  aiders  and  abettors 
in  the  British  press  of  that  day.  Tann  knew  better. 
He  knew  that  the  boasted  South  German  host 
was  a  huge  myth  and  gross  deception,  and  that 
150,000  men  was  the  highest  figure  the  South 


New  German  Empire.  241 

German  states  could  possibly  put  into  the  field. 
He  also  knew  that,  although  the  soldiering  material 
might  do  well  enough,  the  command  was  safe  to  be 
placed  in  such  incompetent  and  incapable  hands,  that 
there  would  be  but  little  chance  of  success  against 
the  Prussians  under  the  leadership  of  the  smartest 
and  most  efficient  commanders  of  the  age. 

He  clearly  foresaw  the  whole  disastrous  issue  and 
result  of  the  affair,  and  he  consented  only  most 
reluctantly  to  take  upon  his  shoulders  the  highly 
responsible  office  and  duties  of  chief  of  the  staff  to 
Field-Marshal  Prince  Charles  of  Bavaria,  to  whom 
the  supreme  command  over  the  Bavarian  army  and 
the  whole  of  the  South  German  forces,  including 
an  Austrian  division  under  Neipperg,  had  been 
intrusted,  with  the  stupid  Austrian  proviso  that 
the  comniander-m-chief  should  always  act  in  accord- 
ance with  the  instructions  that  were  to  come  to 
him  from  the  Austrian  head-quarters  and  from  the 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph's  military  cabinet — a  pro- 
viso which  could  not  but  helplessly  lame  the  initia- 
tive of  the  commander  of  the  South  German  forces 
and  his  chief  of  the  staff. 

The  command  of  the  8th  corps  of  the  German 
Confederation  army,  consisting  of  the  contingents 
of  Baden,  Wtirtemberg,  Hesse,  electoral  and  grand- 
ducal,  Nassau,  and  Frankfort,  were  given  by  King 
Charles  of  Wtirtemberg,  with  whom  the  appointment 
lay,  to  another  incapable — Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse% 

VOL.  II.  R 


-2  4  -2  J\fen  wlio  hare,  m<«l<> 


to  wit.  who  was  said  to  have,   distinguished  himself 

'  O 

greatly  at  Solforino  ! 

Tann  know  beforehand  how  little  chance  there 
was  of  the  Bavarian  commander-in-chief  and  his 
Hessian  coadjutor  pulling  well  together,  and  that 
there  was  still  less  likelihood  of  concerted  action  of 
the  mixed  host  in  obedience  to  his  own  directions 
and  instructions.  He  felt  convinced,  also,  that  the 
fault  and  blame  of  the  disastrous  failure  which  he 
foresaw  would  be  laid  at  his  door  ;  so  no  wonder  that 
he  went  into  the  struggle  half-hearted,  and  with  the 
saddest  forebodings,  destined  to  be  soon  realized  even 
beyond  the  extent  of  his  direst  apprehensions. 

The  first  great  trouble  he  had  to  deal  with  was  the 
Hanoverian  army.  The  neat  little  plot  hatched  be- 
tween Gablentz,  the  Augustenburg  pretender,  and  the 
King  of  Hanover,  to  march  with  united  forces  upon 
Berlin,  had  been  nipped  in  the  bud  by  Manteuffel's 
rapid  and  energetic  proceedings.  The  Hanoverian 
forces,  cut  off  from  Stade,  where  vast  stores  and 
supplies  had  been  collected  for  their  use,  were 
marched  into  the  province  of  Gottingen,  with  a 
view  to  their  hasty  organization  for  war. 

This  Hanoverian  army  was  as  fine  a  body  of 
men  as  were  ever  marched  into  the  field.  Had 
they  been  boldly  pushed  forward  through  the 
Thuringian  forest  from  Eisenach,  where  they  had 
taken  up  their  station  on  the  21st  of  June,  they 
might  safely  have  joined  the  Bavarian  forces,  which 


New  German  Empire.  243 

were  coming  up  to  the  Saxon  duchies  to  meet 
them.  But  this  troop  of  lions  was  led  by  blind 
King  George  and  his  equally  blind  military  advisers. 
The  king  had  the  conceited  notion  that  he  could 

o 

outwit  Bismarck  in  diplomatic  negotiations.  He 
rejected  Prussia's  very  fair  offers  of  an  understand- 
ing with  him,  yet  he  kept  on  treating  with  the 
Prussians,  in  the  foolish  expectation  that  the  whole 
of  the  Bavarian  army  would  come  bodily  up  to 
him,  to  drive  the  Prussians  out  of  the  land  ;  and 
whilst  thus  idly  negotiating,  he  led  his  splendid 
army  in  purposeless  marches  from  Eisenach  to 
Langensalza,  back  again  to  Eisenach,  then  once  more 
to  Langensalza.  Meanwhile,  the  active  Prussians  were 
rapidly  bringing  up  troops  from  Berlin,  Erfurt,  and 
Torgau,  until  nearly  every  loop-hole  of  escape, 
through  which,  the  Hanoverians  might  have  forced 
their  way  to  the  Bavarian  army,  was  effectually 
shut  up. 

On  the  27th  of  June,  when  time  and  opportunity 
might  fairly  be  considered  all  but  gone,  the  king 
and  his  advisers  resolved  at  last  to  make  an  effort 
to  go  to  the  Bavarians,  as  it  was  quite  clear  the 
Bavarians  were  not  coming  to  them.  But  General 
Flies,  with  only  9,000  men  under  his  command, 
boldly  attacked  the  Hanoverians,  who  outnumbered 
his  troops  in  the  proportion  of  two  to  one  at  least ; 
and,  although  he  was  defeated  by  numbers,  and 
by  the  brilliant  valour  of  the  Hanoverians,  more 

B  2 


244  Men  wJio  hare  made 


especially  their  truly  splendid  cavalry,  lie  succeeded 
in  retaining  the  Hanoverian  forces  at  hLangensalza, 
whilst  Vo^el  von  Falckenstein  was  closing  the 

o  o 

net  around  them.  On  the  day  after,  the  28th  of 
June,  the  army  of  King  George,  surrounded  on  all 
sides,  capitulated  to  the  Prussian  general. 

Among  the  many  false  and  foolish  charges  which 
were  subsequently  insinuated  against  General  von 
der  Tann,  figured,  of  course,  also  this,  that  he  had 
wilfully  and  corruptly  abandoned  the  Hanoverians  to 
their  fate  !  The  general  would  have  deserved  to  be 
ignominiously  dismissed  the  service  had  he  advised 
his  commander  to  march  his  troops  into  Hanover. 
The  blame  of  the  failure  of  the  projected  junction 
of  the  Bavarians  and  Hanoverians  must  be  laid 
entirely  at  the  door  of  King  George  and  his  generals, 
who  spoiled  everything  by  their  gross  incapacity 
and  helpless  irresolution. 

Having  thus  satisfactorily  disposed  of  his  Hano- 
verian opponents,  Vogel  von  Falckenstein  prepared 
at  once  for  a  most  vigorous  offensive  against  the 
numerically  much  more  formidable  hostile  hosts  of 
the  South  German  states.  He  had  only  three  divi- 
sions under  his  command,  to  wit,  the  divisions  of 
Manteuffel,  Goben,  and  Beyer,  the  whole  of  his 
available  forces  not  exceeding  50,000  effectives. 

The  Bavarian  army,  under  the  command  of  Prince 
Charles  of  Bavaria,  might  number  some  60,000 
effectives.  On  paper  the  figure  reached  80,000. 


New  German  Empire.  245 

The  8th  corps,  under  Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse, 
numbered  between  60,000  and  70,000  effectives. 
Either  host  was  accordingly  much  stronger  than 
the  entire  force  of  the  so-called  Prussian  army  of 
the  Main,  whilst  the  two  bodies  combined  seemed 
sufficiently  powerful  to  easily  crush  the  Prussians 
between  them. 

But  the  great  Prussian  commander,  after  concen- 
trating his  forces  at  Eisenach  on  the  1st  of  July, 
pushed  them  like  a  wedge  between  the  two  South 
German  armies.  The  8th  corps  under  Prince  Alex- 
ander of  Hesse  was  holding  a  position  at  the  time 
to  the  north  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  whilst  the 
Bavarians  under  Prince  Charles  occupied  the  valley 
of  the  Fulda,  with  two  divisions  pushed  forward  to 
Dermbach.  A  strong  body  of  Bavarian  cavalry 
was  ordered  to  seek  to  establish  a  junction  with 
the  8th  corps. 

This  plan,  devised  by  General  von  der  Tann, 
seemed  clearly  indicated  by  the  actual  position  of 
affairs,  and  might  have  placed  the  Prussians  in  an 
awkward  strait,  had  only  the  execution  even  re- 
motely equalled  the  conception.  But,  unluckily  for 
the  chief  of  the  staff,  the  event  turned  out  far 
otherwise.  Indeed,  it  may  fairly  be  said  that, 
throughout  this  campaign,  so  disastrous  to  the  South 
German  armies,  the  glaring  incapacity  and  the  gross 
blundering  of  the  tactical  leaders  in  the  field  thwarted 
nearly  every  one  of  Tann's  strategic  conceptions. 


246  Men  who  have  made  the 

It  was  on  the  4th  of  July  that  the  vanguard 
of  Beyer's  division,  advancing  along  the  high  road 
to  Geysa,  came  into  collision  with  ^the  strong  body 
of  Bavarian  cavalry  ordered  to  seek  to  establish 
a  junction  with  the  8th  corps.  When  this  body 
of  cavalry  found  itself  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
assailed  by  a  heavy  artillery  fire,  it  was  thrown  into 
disorder  and  retreated  precipitately,  leaving  the 
Prussians  free  to  rush  on  between  the  two  corps. 

At  the  same  time  General  Goben  had  received 
orders  to  advance  beyond  Dermbach  and  drive  back 
any  hostile  forces  he  should  come  across  there  ;  after 
which  he  was  to  break  off  the  fight  and  return  to 
Dermbach,  that  he  might  afterwards  prepare  for  the 
further  advance  of  the  army  by  taking  his  station 
en  echelons  at  Geysa.  Goben  executed  the  order  most 
brilliantly :  he  took  Wiesenthal,  Zella,  and  Neidharts- 
hausen,  and  finally  also  the  strong  position  which  the 
Bavarians  held  on  the  Nebelberg. 

Having  accomplished  his  object,  he  fell  back  upon 
Dermbach  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  his  commander- 
in-chief.  This  the  poor  Bavarians  mistook  for  a 
"retreat,"  and  indulged  in  somewhat  overloud  songs 

J  O  O 

of  triumph  accordingly.  They  soon  discovered  their 
mistake,  however,  and  hastened  to  move  back  south- 
ward, with  a  view  to  find  some  other  way  to  join 
the  8th  corps,  which  on  its  part  drew  nearer  to 
Frankfort. 

The  advancing  Prussians  found   Fulda  abandoned. 


New  German  Empire.  247 

The  Bavarian  army  had  taken  up  a  strong  position 
along  the  Franconian  Sale  river,  behind  the  Ehon 
Mountains.  This  position  also  had  been  very  well 
selected  by  General  Tann,  as  it  enabled  the  Bavarians 
to  threaten  the  left  flank  of  the  Prussians.  But  on 
the  9th  of  July,  Vogel  von  Falckenstein,  moving 
suddenly  to  the  left,  crossed  into  Bavaria,  and  on 
the  10th  of  July,  General  Goben  took  Kissingen 
and  the  heights  behind  by  storm,  and  kept  his 
conquest  against  the  repeated  desperate  efforts  of 
the  Bavarian  reserves,  whilst  Beyer  had  a  successful 
engagement  at  Hammelburg,  and  Manteuffel,  who 
had  followed,  defeated  the  Bavarian  troops  opposed 
to  him  at  Waldaschach  and  Hausen.  In  the  fierce 
fight  at  Kissingen,  General  Tann  was  slightly 
wounded. 

Prince  Charles  now  retreated  to  Schweinfurt,  when 
Vogel  von  Falckenstein  quite  unexpectedly  marched 
upon  Aschaffenburg.  Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse, 
at  last  thoroughly  roused  to  the  danger  of  this 
Prussian  move,  despatched  the  Hessian  and  Aus- 
trian divisions  in  hot  haste  from  Frankfort  to  defend 
the  most  important  position  of  Aschaffenburg,  and 
keep  the  Prussians  if  possible  from  getting  across 
the  Main. 

But  the  Hessians  were  defeated  on  the  13th  of 
July  at  Frohnhofen  and  Laufach,  and  the  Austrians 
on  the  14th  before  Aschaffenburg,  which  place  was 
ultimately  stormed  by  the  Prussians.  Hereupon 


248  Men  who  have  made  the 

Prince  Alexander  evacuated  Frankfort  in  great  haste, 
and  the  Prussian  general  entered  the  ancient  free 
city  on  the  16th  of  July.  Bieberich  and  Darmstadt 
also  were  occupied  by  the  victorious  Prussians. 

How  Manteuffel  replaced  Falckenstein  on  the  19th 
of  July  has  already  been  narrated  in  the  memoirs 
of  the  two  Prussian  commanders. 

Meanwhile,  the  junction  of  the  Bavarians  with  the 
8th  corps  had  been  effected  at  last  near  Wiirzburg. 
The  Prussian  army  of  the  Main,  now   reinforced  to 
some  60,000  effectives,  followed  the  South  Germans, 
and  on  the  24th  of  July  crossed  the  Tauber,  carrying 
the  Hessian  position  at  Wertheim,  the  Wtirtemberg 
position  at  Tauberbischofsheim,  and  the  position  of  the 
Baden  division  at  Werbach.     The  fight   at  Tauber- 
bischofsheim was  particularly  severe.     Five  times  the 
Wiirtembergers,    commanded    by    General    Hardegg, 
the    Minister  of   War   for   the   kingdom,  tried  their 
hardest  to  regain  the  positions  lost  to  the  Prussians ; 
but  it  was  all  in  vain.     In  this  hot  fight  the    Wiir- 
temberg   division  suffered  a  loss  of  sixty  men  (nine 
officers  among  them)  killed  and  450  wounded. 

The  8th  corps  now  took  up  a  strong  position  at 
Gerchsheim,  the  Bavarians  at  Helmstadt  and  Uet- 
tingen,  with  Wtirzburg  in  the  rear. 

On  the  25th  of  July  Goben  attacked  the  8th 
corps  at  Gerchsheim,  Beyer  the  Bavarians  at 
Helmstadt. 

Pushed  up  in  a  corner  as  it  were,  Prince  Charles 


New  German  Empire.  249 

now  resolved  to  assume  the  offensive.  He  carried 
this  resolution  into  effect  on  the  26th  of  July,  relying 
upon  the  aid  and  support  of  the  8th  corps.  But  the 
same  fatality  which  had  pursued  the  South  Germans 
throughout  this  campaign  was  experienced  here  once 
more  :  the  Prince  of  Hesse  failed  to  join  in  the  fray, 
and,  after  a  hotly-contested  fight  at  Uettingen  and 
Eossbrunn,  the  advance  of  General  Beyer  from  Helm- 
stadt,  threatening  the  left  flank  and  the  line  of  retreat 
of  the  Bavarians,  compelled  the  South  German  forces 
to  retreat  behind  the  Main,  and  take  up  their  posi- 
tion east  of  Wurzburg.  This  latter  city,  or  rather  the 
fortress  of  Marienberg  which  defends  it,  was  can- 
nonaded from  field -pieces  on  the  27th  of  July. 
Soon  after,  the  news  of  the  armistice  concluded 
between  the  belligerents  put  a  stop  to  further 
hostilities. 

When  the  war  was  over  the  disappointed  Ultra- 
montanists  set  all  their  organs  in  the  press  to 
work  at  assailing  the  reputation  of  General  Tann 
-stupendous  incapacity  was  the  mildest  charge  in- 
sinuated against  him  ;  most  of  these  vile  assailants 
accused  him  point-blank  of  premeditated  corrupt  trea- 
son to  his  king  and  his  country.  The  general  saw 
himself  literally  compelled  to  seek  the  protection  of 
the  law  against  these  unscrupulous  calumniators  ;  and 
the  law,  appealed  to,  came  to  his  aid,  clearing  his 
unsullied  reputation,  and  punishing  the  loudest  and 
vilest  yelpers  of  the  pack. 


250  Men  who  have  made  the 

In  January,  1SGO,  Tann  was  made  general  of 
infantry,  and  received  the  command  of  the  1st 
corps  of  the  Bavarian  army.  When  the  Franco- 
German  Avar  broke  out  in  1870,  the  whole  of  the 
Bavarian  contingent,  consisting  of  the  1st  corps 
under  General  von  der  Tann,  and  the  2nd  corps 
under  General  Hartmann,  was  placed  as  part  of  the 
third  army  under  the  orders  of  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Prussia. 

General  von  der  Tann  and  the  corps  commanded 
by  him  took  a  leading  share  in  the  great  battles  of 
Worth,  Beaumont,  and  Sedan.  In  this  last  crowning 

o 

victory  over  M'Mahon's  army  it  fell  to  the  share  of 
the  Bavarians  to  carry  Bazeilles,  a  small  place  of 
some  2,000  inhabitants,  situate  upon  the  right 
bank  of  the  Meuse,  a  little  more  than  half  an 
English  mile  from  Sedan.  The  fight  here  ranked 
among  the  most  hotly  contested  of  the  cam- 
paign. It  began  at  4.30  A.M.,  and  raged  uninter- 
ruptedly for  six  full  hours.  The  inhabitants  took 
part  in  it  by  firing  at  the  Bavarians  from  the  win- 
dows. They  also  cruelly  ill-used  some  unhappy 
wounded  Germans  who  were  at  their  mercy.  This 
led  to  some  excesses  afterwards  on  the  part  of  the 
enraged  Bavarian  soldiery,  to  which  Tann  ener- 
getically put  a  stop. 

It  was  asserted  at  the  time  in  certain  organs  of 
the  British  press  that  Bazeilles  had  been  razed  to 
the  ground  by  the  vengeful  Germans,  who  had  also 


New  German  Empire.  251 

made  a  general  massacre  of  the  inhabitants — men, 
women,  and  children.  There  were  even  some  Eng- 
lish gentlemen  found  seemingly  so  lost  to  all  moral 
sense  of  veracity  as  to  vouch  for  horrors  pre- 
tended to  have  been  perpetrated  by  the  Germans, 
which  had  no  foundation  whatever  in  truth,  but 
were  the  merest  shadowy  offspring  of  the  excited 
imagination  of  the  narrators.  A  great  French  noble- 
man of  Stuart  extraction- -the  Duke  Fitzjames — 
was  not  ashamed  to  stamp  these  baseless  inventions 
with  the  authority  of  his  own  high  name  as  a 
pretended  eye-witness  of  the  cruelties  perpetrated 
by  the  German  barbarians. 

General  Tann's  name  and  fame  were  thus  covered 
with  obloquy  and  ignominy.  The  general  never 
protested  against  the  gross  injustice  done  him.  He 
patiently  bided  his  time,  which  came  the  year  after, 
when  the  mayor  and  corporation  of  Bazeilles,  of  their 
own  free  accord,  published  a  plain  statement  of  facts, 
which  triumphantly  showed  how  wilfully  the  general 
and  his  troops  had  been  maligned. 

When  it  became  evident,  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  that  the  government  of  Tours  were  massing 
considerable  forces  behind  the  Loire,  with  the  mani- 
fest intention  of  trying  to  raise  the  siege  of  Paris, 
an  expeditionary  army  was  formed,  consisting  of  the 
1st  Bavarian  corps,  the  22nd  infantry  division,  and 
the  2nd  and  4th  cavalry  divisions,  and  placed  under 
the  command  of  General  von  der  Tann,  with  orders 


252  Men  who  hare  made  the 

to  break  if  possible  the  projected  organization  of  a 
strong  French  army  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  and  to 
clear  the  country  north  of  the  river  of  all  hostile 
forces.  On  the  Gth  of  October  Tann  set  out  on  his 
mission.  On  the  8th  he  advanced  to  the  heights 
of  Etampes ;  on  the  9th,  to  Angerville,  without 
meeting  any  more  serious  opposition  than  desultory 
attempts  to  delay  his  advance  made  by  bands  of 
franc-tireurs.  It  was  reported,  however,  that  the 
French  were  concentrating  a  force  of  40,000  men 
at  Orleans. 

On  the  10th  of  October  General  von  cler  Tann 
came  upon  the  enemy  at  Artenay,  where  some 
20,000  French  troops  of  all  arms  tried  to  make  a 
stand.  They  were,  however,  speedily  driven  back 
in  disorder  upon  Orleans,  where  they  joined  the 
newly-formed  15th  corps  of  the  French  army.  They 
left  three  guns  and  over  1,000  un wounded  pri- 
soners in  the  hands  of  the  victors. 

On  the  llth  of  October  General  von  der  Tann 
advanced  upon  Orleans,  with  the  22nd  infantry 
division  and  the  2nd  Bavarian  division  in  the  first 
line,  the  1st  Bavarian  division  in  reserve,  and  the 
two  cavalry  divisions  on  both  wings  in  observation. 
At  10.30  A.M.  the  German  vanguard  came  first  into 
collision  with  the  French,  who  fought  most  valiantly 
and  obstinately,  so  that  it  was  not  before  late  in  the 
evening,  after  a  nine  hours'  arduous  struggle,  that  they 
could  be  driven  back  across  the  Loire.  Fortunately 


Neiv  German  Empire.  253 

for  the  Germans,  the  bridges  over  the  river  had  been 
left  intact,  so  that  they  could  cross  over  and  carry 
the  city  by  storm.  In  this  battle  again  the  French 
had  heavy  losses  in  killed  and  wounded,  besides  some 
2,500  unwounded  prisoners  taken  by  the  victorious 
Germans.  The  total  loss  suffered  by  the  latter  in 
the  two  fights  at  Artenay  and  Orleans  amounted  to 
60  officers  and  more  than  1,200  men  killed  and 
wounded. 

The  French  retreated  to  Bourges.  Ganibetta, 
undismayed  by  losses  and  crosses,  continued  his 
efforts  to  organize  a  new  French  army.  He  ap- 
pointed to  the  chief  command  General  Aurelle  de 
Paladines,  one  of  the  best  and  most  meritorious  officers 
of  the  French  service.  Neither  of  these  two  truly 
great  men  have  as  yet  been  treated  with  common 
fairness  by  contemporary  report.  Impartial  history 
will  in  the  end  do  justice  to  both  of  them,  and 
vindicate  their  well-earned  fame  to  posterity. 

General  von  der  Tann  was  instructed  from  head- 
quarters to  content  himself  with  the  position  gained, 
and  not  to  carry  operations  beyond  the  Orleans  line. 
In  the  latter  days  of  October  and  the  beginning  of 
November  it  became  clear  that  the  new  French  army 
of  the  Loire  had  assumed  formidable  proportions. 
Aurelle  de  Paladines  determined  to  take  the  offensive 
against  the  Germans  in  and  about  Orleans,  and  a 
general  move  in  advance  was  made  by  the  French 
on  the  3rd  and  4th  of  November. 


254  Men  who  liave  made  tin 

It  was  now  reported  to  General  von  der  Tann  by 
his  scouts,  that  Anrelle  de  Paladim-s  was  advancing 
against  him  at  the  head  of  more  than  GO, 000  men, 
to  whom  In-  could  at  the  most  oppose  some 
28,000  effectives,  as  the  22nd  infantry  and  a  cavalry 
division  had  meanwhile  been  withdrawn  from  his 
command.  The  general  resolved  at  once  to  recon- 
noitre the  true  position  of  affairs,  and  ascertain  the 
actual  strength  of  the  French  opposed  to  him. 

Leaving  a  regiment  of  infantry  in  garrison  at 
Orleans,  he  in  the  night  of  the  8th-9th  of  Novem- 
ber concentrated  his  forces  at  Coulmiers,  awaiting 
the  French  attack. 

Coulmiers  is  a  small  place  in  the  department  of 
the  Loiret,  circle  of  Orleans,  from  which  city  it  is 
some  fifteen  English  miles  distant.  Here  Tann  was 
attacked  in  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  November  by 
an  overwhelming  French  force  under  Anrelle  de 
Paladines.  After  a  most  obstinate  fight — in  which 
the  French,  according  to  their  own  account,  suffered 
a  heavy  loss  of  some  2,000  men  killed  and  wounded, 
whilst  the  Germans  lost  only  42  officers  and  some 
700  men  killed  and  wounded-  -General  von  der 
Tann  broke  off  the  fight,  and  retreated  in  perfect  order 
to  St.  Peravy,  on  the  road  from  Orleans  to  Paris. 
At  noon  he  had  withdrawn  the  small  garrison  from 
Orleans.  One  thousand  sick  and  wounded  Germans 
had  to  be  left  behind.  The  next  day  a  small  detach- 
ment of  artillery  ammunition  reserve  lost  its  way, 


New  German  Empire.  255 

and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  with  two  guns 
without  carriages.  These  were  the  only  trophies  the 
French  had  to  show  of  the  hot  fight  of  Coulmiers. 

Tann  effected  his  retreat  with  consummate  skill. 
Indeed,  this  retreat  to  St.  Peravy  and,  the  day  after, 
when  the  22nd  infantry  division  under  Wittich  had 
again  joined  the  Bavarians,  to  the  safer  position  of 
Toury,  has  been  acknowledged  by  friend  and  foe  alike 
to  deserve  to  rank  with  the  highest  strategic  achieve- 
ments, and  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  mark  General  von 
der  Tann  as  one  of  the  greatest  military  leaders  of 
the  age. 

The  cavalry  division  commanded  by  Prince  Albrecht 
the  elder  (one  of  King  William's  brothers),  coming  up 
from  Chartres,  also  joined  the  Bavarian  corps  on  the 
1  Oth  of  November,  and  the  day  after  the  Mecklenburg 
division  came  up  under  the  Grand  Duke  Frederick 
Francis  of  Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  a  nephew  of  the 
Prussian  king,  to  whom  the  command  over  the 
combined  force  was  given — over  the  head  of  Yon  der 
Tann,  who,  without  a  chance  of  contradiction,  was 
immeasurably  and  incomparably  the  greater  military 
leader  of  the  two.  Moltke  had  taken  care,  however, 
to  limit  his  royal  highness's  power  of  command  to 
the  mere  empty  title,  the  real  leadership  being  vested 
in  General  von  Stosch,  the  chief  of  the  grand  duke's 
staff,  one  of  the  most  highly  accomplished  officers  of 
the  Prussian  service,  who  is  now  holding  the  important 
position  of  First  Lord  of  the  Prussian  Admiralty. 


l2f)G  M~rn    ?/7/o   h«rc    lt, ••(]<>    the 

Under  these  circumstances Tann  might  put  up  with 
the  slight  apparently  put  upon  him  by  placing  a  mere 
grand  duke  in  command  over  him  ;  and  he  nobly 
did  his  duty  in  the  in-w  campaign,  which  was 
victoriously  opened  at  Drcux  on  the  17th  of  October, 
just  eight  clays  after  the  affair  at  Coulmiers.  He  and 
his  Bavarians  distinguished  themselves  more  par- 
ticularly at  Bazoches-les-Hautes  on  the  2nd  of 
December,  at  Orleans  on  the  3rd  and  4th  of 
December,  and  at  Beaugency  on  the  7th  and  10th 
of  December. 

At  the  end  of  December  the  1st  Bavarian  corps 
under  Von  der  Tann  rejoined  the  besieging  army 
around  Paris,  where  it  replaced  the  2nd  Prussian 
corps,  sent  forward  to  the  east,  to  join  Manteuffel's 
forces  intended  to  act  against  Bourbaki. 

After  the  termination  of  the  war,  General  von  der 
Tann  shared  in  the  glory  of  the  solemn  entry  of  the 
German  army  into  Berlin  on  the  16th  of  June, 
1871.  A  month  after,  on  the  16th  of  July,  he 
commanded  the  Bavarian  army  on  its  triumphant 
entry  into  Munich. 

In  the  beginning  of  October,  1872,  General  von 
der  Tann  was  sent  on  an  extraordinary  mission  to 
Stockholm,  to  represent  King  Louis  of  Bavaria  at  the 
funeral  of  King  Charles  XV.  of  Sweden,  who  had 
died  on  the  17th  of  September,  1872. 

General  von  der  Tann,  who  has  had  a  profusion  of 
military  orders  and  decorations  bestowed  upon  him 


New  German  Empire.  257 

by  his  own  king  and  other  rulers,  continues  still  in 
command  of  the  1st  corps  of  the  Bavarian  army. 
There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  it  had  been  the 
intention  of  the  Emperor  William  to  include  the 
names  of  Yon  der  Tann  and  Hartmann  in  the  list  of 
general  officers  upon  whom  monetary  grants  were  to 
be  conferred,  but  that  the  emperor  had  to  give  up 
this  intention  reluctantly,  in  deference  to  certain 
objections  urged  against  its  execution  by  the  King  of 
Bavaria,  At  least,  so  the  writer  of  this  memoir  has 
been  informed. 


VOL.  IT. 


258  Men  who  hare  mude  fie 


'       XVI. 
GENERAL  HARTMANN. 

JAKOB  (JAMES)  HARTMANN  was  born  on  the  4th  of 
May,  1795,  at  Maikammer,  in  the  Palatinate.  He 
was  a  posthumous  child.  His  adoptive  father,  the 
French  General  G-either,  provided  for  his  education 
at  the  French  military  schools  of  Bonn  and  St.  Cyr. 

In  1806,  General  Geither  was  charged  by  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  with  the  organization  of  the 
military  forces  of  the  newly-created  Grand  Duchy  of 
Berg,  which  the  ruler  of  France  had  just  then  be- 
stowed upon  his  brother-in-law,  Joachim  Murat.  The 
general  at  once  entered  the  name  of  the  boy,  who 
was  then  only  eleven  years  old,  on  the  muster-roll 
of  the  1st  regiment  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Berg  as 
volunteer,  promoting  him  afterwards,  whilst  still  re- 
maining at  the  schools  of  Bonn  and  St.  Cyr,  suc- 
cessively to  the  grades  of  corporal,  sergeant,  and 
sub-lieutenant,  until  ultimately,  in  1811,  the  lad,  then 
barely  sixteen,  joined  the  regiment  in  active  service 
as  first  lieutenant --a  striking  illustration  of  the  power 


New  German  Empire.  259 

of  patronage  and  the  pernicious  influence  of  favourit- 
ism in  the  much-vaunted  military  system  of  imperial 
France  and  its  dependencies.  That  the  boy-lieutenant 
in  the  end  turned  out  an  excellent  soldier  and  most 
eminent  commander  in  the  field,  was  certainly  no 
merit  of  the  system. 

From  1811  to  1815,  young  Hartmann  did  faithful 
service  to  the  French  empire.  Upon  the  disarmament 
of  the  military  contingent  of  the  Ehine  Confederation, 
he  entered  the  27th  French  infantry  regiment.  In 
1814,  he  distinguished  himself  by  a  most  cleverly- 
devised,  successful  ambush,  in  which  a  detachment 
of  Cossacks  advancing  from  Montargis  upon  Orleans 
was  caught.  In  1815  he  fought  most  bravely 
at  Planchenoit,  in  the  great  battle  of  Water]  oo, 
saving  the  eagle  of  his  regiment  from  capture  by 
the  advancing  Prussians. 

After  the  final   overthrow   of  the  empire,    young 
Hartmann,   who,  despite  his  French   education,  was 
a   most  ardent   lover   of  his   native   land,    and   had 
continued  to  serve  the   emperor  only  from  an  over- 
powering   sense    of    military    loyalty,    resigned    his 
commission  in    the  French   army   in  1816.     A  few 
months  after,  he  obtained  a  lieutenancy  in  the   10th 
Bavarian   infantry   regiment.     His  sterling  soldierly 
qualities    and   brilliant    military   acquirements   soon 
attracted  the  attention  of  his  chiefs,  so  that  he  was 
appointed   in   1818  to    a  place   in   the  Topographic 
Bureau.     After  four  years'  arduous  work  in  this  most 

s  2 


who  lin  re 


important  department,  lie  was  transferred  to  the  corps 

• 

of  engineers;  and  two  years  after,  in  1824,  he  was 
appointed  on  the  general  staff  of  the  army. 

In  1827  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain, 
and  attached  to  the  Ministry  of  War  as  reporter  to 
the  board  of  administration. 

Having  in  the  course  of  these  first  ten  years  of 
his  service  repeatedly  been  charged  with  military 
missions  necessitating  journeys  to  various  parts  of 
Europe,  and  having  also  turned  his  occasional  leaves 
of  absence  to  excellent  account,  by  travelling  about 
in  search  of  information  upon  subjects  connected  with 
or  bearing  upon  the  art  and  science  of  war,  Captain 
Hartmann,  though  then  only  thirty-two  years  old, 
enjoyed  already  the  deserved  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  most  solidly  informed  and  most  highly  accom- 
plished German  officers. 

He  had  by  no  means  confined  himself  to  the 
pursuit  of  military  knowledge,  but  had  assiduously 
studied  also  many  branches  of  science,  and  kindly 
taken,  besides,  to  the  faithful  cultivation  of  the  fine 
arts,  more  especially  painting,  in  which  he  may 
truly  be  said  to  have  been  as  skilful  and  successful 
an  adept  as  the  great  Vogel  von  Falckenstein  himself. 
The  writer  of  this  memoir  has  seen  some  battle  pieces 
painted  by  General  Hartmann,  which  convincingly 
showed  that  the  artist  was  just  as  expert  in  illus- 
trating episodes  of  war  as  the  warrior  was  in  taking 
an  active  part  in  them. 


New  German  Empire.  261 

In  1842  Captain  Hartmann  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major,  and  appointed  one  of  the  Crown 
Prince's  adjutants  by  King  Louis,  by  whom  he  was 
held  in  the  highest  esteem  both  as  an  eminent  artist 
and  a  brilliant  officer,  His  promotion  had  not  been 
very  rapid,  it  will  be  seen.  He  had  been  sixteen  years 
a  first-lieutenant  and  fifteen  years  a  captain.  But 
from  this  time  forward  he  ascended  the  rungs  of  the 
military  advancement  ladder  more  rapidly,  six  years 
sufficing  to  transform  the  simple  major  into  a  full 
major-general  and  one  of  the  chief  aides-de-camp  of 
the  king. 

In  1846  he  submitted  to  the  Ministry  of  War  an 
excellent  plan  for  the  re -organization  of  the  Bavarian 
army,  which  was  much  lauded  by  the  minister  and 
the  military  cabinet,  but  was  only  very  partially 
acted  upon. 

In  1853  he  elaborated  a  new  code  of  service  regu- 
lations for  the  infantry — with  somewhat  similar 
results,  it  would  appear.  The  time  for  thorough- 
going reforms  in  the  Bavarian  service  had  not  yet 
come. 

The  year  after,  in  1854,  General  Hartmann,  wrho 
had  now  for  five  years  commanded  a  brigade,  was 
sent  on  a  military  mission  to  the  Camp  de  Boulogne. 
Here  he  turned  his  opportunities  to  the  best  account. 
He  carefully  studied  the  organization  and  condition 
of  the  French  army,  and  took  note  of  its  glaring 
defects  and  shortcomings.  He  also  closely  observed 


262  Men  ivho  have  -made 


the  system  of  fortifications  around  I  'MI  is  and  all  along 
the  eastern  frontier  of  France. 

The  results  of  these  studies  and  observations  he 
submitted,  some  six  years  after,  in  1860,  to  the  rulers 
of  the  German  states  in  a  memoir  treating  exhaustively 
of  the  military  power,  and  the  offensive  and  defensive 
strength,  of  the  French  empire.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  both  Bismarck  and  Moltke,  each  in 
his  own  special  way,  fully  availed  themselves  subse- 
quently of  the  facts,  hints,  and  inferences  given  in 
this  excellent  treatise. 

In    1861    Hartmann    attained   the   high   rank    of 

c 

lieutenant-general.  In  the  war  of  1866  he  com- 
manded the  4th  infantry  division,  and  fought 
brilliantly  though  not  victoriously  at  Eossdorf.  At 
Kissingen  he  could  do  but  little,  owing  to  the  gross 
blundering  and  the  glaringly  faulty  dispositions  of 
the  incapable  commander-in-chief  of  the  Bavarian 
army.  In  the  final  encounter  at  Wurzburg,  on  the 
27th  of  July,  he  did  his  best  at  least  to  guard  the 
honour  of  the  Bavarian  arms. 

With  Hartmann's  known  patriotic  German  feelings, 
he  must  have  been  heartily  glad  of  the  termination  of 
this  fratricidal  war,  into  which  Louis  of  Bavaria  had 
allowed  himself  to  be  dragged  by  the  wretched  set 
of  Ultramontanist  and  Particularist  advisers  who  were 
then  exercising  supreme  sway  over  the  land  and  the 
king.  The  overthrow  of  this  anti-national  cabal  by 
the  victories  of  Prussia  must  have  proved  a  healing 


New  German  Empire.  263 

balm  for  his  heart,  so  grievously  struck  and  wounded 
by  the  sad  display  of  incapacity  and  folly  in  the 
highest  quarter  of  the  army  command. 

In  1867  King  Louis  bestowed  upon  Lieutenant- 
General  Hartmann  the  proprietorship  of  the  14th 
infantry  regiment,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  great 
services  rendered  by  the  general,  more  especially  of 
the  brilliant  bravery  with  which  he  had  fought  at 
Eossdorf  and  Wurzburg. 

Two  years  after,  in  1869,  the  lieutenant-general 
was  finally  raised  to  the  full  rank  of  general  of 
infantry,  and  appointed  commander  of  the  2nd  corps 
of  the  Bavarian  army. 

When  the  war  broke  out  in  1870  between  France 

and  Germany,  both  the  corps  of  Hartmann  and  that 

of    Yon  der    Tann  were   incorporated   in   the  army 

under  the  command  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia 

—the  so-called  third  army. 

General  Hartmann  had  now  for  the  first  time  in 
his  military  career  in  the  German  army  the  fullest  op- 
portunity afforded  him  of  giving  practical  proof  of  his 
high  tactical  skill  in  the  field,  in  entire  harmony  with 
his  ardent  patriotic  German  feelings ;  and  nobly  and 
grandly  did  he  avail  himself  of  this  opportunity.  It 
was  he  who  contributed  most  largely  and  prominently 
to  the  winning  of  the  first  great  victory  at  Weissen- 
burg ;  and  again  he  who,  by  his  skilful  and  energetic 
attack  upon  the  left  French  flank,  initiated  the  still 
greater  victory  of  Worth,  which  he  completed  by 


264  3 fen  who  1m re   imtde,   the 

the  taking  of  Froaehweiler,  tlio  railway  station  at 
Keichshofen,  and  ultimately  of  Niederbronn. 

On  the  14th  of  August,  1870,  he  forced  Marsal  to 
surrender.  In  the  battle  of  the  1st  of  September,  one 
of  the  divisions  under  his  command  took  the  village 
of  Ballan,  whilst  the  other  \vas  pushed  forward  to 
the  very  foot  of  the  glacis  of  the  fortress,  the  artillery 
of  the  corps  assailing  the  citadel  with  a  shower  of 
projectiles. 

To  General  Hartmann's  share  it  fell  to  gain  the 
first  successes  before  Paris,  on  the  16th,  17th,  and 
18th  of  September,  at  Corbeil  and  Petit-Bicetre. 
On  the  19th  of  September,  the  2nd  Bavarian  corps 
joined  the  5th  Prussian  corps  in  a  most  successful 
attack  upon  General  Vinoy's  forces,  posted  on  the 
heights  of  Sceau.  General  Hartmann  carried  the  plateau 
Moulin  de  la  Tour  (Chatillon),  which  highly  important 
position,  commanding  the  south  forts,  and,  in  a  certain 
measure,  the  city  of  Paris,  the  general  set  at  once 
to  work  to  provide  with  the  most  effective  defences 
against  all  possible  attacks  on  the  part  of  the  French. 
These  defences  were  completed  in  the  briefest  time, 
and  the  2nd  Bavarian  corps  was  thus  placed  in  a 
position  to  victoriously  repulse  all  attacks  made  upon 
the  plateau  from  the  forts,  although  throughout  the 
siege  ship  guns  of  the  very  heaviest  calibre  kept  on 
deluging  the  parts  held  by  the  Germans  under  Hart- 
mann in  their  entire  length  and  breadth  with  a  perfect 
shower  of  the  most  destructive  projectiles,  and  several 


New  German  Empire.  265 

desperate  attempts  were  made  by  the  French  to  force 
the  Germans  from  their  post  by  the  crushing  weight 
of  overwhelming  numbers.  The  formidable  attack 
made  upon  Clamart,  in  the  night  of  14th— 15th 
January,  1871,  was  one  of  the  last  of  these  attempts. 
It  failed  like  the  rest. 

After  the  termination  of  the  war,  General  Hart- 
mann  returned  to  his  headquarters  at  Wurzburg. 
King  Louis  bestowed  upon  him,  as  a  signal  mark  of 
his  high  appreciation  of  the  most  important  services 
rendered  by  the  general  in  the  campaign,  the  rare 
distinction  of  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  military  Maxi- 
milian Joseph  order,  which  had  not  been  con- 
ferred on  anyone  since  the  days  of  the  War  of 
Liberation.  He  also  raised  him  to  a  free  hereditary 
barony.  The  cities  of  Speyer  and  Wurzburg  were 
proud  to  enrol  him  among  their  citizens.  The 
Emperor  of  the  Germans  and  King  of  Prussia  gave 
him  the  orders  of  the  Iron  Cross  of  the  first  class 
and  the  second  class,  and  of  the  Crown  with  Swords. 
So  when  the  old  general  departed  this  life,  on  the 
22nd  of  Februarv,  IS 73,  it  might  well  be  said  of 

v   '  O 

him  that  he  died  full  of  years  and  honours. 


2G6  J/c/i   who  hace  made  the 


XVII. 

GENERAL   ALVENSLEBEN    II. 

As  this  general,  by  his  prompt  decision,  energetic 
action,  and  high  tactical  skill,  contributed  so  largely 
to  the  successful  issue  of  the  fierce  battle  of  Mars- 
la-Tour,  a  brief  memoir  of  his  career  may  not  be 
deemed  out  of  place  here. 

Constantine  von  Alvensleben  is  descended  from  an 
ancient  noble  family.  He  was  born  on  the  26th  of 
August,  1809.  Like  many  other  scions  of  the  Prussian 
nobility,  he  received  his  education  at  the  great  Insti- 
tute of  the  Cadet  Corps  at  Berlin.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  obtained  his  commission  as  second  lieu- 
tenant. His  promotion  was  rather  slow,  for  he  was 
past  forty-four  before  he  attained  the  rank  of  major. 

At  the  time  of  the  Danish  war  in  1864,  he  had 
reached  the  grade  of  colonel.  In  this  war  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  personal  bravery  and  the 
consummate  skill  with  which  he  handled  his  regiment 
in  the  various  encounters  with  the  Danes.  After  the 
war  he  was  made  a  major-general,  and  had  the  com- 


New  German  Empire.  267 

mand  of  a  brigade  of  the  guards  given  to  him,  at 
the  head  of  which  he  gained  great  distinction  in 
the  Bohemian  campaign  of  1866,  more  particularly  at 
the  battle  of  Koniggratz,  where,  after  the  fall  of 
General  Hiller  von  Gartringen,  he  took  the  command 
of  the  1st  division  of  the  guards,  left,  unhappily, 
vacant  by  the  death  of  that  heroic  leader  on  the 
battle-field. 

King  William  showed  his  due  appreciation  of  the 
eminent  services  rendered  by  Alvensleben,  by  raising 
him  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  and  bestowing 
upon  him  the  actual  command  of  the  1st  division 
of  the  guards,  which  he  had  temporarily  led  at 
Koniggratz.  In  1870,  when  the  war  with  France 
broke  out,  and  Prince  Frederick  Charles  had  intrusted 
to  him  the  lead  of  the  so-called  second  army,  Lieu- 
tenant-General  von  Alvensleben  was  promoted  to 
replace  the  prince  in  the  command  of  the  3rd  corps 
of  the  Prussian  army. 

It  was  in  one  of  the  fiercest  and  bloodiest  battles 
of  the  Franco- German  war,  at  Mars-la-Tour,  on  the 
16th  of  August,  1870,  that  General  Alvensleben  had 
a  glorious  opportunity  afforded  him  of  showing  his 
high  military  qualities  on  a  field  which  could  not 
possibly  be  more  favourable  for  the  display,  and 
most  gloriously  did  he  avail  himself  of  this  op- 
portunity. 

With  his  single  corps  (the  3rd)  unsupported  till 
the  battle  was  far  advanced,  he  fought  for  hours 


268  Jfen  ?r//o  It" re  made  tin1 

against  overwhelming  I;ivneh  fmres  (the  corps  of 
Decaen,  Ladmirault,  Frossard,  Canrobert,  and  the 
French  imperial  guard),  holding  his  tenacious  grasp 
upon  them  until  at  length  Prince  Frederick  Charles 
could  bring  up  part  of  the  8th,  9th,  and  10th  corps, 
and,  though  still  greatly  inferior  in  numbers  to  the 
French  host,  after  twelve  hours'  incessant  fell  tin  o- 

o  o 

force  the  enemy  back  into  Metz. 

There  was  a  most  critical  moment  in  this  battle  of 
Mars-la-Tour,  when  Canrobert  was  on  the  point  of 
breaking  through  the  feeble  Prussian  force  which 
was  so  desperately  striving  to  hold  him  fixed  to 
the  ground.  He  was  just  preparing  to  throw  forward 
the  two  corps  which  formed  the  centre  of  his  army 
at  Vionville.  Had  he  succeeded  in  accomplishing 
this  move,  the  French  army  of  the  Rhine  might  have 
made  good  its  escape  from  the  meshes  of  the  net 
so  skilfully  thrown  round  it  by  Moltke's  genius. 

But  General  Alvensleben  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
AVitli  marvellously  prompt  decision  he  resolved  to 
risk  the  total  loss  of  two  regiments  of  cavalry,  by 
hurling  them  against  the  French  centre  at  Vionville 
before  Canrobert  should  be  able  to  execute  his  pro- 
jected movement  in  advance. 

Six  squadrons  of  Prussian  cavalry,  three  of  the 
16th  Lancers,  and  three  of  the  7th  Cuirassiers,  were 
selected  by  the  general  for  the  purpose.  The  lead 
of  the  attacking  force  was  intrusted  to  Count  Schmet- 
tau,  colonel  of  the  7th  Cuirassiers,  who  threw  his 


New  German  Empire.  269 

small  force  with  a  desperate  clash  upon  the  French 
centre  at  Vionville,  completely  confusing  Canrobert, 
and  effectually  staying  the  intended  advance  until 
the  favourable  moment  for  it  had  passed  away.  The 
gallant  Prussian  cavalry  got  safely  back  afterwards 
out  of  the  seemingly  inevitable  jaws  of  death,  albeit 
with  heavy  loss  of  killed  and  wounded. 

This  magnificent  tactical  stroke  fully  deserves  to 
rank  with  those  brilliant  inspirations  of  genius  by 
which  Claudius  Nero  snatched  the  assured  victory 
from  great  Hasdrubal  in  the  decisive  battle  of  the 
Metaurus,  and  Kellerman  turned  the  Austrian  victory 
at  Marengo  into  a  disastrous  defeat. 

At  Gravelotte  the  3rd  corps,  under  Alvensleben, 
formed  the  reserve  along  with  the  10th  corps;  the 
artillery  of  the  3rd  corps,  and  part  of  its  infantry, 
took  an  active  share  in  the  actual  fight. 

The  3rd  corps  joined  subsequently  in  the  siege  of 
Metz,  where  it  participated  in  the  repulse  of 
Bazaine's  last  attempt,  of  the  7th  of  October,  1870, 
to  break  out  of  the  iron  circle  thrown  round  his 
army  by  the  Germans.  Later  on  the  corps  took  an 
effective  part  in  the  fights  at  Beaune-la-Rolande, 
Ohevilly  and  Chilliers-aux-Bois,  Orleans,  Vendorne, 
&c.,  and  finally  in  the  crowning  victory  of  Le 
Mans. 

If  the  past  may  be  looked   upon  as  a  pledge  for 

the  future,  there  is    certainly   every  reason  to    con- 

ecture  that  General  von   Alvensleben,  who   is    only 


1270  Men  who  lure  mnd 


c 


in  his  sixty-sixth  year,  may  lum-  a  still  more  brilliant 
caret  •]•  l)efore  him. 


Here  our  list  of  commanders  in  the  field  must 
end,  although  many  other  generals  who  have  also 
largely  contributed  to  make  the  new  German  em- 
pire might  fairly  claim  a  place,-  -Prince  Augustus 
of  Wurtemberg,  for  instance,  the  excellent  com- 
mander of  the  Prussian  guards,  Generals  Alvens- 
leben  L,  Blumenthal,  Barnekow,  Beyer,  Bose, 
Craushaar  (who  fell  at  St.  Privat,  on  the  18th  of 
August,  1870),  Degenfeld,  Frangois  (who  fell  at 
Spicheren,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1870),  Fransecky, 
Glumer,  Goltz,  Keller,  Kirchbach,  Kummer,  Man- 
stein,  Mutius  (who  died  of  cholera  in  1866),  Ober- 
nitz,  Eheinhaben,  Schlotheim,  Schmeling,  Sperling, 
Stiehle,  Stosch,  Treskow,  Tiimpling,  Yoigts-Ehetz, 
Waldersee,  Wartensleben,  Wedell,  William  of  Baden, 
Wit  tick,  Zastrow,  and  a  host  of  other  leaders,  the 
briefest  sketches  of  whose  achievements  would  fill  many 
volumes,  but  whom  we  are  compelled  to  pass  over,  as 
we  have  barely  left  space  sufficient  for  brief  memoirs 
of  General  Hindersin,  the  late  chief  of  the  Prussian 
Board  of  Ordnance ;  Heydt  and  Camphausen,  the 
two  great  financiers  who  found  the  nervus  rerum 
in  1866  and  1870  ;  President  Delbrtick  and  Coun- 
cillor Lothar  Bucher,  and,  lastly,  Dreyse  and  Krupp, 
of  needle-gun  and  steel  cannon  fame ;  and  Grlinberg, 
the  intelligent  cook  who  concocted  the  pea  sausage. 


New  German  Empire.  271 


XVIII. 

GENERAL  HINDERSIN. 

IN  the  memoir  of  Field-Marshal  Eoon  it  has  been 
explained  at  greater  length  how  the  new  military 
organization  initiated  and  perfected  by  Scharnhorst 
and  Gneisenau,  which  had  so  successfully  stood  the 
test  of  the  great  Liberation  War,  had  in  the  course  of 
time  grown  antiquated  and  rusty,  and  must  of  neces- 
sity have  proved  a  disastrous  failure  if  tried  when 
no  longer  kept  up  by  the  burning  patriotism  and  the 
deep  hatred  of  the  foreign  oppressor  that  had  per- 
vaded the  great  citizen  host  throughout  the  campaigns 
of  1813-15  ;  and  how  the  brilliant  genius  of  Eoon  had 
succeeded  in  converting  this  somewhat  clumsy  and 
inefficient  weapon  into  the  exquisitely  tempered  arm 
with  which  Bismarck  and  King  William  had  wrested 
supremacy  in  Germany  from  the  strong  aud  tenacious 
grasp  of  Austria  in  1866,  and,  some  few  years  later, 
supremacy  in  Europe  from  the  proud  hold  of  France. 
But  even  with  his  brilliant  genius  and  his  immense 
power  of  organization,  Eoon  might  have  found 


272  M>'n   trji<>  have  ni<nl<>  the 

success  impracticable  in  the  gigantic  task  undertaken 
by  him,  had  he  not  1  »«M-I i  most  al)ly  s<  •<•<>] x led  by 
many  other  men  of  his  own  high  stamp  of  intellect. 
Among  his  most  efficient  helpers  we  may  cursorily 
mention  here  the  late  Prince  Adalbert  of  Prussia,  the 
chief  creator  of  the  infant  navy  of  Germany,  which 
whenever  the  time  for  a  first  trial  of  its  strength  shall 
come,  is  sure  to  prove  itself  an  infant  Hercules ;  the 
late  Prince  Albrecht  of  Prussia,  brother  of  the  emperor, 
who  has  contributed  most  largely  to  ensure  the  marvel- 
lous efficiency  of  the  Prussian  cavalry  in  the  field  ; 
Generals  Etzel,  Holleben,  Karneke,  Ollech,  Peucker, 
Podbielski,  Wartenberg,  and,  more  particularly,  the 
subject  of  this  memoir,  Hindersin,  to  whose  high 
capacity  and  patient  perseverance  the  Prussian 
artillery  owes  its  actual  vast  superiority  over  an}' 
other  gunnery  force  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 

Gustavus  Edward  Hindersin  was  the  son  of  a 
Lutheran  clergyman,  who  held  a  small  curacy  at 
Wernigerode,  in  the  Harz  district.  Born  on  the  18th 
of  July,  1804,  he  was  carefully  educated  by  his  father, 
and  embraced  the  military  career  at  the  early  age  of 
sixteen,  from  natural  predilection  for  the  profession 
of  arms. 

In  October,  1820,  he  entered  the  3rd  artillery 
brigade,  then  in  garrison  at  Erfurt.  The  young 
aspirant  had  to  wait  five  years  before  he  obtained 
his  first  commission  as  second  lieutenant.  However, 
his  evident  high  capacity,  sober  and  studious  character, 


New  German  Empire.  273 

and  solid  acquirements  soon  attracted  the  attention 
of  his  chiefs,  and  he  was  sent  to  the  general  War 
School  at  Berlin,  to  complete  his  scientific  military 
education. 

After  this  he  was  ordered  to  join  the  topographic 
section  of  the  general  staff  of  the  army. 

In  1841  he  obtained  his  promotion  to  a  first  lieu- 
tenancy, and  was  appointed  on  the  general  staff.  The 
year  after,  in  1842,  he  was  made  a  captain,  and  four 
years  later,  in  1846,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  major,  and  made  chief  of  the  topographic  section. 
In  this  position  he  remained  till  the  summer  of 
1849,  when  he  was  ordered  to  join  General  Peucker's 
combined  German  corps  in  the  campaign  against  the 
Baden  insurgents,  first  as  assistant-chief,  soon  after  as 
principal  chief  of  the  staff.  He  was  present  at  the 
encounters  at  Lautershausen  and  Ladenburg.  During 
the  latter  fight  he  had  occasion  to  ascend  the  city 
tower,  to  be  better  able  to  reconnoitre  the  forces  of 
the  enemy.  At  this  juncture  the  insurgents  obtained 
a  temporary  success,  and  Major  Hindersin  was  cut 
off  before  he  could  effect  his  retreat  from  his  high 
observatory.  He  was  carried  a  prisoner  to  Eastatt, 
but  released  soon  after  by  his  captors  when  the  in- 
surrection had  collapsed. 

After  the  termination  of  the  campaign,  Major 
Hindersin  was  appointed  on  the  staff  of  the  6th 
corps  at  Breslau.  In.  1850  he  was  entered  as  major 
on  the  muster-ro]l  of  the  6th  artillery  regiment,  and 

VOL.  11.  T 


274  Men  -H'ho  Itft re  made  the 

four  years  after,  in  1>s.~)t,  h<>  was  made  lieutenant- 
colonel  and  enmmand'T  of  the  :2iid  artillery  regiment. 
The  saint-  year  In-  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  full 
enlonel,  and  four  years  later,  in  1858,  he  was  made 
major-general  and  inspector  of  the  3rd  nrtillery 
inspection. 

On  the  18th  of  October,  1SG1,  Hindersin  was  named 
lieutenant-general  by  King  William,  and  appointed 
inspector  of  the  2nd  artillery  inspection  at  Berlin  ; 
also  president  of  the  board  of  examiners  for  first- 
lieutenancy  commissions  in  the  artillery. 

In  the  Danish  war  of  1864,  General  Hindersin 
organized  the  engineer  and  artillery  attacks  upon  the 
works  of  Diippel,  and  the  successful  issue  of  the 
operations,  and  of  the  final  assault,  delivered  on  the 
18th  of  April,  was  due  in  a  great  measure  to  his 
skill  and  energy. 

King  William,  wishing  to  bestow  upon  the  general 
a  signal  mark  of  his  high  appreciation  of  his  long 
and  eminent  services,  raised  him  to  the  Prussian 
peerage,  and  appointed  him  in  December,  1864,  first 
and  sole  inspector-general  of  artillery,  and  curator  of 
the  high  school  for  artillerists  and  engineers. 

General  Hindersin  entered  now  upon  the  most  suc- 
cessful and  productive  period  of  his  career.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  he  revolutionized  the  entire 
Prussian  gunnery  system- -nay,  that  he  created  anew 
the  Prussian  artillery  such  as  it  is  at  the  present  day. 
He  organized  the  systematic  artillery  practice  at 


New  German  Empire,  275 

Berlin.  He  directed  and  superintended  with  the 
most  anxious  care  the  substitution  of  the  most  effi- 
cient rifled  cannons  for  the  much  less  perfect  ordnance 
of  the  past.  He  introduced  the  Kriegsspiel,  or  war 
game,  among  the  obligatory  branches  of  the  edu- 
cation of  artillery  officers,  himself  inventing  a  new 
variation  of  the  game  as  applied  more  especially  to 
sieges.  He  organized  extensive  exercises  in  siege 
operations,  and  in  the  defence  of  fortresses.  He  in- 
sisted most  strongly  upon  the  tactical  improvement 
of  the  officers  under  his  inspection,  and  never  ceased 
calling;  their  most  serious  attention  to  the  high  im- 

o  o 

portance  of  a  proper  comprehension  and  appreciation 
of  gunnery  practice.  He  laid  it  down  as  an  axiom 
in  artillery  firing,  that  no  shot  should  be  thrown 
away  or  fired  at  random. 

When  the  war  of  1866  broke  out,  the  great  reforms 
carried  out  since  then  by  General  Hindersin  were 
still  in  the  period  of  initiation  ;  besides,  except  per- 
haps at  Koniggratz,  the  Prussian  artillery  had  not  a 
fair  opportunity  afforded  it  in  the  Bohemian  cam- 
paign to  show  what  it  might  be  able  to  do  in  case 
of  need.  General  Hindersin,  however,  attended  the 
king  at  the  royal  head-quarters  from  the  beginning 
of  July  to  the  end  of  the  campaign.  He  was  then 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  general  of  infantry. 

In  1868  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  land 
defence  commission.  In  September,  1869,  King 
William  bestowed  another  signal  mark  of  his 

O 

T    2 


Men  /'•//<>  //"'•'    made  tin- 


appreciation  of  Ilindrrsiii's  cinincnl  services  upon  tin- 
•^riirnil,  by  confcrri  MI;-  upon  him  tlie  chiefship  of  the 
Pomeranian  ivgiment  nf  Ik-  Id  artillery  No.  '1. 

In  the  war  nf  ls'70-71,  General  Hindersin  attended 
the  king  at  royal  head-quarters  from  first  to  last  as 
general-in-chief  of  the  German  artillery.  He  was 
]  in-sent  at  the  battles  of  Gravelotte  and  Sedan,  and 
during  the  sieo-e  and  bombardment  of  Paris,  and 

O  O  ' 

shared  personally  in  the  fights  of  la  belle  St.  Cloud, 
and  beneath  Mont  Valerien. 

On  the  18  th  of  July,  1871,  General  Hindersin 
celebrated  the  jubilee  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
his  entering  the  Prussian  military  service,  having  been 
unable  to  do  so  on  the  proper  -day,  the  18th  of 
October,  1870,  on  account  of  the  war  then  waging. 
It  was  a  most  glorious  festival  for  the  old  man  —  his 
majesty  the  emperor  and  king,  the  Crown  Prince,  and 
the  other  princes  of  the  imperial  and  royal  house,  the 
German  kings  and  princes,  and  the  general's  brothers- 
in-arms  eagerly  vieing  with  each  other  to  pour  their 
sincerest  congratulations  and  best  sifts  and  wishes 

o  o 

upon  him.  Six  months  and  eight  days  after,  on 
the  25  tli  of  January,  1872,  he  departed  this  life, 
universally  regretted,  more  especially  by  his  "  chil- 
dren/' as  he  used  to  affectionately  call  the  officers,  non- 
commissioned officers,  and  men  of  the  artillery  force, 
which  owes  its  actual  high  efficiency  chiefly  to  his 
solicitous  care. 


New  German  Empire.  277 


THE    MONEY    MARSHALS. 

THE  great  Raymond  Montecuculi,  oue  of  the  most 
distinguished  Austrian  commanders  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  worthy  rival  and  competitor  of  Turenne 
and  Conde,  in  his  famous  work  on  the  art  and  science 
of  war  (published  first  in  the  original  Italian  by  Ugo 
Foscolo,  in  1807,  at  Milan,  and  subsequently  once 
more  by  Grassi,  in  1821,  at  Turin),  lays  it  down  as  a 
leading  axiom,  that  he  who  would  indulge  in  the  en- 
ticing but  perilous  pursuit  of  armed  strife  should,  first 
and  foremost,  make  ample  provision  of  three  things 
-money,  to  wit,  in  the  first  place ;  MONEY,  again, 
in  the  second  place  ;  and  MONEY,  finally,  in  the 
third  place.  Long  ere  the  brilliant  Modenese  had 
penned  this  sage  maxim,  its  truth  had  been  prac- 
tically illustrated  many  and  many  times  by  the 
experience  of  all  preceding  ages. 

Now,    as   the    chief    part    of    Bismarck's    perilous 
venture  for  the  Imperial  German  Unity  Stakes  had 


:278  Men  who  have  //<"</<•  the 


to  be  played  on  the  battle-field,  the  two  eminent 
men  to  whom  the  guidance  of  the  financial  depart- 
ment of  the  state  was  intrusted  in  these  critical  times 
may  well  and  deservedly  claim  a  niche  in  this  Wal- 
halla  of  German  worthies. 


XIX. 

HEYDT. 

"  Der's  vacuum  maxime  deflendum,  die  horrible  Leere. 
Den  thalerlosen  Abgrund,  von  Bodelschwingh  ihm  hinterlassen, 
So  wunderbarlich  ausgefullt ;  zu  seines  Xamens  ew'ger  Ehre 
Heydtmassig  viel  des  Gelds  geschafft  in  die  geleerten  Kassen." 

(Which,  may  be  briefly  paraphrased,  in  vernacular  prose  un- 
adorned : — He  who  so  wondrously  filled  up  the  deplorable 
vacuum,  the  horrible  hollow,  the  dollarless  abyss,  left  him. 
by  Bodelschwingh  ;  and,  to  his  name's  undying  honour,  made 
a  rich  Pactolean  stream,  flow  into  the  empty  treasury.) 

AUGUSTUS  VO:N  DER  HEYDT  was  born  on  the  15th 
of  February,  1801,  at  Elberfeld,  where  his  father 
was  chief  of  one  of  the  leading  banking  establish- 
ments of  Rhineland-Westphalia.  Brought  up  almost 
from  infancy  to  mercantile  pursuits,  he  from  an 
early  age  displayed  signs  of  the  marvellous  aptitude 
for  business  that  distinguished  him  through  life. 
After  finishing  his  commercial  education  in  Germany, 
he  worked  a  few  years  as  clerk  and  correspondent 


New  German  Empire.  279 

in  several  leading  houses  of  commerce  and  finance  in 
France  and  in  England. 

Having  passed  through  this  excellent  practical 
school,  he,  in  conjunction  with  his  brothers  Charles 
and  William,  entered  upon  the  management  of  the 
parental  banking  house  in  Elberfeld. 

He  was  still  a  very  young  man  at  the  time,  but 
his  manifest  sound  practical  sense,  and  his  eminent 
capacity  for  active  work,  soon  drew  upon  him  the 
attention  of  his  fellow-citizens,  who  elected  him  a 
member  of  the  municipal  council  of  Elberfeld,  at 
an  age  when  most  young  men  of  wealth  and  sta- 
tion would  barely  think  of  extending  the  display 
of  their  gifts  beyond  the  social  circle  and  the  ball- 
room. He  at  once  became  one  of  the  most  active 
and  painstaking  members  of  the  corporation,  and 
strove  from  the  very  commencement  of  his  municipal 
career  to  fulfil  his  civic  duties  to  the  best  of  his  trans- 
cendent ability.  Heydt  was  truly  a  great  citizen  in 
the  fullest  sense  of  the  term. 

He  took  a  leading  share  in  every  measure  of  public 
improvement.  The  admirable  system  of  administer- 
ing to  the  wants  of  the  indigent,  which  makes  the 
Elberfeld  poor-law  regulations  the  marvel  and  model 
of  all  communities  with  philanthropic  aspirations, 
owes  its  origin  and  elaboration  chiefly  to  him. 

He  had  only  just  attained  the  legal  age  for  the 
office  when  he  was  elected  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
Tribunal  of  Commerce  of  Elberfeld,  and  soon  after, 


280  Men  trio  h<i.rc  made  the 

he  was  raised  to  the  presidential  chair  of  the  Court, 
which  lie  occupied  uninterruptedly  for  many  a  long 
year,  it  may  fairly  be  said,  with  the  universal  appro- 
bation of  all  who  had  occasion  to  have  recourse  to 
that  high  tribunal. 

In   1841    he   was    elected  to  represent   his  native 
city  at   the   Ehenan  Provincial    Diet;  and    in    1842 

• 

lie  attended  the  sittings  of  the  United  Committees 
of  the  collective  Prussian  Estates  at  Berlin.  He  was 
sent  also  to  the  United  Provincial  Diet  of  1847. 
Here  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  members.  He 
warmly  advocated  the  conversion  of  the  old  cum- 
brous Provincial  Estates  into  a  real  constitutional 
representation  of  the  whole  land. 

When  1848  came,  with  its  violent  commotions  and 
perturbations,  Heydt,  with  his  excellent  sense,  foresaw 
at  once  the  lame  and  impotent  conclusion  to  which 
the  ill-considered,  extravagant,  revolutionary  projects 
and  aspirations  of  that  tempestuous  period  were 
inevitably  tending.  So  he  resolved  to  have  naught 
to  do  with  the  political  movement  of  the  time,  and 
accordingly  declined  to  accept  the  mandate  of  deputy 
tendered  to  him,  to  represent  Elberfeld  at  the  National 
Assemblies  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main  and  Berlin.  He 
also  declined  the  seat  proffered  him  in  the  Prussian 
Cabinet  by  the  Pfuel-Eichniann  administration.  He 
knew  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  useful 
collaboration  in  the  regeneration  of  Prussia. 

It   was  only   after   the   transloeation    of    the    van- 


Neiv  German  Empire.  281 

quished  assembly  from  Berlin  to  Brandenburg  that 
he  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  accept  the  proffered 
mandate.  On  the  4th  day  of  December,  1848,  the 
day  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Prussian  National 
Assembly,  he  accepted  the  office  of  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  and  Public  Works  in  the  Branden- 
burg-Manteuffel  cabinet. 

In  this  capacity  he  brought  his  rare  energy  and 
great  talents  to  bear  upon  the  arduous  task  before  him, 
and  rendered  the  most  eminent  services  to  the  govern- 
ment and  the  country.  In  1851  he  accepted  also 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Bank  of  Prussia,  to  the 
manifest  advantage  of  that  great  institution. 

Upon  the  retirement  of  the  ManteufTel  cabinet, 
on  the  6th  of  November,  1858,  Heydt  retained  his 
old  office  in  the  new  Hohenzollern  ministry,  and 
subsequently  in  the  Auerswald-Schwerin  adminis- 
tration, until  the  18th  of  March,  1862,  when  the 
Liberal  cabinet  resigned,  in  consequence  of  Hagen's 
motion  to  have  a  specified  budget  submitted  to  the 
House  being;  carried. 

o 

Hohenlohe-Itzenplitz,  who  succeeded,  offered  Heydt 
the  Chancellorship  of  the  Exchequer,  which  he 
accepted.  This  was,  unhappily,  the  time  when  the 
conflict  between  parliament  and  crown  anent  Boon's 
military  reorganization  plan  was  raging  most  fiercely. 

Heydt,  who,  though  with  preponderatiug  Con- 
servative leanings,  had  still  a  considerable  admix- 
ture of  constitutional  Liberalism  in  the  composition 


282  Men  who  have  made  the 

of  Ins  political  character,  strove  hard  to  steer  a 
middle  course  between  the  two  opposing  currents. 
He  wrote  a  letter  to  Koon,  then  Minister  of  War, 
in  which  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  his  colleague 
to  drop  the  proposed  additions  to  the  taxes,  and 
consent  to  economise  in  the  budget  of  the  Ministry 
of  War  instead.  This  letter  somehow  found 
its  way  into  publicity,  most  likely  through  Heydt's 
own  instrumentality.  But  it  failed  in  its  evident 
purpose  to  conciliate  the  Liberal  majority  of  the 
chamber. 

Heydt's  offer  to  submit  a  specified  budget  to  the 
House,  in  conformity  with  Hagen's  motion,  proved 
equally  unsuccessful,  and  the  attempted  conversion 
of  the  4^-  per  cent,  loans  of  1850  and  1851  into 
4  per  cent,  consols  gave  also  a  negative  result. 
To  fill  up  the  measure  of  Heydt's  failures  and 
disappointments  at  this  critical  juncture,  the  king 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  counsels  of  concession  and 
conciliation  tendered  him  by  his  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer. 

Thus  foiled  at  all  points,  the  unlucky  Minister 
of  Finance  took  the  pretext  of  Bismarck's  appoint- 
ment to  the  Premiership,  on  the  23rd  of  September, 
1862,  to  tender  his  resignation  to  the  king,  which 
his  majesty  was  pleased  to  accept,  graciously  bestowr- 
ing  upon  the  retiring  minister  an  hereditary  peerage 
as  a  mark  of  his  royal  favour. 

Baron   von  der  Heydt  took  his  seat  on  the  Con- 


New  German  Empire.  283 

servative  benches,  and  voted  with  the  government  on 
most  questions. 

At  the  end  of  May,  1866,  when  war  with  Austria  and 
her  German  abettors  had  clearly  become  inevitable, 
and  Bodelschwingh,  Heydt's  successor,  who  had  held 
the  Chancellorship  of  the  Exchequer  since  the  1st 
of  October,  1862,  had  the  cool  assurance  to  drily 
inform  his  majesty  the  king  that  there  w^as  not 
a  thaler  in  the  treasury  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  intended  war,  Bismarck,  who  has  always  shown 
a  singular  aptitude  in  choosing  the  fittest  instruments 
for  his  work,  advised  the  king  to  send  for  Baron 
von  der  Heydt,  who  was  thus  once  more  made 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  on  the  2nd  of  June, 
1866. 

He  had  a  most  difficult  task  before  him.  Money 
must  be  had  for  the  impending  war,  yet  a  loan  was 
clearly  out  of  the  question,  considering  the  hostile 
feelings  of  the  majority  of  the  Prussian  Commons. 
Von  der  Heydt  was  equal  to  the  task.  By  the 
judicious  sale  and  transfer  of  certain  railways  belong- 
ing to  the  state,  he  obtained  funds  sufficient  to  defray 
the  heavy  expenses  of  the  war ;  and,  by  a  wise  ad- 
ministration of  the  resources  of  the  country,  he 
succeeded  in  rescuing  the  Prussian  exchequer  from 
the  slough  of  despond  into  which  the  incapable 
feudalist  and  Austrophile  Bodelschwingh  had  plunged 
it  de  gaiete  de  cceur. 

Indeed,  so  thoroughly  did  the  new  Chancellor  of  the 


•JS4  Men  who  7/«/r  made 


Exchequer  succeed,  that  he  could  appear  on  the  5th 
of  August,  1SGG,  before  the  Chambers  with  a  highly 
satisfactory  budget  for  18G7,  which  showed  the 

»/  o 

finances  of  the  country  to  be  in  a  most  brilliant  and 
truly  healthy  condition,  unexampled  in  the  history  of 
the  Prussian  exchequer,  not  only  providing  amply  for 
all  current  wants,  but  even  enabling  the  minister  to 
gratify  many  legitimate  wishes  which,  up  to  this,  had 
had  to  be  ignored  of  necessity  for  lack  of  means. 

Tt  was  at  this  time  also  that  Yon  der  Heydt 
rendered  a  most  signal  service  to  the  cause  of  con- 
stitutional liberty  in  Prussia,  by  standing  manfully 
by  Bismarck  in  the  hard  fight  waged  by  the  great 
man  with  the  reactionary  majority  in  the  cabinet  and 
the  stiff-necked  old  king  to  force  their  reluctant  con- 
sent to  acknowledge  that  the  king's  government  had, 
since  1862,  violated  the  constitution,  albeit  in  the  true 
interests  of  the  country,  and  that  the  only  proper  and 
constitutional  way  to  purge  this  infraction  of  the 
great  fundamental  law  of  the  land  was  to  ask  the 
representatives  of  the  people  to  grant  a  bill  of 
indemnity  for  the  past. 

The  bill  of  indemnity,  drawn  up  by  Von  der 
Heydt,  was  granted  by  the  Commons,  and  thus  a 
happy  end  was  put  at  last  to  the  lamentable  conflict 
which  had  for  years  divided  the  government  and  the 
country  into  two  hostile  camps. 

The  House,  thus  judiciously  put  into  the  very  best 
and  most  yielding  humour,  granted  the  Chancellor  of 


New  German  Empire.  285 

the  Exchequer  all  he  wanted  to  carry  on  his  majesty's 
government — to  wit,  a  vote  of  9,000,000?.  for  the 
extraordinary  army  and  navy  budget,  and  the 
creation  of  the  state  treasure  upon  a  new  legal  basis. 

From  1866  to  1869,  Yon  der  Heydt  remained  at 
the  head  of  the  Prussian  exchequer,  the  king  re- 
peatedly declining  to  accept  the  resignation  tendered 
by  the  baron  on  account  of  his  failing  health. 

But  it  was  not  alone  that  the  Prussian  Finance 
Minister's  health  was  giving  way- -the  condition  of 
the  country  also  had  been  changing  for  the  worse. 
Trade  and  commerce  were  beginning  to  show  alarming 
signs  of  stagnation  :  several  bad  harvests  in  succession 

o  O 

had  interfered  sadly  with  the  prosperity  of  the  land. 
The  incorporation  of  the  new  provinces  was  necessarily 
attended  with  financial  embarrassments  and  difficul- 
ties, which  seemed  to  require  a  more  vigorous  hand  to 
effectively  deal  with  them  than  that  of  an  old  man 
close  upon  seventy,  and  in  indifferent  health. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  the  budget  for  1870 
showed  a  deficit  of  some  £800,000  upon  the  finan- 
cial year,  which  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
proposed  to  cover  by  additions  to  the  direct  taxes ; 
and  this  the  Prussian  Commons  were  not  disposed 
to  grant. 

Von  der  Heydt,  feeling  his  absolute  inability  to 
grapple  with  the  difficulties  of  his  position,  tendered 
his  resignation  once  more  to  the  king,  who  was  at 
last  graciously  pleased  to  accept  it,  bestowing  upon 


286  Men  who  lave  made  tin' 

tin-  n-tiring  statesman  the  rare  distinct imi  of  tin- 
Order  of  the  1 11  ark  Eagle  as  a  most  signal  mark  of 
the  royal  appreciation  of  his  eminent  services. 

Baron  Von  der  Heyclt  died  last  June  in  Berlin, 
leaving  an  immense  fortune  to  his  family,  and 
several  large  bequests  for  charitable  and  philanthropic 
purposes. 

It  may  not  be  altogether  out  of  place  here  to  men- 
tion that  Von  der  Heydt  was  for  many  years  a  leading 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  principal 
Khenan  railways,  which  may  be  truly  said  to  owe 
their  actual  prosperity,  in  a  very  great  measure  at 
least,  to  his  wise,  skilful,  and  energetic  management 
of  their  affairs. 

XX. 

CAMPHAUSEN. 

"  Wie  er,  verstand's  wohl  je  ein  Finanzier  so  gut, 
Den  Manco  umzuwandeln  in  den  Ueberfluss ; 
Der  Kasse  seichte  Ebbe  in  die  hohe  Fluth, 
Das  schlimme  Deficit  in  schonen  Ueberschuss  ?  " 

(Did  ever  financier  know  so  well  as  he  how  to  convert  lack  into 
abundance,  the  exchequer's  dry  ebb  into  a  rich  high  tide  of 
cash,  the  sad  deficit  into  a  handsome  surplus  ?) 

IN  1866  Von  der  Heydt  had  boldly  taken  the 
helm  of  the  tempest-tossed  financial  state  bark,  and 
steered  it  brilliantly  through  the  storms  and  rocks 
and  shoals  and  quicksands  of  these  most  critical 


New  German  Empire.  287 

times  to  the  secure  Iiarbour  of  success.  But  ad- 
vancing age  and  infirmities  had  since  then  somewhat 

o     o 

dimmed  the  clear  sight  of  the  experienced  old 
helmsman,  and  his  hand  retained  no  longer  the 
same  firm  grasp  upon  the  tiller  as  of  old. 

But  as  has  always  been  Prussia's  good  fortune, 
uno  avulso,  non  deficit  alter.  At  the  perilous  junc- 
ture, in  the  fall  of  the  year  1869,  another  still 
greater  financier  was  ready  to  take  the  helm  of  the 
exchequer  from  Heydt's  relaxing  grasp. 

Otto  von  Camphausen  was  born  on  the  21st  of 
October,  1S12,  at  Hiinshoven,  in  the  district  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle.  As  his  family  ranked  among  the 
wealthiest  people  in  Ehineland,  he  could  follow  the 
bent  of  his  own  inclination  in  the  choice  of  his 
future  career  in  life.  Two  elder  brothers  of  his 
having  taken  to  mercantile  and  financial  pursuits, 
and  founded  in  1825  a  great  banking  business  at 
Cologne,  under  the  style  of  A.  and  L.  Camp- 
hausen, young  Otto  elected  to  devote  himself  to  the 
study  of  law  and  of  political  economy  in  all  its 
branches,  extending  his  course  of  reading  also  to 
history,  philosophy,  and  art. 

Although  the  great  wealth  of  his  family  might 
have  exempted  him  from  all  thought  of  ever  having 
to  turn  his  university  pursuit  to  practical  account 
for  getting  a  living,  he  worked  at  his  studies  even 
harder  than  many  of  the  poorest  students.  The  result 
was  that  he  passed  a  most  brilliant  examination. 


-S8  Men    /''/«>    /,,//v    nnnl<> 


He  made  it  speedily  manifest  also  that  lie  purposed 
to  devote  the  exercise  of  his  talents  to  the  service 
of  his  country.  Soon  after  passing  his  examina- 
tion, in  the  autumn  of  1834,  he  took  his  station 
on  the  lowest  rung  of  the  bureaucratic  ladder  in 
the  ovneral  government  department  of  the  state 
at  Cologne,  where  he  remained  about  three  years. 

His  brother  Ludolf,  his  senior  by  nearly  ten 
years,  one  of  the  chief  partners  in  the  great  bank- 
ing house  of  A.  and  L.  Camphausen  at  Cologne, 
induced  Otto  to  turn  his  special  attention  to  the 
serious  consideration  of  questions  connected  with 
trade,  commerce,  and  industry. 

In  1837  young  Otto  Camphausen  wras  transferred 

J  o  I: 

to  Magdeburg,  where  he  remained  nearly  three  years 
in  the  capacity  of  assessor.  He  then  entered  the 
Ministry  of  Finance  for  a  short  time,  as  assistant  in 
the  treasury  department.  In  December,  1840,  he  was 
sent  to  the  government  board  at  Coblenz,  whence 

he    was   in    February;    1842,    transferred   to    Treves. 

«/  * 

In  1844,  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  councillor,  and 
attached  to  the  Ministry  of  Finance  at  Berlin.  The 
year  after,  in  1845,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-three,  he 
was  made  Privy  Councillor  of  Finance. 

As  he  showed  himself  gifted  with  remarkably  quick 
comprehension  of  the  most  difficult  and  knotty 
questions  in  the  domain  of  political  economy,  and 
with  equally  remarkable  power  of  lucid  exposition, 
the  draft  of  the  important  law  respecting  the  in- 


New  German  Empire.  289 

JL 

troduction  of  an  income  tax  into  the  Prussian  mon- 
archy was  confided  to  his  care.  Both  the  project  of 
law  submitted  by  him  to  the  first  united  Prussian 
Diet  of  1847,  and  the  explanatory  and  elucidatory 
memoir  accompanying  the  draft,  were  perfect  models 
of  clearness. 

In  1848  his  elder  brother,  Ludolf  Camphausen, 
stepped  suddenly,  per  saltum,  from  his  banker's  desk 
at  Cologne  to  the  presidential  chair  of  the  Ministry 
of  State  at  Berlin,  being  called  by  King  Frederick 
William  IV.  to  succeed  Count  Arnim-Boitzenburg  as 
prime  minister,  on  the  29th  of  March.  Ludolf 
availed  himself  largely  of  his  younger  brother's 
splendid  business  talents,  and  the  two  might,  indeed, 
have  succeeded  at  the  time  in  tiding  over  this 
most  critical  epoch  in  the  constitutional  history  of 
the  land,  had  they  not  had  to  encounter  the  deep 
insincerity  of  the  monarch  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
(very  excusable)  profound  distrust  of  the  Radical 
and  Progressist  majority  of  the  Assembly  on  the 
other  side. 

Both  Ludolf  and  Otto  Camphausen  were  moderate 
Liberals- -too  honestly  Liberal  to  suit  the  views  of  the 
king  and  of  the  reactionary  feudalist  clique  around  him, 
and  too  honestly  Conservative  for  the  impatience  of 
the  men  of  progress.  Less  than  three  short  months 
sufficed  to  convince  Ludolf  Camphausen  of  this  fact, 
and  already  on  the  20th  of  June  he  tendered  his 
resignation  to  the  king. 

VOL.  n.  u 


290  Mrn   ii-lto  have  made  the 

One  month  after,  at  the  end  of  July,  1848,  Luclolf 
Camphausen  was  sent  as  Prussian  representative  to 
the  new  German  central  power  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main.  Here  he  remained  till  April,  1849,  when 
he  finally  resigned,  and  went  back  to  his  banking 
business  at  Cologne,  a  wiser  and  a  sadder  man, 
thoroughly  disenchanted  of  the  alluring  illusions  of 
power  and  office. 

Otto  Camphausen  was  a  member  of  the  Second 
Prussian  Chamber  from  1849  to  1852.  He  was  also 
elected  to  the  Erfurt  Parliament  in  1850.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  greatly  as  reporter  on  financial 
and  politico-economical  questions.  A  moderate  Liberal 
in  politics,  he  kept  also  in  his  views  and  opinions  on 
trade  and  commerce  the  right  middle  between  the 
two  extremes  of  prohibitive  protection  and  absolute 
and  unrestricted  free  trade. 

In  1854  Otto  Camphausen  exchanged  the  active 
state  service  for  the  quasi- independent,  highly  im- 
portant, and  influential  position  of  president  of  the 
Seehandlung,  or  institute  of  maritime  commerce,  in 
which  he  succeeded  Baron  Bother,  late  minister  of 
state. 

A  bachelor,  and  possessor  of  a  very  large  private 
fortune,  not  to  mention  the  rich  emoluments  of  his 
high  office,  President  Camphausen  could  now  freely 
indulge  in  the  gratification  of  his  social  and  artistic 
tastes,  and  also  in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  and 
truly  benevolent  philanthropy,  devoting  large  sums 


New  German  Empire.  291 

annually  to  the  encouragement  of  literature  and  art, 
and  to  the  support  of  charitable  institutions. 

But  in  the  fall  of  1869  he  had  to  quit  this  happy, 
"easy  life  at  the  call  of  duty.  The  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  Baron  von  der  Heydt,  had  failed  to 
grapple  successfully  with  the  financial  embarrass- 
ments of  the  state  treasury,  and  had  thereupon  ten- 
dered his  resignation.  Bismarck  asked  Camphausen 
to  take  the  vacant  seat  in  the  Prussian  cabinet. 

A  few  days  after  his  installation  in  office,  the  new 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  appeared  before  the 
Second  Chamber  with  the  welcome  announcement 
that  he  withdrew  his  predecessor's  proposal  of  an 
increase  of  the  direct  taxes,  deeming  it  the  more 
expedient  course  to  cover  the  deficit  of  £800,000 
out  of  the  fund  annually  devoted  to  the  reduction 
of  the  national  debt. 

He  made  a  provisional  declaration  on  this  occasion, 
that,  in  his  opinion,  a  wise  financial  policy  should 
strive  to  give  the  government  of  the  state  a  wider 
latitude  of  action  in  its  measures  and  operations 
for  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt.  He  could 
not  see  the  wisdom  of  paying  off  annually  some 
£1,200,000  to  £1,500,000,  at  the  very  time  when 
the  necessities  of  the  state  might  actually  require  the 
raising  of  new  loans,  most  likely  upon  more  onerous 
terms  than  those  of  the  existing  old  debt.  The 
state  should,  on  the  contrary,  have  the  free  choice 
of  devoting  in  good  years  larger,  in  bad  years  smaller 

u  2 


292  Me  it   t'-J/o  lifiw  mad*' 


sums,  even  down  to  nothing,  to  the  reduction  of  the 
debt.  The  rights  and  privileges  of  the  state  creditors 
need  not  be  infringed  upon  in  this  proceeding. 

A  few  days  after,  at  the  sitting  of  the  4th  of  Novem-" 

ber,   1SG9,   the  minister  further  illustrated  his  views 

upon  this  highly  important  question.     He  explained 

how  the  creditors  of  the    state  might,  by  the   offer 

of  a  premium,   be  easily  prevailed  upon  to  consent 

to  the  conversion  of  the  whole  of  the  old  4-|  per  cent. 

and  4  per  cent,  state  debt  of  the  old  provinces  of 

Prussia    into    a    consolidated    funded    debt    paying 

the  holders  4-|-  per  cent,  interest  per  annum.     This 

would    leave   the    state    at    full    liberty   to    devote 

any    available    funds    to    the   purchase     of    consols, 

thereby  reducing  the  national  debt  in  the  simplest 

manner,  whilst  it  would   free  the  government  from 

the  onerous  obligation   of  paying  back  a  stipulated 

fixed   sum    every   year.     In   this  sense  Camphausen 

drew  up  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  the  Parliament 

subsequently    adopted.       So    soon    as   he    had   thus 

freedom   of  action  given  him,  he  set  vigorously  and 

skilfully  to  work,  and  speedily  effected  the  proposed 

conversion   and  funding   of  the  debt  with   brilliant 

success. 

Camphausen's  administration  of  the  finances  of 
the  country  was  equally  successful  in  all  other 
respects.  In  the  most  important  question  of  the 
revenue,  the  Prussian  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
advocates  the  healthy  development  of  the  system 


New  German  Empire.  293 

of  indirect  taxation,  and  lie  is  the  most  uncom- 
promising opponent  of  all  attacks  levelled  against 
the  fundamental  principles  of  that  system. 

He  is  also  an  advocate  of  a  moderate  increase  of 
the  tax  upon  coffee  and  similar  articles  of  con- 
sumption which  cannot  properly  be  regarded  in 
the  light  of  indispensable  necessaries  of  life.  On 
the  other  hand  he  would  free  all  raw  materials,  &c., 
required  for  the  purposes  of  industry  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  trammels  of  taxation. 

Camphausen's  management  of  the  Prussian  ex- 
chequer has  been  most  brilliantly  successful  ever 
since  he  came  into  office.  In  1870,  more  especially, 
he  repeated,  more  grandly  still,  Heydt's  great 
achievement  of  1866,  by  his  financial  skill  and 
wise  statesmanship  enabling  the  treasury  to  bear 
without  embarrassment  the  immense  burden  of  the 
war.  Since  then  he  has  made  his  appearance  before 
the  Prussian  Parliament  year  after  year  with  a 
glorious  budget  showing  a  large  surplus,  in  lieu 
of  the  sad  deficits  of  old. 

Camphausen  is  also  one  of  the  leading  Prussian 
members  of  the  German  Federal  Council,  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  Prussian  ministry,  and  he  may  be 
said  to  be  practically  one  of  the  Vice-Chancellors 
of  the  German  empire,  Delbriick  being  the  other.  As 
a  signal  mark  of  his  high  consideration,  the  emperor 
has  bestowed  upon  him  the  Order  of  the  Red  Eagle 
of  the  first  class. 


294  Men  who  hare  made  the 


BISMARCK'S  STAFF. 

N  his  titanic  task  of  reconstructing  the  political  system 
of  Prussia  and  Germany- -and  of  Europe — Bismarck 
has  been  most  efficiently  seconded  throughout  by  a  body 
of  able  men,  such  as  it  has  perhaps  never  before  in 
the  world's  history  been  the  good  fortune  of  empire 
or  kingdom  to  possess  for  state  servants,  conjointly  at 
one  and  the  same  period  of  time. 

Among  the  most  eminent  of  this  body,  which  may 
truly  be  called  the  staff  of  the  great  ieader  Bismarck, 
rank  Billow,  Thile,  Abeken,  ^Egidi,  the  two  Philips- 
borns,  Keudell,  Hatzfeld,  Michaelis,  and,  most  es- 
pecially, Delbriick  and  Lothar  Bucher.  All  these 
and  many  more  of  the  same  exalted  order  of  intellect 
have  largely, shared  in  the  making  of  the  new  German 
empire.  Brief  memoirs  of  the  two  last  named,  by 
way  of  general  illustration  of  the  class,  may  there- 
fore well  be  permitted  to  find  a  small  corner  here. 


New  German  Empire.  295 


XXL 

PRESIDENT  DELBRUCK. 

"Des  inneren  Gefiiges  ROOD, 
Ein  treuer,  starker  Arbeitsheld, 
Ob  auch  von  seinem  stillen  Thun 
Man  wenig  hb'rt  nur  in  der  Welt." 

(Which  may  be  briefly  paraphrased  : — The  "  Roon  "  of  the  em- 
pire's inner  structure  j  a  valiant,  indefatigable  worker,  albeit 
the  trumpet  of  fame  may  not  loudly  sound  the  praises  of  his 
silent  achievements.) 

MARTIN  FREDERICK  EUDOLF  DELBRUCK,  now  Prussian 
minister  of  state,  and  President  of  the  German 
Imperial  Chancellery  Office,  was  born  in  Berlin  in 
1817.  His  father,  John  Frederick  Gottlob  (i.e. 
Praise  God)  Delbrtick,  who  died  in  1830,  at  Zeitz, 
as  pastor  and  superintendent,  had  been  for  nine  years, 
from  1800  to  1809,  tutor  to  the  two  eldest  princes 
of  the  royal  house  of  Prussia,  the  Crown  Prince, 
afterwards  King  Frederick  William  IV.,  and  Prince 
William,  the  present  German  emperor.  The  two 
princes  always  bore  their  first  teacher  in  grateful 
remembrance,  bestowing  many  signal  favours  upon 
the  son. 

Young  Delbrtick  lost  his  mother  when  he  was 
barely  six,  and  his  father  when  he  had  only  just 
attained  the  age  of  thirteen.  Fortunately,  Pastor 


296  Men  who  have  made  the 

Delbruck,  ere  he  died,  had  himself  thoroughly 
grounded  his  son  in  all  the  branches  of  a  sound 
practical  preparatory  education,  so  that  the  boy  of 
thirteen  was  a  marvel  of  solid  learning  and  extensive 
knowledge. 

After  attending  the  excellent  gymnasium  of  Halle 
for  about  three  years  longer,  young  Delbruck,  at  the 
exceptionally  early  age  of  scarce  sixteen,  entered  upon 
the  study  of  law  and  political  economy,  first  at  Bonn, 
then  at  Gottingen,  and  lastly  at  Berlin,  where  he  also 
served  his  year  as  a  volunteer  in  the  army,  along 
with  his  most  intimate  friend,  young  Philipsborn, 
who  was  afterwards  for  many  years  Postmaster 
General  of  Prussia,  until  he  was  at  length  succeeded, 
some  four  years  ago,  by  Stephan,  the  actual  Post- 
master-General of  the  German  empire. 

At  the  age  of  twenty,  Delbruck  passed  his  first 
law  examination,  when  he  was  attached  as  auscultator 
(the  initiatory  step  on  the  law-ladder  in  the  Prussian 
state  service)  to  the  county  and  city  court  of  Halle. 
Two  years  after,  in  1839,  he  was  transferred  to  the 
administrative  branch,  and  sent  to  Merseburg,  where 
he  remained  two  years,  working  his  hardest  to  acquire 
a  thorough  practical  mastery  of  the  business  and 
routine  in  every  department  of  the  administration 
accessible  to  the  ardent  young  official,  and  adding 
largely  to  his  store  of  political,  economic,  and 
financial  knowledge. 

One    of  the  most  gratifying  results  of  his  ardent 


New  German  Empire.  297 

and  intelligent  labour  at  this  important  period  of  Ms 
life  was  that,  when  he  presented  himself,  in  1842,  to 
pass  the  second,  higher  state  examination,  he  both 
surprised  and  enchanted  his  examiners,  as  much  by 
his  manifest  sagacity  and  penetration,  as  by  the 
extent  and  soundness  of  his  lore,  more  especially  in 
the  vast  domain  of  political  economy. 

The  first  consequence  of  his  brilliant  success  was 
his  immediate  transfer  from  his  subordinate  position 
at  Merseburg  to  a  much  more  important  office  in 
the  general  revenue  department  of  the  Ministry  of 
Finance  at  Berlin.  Here  he  had  the  good  fortune 
to  find  himself  placed  under  the  immediate  guidance 
and  tuition  of  one  of  the  soundest  administrative 
officials  in  the  Prussian  service,  Privy-Councillor 
Kiihne,  whom  he  took  for  his  model  in  his  own 
official  career. 

A  year  after,  in  1843,  Delbruck  was  promoted  to  a 
higher  position  in  another  branch  of  the  exchequer- 
the  section  for  trade  and  commerce,  to  wit- -which 
was  then  presided  over  by  Privy -Councillor  Beuth, 
another  great  administrator  of  the  time,  and  the  actual 
founder  of  the  commercial  policy  of  Prussia.  Beuth 
was  a  rnan  of  singularly  wide,  liberal,  and  advanced 
views  in  political  economy,  who,  although  himself  too 
much  trammelled  and  confined  then  by  the  old  pig- 
tail element  rampant  under  the  feeble-minded  King 
Frederick  William  IV.  to  give  full  practical  expres- 
sion and  effect  to  his  own  enlightened  conceptions, 


298  Men  who  have  made  flic 

yet  did  implant  in  the  mind  of  his  favourite  pupil  and 
follower,  Delbriick,  the  seed  which  lias  borne  such 
excellent  fruit  since,  in  giving  freedom  of  expansion 
and  motion  to  trade  and  industry  in  Germany. 

In  1844  Delbriick  was  transferred  to  the  new  Board 
of  Trade,  then  first  constituted  in  Prussia  under  the 
direction  of  Privy-Counciller  Konne,  another  man  of 
liberal  views  and  high  administrative  capacity. 

Four  years  after,  in  March,  1848,  Delbriick,  though 
only  thirty-one  years  old  then,  was  appointed  a 
ministerial  director  in  the  Camphausen  ministry,  and, 
after  the  retirement  of  the  latter,  chief  of  the  newly- 
created  Ministry  of  Commerce,  with  the  rank  and  title 
of  an  actual  privy  superior  councillor  of  government — 
a  splendid  position  to  be  achieved  by  one  compara- 
tively so  young,  and  after  only  eleven  years  of  office, 
and  certainly  one  of  the  rarest  instances  on  record  of 
most  exceptionally  rapid  promotion  in  the  Prussian 
state  service. 

Although  still  sadly  fettered  and  restrained  in  his 
freedom  of  action  by  the  unpropitious  conditions  of 
the  heavy  times  through  which  Prussia  was  then 
passing,  Delbriick,  in  his  new,  comparatively  inde- 
pendent, and  highly  influential  position,  strove,  not- 
withstanding, to  the  best  of  his  ability  and  power,  and 
with  marked  success,  to  give  to  the  commercial  policy 
of  Prussia,  confided  to  his  guidance,  the  impulse  of 
his  own  enlightened  views  and  liberal  aspirations. 

In  1851  the  clouds  of  a  great  peril  were  gathering 


New  German  Empire.  299 

over  Prussia.  Austria,  not  satisfied  with  having  im- 
posed upon  her  hated  rival  the  moral  degradation  of 
Olmiitz,  sought  also  to  inflict  upon  the  Prussian 
exchequer  a  heavy  material  loss. 

The  Austrian  minister,  Bruck,  suddenly  proposed 
the  accession  of  the  entire  Austrian  monarchy  to  the 
German  Customs  Union  (Zollverein),  of  which  Prussia 
was  the  ostensible  head  and  leader.  Now,  the  Austrian 
crown  lands  might  safely  be  calculated  to  consume  a 
very  small  proportion  only  of  goods  liable  to  duty, 
whilst  the  total  proceeds  of  the  duties  raised  in  all 
the  lands  of  the  Union  were,  according  to  this  pretty 
Austrian  scheme,  to  be  distributed  among  the 
members  of  the  Union  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  inhabitants  in  the  several  countries- -which  of 
course  would  give  Austria  just  the  one  clear  half  of 
the  total  revenue  ! 

Even   leaving  out  of    consideration  the  enormous 

o 

accession  of  political  power  Austria  must  necessarily 
derive  from  being  placed  at  the  head  of  a  customs 
association  numbering  some  70,000,000  souls,  it  was 
not  likely  that  Prussia,  even  under  the  baneful 
influences  then  swaying  her  destiny,  should  consent 
to  submit  quietly  to  the  heavy  sacrifice  of  money 
involved  in  the  proposal. 

So  Delbruck  found  it  comparatively  easy  to  decline 
the  preferred  honour  of  Austria's  accession  to  the 
Zollverein.  And,  most  likely,  Bruck  had  never  even 
dreamt  of  a  possible  success  of  his  arrogant  scheme 


300  J/t'H   who  '/if tee  made  the 

but  had  simply  put  it  forward  by  way  of  intro- 
duction to  a  much  more  insidious  and  dangerous 
proposal  which  followed  soon  after- -the  offer,  to  wit, 
of  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Prussia  and  the 
Zollveiviri.  The  offer  was  clogged  simply  with  the 
trifling  proviso  that  the  Zollverein  should  renounce 
the  right  of  making  alterations  in  the  tariff  without 

o  o 

the  express  consent  and  sanction  of  Austria ! 

As  the  South  German  states  of  the  Zollverein  had 
been  gained  over  to  Austria's  views,  Delbriick  found 
himself  placed  in  a  most  ticklish  position.  However, 
he  skilfully  temporized  to  gain  a  little  time,  which 
he  turned  to  the  best  account  by  opening  secret 
negotiations  with  the  Steuerverein,  a  Customs  Union 

O  7 

then  existing  between  Hanover,  Oldenburg,  and  Lippe, 
which  lay  just  like  a  wedge  between  the  eastern  and 
western  provinces  of  Prussia. 

His  untiling  energy  and  consummate  skill  carried 
the  day,  and  in  September,  1851,  Hanover,  Olden- 
burg, and  Lippe  acceded  to  the  Prussian  Zollverein. 
The  territorial  extension  of  the  Union  thus  gained  in 
the  north  left  it  no  longer  a  matter  of  primary  and 
paramount  importance  to  retain  the  South  German 
states  cl  tout  prix,  and  Prussia  saw  herself  accord- 
ingly placed  in  a  position  to  leave  to  the  recalcitrants 
the  alternative  of  consenting  to  the  renewal  of  the 
treaty  with  her,  or  submitting  to  be  cut  off  entirely 
from  the  sea-shore. 

They  preferred,  of  course,  to  do  the  former,  and 


Neiv  German  Empire.  301 

Delbrtick  had  the  satisfaction  of  concluding  at  Berlin, 
on  the  4th  of  April,  1853,  a  new  treaty  for  twelve 
years  embracing  all  the  states  of  the  Union. 

Soon  after  this  great  achievement,  Delbriiek,  moving 
resolutely  onward  in  the  path  of  commercial  reform 
and  progress,  concluded  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
France,  which  placed  the  Zollverein  on  the  same  trade 
footing  in  that  country  as  England  and  Belgium. 

In  1862  the  renewed  machinations  and  intrigues 
of  Austria  again  gravely  imperilled  the  continued 
existence  of  the  Prussian  Zollverein. 

On  the  29th  of  March  of  that  year  Delbruck  had 
signed  the  draft  of  a  new  commercial  treaty  with 
France,  and  Austria  was  now  using  her  most  malig- 
nant efforts  to  procure  the  rejection  of  this  treaty 
by  the  South  German  states,  and  the  ultimate 
secession  of  the  latter  from  the  Prussian  Customs 
Union.  Misled  by  Austria's  evil  counsels,  and  mis- 
guided in  a  great  measure  by  their  blind  political 
enmity  to  the  great  North  German  kingdom,  the 
South  German  states  showed  themselves  more  than 
half  disposed  to  break  up  the  Union,  to  the  sacrifice 
even  of  their  own  interests. 

But  Delbruck,  finding  himself  now  most  efficiently 
supported  and  upheld  in  his  commercial  policy  by  the 
new  Prussian  premier,  Bismarck,  who  had  definitively 
taken  the  helm  of  the  state  on  the  9th  of  October, 
1862,  battled  vigorously -and  victoriously  against  the 
crafty  machinations  of  Austria,  and  the  patent  ill-will 


301  Men  U'lto  1t«i\'  made  tlie 

of  the  South  German  states.  In  his  efforts  to  over- 
come the  malevolent  opposition  of  these  latter,  he 
received  most  valuable  aid  at  the  hands  of  the  late 
King  John  of  Saxony,  who,  disregarding  alike  the 
solicitations  and  promptings  of  the  pro-Austrian 
court  and  c<tin<o'ill<A  petticoat  clique  around  him,  and 
the  wily  counsels  of  Beust,  declared  for  the  renewal  of 
the  Prussian  Customs  Union  and  the  ratification  of 
the  new  Franco-Prussian  treaty  of  commerce. 

So  Delbrlick  in  the  end  victoriously  overcame  all 

obstacles  thrown  in  the  wav  of  the  ratification  of  the 

«/ 

treaty  by  all  the  states  of  the  Union,  which  was  ac- 
complished on  the  12th  of  October,  1864. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year  he  negotiated  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  Austria,  and  three  years 
later,  after  successful  negotiations  with  England  and 
Belgium,  he  concluded  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
Italy,  on  the  31st  of  August,  1865. 

But,  whilst  thus  brilliantly  successful  in  his  efforts 
to  consolidate  the  Zollverein,  and  to  improve  its 
external  relations,  Delbriick  found  that  he  could 
make  but  scant  progress  in  another  at  least  equally 
important  direction- -to  wit,  the  improvement  of  the 
inner  rules  and  regulations,  and  the  tariff  arrange- 
ments of  the  Union,  as  he  had  constantly  and  in- 
variably to  meet  on  this  field  the  most  stubborn 
opposition  on  the  part  of  the  ministers  of  the  several 
governments  constituting  the  Union,  who  were  full 
of  individual  whims  and  prejudices  in  commercial 


New  German  Empire.  303 

and  financial  matters  and  politico-economic  questions, 
and  most  uncompromising  and  unyielding  in  the 
assertion  of  their  own  opinions. 

However,  when  the  great  events  of  1866  had  in- 
calculably increased  the  power  and  influence  of 
Prussia,  Delbriick  at  once  seized  the  favourable 
opportunity  to  strengthen  his  own  hands  in  the  coun- 
cils of  the  Union,  by  proposing  to  summon  a  Customs 
Parliament,  to  give  the  people  in  the  several  states 
an  equal  share  with  their  governments  in  the 
deliberations  and  resolutions  of  the  general  council. 

Delbriick's  demand  was  acceded  to  by  the  other 
members  of  the  Union,  and  a  new  treaty  was  con- 
cluded at  Berlin  on  the  8th  of  July,  1867,  which 
vested  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of  the  Zollverein 
jointly  in  the  Customs  Federal  Council  and  the 
Customs  Parliament. 

The  beneficial  results  of  this  great  step  in  advance 
soon  became  manifest  in  more  than  one  direction. 
Delbrtick,  powerfully  supported  now  by  the  Cus- 
toms Parliament,  naturally  so  much  better  able  than 
a  conclave  of  narrow- viewed,  prejudiced  officials  could 
possibly  be  expected  to  be  to  justly  appreciate  the 
practical  chiefs  wise  measures,  found  it  no  longer 
impracticable  to  give  the  fullest  effect  to  his  own 
enlightened  views  and  aspirations. 

On  the  llth  of  August,  1867,  Delbriick  was  named 

O  '  ' 

President  of  the  Chancellery  Office  of  the  North  Ger- 
man Confederation.    This  office  was  created  to  conduct 


:>04  Men  wlm  //<>/•<' 


tlic  ;itl;iirs  of  the  IK-\V  Nnrlh  (irnnan  Confederation 
under  the  su|»vmr  guidance  of  the  Federal  chancellor, 
who  took  upon  himself  the  sole  and  undivided 
responsibility  of  the  office. 

Bismarck,  who  has  barely  ever  yet  blundered  in 
the  choice  of  the  fittest  instruments  for  his  purpose 
(not  even  excepting  Arnim,  who,  moreover,  was  not" 
his  own  uncontrolled  choice),  hit  upon  Delbrlick  as 
the  best  man  for  the  new  office,  and  the  event 
has  since  amply  proved  the  sagacity  of  the  selec- 
tion. Delbriick's  advanced.  Liberal  views  on  political 
and  economic  questions,  his  enlightened  mind  and 
clear,  practical  intellect,  his  vast  knowledge  and 
extensive  acquirements,  his  immense  business  ca- 
pacity and  marvellous  power  of  working,  found  the 
freest  scope  now  for  the  most  beneficial  exercise. 

Delbriick,  in  his  capacity  as  Chief  of  the  Federal 
Chancellery,  had  to  act  also  as  the  representative  of 
the  chancellor  at  the  Diet  and  in  the  ministerial 
cabinet,  and  in  the  discussion  and  determination  of 
all  questions  relating  to  the  chancellor's  German 
policy  and  the  promotion  of  the  chancellor's  own 
views.  Indeed,  President  Delbriick,  who  was  named 
also  Prussian  minister  of  state,  to  enable  him  to 
maintain  undisturbed  the  indispensable  harmonious 
action  between  the  Federal  and  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment, might  well  be  called  Bismarck's  own  special 
minister. 

In     this     highly     important     position,     Delbriick 


New  German  Empire.  305 

speedily  found  the  welcome  opportunity  also  of  dis- 
playing another  of  his  great  statesmanlike  qualities  ; 
he  revealed  himself  as  an  accomplished  parliamentary 
speaker  and  excellent  debater.  There  is  no  dazzling 
ornamentation,  no  filagree  work,  about  his  speeches 
in  Parliament ;  they  always  go  straight  to  the  point, 
as  they  are  succinct,  clear  expositions  of  what  the 
speaker  has  to  say  and  intends  to  convey  to  the 
hearer's  mind  and  understanding. 

Among  Delbriick's  most  brilliant  oratorical  suc- 
cesses may  be  mentioned,  more  particularly,  the  great 
speech  delivered  by  him  on  the  5th  of  December, 
1870,  in  which  he  reported  on  the  treaties  concerning 
the  accession  of  the  South  German  states  to  the 
Federation,  lucidly  explaining  the  origin  and  nature 
of  these  treaties,  and  expressing  his  fervent  hope  to 
see  accomplished  at  length  the  political  union  of  the 
great  German  Fatherland. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  new  German  empire, 
Delbruck  at  once  assumed  the  function  of  President 
of  the  new  Imperial  Chancellery  office,  which  he 
retains  to  the  present  day. 

When,  in  the  spring  of  1871,  the  great  dotation 
question  was  submitted  to  the  new  German  Parliament, 
the  House  voted  an  amendment,  proposed  by  the  com- 
mittee with  the  assent  of  the  government,  sanctioning 
the  grant  of  dotations  also  to  German  statesmen  who 
had  prominently  contributed  to  the  creation  of  the 
new  empire.  It  was  universally  felt  at  the  time  that 

VOL.  II.  X 


306  M<  n    n'Jto   Jut  re 


Dell  >r  tick's  naiiu'   oui-iit   to  stand  first    and    foremost 

o 

on  the  list. 

Fii'ld-Marshal  niiirhcr  ivposed  tlie  most  unbounded 
confidence  in  liis  chief  of  the  start',  General  Gneisenau, 
and  liad  the  most  implicit  faitli  in  his  universal  'know- 
ledge and  tin-  infinite  versatility  of  his  talents.  It 
is  said  that  when  the  university  of  Oxford,  on  the 
occasion  of  Bliicher's  visit  to  England,  presented  to 
him  the  doctorate  of  laws,  the  old  marshal,  in  whose 
mind  all  doctors  were  indissolubly  connected  with 
physic,  would  only  consent  to  accept  the  proffered 
honour  on  condition  that  Gneisenau  should  be  ap- 
pointed his  dispensing  apothecary.  The  good  old 
man,  who  was  conscientious  in  his  way,  and  naturally 
misdoubted  his  own  skill  in  the  leech  line,  trusted 
that  Gneisenau  would  safely  see  him  through  all 
difficulties  that  might  attend  the  exercise  of  the  new 
profession  so  unexpectedly  thrust  upon  him. 

Bismarck  is  in  the  habit  of  calling  Delbriick  his 
"  GneisenaUo"  It  would  certainly  be  impossible  to 
show  a  higher  appreciation  of  the  great  president 
and  his  eminent  services. 


New  German  Empire.  307 


XXII. 

LOTHAR    BUCHER. 

LOTHAR  BUCHER,  Actual  Privy  Councillor  of  Lega- 
tion, and  Councillor  Reporter  in  the  Prussian  Ministry 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  is  universally  and  rightly  believed 
to  be  Bismarck's  most  intimate  and  most  trusted 
adviser.  He  is  a  man  of  vast  capacity  and  extensive 
acquirements,  and,  next  to  Delbrtick,  the  hardest 
worker  in  Germany. 

Lothar  Bucher  was  born  on  the  25th  of  October, 
1817,  at  Neustettin,  where  his  father  was  professor  at 
the  Hedwig  gymnasium.  In  1821,  Professor  Bucher 
was  transferred  to  the  gymnasium  at  Koslin,  in 
Pomerania,  where  his  son  received  accordingly  his 
preparatory  education.  Gifted  with  quick  appre- 
hension and  a  retentive  memory,  the  boy  distin- 
guished himself  greatly  at  school,  and  advanced  rapidly 
through  the  several  classes  and  forms  of  the  gym- 
nasium, until,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  in  1835,  he 
passed  a  brilliant  examination  of  fitness  for  higher 
university  studies. 

He  was  sent  to  Berlin,  where  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  very  hardest  and  most  persevering  study  of  the 
law,  cultivating  also,  with  ardent  zeal,  the  philosophy 


of  Hegel. 


x  2 


308  Men  who  have  made  the 

In  the  autumn  of  1838  he  passed  his  first  law  ex- 
amination, and  was  soon  after  appointed  auscultator 
at  the  upper  provincial  court  at  Koslin.  Some  five 
years  after,  he  was  appointed  to  an  assessorship, 
and,  about  midsummer  1843  he  wTas  sent  to  Stolp, 
where  he  was  attached  to  the  provincial  and  city 
court,  and  had  also  intrusted  to  him  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  in  several  so-called  patrimonial 
courts,  or  manor  courts. 

* 

In  the  latter  capacity,  more  especially,  he  obtained 
a  clear  insight  into  the  actual  condition  of  the  farmers, 
the  peasantry,  and  the  cultivators  of  the  soil,  and 
the  many  glaring  abuses  which  the  old  feudal  system 
still  flourishing  there  made  the  unhappy  land  under 
its  sway  endure.  Bucher,  a  man  of  vast,  kindly 
sympathies,  soon  took  a  generous  dislike  to  the 
objectionable  state  of  things  he  found  existing  in 
his  justiciary  district ;  so  he  naturally  became  a  re- 
former. 

A  small  provincial  town  in  Pomerania  is  not 
exactly  the  place  where  one  may  expect  to  find  great 
literary  and  scientific  treasures  and  resources.  Now, 
there  are  some  exceptionally  rich  intellectual  natures 
that  find  it  next  to  impossible  to  give  their  faculties 
even  an  instant's  absolute  repose.  There  is  a  noble 
lord  living  now,  an  ex-chancellor,  one  of  England's 
most  eminent  legislators,  and  one  of  the  kindliest  and 
best  of  men,  wTho  could  not  abstain  from  active 
mental  work  even  during  the  few  brief  minutes  of 


New  German  Empire.  309 

his  daily  shaving,  but  must  turn  them  to  profitable 
account  by  committing  to  memory,  among  other 
things,  the  whole  of  Milton's  immortal  epic. 

Bucher  belongs  to  the  same  high  category  of  men. 
With  his  immense  capacity  for  work  and  his  insa- 
tiable craving  for  intellectual  occupation,  he,  hap- 
pening to  come  across  "Kotteck  and  Welcker's  State 
Lexicon,"  took  the  curious  notion  into  his  head  to 
go  through  the  bulky  work  from  the  first  line  to 
the  last. 

The  radical  constitutionalism  and  the  constitutional 
radicalism  of  this  famous  production  of  the  two 
Liberal  professors  exercised  a  decisive  influence  upon 
his  mind,  made  specially  receptive  for  this  kind  of 
teaching  by  the  very  large  dose  of  Hegelian  philo- 
sophy which  had  been  administered  to  it  whilst 
Bucher  was  pursuing  his  studies  at  the  university 
of  Berlin.  His  political  ideas  were  thus  naturally 
directed  into  an  ultra-radical  channel. 

No  wonder  then  that  when,  in  the  spring  of  1848, 
the  town  and  district  of  Stolp  elected  him  their 
representative  at  the  new  National  Assembly  at 
Berlin,  he  should  take  at  once  a  leading  position 
among;  the  most  advanced  radical  reformers.  In 

o 

November,  1848,  he  joined  in  the  revolutionary  re- 
fusal of  the  Assembly  to  grant  the  crown  the  right 
of  levying  taxes. 

After  the  dissolution  of  the  National  Assembly, 
Bucher  was,  in  the  spring  of  1849,  elected  by  his 


310  Men  who  have  made  the 

former  constituents  a  member  of  tin-  S.-coiid  Prussian 
Chamber.  Hi-iv  In-  add»-d  to  his  old  sins  and  offences 
against  the  imw  all-powerful  royal  and  feudalist  re- 
actionary part}',  his  stinging  report  on  the  motion 
declaring  illegal  the  royal  decree  which  placed  Berlin 
in  a  state  of  siege. 

In  1850  the  reaction  thought  fit  to  arraign  Buclier 
and  some  forty  other  leaders  in  the  old  tax-refusal 
movement  of  November,  1848,  before  the  public 
tribunals.  Buclier  was  aware  that  he  was  the  prin- 
cipal accused  in  the  matter,  the  other  forty  being 
drawn  in  simply  for  decency's  sake,  that  the  proceed- 
ing might  not  look  too  monstrous.  He  also  knew 
that  at  that  particular  juncture,  and  under  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  of  the  case,  there  was  really  no 
chance  of  an  acquittal,  and  that  his  state  career  in 
Prussia  might  fairly  be  considered  at  an  end,  even 
should  he  abide  the  almost  certain  condemnation,  and 
submit  to  his  sentence  without  murmuring. 

He  resolved,  therefore,  to  withdraw  himself  from 
the  power  of  his  enemies.  Whilst  the  jury  empanelled 
to  try  him  had  retired  to  deliberate  upon  their  ver- 
dict, he  cunningly  gave  the  police  officer  set  to  guard 
him  the  slip,  and  made  his  escape  to  England. 

It  would  seem  to  have  been  his  intention  at  first 
to  try  for  a  position  at  the  English  bar.  A  brief 
sojourn  in  London  sufficed  to  open  his  eyes  to  the 
fact,  that  the  realization  of  this  intention  would  take 
him  long  years.  So,  as  he  had  to  work  for  his  living, 


New  German  Empire.  311 

he  preferred  becoming  a  member  of  the  fourth  estate. 
For  some  ten  years  he  supplied  certain  leading  news- 
papers in  Germany  with  a  series  of  brilliant  articles. 
His  contributions  to  the  Berlin  National  Zeitung, 
more  especially,  attracted  general  attention  through  the 
soundness  of  the  information  given  in  them  as  much 
as  through  the  lucid  style  in  which  they  were  written. 

But  Bucher  was  always  a  man  of  very  clear  mind. 
In  London  he  had  most  excellent  opportunities 
afforded  him  of  becoming  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  the  British  constitution,  and  of  study- 
ing the  apparently  so  complicated,  yet  in  reality  so 
beautifully  simple,  wheelwork  of  that  marvellous 
growth  and  maturation  of  ages.  His  eyes  soon 
opened  to  the  real  value  of  the  doctrines  imbibed 
by  him  out  of  the  pages  of  Eotteck  and  Welcker, 
and  conned  over  in  his  former  intercourse  with  the 
ultra  radicals  of  the  whilom  famous  National  Assem- 
bly at  Berlin. 

Bucher  was  also  always  a  most  sincere  man.  It 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  conceal  the 
gradual  change  in  his  political  views  from  the  Ger- 
man papers  to  whom  he  was  sending  contributions 
from  London.  This  gave  rise  to  dissensions  between 
him  and  these  journals,  and  led,  among  other  things, 
to  a  long-protracted  polemical  discussion  between 
him  and  the  Berlin  National  Zeitung,  then  the 
uncompromising  organ  of  the  most  advanced  Liberal 
section  in  politics  and  political  economy  in  Prussia. 


312  Men  icho  have  made  the 

The  quarrel  was  slightly  envenomed  by  certain  here- 
tical deviations  of  Bucher's  from  his  former  pro- 
fessions of  pure  faith  in  the  doctrines  of  absolute 
free  trade. 

Still,  these  polemics  notwithstanding,  Bucher  con- 
tinued to  contribute  articles  to  most  of  the  papers 
with  which  he  was  connected  at  this  time.  In  1856 
Bucher  went  to  Paris,  where  he  remained  till  the 
close  of  the  first  Paris  International  Exhibition,  as 
reporter  and  correspondent  for  several  leading  papers 
in  Germany. 

During  his  residence  in  London,  Bucher  had  come 
into  contact  with  a  multitude  of  Englishmen  :  also  with 

O  ' 

a  great  many  political  refugees  from  other  countries 
than  Germany.  He  had  intimately  known  Joseph 
Mazzini,  Ledru  Eollin,  Kossuth,  Louis  Blanc,  Gar- 
rido,  and  many  other  non-German  exiles  from  the 
land  of  their  birth,  and  he  found  the  whole  batch  of 
them  intensely  national,  and  every  one  of  them  most 
warmly  enthusiastic  for  the  special  people  to  whom  he 
happened  to  belong.  The  German  refugees  alone 
seemed  to  constitute  an  exception  from  this  general 
rule  of  particularism,  and  to  wish  to  embrace  the 
whole  world  within  the  wide  range  and  reach  of  their 
universal  sympathies. 

From  his  experience  of  men  and  things  in  this  line, 
clear-headed  Lothar  Bucher  had  already  in  London 
drawn  the  great  lesson  for  himself,  that  it  behoves  a 
sensible  practical  man  to  restrict  his  patriotic  inani- 


New  German  Empire.  313 

festations  and  aspirations  in  the  first  place  rather  to 
his  own  particular  country  and  nation,  and  more 
especially  not  to  indulge  overmuch  in  the  bubble 
of  so-called  "  nationalities."  His  Paris  experience 
confirmed  him  thoroughly  in  his  new  opinion  on 
this  matter.  No  wonder,  then,  that  he  now  dropped 
absolutely  the  hollow,  sentimental,  and  thoroughly 
anti-historic  theories  anent  the  rights  of  every  small 
nation,  race,  and  tribe,  to  keep  up  an  arbitrary  inde- 
pendent existence  within  the  great  conglomeration 
to  which  it  might  happen  to  belong. 

This  extraordinary  doctrine  was  much  advocated 
at  the  time  in  Germany.  Bucher  boldly  maintained, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  great  German  people,  who 
had  actually  bestowed  upon  certain  alien  races  and 
tribes  settled  in  Germany  all  the  blessings  of  civili- 
zation enjoyed  by  them,  had  also  an  indefeasible 
right  to  exert  a  preponderating  political  influence 
over  them. 

Now  this  doctrine  of  Bucher's  wTent  right  against 
the  grain  of  the  German  Liberals,  arid  Bucher,  who 
had  meanwhile  returned  to  Berlin  in  consequence  of 
the  general  amnesty  proclaimed  by  King  William, 
found  himself  very  soon  at  loggerheads  with  his 
former  political  associates  and  friends. 

Still  he  continued  his  contributions  to  the  National 
Zeitung  for  about  a  twelvemonth  longer,  after  which 
he  tried  to  obtain  employment  in  the  Berlin  Tele- 
graph administration. 


314  M^cii    irlio  J/<ir<'   n/<t(le  the 


Conscious  of  the  extent  and  soundings  of  his  legal 
attainments,  he  made  up  his  mind  at  last  to  apply  for 
his  reinstatement  into  the  law  service  of  the  state, 
his  intention  being  at  the  time  to  qualify  himself  for 
the  position  of  a  barrister  or  pleader  before  the  courts 

of  law. 

A  friend  of  Lothar  Bucher's  undertook  to  sound 
Bismarck  about  this.  Now  the  great  minister  had 
been  peculiarly  struck  with  the  sound  sense  and 
marvellous  logic  of  Bucher's  articles,  more  especially 
in  the  National  Zeitung.  He,  with  his  sharp  sight 
and  clear  insight,  reckoned  up  the  man  who  had 
penned  these  articles,  and  divined  the  great  spirit 
in  him,  kindred  to  his  own. 

So  he  sent  word  to  Lothar  Bucher  that,  if  he 
would  consent  to  pass  a  period  of  probation  in  the 
service  of  the  Foreign  Office,  it  was  his  (Bismarck's) 
opinion  that  he  would  do  much  better  there  than 
in  the  law  career. 

Bucher  eagerly  accepted  the  opening  thus  offered 
to  him,  and  entered  the  Foreign  Office  in  December, 
1864.  Of  course,  he  very  soon  made  his  mark. 
A  man  of  such  transcendent  abilities,  and  such 
enormous  working  capacity,  could  not  possibly  have 
failed  in  securing  a  firm  footing  within  the  briefest 
possible  period  of  time.  The  year  after,  already, 
in  1865,  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Councillor 
of  Legation,  and  definitively  appointed  to  a  high 
position  in  the  Foreign  Office. 


New  German  Empire.  315 

In  December,  1866,  he  acted  as  recorder  of 
the  minutes  at  the  conference  of  the  plenipoten- 
tiaries charged  to  draw  up  the  constitution  of  the 
North  German  Federation ;  and  in  1867  he  was 
appointed  Actual  Privy  Councillor  of  Legation  and 
Councillor  Reporter  in  the  Ministry  of  Foreign 
Affairs- -which  may  fairly  be  instanced  as  an 
almost  unheard-of  rapidity  of  promotion  in  one  of 
the  most  difficult  departments  of  .the  state  service 
in  Prussia. 

Bismarck,  who  by  this  time  fully  knew  the  im- 
mense value  of  such  a  man  as  Lothar  Bucher,  made 
it  a  point  to  have  the  brilliant  councillor  always 
as  much  as  possible  in  his  own  immediate  vicinity. 
Thus,  in  1869,  Lothar  Bucher  was  full  five  months 
with  Bismarck  at  Varzin,  and  in  1870  he  was  again 
at  Varzin,  with  the  chancellor,  from  May  up  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  with  France,  on  both  occa- 
sions taking  a  vast  amount  of  hard  work  off  the 
chancellor's  shoulders. 

When  Bismarck  left  for  France,  Bucher  remained 
behind,  intrusted  with  the  management  of  the  most 
intimate  affairs  of  the  Foreign  Office.  But  even 
in  September  already,  when  Councillor  Abeken  was 
seized  with  his  fatal  illness,  Bismarck  sent  for 
Bucher  to  replace  this  trusty  counsellor  and  aid 

JL  »/ 

near  his  person. 

Bucher  joined  the  Chancellor  of  the  North  Ger- 
man Confederation  at  Ferrieres,  and  remained  thence- 


316  Men  icJio  have  ma<!<>  the 

forward  with  him  up  to  the  conclusioD  of  peace, 
giving  the  chancellor  the  most  valuaMe  aid  of  his 
brilliant  talents,  and  his  marvellously  sound  poli- 
tical knowledge  and  clear  insight  into  the  innermost 
nature  of  affairs. 

In    March,    1871,   a^ain,   Lothar  Bucher  attended 

7          O 

Bismarck  at  the  final  conference  of  Frankfort-on- 
t he- Main,  which  terminated  so  smoothly  in  the 
conclusion  of  the  definitive  peace  between  Germany 
and  France  on  the  10th  of  May,  1871. 

Three  years  and  a  half  have  passed  since  then, 
and  Lothar  Bucher  still  retains  his  position  and 
influence  with  the  great  chancellor.  Strange  to 
say,  perhaps,  these  two  men,  starting  from  diame- 
trically opposite  extremes  in  political  life,  seem  to 
have  met  exactly  half-way  on  their  course,  Bis- 
marck having  dropped  by  the  way  all  his  spurious, 
declamatory  ultra -royalism  and  Junkerdom,  and 
Lothar  Bucher  having  rid  himself  of  the  fearful 
encumbrance  of  Hegel,  Eotteck,  and  Welcker,  and 
of  all  the  other  ultra-radical  impediments  of  his 
hot  youth. 

There  are  but  too  many  political  pretenders  in 
Germany  coveting  the  inheritance  of  the  great  Bis- 
marck. Most  of  these  ambitious  aspirants  are  the 
veriest  pigmies- -very  clever  men,  no  doubt — aye, 
almost  as  clever  as  Harry  Arnim ;  for  all  that, 
lacking  the  least  approach  to  the  great  chancellor's 
genius.  Lothar  Bucher  has  more  of  Bismarck  in 


l-r 


New  German  Empire.  317 


his  composition  than  all  the  Savignys  and  Arnims, 
and  the  other  still  smaller  cattle  that  would  follow 
in  their  wake,  and  whom  the  eminent  Berlin  corre- 
spondents of  certain  London  papers  are  so  foolishly 
bent  upon  parading  daily  in  their  Berlin  letters. 


olS  Moi  who  //"/v   nmde  the 


SPECIAL  ARMS  AND  VICTUALLING  DEPART- 
MENTS. 


"  Die  ICruppische  Kanone, 
Des  Dreyse  sein  Gewehr, 
Die  \varen  gar  nicht  ohne, 
Die  Erbswurst  auch  half  sehr." 

-KUTSCHKE'S  Soldatenlied. 

(Krupp's  cannon  and  Dreyse's  needle-gun  were  by  no  means  unim- 
portant adjuncts,  and  the  pea-sausage  also  contributed  largely 
to  the  great  success.) 

* 

Ix  all  wars,  from  the  earliest  antiquity,  the  quality  of 
the  weapons  of  the  combatants  has  formed  a  most 
important  item  of  consideration'  in  the  calculation 
of  the  chances  of  success.  In  modern  warfare,  when 
arms  of  precision  play  so  preponderating  a  part,  the 
condition  of  the  general  and  special  armaments  of 
the  troops  must  necessarily  fall  with  double  weight 
into  the  scale. 

The  living  machines  of  war  that  had  come  forth  from 
the  skilful  hands   of   the    Roons,  the   Albrechts,  the 


New  German  Empire.  319 

Hindersins,  the  Hollebens,  and  many  others  of  the 
same  high  capacity  of  organization,  were  unquestion- 
ably of  the  most  admirable  make  and  the  fullest 

«/ 

efficiency.  Yet,  suppose  they  had  had  to  take  the 
field  with  the  old  percussion  gun  and  the  venerable 
smooth-bore,  muzzle-loading,  bronze  cannon  of  the 
past,  surely  their  chances  of  success  would  have  been 
much  less  promising  than  the  perfection  of  their 
armament  actually  made  them. 

The  ingenious  inventors  and  makers  of  this  arma- 
ment may  therefore  well  be  permitted  to  bring  up 
the  rear  here,  at  least,  of  the  German  notabilities 
of  the  present  day. 


XXIII. 

DREYSE. 

JOHN  NICHOLAS  DKEYSE  was  born  on  the  20th 
of  November,  1787,  at  Sommerda,  a  small  township 
in  the  Erfurt  district.  His  father,  John  Christian 
Dreyse,  was  a  master  locksmith,  pretty  well  to  do  for 
a  man  in  his  position.  From  his  seventh  to  his 
fourteenth  year  Nicholas  went  to  the  city  school 
of  Sommerda,  where  he  received  a  sound  primary 
education.  Being  naturally  fond  of  mechanics,  he 
took  to  his  father's  trade  from  choice.  At  the  age 
of  fourteen  he  became  an  apprentice  in  his  father's 
workshop. 


320  .Ifen  who  h«rc  made  the 

He  Lad  soon  conn 'lately  mastered  tlic  elements  of 
the  craft,  and  agreeably  surprised  liis  father  by  his 
manual  dexterity,  as  well  as  by  the  happy  ingenuity 
of  his  improvements  in  locks  and  other  articles  in 
his  lint-  of  business. 

When  his  apprenticeship  was  over,  young  Nicholas, 
after  the  universal  manner  of  German  workmen  of 
the  period,  went  forth  to  wander  into  the  world 
in  search  of  work,  and  to  acquire  a  more  extensive 
and  perfect  knowledge  of  his  craft.  This  was  in 
1806. 

On  his  wanderings  he  happened  to  come  upon  the 
great  slaughter  field  of  Jena,  on  the  15th  of  October, 
the  very  day  after  the  battle  which  had  laid  Prussia 
in  the  dust.  He  was  then  a  youth  of  nineteen.  The 
awful  sight  of  heaps  of  dead  bodies  all  around  made 
a  very  powerful  and  most  sad  impression  upon  his 
young  mind,  the  sadder,  as  he  was  a  youth  of  ardent 
patriotism.  He  took  up  from  the  ground  a  Prussian 
gun,  of  the  venerable  old  Brown  Bess  type,  and 
examined  it  with  the  eye  of  a  skilful  mechanist. 
He  found  it  sadly  wanting  in  everything  required  to 
constitute  an  effective  arm.  Whenever  he  related 
the  story  afterwards,  he  used  always  to  add  that 
this  Prussian  gun  seemed  to  him  at  the  time  to  have 
been  expressly  made  with  a  view  of  shooting 
round  the  corner.  It  was  the  wrorst  article  of  the 
kind  then  in  existence. 

Here,  on  this  field  of  death,  the  first  thought  came 


Neiv  German  Empire.  321 

into  his  mind,  to  improve  the  mechanism  of  the 
Prussian  fire-arms.  Soon  after,  he  had  occasion  to 
see  a  French  infantry  gun  of  the  so-called  pattern 
of  1779,  which  was  then  the  most  perfect  of  its 
kind  in  the  world. 

He  now  worked  at  his  trade  for  three  years  at 
Altenburg,  Dresden,  and  some  other  places  in 
Germany,  striving  more  particularly,  and  whenever 
the  opportunity  offered,  to  improve  his  knowledge 
and  skill  in  the  construction  of  fire-arms.  He  was 
always  trying  one  improvement  or  other,  but  with 
only  indifferent  success,  as  the  French  1779  pattern 
seemed  to  him  then  the  most  perfect  model. 

In  1809  he  was  at  last  enabled  to  gratify  the 
most  ardent  wish  of  his  heart — to  go  to  France, 
which  at  the  time  enjoyed  the  deserved  reputation 
that  the  most  ingenious  and  skilled  locksmiths,  and 
the  best  makers  of  fire-arms  in  the  world,  were  to  be 
found  there. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Paris  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  obtain  employment  in  the  famous  gun- 
factory  of  the  Swiss  officer  Pauli,  then  under  the 
special  patronage  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I.  Pauli 
took  a  great  liking  to  young  Dreyse,  whom  he  found 
a  most  excellent  craftsman  and  an  indefatigable 
worker.  He  confided  to  him  that  the  Emperor  had 
asked  him  to  try  to  construct  a  breech-loading  gun. 
This  notion,  which  Napoleon  might  possibly  have 
taken  from  the  toy-guns  of  children,  or  from  having 

VOL.  IT.  Y 


Men    n'ho   la  re    imnle   tin' 


accidentally  come  across  some  of  the  breech-loading 
cannons  that  would  seem  to  have  been  in  partial  use 
about  the  year  1770,  flashed  upon  Dreyse's  mind  as  a 
complete  revelation.  He  knew  now  at  once  where  he 
had  to  direct  his  attention  first  in  his  intended  con- 
struction of  an  improved  infantry  gun. 

Pauli  succeeded,  after  infinite  labour,  in  producing 
a  breech-loading  gun,  but  of  such  complicated  con 
struction  that  it  required  most  skilful  handling  to 
use  it  with  proper  effect,  and  was  entirely  unsuited 
to  the  common  run  of  soldiers.  Napoleon  was  so 
pleased,  nevertheless,  that  he  bestowed  upon  the 
inventor  a  gift  of  800/.  and  the  Cross  of  the  Legion 
of  Honour.  However,  Pauli  felt  so  discouraged  by 
his  comparative  failure,  that  he  gave  up  the  breech- 
loading  notion  altogether. 

Not  so  Dreyse,  who  was  of  a  most  persevering  turn 
of  mind.  All  the  time  he  remained  in  France,  up  to 
1814,  he  turned  every  spare  hour  to  the  best  account 
in  thinking  of  what  had  now  become  the  all-absorb- 
ing object  of  his  life  —  the  construction  of  a  simple 
breech-loading  gun  that  might  be  handled  and  used 
effectively  by  any  private  soldier. 

In  1814  he  returned  to  Sommerda,  to  his  father's 
workshop. 

In  1821  he  married,  and  established  soon  after,  in 
partnership  with  a  merchant  of  the  name  of  Kronbie- 
gel,  a  factory  for  the  making  of  iron  nails,  buttons, 
and  other  articles  in  the  so-called  cold  way,  by 


New  German  Empire.  323 

machinery.  After  Kronbiegel's  death,  a  Mr.  Collen- 
busch  joined  Dreyse  in  the  business,  which  continues 
in  existence  to  the  present  day.  Dreyse  was  the 
first  in  Germany  to  produce  these  machine-made 
articles. 

Meanwhile  the  percussion-gun  had  been  invented, 
in  1815,  in  England,  and  the  percussion-caps  also, 
though  two  Frenchmen,  Pidat  and  Debonbert,  have 
since  then  successfully  claimed  the  latter  invention  for 
theirs.  In  1822  the  new  invention  found  its  way 
into  Germany,  where  extensive  experiments  were  at 
once  instituted,  more  particularly  in  Prussia,  with  a 
view  to  substitute  the  new  percussion  lock  for  the 
old  flint  lock. 

Dreyse  naturally  became  at  once  one  of  the  most 
eager  and  persevering  experimenters  on  this  field.  He 
more  especially  brought  all  his  technical  knowledge 
to  bear  upon  the  preparation  of  igniting  or  exploding 
material  for  the  discharge  of  percussion-guns.  Aided 
by  the  chemical  knowledge  of  a  friend  of  his,  Baudius, 
an  apothecary  in  Sommerda,  he  succeeded  in  turning 
fulminate  of  mercury  to  account  for  this  purpose. 
In  1824  he  established  a  factory  of  percussion-caps 
at  Sommerda,  in  partnership  with  Collenbusch.  The 
Prussian  government  granted  the  firm  a  patent  for  the 
new  caps.  In  the  same  year  Dreyse  also  obtained  a 
patent  for  his  newly-invented  "  steam  generator."  For 
this  patent  he  was  indebted  chiefly  to  the  patronage 
of  Privy  Councillor  Beuth. 

Y   2 


who  hare  ma<Jt'  the 


After  this,  Dirvsr  turned  his  particular  attention 
to  devising  the  means  of  carrying  into  practical 
effect  an  old  favourite  notion  of  his,  which  had  for 
its  chief  object  to  change  the  place  of  the  igniting 
or  exploding  process  from  the  outer  to  the  inner 
part  of  the  gun,  and  also  the  construction  of  a 
cartridge  that  should  contain  within  itself  the  whole 

O  r 

of  the  materials  required  for  the  charge  of  the  gun. 

After  some  three  years'  hard  work,  and  many 
bitter  disappointments,  he  succeeded  at  last,  in  1827, 
in  producing  a  percussion  needle-gun  —  only  a  muzzle- 
loader,  however. 

He  sent  models  of  his  new  invention  to  the 
Prussian  minister  of  war,  who  speedily  informed 
him  that  the  weapon  had  been  found  unfit  for 
practical  use  in  the  army,  and  that  he  was  at  liberty 
to  dispose  of  it  elsewhere.  He  thereupon  sent  models 
to  several  other  governments,  also  to  the  Austrian 
minister  of  war  —  wTho  sent  it  back  with  contemp- 
tuous scorn,  telling  the  presumptuous  Prussian  gun- 
smith that  there  was  no  lack  of  clever  men  in 
Austria  !  Had  this  conceited  minister  only  been  a 
wise  man  in  his  generation,  and  had  he  accordingly 
tried  his  hardest  to  secure  the  ingenious  inventor 

o 

for  Austria  !  .  .  .  many  things  might  be  different, 
perhaps,  now  from  what  they  are,  and  even  the  great 
fact  of  the  new  German  empire  might  still  remain 
a  bright  dream  in  the  pondering  brains  of  German 
patriots  ! 


New  German  Empire.  325 

The  present  Emperor  of  Germany,  then  Prince 
William,  happening  to  be  at  Weimar  in  1829,  sent 
for  Dreyse.  The  prince  felt  much  interested  in  the 
new  invention,  and  induced  the  Prussian  minister  of 
war  to  take  the  matter  up  anew. 

From  1830  up  to  1833,  a  series  of  experiments 
were  made  with  Dreyse's  gun  by  a  commission  of 
officers  under  the  presidency  of  General  Thiele  and 
Colonel  Neumann,  the  results  of  which  led  to  the 
admission  of  Dreyse  into  the  official  service  of  the 
state,  with  a  sufficient  subvention  to  enable  the 
man  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  improvement 
of  his  invention. 

The  year  1835  saw  the  birth  of  the  first  'breech- 
loading  needle-gun.  But,  unhappily,  Messrs.  Kedtape 
and  Eoutine,  if  they  have  it  not  quite  their  own 
way  in  Prussia  as  much  as  in  certain  other  lands, 
are  yet  not  without  most  powerful  influence  whenever 
they  choose  to  indulge  in  their  favourite  practice  of 
throwing  a  wet  blanket  upon  a  new  discovery  or  in- 
vention beyond  the  very  limited  comprehension  of  their 
own  narrow  brains.  So  it  took  the  patient  inventor 
some  five  years  longer,  and  all  the  benevolent  exertions 
in  his  favour  of  General  Witzleben,  Colonel  Priem, 
and  some  other  distinguished  officers,  to  obtain  at 
last  the  king's  sanction  for  a  final  trial  of  the 
efficiency  of  the  new  arm.  The  trial  commission 
was  presided  over  by  Prince  Augustus  of  Prussia, 
who,  as  well  as  most  of  the  other  general  officers, 


32G  Men  ?r/r;  //are  made  the 

was  firmly  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  Dreyse's 
gun  would  fail  practically,  as  the  cartridges  must  of 
course  explode  of  their  own  accord  after  the  eighth 
or  tenth  discharge  of  the  gun.  These  learned  gentle- 
men were  grievously  disappointed.  The  new  weapon 
stood  the  test  most  brilliantly. 

It  was  only  after  this  great  success,  in  1840,  that 
King  Frederick  William  IV.  ordered  60,000  of  Dreyse's 
guns,  granting  the  inventor  at  the  same  time  sufficient 
funds  to  establish  a  large  needle-gun  and  ammunition 
factory. 

On  the  15th  of  October,  1841,  just  thirty-five  years 
after  the  first  idea  had  entered  Dreyse's  head  to  pro- 
-duce  an  efficient  gun  for  the  Prussian  infantry,  the 
new  factory  entered  upon  active  work. 

Up  to  1863  it  had  supplied  300,000  needle-guns 
to  the  Prussian  army. 

In  1843  Nicholas  Dreyse  had  conferred  upon  him 
the  Order  of  the  Eed  Eagle  of  the  fourth  class ;  in 
1846  he  was  named  a  Councillor  of  Commission,  and 
decorated  with  the  Eed  Eagle  of  the  third  class. 

He  persevenngly  continued  his  experiments  in 
fire-arms,  turning  his  attention  successfully  also  to 
improvements  in  rifled  cannon.  Even  the  most  cur- 
sory enumeration  of  his  numerous  inventions  and 
improvements  in  fire-arms  must  be  omitted  here  for 
want  of  space.  . 

In  1864  the  war  in  Schleswig-Holstein  afforded 
a  grand  opportunity  for  testing  the  excellence  of 


New  German  Empire.  327 

Dreyse's  needle-gun.  The  new  weapon  stood  the 
test  admirably.  King  William  was  delighted  with 
the  result,  and  gratefully  bestowed  upon  the  ingeni- 
ous inventor  the  Prussian  Crown  Order  of  the  third 
class,  and  a  patent  of  nobility  for  himself  and  his 
descendants. 

The  productive  power  of  Dreyse's  works  at  Som- 
merda  was  considerably  increased  in  the  years 
1864-65,  In  the  latter  year,  more  especially,  the 
number  of  hands  employed  reached  the  high  figure 
of  1,500. 

Dreyse  lived  to  witness  the  splendid  success  of 
his  creation  in  the  war  of  1866.  He  died  on 
the  9th  of  December,  1867,  in  the  eighty-first  year 
of  his  age.  His  gun-factory,  and  other  works  and 
establishments  at  Sommerda,  are  now  conducted  by 
his  only  son  and  heir,  Francis,  who  had  already 
for  long  years  had  the  technical  direction  of  the 
works. 

This  gentleman,  who  was  born  on  the  2nd  of 
March,  1822,  continues  to  conduct  the  paternal  busi- 
ness with  considerable  skill  and  talent. 

Since  the  Franco-German  War  of  1870-71,  the 
needle-gun  has  been  very  considerably  improved,  as 
the  old  pattern  had  been  found  inferior  in  effi- 
ciency, range,  and  rapidity  of  firing  to  the  French 
chassepot-gun.  After  many  and  most  varied  ex- 
periments, the  supreme  military  authorities  of  the 
German  empire  have  now  finally  decided  to  supply 


328  Men  who  hace   im'ide  the 

the  whole  of  the  German  army- -with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Bavarians,  who  have  a  most  excellent 
weapon  already  in  the  AV<T<l<-r  gun-  with  a  gun 
of  a  new  pattern,  made  by  a  Wiirtemberg  gun- 
smith of  the  name  of  Mauser,  who  lives  at  Obern- 
dorf.  This  new  pattern  is  called  the  Mauser  gun 
or  rifle.  This  Mauser  gun  is  said  to  be  in  every 
way  vastly  superior  to  the  chassepot. 

However,  as  the  supply  of  so  large  a  number  as 
the  arming  of  the  immense  German  host  requires  must 
necessarily  be  a  wrork  of  years,  the  old  pattern 
needle-gun  has  meamvhile  been  altered  and  improved, 
to  fit  it  for  immediate  service.  This  improved 
needle-gun  is  also  said  by  competent  judges  to  be 
superior  to  the  chassepot  of  the  French  infantry. 

Large  numbers  of  the  French  chassepots  wrhich 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  victors  in  the 
late  war,  have  also  been  converted  for  provisional 
use  in  the  German  army.  The  carbine,  for  instance, 
with  which,  the  light  cavalry  and  a  portion  of  the 
lancers  are  armed  now,  is  simply  a  shortened 
chassepot. 

XXIV. 

KRUPP. 

ALFRED  KRUPP  wras  born  at  Essen,  in  the  district 
of  Dtisseldorf,  on  the  12th  of  April,  1812,  His 
father,  Frederick  Krupp,  wras  the  same  as  Dreyse's, 


Neiv  German  Empire.  329 

a  locksmith  and  worker  in  steel,  in  a  small  way. 
This  poor  man  had  an  inventive  genius,  overcast  by 
the  sad  fate  of  incessant  failure  in  all  his  efforts 
to  improve  the  quality  of  the  steel  used  by  him 
for  the  manufacture  of  cutting  instruments.  He 
died  in  1827,  not  yet  forty,  leaving  his  business, 
such  as  it  was,  to  his  son  Alfred,  then  a  boy  of 
under  fifteen. 

At  the  time  of  Alfred's  birth,  Essen  was  a  very 
small  place ;  indeed,  the  entire  estate  of  the  old  Stift 
(Chapter)  of  Essen,  covering  an  area  of  some  sixty- 
five  to  seventy  English  square  miles  in  extent,  had 
then  only  about  18,000  inhabitants  at  the  most. 
Now  the  population  has  multiplied  sevenfold,  and  the 
city  of  Essen  is  going  on  fast  towards  60,000  souls  ! 

This  splendid  development  of  the  city  and  circle 
of  Essen  may  fairly  be  said  to  be,  in  a  very  great 
measure  at  least,  the  result  and  natural  concomitant 
of  the  extraordinary  success  of  Alfred  Krupp's  great 
industrial  undertaking  there. 

After  the  father's  death  the  boy  continued  the 
business,  aided  by  two  workmen  only.  But  whilst 
naught  but  failure  had  attended  all  Frederick  Krupp's 
most  earnest  efforts,  fortune  smiled  upon  everything 
the  son  touched.  And  so  it  has  come  to  pass,  in 
the  course  of  less  than  fifty  years,  that  the  humble 
workshop,  which  may  be  seen  on  the  premises  to 
the  present  day,  has  expanded  into  one  of  the  most 
gigantic  establishments  in  the  world,  covering  an 


330  M»'n    "7/o  Jmce  made  the 

area  of  more  than  an  English  square  mile,  and 
occupying  12,000  workmen  ! 

Alfred  Krupp's  is  the  largest  steel-casting  establish- 
ment to  be  found  anywhere.  It  numbers  some  600 
furnaces,  and  close  upon  1,000  machines  for  the  making 
of  tools  and  implements  alone.  There  are  nigh  upon 
a  quarter  of  a  million  melting  crucibles.  Some  300 
steam  engines,  from  1,000  horse-power  down  to  2 
horse-power,  and  about  80  steam  hammers,  from 
50  tons  weight  down  to  2  cwt.,  are  incessantly 
at  work.  The  daily  consumption  of  coal  exceeds 
1,700  tons. 

Articles  of  cast  steel  are  manufactured  here  of 
every  kind,  size,  and  weight,  to  the  total  amount  of 
something  like  80,000-100,000  tons  a  year. 

The  merest  cursory  description  of  such  an  establish- 
ment as  Krupp's  is  of  course  altogether  out  of  the 
question  here  ;  nor  can  space  be  afforded  for  the 
slightest  sketch  of  the  man's  career. 

AVe  must  rest  content,  then,  with  merely  stating 
that  Alfred  Krupp  is  a  man  of  high  intelligence,  vast 
inventive  genius,  the  most  patient  perseverance  and 
endurance,  and  extraordinary  working  powers.  He 
was  the  first  to  devise  an  efficient  system  of  cast- 
ing steel  successfully  in  immense  blocks  and  enor- 
mous masses,  and  remains  even  to  the  present  day 
without  a  serious  competitor  in  his  line. 

Alfred  Krupp  exhibited  the  first  great  cast-steel 
block  of  his  manufacture  in  1851,  at  London.  This 


New  German  Empire.  331 

block  weighed  2j  tons — a  weight  unheard  of  before. 
The  largest  block  competing  with  Krupp's,  which 
was  sent  to  the  Exhibition  by  a  Sheffield  firm, 
weighed  only  a  ton.  Eleven  years  after,  in  18G2, 
Krupp  sent  a  block  of  25  tons  weight  to  the  London 
Exhibition;  and  in  1867,  he  sent  another  to  Paris, 
weighing  40  tons.  It  is  said  that  solid  masses  of 
steel  up  to  200  tons  weight  and  above  can  now 
be  cast  at  Essen  ! 

In  1847  Alfred  Krupp  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
casting  cannon  of  steel.  In  1851  he  sent  the  first 
six-pounder  cast  in  his  factory  to  the  great  Exhibition 
at  London.  The  article  was  not  perfect,  however,  as 
it  was  cast  in  two  pieces.  In  1854  the  first  trial  was 
made  to  test  the  power  of  resistance  of  "  Krupp's 
infants."  They  stood  even  some  of  the  most  unfair 
tests.  In  1856  Krupp  overcame  the  last  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  producing  steel  breech-loaders  cast  in 
a  single  piece. 

His  first  customer  for  steel  cannon  was  the  Viceroy 
of  Egypt ;  Prussia  and  Eussia  soon  after  followed 
the  example  set  them  by  the  African  ruler.  Up  to 
1858,  however,  the  business  was  rather  slack,  no 
more  than  100  pieces  of  ordnance  altogether  being 
cast  at  the  Essen  works.  During  the  seven  years 
following,  Krupp  furnished  close  upon  3,000  cast -steel 
cannon  of  all  sizes,  some  of  them  capable  of  throwing 
projectiles  of  a  quarter  of  a  ton  weight. 

In  1867  Krupp  astonished  the  world  by  his  giant 


332  Men    who  have  made   the 

cannon  exhibited  at  Paris,  which  was  intended  to 
throw  projectiles  of  half  a  ton  weight,  with  a  charge 
of  1  cwt.  of  gunpowder. 

Of  late  years  the  manufacture  of  cast-steel  rifled 
breech-loading  ordnance  at  the  Essen  establishment 
has  taken  still  greater  expansion. 

That  Krupp's  cannon  have  vastly  aided  in  achieving 

the  great  Prussian  and  German  victories  in  the  field 

t) 

is  universally  admitted.  Their  efficiency  was  bril- 
liantly proved  as  early  as  1864  in  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  campaign. 

However,  Alfred  Krupp  is  thoroughly  cosmopolitan 
and  mercantile  in  the  supply  of  these  splendid  engines 
of  war- -perhaps  even  beyond  what  might  properly 
be  deemed  compatible  with  loyal  allegiance  to  his 
own  country,  for  he  freely  furnishes  the  prospective 
enemies  of  Germany  with  his  rifled  ordnance. 

The  King  of  Prussia  has  bestowed  upon  Krupp 
the  title  of  Privy  Councillor  of  Commerce.  He  also 
offered  him  a  patent  of  nobility,  which,  however,  the 
stiff-necked  manufacturer  declined  accepting. 

The  Essen  establishment  pays  in  rates  and  taxes 
something  like  £24,000  a  year.  In  the  early  part  of 
the  present  year,  Krupp  wished  to  raise  a  loan  of 
£1,500,000.  In  a  few  days  the  subscriptions  to  this 
loan  exceeded  £5,000,000  ! 

In  conclusion,  it  remains  now  simply  to  briefly 
note  that  singularly  important  article  of  food  so 


New  German  Empire.  333 

largely  used  by  the  German  commissariat  in  the  war 
of  1870-71 — the  pea-sausage,  to  wit,  and  its  inge- 
nious compounder. 


XXV. 

GRUNBERG. 

THAT  the  purveying  and  victualling  department 
must  always  claim  a  paramount  share  of  attention 
and  care  on  the  part  of  the  leaders  of  an  army  in 
the  field,  is  so  self-evident  a  proposition,  that  no  proof 
or  argument  need  be  adduced  here  in  support  of  it. 

No  apology  can  be  needed,  then,  for  just  tagging 
to  the  memoirs  of  the  inventor  of  the  needle-gun  and 
the  cast-steel  rifled  cannon,  a  passing  mention  of  the 
name  of  the  man  whose  ingenuity  and  knowledge 
as  a  cook  devised  the  preparation  of  a  savoury,  nutri- 
tious preserve  for  the  German  army  in  the  field- 
Griinberg,  a  culinary  artist  of  Berlin. 

The  pea-sausage,  which  he  compounded,  consists 
of  pea-flour,  best  beef-suet,  bacon  (twro  parts  of  lean 
to  one  of  fat),  onions,  salt,  and  spices.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  nutritious  articles  of  food.  Properly  made, 
and  fitted  into  paper  cases  specially  prepared  for  the 
purpose,  it  will  keep  unchanged  for  years  in  airy 
places.  For  eating,  it  may  either  be  cut  into  small 
cakes,  and  boiled  with  water  into  soup,  or  it  may  be 
boiled  whole  and  eaten  as  a  sausage. 


334  Men  >/•/<"  luii-f  mad*:  tin*  AV//>  <l<'nn«n  Km  pi  re. 

The  Prussian  government  made  the  inventor, 
Griinberg,  a  present  of  10,000?.,  and  had  a  manu- 
fartory  of  the  article  built  at  Berlin,  at  the  expense 
of  the  state.  At  first  only  about  14,000  Ibs.  of  pea- 
sausage  were  daily  produced  at  this  establishment  ; 
this  was  soon  increased,  however,  up  to  ten  times  the 
quantity,  2,400  males  and  females  being  employed 
in  the  production  of  this  large  supply. 


INDEX. 


ABEEEN,  ii.  294. 

^Egidi,  ii.  294. 

Albert,  King  of   Saxony,   ii.  106 — 

139. 
Albert  of  Saxony  in  the  Bohemian 

Campaign  of  1866,  ii.  124,   125  ; 

during  the     Cornmnne,    ii.    134 ; 

before  Paris,  ii.  131 ;  at  St.  Privat, 

ii.  127  ;  triumphal  entry  into  Dres- 
den, ii.  135. 

Albrecht,  Archduke,  ii.  63. 
Alexander  of  Hesse,  Prince,  Com- 

mander-in-Chief  of  the  8th  corps 

of  the  German  Confederation  army 

in  1866,  ii.  241—249. 
Alsen,  capture  of,  ii.  144. 
Alvensleben  I.,  General,  ii.  270. 
Alvensleben  II.,  General,  ii.  266 — 

270  ;  at  Mars-le-Tour,  ii.  98—100  ; 

267—268. 

Amiens,  battle  of,  ii.  178. 
Annexation     of    Hanover,     Hesse- 

Cassel,  &c.,  to  Prussia,  i.  161. 
Anton,  King  of  Saxony,  ii.  112. 
Army  Bill,  ii.  1 — 2. 
Army  Organisation  Bill,  i.  251. 
Aschaffenburg,  defeat  of  theAustrians 

at,  ii.  247. 
Augustenburg,  Prince  Frederick  of, 

i.  129,  &c. 
Aurelle  de  Paladines,  ii.  102  ;  and 

the  Army  of  the  Loire,  ii.  253. 
Austro-Prussian    alliance    and    war 

against    Denmark     in    1864,    i. 

129. 

BAPAUME,    German    victory    at,    ii, 

179. 
Barnekow,  General,  ii.  270. 


Beaumont,  battle  of,  ii.  75,  129. 
Beaune-la-Rolande,  battle  of,  ii.  102. 
Benedek,  ii.  48,  57,  61,  63. 
Benedetti,  i.  159. 
Bernard,  parish    priest    of  Kiefers- 

felden,  i.  279. 
Beust,  ii.  116,  118. 
Beyer,  General,  ii.  213,  216,  243. 
Bismarck,  i,  88—257. 
Bismarck,  cabal  against,  i.  227 — 246. 
Bismarck's  staff,  ii.  294. 
Bismarck  of  Osterburg,  i.  188. 
Blanckenburg,  i.  258. 
Blois,  occupation  of  by  the  Germans, 

ii.  103. 

Bliicher,  Marshal,  ii.  28. 
Blum,  Robert,  ii.  5, 
Blumenau,  battle  of,  ii.  97. 
Blumenthal,  General,  ii.  71—73, 270. 
Bockum-Dolffs,  i.  126. 
Bohemian  campaign  of  1866,  ii.  48- 

62 
Bonaparte  at    Campo   Formio    and 

Tilsit,  i.  176. 
Boniface  VIII.,  Unam  Sanctam  Bull, 

i.  272. 

Bonin,  General,  i.  62 — 64. 
Bose,  General,  ii.  97,  270. 
Bourbaki's  movement,  ii.  221  ;  attack 

upon     Werder's    position    before 

Belfort,  ii.  229—233. 
Brandenburg,  Count,  i.  111. 
Bucher,  Lothar,  ii.  307 — 317. 
Bulow,  ii.  294. 

CAMBRIEL,  General,  ii.  212,  213, 
218. 

Camphausen,  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer and  Vice  -  President  of 


336 


tho    Prussian   Mini-trv,   ii.    L'^I; 

293. 

liert  at  Vionvillc,   ii.   268,  2G9. 

<  'ast-steel  cannon,  ii.  331. 

Catholic  journals  and  books  in  Ger- 
many, 'i.  287— 2!)± 

Celibacy  of  priests — Pope  Gregory 
VII.,  i.  317,  318. 

Chanzy,  General,  series  of  defeats  of, 
ii.  103,  104. 

Charge  of  Prussian  cavalry  at  Vion- 
vilJe,  ii.  98,  99. 

Charles  of  Bavaria,  Prince,  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Confede- 
rate South  German  army  in  1866, 
ii.  241—249. 

Chevilly,  defeat  of  the  French  at,  ii. 
103. 

Chilliers  -  aux  -  Bois,  defeat  of  the 
French  at,  ii.  103. 

Civil  Marriage  Law,  i.  249. 

Clamart,  attack  upon,  ii.  285. 

Clement  XI.  and  King  Frederick  I. 
of  Prussia,  i.  276. 

Clement  XIV.  (Ganganelli),  i.  213. 

Cohen  (Ferdinand),  attempt  on  Bis- 
marck's life,  i.  144. 

Conlie,  camp  of,  taken  by  the 
Germans,  ii.  104. 

Contarini,  Cardinal,  i.  330,  331. 

Coulmiers,  battle  of,  ii.  254. 

Council  of  Constance,  i.  327  ;  of 
Pisa,  i.  327  ;  of  Trent,  i.  328,  332, 
333. 

Courcelles,  fight  at,  ii.  160. 

Craushaar,  General,  ii.  270. 

Cremer,  General,  ii.  219,  221. 

Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  and  Ger- 
many, i.  147,  ii.  33 — 81  ;  and 
Bismarck,  meeting  between,  ii.  48, 
57  ;  Grand  Master  of  the  Prussian 
Lodges,  ii.  47;  address  to  the 
Grand  Land  Lodge  of  Germany,  ii. 
64  ;  at  Nachod,  ii.  52  ;  a  printer, 
ii.  43. 


DALBERG,  ii.  109. 
Debschitz,  General,  ii.  13,  213. 
Degenfeld,  General,  ii.  212,  218. 
Delbriick,  President,  ii.  295—306. 
Diet,   German,  at    Frankfort — Vote 

of  14th  of  June,  1866,  i.  145. 
Dijon,  capture  of  by  the  Germans,  ii. 

216—217. 
Dinkel,  Bishop  of  Augsburg,  i.  296 

—29*. 


Dollinger  and  his  coadjutors  in  the 
01<l-('atholic  movement,  i.  312, 
&c. 

Do)iiin'i*  ic  rcdemptor  noster  Bull,  i. 

213. 
Donchery,  the  "  Va;  Victis  "  of,  i.  72 

V     '  * 

—87. 

Douay,  Abel,  General,  ii.  67,  69. 
Dreyse,  Francis,  ii.  327. 
Dreyse,  John  Nicholas,  ii.  319—328. 
Droste-Vischering,     Archbishop     of 

Cologne,  ii.  23. 

Ducrot's  second  sortie,  ii.  133. 
Diippel,  capture  of,  ii.  88. 
Dupre,  General,  ii.  212. 

EICHHORN,  i.  205. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Prussia,  i.  9,  10, 

33—41,  143,  152. 
Ems,  punctuation  of,  i.  259 — 262. 
England,  Lasker  on,  ii.  7,  8. 
Etzel,  General,  ii.  272. 

FAIDHERBE,  General,  at  Bapaume,  ii. 
179  ;  at  St.  Quentin,  ii.  199. 

Failly,  General,  at  Beaumont,  ii.  129. 

Falckenstein,  General  Vogel  von,  ii. 
181 — 191  ;  an  artist,  ii.  183,  184  ; 
chief  of  the  staff  in  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  war  of  1864,  ii.  184; 
governor  of  Jutland  in  1864,  ii. 
185  ;  in  1866,  ii.  185—188  ;  at 
Montniirail,  ii.  183  ;  defence  of  the 
Coast  lands  in  1870,  ii.  190. 

Festetics,  General,  ii.  56. 

Flies,  General,  at  Langensalza,  i. 
158,  ii.  243. 

Forster,  Prince-Bishop  of  Breslau,  i. 
299—302. 

Francois,  General,  ii.  270. 

Frankfort-on-the-Main,  meeting  of 
German  princes  at,  in  1863,  i.  127 ; 
peace  of,  i.  181. 

Fransecky,  General,  ii.  93,  97. 

Frederick  Augustus,  King  of  Saxony, 
ii.  114. 

Frederick  Charles,  Prince,  ii.  82 — 
105  ;  essays  on  strategic  and  sta- 
tistic questions,  ii.  86 ;  at  Mis- 
sunde,  ii.  87. 

Frederick  William  II.,  i.  3,  206. 

Frederick  William  III.,  i.  2—8. 

Frederick  William  IV.,  i.  2,  8,  13, 
20,  204. 

Frohnhofen,  defeat  of  the  Hessians  at, 
ii.  247. 


Index. 


33' 


Frossard,  General,  at  Spicheren,   ii. 

155-  157. 
Fulda,  Episcopal  meeting  at,  i.  201 

—211. 

GABLENTZ  in  Holstein,  ii.  169  ;  at 
Trautenau  and  Rognitz,  i.  63,  ii.  55. 

Gambetta,  ii,    102  ;    plan  of  an  in- 
vasion of  South  Germany,  ii.  221. 

Garibaldi,  ii.  214,  215,  218. 

Garibaldi,  Menotti,  ii.  219. 

Gastein,  convention  of,  i.  132. 

Gitschin,  victory  at,  ii.  90. 

Giu'mer,  General — Victory  of  Knits, 
ii.  221. 

Goben,  General,  ii.  192—202  ;  with 
Don  Carlos  in  Spain,  ii.  193 — 195  ; 
in  Morocco  in  1860,  ii.  196  ;  in  the 
Danish  war  of  1864,  ii.  197  ;  in 
the  campaign  on  the  Main,  ii. 
197,  198  ;  victorious  at  Derm- 
bach,  ii.  246  ;  victorious  at  Gerchs- 
heim,  ii.  248  ;  takes  Kissingen, 
ii.  247  :  at  Amiens,  on  the  Hallue, 
and  at  Bapaume,  ii.  199  ;  at  Mars- 
la-Tour  and  Gravelotte,  ii.  198  ;  at 
Spicheren,  ii.  156,  198  ;  victory  of 
St.  Quentin,  ii.  199—201. 

Goltz,  General  von  der,  at  Longeau, 

ii.  220. 

Gravelotte,  battle  of,  ii.  126. 
Griinberg,  ii.  333—334. 

HA  GEN,    Otto,     of  the    Insterburger 
Zeitung,  ii.  12. 

Hallue,  battle  on  the,  ii.  178. 

Hartmann,  General,  ii.  2f  8 — 265  ;  an 
artist,  ii.  260  ;  an  officer  in  the 
French  service  from  1811 — 1815, 
ii.  259  ;  during  the  siege  of  Paris, 
ii.  264—265  ;  at  Waterloo,  ii.  259 ; 
at  Weissenburg  and  Worth,  ii. 
263—264. 

Hartmann,  Prussian  General,  at 
Tobitschau,  ii.  63. 

Hatzfeld,  ii.  294. 

Herwarth  von  Bittenfeld,  Field-Mar- 
shal, ii.  140—150  ;  capture  of 
Alsen,  ii.  144;  commander  of  the 
Army  of  the  Elbe  in  1866,  ii.  145  ; 
at  Koniggratz,  148  ;  Governor- 
General  of  the  Rhine  Provinces  in 
1870,  ii.  149  ;  jubilee  of  sixtieth 
anniversary  of  taking  service  in 
the  army,  ii.  150  ;  loss  of  three 
sons  at  Problus,  Vionville,  and  St. 
Privat,  ii.  149. 


Heydt,  Von  der,  Prussian  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer,  ii.  278 — 286. 

ECindersin,  General,  ii.  271—276. 

Hohenzollern,  house  of,  ii.  35 — 40. 

Hohenzoilern,  Prince   Leopold  of,  i 
172. 

Holleben,  General,  ii.  272. 

Holtzendorff,  General,  ii.  11. 

Hiihnerwasser,  battle  of,  ii.  146. 

Huss,  John,  i.  307—312,  327. 

INDEMNITY,  Bill  of,  i.  162,  167. 
Infallibility,  Papal,  i.  198,  &c. 

JEROME  of  Prague,  i.  328. 
Jesuits,  i.  211. 

Jesuit  Expulsion  Law,  i.  201,  211. 
Jesuits,  abolition  of  the  order  of,  i.  213. 
Jesuit  teaching  in  France,  i.  202. 
Jews,  treatment  of,   in   Prussia,    ii. 

11. 

John,  King  of  Saxony,  ii.  107 — 121. 
Joseph  II.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  i. 

213. 

KAISER.  Catholic  army  chaplain,  i. 
304. 

Kameke,  General,  at  Spicheren,  ii. 
155. 

Karolyi,  Count,  Austrian  Ambassa- 
dor at  Berlin,  i.  124. 

Keller,  General,  ii.  219,  220  ;  cap- 
ture of  Frahier  and  Chenebier  by, 
ii.  232. 

Kettler,  Bishop  of  Mayence,  i.  216, 
258,  270. 

Keudell,  ii.  294. 

Kirchbach,  General,  ii.  270. 

Klapka,  Prussian  convention  with, 
ii.  62. 

Koniggratz,  battle  of,  ii.  58,  91. 

Koniginhof,  capture  of,  ii.  55. 

Krementz,  Bishop  of  Ermeland,  i. 
264,  272—278. 

Krupp,  Alfred,  ii.  328—332. 

Krupp,  Frederick,  ii  328,  329. 

Kullmann,  attempt  on  Bismarck's 
life,  i.  253. 

Kummer,  General,  in  the  battle  of 
Noisseville,  ii.  176 — 178. 

LADMIRAULT,  General,  at  Courcelles, 

ii.  160. 

La  Fere,  capture  of,  ii.  178. 
La  Marmora,  i.  156,  ii.  62. 
Langensulza,  battle  of,  i.  158,  ii.  243. 


VOL.    II. 


338 


La.-krr,  Kilwanl,  i.  247,  ii.    1 — 18  ; 

on  Ivigland,  ii.  7,  8. 
Lautach.   defeat   of  the  Hessians  at, 

ii.  2  17. 
Ledochovvski,  Archbishop  of  Posen, 

i.  2:>2. 

Lejv.liieh.  ( I.Micral,  ii. 
Leopold  tit'  Hohen/ollmi.  i.  172. 
Lieliti-nbi'r_%  c  ipture  of,  ii.  !'•'>. 
Liebenau,  victory  at.  ii.  89. 
Local  Government  Bill,  i.  223. 
Loui-'.  o.ieen  of  Prussia,  i.  '3.  6. 
Loyola,  i.  211. 
Luther,  i.  312,  329,  330. 
Luxemburg  question,  i.  168. 
Lu'tzelstein,  capture  of,  ii.  173. 

MACMAHOX,  ii.  69,  74,  75  ;  first 
meeting  with  Albert  of  Saxony, 
ii.  124  ;  second  meeting  with  Al- 
bert of  Saxony,  ii.  130  ;  at  Sedan, 
ii.  129. 

Manstein,  General,  his  blunder  at 
Kolin,  ii.  94—96. 

Manstein,  General,  ii.  270. 

Manteuffel,  Field-Marshal,  ii.  163- 
180  ;  commander  of  the  Army  of 
the  South,  ii.  179  ;  at  Courcelles, 
ii.  160,  175  ;  and  Falkenstein,  ii. 
173  ;  succeeds  Vogel  von  Falcken- 
stein  in  the  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Main,  ii.  172  ;  and  the 
Frankforters,  ii.  174;  at  Gastein, 
ii.  16S  ;  invades  Hanover,  ii.  171  ; 
at  Langensalza,  ii.  172  ;  at  Nois- 
seville,  ii.  176 — 178  ;  and  Prince 
Frederick  of  Augustenbnrg,  ii. 
170  ;  in  Schleswig,  ii.  109  ;  and 
Twesten,  ii.  167  ;  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  German  Army  of 
Occupation  in  France,  ii.  180. 

Marsal,  capture  of.  ii.  73. 

Mars-la-Tour,  battle  of,  ii.  98,  267, 
268. 

Mauser  gun,  ii.  328. 

Maximilian,    Duke    of    Saxony,    ii. 
109. 

Melanchthon,  i.  331. 

Melchers,    Paulus,    Archbishop     of 
Cologne,  i.  267,  282—287. 

Metz,  siege  of,  ii.  100  ;  capitulation 
of,  ii.  101. 

Michaelis,  ii.  294. 

Michel,  General,  ii.  218. 

Michelis,  Professor,  i.  264. 

Missunde,  unsuccessful  attempt  upon, 
by  the  Prussians,  in  1864,  ii.  87. 


urf,  Marshal,  ii.  28. 

Mnltk.-,   KlrM-Marshal,  i.  M. 
MuiH'Y   Marshals,  Tin-,  ii.  277. 
Mmitaiiban,     <If;irr.d   (Palikao),     ii. 

71. 

Miililrr,  i.  L93,  208. 
Mii!i<-lii'ii'_rrat/.  battle  of,  ii.  147. 
Mutius,  General,  ii.  50,  59. 

NACHOD,  battle  of,  ii.  51,  &c. 

Naniszanowski,  l!i>hop  of  Agath- 
opolis,  i.  302—3-1."). 

Nancy  and  the  four  lancers,  ii.  73. 

Napoleon  III.  at  Siurbriicken,  ii.  66. 

Needle-gun,  ii.  32~>. 

Neu  Breisach,  capture  of,  by  the  Ger- 
mans, ii.  217. 

Nicholas  of  Russia,  i.  111. 

Nikolsburg,  preliminaries  of,  i.  160. 

Noisseville,  battle  of,  ii.  176 — 178. 

Nuits,  battle  of,  ii.  221. 

OBERNITZ,  General,  ii.  270. 

(Ecumenical  Council,  i.  198. 

Ognou,  battle  on  the,  ii.  213. 

Old-Catholic  Movement  in  Ger- 
many, i.  306 — 336  ;  Programme 
of  "  Free  Catholic  "  radical  section, 
i.  314 — 316;  of  advanced  moderate 
section,  i.  316 — 320;  of  Db'llinger- 
ian  section  proper,  i.  320 — 326. 

Ollech,  General,  ii.  272. 

Orleans,  battle  of,  ii.  252,  253  ; 
retaken  by  the  Germans,  ii.  103. 

PARIS,  advance  upon,  ii.  75  ;  sur- 
rounded, ii.  77. 

Patriarchate,  German,  i.  271. 

Paul  III.,  Pope  (Farnese),  i.  328. 

Pea-sausage,  ii.  333,  334. 

Peucker,  General,  ii.  272. 

Pfordten,  Von  der,  i.  160. 

Philipsborn,  ii.  29-1. 

Pius  IX.,  Allocation  on  St.  John's 
Day,  1872,  i.  276  ;  letter  of,  i.  178. 

Podbielski,  General,  ii.  272. 

Podol,  victory  at,  ii.  89. 

Pontarlier,  fight  at,  ii.  179. 

Prague,  peace  of,  i.  160. 

Prim,  i.  171. 

Princess  Royal  of  England,  ii.  80  ; 
descent  of,  ii.  44. 

Prondzynski,  General,  ii.  57. 

Protest  of  sixty-seven  Bishops  against 
Vatican  decrees,  i.  263. 


Index. 


339 


QUEEN  CAROLA  WASA  of   Saxony, 

ii.  123. 
Queen  Elizabeth  of  Prussia,  i.  9,  10, 

33—41,  143,  152,  204  ;  ii.  115. 
Queen  Louise  of  Prussia,  i.  3,  6. 

RAS,   Bishop  of    Strasburg,  i.  217, 

278. 

Reinkens,  Old-Catholic  Bishop,  i.  300. 
Renftle,  parish  priest,  i.  296. 
Rheinhaben,  General,  ii.  270. 
Ricci,  General  of  order  of  the  Jesuits, 

i.  215. 

Rognitz,  battle  of,  ii.  55. 
Romish  Bishops  in  Germany,  i.  269. 
Romish  Episcopate  in    Germany,   i. 

258—306. 
Romish  Episcopate  and  Old-Catholic 

Movement  in  Germany,   i.   258— 

336. 
Roon,     Field- Marshal,     i,     42—53; 

Prime  Minister  of  Prussia,  i.  239. 
Rouen,   occupation  of   by  the  Ger- 
mans, ii.  178. 
Rouniania,  Prince  Charles  of,  i.  137. 

SAARBRUCKEN,  French  attack  upon, 

ii.  65. 

Sadowa  and  Chlum,  battle  of.  ii.  58. 
St.  Barbe,  battle  of,  ii.  176—178. 
St.  Privat,  engagement  at,  ii.  127. 
St.  Quentin,  battle  of,  ii.  199—201. 
Saxon  army  at  Leipzig  in  1813,  ii. 

136. 
Scherr,    Archbishop   of    Munich,   i. 

266,  279—282. 
Schleswig-Holstein  question,  i.  128, 

&c. 

Schlettstadt,  capture  of  by  the  Ger- 
mans, ii.  217. 

Schlotheim,  General,  ii.  270  ;  inter- 
view with  Moltke,  ii.  129. 
Schmeling,  General,  ii.  217. 
Schmettau,  attack  on  French  centre 

at  Vionville,  ii.  99,  268,  269. 
School  Inspection  Bill,  i.  201,  209. 
Sedan,  battle  of,  ii.  75. 
Sedlnitzki,  Prince,-Bishop  of    Bres- 

lau,  i.  273. 

Senestry,  Bishop  of  Ratisbon,  i.  298. 
Society  of  Jesus,  i.  211. 
Sophia  of  Austria,  ii.  115. 
Special  Arms  and  Victualling  Depart- 
ments, ii.  318—319. 
Sperling,  General,  ii.  270. 
Spicheren,  battle  of,  ii.  155 — 158. 
Stahl,  iL  18. 


Stangl,  i.  281. 

Stein  on  public  institutions  in  Prus- 
sia, i.  203. 

Steinmetz,  Field-Marshal,  ii.  151- 
162  ;  at  Nachod,  Skalitz,  and 
Schweinschadel,  ii.  153  ;  at  Cour- 
celles,  ii.  159,  160  ;  at  Gravelotte, 
ii.  160 ;  Governor-General  of 
Posen  and  Silesia,  ii.  161. 

Stiehle,  General,  ii.  270. 

Stosch,  General,  Chief  of  Staff  to 
Grand  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  ii. 
255. 

Strasburg,  capitulation  of,  ii.  210. 

Strossmayer,  Bishop,  i.  267. 


TANN,  General  Von  der,  ii.  236- 
257  ;  victory  at  Artenay,  ii.  252  ; 
at  Bazcilles,  ii.  250  ;  Chief  of 
the  Staff  to  Prince  Charles  of 
Bavaria  in  1866,  ii.  241—249; 
masterly  retreat  after  battle  of 
Coulmiers,  ii.  254,  255  ;  wounded 
at  Kissingen,  ii.  247  ;  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  ii.  238. 

Tauberbischofsheim,     fight     at,      ii. 
248. 

Thile,  ii.  294. 

Thun,  Count,  Austrian  Ambassador 
at  Frankfort,  i.  107. 

Tobitschau,  fight  at,  ii.  63. 

Trautenau,  battle  of,  i.  62. 

Treaties  with  Bavaria,  Wu'rteinberg, 
and    Baden,    publication    of    by 
Bismarck,  i.  169. 

Treskow,  General,  besieges   Belfort, 
ii.  223. 

Trochu,  General,  ii.  79,  134. 

Tiiniplmg,  General,  ii.  270. 


VICTIS  !  "  the,  of  Donchery,  i. 
72—87. 

Vatican  Council  and  Decrees,  i.  197. 

Vendome,  occupation  of  by  the  Ger- 
mans, ii.  103. 

Vergerius,  Paul,  i.  329. 

Villersexel,  battle  of,  ii.  223—224. 

Villiers-sur-Marne,  battles  of,  ii.  132 
-133. 

Vionville,  fight  at,  ii.  98,  99,  268. 

Vinoy,  General,  ii.  78. 

Vitry,  capture  of,  ii.  74. 

Vogel  von  Falckenstein  (see  Falck- 
enstein). 

Voigts-Rhetz,  General,  ii.  270. 


:J40 


Tn<  I  <'.r. 


,   ii.    1C. 

Waldersee,  General,  ii.  i!70. 
r  .  ( I.  nrral,  ii.  272. 
'lirn,  (Jciirral,  ii.  27<>. 

Wedell,  General,  ii.  270. 

Wfissenliuri:,  l>alt!e  of,  ii.  (ill — f!9. 

\VenliT,  General,  ii.  2<>:j-- j:;.")  ;  in 
the  Caucasus,  ii.  ^()">,  ^IK;  :  defence 
of  the  ].n-ition  before  Belfort,  ii. 
2^5— J:;:i  ;  at  Koni^Ln'atx  in  1866, 
ii.  ^Oi)  ;  ])romotions  and  transfers, 
ii.  ^<'7,  208;  liel'oi'c  Strasburg  in 
1870,  ii.  iM!),  ^10;  victory  at 
\'illersexel,  ii.  i'2:'>,  224. 

Wessenberg,  ii.  109. 


William    of  P-aden,   Prin-T,    ii.    213, 

215,216,  221,  270. 
William  I.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  i. 

1—32. 

William    T.,   KiiiLT  of    Prussia,    pro- 
•  •laimcil  Emperor  of  Germany,  L  29. 

Witti.-h,  (JcmTal,  ii.  270. 
Wolhnann,  i.  272. 
Worms,  Synod  of,  i.  2">D. 
A\'r:in-el,  Field-.Mai'slial.  ii.  19—32. 
V^iirtemberg,  Augustus,  Prince  of,  ii. 
55. 

ZASTROW,  General,  ii.  57. 
Zealot,  a  Jesuit,  and  his  raving.*,  i. 
293—296. 


THE    END. 


<i 


^ 


7 


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