History of the German Struggle for Liberty
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HlSTOR OF THE GERMAN | STRUGGLE FOR LIBRARY ^ UNIV6P.SITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN oiseo 03 K / QUEEN I.UISE HISTORY OF THli GERMAN STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY BY POULTNEY BIGELOW ^^> M. A. UNIV. TALE HON. MEMBKR ROYAL UNITED SERVICE (HON. CAUSA) ; LIKK INST., LONDON ; MKMBKK AMKIUCAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HON. MEMBKR ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION, WOOLWICH ILLUSTRATED WITH DRAWINGS BY R. CATON WOODVILLE AND WITS PORTRAITS AND MAPS rouR IN (THREE; VOLUMES VOL. I. 1806-1812 NEW TOUK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1903 Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All righu raentd. TO CARIBEE MY CRUISING CANOE In her I have slept by night and sailed by day for weeks and months at a time, exploring the beautiful waterways of the German Fatherland. She has made me friends with every kind of man the bargee, the raftsman, the peasant, the wood-chopper, the weaver, the gendarme, the parish parson, the miller, the tax-collector and many more of the types that make life interesting to the contemplative traveller. By the aid of Caribee I learned to feel how Germans feel. Without her this book would not have been written. CONTENTS OF VOL. I CHAPTER PAHR I. EXECUTION OF JOHN PALM, BOOKSELLER 1 II. QUEEN LUISE OF PRUSSIA BEFORE JENA 6 III. WHAT SORT OF A BRINGING-UP HAD QUEEN LUISE . 13 IV. QUEEN LUISE ENTERS BERLIN IN TRIUMPH .... 20 V. THE Two PHILOSOPHERS OF JENA HEGEL AND NAPO- LEON 30 VI. THE EVE OF JENA, OCTOBER 13, 1806 33 VII. THE GREAT PRUSSIAN STAMPEDE FROM JENA AND AUERSTADT 43 VIII. WHAT SORT OF ARMY FOUGHT THE FRENCH AT JENA ? 54 IX. A PRUSSIAN CHRONICLE OF NOBLE CRIMINALS ... 61 X. A FUGITIVE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA 73 XI. PEACE WITH DISHONOR 88 XII. COLBERG GNEISENAU, NETTELBECK, SCHILL .... 104 XIII. SOMETHING ABOUT GNEISENAU'S EARLY STRUGGLES . 118 XIV. SCHARNHORST MAKES A NEW ARMY 129 XV. SOMETHING ABOUT SCHAHNHOUST 141 XVI. THE PRINCES OF GERMANY PAY COURT TO NAPOLEON AT ERFURT 152 XVII. THE FIRST BREATH OF LIBERTY IN PRUSSIA 1807. 163 XVII I. PRUSSIANS BECOME REBELS TO THEIR KING, AND DIE FOR THEIK COUNTRY 172 XIX. GERMAN LIBERTY TAKES REFUGE IN THE AUSTRIAN ALPS 185 XX. THE LAST DAYS OF QUEEN LUISE 194 Vi gONTENTS OF VOL. I O1JAPTKR PAOR XXI. A NURSERY VIEW OP KING, QUEEN, AND POLITICS. 212 XXII. THE FIRST NATIONAL PRUSSIAN PARLIAMENT MEETS IN BERLIN, 1811 220 XXIII. JAHN, THE PATRIOT WHO FOUNDED GYMNASTIC SOCIE- TIES AND TAUGHT THE SCHOOL CHILDREN TO PRAY FOR GERMAN LIBERTY 230 XXIV. How THE IRON CROSS CAME TO BE FOUNDED . 244 ILLUSTKATIONS IN VOL. I QUEEN LUISE. (See foot-note on page 82.) Frontispiece THE EXECUTION OP JOHN PALM Facing p. 4 QUEEN LUISE. (From ihe original bust by Rauch in the Berlin " Museum) g RECEIVING NEWS OP THE DECLARATION OP WAR IN THE " PRUSSIAN CAMP 10 " FIELD-MARSHAL GEBHARD LEBRECHT VON BLUCHER . 14 " EMPEROR NAPOLEON 22 GENERAL GNEISENAU " 26 TWO PHILOSOPHERS MEET AT JENA " 30 MAP JENA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS 37 FRENCH TROOPS ENTER A GERMAN VILLAGE Facing p. 40 MAP SHOWING THE RELATION OF JENA TO PARIS AND BERLIN, AND THE POLITICAL DIVISION OF 1806 44 FLIGHT OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY AFTER JENA Facing p. 46 " METTERNICH, PRIME MINISTER OP AUSTRIA ...... 50 NAPOLEON AT THE DESK OF FREDERICK THE GREAT AT " SANS 8OUCI 62 " FLIGHT OP QUEEN LUISE 76 MAP SHOWING THE ROUTE OF QUEEN LUISE's FLIGHT AND THE TERRITORY OVERRUN BY NAPOLEON IN THE WIN- TER OF 1806 78, 79 EAST SIDE OF THE CASTLE OF KOMGSBEKG Facing p. 84 FREDERICK WILLIAM III. WAITING FOR THE END OF THK CONFERENCE ON THE RAFT 90 NAPOLEON'S HEADQUARTERS AT TILSIT . 94 viii ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL I HOUSE AT TILSIT IN WHICH QUEEN LUISE RECEIVED NAPOLEON Facing p. 98 MAP PRUSSIA BEFORE AND AFTER THE TREATY OF " TILSIT 99 " LUI8E AND NAPOLEON AT TILSIT 100 " THE DEMAND FOR THE SURRENDER OF COLBERG ... 106 " NETTELBECK THREATENS THE GOVERNOR 108 " NETTELBECK AND GNEISENAU ON THE RAMPARTS . 110 " 8CHILL 112 GNEISENAU'S MONEY 113 NETTELBECK Facing p. 116 " GNEISENAU. (From the original plaster cast by Ranch) .... 124 " ALEXANDER I. OF RUSSIA 130 " FREDERICK WILLIAM III 138 GENERAL SCHARNHOST " 154 " FREDERICK LUDWIG JAHN 164 " ONE OF SCHILL'S FOLLOWERS 172 " DEATH OF SCHILL IN THE MARKET-PLACE AT STRALSUND 180 " HOFER CONFERRING WITH THE AUSTRIAN STADTHOLDER 188 " ANDREAS HOFER A PRISONER 192 HARDENBERG " 204 " THE MARQUIS DE TALLEYRAND 214 THE GREAT BARON STEIN " 222 " THE PATRIOT FICHTE 232 THE IRON CROSS , . 244 PREFACE THESE pages go to the printer at a moment when Germany is celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the great war which culminated in a German empire, manhood suffrage, and a free Parliament. These were the ideals of the patriots who roused the German nation against the tyranny of Napoleon, and for these their de- scendants cheerfully became rebels in the stormy days of 1848. It has been my purpose to tell in simple lan- guage the story of this struggle a story addressed to people of English speech and tradition, who believe that the strength of government is in the vigor and virtue of the individual citizen. In Europe to-day some rulers act as though soldiers alone knew how to be patriotic as though great armies made great nations. Yet in Germany we have seen a constant increase of the so- cialistic vote keeping pace with the growth and perfec- tion of a monster military organism. When Bismarck in 1871 became Chancellor of the new German Empire, the socialist vote was so small that it could be ignored. When he left office, after twenty years of rule, he left to his people a legacy of popular disaffection that may and a be estimated only by reference to one quarter million votes cast for socialist candidates. of militarism and socialism in The parallel progress the new German Empire offers problems for the modern are causes at philosopher and law-maker. There many the bottom of it. But the cause most clear is that Ger- her many to-day does not move in the spirit of great men, who raised her up when all the world thought her destroyed. The German volunteers of 1813 were offi- cered by patriot citizens who pretended to no more social rank and privilege than was absolutely necessary for the enforcement of military discipline. They en- tered the army for the sake of defending their country, and returned to their citizen work when the- war was done. To-day the German officer is wholly a profes- sional soldier, and of the non-commissioned officer this is almost equally true. The soldier and the citizen have ceased to feel that their titles are interchangeable. A spirit of caste has come to permeate the great soldier class the same spirit that led the Prussian army to its disgraces after Jena. In these pages we may see that great military results have been achieved by patriotic citizens who volun- teered for active service when their country was in dan- ger. Their example should teach us the importance of insisting that each able-bodied citizen must know the duties of a soldier. It is surely not too much to ask that each member of a free country should surrender at least one month in every year to exercises which will qualify him to defend that country in the event of in- PREFACE xi vasion. Our historical traditions make us dislike large standing armies, and for that reason ought we the more readily to adopt measures that shall in the moment of danger make us a nation in arms. No country can maintain its liberty unless it is ready to fight for it; nor can that fight end well unless the fighting is done by the whole body of the people. The nation that has to employ mercenaries may purchase temporary secu- rity; but the price becomes higher as the years go by, and in time that people will surely sell its liberty as the price of mere existence. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I have to thank His Majesty the German Emperor for permission to use the precious manuscript material stored in the Prussian archives. This mate- rial is excellently arranged. I received much assist- ance from Colonel Leszczynszki at the War Archives (Generalstabsarchiv), and from Dr. Bailleu at the Ge- heime Staatsarchiv (State Secret Archives). There is much valuable material in the House Archives of the Hohenzollern family, which, for political reasons, is not yet available to the historian. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland and Her Majesty the Queen of Hanover have placed me under deep obligations in the making of these pages. So has the present Count Voss, a direct descendant of the lady who was principal companion to Queen Luise. Xii PREFACE Dr. Peschel, the director of the Korner Museum in time Dresden, gave me several days of his precious amidst his treasures. Professor Siemering, the director of the Kauch Museum in Berlin, was equally kind in from assisting me to get the best possible portraits of the Berlin Kauch's originals. Professor Schiemann, University, has given me generous advice and aid. The late Countess Chorinsky, who had in her possession a large correspondence with Queen Luise, also aided my work. Pastor Deckert, of Schilda, did everything in his power to clear up for me the mystery of Gneisenau's birth. Finally, let me heartily acknowledge my obli- gation to Mr. Hubert Hall, of the London Record Office, who took as much interest in my work as though he were writing it himself. So many kind acts are there for me to recall at this moment that to note them individually would be im- possible.