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"Mel^t^oc/i^-
HISTORY OF GERMANY,
FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.
AVOLFGANG MENZEL.
TRANSLATED FROM THE FOURTH GERMAN EDITION,
BY
MRS. GEORGE HORROCKS.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. TIJ. ' :"
LONDON :
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCXLIX.
JOHN CHILUS AND SON. r.UNGAY.
fanaHiaaaB
HISTORY OF GERMAKY.
mi
V.3
FOURTH PERIOD.— CONTINUED.
MODERN TIMES.
CCXXXI. Charles the Sixth.
Charles, Joseph the First's younger brother, had [a. d.
1 704] been sent into Spain for the purpose of setting up his
claim as the rightful heir of the house of Habsburg in opposition
to that of the usurper Philip. It had been decided that Spain
should, under Charles, remain separate from Austria under Jo-
seph, the union of so many crowns on one head, as formerly on
that of Charles V., being viewed with jealousy by the English,
the Dutch, and the empire. Charles had, like his brother, been
surrounded from his birth with the stiff ceremonial of the old
Spanish court and with a gorgeous magnificence that flimsily
veiled the absence of genuine grandeur. Charles, like Joseph
during the Landau campaign, was accompanied in his joui'ney
to Spain by a suite of the most useless description, such as
butlers, clerks of the kitchen, plate-cleaners, etc. He tra-
velled through Holland to England, where he was conducted
through rows of beautiful girls to Queen Anne's bed-cham-
ber, where she presented to him the most beautiful of her
ladies-in-waiting, each of whom he honoured with a salute.
He was at that time unmarried, but shortly afterwards
Elisabeth * of Wolfenblittel was sent to him as a bride. From
* A Lutheran princess. Elisabeth was well received at Vienna, but, in
Brunswick, the superintendent, Nitsch, said from the pulpit, "One princess
have we sacrificed to Popery, a second to Paganism, (a Russian prince,)
and, were the devil to come to-morrow, we should give him a third."
™^-- 42?89l
^ ■■ CHARLES THE SIXTH.
England he went to Lisbon, Portugal sujjporting the house of
Habsburg through dreail or ih'^, united power of France and
Spain. An aimy, composed of Daich and English, was also
assembled at Lisbon for the purpose of enforcing Charles's
claims, and Prince George of Darmstadt, who had for some
time resided in Spain, would have been its well-chosen com-
mander, had not his nomination been opposed by English
jealousy. He it was who, acquainted with the negligent man-
ner in which Gibraltar, otherwise impregnable, was guarded,
and seconded by the united fleets of England and Holland
under Rook, took that fortress, but was compelled to endure
the shame of beholding the British flag, instead of that of
Charles, planted on the summit of the rock. A fresh troop
of English auxiliaries, under Lord Peterborough, placed
Charles [a. d. 1704] completely under the guardianship of
England. Barcelona, where Prince George had some old
connexions, and whence it was hoped to raise the whole of
Catalonia against Philip, w^as besieged from the sea ; the first
assault, led by George, was, however, unsupported, from a
motive of jealousy, by Lord Peterborough, and the life of the
gallant prince was sacrificed. The town fell, eventually, into
the hands of the Enghsh, and Charles figured there as a phan-
tom monarch ; but, anxious to conceal his utter dependence
upon Lord Peterborough, he had the folly ever to oppose his
wisest and most necessary measures. The French, taken by
surprise, were repulsed on every side, and the king, Philip,
a mere puppet of state, fled from Madrid.* Charles refused
to enter IMadi-id on account of the want of a state-carriage,
and, by his folly, delayed the performance of a ceremony,
which would have made the deepest impression upon the
Spaniards, and the junction of the troops concentrated at
Lisbon and Barcelona. The French again took breath ;
Marshal Berwik was victorious at Almanza, A. D. 1707, and
Charles was speedily shut up in Barcelona.
It was not until 1710, that the allies again assembled their
forces, the Germans under the gallant Count von Stahremberg,
the English under Stanhope, and reopened the campaign. They
gained a signal victory at Saragossa; Philip was a second
* The Spanish crown diamonds (an incredible number) ■were, on this
occasion, sent to Paris, and were seized by Louis in payment for the aid
granted by him.
CHARLES THE SIXTH. «>
time put to fliglit, and King Charles at length entered Madrid,
where the people, jealous of his dependence upon the Englisli
heretics, received him with ominous silence. The pope and
the Jesuits secretly worked against him. The moment when
he would have been welcomed with open arms had been irre-
trievably neglected. France sent reinforcements and her best
general, Vendome. At this critical moment, Stanhope separ-
ated from the Germans and allowed himself and the whole of
his army to be made prisoners at Brihuega. Stahremberg,
for whom Vendome had prepared a similar fate, kept the
enemy, greatly his superior in number, in check at Villavi-
ciosa ; Charles was, nevertheless, once more limited to Barce-
lona, and the death of his brother recalling him to Germany,
he returned thither, a. r>. 1711, and received the imperial
crown at Frankfurt. His consort, Elisabeth, and Stahremberg
remained for two years longer at Barcelona, but were finally
compelled to abandon that town, and unhappy Catalonia fell
a prey to the cruel vengeance of Philip's adherents.
Charles was the only remaining prince of the house of
Habsburg, his brother, Joseph, having died without issue.
He united all the crowns of Habsburg on his head, and the
hope of placing that of Spain, independent of the German
hereditary provinces, on the head of a younger branch of that
family, was, consequently, frustrated. This circumstance en-
tirely changed the aspect of affairs. England, who was imi-
tated by the allies of lesser importance, deemed Germany
and Spain more dangerous when united under one head than
France and Spain under two and unexpectedly declared in
Philip's favour. Torrents of blood were again fruitlessly
shed, and France, aided by all the other European powers,
once more grasped her prey.
In England, the popular rights of the Anglo-Saxons had
been forcibly suppressed by the Gallo-Norman feudal aristo-
cracy. Since the Reformation, the popular element had, how-
ever, again risen, a reaction had taken place, and, in the
middle of the seventeenth century, had produced a great revo-
lution, which cost Charles I. his head, a deed of blood which
raised enmity and engendered suspicion between his descend-
ants, the Stuarts, and the people. The Stuarts were expelled,
and William of Orange was called to the throne. Amongst those
who, in the parliament and in the ministry, contended for the
B 2
■i CHARLES THE SIXTH.
control of the state, two parties had formed, the Tories or
ancient Norman feudal aristocracy, who, although upholding
their' aristocratic privileges, were devoted to the monarchy, of
which tliey made use for the suppression of popular liberty ;
and the Whigs, or Anglo-Saxon freemen, who, enriched by
trade, proud of their marshal deeds, obstinately defended their
ancient rights, were ever on the watch for the legal acquisition
of fresh ones, and were no less devoted to the monarchy, by
means of which, in their turn, they sought to overthrow the
Tories. The Tories had naturally befriended the Stuarts ;
William, and, after him, Anne, were, consequently, supported
by the Whigs. Dependence on a popular faction was, how-
ever, in this, as it has been in all ages, a royal bugbear, and
the Tories merely awaited a fitting opportunity to eject their
opponents from the queen's privy-council.
This opportunity offered on the death of the emperor Jo-
seph. The Tories, under pretext of the over-preponderance
of Germany and Spain when united under one head, ranged
themselves on the side of France, who rewarded their neutral-
ity with commercial advantages that flattered the material
interests of the people and reduced the Whig opposition to
silence. They were, moreover, seconded by a court-intrigue.
The Duchess of IMarlborough, rendered insolent by the fame
and wealth of her husband, whose noble qualities were ob-
scured by excessive covetousness,* wounded the queen's vanity
by refusing to give her a handsome pair of gloves, to which
she had taken a fancy, and by other acts of impoliteness ; she
was, in consequence, dismissed, and had the barefaced impu-
dence suddenly to draw the whole of the enormous sums she
had placed in the Bank of England, in order to produce a
scarcity of gold, which, however, simply caused her husband,
notwithstanding the laurels he had gained, to be prosecuted
on a charge of embezzlement. His friends shared his foil ; the
Whigs lost office and were succeeded by a Tory government.
Prince Eugene hastened to London, ])ut his friend IMarlbo-
rough was already undergoing his trial, and, altliough Queen
* Marlborough possessed great financial as well as military talent. In
unison with the Jew, Medina, for inslance, he set up stock-jobbing or
commercial transactions with government paper, which afterwards be-
came general throughout Europe ; he, moreover, defrauded the public
treasury by lowering the pay of his troops, etc.
CHARLES THE SIXTH. 5
Anne gave him a polite reception and presented him with a
diamond-hilted sword, he was refused a second interview, and
liis supplications in Marlborough's favour proved ineffectual.
The people gave him an enthusiastic welcome, and such was
the popular rage against the Tories, tliat [a. u. 1712] one of
his nephews was killed in a street-fight. The Earl of Ormond
replaced Marlborough as commander-in-chief of the British
troops in the Netherlands, but, no sooner was battle offered,
than he retreated under pretext of obeying secret orders. The
Dutch under Albemarle, in consequence of this faithless de-
sertion, suffered a defeat, and Eugene found himself compelled
to retire from his position at Quesnoy.*
The Tories, after playing this shameful part, threw off the
mask and concluded a private treaty, the peace of Utrecht,
A. D. 1713, with France, the stipulations of which were, the
possession of Gibraltar, the key to the Mediterranean, of IVIi-
norca and St. Christopher, the demolition of the fortress of
Dunkirk, ever an eye-sore to the English, and free trade with
all the Spanish colonies, in return for which they recognised
Philip as king of Spain. The Dutch also endeavoured to make
peace by a speedy accession to the articles under negotiation,
but were, nevertheless, compelled to purchase it by a shameful
humiliation. The coachman of the Dutch plenipotentiary,
Count von Eechtern, having bestowed a box on the ear on an
insolent French lacquey, the ambassadors of the states-general
were forced to apologize in person.
The German empire, although abandoned by England and
Holland, might still have compelled France to listen to reason
had not her poliarchical government put every strong and
combined movement out of the question. Prince Eugene
vainly depictured the power of unity and conjured the German
Estates to rise en masse. He thundered at Mayence — to deaf
* The Grisons afforded a striking example of the mode in which French
influence gained ground. Thomas Massner, a councillor of Chur, whose
son had been carried off as an hostage by tlie French in the vicinity of
Geneva, in retaliation, seized the person of the grand-prior of Vendome,
who was then on his way through Switzerland, a. d. 1710. His just
demand for an exchange of prisoners was disregarded, and, in 1712, he was
forced by his own countrymen, through dread of France, to deliver up
the grand-prior ; nay, they accused him of fomenting disturbances, com-
pelled him to flee the country, quartered him in effigy, and allowed him
to die in misery, whilst his son was detainod a prisoner in France. The
family of Salis headed the French faction in the Grisons.
6 CHARLES THE SIXTH.
ears. The emperor's exhortations to the imperial diet were
equally futile : " His Majesty doubts not but that every true
patriot will remember that not exclusively the country and the
people, but, in reality, the grandeur and liberty of his father-
land, consequently, the eternal loss of his lionour and rights
and his unresisting submission to foreign insolence, are at
stake." The imperial Estates remained unmoved and tardily
contributed the miserable sum of 200,000 dollars towards the
maintenance of the imperial army, whilst Villars continued to
collect millions on the Rhine and in Swabia. Van der Harsch
alone distinguished himself by the gallant defence of Freiburg
in the Breisgau.
Eugene found himself compelled to enter into negotiation
with Villars. The French, however, were so insolent in their
demands that Eugene, acting on his own responsibility, quitted
Rastadt, whei'e the congress was being held, upon which the
aged despot at Paris, fearing lest rage might at length rouse
Germany from her torpor, yielded ; Eugene returned and
peace was concluded in the neighbouring town of Baden, a. d.
1714. The treaty of Utrecht was recognised ; Philip re-
mained in possession of Spain, England in that of Gibraltar,
etc. The emperor, Charles VI., on the other hand, retained
all the Spanish possessions in Italy, Naples, Milan, Sardinia,
besides the Netherlands and the fortresses of Kehl, Freiburg,
and Breisach, and the territory hitherto possessed by the
French on the right bank of the Rhine, for which France was
indemnified by the cession of Landau. The island of Sar-
dinia was, in the ensuing year, given by Austria in exchange
for Sicily to the duke of Savo}-, who took the title of King of
Sardinia. The emperor, as sovereign of the Netherlands, now
concluded a treaty with Holland, according to which the for-
tresses on the French frontier were to be garrisoned and de-
fended by both Austrians and Dutch. Prussia came into
possession of Neufchatel, as nearest of kin to Maria of Nemours,
its former mistress, who was allied by blood to that royal house.
This peace was partially concluded by Eugene for the em-
peror, independent of the empire. The lesser powers, never-
tlieless, acceded to it, France brutally declaring her intention
to carry on the war against all recusants. The elector of the
Pfalz, to whom the possession of the Upper Pfalz had been
already assured, was frustrated in his expectations, the traitors
CHARLES THE SIXTH. 7
of Bavaria and Cologne regaining their possessions and being
released from the bann.* Marlborough, consequently, lost
Mindelheim ; he was, however, restored to favour in England.
Prince Eugene merely regarded the peace as a necessary evil,
to which he unwillingly yielded. He clearly foresaw that,
instead of bringing security to Germany, it would lead to
fresh attacks and losses. " We somewhat resemble," he wrote
at that period, " a fat cow, which is only made use of so long
as she has a drop of superfluous milk. The word ' peace' has
an agreeable sound, but only differs from ' war' as the present
does from the future. He whose vocation it is, after war, to
collect the chips, alone sees the heaps of wood that have been
fruitlessly cut. The best peace with France is a mute war.
France will seize the first opportunity to rend a fresh piece
from the empire. When the ^Netherlands shall have been re-
duced to submission, the Rhine will be made the frontier and
the foundation of a fresh peace. The abbess of Buchau wished
me joy of the blessed peace. I am, on all sides, persecuted
with congratulations of this sort. Amid all my misfortunes
it is often difficult to refrain from laughter."
In the following year [a. d. 1715] Louis XIV., the vain,
licentious despot, whose tyranny over Germany covered her
with far deeper shame than her submission to the genius of
Napoleon, expired. Anne, queen of England, also died, with-
out issue, and was succeeded by the next heir, George, elector
of Hanover, whose mother was the daughter of Frederick,
king of Bohemia, and of Elisabeth, the daughter of James I.
of England. George favoured the Whigs. Peace had, how-
ever, been unalterably concluded with France.
* The order of the golden fleece was even bestowed by the emperor
upon Charles Albert, the son of Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria. In the
curious folio, " Fortitudo leonina i\Iax. Emanuelis,'' published, at that
period, by the Jesuits, the scene is allegorically represented. The im-
perial eagle hangs his head and looks down with lamentable condescen-
sion on the Bavarian lion, who regards him with insolent contempt.
Among the engravings, with which this work abounds, there is one in
which the genius of the Society of Jesus is represented with the I. H. S.
on his breast, ofi'ering his humble thanks to the statue of Max. Emanuel
aJid pointing to a large donation-plate containing twelve magnificenl Je-
suit houses, which the elector had built for them at the expense of the
people. The elector himself, attired in the imperial robes of Rome, sits
on horseback with an enormous allonge peruke on his head. His coun-
tenance is that of a satyr.
8 CHARLES THE SIXTH.
Tranquillity had scarcely been restored to the empire than
she was again attacked by the Turks, and Prince Eugene once
more took the field. Supported by Stahremberg and Charles
Alexander of Wurtemberg,* he defeated them [a. d. 1716]
in a bloody engagement near Peterwardein, where the grand
visir fell, and a second time at Belgrade, when they sued for
peace, which was concluded at Passarowitz, a. d. 1718. The
emperor was confirmed in the possession of Belgrade, a part of
Servia and Wallachia. The establishment of the Granitzers
or military colonies on the Turkish frontier was a fresh proof
of Eugene's genius.
Venice still retained her enmity towards the emperor, by
whom she had been unaided in her war with the Turks, during
which she had lost the Morea. In retaliation, she entered into
a fresh intrigue against him with Alberoni, the Spanish
minister. The re-annexation of Italy to Spain was again
attempted. A Spanish army occupied Sicily, a. d. 1718. The
impatience with which Spain had, since the death of Louis
XIV., borne the tutelage of France, had, however, inclined
the prince regent, Philip of Orleans, in favour of a quadruple
alliance with the emperor, England, and Holland, by which
Spain was compelled to withdraw her troops from Sicily and
Alberoni to resign. The Venetians were, at that conjuncture,
commanded by Count von Schulenburg, the same who had so
repeatedly been defeated by Charles XII. in Poland. The
same ill-success attended him in his Venetian command, during
which he merely distinguished himself by raising the excellent
* This prince turned Catholic when in the emperor's service. On one
occasion, when at Venice, the haughty nobles boasting, in his hearing, of
their superior state of civilization, and ridiculing the Germans as barba-
rians, he invited them to a banquet on the evening fixed by him for his
departure, and gave them the following theatrical entertainment. It was
night time ; a single lamp glimmered in the street, where Cicero's ghost
■was seen wandering up and down. A German traveller entered, and,
finding all the doors closed, drew out his watch to see the hour, then a
printed book, with which he amused himself for some time, and at length,
in his impatience, fired off" a pistol in order to wake the sleeping Italians.
Cicero's ghost now advanced, demanded an explanation of the watch, the
printed book, and the gunpowder, expressed his astonishment on finding
that these great inventions had been discovered by the barbarians of the
North, and inquisitively demanded "what things of still greater importance
the Italians had invented, if barbarians had distinguished themselves so
highly? " Upon which a Savoyard appeared, crying, " Heckles ! Heckles ! "
for sale. The curtain dropped ; the prince was already gone.
CHARLES THE SIXTH. ^
fortifications of Corfu, and those on the Dalmatian coast, des-
tined, on the loss of the ]\Iorea, to protect Venice against
Turkish agaression.
Charles VI. was the last of the male line of the house
of Habsburg. His only son died during infancy, and his
whole care was the inheritance of all his crowns by his
daughter, Maria Theresa, whose hand he had bestowed on
Francis, the youthful duke of Lorraine, an object he hoped to
secure by means of the Pragmatic Sanction, a guarantee pur-
chased from all the great European powers. Blinded by
paternal affection, he imagined that the sovereigns of Europe
would consider a treaty binding, an example of naivete re-
markable in the midst of the faithlessness of the age. His
efforts proved vain. After carrying on a long and futile ne-
gotiation, he discovei'ed that England, France, and Spain
(afterwards Saxon -Poland also) had confederated [a. d. 1729]
at Seville against the Pragmatic Sanction. Frederick William
I., who succeeded Frederick I. on the throne of Prussia, actu-
ated by a feeling of German nationality and by his private an-
tipathy to George, king of England, alone remained true to the
emperor and fulfilled the ti-eaty concluded with him, in 1726, at
Wusterhausen ; the accession of the other powers to the Sanc-
tion was purchased at an enormous sacrifice. France was pro-
mised Lorraine ; Spain was bribed with Tuscany, Parma, and
Placentia ; England and Holland were gained by the abolition
of the commercial society of Ostend, which dealt a fatal blow
to Dutch trade, A. d. 1731. The grand pensionary of Hol-
land, Slingelandt, Heinsius's powerful successor, displayed
great activity in the conduct of this affair. Augustus of
Saxon-Poland Avas gained over by the assurance of the suc-
cession of the crown of Poland to his son, Augustus III. On
the death of Augustus II. [a, d. 1733] the Poles proceeded
to a fresh election ; Stanislaus Lescinsky again set himself up
as a candidate for the crown, and, although the Polish nobility
evinced little inclination to favour the youthful Augustus, the
emperor, true to his plighted word, exerted his utmost influ-
ence in his behalf
The empress Anne, the widow of the duke of Courland, tlie
last but one of the house of Kettler, and niece to Peter the
Great, had governed Russia since 1730. That empire had long
harboured the most inimical projects against Poland, and, as
10 CHARLES THE SIXTH.
early as 1710, had proposed the partition of that kingdom to
the emperor and to Prussia. Anne, on the present occasion,
despatched her favourite, Marshal Munnich, at the head of
forty thousand men, to Poland, for the purpose of securing
the election of Augustus, that tool of Russian diplomacy. Her
deep interest in this affair and her contempt of Saxony are
clearly proved by the fact of her having expelled Maurice the
Strong, marshal of Saxony, who had been elected duke of
Courland,* and bestowing the ducal mantle on her paramour,
Biron, or, more properly, Bliren, the grandson of an ostler.
Stanislaus fled to Dantzig, where he was protected by the
faithful citizens, but the city being bombarded by Miinnich,
he escaped across the flooded country in a boat, in order to
save the city from utter destruction, and Miinnich's departure
was purchased with two million florins by the citizens. Sta-
nislaus found a hospitable reception at the court of Frederick
William I., who was beyond the sphere of Russian influence.
France, Spain, and Sardinia (Savoy) now unexpectedly
declared war against Charles VI. on account of his inter-
ference in favour of Augustus. War was not declared against
Augustus himself and against Russia. It was simply an open
pretext for again plundering the empire. England and Hol-
land remained neutral. The Russians sent thirty thousand
men to the aid of the emperor, who actually reached the
Rhine, but too late, peace having been already concluded.
The loss of the French marshal, Berwik, in the commence-
ment of the campaign, before Philippsburg, greatly facilitated
Eugene's endeavours (he was now worn out and past service)
to maintain himself on the Rhine. In Italy, Villars, now a
veteran of eighty, gained, but with immensely superior forces,
* Ferdinand, the last of the Kettler family, died, a. d. 1725. Anna,
the widow of his predecessor, Frederick William, became enamoured of
Maurice, for whose election she at first exerted her utmost influence. It
so happened, however, that Maurice had, at that time, a liaison with
Adrienne Le Couvreux, the beautiful Parisian actress, who had piven
him the whole of her jewels and fortune in order to furnish him with the
means of forwarding his interest in Courland ; he, moreover, seduced one
of Anna's ladies-in-waiting, which so greatly enraged her, that her love
changed to hate, and Maurice was compelled to flee from Courland. He
went to Paris, Avhere his faithful and beautiful Adrienne, the darling of
the Parisians, was poisoned by a duchess, who had also become en-
amoured of her handsome lover. See Espagnac's Life of Maurice and
Forster's Augustus II.
CHARLES THE SIXTH.
11
a battle near Parma, in which Mercy, the imperialist general,
{'ell. His successor, Konigsegg, had the good fortune to sur-
prise the enemy on the Secchia near Quistello, and to capture
the whole of his camp together with five hundred and seventy
guns. He was, however, unsuccessful in a subsequent en-
gagement at Guastalla, owing to the want of reinforcements and
money. Don Carlos of Spain also went [a. d. 1734] to Sicily
and took possession of the whole of the kingdom of Naples.
These circumstances were, as if by miracle, not turned to
advantage by France, which would probably have been the
case had not Louis XV. preferred mistresses and barbers to
military achievements. A truce was concluded, and the
former stipulations made by the emperor were accepted. Don
Carlos retained possession of Naples ; Tuscany and Parma
fell to Lorraine, which was bestowed upon Stanislaus Lescin-
sky, [a. d. 1736,] on whose death it was to revert to France.
Stanislaus was named the benefactor of Lorraine ; he was a
kind-hearted and generous man, who smoked his pipe and
was the sincere well-wisher of the people amid whom fate
had cast him on his expulsion from the throne of Poland.
He died in 1766, and Lorraine became henceforward French.
The Lothi'ingians had long and gloriously defended them-
selves under their ancient dukes against the French. They
had been shamefully abandoned by the empire, and, without
any blame attaching to them, been made the victims of family
policy. They deserved a better fate than that of sinking into
the insignificance inseparable from a state half French, half
German.
The Genoese had remained true to the emperor, by whom
they were supported against the Corsicans, who refused to
submit to the republic of Genoa, with a German force under
Prince Louis of Wurtemberg,* who, more by gentle measures
than by violence, restored tranquillity to Corsica, A. d. 1732.
On his departure, the contest Avas renewed by a German ad-
venturer, Theodore von Neuhof, a Westphalian nobleman,
who had been educated by the Jesuits at Miinster, whence he
had fled on account of a duel to Holland, and, after entering
the Spanish service, had visited Africa, been taken prisoner,
become agent of the dey of Algiers, by whom he was de-
* Brother to Max. Emanuel, who was taken prisoner at Pultowa, the
son of Frederick Charles, Eberhard Louis's uncle and guardian.
12 CHARLES THE SIXTH.
spatched at the head of a body of troops to the island of Cor-
sica, for the purpose of liberating the inhabitants from the
Genoese yoke. He rendered himself extremely popular and
became king of Corsica, a. d. 1736. But, whilst travelling in
Europe for the purpose of seeking for a recognition of his au-
thority and for aid, the French landed in Corsica and forced
the islanders once more to recognise the supremacy of Genoa.
Theodore took refuge in England, where he died a prisoner
for debt.*
Prince Eugene had, meanwhile, continued to guard the
frontiers of the empire. A thorough German, f ever bent
upon the promotion of the glory and welfare of Germany, he
beheld her downward course with heart-felt sorrow, of which
his letters give abundant and often touching proof He was
misunderstood by all except by his soldiery, who, in those
wretched times, were by him inspired with an enthusiasm,
and who fought with a spirit worthy of a better age. But
the fine army, disciplined by him, was shamefully neglected
on the death of its commander. Favourites, men of undoubted
incapacity, were appointed to the highest military posts, the
number of which was immensely multiplied. There were no
fewer than nineteen imperial field-marshals and a still greater
number of field-lieutenant-raarshals, mastei's of the ordnance,
etc., all of whom were in the receipt of large salaries, were
utterly devoid of military knowledge, and refused to recognise
each other's authority. The war establishment was reckoned
from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty thou-
sand men, but forty thousand alone had been levied and those
were allowed to starve. The whole of the pay flowed into the
pockets of the superior officers. The military court-council
and the field-marshals played into each other's hands, and the
officers, from the highest to the lowest, emulated each other in
dishonesty and fraud. The emperor, notwithstanding these
abuses, deemed it possible, with an armj' of this description, to
make great conquests in Turkey capable of repaying his losses
* On the accession of Jerome, Napoleon's brother, to the throne of
Westphalia, it was said, " It is but just that a Corsican nobleman should
become king of Westphalia, a Weslphalian nobleman having been king
of Corsica."
t The counts of Savoy boasted of their descent from the ancient Saxon
line of Wittekind.
CHARLES THE SIXTH. 13
in tlie West. Count Seckendorf, a Protestant, (the prototype
of the chattering oracles and busy speculators, who were, at a
later period, looked up to as prodigies in Catholic countries,
merely on account of their being Protestants,) was placed at
the head of the army, which was also accompanied by Francis
of Lorraine as voluntary field-marshal. The Turks, ever ac-
customed to make the attack, were taken by surprise. Secken-
dorf [a. d. 1737] took the important fortress of Nissa, but his
further operations were so clumsily conducted and the army
was in such a state of demoralization that all speedily went
wrong. IMoney and provisions became scarce, then failed al-
together ; the soldiery murmured ; the jealous Catholic gener-
als refused obedience to the Protestant generalissimo. General
Doxat yielded Nissa without a blow on the approach of the
Turks ; an oifence for which he afterwards lost his head.
Seckendorf, accused by his enemies, was recalled and thrown
into prison, and the emperor, like Fei'dinand II. in Wallen-
stein's case, denied the commands, imposed by himself on his
general, and threw the whole blame upon him alone. Secken-
dorf remained a prisoner until the emperor's death.
The campaign of 1738 was opened by Kcenigsegg, who,
unexpectedly penetrating into the country, was successful
at Kornia, but was left without reinforcements and speedily
recalled. He was replaced by Wallis, who blindly obeyed
the senseless orders of the military court-council, and, taking
up a most unfavourable position, placed himself in the
poAver of the Turks, who, commanded by French officers,
among others by Bonneval, who had been raised to the dig-
nity of pacha, crushed him by their superior numbers at
Kruska. He lost twenty thousand men, and retreated in dis-
may, leaving Belgrade, whither he could have retired in per-
fect safety, behind him. General Schmettau hurried to Vi-
enna and offered to defend Belgrade, but exhorted to speedy
measures. The emperor, however, trusted neither him nor
Kcenigsegg, in fact, no one who discovered energy or a love of
honour. Schmettau was commissioned to bear to General
Succow, an officer utterly incompetent to fill the office, his
confirmation in the command of Belgrade. Wallis received
full power to negotiate terms and instantly offijred to yield
Belgrade, a step to which necessity alone could have induced
the emperor to accede. Immediately after this, the emperor
14 CHARLES THE SIXTH.
sent a second ambassador, Neipperg, who, ignorant of the
negotiations entered into by Wallis, refused to sacrifice Bel-
grade, and was, consequently, treated with every mark of in-
dignity by the Turks, who spat in his fiice, supposing him to
be a spy. Bound in chains, in momentary expectation of
death, Neipperg also lost his presence of mind, offered to
yield Belgi'ade, and, through the mediation of the French
ambassador, the Marquis de Villeneuve, to whom Russia had
also given carte blanche on this occasion, concluded the
scandalous peace of Belgrade, by which Belgrade, Servia, and
Wallachia were once more delivered up to Turkey. Succow,
notwithstanding Schmettau's i-emonstrances, yielded Belgrade,
[a. d. 1739,] before the ratification of the treaty at Vienna.
Wallis and Neipperg suffered a short imprisonment, but were,
on account of their connexion with the aristocracy, at that
period omnipotent, shortly restored to favour and reinstated
in their offices. Schmettau entered the Prussian service.
The house of Habsburg became extinct in 1749. Charles
conduced, even in a greater degree than his father, to stamp
the Austrians, more especially the Viennese, with the charac-
ter by which they are, even at the present day, distinguished.
The Austrians were formerly noted for their chivalric spi-
rit and still more so for their constitutional liberty. During
the unhappy struggle for liberty of conscience their character
became deeply tragical and parallel in dignity to that of any
other nation ennobled by misfortune, but, during the reign of
Charles VL, it took a thoughtlessly good-humoured, frivolous,
almost burlesque tone. The memory of their ancestors' rights
had faded away, the horrid butchery was forgotten ; the
education of the Jesuits had, in the third generation, eradicat-
ed every serious thought, had habituated the people to blind
obedience, whilst they amused them, like children, with spi-
ritual comedies, to which the great comedy, acted by the
court, was a fitting accompaniment. The person of the mon-
arch was, it is true, strictly guarded by Spanish etiquette,
but his innumerable crowd of attendants, fattening in idle-
ness and luxury, ere long infected the whole nation with their
licence and love of gaiety. The court of Vienna was entirely
on a Spanish footing ; the palace, the pleasure-grounds, the
Prater, an imitation of the Prado at Madrid, the ceremo-
nies, even the dress, notwithstanding the ill accordance be-
CHARLES THE SIXTH. 15
tween the great Spanish hat and drooping feathei'S and tlie
short mantle with the allonge peruke lately introduced by the
French. The emperor was beheld with distant awe as a being
superior to the rest of mankind ; he was, even in privacy,
surrounded by pomp and circumstance ; his name coukl not
be uttered without a genuflection. He was surrounded by
a court consisting of no fewer than forty thousand indi-
viduals, all of whom aided in the consumption of the public
revenue. The six offices filled by the lord chief steward, the
lord chief chamberlain, the lord chief marshal, the lord chief
equerry, the lord chief master of the chase, and the lord chief
master of the falcons, each of whom superintended an im-
mensely numerous royal household, took precedence. There
were, for instance, two hundred and twenty-six chamberlains.
Then followed twelve offices of state, the privy council, (the
highest government office,) the military council, the imperial
council, three councils of finance, (the court of conference, the
exchequer, and board of revenues,) a chief court of justice,
(into which the provincial government of Lower Austria had
been converted,) and five especial governments for Spain, the
Netherlands, Hungary, Transylvania, and Bohemia, all of
which resided at Vienna. There were, besides these, the em-
bassies, a prodigious number, every count, prelate, baron, and
city of the empire having, at that period, an agent in Vienna.
The whole of the year was unalterably prearranged, every court
f^te predetermined. Then came a succession of church festivals,
with solemn processions, festivals of the knights of the golden
fleece, and that of the ladies of the order of the cross, instituted
[a. d. 1688] by Eleonora, the consort of Ferdinand IH., etc.;
tasteless family f^tes, with fire-works, senseless allegories, and
speeches in an unheard-of bombastical style, imitated from the
half-oriental one of Spain. The machinery of this world of
wonder was managed by the prime minister. Count Sinzendorf,
an execrable statesman but — an admirable cook. Half Vienna
was fed from the imperial kitchens and cellars. Two casks of
Tokay were daily reckoned for softening the bread for the
empress's parrots ; twelve quarts of the best wine for the em-
press's night-draught, and twelve buckets of wine for her daily
bath.
The people were reduced to the lowest grade of servility.
The Lower Austrian Estates, on the occasion of taking the
16 CHARLES THE SIXTH.
oath of allegiance, thus addressed Charles VI. : " The light of
heaven is obscured by your Majesty's inimitable splendour.
The universe is not spacious enough to be the scene of such
events, when your most faithful and obedient Estates reach
the height of happiness by casting themselves at the feet of
your Majesty. The ancient golden age is iron in comparison
with the present one illumined by the sun of our prosperity.
Your faithful and submissive Estates would, on this account,
have erected a splendid temple, like that of Augustus, conse-
crated to returning peace and prosperity, could any thing have
been any where discovered that was not already possessed by
your imperial Majesty." Conlin, in the notes to his Poetical
Biography of Charles VI., gives an account of the reception of
the empress at Linz, which is equally entertaining. In Vienna,
the numerous sinecures enabled adventurers, tlie upper and
lower lacqueys, to live a riotous life, which affected the morals
of the people. Eating and drinking became an affair of the
utmost importance ; adultery and immorality among the no-
bility a mark of bon ton ; the search after amusement the
citizen's sole occupation. The Spanish austerity of the court
had, notwithstanding, prevented immorality, under the name of
philosophy, from supplanting religion, as had been the case
in France. Frivolity was confined to the limits of a jest re-
concilable with the established piety . or rather bigoti'y, and
thus came into vogue, Stranitzki, in the Leopoldstadt theatre,
by means of this tone exciting the inextinguishable laughter
of the populace, and Father Abraham making use of it in his
sermons at Santa Clara.
Vienna, on the reconciliation between the emperor and the
pope, was erected into a bishopric, A. d. 1772. The emperor,
like his predecessors, was a slave to the priests and expended
as much upon church festivals as upon court fetes. The most
extraordinary splendour was displayed in 1729, on the canon-
ization of St. John von Nepomuk by the pope. The festival,
which lasted eight days, was participated in by the whole of the
Austrian monarchy, nay, by the whole of Catholic Christendom.
Vienna was the scene of unusual pomp ; the interior of St.
Stephen's was hung with purple ; the courtiers and citizens
vied with each other in splendour. Almost the whole popula-
tion of Bohemia poured into Prague ; more than four hundred
processions of townships bearing offerings, as to a pagan sa-
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 17
orifice ; Altbunzlau with garnets and rubies, Koenigsgrajtz
with pheasants, Chrudim with crystals, Czaslau with silver,
Kaurziem with evergreen plants, Bechin with salmon, Prachin
with pearls and gold sand, Pilsen with a white lamb, Saaz with
ears of corn, Leitmeritz with wine, Rakonitz with salt, etc.
The whole of the city and its innumerable towers were splen-
didly illuminated. An immense procession marched to Ne-
pomuk, the saint's birth-place, with numbers of figures and
pictures of the Virgin and saints, banners and dramatic repre-
sentations, taken from the life of the saint.* At that pious
period lived the Tyrolean Capuchin, Father Gabriel Ponti-
feser, who enjoyed great repute as confessor to Maria Anna,
queen of Spain, consort to Charles II., the last of the Habs-
burg dynasty, but who refused every post of honour and con-
tented himself with erecting a Capuchin monastery in his native
town, Clausen, with Spanish gold. The queen adorned it with
valuable pictures, etc., part of which were [a. d. 1809] carried
to Munich. At that time also died at Cappel in the Pazuaun-
thal the pious pastor, Adam Schmid, who was so beloved by
the people that numerous tapers are still kept burning around
his tomb as around that of a saint.j
CCXXXII. The courts of Germany.
Augustus of Saxony expired a. d. 1733, leaving three
hundred and fifty-two children, amongst whom, Maurice,
known as the marshal of Saxony, the son of the beautiful
Aurora, Countess of Kflenigsmark,;]: equalled him in extraordi-
nary physical strength and surpassed him in intellect, but, as
a French general, turned the talents which, under other cir-
cumstances, he might have devoted to the service of his coun-
try, against Germany. Flemming, the powerful minister, also
died, leaving sixteen million dollars, of which he had robbed
the country, and half of which his widow was compelled to
relinquish. The most notorious of the king's mistresses,
* See Schottky, The Carlovingian Age.
t Beda, Weber's Tyrol.
X She was cold, intriguing, and busied herself, as her Memoirs show,
with money matters. She became provostess of Quedlinburg, " for
which," as Uffenbach writes in his Travels, " her fine, large, majestic
figure, but not her well-known character, M'ell suited."
VOL. III. c
18 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
Countess Cosel, had drawn from liim twenty million dollars.
Saxony had fallen a prey to the most depraved of both sexes.
The whole of these shameful acts are recounted in the " Gal-
lant Saxon" of Baron von PciUnitz and in the Memoirs of the
Margravine of Bayreuth. The descriptions of the f6tes given
at Morizburg to the Countess Aurora von Kcenigsmark or in
honour of foreign princes, his guests, graphically depicture
the luxury of this royal debauche. Mythological representa-
tions were performed on an immense scale, festivals of Venus in
the pleasure-gardens, festivals of Diana in the forests, festivals
of Neptune on the Elbe, on which occasions a Venetian Bu-
centaur, frigates, brigantines, gondolas, and sailors dressed in
satin and silk stockings, were paraded ; festivals of Saturn in
the Saxon mines ; besides tournaments, peasants' f^tes, fairs,
masquerades, and fancy balls, in which the army as well as
the whole court sustained a part. He kept Janissaries, Moors,
Heiducken,* Swiss, a name now signifying body -guardsmen or
porters, and put the common soldiers and court-menials during
the celebration of ft'tes into such varied disguises, as, in a certain
degree, to transform the whole country into a theatre. In Wack-
erbarth's biography, there is a description of a firework, for
which eighteen thousand trunks of trees were used, and of a gi-
gantic allegorical picture which was painted upon six thousand
ells of cloth. One party of pleasure at Mlihlberg cost six million
dollars. Architecture was rendered subservient to these follies.
The Japan palace alone contained genuine Chinese porcelain
to the amount of a million dollars, besides sumptuous carpets
composed of feathers. At Dresden, a hall is still shown com-
pletely furnished with the ostrich and heron plumes used at
these fetes. Luxury and a tasteless love of splendour were
alone fostered by this unheard-of extravagance, and it was
merely owing to a happy chance that the purchase of the
Italian antiques and pictures, which laid the foundation to the
magnificent Dresden gallery, flattered the pride of king Au-
gustus. His private treasury, the celebrated green vaults,
were, like his f^^tes, utterly devoid of taste. There were to be
seen immense heaps of precious stones, gold and silver, a
room full of pearls, columns of ostriches' eggs, curious works
of art, clocks, and all manner of toys, each of which cost enor-
* Attendants in the Hunsarian costume. Translatou.
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 19
mous sums. One of these costly pieces, clever enough, repre-
sents a harlequin cudgelling a peasant, each of the figures being
formed out of a single pearl of immense size. This was, in point
of fact, the only relation between the prince and the people.
The cries of the people were unheard ; of the provincial
Estates a servile committee alone acted ; and Augustus, in the
plenitude of his condescension, in return for the enormous con-
tributions granted by his Estates, yielded, after a parley of
twenty-nine years, to the desire of his people, and published
new reformed regulations for the diet, intended to stop the
mouths of all malcontents, which, with open mockery, he re-
served to himself the power, " in his paternal love for his peo-
ple, of altering and improving."
Augustus III., his son and successor on the throne of Sax-
ony, although personally more temperate, allowed his favour-
ite, Briihl, on whom he bestowed the dignity of Count, to
continue the old system of dissipation. Briihl, who had an
annual salary of 50,000 dollars, without reckoning the im-
mense landed property bestowed upon him, erected his palace
in the vicinity of the royal residence, and, like a major-domo
or grand visir, surpassed his royal master in luxury of every
description. He held a numerous court, and, as he ever placed
his servants in the highest and most lucrative offices, the
nobility contested for the honour of sending their sons, as
pages, into his service. His wardrobe was the most mag-
nificent in the empire ; he had always a hundi-ed pair of shoes,
and other articles of dress in hundreds by him, all of which
were made in Paris. He had a cabinet filled with Parisian
perukes. Even the pastry on his table was sent from Paris.
In order to raise the sums required for his maintenance, he
seized all deposits, even the money belonging to wards, and,
under the title of "contributions," made great loans from
wealthy individuals, particularly at Leipzig, for which he gave
bank-bills, which speedily fell so much in value as to be
refused acceptance. He also established a general property
tax and continually alienated crown property. He was, more-
over, pi-ofessionally a traitor to his country and sold his
master to the highest bidder. At that period, the petty col-
lateral Saxon line of Merseburg, founded, A. d. 1G53, by
Christian, a son of John George, became extinct. The last
duke was such a fiddle-fancier that he was always accom-
c 2
20 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
panied by a carriage filled with those instruments, and so im-
becile, that his wanton consort, on the birth of an illegitimate
child, pacified him by declaring that the infant had brought
with it into the world a gigantic bass-viol, which she had
ordered to be made for him.
The Saxon dukes of the Ernestine line were divided into
several houses. Ernest, duke of Weimar, a. d. 1736, for-
bade his subjects " to reason under pain of correction." Fre-
derick, duke of Gotha, gave the first example of the shame-
ful traffic in men, afterwards so often imitated, by selling
[a. d. 1733] four thousand impressed recruits to the em-
peror for 120,000 florins, and, in 1744, three regiments to
the Dutch. He occupied Meiningen with his troops and
supported the nobles in their rebellion against his cousin,
Antony Ulric, who had persuaded the emperor to bestow
upon his consort, Elisabeth Ca3sar,* a handsome chamber-
maid, the rank of princess, and to declare his children capable
of succeeding to his titles. The nobility triumphed, and the
children were, by a shameful decree of the Estates of the em-
pire, declared incapable of succeeding to their father's pos-
sessions ; the hopes of Gotha were, nevertheless, frustrated,
Antony Ulric instantly contracting a second marriage with a
princess of Hesse, who brought him a numerous family.
In Bavaria, Maximilian Emanuel II. reigned until 1726.
He was the author of great calamities. It was entirely owing
to his disloyalty, to the treacherous diversion raised by him
to the rear of the imperial army, that France was not com-
pletely beaten in the commencement of the war of succession.
Nor was his close alliance with France merely transient, for,
in the ensuing century, his became the ruling policy of almost
every court in Western Germany. The elector, perverted by
Villars and others of the French courtiers, solely made use
of the French tongue, and, surrounded by female singers and
dancing-girls, imitated every Parisian vice. His consort,
Theresa Cunigunda, the daughter of Sobieski, the noble
* Frederick William, the reigning duke, Antony Ulric's elder brother,
disapproved of this marriage, and, on the death of Elisabeth, who, hap-
pily for herself, died early, allowed her coffin to remain unburied, merely
sprinkled over witli sand. On his death, he was treated with similar
indignity by his brother, who left both coffins standing side by side in this
condition during a year.
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 21
sovereign of Poland, filled with disgust at the licentious man-
ners of the court, became, under the guidance of the Jesuit,
Schmacke, a strict devotee. The elector, in order to escape
the reproaches of his Bavarian subjects, chiefly resided, in his
quality of stadthoklcr of the Netherlands, at Brussels, where,
in one continued maze of pleasure, he lavished on his mis-
tresses and expended in horses, of which he kept twelve
hundred, and in pictures, which he had a good opportunity to
collect in the Netherlands, such enormous sums, as to render
the imposition of triple taxes necessary in Bavaria. The pro-
vincial diet had not been consulted since 1699. His son,
Charles Albert, who reigned until 1746, was equally the slave
of luxury. He was passionately fond of hunting, and kept,
besides his mistresses, an immense number of dogs. Keyssler,
who, in the course of his interesting travels, visited Bavaria
in 1729, gives the following account; "The electoress, Maria
Amelia, a little and delicate lady, shoots well at a mark, and
often wades up to her knees in a bog whilst following the
chace. Her shooting-dress is a green coat and trowsers and a
little white peruke. She has a great fancy for dogs, which is
plainly evident at Nymphenburg by the bad smell of the red
damask carpets and beds. The little English greyhounds are
valued most highly. The electoress, when at table, is sur-
rounded by a good number of them, and one sits on either
side of her, seizing every thing within their reach. Near her
bed a dog has a little tent with a cushion, and on one side
hangs a bust of Christ with the crown of thorns. There is
a couch for a dog close to the elector's bed, and there are
couches for twelve more in the fine writing-room adjoining."
The electoress becoming jealous of her husband's mistresses,
a terrible quarrel ensued, in which he physically ill-treated
her. Sophia von Ingenheim was his favourite. He estab-
lished the lotteries, so destructive to the morals of the people,
in Bavaria.
The other Wittelsbach branch in the Pfalz pursued a similar
career. The elector, Philip William, who succeeded to the go-
vernment, A. D. 1685, died in 1690. His son, John William,
fled, on account of the disturbances during the war, from the
Upper Rhine to Diisseldorf, the capital of Juliers, where he fol-
lowed in the steps of his cousin Maximilian at Brussels, kept a
harem and made a valuable collection of pictures. On his death,
22 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
in 1716, his bvotlier, Charles Philip, assisted by the Jesuit,
Usleber, inflicted the most terrible cruelties on the Pfalz and
renewed [a. d. 1742] the violent religious persecution, whilst
indulging in passions that disgraced his years, until death re-
lieved the afllicted country tVom this monster, and Charles
Theodore, of the line of Sulzbach, a sensualist of a milder na-
ture, succeeded to the government. Gustavus Samuel, duke
of Pfalz-Zweibriicken, had, [a. d. 1696,] during a visit to Rome,
turned Catholic, in order to obtain a divorce from his wife
and permission to wed a daughter of one of his servants,
named Hoffman.
Hesse gained the county of Hanau in 1736. The last count,
John Reinhard, died ; his daughter, Charlotte, married
Prince Louis of Darmstadt ; the county was, nevertheless,
divided between Darmstadt and Cassel. During the life of
William, Landgrave of Cassel, his son, the hereditary prince,
Frederick, secretly turned Catholic. His father, however,
frustrated the plans of the Jesuits by convoking the provincial
Estates, demanding a guarantee from the Protestant princes,
binding the hei'editary prince by a will whereby tiie Catholics
were deprived of all their hopes, and separating the prince from
his sons, who were brought up in the Protestant faith.
Licence was carried to the greatest excess in Baden-Dur-
lach, where the Margrave, Charles William, built Carlsruhe
in the midst of the forests, a. d. 1715, and, in imitation of the
celebrated French deer-pai'ks, kept a hundred and sixty garden
nymphs, who bore him a countless number of children. The
scandal caused by this conduct induced him, in ] 722, to dis-
miss all except sixty or seventy of the most beautiful. He
kept his favourites shut up in the celebrated leaden tower,
which still forms the handle to the great double fan, formed
half by the streets of Carlsruhe, half by the alleys stretching
through the forest contiguous to the palace. During his pro-
menades and journeys he was accompanied by girls disguised
as Heiducks.
In Wlirtemberg, the duke, Everard, left, A. D. 1674, a son,
William Louis, vvho dying A. D. 1677, his brother, Frederick
Charles, undertook the guardianship of his son, Everard
Louis, then in his first year.* This regent discovered ex-
* Everard's brother's son, Sylvius Nimrod, married a dautjhter of
the hist duke of Munsterberg, a. d. 1617, of the house of Podiebrad, in
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 23
treme imbecility, and, after the shameful seizure of the city
of Strassburg by Louis XIV., visited Paris for the purpose of
paying his respects to that monarch, notwithstanding, or
rather on account of which, the French king allowed Melac
to plunder the territory of Wiirtemberg. What was there to
be apprehended from a coward ? Everard Louis, who attained
his majority in 1693, instead of healing the wounds of his coun-
try, extended his household, gave magnificent fetes, grandes
battues, and [a. d. 1702] founded the order of St. Hubert,
the patron of the chace, etc. What reason had he for con-
straint, when the Tubingen theologians carried on a violent
dispute with the Dillinger Jesuits, whether the Catholic or
the Lutheran faith was more advantageous for princes, and
the Tiibingen chancellor, PfafF, gained the victory by clearly
demonstrating that no faith allowed more latitude to princes
than the Lutheran. In the absence of native nobility, who
had, under Ulric, duke of Wiirtemberg, abandoned tlie coun-
try, foreign nobles were attracted to the court for the purpose
of heightening its splendour. It was in this manner that a
Mademoiselle von Grisvenitz, accompanied by her brother,
came from Mecklenburg to Stuttgard, and, ere long, became
the declared mistress of the duke. •• Nay, a clergyman was
even found, although the duke was already married, to perform
the marriage ceremony. This open bigamy scandalized both
the emperor and the empire. The departure of Gra;venitz
was insisted upon, but was refused by the duke until the pro-
vincial Estates had, by way of compensation, voted a sum of
200,000 florins. But, scarcely had the duke received the
money than Grasvenitz returned, apparently married to a
Count Wiirben, a Viennese, who had lent himself for a con-
sideration to this purpose, and who, after being created grand
provincial governor of Wiirtemberg, was sent out of the coun-
try. His wife, the grand provincial governess, remained for
twenty years in undisputed possession of the duke, and go-
verned the country in his name. Her brother figured as prime
minister, and, as she furnished the court of Vienna with money
and the king of Prussia from time to time with giants for his
guard, she was protected by foreign powers. She was named,
whose right he laid claim to the Silesian duchy of CEls, which the dukes
of Miinsterberg had received, a. d. 1495, from'Wladislaw, king of Bohe-
mia, in exchange for the demesne of Podiebrad in Bohemia.
24 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
and with truth, the destroyer of the country, for she sold offices
and justice, commuted all punishments byline, extorted money
by tlireats, bestowed the most important commercial monopo-
lies on Jews,* mortgaged and sold the crown lands, etc. She
managed the duke's treasury and — her own. His was ever
empty, hers ever full ; she lent money to the duke, who repaid
her in land. By means of spies, the violation of private cor-
respondence, and a strict police, she suppressed the murmurs
of the people. Osiander, the churchman, alone had the courage
to reply, on her demanding to be included in the prayers of
the church, " Madame, we pray daily, ' O Lord, preserve us
from evil.'" It was forbidden under pain of punishment to
speak ill of her. The provincial Estates attempting to defend
themselves from the enormous exactions, the duke threatened
the "individuals," in case the assembly any longer opposed his
demands. During the famine of 1713, the peasants were com-
pelled to plant great part of their land with tobacco. On the
increasing discontent of the people and of the Estates, which
showed itself more particularly at Stuttgard, tlie duke quitted
that city and erected a new residence, Ludwigsburg, a. d. 1716,
at an immense expense. On laying the foundation-stone, he
caused such a quantity of bread to be thrown to the assembled
multitude that several people narrowly escaped being crushed to
death. The general w^ant increased, and, in 1717, the first great
migration of the people of Wiirtemberg to North America took
place. The countess at length demanded as her right as pos-
sessor of the lordship of Welzheim a seat and a vote on the
Franconian bench of counts of the empire, which being granted
in her stead to her brother, a quarrel ensued, and he took part
with her enemies against her. She also ventured to treat the
duke with extreme insolence. Her beauty had long passed
away with her youth, and, on the presentation of the beautiful
Countess Wittgenstein, her empire completely ended. She
w^as imprisoned and deprived of her immense demesnes. On
* On one occasion she seized a quantity of English goods for her
wardrobe, and the duke wore some of the stolen gold brocade in public.
On another occasion, a person offering her 5000 florins for an apothecary's
licence, she took the money, gave a receipt, but did not send the patent.
The person called in order to freshen her memory. The countess could
not recall the circumstance, demanded the receipt in proof, took it away
and did not reappear. The person in question received neither the money
nor the patent.
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 25
the death of the duke, she lost still more of her ill-gotten wealth,
and the court Jew, Siiss, her agent, also privately robbed her.
Everard Louis expired A. D. 1733, leaving no issue, and
was succeeded by his Catholic cousin, Charles Alexander, who,
although a distinguished officer, was totally inept for govern-
ment. He intrusted the helm of state to his court Jew, SUss
Oppenheimer, who shamelessly robbed the country. He estab-
lished a "gratification court," where all the offices of state
were sold to the highest bidder ; " a court of exchequer,"
where justice was put up to auction. To those who were un-
able to pay he lent money at the rate of a gros per florin (the
Jews' groschen). He also kept a large shop, from which he
furnished the court wardrobes, and established a lottery for his
private gain. He, moreover, extended the system of mono-
poly to leather, groceries, coffee-houses, even to the cleaning
of chimneys, as well as the right of pre-emption, as, for instance,
in regard to wood ; and, lastly, burthened the country, even
foreigners during their residence in it, with a heavy protec-
tion, income, and family tax, A. d. 1736. He also gave way
to the most unbridled licence, and either by fraud or by vio-
lence disturbed the peace of families. The patient endur-
ance of the people and the example of the Pfalz inspired the
Jesuits with the hope of recatholicizing Wurtemberg by means
of her Catholic duke. The first step was to place the Catho-
lics on an equal footing with the Protestants, and a con-
spiracy, in which Siiss took part, was entered into for that
purpose. Troops were expected from the bishop of Wiirz-
burg. Orders were prepared for the Wurtemberg household
troops. The people were to be disarmed under pretext of
putting a stop to poaching. The duke, who, it was probably
feared, might, if present, oppose severe measures, was to be
temporarily removed. The ancient constitution was to be
done away with ; " The hydra head of the people shall be
crushed," wrote General Remchingen, one of the chief con-
spirators, to Fichtel, the duke's privy-counsellor. But, during
the night of the 13th of March, 1737, the duke suddenly ex-
pired, a few hours before the time fixed for his departure.
He was long supposed to have been assassinated, but, most
probably, died of apoplexy. His cousin, Charles Rudolph,
undertook the government during the minority of his son,
Charles Eugene, who was then in his ninth year. The Ca-
26 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
tholic conspiracy fell to the ground ; Remcliingen fled ; the
Jew, Siiss, was exposed on the gallows* in an iron cage.
The first elector of Hanover, Ernest Augustus, who sud-
denly restored the power of the divided and immoral Guelphic
house, was not free from the faults of the age. Although the
champion of the honour of Germany, he was a slave to French
fashions, unprincipled and licentious, fiiithless and ungrateful
to his noble consort, Sophia, in whose right his son mounted
the throne of Great Britain, and built Montbrilland for his
mistress, Madame von Kielmansegge, and the Fantaisie for
the other, the Countess Platen. His Italian chapel-director,
Stephani, controlled the government. His neglected consort,
Sophia, a woman of high intelligence, consoled herself by her
friendship for Leibnitz, the greatest genius of the day. George,
his son and successor, married a near relation, Sophia Doro-
thea, the daughter of the last duke of Celle, who, becoming
enamoured of a Count Kocnigsmark, attempted to fly with him
in the design of turning Catholic. Her plan was discovered
and frustrated ; the count was beheaded and she was detained
a prisoner for life, a. u. 1691. The elector, notwithstanding
the severity with which he visited adultery in his wife, was
not free from a similar imputation. He kept numerous mis-
tresses, among others, Irmengarde Melusina von Schulenburg,
who gained such undisputed sway over him, that he took her
to England on his accession to the throne, created her duchess
of Kendal, and induced Charles VI. to bestow upon her the
title of Eberstein as princess of the empire. He mounted the
British throne, A. D. 1714, and, in order to confirm his seat,
completely devoted himself to the interests of Great Britain.
Hanover Avas utterly neglected and converted into an English
province, a stepping-stone for England into the German em-
pire. The fact that the absence of the prince afforded no
alleviation of the popular burthens is characteristic of the
times. The electoral household, notwithstanding the unvary-
ing absence of the elector, remained on its former footing for
* These gallows wore made of the iron which Hoiiauer had attempted
to turn into gold. Honauer first adorned them in 1597, then the Jew
Siiss, three alchyniists, Montani, Mnschelcr, and Von Miihlcnfels, a
Stuttgard incendiary, and, lastly, a thief, who had attempted to steal the
iron from the same gallows. They were very high and weighed thirty-
six hundred weight and twelve pounds.
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 27
the purpose of imposing upon the multitnde and of assuring
lucrative appointments to the nobility. The palace bore no
appearance of being deserted ; except the elector himself, not
a courtier, not a single gold-laced lacquey, was wanting to
complete the court ; the horses stamped in the stalls, nay,
the fiction of the royal presence was carried to such a degree
that the Hanoverians were cited for their devotion to roy-
alty and for their rage for titles. The courtiers, resident
in Hanover, assembled every Sunday in the electoral palace.
In the hall of assembly stood an arm-chair, upon which the
monarch's portrait was placed. Each courtier on entering
bowed low to this portrait, and the whole assembly, as if awe-
struck by the presence of Majesty, conversed in low tones
for about an hour, when the banquet, a splendid repast pre-
pared at the elector's expense, was announced. The cle-
mency, whereby the fate of the subjects of other states is
sometimes alleviated, had, however, disappeared with the
monarch, and to this may be attributed the rude arrogance
of the nobility and the cruelty of legislature, which, even
up to the present time, retained the use of torture. The ex-
ample olFered by the people and parliament of England might
have been followed, but the Hanoverian diet had slumbered
since 1657 and merely vegetated in the form of an aristocratic
committee. The minister, von Miinchhausen, was the first
who governed, as far as the spirit and circumstances of the
times allowed, in a patriotic sense. He gained great distinc-
tion by founding the university of Ga^ttingen, which he richly
endowed, a. d. 1737. Royal Hanover no longer condescended
to send her subjects to the little university of Helmstaedt in
Wolfenbiittel.
In Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel, the aged duke, Antony Ulric,
who gave way to unbridled licence in his palace of Salzdahlum,
but who promoted science by the extension of the celebrated
Wolfenbiittel library,* turned Catholic when nearly eighty, in
order to testify his delight at the marriage of his grand-
daughter with the emperor, Charles VI. His son, Augustus
William, imitated his luxury, and, guided by a certain von
Dehn, gave himself up to all the fashionable vices of the day
and persecuted ^Miinchhausen. He was succeeded by his bro-
ther, Louis Rudolph, [a. d. 1731,] by whom order was restored.
* Better than by his wearisome romances and his expensive Italian opera.
28 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
He left no issue, and was succeeded [a. d. 1735] by Fer-
dinand Albert von Bevern, (a younger branch, founded by a
brother of Antony Ulric,) a learned collector of scientific ob-
jects, who was shortly afterwards succeeded by his son,
Charles.
In Mecklenburg, the scandalous government of Charles
Leopold was succeeded by the milder one of his brother, Chris-
tian Louis, A. D. 1719.
In East Frizeland, George Albert, the son of Christian
Everard, continued the contest with the Estates and the city
of Emden, and created, in opposition to the ancient Estates or
malcontents, fresh and obedient ones. Right was in this
instance again unprotected by the emperor and the empire, by
whom the ancient Estates were denounced as rebels. Emden
resisted, several bloody battles took place, but at length the
Danes came to the count's assistance, the ancient Estates were
suppressed, and the property of the malcontents was confis-
cated. Charles Edzard, the count's son, married [a. d. 1727]
a princess of Bayreuth, and entered into an agreement by
which, on his dying without issue, in 1744, East Frizeland
was annexed to Prussia.
In Denmark, Frederick IV. married Anna Sophia, the
beautiful daughter of his chancellor, Reventlow. Extrava-
gant devotion was brought into vogue during the reign of his
son, Christian VI., by his consort, Sophia Magdalena, a
princess of Bayreuth, and by her court chaplain, Blume, a. d.
1746. The celebrated minister, Bernstorf, commenced a
beneficial reform in the administration under his son, Frede-
rick V.
Holstein had severely suffered during the war and under
the licentious government of Count Gortz, after whose execu-
tion the affairs of state were conducted almost equally ill by
the family of Bassewitz in the name of the youthful duke.
The nobility were extremely cruel and intractable. In 1721,
a Ranzau caused his elder brothers to be assassinated ; another,
in 1722, starved several of his serfs to death in prison. Both
were merely punished by a short imprisonment. A third
member of this family had, however, as early as 1688, offered
a very contrary example, by being the first to liberate the
serfs on his estates. A controversy among the priesthood
caused the citizens of Kiel [a. d. 1708] to rise in open insur-
THE COURTS OF GERMANY. 29
rection. The Ditmarsch peasantry revolted [a, d, 1740] on
account of the abuses to which the levy of recruits gave rise.
Leopold von Dessau was the only one among the fallen princes
of the house of Anhalt who earned distinction. He reformed
the Prussian army, introduced the use of metal ramrods and a
rapid movement of closed columns, and prepared Prussia for
the great part she was henceforward to perform on the theatre
of war in Europe.* He was extremely rough in his manners,
was subject to ungovernable fits of fury, was, moreover, a
drunkard, and tyrannized over the people of Dessau. He,
nevertheless, lived in great harmony with the beautiful daugh-
ter of an apothecary, f who was recognised by the emperor.
A collateral branch of the house of Hohenzollern-Branden-
burg, the reigning one of Prussia, continued to reign in the
Margraviates of Bayreuth and Ansbach. Christian Ernest
of Bayreuth [a. d. 1712] created the alchymist, Krohnemann,
prime minister, but sent him, nevertheless, to the gallows for
his ill-success in discovering the secret of making gold. His
son, George William, founded the far-famed Hermitage, where
the hermit passed his days in wanton luxury. His son,
Frederick, married the celebrated princess, Frederica Sophia
Wilhelmina of Prussia, sister to Frederick the Great, whose
Memoirs so graphically depicture the times. She has un-
hesitatingly and unsparingly described both her father's and
husband's court and related all the events of that period : the
fact that a princess could thus speak of her own relations is a
strong proof, were any wanting, of the prevalence of French
frivolity. Her husband had [a. d. 1743] founded the uni-
versity of Erlangen, but was, notwithstanding, a mere lover
of the chace, and was first misled by her to spend sums in the
erection of palaces, theatres, etc., ill-suited to the revenue of
his petty territory.
Charles William Frederick von Ansbach, who succeeded to
the government in 1729, was feared as a madman and a ty-
rant. He intrusted the administration to the nobility, more par-
* He was the darling of the soldiery, and the Dessau march, long after
his time, led the Prussians to victory.
t Anna Louisa Fbhse, the apotliecary's daughter, had steadily refused
to become his mistress. He remained, on his side, faithful to her during
his campaigns and married her on succeeding to the government. She
bore him ten children, five of whom were sons. Three fell and the other
two were severely wounded during the seven years' war.
30 THE COURTS OF GERMANY.
ticularly to the family of Seckendorf, whilst he gave himself
up to the pleasures of the chace, to a couple of mistresses, and
to fits of rage, which caused him to imbrue his hands in the
blood of others. He was for some time completely guided by
a Jew, named Isaac Nathan, who practised financial swindling,
and, for a short period, solely reigned under tlie title of
" resident." The little Margrave, wishing to bestow a great
honour on the English monarch, sent Jiim the red order of the
eagle set in brilliants. The Jew, Ischerlein, avIio was on an
understanding with Nathan, undertook the commission and
falsified the diamonds, which was instantly perceived by King
George, who accordingly neglected to send a reply to the Mar-
grave. An inquiry took place and the imposition Avas discovered.
The Margrave instantly sent for the Jew and for a headsman.
Ischerlein came, was bound down to a chair, but no sooner
caught sight of the headsman, than, springing up, he ran, witli
the chair attached to him, round the long table standing in the
middle of the hall, until the headsman, encouraged by the
Margrave, at length contrived to strike off his head across the
table. Nor did the resident escape the Margrave's Avrath ;
he was closely imprisoned, deprived of the whole of his ill-
gotten wealth, and [a. t>. 1740] expelled the country. The
Margrave, during another of his fits of rage, shot the keeper of
his hounds. He died of apoplexy, caused by the fury to
which he was roused by the conduct of Mayer, the Prussian
general, who, at that period, A. d. 1757, chastised the petty
])rinces of the empire. These Margraves of Ansbach and
Bayreuth appeared as protectors of Protestantism in opposition
to the princes of Hohenlohe, (Bartenstein and Schillingsfiirst,)
wlio, as Catholics, tyrannized over their Protestant relatives,
the Counts von Hohenlohe, (ffihringen,) attempted to abro-
gate the consistory at OEhringen and to extirpate Protestant-
ism. The Margrave's troops compelled the princes to remain
tranquil, and, notwithstanding the loud complaints of the
Bavarian Jesuits, to make full restitution.
CCXXXIII. T/ie ecclesiastical courts. — The Salzburg
emigration.
The archbishops and prince-bishops of the Catholic church,
instead of being taught by the great lesson inculcated by the
THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 31
Reformation, emulated the temporal princes in luxury and
licence. Clement of Cologne, brother to the elector of Bava-
ria, had fixed his voluptuous court at Bonn. Here, French
alone was spoken, and luxury was carried to such a height
that even during Lent there were no fewer than twenty dishes
on the archiepiscopal table. This gallant churchman had
a hundred and fifty chamberlains and passed great part of his
time at Paris, where he associated with the licentious courtiers
and acted in a manner that inspired even the French Avith
astonishment. Duclos relates, " It was very strange to see
the elector of Cologne, who resided at Paris, standing in the
royal presence, the king sitting in an arm-chair, and, when
dining with the Dauphin, sitting among the courtiers at the
lowest end of the table. When at Valenciennes, he caused
his intention of preaching on the first of April to be proclaimed.
The church was thronged on the given day. The elector
mounted the pulpit, gravely bowed to the assembly, made
the sign of the cross, and exclaiming, ' April fools all of ye ! '
descended amid the sound of trumpets, hunting-horns, and
kettle-drums, and quitted the church." The city of Cologne
was completely ruined under his government. The religious
persecution drove all the industrious manufacturers and traders
into the neighbouring country and enriched Miihlheim, Dus-
seldorf, and Elberfeld at the expense of Cologne, which was
at length almost solely inhabited by monks and beggars.
The bishops, to whom the venerable episcopal cities and
cathedrals offered a silent reproof, withdrew, for the more un-
disturbed enjoyment of their pleasures, to more modern resi'
dences, where they revelled in magnificence and luxury. Bonn,
Bruchsal, and Dillingen severally afforded a voluptuous retreat
to the archbishops of Cologne, Spires, and Augsburg. John
Philip Francis, bishop of Wiirzburg, a scion of the noble house
of Schonborn, held an extremely splendid court. His palace
and the buildings appertaining to it were built on the plan of
Versailles, and are, even at the present day, objects of admir-
ation.* He was, moreover, bishop of Bamberg, where he held
* One of his predecessors, Peter Philip von Dornbach, had [a. d. 1669]
thrown the cornet, Eckhard von Peckern, a handsome youth, whose
attractions were, in tlie eyes of a Madame von Polheim, superior to those
of the bishop, into prison and starved him to death. See Schramberg's
article concerning the family of Dornbach.
32 THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS.
a separate court, to which no less than thirty chamberlains
belonged. Father Horn, who ventured to preach against
ecclesiastical luxury and licence, languished for twenty years
chained in a deep dungeon at Wiirzburg, until 1750, when
death released him from his suiFerings. The archbishop of
Salzburg had twenty-three chamberlains and sixteen courtiers,
the chateaux of Mirabella, Klessheim, and Hellbriinn, estab-
lishments, completely on a temporal footing, with pleasure-
gardens, basons, fountains, grottos with statues of naked
divinities, nymphs and satyrs, a menagerie, orangery, and tlie-
atre. Luxury was here hereditary and was transmitted from
one archbishop to anotlier. In 1699, for instance, the arch-
bishop, John Ernest, entertained the consort of Joseph, the
Roman king, with f^tes ; among others, with a grande battue,
in which bulls, bears, wild boars, deer, etc., wei'e driven into
a narrow circle and torn to pieces by large hounds, and with
a ball, on the conclusion of which he presented her with a sil-
ver table and a costly mirror for her morning toilette.
This example was followed by numerous other bishops,
princely abbots, and prelates of every description. Augustin,
abbot of Altaich, had an annual income of 100,000 florins and
expended 300,000. The priests of the Teacher of humility
paraded in gilt carriages drawn by six stallions, Heiducks
standing behind, footmen running before, followed by a train
of gay cavaliers, chased the wild-boar in their forests or
lounged in luxurious boudoirs, their fat fingers gleaming witli
diamonds, on soft cushions, their mistresses around, a dainty
banquet before them. Their luxury had long become pro-
verbial. The episcopal cellars abounded with the good things
of this world, and men, bound by a vow of denial and poverty,
unhesitatingly named their store-places, the cellar of God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, of all saints, etc.
The depravity, especially of the women, in all the episcopal
demesnes and cities was proverbial. The spiritual fathers
took their daughters to their bosom and servihty boasted of
the honour.
The rich benefices, the offices in the cathedrals and other
establishments, were, like all the higher civil and military
posts, monopolized by the nobility. In order to secure the
exclusion of the burghers, those alone Avho counted a certain
number of ancestors or who paid a considerable sum of money,
THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 33
could be admitted. An ill-successful applicant said, on one
occasion, " I am not rich enough to take the vow of poverty ! "
The nobility, habituated from their birth to luxury and li-
cence, continued the same practices in the establishments of
the church.
Deep amid the mountains of Salzburg dwelt a pious com-
munity, which, since the time of the first Reformation, had
secretly studied the German Bible, and, unaided by a priest-
hood, obeyed the precepts of a pure and holy religion. The
gradual extension of this community at length betrayed its
existence to the priests, and, in 1685, the first cruel persecu-
tion commenced in the Tefferekerthal, and, on the failure of
the most revolting measures for the conversion of the wi'etch-
ed peasants to Popery, they were expelled their homes and
sent to wander o'er the wide world, deprived even of a pa-
rent's joy, their children being torn fx'om them in order to be
educated by the Jesuits. In the ensuing year, a number of
mountaineers with their preacher, Joseph Schaidberger, were
also compelled to quit their native country.
The secret church, however, far from being annihilated by
these measures, rapidly increased her number of proselytes.
The purity and beauty of a religion free from the false dog-
mas of a grasping hierarchy offered irresistible attractions to
the hardy and free-spirited mountaineers ; the persecution, the
licence permitted at the ecclesiastical court of their spiritual
sovereign, the utter depravity pervading the whole of the up-
per classes, the church, and the army, filled them with the
deepest disgust and caused them to cling with still greater
tenacity to their secret persuasion. Divine service was per-
formed during the silent night in the depths of the forest or
•in the hidden recesses of the mountains. They buried their
Bibles in the forest, and, at first, refused to confide the place
of their concealment to their wives and daughters. By prac-
tising the external ceremonies of the Catholic church, they
remained, notwithstanding their numbers, long undiscovered.
A trifling incident at. length disclosed the whole. One of their
number, shocked at the profanation of the Saviour's name by
the use of the Catholic salutation, " Praised be Jesus Christ,"
by drunkards and gamesters, refused to reply to it, and, being
imitated by the rest of his persuasion, a discovery took place.
34 THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION.
The brutal archbishop, Leopold Antony von Firmian,* con-
demned the first who refused to return this salutation to be
cruelly beaten, to be bound up awry with dislocated limbs, to
be exposed during the depth of winter to hunger and cold, in
order to compel them to recant. They remained firm. The
miserable peasants imagined in their simplicity that the diet
would exert itself in their favour ! They still harboured a
hope that the interests of the great German nation, of which
they formed a part, might be represented in the diet ! But
their deputation found that in Eatisbon affairs dragged slowly
on, and that whilst the lawyers scribbled the bishop acted.
The Protestant deputies, who had taken up the cause of the
Salzburg peasantry, allowed themselves to be led astray by
the sophistry, evasions, and impudent assertions of the Baron
von Zillerberg, Firmian's subtle agent at Eatisbon. The de-
putation was, on its return, thrown into prison, and the per-
secution was carried on with unrelenting cruelty. Physical
torture proving ineffectual, the archbishop tried the effect of
enormous fines. This measure proved equally futile. En-
raged at his ill success, he at length sent a commission to find
out the numbers of the heretics, and, on being informed that
they amounted to twenty thousand, observed, "It does not
matter, I will clear the country of the heretics although it
may hereafter produce but thorns and thistles." The com-
missioners asked the people whether they were Lutheran or
Zwinglian. The simple-minded peasants had never heard of
either ; they had only studied the Bible, and replied, " We
are evangelical." They were now irremediably lost. How-
ever, putting their trust in God, they formed a great con-
federacy at Schwarzach, August the 5th, 1731, and swore to
lay down their lives rather than deny their faith. Each man,
* Firmian had given the pope 100,000 dollars for the Pallium. His
attendants and associates were chiefly Italians, and he -would follow the
chace for days together. The rest of his time was devoted to the Countess
Arco at the chateau of Elesheim, and the government was intrusted to
his chancellor, a poor Tyrolese, named Christian, a native of Eiill, who
Italianized his name and termed himself Christian! da Rallo. The pope
bribed him with 50,000 dollars to gain the archbishop over to his inter-
ests — Panse, History of the Salzburg Emigration. Part of the city of
Salzburg had been buried, shortly before these events, [a. d. 1669,] by
the fall of a mountain.
THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION. 35
on taking this oath, stuck liis finger into a salt-cellar, whence
the confederacy received the appellation of the Salzhund of
God, possibly a play upon the name of tlieir country or upon
the biblical saying, "Ye are the salt of the earth," or, what is
still more probable, in allusion to the mysteries taught by
Theophrastus Paracelsus, who had died at Salzburg and had
recognised a divine primordial faculty in salt. The smith,
Stullebner of Hlittau, Avas the most remarkable among their
leaders. He preached so eloquently that the whole of his
congregation generally hurried to embrace him at the conclu-
sion of his discourse. A parody upon his sermons has been
published by the Jesuits. The peasants were also encouraged
by their poet, Loinpacher, one of whose songs has been pre-
served by Vierthaler.
The confederacy, in point of fact, possessed sufficient
strength, especially in the mountains, to defend itself against
the archbishop and his myrmidons, but the Catholics cun-
ningly represented these peasants, who were neither Catholics,
nor Lutherans, nor Zwunglians, and consequently belonged to
none of the privileged churches, as political rebels, in order to
deprive them of the protection of the Protestant princes ; and
it was principally on this account, if not from an enthusiastic
notion of religious humility, that they formed the determin-
ation not to oppose violence to violence, to the great discom-
titure of the archbishop and of Rail, who had already promul-
gated a report of their being in open rebellion.* The emperor,
Charles VI., meanwhile, alarmed lest the contagion might
spread among his own subjects in the mountains, lent a willing
ear to the tale which furnished him with a ready pretest for
taking the severest measures. The deputation, sent by the
Salzburg peasantry to beg for his interference, was, by his
orders, imprisoned at Linz ; a decree, commanding the uncon-
ditional submission of the Salzburg rebels, was published, and
six thousand men were sent into the mountains in order to
enforce obedience. The soldiers, incited by their officers and
by the priests, fell upon the peasantry like hounds upon the
timid deer. They were dragged from their homes, cruelly
* The arsenal at Werfen was plundered during the night time, it was
ere long, however, clearly proved to have been done by suborned Catho-
lics. Altliough, as Casparis relates, all the peasantry were, like the Tyro-
lese, sharp-shooters, they unresistingly alloMed themselves to be disarmed.
d''2
36 THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION.
beaten, together with their wives and children, and plundered.
For upwards of a month, during September and October, A, d.
1731, these crimes were countenanced by the archbishop, who
tortured the heads of the communes in prison whilst the vil-
lagers fell a prey to the licence of the soldiery. The peasantry,
nevertheless, still continued stedfast in their faith, and the
king of Prussia threatening to treat his Catholic subjects as
Firmian treated his Protestant ones. Rail became alarmed lest
the wretched peasant might in the end find a protector, (the
emperor also being compelled on account of the Pragmatic
Sanction to keep on good terms with the Protestant princes,)
and came to the determination of expelling every Protestant
from the country, as, at the same time, the most convenient
method of contenting the pope, of extirpating heresy in the
mountains, and of pacifying the king of Prussia, to whom the
colonization of the wide uncultivated tracts in his territories
was an object of no small importance. Recourse was, how-
ever, again had to every devisable method for the conversion
of the peasantry, in order to guard, if possible, against the
entire depopulation of the country by emigration. The most
scandalous measures were resorted to, but in vain. The sen-
tence of banishment was passed, and, although the laws of the
empire assured free egress to all those emigrating on account of
religion together with the whole of their property, they were
totally disregarded by the archbishop and the imperial troops,
and the peasantiy were hunted down in every direction. Those
at work in the fields were seized and carried to the frontier
without being allowed to return home, even for the purpose
of fetching their coats. Men were in this manner separated
from their wives, parents from their children. They were
collected in troops and exposed to the gibes of the priests, the
soldiers, and the Catholic inhabitants, who assembled around
them as they were hurried along. Besides being thus com-
pelled to abandon their homes, they were deprived by the
commissioners of any sums of money they happened to possess,
and were merely given a meagre and insuflicient allowance for
the expenses of the journey.
These cruelties were, however, unfelt when compared with
the deprivation of their children. Upwards of a thousand
children were torn from their parents. Some of the peasants,
broken-hearted at this calamity, forgot their oath and begged
THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION. 37
to be allowed to remain in order to avoid separation from their
children ; they were mercilessly beaten, driven out of the
country, sometimes obliged to stand helplessly by whilst their
unhappy children were tortured and ill-treated. Complaints
were unavailing. " We obey the emperor's command," was
the sole reply. Frederick William I., the noble-hearted king
of Prussia, was the only German prince who exerted himself
in their favour, and even threatened the archbishop with re-
prisals ; but he was too distant ; the inhuman separation of
the children from their parents, a barbarity worthy of canni-
bals and of the savages of the wild, not of a civilized nation,
so deeply revolted the Prussian monarch that he despatched
commissioners to Salzburg in the hope of saving some of the
children by this exertion of his authority, but in vain. Some
of the boys, more courageous than the rest, afterwards suc-
ceeded in escaping from the hands of the Jesuits, and in
begging their way to the new settlements on the Baltic.
The expelled peasantry were, ere long, followed by crowds
of voluntary emigrants, more particularly from Berchtesgaden.
They were mocked and ill-treated during their passage through
the Catholic countries, but found a friendly reception in WUr-
temberg, Nuremberg, and Hesse. A part of them went to
Holland and North America, but the greater number, amount-
ing to sixteen thousand three hundred souls, went into Prus-
sia and settled in the dwelling-places assigned to them by the
king on the Niemen near to Tilsit, where their descendants
still flourish.
The pope bestowed high encomium and the title of eccelsus
on the archbishop. The establishment of a fresh Inquisition
completely extinguished the liberty of conscience still feebly
glimmering in the mountains. The more wealthy inhabitants
were, notwithstanding the religious test, exposed to suspicion
and to the consequent confiscation of their property. Mis-
sionaries travelled from house to house, listened to the guile-
less talk of the women and children, and then followed confis-
cation, scourging, imprisonment, or banishment. The Reck
or rack-tower in the fortress of Werfen was destined exclu-
sively for heretics, who were slung at an immense depth by
long chains. According to the assertion of a traitor, named
Vitus Loitscherger, no fewer than two hundred persons were,
in 1743, delivered to the Inquisition.
427891
38 THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION.
A similar persecution, though not to such an extent, befell
the secret Protestants in Austria at about the same period.
The mountaineers in the Salzkaramergut were [a. d. 1733]
first treacherously examined under an assurance of liberty of
conscience and then carried away by the soldiery and trans-
ported to Transylvania. The twelve hundred first sent away
were, in 1736, followed by three hundred more. But when,
in 1738, a great number of Protestants were discovered in the
Traun district and in Kremsmlinster, permission to emigrate
was refused and some hundreds of them were shut up in a
crooked position, exposed to the inclemency of the weather
and miserably fed ; many of them died. In 1740, Count voa
Seckau banished eight hundred men, but retained their wives
and families, whom he compelled to embrace Catholicism.
In 1660, the rebellion of the peasantry belonging to the
countship of Wied on the Rhine, and, in 1680, that of the
Bohemian peasants against the heavy soccage-service occa-
sioned its limitation by the emperor to a certain number of
days. The people of Hauenstein in the Black Forest also re-
fused to remain bound as serfs to the monastery of St. Blase,
and, in 1728 and 1730, formed a secret confederation, under
the name of saltpetres, for the recovery of tlieir liberty, and,
in fact, purchased their freedom from the abbot in 1738. In
1757, the Styrian peasantry rebelled against the heavy aver-
age-service.*. In 1665, the citizens of Llibeck, in 1708, those
of Hamburg, in 1720, those of Brussels, opposed the usurpa-
tions of the city oligarchy, which secretly managed the go-
vernment and practised usury. In 1716, the citizens of
Spires again rebelled against their bishop, who threatened to
take summary vengeance on one of their number, who is said
to have spoken ill of him. His fellow-citizens took his part
and prevented the bishop from executing his threat, until the
* On Uie 7tli of August, 1704, the peasantry attacked the unpopular
Count von Wurmbrand in his castle in Styria, dragged him forth and
murdered him, each man dealing him a blow in order that all might, with-
out exception, participate in the murder. In 1709, a noble clerk was
beaten to death with flails by tlie peasantry. The nobles still possessed
sufficient power to tyrannize. A Count von Drostc-Vischering in the
Bergland, being obstructed when hunting by a smithy, had it razed to the
ground. The proprietor complained and received full compensation for
his loss, but was not allowcnl to rebuild the smithy. See Montanus,
Olden Times in Cleve and Berg.
THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION. 39
peasantry, at his instigation, suddenly attacked the city, killed
numbers of the citizens and disarmed the rest. This martial
bishop was named Henry Hartard von Rollingen.
Since the great revolt of the peasantry in Switzerland, the
people had, from time to time, vainly sought to shake off the
yoke of the city aristocracy. After a long fermentation, Tog-
genburg, so long enslaved by the Catholic cantons and by the
abbot of St. Gall, was, [a. d, 1707,] on the intercession of
Zurich and Berne, restored to the enjoyment of religious li-
berty. The entry of the Zurichers into Toggenburg and the
acts of violence committed by the Reformers of Toggenburg in
a Catholic chui'ch, however, again roused the ancient religious
feud. The Catholic population, who had risen for the abbot,
tore their leader, Felber, whom they suspected of treachery,
to pieces. The anger of the Catholic cantons was roused.
At Schwyz, the brave Stadler, who spoke in favour of the
rights of the people of Toggenburg, was beheaded. War
broke out. At Bremgarten, the vanguard of the Catholics
was beaten by the Bernese. The Catholics, doubly enraged
at this repulse and animated by the nuntio and by the monks,
rose en masse and overwhelmed the Bernese vanguard at
Muri ; three hundi-ed of the Bernese were burnt to death in
the church and on the tower of Merischwarden, where they had
long defended themselves ; the wounded were torn to pieces
by dogs. A second decisive battle was fought [a. d. 1712]
at Villmergen, where a contest had formerly taken place for
a similar cause. The Reformed cantons were victorious. The
Bernese generals, Tscharner and Diessbach, being dangerously
wounded, Frisching, the mayor, a man seventy-four years of
age, took the command and gained the day. The Catholics
left between two and three thousand men dead on the field.
Peace was made at Aarau, and the confederation remained
unbroken notwithstanding the attempt made by Louis XIV.,
shortly before his death, to divide it into two independent
parts according to their confession of faith, in order to rule
with greater facility over both. A dispute that not long
afterwards broke out between Lucerne, ever so zealously Ca-
tholic, and the pope contributed, no less than the defeat at
Villmergen, to promote toleration towards the Reformers. On
the occasion of the consecration of the church at Udligenswyl,
in 1725, dancing was prohibited by the clergyman, Ander-
40 THE SALZBURG EMIGRATION.
natt, but being allowed by the temporal authorities, Andernatt
appealed to his spiritual superiors and protested against the
permission. He was suspended and banished by the council
of Lucerne, but was protected by Passionei, the nuntio, who
quitted Lucerne and removed his residence to Altorf. The
dispute increased in virulence ; the pope threatened, but the
five Catholic cantons assembling and declaring in favour of
the council of Lucerne, he was compelled to yield, and Ander-
natt remained in banishment, A. d. 1731. Shortly after this,
the same council of Lucerne, by way of compensation to the
pope, condemned an unlucky peasant, Jacob Schmidli of Sul-
zig, for reading the Bible and expounding it to others, to the
stake and his house to be levelled with the ground, a. d. 1747.
The Swiss governments, at that period, relieved themselves
from their discontented subjects by sending them into foreign
service. The higher posts in the army were hereditary in
the aristocratic families and were extremely lucrative. From
1742 to 1745 there were twenty-two thousand Swiss serving
in France, twenty thousand in Holland, thirteen thousand six
hundred in Spain, four thousand in Sardinia, two thousand
four hundred in the imperial army, besides several regiments
at Naples and the old Swiss guard at Rome.
In Berne, the power became gradually more firmly centred
in a few of the great aristocratic burgher families. Besides
the actual reigning council there was another seeming one, in
which the young patricians managed all the business, in order
to learn the art of government ; the rest of the citizens were
excluded from all participation in public affairs. The material
comfort of the citizens was well attended to by the aristocracy,
and Berne consequently excelled almost all her sister cities in
wealth and luxury ; but the mind of the citizen was enslaved,
and the insolence with which the patricians and their wives
treated their fellow-citizens surpassed even the brutality of the
coxcombs attached to the worst of the German courts. A
conspiracy, set on foot by Henzi, the Bernese captain, was
discovered, and he was executed together with two of his
associates. The headsman several times missing his stroke
and hacking him on the neck, he cried out, " Every thing,
down to the headsman, is bad in this republic ! " His charge
against the aristocracy, in which he describes the manners
of that time, is a masterly production. His death has been
immortalized by Lessing.
PART XXL
THE RISE OF PRUSSIA.
CCXXXIV. Frederick William the First.
The Reformation had been converted by Luther into a cause
of the princes, but they knew not how to improve the power
placed by him in their hands. Saxony at first took the lead,
but speedily retrograded, and Denmark, the successor to her
forsaken power, ever actuated by an unholy motive, merely
aimed, under pretence of protecting religious liberty, at ex-
tending her sway over the cities and provinces of Germany.
A separation, consequently, ere long again took place between
her and Sweden, but the death of Gustavus Adolphus proved
a death-blow to every hope, and Sweden imitated the mean
policy of Denmark. The Guelphic house, when scarcely
settled and promoted to the electoral dignity, emigrated to
England, and Luther's great bequest was transferred solely
to the house of Brandenburg,
Frederick L, although fond of pomp and luxury and often-
times misled, was fully conscious of the value of sowing for
the future. The assumption of the royal dignity was simply
an outward sign of future and still unobtained grandeur, a hint
to posterity. The improvement of the Prussian army by
Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, who benefited Prussia with
the science he had acquired under Eugene, whose military
creations in Austria had died with him, was of far greater
importance, and no less so was the toleration with which the
king favoured liberty of thought in the new university of
Halle, although, it may be, simply owing to his desire to raise
its fame by that means above that so long enjoyed by the
Saxon universities.
Leibnitz, although indubitably the greatest genius of the
age, was, owing to his works being written either in Latin or
in French, his high favour with the electoral house of Hano-
ver, and his courtly habits, destitute of influence over the
people. A few of the learned men of the times met with better
42 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST.
success in supplying the real wants of the people, which was
principally done by the professors of the university of Halle,
Thomasius and Franke, both of whom formerly belonged to
that of Leipzig. Thomasius felt that Germany must be roused
before she could be drawn from her state of deep degradation ;
he consequently rejected the Latin pedantry hitherto fostered
by the universities and demanded that the learned men of
Germany should again speak and write in pure German, the
first step towards the enlightenment of the people, the banish-
ment of the ancient superstitions, of the thousandfold preju-
dices, and of the slavish fear, by which his countrymen were
artificially bound. He appealed to reason and at the same
time inculcated true Christian benevolence, respect for the
natural rights of man. To his eloquence was it entirely owing
that a stop was almost every where put to the burning of
witches. He spoke with equal warmth against torture and
the other pi'actices of the Roman law, by which German liberty
was ignominiously converted into slavery. But in this he was
unsuccessful ; priestly prejudices were voluntarily sacrificed,
but those in which temporal tyranny found an advantage were
held sacred. He no sooner interfered with political matters
than he fell under the bann. In Saxony, he was the first who
ventured to reveal the base policy of the long deceased Hoe
von Hoenegg. Justly roused to anger, he dared to maintain,
in defiance of the Danish court-chaplain, Masius, who, like
PfafF in Tiibingen, had recommended Lutheranism, on account
of its servility, to all princes, that religion was of too holy a
nature to be degraded to a mere political tool. This assertion
was the signal for persecution. In Copenhagen, his controver-
sial works were burnt by the hangman. At Leipzig, an attempt
was made to seize his person and the whole of his property
was confiscated. He found an asylum at Halle and a noble
patron in Frederick I., who gave his pen unshackled liberty.
He was accompanied in his retreat from Leipzig by the
pious Franke, the founder of the celebrated Orphan Asylum at
Halle. He was Thomasius's best friend, and not only shared
his views on education, but sought to realize them by the in-
troduction, for the first time, of solid instruction into his orphan
school, where, besides the Latin and theological pedantry of
the schools, to which all instruction had been hitherto re-
stricted, the German language, modern tongues, mathematics.
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST. 43
natural philosophy, and history were taught. But Franke
was also a pietist or disciple of the school of piety founded by
Spener. Sound human reason and genuine feeling had at
that time leagued against the pedantry of the schools, which
was as remarkable for want of sense as for its cold heartless-
ness, and even a cursory glance at the immense revolution ef-
fected since this period by enlightenment and, it may be, no
less by sentiment, at once demonstrates the importance of
the protection granted by Prussia to the first prophets of mo-
dern ideas.
Frederick I. was succeeded [a. d. 1730] by his son, Fre-
derick William I., who, although an enemy to freedom of
thought and the persecutor of Thomasius's successor, the phi-
losopher. Wolf, whom he threatened with the gallows and ex-
pelled Halle, was an excellent guardian over the material
interests and morals of his subjects. His first step immedi-
ately on his accession to the throne, was the reduction of his
father's court, which was placed on an extremely simple and
economical footing. Gold embroidered dresses and enormous
perukes were no longer tolerated. The king appeared in a
little blonde peruke, a tight-fitting dark-blue uniform turned
up with red, with his sword at his side and a strong bamboo
in his hand. The French, their licence, and their manners
were so hateful to him, that, in order to render them equally
unpopular with the people of Berlin, he ordered the provosts
and gaolers to be dressed in the last French fashion, and " The
Marquis dismissed with Blows," a piece eminently anti-Gallic,
to be represented on the stage. Often, when, like the other
German princes, tempted by the crafty French court, would
he exclaim, " I will not be a Frenchman. I am thoroughly
German and would be content were I but president of the
imperial court of finance." On another occasion, he said, " I
will place pistols and swords in my children's cradles and
teach them to keep the foreigner out of Germany."
He believed and often declared himself to be "only the first
servant of the state," and excused his excessive despotism on
the score of duty.* This also accorded with his religious no-
* Among the executions that took place at his command, that of the
intrigant, Clement, who, by stirring up the cabinets of Austria and Prus-
sia, sought to fish in troubled waters, has attracted most attention. The
most remarkable among them was, however, that of a Count von Schlu-
44 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST.
tions. He considered himself as a servant of God and wished
to be the faithful shepherd of his flock. Endowed with great
personal activity, he tolerated idleness in no one, and would
sometimes bestow a hearty whipping with his own hand on
the loungers at the street corners in Berlin. Manly and
courageous, he had a horror of effeminacy and cowardice, and,
on one occasion, gave a Jew a good thrashing for dreading
the whip. He bore an almost implacable hatred to his own
son, afterwards Frederick the Great, merely because he sus-
pected him of cowardice.
He habituated his subjects to labour and industry, and pro-
moted their welfare to an extraordinary degree, whilst at the
same time he filled the exchequer. Partly for the purpose of
depriving the people of Berlin of other modes of extravagance,
partly for that of concentrating the whole power of the state
by the foundation of a large metropolis, he compelled the peo-
ple to build new houses in Berlin, in the Friedrichsstadt.
The purport of his decree ran simply thus, " The fellow is
rich, let him build." Simplicity of dress and manners, econo-
my, thrift, public morality, health, honesty, and truth, were
strictly enjoined. In his daily intercourse with the people, he
praised industrious workmen and clean housewives, scolded
the idle and dirty. House thieves were mercilessly hanged
before the house-door. In his own person he offered an ex-
ample of economy. Whilst other princes gave expensive fetes
to their foreign guests and ambassadors, Frederick William
conducted them to his smoking-room and invited them to
smoke and drink beer with him. This chamber was often
the scene of important negotiations. Even Francis of Lor-
raine, who subsequently mounted the imperial throne, was a
frequent visitor to this smoking-room for the purpose of gain-
ing the vote of Prussia for the approaching election. Still,
the coarse amusements of this monarch, who took delight in
beutli, who had treated his sei-fs ■with extreme cruelty. He set the king
at defiance, and said, " It is not the fashion to hang a noble." He was,
nevertheless, hanged on the ensuing morning. When the king for the
first time introduced the taxation of the nobility and was opposed in this
measure by the Estates of Eastern Prussia, he boldly prosecuted his in-
tended reforms, and wrote, " J establish my sovereignty like a rock in
bronze." He set a great value on his giant-guard, and, on one occa-
sion, thrashed the whole of his military council for condemning one of
them to death for thieving. — Stetizel, History of Prussia.
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST. 45
plying his foreign guests with beer until drunkenness ensued,
and in rendering them sick to death with the unaccustomed
fumes of tobacco, his utter contempt of learning, as shown by
his treatment of the learned Gundling* as a court-fool, and
the brutal jokes passed upon him and others for the amuse-
ment of his boon companions, but too forcibly indicate a re-
currence to the uncouth mauners of the preceding century.
The army, excellently organized by Dessau, was the object
of the king's greatest care, and it was from him (he always
wore an uniform) that the whole state and population took the
martial appearance still forming their strongest characteristic,
and which, at that time, was alone able to enforce respect.
Germany had, for a century, been plundered by the foreigner.
Arms alone were wanting for her defence and the terrors of
war would again march in her van. The formation of an
army was consequently the grand desideratum, and Frederick
William may therefore be pardoned for his Potsdam hobby,|
his grenadier guard, composed of men of gigantic stature,
whom he collected from every quarter of the globe, either
received in gift or carried away by force. His recruiting
officers were every where notorious for the underhand means
by which they gained recruits, and were often exposed to
the greatest peril when engaged in pressing men into the
service. In Holland, one of them was, sa7is ceremo/iie, hang-
ed. Hanover threatened Prussia with war on account of the
subjects stolen from her territory. There was, moreover, a
feud between the king of Prussia and George, king of Eng-
land and elector of Hanover, the latter having wedded the
Margravine of Anspach, the object of Frederick William's
affection, and having bestowed upon him in her stead his
sister, Sophia Dorothea, to whom, like a good and steady
citizen, he nevertheless remained faithful.
* Gundling, although created a baron, a member of every council of
slate, and, moreover, president of the Academy of Sciences, was compelled
to permit an ape, dressed like himself, to be seated at his side at table,
mustachios to be painted on his face, etc. etc. His body was, after his
decease, notwithstanding the protest of the clergy, buried, at the royal
command, in a cask instead of a coffin. The king, on one occasion,
compelled the Frankfurt professors to dispute with his court-fools over
the thesis, " Savants are fools."
t He greatly extended and beautified Potsdam on account of the re-
fusal of the Berlinese to maintain too numerous a garrison.
46 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST.
The sound sense that rendered this gallant monarch the
irreconcilable enemy of France also guided him in his policy
towards Poland. Instead of acceding to the partition of that
kingdom, of contenting himself with her smallest division, and
of exposing the frontiers of Germany to the colossal power of
Russia, he endeavoured to raise her as a bulwark against the
hostile North and strenuously counselled the Polish nobility
to remain united, to keep themselves free from foreign influ-
ence, and to elect as their sovereign one of their own order,
no foreigner, least of all one recommended by Russia. Well
may Germany revere this noble prince ! His policy was, as
that of all her sovereigns ought ever to have been and to be,
genuinely German. The straight-forward German honesty
of the father was, nevertheless, destined to cede to the foreign
tastes of the son.
The young crown prince, Frederick, was extremely beau-
tiful during his infancy and early evinced the rarest intelli-
gence. The timidity inspired by the severity of his father
was mistaken by the latter for cowardice and hypocrisy, and
the terms on which they lived became daily worse. The son
devoted the whole of his leisure to the study of French works,
which, owing to their lightness and wit, naturally presented
far greater attractions to his young and imaginative mind
than the heavy German literature of the day, with the best of
which he was, moreover, unacquainted, studies of that nature
being unpatronized at courts, and Frederick's sole guide being
the young and libertine Lieutenant von Katt, who initiated
him in modei-n French philosophy. Voltaire at that time
reigned supreme. His ideas, his Avit, his style, were the de-
light of his contemporaries. Diminutive, horribly ugly, a
devil's mask under an enormous peruke, he was the ape of
our great Luther, and the eiFect he produced upon France, a
caricature of the Reformation in which German dignity and
depth of thought were parodied by French flippancy and fri-
volity. Like Luther, he waged war with the priesthood, and,
by ridiculing their depravity, ruined them in the opinion of
the public. But, instead of confining his attack to the abuses
in the church, he directed it against Christianity itself. In-
stead, of seeking to heal the diseases of the churcli, he attempt-
ed to destroy all she still retained of holy, sound, or good.
He sought to replace the strict and moral precepts of the
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST. 47
ancient religion by a modern and frivolous philosophy, by
which men were taught to disbelieve the promises of the Sa-
viour, were relieved from every fear of eternal punishment,
and were permitted to follow their own inclinations in this
world. Virtue and vice both disappeared and were replaced
by wit and dulness. The witling was never in the wrong,
might act as he pleased, and was ever the more amiable the
more he laughed at others. Although guilty of the most
abominable crimes, he Avas ever an excellent wit, courted by
all and tolerated every where. The simplicity of virtue was
the climax of ridicule, a scorn and an obloquy. Morality was
treated with open contempt, and the most barefaced licence
was practised under pretence of obeying the laws of nature.
The youthful prince heard, on the one hand, the brutal invec-
tives of his father, long-winded discourses from the pulpit,
which, in the bombastic and insipid style of the day, prohibited
the most innocent enjoyments ; and, on the other hand, read
the most ravishing descriptions of scenes of sensual delight
and the delusive phrases of the convenient philosophy of the
day, which dissolved every tie of duty by the pretended boon
of liberty, and all this in the honied words of Voltaire. The
contrast was too forcible. The seci-ecy with which the prince
was compelled to prosecute his French studies naturally added
to their zest. He was as if inspired and began to write, to
philosophize, and to poetize completely in Voltaire's style ; nor
did he neglect to put his precepts into practice, and his youth
and health ere long fell a prey to the consequences of vice.*
His father, on discovering these proceedings, punished him
unmercifully with his cane. The royal youth attempted to
escape, during a journey through Franconia, to the English
court, which, on account of his engagement to one of the
English princesses, seemed to offer the safest asylum ; his de-
sign was, however, discovered ; he was seized at Frankfurt
and cai'ried into the presence of his father, who personally
ill-treated him, and, drawing his sword, was on the point of
running him through, when he was prevented by General
Mosel. The prince and his accomplice, Katt, were, however,
condemned to death for desertion, and the execution of the
* Hence his imblessed marriage at a later period, his separation from
his ■wife and the companions of his youth, and his solitary existence in
the palace of Sanssouci.
48 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST.
sentence was merely prevented by the representations of the
foreign courts. Frederick pined for several weeks in prison
with a Bible and a book of hymns for reci-eation. A scaffold
was erected opposite his prison window, and he was compelled
to witness the execution of his ill-chosen friend and counsel-
lor, Katt. Nor was the lesson without effect. On his release,
he passed gradually through the different offices in chancery,
and made himself acquainted with all the minutire of the bu-
siness of the state. While thus occupied, he discovered so
much talent that a complete reconciliation took place between
him and his father, who gave him the Rheinsperg for his re-
sidence, where, without neglecting political science, he culti-
vated the muses and carried on a correspondence with Voltaire
and other celebrated French philosophers and poets. Both
father and son learnt to regard each otlier with mutual esteem,
and the latter, on mounting the throne, far from recalling his
former ill-treatment, ever spoke with reverence and gratitude
of the parent, who so well prepared him for a period replete
with peril.
CCXXXV. Maria Theresa.
Charles VI. expired a. d. 1 740. The inutiUty of the Prag-
matic Sanction became instantly apparent, each of the parties
interested in its revocation forgetting their oath, and the Habs-
burg possessions were alone saved from dismemberment by
Maria Theresa, Charles VI. 's daughter, a woman distinguished
for beauty and for a character far surpassing in vigour that of
her father and those of many of her ancestors.
Charles Albert, the licentious elector of Bavaria, quitted
the arms of his mistresses, Moravika and the Countess Fug-
ger, in order to set up a claim to the whole of the Habsburg
possessions. He not unjustly maintained that if the property
were to pass into the female line, his claim, as the direct de-
scendant of Albert, duke of Bavaria, who had married a
daughter of Ferdinand I., was superior to that of Maria The-
resa herself. For the better success of his project, he entered
into alliance with France,* the ancient foe, and with Prussia,
the modern rival of the house of Habsburg.
* He wrote in the basest terms to the French king, as, for instance,
" Je regarderai S. M. toujours comme men seul souticn et men unique
MARIA THERESA. 49
Frederick William of Prussia also expired A. r>. 1740,
leaving to his son Frederick II. thirty million dollars in the
exchequer and a well-disciplined army, amounting to seventy-
two thousand men. The moment seemed propitious, and Fre-
derick, without waiting for Bavaria or France, invaded Sile-
sia during the autumn under pretext of making good his
ancient but hitherto unasserted claim upon the duchies of
Leignitz, Wohlau, Brieg, and Ja^gerndorf. Xhe Austrians
under Neipperg, taken by surprise, were defeated at Molwitz
near Brieg by the Count von Schwerin, Frederick merely act-
ing the part of a spectator in this first engagement. The re-
sult of this success was a treaty, at Nymphenburg, with
France* and Bavaria, which was also joined by Saxony, and
the elector of Bavaria, with a numerous Fi-ench army under
Belleisle and a Saxon force under Rutowski, the natural son
of Augustus, entered Bohemia and was proclaimed king at
Prague, the Bohemians, as Frederick said, gladly seizing the
opportunity to free themselves from the unpopular rule of the
Habsburg. Even the Catholic clergy in Silesia, whom Fre-
derick gi'eatly flattered, were opposed to the Habsburg. The
Catholic church was not only permitted to retain the whole of
her immense revenue, but was prohibited by Frederick to send
any portion of it to Rome. The Catholic faith was, at the same
time, protected, and the Catholics had every reason to be con-
tented with the Prussian monarch.
Maria Theresa was exposed to the utmost peril. Hungary,
where but shortly before the sovereignty of the Habsburg had
been confirmed amid torrents of blood, alone remained true to
her cause. She convoked the proud magnates to the diet and
appeared among them attired in the Hungarian costume, the
sacred crown upon her head, the sabre girded to her side,
radiant with beauty and spirit, and called upon them, on their
duty as cavaliers, to stand up in her cause. The whole as-
semblage, lired with enthusiasm by her charms, exclaimed with
appui. Si vous me faites monter, s'il etoit possible, sur ce trone impe-
rial, je n'ai point de tcrmes qui puissent exprimer toute I'etendue de ma
reconnoissaiice." He promised, " Je taclierai toujours d'unir les intercts
de I'empire a ceux de la France. Je verrai le jour de mou elevation de-
venir I'epoque la plus glorieuse de voire minister e." — Schlosser's History
of the Eighteenth Century.
* The French king had the impudence at the time that he recognised
the elector as emperor, to nominate him his lieutenant-general.
VOL. lU E
50 MARIA THERESA.
one voice, " Moriamur pro rege nostro, Maria Theresa ! "
(Let us die for our king, Maria Theresa !) and took the field
at the head of their serfs, thirty thousand cavahy, and wild
hordes of Pandurs and Croats, which, leaving the French at
Prague, moved upon Bavaria. The circumstance of the elec-
tor being at that conjuncture at Frankfurt* for the purpose
of solemnizing his coronation as Charles VII., emperor of
Germany, inflamed the Hungarians with still greater fury.
Bavaria was terribly devastated, particularly by Menzel,
general of the hussars, a Saxon by birth, who took Munich
[a. d. 1742] on the same day on which the elector was crown-
ed at Frankfurt, revived all the horrors of the thirty years'
war, and, on the Bavarians threatening to rise en masse, gave
orders that " all those taken with arms in their hands should
be compelled to cut off each other's noses and ears, and should
then be hanged." f Biirnklau (or, more properly, Percklo,
Baron von Schcinreuth) and Trenk with the Pandurs com-
mitted equal excesses, and the peasants, driven to despair, rose
against them. The inhabitants of Cham and INIainburg were
cut down to a man, those of Landsberg kept their ground, and
those of Tolz succeeded in depriving the Pandurs of great part
of their booty. Lukner, who afterwards became a field-mar-
shal in the French service, chiefly distinguished himself among
the Bavarians. Seckendorf, now an old man and an Austrian
exile, was raised to the command of the Bavarian troops, but
effected little. Btirnklau took Ingolstadt, hitherto deemed
impregnable. Khevenhiiller shut up sixteen thousand French,
who had, under Segur, ventured from Bohemia into Austria,
in Linz, and took them prisoner,;]: before Frederick, who had
invaded Moravia and taken Olmlitz, could advance to their
assistance.
On the second defeat of the Austrians under Charles of
Lorraine, (in whose name Browne commanded,) at Chotusiz,
by Frederick, Maria Theresa offered [a, d. 1742] to cede
* Charles was crowned by his brother of Cologne. Belleisle, the
French ambassador, phvyed the chief part, and, formally taking upon him-
self the character of protector, took precedence of all the German princes.
f When the French cried out " Pardon, Monsieur!" the hussars re-
sponded with " Mors ! Mors ! " cut ofl" their heads at a blow, stuck them
on their sabre points, and carried them about in triumph.
X Scgur's wife was received on her appearance in the theatre at Paris
with the derisive cry of " Linz ! Linz ! " and died of shame and terror.
MARIA THERESA. 51
Silesia to him on condition of his withdrawal from the treaty
of Nymphenburg. The offer was instantly accepted and peace
was concluded at Breslau. Saxony was also gained over by
the gift, on the part of Maria Theresa, of rich lands in Bohe-
mia to Count Brlihl.
The next step was the expulsion of the French from
Prague. Belleisle was closely shut up. A fresh French army
under Harcourt approached to his relief and drove the Aus-
trians out of Bavaria, but fell a prey to cold and famine. A
third army under Maillebois penetrated as far as Bohemia,
but retraced its steps, being forbidden by the miserable petti-
coat-government under Louis XV. to hazard an engagement.
Belleisle, driven desperate by famine, at length made a vigor-
ous sally and fought his way through the Austrians, but al-
most the whole of his men fell victims during the retreat to
the severity of the winter. The Bavarians under Seckendorf
and twenty thousand French under Broglio, who attempted to
come to his relief, were defeated by Khevenhiiller at Braunau.
Fortune declared still more decidedly during the campaign
of 1743 in Maria Theresa's favour, George II., king of Eng-
land, (who, not long before, through fear of losing Hanover,
had yielded to the counsels of France and Prussia and had
voted in favour of Charles VII.,) actuated by a double jea-
lousy, on account of England against France and on account
of Hanover against Prussia, bringing a pragmatic army levied
in Northern Germany* to her aid. Notwithstanding his bad
generalship, he was victorious at Dettingen, not far from
AschafFenburg, over the French, who were still worse com-
manded by Noailles. In the ensuing year, Charles of Lor-
raine crossed the Rhine at the head of the whole Austrian
army and laid Alsace and Lorraine waste.f
These successes were beheld with impatience by Frederick,
who plainly foresaw the inevitable loss of Silesia, should for-
* Among which were twenty thousand Swiss mercenaries and six hun-
dred Hessians whom he had purchased from the Landgrave of Hesse,
who had also sold six thousand of his subjects to Charles VH. It was
merely owing to a favourable chance that the unfortunate Hessians were
not compelled to fight each other.
t The Sultan Mahmud V. attempting to make peace between the con-
tending parties, the French ambassador at the Hague remarked, " The
Turks begin to think like Christians." "And the Christians," replied
the grand pensionary, Fagel, " act, none the less, like Turks."
E 2
52 MARIA THERESA.
tune continue to favour Maria Theresa. In Austria, public
opinion was decidedly opposed to the cession of that province.
In order to obviate the danger with which he was threatened,
he once more unexpectedly took up arms and gained a bril-
liant victory at Hohenfriedberg in Silesia, and another at
Sorr in Bohemia, where Prince Lobkowitz, in attempting to
rally his troops, cut down three Austrian captains, but was
liimself thrown down and cast into a ditch. Schwerin took
Prague. The now venerable Dessau was again victorious at
Kesselsdorf in Saxony, and Maria Theresa was compelled by
the treaty of Dresden [a. d. 1745] once more to cede Silesia
to the victorious Prussian. The war with France was still
carried on. The IMarchioness of Pompadour at that time go-
verned Louis XV. and bestowed the highest offices in the
army on her paramours. She was at length seized with a
whim to guide the operations of the campaign in person and
took the field with an immense army, (among which were
twenty-two thousand Swiss,) commanded by Noailles. The
campaign was, however, a mere fete for the king and his mis-
tresses, and nothing of importance was in consequence efiected.
The vanguard under Segur was defeated at Piaftenhofen, and
some skirmishing parties were cut to pieces by the peasantry
in the forest of Bregenz. The main body was retained by the
siege of Freiburg in the Breisgau, where it lost twelve thou-
sand men, a. d. 1744. Charles VII. expired in the ensuing
year, and his youthful son and successor, Maximilian Joseph,
being inclined to peace, Bavaria being, moreover, a scene of
fearful desolation and Seckendorf neglected by the French,
the treaty of Fiissen, which restored every thing to its ancient
footing, was concluded [a. d. 1745] between Bavaria and
Austria. The French instantly withdrew from the Upper
Rhine to prosecute the war with redoubled fury in the Nether-
lands, where they were served by IMaurice of Saxony, who
had a theatre in his camp and made life one long f^te diver.si-
fied by victories. He was opposed by the English under the
Duke of Cumberland and by the Dutch under Waldeck. He
defeated them at Fontenoy and took Ghent, Briigge, and
Brussels, where Louis XV. made a triumphal entry, A. v.
1745. In the following year, Charles of Lorraine entered the
Netherlands with an imperial auxiliary force, but was again
beaten by Rancoux and Cumberland at Lafield, A. D, 1746.
MARIA THERESA. 53
Maurice* also took Maestriclit. And all these deeds were
done for France ! This attack had, like its predecessors, the
effect of placing a Prince of Orange at the head of the array
and of the state. On William's accession to the British throne,
and on his dying without issue, the house of Orange was re-
presented by a side-branch, John "William Friso, stadtholder of
Frizeland. He was drowned, and his posthumous son, Wil-
liam IV., succeeded [a. d. 1711] to the hereditary stadtholder-
ship. France also at that time created a diversion for
England. Charles Edward Stuart,! the grandson of the ex-
iled king, James II., aided by French gold, raised a rebellion
in Scotland in the hope of expelling the house of Hanover
from the throne of Britain, but was defeated at CuUoden,
A. D. 1746.
In Italy, the Austrians under Lobkowitz also opposed the
French, Spanish, and Neapolitans, whilst an English fleet
struck Naples with terror. It was not, however, until 1746,
that the war was decided by the arrival of strong reinforce-
ments from Austria. Browne was victorious at Guastalla,
Lichtensteiu at Piacenza, and Provence was on the point of
being invaded, when the population of Genoa, hitherto staunch
imperialists, rebelled against General Botta, who had con-
demned some of the citizens to the lash and had demanded a
contribution of twenty-five millions as well as all their arms,
and, headed by a Doria, drove the imperialists, after a battle
that lasted several days, out of the city, December, 1746. The
war was at length terminated by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Each party remained in statu quo, Maria Theresa alone
ceding Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to a Spanish prince,
with the proviso of their reversion to Austria in case of his
dying without issue. Her husband, Francis I., was recog-
nised emperor by all the European powers. On his corona-
tion [a. d. 1746] at Frankfurt, INIaria Theresa withdrew in
order that all the honour might be conferred upon him alone,
*" The French had the impudence to speak of him as "ce brave Comte
de Saxe, qui lave si bien par sa valeur la honte d'etre ne Allemand."
Maurice wrote a work on the science of war. He died a. d. 1750, and
was buried at Strassburg.
t He afterwards married the Countess Stolberg, so celebrated for her
beauty, who, under the title of Duchess of Albany, lived imhappily with
this simple prince. She was termed "la reine des cceurs," on account
of her amiability. She was the friend of the Italian poet, Alfieri.
54 MARIA THERESA.
and no sooner was the ceremony concluded, than, stepping on
the balcony, she motioned to the people and was the first to
cry "Vivat!" Francis, nevertheless, was merely invested
v/itli the imperial dignity, and Maria Theresa reigned alone,
aided by her subtle minister Kaunitz. Francis, although
totally devoid of ambition, possessed great mercantile inclina-
tions and amused himself with secretly transacting money busi-
ness. He had the merit of reforming the imperial household
and of putting a stop to the lavish expenditure that had been
allowed under Charles VI.
Frederick II., after gaining laurels in the field, equally
distinguished himself as a statesman and a bel esprit. Like
his father, absolute in his sovereignty, he brought the machine
of state, alone subservient to his will, to a higher degree of
perfection. His administration was unparalleled. Tlie in-
crease of the wealth of the country by the cultivation of waste
land and by industry, a limited expenditure, and the strict ob-
servance of economy and order, formed the basis of his plan.
He equally aimed at order, simplicity, and strict justice in legal
matters, and, in 1746, caused the corjms jtiris Fridericianum,
the basis of the provincial law of Prussia, to be drawn up by
Cocceji. The use of torture was abolished. The strictness
with which the public officers were disciplined was as flatter-
ing to the people as the fame they had lately gained dui'ing
the war and the acquisition of the fine and fertile province of
Silesia. Frederick, although at that period at the height of
his popularity, withdrew [a. d. 1747] from public to private
life. In the lonely solitudes of Sans Souci, a palace built by
him in the vicinity of Berlin, he lived separate from his con-
sort, Elisabeth Christina of Wolfenbiittel, and devoted him-
self to the state and to the study of French literature. With
the exception of his generals and ministers, the blind instru-
ments of his will, he was surrounded by Frenchmen. He
founded an academy of sciences, presided over by Maupertius
and almost totally composed of Frenchmen.* Frederick both
* His favourite, Voltaire, visited him in 1745, and again in 1750, with
the intention of remaining with him ; tiie two philosophers did not, how-
ever, long agree. Frederick sometimes set a limit to the pretensions of
the vain, mean, and grasping Frenchman, who treated the Germans with
unheard-of insolence. On one occasion, when at table with the king, ho
called one of the royal pages a Pomeranian beast. The king, shortly
afterwards, making a journey through Pomcrania with Voltaire in his
MARIA THERESA. 55
wrote and composed in French. He also played well on
the flute. .
While Prussia was thus rising in the scale of European
powers, Saxony was reduced by her ministei', Brlihl, to the
verf e of ruin. He had already burthened her with a debt of
a hundred million dollars, fur two years he had withheld the
public salaries, and these measures proving insufficient, he had
sold Saxon troops to the Dutch and English for the defence
of their colonies, A. r>. 1751. Josepha, princess of Saxony,
had, four years earlier, been married to tlie French Dauphin,
to whom she bore three kings, Louis XVI., Louis XVIH.,
and Charles X., whose sad fate might well result from the
union of two courts governed by a Pompadour and a Brlihl.
The deep dungeons of the Konigstein, the Sonnenstein,
and the Pleissenburg were crowded with malcontents. These
horrors occasioned the retreat of Count Zinzendorf from the
world, and, in 1722, his oiler of an asylum in the Herrnhut
to persons equally piously disposed. He named himself " the
assembler of souls." He was banished as a rebel by Briihl,
but was [a. d. 1747] permitted to return and to continue his
pious labours.
The rising prosperity of Prussia, the superior talents and
statemanship of her king and his unsparing ridicule had gained
for hira the enmity of all his brother sovereigns. The men-
tion of Silesia filled Maria Theresa alternately with rage and
sorrow, and her subtle minister ingratiated himself ever the
more deeply in her favour by his unwearying endeavours to
regain possession of that rich and fertile country. Elisabeth,
empi-ess of Russia, enraged at Frederick's biting satire on her
unbridled licence, was, notwithstanding the little interest felt
by Russia in the aggrandizement of Austria, ready to lend her
aid. England was, on account of her ancient alliance with
suite, the page in revenge spread a report of his being the king's ape, and
the peasants, deceived by his extraordinary ugliness, assembled in crowds
round his carriage, from which they would not allow him to descend,
teasing him as if he were m reality an ape. Voltaire at length fied from
the Pnissian court, carrying away with him some interesting papers be-
longing to the king. He was deprived of them at Frankfurt on the
Maine, and was allowed to depart. A correspondence, nevertheless, con-
tinued to be carried on between him and the king, who again esteemed
him as a man of talent, when no longer reminded of his puerilities by his
presence.
56 MARIA THERESA.
Austria, pointed to as a third ally. France, on the eve of de-
claring war with England on account of her colonies, sought,
as formerly, to form a confederacy with Prussia. Mons. de
Rouille said to Kniphausen, the Prussian ambassador at Paris,
" Write to your king that he must aid us against Hanover ;
there is plenty to get ; the king has only to make the attack ;
he will have a good haul." Frederick had, however, no in-
tention to quarrel with England, and before the French minis-
ter had recovered from his astonishment at the refusal, Kau-
nitz* unexpectedly proposed an alliance between Austria and
France, and Maria Theresa was actually induced, in her
anxiety to gain over Louis XV., to send a confidential letter
to Sladame de Pompadour, whom she addressed as her cousin.
France, independent of the condescension of the Austrian
empress, naturally lent a willing ear to the proposal, nor will
she at any time refuse her aid to one German potentate against
another so long as her interest is promoted by civil dissensions
in Germany. The possession of a German province would
again have rewarded France had not the league, notwithstand-
* Prince Kaunitz's policy to raise France at the expense of the empire
ran exactly counter to that of Frederick William of Prussia and offers a
rare example of depravity. Kaunitz founded the Vienna chancery of
state, the wheel by which the mechanism of government was turned.
He was the oracle of the diplomatic world and was long termed " the
European coachman." He, however, forgot that the policy of the Ger-
man emperor ought also to be German. He was one of those wiseacres
of his time who overlooked the real wants, powers, and limits of the na-
tions under his rule, and who formed artificial states in defiance of nature.
Countries appertaining to one another, nations similar in descent, were
torn asunder ; others, separated by nature or diftering in origin, were
pronounced one. Enmity was sown between the most natural political
allies, and those whom nature had intended for opponents were joined
together in alliance. The greater the inconsistency the more indubitable
the talent of the diplomatist. Kaunitz was a thorough personification
of this unnatural policy. He was even in his person a caricature. His
admirer, Hormayr, relates of him, " He never enjoyed or could endure
the open air. If, during the summer heats, when not a leaf stirred, he,
by chance, sat in his arm-chair in the chancery garden adjoining the
Bastei or passed thence, a few steps further, to the palace, he carefully
guarded his mouth with his handkerchief. He always dressed according
to the weatlier and had his rooms well furnished with thermometers and
barometers. In the autographic instructions given to each of his lec-
turers, he begged of them never to mention in his hearing these two words,
' death and small-pox.' His highest expression of praise was ever, ' My
God ! I could not have done it better myself.' "
MARIA THERESA. 57
ing its strength, been overthrown. Austria deprived herself
of her glorious title of defender of Germany against France,
and for the future lost the right of reproaching other states
for their unpatriotic policy.*' On the second of May, A. v.
1756, the treaty of Versailles was concluded between Austria
and France. According to the terms of this treaty, France
was to bring one hundred and live thousand men into the field
and to take ten thousand Bavarians and Wiirtembergers into
her pay against Prussia, besides paying an annual subsidy of
twelve million francs to Austria, in return for which she was
to hold part of the Netherlands with the harbour of Ostend.
The rest of the Netherlands (Luxemburg excepted) was be-
stowed upon a French prince, Philip of Parma. The fortress
of Luxemburg was to be razed to the ground. Austria, on
the other hand, was to hold Silesia and Parma ; Saxony,
Magdeburg, the circle of the Saal, and Halberstadt ; Sweden,
Pomerania ; Poland, at that time in alliance with Saxony, the
kingdom of Prussia ; Russia, Courland and Semgallen, Cleve
was also to be severed from Prussia. This treaty was,
however, merely provisional. The alliance between the two
empresses and France, (the Marquise de Pompadour,) termed
by Frederick " 1' alliance des trois cotillons," was still by no
means concluded. Negotiations with Russia were still pend-
ing. Saxony, although destined to play a part of such im-
* Keith, the English ambassador, did not fail to represent the iniquitous
conduct of France against the German empire to the empress, Maria
Theresa. In reference to the possibility that France might repay herself
for her alliance with a province of Western Germany, Maria Theresa
declared her policy to be that of the house of Habsburg, not that of Ger-
many : " I can take little interest in distant provinces; I must confine my-
self to the defence of the hereditar}' states, and have but two enemies to
dread, Turkey and Prussia." Frederick was, in point of fact, as little
German in his policy. He would unhesitatingly have rewarded France
for her aid with a German province, nor was it owing to him that, at all
events, part of the Netherlands did not fall under her rule. Once only,
during the seven years' war, was he struck with the folly of two German
powers fighting for the advantage of France. " Imagine, my Lord," ■«T0tc
Mitchel, " the vvTctched state of Europe. The two principal powers of
Germany have almost succeeded in ruining each other, whilst France
looks on with secret delight, apparently aiding one and perhaps stirring
up the other in order to accelerate the downfal of both. Would it were
possible to reconcile Prussia and Austria, and to turn both against France !
Senseless and impossible as this project may appear, it was, nevertheless,
assented to by Frederick II. in a conference before the battle of Prague."
58 MARIA THERESA.
portance, had not yet been consulted.* Her adherence, as
well as that of Sweden, was deemed certain, Briihl, the Saxon
minister, bearing a personal hatred to Frederick on account of
tlie scorn with which he had been treated by that monarch.
The news of the treaty of Versailles found Frederick pre-
pared for the event. Clearly foreseeing the certain and speedy
coalition of his enemies, he determined to be the first in the
field and to surprise them ere they had time to coalesce. Deeply
sensible of the hazard of his position, he carried poison on his
person during the whole of the protracted war, being firmly
resolved not to survive the loss of his possessions. To appeal
to God and to the justice of his cause was denied him, for his
sufferings were merely a retaliation of those he had inflicted
upon others. The partition of Prussia in 1756 was equally
just with that of Austria in 1741. National enthusiasm was
a thing unknown, for the people were slaves accustomed to be
passed from one hand to another. Frederick's sole resource
lay in his genius, and in this he alone confided for success as
he courageously unfurled his flag before Austria had armed
or war had been declared by France. A man of a less deci-
sive character would have hesitated, would still have hoped,
negotiated, or have made concessions to such overwhelming
opponents instead of boldly taking the initiative and proving
to the astonished world that peril, however great, may be
surmounted by courage and decision. Frederick's enemies in-
tended to bring against him a force of five hundred thousand
men, to surround and crush him. This force had, however,
still to be levied ; the object of Frederick's whole policy was
consequently the prevention of the coalition of the forces of
his opponents in order to attack them singly. The pretendetl
* The proof is contained in the documents concerning the occasion of
the seven years' war; Leipzig, Teubner, 1841. When Austria, in 1746,
laid the preliminaries to an alliance with Russia against Prussia, into
which she attempted to draw Saxony, Saxony refused her participation
and was consequently not admitted into the negotiations secretly carried
on, at a later period, by Austria with France and Russia. Tlie revela-
tions, asserted by Frederick the Great to have been made to him by
Mentzel, the clerk of the Saxon chancery, from papers out of the secret
cabinet, were, consequently, by no means the principal cause of the war.
Frederick learnt the most important secrets from Vienna and Petersburg.
Maria Theresa also committed the imprudence of solemnizing the festi-
val of St. Hedwig, the protectress of Silesia, with remarkable pomp at
Vienna.
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 59
discovery of papers in Berlin, disclosing the whole plan of the
coalition, provided liira with a pretext for the declaration of
war, and the diplomatic world was by this means led to believe
in the reality of the manoeuvres he had merely foreseen. His
denunciation of a coalition, still formally unconcluded, was in-
stantly productive of the catastrophe.
England, deluded by a pretended alliance between France and
Prussia, joined Austria and Russia, an alliance that was viewed
with pleasure by George II., between whom and Frederick a
personal dislike existed. The deception was, however, no
sooner discovered than the parliament and the prime minister,
Pitt, ranged themselves on the side of Prussia, and the king
was compelled to yield. Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Gotha,
and Lippe also joined Prussia. The rest of the empire, al-
lured by bribery, sided with Austria and France. Bavaria,
apparently the least likely of all the European powers torjoin
AA-ith Austria for the destruction of Prussia, had, since 1750,
received monthly from France (from the secret fund) the sum
of 50,000 livres, amounting in all to 8,700,000 livres. The
Pfalz also received 1 1,300,000 ; Pfalz-Zweibriicken, 4,400,000;
Wiirtemberg, 10,000,000 ; Cologne, 7,300,000 ; Mayenceonly
500,000 ; Ansbach, Bayreuth, Darmstadt about 100,000 ;
Liege, Mecklenbui'g, Nassau, something more, altogether
3,000,000 ; even the petty principality of Waldeck received
50,000. The empire was in this manner bought. France
had so much superfluous wealth that she also paid a subsidy
of 82,700,000 livres to Austria, and another of 8,800,000 to
Saxony, towards the expenses of the war with Prussia.
CCXXXVI. The Seven Years' War.
In the autumn of 1756, Frederick, unexpectedly and with-
out previously declaring war, invaded Saxony, of which he
speedily took possession, and shut up the little Saxon army,
thus taken unawares, on the Elbe at Pirna. A corps of
Austrian?, who were also equally unprepared to take the field,
hastened, under the command of Browne, to their relief, but
were, on the 1st of October, defeated at Lowositz, and the
fourteen thousand Saxons under Rutowsky at Pirna were in
consequence compelled to lay down their arms, the want to
which they were reduced by the failure of their supplies having
60 THE SEVEN YEARS' y/AR.
already driven them to the necessity of eating hair-powder
mixed with gunpowder. Augustus III. and Briihl fled with
such precipitation that the secret archives were found by
Frederick at Dresden . The electress vainly strove to defend
them by placing herself before the chest ; she was forcibly
removed by the Prussian grenadiers, and Frederick justified
the suddenness of liis attack upon Saxony by the publication
of the plans of his enemies. He remained during the whole
of the winter in Saxony, furnishing his troops from the re-
sources of the country. It was here that his chamberlain,
Glasow, attempted to take him off' by poison, but, meeting by
chance one of the piercing glances of the king, tremblingly let
fall the cup and confessed his criminal design, the induce-
ment for which has ever remained a mystery, to the astonish-
ed king.
The allies, surprised and enraged at the suddenness of the
attack, took the field, in the spring of l7o7, at the head of an
enormous foi'ce. Half a million men were levied, Austria
and France furnishing each about one hundred and fifty
thousand, Russia one hundred thousand, Sweden twenty
thousand, the German empire sixty thousand. These masses
were, however, not immediately assembled on the same spot,
were, moreover, badly commanded and far inferior in discij^line
to the seventy thousand Prussians brought against them by
Frederick. The war was also highly unpopular and created
great discontent among the Protestant party in the empire.
On the departure of Charles of Wlirtemberg for the imperial
army, his soldiery mutinied, and, notwithstanding their re-
duction to obedience, the general feeling among the imperial
troops was so much opposed to the war, that most of the
troops deserted and a number of the Protestant soldiery went
over to Frederick. The Prussian king was put out of the
bann of the empire by the diet, and the Prussian ambassador
at Ratisbon kicked the bearer of the decree out of the door,
Frederick was again the first to make the attack, and, in
the spring of- 1757, invaded Bohemia. The Austrian army
under Charles of Lorraine lay before Prague. The king, re-
solved at all hazards to gain the day, led his troops across the
marshy ground under a terrible and destructive fire from the
enemy. His gallant general, Schwerin, remonstrated with
liim. "Are you afraid?" was the reply. Schwerin, who
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 61
had already served under Charles XII. in Turkey and liad
grown grey in the field, stung by this taunt, quitted his sad-
dle, snatched the colours and shouted, " All who are not cow-
ards, follow me ! " He was at that moment struck by several
cartridge-balls and fell to the ground enveloped in the colours.
The Prussians rushed past him to the attack. The Austri-
ans were totally routed ; Browne fell, but the city was de-
fended with such obstinacy, that Daun, one of Maria Theresa's
favourites, was, meanwhile, able to levy a fresh body of
troops. Frederick, consequently, raised the siege of Prague
and came upon Daun at Collin, where he had taken up a
strong position. Here again were the Prussians led into the
thickest of the enemy's fire, Frederick shouting to them, on
their being a third time repulsed with fearful loss, " Would
ye live for ever?" Every effort failed, and Benkendorf's
charge at the head of four Saxon regiments, glowing with re-
venge and brandy, decided the fate of the day. The Prus-
sians were completely routed. Frederick lost his splendid
guard and the whole of his luggage. Seated on the verge of
a fountain and tracing figures in the sand, he reflected upon
the means of re-alluring fickle fortune to his standard.
A fresh misfortune befell him not many weeks later.
England had declared in his favour, but the incompetent
English commander, nicknamed, on account of his immense
size, the Duke of Cumberland, allowed himself to be beaten by
the French at Hastenbek and signed the shameful treaty of
Closter Seeven, by which he agreed to disband his troops.*
This treaty was not confirmed by the British monarch. Tlie
Prussian general, Lewald, who had merely twenty thousand
men under his command, was, at the same time, defeated at
Gross-Zagerndorf by an overwhelming Russian force under
Apraxin. Four thousand men were all that Frederick was
able to bring against the Swedes. They were, nevertheless,
able to keep the field, owing to the disinclination to the war
evinced by their opponents.
Autumn fell, and Frederick's fortune seemed fading with
the leaves of summer. He had, however, merely sought to
gain time in order to recruit his diminished army, and Daun
* The Hanoverian nobility, -svho hoped thereby to protect their pro-
perty, were implicated in this affair. They were shortly afterwards well
and deservedly punished, being laid under contribution by the French.
62 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
having, with his usual tardiness, neglected to pursue him, he
suddenly took the field against the imperialists under the duke
of Saxon -Hildburghausen and the French under Soubise.
The two armies met on the oth of November, 1757, on the
broad plain around Leipzig, near the village of Rossbach, not
far from the scene of the famous encounters of earlier times.
The enemy, three times superior in number to the Prussians,
lay in a half-circle with a view of surrounding the little Prus-
sian camp, and, certain of victory, had encumbered themselves
with a numerous train of women, wig-makers, barbers, and
modistes from Paris. The French camp was one scene of
confusion and gaiety. On a sudden, Frederick sent General
Seidlitz with his cavalry amongst them, and an instant dis-
persion took place, the troops flying in every direction with-
out attempting to defend themselves ; some Swiss, who refused
to yield, alone excepted. The Germans on both sides showed
their delight at the discomfiture of the French. An Austrian
coming to the rescue of a Frenchman, who had just been cap-
tured by a Prussian, " Brother German," exclaimed the latter,
" let me have this French rascal ! " " Take him and keep
him ! " replied the Austrian riding off. The scene more resem-
bled a chace than a battle. The imperial army {Reichsarmee)
was thence nicknamed the runaway (^Reissaus) army. Ten
thousand French were taken prisoners. The loss on the side
of the Prussians merely amounted to one hundred and sixty
men. The booty chiefly consisted in objects of gallantry be-
longing rather to a boudoir than to a camp. The French
array perfectly resembled its mistress, the Marquise de Pom-
padour.*
The Austrians had, meanwhile, gained great advantages to
the rear of the Prussian army, had beaten the king's favourite,
General Winterfeld, at Moys in Silesia, had taken the important
fortress of Schweidnitz and the metropolis, Breslau, whose com-
mandant, the Duke of Bevern, (a collateral branch of the house
* Seidlitz, -who covered himself with glory on this occasion, was the
best horseman of the day. He is said to have once ridden under the sails
of a windmill when in motion. One day, when standing on the bridge
over the Oder at Frankfurt, being asked by Frederick what he would do
if blocked up on both sides by the enemy, he leaped, without replying,
into the deep current and swam to shore. The Black Hussars with the
death's head on their caps chiefly distinguished themselves during this
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 63
of Brunswick,) had fallen into their hands whilst on a recon-
noitring expedition. Frederick, immediately after the battle
of Rossbach, hastened into Silesia, and, on his march thither,
fell in with a body of two thousand young Silesians, who had
been captured in Schweidnitz, but, on the news of the victory
gained at Rossbach, had found means to regain their liberty
and had set off to his rencontre. The king, inspirited by this
reinforcement, hurried onwards, and, at Leuthen, near Bres-
lau, gained one of the most brilliant victories during this war
over the Austi'ians. Making a false attack upon the right
wing, he suddenly turned upon the left. " Here are the Wiir-
tembergers," said he, '•' they will be the first to make way for
us !" He trusted to the inclination of these troops, who were
zealous Protestants, in his favour. They instantly gave way
and Daun's line of battle was destroyed. During the night,
he threw two battalions of grenadiers into Lissa, and, accom-
panied by some of his staff, entered the castle, where, meeting
with a number of Austrian generals and officers, he civilly
saluted them and asked, "Can one get a lodging here too?"
The Austrians might have seized the whole party, but were
so thunderstruck that tliey yielded their swords, the king
treating them with extreme civility. Charles of Lorraine,
weary of his unvarying ill-luck, resigned the command and
was nominated stadtholder of the Nethei'lands, where he gained
great popularity. At Leuthen twenty-one thousand Aus-
trians fell into Frederick's hands ; in Breslau, which shortly
afterwards capitulated, he took seventeen thousand more, so
that his prisoners exceeded his army in number.
Fresh storms rose on the horizon and threatened to over-
whelm the gallant king, who, unshaken by the approaching
peril, firmly stood his ground. The Austrians gained an ex-
cellent general in the Livonian, Gideon Laudon, whom Fre-
derick had refused to take into his service on account of his
extreme ugliness, and who now exerted his utmost endeavours
to avenge the insult. The great Russian army, which had
until now remained an idle spectator of the war, also set it-
self in motion. Frederick advanced, in the spring of 1758,
against Laudon, invaded Moravia, and besieged Olmiitz, but
without success ; Laudon ceaselessly harassed his troops and
seized a convoy of three hundred waggons. The king was
finally compelled to retreat, the Russians, under Fermor
64 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
crossing the Oder, murdering and burning on their route, con-
verting Custrin, which refused to yield, into a heap of rubbisli,
and threatening Berlin. They were met by the enraged king
at Zorndorf. Although but lialf as numerically strong as the
Russians, he succeeded in beating them, but with the loss of
eleven thousand of his men, the Russians standing like walls.
The battle was carried on with the greatest fury on both sides ;
no quarter was given ; and men were seen, when mortally
wounded, to seize each other with their teeth as they rolled
fighting on the ground. Some of the captured Cossacks were
presented by Frederick to some of his friends with the remark,
" See, with what vagabonds I am reduced to fight ! " He
had scarcely recovered from this bloody victory, than he was
again compelled to take the field against the Austrians, who,
under Daun and Laudon, had invaded the Lausitz. He, for
some time, watched them without hazarding an engagement,
under an idea that they were themselves too cautious and
timid to venture an attack. He was, however, mistaken.
The Austrians surprised his camp at Hochkirch during the
niglit of October the 14th. The Prussians, the hussar troop
of the faithful Ziethen, whose warnings had been neglected by
the king, alone excepted, slept, and were only roused by the
i*oaring of their own artillery, which Laudon had already
seized and turned upon their camp. The excellent discipline
of the Prussian soldiery, nevertheless, enabled them, half-
naked as they were, and notwithstanding the darkness of the
night, to place themselves under arms, and the king, although
with immense loss, to make an orderly retreat. He lost nine
thousand men, many of his bravest officers, and upwards of a
hundred pieces of artillery. The principal object of the Aus-
trians, that of taking the king prisoner or of annihilating his
army at a blow, was, however, frustrated. Frederick eluded
the pursuit of the enemy and went straight into Silesia, whence
he drove the Austrian general, Harsch, who was besieging
Neisse, across the mountains into Bohemia. The approach of
winter put a stop to hostilities on both sides.
During this year, Frederick received powerful aid from
Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, brother to Charles, the reign-
ing duke, Avho replaced Cumberland in the command of the
Hanoverians and Hessians, with great ability covered the right
flank of the Prussians, manceuvred the French, under their
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 65
wretched general, Richelieu, who enriched himself with
the plunder of Halberstadt, across the Khine, and defeated
Clermont, Richelieu's successor, at Crefeld. His nephew, the
crown prince, Ferdinand, served under him with distinction.
Towards the conclusion of the campaign, an army under
Broglio again pushed forward and succeeded in defeating the
Prince von Ysenburg, who was to have covered Hesse with
seven thousand men, at Sangerhausen ; another body of troops
under Soubise also beat Count Oberg on the Lutterberg.
The troops on both sides then withdrew into winter quarters.
The Fi'ench had, during this campaign, also penetrated as far
as East Frizeland, whence they were driven by the peasantry
until WUrmser of Alsace made terms Avith them and main-
tained the severest discipline among his troops.
The campaign of 1759 was opened with great caution by
the allies. The French reinforced the army opposed to the
duke of Brunswick and attacked him on two sides, Broglio
from the Maine, Contades from the Lower Rhine. The duke
was pushed back upon Bergen, but nevertheless gained a
glorious victory over the united French leaders at Minden.
His nephew, the crown prince, Ferdinand, also defeated ano-
ther French army under Brissac, on the same day, at Herford.
The imperial army, commanded by its newly nominated leader,
Charles of Wiirtemberg, advanced, but was attacked by the
crown prince, whilst its commander was amusing himself at
a ball at Fulda, and ignominiously put to flight. Frederick,
although secure against danger from this quarter, was threat-
ened with still greater peril by the attempted junction of the
Russians and Austrian?, who had at length discovered that
the advantages gained by Frederick had been mainly owing to
the want of unity in his opponents. The Russians under Solti-
kow, accordingly, approached the Oder. Frederick, at that
time fully occupied with keeping the main body of the Aus-
trians under Daun at bay in Bohemia, had been unable to
hinder Laudon from advancing with twenty thousand men
for the purpose of forming a junction with the Russians. In
this extremity, he commissioned the youthful general, Wedel,
to use every exertion to prevent the further advance of the
Russians. Wedel was, however, overwhelmed by the Rus-
sians near the village of Kay, and the junction with Laudon
took place. Frederick now hastened in person to the scene of
VOL. ra. F
66 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
danger, leaving his brother, Henry, to make head against
Daun. On the banks of the Oder at Cunnersdorf, not far
from Frankfurt, the king attempted to obstruct the passage of
the enemy, in the hope of annihihiting him by a bold mancBu-
vre, which, however, failed, and he suffered the most terrible
defeat that took place on either side during this war, August
the 12th, 1759. He ordered his troops to storm a sand
mountain, bristling with batteries, from the bottom of the
valley of the Oder ; they obeyed, but were unable to advance
through the deep sand, and were annihilated by the enemy's
fire. A ball struck the king, whose life was saved by the
circumstance of its coming in contact with an etui in his waist-
coat pocket. He was obliged to be carried almost by force
off the field when all was lost. The poet, Kleist, after storm-
ing three batteries and crushing his right hand, took his sword
in his left hand and fell, whilst attempting to carry a fourth,
Soltikow, fortunately for the king, ceased his pursuit.
The conduct of the Russian generals was, throughout this
war, often marked by inconsistency. They sometimes left
the natural ferocity of their soldiery utterly unrestrained, at
others, enforced strict discipline, hesitated in their movements,
or spared their opponent. The key to this conduct was their
dubious position with the Russian court. The empress,
Elisabeth, continually instigated by her minister, BestuschetF,
against Prussia, was in her dotage, was subject to daily
fits of drunkenness, and gave signs of approaching dissolution.
Her nephew, Peter, tlie son of her sister, Anna, and of
Charles Frederick, Prince of Holstein Gottorp, the heir to the
throne of Russia, was a profound admirer of the great Prus-
sian monarch, took him for his model, secretly corresponded
with him, became his spy at the Russian court, and made no
secret of his intention to enter into alliance with him on the
death of the empress. The generals, fearful of rendering
themselves obnoxious to the future emperor, consequently
showed great remissness in obeying BestuscheflTs commands.
Frederick, however, although unharassed by the Russians,
was still doomed to suffer fresh mishaps. His brother, Henry,
had, with great prudence, cut off the magazines and convoys
to Daun's rear, and had consequently hampered his move-
ments. The king was, notwithstanding, discontented, and,
unnecessarily fearing lest Daun might still succeed in effect-
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 67
ing a junction with Soltikow and Laudon, recalled liis bro-
ther, and by so doing occasioned the very movement it was
his object to prevent. Daun advanced ; and General Fink,
whom Frederick had despatched against him at the head of
ten thousand men, fell into his hands. Shut up in Maxeu,
and too weak to force its w^iy through the enemy, the wdiole
corps was taken prisoner. Dresden also fell ; Schmettau, the
Prussian commandant, had, up to this period, bravely held out,
notwithstanding the smallness of the garrison, but, dispirited
by the constant ill success, he at length resolved, at all events,
to save the military chest, which contained three million
dollars, and capitulated on a promise of fi*ee egress. By this
act he incurred the heavy displeasure of his sovereign,
who dismissed both him and Prince Henry.* Fortune, hoAv-
ever, once more favoured Frederick ; Soltikow separated his
troops from those of Austria and retraced his steps. The
Russians always consumed more than the other troops, and
destroyed their means of subsistence by their predatory
habits, f Austria vainly offered gold ; Soltikow persist-
ed in his intention and merely replied, " My men cannot
eat gold." Frederick was now enabled, by escaping the
vigilance of the Austrians, to throw himself upon Dresden,
for the purpose of regaining a position indispensable to him
on account of its proximity to Bohemia, Silesia, the Mere
or Saxony. His project, however, failed, notwithstand-
ing the terrible bombardment of the city, and he vented his
wrath at this discomfiture on the gallant regiment of Bern-
burg, which he punished for its want of success by stripping
it of every token of military glory. The constant want of
ready money for the purpose of recruiting his army, terribly
thinned by the unceasing warfare, compelled him to circulate
a false currency, the English subsidies no longer covering the
expenses of the war and his own territory being occupied by
the enemy. Saxony consequently suffered, and was, owing to
this necessity, completely drained, the town-council at Leip-
* Frederick the Great has been ever charged with ingratitude for this
treatment of his brotlier, who expired during the ensuing year. Schmettau
is the same officer who had risen to such distinction during the war witli
Turkey.
t Frederick replied to the loud complaints, " We have to do with
barbarians, foes to humanity. We ought, however, rather to seek a re-
medy for the evil tlian to give way to lamentations." — Klober.
68 ' THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
zig being, for instance, shut up in the depth of winter without
bedding, light, or firing, until it had voted a contribution of
eight tons of gold ; the finest forests were cut down and sold,
etc. Berlin, meanwhile, fell into the hands of the Russians,
who, on this occasion, behaved with humanity. General Tott-
leben even ordered his men to fire upon the allied troop, con-
sisting of fifteen thousand Austrians, under Lascy and Brent-
ano, for attempting to infringe the terras of capitulation by
plundering the city. The Saxons destroyed the chateau of
Charlottenburg and the superb collection of antiques contain-
ed in it, an iri-eparable loss to art, in revenge for the destruc-
tion of the palaces of Briihl by Frederick. No other treasures
of art were carried away or destroyed either by Frederick in
Dresden or by his opponents in Berlin. — This campaign
offered but a single pleasing feature, tlie unexpected relief of
Colberg, who was hard pushed by the Russians in Pomerania,
by the Prussian hussars under General Werner.
Misfortune continued to pursue the king throughout the
campaign of 1760. Fouquet, one of his favourites, was, with
eight thousand men, surprised and taken prisoner by Laudon
in the Giant jMountains near Landshut ; the mountain coun-
try was cruelly laid waste. The important fortress of Glatz
fell, and Breslau was besieged. This city was defended by
General Tauenzien, a man of great intrepidity. The cele-
brated Lessing was at that time his secretary. With merely
three thousand Prussians, he undertook the defence of the
extensive city, within whose walls were nineteen thousand
Austrian prisoners, and, on Laudon threatening to storm the
place and not even to spare the child within its mother's womb,
he coolly replied, " Neither I nor my men happen to be in
the family way." He maintained the city until relieved by
Frederick. The king hastened to defend Silesia, for which
Soltikow's procrastination allowed him ample opportunity.
Daun had, it is true, succeeded in forming a junction with
Laudon at Liegnitz, but their camps were separate, and the
two generals were on bad terms. Frederick advanced close
in their vicinity. An attempt made by Laudon, during the
night of the 15th of August, to repeat the disaster of Hoch-
kirch, was frustrated by the secret advance of the king to his
rencontre, and a brilHant victory was gained by the Prussians
over their most danirerous anta2:onist. The sound of the ar-
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 69
tillery being carried by the wind in a contrary direction, the
news of the action and of its disastrous termination reached
Daun simultaneously ; at all events, he put this circumstance
forward as an excuse, on being, not groundlessly, suspected of
having betrayed Laudon from a motive of jealousy. He re-
treated into Saxony. The regiment of Bernburg had greatly
distinguished itself in this engagement, and on its termination,
an old subaltern officer stepped forward and demanded from
the king the restoration of its military badges, to which Fre-
derick gratefully acceded.
Scarcely, however, were Breslau relieved and Silesia de-
livered from Laudon's wild hordes, than his rear was again
threatened by Daun, who had fallen back upon the united
imperial army in Saxony and threatened to form a junction
with the Russians then stationed in his vicinity in the Mere.
Frederick, conscious of his utter inability to make head against
this overwhelming force, determined, at all risks, to bring
Uaun and the imperial army to a decisive engagement before
their junction with the Russians, and, accordingly, attacked
them at Torgau. Before the commencement of the action, he
earnestly addressed his officers and solemnly prepared for
death. Daun, naturally as anxious to evade an engagement
as Frederick was to hazard one, had, as at Collin, taken up an
extremely strong position, and received the Prussians with a
well-sustained fire. A terrible havoc ensued ; the battle
raged with various fortune during the whole of the day, and,
notwithstanding the most heroic attempts, the position was
still uncarried at fall of night. The confusion had become so
general, that Prussian fought with Prussian, whole regiments
had disbanded, and the king was wounded, when Ziethen, the
gallant hussar general, who had during the niglit cut his way
through the Austrians, who were in an equal state of disorder,
and had taken the heights, rushed into his presence. Ziethen
had often excited the king's ridicule by his practice of brand-
ishing his sabre over his head in sign of the cross, as an in-
vocation for the aid of Heaven, before making battle ; but
now, deeply moved, he embraced his deliverer, whose work
was seen at break of day. The Austrians were in full re-
treat. This bloody action, by which the Prussian monarchy
was saved, took place on the 3rd of November, 1 760.
George II., king of England, expired during this year. His
70 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
grandson, George III., the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales,
who had preceded his fatlier to the tomb, at first declared in fa-
vour of Prussia, and fresh subsidies were voted to her monar(;h
by the English parliament, which at the same time expressed
" its deep admiration of his unshaken fortitude and of the inex-
haustible resources of his genius." Female influence, however,
ere long placed Lord Bute in Pitt's stead at the helm of state,
and the subsidies so urgently demanded by Prussia wei'e with-
drawn. The duke of Brunswick was, meanwhile, again vic-
torious at Billinghausen over the French, and covered the
king 09 that side. On the other hand, the junction of the
Austrians with the Russians was effected in 1761 ; the allied
army amounted in all to one hundred and thirty thousand men,
and Frederick's army, solely consisting of fifty thousand, would
in all probability have been again annihilated, had he not
secured himself behind the fortress of Schweidnitz, in the strong
position at Bunzelwitz. Butterlin, the Russian general, was
moreover little inclined to come to an engagement on account of
the illness of the empress and the favour with which Frede-
rick was beheld by the successor to the throne. It was in vain
that Laudon exei'ted all the powers of eloquence, the Russians
remained in a state of inactivity and finally withdrew. Lau-
don avenged himself by unexpectedly taking Schweidnitz
under the eyes of the king by a clever coup-de-main, and had
not an heroic Prussian artillery-man set fire to a powder ma-
gazine, observing as he did so, " All of ye shall not get into
the town !" and blown himself with an immense number of
Austrians into the air, he would have made himself master of
this important strong-hold almost without losing a man. Fre-
derick retreated upon Breslau.
The empress, Elisabeth, expired in the ensuing year, A. D.
1762, and was succeeded by Peter III., who instantly ranged
himself on the side of Prussia. Six months afterwards he was
assassinated, and his widow seized the reins of government
under the title of Catherine II. Frederick was on the eve of
giving battle to the Austrians at Reichenbach in Silesia and
the Russians under Czernitscheff were under his command when
the news arrived of the death of his friend and of the inimical
disposition of the new empress, who sent Czernitscheff instant
orders to abandon the Prussian banner. Such was, however,
Frederick's influence over the Russian general, that he pre-
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR,
71
ferred hazarding his head rather than abandon the king at
this critical conjuncture, and, deferring the publication of the
empress's orders for three days, remained (juietly within the
camp. Frederick meanwhile was not idle, and gained a com-
plete victory over the Austrians, the 21st of July, 1762. The
attempt made by a Silesian nobleman, Baron Warkotsch, to-
gether with a priest named Schmidt, secretly to carry off the
king from his quarters at Strehlen, failed. In the autumn,
Frederick besieged and took Schweidnitz. The two most
celebrated French engineers put their new theories into prac-
tice on this occasion ; Lefevre, for the Prussians against the
fortress, Griboval, for the Austrians engaged in its defence.
Frederick's good fortune was shared by Prince Henry, who
defeated the imperial troops at Freiburg in Saxony, and by
Ferdinand of Brunswick, who gained several petty advantages
over the French, defeating Soubise at Wilhelmsthal and the
Saxons on the Lutterbach. The spiritless war on this side
was finally terminated during the course of this year, a. d.
1 762, by a peace between England and France.* Golz had
at the same time instigated the Tartars in Southern Russia to
revolt, and was on the point of creating a diversion with fifty
thousand of them in Frederick's favour. Frederick, with a
view of sti'iking the empire with terror, also despatched Ge-
neral Kleist into Franconia, with a flying corps, which no soon-
er made its appearance in Nuremberg "j" and Bamberg than the
whole of the South was seized with a general panic, Charles,
duke of Wiirtemberg, for instance, preparing for instant flight
from Stuttgard. Stiirzebecher, a bold cornet of the Prussian
huzzars, accompanied by a trumpeter and by five and twenty
men, advanced as far as Rothenburg on the Tauber, where,
forcing his way through the city gate, he demanded a contri-
bution of 80,000 dollars from the town -council. The citizens
of this town, which had once so heroically opposed the whole
of Tilly's forces, were chased by a handful of huzzars into the
Bockshorn, and were actually compelled to pay a fine of
* This campaigTi was merely a succession of manoeuvres and skir-
mishes, in which Lukner and his huzzars chiefly distinguished themselves
against the French, whose service Lukner afterwards entered. He had,
at an earlier period, headed the Bavarians against Austria.
t Nuremberg liad never before yielded. Frederick observed on this
occasion, " Kleist has snatched the maiden wreath from the grey locks of
that ancient virgin."
T2 FREDERICK SANSPAREIL.
40,000 florins, with which the cornet scoffingly withdrew, car-
rying off with him two of the town-councillors as hostages.
So deeply had the citizens of the free towns of the empire at
that time degenerated.
Frederick's opponents at length perceived the folly of
carrying on war without the slightest prospect of success.
The necessary funds were, moreover, wanting. France was
weary of sacrificing herself for Austria. Catherine of Russia,
who had views upon Poland and Turkey, foresaw that the aid
of Prussia would be required in order to keep Austria in
check and both cleverly and quickly entered into an under-
standing with her late opi^onent. Austria was, consequently,
also compelled to succumb. The rest of the allied powers had
no voice in the matter. Peace was concluded at Huberts-
burg, one of the royal Saxon residences, February the 15th,
1763. Frederick retained possession of the whole of his do-
minions. The machinations of his enemies had not only been
completely frustrated, but Prussia had issued from the seven
years' war with redoubled strength and glory ; she had con-
firmed her power by her victories, had rendered herself feared
and respected, and had raised herself from her station as one
of the principal potentates of Germany on a par with the great
powers of Europe.
CCXXXVII. — Frederick Sanspareil.
The Prussian king, who well deserved his soubriquet of
Sanspareil, devoted himself, on his return to Sanssouci, to the
occupations of peace, in which he might also serve as a model
to all other princes. Every thing prospered under his foster-
ing care. The confidence inspired by his government attracted
numbers of foreigners into the country, where he placed
waste lands in a state of cultivation, built numerous villages,
made roads and canals, and promoted agriculture and indus-
try. Prussia quickly recovered from the calamities of war,
and the royal exchequer and the wealth of the country in-
creased at an equal ratio. Among his economical measures,
the monopolies in tobacco and coffee are alone reprehensible.
The cultivation of the potato, against which there existed a
popular prejudice, in Prussia and afterwards throughout Ger-
many, was mainly forwarded by him. The importance of
FREDERICK SANSPAREIL. 73
this root as an article of food had been strikingly proved
(luring the seven years' war. In Silesia, where its cultivation
liiul been enforced by Count Schlaberndorf, the Prussian
minister, the famine, caused by the failure of the crops in
1770, had been, notwithstanding the immense concourse of
poor, felt with far less severity than in the neighbouring
countries ; in Saxony, where one hundred thousand, in
Bohemia, where one hundred and eighty thousand men per-
ished of hunger, and whence twenty thousand persons mi-
grated to Prussia, the land of potatoes. The new monopo-
lies or regie were more particularly unpopular on account of
the persons employed in their administration being brought
from France by the king, who thus virtually exposed the
brave victors of Rossbach to the chicanery of their con-
quered foe.
The army next occupied his attention. In the autumn and
spring he held great reviews for the sake of practice, and
perfect order and discipline were maintained during the whole
of his reign. The faults in the internal organization of the
army were first discovered after his death. Frederick, al-
though personally a patron of art and a promoter of civiliza-
tion, greatly depreciated the progress of enlightenment in
Germany, nor did he perceive that the bourgeoisie, whom he
had, on his accession to the throne, found in a state of ignor-
ance and discouragement, had gradually risen to one of great
moral and mental refinement, whilst the nobility, whom, at
least in Prussia, he had found, during his earlier years, simple
in their habits and fitted for the duties of their station, had,
as gradually, sunk in luxury and become totally incapable
of mental exertion. His exclusive nomination of nobles to all
the higher posts in the army was at first natural, the peasant-
recruits being already accustomed, in their native provinces,
to the sway of the nobility ; but his total exclusion, at a later
period, of the whole of the citizen class, was productive of im-
mense evils to his successor. The system of flogging was
another abuse. Severe punishments had formerly been found
necessary among the infantry on account of the inclination of
the homeless mercenary to desert his colours or to plunder ;
but the infliction of corporeal punishment first became general
in the array on the enrolment of the peasant serfs, when the
system of flogging, prevalent in the villages, was introduced
74 FREDERICK SANSPAREIL.
into the army. This system, consequently, merely prevailed
in Prussia and Austria, Slavonian provinces long sunk in the
deepest slavery. Other states followed their example, but
were unable to carry this system into effect wherever a spark
of honour still glowed in the bosoms of the people.* The re-
tention of the unsuitable military dress, introduced by his
father, of pigtails, powdered hair, tight breeches, etc., was an-
other of Frederick's caprices.
The simple and strict administration of justice continually
occupied the attention of the king. The Codex Frid. formed
the basis of the provincial law of Prussia, Xvhich was not, how-
ever, completed until after his death, by Carmer, a. d. 1794.
The injustice enacted in other countries was viewed by him
with deep abhorrence, and never was his anger more highly
excited than when he imagined that his name had been abused
for the purpose of passing an iniquitous judgment. A wind-
mill, not far from Sanssouci, obstructed the view, but the miller
threatening to lay a complaint against him in his own court of
justice, he chose rather to endure the inconvenience than to
resort to violence. Another miller, Arnold, charging a noble-
man with having diverted the water from his mill, Frederick,
anxious to act with strict justice, sent a confidential officer to
the spot to investigate the affiiir. The officer, either owing to
negligence or to some private reason, pronounced in favour of
the miller, who was actually in the wrong, and the king instantly
deprived three of his chief justices and a number of the lower
officers of the law of their appointments and detained the for-
mer for some time in prison. Still, notwithstanding his arbi-
trary and, on some occasions, cruel decisions, he inspired the
law officers witli a wholesome fear, and by the commission of
one injustice often obviated that of many others. His treat-
ment of Colonel Trenck, an Austrian, whom he detained a close
prisoner at Magdeburg for eighteen years, made much noise.
This handsome adventurer had secretly carried on an intercourse
with the king's sister, had mixed himself up with politics,
* Louis XV. attempted to introduce the Prussian military system,
and, with it, that of flogging, into the French army, but the soldiers mu-
tinied, shot the subalterns, who liad ventured to use the cane, and one of
the latter, on being ordered to give the lash to one of the privates, in-
stantly ripped up his own belly. This fact is relat(!d by Schubart, at that
time one of the brightest ornaments of Germany, who concludes with the
exclamation, "Wh;U a disgrace for Germany ! "
FREDERICK SANSPAREIL. i i>
devised intrigues, and a bare-faced indiscretion had occasioned
.his long imprisonment, whence he was Hberated on Frederick's
death. The manner in which the king answered all the
cases and petitions presented to him, by a short marginal note,
was extremely characteristic, his remarks and decisions being
generally just, but witty, satirical, often cruel, and always bad-
ly written, on account of his imperfect knowledge of his mother
tongue.
He was equally laconic in conversation and sharp in manner.
With a large three-cornered laced hat on his head, rather
stooping shoulders, a thread-bare blue uniform with red facings
and broad skirts, a long pig-tail hanging behind, the front of
his waistcoat covered with snuff, which he took in enormous
quantities, short black breeches and long boots, his sword
buckled to his side and his celebrated crutch-cane in his hand,
he inspired all whom he addressed with awe. No one, how-
ever, possessed in a higher degree the art of pleasing, when-
ever he happened to be surrounded by persons of congenial
taste and pursuits, or that of acquiring popularity.*
Frederick exercised immense influence on the spirit of the
times, the general impulse towards enlightenment. The age
had indeed need of assistance in its attempts to repel the mists of
ignorance and superstition by which it was obscured. The pe-
dantry of the schools had already partially yielded before the at-
tacks of Thomasius, who had been the first to tear asunder the veil
and to admit the light, which, under Frederick's administration,
now poured freely in on all sides. The influence of the French
philosophers of the day necessarily preponderated. Fortunately,
they were not all as frivolous as Voltaire, and the more fervid
enthusiasm of Rousseau, the clear political views of Montes-
* Innumerable anecdotes are related of him. During the seven j'ears'
war, a Croat aiming at him from behind a bush, he looked sternly at him,
shook his cane (which he carried even when on horseback) at him, and
the Croat fled The people of Potsdam had stuck up a caricature in
which he was represented witha coff'ee-mill in his lap, at the street corner ;
he saw it as he passed along and told the bystanders to hang it lower
down and they would see it with greater convenience. — —One of the
subalterns of his guard, being too poor to buy a watch, attached a bullet
to his chain and wore it in his pocket. This was perceived by the king,
who one day purposely asked him what time it was. The officer, unable
to evade an expose, drew forth the bullet, saying as he did so, " My watch
points but to one hour, that in which I die for your Majesty." Frederick
instantly presented him with his own watch, set in brilliants.
'J'6 FREDERICK SANSPAREIL.
quieu, were far better suited to the gravity of the German.
Still, notwithstanding the influence of Frederick the Great, Gal-
lomania did not long characterize our literature. Gottsched
at Leipzig attempted its establishment, but it was completely
overthrown by Lessing at "NVolfenbiittel, and to it succeeded
Graecomania and Anglomania, a predilection for the ancient
authors of Greece and Rome, first tastefully displayed by
Heyne at Gcittingen, and for the liberal and manly literature
of England, with which a closer acquaintance had been formed
since the accession of the house of Hanover to that throne.
The patriotic pride of Lessing, the study of the classics and of
English literature, served as a guard against French exagger-
ation, which, nevertheless, exercised but too powerful an in-
fluence upon the German character. Voltaire first taught the
German to form hasty and superficial ideas upon religion, and
Rousseau first enervated his honest heart by false and sickly
sentimentality. During the first stage of his progress towards
the enlightenment he so much needed, he was but a contempt-
ible and ridiculous caricature of his French model.
The enlightenment of the past century, about which so much
has been said and written, demanded a religion of love and
toleration, (the demand of the first Pietists, who afterwards
became noted for intolerance,) in the place of the religion of
intolerance hitherto inculcated by the church, the equality of
all confessions of faith, (as established in North America,) the
conformity of the dogma of the church with the demands of
sound human reason, (rationalism,) or the total proscription
of the dogma in so far as they were incompatible with what it
pleased the philosophers of the day to consider natural and rea-
sonable (natural religion. Deism). The result of these demands
was absolute infidelity, which rejected every religion as equally
false and even denied the existence of a deity, (Atheism,) the
adoration of nature and the most extravagant sensuality (ma-
terialism).
The beneficent government of humane sovereigns, wise
guardians of the people, was demanded instead of the despot-
ism that had hitherto prevailed, and the future happiness of
the human race was declared to be the infallible result of this
blessed change in the administration. On the separation of the
North American colonies from England, their parent country,
and their formation into a republic, republican notions began
FREDERICK SANSPAREIL. i i
: I spread ; they were, moreover, greatly fostered by the ex-
ample of the ancients, whose histories were diligently studied,
and by the contrat social of Rousseau, which reproduced the
ancient German political principle of a constitution based upon
the union of free and equal members of society as a new dis-
covery. At first, the general demand was for that best of all
repubhcs, the sovereignty of virtue ; but, by degrees, the re-
public became a matter of speculation for vices impatient of
the restraint imposed by laws.
The immorality that, like a pestilence, had spread from
France and infected the courts and the higher classes in Ger-
many, took shelter beneath the new doctrines of humanism.
Open profligacy was, it is true, discouraged, but the weak-
nesses of the heart, as they were termed, served as an excuse
for the infraction of the Catholic vow of celibacy and of the
strict moral tenets of the Protestant church. The tears of the
sentimentalist atoned for the weakness of the flesh. An in-
credible increase in the production and study of romances na-
turally followed. The unprincipled sentimentality of the
middle classes was even more pernicious in effect than the
open profligacy of the nobility and of the courts. It was
owing to this cause alone that Germany, at the outbreak of
the French Revolution, at a time that called for energy and for
the exertion of every manly virtue, contained so many cowards.
Good and evil advanced hand in hand as enlightenment
progressed. Men, confused by the novelty of the ideas pro-
pounded, were at first unable to discern their real value.
The transition from ancient to modern times had, however,
become necessary, and was greatly facilitated by the tolerance
of the great sovereign of Prussia, wdio, notwithstanding that,
by his predilection for French philosophy and his inclination
towards rationalism, he at first gave a false bias to the moral
development of Germany, greatly accelerated its progress. He
gave his subjects full liberty to believe, think, say, write, and
publish whatever they deemed proper, extended his protection
to those who sought shelter within his territories from the
persecution of the priests, and enforced universal toleration.
On one occasion alone, one that escaped the observation of the
sovereign, did the censor, Justi, dare to suppress a work, the
" Letters on Literature," in w'hich his own dull productions
were severely criticised. The works, printed in Prussia from
t^ FREDERICK S2\.NSPAREIL.
1740 to 178G, offer a convincing proof of tlie unparalleled
liberality of this absolute sovereign. The freedom from re-
striction greatly favoured tlie progress of German literature,
but still more so the personal indifference of the king, which
prevented it from becoming servile. How insignificant was
Ramler, whom he appointed poet laureat ! how great was
Lessing, who never paid court to or was noticed by him !
Frederick was, in his private hours, chiefly sui'rounded by
foreigners. Maupertius, the ]\Iarquis d'Argens, Algarotti,
Mitchel, the English ambassadoi-, Marshal Keith, a Scotch-
man, a proscribed partisan of the exiled Stuart, such a noble-
hearted man, that Frederick said of him, " Le bon Milord me
force de croire a lavertu," General Lentulus, and the notorious
De la Mettrie.* He carried on a frequent correspondence
with Voltaire f and D'Alembert, the latter of whom he appointed
president to the Royal Academy of Berlin. Raynal and Rous-
seau, two of the noblest of the French writers, took refuge
within his states, one at Berlin, the other at Neufchatel, from
the persecution to which the freedom of their opinions bad
exposed them. Frederick was himself an author of no mean
talent ; in his youth he wrote an " Antimachiavel," in which
he recommended to princes a moral policy, never followed by
himself, and several poems ; at a later period, the " History of
his Own Times ;" that of the "Seven Years' War ;" "Con-
siderations, Financial and Political, on the State of Europe ;"
" Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg ;" besides numerous
spirited letters, which were collected after his death.
* Who wrote openly, " that there is no God, no immortality, that man
is intended to follow every natural impulse, that sensual pleasure is his
only aim in life, that virtue is a ridiculous dream destructive of enjoy-
ment, and that death is the end of all things." His depraved course of
life was consistent with his principles. Frederick, nevertheless, appoint-
ed him his lecturer. Mitchel relates, that Frederick always spoke of Vol-
taire as a rogue, although he continued to correspond with him. This
taste may, perhaps, be physically accounted for ; Zimmermann says, that
during the latter part of Frederick's life, he could not touch a dish with-
out first seasoning it with immense quantities of Cayenne.
t Voltaire compared Frederick with the emperor Julian the Apostate,
who abolished Christianity and restored Paganism. He generally con-
cluded his confidential letters with the words " ecrasez I'inftimc," mean-
ing Christianity. On the 24th of July, 1763, he wrote to D'Alembert
that surely five or six men of genius like them could overthrow a religion
founded by twelve beggars. He greatly complained of Frederick's want
of energy in the cause.
FREDERICK SANSPAREIL. 79
The fall of the Jesuits was the first great result of the advance
of enliglitenment. One extreme is ever productive of another.
The dissolution of these guardians of ignorance was perhaps
alone rendered possible by the existence of an equal degree of
exaggeration on the side of their opponents. The policy of
the times, moreover, favoured the general inclination. The
princes greedily grasped at tlie church property that had
escaped the genei'al plunder during the Reformation. In
France, Spain, and Portugal, the ancient bulwarks of Catholi-
cism, ministers rose to office, who, convinced of the excellence
of Frederick's policy, kept pace with their times, and followed
as zealously in his footsteps as the German princes formerly
had in those of Louis XIV. In Austria, the Archduke Jo-
seph, the eccentric son of Maria Theresa, glowed for an Uto-
pia of liberty and justice, and Kaunitz persuaded the otherwise
bigoted empress to pursue the old Ghibelline policy by which
the pope was rendered subordinate to the head of the empire.
Pope Clement XIV., a man of great enlightenment, also filled
St. Peter's chair at that time, and hence it happened that the
notorious Society of Jesus was solemnly dissolved in all Ca-
tholic countries by a papal bull, A. d. 1773. The unfortunate
pope was instantly poisoned by the revengeful Jesuits. Fre-
derick, true to his principle of universal toleration * and de-
sirous of displaying his independence, f permitted them to
retain their former footing in Catholic Silesia. On the disso-
lution of the Society, the most scandalous deeds were brought
to light. The attention of the public was taken up with judi-
cial proceedings and satirical writings. A scandalous lawsuit,
that of father Mareellus at Augsburg, for unnatural crimes
committed in the school under the control of the Jesuits, the
opening of the prisons of the Society at Munich, where twelve
skeletons were discovered attached to chains, created the great-
est noise. The history of the Society, and the principles oa
* He often said, " In my states every one can go liis own vay to
heaven."
t The Jesuits ■vrere so delighted, that they spread a report that the
king was on the point of turning Catholic. The ex-jesuit Demelmaier
declared from the pulpit at Straubing, that the king's coach-horses had
fallen on their knees before the pyx. Shortly afterwards, on Frederick's
siding with Bavaria against Austria, as Dohm relates, his picture was
seen in a Bavarian village at the side of that of a saint, with a lamp be-
neatli it.
80 FREDERICK SANSPAREIL.
which it was based, were now thoroughly investigated and
criticised. It is, however, probable that some of the govern-
ments would not have so readily assented to its dissolution but
for the extraordinary wealth it possessed. The courts were in
want of money, and, on this occasion, made a truly royal booty,
of which but a small portion was set aside for educational pur-
poses. The Emperor Joseph appears to have had this booty
very much in view. His mother, Maria Theresa, who, in
1748, had, in her right as queen of Hungary, assumed the title
of Apostolical Majesty, and, in 1752, had driven four thousand
Protestants out of Styria, was merely induced to give her con-
sent to the dissolution of the Society on moral grounds. A
written document, containing the substance of her confessions
to her Jesuit confessor, was sent to her from Madrid, a proof
of perfidy by which she was first convinced of the immorality,
according to their statutes, legally practised by the members
of the Society.
At the very time that Germany was delivered from the curse
of Jesuitism, the crime, termed by way of distinction the crime
of the age, was committed against Poland, and distinctly shows
the moral principle by which the statesmen of that time were
guided. Virtue was never the object of their policy, but simply
a means for the success of some political scheme. " Do not
talk to me of magnanimity," said Frederick, " a prince can
only study his interest." Poland, like Germany, owed the loss
of her unity to her aristocracy ; but the Waiwodes and Sta-
rosts, instead of founding petty states, like the German dukes
and counts, and of allowing the formation of a civic class, be-
came utterly ungovernable, and, too jealous to place the crown
on the head of one of their own number, continued, from one
generation to another, to elect a foi'eigner for their king. As
long as Poland still maintained a shadow of her ancient digni-
ty, her choice was free and unbiassed and ever fell upon some
weak prince, as, for instance, the Elector of Saxony ; but, as
her internal dissensions became more frequent, she allowed her
potent neighbour to impose a sovereign upon her. On the
demise of Augustus III., [a. d. 1763,] Catherine II. of Rus-
sia effected the election of one of her numerous paramours, the
handsome Stanislaus Poniatowski, a Pole by birth and her
servile tool. A foreboding of the dreadful doom awaiting
their country was roused by this stroke of Russian policy in
FREDERICK SANSPAREIL. 81
the bosom of some patriotic Poles, who confederated for the
purpose of dethroning the favourite of the foreign autocrat.
Catherine, however, sent one of her armies into the wretclied
country, which was by her orders, by the orders of the self-
termed female philosopher, laid waste with most inhuman bar-
barity. Cannibals could not have perpetrated more cold-
blooded acts of cruelty than the Russians, whom the noble and
gallant Pulawski vainly opposed, a. d. 1769. Catherine, fear-
ing lest the Turks might aid the unfortunate Poles, attacked
them also, and victoriously extended her sway to the South.
The whole of the states of Europe, although threatened by
the increasing power of Russia, remained inactive. England
was occupied with her colonies, France with her mistresses
and fetes, Sweden was powerless. Austria and Prussia, the
most imminently threatened, might, if united, have easily pro-
tected Poland, and have hindered the advance of Russia to-
wards the Black Sea, but they were filled with mutual distrust.
In 1769, Frederick II. and Joseph held a remarkable confer-
ence at Neisse, in Silesia, when an attempt was made to place
German policy on a wider basis. Who could withstand, was
it said, a coalition between all the powers of Germany ? "I
think," said Frederick the Great, " that we Germans have
long enough spilt German blood ; it is a pity that we cannot
come to a better understanding." Joseph lamented the unpa-
triotic alliance between Austria and France, and even Prince
Kaunitz, the propounder of that alliance, declared that the
cession of Lorraine to France was a political blunder that
never could have taken place had he been in office at that
period. And yet, in despite of these declarations, the sove-
reigns came to no understanding ; nor was a second confer-
ence held in the ensuing year at Mtihrisch-Neustadt, notwith-
standing the five protestations reiterated on this occasion,
more effective.* The want of concord was entirely owing to
Frederick's disbelief in the sincerity of Austria. Austria had
* Frederick, on seeing Laudon, ■whom he had formerly despised on
account of his ugliness, and who had bitterly enough avenged the insult,
among Joseph's suite, took him by the arm and placed him next to him
at table, — " Sit do^vn here, sit down here, I would rather have you at ray
side than opposite to me." AtNeustadt, Frederick is said to have observed
to the emperor, whilst reviewing the assembled troops, " The most extra-
ordinary thing in our interview is, that all these thousands should fear
us two ! "
82 FREDERICK SANSPAREIL.
already bestowed the hand of an archduchess on the king of
Poland and had tendered her aid to the overwhelming Ca-
tholic party among the Polish nobility. Had Prussia united
with Austria for the rescue of Poland, the influence of
Russia would, it is true, have been Aveakened whilst that of
Austria would have been thereby strengthened, without her
having gained the slightest advantage. These grounds de-
termined Frederick not only to leave Russia unopposed, but
even to make use of her against Austria, and his brother,
Henry, whom he sent to St. Petersburg, accordingly, carried
on negotiations to this intent. . The Austrians, upon this,
held a council of war, in which the question, whether it was
advisable to declare war with Russia in case Prussia sided
against them with Russia, was agitated. The question was
negatived, [a. r>. 1771,] and, from this moment, the partition
of Poland was determined upon. Austria, no longer desirous
of driving the Russians out of Poland, was merely intent upon
sharing the booty, and, abandoning her ancient character as
the protectress of that ill-fated country, was the first to make
the attack by formally taking possession of the Zips, to which
she asserted her ancient right, before Russia, notwithstanding
her arbitrary rule in Poland, had formally declared the incor-
poration of the Polish provinces with the Russian empii-e.
Prussia, meanwhile, cleverly made use of the reciprocal
jealousy between Russia and Austria to secure her portion of
the booty. The three powers bargained with each other for
Poland like merchants over a bale of goods, and Russia, the
originator of the whole scheme and the first possessor of the
country, retained by far the largest share.* The negotiations
were brought to a close, August the 5th, 1773 ; the Austri-
ans and Prussians entered Poland, of which the Russians had
already taken possession, and proclaimed her partition, "in
the name of the indivisible Trinity," to which Catherine more
particularly added, " for the restoration of the prosperity of
Poland." Russia seized almost the whole of Lithuania ;
Austria, Galicia ; Prussia, the province of the Lower Vistula,
under the name of Western Prussia. The rest of Poland
* Gregory Orlow, CatlicriTie's favourite, was of opinion that the Rus-
sian ministers, who had concurred in the partition, deserved to be de-
prived of their heads for not having kept the whole of Poland for his
mistress.
FREDERICK SANSPAREIL. 83
was bestowed upon the wretched king, Stanislaus, under
the name of the republic of Poland, on which the laws pre-
scribed by the three powers were imposed, and which was so
constituted as to render unity for the future impracticable in
Poland and to favour the wildest anarchy. Every noble had
the liberum veto, that is, the power of annihilating the de-
cisions of the diet by his single vote. With a constitution of
this nature, Poland naturally sank ever deeper into the abyss
of ruin.
Two voices alone throughout Germany ventured to protest
against this political murder. Maria Theresa had in her old
age committed the control of foreign affairs to her son Joseph
and to Kaunitz, but she no sooner learnt the partition of
Poland than she thus addressed the latter : " When the whole
of my possessions were disputed and I no longer knew where to
sit down in peace, I placed my trust in the justice of my cause
and in the aid of Heaven. But, in this affair, where injured
right not only openly cries for vengeance against us, but in
wliich all justice and sound reason are opposed to us, I must
affirm, that never throughout the whole course of my existence
have I been so pained, and that I am ashamed to be seen.
Let the prince reflect what an example we offer to the whole
world by hazarding our honour and reputation for the sake of
a miserable bit of Poland. I see plainly that I am alone and
am no longer en vigueur, and I therefore let the matter,
though not without the greatest sorrow, take its own coui'se."
She signed her name with these words, " Placet, as so many
and learned men desire it ; but when I have been long dead,
tlie consequences of this violation of all that until now has
been deemed holy and j ust will be experienced." The other
voice was that of the Swabian, Schubart, who ventured,
even at that period, to lament the fate of '•' Poland pale with
woe " in one of his finest poems.
Prussia had, moreover, come off the worst in the partition,
the other powers refusing at any price to permit her occupa-
tion of Dantzig. The object of this refusal on the part of
Russia was to prevent the whole commerce of Poland from
falling into the hands of Prussia. Frederick revenged him-
self by the seizure of Neufahrwasser, the only navigable en-
trance into the harbour of Dantzig, and by the imposition of
oppressive duties.
G 2
84 JOSEPH THE SECOND.
CCXXXVIII. Joseph the Second.
This emperor, who so zealously aided in the annihilation of
an innocent nation and thus repaid John Sobieski's noble
devotion with most unexampled ingratitude to his descendants,
who evinced such utter want of feeling in his foreign policy,
was, to the astonishment of the whole world, in his own do-
minions, the greatest enthusiast for popular liberty and the
greatest promoter of national prosperity that ever sat upon a
throne. On the death of his father, Francis I., A. d. 1765,*
he became co-regent with his mother, and, although at first
merely intrusted with the war administration, ere long inter-
fered in every state affair, in Avhich he Avas especially sup-
ported by the prime minister, Kaunitz, who, whilst apparently
siding with him against the caprice or too conscientious
scruples of his mother, rendered him his tool. The contra-
diction apparent in Joseph's conduct, the intermixture of so
much injustice with his most zealous endeavours to do right,
are simply explained by the influence of Kaunitz, who, like
an evil spirit, ever attended him.
For the better confirmation of the unnatural alliance be-
tween Austria and France, Maria Antonia, (named by the
French, Marie Antoinette,) Maria Theresa's lovely and ac-
complished daughter, was wedded [a. d. 1770] to the Dau-
phin, afterwards the unfortunate Louis XVI. She was
* Frederick II. writes of this puppet sovereign, — "The emperor,
not daring to interfere in state matters, amused himself with the transac-
tion of mercantile business. He laid by large sums from his Tuscan
revenues in order to speculate in trade. He always retained alchymists
in his service engaged in the search for the philosopher's stone, and he
attempted by means of burning glasses to dissolve several small diamonds
into one large one. He established manufactures, lent money on mort-
gages, and undertook to furnish the whole of the imperial army with uni-
forms, arms, horses, and liveries. In partnership with a certain Count
Bolza and a tradesman named Schimraelmann, he farmed the Saxon
customs, and, in 1756, even supplied the Piiissian army with forage and
flour. Although his consort passionately loved him and was a pattern of
conjugal tenderness, she bore his ever-recurring infidelities without a mur-
mui'. The day before his death, he presented his mistress, the Princess
von Auersberg, with a bill for 200,000 florins. The validity of a gift of
this description was questioned, but Maria Theresa ordered the bill to be
duly honoured.
JOSEPH THE SECOND. 85
received at Strassburg by the gay bishop, Cardinal Eoban,
with the words, " The union of Bourbon with Habsburg must
restore the golden age." Seven hundred and twelve people
were crushed to death during the wedding festivities in
Paris.
The emperor Joseph, during his mother's life-time, estab-
lished beneficial laws, abolished the use of torture, [a. d. 1774,]
and, by the publication of an Urbarium, sought more particu-
larly to improve the condition of the peasantry. The collec-
tion of the taxes and the lower jurisdiction were to be under-
taken by the state whenever the noble was unable to defray
the expenses of the administration, and villages, consisting of
more than one hundred and twenty houses, were raised to the im-
portance of country towns and were granted several immunities.
The government also entered into negotiation with the nobi-
lity on account of the gradually increasing pressure of soc-
cage-service. The cautious nobles, however, declared to the
empress, that they would not voluntarily yield, but would
submit were arbitrary measures resorted to. These Maria
Theresa refused to adopt, and the Bohemian peasantry, to
whom hopes of redress had been held out, rose in open insur-
rection, which was quelled by force, A. D. 1775. Their lead-
er, Joseph Czerny, and three others were hanged, one in
each of the four quarters of the city of Prague.
Joseph was, shortly after this occurrence, again seized with
a strong desire to extend his dominions. On the death of
Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria, without issue, a. d.
1777, the next heir, the weak and licentious Charles Theodore,
of the collateral branch of the Pfalz, evincing a disinclination
to Bavaria on account of his predilection for his natural chil-
dren and for his residence, Mannheim, which he had greatly
beautified, Joseph persuaded him to cede Lower Bavaria to
Austria. This cession was, however, viewed with equal dis-
pleasure by the next of kin, Charles, duke of Pfalz-Zweibrlick-
en, and by the Bavarians, who still retained their ancient ha-
tred of Austria. j\Iaria Anna, the talented widow of Duke
Clement, Chai-les Theodore's sister-in-law, placed herself at
the head of the Bavarians, supported by Count Gortz, whom
Frederick II., who sought at every hazard to prevent the ag-
grandizement of Austria, had sent to her aid. The opposing
armies took the field, but no decisive engagement was fought,
86 JOSEPH THE SECOND.
and this war was jestingly termed the potato war, the soldiers
being chiefly engaged in devouring potatoes within the camps.
Frederick the Great said that the war had brought him more hay
than laurels, as it almost entirely consisted in foraging excur-
sions. Ferdinand, the hereditary prince of Brunswick, main-
tained himself in a strong position at Troppau. Wurmser, the
imperial general, surprised the enemy at Habelschwert and
gained a trifling advantage. Neither side was in earnest ; Fi'e-
derick was old and sickly, — Maria Theresa so timid that she
secretly negotiated with Frederick behind her son's back by
means of Baron Thugut, who had formerly been an orphan
lad. France was in a state of indecision. Austria is said to
have promised to cede to her a part of the Pfalz, which Louis
.XVI., on the contrary, aided with a subsidy ; but however that
may be, France did not come openly forward. Russia, on the
other hand, threatened Austria, who at length consented, by
the treaty concluded at Teschen, [a. d. 1779,] to accept the
province of the Inn and to relinquish the rest of Bavaria.
Maria Theresa expired a. d. 1780.* Joseph II. no sooner
became sole sovereign than he began a multitude of I'eforms.
With headlong enthusiasm, he at once attempted to uproot
every ancient abuse and to force upon his subjects liberty and
enlightenment, for which they were totally unfitted. Regard-
less of the power of hereditary prejudice, he arbitrarily upset
every existing institution, in the conviction of promoting the
real welfare of his subjects. His principal attack was directed
against the hierarchy. On the assassination of the unfortunate
pope, Clement VII., by the Jesuits, Pius VI., a handsome and
rather weak-headed man, well fitted for performing a part in
church exhibitions, and a tool of the ex- Jesuits, was placed on
the pontifical throne. Joseph was by chance at Rome during
his election, on which he exercised no influence, although the
Romans enthusiastically greeted him as their emperor, A. D.
* She was remarkably beautiful in her youth, but later in life became
extremely corpulent and was disfigured by the small-pox. She retain-
ed her liveliness of disposition to the last. With the same spirit as when
at Frankfurt, beaming with delight, she stepped upon the balcony and
was the first to cry " Vivat" at the moment of the coronation of her hus-
band, did she in the Burg theatre at Vienna, on receiving the news of the
birth of her first grandson, afterwards the emperor Francis 11., rise from
her seat and call out joyfully, in the Viennese dialect, to the parterre,
" der Lepold hot an Buabn !" " Leopold has a boy !"
JOSEPH THE SECOND. 87
1774. Pius instantly checked every attempt at reform, evinced
great zeal in holding church festivals, processions, and other
spectacles, in which he could show off his handsome person,
and did his utmost to displease the emperor. He even recog-
nised Frederick the Great as king of Prussia, on account of
the protection accorded by him to the Jesuits. Joseph, how-
ever, treated him with contempt, and openly showed his inde-
pendence of the pontifical chair by declaring the Papal bull
invalid throughout his states unless warranted by the placet
regmm. He completely abolished the begging orders and
closed six hundred and twenty-four monasteries ; he also
placed the more ancient monastic orders under the superintend-
ence of the bishops, and finally published an edict of toler-
ation, by which the free exercise of religion was granted
to all,* except to the Deists, (who believed in one God ac-
cording to rational ideas, not according to revelation,) whom
he condemned to receive five-and-twenty strokes, the number
sacred to the Austrian bastinado. He also emancipated
the Jews. The German hymns of the ex-Jesuit, Denis,
were introduced into the Catholic churches. Hieronymus,
archbishop of Salzburg, and the bishops of Laibach and Ko-
nigsgrajtz supported the emperor ; but Cardinal Migazzi,f
archbishop of Vienna, and Cardinal Bathyany, archbishop of
Gran, ranged themselves beneath the papal banner. Pius VI.,
terrified at these numerous innovations, crossed the Alps in
person to Vienna, A. d. 1782, for the purpose of moderating
the emperor's zeal. His path was lined with thousands, who
* In the Styrian mountains, whole villages suddenly confessed the
Lutheran faith they had for a century past professed in secret. In 1793,
there were no fewer than twenty-two thousand Protestants in Carinthia.
Many of the commimes at first suspected the edict of toleration of being
another crafty method of insnaring them, by encouraging them to con-
fess their real faith for the purpose of destroying them, and it was not
without difficulty that they became convinced of the emperor's sincerity.
— Travels into the Interior of Germany. 1798.
t Joseph's want of tact was never more truly displayed than in his
treatment of Migazzi. The Jansenist priest, Blaarer, ofBriinn, becom-
ing an object of his persecution, Joseph summoned Blaarer to Vienna
and made him superintendent of the seminary of priests, a post hitherto
held by Migazzi. On the arrival of the pope at Vienna, Migazzi
was compelled to quit the city and to pay 2700 florins to a house
of correction for having carried on an illegal correspondence with
him.
88 JOSEPH THE SECOND.
on their knees received his blessing. He was, nevertheless,
rendered bitterly sensible of the inopportunity of his visit by
the emperor and by Kaunitz. The emperor did not honour
the great mass performed by him with his presence. No one
was allowed to speak with him without special permission from
the emperor, and, in order to guard against secret visits, every
entrance to his dwelling was walled up, with the exception of
one which was closely watched. Whenever the pope attempted
to discuss business matters with the emperor, the latter de-
clared that he understood nothing about them, must first con-
sult his council, and requested that the affair might be con-
ducted in writing. Kaunitz, instead of kissing the hand
extended to him by the pope, shook it heartily ; he also neg-
lected to visit him, and, on the pope's paying him a visit under
pretext of seeing his pictures, received him in a light robe-de-
chambre. The pope, after spending four weeks without effect-
ing any thing, at length found himself constrained to depart.
The emperor accompanied him as far as Mariabronn, and two
hours afterwards ordered that monastery to be closed in order
to sliow how little the pope had influenced him. The people
and the clergy Avere, however, dazzled by the appearance of
the holy father, and Joseph, fearful of irritating them too
greatly, in reality put a transient stop to his reforms. The
pope passed through ]Munich, where he was received with
every demonstration of respect by Charles Theodore, and by
Augsburg * through the Tyrol, where a monument on the
high road near Innsbriich tells to this day of the enthusiasm
with which his presence inspired the mountaineers. On his
return to Rome, a. d. 1783, he was reproached for having
made so many concessions, and was persuaded to refuse his
recognition of the archbishop of ^lilan nominated by Joseph.
The emperor was, in return, unsparing of his threats, and un-
expectedly appeared at Rome in person, a. d. 1783. The
archbishop of Milan was confirmed in his dignity, and the
Roman populace evinced the greatest enthusiasm for Joseph,
in whose honour the cry, " Evviva nostro imperatore ! " con-
tinually resounded in the streets. The pope, nevertheless,
* He -wrote triumphantly to the cardinals, that he had dispensed his
blessing to countless thousands from the windows of the same house
whence teterrima ilia Atigustana confessio had been first proclaimed.
— Acta Hist. Eccl. nostri Temp.
JOSEPH THE SECOND. S9
recovered from his terror, and created a new nunciature for
Munich as a bulwark of the hierarchy in Germany, upon
which Joseph deprived the nuncios of all the privileges they
had hitherto enjoyed, which had bestowed upon the provincial
bishops, more particularly upon those of Germany, whom he
sought by these means to place in opposition to the bishop of
Rome. In effect, Mayence, Treves, Cologne, and Salzburg
held a congress, a. d. 1785, at the bath of Ems, and declared
in favour of the emperor's principles. Frederick II., (Prussia
and the ex- Jesuits were at that time in close alliance,) how-
ever, encouraged the pope, through his agent, Ciofani,
at Rome, to make a vigorous opposition. John jNIiiller, the
Swiss historian, also turned his cheaply-bribed pen against
the reforms attempted by Joseph, whom he libels as a despot,
and whose good intentions he cunningly veils. The most
violent opposition was that raised in Austria. In the more
distant provinces, the clergy accused him of attempting the
overthrow of Christianity. In Lemberg, a monk plotted
against his life : Joseph had him imprisoned in a mad-house.
In Innsbruch, a popular disturbance took place on account of
an alteration being made in one of the church altars, the priests
having spread a report of the emperor's intention to destroy
all altars. At Villach, a figure, intended to represent Dr.
Luther, was carried about on a wheelbarrow and cast into the
Danube. In several places, the Protestants were ill-treated.
Freedom of the press being granted by Joseph, the most violent
and abusive charges against him were published by the clergy
and publicly sold by Wucherer, the Viennese bookseller, who
made a large profit by them. Joseph's enemies were, how-
ever, less injurious to him than his false friends, who inces-
santly loaded him with praise and spread the most unchris-
tian, atheistical, and immoral ideas ; Blumauer, for instance,
who wrote in imitation of Voltaire, and whose impudent and
shallow works found a great sale. In many places, this party
ventured to treat church ceremonies with open ridicule, and
Joseph was repeatedly compelled to protest against the mis-
interpretation of the edict of toleration and the unbounded
licence, by which means, as Dohm well observes, he was no
longer beheld with awe by the one party or with confidence by
the other.
Notwithstanding the congress of Ems, he was opposed not
only by the Austrian clergy, but also by tliat of the empire,
90 JOSEPH THE SECOND.
on which he had, moreover, made a violent attack, by sepa-
rating all the portions of the bishoprics of Passau, Chur, Con-
stance, and Liege, lying witliin his hereditary states, and
placing them within the jurisdiction of the bishoprics within
his territories. Olmiitz was erected into an archbishopric ;
Brlinn was formed into a new diocese.
Joseph's reforms extended to the state as well as to tlie
church, and every where met Avith the same opposition. His
attempt to give unity to the state, to establish uniform laws
and an uniform administration,* was contravened by the di-
verse nationalities and by the difference in the state of civil-
ization of the various nations beneath his rule. His attempt
to confer the boon of liberty on the lower class, to humble the
unrestricted power of the nobility, to establish equality before
the law and an equal taxation, was opposed not only by the
hitherto privileged classes, but also by the peasantry, who
either ignorantly misunderstood his intention, or were pur-
posely misled in order to check the progress of his reforms by
excesses, as was, for instance, the case among the Wallachian
population of Transylvania, where a certain Horja, who gave
himself out for a plenipotentiary of the emperor, excited the
peasantry to revolt against the nobility, assassinated one hun-
dred and twenty nobles, destroyed two hundred and sixty-
four castles, and the emperor was finally compelled to put him
down by force. He and his colleague Kloczka were condemned
to the wheel, and two thousand of the Wallachian prisoners were
compelled to behold their execution ; one hundred and fifty
were, according to the custom of tlieir country, impaled alive.
And yet Joseph's clemency had been so great as to inspire him
with a desire to abolish the punishment of death. Thus did
his subjects deceive his belief in their capability for improve-
ment. The nobility were rendered his mortal enemies by the
condemnation of Colonel Szekuly to exposure in the pillory
for swindling, and by that of Prince Podstatsky-Lichtenstein,
for forging bank-notes, to sweep the public streets. Among other
offences against the nobility was that of throwing open to the
public the great Prater, which had hitherto been the exclu-
* He simplified it first of all in Vienna, by the abolition of the abuses
introduced by the multiplicity of writing in all the public and government
offices. In Moser's Patriot. Archiv. the Viennese snail's pace before the
time of Joseph H. is fully described ; a petition or an account had to pass,
in the course of being copied, registered, answered, signed, etc., through
no fewer than eighty-five hands.
JOSEPH THE SECOXD. 91
sive resort of the court and nobility. The higher nobility,
protesting against this innovation, received the following cha-
racteristic reply from the emperor : " "Were I only to asso-
ciate with my equals, I should be compelled to descend into
my family vault and to spend my days amid the dust of my
ancestors." The nobility was also deeply wounded by the law
empowering natural children to inherit the property of their
unmarried fathers, which had been established by Joseph as a
protection to the daughters of the citizens against their se-
ductive artifices. He also ennobled a number of meritorious
citizens and even created Fries, the manufacturer, who had
greatly distinguished himself by his commercial enterprise and
patriotism, count.
In 1785, he was, for a third time, led by his fixed idea for
the extension of his domains, so little consistent with his cha-
racter, so noted for humanity in all other respects, to renew
negotiations with Charles Theodore for the possession of Ba-
varia. A German confederacy, set on foot by Frederick II.,
however, set a limit to his pretensions ; and, in his displeasure
at this frustration of his plans, he Avas induced by the in-
triguing Russian empress to join her in the conquest of the
East. A personal interview took place between the two
powers at Cherson.* The partition of Turkey, like that of
Poland, formed the subject of their deliberations. A diver-
sion made to their rear by Gustavus III. of Sweden, however,
compelled Catherine to recall the greater portion of her
troops. Russia, since the days of Peter the Great, had been
a field of speculation for Germans, who, to the extreme detri-
ment of their native country, increased the power of Russia by
filling the highest civil and military posts. A Prince Charles
of Nassau- Siegen, who served at this period as Russian admi-
ral, was shamefully defeated by the Swedes, lost fifty-five
ships and twelve thousand men, and was forced to fly for his
life in a little boat. The Turkish campaign was, owing to
these disadvantageous circumstances, far from brilliant. The
Russians merely took Oczakow by storm and fixed them-
* He had, in 1780, visited her at St. Petersburg and had treated her
so flatteringlj', that, on his offering to kiss her hand, she threw her arms
round his neck. She travelled in the same carriage with him to Smo-
lensk. Her coachman boasted, on this occasion, of driving two powers,
for whom the whole universe was not wide enough, in such a narrow
space.
92 JOSEPH THE SECOND.
selves, as the Austrians should have done in their stead, close
to the mouths of the Danube. Joseph was even less success-
ful. The extreme heat of the summer of 1788 produced a
pestilence, which carried off thirty-three thousand Austrians.
The bad inclination generated among the lower class by the
nobility and clergy had crept into the army. At Caransebes,
the troops were seized with a sudden panic and took to flight,
carrying the emperor along with them, without an enemy be-
ing in sight. The Turks, commanded by French officers,
were several times victorious. Sick and chagrined, the em-
peror returned to Vienna, and it was not until the ensuing
year that the honour of the imperial arms was restored by
Laudon, (who had fallen into neglect,) aided by the Duke of
Coburg and General Clairfait. He retook Belgrade, but his
further progress was checked by the negotiation of peace.
Hungary was in a state of disturbance, the Netherlands in re-
volt, the emperor ill, and peace with foreign powers indis-
pensable.
The nobility and clergy triumphed, and hunted the unfor-
tunate emperor, who had returned from the Turkish cam-
paign suffering from an illness from Avhich he never recovered,
completely to death. Irritated by their opposition and by
their strong position in the Hungarian diet, he dissolved that
assembly, carried the sacred crown of Hungary to Vienna,
abolished all the privileges of that country, and placed the
Magyars on a level with his German subjects. The people
were too dull of comprehension to perceive the advantage
they thereby gained or were deceived by the nobility and
clergy, who described the emperor as a heretic and de-
claimed against the violation of popular rights whilst skilfully
concealing the interests of their order beneath the mask of
the national pride of Hungary. The chief points most
sturdily opposed by the nobility were the liability, hitherto
unknown, of their order to taxation and the alleviation of
the burthens borne by the misera contribuens plebs, as the
Hungarian serfs were officially termed.
The Netherlands were in a still more violent state of fer-
mentation. Joseph, confiding in his alliance with France,
which he had, at an earlier period, visited * for the purpose of
* The extreme splendour of the French court struck him with aston-
ishment and he earnestly warned his sister of the result. His simple
attire as, under the incognito of Count Falkenstein, he visited the public
JOSEPH THE SECOND. 93
seeing his sister Marie Antoinette, compelled the Dutch [a.
D. 1781] to annul the barrier-treaty and to withdraw their
garrisons from the fortresses of the Austrian Netherlands.
The occupation of the fortresses of a powerful emperor by the
Dutch, who, moreover, kept them in a bad state of repair, was
certainly wholly unfitting, but they were equally neglected by
Joseph, who caused almost the whole of them to be razed to
the ground as no longer necessary for the defence of the
frontier against France. He then demanded from Holland
the opening of the Scheldt. His demand was by no means
unjust ; by what right do the Dutch close the mouths of the
rivers of Germany ? Joseph, however, contented himself with
threats and with sending down the river two ships, upon which
the Dutch fired.* War was, nevertheless, averted by a gift of
buildings, etc. and mingled with the people, attracted universal admiration.
He was praised at the expense of his corpulent and thick-headed brother-
in-law, Louis XVI. :
A nos yeux etonnes de sa simplicite
Falkenstein a montre la majeste sans faste.
Chez nous, par un honteux contraste
Qu' a-t-il trouve ? du faste sans majeste.
Joseph visited several distinguished men during his stay in Paris, among
others, Buffon, the great naturalist, to whom he said, " I beg j'ou will
give me the copy of your work forgotten by my brother." His brother,
Maximilian of Cologne, had rudely refused a copy offered to him by
Buffon, with the remark, " I will not rob you of it." The emperor also
mounted to Rousseau's wretched garret, where he found him occupied
in copying notes, for he was no longer the lion of the day. On his return to
his dominions, he neglected, when at Geneva, to visit Voltaire, whose immo-
ralit}' he detested. The philosopher was mortally wounded by this proof
of disrespect. Joseph, on the other hand, did not fail to honour Albert
von Haller, the eminent poet and physician, with a visit on his route
through Berne. Van Erlach, the high-born mayor of Berne, also aMaited
his arrival in his castle with planted cannon and a great display of mag-
nificence, and had himself announced under the title of Count ; Jo-
seph, however, merely sent him his verbal excuses, " that he was too
dusty from travelling to visit such a fine gentleman." A good lesson for
the republicans I
* Kaunitz had vainly attempted to dissuade the emperor from this
scheme and had always said, " They will fire upon them," which Joseph
refused to believe. The event had no sooner answered Kaunitz's expect-
ation than he informed the emperor of the fact in a laconic note, merely
containing the words " They have fired." This oft-related anecdote is
not so much to the point as the information given by Sinclair, (the first
political economist, who visited the emperor in 1786,) concerning Joseph's
displeasure against England. The English, offended at the impolitic
94 JOSEPH THE SECOND.
9,000,000 florins from the Dutch to the emperor, whose con-
duct on this occasion was construed as a sign of weakness by
the Austrian Netherlands, where the powerful and influential
clergy seized every opportunity to raise enemies against him.
AYhen, in 1786, Joseph abolished the ecclesiastical schools as
dens of the grossest darkness and ordered a great universal
seminary for fifteen hundred scholars to be founded on entirely
modern principles, a popular tumult, which was only put down
by the militaiy, ensued. The fermentation, however, con-
tinued. During the war with Turkey, Joseph allowed the
affixirs in the Netherlands to take their own course, but, in 1789,
commenced acting with great energy, and General d'Alton
was compelled to have recourse to force and to dissolve the
Estates. The civil governor, Count Trautmannsdorf, a man
of great weakness of character, in the hope of winning over
the people by kindness, relaxed the reins of government, ren-
dered it contemptible, and frustrated every measure taken by
d'Alton. The opposition instantly regained courage. Van
der Noot, a lawyer of deep cunning, had, during his secret visits
to the Hague and to Berlin, secured the aid of Holland and
Prussia, the latter of which sent General Schonfeld to take
the command of the insurgents. Cardinal Frankenberg,
archbishop of Mechlin, a stately political puppet, was placed
at the head of the new government constituted at Breda, and
the officers and young men, who were already infected with
republicanism, were called to arms. D'Alton, unable to main-
tain Brussels, laid down the command. Ghent was taken by
stratagem. The insurgents, disguising themselves in the
uniforms belonging to an Austrian regiment which had been
dispersed and partly taken prisoner, marched to Ghent, were
allowed to enter by the deceived garrison, and took the city.
The Austrians under General Bender alone retained possession
of Luxemburg. On the 11th January, 1790, the whole of
the Netherlands, under the name of " United Belgium," de-
clared itself independent. A dispute, however, arose among
the victors. The hierarchical faction, to which Van der Noot
belonged, attacked the weaker democratical party, the Vonck-
ists, so called from its principal leader, Vonck, which had
alliance between Austria and France, were unsparing in their attacks
upon 'the emperor both in parliament and by the press, and undeniably
encoui'aged the Dutch to fire upon the imperial ships.
JOSEPH THE SECOND. 95
countenanced the insurrection in the hope of the establishment
of a republic ; they were, moreover, followers of the modern
French philosophers and the avowed enemies of the priest-
hood. Their houses were plundered ; their general, Mersch,
a devoted partisan of the democratical cause, was divested of
the command ; several persons were cruelly murdered ; one,
for instance, who mocked a procession, had his head sawn off.*
Joseph's unpopularity in the !Xetherlands was chiefly occa-
sioned by his offer to cede them to Bavaria. How could his
zeal for the welfare of his subjects find credence when he at-
tempted to sell them to another sovereign ?
About the same time, the Hungarian nobility took up such
a threatening attitude and found means to rouse the people to
such a pitch of excitement, that Joseph was compelled to re-
voke the whole of his ordinances for the welfare of Hungary.
On hearing that even the peasantry, on whom he had at-
tempted to bestow such immense benefits, had risen against
him, he exclaimed, "I shall die, I must be made of wood if
this does not kill me !" and three weeks afterwards he expired,
after revoking his most important reforms for the sake of
avoiding the necessity of having recourse to extreme measures.
He died at Vienna on the 20th February, 1790, as Jellenz
observed, "a century too early," and as Remer said, "mis-
taken by a people unworthy of such a sovereign."
Joseph 11. {der Andre) was handsome in his person ; his
eyes were blue and expressive, hence the saying " Imperial
blue," in order to denote that colour in the eye. Frederick
the Great thus spoke of him in a letter to Voltaire, " Educated
amid bigotry, he is free from superstition ; habituated to
pomp, his habits are simple ; grown up amidst flattery, he is
still modest."
His bronze statue at Vienna bears the following just inscrip-
tion : " Josepho Secundo, qui saluti publicae vixit non diu sed
totus." Shortly before his death, he wrote, " Although there
have formerly been Neros and a Dionysius, although there
have been tyrants who abused the power delivered to them
* In the insurgent army, a capuchin was to be seen ■n-earins' a high black
cap to which an enormous cockade was attached ; in his hands he carried
a sabre and a crucifix ; in his yellow girdle, pistols, a knife and a
rosary ; his gown was se-wn up between his legs, which were stuck bare
into short boots.
96 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOND.
by fate, is it on that account just, under pretence of guarding
a nation's rights for the future, to place every imaginable ob-
stacle in the way of a prince, the measures of whose govern-
ment solely aim at the welfare of his subjects ? I know my
own heart ; I am convinced of the sincerity of my intentions,
of the uprightness of my motives, and I trust, that when I shall
no longer exist, posterity will judge more justly and more im-
partially of my exertions for the welfare of my people."
His brother and successor, Leopold III., whose government
of Tuscany offered a model to princes, made every concession
to the nobility and clergy, in order to conciliate his subjects,
and restored the ancient regime throughout Austria. The
whole of the monasteries were not, however, reopened ; in
Bohemia, bondage was not reinforced ; and the Lutherans and
Reformers were also tolerated. All the other privileges of the
nobility and clergy were restored. Tuscany fell to Ferdinand,
Leopold's second son. The Dutch were granted an amnesty
and the full enjoyment of their ancient privileges, but they
had already become habituated to the independence they had
asserted and refused to submit. General Schonfeld, the leader
placed at the head of the insurgents by Prussia, at first main-
tained a haughty demeanour, but, on the reconciliation of Aus-
tria with Prussia at the congress of Reichenbach, he appears to
have acted under contrary orders and to have made use of his
position to ruin the cause he pretended to uphold. Avoiding
an engagement, he marched up and down the country until
the imperialists were reinforced, when he retreated and threw
up the command. General Kohler, who was appointed to re-
place him, fled to Brussels, where his troops, assisted by the
populace, stormed the house of assembly, plundered the arsenal
and magazines and decamped, leaving the Austrians to enter
the country unopposed.
CCXXXIX. Frederick William the Second.
" Old Fritz," as the Prussians named their great monarch,
had expired, a. d. 1786. He retained his faculties to the
last ; his eccentricities had, however, increased, and, in his con-
tempt for the whole human race, he expressed a wish to be
buried among his favourite greyhounds.
His nephew, Frederick William II., was an additional proof
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOND. 97
of the little resemblance existing bet\veen the different mon-
archs of Prussia. He left the machine of government, ar-
ranged by his uncle, unaltered, but intrusted its management
to weak and incompetent ministers, who encouraged his fond-
ness for the sex, his inclination to bigotry, and his belief in
apparitions. Frederick's faithful servant, Herzberg, the aged
minister, was removed from office and replaced by WoUner,
a wretched charlatan, who strengthened the king's belief in
ghosts by means of optical glasses ; by General Bischofswer-
der, a priestly slave, who opposed toleration ; by Luchesini
and Lombard, weak diplomatists, who unnerved the policy of
Prussia by their want of decision, their impolitic want of faith ;
and by the two mistresses of the king, Madame Rietz, created
Countess Lichtenau, and the Fraulein von Voss, created
Countess Ingenheim. These favourites were utterly devoid
of talent and merely rendered the business of state a mass of
inextricable confusion. Documents and letters of the utmost
importance lay carelessly scattered over the royal apartments,
to which women, pages, sycophants of every description had
free ingress. The highest offices of state were bestowed by
favour ; the royal treasury, containing seventy millions, was
so lavishly scattered as to be speedily replaced by an equal
amount of debt. The order of merit, with which Frederick
had decorated merely seventy of the heroes of the seven years'
war, was now showered indifferently upon the lounging cour-
tiers. The crown lands, the object of the late king's care,
were given away or made use of as a means of ennobling a
number of most unworthy personages. Complaisant lacqueys,
chambermaids' favourites, expert rogues, ready to lend their
services on all occasions, were placed on an equality with the
ancient nobility. These newly-dubbed nobles were mockingly
termed the freshly-baked or the six-and-eighty. Mirabeau,
who was at that time French agent at Berlin, wrote the fol-
lowing laconic account of the new Prussian court : " A de-
creased revenue, an increased expenditure, genius neglected,
fools at the helm. Never was a government nearer ruin. I
am returning to Paris, for I will no longer be condemned to
act the part of a beast and crawl through the dirty, crooked
paths of a government which daily gives fresh proof of its
ignorance and servility."
The king, notwithstanding these defects, was not devoid of
VOL. III. H
98 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOND.
military ambition, and an opportunity for its display was not
long wanting. Like Joseph, he was tempted to the attack
by the weakness of Holland. William IV., the first hereditary
stadtholder, expired A. d. 1751. Louis Ernest, duke of
Brunswick, whose pride rendered him highly unpopular,
reigned for some time in the name of the youthful heir,
William V. The ancient spirit of the people had insensibly
decayed. The great wealth of the inhabitants had engendered
habits of luxury. In the East Indian colonies, the governor,
Valckenier, gained an evil fiime by the cold-blooded murder
of twelve thousand Chinese, who had ventured to complain of
his tyrannical conduct. On the conquest of Bengal [a. d.
1757] by the English, the expulsion of the Dutch from the
Indian continent was planned, but the first outbreak of the
war was occasioned in 1780, by the public sale in Holland of
English ships captured by North American privateers. A
small Dutch fleet and a number of Dutch merchantmen were
seized by the English. The weakness of the navy was, with
great justice, laid to the charge of the duke of Brunswick, who
had neglected it in order to set the army on a better footing, and
he was compelled to resign his authority. The Dutch, never-
theless, twice succeeded in repulsing the English fleet on the
Doggersbank and on its way to the Sound ; but they suffered
terrible losses in the colonies. They were also abandoned by
France and Russia, the chief authors of the war, and were
finally compelled, by the peace of Versailles [a. d. 1783], to
cede Negapatnam, their principal settlement on the Indian
continent, several African colonies, and even their ancient
maritime privilege, which protected the cargo beneath their
flag. This ill-starred peace increased the unpopularity of the
hei'editary stadtholder, who was completely ruled by the duke
of Brunswick. His open attempts to usurp monarchical power,
in which he was encouraged by his consort, Wilhelmina, the
sister of Frederick William II., by Count Goertz, the Prussian
ambassador, and by Harris, the malicious English envoy,
added to the popular exasperation, and the storm, which the
French had also greatly fomented, at length burst forth.* On
* Sinclair, the celebrated Scotch political economist, who was at that
time travelling through Holland, expressed himself strongly against the
intrigues of France. Dutchmen were bribed with money previously bor-
rowed from their coimtrymen ; the house of the French ambassador was
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOND. 99
the 4th of September, 1786, Gyzelaar of Dordrecht declared
in the states-general that all the evil tliat had befallen the re-
public took its rise in the bosom of the first servant of the
state, the hereditary stadtholder. These words vi^ere a signal
for revolt. • The armed burgher guard dissolved the councils,
all of which favoured the house of Orange, at Uti-echt, Am-
sterdam, Rotterdam, etc. The province of Holland first de-
clared the deposition of the stadtholder, wlio took refuge in
the fortress of Nimwegen and supplicated aid trom Prussia.
Frederick William hesitated and was at first unwilling to have
recourse to violence, upon which Wilhelmina, the consort of
the stadtholder, quitted Nimwegen, and, as Gccrtz in his Me-
moirs says, " took the bold but well-planned step" of returning
to Holland solely for the purpose of allowing herself to be in-
sulted by the rebels in order to rouse the vengeance of her
brother. The Princess was, in fact, stopped on the frontier and
treated with little reverence by the citizen soldiery ;* she was,
however, restored to liberty. This insult offered to a Prus-
sian princess decided the king, and he sent Fei'dinand, duke
of Brunswick, (the same who had distinguished himself when
hereditary prince in the seven years' war, and again in 1778, by
his gallantry in the camp of Troppau, and Avho now held the
appointment of generalissimo of the Prussian forces,) with an
army into Holland, which he speedily, and almost without op-
position, reduced to submission. Count Sahn, who had been
charged with tlie defence of Uti'echt, secretly withdrew. The
reaction was complete, and [a. d. 1787] all the patriots or
anti-Orangemen were deprived of their offices.
Prussia was, in her foreign policy, peculiarly inimical to
Joseph II. Besides supporting the Dutch insurgents, she
instigated the Hungarians to rebellion and even concluded
an alliance with Turkey, which compelled Josepli's successor,
the emperor Leopold, by the peace of Szistowa, A. d. 1791, to
restore Belgrade to the Porte. The revolt of the people of
Liege, A. D. 1789, against their bishop, Constantine Francis,
also gave Prussia an opportunity to throw a garrison into that
a temple of Venus, to •whom virtue was sacrificed ; abusive and immoral
pamphlets found a large sale. — Shiclair's Life.
* The ofQcer, by whom she had been arrested, refused to quit her room
and regaled himself witli beer and tobacco in her presence. — Jacobi,
History of the Disturbances in the Netherlands.
100 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOND.
city under pretext of aiding the really oppressed citizens, but,
in reality, on account of the inclination of the bishop to favour
Austria. When, not long after this, Prussia united with
Austria against France, the restoration of the bishop was
quietly tolerated.
Frederick William II., although misled by WoUner and
Bischofswerder to publish [a. d. 1788] edicts* of censure
and religious ordonnances contrary to the spirit of the times and
threatening to impede the progress of enliglitenment, abstained
from enforcing them, and the French philosophy, patronized
by Frederick II., continued to predominate under the auspices
of the Duke of Brunswick, the grand-master of the masonic
lodges in Germany.
The secret society of freemasons had in the commencement
of this century spread from England over Germany and
greatly promoted the progress of civilization. In England,
the ancient corporation of stone-masons had insensibly been
converted into a loyal club, which no longer practised ar-
chitecture, but retained its symbols and elected a prince of
the blood-royal as its president. After the execution of
Charles I., Ramsey, preceptor to the children of Charles II.,
during his exile made use of th.e Scottish masons in order
to pave the way for the restoration of the Stuarts. Hiram, the
builder of the temple of Solomon, under whose mystical name
the Saviour, the builder of the Christian church, was general-
ly understood, was now supposed to represent Charles I.,
and was honoured as the " murdered master." The Jesuits
played a principal part in this Scottish masonry and trans-
ferred much that was Jesuitical to masonry (freemasonry or
the royal art). On the second fall of the Stuarts, the new
Hanoverian dynasty established an English Protestant lodge
in opposition to that of Scotland and gave it, as its principal
symbol, the letter G (George) in a sun. Freemasonry now
rapidly spread among the Protestants, gained a footing, in
1733, in Hamburg, in 1740, in Berlin, and ere long became
* In Berlin, Schulz, kno%%'n as the pigtail minister, was deprived of
his othce for venturing to exchange the stately ecclesiastical peruke for a
fashionable queue and for preaching Rationalism instead of Christianity.
The edicts were bnital in their denunciations, nor was the horror tliey
inspired diminished by the knowledge that the religions and moral regu-
lations contained in them proceeded from the lacqueys of a Lichtenau.
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOND. 101
the centre of civilization in its nobler and moral sense. Fre-
derick 11. favoured the sc-ciot.y Jin^ became a. member.
The aim of this society was the erection of the invisible tem-
ple of humanity, and its .allegorical symbol?., tli-e trov.-el, the
square, the leather apron, weie boivowed from the tools used
in common masonry. The object, promised but never attain-
ed by the church, the conferment of happiness on the human
race by the practice of virtue and by fraternity, by the demoli-
tion of all the barriers that had hitherto separated nations,
classes, and sects, was that for which this society laboured. In
Germany, freemasonry had ever a moral purpose. It was only
in France that it became matter for speculation and vanity, and
it was merely owing to the rage for imitating every French
folly that French freemasonry, with its theatrical terrors, its
higher degrees sold to the credulous for solid gold, and its new
rites of the self-denominated Templars,* intended as a bait
to the nobility, gained a footing in Germany. Adventurers
of every description practised upon the credulity of the rich
and noble and defrauded them of their gold. The Sicilian,
Cagliostro, was the prince of impostors.
The society of freemasons was prohibited by the Catholic
states of Southern Germany, where another secret society of a
far more dangerous character was, however, formed. In the
Protestant countries, the advance of civilization had been gra-
dual, the seed had slowly ripened in the fostering bosom of futu-
rity. But, in Bavaria, but one step was made from the ridiculous
stories of Father Kochem to the infidelity of Voltaire, and the
rising generation, emancipating itself from the yoke of the
Jesuits, instantly fell into the opposite extreme and attempted
to annihilate by force not merely the church but every positive
religion. It was in this spirit that Professor Weishaupt found-
ed, at Ingolstadt, [a. d. 1776,] the order of the Illuminati,
to which he gave the old Jesuitical constitution, that is, the
initiated took the oath of unconditional obedience to their se-
cret superiors. This fanatical conspiracy against religion no
sooner became known to the numerous free-thinkers of North-
ern Germany than they sedulously endeavoured to enter into
connexion with it, and, by the intervention of the notorious
* Freemasonry was alleged to have been first practised by the ancient
Templars.
102 FREDERICK WILLIAM THE SECOXD.
Baron von Knigge, a Hanoverir.n adventurer noted for talent
and depravity, the lllrawii^f-tl beoame connected with the free-
masons, and, by means of Nicolai, the Berlin bookseller, the
editor .of (he/Univcri^ai-Gerraar: Lib}'ary, they had a public or-
gan at once bold and vv^aiy. The Illuminati were, notwith-
standing, decidedly antipathetical to the great majority of free-
masons in Northern Germany. Ferdinand, duke of Brunswiclc,
in his quality as grand-master, convoked all the German free-
masons to a great congress at Wilhelmsbad near Ilanau, a. d.
1782, by which the contradictions that had hitherto appeared
in eclectic freemasonry, as it was termed, were as far as possi-
ble removed. In the ensuing year, the great lodge of the
Three Globes at Berlin discovered far greater energy by de-
claring every person, who attempted to degrade freemasonry
to a society inimical to Christianity, incapable of becoming or
of remaining a member. The society of the Illuminati in Ba-
varia was, two years later, discovered and strictly persecuted,
A. D, 1785. Weishaupt fled to Gotha, where he was protect-
ed by the duke, Louis Ernest. Some of the members were
imprisoned, deprived of their offices, etc. This also served as
a lesson to the freemasons, who were thoroughly reformed by
the celebrated actor, Schroder, in Hamburg, and Felzler, for-
merly a capuchin, in Berlin, by on the one hand checking the
inclination to irreligion, on the other, by banishing display and
superstition and by restoring the ancient simple English sys-
tem, in a word, by regermanizing gallicized freemasonry.
The society of the Illuminaii continued, meanwhile, to ex-
ist under the name of the German Union, and, as a proof of
its power, the innumerable satires published against Zimmer-
raann in Hanover on his raising its mask, may be adduced. In
Mayence, the coadjutor of the archbishopric, von Dalberg,
had established an academy, which rivalled those of the Pro-
testants. Here dwelt Forster, the celebrated discoverer, the
witty Ileinse, John IMiiller, the Swiss historian, etc., and it
was here that Illuminatism took refuge ; Dalberg himself took
the oaths and entered the society under the name of Crescens.
Weishaupt was named Spartacus ; Knigge, Philo ; Louis Ernest,
duke of Gotha, Timoleon ; Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, who
had refused entirely to renounce his connexion witli the Illumi-
nati, Aaron ; von demBusche, Bayard; Bode, Amelius; Nicolai,
Lucian, etc. The society was, however, first essentially
GERMAN IXFLUENCE IX SCAXDIXAVIA. 103
raised in importance by its connexion with Mirabeau, the
talented but unprincipled French agent at Berlin and Bruns-
wick ; and Bode, a privy-councillor of the duke of Weimar,
Weishaupt's successor, and von dem Busche visited Paris " for
the purpose of illuminating France." Philip, duke of Orleans,
at that time grand-master of the French lodges, received them
with open arms. Their path had already been long smoothed
by another German, von Hollbach, a wealthy nobleman of the
Pfalz, who had formed a secret society, of which Voltaire was
the honorary president and Diderot the most active member,
and who dissipated his wealth in order to inundate the world
with licentious and atheistical works. He was the author of
that scandalous work, " Le Systeme de la Nature." The dead-
ly hatred with which Philip of Orleans viewed the French king,
whose throne he coveted, the condemnation of the revolution-
ary principles of the secret societies by Frederick the Great and
still more strongly by Frederick William II., and, finally, the
deep resentment of the Illuminati on account of their persecution
in Bavaria, caused the society to rest its hopes on popular
agitation, and, aided by French freemasonry, it spread the ideas
of the liberty and equality of mankind, of the establishment of
an universal republic, of the fall of royalty, and of the abolition
of Christianity. The favourite saying of the Illuminati was,
" The last king ought to be hanged with the entrails of the
last priest." These ideas, unable to take root in Germany,
secretly spread and rankled throughout France, the native soil
to which they had returned.
CCXL. German influence in Scandinavia and Russia.
Whilst Germany was thus a prey to French influence in
her western provinces, her native influence had spread towards
the east and north. Scandinavia had borrowed from her Lu-
theranism and fresh royal dynasties. The house of Oklenburg
reigned over Sweden and Norway. Under Frederick V., the
Hanoverian, Jolm Hartwig Ernest, Count von Bernstorffj
became prime minister, [a. d. 1750,] and bestowed great be-
nefits upon the country. Denmark remained, nevertheless,
faithful to her unneighbourly policy towards Germany, and
took advantage of the confusion that universally prevailed dur-
ing the seven years' war to extort a million from the citizens of
104 GERMAN INFLUENCE IN
Hamburg. Frederick V. expired A. u. 1766. His son and
successor, Christian VII., a being both mentally and physical-
ly degraded, the slave of low debauchery and folly, married
Caroline Matilda, an English princess, to whose beauty and
mental charms he, however, remained totally indifferent. In
the hope that travelling might wean him fi'om his gross pur-
suits, he was persuaded to make a tour through Europe. On
the journey, his private physician, a young man named Struen-
see, the son of a clergyman of Halle in Saxony, succeeded in
gaining his confidence. On the return of the king, whose
manners had not been improved by his travels, Struensee in-
oculated the crown prince for the small-pox, and by that means
placed himself on a more intimate footing with the queen, who
constantly watched by the cradle of her child, and they formed
a plan to place the king entirely beneath their influence and
to govern in his name. The old ministers, and among them
BernstortF, were removed ; the nobility lost their influence at
court ; Struensee became prime minister, and, in conjunction
with his friend Brand, took upon himself the whole weight of
the government. He concentrated the power of the state,
effected the most beneficial reforms, more especially in the
financial department, which Avas in a state of extreme dis-
order, and released Denmark from the shameful yoke hitherto
imposed upon her by the arbitrary Russian ambassador,
Philosophow. Russia was not slow in plotting the ruin of the
bold German, who had thus ventured to withdraw Denmark
from her influence. Juliana, the queen-dowager, and her son,
Frederick, step-brother to the reigning monarch, were easily
gained. Tlie banished councillors, the neglected Danish nobility,
and even the officers of the guard aided in the machinations
devised against the queen and Struensee. Struensee, rendered
incautious by success, treated the queen with too great famili-
arity in public, published mandates of the highest importance
without the king's signature, and offended the guard by at-
tempting to disband them. The irritated soldiery mutinied ;
blood was shed, and Struensee gave proof of his weakness by
yielding and retaining the guard around the king's person.
This success increased the audacity of the conspirators ;
after a splendid court ball, in the January of 1772, Colonel
KoUer threw his regiment into the palace, and, on the follow-
ing morning, astonished Copenhagen learnt that a great change
SCANDIXAYIA AND RUSSIA. 105
in tlie government had taken place ; the king, terrified at the
threats of the conspirators, had signed a warrant for the arrest
of the queen, Struensee, and Brand, and had been placed in
honourable imprisonment under the care of his step-brother,
who governed in his name. The queen, Caroline Matilda,
was dragged from her bed, and, notwithstanding her violent
struggles, (she is said to have thrown down the officer who
seized her,) was thrown into prison. Struensee met with
similar treatment. He was told that by a confession of having
carried on an improper intercourse with the queen he could
alone save his life. The queen's enemies required this con-
fession in order to proceed against her, Struensee is said to
have been induced through fear of death to make this shame-
ful confession (it was perhaps forged). The queen was now
told that the only means of saving Struensee's life was by a
confession of adultery, which is said to have been drawn from
her by her compassion for him. She is also said to have
fainted when confessing her guilt. That an innocent woman
would thus consent to her own dishonour is more than im-
probable, and the only inference to be drawn from the cir-
cumstance is, either that of her guilt or of the imposition of a
false confession. Struensee was, in consequence of this con-
fession and of the charge made against him of his former il-
legal assumption of authority, sentenced to be deprived of his
right hand and of his head. Brand suffered the same punish-
ment, A. D. 1772. The queen was separated from her hus-
band and banished to Zelle, where, three years afterwards, she
died of a broken heart, in her 24th year, asserting her inno-
cence with her latest breath, a. d. 1775. The king remained,
until 1784, under the guardianship of his step-brother, in a
half idiotic state, and died at a great age, A. d. 1808. Frede-
rick VI. was his son and successor. Peter Andrew, Bern-
storif's nephew, succeeded in rising to the head of the govern-
ment, in the conduct of which he displayed great talent and
merit. He it was who first abolished feudal bondage in Den-
mark and the slave-trade in the colonies. The cession of
Holstein to the Russian line of the house of Oldenburg took
place immediately after the catastrophe of 1772.
In Sweden, on the extinction of the house of Wittelsbach
in the person of Charles XII., and after the ensuing disputes
for the succession, during which Frederick of Hesse for some
106 GERMAN INFLUENCE IN
time wore the crown, Adolphus Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp,
a collateral branch of the house of Oldenburg, had mounted
the throne, A. d. 1743. The government w^as, however, en-
tirely in the hands of the nobility, by whom, on the death of
Charles XII., the honour of Sweden had been already sold
and the conquests had been ceded without a blow, and who,
in pursuance of their own petty private interests, were split
into a French and Russian faction, the former of which was
denominated the Hats, the other the Caps. Gustavus III.,
Adolphus Frederick's youthful and high-spirited successor, by
a sudden revolution put an end to this wretched aristocratic
government and declared himself sole sovereign, a. d. 1771.
His first step was the restoration of the ancient glory of Swe-
den by a declaration of war with Russia for the rule of the
Baltic. The war had been carried on at sea with various
fortune since 1788, when, in 1792, the king was shot at a
masked ball at Stockholm by one Ankarstrom, an accomplice
of the nobility, who aided him by surrounding the person of
their victim. His brother, Charles, duke of Siidermania, un-
dertook the government during the minority of his nephew,
Gustavus Adolphus IV.* Germany exercised no control
over Sweden, which still retained possession of Riigen and
Upper Pomerania. Her influence extended far more widely
over Russia, where Peter the Great had given his new me-
tropolis, Petersburg, a German name, and whither he had in-
vited great numbers of Germans for the purpose of teaching
his wild subjects arts and sciences, military tactics, and navi-
gation. A German, the celebrated girl of Marienburg, whom
he raised to his bed and throne, became, on his death, in 172o,
czarina and autocrat of all the Russias, under the name of
Catherine I. She was succeeded by Peter II., the grandson of
Peter the Great, the son of the unfortunate Alexis. Alexis was,
like his father, subject to violent fits of fury, but was totally
unendowed with his intellect. Peter, naturally fearing lest
his reforms and regulations might, on his son's elevation to
the throne, be choked in the bud, condemned him to lose his
head for the good of his country. Alexis had married the
Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfen-
biittel, whose history might well form a subject for romance.
* The best account of this event is to be met -^-ith in Amdl's Swedish
History. Leipzig, 1839.
SCANDIXAVIA AND RUSSIA. 107
Unable to endure his violence, she gave herself out for dead
and secretly escaped to North America, where, on her hus-
band's death, she married Lieutenant D'Auband, a man of
great personal merit, with whom she returned to France, his
native country, whence she accompanied him to the Mauritius
or Isle de France, where he held an appointment. On his
death, she returned to Paris, where she ended her adventurous
life at a great age.
Peter II. owed his succession to the throne to the influence
of the old Russian party among the nobility, particularly to
that of Prince Dolgorouky, by whom the Germans were re-
garded with feelings of the deepest hostility. He expired
A. u. 1730, and, with the consent of Anna and Elisabeth, the
two surviving daughters of Peter the Great, one of his nieces
was raised to the Russian throne. Ivan, the brother of Peter
the Great, had left two daughters, Catherine, married to Charles,
the unworthy duke of Mecklenburg, and Anna, married to the
last of the Kettler family, Frederick William, duke of Cour-
land.* Anna was, at this conjuncture, a widow, and the
reigning duchess of Courland. She resided in great privacy
at ^Mitau with her paramour, Ernest von Biron, the grandson
of an ostler, whose wife she retained near her person as a
cloak to their intercourse. The weakness of Anna's conduct
had pointed her out as a proper tool to the old Russian faction,
as a puppet in whose name they could reign. These expecta-
tions were, however, deceived ; Anna, on mounting the throne,
discovered the utmost energy and decision, intrusted the
administration of the empire to Germans distinguished for
talent and humbled the old Russian faction among the no-
bility. Biron, whom she created duke of Courland, was, it is
true, a better lover than statesman, but she repaired that Aveak-
ness by placing an intelligent theologian, Ostermann, a native
of Mark, who had been compelled to flee his country on ac-
count of a duel, and who had been the instructor of her youth,
at the head of diplomatic affairs, and Munnich, a nobleman
from Oldenburg, who had fought at Malplaquet and had after-
wards planned the great Ladoga canal at Petersburg, a man
* On the occasion of this wedding, Peter the Great had all the dwarfs
in his immense empire collected. There were seventy-two of them.
The two ugliest were compelled to marry, and the ceremony was performed
amid the jokes and jeers of the assembled court.
108 GERMAN INFLUENCE IN
remarkable for energy and activity, at the head of the army.
Both these men followed in the footsteps of Peter the Great,
snatched Russia from her ancient state of incivilization and
developed her immeasurable power without regard for the
injury they might thereby inflict upon their native coun-
try. Milnnich, by the expulsion of Stanislaus Lescinsky.
first rendered Poland dependent upon Russia. He also gained
great victories over the Turks and Tartars and extended the
southern frontier of Russia. An insurrection of the Russian
nobility against his rule and that of Ostermann was powerfully
and prudently quelled, and was punished by numerous execu-
tions and sentences of banishment.
The Russian nobility speedily revenged themselves on the
death of Anna in 1740. Anna's sister, Catherine, duchess of
Mecklenburg, left a daughter Anna, who married Antony
Ulric, duke of Brunswick. Her son, Ivan, then two months
old, was elected emperor and placed under the guardianship
of Biron and of the German faction; but, in the following year,
the Russians raised Elisabeth, the youngest daughter of Peter
the Great, to the throne, banished all the Germans, Biron,
Ostermann, IMiinnich, and even the unoffending duke, Antony
Ulric, to Siberia, and allowed the youthful Ivan to pine to
death in prison. Elisabeth, who inherited the coarseness
without the virtues of her father, gave way to the most revolt-
ing excesses and placed the administration in the hands of
the old Russian faction.* She was succeeded, A. d. 1762, by
her nephew, Peter III., the son of her sister, Anna, and of
Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Peter was a Ger-
man both by birth and education and an enthusiastic admirer
of Frederic the Great. The German exiles were instantly re-
called from Siberia. During Biron's banishment, Charles of
Saxony had been raised by Russian influence to the govern-
ment of Courland. The favours showered by Peter upon the
Germans, numbers of whom he invited into the country for
the purpose of bestowing upon them the highest offices in the
* Among the soldiers of the guard, all of whom were her paramours,
and to whose attachment she mainly owed her elevation to the throne,
there wore, however, two Germans, the musician, Schwartz, and the sub-
altern, Grundstein, whom she especially favoured. They were ennobled,
raised to high rank and granted immense possessions, but were afterwards
banished. A German valet, named Sievers, was also created count of
the empire and supreme court marshal.
SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA. 109
army and in the state, rendered him hateful to the Russian
nobility. The despotic temper he had inherited from liis
grandfather and his contemptuous treatment of his consort,
Catherine, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst,* I'aised enemies around
his person, and Catherine, an imperious and ambitious woman,
placed herself at the head of the conspirators, took him prison-
er and poisoned him, A. d. 1762.f She mounted the throne
of Russia under the name of Catherine II., surrounded her-
self with Russian and German talent, and, in imitation of Fre-
derick the Great, played the philosopher whilst enacting the
despot. Her most celebrated ministers and generals were at
the same time her lovers ; still, notwithstanding her licentious
manners, she had a highly cultivated mind (she corresponded
by letter with the most distinguished savants and poets of Eu-
rope) and discovered equal energy and skill as a diplomatist.
By the partition of Poland, by fresh conquests on the Turkish
frontier, and by her encouragement of civilization in the inte-
rior of her unwieldy empire, she increased the power of Rus-
sia to an extraordinary degree, and for this purpose made use
of a multitude of Germans, who unceasingly emigrated to
Russia, there to seek tlieir fortune. Among others, her cousin
William Augustus, duke of Holstein-Gottoi'p, studied naviga-
tion on board the Russian fleet, but, falling from the mast-
head, when sailing in the Baltic, was drowned, A. d. 1774.
Noble German families from Esthonia and Courland took their
place beside the ancient Russian nobility in all offices civil or
military. German savants guided the internal civilization of
the empire, her academies, her mines, that ever fruitful source
of Russia's wealth. German intelligence was in every direction
actively employed in moulding the rude natural powers of the
country and of the people into a fearful weapon against Ger-
many.
* An alliance had formerly been attempted to be formed between him
and Amelia, the daughter of Frederick William I. of Prussia, but had
been prevented by the declaration of that king, that he should deem him-
self dishonoured by her adoption of the Greek faith.
t She had borne him a son, whom he refused to acknowledge, and who
first mounted the imperial throne as Paul I., on the death of his mother.
He married [a. d. 1776] the Princess Dorothea Augusta Sophia of Wiir-
temberg, who, on her marriage, was re-baptized by the Greek church,
Maria Fedcrowna. She became the mother of the emperors Alexander
and Nicolas, of the grand-dukes Constantino and Michael, of Catherine,
queen of Wiirtcmberg, and of Anna, Princess of Orange.
110 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
The German element still continued to preponderate in the
German provinces on the Baltic, Livonia, Esthonia, and Cour-
land, which, either at an earlier or at the present period, fell under
Russian rule. The civil privilegesof the cities, particularly those
of Riga, solely underwent a change. The constitutions of the
free towns ill accorded with the Russian mode of government
and [a. d. 1785] were forcibly exchanged for the political and
financial regulations of the governors. The nobility alone
retained the whole of its ancient privileges, owing to the pre-
dominance of the aristocratic as well as that of the autocratic
principle in Russia. A revolt of the Lettish peasantry, who
had imagined that the new crown-tax, imposed upon them by
the government, was intended to liberate them from their an-
cient obligations to the native German nobility, was suppress-
ed by force, A. d. 1783. Even under the reign of the emperor
Alexander, Baron Ungern- Sternberg, an Esthonian noble,
followed the profession of the robber-knights of old, by means
of false signals drew ships upon sandbanks and rocks, pillaged
them, and murdered those of the crew who escaped drowning.
He was at length captured and condemned to the mines.*
CCXLI. The lesser German Courts.
Whilst Austria and Prussia pursued a new political path
under Joseph and Frederick, the courts of lesser importance
persevered for the greater part in their ancient course or
sought to heighten the luxury they had learnt from Louis
XIV. by imitating the military splendour of Frederick IL
The predilection of the Prussian monarch for the Frencli lan-
guage had, moreover, brought it, together with French man-
ners and customs, into vogue at all the German courts and
among the whole of the German nobility. Every young man
of family was sent to Paris to finish his education, to be initi-
ated into every description of vice, and to acquire hon ton, as
it was termed, all of which they were assisted on their return
in disseminating throughout Germany by French ambassadors,
spies, teachers of French and dancing, hair-dressers, and go-
vernesses.f The use of tlie German language Avas considered
* Vide Petri, Pictures of Livonia and Esthonia, a rich source of inform-
ation concerning those countries.
t The French governesses reproved their German pupils with, " fi, on
THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS. ^ 1 1
a mark of the lowest vulgarity. French alone was tolerated.
And it was by this perverted, unpatriotic nobility that the
weak princes were led still further astray and Germany was
misgoverned.
Augustus III. and Brlihl had, after the peace of Huberts-
bui'g, returned to Saxony, where, unmoved by the sufferings
of the people during the war, they continued their former lux-
urious liabits. Their first business was a splendid represent-
ation of Thalestris, an opera composed by the Princess Maria
Antonia. Augustus was succeeded [a. d. 1763] by Frede-
rick Augustus, a prince morally well-disposed, whose sole
noxious amusement was his passion for the chace, so detri-
mental to the peasantry. He was also devoid of the ambitious
pretension of grasping at the crown of Poland. The court was,
nevertheless, kept up from habit on its foi'mer extensive scale,
whilst the diet merely served as a protection to the overdrawn
privileges of the nobility.
Among the Saxon duchies, Weimar presented an honour-
able contrast with almost all the other petty states. The
Duchess Amalia and her son, Charles Augustus, formed a court,
like that of Hermann, the venerable Landgrave of Thuringia,
an assemblage of beaux esprits. Here Wieland, Herder, Goethe,
Schiller, resided beneath the most liberal patronage ever grant-
ed to the children of song. Ernest, duke of Gotha, although
also highly refined in his tastes, dwelt in greater seclusion.
The dukes of Coburg and Hildburghausen were overwhelmed
with debt.
In Bavaria, the emperor, Charles VII., left a debt of forty
millions. Maximilian Joseph was, on the contrary, extremely
economical, permitted Sterzinger to attack superstition, the II-
luminati to spi'ead enlightenment, and attempted to simplify
the law by the introduction of Kreitmayr's new criminal code,
which was, however, still too deeply imbued with blood. But,
whilst Thiirriegel, the Bavarian, transformed the Sierra Mo-
rena in Spain from a wilderness into a fertile province, the soil
of Bavaria still lay partially unreclaimed. The bad government
also recommenced under her next sovereign, Charles Theodore,
who mounted the Bavarian throne, a. d. 1777. This prince
had, at an earlier period, held a splendid court at Mannheim.
vous prendroit pour une Allemande," or said in their praise, " c 'est un
tresor que la Demoiselle. EUe ne fait pas un mot d' AUemaud."
112 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
He established the first German theatre. French theatres and
Italian operas had been hitherto solely patronized by the Ger-
man courts. He also greatly enriched the picture gallery at
DUsseldorf. His luxury was embellished by taste. He suc-
ceeded to Bavaria in his fifty-third year. In order to satisfy
his predilection for the Rhine, he offered his new possession
for sale to Austria, and, on finding himself compelled to retain
it, transported his luxurious court fi'om Mannheim to Munich.
Rumford, an Englishman, embellished the latter city and was
the inventor of the celebrated soup, named after him, for the
poor, which had become indeed necessary, the misery of the
people being considerably increased by the badness of the
govei'nment. . A Countess Torring-Seefeld was the favourite
of the elector, who was, moreover, governed by his confessor,
the ex-Jesuit, Frank, who also conducted the great persecu-
tion of the lUuminati. Appointments were shamefully sold ;
brutality and stupidity were the characteristics of the ruling
powers ; the oppression was terrible. The elector was compelled
to undertake a petty campaign against a bold robber, the no-
torious Hiesel, one of those spirits called forth by tyrannical
stupidity on the part of a government. The Pfalzgrave
Charles, of the collateral line of Pfalz-Zweibrlicken, commonly
resided on the Carlsberg near Zweibrlicken, where he kept
fifteen hundred horses, and a still greater number of dogs and
cats, which required the attention of a numerous household.
He collected upwards of a thousand pipe-heads and innu-
merable toys. Every passer-by was compelled to doff his hat
on coming in sight of the Carlsberg ; a foreigner, ignorant of
the law, was, on one occasion, nearly beaten to death.
In Wiirtemberg, the duke, Charles Eugene, reigned from
1744, when he attained his majority, until 1793. He was,
in many respects, extremely remarkable. Learned, and gifted
with taste and talent, he was the slave of luxury and vice.
He spent enormous sums on the army. He sought to unite
Louis XV. and Frederick II. in his own person. Educated
in the academy of Frederick the Great at Berlin, he was, on
account of the excellency of his conduct, declared by that
monarch fit to assume the reins of government, in his seven-
teenth year ; but he had no sooner returned to Stuttgard than,
with his friend Count Pappenheim, he committed the most
boyish acts of folly, rousing the inhabitants with false cries of
THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS. 113
alarm during the night, and throwing hoops over the heads of
those who ventured to peep from their windows, etc. etc.
Frederick II. had bestowed upon him the hand of his niece,
Elisabeth Frederica Sophia of Bayreuth, notwithstanding
which Charles embraced the imperial cause during the seven
years' war, in order to bribe the empress and the imperial
Aulic council to overlook the crimes committed by him against
his country. He also, at that time, accepted enormous sums
of money from France, trusting to whose support, he divorced
his guiltless consort on a craftily laid charge of infidelity.
A certain Rieger led him to expend immense sums on military
show. The best artists of Rome and Paris, Jomelli, Noverre,
Vestris, were in his salary. He built the Solitude, in which
he placed a complete and separate establishment, with a church,
etc., on a forest-grown mountain, and rendered the whole year
a succession of fetes, operas, ballets, grandes battues, etc. etc.
Montmartin, the prime minister, a Frenchman, who treated
the servile Germans with the scorn they so richly merited,
extorted their money by the most barefaced exactions of
eveiy description, by taxes, by the sale of public offices, and was
faithfully aided by Wittleder, a Thuringian, wlio had come
into the country as a Prussian subaltern to give lessons in
drilling, and had become director of the ecclesiastical council
and enriched himself with plundering the property of "the church.
This wretch, who was authorized to sell all civil appointments,
for which he was to receive 10 per cent., usually said to the
applicant, " Give the duke 500 florins and me 1000 ! " In
order to render this source of revenue still more lucrative, he
created a number of new appointments and rendei'ed affiiirs
so uselessly complex that the Wiirtemberg system became
henceforward a proverbial nuisance.
Wiirtemberg still possessed her ancient provincial diet,
but its power was sadly crippled. A select committee had
seized the whole control over the affairs of the state, which
it administered in secret without rendering an account to
the people. Montmartin's order to the provincial collectors,
Hoffmann and Staudlin, to deliver up to him the whole of their
funds, first roused them to opposition. The duke, however,
surrounded the house of assembly with his troops and seized
the whole contents of the treasury, a. d. 1758. The author of the
submissively couched protest of the diet, the provincial-counsel-
114 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
lor, John Jacob Moser, the best head and the honestest man
in the country, was arrested, and pined unheard for five
years in the fortress of Hohentviel. Montmartin declared to
the Estates, " that the duke was far too lofty-minded ever to
allow laws to be prescribed to him by people like them." He
established a great lottery, a. d. 1762, compelled the people
to purchase tickets and sent two hundred lots for sale to the
diet, and, on its protesting against it, the drawing of the lot-
tery was, in defiance, fixed to take place within the house of as-
sembly. He finally projected an income-tax, which drew at least
15 kreutzers* annually from the most indigent among the po-
pulation, and rose at an equal ratio. Hiiber, the grand bailiff
of Tiibingen, protested against this imposition. A deputation
of the citizens hastened into the duke's presence and repre-
sented to him the misery of the country. His only reply was
the exclamation, " Country ! what country ? I am the coun-
try ! " and an order for the instant march of several regiments
into Tubingen. Hiiber and the most respectable amongst
the citizens were carried prisoners to the citadel, and the tax
was levied by force. The Estates carried their complaint be-
fore the supreme court of judicature, and, owing to the ener-
getic support granted to them by Frederick II., gained their
cause. The duke was sentenced by the imperial Aulic coun-
cil instantly to liberate Moser, to desist from every species of
violence, and within the space of two months to enter into a
constitutional agreement with the Estates. Moser was set at
liberty.f The duke instantly took his revenge on the city of
Stuttgart, which had sided with Tiibingen, by migrating [a.
D. 1764] with his whole court to Ludwigsburg, where he re-
mained for several years, deceiving the Estates with mock
promises whilst endeavouring, by means of Montmartin, whom
he despatched for that purpose to Vienna, to give a more
favourable turn to his cause. He was, however, finally com-
pelled to obey the decision of the Aulic council. Montmartin
and Wittleder were dismissed ; the latter was, moreover, de-
* About 5 pence English money. — Translator.
t Dann of Tubingen and other members of the diet having attempted
to bring the committee of the Estates to account for its former secret and
arbitrary proceedings, concerning which Moser had it in his power to
give full information, the committee dreaded his liberation and would
willingly have prevented it.
J
THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS. 115
prived of a large sum of money ; the theatrical corps was re-
duced to one half, and some other trifling modes of economy
were resolved upon. The hereditary compact, as it was
termed, was at length concluded, a. d. 1771 ; by it, the power
of the duke was for the future to be restrained within consti-
tutional limits ; all the servants of the state were to be sworn
on the constitution ; the nomination of foreigners to public posts
was to be avoided ; the ancient mode of taxation and the church-
property were to be restored ; the army was to be diminished ;
several noxious monopolies and the lotteries were to be abolish-
ed ; the game-laws to be restricted ; and, on the other hand, the
forests, which had been dreadfully thinned, to be spared. The
duke, nevertheless, refused to accede to this compact or to re-
turn to Stuttgart until the Estates and the city had each pre-
sented him with a sum of money. He had, moreover, little
intention to keep the terms of compact. Money was again
extorted, the depredations countenanced by the game-laws
were carried to a greater extent than ever ; every transgres-
sion was, however, winked at by the committee, which dreaded
the convocation of a new diet, by which its power would be
controlled. For twenty years the diet had not sat, and the
committee poured into the ducal coffers all the money that
could be drawn from the country, and, among other things,
paid the duke 50,000 florins on condition of his not forming a
matrimonial alliance with an Austrian princess. He con-
tracted a left-handed marriage with Francisca von Bernedin,
whom he created Countess von Hohenheim, and, on his fiftieth
birthday, A. d. 1778, promised in a naive proclamation, which
was read from every pulpit in his dominions, henceforth to
lead a better life and to devote himself solely and wholly to
the welfare of his subjects. The committee, deeply moved by
his protestations, instantly voted him a sum of money, with
which he built the magnificent chateau of Hohenheim for his
bride. Records of every clime and of every age were here
collected. ■ A Turkish mosque contrasted its splendid dome
with the pillared Roman temple and the steepled Gothic church.
The castled turret rose by the massive Roman tower ; the
low picturesque hut of the modern peasant stood beneath the
shelter of the gigantesque remains of antiquity ; and imitations
of the pyramids of Cestius, of the baths of Diocletian, a Ro-
man senate-house and Roman dungeons, met the astonished
I 2
116 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
eye. The pious-minded prince also established a new lottery,
and [a. d. 1787] in order to raise funds, sold a thousand of
his subjects to the Dutch, who sent them to the Indies, whence
but few of them returned. They were, moreover, cheated of
their legal pay. The sale of public appointments also recom-
menced. The duke had, since 1770, occupied himself with the
Charles College, so called after him, where the scholars, who
were kept with military severity, received excellent instruc-
tion in all the free sciences. This academy produced many
men of talent. The curse of tyranny, nevertheless, lay over
the country, and one of the students belonging to the academy,
the gi'cat Frederick Schiller, grew up in hatred of the yoke
and fled. Schubart, an older and equally liberal poet, was
treacherously seized and confined by the duke for ten years on
the Hohenasberg.
In Baden, the Margrave, Charles Frederick, became cele-
brated for tlie mildness and beneficence of his government.
He abolished feudal service, a. d. 1783.
In Hesse-Cassel reigned the Landgrave Frederick, who
sought to raise Cassel to a residence of the first rank, expected
palaces and chateaux, laid out pleasure-grounds, founded
academies, immense museums, etc., and was ever in want of
money. Among other public nuisances, he established a lot-
tery, and, after draining the purses of his miserable subjects,
enriched himself by selling their persons. In 1776, he con-
cluded a treaty with England, by which he agreed to furnish
twelve thousand Hessians for the service of her colonies.*
Hesse-Cassel, at that period, merely contained four hundred
thousand inhabitants. English commissioners visited Cassel
* " Almost all the princes are marcha7ids d'kommes for the powers that
pay them highest for the men and take them ou the easiest conditions." —
M'etnoires de Feuqxderes " A couple of a thousand years ago it was
said of the Tyrians, ' that their merchants were princes.' We can say
with equal truth, ' our princes have become merchants, they offer every
thing for sale, rank, decorations, titles, law, and justice, and even the per-
sons of their subjects.' " " There is a Hessian prince of high dis-
tinction. He has magnificent palaces, pheasant-preserves at Wilhelms-
bad, operas, mistresses, etc. These things cost money. He has, more-
over, a hoard of debts, the result of the luxury of his sainted forefathers.
What does the prince do in tliis dilemma I He seizes an unlucky fel-
low in the street, expends fifty dollars in his equipment, sends him out of
the country, and gets a hundred dollars for him in exchange." — Huer-
gelmer.
THE LESSER GERMAX COURTS. 117
and examined the men purcliased by tlieir government; as if
they had been cattle for sale. The complaints of parents for
the loss of their sons were severely punished, the men -were
imprisoned, the women sent to the penitentiary. This human
traffic was also carried on during the reign of George William,
Frederick's son and successor. The last Hessians sent to the
colonies were four thousand in number, a. d. 1794. The
celebrated Seume relates in his biography : " No one was at
that time safe from the understrappers of this trafficker in the
bodies and souls of men. Every means were resorted to ;
persuasion, cunning, fraud, violence. Foreigners of every
sort were seized, thrown into prison, and sold. My academical
inscription, the only proof of my legitimation, was torn to
pieces." Seume was sent out of the country with the Hessians
to fight for England against the Americans during tlie war of
independence. His daily recreation, the study of Horace, at-
tracted the attention of his superiors and he was made
sergeant. An enthusiastic republican, he was compelled to
serve against those who so gloriously asserted their freedom
and their rights. Hanau also furnished one thousand two
hundred ; Waldeck, several hundred German slaves ; Wiirtem-
berg, Saxe-Gotha, and the bishop of Mlinster followed their
example. Louis IX. of Hesse-Darmstadt, the best drummer
in the holy Roman empire, expired, A. D. 1790.
Frederick, ]\Iargrave of Bayreuth, expended the whole re-
venue of his petty territory in buikling, in theatres, and fetes.
Frederick II., his brother-in-law, on viewing the splendid
plan of the Hermitage, observed, " In this I cannot equal you."
He died A. d. 1763, without issue, and Bayreuth fell to Alex-
ander, Margrave of Ansbach, wlio was completely governed
by his misti'ess, an English- worn an. Lady Craven, and who
sold fifteen hundred of his subjects to England for colonial
service. On their refusal to march, he sent them out of the
country in chains. His frequent travels, in whicli he was
accompanied by Lady Craven, cost the country enormous sums,
and he at length, first secretly, then openly, ceded the
whole territory together with its inhabitants to Prussia. The
Margraviate would, on account of the failure of legitimate
issue, independently of this cession, have reverted to the
Prussian line. The excellent administration of the minister.
118 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
Hardenberg, had, since 1792, consoled the people for the
miseries they had so long endured.
Charles, duke of Brunswick, who reigned during the seven
years' war, was a spendthrift, paid Niccolini, the ballet-master,
a salary of 30,000 dollars, sold his subjects, and was ever on
bad terms witli his Estates. His brothers, Anthony Ulric, who
espoused a niece of Anna, empress of Russia, and whose son
mounted the Russian throne, Louis, who acquired such un-
popularity in Holland, and Ferdinand, the great leader in the
seven years' war, gained greater celebrity. , Two of his bro-
tiiers also fell during the seven years' war, Albert at Sorr,
Frederick at Hochkirch. His sister, Elisabeth Christina,
was consort to Frederick I. His son and successor, Ferdinand,
who had greatly distinguished himself in the field, introduced
a better system. His refined and cultivated mind and bene-
volent heart rendered him the idol of the freemasons, who
elected him their grand-master in Germany, His court was
constantly visited by foreigners of note. He, however, evinced
too great partiality for tlie French.* He also sold, owing to
his connexion with England, four thousand men for her colo-
nial service. His brother, Frederick Augustus, came into
possession of CEls in right of his wife, a princess of Wiirtem-
berg. His second brother, Leopold, was drowned [a. d. 1785]
in a flood at Frankfort on the Oder, whilst nobly attempting
to save the lives of the citizens.
England raised troops in Hanover and sent four thousand
men to Gibraltar, whilst the Germans, purchased from Hesse,
etc., were despatched to the East Indies, there to gain un-
grateful laurels in the war with Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib.
Hanover was governed by Field-marshal Freitag, who intro-
duced English Toryism into Germany and gave the first
example of the ministerial and aristocratic pride, now almost,
as it were, hereditary in that state. Zimmermann, a Swiss
physician, a man distinguished hitherto for the liberality of
his opinions, was transformed into a servile critic. His other
distinguished compatriots, John Miiller and Girtanner, also
sold themselves, soul and body, to the despotic foreigner. The
elector, George III., sat on the throne of England, the slave of
* On one occasion, his table being solely occupied by French guests,
one of them impudently told him that he was the only foreigner present.
I
THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS. 119
insolent ministers and of a factious mob. His life was often
attempted by madmen. His own mind became at length
affected. He was also afflicted with an hereditary disorder in
the eyes, and, after having for some time discovered iBdubitable
signs of mental derangement, entirely lost [a. d. 1811] his
eyesight and his senses. He lived until 1820 in complete se-
clusion, his son George, who succeeded him as George IV., the
finest gentleman, the most immoral character, and the greatest
monarch of his times, governing in his stead as Prince Regent.*
Oldenburg ceased [a. d. 1773] to be a province of Den-
mark and became one of Russia, the Holstein-Gottorp branch
of the ancient house of Oldenburg, reigning in Russia, ceding
Holstein in exchange to the branch of that house on the throne
of Denmark. Oldenburg was created a duchy by the Rus-
sian emperor and declared the hereditary property of Frederick
Augustus, prince of Holstein. Germany suffered another loss
by the reannexation of Holstein to Denmark. Peter, the only
eon of the duke, was tormented by rehgious scruples and fled
from his bride, the Pi'incess Sophia of Darmstadt, on their
wedding-day. He became completely deranged and was
finally compelled to yield the reins of government to his cousin,
Peter Frederick Louis.
The most terrible abuses were committed in the lesser states,
where they attracted less notice. Count William von Schaum-
burg-Lippe, who gained great distinction as field-marshal in
the Portuguese service and was in his own country honoured
as the father and benefactor of his people, offers an honour-
able exception. Tlie rest of the petty piinces imitated the
extravagance of their more powerful neiglibours. Frederick
Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst dissipated the revenue of his petty
territory in France, never returned home, and forbade, under
pain of punishment, petitions to be sent to him. Haase, the
privy-counsellor, governed in his stead, and shamelessly de-
frauded the people by artfully multiplying his ofl[ices to such
a degree, that Sintenis, the author, for instance, was compelled
to appeal from Haase, the privy-counsellor, through Haase,
* The mental malady of his royal father, ■wliich had been for some
time suspected, was placed beyond all doubt by his address to the House
on opening parliament, which he gravely commenced with the words —
" My lords, gentlemen, and woodcocks, cocking up your tails ! " and
proceeded witliout a single deviation through the remainder of the speech.
120 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
the privy-counsellor, to Haase, the privy-counsellor. He also
sold twelve hundred men for the service of the English
colonies. Frederick Augustus, on learning the execution of
the French king, refused to take food and died in great mental
agony. In Anhalt-Bernburg, the peasantry rebelled on ac-
count of the devastation caused by tlie strict protection of the
game, a. d. 1752. Charles William of Nassau beat a peasant,
accused of poaching, to death with his own hand, and was in
consequence banished by Joseph II. for some years from his
own dominions.
The follies perpetrated in almost all the petty countships,
several of which were gradually raised to principalities, are
perfectly incredible. Barons of tlie empire even held a petty
court and aped the pretensions and titles, nay, the military
show of their powerful neighbours. A Count von Limburg-
Styrum kept a corps of hussars, which consisted of one
colonel, six officers, and two privates. There were court-
counsellors attached to the smallest barony belonging to tlie
empire, and, in Franconia and Swabia, the petty lords had
their private gallows, the symbol of high jurisdiction. These
vanities were however expensive, and the wretched serfs,
•whose few numbers rendered the slightest impost burthen-
some, were compelled to furnish means for the lavish expendi-
ture of their haughty lords.*
The ecclesiastical courts had long fallen into the lowest
depths of depravity. Their temporal luxury had increased.
Frederick Charles, of the family of Erthal, elector of May-
ence, acted the part of a Leo X., patronized the arts and
sciences, but lived so openly with his mistresses, that May-
ence, infected by the example of the court, became a den of
infamy.f The ecclesiastical princes plainly perceived the ira-
* Vide the account of these miniature courts in Weber's Democritus.
t " Incredible things take place here in Mayence. A prize thesis, in
proof of the excellency of celibacy, has just been proposed by a prince,
around whose tlirone stand three mistresses." — Letter i of a travelling
Dane. " I saw the elector in his box at the theatre, surrounded by ladies
in full dress, whom I was told were actually court-ladies, court-ladies of
an archbishop ! On Dalberg's nomination as coadjutor to the arch-
bishopric, a triumphal arch was erected in his honour with the inscrip-
tion ' Immortalitati ' in a transparency. Either accidentally or purposely
the letter t in the third syllable was omitted." — Travels of a French Emi-
grant. " On the publication of Heinse's obscene romance, Ardinghello,
the archbishop sent him 20 louis d'or, and appointed him his lecturer. A
THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS. 121
possibility of the restoration of ancient episcopal simplicity,
and, unconscious of their approaching fall, pursued a common
plan, that of rounding off their territories, (Cologne had al-
ready annexed to itself Miinster, Mayence Worms,* Treves,
Augsburg,t and "NViirzburg Bamberg,) and, as a next step,
declaring themselves, like the Gallic church, independent of
Kome. Since the expulsion of the Jesuits, they had the im-
perial house (in Cologne, Joseph's brother Maximilian became
[a. d. 1780] coadjutor and shoi'tly afterwards archbishop
elector) and the enlightenment of the age, moreover, on
their side. As early as 1763, Ilontheim, the suftVagan-bishop
of Treves, had, under the name of Justus Febronius, pub-
lished a work " concerning the state of the church and the
legal power of the pope," which had excited general attention,
and [a. d. 1785] the German archbishops in the congress of
Bad Ems had, notwitlistanding the opposition raised by Pacca,
the papal legate, (tlie same who, at a later period under
Napoleon, accompanied the pope into exile,) attacked the
primacy of Rome, the false decretals of Isidore, and all the
rights so long exercised by the pope over the German church,
on the grounds set forth in that work. Eybel's work, " (Juid
est Papa ? " was condemned by a papal bull.
The ecclesiastical states were, if possible, worse administer-
ed than the temporal ones. The proverb " It is good to dwell
beneath the crosier" was no longer verified. The people were
oppressed and reduced to the most abject poverty. The bi-
shop of Miinster sold his subjects to heretical England. And
yet this bishop, Francis Frederick William von FLirstenberg,^
Jew at Mayence kept a subscription library, full of the most immoral and
licentious works, under the protection of the police." — liemaiks on a
Journey from Strassbourff to the Baltic. The archbishops were kept in
countenance by the aristocratic canons, who accumulated benefices to
such a degree, that one of the provosts of the cathedral, for instance, a
Count von Elz, drew an annual income of 75,000 goldens from the church.
The Favorite, a chateau built in the French style, was erected by the
elector Lothar Francis von Stadion Lang's Travels on the lilnne, 1805.
* In this city there was not a pretty girl who had not been cither
"niece or sister "to some ecclesiastic. The peasants here also rebelled
on account of the game-laws. Vide Travels of a Female Emigrant.
t A governor of Augsburg arrested all pedestrian travellers and sold
them to the Prussian recruiting sergeants. — Schlozer.
X Of the Westphalian baronial family. He published the IMonumenta
Paderbornensia immediately on his nomination to the bishopric of Pader-
122 THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS.
was celebrated for his learning and founded the MUnster uni-
versity, [a. d. 1773,] at the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits.
The Baron von Brabeck, a member of the diet, opposed the
bad government of Francis Egon, Count von Fiirstenberg, of
the Swabian line, Bishop of Hildesheim, but was persecuted
as a revolutionist. The bishop of Spires, who was on bad
terms with his chapter, constantly resided at his chateau
at Bruchsal.* The bishop of Liege was expelled by a popular
outbreak, caused by the great revenue drawn by him from the
gaming tables established at Spa — a scandalous mode of in-
creasing his income, against which the Estates had vainly pro-
tested. Philip, elector of Treves, built [a. d. 1763] the cha-
teau of Philippsfreude, besides the sumptuous residence at
Coblentz. Clement Augustus, the luxurious archbishop of
Cologne, built the royal residence at Bonn, the chateaux of Pop-
pelsdorf, Briihl, and Falkenlust. His successor, INIaximilian Fre-
derick, expended the confiscated wealth of the Jesuits more use-
fully in the foundation of an academy. Bonn remained, notwith-
standing, the abode of luxury. The last elector, Maximilian
Francis, brother to Joseph II., kept one hundred and twenty-
nine chamberlains. Joseph, bishop of Passau, one of the
Auersperg family, built a theatre and the chateau of Freuden-
hayn, where he expired, A. d. 1 795. The French clergy were
still more depraved. Cardinal Rohan, bishop of Strassburg,
canned an innocent girl away from her parents and kept her,
together with several others, imprisoned in his harem at Za-
bern. She escaped, and, although a regular search after her
was set on foot throughout the country, did not again fall into
his hands. The matter, however, excited such general in-
dignation that he was compelled to take refuge in Paris, where
he courted the queen, Marie Antoinette, and was mixed up with
the celebrated story of the necklace. f The whole of the upper
clergy battened on the sufferings of the people. The popular
saying, "Where you see people with their clothes worn out at the
elbow, you are on church property ; where you see people with
their clothes worn out beneath the arm, you are in a temporal
born. Sclilozer quotes a curious episcopal rescript of 1783, concerning
tlie preservation of game and the punishment of poachers.
« " Never ^vas a sliepherd less careful of his flock, never was there a
flock less attached to its shepherd! " — Travels of a Female Emigrant.
t See Riem's Journey through France.
THE LESSER GERMAN COURTS. 123
state," truly tells the difference existing between temporal
and ecclesiastical principalities. The statistics of the mon-
asteries abolished by Joseph II. demonstrate how the monks
and nuns feasted on the sweat of the people. In the Clarisser
nunnery were found 919 casks of wine, in the Dominican nun-
nery at Imbach 3655, and in the establishment of canonesses
at Himmelporten as many as 6800. The people in the eccle-
siastical states were totally uneducated, stupid, and bigoted.
In 1789, the populace of Cologne attempted to assassinate all
the Protestant inhabitants on account of the intention of the
imperial Aulic council to grant to tliem liberty of conscience.
Frederick, duke of York, the second son of George III.
of England, was, [a. d. 1764,] when six months old, created
bishop of Osnabrlick, which was alternately governed by a
Catholic and a Lutheran bishop. During his administration,
a socman was condemned to draw the plough for life for having
ventured to box a steward's ears for taking his affianced bride
from him by force and bestowing her on another.*
Alsace and Lorraine fell beneath the intolerable despotism
exercised by the French court in unison with the degenerate
clergy and nobility. Strassburg was, in the most shameless
manner, plundered by the prajtor, Klinglin. On the visit of
Louis XY. [a. d. 1744] to that city, he compelled the citi-
zens to paint, ornament, and illuminate their houses, to wear
curious uniforms, according to their rank and trades, arranged
the women and children in fantastical troops of shepherd-
esses and Swiss, caused the fountains to flow with wine,
and strictly prohibited the presence of sick, diseased, or poor
persons, for the purpose of impressing the monarch with
the wealth and prospei'ity of the people. Schopflin, the au-
thor of Ahatia illustrata, had on this occasion the meanness to
address the cowardly, dull-witted, luxurious king, who, to the
scandal of his subjects, was openly accompanied by his mistress,
the ]\Iarquise de Pompadour, and whose unprincipled govern-
ment mainly brought about the French Revolution, as " the
father of the country, the patron of the muses, the liberator of
Alsace, and a great hero." Friese, in his excellent history of
Strassburg, exclaims, " The fine, honest character of the people
of Strassburg had within the last sixty-three years (the period
of their submission to the French yoke) indeed deeply dege-
nerated ! " The whole of the festivities on the occasion of
* See Sclilozcr's State Archives.
124 THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE.
this royal visit were at the expense of the impoverished city,
whicli, moreover, paid an annual tax of 1,000,000 livres to
the royal exchequer. Klinglin and Paul Bek, the adminis-
trators of the public revenues, also filled their own purses, sold
the town property, the forests, appointments, and justice to
the highest bidder, and were at length only dismissed from
office by the skill with which Gail, the mayor, Faber, the
chief magistrate, and other patriotic citizens, took advantage
of a dispute between the minister, d'Argenson, with Sillery,
the intendant of Alsace. lOinglin died in prison, A. d. 1753 ;
Bek was branded and sent to the galleys.
Lorraine, Alsace, Switzerland, and Holland were not only
excluded from the rest of Germany, but the states still apper-
taining to the empire were also closed one against the other.
Bad roads,* a wretched postal system,! senseless prohibitions i
in regard to emigration or to marrying out of the country, as,
for instance, in the bishopric of Spires, and, more than all, the
incredible number of inland duties, checked the natural inter-
course of the Germans. From Germersheim to Rotterdam
there were no fewer than twenty-nine custom-houses, at all
of which vessels were stopped for dues ; between Bingen and
Coblentz alone there were seven.
CCXLII. The last days of the Empire.
The dissolution of the German empire approached. The
princes, powerful or weak, great or petty, had each assumed
sovereign sway. The bond of union between them and the
empire became daily more and more fragile. Ratisbon, al-
though still the seat of the diet, was no longer visited by the
emperor or by the princes. All affairs of moment were trans-
acted by the courts of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, etc. ; the
members of the diet occupied themselves with empty formal-
ities, such as precedence at table, the colour, form, and position
of their seats in the diet, concerning which no fewer than ten
official documents, in settlement of a dispute, appeared in 1748.
* From Stuttgard to Tubingen, now half a day's post, two days were
formerly requisite. People prepared with the greatest anxiety for a
journey to the nearest towns. Bad roads and overturned carriages play
a prominent part in the romances of the time.
t Vide the complaints concerning it in SchliJzer's state-papers.
\ For instance, in Bavaria. Whoever attempted to induce others to
emigrate was hanged, 1764. — History of Nuremberg.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. 125
At a congress held at Offenbach, [a. d. 1740,] the petty princes
made an unsuccessful attempt to place themselves on an equal-
ity with the electors and to interfere with the election of the
emperor. The collegium of the imperial free towns, whenever
it ventured upon opposition, was generally outvoted at the
diet by those of the princes and electors, and had lost all its
influence. Wetzlar was still the seat of the imperial chamber,
which was also far from securing the slightest legal protection
to the German people and became gradually more completely
absorbed with formalities, in proof of which a single example
suffices, the lawsuit brought before it [a. d. 1549] by the city
of Gelnhausen, which was not terminated until 1 734. Cramer
has filled one hundred and twenty-eight volumes (Wetzlar
Leisure-hours) with the most important lawsuits of the empire,
which are only striking on account of their extreme unimport-
ance. The same may be said of the imperial Aulic council at
Vienna. Prince Colloredo, the imperial vice-chancellor, when
complaints against the unjust imprisonment of Moser, the
counsellor of the diet, were brought before the imperial cham-
ber, sent directions to Wetzlar for their suppression.* The
imperial Aulic council was equally suborned ; in 1765, one of
the members declared at Prince CoUoredo's table, " that no
proceedings could be taken against Louis IX., Landgrave of
Hesse, for the sake of a couple of Frankfort merchants." All
the complaints made against this luxurious despot by his cre-
ditors were, in fact, unheeded, nor was it until 1779 that his
creditors were half satisfied by a composition. When, in 1 729,
the youthful son and heir of one of the lords of Aufsess in
Franconia was carried by force to Bamberg and by threats
and ill-treatment compelled to embrace Catholicism, his mo-
ther, who had narrowly escaped sharing his fate, filled the
empire with her ci'ies for justice and vengeance, the imperial
Aulic council passed a vei'dict in her favour- — which was never
carried into effect. Joseph II., moved by the petitions of his
people, was the first who attempted to restore power and dig-
nity to the general courts of judicature throughout the empire,
but his intended visitation fell to the ground, and all remained
as before. The imperial army, an assemblage of small, and
extremely small, contingents, had, more especially since the
seven years' war, naturally become an object of ridicule. A
* Moser, Political Truths.
126 THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE.
petty prince or count furnished the lieutenant, another the
captain, a monastery furnished the horse-soldier, a nunnery
the horse ; a most remarkable diversity in weapons and uni-
forms naturally resulted from the subdivision of the empire
into petty states.
The power no longer lay in the organization of the empire
and with the Estates, but solely in the new principalities and
their bureaucratic governments. All the great states of
Germany were first formed on a French, afterwards, on a
Prussian model. From Louis XIV. the princes learnt despot-
ism, the art of rendering the Estates, the nobility, the church,
and the cities subservient to their will ; from Frederick II.
they acquired a regulated form of government, the art of con-
centrating the power of the state in the finances and in the
army, in which the French system was far surpassed by that
of Prussia. In Fi-ance, the convenient system of farming the
state prevailed ; all the offices of state were either sold or
farmed, which consequently gave rise to a competition, which
raised the prices of the offices, between the government
and the officers, who sought to reimburse themselves by in-
creasing the burthens of the people. In Germany, the more
honest, but at tlie same time more troublesome, system of con-
trol prevailed. The systematic love for detail characteristic of
the German gave rise to that artificial bureaucracy or su-
premacy of the clerk's office, which, under the name of the
strictest justice, has perhaps proved the most oppressive of
tyrannies. The ministry, actuated by a pure love of justice or
by paternal solicitude, ere long sought to know and to guide
every thing from the palace down to the lowest peasant's hut ;
the want of money also obliged them to make themselves
acquainted with, to watch, and to tax the smallest source
of private revenue ; these systematic heads were ere long
merely occupied with regulating and filling in their regis-
ters, as if the state solely existed in their tables, and finally,
increasing political agitation heightened the power of the
police, by whom the system of espionage was carried to the
greatest extreme.
Besides the new and Argus-eyed governments, shadows of
diets still existed in Wiirtemberg, Saxony, Mecklenburg, An-
halt, Lippe, and Reuss. The nobility were every where still
extremely powerful, but solely by means of the posts held by
THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. 127
them at court, in the government and army. Their personal
privileges had increased at the expense of their political and
corporate rights. The cities had also lost all political power,
but the citizens had begun by their talents to gain an influence in
the service of the state. The peasantry were almost more op-
pressed by the new system of taxation than they had formerly
been by the nobility and were universally poor and harassed ;
the government, nevertheless, gradually released them from
their feudal bonds, promoted the progress of enlightenment,
and by so doing prepared them for a complete emancipation
from their yoke.
The church played a most lamentable part. "Whilst in the
Catholic, more particularly in the petty states, the influence of
the Jesuits was preserved by the child-like piety and super-
stitious belief of the people, by fetes and processions, mum-
meries, etc.,* the ecclesiastical princes, as has been already
shown, gave way to the most open profligacy, and Eome was
deprived of her ancient support in the German empire by the
abolition of the order of Jesus, the reforms of Joseph II., and
by the congress of Ems. The church had never been so
powerless. The princes exercised increased power over
* The largest collection of these religions mummeries is to be met
with in the numerous works of the Illuminati and in Weber's " Ger-
many." Religion had degenerated to childish ceremonies. The Mother
of God was dressed up like a doll in order to appear in gala on festive oc-
casions. Pretty girls appeared on asses in processions as living Madon-
nas, and doves were let loose in the churches as living representatives of
the Holy Ghost. On the great pilgrimages of the people of Mayenc*,
Fulda, and Eichsfeld, to Waldlhiiren, the priest bearing the pyx was re-
ceived with due solemnity by a well-dressed angel, who delivered an ora-
tion. — Schlozer's State Archives. In 1790, the procession of blood, an an-
cient ceremony performed by all the authorities and inliabitants of the
neighbourhood, was solemnized at Constance ; seven thousand horsemen,
bearing naked swords and rosaries, accompanied a drop of the Saviour's
blood around the fields for the purpose of preserving them against injury
from the weather. Vide Swabian Mercury, 1838. Religious comedies
witli allegorical representations, pilgrimages, processions of brotherhoods
in honour of particular saints, were all calculated upon as means of work-
ing upon the senses of the multitude, who, on these occasions, usually
gave way to unbounded licence. The pilgrimages were especially notori-
ous for immoral results. The numerous, well-fed, and idle clergy con-
trived by means of ceremonies of this nature to creep into houses and to
seduce the innocent and unwary. No domestic affair could be arranged
without the interference of a priest. They blessed the stable, the table
and the bed, the field and the cattle, even the daily food, etc. etc.
128 THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE.
the Lutheran and Reformed churches within their demesnes.
The sovereign possessed the Jus majestaticum circa Uturgiam,
that is, the triple right ; 1st, of granting the free exercise of
religion according to a certain confession of faith, Xhe jus con-
cedendi; 2nd, of internal inspection {inspectio) ; 3rd, of ex-
ternal protection (advocatlo).
In Lutheran Saxony, where the sovereign belonged to the
Catholic, in Lutheran Prussia, to the Reformed, church, these
princes fur some time granted, from a political motive, full
liberty to the Lutheran clergy, and, in order to avoid raising
any unnecessary excitement among the people, but little inter-
fered with ecclesiastical affairs. The new system had, how-
ever, scarcely come into play, than Frederick William I. made
a powerful attack upon the church, convoked a synod of the
whole of the Prussian clergy [a, d. 1737] at Koslin, regu-
lated the Lutheran service by cabinet orders, abolished the use
of tapers, white dresses for the choristers, etc., the collection of
money within the church ; placed restrictions on the adminis-
tration of the holy sacrament, as, for instance, to the impenitent,
and even prescribed rules for preaching. The whole of his de-
crees were calculated for the promotion of religion and morality.
His son, Frederick IL, acted with equal despotism but with a con-
trary purpose. His object was to relax, not to heighten, religious
austerity. AVith this intent, he neutralized one confession of faith
by the other by tolerating them all and by encouraging modern
French intidelity by his kno\\Ti principles and by his writings.
With this intent, he abolished his father's ordinances, permit-
ted all who chose to carry tapers and to wear white robes,
whilst all confessions were equally the objects of his ridicule.
On the introduction of a new psalm-book, against which se-
veral of the communes protested, by the consistory in 1780,
he wrote, " Every body may do as he chooses in this matter ;
every one is at liberty to sing, ' Now may all the forests rest,'
or any other silly thing that may suit his taste." With this
intent, he abolished public penance in churches and essentially
restricted the power of the church in awarding punishment in
cases of immorality. With this intent, he diminished the num-
ber of church festivals, notwithstanding the few that still re-
mained, and, in order to prevent the clergy from ever again
becoming an obstacle in his way, gave them a new constitution,
by which their collegiate ties were dissolved, which isolated
I
THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. 129
and placed them under the control of a supreme consistory en-
tirely dependent upon the crown. The lower clergy were also
utterly demoralized by the system of patronage. The candi-
date served for years as a tutor, bore every species of humili-
ation, and was tinally rewarded by the gift of a living on the
property of his noble patron. The new pastor was often com-
pelled to bind himself to make a transfer of the property and
privileges attached to the living. As early as 1558, conse-
quently in the earliest period of the Reformation, one of the
church ordonnances in Brandenburg ran as follows : " Some of
the noble patrons not being in the habit of keeping a pastor,
a portion of the revenue of the living must, in consideration
thereof, be kept back for them," etc. This brietly explains the
poverty of the majority of the livings.* The custom was also
introduced by the licentious nobility of disposing of their cast-
off mistresses together with a living or of attaching the gift
to the hand of the widow or daughter of the deceased pastor,
in order to spare themselves the inconvenience of providing
for her maintenance. In 1746, the following oath was, at
Hildburghausen, imposed upon the clergy on their installation
into a living, " I swear that, as a means of gaining this appoint-
ment, a certain woman has not been offered to me in marriage."
The lower clergy, notwithstanding their oppressed state and
their poverty, have, however, generally maintained their re-
putation and by their piety and morality frustrated the
attempts made to reduce them to the lowest depths of de-
gradation, in the same manner that the people have never been
wholly perverted by the pernicious example of their rulers.
Among the Lutheran states, AVlirtemberg was chiefly
distinguished for the comparative independence of her clergy,
who, reared from early youth in monastic academies, and, last-
ly, in the college at TUbingen, formed a class, at once influen-
tial on account of its learning and its corporative spirit and of
the church property it still possessed. It was represented in
the diet by fourteen prelates.
The dead-letter spirit, which had become prevalent among
the Protestants, which had again degraded theology to mere
scholasticism and had not only maintained but strengthened
the ancient superstition of the crowd, as, for instance, in
* Concerning the State of Religion in the Prussian States. Leipzig,
1779.
VOL. III. K
130 THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE.
respect to witchcraft, had gradually vanished as knowledge
was increased by the study of the classics and of natural
philosophy. Halle became for this second period of the Re-
formation what Wittenberg had been for the first. As Luther
formerly struggled against the monks and monkish super-
stition, Thomasius [a. d. 172S] combated Lutheran ortho-
doxy, overthrew the belief in witchcraft, and reintroduced the
use of the German language into the cathedral service, whence
it had long been expunged. He was succeeded [a. d. 1754]
by the philosopher, ^\'oif, the scholar of the great Leibnitz,
who beneficially enlightened the ideas of the theological stu-
de-nts. Before long, neology or the critical study of the Bible,
and a positive divinity, which sought to unite the Bible with
philosophy, prevailed. The founders of this school were
Michaelis at Gcittingen, Semler at Halle, and Ernesti at Leip-
zig. Mosheim at Berlin and Gellert at Leipzig greatly ele-
vated the tone of morality. Spalding * already attempted to
check the erratic progress of enlightenment. Voltaire's lam-
poons against Christianity had at that period spread over
Germany, and Berlin had become the elysium of free-thinkers.
Besides Frederick, Lessing exercised great influence on this
party. Nicolai, the noted Berlin bookseller, in his Universal
German Library, began a criticism upon all the works pub-
lished in Germany.f Shortly before this, Thunimel had, also
at Berlin, brought forward the degraded state of the Protest-
ant clergy in his excellent poem " Wilhelmina ;" Xicolai con-
tinued the subject in a romance, " Sebaldus Nothanker," in
which he gave a masterly description of the state of the Pro-
testant church at that time and excited a feeling of hatred and
contempt against the reigning consistories, with which the
wearing of perukes was. among other things, a point of high
importance. The Catholic clergy had disdained their adop-
tion ; their Protestant brethren, however, opposed them in
this as in aU other matters, and no Lutheran preacher con-
sequently durst make liis appearance in public unperuked.
Heaps of controversial works were published on this subject.
* John Joachim Spalding, a celebrated Swedish divine and author,
born 1714. He •«Tote several able works: the " Destination of Man;"
" Religion the most important Affair of Mankind," etc. Died 1804. —
Matinder's Biographical Treasury.
t This work was continued forty years, though Nicolai ceased to edit
it at the end of the hundred and seventh volume, in 1792 — Trakslator.
THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIEE. 131
Mauvillon, "Wiinsch, and, more especially. Paalzow, ■wrote
with great fanaticism against tlie Christian religion. Schum-
mel, at Breslau, warned against free-thinking in a romance,
entitled " The little Voltaire," which affords a deep insight
into the wild confusion of ideas at that time prevalent, and
describes the writings, secret societies, and intrigues of the
free-thinkers. Barth, at Halle, by means of his popnlar
works, attempted to spread among the people tlie ideas at
that time convulsing the learned world, but was with his Ra-
tionalism, which he sought to set up in opposition to Chris-
tianity, too shallow and coarse to be attractive.
Liberty of thought had degenerated to free-thinking, and,
like every abuse, speedily produced a reaction. ' John Arndt,
a native of Aniialt, published his popular treatise " On true
Christianity," in the beginning of the seventeenth century.
The learned divines were, notwithstanding, first led to teach
a religion of the heart, instead of inculcating a mere dead-
letter belief, by Spener, who [a. D. 1670] founded a collegium
pietatis at PVankfurt a i\I., and [a. d. 170.5] was appointed
chaplain to the court at Dresden and provost at Berlin. He
replaced Christian love on her rightful throne, and to him is
the Protestant church i'ar more deeply indebted than to the
philosophers of the day, although his tine and comprehensive
ideas were carried but little into practice. He demanded to-
leration of every confession of faith and their union by Chris-
tian love ; he rejected the sovereignty assumed by the state
over the church as well as the authority of the consistories
and faculties, and aimed at the emancipation of tlie Christian
commonwealth.* His followers, the Pietists, who have been
greatly calumniated, were grievously persecuted on account of
their extravagant tendencies. One of their number, Gichtel,
the proctor of the imperial chamber, founded the sect of the
Engelsbriider. Hoburg, the Anabaptist, Petersen, the poly-
grapher, the ill-fated Kuhlmann, who attempted to blend all
religions into one but was burnt alive at ^loscow, [a. d. 1G89,]
and several female seers drew general attention. Franke,
the worthy founder of the orphan school at Halle, followed in
Spener's steps. Pietism took a pecuhar form at Herrnhut,
where Count Zinzendorf founded a new church of love and
fraternity, the members of which obeyed particular laws
* Vide Hossbach, Spener.
K -2
132 THE LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE.
and wore a particular dress. The gentleness and simplicity
of this community strongly contrasted with the wild licence
prevalent in Saxony during the reign of Augustus, the reac-
tion to which had given them bii'th. They termed themselves
the Moravian Brethren, some remnants of the ancient Huss-
ites having passed over to them. The accession of numbers of
Bohemians belonging to the Lichtenstein estates drew a re-
clamation from the Saxon government. A number of the
Bohemians took refuge in Prussia, and Zinzendorf, who was
banished Saxony for ten years, established himself in the an-
cient Konneburg in the AV'etterau. By his conference with
Frederick WiUiam I., who learnt to esteem him highly, by his
connexion with several other religiously inclined persons of
high rank, the Counts Reuss and Dohna, the lords of Seidlitz
in Silesia, etc., by his frequent travels and his extreme pru-
dence, he, nevertheless, speedily succeeded in regaining his
former footing. As early as 1733, he sent numbers of pil-
grims into distant countries for the purpose of propagating re-
ligion and of converting the heathen. He twice visited the
savages of North America as a missionary. The resolute
piety, which induced so many homely artificers to quit all for
the sake of propagating the gospel amid the snows of Green-
land and Lapland or in the burning climes of the East, where
they succeeded in converting great numbers, affords at once a
touching and instructive lesson. By means of their colonies,
they formed important commercial connexions, created a
market for home produce, and, by the credit they acquired by
their reputation for the strict uprightness of their dealings,
gained immense riches. Their prosperity put their opponents
to the blush ; they were ridiculed and esteemed. Spangen-
berg succeeded Zinzendorf as head of the society, whose mem-
bers are said to have amounted, at the commencement of the
present century, to half a million. Their principal to\\Tis are
Herrnhut, Barby, Neuwied, and Ziest near Utrecht ; most of
those of lesser note are distinguished by religious or biblical
names, such as Gnadenberg, (Gfiode, grace,) Gnadenfeld,
Gnadenfrei, Gnadenhlitte, Gnadenau, Friedenthal, (valley of
peace,) Friedenberg, etc., Bethlehem, Nazareth, Salem, Beth-
any, etc. The child-like simplicity and gentleness of the
Herrnhuters highly recommended them as instructors of the
LIBERAL TENDENCY OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 133
female sex, and, even at the present day, families, not belong-
ing to their society, send their daughters to be educated in
these asylums of innocence and piety. Pietism spread
simultaneously into the Bergland, where it still flourishes in
the Wupperthal.
CCXLIII. The liberal tendency of the Universities.
Ix proportion as the universities shook off the yoke imposed
by theological and juridical ignorance, {vide the trials for
witchcraft,) tiie study of philosophy, languages, history, and
the natural sciences gained ground. A wide range was thus
opened to learning, and a spirit of liberality began to pre-
vail, which, as the first effect of its cosmopolital tendency,
completely blunted the patriotic feelings of the German, by
rendering his country a mere secondary object of interest and
inquiry.
The struggle between modern ideas and ancient usage be-
gan also in the lower academies. Kousseau proposed the
fundamental transformation of the human race and the crea-
tion of an ideal people by means of education. John Bernard
Basedow attempted to put his novel plans of education into
practice by the seminary, known as " the Philantliropinum,"
established by him at Dessau, in which many excellent teachers
were formed, and by which great good was effected. Basedow,
nevertheless, speedily became bankrupt, to the great delight
of the pedants. Salzmann, in his academy of Schnepfenthal
near Gotha, stands almost alone in his plan for uniting phy-
sical exercise witli mental improvement for the attainment of
practical ends, for rendering the student a useful citizen, not a
mere bookworm. Kochow published his celebrated "Children's
Friend," which, together with Gellert's Fables, became a
favourite book for the instruction of youth, and involuntarily
compelled teachers not merely to inculcate blind belief and to
enforce the study of the dead languages, but also to form their
pupils' minds by awakening the imagination and strengthen-
ing their moral feelings by good examples. This literary at-
tempt, however, speedily degenerated ; Weisse published at
Leipzig a large " Children's Friend" in 24 volumes, for chil-
dren of good families, full of unchildlike absurdities, Campe,
134 THE LIBERAL TENDENCY
by his " New Robinson Crusoe," * estranged the rising gener-
ation in their early childhood from their country and inspired
thf'in, perfectly in the spirit of the times, with a love of enter-
prise and a desire to carry their energies to some foreign or
far distant land. Funke taught every thing by rote and
smothered originality by assiduously teaching every thing,
even how to play. In the popular schools, the catechism, and
in the learned academies, grammatical pedantry, were, never-
theless, still retained. The best description of the state of the
schools in Germany, during the latter part of the past century,
is to be found in Schummers " Pointed Beard." The new
l)lans of education adopted by a few private establishments
and recommended in tlie numerous new publications on tiie
subject more particularly owed their gradual adoption to the
tutors, who, in their freer sphere of action, bestowed their at-
tention upon the arts most useful in practical life, and, out of
respect for the parents, introduced a more humane treatment
of the children. The biography of " Felix Kaskorbi," a tutor
aged forty, graphically depictures the torments to which he
and his colleagues were often exposed in their arduous and
useful calling.
Private and individual efforts would, however, have but
little availed without the beneficial reformation that took
place in the public academies. In England, the study of the
ancient classics, so well suited to the stern character and
liberal spirit of the people, had produced men noted for depth
of learning, by whom the humanities and the spirit of an-
tiquity were revived. Their influence extended to Hanover.
At Gottingen, Heyne created a school, which opposed the
spirit to the dead letter, and, in the study of the classics,
sought not merely an acquaintance with the lauguage but
also with the ideas of ancient times, and Winckelmann visited
Italy in order to furnish Germany with an account of the relics
of antiquity and to inspire his countrymen with a notion of
their sublimity and beauty. The attention of the student was
drawn to mythology, to ancient history, and an acquaintance
with the lives of the ancients led to the knowledge of modern
history and geography.
* Which was founded on the popular work of Defoe. — Translator.
OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 135
The study of history became universal. The history of the
world succeeded to the records of monasteries, cities, and
states. The first manuals of universal history were, it must
be confessed, extremely dry and uninteresting, whilst the
great historical dictionaries of Iselin,* etc., and the collections
of histories of all the nations of the earth, either translated or
continued from the English, in which Schlcizerf already dis-
covered excessive sceptical severity, were, on the other hand,
abundantly copious. Ecclesiastical history was also briefly
and clearly reviewed by Spittler, and claborateh- continued by
Mosheim, Schrtikh, Plank, etc. Arnold | published an excel-
lent history of the heretics and of different sects. The first
geographical antiquities are collected in the Chronicon Gott-
wicense ; the best maps were given by Ilomann. The system-
atic books of instruction in geography by Hiibner, Biisching,
(to whom the science of statistics is greatly indebted,) Ilassel,
!Mannert, etc., were afterwards continued on a more extensive
scale. The newspapers al.«o increased in importance. The
Frankfurt Journal was commenced, a. i>. 161. 5, by Emel, and
was followed by the Postavise and the FuldaPostrcuter. The
Hamburg Correspondent was first published in 1710. The
history of the day was continued from 1617 to 1717, in the
Theatrum Europeum, commenced by Gottfried ; in the Diari-
um Europa?um of Elisius, (Meyer,) from 16o7 to 1681 ;
Valckenier het verwaerd Europa, from 1664 to 1676, con-
tinued by A. ^Miiller ; Cramer's History, from 1694 to 1698;
Lamberty's Memoirs, from 1700 to 1718; the Mercure His-
torique, Bousset, recueils des actes, from 1713 to 1748. The
Frankfurt Reports and the new Historical Gallery opened at
Nuremberg between the thirty and seven years' wars. The
great collection of treaties of Du Mont, from 1731 to the year
1800 ; the lesser one of Schmauss ; that of "Wcnk up to 1772 ;
the European Fama, up to the seven years' war. Scliulz von
Ascherode, from 1750 to 1763 ; Count Herzberg, from 1756
to 1778. Dohm's Memorabilia, from 1778 to 1806; Geb-
• Professor of historj' and antiquities at Marburg. Born at Basil, a.
D. 1681. — Transl.\tor.
t Professor of philosophy and politics at GlJttingen. Born 1737. —
Translator.
t Professor of poetry, history, and rhetoric at Altorf. Born 1G27.—
Translator.
136 THE LIBERAL TENDENCY
hard, recueil des traites de 1792 to 1795. Koch and Scholl,
histoire des traites, up to 1815.
For German history in particular much was done first of
all by the great collections of tlie ancient unprinted chronicles,
the Scriptorcs rerum Gernianicaritm, made byEccard, Hahn,
Lf'ibnitz, Ludwig, Llinig, Lundorp, Meichelbek, Menken,
Rauch, Schannat, Schilter, »Schottgen and Kreusig, Senken-
berg, Soramersberg, etc. ; by the glossaries of Scherz and Ilal-
taus, by the collection of old German laws by Georgisch, etc. ;
by the histories of the empire by Struve, Iliiberlin, Piitter,
etc. The iirst voluminous history of Germany was written
by Schmidt, an enlightened Catholic. Maskou produced an ex-
cellent work on the ancient liistories of Germany. The best
provincial histories were that of Croatia by Valvasor, of Ca-
rinthia by Megiser, of Styria by Ciisar, of Bohemia by Pelzel,
of Transylvania by Schlozer, of Silesia by Kltiber, of Prussia
by Petri and Baczko, of Saxony by Weisse, of Anhalt by
l^ekmann, of Thuringia by Falkenstein, of Brunswick by
Ilehtraeycr, Spittler, of Westphalia by Justus Closer, of Hol-
stein by Christiani, of Ditmarsch by Dankwerth, Bolten, of
Frizeland by Wiarda, of the circle of the Saal by Dreihaupt,
of Alsace by Schopflin, of AViirtemberg by Sattler, of Swit-
zerland by Tscharner, John I^Iiiller, etc. ; John ]\Iiiller at-
tempted a style in imitation of Tacitus and introduced a bom-
bastical, affected manner, which created more astonishment
than admiration. He, moreover, solely aimed at representing
the Swiss as totally distinct from the rest of the great German
nation, as a petty nation fallen as it were from the skies, and
by so doing gave rise to a number of other provincial histories,
which rendered every petty principality in Germany uncon-
nected with the history of the empire and described them as
having been eternally independent and insulated. Provincial
feuds and neighbourly hatred were by this means fed.
Pollnitz, Wackerbarth, Frederick the Great, his sister, the
[Margravine of Bayreuth, Dohm, Gortz, Schmettau, and Schu-
lenburg wrote their memoirs. There were also numerous
histories of towns, as, for instance, that of Spires by Lehmann,
of Dantzig by Curiken, of Augsburg by Stetten, of Ratisbon by
Gemeiner, of Magdeburg by Rathmann, of Strassburg by
Friese, of Berlin by an anonymous author, published a. d.
1 792, of Breslau by Klose.
4
OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 137
The Dutch took the lead in political science. As earlv as
1638, Althausen laid the majestas populi down as a principle,
and Hugo Grotius laid the first foundation to the law of na-
tions. |n Lutheran and Catholic Germany, on the other hand,
merely " works on the Art of Government," " IMirrors of
Honour," etc. were published, in which the adulation preva-
lent in France was zealously emulated, and the whole of an-
cient Olympus was plundered for the purpose of adorning each
sacred aUonge-peruke with emblems and divine attributes.
The jealousy between the houses of Hohenzollern and Ilabs-
burg, nevertheless, permitted Pufendorf, a Brandenburg privy-
counsellor, to commence a tolerably liberal criticism on the
German constitution, in which he was speedily imitated by the
Prussians, Cocceji and Gundling. J. J. Moser took a still
more independent view of the reigning political evils in Ger-
many, and Schlozer was, shortly anterior to the French Revo-
lution, equally liberal in his state-papers. The learned Piitter
at Gcittingen was more an historical than a political writer, and,
generally speaking, the literature of the day rarely touched
upon the political misfortunes of Germany, In proportion as
the empire lost one province after another were the people
gradually deprived of their ancient privileges, still no one
spoke, and the additional burthens on the peasantry, the in-
creased taxation, tlie sale of men for service in the Indies,
the inactivity of the provincial Estates, etc., excited as little
discussion as the impudent seizure of Strassburg. Heinec-
cius and Bohmer, in Austria, Sonncnfels, who aided Joseph
II. in his reforms, were distinguished professors of juris-
prudence.
The study of mathematics was greatly promoted by Lieb-
nitz, the inventor of ditferential-calculus, and was canned to
higher perfection by Lambert of Alsace, by the family of Ber-
nouilli of Basle, Euler, etc. The Germans made great dis-
coveries in astronomy. Scheiner [a. d. 1650] discovered the
spots in the sun ; Hevel [a. d. 1687] and Dorfel found out the
paths of the comets ; Eimmart of Nuremberg measured several
of the fixed stars. Herschel [born A. d. 1740, ob. A. D. 1822]
discovered, with his giant telescope in England, [a. d. 1781,]
the planet LTranus, nebulous stars, planetary nebuL-e, etc.
Huygens improved the telescope, Liiwenhoek and Hontsoecker
the microscope (in Holland). Lieberkiihn of Breslau in-
138 THE LIBERAL TENDENCY
vented the solar microscope; Tschirnhausen, burning-glasses;
Snell discovered the laws of refraction. Tlie study of physics
was greatly promoted by Otto von Guericke, burgomaster of
Magdeburg, [a, d. 1686,] the inventor of the air-pump and
of the electrifying machine; by Sturm, [a. d. 1703,] the
founder of experimental physics ; by Fahrenheit, who [a. d.
1714] invented the thermometer ; by Kircher, the inventor of
the speaking-trumpet; by Ilausen, Wilke, Cuniius, Muschen-
broek, who improved the electrifying machine. Among the
chemists, before whose science alchymy fled, Glauber, who
gave his name to a celebrated salt, Becher, Stahl, Brand, the
discoverer of phosphorus, and Gmelin, merit particular men-
tion. Werner acquired great note as a mineralogist in Saxon
Freiberg at the close of the eighteenth century. Botany was
industriously studied by Haller of Switzerland, Volckamer of
Nuremberg, etc. ; Rumpfs "Herbarium Amboinense" con-
tains the most valuable botanical collection of this period.
Klein, the noted travellers, Pallas, Blumenbach, and Bech-
stein, were celebrated as zoologists. The first great phy-
siological periodical works were the curious Medic. Phys.
Ephemerida?, written in Latin, in which Christian Mentzel,
the celebrated linguist and naturalist, private physician to the
great elector, diligently recorded his observations, and the
" Breslau Collections."
Geography and natural history were greatly promoted by
travels undertaken for scientific purposes. Reinhold and
George Forster accompanied Cook round the world, a. d.
1772. The noted traveller, Kiimpfer, went with the Dutch
to Japan, a. d. 1716. Montanus, Neuhof, etc., wrote accounts
of the Dutch embassies to China, whence much information
was also sent by the Jesuits,* among whom, Tieffenthaler, the
Tyrolese, gained great fame at the commencement of the
eighteenth century by being the first, and, up to the present
period, the only European who travelled over-land from
China to India, and who first saw the Dawalagiri, the highest
mountain in the world. Carsten Niebuhr was the most cele-
brated among the travellers in Persia and Arabia. Pallas and
* Jesuits have continually distinguished themselves at Peking as
Mandarins, guardians of the observatory and presidents of an academy of
sciences, as, for instance, Goggeisl, a. d. 1771, and again in 1780, Father
Hallerstein of Swabia.
J
OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 139
Gmelin explored Siberia. Samuel Theophilus Gnielin, the
noted naturalist, nephew to the above-mentioned botanist
and geographer, travelled for the empress, Catherine II. of
Russia, Whilst travelling [a. d. 1774] in Tartary, he was
thrown into prison by one of the chiefs, who demanded 30,000
roubles for his ransom, which Catherine refused and he died in
prison. Egede and Kranz, Ilerrnhut missionaries, have given
an account of icy Greenland, Dobrizhofer, the Jesuit, another
of torrid Paraguay, etc.
In pharmacology the Germans have done more than any
other nation ; after them, the Dutch. Helmont, although
not free from the alchymical prejudices of his age, did much
good by his dietary method, all diseases, according to him,
proceeding from the stomach. Hermann Boerliaave, the
most eminent physician of his time, encouraged by the ana-
tomical discoveries of Lowenhoek and Ruysch, careiully inves-
tigated the internal formation of the human body in search of
the primary causes of diseases, but was led astray by the me-
chanical notion that all diseases originated in tlie improper
circulation or diminution of the humours of the body.* In
Germany proper, medicine was not brought to any degree of
perfection until a later period. Frederick Ilotlman, in pur-
suance of the system of Leibnitz, ascribed all diseases to mo-
tion and treated them simply as cramps. His suggestions
greatly advanced the science of pathology. Stahl, the Pietist,
opposed this mechanical theory and founded a mystical sys-
tem, which recognised the soul as forming the strength of
the body, the blood as the eternal foe of the divine power in-
herent in man, and therefore recommended its constant re-
striction and purification by means of bleeding. Albert von
Ilaller, the poet and naturalist, brought forward the system
of nervous pathology, which was carried still further by
Christopher Louis Hoffman, who ascribed all diseases to the
dissolution of the solids by the corruption of the humours.
Stoll, the empiric, opposed the whole of these theories, and
was the first who noted the impossibility of accounting for
the diseases by which nations were visited in various climes
* Boerhaave's numerous •works are, nevertheless, still regarded as text-
books by the profession ; his knowledge as an anatomist, chemist, and
botanist, as well as of the causes, nature, and treatment of diseases, was
unrivalled. — Translator.
HO THE LIBERAL TENDENCY
and at various periods ; he, nevertheless, chiefly considered
tlie gall bladder as the seat of infection, which he sought to
palliate by tlie use of emetics. Reil practised a more refined
empiricism. The discovery of animal magnetism by Mes-
mer [a. d. 1775] was an important one, not only in medicine,
but more particularly in psychology. It was first studied as
a science by John Frederick Gmelin, professor of chemistry
and natural history at Gottingen, and has since engaged the
attention of numerous physicians and psychologists. A mira-
culous property has been attributed to this discovery, which
is certainly one of the most extraordinary ever made ki in-
ventive Germany. Sommering was the most eminent of the
Ciorman anatomists. Gall gained a transient fame by his
novel phrenological ideas, and Lavater of Zurich by his science
of physiognomy. The belief in apparitions was again spread
throughout the Protestant world by this pious enthusiast and
by Jung Stilling, whilst Father Gassner, at the same time,
about A. D. 1770, inspired the Catholic population of Upper
Swabia with terror by his exorcism.
Philosophy gave, however, at that period, the tone to learn-
ing. The eighteenth century was termed the age of philoso-
phy, being that in which the French began in their Encyclo-
pedia to regard all human knowledge in an independent point
of view, neither ecclesiastical nor Christian. The Germans,
although borrowing their frivolous mock-enlightenment from
France, imitated the English in the serious study of philoso-
phy and philology. Under the protection of the king of
England, tlie Baron von Leibnitz, the celebrated mathemati-
cian and philosopher, shone at Hanover, like Albertus Mag-
nus, in every branch of learning. Llis system was a union of
the Christian mysticism of former times and of the scholastic
scientific modern philosophy, the result of the study of mathe-
matics and of the classics. According to him, an infinite num-
ber of worlds are possible in the Divine understanding ; but,
of all possible ones, God has chosen and formed the best.
Each being is intended to attain the highest degree of happi-
ness of which it is capable, and is to contribute, as a part, to
the perfection of the whole. The gradual deviation of phi-
losophy from Christianity, and the increasing siniilai'ity be-
tween it and heathenism, were in accordance with the spirit of
the age. In 1677, Spinosa, the Dutch Jew, reproduced, with
OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 141
subtle wit, the old doctrine of the mystic, Valentine Weigel,
concerning the original contradictions apparent in the world,
which he explained, not by a Cliristian idea of love, but by a
mathematical solution.* Leibnitz had numerous followers,
among whom, Bilfinger attempted by pure mathematical rea-
soning, unaided by revelation, to explain its most inexplicable
secret, the origin of evil, and AVolf converted his master's
theories into a convenient scholastic system, completely devoid
of mysticism and merely retaining the ideas consonant with
the doctrine of common Rationalism. He gained immense
fame by his opposition to the orthodox theologians. Mathe-
matical reasoning was certainly useful ibr the proper arrange-
ment of ideas, but was essentially devoid of purport. In
England, it led to mere scepticism, to a system of doubt and
negation, whence, instead of returning to the study of the-
ology, the English philosophers turned to a zealous research
in psychology, in which they were imitated by the Germans,
Platner, Keimarus, Mendelsohn, the physician Zimmermann,
etc. ; all of whom were surpassed by Kant in 1804, at Kiinigs-
berg, in his " Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Pure Rea-
son," which contains a critical analysis of every mental faculty.
His influence over his fellow countrymen was unlimited, owing
to his placing reason above all else, whilst he, at the same
time, strongly marked the moral necessities and duties of man,
and paid homage to the enlightenment, then in general vogue,
and to moral sobriety, the permanent national characteristic
of the German.
CCXLIV. Art and Fashion.
ALTHoron art had, under French influence, become un-
natural, bombastical, in fine, exactly contrary to every rule
of good taste, the courts, vain of their collections of works of
art, still emulated each other in the patronage of the artists
of the day, whose creations, tasteless as they were, never-
theless aflbrded a species of consolation to the people, by divert-
ing their thoughts from the miseries of daily existence.
* Spinosa renounced the Jewish religion for that of Calvin. He after-
wards became a Mennonist, and at last fell into the most dangerous scep-
ticism, if not downright atheism. — Translator.
142 ART AND FASHION.
Architecture degenerated in the greatest degree. Its sub-
limity was gradually lost as the meaning of the Gothic style
became less understood, and a tasteless imitation of the Roman
style, like that of St. Peter's at Rome, was brought into vogue
by the Jesuits and by the court-architects, by whom the cha-
teau of Versailles was deemed the highest chef-d'ceuvre of art.
This style of architecture was accompanied by a style of
sculpture equally unmeaning and forced ; saints and Pagan
deities in theatrical attitudes, fat genii, and coquettish nymphs
peopled the roofs of the churches and palaces, presided over
bridges, fountains, etc. Miniature turnery-ware and micro-
scopical sculpture also came into fashion. Such curiosities
as, for instance, a cherry-stone, on which Pranner, the
Carintliian, had carved upwards of a hundred faces; a chess-
board, the completion of whicli had occupied a Dutchman for
eighteen years ; golden carriages drawn by fleas ; toys com-
posed of porcelain or ivory in imitation of Chinese works of
art ; curious pieces of mechanism, musical clocks, etc., were
industriously collected into the cabinets of the wealthy and
powerful. This taste was, however, not utterly useless. The
l)redilection for ancient gems promoted the study of the remains
of antiquity, as Stosch, Lippcrt, and "Winekelmann prove, and
that of natural history was greatly facilitated by the collec-
tions of natural curiosities.
The style of painting was, however, still essentially Ger-
man, although deprived by the Reformation and by French
influence of its ancient sacred and spiritual character. Nature
was now generally studied in the search after the beautiful.
Among the pupils of Rubens, the great founder of the Dutch
school, Jordaens was distinguished for brilliancy and force of
execution, Van Dyk [a. d. 1o41] for grace and beauty, al-
though pi'incipally a portrait painter and incapable of ideal-
izing his subjects, in which Rembrandt, [a. d. 1674,] who
chose more extensive historical subjects, and whose colouring
is remarkable for depth and eflfect, was equally deficient.
Rembrandt's pupil, Gerhard Douw, introduced domestic
scenes ; his attention to the minutiae of his art was such that
he is said to have worked for three days at a broom-stick, in
order to represent it with perfect truth. Denner carried ac-
curacy still further ; in his portraits of old men every hair
AET AND FASHION. 143
in the beard is carefully imitated. Francis and "William*
Mieris discovered far greater talent in their treatment of social
and domestic groups ; Terbourg and Netscher, on the other
hand, delighted in the close imitation of velvet and satin
draperies ; and Schalken, in the effect of shadows and lamp-
light. Honthorstf attempted a higher style, but Van der
Werf's small delicious nudities and Van Loos's luxurious
pastoral scenes were better adapted to the taste of the times.
Whilst these painters belonged to the higher orders of society,
of which their works give evidence, numerous others studied
the lower classes with still greater success. Besides Van der
Meulen and Rugendas, the painters of battle-pieces, Wouwer-
mann chiefly excelled in the delineation of horses and groups
of horsemen, and Teniers, Ostade, and Jan Steen became
famous for tlie surpassing truth of their peasants and domes-
tic scenes. To this low but hajjpily-treated school also be-
longed the cattle-jjieces of Berchem and Paul de Potter, whose
"Bull and Cows" were, in a certain respect, as much the
ideal of the Dutch as the Madonna had formerly been that of
the Italians or the Venus di Medici that of the ancients.
Landscape-painting alone gave evidence of a higher style.
Nature, whenever undesecrated by the vulgarity of man, is
ever sublimely simple. The Dutch, as may be seen in the
productions of Breughel, called, from his dress, "Velvet
Breughel," and in those of Elzheimer, termed, from his atten-
tion to minutia^, the Denner of landscape-painting, were at
first too careful and minute ; but Paul Brill [a. d. 1626] was
inspired with finer conceptions and formed the link between
preceding artists and the magnificent Claude Lorraine, (so
called from the place of his birth, his real name being Claude
Gelee,) who resided for a long time at Munich, and who first
attempted to idealize nature as the Italian artists had formerly
idealized man. Everdingen and Ruysdael, on the contrary,
studied nature in her simple northern garb, and the sombre pines
of the former, the cheerful woods of the latter, will ever be at-
* AI30 his brother John, who painted willi equal talent in the same
style. — Translatou.
t Called also Gerardo dalle Notti from his subjects, principally night-
scenes and pieces illuminated by torch or candle-light. His most cele-
brated picture is that of Jesus Christ before the Tribunal of Pilate. —
Translator.
144 ART AND FASHION.
tractive, like pictures of a much-loved home, to the German.
Bakliuysen's sea-pieces and storms are faithful representations
of the Baltic. In the commencement of last century, land-
scape-painting also degenerated and became mere ornamental
flower-painting, of which the Dutch were so passionately fond
that tliey honoured and paid the most skilful artists in this
style like princes. The dull prosaic existence of the merchant
called for relief. Huysum was the most celebrated of the
flower-painters, with Rachel Ruysch, AVilliam von Arless, and
others of lesser note. Fruit and kitchen pieces were also greatly
admired. Ilondekotter was celebrated as a painter of birds.
Painting was, in this manner, confined to a slavish imitation
of nature, for whose lowest objects a predilection was evinced
until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a style, half
Italian, half antique, was introduced into Germany by the
operas, by travellers, and more particularly by the galleries
founded by the princes, and was still further promoted by the
learned researches of connoisseurs, more especially by those of
AVinckelmann. Mengs, the Raphael of Germany, Oeser,
Tischbein, the landscape-painters Seekatz, Hackert, Rein-
haidt, Koch, etc., formed the transition to the modern style.
Frey, Chodowiecki, etc. gained great celebrity as engravers.
Architecture flourished during the middle ages, painting at
the time of the Reformation, and music in modern times. The
same spirit that spoke to the eye in the eternal stone now
breathed in transient melody to the ear. The science of
music, transported by Dutch artists into Italy, had been there
assiduously cultivated ; the Italians had speedily surpassed
their masters, and had occupied themselves with the creation
of a peculiar church-music and of the profane opera, whilst
the Netherlands and the whole of Germany was convulsed by
bloody religious wars. After the peace of Westphalia, the
national music of Germany, with the exception of the choral
music in the Protestant churches, was almost silent, and
Italian operas were introduced at all the courts, where Italian
chapel-masters, singers, and performers were patronized in
imitation of Louis XIY., who pursued a similar system in
France. German talent was reduced to imitate the Italian
masters, and, in 1628, Sagittarius produced at Dresden the
first German opera in imitation of the Italian, and Keyser
published no fewer than one hundred and sLsteen.
I
ART AND FASHION. 145
The German musicians were, nevertheless, earlier than the
German poets, animated with a desire to extirpate the foreign
and degenerate mode fostered by the vanity of the German
princes, and to give free scope to their original and native talent.
This regeneration was effected by the despised and simple or-
ganists of the Protestant churches. In 1717, Schroeder, a na-
tive of Hohenstein in Saxony, invented the pianoforte and im-
proved the organ. Sebastian Bach, in his colossal fugues,
like to a pillared dome dissolved in melody,* raised music
by his compositions to a height unattained by any of his suc-
cessors. He was one of the most extraordinary geniuses that
ever appeared on earth. Handel, whose glorious melodies en-
tranced the senses, produced the grand oratorio of the " Mes-
siah," which is still performed in both Protestant and Catholic
cathedrals ; and Graun, with whom Frederick the Great
played the flute, brought private singing- into vogue by his
musical compositions. Gluck was the first composer who in-
troduced the depth and pathos of more solemn music into the
opera. He gained a complete triumph at Paris over Piccini,
the celebrated Italian musician, in his contest respecting the
comparative excellencies of the German and Italian schools.
Haydn introduced the variety and melody of the opera into
the oratorio, of which his " Creation " is a standing proof. In
the latter half of the foregoing century, church music has
gradually yielded to the opera. Mozart brought the operatic
style to perfection in the wonderful compositions that eternal-
ize his fame.
The German theatre was, owing to the Gallomania of the
period, merely a bad imitation of the French stage. Gott-
sched,"!" who greatly contributed towards the reformation of
German literature, still retained the stilted Alexandrine and
the pseudo-Gallic imitation of the ancient dramatists to which
Lessing put an end. Lessing wrote his " Dramaturgy " at
Hamburg, recommended Shakspeare and other English au-
thors as models, but more particularly, nature. The celebrated
Eckhof, the father of the German stage, who at first travelled
about with a company of actors and finally settled at Gotha,
was the first who followed this innovation. He was succeeded
* Gothic architecture has been likened to petrified music,
t He was assisted in his dramatic ■writings by his wife, a woman of
splendid talents — Translatok.
VOL. in. L
146 INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES.
by Schroeder in Hamburg, who was equally industrious as a
poet, an actor, and a freemason. In Berlin, wliere Fleck had
already paved the way, Iffland, who, like Schroeder, was both
a poet and an actor, founded a school, which in every respect
took nature as a guide, and which raised the German stage to
its well-merited celebrity.
At the close of the eighteenth century, men of education
were seized with an enthusiasm for art, which showed itself
principally in a love for the stage and in visits for the promo-
tion of art to Italy. The poet and the painter, alike dissatis-
iied witli reality, sought to still their secret longings for the
l)eautiful amid the unreal creations of fancy and the records
of classical antiquity.
Fashion, tliat masker of nature, that creator of deformity,
had, in truth, arrived at an unparalleled pitch of ugliness. The
German costume, although sometimes extravagantly curious
(luring the middle ages, had nevertheless always retained a
certain degree of picturesque beauty, nor was it until the
reign of Louis XIV. of France, that dress assumed an un-
natural, inconvenient, and monstrous form. Enormous al-
longe-perukes and ruffles, the fontange, (high head-dress,)
hoops, and high-heels, rendered the human race a caricature
of itself. In the eighteenth century, powdered wigs of extra-
ordinai-y shape, hairbags and queues, frocks and frills, came
into fashion for the men ; powdered head-dresses, an ell in
height, diminutive waists, and patches for the women. The
deformity, unhealthiness, and absurdity of this mode of attire
were vainly pointed out by Salzmann, in a piece entitled,
" Charles von Carlsberg, or Human Misery."
CCXLV. Influence of the Belles- Lettres.
The German, excluded from all participation in public af-
fjiirs and confined to the narrow limits of his family circle and
profession, followed his natural bent for speculative philosophy
and poetical reverie ; but whilst his thoughts became more ele-
vated and the loss of his activity was, in a certain degree,
compensated by the gentle dominion of the muses, the mitiga-
tion thus aiforded merely aggravated the evil by rendering him
content with his state of inaction. Ere long, as in the most
degenerate age of ancient Rome, the citizen, amused by so-
INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES. 147
phists and singers, actors and jugglers, lost the remembrance
of his former power and rights and became insensible to his
state of moral degradation, to which the foreign notions, the
vain and frivolous character of most of the poets of the day, had
not a little contributed.
After the thirty years' war, the Silesian poets became re-
markable for Gallomania or the slavish imitation of those of
France. Unbounded adulation of the sovereign, bombastical
carmina on occasion of the birth, wedding, accession, victories,
f^tes, treaties of peace, and burial of potentates, love-couplets
equally strained, twisted compliments to female beauty, with
pedantic, often indecent, citations from ancient mythology,
chiefly characterized this school of poetry. ^Martin Opitz.
[a. d. 1639,] the founder of the first Silesian school,* notwith-
standing the insipidity of the taste of the day, preserved the
harmony of the German ballad. His most distinguished fol-
lowers were Logau, celebrated for his Epigrams ; f Paul Ger-
hard, who, in his fine hymns, revived the force and simplicity
of Luther ; Flemming, a genial and thoroughly German poet,
the companion of Oleariusj during his visit to Persia ; the
gentle Simon Dach, whose sorrowing notes bewail tlie miser-
ies of the age. He founded a society of melancholy poets at
Kcinigsberg, in Prussia, the members of which composed
elegies for each other ; Tscherning and Andrew Gryphius,
the Corneille of Germany, a native of Glogau, whose dramas
are worthy of a better age than the insipid century in which
they were produced. The life of this dramatist was full of
incident. His father was poisoned ; his mother died of a
broken heart. He wandered over Germany during the thirty
years' war, pursued by fire, sword, and pestilence, to the lat-
ter of which the whole of his relations fell victims. He tra-
velled over the whole of Europe, spoke eleven languages, and
became a professor at Leyden, where he taught history, geo-
graphy, mathematics, physics, and anatomy. These poets
were, however, merely exceptions to the general rule. In the
* He -was a friend of Grotius and is called the father of German po-
etry. — Translator.
t Of -which an edition, much esteemed, was published by Lessing and
Ramler.
X Adam CElschlager or Olearius, an eminent traveller and mathema-
tician, a native of Anhalt. He became secretary to an embassy sent to
Russia and Persia by the duke of Holstein. — Translator.
l2
148 INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES.
poetical societies, the " Order of the Palm " or " Fructiferous
Society," founded A. d. 1617, at Weimar, by Caspar von Teut-
leben, the " Upright Pine Society," established by Rempler of
Lowenthal at Strassburg, that of the " Roses," founded a. d.
1643, by Philip von Zesen, at Hamburg, the" Order of the
Pegnitz-shepherds," founded A. d. 1644, by Harsdiirfer, at Nu-
remberg, the spirit of the Italian and French operas and aca-
demies prevailed, and pastoral poetry, in which the god of
Love was represented wearing an immense allonge-peruke,
and the coquettish immorality of the courts was glowingly de-
scribed in Arcadian scenes of delight, was cultivated. The
fantastical romances of Spain were also imitated, and the in-
vention of novel terms was deemed the highest triumph of the
poet. Every third word was either Latin, French, Spanish,
Italian, or English. Francisci of Liibeck, who described all the
discoveries in the New World in a colloquial romance contain-
ed in a thick folio volume, was the most extravagant of these
scribblers. The romances of Antony Ulric, duke of Bruns-
wick, who embraced Catholicism on the occasion of the mar-
riage of his daughter with the emperor Charles VI., are
equally bad. Lauremberg's satires, written A. D. 1654, are
excellent. He said with great truth, that the French had de-
prived the German muse of her nose and had patched on another
quite unsuited to German ears. IMoscherosch (Philander von
Sittewald) wrote an admirable and cutting satire upon the
manners of the age, and Greifenson von Hirschfeld is worthy
of mention as the author of the first historical romance, that
gives an accurate and graphic account of the state of Germany
during the thirty yeai's' war.
This first school was succeeded by a second of surpassing
extravagance. Hoifman von Hoffniannswaldau, [a. d. 1679,]
the founder of the second Silesian school, was a caricature of
Opitz, Lohenstein of Gryphius, Besser of Flemming, Talan-
der and Ziegler of Zesen, and even Francisci was outdone by
that most intolerable of romancers, Happel. This school was
remarkable for the most extravagant licence and bombastical
nonsense, a sad proof of the moral perversion of the age. The
German character, nevertheless, betrayed itself by a sort of
naive pedantry, a proof, were any wanting, that tlie ostenta-
tious absurdities of the poets of Germany were but bad and
paltry imitations. The French Alexandrine was also brought
INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES. 149
into vogue by this school, whose immorality was carried to
the highest pitch by Gunther, the lyric poet, who, in the
commencement of the eighteenth century, opposed marriage,
attempted the emancipation of the female sex, and, with
criminal geniaUty, recommended his follies and crimes, as
highly interesting, to the world. To him the poet, Schnabel,
the author of an admirable romance, the " Island of Felsen-
burg," the asylum, in another hemisphere, of virtue, exiled
from Europe, offers a noble contrast.
Three Catholic poets of extreme originality appear at the
close of the seventeenth century, Angelus Silesius, (Scheffler
of Breslau,) who gave to the world his devotional thoughts in
German Alexandrines ; Father Abraham a Sancta Clara,
(Megerle of Swabia,) a celebrated Viennese preacher, who,
with comical severity, wrote satires abounding with wit and
humorous observations ; and Balde, who wrote some fine Latin
poems on God and nature. Priitorius, [a. d. 1680,] the first
collector of the popular legendary ballads concerning Riibe-
zahl and other spirits, ghosts and witches, also deserves men-
tion. The Silesian, Stranizki, who [a. d. 1708] founded the
Leopoldstadt theatre at Vienna, which afterwards became so
celebrated, and gave to it the popular comic style, for which
it is famous at tlie present day, was also a poet of extreme
originality. Gottsohed appeared as the hero of Gallomania,
which was at that time threatened with gradual extinction by
the Spanish and Hamburg romance and by Viennese wit.
Assisted by Neubei", the actress, he extirpated all that was
not strictly Fi-ench, solemnly burnt harlequin in effigy at
Leipzig, [a. d. 1737,] and laid down a law for German po-
etry, which prescribed obedience to the rules of the stilted
French court-poetry, under pain of the critic's lash. He and
his learned wife guided the literature of Germany for several
years.
In the midst of these literary aberrations, during the first
part of the foregoing century, Thomson, the English poet,
Brokes of Hamburg, and the Swiss, Albert von Haller, gave
their descriptions of nature to the world. Brokes, in his
"Earthly Pleasures in God," was faithful, often Homeric, in
his descriptions, whilst Haller depictured his native Alps
with unparalleled sublimity. The latter was succeeded by a
Swiss school, which imitated the witty and liberal-minded
loO INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES.
criticisms of Addison and other English writers, and opposed
French taste and Gottsched. At its head stood Bodnier and
Breitinger, who recommended nature as a guide, and instead
of the study of French literature, that of the ancient classics
and of English authors. It was also owing to their exertions
that Miiller published an edition of Rudiger Maness's collec-
tion of Swabian Minnelieder, the connecting link between
modern and ancient German poetry. Still, notwithstanding
thf'ir merit as critics, they were no poets, and merely opened
to otliers the road to improvement. Ilagedorn, although fri-
volous in his ideas, was graceful and easy in his versification ;
but the most eminent poet of the age was Gellert of Leipzig,
[a. d. 1769,] whose tales, fables, and essays brought him into
such note as to attract the attention of Frederick the Great,
wIk), notwithstanding the contempt in which he held the po<ts
of Germany, honoured him witli a personal visit.
Poets and critics now rose in every quarter and pitilessly
assailed Gottsched, the champion of Gallomania. They were
themselves divided into two opposite parties, into Angloman-
ists and Grajcomanists, according to their predilection for mo-
dern English literature or for that of ancient Greece and
liome. England, grounded, as upon a rock, on her self-gained
constitution, produced men of the rarest genius in all the
higher walks of science and literature, and her philosophers,
naturalists, historians, and poets exercised the happiest influ-
ence over their Teutonic bretiiren, who sought to regain from
them the vigour of which they had been deprived by France.
The power and national learning of Germany break forth in
Klopstock, whose genius vainly sought a natural garb and was
compelled to assume a borrowed form. He consecrated his muse
to the service of religion, but, in so doing, imitated the Homeric
hexameters of ^lilton ; he sought to arouse the national pride
of his countrymen by recalling the deeds of Hermann ( Armin)
and termed himself a bard, but, in the Horatian metre of his
songs, imitated Ossian, the old Scottish bard, and was con-
sequently laboured and atfected in his style. Others took the
lesser English poets for their model, as, for instance, Kleist,
who fell at Kunersdorf, copied Thomson in his " Spring ;"
Zacharia, Pope, in his satirical pieces ; Hermes, in " The Travels
of Sophia," the humorous romances of Richardson ; Miiller
von Itzehoe, in his "Siegfried von Lindenberg," the comic
INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES. 151
descriptions of Smollett. The influence of the celebrated
English poets, Shakspeare, Swift, and Sterne, on the tone of
German humour and satire, "was still greater. Swift's first
imitator, Liscow, discovered considerable talent, and Rabener,
a great part of whose manuscripts was burnt during the siege
of Dresden in the seven years' war, wrote witty, and at the
same time instructive, satires on the manners of his age.
Both were surpassed by Lichtenberg, the little hump-backed
philosopher of Gottingen, whose compositions are replete with
grace. The witty and amiable Thiimmel was also formed on
an English model, and Archenholz solely occupied himself
with transporting the customs and literature of England into
Germany. If Shakspeare has not been without influence
upon Goethe and Schiller, Sterne, in his " Sentimental Jour-
ney," touched an echoing chord in the German's heart by
blending pathos with his jests, llippel was the first who,
like him, united wit with pathos, mockery with tears.
In Klopstock, Anglo and Graicomania were combined.
The latter had, however, also its particular school, in which
each of the Greek and Roman poets found his imitator. Voss,
for instance, took Homer for his model, Ramler, Horace, Gleim,
Anacreon, Gessner, Theocritus, Cramer, Pindar, Lichtwer,
^sop, etc. The Germans, in the ridiculous attempt to set
themselves up as Greeks, were, in truth, barbarians. But all
was forced, unnatural, and perverted in tiiis aping age. AVie-
land alone was deeply sensible of this want of nature, and
hence arose his predilection for the best poets of Greece and
France. The German muse, led by his genius, lost her an-
cient stiffness and acquired a pliant grace, to which the stern-
est critic of his too lax morality is not insensible. Some lyric
poets, connected with the Gntcomanists by the Gottingen
Hainlmnd, preserved a noble simplicity, more particularly
Sabs and Holty, and also Count Stolberg, wherever he has
not been led astray by Voss's stilted manner. !Matthison is,
on the other hand, most tediously affected.
The German, never more at home than when abroad, boast-
ed of being the cosmopolite he had become, made a virtue of
necessity, and termed his want of patriotism, justice to others,
humanity, philanthropy. Fortunately for him, there were,
besides the French, other nations on which he could model
himself, the ancient Greeks and the English, from each of
152 INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES.
whom he gathered something until he had converted himself
into a sort of universal abstract. The great poets, who
shortly before and after the seven years' war, put an end to
mere partial imitations, were not actuated by a reaction of
nationality, but by a sentiment of universality. Their object
was, not to oppose the German to the foreign, but simply the
human to the single national element, and, although Germany
gave them birth, they regarded the whole world equally as
their country.
Lessing, by his triumph over the scholastic pedants, com-
pleted what Thomasius had begun, by his irresistible criticism
(h'ove French taste from the literary arena, aided Winckelmann
to promote the study of the ancients and to foster the love of
art, and raised the German theatre to an unprecedented height.
His native language, in which lie always wrote, breathes,
1 ven in his most trifling works, a free and lofty spirit, wliich,
fascinating in every age, was more peculiarly so at that emas-
culated period. He is, however, totally devoid of patriotism.
In his " !Minna von Barnhelm,'' he inculcates the finest feel-
ings of honour ; his " Nathan " is replete with the wisdom
"that Cometh from above" and with calm dignity; and, in
" Emilia Galotti," he has been the first to draw the veil,
hitherto respected, from scenes in real life. His life was, like
his mind, independent. He scorned to cringe for favour, even
disdained letters of recommendation when visiting Italy,
(Winckelmann had deviated from the truth for the sake of
pleasing a patron,) contented himself with the scanty lot of a
librarian at AVolfenbiittel, and even preferred losing that ap-
pointment rather than subject himself to the censorship. He
was the boldest, freest, finest spirit of the age.
Herder, although no less noble, was exactly his opposite.
Of a soft and yielding temperament, unimaginative, and gifted
with little penetration, but with a keen sense of the beautiful
in others, lie opened to his fellow countrymen with unremit-
ting diligence the literary treasures of foreign nations, ancient
classical poetry, that, hitherto unknown, of the East, and
rescued from obscurity the old popular poetry of Germany.
In his " Ideas of a Philosophical History of Mankind," he at-
tempted to display in rich and manifold variety the moral
character of every nation and of every age, and, whilst thus
creating and improving the taste for poetry and history, ever,
INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES. 153
with child-like piety, sought for and revered God in all his
works.
Goethe, with a far richer imagination, possessed the elegance
but not the independence of Lessing, all the softness, pathos,
and universality of Herder, without his faith. In the treat-
ment and choice of his subjects he was indubitably the great-
est poet of Germany, but he was never inspired with enthu-
siasm except for himself. His personal vanity was excessive.
His works, like the lights in his apartment at Weimar, which
were skilfully disposed so as to present him in the most
favourable manner to his visitors, but artfully reflect upon
self. The manner in which he palliated the weaknesses of
the heart, the vain inclinations, shared by his contemporaries
in common with himself, rendered him the most amiable and
popular author of the day. French frivolity and licence had
long been practised, but they had also been rebuked. Gccthe
was tlie tirst who gravely justified adultery, rendered the
sentimental voluptuary an object of enthusiastic admiration,
and deified tlie heroes of the stage, in whose imaginary for-
tunes the German forgot sad reality and the wretched fate of
his country. His fade assumption of dignity, the art with
which he threw the veil of mystery over liis frivolous tenden-
cies and made his common-place ideas pass for something in-
credibly sublime, naturally met with astonishing success in his
wonder-seeking times.
Rousseau's influence, the ideas of universal reform, the ex-
ample of England, proud and free, but still more, the enthu-
siasm excited by the American war of independence, inflamed
many heads in Germany and raised a poetical opposition,
which began with the bold-spirited Schubart, whose liberal
opinions threw him into a prison, but whose spirit still breathed
in his songs and roused that of Iiis great countryman, Schil-
ler. The first cry of the oppressed people was, by Schiller,
repeated with a prophet's voice. In him their woes found an
eloquent advocate. Lessing had vainly appealed to the un-
derstanding, but Schiller spoke to the heart, and if the seed,
sown by him, fell partially on corrupt and barren ground, it
found a fostering soil, in the warm, unadulterated hearts of the
youth of both sexes. He recalled his fellow men, in those
frivolous times, to a sense of self-respect, restored to innocence
the power and dignity of which she had been deprived by
154 INFLUENCE OF THE BELLES-LETTRES.
ridicule, and became the champion of liberty, justice, and
his country, things from which the love of pleasure and the
aristocratic self-complacency, exemplified in Goethe, had gra-
dually and completely weaned succeeding poets. Klinger, at
the same time, coarsely portrayed the vices of the church and
state, and Meyern extravagated in his romance "Dya-Na- Sore"
on Utopian happiness. The poems of Miiller, the painter, are
full of latent warmth. Biirger, Pfeffel, the blind poet, and
Claudius, gave utterance, in Schubart's coarse manner, to a
few tame truisms. Musfeus was greatly admired for his
amusing popular stories. As for the rest, it seemed as though
the spiritless writers of that day had found it more con-
venient to be violent and savage in their endless chivalric
pieces and romances than, like Schiller, steadily and courage-
ously to attack the vices and evils of their age. Their fire
but ended in smoke. Babo and Ziegler alone, among the
dramatists, have a liberal tendency. The spirit tliat liad been
called forth also degenerated into mere bacchanalian licence,
and, in order to return to nature, the limits set by decency
and custom were, as by Heinse, for instance, who thus dis-
graced his genius, wantonly overthrown.
In contradistinction to these wild spirits, which, whether
borne aloft by their genius or impelled by ambition, quitted
the narrow limits of daily existence, a still greater number of
poets employed their talents in singing the praise of common
life, and brought domesticity and household sentimentality
into vogue. The very prose of life, so unbearable to the
former, was by them converted into poetry. Although the
ancient Idylls and the family scenes of English authors were
at first imitated, this style of poetry retained an essentially
German originality ; the hero of the modern Idyll, unlike his
ancient model, was a fop tricked out with wig and cane, and
the domestic hero of the tale, unlike his English counterpart,
was a mere political nullity. It is perhaps well when domes-
tic comforts replace the want of public life, but these poets
hugged the chain they Imd decked with flowers, and forgot
the reality. They forgot that it is a misfortune and a dis-
grace for a German to be without a country, without a great
national interest, to be the most unworthy descendant of the
greatest ancestors, the prey and the jest of the foreigner ; to this
they were indifferent, insensible ; they laid down the maxim,
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 155
that a German has nothing more to do than " to provide for"
himself and his family, no other enemy to repel than domestic
trouble, no other duty than " to keep his German wife in or-
der," to send his sons to the university, and to marry his
daughters. These common-place private interests were with-
al merely adorned with a little sentimentality. No noble mo-
tive is discoverable in Yoss's celebrated " Louisa " and Goe-
the's " Hermann and Dorothea." This style of poetry was so
easy, that hundreds of weak-headed men and women made it
their occupation, and family scenes and plays speedily surpassed
the romances of chivalry in number. The poet, nevertheless,
exercised no less an influence, notwithstanding his voluntary
renunciation of his privilege to elevate the sinking minds of
his countrymen by the great memories of the past or by ideal
images, and his degradation of poetry to a mere palliation of
the weaknesses of humanity.
PART XXII.
THE GREAT WARS AVITH FRANCE.
CCXLVI. The French Revolution.
In no other European state had despotism reached to such a
pitch as in France ; the people groaned beneath the heavy
burthens imposed by the court, the nobility, and the clergy,
and against these two estates there was no appeal, their tyranny
being protected by the court, to which tliey had servilely sub-
mitted. The court had rendered itself not only unpopular,
but contemptible, by its excessive licence, which had also
spread downwards among the higher classes ; the government
was, moreover, impoverished by extravagance and weakened
by an incapable administration, the lielm of state, instead of
being guided by a master-hand, having fallen under Louis XV.
into that of a woman.
In France, where the ideas of modern philosophy emanated
156 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
from the court, they spread more rapidly than in any other coun-
try among the tiers-etat, and the spirit of research, of improve-
ment, of ridicule of all that was old, naturally led the people
to inquire into the administration, to discover and to ridicule
its errors. The natural wit of the people, sharpened by daily
oppression and emboldened by Voltaire's unsparing ridicule of
objects hitherto held sacred, found ample food in the policy
pursued by the government, and ridicule became the weapon
with Avhich the tiers-etat revenged the tyranny of the higher
classes. As learning spread, the deeds of other nations, who
had happily and gloriously cast off the yoke of their oppressors,
became known to the people. Tlie names of the patriots of
Greece and Rome passed from mouth to mouth, and their ac-
tions became the theme of the rising generation ; but more
powerful than all in effect, was the example of the North
Americans, who [a. d. 1783] separated themselves from their
mother-country, England, and founded a republic. France,
intent upon weakening her ancient foe, lent her countenance
to the new republic, and numbers of her sons fought beneath
her standard and bore the novel ideas of liberty back to their
native land, where they speedily produced a fermentation
among their mercurial countrjTnen.
Louis XV., a voluptuous and extravagant monarch, was
succeeded by Louis XVI., a man of refined habits, pious and
benevolent in disposition, but unpossessed of the moral power
requisite for the extermination of the evils deeply rooted in
the government. His queen, !Marie Antoinette, sister to
Joseph II., little resembled her brother or her husband in her
tastes, was devoted to gaiety, and, by her example, counten-
anced the most lavish exti'avagance. The evil increased to
a fearful degree. The taxes no longer sufficed ; the ex-
chequer was robbed by privileged thieves ; an enormous debt
continued to increase ; and the king, almost reduced to the
necessity of declaring the state bankrupt, demanded aid from
the nobility and clergy, who, hitherto free from taxation, had
collected the whole wealth of the empire into their hands.
The aristocracy, ever blind to their true interest, refused
to comply, and, by so doing, compelled the king to have re-
course to the tiers-etat. Accordingly, a. d. 1789, he con-
voked a general assembly, in which the deputies sent by the
citizen and peasant classes were not only numerically equal
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 157
to those of the aristocracy, but were greatly superior to them
in talent and energy, and, on the refusal of the nobility and
clergy to comply with the just demands of the tiers-etat, or
even to hold a common sitting with their despised inferiors,
these deputies declared the national assembly to consist of
themselves alone, and proceeded, on their own responsibility,
to scrutinize the evils of the administration and to discuss
remedial measures. The whole nation applauded the manly
and courageous conduct of its representatives. The Pai'isians,
ever in extremes, revolted, and murdered the unpopular pub-
lic officers ; the soldiers, instead of quelling the rebellion,
fraternized with the people. The national assembly, em-
boldened by these first successes, undertook a thorough trans-
formation of the state, and, in order to attain tlie object for
which they had been assembled, that of procuring supplies,
declared the aristocracy subject to taxation, and sold the
enormous property belonging to the church. They went still
further. The people was declared the only true sovereign,
and the king the first servant of the state. All distinctions
and privileges were abolished, and all Frenchmen were de-
clared equal.
The nobility and clergy, infuriated by this dreadful humili-
ation, imbittered the people still more against them by their
futile opposition, and, at length convinced of the hopelessness
of their cause, emigrated in crowds and attempted to form
another France on the borders of their country in the German
Rhenish provinces. Worms and Coblentz were their chief
places of resort. In the latter city, they continued their
Parisian mode of life at the expense of the avaricious elector
of Treves, Clement "Wenzel, a Saxon prince, by whose power-
ful minister, Dominique, they were supported, and acted with
unparalleled impudence. They were headed by the two
brothers of the French king, who entered into negotiation
with all the foreign powers, and they vowed to defend the
cause of the sovereigns against the people. Louis, who for
some time wavered between the national assembly and the
emigrants, was at length persuaded by the queen to throw
himself into the arms of the latter, and secretly fled, but was
retaken and subjected to still more rigorous treatment. The
emigrants, instead of saving, hurried him to destruction.
The other European powers at first gave signs of inde-
158 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
cision. Blinded by a policy no longer suited to the times, they
merely beheld in the French Revolution the ruin of a state
hitherto inimical to them, and rejoiced at the event. The pros-
pect of an easy conquest of the distracted country, however,
ere long led to the resolution on their part of actively inter-
fering with its aifairs. Austria was insulted in the person of
the French queen, and, as head of the empire, was bound to
protect the rights of the petty Rhenish princes and nobility,
who possessed property and ecclesiastical or feudal rights * on
French territory, and had been injured by the new constitu-
tion. Prussia, habituated to despotism, came forward as its
champion in the hope of gaining new laurels for her unem-
ployed army. A conference took place at Pillnitz in Saxony,
A. D. 1791, between the emperor Leopold and king Frederick
William, at which the count D' Artois, the youngest brother
of Louis XVI., Avas present, and a league was formed against
the Revolution. The old ministers strongly opposed it. In
Prussia, Herzberg drew upon himself the displeasure of
his sovereign by zealously advising a union with France
against Austria. In Austria, Kaunitz recommended peace,
and said that were he allowed to act he would defeat the im-
petuous French by his " patience ;" that, instead of attacking
France, he would calmly watch the event and allow her, like a
volcano, to bring destruction upon herself Ferdinand of
Brunswick, field-marshal of Prussia, was equally opposed to
war. His fame as the gi-eatest general of his time had been
too easily gained, more by his manoeuvres than by his vic-
tories, not to induce a fear on his side of being as easily
deprived of it in a fresh war ; but the proposal of the revo-
lutionary party in France, within whose minds the memory
* To the archbishopric of Cologne belonged the bishopric of Strasburg,
to the archbishopric of Treves, the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, Verdun,
Nancy, St. Diez. Wiirtemberg, Baden, Darmstadt, Nassau, Pfalz-Zwei-
briicken, Leiningen, Salm-Salm, Hohenlohe-Bartenstein, Lbwenstein-
Wertheim, the Teutonic order, the knights of St. John,the immediate no-
bility of the empire, the bishop of Basle, etc., had, moreover, feudal rights
■within the French territory. The arch-chancellor, elector of Mayence,
made the patriotic proposal to the imperial diet, that the empire should,
now that France had, by the violation of the conditions of peace, in-
fringed the old and shameful treaties by which Germany had been de-
prived of her provinces, seize the opportunity also on her part to refuse
to recognise those treaties, and to regain what she had lost. This sens-
ible proposal, however, found no one capable of carrying it into effect.
THE FRENCH REYOLUTIOX. 159
of Eossbacli was still fresh, mistrustful of French skill, to
nominate him generalissimo of the troops of the republic, con-
spired with the incessant entreaties of the emigrants to re-
animate his courage ; and he finally declared that, followed by
the famous troops of the great Frederick, he would put a
speedy termination to the French Revolution.
Leopold II. was, as brother to Marie Antoinette, greatly
imbittered against the French. The disinclination of the
Austrians to the reforms of Joseph II. appears to have chiefly
confirmed him in the conviction of finding a sure support in
the old system. He consequently strictly prohibited the
sHghtest innovation and placed a power hitherto unknown in
the hands of the police, more particularly in those of its secret
functionaries, who listened to every word and consigned the
suspected to the oblivion of a dungeon. This mute terrorism
found many a victim. This system was, on the death of
Leopold II., A. D. 1792,* publicly abolished by his son and
successor, Francis II., but was ere long again carried on in
secret.
Catherine II., with the view of seizing the rest of Poland,
employed every art in order to instigate Austria and Prussia
to a war with France, and by these means fully to occupy
them in the West. The Prussian king, although aware of
her projects, deemed the French an easy conquest, and that
in case of necessity his armies could without difficulty be
thrown into Poland. He meanwhile secured the popular feel-
ing in Poland in his favour by concluding [a. d. 1790] an
alUance with Stanislaus and giving his consent to the im-
proved constitution established in Poland, a. D. 1791. Herz-
berg had even counselled an alliance with France and Poland,
the latter was to be bribed with a promise of the annexation
of Gallicia, against Austria and Russia ; this plan was how-
ever merely whispered about for the purpose of blinding the
Poles and of alarming Russia.
The bursting storm was anticipated on the part of the
French by a declaration of war, a. d. 1792, and whilst Austria
* His sons were the emperor Francis II., Ferdinand, grand-duke of
Tuscany, the arch-duke Charles, celebrated for his military talents, Jo-
seph, palatine of Hungary', Antony, grand-master of the Teutonic order,
■who died at Vienna, a. d. 1835, John, a general, (he lived for many
years in Stj-ria,) the present imperial vicar-general of Germany, and
Ila)-ner, viceroy of Milan. — Translator.
160 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
still remained behind for the purpose of watching Russia, Po-
land, and Turkey, and the unwieldy empire was engaged in
raising troops, Ferdinand of Brunswick had already led the
Prussians across the Rhine. He was joined by the emigrants
under Conde, whose army almost entirely consisted of officers.
The well-known manifesto, published by the duke of Bruns-
wick on his entrance into France, and in which he declared
his intention to level Paris with the ground should the French
refuse to submit to the authority of their sovereign, was com-
posed by Renfner, the counsellor of the embassy at Berlin.
The emperor and Frederick William, persuaded that fear
would reduce the French to obedience, had approved of this
manifesto, which was, on the contrary, disapproved of by the
duke of Brunswick, on account of its barbarity and its ill-ac-
cordance with the rules of war.* He did not, however, with-
draw his signature on its publication. The effect of this mani-
festo was, that the French, instead of being struck with terror,
were maddened with rage, deposed their king, proclaimed a
republic, and flew to arms in order to defend their cities
against the barbarians threatening them with destruction.
The Orleans party and the Jacobins, who were in close alli-
ance with the German Illuminati, were at that time first able
to gain the mastery and to supplant the noble-spirited consti-
tutionists. A Prussian baron, Anacharsis Cloots,f was even
elected in the national convention of the French republic,
where he appeared as the advocate of the whole human race.
These atheistical babblers, however, talked to little purpose,
but the national pride of the troops, hastily levied and sent
against the invaders, effected wonders.
* Gentz, Avlio afterwards -wrote so many manifestoes for Austria,"prac-
tically remarks that this celebrated manifesto was in perfect conformity
with the intent, and that the only fault committed was the non-fulfilment
of the threats therein contained.
t From Cleve. He compared himself with Anacharsis the Scj-thian,
a barbarian, who visited Greece for the sake of learning. He sacriiiced
the whole of his property to the Revolution. Followed by a troop of men
dressed in the costumes of different nations, of whom they were the pre-
tended representatives, he appeared before the convention, from which
he demanded the liberation of the whole world from the yoke of kings
and priests. He became president of the great Jacobin club, and it was
principally owing to his instigations that the French, at first merely in-
tent upon defence, were roused to the attack and inspired with the desire
for conquest.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIOX. 161
The delusion of the Prussians was so complete that
Bischofswerder said to tlie officers, "Do not purchase too
many horses, the affiiir will soon be over ;" and the duke of
Brunswick remarked, " Gentlemen, not too much baggage,
this is merely a military trip."
The Prussians, it is true, wondered that the inhabitants
did not, as the emigrants had alleged they would, crowd to
meet and greet them as their saviours and liberators, but at
first they met with no opposition. The noble-spirited La-
fayette, who commanded the main body of the French army,
had at first attempted to march upon Paris for the purpose of
saving the king, but the troops were already too much repub-
licanized and he was compelled to seek refuge in the Nether-
lands, where he was, together with his companions, seized by
command of the emperor of Austria, and thrown into prison
at Olmiitz, where he remained during five years under the
most rigorous treatment merely on account of the liberality of
his opinions, because he wanted a constitutional king, and
notwithstanding his having endangered his life and his honour
in order to save his sovereign. Such was the hatred with
which high-minded men of strict principle were at that period
viewed, whilst at the same time a negotiation was carried on
with Dumouriez,* a characterless Jacobin intriguant, Avho had
succeeded Lafayette in the command of the French armies.
Ferdinand of Brunswick now became the dupe of Du-
mouriez, as he had formerly been that of the emigrants. In
the hope of a counter-revolution in Paris, he procrastinated
his advance and lost his most valuable time in the siege of
fortresses. Verdun fell : three beautiful citizens' daughters,
who had presented bouquets to the king of Prussia, were
afterwards sent to the guillotine by the republicans as traitor-
esses to their country. Ferdinand, notwithstanding this suc-
cess, still delayed his advance in the hope of gaining over the
wily French commander and of thus securing beforehand his
triumph in a contest in which his ancient fame might other-
* Dumouriez proposed as negotiator John Miillcr, vlio was at that
time teaching at Mayence, and ■who was in secret correspondence with
him. Vide Memoirs of a Celebrated Statesman, edited by Kiider. Eiider
remarks that John Miiller is silent in his autobiogi-aphy concerning his
correspondence with the Jacobins, for which he might, under a change
of circumstances, have had good reason.
VOL. HI. M
162 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
wise be at stake. The impatient king, who had accompanied
the army, spurred him on, but was, owing to his ignorance of
military matters, again pacified by the reasons alleged by the
cautious duke. Dumouriez, consequently, gained time to col-
lect considerable reinforcements and to unite his forces with
those under Kellermann of Alsace. The two armies came
within sight of each other at Valmy ; the king gave orders
for battle, and the Prussians were in the act of advancing
against the heights occupied by Xellerraann, when the duke
suddenly gave orders to halt and drew oif the troops under a
loud vivat from the French, who beheld this movement with
astonishment. The king was at first greatly enraged, but
was afterwards persuaded by the duke of the prudence of this
extraordinary step. Negotiations were now carried on with
increased spirit. Dumouriez, who, like Kaunitz, said that
the French, if left to themselves, would inevitably fall a prey
to intestine convulsions, also contrived to accustom the king
to the idea of a future alliance with France. The result of
these intrigues was an armistice and the retreat of the Prus-
sian army, which dysentery, bad weather, and bad roads ren-
dered extremely destructive.
Austria was now, owing to the intrigues of the duke of
Brunswick and the credulity of Frederick William, left unpro-
tected. As early as June, old ^Marshal Lukner invaded
Flanders, but, being arrested on suspicion, was replaced by
Dumouriez, who continued the war in the Netherlands and
defeated the stadtholdei", Albert, duke of Saxon- Teschen, (son-
in-law to IMaria Theresa, in consideration of which he had
been endowed with the principality of Teschen and the stadt-
holdership at Brussels,) at Jemappes, and the whole of the
Netherlands fell into the hands of the Jacobins, who, on the
14th of November, entered Brussels, where they proclaimed
liberty and equality. A few days later (19th November) the
national convention at Paris proclaimed liberty and equality
to all nations, promised their aid to all those who asserted
their liberty, and threatened to compel those who chose to
remain in slavery to accept of liberty. As a preliminary,
however, the Netherlands, after being declared free, were
ransacked of every description of movable property, of which
Pache, a native of Freiburg in Switzerland, at that time the
French minister of war, received a large share. The fluctua-
GERMAN JACOBINS. 163
tions of the vrar, however, speedily recalled the Jacobins.
Another French army under Custines, which had marched to
the Upper Rhine, gained time to take a firm footing in
Mayence,
CCXLVII. German Jacobins.
In Lorraine and Alsace, the Revolution had been hailed
with delight by tlie long-oppressed people. On the 10th of
July, 1789, the peasants destroyed the park of the bishop,
Rohan, at Zabern, and killed immense quantities of game.
The chateaux and monasteries throughout the country were
afterwards reduced to heaps of ruins, and, in Suntgau, the
peasants took especial vengeance on the Jews, who had, in that
place, long lived on the fat of the land. Miilhausen received
a democratic constitution and a Jacobin club. In Strassburg,
the town-house was assailed by the populace,* notwithstand-
ing which, order was maintained by the mayor, Dietrich. The
unpopular bishop, Rohan, was replaced by Brendel, against
whom the people of Colmar revolted, and even assaulted him
in the church for having taken the oath imposed by the
French republic, and which was rejected by all good Catholics.
Dietrich, aided by the great majority of the citizens of Strass-
burg, long succeeded in keeping the sans culottes .at bay, but
was at length overcome, deprived of his office, and guillotined
at Paris, whilst Eulogius Schneider, who had formerly been
a professor at Bonn, then court preacher to the Catholic duke,
Charles of Wiirtemberg,f became the tyrant of Strassburg,
and, in the character of public accuser before the revolution-
ary tribunal, conducted the executions. The national con-
vention at Paris nominated as his colleague Monet, a man
twenty-four years of age, totally ignorant of the German lan-
guage, and who merely made himself remarkable for his open
* Oberlin, the celebrated philologist, an ornament to German learning,
a professor at Strassburg, rescued, at the risk of his life, a great portion
of the ancient city archives, which had been thrown out of the windows,
by re-collecting the documents with the aid of the students. On account
of this sample of old German pedantry, he pined, until 1793, in durance
vile at Metz, and narrowly escaped being guillotined.
t At Bonn he had the impudence to say to the elector, " I cannot pay
you a higher compliment than by asserting that you are no Catholic." —
Van Alpen, History of Rhenish Franconia.
M 2
164 GERMAN JACOBINS.
rapacity.* This was, however, a mere prelude to far greater
horrors. Two members of the convention, St. Just and Lebas,
unexpectedly appeared at Strassburg, declared that nothing
had as yet been done, ordered the executions to take place on
a larger scale, and [a. d. 1793] imposed a fine of 9,000,000
livres on the already plundered city. The German costume
and mode of writing were also prohibited ; every sign, written
in German, affixed to the houses, was taken down, and, finally,
the whole of the city council and all the officers of the national
guard were arrested and either exiled or guillotined, notwith-
standing their zealous advocacy of revolutionary principles, on
the charge of an understanding with Austria, without proof,
on a mere groundless suspicion, without being permitted to
defend themselves, for the sole purpose of removing them out
of the way in order to replace them with true-born French-
men, a Parisian mob, who established themselves in the deso-
late houses. Schneider and Brendel continued to retain
their places by means of the basest adulation. On the 21st
of November, a great festival was solemnized in the Min-
ster, which had been converted into a temple of Reason.
The bust of Marat, the most loathsome of all the monsters
engendered by the Revolution, was borne in solemn pro-
cession to the cathedral, before whose portals an immense
fire was fed with pictures and images of the saints, cruci-
fixes, priests' garments, and sacred vessels, among which
Brendel hurled his mitre. Within the cathedral walls, Schnei-
der delivered a discourse in controversion of the Christian re-
ligion, which he concluded by solemnly renouncing ; a num-
ber of Catholic ecclesiastics followed his example. All the
statues and ecclesiastical symbols were piled in a rude heap at
the foot of the great tower, which it was also attempted to
pull down for the promotion of universal equality, an attempt,
which the extraordinary strength of the building and the short
reign of revolutionary madness fortunately frustrated. All
the more wealthy citizens had, meanwhile, been consigned
either to the guillotine or to prison, and their houses filled
with French bandits, who revelled in their wealth and dis-
* He mulcted the brewers to the amount of 255,000 livres, " on ac-
count of their well-knoAvn avarice," the bakers and millers to that of
314,000, a publican to that of 40,000, a baker to that of 30,000. "because
he was an enemy of mankind," etc. — Vide Friese's History of Strassburg.
GERMAN JACOBINS. 165
honoured their wives and daughters. Eulogius Schneider was
compelled to seek at midnight for a wife, suspicion having al-
ready attached to him on account of his former profession.
It was, however, too late. On the following morning, he was
seized and sent to Paris, where he was guillotined. All eccle-
siastics, all schoolmasters, even the historian, Friese, were, with-
out exception, declared suspected and dragged to the prisons
of Besan^on, where they suifered the harshest treatment at
the hands of the commandant. Prince Charles of Hesse. In
Strassburg, Neumann, who had succeeded Schneider as pub-
lic accuser, raged with redoubled fury. The guillotine was
ever at work, was illuminated during the night-time, and was
the scene of the orgies of the drunken bandits. On the ad-
vance of the French armies to the frontiers, the whole country
was pillaged.*
In other places, where the plundering habits of the French
had not cooled the popular enthusiasm, it still rose high, more
particularly at INIayence. This city, which had been rendered
a seat of the Muses by the elector, Frederick Charles, was in
a state of complete demoralization. On the loss of Strassburg,
Mayence, although the only remaining bulwark of Germany,
was entirely overlooked. The war had already burst forth ;
no imperial army had as yet been levied, and the fortifications
of IMayence were in the most shameful state of neglect. Ma-
gazines had been established by the imperial troops on the
left bank of the Rhine, seemingly for the mere purpose of
letting them fall into the hands of Custine ; but eight hun-
dred Austrians garrisoned Mayence ; the Hessians, although
numerically weak, were alone sincere in their efforts for the
defence of Germany. Custine's advanced guard no sooner
came in sight than the elector and all the higher functionaries
fled to Aschaffenburg. Von Gymnich, the commandant of
Mayence, called a council of war and surrendered the city,
which was unanimously declared untenable by all present with
the exception of Eikenmaier, who, notwithstanding, went forth-
with over to the French, and Andujar, the commander of the
eight hundred Austrians, with whom he instantly evacuated
the place. The Illurainati, who were here in great number,
* It was asserted that the Jacobins had formed a plan to depopulate
the whole of Alsace and to divide the country among the bravest soldiers
belonging to the republican armies.
166 GERMAN JACOBINS.
triumphantly opened the gates to the French, A. d. 1792.
The most extraordinary scenes were enacted. A society, the
members of which preached the doctrines of liberty and equal-
ity, and at whose head stood the professors Blau, Wedekind,
Metternich, Ilotfmann, Foi'Ster, the eminent navigator, the
doctors Bohmer and Stamra, Dorsch of Strassburg, etc.,
chiefly men who had formerly been lUuminati, was formed in
imitation of the revolutionary Jacobin club at Paris.* These
people committed unheard of follies. At first, notwithstand-
ing their doctrine of equality, they were distinguished by a
particuhir ribbon ; the women, insensible to shame, wore gir-
dles with long ends, on which the word " liberty" was worked
in front, and the word "equality" behind. Women, girt with
sabres, (hmced franticly around tall trees of liberty, in imita-
tion of those of France, and fired oft' pistols. The men wore
monstrous moustaches in imitation of those of Custine, whom,
notwithstanding tlieir republican notions, they loaded with
servile flattery. As a means of gaining over the lower or-
ders among the citizens, who with plain good sense opposed
their apish tricks, the clubbists demoHshed a large stone, by
which the Archbishop Adolphus had formerly sworn, " You,
* John Miiller played a remarkable part. This thoroughly deceptive
person had, by his commendation of tlie ancient Swiss in his affectedly
written History of Switzerland, gained the favour of the friends of liberty,
and, at the same time, that of the nobility by his encomium on the de-
generate Swiss aristocracy. Whilst with sentimental phrases and fine
words he pretended to be one of the noblest of mankind, he was addicted
to the lowest and most monstrous vices. His immorality brought him
into trouble in Switzerland, and the man, who had been, apparently,
solely inspired with the love of republican liberty, now paid court, for the
sake of gain, to foreign princes ; the adulation that had succeeded so well
Mith all the lordlings of Switzerland was poured into the ears of all the
potentates of Europe. He even rose to great favour at Rome by his flat-
tery of the pope in a work entitled " The Travels of the Popes." He
published the most virulent sophisms against the beneficial reforms of
the emperor Joseph, and cried up the League, for which he was well
paid. He contrived, at the same time, to creep into favour with the
lUuminati. He was employed by the elector of Mayence to carry on
negotiations with Dumouriez, got into office under the French republic,
and afterwards revisited Mayence for the express purpose of calling upon
the citizens, at that time highly dissatisfied with the conduct of the
French, to unite themselves with France. Vide Forster's Correspondence.
Dumouriez shortly afterwards went over to the Austritins, and Miiller
suddenly appeared at Vienna, adorned with a title and in the character
of an Aulic counsellor.
GERMAN JACOBINS. 167
citizens of Mayence, shall not regain your privileges until
this stone shall melt." This, however, proved as little effective
as did the production of a large book, in which every citizen,
desirous of transforming the electorate of ^Mayence into a
republic, was requested to inscribe his name. Notwithstand-
ing the threat of being treated, in case of refusal, as slaves,
the citizens and peasantry, plainly foreseeing that, instead of
receiving the promised boon of liberty, they would but ex-
pose themselves to Custine's brutal tyranny, withheld their
signatures, and the clubbists finally established a republic
under the protection of France without the consent of the
people, removed all the old authorities, and, at the close of
1792, elected Dorsch, a remarkably diminutive, ill-favoured
man, who had formerly been a priest, president.
The manner in which Custine levied contributions in Frank-
furt on the !Maine,* was still less calculated to render the
French popular in Germany. Cowardly as this general was,
he, nevertheless, told the citizens of Frankfurt a truth that
time has, up to the present period, confirmed. " You have
beheld the coronation of the emperor of Germany? Well!
you will not see another."
Two Germans, natives of Colmar in Alsace, Rewbel and
Hausmann, and a Frenchman, jNIerlin, all three members of
the national convention, came to iSIayence for the purpose of
conducting the defence of that city. They burnt symbolically
all the crowns, mitres, and escutcheons of the German empire,
but were unable to induce the citizens of Mayence to declare
in favour of the republic. Rewbel, infuriated at their opposi-
tion, exclaimed, that he would level the city with the ground,
that he should deem himself dishonoured were he to waste
another word on such slaves. A number of refractory persons
were expelled the city,f and, on the 17th of March, 1793, al-
• Wliilst in his proclamations he swore by all that was sacred (wliat
was so to a Frenchman ? ) to respect the property of the citizens and
that France coveted no extension of territory.
t Forster was so blinded at that time by his enthusiasm that he wrote,
" all of those among us who refuse the citizenship of France, are to be
expelled the city, even if complete depopulation should be the result."
He relates : " I summoned, at Griinstadt, the Counts von Leiningen to
acknowledge themselves citizens of France. They protested against it,
caballed, instigated the citizens and peasantry to revolt ; one of my
soldiers was attacked and wounded. I demanded a reinforcement, took
168 GERMAN JACOBINS.
thougli three hundred and seventy of the citizens alone voted
in its favour, a Teuto-Rhenish national convention, under the
presidency of Hoffmann, was opened at Mayence and in-
stantly declared in favour of the union of the new republic
with France. Forster, in other respects a man of great eleva-
tion of mind, forgetful, in his enthusiasm, of all national pride,
personally carried to Paris the scandalous documents in which
the French were humbly entreated to accept of a province of
the German empire. The Prussians, who had remained in
Luxemburg, (without aiding the Austrians,) meanwhile ad-
vanced to the Rhine, took Coblentz, wliich Custine had neg-
lected to garrison, (a neglect for whicli he afterwards lost his
liead,) repulsed a French force under Bournonville, when on
the point of forming a junction with Custine, at Treves, ex-
pelled Custine from Frankfurt,* and closely besieged !May-
ence, which, after making a valiant defence, was compelled to
capitulate in July.
Numbers of the clubbists fled, or were saved by the French
when evacuating the city, in the disguise of soldiers. Others
were arrested and treated with extreme cruelty. Every club-
bist, or any person suspected of being one, received five and
twenty lashes in the presence of Kalkreuth, the Prussian
general. !Metternich was, together with numerous others,
carried off, chained fast between the horses of the hussars,
and, whenever he sank from weariness, spurred on at the sabre
point. Blau had his ears boxed by the Prussian minister,
Stein. f A similar reaction took place at Worms,^ Spires, etc.
The German Jacobins suffered the punishment amply
deserved by all those who look for salvation from the foreigner.
Those who had barely escaped the vengeance of the Prussian
on the Rhine were beheaded by their pretended good friends
in France. Robespierre, an advocate, who, at that period,
possession of both the castles, and placed the counts under guard. To-
day I sent them with an escort to Landau. This has been a disagree-
able duty, but we must reduce every opponent of the good cause to
obedience."
* Where the weak garrison left by the French was disarmed by the
workmen.
t Either the Prussian minister who afterwards gained such celebrity,
or one of his relations.
X Where Skekuly forced the German clubbists, with the lash, to cut
down the tree of liberty.
GERMAN JACOBINS. 169
governed the convention, sent every foreigner who had en-
rolled himself as a member of the Jacobin club, to tlie guillo-
tine, as a suspicious person, a bloody but instructive lesson to
all unpatriotic German Gallomanists.* The victims who fell
on this occasion were, a prince of Salm-Kyrburg, who had
voluntarily repubhcanized his petty territory, Anacharsis
Cloots.f the venerable Trenk, who had so long pined in
Frederick's prisons. Adam Lux, a friend of George Forster,
was also beheaded for expressing his admiration of Charlotte
Corday, the murderess of Marat. Marat was a Prussian sub-
ject, being a native of XeufchAtel- Gobel von Bruntrut, uncle
to Rengger,J a celebrated character in the subsequent Swiss
revolution, vicar-general of Basle, a furious revolutionist,
who had on that account been appointed bishop of Paris,
presented himself on the 6th of November, 1793, at the bar of
the convention as an associate of Cloots, Hcbert, Chaumette,
etc., cast his mitre and other insignia of office to the ground,
and placing the bonnet rouge on his head, solemnly renounced
the Christian fitith and proclaimed tiiat of "liberty and
equality." The rest of the ecclesiastics were compelled to
imitate his example ; the Christian religion was formally
abolished and the worship of Reason was established in its
stead. Half-naked women were placed upon the altars of the
desecrated churches and worshipped as "goddesses of Reason."
* Forster wTotc from Paris, " Suspicion hangs over every foreigner,
and the essential distinctions which ought to be made in this respect are
of no avail." Thus did nature, bywhom nations are eternally separated,
avenge herself on the fools who had dreamed of universal equality.
t Cloots had incessantly preached war, threatened all the kings of the
earth with destruction, and, in his vanity, had even set a price u])on the
head of the Prussian monarch. His object was the union of the whole
of mankind, the abolition of nationality. The French were to receive a
new name, that of " Univcrsel." He preached in the convention : " I
have struggled during the whole of my existence against the powers of
heaven and earth. There is but one God, Nature, and but one sovereign,
mankind, the people, united by reason in one universal republic. Re-
ligion is the last obstacle, but the time has arrived for its destruction.
J'occupe la tribune de I'univers. Je le repfete, le genre humain est Dieu,
.e Peuple Dieu. Quiconque a la d^bilite de croire en Dieu ne sauroit
avoir la sagacite de connaitre le genre humain, le souverain unique," etc.
■ — Moniteur of 1793. No. 120. He also subscribed himself the "personal
enemy of Jesus of Nazareth."
+ Whose nephew, the celebrated traveller, Rengger, was, with Bonp-
land, so long imprisoned in Paraguay.
170 GERMAN JACOBINS.
Gobel's friend, Pache, a native of Freiburg, a creature abject
as himself, was particularly zealous, as was also Proli, a natural
son of the Austrian minister, Kaunitz. Prince Charles of
Hesse, known among the Jacobins as Charles Hesse, fortu-
nately escaped. Schlaberndorf,* a Silesian count, who appears
to have been a mere spectator, and Oelsner, a distinguished
author, were equally fortunate. These two latter remained
in Paris. Reinhard, a native of WUrtemberg, secretary to the
celebrated Girondin, Vergniaud, whom he is said to have
aided in the composition of his eloquent speeches, remained in
the service of France, was afterwards ennobled and raised to
the ministry. Felix von "VVimpfen, whom the faction of the
Gironde (the moderates who opposed the savage Jacobins)
elected their general, and who, attempting to lead a small
force from Normandy against Paris, was defeated and com-
pelled to seek safety by flight. The venerable Lukner, the
associate of Lafayette, who had termed the great Revolution
merely "a little occurrence in Paris," was beheaded. The
unfortunate George Forster perceived his error and died of
sorrow.f Among the other Rhenish Germans of distinction,
who had at that time formed a connexion with France, Joseph
Giirres brought himself, notwithstanding his extreme youth,
into great note at Coblentz by his superior talents. He went
to Paris as deputy of Treves and speedily became known by
his works (Riibezahl and the Red Leaf.) He also speedily
discovered the immense mistake made by the Germans in rest-
ing their hopes upon France. It was indeed a strange delu-
sion to suppose the vain and greedy Frenchman capable of
being inspired with disinterested love for all mankind, and it
was indeed a severe irony, that, after such repeated and cruel
experience, after having for centuries seen the French ever
* He had been already imprisoned and was ordered to the guillotine,
but not being able to find his boots quickly enough, his execution was put
off until the morrow. During the night, Robespierre fell, and his life
was saved. He continued to reside at Paris, where he never quitted his
apartment, cherished his beard, and associated solely with ecclesiastics.
t After an interview with his wife, Theresa, (daughter to the great
philologist, Heyne of Gottingen,) on the French frontier, he returned to
Paris and killed himself by drinking aquafortis. Vide Crome's Auto-
biography. Theresa entered into association with Huber, the journalist,
whom she shortly afterwards married. She gained great celebrity by
her numerous romances.
GERMAN JACOBINS. 171
in the guise of robbers and pillagers, and after breathing such
loud complaints against the princes who had sold Germany to
France, that the warmest friends of the people should on this
occasion be guilty of similar treachery, and, like selecting the
goat for a gardener, intrust the weal of their country to the
French.
The people in Germany too little understood the real mo-
tives and object of the French Revolution, and were too soon
provoked by the predatory incursions of the French troops, to
be infected with revolutionary principles. These merely fer-
mented among the literati ; the Utopian idea of universal fra-
ternization was spread by free-masonry ; numbers at first
cherished a hope that the Revolution would preserve a pure
moral character, and were not a little astonished on beholding
the monstrous crimes to which it gave birth. Others merely
rejoiced at the fall of the old and insupportable system, and
numerous anonymous pamphlets in this spirit appeared in the
Rhenish provinces. Fichte, the philosopher, also published
an anonymous work in favour of the Revolution. Others
again, as, for instance, Reichard, Girtanner, Schirach, and
Hoffmann, set themselves up as informers, and denounced
every liberal-minded man to the princes as a dangerous Jaco-
bin. A search was made for Cripto-Jacobins, and every
honest man was exposed to the calumny of the servile news-
paper-editors. French republicanism was denounced as cri-
minal, notwithstanding the favour in which the French language
and French ideas were held at all the courts of Germany.
Liberal opinions were denounced as criminal, notwithstanding
the example first set by the courts in ridiculing religion, in
mocking all that was venerable and sacred. Nor was this re-
action by any means occasioned by a burst of German patriot-
ism against the tyranny of France, for the treaty of Basle
speedily reconciled the self-same newspaper-editors with
France. It was mere servility ; and the hatred which, it
may easily be conceived, was naturally excited against the
French as a nation, was vented in this mode upon the patient
Germans,* who were, unfortunately, ever doomed, whenever
* The popular work " Huergehner " relates, among other things, the
conduct of the Margrave of Baden towards Lauchsenriiig, his private
physician, whom he, on account of the liberality of his opinions, deli-
vered over to the Austrian general, who sentenced him to the bastinado.
172 GERMAN JACOBINS.
their neighbours were visited with some political chronic con-
vulsion, to taste the bitter remedy. But few of the writers of
the day took an historical view of the Revolution and weighed
its irremediable results in regard to Germany, besides Gentz,
Rehberg, and the Baron von Gagern, who published an
" Address to his Countrymen," in which he started the painful
question, " Why are we Germans disunited ?" The whole of
these contending opinions of the learned were, however,
equally erroneous. It was as little possible to preserve the
Revolution from blood and immorality, and to extend the boon
of liberty to the whole world, as it was to suppress it by
force, and, as far as Germany was concerned, her affairs were
too complicated and her interests too scattered for any attempt
of the kind to succeed. A Doctor Faust, at Biickeburg, sent a
learned treatise upon the origin of trowsers to the national
convention at Paris, by which Sans-culottism had been intro-
duced ; an incident alone sufficient to show the state of feeling
in Germany at that time.
The revolutionary principles of France merely infected the
people in those parts of Germany where their sufferings had
ever been the greatest, as, lor instance, in Saxony, where the
peasantry, oppressed by the game-laws and the rights of the
nobility, rose, after a dry summer, by which their misery had
been greatly increased, to the number of eighteen thousand,
and sent one of their class to lay their complaints before the
elector, a. d. 1790. The unfortunate messenger was in-
stantly consigned to a mad-house, where he remained until
1809, and the peasantry were dispersed by the military. A
similar revolt of the peasantry against the tyrannical nuns of
Wormelen, in Westphalia, merely deserves mention as being
characteristic of the times. A revolt of the peasantry, of
equal unimportance, also took place in Biickeburg, on account
of the expulsion of three revolutionary priests, Froriep,
Meyer, and Rauschenbusch. In Breslau, a great emeute,
which was put down by means of artillery, was occasioned by
the expulsion of a tailor's apprentice, a. d. 1793.
In Austria, one Hebenstreit formed a conspiracy, which
brought him to the gallows, A. d. 1793. That formed by
Martinowits, for the establishment of the sovereignty of the peo-
ple in Hungary and for the expulsion of the magnates, was of
a more dangerous character. Martinowits was beheaded A. D.
GERMAN JACOBINS. 1T3
1 793, with four of his associates.* These attempts so greatly
excited the apprehensions of the government, that the reaction,
already begun on the death of Joseph II., was brought at once to
a climax ; Thugut, the minister, established an extremely active
secret police and a system of surveillance, which spread terror
throughout Austria and was utterly uncalled for, no one,
with the exception of a few crack-brained individuals, being
in the slightest degree infected with the revolutionary mania.f
* Schneller says, " The first great conspiracy was formed in the vi-
cinity of the throne, a. d. 1793. The chief conspirator was Hebenstreit,
the commandant, who held, by his office, the keys to the arsenal, and had
ever}' place of importance in his power. His fellow conspirators were,
PrandstJitter, the magistrate and poet, who, by his superior talents, led
the whole of the magistracy, and possessed great influence in llie metropo-
lis, Professor Riedl, who possessed the confidence of llie court, which
he frequented for the purpose of instructing some of the principal person-
ages, and H'ackel, the merchant, who had the management of its
pecuniary affairs. The rest of the conspirators belonged to every class
of society and were spread tliroughout every province of the empire. The
plan consisted in the establishment of a democratic constitution, the first
step to which appears to have been an attempt against the life of the im-
perial family. The signal for insurrection was to be given by firing the
immense wood-yards. The hearts of the people were to be gained by the
destruction of the government accounts. The discovery was made
through a conspiracy formed in Denmark. The chief conspirator was
seized and sent to the gallows. The rest were exiled to Munkatch, where
several of them had succumbed to the severity of their treatment and of the
climate when their release was effected by Buonaparte by the peace of
Campo Formio, which gave rise to the supposition that the Hebenstreit
conspiracy was connected with the French republicans and Jacobins
The second conspiracy was laid in Hungary, by the bishop and abbot,
Josephus Ignatius Martinowits, a man whom the emperors Joseph, Leo-
pold, and Francis had, on account of his talent and energy, loaded with
favours. The plan was an actionalis conspiratio, for the purpose of con-
triving an attempt against the sacred person of his Majesty the king, the
destruction of the power of the privileged classes in Hungary, the subver-
sion of the administration, and the establishment of a democracy. The
means for the execution of this project were furnished by two secret
societies. Huergelmer relates : " A certain Dr. Plank somewhat thought-
lessly ridiculed the institution of the jubilee; in order to convince him of
its utility, he was sent as a recruit to the Italian army, an act that was
highly praised by the newspapers." On the 22nd July, ] 795, a Baron
von Riedel was placed in the pillory at Vienna for some political crime,
and was afterwards consigned to the oblivion of a dungeon ; the same fate,
some days later, befell Brandstettcr, Fellesneck, Billeck, Ruschitiski
(Ephemeridae of 1795). A Baron Taufner was hanged at Vienna as a
traitor to his country (E. of 1796).
t " The increase of crime occasioned by the artifices of the police, who
174 LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE.
It may be recorded as a matter of curiosity, that, during the
blood-stained year of 1793, the petty prince of Schwarzburg-
Rudolstadt held, as though in the most undisturbed time of
peace, a magnificent tournament, and the fetes customary on
such an occasion.
CCXLVIII. Loss of the left bank of the Rhine.
The object of the Prussian king was either to extend his
conquests westwards or, at all events, to prevent the advance
of Austria. The war with France claimed his utmost atten-
tion, and, in order to guard his rear, he again attempted to
convert Poland into a bulwark against Russia.
His ambassador, Lucchesini, drove Stackelberg, the Rus-
sian envoy, out of Warsaw, and promised mountains of gold
to the Poles, who dissolved the perpetual council associated by
Russia with the sovereign, freed themselves from the Russian
guarantee ; aided by Prussia, compelled the Russian troops to
evacuate the country ; devised a constitution, which they laid
before the cabinets of London and Berlin ; concluded an offen-
sive and defensive alliance with Prussia on the 29th of March,
1790, and, on the 3rd of May, 1791, carried into effect the
new constitution ratified by England and Prussia, and ap-
proved of by the 'emperor Leopold. During the conference,
held at Pilnitz, the indivisibility of Poland was expressly
mentioned. The constitution was monarchical. Poland was,
for the future, to be an hereditary instead of an elective mon-
archy, and, on the death of Poniatowsky, the crown was to fall
to Saxony. The modification of the peasants' dues and the
power conceded to the serf of making a private agreement
with his lord also gave the monarchy a support against the
aristocracy.
thereby gained their livelihood, rendered an especial statute, prohibitory' of
such measures, necessary in the new legislature. Even the passing stranger
perceived the disastrous effect of their intrigues upon the open, honest
character and the social habits of the Viennese. The police began
gradually to be considered as a necessary part of the machine of govern-
ment, a counterbalance to or a remedy for the faults committed by other
branches of the administration. Large sums, the want of which was hea-
vily felt in the national education and in the army, were expended on this
arsenal of poisoned weapons." — Hormayr's Pocket-book, 1832. Thugut
is described as a diminutive, hunch-backed old man, with a face resem-
bling the mask of a fa^vn and with an almost satanic expression.
LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE. ITo
Catherine of Russia, however, no sooner beheld Prussia
and Austria engaged in a war with France, than she com-
menced her operations against Poland, declared the new
Polish constitution French and Jacobinical, notwithstanding its
abolition of the Ubenim veto and its extension of the prero-
gatives of the crown, and, taking advantage of the king's ab-
sence from Prussia, speedily regained possession of the coun-
try. What was Frederick William's policy in this dilemma ?
He was strongly advised to make peace with France, to throw
himself at the head of the whole of his forces into Poland, and
to set a limit to tlie insolence of the autocrat ; but — he
feared, should he abandon the Rhine, the extension of the
power of Austria in that quarter, and — calculating that Ca-
therine, in order to retain his friendship, would cede to him a
portion of her booty,* unhesitatingly broke the faith he had
just plighted with the Poles, suddenly took up Catherine's
tone, declared the constitution, he had so lately ratified, Jaco-
binical, and despatched a force under jMiillendorf into Poland
in order to secure possession of his stipulated prey. By the
second partition of Poland, which took place as rapidly, as
violently, and, on account of the assurances of the Prussian
monarch, far more unexpectedly than the first, Russia receiv-
ed the whole of Lithuania, Podolia, and the Ukraine, and
Prussia, Thorn and Dantzig, besides Southern Prussia (Posen
and Calisch). Austria, at that time fully occupied with
France, had no participation in this robbery, which was, as it
were, committed behind her back.
Affairs had worn a remarkably worse aspect since the cam-
paign of 1792. The French had armed themselves with all
the terrors of offended nationalism and of unbounded, intoxi-
cating liberty. All the enemies of the Revolution within the
French territory were mercilessly exterminated, and hundreds
of thousands were sacrificed by the guillotine, a machine in-
vented for the purpose of accelerating the mode of execution.
The king was beheaded in this manner in the January of
1793, and the queen shared a similar fate in the ensuing Oc-
tober.l Whilst Robespierre directed the executions, Carnot
* Prussia chiefly coveted the possession of Dantzijr, which the Poles
refused to give or the English to grant to him, and which he could only
seize by the aid of Russia.
t After having been long retained in prison, ill fed and ill clothed, afler
176 LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE.
undertook to make preparations for war, and, in the very
midst of this immense fermentation, calmly converted France
into an enormous camp, and more than a million Frenchmen,
as if summoned by magic from the clod, were placed under
arms.
The sovereigns of Europe also prepared for war, and [a. d.
1793] formed the first great coalition, at whose head stood
England, intent upon the destruction of the French navy.
The English, aided by a large portion of the French popula-
tion, devoted to the ancient monarchy, attacked France by sea,
and made a simultaneous descent on the northern and southern
coasts. The Spanish and Portuguese troops crossed the Py-
renees ; the Italian princes invaded the Alpine boundary ;
Austria, Prussia, Holland, and the German empire threaten-
ed the Rhenisli frontier, whilst Sweden and Russia stood
frowning in the back-ground. The whole of Christian Eu-
rope took up arms against France, and enormous armies ho-
vered, like vultures, around their prey.
The duke of Coburg commanded the main body of the
Austrians in the Netherlands, where he was at first merely
opposed by the old French army, whose general, Dumouriez,
after unsuccessfully grasping at the supreme power, entered
into a secret agreement with the coalition, allowed himself to
be defeated at Aldenhoven * and Neerwinden, and finally de-
serted to the Austrians. At this moment, when the French
army was dispirited by defeat and without a leader, Coburg,
who had been reinforced by the English and Dutch under the
Duke of York, might, by a hasty advance, have taken Paris
by surprise, but both the English and Austrian generals solely
owed the command, for which they were totally unfit, to their
high birth, and Colonel Mack, the most prominent character
among the officers of the staff, was a mere theoretician, who
could cleverly enough conduct a campaign — upon paper, Clair-
fait, the Austrian general, beat the disbanded French army un-
der Dampiere at Famars, but temporized instead of following up
supporting, -with unbending dignity, the unmanly insults of the republican
mob before whose tribunal she was dragged. The young dauphin ex-
pired under the ill-treatment he received from his guardian, a shoemaker.
His sister, the present Duchess d'Angouleme, was spared.
* Where the peasantry, infuriated at the depredations of the French,
cast the wounded and the dead indiscriminately into a trench. — Benzen-
berg's Letters.
LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE. 1T7
his victory. Coburg, in the hope of the triumph of the moder-
ate party, the Girondins, published an extremely mild and
peaceable proclamation, which, on the fall of the Gironde, was
instantly succeeded by one of a more tlireatening character,
which his want of energy and decision in action merely render-
ed ridiculous. No vigorous attack was made, nor was even a vi-
gorous defence calculated upon, not one of the frontier forts in
the Netherlands, demolished by Joseph II., having been rebuilt.
The coalition foolishly trusted that the French would be annihi-
lated by their inward convulsions, whilst they were in reality
seizing the opportunity granted by the tardiness of their foes
to levy I'aw recruits and exercise them in arms. The principal
error, however, lay in the system of conquest pursued by both
Austria and England. Conde, Valenciennes, and all towns
within the French territory taken by Coburg were compelled
to take a formal oath of allegiance to Austria, and England
made, as the condition of her aid, that of the Austrians for the
conquest of Dunkirk. The siege of this place, which was
merely of importance to England in a mercantile point of
view, retained the armies of Coburg and York, and the
French were consequently enabled, in the mean time, to con-
centrate their scattered forces and to act on the offensive.
Ere long, Houchard and Jourdan pushed forwards with their
wild masses, which, at first undisciplined and unsteady, were
merely able to screen themselves from the rapid and sustained
fire of the British, by acting as tirailleurs, (a mode of warfare
successfully practised by the North Americans against the
serried ranks of the English,) became gradually bolder, and
finally, by their numerical strength and republican fury,
gained a complete triumph. Houchard, in this manner, de-
feated the English at Hondscoten, (September 8th,) and
Jourdan drove the Austrians off the field at AYattignies on
the 16th of October, the day on which the French queen was
beheaded. Coburg, although the Austrians had maintained
their ground on every other point, resolved to retreat, not-
withstanding the urgent remonstrances of the youthful arch-
duke, Charles, who had greatly distinguished himself. Dur-
ing the retreat, an unimportant victory was gained at Menin
by Beaulieu, the imperial general.* His colleague, Wurmser,
* The Hanoverian general, Hammerstein, and his adjutant Scharn-
horst, who after^va^ds becanje so noted, made a gallant defence. When
VOL. in. N
178 LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE.
nevertheless maintained with extreme difficulty the line ex-
tending from Basle to Luxemburg, which formed the Prussian
outposts. A French troop under Delange advanced as far as
Aix-la-Chapelle, where they crowned the statue of Charle-
magne with a bonnet rouge.
Mayence was, during the first six months of this year, be-
sieged by the main body of the Prussian army under the
command of Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick. The Austrians,
when on their way past Mayence to Valenciennes with a
quantity of heavy artillery destined for the reduction of the
latter place, (which they afterwards compelled to do homage
to the emperor,) refusing the request of the king of Prussia
for its use en passant for the reduction of Mayence, greatly
displeased that monarch, who clearly perceived the common
intention of England and Austria to conquer the north of
France to the exclusion of Prussia, and consequently re-
venged himself by privately partitioning Poland with Russia,
and refusing his assistance to General Wurms in the Vosges
country. The dissensions between the allies again rendered
their successes null. The Prussians, after the conquest of
Mayence, [a. d. 1793,] advanced and beat the fresh masses
led against them by Moreau at Pirmasens, but Frederick Wil-
liam, disgusted with Austria and secretly fixr from disinclined
to peace with France, quitted the army, (which he maintained
in the field, merely from motives of honour, but allowed to
remain in a state of inactivity,) in order to visit his newly ac-
quired territory in Poland.
The gallant old Wurmser was a native of Alsace, where he
had some property, and fought meritoriously for the German
cause, whilst so many of his countrymen at that time ranged
themselves on the side of the French.* His position on the
the city became no longer tenable, they boldly sallied forth at the head
of the garrison and escaped.
* Rewbel, one of the five directors of the great French republic, and
several of the most celebrated French generals, Germany's unwearied
foes, were natives of Alsace, as, for instance, the gallant Westermann,
one of the first leaders of the republican armies ; the intrepid Keller-
mann, the soldier's father ; the immortal Kleber, generalissimo of the
French forces in Egj'pt, who fell by the dagger of a fanatical Mussulman ;
and the undaunted Rapp, the hero of Dantzig. The lion-hearted Ney,
justly designated by the French as the bravest of the brave, was a native
of Lorraine. These were, one and all, men of tried metal, but whose
German names induce the demand, " Why did they fight for France ? "
LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE. 179
celebrated "Weissenburg line was, owing to the non-assistance
of the Prussians, replete with danger, and he cohsequently
endeavoured to supply his want of strength by striking his
opponents with terror. His Croats, the notorious Rothmchit-
ler, are charged with the commission of fearful deeds of
cruelty. Owing to his system of paying a piece of gold for
every Frenchman's head, they would rush, when no legitimate
enemy could be encountered, into the first large village at
hand, knock at tlie windows and strike otF the heads of the
inhabitants as they peeped out. The petty principalities on
the German side of the Rhine also complained of the treatment
they received from the Austrians. But how could it be other-
wise ? The empire slothfuUy cast the whole burthen of the
war upon Austria. Many of the princes were terror-stricken
by the French, whilst others meditated an alliance with that
power, like that formerly concluded between them and Louis
XIY. against the empire. Bavaria alone was, but with great
difficulty, induced to furnish a contingent. The weak imperial
free towns met with most unceremonious treatment at the
hands of Austria. They were deprived of their artillery and
treated with the utmost contempt. It often happened that
the aristocratic magistracy, as, for instance, at Ulni, sided with
the soldiery against the citizens. The slothful bishops and
abbots of the empire were, on the other hand, treated with
the utmost respect by the Catholic soldiery. The infringe-
ment of the law of nations by the arrest of Semonville, the
French ambassador to Constantinople, and of Mai-et, the
French ambassador to Naples, and the seizure of their papers
on neutral ground, in the Veltlin, by Austria, created a far
greater sensation.
The duke of Brunswick, who had received no orders to
retreat, was compelled bongre-malgre, to hazard another en-
gagement with the French, who rushed to the attack. He
was once more victorious, at Kaiserslautern, over Hoche, whose
untrained masses were unable to withstand the superior dis-
ciphne of the Prussian troops. AVurmser took advantage of
the moment when success seemed to restore the good humour
of the allies to coalesce with the Prussians, dragging the un-
wilUng Bavarians in his train. This junction, however,,
\V urmser belonged to tlie same old Strassburg family wliich had given
birth to Wurmser, the celebrated court-painter of the emperor, Charles IV.
N 2
180 LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE.
merely liad the effect of disclosing the jealousy rankling on
every side. The greatest military blunders were committed
and each blamed the otiier. Landau ought to and might have
been rescued from the French, but this step was procrastinated
until the convention had charged Generals Hoche and Piche-
gru, " Landau or death." These two generals brought a fresh
and numerous army into the field, and, in the very first en-
gagements, at Worth and Frcischweiler, tlie Bavarians ran
away and the Austrians and Prussians were signally defeated.
The retreat of Wurmser, in high displeasure, across the
Rhine afforded a welcome pretext to the duke of Brunswick
to follow his example and even to resign the command of the
army to Mollendorf. In this shameful manner was the left
bank of the Rhine lost to Germany.
In the spring of the ensuing year, 1794, the emperor Francis
11. visited the Netherlands in person, with the intent of push-
ing straight upon Paris. This project, practicable enough dur-
ing the preceding campaign, was, however, now utterly out of
the question, the more so, on account of the retreat of the
Prussians. The French observed on this occasion with well-
merited scorn : " The allies are ever an idea, a year and an
array behindhand." The Austrians, nevertheless, attacked
the whole French line in March and were at first victorious
on every side, at Catillon, where Kray and Wernek distin-
guished themselves, and at Landrecis, where the Archduke
Charles made a brilliant charge at the head of the cavalry.
Landrecis was taken. But this was all. Clairfait, whose
example might have animated the inactive Duke of York,
being left unsupported by the British, was attacked singly at
Kortryk by Pichegru and forced to yield to superior numbers.
Coburg fought an exti'emely bloody but indecisive battle at
Doornik, (Tournay,) where Pichegru ever opposed fresh
masses to the Austrian artillery. Twenty thousand dead
strewed the field. The youthful emperor, discouraged by the
coldness displayed by the Dutch, whom he had expected to
rise en masse in his cause, returned to Vienna. His departure
and the inactivity of the British commander completely dis-
pirited the Austrian troops, and on the 26th of June, 1794,*
* The Austrian generals, Beaulieu, Quosdanowich, and the Archduke
Charles, who, at that period, laid the foundation to his future fame, had
pushed victoriously fonvards and taken Fleurus, when the ill-timed
LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE. 181
the duke of Coburg was defeated at Fleurus by Jourdan, the
general of the republic. This success was immediately fol-
lowed by that of Pichegru, not far from Breda, over the in-
efficient English general,* who consequently evacuated the
Netherlands, which were instantly overrun by the pillaging
French. And thus had the German powers, notwithstanding
their well-disciplined armies and their great plans, not only
forfeited their military honour, but also drawn the enemy,
and, in his train, anarchy with its concomitant horrors, into
the empire. The Austrians had rendered themselves univers-
ally unpopular by their arbitrary measures, and each province
remained stupidly indifferent to the threatened pillage of its
neighbour by the victorious French. Jourdan but slowly
tracked the retreating forces of Coburg, whom he again beat
at Sprimont, where he drove him from the Maese, and at Al-
denhoven, where he drove him from tlie Roer. Frederick,
Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, capitulated at Maestricht, with
ten thousand men, to Kleber ; and the Austrians, with the
exception of a small corps under the Count von Erbach, sta-
tioned at DUsseldorf, completely abandoned the Lower Rhine.
The disasters suffered by the Austrians seem at that time
to have flattered the ambition of the Prussians, for Mollen-
dorf suddenly recrossed the Rhine and gained an advantage
at Kaiserslautern, but was, in July, 1794, again repulsed at
Trippstadt, notwithstanding which he once more crossed the
Rhine in September, and a battle was won by the Prince von
Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen at Fischbach, but, on the coalition of
Jourdan with Hoche, who had until then singly opposed him,
MoUendorf again, and for the last time, retreated across the
Rhine. The whole of tlie left bank of the Rhine, Luxemburg
and Mayence alone excepted, were now in the hands of the
French. Resius, the Hessian general, abandoned the Rhein-
orders, as they are deemed, of the generalissimo Coburg compelled them
to retreat. Quosdanowich dashed his sabre furiously on the ground and
exclaimed, " The army is betrayed, the victory is ours, and yet we must
resign it. Adieu, thou glorious land, thou garden of Europe, the house
of Austria bids thee eternally adieu ! " The French had, before and
during the action, made use of a balloon for the purpose of watcliing the
movements of the enemy.
* The worst spirit prevailed among the British troops; the officers
were wealthy young men, who had purchased their posts and were, in the
highest degree, licentious. Vide Dietfurth's Hessian Campaigns.
182 LOSS OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RHINE.
fels with the wliole garrison, without striking a blow in its
defence. He was, in reward, condemned to perpetual impri-
sonment.* Jourdan converted the fortress into a ruined heap.
The whole of the fortifications on the Rhine were yielded for
the sake of saving Mannheim from bombardment.
In the Austrian Netherlands, the old government had al-
ready been abolished, and the wliole country been transformed
into a Belgian republic by Dumouriez. The reform of all the
* Peter Hammer, in his " Description of the Imperial Army," pub-
lished A. D. 179G, at Cologne, graphically depictures the sad state of the
empire. The imperial troops consisted of the dregs of the populace, so
viiriously arranged as to justify the remark of Colonel Sandberg of Baden,
that the only thing wanting was their regular equipment as jack-puddings.
A monastery furnished two men; a petty barony, the ensign; a city, the
captain. The arms of each man differed in calibre. No patriotic spirit
animated these defenders of the empire. The anonymous author re-
marks: " For love of one's country to be felt, there must, tirst of all, be a
country; but Germany is split into petty useless monarchies, chiefly
characterized by their oppression of their subjects, by pride, slavery, and
unutterable weakness. Formerly, when Germany was attacked, each
of her sons made ready for battle, her princes were patriotic and brave.
Now, may Heaven have pity on the land; the princes, the counts, and
nobles march hence and leave their country to its fate. The Margrave of
Baden — I do not speak of the prince bishop of Spires and of other spiritual
lords whose profession forbids their laying hand to sword — the Land-
grave of Darmstadt and other nobles fled on the mere report of an in-
tended visit from the French, by which they plainly intimated that they
merely held sovereign rule for the purpose of being fattened by their sub-
jects in time of peace. Danger no sooner appears than the miserable
subject is left to his own resources. Germany is divided into too many
petty states. How can an elector of the Pfalz, or indeed any of the still
lesser nobility, protect the country ? Unity, moreover, is utterly wanting.
The Bavarian regards the Hessian as a stranger, not as his countryman.
Each petty territory has a diflerent tariff, administration, and laws. The
subject of one petty state cannot travel half a mile into a neighbouring
one without leaving behind him great part of his property. The bishop
of Spires strictly forbids his subjects to intermarry with those of any other
state. And patriotism is expected to result from these measures ! The
subject of a despot, Avhose revenues exceed tliose of his neighbours by a
few thousand florins, looks down with contempt on the slave of a poorer
prince. Hence the boundless hatred between the German coiirts and
their petty brethren, hence the malicious joy caused by the mishaps of a
neighbouring dynasty." Hence the wretchedness of the troops. " With
the exception of the troops belonging to the circle, there were none to de-
fend the frontiers of the empire. Grandes battues, balls, operas, and
mistresses, swallowed up the revenue, not a farthing remained for the
erection of fortresses, the want of which was so deeply felt, for the de-
fence of the frontiers."
THE DEFECTION OF PRUSSIA. 183
ancient evils, so vainly attempted but a few years before by the
noble-spirited emperor, Joseph II., was successfully executed
by this insolent Frenchman, who also abolished with them all
that was good in the ancient system. The city deputies, it is
true, made an energetic but futile resistance.* After the
flight of Dumouriez, fresh depredations were, with every fresh
success, committed by the French. Liege was reduced to the
most deplorable state of desolation, the cathedral and thirty
splendid churches were levelled with the ground by the ancient
enemies of the bishop. Treves was also mercilessly sacked
and converted into a French fortress.
CCXLIX. The defection of Prussia. The Archduke Charles.
Frederick William's advisers, who imagined the violation
of every principle of justice and truth an indubitable proof
of instinctive and consummate prudence, unwittingly played
a high and hazardous game. Their diplomatic absurdity,
which weighed the fate of nations against a dinner, found a
confusion of all the solid principles on which states rest as
stimulating as the piquant ragouts of the great Ude. Luc-
chesini, with his almost intolerable airs of sapience, as artfully
veiled his incapacity in the cabinet as Ferdinand of Brunswick
did his in the field, and to this may be ascribed the measures
which but momentarily and seemingly aggrandized Prussia
and prepared her deeper fall. Each petty advantage gained
by Prussia but served to raise against her some powerful foe,
* " How can France, with her solemn assurances of liberty, arbitra-
rily interfere with the government of a country already possessing a re-
presentative elected by the people ? How can she proclaim us as a free
nation, and, at the same moment, deprive us of our liberty? Will she
establish a new mythology of nations and divide the different people on the
face of the earth, according to their strength, into nations and half-
nations?" — Protest of the provisional Council of the City of Brussels.
The president, Theodore Dotrenge " Every free nation gives to itself
laws, does not receive them from another." — Protest of the City of Ant-
werp. President of the Council, Van Dun "You confiscate alike
public and private property. That have even our former tyrants never
ventured to do when declaring us rebels, and you say that you bring to
us liberty." — Protest of the Hennec/au. The most copious account of
the revolutionizing of the Netherlands is contained in Rau's History of
the Germans in France, and of the French in Germany. Frankfurt a M.,
1794 and 95.
184 THE DEFECTION OF PRUSSIA.
and finally, when placed by lier policy at enmity with every
sovereign of Europe, she was induced to trust to the shallow
friendship of the French republic.
The Poles, taken unawares by the second partition of their
country, speedily recovered from their surprise and collected
all their strength for an energetic opposition. Kosciuszko,
Avho had, together with Lafayette, fought in North America
in the cause of liberty, armed his countrymen with scythes,
put every Russian who fell into his hands to death, and at-
renipted the restoration of ancient Poland. How easily might
not Prussia, backed by the enthusiasm of the patriotic Poles,
have repelled the Russian colossus, already threatening Eu-
rope ! But the Berlin diplomatists had yet to learn the
homely truth, that " honesty is the best policy." They aided
in the aggrandizement of Russia, drew down a nation's curse
upon their heads for the sake of an addition to the territory
of Prussia, the maintenance of which cost more than its revenue,
and violated the Divine commands during a period of storm
and convulsion, when the aid of Heaven was indeed required.
The ministers of Frederick William II. were externally re-
ligious, but those of Frederick William I., by whom the Polish
question had been so justly decided, were so in reality.
The king led his troops in person into Poland, and, in June,
1794, defeated Kosciuszko's scythemen at Szczekociny, but
met with such strenuous opposition in his attack upon Warsaw
as to be compelled to retire in September.* On the retreat
of the Prussian troops, the Russians, who had purposely
awaited their departure in order to secure the triumph for
themselves, invaded the country in great force under their
bold general, vSuwaroiF, who defeated Kosciuszko, took him
prisoner, and besieged Warsaw, which he carried by storm.
On this occasion, termed by Reichard " a peaceful and merci-
ful entry of the clement victor," eighteen thousand of the in-
habitants of every age and sex were cruelly put to the sword.
The result of this success was the third partition or utter
* The following trait proves the complete stagnation of chivalric feel-
ing in the army. Szekuli, colonel of tlie Prussian hussars, condemned
several patriotic ladies, belonging to the highest Polish families at Zna-
\vrazlaw, to be placed beneath the gallows, in momentary expectation of
death, until it, at length, pleased him to grant a reprieve, couched in the
most offensive and indecent terms.
THE DEFECTION OF PRrSSIA. 185
annihilation of Poland. Russia took possession of the whole
of Lithuania and Volhynia, as far as the Riemen and the Bug ;
Prussia, of the whole country west of the Riemen, including War-
saw; Austria, of the whole country south of the Bug [a. d. 1 795].
An armyof German officials, who earned for themselves not the
best of reputations, settled in the Prussian division. They were
ignorant of the language of the country, and enriched them-
selves by tyranny and oppression. Von Treibenfeld, the coun-
sellor to the forest-board, one of Bischofswerder's friends,
bestowed a number of confiscated lands upon his adherents.
The ancient Polish feof of Courland was, in consequence
of the annihilation of Poland, incorporated with the Russian
empire, Peter, the last duke, the son of Biron, being compelled
to abdicate, a. d. 1795.
Pichegi'u invaded Holland late in the autumn of 1794.
The Duke of York had already returned to England. A line
of defence was, nevei'theless, taken up by the British under
Wallmoden, by the Dutch under their hereditaiy stadtholder,
William V. of Orange, and by an Austrian cor])s under Al-
vinzi ; the Dutch were, however, panic-struck, and negotiated
a separate treaty with Pichegru,* who, at that moment, solely
aimed at separating the Dutch from their allies ; but when, in
December, all the rivers and canals were suddenly frozen, and
nature no longer threw unconquerable obstacles in his path,
regardless of the negotiations then pending in Paris, he un-
expectedly took up arms, marched across the icebound waters,
and carried Holland by storm. With him marched the anti-
Orangemen, the exiled Dutch patriots, under General Daen-
dels and Admiral de Winter, with the pretended view of re-
• storing ancient republican liberty to Holland and of expelling
the tyrannical Orange dynasty. The British (and some Hes-
sian troops) were defeated at Thiel on the Waal ; Alvinzi met
with a similar fate at Pondern and was compelled to retreat
into Westphalia. Some English ships, which lay frozen up
in the harbour, were captured by the Fi-ench hussars. A most
* A most disgraceful treaty. William's enemies, the fugitive patriots,
had promised the French, in return for their aid, sixty million florins of
the spoil of their country. William, upon this, promised to pay to France
a subsidy of eighty millions, in order to guarantee the security of his fron-
tier, but was instantly outbid by the base and self-denominated patriots,
who offered to France a hundred million florins in order to induce her
to invade their country.
186 THE DEFECTION OF TRUSSIA.
manly resistance was made ; but no aid was sent from any
quarter. Prussia, who so shortly before had ranged herself
on the side of the stadtholder against the people, was now an
indifferent spectator. William V. was compelled to flee to
England. Holland was transformed into a Batavian republic.
Hahn, Hoof, etc. were the first furious Jacobins by whom
every thing was there formed upon the French model. The
Dutch were compelled to cede Maestricht, Venloo, and Vlies-
singen ; to pay a hundred millions to France, and, moreover,
to allow their country to be plundered, to be stripped of all
the splendid works of art, pictures, etc, (as was also the case
in the Netherlands and on the Rhine,) and even of the valu-
able museum of natural curiosities collected by them with such
assiduity in every quarter of the globe. These depredations
were succeeded by a more systematic mode of plunder. Hol-
land was mercilessly drained of her enormous wealth. All
the gold and silver bullion was first of all collected ; this was
followed by the imposition of an income-tax of six per cent.,
which was afterwards repe<ated, and was succeeded by a sliding
income-tax from three to thirty per cent. The British, at the
same time, destroyed the Dutch fleet in the Texel commanded
by de Winter, in order to prevent its capture by the French,
and seized all the Dutch colonies, Java alone excepted. The
flag of Holland had vanished from the seas.
In August, A. D. 1794, the reign of terror in France
reached its close. The moderate party which came into
power gave hopes of a general peace, and Frederick William
n. without loss of time negotiated a separate treaty, suddenly
abandoned the monarchical cause which he had formerly so
zealously upheld, and offered his friendship to the revolution-
ary nation, against which he had so lately hurled a violent
manifesto. The French, with equal inconsistency on their part,
abandoned the popular cause, and, after having murdered their
own sovereign and threatened every European throne witli
destruction, accepted the alliance of a foreign king. Both par-
ties, notwitlistanding the contrariety of their principles and
their mutual animosity, were conciliated by their political in-
terest. The French, solely bent upon conquest, cared not for
the liberty of other nations ; Prussia, intent upon self-aggran-
dizement, was indifferent to the fate of her brother sovei'eigns.
Peace was concluded between France and Prussia at Basle,
THE DEFECTION OF PRUSSIA. 187
April 5, 1795. By a secret article of this treaty, Prussia
confirmed the French republic in the possession of the whole
of the left bank of the Rhine, whilst France in return richly
indemnified Prussia at the expense of the petty German states.
This peace, notwithstanding its manifest disadvantages, was
also acceded to by Austria, which, on this occasion, received the
unfortunate daughter of Louis XVI. in exchange for Semon-
viile and Maret, the captive ambassadors of the republic, and
the members of the Convention seized by Dumouriez. Han-
over* and Hesse-Cassel participated in the treaty and were
included within the line of demarcation, which France, on her
side, bound herself not to transgress.
The countries lying beyond this line of demarcation, the Ne-
therlands, Holland, and Pfalz-Juliers, were now abandoned to
France, and Austria, kept in check on the Upper Rhine, was
powerless in their defence. In this manner fell Luxemburg
and Diisseldorf. All the Lower Rhenish provinces wei'e sys-
tematically plundered by the French under pretext of estab-
lishing liberty and equality.f The Batavian republic was
permitted to subsist, but dependent upon France ; Belgium
Avas annexed to France, a. d. 1795.
* Von Berlepsch, the counsellor of administration, proposed to the Ca-
lemberg diet to declare their neutrality in deliance of England, and, in
case of necessity, to place " the Calembcrg Nation " under the protection
of France. — Havematm.
t " Wherever these locusts appear, every thing, men, cattle, food, pro-
perty, etc., is carried off. These thieves seize every thing convertible
into money. Nothing is safe from them. At Cologne, they filled a church
"with coffee and sugar. At Aix-la-Chapelle, they carried off the finest
pictures of Rubens and Van Dyck, the pillars from the altar, and the
marble-slab from the tomb of Charlemagne, all of which they sold to
some Dutch Jews." — Posselfs Atinals of 1796. At Cologne, the nuns
were instantly emancipated from their vows, and one of the youngest and
most beautiful afterwards gained great notoriety as a bar-maid at an inn.
This scandalous story is related by Kleber in his Travels on the Rhine.
In Bonn, Glcicli, a man who had formerly been a priest, placed himself
at the head of the French rabble and planted trees of liberty. He also
gave to the world a decade, as he termed his publication. — Muller, History
of Bonn. " The French proclaimed war against the palaces and peace to
the huts, but no hut was too mean to escape the rapacity of these birds of
prey. The first-fruits of liberty was the pillage of every corner." — Schwa-
beti's History of Siegbtirg. The brothers Boisseree afterwards collected
a good many of the church pictures, at that period carried away from
Cologne and more particularly from the Lower Rhine. They now adorn
Mimich and form the best collection of old German paintings now existing.
188 THE DEFECTION OF PRUSSIA.
On the retreat of the Prussians, Mannheim was surrendered
without a blow by the electoral minister, Oberndorf, to the
French. Wurmser arrived too late to the relief of the city.
Quosdanowich, his lieutenant-general, nevertheless, succeeded
in saving Heidelberg by sheltering himself behind a great
abattis at Handschuchsheion, whence he repulsed the enemy,
who were afterwards almost entirely cut to pieces by General
Klenau, whom he sent in pursuit with the light cavalry.
General Boros led another Austrian corps across Nassau to
Ehrenbreitstein, at that time besieged by the French under
their youthful general, Marceau, who instantly retired.
Wurmser no sooner arrived in person than, attacking the
French before Mannheim, he completely put them to the rout
and took General Oudinot prisoner. Clairfait, at the same
time, advanced unperceived upon Mayence, and unexpectedly
attacking the besieging French force, carried off one hundred
and thirty-eight pieces of heavy artillery. Pichegru, who had
been called from Holland to take the command on the Upper
Rhine, was driven back to the Vosges. Jourdan advanced to
his aid from the Lower Rhine, but his van-guaixl under Mar-
ceau was defeated at Kreuznach and again at Meissenheim.
Mannheim also capitulated to the Austrians. The winter was
now far advanced ; both sides were weary of the campaign,
and an armistice was concluded. Austria, notwithstanding
her late success, was, owing to the desertion of Prussia, in a
critical position. The imperial troops also refused to act.
The princes of Southern Germany longed for peace. Even
Spain followed the example of Prussia and concluded a treaty
with the French republic.
The consequent dissolution of the coalition between the
German powers had at least the effect of preventing the form-
ation of a coalition of nations against them by the French.
Had the alliance between the sovereigns continued, the French
would, from political motives, have used their utmost endea-
vours to revolutionize Germany ; this project was rendered
needless by the treaty of Basle, which broke up the coalition
and confirmed France in the undisturbed possession of her
liberties ; and thus it happened, that Prussia unwittingly
aided the monarchical cause by involuntarily preventing the
promulgation of the revolutionary principles of France.
Austria remained unshaken, and refused either to betray
THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES. 189
the monarchical cause by the recognition of a revolutionary
democratical government, or to cede the frontiers of the em-
pire to the youthful and insolent generals of the republic.
Conscious of the righteousness of the cause she upheld, she
intrepidly stood her ground and ventured her single strength
in the mighty contest, which the campaign of 1796 was to de-
cide. The Austrian forces in Germany were commanded by
the emperor's brother, the Archduke Charles ; those in Italy,
by Beaulieu. The French, on the other hand, sent Jourdan
to the Lower Rhine, Moreau to the Upper Rhine, Buona-
parte to Italy, and commenced the attack on every point witli
their wonted impetuosity.
The Austrians had again extended their lines as far as the
Lower Rhine. A corps under Prince Ferdinand of WUrtem-
berg was stationed in the Bergland, in the narrow corner still
left between the Rhine and the Prussian line of demarcation.
Marceau forced him to retire as far as Altenkirchen, but the
Archduke Charles hastening to his assistance, encountered
Jourdan's entire force on the Lahn near Kloster Alteuberg,
and, after a short contest, compelled it to give way. A great
part of the Austrian army of the Rhine under Wurmser, hav-
ing been, meanwhile, drawn off and sent into Italy, the arch-
duke was compelled to turn hastily from Jourdan against
Moreau, who had just despatched General Ferino across the
lake of Constance, whilst he advanced upon Strassburg. A
small Swabian corps under Colonel Raglowich made an ex-
traordinary defence in Kehl, (the first instance of extreme
bravery given by the imperial troops at that time,) but was
forced to yield to numbers. The Austrian general, Sztarray,
was, notwithstanding the gallantry displayed on the occasion,
also repulsed at Sasbach ; the Wlirtemberg battalion was also
driven from the steep pass of the Kniebes,* across which Mo-
reau penetrated through the Black Forest into the heart of
Swabia, and had already reached Freudenstadt, when the
Austrian general, Latour, marched up the Murg. He was,
however, also repulsed. The Archduke Charles now arrived in
> * " Had Wiirtemberg possessed but six thousand well-organized
troops, the position on the Roszbuhl might have been maintained, and the
country have been saved. The millions since paid by Wiirtemberg, and
which she may still have to pay, would have been spared." — Appendix to
the History of the Campaign of 1 796.
190 THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES.
person in the country around Pforzheim, (on the skirts of the
Black Forest,) and sent forward his columns to attack the
French in the mountains, but in vain ; the French were vic-
torious at Rothensol and at Wildbad. The archduke retired
behind the Neckar to Cannstadt ; his rear-guard was pursued
through the city of Stuttgard by the van-guard of the French.
After a short cannonade, the archduke also abandoned his po-
sition at Cannstadt. The whole of the Swabian circle sub-
mitted to the French. Wiirtemberg was noAv compelled to
make a formal cession of IMiimpelgard, which had been for
some time garrisoned by the French,* and, moreover, to pay a
contribution of four million livres ; Baden was also mulcted
two millions, the other states of the Swabian circle twelve
millions, the clergy seven millions, altogether twenty-five mil-
lion livres, without reckoning the enormous requisition of pro-
visions, horses, clothes, etc. The archduke, in the mean time,
deprived the troops belonging to the Swabian circle of their
arms at Biberach, on account of the peace concluded by their
princes with the French, and retired behind the Danube by
Donauwoerth. Ferine had, meanwhile, also advanced from
HUningen into the Breisgau and to the lake of Constance, had
beaten the small corps under General Frohlick at Herbolsheim
and the remnant of the French emigrants under Conde at
Mindelheim,f and joined Moreau in pursuit of the archduke.
His troops committed great havoc wherever they appeared. J
* The duke. Charles, had, in 1791, visited Paris, donned the national
cockade, and bribed Mirabeau ^\'ith a large sum of money to induce the
French government to purchase Miimpelgard from him. The French,
however, -were quite as well aware as the duke that they would ere lon^
possess it gratis.
t Moreau generously allowed all his prisoners, who, as ex-nobles,
were destined to the guillotine, to escape.
J Armbruster's "Register of French Crime" contains as follows:
" Here and there, in the neighbouring towns, there were certainly symp-
toms of an extremely favourable disposition towards the French, which
would ill deserve a place in the annals of German patriotism and of
German good sense. This disposition was fortunately far from general.
The appearance of the French in their real character, and the barbarous
excesses and heavy contributions by which they rendered the people sen-
sible of their presence, speedily effected their conversion." The French,
it is true, neither murdered the inhabitants nor burnt the villages as they
had during the previous century in the Pfalz, but they pillaged the coun-
try to a "greater extent,- shamefully abused the women, and desecrated the
churches. Their licence and the art with which thev extorted the last
THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES. 191
Jourdan had also again pushed forwards. The archduke had
merely been able to oppose to him on the Lower Rhine thirty
thousand men under the Count von Wartensleben, which, owing
to Jourdan's numerical superiority, had been repulsed across
both the Lahn and Maine. Jourdan took Frankfurt by
bombardment and imposed upon that city a contribution of
six millions. The Franconian circle also submitted and paid
sixteen millions, without reckoning the requisition of natural
productions and the merciless pillage.*
The Archduke Charles, too weak singly to encounter the
armies of Moreau and Jourdan, had, meanwhile, boldly re-
solved to keep his opponents as long as possible separate, and,
on the first favourable opportunity, to attack one with the
whole of his forces, whilst he kept the other at bay with a
small division of his army. In pursuance of this plan, he
sent Wartensleben against Jourdan, and, meanwhile, drew
Moreau after him into Bavaria, where, leaving General La-
tour with a small corps to keep him in check at Rain on the
Lech, he recrossed the Danube at Ingolstadt with the flower
of his army and hastily advanced against Jourdan, who was
thus taken unawares. At Teiningen, he surprised the French
avant-garde under Bernadotte, which he compelled to retire.
At Amberg, he encountered Jourdan, whom he completely
routed, a. d. 1796. The French retreated through the city,
on the other side of which they formed an immense square
penny from the wretched people surpassed all belief. " Not satisfied
with robbing the churches, they especially gloried in giving utterance to
the most fearful blasphemies, in destroying and profaning the altars, in
overthrowing the statues of saints, in treading the host beneath their feet
or casting it to dogs At the village of Berg in Wcingarten, they set up
in the holy of holies the image of the devil, which they had taken from
the representation of the temptation of the Saviour in the wilderness. In
the village of Boos, they roasted a crucifix before a fire." — Vide Hurler's
Memorabilia, concenmig the French allies in Sicabia, who attempted to
found an Alemannic Republic. Schaffhausen, 1840. Moreau reduced
them to silence by declaring, " I have no need of a revolution to the rear
of my army."
* Notwithstanding Jourdan's proclamation, promising protection to
all private property, Wiirzburg, 'Schweinfurt, Bamberg, etc. were com-
pletely pillaged. The young girls fled in hundreds to the woods. The
churches were shamelessly desecrated. When mercy in God's name was
demanded, the plunderers replied, " God ! we are God ! " They would
dance at night-time around a bowl of burning brandy, whose blue flames
they called their etre supreme. — The French in Franconia, by Cotmt Soden.
192 THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES.
against the imperial cavalry undei' Wernek ; it was broken on
the third charge, and a terrible slaughter took place, thi'ee thou-
sand of the French being killed and one thousand taken pri-
soner. The peasantry had already flown to arms, and assisted
in cutting down the fugitives. Jourdan again made a stand at
WUrzburg, where Wernek stormed his batteries at the head of
his grenadiers and a complete rout ensued, September 3rd. The
French lost six thousand dead and two thousand prisoners. The
peasantry rose en masse, and hunted down the fugitives.* On the
Upper Rhone, Dr. Roder placed himself at the head of the pea-
santry, but, encountering a superior French corps at IMellrich-
stadt, was defeated and killed. The French suffered most in
the Spessart, called by them, on that account, La petite Vendee.
The peasantry were here headed by an aged forester, named
Philip Witt, and, protected by their forests, exterminated
numbers of the flying foe. The imperial troops were also un-
remitting in their pursuit, again defeated Bernadotte at As-
chaffenburg and chased Jourdan through Nassau across the
Rhine. Marceau, who had vainly besieged IMayence, again
made stand at AUerheim, where he was defeated and killed. f
Moreau, completely deceived by the archduke, had, mean-
while, remained in Bavaria. After defeating C4eneral Latour
at Lechhausen, instead of setting off in pursuit of the arch-
duke and to Jourdan's aid, he was, as the archduke had fore-
seen, attracted by the prospect of gaining a rich booty, in an
opposite direction, towards Munich. Bavaria submitted to
the French, paid ten millions, and ceded twenty of the most
valuable pictures belonging to the Diisseldorf and Munich
galleries. The news of Jourdan's defeat now compelled Mo-
reau to beat a rapid retreat in order to avoid being cut off by
the victorious archduke. Latour set off vigorously in pursuit,
* " They deemed the assassination of a foreig^ncr a meritorious "work."
— Ephemeridm of 1797. " The peasantry, roused to fury by the disorderly
and cruel French, whose excesses exceeded all belief, did not even extend
mercy to the wounded ; and the French, with equal barbaiity, set whole
villages on fire." — Appendix to the Campaign 0/1796.
t When scarcely in his twenty-seventh year. He was one of the most
distinguished heroes of the Revolution, and as remarkable for his generosity
to his weaker foes as for his moral and chivalric principles. The Arch-
duke Charles sent his private physicians to attend upon him, and, on the
occasion of his burial, fired a salvo simultaneously with that of the French
stationed on the opposite bank of the Rhine. — Miissinan.
BONAPARTE. 193
came up with him at Ulm and again at Ravensburg, but was
both times repulsed, owing to his numerical inferiority. A
similar fate awaited the still smaller imperial corps led against
the French by Nauendorf at Rothweil and by Petrosch at
Villingen, and INIoreau led the main body of his army in
safety through the deep narrow gorges of the Hollenthal in
the Black Forest to Freiburg in the Breisgau, where he came
upon the archduke, who, amid the acclamations of the armed
peasantry, (by whom the retreating French* were, as in the
Spessart, continually harassed in their passage through the
Black Forest,) had hurried, but too late, to his encounter.
Moreau had already sent two divisions of his army, under
Ferino and Desaix, across the Rhine at Hliningen and Brei-
sach, and covered their retreat witii the third by taking up a
strong position at Schliesgen, not far from Freiburg, whence,
after braving a first attack, he escaped during the night to
Hiiningen. This retreat, in which he had saved his army
with comparatively little loss, excited general admiration, but
in Italy there was a young man, who scornfully exclaimed,
" It was, after all, merely a retreat ! "
CCL- Bonaparte.
This youth was Napoleon Bonaparte, the son of a lawyer
in the island of Corsica, a man of military genius, who, when
a mere lieutenant, had raised the siege of Toulon, had after-
wards served the Directory by dispersing the old Jacobins with
his artillery in the streets of Paris, and had been intrusted
with the command of the ariny in Italy. Talents, that under
a monarchy would have been doomed to obscurity, were,
under the French republic, called into notice, and men of de-
cided genius could, amid the general competition, alone attain
to power or retain the reins of government.
Bonaparte was the first to take the field. In the April of
* The peasants of the Artenau and the Kinzigthal were commanded
by a wealthy farmer, named John Baader. Besides several French
generals, Hausmann, the commissary of the government, who accom-
panied Moreau's army, was taken prisoner. — Miissinan, History of the
French War of 1795, etc. A decree, published on the 18th of September
by Frederick Eugene, Duke of Wiirtemberg, in which he prohibited his
subjects from taking part in the pursuit of the French, is worthy of re-
mark.
194 BONAPARTE.
1 796, he pushed across the Alps and attacked the Austrian?.
Beaulieu, a good general but too old for service, (he was then
72, Napoleon but 27,) had incautiously extended his lines too
far in order to preserve a communication with the English
fleet in the jNIediterranean. Bonaparte defeated his scattered
corps at Montenotte and Millesimo, between the 10th and
loth of April, and, turning sharply upon the equally scattered
Sardinian force, beat it in several engagements, the principal
of which took place at Mondovi, between the 19th and 22nd
of April. An armistice was concluded with Sardinia, and
Beaulieu, who vainly attempted to defend the Po, was de-
feated on the 7th and 8th of May, at Fombio. The bridge
over the Adda at Lodi, three hundred paces in length, ex-
tremely naiTow and to all appearance impregnable, defended
by his lieutenant Sebottendorf, was carried by storm, and, on
the loth of May, Bonaparte entered IMilan. Beaulieu took
up a position behind the Mincio, notwithstanding which,
Bonaparte carried the again ill-defended bridge at Borghetto
by stoi'm. AVhilst in this part of the country, he narrowly
escaped being taken prisoner by a party of skirmishers, and
was compelled to fly half-naked, with but one foot booted,
from his night-quarters at St. Georgio.
Beaulieu now withdrew into the Tyrol. Sardinia made
peace, and terms were offered by the pope and by Naples.
Leghorn was garrisoned with French troops ; all the English
goods lying in this harbour, to the value of twelve million
pounds, were confiscated. The strongly fortified city of Mantua,
defended by the Austrians under their gallant leader. Canto
dTrles, was besieged by Bonaparte. A fresh body of Austrian
troops under Wurmser, crossed the mountains to their relief;
butWurmser, instead of advancing with his whole force, incau-
tiously pressed forward with thirty-two thousand men through
the valley of the Etsch, while Quasdanowich led eighteen thou-
sand along the western shore of the lake of Garda. Bona-
parte instantly perceived his advantage, and, attacking the
latter, defeated him, on the 3rd of August, at Lonato. Wurmser
had entered Mantua unopposed on the 1st, but, setting out in
search of the enemy, was unexpectedly attacked, on the 5th of
August, by the whole of Bonaparte's forces at Castiglione, and
compelled, like Quasdanowich, to seek slielter in the Tyrol.
This senseless mode of attack had been planned by Weirotter,
BONAPARTE. 195
a colonel belonging to the general staff. Wurmser now re-
ceived reinforcements, and Laner, the general of the engineers,
was intrusted with the projection of a better plan. He again
weakened the army by dividing his forces. In the beginning
of September, Davidowich penetrated with twenty thousand
men through the valley of the Etsch and was defeated at Eo-
veredo, and Wurmser, who had, meanwhile, advanced with an
army of twenty-six thousand men through the valley of the
Brenta, met with a similar fate at Bassano. He, nevertheless,
escaped the pursuit of the victorious French by making a cir-
cuit, and threw himself by a forced march into Mantua, where
he was, however, unable to make a lengthy resistance, the city
being over-populated and provisions scarce. A fresh army of
twenty-eight thousand men, under Alvinzi, sent to his relief*
through the valley of the Brenta, was attacked in a strong posi-
tion at Arcole, on the river Alpon. Two dams protected the
bank and a narrow bridge, which was, on the loth of Novem-
ber, vainly stormed by the French, although General Augereau
and Bonaparte, with the colours in his hand, led the attack.
On the following day, Alvinzi foolishly crossed the bridge and
took up an exposed position, in which he was beaten, and, on
the third day, he retreated. Davidowich, meanwhile, again ad-
vanced from the Tyrol and gained an advantage at Rivoli, but
was also forced to retreat before Bonaparte. Wurmser, when
too late, made a sally, which was, consequently, useless. The
campaign was, nevertheless, for the fifth time, renewed. Al-
vinzi collected reinforcements and again pushed forward into
the valley of the Etsch, but speedily lost courage and suffered
a fearful defeat, in which twenty thousand of his men were
taken prisoners, on the 14th and 1 5th of January, a. d. 1797,
at Rivoli. Provera, on whom he had relied for assistance
from Padua, was cut off and taken prisoner with his entire
corps. Wurmser capitulated at jMantua with twenty-one
thousand men.
The spring of 1797 had scarcely commenced when Bona-
parte was already pushing across the Alps towards Vienna.
Hoche, at the same time, again attacked the Lower and Mo-
* Clausewitz demands with great justice, why the Austrians so greatly
divided their forces on this occasion for the sake of saving Italy, as they
had only to follow up their successes vigorously on the Rhine in order to
gain, in that quarter, far more than they could lose on the Po.
o 2
196 BONAPARTE.
reau the Upper Rliine. Bonaparte, the nearest and most
dangerous foe, was opposed by the archduke, whose army,
composed of the remains of Alvinzi's disbanded and discour-
aged troops, called forth the observation from Bonaparte,
" Hitherto I have defeated armies without generals, now I am
about to attack a general without an army !" A battle took
place at Tarvis, amid the highest mountains, whence it was
afterwards known as "the battle above the clouds." The
archduke, with a handful of Hungarian hussars, valiantly de-
fended the pass against sixteen thousand F'rench under Mas-
sena, nor turned to fly until eight only of his men remained.
Generals Bayalich and Ocskay, instead of supporting him, had
yielded. The archduke again collected five thousand men
around him at Glogau and opposed the advance of the im-
mensely superior French force until two hundred and fifty of
his men alone remained. The conqueror of Italy rapidly ad-
vanced through Styria upon Vienna. Another French corps
under Joubert had penetrated into the Tyrol, but had been so
vigorously assailed at Spinges by the brave peasantry * as to be
forced to retire upon Bonaparte's main body, with which he
came up at Villach, after losing between six and eight thou-
sand men during his retreat through the Pusterthal. The
rashness with which Bonaparte, leaving the Alps to his rear
and regardless of his distance from France, penetrated into the
enemy's country, had placed him in a position affording every
facility for the Austrians, by a bold and vigorous stroke, to
cut him off and take him prisoner. They had garrisoned
Trieste and Fiume on the Adriatic and formed an alliance
with the republic of Venice, at that time well supplied with
men, arms, and gold. A great insurrection of the peasantry,
infuriated by the pillage of the French troops, had broken out
* At Absom, in the valley of the Inn, a peasant girl had, at that time,
discovered a figure of the Virgin in one of the panes of glass in her cham-
ber window. This appearance being deemed miraculous by the simple
peasantry, the authorities of the place investigated the matter, had the
glass cleaned and scraped, etc., and at length pronounced the indelible
figure to be simply the outline of an old coloured painting. The pea-
santry, however, excited by the appearance of the infidel French, per-
sisted in giving credence to the miracle and set up the piece of glass in
a church, which was afterwards annually visited by thousands of pilgrims.
In 1407, the celebrated pilgrimage to Waldrast, in the Tyrol, had been
founded in a similar manner by the discovery of a portrait of the Virgin,
which had been grown up in a tree, by two sliepherd lads.
BONAPARTE. 197
at Bergamo. The gallant T}Tolese, headed by Count Lehr-
bach, and the Hungarians, had risen en masse. The victori-
ous troops of the Archduke Charles were en route from the
Rhine, and Mack had armed the Viennese and the inhabitants
of the thickly-populated neighbourhood of the metropolis.
Bonaparte was lost should the archduke's plan of operations
meet with the approbation of the Viennese cabinet, and,
perfectly aware of the fact, he made proposals of peace under
pretence of spai-ing unnecessary bloodshed. The imperial
court, stupified by the late discomfitui-e in Italy, instead of
regarding the proposals of the wily Frenchman as a confession
of embarrassment, and of assailing him with redoubled vigour,
acceded to them, and, on the 18th of April, Count Cobenzl,
Thugut's successor, concluded the preliminaries of peace at
Leoben, by which the French, besides being liberated from
their dangerous position, were recognised as victors. The
negotiations of peace were continued at the chateau of Campo
Formio, where the Austrians somewhat regained courage, and
Count Cobenzl* even ventured to refuse some of the articles
proposed. Bonaparte, irritated by opposition, dashed a valu-
able cup, the gift of the Russian empress, violently to the
ground, exclaiming, " You wish for war ? Well ! you shall
have it, and your monarchy shall be shattered like that cup."
The armistice was not interrupted. Hostilities were even
suspended on the Rhine. The archduke had, before quitting
that river, gained the tetes de po?it of Strassburg (Kehl) and
of Hiiningen, besides completely clearing the right bank of
the Rhine of the enemy. The whole of these advantages
were again lost on his recall to take the field against Napoleon.
The Saxon troops, which had, up to this period, steadily sided
with Austria, were recalled by the elector. Swabia, Fran-
conia, and Bavaria were intent upon making peace with France.
Baron von Fahnenberg, the imperial envoy at Ratisbon, bit-
terly reproached the Protestant estates for their evident in-
* Cobenzl was a favourite of Kaunitz and a thorough courtier. At
an earlier period, when ambassador at Petersburg, he wrote French
comedies, which were performed at the Hermitage in the presence of the
empress Catherine. The arrival of an unpleasant despatch being ever
followed by the production of some amusing piece as an antidote to care,
the empress jestingly observed, " that he was no doubt keeping his best
piece until the news arrived of the French being in Vienna." He expired
in the February of 1809, a year pregnant with fate for Austria.
198 BONAPARTE.
clination to follow the example of Prussia by siding with the
French and betraying their fatherland to their common foe,
but, on applying more particularly for aid to the spiritual
princes, wlio were exposed to the greatest danger, he found
them equally lukewarm. Each and all refused to furnish
troops or to pay a war-tax. The imperial troops were, conse-
quently, compelled to enforce their maintenance, and naturally
became tlie objects of popular hatred. In this wretched
manner was the empire defended I The petty imperial corps
on the Rhine were, meanwhile, compelled to retreat before an
enemy vastly their superior in number. "Wernek, attempting
with merely twenty-two thousand men to obstruct the ad-
vance of an army of sixty-five thousand French under Hoche,
was defeated at Neuwied and deprived of his command.*
Sztarray, who charged seven times at the head of his men,
was also beaten by JNIoreau at Kehl and Diersheim. At this
conjuncture, the armistice of Leoben was published.
A peace, based on the terms proposed at Leoben, was form-
ally concluded at Campo Formio, Oct. 17th, 1797. The tri-
umph of the French republic was confirmed, and ancient
Europe received a new form. The object for which the
sovereigns of France had for centuries vainly striven was
won by the monarchless nation ; France gained the pre-
ponderance in Europe. Italy and the whole of the left bank
of the Rhine were abandoned to her arbitrary rule, and this
fearful loss, far from acting as a warning to Germany and
promoting her union, merely increased her internal dissen-
sions and offered to the French republic an opportunity for
intervention, of which it took advantage for purposes of gain
and pillage.
The principal object of the policy of Bonaparte and of the
French Directory, at that period, was, by rousing the ancient
feelings of enmity between Austria and Prussia, to eternalize
the disunion between those two monarchies. Bonaparte, after
efiectuating the peace by means of terror, loaded Austria with
flattery. He flattered her religious feelings by the moderation
of his conduct in Italy towards the pope, notwithstanding the
disapprobation manifested by the genuine French republicans,
and her interests, by the offer of Venice in compensation for
* He indignantly refused the stipend offered to him on tliis occasion
and protested against the injustice of his condemnation.
BONAPARTE. 199
the loss of the Netherlands, and, making a slight side-mo%'e-
ment against that once powerful and still wealthy republic,
reduced it at the first blow, nay, by mere threats, to submis-
sion ; so deeply was the ancient aristoci'acy here also fallen.
The cession of Venice to the emperor was displeasing to the
French republicans. They were, however, pacified by the
delivery of Lafayette, wlio had been still detained a prisoner
in Austria after the treaty of Basle. Kapoleon said in vindi-
cation of his policy, " I have merely lent Venice to the em-
peror, he will not keep her long." He, moreover, gratified
Austria by the extension of her western frontier, so long the
object of her amljition, by the possession of tlie archbishopric
of Salzburg and of a part of Bavaria with the town of
"NVasserburg.* The sole object of these concessions was pro-
visionally to dispose Austria in favour of France, f and to
render Prussia's ancient jealousy of Austria implacable. :j:
Hence the secret ai'ticles of peace by which France and
Austria bound themselves not to grant any compensation to
Prussia. Prussia was on her part, however, resolved not to
be the loser, and, in the summer of 1797, took forcible pos-
session of the imperial free town of Nuremberg, notwith-
standing her declaration made just three years previously
through Count Soden to the Franconian circle, "that the
• Bavaria regarded these forced concessions as a bad rcAvard for her
fidelity to Austria. Napoleon appears to have calculated upon re-
lighting by this means the flames of discord, •whence he well knew how
to draw an advantage, between Bavaria and Austria.
t " Thus the emperor also now abandoned the empire by merely bar-
gaining with the enemy to quit his territories, and leaving the wretched
provinces of the empire a prey to war and pillage. And if the assurances
of friendship, of conhdeiice, and of affection between Austria and Venice
are but recalled to mind, the contrast was indeed laughable when the em-
peror was pleased to allow that loyal city to be ceded to him. The best
friend was in this case the cloth from which the emperor cut himself an
equivalent." — Httergelmer.
X A curious private memoir of Talleyrand says: " J'ai la certitude
que Berlin est le lieu, ou le traite du 26 Vendemiaire, (the reconciliation
of Austria with France at Campo Formio,) aura jetie le plus d'etonne-
ment, d'embarras et de crainte." He then explains that now that the Ne-
therlands no longer belong to Austria, and that Austria and France no
longer come into collision, both powers would be transformed from na-
tural foes into natural friends and would have an equal interest in weak-
ening Prussia. Should Russia stir, the Poles could be roused to insur-
rection, etc.
200 BONAPARTE.
king had never harboured the design of seeking a compensa-
tion at the expense of the empire, whose constitution had ever
been sacred in his eyes ! " and to the empire, " He deemed it
beneath his dignity to refute the reports concerning Prussia's
schemes of aggrandizement, oppression, and secuhirization."
Prussia also extended her possessions in Franconia* and
AVestphalia, and Hesse-Cassel imitated her example by the
seizure of a part of Schaumburg-Lippe. The diet ener-
getically remonstrated, but in vain. Pamphlets spoke of the
Prussian reunion-chambers opened by liardenberg in Fran-
conia. An attempt was, however, made to console the circle
of Franconia by depicturing the fi\r worse sufferings of that
of Swabia under the imperial contributions. The petty
Estates of the empire stumbled, under these circumstances,
upon the unfortunate idea " that the intercession of the Rus-
sian court should be requested for the maintenance of the in-
tegrity of the German empire and for that of her constitu-
tion ;" the intercession of the Russian court, which had so
lately annihilated Poland !
Shortly after this, [a. d. 1797,] Frederick William II.,
who had, on his accession to the throne, found seventy-two
millions of dollars in the treasury, expired, leaving twenty-
eight millions of debts. His son, Frederick William III.,
placed the Countess Lichtenau under arrest, chased Wollner,
and abolished the unpopular monopoly in tobacco, but re-
tained his father's ministers and continued the alliance, so
pregnant with mischief, with France. This monarch, well-
meaning and destined to the severest trials, educated by a
peevish valetudinarian and ignorant of affairs, was first
taught by bitter experience the utter incapacity of the men
at that time at the head of the government, and after, as will
be seen, completely reforming the court, the government, and
* " Exactly at this period, when the empire's common foe was plunder-
ing the Franconian circle, when deeds of blood and horror, when misery
and want had reached a fearful height, the troops of the Elector of Bran-
denburg overran the cities and villages. The inhabitants were con-
strained to take the oath of fealty, the public officers, who refused, were
dragged away captive, etc. EUingen, Stopfenheim, Absperg, Eschen-
bach, Niiremberg, Postbaur, Vimsperg, Oettingen, Dinkelspiihl, Ritzen-
hausen, Gelchsheim, were scenes of brutal outrage." — The History of the
Usurpation of Brandeiihxirg , a. d. 1797, with the original Documents,
published by the Teutonic Order.
BONAPARTE. 201
the army, surrounded himself with men, who gloriously de-
livered Prussia and Germany from all the miseries and
avenged all the disgrace, which it is the historian's sad office
to record.
Austria, as Prussia had already done by the treaty of Basle,
also sacrificed, by the peace of Campo Formio, the whole of
the left bank of the Rhine and abandoned it to France, the
loss thereby suffered by the Estates of the empire being in-
demnified by the secularization of the ecclesiastical property
in the interior of Germany and by the prospect of the seizure
of the imperial free towns. Mayence was ceded without a
blow to France. Holland was forgotten. The English, under
pretext of opposing France, destroyed [a. d. 1797] the last
Dutch fleet, in the Texel, though not without an heroic and
determined resistance on the part of the admirals de Winter
and Reintjes, both of whom were severely wounded, and the
latter died in captivity in England. Holland was formed into
a Batavian, Genoa into a Ligurian, Milan with the Veltlin
(from which the Grisons was severed) into a Cisalpine re-
public. Intrigues were, moreover, set on foot for the form-
ation of a Roman and Neapolitan republic in Italy and of a
Rhenish and Swabian one in Germany, all of which were to
be subordinate to the mother republic in France. The pro-
clamation of a still-born Cisrhenish republic, (it not having
as yet been constituted when it was swallowed up in the great
French republic,) in the masterless Lower Rhenish provinces
in the territory of Treves, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Cologne,
under the influence of the French Jacobins and soldiery, was,
however, all that could at first be openly done.
The hauteur with which Bonaparte, backed by his devoted
soldiery, had treated the republicans, and the contempt mani-
fested by him towards the citizens, had not failed to rouse the
jealous suspicions of the Directory, the envy of the less suc-
cessful generals, and the hatred of the old friends of liberty,
by whom he was already designated as a tyrant. The re-
publican party was still possessed of considerable power, and
the majority of the French troops under Moreau, Jourdan,
Bernadotte, etc., were still ready to shed their blood in the
cause of liberty. Bonaparte, compelled to veil his ambitious
projects, judged it more politic, after sowing the seed of dis-
cord at Campo Formio, to withdraw awhile, in order to await
202 BONAPARTE.
the ripening of the plot and to return to reap the result. lie,
accordingly, went meantime [a. d. 1798] with a small but
well-picked army to Egypt, for the ostensible purpose of open-
ing a route overland to India, the sea-passage having been
closed against France by the British, but in reality, for the
purpose of awaiting there a turn in continental affairs, and,
moreover, by his victories over the Turks in the ancient land
of fable, to add to the marvel it was ever his object to inspire.
On his way thither, he seized the island of Malta and com-
pelled Baron Hompesch, the grand-master of the order of the
Knights of Malta, to resign his dignity, the fortress being
betrayed into his hands by the French knights.
At Kastadt, near Baden, wliere the compensation mentioned
in the treaty of Campo Forinio was to be taken into consider-
ation, tlie terrified Estates of tlie empire assembled for the
purpose of suing the French ambassadors for the lenity they
had not met with at the hands of Austria and Prussia.
The events that took place at Rastadt are of a description
little calculated to flatter the patriotic feelings of the German
historian. The soul of the congress was Charles ]\Iaurice
Talleyrand-Perigord, at one time a bishop, at the present
period minister of the French republic. His colloquy with
the German ambassadors resembled that of the fox with the
gee.se, and he attuned their discords with truly diabolical art.
Whilst holding Austria and Prussia apart, instigating them
one against the other, flattering both with the friendship of
the republic and with the prospect of a rich booty by the
secularization of the ecclesiastical land.^, he encouraged some
of the petty states with the hope of aggrandizement by an
alliance with France,* and, with cruel contempt, allowed others
awhile to gasp for life before consigning them to destruction.
The petty princes, moreover, who liad been deprived of their
territory on the other side of the Rhine, demanded lands on
this side in compensation ; all the petty princes on this side
consequently trembled lest they should be called upon to make
compensation, and each endeavoured, by bribing the members
of the congress, Talleyrand in particular, to render himself
an exception. The French minister was bribed not by gold
alone ; a considerable number of ladies gained great notoriety
* His secret memoirs, even at that period, designate Baden, 'NV'iirtem-
berg, and Darmstadt as states securely witliin the grasp of France.
BOXAPARTE. 203
by their liaison with the insolent republican, from -whom they
received nothing, the object for whioh they sued being sold by
him sometimes even two or three times. Momus, a satirical
production of this period, relates numerous instances of crime
and folly that are perfectly incredible. The avarice manifested
by the French throughout the whole of the negotiations was
only surpassed by the brutality of their language and be-
haviour. Robert, Bonnier, and Jean de Bry, the dregs of the
French nation, treated the whole of the German empire on
this occasion en canaille, and, whilst picking the pockets of the
Germans, were studiously coarse and brutal ; still the trifling
opposition they encountered, and the total want of spirit in the
representatives of the great German empire, whom it must,
in fact, have struck them as ridiculous to see thus liumble<l
at their feet, forms an ample excuse for their demeanour.
Gustavus Adolphus IV., who mounted the throne of
Sweden in 1796, distinguished himself at that time among
the Estates of the empire, when Duke of Pomerania and
Prince of Riigen, by his solemn protest against tlie depreda-
tions committed by France, and by his summons to every
member of the German empire to take the field against their
common foe. Plesse-Cassel was also remarkable for the war-
like demeanour and decidedly anti-Gallic feeling of her popul-
ation ; and "VViirtemberg, for being the first of the German
states that gave the example of making concessions more in
accordance with the spirit of the times. By the abolition of
ancient abuses alone could the princes meet the threats used
on every occasion by the French at Kastadt to revolutionize
the people unless their demands were fully complied with. In
WUrtemberg, the duke, Charles, had been succeeded [a. d.
1793] by his brothei", Louis Eugene, who banished licence
from his court, but, a foe to enlightenment, closed the Charles
college, placed monks around his person, was extremely
bigoted, and a zealous but powerless friend to France. He
expired, a. d. 1795, and was succeeded by the third brother,
Frederick Eugene, who had been during his youth a canon at
Salzburg, but afterwards became a general in the Prussian
service, married a princess of Brandenburg, and educated his
children in the Protestant ft\ith in order to assimilate the re-
ligion of the reigning family with that of the people. His
mild government terminated in 1797. Frederick, his talented
204 BOXAPARTE.
son and successor, mainly frustrated the projected establisli-
ment of a Swabian republic, which was strongly supported by
the French, by his treatment of the provincial Estates, the
modification of the rights of chace, etc., on which occasion he
took the following oath : " I repeat the solemn vow, ever to
hold the constitution of this country sacred and to make the
weal of my subjects the aim of my life." He nevertlieless
appears, by the magnificent fetes, masquerades, and pastoral
festivals given by him, as if in a time of the deepest peace, at
Hohenheim, to have trusted more to his connexion with Eng-
land, by his marriage with the princess royal, iNIatilda,* with
Russia, and with Austria, (the emperor Paul, Catherine's suc-
cessor, having married the princess Maria of Wiirtemberg,
and the emperor Francis II., her sister Elizabeth,) than to the
constitution, which he afterwards annihilated.
The weakness displayed by the empire and the increasing
disunion between Austria and Prussia encouraged the
French to further insolence. Not satisfied with garrisoning
every fortification on the left bank of the Rhine, they boldly
attacked, starved to submission, and razed to the ground,
during peace-time, the once impregnable fortress of Ehren-
breitstein, on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Coblentz.|
Not content with laying the Netherlands and Holland com-
pletely waste, they compelled the Hanse towns to grant them
a loan of eighteen million livres. Liibeck refused, but Ham-
burg and Bremen, more nearly threatened and hopeless of
aid from Prussia, were constrained to satisfy the demands of
the French brigands. In the Netherlands, the German fac-
tion once more rose in open insurrection ; in 1798, the young
men, infuriated by the conscription and by their enrolment
into French regiments, flew to arms, and torrents of blood
were shed in the struggle, in which they were unaided by
their German brethren, before they were again reduced to
submission. The English also landed at Ostend, but for the
sole purpose of destroying the sluices of the canal at Brugge.
* He fled on Moreau's invasion to England, ■where he formed this al-
liance. There was at one time a project of creating him elector of
Hanover and of partitioning Wiirtembcrg between Bavaria and Baden.
t The commandant, Faber, defended the place for fourteen months
■with a garrison of 2000 men. During the siege, the badh'-disciplined
French soldiery secretly sold provisions at an exorbitant price to the
starving garrison.
I
BONAPARTE. 205
The French divided the beautiful Rhenish provinces,
yielded to them almost without a blow by Germany, into four
departments : 1st, Roer, capital Aix-la-Chapelle ; besides
Cologne and Cleve. 2ndly, Donnersberg, capital Mayence ;
besides Spires and Zweibriicken. 3rdly, Saar, capital
Treves. 4thly, Rhine and ]\Ioselle, capital Coblentz ; besides
Bonn. Each department was subdivided into cantons, each
canton into communes. The department was governed by a
prefect, the canton by a sub-prefect, the commune by a mayor.
All distinction of rank, nobility, and all feudal rights were
abolished. Each individual was a citizen, free and equal.
All ecclesiastical establishments were abandoned to plunder,
the churches alone excepted, they being still granted as places
of worship to believers, notwithstanding the contempt and
ridicule into which the clergy had fallen. The monasteries
were closed. The peasantry, more particularly in Treves,
nevertheless, still manifested great attachment to Popery.
Guilds and corporations were also abolished. The introduc-
tion of the ancient German oral law formerly in use through-
out the empire, the institution of trial by jury, which, to the
disgrace of Germany, the Rhenish princes, after the lapse of
a thousand years, learnt from their Gallic foe, was a great
and signal benefit.
Liberty, equality, and justice were, at that period, in all
other respects, mere fictions. The most arbitrary rule in
reality existed, and the new provinces were systematically
drained by taxes of every description, as, for instance, register,
stamp, patent, window, door, and land taxes : there was also
a tax upon furniture and upon luxuries of every sort; a poll-
tax, a per centage on the whole assessment, etc. ; besides ex-
tortion, confiscation, and forced sales. And woe to the new
citizen of the great French republic, if he failed in paying
more servile homage to its ofiicers, from the prefect down to
the lowest underling, than had ever been exacted by tlie
princes ! * Such was the liberty bestowed by republican
* Klebe gave an extremely detailed account of the French govern-
ment : " It is, for instance, well knowTi that a pastrj' cook was nominated
lord high warden of the forests over a whole department, and a jeweller
was raised to the same office in another. The documents proving the
cheating and underselling carried on by Pioc, the lord high warden of
the forests, and by his assistant, Gauthier, in all the forests in the depart-
206 THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND.
France ! Thus were her promises fulfilled ! The German
illuminati were tearfully undeceived, particularly on ))prceiv-
ing how completely their hopes of universally revolutionizing
Germany were frustrated by the treaty of Basle. The French,
who had proclaimed liberty to all the nations of the earth,
now offered it for sale. The French character was in every
respect the same as during the reign of Louis XIV. The only
principle to which they remained ever faithful was that of rob-
bery. Switzerland was now, in her turn, attacked, and
vengeance thus overtook every province that had severed it-
self from the empire, and every part of the once magnificent
empire of Germany was miserably punished for its want of
unity.
CCLI. The pillage of Switzerland.
Peace had reigned tliroughout Switzerland since the battle
of Villmergen, A. d. 17 12, which had given to Zurich and Berne
the preponderance in the confederation. The popular discon-
tent caused by the increasing despotism of the aristocracy had
merely displayed itself in petty conspiracies, as, for instance,
that of Henzi, in 1749, and in partial insurrections. In all
ment of the Rhine and Moselle, are detailed at full length in Riibezahl,
a sort of monthly magazine. It is astonishing to see with what bound-
less impudence these people have robbed the country Still greater
rascalities were carried on on the right bank of the Rhine. Gauthier
robbed from Coblentz down to the Prussian frontiers." These allega-
tions are confirmed by Gbrres in a pamphlet, " Results of my Mission to
Paris," in which he says, " The Directory had treated the four depart-
ments like so many Paschalics, which it abandoned to its Janissaries
and colonized with its favourites. Every petition sent by the inhabitants
was thrown aside with revolting contempt ; every thing was done that
could most deeply wound their feelings in regard to themselves or to their
country." " The secret history of the government of the country between
the Rhine and the Moselle," sums up as follows : " All cheated, all
thieved, all robbed. The cheating, thieving, and robbing were perfectly
terrible, and not one of the cheats, thieves, or robbers seemed to have an
idea tliat tliis country formed, by the decree of union, a part of France."
A naive confession ! The French, at all events, acted as if conscious that
the land was not theirs. The Rhenish Jews, who, as early as the times
of Louis XIV., had aided the French in plundering Germany, again acted
as tlieir blood-hounds, and, by accepting bills in exchange for their real
or supposed loans, at double the amount, on wealthy proprietors, speedily
placed themselves in possession of the finest estates. Vide Reichardt's
Letters from Paris.
THE PILLAGE OF SYv^TZERLAND. 207
the cantons, even in those in which the democratic spirit was
most prevalent, the chief autliority had been seized by the
wealthier and more ancient families. All the offices were in
their hands, the higher posts in the Swiss regiments raised
for the service of France w^ere monopolized by the younger
sons of the more powerful families, who introduced the social
vices of France into their own country, where they formed
a strange medley in conjunction with the pedantry of the
ancient oligarchical form of government. In the great canton
of Berne, the council of two hundred, which had unlimited
sway, w^as solely composed of seventy-six reigning families.
In Zurich, the one thousand nine hundred townsmen had un-
limited power over the country. For one hundred and lifty
years no citizen had been enrolled amongst them, and no son
of a peasant had been allowed to study for, or been nominated
to, any office, even to that of preacher. In Solothurn, but
one half of the eight hundred townsmen were able to carry
on the government. Lucerne was governed by a council of
one hundred, so completely monopolized by the more powerful
families, that boys of twenty succeeded their fathers as coun-
cillors. Basle was govern vi l-j- a council of two hundred and
eighty, which Avas entirely formed out of seventy wealthy
mercantile families. Seventy-one families had usurped the
authority at Friburg. A similar oligarchical government pi'e-
vailed at St. Gall and Schaffhausen. The Junker, in the latter
place, rendered themselves especially ridiculous by the in-
numerable offices and chambers in which they transacted their
useless and prolix affiiirs. In all these aristocratic can-
tons, the peasantry were cruelly harassed, oppressed, and, in
some parts, kept in servitude by the provincial governors.
The wealthy provincial governments were monopolized by the
great aristocratic families.* Even in the pure democracies,
the provincial communes were governed by powerful peasant
families, as, for instance, in Glarus, and the tyranny exercised
by these peasants over the territory beneath their sway far ex-
ceeded that of the aristocratic burgesses in their provincial
governments. The Italian valleys groaned beneath the yoke
* " The peasant, -when summoned into the presence of a governor, lord
of the council, head of a guild, or preacher, stood there, not as a free
Swiss, but as a criminal trembling before his judge." — Lehmann on the
imaginary Freedom of the Swiss. 1 799.
208 THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND.
of the original cantons, particularly under that of Uri,* the
seven provincial governments in Unterwallis under that of
Oberwallis, the countship of Werdenberg under that of the
Glarner, Veltlin under that of the Grisons.f The princely
abbot of St. Gall was unlimited sovereign over his territory.
Separate monasteries, for instance, Engelberg, had feudal
sway over their vassals.
Enlightenment and liberal opinions spread also gradually
over Switzerland, and twenty years after Henzi's melancholy
death, a disposition was again shown to oppose the tyranny of
the oligarchies. In 1792, Lavater and Fiiszli were banished
Zurich for venturing to complain of the arbitrary conduct of
one of the provincial governors ;|: in 1779, a curate named
Waser, a man of talent and foe to the aristocracy, was be-
headed on a false charge of falsifying the archives ; § in
1794, the oppressed peasantry of Lucerne revolted against the
* " The important office of provincial secretary was, in this manner,
hereditary in the family of the Beroldingen of Uri." — Lehmann.
t " In the Grisons, the constitution was extremely complicated. The
lordships of Meycnfeld and Aspermont were, for instance, subject to the
three confederated cantons and under the control of tlie provincial
governors nominated by tliem ; they were at the same time members of
the whole free state, and, as such, had a right of lordship over the sub-
ject provinces, over which they, in their turn, appointed a governor." —
Meyer von Knonau's Geography.
% The best information concerning the authority held by the provincial
governors, who enjoyed almost unlimited sway over their districts, is to be
met with in the excellent biography of Solomon Landolt, the provincial
governor of Zurich, by Da\id Hesz. Landolt was the model of an able
but extremely tyrannical governor (he ruled over Greisensee and Egli-
sau) and gained great note by his salomonic judgments and by his quaint
humour. He founded the Swiss rifle clubs and introduced that national
weapon into modern warfare. He was also a painter and had the
v.'him, notwithstanding the constant triumph of the French, ever to re-
present them in his pictures as the vanquished party.
\ Hirzel wrote at that time, in his " Glimpses into the History of the
Confederation," that Captain Henzi had been deprived of his head be-
cause he was the only man in the country who had one. Zimmerman
says in his " National Pride," " A foreign philosopher visited Switzerland
for the purpose of settling in a coimtry where thought was free; he re-
mained ten days at Zurich and then went to — Portugal." In 1774, the
clocks at Basle, which, since the siege of Rudolph of Habsburg, had re-
mained one hour behindhand, were, after immense opposition, regulated
like those in the rest of the world. Two factions sprang up on this occa-
sion, that of the Spieszburghers or Lalleburghers, (the ancient one,) and
that of the Francemen or new-modellers (the modern one).
I
THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND. 209
aristocracy ; in the same year, the peasantry in Schwyz,
roused by the insolence of the French recruiting officers, re-
volted, and, in the public provincial assembly, enforced the re-
call of all the people of Schwyz in the French service, besides
imposing a heavy tine upon General Reding on his return. In
1781, a revolt of the Friburg peasantry, occasioned by the
tyranny of the aristocracy, was quelled with the aid of Berne ;
in 1784, Suter, the noble-spirited Landummann of Appen-
zell, fell a sacrifice to envy. His mental and moral superiority
to the rest of his countrymen inspired his rival, Geiger, with
the most deadly hatred, and he persecuted him with the ut-
most rancour. He was accused of being a free-thinker ,
documents and protocols were falsified ; the stupid populace
was excited against him, and, after having been exposed on
the pillory, publicly whipped, and tortured on the rack, he was
beheaded, and all intercession on his behalf was prohibited
under pain of death. Solothurn, on the other hand, was freed
from feudal servitude in 1785. The popular feeling at that
time prevalent throughout Switzerland, was, however, of far
greater import than these petty events. The oligarchies had
every where suppressed public opinion ; the long peace had
slackened the martial ardour of the people ; the ridiculous af-
fectation of ancient heroic language brouglit into vogue by
John ]\Iiiller rendered the contrast yet more striking, and, on
the outburst of the French Revolution, the tyrannized Swiss
peasantry naturally threw themselves into the arms of the
French, the aristocracy into those of the Austrians.
The oppressed peasantry revolted as early as 1790 against
the ruling cities, the vassal against the aristocrat, in Schaff-
hausen, on account of the tithes ; in Lower Valais, on account
of the tyranny of one of the provincial governors. These
petty outbreaks and an attempt made by Laharpe to render
Vaud independent of Berne* were suppressed, A. D. 1791.
The people remained, nevertheless, in a high state of ferment-
ation. The new French republic at first quarrelled with the
ancient confederation for having, unmindful of their origin,
descended to servility. The Swiss guard had, on the 16th of
August, A. D. 1792, courageously defended the palace of the
unfortunate French king and been cut to pieces by the
* Laharpe was at the same time a demagogue in the ^aud and tutor
to the emperor Alexander at Petersburg.
VOL. m p
210 THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND.
Parisian mob. At a later period, the Austrians had seized
the ambassadors of the French republic, Semonville and
Maret, in the Veltlin, in the territory of the Grisons. Tlie
Swiss patriots, as they were called, however, gradually fo-
mented an insurrection against the aristocrats and called the
French to their aid. In 1793, the vassals of the bishop of
Basle at Pruntrut had already planted trees of liberty and
placed the bishopric, under the name of a Ilauracian republic,
under the protection of France, chiefly at the instigation of
Gobel, who was, in reward, appointed bishop of Paris, and
whose nephew, Kengger, shortly afterwards became a mem-
ber of the revolutionary government in Berne. In Geneva,
during the preceding year, the French faction had gained the
upper hand. The fickleness of the war kept the rest of the
patriots in a state of suspense, but, on the seizure of the left
bank of the Rhine by the French, the movements in Switzer-
land assumed a more serious character. The abbot, Beda, of
St. Gall, [a, d. 1795,] pacified his subjects by concessions,
which his successor, Pancras, refusing to recognise, he was, in
consequence, expelled. The unrelenting aristocracy of Zurich,
upon this, took the field against the restless peasantry, sur-
rounded the patriots in Stiifa, threw the venerable Bod-
mer and a number of liis adherents into prison, and inflicted
upon them heavy fines or severe corporeal chastisement.
The campaign of 1796 had fully disclosed to Bonaparte
the advantage of occupying Switzerland with his troops,
whose passage to Italy or Germany would be thereby facili-
tated, whilst the line of communication would be secured, and
the danger to which he and !Moreau had been exposed
through want of co-operation, would at once be remedied.
He first of all took advantage of the dissensions in the Grisons
to deprive that republic of the beautiful Veltlin,* and, even
at that time, demanded pei'mission from the people of Valais
* Veltlin with Chiavenna and Bormio (Cleve and Worms) were ill-
treated by the people of the Grisons. Offices and justice were regularly
jobbed and sold to the highest bidder. The people of Veltlin hastily en-
tered into alliance with P" ranee, whUst the oppressed peasantry in the
Grisons rebelled against the ruling family of Salis, which had long been
in the pay of the French kings and had, since the revolution, sided with
Austria. John Miiller appeared at Basle as Thugut's agent for the pur-
pose of inciting the confederation against France. — Ochs's History of
Basle.
i
THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND. 211
to build the road across the Simplon, which he was, however,
only able to execute at a later period. On his return to
Paris from the Italian expedition, he passed through Basle,*
where he was met by Talleyi-and. Peter Ochs, the chief
master of the corporation, was, on this occasion, as he himself
relates in his History of Basle, won over, as the acknow-
ledged chief of the patriots, to revolutionize Switzerland and
to enter into a close alliance with France. The base charac-
ters, at that time the tools of the French Directory, merely
acceded to the political plans of Bonaparte and Talleyrand in
the hope of reaping a rich harvest by the plunder of the
federal cantons, and the Swiss expedition was, consequently,
determined upon. The people of Valais, whose state of op-
pression served as a pretext for interference, revolted, under
Laharpe, against Berne, [a. d. 1798,] and demanded the in-
tervention of the French republic, as heir to the dukes of
Savoy, on the strength of an ancient treaty, which had, for
that purpose, been raked up from the ashes of the past.
Nothing could exceed the miserable conduct of the diet at
that conjuncture. After having already conceded to France
her demand for the expulsion of the emigrants and having ex-
posed its weakness by this open violation of the rights of hos-
pitality, it discussed tlie number of troops to be furnished by
each of the cantons, when the enemy was already in the coun-
try. Even the once haughty Bernese, who had set an army,
thirty thousand strong, on foot, withdrew, under General AVysz,
from Valais to their metropolis, where they awaited the attack
of the enemy. There was neither plan f nor order ; the
patriots rose in every quarter and struck terror into the
aristocrats, most of whom were now rather inclined to yield
and impeded by their indecision the measures of the more
spirited party. In Basle, Ochs deposed the oligarchy ; in
Zurich, the government was induced, by intimidation, to re-
* Whilst here, he gave Fesch, the pastry-cook, whose brother, a Swiss
lieutenant, was the second husband of Bonaparte's maternal grand-
mother, a very friendly reception. The offspring of this second marriage
was the future Cardinal Fesch, Letitia's half-brother and Napoleon's
uncle, whom Napoleon attempted to create primate of Germany and to
raise to the pontifical throne.
t Some of the cantons imagined that France merely aspired to the
possession of Valais, and, jealous of the prosperity and power of Berne,
willingly permitted her to suffer this humiliation. — Meyer von Knonau.
p 2
212 THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND.
store Bodmerand his fellow-prisoners to liberty. In Friburg,
Lucerne, SchaflTliausen, and St. Gall the oligarchies resigned
their authority ; Thurgau asserted its independence.
Witliin Berne itself", tranquillity was with difficulty pre-
served by Steiger, the venerable mayor, a man of extreme
firmness of character, A French force under Brune had al-
ready overrun Vaud, which, under pretext of being delivered
from oppression, was laid under a heavy contribution ; the
ancient charnel-house at Murten was also destroyed, because
the French had formerly been beaten on this spot by the Ger-
mans. But few of the Swiss raarclietl to the aid of Berne ; two
hundred of the people of Uri, arrnycd in the armour of their
ancestors, some of the peasantry of Glarus, St. Gall, and Fri-
burg.* A second French force under Schauenburg entered
Switzerland by Basle, defeated the small troops of Bernese sent
to oppose it at Dornach and Langnau, and took Solothurn,
where it liberated one hundred and eighty self-styled patriots
imprisoned in that place. The patriots, at this conjuncture,
also rose in open insuiTection in Berne, threw every thing into
confusion, deposed the old council, formed a provisional govern-
ment, and checked all tiie preparations for defence. The
brave peasantry, basely betrayed by the cities, were roused to
fury. Colonels Ryhiner, Stettler, Crusy, and Goumorcs were
murdered by them upon mere suspicion, (their innocence was
afterwards proved,) and boldly following their leader, Grafen-
ried, against the French, they defeated and repulsed the whole
of Brune's army and captured eighteen guns at the bridge of
Neuenegg. But a smaller Bernese corps, which, under Steiger,
the mayor, opposed the army of Schauenburg in the Grauen
Holz, was routed after a bloody struggle, and, before Erlach,
the newly-nominated generalissimo, could hurry back to Berne
Avith the victors of Neuenegg, the patriots, who had long been
in the pay of France, threw wide the gates to Schauenburg.
All was now lost. Erlach fled to Thun, in order to place
himself at the head of the people of the Oberland, who de-
scended in thick masses from the mountains ; but, on his ad-
dressing the brave Senn peasantry in French, according to
* Two Bernese, condemned to work in the trenches at Yferten, on
beinfc liberated by the Frencli, returned voluntarily to Berne, in order to
aid in the defence of the city. A rare trait, in those times, of ancient
Swiss lidelity.
J
THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND. 213
tlie mal-practice of the Bernese, they mistook him for a
French spy and struck him dead in his carriage. The loss
of Berne greatly dispirited them and they desisted from
further and futile opposition. Steiger escaped. Hotze, a
gallant Austrian general, who, mindful of his Swiss origin,
had attempted to place himself at the head of his countrymen,
was compelled to retrace his steps. In Berne, the French
meanwhile pillaged the treasures of the republic* Besides
the treasury and the arsenal, estimated at twenty-nine million
livres, they levied a contribution of sixteen million. Brune
planted a tree of liberty, and Frisching, the president of the
provisional government, had the folly to say, " Hez'e it
stands ! may it bear good fruit ! Amen ! "
Further bloodshed was prevented by the intervention of
the patriots. The whole of Switzerland, Schwyz, Upper
Valais, and Unterwalden alone excepted, submitted, and, on
the r2th of April, the federal diet at Aarau established, in
the stead of the ancient federative and oligarchical govern-
ment, a single and indivisible Helvetian repubhc, in a strictly
democratic form, with five directors, on the French model.
Four new cantons, Aargau, Leman (Vaud), the Bernese
Oberland, and Tliurgau, were annexed to the ancient ones.
Schwyz, ITri, U nderwalden, and Zug were, on the other hand,
to form but one canton. Kapinat, a bold bad man, Kewbel's
brother-in-law, who was at that time absolute in Switzerland,
seized every thing that had escaped the pillage of the soldiery
in Berne and Zurich, sacked Solothurn, Lucerne, Friburg, etc.,
and hunted out the hidden treasures of the confederation,
which he sent to France. The protestations of the directors.
Bay and Pfyffer, were unheeded ; Rapinat deposed them by
virtue of a French warrant and nominated Ochs and Bolder
in their stead. The patriotic feelings of the Swiss revolted
at this tyranny ; Schwyz rose in open insurrection ; the
peasantry, headed by Aloys Reding, seized and garrisoned
Lucerne and called the whole country to arms against the
French invader. The peasantry of the free cantons also march-
ed against Aarau, but were defeated by Schauenburg at Iliick-
lingen ; two hundred of their number fell, among others, a
• A good deal of it was spent by Bonaparte during his expedition into
Egypt, and, even at the present day, the Bernese bear is to be seen on
coins still in circulation on the banks of the Nile. — Meyer von Knonau.
214 THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND.
priest bearing the colours. Schauenburg then attacked the
people of Scliwyz at Richtenschwyl, where, after a desperate
combat that lasted a whole day, he at length compelled them
to give way. They, nevertheless, speedily rallied, and two
engagements of equal obstinacy took place on the Schinde-
leggy and on the mountain of Etzel. The flight of Herzog,
the pastor of Einsiedeln, was the sole cause of the discomfiture
of the Swiss. Reding, however, reassembling his forces at
the Red Tower, in the vicinity of the old battle-field of Mor-
garten, the French, unable to withstand tlieir fury, were re-
pulsed with immense loss. They also suffered a second
defeat at Arth, at the foot of the Rigi. The Swiss, on their
part, on numbering their forces after the battle, found their
strength so terribly reduced, that, although victors, tliey were
unable to continue the contest, and voluntarily recognised the
Helvetian republic. The rich monastery of Einsiedeln was
plundered and burnt ; the miraculous picture of the Virgin
was, however, preserved. Upper Valais also submitted, after
Sion and the whole of the valley having been plundered and
laid waste. Tlie peasantry defended themselves here for
several weeks at the precipice of the Dala. Unterwalden
offered the most obstinate resistance. The peasantry of this
canton were headed by LUssi. The French invaded the
country simultaneously on diflerent sides, by water, across
the lake of the four cantons, and across the Briinig from the
Haslithal ; in the Kernwald they were victorious over the
masses of peasantry, but a body of three or four thousand
French, which had penetrated further down the vale, was
picked off by the peasantry concealed in the woods and be-
hind the rocks. A rifleman, stationed upon a projecting
rock, shot more than a hundred of the enemy one after an-
other, his wife and children, meanwhile, loading his guns.
Both of the French corps coalesced at Stanz, but met with
such obstinate resistance from the old men, women, and girls
left there, that, after butchering four hundred of them, they
set the place in flames.* The sturdy mountaineers, although
* The venerable Pestalozzi assembled the orphans and founded his
celebrated model academy at Stanz. Seventy-nine women and girls
were found among the slain. A story is told of a girl, who, being at-
tacked, in a lonely house, by two Frenchmen, knocked their heads to-
gether with such force that they dropped down dead.
i
THE PILLAGE OF SWITZERLAND. 215
numerically weak, proved themselves worthy of their ancient
fame. Tlie four JValdstdtte were thrown into one canton,
Waldstatten ; Glarus and TojrgenburG; into another, Linth ;
Appenzell and St. Gall into that of Siintis. The old Italian
prefectures, with the exception of the Yeltlin, were formed
into two cantons, Lusano and Bellinzona (afterwards the
canton of Tessin). Tlie canton of Vaud also finally acceded
to this arrangement, but was shortly afterwards, as well as
the former bishopric of Basle, Pruntrut,* and the city and re-
public of Genoa, incorporated with France.
The levy of eighteen tliousand men (the Helvetlers, Gallo-
schwyzers or eighteen batzmen) for the service of the
Helvetian republic occasioned fresh disturbances in the
beginning of 1799. The opposition was so great that the re-
cruits were carried in chains to Berne. The Bernese Ober-
land, the peasantry of Basle, Solothurn, Toggenburg, Ap-
penzell, and Glarus rose in open insurrection, but were again
reduced to submission by the military. The spirit of the
mountaineers was, however, less easily tamed. In April,
1799, the people of Schwyz took four hundred French
prisoner ; those of Uri, under their leader, Vincenz Schmid,
stormed and burned Altorf, the seat of the French and their ad-
herents ; those of Valais, under the youthful Count Courten,
drove the French from their valleys, and those of the Grisons
surprised and cut to pieces a French squadron at Dissentis.
General Soult took the field with a strong force against them
in May and reduced them one after the other, l)ut with great
loss on his side, to submission. Twelve hundred French fell
in Valais, which was completely laid waste by fire and sword ;
"in Uri, stones and rocks were hurled upon them by the infu-
riated peasantry as they defiled through the narrow gorges ;
Schmid was, however, taken and shot ; Schwyz was also re-
duced to obedience ; in the Grisons, upwards of a thousand
French fell in a bloody engagement at Chur, and the magnifi-
cent monastery of Dissentis was, in revenge, burnt to the
ground. The beautiful Bergland was reduced to an inde-
scribable state of misery. Tlie villages lay in ashes ; the
people, that had escaped the general massacre, fell victims to
* Not far from Pnmtrut is the hill of Terri, said to have been formerly
occupied by one of Ctesar's camps. The Frciuh named it Mont Terri-
ble and created a department du Mont Terrible. Vide Meyer von
Kuonau's Geography.
216 THE SECOND COALITION.
famine. In tliis extremity, Zschokke, at that time Helvetic
governor of the Waldstatte, proposed the complete expulsion
of the ancient inhabitants and the settlement of French
colonists in the fatherland of AVilliam Tell.*
The imperial free town of ]\liihlhausen in the Suntgau, the
ancient ally of Switzerland, fell, like her, into the hands of the
French. Unable to preserve her independence, she com-
mitted a singular political suicide. The whole of the town
property was divided amongst the citizens. A girl, attired in
the ancient Swiss costume, delivered the town keys to the
French commissioner ; the city banner and arms were buried
with great solemnity.f
The French had also shown as little lenity in their treat-
ment of Italy. Rome was entered and garrisoned with French
troops ; the handsome and now venerable puppet. Pope Pius
VI., was seized, robbed, and personally mal-treated, (his ring
was even torn from his hand,) and dragged a prisoner to
France, where he expired in the August of 1799.
CCLII. The second coalition.
Prussia looked calmly on, with a view of increasing her
power by peace whilst other states ruined themselves by war,
and of offering her arbitration at a moment when she could
turn their mutual losses to advantage. Austria, exposed to
immediate danger by the occupation of Switzerland by the
Fi-ench, remained less tranquil and hastily formed a fresh
coalition with England and Russia. Catherine II. had ex-
pired, A. D. 1796. Her son, Paul I., cherished the most am-
bitious views. His election as grand-master of the Maltese"
order dispersed by Napoleon had furnished him with a sort
of right of interference in the affairs of the Levant and of
Italy. On the 1st of March, 1799, the Ionian Islands, Corfu,
* In his " Political Remarks touching the Canton of Waldst'atten,"
dated the 23rd of June, 1799, he says: "Let us imitate the politica.
maxims of the conquerors of old, who drove the inhabitants most inimical
to them into foreisrn countries and established colonies, composed of
families of their own kin, in the heart of the conquered provinces. " His
proposal remaining unseconded, he sought to obliterate the bad impres-
sion it had made, by publishing a proclamation, calling upon the charit-
ably inclined to raise a subscription for the unfortimate inhabitants of the
Wa'ldstatte.
t Vide Grafs History of Miihlhausen.
THE SECOND COALITION. 217
etc., were occupied by Russian troops, and a Russian army,
under the terrible Suwarow, moved, in conjunction with the
troops of Austria, upon Italy. The project of the Russian
czar was, by securing his footing on the INIediterranean and
at the same time encircling Turkey, to attack Constantinople
on both sides, on the earliest opportunity. Austria was
merely to serve as a blind tool for the attainment of his
schemes. Mack was despatched to Naples for the purpose of
bringing about a general rising in soutliern Italy against the
French, and England lavished gold. The absence of Bona-
parte probably inspired several of the allied generals with
greater courage, not the French, but he, being the object of
their dread. The conduct of the French at Rastadt had re-
volted every German and had justly raised their most im-
placable hatred, which burst forth during a popular tumult at
Vienna, when the tricolour, floating from the palace of
General Bernadotte, the French ambassador, was torn down
and burnt. The infamous assassination of the French ambas-
sadors at Rastadt also took place during this agitated period.
Bonnier, Roberjot, and Jean de Bry quitted Rastadt on the
breaking out of war, and were attacked and cut to pieces by
some Austrian hussars in a wood close to the city gate. Jean
de Bry alone escaped, although dangerously wounded, with
his life. Tiiis atrocious act was generally believed to have
been committed through private revenge, or, what is far more
probable, for the purpose of discovering by the papers of the
ambassadors the truth of the reports at that time in circula-
tion concerning the existence of a conspiracy and projects for
the establishment of republics throughout Germany. The
real motive was, however, not long ago,* unveiled. Austria
had revived her ancient projects against Bavaria, and, as
early as 1798, had treated with the French Directory for the
possession of that electorate in return for her toleration of
the occupation of Switzerland by the troops of the republic.
The venerable elector, Charles Theodore, who had been al-
ready persuaded to cede Bavaria and to content himself with
Franconia, dying suddenly of apoplexy whilst at the card-
table, was succeeded by his cousin, Maximilian Joseph von
Pfalz-Zweibriicken, from whom, on account of his numerous
* Scenes during the War of Liberation.
218 THE SECOND COALITION.
family, no voluntary cession was to be expected either for the
present or future. Thugut and Lehrbach, the rulers of the
Viennese cabinet, in the hope of compromising and excluding
liim, as a traitor to the empire, from the Bavarian succession,
by the production of proofs of his being the secret ally
of France, hastily resolved upon the assassination of the
Frencli ambassadors at Rastadt, on the bare supposition of
their having in their possession documents in the hand-writ-
ing of the elector. None were, liowever, discovered, the
French envoys having either taken the precaution of destroy-
ing them or of committing them to the safe keeping of the
Prussian ambassador. Tliis crime was, as Hormayr observes,
at the same time, a political blunder. This horrible act was
perpetrated on the 28th of April, 1799.
The campaign had, a month anterior to this event, been
opened by the French, who had attacked the Austrians in
their still scattered positions. Disunion prevailed as usual in
the Austrian military council. The Arciiduke Charles pro-
posed the invasion of France from the side of Swabia. The
occupation of Switzerland by the troops of Austria was,
nevertheless, resolved upon, and General Auffenberg, accord-
ingly, entered the Grisons. The French instantly perceived
and hastened to anticipate the designs of the Austrian cabi-
net. Auffenberg was defeated by Massena on the St. Lucien-
steig and expelled the Grisons, whilst Hotze on the Vorarlberg
and Bellegarde in the T^^•ol looked calmly on at the head of
fifteen thousand men. The simultaneous invasion of Swabia
by Jourdan now induced the military council at Vienna to ac-
cede to the proposal formerly made by the Archduke Charles,
who was despatched with the main body of the army to Swa-
bia, where, on the 2oth of March, 1799, he gained a complete
victory over Jourdan at Ostrach and Stockach.* The Grisons
were retaken in May by Hotze, and, in June, the archduke
joining him, JMassena was defeated at Zurich, and the steep
passes of Mont St. Gothard were occupied by Haddik. Mas-
sena was, however, notwithstanding the immense numerical
superiority of the archduke's forces, who could easily have
driven him far into France, allowed to remain undisturbed at
* Jourdan might easily have been annihilated during his retreat by
the imperial cavalry, twenty-seven thousand strong, had his strength and
position been better known to his pursuers.
I
THE SECON^D COALITION. 219
Bremgarten, The French, under Scherer, in Italy, had,
meanwhile, been defeated, in April, by Kray, at Magnano.
This success was followed by the arrival of Melas from Vi-
enna, of Bellegarde from the Tyrol, and lastly, by that of the
Russian van-guard under Siiwarow, who took the chief com-
mand and beat the whole of the French forces in Italy ; Mo-
reau, at Cassano and ^Marengo, in May ; IMacdonald, on his
advance from Lower Italy, on the Trebbia, in June ; and
finally, Joubert, in the great battle of Novi, in wliich Joubert
was killed, August the loth, 1799. Dissensions now broke
out among the victors. A fourth of the forces in Italy belonged
to Austria, merely one fifth to Russia; the Austrian?, conse-
quently, imagined that the war was merely carried on on their
account. The Austrian forces were, against Suwarow's ad-
vice, divided, for the purpose of reducing Mantua and Ales-
sandria and of occupying Tuscany. The king of Sardinia,
whom Suwarow wished to restore to his throne, was forbidden
to enter his states by the Austrians, who intended to retain
possession of them for some time longer. The whole of Italy,
as far as Ancona and Genoa, was now freed from tlie French,
whom the Italians, embittered by their predatory habits, had
aided to expel, and Suwarow received orders to join his forces
witli those under Korsakow, who was then on the Upper
Rhine with thirty thousand men. The archduke might, even
without this fresh reinforcement, have already anniliilated
Massena had he not remained for three months, from June
to August, in a state of complete inactivity ; at the very
moment of Suwarow's expected arrival, he allowed the im-
portant passes of the St. Gothard to be again carried by a
coup de main by the French under General Lecourbe, who
drove the Austrians from the Simplon, the Furca, the Grim-
sel, and the Devil's bridge. The archduke, after an unsuc-
cessful attempt to push across the Aar at Dettingen, suddenly
quitted the scene of war and advanced down the Rliine for
the purpose of supporting the English expedition under the
Duke of York against Holland. This unexpected turn in
affairs proceeded from Vienna. Tiie Viennese cabinet was
jealous of Russia. Suwarow played the master in Italy,
favoured Sardinia at the expense of the house of Ilabsburg,
and deprived the Austrians of the laurels and of the advantages
they had won. The archduke, accordingly, received orders
220 THE SECOND COALITION.
to remain inactive, to abandon the Russians, and finally to
withdraw to the north ; by this movement Suwarow's triumph-
ant proprress was checked, he was compelled to cross the Alps
to the aid of Korsakow and to involve himself in a mountain
warfare ill-suited to the habits of his soldiery.* Korsakow,
wiioni Bavaria had been bribed with Russian gold to furnish
with a corps one thousand strong, was solely supported by
Kray and Ilotze with twenty thousand men. IMassena, taking
advantage of the departure of the archduke and the non-ar-
rival of Suwarow, crossed the Limniat at Dietikon and shut
Korsakow, who had imprudently stationed himself with his
whole army in Zurich, so closely in, that, after an engagement
that lasted two days, from the lotii to the 17th of September,
the Russian general was compelled to abandon his artillery
and to force his way through the enemy. Ten thousand men
were all that escaped. f Hotze, who had advanced from the
Grisons to Schwyz to Suwarow's rencontre, was, at the same
time, defeated and killed at Schannis. Suwarow, although
aware that the road across the St. Gothard was blocked
by the lake of the four cantons, on which there were no boats,
had the folly to attempt the passage. In Airolo, he was ob-
stinately opposed by the French under Lecourbe, and, al-
though Schweikowski contrived to turn this strong position by
scaling the pathless rocks, numbers of the men were, owing
to Suwarow's impatience, sacrificed before it. On the 24th of
September, 1799, he at length climbed the St. Gothard, and a
bloody engagement, in which the French were worsted, took
place on the Oberalpsee. Lecourbe blew up the Devil's
bridge, but, leaving the Urnerloch open, the Russians pushed
through that rocky gorge, and, dashing through the foaming
Reuss, scaled the opposite rocks and drove tiie French from
their position behind the Devil's bridge. Altorf on the lake
was reached in safety by the Russian general, who was com-
pelled, owing to tlie want of boats, to seek his way through
the valleys of Shachen and Muotta, across the almost impass-
* Scenes during the War of Liberation.
t The celebrated Lavater was, on this occasion, mortally ■wounded by
a French soldier. The people of Zurich were heavily mulcted by Mas-
sena for having aided the Austrians to the utmost in their power.
Zschokkc, who was at that time in the pay of France, wrote against the
" Imperialism " of the Swiss. Vide Haller and Landolt's Life by Hess.
I
THE SECOND COALITION. 221
able rocks, to Schwyz. The heavy rains rendered the under-
taking still more arduous ; the Russians, owing to the badness
of the road, were speedily barefoot ; the provisions were also
exhausted. In this wretched state they readied Muotta on
the 29th of September and learnt the discouraging news of
Korsakow's defeat. jNIassena had already set oil' in the hope
of cutting oiF Suwarow, but had missed his way. He reached
Altorf, where he joined Lecourbe on the 29th, when Suwarow
was already at Muotta, whence IMassena found on his arrival
he had again retired across the Bragelberg, through the Klon-
thal. He was opposed on the lake of Klonthal by ]\Iolitor,
who was, however, forced to retire by Autl'enberg, who had
joined Suwarow at Altorf and formed his advanced guard,
Rosen, at the same time, beating off jNIassena with the rear-
guard, taking live cannons and one thousand of his men pri-
soners. On the 1st of October, Suwarow entered Glarus,
where he rested until the 4th, wiien he crossed tlie Panixer
mountains through snow two feet deep to the valley of the
Rhine, which he reached on the 10th, after losing the whole
of his beasts of burthen and two hundred of his men down
the precipices ; and here ended his extraordinary march,
which had cost him the whole of his artillery, almost all his
horses, and a third of his men.
The archduke had, meanwhile, tarried on the Rhine, where
he had taken Pliilippsburg and jNIannlieiin, but had been un-
able to prevent the defeat of the English expedition under the
Duke of York by General Brune at Bergen, on tlie 19th of
September. The archduke now, for tlie first time, made a
retrograde movement, and approached Korsakow and Suwa-
row. The different leaders, however, merely reproached each
other, and the czar, perceiving his project frustrated, suddenly
recalling his troops, the campaign came to a close. The
archduke's rear-guard was defeated in a succession of petty
skirmishes at Heidelberg and on the Neckar by the French,
who again pressed forward.* These disasters were counter-
balanced by the splendid victory gained by IMelas in Italy, at
Savigliano, over Championnet, who attempted to save Genoa.
* Concerning the wretched provision for the Austrian army, the em-
bezzlement of the supplies, the bad management of the magazines and
hospitals, see " llepresentation of the Causes of the Disasters suffered by
the Austrians, etc." 1802.
222 THE SECOND COALITION.
Austrici was no sooner deprived in Suwarow of the most
efficient of her allies than she was attacked by her most dan-
gerous foe. Bonaparte returned from Egypt. The news of the
great disasters of the French in Italy no sooner arrived, than
he abandoned his army and hastened, completely unattended,
to France, through the midst of the English fleet, then sta-
tioned in the ^Mediterranean. His arrival in Paris was in-
stantly followed by his public nomination as generalissimo.
He alone liad the power of restoring victory to the standard of
the republic. Tlie ill success of his rivals liad greatly in-
creased his popularity ; he had become indispensable to his
countrymen. His power was alone obnoxious to tlie weak
government, which, aided by the soldiery, he dissolved on the
9th of November (the 18th Brumaire, by the modern French
calendar) ; he then bestowed a new constitution upon France
and placed himself, under the title of First Consul, at the head
of the republic.
In the following year, A. D. 1800, Bonaparte made prepara-
tions for a fresh campaign against Austria, under circum-
stances similar to those of the first. But this time he was
more rapid in his movements and performed more astonishing
feats. Suddenly crossing the St. Bernard, he fell upon the
Austrian flunk. Genoa, garrisoned by INIassena, had just
been forced by famine to capitulate. Ten days afterwards,
on tlie 14th of June, Bonaparte gained such a decisive victory
over Melas, the Austrian general, at Marengo,* that he and
the remainder of his army capitulated on the ensuing day. The
whole of Italy fell once more into the hands of the French.
jMoreau had, at the same time, invaded Germany and defeated
the Austrians under Kray in several engagements, principally
at Stockach and Moskirch,f and again at Biberach and Hdch-
* The contest lasted the -whole day : the French already gave way on
every side, when Desaix led the French centre with such fury to the
charge, that the Austrians, surprised by the suddenness of the movement,
were driven back and thrown into confusion, and the French, rallying
at that moment, made another furious onset and tore the victory from
their grasp.
t The impregnable fortress of Hohcntwicl, formerly so gallantly de-
fended by Widerhold, was surrendered without a blow by the cowardly
commandant, Bilfinger. Rotenburg on the Tauber, on the contrary,
wiped off the disgrace with wliich she had covered herself during the
thirty years' war. A small French skirmishing party demanded a con-
tribution from this city ; the coimcil yielded, but the citizens drove off
the enemy with pitch-forks.
THE SECOND COALITION. 223
stiidt, laid Swabia and Bavaria under contribution, and taken
Ratisbon, the seat of the diet. An armistice, negotiated by
Kray, was not recognised by the emperor, and he was replaced
in his command by the Archduke John, (not Charles,) who
was, on the 3rd of December, totally routed by IMoreau's
manoeuvres during a violent snow-storm, at Hohenlinden.
A second Austrian army, despatched into Italy, was also de-
feated by Brune on the Mincio. These disasters once more
inclined Austria to peace, which was concluded at Luneville,
on the 9th of Februaiy, 1801. The Archduke Charles seized
this opportunity to propose tlie most beneficial reforms in the
war administration, but was again treated with contempt.
In the ensuing year, a. d. 1802, England also concluded peace
at Amiens.
The whole of the left bank of the Rhine was, on this occa-
sion, ceded to the French republic. The petty republics,
formerly established by France in Italy, Switzerland, and
Holland, were also renewed and were recognised by the al-
lied powers. The Cisalpine republic was enlarged by the
possessions of the grand-duke of Tuscany and of the duke
of Modena, to whom compensation in Germany was guaranteed.
Suwarovv's victories had, in the autumn of 1799, rendered a
conclave, on the death of the captive pope, Pius VI., in France,
possible, for the purpose of electing his successor, Pius VII.,
who was acknowledged as such by Bonaparte, whose favour
he purchased by expressing his approbation of the seizure of
the property of the church during the French Revolution, and
by declaring his readiness to agree to the secularization of
church property, already determined upon, in Germany.
The Helvetian Directory fell, like that of France, and was
replaced by an administrative council, composed of seven
members, a. d. 1800. The upholders of ancient cantonal
liberty, now known under the denomination of Federalists,
gained the upper hand, and Aloys Reding, who had, shox-tly
before, been denounced as a rebel, became Landamman of
Switzerland. Bonaparte even invited him to Paris in order
to settle with him the future fate of Switzerland. Reding, how-
ever, showing an unexpected degree of firmness, and, un-
moved by either promises or threats, obstinately refusing to
permit the annexation of Valais to France, Bonaparte with-
drew his support and again favoured the Helvetlers. Dolder
224 THE SECOND COALITION.
and Savari, who had long been the creatures of France, fail-
ing in their election, were seated by Verninac, the French
ambassador, in the senate of the Helvetian republic, and
Reding, who was at that moment absent, was divested of his
office as Landamman. Keding protested against this arbitrary
conduct and convoked a federal diet to vSchwyz. Andermatt,
general of the Helvetian republic, attempted to seize Zurich,
which had joined the federalists, but was compelled to with-
draw, covered with disgrace. An army of federalists under
General Bachmann repulsed the Helvetlers in every direction
and drove them, together with the French envoys, across the
frontier. Bonaparte, upon this, sent a body of thirty to forty
thousand men, under Ney, into Switzerland, which met with
no opposition, the federalists being desirous of avoiding useless
bloodshed and being already ac(j[uainted with Bonaparte's se-
cret projects. He would not tolerate opposition on their part,
like that of Reding : he had resolved upon getting possession
of Valais at any price, on account of the road across the
Simplon, so important to him as affording the nearest com-
munication between Paris and ^lilan : in all other points, he
perfectly coincided with the federalists and was willing to grant
its ancient independence to every canton in Switzerland, where
disunion and petty feuds placed the country the more securely
in his hands. With feigned commiseration for the ineptitude
of the Swiss to settle their own disputes, he invited deputies
belonging to the various factions and cantons to Paris, lec-
tured them like school-boys, and compelled them by the Act
of Mediation, under his intervention, to give a new constitu-
tion to Switzerland. Valais was annexed to France in ex-
change for the Austrian Frickthal. Nineteen cantons were
created.* Each canton again administered its internal
* The ancient ones, Berne, Zurich, Basle, Solothurn, Fryburg, Lu-
cerne, Schaffliausen ; the re-established ones, Uri, Sch'wyz, Unter-
walden, Zug, Glarus, Appenzcll, St. Gall, (instead of Waldstattcn,
Linth, and S'antis,) Valais, (instead of Leman,) Aararau, Thurgau, Ori-
sons, Tessin (instead of Lu2;ano and Bellinzona). The Bernese Ober-
land again fell to Berne. The ambassador, attempting to preserve its
independence, was asked bj' Napoleon : " Where do you take your
cattle, your cheese, etc. ? " "A Berne," was the reply. " Whence do
you get your grain, cloth, iron, etc." " De Berne." " Well," con-
tinued Napoleon, " de Berne, a Berne, you consequently belong to
Berne." The Bernese were highly delighted at the restoration of
their independence, and the re-erection of the ancient arms of Beme
THE SECOND COALITION. 225
affairs. Bonaparte was never weary of painting the happy
lot of petty states and the deliglits of petty citizenship. " But
ye are too weak, too helpless, to defend yourselves ; cast
yourselves therefore into the arms of France, ready to protect
you whilst, free from taxation and from the burthensome
maintenance of an army, ye dwell free and independent in
your native vales." The Swiss, although no longer to have
a national army, were, nevertheless, compelled to furnish a
contingency of eighteen thousand men to that of France, and,
whilst deluded by the idea of their freedom from taxation, the
fifteen million of French hons given in exchange for the
numerous Swiss loans were cashiered by Bonaparte, under
pretext of the Swiss having been already sufficiently paid by
their deliverance fi-om their enemies by the French.* The
true Swiss patriots implored the German jiowers to protect
their country, the bulwark of Germany against France ; but
Austria was too much weakened by her own losses, and
Prussia handed the letters addressed to her from Switzerland
over to the First Consul.
The melancholy business, commenced by the empire at the
congress of Rastadt, and which had been broken off by the
outbreak of war, had now to be recommenced. Fresh com-
pensations had been rendered necessary by the robberies com-
mitted upon the Italian princes. The churcli property no
longer sufficed to satisfy all demands, and fresh seizures had
become requisite. A committee of the diet was intrusted
with the settlement of the question of compensation, which
was decided on the 2.5th of February, 1803, by a decree of
the imperial diet. All the great powers of Germany had
not suffered ; all had not, consequently, a right to demand
compensation, but, in order to appease their jealousy, all were
to receive a portion of the booty. The three spiritual elector-
ates, IMayence, Treves, and Cologne, were abolished, their posi-
tion on the other side of the Rhine including them within the
became a joyous f&te. A gigantic black bear tliat ■Nvas painted on the
broad -walls of the castle of Trachselwald was visible far down the
valley.
* Murald, in his Life of Reinhard, records an instance of shameless
fraud, the attempt made during a farewell banquet at Paris to cozen
the Swiss deputies out of a million. After plying them well with wine,
an altered docimient was offered tliem for signature ; Reinhard, tlic only
one who perceived the fraud, fmstrated the scheme.
Q
226 THE SECOND COALITION.
French territory. The archbishop of Mayence alone re-
tained his dignity, and was transferred to Ratisbon. The
whole of the imperial free cities were moreover deprived of
their privileges, six alone excepted, LiJbeck, Hamburg,* Bre-
men, Frankfurt, Augsburg, and Nuremberg. The unsecular-
ized bishoprics and abbeys were abolished. The petty
princes, counts and barons, and the Teutonic order were still
allowed to exist, in order ere long to be included in the
general ruin.
Prussia retained the bishoprics of Hildesheim and Pader-
born, a part of MUnster, numerous abbeys and imperial free
towns in AVestphalia and Thiu'ingia, more particularly Er-
furt. Bavaria had ever suffered on the conclusion of peace
between F' ranee and Austria; in 1797, she had ceded the
Rhenish Pfalz to France and a province on the Inn to
Austria ; by the treaty of Luneville, she had been, moreover,
compelled to raze the fortress of Ingoldstadt.f The inclina-
tion for French innovations displayed by the reigning duke,
Maximilian Joseph, who surrounded himself with the old il-
luminati, caused her, on this occasion, by Bonaparte's aid, to
be richly compensated by the annexation of the bishoprics of
Bamberg, Wlirzburg, Augsburg, and Freisingen, with several
small towns, etc. ; all the monasteries were abolished. Bavaria
had formerly supported the institutions of the ancient church
of Rome more j&rmly than Austria, where reforms had already
been begun in the church by Joseph II. Hanover received
Osnabriick ; Baden, the portion of the Pfalz on this side the
Rhine, the greatest part of the bishoprics of Constance, Basle,
Strassburg, and Spires, also on this side the Rhine ; WUrtem-
berg, both Hesses (Cassel and Darmstadt) ; and Nassau, all
the lands in the vicinity formerly belonging to the bishopric
of Mayence, to imperial free towns and petty lordships.
Ferdinand, grand-duke of Tuscany, younger brother to the
emperor, Francis II., was compelled to relinquish his heredit-
ary possessions in Italy,! and received in exchange Salzburg,
* Hamburg was, however, compelled to pay to the French 1,700,000
marcs banco, and to allow Rumbold, the English agent, to be arrested by
them within the city walls.
t The university had been removed, in 1800, to Landshut.
X Bonaparte transformed them into a kingdom of Etruria, which he
bestowed upon a Spanish prince, Louis of Parma, who shortly after-
wards died and his kingdom was annexed to France.
THE SECOND COALITION. 227
Eiclistadt, and Passau. Ferdinand, duke of Modena, uncle
to the emperor Francis II. and younger brother to the
emperors Leopold II. and Joseph IL, also resigned his
duchy,* for which he received the Breisgau in exchange.
William V., hereditary stadtholder of Holland, who had been
expelled his states, also received, on this occasion, in com-
pensation for his son of like name, (he was himself already
far advanced in years.) the rich abbey of Fulda, which was
created the principality of Orange-Fulda.f The electoral
dignity was at the same time bestowed upon the Archduke
Ferdinand, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the duke of
Wiirtemberg, and the ^largrave of Baden.
Submission, although painful, produced no opposition. The
power of the imperial free cities had long passed away,^ and
the spiritual princes no longer wielded the sword. The man-
ner in which the officers of the princes took possession, the
insolence with which they treated the subject people, the fraud
and embezzlement that was openly practised, are merely ex-
cusable on account of the fact that Germany was, notwith-
standing the peace, still in a state of war. The decree of
the imperial diet can scarcely be regarded as the ignominious
close of a good old time, but rather as a violent but beneficial
incisure in an old and rankling sore. With the petty states,
* He was son-in-law to Hercules, the last duke of Modena, who still
lived, but had resigned his claims in his favour. This duke expired
A. D. 1805.
t Which he speedily lost by rejoining Napoleon's adversaries. Adal-
bert von Harstall, the last princely abbot of Fulda, was an extremely
noble character ; he is almost the only one among the princes who re-
mained firmly by his subjects when all the rest fled and abandoned theirs
to the French. After the edict of secularization he remained firmly at his
post until compelled to resign it by the Prussian soldiery.
t The citizens of Esslingen were shortly before at law" \vith their
magistrate on account of his nepotism and tjTanny, without being able
to get a decision from the supreme court of judicature Quedlinburg
had also not long before sent envoys to Vienna with heavy complaints of
the insolence of the magistrate, and the envoys had been sent home with-
out a reply being vouchsafed, and were threatened with the house of cor-
rection in case they ventured to return. Vide Hess's Flight through
Germany, 1793. Wimpfen also carried on a suit against its magis-
trate. In 1784, imperial decrees were issued against the aristocracy of
Ulm. In 1786, the people of Aix-la-Chapelle rose against their magis-
trate. Nuremberg repeatedly demanded the production of the public
accounts from the aristocratic town-council. The people of Hildesheim
also revolted against their council. Vide Schlozer, State-archives.
Q 2
228 FALL OF THE HOLY
a mags of vanity and pedantry disappeared on the one side,
pusillanimity and servility on the other ; the ideas of the sub-
jects of a large state have naturally a wider range ; the monas-
teries, those dens of superstition, the petty princely residences,
those hotbeds of French vice and degeneracy, the imperial
free towns, those abodes of petty burgher prejudice, no longer
existed. The extension of the limits of the states rendered
the gradual inti'oduction of a better administration, the laying
of roads, the foundation of public institutions of every descrip-
tion, and social improvement, possible. The example of France,
the ever-renewed warfare, and the conscriptions, created, more-
over, a martial spirit among the people, which, although far
removed from patriotism, might still, when compared with the
spirit formerly pervading the imperial army, be regarded as a
first step from efleminacy, cowardice, and sloth, towards true,
unflinching, manly courage.
CCLIII. Fall of the holy Roman- Germanic empire.
A GREAT change had, meanwhile, taken place in France.
The republic existed merely in name. The first consul, Bona-
parte, already possessed regal power. The world beheld with
astonishment a nation that had so lately and so virulently
persecuted royalty, so dearly bought and so strictly enforced
its boasted liberty, suddenly forget its triumph and restore
monarchy. Liberty had ceased to be in vogue, and had yielded
to a general desire for the acquisition of fame. The equality
enforced by liberty was offensive to individual vanity, and
the love of gain and luxury opposed republican poverty.
Fame and wealth were alone to be procured by war and con-
quest. France was to be enriched by the plunder of her
neighbours. Bonaparte, moreover, promoted the prosperity
and dignity of the country by the establishment of manufac-
tures, public institutions, and excellent laws. The awe with
which he inspired his subjects insured their obedience ; he
was universally feared and reverenced. In whatever age this
extraordinary man had lived, he must have taken the lead
and have reduced nations to submission. Even his adversaries,
even those he most deeply injured, owned his influence. His
presence converted the wisdom of the statesman, the know-
ledge of the most experienced general, into folly and ignor-
ROMAN-GERMANIC EMPIRE. 229
ance ; the bravest armies fled panic-struck before his eagles ;
the proudest sovereigns of Europe bowed their crowned heads
before the little hat of the Corsican. He was long regarded
as a new saviour, sent to impart happiness to his people, and,
as though by magic, bent the blind and pliant mass to his will.
But philanthropy, Christian wisdom, the virtues of the Prince
of peace, were not his. If he bestowed excellent laws upon
his people, it was merely with the view of increasing the
power of the state for military purposes. He was ever pos-
sessed and tormented by the demon of war.
On the 18th of May, 1804, Bonaparte abolished the French
republic and was elected hereditary emperor of France. On
the 2nd of December, he was solemnly anointed and crowned
by the pope, Pius VII., who visited Paris for that purpose.
The ceremonies used at the coronation of Charlemagne were
revived on this occasion. On the loth of jMarch, 1805, he
abolished the Ligurian and Cisalpine republics, and set the an-
cient iron crown of Lombardy on his head, with his own hand,
as king of Italy. He made a distinction between la France and
Vempire, the latter of which was, by conquest, to be gradu-
ally extended over the whole of Europe, and to be raised by
him above that of Germany, in the same manner that the
western Roman-Germanic empire had formerly been raised
by Charlemagne above the eastern Byzantine one.
The erection of France into an empire was viewed with dis-
trust by Austria, whose displeasure had been, moreover, roused
by the arbitrary conduct of Napoleon in Italy. Fresh disputes
had also arisen between him and England ; he had occupied
the whole of Hanover, which Wallmoden's* army had been
powerless to defend with his troops, and violated the Baden
territory by the seizure of the unfortunate Due d'Enghien, a
prince of the house of Bourbon, who was carried into France
and there shot. Prussia offered no interference, in the hope of
receiving Hanover in reward for her neutrality. f Austria, on
* He capitulated at Suhlingen on honourable terms, but was deceived
by General Mortier, the French general, and Napoleon took advantage of
a clause not to recognise all the terms of capitulation. The Hanoverian
troops, whom it was intended to force to an unconditional surrender to
the French, sailed secretly and in separate divisions to England, where
they were formed into the German Legion.
t England offered the Netherlands instead of Hanover to Prussia ; to
this Russia, however, refused to accede. Prussia listened to both sides,
230 FALL OF THE HOLY
her part, formed a third coalition with England, Russia, and
Sweden.* Austria acted, undeniably, on this occasion, with
impolitic haste ; she ought rather to have waited until Prussia
and public opinion throughout Germany had been ranged
on her side, as sooner or later must have been the case, by the
brutal encroachments of Napoleon. Austria, unaided by
Prussia, could scarcely dream of success.f But England, at
that time fearful of Napoleon's landing on her coast, lavished
persuasive gold.
The Archduke Ferdinand was placed at the head of the
Austrian troops in Germany ; the Archduke Charles at that
of those in Italy. Ferdinand commanded the main body and
was guided by Mack, who, without awaiting the arrival of
the Russians, advanced as far as Ulm, pushed a corps, under
Jellachich, forward to Lindau, and left the whole of his right
flank exposed. He, nevertheless, looked upon Napoleon's
defeat and the invasion of France by his troops as close at
hand. He was in ill health and highly irritable. Napoleon,
in order to move with greater celerity, sent a part of his troops
by carriage through Strassburg, declared to the Margrave of
Baden, the duke of Wlirtemberg, and the elector of Bavaria,
his intention not to recognise tliem as neutral powers, that
they must be either against him or with him, and made them
such brilliant promises, (they were, moreover, actuated by dis-
trust of Austria,) that they ranged themselves on his side.
Napoleon instantly sent orders to General Bernadotte, who
was at that time stationed in Hanover, to cross the neutral
Prussian territory of Anspach,| without demanding the per-
and acted with such duplicity, that Austria was led by the false hope of
being seconded by her to a too early declaration of war. — Scenes during
the War of Liberation.
* Gustavus Adolphus IV. of Sweden, who had wedded a princess of
Baden, was at Carlsruhe at the very moment that the Due d'Enghien
was seized as it were before his eyes. This circumstance and the
ridicule heaped upon him by Napoleon, w-ho mockingly termed him the
Quixote of the North, roused his bitter hatred.
t Bulow -wTote in his remarkable criticism upon this war : " The hot
coalition party — that of the ladies — of the empress and the queen of
Naples — removed Prince Charles from the army and called Mack from
oblivion to daylight ; Mack, whose name in the books of the prophets in
the Hebrew tongue signifies defeat."
X Napoleon gained almost all his victories either by skilfally separat-
ing his opponents and defeating them singly with forces vastly superior
ROMAN-GERMANIC EMPIRE. 231
mission of Prussia, to Mack's rear, in order to form a junction
with the Bavarian troops. Other corps were at the same time
directed by circuitous routes upon the flanks of the Austrian
army, which was attacked at Memmingen by Soult, and was
cut otf to the north by Ney, who carried the bridge of Elchin-
gen * by storm. . Mack had drawn his troops together, but
had, notwithstanding the entreaties of his generals, refused to
attack the separate French corps before they could unite and
surround him. The Archduke Ferdinand alone succeeded in
fighting his way with a part of the cavalry through the
enemy.j Mack lost his senses and capitulated on the 1 7th of
October, 1805. With him fell sixty thousand Austrians, the
elite of the army, into the hands of the enemy. Napoleon
could scarcely spare a sufficient number of men to escort this
enormous crowd of prisoners to France. Wernek's corps,
which had already been cut off, was also compelled to yield
itself prisoner at Trochteltingen, not far from Heidenheim.
Napoleon, whilst following up his success with his custom-
ary rapidity and advancing with his main body straight upon
Vienna, despatched Ney into the Tyrol, where the peasantry,
headed by the Archduke John, made an heroic defence. The
advanced guard of the French, composed of the Bavarians
under Deroy, were defeated at the Strub pass, but, notwith-
standing this disaster, Ney carried the Schaai'nitz by storm
and reached Innsbruck. The Archduke John was compelled
to retire to Carinthia in order to form a junction with his
brother Charles, who, after beating Massena at Caldiero, had
been necessitated by Mack's defeat to hasten from Italy for
the purpose of covering Austria. Two corps, left in the hurry
of retreat too far westward, were cut off and taken prisoner,
that undei' Prince Rohan at Castellfranco, after having found
its way from Meran into the Venetian territory, and that
under Jellachich on the lake of Constance ; Kinsky's and
Wartenleben's cavalry threw themselves boldly into Swabia
in number, or by creeping round the concentrated forces of the enemy
and placing them beUveen two fires.
* Ney was, for this action, created Duke of Elchingen.
t Klein, tlie French general, also a German, allowed himself to be kept
in conversation by Prince, afterwards field-marshal Schwarzenberg, who
had been sent to negotiate terms with him, imtil the Austrians had reached
a place of safety. — Prokesch, Schioarzenberg' s Memorabilia.
232 FALL OF THE HOLY
and Franconia, seized the couriers and convoys to the French
rear, and escaped unhurt to Bohemia.
Davoust had, in the mean while, invaded Styria and defeated
a corps under IMeerveldt at MariazeU. In November, Napo-
leon had reached Vienna, neither Linz nor any other point
having been fortitied by the Austrians. The great Russian
ai'my under Kutusow appeared at this conjuncture in Mo-
ravia. Tlie czar, Alexander I., accompanied it in person,
and the emperor, Francis II., joined him with his remaining
forces. A bloody engagement took place between Kutusow
and the French at Diirrrenstein on the Danube, but, on the
loss of Vienna, the Russians retired to ^Moravia. The sove-
reigns of Austria and Russia loudly called upon Prussia to
renounce her alliance with France, and, in this decisive mo-
ment, to aid in the annihilation of a foe, for whose false friend-
ship she would one day dearly pay. The violation of the
Prussian territory by Bernadotte had furnished the Prussian
king with a pretext for suddenly declaring against Napoleon.
The Prussian army was also in full force. The British and
the Hanoverian legion had landed at Bremen and twenty
thousand Russians on Riigen ; ten thousand Swedes entered
Hanover ; electoral Hesse was also ready for action. The
king of Prussia, nevertheless, merely confined himself to
threats, in the hope of selling his neutrality to Napoleon for
Hanover, and deceived the coalition.* The emperor Alex-
ander visited Berlin in person for the purpose of rousing
Prussia to war, but had no sooner returned to Austria in order
to rejoin his army than Count Haugwitz, the Prussian minister,
was despatched to Napoleon's camp with express instructions
not to declare war. The famous battle, in which the three em-
perors of Christendom were present, took place, meanwhile, at
Austerlitz, not far from Briinn, on the 2nd of December, 1805,
and terminated in one of Napoleon's most glorious victories.f
This battle decided the policy of Prussia, and Haugwitz con-
* " Prussia made use of the offers made by England (and Russia) to
stipulate terms with France exactly subversive of the object of the nego-
tiations of England (and Russia)." — The Manifest of England against
Prussia. Allgemeine Zeitung, No. L32.
t On the 4th of December, Napoleon met the emperor Francis in the
open street in the village of Nahedlowitz. That the impression made by
the former upon the latter was far from favourable is proved by the
emperor's observation, " Now that I have seen him, I shall never be able
EOMAN-GERMANIC EMPIRE. 233
firmed her alliance with France by a treaty, by which Prussia
ceded Cleve, Anspach, and Xeufchatel to France in exchange
for Hanover.* This treaty was published with a precipitation
equalling that with which it had been concluded, and seven
hundred Prussian vessels, whose captains were ignorant of the
event, were seized by the enraged English either in British har-
bours or on the sea. The peace concluded by Austria, on the 26th
of December, at Presburg, was purchased by her at an enorm-
ous sacrifice. Napoleon had, in the opening of the campaign,
when pressing onwards towards Austria, compelled Charles
Frederick, elector of Baden, f Frederick, elector of Wiirtemberg,
and Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria, (in whose mind the
to endure him ! " On the 5th of December, the Bavarians under Wrede
"were signally defeated at Iglau by the Archduke Ferdinand.
* " After the commission of such numerous mistakes, 1 must neverthe-
less praise the minister, Von Haugwitz, for having, in the first place,
evaded a war unskilfully managed, and, in the second, for having annexed
Hanover to Prussia, although its possession, it must be confessed, is some-
what precarious. Here, however, I hear it said, that the commission of
a robbery at another's suggestion is, in the first place, the deepest of de-
gradations, and, in the second place, \mparallcled in history." — Von.
Bulow, The Campaign of 1805. It has been asserted that Haugwitz had,
prior to the battle of Austerlitz, been instructed to declare war against Na-
poleon in case the intervention of Prussia should be rejected by him. Still,
had Haugwitz overstepped instructions of such immense importance, he
would not immediately afterwards, on the l'2th of January, 1^06, have
received, iis was actually the case, fresh instructions, in proof that he had
in no degree abused the confidence of his sovereign. Haugwitz, by not
declaring war, husbanded the strength of Prussia and gained Hanover ;
and, by so doing, he fufilled his instructions, which were, to gain Hanover
without making any sacrifice. His success gained for him the applause
of his sovereign, who intrusted him, on account of his skill as a diplo-
matist, with the management of other negotiations. Prussia at that time
still pursued the system of the treaty of Basle, was unwilling to break with
France, and was simply bent upon selling her neutrality to the best advant-
age. Instead, however, of being able to prescribe terms to Napoleon, she
■was compelled to accede to his. Napoleon said to Haug^vitz, " Jamais on
n'obtiendra de moi ce qui pourrait blesser ma gloire." Haugwitz had
been instructed through the duke of Brunswick : " Pour le cas que vos
soins pour retablir la paix echouent, pour le cas ou I'apparition de la
Prusse sur le the&tre de la guerre soil jugee inevitable, mettez tons vos
soins pour conserver a la Prusse I'epee dans le fourreau jusqu'au 22
Decembre, et s'il se peut jusqu'a un terme plus recule encore." — Extract
from the Memoirs of the Count von Haugwitz.
t He married a Mademoiselle von Geyer. His children had merely
the title of Counts von Hochberg, but came, in 1830, on the extinction of
the Agnati, to the government.
234 FALL OF THE HOLY
memory of the assassination of the ambassadors at Rastadt,
the loss of Wasserburg, the demolition of Ingolstadt, etc. still
rankled,) to enter into his alliance ; to which they remained
zealously true on account of the immense private advantages
thereby gained by them, and of the dread of being deprived
by the haughty victor of the whole of their possessions on the
first symptom of opposition on their part. Napoleon, with a view
of binding them still more closely to his interests by motives
of gratitude, gave them on the present occasion an ample
share in the booty. Bavaria was erected into a kingdom,*
and received, from Prussia, Anspach and Bayreuth ; from
Austria, the whole of the Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Lindau, the
Margraviate of Burgau, the dioceses of Passau, Eichstiidt, Tri-
ent, and Brixen, besides several petty lordships. Wiirtemberg
was raised to a monarchy and enriched with the bordering
Austrian lordships in Swabia. Baden was rewarded with the
Breisgau, the Ortenau, Constance, and the title of grand-
duke. Venice Avas included by Napoleon in his kingdom of
Italy, and, for all these losses, Austria was merely indemnified
by the possession of Salzburg. Ferdinand, elector of Salz-
burg, the former grand-duke of Tuscany, was transferred to
Wiirzburg. Ferdinand of ^lodena lost the whole of his pos-
sessions.
The imperial crown, so well maintained by Napoleon, now
shone with redoubled lustre. The petty republics and the
provinces dependent upon the French empire were erected
into kingdoms and principalities and bestowed upon his rela-
tives and favourites. His brother Joseph was created king
of Naples ; his brother Louis, king of Holland ; his step-son
Eugene Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy ; his brother-in-law
Murat, formerly a common horse-soldier, now his best general
of cavaliy, grand-duke of Berg; his first adjutant, Berthier,
prince of Neufchatel ; his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, was nomin-
ated successor to the elector of INIayence, then resident at
Ratisbon. In order to remove the stigma attached to him as
* On the 1st of January, 1806 ; the Bavarian state-newspaper an-
nounced it at New-year with the words, " Long live Napoleon, the
restorer of the kingdom of Bavaria ! " Bavarian authors, more particu-
larly Pallhausen, attempted to prove that the Bavarians had originally
been a Gallic tribe under the Gallic kings. It was considered a dishon-
our to belong to Germany.
EOMAN-GERMAXIC EMPIRE. 235
a parvenu, Napoleon also began to form matrimonial alliances
between his family and the most ancient houses of Europe.
His handsome step-son, Eugene, married the Princess Au-
gusta, daughter to the king of Bavaria ; his brother Hieron}^-
mus, Catherine, daughter to the king of Wiirtemberg; and his
niece, Stephanie, Charles, hereditary prince of Baden. All
the new princes were vassals of the emperor Napoleon, and,
by a family decree, subject to his supremacy. All belonged
to the great empire. Switzerland was also included, and but
one step more was wanting to complete the incorporation of
half the German empire with that of France.
On the 12th of July, 1806, sixteen princes of Western
Germany concluded, under Napoleon's direction, a treaty, ac-
cording to which they separated themselves from the German
empire and founded the so-called Rhenish alliance, which it
was their intention to render subject to the supremacy of the
emperor of the French.* On the 1st of August, Napoleon
declared that he no longer recognised the empire of Germany !
No one ventured to oppose his omnipotent voice. On the 6th
of August, 1806, the emperor, Francis II., abdicated the im-
perial crown of Germany and announced the dissolution of
the empire in a touching address, full of calm dignity and
sorrow. The last of the German emperors had shown him-
self, throughout the contest, worthy of his great ancestors,
and had, almost alone, sacrificed all in order to preserve the
honour of Germany, until, abandoned by the greater part of
the German princes, he was compelled to yield to a power
superior to his. The fall of the empire that had stood the
storms of a thousand years, was, however, not without dig-
nity. A meaner hand might have levelled the decayed fabric
* In 1797, the anonymous statesman, in tlie dedication " to the congress
of Rastadt," foretold the formation of the Rhenish alliance as a necessary
result of the treaty of Basle. " The electors of Brandenburg, Hanover,
Hesse-Cassel, and all the princes, who defended themselves behind the
line of demarcation against their obligations to the empire, and tranquilly
awaited the issue of the contest between France and that part of the
empire that had taken up arms ; all those princes to whom their private
interests were dearer than those of the empire, who, devoid of patriotism,
formed a separate party against Austria and Southern Germ;iny, from
which they severed and isolated themselves, could, none of them, arrogate
to themselves a voice in the matter, if Southern Germany, abandoned, by
them, concluded treaties for herself as her present and future interests
demanded."
236 FALL OF THE HOLY
with the dust, but fate, that seemed to honour even the faded
majesty of the ancient Csesars, selected Napoleon as the exe-
cutioner of her decrees. The standard of Charlemagne, the
greatest hero of the first Christian age, was to be profaned
by no hand save that of the greatest hero of modern times.
Ancient names, long venerated, now disappeared. The
holy Roman-German emperor was converted into an emperor
of Austria, the electors into kings or grand-dukes, all of whom
enjoyed unlimited sovereign power and were free from sub-
jection to the supremacy of the emperor. Every bond of
union was dissolved with the diet of the empire and with
the imperial chamber. The barons and counts of the empire
and the petty princes were mediatised ; the princes of Ho-
henlohe, Oettingen, Schwarzenbei'g, Thurn, and Taxis, the
Truchsess von AValdburg, Flirstenberg, Fugger, Leiningen,
Lowenstein, Solms, Hesse-Homburg, AVied-Runkel, and
Orange-Fulda became subject to the neighbouring Rhenish
confederated princes. Of the remaining six imperial fi-ee
cities, Augsburg and Nuremberg fell to Bavaria ; Frankfurt,
under the title of grand-duchy, to the ancient elector of May-
ence, who was again transferred thither from Ratisbon. The
ancient Hanse-towns, Hamburg, Liibeck, and Bremen alone
retained their freedom.
The Rhenish confederation now began its wretched existence.
It was established on the basis of the Helvetian republic.
The sixteen confederated princes were to be completely inde-
pendent and to exercise sovereign power over the internal
affairs of their states, like the Swiss cantons, but were, in all
foreign affairs, dependent upon Napoleon as their protector.*
The whole Rhenish confederation became a part of the French
empire. The federal assembly was to sit at Frankfurt, and
Dalberg, the former elector of Mayence, now grand-duke of
Frankfurt, was nominated by Napoleon, under the title of Prince
Primate, president. Napoleon's uncle, and afterwards his step-
son, Eugene Beauharnais, were his destined successors, by
which means the control was placed entirely in the hands of
France. To this confederation there belonged two kings, those
* " Oldenburg affords a glaring proof of the insecurity and meanness
characteristic of the Rhenish alliance. The relation even with Bavaria
■was not always the purest, and I have sometimes caught a near glimpse
of the claws." — Gagern's Share in Politics.
EOMAX-GERMANIC EMPIRE. 23 <
of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg, five grand-dukes, those of
Frankfurt, Wiirzburg, Baden, Darmstadt, and Berg, and ten
princes, tw'o of Nassau, two of HohenzoUern, two of Salm,
besides those of Aremberg, Isenburg, Lichtenstein, and Ley-
en. Every trace of the ancient free constitution of Germany,
her provincial Estates, was studiously annihilated. The Wiir-
temberg Estates, with a spirit worthy of their ancient fame,
alone made an energetic protest, by which they merely suc-
ceeded in saving their honour, the king, Frederick, dissolving
them by force and closing their chamber.* An absolute, de-
spotic form of government, similar to that existing in France
under Napoleon, was established in all the confederated states.
The murder of the unfortunate bookseller. Palm of Nurem-
berg, who was, on the 2oth of August, 1806, shot by Napo-
leon's order, at Braunau, for nobly refusing to give up the
author of a patriotic work published by him, directed against
the rule of France, and entitled, " Germany in her deepest
Degradation," furnished convincing proof, were any wanting,
of Napoleon's supremacy.
* No diet had, since 1770, been held in AViirtemberg, only the com-
mittee had continued to treat secretly with the duke. In 1797, Frederick
convoked a fresh diet and swore to hold the constitiition sacred. Some
modern elements appeared in this diet ; the old opposition was strength-
ened by men of the French school. Disputes, consequently, ere long
arose between it and the duke, a man of an extremely arbitrary dispo-
sition. The Estates discovered little zeal for the war with France, at-
tempted to economize in the preparations, etc., whilst the duke made
great show of patriotism as a prince of the German empire, nor gave
the slightest symptom of his one day becoming an enemy to his country, a
member of the Rhenish alliance, and the most zealous partisan of France.
Moreau, however, no sooner crossed the Rhine than the duke fled, aban-
doned his states, and afterwards not only refused to bear the smallest share
of the contributions levied upon the country by the French, but also
seized the subsidies furnished by England. The duke, shortly after this,
quarrelling with his eldest son, William, the Estates sided with the latter
and supplied him with funds, at the same time refusing to grant any of
the sums demanded by the duke, who, on his part, omitted the confirma-
tion of the new committee, and ordered Grosz, the counsellor, Stock-
maier, the secretary of the diet, and several others, besides Batz, the agent
of the diet at Vienna, to be placed under arrest, their papers to be seized,
and a sum of money to be raised from the church property, a. d. 1805.
Not long after this, rendered insolent by the protection of the great despot
of France, he utterly annihilated the ancient constitution of Wiirtem-
berg.
238 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
CCLIV. Prussians declaration of war, and defeat.
Prussia, by a timely declaration of war against France
before the battle of Austerlitz, might have turned the tide
against Napoleon, and earned for herself the glory and the
gain, instead of being, by a false policy, compelled, at a later
period, to make that declaration under circumstances of ex-
treme disadvantage. Her maritime commerce suffered extreme
injury from the attacks of the English and Swedes. War was
unavoidable, either for or against France. The decision was
replete with difficulty. Prussia, by continuing to side with
France, was exposed to the attacks of England, Sweden, and
probably, Russia ; it was, moreover, to be feared that Napoleon,
who had more in view the diminution of the power of Prussia
than that of Austria, might delay his aid. During the late
campaign, the Prussian territory had been violated and the fort-
ress of Wesel seized by Napoleon, who had also promised the
restoration of Hanover to England as a condition of peace.
He had invited Prussia to found, besides the Rhenisli, a north-
ern confederation, and had, at the same time, bribed Saxony
with a promise of the royal dignity, and Hesse with that of
the annexation of Fulda, not to enter into alliance with Prus-
sia. Prussia saw herself scorned and betrayed by France.
A declaration of war with France was, howevei", surrounded
with tenfold danger. The power of France, unweakened by
opposition, had reached an almost irresistible height. Austria,
abandoned in every former campaign and hurried to ruin by
Prussia, could no longer be reckoned on for aid. The whole
of Germany, once in favour of Prussia, now sided with the
foe. Honour at length decided. Prussia could no longer
endure the scorn of the insolent Frenchman, his desecration
of the memory of the great Frederick, or, with an army im-
patient for action, tamely submit to the insults of both friend
and foe. The presence of the Russian czar, Alexander, at
Berlin, his visit to the tomb of Frederick the Great, rendered
still more popular by an engraving, had a powerful effect upon
public opinion. Louisa, the beautiful queen of Prussia and
princess of Mecklenburg, animated the people with her words
and roused a spirit of chivalry in the army, which still deemed
itself invincible. The younger officers were not sparing of
AND DEFEAT. 239
their vaunts, and Prince Louis vented his passion by break-
ing the windows of the minister Haugwitz. John Miiller,
who, on the overthrow of Austria, had quitted Vienna and
had been appointed Prussian historiographer at Berlin, called
upon the people, in the preface to the " Trumpet of the Holy
War," to take up arms against France.
War was indeed declared, but with too great precipitation.
Instead of awaiting the arrival of the troops promised by
Russia or until Austria had been gained, instead of manning
the fortresses and taking precautionary measures, the Prussian
army, in conjunction with that of Saxony, which lent but com-
pulsory aid, and with those of Mecklenburg and Brunswick,
its voluntary allies, advanced without any settled plan, and
suddenly remained stationary in the Thuringian forest-,
like Mack two years earlier at Ulm, waiting for the appear-
ance of Napoleon, a. d. 1806. The king and the queen ac-
companied the army, which was commanded by Ferdinand,
duke of Brunswick, a veteran of seventy-two, and by his
subordinate in command, Frederick Louis, prince of Hohen-
lohe-Ingelfingen, who ever opposed his measures. In the
general staff, the chief part was enacted by Colonel IMassen-
back, a second Mack, whose counsels were rarely followed.
All the higher officers in the army were old men, promotion
depending not upon merit but upon length of service. The
younger officers were radically bad, owing to their airs of
nobility and licentious garrison life ; their manners and prin-
ciples were equally vulgar. Women, horses, dogs, and
gambling formed the staple of their conversation ; they de-
spised all solid learning, and, when decorated on parade, in
their enormous cocked hats and plumes, powdered wigs and
queues, tight leather breeches and great boots, they swore at
and cudgelled the men, and strutted about with conscious
heroism. The arms used by the soldiery were heavy and apt
to hang fire, their tight uniform was inconvenient for action
and useless as a protection against the weather, and their food,
bad of its kind, was stinted by the avarice of the colonels,
which was carried to such an extent, that soldiers were to be
seen, who, instead of a waistcoat, had a small bit of cloth
sewn on to the lower part of the uniform where the waistcoat
was usually visible. Worst of all, however, was the bad
spirit that pervaded the army, the enervation consequent
240 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
upon immorality. Even before the opening of the war,
Lieutenant Henry von Bulow, a retired officer, the greatest
military genius at that period in Germany, and, on that ac-
count, misj[nderstood, foretold the inevitable defeat of Prussia,
and, although far from being a devote, declared, " The cause
of the national ignorance lies chiefly in the atheism and de-
moralization produced by the government of Frederick II.
The enlightenment, so highly praised in the Prussian states,
simply consists in a loss of energy and power."
The main body of the Prussian array was stationed around
Weimar and Jena, a small corps under General Tauen-
zien was pushed forward to cover the rich magazines at Hot",
and a reserve of seventeen thousand men under Eugene, duke
of AViirtemberg, lay to the rear at Halle. It was remarked
that this position, in case of an attack being made by Napo-
leon, was extremely dangerous, the only alternatives left for
the Prussian army being, either to advance, form a junction
■with the gallant Hessians and render the Rhine the seat of
war, or, to fall back upon the reserve and hazard a deci-
sive battle on the plains of Leipsig. That intriguing im-
postor, Lucchesini, the oracle of the camp, however, purposely
declared that he knew Napoleon, that Napoleon would most
certainly not attempt to make an attack. A few days after-
wards. Napoleon, nevertheless, appeared, found the pass at
Kosen open, cut off the Prussian army from the right bank of
the Saal, from its magazines at Hof and Naumburg, which he
also seized, from the reserve corps stationed at Halle, and from
Prussia. Utterly astounded at the negligence of the duke of
Brunswick, he exclaimed, whilst comparing him with ]\Iack,
"Les Prussiens sont encore plus stupides que les Autrichiens ! "
On being informed by some prisoners that the Prussians ex-
pected him from Erfurt when he was already at Naumburg,
he said, " lis se tromperont furieusement, ces perruques." He
would, nevertheless, have been on his part exposed to great
peril, had the Prussians suddenly attacked him with their
whole force from Weimar, Jena, and Halle, or had they in-
stantly retired into Franconia and fallen upon his rear ; but
the idea never entered the heads of the Prussian generals, who
tranquilly waited to be beaten by him one after the other.
After Tauenzien's repulse, a second corps under Prince
Louis of Prussia, which had been pushed forward to Saalfeld,
AND DEFEAT. 241
imprudently attempting to maintain its position in the narrow
valley, was surrounded and cut to pieces. The prince refused
to yield, and, after a furious defence, was killed by a French
horse-soldier. The news of this disaster speedily reached
the main body of the Prussians. The duke of Brunswick,
at that time holding a military council in the castle of Weimar,
so entirely lost his presence of mind as to ask in the hearing
of several young officers, and with embarrassment depicted
on his countenance, " "What are we to do ? " This veteran
duke would with painful slowness write down in the neatest
hand the names of the villages in which the various regi-
ments were to be quartered, notwithstanding which, it some-
times happened that, owing to his topographical ignorance,
several regiments belonging to different corps d' armee were
billetted in the same village and had to dispute its pos-
session. He would hesitate for an hour whether he ought
to write the name of a village Miinchenholzen or MUncli-
holzen.
The Prussian army was compared to a ship with all sail
spread lying at anchor. The duke was posted with the main
body not far from Weimar, the Saxons at the Schnecke on the
road between Weimar and Jena, the prince of Hohenlohe at
Jena. Mack had isolated and exposed his different corps d'
armee in an exactly similar manner at Ulra. Hohenlohe again
subdivided his corps and scattered them in front of the con-
centrated forces of the enemy. Still, all was not yet lost, the
Prussians being advantageously posted in the upper valley,
whilst the French were advancing along the deep valleys of the
Saal and its tributaries. But, on the 13th of October, Tauen-
zien retired from the vale, leaving the steeps of Jena, which
a hundred students had been able to defend simply by rolling
down the stones there piled in heaps, open, and, during the
same night, Napoleon sent his artillery up and posted himself
on the Landgrafenberg. There, nevertheless, still remained
a chance ; the Dornberg, by which the Landgrafenberg was
commanded, was still occupied by Tauenzien, and the Wind-
knollen, a still steeper ascent, whence Hohenlohe, had he not
spent the night in undisturbed slumbers at Capellendorf,
might utterly have annihilated the French army, remained
unoccupied. The thunder of the French artillery first roused
Hohenlohe from his couch, and, whilst he was still under the
242 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
hands of his barber, Tauenzien was driven from the Dorri-
berg. The duties of the toilette at length concluded, Ho-
henlohe led his troops up the hill-side with a view of re-
taking the position he had so foolishly lost ; but his serried
columns were exposed to the destructive fire of a body of
French tirailleurs posted above, and were repulsed with im-
mense loss. General Riichel arrived, with his corps that had
been uselessly detached, too late to prevent the flight of the
Hohenlohe corps, and, making a brave but senseless attack,
was wounded and defeated. A similar fate befell the unfor-
tunate Saxons at the Schnecke and the duke of Brunswick at
Auerstadt. The latter, although at the head of the strongest
division of the Prussian army, succumbed to the weakest
division of the French army, that commanded by Davoust,
who henceforward bore the title of duke of Auerstadt, and
was so suddenly put to the rout that a body of twenty thou-
sand Prussians under Kalkreuth never came into action. The
duke was shot in both eyes. This incident was, by his ene-
mies, termed fortune's revenge, "as he never would see when
he had his eyes open."*
Napoleon followed up his victory with consummate skill.
The junction of the retreating corps d'armee and their flight
by the shortest route into Prussia were equally prevented.
The defeated Prussian army was in a state of indescribable
confusion. An immensely circuitous march lay before it be-
fox'e Prussia could be re-entered. A number of the regiments
disbanded, particularly those whose officers had been the first
to take to flight or had crept for shelter behind hedges and
walls. An immense number of officers' equipages, provided
with mistresses, articles belonging to the toilette, and epicu-
rean delicacies, fell into Napoleon's hands. Waggons laden
with poultry, complete kitchens on wheels, wine casks, etc.,
had followed this luxurious army. The scene presented by
the battle-field of Jena widely contrasted with that of Ross-
bach, whose monument was sent by Napoleon to Paris as the
* On the 14tli of October. On this unlucky day, Frederick the Great
had, in 1758, been surprised at Hoclikirch, and Mack, in 1805, at Ulm.
On this day, the peace of Westphalia -R-as, a. d. 1648, concluded at Osna-
briick, and, in 1809, that of Vienna. It was, however, on this day that
the siege of Vienna was, in 1529, raised, and that, in 1813, Napoleon
was shut up at Leipzig.
AND DEFEAT. 243
most glorious part of the booty gained by liis present easy
victory.*
The fortified city of Erfurt was garrisoned witli fourteen
thousand Prussians under MoUendorf, who, on the first sum-
mons, capitulated to Murat, the general of the French cavalry.
The hereditary Prince of Orange was also taken prisoner on
tliis occasion. Von Helhvig, a lieutenant of the Prussian
hussars, boldly charged the French guard escorting the four-
teen thousand Prussian prisoners of war from Erfurt, at the
head of his squadron, at Eichenrodt in the vicinity of Eisen-
ach, and succeeded in restoring them to liberty. The liber-
ated soldiers, however, instead of joining the main body, dis-
persed. Eugene, duke of Wlirtemberg, was also defeated at
Halle, and, throwing up his command, withdrew to his states.
Histoiy has, nevertheless, recorded one trait of magnanimity,
that of a Prussian ensign fifteen years of age, who, being
pursued by some French cavalry not far from Halle, sprang
with the colours into the Saal and was crushed to death by a
mill-wheel.
Kalkreuth's corps, that had not been brought into action
and was the only one that remained entire, being placed
under the command of the prince of Hohenlohe, its gallant
commander, enraged at the indignity, quitted the army.
Hohenlohe's demand, on reaching Magdeburg, for a supply of
ammunition and forage, was refused by the commandant.
Von Kleist, and he hastened helplessly forward in the hope of
reaching Berlin, but the route was already blocked by the
enemy, and he was compelled to make a fatiguing and circuit-
ous march to the west through the sandy Mark. Magdeburg,
although garrisoned with twenty-two thousand Prussians, de-
fended by eight hundred pieces of artillery and almost im-
pregnable fortifications, capitulated on the 11th of November
to Ney, on his appearance beneath the walls with merely ten
thousand men and a light field-battery. Kleist, in exculpa-
tion of his conduct, alleged his expectation of an insurrection
of the citizens in case of a bombardment. Magdeburg con-
• The -whole of these disasters had been predicted by Henry von
Biilow, whose prophecies had brought him into a prison. On learning
the catastrophe of Jena, he exclaimed, " That is the consequence of
throwing generals into prison and of placing idiots at the head of the
army ! "
R 2
244 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
tained at that time three thousand unarmed citizens. It is
not known whether Kleist had been bribed, or whether he
was simply infected with the cowardice and stupidity by
which the elder generals of that period were distinguished ;
it is, however, certain that among the numerous younger
officers serving under his command, not one raised the slight-
est opposition to this disgraceful capitulation.*
The Hohenlohe corps, which consisted almost exclusively
of infantry, was accompanied in its flight by BlUcher, the
gallant general of the hussars, with the elite of the remaining
cavalry. Bliicher had, however, long borne a grudge against
his pedantic companion, and, mistrusting his guidance, soon
quitted him. Being surrounded by a greatly superior French
force under Klein, f he contrived to escape by asserting with
great earnestness to that general, that an armistice had just
been concluded. When afterwards urgently entreated by
Hohenlohe to join him with his troops, he procrastinated too
long, it may be, owing to his desire to bring Hohenlohe, who,
by eternally retreating, completely disheartened his troops, to
a stand, or, owing to the impossibility of coming up with
greater celerity.! He had, indubitably, the intention to join
Hohenlohe at Prenzlow, but unfortunately arrived a day too
late, the prince, whose ammunition and provisions were com-
pletely spent, and who, owing to the stupidity of Massenbach,
who rode up and down the Ucker without being able to dis-
cover whether he was on the right or left bank, had missed
the only route by which he could retreat, having already
fallen, with twelve thousand men, into the enemy's hands.
This disaster was shortly afterwards followed by the capture
of General Hagen with six thousand men at Pasewalk and
that of Bila with another small Prussian corps not far from
* The young "vons," on the contrary, capitulated with extreme
readiness, in order to return to their pleasurable habits. Several of
them set a great shield over their doors, with the inscription, " Herr von
N. or M., prisoner of war on parole." In all the capitulations, the com-
mandants and officers merely took care of their own persons and equi-
pages and sacrificed the soldiery. Napoleon, who was well aware of
this little wealcness, always offered them the most flattering personal
terms.
t The same man who had been imposed upon by a similar ruse at
Ulm, by the archduke Ferdinand. Napoleon dismissed him the service.
J Massenbach published an anonymous charge against Bliicher,
which that general publicly refuted.
AXD DEFEAT. 245
Stettin. Blliclier, strengthened by the corps of the duke of
Weimar and by numerous fugitives, still kept the field, but
was at length driven back to Llibeck, where he was defeated,
and, after a bloody battle in the very heart of the terror-
stricken city, four thousand of his men were made prisoners.
He fled with ten thousand to Eadkan, where, finding no ships
to transport him across the Baltic, he was forced to capitulate.
The luckless duke of Brunswick was carried on a bier from
the field of Jena to his palace at Brunswick, which he found
deserted. All belonging to him had fled. In his distress he
exclaimed, '•! am now about to quit all and am abandoned by
all ! " His earnest petition to Napoleon for protection for
himself and his petty territory was sternly refused by the
implacable victor, who replied, that he knew of no reigning
duke of Brunswick, but only of a Prussian general of that
name, who had, in the infamous manifest of 1792, declared
his intention to destroy Paris and was undeserving of mercy.
The blind old man fled to Ottensen, in the Danish territory,
where he expired.
Napoleon, after confiscating sixty millions worth of English
goods on his way through Leipzig, entered Berlin on the 17th
of October, 1806. The defence of the city had not been even
dreamt of; nay, the great arsenal, containing five hundred
pieces of artillery and immense stores, the sword of Frederick
the Great, and the private correspondence of the reigning
king and queen, were all abandoned to the victor.* Although
the citizens were by no means martially disposed, the author-
ities deemed it necessary to issue proclamations to the people,
inculcatory of the axiom, " Tranquillity is the first duty of the
citizen." Napoleon, on his entry into Berlin, was received,
not, as at Vienna, with uiutc rage, but with loud demonstra-
tions of delight. Individuals belonging to the highest class
* Whilst the unfortunate Henry von Biilow, whose ■«ise counsels had
been despised, was torn from his prison to be delivered to the Russians,
whose behaviour at Austerlitz he had blamed. On his route he was ma-
liciously represented as a friend to the French and exposed to the insults
of the rabble, who bespattered him with mud, and to such brutal treat-
ment from the Cossacks, that he died of his wounds at Riga. Never had
a prophet a more ungrateful country. He was delivered by his fellow-
citizens to an ignominious death for attempting their salvation, for point-
ing out the means by which alone their safety could be insured and for
exposing the wretches by whom they were betrayed.
246 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
Stationed themselves behind the crowd and exclaimed, " For
God's sake, give a hearty hurrah ! Cry, Vive I'empereur ! or
we are all lost." On a demand, couched in the politest tenus,
for the peaceable delivery of the arms of the civic guard, being
made by Hulin, the new French commandant, to the magis-
trate, the latter, on his own accord, ordered the citizens to
give up their arms "under pain of death." Numerous indi-
viduals betrayed the public money and stores, that still re-
mained concealed, to the French. Hulin replied to a person,
who had discovered a large store of wood, " Leave the wood
untouched ; your king will want a good deal to make gallows
for traitorous rogues." Napoleon's reception struck him with
such astonishment that he declared, " I know not whether to
rejoice or to feel ashamed." At the head of his general staif,
in full uniform and with bared head, he visited the apartment
occupied by Frederick the Great at Sans Souci and his tomb.
He took possession of Frederick's sword and declared in the
army bulletin, " I would not part with this weapon for twenty
millions." Frederick's tomb afforded him an opportunity for giv-
ing vent to the most unbecoming expressions of contempt against
his unfortunate descendant. He pubhcly aspersed the fame
of the beautiful and noble-hearted Prussian queen, in order to
deaden the enthusiasm she sought to raise. But he deceived
himself Calumny but increased the esteem and exalted the
enthusiasm \vith which the people beheld their queen and
kindled a feeling of revenge in their bosoms. Napoleon be-
haved, nevertheless, with generosity to another lady of rank.
Prince Hatzfeld, the civil governor of Berlin, not having
quitted that city on the entry of Napoleon, had been disco-
vered by the spies and been condemned to death by a court-
martial. His wife, who was at t!mi time enceinte, threw her-
SClf «t r^apoieon's feet. With a smile, he handed to her the
paper containing the proof of her husband's guilt, which she
instantly burnt, and her husband was restored to liberty.
John Miiller was among the more remarkable of the servants
of the state who had remained at Berlin. This sentimental
parasite, the most despicable of them all, whose pathos sub-
limely glossed over each fresh treason, was sent for by Napo-
leon, who placed him about his person. Among other things,
he asked him, " Is it not true ? the Germans are somewhat
thick-brained?" to which the fawning professor replied with
AJN'D DEFEAT. 247
a smile. In return for the benefits he had received from the
royal family of Prussia, he delivered, before quitting Berlin,
an academical lecture upon Frederick the Great, in the
presence of the French general officers, in which he artfully
(the lecture was of course delivered in the French language)
contrived to flatter Napoleon at the expense of that monarch.*
Prince Charles von Isenburg raised, in the very heart of
Berlin, a regiment, composed of Prussian deserters, for the
service of France. f
The Prussian fortresses fell, meanwhile, one after the other,
during the end of autumn and during the winter, some from
utter inabihty, on account of their neglected state, to main-
tain themselves, but the greater part, owing to their being
commanded by old villains, treacherous and cowardly as the
commandant of ]Magdeburg. The strong fortress of Hameln
was in this manner yielded by a Baron von Schiiler, Plassen-
burg by a Baron von Becker, Nimburg on the Weser by a
Baron von Dresser, Spandau by a Count von Benkendorf.
The citadel of Berlin capitulated without a blow, and Stettin,
although well provided with all the materiel of war, was de-
livered up by a Baron von Romberg. Custrin, one of the
strongest fortified places, was commanded by a Count von
Ingersleben. The king visited the place during his flight
and earnestly recommended him to defend this place, which,
sooner than yield, had, during the seven years' war, allowed
itself to be reduced to a heap of ruins, to the last. AVhen
standing on one of the bastions, the king inquired its name.
The commandant w-as ignorant of it. Scarcely had the king
quitted the place, than a body of French huzzars appeared
before the gates, and Ingersleben instantly capitulated.
• In the " Trumpet of the Holy War," he had summoned the nation
to take up arms against the heathens (the French). He breathed war
and flames. In his address to the king, he said, " The idle parade of the
ruler during a long peace has never maintained a state ! " He incited the
hatred of the people against the French, telling them to harbour " such
hatred against the enemy, like men ■who knew how to hate ! " After thus
aiding to kindle the flames of war, he went over to the French and wrote
the letter to Bignon, which that author has inserted in his History of
France : " Like Ganymede to the seat of the gods, have I been borne by
the eagle to Fontainebleau, there to serve a god."
t The conduct of these deserters, how, decorated with the French
cockade, they treated the German population with unheard of insolence,
is given in detail by Seume.
248 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
Silesia, although less demoralized than Berlin, viewed these
political changes with even greater apathy. This fine pro-
vince had, during the reign of Frederick the Great, been
placed under the government of the minister, Count Hoym,
whose easy disposition had, like insidious poison, utterly en-
ervated the people. The government officers, as if persuaded
of the reality of the antiquarian whim which deduced the
name of Silesia from Klysiuni, dwelt in placid self-content,
unmoved by the catastrophes of Austerlitz or Jena. No mea-
sures were, consequently, taken for the defence of the country,
and a flying corps of Bavarians, AViirtembergers, and some
French under Vandamnie, speedily overran tlie whole pro-
vince, notwithstanding the number of its fortresses. At
Glogau, the commandant, Von Reinhardt, unhesitatingly de-
clared his readiness to capitulate and excluded the gallant
Major von Putlitz, who insisted upon making an obstinate
defence, " as a revolutionist," from the military council. Be-
ing advised by one of the citizens to fire upon the enemy, he
rudely replied, " Sir, you do not know what one shot costs
the king." In Breslau, the Counts von Thiele and Lindner
made a terrible fracas, burnt down the fine faubourgs, and
blew up the powder-magazine, merely in order to veil the dis-
grace of a hasty capitulation, which enraged the soldiery to
such a pitch, that, shattering their muskets, they heaped im-
precations on their dastard commanders, and, in revenge,
plundered the royal stores. Brieg was ceded after a two
days' siege, by the Baron von Cornerut. The defence of the
strong fortress of Schweidnitz, of such celebrated importance
during the seven years' war, had been intrusted to Count von
Haath, a man whose countenance even betokened imbecility.
He yielded the fortress without a blow, and, on the windows
of the apartment in which he lodged in the neighbouring
town of Jauer being broken by the patriotic citizens, he went
down to the landlord, to whom he said, " My good sir, you
must have some enemies !" The remaining fortresses made
a better defence. Glatz was taken by surprise, the city by
storm. The fortress was defended by the commandant, Count
Gbtzen, until ammunition sufficient for twelve days longer
alone remained. Neisse capitulated from famine ; Kosel was
gallantly defended by the commandant, Neumann ; and Silber-
berg, situated on an impregnable rock, refused to surrender.
AND DEFEAT. 249
The troops of the Rhenish confederation, encouraged by the
bad example set by Vandamme and by several of the superior
officers, committed dreadful havoc, plundered the country,
robbed and barbarously treated the inhabitants. It was quite
a common custom among the officers, on the conclusion of a
meal, to carry away with them the whole of their host's table-
service. The filthy habits of the French officers were notori-
ous. Their conduct is said to have been not only countenanced
but commanded by Napoleon, as a sure means of striking the
enervated population with the profoundest terror ; and the
panic in fact almost amounted to absurdity, the inhabitants of
this thickly-populated province no where venturing to rise
against the handful of robbers by whom they were so cruelly
persecuted. A Baron von Piickler oifered an individual excep-
tion : his endeavours to rouse the inert masses met with no suc-
cess, and, rendered desperate by his failure, he blew out his
brains. When too late, a prince Yon Anhalt-Pless assembled
an armed force in Upper Silesia and attempted to relieve Bres-
lau, but Thiele neglecting to make a sally at the decisive
moment, the Poles in Prince Pless's small army took to
flight, and the whole plan miscarried. A small Prussian
corps, amounting to about five hundred men, commaridcd by
Losthin, afterwards infested Silesia, surprised the French
under Lefebvre at Kanth and put them to the rout, but
were a few days after this exploit taken prisoners by a
superior French force.
Attempts at reforms suited to the 'spirit of the age had,
even before the outbreak of war, been made in Prussia by
men of higher intelligence ; Menken, for instance, had
laboured to effi^ct the emancipation of the peasantry, but had
been removed from office by the aristocratic party.' During
the war, the corruption pervading every department of the
government, whether civil or military, was fully exposed,
and Frederick William III. was taught by bitter experience
to pursue a better system, to act with decision and patient
determination. The Baron von Stein, a man of undoubted
talent, a native of Nassau, was placed at the head of the
government ; two of the most able commanders of the day,
Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, undertook the reorganization of
the army. On the 1st of December, 1806, the king cashiered
every commandant who had neglected to defend the fortress
250 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
intrusted to his care and every officer guilty of desertion or
cowardly flight, and the long list of names gave disgraceful
proof of the extent to which the nobility were compromised.
One of the first measures taken by the king was, conse-
quently, to throw open every post of distinction in the army
to the citizens. The old inconvenient uniform and fire-arms
were at the same time improved, the queue was cut off, the
cane abandoned. The royal army was indeed scanty in
number, but it contained within itself germs of honour and
patriotism that gave promise of future glory.
The reform, however, but slowly progressed. Ferdinand
von Schill, a Prussian lieutenant, who had been wounded at
Jena, formed, in Pomerania, a guerilla troop of disbanded
soldiery and young men, who, although indifferently provided
with arms, stopped the French convoys and couriers. His
success was so extraordinary, that he was sometimes enabled
to send sums of money, taken from the enemy, to the king.
Among other exploits, he took prisoner Marshal Victor, who
was exchanged for Bllicher. Bliicher assembled a fresh body
of troops on the island of Rligen. Schill, being afterwards
compelled to take refuge from the pursuit of the French in
the fortress of Colberg, the commandant, Loucadou, placed
him under arrest for venturing to criticise the bad defence of
the place.
The king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus IV., might with
perfect justice have bitterly reproached Prussia and Austria
for the folly with which they had, by their disunion, con-
tributed to the aggrandizement of the power of France. He
acted nobly by affording a place of refuge to the Prussians at
Stralsund and Riigen.
Colberg was, on Loucadou's dismissal, gloriously defended
by Gneisenau and by the resolute citizens, among whom
Nettelbek, a man seventy years of age, chiefly distinguished
himself. Courbiere acted with equal gallantry at Graudenz.
On being told by the French that Prussia was in their hands
and that no king of Prussia was any longer in existence, he
replied, " Well, be it so ! but I am king at Graudenz."
Pillau was also successfully defended by Herrmann.* Polish
* Courbiere, Herrmann, and Neumann of Cosel "were bourgeois : the
commandants of the other fortresses, so disgracefully ceded, were, with-
out exception, nobles.
A>"D DEFEAT. 251
Prussia naturally fell off on the advance of the French.
Kalisch rose in open insurrection ; the Prussian authorities
were every where compelied to save themselves by flight from
the vengeance of the people. Poland had been termed the
Botany Bay of Prussia, government officers in disgrace for
bad conduct being generally sent there by way of punishment.
No one voluntarily accepted an appointment condemning
him to dwell amid a population inspired by the most ineradi-
cable national hatred, glowing with revenge, and unable to
appreciate the benefits bestowed upon them in their ignor-
ance and poverty by the wealthier and more civilized Prus-
sian.
The king had withdrawn with tlie remainder of his troops,
which were commanded by the gallant L'Estoc, to Konigs-
berg, where he formed a junction with the Russian army,
which was led by a Hanoverian, the cautious Benuigsen,
and accompanied by the emperor Alexander in person. Na-
poleon expected that an opportunity would be atforded for
the repetition of his old manccuvre of separating and falling
singly upon his opponents, but Bennigsen kept his forces to-
gether and offered him battle at Eylau, in the neighbourhood
of Kiinigsberg; victory still wavered, when tlie Prussian troops
under L'Estoc fell furiously upon Marshal Ney's flank, whilst
that general was endeavouring to surround the Russians, and
decided the day. It was the 8th of February, and the snow-
clad ground was stained with gore. Napoleon, after this ca-
tastrophe, remained inactive, awaiting the opening of spring
and the arrival of reinforcements. Dantzig, exposed by the
desertion of the Poles, fell, although defended by Kalkreuth,
into his hands, and, on the 14th of June, 1807, the anniver-
sary, so pregnant with important events, of the battle of
Marengo, he gained a brilliant victory at Friedland, which
was followed by General Rachel's abandonment of Konigs-
berg with all its stores.
The road to Lithuania now lay open to tlie French, and
the emperor Alexander deemed it advisable to conclude
peace. A conference was held at Tilsit on the Riemen be-
tween the sovereigns of France, Russia, and Prussia, and a
peace, highly detrimental to Germany, was concluded on the
9th of July, 1807. Prussia lost half of her territory, was
restricted to the maintenance of an army merely amounting
252 PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR,
to forty-two thousand men, was compelled to pay a contribu-
tion of one hundred and forty millions of francs to France,
and to leave her most important fortresses as security for
payment in the hands of the French. These grievous terms
were merely acceded to by Napoleon " out of esteem for his
Majesty the emperor of Kussia," who, on his part, deprived
his late ally of a piece of Prussian-Poland (Bialystock) and
divided the spoil of Prussia with Napoleon.* Nay, he went,
some months later, so far in his — generosity, as, on an
understanding with Napoleon and without deigning any ex-
planation to Prussia, arbitrarily to cancel an article of the
peace of Tilsit, by which Prussia was indemnified for the loss
of Hanover with a territory containing four hundred thou-
sand souls.
The Prussian possessions on the left bank of the Elbe,
Hanover, Brunswick, and Hc?se-Cassol,f were converted by
Napoleon into the new kingdom of AVestphalia, which he be-
stowed upon his brother Jerome and included in the Rhenish
confederation. East Frizeland was annexed to Holland. Poland
was not restored, but a petty grand-duchy of Warsaw was
* Bignon remarks that the queen, Louisa, ■who left no means imtried
in order to save as miich as possible of Prussia, came somewhat too late,
■when Napoleon had already entered into an agreement ■with Russia.
Hence Napoleon's inflexibility, which was the more insulting owing to
the apparently yielding silence with which, from a feeling of politeness,
he sometimes received the personal petitions of the queen, to which he
would afterwards send a ■vvTittcn refusal. The part played in this affair
by Alexander was far from honourable, and Bignon says with great jus-
tice, " The emperor of Russia must at that time have had but little judg-
ment, if he imagined that taking Prussia in such a manner under his
protection would be honourable to the protector." With a view of ap-
peasing public opinion in Germany and influencing it in favour of the
alliance between France and Russia, Zchokke, who was at that time in
Napoleon's pay, published a mean-spirited pamphlet, entitled, " Will
tlie human race gain by the present political changes ?"
t The elector, William, who had solicited permission to remain neu-
tral, having made great military preparations and received the Prussians
with open arms, was, in Napoleon's twenty-seventh bulletin, deposed
with expressions of the deepest contempt. " The house of Hesse-Cassel
has for many years past sold its subjects to England, and by this means
has the elector collected his immense wealth. May this mean and avari-
cious conduct prove the ruin of his house." Louis, Landgrave of
Hesse-Darmstadt, was threatened with similar danger for inclining on
the side of Prussia, but perceived his peril in time to save himself from
destruction.
AND DEFEAT. 253
erected, which Fi'ederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, re-
ceived, together with the royal dignity. Prussia, already
greatly diminished in extent, was to be still further en-
croached upon and watched by these new states. The ex-
ample of electoral Saxony was imitated by the petty Saxon
princes, and Anhalt, Lippe, Schwarzburg, Reuss, Mecklen-
burg, and Aldenburg joined the Rhenish confederation. Dant-
zig became a nominal free-town with a French garrison.*
The brave Hessians resisted this fresh act of despotism.
The Hessian troops revolted, but were put down by force,
and their leader, a serjeant, rushed franticly into the enemy's
fire. ■ The Hessian peasantry also rose in several places. The
Hanse towns, on the contrary, meekly allowed themselves to
be pillaged and to be robbed of their stores of English goods.
Gustavus Adolphus IV. of Sweden, who had neglected to
send troops at an eai'licr period to the aid of Prussia, now
offered the sturdiest resistance and steadily refused to nego-
tiate terms of peace or to recognise Napoleon as emperor. His
generals, Armfeldtf and Essen, made some successful inroads
from Stralsund, and, in unison with the EngHsh, might have
effected a strong diversion to Napoleon's rear, had their move-
ments been more rapid and combined. On the conclusion of
the peace of Tilsit, a French force under IMortier appeared,
drove the Swedes back upon Stralsund, and compelled the
king, in the August of 1807, to abandon that city, which the
new system of warfare rendered no longer tenable.
CCLV. The Rhenish Confederation.
The whole of western Europe bent in lowly submission be-
* Marshal Lefebvre, who had taken the city, was created duke of
Dantzig. The city, however, did not belong to him, but became a re-
public ; notwithstanding which, it was at first compelled to pay a contri-
bution, amounting to twenty million francs, to Napoleon, to maintain a
strong French garrison at its expense, and was fleeced in every imagina-
ble way. A stop was consequently put to trade, the wealthiest merchants
became bankrupt, and Napoleon's satraps established their harems and
celebrated their orgies in their magnificent houses and gardens, and, by
their unbridled licence, demoralized to an almost incredible degree the
staid manners of the quondam pious Lutheran citizens. Vide Blech,
The Miseries of Dantzig, 1815.
t One of the handsomest men of his time and the Adonis of many a
princely dame.
254 THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION.
fore the genius of Napoleon ; Russia was bound by the silken
chains of flattery ; England, Turkey, Sweden, and Portugal,
alone bade him defiance. England, whose fleets ruled the
European seas, who lent her aid to his enemies, and instigated
their opposition, was his most dangerous foe. By a gigantic
measure, known as the continental system, he sought to under-
mine her power. The whole of the continent of Europe, as far
as his influence was felt, was, by an edict, published at Berlin
on the 21st of November, 1806, closed against British trade;
nay, he went so far as to lay an embargo on all English goods
lying in store and to make prisoners of war of all the English
at that time on the continent. All intercourse between Eng-
land and the rest of Europe was prohibited. But Napoleon's
attempt to ruin the commerce of England was merely pro-
ductive of injury to himself; the promotion of eveiy branch
of industry on the continent could not replace the loss of its
foreign trade ; the products of Europe no longer found their
way to the more distant parts of the globe to be exchanged
for colonial luxuries, which, with the great majority of the
people, more particularly with the better classes, had become
necessaries, and numbers, who had but lately lauded Napo-
leon to the skies, regarded him with bitter rage on being com-
pelled to relinquish their wonted coffee and sugar.
Napoleon, meanwhile, undeterred by opposition, enforced
his continental system. Russia, actuated by jealousy of Eng-
land and flattered by the idea, with which Napoleon had, at
Tilsit, inspired the emperor Alexander, of sharing with him
the empire of a world, aided his projects. The first step was
to secure to themselves possession of the Baltic ; the king of
Sweden, Napoleon's most implacable foe, was to be dethroned,
and Sweden to be promised to Frederick, prince-regent of
Denmark, in order to draw him into the interests of the allied
powers of France and Russia. The scheme, however, trans-
pired in time to be frustrated. An English fleet, with an army,
amongst which was the German Legion, composed of Hano-
verian refugees, on board, attacked, and, after a fearful bom-
bardment, took Copenhagen, and either destroyed or carried
off the whole of the Danish fleet, Sept. 1807.* The British
fleet, on its triumphant return through the Sound, was saluted
* See accounts of this affair in the Recollections of a Legionary,
Hanover, 1826, and in Beamisch's History of the Legion.
THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION. 2oo
at Helsingfors by the king of Sweden, who invited the ad-
mirals to breakfast. The island of Heligoland, which be-
longed to Holstein and consequently formed part of the pos-
sessions of Denmark, and which carried on a great smuggling
trade between that country and the continent, was at that
time also seized by the British.
Napoleon revenged himself by a bold stroke in Spain. He
proposed the partition of Portugal to that power, and, under
that pretext, sent troops across the Pyrenees. The licentious
queen of Spain, Maria Louisa Theresa of Parma, and her para-
mour, Godoy, who had, on account of the treaty between France
and Spain, received the title of Prince of Peace, reigned at
that time in the name of the imbecile king, Charles IV, His
son, Ferdinand, placed himself at the head of the democratic
faction, by whom Godoy was regarded with the most deadly
hatred. Both parties, however, conscious of their want of
power, sought aid from Napoleon, who flattered each in turn,
with a view of rendering the one a tool for the destruction of
the other. The Prince of Peace was overthrown by a popular
tumult ; Ferdinand VII. was proclaimed king, and his father,
Charles IV., was compelled to abdicate. These events were
apparently countenanced by Napoleon, who invited the youth-
ful sovereign to an interview ; Ferdinand, accordingly, went
to Bayonne and was — taken prisoner. The Prince of Peace,
on the eve of flying from Spain, where his life was no longer
safe, with his treasures and with the queen, persuaded the old
king, Charles, also to go to Bayonne, where his person was
instantly seized. Both he and his son were compelled to re-
nounce their right to the throne of Spain and to abdicate in
favour of Joseph, Napoleon's brother, the oth of May, 1 808.
The elevation of Joseph to the Spanish throne was followed
by that of Murat to the throne of Naples. The haughty
Spaniard, however, refused to be trampled under foot, and his
proud spirit disdained to accept a king imposed upon him by
such unparalleled treachery. Napoleon's victorious troops
were, for the first time, routed by peasants, an entire army
was taken prisoner at Baylen, and another, in Portugal, was
compelled to retreat. Napoleon's veterans were scattered by
monks and peasants, a proof, to the eternal disgrace of every
subject people, that the invincibility of a nation depends but
upon its will.
256 THE RHENISH COXFEDERATIOX.
Napoleon did not conduct the war in Spain in person dur-
ing the first campaign ; the tranquillity of the North had first
to be secured. For this purpose, he held a personal confer-
ence, in October, 1808, with the emperor Alexander at Erfurt,
whither the princes of Germany hastened to pay their devoirs,
humbly as their ancestors of yore to conquering Attila. The
company of actors brought in Napoleon's train from Paris
boasted of gaining the plaudits of a royal parterre, and a
French sentinel happening to call to the watch to present
arms to one of the kings there dancing attendance was re-
proved by his officer with the observation, "Ce n'est qu'un
roi." * Both emperors, for the purpose of offering a marked
insult to Prussia, attended a great hare-hunt on the battle-
field of Jena. It was during this conference, that Napoleon
and Alexander divided between themselves the sovereignty of
* A graphic description of these times is to be met with in Joanna
Schopenhauer's Tour on the Lower Rhine. The kings of Bavaria,
Wiirtemberg, Westphalia, Saxony, the prince primate, the hereditary
prince of Baden and of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the duke of Weimar, the
princes of Hohenzollem, Hesse-Rotenburg, and Hesse-Philippsthal,
were present. No one belonging to the house of Austria was there : of
that of Prussia there was Prince William, the king's brother. The All-
gemeine Zeitung of that day wrote : " The fact of Napoleon's sending
for the privj'-counsellor, Von Goethe, into his cabinet, and conversing
with him for upwards of an hour, appears to us well worthy of mention.
What German Avould not rejoice that the great emperor should have en-
tered into such deep conversation ■«'ith such a fitting representative of
our noblest, and now, alas, sole remaining national possession, our
art and learning, by whose presenation alone can our nationality be
saved from utter annihilation." Notwithstanding which, the company of
actors belonging to the theatre at Weimar, which was close at hand and
had been under Goethe's instruction, was not once allowed to perform on
the Erfurt stage, which Napoleon had supplied with actors from Paris.
Wieland was also compelled to remain standing for an hour in Napoleon's
presence, and when, at length, unable, owing to the weakness of old age,
to continue in that position, he ventured to ask permission to retire, Na-
poleon is said to have considered the request an unwarrantable liberty.
The literary heroes of Weimar took no interest in the country from which
they had received so deep a tribute of admiration. Not a patriotic senti-
ment escaped their lips. At the time when the deepest wound was in-
flicted on the Tyrol, GcEthe gave to the world his frivolous " Wahlver-
wandschaften," which was followed by a poem in praise of Napoleon, of
■whom he says :
" Doubts, that have bafHed thousands, he has solved ;
Ideas, o'er which centuries have brooded,
His giant mind intuitively compassed."
THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION. 257
Europe, Russia undertaking the subjugation of Sweden and
the seizure of Finnland, France the conquest of Spain and
Portugal.
The period immediately subsequent to the fall of the an-
cient empire forms the blackest page in the history of Ger-
many. The whole of the left bank of the Rhine was annexed
to France. The people, notwithstanding the improvement
that took place in the administration under Bon Jean St.
Andre, groaned beneath the exorbitant taxes and the con-
scription. The commerce on the Rhine had almost entirely
ceased.* The grand-duchy of Berg was, until 1808, go-
verned with great mildness by Avar, the French minister.
Holland had, since 1801, remained under the administration
of her benevolent governor, Schimmelpenninck, but had been
continually drained by the imposition of additional income-
taxes, which, in 1804, amounted to 6 per cent, on the capital
in the country. Commerce had entirely ceased, smuggling
alone excepted. In 1806, the Dutch Avere commanded to en-
treat Napoleon to grant them a king in the person of his
brother Louis, who tixed his residence in the venerable
council-house at Amsterdam, and, it must be confessed, en-
deavoured to promote the real interests of his new subjects.f
The Swiss, with characteristic servility, testified the great-
est zeal on every occasion for the emperor Napoleon, cele-
brated his fete-day, and boasted of his protection ;}: and of the
freedom they were still permitted to enjoy. Freedom of
thought was expressly prohibited. Sycophants, in the pay
of the foreign ruler, as, for instance, Zschokke, alone guided
public opinion. In Zug, any person who ventured to speak
disparagingly of the Swiss in the service of France, was de-
clared an enemy to his country and exposed to severe punish-
* The great and dangerous robber bands of the notorious Damian
Hessel, and of Schinderhannes, afford abundant proof of the demoralized
condition of the people.
t On the 12th of January, 1807, a ship laden with four hundred quin-
tals of gunpowder blew up in the middle of the city of Leyden, part of
which was thereby reduced to ruins, and one hundred and fifty persons,
among others, the celebrated professors, Luzac and Kleit, were killed.
+ On the opening of the federal diet in ] 806, the Landamman lauded
"the omnipotent benevolence of the gracious mediator." In earlier
limes, the Swiss would, on the contrary, have boasted of their affording
protection to, not of receiving protection from, France.
VOL. III. s
258 THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION.
ment.* The Swiss shed their blood in each and all of Napo-
leon's campaigns and aided him to reduce their kindred
nations to abject slavery.f
The Rhenish confederacy shared the advantages of French
influence to the same degree in which they, in common with
the old states on the left bank of the Rhine, were subject to
ecclesiastical corruption or to the upstart vanity incidental
to petty states. Wherever enlightenment and liberty had
formerly existed, as in Protestant and constitutional Wurtem-
berg, the violation of the ancient rights of the people was
deeply felt, and the new aristocracy, modelled on that of
France, appeared as unbearable to the older inhabitants of
Wiirtemberg as did the loss of their ancient independence to
the mediatized princes and lordlings. King Frederick, not-
withstanding his refusal to send troops into Spain, was com-
pelled to furnish an enormous contingent for the wars in
eastern Europe ; the conscription and taxes were heavily felt,
and the peasant was vexed by the great hunts, celebrated by
Matthisson, the court-poet, as festivals of Diana.} In Ba-
* Allgemeine Zeitung of 1810, No. 90. " In order to prove of what
importance they considered the benevolent protection of Napoleon the
Great."
t Their general, Von der Wied, who was taken prisoner at Talavera
in Spain and died shortly afterwards of a pestilential disease, had done
signal service to France, in 1798 in Switzerland, in 1792 in Italy, in 1805
in Austria, in 1806 in Prussia, and finally in Spain. — Allgemeine
Zeitung 0/1811, No. 46.
X Pei'sonal freedom was restricted by innumerable decrees. Freedom
of speech, formerly great in Wiirtemberg, was strictly repressed; all
social confidence was annihilated. A swarm of informers insnared
those whom the secret police w-ere imable to entrap. The secrecy of
letters was violated. Trials in criminal cases were no longer allowed to be
public. The sentence passed upon the accused was, particularly in cases
of the highest import, not delivered by the judge as dictated by the law,
but by the despot's caprice. The conscription was enforced with in-
creased severity and tyranny. The natural right of emigration was
abolished. The people were disarmed, and not even the inhabitants
of solitary farms and hamlets were allowed to possess arms in order to
defend themselves against wolves and robbers. A man was punished
for killing a mad dog, because the gun used for that purpose had been
illegally secreted. Pass-tickets were given to and returned by all de-
sirous of passing the gates of the pettiest town. The members of the
higher aristocracy were compelled, under pain of being deprived of the
third of their income, to spend three months in the year at court.
The citizen was oppressed by a variety of fresh taxes, by the newly-
I
THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION. 259
varia, the administration of Maximilian Joseph and of his
minister, Montgelas, although arbitrary in its measures,
promoted, like that of Frederick II. and Joseph II., the ad-
vance of enlightenment and true liberty. The monasteries
were closed, the punishment of the rack was abolished, unity
was introduced in the administration of the state ; the schools,
the police, and the roads were improved, toleration was estab-
lished ; in a word, the dreams of the illuminati, diirty years
before this period, were, in almost every respect, realized.
But, on the other hand, patriotism was here more unknown
than in any other part of Germany. Christopher von Aretin
set himself up as an apparitor to the French police, and, in
1810, published a work against the few German patriots still
remaining, whom he denounced, in the fourteenth number of
the Literary Gazette of Upper Germany, as " Preachers of
Germanism, criminals and traitors, by whom the Rhenish con-
federation was polluted." The crown-prince of Bavaria, who
deeply lamented the rule of France and the miseries of Ger-
many, offers a contrary example. A constitution, naturally
a mere tool in the hand of the ministry, was bestowed, in
1808, upon Bavaria.
The government of Charles von Dalberg, the prince-primate
and grand-duke of Frankfurt, was one of the most despicable
of those composing the Rhenish confederation. Equally insensi-
ble to the duties attached to his high name and station,* he
flattered the foreign tyrant to an extent unsurpassed by any of
the other base sycophants at that time abounding in the em-
pire ; with folded hands would he at all times invoke the bless-
ing of the Most High on the head of the almighty ruler of
the earth, and celebrate each of his victories with hymns of
created monopolies of tobacco, salt, etc., and colonial imposts, by the ten-
fold rise of the excise and custom-house dues, etc. Vide Zahn in the
Wiirtemberg Annual. Zschokke, meanwhile, in his pamphlet, already
mentioned, " Will the human race gain," etc., advocated republican
equality and liberty under a monarchical constitution.
* The Von Dalbergs of Franconia were the first hereditary barons
of the Holy Roman Empire, and one of their race was dubbed knight at
each imperial coronation. Hence the demand of the imperial herald, "Is
no Dalberg here ? " And a Dalberg it was, who, in Napoleon's name, de-
clared to the German emperor that he no longer recognised an emperor
of Germany In 1797, Dalberg had, at the diet, and again in 1805,
expressed himself with great zeal against France ; on the present occa-
sion he was Naj)oleon's first satrap.
260 THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION.
gratitude and joy, whilst his ministers misruled and tyrannized
over the country,* whose freedom they loudly vaunted. f
In Wiirzburg, the French ambassador reigned with the des-
potism of an eastern satrap. if Saxe-Coburg§ and Anhalt-
Gotha, II where the native tyrant was sheltered beneath the
wing of Napoleon, were in the most lamentable state. In
Saxony, the government remained unaltered. Frederick Au-
gustus, filled with gratitude for the lenity with which he had
been treated after the war and for tlie grant of the royal dig-
nity, remained steadily faithful to Napoleon, but introduced no
internal innovations into the government. The adhesion of
Saxe-Weiraar to the Rhenish confederation was of deplorable
consequence to Germany, the great poets assembled there by
the deceased Duchess Amalia also scattering incense around
Napoleon.
The kingdom of Westphalia was doomed to taste to the dregs
the bitter cup of humiliation. The new king, Jerome, who
declared, " Je veux qu'on respecte la dignite de 1' homme et du
citoyen," bestowed, it is true, many and great benefits upon
his subjects ; the system of flogging, so degrading to the sol-
dier, was abolished, the judicature was improved, the adminis-
tration simplified, and the German in authority, notwithstaud-
* They sold the demesnes of Hanau and Fulda and received the sums
produced by the sale in gift from the grand-duke. — G'unes's Rhenish
Mercury, a. d. 1814, No. 168.
t They were barefaced enough to bestow a constitution, and, in 1810,
to open a diet at Hanau, although all the newspapers had, five days pre-
viously, been suppressed, and orders had been issued that the editor of
the only newspaper permitted for the future was to be appointed by the
police. — Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 294.
j Count Montholon-Semonville sold justice and mercy. Vide Brock-
haus's Deutsche Blatter, 1814, No. 101.
§ The duke, Francis, allowed the country to be mercilessly drained
and impoverished by the minister, Von Kretschfnann. He lived on ex-
tremely bad terms with his uncle, Frederick Josias, duke of Coburg, the
celebrated Austrian general. Francis died in 1806. Ernest, his son and
successor, delivered the country, a. d. 1809, from Kretschmann's tyranny,
and, in 1811, bestowed upon it a constitution, which was, nevertheless,
merely an imitation of that of Westphalia.
II The prince, Augustus Christian Frederick, contracted debts to an
enormous amount, completely drained his petty territory, and even seized
bail-money. Military amusements, drunkenness and other gross excesses,
the preservation of enormous herds of deer which destroyed the fields of
the peasantry, formed the pleasures of this prince. — Stenzel's History of
Anhalt.
THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION. 261
ing his traditionary gruffness, became remarkable for urbanity
towards the citizens and peasants. But Napoleon's despotic
rule ever demanded fresh sacrifices of men and money and
increased severity on the part of the police, in order to quell
the spii'it of revolt. Jerome, conscious of being merely his
brother's representative, consoled himself for his want of in-
dependence in his gay court at Cassel.* He had received but
a middling education, and had, at one period, held a situation
in the marine at Baltimore in North America. Whilst still
extremely young, placed unexpectedly upon a throne, more as
a splendid puppet than as an independent sovereign, he gave
way to excesses, natural, and, under the circumstances, almost
excusable. It would be ungenerous to repeat the sarcasms
showered upon him on his expulsion. The execrations
heaped, at a later period, upon his head, ought with far greater
justice to have fallen upon those of the Germans themselves,
and more particularly upon those of that portion of the aris-
tocracy who vied with the French in enriching the chronique
scandaleuse of Cassel, and upon those of the citizens who, under
Bongars, the head of the French police, acted the part of spies
upon and secret informers against their wretched countrymen.
The farcical donation of a free constitution to the people
put a climax to their degradation. On the 2nd of July, 1808,
Jerome summoned the Westphalian Estates to Cassel and
opened the servile assembly, thus arbitrarily convoked, with
extreme pomp. The unfortunate deputies, who had, on the
conclusion of the lengthy ceremonial, received an invitation
assister au repas at the palace and had repaired thither, their
imaginations, whetted by hunger, i-evelling in visions of gas-
tronomic delight, were sorely discomfited on discovering that
they were simply expected " to look on whilst the sovereign
feasted." The result of this assembly was, naturally, an
unanimous tribute of admiration and an invocation of bless-
ings on the head of the foreign ruler, the principal part in
which was played by John Midler, who attempted to convince
* Napoleon nicknamed him roi de coulisses, and gave him a guardian
in his ambassador, lleinhard, a person of celebrity during the Revolution.
Jerome's first ministers were friends of his youth; the Creole, Le Camus,
who was created Count Fiirstenstcin, and Malchus, whose office it was
to fill a bottomless treasury. Vide Hormayr, Archive 5. 458, and the
Secret History of the Court of Westphalia, a. d. 1814.
262 THE RHENISH CONFEDERATION.
his fellow countrymen that by means of the French usurpa-
tion they had first received the boon of true liberty. This
cheaply-bought apostate said, in his usual hyperbolical style,
" It is a marked peculiarity of the northern nations, more
especially of those of German descent, that, whenever God
has, in his wisdom, resolved to bestow upon them a new kind
or a higher degree of civilization, the impulse has ever
been given from without. This impulse was given to us by
Napoleon, by him before whom the earth is silent, God having
given the whole world into his hand, nor can Germany at the
present period have a wish ungratified, Napoleon having re-
organized her as the nursery of European civilization. Too
sublime to condescend to every-day polity, he has given dura-
bility to Germany ! Happy nation ! what an interminable
vista of glory opens to thy view !" Thus spoke John Miiller.
Thousands of Germans had been converted into abject slaves,
but none otlier than he was there ever found, with sentimental
phrases to gild the chains of his countrymen, to vaunt servility
as liberty and dishonour as glory.* John Miiller 's unprincipled
* Vide Strombeck's Life and llie Allgemeine Zeitung of Sept., 1808.
Besides John Miiller and Aretin, mention may, with equal justice, be
made of Crome of Geissen and Zschokke, a native of Magdeburg natur-
alized in Switzerland, who, in 1807, ventured to declare in public that
Napoleon had done more for Swiss independence tlian William Tell five
hundred years ago ; who, paid by Napoleon, defamed the noble-spirited
Spaniards and Tyrolese in 1815, decried the enthusiastic spirit animating
Germany, and afterwards whitewashed himself by his liberal tirades. With
these may also be associated INIurhard, the publisher of the Motiiteur
Westphalien, K. J. Schiitz, the author of a work upon Napoleon, the
Berlinese Jew, Saul Asher, the author of a scandalous work, entitled
" Germanomanie," and of a slanderous article in Zsehokke's Miscellanies
against Prussia, Kosegarten the poet, who, in 1809, delivered a speech
in eulogy of Napoleon, far surpassing all in bombast and mean adulation.
Benturini, at that time, also termed Napoleon the emanation of the uni-
versal Spirit, a second incarnation of the Deity, a second saviour of the
world. In Posselt's European Annals of 1807, a work by a certaLu W.
upon the political interests of Germany appeared, and concluded as fol-
lows : " Let us raise to him (Napoleon) a national monument, worthy of
the first and only benefactor of the nations of Germany. Let his name
be engraved in gigantic letters of shining gold on Germany's highest and
steepest pinnacle, whence, lighted by the eflulgent rays of morn, it may
be visible far over the plains on which he bestowed a happier futurity ! "
This writer also drew a comparison between Napoleon and Charlemagne,
in which he designated the latter a barbarous despot and the former the
new savioiu: of the world. He says, " Napoleon first solved the enigma
RESUSCITATION OF PATRIOTISM IN GERMANY. 263
address formed, as it were, the turning-point of German
affairs. Self-degradation could go no further. The spirit of
the sons of Germany henceforward rose, and, with manly
courage, they sought, by their future actions, to wipe off the
deep stain of their former guilt and dishonour.
CCLVI. Resitscitation of patriotism throughout Germany.
Austria's demonstration.
The general slavery, although most severely felt in Eastern
Germany, bore there a less disgraceful character. Austria
and Prussia had been conquered, pillaged, reduced in strength
and political importance, whilst the Rhenish states, forgetful
that it is ever less disgraceful to yield to an overpowering
enemy than voluntarily to lend him aid, had shared in and
profited by the triumph of the empire's foe. Austria and
Prussia suffered to a greater extent than the Rhenish confe-
deration, but they preserved a higher degree of independence.
Prussia, although almost annihilated by her late disasters,* still
of equality and liberty — his chief aim was the prevention of despotism —
his chief desire, to eternalize the dominion of virtue." In the course of
1808, it was said in the essay " on the Regeneration of Germany," that
the Germans were still children whom it was solely possible for the
French to educate : " Our language is also not logical like French — if
we intend to attain unity, we must adhere with heart and soul to him
who has smoothed tlie path to it, to him, our securest support, to him,
whose name outshines that of Charlemagne, — foreign princes in German
countries are no proof of subjection, they, on the contrary, most surely
warrant our continued existence as a nation." In France sixty authors
dedicated their works, within the space of a year, to the emperor Napo-
leon, — in Germany, ninety.
* The whole of the revenues of Prussia were confiscated by the French
until 1808. The contribution of one hundred and forty millions was,
nevertheless, to be paid, and the French garrisons in the Prussian fort-
resses of Glogau, Kiistrin, and Stettin were to be maintained at the ex-
pense of Prussia. The suppression of the monasteries in Silesia was far
from lucrative, the commissioners, who were irresponsible, carrying on a
system of pillage, and landed property having greatly fallen in value.
The most extraordinary imposts of every description were resorted to
for the purpose of raising a revenue, among other means, a third of all
the gold and silver in the coimtry was called in. A coinage, still more
debased, was issued, and one more inferior still was smuggled into the
country by English coiners. In 1808, silver money fell two-thirds of its
current value and was even refused acceptance at that price. The
French, moreover, lorded over the country with redoubled insolence.
264 RESUSCITATION OF PATRIOTISM
dreamt of future liberation. Austria had, notwithstanding
her successive and numerous defeats, retained the greater
share of independence, but her subjection, although to a lesser
degree, was the more disgraceful on account of her former
military glory and her preponderance as a political power in
Germany. With steady perseverance and unfaltering courage
she opposed the attacks of the foreign tyrant against the em-
pire, and, France's first and last antagonist, the most faithful
champion of the honour of Germany, she rose, with redoubled
vigour, after each successive defeat, to renew the unequal
struggle.
Prussia had been overcome, because, instead of uniting
with the other states of Germany, she had first abandoned
them to be afterwards deserted by them in her turn, and be-
cause, instead of arming her warlike people against every
foreign foe, she had habituated her citizens to unarmed ef-
feminacy and had rested her sole support on a mercenary
army, an artificial and spiritless automaton, separated from
and unsympathizing witli the people. The idea that the sal-
vation of Prussia could now alone be found in her reconcilia-
tion with the neighbouring powers of Germany, in a genei'al
confederation, in the patriotism of her armed citizens, had
already arisen. But, in order to inspire the citizen with
enthusiasm, he must first, by the secure and free possession
of his rights and by his participation in the public weal, be
deeply imbued with a consciousness of freedom. The slave
has no country ; the freeman alone will lay down his life in
its defence. In those times of Germany's deepest degrada-
tion and suffering, men for the first time again heard speak
of a great and common fatherland, of national fame and hon-
our ; and liberty, that glorious name, was uttered not only by
those who groaned beneath the rule of the despotic foreigner,
but even by those who deplored the loss of the internal liberty
of their country, the gradual subjection of the proud and
free-spirited German to native tyranny. The king of Prus-
broke every treaty, increased their garrisons, and occasionally laid the
most inopportune commands, in the form of a request, upon the king,
as, for instauce, to lay under embargo and deliver up to them a number
of English merchantmen that had been driven into the Prussian harbours
bv a dreadful storm. Bliicher, at that time governor of Pomerania, re-
strained his fiery nature and patiently endured their insolence, whilst
silently brooding over deep and implacable revenge.
THROUGHOUT GERMAN Y. 265
sia, not content with morally reorganizing his army, also be-
stowed wise laws, which restored the citizen and the peasant
to their rights, to their dignity as men, of which they had for
so long been deprived by the nobility, the monopolizers of
every privilege. The emancipation of the peasant essentially
consisted in the abolition of feudal servitude and forced labour ;
that of the citizen, in the donation of a free municipal con-
stitution, of self-administration, and freedom of election. The
nobility were, at the same time, despoiled of the exclusive
appointment to the higher civil and military posts and of the
exclusive possession of landed property. Each citizen pos-
sessed the right, hitherto strictly prohibited, of purchasing
baronial estates, and the nobility were, on their part, permitted
to exercise trades, which a miserable prejudice had hitherto
deemed incompatible with noble birth. These new institu-
tions date from 1808 and are due to the energy of the min-
ister, Stein.
This noble-spirited German was the founder of a secret
society, the Tugendbund, by which a general insurrection
against Napoleon was silently prepared throughout Germany.
Among its members were numerous statesmen, officers, and
literati. Among the latter, Arndt gained great note by his
popular style, Jahn by his influence over the rising genera-
tion. Jahn reintroduced gymnastics, so long neglected, into
education, as a means of heightening moral courage by the
increase of physical strength.* Scharnhorst, meanwhile,
although restricted to the prescribed number of troops, cre-
ated a new army by continually exchanging trained soldiers
for raw recruits, and secretly purchased an immense quantity
of arms, so that a considerable force could, in case of neces-
sity, be speedily assembled. He also had all the brass battery
guns secretly converted into field-pieces and replaced by iron
guns. Napoleon's spies, however, came upon the trace of the
Tugendbund. Stein, exposed by an intercepted letter, was
outlawed | by Napoleon and compelled to quit Prussia. He
* When marcliiiig with his pupils out of Berlin, he would ask the
fresh ones as he passed beneath the Brandenburg gate, " What are you
thinking of now ? " If the boy did not know what to answer, he would
give him a box on the ear, saying as he did so, " You should think of
this, how you can bring back the four fine statues of horses that once
stood over this gate and were carried by the French to Pai-is."
t Decree of 16th December, 1808 : " A certain Stein, who is attempt-
266 AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION.
was succeeded by Hardenberg, by whom the treaty of Bask^
had formerly been concluded and whose nomination was pub-
licly approved of by Napoleon. Scharnhorst and Julius
Gruner, the head of the Berlin police, were also deprived of
their offices. The Berlin university, nevertheless, continued
to give evidence of a better spirit. Enlightenment and learn-
ing, on the decrease at Frankfurt on the Oder, here found
their head-quarters. Halle had become Westphalian, and the
universities of Rinteln and Helmstadt had, from a similar
cause, been closed.
Austria also felt her humiliation too deeply not to be in-
spired, like Prussia, with an instinct of self-preservation.
The imperial dignity and Catholicism were here closely as-
sociated with the memory of the middle ages, whose magnifi-
cence and grandeur were once more disclosed to the people in
the masterly productions of the writers of the day. Hence the
unison created by Frederick Schlegel between the romantic
poets and antiquarians of Germany and Viennese policy.
The predilection for ancient German art and poetry had, in
the literary world, been merely produced by the reaction of
German intelligence against foreign imitation ; this literary
reaction, however, happened coincidently with and aided that
in the political world. The Nibelungen, the Minnesingers,
the ancient chronicles, became a popular study. The same
enthusiasm inspired the liberal-spirited poets, Tieck, Arnim,
and Brentano ; Fouque charmed the rising generation and the
multitude with his extravagant descriptions of the age of
chivalry; the learned researches of Grimm, Hagen, Biis-
ching. Grater, etc., into German antiquity, at that time, ex-
cited general interest, but the glowing colours in which
Joseph Gorres, himself a former Jacobin, and amid the half
Gallicized inhabitants of Coblentz, revived, as if by magic, the
middle age on the ruin-strewed banks of the Rhine caused
the deepest delight. Two men. Stein, now a refugee in
Austria, and Count IMiinster, first of all Hanoverian minister
and afterwards English ambassador at Petersburg, who kept
ing to create disturbances, is herewith declared the enemy of France ; his
property shall be placed under sequestration, and his person shall be
secured." The Allgemeine Zeitung warns, at the same time, in its .330th
number, all German savants not to give way to patriotic enthusiasm
and to follow in John Miiller's footsteps.
AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION. 267
up a constant correspondence with Stein and conducted the
secret negotiations in the name of Great Britain, were un-
wearied in their endeavours to forge arms against Napoleon.
In Austria, Count John Philip von Stadion, who had, since
the December of 1805, been placed at the head of the minis-
try, had both the power and the will to repair the blunders
committed by Thugut and Cobenzl.
The Russo-gallic alliance was viewed with terror by
Austria. Europe had, to a certain degree, been partitioned
at Erfurt, by Napoleon and Alexander. Fresh sacrifices were
evidently on the eve of being extorted from Germany. Russia
had resolved at any price to gain possession of either the
whole or a part of Turkey, and offered to confirm Napoleon
in that of Bohemia, on condition of being permitted to seize
Moldavia and Wallachia.* The danger was urgent. Austria,
sold by Russia to France, could alone defend herself against
both her opponents by an immense exertion of the national
power of Germany. The old and faulty system had been
fearfully revenged. The disunion of the German princes, the
despotism of the aristocratic administrations, the estrangement
of the people from all public affairs, had all conduced to the
present degradation of Germany. Necessity now induced an
alteration in the system of government and an appeal to the
German people, whose voice had hitherto been vainly raised.
The example set by Spain was to be followed. Stein, who
was at that time at Vienna, kindled the glowing embers to a
flame. The military reforms begun at an earlier period by
the Archduke Charles were carried on on a wider basis.
A completely new institution, that of the Land-icehr or
armed citizens, in contradistinction with the mercenary sol-
diery, was set on foot. Enthusiasm and patriotism were not
wanting. The circumstance of the pope's imprisonment in
Rome by Napoleon sufficed to rouse the Catholics. Every
thing was hoped for fi-om a general rising throughout Gei'many
against the French. Precipitation, however, ruined all.
Prussia was still too much weakened, her fortresses were still
in the hands of the French, and Austria inspired but little
confidence, whilst the Rhenish confederation solely aimed at
aggrandizing itself by fresh wars at the expense of that em-
pire, and, notwithstanding the inclination to revolt evinced by
* Bignon's History of France.
268 AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION.
the people in different parts of Germany, more particularly in
Westphalia, the terror inspired by Napoleon kept them, as
though spell-bound, beneath their galling yoke.
Whilst Napoleon was engaged in the Peninsula, Austria
levied almost the whole of her able-bodied men and equipped
an army, four hundred thousand strong, at the head of which
no longer foreign generals, but the princes of the house of
Habsburg, were placed. The Archduke Charles* set off, in
1809, for the Rhine, John for Italy, Ferdinand for Poland. The
first proclamation, signed by Prince Rosenberg and addressed
to the Bavarians, was as follows : " You are now beginning
to perceive that we are Germans like yourselves, that the
general interest of Germany touches you more nearly than
that of a nation of robbers, and that the German nation can
alone be restored to its former glory by acting in unison. Be-
come once more what you once were, brave Germans ! Or
have you, Bavarian peasants and citizens, gained aught by
your prince being made into a king ? by the extension of his
authority over a few additional square miles ? Have your
taxes been thereby decreased ? Do you enjoy greater security
in your persons and property ?" The proclamation of the
Archduke Charles "to the German nation," declared : "We
have taken up arms to restore independence and national honour
to Germany. Our cause is the cause of Germany. Show your-
selves deserving of our esteem ! The German, forgetful of
what is due to himself and to his country, is our only foe."
An anonymous but well-known proclamation also declared :
* He undertook the chief command ■n-ith extreme unwillingness and
had long advised against the war, the time not having yet arrived, Prus-
sia being still adverse, Germany not as yet restored to her senses, and ex-
perience having already proved to him how little he could act as his
judgment directed. How often had he not been made use of and then
suddenly neglected, been restrained, in the midst of his operations, by
secret orders, been permitted to conduct the first or only the second part
of a campaign, been placed in a subaltern position when the chief com-
mand was rightfully his, or been forced to accept of it when all was ir-
remediably lost. Even on this occasion the first measure advised by
him, that of pushing rapidly through Bohemia and Franconia, met with op-
position. On the Maine and on the Weser alone was there a hope of in-
spiring the people with enthusiasm, not in Bavaria, where the hatred of
the Austrians was irradicably rooted. It, nevertheless, pleased the mili-
tary advisers of the emperor at Vienna, to order the army to advance
slowly through Bavaria.
AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION. 269
" Austria beheld — a sight that drew tears of blood from the
heart of every true-born German — you, O nations of Ger-
many ! so deeply debased as to be compelled to submit to the
legislation of the foreigner and to allow your sons, the youth
of Germany, to be led to war against their still unsubdued
brethren. The shameful subjection of millions of once free-
born Germans will ere long be completed. Austria exhorts
you to raise your humbled necks, to burst your slavish
chains ! " And in another address was said : " How long shall
Hermann mourn over his degenerate children ? "Was it for
this that the Cherusci fought in the Teutoburger forest ? Is
every spark of German courage extinct ? Does the sound of
your clinking chains strike like music on your ears ? Ger-
mans, awake ! shake off your death-like slumber in the arms
of infamy ! Germans ! shall your name become the derision
of after ages ? "
The Austrian army, instead of vigorously attacking and
disarming Bavaria, but slowly advanced, and permitted the
Bavarians to withdraw unharassed for the purpose of forming
ajunction with the other troops of the Rhenish confederation
under Napoleon, who had hastened from Spain on the first
news of the movements of Austria. The hopes of the
German patriots could not have been more fearfully dis-
appointed or the German name more deeply humiliated than
by the scorn with wliich Napoleon, on this occasion, placed
himself at 'the head of the nations of western Germany, by
whose arms alone, for he had but a handful of French with
him, he overcame their eastern brethren at a moment in
which the German name and German honour were more
loudly invoked. " I have not come among you," said Napoleon
smilingly to the Bavarians, Wurtembergers, etc., by whom he
was surrounded, " I am not come among you as the emperor
of France, but as the protector of your country and of the
German confederation. No Frenchman is among you ; you
alone shall beat the Austrians."* The extent of the blind-
* " None of my soldiers accompany me. Yoii ^vill know how to value
this mark of conlidence." — Napoleoii's Address to the Bavarians. B'6l-
derndorfs Bavarian Campaigns. " I am alone among you and have not
a Frenchman around my person. This is an imparalleled honour paid
by me to you." — Napoleon' s Address to the Wurtetnberg troops. Arndt
wrote at that time :
270 AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION.
ness of the Rhenish confederation* is visible in their pro-
clamations. The king of Saxony even called Heaven to his
flid, and said to his soldiers, " Draw your swords against
Austria with full trust in the aid of Divine providence I"t
In the April of 1809, Napoleon led the Rhenish confeder-
ated troops, among which the Bavarians under General
Wrede chiefly distinguished themselves, against the Austri-
ans, who had but slowly advanced, and defeated them in five
battles, on five successive days, the most glorious triumph of
his surpassing tactics, at Pfalfenhofen, Thann, Abensberg,
Landshut, Eckmiihl, and Ratisbon. The Archduke Charles
retired into Bohemia in order to collect reinforcements, but
General Hiller was, on account of the delay in repairing the
" By idle words and dastard ^v•iles
Hath he the mastery pained ;
He holds our saered fatherland
In slavery enchained.
Fear hath rendered truth discreet,
And Honour croucheth at his feet.
Is this his ■work ? <ah no ! 'tis thine !
This thou alone hast done.
For him thy banner waved, for him
Thy sword the battle won.
By thy disputes he gaineth strength,
By thy disgrace full honour,
And 'neath the German hero's arm
His weakness doth he cover :
Glittering erewhile in borrowed show,
The Gallic cock doth proudly crow."
* The states of Wiirtemberg imparted, among other things, the follow-
ing piece of information to the house of Habsburg : " That the heads of
a democratical government should spread principles destructive to order
among its neighbours was easily explicable, but that Austria should take
advantage of the war to derange the internal mechanism of neighbour-
ing states was inexcusable." — Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 113. The Ba-
varian proclamation {Allgemeine Zeitutig, No. 1-35) says, " Princes of
the blood royal imblushingly subscribed to proclamations placing them
on an equality with the men of the Revolution of 1793." The Moniteur,
Napoleon's Parisian organ, said in August, 1809, after the conclusion of
the war, " The mighty hand of Napoleon has snatched Germany from the
revolutionary abyss about to engulf her."
t Posselt's Political Annals at that time contained an essay, in which
the attempt made by the Austrian cabinet to call the Germans to arms
was designated as a " crime " against the sovereigns " among whom Ger-
many was at that period partitioned, and in whose hearing it was both
foolish and dangerous to speak of Germany." Derision has seldom been
carried to such a pitclx
AUSTRIA'S DEMOXSTRATION. 271
fortifications of Linz, unable to maintain that place, the pos-
session of which was important on account of its forming a
connecting point between Bohemia and the Austrian Ober-
land. Hiller, however, at least saved his honoux* by pushing
forward to the Traun, and, in a fearfully bloody encounter at
Ebelsberg, capturing three French eagles, one of his colours
alone falling into the enemy's hands. He was, nevertheless,
compelled to retire before the superior forces of the French,
and Napoleon entered Vienna unopposed. A few balls from the
walls of the inner city were directed against the faubourg in
his possession, but he no sooner began to bombard the palace
than the inner city yielded. The Archduke Charles arrived,
when too late, from Bohemia. Both armies, separated by the
Danube, stood opposed to one another in the vicinity of the
imperial city. Napoleon, in order to bring the enemy to a
decisive engagement, crossed the river close to the great
island of Lobau. He was received on the opposite bank near
Aspern and Esslingen by the Archduke Charles, and, after a
dreadful battle, that was carried on with unwearied animosity
for two days, the 21st and 22nd of May, 1809, was for the
first time completely beaten* and compelled to fly for
refuge to the island of Lobau. The rising stream had, mean-
while, carried away the bridge. Napoleon's sole chance of
escape to the opposite bank. For two days he remained on the
island with his defeated troops, without provisions, and in
hourly expectation of being cut to pieces ; the Austrians,
however, neglected to turn the opportunity to advantage and
allowed the French leisure to rebuild the bridge, a work of
extreme difficulty. During six weeks afterwards the two
armies continued to occupy their former positions under the
walls of Vienna on the right and left banks of the Danube,
narrowly watching each other's movements and preparing for
a final struggle.
* The finest feat of arms was that performed by the Austrian infantry,
who repulsed twelve French regiments of cuirassiers. This picked body
of cavalry was mounted on the best and strongest horses of Holstein and
Mecklenburg, (for Napoleon overcame Germany principally by means of
Germany,) and bore an extremely imposing appearance. The Austrian
infantry coolly stood their charge and allowed them to come close upon
them before firing a shot, when, taking deliberate aim at the horses,
they and their riders were rolled in confused heaps on the ground.
Three thousand cuirasses were picked up by the victors after the battle.
272 AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION.
Tlie Archduke John had successfully penetrated into Italy,
where he had defeated the viceroy, Eugene, at Salice and
Fontana fredda. Favoured by the simultaneous revolt of
the Tyrolese, his success appeared certain, when the news of
his brother's disaster compelled him to retreat. He Avithdrew
into Hungary,* whither lie was pursued by Eugene, by whom
he was, on the 14th of June, defeated at Raab. The Arch-
duke Ferdinand, who had advanced as far as Warsaw, had
been driven back by the Poles under Poniatowski and by a
Russian force sent by the emperor Alexander to their aid,
which, on this success, invaded Galicia. Napoleon rewarded
the Poles for their aid by allowing Russia to seize "VVallachia
and INIoldavia.
The fate of Austria now depended on the issue of the
struggle about to take place on the Danube. The archduke's
troops were still elate with recent victory, but Napoleon had
been strongly reinforced and again began the attack at Wag-
ram, not far from the battle-ground of Aspern. The contest
lasted two days, the 5th and 6th of July. The Austrians
fought with great personal gallantry, lost one of their colours,
but captured twelve golden eagles and standards of the enemy;
but the reserve-body, intended to protect their left wing, fail-
ing to make its appearance on the field, they were outflanked
by Napoleon and driven back upon Moravia. Every means of
conveyance in Vienna was put into requisition for the trans-
port of the forty-five thousand men, wounded on this occasion,
to the hospitals, and this heart-rending scene indubitably con-
tributed to strengthen the general desire for peace. An armis-
tice was, on the 12th of July, concluded at Znaym, and, after
long negotiation, followed, on the 10th of October, by the
treaty of Vienna. Austria was compelled to cede Carniola,
Trieste, Croatia, and Dalmatia to Napoleon, Salzburg, Berch-
toldsgadeu, the Innviertel, and the Hausruckviertel to Bava-
ria, a part of Galicia to AVarsaw and another part to Russia.
Count Stadion lost office and was succeeded by Clement,
Count von INIetternich. Frederick Stabs, the son of a
preacher of Naumburg on the Saal, formed a resolution to
poniard Napoleon at Schonbrunn, the imperial palace in the
neighbourhood of A'^ienna. Rapp's suspicions became roused,
* Napoleon proclaimed independence to the Hungarians, but was un-
able to gain a single adherent among them.
AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION, 273
and the young man was arrested before his purpose could be
effected. He candidly avowed his intention. " And if I grant
you your life ?" asked Napoleon. " I would merely make use
of the gift to rob you, on the first opportunity, of yours," was
the undaunted reply. Four and twenty hours afterwards the
young man was shot.* The ancient German race of Gots-
cheer in Carniola and the people of Istria rose in open insur-
rection against the French and were only put down by force.
Although Prussia had left Austria unsuccoured during this
war, many of her subjects were animated with a desire to aid
their Austrian brethren. Schill, unable to restrain his im-
petuosity, quitted Berlin on the 28th of April, for that pur-
pose, with his regiment of hussars. His conduct, although
condemned by a sentence of the court-martial, was univ^ersally
applauded. Dornberg, an officer of Jerome's guard, revolted
simultaneously in Hesse, but was betrayed by a false friend
at the moment in which Jerome's person was to have been
seized and was compelled to fly for his life. Schill merely
advanced as far as Wittenberg and Halberstadt, was again
driven northwards to Wismar, and finally to Stralsund, by the
superior forces of Westphalia and Holland. In a bloody
street-fight at Stralsund he split General Carteret's, the Dutch
general's, head, and was himself killed by a cannon-ball.
Thus fell this young hero, true to his motto, " Better a terri-
ble end than endless terror." The Dutch cut off his head,
preserved it in spirits of wine, and placed it publicly in the
Leyden library, where it remained until 1837, when it was
buried at Brunswick in the grave of his faithful followers.
Five hundred of his men, under Lieutenant Brunow, escaped
by forcing their way through the enemy. Of the prisoners
taken on this occasion, eleven officers were, by Napoleon's
command, shot at Wesel, fourteen subalterns and soldiers
at Brunswick, the rest, about six hundred in number,
were sent in chains to Toulon and condemned to the gal-
* Aretin about this time published a " Representation of the Patriots
of Austria to Napoleon the Great," in -which that great sovereign was
entreated to bestow a new government upon Austria and to make that
country, like the new kingdom of Westphalia, a member of his family of
states. A fitting pendant to John Miiller's state-speech, and so much
the more uncalled for as it was exactly the Austrians who, during this
disastrous period, had, less than any of the other races of Germany, lost
their national pride.
VOL. III. T
274 AUSTRIA'S DEMONSTRATION.
leys.* Dornberg fled to England. Katt, another patriot,
assembled a number of veterans at Stendal and advanced as
far as Magdeburg, but was compelled to flee to the Brunswick-
ers in Bohemia. What might not have been the result had
the plan of the Archduke Charles to march rapidly through
Franconia been followed on the opening of the campaign ?
William, duke of Brunswick, the son of the hapless duke
Ferdinand, had quitted Oels, his sole possession, for Bohemia,
where he had collected a force two thousand strong, known as
the black Brunswickers on account of the colour of their uni-
form and the death's head on their helmets, with which he
resolved to revenge his father's death. Victorious in petty
engagements over the Saxons at Zittau and over the French
urider Junot at Berneck, he refused to recognise the armis-
tice between Austria and France, and, fighting his way
through the enemy, surprised Leipzig by night and there
provided himself with ammunition and stores. He was
awaited at Halberstadt by the Westphalians under Wellinge-
rode, whom, notwithstanding their numerical superiority, he
completely defeated during the night of the 30th of July.
Two days later he was attacked in Brunswick, in his father's
home, by an enemy three times his superior, by the Westpha-
lians under Reubel, who advanced from Celle whilst the
Saxons and Dutch pursued him from Erfurt. Aided by his
brave citizens, many of whom followed his fortunes, he was
again victorious and was enabled by a speedy retreat, in
which he bi'oke down all the bridges to his rear, to escape to
Elsfleth, whence he sailed to England.
In August, an English army, forty thousand strong, landed
on the island of Walcheren and attempted to create a diver-
sion in Holland, but its ranks were speedily thinned by
disease, it did not venture up the country and finally returned
to England. The English, nevertheless, displayed hencefor-
ward immense activity in the Peninsula, where, aided by the
brave and high-spirited population,! they did great detriment
to the French. In the English army in the Peninsula were
* They were afterwards condemned to hard labour in the Hieres isles, nor
was it until 1814 that the survivors, one hundred and twenty in number,
were restored to their homes. — Allgemeine Zeitung, 1814. Appendix 2\.
t Vide Napier's Peninsular War for an account of the military achieve-
ments of the Spaniards. — Transl.\tor.
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 2/0
several thousand Germans, principally Hanoverian refugees.
There were also numerous deserters from the Ehenish con-
federated troops, sent by Napoleon into Spain.
During the war in June, the king of Wiirtemberg took
possession of Mergentheim, the chief seat of the Teutonic
order, which had, up to the present period, remained unsecu-
larized. The surprised inhabitants received the new Pro-
testant authorities with demonstrations of rage and revolted.
They were the last and the only ones among all the secular-
ized or mediatized Estates of the empire that boldly at-
tempted opposition. They were naturally overpowered with-
out much difficulty and were cruelly punished. About thirty
of them were shot by the soldiery ; six were executed ;
several wealthy burgesses and peasants were condemned as
criminals to work in chains in the new royal gardens at Stutt-
gart. Thus miserably terminated the celebrated Teutonic order.
CCLVII. Revolt of the Ttjrolese.
The Alps of the Tyrol had for centuries been the asylum of
liberty. The ancient German communal system had there
continued to exist even in feudal times. Exactly at the time
when the house of Habsburg lost its most valuable posses-
sions in Switzerland, at the time of the council of Constance,
Duke Frederick, surnamed Friedel with the empty purse, was
compelled by necessity and for the sake of retaining the affec-
tion of the Tyrolese, to confirm them by oath in the possession
of great privileges, which his successors, owing to a whole-
some dread of exciting the anger of the sturdy mountaineers,
prudently refrained from violating. The Tyrol was extern-
ally independent and was governed by her own diet. No
recruits were levied in that country by the emperor, except-
ing those for the rifle corps, which elected their own com-
manders and wore the Tyrolese garb. The imposts were
few and trifling in amount, the administration was simple.
The free-born peasant enjoyed his rights in common with the
patriarchal nobility and clergy, who dwelt in harmony with
the people ; in several of the valleys the public affairs were
administered by simple peasants ; each commune had ita
peculiar laws and customs.
T 2
276 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
The first invasion of the Tyrol, in 1703, by the Bavarians,
was successfully resisted. The Bavarians were driven, with
great loss on their side, out of the country. A somewhat
similar spirit animated the Tyrolese in 1805, and their anger
was solely appeased by the express remonstrances of the
Archduke John, whom the inhabitants of the Austrian Tyrol
treated with the veneration due to a father. They now fell
under the dominion of Bavaria, whose benevolent sovereign,
Maximilian Joseph, promised, under the act dated the 14th
of Januai'y, 1806, "not only strongly to uphold the constitu-
tion of the country and the well-earned rights and privileges
of the people, but also to promote their welfare :" but, led
astray by his, certainly noble, enthusiasm for the rescue of
his Bavarian subjects from Jesuit obscurantism, he imagined
that similar measures might also be advantageously taken in
the Tyrol, where the mountaineers, true to their ancient sim-
plicity, were revolted by the severity of the cure, attempted
too by a physician of whose intentions they were mistrustful.
Bavaria was overrun with rich monasteries ; the Tyrol, less
fertile, possessed merely a patriarchal clergy, less numerous,
more moral and active. There was no motive for inter-
ference. The conscription that, by converting the idle youth
of Bavaria into disciplined soldiery, was a blessing to the
martial-spirited and improvident population, was imprac-
ticable amid the well-trained Tyrolese, and, although the
control exercised by a well-regulated bureaucracy might be
beneficial when viewed in contradistinction with the ancient
complicated system of government and administration of
justice during the existence of the division into petty states
and the manifold contradictory privileges, it was utterly
uncalled for in the simple administration of the Tyrol. For
what purpose were mere presumptive ameliorations to be im-
posed upon a people thoroughly contented with the laws and
customs bequeathed by their ancestors ? The attempt was
nevertheless made, and ancient Bavarian official insolence
leagued with Fi'ench frivolity of the school of Montgelas to
vex the Tyrolese and to violate their most sacred privileges.
The numerous chapels erected for devotional purposes were
thrown down amid marks of ridicule and scorn ; the ignorance
and superstition of the old church was at one blow to yield
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 277
to modern enlightenment.* The people shudderingly beheld
the crucifixes and images of saints, so long the objects of their
deepest veneration, sold to Jews. Notwithstanding the late
assurances of the Bavarian king, the Tyrolean diet was, more-
over, not only dissolved, but the country was deprived of its
ancient name and designated " Southern Bavaria," and the castle
of the Tyrol that had defied the storms of ages, and whose
possessor, according to a sacred popular legend, had alone a
right to claim the homage of the country, was sold by auction.
The national pride of the Tyrolese was deeply and bitterly
wounded, their ancient rights and customs were arbitrarily in-
fringed, and, instead of the great benefits so recently promised,
eight new taxes were levied, and the tax-gatherers not unfre-
quently rendered themselves still more obnoxious by their
brutality. Colonel Dittfurt, who, during the winter of 1809,
acted with extreme inhumanity in the Fleimser-Thal, where
the conscription had excited great opposition, and who pub-
licly boasted that with his regiment alone he would keep the
whole of the beggarly mountaineers in subjection, drew upon
himself the greatest share of the popular animosity.
Austria, when preparing for war in 1809, could therefore
confidently reckon upon a general rising in the Tyrol. An-
drew Hofer, the host of the Sand at Passeyr, (the Sandwirth,)
went to Vienna, where the revolt was concerted. f A con-
•
* Without any attempt being made on the part of the government to
prepare the minds of the people by proper instruction, the children were
taken away by force in order to be inoculated for the small-pox. The
mothers, under an idea that their infants were being bewitched or
poisoned, trembled with rage and fear, while the Bavarian authorities
and their servants mocked their dismay.
t Hofer was, in 1790, as the deputy of the Passeyrthal, a member of
the diet at Innsbruck which so zealously opposed the reforms attempted
by Joseph II. ; he had fought, as captain of a rifle corps, against the
French in 1796, and, in 1805, when bidding farewell to the Archduke
John on the enforced cession of the Tyrol by Austria to Bavaria, had re-
ceived a significant shake of the hand with an expressed hope of seeing
him again in better times. Hofer traded in wine, corn, and horses, was
well known and highly esteemed as far as the Italian frontier. He
had a Herculean form and was remarkably good-looking. He wore a
low-crowned, broad-brimmed black Tyrolean hat, ornamented with
green ribbons and the feathers of the capercalzie. His broad chest was
covered with a red waistcoat, across which green braces, a hand in
breadth, were fastened to black chamois-leather knee-breeches. His
knees were bare, but his well-developed calves were covered with red
^ I » REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
spiracy was entered into by the whole of the Tyrolese pea-
santry. Sixty thousand men, on a moderate calculation,
were intrusted with the secret, which was sacredly kept, not
a single townsman being allowed to participate in it. Kinkel,
the Bavarian general, who was stationed at Innsbruck and
narrowly watched the Tyrol, remained perfectly uncon-
scious of the mine beneath his feet. Colonel Wrede, his
inferior in command, had been directed to blow up the im-
portant bridges in the Pusterthal at St. Lorenzo, in order to
check the advance of the Austrians, in case of an invasion.
Several thousand French were expected to pass through the
Tyrol on their route from Italy to join the array under Na-
poleon. No suspicion of the approach of a popular outbreak
existed. On the 9th of April, the signal was suddenly given ;
planks bearing little red flags floated down the Inn ; on the
10th, the storm burst. Several of the Bavarian sappers sent
at day-break to blow up the bridges of St. Lorenzo being
killed by the bullets of an invisible foe, the rest took to flight.
Wrede, enraged at the incident, hastened to the spot at the
head of two battalions, supported by a body of cavalry and
some field-pieces. The whole of the Pusterthal had however
already risen at the summons of Peter Kemnater, the host of
Schabs,* in defence of the bridges. Wrede's artillery was
captured by the enraged peasantry and cast, together with the
artillery-men, into tlie river. Wrede, after sufieriffg a ter-
rible loss, owing to the skill of the Tyrolean riflemen, who
never missed their aim, was completely put to rout, and,
although he fell in with a body of three thousand French
under Brisson on their route from Italy, resolved, instead of
returning to the Pusterthal, to withdraw with the French to
Innsbruck. The passage through the valley of the Eisack
had, however, been already closed against them by the host of
Lechner, and the fine old Roman bridge at Laditsch been
blown up. In the pass of the Brixen, where the valley closes,
stockings. A broad black leathern girdle clasped his muscular form.
Over all was thrown a short green coat without buttons. His long-
dark -brown beard, that fell in rich curls upon his chest, added dignity to
his appearance. His full, broad countenance was expressive of good
humour and honesty. His small, penetrating eyes sparkled with vivacity.
* A youth of two and twenty, slight in person and extremely hand-
some, at that time a bridegroom, and inspired by the deepest hatred of
the Bavarians, by whose officers he had been personally insulted.
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 279
the French and Bavarians suffered immense loss ; rocks and
trees were rolled on the heads of the appalled soldiery, num-
bers of whom were also picked off by the unerring rifles of
the unseen peasantry. Favoured by the open ground at the
bridge of Laditsch, they constructed a temporary bridge,
across which they succeeded in forcing their way on the 11th
of April. Hofer had, meanwhile, placed himself, early on
the 10th, at the head of the brave peasantry of Passeyr,
Algund, and Meran, and had thrown himself on the same road,
somewhat to the north, near Sterzing, where a Bavarian bat-
talion was stationed under the command of Colonel Barnklau,
who, on being attacked by him, on the 1 1th, retreated to the
Sterzinger Moos, a piece of table-land, where, drawn up in
square, he successfully repulsed every attempt made to dis-
lodge him until Hofer ordered a waggon, loaded with hay and
guided by a girl,* to be pushed forward as a screen, behind
which the Tyrolese advancing, the square was speedily broken
and the whole of Barnklau's troop was either killed or taken
prisoner.
The whole of the lower valley of the Inn had, on the self-
same day, been raised by Joseph Speckbacher, a wealthy pea-
sant of Rinn, the greatest hero called into existence by this
fearful peasant war. The alarm-bell pealed from every church
tower throughout the country. A Bavarian troop, at that time
engaged in levying contributions at Axoms as a punishment
for disobedience, hastily fled. The city of Hall was, on the
ensuing night, taken by Speckbacher, who, after lighting
about a hundred watch-fires in a certain quarter, as if about
to make an attack on that side, crept, under cover of the dark-
ness, to the gate on the opposite side, where, as a common
passenger, he demanded permission to enter, took possession
of the opened gate, and seized the four hundred Bavarians
stationed in the city. On the 12th, he appeared before Inns-
bruck. Kinkel was astounded at the audacity of the peasants,
whom Dittfurt glowed with impatience to punish. But the
people, shouting "Vivat Franzl ! Down with the Bavarians !"
again rushed upon the guns and turned them upon the Bava-
rians, who were, moreover, exposed to a murderous fire poured
upon them from the windows and towers by the citizens, who
* The daughter of a tailor, named Camper. As the balls flew around
her, she shouted, " On with ye ! who cares for' Bavarian dumplings ! "
280 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
had risen in favour of the peasantry. The people of the upper
valley of the Inn, headed by Major Teimer, also poured to the
scene of carnage, Dittfurt performed prodigies of valour, but
every effort was vain. Scornfully refusing to yield to the
canaille, he continued, although struck by two bullets, to fight
with undaunted courage, when a third stretched him on the
ground ; again he started up and furiously defended himself v
until a fourth struck him in the head. He died four days
afterwards in a state of wild delirium, cursing and swearing.
Kinkel and the whole of the Bavarian infantry yielded them-
selves prisoners. The cavalry attempted to escape, but were
dismounted with pitch-forks by the peasantry, and the re-
mainder were taken prisoners before Hall.
Wrede and Brisson, meanwhile, crossed the Brenner. At
Sterzing, every trace of the recent conflict had been carefully
obliterated, and Wrede vainly inquired the fate of Barnklau.
He entered the narrow pass, and Hofer's riflemen spread
death and confusion among his ranks. The strength of the
allied column, nevertheless, enabled it to force its way through,
and it reached Innsbruck, where, completely surrounded by
the Tyrolese, it, in a few minutes, lost several hundred men,
and, in order to escape utter destruction, laid down its arms.
The Tyrolese entered Innsbruck in triumph, preceded by the
military band belonging to the enemy, which was compelled to «
play, followed by Teimer and Brisson, in an open carriage, and
with the rest of their prisoners guarded between their ranks.
Their captives consisted of two generals, ten staff-officers, above
a hundred other officers, eight thousand infantry, and a thou-
sand cavalry. Thi'oughout the Tyrol, the arms of Bavaria
were cast to the ground and all the Bavarian authorities were
removed from office. The prisoners were, nevertheless, treated
with the greatest humanity, the only instance to the contrary
being that of a tax-gatherer, who, having once boasted that
he would grind the Tyrolese down until they gladly ate hay,
was, in revenge, compelled to swallow a bushel of hay for his
dinner.
It was not until after these brilliant achievements on the
part of the Tyrolese that Lieutenant Field-Marshal von Chas-
teler, a Dutchman, and the Baron von Hormayr, the imperial
civil intendant, entered Innsbruck with several thousand
Austrians, and that Hormayr assumed the reins of govern-
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 281
ment. Two thousand French, under General Lemoine, at-
tempted to make an inroad from Trient, but were repulsed by
Hofer and his ally, Colonel Count Leiningen, who had been
sent to his aid by Chasteler. The advance of a still stronger
force of the enemy under Baraguay d' Hilliers a second time
against Botzen called Chasteler in person into the field, and
the French, after a smart engagement near Yolano, where the
Herculean Passeyrers carried the artillery on their shoulders,
were forced to retreat. It was on this occasion that Leiningen,
who had hastily pushed too far forwards, was rescued from
captivity by Hofer.* The Voi'arlberg had, meanwhile, also
been raised by Teimer. A Dr. Schneider placed himself at
the head of the insui-gents, whose forces already extended in
this direction as far as Lindau, Kempten, and Memmingen.
Napoleon's success, at this conjuncture, at Ratisbon, enabled
him to despatch a division of his army into the Tyrol to quell
the insurrection that had broken out to his rear. AVrede, who
had been quickly exchanged and set at liberty, speedily found
himself at the head of a small Bavarian force, and succeeded
in driving the Austrians under Jellachich, after an obstinate
and bloody resistance, out of Salzburg, on the 29th of April.
Jellachich withdrew to the pass of Lueg for the purpose of
placing himself in communication with the Archduke John,
who was on his way from Italy. An attack made upon this
position by the Bavarians being repulsed. Napoleon despatched
Marshal Lefebvre, duke of Dantzig, from Salzburg with a
considerable force to their assistance. Lefebvre spoke Ger-
man, was a rough soldier, treated the peasants as robbers in-
stead of legitimate foes, shot every leader who fell into his
hands, and gave his soldiery licence to commit every descrip-
tion of outrage on the villagers. The greater part of the
Tyrolese occupying the pass of Strub having quitted their
post on Ascension day in order to attend divine service, the
rest were, after a gallant resistance, overpowered and merci-
lessly butchered. Chasteler, anxious to repair his late negli-
gence, advanced against the Bavarians in the open valley of
the Inn and was overwhelmed by superior numbers at Worgl.
* The Austrian general, Marschall, who had been sent to guard the
Southern Tyrol, was removed for declaring that he deemed it an insult
for the military to make common cause with peasants and for complain-
ing of his being compelled to sit down to table with Hofer.
282 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
Speckbaclier, followed by his peasantry, again made head
against the enemy, whom, notwithstanding the destruction
caused in his ranks by their rapid and well-directed fire, he
twice drove out of Schwatz. The Bavarians, nevertheless,
succeeded in foi'cing an entrance into the town, which they
set on fire after butchering all the inhabitants, hundreds of
whom were hanged to the trees or had their hands nailed to
their heads. These cruelties were not, even in a single in-
stance, imitated by the Tyrolese. The proposal to send their
numerous Bavarian prisoners home maimed of one ear, as a
mode of recognition in case they should again serve against the
Tyrol, was rejected by Hofer. The unrelenting rage of the
Bavarians was solely roused by the unsparing ridicule of the
Tyrolese, by whom they were nicknamed, on account of the
general burlyness of their figures and their fondness for beer,
Bavarian hogs, and who, the moment they came within hear-
ing, would call out to them, as to a herd of pigs, " Tschu,
Tschu, Tschu — Natsch, Natsch." The Bavarians, intoxicated
with success, advanced farther up the country, surrounded
the village of Vomp, set it on fire amid the sound of kettle-
drums and hautboys, and shot the inhabitants as they at-
tempted to escape from the burning houses. Chasteler and
Hormayr were, during this robber-campaign, as it was termed
by the French, proscribed as chefs de brigands by Napoleon.
Count Tannenberg, tlie descendant of the oldest of the ba-
ronial families in the Tyrol, a blind and venerable man, who
was also taken prisoner en route, replied with dignity to the
censure heaped upon him by Wrede, and, at Munich, defended
his countiy's cause before the king.* The officers, whom he
had treated with extreme politeness, rose from his hospitable
board to set fire to his castle over his head. The Scharnitz
was yielded, and the Bavarians under Arco penetrated also
on that side into the country. Jellachich, upon this, retii'ed
upon Carinthia, and was followed through the Pusterthal by
Chasteler, who dreaded being cut off. The peasants, incredu-
lous of their abandonment by Austria, implored, entreated
him to remain, to which, for the sake of freeing himself from
* Proclamation of the emperor Francis to the Tyrolese : " Willingly
do I anticipate your wish to be regarded as the most faithful subjects of
the Austrian empire. Never again shall the sad fate of being torn from
my heart befall you."
REVOLT OF TILE TYROLESE. 283
their importunities, he at length consented, but they had no
sooner dispersed in order to summon the people again to the
conflict than lie retired. Hofer, on returning to the spot,
merely finding a small body of troops under the command
of General Buol, who had received orders to bring up the
rear, threw himself in despair on a bed. Eisenstecken, his
companion and adjutant, however, instantly declared that the
departure of the soldiers must, at all hazards, be prevented.
The officers signed a paper by which they bound themselves,
even though contrary to the express orders of the general,
to remain. Buol, upon this, yielded and remained, but, during
the fearful battle that ensued, remained in the post-house on
the Brenner, inactively watching the conflict, which terminated
in the triumph of the peasantry. Hormayr completely ab-
sconded and attempted to escape into Switzerland.
Innsbruck was surrendered by Teimer to the French, on
the 19th of May. Napoleon's defeat, about this time, at
Aspern having however compelled Lefebvre to return hastily
to the Danube, leaving merely a part of the Bavarians with
General Deroy in Innsbruck, the Tyrolese instantly seized
the opportunity, and Hofer, Eisenstecken, and the gallant
vSpeckbacher boldly assembled the whole of the peasantry on
the mountain of Isel. Peter Thalguter led the brave and
gigantic men of Algund. Haspinger, the Capuchin, nick-
named Redbeard, appeared on this occasion for the first time
in the guise of a commander and displayed considerable mili-
tary talent. An incessant struggle was carried on from the
2oth to the 29th of May.* Deroy, repulsed from the moun-
tain of Isel with a loss of almost three thousand men, simu-
lated an intention to capitulate, and withdrew unheard during
the night by muffling the horses' hoofs and the wheels of the
artillery carriages and enjoining silence under pain of death.
Speckbacher attempted to impede his retreat at Hall, but
arrived too late.f Teimer was accused of having been remiss
in his duty through jealousy of the common peasant leaders.
* The Count von Stachelburg from Meran, who fought as a vohinteer
among the peasantry, fell at that time. He was the last of his race.
t He was joined here by his son Anderl, a child ten years of age, who
collected the enemy's balls in his hat, and so obstinately refused to quit
the field of battle that his father was compelled to have him carried hy
force to a distant Alp.
284 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
Arco escaped by an artifice similar to that of Deroy and
abandoned the Scharnitz. The Vorarlbergers again spread
as far as Kempten. Hormayr also returned, retook the reins
of government, imposed taxes, flooded the country with use-
less law-scribbling, and, at the same time, refused to grant
the popular demand for the convocation of the Tyrolean diet.
After the victory of Aspern, the empei'or declared, " My faith-
ful county of Tyrol shall henceforward ever remain incorpor-
ated with the Austrian empire, and I will agree to no treaty
of peace save one indissolubly uniting the Tyrol with my
monarchy." During this happy interval, Speckbacher be-
sieged the fortress of Cuifstein, where he performed many
signal acts of valour.*
.The disaster of Wagram followed, and, in the ensuing
armistice, the Emperor Francis Avas compelled to agree to
the withdrawal of the whole of his troops from the Tyrol.
The Archduke John is said to have given a hint to General
Buol to remain in the Tyrol as if retained there by force by
the peasantry, instead of which both Buol and Hormayr hur-
ried their retreat, after issuing a miserable proclamation, in
which they " recommended the Tyrolese to the care of the
duke of Dantzig." Lefebvre actually again advanced at the
head of thirty to forty thousand French, Bavarians, and Sax-
ons. The courage of the unfortunate peasantry naturally
sank. Hofer alone remained unshaken, and said, on bidding
Hormayr farewell, " Well then, I will undertake the govern-
ment, and, as long as God wills, name myself Andrew Hofer,
host of the Sand at Passeyr, Count of the Tyrol." Hormayr
laughed. A general dispersion took place. Hofer alone
remained. When, resolute in his determination not to aban-
don his native soil, he was on his way back to his dwelling,
* He paid a visit, in disguise, to the commandant within the fortress,
extinguished a grenade with his hat, crept undiscovered into the fortress
and spoilt the fire engines, cut loose the ships moored beneath the walls,
etc. Joseph Speckbacher of the Innthal was an open-hearted, fine-
spirited fellow, endowed with a giant's strength, and the best marksman
in tlie country. His clear bright eye could, at the distance of half a mile,
distinguish the bells on the necks of the cattle. In his youth, he was
addicted to poaching, and being, on one occasion, when in the act of
roasting a chamois, surprised by four Bavarian Jiager, he unhesitatingly
dashed the melted fat of the animal into their faces, and, quick as light-
ning, dealt each of them a death-blow with the butt-end of his rifle.
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 285
he encountered Speckbacher hurrying away in a carriage in
the company of some Austrian officers. " Wilt thou also de-
sert thy country?" was Hofer's sad demand. Buol, in order
to cover his retreat, sent back eleven guns and nine hundred
Bavarian prisoners to General Rusca, who continued to
threaten the Pusterthal.
In the mountains all was tranquil, and the advance of the
French columns was totally unopposed. Hofer, concealed
in a cavern amid the steep rocks overhanging his native vale,
besought Heaven for aid, and, by his enthusiastic entreaties,
succeeded in persuading the brave Capuchin, Joachim Has-
pinger, once more to quit the monastery of Seeben, whither
he had retired. A conference was held at Brixen between
Haspingei", Martin Schenk, the host of the Kriig, a jovial
man of powerful frame, Kemnater, and a third person of
similar calling, Peter Mayer, host of the ]\Iare, who bound
themselves again to take up arms in Eastern Tyrol, whilst
Hofer, in person, raised the Western Tyrol. Speckbacher,
to the delight of the three confederates, unexpectedly made
his appearance at this conjuncture. Deeply wounded by the
reproach contained in the kw words addressed to him by
Hofer, he had, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his
companions, quitted them on arriving at the nearest station
and hastened to retake his post in defence of his country.
Lefebvre had already entered Innsbruck, and, according to
his brutal custom, had plundered the villages and reduced
them to ashes ; he had also published a proscription-list* in-
* He cited the follo'w'ing names immortal in the Tyrol, A. Hofer,
Straub of Hall, Reider of Botzen, Bombardi, postmaster of Salurn,
Morandel of Kaltem, Resz of Fleims, TschoU of Meran, Frischmann of
Schlanders, Senn, sheriif of Nauders, Fischer, actuary of Landek, Strehle,
burgomaster of Imbst, Plawen, governor of Reutti, Major Dietrich of
Lermos, Aschenbacher, governor of the Achenthal, Sieberer of Cufstein,
Wintersteller of Kisbiichl, Kolb of Lienz, Count Sarntheim, Peer, coun-
sellor to the court of appeal. Count Sarntheim was taken prisoner and
carried into Bavaria, together with the heroic Baroness of Sternbach,
■who, mounted on horseback and armed with pistols, accompanied the
patriot force and aided in the command. She was seized in her castle
of Miihlan, imprisoned in a house of con-ection at Mimich, and after-
wards carried to Strassburg, was deprived of the whole of her property,
ignominiously treated, and threatened with death, but never lost courage.
— Beda, Weber's Tyrol. Wintersteller was a descendant of the brave
host of the same name who, in 1703, adorned his house, which was after-
wards occupied by Wintersteller, with the trophies won from the Ba-
varians.
286 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
stead of the amnesty. A desperate resistance now commenced.
The whole of the Tyrol again flew to arms ; the young men
placed in their green hats the bunch of rosemaiy gathered by
the girl of their heart, the more aged a peacock's plume, the
symbol of the house of Habsburg, all carried the rifle, so
murderous in their hands : they made cannons of larch-wood,
bound with iron rings, which did good service ; they raised
abattis, blew up rocks, piled immense masses of stone on
the extreme edges of the precipitous rocks commanding the
narrow vales, in order to hurl them upon the advancing foe,
and directed the timber-slides in the forest-grown mountains,
or those formed of logs by means of which the timber for
building was usually run into the valleys, in such a manner
upon the most important passes and bridges, as to enable
them to shoot enormous trees down upon them with tremen-
dous velocity.
Lefebvre resolved to advance with the main body of his
forces across the Brenner to Botzen, whither another corps
under Burscheidt also directed its way through the upper
valley of the Inn, the Finstermiinz, and Meran, whilst a thii-d
under Rusca came from Carinthia through the Pusterthal,
and a fourth under Peyry was on the march from Verona
through the vale of the Adige. These various corps d'armee, by
which the Tyrol was thus attacked simultaneously on every
point, were to concentrate in the heart of the country. Le-
febvre found the Brenner open. The Tyrolese, headed by
Haspinger, had burnt the bridges on the Oberau and awaited
the approach of the enemy on the heights commanding the
narrow valley of Eisach. The Saxons under Rouyer were
sent in advance by Lefebvre to shed their blood for a
foreign despot. Rocks and trees hurled by the Tyrolese into
the valley crushed numbers of them to death. Rouyer, after
being slightly hurt by a rolling mass of rock, retreated after
leaving oi'ders to the Saxon regiment, composed of contingents
from Weimar, Gotha, Coburg, Hildburghausen, Altenburg,
and Meiningen, commanded by Colonel Egloffstein, to retain its
position in the Oberau. This action took place on the 4th
of August. The Saxons, worn out by the fatigue and danger
to which they were exposed, were compelled, on the ensuing
day, to make head in the narrow vale against overwhelming
numbers of the Tyrolese, whose incessant attacks rendered a
moment's repose impossible. Although faint with hunger
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 287
and with the intensity of the heat, a part of the troops under
Colonel Egloffstein succeeded in forcing their way through,
though at an immense saci'ifice of life,* and fell back upon
Rouyer, who had taken up a position at Sterzing without
fighting a stroke in their aid, and who expressed his astonish-
ment at their escape. The rest of the Saxon troops were
taken prisoners, after a desperate resistance, in the dwelling-
houses of Oberau.f They had lost nearly a thousand men.
The other corps (Tarmee met with no better fate. Burscheidt
merely advanced up the valley of the Inn as far as the bridges
of Pruz, whence, being repulsed by the Tyrolese and dread-
ing destruction, he retreated during the dark night of the 8th
of August. His infantry crept, silent and unheard, across the
bridge of Pontlaz, of such fatal celebrity in 1703, which was
strictly watched by the Tyrolese. The cavalry cautiously
followed, but were betrayed by the sound of one of the
horse's feet. Rocks and trees were in an instant hui'led upon
the bridge, crushing men and horses and blocking up the
way. The darkness that veiled the scene, but added to its
horrors. The whole of the troops shut up beyond the bridge
were either killed or taken prisoner. Burscheidt reached
Innsbruck with merely a handful of men, completely worn out
by the incessant pursuit. Rusca was also repulsed, between
the 6th and the 1 1th of August, (particularly at the bridge of
Lienz,) in the Pusterthal by brave Antony Steger. Rusca had
set two hundred farms on fire. Twelve hundred of his men
were killed, and his retreat was accelerated by Steger's threat
to roast him, in case he fell into his hands, like a scorpion,
* When incessantly pursued and ready to drop -with fati^ie, they
found a cask of wine, and a drummer, knocking off it i head, stooped
do-wn to drink, when he was pierced with a bullet, and his blood mingled
with the liquor, which was, nevertheless, greedily swallowed by the
famishing soldiery. — Jacob's Campaign of the Gotha-AUenburgers.
t The Tyrolese aimed at the windows and shot every one who
looked out. As soon as the houses were, by this means, filled with
the dead and wounded, they stormed them and took the survivors
prisoner. Two hundred and thirty men of Weimar and Coburg, com-
manded by Major Germar, defended themselves to the last ; the house
in which they were being at length completely surrounded and set on fire
by the Tyrolese, they surrendered. This spot was afterwards known
as the " Sachsenklemme.^' Seven hundred Saxon prisoners escaped
from their guards and took refuge on the Krimmer Tuiiern, where they
were recaptured by the armed women and girk.
288 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
within a fiery circle. Peyry did not venture into the
country.
Lefebvre, who had followed to the rear of the Saxon troops
from Innsbruck, bitterly reproached them for their defeat,
but, although he placed himself in advance, did not succeed
in penetrating as far as they had up the country. At Mauls,
his cavalry were torn from their saddles and killed with
clubs, and he escaped, with great difficulty, after losing his
cocked hat. His corps, notwithstanding its numerical strength,
was unable to advance a step farther. The Capuchin harassed
his advanced guard from Mauls and was seconded by Speck -
bacher from Stilfs, whilst Count Arco was attacked to his
rear at Schonberg by multitudes of Tyrolese. The contest
was carried on without intermission from the 5th to the 10th
of August. Lefebvre was finally compelled to retreat with
his thinned and weary troops.* On the 1 1th, Deroy posted
himself with the rear-guard on the mountain of Isel. The
Capuchin, after reading mass under the open sky to his fol-
lowers, again attacked him on the 13th. A horrible slaughter
ensued. Four hundred Bavarians, who had fallen beneath the
clubs of their infuriated antagonists, lay in a confused heap.
The enemy evacuated Innsbruck and the whole of the Tyrohl
Count Arco was one of the last victims of this bloody cam-
paign.
The Sandwirth placed himself at the head of the govern-
ment at Innsbruck. Although a simple peasant and ever
faithful to the habits of his station, J he laid down some ad-
* Bartholdy relates that Lefebvre, disguised as a common soldier,
mingled with the cavalry in order to escape the balls of the Tyrolese
sharpshooters. A man of Passeyr is said to have captured a three-
pounder and to have carried it on his shoulders across the mountain.
The Tyrolese would even carry their wounded enemies carefully on their
shoulders to their villages. A Count Mohr greatly distinguished himself
among the people of Vintschgau. The spirit shown by an old man above
eighty years of age, who, after shooting a number of the enemy from a
rock on wliich he had posted himself, threw himself, exclaiming " Juhhe !
in God's name!" down the precipice, with a Saxon soldier, by whom he
had been seized, is worthy of record.
t Von Seebach, in his History of the Ducal Saxon Regiment, graphic-
ally describes the flight. During the night-time, all the mountains around
the beautiful valley of Innsbruck were lit up with watch-fires. Lefebvre
ordered his to be kept brightly burning whilst his troops silently with-
drew.
X He did not set himself above his equals and followed his former
REVOLT OF THE TYEOLESE. 289
mirable rules, convoked a national assembly, and raised the
confidence of the people of Carinthia, to whom he addressed
a proclamation, remarkable for dignity. He hoped, at that
time, by summoning the whole of the mountain tribes to arms
and leading them to Vienna, to compel the enemy to accede to
more favourable terms of peace. Speckbacher penetrated into
the district of Salzburg, defeated the Bavarians at Lofers and
Unken, took one thousand seven hundi*ed prisoners, and ad-
vanced as far as Eeichenhall and INIelek. The Capuchin pro-
posed, in his zeal, to storm Salzburg and invade Carinthia,
but was withheld by Speckbacher, Avho saw the hazard at-
tached to the project, as well as the peril that would attend
the departure of the Tyrolese from their country. His plan
merely consisted in covering the eastern frontier. His son,
Anderle, who had escaped from his secluded Alp, unexpectedly
joined him and fought at his side. Speckbacher was stationed
at Melek, where he drove Major Riimmele with his Bavarian
battalion into the Salzach, but was shortly afterwards sur-
prised by treachery. He had already been deprived of his
arms, thrown to the ground, and seriously injured with
blows dealt with a club, when, furiously springing to his feet,
he struck his opponents to the earth and escaped with a hun-
dred of his men across a wall of rock unscaleable save by the
foot of the expert and hardy mountaineer. His young son
was torn from his side and taken captive. The king, Maxi-
simple mode of life. The emperor of Austria sent liim a golden chain
and three thousand ducats, the first money received by the Tyrol from
Austria ; but Hofer's pride was not raised by this mark of favour, and
the naivete of his reply on this occasion has often been a subject of ridi-
cule : " Sirs, I thank you. I have no news for you to-day. I have, it is
true, three couriers on the road, the Watscher-Hiesele, the Sixten-Seppcle,
and the Memmele-Franz, and the Schwanz ought long to have been here,
I expect the rascal every hour." The honest fellow permitted no pillage,
no disorderly conduct ; he even guarded the public morals with such
strictness as to publish the following orders against the half-naked mode,
imported by the French, at that time followed by the women : " Many of
my good fellow-soldiers and defenders of their country have complained
that the women of all ranks cover their bosoms and arms too little, or
with transparent dresses, and by these means raise sinful desires highly
displeasing to God and to all piously-disposed persons. It is hoped that
they will, by better behaviour, preserve themselves from the punishment
of God, and, in case of the contrary, must solely blame themselves should
they find themselves disagreeably covered with . Andre Hofer,
chief in command in the Tyrol."
VOL. III. u
290 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
milian Joseph, touched bj his courage and beauty, sent for
him and had him well educated. The Capuchin, who had
reached Muhrau in Styria, was also compelled to retire.
The peace of Vienna, in which the Tyrolese were not even
mentioned, was meanwhile concluded. The restoration of the
Tyrol to Bavaria was tacitly understood, and, in order to re-
duce the country to obedience, three fresh armies again ap-
proached the frontiers, the Italian, Peyry, from the south
through the valley of the Adige, and Baraguay d' Hilliers
from the west through the Pusterthal ; the former suffered a
disastrous defeat above Trieut, but was rescued from utter
destruction by General Vial, who had followed to his rear,
and who, as well as Baraguay, advanced as far as Brixen.*
Drouet d' Erlon, with the main body of the Bavarians, came
from the north across the Strub and the Loferpass, and gained
forcible possession of the Engpass. Hofer had been persuaded
by the priest, Donay, to relinquish the anterior passes into the
country and Innsbruck, and to take up a strong position on
the fortified mountain of Isel. Speckbacher arrived too late
to defend Innsbruck, and, enraged at the ill-laid plan of de-
fence, threw a body of his men into the Zillerthal in order to
prevent the Bavarians from falling upon Hofer's rear. He
was again twice wounded at the storming of the Kemmberg,
which had already been fortified by the Bavarians. On the
25th of Octobex', the Bavarians entered Innsbruck and sum-
moned Hofer to capitulate. During the night of the 30th,
Baron Lichtenthurm appeared in the Tyrolese camp, an-
nounced the conclusion of peace, and delivered a letter from
the Archduke John, in which the Tyrolese were commanded
peaceably to disperse and no longer to offer their lives a use-
less sacrifice. There was no warrant for the future, not a
memoiy of an earlier pledge. The commands of their beloved
master were obeyed by the Tyrolese with feelings of bitter
regret, and a complete dispersion took place. Speckbacher
alone maintained his ground, and repulsed the enemy on the
2nd and 3i-d of November, but, being told, in a letter, by
Hofer, " I announce to you, that Austria has made peace with
France and has forgotten the Tyrol," he gave up all further
* During the pillage of the monastery of Seeben by the French, a
nun, in order to escape from their hands, cast herself from the summit
of the rock into the valley.
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 291
opposition, and INIayer and Kemnater, who had gallantly made
head against General Rusca at the MUhlbacher Klause, fol-
lowed his example.
The tragedy drew to a close. Hofer returned to his native
vale, where the people of Passeyr and Algund, resolved at all
hazards not to submit to the depredations of the Italian
brigands under Rusca, flocked around him and compelled him
to place himself at their head for a last and desperate struggle.
Above Meran, the French were tin-own in such numbers from
the Frcmzosenbiihl, which still retains its name, that "they
fell like a shower of autumnal leaves into the city. The
hoi'ses belonging to a division of cavalry intended to surround
the insurgent peasantry were all that returned ; tlieir riders
had been shot to a man. Rusca lost five hundred dead and
one thousand seven hundred prisoners. The Capuchin was
also present, and generously saved the captive Major Doreille,
whose men had formerly set fire to a village, from the hands
of the infuriated peasantry. But a traitor guided the enemy
to the rear of the brave band of patriots ; Peter Thalguter
fell, and Hofer took refuge amid the highest Alps. Kolb,
who was by some supposed to be an English agent, but who
was simply an enthusiast, again summoned the peasantry
around Brixen to arras. The peasantry still retained such a
degree of courage, as to set up an enormous barn-door as a
target for the French artillery, and at every shot up jumped
a ludicrous figure. Resistance had, however, ceased to be
general ; the French pressed in ever increasing numbers
through the valleys, disarmed the people, the majority of
whom, obedient to Hofer's first mandate, no longer attempted
opposition, and took their leaders captive. Peter Mayer was
shot at Botzen. His life was offered to him on condition of
his denying all participation in the patriotic struggles of his
countrymen, but he disdained a lie and boldly faced death.
Those among the peasantry most distinguished for gallantry
were either shot or hanged. Baur, a Bavarian author, who
had fought against the Tyrolese and is consequently a trusty
witness, remarks, that all the Tyrolese patriots, witliout
exception, evinced the greatest contempt of death. The
struggle recommenced in the winter, but was merely confined
to the Pusterthal. A French division under Broussier was
u 2
292 REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE.
cut off on the snowed-up roads and shot to a man by the
peasantry.
Hofer at first took refuge witli his wife and child in a
narrow rocky hollow in the Kcllerlager, afterwards in the
highest Alpine hut, near the Oetzthaler Firner in the wintry
desert. Vainly was he implored to quit the country ; his I'e-
solution to live or to die on his native soil was unchangeable.
A peasant, named Eatfel, unfortunately descrying the smoke
from the distant hut, discovered his place of concealment, and
boasted in different places of his possession of the secret of his
hiding-place. This came to the ears of Father Donay, a traitor
in the pay of France ;* Eatfel was arrested, and, in the night
of the 27th of January, 1810, guided one thousand six hun-
dred French and Italian troops to the mountain, whilst two
thousand French were quartered in the circumjacent country.
Ilofer yielded himself prisoner with calm dignity. The
Italians abused him personally, tore out his beard, and dragged
him pinioned, half naked and barefoot, in his night-dress,
over ice and snow to the valley. He was then put into a
carriage and carried into Italy to the fortress of Mantua. No
one interceded in his behalf. Napoleon sent orders by the
Paris telegraph to shoot him within four and twenty hours.
He prepared cheerfully for death. | On being led past the
other Tyrolese prisoners, they embraced his knees, weeping.
He gave them his blessing. His executioners halted not far
from the Porta Chiesa, where, placing himself opposite the
twelve riflemen, selected for the dreadful office, he refused
* Dona)' had devoted himself to the service of the church, but having
committed a theft, had been refused ordination. Napoleon rewarded him
for his treachery with — ordination and Uie appointment of chaplain in the
Santa Casa at Loretto.
t Four hours before his execution he wrote to his brother-in-law,
Pohler, " My beloved, the hostess, is to have mass read for my soul at St.
Marin by the rosy-coloured blood. She is to have prayers read in both
parishes, and is to let the sub-landlord give my friends soup, meat, and
half a bottle of wine each. The money I had with me I have distributed
to the poor ; as for the rest, settle my accounts with the people as justly
as you can. All in the world adieu, until we all meet in heaven eter-
nally to praise God. Death appears to me so easy that my eyes have not
once been wet on that account. Written at five o'clock in the morning,
and at nine o'clock I set oft' with the aid of all the saints on my journey
to God."
REVOLT OF THE TYROLESE. 293
either to allow himself to be blindfolded or to kneel. " I
stand before my Creator,*' he exclaimed with a firm voice,
" and standing will I restore to him the spirit he gave ! " He
gave the signal to fire, but the men, it may be, too deeply
moved by the scene, missed their aim. The first fire brought
him on his knees, the second stretched him on the ground, and
a corporal, advancing, terminated his misery by shooting him
through the head, February the 29th, 1810.*
Haspinger, the brave Capuchin, escaped unhurt to Vienna,
in which Joseph Speckbacher, the greatest hero of this war,
also succeeded, after unheard-of suflering and peril.|
* At a later period, -when Mantua again became Austrian, the Tyrolese
bore his remains back to his native Alps. A handsome monument of
■white marble was erected to his memory in the church at Innsbruck;
his family was ennobled. Count Alexander of "Wi^irtemberg has poetically
described the restoration of his remains to the Tyrol, for which he so ,
nobly fought and died.
" How was the gallant hunter's breast
With mingled feelings torn, _ '
As slowly winding 'mid the Alps,
His hero's corpse was borne !
The ancient Gletcher, glowing red,
Though cold their wonted mien.
Bright radiance shed o'er Hofer's head.
Loud thundered the lavine ! "
t The Bavarians in pursuit of him searched the mountains in troops,
and vowed to " cut his skin into boot-straps, if they caught him." Speck-
bacher attempted to escape into Austria, but was unable to go beyond
Dux, the roads being blocked up with snow. At Dux, the Bavarians
came upon his trace, and attacking the house in which he had taken
refuge, he escaped by leaping through the roof, but again wounded him-
self. During the ensuing twenty-seven days, he wandered about the
snow-clad forests, exposed to the bitter cold and in danger of starvation.
During four consecutive days he did not taste food. He at length found
an asylum in a hut in a high and exposed situation at Bo'.derberg,
where he by chance fell in with his wife and children, who had also
taken refuge there. The watchful Bavarians pursued him even here, and
he merely owed his escape to the presence of mind with which, taking a
sledge upon his shoulders, he advanced towards them as if he had been
the servant of the house. No longer safe in this retreat, he hid himself in
a cave on the Gemsliaken, whence he was, in the beginning of spring,
carried by a siiow-lavine a mile and a half into the valley. He contrived
to disengage himself from the snow, but one of his legs had been dislo-
cated and rendered it impossible for him to regain his cave. Suffering
unspeakable anguish, he crept to the nearest hut, where he found two
men, who carried him to his own house at Rinn, whither his wife had
294 NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY.
CCLVIII. Napoleon's supremacy.
Napoleon liad, during the great war in Austria, during the
intermediate time between the battles of Aspern and Wagram,
caused the person of the pope, Pius VII., to be seized, and
had incorporated the state of the church with his Italian king-
dom. The venerable pope, whose energies were called forth
by misfortune, astonished Christendom by his bold opposition
to the ruler over the destinies of Europe, before whom he had
formerly bent in humble submission, and for whose coronation
he had condescended to visit Paris in person. The re-estab-
lishment of Catholicism in France by Napoleon had rendered
the pope deeply his debtor, but Napoleon's attempt to deprive
him of all temporal power, and to render him, as the first
bishop of his realm, subordinate to himself, called forth a
sturdy opposition. Napoleon no sooner spoke the language of
Charlemagne, than the pope responded in the words of Gregory
VII. and of Innocent IV. : " Time has produced no change
in the authority of the pope ; now as ever does the pope reign
supreme over the emperors and kings of the earth." The
diplomatic dispute was carried on for some time owing to Na-
poleon's expectation of the final compliance of the pope.* But
on his continued refusal to submit, the peril with which Na-
poleon's Italian possessions were threatened by the landing of
a British force in Italy and by the war with Austria, induced
returned. But Bavarians were quartered in the house, and his
only place of refuge was the cow-shed, where Zoppel, his faithful serv-
ant, dug for him a hole beneath the bed of one of the cows, and daily
brought him food. The danger of discovery was so great that his wife
was not made acquainted with his arrival. He remained in this half-
buried state for seven weeks, until rest had so far invigorated his frame
as to enable him to escape across the high mountain passes, now freed by
the May sun from the snow. He accordingly rose from liis grave and
bade adieu to his sorrowing wife. He reached Vienna without encoun-
tering further mishap, but gained no thanks for his heroism. He was
compelled to give up a small estate that he had purchased with the re-
mains of his property, the purchase-money proving insiilRcient, and he
would have been consigned to beggary, had not Hofer's son, who had
received a fine estate from the emperor, engaged him as his steward.
* The pope, among other things, long refused his consent to the
second marriage of the king of Westphalia, although that prince's first
wife was merely a Protestant and an American citizen.
NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY. 295
him, first of all, to throw a garrison into Ancona, and after-
wards to take possession of Rome, and, as the pope still con-
tinued obstinate, finally to seize his person, to carry him off
to France, and to annex the Roman territory to his great
empire. The anathema hurled by the pope upon Napoleon's
head, had at least the effect of creating a warmer interest in
behalf of the pontiff" in the hearts of the Catholic population
and of increasing their secret antipathy towards his anta-
gonist.
In 1810, Napoleon annexed Holland and East Friesland
" as alluvial lands" to France. His brother Louis, who had
vainly laboured for the welfare of Holland, selected a foreign
residence and scornfully refused to accept the pension settled
upon him by Napoleon. The first act of the new sovereign
of Holland was the imposition of an income tax of fifty per
cent. Instruction in the French language was enforced in all
tlie schools, and all public proclamations and documents were
drawn up in both Dutch and French.* Holland was formed
into two departments, which were vexed by two prefets, the
Conte de Celles and Baron Staffart, Belgian renegades and
blind tools of the French despot, and was, moreover, harassed
by the tyrannical and cruel espionage under Duvillieres,
Duterrage, and Marivaux, which, in 1812, occasioned several
ineffectual attempts to throw off" the yoke.f In 1811, Hol-
land was also deprived of Batavia, her sole remaining colony,
by the British.
Lower Saxony, as far as the Baltic, the principalities of
Oldenburg, Salm, and Aremberg, the Hanse towns, Hamburg,
Bremen, and LUbeck, were, together with a portion of the
kingdom of Westphalia, at the same time also incorporated by
Napoleon with France, under pretext of putting a stop to the
contraband trade carried on on those coasts, more particularly
from the island of Heligoland. He openly aimed at convert-
ing the Germans, and they certainly discovered little disin-
clination to the metamorphosis, into French. He pursued
* Bilderdyk, whom the Dutch consider as tlieir greatest poet, was,
nevertheless, at that time, Napoleon's basest flatterer, and ever expressed
an hypochondriacal and senseless antipathy to Germany.
t At Amsterdam, in 1811; in the district around Leyden, in 1812.
Insurrections of a similar character were suppressed in April, 181], in the
country around Liege; in December, 1812, at Aix-la-Chapelle ; the East
Frieslanders also rebelled against the conscription.
296 NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY.
the same policy towards the Italians, and, had he continued to
reign, would have followed a similar system towards the
Poles. The subjection of the whole of Italy, Germany, and
Poland lay within his power, but, to the nations inhabiting
those countries he must, notwithstanding their incorporation
with his universal empire, have guaranteed the maintenance
of their integrity, a point he had resolved at all hazards not to
concede. He, consequently, preferred to divide these nations
and to allow one half to be governed by princes inimical to
liim, but whose power he despised. His sole dread was
patriotism, the popular love of liberty. Had he placed him-
self, as was possible in 1809, on the imperial throne of Ger-
many, the consequent unity of that empire must, even under
foreign sway, have endangered the ruler : he preferred gradu-
ally to gallicize Germany as she had been formerlj^ romanized
by her ancient conquerors. His intention to sever the Rhen-
ish provinces and Lower Saxony entirely from Germany was
clear as day. They received French laws, French governors,
no German book was allowed to cross their frontiers without
previous permission from the police, and in each department
but one newspaper, and that subject to the revision of the
prefet, was allowed to be published.* Madame de Stael
was exiled for having spoken favourably of the German
character in her work " de 1' Allemagne," and the work itself
was suppressed ; Napoleon, on giving these orders, merely
said, " Ce livre n' est pas Frangais."
His treatment of Switzerland was equally unindulgent.
The Valais, which, although not forming part of Switzerland,
* In Hamburg, one Baumhauer was arrested for an anti-gallic expres-
sion and thrown into the subterranean dungeons of Magdeburg, where
iie pined to death. The same tyranny was exercised even on the German
territory belonging to the Rhenish confederation. Becker, privy-coun-
sellor of the duke of Gotha, was transported beyond the seas for having
published a pamphlet against France. Several authors were compelled
to retire into Sweden and Russia ; several booksellers were arrested,
numerous books were confiscated. Not the most trifling publication was
permitted within the Rhenish confederated states that even remotely op-
posed the interests of France. The whole of the princes of the Rhenish
confederation were, consequently, under the surveillance of French cen-
sors and of the literary spies of Germany in the pay of France. Hor-
mayr's Archives contain a pamphlet well worthy of perusal, in which an
account is given of all the arrests and persecutions that took place on ac-
count of matters connected with the press.
NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY. 297
Still retained a sort of nominal independence, was formally
incorporated by France ; the canton of Tessin was, as arbi-
trarily, occupied by French troops, an immense quantity of
British goods Avas confiscated, the press was placed under the
strictest censorship, the Erzdhler of jNIliller-Freidberg, the
only remaining Swiss newspaper of liberal tendency, was
suppressed, whilst Zschokke unweariedly lauded Napoleon
to tiie skies as the regenerator of the liberties of Switzerland
and as the saviour of the world. A humble entreaty of the
Swiss for mercy was scornfully refused by Napoleon. In-
stead of listening to their complaints, he reproached their en-
voys, who were headed by Reinhard of Zurich, in the most
violent terms, charged the Swiss with conspiracy, and said,
that a certain Sydler had ventured to speak against him in
the federal diet, etc. ; nor could his assumed anger be pacified
save by the instant dissolution of the federal diet, by the ex-
tension of the levy of Swiss recruits for the service of France,
and by the threat of a terrible punisliment to all Swiss who
ventui'ed to enter the service of England and Spain. The
Swiss merely bound their chains still closer without receiving
the shghtest alleviation to their sufferings. Reinhard wrote
in 1811, the time of this ill-successful attempt on the part of
the Swiss, "a petty nation possesses no means of procuring
justice." Why then did the great German nation scatter itself
into so many petty tribes ?
The marriage of Napoleon on the 2nd of April, 1810, vrith
Maria Louisa, the daughter of the emperor of Austria, sur-
rounded his throne with additional splendour. This marriage
had a double object ; that of raising an heir to his broad em-
pire, his first wife, Josephine Beauharnois, whom he di-
vorced, having brought him no children, and that of legiti-
mating his authority and of obliterating the stain of low
birth by intermingling his blood with that of the ancient race
of Habsburg. Strange as it must appear for the child of
revolution to deny the very principles to which he owed his
being and to embrace the aristocratic ideas of a bygone age,
for the proud conqueror of all the sovereigns of Europe
anxiously to solicit their recognition of him as their equal in
birth, these apparent contradictions are easily explained by
the fact that men of liberal ideas were the objects of Napo-
leon's greatest dread and hatred, and that he was consequently
298 NAPOLEON'S SUPEEMACY.
driven to favour the ancient aristocracy, as he had formerly
favoured the ancient church, and to use them as his tools.
Young and rising nations, not the ancient families of Europe,
threatened his power, and he therefore sought to confirm it by
an alliance against the former with the ancient dynasties.* The
nuptials were solemnized with extraordinary pomp at Paris.
The conflagration of the Austrian ambassador's, Prince von
Schwarzenberg's, house during a splendid fete given by him
to the newly-wedded pair, and which caused the death of
several persons, among others, of the Princess Pauline
Schwarzenberg, the ambassador's sister-in-law, who rushed
into the flaming building to her daughter's rescue, clouded
the festivities with ominous gloom. In the ensuing year, 1811,
the youthful empress gave birth to a prince, Napoleon Francis,
who was laid in a silver cradle, and provisionally entitled
"King of Rome," in notification of his future destiny to suc-
ceed his father on the throne of the Roman empire. |
Austria offered a melancholy contrast to the magnificence
of France. Exhausted by her continual exertions for the
maintenance of the war, the state could no longer meet its
obligations, and, on the loth of March, 1811, Count AVallis,
the minister of finance, lowered the value of one thousand
and sixty millions of bank-paper to two hundred and twelve
millions, and the interest upon the whole of the state-debts to
half the new paper-issue. This fearful state-bankruptcy was
accompanied by the fall of innumerable private firms ; trade
was completely at a stand-still, and the contributions demanded
by Napoleon amounted to a sum almost impossible to realize.
* It was during this year that Napoleon caused the seamless coat of
the Saviour, which had, during the Revolution, taken refuge at Augsburg,
to be borne in a magnificent procession to Treves and to be exposed
for eighteen days to public view. The pilgrims amounted to two hun-
dred and fifty thousand. Hormayr, who had, during the foregoing
year, summoned the Tyrolese to arms against Napoleon, said in his An-
nual for 1811, " By the marriage of the emperor Napoleon with Maria
Louisa, the Revolution may be considered as completely terminated and
peace durably settled throughout Europe."
t His birth was celebrated by numerous German poets and by
general public rejoicings, but with the basest adulation in Switzerland.
Meyer of Knonau relates in his History of Switzerland, that the king of
Rome was at one of the festivals termed " the blessed infant." Goethe's
poem in praise of Napoleon appeared at this time. The clergj' also
emulated each other in servility.
NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY. 299
Prussia, especially, suffered from the drain upon her resources.
The beautiful and high-souled queen, Louisa, destined not to
see the day of vengeance and of victory, died, in 1810, of a
broken heart.*
Whilst Germany lay thus exhausted and bleeding in her
chains. Napoleon and Alexander put the plans, agreed to be-
tween them at Erfurt, into execution. Napoleon threw him-
self with redoubled violence on luckless Spain, and the Russians
invaded Sweden.
The Germans acted a prominent part in the bloody wars
in the Peninsula. Four Swiss regiments, that had at an earlier
period been in the Spanish service, and the German legion,
composed of Hanoverian refugees to England, upheld the
Spanish cause, whilst all sorts of troops of the Rhenish con-
federation, those of Bavaria and Wurtemberg excepted, several
Dutch and four Swiss regiments, fought for Napoleon.
The troops of the Rhenish confederation formed two corps.
The fate of one of them has been described by Captain Rigel
of Baden. The Baden regiment was, in 1808, sent to Biscay
and united under Lefebvre with other contingents of the
Rhenish confederation, for instance, with the Nassauers under
the gallant Von Schiifer, the Dutch under General Chasse,
the Hessians, the Primates (Frankfurters), and Poles. As
early as October, they fought against the Spaniards at Zor-
noza, and at the pillage of Portugalete first became acquainted
with the barbarous customs of this terrible civil war. The
most implacable hatred, merciless rage, the assassination of
prisoners, plunder, destruction, and incendiarism, equally dis-
tinguished both sides. The Germans garrisoned Bilboa, gained
some successes at Molinar and Valmaseda, were afterwards
placed under the' command of General Victor, who arrived
with a fresh army, were again victorious at Espinosa and
Burgos, formed a junction with Soult and finally Avith Napo-
leon, and, in December, 1808, entered Madrid in triumph.
In January, 1809, the German troops under Victor again ad-
vanced upon the Tagus, and, after a desperate conflict, took
the celebrated bridge of Almaraz by storm. This was followed
by the horrid sacking of the little town of Arenas, during
* At that time the noble-hearted poet, Seume, who had formerly been
a victim of native tyranny, died of sorrow and disgust at the rule of the
foreigner in Germany, at Toeplitz, a. d. 1810.
300 NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY.
which a Nassauer, named Hornung, not only, like a second
Scipio, generously released a beautiful girl who had fallen
into his hands, but sword-in-hand defended her from his
fellow-soldiers. In the following March, the Germans were
again brought into action, at Mesa de Ibor, where Schafer's
Nassauers drove the enemy from their position, under a fear-
ful fire, which cut down three hundred of their number ; and
at Medelin, where they were again victorious and massacred
numbers of the armed Spanish peasantry. Four hundred
prisoners were, after the battle, shot by order of Marshal
Victor. Among the wounded on the field of battle there lay,
side by side, Preusser, the Nassauer, and a Spanish corporal,
both of whom had severely suffered. A dispute arose between
tliem, in the midst of which they discovered that thej^ were
brothers. One had entered the French, the other the Spanish
service. A Dutch battalion under Storm de Grave, aban-
doned at INIerida to the vengeance of the enraged people, was
furiously assailed, but made a gallant defence and fought its
way through the enemy.
In the commencement of 1809, Napoleon had again quitted
Spain in order to conduct the war on the Danube in person.
His marshals, left by him in different parts of the Peninsula,
took Saragossa, drove the British under Sir John Moore out
of the country, and penetrated into Portugal, but were ere long
again attacked by a fresh English army under the Duke of
Wellington. This rendered the junction of the German
troops with the main body of the French army necessary, and
they consequently shared in the defeats of Talavera and Al-
moncid. Their losses, more particularly in the latter en-
gagement, were very considerable, amounting in all to two
thousand six hundred men ; among others, General Porbeck
of Baden, an officer of noted talent, fell : five hundred of their
wounded were butchered after the battle by the infuriated
Spaniards. But Wellington suddenly stopped short in his vic-
torious career. It was in December, 1809, when the news of
the fresh peace concluded by Napoleon with Austria arrived.
On the Spaniards hazarding a fresh engagement, Wellington
left them totally unassisted, and, on the 19th of November,
they suffered a dreadful defeat at Ocasia, where they lost
twenty-five thousand men. The Rhenish confederated troops
wei'e, in reward for the gallantry displayed by them on this
NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY. 301
occasion, charged with the transport of the prisoners into
France, and were exposed to the whole rigour of the chmate
and to every sort of deprivation whilst the French withdrew
into winter quarters. The fatigues of this service greatly
thinned their ranks. The other German regiments were sent
into the Sierra Morena, where they were kept ever on the
alert guarding that key to Spain, whilst the French under
Soult advanced as far as Cadiz, those under Massena into
Portugal, but Soult being unable to take Cadiz and Massena
being forced by the Duke of Wellington to retire, the German
troops were also driven from their position, and, in 1812,
withdrew to Valencia, but, in the October of the same year,
again advanced with Soult upon Madrid.
The second corps of the Rhenish confederated troops was
stationed in Catalonia, where they were fully occupied. Their
fate has been described by two Saxon officers, Jacobs and von
Seebach. In the commencement of 1809, Reding the Swiss,
,who had, in 1808, chiefly contributed to the capture of the
French army at Baylen, commanded the whole of the Spanish
forces in Catalonia, consisting of forty thousand Spaniards
and several thousand Swiss ; but these guerilla troops, almost
invincible in petty warfare, were totally unable to stand in
open battle against the veterans of the French emperor, and
Reding was completely routed by St. Cyr at Taragona. In
St. Cyr's army were eight thousand Westplialians under
General Morio, three thousand Berglanders, fifteen hundred
WUrzburgers, from eight to nine hundred men of Schwarz-
burg, Lippe, Waldeck, and Reuss, all of whom were employed
in the wearisome siege of Gerona, which was defended by
Don Alvarez, one of Spain's greatest heroes. The popular
enthusiasm was so intense, that even the women took up
arms (in the company of St. Barbara) and aided in the defence
of the walls. The Germans, ever destined to head the assaidt,
suffered immense losses on each attempt to carry the place by
storm. In one attack alone, on the 3rd of July, in which they
met with a severe repulse, they lost two thousand of their
men. Their demand of a truce for the purpose of carrying their
wounded off the field of battle, was answered by a Spaniard,
Colonel Bias das Furnas, " A quarter of an hour hence not
one of them will be alive ! " and the whole of the wounded
men were, in fact, murdered in cold blood by the Spaniards.
302 NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY.
During a second assault on the 19th of September, sixteen
hundred of their number and the gallant Colonel Neuff, an
Alsacian, who had served in Egypt, fell. Gerona was finally
driven by famine to capitulate, after a sacrifice of twelve
thousand men, principally Germans, before her walls. Of the
eight thousand Westphalians but one battalion remained. St.
Cyr was, in 1810, replaced by Marshal Augereau, but the
troops were few in number and worn out with fatigue ; a
large convoy was lost in an unlucky engagement, in which
numbers of the Germans deserted to the Spanish, and Auge-
reau retired to Barcelona, the metropolis of Catalonia, in
order to await the arrival of reinforcements, among which was
a Nassau regiment, one of Anhalt, and the identical Saxon
corps that had so dreadfully suffered in the Tyrol.* The
Saxon and Nassau troops, two thousand two hundred strong,
under the command of General Schwarz, an Alsacian, ad-
vanced from Barcelona towards the celebrated mountain of
Montserrat, Avhose hermitages, piled up one above another
en amphitheatre, excite the traveller's wonder. Close in its
vicinity lay the city of IManresa, the focus of the Catalonian
insurrection. The German troops advanced in close column,
although surrounded by infuriated multitudes, by whom every
straggler was mercilessly butchered. The two regiments,
nevertheless, succeeded in making themselves masters of
Manresa, where they were instantly shut in, furiously assailed,
and threatened with momentary destruction. The Anhalt
troops and a French corps, despatched by Augereau to their
relief, were repulsed with considerable loss. Schwarz now
boldly sallied forth, fought his way through the Spaniards,
and, after losing a thousand men, succeeded in reaching Bar-
celona, but was shortly afterwards, after assisting at the taking
of Hostalrich, surprised at La Bisbal and taken prisoner with
almost all the Saxon ti'oops. The iQ\^ that remained fell
victims to disease, f The fate of the prisoners was indeed
* This regiment was merely rewarded by Napoleon for its gallantry
with 15 gros (Is. Glc?.) per man, in order to di^ink to his health on his birth-
day. — Von Seebach.
t What the feeling among the Germans was is plainly shown by the
charge agauist General Benrmann for general ill-treatment of his country-
men, whom he was accused of ha\-ing allowed to perish in the hospitals,
in order to save the expense of their return home. Out of seventy oflScers
and two thousand four hundred and twenty-three privates belonging to
NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY. 303
melancholy. Several thousand of them died on the Balearic
islands, chiefly on the island of Cabrera, where, naked and
houseless, they dug for themselves holes in the sand and died
in great numbers of starvation. They often also fell victira-s
to the fury of the inhabitants. The Swiss, engaged in the
Spanish service, sometimes saved their lives at the hazard of
their own.
Opposed to them was the German legion, composed of the
brave Hanoverians, who had preferred exile in Britain to sub-
mission to Jerome, and had been sent in British men-of-war
to Portugal, whence they had, in conjunction with the troops
of England and Spain, penetrated, in 1808, into the interior of
Spain.* At Benavente, they made a furious charge upon the
French and took their long-delayed revenge. Linsingen's
cavalry cut down all before them ; arms were severed at a
blow, heads were split in two ; one head was found cut in two
across from one ear to the other. A young Hanoverian
soldier took General Lefebvre prisoner, but allowed himself to
be deprived of his valuable captive by an Englishman.
The Hanoverians served first under Sir John JNIoore. On
the death of that commander at Corunna, the troops under his
command returned to England. A ship of the line, with two
Hanoverian battalions on board, was lost during the passage.
The German legion afterwards served under the Duke of
Wellington, and shared the dangers and the glory of the war
in the Peninsula. " The admirable accuracy and rapidity of
the German artillery under Major Hartmann greatly con-
tributed to the victory of Talavera, and received the personal
encomiums of the Duke." Langwerth's brigade gained equal
glory. The German legion was, however, never in full force
in Spain. A division was, in 1809, sent to the island of Wal-
cheren, but shared the ill-success attending all the attempts
made in the North Sea during Napoleon's reign. The con-
quest and demolition of Vliessingen in August, was the only
the Saxon regiment, but thirty-nine officers and three hundred and nine-
teen privates returned to their native country. Vide Jacob's Campaigns
of the Gotha-Altenburgers and von Seebach's History of the Campaigns
of the Saxon Infantry. Von Seebach, who was taken prisoner on his re-
turn from Manresa, has given a particularly detailed and graphic account
of the campaign.
* Beamish has recounted their exploits in detail. The " Recollections
of a Legionary," Hanover, 1826, are also worthy of perusal.
304 NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY.
result. A pestilence broke out among the troops, and, on
Napoleon's successes in Austria, it was compelled to re-
turn to England. A third division, consisting of several
Hanoverian regiments, was sent to Sicily, accompanied the
expedition to Naples in 1809, and afterwards guarded the
rocks of Sicily. The Hanoverians in Spain were also separated
into various divisions, each of which gained great distinction,
more particularly so, the corps of General Alten in the
storming of Ciudad-Rodrigo. In 1812, the Hanoverian cavalry
broke three French squares at Garcia Hernandez.
The Russians had, meanwhile, invaded Sweden. Gustavus
Adolphus, hitherto Russia's firmest ally, was suddenly and
treacherously attacked. General Buxhovden overran Finn-
land, inciting the people, as he advanced, to revolt against
their lawful sovereign. But the brave Finnlanders stoutly
resisted the attempted imposition of the yoke of the barbarous
Russ, and, although ill-supported by Sw^eden, performed pro-
digies of valour. Gustavus Adolphus was devoid of military
knowledge, and watched, as if sunk in torpor, the ill-planned
operations of his generals. Whilst the flower of the Swedish
troops was uselessly employed against Denmark and Norway,
Finnland was allowed to fall into the grasp of Russia.* The
Russians were already expected to land in Sweden, when a
conspiracy broke out among the nobility and officers of the
army, which terminated in the seizure of the king's person
and his deposition, March, 1809. His son, Gustavus Yasa,
the present ex-king of Sweden, was excluded from the suc-
cession, and his uncle Charles, the imbecile and unworthy
duke of Sudermania,"!' was proclaimed king under the title of
Charles XIII. He was put up as a scarecrow by the con-
spirators. Gustavus Adolphus IV. had, at all events, shown
himself incapable of saving Sweden. But the conspirators
were no patriots, nor was their object the preservation of their
country ; they were merely bribed traitors, weak and incapa-
ble as the monarch they had dethroned. They were com-
* The gallant acts of the Finnlanders and the brutality of the Russians
are brought forward in Arndt's " Swedish Histories."
t When regent, on the death of Gustavus III., he had spared his mur-
derers and released those criminated in the conspiracy. On the present
occasion, he yielded in every thins? to the aristocracy, and voted for the
detlironement of his own house, which, as he had no childi'en, infallibly
ensued on the exclusion of the youtliful Gustavus.
NAPOLEON'S SUPREMACY. 305
posed of a party among the ancient nobility, impatient of the
restrictions of a monarchy, and of the younger officers in the
army, who ^A•ere filled with enthusiasm for Napoleon. The
rejoicings on the occasion of the abdication of Gustavus
Adolphus were heightened by the news of the victory gained
by Napoleon at Ratisbon, which, at the same time, reached
Stockholm. The new and wretched Swedish government in-
stantly deferred every thing to Napoleon and humbly solicited
his favour ; but Napoleon, to whom the friendship of Eussia
was, at that time, of higher importance than the submission
of a handful of intriguants in Sweden, received their homage
with marked coldness. Finnland, shamefully abandoned in
her hour of need, was immediately ceded to Russia, in con-
sideration of which, Napoleon graciously restored Rugen and
Swedish-Pomerania to Sweden. Charles XIII. adopted as
his son and successor. Christian Augustus, prince of Holstein-
Augustenburg, who, falling dead off his horse at a review,*
the aged and childless monarch was compelled to make a
second choice, which fell upon the French general, Berna-
dotte, who had, at one time, been a furious Jacobin and had
afterwards acted as Napoleon's general and commandant in
Swedish-Pomerania, where he had, by his mildness, gained
great popularity. The majority in Sweden deemed him merely
a creature of Napoleon, whose favour they hoped to gain by
this flattering choice ; others, it may be, already beheld in
him Napoleon's future foe, and knew the value of the sagacity
and wisdom with which he was endowed and of which the
want was so deeply felt in Sweden at a period when intrigue
and cunning had succeeded to violence. The free-masons,
with whom he had placed himself in close communication,
appeared to have greatly influenced his election. f The un-
fortunate king, Gustavus Adolplius, after being long kept a
close prisoner in the castle of Gripsholm, Vv'here his strong
religious bias had been strengthened by apparitions,^ was
permitted to retire into Germany ; he disdainfully refused to
* An extremely suspicious accident, which gave rise to many reports.
t Vide Posselt's Sixth Annual.
X This castle was haunted by the ghost of King Eric XIV., who had
long pined here in close imprisonment, and who had once before, during
a sumptuous entertainment given by Gustavus Adolphus IV. to his brother-
in-law, the Margrave of Baden, struck the whole court with terror by his
shrieks and ijroans.
306 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
accept of a pension, separated himself from his consort, a
princess of Baden, and lived in proud povert)% under the
name of Colonel Gustavson, in Switzerland. Bernadotte,
the newly-adopted prince, took the title of Charles John,
crown-prince of Sweden. Napoleon, who was in ignorance
of this intrigue, was taken by surprise, but, in the hope of
Bernadotte's continued fidelity, presented him with a million
€71 cadeau ; Bernadotte had, however, been long jealous of
Napoleon's fortune, and, solely intent upon gaining the hearts
of his futui'e subjects, deceived him and secretly permitted the
British to trade with Sweden, although publicly a party in
the continental system.
This system was at this period enforced with exaggerated
severity by Napoleon. He not only prohibited the importa-
tion of all British goods, but seized all already sent to the
continent and condemned them to be publicly burnt. IMillious
evaporated in smoke, principally at Amsterdam, Hamburg,
Frankfurt, and Leipzig. The wealthiest mercantile establish-
ments were made bankrupt.
In addition to the other blows at that time zealously be-
stowed upon the dead German lion, the king of Denmark at-
tempted to extirpate the German language in Schleswig, but
the edict to that effect, published on the 19th of January,
1811, was frustrated by the courage of the clergy, school-
masters, and peasantry, who obstinately refused to learn
Danish.*
CCLIX, The Russian campaign.
An enormous comet, that during the whole of the hot
summer of 1811 hung threatening in the heavens, appeared as
the harbinger of great and important vicissitudes to the en-
slaved inhabitants of the earth, and it was in truth by an act of
Divine providence that a dispute arose between the two giant
powers intent upon the partition of Europe.
Napoleon was over-reached by Russia, whose avarice, far
from being glutted by the possession of Finnland, great part
of Prussian and Austrian Poland, Moldavia, and Wallachia,
still craved for more, and who built her hopes of Napoleon's
compliance with her demands on his value for her friendship.
* Wimpfen, History of Schleswig.
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 307
Belgrade was seized, Servia demanded, and the whole of
Turkey in Europe was openly grasped at. Napoleon was,
however, little inclined to concede the Mediterranean to his
Russian ally, to whose empire he gave the Danube as a
boundary. Russia next demanded possession of the duchy of
Warsaw, Avhich was refused by Napoleon. The Austrian
marriage was meanwhile concluded. Napoleon, prior to his
demand for the hand of the archduchess j\Iaria Louisa, had
sued for that of the grand-duchess Anna, sister to the emperor
Alexander, who was then in her 16th year, but, being re-
fused by her mother, the empress Maria, a princess of Wiir-
temberg, and Alexander delaying a decisive answer, he
formed an alliance with the Habsburg. This event naturally
led Russia to conclude that she would no longer be permitted
to aggrandize herself at the expense of Austria, and Alexander
consequently assumed a threatening posture and condescended
to listen to the complaints, hitherto condemned to silence, of the
agricultural and mercantile classes. No Russian vessel durst
venture out to sea, and a Russian fleet had been seized by the
British in the harbours of Lisbon. At Riga lay immense
stores of grain in want of a foreign market. On the 31 st of
December, 1810, Alexander published a fresh tariff permit-
ting the importation of colonial products under a neutral flag,
(several hundred English ships arrived under the American
flag,) and prohibiting the importation of French manufactured
goods. Not many weeks previously, on the 13th of December,
Napoleon had annexed Oldenburg to France. The duke, Peter,
was nearly related to the emperor of Russia, and Napoleon,
notwithstanding liis declared readiness to grant a compensa-
tion, refused to allow it to consist of the grand-duchy of War-
saw and proposed a duchy of Erfurt, as yet uncreated, which
Russia scornfully rejected.
The alliance between Russia, Sweden, and England was
now speedily concluded. Sweden, who had vainly de-
manded from Napoleon the possession of Norway and a large
supply of money, assumed a tone of indignation, threw open
her harbours to the British merchantmen, and so openly
carried on a contraband trade in Pomerania, that Napoleon,
in order to maintain the continental system, was constrained
to garrison Swedish Pomerania and Riigen and to disarm the
Swedish inhabitants. Bernadotte, upon this, ranged himself
X 2
308 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
entirely on the side of his opponents, Avithout, however, com-
ing to an open rupture, for which he awaited a declaration on
the part of Russia. The expressions made use of by Napo-
leon on the birth of the king of Rome at length filled up the
measure of provocation. Intoxicated with success, he boasted,
in an address to the mercantile classes, that he would in
despite of Russia maintain the continental system, for he was
lord over the whole of continental Europe : that if Alexander
had not concluded a treaty with him at Tilsit, he would have
compelled him to do so at Petersburg. The pride of the
haughty Russian was deeply wounded, and a rupture was
nigh at hand.
Two secret systems were at this period undermining each
other in Prussia, that of the Tugenbimd founded by Stein
and Scharnhorst, whose object being the liberation of Ger-
many at all hazards from the yoke of Napoleon, consequently,
favoured Russia, and that of Hardenberg, which aimed at
a close union with France. Hardenberg, whose position as
chancellor of state gave him the upper hand, had compromised
Prussia by the servility with which he sued for an alliance,
long scornfully refused and at length conceded on the most
humiliating terms by Napoleon.*
Russia had, meanwhile, made preparations for a war unan-
ticipated by Napoleon. As early as 1811, a great Russian
army stood ready for the invasion of Poland, and might, as
there were at that time but few French troops in Germany,
easily have advanced as far as the Elbe. It remained, never-
theless, in a state of inactivity.| Napoleon instantly pre-
pared for war and fortified Dantzig. His continual proposals
of peace, ever unsatisfactory to the ambition of the czar,
remaining at length unanswered, he declared war. The
Rhenish confederation followed as usual in his train, and
Austria, from an interested motive, the hope of regaining in
the East by Napoleon's assistance all she had lost by opposing
him in the West, or that of regaining her station as the third
European power when the resources of the two ruling powers,
* Vide Bignon.
t From a letter of Count Miinster in Hormayr's Sketches of Life, it
;^.ppeiu"s that Russia still cherished the hope of great concessions being
made by Napoleon in order to avoid -war and was therefore still resened
in her relations with England and the Prussian patriots.
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 309
whose coalition had threatened her existence, had been ex-
hausted by war. Prussia also followed the eagles of Napo-
leon : the Hardenberg party, with a view of conciliating hiin,
and, like the Rhenish confederation, from motives of gain :
the Tugendhund, which predominated in the army, with silent
but implacable hate.
In the spring of 1812, Napoleon, after leaving a sufficient
force to prosecute the war with activity in Spain and to
guard France, Italy, and Germany,* led half a million men to
the Russian frontiers. Before taking the field, he convoked
all the princes of Germany to Dresden, where he treated
them with such extreme insolence as even to revolt his most
favoured and warmest partisans. Tears were seen to start
in ladies' eyes, whilst men bit their lips with rage at the petty
humiliations and affronts heaped on them by their powerful
but momentary lord. The empress of Austria f and the king
of Prussia! appear, on this occasion, to have felt the most
acutely.
For the first time — an event unknown in the history of the
world — the whole of Germany was reduced to submission.
Napoleon, greater than conquering Attila, who took the field
at the head of one half of Germany against the other, dragged
the whole of Germany in his train. The army led by him to
the steppes of Russia was principally composed of German
troops, who were so skilfully mixed up with the French as
not to be themselves aware of their numerical superiority.
* French troops garrisoned German fortresses and perpetually passed
along the principal roads, -Nvhich were for that purpose essentially im-
proved by Napoleon. In 1810, a great part of the to^^'n of Eisenach was
destroyed by the bursting of some French powder-carts that were care-
lessly brought through, and by which great numbers of people were
killed.
t Who was far surpassed in splendour by her stop-daughter of France.
X Segur relates that he Avas received politely but with distant coolness
liy Napoleon. There is said to have been question between them con-
cerning the marriage of the crown-prince of Prussia with one of Napo-
leon's nieces, and of an incorporation of the still unconqucred Russian
provinces on the Baltic, Livonia, Courland, and Esthonia, with Prussia.
All was, however, empty show. Napoleon hoped by the rapidity of his
successes to constrain the emperor of Russia to conclude not only peace
but a still closer alliance with France, in which case it was as far from his
intention to concede the above-mentioned provinces to Prussia as to eman-
cipate the Poles.
310 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
The right wing, composed of thirty thousand Austrians under
Schwarzenberg, was destined for the invasion of Volhynia;
whilst the left wing, consisting of twenty thousand Prus-
sians under York and several thousand French, under the
command of IVIarshal Macdonald, Avas ordered to advance
upon the coasts of the Baltic and without loss of time to be-
siege Riga. The centre or main body consisted of the troops
of the Rhenish confederation, more or less mixed up with
Frencli ; of thirty-eight thousand Bavarians under AVrede and
commanded by St. Cyr ; of sixteen thousand Wiirtembergers
under Scheeler, over which Marshal Ney was allotted the chief
command ; single regiments, principally cavalry, were drawn
off in order more thoroughly to intermix the Germans with the
French ; of seventeen thousand Saxons under Reynier ; of
eighteen thousand "Westphalians under Vandamme ; also of
Hessians, Badeners, Frankfurters, AViirzburgers, Nassauers, in
short, of contingents furnished by each of the confederated states.
The Swiss were mostly concentrated under Oudinot. The
Dutch, Hanseatic, Flemish, in fine, all the Germans on the left
bank of the Rhine, were at that time crammed amongst the
French troops. Upwards of two hundred thousand Germans,
at the lowest computation, marched against Russia, a number
for superior to that of the French in the army, the remainder
of which was made up by several thousand Italians, Portu-
guese, and Spaniards, who had been pressed into the service.*
The Prussians found themselves in the most degraded
position. Tlieir army, weak as it was in numbers, was
placed under the command of a French general. The Prus-
sian fortresses, with the exception of Colberg, Graudenz,
Schweidnitz, Xeisse, and Glatz, were already garrisoned
with French troops, or, like Pillau near Konigsberg, newly
occupied by them. In Berlin, the French had unlimited
sway. Marshal Augereau was stationed with sixty thousand
men in Northern Germany for the purpose of keeping that
part of the country, and more particularly Prussia, in check
to Napoleon's rear ; the Danish forces also stood in readiness
to support him in case of necessity. Napoleon's entire army
moreover marched through Prussia and completely drained
that country of its last resources. Napoleon deemed it un-
* Napoleon said at that time to a Russian, " Si vous perdez cinq
Russes, je ne perds qu'un Francais et quatre cochons."
I
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 311
necessary to take measures equal in severity towards Austria,
where the favour of the court seemed to be secured by bis
marriage, and the allegiance of the army by the presence of
Schwarzenberg, who neither rejected nor returned his con-
fidence. A rich compensation was, by a secret compact, se-
cured to Austria in case the cession of Gallicia should be neces-
sitated by the expected restoration of the kingdom of Poland,
with which Napoleon had long flattered the Poles, who, mis-
led by his promises, served him with the greatest enthusiasm.
But, notwithstanding the removal of the only obstacle, the
jealousy of Austria in regard to Gallicia, by this secret com-
pact, his promises remained unfulfilled, and he took possession
of the whole of Poland without restoring her ancient inde-
pendence. The petitions addressed to him on this subject by
the Poles received dubious replies, and he pursued towards
his unfortunate dupes his ancient system of dismembering and
intermingling nations, of tolerating no national unity. Napo-
leon's principal motive, howevei", was his expectation of com-
pelling the emperor by a well-aimed blow to conclude peace,
and of forming with him an alliance upon still more favour-
able terms against the rest of the European powers. The
friendship of Russia was of far more imjiort to him than all
the enthusiasm of the Poles.
The deep conviction harboured by Napoleon, of liis irre-
sistible power led him to repay every service and to regard
every antagonist with contempt. Confident of victory, he
deviated from the strict military discipline he had at one time
enforced and of which he had given an example in his own
person, dragged in his train a multitude of useless attendants
fitted but for pomp and luxury, permitted his marshals and
generals to do the same, and an incredible number of private
carriages, servants, women, etc., to follow in the rear of the
army, to hamper its movements, create confusion, and aid in
consuming the army stores, which being, moreover, merely
provided for a short campaign, speedily became insufficient for
the maintenance of the enormous mass. Even in Eastern
Prussia, numbers of the soldiery were constrained by want to
plunder the villages. On the 24th of June, 1812, Napo-
leon crossed the Niemen, the Russian frontier, not far from
Kowno. The season was already too far advanced. It may
be that, deceived by the mildness of the winter of 1806 to
312 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
1807, lie imagined it possible to protract the campaign with-
out peril to himself until the winter months. No enemy ap-
peared to oppose his progress. Barclay de Tolly,* ,the Rus-
sian commander-in-chief, pursued the system followed by the
Scythians against Darius, and, perpetually retiring before
the enemy, gradually drew him deep into the dreary and
deserted steppes. This plan originated with Scharnhorst,
by whom General Lieven was advised not to hazard an en-
gagement until the winter, and to turn a deaf ear to every
proposal of peaccf General Lieven, on reaching Barclay's
head-quarters, took Colonel Toll, a German, Barclay's right
hand, and Lieutenant-Colonel Clausewitz, also a German,
afterwards noted for his strategical works, into his con-
fidence. General PfuU, another German, at that time high
in the emperor's confidence, and almost all the Russian
generals opposed Scharnhorst's plan and continued to ad-
vance with a view of giving battle : but, on Napoleon's ap-
pearance at the head of an army greatly their superior in
number before the Russians had been able to concentrate
their forces, they were naturally compelled to retire before
him, and, on the prevention, for some weeks, of the junction
of a newly-levied Russian army under Prince Bragation
with the forces under Barclay, owing to the rapidity of Na-
poleon's advance, Scharnhorst's plan was adopted as the only
one feasible.
Napoleon, in the hope of overtaking the Russians and of
compelling them to give battle, pushed onwards by forced
marches ; the supplies were unable to follow, and numbers of
the men and horses sank from exhaustion owing to over-
fatigue, heat, and hunger.^ On the arrival of Napoleon in
Witebst, of Schwarzenberg in Yolhynia, of the Prussians
before Riga, the army might have halted, reconquered Poland
* This general, on the opening of the war, published a proclamatiou
to the Germans, summoning them to throw off the yoke of Napoleon. —
Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 327. Napoleon replied with, " Whom are you
addressing ? There are no Germans, there are only Austrians, Prussians,
Bavarians, etc." — All. Zeitung, No. 228.
t Vide Clausewitz's Works.
X At each encampment the men were left in such numbers in hastily
erected hospitals, that of thirty-eight thousand Bavarians, for instance,
but ten thousand, of sixteen thousand Wiirtembergers, but thirteen
hundred reached Smolensko.
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 313
have been organized, the men put into winter-quarters, the
army have again taken the field early in the spring, and the
conquest of Russia have been slowly but surely completed.
But Napoleon had resolved upon terminating the war in one
rapid campaign, upon defeating the Russians, seizing their
metropolis, and dictating terms of peace, and incessantly pur-
sued his retreating opponent, whose footsteps were marked
by the flames of the cities and villages and by the devastated
country to their rear. The first serious opposition Avas made at
Smolensko,* whence the Russians, however, speedily retreated
after setting the city on fire. On the same day, the Bavarians,
who had diverged to one side during their advance, had a
furious encounter, in which General Deroy, formerly dis-
tinguished for his services in the Tyrol, was killed, at Poloczk
with a body of Russian troops under Wittgenstein. The
Bavarians remained stationary in this part of the country for
the purpose of watching the movements of that general,
whilst Napoleon, cai-eless of the peril with which he was
threatened by the 'approach of winter and by the multitude
of enemies gathering to his rear, advanced with the main
body of the grand army from Smolensko across the wasted
country upon Moscow, the ancient metropolis of the Russian
empire.
Russia, at that time engaged in a war with Turkey, whose
frontiers were watched by an immense army under Kutusow,
used her utmost efix)rts, in which she was aided by England,
to conciliate the Porte in order to turn the whole of her
forces against Napoleon. By a master-stroke of political in-
trigue, f the Porte, besides concluding peace at Bucharest on
the 28th of May, ceded the province of Bessarabia (not Mol-
davia and Wallachia) to Russia. A Russian army under
* The Wiirtembergers distinguished themselves here by storming the
faubourgs and the bridges across the Dnieper.
t The Greek prince, IMoruzi, who at that time conducted Turkish
diplomacy, accepted a bribe, and concluded peace in the expectation of
becoming Prince of Moldavia and Wallachia. Sultan Mahmud refusing
to ratify this disgraceful treaty, gold was showered upon the Turkish
army, which suddenly dispersed, and the deserted sultan was compelled
to yield. Moruzi was deprived of his head, but the Russians had gained
their object. It must, moreover, be considered that Napoleon was re-
garded -svith distrust by the Porte, against whom he had fought in Egj^pt,
whom he had afterwards enticed into a war with Russia and had, by
the alliance formed at Erfurt with that power, abandoned.
814 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
Tschitschakow was now enabled to drive the Austrians out
of Volhynia, whilst a considerable force under Kutusow
joined Barclay. Had the Russians at this time hazarded an
engagement, their defeat was certain. Moscow could not
have been saved. Barclay consequently resolved not to come
to an engagement, but to husband his forces and to attack the
French during the winter. The intended surrender of Mos-
cow without a blow was, nevertheless, deeply resented as a
national disgrace ; the army and the people* raised a clamour,
the venerable Kutusow was nominated commander-in-chief,
and, taking up a position on the little river Moskwa near Bo-
rodino, about two days' journey from Moscow, a bloody en-
gagement took place there on the 7th of September, in wliich
Napoleon, in order to spare his guards, neglected to follow up
his advantage with his usual energy and allowed the de-
feated Russians, whom he might have totally amiihilated, to
escape. Napoleon triumphed ; but at what a price ! After
a fearful struggle, in which he lost forty thousand men in
killed and wounded, f the latter of whom perished almost to a
man, owing to want and neglect.|
Moscow was now both defenceless and void of inhabitants.
Napoleon traversed this enormous city, containing two hun-
dred and ninety-five churches and fifteen hundred palaces
rising from amid a sea of inferior dwellings, and took posses-
sion of the residence of the czars, the 14th of November,
1812, The whole city Avas, however, deserted, and scarcely
had the French army taken up its quarters in it than flames
burst from the empty and closely shut- up houses, and, ere
long, the whole of the immense city became a sea of fire and
was reduced, before Napoleon's eyes, to ashes. Every attempt
* Colonel Toll -^-as insulted during the discussion by Prince Braga-
tion for the firmness with which he upheld Scharnhorst's plan, and
avoided hazarding a useless engagement. Prince Bragation was killed
in the battle.
t A Russian redoubt, the key of the field of battle, was taken and
again lost. A Wiirtemberg regiment instantly pushed through the fugi-
tive French, retook the redoubt and retained possession of it. It also,
on this occasion, saved tlie life of the king of Naples and delivered him
out of the hands of the Russians, who had already taken him prisoner.
— Ten Campaigns of the Wurtenihergers.
X Every thing was wanting, lint, linen, even necessary food. The
wounded men lay for days and weeks under the open sky and fed upon
the carcasses of horses.
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 315
to extinguish the flames proved unavailing. Eostopchin, the
commandant of Moscow, had, previously to his retreat, put
combustible materials, which were ignited on the entrance of
the French by men secreted for that purpose, into the houses.*
A violent wind aided the work of destruction. The patriotic
sacrifice was performed, nor failed its object. Napoleon, in-
stead of peace and plenty, merely found ashes in Moscow.
Instead of pursuing the defeated Russians to Kaluga,
where, in pursuance of Toll's first laid-down plan, they took up
a position close upon the flank of the French and threatened
to impede their retreat ; instead of taking up his winter-quar-
ters in the fertile South or of quickly turning and fixing him-
self in Lithuania in order to collect reinforcements for the
ensuing year. Napoleon remained in a state of inaction at
Moscow until the 19th of October, in expectation of proposals
of peace from Alexander. The terms of peace offered by him
on his part to the Russians did not even elicit a reply. His
cavalry, already reduced to a great state of exhaustion, were, in
the beginning of October, surprised before the city of Tarutino
and repulsed with considerable loss. This at length decided
Napoleon upon marching upon Kaluga, but the moment for
success had ali'eady passed. The reinforced and inspirited
Russians made such a desperate resistance at Malo- Jaroslawez
that he resolved to retire by the nearest route, that by which
he had penetrated up the country, marked by ashes and pes-
tilential corpses, into Lithuania. Winter had not yet set in,
and his ranks were already thinned by famine.f Kutusow,
with the main body of the Russian army, pursued the retreat-
ing French and again overtook them at Wiazma, 3rd Novem-
ber. Napoleon's hopes now rested on the separate corps
d'armee left to his rear on his advance upon Moscow, but they
were, notwithstanding the defeat of Wittgenstein's corps by
the Bavarians under Wrede, kept in check by fresh Russian
armies and exposed to all the hon-ors of winter. J In Vol-
* This combustible matter had been prepared by Schraid, the Dutch-
man, under pretext of preparing an enormous balloon from -which fire was
to be scattered upon the French army.
t As early as the 2nd of November the remainder of the Wiirtem-
bergers tore off their colours and concealed them in their knapsacks. —
Roos's Memorabilia of 18 1*2.
X On the 18th of October, the Bavarians, who were intermixed with
Swiss, perfonned prodigies of valour, but were so reduced by sufferings
316 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
hynia, Scliwarzenberg had zealously endeavoured to — spare
his troops,* and had, by his retreat towards the grand-duchy
of Warsaw, left Tschitschakow at liberty to turn his arms
against Napoleon, against whom Wittgenstein also advanced
in the design of blocking up his route, whilst Kutusow inces-
santly assailed his flank and rear. On the 6th of November,
the frost suddenly set in. The horses died by thousands in a
single night ; the greater part of the cavalry was conse-
quently dismounted, and it was found necessary to abandon
part of the booty and artillery. A deep snow shortly after-
wards fell and obstructed the path of the fugitive army. The
frost became more and more rigorous ; but few of the men
had sufficient strength left to continue to carry their arms
and to cover the flight of the rest. Most of the soldiers
threw away their arms and merely endeavoured to preserve
of every description as to be unable to maintain Poloczk. Segur says
in his History of the War, that St. Cyr left Wrede's gallant conduct un-
mentioned in the military despatches, and that when, on St. Cyr's being
disabled by his wounds, Wrede applied for the chief command, which
naturally reverted to him, the army being almost entirely composed of
Bavarians, Napoleon refused his request. Vijlderndorf says in his Ba-
varian Campaigns, that St. Cyr faithlessly abandoned the I3avarians in
their utmost extremity, and when all peril was over returned to Poland in
order to retake the command. During the retreat from Poloczk he had
ordered the bridges to be pulled downi, leaving on the other side a Bava-
rian park of artillery with the army chest and two and twenty ensigns,
which for better security had been packed upon a carriage. The whole
of these trophies fell, owing to St. Cyr's negligence or ill-will, into the
hands of the Russians. " The Bavarians with difficulty concealed their
antipathy towards the French." On St. Cyr's flight, Wrede kept the
remainder of the Bavarians together, covered Napoleon's retreat, and, in
conjunction with the Westphalians and Hessians, stood another encounter
with the Russians at Wilna. Misery and Avant at length scattered his
forces; he, nevertheless, re-assembled them in Poland and was able to
place four thousand men, on St. Cyr's return, under his command. He
returned home to Bavaria sick. Of these four thousand Bavarians but
one thousand and fifty were led by Count Rechberg back to their natiA'e
soil. A great number of Bavarians, however, remained under General
ZoUer to garrison Thorn, and about fifteen hundred of them returned
home. At the passage of the Beresina, the Wiirtembergers had still
about eighty men under arms, and in Poland about three hundred assem-
bled, the only ones who returned free. Some were afterwards liberated
from imprisonment in Russia.
* This was Austria's natural policy. In the French despatches,
Schwarzenberg was charged with having allowed Tschitschakow to escape
in order to pursue the inconsiderable force under Sacken.
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 317
life. Napoleon's grand army was scattered over the boundless
snow-covered steppes, whose dreary monotony was solely
broken by some desolate half-burnt village. Gaunt forms of
famine, wan, hollow-eyed, wrapped in strange garments of
misery, skins, women's clothes, etc., and with long-grown
beards, dragged their faint and weary limbs along, fought for
a dead horse whose flesh was greedily torn from the carcass,
murdered each other for a morsel of bread, and fell one after
the other in the deep snow, never again to rise. Bones of
frozen corpses lay each morn around the dead ashes of the
night fires.* Numbei's were seen to spring, with a horrid cry
of mad exultation, into the flaming houses. Numbers fell into
the hands of the Russian boors, who stripped them naked and
chased them through the snow. Smolensk© was at length
reached, but the loss of the greater part of the cannon, the
want of ammunition and provisions, rendered their stay in
that deserted and half-consumed city impossible. The flight
was continued, the Russians incessantly pursuing and harass-
ing the worn-out troops, whose retreat was covered by Ney
with all the men still under arms. Cut off at Smolensko, he
escaped almost by miracle, by creeping during the night along
the banks of the Dnieper and successively repulsing the
several Russian corps that threw themselves in his way.f A
thaw now took place, and the Beresina, which it was neces-
sary to ci'oss, was full of drift ice, its banks were slippery and
impassable, and moreover commanded by Tschitschakow's
artillery, Avhilst the roar of cannon to the rear announced
Wittgenstein's approach. Kutusow had this time failed to
advance with sufficient rapidity, and Napoleon, the river to
his front and enclosed between the Russian armies, owed his
escape to the most extraordinary good luck. The corps darmee
under Oudinot and Victor, that had been left behind on his
* The following anecdote is related of the Hessians commanded by
Prince Emilius of Darmstadt. The prince had fallen asleep in the snow,
and four Hessian dragoons, in order to screen him from the north wind,
held their cloaks as a wall aroimd him and were found nest morning in
the same position — frozen to death. Dead bodies were seen frozen into
the most extraordinary positions, gnawing their own hands, gnawing
the torn corpses of their comrades. The dead were often covered with
snow, and the number of little heaps lying around alone told that of the
victims of a single night.
t Napoleon said, "There are two hundred millions lying in the cellars
of the Tuilleries ; how willingly would I give them to save Ney I "
318 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.
advance upon Moscow, came at the moment of need with fresh
troops to his aid. Tschitschakow quitted the bank at the spot
where Napoleon intended to make the passage of the Beresina
under an idea of the attempt being made at another point.
Napoleon instantly threw two bridges across the stream, and
all the able-bodied men crossed in safety. At the moment
when the bi'idges, that had several times given way, were
choked up by the countless throng bringing up the rear,
Wittgenstein appeared and directed his heavy artillery upon
the motionless and unarmed crowd. Some regiments, form-
ing the rear-guard, fell, together with all still remaining on
the other side of the river, into the hands of the Russians.
The fugitive army was, after this fearful day, relieved, but
the temperature again fell to twenty-seven degrees below
zero, and the stoutest hearts and frames sank. On the 5th of
December, Napoleon, placing himself in a sledge, hurried in
advance of his army, nay, preceded the news of liis disaster,
in order at all events to insure his personal safety and to pass
through Germany before measures could be taken for his
capture.* His fugitive army shortly afterwards reached
Wilna, but was too exhausted to maintain that position.
Enormous magazines, several prisoners, and the rest of the
booty, besides six million francs in silver money, fell here into
the hands of the Russians. Part of the fugitives escaped to
Dantzig, but few crossed the Oder ; the Saxons under Rey-
nier were routed and dispersed in a last engagement at Ca-
lisch ; Poniatowsky and the Poles retired to Cracow on the
Austrian frontier, as it were, protected by Schwarzenberg, who
remained unassailed by the Russians, and whose neutrality
was, not long afterwards, formally recognised.
The Prussians, who had been, meanwhile, occupied with
* He passed with extreme rapidity, incognito, through Germany. In
Dresden he had a short interview with tlie king of Saxony, who, had he
shut him up at Konigstein, would have saved Europe a good deal of
trouble. Napoleon no sooner reached Paris in safety than, in his
twenty-ninth bulletin, he, for the first time, acquainted the astonished
world, hitherto deceived by his false accounts of victory, with the dis-
astrous termination of the campaign. This bulletin was also replete with
falsehood and insolence. In his contempt of humanity he even said,
" Merely the cowards in the army were depressed in spirit and dreamed
of misfortune, the brave were ever cheerful." Thus wrote the man who
had both seen and caused all this immeasurable misery ! The bulletin
concluded with, " His Imperial Majesty never enjoyed better health."
THE SPRING OF 1813. 319
the unsuccessful siege of Riga, and who, like the Austrians,
had comparatively husbanded their strength,* were now the
only hope of the fugitive French. The troops under Mac-
donald, accordingly, received orders to cover the retreat of the
grand army, but York, instead of obeying, concluded a neutral
treaty with the Russians commanded by Diebitsch of Silesia
and remained stationary in Eastern Prussia. The king of
Prussia, at that time stiU at Berlin and in the power of the
French, publiclyf disapproved of the step taken by his general, J
who was, on the evacuation of Berlin by the French, as pub-
licly rewarded.
The immense army of the conqueror of the world was
totally annihilated. Of those who entered Moscow scarcely
twenty thousand, of the half million of men Avho crossed the
Russian frontier but eighty thousand, returned.
CCLX. The spring 0/ 1813.
The king of Prussia had suddenly abandoned Berlin, which
was still in the hands of the French, for Breslau, whence he
* In the French despatches, General Hiinerbein was accused of not
having pursued the Russians under General Lewis.
t The secret history of those days is still not sufficiently brought to
light. Bignon speaks of fresh treaties between Hardenberg and Napo-
leon, in which he is corroborated by Fain. These two Frenchmen, the
former of whom was a diplomatist, the other one of Napoleon's private
secretaries, admit that Prussia's object at that time was to take advan-
tage of Napoleon's embarrassment and to offer him aid on certain im-
portant considerations. Prussian historians are silent in this matter. In
Von Rauschnik's biographical account of Bliicher, the great internal
schism at that time caused in Prussia by the Hardenberg party and that
of the Tugendbund is merely slightly hinted at; the former still managed
diplomatic affairs, whilst York, a member of the latter, had already acted on
his ovm rasponsibility. Shortly afterwards, affairs took a different aspect,
as if Hardenberg's diplomacy had merely been a mask, and he placed
himself at the head of the movement against France. In a memorial of
1811, given by Hormayr in the Sketches from the War of Liberation, Har-
denberg declared decisively in favour of the alliance with Russia against
France.
X Hans Louis David von York, a native of Pomerania, having ventured,
when a lieutenant in the Prussian service, indignantly to blame the base
conduct of one of his superiors in command, became implicated in a
duel, was confined in a fortress, abandoned his country, entered the
Dutch service, visited the Cape and Ceylon, fought against the Mahrattas,
was wounded, returned home and re-entered the Prussian service in 1794.
320 THE SPRING OF 1813.
declared war against France. A conference also took place
between him and the emperor Alexander at Calisch, and, on
the 28th of February, 1813, an offensive and defensive alli-
ance was concluded between them. The hour for vengeance
had at length arrived. The whole Prussian nation, eager to
throw off the hated yoke of the foreigner, to oblitei*ate their
disgrace in 1806, to regain their ancient name, cheerfully
hastened to place their lives and property at the service of
the impoverished government. The whole of the able-bodied
population was put under arms. The standing army was in-
creased : to each regiment were appended troops of volunteers,
Jcegers, composed of young men belonging to the higher
classes, Avho furnished their own equipments : a numerous
Landwehr, a sort of militia, was, as in Austria, raised be-
sides the standing ai-my, and measures were even taken to
call out, in case of necessity, the heads of families and elderly
men remaining at home, under the name of the Landsturm*
The enthusiastic people, besides furnishing the customary
supplies and paying the taxes, contributed to the full extent of
their means towards defraying the immense expense of this
general arming. Every heart throbbed high with pride and
hope. Who would not wish to have lived at such a period,
when man's noblest and highest energies were thus called
forth I ]More loudly than even in 1809 in Austria Avas
the German cause now discussed, the great name of tlie Ger-
man empire now invoked in Prussia, for in that name alone
could all the races of Germany be united against their here-
ditary foe. The celebrated proclamation, promising external
and internal liberty to Germany, was, with this view, pub-
lished at Calisch by Prussia and Russia, f Nor was the ap-
* Literally, the general levy of the people. — Translator.
t The folloAving proclamation was published at Calisch on the 25tli
of March, 1813, was signed by Prince Kutiisow and dra^vTi up by Baron
Rehdiger of Silesia.
" The victorious troops of Russia together \\\\X\ those of his Majesty
the king of Prussia havhig set foot on German soil, the emperor of Rus-
sia and his Majesty the king of Prussia announce simultaneously the
return of liberty and independence to the princes and nations of Ger-
many. They come with the sole and sacred purpose of aiding them to
regain the hereditary and inalienable national rights of which they have
been deprived, to afford potent protection and to seciure durability to a
newly-restored empire. This great object, free from every interested
motive and therefore alone worthy of their Majesties, has solely induced
THE SPRING OF 1813. 321
peal vain. It found an echo in every German heart, and
such plain demonstrations of the state of the popular feeling
on this side the Rhine were made, that Davoust sent serious
warning to Napoleon, who contemptuously replied, " Pah !
Germans never can become Spaniards ! " With his cus-
the advance and solely guides the movements of their armies. These
armies, led by generals under the eyes of both monarchs, U-ust in an
omnipotent, just God, and hope to free the whole world and Germany
irrevocably from the disgi-aceful yoke they have so gloriously thrown off.
They press forward animated by enthusiasm. Their watch-word is, Hon-
our and Liberty. May every German, wishful to prove himself worthy
of the name, speedily and spiritedly join their ranks : may every indi-
vidual, whether prince, noble, or citizen, aid the plans of liberation,
formed by Russia and Prussia, with heart and soul, with person and
property, to the last drop of their blood ! The expectation cherished
by their Majesties of meeting with these sentiments, this zeal, in every
German heart, they deem warranted by the spirit so clearly betokened
by the victories gained by Russia over the enslaver of the world.
They therefore demand faithful co-operation, more especially from every
German prince, and willingly presuppose that none among them will be
found, who, by being and remaining apostate to the German cause, will
prove himself deserving of annihilation by the power of public opinion
and of just arms. The Rhenish alliance, that deceitful chain lately cast
by the breeder of universal discord around ruined Germany to the de-
struction of her ancient name, can, as the effect of foreign tyranny and
the tool of foreign influence, be no longer tolerated. Their Majesties
believe that the declaration of the dissolution of this alliance being their
fixed intention will meet the long-harboured and universal desire with
difficulty retained within the sorrowing hearts of the people. The
relation in which it is the intention of his Majesty, tlie emperor of all the
Russias, to stand towards Germany and towards her constitution is, at
the same time, here declared. From his desire to see the influence of
the foreigner destroyed, it can be no other than that of placing a protect-
ing hand on a work whose form is committed to the free, unbiassed will
of the princes and people of Germany. The more closely this work,
in its principle, features, and outline, coincides with the once distinct
character of the German nation, the more surely will united Germany
again retake her place with renovated and redoubled vigour among the
empires of Europe His Majesty and his ally, between whom there
reigns a perfect accordance in the sentiments and views hereby explained,
are at all times ready to exert their utmost power in pursuance of their
sacred aim, the liberation of Germany from a foreign yoke. May
France, strong and beauteous in herself, henceforward seek to consolidate
her internal prosperity ! No external power will disturb her internal
peace, no enemy will encroach upon her rightful frontiers. But may
France also learn that the other powers of Europe aspire to the attain-
ment of durable repose for their subjects, and will not lay down their
arms imtil the independence of every state in Europe shall have been
firmly secured."
322 THE SPRING OF 1813.
tomaiy rapidity, he levied in France a fresh army three hun-
dred thousand strong, with which he so completely awed the
Rhenish confederation as to compel it once more to take the
field with thousands of Germans against their brother Ger-
mans. The troops, however, reluctantly obeyed, and even
the traitors were but lukewarm, for they doubted of success.
Mecklenburg alone sided with Prussia. Austria remained
neutral.
A Russian corps under General Tettenborn had preceded
the rest of the troops and reached the coasts of the Bal-
tic. As early as the 24th of March, 1813, it appeared in
Hamburg and expelled the French authorities from the city.
The heavily oppressed people of Hamburg,* whose commerce
had been totally annihilated by the continental system, gave
way to the utmost demonstrations of delight, received their
deliverers with open arms, revived their ancient rights, and
immediately raised a Hanseatic corps, destined to take the
field against Napoleon. Dornberg, the ancient foe to France,
with another flying squadron took the French division under
Morand prisoner, and the Prussian, Major Hellwig, (the same
who, in 1806, liberated the garrison of Erfurt,) dispersed,
with merely one hundred and twenty hussars, a Bavarian
regiment one thousand three hundred strong and captured
five pieces of artillery. In January, the peasantry of the
upper country had already revolted against the conscription,f
and, in February, patriotic proclamations had been dissemin-
* The exasperation of the people had risen to the utmost pitch. The
French rascals in office, especially the custom-house officers, set no
bounds to their tj'ranny and licence. No woman of -whatever rank was
allowed to pass the gates without being subjected to the most indecent
inquisition. Goods that had long been redeemed were continually taken
from the tradesmen's shops and confiscated. The arbitrary enrolment of
a number of young men as conscripts at length produced an insurrection,
in which the guard-houses, etc. were destroyed. It was, however,
quelled by General St. Cyr, and six of the citizens were executed. On
the approach of the Russians, St. Cyr fled with the whole of his troops.
The bookseller Perthes, Prell, and von Hess, formed a civic guard. —
Von Hess's Agonies.
t The people rose en masse at Ronsdorf, Solingen, and Barmen, and
marched tumultuously to Elberfeld, the great manufacturing town, but
were dispersed by the French troops. The French authorities after-
wards declared that the sole object of the revolt was to smuggle in
English goods, and, under this pretext, seized all the foreign goods in
Elberfeld.
THE SPRING OF 1813. 323
ated throughout Westphalia under the signature of the Baron
von Stein. In this month, also, Captain Maas and two other
patriots, who had attempted to raise a rebellion, were ex-
ecuted. As the army advanced, Stein was nominated chief
of the provisional government of the still unconquered
provinces of Western Germany.
The first Russian army, seventeen thousand strong, under
Wittgenstein, pushed forward to Magdeburg, and, at Mokern,
repulsed forty thousand French, who were advancing upon
Berlin. The Prussians, under their veteran general, Bliicher,
entered Saxony and garrisoned Dresden, on the 27th of March,
1813, after an arch of the fine bridge across the Elbe having
been uselessly blown up by the French. Bliicher, whose
gallantry in the former wars had gained for him the general
esteem, and whose kind and generous disposition had won the
afiection of the soldiery, was nominated generalissimo of the
Prussian forces, but subordinate in command to W^ittgenstein,
who replaced Kutusow * as generalissimo of the united forces
of Russia and Prussia. The emperor of Russia and the king
of Prussia accompanied the army and were received Avith
loud acclamations by the people of Dresden and Leipzig. The
allied army was merely seventy thousand strong, and Bliicher
had not formed a junction with Wittgenstein, when Napoleon
invaded the country by Erfurt and Merseburg at the head of
one hundi'ed and sixty thousand men. Ney attacked, with
forty thousand men, the Russian vanguard under Winzinge-
rode, which, after gallantly defending a defile near Weissen-
fels, made an orderly retreat before forces far their superior in
number. The French, on this occasion, lost Marshal Bessieres.
Napoleon, incredulous of attack, marched in long columns
upon Leipzig, and Wittgenstein, falling upon his right flank,
committed great havoc among the forty thousand men under
Ney, which he had first of all encountered, at Gross-Gcirschen.
This place was alternately lost and regained owing to his ill-
judged plan of attack by single brigades, instead of breaking
Napoleon's lines by charging them at once with the whole of
his forces. The young Prussian volunteers here measured
their strength in a murderous conflict, hand to hand, with the
young French conscripts, and excited by their martial spirit
* Kutusow had, just at that conjuncture, expired at Bautzen.
Y 2
324 THE SPRING OF 1813.
the astonishment of the veterans. Wittgenstein's delay and
Bliicher's too late arrival on the field* gave Napoleon time
to wheel his long lines round and to encircle the allied forces,
which immediately retired. On the eve of the bloody en-
gagement of the 2nd of May, the allied cavalry attempted a
general attack in the dark, which was also unsuccessful on
account of the superiority of the enemies' forces. The allies
had, nevertheless, captured some cannons, the French, none.
The most painful loss was that of the noble Scharnhorst, who
was mortally wounded. Billow had, on the same day, stormed
Halle -with a Prussian corps, but was now compelled to re-
solve upon a retreat, which was conducted in the most orderly
manner by the allies. At Koldiz, the Prussian rear-guard
repulsed the French van in a bloody engagement on the oth
of May. The allies marched through Dresden f and took up
a firm position in and about Bautzen after being joined by a
reinforcement of eighty thousand Bavarians. Napoleon was
also reinforced by a number of French, Bavarian, WUrtem-
berg, and Saxon troops,:j: and despatched Lauriston and Ney
towards Berlin ; but the former encountering the Russians
under Barclay de Tolly at Konigswartha, and the latter the
Prussians under York at Weissig, both were constrained to
retreat. Napoleon attacked the position at Bautzen from the
19th to the 21st of May, but was gloi'iously repulsed by the
Prussians under Kleist, whilst Bliicher, who was in danger
of being completely surrounded, undauntedly defended him-
* The nature of the ground rendered a night march impossible. The
Russian, Michaelofski Danilefski, however, throws the blame upon an
officer in Bliicher's head-quarters, who laid the important orders com-
mitted to his charge under his pillow and overslept himself.
f It may here be mentioned as a remarkable characteristic of those
times, that Goethe, Ernest Maurice Arndt, and Theodore Korner at that pe-
riod met at Dresden. The youthful Korner, a volunteer Jfeger, was the
Tyrtaeus of those days : his military songs were universally sung ; his
father also expressed great enthusiasm. Gcethe said almost angrily,
"Well, well, shake your chains, the man (Napoleon) is too strong for
you, you will not break them ! " — E. M. Arndt' s Reminiscences.
X " Unfortunately there were German pi-inces who, even this time,
again sent their troops to swell the ranks of the oppressor ; Austria had,
unfortunately, not yet concluded her preparations ; consequently, it was
only possible to clog the advance of the conqueror by a gallant resistance. —
Clauseioitz. The Bavarians stood under Raglowich, the Wiirtembergera
under Franquemont, the Saxons under Reynier. There was also a con-
tingent of Westphalians and Badeners.
THE SPEING OF 1813. 325
self on three sides. The allies lost not a cannon, not a single
prisoner, although again compelled to retire before the supe-
rior forces of the enemy. The French had suffered an im-
mense loss ; eighteen thousand of their wounded were sent to
Dresden. Napoleon's favourite. Marshal Duroc, and General
Kirchner, a native of Alsace, were killed, close to his side, by
a cannon ball. The allied troops, forced to retire after an ob-
stinate encounter, neither fled nor dispersed, but withdrew in
close column and repelling each successive attack.* The
French avant-garde under Maison Avas, when in close pursuit of
the allied force, almost entirely cut to pieces by the Prussian
cavalry, who unexpectedly fell upon them at Heinau. The
main body of the Russo-Prussian army, on entering Silesia,
took a slanting direction towards the Riesengebirge and
retired behind the fortress of Schweidnitz. In this strong
position they were at once partially secure from attack,
and, by their vicinity to the Bohemian frontier, enabled to
keep up a communication, and, if necessary, to form a junction
with the Austrian forces. The whole of the lowlands of
Silesia lay open to the French, who entered Breslau on the
1st of June.f Berlin was also merely covered by a compara-
tively weak army under General Biilow,| who, notwithstand-
ing the check given by him to Marshal Oudinot in the battles
of Hoyerswerda and Luckau, was not in sufficient force to
offer assistance to the main body of the French in case Napo-
leon chose to pass through Berlin on his way to Poland. Na-
* Bliicher exclaimed on this occasion, " He 's a rascally fellow that
dares to say we fly." Even Fain, the Frenchman, confesses in his manu-
script of 1813, in which he certainly does not favour the Germans : " The
best Marshals, as it were, killed by spent balls. Great victories with-
out trophies. All the villages on our route in flames which obstructed
our advance. ' What a war ! We shall all fall victims to it ! ' are the
disgraceful expressions uttered by many, for the iron hearts of the war-
riors of France are rust-grown." Napoleon exclaimed after the battle,
" How ! no result after such a massacre ? No prisoners ? They leave
me not even a nail ! " Duroc's death added to the catastrophe. Napo-
leon was so struck that for the first time in his life he could give no
orders, but deferred every thing until the morrow.
t But they merely encamped in the streets, showed themselves more
anxious than threatening, and were seized with a terrible panic on a sud-
den conflagration breaking out during the night, which they mistook for a
signal to bring the Landsturm upon them. And yet there were thirty
thousand French in the city. How different to their spirit in 1807 !
X Brother to the unfortunate Henry von Biilow.
326 THE SPRING OF 1813.
poleon, however, did not as yet venture to make use of his
advantage. By the seizure of Prussia and Poland, both of
which lay open to him, the main body of the allied array and
the Austrians, Avho had not yet declared themselves, would
have been left to the rear of his right flank and could easily
have cut off his retreat. His troops, principally young con-
scripts, were moreover worn out with fatigue, nor had the
whole of his reinforcements arrived. To his rear was a mul-
titude of bold partisans, Tettenborn, the Hanseatic legion,
CzernitschefF, who, at Halberstadt, captured General Ochs to-
gether with the whole of the Westphalian corps and fourteen
pieces of artillery, Colomb, the Herculean captain of horse,
who took a convoy and twenty-four guns at Zwickau, and
the Black Prussian squadron under Liitzow. Napoleon con-
sequently remained stationary, and, with a view of completing
his preparations and of awaiting the decision of Austria, de-
manded an armistice, to which the allies, whose force was still
incomplete and to whom the decision of Austria was of equal
importance, gladly assented.
On this celebrated armistice, concluded on the 4th of June,
1813, at the village of Pleisswitz, the fote of Europe was to
depend. To the side that could raise the most powerful force,
that on which Austria ranged herself, numerical superiority
insured success. Napoleon's power was still terrible ; fresh
victory had obhterated the disgrace of his flight from Russia ;
he stood once more an invincible leader on German soil. The
Fi'ench were animated by success and blindly devoted to their
emperor. Italy and Denmark were prostrate at his feet.
The Rhenish confederation was also foithful to his standard.
Counsellor Crome published at Giessen, in obedience to Na-
poleon's mandate and with the knowledge of tlie government
at Darmstadt, a pamphlet entitled " Gei'many's Crisis and Sal-
vation," in which he declared that Germany was saved by the
fresh victories of Napoleon, and promised mountains of gold
to the Germans if they remained true to him.* Crome was
* Crome was afterwards barefaced enough to boast of this work in
his Autobiography, published in 1833. Napoleon dictated the funda-
mental ideas of this work to him from his head-quarters. His object
was to pacify the Germans. He promised them henceforward to desist
from enforcing his continental system, to restore liberty to commerce, no
longer to force the laws and language of France upon Germany. L'em-
pereur se fera aimer des Allemands. The Germans were, on the other
THE SPRIXG OF 1813. 327
at that time graciously thanked in autograph letters by the
sovereigns of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg. Liitzow's volunteer
corps was, dui-ing the armistice, surprised at Kitzen by a su-
perior corps of Wiirtembergers under Normann and cut to
pieces. Germans at that period opposed Germans without
any feeling for their common fatherland.* The king of Sax-
ony, who had already repaired to Prague under the protection
of Austria, also returned thence, was received at Dresden
with extreme magnificence by Napoleon, and, in fresh token
of amity, ceded the fortress of Torgau to the French. f These
occurrences caused the Saxon minister, Senfft von Pilsach,
and the Saxon general, Thielmann, who had already devoted
themselves to the German cause, to resign oflice. The Polish
army under Prince Poniatowsky (vassal to the king of Sax-
ony, who was also grand-duke of Warsaw) received permis-
sion (it had at an earlier period fallen back upon Schwarzen-
berg) to march, unarmed, through the Austrian territory to
Dresden, in order to join the main body of the French under
Napoleon. The declaration of the emperor of Austria in
favour of his son-in-law, who, moreover, was lavish of his
promises, and, among other things, offered to restore Silesia,
was, consequently, at the opening of the armistice, deemed
certain.
The armistice was, meanwhile, still more beneficial to the
allies. The Russians had time to concentrate their scattered
troops, the Prussians completed the equipment of their nu-
merous Landwehre7i, and the Swedes also took the field.
Bernadotte landed on the 18th of May in Pomerania, and
advanced with his troops into Brandenburg for the purpose,
in conjunction with Biilow, of covering Berlin. A German
hand, -warned that the allies had no intention to render Germany free
and independent, they being much more interested in retaining Germany
in a state of division and subjection. The unity of Germany, it was also
declared, was alone possible under Napoleon, etc.
* This arose from hatred to the party that dared to uphold the Ger-
man cause instead of a Prussian, Saxon, etc. one, and by no means by
chance, but, as Manso remarks, intentionally, " through low cunning
and injustice."
t The king of Saxony was, in return, insulted by Napoleon, in an
address to the ministers termed une veille hete, and compelled to coun-
tenance immoral theatrical performances by his presence, a sin for which
he each evening received absolution from his confessor. Vide Stein's
Letter to Jliinster in the Sketches of the War of Liberation.
328 THE SPRING OF 1813.
auxiliary corps, in the pay of England, was also formed,
under Wallmoden, on the Baltic. The defence of Hamburg
was extremely easy ; but the base intrigues of foreigners,
who, as during the time of the thirty years' war, paid them-
selves for their aid by the seizure of German provinces and
towns, delivered that splendid city into the hands of the
French. Bernadotte had sold himself to Russia for the price
of Norway, which Denmark refused to cede unless Hamburg
and Liibeck were given in exchange. This agreement had
already been made by Prince Dolgorucki in the name of the
emperor Alexander, and Tettenborn yielded Hamburg to the
Danes, who marched in under pretext of protecting the city
and were received with delight by the unsuspecting citizens.
The non-advance of the Swedes proceeded from the same
cause. The increase of the Danish marine by means of the
Hanse-tovvns, however, proved displeasing to England : the
whole of the commerce was broken up, and the Danes, hastily
resolving to maintain faith with Napoleon, delivered luckless
Hamburg to the French, who instantly took a most terrible
revenge. Davoust, as he himself boasted, merely sent twelve
German patriots to execution,* but expelled twenty-five
thousand of the inhabitants from the city, whilst he pulled
down their houses and converted them into fortifications, at
which the principal citizens were compelled to work in person.
Dissatisfied, moreover, with a contribution of eighteen mil-
lions, he robbed the great Hamburg bank, treading under-foot
every private and national right, all, as he, miserable slave as
he was,f declared, in obedience to the mandate of his lord.
Austria, at first, instead of aiding the allies, allowed the
Poles I to range themselves beneath the standard of Napoleon,
whom she overwhelmed with protestations of friendship,
* He also said, like his master, " I know of no Germans, I only know
of Bavarians, Wiirtembergers, Westphalians, etc."
t His -wTitten defence, in which he so 13'ingly, so humbly and mourn-
fully exculpates himself that one really " compassionates the devil," is a
sort of satisfaction for the Germans.
X Poniatowsky's dismissal with the Polish army from Poland was
apparently a service rendered to Napoleon, but was in reality done with
a view of disarming Poland. Poniatowsky might have organized an in-
surrection to the rear of the allies, and would in that case have been far
more dangerous to them than when ranged beneath the standard of
Napoleon.
THE SPRING, OF 1813. 329
which served to mask her real intentions, and meanwhile gave
her time to arm herself to the teeth and to make the allies
sensible of the fact of their utter impotency against Napoleon
unless aided by her. The interests of Austria favoured her
alliance A\'ith France, but Napoleon, instead of confidence, in-
spired mistrust. Austria, notwithstanding the marriage be-
tween him and Marie Louise, was, as had been shown at the
congress of Dresden, merely treated as a tributary to France,
and Napoleon's ambition offered no guarantee to the ancient
imperial dynasty. There was no security that the provinces
bestowed in momentary reward for her alliance must not, on
the first occasion, be restored. Nor was public opinion en-
tirely without weight.* Napoleon's star was on the wane,
whole nations stood like to a dark and ominous cloud threat-
ening on the horizon, and Count ISIetternich prudently chose
rather to attempt to guide the storm ere it burst than trust to
a falling star. Austria had, as early as the 27th of June,
1813, signed a treaty, at Eeichenbach in Silesia, with Russia
and Prussia, by which she bound herself to declare war against
France, in case Napoleon had not, before the 20th of July, ac-
cepted the terms of peace about to be proposed to him. Already
had the sovereigns and generals of Russia and Prussia sketch-
ed, during a conference held with the crown-prince of Sweden,
the 11th July, at Trachenberg, the plan for the approaching
campaign, and, with the permission of Austria, assigned to her
* The people in Austria fully sympathized with passing events. How
could those be apathetic who had such a burthen of disgrace to redeem,
such deep revenge to satisfy ? An extremely popular song contained the
following lines :
" Awake, Franciscus ! Hark ! thy people call !
Awake ! acknowledge the avenger's hand !
Still groans beneath the foreign courser's hoof
The soil of Germany, our fatherland.
To arms ! so long as sacred Germany
Feels but a finger of Napoleon.
Franciscus ! up ! Cast off each private tie !
The patriot has no kindred, has no son."
All the able-bodied men, as in Prussia, crowded beneath the imperial
standard and the whole empire made the most patriotic sacrifices. Hun-
gary summoned the whole of her male population, the insurrection, as it
was termed, to the field.
330 THE SPJIING OF 1813.
the part she was to take as one of the allies against Napoleon,
when Metternich again visited Dresden in person for the pur-
pose of repeating his assurances of amity, for the armistice
had but just commenced, to Napoleon. The French emperor
had an indistinct knowledge of the transactions then passing,
and bluntly said to the Count, " As you wish to mediate, you
are no longer on my side." He hoped partly to win Austria
over by I'edoubling his promises, partly to terrify her by the
dread of the future preponderance of Russia, but, perceiving
how Metternich evaded him by his artful diplomacy, he sud-
denly asked him, " Well, Metternich, how much has England
given you in order to engage you to play this part towards
me ?" This trait of insolence towards an antagonist of whose
superiority he felt conscious, and of masking the most deadly
hatred beneath a show of contempt, was peculiarly charisteristic
of the Corsican, who, besides the qualities of the lion, fully
possessed those of the cat. Napoleon let his hat drop in order
to see Avhether Metternich would raise it. He did not, and
war was resolved upon. A pretended congress for the con-
clusion of peace was again arranged by both sides ; by Napo-
leon, in order to escape the reproach cast upon him of an in-
surmountable and eternal desire for war, and by the allies, in
order to prove to the whole world their desire for peace. Each
side was, however, fully aware that the palm of peace was
alone to be found on the other side of the battle-field. Napo-
leon was generous in his concessions, but delayed to grant full
powers to his envoy, an opportune circumstance for the aUies,
who were by this means able to charge him with the whole
blame of procrastination. Napoleon, in all his concessions,
merely included Russia and Austria to the exclusion of Prus-
sia.* But neither Russia nor Austria trusted to his promises,
and the negotiations were broken oiF on the termination of the
armistice, when Napoleon sent full powers to his plenipoten-
tiary. Now, was it said, it is too late. The art with which
Metternich passed from the alliance with Napoleon to neu-
* Russia was to receive the -whole of Poland, the grand-duchy of
Warsaw was to be annihihited. Such was Napoleon's gratitude towards
the Poles ! — Illyria was to be restored to Austria. Prussia, however,
was not only to be excluded from all participation in the spoil, but the
Rhenish confederation was to be extended as far as the Oder. Prussia
would have been compelled to pay the expenses of the alliance between
France, Russia, and Austria.
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 331
trality, to mediation, and finally to the coalition against him,
will, in every age, be acknowledged a master-piece of diplo-
macy. Austria, whilst coalescing with Russia and Prussia,
in a certain degree assumed a rank conventionally superior
to both. The whole of the allied armies was placed under the
command of an Austrian general, Prince von Schwarzenberg,
and if the proclamation published at Calisch had merely
summoned the people of Germany to assert their independ-
ence, the manifesto of Count ^Metternich spoke ah-eady in the
tone of the future regulator of the affairs of Europe.* Aus-
tria declared herself on the 12th of August, 1813, two days
after the termination of the armistice.
CCLXI. The battle of Leipzig.
Immediately after this — for all had been previously ar-
ranged — the monarchs of Russia and Prussia passed the Rie-
sengebirge with a division of their forces into Bohemia, and
joined the emperor Francis and the great Austrian army at
Prague. The celebrated general, Moreau, who had returned
from America, where he had hitherto dwelt incognito, in order
to take up arms against Napoleon, was in the train of the
czar. His example, it was hoped, would induce many of his
countrymen to abandon Napoleon. The plan of the allies
was to advance, with their main body under Schwarzenberg,
consisting of one hundred and twenty thousand Austrians and
seventy thousand Russians and Prussians, through the Erzge-
birge to Napoleon's rear. A lesser Prussian force, principally
Silesian Landwehr, under BlUcher, eighty thousand strong,
besides a small Russian corps, was, meanwhile, to cover
Silesia, or, in case of an attack by Napoleon's main body, to
* "Every where, " said this manifesto, "do the impatient mshes of
the people anticipate the regular proceedings of the government. On all
sides, the desire for independence under separate laws, the feeling of
insulted nationality, rage against the hea^-^' abuses inflicted by a foreign
tyrant burst simultaneously forth. His Majesty the emperor, too clear-
sighted not to view this turn in affairs as the natural and necessary result
of a preceding and violent state of exaggeration, and too just to view it
with displeasure, had rendered it his prmcipal object to turn it to the
general advantage, and, by well-weighed and well-combined measures,
to promote the true and lasting interests of the whole commonwealtli of
Europe."
332 THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.
retire before it and draw it further eastward. A third di-
\'ision, under the crown-prince of Sweden, principally Swedes,
with some Prussian troops, mostly Pomeranian and Branden-
burg Landwehr under Billow, and some Russians, in all
ninety thousand men, was destined to cover Berlin, and in
case of a victory to form a junction to Napoleon's rear with
the main body of tlie allied army. A still lesser and equally
mixed division under Wallmoden, thirty thousand strong, was
destined to watch Davoust in Hamburg, whilst an Austrian
corps of twenty-five thousand men under Prince Reuss
watched the movements of the Bavarians, and another
Austrian force of forty thousand, under Hiller, those of the
viceroy Eugene in Italy.
Napoleon had concentrated his main body, tliat still con-
sisted of two hundred and fifty thousand men, in and around
Dresden. Davoust received orders to advance with thirty
thousand men from Hamburg upon Berlin ; in Bavaria, there
were thirty thousand men under Wrede ; in Italy, forty thou-
sand under Eugene. The German fortresses were, moreover,
strongly garrisoned with French troops. Napoleon had it in
his power to throw himself with his main body, which neither
Bliicher nor the Swedes could have withstood, into Poland,
to levy the people en masse and render that country the
theatre of war, but the dread of the defection of the Rhenish
confederation and of a part of the French themselves, were
the country to his rear to be left open to the allies and to
Moreau, coupled with his disinclination to declare the inde-
pendence of Poland, owing to a lingering hope of being still
able to bring about a reconciliation with Russia and Austria
by the sacrifice of that country and of Prussia, caused that
idea to be renounced, and he accordingly took up a defensive
position with his main body at Dresden, whence he could
watch the proceedings and take advantage of any indiscretion
on the part of his opponents. A body of ninety thousand
men under Oudinot meantime acted on the offensive, being-
directed to advance, simultaneously with Davoust from Ham-
burg and with Girard from Magdeburg, upon Berlin, and to
take possession of that metropolis. Napoleon hoped, when
master of the ancient Prussian provinces, to be able to sup-
press German enthusiasm at its source and to induce Russia
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 333
and Austria to conclude a separate peace at the expense of
Prussia.
In August, 1813, the tempest of war broke loose on every
side, and all Europe prepared for a decisive struggle. About
this time, the whole of Northern Germany was visited for
some weeks, as was the case on the defeat of Varus in the
Teutobarg forest, -oath heavy rains and violent storms. The
elements seemed to combine, as in Russia, their efforts with
those of man against Napoleon. There his soldiers fell vic-
tims to frost and snow, here they sank into the boggy soil and
were carried away by the swollen rivers. In the midst of
the uproar of the elements, bloody engagements continually
took place, in which the bayonet and the butt-end of the fire-
lock were almost alone used, the muskets being rendered un-
serviceable by the wet. The first engagement of importance
was that of the 21st of August between Wallmoden and
Davoust at Vellahn. A few days afterwards, Theodore
Korner, the youthful poet and hero, fell in a skirmish between
the French and Wallmoden's outpost at Gadebusch.
Oudinot advanced close upon BerUn, which was protected by
the crown-prince of Sweden. A murderous conflict took
place, on the 23rd of August, at Gross-Beeren between the
Prussian division under General von Biilow and the French.
The Swedes, a ti'oop of horse artillery alone excepted, were
not brought into action, and the Prussians, unaided, repulsed
the greatly superior forces of the French. The almost un-
trained peasantry comprising the Landwehr of the Mai'k and
of Pomerania rushed upon the enemy, and, unhabituated to
the use of the bayonet and the fire-lock, beat down entire
battalions of the French with the butt-end of their muskets.
After a frightful massacre, the French were utterly routed
and fled in wild disorder, but the gallant Prussians vainly ex-
pected the Swedes to aid in the pursuit. The crown-prince,
partly from a desire to spare his troops and partly from a feel-
ing of shame, he was also a Frenchman, remained motionless.
Oudinot, nevertheless, lost two thousand four hundred prison-
ers. Davoust, from this disaster, returned once more to
Hamburg. Girard, who had advanced with eight thousand
men from Magdeburg, was, on the 27th, put to flight by the
Prussian Landwehr under General Hirschfeld.
Napoleon's plan of attack against Prussia had completely
334 THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.
failed, and his sole alternative was to act on the defensive.
But on perceiving that the main body of the allied forces
under Schwarzenberg was advancing to his rear, whilst BlU-
cher was stationed with merely a weak division in Silesia, he
took the field with immensely superior forces against the latter
under an idea of being able easily to vanquish his weak an-
tagonist and to fall back again in time upon Dresden. Blii-
cher cautiously retired, but, unable to restrain the martial
spirit of the soldiery, who obstinately defended every position
whence they were di'iven, lost two thousand of his men on the
2 1 st of August. The news of Napoleon's advance upon Silesia
and of the numerical weakness of tlie garrison left at Dresden
reached Schwarzenberg j ust as he had crossed the Erzgebirge,
and induced him and the allied sovereigns assembled within
his camp to change their plan of operations and to march
straight upon the Saxon capital. Napoleon, who had pur-
sued Bliicher as far as the Katzbach near Goldberg, in-
stantly returned and boldly resolved to cross the Elbe above
Dresden, to seize the passes of the Bohemian mountains, and
to fall upon the rear of the main body of the allied army.
Vandamme's corps d^armee had already set forward with this
design, when Napoleon learnt that Dresden could no longer
hold out unless he returned thither with a division of his
army, and, in order to preserve that city and the centre of his
position, he hastily returned thither in the hope of defeating
the allied army and of bringing it between two fires, as Van-
damme must meanwhile have occupied the narrow outlets of
the Erzgebirge with thirty thousand men and by that means
have cut off the retreat of the allied army. The plan was on a
gi'and scale, and, as far as related to Napoleon in person, was
executed, to the extreme discomfiture of the allies, with his
usual success. Schwarzenberg had, with true Austrian pro-
crastination, allowed the 25th of August, when, as the French
themselves confess, Dresden, in her then ill-defended state,
might have been taken almost without a stroke, to pass in in-
action, and, when he attemjjted to storm the city on the 26th,
Napoleon, who had meanwhile arrived, calmly awaited the
onset of the thick masses of the enemy in order to open a mur-
derous discharge of grape upon them on every side. They
were repulsed after suffering a frightful loss. On the follow-
ing day, destined to end in still more terrible bloodshed, Na-
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 335
poleon assumed the offensive, separated the retiring allied
army by well-combined sallies, cut off its left wing, and made
an immense number of prisoners, chiefly Austrians. The un-
fortunate Moreau had both his legs shot off in the very first
encounter. His death was an act of justice, for he had taken
up arms against his fellow-countrymen, and was moreover a
gain for the Germans, the Russians merely making use of
him in order to obscure the fame of the German leaders, and,
it may be, with a view of placing the future destinies of
France in his hands. The main body of the allied army re-
treated on every side ; part of the troops disbanded, the rest
were exposed to extreme hardship owing to the torrents of
rain that fell without intermission and the scarcity of pro-
visions. Their annihilation must have inevitably followed
had Vandamme executed Napoleon's commands and blocked
up the mountain passes, in which he was unsuccessful, owing
to the gallantry with which he was held in check at Culm by
eight thousand Russian guards, headed by Ostermaim,* who,
although merely amounting in number to a fourth of his army,
fought during a Avhole day without receding a step, though
almost the whole of them were cut to pieces and Ostermann
was deprived of an arm, until the first corps of the main body,
in full retreat, reached the mountains. Vandamme was now
in turn overwhelmed by superior numbers. One way of
escape, a still unoccupied height, on which he hastened to post
himself, alone remained, but the shining arms of Kleist's corps,
also in full retreat, unexpectedly but opportunely appeared
above his head and took him and the whole of his corps
prisoners, the 29th of August, 1813. f
At the same time, the 26th of August, a most glorious vic-
tory was gained by Bliicher in Silesia. After having drawn
Macdonald across the Katzbach and the foaming Neisse, he
drove him, after a desperate and bloody engagement, into those
rivers, which were greatly swollen by the incessant rains.
The muskets of the soldiery had been rendered unserviceable
* This general belonged to a German family long naturalized in Russia.
t He was led through Silesia, which he had once so shamefully plun-
dered, and, although no physical punishment was inflicted upon him, he
was often compelled to hear the voice of public opinion and was exposed
to the view of the people to whom he had once said, " Nothing shall be
left to you except your eyes, that you may weep over your Avretched-
ness." — Manso's History of Prussia.
336 THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.
by the wet, and Bliicher, drawing his sabre from beneath his
cloak, dashed forward exclaiming, "Forwards ! " Several thou-
sand of the French were drowned or fell by the bayonet, or
beneath the heavy blows dealt by the Lcmdioehr with the butt-
end of their firelocks. It was on this battle-field that the Silesi-
ans had formerly opposed the Tartars, and the monastery of
Wahlstatt, erected in memory of that heroic day,* was still
standing. Bliicher was rewarded with the title of Prince
von der Wahlstatt, but his soldiers surnamed him Marshal
Vorwarts. On the declension of the floods, the banks of the
rivers were strewed with corpses sticking in horrid dis-
tortion out of the mud. A part of the French fled for a
couple of days in terrible disorder along the right bank and
wex'e then taken prisoner together with their general, Puthod.f
The French lost one hundred and three guns, eighteen thou-
sand prisoners, and a still greater number of dead ; the loss on
the side of the Prussians merely amounted to one thousand
men. Macdonald returned almost totally unattended to Dres-
den and brought the melancholy intelligence to Napoleon,
" Votre armee du Bobre n'existe plus."
The crown-prince of Sweden and Biilow had meanwhile
pursued Oudinot's reti'eating corps in the direction of the
Elbe. Napoleon despatched Ney against them, but he met
with the fate of his predecessor, at Dennewitz, on the
6th of September. The Prussians, on this occasion, again
triumphed, unaided by their confederates. \ Biilow and
Tauenzien, with twenty thousand men, defeated the French
army, seventy thousand strong. The crown-prince of Sweden
not only remained to the rear with the whole of his troops,
but gave perfectly useless orders to the advancing Prussian
* An ancient battle-axe of serpentine-stone was found on the site fixed
upon for the erection of a fresh monument in honour of the present
victory. — Allgemeine Zeitung, 1817.
t This piece of good fortune befell Langeron, the Russian general,
who belonged to the diplomatic party at that time attempting to spare
the forces of Russia, Austria, and Sweden at the expense of Prussia, and,
at the same time, to deprive Prussia of her well-won laurels. Langeron
had not obeyed Bliicher's orders, had remained behind on his own re-
sponsibility, and the scattered French troops fell into his hands.
X The proud armies of Russia and Sweden (forty-six battalions, forty
squadrons, and one hundred and fifty guns) followed to the rear of the
Prussians without firing a shot and remained inactive spectators of the
action. — Plotho.
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 337
squadron under General Borstel, who, without attending to
them, hurried on to Bulow's assistance, and the Frencli were,
notwithstanding their numerical superiority, completely driven
off the field, which the crown-prince reached just in time in
order to witness the dispersion of his countrymen. The French
lost eighteen thousand men and eighty guns. The rout was
complete. The i-ear-guard, consisting of the Wiirtembergers
under Franquemont, was again overtaken at the head of the
bridge at Zwettau, and, after a frightful carnage, driven in wild
confusion across the dam to Torgau. The Bavarians under
Raglowich, who, probably owing to secret orders, had re-
mained, during the battle, almost in a state of inactivity, Avith-
drew in another direction and escaped.* Davoust also again
retired upon Hamburg, and his rear-guard under Pecheux was
attacked by Wallmoden, on the 16th of September, on the
Gorde, and suffered a trifling loss. On the 29th of Septem-
ber, eight thousand French were also defeated by Platow, the
Hetman of the Cossacks, at Zeitz : on the 30th, Czernitscheff
penetrated into Cassel and expelled Jerome. Thielemann, the
Saxon general, also infested the country to Napoleon's rear, in-
tercepted his convoys at Leipzig, and at Weissenfels took one
thousand two hundred, at Merseburg two thousand French
pi'isoner ; he was, however, deprived of his booty by a strong
force under Lefebvre-Desnouettes, by whom he was incessant-
ly harassed until Platow's arrival with the Cossacks, who, in
conjunction with Thielemann, repulsed Lefebvre witli great
slaughter at Altenburg. On this occasion, a Baden battalion,
that had been drawn up apart from the French, turned their
fire upon their unnatural confederates and aided in their
dispersion. f
Napoleon's generals had been thrown back in every quar-
ter, with immense loss, upon Dresden, towards which the
allies now advanced, threatening to enclose it on every side.
Napoleon manojuvred until the beginning of October with
the view of executing a coup de 7nain against Schwarzenberg
and Bllicher; the allies were, however, on their guard, and
he was constantly reduced to the necessity of recalling his
I * In order to avoid being can-ied along by the fugitive French, they
I fired upon them whenever their confused masses came too close upon
them. — Bolderndorf.
t Vide Wagner's Chronicle of Altenburg.
338 THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.
troops, sent for that purpose into the field, to Dresden. The
danger in which he now stood of being completely surrounded
and cut off from the Rhine at length rendered retreat his
sole alternative. Bliicher had already crossed the Elbe on
the 5th of October, and, in conjunction with the crown-
prince of Sweden, had approached the head of the main body
of the allied array under Schwarzenberg, which was ad-
vancing from the Erzgebirge. On the 7th of October, Na-
poleon quitted Dresden, leaving a garrison of thirty thousand
French under St. Cyr, and removed his head-quarters to
Diiben, on the road leading from Leipzig to Berlin, in the
hope of drawing Bliicher and the Swedes once more on the
right side of ,the Elbe, in whicli case he intended to turn un-
expectedly upon the Austrians ; Bliicher, however, eluded
him, without quitting the left bank. Napoleon's plan was to
take advantage of the absence of Bliicher and of the Swedes
from Berlin in order to hasten across the undefended country
for the purpose of inflicting punishment upon Prussia, of raising
Poland, etc. But his plan met with opposition in his own
military council. His ill success had caused those who had
hitherto followed his fortunes to waver. The king of Ba-
varia declared against him on the 8th of October,* and the
* Maximilian Joseph declared in an open manifesto ; Bavaria ■svas com-
pelled to furnish thirty-eight thousand men for the Russian campaisrn,
and, on her expressing a hope that such an immense sacrifice would
not be requested, France instantly declared the princes of the Rhenish
confederation her vassals, who were commanded " under punishment of
felony " unconditionally to obey each of Napoleon's demands. The allies
would, on the contrary, have acceded to all the desires of Bavaria and have
guaranteed that kingdom. Even the Austrian troops, that stood opposed
to Bavaria, were placed imder Wrede's command. Raglowich re-
ceived permission from Napoleon, before the battle of Leipzig, to return
to Bavaria ; but his corps was retained in the vicinity of Leipzig without
taking part in the action, and retired, in the general confusion, under the
command of General Maillot, upon Torgau, whence it returned home. —
Bolderndorf. -In the Tyrol, the brave mountaineers were on the eve
of revolt. As early as September, Speckbacher, sick and wasted from his
wounds, but endued with all his former fire and energy, reappeared in the
Tyrol, where he was commissioned by Austria to organize a revolt. An
unexpected reconciliation, however, taking place between Bavaria and
Austria, counter-orders arrived, and Speckbacher furiously dashed his
bullet-worn hat to the ground.— Broc^Aa?«, 1814. The restoration of
the Tyrol to Austria being delayed, a multitude of Tyrolese forced their
way into Innsbruck and deposed the Bavarian authorities ; their leader,
Kluiben.spedel, was, however, persuaded by Austria to submit. Speck-
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 339
Bavarian army under Wrede united with instead of opposing
the Austrian army and was sent to the Maine in order to cut
off Napoleon's retreat. The news of this defection speedily
reached the French camp and caused the rest of the troops
of the Rhenish confederation to waver in their allegiance ;
whilst the French, wearied with useless manoeuvres, beaten
in every quarter, opposed by an enemy greatly their superior
in number and glowing with revenge, despaired of the event
and sighed for peace and their peaceful homes. All refused
to march upon Berlin, nay, the very idea of removing farther
from Paris almost produced a mutiny in the camp.* Four
days, from the 11th to the 14th of October, were passed by
Napoleon in a state of melancholy irresolution, when he ap-
peared as if suddenly inspired by the idea of there still being
time to execute a coup de main upon the main body of the
allied army under Schwarzenberg before its junction with
Bliicher and the Swedes. Schwarzenberg was slowly ad-
vancing from Bohemia and had already allowed himself to be
defeated before Dresden. Napoleon intended to fall upon
him on his arrival in the vicinity of Leipzig, but it was already
too late. Blucher was at hand. On the 14th of October,|
the flower of the French cavalry, headed by the king of
Naples, encountered Bliicher's and Wittgenstein's cavalry at
Wachau, not far from Leipzig. The contest was broken off,
both sides being desirous of husbanding their strength, but
terminated to the disadvantage of the French, notwithstanding
their numerical superiority, besides proving the vicinity of
the Prussians. This was the most important cavalry fight
that took place during this war.
On the 16th of October, whilst Napoleon was merely
awaiting the ai'rival of Macdonald's corps that had remained
bacherwas, in 1816, raised bythe emperor Francis to the rank of major; he
died in 1820, and was buried at Hall bj' the south wall of the parish church.
His son, Andre, who grew up a fine, handsome man, died in 1835, at
Jenbach, (not Zenbach, as Mercy has it in his attacks upon tlie Tyrol,)
in the Tyrol, where he was employed as superintendant of the mines.
Mercy's Travels and his account of Speckbacher in the Milan Revista
Europea, 1838, are replete with falsehood.
* According to Fain and Coulaincourt.
■f: On the evening of the 14th of October, (the anniversary of the battle
of Jena,) a hurricane raged in the neighbourhood of Leipzig, where the
French lay, carried away roofs and uprooted trees, whilst, during the
whole night, the rain I'ell in violent floods.
z 2
340 THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.
behind, before proceeding to attack Schwarzenberg's Bohemian
army, he was unexpectedly attacked on the right bank of the
Pleisse, at Liebert-wolkwitz, by the Austrians, who were, how-
ever, compelled to retire before a superior force. The French
cavalry under Latour-Maubourg pressed so closely upon the
emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia that they merely owed
their escape to the gallantry of the Russian, Orlow Denisow,
and to Latour's fall. Napoleon had already ordered all the
bells in Leipzig to be rung, had sent the news of his victory
to Paris, and seems to have expected a complete triumph
when joyfully exclaiming, " Le monde tourne pour nous ! "
but his victory had been only partial, and he had been unable
to follow up his advantage, another division of the Austrian
army, under General Meerveldt, having simultaneously occu-
pied him and compelled him to cross the Pleisse at Dolnitz ;
and, although Meerveldt had been in his turn repulsed with se-
vere loss and been himself taken prisoner, the diversion proved
of service to the Austrians by keeping Napoleon in check un-
til the arrival of Bliicher, who threw himself upon the division
of the French army opposed to him at Mockern by Marshal
Marmont. Napoleon, whilst thus occupied with the Austrians,
was unable to meet the attack of the Prussians with sufficient
force. Marmont, after a massacre of some hours' duration in
and around Mockern, was compelled to retire with a loss of
forty guns. The second Prussian brigade lost, either in
killed or wounded, all its officers except one.
The battle had, on the 16th of October, raged around
Leipzig ; Napoleon had triumphed over the Austrians, whom
he had solely intended to attack, but had, at the same time,
been attacked and defeated by the Prussians, and now found
himself opposed and almost surrounded, one road for retreat
alone remaining open, by the whole allied force. He instantly
gave orders to General Bertrand to occupy Weissenfels during
the night, in order to secure his retreat through Thuringia ;
hut, during the following day, the 17tli of October, neither
seized that opportunity in order to effect a retreat or to make
a last and energetic attack upon the allies, whose forces were
not yet completely concentrated, ere the circle had been fully
drawn around him. The Swedes, the Russians under Bennig-
sen, and a large Austrian division under Colloredo, had not yet
arrived. Napoleon might with advantage have again attacked
THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG. 341
the defeated Austrians under Schwarzenberg or have thrown
himself with the whole of his forces upon Bliicher. He had
still an opportunity of making an ordei'ly retreat without any
great exposure to danger. But he did neither. He remained
motionless during the whole day, which was also passed in
tranquillity by the allies, who thus gained time to receive fresh
reinforcements. Napoleon's inactivity was caused by his
having sent his prisoner. General Meerveldt, to the emperor
of Austria, whom he still hoped to induce, by means of
great assurances, to secede from the coalition and to make
peace. Not even a reply was vouchsafed. On the very day,
thus futilely lost by Napoleon, the allied army was reintegrated
by the arrival of the masses commanded by the crown-prince,
by Bennigsen and Colloredo, and was consequently raised to
double the strength of that of France, which now merely
amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand men. On the
18th, a murderous conflict began on both sides. Napoleon
long and skilfully opposed the fierce onset of the allied troops,
but was at length driven off the field by their superior weight
and persevering eflforts. The Austrians, stationed on the left
wing of the allied army, were opposed by Oiidinot, Augereau,
and Poniatowsky ; the Prussians, stationed on the right wing,
by Marmont and Ney ; the Russians and Swedes in the centre,
by INIurat and Regnier. In the hottest of the battle, two Saxon
cavalry regiments went over to Bliicher, and General Nor-
mann, when about to be charged at Taucha by the Prussian
cavalry under Biilow, also deserted to him with two AVllrtem-
berg cavalry regiments, in order to avoid an unpleasant remi-
niscence of the treacherous ill-treatment of Liitzow's corps.
The whole of the Saxon infantry commanded by Regnier
shortly afterwards went, with thirty-eight guns, over to the
Swedes, five hundred men and General Zeschau alone re-
maining true to Napoleon. The Saxons stationed themselves
behind the lines of the allies, but their guns were instantly
turned upon the enemy,*
* Not so the Badeners and Hessians. The Baden corps was cap-
tured almost to a man ; among others, Prince Emilius of Darmstadt.
Baden had been governed, since the death of the popular grand-duke,
Charles Frederick, in 1811, by his grandson, Charles. Franquemont,
with the Wiirtemberg infantry, eight to nine thousand strong, acted in-
dependently of Nermann's cavalry. But one thousand of their number
342 THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.
In the evening of this terrible day, the French were driven
back close upon the walls of Leipzig.* On the certainty of vic-
tory being announced by Schwarzenberg to the three monarchs,
who had watched the progress of the battle, they knelt on the
open field and returned thanks to God. Napoleon, before night-
fall, gave orders for full retreat ; but, on the morning of the 19th,
recommenced the battle and sacrificed some of his corps darmee
in order to save the remainder. He had, however, foolishly
left but one bridge across the Elster open, and the retreat was
consequently retarded. Leipzig was stormed by the Prus-
sians, and, whilst the French rear-guard vras still battling on
that side of the bridge. Napoleon fled, and had no sooner crossed
the bridge than it was blown up with a tremendous explosion,
owing to the inadvertence of a subaltern, who is said to have
fired the train too hastily. The troops engaged on the opposite
bank were irremediably lost. Prince Poniatowsky plunged
on horseback into the Elster in order to swim across, but
sank in the deep mud. The king of Saxony, who to the last
had remained true to Napoleon, was among the prisoners.
The loss during this battle, which raged for four days, and
in which almost every nation in Europe stood opposed to each
other, was immense on both sides. The total loss in dead
was computed at eighty thousand. The French lost, more-
over, three hundred guns and a multitude of prisoners ; in
the city of Leipzig alone twenty-three thousand sick, without
reckoning the innumerable wounded. Numbers of these un-
fortunates lay bleeding and starving to death during the cold
October nights on the field of battle, it being found impossi-
ble to erect a sufiicient number of lazaretti for their accom-
modation. Napoleon made a hasty and disorderly retreat
with the remainder of his troops, but was overtaken at Frei-
berg on the Unstrutt, where the bridge broke, and a repetition
of the disastrous passage of the Beresina occurred. The
fugitives collected into a dense mass, upon which the Prus-
sian artillery played with murderous effect. The French lost
remained after the battle of Leipzig, and, without going over to the allies,
returned to Wiirtemberg. Normann was punished by his sovereign.
* The city was in a state of utter confusion. " The noise caused by the
passage of the cavalry, carriages, etc., by the cries of the fugitives tlu-ough
the streets, exceeded that of the most terrific storm. The earth shook,
the windows clattered with the thunder of artillery, etc." — The Terrors
of Leipzig, 1813.
THE BATTLE OF LEirzIG. 343
forty of their guns. At Hanau, AVrede. Napoleon's former
favourite, after taking Wiirzburg, watched the movements of
his ancient patron, and, liad he occupied the pass at Geln-
nausen, might have annihilated him. Napoleon, however,
furiously charged his flank, and, on the 20th of October, suc-
ceeded in forcing a passage and in sending seventy thousand
men across the Rhine. Wrede was dangerously wounded.*
On the 9th of November, the last French corps was defeated
at Hochheim and driven back upon Mayence.
In the November of this ever memorable year, 1813, Ger-
many, as far as the Rhine, was completely fi-eed from the
French. f Above a hundred thousand French troops, still
shut up in the fortresses and cut olF from all communication
with France, gradually surrendered. In October, the allies
took Bremen ; in November, Stettin, Zamosk, jModlin, and
those two important points, Dresden and Dantzig. In Dres-
den, Gouvion St. Cyr capitulated to Count Klenau, who
granted him free egress on condition of the delivery of the
whole of the army stores. St. Cyr, however, infringed the
terms of capitulation by destroying several of the guns and
sinking the gunpowder in the Elbe; consequently, on the non-
recognition of the capitulation by the generalissimo, Schwar-
zenberg, he found himself without means of defence and was
compelled to surrender at discretion with a garrison thii-ty-
live thousand strong. Rapp, the Alsacian, commanded in
Dantzig. This city had already feai-fuUy suffered from the com-
mercial interdiction, from the exactions and the scandalous li-
cence of its French protectors, whom the ravages of famine and
pestilence finally compelled to yield. | Liibeck and Torgau
fell in December ; the typhus, which had never ceased to ac-
company the armies, raged there in the crowded hospitals,
* The king of Wiirtemberg, who had fifteen hundred men close at
hand, did not send them to the aid of the Bavarians, nor did he go over
to the allies until the '2nd of November.
•f In November, one hundred and forty thousand French prisoners and
seven hundred and ninety-one guns were in the hands of the allies.
X Dantzig had formerly sixty thousand inhabitants, the population was
now reduced to thirteen thousand. Numbers died of hunger, liapp
having merely stored the magazines for his troops. Fifteen thousand of
the French garrison died, and yet fourteen generals, upwards of a thou-
sand officers, and about as many comptrollers belonging to the grand army,
who had taken refuge in that city, were, on the capitulation of the for-
tress, made prisoners of war.
344 NAPOLEON'S FALL.
carrying off thousands, and greater numbers fell victims to
this pestilential disease than to the war, not only among the
troops, but in every part of the country through which they
passed. Wittenberg, whose inhabitants had been shamefully
abused by the French under Lapoype, Ctistrin, Glogau, "VVe-
sel, Erfurt, fell in the beginning of 1814 ; Magdeburg and
Bremen, after the conclusion of the war.
The Rhenish confederation was dissolved, each of the
princes securing his hereditaiy possessions by a timely se-
cession. The kings of Westphalia and Saxony, Dalberg,
grand-duke of Frankfurt, and the princes of Isenburg and
von der Leyen, who had too heavily sinned against Germany,
were alone excluded from pardon. The king of Saxony was
at first carried prisoner to Berlin, and afterwards, under the
protection of Austria, to Prague. Denmark also concluded
peace at Kiel and ceded Norway to Sweden, upon which the
Swedes, quasi re bene gesta, returned home.*
CCLXII. Napoleon's fall
Napoleon was no sooner driven across the Rhine, than
the defection of the whole of the Rhenish confederation, of
Holland, Switzerland, and Italy ensued. The whole of the
confederated German princes followed the example of Bava-
ria and united their troops with tiiose of the allies. Jerome
had fled ; the kingdom of Westphalia had ceased to exist, and
the exiled princes of Hesse, Brunswick, and Oldenburg re-
turned to their respective territories. The Rhenish provinces
were instantly occupied by Prussian troops and placed under
the patriotic administi'ation of Justus Grunei', who was joined
by Gorres of Coblentz, whose Rhenish Mercury so powerfully
influenced public opinion that Napoleon termed him the fifth
great European power.f The Dutch revolted and took the
few French, still remaining in the country, prisoner. Hogen-
dorp was placed at the head of a provisional government in
the name of William of Orange.| The Prussians under Bii-
* The injustice thus favoured by the first peace was loudly complain-
ed of. — Manso.
t His principal thesis consisted of " We are not Prussians, Westpha-
lians, Saxons, etc., but Germans."
+ This prince took the title not of stadtholder, but of king, to which he
NAPOLEO^''S FALL. 345
low entered the country and were received with great accla-
mation. The whole of the Dutch fortresses surrendered, the
French garrisons flying panic-stricken.
The Swiss remained faithful to Napoleon until the arrival
of Schwarzenberg with the allied army on their fi'ontiers.*
Napoleon would gladly have beheld the Swiss sacrifice them-
selves for him for the purpose of keeping the allies in check, but
Reinhard of Ziirich, who was at that time Landammann, pru-
dently resolved not to persevere in the demand for neutrality,
to lay aside every manifestation of opposition, and to permit, it
being impossible to prevent, the entrance of the troops into
the country, by which he, moreover, ingratiated liimself with
the allies. The majority of his countrymen thanked Heaven
for their deliverance from French oppression, and if, in their
ancient spirit of egotism, they neglected to aid the great po-
pular movement throughout Germany, they, at all events,
sympathized in the general hatred towards France. f The
ancient aristocrats now naturally re-appeared and attempted
to re-establish the oligarchical governments of the foregoing
century. A Count Senfit von Pilsack, a pretended Austrian
envoy, who was speedily disavowed, assumed the authority at
Berne with so much assurance as to succeed in deposing the
existing government and reinstating the ancient oligarchy.
In Ziirich, the constitution was also revised and the citizens
re-assumed their authority over the peasantry. The whole of
Switzerland was in a state of ferment. Ancient claims of
the most varied description were asserted. The people of the
Grisons took up arms and invaded the Valteline in order to re-
take their ancient possession. Pancratius, abbot of St. Gall,
demanded the restoration of his princely abbey. Italy, also,
deserted Napoleon. Murat, king of Naples, in order not to
lose his crown, joined the allies. Eugene Beauharnois, vice-
roy of Italy, alone remained true to his imperial step-father
had no claim, but in wliicli he was supported by England and Russia,
"who unwillingly beheld Prussia aggrandized by the possession ot" Holland.
* Even in the May of 1813, an ode, given in No. 270 of the Allgemeine
Zeitung, appeared in Switzerland, in which it was said, " The brave war-
riors of Switzerland hasten to reap fresh laurels. With their heroic blood
have they dyed the distant shores of barbarous Haiti, the waters of the
Ister and Tagus, etc. The deserts of Sarmatia have witnessed the mar-
tial glories of the Helvetic legion."
t Shortly before this, a report had been spread of the nomination of
Marshal Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, as perpetiuil Landammann of
Switzerlar"^ . — MuraU's Reinhard.
346 NAPOLEON'S FALL.
and gallantly opposed the Austrians under Hiller, who, never-
theless, rapidly reduced the whole of Upper Italy to sub-
mission.
The allies, when on the point of entering the French terri-
tory, solemnly declared that their enmity was directed not
against the French nation, but solely against Napoleon. By
this generosity they hoped at once to prove the beneficence of
their intentions to every nation of Europe and to prejudice
the French, more particularly, against their tyrant ; but that
people, notwithstanding their immense misfortunes, still re-
mained true to Napoleon nor hesitated to sacrifice themselves
for the man who had raised them to the highest rank among
the nations of the earth, and thousands flocked anew beneath
the imperial eagle for the defence of their native soil.
The allies invaded France simultaneously on four sides,
Billow from Holland, BUiclier, on new year's eve, 1814, from
Coblentz, and the main body of the allied army under Schwar-
zenberg, which was also accompanied by the allied sovereigns.
A fourth army, consisting of English and Spaniards, had al-
ready crossed the Pyrenees and marched up the country. The
great wars in Russia and Germany having compelled Napoleon
to draw off a considerable number of his forces from Spain, Soult
had been consequently unable to keep the field against Wel-
lington, whose army had been gradually increased. King
Joseph fled from Madrid. The French hazarded a last en-
gagement at Vittoria, in June, 1813, but suffered a terrible
defeat. One of the two Nassau regiments under Colonel
Kruse and the Frankfurt battalion deserted with their arms
and baggage to the English. The other Nassau regiment
and that of Baden were disarmed by the French and dragged
in chains to France in reward for their long and severe ser-
vice.* The Hanoverians in Wellington's army, (the German
legion,) particularly the corps of Victor von Alten, (Charles's
brother,) brilliantly distinguished themselves at Vittoria and
again at Bayonne, but were forgotten in the despatches, an
omission that was loudly complained of by their general,
Hiniiber. Other divisions of Hanoverians, up to this pei'iod
stationed in Sicily, had been sent to garrison Leghorn and
Genoa. f The crown-prince of Sweden followed the Prus-
* Out of two thousand six hundred and fifty-four Badeners hut five
hundred and six returned from Spain.
t Beamisch, History of the Legiou.
NAPOLEON'S FALL. 347
sian northern array, but merely went as far as Liege, whence
he turned back in order to devote his whole attention to the
conquest of Norway.
In the midst of the contest a fresh congress was assembled
at Chatillon for the purpose of devising measures for the con-
clusion of the war without further bloodshed. The whole of
ancient France was offered to Napoleon on condition of his re-
straining his ambition within her limits and of keeping peace,
but he refused to cede a foot of land and resolved to lose all
or nothing. This congress was in so far disadvantageous on
account of the rapid movements of the armies being checked
by its fluctuating diplomacy. Schwarzenberg, for instance,
pursued a system of procrastination, separated his corps
d'armee at long intervals, advanced with extreme slowness, or
remained entirely stationary. Napoleon took advantage of
this dilatoriness on the part of his opponents to make an un-
expected attack on Bliicher's corps at Brienne on the 29th of
January, in which BlUcher narrowly escaped being made pri-
soner. The flames of the city, in Avhich Napoleon had re-
ceived his first military lessons, facilitated Bliicher's retreat.
Napoleon, however, neglecting to pui-sue him on the 30th of
January, BlUcher, reinforced by the crown-prince of Wiir-
temberg and by Wrede, attacked him at La Rothiere with
such superior forces as to put him completely to the rout.
The French left seventy-three guns sticking in the mud.
Schwarzenberg, nevertheless, instead of pursuing the retreat-
ing enemy with the whole of his forces, again delayed his ad-
vance and divided the troops. Bliicher, who had meanwhile
rapidly pushed forward upon Paris, was again unexpectedly
attacked by the main body of the French army, and the wliole
of his corps were, as they separately advanced, repulsed with
considerable loss, the Russians under Olsufief at Champeau-
bert, those under Sacken at Montmirail, the Prussians under
York at Chtiteau-Thierry, and finally, Bliicher himself at
Beauxchamp, between the 10th and 14th of February. With
characteristic rapidity, Napoleon instantly fell upon the scat-
tered corps of the allied ai'my and inflicted a severe punish-
ment upon Schwarzenberg for the folly of his system. He
successively repulsed the Russians under Palilen at ]\Ioi'mant,
Wrede at Villeneuve le Comte, the crown-prince of Wiii-tem-
berg, who offered the most obstinate resistance, at INIontereau,
348 NAPOLEON'S FALL.
on the I7tli and 18tli of February.* Augereau had mean-
time, with an army levied in the south of France, driven the
Austrians, under Bubna, into Switzerland ; and, although the
decisive moment had arrived and Schwarzenberg had simply to
form a junction with Bliicher in order to bring an overwhelm-
ing force against Napoleon, the allied sovereigns and Schwar-
zenberg resolved, in a council of war held at Troyes, upon a
general retreat.
Bliicher, upon this, magnanimously resolved to obviate at
all hazards the disastrous consequences of the retreat of the
allied army, and, in defiance of all commands, pushed forwards
alone.f This movement, far from being rash, was coolly cal-
culated, Bliicher being sufficiently reinforced on the Marne
by Winzingerode and Biilow, by whose aid he, on the 9th of
March, defeated the emperor Napoleon at Laon. The victory
was still undecided at fall of night. Napoleon allowed his
troops to rest, but Bliicher remained under arms and sent
York to surprise him during the night. The French were
completely dispersed and lost forty-six guns. Napoleon,
* Several regiments sacrificed themselves in order to cover the retreat
of the rest. Napoleon ordered a twelve-pounder to be loaded and twice
directed the gun with his own hand upon the crown-prince. — Campaigns
of the Wurtemhergers.
t Bliicher's conduct simply proceeded from his impatience to ohtain by
force of arms the most honourable terms of peace for Prussia, whilst the
other allied powers, who were far more indulgently disposed towards
France and who began to view the victories gained by Prussia with an
apprehension which was further strengthened by the increasing popularity
of that power throughout Germany, were more inclined to diplomatize
than to fight. Bliicher was well aware of these reasons for diplomacy
and more than once cut the negotiations short with his sabre. A well-
known diplomatist attempting on one occasion to prove to him that Na-
poleon must, even without the war being continued, " descend from his
throne," a league having been formed within P' ranee herself for the restora-
tion of the Bourbons, — he answered him to his face, " The rascality of
the French is no revenge for us. It is wo who must pull him down, —
we. You will no doubt do wonders in your wisdom! — Patience!
You will be led as usual by the nose, and will still go on fawning and
diplomatizing until we have the nation again upon us, and the storm
bursts over our heads." He went so far as to set the diplomatists actu-
ally at defiance. On being, to Napoleon's extreme delight, ordered to
retreat, he treated the order with contempt and instantly advanced. —
Rauschnick's Life of Blucher. "This second disjunction on Bliicher's
part," observes Clausenitz, the Prussian general, the best commentator
on this war, " was of infinite consequence, for it checked and gave a
fresh turn to the whole course of political affairs."
NAPOLEON'S FALL. 349
after this miserable defeat, again tried his fortune against
Schwarzenbex'g, (who, put to shame by Bllicher's brilliant suc-
cess, had again halted,) and, on the 20th of March, maintained
his position at Arcis sur Aube, although the crown-prince of
Wiirtemberg gallantly led his troops five times to the assault.
Neither side was victorious.
Napoleon now resorted to a bold ruse de guerre. The
peasantry, more particularly in Lorraine, exasperated by the
devastation unavoidable during war-time, and by the venge-
ance here and there taken by the foreign soldiery, !iad risen
to the rear of the allied army. Unfortunately, no one had
dreamt of treating the German Alsacians and Lothringians
as brother Germans. They were treated as French. Long
unaccustomed to invasion and to the calamities incidental
to war, they made a spirited but ineffectual resistance to the
rapine of the soldiery. Whole villages were burnt down.
The peasantry gathered into troops and massacred the foreign
soldiery when not in sufficient numbers to keep them in check.
Napoleon confidently expected that his diminished armies would
be supported by a general rising en rnasse, and that Augereau,
who was at that time guarding Lyons, would form a junc-
tion with him ; and, in this expectation, threw himself to the
rear of the allied forces and took up a position at Troyes with
a view of cutting them off, perhaps of surrounding them by
means of the general rising, or, at all events, of drawing them
back to the Rhine. But, on the self-same day, the 19th of
March, Lyons had fallen and Augereau had retreated south-
wards. The people did not rise en masse, and the allies took ad-
vantage of Napoleon's absence to form a grand junction, and,
with flying banners, to march unopposed upon Paris, convinced
that the possession of the capital of the French empire must
inevitably bring the war to a favourable conclusion. In
Paris, there were numerous individuals who already beheld
Napoleon's fall as tin fait accomjili, and who, ambitious of
influencing the future prospects of France, were ready to offer
their services to the victors. Both parties speedily came to
an understanding. The corps (Tarnite under Marshals Mor-
tier and Marmont, which were encountered midway, were
repulsed, and that under Generals Pacthod and Amey captured,
together with seventy pieces of artillery, at la Fere Champe-
noise. On the 29th of Maixh, the dark columns of the allied
350 NAPOLEON'S FALL.
array defiled within sight of Paris. On the 30th, they met
with a spirited resistance on the heights of Belleville and Mont-
martre ; but the city, in order to escape bombardment, capitu-
lated during the night, and, on the 31st, the allied sovereigns
made a peaceful entry. The empress, accompanied by the king
of Rome, by Joseph, ex-king of Spain, and by innumerable
waggons, laden with the spoil of Europe, had already fled to
the south of France.
Napoleon, completely deceived by Winzingerode and Tet-
tenborn, who had remained behind with merely a weak rear-
guard, first learnt the advance of the main body upon Paris
when too late to overtake it. After almost annihilating his
weak opponents at St. Dizier, he reached Fontainebleau,
where he learnt the capitulation of Paris, and, giving way to
the whole fury of his Corsican temperament, oiFered to yield
the city for two days to the licence of his soldiery would they
but follow him to the assault. But his own marshals, even his
hero, Ney, deserted him, and, on the 10th of April, he was
compelled to resign the imperial crown of France and to with-
draw to the island of Elba on the coast of Italy, which was
placed beneath his sovereignty and assigned to him as a re-
sidence. The kingdom of France was re-established on its
ancient footing ; and, on the 4th of May, Louis XVIII. en-
tered Pai'is and mounted the throne of his ancestors.
Davoust was the last to offer resistance. The Russians
under Benuigsen besieged him in Hamburg, and, on his final
surrender, treated him with the greatest moderation.*
On the 30th of May, 1814, peace was concluded at Paris.f
France was reduced to her limits as in 1792, and conse-
quently retained the pi'ovinces of Alsace and Lorraine, of
* GiJrres said in the Rhenish Mercury, " It is easy to see how all are
inclined to conceal beneath the wide mantle of love the horrors there per-
petrated. The Germans have from time immemorial been subjected to
this sort of treatment, because ever ready to forgive and forget the past."
Davoust was arrested merely for form's sake and then honourably re-
leased. He was allowed to retain the booty he had seized. The citizens
of Hamburg vainly implored the re-establishment of their bank.
t Bliicher took no part in these atfairs. " I have," said he to the di-
plomatists, " done my duty, now do yours ! You will be responsible
l>oth to God and man should your work be done in vain and have to be
done over again. 1 have nothing further to do with the business ! " — Ex-
perience had, however, taught him not to expect much good from " quill-
drivers."
NAPOLEON'S FALL. 351
which she had, at an earlier period, deprived Germany. Not
a farthing was paid by way of compensation for the ravages
suffered by Germany, nay, the French prisoners of war were,
on their release, maintained on theirway home at the expense of
the German population. None of the chefs-d'ceuvres of which
Europe had been plundered were restored, with the sole ex-
ception of the group of horses, taken by Napoleon from the
Brandenburg gate at Bei'lin. The allied troops instantly
evacuated the country. France was allowed to regulate her
internal affairs without the interference of any of the foreign
powers, whilst paragraphs concerning the internal economy
of Germany were not only admitted into the treaty of Paris,
and France was on that account not only called upon to
guarantee and to participate in the internal affairs of Ger-
many, but also afterwards sent to the great Congress of
Vienna an ambassador destined to play an important part in
the definitive settlement of the affairs of Europe, and more
particularly, of those of Germany.
The patriots, of whom the governments had made use both
before and after the war, unable to comprehend that the result
of such immense exertions and of such a complete triumph
should be to bring greater profit and glory to France than to
Germany, and that their patriotism was, on the conclusion of
the war, to be renounced, were loud in their complaints.* But
the revival of the German empire, with which the individual
interests of so many princely houses were plainly incompati-
ble, was far from entering into the plans of the allied powers.
An attempt made by any one among the princes to place him-
self at the head of the whole of Germany would have been
frustrated by the rest. The policy of the foreign allies was
moreover antipathetic to such a scheme. England opposed
and sought to hinder unity in Germany, not only for the sake
of retaining possession of Hanover and of exercising an in-
fluence over the disunited German princes similar to that ex-
ercised by her over the princes of India, but more particularly
for that of ruling the commerce of Germany. Russia reverted
to her Erfurt policy. Her interests, like those of France,
• The Rhenish Mercury more than alL It was opposed by the Mes-
senger of the Tyrol, which declared that the victory was gained, not by
the " people," as they were termed, but by the princes and their armies.
—July, 1814.
352 NAPOLEON'S FALL.
led her to promote disunion among the German powers,
whose weakness, the result of want of combination, placed
them at the mercy of France, and left Poland, Sweden, and
the East open to her ambition. A close alliance was in con-
sequence instantly foi'med between the emperor Alexander
and Louis XVIII., the former negotiating, as the first con-
dition of peace, the continuance of Lorraine and Alsace be-
neath the sovereignty of France.
Austria assented on condition of Italy being placed exclu-
sively beneath her conti'ol. Austria united too many and too
diverse nations beneath her sceptre to be able to pursue a po-
licy pre-eminently German, and found it more convenient to
round oif her territory by the annexation of Upper Italy than
by that of distant Lorraine, at all times a possession difficult to
maintain. Prussia was too closely connected with Russia, and
Hardenberg, unlike BlUcher at the head of the Prussian
army, was powerless at the head of Prussian diplomacy. The
lesser states also exercised no influence upon Germany as a
whole, and were merely intent upon preserving their indi-
vidual integrity or upon gaining some petty advantage. The
Germans, some few discontented patriots alone excepted, were
more than ever devoted to their ancient pi'inces, both to those
who had retained their station and to those who returned to
their respective territories on the fall of Napoleon ; and the
victorious soldiery, adorned with ribbons, medals, and orders,
(the Prussians, for instance, with the iron cross,) evinced the
same unreserved attachment to their prince and zeal for his
individual interest. This complication of circumstances can
alone explain the fact of Germany, although triumphant, hav-
ing made greater concessions to France by the treaty of
Paris than, when humbled, by that of Westphalia.
CCLXni. The Congress of Vienna. Napoleon's return
and end.
Prom Paris the sovereigns of Prussia* and Russia and
the victorious field-marshals proceeded, in June, to London,
* From London, Frederick William went to Switzerland and took
possession of his ancient hereditary territory, Walsch-Neuenburg or
Neufchatel, visited the beautiful Bernese Oberland, and then returned to
Berlin, where, on the 7th of August, he passed in triumph througli the
THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 353
where they, Bliicher most particularly, were received with
every demonstration of delight and respect by the English,
their oldest and most faithfid allies.* Towards autumn, a
great European congress, to which the settlement of every
point in dispute and the restoi'ation of order throughout
Europe were to be committed, was convoked at Vienna. At
this congress, which, in the November of 1814, was opened
at Vienna, the emperors of Austria and Russia, the kings of
Prussia, Denmark, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and the greater part
of the petty princes of Germany, were present in person ; the
other powers were repi-esented by ambassadors extraordinary.
The greatest statesmen of that period were here assembled ;
amongst others, Metternich, the Austrian minister, Harden^
Brandenburg gate, which was again adorned with the car of victory and
the line group of horses, and rode through the lime trees to an altar,
around which the clergy belonging to every religious sect were assembled.
Here public thanks were given and the whole of the citizens present fell
upon their knees. — Allgemeine Zeitung, 252. On the 17th of September,
the preparation of a new liturgy was announced in a ministerial proclam-
ation, " by which the solemnity of the church service was to be in-
creased, the present one being too little calculated to excite or strike
the imagination."
* Oxford conferred a doctor's degree upon Bliicher, who, upon re-
ceiving this strange honour, said, " Make Gneisenau apothecary, for he it
was who prepared my pills." On his first reception at Carlton House, the
populace pushed their way through the guards and doors as far as the
apartments of the prince regent, who, taking his grey-headed giiest by
the hand, presented him to them, and publicly hung his portrait set in
brilliants around his neck. On his passing through the streets, the horses
were taken from his carriage, and he was drawn in triumph by the
shouting crowd. One fete succeeded another. During the great races
at Ascot, the crowd breaking through the barriers and insisting upon
Bliicher's showing himself, the prince regent came forward and, politely
telling them that he had not yet arrived, led forward the emperor Alex-
ander, who was loudly cheered, but Bliicher's arrival was greeted with
thunders of applause far surpassing those bestowed upon the sovereigns,
a circumstance that was afterwards blamed by the English papers. In
the Freemasons' Lodge, Bliicher was received by numbers of ladies, on
each of whom he bestowed a salute. At Portsmouth, he drank to the
health of the English in the presence of an immense concourse of people
assembled beneath his windows. The general rejoicing was solely
clouded by the domestic circumstances of the royal family, by the in-
sanity of the aged and blind king and by the disunion reigning between
the prince regent and his thoughtless consort, Caroline of Brunswick
Although the whole of the allied sovereigns, some of whom were unable
to speak English, imderstood German, French Avas adopted as the medium
of conversation. — Allgemeine Zeitung, 174.
VOL. III. 2 A
354 THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.
berg and Humboldt, the Prussian ministers, Castlereagb, the
English plenipotentiaiy, Nesselrode, the Russian envoy, Tal-
leyrand and Dallierg, Gagern, Bernstorff, and Wrede, the am-
bassadors of France, Holland, Denmark, and Bavaria, etc.
The negotiations vi^ere of the utmost importance, for, although
one of the most difficult points, the new regulation of affairs
in France, was already settled, many extremely difficult ques-
tions still remained to be solved. Talleyrand, who had
served under every govei'nment, under the republic, under
the usurper, Napoleon ; who had retaken office under the
Bourbons and the Jesuits who had returned in their train, and
who, on this occasion, was the representative of the criminal
and humbled French nation, ventured, nevertheless, to offer
his perfidious advice to the victors, and, with diabolical art, to
sow the seed of discord among them. This conduct was the
more striking on account of its glaring incongruity with the
proclamation of Calisch, which expressly declared that the
internal affixirs of Germany were wholly and solely to be
arranged by the princes and nations of Germany, without
foreign, and naturally, least of all, without French interfer-
ence.* Talleyrand's first object was to suppress the popular
spirit of liberty throughout Germany, and to rouse against it
the jealous apprehensions of tlie princes. He therefore said,
" You wish for constitutions ; guard against them. In France,
desire for a constitution produced a revolution, and the same
will happen to you." He it was who gave to the congress
that catch-word, legitimacy. The object of the past strug-
gle was not the restoration of the liberties of the people but
that of the ancient legitimate dynasties and their absolute
sovereignty. The war had been directed, not against Na-
poleon, but against the Revolution, against the usurpation of
the people. By means of this legitimacy the king of Saxony
* " There are moments in the life of nations on which the whole'of their
future destiny depends. The children are destined to expiate their
fathers' errors with their blood. Germany has every thing to fear from
the foreigner, and yet she cannot arrange her own aflairs without calling
the foreigner to her aid. Who, in the congress, chiefly oppose every
well-laid plan ? Who, with the dagger's point, pick out and re-open all
our wounds, and rub them with salt and poison ? Who promote confu-
sion, provoke, insinuate, and attempt to creep into every committee, to
interfere in every discussion ? who but those sent thitlier by France ? "-^
The Rhenish Mercury.
THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA. 355
was to be re-established on his throne, and Prussia was on no
account to be permitted to incorporate Saxony with her do-
minions. Prussia appealed to her services towards Germany,
to her enormous .sacrifices, to the support given to her by pub-
lic opinion'; but the power of public opinion was itself ques-
tioned. The seeds of discord quickly sprang up, and, on the
3rd of January, 1815, a secret league against Prussia was
already formed for the purpose of again humbling the state
that had sacrificed all for the honour of Germany, of frus-
trating her schemes of aggrandizement, and of quenching the
patriotic spirit of German idealists and enthusiasts.*
The want of unanimity amid the members of the congress
had at the same time a bad effect upon the ancient Rhenish
confederated states. In Nassau, the Landivehr was, on its
return home after the campaign, received with marks of dis-
satisfaction. In Baden and Hesse, many of the oflficers be-
longing to the army openly espoused Napoleon's cause. In
Baden, the volunteer corps was deprived of its horses and
sent home on foot.f In Wiirtemberg, King Frederick re-
fused to allow the foreign troops and convoys a passage along
the high road through Cannstadt and Ludwigsburg, and for-
bade the attendance of civil surgeons upon the wounded be-
longing to the allied army. In Wiirtemberg and Bavaria, the
Rhenish Mercury was suppressed on account of its patriotic
and German tendency. At Stuttgard, the festival in com-
memoration of the battle of Leipzig was disallowed ; and in
Frankfurt a M., the editor of a French journal ventured, un-
reprimanded, to turn this festival into ridicule.
Switzerland was in a high state of ferment. The people
of the Grisons, who had taken possession of the Valteline,
and the people of Uri, who had seized the Livinenthal, had
* Fate -willed that Stein should not be called upon to act with firmness,
but Hardenberg to make concessions. Stein disappeared from the
theatre of events and was degraded to a lower sphere. Hardenberg was
created prince.
t Napoleon had such good friends among the Rhenish confederated
princes that Augustus, duke of Gotha, for instance, even after the second
occupation of Paris, on the return of his troops in the November of 1815,
prohibited any demonstrations of triumph and even deprived the La7td-
wekr of their uniforms, so that the poor fellows had to return in their shirt
sleeves to their native villages during the hard winter. — Jacob's Cam-
paigns.
2 A 2
356 THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA.
been respectively driven out of those territories by the Aus-
trians. The Valais, Geneva, Neufchatel, and Pruntrut were,
on the other hand, desirous of joining the confederation. The
democratic peasantry was almost every where at war with the
aristocratic burghers. Berne revived her claim upon Vaud and
Aargau, which armed in self-defence.* Reinhard of Ziirich,
the Swiss Landammann, went, meanwhile, at the head of an
embassy to Vienna, for the purpose of settling in the congress
the future destinies of Switzerland by means of the intervention
of the great powers. Talleyrand, with unparalleled impudence,
also interfered in this affair, threatened to refuse his recog-
nition to every measure passed without his concurrence, and
compelled the Swiss to entreat him to honour the deliberations
with his presence. On Austria's demanding a right of con-
scription in the Grisons alone, France having enjoyed that
right throughout the whole of Switzerland at an earlier
period, Talleyrand advised the Swiss to make a most violent
opposition against an attempt that placed their independence
at stake. " Cry out," he exclaimed, " cry out, as loud as you
can !"|
The disputes in the congress raised Napoleon's hopes. In
France, his party was still powerful, almost the whole of the
population being blindly devoted to him, and an extensive con-
spiracy for his restoration to the imperial throne was secretly
set on foot. Several thousands of his veteran soldiery had
been released from foreign durance ; the whole of the military
stores, the spoil of Europe, still remained in the possession of
France ; the fortresses were solely garrisoned with French
troops ; Elba was close at hand, and the emperor was guarded
with criminal negligence. Heavy, indeed, is the responsibility
of those who, by thus neglecting their charge, once more let
loose this scourge upon the earth ! \ Napoleon quitted his
* An attack upon Berne had already been concerted. Colonel Bar
marched with the people of Aargau in the night-time upon Aarburg, but
his confederates failing to make their appearance, he caused the nearest
Bernese governor to be alarmed and hastily retraced his steps. The
Bernese instantly sent an armed force to the frontier, where, finding all
tranquil, the charge of aggression was thro^v^l upon their shoulders.
t Vide Murall's Life of Reinhard.
X Bliicher was at Berlin at the moment when the news of Napoleon's
escape arrived. He instantly roused the English ambassador from his sleep
by shouting in his ear, " Have the English a fleet in the Mediterranean ? "
XAPOLEOX'S RETURN AND END. 357
island, and, on the 1st of March, 1815, again set foot on the
coast of France. He was merely accompanied by one thou-
sand five hundred men, but the whole of the troops sent
against him by Louis XVIII. ranged themselves beneath his
eagle. He passed, as if in triumph, through his former em-
pire. The whole nation received him with acclamations of
delight. Not a single Frenchman shed a drop of blood for
the Bourbon, who fled hastily to Ghent ; and, on the 20th
of March, Napoleon entered Paris unopposed. His brother-
in-law, ]\Iurat, at the same time revolted at Naples and ad-
vanced into Upper Italy against the Austrians. But all the
rest of Napoleon's ancient allies, persuaded that he must again
fall, either remained tranquil or formed a close alliance with
the combined powers. The Swiss, in particular, showed ex-
cessive zeal on this occasion, and took up arms against France
in the hope of rendering the allied sovereigns favourable to
their new constitution. Tlie Swiss regiments, which had
passed from Napoleon's service to that of Louis XVIIL, also
remained unmoved by Napoleon's blandishments, were de-
prived of their arms and returned separately to Switzerland.
The allied sovereigns were still assembled at Vienna, and
at once allowed every dispute to drop in order to form a fresh
and closer coalition. They declared Napoleon an outlaAV, a
robber, proscribed by all Europe, and bound themselves to
bi'ing a force more than a million strong into the field against
him. All Napoleon's cunning attempts to bribe and set
them at variance were treated with scorn, and the combined
powers speedily came to an understanding on the points hither-
to so strongly contested. Saxony was partitioned between
her ancient sovereign and Prussia, and a revolt that broke out
in Liege among the Saxon troops, who were by command of
Prussia to be divided before they had been released from their
oath of allegiance to their king, is easily explained by the hur-
ry and pressure of the times, which caused all minor consider-
ations to be forgotten.* Napoleon exclusively occupied the
* The blame was entirely upon the Prussian side. The Saxons, as
good soldiers, naturally revolted at the idea that they would at once be
faithless to their oath, and mutinied. General Miiffling was insulted for
having spoken of " Saxon hounds." Bliicher even was compelled se-
cretly to take his departure. The Saxon troops were, however, reduced
to obedience by superior numbers of Prussians, and their colours were
burnt. The whole corps was about to be decimated, when Colonel R6-
358 NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END.
mind of every diplomatist, and all agreed in the necessity, at
all hazards, of his utter annihilation. The lion, thus driven
at bay, turned upon his pursuers for a last and desperate
struggle. The French were still faithful to Napoleon, who,
with a view of re-inspiring them with the enthusiastic spirit
that had rendered them invincible in the fii'st days of the re-
public, again called forth the old republicans, nominated them
to the highest appointments, re-established several republican
institutions, and, on the 1st of June, presented to his dazzled
subjects the magnificent spectacle of a field of May, as in the
times of Charlemagne and in the commencement of the Re-
volution, and then led a numerous and spirited army to the
Dutch frontiers against the enemy.
Here stood a Prussian army under Bllicher, and an Anglo-
German one under Wellington, comprehending the Dutch
under the Prince of Orange, the Brunswickers under their
duke, the recruited Hanoverian legion under Wallmoden,
These corps d'armee most imminently threatened Paris. The
main body of the allied army under Schwarzenberg, then ad-
vancing from the south, was still distant. Napoleon conse-
quently directed his first attack against the two former. His
army had gained immensely in strength and spirit by the re-
turn of his veteran troops from foreign imprisonment. Wel-
lington, ignorant at wliat point Napoleon might cross the
frontier, had followed the old and ill-judged plan of dividing
his forces ; an incredible error, the allies having simply to
unite their forces and to take up a firm position in order to draw
Napoleon to any given spot. Wellington, moreover, never
imagined that Napoleon was so near at hand, and was amusing
himself at a ball at Brussels, when Bliicher, who was stationed
in and around Namur, was attacked on the 14th of June, 1815.*
mer came forward and demanded that the sentence of death should be
first executed on him. Milder measures were in consequence reverted
to, and a few of the men were condemned to death by drawing lots.
Kanitz, the drummer, a youth of sixteen, however, threw away the dice,
exclaiming, " It is I who beat the summons for revolt, and I will be the
first to die." He and six others were shot. Borstel, the Prussian gene-
ral, the hero of Dennewitz, who had steadily refused to burn the Saxon
colours, was compelled to quit the service.
* For a refutation of Menzel's absurdly perverted relation of these
great events, the reader is referred not only to the Duke of Wellington's
despatches and to Colonel Siborne's well-established account of the
NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END. 359
Napoleon afterwards observed in his memoirs, that he had
attacked Bliicher first because he well knew that Bliicher
would not be supported by the over-prudent and egotistical
English commander, but that Wellington, had he been first
attacked, would have received every aid from his high-spirited
and faithful ally. Wellington, after being repeatedly urged
by Bliicher, collected his scattered corps, but neither completely
nor with sufficient rapidity ; and on Bliicher's announcement
of Napoleon's arrival, exerted himself on the following morn-
ing so far as to make a reconnoissajice. The duke of Bruns-
wick, with impatience equalling that of Bliicher, was the only
one who had quitted the ball during the night and had hur-
ried forward against the enemy. Napoleon, owing to Wel-
lington's negligence, gained time to throw himself between
him and Bliicher and to prevent their junction ; for he knew
the spirit of his opponents. He consequently opposed merely
a small division of his army under Ney to the English and
turned witli the whole of his main body against the Prussians.
The veteran Bliicher perceived his intentions * and in con-
sequence urgently demanded aid from the Duke of Welling-
ton, who promised to send him a reinforcement of twenty
thousand men by four o'clock on the 16th. But this aid never
arrived, Wellington, although Ney was too weak to obstruct
the movement, making no attempt to perform his pi'omise.
Wellington retired with superior forces before Ney at Quatre
Bras, and allov.'ed the gallant and unfortunate Duke William
of Brunswick to fall a futile sacrifice. Bliicher mean-
while yielded to the overwhelming force brought against
him by Napoleon at Ligny, also on the 16th of June. Vainly
did the Prussians rush to the attack beneath the murderous
fire of the French, vainly did Bliicher in person head the as-
sault and for five hours continue the combat hand to hand in
the village of Ligny. Numbers prevailed, and Wellington
sent no relief. The infantry being at length driven back,
Bliicher led the cavalry once more to the charge, but was re-
battles of Ligny, Wavre, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo, but also to those
of his counti-ymen, Miiffling, the Prussian general, and Wagner. — Trans-
lator.
* Shortly before the battle, Bourmont, the French general, set up the
white cockade (the symbol of Bourbon) and deserted to Bliicher, who
merely said, "It is all one what symbol the fellows set up, rascals are
ever rascals ! "
360 NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END.
pulsed and fell senseless beneath his horse, which was shot
dead. His adjutant, Count Nostitz, alone remained at his
side. The French cavalry passed close by without perceiv-
ing them, twilight and a misty rain having begun to fall.
The Prussians fortunately missed their leader, repulsed the
French cavalry, which again galloped past him as he lay on
the ground, and he was at length drawn from beneatli his
horse. He still lived, but only to behold the complete defeat
of his army.
Bliicher, although a veteran of seventy-three and wounded
and shattered by his fall, was not for a moment discouraged.*
Ever vigilant, he assembled his scattered troops with wonder-
ful rapidity, inspirited them by his cheerful words, and had
the generosity to promise aid, by the afternoon of the 18th
of June, to Wellington, who was now in his turn attacked
by the main body of the French under Napoleon. What
Wellington on the 16th, with a fresh army, could not perform,
Bliicher now effected witli troops dejected by defeat, and put
the English leader to the deepest shame by — keeping his word.f
He consequently fell back upon Wavre in order to remain as
close as possible in Wellington's vicinity, and also sent orders
to Billow's corps, that was then on the advance, to join the
English army, whilst Napoleon, in the idea that Bliicher was
falling back upon tlie Meuse, sent Grouchy in pursuit with a
body of thirty-five thousand men. if
Napoleon, far from imagining that the Prussians, after
having been, as he supposed, completely annihilated or panic-
stricken by Grouchy, could aid the British, Avasted the pre-
cious moments, and, instead of hastily attacking Wellington,
spent the whole of the morning of the 18th in uselessly
parading his troops, possibly with a view of intimidating his
opponents and of inducing them to retreat without hazarding an
* The surgeon, -when about to rub him with some liquid, was asked
by him what it was, and being told that it was spirits, " Ah," said he,
" the thing is of no use externally ! " and snatching the glass from the
hand of his attendant, he drank it ofT.
t Against all expectation to aid an ally who on the previous day had
against all expectation been unable to give him aid, evinced at once
magnanimity, sense, and good feeling. — Clausetcitz.
X A Prussian battery, that on its way from Namur turned back on re-
ceiving news of this disaster and was taken by the French, is said to have
chiefly led to the commission of this immense blunder by Napoleon.
NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END. 361
engagement. His well-dressed lines glittered in the sunbeams ;
the infantry raised their tschakos on the bayonet points, the
cavalry their helmets on their sabres, and gave a general cheer
for their emperor. The English, however, preserved an un-
daunted aspect. At length, about mid-day. Napoleon gave
orders for the attack, and, furiously charging the British left
wing, drove it from the village of Hougumont. He then sent
orders to Ney to charge the British centre. At that moment
a dark spot was seen in the direction of St. Lambert. Was
it Grouchy ? A reconnoitring party was despatched and re-
turned with the news of its being the Prussians under Biilow.
The attack upon the British centre was consequently remanded,
and Ney was despatched with a considerable portion of his
troops against Biilow. Wellington now ventured to charge
the enemy with his right wing, but was repulsed and lost the
farm of La Haye Sainte, which commanded his position on
this side as Hougumont did on his right. His centre, how-
ever, remained unattached, the French exerting their utmost
strength to keep Biilow's gallant troops back at the village
of Planchenoit, where the battle I'aged with the greatest fury,
and a dreadful conflict of some hours' duration ensued hand
to hand. But about five o'clock, the left wing of the British
being completely thrown into confusion by a fresh attack on
the enemy's side, the whole of the French cavalry, twelve
thousand strong, made a furious charge upon the British cen-
tre, bore down all before them, and took a great number of
guns. The Prince of Orange was wounded. The road to
Brussels was already thronged with the fugitive English troops,
and Wellington, scarcely able to keep his weakened lines to-
gether,* was apparently on the brink of destruction, when the
thunder of artillery was suddenly heard in the direction of
Wavre. " It is Grouchy ! " joyfully exclaimed Napoleon, who
had repeatedly sent orders to that general to push forward with
all possible speed. But it was not Grouchy, it was Bliicher.
The faithful troops of the veteran marshal (the old Silesian
* The Hanoverian legion again covered itself with glory by the stea-
diness with which it opposed the enemy. It lost three thousand five
hundred men, the Dutch eight thousand; the German troops conse-
quently lost collectively as many as the English, whose loss was com-
puted at eleven or twelve thousand men. The Prussians, whose loss
at Ligny and Waterloo exceeded that of their allies, behaved with even
greater gallantry.
362 NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END.
army) were completely worn out by the battle, by their retreat
in the heavy rain over deep roads, and by the want of food.
The distance from Wavre, whence they had been driven, to
Waterloo, where Wellington was then in action, was not great,
but was rendered arduous owing to these circumstances. The
men sometimes fell down from extreme weariness, and the
guns stuck fast in the deep mud. But Bliicher was every where
present, and notwithstanding his bodily pain ever cheered his
men forwards, with "indescribable pathos" saying to his dis-
heartened soldiers, " My children, we must advance ; I have
promised it, do not cause me to break my word ! " Whilst
still distant from the scene of action, he ordered the guns to
be fired in order to keep up the courage of the English, and
at length, between six and seven in the evening, the first
Prussian corps in advance, that of Ziethen, fell furiously upon
the enemy : "Bravo !" cried Bliicher, " I know you, my Sile-
sians ; to-day we shall see the backs of these French rascals !"
Ziethen filled up the space still intervening between Wel-
lington and Blilow. Exactly at that moment. Napoleon had
sent his old guard forward in four massive squares in order
to make a last attempt to break the British lines, when Zei-
then fell upon their flank and dealt fearful havoc among their
close masses with his artillery. Billow's troops, inspirited
by this success, now pressed gallantly forwards and finally
regained the long-contested village of Planchenoit from the
enemy. The whole of the Prussian army, advancing at the
double and with drums beating, had already driven back the
right wing of the French, when the English, regaining cour-
age, advanced. Napoleon was surrounded on two sides, and
the whole of his troops, the old guard under General Cam-
bronne alone excepted, were totally dispersed and fled in com-
plete disorder. The old guard, surrounded by Billow's
cavalry, nobly replied, when challenged to surrender, " La
garde ne se rend pas ;" and in a few minutes the veteran con-
querors of Europe fell beneath the righteous and aveng-
ing blows of their antagonists. At the farm of La Belle
Alliance Bliicher ofi'ered his hand to Wellington. " I will
sleep to-night in Bonaparte's last night's quarters," said
Wellington. " And I will drive him out of his present ones !"
replied Bliicher. The Prussians, fired by enthusiasm, forgot
the fatigues they had for four days endured, and, favoured by
NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END. 363
a moon-light night, so zealously pursued the French that an
immense number of prisoners and a vast amount of booty fell
into their hands and Napoleon narrowly escaped being taken
prisoner. At Genappe, where the bridge was blocked by
fugitives, the pursuit was so close that he was compelled
to abandon his carriage leaving his sword and hat behind
him. Bliicher, Avho reached the spot a moment afterwards,
took possession of the booty, sent Napoleon's hat, sword, and
star to the king of Prussia, retained his cloak, telescope, and
carriage for his own use, and gave up every thing else, in-
cluding a quantity of the most valuable jewellery, gold, and
money to his brave soldiery. The whole of the army stores,
two hundred and forty guns, and an innumerable quantity of
arms thrown away by the fugitives, fell into his hands.
The Prussian general, Thielemann, who, with a few troops,
had remained beliind at Wavre in order, at great hazard, to
deceive Grouchy into the belief that he was still opposed by
Bliicher's entire force, acted a lesser, but equally honourable
part on this great day. He fulfilled his commission with
great skill, and so completely deceived Grouchy as to hinder
his making a single attempt to throw himself in the way of the
Prussians on the Paris road,
Bliicher pushed forwards without a moment's delay, and,
on the 29th of June, stood before Paris. Napoleon had,
meanwhile, a second time abdicated, and had fled from Paris
in the hope of escaping across the seas. Davoust, the ancient
instrument of his tyranny, who commanded in Paris, attempt-
ing to make terms of capitulation with Bliicher, was sharply
answered, " You want to make a defence ? Take care what
you do. You well know what licence the irritated soldiery
will take if your city must be taken by storm. Do you wish
to add the sack of Paris to that of Hamburg, already load-
ing your conscience ? " * Paris surrendered after a severe
engagement at Issy, and MiifHing, the Prussian general, was
placed in command of the city, July the 7th, 1815. It was
on the occasion of a grand banquet given by Wellington
shortly after the occupation of Paris by the allied troops that
* The French were extremely affronted on account of this communi-
cation being made in German instead of French, and even at the present
day German liistorians are generally struck witli deeper astonishment at
this sample of Bliicher's bold spirit than at any other.
364 NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END.
Bliicher gave the celebrated toast, " May the pens of diplo-
matists not again spoil all that the swords of our gallant
armies have so nobly won ! "
Schwarzenberg had in the interim also penetrated into
France, and the crown-prince of Wiirtemberg had defeated
General Rapp at Strassburg and had surrounded that fortress.
The Swiss, vmder General Bachmann, who had, although fully
equipped for the field, hitherto prudently watched the turn of
events, invaded France immediately after the battle of Wa-
terloo, pillaged Burgundy, besieged and took the fortress of
HUningen, which, with the permission of the allies, they justly
razed to the ground, the insolent French having thence fired
upon the bridges of Basle which lay close in its vicinity. A
fresh Austrian army under Frimoiit advanced from Italy as
far as Lyons. On the 17th of July, Napoleon surrendered
himself in the bay of Rochefort to the English, whose ships
prevented his escape ; he moreover preferred falling into their
bands than into those of the Prussians. The whole of France
submitted to the triumphant allies, and Louis XVIII. was
reinstated on his throne. ]\Iurat had also been simultaneously
defeated at Tolentino in Italy by the Austrians under Bianchi,
and Ferdinand IV. had been restored to the throne of Naples.
Murat fled to Corsica, but his retreat to France was prevented
by the success of the allies, and in his despair he, with native
rashness, yielded to the advice of secret intriguants and re-
turned to Italy with a design of raising a popular insurrection,
but was seized on landing and shot on the 13th of October.*
Bliicher was greatly inclined to give full vent to his justly
roused rage against Paris. The bridge of Jena, one of the
numerous bridges across the Seine, the principal object of his
displeasure, was, curiously enough, saved from destruction
(he had already attempted to blow it up) by the arrival of the
king of Prussia, f His proposal to punish France by parti-
* Ney, " the bravest of the brave," who dishonoured his bravery by
the basest treachery, met with an equally melancholy fate. Immediately
after having, for instance, kissed the gouty fingers of Louis XVIIL and
boasting thathe would imprison Napoleon within an iron cage, he went over
to the latter. He was sentenced to death and shot, after vainly imploring
tlie allied monarchs and personally petitioning Wellington for mercy.
Alexander Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, Napoleon's chief confidant,
had, even before the outbreak of war, thrown himself out of a window in
a fit of hypochondriasis and been killed.
t Talleyrand begged Count von der Goltz to use his influence for its
NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END. 365
tioning the country and thus placing it on a par with Ger-
many, was far more practical in its tendency.
This honest veteran had in fact a deeper insight into affairs
than the most wary diplomatists.* In 1815, the same persons,
as in 1814, met in Paris, and similar interests were agitated.
Foreign jealousy again effected the conclusion of this peace
at the expense of Germany and in favour of France. Bliicher's
influence at first reigned supreme. The king of Prussia,
who, together with the emperors of Russia and Austria, re-
visited Paris, took Stein and Gruner into his council. The
crown-prince of Wiirtemberg also zealously exerted himself
in favour of the reunion of Lorraine and Alsace with Ger-
many.f But Russia and England beholding the reintegration
of Germany .with displeasui'e, Austria, '\. and finally Prussia,
against whose patriots all were in league, yielded. § The
preservation with Bliicher, who replied to his entreaties, " I will blow up
the bridge, and should very much like to have Talleyrand sitting upon it
at the time ! " An attempt to blow it up was actually made, but failed.
* Many of whom were in fact wilfully blind. Hardenberg, by whom
the noble-spirited Stein was so ill replaced, and who, with all possible
decency, ever succeeded in losing in the cabinet the advantages gained
by Bliicher in the field, the diplomatic bird of ill omen by whom the
peace of Basle had formerly been concluded, was thus addressed by
Bliicher : " I should like you gentlemen of tlie quill to be for once in
a way exposed to a smart platoon fire, just to teach you what perils we
soldiers have to run in order to repair the blunders you so thoughtlessly
commit." An instructive commentary upon these events is to be met
with in Stein's letters to Gagern. The light in which Stein viewed the
Saxons may be gathered from the follomng passages in his letters : " My
desire for the aggrandizement of Prussia proceeded not from a blind par-
tiality to that state, but from the conviction that Germany is weakened by
a system of partition ruinous alike to her national learning and iiationai
feelings." " It is not for Prussia but for Germany that I desire a
closer, a firmer internal combination, a wish that will accompany me to
the grave : the division of our national strength may be gratifying to
others, it never can be so to me." This truly German policy mainly
distinguished Stein from Hardenberg, who, thoroughly Prussian in his
ideas, was incapable of perceiving that Prussia's best-understood policy
ever will be to identify herself ■v^ith Germany.
t Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 285.
+ It was proposed that Lorraine and Alsace should be bestowed upon
the Archduke Charles, who at that period wedded the Princess Henrietta
of Nassau. The proposition, however, quickly fell to the ground.
§ Even in July, their organ, Gcjrres's Rhenish Mercury, was placed
beneath the censor. In August, it was said that the men, desirous of
giving a constitution to Prussia, had fallen into disgrace. — Allgemeine
Zeitung, No. 249. In September, Schmalz, in Berlin, unveiled the pre-
366 NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END.
future destinies of Europe were settled on the side of Eng-
land by Wellington and Castlereagh ; on that of Russia by
Prince John Razumowsky, Nesselrode, and Capo d' Istria ;
on that of Austria by Metternich and Wessenberg ; on that
of Prussia by Hardenberg and William von Humboldt. The
German patriots were excluded from the discussion,* and a
result extremely unfavourable to Germany naturally fol-
lowed if Alsace and Lorraine remained annexed to France.
By the second treaty of Paris, which was definitively con-
cluded on the 20th of November, I8I0, France was merely
compelled to give up the fortresses of Philippeville, Marien-
burg, Sarlouis, and Landau, to demolish Huningen, and to
allow eighteen other fortresses on the German frontier to be
occupied by the allies until the new government had taken
firm footing in France. Until then, one hundred and fifty
thousand of the allied troops were also to remain within the
French territory and to be maintained at the expense of the
people. France was, moreover, condemned to pay seven
sumed revolutionary intrigiies of the Ttigendbund and declared " the unity
of Germany is something to which the spirit of every nation in Germany
has ever been antipathetic." He received a Prussian and a Wiirtem-
bera; order, besides an extremely gracious autograph letter from the king
of Prussia, although his base calumnies against the friends of his country
were thrown back upon him by the historians Niebuhr and Riihs, who
were then in a high position, by Schleiermacher the theologian, and by
others. The nobility also began to stir, attempted to regain their ancient
privileges in Prussia, and intrigued against the men who, during the time
of need, had made concessions to the citizens. — Allgemeine Zeitung, No.
276.
* The Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 349, laughs at the report of their
having withdrawTi from the discussion, and says that they were no
longer invited to take part in it.
t On the loud complaints of the Rhenish Mercury, of the gazettes
of Bremen and Hanau, and even of the Allgemeine Zeitung, the Austrian
Observer, edited by Gentz, declared that " to demand a better peace
would be to demand the ruin of France." — Allgemeine Zeitung, Nos.
345, 365. On Gorres's repeated demand for the re-annexation of Alsace
and Lorraine, of which Germany had been so unwarrantably deprived,
the Austrian Observer declared in the beginning of 1816, "who would be-
lieve that Gorres would lend his pen to such miserable arguments.
Alsace and Lorraine are guaranteed to France. To demand their restor-
ation would be contrary to every notion of honour and justice." In this
manner was Germany a second time robbed of these provinces. Wash-
ington Paine denominated Strassburg, " a melancholy sentry, of which
unwary Germany has allowed herself to be deprived, and which noAv,
accoutred in an incongruous uniform, does duty against his own country."
NAPOLEON'S RETURN AND END. obi
liundred millions of francs towards the expenses of the war
and to restore the chef d'ceuvres of which she had deprived
every capital in Europe. The sword of Frederick the Great
was not refound : jMarshal Serrurier declared that he had
burnt it.* On the other hand, however, almost all the fam-
ous old German manuscripts, which had formerly been carried
from Heidelberg to Rome, and thence by Xapoleon to Paris,
■were sent back to Heidelberg. One of the most valuable,
the Slanessian Code of the Swabian j\linnesingers, was left
in Pai'is, where it had been concealed. Bliicher expired, in
1819, on his estate in Silesia. f
The French were now sufficiently humbled to remain in
tranquillity, and designedly displayed such submission that
the allied sovereigns resolved, at a congress held at Aix-la-
Chapelle, in tlie autumn of 1818, to withdraw their troops.
Napoleon was, with the concurrence of the assembled powers,
taken to the island of St. Helena, where, surrounded by the
dreary ocean, several hundred miles from any inhabited
spot, and guarded with petty severity by the English, he was
at length deprived of every means of disturbing the peace of
Europe. Inactivity and the unhealthiness of the climate
speedily dissolved the earthly abode of this giant spirit. He
expired on the 5th of May, 1821. His consort, Maria Louisa,
was created Duchess of Parma ; and his son lived, under the
title of Duke of Reichstadt, with his imperial grandfather at
Vienna, until his death in 1832, Napoleon's stepson, Eugene
Beauharnois, the former viceroy of Italy, the son-in-law to
the king of Bavaria, received the newly-created mediatized
principality of Eichstadt, which was dependent upon Bavaria,
and the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg. Jerome, the former
* The Invalids had in the same spirit cast the triumphal monument
of the field of Rossbach into the Seine, in order to prevent its restora-
tion. The alarum formerly belonging to Frederick the Great was also
missing. Napoleon had it on his person during his flight and made use
of it at St. Helena, where it struck his death-hour.
t He v/as descended from a noble race, which at a very early period
enjoyed high repute in Mecklenburg and Pomerania. In 1271, an Ulric
von Bliicher was bishop of Ratzeburg. A legend relates that, during a
time of dearth, an empty barn was, on his petitioning Heaven, instantly
filled with corn. In 1356, Wipertus von Bliicher also became bishop of
Ratzeburg, and, on the pope's refusal to confirm him in his diocese on
account of his youth, his hair turned grey in one night. Vide Kliiwer's
Pescription of Mecklenburg, 1728.
368 THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.
king of Westphalia, became Count de Montfort ; * Louis, ex-
kinff of Holland, Count de St. Leu.
PART XXIIL
THE LATEST TIMES.
CCLXIV. The German confederation.
Thus terminated the terrible storms that, not without benefit,
had convulsed Europe. Every description of political crime
had been fearfully avenged and presumption had been chastised
by the unerring hand of Providence. At that solemn period,
the sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and Prussia concluded a
treaty by which they bound themselves to follow, not the
ruinous policy they had hitherto pursued, but the undoubted
will of the King of kings, and, as the viceroys of God upon
the earth, to maintain peace, to uphold virtue and justice.
This Holy Alliance was concluded on the 26th of September,
1815. AH the European powers took part in it; England,
who excused herself, the pope, and the sultan, whose accession
was not demanded, alone excepted.
The new partition of Europe, nevertheless, retained almost
all the unnatural conditions introduced by the more ancient
and godless policy of Louis XIV. and of Catherine II. Ger-
many, Poland, and Italy remained partitioned among rulers
partly foreign. Every where were countries exchanged or
freshly partitioned and rendered subject to foreign rule. Eng-
land retained possession of Hanover, which was elevated into
a German kingdom, of the Ionian islands, and of Malta in the
Mediterranean. Russia received the grand duchy of Warsaw,
which was raised to a kingdom of Poland, but was not united
with Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine, the ancient
* His wife, Catlierine of Wiirtemberg, was, in 1814, attacked during
her flight, on her way through France, and robbed of her jewels. —
AUgememe Zeittmg, No. 130.
THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 369
provinces of Poland standing beneath the sovereignty of Rus-
sia, and Finnland, for which vSweden received in exchange
Norway, of which Denmark was forcibly dispossessed. Holland
was annexed to the old Austrian Netherlands and elevated to
a kingdom under William of Orange.* Switzerland remained
a confederation of twenty-two cantons,! externally independ-
ent and neutral, internally somewhat aristocratic in tendency,
the ancient oligarchy every where regaining their power.
The Jesuits were reinstated by the pope. In Spain, Portugal,
and Naples, the form of government prior to the Eevolution
was re-established by the ancient sovereigns on their restoration
to their thrones.
Alsace and Lorraine, Switzerland and the new kingdom of
the Netherlands, the pi'ovinces of Luxemburg excepted, were
no longer regarded as forming part of Germany. Austria
received INIilan and Venice under the title of a Lombardo-
Venetian kingdom, the lUyriau provinces also as a kingdom,
Venetian Dalmatia, the Tyrol;!:, Vorarlberg, Salzburg, the Inn,
and Hausruckviertel, and the part of Galicia ceded by her at
an ,'earlier period. The grand-duchy of Tuscany and the
duchies of Modena, Parma, and Placentia were, moreover,
* William V., the expelled hereditary stadtholder, died in obscurity
at Brunswick, a. d.' 1806. His son, William, had, in 1802, received
Fulda in compensation, but afterwards sened Prussia, was, in 1806,
taken prisoner with Mullendorf at Erfurt and afterwards set at liberty,
served again, in 1809, under Austria, and then retired to England, whence
he returned on the expulsion of the French to receive a crown, which
he accepted ^vith a good deal of assurance, complaining, at the same
time, of the loss of his fonner possession, Fulda, a circumstance strongly
commented upon by Stein in his letters to Gagern. William, in return
for his elevation to a throne by the arms of Germany, closed the mouths of
the Rhine against her.
t Zurich, Berne, Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus, Zug,
Freyburg, Solothurn, Basle, Schaffliausen, Appenzell, St. Gall, the
Grisons, Aargau, Constance, Tessin, the Vaud, Valais, Neuenburg,
(Neufchatel,) Geneva. The nineteen cantons of 1805 remained in statu
quo, only those of Valais, Neufchatel, and Geneva were confederated with
them, and Pruntrut with the ancient bishopric of Basle Mere restored
to Berne.
X The deed of possession of the 26th June, 1814, runs as follows:
" Not by an arbitrary, despotic encroachment upon the order of things,
but by the hands of the Providence that blessed the arms of your em-
peror and of the allied princes and by a holy alliance are you restored
to the house of Austria."
VOL. in. 2 B
370 THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.
restored to the collateral branches of the house of Habsburg.*
Prussia received half of Saxony, the grand-duchy of
Posen, Swedish-Pomerania,"!" a great portion of Westphalia,
and almost the whole of the Lower Rhine from Mayence as
far as Aix-la-ChapelIe.:j: Since this period, Prussia is that,
among all the states of Germany, which possesses the greatest
number of German subjects, Austria, although more consider-
able in extent, containing a population of which by far the
greater proportion is not German. Bavaria, in exchange for
the provinces again ceded by her to Austria, received the
province of Wiirzburg together with Aschaffenburg and the
Upper Rhenish Pfalz under the title of Rhenish-Bavaria.
Hanover received East Frizeland, which had hitherto been de-
pendent upon Prussia. Out of this important province,
which opened the North Sea to Prussia, was Hardenberg
cajoled by the wily English. The electorates of Hesse, Bruns-
wick, and Oldenburg were restored. Every thing else was
allowed to subsist as at the time of the Rhenish confederation.
All the petty princes and counts, then mediatized, continued
to be so.
The ancient empire, instead of being re-established, was,
on the 8th of June, 1815, replaced by a German confedera-
tion, composed of the thirty-nine German states that had
escaped the general ruin ; Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony,
Hanover, Wiirtemberg, Baden, electoral Hesse, Darmstadt,
Denmark on account of Holstein,§ the Netherlands on ac-
* Tuscany fell to Ferdinand, the former grand-duke of Wiirzburg ;
Modena to Francis, son of the deceased duke, Ferdinand ; Parma and
Placentia to Maria Louisa, the wife and widow of Napoleon.
t Not long before, in the treaty of Kiel, there had been question of
bestowing Swedish-Pomerania upon Denmark ; to this Prussia refused
to accede and Denmark agreed to take 2,6U0,UOO dollars in compensa-
tion. Prussia was also compelled to pay 3,0U0,0U0 and a half dollars to
Sweden.
X Rehfues, the director of the circle, a Wiirtemberg Protestant, pub-
lished a circular at Bonn, in which he promised full religious security to
the Catholic inhabitants, whom he reminded of Prussia's having been " the
last supporter of the order of Jesus." — Allgemeine Zeitung of 1814, No.
234.
^ Holstein alone, not Sleswick, was enumerated as belonging to the
German confederation, although both duchies were long ago closely
united by the nexits socialis, more particularly in the representation at
the diet.
THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 371
count of Luxemburg, Brunswick, Mecklenburg- Schwer in,
Nassau, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Gotha, (where the reigning
dynasty became extinct, and the duchy was partitioned among
the other Saxon houses of the Ernestine line,) Saxe-Coburg,
Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Hildburghausen, Mecklenburg- Stre-
litz, Holstein-Oldenburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg,
Anhalt-Kothen, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-
Rudolstadt, HohenzoUern-Hechingen, Lichtenstein, Hohen-
zoUern-Sigmaringen, Waldeck, Reuss the elder, and Reuss
the younger branch,* Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold,
Hesse-Homburg : finally, the free towns, Liibeck, Frankfurt
a M., Bremen, and Hamburg. I At Frankfurt a M. a per-
manent diet, consisting of plenipotentiaries from the thirty-
nine states, was to hold its session. The votes were, however,
so regulated that the eleven states of first rank alone held a
full vote, the secondary states merely holding a half or a
fourth part of a vote, as, for instance, all the Saxon duchies
collectively, one vote ; Brunswick and Nassau, one ; the two
Mecklenburgs, one ; Oldenburg, Anhalt, and Schwarzburg,
one ; the petty princes of HohenzoUern, Lichtenstein, Reuss,
Lippe, and "VValdeck, one ; all the free towns, one ; forming
altogether in the diet seventeen votes. In constitutional ques-
tions relating to regulations of the confederation the plenum
was to be allowed, that is, the six states of the highest rank
were to have each four votes, the next five states each three,
Brunswick, Schwerin, and Nassau, each two, and all the
remaining princes without distinction, each one vote.J
Austria held the permanent presidency. In all resolutions
* The Reusses, formerly imperial governors of Plauen, diverged into
so many branches, that, as early as 1664, they agreed to distinguish
themselves by numbers, which at first amounted to thirty, but at a later
period to a hundred, afterwards recommencing at number one. The
family took the name of Reuss from the Russian wife of its founder, in
the beginning of the fourteenth century.
t Hamburg had vainly petitioned for the restitution of her bank, of
which she had been deprived by Davoust. She received merely a small
portion of the general war-tax levied upon France.
X Austria and Prussia contain forty-two million inhabitants ; the rest
of Germany merely twelve million ; the power of the two former stands
consequently in proportion to that of the rest of Germany as forty-two to
twelve or seven to two, whilst their votes in the diet stood not contra-
riwise, as two to seven, but as two to seventeen in the plenary assembly,
and as two to fifteen in the lesser one.
2 B 2
372 THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.
relating to the fundamental laws, the organic regulations of
the confederation, the jura singulorum and matters of religion,
unanimity was required. All the members of the confeder-
ation bound themselves neither to enter into war nor into
any foreign alliance against the confederation or any of its
members. The thirteenth article declared, " Each of the
confederated states will grant a constitution to the people."
The sixteenth placed all Christian sects throughout the G-er-
man confederation on an equality. The eighteenth granted
freedom of settlement within the limits of the confederation,
and promised " uniformity of regulation concerning the
liberty of the press." The fortresses of Luxemburg, ]\Iay-
ence, and Landau were declared the common property of the
confederation and occupied in common by their troops. A
fourth fortress was to have been raised on the Upper Rhine
with twenty millions of the French contribution money. It
has not yet been erected.
This was the new constitution given to Germany. Ac-
cording to the treaty of Paris it could not be otherwise
modelled, and it is explained by the foreign influence that
then prevailed. Tlie diet assembled at Frankfurt a M.,
and was opened by Count Buol-Schauenstein with a solemn
address, which excited no enthusiasm. An orator in the
American assembly at that time observed, " The non-de-
velopment of the seed contained in Germany appears to be
the common aim of a resolute policy."
All now united for the complete suppression of the Ger-
man patriotic party. In the former Rhenish confederated
states, it had been treated -with open contempt * ever since
Gentz had given the signal for persecution in Austria.
Prussia, however, also drove all those who had most faith-
fully served her in her hour of need from her bosom. Stein
was compelled to withdraw to Kappenberg, his country
estate. Gruner was removed from office and sent as ambassador
to Switzerland, where he died. The Rhenish Mercury, that
* Aretin, who, at the time of the Rhenish confederation, insolently
mocked and had denounced every indication of German patriotism, ven-
tured to say in his " Alemannia," in the beginning of 1817, "'The
patriotic colours,' ' the voice of the people,' ' nationality,' ' the
extirpation of foreign influence,' are words now forgotten, magic sounds
that have lost their power."
THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 373
had performed such great services to Prussia, was prohibited,
and Gcirres was threatened with the house of correction.* All
other papers of a patriotic tendency were also suppressed. In
Jena, Oken and Ludeii, in Weimar, Wieland the younger,
alone ventured for some time to give utterance to their liberal
opinions, which were finally also reduced to silence.
Patriotic enthusiasm was, however, not so speedily sup-
pressed amid the youthful students in the academies and
universities. Jahn's gymnastic schools, ( Turnschulen,) the
members of which were distinguished by the German costume,
a short black frock coat, a black cap, linen trowsers, a bare
neck with turned-over shirt collar, extended far and wide
and were in close connexion with the Binschenschaften of
the universities. The prescribed object of these Turnschulen
was the promotion of Chi'istian, moral, German manners, the
universal fraternization of all German students, the complete
eradication of the provincialism and licence inherent in the
various associations formed at the universities. They wore
Jahn's German costume and always acted publicly, until their
suppression, Avhen the remaining members formed secret
associations. On the 18th of October, 1817, the students of
Jena, Halle, and Leipzig, and those of some of the more distant
universities, assembled in order to solemnize the jubilee on the
three hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, on the Wart-
burg, where, in imitation of Luther, they committed a number
of servile works, inimical to the German cause, to the flames,
as Gorres at that time said, " filled with anger that the same
reformation required of the church by Luther should be sanc-
tioned, but at the same time refused, by the state." The
black, red, and yellow tricolour was hoisted for the first time
on this occasion. These were in reality the ancient colours
of the empire and were regarded as such by the patriotic
students, but were purposely looked upon by the Frencli and
their adherents in Germany as an imitation of the tricoloured
flag of the French republic. The festival solemnized on the
Wartburg was speedily succeeded by others. The Turner,
* By Sack, the government commissary, who even confiscated the
Rhenish Mercury, an earlier and unprohibited paper, and arrested the
printer, against which Gurres violently protested in a letter addressed to
Sack. Gorres made a triumphant defence before the tribunal at Treves,
and observed, " Strange that the most violent enemy to France should
seek the protection of French courts ! "
374 THE GERMAN CONFEDERATION.
more particularly at Berlin and Breslau, rendered themselves
conspicuous not only by their dress but by their insolence,
boys even of the tenderest years putting themselves forward
as reformers of the government and of society, and singing
the most blood-thirsty songs of liberty. The Prussian go-
vernment interfered, and the gymnastic exercises, so well
suited to the subjects of a warlike state, were once more
prohibited.
At the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle, Stourdza, the Russian
counsellor of state, a Wallachian by birth, presented a memo-
rial in which the spirit of the German universities was de-
scribed as revolutionary. The Burschenschaft of Jena sent
him a challenge. Kotzebue, the Russian counsellor of state and
celebrated dramatist, at length published a weekly paper in
which he turned every indication of German patriotism to
ridicule, and exercised his wit upon the individual eccentrici-
ties of the students affecting the old German costume, of pre-
cocious boys and doting professors. The rage of the galled
universities rose to a still higher pitch on the discovery, made
and incontestably proved by Luden, that Kotzebue sent secret
bulletins, filled with invective and suspicion, to St. Peters-
burg. To execrate Kotzebue had become so habitual at the
universities that a young man. Sand from Wunsiedel, a theo-
logical student of Jena, noted for piety and industry, took
the fanatical resolution to free, or at least to wipe off a blot
from his country, by the assassination of an enemy whose im-
portance he, in the dehision of hatred, vastly overrated ; and
he accordingly went, in 1819, to Mannheim, plunged his
dagger into Kotzebue's heart, and then attempted his own
life, but only succeeded in inflicting a slight wound. He was
beheaded in the ensuing year. Loning, the apothecary, pro-
bably excited by Sand's example, also attempted the life of
the president of Nassau, Ibell, who however seized him, and
he committed suicide in prison.
These events occasioned a congress at Carlsbad in 1819,
which took the state of Germany into deliberation, placed
each of the universities under the supervision of a government
officer, suppressed the Burschenschaft, prohibited their co-
lours, and fixed a central board of scrutiny at Mayence,* which
* The names of these inquisitors •were, Sch-narz, Grano, Hcirmann,
Bar, Pfister, Preusschen, IMoussel.
THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS. 375
acted on the presupposition of the existence of a secret and
general conspiracy for the purposes of assassination and revo-
lution, and of Sand's having acted not from personal fanati-
cism and religious aberration, but as the agent of some unknown
superiors in some new and mysterious tribunal. This inqui-
sition was carried on for years and a crowd of students peopled
the prisons ; conspiracies perilous to the state were, however,
no where discovered, but simply a great deal of ideal enthu-
siasm. The elder men in the universities, who, either in
their capacity as tutors or authors, had fed the enthusiasm of
the youthful students, were also removed from their situations.
Jahn was arrested, Arndt was suspended at Bonn and Fries
at Jena ; Gorres, who had perseveringly published the most
violent pamphlets, was compelled to take refuge in Switzer-
land, which also offered an asylum to Dewette, the Berlin pro-
fessor of theology, who had been deprived of his chair on
account of a letter addressed by him to Sand's mother. Oken,
the great naturalist, who refused to give up " Isis," a periodical
publication, also withdrew to Switzerland. Numbers of the
younger professors went to America.* The solemnization of
the October festival was also prohibited, and the triumphal
monument on the field of Leipzig was demolished.
CCLXV. The new constitutions.
Gerjiany had, notwithstanding her triumph, regained nei-
ther her ancient unity nor her former power, but still continued
to be merely a confederation of states, bound together by no firm
tie and regarded with contempt by their more powerful neigh-
bours. The German confederation did not even include the
whole of the provinces whose population was distinguished as
German by the use of the German language. Several of the
provinces of Germany were still beneath a foreign sceptre ;
Switzerland and the Netherlands had declared themselves
distinct from the rest of Germany, which, hitherto submissive
to France, was in danger of falling beneath the influence of
Russia, who ceaselessly sought to entangle her by diplomatic
wiles.
* Charles Follen, brother to the poet Louis Adolf Follen, private
teacher of law at Jena, a young man of great spirit and talent, who at
that period exercised great influence over the youth of Germany, was
wrecked, in 1S4U, in a steamer in North America and dro^vned.
376 THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS.
There were still, however, men existing in Germany who
hoped to compensate the loss of the external power of their
country by the internal freedom that had been so lavishly
promised to the people on the general summons to the field.
The proclamation of Calisch and the German federative act
guaranteed the grant of constitutions. The former Rhenish
confederated princes, nevertheless, alone found it to their in-
terest to carry this promise into effect, and, in a manner,
formed a second alliance with France by their imitation of
the newly introduced French code and by the establishment,
in their own territories, of two chambers, one of peers, the
other of deputies, similar to those of France ; measures by
which, at that period of popular excitement, they also regained
the popularity deservedly lost by them at an earlier period
thi'oughout the rest of Germany, the more so, the less the in-
clination manifested by Austria and Prussia to grant the
promised constitutions. Enslaved Illuminatism characterizes
this new zeal in favour of internal liberty and constitutional
governments, to denote which the novel term of Liberalism was
borrowed from France. Liberty was ever on the tongues —
of the most devoted servants of the state. The ancient church
and the nobility were attacked with incredible mettle — in
order to suit the purposes of ministerial caprice. Prussia and
Austria were loudly blamed for not keeping pace with the
times — with the intent of favourably contrasting the an-
cient policy of the Rhenish confederation. None, at that
period, surpassed the ministers belonging to the old school of
Illuminatism and Napoleonism in liberalism, but no sooner
did the deputies of the people attempt to realize their liberal
ideas than they started back in dismay.
The first example of this kind was given by Frederick
Augustus, duke of Nassau, as early as the September of
1814. Ibell, the president, who reigned with unlimited
power over Nassau, drew up a constitution which has been
termed a model of " despotism under a constitutional form."
The whole of the property of the state still continuing to be
the private property of the duke, and his right arbitrai'ily to
increase the number of members belonging to the first cham-
ber, and by their votes to annul every resolution passed by
the second chamber, rendered the whole constitution illusory.
Trombetta, one of the deputies, voluntarily renounced his
seat, an example that was followed by several others.
THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS. 377
The second constitution granted was that bestowed upon
the Netherlands in 1815, by King "William, who established
such an unequal representation ni the chambers between
the Belgians and Dutch as to create great dissatisfaction
among tlie former, who, in revenge, again affected the French
party. This was succeeded, in 1816, by the petty constitu-
tions of Waldeck, AVeiraar, and Frankfurt a M. Maxi-
milian, king of Bavaria, seemed, in 1817, to announce an-
other system by the dismissal of his minister, Montgelas,
and, in 1818, bestowed a new constitution upon Bavaria;
but the old abuses in the administration remained uneradi-
cated ; a civil and military state unproportioned to the reve-
nue, the petty despotism of government officers and heavy
imposts, still weighed upon the people, and the constitution
itself was quickly proved illusory, the veto of the first cham-
ber annulling the first resolution passed by the second cham-
ber. Professor Behr of Wiirzburg, upon this, energetically
protested against the first chamber, and, on the refusal of the
second chamber to vote for tlie maintenance of the array on
so high a footing, unless the soldiery were obliged to take the
oath on the constitution, it was speedily dissolved. In Ba-
den, the Grand-duke Charles expired, a. d. 1818, after having
caused a constitution to be di'awn up, which Louis, his uncle
and successor, carried into effect. Louis having, however,
previously, and without the consent of the people, entered
into a stipulation with the nobility, to whom he had granted
an edict extremely favourable to their interests, AVinter, the
Heidelberg bookseller, a member of the second chamber, de-
manded its abrogation. The answer was, the dissolution of
the chamber, personal inquisition and intimidation, and the
publication of an extremely severe edict of censure, against
which, in 1820, Professor von Rotteck of Freiburg, supported
by the poet Hebel and by the Freiherr von Wessenberg, ad-
ministrator of the bishopric of Constance, protested, but in
vain. At the same time, that is, in 1818, Hildburghausen,
and even the petty principality of Lichtenstein, which merely
contains two square miles and a population amounting to five
thousand souls, also received a constitution, which not a little
contributed to turn the whole affair into ridicule. To these
succeeded, in 1819, the constitutions of Hanover and Lippe-
Detmold, the former as aristocratic as possible, completely in
378 THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS.
the spirit of olden times, solely dictated and carried into effect
by tlie nobility and government officers. The sittings of the
chambers, consequently, continued to be held in secret.
The dukes of Mecklenburg abolished feudal servitude, vphich
existed in no other part of Germany, in 1820. In Darm-
stadt, the constitution was granted by the good-natured, ven-
erable Grand-duke Louis, (whose attention was chiefly de-
voted to the opera,) after the impatient advocates, who had
collected subscriptions in the Odenwald to petitions praying
for the speedy bestowal of the promised constitution, had
been arrested, and an insurrection that consequently ensued
among the peasantry had been quelled by force. Petty
constitutions were, moreover, granted, in 1821, to Coburg,
and, in 1829, to Meiningen. The Gotha-Altenburg branch of
the ducal house of Saxony became extinct in 1825 in the person
of P>ederick, the last duke, the brother of Duke Augustus
Emilius, a great patron of the arts and sciences, deceased,
A. D. 1822. Gotha, consequently, lapsed to Coburg, Altenburg
to Hildburghausen, and Hildburghausen to Meiningen.
In Wurtemberg, the dissatisfaction produced by the an-
cient despotism of the government was also to be speedily
appeased by the grant of a constitutional charter. The
king, Frederick, convoked the Estates, to whom he, on the
15th of March, 1815, solemnly delivered the newly enacted
constitution. But here, as elsewhere, was the government
inclined to grant a mere illusory boon. The Estates re-
jected the constitution, without reference to its contents,
simply owing to the formal reason of its being bestowed by the
prince and being consequently binding on one side alone, in-
stead of being a stipulation between the prince and the
people, and moreover because the ancient constitution of
Wlirtemberg, which had been abrogated by force and in di-
rect opposition to the will of the Estates, was still in legal force.
The old Wurtemberg party alone could naturally take their
footing upon their ancient rights, but the new WUrtemberg
party, the mediatized pi'inces of the empire, the counts and
barons of the empire, and the imperial free towns, nay, even
the Agnati of the reigning house,* all of whom had suffered
* The king bitterly reproached his brother Henry, to whom he said,
" You have accused me to my peasantry." — Pfister, History of the Con-
stitution of Wurtemberg.
THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS. 379
more or less under Napoleon's iron rule, ranged themselves
on their side. The deputy, Zahn of Calw, drew a masterly
picture of the state of affairs at that period, in which he
pitilessly disclosed every reigning abuse. The king, thus
vigorously and unanimously opposed, was constrained to
yield, and the most prolix negotiations, in which the citizen
deputies, headed by the advocate, Weisshaar, vpere supported
by the nobility against the government, commenced.
The affair was, it may be designedly, dragged on ad infi-
nitum until the death of the king in 1816, when his son and
successor, William, who had gained a high reputation as a
military commander and had rendered himself extremely
popular, zealously began the work of conciliation. He not
only instantly abolished the abuses of the former government,
as, for instance, in the game law,* but, in 1817, delivered a
new constitution to the Estates. Article 337 was somewhat
artfully drawn up, but in every point the constitution was as
liberal as a constitutional charter could possibly be. But the
Estates refused to accept of liberty as a boon, and rejected this
constitution on the same formal grounds upon which they had
rejected the preceding one. The Estates were again upheld
by a grateful public, and the few deputies, more particularly
Cotta and Griesinger, who had defended the new constitu-
tion on account of its liberality and who regarded form as
immaterial, became the objects of public animadversion.
The populace broke the windows of the house inhabited by
the liberal-minded minister, von Wangenheim. The poet
Uhland greatly distinguished himself as a warm upholder of
the ancient rights of the people, f The king instantly dis-
* Pfister mentions in his History of the Constitution of Wiirtemberg,
that merely in the superior bailiwick of Heidenheim the game duties
amounted, in 1814, to '20,000 florins, and 5"293 acres of taxed ground
lay uncultivated on account of the damage done by the game, and that in
March, 1815, one bailiwick was obliged to furnish twenty-one thousand
five hundred and eighty-four men and three thousand two hundred and
thirty-seven horses for a single hunt.
t Colonel von Massenbach, of the Prussian service, who has so mi-
serably described the battle of Jena and the surrender of Prentzlow in
which he acted so miserable a part, and who had in his native Wiirtem-
berg embraced the aristocratic party, was delivered by the free town of
Frankfurt, within whose walls he resided, up to the Prussian govern-
ment, which he threatened to compromise by the publication of some
letters. He died within the fortress of Ciistrin.
380 THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS.
solved the Estates, but at the same time declared his intention
to guarantee to the people, without a constitution, the rights
he had intended constitutionally to confer upon them ; to
establish an equal system of taxation, and "to eradicate bu-
reaucracy, that curse upon the country.'' The good-will
displayed on both sides led to fresh negotiations, and a third
constitution was at length drawn up by a committee, com-
posed partly of members of the government, partly of members
belonging to the Estates, and, in 1819, was taken into deli-
beration and passed by the reassembled Estates. This con-
stitution, nevertheless, fell far below the mark to which it
had been raised by public expectation, partly on account of the
retention, owing to ancient prejudice, of the permanent com-
mittee and its oligarchical influence, partly on account of the
too great and permanent concessions made to the nobility in
return for their momentary aid,* partly on account of the
extreme haste that marked the concluding deliberations of
the Estates, occasioned by their partly unfounded dread of
interference on the part of the congress then assembled at
Carlsbad,
In Wiirtemberg, however, as elsewhere, the policy of the
government was deeply imbued with the general cliaracter-
istics of the time. Notwithstanding the constitution, not-
withstanding the guarantee given by the federative act,
liberty of the press did not exist. List, the deputy from
Reutlingen, was, for having ventured to collect subscriptions
to petitions, brought before the criminal court, expelled the
chamber by his intimidated brother-deputies, took refuge in
Switzerland, whence he returned to be imprisoned for some
time in the fortress of Asberg, and was finally permitted to
emigrate to North America, whence he returned at a later
period [a. d, 1825] in the capacity of consul. Liesching,
the editor of the German Guardian, whose liberty of speech
* The mediatized princes and counts of the empire sat in the first
chamber, the barons of the empire in the second. The prelates, once so
powerful, lost, on the other hand, together livith the church property, in
the possession of which they were not reinstated, also most of their
influence. Instead of the fourteen aristocratic and independent prelates,
six only were appointed by the monarch to seats in the second chamber.
Government officers were also eligible in this chamber, which ere long
fell entirely under their influence.
THE NEW COXSTITUTIOXS. 381
was silenced by command of the German confederation, also
became an inmate of the fortress of Asberg.
In Hesse and Brunswick, all the old abuses practised in
the petty courts in the eighteenth century were revived.
William of Hesse-Cassel returned, on the fall of Napoleon,
to his domains. True to his whimsical saying, " I have slept
during the last seven years," he insisted upon replacing every
thing in Hesse exactly on its former footing. In one par-
ticular alone was his vanity inconsistent : notwithstanding
his hatred towards Napoleon, he retained the title of Prince
Elector, bestowed upon him by Napoleon's favour, although
it had lost all significance, there being no longer any em-
peror to elect.* He turned the hand of time back seven
yeai'S, degraded the counsellors raised to that dignity by
Jerome to their former station as clerks, captains to lieuten-
ants, etc., all, in fact, to the station they had formerly occu-
pied, even re-introduced into the army the fashion of wearing
powder and queues, prohibited all those not bearing an official
title to be addressed as " Hen'," and re-established the soc-
cage dues abolished by Jerome. This attachment to old
abuses was associated with the most insatiable avarice. He
reduced the government bonds to one tliird, retook posses-
sion of the lands sold during Jerome's reign, witliout grant-
ing any compensation to the holders, compelled the country
to pay his son's debts to the amount of two hundred thousand
rix-dollars, lowered the amount of pay to such a degree that
a lieutenant received but five rix-dollars per mensem, and
offered to sell a new constitution to the Estates at the low
price of four million rix-dollars, which he afterwards lowered
to two millions and a tax for ten years upon liquors. This
shameful bai-gain being rejected by the Estates, the constitu-
tion fell to the ground, and the prince elector practised the
most unlimited despotism. Discontent was stifled by im-
prisonment. Two officers, Huth and Rotsmann, who had
got up a petition in favour of their class, and the Herr von
Gohr, who by chance gave a private fete whilst the prince
was suffering from a sudden attack of illness, were among
the victims. The purchasers of the crown lands vainly ap-
pealed to the federative assembly for redress, for the prince
* He endeavoured, but in vain, to persuade the allied powers to be-
stow upon liim the royal dignity.
382 THE NEW CONSTITUTIONS.
elector " refused the mediation of the federative assembly
until it had been authorized by an organic law drawn up with
the co-operation of the prince elector himself." This prince
expired a. d. 1821, and was succeeded by his son, William IL,
who abolished the use of hair-powder and queues, but none
of the existing abuses, and demonstrated no inclination to
grant a constitution. He was, moreover, the slave of his
mistress. Countess Reichenbach, and on ill terms with his
consort, a sister of the king of Prussia, and with his son.
Anonymous and threatening letters being addressed to this
prince with a view of inducing him to favour the designs of
the writer, he had recourse to the severest measures for the
discovery of the guilty party ; numbers of persons were ar-
rested, and travellei-s instinctively avoided Cassel. It was
at length discovered that Manger, the head of the police, a
court favourite, was the author of the letters.
Similar abuses were revived by the house of Brunswick.
It is unhappily impossible to leave unmentioned the conduct
of Caroline, princess of Brunswick, consort to the Prince of
Wales, afterwards George IV., king of England. Although
this German princess had the good fortune to be protected
by the Whig party and by the people against the king and
the Tory ministry, she proved a disgrace to her supporters
l)y the scandalous familiarity in which she lived in Italy with
her chamberlain, the Italian, Pergami. The sympathy with
which she was treated at the time of the congress was de-
signedly exaggerated by the AVhigs for the purpose of giving
the greatest possible publicity to the errors of the monarch.
Caroline of Brunswick was declared innocent and expired
shortly after her trial, in 1821.
Charles, the hereditary duke of Brunswick, son to the
duke who had so gallantly f\xllen at Quatre-bras, was under
the guardianship of the king of England. A constitution
was bestowed in 1820 upon this petty territory, which was
governed by the minister, Von Schmidt-Phiseldek. The
youthful duke took the reins of government in his nineteenth
year. Of a rash and violent disposition and misled by evil
associates, he imagined that he had been too long restricted
from assuming the government, accused his well-deserving
minister of having attempted to prolong his minority, posted
handbills for his apprehension as a common delinquent, de-
THE EUROPEAN CONGRESS. 383
nied all his good offices, and subverted the constitution. He
was surrounded by base intriguers in the person of Bosse, the
counsellor of state, formerly the servile tool of Napoleon's
despotism, of Frike, the Aulic counsellor, " whose pliant quill
was equal to any task when injustice had to be glossed ovei\"
of the adventurer, Klindworth, and of Bitter, the head of the
chancery, who conducted the financial speculations. Frike, in
contempt of justice, tore up the judgment passed by the court
of justice in favour of the venerable Herr von Sierstorff,
whom he had accused of high treason. Herr von Cramm, by
whom Frike was, in the name of the Estates, accused of this
misdemeanour before the federative assembly, was banished,
a surgeon, who attended him, was put upon his defence, and
an accoucheur, named Grimm, who had basely refused to at-
tend upon Cramm's wife, was presented with a hundred dol-
lars. Haberlin, the novelist, who had been justly condemned
to twenty years' imprisonment with hard labour for his civil
misdemeanours, was, on the other hand, liberated for publish-
ing something in the duke's favour. Bitter conducted him-
self with the most open profligacy, sold all the demesnes, appro-
priated the sum destined for the redemption of the public debt,
and at the same time levied the heavy imposts with unrelent-
ing severity. The federative assembly passed judgment
against the duke solely in reference to his attacks upon the
king of England.
CCLXVI. The European congress. The German
Customs' Union.
The great political drama enacting in Europe excited at this
time the deepest attention throughout Germany. In almost
every country a struggle commenced between liberalism and the
measures introduced on the fall of Napoleon. In France more
particularly it systematically and gradually undermined the go-
vernment of the Bourbons, and the cry of liberty that resound-
ed throughout France once more found an echo in Germany.
The terrible war was forgotten. The French again
became the objects of the admiration and sympathy of the
radical party in Germany, and the spirit of opposition, here
and there demonstrated in the German chambers, gave rise,
notwithstanding its impotence, to precautionary measures on
384 THE EUROPEAN CONGRESS.
the part of the federative governments. In the winter of 1 8 19,
a German federative congress, of which Prince Metternich was
the grand motor, assembled at Vienna for the purpose, after the
utter annihihition of the patriots, of finally checking the future
movements of the liberals, principally in the provincial diets.
The Viennese Act of 1820 contains closer definitions of the
Federative Act, of which the more essential object was the
exclusion of the various provincial diets from all positive
interference in the general affairs of Germany, and the increase
of the power of the diflerent princes vis-a-vis to their provin-
cial diets by a guai'antee of aid on the part of the confederates.
During the sitting of this congress, on new-year's day,
1820, the liberal party in Spain revolted against their ungrate-
ful sovereign, Ferdinand VII., who exercised the most fear-
ful tyranny over the nation that had so unhesitatingly shed
its blood in defence of his tlirone. This example was shortly
afterwards followed by the Neapolitans, who were also dis-
satisfied witli the conduct of their sovereign. Prince IMetter-
nich instantly brought about a congress at Troppau. The
czar, Alexander, who had views upon the East and was no
stranger to the heterarchical party which, under the guidance
of Prince Ypsilanti, prepared a revolution in Greece (which
actually broke out) against tlie Turks, was at first unwilling to
give his assent unconditionally to the interference of Austria,
but on being, in 1821, to his great surprise informed by Prince
Metternich of the existence of a revolutionary spirit in one of
the regiments of the Russian guard, freely assented to all
the measures proposed by that minister.* The new congress
held at Laibach, a. d. 1821, was followed by the entrance of
the Austrians under Frimont into Italy. The cowardly Nea-
politans fled without firing a shot, and the Piedmontese,
who unexpectedly revolted to Frim«nt's rear, were, after a
short encounter with the Austrians under Bubna at Novara,
defeated and reduced to submission. The Greeks, Avhom
Russia now no longer ventured openly to uphold, had, in the
mean time, also risen in open insurrection. The affairs of
Spain were still in an unsettled state. The new congress
held at Verona, in 1822, however, decided the fate of both
these countries. Prince Hardenberg, the Prussian minister,
expired at Genoa on his return home, and Lord Castlereagh,
* Vide Binder's Prince Metternich.
THE EUROPEAN CONGRESS. 385
the English ambassador, cut his throat with his penknife, in
a fit of frenzy, supposed to have been induced by the sense
of his heavy responsibility. At this congress the principle of
legitimacy was maintained with such strictness, that even the
revolt of the Greeks against the long and cruel tyranny of the
Turks was, notwithstanding the C/iristian spirit of the Holy
Alliance and the political advantage secured to Russia and
Austria by the subversion of the Turkish empire, treated as
rebellion against the legitimate authority of the Porte and
strongly discouraged. A French array was, on the same
grounds, despatched Avith the consent of the Bourbon into
Spain, and Ferdinand was reinstated in his legitimate tyranny,
A. D. 1823.
Russia, in a note addressed to the whole of the confederated
states of Germany, demanded at the same time a declaration on
their parts to the effect that the late proceedings of the great
European powers at Verona " were in accordance Avith the
well-understood interests of the people." Every member of the
federative assembly at Frankfort gave his assent, with the
exception of the Freiherr von Wangenheim, the envoy from
Wiirtemberg, who declaring that his instructions did not
warrant his voting upon the question, the ambassadors from
the two Hesses made a similar declaration. This occa-
sioned the dismissal of the F'reiherr von Wangenheim ; and
the illegal publication of a Wiirtemberg despatch, in which
the non-participation of the German confederation in the re-
solutions passed by the congresses, to which their assent was
afterwards demanded, was treated of, occasioned a second
dismissal, that of Count Winzingerode, the Wiirtemberg
minister. In the July of 1824, the federal diet resolved to
give its support to the monarchical principle in the constitu-
tional states, and to maintain the Carlsbad resolutions refer-
ring to censorship and to the universities. The Mayence
committee remained sitting until a. d. 1828.
On the sudden decease of Alexander, the czar of all the
Russias, amid the southern steppes, a revolution induced by
the nobility broke out at Petersburg, but was suppressed by
Alexander's brother and successor, the emperor Nicolas I.
Nicolas had wedded Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the
king of Prussia. This energetic sovereign instantly invaded
Persia and rendered that country dependent upon his em-
VOL. HI. 2 c
386 THE GERMAN CUSTOMS' UNIOX.
pire without any attempt being made by the Tory party in
England and Austria to hinder the aggrandizement of Russia,
every attack directed against her being regarded as an encour-
agement to liberalism. Russia consequently seized this opportu-
nity to turn her arms against Turkey, and, in the ensuing year,
a Russian force under Count Diebitsch, a Silesian, crossed
the Balkan (Hoemus) and penetrated as far as Adrianople ;
whilst another corps d^armee, under Count Paskiewicz,
advanced from the Caucasus into Asia Minor and took
Erzerum. The fall of Constantinople seemed near at hand,
when Austria and England for the first time intervened
and declared that, notwithstanding their sympathy with the
absolute principles on which Russia rested, they would not
permit the seizure of Constantinople. France expressed her
readiness to unite with Russia and to fall upon the Austrian
rear in case troops were sent against the Russians.* Prussia,
however, intervened, and General Miiffling was despatched to
Adrianople, where, in 1829, a treaty was concluded, by
which Russia, although for the time compelled to restore
the booty already accumulated, gained several considerable
advantages, being granted possession of the most im-
portant mountain strongholds and passes of Asia Minor, a
right to occupy and fortify the mouths of the Danube so im-
portant to Austria and to extend her iEgis over Moldavia
and Wallachia.
In the midst of this wretched period, which brought fame
to Russia and deep dishonour upon Germany, there still
gleamed one ray of hope ; the Customs' Union was proposed
by some of the German princes for the more intimate union
of German interests.
Maximilian of Bavaria, a prince whose amiable manners
and character rendered him universally beloved, expired
A. D. 1825. His son, Louis, the foe to French despotism,
a German patriot and a zealous patron of the arts, declared
himself, on his coronation, the warm and sincere upholder of
the constitutional principle and excited general enthusiasm.
His first measures on assuming the government were, the
reduction of the royal household and of the army with a view
to the relief of the country from the heavy imposts, the re-
* Official report of the Russian ambassador, Count Pozzo di Borgo,
from Paris, of the 14th of December, 1828.
THE GERMAN CUSTOMS' UNION. 387
moval of the university of Landshut to Munich, and the en-
richment on an extensive scale of the institutions of art.
The union of the galleries of Dlisseldorf and Mannheim with
that of Munich, the collection of valuable antiques and pic-
tures, for instance, that of the old German paintings collected
by the brothers Boisseree in Cologne during the French
usurpation, the academy of painting under the direction of the
celebrated Cornelius, the new public buildings raised by Klenze,
among which the Glyptothek, the Pinakothek, the great Ko-
nigsbau or royal residence, the Ludwigschurch, the Auer-
church, the Arcades, etc., may be more particularly designated,
rendered Munich the centre of German art. This sovereign
also founded at Ratisbon the Walhalla, a building destined for
the reception of the busts of all the celebrated men to which
Germany has given birth. The predilection of this royal
amateur for classic antiquity excited within his bosom the
warmest sympathy with the fate of the modern Greeks, then in
open insurrection against their Turkish oppressors, and whom
he alone, among all the princes of Germany, aided in the
hour of their extremest need. With the same spirit that
dictated his poems, in which he so repeatedly lamented the
want of unity in Germany, he was the first to propose the
union of her material interests. Germany unhappily resem-
bled, and indeed immediately after the war of liberation, as
De Pradt, the French writer, maliciously observed, even in
a mercantile point of view, a menagerie whose inhabitants
watched each other through a grating. Vainly had the com-
mercial class of Frankfurt a M. presented a petition, in 1819,
to the confederation, praying for free trade, for the fulfilment
of the nineteenth article of the federal act. Their well-
grounded complaint remained unheard. The non-fulfilment
of the treaty relating to the free navigation of the Rhine to
the sea was most deeply felt. In the first treaty concluded
at Paris, the royal dignity and the extension of the Dutch
territory had been generously granted to the king of the
Netherlands under the express proviso of the free navigation
of the Rhine to the sea. The papers relating to this trans-
action had been drawn up in French, and the ungrateful
Dutch perfidiously gave the words "jusqu' a lamer" their
most literal construction, merely " as far as the sea," and as
the French, moreover, possessed a voice in the matter on ac-
2 c 2
388 THE GERMAN CUSTOMS' UNION.
count of the Upper Rhine, and the Gei-man federal states
were unable to give an unanimous verdict, innumerable com-
mittees were held and acts were drawn up without producing
any result favourable to the trade of Germany.
Affairs stood thus, when, shortly after Louis's accession to
the throne of Bavaria, negotiations having for object the set-
tlement of a commercial treaty took place between him and
WiUiara, king of Wiirteraberg. This example was imitated
by Prussia, which at first merely formed an union with
Darmstadt ; afterwards by Ilesse, Hanover, Saxony, etc., by
which a central German union was projected. This union
was, however, unable to stand between that of WUrtemberg
and Bavaria, and that of Prussia and Darmstadt. The Ger-
man Customs' Union was carried into etfect in 1828. An
annual meeting of German naturalists had at that time been
arranged under the auspices of Oken, the great naturalist,
and at the meeting held at Berlin, A. D. 1828, the Freiherr
von Cotta, by whom the moral and material interests of Ger-
many have been greatly promoted, drew up the first plan for
a junction of the commercial union of Southern Germany
witli that of the North, as the first step to the future libera-
tion of Germany from all internal commercial restrictions.
The zeal with which he carried this great plan into effect
gained the confidence of the different governments, and he
not only succeeded in combining the two older unions, but
also in gradually embodying with them the rest of the Ger-
man states.
The attachment of King Louis to ancient Catholicism was
extremely remarkable. He began to restore some of the
monasteries, and several professors inclined to Ultramontan-
ism and to Catholic mysticism, the most distinguished among
whom was Gdrres, the Prussian exile, assembled at the new
university at Munich. Here and there appeared a pious en-
thusiast. Shortly after the restoration, a peasant from the
Pfalz, named Adam MUller, began to prophesy, and Madame
von Kriidener, a Hanoverian, to preach the necessity of
public penance ; both these persons gained the ear of exalted
personages, and Madame von Kriidener more particularly is
said not a little to have conduced to the piety displayed by
the emperor Alexander during the latter years of his life.
At Bamberg, Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe, then a young
THE GERMAN CUSTOMS' UNION. 389
man, had the folly to attempt the performance of miracles, until
the police interfered, and he received a high ecclesiastical office
in Hungary. In Austria, the Ligorians, followers in the
footsteps of the Jesuits, haunted the vicinity of the throne.
The conversion of Count Stolberg and of the Swiss, Von
Haller, to the Catholic church, created the greatest sensation.
The former, a celebrated poet, simple and amiable, in no way
merited the shameless outbursts of rage of his old friend,
Voss ; Haller, on the other hand, brought forward in his
" Restoration of Political Science," such a decided theory in
favour of secession as to inspire a sentiment of dread at his
consistency. The conversion of Ferdinand, prince of Anhalt-
Kdthen to the Catholic churchj a. d. 1825, excited far less
attention.
In France, where the Bourbons were completely guided by
the Jesuits, by whose aid they could alone hope to suppress
the revolutionary spirit of their subjects, the reaction in favour
of Catholicism had assumed a more decided character than in
Germany. Louis XVIII. was succeeded by his brother,
the Count d 'Ai'tois, under the name of Charles X., a ve-
nerable man seventy years of age, who, notwithstanding his
great reverses, had "neither learnt nor forgotten anything."
Polignac, his incapable and imperious minister, the tool of
the Jesuits, had, since 1829, impugned every national right,
and, at length, ventured by the ordonnances of the 25th
July, 1830, to subvert the constitution. During three days,
from the 27th to the 30th of July, the greatest confusion
reigned in Paris ; the people rose in thousands ; murderous
conflicts took place in the streets between them and the royal
troops, who were driven fi-om every quarter, and the king
was expelled. The chambers met, declared the elder branch
of the house of Bourbon (Charles X., his son, the Dau-
phin, Duke d'Angouleme, and his grandson, the youthful
Duke de Bordeaux, the son of the murdered Duke de Berri)
to have forfeited the throne, but at the same time allowed
them unopposed to seek an asylum in England, and elected
Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, the son of the notorious
Jacobin, the head of the younger line of the house of Bour-
bon and the grand-master of the society of Freemasons, king
of the French. The rights of the chambers and of the
people were also extended by an appendix to the charta
signed by Louis XVIII.
390 THE BELGIAN REVOLUTION.
The revolution of July was the signal for all discontented
subjects throughout Europe to gain, either by force or by
legal opposition, their lost or sighed-for rights. In October,
the constitutional party in Spain attempted to overturn the
despotic rule of Ferdinand VII. In November, the prime
minister of England, the far-famed Duke of Wellington,
was compelled by the people to yield his seat to Earl Grey,
a man of more liberal principles, who commenced the great
work of I'eform in the constitution and administration of Great
Britain. During this month, a general insurrection took
place in Poland : the grand-duke, Constantine, was driven
out of Warsaw, and Poland declared herself independent. A
great part of Germany was also convulsed : and a part of the
ill-raised fabric, erected by the statesmen of I8I0, fell tot-
tering to the ground.
CCLXVII. The Belgian Revolution.
A nation's self-forgetfulness is ever productive of national
disgrace. The Netherlands were torn from the empire and
placed partly beneath the tyranny of Spain, partly beneath the
^gis of France ; the dominion of Austria, at a later period,
merely served to rouse their provincial spirit, and, during
their subsequent annexation to France, the French element
decidedly gained the preponderance among the population.
When, in 1815, these provinces fell under the rule of Hol-
land, it was hoped that the German element would again
rise. But Holland is not Germany. Estranged provinces
are alone to be regained by means of their incorporation with
an empire imbued with one distinct national spirit ; the subor-
dination of one province to another but increases national anti-
pathy and estrangement. Holland, by an ungrateful, inimical
policy, unfortunately strove to separate herself from Ger-
many.* And yet Holland owes her whole prosperity to Ger-
many. There is her market ; thence does she draw her
immense wealth ; the loss of that market for her colo-
* " The Netherlands formed, nevertheless, but a weak bulwark to
Germany. Internal disunion, superfluous fortresses, a weak army.
On the one side, a witless, wealthy, haughty aristocracy, an influential
and ignorant clergy ; on the other, civic pride, capelocratic pettiness,
Calvinistic hrusquerie. The policy pursued by the king was inimical to
Germany." — Stein's Letters,
THE BELGIAN REVOLUTION. 391
nial productions, would prove her irredeemable ruin. Her
sovereign, driven into distant exile, was restored to her by the
arms of Germany and generously endowed with royalty. Hol-
land, in return for all these benefits, deceitfully deprived Ger-
many of the free navigation of the Rhine to the sea guaranteed
to her by the federal act and assumed the right of fixing the
price of all goods, whether imported to or exported from Ger-
many. The whole of Germany was, in this unprecedented
manner, rendei'ed doubly tributary to the petty state of Holland.
Belgium, annexed to this secondary state instead of being
incorporated with great and liberal Germany, necessarily
remained a stranger to any influence calculated to excite her
sympathy with the general interests of Germany. Cut off,
as heretofore, from German influence, she retained, in opposi-
tion to the Dutch, a preponderance of the old Spanish and
modern French element in her population. Priests and liberals,
belonging to the French school, formed an opposition party
against the king, who, on his side, rested his sole support
upon the Dutch, whom he favoured in every respect. Count
Broglio, archbishop of Ghent, first began the contest by re-
fusing to take the oath on the constitution. Violence was
resorted to and he fled the country. The impolicy of the
government in affixing his name to the pillory merely served
to increase the exasperation of the CathoHcs. Hence their ac-
quiescence with the designs of the Jesuits, their opposition to
the foundation of a philosophical academy, independent of the
clergy, at Louvain. The fact of the population of Belgium
being to that of Holland as three to two, and the number of its
representatives in the states-general being as four to seven, of
few, if any, Belgians being allowed to enter the service of the
state, the army, or the navy, still further added to the popular
discontent. The gross manners of the minister, Van Maanen,
also increased the evil. As early as January, 1830, eight
liberal Belgian deputies were deprived of their oflSces, and De
Potter, with some others, who had ventured to defend them
by means of the press, were banished the kingdom under a
charge of high treason.
The Dutch majority in the states-general, notwithstanding
its devotion to the king, rejected the ten years' budget on the
ground of its affording too long a respite to ministerial re-
sponsibility, and protested against the levy of Swiss troops.
Slave-trade in the colonies was also abolished in 1818.
392 THE BELGIAN REVOLUTION.
The position of the Netherlands, which, Luxemburg ex-
cepted, did not appertain to the German confederation, con-
tinually exposed her, on account of Belgium, to be attacked
on the land side by France, on that of the sea by her ancient
commercial foe, England, and induced the king to form a close
alliance with Russia. His son, William of Orange, married
a sister of the emperor Alexander.
The colonies did not regain their former prosperity. The
Dutch settlement at Batavia with difficulty defended itself
against the rebellious natives of Sumatra and Java.
The revolution in Paris had an electric effect upon the ir-
ritated Belgians. On the 2oth of August, 1830, Auber's
opera, " The Dumb Girl of Portici," the revolt of Masaniello in
Naples, was performed at the Brussels theatre and inflamed
the passions of the audience to such a degree, that, on quitting
the theatre, they proceeded to the house of Libry, the servile
newspaper editor, and entirely destroyed it : the palace of the
minister. Van Maanen, shared the same fate. The citizens
placed themselves under arms, and sent a deputation to the
Hague to lay their grievances before the king. The entire
population meanwhile rose in open insurrection, and the whole
of the forti'esses, Maestricht and the citadel of Antwerp alone
excepted, fell into their hands. William of Orange, the
crown-prince, ventured unattended among the insurgents at
Brussels and proposed, as a medium of peace, the separation of
Belgium from Holland in a legislative and administrative
sense. The king also made an apparent concession to the
wishes of the people by the dismissal of Van Maanen, but
shortly afterwards declared his intention not to yield, dis-
avowed the step taken by his son, and allowed some Belgian
deputies to be insulted at the Hague. A fanatical commotion
instantly took place at Brussels ; the moderate party in the
civic guard was disarmed, and the populace made preparations
for desperate resistance. On the 25th of September, Prince
Frederick, second son to the king of Holland, entered Brus-
sels with a large body of troops, but encountered barricades
and a heavy fire in the Park, the Place Royal, and along the
Boulevards. An immense crowd, chiefly composed of the
people of Liege and of peasants dressed in the blue smock of
the country, had assembled for the purpose of aiding in the
defence of the city. The contest, accompanied by destruction
of the dwelling-houses and by pillage, lasted five days. The
THE BELGIAN REVOLUTION. 393
Dutch were accused of practising the most horrid cruehies
upon the defenceless inhabitants and of thereby heightening the
popular exasperation. At length, on the 27th of September,
the prince was compelled to abandon the city. On the 5th
of October, Belgium declared her independence. De Potter
returned and placed himself at the head of the provisional
government. The Prince of Orange recognised the absolute
separation of Belgium from Holland in a proclamation pub-
lished at Antwerp, but was, nevertheless, constrained to quit
the country. Antwerp fell into the hands of the insurgents ;
the citadel, however, refused to surrender, and Chasse, the
Dutch conunandant, caused the magnificent city to be bom-
barded, and the well-stored entrepot, the arsenal, and about
sixty or seventy houses to be set on fire, during the night of
the 27th of October, 1830.* The cruelties perpetrated by
the Dutch were bitterly retaliated upon them by the Belgian
populace. On the 10th of November, however, a national
Belgian congress met, in which the moderate party gained
the upper hand, principally owing to the influence of the
clergy. De Potter's plan for the formation of a Belgian
commonwealth fell to the ground. The congress decided in
favour of the maintenance of the kingdom, drew up a new
constitution, and offered the crown to the Prince de Nemours,
second son of the king of the French. It was, however, re-
fused by Louis Philippe in the name of his son, in order to
avoid war with the other great Eui'opean powers. Surlet de
Chokier, the leader of the liberal party, hereupon undertook
the provisional government of the country, and negotiations
were entered into with Prince Leopold of Coburg.
On the 4th of November, a congress, composed of the
ministers of England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, met at
London for the purpose of settling the Belgian question
without disturbing the peace of Europe, and it was decided
that Prince Leopold of Coburg, the widower of the princess
royal of England, a man entirely under British influence,
and who had refused the throne of Greece, should accept that
of Belgium. Eighteen articles favourable to Belgium were
* So bitter was the enmity existing between the Belgians and the
Dutch, that the Dutch lieutenant, Van Speyk, -when driven by a storm
before Antwerp, blew up his gun-boat in the middle of the Scheldt
rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the Belgians.
394 THE BELGIAN REVOLUTION.
granted to liira by the London congress. Scarcely, how-
ever, had he reached Brussels, on the 31st July, 1831, than
the fetes given upon that occasion were disturbed by the un-
expected invasion of Belgium by a numerous and powerful
Dutch force. At Hasselt, the Prince of Orange defeated the
Belgians under General Daine, and, immediately advancing
against Leopold, utterly routed him at Tirlemont, on the 12th
of August. The threats of France and England, and the
appearance of a French army in Belgium, saved Brussels and
compelled the Dutch to withdraw. The eighteen articles in
favour of Belgium were, on the other hand, replaced by
twenty-four others, more favourable to the Dutch, which
Leopold was compelled to accept. The king of Holland,
however, refusing to accept these twenty-four articles, with
which, notwithstanding the concessions tlaerein contained, he
was dissatisfied, the Belgian government took advantage of
the undecided state of the question, not to undertake, for the
time being, half of the public debt of Holland, which, by the
twenty-four articles, was laid upon Belgium.
Negotiations dragged on their weary length, and protocol
after protocol followed in endless succession from London.
In 1832, Leopold espoused Louisa, one of the daughters of
the king of the French, and was not only finally recognised
by the northern powers, but, by means of the intervention
of England, being backed by a fleet, and by means of that of
France, being backed by an array, compelled Holland to accept
of terms of peace. The French troops under Gerard, unassisted
by the Belgians and watched by a Prussian army stationed on
the Meuse, regularly besieged and took the citadel of Antwerp,
on Christmas eve, 1832, gave it up to the Belgians as pertaining
to their territory, and evacuated the country. King William,
however, again rejecting the twenty-four articles, all the
other points, the division of the public debt, the navigation
of the Scheldt, and, more than all, the future destiny of the
province of Luxemburg, which formed part of the confeder-
ated states of Germany, had been declared hereditary in the
house of Nassau- Orange, and which, by its geographical
position and the character of its inhabitants, was more nearly
connected with Belgium, remained for the present unsettled.
In 1839, Holland was induced by a fresh demonstration on
the part of the great powers to accept the twenty-four arti-
THE SWISS REVOLUTION. 395
cles, against which Belgium in her turn protested on the
ground of the procrastination on the part of Holland having
rendered her earlier accession to these terms null and void.
Belgium was, however, also compelled to yield. By this
fresh agreement it was settled that the western part of Lux-
emburg, which had in the interim fallen away from the Ger-
man confederation, should be annexed to Belgium, and that
Holland (and the German confederation) should receive the
eastern part of Limburg in indemnity ; and that Belgium, in-
stead of taking upon herself one half of the public debt of
the Netherlands, should annually pay the sum of live million
Dutch goldens towards defraying the interest of that debt.
The period of the independence of Belgium, brief as it was,
was made use of, particularly under the Nothomb ministry,
for the development of great industrial activity, and, more
especially, for the creation of a system of railroads, until now
without its parallel on the continent. Unfortunately but lit-
tle was done in favour of the interests of Germany. The
French language had already become so prevalent throughout
Belgium, that, in 1840, the provincial counsellors of Ghent were
constrained to pass a resolution to the effect that the offices
dependent upon them should, at all events, solely be intrusted
to persons acquainted with the Flemish dialect, and that their
rescripts should be drawn up in that language. Holland
immensely increased her public debt in consequence of her
extraordinary exertions. In 1841, the king, William I.,
voluntarily abdicated the throne and retired into private life,
in the enjoyment of an enormous revenue, with a Catholic
countess, whom he had wedded. He was succeeded by his
son, William II.
CCLXVIII. The Swiss Revolution.
The restoration of 1814 had replaced the ancient aristo-
cracy more or less on their former footing throughout Swit-
zerland. In this country the greatest tranquillity prevailed ;
the oppression of the aristocracy was felt, but not so heavily
as to be insupportable. Many benefits, as, for instance, the
draining of the swampy Linththal by Escher of Zurich, were,
moreover, conferred upon the country. Mercenaries were
also continually furnished to the king of France, to the pope.
396 THE SWISS REVOLUTION.
and, for some time, to the king of the Netherlands. France,
nevertheless, imposed such heavy commercial duties that
several of the cantons leagued together for the purpose of
taking reprisals. This misunderstanding between Switzer-
land and France unfortunately did not teach wisdom to the
states belonging to the German confederation, and the Rhine
was also barricaded with custom-houses, those graves of com-
merce. The Jesuits settled at Freiburg in the Uechtland,
where they founded a large seminary and whence they finally
succeeded in expelling Peter Girard, a man of high merit,
noted for the liberality of his views on education.*
The Paris revolution of July also gave rise to a democratic
reaction throughout Switzerland. Berne, by a circular, pub-
lished September 22nd, 1830, called upon the other Swiss
governments to suppress the revolutionary spirit by force, and,
by so doing, fired the train. The government of Zurich
wisely opposed the circular and made a voluntary reform. In
all the other cantons popular societies sprang up, and, either
by violence or by threats, subverted the ancient governments.
New constitutions were every where granted. The immense
majority of the people was in favour of reform, and the aris-
tocracy offered but faint resistance. Little towns or villages
became the centre of the movements against the capitals.
Fischer, an inn-keeper from Merischwanden, seized the city
of Aarau ; the village of Burgdorf revolutionized the canton
of Berne, the village of ISIurten the canton of Freiburg, the
village of Weinfelden the canton of Constance ; this example
was followed by the peasantry of Solothurn and Vaud ; the
government of St. Gall imitated that of Zurich.
Basle was also attempted to be revolutionized by Liestal,
but the wealthy and haughty citizens, principally at the insti-
gation of the family of Wieland, made head against the pea-
santry, who were led by one Gutzwyler. The contest that
had taken place in Belgium was here reacted on a smaller
scale. A dispute concerning privileges commencing between
the citizens and the peasantry, bloody excesses ensued and a
* In Lucerne, the disorderly trial of a numerous band of robbers,
which had been headed by an extremely beautiful and talented girl, named
Clara Wendel, made the more noise on account of its bringing the bandit-
like murder of Keller, the aged mayor, and intrigues, in which the name
of the nuncio was mixed up, before the public. 1825.
THE SWISS REVOLUTION. 397
complete separation was the result. The peasantry, superior
in number, asserted their right to send a greater number of
deputies to the great council than the cities, and the latter,
dreading the danger to which their civic interests would be
thereby exposed, obstinately refused to comply. Party rage
ran high ; the Baselese insulted some of the deputies sent by
the peasantry, and the latter, in retaliation, began to blockade
the town. Colonel Wieland made some sallies ; the federal
diet interfered, and the peasantry, being dispersed by the
federal troops, revenged themselves during their retreat by
plundering the vale of Reigoldswyler, which had remained
true to Basle. In Schwyz, the Old-Schwyzers and the in-
habitants of the outer circles, who, although for centuries in
possession of the rights of citizenship, were still regarded by
the former as their vassals, also fell at variance, and the
latter demanded equal rights or complete separation. In
Neuchatel, Bourguin attempted a revolution against the
Prussian party and took the city, but succumbed to the vigor-
ous measures adopted by General Pfuel, A. d. 1831.
The conduct of the federal diet, which followed in the foot-
steps of European policy, and wliich, by winking at the op-
posing party and checking that in favour of progression,
sought to preserve the balance, but served to increase party
spirit. In September, 1831, the Radicals founded at Lan-
genthal, the Schutzverein or protective union, whicli embraced
all the liberal clubs throughout Switzerland and was intended
to counteract the impending aristocratic counter-revolution.
Men like Schnell of Berne, Troxler the philosopher, etc., stood
at its head. They demanded the abolition of the constitution
of 1815 as too aristocratic and federal, and the foundation of
a new one in a democratic and independent sense for the in-
crease of the external power and unity of Switzerland, and
for her internal security from petty aristocratic and local
views and intrigues. In March, 1832, Lucerne, Zurich,
Berne, Solothurn, St. Gall, Aargau, and Constance formed a
Concordat for the mutual maintenance of their democratic
constitutions until the completion of the revisal of the con-
federation. The aristocratic party, Schwyz, Uri, Unterwal-
den, (actuated by ancient pride and led by the clergy,) Basle,
and Neufchatel meanwhile formed the Sarner confederation. In
August, the deposed Bernese aristocracy, headed by Major Fis-
398 THE SWISS REVOLUTION.
cher, made a futile attempt to produce a counter-revolution. In
the federal diet, the envoys of the Concordat and the threaten-
ing language of the clubs compelled the members to bring a
new federal constitution under deliberation, but opinions were
too divided, and the constitution projected in 1833 fell to the
ground for want of sufficient support. At the moment of this
defeat of the liberal party, Alt-Schwyz, led by Abyberg, took
up arms, took possession of Kiissnacht, and threatened the
Concordat, the Baselese at the same time taking the field with
one thousand two hundred men and fourteen pieces of ord-
nance. The people were, however, inimical to their cause ;
Abyberg fled ; the Baselese were encountered by the pea-
santry in the Hartwald and repulsed with considerable loss.
The federal diet demonstrated the greatest energy in order to
prevent the Concordat and the Schutzverein from acting in
its stead. Schwyz and Basle were occupied with soldiery ;
the former was compelled to accept a new constitution drawn
up with a view of pacifying both parties, the latter to accede
to a complete separation between the town and country. The
Sarner confederation was dissolved, and all discontented can-
tons were compelled, under pain of the infliction of martial
law, to send envoys to the federal diet. Intrigues, having
for object the alienation of the city of Basle, of Neuchatel,
and Valais from the confederation, were discovered and frus-
trated by the diet, not without the approbation of France,
the Valais and the road over the Simplon being thereby pre-
vented from falling beneath the influence of Austria.
In 1833, five hundred Polish refugees, suspected of sup-
porting the Frankfort attempt in Germany, quitted France
for Switzerland, and soon afterwards unsuccessfully invaded
Savoy in conjunction with some Italian refugees. Crowds of
refugees from every quarter joined them and formed a central
association. Young Europe, whence branched others. Young
France, Young Poland, Young Germany, and Young Italy. The
principal object of this association was to draw the German
journeymen apprentices {Handwerksbursche) into its interests,
and for this purpose a banquet was given by it to these ap-
prentices in the Steinbrolzle near Berne. These intrigues
produced serious threats on the side of the great powers, and
Switzerland yielded. The greater part of the refugees were
compelled to emigrate through France to England and Ame-
THE SWISS REVOLUTION. 309
rica. Napoleon's nephew was, at a later period, also expel-
led Switzerland. His mother. Queen Hortense, consort to
Louis, ex-king of Holland, daughter to Josephine Beauhar-
nois, consequently both step-daughter and sister-in-law to
Napoleon, possessed the beautiful estate of Arenenberg on
the lake of Constance. On her death it was inherited by
her son, Louis, who, during his residence there, occupied
himself with intrigues directed against the throne of Louis
Philippe. Li concert with a couple of military madmen, he
introduced himself into Strassburg, where, with a little hat,
in imitation of that worn by Napoleon, on his head, he pro-
claimed himself emperor in the open streets. He was
easily ari-ested. This act was generously viewed by Louis
Philippe as that of a senseless boy, and he was restored to
liberty upon condition of emigrating to America. No sooner,
however, was he once more free, than, returning to Switzer-
land, he set fresh intrigues on foot. Louis Philippe, upon this,
demanded his expulsion. Constance would willingly have
extended to him the protection due to one of her citizens, but
how were the claims of a Swiss citizen to be rendered com-
patible with those of a pretender to the throne of France ?
French troops already threatened the frontiers of Switzer-
land, where, as in 1793, the people, instead of making prepar-
ations for defence, were at strife among themselves. Louis
at length voluntarily abandoned the country, a. d. 1838.
In the beginning of 1839, Dr. Strauss, who, in 1835, had,
in his work entitled " The Life of Jesus," declared the Gos-
pels a cleverly-devised fable, and had, at great pains, sought to
refute the historical proofs of the truth of Christianity, was,
on that account, appointed, by the council of education and
of government at Zurich, professor of divinity to the new
Zurich academy. Burgomaster Hirzel (nicknamed " the tree
of liberty " on account of his uncommon height) stood at the
head of the enthusiastic government party by which this ex-
traordinary appointment liad been effected ; the people, how-
ever, rose en masse, the great council was compelled to meet,
and the antichristian party suffered a most disgraceful defeat.
Strauss, who had not ventured to appear in person on the
scene of action, was offered and accepted a pension. The
Christian party, concentrated into a committee of faith, under
the presidency of Hiirliman, behaved with extreme modera-
400 THE SWISS REVOLUTION.
tion, although greatly superior in number to their opponents.
The radical government, ashamed and perplexed, committed
blunder after blunder, and at length threatened violence.
Upon this, Hirzel, the youthful priest of Pfaffikon, rang the
alarm from his parish church, and, on the 6th of September,
1839, led his parishioners into the city of Zurich. This exam-
ple was imitated by another crowd of peasantry, headed by a
physician named Rahn. The government troops attacked
the people and killed nine men. On the fall of the tenth,
Hegetschwiler, the counsellor of state, a distinguished savant
and physician, whilst attempting to restore harmony between
the contending parties, the civic guard turned against the
troops and dispersed them. The radical government and the
Strauss faction also fled. Immense masses of peasantry from
around the lake entered the city. A provisional government,
headed by Hiesz and JNIuralt, and a fresh election, insured
tranquillity.
In the canton of Schwyz, a lengthy dispute, similar to
that between the Vettkoper and Schieringer in Frizeland,
was carried on between the Horn and Hoof-men (the wealthy
in possession of cattle and the poor who only possessed a cow
or two) concerning their privileges. In 1839, a violent oppo-
sition, similar in nature, was made by the people of Vaud
against the oligarchical power assumed by a few families.
The closing of the monasteries in the Aargau in 1840 gave
rise to a dispute of such importance as to disturb the whole
of the confederation. In the Aargau the church and state
had long and strenuously battled, when the monastery of Muri
was suddenly invested as the seat of a conspiracy, and, on
symptoms of uneasiness becoming perceptible among the
Catholic population, the whole country was flooded with
twenty thousand militia raised on the spur of the moment,
and the closing of the monastery of ISIuri and of all the
monasteries in the Aargau was proclaimed and carried into
execution. The rest of the Catholic cantons and Rome
vehemently protested against this measure, and even some
of the Reformed cantons, for the sake of peace, voted at the
diet for the maintenance of the monasteries : the Aargau,
nevertheless, steadily refused compliance.
THE REYOLUTIOX IN BKUXSWICK. 401
CCLXIX. The Revolution in Brunswick, Saxony, Hesse, etc.
The Belgian revolution spread into Germany. Liege infect-
ed her neighbour, Aix-la-Chapelle, where, on the 30th of Au-
gust, 1830, the workmen belonging to the manufactories raised
a senseless tumult which was a ^ew days afterwards repeated
by their fellow-workmen at Elberfeld, Wetzlar, and even by
the populace of Berlin and Breslau, but which solely took a
serious character in Brunswick, Saxony, Hanover, and Hesse.
Charles, duke of Brunswick, was at Paris, squandering the
revenue derived from his territories, on the outburst of the
July revolution, which drove hira back to his native country,
where he behaved with increased insolence. His obstinate
refusal to abolish the heavy taxes, to refrain from disgraceful
sales, to recommence the erection of public buildings, and to
recognise the provincial Estates, added to his threat to fire
upon the people and liis boast that he knew how to defend his
throne better than Charles X. of France, so maddened the
excitable blood of his subjects that, after throwing stones at
the duke's carriage and at an actress on whom he publicly
bestowed his favours, they stormed his palace and set fire to
it over his head, Sept. 7th, 1830. Charles escaped through
the garden. His brother, William, supported by Hanover
and Prussia, replaced him, recognised the provincial Estates,
granted a new constitution, built a new palace, and re-estab-
lished tranquillity. The conduct of the expelled duke^ who,
from his asylum in the Harzgebirge, made a futile attempt to
regain possession of Brunswick by means of popular agitation
and by the proclamation of democratical opinions, added to
the contempt with which he treated the admonitions of his
superiors, induced the federal diet to recognise his brother's
authority. The ex-duke has, since this period, wandered over
P^ngland, France, and Spain, sometimes engaged in intrigues
with Carlists, at others with republicans. In 1836, he ac-
companied a celebrated female aeronaut in one of her excur-
sions from London. The balloon accidentally upset and the
duke and his companion fell to the ground. He was, however,
as in his other adventures, more frightened than hurt.
Li Saxony, the progress of enhghtenment had long ren-
dered the people sensible of the errors committed by the
VOL. III. 2 D
402 THE REVOLUTION IN BRUNSWICK,
old and etiquettish aristocracy of the court and diet. As early
as 1829, all the grievances had been recapitulated in an
anonymous printed address, and, in the beginning of 1830, on
the venerable king, Antony, (brother to Frederick Augustus,
deceased, A. d. 1827,) declaring invalid the settlement of his af-
fairs by the Estates, which evinced a more liberal spirit than
they had hitherto done, and on the prohibiiton of the festivities
on the 25th of June, the anniversary of the Augsburg Confes-
sion, by the town-council of Dresden and by the government
commissioner of the university of Leipzig from devotion to the
Catholic court, a popular tumult ensued in both cities, which
was quelled but to be, a few weeks later, after the revolution
of July, more disastrously renewed. The tumult commenced
at Leipzig on the 2nd of September and lasted several days, and,
during the night of the 9th, Dresden was stormed from without
by two immense crowds of populace, by whom the police
buildings and the town -house Avere ransacked and set on fire.
Disturbances of a similar nature broke out at Chemnitz and
Bautzen. The king, upon this, nominated his nephew. Prince
Frederick, who was greatly beloved by the people, co-regent :
the civic guard restored tranquillity, the most crying abuses,
particularly those in the city administration, were abolished,
and the constitution was revised. The popular minister,
Lindenau, replaced Einsiedel, who had excited universal de-
testation.
In the electorate of Hesse, the period of terror occasioned
by the threatening letters addressed to the elector was suc-
ceeded by the agitation characteristic of the times. On the
6th of September, 1830, a tumultuous rising took place at
Cassel ; on the 24th, the people of Hanau destroyed every
custom-house stationed on the frontier. The public was so
unanimous and decided in opinion that the elector not only
agreed to abolish tlie abuses, to convoke the Estates, and to
grant a new constitution, but even placed the reins of govern-
ment provisionally in the hands of his son, Prince "William,
in order to follow the Countess Reichenbach, who had been
driven from Cassel by the insults of the populace. Prince
William was however as little as his father inclined to make
concessions; and violent collisions speedily ensued. He wed-
ded Madame Lehmann, the wife of a Prussian officer, under the
name of the Countess von Schaumburg, and closed the theatre
SAXONY, HESSE, ETC. 403
against his mother, the electress, for refusing to place herself
at her side in public. The citizens sided with the electress,
and when, after some time had elapsed, she again ventured to
visit the theatre, the doors were no longer closed against her,
and, on her entrance, she found the house completely filled.
On the close of the evening's entertainment, however, whilst
the audience were peaceably dispersing, they were charged
by a troop of cavalry who cut down the defenceless multitude
without distinction of age or sex, December the 7th, 1830.
The Estates, headed by Professor Jordan, vainly demanded
redress ; Giesler, the head of the police, was alone designated
as the criminal ; the scrutiny was drawn to an interminable
length and produced no other result than Giesler's decoration
with an order by the prince.
In Hesse-Darmstadt, where the poll-tax amounted to 6_/7,?.
12 ki's. (10s. 4d.) a head, the Estates ventured, even prior to the
revolution of July, to refuse to vote 2,000,000 /c*. (£166,666
13s. -id.) to the new grand-duke, Louis IL, (who had just suc-
ceeded his aged father, the patron of the arts,) for the defrayment
of debts contracted by him before his accession to the ducal chair.
In September, the peasantry of Upper Hesse rose en tnasse on
account of the imposition of the sum of 100,000/7s. (£8333
6s. Sd.) upon the poverty-stricken communes in order to meet
the outlay occasioned by the festivities given in the grand-
duke's honour on his route through the country ; the burthens
laid upon the peasantry in the mediatized principalities, more
particularly in that of Ysenburg, had also become unbearable.
The insurgents took Biidingen by storm and were guilty of
some excesses towards the public officers and the foresters,
but deprived no one of life. Ere long convinced of their
utter impotence, they dispersed before the arrival of Prince
Emilius at the head of a body of military, who, blinded by
rage, unfortunately killed a number of persons in the village
of Scidel, whom they mistook for insurgents owing to the cir-
cumstance of their being armed, but who had in reality been
assembled by a forester for the purpose of keeping the in-
surgents in check.
In this month, September, 1830, popular disturbances, but
of minor import, broke out also at Jena and Kahla, Alten-
burg, and Gera.
In Hanover, the first symptoms of revolution appeared in
2 D 2
404 THE REVOLUTION IN BRUNSWICK,
January, 1831. Dr. Konig was at that time at the head of
the university of Osterode, Dr. Rauschenplatt of that of Got-
tingen.* The abolition of the glaring ancient abuses and the
removal of the minister, Count ISIiinster, the sole object of
whose policy appeared to be the eternalization of every ad-
ministrative and juridical antiquity in the state, were demand-
ed. The petty insurrections were quelled by the military.
Konig was taken prisoner; most of the other demagogues
escaped to France. The Duke of Cambridge, the king's
brother, mediated. Count Miinsterwas dismissed, and Han-
over received a new and more liberal constitution.
Whilst these events were passing in Germany, the Poles
carried on a contest against tlie whole power of Russia as
glorious and as unfortunate as their former one under their
leader, Kosciusko. Louis Pi)ilippe, king of the French, in the
hope of gaining favour with the northern powers by the aban-
donment of the Polish cause, dealt not a stroke in their aid.
Austria, notwithstanding her natural rivalry to Russia, be-
held the Polish revolution merely through the veil of legitimacy
and refused her aid to rebels. An Hungarian address in fa-
vour of Poland produced no result. Prussia was closely united
bv family ties to Russia. The Poles were consequently left
without external aid, and their spirit was internallj' damped by
diplomatic arts. Aid was promised by France, if they would
wait. They accordingly waited : and in the interim, after the
failure of Diebitsch's attempt upon Warsaw and his sudden
death. Paskewitch, the Russian general, unexpectedly crossed
the Vistula close to the Prussian fortress of Thorn and seized
the city of Warsaw whilst each party was still in a state of
indecision. Immense masses of fugitive Polish soldiery
sought shelter in Austria and Prussia. The officers and a
few thousand private soldiers were permitted to pass onwards
to France : they found a warm welcome in Southern Germany,
whence they had during the campaign been supplied with
surgeons and every necessary for the supply of the hospitals.
The rest were compelled to return to Russia.
The Russian troops drawn from the distant provinces,
* Also the unfortunate Dr. Plath, to whom science is indebted for an
excellent historical work upon China. He became implicated in this
affair and remained in confinement until 1836, when he was sentenced
to fifteen years' further imprisonment.
SAXONY, HESSE, ETC. 405
the same that had been employed in the war witli Persia, over-
ran Poland as tar as the Prussian frontier, bringing with them
a fearful pestilence, Asiatic cholera. Tiiis dii-e malady, which
had, since 1817, crept steadily onwards from the banks of the
Ganges, reached Russia in 1830, and, in the autumn of 1831,
spread across the frontiers of Germany. It chiefly visited
populous cities and generally spared districts less densely
populated, passing from one great city to another whither
infection could not have been communicated. Cordons de
sante and quarantine regulations were of no avail. The
pestilence appeared- to spread like miasma through the air
and to kindle like gas wherever the assemblage of numbers
disposed the atmosphere to its reception. The patients were
seized with vomiting and diarrhoea, accompanied with violent
convulsions, and often expired instantaneously or after an
agony of a few hours' duration. Medicinal art was power-
less against this disease, and, as in the 14th centui-y, the
ignorant populace ascribed its prevalence to poison. Sus-
picion fell this time upon the physicians and the public
authorities and spread in the most incredible manner from
St. Petersburg to Paris. The idea that the physicians had
been charged to poison the people en masse occasioned
dreadful tumults, in which numbers of physicians fell vic-
tims and every drug used in medicine was destroyed as poi-
sonous. Similar scenes occurred in Russia and in Hungary.
In the latter country a great insurrection of the peasants took
place, in August, 1831, in which not only the physicians
but also numbers of the nobility and public officers who had
provided themselves with drugs fell victims, and the most
inhuman atrocities were perpetrated. In Vienna, where the
cholera raged with extreme virulence, the people behaved
more reasonably.
In Prussia, the cholera occasioned several disturbances at
Kcenigsberg, Stettin, andBreslau. At Koenigsberg the move-
ment was not occasioned by the disease being attributed to
poison. The strict quarantine regulations enforced by the
government had produced a complete commercial stagnation,
notwithstanding which permission had been given to the
Russian troops, when hard pushed by the insurgent Poles, to
provide themselves with provisions and ammunition from
Prussia, so that not only Russian agents and commissaries, but
406 THE REVOLUTION IN BRUNSWICK,
whole convoys from Russia crossed the Prussian frontier.
The appearance of cholera was ascribed to this circumstance,
and the public discontent was evinced both by a popular
outbreak and in an address from the chief magistrate of
Kcenigsberg to the throne. The Prussian army, under the
command of Field-marshal Gneisenau, stationed in Posen
for the purpose of watching the movements of the Poles, was
also attacked by the cholera, to which the field-marshal fell
victim. It speedily reached Berlin, spread through the
north of Germany to France, England, and North America,
returned thence to the south of Europe, and, in 1836, crept
steadily on from Italy through the Tyrol to Bavaria.
The veil had been torn from many an old and deep-rooted
evil by the disturbances of 1830. The press now emulated
the provincial diets and some of the governments that sought
to meet the demands of the age in exposing to public view all
the political wants of Germany. Party spirit however still
ran too high, and the moderate constitutionalists, who aimed
at the gradual introduction of reforms by legal means, found
themselves ere long out-flanked by two extreme parties.
Whilst Gentz at Vienna, Jarcke at Berlin, etc., refused to
make the slightest concession and in that spirit conducted the
press, Rotteck's petty constitutional reforms in Baden were
treated with contempt by "VVirth and Siebenpfeiffer, by whom
a German republic was with tolerable publicity proclaimed in
Rhenish Bavaria. Nor were attempts at mediation wanting.
In Darmstadt, Schulz proposed the retention of the present
distribution of the states of Germany and the association of
a second chamber, composed of deputies elected by the people
from every part of the German confederation, with the federal
assembly at Frankfurt.
The Tribune, edited by Dr. "Wirth, and the Westhoten,
edited by Dr. Siebenpfeifter, were prohibited by the federal
diet, March 2nd, 1832. Schiiler, Savoie, and Geib opposed
this measure by the foundation of a club in Rhenish Bavaria
for the promotion of liberty of the press, ramifications of
which were intended by the founders to be extended through-
out Germany. The approaching celebration of the festival
in commemoration of the Bavarian constitution afforded the
malcontents a long-wished-for opportunity for the convocation
of a monster meeting at the ancient castle of Hambach, on
SAXONY, HESSE, ETC. 40?
the 27th of jNIay. Although the black, red, and gold flag
waved on this occasion high above the rest, the tendency to
French liberalism predominated over that to German patriot-
ism. Numbers of French being also present, Dr. Wirth
deemed himself called upon to observe, that the festival they
had met to celebrate was intrinsically German, that he de-
spised liberty as a French boon, and that the patriot's first
thoughts were for his country, his second for liberty. These
observations greatly displeased the numerous advocates for
French republicanism among his audience, and one Key, a
Strassburg citizen, read him a severe lecture in the Mayence
style of 1793.* There were also a number of Poles present,
towai'ds whom no demonstrations of jealousy were evinced.
.This meeting peaceably dissolved, but no means were for the
future neglected for the purpose of crushing the spirit mani-
fested by it. Marshal Wrede occupied Spires, Landau, Neu-
stadt, etc. with Bavarian troops ; the clubs for the promotion
of liberty of the press were strictly proliibited, their original
founders, as well as the orators of Hambach and the boldest
of the newspaper editors, were either arrested or compelled
to quit the country. Siebenpfeifter took refuge in Switzer-
land ; Wirth might have effected his escape, but refused.
Some provocations in Neustadt, on the anniversary of the
Hambach festival in 1833, were brought by the military to
a tragical close. Some newspaper editors, printers, etc. were
also arrested at Munich, Wiirzburg, Augsburg, etc. The
most celebrated among the accused was Professor Behr, court-
counsellor of Wiirzburg, the burgomaster and former deputy
* All national distinctions must cease and be fused in universal liberty
and equality ; this was the sole aim of the noble French people, and for
this cause should we meet them with a fraternal embrace, etc. Paul
Ptizer well observed in a pamphlet on German liberalism, published at
that period, " What epithet would the majority of the French people
bestow upon a liberty which a part of their nation would purchase by
placing themselves beneath the protection of a foreign and superior
power, called to their aid against their fellow-citizens ? If the cause of
German liberalism is to remain pure and unspotted, we must not, like
Ckiriolanus, ai'm the foreign foe against our country. The egotistical
tendency of the age is, unhappily, too much inclined (by a coalition
with France) to prefer personal liberty and independence to the liberty
and independence (thereby infallibly forfeited) of the whole commu-
nity. The supposed fellowship with France would be subjection to her.
France will support the German liberals as Richelieu did the German
Protestants."
408 THE STRUGGLES OF THE
of that city, who, at the time of the meeting at Hambach,
made a public speech at Gaibach, on account of the revolu-
tionary tendency manifested in it, was arrested, and, in 1836,
sentenced to ask pardon on his knees before the king's portrait
and to imprisonment, a punishment to .which the greater part
of the political offenders were condemned.
The federal diet had for some time been occupied with
measures for the internal tranquillity of Germany. The
Hambach festival both brought them to a conclusion and in-
creased their severity. Under the date of the 28th of June,
1832, the resolutions of the federal assembly, by which first
of all the provincial Estates, then the popular clubs, and
finally the press, were to be deprived of every means of op-
posing in any the slightest degree the joint will of the princes,
were published. The governments were bound not to toler-
ate within their jurisdiction aught contrary to the resolu-
tions passed by the federal assembly, and to call the whole
power of the confederation to their aid if unable to enforce
obedience ; nay, in cases of urgency, the confederation re-
served for itself the right of armed intervention, undemanded
by the governments. Taxes, to meet the expenses of the
confederation, were to be voted submissively by the provincial
Estates. Finally, all popular associations and assemblies were
also prohibited, and all newspapers, still remaining, of a liberal
tendency, were suppressed.
The youthful revolutionists, principally students, assembled
secretly at Frankfurt a M., during the night of the 3rd of
April, 1833, attacked the town -watch for the purpose of liber-
ating some political prisoners, and possibly intended to have
carried the federal assembly by a coup-de-main had they
not been dispersed. These excesses had merely the effect of
increasing the severity of the scrutiny and of crowding the
prisons with suspected persons.
CCLXX. The struggles of the provincial Diets.
The Estates of the different constitutional states sought for
constitutional reform by legal means and separated themselves
from the revolutionists. But, during periods of great political
agitation, it is difficult to draw a distinctive line, and every op-
position, however moderate, appears as dangerous as the most
PROVINCIAL DIETS. 409
intemperate rebellion. It was, consequently, impossible for the
governments and the Estates to come to an understanding dur-
ing these stormy times. The result of the deliberations, when-
ever the opposition was in the majority, was protestations on
both sides in defence of right ; and, whenever the opposition
was or fell in the minority, the chambers were the mere echo
of the minister.
In Bavaria, a. d. 1831, the second chamber raised a violent
storm against the minister, von Schenk, principally on account
of the restoration of some monasteries and of the enormous
expense attending the erection of the splendid public build-
ings at Munich. A law of censorship had, moreover, been
published, and a number of civil officers elected by the
people been refused permission to take their seats in the
chamber. Schwindel, von Closen, Cullmann, Seyftert, etc.
were the leaders of the opposition. Schenk resigned office ;
the law of censorship Avas repealed, and the Estates struck two
millions from the civil list. The first chamber, however, re-
fused its assent to these resolutions, the law of censorship was
retained, and the saving in the expenditure of the crown was
reduced to an extremely insignificant amount. In the autumn
of 1832, Prince Otto, the king's second son, was, witli the
consent of the sultan, elected king of Greece by the great
maritime powers intrusted with the decision of the Greek
question, and Count Armansperg, formerly minister of Bava-
ria, was placed at the head of the regency during the minority
of the youthful monarch. Steps having to be taken for the
levy of troops for the Greek service, some regiments were
sent into Greece in order to carry the new regulations into
effect. The Bavarian chambers were at a later period
almost entirely purged from the opposition and granted
every demand made by the government. The appearance of
the Bavarians in ancient Greece forms one of the most inter-
esting episodes in modern history. The jealousy of the great
powers explains the election of a sovereign independent of them
all : the noble sympathy displayed for the Grecian cause
by King Louis, who, shortly after the congress of Verona,
sent considerable sums of money and Colonel von Heideck to
the aid of the Greeks, and, it may be, also the wish to bring
the first among the lesser powers of Germany into closer
connexion with the common interests of the great powers.
410 THE STRUGGLES OF THE
more particulai'ly explains that of the youthful Otto.* The
task of organizing a nation, noble, indeed, but debased by
long slavery and still reeking with the blood of late rebel-
lion, under the influence of a powerful and mutually jealous
diplomacy, on an European and German footing, was, how-
ever, extremely difficult. Hence the opposite views enter-
tained by the regency, the resignation of the counsellors of
state, von IMaurer and von Abel, who were more inclined to
administrate, and the retention of office by Count Armans-
perg, who was more inclined to diplomatize. Hence the
ceaseless intrigues of party, the daily increasing contumacy,
and the revolt, sometimes quenched in blood, of the wild moun-
tain tribes and ancient robber-chiefs, to whom European in-
stitutions were still an insupportable yoke. King Otto re-
ceived, on his accession to the throne, in 1835, a visit from
his royal parent ; and, in the ensuing year, conducted the
Princess of Oldenburg to Athens as his bride.
In Wiirtemberg, the chambers tirst met in 1833, and were,
two months later, again dissolved on account of the refusal of
the second chamber to reject "with indignation" Pfizer's pro-
testation against the resolutions of the confederation. In the
newly-elected second chamber, the opposition, at whose head
stood the celebrated poet, Uiiland, brought forward numerous
propositions for reform, but remained in the minority, and it
was not until the new diet, held in 1836, that the aristocratic
first chamber was induced to diminish soccage-service and
other feudal dues 22 ^ in amount. The literary piracy that
had hitherto continued to exist solely in AViirtemberg was
also provisionally abolished, the system of national education
was improved, and several other useful projects were carried
into execution or prepared. A new criminal code, published
in 1838, again bore traces of political caution. The old op-
position lost power.
In Baden, the venerable grand-duke, Louis, expired, a. d.
* Thiersch, the Bavarian court counsellor, one of the most distinguish-
ed connoisseurs of Grecian antiquity, -who visited Greece shortly after
Heideck and before the arrival of the king, -was received by the modem
Greeks Avith touching demonstrations of delight. No nation has so deeply
studied, so deeply become imbued with Grecian lore, as that of Germany,
and the close connexion formed, on the accession of the Bavarian Otto
to the throne of Greece, between her sons and the children of that classic
land, justifies the proudest expectations.
PROVINCIAL DIETS. 411
1830, and was succeeded by Leopold, a descendant of the
collateral branch of the counts of Hochberg. Bavaria had,
at an earlier period, stipulated, in case of the extinction of the
elder and legitimate line, for the restoration of the Pfalz,
(Heidelberg and ^Mannheim,) which had, in 1816, been secured
to her by a treaty with Austria. The grand-duke, Louis,
had protested against this measure and had, in 1817, declared
Baden indivisible. Bavaria finally relinquished her claims
on the payment of two million florins (£166,666, 13^. Ad.)
and the cession of the bailiwick of Steinfeld, to which Austria
moreover added the county of Geroldseck. The new grand-
duke, who was surnamed " the citizen's friend," behaved with
extreme liberality and consequently went hand in hand with
the first chamber, of which AVessenberg and Prince von Fiir-
stenberg were active members, and with the second, at the
head of which stood Professors Rotteck, Welcker, and von
Itzstein. Rotteck proposed and carried through the abolition
of capital punishmeut as alone worthy of feudal times, and, on
Welcker's motion, censorship was abolished and a law for the
press was passed. The federal assembly, liowever, speedily
checked these reforms. The grand-duke was compelled to
repeal the law for the press, the Freiburg university was for
some time closed, Professors Rotteck and AVelcker were sus-
pended, and their newspaper, the " Freisinnige" or liberal, was
suppressed, A. d. 1832. Rotteck was, notwithstanding, at
feud with the Hambachers and had raised the Baden flag
above that of Germany at a national fete at Badenweiler.
This extremely popular deputy, who had been presented with
thirteen silver cups in testimony of the affection with which
he was regarded by the people, afterwards protested against
the resolutions of the confederation, but his motion was vio-
lently suppressed by the minister. Winter. The Baden cham-
ber, nevertheless, still retained a good deal of energy, and,
after the death of Rotteck, in 1841, a violent contest was car-
ried on concerning the rights of election.
Li Hesse-Darmstadt, the Estates again met in 1832 ; the
liberal majority in the second chamber, led by von Gagern,
E. E, Hoffmann, Hallwachs, etc. protested against the reso-
lutions of the confederation, and the chamber was dissolved.
A fresh election took place, notwithstanding which the cham-
ber was again dissolved in 1834, on account of the govern-
412 THE STRUGGLES OF THE
ment bein^ charged with party spirit by von Gagern and the
refusal of the chamber to call him to order. The people after-
wards elected a majority of submissive members.
In Hesse-Cassel the popular demonstrations were instantly
followed by the convocation of the Estates and the proposal
of a new and stipulated constitution, which received the sanc-
tion of the cliambers as early as January, 1831 ; but, amid
the continual disturbances and on account of the disinclina-
tion of the prince co-regent to the liberal reforms, the cham-
ber, of which the talented professor, Jordan of Marburg, was
the most distinguished member, yielded, notwithstanding its
perseverance, after two rapidly successive dissolutions, in 1832
and 1833, to the influence of the (once liberal) minister, Has-
senpflug, and Jordan quitted the scene of contest. Ilassenp-
flug's tyrannical beliaviour and the lapse of Hesse-Rotenburg,
(the mediatized collateral line, which became extinct with
tlie Landgrave Victor in 1834,) the revenues of which were
appropriated as personal property by the prince elector in-
stead of being declared state property, fed the opposition in
the chambers, which was, notwithstanding the menaces of
the prince elector, carried on until 1838. Hassenpflug threw
up office.
In Nassau, the duke, William, fell into a violent dispute
with the Estates. The second chamber, after vainly solicit-
ing the restitution of the rich demesnes, appropriated by the
duke as private property, on the ground of their being state
property, and the application of their revenue to the payment
of the state debts, refused, in the autumn of 1831, to vote the
taxes. The first chamber, in which the duke had the power
of raising at will a majority in his favour by the creation of
fresh members, protested against the conduct of the second,
which in return protested against that of the first and suspend-
ed its proceedings until their constitutional rights should have
received full recognition ; five of the deputies, however, again
protested against the suspension of the proceedings of the
chamber and voted the taxes during the absence of the ma-
jority. The majority again protested, but became entangled
in a pohtical law-suit, and Herber, the grey-headed president,
was confined in the fortress of ]Marxburg.
In Brunswick, a good understanding prevailed between
William, the new duke, and the Estates, which were, how-
PROVINCIAL DIETS. 413
ever, accused of having an aristocratic tendency by the demo-
cratic party. Their sittings continued to be held in secret.
In Saxony, the long-wished-for reforms, above all, the
grant of a new constitution, were realized, owing to the in-
fluence of the popular co-regent, added to that of Lindenau,
the highly-esteemed minister, and of the newly-elected
Estates, A. d. 1831. The law of censorship, nevertheless,
continued to be enforced with extreme severity, which also
marked the treatment of the political prisoners. Count
Hohcnthal and Baron Watzdorf, who seized every oppor-
tunity to put in protestations, even against the resolutions
of the confederation, evinced the most liberal spirit. On the
demise of the aged king, Antony, in 1835, and the accession
of the co-regent, Frederick, to the throne, the political move-
ments totally ceased.
Holstein and Schleswig had also, as early as 1823, solicited
the restitution of their ancient constitutional rights, which
the king, Frederick IV., delayed to grant. Lornsen, the
counsellor of cliancery, was arrested in 1830, for attempting
to agitate the people. Separate provincial diets were, not-
withstanding, decreed, in 1831, for Holstein and Schleswig,
although both provinces urgently demanded their union.
Frederick IV. expired in 1839 and -was succeeded by his
cousin, Christian.
Immediately after the revolution of July, the princes of
Oldenburg, Altenburg, Coburg, Meiningen, and Schwarzburg-
Sondershausen made a public appeal to the confidence of their
subjects, vv'hom they called upon to lay before them their
grievances, etc. Augustus, duke of Oldenburg, who had as-
sumed the title of grand-duke, proclaimed a constitution, but
shortly afterwards withdrew his promise and strictly forbade
his subjects to annoy him by recalling it to his remembrance.
The prince von Sondershausen also refused tlie hoped-for
constitution. In Sigmaringen, Altenburg, and IMeiningen the
constitutional movement was, on the contrary, countenanced
and encouraged by the princes. Pauline, the liberal-minded
princess of Lippe-Detmold, had already drawn up a constitu-
tion for her petty territory with her own hand, when the
nobility rose against it, and, aided by the federal assembly,
compelled her to withdraw it.
In the autumn of 1833, the emperor of Russia held a con-
414 THE STRUGGLES OF THE
ference with the kinp^ of Prussia at Munchen-Griitz, whither
the emperor of Austria also repaired. A German minii^terial
congress assembled immediately afterwards at Vienna, and
the first of its resolutions was made public late in the autumn
of 1834. It announced the establishment of a court of arbi-
tration, empowered, as the highest court of appeal, to decide all
disputes between the governments and their provincial Estates.
Tlie whole of the members of this court were to be nomi-
nated by the governments, but the disputing parties were free
to select their arbitrators from among the number,
A fresh and violent constitutional battle was, notwithstand-
ing these precautions, fought in Hanover, where Adolphus
Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, had, in the name of his
brother, "William IV., king of England, established a new
constitution, which had received many ameliorations notwith-
standing the inefficiency of the liberals, Christiani, Liintzel, etc,
to counteract the preponderating influence of the monarchical
and aristocratic party. William IV., king of England and
Hanover, expired a. d. 1837, and was succeeded on the throne
of Great Britain by Victoria Alexandrina, the daughter of his
younger and deceased brother, Edward, Duke of Kent, and of
the Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg ; and on that of Han-
over, which was solely heritable in the male line, by his second
brother, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, the leader of the Tory
party in England. No sooner had this new sovereign set his
foot on German soil,* than he repealed the constitution grant-
ed to Hanover in 1833 and ordained the restoration of the
former one of 1819, drawn up in a less liberal but more
monarchical and aristocratic spirit. Among tlie protestations
made against this covp d'etat, that of the seven Gottingen
professors, the two brothers, Grimm, to whom the German
language and antiquarian research are so deeply indebted,
Dahlmann, Gervinus, Ewald, Weber, and Albrecht, is most
worthy of record. Their instant dismission produced an in-
surrection amongst the students, which was, after a good deal
* * He did not restore the whole of the crown property that had, at an
earlier period, been carried away to England. A considerable portion
of the crown jewels had been taken away by George I., and when, in
1802, tlie French occupied Hanover, the whole of the moveable crown
property, even the great stud, was sent to England. On the demise of
George HI., the crown jewels were divided among the princes of the
English house. — Copied from the Courier of August, 1838.
PROVINCIAL DIETS. 415
of bloorlshed, quelled by the military. In the beginning: of
1838, the Estates were convoked according to tlie articles of the
constitution of 1819 for the purpose of taking a constitution,
drawn up under the dictation of the king, under deliberation.
Many of the towns refused to elect deputies, and some of those
elected were not permitted to take their seats. The city of
Osnabriick protested in the federal assembly. Notwith-
standing this, the Estates meanwhile assembled, but declared
themselves incompetent, regarding tliemselves simply in the
light of an arbitrative committee, and, as such, threw out the
constitution presented by the king, June, 1838. The federal
assembly remained passive.* In 1839, Scheie, the minister,
finally succeeded, by means of menaces and bribery, and by arbi-
trarily calling into the chamber the ministerial candidates who
had received the minority of votes during the elections, in
collecting so many deputies devoted to his party as were re-
quisite in order to form the chamber and to pass resolutions.
The city of Hanover hereupon brought before the federal as-
sembly a petition for redress and a list of grievances in which
Scheie's chamber was described as "unworthy of the name of a
constitutional representative assembly, void of confidence, un-
possessed of the public esteem, and unrecognised by the coun-
try." The king instantly divested Rumann, the city director, of
his office, but so far yielded to the magistrate, to whom he gave
audience in the palace and who was followed by crowds of
the populace, as to revoke the nomination, already declared
illegal, of Rumann's successor, and to promise that the matter
at issue should be brought before the common tribunal instead
of the council of state, July 17th. Numerous other cities,
corporations of landed proprietors, etc., also followed the ex-
ample set by Hanover and laid their complaints before the
federal assembly, which hereupon declared that, according to the
laws of the confederation, it found no cause for interference,
but at the same time advised the king to come to an under-
standing consistent with the rights of the crown and of the
Estates, with the "present" Estates, (unrecognised by the
* The Darmstadt goveiiiment declared to the second chamber, on its
bringing forward a motion for the intercession of Darmstadt with the
federal assembly in favour of the legality of the ancient constitution
then in force in Hanover, that the grand-duke Avould never tolerate any
co-operation on the part of the Estates with his vote in the federal as-
sembly.
416 AUSTRIA AND PRINCE METTERNICH.
democratic party,) concerning the form of the constitution.
In the federal assembly, WUrtemberg and Bavaria, most
particularly, voted in favour of the Hanoverians. Professor
Ewald was appointed to the university of TUbingen ; Albrecht,
at a later period, to that of Leipzig ; the brothers Grimm, to
that of Berlin ; Dahlmann, to that of Bonn. Among the as-
sembled Estates, those of Baden, Wiirtemberg, and Saxony
most warmly espoused the cause of the people of Hanover,
but, as was natural, without result.*
In 1840, the king convoked a fresh diet. The people re-
fused to elect members, and it was solely by means of intrigue
that a small number of deputies (not half the number fixed
by law) were assembled, creatures of the minister, Scheie, who
were disowned by the people in addresses couched in the most
energetic terms (the address presented by the citizens of Osna-
brlick was the most remarkable) and their proceedings were pro-
tested against. This petty assembly, nevertheless, took under
deliberation and passed a new constitution, against which the
cities and the country again protested. The king also declared
his only son, George, who was afflicted with blindness, capable
of governing and of succeeding to the throne.
CCLXXI. Austria and Pritice Metternich.
Austria might, on the fall of Napoleon, have maintained
Alsace, Lorraine, the Breisgau, and the whole of the territory
of the Upper Rhine in the same manner in which Prussia
had maintained that of the Lower Rhine, had she not pre-
ferred the preservation of her rule in Italy and rendered her
position in Germany subordinate to her station as a Euro-
pean power. This policy is explained by the peculiar circum-
stances of the Austrian state, which had for centuries com-
prised within itself nations of the most distinct character,
and the population of whose provinces were by far the greater
part Sclavonian, Hungarian, and Italian, the great minority
German. By this policy she lost, as the Prussian customs'
* " This defeat is, however, not to be lamented : the battle for the
separate constitutions has not been fought in vain if German nationality
spring from the wreck of German separatism, if we are taught that with-
out a liberal federal constitution liberal provincial constitutions are im-
possible in Germany." — Pfzer.
AUSTRIA AND PRINCE METTERNICH. 417
union has also again proved, much of her influence over
Germany, whilst, on th.e other hand, she secured it the more
firmly in Southern and Eastern Europe. Austria has long made
a gradual and almost unperceived advance from the north-west
in a south-easterly direction. In Germany she has continually
lost ground. .Switzerland, the Netherlands, Alsace, Lorraine,
the Swabian counties, Lusatia, Silesia, have one by one been
severed from her, whilst her non-German possessions have
as continually been increased, by the addition of Hungary,
Transylvania, Galicia, Dalmatia, and Upper Italy.
The contest carried on between Austria, the French Revo-
lution, and Napoleon, has at all events left deep and still visi-
ble traces ; the characters of the emperor Francis and of his
chancellor of state, Prince Metternich, that perfect represent-
ative of the aristocracy of Europe, sympathize also as closely
with the Austrian system as the character of the emperor
Joseph was antipathetical to it. This system dates, however,
earlier than those revolutionary struggles, and has already
outlived at least one of its supporters.
Austria is the only great state in Europe that comprises so
many divers but well-poised nationalities within its bosom ; in
all the other great states, one nation bears the preponderance.
To this circumstance may be ascribed her peaceful policy,
every great war threatening her with the revolt of some one
of the foreign nations subordinate to her sceptre. To this
may, moreover, be ascribed the tenacity with which she up-
holds the principle of legitimacy. The historical hereditary
right of the reigning dynasty forms the sole but ideal tie by
which the divers and naturally inimical nations beneath her
rule are linked together. From the same reason, the concen-
tration of talent in the government contrasts, in Austria, more
violently with the obscurantism of the provinces, than in any
other state. Not only does the over-preponderating intelli-
gence of the chancery of state awe the nations beneath its
rule, but the proverbial good nature and patriarchal cordiality
of the imperial family win every heart. The army is a mere
machine in the hands of the government ; a standing army,
in which the soldier serves for life or for the period of twenty
years, during which he necessarily loses all sympathy with his
fellow-citizens, and which is solely reintegrated from militia
whom this privilege renders still more devoted to the govern -
VOL. III. 2 E
418 AUSTRIA AND PRINCE METTERNICH.
ment. The praetorian spirit usually prevalent in standing armies
has been guarded against in Austria by there being no guards,
and all sympathy between the military and the citizens of the
various provinces whence they were drawn is at once pre-
vented by the Hungarian troops being sent into Italy, the
Italian troops into Galicia, etc. etc. The nationality of the
private soldier is checked by the Germanism of the subalterns
and by the Austrianism of the statl'. Besides the power thus
every where visible, there exists another partially invisible,
that of the police, in connexion with a censorship of the se-
verest description, which keeps a guard over the inadvert-
encies of the tongue as well as over those of tlie press. The
people are, on tlie other hand, closely bound up with the
government and interested in the maintenance of the existing
state of affairs by the paper currency, on the value of which
the welfare of every subject in the state depends.
To a government thus strong in concentrated power and
intelligence stands opposed the mass of nations subject to
the Austrian sceptre whose natural antipathies have been
artfully fostered and strengthened. In Austria the distinc-
tions of class, characteristic of the middle ages, are still pre-
served. The aristocracy and the clergy possess an influence
almost unknown in Germany, but solely over the people, not
over the government. As corporative bodies they still are,
as in the times of Charles VI., convoked for the purpose of
holding postulate-diets, whose power, with the exception of
that of the Hungarian diet, is merely nominal. The nobihty,
even in Hungary, as every where else throughout the Austrian
states, (more particularly since the Spanish system adopted
by Ferdinand II.,) is split into two inimical classes, those of
the higher and lower aristocracy. Even in Galicia, where
the Polish nobility formed, at an earlier period and according
to earlier usage, but one body, the distinction of a higher
and lower class has been introduced since the occupation of
that country by Austria. The high aristocracy are either
bound by favours, coincident with their origin, to the court,
the great majority among them consisting of families on whom
nobility was conferred by Ferdinand II., or they are, if fami-
lies belonging to the more powerful and more ancient national
aristocracy, as, for instance, that of Esterhazy in Hungary,
brought by the bestowal of fresh favours into closer affinity
AUSTRIA AXD PRINCE METTERNICH. -119
with the court and drawn within its sphere. The f:i;reater
proportion of the aristocracy consequently reside at Vienna.
The lower nobility make their way chiefly by talent and per-
severance in the array and the civil offices, and are therefore
naturally devoted to the government, on Avhicli all their hopes
in life depend. The clerfiy, although permitted to retain the
whole of their ancient pomp and their influence over the
minds of the people, have been rendered dependent upon the
government, a point easily gained, the pope being principally
protected by Austria.
The care of the government for the material welfare of the
people cannot be denied ; it is, however, frustrated by two
obstacles raised by its own system. The maintenance of the
high aristocracy is, for instance, antipathetic to the welfare
of the subject, and, although comfort and plenty abound in
the immediate vicinity of Vienna, the population on the
enormous estates of the magnates in the provinces often
present a lamentable contrast. The Austrian government
moreover prohibits all free intercourse with foreign parts, and
the old-fashioned system of taxation, senseless as many other
existing regulations, entirely puts a stop to all free trade be-
tween Hungary and Austria. Consequently, the new and gi'and
modes of communication, the Franzen-canal, that unites the
Danube and the Thiess, the Louisenstrasse, between Carlstadt
and Fiume, the magnificent road to Trieste, the admirable
road across the rocks of the Stilfser Jock, and, more than all,
the steam navigation as far as the mouths of the Danube and
tlie railroads, will be unavailing to scatter the blessings of
commerce and industry so long as these wretched prohibitions
continue to be enforced.
Austria has, in regard to her foreign policy, left the increas-
ing influence of Russia in Poland, Persia, and Turkey un-
opposed, and even allowed the mouths of the Danube to be
guarded by Russian fortresses, whilst she has, on the other
hand, energetically repelled the interference of France in the
affairs of Italy. The July revolution induced a popular in-
surrection in the dominions of the Church, and the French
threw a garrison into the citadel of Ancona ; the Austrians,
however, instantly entered the country and enforced the re-
storation of tlie ancien regime. In Lombardy, many amelior-
ations were introduced and the prosperity of the country
2 E 2
420 AUSTRIA AND PRINCE METTERNICH.
promoted by the Austrian administration, notwithstanding the
national jealousy of the inhabitants. Venice, with lier choked-
up harbour, could, it is true, no longer compete with Trieste.
The German element has gained ground in Galicia by means
of the public authorities and the immigration of agriculturists
and artificers. The Hungarians endeavoured to render their
language the common medium throughout Hungary, and to
expel the German element, but their apprehension of the nu-
merous Slavonian population of Hungary, whom religious
sympathy renders subject to Russian influence, has speedily
reconciled them with the Germans. Slavonism has, on the
other hand, also gained ground in Bohemia.
The emperor, Francis I., expired A. D. 1835, and was suc-
ceeded by his son, Ferdinand I., without a change taking place
in the system of the government, of which Prince IMetternich
continued to be the directing principle.
The decease of some of the heads of foreign royal families
and the marriages of their successors again placed several
German princes on foreign thrones. The last of the Guelphs
on the throne of Great Britain expired with William IV.,
whose niece and successor, Victoria Alexandrina, wedded [a.
D. 1840] Albert of Saxe-Coburg, second son of Ernest, the
reigning duke. That the descendant of the stedfast elector
should, after such adverse fortune, be thus destined to occupy
the highest position in the reformed world, is of itself re-
markable. One of this prince's uncles, Leopold, is seated on
the throne of Belgium, and one of his cousins, Ferdinand, on
that of Portugal, in right of his consort, Donna ]Maria da Glo-
ria, the daughter of Don Pedro, king of Portugal and emperor
of the Brazils, to whom, on the expulsion of the usurper, Don
Miguel, he was wedded, a. d. 1835. These princes of Coburg
are remarkable for manly beauty.
The antipathy with which the new dynasty on the throne
of France was generally viewed rendered Ferdinand, Duke of
Orleans, Louis Philippe's eldest son, for some time an unsuc-
cessful suitor for the hand of a German princess ; he at length
conducted Helena, princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, al-
though against the consent of her stepfather, Paul Frederick,
the reigning duke, to Paris, a. d. 1837, as future queen of
the French. He was killed, a. d. 1842, by a fall from his
carriage, and left two infant sons, the Count of Paris and the
AUSTRIA AND PRINCE METTERNICH. 421
Duke of Chartres. The Czarovitch, Alexander, espoused
Maria, Princess of Darmstadt.
The French chambers and journals have reassumed towards
Germany the tone formerly affected by Napoleon, and, with
incessant cries for war, in which, in 1840, the voice of the
prime minister Thiers joined, demand the restoration of the
left bank of the Rhine. Thiers was, however, compelled to
resign office, and the close alliance between Austria, Prussia,
and the whole of the confederated princes, as well as the feel-
ing universally displayed throughout Germany, demonstrated
the energy with which an attack on the side of France
would be repelled. The erection of the long-forgotten federal
fortresses on the Upper Rhine was also taken at length under
consideration, and it was resolved to fortify Rastadt and Ulm
without further delay.
Nor have the statesmen of France failed to threaten Ger-
many with a Russo-Gallic alliance in the spirit of the Erfurt
congress of 1808 ; whilst Russia perseveres in the prohibitory
system so prejudicial to German commerce, attempts to sup-
press every spark of German nationality in Livonia, Courland,
and Esthonia, and fosters Panslavism, or the union of all the
Slavonic nations for the subjection of the world, among the
Slavonian subjects of Austria in Hungary and Bohemia.
The extension of the Greek church is also connected with this
idea. " The European Pentarchy," a work that attracted
much attention in 1839, insolently boasts how Russia, in de-
fiance of Austria, has seized the mouths of the Danube, has
wedged herself, as it were, by means of Poland, between
Austria and Prussia, in a position equally threatening to both,
recommends the minor states of Germany to seek the protec-
tion of Russia, and darkly hints at the alliance between that
power and France.
Nor are the prospects of Germany alone threatened by
France and Russia ; disturbances, like a phantastic renewal
of the horrors of the middle age, are ready to burst forth on
the other side of the Alps, as though, according to the ancient
saga of Germany, the dead were about to rise in order to
mingle in the last great contest between the gods and man-
kind.
422 PRUSSIA AND ROME
CCLXXn. Prussia and Rome.
Whilst Austria remains stationary, Prussia progresses.
Whilst Austria relies for support upon the aristocracy of the
Estates, Prussia relies for hei*s upon the people, that is to say,
upon the public officers taken from the mass of the population,
upon the citizens emancipated by the city regulation, upon
the peasantry emancipated by the abolition of servitude, of
all the other agricultural imposts, and by the division of pro-
perty, and upon the enrolment of both classes in the Landwehr.
Whilst Austria, in fine, renders her German policy subordinate
to her European diplomacy, the influence exercised by Prussia
upon Europe depends, on the contrary, solely upon that pos-
sessed by her in Germany.
Prussia's leading principle appears to be, "All for the peo-
ple, nothing through the people I " Plence the greatest solici-
tude for the instruction of the people, whether in the meanest
schools or the universities, but under strict political control,
under the severest censorship ; hence the emancipation of
the peasantry, civic self-administration, freedom of trade, the
general arming of tlie people, and, with all these, mere name-
less provincial diets, the most complete popular liberty on the
widest basis without a representation worthy of the name ;
hence, finally, the greatest solicitude for the promotion of
trade on a grand scale, for the revival of tiie commerce of
Germany, which has lain prostrate since the great wars of
the Reformation, for the mercantile unity of Germany, whilst
it is exactly in Prussia that political Unitarians are the most
severely punished.
The great measures were commenced in Prussia immedi-
ately after the disaster of 1806: first, the re-organization of
the army and the abolition of the privileges of the aristocracy
in respect to appointments and the possession of landed pro-
perty ; these were, in 1808, succeeded by the celebrated civic
regulation which placed the civic administration in the hands
of the city deputies freely elected by the citizens ; in 1810, by
freedom of trade and by the foundation of the new universities
of Berlin, (instead of Halle,) of Breslau, (instead of Frank-
furt on the Oder,) and, in 1819, of Bonn, by which means
the libraries, museums, and scientific institutions of every de-
PRUSSIA AND ROME. 423
scription were centralized ; in 1814, by the common duty im-
posed upon every individual of every class, without exception,
to bear arms and to do service in the Landwehr up to his
thirty-ninth year; in 1821, by the regulation for the division
of communes ; and, in 1822, by the extra post.
In respect to the popular representation guaranteed by the
federal act, Prussia announced, on the 22nd of May, 1815,
her intention to form provincial diets, from among whose
members the general representation or imperial diet, which
was to be held at Berlin, was to be elected. "When the Rhenisli
provinces urged the fulfilment of tliis promise in the Coblentz
address of 1817, the reply was, "Those who admonish the
king are guilty of doubting the inviolability of his word."
Prussia afterwards declared that the new regulations would
be in readiness by the February of 1819. On the 20th of
January, 1820, an edict was published by the government,
the first paragraph of which fixed the public debt at
180,091,720 dollars,* and the second one rendered the con-
traction of every fresli debt dependent upon the will of the
future imperial diet.f The definitive reguhitions in respect
to the provincial Estates were finally published on the 5th of
June, 1823, but the convocation of a genei'al diet was passed
over in silence.
The prosperity of the nations of Germany, wrecked by the
great wars of the Reformation, must and will gradually return.
Prussia has inherited all the claims upon, and consequently
all the duties owing to Germany. Still the general position
of Germany is not sufficiently favourable to render the reno-
vation of her ancient Ilanseatic commerce possible. | It is to be
deplored that the attachment of the Prussian cabinet to Rus-
sian policy has not at all events modified the commercial re-
strictions along the whole of the eastern frontier of Prussia, §
• £26,263,375 16«. 8f/.
t The Maritime Commercial Company, meanwhile, entered into a
contract.
J " We have long since lost all our maritime power. The only guns
now fired by us at sea are as signals of distress. Who now remembers
that it was the German Hansa that first made use of cannons at sea, that
it was from Germans that the English learnt to build men of war ? " —
Jahti's \ationaliti/.
§ Prussia, of late, greatly contributed towards the aggrandizement of
the power of Russia by solemnly declaring in 1828, when Russia ex-
424 PRUSSIA AND ROME.
and that Prussia has not been able to effect more with Holland
in rcGfard to the question concerning the free navigation of
the Rhine.* Prussia has, on the other hand, deserved the
gratitude of Germany for the zeal with whicli she promoted
the settlement of the Customs' Union, which has, at least in
the interior of Germany, removed the greater part of the re-
strictions upon commercial intercourse, and has a tendency to
spread still further. Throughout the last transactions, partly
of the Customs' Union, partly of Prussia alone, with England
and Holland, a vain struggle against those maritime powers
is perceptible. England trades with Germany from every
harbour and in every kind of commodity, whilst German
vessels are restricted to home produce and are only free to
trade with England from their own ports. Holland finds a
market for her colonial wares in Germany, and, instead of
taking German manufactured goods in exchange, provides her-
self from England, throws English goods into Germany, and,
in lieu of being, as she ought to be, the great emporium of
Germany, is content to remain a mere huge English factory.
The Hanse towns have also been converted into mercantile
depots for English goods on German soil.
The misery consequent on the great wars, and the powerful
reaction against Gallicism tliroughout Germany, once more
caused despised religion to be reverenced in the age of phi-
losophy. Prussia deemed herself called upon, as the inheritor
of the Reformation brought about by Luther, as the principal
Protestant power of Germany, to assume a prominent position
in the religious movement of the time. Frederick "William IH.,
a sovereign distinguished for piety, appears, immediately after
the great wars, to have deemed the conciliation of the various
tended her influence over Turkey, that she -would not on that account
prevent Russia from asserting her " just claims," a declaration that
elicited bitter complaints from the British government ; and again in
1831, by countenancing the entry of the Russians into Poland, at that
time in a state of insurrection.
* The reason of the backwardness displayed from the commencement
by Prussia to act as the bulwark of Germany on the Lower Rhine is
explained by Stein in his letters : " Hanoverian jealousy, by which the
narrow-minded Castlereagh was guided, and, generally speaking, jealousy
of the German ministerial clauses, as if the existence of a Mecklenburg
were of greater importance to Germany than that of a powerful warlike
population, alike famous in time of peace or war, presided over the settle-
ment of the relation in which Belgium was to stand to Priissia."
PRUSSIA AND ROME. 425
sects of Christians within his kingdom feasible. He, never-
theless, merely succeeded in eifecting a union between the
Lutherans and Calvinists. He also bestowed a new liturgy
upon this united church, which was censured as partial, as
proceeding too directly from the cabinet without being sanc-
tioned by the concurrence of the assembled clergy and of the
people. Some Lutherans, who refused compliance, were
treated with extreme severity and compelled to emigrate ;
the utility of a union, which, two centuries earlier, would
have saved Germany from ruin, was, however, generally
acknowledged. It, nevertheless, was not productive of unity
in the Protestant world. In the universities and among the
clergy, two parties, the Rationalists and the Supernaturalists,
stood opposed to one another. The former, the disciples of
the old Neologians, still followed the philosophy of Kant,
merely regarded Christianity as a code of moral philosophy,
denominated Christ a wise teacher, and explained away his
miracles by means of physics. The latter, the followers of
the old orthodox Lutherans, sought to confirm the truths of
the gospel also by philosophical means, and were denominated
Supernaturalists, as believers in a mystery surpassing the
reasoning powers of man. The celebrated Schleierraacher
of Berlin mediated for some time between both parties. But
it was in Prussia more particularly that both parties stood
more rigidly opposed to one another and fell into the greatest
extremes. Tlie Rationalists were supplanted by the Panthe-
ists, the disciples of Hegel, the Berlin philosopher, who at
length formally declared war against Christianity ; the Super-
naturalists were here and there outdone by the Pietists, whose
enthusiasm degenerated into licentiousness.* The king had,
notwithstanding his piety, been led to believe that Hegel
merely taught the students unconditional obedience to the
state, and that Pantheist was consequently permitted to
spread, under the protection of Prussia, his senseless doctrine
of deified humanity, the same formerly proclaimed by Ana-
charsis Cloots in the French Convention. When too late, the
gross deception practised by this sophist was perceived : his
disciples threw off their troublesome mask, with Dr. Strauss,
• At KiJnigsberg, in Prussia, a secret society was discovered which
was partly composed of people of rank, who, under pretence of meeting
for the exercise of religious duties, gave way to the most wanton licence.
426 PRUSSIA AND ROME.
who had been implicated in the Zurich disturbances, at
their head, openly renounced Christianity, and, at Halle, led
by Huge, the journalist, embraced the social revolutionary
• ideas of " Young France," to which almost the whole of the
younger journalists of literary "Young Gennany" acceded;
nor was this Gallic reaction, this retrogression towards the
philosophical ideas of the foregoing century, without its cause,
German patriotism, which, from 1815 to 1819, had predomi-
nated in every university throughout Prussia, having been
forcibly suppressed. Hegel, on his appearance in Berlin,
was generally regarded as the man on whom the task of
diverting the enthusiasm of the rising generation for Ger-
many into another channel devolved.* Every thing German
had been treated with ridicule. "f" French fashions and French
ideas had once more come into vogue.
Wliilst Protestant Germany was thus torn, weakened, and de-
graded by schism, the religious movement throughout Catholic
Germany insensibly increased in strengtli and unity. The ad-
verse fate of the pope had, on his deliverance from the hands
of Napoleon, excited a feeling of sympathy and reverence so
universal as to be participated in by even tlie Protestant powers
of Europe. He had, as early as 1814, reinstated the Jesuits
Avithout a remonstrance on the part of the sovereigns by whom
they had formeiiy been condemned. The ancient spirit of the
Komish church had revived. A new edifice was to be raised on
the thick-strewn ruins of the past. In 1817, Bavaria concluded
a concordat with the pope for the foundation of the arch-
bishopric of Munich with the three bishoprics of Augs-
burg, Passau, and Ratisbon, and of the archbishopric of
Bamberg with the three bishoprics of Wiirzburg, Eichstiidt,
and Spires. The king retained the right of presentation. In
1821, Prussia concluded a treaty by which the archbishopric
of Cologne with the three bishoprics of Treves, JNIiinster, and
Paderborn, the archbishopric of Posen with Culm, and two
* The police, while attempting to lead science, was unwittingly led
by it. The students were driven in crowds into Hegel's colleges, his pu-
pils were preferred to all appointments, etc., and every measure was
taken to render that otherwise almost vinnoted sophist as dangerous as
possible.
t In this the Jews essentially aided : BiJme more in an anti-German,
Heine more in au anti-Christian, spirit, and were highly applauded by
the simple and infatuated German youth.
PRUSSIA AND ROME. 427
independent bishoprics in Breslau and Ermeland were estab-
lished. The bishoprics of Hildesheim and Osnabriick were re-
established in 1824 by the concordat with Hanover. In south-
western Germany, the archbishopric of Freiburg in the Breisgau
with the bishoprics of Rottenburg on the Neckar, Limburg on
the Lahn, Mayence, and Fulda arose. In Switzerland there
remained four bishoprics, Freiburg in the Uechtland, Solo-
thurn, Coire, and St. Gall ; in Alsace, Strassbourg and Col-
mar. In the Netherlands, the archbishopric of Malines with
the bishoprics of Ghent, Liege, and Namur. In Holland, three
Jansenist bishoprics, Utrecht, Deventer, and Haarlem, are
remarkable for having retained their independence of Rome.
The renovated body of the church was inspired with fresh
energy. On the fall of the Jesuits, the otlier extreme, Illumin-
atism, had raised its head, but had been compelled to yield
before a higher power and before the moral Ibrce of Germany.
The majority of the German Catholics now clung to the idea
that the regeneration of the abused and despised church was
best to be attained by the pi'actice of evangelical simplicity
and morality, that Jesuitism and lUuminatism wei'e, conse-
quently, to be equally avoided, and the better disposed among
the Protestants to be imitated. Sailer, the gi-eat teacher of
the German clergy, and Wessenberg, whom Rome on this ac-
count refused to raise to the bishopric of Constance, acted upon
this idea. In Silesia, a number of youthful priests, headed by
Theimer, impatient for the realization of the union, apparently
approaching, of this moderate party with the equally moderate-
ly disposed party among the Protestants into one great German
church, took [a. d. 1825] the bold step of renouncing celibacy.
This party was however instantly suppressed by force by the
king of Prussia. Theimer, in revenge, turned Jesuit and
wrote against Prussia. Professors inclined to (Jltramontanism
were, meanwhile, installed in the universities, more particularly
at Bonn, Miinster, and Tiibingen, by the Protestant as well
as the Catholic governments ; by them the clerical students
were industriously taught that they were not Germans but
subjects of Rome, and were flattered with the hope of one day
participating in the supremacy about to be regained by the
pontiff. Every priest inspired ■with patriotic sentiments, or
evincing any degree of tolerance towards his Protestant fel-
low-citizens, was regarded as guilty of betraying the interests
428 PRUSSIA AND ROME.
of the church to the state and the tenets of the only true church
to heretics. Gorres, once Germany's most spirited champion
against France, now appeared as the champion of Rome in
Germany. The scandalous schisms in the Protestant church
and the no less scandalous controversies carried on in the
Protestant literary world rendered both contemptible, and, as
in the commencement of the 1 7th century, appeared to oflfer
a favourable opportunity for an attack on the part of the
Catholics.
A long-forgotten point in dispute was suddenly revived.
Marriages between Catholics and Protestants had hitherto
been unhesitatingly sanctioned by the Catholic priesthood.
The Prussian ordonnance of 1803, by which the father was
empowered to decide the faith in which the children were to
be brought up, had, on account of its conformity with nature
and reason, never been disputed. Numberless mixed marriages
had taken place among all classes from the highest to the low-
est without the slightest suspicion of wrong attaching thereto.
A papal brief of 1830 now called to mind that the church
tolerated, it was true, although she disapproved of mixed mar-
riages, which she permitted to take place solely on condition of
the children being brought up in the Catholic faith. Prussia
had acted with little foresight. Instead of, in 1814, on taking
possession of the Rhenish provinces and of Westphalia, conclud-
ing a treaty with the tlien newly-restored pope, Hardenberg
had, as late as 1820, during a visit to Rome, merely entered
upon a transient agreement, by which Rome was bound to no
concessions. The war openly declared by Rome was now at-
tempted to be turned aside by means of petty and secret arti-
fices. Several bishops, in imitation of the precedent given by
Count von Spiegel, the peace-loving archbishop of Cologne,
secretly bound themselves to interpret the brief in the sense of
the government and to adhere to the ordonnance of 1803. On
Spiegel's decease in 1835, his successor, the Baron Clement
Augustus Droste, promised at Vischering, prior to his present-
ation, strictly to adhere to this secret compact ; but, scarcely
had he mounted the archiepiscopal seat, than his conscience
forbade the fulfilment of his oath ; God was to be obeyed ra-
ther than man ! He prohibited the solemnization of mixed
marriages within his diocese without the primary assurance
of the education of the children in the Catholic faith, compel-
PRUSSIA AND ROME. 429
led bis clergy strictly to obey the commands of Rome in points
under dispute, and suppressed the Hermesian* doctrine in
the university of Bonn. The warnings secretly given by the
government proved unavailing, and he was, in consequence,
unexpectedly deprived of his office in the November of 1837,
arrested, and imprisoned in the fortress of Minden. This arbi-
trary measure caused great excitement among the Catholic
population, and the ancient dislike of the Rhenish provinces
to the rule of Prussia and the discontent of the Westphalian
nobility on account of the emancipation of the peasantry again
broke forth on this occasion. Gorres, in ]\Iunich, industi'iously
fed the flame by means of his pamphlet, " Athanasius." Du-
nin, archbishop of Gnesen and bishop of Thorn, followed the
example of his brother of Cologne, was openly upheld by
Prussian Poland, was cited to Berlin, fled thence, was re-
captured and detained for some time within the fortress of
Colberg, a. d. 1839. The pope, Gregory XVI., solemnly
declared his approbation of the conduct of these archbishops
and rejected every offer of negotiation until their re-installation
in their dioceses. A crowd of hastily established journals,
more especially in Bavaria, maintained their cause, and were
opposed by numberless Protestant publications, which gener-
ally proved injurious to the cause they strove to uphold, being
chiefly remarkable for base servility, frivolity, and infidelity.
On the demise of Frederick William III., on the 7th of
June, 1 840, and the succession of his son, Frederick William
rV., the church question was momentarily cast into the
shade by that relating to the constitution. Constitutional
Germany demanded from the new sovereign the convocation
of the imperial diet promised by his father. The Catholic
party, however, conscious that it would merely form the mi-
nority in the diet, did not participate in the demand.f The
constitution was solely demanded by Protestant Eastern Prus-
sia ; but the king declared, during the ceremony of fealty
at Kcinigsberg, that " he would never do homage to the idea
of a general popular representation and would pursue a course
* Hermes, it is true, recognised the tenets of the cliurch, not, however,
on account of their being taught by the church, but because he had ar-
rived at similar conclusions in the course of his philosophical researches.
t GiJrres even advised against it, although, in 1817, he had acted the
principal part on the presentation of the Cologne address.
430 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
based upon historical progression, suitable to German nation-
ality." The provincial Estates were shortly afterwards insti-
ttited, and separate diets were opened in each of the provinces.
This attracted little attention, and the dispute with the church
once more became the sole subject of interest. It terminated
in the complete triumph of the Catholic party. In consequence
of an agreement with the pope, the brief of 1820 remained in
force, Dunin was reinstated, Droste received personal satis-
faction by a public royal letter and a representative in Co-
logne in %'on Geissel, hitherto bishop of Spires. The dis-
puted election of the bishop of Treves was also decided in
favour of Arnoldi, the ultramontane candidate.
Late in the autumn of 1842, the king of Prussia for the
first time convoked the deputies selected from the provincial
diets to Berlin. He had, but a short time before, laid the
foundation-stone to the completion of the Cologne cathedral,
and on that occasion, moreover, spoken words of deep import
to the people, admonitory of unity to the whole of Germany.
CCLXXIII. The proc/ress of science, art, and practical
knoivledge in Germany.
In the midst of the misery entailed by war and amid the pas-
sions roused by party strife the sciences had attained to a height
hitherto unknown. The schools had never been neglected,
and immense improvements, equally affecting the lowest of
the popular schools and the colleges, had been constantly in-
troduced. Pestalozzi chiefly encouraged the proper education
of the lower classes and improved the method of instruction.
The humanism of the learned academies (the study of the
dead languages) went hand in hand with the realism of the
professional institutions. The universities, although often sub-
jected to an over-rigid system of surveillance and compelled
to adopt a partial, servile bias, were, nevertheless, generally
free from a political tendency and incredibly promoted the
study of all the sciences. The mass of celebrated savants
and of their works is too great to permit of more than a sketch
of the principal features of modern German science.
The study of the classics, predominant since the time of the
Reformation, has been cast into the shade by the German stu-
dies, by the deeper investigation of the language, the law, the
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN GERMANY. 431
history of our forefathers and of the romantic middle age, by
the great Catholic reaction, and, at the same time, by the im-
mense advance made in natural history, geography, and uni-
versal history. The human mind, hitherto enclosed within a
narrow sphere, has burst its trammels to revel in immeasurable
space. The philosophy and empty speculations of the foregoing
century have also disappeared before the mass of practical know-
ledge, and arrogant man, convinced by science, once more bends
his reasoning faculties in humble adoration of their Creator.
The aristocracy of talent and learned professional pi'ide have
been overbalanced by a democratic press. The whole nation
writes, and the individual writer is either swallowed up in the
mass or gains but ephemeral fame. Every writer, almost with-
out exception, affects a popular style. But, in this rich literary
tield, all springs up freely without connexion or guidance. No
party is concentrated or represented by any reigning journal,
but each individual writes for himself, and tlie immense num-
ber of journals published destroy each other's efficienc3\ Many
questions of paramount importance are consequently lost in
heaps of paper, and the interest they at first excited speedily
becomes weakened by endless recurrence.
Theology shared in the movement above-mentioned in the
church. The Rationalists were most profuse in their public-
ations, Paulus at Heidelberg, and, more particularly, the
Saxon authors, Tschirner, Bretschneider, etc. Ancient Lu-
theran vigour degenerated to shallow subtleties and a sort of
coquettish tattling upon morality, in which Zschokke's "Hours
of Devotion " carried away the palm. Neander, Gieseler,
Gfrorer, and others greatly promoted the study of the history
of the church. The propounders of the Gospels, however,
snatched them, after a lamentable fashion, out of each other's
hands, now doubting the authenticity of the whole, now that
of most or of some of the chapters, and were unable to agree
upon the number that ought to be retained. They, at the
same time, outvied one another in political servility, whilst the
Lutherans who, true to their ancient faith, protested against
the Prussian liturgy, wei'e too few in number for remark.
This frivolous class of theologians at length entirely rejected
the Gospels, embraced the doctrine of Hegel and Judaism, and
renounced Christianity. Still, although the Supernaturalists,
tlie orthodox party, and the Pietists triumphantly repelled
432 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
these attacks, and the majority of the elder Rationalists timid-
ly seceded from the antichristian party, the Protestant literary
world was reduced to a state of enervation and confusion,
affording but too good occasion for an energetic demonstration
on the part of the Catholics.
Philosophy also assumed the character of the age. Fichte
of Berlin still upheld [a. d. 1814] the passion for liberty and
right in their nobler sense that had been roused by the French
Revolution, but, as he went yet further than Kant in setting
limits to the sources of perception and denied the existence of
conscience, his system proved merely of short duration. To
him succeeded Schelling, with whom the return of philosophy
to religion and that of abstract studies to nature and history
commenced, and in whom the renovated spirit of the 19th
century became manifest. His pupils were partly natural
philosophers, who, like Oken, sought to comprehend all nature,
her breathing unity, her hidden mysteries, in religion ; partly
mystics, who, like Eschenmaier, Schubert, Steffens, in a Pro-
testant spirit, or, like Gorres and Baader, in a Catholic one,
sought also to comprehend every thing bearing reference to
both nature and history in religion. It was a revival of the
ancient mysticism of Hugo de S. Victoire, of Honorius, and of
Rupert in another and a scientific age ; nor was it unopposed :
in the place of the foreign scholasticism formerly so repugnant
to its doctrines, those of Schelling were opposed by a reaction
of the superficial mock-enlightenment and sophistical scepticism
predominant in the foregoing century, more particularly of the
sympathy with France, which had been rendered more than ever
powerful in Germany by the forcible suppression of patriotism.
Abstract pliilosophy, despising nature and liistory, mocking
Christianity, once more revived and set itself up as an ab-
solute principle in Hegel. None of the other philosophers
attained the notoriety gained by Schelling and Hegel, the
representatives of the antitheses of the age.
An incredible advance, of which we shall merely record
the most important facts, took place in the study of the phy-
sical sciences. Three new planets were discovered, Pallas,
in 1802, and Vesta, in 1807, by Olbers ; Juno, in 1824, by
Harding. Enke and Biela first fixed the regular return
and brief revolution of the two comets named after them.
Schrciter and Madler minutely examined the moon and
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN GERMANY. 433
planets ; Struve, the fixed stars. Fraunliofer improved the
telescope. Chladni first investigated the nature of fiery
meteors and brought the study of acoustics to perfection.
Alexander von Humboldt immensely promoted the observa-
tion of the changes of the atmosphere and the general know-
ledge of the nature of the earth. Werner and Leopold von
Buch also distinguished themselves among the investigators
of the construction of the earth and mountains. Scheele,
Gmelin, Liebig, etc. were noted chemists. Oken, upon the
whole, chiefly promoted the study of natural history, and
numberless researches were made separately in mineralogy,
the study of fossils, botany, and zoology by the most celebrated
scientific men of the day. Whilst travellers visited every"
quarter of the globe in search of plants and animals as yet un-
known and regulated them by classes, other men of science
were engaged at home in the investigation of their internal
construction, their uses and habits, in which they were
greatly assisted by the improved microscope, by means of
which Ehrenberg discovered a completely new class of ani-
malculre. The discoveries of science were also zealously
applied for practical uses. Agriculture, cattle-breeding, ma-
nufactures received a fresh impulse and immense improve-
ments as knowledge advanced. Commerce by water and by
land experienced a thorough revolution on the discovery of
the propei-ties of steam, by the use of steamers and railroads.
Medical science also progi-essed, notwithstanding the
number of contradictory and extravagant theories. The me-
dical .practitioners of Germany took precedence throughout
Europe. Animal magnetism was practised by Eschenmaier,
Kieser, and Justin Kerner, by means of whose female seer,
von Prevorst, the seeing of visions and the belief in ghosts
were once more brought forward. Hahnemann excited the
greatest opposition by his system of homseopathy, which cured
diseases by the administration of homogeneous substances in
the minutest doses. He was superseded by the cold w^ater
cure. During the last twenty years the naturalists and me-
dical men of Germany have held an annual meeting in a
different town.
The philologists and savants have for some years past
also been in the habit of holding a similar meeting. The
classics no longer form the predominant study among philo-
voL. m. 2 F
434 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
legists. Even literati, whose tastes, like that of Crcuzer,
are decidedly classic, have acknowledged that the know-
ledge of the oriental tongues is requisite for the attainment
of a thorough acquaintance with classic antiquity. A great
school for the study of the Eastern languages has been
especially established under the precedence of the brothers
Schlegel, Bopp, and others. The study of the ancient lan-
guage of Germany and of her venerable monuments has,
finally, been promoted by Jacob Grimm and by his widely
spread school.
The study of history became more profound and was extended
over a wider field. A mass of archives hitherto secret were
rendered public and spread new light on many of the re-
markable cliaracters and events in the history of Germany.
Historians also learnt to compile with less party spirit and
on more solid grounds. History, at first compiled in a Pro-
testant spirit, afterwards inclined as partially to Catholicism,
and the majority of the higher order of historical writers
were consequently rendered the more careful in their search
after truth. Among the univci'sal historians, Rotteck gained
the greatest popularity on account of the extreme liberality
of his opinions, and Heeren and Schlosser acquired great note
for depth of learning. Von Hammer, who rendered us ac-
quainted with the history of the Mahommedan East, takes
precedence among the historical writers upon foreign nations.
Niebuhr's Roman History, Wilken's History of the Crusades,
Leo's History of Italy, Ranke's History of the Popes, etc.,
have attained well-merited fame. The history of Germany
as a whole, which Germany neither was nor is, was little
studied, but an immense mass of facts connected with or re-
ferring to Germany was furnished by the numberless and ex-
cellent single histories and biographies that poured through
the press. All the more ancient collections of script, rerum
were, according to the plan of Stein, the celebrated Prussian
minister, to be surpassed by a critical work on the sources of
German history, conducted by Pertz, which could, however,
be but slowly carried out. Grimm, Mone, and Earth threw
immense light upon German heathen antiquity, Zeusz upon
the genealogy of nations. The best account of the Os-
trogoths was written by ]Manso, of the Visigoths by Asch-
bach, of the Anglo-Saxons by Lappenberg, of the more an-
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN GERMANY. 435
cient Franks by jMannert, Pertz, and Lobell, of Charlemagne
by Diebold and Ideler, of Louis the Pious by Funk, of the
Saxon emperors by Ranke and his friends, Wachter and
Leutsch, of the Salic emperors by Stenzel, of the German
popes of those times by Hofler, of the Hohenstaufen by
Raumer, Kortum, and Hurter, of the emperor Richard by
Gebauer, of Henry VII. of Luxemburg by Barthold, of King
John by Lenz, of Charles IV. by Pelzel and Schottky, of
Wenzel by Pelzel, of Sigismund by Aschbach, of the Habs-
burgs by Kurz, Prince Lichnowsky, and Hormayr, of Louis
the Bavarian by Mannert, of Ferdinand I. by Buchholz, of
the Reformation by C. A. Menzel and Ranke, of the Peasant
War by Sartorius, Oechsle, and Bensen, on the Thirty
Years' War by Barthold, of Gustavus Adolphus by Gfrorer,
of Wallenstein by Forster, of Bernhard of Weimar by Rose,
of George of Liineburg by von der Decken. Of the ensuing
period by Forster and Guhrauer, of the Eighteenth Century
by Schlosser, of the Wars with France by Clausewitz, of ^Mo-
dern Times by Hormayr,
Coxe, Schneller, ^Nlailath, Chmel, and Gei'vay also wrote
histories of Austria, Scliottky and Palacky of Bohemia, Beda,
Weber, and Hormayr of the Tyrol, Voigt of the Teutonic Or-
der, Manso, Stenzel, Forster, Dohm, Massenbach, CiiUn, Preusz,
etc. of the Kingdom of Prussia, Stenzel of Anhalt, Kobbe of
Lauenburg, Liitzow of Mecklenburg, Barthold of Pomerania,
Kobbe of Holstein, Wimpfen of Sleswick, Sartorius and Lap-
penberg of the Hansa, Hanssen of the Dittmarscs, Spittler,
Havemann, and Strombeck of Brunswick and Hanover, van
Kampen of Holland, Warnkonig of Flanders, Rommel of
Hesse, Lang of Eastern Franconia, Wachter and Langenn
of Thuringia and Saxony, Lang, Wolf, Mannert, Zschokke,
Volderndorf of Bavaria, Pfister, PfafF, and Stalin of Swabia,
Glutz-Blotzheim, Hottinger, Meyer von Knonau, Zschokke,
Haller, Schuler, etc. of Switzerland. The most remarkable
among the histories of celebrated cities are, those of St. Gall
by Arx, of Vienna by Mailuth, of Frankfurt on the Maine by
Kirchner, of Ulm and Heilbronn by Jajger, of Rotenburg on
the Tauber by Bensen, etc.
Ritter, and, next to him, Berghaus, greatly extended the
knowledge of geography. Maps were drawn out on a great-
ly improved scale. Alexander von Humboldt, who ruled the
2 F 2
436 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
world with his scientific as Napoleon with his eagle glance,
attained the highest repute among travellers of every nation.
Krusenstern, Langsdorf, and Kotzebue, Germans in the ser-
vice of Russia, circumnavigated the globe. Meyen, the
noted botanist, did the same in a Prussian ship. Baron von
Hiigel explored India. Giitzlalf acted as a missionary in
China. Ermann and Ledebur explored Siberia ; Klaproth,
Kupfer, Parrot, and Eichwald, the Caucasian provinces ;
Burckhardt, Ruppell, Ehrenberg, and Russegger, Syria and
Egypt ; the Prince von Neuwied and Paul William, duke
of Wiirtemberg, North America ; Becher, Mexico ; Schom-
burg, Guiana ; the Prince von Neuwied and Martius, the
Brazils ; Poppig, the banks of the Amazon ; Rengger, Para-
guay. The Missionary Society for the conversion of the hea-
then in distant parts and for the propagation of the gospel,
founded at Basle, A. i>. 1816, have gained well-merited repute.
At the commencement of the present century, amid the
storms of war, German taste took a fresh bias. French fri-
volity iiad increased immorality to a degree hitherto unknown.
Licentiousness reigned unrestrained on the stage and pervaded
the lighter productions of the day. If Iffland had, not un-
successfully, represented the honest citizens and peasantry of
Germany struggling against the unnatural customs of modern
public life, Augustus von Kotzebue, who, after him, ruled the
German stage, sought, on the contrary, to render honour
despicable and to encourage the licence of the day. In the
numerous romances, a tone of lewd sentimentality took place
of the strict propriety for which they had formerly been
remarkable, and the general diffusion of these immoral pro-
ductions, among which tlie romances of Lafontaine may be
more particularly mentioned, contributed in no slight degree
to the moral perversion of the age.
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter stands completely alone. He
shared the weaknesses of his times, which, like Goethe and
Kotzebue, he both admired and ridiculed, passing with ex-
traordinary versatility, almost in the same breath, from the
most moving pathos to the bitterest satire. His clever but
too deeply metaphysical romances are not only full of domes-
tic sentimentality and domestic scenes, but they also imitate
the over-refinement and effeminacy of Goethe, and yet his
sound understanding and warm patriotic feelings led him to
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN GERMANY. 437
condemn all the artificial follies of fashion, all that was un-
natural as well as all that was unjust.
Modern philosophy had no sooner triumphed over the an-
cient religion and France over Germany, than an extra-
ordinary reaction, inaptly termed the romantic, took place in
poetry. Although Ultramontanism might be traced even in
Frederich Schlegel, this school of poetry nevertheless solely
owes its immense importance to its resuscitation of the older
poetry of Germany, and to the success with which it opposed
Germanism to GaUicism. Ludwig Tieck exclusively devoted
himself to the German and romantic middle ages, to the
Minnesingers, to Shakspeare, Cervantes, and Calderon, and
modelled his own on their immortal works. The eyes of his
contemporaries were by him first completely opened to the
long-misunderstood beauties of the Middle Ages. His kindred
spirit, Novalis, (Hardenberg,) destined to a too brief career,
gave proofs of signal talent. Ileinrich von Kleist, who com-
mitted suicide, left the finest-spirited and most delightful
dramas. Ludwig Achim von Arnim, like Tieck, cultivated
the older German Saga ; his only fault was tliat, led away by
the richness of his imagination, ho overcoloured his descriptions.
Aided by Brentano, lie collected the finest of the popular bal-
lads of Germany in " des Knaben Wunderhorn." At Berlin,
Fouque, with true old German taste, revived the romances of
chivalry and, shortly before 1813, met the military spirit once
more rising in Prussia with a number of romances in which
figured battle-steeds and coats of mail, German faith and
bravery, valiant knights and chaste dames, intermixed, it must
be confessed, with a good deal of affectation. On the discovery
being made that many of the ancient German ballads were still
preserved among the lower classes, chiefly among the moun-
tains, they were also sought for, and some poets tuned their
lyres on the naive popular tone, etc., first, Hebel, in the partly
extremely natural, partly extremely affected, Alemannic songs,
which have found frequent imitators. Zacharia Werner and
Hoff'man, on the other hand, exclusively devoted themselves
to the darker side of days of yore, to tlieir magic and super-
stition, and filled the world, already terror-stricken by the
war, with supernatural stories. Still, throughout one and
all of these productions, curiously as they contrasted, the same
inclination to return to and to revive a purely German style
438 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
was betrayed. At that moment the great crisis suddenly took
place. Before even the poets could predict the event, Ger-
many cast off the yoke of Napoleon, and the German " Sturm
and Freiheitslieder " of Theodor Kcirner, Arndt, >Schenken-
dorf, etc., chimed in like a fearfully beautiful Allegro with
the Adagio of their predecessors.
This was in a manner also tlie finale of the German notes
that so strangely resounded in that Gallic time ; the restoration
suppressed every further outburst of patriotism, and the
patriotic spirit that had begun to breathe forth in verse once
more gave place to cosmopolitism and Gallicism. The lyric
school, founded by Ludwig Uliland, alone preserved a Ger-
man spirit and a connexion with the ancient 3Iinnelieder of
Swabia.
The new cosmopolitical tendency of the poetry of these times
is chiefly due to the influence exercised by Goethe. The quick
comprehension and ready adoption of every novelty is a fa-
culty of, not a fault in, the German character, and alone be-
comes reprehensible when, forgetful of itself and of its own
peculiar attributes, it adopts a medley of foreign incongruities
and falsifies whatever ought to be preserved special and true.
Goethe and his school however, not content with imitating
singly the style of every nation and of every period, have in-
terwoven the most diverse strains, antique and romantic, old
German and modern French, Grecian and Chinese, in one
and the same poem. This unnatural style, itself destructive
of the very peculiarity at wliich it aims, has infected both
modern poetry and modern art ; the architect intermixes the
Grecian and the Gothic in his creations, whilst the painter
seeks to unite the styles of the Flemish and Italian schools in
his productions, and the poet those of Persia, Scandinavia, and
Spain, in his strains. Those are indeed deserving of gra-
titude who have comprehended and preserved the character
peculiar to the productions of foreign art, in which the brothers
Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel have been so emi-
nently successful. Hammer and, after him, Riickert have
also opened the eastern world to our view. Count Platen,
on the other hand, hung fluctuating between the antique Per-
sian and German. Cosmopolitism was greatly strengthened
by the historical romances in vogue in England, descriptive
of olden time, and which found innumerable imitators in Ger-
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN GERMANY. 439
many. They were, at all events, thus far beneficial ; they
led us from the parlour into the world.
But no sooner was exclusively German taste neglected for
that of foreign nations than Gallomania revived ; all were
compelled to pay homage to the spirit and the tone prevalent
throughout Europe. The witty aristocratic medisance and
grim spirit of rebellion emulating each other in France, were,
in Germany, I'cpresented by Prince Piichler, the most spirit-
uel drawing-room satirist, and by the Jew, Bcirne, the most
spirited Jacobin of the day. The open infidelity again de-
monstrated in France also led to its introduction into Ger-
many by tlie Jew, Heine, whilst the immoral romances with
which that counti^y was deluged, speedily became known to
us through the medium of the translations and imitations of
" Young Germany," and were incredibly increased by our liter-
ary industry ; all the lying memoirs, in which the French falsify
history, view Napoleon as ademi-god, and treat the enthusiasm
with which the Germans were animated in 1813 with de-
rision, were also diligently translated. Tiiis tendency to view
every thing German with French eyes and to ridicule Ger-
man honour and German manners was especially promoted
by the light literature and numerous journals of the day,
and was, in the universities, in close connexion with the
anti-christian tendency of the school of Hegel. The late
Catholic reaction, too exclusively political, has as yet de-
veloped no power in the literary world, and would scarcely
succeed in gaining any, being less German than Roman.
Whilst German poetry follows so false a course, it naturally
follows that art also must be deprived of its national character.
Architecture has, it is true, abandoned the periwig style of
France, but the purer antique or Byzantine taste to which it
has returned is generally insipidly simple, whilst the attempts
at Gothic and ]MoorisIi are truly miserable. A more elevated
feeling than the present generation, which, in Goethe's man-
ner, dehghts in alternately trifiing with every style or is com-
pletely enslaved by the modes imposed by France, is fitted to
comprehend, is requisite for the revival of German or Gothic
architecture. Still it may be, as is hoped, that the intention
to complete the building of the Cologne cathedral will not be
entirely without a beneficial influence.
The art of painting aspires far more energetically towards
440 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
national emancipation. In the present century, the modern
French style aflfecting the antique presented a complete con-
trast with the German-romantic scliool, which, in harmony
with the simultaneous romantic reaction in the poetical world,
returned to the sacred simplicity of the ancient German and
Italian masters. Overbeck was in tliis our greatest master.
Since this period, tlie two great schools at Munich and Diis-
seldorf, founded by Peter Cornelius, and whose greatest
masters are Peter Ilesz, Bendemann, Lessing, Kaulbach,
etc., sought a middle path, and have, with earnest zeal, well
and skili'ully opposed the too narrow imitation of, and the
medley of style produced by the study of, the numerous old
masters on the one hand, and, on the other, the search for
effect, that Gallic innovation so generally in vogue. Were
the church again to require pictures, or the state to em-
ploy the pencil of the patriot artist in recording the great
deeds of past or present times or in the adornment of public
edifices, painting would be elevated to its proper sphere.
Germany has also produced many celebrated engravers, among
whom Aliiller holds precedence. Lithography, now an art of
so much importance, was invented by the Bavarian, Sene-
felder. Tlie art of painting on glass has also been revived.
In music, the Germans have retained their ancient fame.
After ]Mozart, Beethoven, AVeber, etc. have gained immense
celebrity as composers. Still, much that is unnatural, aifected,
bizarre, and licentious, has crept into the compositions of the
German masters, more particularly in the operas, owing to
the imitation of the modern Italian and French composers.
A popular reaction has, however, again taken place, and, as
before, in choral music, by means of the " singing clubs,"
which become more and more general among the people.
The stage has most deeply degenerated. At the com-
mencement of the present century, its mimic scenes afforded
a species of consolation for the sad realities of life, and formed
the Letlie in whose waters oblivion was gladly sought. The
public afterwards became so practical in its tastes, so sober
in its desires, that neither the spirit of the actor nor the
coquetry of the actress had power to attract an audience.
The taste and love for art were superseded by criticism and
low intrigues, the theatre became a mere political engine, in-
tended to divert the thoughts of the population of the great
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IX GERMANY. 441
cities from the discussion of topics dangerous to the state by
the all-engrossing charms of actresses and ballet-dancers.
The Germans, although much more practical in the pre-
sent than in the past century, are still far from having freed
themselves from the unjust, unfitting, and inconvenient situ-
ation into which they have fallen as time and events roll-
ed on.
A mutual understanding in regard to the external position
of the German in reference to the Slavonian nation has
scarcely begun to dawn upon us. Scarcely have we become
sensible to the ignominious restrictions imposed upon Ger-
man commerce by the prohibitory regulations of Russia, by
the customs levied in the Sound, on the Elbe, and Ehine.
Scarcely has the policy that made such immense concessions
to Russian diplomacy, and scarcely has the party spirit that
looked for salvation for Germany from France, yielded to a
more elevated feeling of self-respect. And yet, whoever
were to say to the people of Alsace, Switzerland, and Hol-
land, " Ye are Germans," would reap but derision and insult.
Germany is on the point of being once more divided into
Catholic and Protestant Germany, and no one can explain
how the German Customs' Union is to extend to the Ger-
man Ocean, on account of the restrictions mutually imposed
by tlie Germans. Could we but view ourselves as the great
nation we in reality are, attain to a consciousness of the im-
measurable strength we in reality possess, and make use of it
in order to satisfy our wants, the Germans would be thorough-
ly a practical nation, instead of lying like a dead lion among
the nations of Europe, and unresistingly suffering them to
mock, tread under foot, nay, deprive him of his limbs, as
though he were a miserable, helpless worm.
More, far more has been done for the better regulation of
the internal economy of Germany than for her external pro-
tection and power. The reforms suited to the age, commenced
by the philosophical princes and ministers of the past century,
have been carried on by Prussia in her hour of need, by con-
stitutional Germany by constitutional means. Every where
have the public administration been better regulated, despot-
ism been restrained by laws, financial affairs been settled
iven under the heavy pressure of the national debts. Com-
merce, manufactural industry, and agriculture have been
442 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
greatly promoted by the Customs' Union, by government aid
and model institutions, by the improvements in the post-
offices, by the laying of roads and railways. The public
burthens and public debts, nevertheless, still remain dispro-
portionately heavy on account of the enormous military force
which the great states are compelled to maintain for the pre-
servation of their authority, and on account of the poliarchical
state of Germany, which renders the maintenance of an
enormous number of courts, governments, general staffs and
chambers necessary.
The popular sense of justice and legality, never entirely
suppressed throughout Germany, also gave fresh pi-oof of its
existence under the new state of affairs, partly in the endless-
ly drawn-out proceedings in the chambers, partly in the in-
credible number of new laws and regulations in the different
states. Still, industriously as these laws have been compiled,
no real, essential, German law, neither public nor private, has
been discovered. The Roman and French codes battled with
each other and left no room for the establishment of a code
fundamentally and thoi'oughly German, The most dis-
tinguished champions of the common rights of the people
against cabinet-justice, the tyranny of the police and of the
censor, were principally advocates and savants. The Estates, as
corporations, were scarcely any longer represented. The ma-
jority of governments, ruled by the principle of absolute mon-
archy, and the chambers, ruled by that of democracy, had, since
the age of philosophy, been unanimous in setting the ancient
Estates aside. The nobility alone preserved certain privileges,
and the Catholic clergy alone regained some of those they
had formerly enjoyed ; all the Estates were, in every other
I'espect, placed on a level. The ancient and national legal
rights of the people were consequently widely trenched
upon.
The emancipation of the peasant from the oppressive feudal
dues, and the abolition of the restraint imposed by the laws of
the city corporations, which had so flagrantly been abused,
were indubitably well intended, but, instead of stopping there,
good old customs, that ought only to have been freed from the
weeds with which they had been overgrown, were totally eradi-
cated. The peasant received a freehold, but was, by means of
his enfranchisement, generally laden with debts, and, whilst
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN GERMANY. 443
pride whispered in his ear that he was now a lord of the soil
and might assume the costume of his betters, the land, whence
he had to derive his sustenance, was gradually diminished in
extent by the systematic division of property. His pretensions
increased exactly in the ratio in which the means for satisfy-
ing them decreased ; and the necessity of raising money placed
him in the hands of Jews. The smaller the property by reason
of subdivision, the more frequently is land put up for sale, the
deeper is the misery of the homeless outcast. The restoration of
the inalienable, indivisible allod and of the federal rights of the
peasant, as in olden times, would have been far more to the
purpose. Professional liberty, the introduction of mechan-
ism and manufactural industry, have annihilated every war-
rant formerly afforded by the artificer as master and member
of a city corporation, and, at the same time, every warrant
afforded to him by the community of his being able to sub-
sist by means of his industry. ^Manufactures on an extensive
scale that export their produce must at all events be left un-
restricted, but the small trades carried on within a petty com-
munity, their only market, excite, when free, a degree of
competition which is necessarily productive botii of bad work-
manship and poverty, and the superfluous artificers, unaided
by their professional freedom, fall bankrupt and become slaves
in the establishments of their wealthier* competitors. The
restoration of the city guilds under restrictions suitable to the
times would have been far more judicious.
The maintenance of a healthy, contented class of citizens
and peasants ought to be one of the principal aims of every
German statesman. The fusion of these ancient and power-
ful classes into one common mass whence but a few wealthy
individuals rise to eminence would be fatal to progression in
Germany. By far the greater part of the people have already
lost the means of subsistence formerly secured to all, nay, even
to the serf, by the privileges of his class. The insecure pos-
session, the endless division and alienation of property, the
anxious dread of loss, and a rapacious love of gain, have be-
come universal. Care for the means of daily existence, like
creeping poison, unnerves the population. The anxious soli-
citude to which this gives rise has a deeply demoralizing
effect. Even offices under government are less sought for
* Because more skilful. — Trans.
444 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, ART, AND
from motives of ambition than as a means of subsistence ; the
arts and sciences have been degraded to mere sources of profit,
envious trade decides questions of the highest importance, the
torch of Hymen is lit by Plutus, not at the shrine of Love ;
and in the bosom of the careworn father of a family, whose
scanty subsistence depends upon a patron's smile, the words
" fatherland " and " glory," find no responsive echo.
Among the educated classes this state of poverty is allied
with the most inconsistent luxury. Each and all, however
poor, are anxious to preserve an appearance of wealth or to
raise credit by that means. All, however needy, must be
foshionable. The petty tradesman and the peasant ape their
superiors in rank, and the old-fashioned but comfortable and
picturesque national costume is being gradually thrown aside
for tlie ever-varying modes prescribed by Paris to the world.
The inordinate love of amusements in which the lower classes
and the proletariat, ever increasing in number, seek more
particularly to drown the sense of misery, is another and a
still greater source of public demoralization. The general
habit of indulging in the use of spirituous liquors has been
rightfully designated the brandy pest, owing to its lament-
able moral and physical effect upon the population. This pest
was encouraged not alone by private individuals, who gain
their livelihood by disseminating it among the people, but
also by governments, which raised a large revenue by its
means ; and the temperance societies, lately founded, but slight-
ly stem the evil.
The public authorities throughout Germany have, it must
be confessed, displayed extraordinary solicitude for the poor
by the foundation of charitable institutions of every descrip-
tion, but they have contented themselves with merely allevi-
ating misery instead of removing its causes ; and the be-
nevolence that raised houses of correction, poor-houses, and
hospitals, is rendered null by the laxity of the legislation.
No measures are taken by the governments to provide means
for emigration, to secure to the peasant his freehold, to the
artificer the guarantee he ought to receive and to give, and
the maintenance of the public morals. The punishment
awarded for immorality and theft is so mild as to deprive
them of the character of crime, pamphlets and works of the
most immoral description are dispersed by means of the cir-
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE IX GERMANY. 445
culating libraries among all classes, and the bold infidelity
preached even from the universities is left unchecked. But
— is not the thief taught morality in the house of correction ?
and are not diseases, the result of licence, cured in the hos-
pitals with unheaxd-of humanity ?
Private morality, so long preserved free from contamina-
tion, although all has for so long conspired against the liberty
and unity of Germany, is greatly endangered. Much may,
however, be hoped for from the sound national sense. The me-
mory of the strength displayed by Germany in 1813 has
been eradicated neither by the contempt of France or Russia,
by any reactionary measure within Germany herself, by so-
cial and literary corruption, nor by the late contest between
church and state. The Customs' Union has, notwithstanding
the difference in political principle, brought despotic Prussia
and constitutional Germany one step nearer. The influence
of Russia on the one hand, of that of France on the other, has
sensibly decreased. The irreligious and immoral tendencies
now visible will, as has ever been the case in Germany, pro-
duce a reaction, and, when the necessity is more urgently felt,
fitting measures will be adopted for the prevention of pauper-
ism. The dangers with which Germany is externally threat-
ened will also compel governments, however egotistical and
indifferent, to seek their safety in unity, and even should the
long neglect of this truth be productive of fresh calamity
and draw upon Germany a fresh attack from abroad, that
very circumstance will but strengthen our union and accelerate
the regeneration of our great fatherland, already anticipated
by the people on the fall of the Hohenstaufen.
CCLXXIV. German emigrants.
The overplus population of Germany has ever emigrated ;
in ancient times, for the purpose of conquering foreign powers ;
in modern times, for that of serving under them. In the
days of German heroism, our conquering hordes spread to-
wards the west and south, over Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa,
England, and Iceland; during the middle ages, our mail-clad
warriors took an easterly direction and overran the Slavo-
nian countries, besides Prussia, Transylvania, and Palestine ;
in modern times, our religious and political refugees have
446 GERMAN EMIGRAXTS.
emigrated in scarcely less considerable numbers to countries
far more distant, but in the humble garb of artificers and
beggars, the Farias of the world. Our ancient warriors
gained undying fame and long maintained the influence and
the rule of Germany in foreign lands. Our modern emi-
grants have unnoted quitted their native country, and, as
early as the second generation, intermixed with the people
among whom they settled. Hundreds of thousands of Ger-
mans have in this manner aided to aggrandize the British
colonies, and Germany has derived no benefit from the emi-
gration of her sons.
The first great mass of religious refugees threw itself into
Holland and into the Dutcli colonies, the greater part of
which have since passed into the hands of the British. The
illiberality of the Dutch caused the second great mass to bend
its steps to British North America, within whose wilds every
sect found an asylum. William Penn, the celebrated Quaker,
visited Germany, and, in 16S3, gave permission to some Ger-
mans to settle in the province named, ai'ter him, Pennsylvania,
where they founded the city of Germantown.* These for-
tunate emigi'ants were annually followed by thousands of ex-
iled Protestants, principally from Alsace and the Palatinate.
The industry and honesty for which the German workmen
were remarkable caused some Englishmen to enter into a
speculation to procure their services as white slaves. The
greatest encouragement was accordingly given by them to
emigration from Germany, but the promises so richly lavished
were withdrawn on the unexpected emigration of thirty-three
thousand of the inhabitants of the Palatinate, comprising en-
tire communes headed by their preachers, evidently an un-
looked and unwished-for multitude. These emigrants reached
London abandoned by their patrons and disavowed by the
government. A feai'ful fate awaited them. After losing
considerable numbers from starvation in England, the greater
part of the survivors were compelled to work like slaves in
the mines and in the cultivation of uninhabited islands ; three
thousand six hundred of them were sent over to Ireland,
where they swelled the number of beggars ; numbers were lost
at sea, and seven thousand of them returned in despair, in a
• The abolition of negro slaven,- was first mooted by Germans in 1688,
at the great Quaker meeting in North America.
GERMAN EMIGRANTS. 447
State of utter destitution, to their native country. A small
number of them, however, actually sailed for New York,
where they were allotted portions of the primitive forests,
which they cleared and cultivated ; but they had no sooner
raised flourishing villages in the midst of rich corn-fields and
gardens, than they were informed that the ground belonged
to the state and were driven from the home they had so lately
found. Pennsylvania opened a place of refuge to the wan-
derers.*
The religious persecution and the increasing despotism of
the governments in Germany meanwhile incessantly drove
fresh emigrants to America, where, as they were generally
sent to the extreme verge of the pi'ovinces in order to clear
the ground and drive away the aborigines, numbers of them
were murdered by the Indians. Switzerland also sent forth
many emigrants, who settled principally in North Carolina.
The people of Salzburg, whose expulsion has been detailed
above, colonized Georgia in 1732. In 1742, there were no
fewer than a hundred thousand Germans in North America,
and, since that period, their number has been continually on
the increase. Thousands annually arrived ; for instance, in
the years 1749 and 17o0, seven thousand ; in 1754, as many as
twenty-two thousand ; in 1797, six thousand Swabians. The
famine of 1770, the participation of German mercenaries in
the wars of the British in North America, at first against the
French colonies, afterwai-ds against the English colonists, (the
German prisoners generally settled in the country.) induced
the Germans to emigrate in such great numbers that, from
1770 to 1791, twenty-four emigrant ships on an average arrived
annually at Philadelphia, without reckoning those that landed
in the other harbours.|
♦ Account of the United States by Eggerling.
t One of the most distinguished Germans in America was a person
named John Jacob Astor, the son of a bailifl' at Walldorf near Heidelberg,
who was brought up as a furrier, emigrated to America, where he gradu-
ally became the wealthiest of all furriers, foujided at his own expense the
colony of Astoria, on the north-western coast of North America, so in-
terestingly described by Washington Irving, and the Astor fund, intended
as a protection to German emigrants to America from the frauds practised
on the unwary. He resided at New York. He possessed an immense
fortune and was highly and deservedly esteemed for his extraordinary
philanthropy.
448 GERMAN EMIGRANTS.
The passage by sea to the west being continually closed
during the great wars with France, the stream of emigration
took an easterly direction overland. Russia had extended
her conquests towards Persia and Turkey. The necessity of
fixing colonies in the broad steppes as in the primitive forests
of America, to serve as a barrier against the wild frontier
tribes, was plainly perceived by the Russian government, and
Germans were once more made use of for this purpose. Ex-
tensive colonies, which at the present date contain hundreds
of thousands of German inhabitants, but whose history is as
yet unknown, were accordingly formed northwards of the
Black and Caspian Seas. Swabian villages were also built
on the most southern frontier of Russia towards Persia, and
in 1826 suffered severely from an inroad of the Persians.
The fall of Napoleon had no sooner reopened the passage
by sea than the tide of emigration again turned towards North
America. These emigrants, the majority of whom consisted
of political malcontents, preferred the land of liberty to the
steppes of Russia, whither sectarians and those whom the de-
moralization and iri'eligion of the Gallomanic period had filled
with disgust had chiefly resorted. The Russo-Teuto colonies
are pi'overbial for purity and strictness of morals. One Wiir-
temberg sectarian alone, the celebrated Rapp, succeeded during
the period of the triumph of France in emigrating to Penn-
sylvania, where he founded the Harmony, a petty religious
community. An inconsiderable number of Swiss, dissatisfied
with Napoleon's supremacy, also emigrated in 1805 and built
New Vevay. But it was not until after the wars, more par-
ticularly during the famine in 1816 and 1817, that emigration
across the sea was again carried on to a considerable extent. In
1817, thirty thousand Swiss, "Wiirtembergers, Hessians, and in-
habitants of the Palatinate emigrated, and about an equal num-
ber were compelled to retrace their steps from the sea-coast in a
state of extreme destitution on account of their inability to pa}'
their passage and of the complete want of interest in their
behalf displayed by the governments. Political discontent in-
creased in 1818 and 1819, and each succeeding spring thirty
thousand Germans sailed down the Rhine to the land of liberty
in the far west. In 1 820, a society was set on foot at Berne
for the protection of the Swiss emigrants from the frauds
practised upon the unwary. The union of the Archduchess
GERMAN EMIGRANTS. 449
Leopoldine, daughter to the empei'or Francis, with Don
Pedro, the emperor of the Brazils, had, since 1817, attracted
public attention to South America. Don Pedro took Ger-
man mercenaries into his service for the purpose of keeping
his wild subjects within bounds, and the fruitful land offered
infinite advantages to the German agriculturist ; but coloniz-
ation was rendered impracticable by the revolutionary disorders
and by the ill-will of the natives towards the settlers, and the
Germans who had been induced to emigrate either enlisted as
soldiers or perished. Several among them, who have publish-
ed their adventures in the Brazils, bitterly complained of the
conduct of INIajor Schiifer, who had been engaged in collecting
recruits at Hamburg for the Brazils. They even accused him
of having allowed numbers of their fellow-countrymen to starve
to death from motives of gain, so much a head being paid to
him on his arrival in the Brazils for the men shipped from
Europe whether they arrived dead or alive. The publication
of these circumstances completely checked the emigration to
the Brazils, and North America was again annually, particu-
larly in 1827 and after the July revolution, overrun with
Germans, and they have even begun to take part in the polity
of the United States. The peasants, who have been settled
for a considerable period, and who have insensibly acquired
great wealth and have retained the language and customs of
their native country, form the flower of the German colonists
in the "West.*
* The Allgemeine Zeitung of September, 1837, reports that there were
at that time one hundred and fifty-seven thousand Germans in North
America ■who were still unnaturalized, consequently had emigrated thither
within the last two or three years. In Philadelphia alone there were
seventy-five thousand Germans. Grund says in his work, " The Ameri-
cans in 1837," " The peaceable disposition of the Germans prevents their
interfering with politics, although their number is already considerable
enough for the formation of a powerful party. They possess, notwith-
standing, great weight in the government of Pennsylvania, in which state
the governors have since the revolution always been Germans. This
is in fact so well understood on all sides that even during the last elec-
tion, when two democrats and a Whig candidate contended for the dig-
nity of governor, they were all three Germans by birth and no other would
have had the slightest chance of success. In the state of Ohio there are
at the present date, although that province was first colonized by New-
English, no fewer than forty-five thousand Germans possessed of the right
of voting. The state of New York, although originally colonized by
Dutch, contains a numerous Geraian population in several of its provinces,
VOL. 111. 2 G
450 GERMAN EMIGRANTS.
In the Cape colonies, the Dutch peasants, the boors, feeling
themselves; oppressed by the English government, emigrated
en masse, in 1837, to the north, where they settled with the
CafFres, and, under their captain, Prtetorius, founded an inde-
pendent society [a, d. 1839] at Port Natal, where they again
suffered a violent aggression on the part of the British.
Thus are Germans fruitlessly scattered far and wide over
the face of the globe, whilst on the very frontiers of Germany
nature has designated the Danube as the near and broad path
for emigration and colonization to her overplus population,
which, by settling in her vicinity, would at once increase her
external strength and extend her influence.
particularly in that of Columbia, the birth-place of Martin van Burens,
the present vice-president and future president of the republic. The
state of Maryland numbers twenty-five thousand Germans possessed of
votes ; almost one-third of the population of Illinois is German, and thou-
sands of fresh emigrants are settling in the valley of the Mississippi. I be-
lieve that the number of German voters or of voters of German descent
may, w-ithout exaggeration, be reckoned on an average annually at four
hundred thousand, and certainly in less than twenty years hence at a
million. In the city of New York, the Germans greatly influence the
election of the burgomaster and other city authorities by holding no fewer
than three thousand five hundred votes. These circumstances naturally
render the Gerr'an vote an object of zealous contention for politicians
of every party, and there is accordingly no dearth of German newspapers
in any of the German settlements. In Pennsylvania, upwards of thirty
German (principally weekly) papers are in circulation, and about an
equal number are printed and published in the state of Ohio. A scarcely
fewer number are also in circulation in Maryland."
THE END.
INDEX.
Abel, the usurper of Denmark,
ii. 6.
Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen,
succeeds to the regency of Henry
IV., i. 386.
Adalbert, bishop of Prague, i. 345,
349.
Adalgis, son of Desiderius, i. 225,
232.
Adelheid, queen of Otto I., i. 330,
348.
Adolf IV. of Holstein, -nars of,
with the Danes, i. 522.
Adolf VII., Count von Berg, ii. 81,
82.
Adolf of Nassau, ii. 84; elected
emperor, by craft, 86 ; his cha-
racter, ib. ; dethroned by Albert
von Habsbuig, 88.
^gidius elected king of the Salii,
i. 171.
iEmilius defeats the Gaesatse, i. 65.
^neas Sylvius Piccolomini, ii. 184,
185.
JEtius, commands the Roman ar-
mies against Theodorich, i. 133;
against Attila, 139; his death,
142.
Agilulf, husband of Theodolinda,
i. 193.
Agnes, Countess von Mansfeld, ii
310, 311.
Agnes, empress of Henry III., i.
379.
Agnes of Burgundy, empress of
Rudolf von Habsburg, ii. 80, 89.
Agrippa, Cornelius, von Nettesheim,
ii. 439.
Aistulf, king of Lombardy, i. 224-5.
2 G 2
Alani, their irruption into Spain, i.
131.
Alaric, chief of the Goths, serves
in the imperial armies, i. 127 ;
elected king, 128 ; his invasion
of Greece, ib. ; of Italy, 129 ;
takes Rome by storm, 130 ; death
and burial, 1.31.
Alaric, son of Enrich, i. 173.
Alatheus, a chief of the Ostrogoths,
i. 124, 128.
Alba, Duke of, ii. 273 ; his cruelties
in the Netherlands, 291—295.
Albert the Great, bishop of Ratis-
bon, ii. 33.
Albert the First, ii. 81 ; deceived
by Gerhard of Mayence, 86 ; de-
thrones Adolf of Nassau, 88 ;
leagues with Philip the Hand-
some, 89 ; seeks to acquire abso-
lute sovereignty, 91 ; rejected by
the Bohemians, 93 ; slain by his
nephew, ib.
Albert the Degenerate, of Meissen
and Thuringia, ii. 82, 83, 86.
Albert the Second, ii. 160 ; elected
emperor, 182.
Albert, Duke of Prussia, ii. 283,
284.
Albert, Prince of Saxe Coburg,
iii. 420.
Albigenses, extermination of, i.
508.
Alboin, chief of the Longobardi, i.
189, 190; invades Italy, 190; is
slain, 191.
Alboin, duke of Eastphalia, his
brave resistance to Charlemagne,
i. 235—237.
452
INDEX.
Albrecht, archbishop of Magde-
burg, i. 512.
Albrecht the Proud, i. 494.
Albrecht von Apoldern, bishop of
Yxkiill, i. 534.
Alcuin, the Anglo-Saxon, i. 254.
Aleraanni, the, i. 106 ; their war-
riors, 108.
Alexander, duke of Parma, ii. 291 ;
his successful campaigns in the
Netherlands, 300—302.
Alexander III., pope, i. 4G8, 475.
Alexander VI., pope, ii. 218.
Alexander I., emperor of Russia,
iii. 232 ; conference of Tilsit, 251 ;
of Erfurt, 256 ; breach with Na-
poleon, 306 ; the Russian cam-
paign, ib. ; battle of Borodino,
314 ; burning of Moscow, ib. ; re-
treat of the grand army, 315 —
319; war of liberation, 319 ; ar-
mistice of Pleisswitz, 326 ; battle
of Leipzig, 331 ; advance of the
allied armies into France, 344;
capitulation of Paris, 350 ; con-
gress of Vienna, 352 ; return of
Napoleon,356 ; HolyAlliance,368
Alexius, emperor of Constantinople,
i. 414, 415, 417.
AUod, the, or freehold property of
the ancient Germans, i. 29.
Anabaptists, the, ii. 232, 233 ; their
extravagance at Munster, 256.
Anacharsis Cloots, iii. 160, 169.
.\ndreas Baumkirchner, ii. 195.
Andreas Doria, doge of Venice, ii.
247.
Angereau, Marshal, iii. 302.
Anglo-Saxons, their settlement in
Britain, i. 211.
Anna, Duchess of Corn-land, iii. 107,
108.
Anno, archbishop of Cologne, i. 3S3 ;
seizes upon the regency of the
empire, at tlie death of Henry
III., 385; his quarrel with the
city of Cologne, ib. ; death, and
character, 386.
Antharis, king of the Longobardi, i.
192.
Antwerp, siege of, iii. 394.
Arcadius, emperor of tlie West, i.
128.
Argobastes, chief of the Franks, i.
116, 127.
Arians, tenets of the, i. 148.
Ariovistus, defeated by CcBsar, i. 76.
Armagnacs, the, invasion of, iL 186,
188.
Armin, his defeat of the Romans
under Varus, i. 85 ; under Ger-
manicus, 89 ; death, 93.
Arminius, proscription of his ad-
herents, ii. 306.
Arnhcim, general of the Swedes,
ii. 363.
Arnold of Brescia, i. 449 ; his death,
459.
Arnold von Winkelreid, ii. 146.
Arnulf, archbishop of Rheims, i-
349.
Arnulf, emperor of Germany, i. 299 ;
defeats the Normans, ib. ; invades
Italy, 302 ; takes Rome by storm,
303 ; poisoned, ib.
Arnulf Uie Bad, i. 308—312, 314.
Artevelde, Jacob von, ii. 127.
Ataulph, son-in-law of Alaric, i. 130,
132; marries Placidia, 132.
Athanagild, king of the Visigoths,
i. 205.
Athanarich, prince of the Visigoths,
i. 123, 126, 127.
Attila, see Etzel.
Auerbeck, school of Painting of, iii.
440.
Augsburg, diet of, under Maximi-
lian, ii. 226 ; under Charles V.,
251 ; Confession of Augsburg,
252 ; Interim, 266.
Augustus, elector of Saxony, ii.
274, 284.
Augustus III., elector of Saxony,
iii. 19, 111.
Aurelian, his wars with the Goths,
i. 120.
Aurelius Marcus, war of, with the
Marcomanni, i. 105.
Aurora, Countess von Koenigsmark,
iii. 18, 19.
Austerlitz, battle of, iii. 232.
Austria, composition of its empire,
IXDKX.
453
iii. 416, 417; causes of its peace-
ful policy, 417 ; its army and go-
vernment, 417, 418; nobility and
clergy, 418; foreign policy, 419.
Avari, subdued by Charlemagne, i.
243—246.
Baiazet, his invasion of Hungary,
ii. 145.
Balamir, prince of the Huns, i. 124.
Baldwin, Count of Flanders, i. 291.
Balthasar, Gerard, assassin of Wil-
liam of Orange, ii. 302.
Banner, General, ii. 353, 355; ra-
vages Saxony, 374 ; his masterly
retreat, 382.
Barbatius, defeated by the Ale-
manni, i. 110.
Barclay de Tolly, iii. 312.
Barneveldt, Olden, ii. 306 ; unjustly
sentenced to death, 307.
Basina, mother of Chlodwig the
Great, i. 171.
Basle, council of, ii. 176—179, 184.
Beatrice, daughter of Philip the
Gentle, i. 502, 503.
Beatrix, empress of Frederick Bar-
barossa, i. 461, 467, 474, 487.
Beguines of Liege, origin of, i. 508.
Bela, king of Hungary, i. 550.
Belgium, its separation from Hol-
land, iii. 390.
Belisarius, i. 181—183, 185, 190.
Benedict, founder of the Western
Monks, i. 153.
Benedict Xlll., ii. 155, 159, 163.
Berengar II., i. 330, 336.
Bemadottc, General, iii. 217, 230;
elected king of Sweden, 305;
breach with Napoleon, .307, 308.
Bernard, Markgraf of Barcelona, i.
282—286.
Bernard von Weimar, see Weimar.
Bernhard, grandson of Charlemagne,
i. 280, 281.
Bernhard, St., preaches a crusade,
i. 451.
Berserkerwuth, a malady of the
ancient Germans, i. 19, 45.
Bertarit, king of Lombardy, i. 203,
204.
Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne,
i. 259.
Bertha, empress of Henry IV., i.
388, 392.
Berwick, Marshal, iii. 2, 10.
Bethlen Gabor, prince of Transyl-
vania, ii. 317; elected king of
Hungarj', 321.
Bisinus, king of Thuringia, i. 171.
Black death, its appearance and
ravages, ii. 128.
Blake, Admiral, ii. 474.
Bliicher, iii. 244, 245 ; assumes the
command of the Prussian forces,
in the war of liberation, 323, 331 ;
victory over Macdonald, 336 ;
battle of Leipzig, 331 ; entry into
France, 346, 348 ; reception in
England, 352 ; battles of Ligny
and Waterloo, 359 ; surrender of
Paris, 363.
Boehme, Jacob, ii. 409 j his doc-
trines, 4.39.
Boetius, his imprisonment and
death, i. 169.
Bohemia, rise of the Reformation
in, ii. 159; Hussite war, 165 —
181 ; extinction of the Reforma-
tion by Ferdinand 11., 325, 326.
Bohcmund, joins the crusades, i.
415; made prince of Antioch, 417.
Boii, their invasion of Italy, i. 63 ;
of Greece and Asia Minor, 64.
Bojorix, a chief of the Cimbri, i.
70, 74.
Boleslaw Chrobry of Poland, i. .353.
Bonaparte, Napoleon, iii. 193; takes
the command of the French forces
in Italy, 193, 194; his successful
campaign, 194, 195; defeats the
Archduke Charles, 196 ; armis-
tice of Campo Formio, 197 ; con-
ciliates Austria, 199 ; sails to
Egypt, 202 ; his return and dis-
solution of the Directory, 222 ;
victory of Marengo, ib. ; elected
emperor, 229 ; capitulation of
Ulm, 231 ; battle of Austerlitz,
232 ; Rhenish alliance, 235 ; bat-
tle of Jena, 242; enters Berlin,
245 ; battle of Eylau, 251 ; con-
454
INDEX.
tinental system, 254; invasion of
Spain, 255 ; renewal of the war
with Austria, 270 ; battle of Ess-
lingen, 271 ; Wagram, 272 ; an-
nexes Holland and East Friesland
to France, 295 ; his marriage with
Maria Louisa, 297; the Russian
campaign, 306 ; composition of
his army, 310; battle of Boro-
dino, 314; retreat of the grand
army, 315 — 319; w^ar of libera-
tion, 319 ; armistice of Pleiss-
witz, 326 ; conference with Met-
ternich, 330 ; battle of Leipzig,
331 ; advance of the allied armies
into France, 344 ; capitulation of
Paris, 350 ; his abdication, ib. ;
return from Elba, 356 ; Ligny,
Quatrebras, and Waterloo, 358 ;
flight, 364 ; exile and death, 367.
Boniface IX., ii. 148, 149.
Bonifacius, St., i. 224 ; his reli-
gious and political influence, 227
—229.
Borodino, battle of, iii. 314.
Brennus, his destruction of Rome,
i. 63.
Britomar, leader of the Gajsatae,
i. 65.
Briihl, Count, minister of Augustus
III. of Saxony, iii. 19, 55, 111.
Brunehilda, the Princess, i. 195 —
201.
Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, i.
332.
Burkhard d'Avesnes, i. 512, 551.
C^SAR, on the ancient Germans,
i. 12, 18 ; his campaigns in Gaul,
77 ; on the Rhine, 78.
Calixtus II., pope, i. 434, 435.
Calvin, ii. 254 ; proscription of his
tenets in Germany, 282 — 286.
Camel, sultan of Egypt, i. 515,
518.
Canisius of Nimwegen, ii. 274.
Capistrano, general of the Capu-
chins, ii. 190 ; saves Belgrade
from the Turks, 191.
Carinlhia, ceremony attending the
election of the dukes of, i. 245.
Carlmann, son of Charles Martell,
i. 223.
Carlo Borromeo, ii. 274.
Carlovingians, the, i. 279 — 312.
Caroline Matilda, queen of Chris-
tian Yll., iii. 104, 105.
Caroline, Princess of Brunswick,
iii. 382.
Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburgh
Culmbach, ii. 242, 248.
Caspar Schlick, chancellor of Sig-
mund, ii. 180; his character,
1S3.
Caiharinc von Habsburg, ii. 1 13.
Catharine, empress of Russia, iii.
80 ; invades Poland and Turkey,
81 ; character of her government,
109 ; instigates war with the
French republic, 159; regains
possession of Poland, 175.
Cathedrals of the middle ages, ii.
37, 452.
Cava, daughter of Count Julian, i.
207.
Charietto, first prefect of the Salic
Franks, i. 115.
Charles Martell, i. 219—222.
Charlemagne, his marriage and di-
vorce, i. 229 ; seizes upon the
throne of France, 229 ; grandeur
of his policy, 2-30 ; annexes to his
empire the kingdom of Lom-
bardy, 231 ; his wars for the
subjugation of the Saxons, 233 —
239 ; against the Moors in Spain,
240; in Bavaria, 241 ; with the
Slavi, 242 ; with the Avari, 243 ;
with the Normans, 246 ; extent
of his empire, 247 ; its consti-
tution, and government, 249 ;
discipline of the church, 252;
state of learning, commerce, and
manufactures, 254 ; his personal
appearance and habits, 257 ; his
children, 258 ; death and burial,
259 ; poetical and legendary re-
nown, 260.
Charles the Bald, king of France,
i. 282—291.
Charles the Thick, i. 296—298.
Charles the Simple, i. 314.
INDEX.
455
Charles the Good, of Flanders, i.
439, 440.
Charles of Anjou, ii. 3 ; invades
Italy, 4; defeats and puts to
death Conradin, II ; seeks to
exterminate the Ghibellines, 12 ;
loses Sicily, 13.
Charles IV., ii. 126 ; his policy on
succeeding to the empire, 131 ;
diplomatic skill, 132 ; visits Italy,
133 ; conciliates Pope Urban V.,
134 ; personal appearance and
manners, 135 ; government, 13G ;
internal feuds of the empire,
137—140.
Charles the Bold, duke of Bur-
gundy, ii. 197 ; invades Switzer-
land, 198; his defeat and death,
199.
Charles V., ii. 227; extent of his
empire, 229 ; cites Luther to
appear at Worms, 230 ; his vic-
tories over Francis I. in Italy,
206 ; storm of Rome, 247 ; fails
in his endeavours to suppress the
Reformation, 251 — 254 ; diet of
Augsburg, 251 ; league of the
Protestant princes, 252 ; the
Schmalkald war, 26 1 — 268 ; coun-
cil of Trident, 263, 264 ; abdi-
cation and death, 271 ; his policy
in the Netherlands, 287.
Charles de Bourbon, general of
Charles V., ii. 245 ; killed at the
storm of Rome, 247.
Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden,
H. 466.
Charles XII., king of Sweden, ii.
508 ; his campaigns in Russia
and Germany, 509 — 512; re-
treats into Turkey, 513; his re-
turn to Sweden, and assassina-
tion, 516.
Charles VI., iii. 1 ; contests the
crown of Spain, 2, 3 ; succeeds
to the imperial throne, 3 ; treaty
of Utrecht, 6; his campaigns in
Turkey, 13, 14; condition of the
empire at his deatli, 14 — 17.
Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria,
iii. 21 ; claims the imperial throne.
48.
Charles William, Margrave of Ba-
den Durlach, iii. 22.
Charles Eugene, duke of Wur-
temberg, iii. 112, 113.
Charles Theodore, king of Bavaria,
iii. 112.
Charles, Archduke of Austria, iii.
159, 177, 180, 189; routs the
French under Jourdan, 191 ; de-
feated by Bonaparte, 196 ; suc-
cessful campaign in Swabia, 218 ;
gains the battle of Esslingen,
271 ; defeat of Wagram, 272.
Charles IV., king of Spain, iii. 255.
Charles, duke of Brunswick, iii.
382, 383, 401.
Charles X., deposal of, iii. 389.
Childebert of Austrasia, i. 196 —
198.
Childerick, king of the Salii, i. 171.
Cliilpericli, king of Soissons, i. 196.
Chiltruda, daughter of Charles Mar-
tell, i. 223.
Chivalry in the middle ages, ii.
52 — 60 ; its regulations, 52 — 54 ;
influence on the national cha-
racter of Germany, 53 — 56; tour-
naments, 53, 54 ; the courts of
love, 56; Minnelicder, or love
songs, lb. ; romance literature, 58.
Chlodomir, king of Orleans, i. 177,
180.
Chlodwig the Great, birth of, i.
171 ; marriage with Chlotilda,
172; baptism, 173; the founder
of the kingdom of Frcnce, 174.
Chlotar, king of Orleans, i. 177,
179, 191, 195.
Chlotar II., son of Fredegunda, i.
197, 200.
Chlotilda, queen of Chlodwig the
Great, i. 172, 180.
Chnodomar, chief of the Alemanni,
i. 109.
Cholera, its ravages in Germany
and Russia, iii. 405, 406.
Christian of Mayence, general of
Barbarossa, i. 468, 472.
456
INDEX.
Christian VII., king of Denmark,
iii. 104, 105.
Christianity, its propagation, i. 145 ;
spirit, 146 ; the Catholic doctrine
in the first ages, 148; com-
mencement of the hierarchy, 150 ;
the monasteries, 153; the Ca-
tholic form of worship, 154; the
hierarchy in the middle ages, ii.
24; ceremonials, Roman Litur-
gy, and church festivals, 29 ;
ecclesiastical division of Germa-
ny, 30 ; disputes of the Francis-
can and Dominican orders, 32 ;
German Mysticism and Italian
Scholasticism, ib. ; Gothic ar-
chitecture, 35 ; council of Con-
stance, 157 ; doctrines of Huss,
160; Hussite wars in Bohemia,
165 ; council of Basle, 176; cor-
ruption of the church, 218; the
Reformation, 225 ; Erasmus and
Reuchlin, 223 ; Melancthon, 224;
Luther, 225 ; the Augsburg Con-
fession, 251 ; the Jesuits, 272,
399 ; the Lutheran and Reform-
ed churches, 406, iii. 425 ; the
Rationalists and Supernatural-
ists, 425 ; lUuminatism, 427.
Christiern II. of Sweden, ii. 257,
258.
Christina, queen of Sweden, ii. 466.
Chronicles and histories of the
middle ages, ii. 58, 72.
Cimbri, the, chivalric usages of, i.
20 ; irruption into Gaul and Italy,
68 ; defeated by Marius, 73.
Clement XII., pope, ii. 234, 235.
Coinage of Germany in the middle
ages, ii. 68.
Cologne cathedral, ii. 37.
Cologne, civil disturbances at, ii.
21.
Conde, the great, ii. 389; his wars
against France, 465.
Confession of Augsburg, ii. 252.
Conrad, (Huhenstaufen,) duke of
Franconia, i. 433; his bold re-
sistance toLotharIII.,4.3S; elect-
ed emperor at Coblentz, 415 ;
heads a crusade, 452 ; its failure,
455 ; his return and death, 456.
Conrad I., emperor of Geimany, i.
308.
Conrad the Red, i. 327, 331—334.
Conrad II., his election, i. 364 ;
crowned at Rome, 366 ; revolt
and outlawry of Duke Ernst, 367,
368; seizes on Burgundy, 371 ;
quells the revolt in Italy, 372.
Conrad, son of Henry IV., i. 409 ;
appointed to the government of
Italy, ib. ; his marriage, ib. ; re-
volt, e6.; remorse and death, 410.
Conrad of Montserrat, i. 488, 490,
491.
Conrad, chancellor of Henry VI., i.
497.
Conrad, son of Frederick II. i.
529, 542 ; regent of Germany,
549 ; wars with Henry Raspe
and William the Rude, 549—
553 ; takes refuge in Italy and
dies, ii. 2.
Conrad von Hochstetten, archbi-
shop of Cologne, ii. 21.
Conrad von Marburgh, a Domi-
nican monk, attempts to intro-
duce the Inquisition in Germany,
i. 525.
Conradin, the last of the Hohen-
staufen, ii. 8 ; is brought up at
the court of Bavaria, 9 ; crosses
the Alps to head the Ghibellines,
10 ; treachery and meanness of
his relatives, ib. ; welcomed in
Northern Italy, 11 ; rout of his
forces by Charles of Anjou, ib. ;
his betrayal and execution, ib.
Constance, council of, ii. 157; its
rival factions, 158 ; condemna-
tion of Huss, 162 ; abortive con-
clusion, 164.
Constantia, empress of Henry VI.,
i. 495, 496, 498.
Constantia, empress of Frederick
II., i. 510.
Constantine, emperor, defeats the
Alemanni, i. 109 ; and the
Franks, 114.
457
Copenhagen, bombardment of, iii.
254.
Coranda, a leader of the Hussites,
ii. 167.
Coribut, Prince, a leader of the
imperial Hussites, ii. 173 — 175.
Cornelius, school of Painting of,
iii. 440.
Coronation of the German em-
perors, ceremony of, ii. 412.
Crecy, battle of, ii. 127.
Crescentius, i. 34.3, 349, 350.
Crusades, the, i. 410 ; their rise and
origin, 410 — 412; early expedi-
tions, 412, 413; their disastrous
fate, 413, 414; expedition under
Godfrey of Bouillon, 414 ; battle
of Antioch, 417 ; storm of Jeru-
salem, 419 ; principalities found-
ed in Palestine, 420, 42 1 ; later
crusades, 422 — 426 ; their influ-
ence on Europe, 426 ; crusade un-
der Conrad III., 450; under Fre-
derick Barbarossa, 482 ; Richard
Coeur de Lion and Leopold of
Austria, 490 ; under Baldwin of
Flanders, 503 ; under Leopold
the Glorious, 514 ; the last cru-
sade, ii. 13.
Cunigunda, queen of Henry II., i.
354—356.
Custine, general of the French re-
public, iii. 163 — 165, 167.
Cymburga, wife of Ernst the Iron,
ii. 150.
Dagobert, king of Austrasia, i.
214.
Dandolo, doge of Venice, i. 504.
Danes, the, their origin and early
history, i. 263 ; establishment of
Christianity in Denmark, 345.
Dante, ii. 110, 111.
Dantzig.spoliation of, by the French,
iii. 343.
D'Assisi, Francisco, i. 508, 509.
Daun, general of Maria Theresa,
iii. 61—63.
Davoust, Marshal, iii. 321, .328, 332.
Derflinger, Marshal, ii. 484, 485.
De Ruyter, naval victories of.
asainst the English, ii. 474 — 476,
482.
Desiderata, wife of Charlemagne, i.
225, 229.
Desiderius, king of Lombardy, i.
225—232.
De Witt, John, stadtholder of Hol-
land, ii. 474 — 477, 480, 481.
Dezebal, his wars with the Romans,
i. 98.
Diephold, Count d'Acerra, i. 498,
503.
Diet of the German empire, its con-
stitution, etc., ii. 410.
Dietrich von Bern, see Theodorich
the Great.
Dietrich, Markgraf of Brandenburg,
i. 344, 345.
Dietrich, Count of Alsace, i. 441 ;
obtains the dukedom of Flanders,
lb. ; popularity of his rule, ib. ;
death, 480.
Dietrich the Oppressed, i. 494.
Don Juan, son of Charles V., ii.
298, 299.
Drusus, his campaigns in Germany,
i. 81.
Dschingischan, leader of the Tai--
tars, i. 540.
Dumouriez, iii. 161 ; intrigues with
the king of Prussia, ib.
Eberhard, Count of Wiirtemberg,
ii. 53,77, 92, 109, 110, 118,119.
Edessa, taken by Zengis, i. 451.
Edgar Atheling, i. 390, 391, 418.
Eginhart, secretary of Charlemagne,
i. 254 ; legend of his marriage to
the daughter of Charlemagne, 258.
Egmont, Count, ii. 288, 290, 292.
Einheriar, the, of the Walhalla, i.
22, 56.
Eitel Hans Miiller, leader in the
peasant war, ii. 237, 240.
Ekbert, Graf of Brunswick, i. 384.
Ekbert, Markgraf of Meissen, i.
384, 407, 408.
Eleonora, empress of Frederick III.,
ii. 189, 191.
Eleonore, queen of Gustavus Adol-
phus, ii. 350, 353, 354, 358.
458
INDEX.
Eleonore, queen of Louis VII. of
France, i. 454 ; accompanies him
to the crusades, ib. ; her infi-
delities, 455.
Elisabeth, St., of Hungary, i. 525,
526, 531.
Elisabeth, empress of Russia, iii.
55 ; joins tlie league against Fre-
derick II., 57, 66.
Elis9.beth Stuart, queen of Bohe-
mia, ii. 360.
Emma, daughter of Charlemagne,
legend of her marriage, i. 258.
Engelbert, archbishop of Cologne,
i. 517; founder of the secret tri-
bunal or Feme, 521 ; his death,
522.
Engelbert von Falkenberg, arch-
bishop of Cologne, ii. 21, 22.
England, her naval war with Hol-
land, ii. 475 ; with Napoleon, iii.
254—368.
Enzio, son of Frederick II., i. 542 ;
receives the throne of Sardinia,
544 ; his wars with the Guelphs
in Italy, 546, 554; imprisonment
and untimely fate, 555, ii. 12, 13.
Erasmus, ii. 223, 224.
Ernest Augustus, first Elector of
Hanover, iii. 26.
Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, iii.
414; succeeds William IV. as
king of Hanover, ib. ; constitu-
tional struggles of his subjects,
414—416.
Ernst, Duke, revolts from Conrad
II., 367; outlawed, 368; his
death, ib.
Ernst the Iron, of Styria, ii. 150.
Etzel, king of the Huns and Ostro-
goths, i. 137 ; ravages Greece
and Germany, 138 ; is defeated
at Chalons, 139 ; his invasion of
Italy, and death, 140.
Eudoxia, widow of Valentinian, i.
142.
Eudoxia, wife of Hunerich, i. 143.
Eugene, prince of Savoy, ii. 497,
507 ; his campaign against the
French in Italy, 519 ; on the
Rhine, 523 ; second campaign in
Italy, 526 ; battles of Oudenarde
and JNIalplaquet, 529 ; intercedes
with Queen Anne in behalf of
Marlborough, iii. 4, 5 ; attends
the congress of Rastadt, 6 ; de-
feats the Turks, 8 ; condition of
the imperial army at his death,
12.
Eugene Beauharnais, created vice-
roy of Italy, iii. 234, 345 ; duke
of Leuchtenberg, 367.
Eugene III., pope, his scheme for
a crusade, i. 451.
Eugenius IV., pope, ii. 176 — 184.
Ezzelino di Romano, i. 543, 554,
555; ii. 1—3.
Faramund, elected king of the Sa-
lii, i. 136.
Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, ii.
244, 245 ; succeeds to the throne
of Germany, 271 ; his vacillating
policy, 274—276.
Ferdinand of the Tyrol, ii. 279.
Ferdinand III., ii. 375—384.
Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, ii.
316; his treatment of the Pro-
testants, 317 ; elected emperor,
320; commencement of the thirty
years' war, ib. ; his perfidy in
Bohemia, 325 ; revolt of the Up-
per Austrians, 328 ; dismissal of
Wallenstein, 344 ; his reinstate-
ment, 356 ; assassination of Wal-
lenstein, 365; results of his reign,
375, 376.
Ferdinand, duke of BrunsNvick,
commands under Frederick II.
in the seven years' war, iii. 64,
65 ; character of his government,
118; opposed to war Avith the
French republic, 158 ; defeats
the French at Kaiserslauteni,
179; defeated by Napoleon at
Jena, 242 ; flight and death, 245.
Ferdinand VII., king of Spain, iii.
255, 384, 390.
Ferdinand I., emperor of Austria,
iii. 420.
Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans, son of
Louis Philippe, iii. 420, 421.
ES'DEX.
459
Ferrand, Count of Portugal, i. 512,
551.
Feudal system, the, i. 163, 249.
Fichte, philosophy of, iii. 432.
Flagellants, origin of the, ii. 3 ; de-
nounced by Clement VI., 129.
Flanders, encroachments on, by
Philip of France, ii. 94; battle
of Spurs, 97.
Fouque, romances of, iii. 437.
Francis I. of France, ii. 217; his
invasion of Italy, ib. ; gains the
battle of Marignano, ib. ; aspires
to the croMTi of Germany, 229 ;
defeated and taken prisoner at
Pavia, 246.
Francis of Lorraine, consort of Ma-
ria Theresa, iii. 9, 44, 53, 84.
Francis II., emperor of Austria,
iii. 180, 232 ; abdicates the Ro-
man-Germanic empire, 235 ; re-
newal of the war with Napoleon
in 1809, 268, 269 ; battle of
Esslingen, 271 ; Wagram, 272 ;
treaty of Vienna, ib. ; marriage
of his daughter Maria Louisa to
Napoleon, 297.
Franconian, Salic emperors of Ger-
many, i. 364 — 445.
Franks, the, origin of, i. 112; na-
tional character, 116.
Franz von Sickingen, ii. 234, 235.
Fredegunda, mistress of Chilperich,
i. 196—198.
Frederick the One-eyed, of Ho-
henstaufen, i. 433 ; his courageous
resistance to Leopold III., 4.38.
Frederick Barbarossa, i. 446, 452 ;
elected emperor, 457 ; his per-
sonal appearance and character,
ib. ; his policy, 458 ; successful
campaign in Italy, 459 ; permits
the execution of Arnold of Bres-
cia, ib. ; insurrection at Rome,
460 ; return to Germany, and
marriage, 461 ; pacification of
the empire, 462, 463 ; second
visit to Italy, 463; decrees for
its government, 464, 465 ; revolt
of the Italian cities, 465, 466;
sieges of Crema and Milan, 466 ;
renewal of feuds in Germany,
467 ; maladministration and re-
volt of Italy, 468, 469 ; defection
of Henry the Lion, 474; defeat
at Legnano, ib. ; his interview
with Alexander III., 475 ; war
with Henry the Lion, 476, 477 ;
heads the crusade, 484 ; his vic-
tories over the Turks, 486 ; death,
ib. ; legendary fame, 487.
Frederick of Hohenstaufen, ad-
vancement of, i. 405.
Frederick, duke of Swabia, i. 479,
486, 487.
Frederick II., birth of, i. 497;
minority, 498; marriage, 510;
crosses the Alps and takes pos-
session of the German empire,
512 ; performs the crusade, 518 ;
enters Jerusalem, ib. ; intrigues
of the pope during his absence,
519 ; gaiety of Frederick's court
in Italy, 520 ; his political aims,
ib. ; internal condition of Ger-
many, 521; attempts to intro-
duce the Inquisition, 526 ; usurp-
ation of his son Henry, 529;
marriage w-ith Isabella of Eng-
land, 530; decrees for the go-
vernment of Germany, ib. ; its
internal condition, 532 ; invasion
of the Tartars, 540 ; wars in
Italy with the popes, 543 — 548 ;
and in Germany, 549 — 553 ; his
misfortunes and death, 555.
Frederick the Warlike, of Austria,
i. 531 ; his character, 532 ; en-
mity to Frederick II., 543, 545;
killed at Neustadt, 550.
Frederick " of Austria," the com-
panion of Conradin, ii. 8 — 12.
Frederick with the Bitten Cheek,
ii. 82, 86, 87 ; regains his in-
heritance, 92, 93, 114, 115. N
Frederick the Handsome of Habs-
burg, ii. 108, 109; contests the
empire with Louis of Bavaria,
116—122.
Frederick of Wolfenbiittel, ii. 148.
Frederick III., ii. 183; marries Ele-
onora of Portugal, 189 ; makes a
460
INDEX.
pilgrimage to Rome, 195 ; his
wars against Charles the Bold,
198; against the Flemings, '202.
Frederick, Elector of Saxony, ii.
227.
Frederick, Elector of the Pfalz, ii.
285.
Frederick V., Elector of the Pfalz,
elected king of Bohemia, ii. 321 ;
his incapacity, 322 ; defeat and
flight, 324 ; death, 3G0.
Frederick William, Elector of
Brandenburg, ii. 385, 467, 481 ;
his war with the Swedes, 484;
government of his dominions,
486.
Frederick Augustus, Elector of
Saxony, ii. 504 ; elected king of
Poland, 505 ; defeated by Charles
XII., 509—511; his death, iii.
1 7 ; character of his government,
18.
Frederick I., king of Piiissia, ii.
506, 529.
Frederick William I., king of Prus-
sia, iii. 9 ; receives the Salzburg
emigrants, 36, 37 ; his govern-
ment, 43 ; ill-treatment of his son,
46, 47.
Frederick II., king of Prussia, iii.
49; invades and conquers Silesia,
ib. ; excellence of his adminis-
tration, 54 ; makes preparation
for the seven years' war, 5S ; in-
vades Saxony, 59 ; defeated at
Collin, 61 ; victorious campaign
in Silesia, 63 ; battle of Zom-
dorf, 64; campaign of 1759, 65;
bloody defeat at Cunnersdorf, 66 ;
campaign of 1 760, 68 ; battle of
Torgau, 69 ; honourable close of
the war, 72 ; internal government
of his dominions, ib. ; personal
appearance, 75 ; his influence on
the spirit of the times, ib. ; writ-
ings, 78 ; death, 96.
Frederick William II., king of
Prussia, iii. 96 ; imbecility of his
government, 97 ; leagues with
Austria against the French re-
public, 158 ; his treachery to Po-
land, 174, 175; his selfish and
short-sighted policy, 183; treaty
with France, 186, l87.
Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse Cas-
sel, iii. 116.
Frederick, Margrave of Bayreuth,
iii. 117.
Frederick William III., king of
Prussia, iii. 200; attempts neu-
trality in tlie war of Napoleon
with Austria, 216, 2.32; driven
to take arms, 238 ; condition of
the Prussian army, 239 ; battle
of Jena, 242; Eylau, 251 ; peace
of Tilsit, 251, 252; reorganizes
the government, 264, 265 ; de-
graded position of Prussia, 310;
war of liberation, 319; armistice
of Pleisswitz, 326; battle of Leip-
zig, 331 ; advance of the allied
armies into France, 344 ; capitu-
lation of Paris, 350 ; congress of
Vienna, 353 ; return of Napo-
leon, 356 ; his defeat and exile,
358—368; Holy Alliance, 368;
the German confederation, ib. ;
the new constitution, 375 ; Ger-
man Customs' Union, 388 ; pro-
gress of Prussia, 422.
Frederick, king of Wurtemberg, iii.
378.
Frederick William IV., king of
Prussia, iii. 429.
Free-masonry, in the middle ages,
ii. 63; its spread in the eigh-
teenth century, 100.
Fridigcm, a chief of the Visigoths,
i. 124, 127.
Friesland, freedom of its peasantry,
ii. 68.
Frigga, the wife of Odin, i. 56.
Fritz the Bad, ii. 193; defeats the
emperor's confederates, 194 ; his
marriage, ib.
G.iSAT^, their march upon Rome,
i. 65.
Gallas, General, ii. 365, 366, 381,
382, 387.
Gallienus, emperor, marriage of, i.
108.
INDEX.
461
G«bhard, Elector of Cologne, ii.
310,311.
Geiserich, king of the Vandals, i.
1 33 ; conquers the north of Afri-
ca, 141 ; takes Rome by storm,
142 ; death, 143.
Gelimer, king of the Vandals, i. 181.
Genoveva, St., of Brabant, i. '223.
Geographical knowledge in the mid-
dle ages, ii. 74.
George, Truchsess von Waldburg,
ii. 237—243.
George von Frundsberg, ii. 243,
246, 247.
George Mertenhausen, ii. 277.
George von Liineburg, ii. 353, 355.
George I. of England, iii. 26; his
neglect of Hanover, 27.
George III., king of England, iii.
118, 119.
George IV., king of England, iii.
119.
George, prince of Darmstadt, killed
in the Spanish -war of succession,
iii. 2, 3.
Gerhard, archbishop of Mayence,
ii. 86, 88, 90.
Germanicus, his campaigns on the
Rhine, i. 88.
Germany. First Period, Hea-
then Antiquity. Part I. Ori-
gin and Maimers of the Ancient
Get-mans. The primitive forests
of Germany, i. 1 ; origin of the
Germans, .3 ; the dark ages, 5 ;
the division of the Germans into
separate tribes, 7 ; the Suevian
tribes, 11; the tribes of Lower
Germany, 14 ; the Germans, 16 ;
ancient German heroism, 17; an-
cient fellowship in arms, 20 ;
armed commimities, 22 ; public
offices and popular assemblies,
25 ; public property, Meres and
Guilds, 27 ; the allods or free-
hold property, 29 ; the division
into classes, 31 ; single combat
and fines (wergeld), 33 ; courts
of justice and laws, .35 ; hospital-
ity, 37 ; customs and arts, 38 ;
honour of women, 40 ; Wolen
and Walkyren, 44 ; ancient Ger-
man poesy, 45 ; public worship,
47 ; pagan superstitions, 51 ; the
ancient idea of nature, 52 ; the
gods, 55 ; historical ideas, 58. —
Part II. The Wars with the Ro-
maiis. The Romans, 61 ; theSeno-
nes and the Boii in Italy, 63; the
Senones and the Boii in Greece
and Asia Minor, 64 ; the Romans
in the Alps, 65; the Getae and
Bastarnae, 67 ; irruption of the
Cimbri and Teutones, 68; the
destruction of the Teutones by
Marius, 71 ; the destruction of
the Cimbri, 73; Mithridates, the
insurrection of the Cimbrian
slaves, the Suevic confederation,
75; Ariovistus, 76; Ceesar on the
Rhine, 77 ; Ambiorix, 79 ; Boi-
rebistas, 80; Drusus, 81 ; Varus
in Germany, 84 ; the battle in the
Teutoburg forest, 85 ; Germani-
cus on the Rhine, 88 ; Marbod,
91 ; the death of Armin, 93 ; Ci-
vilis and Velleda, 95 ; internal
dissensions among the Germans,
97; Dezebal, 98; Roman pro-
vinces on the Rhine and Danube,
99.— Pari! ///. The Migrations.
Revolt of the whole German na-
tion against Rome, 103 ; the war
of the Marcomanni, 105 ; the
Alemanni, 106 ; Alemannic war-
riors, 108; the Franks, 112;
Frankish upstarts and traitors,
114; the Saxons, 116 ; the Gotlis,
118; great irruption against
Rome, 119; the great empire of
Hcrmanarich, origin of the Huns,
122 ; migration of the Goths into
the Roman empire, 124 ; Alaric,
128 ; the Vandals, Alani, Suevi,
and Visigoths in .Spain, 131 ; the
Alemanni in Switzerland, the
Burgundians in Alsace, 134 ; the
Salic law, 135; Etzel, 137;
Geiserich, 141 ; Odoachar, 143.
— Part I V. The transition from
Paganism to Christianity. The
propagation of the gospel, 145 ;
462
INDEX.
the spirit of Christianity, 146 ;
the Catholic doctrine, 148 ; com-
mencement of the hierarchy, 150 ;
the monasteries, 153 ; the Catho-
lic form of worship, 1 54 ; the
Christian kings, 157; state as-
semblies, dukes, and counts, 158;
the laws, 160 ; the feudal system,
163 ; migrations and new lan-
guages, 165. — Part V. The Con-
tests between the Goths and Franks.
Thcodorich the Great, 167; Chlod-
wig, 171; Gundebald, 175; the
extension of France under the
sons of Chlodwig, 176; fall of
the kingdoms of Thuringia and
Burgundy, 178 ; fall of the king-
dom of the Vandals, 1 80 ; the
Ostrogothic war, Vitigis, 182;
Totilas, Tejas, fall of the king-
dom of the Ostrogoths, 184 ;
origin of the Longobardi, end
of the Heruli and Gepidae, 187 ;
Alboin in Italy, 190; Theodo-
linda, 192 ; the crimes of the
Merovingians, 194; Fredegunda,
195; Brimehilda, 198; Grimo-
ald, 201 ; fall of the Sue>ian
and Visigothic kingdom in Spain,
205 ; Mahomet and the Arabians,
209 ; the Anglo-Saxons, 211 ;
— Part VI. Charlemagne. The
Austrasian mayors of the palace,
213; Pipin von Landen, 214;
Pipin von Heristal, 216 ; Charles
Martell, 219 ; Pipin the Little,
223 ; St. Bonifacius, 226 ; Charle-
magne, 229 ; fall of the kingdom
of Lombardy, 231 ; the Saxon
wars, 2.33; the progress of the
Saxon wars, 234 ; termination of
tlie Saxon wars, 238 ; the wars
in Spain, 240; Thassilo, 241;
the wars with the Slavi, 242 ;
the wars with the Avari, 243;
the wars with the Normans, 246 ;
Charlemagne the first of the Ger-
man Caesars, 247 ; the empire
under Charlemagne, 249 ; the
church under Charlemagne, 252 ;
the state of learning under Char-
lemagne, 254 ; Charlemagne, 257.
—Part VII. The History of the
North. Odin, 260 ; the kings,
262 ; the Danes, 263 ; the Swedes,
266 ; the Norwegians, 267 ; Chris-
tianity and the feudal system in
the North, 270 ; Iceland and
Greenland, 272 ; the Normans,
274. — Second Period, The
Middle Ages. Part VIII. The
Carlovingians . Louis the Pious
and his sons, 279 ; the incur-
sions of the Normans, 289 ; rise
of the great vassals and of the
popes, 292 ; Charles the Thick
and Arnulf, 296 ; the Babenberg
feud, the Hungarians, 304 ; Con-
rad 1 . , 308.— 7'ar< IX. The Saxon
Emperors. Henry the Fowler,
origin of the middling classes,
312 ; conquests in the Slavian
north-east, defeat of the Hunga-
rians, 319 ; Otto I., 322 ; the re-
incorporation of Italy with the
empire, 330 ; Otto II. and Otto
III., 341 ; Henry II. the Holy,
351 ; immunities, increasing im-
portance of the churches and
cities, and consequent decrease
of the ducal power, 356. — Part
X. The Franconian, Salic Em-
perors. Conrad II., .364 ; Henry
III., 374; ecclesiastical govern-
ment of the empire, 381 ; Henry
IV., 388; Gregory VII., 398;
the papal kings, 404; the cru-
sades, 410 ; Henry V., 426 ;
Lothar III., 437. — Part XI.
The Stcabian Dynasty. Conrad
III., 445; the crusade of Con-
rad III., 450; Frederick Bar-
barossa, 457 ; Henry the Lion,
469 ; Barbarossa's crusade and
death, 482 ; Leopold of Austria
and Richard Coeur de Lion,
488; Henrv VI., 493; Philip
and Otto IV., 499; Frederick
II., 510 ; the Inquisition, the
humiliation of Denmark, 521 ;
German rulers in Livonia and
Prussia, the Tartar fight, 532 ;
463
Conrad IV. and Conradin, ii. 1 ;
the interregnum, 14. — Part XII.
Summit of the Middle Ages. The
hierarchy, 24; Gothic architec-
ture, 35 ; the emperor and the
empire, 40 ; the aristocracy and
the knighthood, 50 ; the chivalric
poetry of Swabia, 56 ; the cities,
60 ; the peasantry, 68 ; the liberal
sciences, 71. — Part XIII. Su-
premacy of the Pope. Rudolf von
Habsburg,75; Adolf of Nassau,84;
Albert I., 89 ; the encroachments
of France, the battle of Spurs,
91 ; William Tell and the Swiss,
99 ; Henry VII. of Luxemburg,
106 ; Louis the Bavarian, and
Frederick of Austria, 116; the
electoral diet at Reuse, 122 ; the
battle of Crecy, the black death,
the Flagellants, the murder of
the Jews, 126 ; Charles IV., 131 ;
contests between the citizens and
the aristocracy, wars of the H an-
sa, 137; Wenzel, great strug-
gle for freedom, 141 ; Rupert,
the Netherlands, 148. — Third
Period, The Age of the Re-
formation. Part XIV. The
Hussite Wars. Sigmund, 154;
the council of Constance, 157;
disturbances in Bohemia, Zizka,
165 ; the reign of terror, the
council of Basle, end of the Huss-
ite war, 174; disturbances in the
Hanse towns, Albert II., frus-
tration of the Reformation, 181.
— Part XV. The Age of Maxiini-
lian. The Swiss wars, the Armag-
nacs, George von Podiebrad, 186 ;
Fritz the Bad, the German Hos-
pitallers, the Burgundian wars,
Mary of Burgundy, 193; Mat-
thias of Hungary, affairs in Italy,
Maximilian I., 203; separation
of Switzerland from the empire,
wars of the Friscians and Dit-
marses, civil dissensions, the
Bundschuh, wars of Venice and
Milan, 2\0.— Part XVI. The
Reformation. The church, Jhe
Humanists, the art of printing,
Luther, 218; Charles V., the
diet at Worms, Thomas Miin-
zer, Zwingli, Pope Adrian, in-
ternal feuds, 229 ; the peasant
war, defeat of the peasants, 256 ;
increasing power of the house of
Habsburg, \'ictories in Italy, the
intermixture of diplomacy with
the Reformation, the Augsburg
Confession, 244 ; disturbances
in the cities, the Anabaptists in
Munster, great revolution in the
Hansa, dissolution of the Ger-
man Hospitallers, Russian de-
predations, 255 ; the council of
Trident, the Schmalkald war,
the Interim, Maurice of Saxony,
2m.— Part XVII. The War of
Liberation in the Netherlands.
Preponderance of the Spaniards
and Jesuits, courtly vices, 271 ;
contests between the Lutheran
church and the princes, 281 ;
revolt in the Netherlands, the
Geuses, 286 ; William of Orange,
292 ; the republic of Holland,
303; Rudolph II., .308.— Pari!
XVIII. The Thirty Years' War.
Great religious disturbances in
Austria, defeat of the Bohe-
mians, 315; revolt of the Up-
per Austrians, Coimt Mansfeld,
328 ; Wallcnstein, the Dan-
ish campaigns, 336 ; Gustavus
Adolphus, 345 ; Wallenstein's
second command, the battle of
Liitzen, the Heilbronn confe-
deracy, death of Wallenstein,
354 ; the battle of Noerdlingen,
the treaty of Prague, defeat of the
French, 366 ; death of Ferdi-
nand II., pestilence and famine,
Bernard von Weimar, Banner,
375 ; Torstenson, John von
Werlh, the peace of Westphalia,
384.— Pnr^ XIX. The Internal
State of Germany during the
Reformation. The Jesuits, 398 ;
the Lutheran and Reformed
churches, 406 ; the empire, the
464
INDEX.
princes and the nobility, 410 ;
the cities and the peasantry, 421 ;
the erudition of the universities,
428 ; the dark sciences, supersti-
tion, 434 ; witchcraft, 440 ; po-
etry and art, 44G ; histories and
travels, 454. — Fourth Period,
Modern Times. Part XX. The
Age of Louis XH'. Louis XIV.,
461 ; the Swiss peasant war, 468;
Holland in distress, 473 ; the
great Elector, 481 ; ill-treatment
of the imperial cities, the loss of
Strassburg, 487 ; Vienna besieged
by the Turks, 492 ; French de-
predations, 497 ; German princes
on foreign thrones, 504 ; the
Northern war, Charles XII., 508;
the Spanish war of succession,
518; Charles VI., iii. 1; the
courts of Germany, 17; the eccle-
siastical courts, the Salzburg emi-
gration, 30. — Part XXI. The
Rise of Pnissia. Frederick Wil-
liam I., 41 ; Maria Theresa, 48 ;
the seven years' war, 59 ; Fre-
derick Sanspareil, 72 ; Joseph
II., 84; Frederick William II.,
96 ; German influence in Scan-
dinavia and Russia, 1U3 ; the
lesser German courts, 1 10 ; the
last days of the empire, 1 24 ; the
liberal tendency of the universi-
ties, 133; art and fashion, 141 ;
influence of the belles-lettres,
146. — Pari XXII. The great
Wars with France. The French
Revolution, 155; German Jaco-
bins, 163 ; loss of the left bank
of the Rhine, 174; the defection
of Prussia, the Archduke Charles,
183 ; Bonaparte, 193 ; the pillage
of Switzerland, 206 ; the second
coalition, 216 ; fall of the holy
Roman Germanic empire, 228 ;
Prussia's declaration of war and
defeat, 238 ; the Rhenish confe-
deration, 253 ; resuscitation of
patriotism throughout Germany,
Austria's demonstration, 263 ; re-
volt of the Tyrolese, Hofer, 275;
Napoleon's supremacy, 294 ; the
Russian campai^, 306 ; the spring
of 1813, 319 ; the battle of Leip-
zig, 331 ; Napoleon's fall, 344 ;
the Congress of Vienna, Napo-
leon's return and end, 352. —
Part XXIII. The Latest Times.
The German confederation, 368 ;
the new constitution, 375 ; the
European Congress, the German
Customs' Union, 383 ; the Bel-
gian Revolution, 390 ; the Swiss
Revolution, 395 ; the Revolution
in Brunswick, Saxony, Hesse,
etc., 401 ; the struggles of the
provincial diets, 408; Austria
and Prince Mettemich, 416 ;
Prussia and Rome, 422 ; the pro-
gress of science, art, and practi-
cal knowledge in Germany, 430 ;
German emigrants, 445.
Gerold, Count of Swabia, i. 239,
244, 245.
Gessler, governor of Uri, ii. 101 —
105.
Geuses, the, ii. 290—296.
Gever, Florian, leader in the pea-
sant war, ii. 2.39—241.
Ghibelines, origin of the term, i. 445.
Gibraltar, capture of, iii. 2.
Gisilbrecht, duke of Lotliringia, i.
315, 325.
Godemar, king of Vierme, i. 176,
180.
Godfrey of Bouillon, i. 406 ; heads
the cnisade, 414 ; proclaimed
king of Jerusalem, 420 ; his
death, 421.
Godoy, Prince of Peace, iii. 255.
Gods of the ancient Germans, i. 55.
Goethe, character of his writings,
iii. 153; his interview with Na-
poleon, 256.
Goetz von Berlichingen, ii. 239;
becomes a leader in the peasant
war, 240.
Gorres, iii. 388, 428, 429.
Goths, the, their migrations, i. 118;
irruptions against Greece and
Rome, 120—144.
Gqjthic architecture, its rise and de-
465
velopment, ii. 35 ; symbolism,
36 ; sculptures and paintings, 38.
Gottsched, literary influence of, iii.
145, 149, 150.
Graevenitz, Mademoiselle von, iii.
23.
Granvella, Cardinal, ii. 289.
Greenland, its discovery, i. 273.
Gregory V., pope, i. 349.
Gregory IX., pope, his struggles
•with Frederick II., i. 517—547.
Grimoald, duke of Benevento, i.
202—204.
Grimoald, nephew of Charlemagne,
i. 232.
Grippo, son of Charles Martell, i.
223, 224.
Grotius, Hugo, ii. 306, 307.
Guelphs, origin of the term, i. 445.
Guido the Incapable of Flanders,
ii. 95.
Guilds of the ancient Germans, i.
27 ; of the middle ages, ii. 62 —
64.
Guillaume de Dampierre, i. 552.
Gundebald, king of Burgundy, i.
168, 172, 173, 175, 176.
Gunthachar, slain in opposing the
progress of Attila, i. 138.
Guntram of Orleans, i. 195—198.
Gusta'V'us Adolphus, ii. 344; takes
up arms in behalf of Protestant-
ism, 346 ; state of parties in Ger-
many, 347 ; lands in Pomerania,
ib. ; defeat of Tilly at Leipzig,
351 ; his conquests on the Rhine,
353 ; and Bavaria, 354 ; victory
and death at Liitzen, 358.
Gusta\-U3 III., king of Sweden, iii.
106.
Gustavus Adolphus IV., king of
Sweden, iii. 203 ; deposed, 304.
Guttenberg, John, of Mayence, ii.
223.
Hakon the Good, i. 268.
Hamburg, pillage of, by Davoust,
iii. 328.
Hannibal, his invasion of Italy,
i. 66.
Hanseatic League, ii. 19, 63; ex-
VOL. III. 2 H
tent of its influence, 65 ; its com-
merce, 66 ; navy, 81 ; projected
revolution, 257 ; its failure, 258.
Harald Haardrade, king of Nor-
way, i. 389 ; his adventures, ib- ;
invades England with Toste, son
of Godwin, 390 ; defeated and
slain by Harold, ib.
Harald SchiJnhaar, i. 267.
Hardenberg, chancellor of Prussia,
iii. 266, .308, 319; attends the
Congress of Vienna, 354 ; Con-
gress of Verona, 384.
Harold, son of Godwin, i. 390;
raised to the English throne, ib. ;
defeats Harald Haardrade and
Toste, ib. ; slain at the battle of
Hastings, .391.
Haroun-al-Raschid, his presents to
Charlemagne, i. 239.
Hasting, leader of the Normans, i.
289—291.
Hatto, archbishop of Mayence, i.
304 ; his perfidy, 305 ; legend of
his death, 305, 306.
Hatzfeld, General, ii. 371, 374, 375,
388.
Helena, wife of Manfred, ii. 3 ; her
imprisonment and death, 4.
Henry the Fowler, elected emperor
of Germany, i. 312 ; his military
regulations, 316 ; reduction of
the Slavi, and defeat of the Hun-
garians, 319 — 322.
Henry, brother of Otto I., i. 324—
335.
Henry the Wrangler, i. 342, 347.
Henry II. the Holy, i. 351; his
wars with the Poles and Bohe-
mians, 353; with the Italians,
354.
Henry III., his character, i. 374;
subdues the disturbances in Bo-
hemia, Burgundy, and Hungary,
375 ; quells the schism in the
popedom, 376 ; dangerous con-
dition of the empire at his death,
379.
Henry IV., emperor, his minority, i.
379 — 387 ; campaign in Hungary,
387; assumes the government,
466
INDEX.
388 ; successful conspiracy a-
gainst, ib. ; anarchy of the em-
pire, ib. ; his character, 392,
393 ; contemptuous treatment of
the Saxons, 393 ; their revolt,
396 ; his flight and abandon-
ment, ib. ; defeat of the Saxons,
397; laid under an interdict by
Gregory VII., 401 ; escapes to
Italy to obtain its removal, 402 ;
humiliations heaped upon him,
403 ; his wars with the papal
kings, 404 — 409 ; takes Rome
by storm, 406 ; deposes Gregory,
407 ; revolt of his son Henry,
427 ; deposed by him, 428 ; his
death, 429.
Henry V., revolts from his father,
i. 427 ; compels him to abdicate,
428 ; his wars in Bohemia and
Poland, 429 ; is estranged from
the Roman hierarchy, 430 ; de-
feats the Saxons under Lothar,
431 ; marries Matilda, daughter
to Henry I. of England, ib. ; his
disastrous defeat at Welfisholz,
432 ; visits Italy, and seizes the
Countess Matilda's bequests to
the church, 433 ; dissensions in
Germany during the remainder
of his reign, 434 — 437.
Henry the Proud, of Bavaria, i.
437, 442.
Henry the Lion, of Saxony, i. 446,
452, 458 ; obtains the duchy of
Saxony, 460 ; his estrangement
and defection from Frederick
Barbarossa, 472 — 474 ; defeat
and exile, 476 — 478; return,
493; death, 494.
Henry Sam mir Gott, duke of Aus-
tria, i. 460, 473.
Henry VI., emperor of Germany,
i. 479 ; his character and policy,
495 ; treatment of the Normans
in Italy and Sicily, 496 ; de-
spatches a crusade, 497 ; sudden
death, 498.
Henry, Pfalzgrave of the Rliine, i.
493, 500.
Henry von Kelten, i. 496, 497.
Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thu-
ringia, i. 526 ; usurps the empire,
549 ; defeat and death, 550.
Henry, son of Frederick II., i. 528 ;
seeks to usurp the crown of Ger-
many, 529.
Henry the Pious, i. 540; slain at
Katzbach, in repelling the Tar-
tars, 541.
Henry von Miessen, ii. 17, 18.
Henry the Pilgrim, prince of Meck-
lenburg, ii. 84.
Henry of Carinthia, ii. 92, 93.
Henry of Melchthal, ii. 101.
Henry VII. of Luxemburg, ii. 106 ;
elected emperor of Germany,
107; enters Italy, 111; is
crowned at Milan, ib. ; poisoned
at Buonconvento, 113.
Henry, duke of Brunswick, ii.
262, 269.
Henry II. of France, ii. 266—269.
Herder, character of his ^^Titing8,
iii. 152.
Hermanarich, extent of his empire,
i. 122.
Hermann BUlung, i. 323 — 338.
Hermann of Luxemburg, pro-
claimed king by the Saxons, i.
407 ; his imbecile character and
death, ib.
Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia,
i. 493, 511, 525; strife of the
minstrels at his court in tlie
Wartburg, ii. 50.
Hieronymus of Prague, ii. 162, 163.
Hildebrand, his origin and rise, i.
376, 377 ; character and aims,
381 ; assumes the tiara, under
the name of Gregory VII., 398 ;
his decrees for the reformation
of the church, 398, 399 ; lays an
intei'dict on Henry IV., 401.
Hildegarde, wife of Charlemagne,
i. 258.
Hildegarde, Coimtess von Spon-
heim, i. 448.
Histories and legends of tlie middle
ages, ii. 58, 72 ; of the Reforma-
tion, 454.
Hofer, Andrew, iii. 277; concerts
INDEX.
467
the revolt of the Tyrol, 277, 278 ;
his betrayal and death, 292, 293.
Hohenstaufen djTiastv, i. 445 —
556, ii. 1—13.
Holland, formation of its republic,
ii. 300 ; rapid growth of its com-
merce and prosperity, 304 ; its
naval war with England, 474,
475 ; invasion of Louis XIV.,
479, 482 ; annexed to France by
Napoleon, 295 ; the Belgian re-
volution, 390.
Honoria, sister of Valentinian, i.
140.
Honorius Augustodunensis, ii. 32,
33.
Honorius, emperor of the West, i.
128.
Horebites, the, ii. 169.
Hospitality, usages of, among the
early Germans, i. 37.
Hospitallers, German, dissolution
of, ii. 259.
Hoyer von Mansfeld, commander-
in-chief of Henry V., i. 430 — 432.
Hugh Capet, king of France, i. 347,
349.
Humboldt, Alexander von, iii. 433,
435.
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, ii.
152.
Hunerich, king of the Vandals, i.
180.
Hungary, invasion of, by the Turks,
ii. 492 ; suppression of the na-
tional liberties, 496.
Hunilda, the Amazon, i. 121.
Hxmimund, son of Hermanarich, i.
124.
Huns, the, chivalric customs of, i.
20 ; their origin, 123.
Huss, John, ii. 159; his doctrines,
160; summoned to the council
of Constance, 161 ; condemnation
and death, 162.
Hussites, war of the, 165 — 181.
Iceland, its colonisation and go-
vernment, i. 272.
Ildegunda, i. 140.
Illow, Field-marshal, ii. 364.
2 H 2
llluminati, secret society of, iii. 101 ;
Illuminatism, 427.
Innocent III., pope, i. 498, 499;
seeks to revive the crusades, 503 —
506 ; rise of heretical doctrines,
506 ; persecution of the Albi-
genses, 507 ; institution of re-
ligious orders, 508.
Innocent IV., pope, his wars with
Frederick II., i. 547—555.
Inquisition, attempts to introduce
it in Germany, i. 525 ; in the
Netherlands, ii. 289.
Irene of Greece, empress of Philip
the Gentle, i. 500, 502.
Isaac, emperor of Constantinople, i.
485.
Isabella of England, her marriage
with Frederick II., i. 530.
Ivan Wasilie^ncz II., czar of Rus-
sia, ii. 259.
Jacobea of Holland, ii. 152, 153.
Jacobea of Baden, ii. 314.
Jerome Bonaparte, created king of
Westphalia, iii. 252 ; his govern-
ment, 260, 261.
Jerusalem, stormed by the cru-
saders, i. 419.
Jesuits, foundation of the, ii. 263
character of the order, 272, 273
introduced in Germany, 274
their policy, 400—406 ; downfal
iii. 79.
Joan, pope, i. 294.
Johanna of Constantinople, i. 512,
551.
Johanna of Naples, ii. 152, 153.
Johanna, wife of Philip the Hand-
some, ii. 206, 212.
Johannes, pope, imprisoned by
Theodorich the Great, i. 169.
Johannes, lieutenant of Belisarius,
i. 183.
John XII., pope, i. 336, 337.
John, king of Bohemia, ii. 108, 113,
118, 119, 122, 125; gallant death
at Crecy, 127.
John XXII., pope, ii. 119, 121,
123.
John XXIII., ii. 155, 158, 159.
468
INDEX.
John Hunyadi, leader of tlie Hun-
garians, ii. 189, 190.
John Zapolya, ii. 24.5, 250, 2b3.
John, Elector of Saxony, ii. 248,
251, 2.52.
John of Leyden, the Anabaptist
leader, ii. 256.
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony,
ii. 261, 262, 265, 268.
John Sigismund Zapolya, king of
Hungary, ii. 277, 278.
John von Werth, ii. 361, 371, 377,
378, 387, 389—391.
Joseph I., emperor of Austria, ii.
497; declares war against Louis
XIV., 500.
Joseph n., emperor of Austria, iii.
79, 81 ; his liberal administra-
tion, 84, 86, 87 ; ecclesiastical
reforms, 87 ; obstructions otier-
ed by the clergy and nobility,
89, 90 ; leagues with Catharine
n., 91 ; revolt of the Austrian
Nctherland.s, 92 ; his death, 95 ;
personal appearance and charac-
ter, ib.
Joseph Napoleon, created king of
Naples, iii. 234 ; of Spain, 255.
Jourdan, commands the forces of
the French republic in the Ne-
therlands, iii. 177, 181.
Jovinus, i. ill.
Julian the Apostate, his victories
over the Alemanni, i. 110; and
the Franks, 115.
Jutta, queen of Louis the Pious, i.
2gD..
Kant, philosophy of, iii. 141.
Kara Mustapha, 'ii. 493, 494.
Kaunitz, minister of Maria There-
sa, iii. 54; his policy and cha-
racter, 56 ; opposed to war with
the French republic, 158.
Kerbugha, the vizir, defeated by
the crusaders at Antioch, i. 417.
Klopstock, iii. 151.
Knighthood, institution of, in the
middle ages, ii. 52 ; influence on
the national character, 53 — 56 ;
and on German poetry and litera-
ture, 56—60.
Knipperdolling the Anabaptist, ii.
256.
Konigsmark, General, ii. 381, 388,
392.
Kosciuszko, iii. 184.
Kotzebue, Augustus von, iii. 436.
Kutusow, generalissimo of the
Russian forces, iii. 313 — 323.
Ladislaw, king of Hungar)', ii.
18s— 190.
Lafayette, iii. 161.
Laudon, general of the Austrians
under Maria Theresa, iii. 63
—65, 67—70, 92.
Leipzig, battles of — Gustavus Adol-
phus and Wallenstein, ii. 358 ;
Napoleon and the allied armies,
iii. 331.
Leo, bishop of Rome, i. 140.
Leo X., pope, ii. 219; publishes
indulgences, ib.
Leopold I. of Austria, i. 347, 348.
Leopold of Austria, commands the
German forces at the crusades, i.
490 ; his quarrel with Richard
Cocur de Lion, ib. ; imprisons
Richard on his rettirn from Pa-
lestine, 491 ; death, 492.
Leopold the Warlike, of Austria, ii.
94, 116—121.
Leopold in. of Austria, iii. 96.
Leopold, prince of Coburg, elected
king of Belgium, iii. 393 ; mar-
ries Louisa, daughter of Louis
Philippe, 394.
Lessing, his beneficial influence on
German literature, iii. 152.
Leyden, siege of, ii. 296.
Liebnitz, system of, iii. 140.
Livonia, invasion of, by the Lithu-
anians, i. 534.
Longobardi, origin of, i. 187.
Lothar, son of Louis the Pious, i.
282—286.
Lothar III. his election, i. 4.37;
humbles the Hohcnstaufen, 438 ;
dies whilst on his return from
Italy, 442.
Louis the Pious, son of Charle-
magne, i. 279 ; his perfidy to his
nephew Bernhard, 280 ; imbe-
INDEX.
469
cile character, ib. ; is imprisoned
by his children, 283, 284 ; death,
285.
Louis the German, i. 282.
Louis Vn. of France, i. 454; fate
of his expedition to the Holy
Land, 455.
Louis, Landgrave of Thuringia, i.
462, 463, 476, 477, 488, 489.
Louis of Bavaria, ii. 8 — 10.
Louis the Bavarian, ii. 116; elect-
ed emperor, 117; contests the em-
pire with Frederick the Hand-
some, 117 — 120; visits Italy,
121 ; his dissensions with the
pope, 120 — 125; succeeds to
Holland and Hennegau, 125;
death, 126.
Louis XI. of France, ii. 197, 199.
Louis, Margrave of Baden, ii. 493
—528.
Louis XIV., age of, ii. 461 ; its
characteristics, 461, 462; his di-
plomatic intrigues in Germany,
464 ; conquests in the Nether-
lands, 465; projects the seizure
of the Spanish Netherlands, 476 ;
his encroachments on Germanj^
477 ; invasion of Holland, 479,
482 ; seizure of Strassburg, 490 ;
intrigues at Constantinople, 493 ;
invades the Pfalz, 498 ; war of
the Spanish succession, 518 —
530; peace of Utrecht, iii. 5;
his death, 7.
Louis XV. iii. 11; his imsuccess-
ful campaigns against Maria The-
resa, 50, 51, 53; treaty of Ver-
sailles, 57 ; his visit to Strass-
burg, 123.;
Louis XVI., iii. 156 ; condition of
France at his accession, ib.
Louis Eugene, duke of Wurtem-
berg, iii. 203.
Louis, king of Bavaria, iii. 386.
Louis Philippe, elected king of the
French, iii. 389.
Louis Napoleon, son of Louis ex-
king of Holland, iii. 399.
Louisa, queen of Frederick William
III., iii. 299.
Loyola, Ignatius, ii. 401.
Ludolf, son of Otto I., i. 330.
Lupicinus, Roman governor of
Marcianople, i. 125.
Luther, Martin, ii. 225 ; appears at
the diet of Augsburg, 226 ; spread
of his opinions, 227 ; condemns
the peasant war, 239 ; his mar-
riage, 249.
Lutheran church in Germany, its
constitution and discipline, ii.
406—409; the Rationalists and
Supernaturalists, iii. 425, 426.
Macdonald, Marshal, iii. 310, 335.
Macrian, leader of the Catti, i. 111.
Magdeburg, sack of, ii. 349.
Magnenlius, his defeat and death,
i. 115.
Magyars, their invasion of Hun-
gary, i. 301 ; warlike character,
307.
Mahomet, i. 209.
Malplaquet, battle of, ii. 529.
Manfred, son of Frederick II., ii.
1 ; heads the Ghibellines, 2 ; his
marriage, 3 ; honourable death, 4.
Mansfold, Count von, ii. 320, 325;
his campaigns against Tilly, 332 ;
defeated by Wallenstein, 339.
Manuel, emperor of Constantino-
ple, i. 453, 454.
Marbod, leader of the Suevi, i. 91.
Marcomanni, war of the, with the
Romans, i. 105.
Margaret of Parma, stadtholderess
of the Netherlands, ii. 288, 292.
Margaretha the Black, i. 551 — 553.
Margaretha Maultasche, ii. 123,
125.
Maria Theresa, empress of Austria,
ii. 518, iii. 9 ; her accession, 49;
attacked by Frederick II., cedes
Silesia, 50 ; successes against the
French, 5 1 ; the seven years'
war, 59 — 72 ; protests against
the partition of Poland, 83.
Maria Louisa, marriage of, with
Napoleon, iii. 297.
Marie Antoinette, queen of Louis
XVI., iii. 156.
470
Marius, destroys the Teutones, i. 71.
Marlborough, Duke of, ii. 511 ;
victory of Hochsttidt, 523 ; of
Ramilies, 528 ; diplomatic tri-
umphs, 529 ; battles of Oudenarde
and ISIalplaquet, 529 ; intrigues
which caused his dismissal, iii. -1.
Marriage customs of the ancient
Germans, i. 41.
Martin V., pope, ii. 164 — 176.
Martinitz, ii. 319, 320.
Mary of Burgundy, ii. 197 ; her
marriage with Maximilian, 200 ;
death, 201.
Masscna, iii. 218; his campaign in
Switzerland, 219, 220.
Matthias, Archduke, the, of Austria,
ii. 298—300.
Matthias Corvinus, king of Hun.,
gary, ii. 191 ; his treachery to
George von Podicbrad, 192, 193;
attempts to seize on Bohemia,
203.
Matthias, emperor, ii. 317 — 319.
Maurice of Saxony, ii. 264, 265 ;
his victories and death, 267 — 269.
Maurice. Landgrave of Hesse Cas-
sel, ii. 311.
Maurice the Strong, Marshal of
Saxony, iii. 10, 17, 52.
Maximilian I., ii. 191, 197; wed-
ded to Mary of Burgundy, 200 ;
wars with the Flemings, 201 ;
proclaimed emperor, 205 ; his al-
liances, 206 ; character, 207; con-
dition of the empire, 208 ; loses
Switzeriand, 210; wars of Venice
and Milan, 215 — 218; holds a
diet at Augsburg, 226; death, 227.
Maximilian II., emperor of Ger-
many, ii. 277 ; his pernicious and
vacillating policy, 277 — 281.
Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, ii.
323, 355 ; iii. 20.
Maximin the emperor, his slaugh-
ter of the Germans, i. 107.
Mayors of the palace, under the
Merovingian kings, i. 213 — 224.
Mazarin, Cardinal, ii. 465.
Meinhart von Neuhausz, ii. 175,
180, 189.
Melancthon, Philip, ii. 224, 241 ;
draws up the Confession of Augs-
burg, 251 ; his death, 283.
Mellobaudes, second prefect of the
Salic Franks, i. 115, 126.
Merobaudes, the Roman poet, i.
143.
Merovingian sovereigns, the, i. 171
—224.
Merowich, son of Chilperich, i. 196.
Metternich, Count, iii. 329; his con-
ference with Napoleon at Dres-
den, 330 ; diplomatic art, 331 ;
attends the Congress of Vienna,
354; German federative Congress,
384; his foreign and domestic
policy in the government of Aus-
tria, 416.
Meyer, Mark, commander of tlie
forces of Lubeck, ii. 257 — 259.
Milan, siege of, vmder Frederick
Barbarossa, i. 466.
Minnelieder, or love songs of Ger-
many, ii. 56.
Minnesingers of Germany, ii. 57.
Miseko, king of Poland, his inva-
sion of Saxony, i. 369.
Mistevoi, prince of the Obotrites, i.
.344.
Mithridates, his contests with the
Romans, i. 75.
Monasteries, their foundation, i.
153.
Montecuculi, General, ii. 467, 468,
481—483.
Montmartin, prime minister of
Charles Theodore, duke ofWur-
teniberg, iii. 113, 114.
Moore, Sir John, iii. 300, 303.
Jloreau, General, commands the
forces of the P'rench republic on
the Upper Rhine, iii. 189; his
skilful retreat, 193; victor}' of
Hohenlinden, 223; returns from
America, 331.
Moscow, burning of, iii. 314.
IMunster, destruction of the Ana-
baptists at, ii. 256.
Miinzer, Thomas, leader of the
Anabaptists, ii. 232, 233, 238,
243.
INTDEX.
471
Murat, created grand-duke of Berg,
iii. 234; king of Naples, 255, 345,
357, 364.
Music, cultivation of, in Germany,
iii. 144, 145.
Narses the eunuch, i. 186, 190.
Nassau, princes of, ii. 292 ; their
wars in the Netherlands against
Philip II., 293—303.
Nepomuck, John von, murder of,
ii. 142, 143 ; ceremony of his ca-
nonization, iii. 16.
Netherlands, the, their prosperity
under Charles V., ii. 287 ; un-
constitutional rule of Philip II.,
289 ; attempt to introduce the
Inquisition, 290 ; treachery of
the Duke of Alba, 291 ; slaughter
of heretics, 293 ; general insur-
rection in Holland, 294; naval
victories of the Dutch, 295 ; siege
of Leyden, 296 ; election of Wil-
liam of Orange, ii. ; successes of
the Prince of Parma, 300; as-
sassination of William of Orange,
302 ; siege of Ostend, 304 ; se-
paration of the northern and
southern states, ib. ; rapid growth
of the commerce and population
of Holland, 305 ; Maurice of
Orange, 306, 307; attempted con-
quest of, by Louis XIV., 476 ;
campaigns in, during the Spanish
war of succession, 518 — 5-30; de-
cay of their power and prosperity,
iii. 98 ; overrim by the armies of
the French republic, 185, 186;
annexed to France by Napoleon,
295 ; Belgian revolution, 390.
Ney, Marshal, iii. 224, 231, 243,
317, 336, .361, 364.
Nibelungenlied, i. 138; ii. 57, 58.
Niclas von Hussinez, a leader of
the Hussites, ii. 166 ; defeats the
emperor Sigmund, 170.
Nicolas I., pope, i. 294.
Nicolas I., emperor of Russia, iii.
385 ; his invasion of Persia and
Turkey, 386.
Normans, the, wars of Charlemagne
with, i. 246; their spread over
Europe, 274 ; their incursions in
France, 289 ; on the Mediterra-
ranean coast, 290.
Norwegians, the, early kings of, i.
267.
Odin, worship of, i. 15; govern-
ment, 23; ancient ideas of his
divinity, 55 ; legendary account
of, 261 ; his descendants, 262.
Odoachar, prince of the Heruli,
conquers Rome, and is pro-
claimed king of Italy, i. 144; is
defeated and put to death by
Theodorich the Great, 168.
Odoin the Brave, i. 259, 279.
Osiander, Agricola, doctrines of, ii.
282, 283.
Ostend, siege of, ii. 304.
Otto, duke of Saxony, i. 308.
Otto I., emperor of Germany, i.
322 ; family dissensions of, 324 ;
reincorporates Italy with the em-
pire, 330—341 ; defeats the Hun-
garians, 334; condition of the
empire at his death, 341.
Otto II., his marriage, i. 340; cha-
racter, 341 ; his wars in France
and Italy, 342, 343 ; narrow
escape from the Greeks, 343.
Otto III., his minority, i. 347,
348 ; raises Gregory V. to the
popedom, 349 ; opens the tomb
of Charlemagne, 351.
Otto of Nordheim, i. 384, 395—
398, 401, 405—407.
Otto, bishop of Frevsingen, i. 452,
454.
Otto von Wittelsbach, i. 460, 461,
465, 477.
Otto IV., contests the empire with
Philip the Gentle, i. 50U; de-
feated, 501 ; marries the daugh-
ter of Philip, 503; vanquished
by Frederick II., 511, 512.
Otto of Bavaria, i. 529, 545, 549,
550.
Otto of Brandenburg, ii. 76, 79, 83.
Otto the Welf, of Brunswick, ii. 1 53.
Otto, king of Greece, iii. 409, 410.
472
IXDEX.
Ottocar of Bohemia, his conquest
of Austria and Slyiia, ii. 15, IG;
subdued and humbled by Rudolf
von Ilabsburg, 78 ; his revolt and
death, 79.
Oxenstierna, chancellor of Sweden,
ii. 361.
Pagan superstitions of the ancient
Germans, i. 51.
Paintings, religious, of the middle
ages, ii. 3S.
Pandoif, Prince of Benevento, i.
339.
Pappenheim, General, defeats the
Upper Austrians, ii. 331 ; slain at
Lutzen, 359.
Paracelsus, ii. 432, 433.
Paschasius Radbert, popularity of
his religious doctrines in the
middle ages, i. 295.
Paul I., emperor of Russia, iii. 216;
his ambitious projects, 217.
Paul IV., pope, ii. 272 ; commences
a reform of the church, 273.
Pavia, battle of, ii. 246.
Peasant war, tlie, in Germany, ii.
236—244.
Pescara, commander of Charles V.,
ii. 245, 246.
Peter the Hermit, i. 412; heads a
crusade, 413; its fate, 414.
Peter the Great, ii. 5U5 ; his wars
with Charles XII., 508 — 512;
extends his empire, 513; league
with Charles XII., 515.
Peter III., emperor of Russia, iii.
70.
Peter de Vineis, chancellor of Fre-
derick II., i. 521, 545 ; his trea-
chery and death, 555.
Peterborough, Lord, commander of
the English forces in the Spanish
war of succession, iii. 2, 3.
Petrarch, notice of German super-
stitions bv, i. 48 ; his appeal to
Charles IV., ii. 133.
Peucer, son-in-law of Melancthon,
ii. 284, 285.
Philip the Gentle, son of Barba-
rossa, i. 479, 498 ; elected em-
peror, 500 ; opposed by Otto IV.
and Innocent III., 500, 501 ; is
slain, 501.
Philip Augustus, of France, i. 511,
551.
Philip the Handsome, of France,
ii. 89, 94 ; endeavours to annex
Flanders, 95 ; the battle of
Spurs, 97.
Philip of Burgundy, ii. 151 — 153.
Philip von Artevelde, leader of the
citizens of Ghent, ii. 151, 152.
Philip the Handsome, son of Max-
imilian, ii. 206,212.
Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, ii. 248,
250—252, 254, 265.
Philip II. of Spain, ii. 271, 273,
276 ; drives the Netherlands into
revolt, 288—290 ; defeats of his
fleets and armies, 294—297;
procures the assassination of
William of Orange, 301, .302.
Philip, duke d'Anjou, ii. 518 ;
contests the crown of Spain with
Charles VI. of Germany, iii. 2,
3; seeks to re-annex Italy, 8.
Philippina Welser, ii. 279.
Piccolomini, Octavio, ii. 363, 373,
383 ; betrays Wallenstein, 365.
Pichegru, General, iii. 180, 185.
Pipui von Landen, i. 214.
Pipin von Heristal, i. 216.
Pipin the Little, i. 223 ; seizes the
Prankish throne, 224; assists
the pope against the Lombards,
225.
Pipin, son of Charlemagne, i. 233,
244, 259.
Pipin, son of Louis the Pious, i.
2S2— 284.
Pius VI., pope, iii. 86; visits the
emperor Joseph II., 87; mal-
treated by the French, 216.
Pius VII., pope, iii. 294.
Placidia, sister of Honorius, i. 132,
133, 139.
Podiebrad, George von, ii. 182 ;
seizes the government of Bo-
hemia, 189 ; raised to the throne,
191 ; his victories over the Ca-
tholics, and death, 193.
INDEX.
473
Poetry, its influence on the northern
nations, i. 46 ; religious hymns
and poetry of the middle ages,
ii. 34 ; chivalric poetry of Swa-
bia, 56.
Polaud, partition of, iii. 81.
Pompadour, Marchioness of, iii. 52,
56, 57.
Poniatowsky, Prince, iii. 327, 328,
342.
Pragmatic Sanction, the, iii. 9.
Prague, university of, ii. 159, 160.
Printing, discovery of, ii. 223.
Probus, emperor of Rome, i. 108,
113, 122.
Procop Holy, leader of the Tabor-
ites, ii. 175—180.
Prussia, its formation into a king-
dom, ii. 506.
PuUanes, the, i. 450 — 456.
Radegunda, i. 179.
Raimund, Count of Toulouse, joins
the crusades, i. 415 — 124.
Ramilies, battle of, ii. 528.
Rapp, General, iii. 272, 343.
Rationalists, the, iii. 425.
Reccared, king of the Visigoths, i.
206.
Reformation, the, ii. 154 — 160;
WyclifTe, 154; John Huss, 159—
162; Hussite war, 165—180;
Zwingli, 233; peasant war, 236 —
244 ; embraced by the princes
and nobility, 248 ; Confession of
Augsburg, 251 ; league of the
Protestant princes, 252 ; Calvin,
2.54 ; the Anabaptists in Munsler,
256; Schmalkald war, 261—268;
council of Trident, 263 — 266 ;
Catholic reaction, 272 — 276; as-
sembly at Naumburg, 275; de-
cay of religion among the Pro-
testant princes of Germany, 2!sl ;
theological parties and Mictions,
282—286 ; revolt of the Nether-
lands, 286—307; thirty years'
war, 31 b — 393 ; internal state of
Gennany during the Reformation,
398—460.
Resnar Lodbrok, i. 264.
Remald de Chatillon, i. 482—484.
Reinold, archbishop of Cologne, i.
466, 468, 469.
Religious rites of the Northern na-
tions, i. 47 — 57.
Rhabanus Maurus, archbishop of
Mavence, i. 295.
Rhenish alliance, the, iii. 235, 236.
Richard Cocur de Lion, i. 490 ; his
quarrel with Leopold of Austria,
490, 491 ; imprisonment, 491 ;
ransom, 492.
Richard of Cornwall, brother of
Henry III. of England, i. 542,
546 ; obtains by purchase the
crown of Germany, ii. 8.
Richelieu, intrigues of, during the
thirty years' war, ii. 335, 344,
348, "352, 355, 361, 369, 371, 372,
379, 381.
Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich, iii.
436.
Ricimer, king of the Visigoths, i.
143.
Rienzi, Cola di, ii. 133.
Robert d'Artois, slain at the battle
of Spurs, ii. 98.
Roderick, king of the Visigoths, i.
207; dishonours the daughter of
Count Julian, 208; eight days'
engagement with the Moors, ib.
Rohan, Cardinal, bishop of Strass-
burg, iii. 122.
Rokizana, leader of the imperial
Hussites, ii. 174—180, 189, 190.
Roland, peer of Charlemagne, his
death at Ronceval, i. 240.
Rome, its rise, i. 61 ; its strug-
gles with the German tribes, 62 ;
destroyed by Brennus, 63 ; cam-
paigns of .iEmilius, 65 ; Marius,
71 ; Cffisar, 77 ; Drusus, 81 ; Va-
rus, 84 ; Germanicus, 88 ; Mar-
cus Aurelius, 105 ; Maximin,
107; Julian the Apostate, 110;
Probus, 113; Coustantine the
Great, 114; Aurelian, 121 ; Va-
lens, 126 ; Theodosius. 127 ; Sti-
lico, 128; stormed by Alaric, 130;
474
INDEX.
and by Geiserich, 142 ; fall and
subjugation of the empire, 144.
Rome, papal, i. 151 ; occupied by
Belisarius, 183 ; origin of the
holy Roman empire, 247 ; storm-
ing of Rome by Arnulf, 303 ; by
Henry IV., 406 ; under Charles
de Bourbon, ii. 247.
Romilda, duchess of Frioul, i. 201.
Ronceval, slaughter of, i. 241.
Rosamunda, daughter of Kmii-
mund, i. 190.
Rossbach, battle of, iii. 62.
Rudolf of Swabia, i. 396 ; endea-
vours to supplant Henry IV.,
401—406 ; slain at Grona, 406.
Rudolf, Count von Habsburg, ii.
20 ; elected emperor by the pope
and princes of tlie empire, 75 ;
his subserviency, 76 ; reduces
the lower nobility to submission,
77; humbles Ottocar of Bohe-
mia, 77, 78 ; his popularity
among the people, 80 ; marriages
of his daughters, 77, 79; his po-
licy, 77 — 79 ; death, 81 ; anarchy
of the empire, 81 — 84.
Rudolph II., character of, ii. 308 ;
deposed, 318.
Ruisbrock, journey of, to Persia
and Tartary, i. 542, ii. 74.
Runic characters of the ancient
Germans, i. 45.
Rupert, the Pfalzgrave, ii. 147 ;
proclaimed emperor, 148 ; be-
comes unpopular, 149.
Russia, its rise and prosperity
under Peter the Great, ii. 508 —
517.
Salaheddin, the caliph, i. 482,
488.
Salentin von Ysenburg, ii. 310.
Salic law, the, i. 135.
Salomon, bishop of Constance, i.
306,311.
Salzburg emigration, the, iii. 33 —
40.
Sarus, the Goth, i. 129, 130, 133.
Saxons, the, their origin, i. 116;
migrations, 117; wars with
Charlemagne, 233—239.
Saxon emperors of Germany, i.
312—364.
Schelling, philosophy of, iii. 432.
Schill, Ferdinand von, iii. 250,273.
Schiller, influence of his WTitings,
iii. 15.3.
Schlegel, Frederich, iii. 437, 438.
Schmalkald war, the, 261—268.
Schwarzenberg, Prince, iii. 311,
318 ; generalissimo of the allied
armies against Napoleon, 331.
Sciences, study of, in the middle
ages, ii. 71 — 74.
Sculpture in the middle ages, ii.
38.
Selvaggia, daughter of Frederick
II., i. 544.
Senones, the, their invasion of
Italy, i. 61 ; of Greece and Asia
Minor, 64.
Seven years' war, the, iii. 59 — 72.
Siagrius, son of .^Egidius, i. 172,
173.
Sicilian Vespers, the, ii. 13.
Siegfried von Westerburg. archbi-
shop of Cologne, ii. 81, 82.
Siegmund, king of Burgundy, i. 180.
Sigebert, king of Metz, i. 195, 196.
Sigmund Jorsalafar, i. 425.
Sigmund, son of Charles IV., ii. 142
— 145, 149, 150 ; elected empe-
ror, 155 ; his character, 155, 156;
convokes the council of Con-
stance, 156; visits Spain, France,
and England, 163 ; defeated by
the Hussites, 170.
Sictmund, Count von Dietrichsen,
ii. 243.
Silvanus, i. 115.
Slavi, their wars of Charlemagne,
i. 242—245.
Slawata, ii. 319, 320.
Sobieski, John, king of Poland, ii.
494, 495.
Sophia, Duchess of Brabant, ii. 17,
18.
Spanish war of succession, ii. 518
—530.
INDEX.
475
Speckbaclier, Joseph, a leader in
the revolt of the Tyrolese, iii.
279 — 293 ; his escape into Aus-
tria, 293, 294, 338.
Spurs, battle of, ii. 97, 98.
Stanislaus Lescinsky, iii. 9, 11.
Stedingers, the, criisade against, i.
527.
Stein, minister of Frederick Wil-
liam III., iii. 265 ; his legal re-
forms, ib. ; founds the Tugen-
bund, lb.
Stilico, commands the Roman
armies against Alaric, i. 128,
129.
Strassburg, seizure of, by the
French, ii. 490 ; visit of Louis
XV. to, iii. 123 ; plundered by
the Jacobins, 164.
Strauss, Dr., iii. 399, 400.
Struensee, prime minister of Chris-
tian VII., iii. 104, 105.
Sturleson, Snorri, his division of
the ancient world, i. 11 ; history
of Norway, 270.
Suatopluk, king of Mora-via, i.
288.
Suatopluk, king of Bohemia, i.
427—429.
Suevi, the, i. 11, 16, 27,31.
Suleiman II., his invasion of Him-
gary and Austria, ii. 250, 253.
Sunichilda, wife of Charles Mar-
tell, i. 222, 223.
Supematuralists, the, iii. 425.
Suwarrow, General, his successful
campaign against the French in
Italy, iii. 219.
Swedes, the, solemn festival of, i.
48 ; early kings of, 266.
Swiss peasant war, the, ii. 468.
Switzerland, its condition at the
outbreak of the French Revolu-
tion, iii. 207 ; overrun and pil-
laged by the French, 213 ; revo-
lution in 18.30, 395.
Sylvester II., pope, i. 350.
Symmachus, bishop, put to death
by Theodorich the Great, i. 170.
Tauorites, the, ii. 167—180, 266.
Tachulf, Markgraf of Thuringia, i.
287.
Tacitus, on the ancient Germans, i.
8, 10, 12, 25, 31, 36,41, 42, 47.
Taddeo di Suessa, i. 547, 548, 554.
Talleyrand, iii. 202 ; his intrigues
at Rastadt, 202, 203 ; at the
Congress of Vienna, 354.
Tancred, joins the crusades, i. 415 ;
becomes Couut of Galilee, 420.
Tancred, Count of Lecce, i. 495.
Tartars, incursion of, in Germany,
i. 540.
Tejas, chief of the Ostrogoths, i.
186.
Tetzel, the retailer of indulgences,
ii. 221, 225.
Teutones, irruption of, i. 68; de-
stroyed by Marius, 71.
Thankmar, son of Henry the Fowl-
er, i. 324.
Thassilo, duke of Bavaria, i. 241.
Theodolinda, queen of the Longo-
bardi, i. 192.
Theodorich, king of the Goths, i.
133, 139.
_ Theodorich the Great, birth of, i.
141 ; succeeds to the Gothic
throne, 167; conquers Italy, 168;
his able administration, ib. ; wise
policy, 169; its frustration, 170;
death, ib.
Theodorich, king of Austrasia, i.
178, 179.
Theodosius the Great, emperor of
Rome, his victories over the
Goths, i. 127.
Theuderich, son of Childebert, i.
198—200.
Theuphano, queen of Otto II., i.
340, 348.
Theutelana, i. 199.
Thirty years' war, commencement
of. ii. 320 ; Tilly, 323—354 ;
suppression of Protestantism in
Bohemia, 325 ; revolt of the Up-
per Austrians, 328 ; Pappen-
heim,331 ; Count Mansield, 332;
Wallenstein, 336 — 366 ; Gusta-
vus Adolphus, 345 — 360 ; sack
of Magdeburg, 349 ; battle of
476
INDEX.
Leipzip, 351 ; of Liitzcn, 358; the
Heilbronn Confederacy, 361 —
364; Bernard von Weimar, 333—
380 ; battle of Nocrdlin?;en, 368 ;
General Banner, 373—384 ; Tor-
stenson, 384 — 388 ; John von
Werth, 36 1—391; peaceof West-
phalia, 392—397; state of Ger-
many at the close of the war,
396,"397.
Th^risniund, king of the Visigoths,
i. 140; slain by his brother, 170.
Tieck, Ludwig, iii. 437.
Tilly, Count von, ii. 323, 337 ;
storming and sack of Magdeburg,
349 ; defeated at Leipzig by Gus-
tavus Adulphus, 351 ; death, 351.
Torstenson, general of the Swedes,
ii. 386 ; defeats the imperialists
at Leipzig, 387 ; his campaign
in Denmark, ib. ; advance to
Vienna, 338.
Totilas, king of the Ostrogoths, i.
185.
Tournaments of the middle ages,
ii. 53.
Trident, council of, ii. 263 — 266.
Tugenbund, the, iii. 265, 308.
Turenne, ii. 389, 391, 465, 481,
482.
Turks, the, their invasion of Hun-
gary and siege of Vienna, ii. 492
—497.
Tyrolese, revolt of the, against Ba-
varia and France, iii. 275 ; Hofer,
277—293; Speckbacher, 279—
293,
Uldes, prince of the Huns, i. 129.
Ulphilas, bishop, Gothic translation
of the Bible by, i. 125, 146.
Ulrich of Ratisbon, i. 447.
Urban V., pope, ii. 134.
Utrecht, peace of, iii. 5.
Vadomar, a leader of the Alemanni,
i. in.
Valens, emperor of Rome, i. 125,
126.
Valentinian HI., emperor of Rome,
i. 133, 139, 142.
Vandals, the, their irruption into
Spain, i. 131.
Van Tromp, Admiral, ii. 474.
Varingi, or Gothic mercenaries of
Rome, i. 126.
Varus, defeat of the Romans un-
der, i. 84.
Velleda the prophetess, i. 97.
Vendome, Marshal, ii. 520 — 530.
Versailles, treaty of, in 1756, iii. 57.
Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, ii.
519—530.
Victoria Ale\andrina, queen of
England, iii. 420.
Vienna, siege of, by the Turks, ii.
493 ; its character under Charles
VI., iii. 14.
Villars, Marshal, ii. 498—5-30.
Villcroi, Marshal, ii. 519, .520, 523.
Virgin Mary, poetry and legends
on, in the middle ages, ii. 34.
Viticabius, leader of the Alemanni,
i. 111.
Vitigis, king of the Ostrogoths, i.
183.
Voltaire, influence of the writings
of, iii. 46 ; intimacy with Fre-
derick n., 54.
Waldamara, widow of Winithar,
i. 124.
Waldemar II., king of Denmark, i.
522.
Walhalla, the, i. 22, 45, 54; de-
scription of, 56.
Walkyren, or celestial women of
the ancient Germans, i. 45, 56.
Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, ii.
336 ; his rise, 337 ; victories in
Northern Germany, 341 ; his dis-
missal, 344 ; second command,
356; defeated at LUtzen, 358;
his secret negotiations, 364 ; be-
trayal and assassination, 365.
Wallia, king of the Goths, i. 133.
Walram von Limburg, i. 497.
Walther Sensavehor, a leader of the
crusades, i. 412 — 414.
Walther, Count de Brienne, i. 498.
Walther von der Vogelweide, the
]\iinnesinger, i. 522, 531, ii. 57.
rS'DEX.
47'
Warnefried, Paul, the historian of
Lombardy, i. 232, 254.
Weimar, Bernard von, ii. 333, 355 ;
his gallantry at Liitzen, 359 ;
succeeds to the command of tlie
Protestant army, 360, 361 ; de-
feated at Noerdlingen, 369 ; visits
Paris, 372 ; campaigns in Bur-
gundy and on the Upper Rhine,
377, 378; death, 380.
Welf of Bavaria, i. 445, 446 ; joins
the crusades, 452 ; his return and
revolt, 456 ; death, 472.
Wellington, Duke of, iii. 300 ; his
victories in the Peninsula, 300,
346 : Quatrebras and Waterloo,
358.
Wenzel, king of Bohemia, ii. 88,
89, 91.
Wenzel, emperor of German}', ii.
141; his character, 142; inca-
pacity, 146, 148; dethroned, 149;
retains the crown of Bohemia,
149, 155—167.
Wergeld of the ancient Germans,
i. 33.
Werner, Count von Homburfr, ii.
112.
Wernherr von StaufiFach, ii. 102.
Westphalia, peace of, ii. 393 — 397.
William the Conqueror, i. 390 ; his
invasion of England, 391.
William, son of Robert, duke of
Normandy, i. 440.
William the Rude, Count of Hol-
land, usurps the empire, i. 550,
552 ; driven in contempt from
the empire, ii. 5; his wretched
end, 6.
William of Cologne, his school of
painting, ii. 39.
William of Juliers, canon of Ma;s-
tricht, ii. 97 ; commands the
Flemings at the battle of Spurs,
ib. ; honourable death at Mons-
en-puelle, 99.
William Tell, story of, ii. 103—105.
William of Orange, ii. 289 ; his
flight from the Netherlands, 291 ;
campaigns against Alba, 293,
294; elected stadtholder, 296;
assassinated, 302.
William von der Mark, ii.294, 296.
William, Prince of Orange, ii. 480 ;
his accession to the throne of
England, 499.
William, duke of Brunswick, iii.
274.
William, king of Wurtemberg, iii.
379, 380. .^
William, Elector of Hesse Casscl,
iii. .381.
William, Elector of Hesse, iii. 402,
403.
Willigis, archbishop of Mayence, i.
347. 352.
Winithar, prince of the Ostrogoths,
i. 124.
Wittekind, duke of Westphalia,
his brave resistance to Charle-
magne, i. 2.34 — 237 ; submission,
237 ; death, 239.
Wittcnagemot, the, i. 24.
Wolen, or prophetesses of the an-
cient Germans, i. 44.
Worms, diet of, imder Charles V.,
ii. 230.
Wrangel, general of the Swedes,
ii. 388, 390.
Wullcnweber, Jurgen, president of
the Hansa, ii. 257, 258.
WyclUle, ii. 155.
Ziethen, general of the Hussars,
under Frederick II., iii. 69.
Zinzendorf, Count, iii. 55 ; founds
the Moravian Brethren, 131, 132.
Zizka, John, commands the Huss-
ites, ii. 166; his war of exter-
mination, 171 ; victories over
the imperial party, 172 ; death,
174.
Zschokke, servile tendency of his
writings, iii. 257, 262, 297.
Zwingli, Ulric, of Toggeuburg, ii.
233—253.
JOHN CHILD3 AND SON. BUNGAY.
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