*-/_=^ ■> 
 
 
Olatnell Untoerattg 2Iibrarg 
 
 Jltl;ani, ^tm luck 
 
 LIBRARY OF 
 
 LEWIS BINGLEY WYNNE 
 
 A.B.,A.M.,COLUMBrANCOLLEGE.'7f,*73 
 WASHINGTON, D. C, 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 MRS. MARY A. WYNNE 
 
 AND 
 
 JOHN H. WYNNE 
 
 CORNELL *98 
 1922 
 
Cornell UnWersHy Library 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031256658 
 
NAPOLEON IN GERMANY 
 
 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA 
 
 AND HER TIMES 
 
 <a.n ipistoricttl IXovel 
 
 BY 
 
 L. MUHLBACH 
 
 AUTHOR OF JOSEPH 11. AND HIS COURT, FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS FAMILY, 
 BERLIN AND SANS-SOUCI, HENRY VIII. AND HIS COURT, ETC. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY 
 F. JORDAN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1899 
 
 B* 
 

 copyrisht, 1867, 
 bt d. appleton and COMPANT. 
 
 ^' -' ■'' H Pi {) '0 
 
 La 
 
COl^TEI^TS. 
 
 CAMPO FOEMIO. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Dreadful Tidings .1 
 
 II. Minister von Thugut, 5 
 
 III. The Interview 11 
 
 IV. The Two Ministers 19 
 
 v. The House in the Gumpendorfer Suburb, . . 37 
 
 VI. Joseph Haydn 33 
 
 VII. General Bonaparte, . . .... 40 
 
 VIII. The Treaty of Campo Formio 48 
 
 THE YOUNG QUEEN OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 IX. Queen Louisa, 56 
 
 X. The King's Recollections, 67 
 
 XI. The Young King 74 
 
 XII. Frederick Gentz, 79 
 
 Xni. The Interview with the Minister of Finance, . . 86 
 
 XTV. The Memorial to Frederick William III., . . .94 
 
 XV. The Wedding 101 
 
 XVI. Marianne Meier 109 
 
 XVn. Love and Politics 118 
 
 FRANCE AND GERMANY. 
 
 XVIII. Citoyenne Josephine Bonaparte 139 
 
 XIX. Bonaparte and Josephine 137 
 
 XX. The Reception of the Ambassadors 146 
 
 XXI. Prance and Austria, 153 
 
 XXn. The Banner of Glory 159 
 
 XXIII Minister Thugut, . 169 
 
 XXIV. The Festival of the Volunteers, 178 
 
 XXV. The Riot 187 
 
 iii 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXVI. Victoria de Poutet, 197 
 
 XXVII. Eastadt 310 
 
 XXVm. The Justification, 218 
 
 XXIX. Th( Assassination, 328 
 
 XXX. Jean Debiy 335 
 
 XXXI, The Coalition 240 
 
 XXXn. The Friend of Peace, 246 
 
 XXXIII. The Legitimate Wife 254 
 
 XXXIV. The Eighteenth of Brumaire, .... 263 
 
 THE PEACE OF LUNEVILLE. 
 
 XXXV. Johannes MiUler 270 
 
 XXXVI. Thugut's FaU 279 
 
 XXXVII. Fanny von Amstein, 286 
 
 XXXVIII. The Rivals, ... .... 397 
 
 XXXIX. The Legacy 311 
 
 XL. The First Consul 331 
 
 XLI. Two German Savants, 333 
 
 THE THIRD COALITION. 
 
 XLII. The Emperor Napoleon, 345 
 
 XLIII. Napoleon and the German Princes, . . . 856 
 
 XLIV. Queen Louisa's Piano Lesson, .... 363 
 
 XLV. The Conference, 369 
 
 XLVI. The Oath at the Grave of Frederick the Great, . 378 
 
 THE FALL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 XLVn. Evil Tidings, 387 
 
 XLVIII. Before the Battle, 894 
 
 XLIX. "GottErhalte Franz den Kaiser !" . . . .400 
 
 L. Patriotism 404 
 
 LL Judith, 416 
 
 LII. Napoleon and the Prussian Minister, . . . 425 
 
 LIII. Judith and Holofernes 433 
 
 LTV. The Fall of the German Empii-e, ... 446 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF JENA. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 LV. A German Bookseller and Martyr, .... 458 
 
 LVI, The Arrest 466 
 
 LVII. A Wife's Love, 470 
 
 LVIII. The Women of Braunau 477 
 
 UX. The Last Hour 485 
 
 LX. Prussia's Declaration of War, 490 
 
 LXI. A Bad Omen 501 
 
 LXn. Before the Battle, 507 
 
 LXm, The German Philosopher, 513 
 
LOUISA OF PRUSSIA AND HER TIMES. 
 
 CAMPO FOEMIO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DREADFUL TIDINGS. 
 
 The population of Vienna was paralyzed with terror ; a heavy 
 gloom weighed down all minds, and the strength of the stoutest 
 hearts seemed broken. Couriers had airived to-day from the 
 camp of the army, and brought the dreadful tidings of an over- 
 whelming defeat of the Austrian forces. Bonaparte, the young 
 general of the French Republic, who, in the course of one year 
 (1796) , had won as many battles and as much glory as many a great 
 and illustrious warrior during the whole course of an eventful 
 life — Bonaparte had crossed the Italian Alps with the serried col- 
 umns of his army, and the most trusted military leaders of Austria 
 were fleeing before him in dismay. The hero of Lodi and Arcole 
 had won new victories, and these victories constantly diminished 
 the distance between his army and the menaced capital of Austria. 
 
 Archduke Charles had been defeated by Massena, and driven 
 back to Villach ; Bernadotte had reached Laybach ; the citadels of 
 Goritz, Triest, and Laybach had surrendered ; Klagenfurth, after 
 a most desperate struggle, had been forced to open its gates to the 
 conquerors ; Loudon, with his brave troops, had been dispersed in 
 the Tyrol ; Botzen had opened its gates to General Joubert, who, 
 after a brief sojourn, left that city in order to join Bonaparte, 
 who, in his victorious career, was advancing resistlessly toward 
 Vienna. 
 
 Such were tidings which the couriers had brought, and these 
 tidings were well calculated to produce a panic in the Austrian 
 capital. While the court and the nobility were concealing their 
 grief and their sorrows in the interior of their palaces, the populace 
 
2 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 rushed into the streets, anxiously inquiring for later intelligence, 
 and still hopeful that God in His mercy might perhaps send down 
 some ray of light that would dispel this gloom of anguish and 
 despair. 
 
 But a pall covered Vienna, and everybody looked sad and de- 
 jected. Suddenly some new movement of terror seemed to pervade 
 the crowd that had gathered on the Kohlmarkt* As if a storm 
 were raising up the waves of this black -sea of human figures, 
 the dense mass commenced to undulate to and fro, and a wail of 
 distress arose, growing louder and louder, until it finally broke 
 out into the terrible cry : " The emperor has deserted us ! the em- 
 peror and the empress have fled from Vienna ! " 
 
 While the masses were bewailing this new misfortune with the 
 manifestations of despair, while they assembled in small groups 
 to comment vociferously on this last and most dreadful event of 
 the day, all of a sudden Hungarian hussars galloped up and com- 
 manded the people, in the most peremptory manner, to stand aside 
 and to open a passage for the wagons which were about to enter 
 the market from one of the adjoining streets. 
 
 The people, intimidated by the flashing swords and harsh 
 words of the soldiers, fell back and gazed with an expression of 
 anxious suspense upon the strange procession which now made its 
 appearance. 
 
 This procession consisted of twelve wagons, apparently not des- 
 tined to receive living men, but the remains of the dead. The 
 broad and heavy wheels were not surmounted by ordinary carriage- 
 boxes, but by immense iron trunks, large enough to enclose a coflin 
 or a corpse ; and these trunks were covered with heavy blankets, 
 the four comers of which contained the imperial crown of Austria 
 in beautiful embroidery. Every one of these strange wagons was 
 drawn by six horses, mounted by jockeys in the imperial livery, 
 while the hussars of the emperor's Hungarian bodyguard rode in 
 serried ranks on both sides. 
 
 The horses drew these mysterious wagons slowly and heavily 
 through the streets ; the wheels rolled with a dull, thundering noise 
 over the uneven pavement ; and this noise resounded in the ears 
 and hearts of the pale and terrified spectators like the premonitory 
 signs of sonie new thunderstorm. 
 
 What was concealed in these mysterious wagons? What was 
 taken away from Vienna in so careful a manner and guarded so 
 closely? Everybody was asking these questions, but only in the 
 depth of his own heart, for nobody dared to interrupt the painful 
 and anxious silence by a loud word or an inquisitive phrase. 
 * Cabbage-Market. 
 
DREADFUL TIDINGS. 3 
 
 Every one seemed to be fascinated by the forbidding glances of the 
 hussais, and stunned by the dull rumbling of the wheels. 
 
 But, when finally the last wagon had disappeared in the next 
 street, when the last horseman of the hussar escort had left the 
 place, the eyes of the anxious spectators turned once more toward 
 the speakers who had previously addressed them, and told them of 
 the misfortunes of Austria, and of the brilliant victories of the 
 youthful French General Bonaparte. 
 
 "What do those wagons contain? " shouted the crowd. "We 
 want to know it, and we must know it 1 " 
 
 " If you must know it, why did you not ask the soldiers them- 
 selves?" shouted a sneering voice in the crowd. 
 
 * Yes, yes, " said another voice, " why did you not approach the 
 wagons and knock at the trunks? — may be the devil would have 
 jumped out and shown you his pretty face ! " 
 
 The people paid no attention to these sneering remarks. The 
 painful uncertainty, the anxious excitement continued unabated, 
 and everybody made surmises concerning the contents of the 
 wagons. 
 
 " The trunks contain perhaps the coffins of the imperial ancestors, 
 which have been removed from the Kapuzincrgruft, in order to 
 save them from the French," said an honest tailor to bis neighbor, 
 and this romantic idea rolled immediately, like an avalanche, 
 through the vast crowd. 
 
 "They are removing the remains of the old emperors from Vi- 
 enna ! " wailed the crowd. " Even the tombs are no longer safe ! 
 They are saving the corpses of the emperors, but they are forsak- 
 ing us — the living ! They abandon us to the tender mercies of the 
 enemy ! All who have not got the money to escape are lost ! Tho 
 French will come and kill us all ! " 
 
 " We will not permit it ! " shouted a stentorian voice. " We want 
 to keep the remains of Maria Theresa and of the great Emperor 
 Joseph here in Vienna. As long as they lived they loved the 
 people of the capital, and they will protect us in death. Come, 
 brethren, come; let us follow the wagons — let us stop them and 
 take the bodies back to the Kapuziner graft. " * 
 
 " Yes, let us follow the wagons and stop them, " yelled the crowd, 
 which now, when it could no longer see the flashing and threaten- 
 ing weapons of the soldiers, felt exceedingly brave. 
 
 Suddenly, however, these furious shouts and yells were inter- 
 rupted by a powerful voice which ordered the people to desist, and 
 they beheld a tall man who, with cat-like agility, climbed upon 
 the iron lamp-post in the centre of the square. 
 * Vaults of the Capuchins. 
 
4 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " Stop, stop ! " roared this man, extending his arms over the 
 crowd as if, a new Moses, he wanted to allay the fury of the sea 
 and cause it to stand still. 
 
 The crowd instantly obeyed this tremendous voice, and all these 
 indignant, anxious, and terrified faces now turned toward the 
 speaker who stood above them on top of the lamp-post. 
 
 "Don't make fools of yourselves,'' said he — "don't give these 
 Hungarians — who would be only too glad to quench their present 
 rage in German blood — a chance to break your bones. Have you 
 any arms to compel them to show you the wagons and their con- 
 tents? And even if you were armed, the soldiers would overpower 
 you, for most of you would run away as soon as a fight broke out, 
 and the balance of you would be taken to the calaboose. I will do 
 you the favor, however, to teU you aU about those wagons. Do 
 you want to know it? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, we do ! " shouted the crowd, emphatically, " Be quiet 
 over there ! — Stop your noise ! — Do not cry so loud ! — Hush ! — Let us 
 hear what is in the wagons. — Silence, silence ! " 
 
 Profound silence ensued — everybody held his breath and listened. 
 
 "Well, then, listen to me. These wagons do not contain the 
 remains of the former emperors, but the gold and the jewels of the 
 present emperor. It is the state treasure which those hussars are 
 escorting from Vienna to Presburg, because the government deems 
 it no longer safe here. Just think of what we have come to now- 
 a-days ! Our imperial family, and even the state treasure, mtist 
 flee from Vienna ! And whose fault is it that we have to suffer all 
 this? Who has brought these French down upon us? Who is in- 
 undating all Austria with war and its calamities? Shall I tell you 
 who is doing it? " 
 
 " Yes, tell us, tell us ! " shouted the crowd. " Woe unto him 
 who has plimged Austria into war and distress, and caused the 
 flight of the emperor and the removal of the treasure from 
 Vienna ! " 
 
 The speaker waited until the angry waves of the people's wrath 
 had subsided again, and then said in the clear, ringing tones of 
 his powerful voice : " It is the fault of our prime minister, Baron 
 von Thugut. He don't want us to make peace with the French. 
 He would rather ruin us all than to make peace with the French 
 Republic." 
 
 " But we don't want to be ruined ! " shouted the crowd — " we don't 
 want to be led to the shambles like sheep. No, no ; we want peace 
 — peace with France. Prime Minister Thugut shall give us peace 
 •with France ! " 
 
 " You had better go and inform the proud minister himself of 
 
MINISTER VON THUGUT. 5 
 
 what you want," said the speaker with a sneer. "First compel 
 him to do what the emperor and even our brave Archduke Charles 
 wanted to be done — compel the omnipotent minister to make 
 peace. " 
 
 " "We will go and ask him to give us peace, " said several voices 
 in the crowd. 
 
 " Yes, yes, we will do that ! " shouted others. " Come, come ; 
 let us aU go to the minister's house and ask him to give us back 
 the emperor and the state treasure, and to make peace with Bona- 
 parte. " 
 
 The speaker now descended hurriedly from the lamp-post. His 
 tall, herculean figure, however, towered above the crowd even after 
 his feet had touched the pavement. 
 
 "Come," said he to the bystanders in a loud and decided tone, 
 "I will take you to the minister's house, for I know where he lives, 
 and we will shout and raise such a storm there until the proud 
 gentlemaji condescends to comply with our wishes. " 
 
 He led the way rapidly, and the crowd, always easily guided 
 and pliable, followed its improvised leader with loud acclamations. 
 Only one idea, only one wish, animated all these men : they wanted 
 peace with France, lest Bonaparte might come to Vienna and lay 
 their beautiful capital in ashes in the same manner in which he 
 had treated so many Italian cities. 
 
 Their leader walked proudly at the head of the irregular proces- 
 sion, and as the crowd continued to shout and yell, "Peace with 
 France ! " he muttered, " I think I have accomplished a good deal 
 to-day. The archduke will be satisfied with what I have done, and 
 we may compel the minister after all to make peace with France. " 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MINISTER VON THUGUT. 
 
 The prime minister. Baron von Thugut, was in his cabinet, in 
 eager consultation with the new police minister, Count von Saurau, 
 who had given him an account of the safe removal of the imperial 
 state treasure which, like the emperor and the empress, had set 
 out for Hungary. I 
 
 "All right! all right!" said Thugut, with a sinister chuckle. 
 "In Hungary both will be safe enough, fori think I have intimi- 
 dated the Hungarians so much that they will remain very quiet 
 and very humble. " 
 
 "Yom- excellency refers to the conspiracy which we discovered 
 
6 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 there two years ago, " said Count Saurau, smiling, " and which the 
 accursed traitors expiated on the gallows I " 
 
 " De mortuis nil nisi bene ! " exclaimed Thugut. " We are under 
 many obligations to these excellent traitors, for they have enabled 
 us to render the Hungarians submissive, just as the traitors who 
 conspired here at Vienna two years ago enabled us to do the same 
 thing to the population of the capital. A conspiracy discovered 
 by the authorities is always a good thing, because it furnishes us 
 with an opportunity to make an example, to tell the nation through 
 the bloody heads of the conspirators : 'Thus, thus, all will be treated 
 who dare to plot against the government and against their masters ! ' 
 The Viennese have grown very humble and obedient since the day 
 they saw Hebenstreit, the commander of the garrison, on the scaf- 
 fold, and Baron Eiedel, the tutor of the imperial children, at the 
 pillory. And the Hungarians, too, have learned to bow their heads 
 ever since the five noble conspirators were beheaded on the Oene- 
 raliviese, in front of the citadel of Ofen. Believe me, count, that 
 day has contributed more to the submissiveness of Hungary than 
 all the favors and privileges which the Emperors of Austria have 
 bestowed upon the Magyars. Nations are always frivolous and im- 
 pudent children : he who tries to educate them tenderly is sure to 
 spoil them ; but raise them in fear and trembling, and they will 
 become quiet and obedient men. And for that reason, I tell you 
 once more, don't call those men, now that they are dead, accursed 
 traitors, for they have been very useful to us ; they have been the 
 insti'ument with which we have chastised the whole overbearing 
 people of Austria and Hungary, and those were blessed days for us 
 when we mowed down the high-bom traitors of both countries. The 
 sword of our justice performed a noble work on that day, for it 
 struck down a savant and a poet, a count and a distinguished pre- 
 late. Oh, what a pity that there was no prince among them !" 
 
 "Well, a prince might have been found likewise," said Count 
 Saurau, "and perhaps he may get into our meshes on some other 
 occasion. Your excellency is an adroit hunter." 
 
 "And you are an excellent pointer for me. You scent such 
 things on the spot, " Count Thugut exclaimed, and broke out into 
 a loud burst of laughter. 
 
 Count Saurau laughed also, and took good care not to betray 
 how cruelly the joke had wounded his aristdcratic pride. The 
 Austrian aristocracy was accustomed to such insults at the hands 
 of the powerful and proud prime minister, and everybody knew 
 that Thugut, the son of a poor ship-builder, in the midst of his 
 greatness, liked to recall his modest descent, and to humble the 
 nobility through the agency of the ship- builder's son. 
 
MINISTER VON THUGUT. 7 
 
 " Your excellency will permit me to render myself at once worthy 
 of the praise you have kindly bestowed upon me, " said the police 
 minister, after a short pause. " I believe we have discovered an- 
 other conspiracy here. True, it is only an embryo as yet, but it 
 may grow into something if we give it the necessary time." 
 
 "What is it, Saurau?" said Thugut, joyfully — "tell me at once 
 what it is ! A conspiracy — a good, sound conspiracy ? " 
 
 " Yes, a most malignant and important conspiracy 1 A conspir- 
 acy against your excellency's life 1 " 
 
 "Bah! — is that all?" said Thugut carelessly, and with evident 
 disappointment. "I was in hopes that by this time you would 
 hand over to me some high-bom aristocrats who bad held secret 
 intercourse with that execrable French Republic. It would have 
 been a splendid example for all those hare-brained fools who are so 
 fond of repeating the three talismanic words of the republican 
 regicides, and who are crazy with delight when talking of liberie, 
 egalite, fratemiti. I would have liked to chastise a few of these 
 madmen, in order to put a stop to the prevailing republican enthu- 
 siasm. But instead of that, you talk to me of a conspiracy only 
 aimed at myself ! " 
 
 " Only at yourself ! " repeated the count, with great indignation. 
 "As if it were not the most dreadful calamity for Austria if she 
 should be deprived of your services. You know that we are stand- 
 ing on the verge of a precipice ; in the interior, the liberal and 
 seditious desires which the senseless reforms of the Emperor Joseph 
 have stirred up, are still prevalent, and the people only submit with 
 reluctance and with spiteful feelings to the reforms which your 
 excellency has inaugurated with a view to the best interests of 
 Austria. Abroad, on the other hand, the blood-stained French Re- 
 public incites the malecontents to imitate its own infamies ; they 
 would like to see the victorious banners of General Bonaparte here 
 in order to have his assistance in establishing a republican govern- 
 ment in Austria. " 
 
 " It is true, " said Thugut, " the Austrian empire, at the present 
 time, is exposed to great dangers from within and without; the 
 reins must be held very firmly in order to conduct the ship of state 
 safely through the breakers, and I believe I am the man to do it. 
 You see, count, I do not underrate my ovm importance. I know 
 only too well that Austria needs me. Still, the plots and conspira- 
 cies that are merely directed against myself, make me laugh. For 
 let me tell you, my dear little count, I really fancy that my person 
 has nothing to fear either from daggers, or from pistols, ©r from 
 poisoned cups. Do you believe in a Providence, count? Ah ! — 
 you look surprised, and wonder how such a question could fall from 
 2 
 
8 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 infidel lips like mine. Yes, yes, I am an infidel, and I honestly 
 confess that the heaven of Mohammed, where you are smoking 
 your chibouk, seated on cushions of clouds, while houris, radiant 
 with beautj', are tickling the soles of your feet with rosy fingers, 
 appeal's to me by far more desirable than the Christian heaven where 
 you are to stand in eternal idleness before the throne of God Al- 
 mighty, singing hymns, and praising His greatness. Ah ! during 
 the happy days of my sojourn at Constantinople, I have had a slight 
 foretaste of the heaven of Mohammed ; and again, in the tedious 
 days of Maria Theresa, I have had a foretaste of the heaven of 
 Christianity !" 
 
 "And which Providence did your excellency refer to?" asked 
 Saurau. " I pray your excellency to tell me, because your faith is 
 to be the model of mine. " 
 
 " I believe in a Providence that never does any thing in vain, 
 and never creates great men in order to let them be crushed, like 
 flies, by miserable monkeys. That is the reason why I am not 
 afraid of any conspiracy against myself. Providence has created 
 me to be useful to Austria, and to be her bulwark against the surg- 
 ing waves of the revolution, and against the victorious legions of 
 General Bonaparte. I am an instrument of Providence, and there- 
 fore it will protect me as long as it needs me. But if, some day, 
 it should need me no longer, if it intended then that I should fall, 
 all my precautions would be fruitless, and all your spies, my dear 
 count, would be unable to stay the hand of the assassin. " 
 
 " You want me to understand, then, that no steps whatever are 
 to be taken against the criminals conspiring against your excel- 
 lency's life?" 
 
 " By no means, count — indeed, that would be an exaggeration of 
 fatalism. I rely greatly on your sagacity and on the vigilance of 
 your servants, count. Let them watch the stupid populace — see to 
 it ihat faux fr^res always attend the meetings of my enemies, and 
 whenever they inform you of conspiracies against myself, why, the 
 nialefactors shall be spirited away without any superfluous noise. 
 Thank God, we have fortresses and state prisons, with walls too thick 
 for shrieks or groans to penetrate, and that no one is able to break 
 through. The public should leam as little as possible of the fate of 
 these criminals. The public punishment of an assassin who failed 
 to strike me, only instigates ten others to try if they cannot hit me 
 better. But the noiseless disappearance of a culprit fills their cow- 
 ardly souls with horror and dismay, and the ten men shrink back 
 from the intended deed, merely because they do not know in what 
 manner their eleventh accomplice has expiated his crime. The dis- 
 appearance of prisoners, the oubliettes, are just what is needed. 
 
MINISTER VON THUGUT. 9 
 
 You must quietly remove your enemies and adversaries — it must 
 seem as if some hidden abyss had ingulfed them ; everybody, then, 
 will think this abyss might open one day before his own feet, and 
 he grows cautious, uneasy, and timid. Solely by the wisdom of 
 secret punishments, and through the terror inspired by its mysteri- 
 ous tribunals, Venice has been able to prolong her existence for so 
 many centuries. Because the spies of the Three were believed to be 
 ubiquitous — and because everybody was afraid of the two lions on 
 the Piazzetta, the Venetians obeyed these invisible rulers whom 
 they did not know, and whose avenging hand was constantly hang- 
 ing over them. " 
 
 " Now, however, it seems that a visible hand, a hand of iron, is 
 going to strike away the invisible hands of the Three, " said Count 
 Saurau, quickly. "Bonaparte seems to desire to force Venice, too, 
 into the pale of his Italian republics. The city is full of French 
 emissaries, who, by means of the most eloquent and insidious ap- 
 peals, try to bring about a rising of the Venetians against their 
 rulers, in order — but hark !" said the count, suddenly interrupting 
 himself. "What is that? Don't you hear the clamor in the street, 
 right under our window?" 
 
 He paused, and, like the minister, turned his eyes and ears 
 toward the window. A confused noise, loud shouts and yells, re- 
 sounded below. 
 
 The two ministers, without uttering a word, arose from their 
 arm-chairs and hurried to one of the windows, which looked upon 
 the wide street extending from the Kohlmarkt to the minister's 
 palace. A vast mass of heads, broad shoulders, and uplifted arms, 
 was visible there, and the angry roar of the excited populace was 
 approaching already the immediate neighborhood of the palace. 
 
 "It seems, indeed, as if these honorable representatives of the 
 people, intended to pay me a visit, " said Thugut, with great com- 
 posure. "Just listen how the fellows are roaring my name, as if it 
 were the refrain of some rollicking beer-song !" 
 
 " Why, it is a regular riot I" exclaimed the police minister, 
 angrily. " Your excellency will permit me to withdraw — " 
 
 He left the window hastily, and took his hat, but Thugut's vig- 
 orous hand kept him back. 
 
 " Where are you going, count?" SEfid he, smiling. 
 
 " To the governor of Vienna, " said Saurau. " I want to ask him 
 why he permits this nonsense, and order him to disperse the rabble 
 in the most summary manner !" 
 
 " Pray, stay here, " said Thugut, quietly. " The governor of Vi- 
 enna is a man of gi-eat sagacity, who knows perfectly well how we 
 have to treat the people. Why, it would be an unparalleled tyranny 
 
10 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 if the poor people were not even allowed to give the prime minister 
 their good advice, and tell him what they think of the state of 
 affairs. Just give them this permission, and they will believe they 
 have performed a most heroic deed, and it will seem to them as if 
 they could boast of great liberty. True political wisdom, my dear 
 little count, commands us to give the people a semblance of liberty ; 
 we thereby succeed in dazzling their eyes so well that they do not 
 perceive that they have no real liberty whatever. " 
 
 The clamor and noise in the street below had increased in fury. 
 The people, whose dense masses now entirely obstructed the street, 
 impetuously moved up to the portal of the ministerial palace, the 
 front door of which had been locked and barred already by the cau- 
 tious porter. Vigorous fists hammered violently against the door, 
 and as an accompaniment to this terrible music of their leaders, the 
 people howled and yelled their furious refrain : " We want to see 
 the minister ! He shall give us peace I peace ! peace 1" 
 
 "Ah! I know what it means!" exclaimed Count Saurau, gnash- 
 ing his teeth. "Your enemies have instigated these scoundrels. 
 The party that would like to overthrow you and me, that wants to 
 make peace with France at any price, and to keep Belgium united 
 with Austria — this party has hired the villains below to get up a 
 riot. They want to compel your excellency either to resign or to 
 comply with the wishes of the people, and make peace with the 
 French Republic. '' 
 
 Thugut laughed. " Compel me ! " said he, laconically. 
 
 At that moment the mob yelled louder than ever, and the shout — 
 " Peace ! we want peace !" shook the windows. 
 
 Simultaneously the furious blows against the front door redou- 
 bled in violence. 
 
 "Assuredly, I cannot stand this any longer !" exclaimed the police 
 minister, perfectly beside himself. " I ought not to listen quietly to 
 this outrage. " 
 
 "No," said Thugut, very quietly, "we won't listen to it any 
 longer. This is my breakfast- hour, and I invite you to be my guest. 
 Come, let us go to the dining-room. " 
 
 He took the count's arm, and proceeded with hina to the adjoin- 
 ing room. Breakfast for eight persons was served in this room, for 
 Baron Thugut was in the habit of keeping every day open table for 
 seven uninvited guests, and his intimate acquaintances, as well as 
 his special favorites, never failed to call on the minister at least 
 once a week during his well-known breakfast and dinner hours. 
 
 To-day, however, the minister's rapid and inquisitive glances 
 did not discover a single guest. Nobody was in the room except the 
 eight footmen who stood behind the chairs. Well aware of their 
 
THE INTERVIEW. 11 
 
 master's stern and indomitable spirit, they occupied their usual 
 places, but their faces were very pale, and their eyes turned with 
 an expression of extreme anxiety toward the windows which, just 
 then, trembled again under the heavy, thundering blows levelled 
 at the front door. 
 
 "Cowards !" muttered Thugut, while walking to his chair at the 
 upper end of the table and beckoning Count Saurau to take a seat at 
 his side. 
 
 At this moment, however, the door was hastily opened, and the 
 steward, pale and with distorted features, rushed into the room. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE INTERVIEW. 
 
 " Excuse me, your excellency, " said he, " but this time they are 
 assuredly in earnest. The people are storming the front door — tlie 
 hinges are beginning to give way, and in fifteen minutes, at the 
 latest, the scoundrels wiU have forced an enti-ance !" 
 
 "You had no business to close the door," said the minister. 
 "Who ordered you to do bo? Who ordered you to barricade the 
 house, as if it were a fortress — as if we had a bad conscience and 
 were afraid of the people?" 
 
 The steward looked aghast, and did not know what to reply. 
 
 " Gro down-stairs at once, " continued the minister ; " order the 
 porter to open the door, and admit everybody. Show the people 
 up-stairs ; and you rascals who are standing there with pale faces 
 and trembling knees, open the two folding-doors so that they can 
 get in without hurting each other. Now do what I have told you. " 
 
 The steward bowed with a sigh expressive of the agony he felt, 
 and hurriedly left the room. 
 
 The footmen, meanwhile, hastened to open the folding-doors of 
 the dining-room, as well as those of the antechamber. The two 
 gentlemen at the table obtaining thereby a full view of the landing 
 of the large staircase, directly in front of the open door of the first 
 room. 
 
 "And now, Germain, " said Thugut to the footman behind his 
 chair, "now let us have our breakfast. Be wise, my dear count, 
 and follow my example ; take some of this sherbet. It cools the 
 blood, and, at the same time, is quite invigorating. Drink, dear 
 count, drink ! Ah I just see, my cook has prepared for us to-day a 
 genuine Turkish meal, for there is a turkey boiled with rice and 
 paprica. The chief cook of the grand vizier himself furnished me 
 
12 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the receipt for this exquisite dish, and I may venture to assert that 
 you might look for it everywhere in Vienna without finding it so 
 well prepared as at my table. " 
 
 Heavy footsteps and confused voices were now heard on the stair- 
 case. 
 
 " They are coming— they really dare to enter here I" said Count 
 Saurau, trembling with anger. "Pardon me, your excellency; I 
 admire your heroic equanimity, but I am unable to imitate it. It 
 is an utter impossibility for me to sit here calmly and passively, 
 while a gang of criminals is bold enough to break into your house !" 
 
 " I beg your pardon, count ; these people did not break into my 
 house, but I voluntarily opened the door to admit them, " said Baron 
 Thugut, coolly. " And as far as your official position is concerned, 
 I pray you to forget it for half an hour, and remember only that I 
 have the honor of seeing you — a rare guest— at my table. Let me 
 beg you to take some of that fowl ; it is really delicious !" 
 
 Count Saurau, heaving a lond sigh, took a piece of the fowl 
 which Germain presented to him, and laid it on the silver plate that 
 stood before him. But just as he was going to taste the first morsel, 
 he hesitated, and looked steadily through the open doors. Several 
 heads with shaggy hair and flashing eyes emerged above the railing 
 of the staircase ; many others followed — now the entire figures be- 
 came visible, and in the next moment, from twenty to thirty wild- 
 looking men reached the landing, behind whom, on the staircase, a 
 dense mass of other heads rose to the surface. 
 
 But the loud shouts, the fierce swearing and yelling, had ceased ; 
 the awe with which the intruders were filled by the aristocratic 
 appearance of every thing they beheld, had hushed their voices, and 
 even the intrepid orator, who previously, on the KohlmarM, had 
 excited the people to commit acts of violence, and brought them to 
 the minister's house — even he stood now hesitating and undecided, 
 at the door of the dining-room, casting glances full of savage hatred 
 and rage into the interior. 
 
 Thugut took apparently no notice whatever of what was going 
 on ; his breakfast entirely absorbed him, and he devoted his whole 
 attention to a large piece of the turkey, which he seemed to relish 
 greatly. 
 
 Count Saurau merely feigned to eat, and looked steadfastly at his 
 plate, as he did not want the rioters to read in his eyes the furious 
 wrath that filled his breast. 
 
 The men of the people did not seem to feel quite at ease on be- 
 holding this strange and unexpected scene, which all of a sudden 
 commenced to cool their zeal and heroism, like a wet blanket. They 
 had triumphantly penetrated into the palace, shouting vociferously, 
 
THE INTERVIEW. 13 
 
 and quite sure that the minister would appear before them trembling 
 and begging for mercy ; and now, to their utter amazement, they 
 beheld him sitting very calmly at the breakfast-table I 
 
 There was something greatly embarrassing for the poor men in 
 this position. They suddenly grew quite sober, and even intimi- 
 dated, and many of those who had ascended the staircase so boister- 
 ously and triumphantly, now deemed it prudent to withdraw as 
 quietly as possible. The number of the heads that had appeared 
 above the balusters was constantly decreasing, and only about twenty 
 of the most resolute and intrepid remained at the door of the ante- 
 room. 
 
 At length, the speaker who had addressed them on the Kohlmarkt, 
 conscious of his pledges and of the reward promised to him, over- 
 came his momentary bashf ulness and stepped boldly into the ante- 
 room, where the others, encouraged by his example, followed him 
 at once. 
 
 Baron Thugut now raised his eyes with an air of great indiffer- 
 ence from his plate and glanced at the men who with noisy steps 
 approached through the anteroom. Then turning to the footman 
 behind him. he said, in a loud voice : 
 
 ■'Germain, go and ask these gentlemen if they want to see me? 
 Ask them likewise whom you will have the honor to announce to 
 your master?" 
 
 The men, overhearing these words, grew stiU more confused 
 when the servant in his gorgeous livery stepped up to them, and, 
 with a most condescending smile, informed them of the errand his 
 master had given to him. 
 
 But now it was out of the question to withdraw, as there was 
 nothing left to them but to arm themselves with whatever pluck and 
 boldness they had at their command in order to carry out the role 
 they had undertaken to play in the most becoming manner. 
 
 " Yes, " said the speaker of the Kohlmarkt, loudly and resolutely, 
 " we want to see the minister ; and as for our names, I am Mr. 
 Wenzel, of the tailors' guild ; my neighbor here is Mr. Kahlbaum, 
 also a tailor ; and others may mention their own names, so that this 
 polite gentleman may answer them to his excellency." 
 
 But none of the other men complied with this request ; on the 
 contrary, all looked timidly aside, a misgiving dawning in their 
 minds that such a loud announcement of their names might not be 
 altogether without danger for them. 
 
 Germain did not wait for the final conclusion, but hastily returned 
 to his master, in order to inform him of what he had heard. 
 
 "Mr. Wenzel, of the tailors' guild, Mr. Tailor Kahlbaum, and 
 the other gentlemen, whatever their names may be, are welcome, " 
 
14 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 said the minister, aloud, but without interrupting his meal for a 
 single moment. 
 
 The men thereupon advanced to the door of the dining-room. 
 But here a proud and imperious glance from the minister caused 
 them suddenly to halt. 
 
 " I believe you have breakfasted already?" asked Thugut. 
 
 " Yes, we have breakfasted already, " replied Mr. Wenzel, in a 
 surly voice. 
 
 "Well, unluckily, I have not, and so I request you to let me 
 finish my breakfast first," said Thugut, attacking once more the 
 wing of the turkey on his plate. 
 
 A long pause ensued. The men stood in the most painful embar- 
 rassment at the door, where the minister's stern glance had arrested 
 them, and a most unpleasant apprehension of what might be the 
 result of this scene began to take hold of their minds. Flashing 
 sword-blades and muskets aimed at their breasts would not have 
 frightened them so much as the aspect of the calm, proud, and for- 
 bidding figure of the minister, and the utter indifference, the feel- 
 ing of perfect security with which he took his breakfast in full view 
 of a seditious mob filled the rioters with serious apprehensions for 
 the safety of their own persons. 
 
 "I am sure a good many soldiers and policemen are hidden about 
 the palace, " thought Mr. Wenzel, " and that is the reason why he 
 permitted us to enter, and why he is now so calm and unconcerned ; 
 for as soon as we get into the dining-room, those fine-looking foot- 
 men will lock the door behind, and the soldiers will rush out of that 
 other door and arrest us." 
 
 These pleasant reflections were interrupted by another terrible 
 glance from the minister, which caused poor Mr. Wenzel to tremble 
 violently. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, if you please, come in ; I have finished my 
 breakfast, " said Thugut, with perfect coolness. " I am quite ready 
 and anxious to hear what you wish to say to me. So, come in, 
 come in !" 
 
 The men who stood behind Mr. Wenzel moved forward, but the 
 tall, herculean figure of the member of the tailors' guild resisted 
 them and compelled them to stand still. 
 
 "No, I beg your excellency's pardon," said Mr. Wenzel, fully 
 determined not to cross the fatal threshold of the dining-room, •' it 
 would not become poor men like us to enter your excellency's din- 
 ing-room. Our place is in the anteroom — there we will wait until 
 your excellency will condescend to listen to us. " 
 
 This humble language, this tremulous voice, that did not tally 
 at all with the air of a lion-hearted and outspoken popular leader, 
 
THE INTERVIEW. 15 
 
 which Mr. Wenzel had assumed in the street, struck terror and con- 
 sternation into the souls of the men who had so rashly followed him 
 into the palace. 
 
 The minister rose ; his broad-shouldered figure loomed up proudly, 
 a sarcastic smile played on his angular and well-marked features ; 
 his shaggy white eyebrows convulsively contracted up to this mo- 
 ment — the only outward symptom of anger which Thugut, even 
 under the most provoking circumstances, ever exhibited — relaxed 
 and became calm and serene again, as he approached the men with 
 slow and measured steps. 
 
 " Well, tell me now what you have come for? What can I do for 
 you?" asked Thugut, in the full consciousness of his power. 
 
 "We want to implore your excellency to give us peace. The 
 poor people — " 
 
 "Peace with whom?" calmly asked the minister. 
 
 " Peace with France, your excellency — peace with General Bona- 
 parte, who is said to be a magician, bewitching everybody, and 
 capable of conquering all countries by a glance, by a motion of his 
 hands, whenever he wishes to do so. If we do not make peace, he 
 will conquer Austria too, come to Vienna, and proclaim himself 
 emperor ; whereupon he will dismiss our own wise and good minis- 
 ters, and give us French masters. But we would like to keep our 
 emperor and our excellent ministers, who take care of us so pater- 
 nally. And that is the only reason why we have come here — just to 
 implore yoirr excellency to have mercy with the poor people and 
 make peace, so that the emperor may return to Vienna, and bring 
 his state treasury back to the capital. Yes, men, that is all we 
 wanted, is it not? We just wanted to pray your excellency to give 
 us peace !" 
 
 "Yes, your excellency," shouted the men, "have mercy with us, 
 and give us peace !" 
 
 "Well, for angels of peace, you have penetrated rather rudely 
 into my house, " said the minister, sternly. " You got up a riot in 
 order to obtain peace. " 
 
 " It was merely our anxiety that made us so hasty and impetuous, " 
 said Mr. Wenzel, deprecatingly. " We ask your excellency's pardon 
 if we have frightened you. " 
 
 "Frightened me !" echoed Thugut, in a tone of unmeasured con- 
 tempt. "As if you were the men to frighten me! I knew that 
 you would come, and I knew, too, who had bribed you to do it. 
 Yes, yes, I know tliey have paid you well, Mr. Wenzel, to get up 
 a riot — they have given you shiping ducats for leading a mob 
 into my house. But will their ducats be able to get you out of it 
 again?" 
 
16 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Mr. Wenzel turned very pale ; he uttered a shriek and staggered 
 back a few paces. 
 
 "Your excellency knew — " he said. 
 
 " Yes, I knew, " continued Thugut, sternly, " that men who have 
 no regard for the honor and dignity of their country — men who are 
 stupid enough to believe that it would be better to submit volun- 
 tarily to the dominion of the French Republic, instead of resisting 
 the demands of the regicides manfully and unyieldingly — that these 
 men have hired you to open your big mouth, and howl about things 
 which you do not understand, and which do not concern you at all. " 
 
 At this moment, shrieks of terror and loud supplications, min- 
 gled with violent and threatening voices, and words of military 
 command were heard outside. 
 
 The men turned anxiously around, and beheld with dismay that 
 the staircase, which only a few minutes ago was crowded with 
 people, was now entirely deserted. 
 
 Suddenly, however, two men appeared on the landing, who were 
 little calculated to allay the apprehensions of the rioters, for they 
 wore the uniform of that dreaded and inexorable police who, under 
 Thugut's administration, had inaugurated a perfect reign of terror 
 in Vienna. 
 
 The two officers approached the door of the anteroom, where they 
 were met by Germain, the footman, who conversed with them in a 
 whisper. Germain then hastened back to the door of the dining- 
 room and walked in, scarcely deigning to cast a contemptuous 
 glance on the dismayed rioters. 
 
 "Well, what is it?" asked Thugut. 
 
 " Your excellency, the chief of police sends word that his men 
 are posted at all the doors of the palace, and wiU prevent anybody 
 from getting out. He has cleared the streets, besides, and dispersed 
 the rioters. The chief of police, who is in the hall below, where he 
 is engaged in taking down the names of the criminals who are yet 
 in the house, asks for your excellency's further orders. " 
 
 "Ah, he does not suspect that his own chief, the minister of 
 police is present," said Thugut, turning with a smile to Count 
 Saurau, who, being condemned to witness this scene in the capacity 
 of an idle and passive spectator, had withdrawn into a bay-window, 
 where he had quietly listened to the whole proceedings. 
 
 " My dear count, will you permit the chief of police to come here 
 and report to yourself?" asked Thugut. 
 
 " I pray you to give him this permission, '' replied the count, ap- 
 proaching his colleague. 
 
 Germain hastened back to the policemen in the anteroom. 
 
 " And what are we — ?" asked Mr. Wenzel, timidly. 
 
THE INTERVIEW. 17 
 
 " You will wait !" thundered the minister. " Withdraw into yon- 
 der corner ! may be the chief of police will not see you there. " 
 
 They withdrew tremblingly into one of the corners of the ante- 
 room, and did not even dare to whisper to each other, but the glances 
 they exchanged betrayed the anguish of their hearts. 
 
 The two ministers, meanwhile, had likewise gone into the ante- 
 room, and, while waiting for the arrival of the chief of police, con- 
 versed in a whisper. 
 
 In the course of a few minutes, the broad-shouldered and erect 
 figure of the chief of the Viennese police appeared in the official 
 uniform so well known to the people of the capital, who, for good 
 reasons, were in the utmost dread of the terrible functionary. When 
 the rioters beheld him, they turned even paler than before ; now 
 they thought that every thing was lost, and gave way to the most 
 gloomy forebodings. 
 
 Count Saurau beckoned the chief to enter ; the latter had a paper 
 in his right hand. 
 
 " Your report, " said the count, rather harshly. " How was it possi- 
 ble that this riot could occur? Was nobody there to disperse the 
 seditious scoundrels before they made the attack on his excellency's 
 palace?" 
 
 The chief of police was silent, and only glanced anxiously at 
 Baron Thugut. The latter smiled, and turned to the count : 
 
 "I beg you, my dear count, don't be angiy with our worthy chief 
 of police. I am satisfied he has done his whole duty. " 
 
 " The whole house is surrounded, " hastily added the chief. " No- 
 body can get out, and I have taken down the names of all the 
 criminals. " 
 
 " Except these here, " said Thugut, pointing at Mr. Wenzel and 
 his unfortunate companions, who vainly tried to hide themselves in 
 their corner. "But that is unnecessary, inasmuch as they have 
 given us their names already, and informed us of their wishes. 
 Then, sir, the whole honorable meeting of the people is caught in 
 my house as in a mouse-trap?" 
 
 " Yes, we have got them all, " said the chief. " Now, I would like 
 to know of his excellency, the minister of police, what is to be done 
 with them. " 
 
 "I beg you, my dear count," said Thugut, turning to Count 
 Saurau, " let me have my way in this matter, and treat these men in 
 a spirit of hospitality. I have opened them the doors of my palace 
 and admitted them into my presence, and it would be ungenerous 
 not to let them depart again. Do not read the list of the names 
 which the chief holds in his hand, but permit him to give it to me, 
 and order him to withdraw his men from my house, and let the 
 
18 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 prisoners retire without molestation, and with all the honors of 
 war. " 
 
 "Your will shall be done, of course, your excellency, '' said the 
 count, bowing respectfully. " Deliver your list to the prime minis- 
 ter, and go down-stairs to carry out the wishes of his excellency. " 
 
 The chief delivered the list of the captured rioters, and left the 
 room, after saluting the two dignitaries in the most respectful 
 manner. 
 
 "And we — ? may we go likewise, your excellency?" asked Mr. 
 Wenzel, timidly. 
 
 "Yes, you may go," said Thugut. "But only on one condition. 
 Mr. Wenzel, you must first recite to me the song which the honora- 
 ble people were howling when you came here. " 
 
 "Ah, your excellency, I only know a single verse by heart !" 
 
 " Well, then, let us have that verse. Out with it ! I tell you, you 
 will not leave this room until you have recited it. Never fear, 
 however ; for whatever it may be, I pledge you my word that no 
 harm shall befall you. " 
 
 " Very well, " said Mr. Wenzel, desperately. " I believe the verse 
 reads as follows : 
 
 " ' Triumph 1 triumph I es siegt die gute Sache 1 
 Die Tiirkenknechte flieh'n I 
 Laut tOnt der Donner der gerechten Sache, 
 Nach Wien und nach Berlin. ' " * 
 
 " Indeed, it is a very fine song, " said Thugut, " and can you tell 
 me who has taught you this song? " 
 
 " No, your excellency, I could not do it. Nobody knows it be- 
 sides. It was printed on a small handbill, and circulated all over 
 the city. A copy was thrown into every house, and the working- 
 men, when setting out early one morning, found it in the streets. " 
 
 " And did you not assist in circulating this excellent song, my 
 dear Mr. Wenzel?" 
 
 " I ? God and the Holy Virgin forbid ! " exclaimed Mr. Wenzel, in 
 dismay. " I have merely sung it, like all the rest of us, and sung 
 it to the time which I heard from the others. " 
 
 "Well, well, you did right, for the melody ia really pleasing. 
 Such songs generally have the peculiarity that not a single word of 
 them is true ; people call that poetry. Now, you may go, my poeti- 
 
 * "Triumph 1 triumph! the good cause conquers I 
 The despots' minions flee I 
 The thunders of the just cause 
 Eeach Vienna and Berlin I" 
 This hjrmn was universally sung at that time (irgT) in all the Gterman States, 
 not merely by the popular classes, but likewise in the exclusive circles of the 
 aristocracy. It is found in a good many memoirs of that period. 
 
THE TWO MINISTERS. 19 
 
 cal Mr. Wenzel, and you others, whom the people sent with this 
 pacific mission to me. Tell your constituents that I will this time 
 comply mercifully with their wishes, and give them peace, that is, 
 I will let them go, and not send them to the calaboose, as they have 
 abundantly deserved. But if you try this game again, and get up 
 another riot, and sing that fine song once more, you may rest assured 
 that you will be taken to jail and taught there a most unpleasant 
 lesson. Begone now !" 
 
 He turned his back on the trembling citizens, and took no notice 
 of the respectful bows with which they took leave of him, where- 
 upon they retired with soft but hasty steps, like mice escaping from 
 the presence of the dreaded lion. 
 
 " And now, my dear count, as we have finished our breakfast, let 
 us return to my cabinet, for I believe we have to settle some addi- 
 tional matters. " 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TWO MINISTERS. 
 
 Baron Thugut took the count's arm and led him back to his 
 cabinet. 
 
 " I read a question in your eyes, " he said, smiling ; " may I know 
 what it is?" 
 
 " "Why, yes, your excellency, " replied Count Savu'au. 
 
 "Let me ask you, then, what all this means? • Why did you ex- 
 cuse the chief of police, who evidently had not done his duty and 
 been guilty of a lack of vigilance? And why did you let these ras- 
 cals go, instead of having them whipped to death?" 
 
 "You were away from Vienna, count? You were absent from 
 the capital because you accompanied their majesties on their trip to 
 Presburg, and have returned only an hour ago. Am I right?" 
 
 " Perfectly right, your excellency. " 
 
 " Then you could not be aware of what has happened meanwhile 
 here in Vienna, and the chief of police could not have informed you 
 of the particulars. Well, then, he came to me and told me that an in- 
 surrection had been planned against the two emperors — (I believe 
 you know that the people does us the honor of calling us the two 
 emperors of Vienna) , and that the faction hostile to us was going to 
 make an attempt to overthrow us. A great deal of money had been 
 distributed among the populace. Prince Carl von Schwarzenburg 
 himself had dropped some indiscreet remarks. In short, the faction 
 which hates me because I do not deem seditious Belgium a priceless 
 jewel of the crown of Austria, and do not advise the emperor to keep 
 
20 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 that remote province at any price — the faction which detests hoth 
 of us because we do not join its enthusiastic hymns in honor of the 
 French Republic and the republican General Bonaparte — this fac- 
 tion has hired the miserable rabble to represent the people, to break 
 my windows, and frighten me sufficiently to make me ready and 
 willing to adopt its insane policy. The chief of police came to see 
 me yesterday. He gave me an account of the whole affair, and de- 
 clared himself fully prepared to protect my palace, and to nip the 
 riot in the bud. I begged him not to do any thing of the kind, but 
 to look on passively and attentively, and only come to my palace 
 after the mob had entered it. I was very anxious for once to find 
 out something definite about the strength, courage, and importance 
 of the opposing faction. It is always desirable to know one's ad- 
 versaries, and to learn as accurately as possible what they are capa- 
 ble of. Besides, it was a splendid opportunity for the police to 
 discover the sneaking demagogues and ringleaders of the mob, and 
 to take down their names for the purpose of punishing them by and 
 by, as we Europeans unfortunately cannot imitate the example of 
 that blessed Queen of Egypt, who took a thousand conspirators by 
 the tails, and, holding them in her left hand, cut off their thousand 
 seditious heads with one stroke of the sword in her right hand. 
 Unfortunately, we have to act by far more cautiously. '' 
 
 " But why did you dismiss all the rioters this time without giving 
 them into custody?" asked the count, moodily. 
 
 " Why, we have them all by the tails, anyhow, " laughed Thugut, 
 " for have not we got the list of the names here? Ah, my dear little 
 count, perhaps you thought I would have gone in my generosity so 
 far as to tear this list, throw the pieces away, and avert my head, 
 like the pious bishop who found a murderer under his bed, permitted 
 him to escape, and averted his head in order not to see the fugitive's 
 face and may be recognize him on some future occasion? I like to 
 know the faces of my enemies, and to find out their names, and, 
 depend upon it, I shall never, never forget the names I read on this 
 list." 
 
 " But for the time being, these scoundrels, having escaped with 
 impunity, will go home in triumph, and repeat the same game as 
 soon as another occasion offers. " 
 
 " Ah, I see you do not know the people at all ! Believe me, we 
 could not have frightened them worse than by letting them go. They 
 are perfectly conscious of their guilt. The very idea of not having 
 received any punishment at our hands fills them with misgivings, 
 and they tremble every moment in the expectation that they will 
 have to suffer yet for their crime. Remorse and fear are tormenting 
 them, and fhey are the best instruments to rule a people with. My 
 
THE TWO MINISTERS. 21 
 
 God, what should be done with a nation consisting of none but pure 
 and virtuous men? It would be perfectly unassailable, while its 
 vices and foibles are the very things by which we control it. There- 
 fore, do not blame the people on account of its vices. I love it for 
 the sake of them, for it is through them that I succeed in subjecting 
 it to my will. The idea of acting upon men by appealing to their 
 virtues, is simply preposterous. You must rely on their faults and 
 crimes, and, owing to the latter, all these fellows whom we dis- 
 missed to-day without punishment have become our property. The 
 discharged and unpunished criminal is a sbirro — the police has only 
 to hand him a dagger, and tell him, 'Strike there 1' and he will 
 strike. " 
 
 " Your excellency believes, then, that even the ringleaders should 
 not be punished ?" 
 
 " By no means. Of course some of them should be chastised, in 
 order to increase the terror of the others. But for God's sake, no 
 public trials — no public penalties ! Wenzel should be secretly 
 arrested and disposed of. Let him disappear — he and the other 
 ringleaders who were bold enough to come up here. Let us immure 
 them in some strong, thick- walled prison, and while the other rioters 
 are vainly tormenting their heavy skulls by trying to guess what 
 has become of their leaders, we shall render the latter so pliable and 
 tame by all kinds of tortures and threats of capital punishment, that 
 when we finally set them free again, they will actually believe they 
 are in om: debt, and in their gratitude become willing tools in our 
 hands to be used as we may deem best. " 
 
 " By the etsrnal, you are a great statesman, a sagacious ruler I" 
 exclaimed Count Saurau, with the gushing enthusiasm of sincere 
 admiration. " Men grow wise by listening to you, and happy and 
 powerful by obeying you ! I am entirely devoted to you — full of 
 affection and veneration — and do not want to be any thing but your 
 attentive and grateful pupil. " 
 
 "Be my friend, " said Thugut. "Let us pursue our career hand 
 in hand — let us always keep our common goal in view, and shrink 
 back from no step in order to reach it. " 
 
 " Tell me what I am to do. I shall follow you as readily as the 
 blind man follows his guide. " 
 
 " Well, if you desire it, my friend, we wiU consider a little how 
 we have to steer the ship of state during the next months in order 
 to get her safely through the breakers that are threatening her on 
 all sides. During the few days of your absence from the capital, 
 various events have occurred, materially altering the general state 
 of affairs. When you departed, I advised the emperor not to make 
 peace with France under any circumstances. We counted at that 
 
32 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 time on the regiments of grenadiers whom we had sent to the seat 
 of war, and who, under the command of Archduke Charles, were to 
 defend the defiles of Neumarkt against the advancing columns of 
 the French army. We knew, besides, that the French troops were 
 worn out, exhausted, and anxious for peace, or that General Bona- 
 parte would not have addressed that letter to the Archduke Charles, 
 in which he requested the latter to induce the Emperor of Austria 
 to conclude peace with France. In accordance with our advice, the 
 archduke had to give Bonaparte an evasive answer, informing him 
 that, in case of further negotiations, he would have to send to 
 Vienna for fresh instructions. '' 
 
 " But, your excellency, you were firmly determined not to make 
 peace with France !" 
 
 " So I was, and even now I have not changed my mind ; but we 
 are frequently compelled to disguise our real intentions, and events 
 have occurred, which, for the present, render peace desirable. You 
 need not be frightened, my dear count — I merely say, for the present. 
 In my heart I shall never make peace with France, and my pur- 
 pose remains as fixed as ever — to revenge Austria one day for the 
 humiliations we have suffered at her hands. Never forget that, my 
 friend ; and now listen to me. Late dispatches have arrived. Mas- 
 sena, after a bloody struggle with our troops, has taken Friesach, 
 and advanced on the next day to attack the fresh regiments of our 
 grenadiers in the gorges of Neumarkt. Archduke Charles had 
 placed himself at the head of these regiments, firing the courage of 
 the soldiers by his own heroic example. But he was confronted by 
 the imited French forces from Italy and Germany, and in the even- 
 ing of that disastrous day the archduke and his grenadiers were 
 compelled to evacuate Neumarkt, which was occupied by the victo- 
 rious French. The archduke now asked the French general for a 
 cessation of hostilities during twenty-four hours in order to gain 
 time, for he was in hopes that this respite would enable him to bring 
 up the corps of General von Kerpen, and then, with his united 
 forces, drive the enemy back again. But this little General Bona- 
 parte seems to possess a great deal of sagacity, for he rejected the 
 request, and sent a detached column against Von Kerpen 's corps, 
 which separated the latter still farther from our main army. Bona- 
 parte himself advanced with his forces as far as Fudenberg and 
 Leoben. In order to save Vienna, there was but one course left to 
 the archduke : he had to make proposals of peace. " 
 
 "Did he really do so?" asked Count Saurau, breathlessly. 
 
 "He did. He sent two of our friends — Count Meerveldt, and 
 the Marquis de Gallo — to Bonaparte's headquarters at Leoben, for 
 the purpose of opening negotiations with him. " 
 
THE TWO MINISTERS. 33 
 
 "Did your excellency authorize the archduke to do so?" asked 
 the count. 
 
 " No, I did not, and I might disavow it now if it suited me, but 
 it does not — it would not promote our interests — and I know but 
 one policy, the policy of interest. We should always adopt those 
 measures which afford us a reasonable prospect of gain, and discard 
 those which may involve us in loss. Power alone is infallible, eter- 
 nal, and divine, and power has now decided in favor of France. 
 Wlierefore we must yield, and don the garb of peace until we secure 
 once more sufficient power to renew hostilities. We must make 
 peace I Our aim, however, should be to render this peace as advan- 
 tageous to Austria as possible — " 
 
 " You mean at the expense of France ?" 
 
 " Bah ! — at the expense of Germany, my dear little count. Ger- 
 many is to compensate us for the losses which peace may inflict. If 
 we lose any territory in Italy, why, we shall make it up in Germany, 
 that is all. " 
 
 "But in that case, there will be another terrible hue and cry 
 about the infringement of the rights of the holy German empire, " 
 said Count Saurau, smiling ; " Prussia will have a new opportunity 
 of playing the defender of the German fatherland. " 
 
 •' My dear count, never mind the bombastic nonsense in which 
 Prussia is going to indulge — we shall take good care that nothing 
 comes of it. Prussia has no longer a Frederick the Great at her 
 head, but the fat Frederick William the Second — " 
 
 "But his life," said the count, interrupting him, "I know for 
 certain, will last but a few days, at best for a few weeks ; for his 
 disease, dropsy of the chest, you know, does not even respect 
 kings. " 
 
 "And when Prussia has lost her present fat king, she will have 
 another, Frederick William — a young man twenty-seven years of 
 age, voild tout! He is just as old as General Bonaparte, and was 
 born in the same year as this general whose glory already fills the 
 whole world ; but of the young heir of the Prussian throne the world 
 has heard nothing as yet, except that he has a most beautiful wife. 
 He is not dangerous, therefore, and I hope and believe that Austria 
 never will lack the power to humiliate and check this Prussian king- 
 dom — this revolutionary element in the heart of the German empire. 
 The danger, however, that threatens us now, does not come from 
 Prussia, but from France, and especially from this General Bona- 
 parte, who, by his glory and his wonderful battles, excites the wildest 
 enthusiasm for the cause of the revolution, and delights the stupid 
 masses so much that they hail him as a new messiah of liberty. 
 Liberty, detestable word I that, like the fatal bite of the tarantula, 
 3 
 
24 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 renders men furious, and causes them to rave about in frantic dances 
 until death strikes them down. " 
 
 " This word is the talismanic charm with which Bonaparte has 
 conquered all Italy, and ti-ansformed the Italians into insurgents 
 and rebels against their legitimate sovereigns, " said Count Saurau, 
 mournfully. 
 
 "All Italy? Not yet, my friend. A portion of it still stands 
 firm. The lion of St. Mark has not yet fallen. " 
 
 " But he will fall. His feet are tottering already. " 
 
 "Well, then, we must try to make him fall in a manner which 
 will entitle us to a portion of the spoils. And now, my dear little 
 count, we have reached the point which claims our immediate 
 attention. The preliminaries of the peace have been concluded at 
 Leoben, and until peace itself is established, we should pursue such 
 a policy that the peace, instead of involving Austria in serious 
 losses, will give her a chance to increase her strength and enlarge 
 her territory. We must keep our eyes on Bavaria — for Bavaria will 
 and must be ours as soon as a favorable opportunity offers. If 
 France should object and refuse to let us seize our prey, why, we 
 will be sure to revive the old quarrel about Belgium, which will 
 render her willing and tame enough. " 
 
 " But what shall we do if Prussia should support the objections 
 of France? Shall we satisfy her, too, by giving her a piece of 
 Germany ?" 
 
 " On the contrary, we shall try to take as much as possible from 
 her ; we shall try to humiliate and isolate her, in order to deprive 
 her of the power of injuring us. We shall endeavor so to arrange 
 the peace we are going to conclude with France as to benefit Aus- 
 tria, and injure Prussia as much as we can. In the north, we shall 
 increase our territory by the acquisition of Bavaria ; in the south, 
 by the annexation of Venice. " 
 
 " By the annexation of Venice I" ejaculated Count Saurau, greatly 
 astonished at what he had heard. " But did you not just tell me 
 that Venice still stood firm?" 
 
 "We must bring about her fall, my dear count ; that is our great 
 task just now ; for, I repeat, Venice is to compensate us on our 
 southern frontier for our losses elsewhere. Of course, we ought to 
 receive some substantial equivalent for ceding Belgium to France, 
 and if it cannot be Bavaria, then let it be Venice. " 
 
 " Nevertheless, I do not comprehend — " 
 
 " My dear count, if my schemes were so easily fathomed, they 
 could not be very profound. Everybody may guess the game I am 
 playing now ; but the cards I have got in my hand must remain a 
 secret until I have played them out, or I would run the risk of losing 
 
THE TWO MINISTERS, 35 
 
 every tiling. But this time I will let you peep into my cards, and 
 you shall help nie win the game. Venice is the stake we are play- 
 ing for, my dear count, and we want to annex her to Austria. How 
 is that to be brought about?" 
 
 "I confess, your excellency, that my limited understanding is 
 unable to answer that question, and that I cannot conceive how a 
 sovereign and independent state is to become an Austrian province 
 in the absence of any claims to its territory, except by an act of 
 open violence." 
 
 " Not exactly, my dear count. Suppose we set a mouse-trap for 
 Venice, and catch her, like a mouse, in it? Liisten to me! We 
 must encourage Venice to determine upon open resistance against 
 the victor of Lodi, and make war upon France. " 
 
 '■ Ah, your excellency, I am afraid the timid signoria will not be 
 bold enough for that, after hearing of our late defeats, and of the 
 new victories of the French. " 
 
 " Precisely. It is of the highest importance, therefore, that the 
 signoria should hear nothing of it, but believe exactly the reverse, 
 viz. , that our troops are victorious ; and this task, my friend, de- 
 volves upon you. Pray dispatch, at once, some reliable agents to 
 Venice, and to other parts of the Venetian territory. Inform the 
 signoria that the French have been defeated in the Tyrol and in 
 Styria, and was now in the most precarious position. Through 
 some other confidential messenger send word to Count Adam Neip- 
 perg, who, with some of our regiments occupies the southern Tyrol 
 in close proximity to the Venetian frontier, that Venetia is ready 
 to rise and needs his assistance, and order him to advance as far as 
 Verona. The Venetians will look upon this advance as a confirma- 
 tion of the news of our victories. The wise little mice will only 
 smell the bait, and, in their joy, not see the trap we have set for 
 them. They will rush into it, and we shall catch them. For a 
 rising in Venice will be called nowadays a rebellion against France, 
 and France will hasten to punish so terrible a crime. The Venetian 
 Republic will be destroyed by the French Republic, and then we 
 shall ask France to cede us Venice as a compensation for the loss of 
 Belgium. " 
 
 "By the Eternal 1 it is a splendid — a grand scheme !" exclaimed 
 Count Saurau — " a scheme worthy of being planned by some great 
 statesman. In this manner we shall conquer a new province with- 
 out firing a gun, or spilling a drop of blood. " 
 
 " No. Some blood will be shed, " said Thugut, quietly. " But it 
 will not be Austrian blood — it will be the blood of the Venetian in- 
 surgents whom we instigate to rise in arms. This bloodshed will 
 glue them firmly to us, for no cement is more tenacious than blood. 
 
26 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 And now, my dear count, as you know and approve of my plans, I 
 pray you to carry them out as rapidly as possible. Dispatch your 
 agents without delay to Venice and to the Tyrol. We have no time 
 to lose, for the preliminaries of Leoben only extend to the eighteenth 
 of April, and until then Venice must have become a ripe fruit, 
 which, in the absence of hands to pluck it, will spontaneously fall 
 to the ground. " 
 
 " In the course of an hour, your excellency, I shall have executed 
 your orders, and my most skilful spies and agents will be on their 
 road. " 
 
 " Whom are you going to send to the Venetian signoria? " 
 
 '■ The best confidential agent I have — Anthony Schulmeister. '' 
 
 " Oh, I know him ; he has often served me, and is very adroit, 
 indeed. But do not forget to pay him well in order to be sure of his 
 fidelity, for fortunately he has a failing which renders it easy for us 
 to control him. He is exceedingly covetous, and has a pretty wife 
 who spends a great deal of money. Pay him well, therefore, and 
 he will do us good service. And now, farewell, my dear count. I 
 believe we understand each other perfectly, and know what we have 
 to do, '' 
 
 " I have found out once more that the Austrian ship of state is in 
 the hands of a man who knows how to steer and guide her, as no 
 other ruler does, " said Count Saurau, who rose and took his hat. 
 
 "I have inherited this talent, perhaps, my dear count. My 
 father, the ship- builder, taught me all about the management of 
 ships. Addio, caro amico mio. " 
 
 They cordially shook hands, and Count Saurau, with a face radi- 
 ant with admiration and affection, withdrew from the cabinet of 
 the prime minister. A smile still played on his features when the 
 footman in the anteroom assisted him in putting on his cloak, 
 whereupon he rapidly descended the magnificent marble staircase 
 which an hour ago had been desecrated by the broad and clumsy 
 feet of the populace. But when the door of his carriage had closed 
 behind him, and no piying eyes, no listening ears were watching 
 him any longer, his smile disappeared as if by magic, and savage 
 imprecations burst from his lips. 
 
 " Intolerable arrogance ! Revolting insolence !" said he, angi-ily. 
 " He thinks he can play the despot, and treat all of us— even myself 
 —worse than slaves. He dares to call me 'his little count!' His 
 little coimt ! Ah, I shall prove to this ship-builder's son one day that 
 little Count Saurau is, after all, a greater man than our overbearing 
 and conceited prime minister. But patience, patience ! My day 
 will come. And on that day I shall hurl little Thugut from his 
 eminent position !" 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE GUMPENDORFER SUBURB. 37 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HOUSE IN THE GUMPENDORFER SUBURB. 
 
 Vienna was really terribly frightened by the near approach of the 
 French army, and the conviction of their dangerous position had 
 excited the people so fearfully that the Viennese, generally noted 
 for their peaceful and submissive disposition, had committed an 
 open riot — for the sole purpose, however, of compelling the all- 
 powerful prime minister to make peace with France. Archduke 
 Charles had been defeated — the emperor had fled to Hungary. 
 
 None of all these disastrous tidings had disturbed the inmates of 
 a small house on the outskirts of the Gumpendorfer suburb, in close 
 proximity to the Mariahilf line. This little house was a perfect 
 image of peace and tranquillity. It stood in the centre of a small 
 garden which showed the first tender blossoms of returning spring 
 on its neatly arranged beds. Dense shrubbery covered the white 
 walls of the house with evergreen verdure. Curtains as white and 
 dazzling as fresh snow, and, between them, flower-pots fiDed with 
 luxuriant plants, might be seen behind the glittering window-panes. 
 Although there was nothing very peculiar about the house, which 
 had but two stories, yet nobody passed by without looking up to the 
 windows with a reverential and inquisitive air, and he who only 
 thought he could discover behind the panes the fugitive shadow of a 
 human being, made at once a deep and respectful bow, and a proud 
 and happy smile overspread his features. 
 
 And still, we repeat, there was nothing very peculiar about the 
 house. Its outside was plain and modest, and the inside was equally 
 so. The most profound silence prevailed in the small hall, the floor 
 of which had been sprinkled with fresh white sand. A large spotted 
 cat — a truly beautiful animal — lay not far from the front door on a 
 soft, white cushion, and played gracefully and gently with the ball 
 of white yam that had just fallen from the woman sitting at the 
 window while she was eagerly engaged in knitting. This woman, 
 in her plain and unassuming dress, seemed to be a servant of the 
 house, but at all events a servant in whom entire confidence was 
 reposed, as was indicated by the large bunch of keys, such as the 
 lady of the house or a trusted housekeeper will carry, which hung 
 at her side. An expression of serene calmness rendered her vener- 
 able features quite attractive, and a graceful smile played on her 
 thin and bloodless lips as she now dropped her knitting upon her 
 lap, and, with her body bent forward, commenced watching the 
 meny play of the cat on the cushion. Suddenly the silence was 
 
38 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 interrupted by a loud and shrill scream, and a very strange-sound- 
 ing voice uttered a few incoherent words in English. 
 
 At the same time a door was opened hastily, and another woman 
 appeared — just as old, just as kind-looking, and with as mild and 
 serene features as the one we have just described. Her more refined 
 appearance, however, her handsome dress, her beautiful cap, her 
 ,well-powdered toupet, and the massive gold chain encircling her 
 neck, indicated that she was no servant, but the lady of the house. 
 
 However, peculiarly pleasant relations seemed to prevail between 
 the misti'ess and the servant, for the appearance of the lady did not 
 cause the latter to interrupt her merry play with the cat ; and the 
 mistress, on her part, evidently did not consider it strange or disre- 
 spectful, but quietly approached her servant. 
 
 " Catharine, " she said, "just listen how that abominable bird, 
 Paperl, screams again to-day. I am sure the noise will disturb the 
 doctor, who is at work already. " 
 
 " Yes, Paperl is an intolerable nuisance, '' sighed Catharine. " I 
 cannot comprehend why the Kapellmeister — I was going to say the 
 doctor — likes the bird so well, and why he has brought it along from 
 England. Yes, if Paperl could sing, in that case it would not be 
 strange if the Ka — , I mean the doctor, had grown fond of the bird. 
 But no, Paperl merely jabbers a few broken words which no good 
 Christian is able to understand. " 
 
 " He who speaks English can understand it well enough, Catha- 
 rine, " said the lady, "for the bird talks English, and in that respect 
 Paperl knows moi'e than either of us. '' 
 
 " But Paperl cannot talk German, and I think that our language, 
 especially our dear Viennese dialect, sounds by far better than that 
 horrid English. I don't know why the doctor likes the abominable 
 noise, and why he suffers the bird to disturb his quiet by these out- 
 rageous screams. " 
 
 "I know it well enough, Catharine," said the doctor's wife, 
 with a gentle smile. " The parrot reminds my husband of his voy- 
 age to England, and of all the glory and honor that were showered 
 upon him there. " 
 
 " "Well, as far as that is concerned, I should think it was entirely 
 unnecessary for my master to make a trip to England, " exclaimed 
 Catharine. "He has not returned a more famous man than he was 
 already when he went away. The English were unable to add to 
 his glory, for he was already the most celebrated man in the whole 
 world when he went there, and if that had not been the case, they 
 would not have invited him to come and perform his beautiful 
 music before them, for then they would not have known that he is 
 such a splendid musician. " 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE GUMPENDOBFER SUBURB. 29 
 
 " But they were delighted to see him, Catharine, and I tell you 
 they have perfectly overwhelmed him with honors. Every day 
 they gave him festivals, and even the king and queen urged him 
 frequently to take up his abode in England. The queen promised 
 him splendid apartments in Windsor Castle, and a large salary, and 
 in return my husband was to do nothing but to perform every day 
 for an hour or so before her majesty, or sing with her. Neverthe- 
 less, he had the courage to refuse the brilliant offers of the king and 
 queen, and do you know, Catharine, why he rejected them?" 
 
 Catharine knew it well enough ; she had frequently heard the 
 story from her mistress during the two years since the doctor had 
 returned from England, but she was aware that the lady liked to 
 repeat it, and she liked it very much, too, to hear people talk about 
 her beloved master's fame and glory, having faithfully served him 
 already for more than twenty years. Hence she said, with a kind- 
 hearted smile : 
 
 "No, indeed, I don't know it, and I cannot comprehend why the 
 doctor said no to the king and queen of England. " 
 
 " He did so for my sake, Catharine ! " said the lady, and an ex- 
 pression of joyful pride shed a lustre of bcc^uty and tenderness over 
 her kind old face. " Yes, I tell you, it was solely for my sake that 
 my husband came home again. 'Remain with us!' said the king 
 to him. ' You shall have every thing the queen has offered you. 
 You shall live at Windsor, and sing once a day with the queen. 
 Of you, my dear doctor, I shall not be jealous, for you are an excel- 
 lent and honest German gentleman. ' And when the king had told 
 him that, my husband bowed respectfully, and replied: 'Your maj- 
 esty, it is my highest pride to maintain this reputation. But just 
 because I am an honest German, I must tell you that I cannot stay 
 here — I cannot leave my country and my wife forever ! ' 
 
 " ' Oh, as far as that is concerned, ' exclaimed the king, ' we shall 
 send for your wife. She shall live with you at Windsor. ' But my 
 husband laughed and said : ' She will never come, your majesty. 
 She would not cross the Danube in a skiff, much less make a trip 
 beyond the sea. And, therefore, there is nothing left to me but to 
 return myself to my little wife. ' And he did so, and left the king, 
 and the queen, and all the noble lords and ladies, and came back to 
 Vienna, and to his little wife. Say, Catharine, was not that well 
 done of him ?" 
 
 "Of course it was," said Catharine; "the fact was, our good 
 doctor loved his wife better than the queen, and all the high-born 
 people who treated him so well in England. And, besides, he knew 
 that people hereabouts treat him with as much deference as over 
 there, and that if he only desired it, he could hold daily intercourse 
 
30 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 with the emperor, the princes, and the highest dignitaries in the 
 country. But he does not care for it. The fact is, our master is by- 
 far too modest ; he is always so quiet and unassuming, that nobody, 
 unless they knew him, would believe for a single moment that he is 
 so far-famed a man ; and then he dresses so plainly, while he might 
 deck himself with all the diamond rings and breast-pins, the splen- 
 did watches and chains, which the various sovereigns have given to 
 him. But all these fine things he keeps shut up in his desk, and 
 constantly wears the same old silver watch which he has had alread}' 
 God knows how long ! " 
 
 " Why, Catharine, that was the wedding-present I gave him, " 
 said the good wife, proudly ; " and just for that reason my husband 
 wears it all the time, although he has watches by far more beautiful 
 and valuable. At the time I gave him that watch, both of us were 
 very poor. He was a young music-teacher, and I was a hair- 
 dresser's daughter. He lived in a small room in my father's house, 
 and as he often could not pay the rent, he gave me every day a lesson 
 on the piano. But in those lessons, I did not only learn music — I 
 learned to love him, too. He asked me to become his wife, and on 
 our wedding-day, I gave him the silver watch, and that is just the 
 reason why he wears it all the time, although he has by far better 
 ones. His wife's present is more precious to him than what kings 
 and emperors have given to him. " 
 
 " But he might wear at least a nice gold chain to it, " said Catha- 
 rine. ""Why, I am sure he has no less than a dozen of them. But 
 he never wears one of them, not even the other day when the Prin- 
 cess Esterhazy called for' him with her carriage to drive with him 
 to the emperor. The doctor wore on that occasion only a plain blue 
 ribbon, on which his own name was embroidered in silver. " 
 
 " Well, there is a story to that ribbon, '' said the mistress, thought- 
 fully. " My husband brought it likewise from London, and he got 
 it there on one of his proudest days. I did not know the story my- 
 self, for you are aware my husband is always so modest, and never 
 talks about his great triumphs in London, and I would not have 
 learned any thing about the ribbon if he had not worn it the other 
 day when he accompanied the princess to the emperor. Ah, Catha- 
 rine, it is a very beautiful and touching story ! " 
 
 Catharine did not know this story at all ; hence she asked her 
 mistress with more than usual animation to tell her all about the 
 ribbon. 
 
 The doctor's wife assented readily. She sat down on a chair at 
 Catharine's side, and looked with a pleasant smile at the cat who 
 had come up to her, and, purring comfortably, lay down on the hem 
 of her dress. 
 
THE HOUSE IN THE GUMPENDORFER SUBURB. 31 
 
 " Yes, " said she, " the story of that ribbon is quite touching, and 
 I do not know really, Catharine, but I will have to shed a few tears 
 while telling it. It was in London, when my husband had just 
 returned from Oxford, where the university had conferred upon him 
 the title of Doctor of—" 
 
 "Yes, yes, I know," grumbled Catharine, "that is the reason 
 why we now have to call him doctor, which does not sound near as 
 imposing and distinguished as our master's former title of Kapell- 
 meister. " 
 
 " But then it is a very high honor to obtain the title of doctor of 
 music in England, Catharine. The great composer Handel lived 
 thirty years in England without receiving it, and my husband had 
 not been there but a few months when they conferred the title upon 
 him. "Well, then, on the day after his return from Oxford, he was 
 invited to the house of a gentleman of high rank and great wealth, 
 who gave him a brilliant party. A large number of ladies and gen- 
 tlemen were present, and when my husband appeared among them 
 they rose and bowed as respectfully as though he were a king. 
 When the doctor had returned the compliment, he perceived that 
 every lady in the room wore in her hair a ribbon of blue silk, on 
 which his name had been embroidered in silver. His host wore the 
 same name in silver beads on his coat-facings, so that he looked 
 precisely as if he were my husband's servant, and dressed in his 
 livery. Oh, it was a splendid festival which Mr. Shaw — that was 
 the gentleman's name — gave him on that day. At length Mr. Shaw 
 asked the doctor to give him a souvenir, whereupon he presented 
 him with a snuff-box he had purchased in the course of the day for 
 a few shillings ; and when my husband requested the lady of the 
 house, whom he pronounces the most beautiful woman on earth, to 
 give him likewise a souvenir ; Mrs. Shaw thereupon took the ribbon 
 from her head and handed it to him ; and my husband pressed it to 
 his lips, and assured her he would always wear that ribbon on the 
 most solemn occasions. You see, Catharine, he keeps his promise 
 religiously, for he wore the ribbon the other day when he was called 
 to the imperial palace. But my story is not finished yet. Your 
 master called a few days after that party on Mr. Shaw, when the 
 latter showed him the snuff-box he had received from my husband. 
 It was enclosed in a handsome silver case, a beautiful lyre was 
 engraved on the lid, with an inscription stating that my great and 
 illustrious husband had given him the box.* How do you like my 
 story, Catharine? " 
 
 "Oh, it is beautiful," said the old servant, thoughtfully; "only, 
 what you said about that beautiful Mrs. Shaw did not exactly please 
 * The inscription was : "Ex dono celeberri/ni Josephi Haydn." 
 
32 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 me. I am sure the doctor got the parrot also from her, and for that 
 reason likes the bird so well, although it screeches so horribly, and 
 doubtless disturbs him often in his studies. " 
 
 "Yes, he got the bird from Mrs. Shaw," replied her mistress, 
 with a smile. " She taught Paperl to whistle three airs from my 
 husband's finest quartets, singing and whistling the music to the 
 bird every day during three or four weeks for several hours, until 
 Paperl could imitate them ; and when my husband took leave of 
 her, she gave him the parrot. " 
 
 " But the bird never whistles the tunes any more. I have only 
 heard Paperl do it once, and that was on the day after the doctor's 
 return from England. " 
 
 " I know the reason why. The bird hears here every day so much 
 music, and so many new melodies which the doctor plays on his 
 piano, that its head has grown quite confused, and poor Paperl has 
 forgotten its tunes. " 
 
 "It has not forgotten its English words, though," murmured 
 Catharine. " What may be the meaning of these words which the 
 bird is screaming all the time?" 
 
 "That beautiful Mrs. Shaw taught Paperl to pronounce them, 
 Catharine. I do not know their precise meaning, but they com- 
 mence as follows : 'Forget me not, forget me not — ' Good Heaven I 
 the bird has commenced screaming again. I am sure it has not had 
 any sugar to-day. Where is Conrad ? He ought to attend to the bird. " 
 
 "He has gone down town. The doctor has given him several 
 errands. " 
 
 " Good Heaven ! the screams are almost intolerable. Go, Catha- 
 rine, and give poor Paperl a piece of sugar. " 
 
 " I dare not, madame ; it always snaps at me with its abominable 
 beak, and if the chain did not prevent it from attacking me, it 
 would scratch out my eyes. " 
 
 " I am afraid of it, too, " said the lady, anxiously ; " nevertheless 
 we cannot permit the bird to go on in this manner. Just listen to 
 it— it is yelling as though it were going to be roasted. It will disturb 
 my husband, and you know the doctor is composing a new piece. 
 Come, Catharine, we must quiet the bird. I will give him the sugar. " 
 
 "And I shall take my knitting-needles along, and if it should 
 try to bite, I will hit it on the beak. Let us go now, madame. " 
 
 And the two women walked boldly across the anteroom, toward 
 the door of the small parlor, in order to commence the campaign 
 against the parrot. The cat followed them gravely and solemnly, 
 and with an air as though it had taken the liveliest interest in the 
 conversation, and thought it might greatly assist them in pacifying 
 the screaming bird. 
 
JOSEPH HAYDN. 33 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JOSEPH HAYDN. 
 
 While the parrot's screams had rendered the mistress and her 
 maid so uneasy, the most profound stillness and quiet reigned in the 
 upper rooms of the little house. Not a sound interrupted the silence 
 of this small, elegantly-furnished sitting-room. Even the sun ap- 
 parently dared only to send a few stealthy beams through the win 
 dows, and the wind seemed to hold its breath in order not to shake 
 the panes of the small chamber adjoining, venerated by all the 
 inmates of the house as a sacred temple of art. 
 
 In this small chamber, in this temple of art, a gentleman, appar- 
 ently engaged in reading, was seated at a table covered with papers 
 and music -books, close to an open piano. He was no longer young ; 
 on the contrary, beholding only the thin white hair hanging down 
 on his expansive and wrinkled forehead, and his stooping form, it 
 became evident that he was an old man, nearly seventy years of age. 
 But as soon as he raised his eyes from the paper, as soon as he turned 
 them toward heaven with an air of blissful enthusiasm, the fire of 
 eternal youth and radiant joyousness burst forth from those eyes ; 
 and whatever the white hair, the wrinkled forehead, the furrowed 
 cheeks and the stooping form might tell of the long years of his life, 
 those eyes were full of youthful ardor and strength — only the body 
 of this white-haired man was old; in his soul he had remained 
 young — a youth of fervid imagination, procreative power, and 
 nervous activity. 
 
 This venerable man with the soul, the heart, and the eyes of a 
 youth, was Joseph Haydn, the great composer, whose glory, even at 
 that time, filled the whole world, although he had not yet written 
 his greatest masterpieces — the " Creation" and the " Seasons. " 
 
 He was working to-day at the " Creation. " * The poem, which 
 had been sent to him from England, and which his worthy friend 
 Von Swieten had translated into German, lay before him. He had 
 read it again and again, and gradually it seemed as if the words 
 were transformed into music ; gradually he heard whispering — low 
 at first, then louder, and more sublime and majestic — the jubilant 
 choirs of heaven and earth, that were to resound in his " Creation. " 
 
 As yet he had not written a single note ; he had only read the 
 poem, and composed in reading, and inwardly weighed and tried 
 the sublime melodies which, when reduced to time and measure, 
 and combined into an harmonious whole, were to form the new im- 
 
 * Hadyn commenced the "Creation " in 1797, and finished it in April, 1798. 
 
34 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 mortal work of his genius. While thus reading and composing, the 
 aged musician was transformed more and more into a youth, and 
 the glowing enthusiasm which burst forth from his eyes became 
 every moment more radiant, surrounding his massive forehead with 
 a halo of inspiration, and shedding the purple lustre of ecstatic joy 
 upon his furrowed cheeks. 
 
 "Yes, yes, it will do. I shall succeed !" he exclaimed suddenly, 
 in a loud and full voice. " God will give me the strength to com- 
 plete this work ; but it must be commenced with Him — strength 
 and inspiration come from Him alone !" 
 
 And Joseph Haydn, perhaps not quite conscious of what he was 
 doing, knelt dovra and with folded hands, and beaming eyes lifted 
 up to heaven, he prayed : " O, Lord God, give me Thy blessing and 
 Thy strength, that I may gloriously and successfully carry out this 
 work, which praiseth Thee and Thy creation. Breathe Thy Holy 
 Spirit into the words which Thou speakest in my vrork. Speak 
 through me to Thy creatures, and let my music be Thy language !" 
 
 He paused, but remaining on his knees, continued to look up to 
 heaven. Then he rose slowly, and like a seer or a somnambulist, 
 with eyes opened but seeing nothing, he went to his piano without 
 knowing what he was doing. He sat down on the stool, and did 
 not know it ; his hands touched the keys and drew magnificent 
 chords from them, and he did not hear them. He only heard the 
 thousands of seraphic voices which in his breast chanted sublime 
 anthems ; he only heard the praise of his own winged soul which, 
 in divine ecstasy, soared far into the realm of eternal harmonies. 
 
 Louder and louder rolled the music he drew from the keys ; now 
 it burst forth into a tremendous jubilee, then again it died away in 
 melancholy complaints and gentle whispers, and again it broke out 
 into a swelling, thundering anthem. 
 
 At length Haydn concluded with a sonorous and brilliant passage, 
 and then with youthful agility jumped up from his seat. 
 
 " That was the prelude, " he said, aloud, " and now we will go to 
 work. " 
 
 He hastily threw the white and comfortable dressing-gown from 
 his shoulders and rapidly walked toward the looking-glass which 
 hung over the bureau. Every thing was ready for his toilet, the 
 footman having carefully arranged the whole. He put the cravat 
 with lace trimmings around his neck and arranged the tie before 
 the looking-glass in the most artistic manner ; then he slipped into 
 the long waistcoat of silver-lined velvet, and finally put on the long- 
 tailed brown coat with bright metal buttons. He was just going to 
 put the heavy silver watch, which his wife had given him on their 
 wedding-day, into his vest-pocket, when his eye fell upon the blue 
 
JOSEPH HAYDN. 35 
 
 ribbon embroidered with silver, which, ever since his visit to the 
 imperial palace, had lain on the bureau. 
 
 " I will wear it on this holiday of mine, " said Haydn, with great 
 warmth, "for I think the day on which a new work is begun is a 
 holiday, and we ought to wear our choicest ornaments to celebrate it. " 
 
 He attached the ribbon to his watch, threw it over his neck, and 
 slipped the watch into his vest-pocket. 
 
 " If that beautiful Mrs. Shaw could see me now, " he whispered, 
 ahnost inaudibly, "how her magnificent eyes would sparkle, and 
 what a heavenly smile would animate her angelic features I Yes, 
 yes, I will remember her smile — it shall find an echo in the jubilant 
 accords of my Creation. But let us begin — le\ us begin !" 
 
 He rapidly walked toward his desk, but stopped suddenly. 
 " Hold on !" said he ; "I really forgot the most important thing — my 
 ring. While looking at the precious ribbon of my beautiful English 
 friend, I did not think of the ring of my great king — and still it is 
 the talisman without which I cannot work at all. " 
 
 Returning once more to the bureau, he opened a small case and 
 took from it a ring which he put on his finger. He contemplated 
 the large and brilliant diamonds of the ring with undisguised 
 admiration. 
 
 "Yes," he exclaimed — "yes, thou art my talisman, and when I 
 look at thee, it seems to me as if I saw the eyes of the great king 
 beaming down upon me, and pouring courage and enthusiasm into 
 my heart. That is the reason, too, why I cannot work unless I have 
 the ring on my finger.* But now I am ready and adorned like a 
 bridegroom who is going to his young bride. Yes, yes, it is just so 
 with me. I am going to my bride — to St. Cecilia !" 
 
 When he now returned to his desk, his features assumed a grave 
 and solemn expression. He sat down once more at the piano and 
 played an anthem, then he resumed his seat at the desk, took a sheet 
 of music-paper and commenced writing. He wielded his pen with 
 the utmost rapidity, and covered page after page with the queer 
 little dots and dashes which we call notes. 
 
 And Haydn's eyes flashed and his cheeks glowed, and a heavenly 
 smile played on his lips while he was writing. But all of a sudden 
 his pen stopped, and a slight cloud settled on his brow. Some pas- 
 sage, may be a modulation, had displeased him, in what he had just 
 composed, for he glanced over the last few lines and shook his head. 
 He looked down sadly and dropped the pen. 
 
 * Haydn had dedicated six quartets to Fredericlc the Great, who acknowledged 
 the compliment by sending him a valuable diamond ring. Haydn wore this ring 
 whenever he composed a new worlr, and it seemed to him as though inspiration 
 failed him unless he wore the ring. He stated this on many occasions. 
 
36 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 "Help me, O Lord God— help me!" he exclaimed, and hastily 
 seized the rosary which always lay on his desk. " Help me !" he 
 muttered once more, and, while hurriedly pacing the room, he 
 slipped the beads of the rosary through his fingers and whispered an 
 Ave Maria. 
 
 His prayer seemed to have the desired effect, for the cloud disap- 
 peared from his forehead, and his eyes beamed again with the fervor 
 of inspiration. He resumed his seat and wrote on with renewed 
 energy. Aholy peace now settled on his serene features, and reigned 
 around him in the silent little cabinet. 
 
 But all at once this peaceful stillness was interrupted by a loud 
 noise resounding from'below. Vociferous lamentations were heard, 
 and heavy footsteps ascended the staircase. 
 
 Haydn, however, did not hear any thing — his genius was soaring 
 far away in the realm of inspiration, and divine harmonies still 
 enchanted his ears. 
 
 But now the door of the small parlor was opened violently, and 
 his wife, with a face deadly pale and depicting the liveliest anxiety, 
 rushed into the room. Catharine and Conrad, the aged footman, 
 appeared behind her, while the cat slipped in with her mistress, and 
 the parrot ejaculated the most frantic and piercing screams. 
 
 Haydn started in dismay from his seat and stared at his wife 
 without being able to utter a single word. It was something un- 
 heard of for him to be disturbed by his wife during his working 
 hours, hence he very naturally concluded that something unusual, 
 something really terrible must have occurred, and the frightened 
 looks of his wife, the pale faces of his servants, plainly told him 
 that he was not mistaken. 
 
 "Oh, husband — poor, dear husband !" wailed his wife, "pack up 
 your papers, the time for working and composing is past. Conrad 
 has brought the most dreadful tidings from the city. We are all 
 lost ! — Vienna is lost ! Oh, dear, dear ! it is awful, and I tell you I 
 am almost frightened out of my senses !" 
 
 And the old lady, trembling like an aspen-leaf, threw herself 
 into an arm-chair. 
 
 "What in Heaven's name is the matter?" asked Haydn — "what 
 is it that has frightened you thus ? Conrad, tell me what is the news ?" 
 
 " Oh, my dear master, " wailed Conrad, approaching the doctor 
 with folded hands and shaking knees, " it is all up with us ! Aus- 
 tria is lost — Vienna is lost — and consequently we are lost, too ! Late 
 dispatches have arrived from the army. Ah ! what do I say ? — army ? 
 We have no longer an army^our forces are entirely dispersed— Arch- 
 duke Charles has lost another battle— old Wurmser has been driven 
 back — and General Bonaparte is advancing upon Vienna. " 
 
JOSEPH HAYDN. 37 
 
 "These are sad tidings, indeed," said Haydn, shrugging hia 
 slioulders, " still they are no reason why we should despair. If the 
 archduke has lost a battle — why, all generals have lost battles — '' 
 
 "Bonaparte never lost one," replied Conrad, with a profound 
 sigh, " he wins every battle, and devours all countries he wants to 
 conquer. " 
 
 "We must pack up our things, Joseph," said Mrs. Haydn — "we 
 must bury our money, our plate, and especially your jewels and trin- 
 kets, so that those French robbers and cannibals will not find them. 
 Come, husband, let us go to work quickly, before they come and take 
 every thing from us. " 
 
 "Hush, wife, hush!" said Haydn, mildly, and a gentle smile 
 overspread his features. " Never fear about our few trifles, and do 
 not think that the French just want to come to Vienna for what few 
 gold snuff-boxes and rings I have got. If they were anxious for 
 gold and jewels, coming as they do as enemies, they might simply 
 open the imperial treasury and take there all they want. " 
 
 "Yes, but they would not find anything," said Conrad. "The 
 treasury is empty, doctor, entirely empty. Every thing is gone ; 
 there is not a single crown, not a single precious stone left in the 
 treasury. " 
 
 "Well, and where is the whole treasure then, you fool?" asked 
 Haydn, with a smile. 
 
 " They have taken it to Presburg, master. I saw the wagons my- 
 self — soldiers rode in front of them, soldiers behind them. All streets, 
 all places were crowded with people, and a riot broke out, and oh I 
 such lamentations, such wails ! — and finally the people became des- 
 perate, and roared and yelled that the government should make peace, 
 and prevent the French from coming to Vienna and bombarding 
 the city ; and in their desperation they grew quite bold and brave, 
 and thousands of them marched to the house of Minister Thugut, 
 whom they call the real emperor of Vienna, and tried to compel him 
 to make peace. " 
 
 "Sad, sad tidings, indeed!" sighed Haydn, shaking his head. 
 "Worse than I thought. The people riotous and rebellious — the* 
 army defeated — and the enemy marching upon Vienna. But don't 
 ■ despair — courage, courage, children ; let us put our trust in God and 
 our excellent emperor. Those two will never forsake us — they will 
 guard and protect Vienna, and never suffer a single stone to be 
 taken from its walls. " 
 
 "Ah, husband, don't count any longer upon the emperor," said 
 his wife. " For that is the worst part of the news, and shows that 
 every thing is lost : the emperor has left Vienna. " 
 
 " What !" exclaimed Haydn, and his face grew flushed with 
 
38 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 anger. " What, they dare to slander the emperor so infamously as 
 that ! They dare to assert that the emperor has forsaken his Vien- 
 nese when they are in danger? No, no, the emperor is an honest 
 man and a faithful prince ; he will share good and evil days alike 
 with his people. A good shepherd does not leave his flock, a good 
 prince does not leave his people. " 
 
 " But the emperor has forsaken us, " said Conrad ; " it is but too 
 true, master. All Vienna knows it, and all Vienna mourns over it. 
 The emperor is gone, and so are the empress and the imperial chil- 
 dren. All are gone and off for Presburg. '' 
 
 "Gone! the emperor gone !" muttered Haydn, mournfully, and a 
 deadly paleness suddenly covered his cheeks. " Oh, poor Austria ! 
 poor people ! Thy emperor has forsaken thee — he has fled from thee ! " 
 
 He sadly inclined his head, and profound sighs escaped from his 
 breast. 
 
 "Do you see now, husband, that I was right?" asked his wife. 
 ' Is it not true that it is high time for us to think of our property, 
 and to pack up and bury our valuables?" 
 
 "No!" exclaimed Haydn, raising his head again; "this is no 
 time to think of ourselves, and of taking care of our miserable prop- 
 erty. The emperor has left — that means, the emperor is in danger ; 
 and therefore, as his faithful subjects, we should pray for him, and 
 all our thoughts and wishes should only be devoted to his welfare. 
 In the hour of danger we should not be faint-hearted, and bow our 
 heads, but lift them up to God, and hope and trust in Him ! Why 
 do the people of Vienna lament and despair? They should sing and 
 pray, so that the Lord God above may hear their voices — they should 
 sing and pray, and I will teach them how !" 
 
 And with proud steps Haydn went to the piano, and his hands 
 began to play gently, at first, a simple and choral-like air ; but soon 
 the melody grew stronger and more impressive. Haydn's face be- 
 came radiant ; instinctively opening his lips, he sang in an enthusi- 
 astic and ringing voice words which he had never known before — 
 words which, with the melody, had spontaneously gushed from his 
 ^oul. What his lips sang was a prayer, and, at the same time, a 
 hymn of victory — fuU of innocent and child-like piety : 
 
 "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, 
 Unsem guten Kaiser Franz, 
 Lange lebe Franz der Kaiser 
 In des Gliickes hellem Glanz I 
 Ilim erbluhen Lorbeerreiser, 
 Wo er geht, zum Elirenkranz 1 
 Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, 
 Unsem guten Kaiser Franz 1 " * 
 * The celebrated Austrian hymn, " God save the Emperor Francis. " 
 
JOSEPH HAYDN. 39 
 
 Profound silence prevailed while Haydn was singing, and when 
 he concluded with a firm and ringing accord and turned around, he 
 saw that his wife, overcome with emotion, with folded hands and 
 ej-es lifted up to heaven, had sunk down on her knees, and that old 
 Catharine and Conrad were kneeling behind her, while the cat stood 
 between them listening to the music as it were, and even the parrot 
 below seemed to listen to the new hymn, for its screams had ceased. 
 
 A smile of delight played on Haydn's lips and rendered his face 
 again young and beautiful. " Now, sing with me, all three of you, " 
 he said. " Sing loudly and firmly, that God may hear us. I will 
 commence again at the beginning, and you shall accompany me. " 
 
 He touched the keys vigorously, and sang once more, '" God save 
 the Emperor Francis !" and carried away by the melody so simple 
 and yet so beautiful, the two women and the old footman sang with 
 him the tender and artless words. 
 
 " And now, " said Haydn, eagerly, "now, I will write down the 
 melody on the spot, and then you shall run with it to Councillor von 
 Swieten. He must add a few verses to it. And then we will have 
 it copied as often as possible — we will circulate it in the streets, and 
 sing it in all public places, and if the French really should come to 
 Vienna, the whole people shall receive them with the jubilant hymn, 
 ' God save the Emperor Francis !' And God will hear our song, and 
 He will be touched by our love, and He will lead him back to us, 
 our good Emperor Francis. " 
 
 He sat down at his desk, and in youthful haste wrote down the 
 music. "So," he said then, "take it, Conrad, take it to Herr von 
 Swieten ; tell him it is my imperial hymn. Oh, I believe it will be 
 useful to the emperor, and therefore I swear that I will play it every 
 day as long as I live. My first prayer always shall be for the em- 
 peror. * And now run, Conrad, and ask Herr von Swieten to finish 
 the poem quickly, and you, women, leave me. I feel the ideas 
 burning in my head, and the melodies gushing from my heart. The 
 hymn has inspired me with genuine enthusiasm ; and now, with 
 God and my emperor, I will commence my Creation! But you, you 
 must not despair— and whenever you feel dejected, sing my imperial 
 
 * Haydn kept his word, and from that time played the hymn every day. It 
 was even the last piece of music he performed before his death. On the 26th of 
 May, 1809, he played the hymn three times in succession. From the piano he had 
 to be carried to his bed, which he never left again. When Iffland paid him a visit 
 in 18OT, Haydn played the hymn for him. He then remained a few moments be- 
 fore the instrument-placed his hands on it, and said, in the tone of a venerable 
 patriarch: "Iplay this hymn every morning, and in timesof adversity have often 
 derived consolation and courage from it. I cannot help it— I must play it at least 
 once a day. I feel greatly at ease whenever I do so, and even a good while after- 
 ward."— "Iffland's Theatrical Almanac for 1855," p. 181. 
 
 4 
 
40 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 hymn, and pour consolation and courage into your hearts — into the 
 hearts of all Austrians who will sing it. For not only for you, but 
 for Austria, I have sung my hymn, and it shall belong to the whole 
 Austrian people I" 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENEKAL BONAPARTE. 
 
 At length peace was to be concluded. For several weeks had the 
 three Austrian plenipotentiaries been at Udine ; the Austrian court 
 having sent with Count Meerveldt and Count Louis Cobenzl the 
 Marquis de Gallo, who, although Neapolitan ambassador at Vienna, 
 and therefore, not in the imperial service, acted as their adviser. 
 
 General Bonaparte was at Passeriano : he alone had been author- 
 ized by the great French Republic to conclude peace with Austria, 
 or to renew the war, just as he saw fit. 
 
 The eyes of P'rance and Germany, nay of all Europe, were riveted 
 upon this small point on the border of Germany and Italy, for there 
 the immediate future of Europe was to be decided ; there the dice 
 were to fall which were to bring peace or war to the world. 
 
 Austria wanted peace ; it was a necessity for her, because she 
 did not feel strong enough for war, and was afraid of the dangers 
 and losses of continued defeats. But she did not want peace, co-Ate 
 qui coUte; she wanted to derive substantial advantages from it — she 
 intended to aggrandize herself at the expense of Italy, at the ex- 
 pense of Prussia — and, if need be, at the expense of Germany. 
 
 But what did France want, or rather, what did General Bona- 
 parte want? None but himself knew. None could read his thoughts 
 in his marble countenance. None could decipher his future actions 
 from his laconic utterances. None could tell what Bonaparte in- 
 tended to do, and what aim his ambition had in view. 
 
 The negotiations with Austria had been going on for months. 
 For several weeks the Austrian plenipotentiaries and General Bona- 
 parte had had daily interviews of many hours' duration, which 
 alternately took place at Udine and at Passeriano, but the work of 
 pacification would not come to a satisfactory conclusion. Austria 
 demanded too much, and France would not yield enough. These 
 conferences had frequently assumed a very stormy character, and 
 often, during the debates, Bonaparte's voice had resounded in thun- 
 dering tones, and flashes of anger had burst forth from his eyes. 
 But the Austrian plenipotentiaries had not been struck by them. 
 The flashes from the great chieftain's eyes had recoiled powerlessly 
 from their imperturbable smile. When his voice thundered at 
 
GENERAL BONAPARTE. 41 
 
 them, they had lowered their heads only to raise them slowly again 
 as soon as the general was silent. 
 
 To-day, on the thirteenth of October, another interview was to 
 take place, at the hotel of Count Cobenzl, and perhaps that was the 
 reason why General Bonaparte had risen at an unusually early hour 
 in the morning. He had just finished his toilet ; the four valets 
 who had assisted him had just concluded their task. As usual, Bo- 
 naparte had suffered them to dress and wash him like a child.* 
 With a silent gesture he now ordered the servants to withdraw, and 
 called out, " Bourrienne !" 
 
 The door was opened at once, and a tall young man, in the citi- 
 zen's dress of that period, stepped in. Bonaparte, greeting his 
 youthful secretary with a slight nod of his head, pointed with his 
 hand at the desk. 
 
 Bourrienne walked noiselessly to the desk, sat down, took a pen 
 and some blank paper, and waited for what the general would have 
 to dictate. 
 
 But Bonaparte was silent. With his hands folded on his back, 
 he commenced rapidly walking up and down. Bourrienne, holding 
 the pen in his hand and momentarily ready to write, enjoyed this 
 pause, this absorbed pondering of the general, with genuine delight ; 
 for it afforded him leisure to contemplate Bonaparte, to study his 
 whole appearance, and to engrave every feature, every gesture of 
 the conqueror of Italy upon his mind. 
 
 Bourrienne was an old friend of Bonaparte ; they had been to- 
 gether at the military academy ; they had met afterward at Paris — 
 and poor young Lieutenant Bonaparte had often been glad enough to 
 accept a dinner at the hands of his wealtliier friend. 
 
 Only a few years had elapsed since that time, and now Lieutenant 
 Bonaparte had become already an illustrious general ; while Bour- 
 rienne, whom the Terrorists had proscribed, thankfully accepted the 
 protection of his old comrade, and now filled the position of private 
 secretary under him. 
 
 He had been with him in this capacity only two days — for two 
 days he had seen Bonaparte every hour, and yet he contemplated 
 with ever new surprise this wonderful countenance, in which he 
 vainly tried to recognize the features of the friend of his youth. 
 True, the same outlines and contours were still there, but the whole 
 face was an entirely diflferent one. No traces of the carelessness, of 
 the harmless hilarity of former days, were left in these features. 
 His complexion was pale almost to sickliness ; his figure, which did 
 not rise above the middle height, was slender and bony. Upon look- 
 
 * "Mfimoires de Constant, premier valet de chambre de rEmpereur Napol6on," 
 vol. i. , p. 180. 
 
42 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 ing at him, j'ou seemed at first to behold a young man entirely de- 
 void of strength, and hopelessly doomed to an early death. But the 
 longer you examined him, the more his features seemed to breathe 
 vitality and spirit, and the firmer grew the conviction that this was 
 an exceptional being — a rare and strange phenomenon. Once accus- 
 tomed to his apparent pale and sickly homeliness, the beholder soon 
 saw it transformed into a fascinating beauty such as we admire on 
 the antique Roman cameos and old imperial coins. His classical 
 and regular profile seemed to be modelled after these antique coins ; 
 his forehead, framed in on both sides with fine chestnut hair, was 
 high and statuesque. His eyes were blue, but brimful of the most 
 wonderful expression and sparkling with fire, a faithful mirror of 
 his fiery soul, now exceedingly mild and gentle, and then again 
 stem and even harsh. His mouth was classically beautiful— the 
 finely-shaped lips, narrow and slightly compressed, especially when 
 in anger ; when he laughed, he displayed two rows of teeth, not 
 faultlessly fine, but of pearly white. Every lineament, every single 
 feature of his face was as regular as if modelled by a sculptor ; 
 nevertheless there was something ugly and repulsive in the whole, 
 and in order to be able to admire it, it was necessary first to get 
 accustomed to this most extraordinary being. Only the feet and 
 the small white hands were so surpassingly beautiful that they 
 enlisted at once the liveliest admiration, and this was perhaps the 
 reason why General Bonaparte, who otherwise observed the greatest 
 simplicity in his toilet, had adorned his hands with several splendid 
 diamond rings. - 
 
 BouiTienne was still absorbed in contemplating the friend of his 
 youth, when the latter suddenly stood still before him and looked at 
 him with a pleasant smile. 
 
 " Why do you stare at me in this manner, Bourrienne ?" he asked 
 in his abrupt and hasty tone. 
 
 "General, I only contemplate the laurels which your glorious 
 victories have woven around your brow, since I saw you the last 
 time, " said Bourrienne. 
 
 " Ah, and you find me a little changed since you saw me the last 
 time," replied Bonaparte, quickly. "It is true, the years of our 
 separation have produced a great many changes, and I was glad that 
 you had the good taste to perceive this, and upon meeting me under 
 the present circumstances, to observe a becoming and delicate re- 
 serve. I am under obligations to you for it, and from to-day you 
 shall be chief of my cabinet, my first private secretary. " f 
 
 Bourrienne rose to thank the young general by bowing respect- 
 
 * Mfimoires de Constant, vol. i. , p. 52. 
 
 tMSmoires de Monsieur de Bourrienne, vol. 1. , p. 33. 
 
GENERAL BONAPARTE. 43 
 
 fully, but Bonaparte took no further notice of him, and walked 
 again rapidly up and down. The smile had already vanished from 
 his face, which had resumed its immovable and impenetrable ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Bourrienne quietly sat down again and waited ; but now he 
 dared no longer look at Bonaparte, the general having noticed it 
 before. 
 
 After a lengthy pause, Bonaparte stood still close to the desk. 
 "Have you read the dispatches which the Directory sent me yes- 
 terday through their spy, M. Botot?" asked the general, abruptly. 
 
 "I have, general !" 
 
 "They are unreasonable fools," exclaimed Bonaparte, angrily, 
 "they want to direct our war from their comfortable sofas in the 
 Luxembourg, and believe their ink-stained hands could hold the 
 general's bdton as well as the pen. They want to dictate to us a 
 new war from Paris, without knowing whether we are able to bear 
 it or not. They ask us to conclude peace with Austria without 
 ceding Venice to her as compensation for Belgium. Yes, Talleyrand 
 is senseless enough to ask me to revolutionize the whole of Italy once 
 more, so that the Italians may expel their j^rinces, and that liberty 
 may prevail throughout the entire peninsula. In order to give them 
 liberty, they want me to carry first war and revolution into their 
 midst. These bi^mouthed and ignorant Parisians do not know that 
 Italy will not belong to us in reality until after the restoration of 
 peace, and that the Directory, even at the first dawn of peace, will 
 rule her from the mountains of Switzerland to the capes of Calabria. 
 Then, and only then, the Directory will be able to- alter the various 
 governments of Italy, and for this veiy reason we have to attach 
 Austria to our cause by a treaty of peace. As soon as she has signed 
 it, she will no longer molest us : first, because she is our ally ; and 
 principally because she will apprehend that we might take back from 
 her what we generously gave, in order to win her over to our side. 
 The war party at Vienna, however, will not submit without hoping 
 for some counter-revolution — a dream which the emigres and the 
 diplomacy of Pillnitz still cherishes with the utmost tenacity.* 
 And these unreasonable gentlemen of the Directory want war and 
 revolution, and they dare to accuse me of selfish motives. Ah, I 
 am yearning for repose, for retirement — I feel exhausted and dis- 
 trusted, and shall for the third time send in my resignation, which 
 the Directory twice refused to accept." 
 
 He had said all this in a subdued and rapid voice, apparently 
 only talking to himself— the only man worthy of learning the most 
 secret thoughts of his soul— and still with proud disdain toward him 
 ♦Bonaparte's own words. See "Mfinaoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. iv.,p. 578. 
 
44 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 who could overhear every word he said. He felt as though he were 
 alone, and he only spoke and consulted with himself, notwithstand- 
 ing the secretary's presence. 
 
 Another long pause ensued, Bonaparte pacing the room once more 
 with rapid steps. Violent and impassioned feelings seemed to agi- 
 tate his breast ; for his eyes became more lustrous, his cheeks were 
 suffused with an almost imperceptible blush, and he breathed 
 heavily ; as if oppressed by the closeness of the room, and in want 
 of fresh air, for he stepped up to the window and opened it vio- 
 lently. 
 
 An expression of amazement escaped from his lips, for the land- 
 scape, which yesterday was clad in the gorgeous hues of autumn, 
 now offered an entirely different aspect. Hoar-frost, dense and 
 glittering, covered the trees and the verdure of the meadows ; and 
 the Noric Alps, which crowned the horizon with a majestic wreath, 
 had adorned themselves during the night with sparkling robes of 
 snow and brilliant diadems of ice. 
 
 Bonaparte looked at the unexpected spectacle long and thought- 
 fully. "What a country !" He then whispered, " Snow and ice in 
 the first part of October ! Very well ! we must make peace ! " * 
 
 He closed the window and returned to the desk. 
 
 " Give me the army register, " he said to Bourrienne, and took a 
 seat at his side. » 
 
 Bourrienne laid the books and papers in succession before him, 
 and Bonaparte read and examined them with close attention. 
 
 " Yes, " he then said, after a long pause, " it is true, I have an 
 army of nearly eighty thousand men ; I have to feed and pay them, 
 but, on the battle-field, I could not count on more than sixty thou- 
 sand men. I should win the battle, but lose again twenty thousand 
 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. How, then, should I be able 
 to resist the united Austrian forces, which would hasten to the 
 assistance of Vienna ? It would take the armies on the Rhine more 
 than a month to come up in supporting distance, and in the course 
 of two weeks the snow will have blocked up all roads and mountain- 
 passes. I am determined, therefore, to make peace. Venice must 
 pay for the war, and the frontier of the Rhine. The Directory and 
 the learned lawyers may say what they please, f Write, Bourrienne, 
 I will now dictate my reply. " 
 
 Bourrienne took his pen ; Bonaparte arose from his seat, and fold- 
 ing his arms on his breast, he resumed his promenade across the 
 room, dictating slowly and clearly, so that every word dropped from 
 his lips like a pearl, until gradually the course of his speech grew 
 
 • Bonaparte's own words. Bourrienne, vol. i., p. 313. 
 
 t Bonaparte's own words.— "M6moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. iv. , p. 558. 
 
GENERAL BONAPARTE. 45 
 
 more rapid and rolled along in an unbroken, fiery, and brilliant 
 torrent. 
 
 "We shall sign the treaty of peace to-day," he dictated, in his 
 imperious tone, " or break off the negotiations altogether. Peace 
 will be advantageous to us— war with Austria will injure us ; but 
 war with England opens an extensive, highly important and brill- 
 iant field of action to our arms. " 
 
 And now he explained to the Directory the advantages of a treaty 
 of peace with Austria, and of a war with England, with logical 
 acuteness and precision. His words were no less pointed and sharp 
 than the edge of his sword, and as brief, stern, and cold as the 
 utterances of a Cato. 
 
 He then paused for a moment, not in order to collect his thoughts, 
 but only to give his secretary a few seconds' rest, and to get a 
 breathing-speU for himself. 
 
 "Let us go on now, " he said, after a short interval, and dictated 
 in an enthusiastic voice, and with flaming eyes : " If I have been 
 mistaken in my calculations, my heart is pure, and my intentions 
 are well meaning. I have not listened to the promptings of glory, 
 of vanity and ambition ; I have only regarded the welfare of the 
 country and government. If they should not approve of my actions 
 and views, nothing is left to me but to step back into the crowd, 
 put on the wooden shoes of Cincinnatus, and give an example of 
 respect for the government, and of aversion to military rule, which 
 has destroyed so many republics, and annihilated so many states. " * 
 
 •' Are you through ?" asked Bonaparte, drawing a long breath. 
 
 "Yes, general, lam." 
 
 "Then take another sheet, my friend. We are going to write 
 now to the sly fox who generally perceives every hole where he may 
 slip in, and who has such an excellent nose that he scents every 
 danger and every advantage from afar. But this time he has lost 
 the trail and is entirely mistaken. I will, therefore, show him the 
 way. 'To Citizen Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs.' Did 
 you write the address ?" 
 
 "Yes, general." 
 
 "Well, goon." 
 
 And without stopping a single time, and even without hesitating, 
 Bonaparte dictated the following letter : 
 
 "In three or four hours, citizen minister, every thing will be 
 decided— peace or war. I confess that I shall do evei-y thing to make 
 peace, in consequence of the advanced season and the slim prospect 
 of achieving important successes. 
 
 " You know very little about the nations of the peninsula ; they 
 * Bonaparte's own words.— "M6moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. iv., p. 558. 
 
46 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 do not deserve that forty thousand French soldiers should be killed 
 for their sake. I see from your letter that you always argue from 
 unfounded premises. You fancy that liberty would make a great 
 impression upon a lazy, superstitious, cowardly, and degraded 
 people. 
 
 " You ask me to do miracles, and I cannot perform them. Ever 
 since I came to Italy, the nation's desire for liberty and equality 
 was not my ally, or at best it was but a very feeble one. Whatever 
 is merely good to be mentioned in proclamations and printed 
 speeches is worth no more than a novel. 
 
 " Hoping that the negotiations wiU have a favorable issue, I do 
 not enter upon further details to enlighten you about many matters 
 which apparently have been misunderstood. Only by pi-udence, 
 sagacity, and determination we are able to realize great objects and 
 surmount all obstacles ; otherwise all our efforts will prove unavail- 
 ing. Frequently there is but a single step from victory to ruin. 
 In highly critical times, I have always noticed that a mere nothing 
 decided the most important events. 
 
 "It is characteristic of our nation to be too rash and fiery in 
 prosperity. If we adopt a sagacious policy, which is nothing but 
 the result of the calculation of combination and chances as a base 
 for our operations, we shall long remain the greatest nation and 
 most powerful state in Europe — nay, more, we shall hold the balance 
 of power, we shall make it incline wherever we desire, and if it 
 were the will of Providence, it would be no impossibility to achieve 
 in the course of a few years those great results which a glowing and 
 excited imagination perhaps foresees, but which only a man of ex- 
 traordinary coolness, perseverance, and prudence is able to accom- 
 plish if—" * 
 
 Bonaparte paused suddenly as if he had been about to betray a 
 profound secret, and stopped exactly when it was not yet too late to 
 keep it buried within his own breast. 
 
 " It is enough, " he then said, " erase the last word and close the 
 letter. What makes you look at me so strangely, Bourrienne?" 
 
 " I beg your pardon, general, I had a vision. It seemed to me as 
 if an oriflamme were burning on your head, and I believe if all nations 
 and all men could behold you as I saw you just now, they would 
 believe once more in the fables of pagan mythology, and feel satis- 
 fled that Jove the Thunderer had deigned to descend once more into 
 our human world. " 
 
 Bonaparte smiled, and this smile lighted up his face, previously 
 so stem and rigid. 
 
 " You are a flabterer and a courtier, " he said, playfully pinching 
 * "M^moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. iv., p. 581. 
 
GENERAL BONAPARTE. 47 
 
 Bourrienne's ear so violently that the latter was scarcely able to 
 conceal a shriek of pain under a smile. " Yes, indeed, you are a 
 regular courtier, and the republic has done well to banish you, for 
 flattery is something very aristocratic, and injurious to our stiflE 
 republican dignity. And what an idea, to compare me to Jove 
 appearing on earth ! Don ' t you know, then, you learned scholar and 
 flatterer, that Jove, whenever he descended from Olympus, was in 
 pursuit of a very worldly and entirely ungodly adventure? It would 
 only remain for you to inform my Josephine that I was about to 
 transform myself into an ox for the sake of some beautiful Europa, 
 or drop down in the shape of a golden rain to gain the love of a 
 Danae. " 
 
 " General, the sagacious and spirited Josephine would believe the 
 former to be impossible, for even if you should succeed in perform- 
 ing all the miracles of the world, you could never transform yourself 
 into an ox. " 
 
 " What ! you compared me a minute ago with Jove, and now you 
 doubt already whether I could accomplish what Jove has done 1" 
 exclaimed Bonaparte, laughing. "Ah, flatterer, you see I have 
 caught you in your own meshes. But would my Josephine believe, 
 then, that I could ti-ansform myself into a golden rain for the pur- 
 pose of winning a Danae, you arrant rogue?" 
 
 " Yes, general, but she always would take good care to be that 
 Danae herself. " 
 
 " Yes, indeed, you are right, " replied Bonaparte, laughing even 
 louder than before. " Josephine likes golden rains, and should they 
 be ever so violent, she would not complain ; for if they should im- 
 merse her up to the neck, in the course of a few hours she would 
 have got rid of the whole valuable flood. " 
 
 " Your wife is as liberal and generous as a princess, and that is 
 the reason why she spends so much money. She scatters her chari- 
 ties with liberal hands. " 
 
 " Yes, Josephine has a noble and magnanimous heart, " exclaimed 
 Napoleon, and his large blue eyes assumed a mild and tender expres- 
 sion. "She is a woman just as I like women— so gentle and good, 
 so childlike and playful, so tender and affectionate, so passionate 
 and odd I And at the same time ,so dignified and refined in her 
 manners. Ah, you ought to have seen her at Milan receiving the 
 princes and noblesse in her drawing-room. I assure you, my friend, 
 the wife of little General Bonaparte looked and bore herself precisely 
 like a queen holding a levee, and she was treated and honored as 
 though she were one. Ah, you ought to have seen it !" 
 
 " I did see it, general. I was at Milan before coming here. " 
 
 "Ah, yes, that is true. I had forgotten it. You lucky feUow, 
 
48 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 you saw my wife more recently than I did myself. Josephine is 
 beautiful, is she not? No young girl can boast of more freshness, 
 more grace, innocence, and loveliness. Whenever I am with her, 
 I feel as contented, as happy and tranquil as a man who, on a very 
 warm day, is reposing in the shade of a splendid myrtle-tree, and 
 whenever I am far from her — " 
 
 Bonaparte paused, and a slight blush stole over his face. The 
 young lover of twenty-eight had triumphed for a moment over the 
 stem, calculating general, and the general was ashamed of it. 
 
 "This is no time to think of such things, " he said, almost indig- 
 nantly. " Seal the letters now, and dispatch a messenger to Paris. 
 Ah, Paris ! Would to God I were again there in my little house in 
 the Rue Chantereine, alone and happy with Josephine ! But in 
 order to get there, I must first make peace here — peace with Austria, 
 with the Emperor of Germany. Ah, I am afraid Germany will not 
 be much elated by this treaty of peace which her emperor is going 
 to conclude, and by which she may lose some of her most splendid 
 fortresses on the Rhine. " 
 
 "And the Republic of Venice, general?" 
 
 " The Republic of Venice is about to disappear, " exclaimed Bona- 
 parte, frowning. "Venice has rendered herself unworthy of the 
 name of a republic — she is about to disappear. " 
 
 "General, the delegates of the republic were all day yesterday in 
 your anteroom, vainly waiting for an audience. '' 
 
 "They will have to wait to-day likewise until I return from the 
 conference which is to decide about war or peace. In either case, 
 woe unto the Venetians ! Tell them, Bourrienne, to wait until I 
 return. And now, my carriage. I cannot let the Austrian pleni- 
 potentiaries wait any longer for my ultimatum. " 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE TREATY OF OAMPO FOEMIO. 
 
 The Austrian plenipotentiaries were at the large Alberga of 
 Udine, waiting for General Bonaparte. Every thing was prepared 
 for his reception ; the table was set, and the cooks were only looking 
 for the arrival of the French chieftain in order to serve up the mag- 
 nificent d&jeuner with which to-day's conference was to begin. 
 
 Count Louis Cobenzl and the Marquis de Gallo were in the dining- 
 room, standing at the window and looking at the scenery. 
 
 " It is cold to-day, " said Count Cobenzl, after a pause in ths con- 
 versation. " For my part, I like cold weather, for it reminds me of 
 
THE TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO. 49 
 
 the most memorable years of my life— of my sojourn at the court of 
 the Russian Semiramis. But you, marquis, are probably reminded 
 by this frosty weather even more sensibly of your beautiful Naples 
 and the glowing sun of the south. The chilly air must make you 
 homesick. " 
 
 " That disease is unknown to me, count, " said the marquis. " I 
 am at home wherever I can serve my king and my country." 
 
 "But to-day, my dear marquis, you have to serve a foreign 
 prince. " 
 
 " Austria is the native country of my noble Queen Caroline, '- 
 said the marquis, gravely, "and the empress is my king's daughter. 
 The Austrian court, therefore, may command my whole power and 
 ability." 
 
 "I am afraid that we are going to have hard work to-day, mar- 
 quis, '' remarked Count Cobenzl, gloomily. " This French general is 
 really a sans-culotte of the worst kind. He is entirely devoid of 
 noblesse, bon ton, and refinement." 
 
 "My dear count, for my part I take this Bonaparte to be a very 
 long-headed man, and I am sure we must be greatly on our guard to 
 be able to wrest a few concessions from him. " 
 
 ■' Do you really believe that, marquis V" asked the count, with an 
 incredulous smile. "You did not see, then, how his marble face 
 lighted up when I handed him the other day that autograph letter 
 from his majesty the emperor? You did not see how he blushed 
 with pleasure while reading it? Oh, I noticed it, and, at that 
 moment, I said to myself : ' This republican bear is not insensible to 
 the favors and affability of the great. ' Flattery is a dish which he 
 likes to eat ; we will, therefore, feed him with it, and he will be 
 ours, and do whatever we may want without even noticing it. The 
 great Empress Catharine used to say : ' Bears are best tamed by 
 sweetmeats, and republicans by titles and decorations. ' Just see, 
 marquis, how I am going to honor him ! I let him drink his choco- 
 late to-day from my most precious relic — from this cup here, which 
 the great empress gave to me, and which you see contains the 
 czarina's portrait. Ah, it was at the last festival at the Ermitage 
 that she handed me the cup with chocolate, and, in order to give it 
 its real value, she touched the rim of the cup with her own sublime 
 lips, sipped of the chocolate, and then permitted me to drink where 
 she had drunk. This cup, therefore, is one of my most cherished 
 reminiscences of St. Petersburg, and little General Bonaparte may be 
 very proud to be permitted to drink from Catharine's cup. Yes, 
 yes, we will give sweetmeats to the bear, but afterward he must 
 dance just as we please. We will not yield, but he must yield to us. 
 Oui- demands ought to be as exorbitant as possible 1" 
 
50 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " By straining a cord too much, you generally break it, " said the 
 Italian, thoughtfully. "General Bonaparte, I am afraid, will not 
 consent to any thing derogatory to the honor and dignity of France. 
 Besides, there is another bad feature about him — he is incorruptible, 
 and even the titles and decorations of the Empress Catharine would 
 not have tamed this republican. Let us proceed cautiously and 
 prudently, count. Let us demand much, but yield in time, 
 and be content with something less in order not to lose every 
 thing. " 
 
 " Austria can only consent to a peace which extends her bounda- 
 ries, and enlarges her territory, '' exclaimed Cobenzl, hastily. 
 
 "You are right, certainly," replied the Marquis deGallo, slowly; 
 " but Austria cannot intend to aggrandize herself at the expense of 
 France. What is that so-called Germany good for? Let Austria 
 take from her whatever she wants — a piece of Bavaria, a piece of 
 Prussia — I would not care if she even gave to Prance a piece of Ger- 
 many, for instance the frontier of the Rhine. In the name of Heaven, 
 I should think that the so-called German empire is decayed enough 
 to permit us to break off a few of its pieces. " 
 
 "You are very unmerciful toward the poor German empire, " said 
 Count Cobenzl, with a smile, " for you are no German, and owing 
 to that, it seems you are much better qualified to act as Austrian 
 plenipotentiary in this matter. Nevertheless it is odd and funny 
 enough that in these negotiations in which the welfare of Germany 
 is principally at stake, the Emperor of Germany should be repre- 
 sented by an Italian, and the French Republic by a Corsican !" 
 
 "You omit yourself, my dear count," said the marquis, politely. 
 " You are the real representative of the German emperor, and I per- 
 ceive that the emperor could not have intrusted the interests of 
 Germany to better hands. But as you have permitted me to act as 
 your adviser, I would beg you to remember that the welfare of 
 Austria should precede the welfare of Germany. And— but listen ! 
 a carriage is approaching. " 
 
 "It is General Bonaparte," said Count Cobenzl, hastening to the 
 window. "Just see the splendid carriage in which he is coming. 
 Six horses— four footmen on the box, and a whole squadron of 
 lancers escorting him ! And you believe this republican to be in- 
 sensible to flattery? Ah, ha ! we will give sweetmeats to the bear ! 
 Let us go and receive him. " 
 
 He took the arm of the marquis, and both hastened to receive the 
 general, whose carriage had just stopped at the door. 
 
 The Austrian plenipotentiaries met Bonaparte in the middle of 
 the staircase and escorted him to the dining-room, where the dijeuner 
 was waiting for him. 
 
THE TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO. 51 
 
 But Bonaparte declined the dejeuner, in spite of the repeated and 
 most pressing requests of Count Cobenzl. 
 
 " At least take a cup of chocolate to warm yourself, " urged the 
 count. " Drink it out of this cup, general, and if it were only in 
 order to increase its value in my eyes. The Empress Catharine gave 
 it to me, and drank from it ; and if you now use this cup likewise, 
 I might boast of possessing a cup from which the greatest man and 
 the greatest woman of this century have drunk !' 
 
 "I shaU not drink, count !" replied Bonaparte, bluntly. "I will 
 have nothing in common with this imperial Messalina, who, by her 
 dissolute life, equally disgraced the dignity of the crown and of 
 womanhood. You see I am a strong-headed republican, who only 
 understands to talk of business. Let us, therefore, attend to that at 
 once. " 
 
 Without waiting for an invitation, he sat down on the divan 
 close to the breakfast-table, and, with a rapid gesture, motioned the 
 two gentlemen to take seats at his side. 
 
 " I informed you of my ultimatum the day before yesterday, " 
 said Bonaparte, coldly ; " have you taken it into consideration, and 
 are you going to accept it ?" 
 
 This blunt and hasty question, so directly at the point, discon- 
 certed the two diplomatists. 
 
 "We will weigh and consider with you what can be done," said 
 Count Cobenzl, timidly. "France asks too much and offers too 
 little. Austria is ready to cede Belgium to France, and give up 
 Lombardy, but in return she demands the whole territory of Venice, 
 Mantua included." 
 
 " Mantua must remain with the new Cisalpine Republic !" ex- 
 claimed Bonaparte, vehemently. " That is one of the stipulations of 
 my ultimatimn, and you seem to have forgotten it, count. And you 
 say nothing about the frontier of the Rhine, and of the fortress of 
 Mentz, both of which I have claimed for France. " 
 
 " But, general, the Rhine does not belong to Austria, and Mentz 
 is garrisoned by German troops. We cannot give away what does 
 not belong to us. " 
 
 "Do not I give Venice to you?" exclaimed Bonaparte — "Venice, 
 which, even at the present hour, Is a sovereign state, and whose 
 delegates are at my headquarters, waiting for my reply ! The Em- 
 peror of Germany has certainly the right to give away a German 
 fortress if he choose. " 
 
 " Well, Austria is not indisposed to cede the frontier of the Rhine 
 to France," remarked the Marquis de Gallo. "Austria is quite 
 willing and ready to form a close alliance with France, in order to 
 resist the ambitious schemes of Prussia. " 
 
52 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 " If Austria should acquire new territory in consequence of an 
 understanding with Prance, she must be sure that no such right of 
 aggTandizement should be granted to Prussia, " said Count Cobenzl, 
 hastily. 
 
 " France and Austria might pledge themselves- in a secret treaty 
 not to permit any further aggrandizement of Prussia, but to give 
 back to her simply her former possessions on the Rhine, " said De 
 Gallo. 
 
 " No digressions, if you please !" exclaimed Bonaparte, impa- 
 tiently. " Let us speak of my ultimatum. In the name of France, I 
 have offered you peace, provided the territories on the left bank of 
 the Rhine with their stipulated boundaries, including Mentz, be 
 ceded to France, and provided, further, that the Adige form the 
 boundary-line between Austria and the Cisalpine Republic, Mantua 
 to belong to the latter. You cede Belgium to France, but, in return, 
 we give you the continental possessions of Venice; only Coi-fuand 
 the Ionian Islands are to fall to the share of France, and the Adige 
 is to form the frontier of Venetian Austria. " 
 
 " I told you already, general, " said Count Cobenzl, with his most 
 winning smile, "we cannot accept the last condition. We must 
 have Mantua, likewise ; in return, we give you Mentz ; and not the 
 Adige, but the Adda, must be our frontier. " 
 
 "Ah! I see — new difficulties, new subterfuges !" exclaimed Bona- 
 parte, and his eyes darted a flash of anger at the diplomatist. 
 
 This angry glance, however, was parried by the polite smile of 
 the count. " I took the liberty of informing you likewise of cmr 
 ultimatum, general, " he said, gently, " and I am sorry to be com- 
 pelled to declare that I shall have to leave this place unless our terms 
 be acceded to. But in that case, I shall hold you responsible for the 
 blood of the thousands which may be shed in consequence. '' 
 
 Bonaparte jumped up, with flaming eyes, and lips quivering 
 with rage. 
 
 "You dare to threaten me!" he shouted, angrily. "You resort 
 to subterfuge after subterfuge. Then you are determined to have 
 war? Very well, you shall have it. " 
 
 He extended his arm hastily and seized the precious cup which 
 the Empress Catharine had given to Count Cobenzl, and, with an 
 impetuous motion, hurled it to the ground, where it broke to pieces 
 with a loud crash. 
 
 " See there !" he shouted in a thundering voice. " Your Austrian 
 monarchy shall be shattered like this cup within less than three 
 months. I promise you that. '' 
 
 Without deigning to cast another glance upon the two gentlemen, 
 he hurried with rapid steps to the door, and left the room. 
 
THE TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO. 53 
 
 Pale with anger and dismay, Count Cobenzl stared at the d&ms 
 of the precious cup, which so long had been the pride and joy of his 
 heai-t. 
 
 •'He is leaving," muttered the Marquis de GaUo. "Shall we let 
 him go, count?" 
 
 "How is that bear to be kept here?" asked the count, sighing, 
 and shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 At this moment Bonaparte's powerful voice was heard in the 
 anteroom, calling out : 
 
 "An orderly — quick !" 
 
 " He calls out of the window, " whispered the marquis. " Let us 
 hear what he has got to say. " 
 
 The two plenipotentiaries slipped on tiptoe to the window, cau- 
 tiously peeping from behind the curtains. They saw a French lancer 
 galloping up below, and stopping and salutin^^ under the window of 
 the adjoining room. 
 
 Again they heard Bonaparte's thundering voice. "Ride over to 
 the headquarters of Archduke Charles, " shouted Bonaparte. " Tell 
 him on my behalf that the armistice is at an end, and that hostili- 
 ties will recommence from the present hour. That is all. Depart !" 
 
 Then they heard him close the window with a crash, and walk 
 with loud steps through the anteroom. 
 
 The two plenipotentiaries looked at each other in dismay. 
 " Count, '' whispered the marquis, "listen ! he leaves and has threat- 
 ened to shatter Austria. He is the man to fulfil his threat. My 
 God, must we suffer him to depart in anger? Have you been au- 
 thorized to do that?" 
 
 " Will you try to command the storm to stand still?" asked Count 
 Cobenzl. 
 
 " Yes, I will try, for we must not break off the negotiations in 
 this way and recommence hostilities. We must conciliate this ter- 
 rible warrior !" 
 
 He rushed out of the room, and hastened through the anteroom 
 and down -stairs to the front door. 
 
 Bonaparte had already entered his carriage ; his escort had formed 
 in line, the driver had seized the reins and whip in order to give 
 the impatient horses the signal to start. 
 
 At this moment, the pale and humble face of the Marquis de 
 Gallo appeared at the carriage door. Bonaparte did not seem to see 
 him. Leaning back into the cushions, he gloomily looked up to 
 heaven. 
 
 " General, " said the marquis, imploringly, " I beseech you not to 
 depart !" 
 
 " Marquis, " replied Bonaparte, shrugging his shoulders, " it does 
 
54 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 not become me to remain peaceably among my enemies. War has 
 been declared, for you have not accepted my ultimatum. " 
 
 "But, general, I take the liberty to inform you that the Austrian 
 plenipotentiaries have resolved to accept your ultimatum. " 
 
 Bonaparte's marble countenance did not betray the slightest 
 emotion of surprise and joy ; his large eyes only cast a piercing 
 glance upon the marquis. 
 
 "You accept it without subterfuge or reserve?" he asked, slowly. 
 
 "Yes, general, precisely as you have stated it. We are ready to 
 sign the treaty of peace, and accept the ultimatum. Just be kind 
 enough to alight once more, and continue the conference with us. " 
 
 "No, sir," said Bonaparte, "nulla vestigia retrorsam.' Being 
 already in my carriage, I shall not return to you. Besides, the del- 
 egates of the Venetian Republic are waiting for me at Passeriano, 
 and I believe it is time for me to inform them too of my ultimatum. 
 At the end of three hours, I ask you, marquis, and Count Cobenzl to 
 proceed to my headquarters at Passeriano. There we will take 
 the various stipulations of the treaty into consideration, and agree 
 upon the public and secret articles. " 
 
 " But you forget, general, that your orderly is already on the way 
 to the Austrian headquarters in order to announce the reopening of 
 hostilities. " 
 
 " That is true, " said Napoleon, quietly. " Here, two orderlies. 
 Follow the first orderly, and command him to return. You see, 
 marquis, I believe in the sincerity of your assurances. In three 
 hours, then, I shall expect you at Passeriano for the purpose of set- 
 tling the details of the treaty. We shall sign it, however, on neutral 
 ground. Do you see that tall building on the horizon ?" 
 
 " Yes, general, it is the decayed old castle of Campo Formio. " 
 
 " Well, in that castle, the treaty shall be signed. In three hours, 
 then. Until then, farewell. " 
 
 He nodded carelessly to the marquis, who, as humble as a vassal, 
 at the feet of the throne, stood at the carriage door, constantly bow- 
 ing deeply, and waving his plumed hat. 
 
 "Forward!" shouted Bonaparte, and the carriage, followed by a 
 brilliant suite, rolled away. Bonaparte, carelessly leaning into the 
 corner, muttered, with a stealthy smile : " It was a coup de thedtre, 
 and it had evidently great success. They had to accept peace at my 
 hands as a favor. Ah, if they had guessed how much I needed it 
 myself ! But these men are obtuse ; they cannot see any thing. 
 They have no aim ; they only live from minute to minute, and 
 whenever they find a precipice on their route, they stumble over it, 
 and are lost beyond redemption. My God, how scarce real men are ! 
 There are eighteen millions in Italy, and I have scarcely found two 
 
THE TREATY OF CAMPO FORMIO. 55 
 
 men among them. I want to save these two men, but the rest may- 
 fulfil their destiny. The Republic of Venice shall disappear from 
 tlie earth — this cruel and bloodthirsty government shall be annihi- 
 lated. We shall throw it as a prey to hungry Austria ; but when 
 the latter has devoured her, and stretched herself in the lazy languor 
 of digestion, then it will be time for us to stir up Austria. Until 
 then, peace with Austria — peace !" 
 
 Three hours later the treaty between Austria and France was 
 signed at the old castle of Campo Formic. France, by this treaty, 
 acquired Belgium, the left bank of the Rhine, and the fortress of 
 Mentz. Austria acquired the Venetian territory. But to these 
 acquisitions, which were published, secret articles were added. In 
 these secret articles, France promised, in case Prussia should de- 
 mand an enlargement of her dominions, like Austria, not to con- 
 sent to it. 
 
 The Emperor of Austria, on his part, pledged himself to withdraw 
 his troops, even before the conclusion of the treaty with the German 
 empire, to be agreed upon at Rastadt, from all the fortresses on the 
 Rhine — in other words, to surrender the German empire entirely to 
 its French neighbors. 
 
 Austria had enlarged her teiTitory, but, for this aggrandizement, 
 Germany was to pay with her blood, and finally with her life. 
 Austria had made peace with France at Campo Formio, and it was 
 stipulated in the treaty that the German empire likewise should 
 conclude peace with France. For this purpose, a congress was to 
 meet at Rastadt ; all German princes were to send their ambassadors 
 to that fortress, in order to settle, jointly, with three representatives 
 of the French Republic, the fate of the empire. 
 
THE TOUI^G QUEEl^ OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 QUEEN LOUISA. 
 
 The most noble Countess von Voss, mistress of ceremonies at the 
 court of Prussia, was pacing the anteroom of Queen Louisa in the 
 most excited manner. She wore the regular court dress — a long 
 black robe and a large cap of black crape. In her white hands, half 
 covered with black silk gloves, she held a gorgeous fan, which she 
 now impatiently opened and closed, and then again slowly moved 
 up and down like a musical leader's baton. 
 
 If anybody had been present to observe her, the noble mistress of 
 ceremonies would not have permitted herself such open manifesta- 
 tions of her impatience. Fortunately, however, she was quite alone, 
 and under these circumstances even a mistress of ceremonies at the 
 royal court might feel at liberty to violate the rules of that etiquette 
 which on all other occasions was the noble lady's most sacred gospel. 
 
 Etiquette, however, was just now the motive of her intense ex- 
 citement, and in its interest she was going to fight a battle on that 
 very spot in Queen Louisa's anteroom. 
 
 " Now or never !" she murmured. " What I was at liberty to 
 overlook as long as Frederick William and Louisa were merely ' their 
 royal highnesses, the crown prince and crown princess, ' I cannot 
 permit any longer now that they have ascended the royal throne. 
 Hence I am determined to speak to the young king on this first day 
 of his reign* in as emphatic and sincere a manner as is required by 
 a faithful discharge of my responsible duties. " 
 
 Just at that moment the large folding doors were opened, and a 
 tall and slender young man in a dashing uniform entered the room. 
 It was young King Frederick William III. , on his return from the 
 interior palace-yard where he had received the oath of allegiance 
 at the hands of the generals of the monarchy. 
 
 The noble and youthful countenance of this king of twenty- seven 
 years was grave and stern, but from his large blue eyes the kindness 
 and gentleness of his excellent heart was beaming, and his 
 * November 17, 1797. 
 
QUEEN LOUISA. 57 
 
 handsome and good-natured features breathed a wonderful spirit of 
 serenity and sympathy. 
 
 He crossed the room with rapid and noiseless steps, and, politely 
 bowing to the mistress of ceremonies, approached the opposite door. 
 
 But the mistress of ceremonies, evidently anxious to prevent him 
 from opening that door, placed herself in front of it and gravely 
 said to him : 
 
 " Your majesty, it is impossible. I cannot permit etiquette tc 
 be violated in this manner, and I must beg your majesty to inform 
 me most graciously of what you are going to do in these rooms?" 
 
 " Well, " said the king, with a pleasant smile, " I am going to do 
 to-day what I am in the habit of doing every day at this hour— I am 
 going to pay a visit to my wife. " 
 
 "To your wife!" exclaimed the mistress of ceremonies, in dis- 
 may. " But, your majesty, a king has no ivife ! " 
 
 •' Ah ! in that case a king would be a very wretched being, " said 
 the king, smiling, "and, for my part, I would sooner give up my 
 crown than my beloved wife." 
 
 ■'Good Heaven, your majesty, you may certainly have a wife, 
 but let me implore you not to apply that vulgar name to her majesty 
 in the presence of other people. It is contrary to etiquette and in- 
 jurious to the respect due to royalty. " 
 
 "My dear countess,'' said the young king, gravely, "I believe, on 
 the contrary, that it will only increase the respect which people will 
 feel for us, if her majesty remains a woman in the noblest and truest 
 meaning of the word, and my wife — I beg your pardon , I was going 
 to say the queen — is such a woman. And now, my dear countess, 
 permit me to go to her. " 
 
 " No, " exclaimed the mistress of ceremonies, resolutely. " Your 
 majesty must first condescend to listen to me. For an hour already I 
 have been waiting here for your majesty's arrival, and you must 
 now graciously permit me to speak to you as frankly and sincerely 
 as is required by my duty and official position.'' 
 
 "Well, I will listen to you, my dear countess," said the king, 
 with an inaudible sigh. 
 
 " Your majesty, " said the mistress of ceremonies, " I consider it 
 my duty to beseech your majesty on this memorable day to confer 
 upon me the power of enforcing the privileges of my office with 
 more severity and firmness. " 
 
 "And to submit myself to your sceptre. That is what you want 
 me to do, I suppose, dear countess?" asked the king, smiling. 
 
 " Sire, at all events it is impossible to keep up the dignity and 
 majesty of royalty if the king and queen themselves openly defy the 
 laws of etiquette. " 
 
58 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Ah!" exclaimed the king, sharply, "not a word against the 
 queen, if you please, my dear mistress of ceremonies ! You may 
 accuse me just as much as you please, but pray let me hear no more 
 complaints about my Louisa 1 Well, then, tell me now what new 
 derelictions I have been guilty of. " ' 
 
 "Sire," said the countess, who did not fail to notice the almost 
 imperceptible smile playing on the king's lips — "sire, I perceive 
 that your majesty is laughing at me ; nevertheless, I deem it incum- 
 bent on me to raise my warning voice. Etiquette is something 
 sublime and holy — it is the sacred wall separating the sovereign 
 from his people. If that iU-starred queen, Marie Antoinette, had 
 not torn down this wall, she would probably have met with a less 
 lamentable end." 
 
 "Ah ! countess, you really go too far ; you even threaten me with 
 the guillotine, " exclaimed the king, good-naturedly. " Indeed, I am 
 afraid I must have committed a great crime against etiquette. Tell 
 me, therefore, where you wish to see a change, and I pledge you my 
 word I shall grant your request if it be in my power to do so. " 
 
 " Sire, " begged the mistress of ceremonies, in a low and impres- 
 sive voice, " let me implore you to be in your palace less of a father 
 and husband, and more of a king, at least in the presence of others. 
 It frequently occurs that your majesty, before other people, addresses 
 the queen quite unceremoniously with 'thou,' nay, your majesty 
 even in speaking of her majesty to strangers or servants, often 
 briefly calls the queen ' my wife. ' Sire, all that might be overlooked 
 in the modest family circle and house of a crown prince, but it can- 
 not be excused in the palace of a king. " 
 
 "Then," asked the king, smiling, "this house of mine has been 
 transformed into a palace since yesterday ?" 
 
 " Assuredly, sire, you do not mean to say that you wiU remain in 
 this humble house after your accession to the throne?" exclaimed 
 the mistress of ceremonies, in dismay. 
 
 " Now teU me sincerely, my dear countess, cannot we remain in 
 this house 1" 
 
 " I assure your majesty it is altogether out of the question. How 
 would it be possible to keep up the com-t of a king and queen in so 
 small a house with becoming dignity? The queen's household has 
 to be largely increased ; hereafter we must have four ladies of honor, 
 four ladies of the bedchamber, and other servants in the same pro- 
 portion. According to the rules of etiquette. Sire, you must like- 
 wise enlarge your own household. A king must have two adjutant- 
 generals, four chamberlains, four gentlemen of the bedchamber, 
 and—" 
 
 "Hold on," exclaimed the king, smiling, " mj/ household foi:tu- 
 
QUEEN LOUISA. 59 
 
 nately does not belong to the department of the mistress of ceremo- 
 nies, and therefore we need not allude to it. As to your other 
 propositions and wishes, I shall take them into consideration, for 
 I hope you are through now. " 
 
 "No, your majesty, I am not. I have to mention a good many 
 other things, and I must do so to-day— my duty requires it, " said the 
 mistress of ceremonies, in a dignified manner. 
 
 The king cast a wistful glance toward the door. 
 
 "WeU, if your duty requires it, you may proceed, " he said, with 
 a loud sigh. 
 
 '• I must beseech your majesty to assist me in the discharge of my 
 onerous duties. If the king and queen themselves will submit to 
 the rigorous and just requirements of etiquette, I shall be able to 
 compel the whole court likewise strictly to adhere to those salutary 
 rules. Nowadays, however, a spirit of innovation and disinclination 
 to observe the old-established ceremonies and customs, which deeply 
 afilicts me, and which I cannot but deem highly pernicious, is gain- 
 ing gi-ound everywhere. It has even now infected the ladies and 
 gentlemen of the court. And having often heard your majesty, in 
 conversation with her majesty the queen, contrary to etiquette, use 
 the vulgar German language instead of the French tongue, which is 
 the language of the courts throughout Germany, they believe they 
 have a perfect right to speak German whenever they please. Yes, 
 it has become a regular custom among them to salute each other at 
 breakfast with a German ' Outen morgen ! ' * That is an innovation 
 which should not be permitted to anybody, without first obtaining 
 the consent of her majesty's mistress of ceremonies and your maj- 
 esty's master of ceremonies. " 
 
 "I beg your pardon," said the king, gravely, "as to this point, I 
 altogether differ from you. No etiquette should forbid German 
 gentlemen or German ladies to converse in their mother tongue, 
 and it is unnatural and mere affectation to issue such orders. In 
 order to become fully conscious of their national dignity, they should 
 especially value and love their own language, and no longer deign 
 to use in its place the tongue of a people who have shed the blood of 
 their king and queen, and whose deplorable example now causes all 
 thrones to tremble. Would to God that the custom of using the 
 German language would become more and more prevalent at my 
 court, for it behooves Germans to feel and think and speak like 
 Germans ; and that will also be the most reliable bulwark against 
 the bloody waves of the French Republic, in case it should desire to 
 invade Germany. Now j'ou know my views, my dear mistress of 
 ceremonies, and if your book of ceremonies prescribes that all court 
 * Vide Ludwig Haflsser's "History of Germany," vol. ii. 
 
60 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 oflSoers should converse in French, I request you to expunge that 
 article and to insert in its place the following: 'Prussia, being a 
 German state, of course everybody is at liberty to speak German. ' 
 This will also be the rule at court, except in the presence of persons 
 not familiar with the German language. Pray don't forget that, 
 my dear countess, and now, being so implacable a guardian of that 
 door, and of the laws of etiquette, I request you to go to her majesty 
 the queen, and ask her if I may have the honor of waiting upon her 
 majesty. I should like to present my respects to her majesty ; and 
 I trust she will graciously grant my request. " * 
 
 The mistress of ceremonies bowed deeply, her face radiant with 
 joy, and then rapidly entered the adjoining room. 
 
 The king looked after her for a moment, with a peculiar smile. 
 " She has to pass through six large rooms before reaching Louisa's 
 boudoir, " he murnmred : " this door, however, directly leads to her 
 through the small hall and the other anteroom. That is the shortest 
 road to her, and I shall take it. " 
 
 Without hesitating any longer, the king hastily opened the small 
 side door, slipped through the silent hall and across the small ante- 
 x'oom, and knocked at the large and heavily-curtained door. 
 
 A sweet female voice exclaimed, " Come in ! " and the king imme- 
 diately opened the door. A lady in deep mourning came to meet 
 him, extending her hands toward him. 
 
 •' Oh, my heart told me that it was you, my dearest ! " she ex- 
 claimed, and her glorious blue eyes gazed upon him with an inde- 
 scribable expression of impassioned tenderness. 
 
 The king looked at her with a dreamy smile, quite absorbed in 
 her aspect. And indeed it was a charming and beautiful sight pre- 
 sented by this young queen of twenty years. 
 
 Her blue eyes were beaming in the full fire of youth, enthusiasm, 
 and happiness ; a sweet smile was always playing on her finely- 
 formed mouth, with the ripe cherry lips. On both sides of her 
 slightly -blushing cheeks her splendid auburn hair was flowing down 
 in waving ringlets ; her noble and pure forehead arose above a nose 
 of classical regularity, and her figure, so proud and yet so charming, 
 so luxuriant and yet so chaste, full of true royal dignity and win- 
 ning womanly grace, was in complete harmony with her lovely and 
 youthful features. 
 
 "Well?" asked the queen, smiling. "Not a word of welcome 
 from you, my beloved husband?" 
 
 "I only say to you, God bless you on your new path, and may 
 
 *The king's own words.— Vide " Cliaracterzuge und Historisclie Fragmente aus 
 dem Leben des Konigs von Pruessen, Friedrich Wilhelm m. Gesammelt und 
 herausgegeben von R. Fr. Eylert, Bishop, u.s.w. Th. ii., p. 21. 
 
QUEEN LOUISA. 61 
 
 He preserve you to me as long as I live !" replied the king, deeply 
 moved, and embracing his queen with gushing tenderness. 
 
 She encircled his neck with her soft, white arms, and leaned her 
 head with a happy smile upon his shoulder. Thus they reposed in 
 each other's arms, silent in their unutterable delight, solemnly 
 moved in the profound consciousness of their eternal and imperish- 
 able love. 
 
 Suddenly they were interrupted in their blissful dream by a low 
 cry, and when they quickly turned around in a somewhat startled 
 manner, they beheld the Countess von Yoss, mistress of ceremonies, 
 standing in the open door, and gloomily gazing upon them. 
 
 The king could not help laughing. 
 
 "Do you see now, my dear countess?" he said. "My wife and I 
 see each other without any previous interruption as often as we 
 want to do so, and that is precisely as it ought to be in a Christian 
 family. But you are a charming mistress of ceremonies, and here- 
 after we will call you Dame d' Etiquette* Moreover, I will comply 
 with your wishes as much as I can. " 
 
 He kindly nodded to her, and the mistress of ceremonies, well 
 aware of the meaning of this nod, withdrew with a sigh, closing 
 the door as she went out. 
 
 The queen looked up to her husband with a smile. 
 
 "Was it again some quarrel about etiquette?" she asked. 
 
 " Yes, and a quarrel of the worst kind, " replied the king, quickly. 
 " The mistress of ceremonies demands that I should always be an- 
 nounced to you before entering your room, Louisa. " 
 
 " Oh, you are always announced here, " she exclaimed, tenderly ; 
 "my heart always indicates your approach— and that herald is alto- 
 gether suflacient, and it pleases me much better than the stern coun- 
 tenance of our worthy mistress of ceremonies. " 
 
 " It is the herald of my happiness, " said the king, fervently, 
 laying his arm upon his wife's shoulder, and gently drawing her to 
 his heart. 
 
 "Do you know what I am thinking of just now?" asked the 
 queen, after a short pause. " I believe the mistress of ceremonies 
 will get up a large number of new rules, and lecture me considerably 
 about the duties of a queen in regard to the laws of etiquette. " 
 
 " I believe you are right, " said the king, smiling. 
 
 "But I don't believe she is right!" exclaimed the queen, and, 
 closely nestling in her husband's arms, she added: "Tell me, my 
 lord and king, inasmuch as this is the first time that you come to 
 me as a king, have I not the right to ask a few favors of you, and to 
 pray you to grant my requests?" 
 
 * The king's own words.— Vide Eylert, part ii. , p. 08. 
 
62 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Yes, you have that right, my charming queen," said the king, 
 merrily ; " and I pledge you my word that your wishes shall be ful- 
 filled, whatever they may be. " 
 
 "Well, then," said the queen, joyfully, "there are four wishes 
 that I should like you to grant. Come, sit down here by my side, 
 on this small sofa, put your arm around my waist, and, that I may 
 feel that I am resting under your protection, let me lean my head 
 upon your shoulder, like the ivy supporting itself on the trunk of 
 the strong oak. And now listen to my wishes. In the first place, I 
 want you to allow me to be a wife and mother in my own house, 
 without any restraint whatever, and to fulfil my sacred duties as 
 such without fear and without regard to etiquette. Do you grant 
 this wish?" 
 
 " Most cordially and joyfully, in spite of all mistresses of ceremo- 
 nies !" replied the king. 
 
 The queen nodded gently and smiled. " Secondly, " she continued, 
 " I beg you, my beloved husband, on your own part, not to permit 
 etiquette to do violence to your feelings toward me, and always to 
 call me, even in the presence of others, your 'wife,' and not 'her 
 majesty the queen. ' Will you grant that, too, my dearest friend'/" 
 
 The king bent over her and kissed her beautiful hair. 
 
 " Louisa, " he whispered, " you know how to read my heart, and, 
 generous as you always are, you pray me to grant what is only my 
 own dearest wish. Yes, Louisa, we will always call each other by 
 those most honorable of our titles, 'husband and wife.' And now, 
 your third wish, my dear wife?" 
 
 " Ah, I have some fears about this third wish of mine, " sighed 
 the queen, looking up to her husband with a sweet smile. " I am 
 afraid you cannot grant it, and the mistress of ceremonies, perhaps, 
 was right when she told me etiquette would prevent you from com- 
 plying with it. " 
 
 "Ah, the worthy mistress of ceremonies has lectured you also to- 
 day already ?" asked the king, laughing. 
 
 The queen nodded. " She has communicated to me several im- 
 portant sections from the 'book of ceremonies, '" she sighed. "But 
 all that shall not deter me from mentioning my third wish to you. 
 I ask you, my Frederick, to request the king to permit my husband 
 to live as plainly and modestly as heretofore. Let the king give his 
 state festivals in the large royal palace of his ancestors— let him 
 receive in those vast and gorgeous halls the homage of his subjects, 
 and the visits of foreign princes, and let the queen assist him on 
 such occasions. But these duties of royalty once attended to, may 
 we not be permitted, like all others, to go home, and in the midst of 
 our dear little family circle repose after the fatiguing pomp and 
 
QUEEN LOUISA. 0:3 
 
 splendor of the festivities ? Let us not give up our beloved home for 
 the large royal palace ! Do not ask me to leave a house in which I 
 have passed the happiest and finest days of my life. See, here in 
 these dear old rooms of mine, every thing reminds me of you, and 
 whenever I am walking through them, the whole secret history of 
 our love and happiness stands again before my eyes. Here, in this 
 room, we saw each other for the first time after my arrival in Berlin, 
 alone and without witnesses. Here you imprinted the first kiss 
 upon your wife's lips, and, like a heavenly smile, it penetrated deep 
 into my soul, and it has remained in my heart like a little guardian 
 angel of our love. Since that day, even in the fullest tide of happi- 
 ness, I always feel so devout and grateful to God ; and whenever you 
 kiss me, the little angel in my heart is praying for you, and when- 
 ever I am praying, he kisses you. " 
 
 " Oh, Louisa, you are my angel— my guardian angel !" exclaimed 
 the king, enthusiastically. 
 
 The queen apparently did not notice this interruption— she was 
 entirely absorbed in her recollections. "On this sofa here," she 
 said, " we were often seated in fervent embrace like to-day and when 
 every thing around us was silent, our hearts spoke only the louder to 
 each other, and often have I heard here from your lips the most 
 sublime and sacred revelations of your noble, pure, and manly soul. 
 In my adjoining cabinet, you were once standing at the window, 
 gloomy and downcast ; a cloud was covering your brow, and I knew 
 you had heard again sorrowful tidings in your father's palace. But 
 no complaint ever dropped from your lips, for you always were a 
 good and dutiful son, and even to me you never alluded to your 
 father's failings. I knew what you were suffering, but I knew also 
 that at that hour I had the power to dispel all the clouds from your 
 brow, and to make your eyes radiant with joy and happiness. 
 Softly approaching you, I laid my arm around your neck, and my 
 head on your breast, and thereupon I whispered three words which 
 only God and my husband's ears were to hear. And you heard 
 them, and you uttered a loud cry of joy, and before I knew how it 
 happened, I saw you on yoUr knees before me, kissing my feet and 
 the hem of my garment, and applying a name to me that sounded 
 like heavenly music, and made my heart overflow with ecstasy 
 and suffused my cheeks with a deep blush. And I don't know again 
 how it happened, but I felt that I was kneeling by your side, and 
 we were lifting up our folded hands to heaven, thanking God for the 
 great bliss He had vouchsafed to us, and praying Him to bless our 
 child, unknown to us as yet, but already so dearly beloved. Oh, 
 and last, my own Frederick, do you remember that other hour in 
 my bedroom ? You were sitting at my bedside, with folded hands, 
 
64 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 praying, and yet, during your prayer, gazing upon me, while I was 
 writhing with pain, and yet so supremely happy in my agony, for I 
 knew that Nature at that hour was about to consecrate me for my 
 most exalted and sacred vocation, and that God would bless our love 
 with a visible pledge of our happiness. The momentous hour was 
 at hand — a film covered my eyes, and I could only see the Holy Vir- 
 gin surrounded by angels, on Guido Eeni's splendid painting, oppo- 
 site my bed. Suddenly a dazzling flash seemed to penetrate the 
 darkness surrounding me, and through the silence of the room there 
 resounded a voice that I had never heard before — the voice of my 
 child. And at the sound of that voice I saw the angels descending 
 f lom the painting and approaching my bedside in order to kiss me, 
 and the Mother of God bent over me with a heavenly smile, exclaim- 
 ing : ' Blessed is the wife who is a mother ! ' My consciousness left 
 me — I believe my ineffable happiness made me faint. " 
 
 " Yes, you fainted, beloved wife, " said the king, gently nodding 
 to her ; " but the swoon had not dispelled the smile from your lips, 
 nor the expression of rapturous joy from your features. You lay 
 there as if overwhelmed with joy and fascinated by your ecstatic 
 bliss. Knowing that you were inexpressibly happy, I felt no fear 
 whatever — " 
 
 " Well, I awoke soon again, " added the queen, joyfully. " I had 
 no time to spare for a long swoon, for a question was burning in 
 my heart. I turned my eyes toward you — you were standing in the 
 middle of the room, holding the babe that, in its new little lace 
 dress, had just been laid into your arms. My heart now commenced 
 beating in my breast like a hammer. I looked at you, but my lips 
 were not strong enough to utter the question. However, you under- 
 stood me well enough, and drawing close to my bedside, and kneel- 
 ing down and laying the babe into my arms, you said, in a voice 
 which I shall never forget, 'Louisa, give your blessing to your son !' 
 Ah, at that moment it seemed as if my ecstasy would rend my 
 breast. I had to utter a loud scream, or I should have died froni 
 joy. ' A son ! ' I cried, ' I have given birth to a son ! ' And I drew my 
 arms around you and the babe, and we wept tears— oh, such tears—" 
 
 She paused, overwhelmed with emotion, and burst into tears. 
 
 "Ah!" she whispered, deprecatingly, "I am very foolish— yoii 
 will laugh at me. " 
 
 But the king did not laugh, for his eyes also were moist ; only 
 he was ashamed of his tears and kept them back in his eyes. A 
 pause ensued, and the queen laid her head upon the shoulder of her 
 husband, who had drawn his arm around her waist. All at once sh» 
 raised her head, and fixing her large and radiant eyes upon the 
 deeply-moved face of the king, she asked : 
 
QUEEN LOUISA. 65 
 
 "My Frederick, can we leave a house in -which I bore you a son 
 and crown prince? Will we give up our most sacred recollections 
 for the sake of a large and gorgeous royal palace?" 
 
 " No, we will not, '' said the king, pressing his wife closer to his 
 heart. "No, we will remain in this house of ours — we will not 
 leave it. Our happiness has grown and prospered here, and here it 
 shall bloom and bear fruit. Your wish shall be fulfilled ; we wiU 
 continue living here as man and wife, and if the king and queen 
 have to give festivals and to receive numerous guests, then they will 
 go over to the palace to comply with their royal duties, but in the 
 evening they will return to their happy home. " 
 
 "Oh, my friend, my beloved friend, how shall I thank you?" 
 exclaimed the queen, encircling his neck with her arms, and im- 
 printing a glowing kiss upon his lips. 
 
 " But now, dear wife, let me know your fourth wish, " said the 
 king, holding her in his arms. " I hope your last wish is a real one, 
 and not merely calculated to render me happy, but one that also con- 
 cerns yourself?" 
 
 " Oh, my fourth wish only concerns myself, " said the queen, 
 with an arch smile. " I can confide it to you, to you alone, and you 
 must promise to keep it secret, and not to say a word about it to the 
 mistress of ceremonies. " 
 
 " I promise it most readily, dear Louisa. " 
 
 "WeU, " said the queen, placing her husband's hand upon her 
 heart, and gently stroking it with her fingers. "I believe during 
 the coming winter we shall often have to be king and queen. Fes- 
 tivals wiU be given to us, and we shaU have to give others in retiu-n ; 
 the country wiU do homage to the new sovereign, and the nobility 
 wiU solemnly take the oath of allegiance to him. Hence there will 
 be a great deal of royal pomp, but very little enjoyment for us dur- 
 ing the winter. Well, I wiU not complain, but endeavor, to the 
 best of my ability, to do honor to my exalted position by your side. 
 In return, however, my beloved lord and friend— in return, next 
 summer, when the roses are blooming, you must give me a day— a 
 day that is to belong exclusively to myself ; and on that day we will 
 forget the cares of royalty, and only remember that we are a pair 
 of happy young lovers. Of course, we shall not spend that day in 
 Berlin, nor in Parez either ; but like two merry birds, we will fly 
 far, far away to my home in Mecklenburg, to the paradise of my 
 early years— to the castle of Hohenzieritz ; and no one shall know 
 any thing about it. Without being previously announced, we will 
 arrive there, and in the solitude of the old house and garden we will 
 perform a charming little idyl. On that day you only belong to me, 
 and to nobody else. On that day I am your wife and sweetheart and 
 
66 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 nothing else, and I shall provide amusement and food for you. Yes, 
 dearest Frederick, I shall prepare your meals all alone, and set the 
 table and carve for you. Oh, dear, dear friend ; give me such a day, 
 such an idyl of happiness !" 
 
 "I give it to you and to myself, most joyfully ; and let me con- 
 fess, Louisa, I wish the winter were over already, and the morning 
 of that beautiful day were dawning. " 
 
 " Thanks— thousand thanks!" exclaimed the queen, enthusiasti- 
 cally. "Let the stiff and ceremonious days come now, and the 
 sneaking, fawning courtiers and the incense of flattery. Through 
 aU the mist I shall constantly inhale the sweet fragrance of the roses 
 of the future, and on the stiff gala-days I shaU think of the idyl of 
 that day that will dawn next summer and compensate me for aU the 
 annoyances and fatigues of court life. " 
 
 The king placed his right hand on her head, as if to bless her, 
 and with his left lifted up her face that was reposing on his breast. 
 " And you really think, you charming, happy angel, that I do not 
 understand you?" he asked, in a low voice. "Do you think I do 
 not feel and know that you want to offer me this consolation and to 
 comfort me by the hope of such a blissful day for the intervening 
 time of care, fatigue, and restlessness? Oh, my dear Louisa, you 
 need no such consolation, for God has intended you for a queen, and 
 oven the burdens and cares of your position will only surround you 
 like enchanting genii. You know at all times how to find the right 
 word and the right deed, and the Graces have showered upon you 
 the most winning charms to fascinate all hearts, in whatever you 
 may be doing. On the other hand, I am awkward and ill at ease. 
 I know it only too well ; my unhappy childhood, grief and cares of 
 all kinds, have rendered my heart reserved and bashful. Perhaps I 
 am not always lacking right ideas, but I fail only too often to find 
 the right word for what I think and feel. Hereafter, my dear 
 Louisa, frequent occasions will arise when you will have to speak 
 for both of us. By means of your irresistible smile and genial con- 
 versation you will have to win the hearts of people, while I shall be 
 content if I can only win their heads. " 
 
 "Shall I be able to win their hearts?" asked the queen, musingly. 
 " Oh, assist me, my dearest friend. Tell me what I have to do in 
 order to be beloved by my people. " 
 
 " Remain what you are, Louisa, " said the king, gravely — " always 
 remain as charming, graceful, and pure as I beheld you on the most 
 glorious two days of my life, and as my inward eye always will be- 
 hold you. Oh, I also have some charming recollections, and 
 although I cannot narrate them in words as fascinating and glowing 
 as yours, yet they are engraved no less vividly on my mind, and, 
 
THE KING'S RECOLLECTIONS. 67 
 
 like beautiful genii, accompany me everywhere. Only before others 
 they are bashful and reticent like myself. " 
 
 " Let me hear them, Frederick, " begged the queen, tenderly lean- 
 ing her beautiful head on her husband's shoulder. "Let us devote 
 another hour to the recollections of the past. " 
 
 " Yes, let another hoiu- be devoted to the memories of past times, " 
 exclaimed the king, " for can there be any thing more attractive for 
 me than to think of you and of that glorious hour when I saw you 
 first? Shall I tell you all about it, LouisaV" 
 
 " Oh, do so, my beloved friend. Yom- words will sound to me 
 like some beautiful piece of music that one likes better and under- 
 stands better the more it is heard. Speak, then, Frederick, speak. " 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE king's recollections. 
 
 "Well," said the king, "whenever I look back into the past, 
 every thing seems to me covered with a gray mist, through which 
 only two stars and two lights are twinkling. The stars are your 
 eyes, and the lights are the two days I alluded to before — the day on 
 which I saw you for the first time, and the day on which you arrived 
 in Berlin. Oh, Louisa, never shall I forget that first day I I call it 
 the fli-st day, because it was the first day of my real life. It was at 
 Frankfort-on-the-Main, during the campaign on the Rhine. My 
 father, the king, accompanied by myself, returned the visit that the 
 Duke of Mecklenburg, your excellent father, had paid on the previ- 
 ous day. We met in a small and unpretending villa, situated in the 
 midst of a large garden. The two sovereigns conversed long and 
 seriously, and I was listening to them in silence. This silence 
 was, perhaps, disagreeable to my father the king. 
 
 "'What do you think, your highness?' he suddenly asked your 
 father. 'While we are talking about the military operations, will 
 we not permit the young gentleman there to wait upon the ladies? 
 As soon as we are through, I shall ask you to grant me the same 
 privilege. ' 
 
 "The duke readily assented, and calling the footman waiting in 
 the anteroom, he ordered him to go with me to the ladies and to 
 annoimce my visit to them. Being in the neighborhood of the seat 
 of war, youknow, little attention was paid to ceremonies. Ifollowed 
 the footman, who told me the ladies were in the garden, whither he 
 conducted me. We walked through a long avenue and a number of 
 side-paths. The footman, going before me, looked around in every 
 
68 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 direction without being able to discover the whereabouts of the 
 ladies. Finally, at a bend in the avenue, we beheld a bower in the 
 distance, and something white fluttering in it. 
 
 '"Ah, there is Princess Louisa, ' said the footman, turning to me, 
 and he then rapidly walked toward her. I followed him slowly and 
 listlessly, and when he came back and told me Princess Louisa was 
 ready to receive me, I was perhaps yet twenty yards from the rose- 
 bower. I saw there a young lady rising from her seat, and accele- 
 rated my steps. Suddenly my heart commenced pulsating as it 
 never had done before, and it seemed to me as if a door were burst- 
 ing open in my heart and making it free, and as if a thousand voices 
 in my soul were singing and shouting, 'There she is ! There is the 
 lady of your heart !' The closer I approached, the slower grew my 
 steps, and I saw you standing in the entrance of the bower in a 
 white dress, loosely covering your noble and charming figure, a 
 gentle smile playing on your pure, sweet face, golden ringlets flow- 
 ing down both sides of your rosy cheeks, and your head wreathed 
 with the full and fragrant roses which seemed to bend down upon 
 you from the bower in order to kiss and adorn you, your round 
 white arms only half covered with clear lace sleeves, and a full- 
 blown rose in your right hand which you had raised to your waist. 
 And seeing you thus before me, I believed I had been removed from 
 earth, and it seemed to me I beheld an angel of innocence and beauty, 
 through whose voice Heaven wished to greet me.* At last I stood 
 close before you, and in my fascination I entirely forgot to salute 
 you. I only looked at you. I only heard those jubilant voices in 
 my heart, singing, 'There is your wife — the wife you will love now 
 and forever!' It was no maudling sentimentality, but a clear and 
 well-defined consciousness which, like an inspiration, suddenly 
 moistened my eyes with tears of joy. f Oh, Louisa, why am I no 
 painter to perpetuate that sublime moment in a beautiful and glori- 
 ous picture? But what I cannot do, shall be tried by others. A 
 true artist shall render and eternize that moment for me, i so that 
 one day when we are gone, our son may look up to the painting and 
 say : ' Such was my mother when my father first saw her. He be- 
 lieved he beheld an angel, and he was not mistaken, for she was the 
 guardian angel of his whole life. '" 
 
 "Oh ! you make me blush — you make me too happy, too happy !" 
 exclaimed the queen, closing her husband's lips with a burning kiss. 
 
 * Goethe saw the young princess at the same time, and speaks of her "divine 
 beauty. " 
 
 t The king's own words, vide Bishop Eylert's work, vol. ii. , p. 23. 
 
 X This painting was afterward executed, and may now be seen at the royal pal- 
 ace of Berlin. The whole accovmt of the first meeting of the two lovers is based 
 upon the communication the king made himself to Bishop Eylert 
 
THE KING'S RECOLLECTIONS. 69 
 
 "Don't praise me too much, lest I should become proud and over- 
 beai-ing. " 
 
 The king gently shook his head. "Only the stupid, the guilty, 
 and the base are proud and overbearing, " he said. " But, whoever 
 has seen you, Louisa, on the day of your first arrival in Berlin, vs'ill 
 never forget your sweet image in its radiance of grace, modesty, and 
 loveliness. It was on a Sunday, a splendid clear day in winter, the 
 day before Christmas, which was to become the greatest holiday of 
 my life. A vast crowd had gathered in front of the Arsenal Unter 
 den Linden. Every one was anxious to see you. At the entrance of 
 the Linden, not far from the Opera-Place, a splendid triumphal arch 
 had been erected, and here a committee of the citizens and a num- 
 ber of little girls were to welcome you to Berlin. In accordance 
 with the rules of court etiquette, I was to await your arrival at the 
 palace. But my eagerness to see you would not suffer me to remain 
 there. Closely muffled in my military cloak, my cap drawn down 
 over my face, in order not to be recognized by anybody, I had gone 
 out among the crowd and, assisted by a trusty servant, obtained a 
 place behind one of the pillars of the triumphal arch. Suddenly 
 tremendous cheers burst forth from a hundred thousand throats, 
 thousands of arms were waving white handkerchiefs fi-om the win- 
 dows and roofs of the houses, tlie bells were rung, the cannon com- 
 menced thmidering, for you had just crossed the Brandenburger 
 Gate. Alighting from your carriage, you walked up the Linden 
 with your suite, the wildest enthusiasm greeting every step you 
 made, and finally you entered the triumphal arch, not suspecting 
 how near I was to you, and how fervently my heart was yearning 
 for you. A number of little girls in white, with myrtle-branches 
 in their hands, met you there ; and one of them, bearing a myrtle- 
 wreath on an embroidered cushion, presented it to you and recited 
 a simple and touching poem. Oh, I see even now, how your eyes 
 were glowing, how a profound emotion lighted up your features, 
 and how, overpowered by your feelings, you bent down to the little 
 girl, clasped her in your anns and kissed her eyes and lips. But 
 behind you there stood the mistress of ceremonies. Countess von 
 Voss, pale with indignation, and trembling with horror at this un- 
 paralleled occurrence. She hastily tried to draw you back, and in 
 her amazement she cried almost aloud, 'Good Heaven! how could 
 your royal highness do that just now? It was contrary to good- 
 breeding and etiquette!' Those were harsh and inconsiderate 
 words, but in your happy mood you did not feel hurt, but quietly 
 and cheerfully turned around to her and asked innocently and hon- 
 estly : 'What! cannot I do so any more?'* Oh, Louisa, at that 
 *Eylert, vol. ii.,p. 79. 
 
70 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 moment, and in consequence of your charming question, my eyes 
 grew moist, and I could hardly refrain from rushing out of the 
 crowd and pressing you to my heart, and kissing your eyes and lips 
 as innocently and chastely as you had kissed those of the little girl. 
 
 "See," said the king, drawing a deep breath, and pausing for a 
 minute, " those are the two great days of my life, and as you ask 
 me now, what you ought to do in order to win the love of your peo- 
 ple, I reply to you once more : Remain what you are, so that these 
 beautiful pictures of you, which are engraved upon my heart, may 
 always resemble you, and you will be sure to win all hearts. Oh, 
 my Louisa, your task is an easy one, you only have to be true to 
 yourself, you only have to follow your faithful companions the 
 Graces, and success will never fail you. My task, however, is diffi- 
 cult, and I shall have to struggle not only with the evil designs, the 
 malice, and stupidity of others, but with my own inexperience, my 
 want of knowledge, and a certain irresolution, resulting, however, 
 merely from a coiTect appreciation of what I am lacking. " 
 
 The queen with a rapid gesture placed her hand upon the king's 
 shoulder. 
 
 " You must be more self-reliant, for you may safely trust your- 
 self, " she said, gravely. " Who could be satisfied with himself, if 
 you were to despair? What sovereign could have the courage to 
 grasp the sceptre, if your hands should shrink back from it? — your 
 hands, as free from guilt and firm and strong as those of a true man 
 should be I I know nothing about politics, and shall never dare to 
 meddle with public affairs and to advise you in regard to them ; but 
 I know and feel that you will always be guided by what you believe 
 to be the best interests of your people, and that you never will devi- 
 ate from that course. The spirit of the Great Frederick is looking 
 upon you ; he will guide and bless you !" 
 
 The king seemed greatly surprised by these words. 
 
 " Do you divine my thoughts, Louisa ?" he asked. " Do you know 
 my soul has been with him all the morning — that I thus conversed 
 with him and repeated to myself every thing he said to me one day 
 in a great and solemn hour. Oh, it was indeed a sacred hour, and 
 never have I spoken of it to anybody, for every word would have 
 looked to me like a desecration. But you, my noble wife, you can 
 only consecrate and sanctify the advice I received in that momen- 
 tous hour ; and as I am telling you to-day about my most glorious 
 reminiscences, you shall hear also what Frederick the Great once 
 said to me. " 
 
 The queen nodded approvingly, raising her head from his shoulder 
 and folding her hands on her lap as if she were going to pray. 
 
 The king paused for a moment, and seemed to reflect. 
 
THE KING'S RECOLLECTIONS. 71 
 
 "In 1785," he then said, "on a fine, warm summer day, I met 
 the king in the garden at Sans-Souci. I was a youth of fifteen 
 yeai-s at that time, strolling carelessly through the shrubbery and 
 humming a song, when I suddenly beheld the king, who was seated 
 on the bench under the large beech-tree, at no great distance from 
 the Japanese palace. He was alone ; two greyhounds were lying at 
 his feet, in his hands he held his old cane, and his head reposed 
 gently on the trunk of the beech-tree. A last beam of the setting 
 sun was playing on his face, and rendered his glorious eyes even 
 more radiant. I stood before him in reverential awe, and he gazed 
 upon me with a kindly smile. Then he commenced examining me 
 about my studies, and finally he drew a volume of La Fontaine's 
 'Fables' from his pocket, opened the book and asked me to translate 
 the fable on the page he showed me. I did so — but when he after- 
 ward was going to praise me for the skill with which I had rendered 
 it, I told him it was but yesterday that I had translated the same 
 fable under the supervision of my teacher. A gentle smile imme- 
 diately lighted up his face, and tenderly patting my cheeks, he said 
 tome, in his sonorous, soft voice: 'That is right, my dear Fritz, 
 always be honest and upright. Never try to seem what you are not 
 — always be more than what you seem ! ' I never forgot that exhor- 
 tation, and I have always abhorred falsehood and hypocrisy. " 
 
 The queen gently laid her hand upon his heart. "Your eye is 
 honest, " she said, " and so is your heart. My Frederick is too proud 
 and brave to utter a lie. And what did you say to your great 
 ancestor?" 
 
 "I? He spoke to me — I stood before him and listened. He ad- 
 monished me to be industrious, never to believe that I had learned 
 enough ; never to stand still, but always to struggle on. After that 
 he arose and, conversing with me all the time, slowly walked down 
 the avenue leading to the garden gate. All at once he paused, and 
 leaning upon his cane, his piercing eyes looked at me so long and 
 searchingly, that his glance deeply entered into my heart. 'Well, 
 Fritz, ' he said, 'try to become a good man, a good man par excel- 
 lence. Great things are in store for you. I am at the end of my 
 career, and my task is about accomplished. I am afraid feat things 
 will go pell-m§ll when I am dead. A portentous fermentation is 
 going on everywhere, and the sovereigns, especially the King of 
 France, instead of calming it and extirpating the causes that have 
 produced it, unfortunately are deluded enough to fan the flame. 
 The masses below commence moving already, and when the explo- 
 sion finally takes place, the devil will be to pay. I am afraid your 
 own position one day will be a most difficult one. Arm yourself, 
 therefore, for the strife !— be firm !— think of me ! Watch over our 
 G 
 
73 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 honor and our glory ! Beware of injustice, but do not permit any- 
 one to treat you unjustly!' He paused again, and slowly walked 
 on. While deeply moved and conscious of the importance of the 
 interview, I inwardly repeated every word he had said, in order to 
 remember them as long as I lived. We had now reached the obelisk, 
 near the gate of Sans-Souci. The king here gave me his left hand, 
 and with his uplifted right hand he pointed at the obelisk. ' Look 
 at it, ' he said, loudly and solemnly ; 'the obelisk is tall and slender, 
 and yet it stands firm amid the most furious storms. It says to you : 
 Ma force est ma droiture. The culmination, the highest point over- 
 looks and crowns the whole ; it does not support it, however, but is 
 supported by the whole mass underlying it, especially by the invisi- 
 ble foundation, deeply imbedded in the earth. This supporting 
 foundation is the people in its unity. Always be on the side of the 
 people, so that they will love and trust you, as they alone ckn render 
 you strong and happy. ' He cast another searching glance upon me, 
 and gave me his hand. When I bent over it in order to kiss it, he 
 imprinted a kiss on my forehead. 'Don't forget this hour, ' he said 
 kindly, nodding to me. He turned around, and accompanied by 
 his greyhounds, slowly walked up the avenue again.* I never for- 
 got that hour, and shall remember it as long as I live. " 
 
 "And the spirit of the great Frederick will be with you and 
 remain with you, " said the queen, deeply moved. 
 
 " Would to God it were so 1" sighed the king. " I know that I 
 am weak and inexperienced ; I stand in need of wise and experi- 
 enced advisers ; I — " 
 
 A rap at the door interrupted the king, and on his exclaiming, 
 " Come in !" the door was opened and the court marshal appeared on 
 the threshold. 
 
 "I humbly beg your majesty's pardon for venturing to disturb 
 you," he said, bowing reverentially ; "but I must request your maj- 
 esty to decide a most important domestic matter — a matter that 
 brooks no delay. " 
 
 " Well, what is it?" said the king, rising and walking over to the 
 marshal. 
 
 "Your majesty, it is about the bill of fare for the royal table, and 
 I beseech your majesty to read and approve the following paper I 
 have drawn up in regard to it. " 
 
 With an obsequious bow, he presented a paper to the king, who 
 read it slowly and attentively. 
 
 "Whatl" he suddenly asked, sharply, "two courses more than 
 formerly?" 
 
 * The king's own account to Bishop Eylert, in the latter's worlc, vol. i. , p. 455. 
 
THE KING'S RECOLLECTIONS. 73 
 
 " Your majesty, " replied the marshal, humbly, " it is for the table 
 of a king !" 
 
 " And you believe that my stomach has grown larger since I am 
 a king?" asked Frederick William. "No, sir, the meals shall re- 
 main the same as heretofore,* unless," he said, politely turning to 
 the queen, "unless you desire a change, my dear?" 
 
 The queen archly shook her head. "No," she said, with a 
 charming smile; "neither has my stomach gi-own larger sitice 
 yesterday. " 
 
 " There wiU be no change, then, " said the king, dismissing the 
 marshal. 
 
 " Just see, " he said to the queen, when the courtier had disap- 
 peared, " what efforts they make in order to bring about a change in 
 our simple and unassuming ways of living ; they flatter us wherever 
 they can, and even try to do so by means of our meals. " 
 
 " As for ourselves, however, dearest, we will remember the words 
 of your great uncle, " said the queen, " and when they overwhelm us 
 on all sides with their vain and ridiculous demands, we will remain 
 firm and true to ourselves. " 
 
 "Yes, Louisa," said the king, gravely, "and whatever our new 
 life may have in store for us, we will remain the same as befoi-e. " 
 
 Another rap at the door was heard, and a royal footman entered. 
 
 "Lieutenant-Colonel von Kockeritz, your majesty, requests an 
 audience. " 
 
 " Ah, yes, it is time, " said the king, looking at the clock on the 
 mantel-piece. "I sent him word to call on me at (his hour. Fare- 
 well, Louisa, I must not let him wait. " 
 
 He bowed to his wife, whose hand he tenderly pressed to his lips, 
 and turned to the door. 
 
 The footman who had meantime stood at the door as straight as 
 an aiTOw, waiting for the king's reply, now hastened to open both 
 folding-doors. 
 
 " What !" asked the king, with a deprecating smile, "have I sud- 
 denly grown so much stouter that I can no longer pass out through 
 one door?" f 
 
 The queen's eyes followed her husband's tall and commanding 
 figure with a proud smile, and then raising her beautiful, radiant 
 eyes with an indescribable expression to heaven, she whispered: 
 "Oh, what a man ! my husband !" t 
 
 * Vide Eylert, vol. i. , p. 18. + Ibid. , p. 19. 
 
 :|:"0, welch einMannI mein Mannl"— Eylert, vol. ii., p. 137. 
 
74 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE YOUNG KING. 
 
 The king rapidly walked through the rooms and across the hall, 
 separating his own apartments from those of the queen. He had 
 scarcely entered his cabinet, when he opened the door of the ante- 
 room, and exclaimed : 
 
 " Pray, come in, my dear Kockeritz. '' 
 
 A corpulent little gentleman, about fifty years of age, with a 
 kind, good-natured face, small, vivacious eyes, denoting an excel- 
 lent heart, but little ability, and large, broad lips, which never 
 perhaps had uttered profound tniths, but assuredly many pleasant 
 jests, immediately appeared on the threshold. 
 
 "While he was bowing respectfully, the king extended his hand 
 to him. 
 
 " You have received my letter, my friend ?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes, your majesty. I received it yesterday, and I have been 
 studying it all night. " 
 
 "And what are you going to reply to me?" asked the king, 
 quickly. " Are you ready to accept the position I have tendered to 
 you? Will you become my conscientious and impartial adviser— 
 my true and devoted friend?" 
 
 "Your majesty," said the lieutenant-colonel, sighing, "I am 
 afraid your majesty has too good an opinion of my abilities. When 
 I read your truly sublime letter, my heart shuddered, and I said to 
 myself, 'The king is mistaken about you. To fill the position he is 
 offering to you, he needs a man of the highest ability and wisdom. 
 The king has confounded your heart with your head. ' Yes, your 
 majesty, my heart is in the right place ; it is brave, bold, and faith- 
 ful, but my head lacks wisdom and knowledge. I am not a learned 
 man, your majesty. " 
 
 " But you are a man of good common-sense and excellent judg- 
 ment, and that is worth more to me than profound learning, " ex- 
 claimed the king. " I have observed you for years, and these ex- 
 tended observations have confirmed my conviction more and more 
 that I was possessing in you a man who would be able one day to 
 render me the most important services by his straightforwardness, 
 his unerring judgment, his firm character, and well-tried honesty. 
 I have a perfect right to trust you implicitly. I am a young man, 
 as yet too ignorant of the world to rely exclusively upon myself, and 
 not to fear lest dishonest men, in spite of the most earnest precau- 
 tions, should deceive me. Hence every well-meant advice must be 
 exceedingly welcome to me, and such advice I can expect at your 
 
THE YOUNG KING. 75 
 
 hands. I pray you, sir, remain my friend, do not change your bear- 
 ing towaz-d me, become my adviser.* Kockeritz, will you reject 
 my request?" 
 
 "No,'' exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz; "if that is all your maj- 
 esty asks of me, I can promise it and fulfil my promise. Your 
 majesty shall always find me to be a faithful, devoted, and honest 
 servant. '' 
 
 " I ask more than that, " said the king, gently. " Not only a faith 
 ful servant, but a devoted friend — a friend who will call my atten- 
 tion to my short-comings and errors. Assist me with your knowl- 
 edge of men and human nature. For nobody is more liable to make 
 mistakes in judging of men than a prince, and it cannot be other- 
 wise. To a prince no one shows himself in his true character. 
 Eveiy one tries to fathom the weaknesses and inclinations of rulers 
 — and then assumes such a mask as seems best calculated to accom- 
 plish his purposes. Hence, I expect you to look around quietly, 
 without betraying your intentions, for honest and sagacious men, 
 and to find out what positions they are able to fill in the most cred- 
 itable manner. " f 
 
 " I shall take pains, your majesty, to discover such men, " said 
 Herr von Kockeritz, gravely. " It seems to me, however, sire, that 
 fortunately you have got many able and excellent men close at hand, 
 and for that reason need not look very far for other assistants. " 
 
 "To whom do you allude?" exclaimed the king, sharply, and 
 with a slight frown. 
 
 Herr von Kockeritz cast a rapid glance upon the king's counte- 
 nance and seemed to have read his thoughts upon his clouded 
 brow. 
 
 " Your majesty, " he said, gravely and slowly, " I do not mean to 
 say any thing against "Wollner, the minister, and his two counsel- 
 lors, Hermes and Hiller, nor against Lieutenant- General von Bisch- 
 of swerder. " 
 
 The frown had already disappeared from the king's brow. Step- 
 ping up to his desk, he seized a piece of paper there, which he 
 handed to his friend. 
 
 "Just read that paper, and tell me what to do about it. ' 
 
 "Ai, Lieutenant-General von Bischof swerder has sent in his 
 resignation !" exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, when he had read the 
 paper. " Well, I must confess that the general has a very fine nose, 
 and that he acted most prudently. " 
 
 "You believe, then, I would have dismissed him anyhow?" 
 
 "Yes, I believe so, your majesty." 
 * Vide " A letter to Lieutenant-Colonel von Kockeritz, by Frederick WilUam lU." 
 t Ibid. 
 
76 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " And you are right, Kockeritz. This gloomy and bigoted man 
 has done a great deal of mischief in Prussia, and the genius of our 
 country had veiled his head and fled before the spirits which Bisch- 
 ofswerder had called up. Oh, my friend, we have passed through 
 a gloomy, disastrous period, and seen many evil spirits here, and 
 been tormented by them. But not another word about it ! It does 
 not behoove me to judge the past, for it does not belong to me 
 Only the future is mine ; and God grant when it has, in turn, be- 
 come the past, that it may not judge me ! Lieutenant-General von 
 Bischcfswerder was the friend and confidant of my lamented father, 
 the king, and in that capacity I must and will honor him. I shall 
 accept his resignation, but grant him an ample pension." 
 
 "That resolution is highly honorable to your majesty's heart," 
 exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, feelingly. 
 
 "As to Minister Wollner," said the king, frowning, " in respect- 
 ful remembrance of my lamented father's partiality for him, I shall 
 not at once dismiss him, but leave it to himself to send in his resig- 
 nation. Let him see if he will be able to reconcile himself to the 
 new era, for a new era, I hope, is to dawn for Prussia — an era of 
 toleration, enlightenment and true piety, that does not seek satis- 
 faction in mere lip-service and church-going, but in good and pious 
 deeds. Religion is not an offspring of the church, but the reverse 
 is true ; the church is an offspring of religion, and the church there- 
 fore, ought to be subordinate to religion, and never try to place 
 itself above it. Henceforth there shall be no more compulsion in 
 matters of faith, and all fanatical persecutions shall cease. I honor 
 religion myself ; I devoutly follow its blessed precepts, and under 
 no circumstances would I be the ruler of a people devoid of religion. 
 But I know that religion always must remain a matter of the heart 
 and of personal conviction, and if it is to promote virtue and right- 
 eousness, it must not, by a mere methodical constraint, be degraded 
 to an empty and thoughtless ritualism. Hereafter Lutheran princi- 
 ples shall be strictly adhered to in religious affairs, for they are 
 entirely in harmony with the spirit and Founder of our religion. 
 No compulsory laws are necessary to maintain true religion in the 
 country and to increase its salutary influence upon the happiness 
 and morality of all classes of the people.* These, I am afraid, are 
 principles which Minister Wollner cannot adopt; and if he is an 
 honest man, he will consequently send in his resignation. If he 
 should not do so in the course of a few weeks, of course I shall dis- 
 miss him. You see, Kockeritz, I am speaking to you frankly and 
 unreservedly, as if you were a true friend of mine, and I am treat- 
 ing you already as my adviser. Now tell me who are the men of 
 * Vide "Menzel's Twenty Years of Prussian History," p. 534. 
 
THE YOUNG KING. 77 
 
 whom you wished to speak, and whom you believe to be able and 
 reliable. " 
 
 The face of Herr von Kockeritz assumed an embarrassed and 
 anxious air, but the king was waiting for an answer, and therefore 
 he could not withhold it any longer. 
 
 "Well, your majesty," he said, somewhat hesitatingly, "I 
 alluded to the minister of foreign affairs, Herr von Haugwitz, whom 
 I believe to be an honest man, while I am equally satisfied that his 
 first assistant, Lombard, is a man of excellent business qualifica- 
 tions and great ability. " 
 
 The king nodded his assent. "I am entirely of your opinion," 
 he said ; " Minister von Haugwitz is not only an honest man, but an 
 ■able-minded and skilful diplomatist, and an experienced statesman. 
 I stand in need of his experience and knowledge, and as I moreover 
 believe him to be a good patriot, he may remain at the head of his 
 department. " 
 
 A gleam of joy burst from the eyes of Herr von Kockeritz, but he 
 quickly lowered them, in order not to betray his feelings. 
 
 "As to Lombard, " said the king, "you are likewise right ; he is 
 an excellent and most able man, though a little tinctured with 
 Jacobinism. His Fi-ench blood infects him with all sorts of demo- 
 cratic notions. I wish he would get rid of them, and I shall assist 
 him in doing so, in case he should prove to be the man I take him 
 for. His position is too exalted and important that I should not 
 deem it desirable to see him occupy a place in society in accordance 
 with the old established rules. I want him to apply for letters of 
 nobility. I shall grant the application at once. Please, tell him so. '' 
 
 Herr von Kockeritz bowed silently. 
 
 " Is there anybody else whom you wish to recommend to me?" 
 asked the king with an inquiring glance. 
 
 " Your majesty, " said Kockeritz, " I do not know of anybody else. 
 But I am sure your majesty will always find the right man for the 
 right place. Even in my case, I trust, your majesty has done so, 
 for if it is of importance for you to have a faithful and devoted 
 servant close to your person, who values nothing in the world so 
 greatly, who loves nothing so fervently, and adores nothing so much 
 as his young king, then I am the right man, and in this regard I do 
 not acknowledge any superior. And further, if it be of importance 
 that your majesty should at all times hear the truth, then I am the 
 right man again, for I hate falsehood, and how should I, therefore, 
 ever be false toward your majesty, inasmuch as I love your majesty ?" 
 
 " I believe you, I believe you, " exclaimed the king, taking the 
 lieutenant-colonel by the hand. " You love me and are an honest 
 man ; I shall, therefore, always hear the truth from you. But you 
 
78 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 shall inform yourself also of the state of public opinion concerning 
 myself and my government, weigh the judgment passed on me and 
 my counsellors, and if you believe it to be correct, then discuss it 
 with men whom you know to be impartial and able to speak under- 
 standingly of the matter. Having thus ascertained public opinion 
 and familiarized yourself with every thing, I expect you to lay the 
 matter before me and tell me your opinion firmly and unreservedly. 
 I shall never question your good intentions, but always endeavor to 
 profit by your advice. And I shall now directly give you a trial. 
 What do you think of the congress which met a few weeks ago at 
 Rastadt, and at which the German empire is to negotiate a treaty of 
 peace with France?" 
 
 " Your majesty, I believe it will be good for all of us to live at 
 peace with France, " exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, earnestly. " If 
 Prussia should quarrel with France, it would only afford Austria an 
 opportunity to carry out its long-standing designs upon Bavaria, 
 while Prussia would be occupied elsewhere ; and in order not to be 
 hindered by Prussia in doing so, Austria, who now has just con- 
 cluded so favorable a treaty of peace with France at Campo Formio, 
 would become the ally of France and thus strengthen her old hostility 
 toward Prussia. A war between Austria and Prussia would be the 
 unavoidable consequence ; the whole of Germany would dissolve 
 itself into parties favorable or hostile to us, and this state of affairs 
 would give France an opportunity and a pretext to carry out her 
 own predatory designs against Germany ; and, while we would be 
 fighting battles perhaps in Silesia and Bavaria, to seize the left 
 bank of the Rhine. " 
 
 " I am entirely of your opinion, " exclaimed the king. " I am 
 very glad to find my views in complete harmony with yours. " 
 
 It is true Lieutenant- Colonel von Kockeritz was well aware of 
 this, for all he had said just now was nothing but a repetition of 
 what the king, while yet a crown prince, had often told him in 
 their confidential conversations. But of this he took good care not 
 to remind the king, and merely bowed with a grateful smile. 
 
 " Yes, " added the king, " like you, I believe prudence and sound 
 policy command us to remain at peace with France, and to form a 
 closer alliance with this power. That is the only way for us to pre- 
 vent Austria from realizing her schemes of aggrandizement, Aus- 
 tria, not France, is dangerous to us ; the latter is our natural ally, 
 and the former our natural adversary. Evei-y step forward made 
 by Austria in Germany, forces Prussia a step backward. Let Aus- 
 tria enlarge her territory in the south, toward Italy, but never shall 
 I permit her to extend her northern and western frontiers farther 
 into Germany. The peace of Campo Formio has given Venice to 
 
FREDERICK GENTZ. 79 
 
 the Austrians but they never shall acquire Bavaria. It is Prussia's 
 special task to induce France not to permit it, and, precisely for that 
 reason, we must force a closer alliance vcith France. That, my dear 
 Kockeritz, is my view of the political course that we should pursue 
 in future. Peace abroad and peace at home ! No violent commo- 
 tions and convulsions, no rash innovations and changes. Kew in- 
 stitutions should gi-adually and by their own inherent force grow 
 from the existing ones, for only in that case we may be sure that 
 they really have taken root. I shall not head the world in the 
 capacity of a creative and original reformer, but I shall always take 
 pains to adopt such reforms as have proven valuable, and gradually 
 to transform and improve such institutions as at present may be 
 defective and objectionable. And in all these endeavors, my dear 
 Kockeritz, you shall be my adviser and assistant. Will you prom- 
 ise me yoar aid?" 
 
 He looked earnestly and anxiously at the lieutenant-colonel and 
 gave him his hand. 
 
 " I promise it to your majesty, " exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, 
 gravely, and grasping the king's hand. 
 
 " Well, " said the king, " with this solemn pledge you may enter 
 upon your official position, and I am satisfied that my choice has 
 been a judicious one. Remain what you are, sir, an upright, hon- 
 est man ! As far as I am concerned, you may always be sure of my 
 heart-felt gratitude ; on the other hand, however, you should remem- 
 ber that you not only oblige me personally, but that I request you, 
 as it were, in the name of the state, to labor for the latter. At some 
 future time you will gain the sweet conviction and satisfaction that 
 you have done not a little for the welfare of the commonwealth and 
 thereby earned the thankfulness of every well-meaning patriot. I 
 am sure there cannot be a sweeter reward for a man of true honor 
 and ambition like yourself." * 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FEEDERICK GENTZ. 
 
 It was yet early in the morning ; the blinds of all the windows 
 in the Taubenstrasse wera as yet firmly closed, and only in a single 
 house an active, bustling life prevailed. At its door there stood a 
 heavy travelling-coach which a footman was busily engaged in 
 loading with a large number of trunks, boxes, and packages. In 
 the rooms of the first story people were very active ; industrious 
 hands were assiduously occupied with packing up things generally ; 
 * Vide the king's letter to Lieutenant-Colonel von KBckeritz. 
 
80 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 straw was wrapped around the furniture, and then covered with 
 linen bags. The looking-glasses and paintings were taken from the 
 walls and laid into wooden boxes, the curtains were removed from 
 the windows, and every thing indicated that the inmates of the 
 house were not only about to set out on a journey, but entirely to 
 give up their former mode of living. 
 
 Such was really the case, and while the servants filled the ante- 
 rooms and the halls with the noise of their preparations, those for 
 whom all this bustle and activity took place were in their parlor, in 
 a grave and gloomy mood. 
 
 There were two of them— a lady, scarcely twenty-four years of 
 age, and a gentleman, about twelve years older. She was a delicate 
 and lovely woman, with a pale, sad face, while he was a vigorous, 
 stout man with full, round features, and large vivacious eyes which 
 at present tried to look grave and afHicted without being able to do 
 so ; she wore a travelling-dress, while his was an elegant morning 
 costume. 
 
 Both of them had been silent for awhile, standing at the window, 
 or rather at different windows, and witnessing the removal of the 
 trunks and packages to the travelling-coach. Finally, the lady, 
 with a deep sigh, turned from the window and approached the gen- 
 tleman who had likewise stepped back into the room. 
 
 " I believe the trunks are all in the carriage, and. I can set out 
 now, Frederick, " she said, in a low and tremulous voice. 
 
 He nodded, and extended his hand toward her. " And you are 
 not angry with me, Julia?" he asked. 
 
 She did not take his hand, but only looked up to him with eyes 
 full of eloquent grief. " I am not angry, '' she said. " I pray to God 
 that He may forgive you. " 
 
 " And will you forgive me, too, Julia? For I know I have sinned 
 grievously against you. I have made you shed many tears — I have 
 rendered you wretched and miserable for two years, and these two 
 years will cast a gray shadow over your whole future. When you 
 first entered this room, you were an innocent young girl with rosy 
 cheeks and radiant eyes, and now, as you leave it forever, you are a 
 poor, pale woman with a broken heart and dimmed eyes. " 
 
 " A divorced wife, that is all, " she whispered, almost inaudibly. 
 " I came here with a heart overflowing wi*h happiness — I leave you 
 now with a heart full of wretchedness. I came here with the joy- 
 ous resolution and fixed purpose to render you a happy husband, and 
 I leave you now with the painful consciousness that I have not be- 
 stowed upon you that happiness which T sought so earnestly to obtain 
 for myself. Ah, it is very sad and bitter to be under the necessity 
 of accepting this as the only result of two long years 1" 
 
FREDERICK GENTZ. 81 
 
 " Yes, it is very sad, " he said, sighing. " But after all, it is no 
 fault of oiu-s. There was a dissonance in our married life from the 
 start, and for that reason there never could be any genuine harmony 
 between us. This dissonance — well, at the present hour I may con- 
 fess it to you, too — this dissonance simply was the fact that I never 
 loved you !" 
 
 A convulsive twitching contracted the pale lips of the poor lady. 
 "You were a great hypocrite, then," she whispered, "for your 
 words, youur solemn vows never made me suspect it. " 
 
 "Yes, I was a hypocrite, a wretch, a coward !" he exclaimed, 
 impetuously. " They overwhelmed me with exhortations, supplica- 
 tions, and representations. They knew so well to flatter me with 
 the idea that the beautiful, wealthy, and much-courted heiress, Julia 
 Gilly, had fallen in love with me, the poor, unknown Frederick 
 Gentz, the humble military cormsellor. They knew so well to de- 
 pict to me the triumph I would obtain by marrying you, to the 
 great chagi'in of all your other suitors. Flatteiy intoxicates me, 
 and a success, a triumph over others, fills me with the wildest de- 
 light. My father spoke of my debts, my creditors threatened me 
 with suits and imprisonment — " 
 
 " And thus, " she interrupted him — " thus you sacrificed me to your 
 vanity and to your debts — you falsely vowed a love to me which you 
 never felt, and accepted my hand. My father paid your debts, you 
 solemnly promised to all of us not to incm- any new ones, but you 
 utterly broke your pledges. Instead of squandering hundreds as 
 heretofore, you henceforth lavished thousands, until my whole ma- 
 ternal property was gone— until my father, in a towering passion, 
 turned his back upon us and swore never to see us again. The 
 creditors, the debts, the embarrassments, reappeared, and as I had 
 no money left with which to extricate you from your diflaculties, 
 you thought you owed me no further respect and were not under the 
 necessity of remembering that I was your wife. You had a number ■ 
 of love-affairs, as I knew very well, but was silent. Love-letters 
 arrived for you, not from one woman with whom you had fallen in 
 love, but from God knows how many. I was aware of it and was 
 silent. And when you were finally shameless enough to let the 
 whole city witness your passion for an actress— when all Berlin 
 spoke contemptuously of this flame of yours and of the follies you 
 committed in consequence— then I could be silent no longer, and my 
 honor and dignity commanded me to apply for a divorce. " 
 
 "And every one must acknowledge that you were perfectly right. 
 As a friend I could not have given you myself any other advice, for 
 I shall not and cannot alter my nature. I am unable to accustom 
 myself to a quiet and happy family life-domestic felicity is repul- 
 
83 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 sive to me, and a feeling of restraint makes me rear and jalunge like 
 the noble charger feeling his bit and bridle for the first time. I can 
 bear no chains, Julia, not even those of an excellent and affectionate 
 wife such as you have been to me. " 
 
 "You can bear no chains," she said, bitterly, "and yet you are 
 always in chains — in the chains of your debts, your love-affairs, 
 and your frivolity. Oh, listen to me — heed my words for once. 
 They are as solemn as though they were uttered on a death-bed, for 
 we shall never see each other again. Fancy a mother were speaking 
 to you — a mother tenderly loving you. For I confess to you that I 
 still love you, Gentz — my heart cannot yet break loose from you, 
 and even now that I have to abandon you, I feel that I shall forever 
 remain tenderly attached to you. Oh, true love is ever hopeful, 
 and that was the reason why I remained in your house, although 
 my father had applied for a divorce. I was always in hopes that 
 your heart would return to me — oh, I did not suspect that you had 
 never loved me ! — and thus I hoped in vain, and must go now, for 
 our divorce will be proclaimed to-day, and honor forbids me to re- 
 main here any longer. But now that I am going, listen once more 
 to the warning voice of a friend. Frederick Gentz, turn back ! 
 Pursue no longer the slippery path of frivolity and voluptuousness. 
 Break loose from the meshes of pleasures and sensuality. God has 
 given you a noble mind, a powerful intellect — make good use of your 
 surpassing abilities. Become as great and illustrious as Providence 
 has intended you if you but be true to yourself. See, I believe in 
 you, and although you only seem to live for pleasure and enjoyment, 
 I know you are destined to accomplish great things, provided you 
 strive to do so. Oli, let me beseech you to change your course, and 
 to emerge from this whirlpool of dissipation and profligacy. Close 
 your ears to the alluring songs of the sirens, and listen to the sublime 
 voices resounding in your breast and calling you to the path of glory 
 and honor. Follow them, Frederick Gentz— be a man, do not drift 
 any longer aimlessly in an open boat, but step on a proud and glori- 
 ous ship, grasp the helm and steer it out upon the ocean. You are 
 the man to pilot the ship, and the ocean will obey you, and you will 
 get into port loaded with riches, glory, and honor. Only make an 
 effort. Remember my words, and now, Frederick Gentz, in order 
 to live happily, never remember me !" 
 
 She turned round and hastily left the room. He stood immovable 
 for several minutes, dreamily gazing after her, while her words 
 were still resounding in his ears like an inspired prophecy. But 
 when he heard the carriage roll away on the street, he started, passed 
 his hand across his quivering face and whispered: "I have deeply 
 wronged her ; may God forgive me !" 
 
FREDERICK GENTZ. 83 
 
 Suddenly, however, he drew himself up to his full height, and a 
 gleam of intense joy burst forth from his eyes. " I am free !" he 
 exclaimed, loudly and in a tone of exultation. " Yes, I am free ! 
 My life and the world belong to me again. All women are mine 
 again, Cupid and all the gods of love will boldly flit toward me, for 
 tliey need not conceal themselves any longer from the face of a hus- 
 band strolling on forbidden grounds, nor from the spying eyes of a 
 jealous wife. Life is mine again, and I will enjoy it ; yes I enjoy 
 it. I will enjoy it like fragrant wine pressed to our lips in a golden 
 goblet, sparkling with diamonds. Ah, how they are hammering 
 and battering in the anteroom ! Every stroke of theirs is a note of 
 the glorious song of my liberty. The furnitm-e of my household is 
 gone ; the pictures and looking-glasses are all gone — gone. The past 
 and every thing reminding me thereof shall disappear from thece 
 rooms. I will have new furniture — furniture of gold and velvet, 
 large Venetian mirrors, and splendid paintings. Oh, my rooms 
 shall look as glorious and magnificent as those of a prince, and all 
 Berlin shall speak of the splendor and luxury of Frederick Gentz. 
 And to whom shall I be indebted for it? Not to my wife's dower, 
 but to myself — to myself alone, to my talents, to my genius ! Oh, 
 in regard to this at least, poor Julia shall not have been mistaken. 
 I shall gain fame, and glory, and honors ; my name shall become a 
 household word throughout all Europe ; it shall reecho in every cabi- 
 net ; every minister shall have recourse to me, and — hark ! What's 
 that?" he suddenly interrupted himself. " I really believe they are 
 quarrelling in the anteroom. " 
 
 Indeed, a violent altercation was heard outside. Suddenly the 
 door was pushed open, and a vigorous, broad-shouldered man, with 
 a flushed and angry face, appeared on the threshold. 
 
 "Well," he exclaimed, with a bitter sneer, turning to the foot- 
 man who stood behind him, "was I not right when I told you that 
 Mr. Counsellor Gentz was at home? You would not announce me, 
 because your master had ordered you not to admit any visitors of 
 my class. But I want to be admitted. I will not permit myself to 
 be shown out of the anteroom like a fool, while the counseUor here 
 is snugly sitting on his sofa laughing at me. " 
 
 " You see, my dear Mr. Werner, I am neither sitting on my sofa 
 nor laughing at you, " said Gentz, slowly approaching his angry 
 visitor. •' And now let me ask you what you want of me. " 
 
 " What I want of you ?" replied the stranger, with a sneer. " Sir, 
 you know very well what I want of you. I want my money ! I 
 want the five hundred dollars you have been owing me for the last 
 twelve months. I trasted your word and your name ; I furnished 
 you my best wines— my choicest champagne and the most exquisite 
 
84 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 delicacies for your dinner parties. You have treated your friends; 
 that was all right enough, but it should have been done at your ex- 
 pense, and not at mine. For that reason I am here, and you must 
 pay me. For the himdredth and last time, I demand my money !" 
 
 " And if I now tell you for the hundredth, but not the last time, 
 that I have not got any money?" 
 
 "Then I shall go to the war department and attach your salary." 
 
 " Ah, my dear friend, there you would be altogether too late, " 
 exclaimed Gentz, laughing. "My honorable landlord has out- 
 stripped you as far as that is concerned ; he has attached my salary 
 for a whole year, and I believe it is even insufficient to cover what 
 I owe him. " 
 
 "But in the d — I's name, sir, you must find some other means of 
 satisfying my claim, for I tell you I shall not leave this room with- 
 out getting my money. " 
 
 "My dear Mr. Werner, pray do not shout so dreadfully," said 
 Gentz, anxiously ; " my ears are very sensitive, and such shouting 
 terrifies me as much as a thunderstorm. I am quite willing to pay 
 you, only point out to me a way to do it !" 
 
 "Borrow money of other people and then pay me !" 
 
 " My dear sir, that is a way I have exhausted long ago. There is 
 no one willing to advance me money either on interest or on my 
 word of honor. " 
 
 " But how in the d — I's name are you going to pay me then, sir?" 
 
 " That is exactly what I don't know yet, but after a while I shall 
 know, and that time will come very soon. For I tell you, sir, these 
 days of humiliations and debts will soon cease for me. I shall occupy 
 an exalted and brilliant postion ; the young king will give it to me, 
 and—" 
 
 " Fiddlesticks !" exclaimed Werner, inteiTupting him ; " do not 
 feed me with such empty hopes after I have fed you with delicacies 
 and quenched your thirst with my champagne. " 
 
 " My dear sir, I have not partaken all alone of your good cheer ; 
 my friends have helped me, and now you ask me alone to pay the 
 whole bill. That is contrary to natural law and to political economy. " 
 
 "Mr. Counsellor, are you mocking me with your political econ- 
 omy ? What do you know about economy ?" 
 
 "Ah, I am quite familiar with it, and my book on English 
 finances has brought me fame and honor. " 
 
 " It would have been better for you, Mr. Counsellor, if j^ou had 
 attended to your own finances. All Berlin knows in what condition 
 they are." 
 
 " Nevertheless, there were always excellent men putting a noble 
 trust in me, and believing that I would repay the money I borrowed 
 
FREDERICK GENTZ. 85 
 
 of them. You are one of those excellent men, Mr, Werner, and I 
 shall never forget it. Have a little patience, and I will pay you 
 principal and interest. " 
 
 " I cannot wait, Mr. Counsellor. I am in the greatest embarrass- 
 ment myself ; I have to redeem large notes in the course of a few 
 days, and unless I can do so I am lost, my whole family is ruined, 
 and my reputation gone ; then I must declare myself insolvent, and 
 suffer people to call me an impostor and villain, who incurs debts 
 without knowing wherewith to pay them. Sir, I shall never suffer 
 this, and therefore I must have my money, and I will not leave this 
 room until you have paid my claim in full. " 
 
 " In that case, my dear sir, I am afraid you will have to remain 
 here and suffer the same distressing fate as Lot's unfortunate wife — " 
 
 " Sir, pray be serious, for my business here is of a very serious 
 character. Five hundred dollars is no trifle ; a man may squander 
 them in a few days, but they may cause him also to commit suicide. 
 Pay me, sir, pay me ; I want my money !" 
 
 "For God's sake, do not shout in this manner. I told you once 
 already that I cannot stand it. I know very well that five hundred 
 dollars is a serious matter, and that you must have your money. I 
 will make an effort, nay, I will do my utmost to get it for you ; but 
 you must be quiet. I pledge you my word that I will exert myself 
 to the best of my power in order to obtain that amount for you, but 
 in return you must promise me to go home quietly and peaceably, 
 and to wait there until I bring you the money. " 
 
 "What are you going to do? How are you going to get the 
 money ? You told me just now you were unable to boiTow any thing. " 
 
 " But somebody may give me those miserable five hundred dollars, 
 and it seems to me that would do just as well. " 
 
 " Oh, you are laughing at me. " 
 
 " By no means, sir. Just be still and let me write a letter. I 
 will afterward show you the address, and thereby let you know from 
 whom I am expecting assistance. " 
 
 He walked rapidly to his desk, penned a few lines, and placed 
 the paper in a large envelope, which he sealed and directed. 
 
 " Read the address, " he said, showing the letter to Mr. Werner. 
 
 " To his excellency the minister of the treasury. Count von Schu- 
 lenburg-Kehnert, general of artillery, " read Werner, with a hesi- 
 tating tongue, and casting astonished and inquisitive glances upon 
 Gentz. "And this is the distinguished gentleman to whom you 
 apply fbr the money, Mr. Counsellor?" 
 
 " Yes, my friend ; and you must confess that a minister of finance 
 is the best man to apply to for money. I have written to his excel- 
 lency that I stand in urgent need of five hundred dollars to-day, and 
 
86 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 I request him to extricate me from my embarrassment. I ask him 
 to appoint an hour during the forenoon when I may call upon him 
 and get the money. " 
 
 " And you really believe that he will give you the money?" 
 
 " My dear sir, I am perfectly sure of it, and in order to satisfy 
 you likewise, I will make a proposition. Accompany my footman 
 to the minister's house, carry the letter to him yourself, and hear 
 his reply. You may then repeat this reply to my footman, go home 
 in good spirits, and wait there until I bring you the money. " 
 
 "And if you should fail to come?" asked Werner. 
 
 " Then that last remedy you alluded to, suicide, always remains 
 to you. Now go, my dear sir. John ! John !" 
 
 The footman opened the door with a rapidity indicating that his 
 ears probably had not been very far from the keyhole. 
 
 " John, '' said Gentz, " accompany this gentleman to the house of 
 Minister Schulenburg-Kehnert, and wait at the door for the reply 
 he will repeat to you. And now, Mr. Werner, good-by ; you see I 
 have done all I can, and I hope you will remember that in future, 
 and not make so much noise for the sake of a few miserable dollars. 
 Good gracious, if I did not owe any one more than you, my creditors 
 might thank their stars — " 
 
 "Poor creditors!" sighed Mr. Werner, saluting Gentz, and left 
 the room with the footman, holding the letter like a trophy in his 
 hand 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER OF FINANCE. 
 
 " Well, I am really anxious to know whether the minister will 
 give me the money, " murmured Gentz ; " his reply will indicate to 
 me, if the letter to the king I intrusted yesterday to Menken, has 
 made a favorable impression, and if I may hope at length for pro- 
 motion and other favors. My God, I am pining away in my present 
 miserable and subordinate position ! I am able to accomplish greater 
 things. I am worth more than all these generals, ministers, and 
 ambassadors, who are so proud and overbearing, and dare to look 
 down upon me as though I were their inferior. Ah I I shall not 
 stoop so low as to knuckle to them and flatter them. I don't want 
 to be lifted up by them, but I will be their equal. I feel that I am 
 the peer of the foremost and highest of all these so-called statesmen. 
 I do not need them, but they need me. Ah, my God ! somebody 
 knocks at the door again, and John is not at home. Good Heaven, 
 if it should be another of those noisy, impertinent creditors ! I am 
 
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER OF FINANCE. 87 
 
 indebted to Julia for all these vexations. Because her things are 
 being sent away, every door in the house is open, and every one can 
 easily penetrate into my room. Yes, yes, I am coming. I am 
 already opening the door. " ' 
 
 He hastened to the door and unlocked it. This time, however, 
 no creditor was waiting outside, but a royal footman, who respect- 
 fully bowed to the military counsellor. 
 
 " His royal highness Prince Louis Ferdinand, " he said, " requests 
 Mr. Counsellor Gentz to dine with him to-morrow. " 
 
 Gentz nodded haughtily. " I shall come, " he said briefly, and 
 then looked inquiringly at his own footman who had just entered 
 the other room. 
 
 "Well, John, what did the minister reply?" 
 
 " His excellency requests Mr. Counsellor Gentz to call on him in 
 the course of an hour. " 
 
 "All right !" said Gentz, and an expression of heart-felt satisfac- 
 tion overspread his features. He closed the door, and stepped back 
 into his study, and, folding his hands on his back, commenced 
 pacing the room. 
 
 " He is going to receive me in the course of an hour, " he mur- 
 mured. "I may conclude, therefore that the king was pleased with 
 my letter, and that I am at last to enter upon a new career. Ah, 
 now my head is light, and my heart is free ; now I wiU go to work. " 
 
 He sat down at his desk and commenced writing rapidly. His 
 features assumed a grave expression, and proud and sublime thoughts 
 beamed on his expansive forehead. 
 
 He was so absorbed in his task that he entirely forgot the audi- 
 ence the minister had granted to him, and his footman had to come 
 in and remind him that the hour for calling upon his excellency was 
 at hand. 
 
 "Ah I to be interrupted in my work for such a miserable trifle, " 
 said Gentz, indignantly laying down his pen and rising. "Well, 
 then, if it must be, give me my dress-coat, John, and I will go to 
 his excellency. " 
 
 A quarter of an hour later Counsellor Frederick Gentz entered 
 the anteroom of Count Sohulenbui-g-Kehnert, minister of finance. 
 'Announce my aaTival to his excellency," he said to the footman 
 in waiting, with a condescending nod, and then quickly followed 
 him to the door of the minister's study. 
 
 " Permit me to annoimce you to his excellency, " said the foot- 
 man, and slipped behind the portiire. He returned in a few minutes. 
 
 " His excellency requests Mr. Gentz to wait a little while. His 
 excellency has to attend to a few dispatches yet, but wiU very soon 
 be ready to admit Mr. Gentz. " 
 7 
 
88 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " Very well, I shall wait, " said Gentz, with a slight frown, and 
 he approached the splendidly bound books which were piled up in 
 gilt cases on the walls of the room. The most magnificent and 
 precious works of ancient and mod%rn literature, the rarest editions, 
 the most superb illustrated books were imited in this library, and 
 Gentz noticed it with ill-concealed wrath. 
 
 "These men can have all these treasures, nay, they have got 
 them, and value them so little as to keep them in their anterooms, " 
 he murmured, in a surly tone, forgetting altogether that the foot- 
 man was present and could overhear every word he said. He had 
 really heard his remark, and replied to it, approaching Gentz : 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. Counsellor, his excellency does not un- 
 dervalue these treasures, but appreciates them highly, and is always 
 glad enough when the bookbinder delivers new volumes in gorgeous 
 bindings. For this very reason his excellency has ordered the 
 library to be placed in this anteroom, so that it also may gladden 
 the hearts of other people, and those gentlemen who have to wait 
 here may have something wherewith to while away their time." 
 
 " They are permitted, then, to take the books down and read 
 them?" asked Gentz. 
 
 The footman looked somewhat embarrassed. "I believe," he 
 said, timidly, " that would not be altogether agreeable to his excel- 
 lency, for you see, Mr. Counsellor, all of these beautiful books are 
 gilt-edged, and gilt edges suffer greatly if the books are read. You 
 cannot even open the books without injuring them slightly. " 
 
 " And the gilt edges on this row of the books before me are as 
 good as new, and perfectly uninjured, " said Gentz, gravely. 
 
 " Well, that is easily explained. They have not been disturbed 
 since the bookbinder brought them here, " exclaimed the footman, 
 solemnly. " No one would dare to handle them. " 
 " Does not his excellency read these books?" 
 
 " God forbid ! His excellency likes books, but he has not got 
 time to read much. But whenever his excellency passes through 
 this anteroom, he pauses before his bookcases, and looks at them, 
 and, with his own hands, frequently wipes off the dust from the 
 gilt edges of the books. " 
 
 " Indeed, that is a most honorable occupation for a minister of 
 finance, "said Gentz, emphatically. "It is always a great consola- 
 tion to know that a minister of finance wipes ofiE the dust from the 
 gold. I should be very happy if his excellency should consent to do 
 that also for me as often as possible. But does it not seem to you, 
 my dear fellow, that it takes his excellency a good while to finish 
 those dispatches? It is nearly half an hour since I have been wait- 
 ing here. " 
 
THE INTKRVIEW WITH THE MINISTER OF FINANCE. 89 
 
 " I am sure his excellency will soon ring the bell. " 
 
 " Ring the bell ?" asked Gentz, uneasily, " for whom ?" 
 
 "Why, for myself, in order to notify me to admit you, Mr. 
 Counsellor. " 
 
 "Ah, for you?" asked Gentz, drawing a deep breath, and turn- 
 ing once more to the books in order to while away the time by read- 
 ing at least the titles, as he was not permitted to take down and 
 open one of the magnificent volumes. 
 
 Time passed on in this manner, and Gentz was walking up and 
 down near the bookcases, studying the titles, and waiting. The 
 footman had withdrawn into the most remote window, and was 
 waiting likewise. 
 
 Suddenly the large clock commenced striking solemidy and 
 slowh', and announced to Gentz that he had been a whole hour in 
 his excellency's anteroom. And his excellency had not yet rung 
 the bell. 
 
 At this moment Gentz turned toward the footman with a gesture 
 of indignation and impatience. 
 
 " I am satisfied that his excellency has entirely forgotten that I 
 am waiting here in the anteroom," he said, angrily. "The dis- 
 patches must be quite lengthy, for I have been here now for an hour 
 already. Hence I must beg you to inform the minister that I cannot 
 wait any longer, for I am quite busy too, and have to return to my 
 study. Please say that to his excellency. " 
 
 " But can I dare to disturb his excellency ?" asked the footman, 
 anxiously. " He has not rung the bell, sir. " 
 
 "Well, you must be kind enough to disturb him and tell him I 
 must leave unless he can admit me at once, " exclaimed Gentz, ener- 
 getically. " Go, sir, go !" 
 
 The footman sighed deeply. "Well, I will do so at your risk, 
 Mr. Counsellor, " he said, in a low voice, stepping behind the por- 
 tiere. He soon returned, a malicious smile playing on his lips. 
 
 " His excellency regrets that you cannot wait any longer, Mr. 
 Counsellor, " he said. " His excellency being so busy that he cannot 
 be disturbed, he requests you to call again to-morrow at the same 
 hour. " 
 
 " So his excellency dismisses me after detaining me here in the 
 anteroom for more than an hour?" asked Gentz, incredulously. 
 
 "His excellency is overwhelmed with unexpected business, " said 
 the footman, with a shrug of his shoulders. " His excellency there- 
 fore requests you, Mr. Counsellor, to call again to-morrow." 
 
 Gentz cast upon the footman a glance which would have shivered 
 him like a thunderbolt if he had not been a man of stone. But 
 being a man of stone, the thunderbolt harmlessly glanced off from 
 
90 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 him. With a peculiar smile, he assisted the enraged counsellor in 
 putting on his cloak, handed him his hat with a polite bow, and 
 then hastened to the door in order to open it to him. 
 
 At this moment the minister in his study rang the bell loudly and 
 violently. The footman quickly opened the door leading to the hall, 
 and, with a polite gesture, invited Gentz to step out. The latter, 
 however, did not stir. He had hastily placed his hat on his head 
 and was now putting on his gloves with as grave an air as if they 
 were gauntlets with which he was going to arm himself for the pur- 
 pose of stepping out into the arena. 
 
 The minister's bell resounded even louder and more violently 
 than before. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Mr. Counsellor," the footman exclaimed, 
 impatiently, "his excellency is calling me. Be kind enough to 
 close the door when you leave. I must go to his excellency. " 
 
 He hurriedly crossed the room and hastened into the minister's 
 study. 
 
 Gentz now put on his gloves and approached the door. He bent 
 one more glance full of anger upon the anteroom, and finally fixed 
 his eyes upon the glittering books in the cases on the wall. An 
 expression of malicious joy suddenly overspread his features. He 
 drew back from the door, and hurriedly crossing the room, he ap- 
 proached the books. Without any hesitation whatever, he took 
 down one of the largest and most richly ornamented volumes, con- 
 cealed the book under his cloak, hastened back to the door, and left 
 the house of the minister of finance with a haughty and defiant air. 
 
 Without nodding or greeting any one, he hastened through the 
 streets back to his own house. At the door of the latter there stood 
 two huge furniture- wagons, half filled with the sofas, arm-chairs, 
 tables, and looking-glasses which heretofore had adorned his rooms, 
 and which he was now going to lose with his wife. 
 
 The servants had not finished removing the furniture, and he 
 had to pause in the hall in order to let them pass with the large 
 silken sofa which had been the chief ornament of his own parlor. 
 This greatly increased his anger ; with furious gestures he rapidly 
 ascended the staircase and went to his rooms. Every door was open 
 — the apartments which he crossed with ringing steps, were empty 
 and deserted, and finally he reached the door of his study, where his 
 footman had posted himself like a faithful sentinel. Gentz silently 
 beckoned him to open it, and entered. But when the servant was 
 going to follow him, he silently but imperiously kept him back, 
 and slanamed the door in his face. r 
 
 Now at last he was alone ; now no one could see and watch him 
 any longer ; now he could utter the cry of rage that was filling his 
 
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER OP FINANCE. 91 
 
 breast and almost depriving him of the power of speech ; and after 
 uttering this cry, he could appease his wrath still in some other way. 
 
 He threw his cloak and hat upon a chair, seized the splendidly 
 bound and richly gilt volume from the minister's library with both 
 hands and hurled it upon the floor. 
 
 " Lie there, toy of a proud minister !" he exclaimed furiously. 
 " I will treat you as I would like to treat him. I will abuse you as 
 I would like to abuse him. There ! take this ! and this ! and that !" 
 
 And he stamped with his heels upon the magnificent work, 
 clinching his fists and swearing fearfully.* 
 
 A loud and merry laugh was heard behind him, and upon turning 
 round he beheld in the door one of his friends, who was looking at 
 him with a radiant face. 
 
 " Herr von Gualtieri, you laugh, and I am furious, " exclaimed 
 Gentz, stamping again upon the costly volume. 
 
 "But why, for God's sake, are you furious?" asked Herr von 
 Gualtieri. " Why do you perpetrate such vandalism upon that mag- 
 nificent volume under your feet?" 
 
 "Why? Well, I will tell you. I was to-day at the house of 
 Count Schulenburg-Kehnert ; he had sent me word to call on him at 
 ten o'clock, and when I was there, he made me stand for an hour in 
 bis anteroom like his gorgeous, gilt-edged books, which his foot- 
 man told me he never opens because he is afraid of injuring their 
 gilt edges. " 
 
 " And did he admit you after you had been in the anteroom for 
 an hour?" 
 
 "No. When I had been there for an hour, he sent me word 
 through his footman that he was too busy to receive me, and that I 
 had better call again to-morrow. Bah ! He wanted to treat me like 
 those books of his, which he never opens ; he did not want to open 
 me either — me, a man who has got more mind, more knowledge, 
 and information than all his books together. He made me wait in 
 his anteroom for a whole hour, and then dismissed me !" 
 
 "And you allowed yourself to be dismissed?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, I did; but I took one of his splendid gilt-edged vol- 
 umes along, in order to stamp on it and maltreat it, as I would like 
 to maltreat him. Thus I and thus ! To crush it under my heels. It 
 does me good. It relieves me. At this moment this is the only 
 revenge I can take against the miserable fellow. " f 
 
 Herr von Gualtieri laughed uproariously. "Ah I that is an 
 entirely novel Jits gentium," he exclaimed; "an exceedingly funny 
 
 * Vide " Qallerie von Bildnissen aus Eahel's Umgang," edited by Varnhagen von 
 Ense, vol. ii., p 168 
 
 tGentz'8 own words.— Vide "Rahel's Umgang," vol ii., p. 108. 
 
92 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 jus gentium. My friend, let me embrace you ; you are a glorious 
 fellow !" 
 
 With open arms he approached Gentz and pressed him tenderly, 
 laughing all the while, to his heart. 
 
 Gentz was unable to withstand this kindness and this laughter, 
 and suddenly forgetting his anger, he boisterously joined his friend's 
 mirth. 
 
 "You like my revenge?" he asked. 
 
 " Ah ! it is admirable ; it is the revenge of a genuine Corsican !" 
 said Gualtieri, gravely. 
 
 "Of a Corsican?" asked Gentz, shrinking back. "That is an 
 ugly comparison, sir. I do not want to have any thing in common 
 with that Corsican, General Bonaparte. I tell you I am afraid that 
 man will some day prove a terrible scourge for us. " 
 
 "And I adore him !" exclaimed Gualtieri. "He is the resusci- 
 tated Alexander of Macedon, the conqueror of the world, the master 
 of the world. He alone has stemmed the tide of revolution in 
 France. To him alone the Fi-ench are indebted for the restoration 
 of order and tranquillity in their coimtry. The thirteenth of Ven- 
 demiaire is as heroic a deed, as great a victory, as the battles of 
 Lodi and Arcole. " 
 
 " That may be, " said Gentz, morosely. " I am no soldier, and do 
 not like battles and warfare. And what do we Germans care for the 
 Corsican? Have we not got enough to do at home? Germany, how- 
 ever, is so happy and contented that, like the Pharisee, she maj' look 
 upon republican France and exclaim : ' I thank thee, my God, that 
 I am not like this man. ' " 
 
 "You are right,'' replied Gualtieri. "We also stand in need of a 
 revolution. In Germany, too, a guillotine must be erected^heads 
 must fall, and death must hold its bloody harvest. " 
 
 " Hush, my friend, hush !" said Gentz, drawing back in dismay. 
 "Did you merely come to me for the purpose of speaking of such 
 dreadful matters, while you are well aware that I don't like to hear 
 anybody allude to bloodshed, murders, and similar horrors?" 
 
 " I merely wanted to try you a little in order to see whether you 
 are still the same dear old childish coward, " exclaimed Gualtieri, 
 laughing. " The same great child with the strong, manly soul, and 
 the gentle, weak, and easily moved child's heart. Now, let me 
 know quickly what you wanted of the minister of finance, and I 
 shall reward you then by telling you some good news. Well, then, 
 what did you want of Schulenburg?" 
 
 ■' I had asked him to lend me five hundred dollars, and to appoint 
 an hour when I might call for the money. He named ten o'clock, 
 and I went to his house, merely to leave it an hour after in a tower- 
 
THE INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER OF FINANCE. 93 
 
 Ing passion and with empty hands. Oh, it is infamous, it is dread- 
 ful! Itis— " 
 
 At that moment the door opened, and the footman entered. 
 
 "From his excellency, General von Schulenburg-Kehnert, '' he 
 said, delivering to Gentz a small sealed package and a letter. " The 
 servant vcho brought it has left, as he said no reply was required. " 
 
 Gentz beckoned his servant to withdraw, and he then hastily 
 opened the package. 
 
 "Twelve fifty-dollar bills!" he exclaimed, ti-iumphantly. "One 
 hundred dollars more than I had asked for! That is very kind, 
 indeed. " 
 
 " May be he does not give it to you, but merely lends it to you,* 
 said Gualtieri, smiling. 
 
 "Lend it to me!" exclaimed Gentz, scornfully. "People don't 
 lend any money to me, because they know that I am unable to pay it 
 back ; people reward me, sir ; they show their gratitude toward me 
 in a substantial manner, but they are not so mean as to lend me 
 what I ask for. " 
 
 "Does the minister tell you so in his letter?" asked Gualtieri, 
 dryly. 
 
 " Ah ! that is true. I have not yet read the letter, " said Gentz, 
 breaking the seal. While he was reading it, a slight blush suffused 
 his cheeks, and an expression of shame overspread his features. 
 "Here, read it," he murmured, handing the letter to his friend. 
 
 Gualtieri took it and read as follows : 
 
 "My Dear Counsellor, —You wished to see me, and I begged 
 you to call at ten o'clock, although I was overwhelmed with busi- 
 ness and hardly had any time to spare. Precisely at ten o'clock I 
 was ready to receive you, for in all matters of business I am a very 
 punctual man. However, after vainly waiting for you for half an 
 hour, I resumed my work. I had to examine some very complicated 
 accounts, and could not allow myself to be interrupted after once 
 taking them up. Hence I had to ask you to wait, and when, after 
 waiting for half an hour, like myself, you grew impatient arid would 
 not stay any longer, I sent you word to call again to-morrow. 
 Now, that I have concluded my pressing business, however, I hasten 
 to comply with your request. You asked me for five hundred dol- 
 lars ; here they are. Knowing, however, how precious your time 
 is, and that you had to wait for half an hour through my fault, I 
 take the liberty of adding one hundred dollars for the time you have 
 lost to-day. Farewell, sir, and let me conclude with expressing the 
 hope that you will soon again delight the world and myself with one 
 of your excellent works. " 
 
94 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 THE MEMORIAL TO FREDERICK WILLIAM HI. 
 
 " I BEUEVB, " said Gualtieri, returning the letter to Gentz, " I be- 
 lieve the minister wanted to teach you a lesson. He made you wait 
 in order to teach you the necessity of being punctual. " 
 
 " And I shall not forget the lesson. " 
 
 "You will be punctual hereafter?" 
 
 " On the contrary. This time I was half an hour behind time, 
 and he paid me one hundred dollars for it. Hereafter I shall be an 
 hour too late.; he will make me wait an hour and pay me two hun- 
 dred dollars for it. I believe that is sound arithmetic. Don't look 
 at me so scornfully, Gualtieri ; this state of affairs will not last for 
 any length of time ; there will be a time at no distant period when 
 no minister will dare to make me wait in his anteroom, nor to pay 
 me such petty, miserable sums. The ministers then will wait in 
 my anteroom, and will be only too happy if I accept the thousands 
 which they will oiler to me. I have formed the fixed resolution to 
 obtain a brilliant position and to coin wealth out of my mind. " 
 
 " And I am sure you will succeed in accomplishing your purpose, " 
 said Gualtieri. "Yes, I am satisfied a brilliant future is in store 
 for you. You are a genius such as Germany has not seen heretofore, 
 for you are a political genius, and you may just as well confess that 
 Germany greatly lacks politicians who are able to wield their pen 
 like a pointed two-edged sword, to strike fatal blows in all direc- 
 tions and obtain victories. Germany has already fixed her eyes 
 upon you, and even in England your name is held in great esteem 
 since you published your excellent translation of Burke's work on 
 the French Revolution. The political pamphlets you have issued 
 since that time, and the excellent political magazine you have estab- 
 lished, have met with the warmest approval, and the public hopes 
 and expects that you will render great and important services to the 
 country. Go on in this manner, my friend ; boldly pursue the path 
 you have entered, and it will become for you a path of glory, honor, 
 and wealth." 
 
 Gentz looked at him almost angrily. 
 
 " I hope, " he said, " you will not believe me to be an avaricious 
 and covetous man. I value money merely because it is an instru- 
 ment wherewith to procure enjoyment, and because, without it, we 
 are the slaves of misery, privations, and distress. Money renders 
 us free, and now that people would like to set up freedom as the 
 religion of all nations, every one ought to try to make as much 
 
THE MEMORIAL TO FREDERICK WILLIAM III. 95 
 
 money as possible, that alone rendering him really free. The ac- 
 cursed French Revolution, which has dragged all principles, all 
 laws and old established institutions under the guillotine, was under 
 the necessity of leaving one power unharmed— the power of money. 
 The aristocracy, the clergy, nay, even royalty had to bleed under 
 the guillotine, but money never lost its power, its influence, and its 
 importance. Money speaks a universal language, and the sans- 
 culotte and Hottentot understand it as well as the king, the minister, 
 and the most beautiful woman. Money never needs an interpreter ; 
 it speaks for itself. See, my friend, that is the reason why I love 
 money and try to make as much as possible, not in order to amass 
 it, but because with it I can buy the world, love, honor, enjoyment, 
 and happiness. But not being one of those who find money in their 
 cradles, I must endeavor to acquire it and avail myself of the capital 
 God has given me in my brains. And that I shall and will do, sir, 
 but I pledge you my word, never in a base and unworthy manner. 
 I shall probably make people pay very large sums of money for my 
 services, but never shall I sell myself ; all the millions of the world 
 could not induce me to write against my principles, but all the mill- 
 ions of the world I shall demand, when they ask me to write for 
 my principles! See, my friend, that is my programme, and you 
 may be sure that I shall live up to it. I am an aristocrat by nature 
 and conviction ; hence I hate the French Revolution which intended 
 to overthrow every aristocracy, not only that of pedigree, but also 
 that of the mind, and therefore I have sworn to oppose it as an in- 
 defatigable and indomitable champion, and to strike it as many 
 blows with my pen and tongue as I can. Hence I shall never join 
 the hymns of praise which the Germans, always too complaisant, 
 are now singing to the little Corsican, General Bonaparte. What- 
 ever you may say about his heroism and genius, I believe him to be 
 an enemy of Germany, and am, therefore, on my guard. " 
 
 " So you do not admire his victories, the incomparable plans of 
 his battles, which he conceives with the coolness of a wise and ex- 
 perienced chieftain, and carries out with the bravery and intrepidity 
 of a hero of antiquity?" 
 
 " I admire all that, but at the same time it makes me shudder 
 when I think that it might some day come into the head of this man 
 who conquers every thing, to invade and conquer Germany also. I 
 believe, indeed, he would succeed in subjugating her, for I am 
 afraid we have no man of equal ability on our side who could take 
 the field against him. Ah, my friend, why does not one of our 
 German princes resemble this French general, this hero of twenty- 
 seven years? Just think of it, he is no older than our young king ; 
 both were bom in the same year. " 
 
96 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "You must not count his years," exclaimed Gualtieri, "count 
 his great days, his great battles. The enthusiasm of all Europe hails 
 his coming, for he fights at the head of his legions for the noblest 
 boons of manhood— for freedom, honor, and justice. No wonder, 
 therefore, that he is victorious everywhere; the enslaved nations 
 everywhere are in hopes that he will break their fetters and give 
 them liberty. " 
 
 " He is a scourge God has sent to the German princes so that they 
 may grow wiser and better. He wishes to compel them to respect 
 the claims of their subjects to freedom and independence, that being 
 the only way for them to erect a bulwark against this usurper who 
 fights his battles not only with the sword, but also with ideas. Oh, 
 I wish our German sovereigns would comprehend all this, and that 
 all those who have a tongue to speak, would shout it into their ears 
 and arouse them from their proud security and infatuation. " 
 
 "Well, have not you a tongue to speak, and yet you are silent?" 
 asked Gualtieri, smiling. 
 
 " No, I have not been silent, '' exclaimed Gentz, enthusiastically. 
 "I have done my duty as a man and citizen, and told the whole 
 truth to the king. '' 
 
 " That means—" 
 
 " That means that I have written to the king, not with the fawn- 
 ing slavishness of a subject, but as a man who has seen much, re- 
 flected much, and experienced much, and who speaks to a younger 
 man, called upon to act an important part, and holding the happiness 
 of millions of men in his hands. It would be a crime against God and 
 humanity, if we knew the truth and should not tell it to such a man. 
 Because I believe I know the truth, I have spoken to the king, not 
 in a letter which he may read to-day and throw to-morrow into his 
 paper-basket, but in a printed memorial, which I shall circulate in 
 thousands of copies as soon as I have heard that it is in the hands of 
 the king. " 
 
 " And you believe the king will accept this printed memorial of 
 yours?" 
 
 " My friend, Counsellor Menken, has undertaken to deliver it to 
 the king. " 
 
 "In that case he will accept it, for he thinks very highly of 
 Menken. But what did you tell the king in this memorial?" 
 
 " I gave him sound advice about government affairs. " 
 
 "Advice I my friend, kings do not like to listen to advice, espe- 
 cially when it is given to them spontaneously. Did you confine 
 yourself to general suggestions ? You see I am very anxious to learn 
 more about your bold enterprise. Just read the memorial to me, 
 friend Gentz !" 
 
THE MEMORIAL TO FREDERICK WILLIAM III. 97 
 
 " Ah, that would be a gigantic task for you to hear it, and for 
 myself to read it, the memorial being quite lengthy. I ask the king 
 therein in impressive and fervent words — oh, I wept myself when I 
 penned them — to make his people happy and prosperous. I directed 
 his attention to the various bi'anches of our administration ; first, to 
 military affairs — " 
 
 "And you advise him to make war?" asked Gualtieri, hastily. 
 
 " No, I advise him alvrays to be armed and prepared, but to main- 
 tain peace as long as it is compatible with his honor. Next I allude 
 to the condition of our judicial and financial affairs. I beseech him 
 to abstain from interference with the administration of justice, to 
 insist upon a constant equilibrium being maintained between the 
 expenses and revenues of the state, so as not to overburden his sub- 
 jects with taxes, and not to curtail the development of commerce 
 and industry by vexatious monopolies. Finally, I ask him to de- 
 vote some attention to intellectual affairs and to the press. " 
 
 "Oh, I expected that," said Gualtieri, smiling, "and I should 
 not be strrprised at all if you had been bold enough to ask the timid 
 and diffident j'oung king to grant freedom of the press to his people. " 
 
 " Yes, that is what I ask him to do, " said Genfcz, enthusiastically. 
 "You want me to read the whole memorial to you. Let me read at 
 least what I have said about the freedom of the press. Will you 
 listen to it?" 
 
 " Oh, I am most anxious to hear it, " said Gualtieri, sitting down 
 on the sofa. 
 
 Gentz took several sheets of paper from his desk, sat down oppo- 
 site his friend and commenced reading in a loud and enthusiastic 
 voice : 
 
 " Of all things repugnant to fetters, none can bear them as little 
 as human thought. The oppression weighing down the latter is not 
 merely injurious because it impedes what is good, but also because 
 it promotes what is bad. Compulsion in matters of faith may be 
 passed over in silence. It belongs to those antiquated evils on which 
 now that there is greater danger of an utter prostration of religious 
 ideas than of their fanatical abuse, only narrow-minded babblers 
 are declaiming. Not so, however, with regard to freedom of the 
 press. Misled by unfounded apprehensions, arising from the events 
 of the times, even sagacious men might favor a system which, 
 viewed in its true light, is more injurious to the interests of the 
 government than it ever can be to the rights of the citizens, even in 
 its most deplorable abuses. 
 
 "What, even aside from all other considerations, peremptorily 
 and absolutely condemns any law muzzling the press, is the impor- 
 tant fact that it is impossible to enforce it, Unless there be a regular 
 
98 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 inquisition watching over the execution of such a law, it is now-a- 
 days utterly impossibte to carry it out. The facilities for bringing 
 ideas before the public are so great, as to render any measure 
 destined to curtail this publicity a mere matter of derision. But if 
 these laws prove ineffectual they may yet exasperate the people, and 
 that is precisely their most dangerous feature ; they exasperate 
 without deterring. They instigate those against whom they are 
 directed to offer a resistance which frequently not only remains suc- 
 cessful, but moreover becomes glorious and honorable. The most 
 wretched productions, whose real value would not secure a life of 
 two hours, obtain general circulation because it seems to have re- 
 quired some degree of courage to write them. The most insignifi- 
 cant scribblers will be looked upon as men of mind, and the most 
 venal writers suddenly become 'martyrs of truth.' A thousand 
 noxious insects, whom a sunbeam of truth and real sagacity would 
 have dispersed, favored by the darkness created for them with de- 
 plorable short-sightedness, insinuate themselves into the unarmed 
 minds of the people, and instil their poison to the last drop, as though 
 it were a forbidden delicacy of the most exquisite character. The 
 only antidote, the productions of better writers, loses its strength 
 because the uninformed only too easily mistake the advocates of 
 salutary restrictions for the defenders of such as are manifestly un- 
 just and oppressive. 
 
 " Let freedom of the press, therefore, be the immovable principle 
 of your government, not as though the state or mankind, in this age 
 so prolific in books, were interested in the publication of a thousand 
 works more or less, but because your majesty is too great to main- 
 tain an unsuccessful, and therefore disastrous struggle, with petty 
 adversaries. Every one should be held responsible, strictly respon- 
 sible for unlawful acts and writings assuming such a chai-acter, but 
 mere opinion should meet with no other adversary than its opposite, 
 and if it be erroneous, with the truth. Never will such a system 
 prove dangerous to a well-regulated state, and never has it injured 
 such a one. "Where it apparently became pernicious, destruction had 
 preceded it already, and mortification and putrefaction had set in. " * 
 
 "Well?" asked Gentz, with glowing cheeks and flashing eyes, 
 when he had ceased reading, " what do you think of my exposition 
 of the freedom of the press? Is it not clear, convincing, and un- 
 answerable ? Will not the king see that my words contain the truth, 
 and hence follow them?" 
 
 Gualtieri looked at his friend with an air of compassionate ten- 
 derness. 
 
 * Memorial respectfully presented to his majesty Frederick William III. , on his 
 accession to the throne, November 16, 1797, by Frederick Gentz. 
 
THE MEMORIAL TO FREDERICK WILLIAM III. 99 
 
 "Oh, you are a full-grown child," he said ; "you still helieve in 
 the possibility of realizing Utopian dreams, and your faith is so 
 honest, so manly 1 You want to force a scourge upon a timid young 
 king, who most ardently desires to maintain peace, and to remain 
 unnoticed, and tell him, ' With this scourge drive out the evil spirits 
 and expel fhe lies, so as to cause daylight to dawn, and darkness to 
 disappear !' — as though that daylight would not be sure to lay bare 
 all the injuries and ulcers of which our own poor Prussia issuffering, 
 and for which she greatly needs darkness ajid silence. " 
 
 "What! you think the king will take no notice of my demands?" 
 
 " I believe, " said Gualtieri, shrugging his shoulders, " that you 
 are a highly -gifted visionary, and that the king is a tolerably intel- 
 ligent and tolerably sober young gentleman, who, whenever he 
 wants to skate, does not allow himself to be dazzled and enticed by 
 the smooth and glittering surface, but first repeatedly examines the 
 ice in order to find out whether it is firm enough to bear him. And 
 now good-by, my poor friend. I came here to congratulate you for 
 having regained your liberty, and for belonging again to the noble 
 and only happy order of bachelors ; but instead of hearing j'ou rejoice, 
 I find in you a philanthropic fanatic, and an enthusiastic advocate 
 of a free press. " 
 
 " But that does not prevent you from wishing me joy at my return 
 to a bachelor's life, " exclaimed Gentz, laughing. "Yes, my friend, 
 I am free ; life is mine again, and now let the flames of pleasure 
 close again over my head — let enjoyment surround me again in fiery 
 torrents, I shall exultingly plunge into the whirlpool and feel as 
 happy \s a god I We must celebrate the day of my regeneration in 
 a becoming manner ; we must celebrate it with foaming champagne, 
 pates defoie gras, and oysters ; and if we want to devote a last tear 
 to the memory of my wife, why, we shall drink a glass of Lacrymce 
 Christi in her honor. You must come and see me to-night, Gual- 
 tieri. I shall invite a few other friends, and if you will afford us a 
 rare pleasure, you will read to us some of La Fontaine's Fables, 
 which no one understands to recite so well as you. " 
 
 " I shall do so, " said Gualtieri, extending his hand to Gentz. " I 
 shall read to you one of La Fontaine's Fables, the first two lines of 
 which eloquently express the whole history of your past. " 
 
 •'Let me hear those two lines." 
 
 Gualtieri covered his head, and standing in the door he had 
 opened, he said with a deep pathos and in a profoundly melancholy 
 
 voice : 
 
 "Deux coqs vivaient en paix; une poule survint, 
 Et voiia, la guerre allumfie "— 
 
 and nodding a last adieu, he disappeared. 
 
100 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Gentz laughed. " Indeed, he is right, " he exclaimed ; "that is 
 the end of wedded life. But, thank God, mine is over, and, I swear 
 by all my hopes, never will I be such a fool as to marry again ! I 
 shall remain a bachelor as long as I live ; for he who belongs to no 
 woman owns all women. It is time, however, to think of to-night's 
 banquet. But in order to give a banquet, I must first procure new 
 furniture for my rooms, and this time I won't have any but beauti- 
 ful and costly furniture. And how shall I get it? Ah, parbleu, I 
 forgot the six hundred dollars I received from the minister. I shall 
 buy furniture for that sum. No, that would be very foolish, inas 
 much as I greatly need it for other pm-poses. The furniture dealers, 
 I have no doubt, will willingly trust me, for I never yet purchased 
 any thing of them. Unfortunately, I cannot say so much in regard 
 to him who is to furnish me the wines and delicacies for the supper, 
 and I have only one hundred dollars in my pocket. The other five 
 hundred dollars I must send to that bloodsucker, that heartless cred- 
 itor Werner. But must I do so? Ah ! really, I believe it would be 
 rank folly. The fellow would think he had frightened me, and as 
 soon as I should owe him another bill, he would again besiege my 
 door, and raise a fresh disturbance here. No ; I will show him that 
 I am not afraid of him, and that his impudent conduct deserves pun- 
 ishment. Oh, John ! John !" 
 
 The door was opened immediately, and the footman entered. 
 
 " John, " said Gentz, gravely, " go at once to Mr. Werner. Tell 
 him some friends are coming to see me to-night. I therefore want 
 him to send me this evening twenty-four bottles of champagne, 
 three large pdtes de foie gras, two hundred oysters, and whatever is 
 necessary for a supper. If he should fill my order promptly and 
 carefully, he can send me to-morrow a receipt for two hundred dol- 
 lars, and I will pay him the money. But if a single oyster should 
 be bad, if a single bottle of champagne should prove of poor quality, 
 or if he should dare to decline furnishing me with the supper, he 
 will not get a single grosdhen. Go and tell him that, and be back 
 as soon as possible. " 
 
 "Meantime, I will write a few invitations," said Gentz, as soon 
 as he was alone. " But I shall invite none but unmarried men. In 
 the first place, the Austrian minister. Prince von Keuss. This gen- 
 tleman contents himself with one mistress, and as he fortunately 
 does not suspect that the beautiful Marianne Meier is at the same 
 time my mistress, he is a great friend of mine. Yes, if he knew 
 that— ah !" he interrupted himself, laughing, " that would be another 
 illustration of La Fontaine's fable of the two cocks and the hen. 
 Well, I will now write the invitations. " 
 
THE WEDDING. 101 
 
 He had just finished the last note when the door opened, and 
 John entered, perfectly out of breath. 
 
 "Well, did you see Mr. Werner?" asked Gentz, folding the last 
 note. 
 
 "Yes, sir. Mr. Werner sends word that he will furnish the sup- 
 per promptly and satisfactorily, and will deliver here to-night 
 twenty-four bottles of his best champagne, three Isa ge pdtes defoie 
 gras, two hundred oysters, etc. , but only on one condition. " 
 
 "What! the fellow actually dares to impose conditions?" ex- 
 claimed Gentz, indignantly. "What is it he asks?" 
 
 " He asks you, sir, when he has delivered every thing you have 
 ordered, and before going to supper, to be kind enough to step out 
 for a moment into the anteroom, where Mr. Werner will wait for 
 you in order to receive there his two hundred dollars. I am to notify 
 him if you accept this condition, and if so, he will furnish the 
 supper. " 
 
 " Ah, that is driving me to the wall, " exclaimed Gentz, laughing. 
 "Well, go back, to the shrewd fellow and teU him that I accept his 
 conditions. He is to await me in the anteroom, and as he would, 
 of course, make a tremendous noise in case I should disappoint him, 
 he may be sure that I shall come. So go to him, John. " 
 
 " As for myself, " said Gentz, putting on his cloak, " I shall go 
 and purchase several thousand dollars' worth of furniture; my 
 rooms shall hereafter be as gorgeous as those of a prince. By the 
 by, I believe I have been too generous. If I had offered Werner one 
 hundred dollars, he would have contented himself with that sum. " 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 At the house of the wealthy banker Itzig a rare festival took 
 place to-day, a festival which all Berlin had been talking of for the 
 last few days, and which had formed the topic of conversation, no 
 less among the people on the streets, than among the aristocratic 
 classes in their palatial mansions. To-day the wedding of three of 
 his beautiful young daughters was to take place, and the rich, osten- 
 tatious, and generous gentleman had left nothing undone in order 
 to celebrate this gala-day in as briUiant and imposing a manner as 
 possible. All the manufacturers of Berlin had been employed for 
 months to get up the trousseaux of his daughters, for he had de- 
 clared that they should wear exclusively the productions of German 
 
103 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 industiy, and that not a single piece of their new household goods 
 should be of Fi-ench manufacture. Hence, all the gorgeous brocades, 
 velvets, and laces for their dresses and furniture had been woven in 
 Berlin manufactories ; the most magnificent linen had been ordered 
 from Silesia, and a host of milliners and seamstresses had got up 
 eveiy thing required for the wardrobe of the young ladies, in the 
 most skilful and artistic manner. Even the plate and costly jewelry 
 had been manufactured by Berlin jewellers, and the rich and ex- 
 quisitely painted china had been purchased at the royal Porzellan- 
 fabrik. These three trousseaux, so beautiful and expensive, had 
 been, as it were, a triumph of home art and home industry, and for 
 this reason they excited general attention. Herr Itzig had finally, 
 though very reluctantly, yielded to the urgent entreaties of his 
 friends and admitted the public to the rooms and halls of his house 
 in which the trousseaux of his daughters were displayed. However, 
 in order not to lay himself open to the charge of boastful ostenta- 
 tion, he had tried to impart a useful and charitable character to 
 this exhibition. He had fixed a tablet over the entrance to those 
 rooms, bearing the inscription of "Exhibition of Productions of 
 Home Industry ; " in addition, every visitor had to buy a ticket of 
 admission for a few groschen, the proceeds to be distributed among 
 the poor. 
 
 Every one hastened to the banker's house in order to admire the 
 "productions of home industry. " Even the queen had come with 
 one of her ladies of honor to inspect the gorgeous display, and while 
 admiring the magnificence of the silks and velvets and the artistic 
 setting of the diamonds, she had explaimed joyfully : " How glad I 
 am to see that Germany is really able to do entirely without France, 
 and to satisfy all her wants from her own resources !" 
 
 The queen had uttered these words perhaps on the spur of the 
 moment, but the public imparted to them a peculiar meaning and 
 tendency ; and the newspapers, the organs of public opinion, never 
 tired of praising the royal words, and of admonishing the inhabi- 
 tants of Berlin to visit the patriotic exhibition at the banker's house. 
 Curiosity, moreover, stimulated the zeal of the ladies, while politi- 
 cal feeling caused the male part of the population to appear at the 
 exhibition. But when it became known that the French embassy 
 had taken umbrage at the zeal manifested by the people of Berlin, 
 and that the French minister had even dared at the royal table to 
 complain loudly and bitterly of the words uttered by the queen in 
 Herr Itzig's house, the indignation became general, and the visits 
 to the exhibition assumed the character of a national demonstration 
 against the overbearing French. Hosts of spectators now hastened 
 to Herr Itzig's house, and gay, mischievous young men took 
 
THE WEDDING. 103 
 
 pleasure in stationing themselves in groups in the street on which 
 the French minister was living, right in front of the house, in order 
 to converse loudly in the French language about the rare attractions 
 of the banker's exhibition, and to praise the noble patriot who dis- 
 dained to buy abroad what he could get at home just as weU, if not 
 better. 
 
 The success of his exhibition, however, far exceeded the wishes 
 of the banker, and he was glad when the days during which the ex- 
 hibition was to continue were at an end, so that he could exclude 
 the inquisitive visitors from his house. 
 
 But to-day the house was to be opened to the invited guests, for 
 to-day, as we stated before, Herr Itzig was going to celebrate simul- 
 taneously the wedding of three of his beautiful daughters, and the 
 whole place was astir with preparations for a becoming observance 
 of the gala-day. 
 
 While the footmen and other servants, under the direction of 
 skilful artists, were engaged in gorgeously decorating the parlors 
 and halls ; while a hundred busy hands in the kitchen and cellar 
 were preparing a sumptuous repast ; while Herr Itzig and wife were 
 giving the last directions for the details of the festival, the three 
 brides were chatting confidentially in their own room. All of 
 them were quite young yet, the eldest sister having scarcely com- 
 pleted her twenty-first year. They were very beautiful, and theirs 
 was the striking and energetic beauty peculiar to the women of the 
 Orient — that beauty of flaming black eyes, glossy black hair, a 
 glowing olive complexion, and slender but well-developed forms. 
 They wore a full bridal costume ; their bare, beautifully rounded 
 arms and necks were gorgeously adorned with diamonds and other 
 precious stones ; their tall and vigorous figures were clad in white 
 silk dresses, trimmed with superb laces. He who would have seen 
 them thus in the full charm of beauty, grace, and youth, in their 
 magnificent costumes, and with delicate myrtle-crowns on their 
 heads, would have believed he beheld three favorite daughters of 
 Fate, who had never known care and grief, and upon whose heads 
 happiness had poured down an uninterrupted sunshine. 
 
 Perhaps it was so ; perhaps it was only the beautiful myrtle-crowns 
 that cast a shadow over the faces of the thi-ee brides, and not their 
 secret thoughts— their silent wishes. 
 
 They had eagerly conversed for a while, but now, however, they 
 paused and seemed" deeply absorbed. Finally, one of them slowly 
 raised her glowing black eyes and cast a piercing glance upon her 
 sisters. They felt the magic influence of this glance, and raised 
 their eyes at the same time. 
 
 "Why do you look at us so intently, Fanny?" they asked. 
 
104 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "I want to see if I can read truth on your brow," said Fanny, 
 "or if the diamonds and the myrtle-crowns conceal everything. 
 Girls, suppose we take off for a moment the shining but lying masks 
 with which we adorn ourselves in the eyes of the world, and show 
 to each other our trae and natural character? We have always lied 
 to each other. We said mutually to each other: 'I am happy. I 
 am not jealous of you, for I am just as happy as you. ' Suppose we 
 now open our lips really and tell the truth about our hearts ? Would 
 not it be novel and original? Would it not be an excellent way of 
 whiling away these few minutes until our betrothed come and lead 
 us to the altar? See, this is the last time that we shall be thus 
 together— the last time that we bear the name of our father ; let us, 
 therefore, for once tell each other our true sentiments. Shall we 
 do so?" 
 
 " Yes, " exclaimed the two sisters. " But about what do you want 
 us to tell you the truth?" 
 
 "About our hearts," replied Fanny, gravely. "Esther, you are 
 the eldest of us three. You must commence. Tell us, therefore, if 
 you love your betrothed, Herr Ephraim?" 
 
 Esther looked at her in amazement. " If I love him ?" she asked. 
 "Good Heaven ! how should I happen to love him? .1 scarcely know 
 him. Father selected him for me ; it is a brilliant match ; I shall 
 remain in Berlin ; I shall give splendid parties and by my magnifi- 
 cent style of living greatly annoy those ladies of the so-called haute 
 volee, who have sometimes dared to turn up their noses at the 
 'Jewesses.' Whether I shall be able to love Ephraim, I do not 
 know ; but we shall live in brilliant style, and as we shall give 
 magnificent dinner-parties, we shall never lack guests from the 
 most refined classes of society. Such are the prospects of my future, 
 and although I cannot say that I am content with them, yet I know 
 that others will deem my position a most enviable one, and that is 
 at least something. " 
 
 " The first confession !" said Fanny, smiling. " Now it is your 
 turn, Lydia. Tell us, therefore, do you love Baron von Eskeles, 
 your future husband?" 
 
 Lydia looked at her silently and sadly. " Do not ask me, " she 
 said, "for you and Esther know very well that I do not love him. 
 I once had a splendid dream. I beheld myself an adored wife by the 
 side of a young man whom I loved and who loved me passionately. 
 He was an artist, and when he was sitting at his easel, he felt that 
 he was rich and happy, even without money, for he had his genius 
 and his art. When I was looking at his paintings, and at the hand- 
 some and inspired artist himself, it seemed to me there was but one 
 road to happiness on earth : to belong to that man, to love him, to 
 
THE WEDDING. 105 
 
 serve him, and, if it must be, to suffer and starve with him. It 
 vras a dream, and father aroused me from it by telling me that I 
 was to marry Baron von Eskeles, that he had already made an 
 agreement with the baron's father, and that the wedding would take 
 place in two weeks. " 
 
 "Poor Lydia !" murmured the sisters. 
 
 A pause ensued. "Well, " asked Esther, "and you, Fanny? You 
 examine us and say nothing about yourself. What about your 
 heart, my child? Do you love your betrothed. Baron von Arnstein, 
 the partner of Eskeles, your future brother-in-law? You are silent? 
 Have you nothing to say to us?" 
 
 " I have to say to you that we are all to be pitied and very unhappy, " 
 said Fanny, passionately. "Yes, to be pitied and very unhappy, 
 notwithstanding our wealth, our diamonds, and our brilliant future ! 
 We have been sold like goods ; no one has cared about the hearts 
 which these goods happen to have, but every one merely took into 
 consideration how much profit he would derive from them. Oh, 
 my sisters, we rich Jewesses are treated just in the same manner as 
 the poor princesses ; we are sold to the highest bidder. And we 
 have not got the necessary firmness, energy, and independence to 
 emancipate ourselves from this degrading traffic in flesh and blood. 
 We bow our heads and obey, and, in the place of love and happi- 
 ness, we fill our hearts with pride and ostentation, and yet we are 
 starving and pining away in the midst of our riches. " 
 
 " Yes, " sighed Lydia, " and we dare not even complain ! Doomed 
 to eternal falsehood, we must feign a happiness we do not experi- 
 ence, and a love we do not feel. " 
 
 "I shall not do sol" exclaimed Fanny, proudly. "It is enough 
 for me to submit to compulsion, and to bow my head ; but never 
 shall I stoop so low as to lie. " 
 
 " What I you are going to tell your husband that you do not love 
 him ?" asked the sisters. 
 
 "I shall not say that to my husband, but to my betrothed as soon 
 as he makes his appearance. " 
 
 " But suppose he does not want to marry a girl who does not love 
 him?" 
 
 "Then he is the one who breaks off the match, not I, and father 
 cannot blame me for it. But do you not hear footsteps in the hall? 
 It is my betrothed. I begged him to be here a quarter of an hour 
 previous to the commencement of the ceremony, because I desired 
 to speak to him about a very serious matter. He is coming. Now 
 pray go to the parlor, and wait for me there. I shall rejoin you, 
 perhaps alone, and in that case I shall be free ; perhaps, howevei-, 
 Arnstein will accompany me, and in that eventuality he will have 
 
106 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 accepted the future as I am going to offer it to him. Farewell, 
 sisters ; may God protect us all. " 
 
 "May God protect ycm!" said Lydia, tenderly embracing her sis- 
 ter. "You have a courageous and strong soul, and I wish mine 
 were like yours. " 
 
 " Would that save you, Lydia ?" asked Faimy, sharply. " Courage 
 and energy are of no avail in our case ; in spite of our resistance, 
 we should have to submit and to suffer. He is coming. " 
 
 She pushed her sisters gently toward the parlor door, and then 
 went to naeet her betrothed, who had just entered. 
 
 " Mr. Amstein, " said Fanny, giving him her hand, " I thank you 
 for complying so promptly with my request. " 
 
 "A business man is always prompt, '' said the young baron, with 
 a polite bow. 
 
 " Ah, and you treat this interview with me likewise as a business 
 affair?" 
 
 " Yes, but as a business affair of the rarest and most exquisite 
 character. A conference with a charming young lady is worth 
 more than a conference with the wealthiest business friend, even if 
 the interview with the latter should yield a profit of one hundred 
 per cent.'' 
 
 " Ah, I believe you want to flatter rue, " said Fanny, closely scan- 
 ning the small and slender figure and the pale face of the baron. 
 
 He bowed with a gentle smile, but did not raise his eyes toward 
 her. Fanny could not help perceiving that his brow was slightly 
 clouded. 
 
 " Baron, " she said, " I have begged you to come and see me, be- 
 cause I do not want to go to the altar with a lie on my soul. I will 
 not deceive God and yourself, and therefore I now tell you, frankly 
 and sincerely, I do not love you, baron ; only my father's will gives 
 my hand to you !" 
 
 There was no perceptible change in the young baron's face. He 
 seemed neither surprised nor offended. 
 
 " Do you love another man?" he asked quietly. 
 
 "No, I love no one !" exclaimed Fanny. 
 
 "Ah, then, you are fortunate indeed," he said, gloomily. "It ie 
 by far easier to marry with a cold heart, than to do so with a broken 
 one ; for the cold heart may grow warm, but the broken one never." 
 
 Fanny's eyes were fixed steadfastly on his features. 
 
 "Mr. Amstein," she exclaimed, impetuously, "you do not love 
 me either !" 
 
 He forced himself to smile. "Who could see you — you, the 
 proud, glorious beauty — without falling in love with you?" he ex- 
 claimed, emphatically. 
 
THE WEDDING. 107 
 
 "Pray, no empty flatteries," said Fanny, impatiently. "Oh, 
 tell me tlie truth ! I am sure you do not love me I" 
 
 " I saw you too late, " he said, mournfully ; " if I had known you 
 sooner, I should have loved you passionately. " 
 
 "But now I am too late— and have you already loved another?" 
 she asked, hastily. 
 
 "Yes, I love another, " he said, gravely and solemnly. "As you 
 ask me, I ought to tell you the truth. I love another. '' 
 
 "Nevertheless, you want to marry me?" she exclaimed, angrily. 
 "And you?" he asked, gently. "Do you love me?" 
 " But I told you already my heart is free. I love no one, while 
 you — why don't you marry her whom you love?" 
 " Because I cannot marry her. " 
 "Why cannot you marry her?" 
 
 " Because my father is opposed to it. He is the chief of our 
 house and family. He commands, and we obey. He is opposed to 
 it because the young lady whom I love is poor. She would not in- 
 crease the capital of our firm. " 
 
 " Oh, eternally, eternally that cold mammon, that idol to whom 
 our hearts are sacrificed so ruthlessly !" exclaimed Fanny, indig- 
 nantly. "For money we sell our youth, our happiness, and our 
 love." 
 
 "I have not sold my love. I have sacrificed it," said Baron 
 Arnstein, gravely ; " I have sacrificed it to the interests of our firm. 
 But in seeing you so charming and sublime in your loveliness and 
 glowing indignation, I am fully satisfied already that I am no 
 longer to be pitied, for I shall have the most beautiful and generous 
 wife in all Vienna. " 
 
 " Then you really want to marry me ? You will not break off the 
 match, although your heart belongs to another woman, and although 
 you know that I do not love you?" 
 
 " My beautiful betrothed, let us not deceive each other, " he said, 
 smiling ; " it is not a marriage, but a partnership we are going to 
 conclude in obedience to the wishes of our fathers. In agreeing 
 upon this partnership only our fortunes, but not our hearts, were 
 thought of. The houses of Itzig, Arnstein, and Eskeles will flourish 
 more than ever ; whether the individuals belonging to these houses 
 wiU wither is of no importance. Let us therefore submit to our 
 fate, my dear, for we cannot escape from it. Would it be condu- 
 cive to your happiness if I should break off the match ? Your father 
 would probably select another husband for you, perhaps in Poland 
 or in Russia, and you would be buried with all the treasures of your 
 beauty and accomplishments in some obscure corner of the world, 
 while I shall take you to Vienna, to the great theatre of the world 
 
108 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 — upon a stage where you will at least not lack triumphs and hom- 
 age. And I? Why should I be such a stupid fool as to give you up 
 — you who bring to me much more than I deserve — your beauty, 
 your accomplishments, and your generous heart ? Ah, I shall be the 
 target of general envy, for there is no lady in Vienna worthy of 
 being compared with you. As I cannot possess her whom I love, I 
 may thank God that my father has selected you for me. You alone 
 are to be pitied, Fanny, for I cannot offer you any compensation for 
 the sacrifices you are about to make in my favor. I am unworthy 
 of you ; you are my superior in beauty, intellect, and education. I 
 am a business man, that is all. But in return I have at least some- 
 thing to give — ^wealth, splendor, and a name that has a good sound, 
 even at the imperial court. Let me, then, advise you as a friend to 
 accept my hand — it is the hand of a friend who, during his whole 
 life, will honestly strive to compensate you for not being able to give 
 his love to you and to secure your happiness. " 
 
 He feelingly extended his hand to her, and the young lady slowly 
 laid hers upon it. 
 
 "Be it so!" she said, solemnly; "I accept your hand and am 
 I'eady to follow you. We shall not be a pair of happy lovers, but 
 two good and sincere friends. " 
 
 " That is all I ask, " said Arnstien, gently. " Never shall I molest 
 you with pretensions and demands that might offend your delicacy 
 and be repugnant to your heart ; never shall I ask more of you than 
 what I hope I shall be able to deserve — your esteem and your confi- 
 dence. Never shall I entertain the infatuated pretensions of a hus- 
 band demanding from his wife an affection and fidelity he is him- 
 self unable to offer her. In the eyes of the world we shall be man 
 and wife ; but in the interior of your house you will find liberty and 
 independence. There you will be able to gratify all your whims 
 and wishes ; there every one will bow to you and obey you. First 
 of all, I shall do so myself. You shall be the pride, the glory and 
 joy of my house, and secure to it a brilliant position in society. ' 
 We shall live in princely style, and you shall rule as a queen in my 
 house. Will that satisfy you? Do you accept my proposition?" 
 
 "Yes, I accept it," exclaimed Fanny, with radiant eyes, "and I 
 assure you no other house in Vienna shall equal ours. We will 
 make it a centre of the best society, and in the midst of this circle 
 which is to embrace the most eminent representatives of beauty, 
 intellect, and distinction, we will forget that we are united without 
 happiness and without love. " 
 
 "But there will be a day when your heart will love, " said Arn- 
 stein. " Swear to me that you will not curse me on that day because 
 I shall then stand between you and your love. Swear to me that 
 
MARIANNE MEIER. 109 
 
 you will always regard me as your friend, that you will have con- 
 fidence in me, and tell me when that unhappy and yet so happy hour 
 will strike, when your heart begins to speak. " 
 
 " I swear it to you !" said Fanny, gravely. " We will always be 
 sincere towai-d each other. Thus we shall always be able to avert 
 wretchedness, although it may not be in our power to secure happi- 
 ness. And now, my friend, come, give me your arm and accom- 
 pany me to the parlor where they are already waiting for us. Now, 
 I shall no longer weep and mourn over this day, for it has given to 
 me a friend, a brother !" 
 
 She took his arm and went with him to the parlor. A gentle 
 smile was playing on her lips when the door was opened and they 
 entered. With an air of quiet content she looked at her sisters, who 
 were standing by the side of their betrothed, and had been waiting 
 for her with trembling impatience. 
 
 " There is no hope left, " murmured Lydia ; " she accepts her fate, 
 too, and submits. " 
 
 " She follows my example, " thought Esther ; " she consoles her- 
 self with her wealth and brilliant position in society. Indeed, there 
 is no better consolation than that. " 
 
 At that moment the door opened, and the rabbi in his black robe, 
 a skull-cap on his head, appeared on the threshold, followed by the 
 precentor ajnd sexton. Solemn silence ensued, and all heads were 
 lowered in prayer while the rabbi was crossing the room in order to 
 salute the parents of the brides. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MARIANNE MEIER. 
 
 At that moment of silent devotion, no one took any notice of a 
 lady who crossed the threshold a few seconds after the rabbi had 
 entered. She was a tall, superb creature of wonderful beauty. Her 
 black hair, her glowing eyes, her finely-curved nose, the whole 
 shape of her face imparted to her some resemblance to Fanny Itzig, 
 the banker's beautiful daughter, and indicated that she belonged 
 likewise to the people who, scattered over the whole world, have 
 with unshaken fidelity and constancy preserved everywhere their 
 type and habits. And yet, upon examining the charming stranger 
 somewhat more closely, it became evident that she bore no resem- 
 blance either to Fanny or to her sisters. Hers was a strange and 
 peculiar style of beauty, irresistibly attractive and chilling at the 
 same time— a tall, queenly figure, wrapped in a purple velvet dress, 
 
no LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 fastened under her bosom by a golden sash. Her shoulders, dazzling 
 white, and of a truly classical shape, were bare ; her short ermine 
 mantilla had slipped from them and hung gracefully on her beauti- 
 ful, well-rounded arms, on which magnificent diamond bracelets 
 were glittering. Her black hair fell down in long, luxuriant ring- 
 lets on both sides of her transparent, pale cheeks, and was fastened 
 in a knot by means of several large diamond pins. A diamond of 
 the most precious brilliants crowned her high and thoughtful fore- 
 head. 
 
 She looked as proud and glorious as a queen, and there was some- 
 thing haughty, imperious, and cold in the glance with which she 
 now slowly and searchingly surveyed the large room. 
 
 "Tell me," whispered Baron Arnstein, bending over Fanny Itzig, 
 "who is the beautiful lady now standing near the door?" 
 
 " Oh !" exclaimed Fanny, joyfully, " she has come after all. We 
 scarcely dared to hope for her arrival. It is Marianne Meier. " 
 
 "What! Marianne Meier?" asked Baron Arntsein. "The cele- 
 brated beauty whom Goethe has loved — for whom the Swedish am- 
 bassador at Berlin, Baron Bernstein, has entertained so glowing a 
 passion, and suffered so much — and who is now the mistress of the 
 Austrian minister, the Prince von Reuss?" 
 
 "Hush, for Heaven's sake, hush!" whispered Fanny. "She is 
 coming toward us. " 
 
 And Fanny went to meet the beautiful lady. Marianne gently 
 inclined her head and kissed Fanny with the dignified bearing of a 
 queen. 
 
 " I have come to congratulate you and your sisters, " she said, in 
 a sonorous, magnificent alto voice. " I wanted to see how beautiful 
 you looked, and whether your betrothed was worthy of possessing 
 you or not. " 
 
 Fanny turned round to beckon Baron Arnstein to join them, but 
 he had just left with the rabbi and the other ofiBcers of the synagogue. 
 
 The ladies were now alone, for the ceremony was about to begin. 
 And now the women entered, whose duty it was to raise loud lamen- 
 tations and weep over the fate of the brides who were about to leave 
 the parental roof and to follow their husbands. They spread costly 
 carpets at the feet of the brides, who were sitting on arm-chairs 
 among the assembled ladies, and strewing flowers on these carpets, 
 they muttered, sobbing and weepnig, ancient Hebrew hymns. The 
 mother stood behind them with trembling lips, and, raising her 
 tearful eyes toward heaven. The door was opened, and the sexton 
 in a long robe, his white beard flowing down on his breast, appeared, 
 carrying in his hand a white cushion with three splendid lace veils. 
 He was followed by Mr. Itzig, the father of the three brides. Tak- 
 
MARIANNE MEIER. Ill 
 
 ing the veils from the cushion, and muttering prayers all the while, 
 he laid them on the heads of his daughters so that their faces and 
 bodies seemed to be surrounded by a thin and airy mist. And the 
 mourning- women sobbed, and two tears rolled over the pale cheeks 
 of the deeply-moved mother. The two men withdrew silently, and 
 the ladies were alone again. 
 
 But now, in the distance, the heart-stirring sounds of a choir of 
 sweet, sonorous children's voices were heard. How charming did 
 these voices reecho through the room ! They seemed to call the 
 brides, and, as if fascinated by the inspiring melody, they slowly 
 rose from their seats. Their mother approached the eldest sister 
 and offered her hand to her. Two of the eldest ladies took the 
 hands of the younger sisters. The other ladies and the mourning- 
 women formed in pairs behind them, and then the procession com- 
 menced moving in the direction of the inviting notes of the anthem. 
 Thus they crossed the rooms — nearer and nearer came the music — 
 and finally, on passing through the last door, the ladies stepped into 
 a long hall, beautifully decorated with flowers and covered with a 
 glass roof through which appeared the deep, transpai-ent azure of 
 the wintry sky. In the centre of this hall there arose a purple 
 canopy with golden tassels. The rabbi, praying and with uplifted 
 hands, ^was standing under it with the three bridegrooms. The choir 
 of the singers, hidden behind flowers and orange-trees, grew louder 
 and louder, and to this jubilant music the ladies conducted the 
 brides to the canopy, and the ceremony commenced. 
 
 When it was concluded, when the veils were removed from the 
 heads of the brides so that they could now look freely into the world, 
 the whole party returned to the parlor, and brides and bridegrooms 
 received the congratulations of their friends. 
 
 Fanny and Marianne Meier were chatting in a bay-window at 
 some distance from the rest of the company. They were standing 
 there, arm in arm — Fanny in her white bridal costume, like a radi- 
 ant lily, and Marianne in her purple dress, resembling the peerless 
 queen of flowers. 
 
 " You are going to leave Berlin to-day with your husband ?" asked 
 Marianne. 
 
 "We leave in an hour, " said Fanny, sighing. 
 
 Marianne had heard this sigh. " Do you love your husband ?" she 
 asked, hastily. 
 
 "I have seen him only twice," whispered Fanny. 
 
 A sarcastic smile played on Marianne's lips. "Then they have 
 simply sold you to him like a slave-girl to a wealthy planter, " she 
 said. " It was a mere bargain and sale, and still you boaat of it, and 
 pass your disgusting trade in human hearts for virtue, and believe 
 
112 LOUISA OF PEU8SIA. 
 
 you have a right to look proudly and contemptuously down upon 
 those who refuse to be sold like goods, and who prefer to give away 
 their love to being desecrated without love. " 
 
 " I do not boast of having married without love, " said Fanny, 
 gently. " Oh, I should willingly give up wealth and splendor— I 
 should be quite ready to live in poverty and obscurity with a man 
 whom I loved. " 
 
 " But first the old rabbi would have to consecrate your union with 
 such a man, I suppose? — -otherwise you would not follow him, not- 
 withstanding your love?" asked Marianne. 
 
 "Yes, Marianne, that would be indispensable," said Fanny, 
 gravely, iirmly fixing her large eyes upon her friend. " No woman 
 should defy the moral laws of the world, or if she does, she will 
 always suffer for it. If I loved and could not possess the man of my 
 choice, if I could not belong to him as his wedded wife, I should 
 give him up. The grief would kill me, perhaps, but I should die 
 with the consolation of having remained faithful to virtue — " 
 
 "And of having proved false to love!" exclaimed Marianne, 
 scornfully. " Phrases ! Nothing but phrases learned by heart, my 
 child, but the world boasts of such phrases, and calls such senti- 
 ments moral ! Oh, hush ! hush ! I know what you are going to 
 say, and how you wish to admonish me. I heard very well how 
 contemptuously your husband called me the mistress of the Prince 
 von Eeuss. Don't excuse him, and don't deny it, for I have heard 
 it. I might reply to it what Madame de Balbi said the other day 
 upon being upbraided with being the mistress of the Royal Prince 
 d'Artois : ' Le sang des prinees ne souille pas ! ' But I do not want to 
 excuse myself ; on the contrary, all of you shall some day apologize 
 to me. For I tell you, Fanny, I am pursuing my own path and 
 have a peculiar aim steadfastly in view. Oh, it is a great, a glori- 
 ous aim. I want to see the whole world at my feet ; all those ridicu- 
 lous prejudices of birth, rank, and virtue shall bow to the Jewess, 
 and the Jewess shall become the peer of the most distinguished rep- 
 resentatives of society. See, Fanny, that is my plan and my aim, 
 and it is yours too ; we are only pursuing it in different ways — you, 
 by the side of a man whose wife you are, and to whom you have 
 pledged at the altar love and fidelity without feeling them ; I, by 
 the side of a man whose friend I am — to whom, it is true, I have 
 not pledged at the altar love and fidelity, but whom I shall faith- 
 fully love because I have given my heart to him. Let God decide 
 whose is the true morality. The world is on your side and con-, 
 demns me, but some day I shall hurl back into its teeth all its con- 
 tempt and scorn, and I shall compel it to bow most humbly to me. " 
 
 "And whosoever sees you in your proud, radiant beauty, must 
 
MARIANNE MEIER. 113 
 
 feel that you will succeed in accomplishing what you are going to 
 undertake, " said Fanny, bending an admiring glance on the glorious 
 creature by her side. 
 
 Mariaime nodded gratefully. " Let us pursue our aim, " she said, 
 " for it is one and the same. Both of us have a mission to fulfil, 
 Fanny ; we have to avenge the Jewess upon the pride of the Chris- 
 tian women ; we have to prove to them that we are their equals in 
 every respect, that we are perhaps better, more accomplished, and 
 talented than all of those haughty Christian women. How often 
 did they neglect and insult us in society ! How often did they 
 offensively try to eclipse us ! How often did they vex us by their 
 scorn and insolent bearing ! We will pay it all back to them ; we 
 will scourge them with the scourges with which they have scoiu-ged 
 us, and compel them to bow to us !" 
 
 " They shall at least consider and treat us as their equals, " said 
 Fanny, gravely. "I am not longing for revenge, but I want to hold 
 my place in society, and to prove to them that I am just as well-bred 
 and aristocratic a lady, and have an equal, nay, a better right to 
 call myself a representative of ti-ue nobility ; for ouis is a more 
 ancient nobility than that of all these Christian aristocrats, and we 
 can count our ancestors farther back into the most remote ages than 
 they— our fathers, the proud Levites, having been high-priests in 
 Solomon's temple, and the people having treated them as noblemen 
 even at that time. We will remind the Christian ladies of this 
 whenever they talk to us about their own ancestors, who, at best, 
 only date back to the middle ages or to Charlemagne. " 
 
 '• That is right. I like to hear you talk in this strain, " exclaimed 
 Marianne, joyfully. " I see you will represent us in Vienna in a 
 noble and proud manner, and be an honor to the Jews of Berlm. 
 Oh, I am so glad, Fanny, and I shall always love you for it. And 
 do not forget me either. If it pleases God, I shall some day come 
 to Vienna, and play there a brilliant part. However, we shall never 
 be rivals, but always friends. Will you promise it?" 
 
 " I promise it, " said Fanny, giving her soft white hand to her 
 friend. Marianne pressed it warmly. 
 
 " I accept your promise and shall remind you of it some day, " she 
 said. "But now farewell, Fanny, for I see your young husband 
 yonder, who would like to speak to you, and yet does not come to 
 us for fear of coming in contact with the mistress of the Prince von 
 Reuss. God bless and protect his virtue, that stands in such nervous 
 fear of being infected! Farewell; don't forget our oath, and re- 
 member me. " 
 
 She tenderly embraced her friend and imprinted a glowing kiss 
 upon her forehead, and then quickly turning around, walked across 
 
114 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the room. All eyes followed the tall, proud lady with admiring 
 glances, and some whispered, " How beautiful she is! How proud, 
 how glorious !" She took no notice, however ; she had so often re- 
 ceived the homage of these whispers, that they could no longer 
 gladden her heart. Without saluting any one, her head proudly 
 erect, she crossed the room, drawing her ermine mantilla closely 
 around her shoulders, and deeming every thing around her unworthy 
 of notice. 
 
 In the anteroom a footman in gorgeous livery was waiting for 
 her. He hastened down-stairs before her, opened the street door, 
 and rushed out in order to find his mistress's carriage among the 
 vast number of coaches encumbering both sides of the street, and 
 then bring it to the door. 
 
 Marianne stood waiting in the door, stared at by the inquisitive 
 eyes of the large crowd that had gathered in front of the house to 
 see the guests of the wealthy banker Itzig upon their departure from 
 the wedding. 
 
 Marianne paid no attention whatever to these bystanders. Her 
 large black eyes swept over all those faces before her with an air of 
 utter indifference ; she took no interest in any one of them, and 
 their impertinent glances made apparently no impression upon her. 
 
 But the crowd took umbrage at her queenly indifference. 
 
 " Just see, " the bystanders whispered here and there, " just see 
 the proud Jewess ! How she stares at us, as if we were nothing but 
 thin air ! What splendid diamonds she has got ! Wonder if she 
 is indebted for them to her father's usury?" 
 
 On hearing this question, that was uttered by an old woman in 
 rags, the whole crowd laughed uproariously. Marianne even then 
 took no notice. She only thought that her carriage was a good 
 while coming up, and the supposed slowness of her footman was the 
 sole cause of the frown which now commenced clouding her brow. 
 When the crowd ceased laughing, a woman, a Jewess, in a dirty 
 and ragged dress, stepped forth and placed herself close to Marianne. 
 
 "You think she is indebted to her father for those diamonds !" 
 she yelled. " No, I know better, and can tell you all about it. Her 
 father was a good friend of mine, and frequently traded with me 
 when he was still a poor, peddling Jew. He afterward made a great 
 deal of money, while I grew very poor ; but he never bought her 
 those diamonds. Just listen to me, and I will tell you what sort of 
 a woman she is who now looks down on us with such a haughty air. 
 She is the Jewess Marianne Meier, the mistress of the old Prince 
 von Eeuss 1" 
 
 "Ah, a mistress!" shouted the crowd, sneeringly. "And she is 
 looking at us as though she were a queen. She wears diamonds in 
 
MARIANNE MEIER. 115 
 
 her hair, and wants to hide her shame by dressing in purple velvet. 
 She—" 
 
 At that moment the carriage rolled up to the door ; the footman 
 obsequiously opened the coach door and hastened to push back the 
 crowd in order to enable Marianne to walk over the carpet spread 
 out on the sidewalk to her carriage. 
 
 "We won't be driven back !" roared the crowd ; "we want to see 
 the beautiful mistress — we want to see her close by. " 
 
 And laughing, shouting, and jeering, the bystanders crowded 
 closely around Marianne. She walked past them, proud and erect, 
 and did not seem to hear the insulting remarks that were being 
 levelled at her. Only her cheeks had turned even paler than before, 
 and her lips were quivering a little. 
 
 Now she had reached her carriage and entered. The footman 
 closed the door, but the mob still crowded around the carriage, and 
 looked through the glass windows, shouting, " Look at her ! look at 
 her ! What a splendid mistress she is ! Hurrah for her 1 Long 
 live the mistress !" 
 
 The coachman whipped the horses, and the carriage commenced 
 moving, but it could make but little headway, the jeering crowd 
 rolling along with it like a huge black wave, and tiying to keep it 
 back at every step. 
 
 Marianne sat proudly erect in her carriage, staring at the mob 
 with flaming and disdainful eyes. Not a tear moistened her eyes ; 
 not a word, not a cry issued from her firmly-compressed lips. Even 
 when her carriage, turning around the corner, gained at last a free 
 field and sped away with thundering noise, there was no change 
 whatever in her attitude, or in the expression of her countenance. 
 She soon reached the embassy buildings. The carriage stopped in 
 front of the vestibule, and the footman opened the coach door. 
 Marianne alighted and walked slowly and proudly to the staircase. 
 The footman hastened after her, and when she had just reached the 
 first landing-place he stood behind her and whispered : 
 
 " I beg your pardon, madame ; I was really entirely innocent. 
 Your carriage being the last to arrive, it had to take the hindmost 
 place ; that was the reason why it took us so long to get it to the 
 door. I beg your pardon, madame. " 
 
 Marianne only turned to him for a moment, bending a single 
 contemptuous glance upon him, and then, without uttering a word, 
 continued ascending the staircase. 
 
 The footman paused and looked after the proud lady, whispering 
 with a sigh — 
 
 "She will discharge me— she never forgives !" 
 
 Marianne had now reached the upper story, and walked down 
 
116 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the corridor as slowly and as proudly as ever. Her valet stood at 
 the door, receiving her vcith a profoxind bow, while opening the 
 folding door. She crossed gravely and silently the long suite of 
 rooms now opening before her, and finally entered her dxessing- 
 room. Her two lady's maids were waiting for her here in order to 
 assist her in putting on a more comfortable dress. 
 
 When they approached their mistress, she made an imperious, 
 repelling gesture. 
 
 "Begone!" she said, "begone!" 
 
 That was all she said, but it sounded like a scream of rage and 
 pain, and the lady's maids hastened to obey, or rather to escape. 
 When the door had closed behind them, Marianne rushed toward it 
 and locked it, and drew the heavy curtain over it. 
 
 Now she was alone — now nobody could see her, nobody could 
 hear her. With a wild cry she raised her beautiful arms, tore the 
 splendid diadem of brilliants from her hair, and hurled it upon the 
 floor. She then with trembling hands loosened the golden sash from 
 her tapering waist, and the diamond pins from her hair, and threw 
 all these precious trinkets disdainfully upon the floor. And now 
 with her small feet, with her embroidered silken shoes, she furiously 
 stamped on them with flaming eyes, and in her paroxysm of anger 
 slightly opening her lips, so as to show her two rows of peerless 
 teeth which she held firmly pressed together. 
 
 Her fine hair, no longer fastened by the diamond pins, had fallen 
 down, and was now floating around her form like a black veil, and 
 closely covered her purple dress. Thus she looked like a goddess of 
 vengeance, so beautiful, so proud, so glorious and terrible — her 
 small hands raised toward heaven, and her feet crushing the jewelry. 
 
 " Insulted, scorned !" she murmured. " The meanest woman on 
 the street believes she has a right to despise me — me, the celebrated 
 Marianne Meier — me, at whose feet counts and princes have sighed 
 in vain ! And who am I, then, that they should dare to despise me?" 
 
 She asked this question with a deflant, burning glance toward 
 heaven, but all at once she commenced trembling, and hung her 
 head humbly and mournfully. 
 
 " I am a disgraced woman, " she whispered. " Diamonds and vel- 
 vet do not hide my shame. I am the prince's mistress. That's all! 
 
 " But it shall be so no longer !" she exclaimed, suddenly. " I will 
 put a stop to it. I must put a stop to it ! This hour has decided my 
 destiny and broken my stubbornness. I thought I could defy the 
 world in my way. I believed I could laugh at its prejudices ; but 
 the world is stronger than I, and therefore I have to submit, and 
 shall hereafter defy it in its own way. And I shall do so most 
 assuredly. I shall do so on the spot. " 
 
MARIANNE MEIER. 117 
 
 Without reflecting any further, she left her chamber and hastened 
 once more through the rooms. Her hair now was waving wildly 
 around her shoulders, and her purple dress, no longer held together 
 by tlie golden sash, was floating loosely around her form. 
 
 She took no notice whatever of her dishabille; only one idea, only 
 one purpose filled her heart. 
 
 In breathless haste she hurried on, and now quickly opened a last 
 door, through which she entered a room furnished in the most 
 sumptuous and comfortable manner. 
 
 At her appearance, so sudden, and evidently unexpected, the 
 elderly gentleman, who had reposed on the silken sofa, arose and 
 turned around with a gesture of displeasure. 
 
 On recognizing Marianne, however, a smile overspread his fea- 
 tures, and he went to meet her with a pleasant greeting. 
 
 "Back already, dearest?" he said, extending his hand toward 
 her. 
 
 " Yes, your highness — I am back already, " she said drily and 
 coldly. 
 
 The gentleman upon whose features the traces of a life of dissi 
 pation were plainly visible, fixed his eyes with an anxious air upon 
 the beautiful lady. He only now noticed her angry mien and the 
 strange dishabille in which she appeared before him. 
 
 "Good Heaven, Marianne !" he asked, sharply, "what is the cause 
 of your agitation, of your coldness toward me ? What has happened 
 to you?" 
 
 " What has happened to me ? The most infamous insults have 
 been heaped upon my head I" she exclaimed with quivering lips, an 
 angry blush suffusing her cheeks. " For a quarter of an hour, nay, 
 for an eternity, I was the target of the jeers, the contempt, and the 
 scorn of the rabble that publicly abused me in the most disgi-aceful 
 manner !" 
 
 "TeU me," exclaimed the old gentleman, "what has occurred, 
 and whose fault it was !" 
 
 " Whose fault it was ?" she asked, bending a piercing glance upon 
 him. " Yours, my prince ; you alone are to blame for my terrible 
 disgrace and humiliation. For your sake the rabble has reviled me, 
 called me your mistress, and laughed at my diamonds ; calling them 
 the reward of my shame I Oh, how many insults, how many mor- 
 tifications have I not already suffered for your sake— with how many 
 bloody tears have I not cursed this love which attaches me to you, 
 and which I was nevertheless unable to tear from my heart, for it 
 is stronger than myself. But now the cup of bitterness is full to 
 overflowing. My pride cannot bear so much contumely and scorn. 
 Farewell, my prince, my beloved ! I must leave you. I cannot slay 
 
118 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 with you any longer. Shame would kill me. Farewell! Hereafter, 
 no one shall dare to call me a mistress. " 
 
 With a last glowing farewell, she turned to the door, but the 
 prince kept her back. " Marianne, " he asked, tenderly, "do you not 
 know that I love you, and that I cannot live without you?" 
 
 She looked at him with a fascinating smile. "And I?" she 
 asked, " far from you, shall die of a broken heart ; with you, I shall 
 die of shame. I prefer the former. Farewell ! No one shall ever 
 dare again to call me by that name. " And her hand touched already 
 the door-knob. 
 
 The prince encircled her waist with his arms and drew her back. 
 
 "I shall not let you go," he said, ardently. "You are mine, and 
 shall remain so ! Oh, why are you so proud and so cold? Why will 
 you not sacrifice your faith to our love? Why do you insist upon 
 remaining a Jewess?" 
 
 "Your highness," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder, 
 " why do you want me to become a Christian ?" 
 
 "Why?" he exclaimed. "Because my religion and the laws of 
 my country prevent me from marrying a Jewess. " 
 
 " And if I should' sacrifice to you the last that has remained to 
 me?" she whispered — "my conscience and my religion." 
 
 " Marianne, " he exclaimed, solemnly, " I repeat to you what I 
 have told you so often already : ' Become a Christian in order to be- 
 come my wife. ' " 
 
 She encircled his neck impetuously with her arms and clung to 
 him with a passionate outburst of tenderness. "I will become u 
 Christian !" she whispered. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 LOVE AND POLITICS. 
 
 "At last! at last!" exclaimed Gentz, in a tone of fervid tender- 
 ness, approaching Marianne, who went to meet him with a winning 
 smile. " Do you know, dearest, that you have driven me to despair 
 for a whole week ? Not a word, not a message from you ! When- 
 ever I came to see you, I was turned away. Always the same terri- 
 ble reply, ' Madame is not at home, ' while I felt your nearness in 
 every nerve and vein of mine, and while my throbbing heart was 
 under the magic influence of your presence. And then to be turned 
 away ! No reply whatever to my letters, to my ardent prayers to 
 see you only for a quarter of an hour. " 
 
 " Oh, you ungrateful man !" she said, smiling, " did I not send for 
 you to-day? Did I not give you this rendezvous quite voluntarily?" 
 
LOVE AND POLITICS. 119 
 
 "You knew very well that I should have died if your heart had 
 not softened at last. Oh, heavenly Marianne, what follies despair 
 made me commit already ! In order to forget you, I plunged into 
 all sorts of pleasures, I comnienced new works, I entered upon fresh 
 love-affairs. But it was all in vain. Amidst those pleasures I was 
 sad; during my working hom-s my mind was wandering, and in 
 order to impart a semblance of truth and tenderness to my protesta- 
 tions of love, I had to close my eyes and imagine you were the lady 
 whom I was addressing. " 
 
 "And then you were successful?" asked Marianne, smiling. 
 
 " Yes, then I was successful, " he said, gravely ; " but my new 
 lady-love, the beloved of my distraction and despair, did not suspect 
 that I only embraced her so tenderly because I kissed in her the be- 
 loved of my heart and of my enthusiasm. " 
 
 " And who was the lady whom you call the beloved of your dis- 
 traction and despair?" asked Marianne. 
 
 "Ah, Marianne, you ask me to betray a woman?" 
 
 " No, no ; I am glad to perceive that you are a discreet cavalier. 
 You shall betray no woman. I will tell you her name. The be- 
 loved of your distraction and despair was the most beautiful and 
 charming lady in Berlin — it was the actress Christel Enghaus. Let 
 me compliment you, my friend, on having triumphed with that 
 belle over all those sentimental, lovesick princes, counts, and barons. 
 Indeed, you have improved your week of 'distraction and despair' 
 in the most admirable manner. " 
 
 " Still, Marianne, I repeat to you, she was merely my sweetheart 
 for the time being, and I merely plunged into this adventiure in 
 order to forget you. " 
 
 "Then you love me really?" asked Marianne. 
 
 "Marianne, I adore you! You know it. Oh, now I may tell 
 you so. Heretofore yoa repelled me and would not listen to my 
 protestations of love because I was a married man. Now, how- 
 ever, I have got rid of my ignominious fetters, Marianne ; now 
 I am no longer a man-ied man. I am free, and all the women in 
 the world are at liberty to love me. I am as free as a bird in the 
 air !" 
 
 "And like a bird you want to flit from one heart to another?" 
 
 "No, most beautiful, most glorious Marianne; your heart shall be 
 the cage in which I shall imprison myself. " 
 
 " Beware, my friend. What would you say if there was no door 
 in this cage through which you might escape?" 
 
 " Oh, if it had a door, I should curse it. " 
 
 " Then you love me so boundlessly as to be ready to sacrifice to me 
 the liberty you have scarcely regained ?" 
 9 
 
120 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Can you doubt it, Marianne?" asked Gentz, tenderly pressing her 
 beautiful hands to his lips. 
 
 "Are you in earnest, my friend?" she said, smiling. "So you 
 offer your hand to me? You want to marry me?" 
 
 Gentz started back, and looked at her with a surprised and 
 frightened air. Marianne laughed merrily. 
 
 "Ah !" she said, "your face is the m.ost wonderful illustration of 
 Goethe's poem. You know it, don't you?" And she recited with 
 ludicrous pathos the following two lines : 
 
 " ' Heirathen, Kind, ist wunderlich Wort, 
 Hor' ich's, mooM' ich gleioli wieder fort. ' 
 
 " Good Heaven, what a profound knowledge of human nature our 
 great Goethe has got, and how proud I am to be allowed to call him 
 a friend of mine — Heirathen, Kind, ist vmnderlich Wort. " 
 
 " Marianne, you are cruel and unjust, you — " 
 
 " And you know the next two lines of the poem?" she interrupted 
 him. " The maiden replied to him : 
 
 " ' Heirathen wir eben, 
 
 Das Ubrige wird sich geben. ' " 
 
 " You mock me, " exclaimed Gentz, smiling, " and yet you know 
 the maiden's assurance would not prove true in our case, and that 
 there is something rendering such a happiness, the prospect of call- 
 ing you my wife, an utter impossibility. Unf oi'tunately, you are no 
 Christian, Marianne. Hence I cannot marry you. " * 
 
 "And if I were a Christian?" she asked in a sweet, enchanting 
 voice. 
 
 He fixed his eyes with a searching glance upon her smiling, 
 charming face. 
 
 "What!" he asked, in evident embarrassment. "If you were a 
 Christian? What do you mean, Marianne?" 
 
 " I mean, Prederiok, that I have given the highest proof of my 
 love to the man who loves me so ardently, constantly, and faithfully. 
 For his sake I have become a Christian. Yesterday I was baptized. 
 Now, my friend, I ask you once more, I ask you as a Christian 
 woman : Gentz, will you marry me ? Answer me honestly and 
 frankly, my friend I Remember that it is ' the beloved of your heart 
 and of your enthusiasm, ' as you called me yourself a few moments 
 ago, who now stands before you and asks for a reply. Remember 
 that this moment will be decisive for our future — speedily, nay, 
 immediately decisive. For you see I have removed all obstacles. 
 
 * Mamages between Christians and Jews were prohibited in the German states 
 at that period. 
 
LOTE AND POLITICS. 131 
 
 I have become a Christian, and I tell you I am ready to become your 
 wife in the com-se of the present hour. Once more, then, Gentz, 
 will you marry me?" 
 
 He had risen and paced the room in great excitement. Marianne 
 followed him with a lurking glance and a scornful smile, but when 
 he now stepped back to her, she quickly assumed her serious air. 
 
 "Marianne," he said, firmly, "you want to know the truth, and 
 I love you too tenderly to conceal it from you. I will not, must not, 
 cannot many you. I will not, because I am unable to bear once 
 more the fettei-s of wedded life. I must not, because I should make 
 you unhappy and wretched. I cannot, while, doing so, I should act 
 perfidiously toward a friend of mine, for you know very well that 
 the Prince von Reuss is my intimate friend. " 
 
 "And Jam his mistress. You wished to intimate that to me by 
 your last words, I suppose ?" 
 
 "I wished to intimate tha,t he loves you boundlessly, and he is a 
 generous, magnanimous man, whose heart would break if any one 
 should take you from him. " 
 
 "For the last time, then : you will not marry me?" 
 
 "Marianne, I love you too tenderly — I cannot marry you !" 
 
 Marianne burst into a fit of laughter. " A strange reason for re- 
 jecting my hand, indeed I" she said. " It is so original that in itself 
 it might almost induce me to forgive your refusal. And yet I had 
 coimted so firmly and surely upon your love and consent that I had 
 made already the necessary arrangements in order that our wedding 
 might take place to-day. Just look at me, Gentz. Do you not see 
 that I wear a bridal- dress?" 
 
 "Your beauty is always a splendid bridal-dress for you, 
 Marianne. " 
 
 "Well said! But do you not see a myrtle -wreath, my bridal- 
 wreath, on the table there? Honi soit qui mal y pense f The priest 
 is already waiting for the bride and bridegroom in the small chapel, 
 the candles on the altar are lighted, every thing is ready for the cere- 
 mony. Well, we must not make the priest wait any longer. So you 
 decline being the bridegroom at the ceremony? Well, attend it, 
 then, as a witness. Will you do so? Will you assist me as a faith- 
 ful friend, sign my maiTiage-contract, and keep my secret?" 
 
 " I am ready to give you any proof of my lore and friendship, " 
 said Gentz, gravely. 
 
 "Well, I counted on you,'' exclaimed Marianne, smiling, "and, 
 to teU you the truth, I counted on your refusal to marry me. Come, 
 give me your arm. I will show you the same chapel which the 
 Prince von Reuss has caused to be fitted up here in the building of 
 the Austrian embassy. The servants will see nothing strange in our 
 
133 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 going there, and I hope, moreover, that we shall meet with no one 
 on our way thither. At the chapel we shall perhaps find Prince 
 Henry— that will be a mere accident, which will surprise no one. 
 Come, assist me in putting on this long black mantilla which will 
 entirely conceal my white silk dress. The myrtle-wreath I shall 
 take under my arm so that no one will see it. And now, come !" 
 
 "Yes, let us go," said Gentz, offering his arm to her. "I see 
 Tery well that there is a mystification in store for me, but I shall 
 follow you wherever you will take me, to the devil or — " 
 
 " Or to church, " she said, smiling. " But hush now, so that no 
 one may hear us. " 
 
 They walked silently through the rooms, then down a long corri- 
 dor, and after descending a narrow secret staircase, they entered a 
 small apartment where three gentlemen were waiting for them. 
 One of them was a Catholic priest in his vestments, the second the 
 Prince von Reuss, Henry XIII. , and the third the first attache of the 
 Austrian embassy. 
 
 The prince approached Marianne, and after taking her hand he 
 saluted Gentz in the most cordial manner. 
 
 " Every thing is ready, " he said ; " come, Marianne, let me place 
 the wreath on your head. " 
 
 Marianne took off her mantilla, and, handing the myrtle-wreath 
 to the prince, she bowed her head, and almost knelt down before 
 him. He took the wreath and fastened it in her hair, whereupon 
 he beckoned the attache to hand to him the large casket standing on 
 the table. This casket contained a small prince's coronet of exqui- 
 site workmanship and sparkling with the most precious diamonds. 
 
 The prince fastened this coronet over Marianne's wreath, and the 
 diamonds glistened now like stars over the delicate myrtle-leaves. 
 
 "Arise, Marianne," he then said, loudly. "I have fastened the 
 coronet of your new dignity in your hair ; let us now go to the altar. " 
 
 Marianne arose. A strange radiance of triumphant joy beamed 
 in her face ; a deep flush suffused her cheeks, generally so pale and 
 transparent ; a blissful smile played on her lips. With a proud and 
 sublime glance at Gentz, who was staring at her, speechless and 
 amazed, she took the prince's arm. 
 
 The priest led the way, and from the small room they now entered 
 the chapel of the embassy. On the altar, over which one of Van 
 Dyok's splendid paintings was hanging, large wax-tapers were 
 burning in costly silver chandeliers. On the carpet in front of the 
 altar two svaaXl prie-dieus for Marianne and the prince were placed, 
 and two arm-chairs for the witnesses stood behind them. Opposite 
 the altar, on the other side of the chapel, a sort of choir or balcony 
 with an organ liad been fitted up. 
 
LOVE AND POLITICS. 133 
 
 But no one was there to play on that organ. All the other chairs 
 and benches were vacant ; the ceremony was to be performed secretly 
 and quietly. 
 
 Gentz saw and observed every thing as though it were a vision, 
 he could not yet make up his mind that it was a reality ; he was 
 confused and almost dismayed, and did not know whether it was 
 owing to his surprise at what was going on, or to his vexation at 
 being so badly duped by Marianne. He believed he was dreaming 
 when he saw Marianne and the prince kneeling on the prie-dieus, 
 Marianne Meier, the Jewess, at the right hand of the high-bom 
 nobleman, at the place of honor, only to be occupied by legitimate 
 brides of equal rank ; and when he heard the priest, who stood in 
 front of the altar, pronounce solemn words of exhortation and bene- 
 diction, and finally ask the kneeling bride and bridegroom to vow 
 eternal love and fidelity to each other. Both uttered the solemn 
 "Yes" at the same time, the prince quietly and gravely, Marianne 
 hastily and in a joyful voice. The priest thereupon gave them the 
 benediction, and the ceremony was over. The whole party then 
 returned to the anteroom serving as a sacristy. They silently re- 
 ceived the congratulations of the priest and the witnesses. The 
 attache then took a paper from his memorandum-book ; it contained 
 the minutes of the ceremony, which he had drawn up already in 
 advance. Marianne and the prince signed it ; the witnesses and the 
 priest did the same, the latter adding the church seal to his signa- 
 ture. It was now a perfectly valid certificate of their legitimate 
 marriage, which the prince handed to Marianne, and for which she 
 thanked him with a tender smile. 
 
 " You are now my legitimate wife, " said the Prince von Reuss, 
 gravely ; " I wish to give you this proof of my love and esteem, and 
 I return my thanks to these gentlemen for having witnessed the cer- 
 emony ; you might some day stand in need of their testimony. For 
 the time being, however, I have cogent reasons for keeping our 
 marriage secret, and you have promised not to divulge it. " 
 
 "And I renew my promise at this sacred place and in the pres- 
 ence of the priest and our witnesses, my dear husband," said Mari- 
 anne. " No one shall hear from me a word or even an intimation of 
 what has occurred here. Before the world I shall be obediently and 
 patiently nothing but your mistress until you deem it prudent to 
 acknowledge that I am your wife. " 
 
 "I shall do so at no distant day," said the prince. "And you, 
 gentlemen, will you promise also, will you pledge me your word of 
 honor that you will faithfully keep our secret V" 
 
 "We promise it upon our honor !" exclaimed the two gentlemen. 
 
 The prince bowed his thanks. " Let us now leave the chapel sep- 
 
124 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. ' 
 
 arately, just as we have come, " he said ; " if we should withdraw 
 together, it would excite the attention and curiosity of the servants, 
 some of whom might meet us in the hall. Come, baron, you will 
 accompany me." He took the attacM's arm, and left the small 
 saoristry with him. 
 
 "And you will accompany me," said Marianne, kindly nodding 
 to Gentz. 
 
 " And I shall stay here for the purpose of praying for the bride 
 and bridegroom, " muttered the priest, returning to the altar. 
 
 Marianne now hastily took the coronet and myrtle-wreath from 
 her hair and concealed both under the black mantilla which Gentz 
 gallantly laid around her shoulders. 
 
 They silently reascended the narrow staircase and returned 
 through the corridor to Marianne's rooms. Upon reaching her bou- 
 doir, Marianne doffed her mantilla with an indescribable air of tri- 
 umphant joy, and laid the coronet and myrtle-wreath on the table. 
 
 " Well, " she asked in her sonorous, impressive voice, " what do 
 you say now, my tender Gentz ?" 
 
 He had taken his hat, and replied with a deep bow : " I have to 
 say that I bow to your sagacity and talents. That was a master- 
 stroke of yours, dearest. " 
 
 "Was it not?" she asked, triumphantly. "The Jewess, hitherto 
 despised and ostracized by society, has suddenly become a legiti- 
 mate princess ; she has now the power to avenge all sneers, all de- 
 rision, all contempt she has had to undergo. Oh, how sweet this 
 revenge will be — how I shall humble all those haughty ladies who 
 dared to despise me, and who will be obliged henceforth to yield the 
 place of honor to me !" 
 
 "And will you revenge yourself upon me too, Marianne?" asked 
 Gentz, humbly — "upon me who dared reject your hand? But no, 
 you must always be grateful to me for that refusal of mine. Just 
 imagine I had compelled you to stick to your offer : instead of being 
 a princess, you would now be the unhappy wife of the poor military 
 counsellor, Frederick Gentz. '' 
 
 Marianne laughed. "You are right," she said, "I am grateful 
 to you for it. But, my friend, you must not and shall not remain 
 the poor military counsellor Gentz. " 
 
 "God knows that that is not my intention either," exclaimed 
 Gentz, laughing. " God has placed a capital in my head, and you 
 may be sure that I shall know how to invest it at a good rate of 
 interest. " 
 
 ■• "But here you will obtain no such interest," said Marianne, 
 eagerly, " let us speak sensibly about that matter. We have paid 
 our tribute to love and friendship ; let us now talk about politics. 
 
LOVE AND POLITICS. 125 
 
 I am authorized— and she who addresess you now is no longer Mari- 
 anne Meier, but the wife of the Austrian ambassador— I am author- 
 ized to make an important offer to you. Come, my friend, sit down 
 in the arm-chair liere, and let us hold a diplomatic conference. " 
 
 " Yes, let us do so, " said Gentz, smiling, and taking the seat she 
 had indicated to him. 
 
 "Friend Grentz, what are your hopes for the future?" 
 
 " A ponderous question, but I shall try to answer it as briefly as 
 possible. I am in hopes of earning fame, honor, rank, influence, 
 and a brilliant position by my talents. " 
 
 "And you believe you can obtain all that here in Prussia?" 
 
 " I hope so, " said Gentz, hesitatingly. 
 
 " You have addressed a memorial to the young king ; you have 
 urged him to give to his subjects prosperity, happiness, honor, and 
 freedom of the press. How long is it since you sent that memorial 
 to him?" 
 
 " Four weeks to-day. " 
 
 " Four weeks, and they have not yet rewarded you for your glori- 
 ous memorial, although the whole Pi-ussian nation hailed it with 
 the most rapturous applause? They have not yet thought of ap- 
 pointing you to a position worthy of your talents? You have not 
 yet been invited to court?" 
 
 "Yes, I was invited to court. The queen wished to become 
 acquainted with me. Gualtieri presented me to her, and her maj- 
 esty said very many kind and flattering things to me. " * 
 
 " Words, empty words, my friend ! Their actions are more elo- 
 quent. The king has not sent for you, the king has not thanked 
 you. The king does not want your advice, and as if to show to 
 yourself, and to all those who have received your letter so enthusi- 
 astically, that he intends to pursue his own path and not to listen to 
 such advice, the king, within the last few days, has addressed a 
 decree to the criminal court, peremptorily ordering the prosecuting 
 attorneys to proceed rigorously against the publishers of writings 
 not submitted to or rejected by the censors, "f 
 
 "That cannot be true— that is impossible!" exclaimed Gentz, 
 starting up. 
 
 "I pardon your impetuosity in consideration of your just indig- 
 nation, " said Marianne, smiling. " That I told you the truth, how- 
 ever, you will see in to-morrow's Gazette, which will contain the 
 royal decree I alluded to. Oh, you know very well the Austrian 
 ambassador has good friends evei-ywhere, who furnish him the 
 latest news, and keep him informed of all such things. You need 
 
 *Varnhagen, "Gallerie von Bildnissen," etc., vol. ii. 
 
 t F. Foerster, " Modern History of Prussia," vol. i., p. 498. 
 
136 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 not hope, therefore, that the young king will make any use of your 
 talents or grant you any favors. Your splendid memorial has 
 offended him instead of winning him ; he thought it was altogether 
 too bold. Frederick William the Third is not partial to bold, eccen- 
 tric acts ; he instinctively shrinks back from all violent reforms. 
 The present King of Prussia will not meddle with the great affairs 
 of the world ; the King of Prussia wishes to remain neutral amidst 
 the struggle of contending parties. Instead of thinking of war and 
 politics, he devotes his principal attention to the church service and 
 examination of the applicants for holy orders, and yet he is not 
 even courageous enough formally to abolish Wollner's bigoted edict, 
 and thus to make at least one decisive step forward. Believe me, 
 lukewarmness and timidity will characterize every act of his ad- 
 ministration. So you had better go to Austria. " 
 
 "And what shall I do in Austria?" asked Gentz, thoughtfully. 
 
 "What shall you do there?" exclaimed Marianne, passionately. 
 "You shall serve the fatherland— you shall serve Germany, for Ger- 
 many is in Austria just as well as in Prussia. Oh, believe me, my 
 friend, only in Austria will you find men strong and bold enough to 
 brave the intolerable despotism p£ the French. And the leading 
 men there will welcome you most cordially ; an appropriate sphere 
 will be allotted to your genius, and the position to which you will 
 be appointed will amply satisfy the aspirations of your ambition. 
 I am ofBcially authorized to make this offer to you, for Austria is 
 well aware that, in the future, she stands in need of men of iirst- 
 class ability, and she therefore desires to secure your services, which 
 she will reward in a princely manner. Come, my friend, I shall 
 set out to-day with the prince on a journey to Austria. Accompany 
 us — become one of ours !" 
 
 "Ours ! Are you, then, no longer a daughter of Prussia?" 
 
 " I have become a thorough and enthusiastic Austrian, for I wor- 
 ship energy and determination, and these qualities I find only in 
 Austria, in the distinguished man who is holding the helm of her 
 ship of state. Baron Thugut. Come with us ; Thugut is anxious to 
 have you about his person ; accompany us to him. " 
 
 •' And what are you going to do in Vienna?" asked Gentz, eva- 
 sively. " Is it a mere pleasure-trip ?" 
 
 " If another man should put that question to me, I should reply 
 in the affirmative, but to you I am going to prove by my entire 
 sincerity that I really believe you to be a devoted friend of mine. 
 No, it is no pleasure -trip. I accompany the prince to Vienna be- 
 cause he wants to get there instructions from Baron Thugut and 
 learn what is to be done at Eastadt. " 
 
 " Ah, at Rastadt — at the peace congress, " exclaimed Gentz. " The 
 
LOVE AND POLITICS. 127 
 
 emperor has requested the states of the empire to send plenipoten- 
 tiaries to Rastadt to negotiate there with France a just and equitable 
 peace. Prussia has already sent there her plenipotentiaries, Count 
 Goertz and Baron Dohm. Oh, I should have liked to accompany 
 them and participate in performing the glorious task to be accom- 
 plished there. That congress at Rastadt is the last hope of Germany ; 
 if it should fail, all prospects of a regeneration of the empire are 
 gone. That congress will at last give to the nation all it needs : an 
 efficient organization of the empire, a well-regulated administration 
 of justice, protection of German manufactures against British arro- 
 gance, and last, but not least, freedom of the press, for which the 
 Germans have been yearning for so many years. '' 
 
 Marianne bm-st into a loud fit of laughter. " Oh, you enthusiastic 
 visionary !" she said, " but let us speak softly, for evfen the walls 
 must not hear what I am now going to tell you. " 
 
 She bent over the table, di-awing nearer to Gentz, and fixing her 
 large, flaming eyes upon him, she asked in a whsiper, " I suppose 
 you love Germany ? You would not like to see her devoured by 
 France as Italy was devoured by her? You would not like either to 
 see her go to decay and crumble to pieces from inherent weakness?" 
 
 "Oh, I love Germany I" said Gentz, enthusiastically. "All my 
 wishes, all my hopes belong to her. Would to God I could say some 
 day, all my talents, my energy, my perseverance are devoted to my 
 fatherland — to Germany !" 
 
 " Well, if you really desire to be useful to Germany, " whispered 
 Marianne, "hasten to Rastadt. If Germany is to be saved at all, it 
 must be done at once. You know the stipulations of the ti-eaty of 
 Campo Formic, I suppose?" 
 
 " I only know what every one knows about them. " 
 
 " But you do not know the secret article. I will tell you all about 
 it. Listen to me. The secret article accepted by the emperor reads 
 as follows : ' The emperor pledges himself to withdraw his troops 
 from Mentz, Ehrenbreitstein, Mannheim, Konigstein, and from the 
 German empire in general, twenty days after the ratification of the 
 peace, which has to take place in the course of two months. ' " * 
 
 " But he thereby delivers the empire to the tender mercies of the 
 enemy, " exclaimed Gentz, in dismay. " Oh, that cannot be ! No 
 German could grant and sign such terms without sinking into the 
 earth from .shame. That would be contrary to every impulse of 
 patriotism — " 
 
 " Nevertheless, that article has been signed and will be carried 
 out to the letter. Make haste, therefore, Germany is calling you ; 
 assist her, you have got the strength. Oh, give it to her ! Become 
 *Schlos3er'8 "History of the Eighteenth Century," vol. v., p. 43. 
 
128 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 an Austrian just as Brutus became a servant of the kings ; become 
 an Austrian in order to save Germany !" 
 
 "Ah, you want to entice me, Delilah !" exclaimed Gentz. "You 
 want to show me a beautiful goal in order to make me walk the 
 tortuous paths which may lead thither I No, Delilah, it is in vain! 
 I shall stay here ; I shall not go to Austria, for Austria is the state 
 that is going to betray Germany. Prussia may be able to save her ; 
 she stands perhaps in need of my arm, my pen, and my tongue for 
 that purpose. I am a German, but first of all I am a Prussian, and 
 every good patriot ought first to serve his immediate country, and 
 wait until she calls him. I still hope that the king will prove the 
 right man for his responsible position ; I still expect that he will 
 succeed in rendering Prussia great and Germany free. I must, 
 therefore, remain a Prussian as yet and be ready to serve my 
 country. " 
 
 " Poor enthusiast ! You will regret some day having lost your 
 time by indulging in visionary hopes. " 
 
 "Well, I will promise, whenever that day comes, whenever 
 Prussia declares that she does not want my services, then I will 
 come to you — then you shall enlist me for Austria, and perhaps I 
 may then still be able to do something for Germany. But until 
 then, leave me here. I swear to you, not a word of what you have 
 just told me here shall be betrayed by my lips ; but I cannot serve 
 him who has betrayed Germany. " 
 
 "You cannot be induced, then, to accept my offer? You want to 
 stay here 1 You refuse to accompany me to Vienna, to Rastadt, in 
 order to save what may yet be saved for Germany?" 
 
 " If I had an army under my command, '' exclaimed Gentz, with 
 flaming eyes, " if I were the King of Prussia, then I should assui'edly 
 go to Rastadt, but I should go thither for the purpose of dispersing 
 all those hypocrites, cowards, and scribblers who call themselves 
 statesmen, and of driving those French republicans who put on 
 such disgusting airs, and try to make us believe they had a perfect 
 right to meddle with the domestic affairs of Germany — beyond the 
 Rhine ! I should go thither for the purpose of garrisoning the for- 
 tresses of the Rhine — which the Emperor of Germany is going to 
 surrender to the tender mercies of the enemy — with my troops, and 
 of defending them against all foes from w ithout or from within. That 
 would be my policy if I were King of Prussia. But being merely 
 the poor military counsellor, Frederick Gentz, and having nothing 
 but some ability and a sharp pen, I shall stay here and wait to see 
 whether or not Prussia will make use of my ability and of my pen. 
 God save Germany and protect her from her physicians who are con- 
 cocting a fatal draught for her at Rastadt ! God save Germany !" 
 
FEAI^OE Al^D GEEMAInTY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CITOYENNE JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE. 
 
 A JOYFUL commotion reigned on the eighth of November, 1797, 
 in the streets and public places of the German forti-ess of Rastadt. 
 The whole population of the lower classes had gathered in the streets, 
 while the more aristocratic inhabitants appeared at the open win- 
 dows of their houses in eager expectation of the remarkable event 
 for which not only the people of the whole city, but also the foreign 
 ambassadors, a large number of whom had arrived at Rastadt, were 
 looking with the liveliest symptoms of impatience. 
 
 And, indeed, a rare spectacle was in store for them. It was the 
 arrival of General Bonaparte and his wife Josephine that all were 
 waiting for this morning. They were not to arrive together, how- 
 ever, but both were to reach the city by a different route. Jose- 
 phine, who was expected to arrive first, was coming from Milan by 
 the shortest and most direct route ; while Bonaparte had undertaken 
 a more extended journey from Campo Formio through Italy and 
 Switzerland. It was weU known already that he had been received 
 everywhere with the most unbounded enthusiasm, and that all na- 
 tions had hailed him as the Messiah of liberty. There had not been 
 a single city that had not received him with splendid festivities, 
 and honors had been paid to him as though he were not only a trium- 
 phant victor, but an exalted ruler, to whom every one was willing 
 to submit. Even free Switzerland had formed no exception. At 
 Geneva the daughters of the first and most distinguished families, 
 clad in the French colors, had presented to him in the name of the 
 city a laurel- wreath. At Berne, his carriage had passed through 
 two lines of handsomely decorated coaches, filled with beautiful 
 dnd richly adorned ladies, wlio had hailed him with the jubilant 
 shout of " Long live the pacificator !" 
 
 In the same manner the highest honors had been paid to his wife 
 Josephine, who had been treated everywhere with the deference due 
 to a sovereign princess. The news of these splendid receptions had 
 reached Rastadt already ; and it was but natural that the authorities 
 
130 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 and citizens of the fortress did not wish to be outdone, and that they 
 had made extensive arrangements for welcoming the conqueror of 
 Italy in a becoming manner. 
 
 A magnificent triumphal arch had been erected in front of the 
 gate through which General Bonaparte was to enter the city, and 
 under it the city fathers, clad in their official robes, were waiting 
 for the victorious hero, in order to conduct him to the house that 
 had been selected for him. In front of this house, situated on the 
 large market-place, a number of young and pretty girls, dressed in 
 white, and carrying baskets with flowers and fruits which they 
 were to lay at the feet of the general's beautiful wife, had assembled. 
 At the gate through which Josephine was to aiTive, a brilliant 
 cavalcade of horsemen had gathered for the purpose of welcoming 
 the lady of the great French chieftain, and of escorting her as a 
 guard of honor. 
 
 Among these cavaliers there were most of the ambassadors from 
 the different parts of Germany, who had met here at Rastadt in 
 order to accomplish the great work of peace. Every sovei'eign Ger- 
 man prince, every elector and independent count had sent his dele- 
 gates to the southwestern fortress for the purpose of negotiating 
 with the French plenipotentiaries concerning the future destinies 
 of Germany. Even Sweden had sent a representative, who had not 
 appeared so much, however, in order to take care of the interests of 
 Swedish Pomerania, as to play the part of a mediator and reconciler. 
 All these ambassadors had been allowed to enter Rastadt quietly 
 and entirely unnoticed. The Oerman city had failed to pay any 
 public honors to these distinguished German noblemen ; but every 
 one hastened to exhibit the greatest deference to the French general 
 — and even the ambassadors deemed it prudent to participate in 
 these demonstrations : only they tried to display, even on this occa- 
 sion, their accustomed diplomacy, and instead of receiving the 
 victorious chieftain in the capacity of humble vassals, they pre- 
 ferred to present their respects as gallant cavaliers to his beautiful 
 wife and to escort her into the city. 
 
 The German ambassadors, therefore, were waiting for Mme. 
 General Bonaparte on their magnificent prancing steeds in front of 
 the gate through which she was to pass. Even old Count Metternich, 
 the delegate of the Emperor of Austria and ruler of the empire, not- 
 withstanding the stiffness of his limbs, had mounted his horse ; by 
 his side the other two ambassadors of Austria were halting — Count 
 Lehrbach, the Austrian member of the imperial commission, and 
 Count Louis Cobenzl, who was acting as a delegate for Bohemia and 
 Hungary. Behind old Count Metternich, on a splendid and most 
 fiery charger, a young cavalier of tall figure and rare manly beauty 
 
CITOYENNE JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE. 131 
 
 might be seen ; it was young Count Clemens Metternich, wlio was 
 to represent the corporation of the Counts of Westphalia, and to be- 
 gin his official diplomatic career here at Eastadt under the eye of his 
 aged father. By his side the imposing and grave ambassadors of 
 Prussia made their appearance— Count Goertz, who at the time of 
 the war for the succession in Bavaria had played a part so important 
 for Prussia and so hostile to Austria ; and Baron Dohm, no less dis- 
 tinguished as a cavalier, than as a writer. Not far from them the 
 representatives of Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemberg, and of the whole 
 host of the so-called "Immediates"* might be seen, whom the editors 
 and correspondents had joined, that had repaired to Eastadt in the 
 hope of finding there a perfect gold-mine for their greedy pens. But 
 not merely the German diplomatists and the aristocratic young men 
 of Eastadt were waiting here for the arrival of Mme. General Bou.t - 
 parte ; there was also the whole crowd of French singers, actors, and 
 adventurei-s who had flocked to the Congress of Eastadt for the pur- 
 pose of amusing the distinguished noblemen and delegates by their 
 vaudevilles, comedies, and gay operas. Finally, there were also the 
 French actresses and ballet-girls, who, dressed in the highest style 
 of fashion, were occupying on one side of the road a long row of 
 splendid carriages. Many of these carriages were decorated on their 
 doors with large coats-of -arms, and a person well versed in heraldry 
 might have easily seen therefrom that these escutcheons indicated 
 some of the noble diplomatists on the other side of the road to be"?lie 
 owners of the carriages. In fact, a very coi'dial and friendly under- 
 standing seemed to prevail between the diplomatists and the ladies 
 of the French theatre. This was not only evident from the Gei-man 
 diplomatists having lent their carriages to the French ladies for the 
 day's reception, but likewise from the ardent, tender, and amorous 
 glances that were being exchanged between them, from their sig- 
 nificant smiles, and from their stealthy nods and mute but eloquent 
 gi-eetings. 
 
 Suddenly, however, this mimical flirtation was interrupted by 
 the rapid approach of a courier. This was the signal announcing 
 the impending an-ival of Josephine Bonaparte. In fact, the heads 
 of four horses were seen already in the distance ; they came nearer 
 and nearer, and now the carriage drawn by these horses, and a lady 
 occupying it, could be plainly discerned. 
 
 It was a wonderful warm day in November. Josephine, there- 
 fore, had caused the top of her carriage to be taken down, and the 
 spectators were able, not merely to behold her face, but to scan most 
 leisurely her whole figure and even her costume. The carriage had 
 *The noblemen owning territory in the states of secondary princes, but subject 
 only to the authority of the emperor, were called "Immediates." 
 
132 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 approached at full gallop, but now, upon drawing near to the crowd 
 assembled in front of the gate, it slackened its speed, and every one 
 had time and leisure to contemplate the lady enthroned in the car- 
 riage. She was no longer in the first bloom of youth ; more than 
 thirty years had passed already over her head ; they had deprived 
 her complexion of its natural freshness, and left the first slight 
 traces of age upon her pure and noble forehead. But her large dark 
 eyes were beaming still in the imperishable fire of her inward youth, 
 and a sweet and winning smile, illuminating her whole countenance 
 as though a ray of the setting sun had fallen upon it, was playing 
 around her charming lips. Her graceful and elegant figure was 
 wrapped in a closely fitting gown of dark-green velvet, richly 
 trimmed with costly furs, and a small bonnet, likewise trimmed 
 with furs, covered her head, and under this bonnet luxuriant dark 
 ringlets were flowing down, surrounding the beautiful and noble 
 oval of her face with a most becoming frame. 
 
 Josephine Bonaparte was still a most attractive and lovely 
 woman, and on beholding her it was easily understood why Bona- 
 parte, although much younger, had been so fascinated by this 
 charming lady and loved her with such passionate tenderness. 
 
 The French actors now gave vent to their delight by loud cheers, 
 and rapturously waving their hats, they shouted : " Vive la citoyenne 
 Bonaparte! Vive Vauguste epouse de Vltalique!" 
 
 Josephine nodded eagerly and with afl:able condescension to the 
 enthusiastic crowd, and slowly passed on. On approaching the 
 diplomatists, she assumed a graver and more erect attitude ; she 
 acknowledged the low, respectful obeisances of the cavaliers with 
 the distinguished, careless, and yet polite bearing of a queen, and 
 seemed to have for every one a grateful glance and a kind smile. 
 Every one was satisfied that she had especially noticed and distin- 
 guished him, and e«ery one, therefore, felt flattered and elated. 
 From the diplomatists she turned her face for a moment to the other 
 side, toward the ladies seated in the magnificent carriages. But 
 her piercing eye, her delicate womanly instinct told her at a glance 
 that these ladies, in spite of the splendor surrounding them, were no 
 representatives of the aristocracy ; she therefore greeted them with 
 a rapid nod, a kind smile, and a graceful wave of her hand, and 
 then averted her head again. 
 
 Her carriage now passed through the gate, the cavaliers surround- 
 ing it on both sides, and thereby separating the distinguished lady 
 from her attendants, who were following her in four large coaches. 
 These were joined by the carriages of the actresses, by whose sides 
 the heroes of the stage were cantering and exhibiting their horse- 
 manship to the laughing belles with painted cheeks. 
 
CITOYENNE JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE. 133 
 
 It was a long and brilliant procession with which Mme. General 
 Bonaparte made her entrance into Rastadt, and the last of the car- 
 riages had not yet reached the gate, when Josephine's carriage had 
 ah-eady arrived on the market-place and halted in front of the house 
 she was to occupy with her husband. Before the footman had had 
 time to alight from the box, Josephine herself had already opened 
 the coach door in order to meet the young ladies who were waiting 
 for her at the door of her house, and to give them a flattering proof 
 of her afEability . In polite haste she descended from the carriage and 
 stepped into their midst, tendering her hands to those immediately 
 surrounding her, and whispering grateful words of thanks to them 
 for the beautiful flowers and fruits, and thanking the more distant 
 girls with winning nods and smiling glances. Her manners were 
 aristocratic and withal simple ; every gesture of hers, every nod, 
 every wave of her hand was queenly and yet modest, unassuming 
 and entirely devoid of haughtiness, just as it behooved a prominent 
 daughter of the great Republic which had chosen for her motto 
 "Libei'td, egalite, fraternite." 
 
 Laden with flowers, and laughing as merrily as a young girl, 
 Josephine finally entered the house ; in the hall of the latter the 
 ladies of the French ambassadors, the wives and daughters of Bon- 
 nier Eeberjot and Jean Debry, were waiting for her. Josephine, 
 who among the young girls just now had been all hilarity, grace, 
 and familiarity, now again assumed the bearing of a distinguished 
 lady, of the consort of General Bonaparte, and received the saluta- 
 tions of the ladies with condescending reserve. She handed, how- 
 ever, to each of the ladies one of her splendid bouquets, and had a 
 pleasant word for every one. On arriving at the door of the rooms 
 destined for her private use, she dismissed the ladies and beckoned 
 her maid to follow her. 
 
 "Now, Amelia," she said hurriedly, as soon as the door had closed 
 behind them — " now let us immediately attend to my wardrobe. I 
 know Bonaparte — he is always impetuous and impatient, and he 
 regularly arrives sooner than he has stated himself. He was to be 
 here at two o'clock, bat he will arrive at one o'clock, and it is now 
 almost noon. Have the trunks brought up at once, for it is high 
 time for me to dress. " 
 
 Amelia hastened to carry out her misti-ess's orders, and Josephine 
 was alone. She hun-iedly stepped to the large looking-glass in the 
 bedroom and closely scanned in it her own features. 
 
 " Oh, oh ! I am growing old, " she muttered after a while. 
 " Bonaparte must love me tenderly, very tenderly, not to notice it, 
 or I must use great skill not to let him see it. Eli Men, noiis verrons ! " 
 
 And she glanced at herself with such a triumphant, charming 
 
134 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 smile that her features at once seemed to grow younger by ten years. 
 " Oh, he shall find me beautiful— he shall love me, " she whispered, 
 "for I love him .?o tenderly. " 
 
 Just then Amelia entered loaded with bandboxes and cartons, 
 and followed by the servants carrying the heavy trunks. Josephine 
 personally superintended the lowering of the trunks for the purpose 
 of preventing the men from injuring any of those delicate cartons; 
 and when every thing was at last duly arranged, she looked around 
 with the triumphant air of a great general mustering his troops and 
 conceiving the plans for his battle. 
 
 "Now lock the door and admit no one, Amelia, " she said, rapidly 
 divesting herself of her travelling-dress. " Within an hour I must 
 be ready to receive the general. But stop ! We must first think of 
 Zephyr, who is sick and exhausted. The dear little fellow cannot 
 stand travelling in a coach. He frequently looked at me on the 
 road most dolorously and imploringly, as if he wanted to beseech 
 me to discontinue these eternal travels. Come, Zephyr ; come, my 
 dear little fellow. " 
 
 On hearing her voice, a small, fat pug-dog, with a morose face 
 and a black nose, ai-ose from the trunk on which he had been lying, 
 and waddled slowly and lazily to his mistress. 
 
 " I really believe Zephyr is angry with me, " exclaimed Josephine, 
 laughing heartily. "Just look at him, Amelia — just notice this 
 reserved twinkling of his eyes, this snuffling pug-nose of his, this 
 proudly-erect head that seems to smeU roast meat and at the same 
 time to utter invectives ! He exactly resembles my friend Tallien 
 when the latter is making love to the ladies. Gome, my little Tal- 
 lien, I will give you some sweetmeats, but in return you must be 
 kind and amiable toward Bonaparte ; you raust not bark so furiously 
 when he enters ; you must not snap at his legs when he gives me a 
 kiss ; you must not snarl when he inadvertently steps on your toes. 
 Oh, be gentle, kind, and amiable, my beautiful Zephyr, so as not to 
 exasperate Bonaparte, for you know very well that he does not like 
 dogs, and that he would throw you out of the window rather than 
 suffer you at my feet. " 
 
 Patting the dog tenderly, she lifted him upon an arm-chair, and 
 then spread out biscuits and sweetmeats before him, which Zephyr 
 commenced examining with a dignified snuffling of the nose. 
 
 "Now, Amelia, we will attend to my toilet," said Josephine, 
 v/hen she saw that Zephyr condescended to eat some of the biscuits. 
 
 Amelia had opened all the trunks and placed a large number of 
 small jars and vials on the dressing-table. Josephine's beauty stood 
 already in need of some assistance, and the amiable lady was by no 
 means disinclined to resort to cosmetics for this purpose. It is true. 
 
CITOYENNE JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE. 135 
 
 the republican customs of the times despised rouge, for the latter 
 had been very fashionable during the reign of the " tyrant" Louis 
 XVI. , and Marie Antoinette had greatly pati-onized this fashion and 
 always painted her cheeks. Nevertheless Josephine found rouge to 
 be an indispensable complement to beauty, and, as public opinion 
 was advei-se to it, she kept her use of it profoundly secret. Amelia 
 alone saw and knew it — Amelia alone was a witness to all the little 
 secrets and artifices by which Josephine, the woman of thirty-three 
 yeai-s, had to bolster up her beauty. But only the head stood in need 
 of some artificial assistance. The body was as yet youthful, prepos- 
 sessing, and remarkable for its attractiveness and luxuriant forms, 
 and when Josephine now had finished her task, she %vas truly a 
 woman of enchanting beauty and loveliness. Her eyes were so 
 radiant and fiery, her smile so sweet and sure of her impending tri- 
 umph, and the heavy white silk dress closely enveloped her figure, 
 lending an additional charm to its graceful and classical outlines. 
 
 " Now, a few jewels, " said Josephine ; " give me some diamonds, 
 Amelia ; Bonaparte likes brilliant, sparkling trinkets. Come, I will 
 select them myself. " 
 
 She took from Amelia's hands the large case containing all of 
 her caskets, and glanced at them with a smile of great satisfaction. 
 
 " Italy is very rich in precious trinkets and rare gems, " she said, 
 with a gentle shake of her head. " When, a few months ago, I came 
 thither from Paris, I had only three caskets, and the jewelry they 
 contained was not very valuable. Now, I count here twenty-four 
 etuis, and they are filled with the choicest trinkets. Just look at 
 these magnificent pearls which the Marquis de Lambertin has given 
 to me. He is an old man, and I could not refuse his princely gift. 
 This casket contains a bracelet which Mancini, the last Doge of 
 Venice, presented to me, and which he assured me was wrought by 
 Benvenuto Cellini for one of his great-great-grandmothers. This 
 splendid set of corals and diamonds was given to me by the city of 
 Genoa when she implored my protection and begged me to inter- 
 cede with Bonaparte for her. And here— but do you not hear the 
 shouts? What does it mean? Should Bonaparte— " 
 
 She did not finish the sentence, but hastened to the window. 
 The market-place, which she was able to overlook from there, was 
 now crowded with people, but the dense masses had not assembled 
 for the purpose of seeing Josephine. All eyes were directed toward 
 yonder street from which constantly fresh and jubilant crowds of 
 people were hurrying toward the market-place, and where tremen- 
 dous cheers, approaching closer and closer, resounded like the angry 
 roar of the sea. Now some white dots might be discerned in the 
 midst of the surging black mass. They came nearer and grew more 
 
 10 
 
i36 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 distinct ; these dots were the heads of white horses. Tbey advanced 
 very slowly, but the cheers made the welkin ring more rapidly and 
 were reechoed by thousands and thousands of voices. 
 
 Amidst these jubilant cheers the procession drew near ,• now it 
 turned from the street into the market-place. Josephine, uttering 
 a joyful cry, opened the window and waved her hand, for it was 
 Bonaparte whom the excited masses were cheering. 
 
 He sat all alone in an open barouche, drawn by six milk-white 
 horses magnificently caparisoned in a silver harness.* 
 
 Leaning back into the cushions in a careless and fatigued man- 
 ner, he scarcely seemed to notice the tremendous ovation that was 
 tendered to him. His face looked pale and tired ; a cloud had settled 
 on his expansive marble forehead, and when he from time to time 
 bowed his thanks, he did so with a w^eary and melancholy smile. 
 But it was exactly this cold, tranquil demeanor, this humble reserve, 
 this pale and gloomy countenance that seemed to strike the specta- 
 tors and flu them with a feeling of strange delight and wondering 
 awe. In this pale, cold, sombre, and imposing face there was 
 scarcely a feature that seemed to belong to a mortal, earth-born 
 being. It seemed as though the spectre of one of the old Roman 
 imperators, as though the shadow of Julius Csesar had taken a seat 
 in that carriage, and allowed the milk-white horses to draw him 
 into the surging bustle and turmoil of life. People were cheering 
 half from astonishment, half from fear ; they were shouting, "Long 
 live Bonaparte !" as if they wanted to satisfy themselves that he was 
 really alive, and not merely the image of an antique imperator. 
 
 The carriage now stopped in front of the house. Before rising 
 from his seat, Bonaparte raised his eyes hastily to the windows. 
 On seeing Josephine, who stood at the open window, his features 
 became more animated, and a long, fiery flash from his eyes struck 
 her face. But he did not salute her, and the cloud on his brow grew 
 even gloomier than before. 
 
 " He is in bad humor and angry, " whispered Josephine, closing 
 the window, " and I am afraid he is angry with me. Good Heaven ! 
 what can it be again? What may be the cause of his anger? I am 
 sure I have committed no imprudence — " 
 
 Just then the dpor was hastily opened, and Bonaparte entered. 
 
 * " These six horses with their magnificent harness were a gift from the Emperor 
 of Austria, who had presented them to Bonaparte after the peace of Campo Formio. 
 Bonaparte had rejected all other offers. "—BourrieHne, vol. 1., p. 389. 
 
BONAPARTE AND JOSEPHINE. 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 BONAPARTE AND JOSEPHINE. 
 
 Bonaparte had scacrely deigned to glance at the French ambas- 
 sadors and their ladies, who had received him at the foot of the 
 staircase. All his thoughts centred in Josephine. And bowing 
 slightly to the ladies and gentlemen, he had impetuously rushed up- 
 staii-s and opened the door, satisfied that she would be there and 
 receive him with open arms. When he did not see her, he passed 
 on, pale, with a gloomy face, and resembling an angry lion. 
 
 Thus he now rushed into the front room where he found Jose- 
 phine. Without saluting her, and merely fixing his flashing eyes 
 upon her, he asked in a subdued, angry voice : " Madame, you do 
 not even deem it worth the trouble to salute me I You do not come 
 to meet me !" 
 
 " But, Bonaparte, you have given me no time for it, " said Jose- 
 phine, with a charming smile. "While I thought you were just 
 about to alight from your carriage, you burst already into this room 
 like a thunder-bolt from heaven. " 
 
 " Oh, and that has dazzled your eyes so much that you are even 
 unable to salute me?" he asked angrily. 
 
 "And you, Bonaparte?" she asked, tenderly. " You do not open 
 your arms to me ! You do not welcome me ! Instead of pressing 
 me to your heart, you scold me ! Oh, come, my friend, let us not 
 pass this first hour in so unpleasant a manner ! We have not seen 
 each other for almost two months, and — " 
 
 " Ah, madame, then you know that at least, " exclaimed Bona- 
 parte ; " then you have not entirely forgotten that you took leave of 
 me two months ago, and that you swore to me at that time eternal 
 love and fidelity, and promised most sacredly to write to me every 
 day. You have not kept your oaths and pledges, madame !" 
 
 " But, my friend, I have written to you whenever I was told that 
 a courier would set out for your headquarters. " 
 
 " You ought to have sent every day a courier of your own for the 
 purpose of transmitting yoiu- letters to me, " exclaimed Bonaparte, 
 wildly stamping his foot, so that the jars and vials on the table 
 rattled violently, while Zephyr jumped down from his arm-chair 
 and commenced snarling. Josephine looked anxiously at him and 
 tried to calm him by her gestures. 
 
 Bonaparte continued: "Letters! But those scraps I received 
 from time to time were not even letters. Official bulletins of your 
 health they were, and as cold as ice. Madame, how could you write 
 
138 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 such letters to me, and moreover only every fourth day? If you 
 really loved me, you would have written eveiy day. But you do 
 not love me any longer ; I know it. Your love was but a passing 
 whim. You feel now how ridiculous it would be for you to love a 
 poor man who is nothing but a soldier, and who has to offer nothing 
 to you but a little glory and his love. But I shall banish this love 
 from my heart, should I have to tear my heart with my own teeth. " * 
 
 " Bonaparte, " exclaimed Josephine, half tenderly, half anxiously, 
 '• what have I done that you should be angry with me? Why do you 
 accuse me of indifference, while you know very well that I love 
 you?" 
 
 " Ah, it is a very cold love, at all events, " he said, sarcastically. 
 " It is true, I am only your husband, and it is not in accordance with 
 aristocratic manners to love one's husband ; that is mean, vulgar, 
 republican ! But I am a republican, and I do not want any wife 
 with the manners and habits of the ancien regime. I am your hus- 
 band, but woe to him who seeks to become my wife's lover! I 
 would not even need my sword in order to kill him. My eyes alone 
 would crush him ! f And I shall know how to find him ; and if he 
 should escape to the most remote regions, my arm is a far-reaching 
 one, and I will extend it over the whole world in order to grasp 
 him." 
 
 "But whom do you allude to?" asked Josephine, in dismay. 
 
 " Whom ?" he exclaimed in a thundering voice. " Ah, madame, 
 you believe I do not know what has occurred? You believe I see 
 and hear nothing when I am no longer with you? Let me compli- 
 ment you, madame ! The handsome aide-de-camp of Leclerc is a 
 conquest which the ladies of Milan must have been jealous of ; and 
 Botot, the spy, whom Barras sent after me, passes even at Paris for 
 an Adonis. What do you mean by your familiarities with these 
 two men, madame? You received Adjutant Charles at eleven 
 o'clock in the morning, while you never leave your bed before one 
 o'clock. Oh, that handsome young fellow wanted to tell you how 
 he was yearning for his home in Paris, and what his mother and 
 sister had written to him, I suppose? For that reason so convenient 
 an hour had to be chosen ? For that reason he came at eleven o'clock 
 while you were in bed yet. His ardor was so intense, and if he had 
 been compelled to wait until one o'clock, impatience would have 
 burned his soul to ashes !" % 
 
 " He wanted to set out for Paris precisely at twelve o'clock. That 
 
 * Bonaparte's own words.— Vide "Lettres a Josgphine. IKmoires d'une Con- 
 temporaine," vol. i., p. 353. 
 
 t Bonaparte's own words. — Ibid. 
 
 X Bonaparte's own words.— Vide "M6moires d'un Contemporaine," vol. ii. , p. 380. 
 
BONAPARTE AND JOSEPHINE. 139 
 
 was the only reason why I received him so early, my friend, " said 
 Josephine, gently. 
 
 "Oh, then, you do not deny that you have actually received 
 him?" shouted Bonaparte, and his face turned livid. With flaming 
 eyes and uplifted hand, he stepped up close to Josephine. " Madame, " 
 he exclaimed, in a thundering voice, " then you dare to acknowl- 
 edge that Charles is your lover?" 
 
 Before Josephine had time to reply to him Zephyr, who saw him 
 threaten his mistress, furiously pounced upon Bonaparte, barking 
 and howling, showing his teeth, and quite ready to lacerate whom 
 he supposed to be Josephine's enemy. 
 
 " Ah, this accursed dog is here, too, to torment me !" exclaimed 
 Bonaparte, and raising his foot, he stamped with crushing force on 
 the body of the little dog. A single piercing yell was heard ; then 
 the blood gushed from Zephyr's mouth, and the poor beast lay 
 writhing convulsively on the floor. * 
 
 " Bonaparte, you have killed my dog, " exclaimed Josephine, re- 
 proachfully, and bent over the dying animal. 
 
 " Yes, " he said, with an air of savage joy, " I have killed your 
 dog, and in the same manner I shall crush every living being that 
 dares to step between you and myself !" 
 
 Josephine had taken no notice of his words. She had knelt down 
 by the side of the dog, and tenderly patted his head and writhing 
 limbs till they ceased moving. 
 
 "Zephyr is dead," she said rising. "Poor little fellow, he died 
 because he loved me. Pardon me, general, if I weep for him. But 
 Zephyr was a cherished souvenir from a friend who died only a short 
 while ago. General Hoche had given the dog to me. " 
 
 "Hoche?" asked Bonaparte, in some confusion. 
 
 " Yes, Lazarus Hoche, who died a few weeks ago. A few days 
 before his death he sent the dog to me while at Milan— Lazarus 
 Hoche who, you know it very well, loved me, and whose hand I 
 rejected because I loved you, " said Josephine, with a noble dignity 
 and calmness, which made a deeper impression upon Bonaparte than 
 the most poignant rebuke would have done. 
 
 "And now, general," she proceeded, "I will reply to your re- 
 proaches. I do not say that I shaU justify myself, because I thereby 
 would acknowledge the justice of your charges, but I will merely 
 answer them. I told you already why I admitted Charles at so early 
 an hour. He was about to set out for Paris, and I wished to intrust 
 to him important and secret letters and other commissions. " 
 
 "Why did not you send them by a special courier?" asked Bona- 
 parte, but in a much gentler voice than before. 
 
 * Vide "Eheinischer-Antiquar.," vol. ii., p. 574. 
 
140 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Because it would have been dangerous to send my letters to 
 Botot by a courier, " said Josephine, calmly. 
 
 " To Botot? Then you admit your familiarities with Botot, too? 
 People did not deceive me, then, when they told me that you re- 
 ceived this spy Botot, whom Barras had sent after me, in order to 
 watch me, every morning in your boudoir — that you always sent 
 your maid away as soon as he came, and that your interviews with 
 him frequently lasted for hours?" 
 
 " That is quite true ; I do not deny it, " said Josephine, proudly. 
 
 Bonaparte uttered an oath, and was about to rush at her. But 
 she receded a step, and pointing at the dead dog with a rapid ges- 
 ture, she said : " General, take care ! There is no other dog here for 
 you to kill, and I am only a weak, defenceless woman ; it would 
 assuredly not behoove the victor of Arcole to attack me !" 
 
 Bonaparte dropped his arm, and, evidently ashamed of himself, 
 stepped back several paces. 
 
 " Then you do not deny your intimate intercourse with Botot and 
 Charles?" 
 
 " I do not deny that both of them love me, that I know it, and 
 that I have taken advantage of their love. Listen to me, general : 
 I have taken advantage of their love. That is mean and abominable ; 
 it is playing in an execrable manner with the most exalted feelings 
 of others, I know it very well, but I did so for your sake, general — I 
 did so in your interest. " 
 
 "In my interest?" asked Bonaparte, in surprise. 
 
 " Yes, in your interest, " she said. " Now I can tell and confess 
 every thing to you. But as long as Charles and Botot were present, 
 I could not do so, for if you had ceased being jealous — if, warned 
 by myself, you had treated these two men kindly instead of showing 
 your jealous distrust of them by a hostile and surly demeanor, they 
 might have suspected my game and divined my intrigue, and I 
 would have been unable to avail myself any longer of their services. " 
 
 "But, for God's sake, tell me what did you need their services 
 for?" 
 
 " Ah, sir, I perceive that you know better how to wield the sword 
 than unravel intrigues," said Josephine, with a charming smile. 
 " Well, I made use of my two lovers in order to draw their secrets 
 from them. And secrets they had, general, for you know Botot is 
 the most intimate and influential friend of Barras, and Madame 
 Tallien adores Charles, the handsome aide-de-camp. She has no 
 secrets that he is not fully aware of, and she does whatever he wants 
 her to do ; and again, whatever she wants to be done, her husband 
 will do— her husband, that excellent Tallien, who with Barras is one 
 of the five directors of our republic. " 
 
BONAPARTE AND JOSEPHINE. 141 
 
 "Oh, women, -women ! " muttered Bonaparte. 
 
 Josephine continued : " In this manner, general, I learned every 
 scheme and almost every idea of the Directory ; in this manner, 
 through my devoted friends, Botot and Charles, I have succeeded in 
 averting many a foul blow from your own head. For you were men- 
 aced, general, and you are menaced still. And what is menacing you ? 
 That is your glory and your greatness — it is the jealousy of the five 
 kings of France, who, under the name of directors, are now reign- 
 ing at the Luxemburg. The Quintumvirate beheld your growing 
 power and glory with terror and wrath, and all endeavors of theirs 
 only aimed at lessening your influence. A favorite way of theirs for 
 carrying out their designs against you was the circulation of false 
 news concerning you. Botot told me that Barras had even hired 
 editors to write against you, and to question your integrity. These 
 editors now published letters purporting to come from Verona, and 
 announcing that Bonaparte was about to proclaim himself dictator. 
 Then, again, they stated in some letter from the frontier, or from a 
 foreign country, that the whole of Lombardy was again on the eve 
 of an insurrection ; that the Italians detested the tyranny imposed 
 upon them by the conqueror, and that they were anxious to recall 
 their former sovereigns. " 
 
 "Ah, the miserable villains !" exclaimed Bonaparte, gnashing his 
 teeth, "I—" 
 
 " Hush, general ! listen to my whole reply to your reproaches, " 
 said Josephine, with imperious calmness. " At some other time these 
 hirelings of the press announced in a letter from Turin that an 
 extensive conspiracy was about to break out at Paris ; that the Direc- 
 tory was to be overthrown by this conspiracy, and that a dictator- 
 ship, at the head of which Bonaparte would be, was to take place. 
 They further circulated the news all over the departments, that the 
 ringleaders of the plot had been arrested and sent to the military 
 commissions for trial ; but that the conqueror of Italy had deemed it 
 prudent to avoid arrest by running away. " * 
 
 " That is a truly infernal web of lies and infamies !" ejaculated 
 Bonaparte, furiously. " But I shall justify myself, I will go to Paris 
 and hurl the calumnies of these miserable Directors back into their 
 teeth !" 
 
 "General, there is no necessity for you to descend into the arena 
 in order to defend yourself," said Josephine, smiling. "Your 
 actions speak for you, and your friends are watching over you. 
 Whenever such an article appeared in the newspapers, Botot for- 
 warded it to me ; whenever the Directory sprang a new mine, Botot 
 sent me word of it. And tnen I enlisted the assistance of my friend 
 * Le Normand, Mfimoires, vol. i. , p. 267. 
 
142 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Charles, and he had to refute those articles through a journalist who 
 was in my pay, and to foil the mine by means of a counter-mine. " 
 
 " Oh, Josephine, how can I thank you for what you have done 
 forme!" exclaimed Bonaparte, enthusiastically. "How — " 
 
 " I am not through yet, general, " she interrupted him, coldly. 
 " Those refutations and the true accounts of your glorious deeds found 
 an enthusiastic echo throughout the whole of France, and every one 
 was anxious to see you in the full splendor of your glory, and to do 
 homage to you at Paris. But the jealous Directory calculated in 
 advance how dangerous the splendor of your glory would be to the 
 statesmen of the Republic, and how greatly your return would 
 eclipse the five kings. For that reason they resolved to keep you 
 away from Paris ; for that reason exclusively they appointed you 
 first plenipotentiary at the congress about to be opened at Rastadt, 
 and intrusted the task to you to exert yourself here for the conclu- 
 sion of peace. They wanted to chain the lion and make him feel 
 that he has got a master whom he must obey. " 
 
 " But the lion wiU break the chain, and he will not obey, " ex- 
 claimed Bonaparte, angrily. "I shall leave Rastadt on this very 
 day and hasten to Paris. " 
 
 "Wait a few days, general," said Josephine, smiling. "It will 
 be unnecessary for you to take violent steps, my friends Botot and 
 Charles having worked with me for you. Botot alone not being 
 sufficiently powerful, inasmuch as he could influence none but 
 Barras, I sent Charles to his assistance in order to act upon Madame 
 Tallien. And the stratagem was successful. Take this letter which 
 I received only yesterday through a special messenger from Botot — 
 you know Botot 's handwriting, I suppose?" 
 
 "Yes, I know it." 
 
 " Well, then, satisfy yourself that he has really written it, " said 
 Josephine, drawing a sheet of paper from her memorandum-book 
 and handing it to Bonaparte. 
 
 He glanced at it without touching the paper. "Yes, it is Botot's 
 handwriting, " he murmured. 
 
 " Read it, general, " said Josephine. 
 
 " I do not want to read it ; I believe all you tell me !" he ex- 
 claimed, impetuously. 
 
 " I shall read it to you, " she said, " for the contents will interest 
 you. Listen therefore : 'Adored Citoyenne Josephine. — We have 
 reached the goal — we have conquered ! The Directory have at length 
 listened to wise remonstrances. They have perceived that they 
 stand in need of a strong and powerful arm to support them, and of 
 a pillar to lean against. They will recall Bonaparte in order that he 
 may become their pillar and arm. In a few days a courier will 
 
BONAPARTE AND JOSEPHINE. 143 
 
 reach Bonaparte at Rastadt and recall him to Paris.— BoTOT. ' That 
 is all there is in the letter, General ; it contains nothing about love, 
 but only speaks of you. " 
 
 " I see that I am the happiest of mortals, " exclaimed Bonaparte, 
 joyfully ; "for I shall return to Paris, and my beautiful, noble, and 
 adored Josephine will accompany me. " 
 
 " No, general, " she said, solemnly, " I shall return to Italy ; I 
 shall bury myself in some convent in order to weep there over the 
 short dream of my happiness, and to pray for you. Now I have 
 told you every thing I had to say to you. I have replied to your 
 reproaches. You see that I have meanly profited by the love of 
 these poor men, that I have made a disgraceful use of the most 
 sacred feeling in order to promote your interests. I did so secretly, 
 for I told you already, general, your valorous hand knows better how 
 to wield the sword than to carry' on intrigues. A strong grasp of this 
 hand might have easily destroyed the whole artificial web of my 
 plans, and for this reason I was silent. But I counted on your con- 
 fidence, on your esteem. I perceive now, however, that I do not 
 possess them, and this separates us forever. Unreserved confidence 
 is not only the nourishment that imparts life to friendship, but 
 without it love also pines away and dies.* Farewell, then, general ; 
 I forgive your distrust, but I cannot expose myself any longer to 
 your anger. Farewell !" 
 
 She bowed and turned to the door. But Bonaparte followed her, 
 and keeping her back with both hands, he said, in a voice trembling 
 with emotion : " Where are you going, Josephine?" 
 
 " I told you already, " she sighed, painfully ; " I am going to a 
 convent to weep and pray for you. " 
 
 " That means that you want to kill me !" he exclaimed, with 
 flaming eyes. " For you know I cannot live without you. If I had 
 to lose you, your love, your charming person, I would lose every 
 thing rendering life pleasant and desirable for me. Josephine, you 
 are to me a world that is incomprehensible to me, and every day I 
 love you more passionately. Even when I do not see you, my love 
 for you is constantly growing ; for absence only destroys small pas- 
 sions ; it increases great passions. ■)• My heart never felt any of the 
 former. It proudly refused to fall in love, but you have filled it 
 with a boundless passion, with an intoxication that seems to be 
 almost degrading. You were always the predominant idea of my 
 soul ; your whims even were sacred laws for me. To see you is my 
 highest bliss ; you are beautiful and enchanting ; your gentle, 
 angelic soul is depicted in your features. Oh, I adore you just as 
 
 •Josephine's own words.— Vide LeNormand, vol. i., p. 248. 
 
 tBonaparte's words.— Vide "Mfimoires d'une Contemporaine," vol. ii., p. 363. 
 
144 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 you are ; if you had been younger, I should have loved you less in- 
 tensely. Every thing you do seems virtuous to me ; every thing 
 you like seems honorable to me. Glory is only valuable to me in- 
 asmuch as it is agreeable to you and flatters your vanity. Your 
 portrait always rests on my heart, and whenever I am far from you, 
 not an hour passes without my looking at it and covering it with 
 kisses.* The glass broke the other day when I pressed it too vio- 
 lently against my breast. My despair knew no bounds, for love is 
 superstitious, and every thing seems ominous to it. I took it for an 
 announcement of your death, and my eyes knew no sleep, my heart 
 knew no rest, till the courier whom I immediately dispatched to 
 you, had brought me the news that you were well, and that no ac- 
 cident had befallen you. \ See, woman, woman, such is my love ! 
 Will you now tell me again that you wish to leave me?" 
 
 "I must, general," she said, firmly. "Love cannot be lasting 
 without esteem, and you do not esteem me. Your suspicion has 
 dishonored me, and a dishonored and insulted woman cannot be 
 your wife any longer. Farewell !" 
 
 She wanted to disengage herself from his hands, but he held her 
 only the more firmly. "Josephine," he said, in a hollow voice, 
 " listen to me, do not drive me to despair, for it would kill me to 
 lose you. No duty, no title would attach me any longer to earth. 
 Men are so contemptible, life is so wretched — you alone extinguish 
 the ignominy of mankind in my eyes. | Without you there is no 
 hope, no happiness. I love you boundlessly. " 
 
 " No, general, you despise me ; you do not love me !" 
 
 "No, no !" he shouted, wildly stamping his foot. "If you go on 
 in this manner, I shall drop dead at your feet. Do not torment me 
 so dreadfully. Remember what I have often told you : Nature has 
 given to me a strong, decided soul, but it has made you of gauze 
 and lace. You say I do not love. Hear it, then, for the last time. 
 Since you have been away from me, I have not passed a single day 
 without loving you, not a single night without mentally pressing 
 you to my heart. I have not taken a single cup of tea without 
 cursing the glory and ambition separating me from the soul of my 
 life.§ Amidst my absorbing occupations — at the head of my troops, 
 on the march and in the field — my heavenly Josephine ever was 
 foremost in my heart. She occupied my mind ; she absorbed my 
 thoughts. If I left you with the impetuosity of the Rhone, I only 
 did so in order to return the sooner to your side. If I ran from my 
 
 * Vide " Correspondanoe inSdite avec JosSphine," Lettre v. 
 t " Mfimoires sur Napoleon, par Constant," vol. i., p. 809. 
 { " Correspondance in6dite avec Josephine," p. 375. 
 § " Correspondance," etc., p. 562, 
 
BONAPARTE AND JOSEPHINE. 145 
 
 bed at night and continued working, I did so for the purpose of 
 accelerating the moment of our reunion. The most beautiful women 
 surrounded me, smiled upon me, gave me hopes of their favor, and 
 tried to please me, but none of them resembled you ; none had the 
 gentle and melodious features so deeply imprinted on my heart. I 
 only saw you, only thought of you, and that rendered all of them 
 intolerable to me. I left the most beautiful women in order to throw 
 myself on my couch and sigh, 'When will my adored wife be again 
 with me?" * And if I just now gave way to an ebullition of anger, 
 I only did so because I love you so boundlessly as to be jealous of 
 every glance, of every smile. Forgive me, therefore, Josephine, 
 forgive me for the sake of my iniinite love I Tell me that you will 
 think no more of it, and that you will forget and forgive eveiy thing. " 
 
 He looked at her anxiously and inquiringly, but Josephine did 
 not reply to his glances. She averted her eyes and remained silent. 
 
 " Josephine, " he exclaimed, perfectly beside himself, " make an 
 end of it. Just touch my forehead ; it is covered with cold perspira- 
 tion, and my heart is trembling as it never ti-embled in battle. 
 Make an end of it; I am utterly exhausted. Oh, Josephine, my 
 dear Josephine, open your arms to me. " 
 
 " Well, come then, you dear, cruel husband, " she said, bursting 
 into tears and extending her arms to him. 
 
 Bonaparte uttered a joyful cry, pressed her to his heart, and 
 covered her with kisses. 
 
 " Now I am sure you have forgiven every thing, " he said, encir- 
 cling her all the time with his arms. "You forgive my madness, 
 my abominable jealousy?" 
 
 "I forgive every thing, Bonaparte, if you will promise not to be 
 jealous again, " she said, with a charming smile. 
 
 "I promise never to be jealous again, but to think, whenever you 
 give a rendezvous to another man, that you only do so for my sake, 
 and for the purpose of conspiring for me. Ah, my excellent wife, 
 you have worked bravely for me, and henceforth I know that I can 
 intrust to your keeping my glory and my honor with implicit con- 
 fidence. Yea, even the helm of the state I would fearlessly intrust 
 to your hands. Pray, therefore, Josephine, pray that your husband 
 may reach the pinnacle of distinction, for in that case I should give 
 you a seat in my council of state and make you mistress of every 
 thing except one point — " f 
 
 "And what is that?" asked Josephine, eagerly. 
 
 " The only thing I should not intrust to you, Josephine, " he said, 
 laughing, " would be the keys of my treasury ; you never would get 
 
 * Ibid., p. 349. 
 
 t Le Normand, vol. i., p. 241. 
 
146 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 thein, my beautiful prodigal little wife of gauze, lace, diamonds, 
 and pearls !" * 
 
 " Ah, then you would deprive me of the right to distribute chari- 
 ties in your name ?" she asked, sadly. " Is not that the most precious 
 and sublime duty of the wife of a great man, to conquer Heaven for 
 him by charities while he is conquering earth by his deeds? And 
 you would take from me the means for doing so? Yours is a wild 
 and passionate nature, and I shall often have to heal the wounds that 
 you have inflicted in your outbursts of anger. Happy for me if I 
 should always be able to heal them, and if your anger should be less 
 fatal to men than to my poor little dog, who merely wanted to de- 
 fend me against your violence. " 
 
 "Poor little dog !" said Bonaparte, casting a glance of confusion 
 upon Zephyr. " I greatly regret the occurrence, particularly as the 
 dog was a gift from Hoche. But no lamentations of mine being 
 able to recall Zephyr to life, Josephine, I will immortalize him at 
 all events. He shall not find an unknown grave, like many a hero ; 
 no, we will erect to this valiant and inti-epid defender of the charm- 
 ing fortress Josephine, a monument which shall relate his exploits 
 to the most remote posterity. Have Zephyr packed up in a box ; 
 couriers and convoys of troops will set out to-day for Milan. They 
 shall take the corpse along, and I will issue orders that a monument 
 be erected to your Zephyr in the garden of our villa. \ But now, 
 Josephine, I must leave you ; life, with its stern realities, is calling 
 me. I must go and receive the Austrian ambassadors. " 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE RECEPTION OF THE AMBASSADORS. 
 
 A MOTLEY crowd of gentlemen in uniforms and glittering gala- 
 dresses had filled the anterooms of the French embassy ever since 
 the arrival of General Bonaparte and Josephine. All these high- 
 born representatives of German sovereigns and states hastened to do 
 homage to the French lady and to commend themselves to the be- 
 nevolence and favor of the victorious general of the republic. But 
 the doors of the general and of his wife were as dififtcult to open as 
 those of the French ambassadors. Bonnier, Jean Debry, and Roberjot. 
 General Bonaparte had received the Austrian ambassadors, and 
 
 *Ibid., vol. i.,p. 242. 
 
 + Bonaparte kept his word. The httle victim of his jealousy, Zephyr, the dogi 
 was buried In the gardens of Mondeza, near Milan, and a marble monument was 
 erected on his grave.— Le Normand, vol. i., p. 498. 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE AMBASSADORS. 147 
 
 returned their visit. But nobody else had been admitted to him 
 during the first day. The ambassadors, therefore, flocked the more 
 eagerly on this second day after his arrival to the anterooms of the 
 French ambassadors, for every one wanted to be the first to vi^in for 
 his sovereign and for his state the good- will of the French conqueror. 
 Every one wished to obtain advantages, to avert mischief, and to 
 beg for favors. 
 
 Happy were they already who had only succeeded in penetrating 
 into the anterooms of the French embassy, for a good deal of money 
 had to be spent in order to open those doors. In front of them stood 
 the footmen of the ambassadors with grave, stern countenances, re- 
 fusing to admit any but those who had been previously recommended 
 to them, or who knew now how to gain their favor by substantial 
 rewards.* And when they finally, by means of such persuasive 
 gifts, had succeeded in crossing the threshold of the anteroom, they 
 found there the clerks and secretaries of the French gentlemen, and 
 these men again barred the door of the cabinet occupied by the am- 
 bassadors themselves. These clerks and secretaries had to be bribed 
 likewise by solicitations, flatteries, and money ; only, instead of 
 satisfying them with silver, as in the case of the doorkeepers, they 
 had to give them heavy gold pieces. 
 
 Having finally overcome all these obstacles — having now pene- 
 trated into the presence of the French diplomatists — the ambassadors 
 of the German powers met with a haughty reserve instead of the 
 kindness they had hoped for, and with sarcastic sneers in lieu of a 
 warm reception. It was in vain for Germany thus to humble her- 
 self and to crouch in the dust. France was too well aware of her 
 victories and superiority, and the servility of the German aristocracy 
 only excited contempt and scorn, which the French gentlemen did 
 not refrain from hurling into the faces of the humble solicitors. 
 The greater the abjectness of the latter, the more overbearing the 
 haughty demeanor of the former, and both gained the firm convic- 
 tion that France held the happiness and quiet of Germany in her 
 hands, and that France alone had the power to secure to the German 
 princes the possession of their states, to enlarge their dominions, or 
 to deprive them thereof, just as she pleased, and without paying any 
 deference to the wishes of the Germans themselves. 
 
 To-day, however, all these distinguished men— the counts and 
 barons of the empire, the bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries 
 * The employes of the French embassy, from the first secretary down to the low- 
 est footman and cook, received handsome gifts at the hands of the German delegates, 
 for every one was anxious to secure the good-will of the French representatives; and 
 in obedience to the old trick of diplomatists, they tried to gain the favor of the masters 
 by means of that of their servants. The latter made a very handsome thing out of 
 it.— Vide Hatisser, vol. ii., p. 163. 
 
148 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 — had not appeared for the purpose of conquering the favor of the 
 three French stars — to-day a new constellation had arisen on the sky 
 of Rastadt, and they wanted to stare at it — they wanted to admire 
 Bonaparte and Josephine. 
 
 But Bonaparte took hardly any notice of the crowd assembled in 
 the anteroom. His hands folded on his back, he was pacing his 
 room, and listening with rapt attention to the accounts the three 
 French ambassadors were giving him concerning the policy they 
 had pursued up to the present time. 
 
 " We have done every thing in our power to spread republican 
 notions hereabouts, " said Jean Debry, at the conclusion of his lengthy 
 remarks. " We have sent agents to all of these small German states 
 for the purpose of enlightening the people about their dignity, their 
 rights, and the disgi-ace of submitting to miserable princes, instead 
 of being free and great under the wholesome influence of republican 
 institutions. " 
 
 " We have, moreover, even here, excellent spies among the am- 
 bassadors, " said Roberjot, "and through them we have skilfully 
 fanned the flames of that discord which seems to be the bane of Ger- 
 many. It is true, they hold secret meetings every day in order to 
 agree on a harmonious line of policy, but discord, jealousy, and 
 covetousness always accompany them to those meetings, and they 
 are therefore never able to agree about any thing. Besides, these 
 German noblemen are very talkative, hence we find out all their 
 secrets, and it is an easy task for us to foil every scheme of theirs. 
 Every one of them is anxious to enlarge his iDossessions ; we there- 
 fore give them hopes of acquiring new territory at the expense of 
 their neighbors, and thereby greatly increase the discord and confu- 
 sion prevailing among them. We fill the ambassadors of the sec- 
 ondary princes, and especially those of the ecclesiastical sovereigns, 
 with distrust against the more powerful German states, and inti- 
 mate to them that the latter are trying to aggrandize themselves at 
 their expense, and that they have asked the consent of France to do 
 60. We inform the first-class governments of the desire of the 
 smaller princes to enlarge their dominions, and caution them against 
 placing implicit trust in their representations. Thus we sow the 
 seeds of discord among these princely hirelings, and endeavor to 
 undermine the thrones of Germany. " 
 
 " Germany must throw off all her princes like ripe ulcers, " ex- 
 claimed Bonnier, scornfully. " These numerous thrones beyond the 
 Rhine are dangerous and fatal to our sublime and indivisible French 
 Republic— bad examples spoiling good manners. Every throne 
 must disappear from the face of the earth, and freedom and equality 
 must shine throughout the whole world like the sun. " 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE AMBASSADORS. 149 
 
 "You are right," said Bonaparte, gravely. "It is our duty to 
 disseminate our principles among these Germans, who are living in 
 slavery as yet, and to assist the poor serfs in obtaining their liberty. 
 Germany must become a confederate republic, and discord is the 
 best sword wherewith to attack these princely hirelings. But what 
 does the Swedish ambassador — whose name I noticed on the list of 
 applicants for interviews with myself — here among the representa- 
 tives of the German princes?" 
 
 " He pretends to participate in the congress of peace because 
 Sweden warranted the execution of the treaty of Westphalia, " ex- 
 claimed Jean Debry, shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 " Ball ! that is a most ridiculous pretext, " said Bonnier, gloomily. 
 "This M. Fersen is a royalist. The political part played by this 
 diplomatist at the court of Louis Capet, and afterwai-d continued by 
 him, is only too well known. He now tries to dazzle us by his kind- 
 ness merely for the purpose of laying a trap for the French Republic. " 
 
 "Ah, we shall show to the gentleman that the Republic has got 
 an open eye and a firm hand, and that it discovers and tears aU such 
 meshes and traps," said Bonaparte, impetuously. "But we have 
 done business enough for to-day, and I will go and receive the am- 
 bassadors who have been waiting here for a long while in the ante- 
 room. " 
 
 He saluted the three gentlemen with a familiar nod, and then 
 repaired to the reception-room, the doors of which were opened at 
 last to admit the German ambassadors. 
 
 It was a brilliant crowd now entering in a solemn procession 
 through the opened folding-doors. The ambassadors of every Ger- 
 man sovereign were in attendance ; only the representatives of 
 Austria and Prussia, whom Bonaparte had received already in a 
 special audience, were absent. 
 
 This German peace delegation, which now entered the room to 
 do homage to the French general, was a very large one. There were 
 first the ambassadors of Bavaria and Saxony, of Baden and Wurtem- 
 berg, of Hanover and Mecklenburg ; then followed the host of the 
 small princes and noblemen, by whose side the ecclesiastical dignita- 
 ries, the representatives of the electors and bishops, were walking in. * 
 
 Bonaparte stood proudly erect in the middle of the room, his 
 gloomy glances inspecting the gentlemen, who now commenced 
 stationing themselves on both sides of the apartment. A master of 
 
 • The whole German peace delegation consisted of seventy-nine persons, and all 
 these seventy-nine distinguished men, the ambassadors of emperor, kings, and 
 princes, tried to gain the favor of the ambassadors of France; and the three gentle- 
 men, representing the great Republic, seemed more powerful and influential than all 
 the representatives of Germany. 
 
150 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 ceremonies, who had been previously selected for the meetings of 
 the peace congress, now walked solemnly through the ranks and 
 announced in a ringing voice the name, rank, and position of every 
 ambassador. 
 
 " His excellency Count Fersen, " he shouted just now, in a solemn 
 manner, " ambassador of his majesty the King of Sweden and Duke 
 of Pomerania. " 
 
 Count Fersen had not yet finished his ceremonious obeisance, 
 when Bonaparte rapidly approached him. 
 
 " Just tell me, sir, " he exclaimed, bluntly ; " what is the name of 
 the minister whom Sweden has now in Paris?" 
 
 Count Fersen looked in evident surprise and confusion at the 
 pale face of the general, whose flaming eyes were fixed upon him 
 with an angry expression. 
 
 " I do not know, " he faltered, " I am not quite sure—" 
 
 " Ah, sir, you know only too well that Sweden has not yet given 
 a successor to M. de Haidl, " Bonaparte interrupted him violently, 
 " and that the only ambassador whom she was willing to send had to 
 be rejected by the Directory. You were this ambassador whom the 
 Directory would not tolerate in Paris. Friendly ties have united 
 France and Sweden for a long series of years, and I believe Sweden 
 ought to appreciate and recognize their importance at the present 
 time more than ever. How, then, is the conduct of the court of 
 Stockholm to be explained, that tries to make it its special business 
 to send everywhere, either to Paris or wherever the plenipotentiaries 
 of France may be seen, ministers and ambassadors who must be 
 peculiarly distasteful to every citizen of France?" 
 
 " That is certainly not the intention of my court, " exclaimed 
 Count Fersen, hastily. 
 
 " That may be, " said Bonaparte, proudly, " but I should like to 
 know if the King of Sweden would remain indifferent in case a 
 French ambassador should try to instigate an insurrection of the 
 people of Stockholm against him ! The French Republic cannot 
 permit men, whose connection with the old court of France is a 
 matter of notoriety, to appear in ofiicial capacities, and thus to irri- 
 tate and humble the republican ambassadors, the representatives 
 of the first nation on earth, who, before consulting her policy, knows 
 how to maintain her dignity. " 
 
 " I shall immediately set out for Stockholm in order to communi- 
 cate these views of the conqueror of Italy to my court, " said Count 
 Fersen, pale with shame and mortification. 
 
 "Do so, set out at once," exclaimed Bonaparte, impetuously, 
 " and tell your master, unless he should conclude to pursue a different 
 policy, I will send him some day a skilful diplomatic Gascon who 
 
THE RECEPTION OF THE AMBASSADORS. 151 
 
 knows how to simplify the machine and make it go less rapidly. 
 King Gustavus will perhaps find out, when it is too late, and at his 
 own expense, that the reins of government must be firmly held in 
 one hand, and the other skilfully wield the sword, while it is yet 
 time. Go, sir, and inform your king of what I have told you !" 
 
 Count Fersen made no reply ; he merely bowed hastily and 
 silently, and, beckoning his attacMs who were standing behind him, 
 he left the room with his suite.* 
 
 Bonaparte's flashing eyes followed him until he had disappeared, 
 and then the general turned once more to the ambassadors. 
 
 '■ I could not suffer a traitor and enemy in our assembly, " he said, 
 in a loud and firm voice. "We are here in order to make peace, 
 while he was secretly anxious for a renewal of war, and was bent 
 upon sowing the evil seeds of discord among us. Let us all endeavor 
 to make peace, gentlemen, to the best of our power. Do not compel 
 me to enter the lists against you, too, for the struggle could not be 
 doubtful between a nation that has just conquered her liberty, and 
 princes who tried to deprive her of it again. If you reject to-day 
 the pacific overtures I shall make to you, I shall impose other condi- 
 tions to-morrow ; but woe unto him among you, who should refuse 
 my mediation ; for in that case I should overthrow the whole frame- 
 work of a false policy, and the thrones standing on a weak founda- 
 tion would soon break down. I speak to you with the frankness of 
 a soldier and the noble pride of a victorious general ; I caution you 
 because I have the welfare of the nations at heart, who more than 
 ever need the blessings of peace. It is now for you to say whether 
 we shall have war or peace, and it will solely depend upon your sub- 
 missiveness whether France will be able to conclude an honorable 
 peace with her German neighbors, or whether you will compel us 
 to take up arms once more. But in that case woe unto you, for we 
 should retaliate in the most terrible manner on those who would 
 dare to oppose us ! "f 
 
 He paused and rapidly glanced at the assembled gentlemen. 
 They stood before him with grave and gloomy faces, but none of 
 them were courageous enough to make a dignified reply to the proud 
 and humiliating words of the French general. The ambassadors of 
 Germany received the severe lecture of the representative of France 
 with silent submissiveness. 
 
 An imperceptible smile played on Bonaparte's lips. He saluted the 
 gentlemen with a slight nod and rapidly returned to his own rooms. 
 
 * This whole scene actually took place, and contains only such words as really were 
 exchanged between Bonaparte and Fersen.— Vide " Mgmoires d'un Homme d'fitat," 
 vol. v., p. 64. Le Normand, M6moires, vol. i., p. 263. 
 
 tBonaparte's own words.— Vide Le Normand, vol. i., p. 964. 
 
 11 
 
152 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. 
 
 Bonaparte had scarcely reached his room and just closed the 
 door, when the opposite door opened, and the entering footman 
 announced, " His excellency Count Louis Cobenzl. " 
 
 Bonaparte waved his hand and went to meet the count in the 
 anteroom, where he welcomed him with the utmost kindness and 
 courtesy. 
 
 The two gentlemen thereupon reentered the room hand in hand, 
 a pleasant smile playing on their lips, while both were assuring each 
 other of their kind intentions, but at the same time secretly enter- 
 taining the ardent desire and purpose to divine their mutual 
 thoughts, but to conceal their own schemes. The general, with 
 great politeness, offered the seat of honor on the sofa to the count, 
 and sat down in an arm-chair in front of him. A small round table 
 with writing-materials and paper stood between them, forming as 
 it were the frontier between Austria and France. 
 
 " So the ardent desires of Austria are fulfilled now, " said Count 
 Cobenzl, with a sweet smile. " France will no longer oppose us ; 
 she will be our friend and ally. " 
 
 "France will welcome this new friend and ally of hers," ex- 
 claimed Bonaparte, feelingly, "provided Austria's intentions are 
 loyal. Ah, my dear count, no protestations now ! In politics words 
 prove nothing, deeds every thing. Let Austria, then, prove by her 
 deeds that she really desires to keep up a good understanding with 
 France, and that she has given up forever her hostile attitude toward 
 the republic. " 
 
 " But has not Austria given proof of her intentions toward France 
 already?" asked the count, in surprise. " Has not his majesty the 
 emperor declared his willingness to resume diplomatic relations 
 with France, and thereby formally and before the whole world to 
 recognize the French Republic?" 
 
 "Sir," exclaimed Bonaparte, "the French Republic does not 
 humbly solicit to be recognized. She compels hostile states to rec- 
 ognize her, for, like the sun, she sheds her light over the whole 
 globe, and she would pierce the eyes of such as would feign not to 
 see her, rendering them blind for all time to come ! * Austria beheld 
 this radiant sun of the republic at Lodi, at Rivoli, Arcole, and 
 Mantua ; whence, then, would she derive courage enough to refuse 
 
 * Bonaparte's owi words.— Vide Constant, vol. i., p. 384. 
 
FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. 153 
 
 recognizing Fi-ance? But instead of words, prove to us by your 
 actions that your friendship is honest and sincere. " 
 
 " We are ready to do so, " said Count Oobenzl, politely. " Austria 
 is ready to give a public and brilliant proof of her devotion to the 
 great general whose glory is now filling the whole world with aston- 
 ishment and admiration. His majesty the emperor, in the letter 
 which I had the honor of delivering to you some time ago, told you 
 already in eloquent words how greatly he admired the conqueror of 
 Italy, and how gladly his majesty, if it were in his power, would 
 grant you such favors as would be agreeable to you. But at that 
 time you rejected all such offers, general, and nothing could induce 
 you to accept of what we wished to present to you. It seemed not 
 to have value enough to — " 
 
 " Rather say, count, it was all too valuable not to be looked upon 
 as a bribe, " exclaimed Bonaparte. " I was negotiating with you, 
 sword in hand, and it would not have been becoming of me to lay 
 the sword aside in order to fill my hands with your presents. " 
 
 " But now, general, now that we have laid the sword aside, thac 
 we have made peace, that we have exchanged the ratifications of 
 the treaty — now that you tender your hand to Austria in friendship 
 . and peace, you might permit his majesty the Emperor of Austria to 
 deposit something in your friendly hand, that might prove to you 
 how sincerely my august master the emperor is devoted to you. " 
 
 " And what does the emperor desire to deposit in my hand 1" asked 
 Bonaparte, with a quiet smile. 
 
 Count Cobenzl hesitated a little before making a reply. " Gen- 
 eral, " he then said, " when I see you thus before me in your marble 
 beauty, I am involuntarily reminded of the heroes of Rome and 
 Greece, who have immortalized the glory of their countries, but 
 whom the admiration of posterity had to compensate for the ingrati- 
 tude of their contemporaries. General, republics never were grate- 
 ful to their great men, and only too often have they stigmatized 
 their most glorious deeds ; for the republics deprecated the greatness 
 of their heroes, because he who distinguished himself, thereby 
 annulled the equality and fraternity of all the citizens. Pericles 
 was banished from Athens, and Julius Csesar was assassinated I 
 General, will modern republics be more gi-ateful than those of an- 
 tiquity? For my part, I dare say, it is rather doubtful, and the 
 French being descendants of the Romans, I am afraid they will not 
 prove any more grateful than the latter. The emperor, my august 
 master, shares my fears, and as he loves and venerates you, he would 
 like to exalt you so high as to prevent the hands of the political 
 factions from reaching up to you. His majesty therefore proposes 
 to create a principality for you in Germany, and to make you the 
 
154 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 sovereign ruler of two hundred thousand people, appointing you at 
 the same time a prince of the German empire, and giving you a seat 
 and vote at the imperial diet.* General, do you accept my emperor's 
 offer?" 
 
 "To become the emperor's vassal?" asked Bonaparte, with an 
 imperceptible smile. " A small prince of the German empire who on 
 solemn occasions might be deemed worthy to present the wash-basin 
 to the emperor, or to be his train-bearer, while every king and 
 elector would outrank me. No, my dear count, I do not accept the 
 offer. I sincerely thank the emperor for the interest he takes in my 
 welfare, but I must accept no gifts or favors not coming directly 
 from the French nation, and I shall always be satisfied with the in- 
 come bestowed upon me by the latter, "f 
 
 "You reject the emperor's offer?" asked Cobenzl, mournfully— 
 " you disdain wearing a crown?" 
 
 " If the crown should crush the few laurels with which my vic- 
 tories have adorned me, yes ; in that case I should prefer to decline 
 the crown in favor of my laurels. And, my dear count, if I had 
 been so anxious for a crown, I might have picked up one of those 
 crowns that fell down at my feet in Italy. But I preferred to crush 
 them under my heels, just as St. George crushed the dragon ; and 
 the gold of the crushed crowns, as it behooved a good and dutiful 
 son, I laid down on the altar of the gi-eat French Republic. So you 
 see I am not longing for crowns. If I might follow my own incli- 
 nations, I should return to the silence and obscurity of my former 
 life, and I should lay my sword aside in order to live only as a 
 peaceable citizen. " 
 
 "Oh, general, if you should do so," exclaimed Cobenzl, "there 
 would soon be men to pick up your sword in order to fight with it 
 against the Republic and to recall the Bourbons to the throne of the 
 lilies." 
 
 A rapid flash from Bonaparte's eyes struck the count's face and 
 met his sharp, searching glance. 
 
 "Count Cobenzl," he said, quietly and coldly, "the lilies of 
 France have dropped from their stems, and, being drowned in the 
 blood of the guillotine, they could not be made to bloom again. He 
 would be a poor, short-sighted gardener who would try to draw 
 flowers from seeds dead and devoid of germs. And believe me, we 
 are no such poor, short-sighted gardeners in France. You alluded 
 just now to the ingratitude of republics, and you apprehended lest 
 I might likewise suffer thereby. Let me assure you, however, that 
 even my country's ingratitude would be dearer to me than the grati- 
 
 * Historical.— Vide " M6inoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 67. 
 tBonaparte's own reply.— Vide " Mfmoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 67. 
 
FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. 155 
 
 tude of a foreign power, and that the crown of thorns, which France 
 may press upon my head, would seem to me more honorable than 
 the coronet with which an enemy of France might adorn my brow. 
 And now, count, a truce to such trifling matters I Let us speak 
 about business affairs. We have signed the ratifications of peace, 
 which are to be laid before the congress ; it only remains for us to 
 sign the secret articles which shall be known by none but France 
 and Austria. The main point is the evacuation of Mentz by your 
 troops, so that our army may ocupy the fortress. " 
 
 " I am afraid, general, this very point will be a stumbling-block 
 for the members of the congress. They will raise a terrible hue and 
 cry as soon as they learn that we have surrendered Mentz. '' 
 
 "Let these gentlemen say what they please," said Bonaparte, 
 contemptuously ; " we have called them hither that they may talk, 
 and while they are talking, we shall act !" 
 
 " They will say that Austria has sacrificed the welfare and great- 
 ness of Germany to her own private interests, " exclaimed Count 
 Cobenzl, anxiously. 
 
 " Fools are they who care for what people will say !" replied 
 Bonaparte, shrugging his shoulders. " A prudent man will pursue 
 his path directly toward his aim, and the hum of babblers never 
 disturbs him. Hear, then, my last words : in case the Austrian 
 troops do not leave Mentz within one week, and surrender the for- 
 tress to the French forces, the French army will remain in Venice, 
 and I would sooner send the latter city to the bottom of the sea than 
 to let Austria have a single stone of hers. Mentz must be ours, or I 
 tear the treaty, and hostilities will recommence !" 
 
 And Bonaparte, with a furious gestui-e, seized the papers lying 
 on the table and was about to tear them, when Count Cobenzl sud- 
 denly jumped up and grasped his hands. 
 
 " General, " he said, imploringly, " what are you going to do?" 
 
 " "What am I going to do?" exclaimed Bonaparte, in a thundering 
 voice, "I am going to tear a treaty of peace, which you merely 
 wanted to sign with words, but not with deeds ! Oh, that was the 
 nice little trick of your diplomacy, then ! With your prince's coro- 
 net you wanted to dazzle my eyes— with the two hundred thousand 
 subjects you offered me just now, you wanted me to corrupt my 
 soul, and induce me to barter away the honor and greatness of 
 France for the miserable people of a petty German prince ! No, sir. 
 I shall not sell my honor at so low a price. I stand here in the name 
 of the French Republic and ask you, the representative of Austria, 
 to fulfil what we have agi-eed upon at Campo Formio. Mentz must 
 be ours even before our troops leave Venice. If you refuse that, it 
 is a plain infringement of the treaty, and hostilities will be resumed. 
 
156 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Now, sir, come to a decision. I am only a soldier, and but a poor 
 diplomatist, for with my sword and with my word I always directly 
 strike at my aim. In short, then, count, will you withdraw your 
 troops from Mentz and from the other fortresses on the Rhine, and 
 surrender Mentz to our army? Yes, or no?" 
 
 "Yes, yes," exclaimed Count Cobenzl, with a sigh, "we will 
 fulfil your wishes — we will withdraw our troops from Mentz and 
 surrender the fortress to the French. " 
 
 "When will the surrender take place? As speedily as possible, 
 if you please. " 
 
 " On the ninth of December, general. " 
 
 "Very well, on the ninth of December. The matter is settled, 
 then." 
 
 " But let there be no solemn ceremonies at the surrender, '' said 
 the count, imploringly. " Let our troops withdraw quietly — let your 
 forces occupy the place in the same manner, so that when the dele- 
 gates of the German empire, assembled in congress in this city, and 
 to whom the Emperor of Germany has solemnly guaranteed the 
 entire integrity and inviolability of the empire, hear the news of 
 the transaction, the latter may be already an accomplished fact, to 
 which every one must submit. '' 
 
 "Be it so, if that be Austria's desire, " said Bonaparte, smiling. 
 "And now we will consider the other secret articles. The Austrian 
 troops retire from the German empire up to the line of the Inn and 
 Lech, occupying hereafter only Austrian territory. " 
 
 "Yes, general ; in return for all these concessions on our part, the 
 Frencli troops will evacuate on the thirtieth of December the for- 
 tresses and territory of Venice, which has been ceded to Austria by 
 the treaty of Campo Formio, and retire behind the line of demarca- 
 tion." 
 
 " Granted ! At the same time the troops of the republic seize the 
 tete-de-pont at Mannheim either by intimidating the isolated garri- 
 son, or by making a sudden dash at the position,* and during the 
 continuation of the negotiations here at Rastadt, the Fi'ench forces 
 leave the left bank of the Rhine and occupy the right bank from 
 Basle to Mentz. " 
 
 " Granted, '' sighed Count Cobenzl. " Austria yields the frontier 
 of the Rhine to France — that is, by the simultaneous retreat of her 
 own forces she surrenders to the republic the most important points 
 
 * " Mfimoires d'un Homme d'fitat." The French took the tete-de-pont at Mann- 
 heim by assault, on the 25th of January, 1798, the garrison refusing to evacuate it. 
 Mentz surrendered without firing a gun, and during the night of the S8th of Decem- 
 ber, 1797, the French entered this great fortress, which was thereupon annexed to 
 the French Republic. 
 
FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. 157 
 
 of the German empire, including Ehrenbreitstein. The congress of 
 the states of the German empire will deliberate, therefore, under 
 the direct influence produced by the immediate neighborhood of a 
 Itench army. " 
 
 " In case the delegates of Germany do not like the looks of the 
 French soldiers, they may turn their eyes to the other side, where 
 the Austrian army is encamped on the Danube and on the Lech, " 
 exclaimed Bonaparte. " Thus the delegates will be surrounded by 
 two armies. This fact may interfere a little with the freedom of 
 speech during the session of congress, but it will be advantageous, 
 too, inasmuch as it will induce the delegates to accelerate their 
 labors somewhat, and to finish their task sooner than they would 
 have done under different circumstances. " 
 
 " It is true, right in the face of these two armies at least the small 
 Grerman princes will not dare to oppose the German emperor in 
 ceding the entire left bank of the Rhine to France. But it is only 
 just and equitable for us to indemnify them for their losses. In one 
 of our secret articles, therefore, we should acknowledge the obliga- 
 tion of promising compensations to the princes and electors — " 
 
 "Yes, let us promise compensations to them," said Bonaparte, 
 with a tinge of sarcasm. " As to the possessions of Prussia on the 
 left bank of the Rhine, France declares her readiness to give them 
 back to the King of Prussia. " 
 
 " But both powers agree not to allow the King of Prussia to ac- 
 quire any new ten-itory, " exclaimed Count Cobenzl, hastily. 
 
 "Yes, that was our agreement at Campo Formic," said Bona- 
 parte. " Austi-ia's incease of territory, besides Venice, will consist 
 of Salzburg and a piece of Upper Bavaria. In case she should make 
 further conquests in the adjoining states, France may claim a 
 further aggrandizement on the right bank of the Rhine. " * 
 
 "Yes, that was the last secret article of the preliminaries of 
 Campo Formio, " said Cobenzl, sighing. 
 
 "Then we have remained entirely faithful to our agreement," 
 said Bonaparte. " We have not made any alterations whatever in 
 the progi-amme which we agreed upon and deposed in writing at the 
 castle of Campo Formio. It only remains for us to-day to sign these 
 secret articles." 
 
 He took the pen and hastily signed the two documents spread 
 
 out on the table. 
 
 Count Cobenzl signed them also ; but his hand was trembling a 
 
 little while he was writing, and his face was clouded and gloomy. 
 
 Perhaps he could not help feeling that Austria just now was signmg 
 
 the misery and disgrace of Germany in order to purchase thereby 
 
 »Schlosser's "History of the Eighteenth Century," vol. v., p. 43. 
 
158 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 some provinces, and that Austria enlarged her territory at the ex- 
 pense of the empire whose emperor was her own ruler — Francis II. 
 
 Their business being finished, the two plenipotentiaries rose, and 
 Count Cobenzl withdrew. Bonaparte accompanied him again to the 
 door of the anteroom, and then returned to his cabinet. 
 
 A proud, triumphant smile was now playing on his pale, narrow 
 lips, and his eyes were beaming and iJashing in an almost sinister 
 manner. Stepping back to the table, he fixed his eyes upon the 
 document with the two signatures. 
 
 "The left bank of the Rhine is ours !" he said, heavily laying his 
 hand upon the paper. "But the right bank?" 
 
 He shook his head, and folding his arms upon his back, he com- 
 menced pacing the room, absorbed in profound reflections. His 
 features had now resumed their marble tranquillity ; it was again 
 the apparation of Julius Csesar that was walking up and down there 
 with inaudible steps, and the old thoughts of Julius Caesar, those 
 thoughts for which he had to suffer death, seemed to revive again 
 in Bonaparte's mind, for at one time he whispered, "A crown for 
 me ! A crown in Germany. It would be too small for me ! If my 
 hand is to grasp a crown, it must — " 
 
 He paused and gazed fixedly at the wall as if he saw the future 
 there, that arose before him in a strange phantasmagoria. 
 
 After a long pause, he started and seemed to awake from a 
 dream. 
 
 " I believe I will read the letter once more, which I received yes- 
 terday by mail, " he murmured, in an almost inaudible tone. " It 
 is a wonderful letter, and I really would like to know who wrote 
 it." 
 
 He drew a folded paper from his bosom and opened it. Stepping 
 into a bay window, he perused the letter with slow, deliberate 
 glances. The bright daylight illuminated his profile and rendered 
 its antique beauty even more conspicuous. Profound silence sur- 
 rounded him, and nothing was heard but his soft and slow respira- 
 tion and the rustling of the paper. 
 
 When he had finished it, he commenced perusing it again, but 
 this time he seemed to be anxious to hear what he was reading. He 
 read it, however, in a very low and subdued voice, and amidst the 
 silence surrounding him the words that fell from the lips of the 
 resurrected Cffisar sounded like the weird whispers of spirits. 
 
 " You have to choose now between so great an alternative, " he 
 read, " that however bold your character may be, you must be un- 
 certain as to the determination you have to come to, if you are to 
 choose between respect and hatred, between glory or disgrace, be- 
 tween exalted power or an abject insignificance, that would lead 
 
THE BANNER OF GLORY. 159 
 
 you to the scafifold, and, finally, between the immortality of a great 
 man, or that of a punished partisan. " 
 
 "Ah!" exclaimed Bonapai-te, and his voice was now loud and 
 firm. " Ah ! I shall never hesitate between such alternatives. I 
 should bear disgrace, abject insignificance, and an utter lack of 
 power? And my hand should not be withered— it should be able yet 
 to grasp a sword and pierce my breast with it?" 
 
 He lowered his eyes again and continued reading : " You have to 
 choose between three parts : the first is to return quietly to France 
 and to live there as a plain and unassumnig citizen ; the second, to 
 return to France at the head of an army and there to become the 
 leader of a party ; the third, to establish a great empire in Italy and 
 proclaim yourself king of the peninsula. I advise you to do so, and 
 to grasp the Italian crown with a firm hand. " * 
 
 " He is a fool, " said Bonaparte, •' who believes a man might make 
 himself king of Italy and maintain himself on the throne, imless he 
 previously has seized the sovereign power in France, f But no one 
 must hear these thoughts ! I will go to Josephine !" 
 
 He hastily folded the paper and concealed it again in his bosom. 
 Then stepping to the looking-glass, he closely scanned his face in 
 order to see whether or not it might betray his thoughts ; and when 
 he had found it to be as pale and impassive as ever, he turned round 
 and left the room. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE BANNER OP QLOKY. 
 
 Four days had elapsed since Bonaparte's arrival at Rastadt, and 
 the congress had profited by them in order to give the most brilliant 
 festivals to the French general and his beautiful wife. All those 
 ambassadors, counts, barons, bishops, and diplomatists seemed to 
 have assembled at Rastadt for the sole purpose of giving banquets, 
 tea-parties, and balls ; no one thought of attending to bu.siness, and 
 all more serious ideas seemed to have been utterly banished, while 
 every one spoke of the gorgeous decorations of the ball-rooms and of 
 the magnificence of the state dinners, where the most enthusiastic 
 toasts were drunk in honor of the victorious French general ; and 
 the people seemed most anxious entirely to forget poor, suffering, 
 and patient Germany. 
 
 * Sabatier de Castres, living at that time in exile at Hamburg, had written this 
 anonymous letter to Eonapar-te. 
 
 t " M6moires d'ua Homme d'Ctat," vol. v., p. 69. 
 
160 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Josephine participated in these festivities with her innate cheer- 
 fulness and vivacity. She was the queen of every party ; every one 
 was doing homage to her ; every one was bent upon flattering her in 
 order to catch an affable word, a pleasant glance from her ; and, 
 encouraged by her unvaried kindness, to solicit her intercession 
 with her husband, in whose hands alone the destinies of the German 
 princes and their states now seemed to lie. 
 
 But while Josephine's radiant smiles were delighting every one 
 — ^while she was promising to all to intercede for them with her 
 husband, Bonaparte's countenance remained grave and moody, and 
 it was only in a surly mood that he attended the festivals that were 
 given in his honor. His threatening glances had frequently ah'eady 
 been fixed upon his wife, and those moody apprehensions, ever alive 
 in his jealous breast, had whispered to him: "Josephine has de- 
 ceived you again ! In order to silence your reproaches, she invented 
 a beautiful story, in which there is not a word of truth, for the 
 letter that was to call you back to Paris does not arrive, and the 
 Directory keeps you here at Eastadt. " 
 
 And while he was indulging in such reflections, his features 
 assumed a sinister expression, and his lips muttered : " Woe to Jose- 
 phine, if she should have deceived me !" 
 
 Thus the fourth day had arrived, and the Bavarian ambassador 
 was to. give a brilliant soiree. Bonaparte had promised to be pres- 
 ent, but he had said to Josephine, in a threateinng manner, that he 
 would attend only if the expected courier from Paris did arrive in 
 the course of the day, so that he might profit by the Bavarian am- 
 bassador's party to take leave of all those "fawning and slavish 
 representatives of the German empire. " 
 
 But no courier had made his appearance during the whole morn- 
 ing. Bonaparte had retired to his closet and was pacing the room 
 like an angTy lion in his cage. All at once, however, the door was 
 hastily opened, and Josephine entered with a radiant face, holding 
 in her uplifted right hand a large Sealed letter. 
 
 " Bonaparte !" she shouted, in a jubilant voice, " can you guess 
 what I have got here?" 
 
 He ran toward her and wanted to seize the letter. But Josephine 
 would not let him have it, and concealed it behind her back. " Stop, 
 my dear sir, " she said. " First you must beg my pardon for the evil 
 thoughts I have read on your forehead during the last few days. 
 Oh, my excellent general, you are a poor sinner, and I really do not 
 know if I am at liberty to grant you absolution and to open the gates 
 of paradise to you. " 
 
 "But what have I done, Josephine?" he asked. "Was I not as 
 patient as a lamb? Did I not allow myself to be led like a dancing- 
 
THE BANNER OF GLORY. 161 
 
 bear from festival to festival? Did I not look on with the patience 
 of an angel while every one was making love to you, and while you 
 were lavishing smiles and encouraging, kind glances in all direc- 
 tions?" 
 
 " What have you done, Bonaparte?" she retorted gravely. "You 
 inwardly calumniated your Josephine. You accused her in your 
 heart, and day and night the following words were written on your 
 forehead in flaming characters : ' Josephine has deceived me. ' Do 
 you pretend to deny it, sir?" 
 
 " No, " said Bonaparte, " I will not deny any thing, dear, lovely 
 expounder of my heart ! 1 confess my sins, and implore your for- 
 giveness. But now, Josephine, be kind enough not to let me wait 
 any longer. Let me have the letter !" 
 
 "Hush, sir! this letter is not directed to you, but to myself," 
 replied Josephine, smiling. 
 
 Bonaparte angrily stamped his foot. " Not to me !" he exclaimed, 
 furiously. " Then is it not from the Directory— it does not call me 
 back from Rastadt? — " 
 
 " Hush, Bonaparte !" said Josephine, smiling, " must you always 
 effervesce like the stormy sea that roared around your cradle, you 
 big child? Be quiet now, and let me read the letter to you. Will 
 you let me do so?" 
 
 "Yes, I will," said Bonaparte, hastily. "Read, I implore you, 
 read !" 
 
 Josephine made a profound, ceremonious obeisance, and with- 
 drawing her hand with the letter from her back, she unfolded 
 several sheets of paper. 
 
 "Here is first a letter from my friend Botot," she said, "just 
 listen : — ' Citoyenne Oenerale: The Directory wished to send off to- 
 day a courier with the enclosed dispatches to General Bonaparte. I 
 induced the gentlemen, however, to intrust that dispatch to myself, 
 and to permit me to send it to you instead of the general. It is to 
 yourself chiefly that the general is indebted for the contents of this 
 dispatch from the Directory. It is but just, therefore, citoyenne, 
 that you should have the pleasure of handing it to him. Do so, 
 citoyenne, and at the same time beg your husband not to forget your 
 and his friend. — Botot. ' That is my letter Bonaparte, and here, 
 my friend, is the enclosure for yourself. You see, I am devoid of 
 the common weakness of woman, I am not inquisitive, for the seal 
 is not violated, as you may see yourself. " 
 
 And with a charming smile she handed the letter to Bonaparte. 
 But he did not take it. 
 
 " Break the seal, my Josephine, " he said, profoundly moved. " I 
 want to learn the contents of the letter from your lips. If it should 
 
162 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 bring me evil tidings, they will soundless harshly when announced 
 by you ; is it joyful news, however, your voice will accompany it 
 with the most beautiful music. " 
 
 Josephine nodded to him with a tender and grateful glance, and 
 hastily broke the seal. 
 
 "Now pray, quick! quick!" said Bonaparte, trembling with 
 impatience. 
 
 Josephine read : 
 
 "The executive Directory presumes, citizen general, that you 
 have arrived at Bastadt. It is impatient to see and to weigh with 
 you the most important interests of the country. Hence it desires 
 you to bring the exchanged ratifications personally to Paris, and to 
 inform us what dispositions you have taken in regard to the occupa- 
 tion of Mentz by our troops, in order that this event may take place 
 without further delay. It may be, however, that you have for- 
 warded this intelligence to us already by means of a courier or an 
 aide-de-camp ; in that case it will be kept secret until your arrival. 
 The journey you are now going to make to Paris will first fulfil the 
 sincere desire of the Directory to manifest to you publicly its most 
 unbounded satisfaction with your conduct and to be the first inter- 
 preter of the nation's gratitude toward you. Besides, it is necessary 
 for you to be fully informed of the government's views and inten- 
 tions, and to consider in connection with it the ultimate consequences 
 of the great operations which you will be invited to undertake ; so 
 we expect you immediately, citizen general. The executive Direc- 
 tory also desires you to indicate to the returning courier, who is to 
 deliver this dispatch to you, the precise day of your arrival at Paris. 
 In the name of the Directory : 
 
 " Barras. " 
 
 "We shall set out at once!" exclaimed Bonaparte, radiant with 
 joy. 
 
 "In order to arrive together with the courier?" asked Josephine, 
 laughing, " and to lose all the triumphs which the grateful country 
 is preparing for you? No, my impatient friend, you will patiently 
 remain to-day by the side of your Josephine and we shall start only 
 to-morrow. Do you promise it?" 
 
 "Well, be it so!" he exclaimed, glowing with excitement, "we 
 will set out to-morrow for Paris. My task in Italy is accomplished ; 
 if it please God, there will be new work for me at Paris. " 
 
 "Your enemies will soon find means to drive you away from the 
 capital, if you should be incautious, and if they should fear lest 
 your presence might become dangerous to themselves. Nothing is 
 more dangerous to small, insignificant souls than a great man. Re- 
 member that, my friend, and do not irritate them. " 
 
THE BANNER OF GLORY. 163 
 
 Bonaparte eagerly grasped her hand. " Believe me, " he said in 
 alow voice, "as soon as I have reached Paris, I shall know what 
 line of policy I must pm-sue hereafter. Two years shall not elapse 
 ere the whole ridiculous republican edifice will be overthrown. " * 
 
 "And then," exclaimed Josephine, joyfully, "when you have 
 accomplished that— when you stand as a victorious general on the 
 ruins of the republic— you will reestablish the throne over them I 
 hope?" ' 
 
 "Yes, I will reestablish the throne,""t said Bonaparte, enthusias- 
 tically. 
 
 "And your arm will place upon this throne him to whom this 
 throne is due. Oh, my generous and noble friend, what a heavenly 
 day it will be when the King of France by your side makes his 
 solemn entry into Paris, for you will recall tlje legitimate king, 
 Louis XVin. , from his exile. " 
 
 Bonaparte stared at her in amazement. " Do you really believe 
 that?" he asked, with a peculiar smile. 
 
 " I have no doubt of it, " she said, innocently. " Bonaparte can 
 do whatever he wishes to do. He has overthrown thrones in Italy, 
 he can reestablish the throne in France. I repeat, Bonaparte can 
 do whatever he wishes to do. " 
 
 "And do you know, then, you little fool, do you know what I 
 really wish to do?" he asked. "I wish to be the great regulator of 
 the destinies of Europe, or the first citizen of the globe. I feel that 
 I have the strength to overthrow every thing and to found a new 
 world. The astonished universe shall bow to me and be compelled 
 to submit to my laws. Then I shall make the villains tremble, who 
 wished to keep me away from my country, t I have made the be- 
 ginning already, and this miserable government has to call me back 
 to Paris notwithstanding its own secret hostility. Soon it shall be 
 nothing but a tool in my hands, and when I do not need this tool 
 any longer, I shall destroy it. This government of lawyers has op- 
 pressed France long enough. It is high time for us to drive it 
 away. " § 
 
 "Hush, Bonaparte, for God's sake, hush!" said Josephine, anx- 
 iously. " Let no one here suspect your plans, for we are surrounded 
 in this house by austere and rabid republicans, who, if they had 
 heard your words, would arraign you as a criminal before the Direc- 
 tory. Intrust your plans to no one except myself, Bonaparte. Be- 
 fore the world remain as yet a most enthusiastic republican, and 
 
 * "Mfimoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 80. 
 
 tBonaparte's own words.— " MSmoires d'un Homme d'fltat," vol. v., p. 70. 
 
 JLe Normand, vol. i., p. 247. 
 
 S"M§moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 70. 
 
164 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 only when the decisive hour has come, throw off your tunic and 
 exhibit your royal uniform !" 
 
 Bonaparte smiled, and encircled her neck with his arms. 
 
 "Yes, you are right, " he said ; " we must be taciturn. We must 
 bury our most secret thoughts in the deepest recesses of our souls, 
 and intrust them to no one, not even to the beloved. But come, 
 Josephine, I owe you my thanks yet for the joyful tidings you have 
 brought me. You must permit me to make you a few little presents 
 in return. " 
 
 " Give me your confidence, and I am abimdantly rewarded, " said 
 Josephine, tenderly. 
 
 " Henceforth I shall never, never distrust you, " he replied, affec- 
 tionately. "We belong to each other, and no power of earth or 
 heaven is able to separate us. You are mine and I am thine ; and 
 what is mine being thine, you must permit me to give you a trinket 
 sent to me to-day by the city of Milan. " 
 
 "A trinket?" exclaimed Josephine, with radiant eyes; "let me 
 see it. Is it a beautiful one?" 
 
 Bonaparte smiled. " Yes, beautiful in the eyes of those to whom 
 glory seems more precious than diamonds and pearls, " he said, step- 
 ping to the table from which he took a small morocco casket. " See, " 
 he said, opening it, " it is a gold medal which the city of Milan has 
 caused to be struck in my honor, and on which it confers upon me 
 the title of 'The Italian. '" 
 
 " Give it to me, " exclaimed Josephine, joyfully — " give it to me, 
 my ' Italian ! ' Let me wear this precious trinket which public favor 
 has bestowed upon you. " 
 
 " Public favor, " he said, musingly — " public favor, it is light as 
 zephyr, as fickle as the seasons, it passes away like the latter, and 
 when the north wind moves it, it will disappear. " * 
 
 He was silent, but proceeded after a short pause in a less excited 
 manner. 
 
 " As to my deeds, " he said, " the pen of history will trace them 
 for our grandchildren. Either I shall have lived for a century, or 
 I shall earn for all my great exploits nothing but silence and oblivion. 
 Who is able to calculate the whims and predilections of history ?"f 
 
 He paused again, and became absorbed in his reflections. 
 
 Josephine did not venture to arouse him from his musing. She 
 fixed her eyes upon the large gold medal, and tried to decipher the 
 inscription. 
 
 Bonaparte suddenly raised his head again, and turned his gloomy 
 eyes toward Josephine. " I suppose you know, " he said, " that I 
 
 *Iie Normand, vol. i., p. 261. 
 tibid., vol. i., p. 863. 
 
THE BANNER OF GLORY. 165 
 
 have always greatly distinguished the Duke of Litalba among all 
 Milanese, and that I have openly courted his friendship?" 
 
 " You have always manifested the greatest kindness for him, " 
 said Josephine, "and he is gratefully devoted to you for what you 
 have done for him. " 
 
 " Gratefully !" exclaimed Bonaparte, sarcastically. " There is no 
 gratitude on earth, and the Duke of Litalba is as ungrateful as the 
 rest of mankind. I called him my friend. Do you know how he 
 has paid me for it, and what he has said of me behind my back?" 
 
 " Oh, then, they have told you libels and made you angry again 
 by repeating to you the gossip of idle tongues?" 
 
 "They shall tell me everything — I want to know everything!" 
 retorted Bonaparte, violently. " I must know my friends and my 
 enemies. And I believed Litalba to be my friend, I believed him 
 when he told me, with tears in his eyes, how much he was afflicted 
 by my departure, and how devotedly he loved me. I believed him, 
 and on the same day he said at a public casino, 'Now at last our 
 city wiU get rid of this meteor that is able all alone to set Are to the 
 whole of Europe, and to spread the sparks of its revolutionary fire 
 to the most remote corners of the world. ' * He dared to call me a 
 meteor, a shining nothing which after lighting up the sky for a short 
 while explodes and dissolves itself into vapor. I shall prove to him 
 and to the whole world that I am more than that, and if I kindle a 
 Are in Europe, it shall be large enough to burn every enemy of 
 mine. " 
 
 "Your glory is the fire that will consume your enemies," said 
 Josephine, eagerly. " You will not reply to their calumnies— your 
 deeds will speak for themselves. Do not heed the voice of slander, 
 my Italian, listen only to the voice of your glory. It will march 
 before you to France like a herald, it will fill all hearts with enthu- 
 siasm, and all hearts will hail your arrival with rapturous applause 
 — you, the victorious chieftain, the conqueror of Italy !" 
 
 " I will show you the herald I am going to send to-day to France, 
 to be presented there in my name by General Joubert to the Direc- 
 tory, " replied Bonaparte. " It is a herald whose mute language will 
 be even more eloquent than all the hymns of victory with which 
 they may receive me. Wait here for a moment. I shall be back 
 directly. " 
 
 He waved his hand to her and hastily left the room. Josephine's 
 eyes followed him with an expression of tender admiration. " What 
 a bold mind, what a fiery heart !" she said, in a low voice. " Wlio 
 will stem the bold flight of this mind, who will extinguish the flames 
 of this heart? Who—" 
 
 *Ibid.,T0l. i., p. 262. 
 
166 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The door opened, and Bonaparte returned, followed by several 
 footmen carrying a roUed-up banner. When they had reached tha 
 middle of the room, he took it from them and told them to with- 
 draw. As soon as the door had closed behind them, he rapidly 
 unrolled the banner so that it floated majestically over his head. 
 
 " Ah, that is the proud victor of the bridge of Arcole !" exclaimed 
 Josephine, enthusiastically. "Thus you must have looked when 
 you headed the column, rushing into the hail of balls and bullets, 
 and bearing the colors aloft in your right hand ! Oh, Bonaparte, 
 how glorious you look under your glorious banner !" 
 
 " Do not look at me, but look at the banner, " he said. " Future 
 generations may some day take it for a monument from the fabulous 
 times of antiquity, and yet this monument contains nothing but the 
 truth. The Directory shall hang up this banner in its hall, and if it 
 should try to deny or belittle my deeds, I shall point at the banner 
 which will tell every one what has been accomplished in Italy by 
 the French army and its general. " 
 
 Josephine looked in silent admiration at the splendid banner. 
 It was made of the heaviest white satin, trimmed with a broad 
 border of blue and white. Large eagles, embroidered in gold, and 
 decorated with precious stones, filled the corners on both sides ; 
 warlike emblems, executed by the most skilful painters, filled the 
 inside of the colored border, and inscriptions in large gold letters 
 covered the centre. 
 
 "Read these inscriptions, Josephine,'' said Bonaparte imperi- 
 ously, pointing at them with his uplifted arm. " It is a simple and 
 short history of our campaign in Italy. Read aloud, Josephine ; let 
 me hear from your lips the triumphal hymn of my army !" 
 
 Josephine seized the gold cord hanging down from the banner 
 and thus kept it straight. Bonaparte, proudly leaning against the 
 gilt flag-staff, which he grasped with both hands, listened smiling 
 and with flashing eyes to Josephine, who read as follows : 
 
 " One hundred and fifty thousand prisoners ; one hundred and 
 seventy stands of colors ; five hundred and fifty siege-guns ; six hun- 
 dred field-pieces ; five pontoon parks ; nine line-of -battle ships, of 
 sixty-four guns ; twelve frigates of thirty-two guns ; twelve cor- 
 vettes ; eighteen galleys ; armistice with the King of Sardinia ; 
 treaty with Genoa ; armistice with the Duke of Parma ; armistice 
 with the King of Naples ; armistice with the Pope ; preliminaries 
 of Leoben ; treaty of Montebello with the Republic of Genoa ; treaty 
 of peace with the emperor at Campo Formio. 
 
 "Liberty restored to the people of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, 
 Massacarrara, of the Romagna, of Lombardy, Brescia, Bergamo, 
 Mantua, Cremona, Chiavenna, Bormio, and the Valtellino ; further, 
 
\ THE BANNER OF GLORY. 167 
 
 to the people of Genoa, to the vassals of the emperor, to the people 
 of the department of Corcyra, of the iEgean Sea and Ithaca. 
 
 "Sent to Paris all the masterpieces of Michel Angelo, Guercino, 
 Titian, Paul Veronese, Correggio, Albarro, the two Carracci, 
 Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci." * 
 
 " Ah, my friend, " exclaimed Josephine, enthusiastically, ■' that 
 is a leaf from history which the storms of centuries will never blow 
 away !" 
 
 Bonaparte slowly lowered the banner until it almost covered the 
 floor and then he muttered gloomily: "Men are like leaves in the 
 wind ; the wind blows the leaves to the ground, f and— but no, " he 
 interrupted himself, " I shall write my name on every rock and every 
 mountain in Europe, and fasten it there with iron-clasps in sucli a 
 manner that no winds shall blow it away ! Oh, footmen I come in, 
 roll up the banner again, and put it back into the case !" 
 
 The footmen hastened to obey, and took the banner away. Bona- 
 parte turned again to his wife with a smile. 
 
 " I promised you a few presents, " he said. " As yet I have given 
 you only the medals. The best gift I have kept back. JIarmont 
 sent me the statue of the Holy Virgin which he removed from 
 Loretto. " 
 
 " Then you have not fulfilled my urgent praj'ers !" said Jose- 
 phine, reproachfully. " Even the property of the Church and of the 
 Holy Father at Rome have not been safe from the hands of the con- 
 querors !" 
 
 '■ That is the law of war, " said Bonaparte. " Woe to the places 
 which war touches on its bloody path ! But you may reassure your- 
 self, Josephine. I have only taken from the Holy Father these 
 superfluous things which he may easily spare. I only took his plate, 
 his jewelry, and diamonds, thus reducing him to the simplicity of 
 the apostles ; and I am sure the good old man will thank me for it. 
 I have, moreover, only striven to promote the welfare of his soul by 
 doing so, and the Roman martyrologist some day will add his name 
 to the list of saints. % The jewels and the gold I sent to Paris, to- 
 gether with the statue of the Madonna of Loretto, but I retained a 
 few relics for you, Josephine. See here the most precious one of 
 them all !" 
 
 He handed her a small paper, carefully folded up. Josephine 
 
 ♦This wonderful banner was hung up in the hall of the Directory while the mem- 
 bers of the latter were occupying the Luxemburg. It afterward accompanied the 
 three consuls to the Tuileries, and was preserved there in the large reception-room. 
 It is now in the " Dome dea InvaJJdes " in the chapel containing the emperor's sar- 
 cophagus. 
 
 t Homer. 
 
 JLe Normand, vol. i., p. 843. 
 12 
 
168 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. / 
 
 hastily opened it and asked, in surprise—" A piece of black woollen 
 cloth! And that is a relic?" 
 
 "And a most precious one at that! It is Loretto's most 
 priceless treasure. It is a piece of the gown of the Virgin Mary, in 
 which she was mourning for the Saviour.* Preserve this relic care- 
 fully, dear Josephine, and may it protect you from danger and grief !" 
 
 Josephine folded up the piece of cloth, and opening a large locket 
 ha,nging on her neck on a heavy gold chain, she laid the cloth into 
 it, and then closed the locket again. 
 
 "That shall be the sanctuary of my relic," she said. "I shall 
 keep it till I die." 
 
 "Why do you speak of dying?" he exclaimed, almost indignantly. 
 "What have we to do with grim-death? We, to whom life has to 
 fulfil and offer so much ! We shall return to Paris, and, if it please 
 God, a great future is awaiting us there !" 
 
 "If it please God, a happy future!" said Josephine, fervently. 
 " Oh, Bonaparte, how gladly I shall reenter our dear little house in 
 the Rue Chantereine, where we passed the iirst happy days of our 
 love !" 
 
 " No, Josephine, " he exclaimed, impetuously, " that little house 
 will not be a fitting abode for the conqueror of Italy. I am no longer 
 the poor general who had nothing but his sword. I return rich in 
 glory, and not poor as far as money is concerned. I might have 
 easily appropriated the spoils amounting to many millions ; but I 
 disdained the money of spoliation and bribery, and what little 
 money I have got now, was acquired in an honest and chivalrous 
 manner, f It is sufficient, however, to secure a brilliant existence 
 to us. I shall not be satisfied until I live with you in a house corre- 
 sponding with the splendor of my name. I need a palace, and shall 
 have it decorated with all the stands of colors I have taken in Italy. 
 To you alone, Josephine, to you I intrust the care of designating to 
 me a palace worthy of being offered to me by the nation I have im- 
 mortalized, and worthy also of a wife whose beauty and gi-ace could 
 only beautify it. I Come, Josephine — come to Paris 1 Let us select 
 such a palace !" 
 *Ibid.,ToI. i., p. 245. 
 
 t Bonaparte at St. Helena said to Las Casas that lie had brought only three hun- 
 dred thousand francs from Italy. Bourrienne asserts, however, Bonaparte had 
 brought home no less than three million francs. He adds, however, that this sum 
 was not the fruit of peculation and corruption, Bonaparte having been an incorrupt- 
 ible administrator. But he had discovered the mines of Yorda, and ha had an inter- 
 est in the meat contracts for the army. He wanted to be independent, and knew 
 better than any one else that he could not be independent without money. He said 
 to Bourrienne in regard to it, "I am no Capuchin I "— Mfimoires de Bourrienne, vol. 
 ii., p. 47. 
 
 :tLe Normand, vol. i., p. 3SS. 
 
MINISTER THUGUT. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MINISTER THUGUT. 
 
 The prime minister, Baron Thugut, was in his study. It was 
 yet early in tlie morning, and tlie minister had just entered his room 
 in order to begin his political task. On the large green table at 
 which Thugut had just sat down, there lay the dispatches and letters 
 delivered by the couriers who had arrived during the night and early 
 in the morning. There were, besides, unfolded documents and de- 
 crees, waiting for the minister's signature, in order to become valid 
 laws. But the minister took no notice whatever of these papers, 
 but iirst seized the newspapers and other periodicals, which he com- 
 menced reading with great eagerness. While he was perusing them, 
 his stem features assumed a still harsher mien, and a gloomy cloud 
 settled on his brow. Suddenly he uttered a wild oath and violently 
 hurling the paper, in which he had been reading, to the floor, he 
 jumped up from his chair. 
 
 " Such impudence is altogether intolerable !" he shouted, angrily. 
 " It is high time for me to teach these newspaper scribblers another 
 lesson, and they shall have it ! I — " 
 
 Just then, the door of the anteroom opened, and a footman 
 entered. He informed his master that the police minister, Count 
 Saurau, wished to see him. 
 
 Baron Thugut ordered him to be admitted at once, and went to 
 meet him as soon as he heard him come in. 
 
 "You anticipate my wishes, my dear coimt," he said. "I was 
 jtist going to send for you. " 
 
 "Your excellency knows that I am always ready to obey your 
 calls, " replied Count Saurau, politely. " I acknowledge your superi- 
 ority and submit to you as though you were my lord and master ; 
 notwithstanding our position in society and in the state service, 
 which is almost an equal one, I willingly permit you to treat me as 
 your disciple and inferior. " 
 
 ■' And I believe that is the wisest course you can pursue, my dear 
 little count," said Thugut, laughing sarcastically. "It has been 
 good for you to do so, I should think, and so it has been for the 
 whole Austrian ship of state, that has been intrusted to my guidance. 
 Yes, sir, the son of the ship-builder Thunichtgut has shown to you 
 and your fellow-members of the ancient aristocracy that talents and 
 ability are no exclusive privileges of your class, and that a common 
 ship-builder's son may become prime minister, and that a low-born 
 Thunichtgut may be transformed into a Baron von Thugut. The 
 
170 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 great Empress Maria Theresa has performed this miracle, and bap- 
 tized me, and I believe Austria never found fault vcith her for doing 
 so. The ship-builder's son has piloted the ship of state tolerably 
 skilfully through the breakers up to the present time, and he shall 
 do so in future too, in spite of all counts and aristocrats. You see, 
 I do not try to conceal my humble descent ; nay, I boast of it, and it 
 is therefore quite unnecessary for you to remind me of what I never 
 want to forget !" 
 
 " I see that some late occurrence must have excited your excel- 
 lency's just anger," exclaimed Count Saurau. 
 
 "And being police minister, you doubtless know all about that 
 occurrence, " said Thugut, sarcastically. 
 
 Count Saurau shrugged his shoulders. " I confess I am unable 
 to divine — " 
 
 " Then you have not read the papers this morning?" asked Thugut, 
 scornfully. " You have no idea of the infamous attack which an 
 aristocratic newspaper scribbler has dared to make upon me, nay, 
 upon the emperor himself?" 
 
 " I confess that I do not understand what your excellency means, " 
 said Count Saurau, anxiously. 
 
 "Well, then, listen to me !" exclaimed Thugut, seizing the paper 
 again. "Listen to what I am going to read to you: 'At a time 
 when the whole Austrian people are longing for peace, when our 
 august Empress Theresia and our dearly beloved Archduke Charles 
 share these sentiments of the people and give expression to them at 
 the feet of the throne and in opposition to those who would deluge 
 our cherished Austria with the miseries and dangers of war — at such 
 a time we fondly look back into the great history of our country and 
 remember what has been accomplished by great and gifted members 
 of our imperial house in former periods for the welfare and tran- 
 quillity of Austria ; we remember, for instance, that Austria in 
 1619, like to-day, was threatened by enemies and on the eve of a 
 terrible war, not because the honor and welfare of Austria rendered 
 such a war necessary, but because the ambitious and arrogant minis- 
 ter. Cardinal Clesel, was obstinately opposed to peace, and utterly un- 
 mindful of the wishes of the people. He alone, he, the all-powerful 
 minister, was in favor of war ; he overwhelmed the weak Emperor 
 Mathias with his demands ; and when the latter, owing to the 
 anxiety he had to undergo, was taken sick, he even pursued him 
 with his clamor for war into his sick-room. But then the arch- 
 dukes, the emperor's brothers, boldly determined to interfere. They 
 arrested the rascally minister at the emperor's bedside, and sent him 
 to Castle Ambrass in the Tj^rol, where he suffered long impris- 
 onment, a just punishment for his arrogance and for his at- 
 
MINISTER THUGUT. 171 
 
 tempt to involve the country in a war so distasteful to all classes 
 of the people. About half a century later a similar occurrence took 
 place. There was again a minister advocating war in spite of the 
 whole Austrian people. It was in 1673. The minister to whose 
 suggestions the Emperor Leopold lent a willing ear at that time, was 
 Pi-ince Lobkowitz. But the Empress Claudia had compassion on the 
 people, groaning under the heavy yoke of the minister. She alone 
 prevailed upon the emperor by her eloquence and beauty to deprive 
 Prince Lobkowitz suddenly of all his honors and offices and to send 
 him on a common hay-wagon amidst the contemptuous scofiEs and 
 jeers of the populace of Vienna to the fortress of Raudnitz, forbidding 
 him under pain of death to inquire about the cause of his punish- 
 ment. ' * 
 
 " Well, " asked Thugut, when he ceased reading, " what do you 
 think of that?" 
 
 ■' I believe the article contains very idle historical reminiscences, " 
 said Count Saurau, shrugging his shoulders; "these reminiscences, 
 according to my opinion, have no bearing whatever upon our own 
 times. " 
 
 " That is, you will not admit their bearing upon our own times, 
 my dear little count ; you pretend not to perceive that the whole 
 article is directed against myself ; that the object is to exasperate 
 the people against me and to encourage my enemies to treat me in 
 the same manner as Clesel and Lobkowitz were treated. The article 
 alludes to the archdukes who overthrew the minister so obstinately 
 opposed to peace, and to the Empress Claudia who profited by her 
 power over the emperor in order to ruin an all-powerful minister, 
 her enemy. And you pretend not to see that all this is merely re- 
 ferred to for the purpose of encouraging Archduke Charles and the 
 Empress Theresia to act as those have acted? Both are at the head 
 of the peace partj- ; both want peace with France, and in their short- 
 sightedness and stupidity, they are enthusiastic admirers of that 
 French general Bonaparte, whom they call 'the Italian,' unmind- 
 ful of the great probability of his designating himself some day by 
 the sobriquet of ' the Austrian, ' unless we oppose him energetically 
 and set bounds to his thirst after conquest. They want to get rid of 
 me in the same manner as their predecessors got rid of Cardinal 
 Clesel. But I hold the helm as yet, and do not mean to relinquish it. " 
 
 "It would be a terrible misfortune for Austria if your excellency 
 should do so," said Count Saurau, in his soft, bland voice. "I do 
 not believe that either the Empress Theresa or the Archduke Charles 
 will act in a hostile manner toward you. " 
 
 " And if they should do so, I would not tolerate it, " exclaimed 
 
 » Vide Honnayer, " Lebensbilder aus dem Befreiungskriege," vol. i., p. 331. 
 
172 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Thugut. " My adversaries, whosoever they may be, had better beware 
 of my elephant foot not stamping them into the ground. I hate 
 that boastful, revolutionary France, and to remain at peace with 
 her is equivalent to drawing toward us the ideas of the revolution 
 and of a general convulsion. Short-sighted people will not believe 
 it, and they are my enemies because I am a true friend of Austria. 
 But being a true friend of Austria, I must combat all those who dare 
 oppose and impede me, for in my person they oppose and impede 
 Austria. First of all things, it is necessary for me to get rid of 
 those newspaper editors and scribblers ; they are arrogant, insolent 
 fellows who imagine they know every thing and are able to criticise 
 every thing, and who feel called upon to give their opinion about all 
 things and on all occasions because they know how to wield a goose- 
 quill. The best thing we cou^d do would be to suppress all newspa- 
 pers and periodicals. Shaping the course of politics ourselves, we 
 do not need any newspapers, which after all are nothing but rumi- 
 nating oxen of what we have eaten and digested already ; the people 
 do not understand any thing about it, nor is it necessary that they 
 should. The people have to work, to obey, to pay taxes, and, if 
 necessary, to give up their lives for their sovereign ; they need not 
 know any thing further about politics, and if they do, it is generally 
 detrimental to their obedience. Let us drive away, then, that 
 noxious crowd of newspaper vpriters and pamphleteers who dare en- 
 lighten the people by their political trash. Ah, I will teach Count 
 Erlach that it is a little dangerous to become a newspaper editor and 
 to serve up entremets of historical reminiscences to the people of 
 Vienna ! I will cram them down his own throat in such a manner 
 as to deprive him — " 
 
 " Count Erlach is the author of the article your excellency read 
 to me just now ?" asked Count Saurau, in great terror. 
 
 " There, his name is affixed to it in large letters, " replied Thugut, 
 contemptuously ; " he has not even taken pains to conceal it. We 
 have to return thanks to him for his sincerity, and I hope you will 
 take the trouble of expressing our gratitude to him. " 
 
 "What does your excellency want me to do?" asked the police 
 minister, anxiously. "I believe it would not be prudent for us to 
 make much ado about it. " 
 
 "Of course not," said Thugut, laughing. "Do I like to make 
 much ado about any thing, which would only give rise to scandal 
 and idle gossip? Just reflect a while, my dear little count. What 
 did we do, for instance, with the Neapolitan Count Montalban, who 
 became a thorn in our side, and endeavored to gain power over the 
 emperor? Did we accuse him of high treason? Did we prefer any 
 charges against him at all? We merely caused him to disappear, 
 
MINISTER THUGUT. 173 
 
 and no one know what had become of the interesting and handsome 
 count. People spoke for three or four days about his mysterious 
 disappearance, and then forgot all about it.* My dear sir, there is 
 nothing like oubliettes and secret prisons. I have often already 
 preached that to you, and you always forget it. Violence ! Who 
 will be such a fool as to beti-ay his little secrets by acts of open vio- 
 lence? We happen to stand on the great stage of life, and, like 
 every other stage, there are trap-doors in the floor, through which 
 those will disappear who have performed their parts. Let us, there- 
 fore, cause Count Erlach, the political writer, to vanish by means of 
 such a trap- door. " 
 
 " I implore your excellency to show indulgence for once, '' said 
 Count Saurau, urgently. "Count Erlach is an intimate friend of 
 Archduke Charles, and even the Empress Theresia is attached to him. " 
 
 " The greater the necessity for me to get rid of him, and to return 
 my thanks in this manner for the blows they want to deal me by 
 means of their historical reminiscences. This Count ErUich is a 
 very disgusting fellow, at all events ; he would like to play the in- 
 corruptible Roman and to shine by his virtue. There' is nothing 
 more tedious and intolerable than a virtuous man who cannot be got 
 at anywhere. Count Erlach has now given us a chance to get hold 
 of him ; let us improve it. " 
 
 "He has very influential connections, very powerful protectors, 
 your excellency. If he should disappear, they will raise a terrible 
 outcry about it, and make it their special business to seek him, and 
 if they should not find him they will say we had killed him because 
 your excellency was afraid of him. " 
 
 "I was afraid of him !" exclaimed Thugut, laughing. "As if I 
 ever had been afraid of any one. Even an earthquake would not be 
 able to frighten me, and, like Fabricius, I should only look around 
 quite slowly for the hidden elephant of Pyrrhus. No, I know no 
 fear, but I want others to feel fear, and for this reason Count Erlach 
 must be disposed of. " 
 
 " Very well, let us get rid of him, " replied Count Saurau, " but in 
 a simple manner and before the eyes of the whole public. Believe 
 me for once, your excellency, I know the ground on which we are 
 standing ; I know it to be undermined and ready to explode and 
 blow us up. Count Erlach 's disappearance would be the burning 
 match that might bring about the explosion. Let us be cautious, 
 therefore. Let us remove him beyond the frontier, and threaten 
 him with capital punishment in case he ever should dare to reenter 
 Austria, but let us permit him now to leave the country without any 
 injury whatever." 
 
 * Lebensbilder, vol. i., p. 321. 
 
174 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 " Well, be it so. I will let you have your own way, my dear 
 anxious friend. Have Erlach arrested to-day ; let two police com- 
 missioners transport him beyond the frontier, and threaten him 
 with capital punishment, or with my revenge — which will be the 
 same to him — in case he should return. Let the scribblers and 
 newspapers learn, too, why Count Erlach was exiled. The prudent 
 men among them will be warned by his fate, and hereafter hold 
 their tongues ; the stupid and audacious fellows, however, will raise 
 an outcry about the occurrence, and thus give us a chance to get hold 
 of them likewise. The matter is settled, then ; the aristocratic news- 
 paper writer will be transported from the country, and that is the end 
 of it. * But I shall seek further satisfaction for these articles in the 
 newspapers. Oh, the new Empress Theresia and the archduke shall 
 find out that I am no Clesel or Lobkowitz to be got rid of by means 
 of an intrigue. I shall try to obtain in the course of to-day an order 
 from the emperor, removing the archduke from the command of 
 the army and causing him to retire into private life. He wants 
 peace and repose in so urgent a manner ; let him sleep and dream, 
 then, while we are up and doing. I need a resolute and coura- 
 geous general at the head of the army, a man who hates the 
 French, and not one who is friendly to them. But as for the 
 empress — " 
 
 "Your excellency, " interrupted Count Saurau, with a mysterious 
 air, " I called upon you to-day for the purpose of speaking to you 
 about the empress, and of cautioning you against — " 
 
 "Cautioning me?" exclaimed Thugut, with proud disdain. 
 "What is the matter, then?" 
 
 "You know assuredly that the Empress Theresia has fully recov- 
 ered from her confinement, and that she has held levees for a whole 
 week already. " 
 
 "As if I had not been the first to obtain an audience and to kiss 
 her hand !" exclaimed Thugut, shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 " The empress, " continued Saurau, " has received the ambassadors 
 also ; she even had two interviews already with the minister of the 
 French Eepublic, General Bernadotte. " 
 
 Thugut suddenly became quite attentive, and fixed his small, 
 piercing eyes upon the police minister with an expression of intense 
 suspense. 
 
 "Two interviews?" he asked. "And you know what they con- 
 ferred about in these two interviews?" 
 
 "I should be a very poor police minister, and my secret agents 
 
 * Count Erlach was really transported beyond the Austrian frontier by two police 
 commissioners. Only after Thugut's overthrow in 1801 was he allowed to return to 
 Austria and Vienna.— Lebensbilder, vol. i., p. 381. 
 
MINISTER THUGUT. 175 
 
 would furnish me very unsatisfactory information, if I did not 
 know it. " 
 
 " Well, let us hear all about it, my dear count. What did the 
 empress say to Bernadotte ?" 
 
 "In the first audience General Bernadotte began by reading his 
 official speech to her majesty, and the empress listened to him with 
 a gloomy air. But then they entered upon a less ceremonious con- 
 versation, and Bernadotte assured the empress that France enter- 
 tained no hostile intentions whatever against Naples, her native 
 country. He said he had been authorized by the Directory of the 
 Republic to assure her majesty officially that she need not feel any 
 apprehensions in relation to Naples, France being animated by the 
 most friendly feelings toward that kingdom. The face of the em- 
 press lighted up at once, and she replied to the general in veiy gra- 
 cious terms, and gave him permission to renew his visits to her 
 majesty whenever he wished to communic ate any thing to her. He 
 had asked her to grant him this permission. " 
 
 " I knew the particulars of this first interview, except the passage 
 referring to this permission," said Thugut, quietly. 
 
 "But this permission precisely is of the highest importance, 
 your excellency, for the empress thereby gives the French minister 
 free access to her rooms. He is at liberty to see her as often as he 
 wishes, to communicate any thing to her. It seems the general has 
 to make many communications to her majesty, for two days after 
 the first audience, that is yesterday, General Bernadotte again re- 
 paired to the Hofburg in order to see the empress. " * 
 
 "And did she admit him?" asked Thugut. 
 
 " Yes, she admitted him, your excellency. This time the general 
 did not confine himself to generalities, but fully unbosomed himself 
 to her majesty. He confessed to the empress that France was very 
 anxious to maintain peace with Naples as well as with Austria ; 
 adding, however, that this would be much facilitated by friendly 
 advances, especially on the part of Austria. Austria, instead of 
 pursuing such a policy, was actuated by hostile intentions toward 
 France. When the empress asked for an explanation of these words, 
 Bernadotte was bold enough to present to her a memorial directed 
 against the policy of your excellency, and in which the general said 
 he had taken pains, by order of the Directory, to demonstrate that 
 the policy of Baron Thugut was entirely incompatible with a good 
 understanding between Austria and France, and that, without such 
 an understanding, the fate of Naples could not be but very uncertain. " 
 
 "What did the empress reply?" asked Thugut, whose mien did 
 not betray a symptom of excitement or anger. 
 
 * " MSmoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 485. 
 
176 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Her majesty replied she would read the memorial with the 
 greatest attention, and keep it a profound secret from every one. 
 She added, however, she feared lest, even if the memorial should 
 convince herself of the inexpediency of Baron Thugut's policy, it 
 might be difficult if not impossible to induce the emperor to take a 
 similar view of the matter — his majesty reposing implicit confi- 
 dence in his prime minister and being perfectly satisfied of your 
 excellency's fidelity, honesty, and incorruptibility. After this 
 reply, Bernadotte approached the empress somewhat nearer, and 
 cautiously and searchingly glanced around the room in order to 
 satisfy himself that no one but her majesty could overhear his words. 
 Just then — " 
 
 "Well, why do you hesitate?" asked Thugut, hastily. 
 
 " My tongue refuses to repeat the calumnies which the French 
 minister has dared to utter. '' 
 
 " Compel your tongue to utter them, and let me hear them, " ex- 
 claimed Thugut, sarcastically. 
 
 "With your excellency's leave, then. Bernadotte then almost 
 bent down to the ear of the empress and said to her, whisperingly, 
 the Directory of France were in possession of papers that would 
 compromise Minister Thugut and furnish irrefutable proofs that 
 Minister Thugut was by no means a reliable and honest adviser of 
 his majesty, inasmuch as he was in the pay of foreign powers, Eng- 
 land and Russia particularly, who paid him millions for always 
 fanning anew the flames of Austria's hostility against France. 
 Bernadotte added that these papers were on the way and would 
 arrive at Vienna by the next courier. He asked the empress if she 
 would permit him to hand these papers to her for placing them into 
 the hands of the emperor. " 
 
 " And the empress ?" 
 
 "The empress promised it, and granted a third audience to the 
 minister as soon as he should be in possession of the papers and 
 apply for an interview with her. " * 
 
 " Are you through ?" asked Thugut, with the greatest composure. 
 
 " Not yet, your excellency. It remains for me to tell you that the 
 courier expected by Bernadotte arrived last night at the hotel of the 
 French embassy, and that the minister himself immediately left his 
 couch in order to receive the dispatches in person. Early this morn- 
 ing an extraordinary activity prevailed among the employes of the 
 embassy, and the first attache as well as the secretary of legation 
 left the hotel at a very early hour. The former with a letter from 
 Bernadotte repaired to Laxenburg where the empress, as is well 
 known to your excellency, has been residing with her court for the 
 * " Mgmoires d'un Homme d'Etat," vol. v., p. 290. 
 
MINISTER THUGUT. 177 
 
 last few days. After the lapse of an hour, he returned, and brought 
 the general the verbal reply from the empress that her majesty 
 would return to Vienna in order to attend the festival of the volun- 
 teers, and would then be ready to grant an immediate audience to 
 the ambassador. " 
 
 ■• And whither did the secretary of legation go ?" 
 
 " First to one of our most fashionable military tailors, * and then 
 to a dry-goods store. At the tailor's he ordered a banner, which is 
 to be ready in the course of this evening, and at the dry-goods store 
 he purchased the material required for this banner — blue, white, 
 and red. Now, your excellency, I am through with my report. " 
 
 " I confess, my dear count, that I have listened to you with the 
 most intense pleasure and satisfaction, and that I cannot refrain 
 from expressing to you my liveliest admiration for the vigilance 
 and energy of your police, who do not merely unfathom the past 
 and present, but also the futui-e. In three days, then, the ambassa- 
 dor of France will have an interview with the empress?" 
 
 "Yes, your excellency, and he will then deliver to her the above- 
 mentioned papers. " 
 
 " Provided he has got any such papers, my friend ! Papers that 
 might compromise me ! As if tliere were any such papers ! As if I 
 ever had been so stupid as to intrust secrets to a scrap of paper and 
 to betray to it what every one must not know. He who wants to 
 keep secrets — and I understand that exceedingly well — will intrust 
 them just as little to paper as to human ear. I should burn my own 
 hair did I believe that it had got wind of the ideas of my head. I 
 would really like to see these papers which Bernadotte — " 
 
 The sudden appearance of the valet de chambre interrupted the 
 minister. "Your excellency," he said, "the ambassador of the 
 French Republic, General Bernadotte, would like to see your excel- 
 lency immediately concerning a very important and urgent affair." 
 
 Thugut exchanged a rapid, smiling glance with the count. 
 "Take the ambassador to the reception-room and tell him that I 
 shall wait on him at once. " 
 
 "Well?" he asked, when the valet had withdrawn. "Do you 
 still believe that Bernadotte has got papers that would compromise 
 me? Would he call on me in that case? He doubtless intends tell- 
 ing me his ridiculous story, too, or he wishes to intimidate me by 
 his interviews with the empress, so as to prevail on me to accede 
 to the desires of France and to become more pliable. But he is 
 entirely mistaken. I am neither afraid of his interviews with the 
 empress, nor of Bernadotte 's papers, and shall immovably pursue 
 
 * Military tailors are tailors who have the exclusive privilege of furnishing uni- 
 forms, etc., to the officers of the army. 
 
178 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 my own path. If it please God, this path will soon lead me to a 
 point where the battle against those overbearing French may be be- 
 gun in a very safe and satisfactory manner. Come, my dear count, 
 accompany me to the adjoining room. I shall leave the door ajar 
 that leads into the reception-room, for I want you to be an invisible 
 witness to my interview with the ambassador. Come !" 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE FESTIVAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 
 
 He quietly took the count's arm and went with him to the ad- 
 joining room. Indicating to him a chair standing not far from the 
 other door, he walked rapidly forward and entered the reception- 
 room. 
 
 General Bernadotte, quite a young man, approached him with a 
 stiff and dignified bearing, and there was an expression of bold de- 
 fiance and undisguised hostility plainly visible on his youthful and 
 handsome features. 
 
 Thugut, on his side, had called a smile upon his lips, and hi? 
 eyes were radiant with affability and mildness. 
 
 " I am very glad, general, to see you here at so unexpected an 
 hour," he said, politely. "Truly, this is a. distinction that will 
 cause all of our pretty ladies to be jealous of me, and I am afraid, 
 general, you will still more exasperate the fair sex, who never would 
 grant me their favor, against myself, for I am now assuredly to 
 blame if some of our most beautiful ladies now should vainly wait 
 for your arrival. " 
 
 " I am always very punctual in my appointments, your excellency, 
 whether they be armed rencounters or such rendezvous as your excel- 
 lency has mentioned just now, and, therefore, seems to like espe- 
 cially," said Bernadotte, gravely. "I call upon your excellency, 
 however, in the name of a lady, too — in the name of the French 
 Republic !" 
 
 " And she is, indeed, a very exalted and noble lady, to whom the 
 whole world is bowing reverentially, " said Thugut, smiling. 
 
 " In the name of the French Republic and of the French Directory, 
 I would like to inquire of your excellency whether or not it is a fact 
 that a popular festival will be held to-morrow here in Vienna?" 
 
 "A popular festival ! Ah, my dear general, I should not have 
 thought that the French Republic would take so lively an interest in 
 the popular festivals of the Germans ! But I must take the liberty 
 of requesting you, general, to apply with this inquiry to Count 
 
THE FESTIVAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 179 
 
 Saurau. For it is the duty of the police minister to watch over 
 these innocent amusements and harmless festivals of the people." 
 
 "The celebration I refer to is neither an innocent amusement 
 nor a harmless festival," exclaimed Bernadotte, hastily; "on the 
 contrary, it is a political demonstration. " 
 
 •• A political demonstration ?" repeated Thugut, in surprise. " By 
 whom? And directed against whom?" 
 
 " A political demonstration of Austria against the French Repub- 
 lic, " said the general, gravely. " It is true, your excellency pretends 
 not to know any hing about this festival of the thirteenth of April 
 but—" ' 
 
 " Permit me, sir, " interrupted Thugut, " is to-morrow the thir- 
 teenth of April?" 
 
 " Yes, your excellency. " 
 
 " Then I must say that I know something about this festival, and 
 that I am able to inform you about it. Yes, general, there will be 
 a popular festival to-morrow. " 
 
 "May I inquire for what purpose?" 
 
 "Ah, general, that is very simple. It is just a year to-morrow, 
 on the thirteenth of April, that the whole youth of Vienna, believ- 
 ing the country to be endangered and the capital threatened by the 
 enemy, in their noble patriotism voluntarily joined the army and 
 repaired to the seat of war.* These young volunteers desire to cel- 
 ebrate the anniversary of their enrolment, and the emperor, I be- 
 lieve, has given them permission to do so. " 
 
 " I have to beg your excellency to prevail on the emperor to with- 
 draw this permission. " 
 
 " A strange request ! and why?" 
 
 "Because this festival is a demonstration against France, for 
 those warlike preparations last year were directed against Fi-ance, 
 while Austria has now made peace with our republic. It is easy to 
 comprehend that France will not like this festival of the volunteers. " 
 "My dear general," said Thugut, with a sarcastic smile, "does 
 France believe, then, that Austria liked all those festivals celebrated 
 by the French Republic during the last ten years? The festivals of 
 the republican weddings, for instance, or the festival of the Goddess 
 of Reason, or the anniversaries of bloody executions? Or more 
 recently the celebrations of victories, by some of which Austria has 
 lost large tracts of territory ? I confess to you that Austria would 
 have greatly liked to see some of those festivals suppressed, but 
 France had not asked our advice, and it would have been arrogant 
 and ridiculous for us to give it without being asked for it, and thus 
 to meddle with the domestic affairs of your country. Hence we 
 * " Mfimoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 493. 
 
180 LOUISA OP PEUSSIA. 
 
 silently tolerated your festivals, and pray you to grant us the same 
 toleration. " 
 
 " The French Eepublic will not and must not suffer what is con- 
 trary to her interests," replied Bernadotte, vehemently. "This 
 festival insults us, and I must therefore pray your excellency to 
 prohibit it. " 
 
 A slight blush mantled the cold, hard features of Baron Thugut, 
 but he quickly suppressed his anger, and seemed again quite care- 
 less and unrufBed. 
 
 "You pray for a thing, general, which it is no longer in our 
 power to grant, " he said, calmly. " The emperor has granted per- 
 mission for this festival, and how could we refuse the young men of 
 the capital a satisfaction so eagerly sought by them and, besides, so 
 well calculated to nourish and promote the love of the people for 
 their sovereign and for their country? Permit us, like you, to cele- 
 brate our patriotic festivals. " 
 
 " I must repeat my demand that this festival be prohibited !" said 
 Bernadotte, emphatically. 
 
 " Your demand ?" asked Thugut, with cutting coldness ; " I do 
 not believe that anybody but the emperor and the government has 
 the right in Austria to make demands, and I regret that I am unable 
 to grant your prayer. " 
 
 " Your excellency then will really permit this festival of the vol- 
 unteers to be celebrated to-morrow?" 
 
 " Most assuredly. His majesty has given the necessary permis- 
 sion. " 
 
 " Well, I beg to inform you that, in case the festival takes place 
 to-mon-ow, I shall give a festival on my part to-morrow, too. " 
 
 " Every one in Austria is at liberty to give festivals, provided 
 they are not contrary to decency, public morals, and good order. " 
 
 " Your excellency assumes an insulting tone !" exclaimed Berna- 
 dotte, in an excited voice. 
 
 "By no means," said Thugut, quietly. "My words would only 
 be insulting if I wanted to prevent you from giving your festival. 
 I tell you, however, you are welcome to give it. Let your festival 
 compete with ours. We shall see who will be victorious in this 
 competition. " 
 
 "So you really want to permit this festival of the volunteers 
 although I tell you that France disapproves of it?" 
 
 "Disapproves of it? Then France wants to play the lord and 
 master in those countries, too, which the republican armies have 
 not conquered? Permit me to tell you that Austria does not want 
 to belong to those countries. The festival of the volunteers will 
 take place to-morrow 1" 
 
THE FESTIVAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 181 
 
 "Well, my festival will take place to-mon-ow, too !" 
 "Then you doubtless have good reasons, like us, for giving a 
 festival?" 
 
 " Of course I have. I shall display to-morrow for the first time 
 at the hotel of the embassy the banner of the French Republic, the 
 tri-color of Fi-ance, and that event, I believe, deserves being cele- 
 brated in a becoming manner. " 
 
 "You want to publicly display the French banner?" 
 " Yes, sir, it will be displayed on my balcony and proudly float 
 in the air, as the tri-color of France is accustomed to do everywhere. '' 
 "I do not know, however, whether or not the Austrian air will 
 accustom itself to the tri-color of ITrance, and I pray you kindly to 
 consider, general, that the enterprise you are going to undertake is 
 something extraordinary and altogether unheard of. No ambassa- 
 dor of any foreign power has ever displayed any mark of distinction 
 on his house, and never has a French minister yet decorated his 
 hotel in such a manner as you now propose to do. That banner of 
 yours would therefore be without any precedent in the history of 
 diplomatic representation. " 
 
 "And so would the festival you are going to give before the eyes 
 of the French embassy, and notwithstanding my earnest protest. " 
 
 " Let the French embassy close their eyes if they do not want to 
 see our Austrian festivals. How often had we to do so in France 
 and pretend not to see what was highly insulting to us !" 
 
 " For the last time, then, you are going to celebrate the festival of 
 the volunteers to-morrow, notwithstanding the protest of Fi-ance?" 
 
 "I do not think that. France ought to protest against matters that 
 do not concern her. You prayed me to prohibit the celebration, and 
 I was unable to grant your prayer ; that is all. " 
 
 "Very well, your excellency, you may celebrate your festival — 
 I shall celebrate the inauguration of my banner ! And now I have 
 tlie honor to bid your excellency farewell !" 
 
 " I hope the inauguration will be a pleasant affair, general. I 
 take the liberty once more to tell you that yom- banner will create a 
 gi-eat sensation. The people of Vienna are stubborn, and I cannot 
 warrant that they will get accustomed to see another banner but the 
 one containing the Austrian colors displayed in the streets of Vienna. 
 FareweU !" 
 
 He accompanied the general to the door, and replied to his cere- 
 monious obeisance by a proud, careless nod. 
 
 He then hastily crossed the reception-room and entered again the 
 adjoining apartment, where the police minister was awaiting him. 
 "Did you hear it?" asked Thugut, whose features were express- 
 ing now the whole anger and rage he had concealed so long. 
 
183 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " I have heard every thing, " said Count Saurau. " The impu- 
 dence of France knows no bounds. " 
 
 "But we shall set bounds to it !" exclaimed Thugut, with unusual 
 vehemence. "We will show to this impudent republic that we 
 neither love nor fear her. " 
 
 " The festival, then, is really to take place to-morrow ?" 
 
 "Can you doubt it? It would be incompatible with Austria's 
 honor to yield now. The youth of Vienna shall have their patriotic 
 festival, and — let the police to-morrow be somewhat more indulgent 
 than usual. Youth sometimes needs a little license. Let the young 
 folks enjoy the utmost liberty all day to-morrow ! No supervision 
 to-morrow, no restraints ! Let the young people sing their patriotic 
 hymns. He who does not want to hear them may close his ears. 
 Pray let us grant to the good people of Vienna to-morrow a day of 
 entire liberty. " 
 
 " But if quarrels and riots should ensue ?" 
 
 " My dear count, you know very well that no quarrels take place 
 if our police do not interfere ; the people love each other and agree 
 perfectly well if we leave them alone and without any supervision. 
 They will be to-morrow too full of patriotism not to be joyful and 
 harmonious. Once more, therefore, no supervision, no restraints ! 
 Let the police belong to the people ; let all your employes and agents 
 put on civilian's clothes and mix with the people, not to watch over 
 them, but to share and direct their patriotism. " 
 
 "Ah, to direct it!" exclaimed Count Saurau, with the air of a 
 man who just commences guessing a riddle. " But suppose this pa- 
 triotism in its triumphal march should meet with a stumbling-block 
 or rather with a banner — ?" 
 
 " Then let it quietly go ahead ; genuine patriotism is strong and 
 courageous, and will surmount any obstacle standing in its way. 
 The only question is to inspire it with courage and constantly to fan 
 its enthusiasm. That will be the only task of the police to-morrow. " 
 
 " And they will fulfil that task with the utmost cheerfulness. I 
 shall to-morrow—" 
 
 "As far as you are concerned, " said Thugut, interrupting him, 
 " it seems to me you will be unfortunately prevented from partici- 
 pating in the patriotic festival to-morrow. You look exceedingly pale 
 and exhausted, my dear count, and if I may take the liberty of giving 
 you a friendly advice, please go to bed and send for your physician. " 
 "You are right, excellency, " replied Count Saurau, smiling, "I 
 really feel sick and exhausted. It will be best for me, therefore, to 
 keep my bed for a few days, and my well-meaning physician will 
 doubtless give stringent orders not to admit anybody to me and to 
 permit no one to see me on business. " 
 
THE FESTIVAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 183 
 
 "As soon as your physician has given such orders, " said Thugut, 
 "send me word and request me to attend temporarily to the duties 
 of your department as long as you are sick. " 
 
 " In half an hour you shall receive a letter to that effect. I go in 
 order to send for a physician. " 
 
 "One word more, my dear count. What has become of that 
 demagogue, the traitor Wenzel, who headed the riot last year? I 
 then recommended him to your special care. " 
 
 " And I let him have it, your excellency. I believe he has entirely 
 lost his fancy for insurrectionary movements ; and politics, I trust, 
 are very indifferent to him. " 
 
 " I should regret if it were so, " said Thugut, smiling. " I suppose 
 you have got him here in Vienna?" 
 
 "Of course; he occupies a splendid half- dark dungeon in our 
 penitentiary. " 
 
 " Picking oakum ?" 
 
 " No ; I hear he has often asked for it as a favor. But I had given 
 stringent orders to leave him all alone and without any occupation 
 whatever. That is the best way to silence and punish such political 
 criminals and demagogues. " 
 
 " I would like to see this man Wenzel. We shall, perhaps, set 
 him at liberty again, " said Thugut. " Will you order him to be 
 brought here quietly, and without any uimecessary eclat?" 
 
 "I shall send him to you, and that shall be my last official busi- 
 ness before being taken sick. " 
 
 " Be it so, my dear count. Go to bed at once ; it is high time. " 
 They smilingly shook hands, and looked at each other long and 
 significantly. 
 
 " It will be a splendid patriotic festival to-morrow, " said Thugut. 
 " A very patriotic festival, and the inauguration of the banner 
 particularly will be a glorious affair !" exclaimed Count Saurau. 
 •' What a pity that my sickness should prevent me from attending it !" 
 He saluted the prime minister once more and withdrew. When 
 the door had closed behind him the smile disappeared from Thugut's 
 features, and a gloomy cloud settled on his brow. Folding his arms 
 on his back, and absorbed in deep thought, he commenced slowly 
 pacing the room. "The interview with the empress must be pre- 
 vented at all events, " he muttered, after a long pause, " even if all 
 diplomatic relations with France have to be broken off for that pur- 
 pose. Besides, I must have those papers which he wanted to deliver 
 to the empress ; my repose, my safety depends upon it. Oh, I know 
 very well what sort of papers they are with which they are threaten- 
 ing me. They are the letters I had written in cipher to Burton, the 
 English emissary, whom the French Directory a month ago caused 
 13 
 
184 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 to be arrested as a spy and demagogue at Paris, and whose papers 
 were seized at the same time. Those letters, of course, would en- 
 danger my position, for there is a receipt among them for a hundred 
 thousand guineas paid to me. What a fool I was to write that 
 receipt ! I must get it again, and I am determined to have it !" 
 
 A few hours later, an emaciated, pale man was conducted into 
 the room of Prime Minister Baron Thugut. The minister received 
 him with a friendly nod, and looked with a smiling countenance at 
 this sick, downcast, and suffering man, whom he had seen only a 
 year ago so bold and courageous at the head of the misguided 
 rioters. 
 
 "You have greatly changed, Mr. Wenzel, " he said, kindly. 
 "The prison air seems not to agree with you. " 
 
 Wenzel made no reply, but dropped his head with a profound 
 sigh on his breast. 
 
 " Ah, ah, Mr. Wenzel, " said Thugut, smiling, " it seems your 
 eloquence is gone, too. " 
 
 " I have formerly spoken too much ; hence I am now so taciturn, " 
 muttered the pale man. 
 
 ■' Every thing has its time, speaking as well as silence, '' said 
 Thugut. " It is true speaking has rendered you very wretched ; it 
 has made you guilty of high treason. Do you know how long you 
 will have to remain in prison ?" 
 
 " I believe for fifteen years, " said Wenzel, with a shudder. 
 
 " Fifteen years ! that is half a lifetime. But it does not change 
 such demagogues and politicians as you, sir. As soon as you are 
 released you recommence your seditious work, and you tiy to make 
 a martyr's crown of your well-merited punishment. Traitors like 
 you are always incorrigible, and unless they are gagged for life they 
 always cry out anew and stir up insurrection and disorder." 
 
 Wenzel fixed his haggard eyes with a sorrowful expression upon 
 the minister. 
 
 " I shall never stir up insurrections again, nor raise my voice in 
 public as I used to do," he said, gloomily. "I have been cured of 
 it forever, but it was a most sorrowful cure. " 
 
 "And it will last a good while yet, Mr. Wenzel." 
 
 " Yes, it will last dreadfully long, " sighed the wretched man. 
 
 " Are you married ? Have you got any children ?" 
 
 "Yes, I have a wife and two little girls— two little angels. Ah, 
 If I could only see them once more in my life !" 
 
 " Wait yet for fourteen years ; you can see them then if they be 
 still alive, and care about having you back. " 
 
 " I shall not live fourteen years, " murmured the pale, downcast 
 man. 
 
THE FESTIVAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 185 
 
 " Well, listen to me, Mi-. Wenzel. What would you do if I should 
 set you at liberty?" 
 
 " At liberty ?" asked the man, almost in terror. " At liberty !" he 
 shouted then, loudly and jubilantly. 
 
 "Yes, sir, at liberty! But you must do something in order to 
 deserve it. Will you do so?" 
 
 " I will do every thing, every thing I am ordered to do, if I am to 
 be set at liberty, if I am allowed to 'see my wife and my little girls 
 again !" shouted Wenzel, trembling with delight. 
 
 " Suppose I should order you again to become a popular orator 
 and to stir up a nice little riot?" 
 
 The gleam of joy disappeared again from Wenzel's eyes, and he 
 looked almost reproachfully at the minister. " You want to mock 
 me," he said, mournfully. 
 
 "No, my man, I am in good earnest. You shall be a popular 
 orator and leader all day to-morrow. Are you ready for it?" 
 
 " No, I have nothing to do with such matters now. I am a good 
 and obedient subject, and only ask to be allowed to live peaceably 
 and quietly. " 
 
 Thugut bui-st into a loud laugh. "Ah, you take me for a tempt- 
 er, Mr. Wenzel, " he said ; " but I am in earnest ; and if you will 
 get up for me a splendid riot to-morrow, I will set you at liberty and 
 no one shall interfere with you as long as you render yourself worthy 
 of my indulgence by obedience and an exemplary life. Tell me, 
 therefore, do you want to be released and serve me?" 
 
 Wenzel looked inquiringly and with intense suspense at the cold, 
 hard features of the minister, and then, when he had satisfied him- 
 self that he had really been in earnest, he rushed forward and kneel- 
 ing down before Thugut, he shouted, " I will serve you like a slave, 
 like a dog ! only set me at liberty, only give me back to my children 
 and my — " 
 
 A flood of tears burst from his eyes and choked his voice. 
 
 "All right, sir, I believe you, " said Thugut, gravely. "Now rise 
 and listen to what I have to say to you. You will be released to- 
 night. Then go and see your old friends and tell them you had 
 made a journey, and the French had arrested you on the road and 
 kept you imprisoned until you were released in consequence of the 
 measures the Austrian government had taken in your favor. If you 
 dare to utter a single word about your imprisonment here, you are 
 lost, for I hear and learn every thing, and have my spies everywhere, 
 whom I shall instruct to watch you closely. " 
 
 " I shall assuredly do whatever you want, " exclaimed Wenzel, 
 trembling. 
 
 "You shall complain to your friends about the harsh and cruel 
 
186 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 treatment you had to suflfer at the hands of the French. You shall 
 speak as a good patriot ought to speak. " 
 
 "Yes, I shall speak like a good patriot, " said Wenzel, ardently. 
 
 " To-morrow you will he with all your friends on the street in 
 order to attend the festival of the volunteers, and to look at the pro- 
 cession. Do you know where the French ambassador lives?" 
 
 " Yes, on the Kohlmarkt. " 
 
 " You shall do your best to draw the people thither. The French 
 ambassador will display the banner of the French Republic on his 
 balcony to-moiTOW. Can the people of Vienna tolerate that?" 
 
 " No, the people of Vienna cannot tolerate that !" shouted Wenzel. 
 
 " You will repeat that to every one — you will exasperate the peo- 
 ple against the banner and against the ambassador — you and the crowd 
 will demand loudly and impetuously that the banner be removed." 
 
 "But suppose the ambassador should refuse to remove it?" 
 
 " Then you will forcibly enter the house and renwve the banner 
 yourselves. " 
 
 "But if they shut the doors?" 
 
 " Then you will break them open, just as you did here a year ago. 
 And besides, are there no windows— are there no stones, by means 
 of which you may open the windows so nicely?" 
 
 "You give us permission to do all that?" 
 
 "I order you to do all that. Now listen to your special commis- 
 sion. A few of my agents will always accompany you. As soon as 
 you are in the ambassador's house, repair at once to his excellency's 
 study. Pick up all the papers you will find there, and bring them 
 to me. As soon as I see you enter my room with these papers, you 
 will be free forever !" 
 
 " I shall bring you the papers, " exclaimed Wenzel, with a radiant 
 face. 
 
 " But listen. Betray to a living soul but one single word of vsiiat 
 I have said to you, and not only yourself, but your wife and your 
 children will also be lost! My arm is strong enough to catch all of 
 you, and my ear is large enough to hear every thing. " 
 
 " I shall be as silent as the grave, " pratested Wenzel, eagerly. " I 
 shall only raise my voice in order to speak to the people about our 
 beloved and wise Minister Thugut, and about the miserable, over- 
 bearing French, who dare to hang out publicly the banner of their 
 bloody republic here in our imperial city, in our magnificent 
 Vienna !" 
 
 " That is the right talk, my man ! Now go and reflect about every 
 thing I have told you, and to-morrow morning call on me again ; I 
 shall then give you further instructions. Now go — go to your wife, 
 and keep the whole matter secret. " 
 
THE RIOT. 187 
 
 "Hurrah ! long live our noble prime minister !" shouted Wenzel, 
 jubilantly. "HuiTah, hurrah, I am free!" And he reeled away 
 like a drunken man. 
 
 Thugut looked after him with a smile of profound contempt. 
 " That is the best way to educate the people, " he said. " Truly, if 
 we could only send every Austrian for one year to the penitentiary, 
 we would have none but good and obedient subjects 1" 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE EIOT. 
 
 The streets of Vienna were densely crowded on the following 
 day. Every house was beautifully decorated with fresh verdure 
 and festoons of flowers ; business was entirely suspended, and the 
 people in their holiday dresses were moving through the streets, 
 jubilant, singing patriotic hymns, and waiting in joyous impatience 
 for the moment when the procession of the volunteers would leave 
 the city hall in order to repair to the Burg, where they were to cheer 
 the emperor. Then they would march through the city, and finally 
 conclude the festival with a banquet and ball, to be held in a public 
 hall that had been handsomely decorated for the occasion. 
 
 Not only the people, however, but also the educated and aristo- 
 cratic classes of Vienna wanted to participate in the patriotic festi- 
 val. In the open windows there were seen high-born ladies, beauti- 
 fully dressed, and holding splendid bouquets in their hands, which 
 were to be showered down upon the procession of the volunteers ; an 
 endless number of the most splendid caiTiages, surrounded by dense 
 crowds of pedestrians, were slowly moving through the streets, and 
 in these carriages there were seated the ladies and gentlemen of the 
 aristocracy and of the wealthiest frnancial circles ; they witnessed 
 the popular enthusiasm with smiles of satisfaction aiid delight. 
 
 Only the carriages of the ministers were missing in this gorgeous 
 procession, and it was reported everyAvhere that two of these gentle- 
 men. Prime Minister Baron von Thugut and Police Minister Count 
 Saurau, had been taken sick, and were confined to their beds, while 
 the other ministers were with the emperor at Laxenburg. 
 
 Baron Thugut's prediction had been verified, therefore ; the po- 
 lice minister had really been taken so sick that he had to keep his 
 bed, and that he had requested Baron Thugut by letter to take 
 charge of his department for a few days. 
 
 But the prime minister himself had suddenly become quite un- 
 well, and was unable to leave his room ! Hence he had not accom- 
 
188 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 panied the other ministers to Laxenburg in order to dine at the 
 emperor's table. Nay— an unheard-of occurrence— he had taken his 
 meals all alone in his study. His footman had received stringent 
 orders to admit no one, and to reply to every applicant for an inter- 
 view with him, " His excellency was confined to his bed by a raging 
 fever, and all business matters had to be deferred until to-morrow. " 
 
 The minister's condition, however, was not near as bad as that. 
 It was true he had the fever; but it was merely the fever of expecta- 
 tion, impatience, and long suspense. The whole day had passed, 
 and not a single dissonance had distui-bed the pure joy of the cele- 
 bration ; not a single violent scene had interrupted the patriotic 
 jubilee. The crowds on the streets and public places constantly in- 
 creased in numbers, but peace and hilarity reigned everywhere, and 
 the people were singing and laughing everywhere. 
 
 This was the reason why the minister's blood was so feverish, 
 why he could find no rest, and why his cold heart for once pulsated 
 so rapidly. He was pacing his study with long steps, murmuring 
 now and then some incoherent words, and then uneasily stepping to 
 the window in order to survey the street cautiously from behind the 
 curtain, and to observe the surging crowd below. 
 
 Just then the large clock on the marble mantelpiece commenced 
 striking. Thugut hastily turned toward it. "Six o'clock, and 
 nothing yet," he murmured. "I shall put that fellovsr Wenzel into 
 a subterranean dungeon for life, and dismiss every agent of mine, if 
 nothing — " 
 
 He paused and listened. It had seemed to him as though he had 
 heard a soft rap at the hidden door leading to the secret staircase. 
 Yes, it was no mistake ; somebody was rapping at it, and seemed to 
 be in great haste. 
 
 " At last !" exclaimed Thugut, drawing a deep breath, and he 
 approached with hurried steps the large painting, covering the 
 whole wall and reaching down to the floor. He quickly touched 
 one of the artificial roses on the gilt frame. The painting turned 
 round, and the door became visible behind it in the wall. 
 
 The rapping was now plainly heard. Thugut pushed the bolt 
 back and unlocked the door. His confidential secretary, Hiibschle, 
 immediately rushed in with a glowing face and in breathless haste. 
 
 "Your excellency," he gasped — "your excellency, the fun has 
 just commenced ! They are now pursuing the deer like a pack of 
 infuriated blood-hounds. Oh, oh ! they will chase him thoroughly, 
 I should think !" 
 
 Thugut cast a glance of gloomy indignation on the versatile little 
 man with the bloated face. "You have been drinking again, 
 Htibschle, " he said ; " and I have ordered you to remain sober to-day I" 
 
THE RIOT. 189 
 
 "Your excellency, I am quite sober," protested Hiibschle. "I 
 assure you I have not drunk any more than what was required by 
 my thirst. " 
 
 "Ala, yes; your thirst always requires large quantities," ex- 
 claimed Thugut, laughing. "But speak now rapidly, briefly, and 
 plainly. No circumlocution, no tirades ! Tell me the naked truth. 
 What fun has just commenced?" 
 
 " The inauguration of the banner, your excellency. " 
 
 "Then Bernadotte has hung out his banner, after all?" 
 
 " Yes, he has done so. We were just going down the street— 
 quite a jolly crowd it was, by the by. Master Wenzel, a splendid 
 fellow, had just loudly intoned the hymn of 'God save the Emperor 
 Francis, ' and all the thousands and thousands of voices were joining 
 the choir, as if they intended to serenade the French ambassador, 
 when, suddenly, a balcony door opened, and General Bernadotte, in 
 full uniform came out. He was attended by his whole suite ; and 
 several footmen brought out an immense banner, which they at- 
 tached to the balcony. We had paused right in the middle of our 
 beautiful hymn, and the people were looking up to the balcony, 
 from which the gentlemen had disappeared again, with glances full 
 of surprise and curiosity. But the banner remained there ! Sud- 
 denly a violent gust touched the banner, which, up to this time, 
 had loosely himg down, and unfolded it entirely. Now we saw 
 the French tricolor proudly floating over our German heads, 
 and on it w-e read, in large letters of gold— Liberie .' EgaliU! 
 Fratemite ! " * 
 
 " Wliat impudence !" muttered Thugut. 
 
 "You are right, that was the word," exclaimed Hiibschle. 
 "'What impudence!' roared Master Wenzel; and the whole crowd 
 immediately repeated, 'What impudence! Down with the foreign 
 banner ! We are not so stupid as the people of Milan, Venice, and 
 Rome ; we do not jubilantly hail the French color ; on the contrary, 
 this banner makes us angry. Down with it ! It is an insult offered 
 to the emperor, that a foreign flag with such an abominable inscrip- 
 tion is floating here. Down with the banner !' " 
 
 "Very good, very good, indeed," said Thugut, smiling. "This 
 man Wenzel is really a practical fellow. Go on, sir. " 
 
 "The crowd constantly assumed larger proportions, and the 
 shouts of 'Down with the banner!' became eveiy moment more 
 impetuous and threatening. Suddenly a small detachment of sol- 
 diers emerged from the adjoining sti'eet. The officer in command 
 kindly urged the people to disperse. But it was in vain ; the 
 tumult was constantly on the increase. The crowd commenced 
 * "Mfimoires U'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 494. 
 
190 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 tearing up the pavement and throwing stones at the windows and 
 at the banner. " 
 
 "And the soldiers?" 
 
 "They quietly stood aside. But^somebody is rapping at the 
 opposite door ! Shall I open it, your excellency?" 
 
 "One moment! I first want to turn back the painting. Sol 
 Now open the door, Hiibschle !" 
 
 The private secretary hastened with tottering steps to the door 
 and unlocked it. Thugut's second private secretary entered. He 
 held a sealed letter in his band. 
 
 "Well, Heinle, what's the matter?" asked Thugut, quietly. 
 
 "Your excellency, the Fi-ench ambassador, General Bernadotte, 
 has sent this letter to your excellency. " 
 
 "And what did you reply to the messenger?" 
 
 " That your excellency had a raging fever ; that the doctor had 
 forbidden us to disturb you, but that I would deliver it to the min- 
 ister as soon as he felt a little better. " 
 
 " That was right. Now go back to your post and guard the door 
 well in order that no one may penetrate into my room. And you, 
 Hiibschle, hasten back to the Kohlmarkt and see what is going on 
 there, and what is occurring at the French embassy. But do not 
 drink any more liquor ! As soon as this affair is over, I shall give 
 you three days' leave of absence, when you may drink as much as 
 you please. Go, now, and return soon to tell me all about it. " 
 
 " And now, " said Thugut, when he was alone, " I will see what 
 the French ambassador has written to me. " 
 
 He opened the letter, and, as if the mere perusal with the eyes 
 were not sufficient for him, he read in a half-loud voice as follows : 
 " The ambassador of the French Republic informs Baron Thugut that 
 at the moment he is penning these lines, a fanatical crowd has been 
 so impudent as to commit a riot in front of his dwelling. The mo- 
 tives that have produced this violent scene cannot be doubtful, in- 
 asmuch as several stones already were thrown at the windows of the 
 house occupied by the ambassador. Profoundly offended at so much 
 impudence, he requests Baron Thugut immediately to order an in- 
 vestigation, so that the instigators of the riot may be punished, and 
 that their punishment may teach the others a much-needed lesson. 
 The ambassador of the French Republic has no doubt that his recla- 
 mations will meet with the attention which they ought to excite, 
 and that the police, moreover, will be vigilant enough to prevent 
 similar scenes, which could not be renewed without producing the 
 most serious consequences, the ambassador being firmly determined 
 to repel with the utmost energy even the slightest insults, and ac- 
 cordingly much more so, such scandalous attacks. Baron Thugut is 
 
THE RIOT. 191 
 
 further informed that he Has reason to complain of the conduct of 
 several agents of the police. Some of them were requested to dis- 
 perse the riotei-s, but, instead of fulfilling the ambassador's orders, 
 they remained cold and idle spectators of the revolting scene. " * 
 
 " AMiat overbearing and insulting language this f ellovi^ dares to 
 use!" exclaimed Thugut, when he had finished the letter. "One 
 might almost believe he was our lord and master here, and — ah, 
 somebody raps again at the door! Perhaps Hiibschle is back 
 ah'eady. " 
 
 He quickly touched the frame of the painting again, and the 
 door opened. It was really Hiibschle, who entered as hastily as be- 
 fore. 
 
 " Your excellency, I have just reascended the staircase as rapidly 
 as though I were a cat," he gasped. "At the street door I learned 
 some fresh news from one of our men, and I returned at once to tell 
 you all about it. " 
 
 " Quick, you idle gossip, no unnecessary preface !" 
 
 " Your excellency, things are assuming formidable proportions. 
 The riot is constantly on the increase, and grows every minute more 
 threatening. Count Dietrichstein, and Count Ferson, the director 
 of the police, have repaired to General Bernadotte and implored him 
 to remove the banner. " 
 
 "The soft-hearted fools !" muttered Thugut. 
 
 "But their prayers were fruitless. They preferred them repeat- 
 edly, and always were refused. They even went so far as to assure 
 the ambassador, in case he should yield to their request and give 
 them time to calm the people and induce them to leave the place, 
 that the Austrian government would assuredly give him whatever 
 satisfaction he should demand. But General Bernadotte persisted 
 in his refusal— and replied peremptorily, ' No, the banner remains ! ' " 
 
 " Proceed, proceed !" exclaimed Thugut, impatiently. 
 
 "That is all I know, but I shall hasten to collect further news, 
 and then return to your excellency. " 
 
 Hiibschle disappeared through the secret door, and Thugut re- 
 placed the painting before it. " The banner remains !" he exclaimed, 
 laughing scornfully. "We will see how long it will remain ! Ah, 
 Heinle is rapping again at the other door. What is it, Heinle?" 
 
 " Another dispatch from the French ambassador, " said Heinle, 
 merely pushing his arm with the letter through the door. 
 
 "And you have made the same reply?" 
 
 " The same reply. " 
 
 " Good ! Return to your post. " 
 
 The arm disappeared again. Thugut opened the second dispatch, 
 * "Mfimoires d'tm Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 495. 
 
192 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 and read as before in a half-loud voice* : " The ambassador of the 
 Fi-ench Republic informs Baron Thugut that the fury of the mob is 
 constantly on the increase ; already all the window-panes of the 
 dwelling have been shattered by the stones the rioters are incessantly 
 throwing at them ; he informs you that the crowd at the present 
 moment numbers no less than three or four thousand men, and that 
 the soldiers whose assistance was invoked, so far from protecting 
 the house of the French embassy, remain impassive spectators of 
 the doings and fury of the rabble, their inactivity encouraging the 
 latter instead of deterring them. The ambassador cannot but be- 
 lieve that this scandalous scene is not merely tolerated, but fostered 
 by the authorities, for nothing whatever is done to put a stop to it. 
 He sees with as much regret as pain that the dignity of the French 
 people is being violated by the insults heaped on the ambassador, 
 who vainly implored the populace to disperse and go home. At the 
 moment the ambassador is writing these lines, the rage of the crowd 
 is strained to such a pitch that the doors have been broken open by 
 means of stones, while the soldiers were quietly looking on. The 
 furious rabble tore the French colors from the balcony with hooks 
 and long poles. The ambassador, who cannot remain any longer in 
 a country where the most sacred laws are disregarded and solemn 
 treaties trampled under foot, therefore asks Baron Thugut to send 
 him his passports in oi'der that he may repair to France with all the 
 attaches of the embassy, unless Baron Thugut should announce at 
 once that the Austrian governraent has taken no part whatever in 
 the insults heaped upon the French Republic ; that it disavows 
 them, on the contrary, in the most formal raanner, and that it orders 
 the ringleaders and their accomplices to be arrested and punished 
 in the most summary manner. On this condition alone, and if the 
 Austrian government agrees to restore the French banner and to 
 cause it to be displayed on the balcony of the French embassy by a 
 staflf-ofiHcer, the ambassador consents to remain in Vienna. Let 
 Baron Thugut remember that these are precious moments, and that 
 he owes the ambassador an immediate and categorical reply to his 
 inquiries. " * 
 
 "Well, I believe the good people of Vienna will take it upon 
 themselves to make a categorical reply to General Bernadotte, and 
 to silence the overbearing babbler, no matter how it is done," ex- 
 claimed Thugut, laughing scornfully. "I am really anxious to 
 know how this affair is going to end, and how my brave rioters will 
 chastise the ambassador for his insolence. What, another rap al- 
 ready? Why, you are a genuine posiiMon d' amour! Do you bring 
 me another letter?" 
 
 * "Mfimoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v., p. 501, 
 
THE RIOT. 193 
 
 "A third dispatch from General Bernadotte," exclaimed Heinle, 
 outside, pushing his arm with the dispatch again through the door. 
 
 Thugut took it and rapidly opened it. "It seems matters are 
 growing more pressing," he said, smilingly. "Let us read itl" 
 And he read with an air of great satisfaction : 
 
 " The ambassador of the French Republic informs Baron Thugut 
 that the riotous proceedings have lasted five hours already ; that no 
 agent of the police has come to his assistance; that the furious 
 rioters have taken possession of a portion of the house and are de- 
 stroying every thing they can lay their hands on. " 
 
 " Aha, my friend Wenzel is looking for the papers in the rooms 
 of the French embassy !" exclaimed Thugut, triumphantly. He 
 then read on. 
 
 "The ambassador, the secretaries of legation, the French citizens 
 and officers who are with him, were compelled to retire to a room 
 where they are waiting further developments with the undaunted 
 courage characteristic of the republicans. The ambassador repeats 
 his demand that the necessary passports be sent for him and for all 
 the French who desire to accompany him. The transmission of 
 these passports is the more urgent, as the rioters, wlio were about to 
 rush into the room where the French were awaiting them, only 
 shrank back when some servants of the French embassy discharged 
 the fire-arms with which they had been provided." 
 
 "Ah, a regular battle, then, has taken place !" shouted Thugut, 
 in great glee. "A siege in grand style! Wonder why Hiibschle 
 has not come back yet? But stop ! I hear him already. He raps I 
 I am coming, sir ! I am opening the door already !" 
 
 And Thugut hastened to touch the frame of the painting and to 
 open the door. 
 
 It was true, Hiibschle, the private secretary, was there, but he 
 did not come alone. Wenzel, soiled with blood, his clothes torn and 
 in the wildest disorder, entered with him, supporting himself on 
 Hiibschle 's arm. 
 
 " Ah, you bring me there a wounded boar !" said Thugut, morosely. 
 
 "A boar who splendidly goaded on the hounds and performed the 
 most astonishing exploits, " said Hiibschle, enthusiastically. " He 
 received a gunshot wound in the right arm and fainted. I carried 
 him with the assistance of a few friends to a well, and we poured 
 water on him until he recovered his senses and was able again to 
 participate in the general jubilee. " 
 
 "Then it was a jubilee? Mr. Wenzel, tell me all about it. " 
 
 "It was a very fine affair," said Wenzel, gasping. "We had 
 penetrated into the house and were working to the best of our power 
 in the magnificent rooms. The furniture, the looking-glasses, the 
 
194 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 chandeliers, the carriages in the courtyard, every thing was de- 
 sti-oyed, while we were singing and shouting, ' Long live the em- 
 peror ! God save the Emperor Francis ! ' " 
 
 " What a splendid Marseillaise that dear, kind-hearted Haydn 
 has composed for us in that hymn, " said Thugut, in a low voice, 
 gleefully rubbing his hands. " And the banner? What has become 
 of the banner?" 
 
 "The banner we had previously torn to pieces, and with the 
 shreds we had gone to the Sohottenplatz and publicly burned them 
 there amidst the jubilant shouts of the people. " 
 
 "Very good. And what else was done in the embassy building?" 
 
 " We rushed from room to room. Nothing withstood our fury, 
 and finally we arrived at the room in which the ambassador and his 
 suite had barricaded themselves as in a fortress. It was the ambas- 
 sador's study," said Wenzel, slowly and significantly— " the cabinet 
 in which he kept his papers. " 
 
 Thugut nodded gently, and said nothing but " Proceed !" 
 
 " I rushed toward the door and encouraged the others to follow 
 me. We succeeded in bursting the door open. At the same mo- 
 ment the besieged fired at us. Three of us dropped wounded ; the 
 others ran away. " 
 
 " Yes, the miserable rascals always run away as soon as they 
 smell gunpowder," said Thugut, indignantly. "And you, Mr. 
 Wenzel?" 
 
 "I was wounded and had fainted. My comrades carried me out 
 of the house. " 
 
 " And the papers ?" asked Thugut. " You did not take them ?" 
 
 " Your excellency. General Bernadotte and the whole retinue of 
 the embassy were in the room in which the ambassador keeps his 
 papers. I would have penetrated into it with my friends if the 
 buUet had not shattered my arm and stretched me down senseless. " 
 
 "Yes, indeed, you became entirely senseless," said Thugut, 
 harshly, " for j'ou even forgot that I only promised to release you 
 provided you should bring the papers of the French ambassador. " 
 
 "Your excellency, " shouted Wenzel, in dismay, "I — " 
 
 "Silence!" commanded Thugut, in a stern tone; "who has 
 allowed you to speak without being asked?" 
 
 At this moment another hasty rap at the door was heard, and 
 Heinle's arm appeared again in the door. 
 
 "Another dispatch from the French ambassador?" asked Thugut. 
 
 "No, your excellency, a dispatch from his majesty the emperor." 
 
 Thugut hastily seized the small sealed note and opened it. It 
 contained nothing but the following words : 
 
 " The ambassador has received a salutary lesson, and his banner 
 
THE RIOT. 195 
 
 has been destroyed. Let us stop the riot now, and avoid extreme 
 measures. Several regiments must be called out to restore order. " 
 
 The minister slowly folded the paper and put it into his pocket. 
 He then rang the bell so violently and loudly, that Heinle and the 
 other servants rushed immediately into the room. 
 
 "Open every door— call every footman!" commanded Thugut. 
 "Admit every one who wants to see me. Two mounted messengers 
 shall hold themselves in readiness to forward dispatches. Every 
 one may learn that, in spite of my sickness, I have risen from my 
 couch in order to reestablish tranquillity in the capital." 
 
 He stepped to his desk and rapidly wrote a few words, whereupon 
 he handed the paper to Germain, his valet de chambre. 
 
 "Here, Germain, hasten with this note to Count Fersen, the di- 
 rector of police, and take this fellow along. Two footmen may 
 accompany you. You will deliver him to the director of the police 
 and tell him that he is one of the rioters whom my agents have 
 aiTested. Request the director to have him placed in a safe prison 
 and to admit none to him but the ofHcers of the criminal court. He 
 is a very dangerous criminal ; this is the second time that he has 
 been arrested as a rioter. Well, what is the matter with the fellow? 
 He reels like a drunken man ! He has probably drunk too much 
 brandy for the purpose of stimulating his courage. " 
 
 " Pardon me, your excellency, " said Htibschle, " the man has 
 fainted. " 
 
 " Then carry him away, and take him in a carriage to the direc- 
 tor of the police," said Thugut, indifferently, and he looked on 
 coldly and unfeelingly, while the footman hastily seized the pale, 
 unconscious man and dragged him away. 
 
 He returned to his desk and rapidly wrote a few words on a 
 sheet of large, gilt-edged paper, which he then enclosed in an en- 
 velope, sealed, and directed. 
 
 "A dispatch to the emperor!" he said, handing it to Heinle. 
 "Let a mounted messenger take it immediately to his majesty." 
 
 This dispatch contained the reply to the emperor's laconic note, 
 and it was almost more laconic than the latter, for it contained only 
 the following words : 
 
 " Sire, within an hour order will be reestablished. " 
 
 "Now, Hiibschle, sit down," said Thugut, all the others having 
 left the room by his orders. " Collect your five senses, and write 
 what I am going to dictate to you. " 
 
 Hiibschle sat akeady at the desk, and waited, pen in hand. 
 Baron Thugut, folding his hands behind his back, slowly paced the 
 room and dictated : 
 
 "The minister of foreign affairs has heard with regret of the 
 
196 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 riotous proceedings refeiTed to in the notes which the ambassador 
 of the French Republic has addressed to him this evening. The 
 minister will report the whole affair to his imperial majesty, and 
 entertains no doubt that the emperor will be very indignant at the 
 occurrence. The ambassador may rest assured that nothing will be 
 left undone in order to ferret out the perpetrators of this outrage, 
 and to punish them with the whole severity of the laws, and with 
 the sincere desire which the Austrian government has always enter- 
 tained to maintain the friendship so happily established between 
 the two countries. " * 
 
 "Well, why do you dare to laugh, Hiibschle?" asked Thugut, 
 when he took the pen in order to sign the note. 
 
 "Your excellency, I am laughing at the many fine words in 
 which this dispatch says : ' Mr. Ambassador, ask for your passports ; 
 you may depart. '" 
 
 Thugut smiled. " When you are drunk, Hiibschle, you are ex- 
 ceedingly shrewd, and for that reason, I pardon your impertinence. 
 Your rubicund nose has scented the matter correctly. The ambas- 
 sador has demanded his passports already. But go now. Take this 
 dispatch to the second courier and tell him to carry it immediately 
 to the French embassy. As for yourself, you must hasten to the 
 commander of Vienna, and take this paper to himi. You may say 
 to him, 'The gates are to be closed in order to prevent the populace 
 of the suburbs from reaching the city. The Preiss regiment shall 
 occupy the house of the ambassador and the adjoining streets, and 
 fire at whosoever offers resistance or wants to raise a disturbance. ' 
 Vienna must be perfectly quiet in the course of an hour. Begone !" 
 
 Hiibschle rushed out, and Thugut remained alone. He slowly 
 and deliberately sat down in an arm-chair, and pondered serenely 
 over the events of the night. 
 
 " It is true I have not wholly accomplished my purpose, " he mut- 
 tered, " but M. Bernadotte will try no longer to injure me. He shall 
 have his passports to-morrow morning. " 
 
 *The French ambassador really left Vienna in consequence of this riot. The 
 emperor vainly tried to pacify him. Bernadotte persisted in his demands. He 
 wanted the Austrian Government to restore the banner and to have it displayed on 
 his balcony by a, staff officer. In reply to these repeated demands, Thu^t sent hira 
 his passports, and the legation left Vienna. — Vide Hauser, "German History," voL 
 ii., p. 180. "MSmoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. v. 
 
LAST DATS OF THE EIGHTEEI^TH 
 CENTUEY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 VICTORIA DE POUTET. 
 
 Nearly a year had elapsed since the departure of the French am- 
 bassador from Vienna, but the rupture of the peace with France, so 
 ardently desired by Minister Thugut, had not yet taken place. A 
 strong party in the emperor's cabinet had declared against Thugut, 
 and this time obtained a victory over the minister who had been 
 believed to be all-powerful. This party was headed by the empress 
 and Archduke Charles. Thugut, therefore, was compelled to sup- 
 press his wrath, and defer his revenge to some later time. 
 
 But although the dark clouds of the political thunderstorm had 
 been removed for the time being, they were constantly threatening, 
 like a gloomy spectre on the horizon, casting sinister shadows on 
 every day and on every hour. 
 
 The merry people of Vienna, owing to the incessant duration of 
 these gloomy shadows, had become very grave, and loudly and 
 softly denounced Minister Thugut as the author and instigator of all 
 the evils that were menacing Austria. In fact. Baron Thugut was 
 still the all-powerful minister ; and as the emperor loved and feared 
 him, the whole court, the whole capital, and the whole empire 
 bowed to him. But while bowing, every one hated him ; while 
 obeying, every one cursed him. 
 
 Thugut knew it and laughed at it. What did he care for the 
 love and hatred of men? Let them curse him, if they only obeyed 
 him. 
 
 And they obeyed him. The machine of state willingly followed 
 the pressure of his hand, and he conducted the helm with a vigorous 
 arm. He directed from his cabinet the destinies of Austi-ia; he 
 skilfully and ingeniously wove there the nets with which, according 
 to his purposes, he wanted to surroimd friend or foe. 
 
 To-day, too, he had worked in his cabinet until evening, and he 
 had only just now dismissed his two private secretaries, Heinle and 
 
198 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Hiibschle. This was the hour at which Thugut was in the habit of 
 repairing either to the emperor or to his gardens in the Wahringer 
 Street. His valet de ehambre, therefore, awaited him in the dress- 
 ing-room, and liis carriage was in readiness below in the court-yard. 
 To-day, however, the minister apparently wished to deviate from 
 his custom, and instead of going to the dressing-room, he violently 
 rang the bell. 
 
 "Germain," he said, to the entering valet de ehambre, "no uni- 
 form to-day, no gala-dress, but my Turkish garments. Light up 
 the Turkish cabinet, kindle amber in the lamps, and place flowers 
 in the vases. In the course of an hour supper for two persons in 
 the Turkish cabinet. Arrange every thing in a becoming manner. " 
 
 Germain bowed silently and withdrew, in order soon to return 
 with the ordered Turkish costume. Thugut silently suffered him- 
 self to be clad in the costly Turkish dressing-gown, and in the golden 
 slippers, the wonderful Cashmere shawl to be wrapped around his 
 waist, and the Turkish fez to be placed on his head. Germain then 
 brought a Turkish pipe with a splendidly carved amber tip, and 
 handed it to the minister. 
 
 "Now open the door," said Thugut, laconically. Germain 
 touched the frame of the large painting on the wall, and Thugut 
 stepped through the small door into the hall. With rapid steps he 
 hastened down the hall, and soon stood at its end in front of the 
 narrow wall on which a painting of the Virgin, illuminated by a 
 perpetually burning lamp, was hanging. Thugut again touched an 
 artificial rose on the frame, the painting turned around, and a door 
 became visible behind it. 
 
 The minister opened this door, and, crossing the threshold, care- 
 fully closed it again. 
 
 He now was in his Turkish cabinet ; all these beautiful gold bro- 
 cades on the low sofas, these costly hangings covering the walls, 
 these precious carpets on the floor and on the tables, these silver 
 lamps of strange forms, hanging down from the ceiling, and filled 
 with amber, all these richly gilt vessels arranged along the walls, 
 were delightful reminiscences to Thugut — reminiscences of the hap- 
 piest period of his life, for he had brought all these things from 
 Constantinople, where he had lived for ten years as Austrian am- 
 bassador. Thugut, therefore, never entered this cabinet without a 
 pleasant smile lighting up his hard features, and he only went 
 thither when he wished to permit himself an hour of happiness 
 amidst the perplexing occupations and cares of his official position. 
 
 On this occasion, too, as soon as he had crossed the threshold, his 
 face had assumed a mild and gentle expression, and the harsh, re- 
 pulsive stamp had disappeared from his features. He walked across 
 
VICTORIA DE POUTET. 199 
 
 the room with a smile, and quickly touched a golden knob, fixed 
 in the opposite wall. After a few minutes he repeated this f our 
 times. He then raised his eyes to a small silver bell hanging above 
 him in the most remote corner of the wall, and looked at it stead- 
 fastly. While he was doing so, a small side door had opened, and 
 Germain, in the rich costume of a servant of the harem, had entered. 
 Tlmgut had not once looked round toward him ; he had not once 
 glanced at the silver vases with the most splendid flowers, which 
 Germain had placed on the marble tables ; his nose was apparently 
 indifferent to the sweet perfumes of the amber which Germain 
 had kindled in the silver lamps, and which was filling the room 
 with fragrant bluish clouds. He only looked at the small bell, and 
 seemed to expect a signal from it in breathless suspense. But Ger- 
 main had long since finished the decoration of the room and with- 
 drawn again, and yet the bell was silent. A cloud passed over 
 Thugut's brow, and the smile disappeared from his lips. 
 
 " She was not there, perhaps, and consequently did not hear my 
 signal, " he murmured. " I will ring the bell once more. " 
 
 He stretched out his hand toward the golden knob in the wall, 
 when suddenly a clear, pure sound was heard. It was the small bell 
 that had been rung. 
 
 Thugut's countenance lighted up in the sunshine of happiness, 
 and he looked up to the bell again in silent suspense. For a few 
 minutes it hung motionless again, but then it resounded quickly 
 three times in succession. " In thirty minutes she will be here, " 
 whispered Thugut, with a happy smile. " Let us await her, then. " 
 
 He approached the small table on which he had laid his pipe, and 
 near which Germain had placed a small silver vessel with burning 
 amber. With the bearing and calmness of a genuine Turk he 
 lighted his pipe and then sat down on the low square sofa. Cross- 
 ing his legs, supporting his right elbow on the cushions of gold 
 brocade, in a half-reclining attitude, Thugut now abandoned him- 
 self to his di-eams and to the sweet enjoyment of smoking. He was 
 soon suiTounded by a blue cloud from which his black eyes were 
 glistening and glancing up to the large clock on the mantelpiece. 
 
 On seeing now that the thirty minutes had elapsed, Thugut rose 
 with youthful v iavcity , and laid his pipe aside. He then approached 
 the large and strangely formed arm-chair, standing immediately 
 under the silver bell. When he had vigorously pushed back the 
 arm-chair, a small door became visible behind it. Thugut opened 
 it and placed himself by it in a listening position. 
 
 Suddenly it seemed to him as though he heard a slight noise in 
 the distance. It came nearer, and now there appeared in the aper- 
 ture of the door a lady of wonderful loveliness and surpassing 
 14 
 
300 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA, 
 
 beauty. The eye could behold nothing more charming than this 
 head with its light-brown ringlets, surrounding the face as if by a 
 ring of glory, and contrasting so strangely with the large black 
 eyes, which were sparkling in the fire of youth and passion. Her 
 enchanting lips were of the deepest red, and a delicate blush, like 
 the beautiful tint of the large purple shell, mantled the cheeks. 
 Her nose, of the purest Roman style, was slightly curved, and her 
 expansive forehead imparted a noble and serious air to the charming 
 youthful face. The beholder saw in these eyes, ardor and passion ; 
 on this forehead, thought and energetic resolutions ; and on this 
 swelling mouth, archness, overflowing spirits, and wit. And the 
 figure of this lovely woman was in full harmony with her ravishing 
 head. She was petite, delicate, and ethereal, like a sylph, and yet 
 her form was well developed and beautiful ; if she had been some- 
 what taller, she might have been compared with Juno. 
 
 She remained standing in the door, and with her flaming eyes 
 glanced over the room ; then she fixed them on Thugut, and burst 
 into a loud and merry laugh. 
 
 " Ah, ah, that is the song of my bulbul, the ringing voice of my 
 oriental nightingale," exclaimed Thugut, drawing the laughing 
 lady with gentle force into the room and pushing the arm-chair 
 again before the closed door. "Now tell me, my bulbul, why do 
 you laugh?" 
 
 "Must I not laugh?" she exclaimed, in a clear and sonorous 
 voice. " Is not this a surprise as if it were a scene from the Arabian 
 Nights ? You told me six months ago you were going to have a pas- 
 sage made, by which one might go unseen from my rooms in the 
 Burg to your apartments in the chanceiy of state. I had no doubt 
 of the truth of what you told me, for fortunately the chancery of 
 state is close to the Burg, and there are enough secret staircases and 
 doors here as well as there. I was, therefore, by no means surprised 
 when one day, in the silence of the night, I heard soft hammering 
 at the wall of my bedroom, and suddenly beheld a hole in the wall, 
 which, in the course of a few hours, had been transformed into a 
 door with an arm-chair before it, just like that one there ; in the 
 next night, a locksmith made his appearance and hung up a small 
 silver bell in my room, concealing it behind a lamp ; and yesterday 
 you whispered to me : 'Await the signal to-morrow ! I have to talk 
 to you about important affairs. ' I therefore waited with all the 
 impatience of curiosity ; at last the bell resounded six times ; I 
 answered the signal and hastened through the narrow halls and 
 ascended the never suspected small staircase, perfectly satisfied that 
 I was going to a diplomatic conference. And what do I find? A 
 little Turkish paradise, and in it a pacha — " 
 
VICTORIA DE POUTET. 201 
 
 "Who was yearning only for his charming hmiri in order to be 
 entirely in paradise, " said Thugut, interrupting her. " Every thing 
 has its time, my Victoria, state affairs as well as happiness. " 
 
 " The question only is, my cold-hearted friend, whether you pre- 
 fer state affairs or happiness, " she replied, smilingly threatening 
 him with her finger. 
 
 "Happiness, if you bring it to me, Victoria!" he exclaimed, 
 pressing the beautiful woman impetuously against his bosom. 
 
 She leaned her head on his shoulder and looked up to him with 
 an air of arch enthusiasm. "Are you happy now?" she asked, in a 
 low voice. 
 
 He only replied by means of glowing kisses and whispered words 
 of intense passion into her ear. She did not resist him ; she listened 
 with smiling satisfaction to his whispers, and a deeper blush mantled 
 her cheeks. 
 
 " Ah, I like to hear you talk thus, she said, when Thugut paused ; 
 "it delights me to sip the honey of oriental poetry from the lips of 
 my wild bear. Even the Belvederian Apollo is not as beautiful as 
 you in your genial and wondrous ugliness when you are talking 
 about love. " 
 
 Thugut laughed. "Then you think I am very ugly, Victoria?" 
 he asked. 
 
 '■ Yes, so ugly that your ugliness in my eyes is transformed into 
 the most inconceivable beauty, " she said, passing her rosy fingers 
 across his dark and bronzed face. '" Sometimes, my friend, when 
 I see you in the imperial halls, with your strange smile and your 
 grave bearing, I believe it is the god of darkness himself whom I 
 behold there, and who has descended upon earth in order to catch in 
 person a few human souls that he is very anxious to have in his 
 power. Ah, I would not have you an iota more handsome, nor a 
 single year younger. I like your demoniacal ugliness ; and the in- 
 fernal ardor, hidden under the snow of your hair, truly delights 
 me. To be beloved by young men with the fickle straw-fire of pas- 
 sion is a very common thing ; but when an old man loves as intensely 
 as a youth, when he always illuminates the beloved with the glory 
 of a fire that he has snatched from hell, ah ! that is something en- 
 chanting and divine ! Love me, therefore, in your own way, my 
 beautiful, ugly prince of darkness !" 
 
 ■'I love you in my own way, my charming angel, whom nobody 
 believes to be a demon, " said Thugut, laughing. " I feel precisely 
 like you, my beautiful Victoria ; I love you twice as ardently, be- 
 cause I penetrated your true nature ; because, when you are smiling 
 upon others, I alone perceive the serpent, while others only behold 
 the roses, and because I alone know this angelic figure to conceal the 
 
202 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 soul of a demon. Thus we love each other because we belong to 
 each other, Victoria ; you call me the prince of darkness, and you 
 are assuredly the crown-princess of hell. After my death you will 
 occupy my throne. " 
 
 "Then it is in hell just as in Austria?" asked Victoria. "The 
 women are not excluded from the throne. " 
 
 "Well, sometimes it really seems to me as though it were in 
 Austria as it ought to be in hell, and as though the small devils of 
 stupidity, folly, and ignorance, had chosen Austria for their par- 
 ticular play -ground." 
 
 " Let us expel them, then, my friend, " exclaimed Victoria ; " I 
 
 should think that we were powerful enough to accomplish that. " 
 
 " Will you assist me in expelling them ?" asked Thugut, quickly. 
 
 "How can you ask me?" she said, reproachfully. "So you have 
 
 forgotten every thing? Our whole past is buried under the dust of 
 
 your ministerial documents?" 
 
 " No, I have forgotten nothing !" exclaimed Thugut, almost en- 
 thusiastically. " I remember every thing. Oh, how often, Victoria, 
 do I see you in my dreams, just as I saw you for the first time I Do 
 you yet remember when it was ?" 
 
 " It was in the camp in front of Giurgewo. " 
 "Yes, in the camp in front of Giurgewo, at the time that the 
 Turks surprised our trenches.* All of our ofBcers completely lost 
 their senses ; the general-in-chief. Prince Coburg, rode off in the 
 most cowardly manner ; and Count Thun had been killed, while 
 General Anfsess was dangerously wounded. Oh, it was a terrible 
 day ; terror and dismay spread through the whole camp. A wild 
 panic seized the soldiers, they fled in all directions ; every one was 
 shouting, howling, and trembling for his own miserable existence. 
 I had just gone to headquarters, and I may say that I was the only 
 one who did not tremble, for nature has not imparted fear to me. I 
 witnessed the growing confusion with dismay, when I suddenly be- 
 held a woman, an angel, who appeared with dishevelled hair, and 
 eyes flashing with anger, addressing the soldiers and admonishing 
 them in glowing words to do their duty. No, what she said were 
 no words, it was a torrent of enthusiasm, bursting from her lips 
 like heavenly flames. And the soldiers listened in amazement; 
 the stragglers rallied round their colors, the cowards were ashamed, 
 and the trembling and downcast took heart again when they heard 
 the ringing, bold words of the beautiful woman. Reason obtained 
 its sway ; they were able once more to hear and consider what we 
 said to them, and thanks to you and to myself, the ignominious 
 rout was transformed into an orderly and quiet retreat. Both of us 
 
 * In 1790. 
 
VICTORIA DE POUTET. 203 
 
 saved every thing that was jet to be saved. Ah, it is a funny thing 
 that all the soldiers in the large camp had lost their wits, and that 
 only a civilian and a woman kept theirs.* On that day, in my en- 
 thusiasm, I^vowed eternal friendship to you. " 
 
 " We vowed it to each other !" exclaimed Victoria. 
 
 " And we have kept our vows. I sent you to Vienna with a rec- 
 ommendation to my friend. Count CoUoredo, and he honored my 
 recommendation. He introduced you to the court ; he related your 
 heroic deed to the emperor, and the whole court did homage to the 
 intrepid heroine of Giurgewo. Your bold husband, the handsome 
 captain of hussars, Charles de Poutet, having been killed in Belgium 
 at the assault upon Aldenhoven, I came to you and renewed my vo^ 
 of eternal fidelity and friendship. Did I keep my word?" 
 
 '■ You did. Thanks to you and to Colloredo, I have become the 
 friend of the empress, and the aja of her first-born daughter, the 
 Archduchess Maria Louisa. But, on obtaining this position, I re- 
 newed to you, too, my vow of eternal friendship and eternal fidelity. 
 Did I not also keep my word?" 
 
 " You did. Thanks to you and to Colloredo, I have become prime 
 minister and raler of Austria !" 
 
 "And now, my friend, a question. Did you invent this Turkish 
 cabinet, the secret staircases and halls, and the mysterious language 
 of the bells, for the sole purpose of relating to me here the history 
 of our past feelings toward each other?" 
 
 "No, Victoria, in order to build here the edifice of our future. 
 Here, in this secret cabinet, we will lay the foundation of it, and 
 draw up the plans. Victoria, I stand in need of your assistance- 
 will you refuse it to me?" 
 
 " Stretch out your hand with the sceptre, my god of darkness, 
 command, and I shall obey !" said Victoria, gliding down on the 
 sofa, crossing her arms on her breast, and looking up to Thugut 
 with languishing eyes. 
 
 He sat down by her side, and laid his hand over her eyes. 
 
 " Do not look at me so charmingly as to make my blood rush like 
 fire through my veins," he said. "Let us first speak of business 
 affairs, and then we will forget every thing in draughts of fiery 
 sherbet. So listen to me, Victoria, be a little less of the enchanting 
 angel now, and a little more of the malicious demon. " 
 
 " Is there a minister to overthrow, a powefrul man to be trampled 
 under foot?" asked Victoria, her black eyes flashing like dagger- 
 points. "Have we got an enemy whom we want to lead across the 
 Ponte dei Sospiri to an eternal prison? Speak quickly, my friend ; I 
 am waiting for the music of your words." 
 
 »Vide " Kaiser Franz unci Mettemich : Ein Fragment," p. 33. 
 
204 LOmSA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "There are two enemies for you to fathom," said Thugut, slowly. 
 
 " To fathom ! Is that all? A little spying, nothing further?" 
 
 "But some bloodshed might attend that spying." 
 
 " I like blood, it has such a beautiful purple color, " said Victoria, 
 laughing. " Who are the two enemies I am to fathom ?" 
 
 " France and Prussia !" 
 
 " Oh, you are joking. " 
 
 " No, I am in sober earnest. France and Prussia are the two ene- 
 mies whose innermost thoughts you are to fathom. " 
 
 "But France and Prussia are not here in Vienna. " 
 
 " No, not here in Vienna, but they are at the fortress of Eastadt. " 
 
 " I do not understand you, my friend. " 
 
 " Listen to me, and you will understand me. You know that I 
 hate France, and that I abhor the peace we were compelled to con- 
 clude with her. France is a hydra, whose head we must cut oflf, or 
 by whom we must allow ourselves to be devoured. I am in favor of 
 cutting off her head. " 
 
 "So am I!" exclaimed Victoria, laughing. "Have you got a 
 sword sharp enough to cut off the hydra's head? Then give it to 
 me — I will behead her. " 
 
 "The hydra believes she has a sword with which she might kill 
 me. Listen to me. I was once in my life foolish enough to sign a 
 paper which might prove dangerous to me in case it should be sub- 
 mitted to the emperor. This paper is in the hands of France. " 
 
 "France has got a large hand. Which of her fingers holds the 
 paper?" 
 
 "A year ago, the paper was in Bernadotte's hands, and he had 
 already applied for an interview with the empress, in order to de- 
 liver to her the paper, which she had promised to hand to the em- 
 peror. I learned it in time, and sent out a few friends to bring the 
 papers out of his own rooms. " 
 
 "Ah, I understand. It was on the day of the festival of the vol- 
 unteers, and of the inauguration of the French banner. '' 
 
 " Yes, it was on that day. The coup was not entirely successful ; 
 we gave Bernadotte a good lesson — we compelled him to leave 
 Vienna, but he took these papers along. " 
 
 "And where is Bernadotte?" 
 
 " At Eastadt, where he attends the sessions of the congress as the 
 military plenipotentiary of France. " 
 
 "I shall go there, too, as your plenipotentiary, my friend!" ex- 
 claimed Victoria, smiling. " But, in order to obtain the papers, we 
 shall not make an assault upon his house ; we shall only assail his 
 heart, and that I shall open a breach there large enough to let the 
 dangerous papers pass through it, I hope my skill will warrant—" 
 
VICTORIA DE POUTET. 205 
 
 "Your skill and your beauty," said Thugut, interrupting her. 
 " But I believe my beautiful Victoria will not have to assail Berna- 
 dotte, but another man. Bernadotte took vifaming from that scene 
 in his house ; he understands very well that the possession of those 
 papers is dangerous, and he has, therefore, transferred the danger 
 to other shoulders. He has intrusted another man with the papers. " 
 
 "Whom? If it be a man of flesh and blood name him, and I 
 shall make the assault upon him, " said Victoria. 
 
 " It is doubtless one of the three ambassadors of the French Re- 
 public, and I have reason to believe that it is the haughty and im- 
 pudent Bonnier. It was he at least who spoke to Count Cobenzl 
 about certain papers that might become dangerous to me, and who 
 inquired stealthily if Cobenzl would feel inclined to deliver them to 
 the emperor. " 
 
 " Let me depart, my friend ; I must have the papers, " said Vic- 
 toria, rising. 
 
 " Ah, how beautiful you are in your impetuosity !" exclaimed 
 Thugut, smiling ; " but we are not through yet with our conference, 
 dear Victoria. For the sole purpose of obtaining those miserable 
 papers, I should not beg my angel to unfold his demon's wings and 
 to assist me. If my interests alone were at stake, I should allow 
 fate to take its course, and leave every thing to its decision. But 
 the interests of Austria are equally at stake ; and I do not say this in 
 the sense in which my great predecessor. Prince Kaunitz, used to 
 say: 'He who attacks me, attacks Austria, for Austria cannot exist 
 without me. She would fall down if my strong hand did not hold 
 her. ' No, I know very well that no man is indispensable ; that we 
 are only machines in the hands of fate, and that, as soon as one of 
 these machines is worn out and unnecessary, fate casts it aside and 
 substitutes a new one. But the state is something more exalted and 
 important than a mere individual ; in order to defend it, we must 
 collect our whole energy, our whole ability, and it is a matter of in- 
 difference if, by doing so, we endanger some human lives and shed 
 some blood. There is an abundance of human lives in the world, 
 and the blood that has been shed is restored in the course of a few 
 hours. Victoria, you shall not merely assist me ; you shall aid the 
 state too, and make an effort for its welfare. " 
 
 "Only he who dares wins !" exclaimed Victoria, with a fascinat- 
 ing smile. " Tell me what I am to do, my friend. " 
 
 "To be fascinating, to avail yourself of the power of your charms, 
 that is all. To tame a bear, in order to draw his secrets from 
 him. " 
 
 " In what forest shall I find this bear?" 
 
 "At Rastadt, and his name is Roberjot, or Bonnier, or Debry, 
 
206 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 for aught I know. Try all three of them. One of them at least 
 will have a heart capable of falling in love, and eyes to admire your 
 beauty. Chain that man to your triumphal car, fathom him, try to 
 become his confidante, and sift his secrets. " 
 
 "For a special purpose, or only in general?" 
 
 " For a special purpose. I have reason to believe that France is 
 deceiving us, and that, while seeking an alliance with us, and as- 
 suring us every day of her friendship, she is secretly plotting 
 against us. " 
 
 "Plotting with whom?" 
 
 "With Prussia, Austi-ia's mortal enemy. France has promised 
 us not to grant any further aggrandizement to Prussia. I am satis- 
 fied that she has secretly made similar promises to Prussia in rela- 
 tion to us, and that she is trying as eagerly, and by means of as 
 many asswances, to obtain the alliance of Prussia, as that of Austria. 
 It is, however, of the highest importa/ice for us to know what France 
 may have promised to Prussia, and how far the negotiations between 
 the two powers have gone. To fathom this, either by amicable or 
 violent means, by shrewdness or by compulsion, by bribery or by 
 threats, will be your task, my heavenly demon. " 
 
 " It is a beautiful task, because it is a difficult one, '' said Victoria, 
 proudly. " It is a matter of life and death, this duel I am to fight 
 with one of those French bears. " 
 
 " But my beautiful "Victoria shall not lack seconds to furnish her 
 weapons, and to do every thing she wants them to do. " 
 
 " Who are my seconds?" 
 
 " Count Lehrbach and Colonel Barbaczy. " 
 
 "Ah, Barbaczy, whose acquaintance we made at Giurgewo?" 
 
 "The same. A bold, intrepid man, who is not afraid of any- 
 body — neither of God nor of the devil. " 
 
 " Lehrbach and Barbaczy, your two bloodhounds, " said Victoria, 
 musingly. "If they are to be my seconds, I am afraid the duel 
 will not merely remain a spiritual one, and not merely hearts will 
 be wounded. I am afraid real blood will be shed, and there will be 
 carnal wounds. '' 
 
 "I must have the papers !" exclaimed Thugut, "either by means 
 of cunning or by measures of open violence, do you understand? 
 And as to the wounds and blood, I wish with all my heart to give 
 these impudent republican fellows who are putting on such airs at 
 Rastadt, as though they were masters of Germany, a sound and 
 bloody lesson, and thus give France an unmistakable proof of our 
 opinion." 
 
 "Good, my dear Satan, I shall assist you in performing this 
 little infernal comedy. Two weighty questions, however, remain 
 
VICTORIA DE POUTET. 207 
 
 to be asked. On what pretext shall I ask my imperial mistress to 
 grant me leave of absence?" 
 
 " Have you not got a sister, who is married to a rich country 
 gentleman, in the grand-duchy of Baden, and who informed you 
 jesterday that she had been suddenly taken dangerously ill?" 
 
 "I have a sister !" exclaimed Victoria, laughing. "I who never 
 knew a paternal roof, or family— I who dropped upon earth like a 
 ripe peach-blossom, and would have been crushed there, if my 
 handsome and generous Charles de Poutet had not accidentally 
 passed by while the wind was driving me along, and if he chival- 
 rously had not picked me up and placed me in his button-hole. I 
 never knew my family — I was an orphan since my earliest child- 
 hood. No, my friend, I have no sister. " 
 
 " Oh, try to recollect, Victoria ; it is your sister who has called 
 you to her death-bed, and for whose sake the empress will give you 
 leave of absence. " 
 
 "Ah, vraimcnt, I recollect now! Of course, I must go and see 
 my sister. The good, dear sister — how she will long to see me again 
 in order to recover from her sickness ! Oh, I must repair to my 
 sister — nothing must detain me liere. The kind-hearted empress 
 will not refuse me leave of absence, for I have to fulfil a saci'ed 
 duty. Family ties are more sacred than any other. " 
 
 "Ah, you are really a most affectionate sister; the empress will 
 readily grant you leave of absence, and you will set out to-morrow 
 evening. I shall provide fresh horses for 3'ou at every station, and 
 I shall send you to-morrow morning a comfortable travelling-coach. 
 Your first question, then, is answered. Now for the second." 
 
 " Yes, my friend, I will briefly state my second question. After 
 accomplishing my task, after chivalrously fighting my duel, and 
 conquering the papers, what will be my reward?" 
 
 "Your reward will be the only one I dare offer to a beautiful 
 young widow," said Thugut, with a diabolical smile. "A husband 
 who will bestow upon you a distinguished name, who will strengthen 
 your position at court, and who will one day bequeath to you a 
 princely inheritance." 
 
 "What!" exclaimed Victoria, joyfully, "you will marry me, my 
 friend?" 
 
 "I?" asked Thugut, almost in terror. "Who spoke of me? Am 
 I able to offer you wealth and a distinguished name? My fortune 
 would be too insignificant for your pin-money, and although the 
 ship-builder's son has acquired quite a distinguished name, he 
 lacks the dust of ten dead ancestors. I am my own ancestor, and 
 my pedigree contains but my own name. No, Victoria, I have 
 something better in store for you. I shall make you the wife of 
 
208 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the minister, Count Colloredo. He is a member of the old aristoc- 
 racy, and his wife will outrank at court all the ladies of the minis- 
 ters and of the lower nobility. He is, moreover, very wealthy, and 
 a favorite of the emperor. I shall give him to understand that he 
 loves you ardently, and that he would pine away if you should re- 
 ject him. The dear count does not like to hear people talk about 
 pining away and dying, and he will consider himself saved if you 
 accept him and allow him to grow young again in your arms. To 
 induce him to marry you, and to direct himi correctly, let me alone 
 for that. On the day on which you bring me the papers, even if 
 they should be somewhat blood-stained, on that day I shall have the 
 honor to lead you to the altar, and greet you by the name of Countess 
 Colloredo. " 
 
 "The scheme is good and feasible," said Victoria, musingly, 
 "and yet I do not like it altogether. To be frank with you, my 
 friend, if you really believe that I ought to marry again, why will 
 not you maiTy me? What shall I do with the childish, conceited, 
 and proud Count Colloredo, who is already seventy years of age? 
 Why cannot I have my god of darkness? Thugut, I ask you, why 
 do not you want to marry me?" 
 
 Thugut replied to the flaming glance of the charming lady by a 
 loud laugh. 
 
 "I marry you? Ah, my heavenly demon! that would be very 
 imprudent, for in that case I should have to require you to lead a 
 devout and chaste life, and to keep my name unsullied. " 
 
 "Ah, you insult me,'' exclaimed Victoria, feelingly. "You 
 want to insinuate that I am unworthy of being your wife. " 
 
 "You are worthy of being much more, dearest, for you area 
 demon of love ; but my wife ought only to be a matron of chastity. " 
 
 "Oh, how tiresome !" sighed Victoria. 
 
 "Yes, how tiresome!" repeated Thugut. "And our own heav- 
 enly liaison, the last romantic dream of my life, would it not also 
 be broken off if you were to become my wife? Why would we then 
 stand in need of secrecy — of hidden staircases and doors, and of 
 this Turkish cabinet? — inasmuch as I should have the right to enter 
 your rooms before the eyes of the whole world. Besides, we would 
 be unable to be useful to each other. My wife, of course, would 
 have to side with me and defend me everywhere, while, in case you 
 are married to another man, you are at liberty to act for me and to 
 favor me. I could not promote the interests of my wife at court ; 
 I could not speak of her in terms of praise to the empress, and rec- 
 ommend that fresh honors and distinctions be conferred upon her. 
 My wife, therefore, would remain the aja of the little Archduchess 
 Maria Louisa, while my influence will be able to secure to the 
 
VICTORIA DE POUTET. 209 
 
 Countess Victoria CoUoredo the position of a first lady of honor of 
 the duchess. " 
 
 "First lady of honor!" exclaimed Victoria, joyfully, and with 
 glowing cheeks. " You are right, my friend, it is better for me to 
 nmi-ry Count CoUoredo. CoUoredo has great power over the em- 
 peror ; I have great power over the empress, and shaU have the same 
 power over CoUoredo. But I am again under your control, and thus 
 you wiU rule us all, and rale Austria, for I shaU always remain 
 your faithful servant and friend. " 
 
 " Women's oaths are as fitful as the wind, they are as fleeting as 
 the clouds," said Thugut, shrugging his shoulders. "But I believe 
 you, Victoria, for you are no woman like other women. If I were 
 ever to discover that you had deceived me, I should take a ten-ible 
 revenge !" 
 
 "What sort of revenge, my friend?" asked Victoria, embracing 
 him smilingly and tenderly. 
 
 "I know but one punishment for a faithless woman," said Thu- 
 gut, " and if I envy any thing, my friend. Sultan Mustapha, is able 
 to do it, it is his power of publicly inflicting tliis punishment. A 
 faitljless woman is drowned in a sack, that is aU. She is plaeeil in 
 a sack — gagged, of course, so as to be unable to scream — and in the 
 dead of night she is rowed out into the sea, which silently opens its 
 waves in order to receive the silent victim. I liave witnessed tliis 
 romantic spectacle three times in Constantinople, and it always 
 filled me with delight. It is so noiseless, so simple, and yet so sig- 
 nificant ! It is true we have no sea here, but we liave the Danube, 
 and there is room in it for many faithless women. Beware, there- 
 fore, Victoria ! But now a truce to business and politics. Now, 
 my demon, unfold your angel wings, and let me pass an hour with 
 you in paradise. Will you do me the honor. Countess CoUoredo in 
 spe, to take supper with me here?" 
 
 "Here?" said Victoria, looking around wonderingly. "Where 
 is the supper-table ?" 
 
 "You will see it directly." 
 
 Thugut stooped and vigorously pressed a golden knob, fixed in 
 the floor, close to the sofa. Immediately a creaking and rattling 
 noise was heard ; the floor opened, and a large aperture became visi- 
 ble. After a few minutes a table, covered with the most luxurious 
 dishes and sparkling wines, and glittering with silver and crystal, 
 slowly and majestically arose. 
 
 "Splendid!" shouted Victoria, dancing like a fairy around the 
 magic table — " splendid ! The prince of darkness commands, hell 
 opens, and by the fire, over which the souls of the wicked are roast- 
 ing, the most savory dishes have been prepared for Satan I But first 
 
310 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 swear to me, my friend, that this pheasant is filled with truflBes, 
 and not with human souls. " 
 
 "My dear Victoria," replied Thugut, laughing, "human souls 
 have only too often the same fate as truffles— hogs discover them 1 
 Come, I drink this glass of sherbet to the health of the Countess Col- 
 loredo in spe ! " 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 EASTADT. 
 
 The congress of Rastadt had been in session for nearly two years. 
 For nearly two years the German ambassadors had been quarrelling 
 with France about the ancient boundaries of the empire, and had 
 been quarrelling among each other about a few strips of land, a few 
 privileges which one state demanded, while another would not 
 grant. 
 
 It was a sorrowful and humiliating spectacle this congress of 
 Rastadt presented to the world, and all Germany was looking on 
 with feelings of pain and shame, while France pointed at it with 
 scornful laughter, and exclaimed : 
 
 " It is not France that destroys and dissolves Germany, but Ger- 
 many is annihilating herself. She is dissolving away, owing to her 
 own weakness, and the dissensions of her rulers will kill her !" 
 
 Yes, indeed, Germany bore the germ of death and dissolution in 
 her sick, lacerated breast, and the first symptoms of putrefaction 
 already made their appearance. These first symptoms were the envy, 
 jealousy, and hatred the rulers of Germany felt toward each other, 
 and the malicious joy with which one saw another die, without 
 pitying his torments, and only mindful of the fact that he would be 
 the dying state's heir. 
 
 The first section of Germany which succumbed under these cir- 
 cumstances, embraced the bishoprics and ecclesiastical states. They 
 exhibited most of all the corruption and putrefaction of German 
 afl^airs. Hence, such German states as expected to be benefited by 
 their dissolution, voted for secularization, while such as were threat- 
 ened with losses voted against it. A new apple of discord had been 
 thrown into the German empire ; the last spark of German unity was 
 gone, and two hostile parties, bitterly menacing each other, were 
 formed. Austria loudly raised her voice against the secularization 
 of the ecclesiastical possessions, because she could derive no benefit 
 from it ; while Prussia declared in favor of secularization, because 
 she believed she would be able to aggrandize her territory in conse- 
 quence ; and the secondary princes demanded the dissolution of the 
 
RASTADT. 311 
 
 bishoprics even more urgently than Prussia, because they knew that 
 a portion of those dominions would fall to their own share. 
 
 Covetousness caused the German princes to overlook all other in- 
 terests, and to act conti-ary to all correct principles ; covetousness 
 caused them first to shake the decaying ancient German empire ; 
 covetousness caused them to destroy the old political organization of 
 tlie country, and German hands were the first to tear down the edi- 
 fice of the imperial constitution. 
 
 The German ambassadors at Rastadt forgot, therefore, the orig- 
 inal object of their mission ; they had come thither to secure the 
 continued existence of the German empire, and to protect Germany 
 from the encroachments of France, and now they were threatening 
 the German empire themselves. They had come thither to establish 
 the boundaries of Germany, and now they were attacking the boun- 
 daries of the single sections and states of the empire themselves. 
 
 No wonder that France sought to profit by these dissensions of 
 the Germans among each other ; no wonder that she thought she 
 might seize a piece of Germany, too, seeing, as she did, that the 
 German states were quarrelling among themselves about the division 
 of the spoils. France, therefore, advanced her troops farther on the 
 right bank of the Rhine, and claimed the fortresses of Kehl, Ehren- 
 breitstein, and Castel. 
 
 This fresh and unparalleled exaction silenced the domestic quar- 
 rels among the Germans for a moment, and all voices united to pro- 
 test loudly and solemnly against the new demand of the French 
 Republic. 
 
 But the French replied to the solemn protests of the German am- 
 bassadors at Rastadt by cold sneers and violent threats. Ehrenbreit- 
 stein not being surrendered to them after the first summons, they 
 blockaded the fortress, levied contributions on the right bank of the 
 Rhine, and declared the possessions of the nobility to be forfeited 
 to the French Republic* The German ambassadors at Rastadt 
 complaining of these oppressive proceedings, the French declared, 
 "the magnanimity of the French had exceeded all expectations. 
 They were able to take every thing, and they had contented them- 
 selves with very little. " 
 
 The congress had met at Rastadt in order to conclude peace, but 
 so far the negotiations had produced nothing but exasperation and 
 a strong probability of ultimate war. The arrogance and scornful 
 bearing of France became every day more intolerable, and the desire 
 of Austi-ia became proportionately more evident to punish France 
 for her insolence, and to take revenge for the numerous and galling 
 insults she had heaped upon Germany. Prussia hesitated to join 
 * Vide Hausser's "History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 201. 
 
312 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Austi'ia, and to declare in favor of open hostilities against France ; 
 she deemed such a war injurious to her particular interests, and 
 desired to maintain peace ; the secondary German states, however, 
 allowed themselves to be intimidated by the threats of Fi-ance to 
 devour all of them, and they were quite willing to expose Germany 
 to further humiliations, provided that their own petty existence 
 should not be endangered. 
 
 The work of pacification, therefore, made no progress whatever, 
 but only became a disgrace to Germany, and the congress of Eastadt 
 was nothing but a symptom of the disease of which Germany was 
 soon to perish. Germany seemed destined to die, like an aged and 
 decrepit man, of her own weakness and exhaustion. 
 
 This weakness was every day on the increase. In January, 1799, 
 Ehrenbreitstein succumbed, and the French occupied the fortress. 
 
 Still the peace commissioners remained in session at Rastadt, and 
 continued their negotiations with the French, who just now had 
 again perfidiously violated the treaties, and appropriated German 
 possessions. 
 
 If the German ambassadors, perhaps, were lost to all sense of 
 honor and of their disgraceful position, the representatives of France 
 were fully conscious of their dignity. They treated the ambassadors 
 of Germany in the most scornful manner ; they dared haughtily and 
 arrogantly to meddle with the domestic affairs of Germany ; they 
 constantly trumped up new claims in the most overbearing attitude, 
 and in their habitual imperious tone, and the representatives of the 
 German empire scarcely dared to refuse their exactions even in the 
 most timid manner. 
 
 Only one of the three French ambassadors, for the last few weeks, 
 had been less supercilious than his colleagues ; he had participated 
 less than formerly in the affairs of the German congress, and while 
 Roberjot and Jean Debry were raising their arrogant and haughty 
 voices in every session of congress. Bonnier kept aloof. He oven 
 held no further intercourse with his own countrymen ; and his tall 
 and imposing figure, with the proud and gloomy countenance, was 
 seen no longer every night as heretofore in the drawing-rooms of 
 the wives of Roberjot and Debry. He kept aloof from society as he 
 kept aloof from the congress, and the Fl-ench ladies smilingly whis- 
 pered to each other that something strange, something imheard of, 
 had happened to the austere republican. To the man who hereto- 
 fore had proudly resisted the blandishments of beautiful women, 
 they said he had fallen in love with that wondrously lovely and 
 strange lady who had been at Rastadt for the last few weeks, but 
 who was living in such seclusion that the public had only occasion- 
 ally got a sight of her. No one knew who this strange lady was, 
 
RASTADT. 313 
 
 and what she wanted at Rastadt ; she had paid visits to no one, and 
 left her card nowhere. She had arrived only attended by a footman 
 and a lady's maid ; but in advance, a brilliant suite of rooms and a 
 box at the theatre had been retained for her. In this box every 
 night the beautiful strange lady was seen closely veiled, and the 
 gloomy pale face of Bonnier had been repeatedly beheld by her side. 
 
 Victoria de Poutet, therefore, had accomplished her purpose ; 
 she had tamed one of the French bears, and surrounded him with 
 the magic nets of her beauty. She was the mysterious strange lady 
 whose appearance liad created so great a sensation in the drawing- 
 rooms of Rastadt for the last few weeks ; she was the lady whom 
 Bonnier was following as though he were her shadow. 
 
 She had come to him as a refugee, as a persecuted woman, with 
 tears in her eyes. She had told him a tragic story of Thugut's 
 tyranny and wanton lust. Because she had refused to submit to the 
 voluptuous desires of the Austrian minister, he had sworn to ruin 
 her, and his love had turned into furious hatred. She further 
 stated the minister had threatened her with the confiscation of her 
 property, with imprisonment, death, and disgrace, and she had 
 only succeeded by her courage and cunning in saving herself and in 
 escaping from Austria. Now she came to Bonnier to invoke the 
 protection and assistance of generous France, and to flee from the 
 rude violence of a German minister to the chivalrous eegis of the 
 French Republic. 
 
 How beautiful she was in her tears, with the mournful smile on 
 her swelling lips ! But how much more beautiful when a deep blush 
 mantled her cheeks, and when her large dark eyes were sparkling 
 in the glow of revenge and anger ! 
 
 For Victoria de Poutet did not only want protection — she also 
 sought revenge — revenge on that tyrant Thugut, who had dared to 
 threaten her innocence and virtue, and to assail her honor and hap- 
 piness. She was not only persecuted— she was also insulted, and 
 she wished to chastise the Austrian minister for these insults. Bon- 
 nier was to lend her his assistance for this purpose. He was to pro- 
 cure means for her to overthrow Thugut. 
 
 How eloquently and enthusiastically did she speak to Bonnier 
 about her misfortunes, her anger, and her thirst of revenge ! How 
 much truthfulness there was depicted in her face— what a demoniacal 
 ardor in her eyes ; how much energy in her whole bearing, so in- 
 dicative of bold determination and of an indomitable spirit I 
 
 Bonnier gazed at her in wondering delight, in timid awe. He 
 who had hated women because they were so weak, so peevish, and 
 insignificant, now saw before him a woman with the energy of a 
 hatred such as he had scarcely known himself, with the enthusiasm of 
 
314 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 a revengefulness that shrank back from no dangers and no obstacles. 
 Under this delicate, ethereal female form there was concealed the 
 spirit and firm will of a man ; bold thoughts were written on her 
 forehead, and an enchanting smile was playing on her full lips. 
 While Bonnier was listening to the dithyrambics of her hatred and 
 revenge, love glided into his own heart ; she had fascinated him by 
 her revengeful hymns as others fascinate by their love-songs. 
 
 Victoria was conscious of her triumph ; her eagle eye had watched 
 eveiy motion, eveiy step of this innocent lamb she was going to 
 strangle ; she had seen him fall into the glittering nets she had 
 spread out for him ; she knew that he was a captive in her meshes 
 without being aware of it himself. 
 
 Her bearing now undei-went a change ; she was no longer merely 
 a woman thirstirlg for revenge, but also a tender, loving woman ; 
 she was no longer merely filled with hatred, but she also seemed 
 susceptible of gentler emotions ; she lowered her eyes before Bon- 
 nier's ardent glances and blushed. To his timid and faltering pro- 
 testations of love she replied by subdued sighs, and by a dreamy 
 smile ; and when Bonnier at length dared to approach her with a 
 bold confession of his passion — when he was on his knees before her, 
 all aglow with love and enthusiasm, Victoria bent over him with a 
 sweet smile, and whispered : " Give me the papers that are to ruin 
 Thugut ; surrender that vile man to my revenge, and my love, my 
 life are yours !" 
 
 Bonnier looked up to her with a triumphant smile. " You are 
 mine, then, Victoria, " he said, " for you shall have those papers ! I 
 surrender that infamous and treacherous man to your revenge !" 
 
 She stretched out her hands toward him with a cry of boundless 
 joy. " Give me the papers, " she exclaimed ; " give them to me, and 
 I will thank you as only love is able to thank !" 
 
 Bonnier looked a long while at her, and his face, usually so 
 gloomy, was now radiant with happiness and delight. 
 
 " To-morrow, my charming fairy, " he said, " to-morrow you shall 
 have the papers which are to open hell to your enemy, and heaven 
 to your enraptured friend. But you must give me also a proof of 
 your confidence and love ; you must come to me and call in person 
 for the papers. I give you the highest proof of my love by deliver- 
 ing to you documents that do not belong to me, but to the republic. 
 Then give me likewise the highest proof of your love. Come to me !" 
 
 She cast a long and glowing glance on him. "I shall come !" she 
 whispered. 
 
 And Victoria kept her word. Early on the following morning a 
 closely- veiled lady was seen to glide into the castle of Rastadt, where 
 the three French ambassadors were living at that time. Bonnier 
 
RA8TADT. 315 
 
 received her in pei-son at the foot of the wide staircase, and gave 
 her his arm in order to conduct her to the rooms occupied by himself. 
 
 They exchanged not a vs^ord vsrith each other, but walked silently 
 through the sumptuous apartments and finally entered Bonnier's 
 study. 
 
 '■ We are at the goal— here I bid you welcome, my fairy queen !" 
 exclaimed Bonnier. "Remove now these odious veils. Let me 
 now at length see your beautiful features !" 
 
 He violently tore off her black veils, and Victoria suffered it 
 smilingly, and looked at him with a wondrous air of joy and hap- 
 piness. 
 
 " Are you content now ?" she asked, in her superb, sonorous voice. 
 " Has the proud lord of creation now prepared a new and satisf actoiy 
 triumph for himself? The poor slave whom he loves must come to 
 him and beg him for love and happiness !" 
 
 She had crossed her hands on her breast, and half kneeling down 
 before Bonnier, she looked up to him with a fascinating mixture of 
 archness and passion. 
 
 Bonnier lifted her up and wanted to imprint a kiss upon her lips, 
 but she violently pushed him back. 
 
 " No, " she said, " let us be sensible as long as we can. First we 
 must attend to our business. " 
 
 "Business!" exclaimed Bonnier. "What have we to do with 
 business? Leave business to the diplomatists and their clerks. 
 Why should lips so charming and beautiful pronounce this cold and 
 dismal word ?" 
 
 "If I spoke of business, I meant revenge,'' said Victoria, fer- 
 vently. " Give me the papers, Bonnier — the papers that are to ruin 
 Thugut !" 
 
 Bonnier took her head between his hands and looked at her with 
 flaming eyes. 
 
 "Then you hate him still? You still desire to take revenge on 
 him ?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes, I hate him !" she exclaimed, " and the happiest day of my 
 life will be the one on which I see him hurled down from his proud 
 eminence, and sneaking alone, miserable, and despised into ob- 
 scurity. " 
 
 "One might, indeed, really believe that she is in earnest, and 
 that truth alone could utter such words, " muttered Bonnier, who 
 constantly held her head in his hands, and thus gazed at her. 
 " Swear to me, Victoria, swear to me by what is most sacred to you, 
 that you hate Thugut, and that you desire to ruin him !" 
 
 " I swear it by what is most sacred to me, " she said, solemnly ; 
 " I swear it by your love !" 
 15 
 
216 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " That is the best and most unequivocal oath, and I will believe 
 you, " said Bonnier, laughing. 
 
 "Then you will now give me those papers?" she asked. 
 
 " Yes, " he said, bluntly, " I will give them to you. Come, my 
 angel, you are right — let us first speak of business matters. There, 
 sit down here at my desk. Oh, henceforth this spot will be sacred 
 to me, for youi- heavenly person has consecrated it. Let me sit down 
 here by your side, and thus we will lay our dispatches before each 
 other, like two good and conscientious diplomatists. Look here ! 
 this portfolio contains your revenge and your satisfaction. This 
 portfolio contains the papers proving that Thugut has received large 
 sums of money from Russia and England for the purpose of insti- 
 gating the Emperor of Austria against France, and that his pre- 
 tended patriotic indignation is after all nothing but the paid role of 
 a comedian. I have abstracted this portfolio from the archives of 
 our embassy. Do you understand me, Victoria? I have stolen it 
 for you I" 
 
 "Let me see the papers!" exclaimed Victoria, trembling with 
 impatience. 
 
 Bonnier opened the portfolio and drew a paper from it. But on 
 looking at it, a dark cloud passed over his face, and he shook his 
 head indignantly. 
 
 " What a miserable fool I was to make such a mistake !" he ejacu- 
 lated angrily. "I have taken the wrong portfolio. This one does 
 not contain the papers you are looking for. " 
 
 "That is," said Victoria, with cutting coldness— " that is, you 
 have intentionally deceived me. You decoyed me hither under false 
 pretences. You told me a story about important papers that were in 
 your possession, and with which you were to intrust me for the pur- 
 pose of gratifying my revenge. And now when I come to you, 
 nobly trusting your chivalrous word, now it turns out that you have 
 deceived me, and that those important papers do not exist at all. " 
 
 "Ah, believe me, there are papers here perhaps even more im- 
 portant than the documents you are looking for," said Bonnier, 
 shrugging his shoulders. " Believe me. Baron Thugut would give 
 many thousands if he could get hold of the papers contained in this 
 portfolio. They are, perhaps, even more important than those other 
 documents. " 
 
 A flash burst forth from Victoria's eyes, and the angry air dis- 
 appeared at once from her features. She turned to Bonnier with a 
 fascinating smile. 
 
 " What sort of papers are those?" she asked. 
 
 " Papers that do not interest you, my charming fairy, " he said, 
 smilingly ; "for what have love and revenge to do with the negoti- 
 
EASTADT. 217 
 
 ations of diplomacy? This portfolio contains only diplomatic docu- 
 ments, only the secret correspondence between ourselves and the 
 Prussian government, and the negotiations concerning an alliance 
 between France and Prussia — that is all. They do not interest you, 
 my beautiful Victoria, but Thugut would gladly purchase these pa- 
 pers for those which you are so anxious to obtain. " 
 
 Victoria's eyes were fixed on the portfolio with a glowing ex- 
 pression, and her hand was involuntarily approaching it. Bonnier 
 saw it, and a peculiar smile overspread his gloomy face for a moment. 
 
 " Happy for me, " he said, " that I discovered my mistake before 
 giving you the portfolio. The loss of these papers would have com- 
 promised me irretrievably. But you are silent, Victoria — you do 
 not utter a word. Then you do not yet believe in the truthfulness 
 of my words? I swear to you, my fascinating sorceress, it was a 
 mere mistake — I only seized the wrong portfolio. " 
 
 " Do not swear, but convince me, " said Victoria. '' Go and fetch 
 the other portfolio. " 
 
 "And I should leave you here all alone so long?" he asked, ten- 
 derly. " I should be such a prodigal as to squander these precious 
 minutes dui'ing which I am permitted to be by your side 1" 
 
 Victoria rose and looked at him with flaming, imperious eyes. 
 
 " Fetch the papers, " she shouted, " or I leave you this very mo- 
 ment, and you shall never see me again !" 
 
 " That is a word by which you would drive me even into the jaws 
 of hell !" said Bonnier, ardently. " Wait for me here, Victoria— I 
 am going for the papers. " 
 
 He greeted her with a rapid nod, and placing the portfolio imder 
 his arm, be hastily walked to the door. Here he turned around 
 toward her and his eyes met hers steadfastly fixed upon him. 
 
 He kissed his hand to her, and while doing so, the portfolio softly 
 glided from under his arm and fell upon the floor. Bonnier took no 
 notice of it ; his whole attention was riveted on the beautiful lady. 
 But she saw it, and her eyes sparkled with delight. 
 
 " Return as soon as possible, " she said, with an enchanting smile, 
 and Bonnier left the room. She anxiously looked after him until 
 the door had closed, and then she listened to the sound of his foot- 
 steps. Now the latter were no longer audible, and every thing about 
 her was silent. 
 
 Victoria did not stir ; she only swept with her large eyes search- 
 ingly over the whole room ; she fixed them upon every curtain, upon 
 every piece of furniture. But nothing was there to arouse her 
 suspicions ; a profound stillness reigned around her. 
 
 Now she rose slowly from her seat and made a few steps forward. 
 The rustling of her heavy silk dress alone interrupted the silence. 
 
218 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 She paused again and listened, and her eyes fixed themselves 
 longingly upon the portfolio lying at the door. Why were not her 
 eyes endowed with the power of a loadstone? Why were they not 
 able to attract the portfolio to her? 
 
 The portfolio lay there quietly and immovably ; Victoria vainly 
 stretched out her hands toward it — she was unable to reach it. 
 
 Once more she impetuously glanced round the room ; then she 
 bounded forward like a lioness rushing toward her prey. 
 
 She grasped the portfolio and raised it with a triumphant smile. 
 Her small hands quickly plunged into it and drew forth the papers. 
 There were but a few letters, and besides several closely written 
 pages. Victoria did not take time to look at them ; she rapidly 
 pushed the papers into the pocket of her dress, and an-anged the 
 folds of the latter so as to conceal the contents of her pocket. She 
 then closed the portfolio and replaced it on ihe floor, precisely on the 
 spot where Bonnier had dropped it. 
 
 Her purpose was accomplished ! How her face was glowing with 
 delight I How deep a blush was burning on her cheeks ! How her 
 eyes were sparkling with diabolic exultation ! 
 
 With light, inaudible steps she now crossed the room again, and 
 resumed her seat at the desk. And it was fortunate that she had 
 done so, for steps were approaching in the adjoining room ; the dooi 
 opened, and Bonnier entered. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 Bonnier paused for a moment on the threshold, fixing his eyes on 
 Victoria, who gi-eeted him with a sweet, fascinating smile. But 
 the smile disappeared from her lips when she beheld the threatening 
 angry glance with which he was staring at her, and the air of 
 gloomy indignation depicted on his countenance. She might be 
 mistaken, however, and perhaps it was merely the anguish of her 
 conscience which made her tremble. 
 
 "And you bring me the papers, my beloved friend?" asked Vic- 
 toria, with an air of fascinating kindness. 
 
 "Yes," said Bonnier, still remaining on the threshold, "I bring 
 you the papers. But just look what a fool love has made of mel 
 For your sake, I forgot the portfolio with those other papers, and 
 dropped it on the floor there. Do you now perceive your power over 
 me ? For I believe I told you that the loss of those papers would ruin 
 me irretrievably." 
 
THE JUSTIFICATION. 219 
 
 " Yes, you told me so, " said Victoria, smiling. 
 
 "And yet I forgot them here!" exclaimed Bonnier, stooping to 
 pick them up. But Victoria immediately rose and hastened to him. 
 
 " To punish you for youi- carelessness, you shall now leave the 
 portfolio on the floor, " she said, smiling ; "nor shall you think of it 
 again as long as I am with you. Tell me, will that be too hard for 
 you?" 
 
 She bent her beautiful face over him, and with flaming glances 
 looked deepl}- into his eyes. 
 
 Bonnier dropped the portfolio again and smiled. 
 
 "It may lie there," he said ; "it has performed its part anyhow. 
 And now, I suppose, we will talk again about our business?" 
 
 " Yes, we will, " replied Victoria. " Give me the papers. " 
 
 '• No, madame ; no one gives up such important papers without 
 witnesses," said Bonnier. "Permit me therefore to call my wit- 
 nesses. " 
 
 He hastily turned to the door and pushed it open. 
 
 " Come in, gentlemen !" he shouted, and his two colleagues, 
 Roberjot and Debry, immediately appeared on the threshold. With- 
 out greeting Victoria, merely eyeing her with cold, contemptuous 
 glances, the two gentlemen entered and walked directly to the desk. 
 Bonnier locked the door and put the key into his pocket. 
 
 Victoria saw it, and a slight pallor overspread her rosy face for a 
 moment. 
 
 "Will you tell me, sir, what all this means?" she asked, in a 
 threatening voice. 
 
 "You will learn it directly,'' said Bonnier. "Please sit down 
 again in your arm-chair, for we are going to resume our diplomatic 
 negotiations. You, gentleinen, take seats on both sides of the lady ; 
 I shall sit down opposite her, and at the slightest motion she makes, 
 either to jump out of the window there, or to interrupt us by an ex- 
 clamation, I shall shoot her as sure as my name is Bonnier !" 
 
 He drew a pistol from his bosom and cocked it. " I command 
 you to be silent and not to interrupt us, " he said, turning to Vic- 
 toria. " The pistol is loaded, and, unless you respect my orders, I 
 will most certainly inflict upon you the punishment you have de- 
 served ; I shall take your life like that of any other spy who has been 
 caught in a hostile camp. " 
 
 He dropped his right hand with the pistol on the table, and then 
 turned to the two gentlemen, who had listened to him in gloomy 
 silence. 
 
 "Yes, my friends, " he said, throwing back his head in order to 
 shake away his long black hair, surrounding his face like a mane— 
 "now, my friends, I beg you to listen to my justification. You 
 
220 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 have latterly believed me to be a fool, a prodigal son of the republic, 
 vFho, for the sake of a rciserable love-affair vrith a flirt, neglected 
 the most sacred interests of his country. You shall see and ac- 
 knowledge now that, while I seemed to be lost, I was only working 
 for the welfare and glory of our great republic, and that this woman 
 with her beautiful mask did not make me forget for a single moment 
 my duties to my country. These papers contain my justification— 
 these papers, madame, with which you hoped to revenge yourself. 
 Pardon me, my fairy queen, I have made another mistake, and 
 again brought a wrong portfolio ; these are not the documents either 
 which you would like to obtain. Perhaps they are after all in the 
 portfolio lying on the floor there !" 
 
 He looked at Victoria with a scornful smile ; she fixed her large 
 eyes steadfastly upon him ; not a muscle of her face was twitching 
 —not the slightest anxiety or fear was depicted on her features. 
 
 Bonnier opened the portfolio and drew the papers from it. 
 
 " I shall only briefly state to you the contents of those papers, " he 
 said, " you may afterward peruse them at leisure. This first paper 
 is a letter I received by a courier from Vienna, without knowing 
 who sent it to me. The letter only contains the following words : 
 
 "'Be on your guard. A very dangerous spy will be sent to you 
 —a lady who is the most intimate friend of a distinguished states- 
 man. Receive her well, and let no one see these lines. It will pro- 
 mote the welfare of France. ' 
 
 " As a matter of course, I said nothing about it, not even to you, 
 my friends ; I was silent, and waited for further developments. 
 Two days later I received this second paper. It was a note from a 
 lady, who wrote to me that she had just arrived at Eastadt, and was 
 very anxious to see me, but under the seal of the most profound 
 secrecy. I followed the invitation, and repaired to the designated 
 house. I found there this lady, who introduced herself to me as 
 Madame Victoria de Poutet ; and if you now look at her you will com- 
 prehend why that refined half -Turk Thugut, as well as the mad rake 
 Count Lehrbaeh, are both in love with her, for she is more beautiful 
 than the loveliest odalisque and the most fascinating Phryne !" 
 
 The three men fixed their eyes upon Victoria, and ogled her with 
 an impudent leer. Victoria sat erect and immovable, and even her 
 eye-lashes did not move ; she apparently did not see the glances fixed 
 upon her ; nor even heard what Bonnier had said about her, for her 
 countenance remained calm and almost smiling. 
 
 Bonnier continued : " The ladj^ told me a very pretty little story, 
 the particulars of which I shall not relate to you. In short, Thugut 
 had attacked her innocence and her honor — her innocence and her 
 honor, do not forget that ! — and she wanted to revenge herself upon 
 
THE JUSTIFICATION. 221 
 
 him. She asked me to lend her my assistance for this purpose. I 
 feigned to believe every thing she told me, and promised to protect 
 her. 
 
 "This third paper here I found on my desk on returning home 
 from my visit to the lady. A stranger had delivered it. It was 
 written by the same man who had addressed the first letter to me. 
 It read as follows : 'A romance is to be played with you ; let them 
 proceed without interfering with their doings. The fascination of 
 beavitj' is very powerful, and the lady is going to fascinate you, for 
 the purpose of obtaining important papers from you. Pretend to 
 be fascinated, and you will penetrate the intrigue. ' 
 
 "The advice was good, and I followed it. I feigned to be fasci- 
 nated ; I played the enthusiastic lover of this lady ; and although I 
 doubtless acted my part in a very clumsy manner, she was kind 
 enough to believe me ; for she is well aware that no one is able to 
 withstand the power of her beauty. But in order to perform my 
 role in a really truthful manner, not only Madame de Poutet, but 
 also all Eastadt, had to be convinced of my ardent love for her, for 
 Victoria is very shrewd ; Thugut has educated a woi'thy pupil in 
 her. Hence I had to wear the mask of my love everywhere, even 
 before you, my friends. I had to make up my mind to pass for a 
 fool until I was able to prove to you that I was a man of sense ; I 
 had to wear viy mask until I was able to tear this woman's mask 
 from her face. Oh, I assure you, it is not an easy task to be this 
 lady's lover ! She demands a great deal of courting, a great deal of 
 ardor, a great deal of passion ; she has got very warm blood herself, 
 and, if I am not mistaken, she is a great-granddaughter of that 
 beautiful Roman lady, Messalina. " 
 
 Now, for the first time, a slight ti-emor pervaded Victoria's 
 frame, and a deep blush suffused her cheeks. But this lasted only a 
 moment, and then she sat again quite erect and immovable. 
 
 " In spite of the difficulty of your task, you have played your part 
 in a masterly manner," said Jean Debry, in a rude and stern voice. 
 '• All of us believed you were in love, and this modern Messalina 
 certainly did not doubt it, either. " 
 
 " No, she did not doubt it, " said Bonnier, with a disdainful smile. 
 " She surrounded herself with spies, who had to watch me, but fortu- 
 nately I knew them, and did not betray myself. " 
 
 "How did you know them?" asked Roberjot. 
 
 "My unknown correspondent pointed them out to me. He had 
 given up his incognito, and came to me, satisfying me of his iden- 
 tity by writing a few lines, which proved him to be the author of 
 the two previous letters. He offered for a brill iant compensation to 
 assist me in unravelling the intrigue, and I promised him five 
 
223 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 thousand francs. He was one of our most astute and skilful spies, 
 and he wanted this affair to be his masterpiece, in order to obtain 
 from me a recommendation to General Bonaparte, who has just 
 returned from Egypt. I shall give him to-day the promised sum 
 and the recommendation, for he has honestly earned both, and faith- 
 fully assisted me in unmasking this woman.* I received every 
 morning a written report from him about every thing Madame Poutet 
 had done during the previous day. All these reports are in this 
 portfolio, and you will examine them, my friends. You will see 
 from them that Madame Victoria, who had come to me in order to 
 revenge herself upon Thugut, nevertheless kept up a good under- 
 standing with his most intimate friend, Count Lehrbach, for every 
 night, as soon as I had left Victoria, the noble count repaired to her 
 house and spent several hours with her, although Victoria had as- 
 sured me Count Lehrbach did not even suspect her presence at 
 Rastadt. However, there was a possibility that my spy was de- 
 ceiving me just as well as he had deceived Madame de Poutet. In 
 order to ascertain that, I informed Victoria one evening that a 
 courier would set out for Paris in the morning, and forward to the 
 Directory papers of the highest importance, concerning an alliance 
 with Russia. We sent a courier to Paris in the morning, but not 
 far from Rastadt he was arrested by Austrian hussars, robbed of his 
 papers, and taken to the headquarters of the Austrian Colonel Bar- 
 baczy, at Gemsbach, although our courier was provided with a 
 French passport and an official badge, enabling him fully to prove 
 that he was in our service, "f 
 
 "This was an unheard-of violation of international law, for 
 which we have vainly sought redress, " said Jean Debry, gloomily. 
 " These German cowards are not even courageous enough to acknowl- 
 edge their own acts. They deny having robbed our courier, but 
 they cannot deny having imprisoned him, contrary to international 
 law." 
 
 " Just as little as Victoria can deny that she was the person who 
 had informed Lehrbach and Barbaczy of the courier's departure," 
 said Bonnier ; " for, fifteen minutes before setting out, the courier 
 himself did not know any thing about his mission ; and the dis- 
 patches, of course, were of the most harmless description. But my 
 pretty lady -bird there had gone into the trap I had set for her, and 
 
 * This spy was the famous Schulmeister, afterward Bonaparte's most adi'oit and 
 intrepid spy. He boasted of the role he had played at Rastadt, and which had 
 brought him double pay ; first from Count Lehrbach, whom he had informed that 
 there were important papers in the hands of the French, and then from the French 
 ambassadors, whom he had cautioned against Count Lehrbach, and given the ad- 
 vice to burn their papers and to be on their guard. 
 
 t Historical. 
 
THE JUSTIFICATION. 233 
 
 I kept her in it without her knowing any thing about it. She was 
 quite unsuspecting, and, thanks to my talents as a comedian, and to 
 my love, I finally found out the real purpose of her visit to Rastadt. 
 Yesterday I promised her to deliver to her to-day the papers that 
 endanger Thuguts position at the head of the Austrian government, 
 and prove him to be a hireling of England. In the evening Count 
 Lehrbach sent a courier to Vienna ; then we retaliated, caused the 
 courier to be arrested and took his papers from him. He had, how- 
 ever, only a small note, addressed to Minister Thugut. Here it is. 
 It contains only the following words : 
 ' I shall get the papers to-morrow. 
 
 'ViCTOEIA. ' 
 But these words were written by the beautiful hand of the same 
 lady who latterly had penned so many tender love-letters to myself. 
 I had promised her those papers if she would call for them to-day, 
 and you see, my friends, that she has come. But I desired to know 
 if this really was the only object for which Baron Thugut had sent 
 bis most beautiful and sagacious agent to Rastadt, or if there were 
 not some secondary objects at the bottom of this mission. I there- 
 fore resolved to ascertain this to-day. My astute spy had told me 
 that Madame de Poutet was also anxious to get hold of some other 
 important papers. I therefore feigned to-day to have abstracted the 
 wrong papers and to have brought here a portfolio containing our 
 correspondence with the Prussian minister and documents in rela- 
 tion to an alliance between France and Prussia. I told my fair 
 friend that the loss of these papers would ruin me irretrievably, and 
 yet I was such a love-sick fool as to drop the portfolio with the pa- 
 pers while engaged in tenderly kissing my hand to my dulcinea. 
 Look, gentlemen, the portfolio is yet lying on the floor, but the 
 papers are no longer in it. They are carefully concealed in Madame 
 Victoria's pocket. Oh, it was a very pretty scene, when she stole 
 them. I watched her through a small hole which I had bored 
 through the door this morning, and through which I could plainly 
 see every motion of my beautiful Victoria. Yes, my beautiful Vic- 
 toria stole the papers, although she knew that this loss would seri- 
 ously embaiTass me. However, my friends, it will be unnecessary 
 for the republic to punish me for this theft Madame de Poutet has 
 committed, for the papers she has got in her pocket are nothing but 
 the faithful diary of my daily intercourse with Victoria de Poutet. 
 I have carefully noted in it every conversation I had with her, and 
 every favor she granted to me, and I have no objection whatever to 
 this diary being transmitted to Minister Thugut. If he is not jeal- 
 ous, he will not complain of it. And now I am through with my 
 justification, and I ask you, did I not act as a good and faithful son 
 
324 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 of the republic should? Have I done my duty? Will the country 
 be content with me?" 
 
 " Yes, " said Roberjot, solemnly, " you have acted as a good and 
 faithful son of the republic. You have intrepidly followed the 
 enemy who had approached you on secret paths, into his hiding- 
 places, and you have skilfully exposed the perfidious intrigues he had 
 carried on against France. You have done your duty. " 
 
 " Yes, the republic will thank you for your zeal, " exclaimed Jean 
 Debry ; " you have run great risks for her sake. For a beautiful, 
 voluptuous, and intriguing woman is even more dangerous than a 
 venomous serpent. Like St. Anthony, you have withstood the 
 temptress by praying to our holy mother, the great French Republic ! 
 Yes, the country will be content with you. " 
 
 " I thank you, my friends, " said Bonnier, with a happy smile ; 
 " I now stand again before you with a clear conscience, and without 
 a blush of shame on my cheeks. You have accepted my atonement. 
 As for this woman, we will inflict no further punishment on her. 
 She was only a tool in Thugut's hands ; that was all. This hour has 
 punished her sufficiently, and our profound contempt shall be the 
 only penalty she will take away with her. " 
 
 " Yes, our profound contempt shall be the penalty she will take 
 with her, " exclaimed Roberjot and Jean Debry at the same time. 
 
 "There is nothing more disgraceful under the sun than a woman 
 who sells her charms, " said Roberjot. 
 
 " There is nothing more dreadful and dishonorable than an ambi- 
 tious and heartless wanton I" added Jean Debry, in a voice of pro- 
 found disdain. 
 
 "Victoria de Poutet, " said Bonnier, throwing the pistol aside, 
 " every thing between us was a comedy, even this pistol, the pre- 
 tended bullet of which frightened and silenced you. It was not 
 loaded. The comedy is now at an end, and there remains nothing 
 for you but to go to your stage-manager and to tell him that you 
 utterly failed in performing your part. You may go now ; nothing 
 further detains you here. " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, " said Victoria, in a perfectly calm and so- 
 norous voice ; " you forget that you put the key of the door into your 
 pocket ; go. therefore, and unlock it. " 
 
 She pointed at the door with an imperious gesture, and Bonnier 
 went to unlock it. Victoria, remaining still erect and calm in her 
 arm-chair, looked at him while he was doing so, and only when 
 Bonnier had opened the door and returned to the table, she rose 
 slowly from her seat. 
 
 Now she stood there, drawing herself up to her full height, her 
 face glowing with indignation, a deep blush mantling her cheeks, 
 
THE JUSTIFICATION. 225 
 
 a disdainful smile playing on the slightly parted lips, the expansive 
 white forehead deeply wrinkled, as cold as marble, and yet conceal- 
 ing under this marble surface a torrent of molten lava, which, as 
 soon as it shovild burst forth, could not but produce death and'de- 
 sti-uction. Hers was now a diabolic beauty, and when she turned 
 her eyes toward the three republicans, they glistened like dagger- 
 points. 
 
 " I have to make but a brief reply to M. Bonnier's long speech, " 
 she said, proudly and calmly. " This is my answer : I shall obtain 
 those papers in spite of you, and I shall revenge myself for this 
 hour ! To your last high-sounding sentences, I answer by another 
 sentence : there is nothing more dangerous than an irritated and in- 
 sulted woman, for she will revenge herself and imbrue her hands in 
 the blood of those who have insulted her. Eoberjot, Bonnier, and 
 Debry, you have insulted me, and I tell you I shall revenge myself. 
 Before three times three days have passed, you will have atoned 
 with your blood for this hour, and may God have mercy on your 
 poor souls !" 
 
 She greeted all of them with a haughty nod, and slowly turning 
 around, she proudly crossed the room. The three men looked at her 
 with pale and gloomy faces, and a slight shudder pervaded for a 
 moment the hearts of the republicans, usually so bold and un- 
 daunted. 
 
 " She looked like an evil demon predicting] our future I" mur- 
 mured Eoberjot. 
 
 "She will fulfil her word ; she will try to assassinate us,'' said 
 Bonnier. " Did you not see it? Her eyes were moist ; no tears were 
 glistening in them, however, only the venom she will discharge at 
 us. Let us be on our guard !" 
 
 "Yes, let us beware of the serpent's venom!" exclaimed Jean 
 Debry, ■with gloomy energy — " let us beware, and most of all, let us 
 be men who cannot be intimidated by the furious threats of a 
 woman. " 
 
 But Jean Debry knew neither the energy nor the power of this 
 woman whose threats he despised. He did not know that, her anger 
 once aroused, she would not rest until she had taken her revenge. 
 Late in the evening of that day, when all Rastadt was sleeping, 
 Victoria received in her house her two powerful assistants, Count 
 Lehrbach and Colonel Barbaczy, the latter having been invited by a 
 mounted messenger to come to her from Gernsbach. 
 
 A long and portentous conference these three persons held in the 
 course of that night, during which they consulted about the best 
 way to punish the French ambassadors, and to take from them the 
 papers which Thugut wished to obtain. 
 
236 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " "We must have those papers at any price !" exclaimed Victoria, 
 with flashing eyes. 
 
 " Oh, it will only cost a little blood !" shouted Count Lehrbach, 
 in a hollow voice, and laughing hoarsely. "These overbearing 
 French have trampled us under foot for two long years, and tor- 
 mented us by pricking us with pins. Now we will also trample 
 them under foot and prick them, and if our pins are longer than 
 theirs, who will complain?" 
 
 " Thugut wants those papers, and he has forgiven us in advance if 
 they should be a little blood-stained," said Victoria, looking up 
 smilingly to old Colonel Barbaczy, who, with his hands folded on 
 his back, his large shaggy eyebrows gloomily contracted, was slowly 
 pacing the room. 
 
 "Barbaczy ! Barbaczy !" he muttered, in a low voice, "what will 
 the world say of your old head?"* 
 
 "The world will not grudge these hot-blooded French a little 
 blood-letting, and it will praise your surgical skill, my dear Bar- 
 baczy, " exclaimed Lehrbach, laughing. "The responsibility, be- 
 sides, does not fall on your shoulders. "Who will blame you if your 
 hot-blooded hussars commit some excesses — some highway robberies ? 
 Yoii do not order them to assassinate anybody ; you only order them 
 to take the papers from the ambassadors, and only to use force if it 
 cannot be helped. " 
 
 " I shall send fifty hussars to the city to-moiTow, " said Barbaczy, 
 thoughtfully. " They shall encamp in front of the Ettlinger Gate, 
 so that no one, whosoever it may be, will be able to cross the bridges 
 connecting the city with the suburbs without passing through their 
 ranks. " 
 
 Victoria approached him, and laying her hands on his shoul- 
 ders, she looked up to him with a fascinating smile. 
 
 "And you will send some of your most intrepid hussars to Lehr- 
 bach and to me, that we may tell the brave men what rewards are 
 in store for them if they perform their duty in a satisfactory man- 
 ner? No, my beautiful god of war, do not shake your silvery locks 
 so wildly — do not threaten me with your frowning brow ! Think of 
 Gurgewo, my friend ! Do you remember what you swore to me at 
 that time in the trenches when I dressed with my own hands the 
 wound for which you were indebted to a Turkish sabre? Do you 
 remember that you swore to me at that time you would reciprocate 
 my service as soon as it was in your power?" 
 
 " I know it, and I am ready to fulfil my oath, " said Barbaczy, 
 heaving a sigh. 
 
 * Barbaczy's own words.— Vide " Literarlsoher Lodiacus," Edited by Tlieod. 
 Mundt, 1835. Third number, p. 208. 
 
THE JUSTIFICATION. ^27 
 
 "Well, my friend, all I ask is this : send to-morrow six of your 
 bravest and wildest hussars to my house, and order them faithfully 
 to carry out what Count Lehrbach and I shall tell them. " 
 
 " The hussars shall halt at your door to-morrow morning at nine 
 o'clock, " said Barbaezy, resolutely. 
 
 "And I will admit them !" exclaimed Victoria, smiling. "You 
 will be here. Count Lehrbach, I suppose?" 
 
 " I shall be here in order to listen to the wise lessons which the 
 goddess Victoria will teach the sons of Mars," replied Lehrbach, 
 fixing his small, squinting eyes with an admiring air on Victoria's 
 beautiful face. " You will need no other means but your smiles and 
 your beauty in order to inspire those brave soldiers with the most 
 dauntless heroism. Who would not be willing to shed a little 
 French blood, if your lips should promise him a reward?" 
 
 "And what reward are you going to promise to the soldier?" 
 asked Barbaezy, turning to Madame de Poutet. "What are you 
 going to ask them to do?" 
 
 " Only to seize all the papers of the ambassadors, " said Victoria. 
 
 "And to examine their bodies if any papers should be concealed 
 there, " added Count Lehrbach, laughing. 
 
 " And their reward shall be that the hussars will be allowed to 
 look for some other spoils, " said Victoria. 
 
 " Highway robbery and murder, then, " sighed Barbaezy, " and per- 
 petrated by soldiers of my regiment ! Highway robbery and murder !" 
 
 "Fie, what ugly words those are! and who thinks of murder?" 
 exclaimed Victoria. " Did we Germans die, then, of the numerous 
 kicks and blows which the French have given us for the last few 
 years? We will only return those kicks and blows, and the French 
 will assuredly not be so thin-skinned as to die of them on the spot. " 
 
 " Do as you please, " sighed Barbaezy. " Count Lehrbach has the 
 right to issue orders to myself and to my troops, and I owe you the 
 fulfilment of my oath. My hussars will occupy the city to-morrow, 
 and I shall order the French ambassadors to depart forthwith. 
 What is to be done after their departure you may settle with the hus- 
 sars I shall send to you. I shall take no notice of it. " 
 
 " And that is a very wise resolution of yours, colonel, " said Lehr- 
 bach. " ' To know too much gives us the headache, ' says our gracious 
 emperor, whenever he returns the dispatches to Baron Thugut with- 
 out having read them. Send us, then, your hussars to-morrow, and 
 whatever may happen, colonel, we shall not betray each other. " 
 
 "No, we shall not betray each other !" repeated Victoria and Bar- 
 baezy, with uplifted hands. 
 
 "To-moiTOw, then!" said Victoria. "Now, good-night, gentle- 
 
228 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI X\ 
 
 THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 Early on the next day a strange and exciting report pervaded 
 the city of Rastadt. Austrian regiments were encamped all round 
 the city, and Sczekler hussars held aU the gates. This was the re- 
 port which filled with astonishment and terror all those who were 
 not initiated into the secrets of the political situation, and who were 
 not familiar with the condition of the negotiations between France 
 and Germany. For, by surrounding the city with troops, in spite 
 of the presence of the French ambassadors, Austria openly violated 
 the treaty stipulating that, until the congress had adjourned sine 
 die, neither German nor French troops should approach the city 
 within a circuit of three German miles. 
 
 It was reported, too — what the ambassadors as yet remaining in 
 Rastadt had carefully concealed up to this time— that the imperial 
 ambassador, Count Metternich, had quietly left the city several 
 days before, and that the peace commissioners of the empire had the 
 day previous suspended their official functions. 
 
 Congress had then dissolved ; the peace commissioners of France 
 and Germany had been in session for two years without accomplish- 
 ing their task, and the situation looked as ominous and warlike as 
 ever. 
 
 Every one resolved to depart ; every trunk was being packed, 
 every carriage drawn forth from its shed. The French actors and 
 ballet-dancers had fled from Rastadt several weeks before at the iirst 
 rude blast of the approaching storm, like rats leaving a sinking 
 ship. The sounds of joy and mirth had died away, and everywhere 
 only grave and gloomy words were heard, only sorrowful and down- 
 cast faces met. 
 
 Every one, as we stated above, was preparing to set out, and the 
 French ambassadors, too, were going to leave Rastadt to-day, the 
 twenty-eighth of April. Their carriages were ready for them early 
 in the morning in the courtyard of the castle, when, all at once, 
 some footmen of the embassy, with pale, frightened faces, rushed 
 into the castle and reported that Austrian hussars were posted at the 
 gates and refused to allow any one to leave or enter the city. Even 
 the commander of Rastadt, an officer of the Duke of Baden, had not 
 been permitted by the hussars to ride out of the gate. He had been 
 compelled to return to his headquarters.* 
 
 * Historical— Vide "Geheime Gesohiohte der Rastatter Friedensverhandlungen 
 in Verbiudung mit den Staatshiindelndieser Zeit." Von einem Schweizer, part vi. 
 
THE ASSASSINATION. 229 
 
 " But we will not allow them to prevent us from leaving Rastadt, " 
 said Roberjot, resolutely. "'They will not dare to interfere with 
 the departure of the representatives of the French Republic !" 
 
 "The republic would take bloody revenge for such an outrage, 
 and these Germans are afraid of the anger of the republic 1" ex- 
 claimed Jean Debry, haughtily. 
 
 Bonnier violently shook his black mane, and a gloomy cloud 
 settled on his brow. 
 
 "Barbaczy's hussars are encamped in front of the gates, and Vic- 
 toria de Poutet last night had another interview with Lehrbach and 
 Barbaczy," he said. "If, like both of you, I had a wife and chil- 
 dren with me, I should not dare to depart without further guaran- 
 ties." 
 
 At this moment the door opened, and a footman handed Roberjot 
 a letter that had j ust arrived from the Prussian ambassador. Count 
 Goertz. 
 
 Roberjot opened the letter and glanced over it. " The guaranties 
 you referred to, Bonnier, will soon be here, " he said, smiling. " It 
 seems the German ambassadors are sharing your apprehensions. 
 They have drawn up a joint letter to Colonel Barbaczy, requiring 
 him to give them a written pledge that there would be no interfer- 
 ence with the free departure of the French ambassadors, and that 
 the safety of the latter would not be endangered. Count Goertz, 
 therefore, requests us not to set out until a written reply has been 
 made to the letter of the ambassadors. Shall we delay our departure 
 until then?" 
 
 "We wiU, " said Bonnier ; "you will not derogate from your re- 
 publican dignity by consulting the safety of your wives and chil- 
 dren. I may say that, inasmuch as I have to take care of no one but 
 myself, and as I know tliat no care would be of any avail in my 
 case. " 
 
 "What do you mean, my friend?" asked Jean Debry. 
 
 " I mean that I shall die to-day, " said Bonnier, solemnly. 
 
 Roberjot turned pale. " Hush, " he whispered ; "let us say noth- 
 ing about this matter to the women. My wife had a bad dream last 
 night ; she saw me weltering in my gore and covered with wounds, 
 and she asserts that her dreams are always fulfilled. " 
 
 "Roberjot, Bonnier, and Debry, may God have mercy on your 
 poor souls !" muttered Bonnier, in a low voice. 
 
 "I do not believe in dreams!" said Jean Debry, with a loud, 
 forced laugh, "and besides, my wife has had no bad dream what- 
 ever, and not been warned by fate. Come, let us go to our ladies 
 who are already clad in their travelling-dresses. Let us tell them 
 that we shall, perhaps, be compelled to wait a few hours." 
 
230 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 But several hours elapsed, and the messenger the German ambas- 
 sadors had sent to Colonel Barbaczy's headquarters did not return. 
 Nearly all of the German ambassadors made their appearance at the 
 castle in order to express to the representatives of the French repub- 
 lic their astonishment and profound indignation at this disrespectful 
 delay, and to implore them not to set out until the message had 
 arrived. 
 
 The French ambassadors themselves were undecided and gloomy ; 
 their ladies were pacing the rooms with sad faces and tearful eyes. 
 Every one was in the most painful and anxious state of mind. 
 
 The whole day passed in this manner, and night set in when 
 finally the messenger whom the ambassadors had sent to Colonel 
 Barbaczy, returned to Eastadt. But he did not bring the expected 
 written reply of the colonel. In its place, an Austrian officer of 
 hussars made his appearance ; he repaired to the Prussian Count 
 Goertz, at whose house the other ambassadors were assembled, and 
 brought him a verbal reply from Count Barbaczy. The colonel ex- 
 cused himself for not sending a written answer, stating that a press- 
 ure of business prevented him from so doing. He at the same time 
 assured the count and the ambassadors that the French ministers 
 could safely depart, and that he would give them twenty-four hours 
 for this purpose.* 
 
 The officer brought, however, an autograph letter from Barbaczy 
 to the French ministers, and he repaired to the castle in order to 
 deliver it to them. 
 
 This letter from Barbaczy contained the following lines : 
 
 " Ministers : You will understand that no French citizens can 
 
 be tolerated within thfe positions occupied by the Austrian forces. 
 
 You will not be surprised, therefore, that I am obliged to request 
 
 you, ministers, to leave Eastadt within twenty-four hours. 
 
 "Baebaczy, Colonel." 
 " Gernsbach, April 28, 1799. "f 
 
 "Well, what are we to do?" asked Roberjot, when the officer had 
 left them. 
 
 " We will set out, " said Jean Debry, impetuously. 
 
 " Yes, we will set out, " exclaimed his beautiful young wife, en- 
 circling him with her arms. " The air here, it seems to me, smells 
 of blood and murder; and eveiy minute's delay redoubles our 
 danger. " 
 
 "Poor wife, did they infect you, too, already with their evil 
 forebodings and dreams?" said Jean Debry, tenderly pressing his 
 
 * Vide Dohm, nach seinem WoUen und Handeln, von Gronau, p. 600. 
 t Dohm preserved a copy of this letter.— Ibid. 
 
THE ASSASSINATION. 231 
 
 wife to his heart. " God forbid that they should endanger a single 
 hair of your dear, beautiful head ! I am not afraid for myself, but 
 for the sake of my wife and of my two little daughters. For you 
 and for our friends here I would like to choose the best and most 
 prudent course. " 
 
 " Let us set out, " said Madame Rober jot ; " the terrible dream 
 last night was intended to give us warning. Death threatens us if 
 we remain here any longer. Oh, my husband, I love nothing on 
 earth but you alone ; you are my love and my happiness ! I would 
 die of a broken heart if I should lose you I But no, no, not lose I 
 We live and die together. He who kills you must also take my 
 life !" 
 
 " They shall not kill us, my beloved, " said Rober jot, feelingly ; 
 " life, I trust, has many joys yet in store for us, and we will return 
 to our country in order to seek them there. Bonnier, you alone are 
 silent. Do not you believe also that we ought to set out to-night?" 
 
 Bonnier started up from his gloomy reverie. " Let us set out, " 
 he said, " we must boldly confront the terrors from which we can- 
 not escape. Let us set out. " 
 
 "Be it so!" shouted Roberjot and Jean Debry. "The republic 
 will protect her faithful sons 1" 
 
 "And may God protect us in His infinite mercy," exclaimed 
 Madame Roberjot, falling on her knees. 
 
 And Jean Debry's wife knelt down by her side, drawing her 
 little girls down with her. 
 
 " Let us pray, my children, for your father, for ourselves, and for 
 our friends, " she said, folding the children's hands. 
 
 While the women were praying, the men issued their last orders 
 to the servants and to the postilions. 
 
 At length every thing was in readiness, and if they really wished 
 to set out, it had to be done at once. 
 
 Roberjot and Jean Debry approached softly and with deep emo- 
 tion their wives, who were kneeling and praying still, and raised 
 them tenderly. 
 
 " Now be strong and courageous— be wives worthy of your hus- 
 bands, " they whispered. " Dry your tears and come ! The carriages 
 are waiting for us. Come, come, France is waiting for us !" 
 
 " Or the grave !" muttered Bonnier, who accompanied the others 
 to the court-yard where the carriages were standing. 
 
 The ambassadors with their wives and attendants had finally 
 taken seats in the carriages. Roberjot and his wife occupied the 
 fli-st carriage ; Bonnier, the second ; Jean Debry with his wife and 
 daughters, the third ; in the fourth, fifth, and sixth were the secre- 
 taries of legation, the clerks and servants of the ambassadors. 
 16 
 
232 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The last coach-door was closed ; a profound momentary silence 
 succeeded the noise and turmoil that had prevailed up to this time. 
 Then the loud, ringing voice of Eoberjot asked from the first car- 
 riage, "All ready?" 
 
 " All ready !" was the reply from the other carriages. 
 
 "Then let us start," shouted Eoberjot, and his carriage immedi- 
 ately commenced moving. The other five carriages followed slowly 
 and heavily. 
 
 The night was chilly and dark. The sky was covered with heavy 
 clouds. Not the faintest trace of the moon, not a star was visible. 
 In order that they might not lose their way, and see the bridge 
 across the Rhine, a man, bearing a torch, had to precede the car- 
 riages. But the gale moved the flame so violently that it now 
 seemed near going out, and then again flared up and cast a glare 
 over the long procession of the carriages. Then every thing once 
 more became dark and gloomy and ominously still. 
 
 The torch-bearer, preceding the foremost carriage, vigorously 
 marched ahead on the road. All at once it seemed to him as though 
 black figures were emerging from both sides of the highway and 
 softly flitting past him. But assuredly he must have been mis- 
 taken ; it could not have been any thing but the shadows of the trees 
 standing on both sides of the road. 
 
 No, now he saw it again, quite plainly. The shadows were 
 horsemen, softly riding along on both sides of the highway. 
 
 He raised his torch and looked at the horsemen. There was quite 
 a cavalcade of them. Now they crossed the ditch and took position 
 across the road, thus preventing the carriages from passing on. 
 
 The torch-bearer stood still and turned around in order to shout 
 to the postilions to halt. But only an inarticulated, shrill cry 
 escaped from his throat, for at the same moment two of the horse- 
 men galloped up and struck at him with their flashing swords. He 
 parried the strokes with his torch, his only weapon, so that one of 
 the swords did not hit him at all, while the other only slightly 
 touched his shoulder. 
 
 "What is the matter?" shouted Roberjot, in an angry voice, 
 from the flrst carriage. 
 
 The horsemen seized the arms of the torch-bearer and dragged 
 him toward the carriage. " Light !" they shouted to him, and quite 
 a squad of merry horsemen was now coming up behind them. When 
 they dashed past the torch, the frightened torch-bearer was able to 
 see their wild, bearded faces, their flashing eyes, and the silver lace 
 on their uniforms. 
 
 The torch betrayed the secret of the night, and caused the Sczekler 
 hussars of Barbaczy's regiment to be recognized. 
 
THE ASSASSINATION. 333 
 
 They now surrounded the first carriage, shouting furiously, and 
 sliattering the windows with tlieir sabres. 
 
 ■' Minister Roberjot ! Are you Minister Eoberjot?" asked a dozen 
 wild, howling voices. 
 
 Roberjot's grave and threatening face, illuminated by the glare 
 of the torch, appeared immediately in the aperture of the window. 
 '■ Yes, I am Roberjot, " he said, loudly ; " I am the ambassador of 
 France, and here is the passport furnished me by the ambassador of 
 the Elector of Mentz. " 
 
 He exliibited the paper, but the hussars took no notice of it ; four 
 vigorous arms dragged Roberjot from the carriage, and before he 
 had time to stretch out his hand toward his pistols, the sabres of 
 the hussars fell down upon his head and shoulders. 
 
 A terrible yell was heard, but it was not Roberjot who had uttered 
 it ; it was his wife, who appeared with pale and distorted features 
 in the coach door, hastening to her beloved husband, to save him or 
 to die with him. 
 
 But two stout arms kept her back — the arms of the valet de 
 chambre who, perceiving that his master was hopelessly lost, wanted 
 to protect at least his misti-ess from the murderous sabres of the 
 hussars. 
 
 " Let me go, let me go ; I will die with him !" she cried ; but the 
 faithful sei-vant would not loosen his hold, and, unable to reach her 
 husband, she had to witness his assassination by the hussars, who 
 cut him with their sabres until he lay weltering in his gore. 
 
 "He is dead !" shrieked his wife, and her wail aroused Eoberjot 
 once more from his stupor. He opened his eyes and looked once 
 more at his wife. 
 
 "Sauvez! sauvez!'' he shouted, in a voice full of anguish. 
 "Oh!—" 
 
 "What ! not dead yet?" roared the hussars, and they sti-uck him 
 again. 
 
 Now he was dying. That loud, awful death-rattle was his last 
 life-struggle. The valet de chambre in order to prevent her from 
 hearing that awful sound, with his hands closed the ears of his mis- 
 tress, who, petrified with horror, was looking at her dying husband. 
 
 But she did not hear it ; she had fainted in the servant's arms. 
 At this moment a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and the 
 wild, bearded face of a hussar stared at him. 
 
 "Footman?" asked the hussar, in his broken Hungarian dialect. 
 
 " Yes, footman !" said the valet de chambre, in broken German. 
 The hussar smilingly patted his shoulder, and, with his other hand, 
 pulled the watch from his vest-pocket, kindly saying to him, "Foot- 
 man, stay here. No harm wiU befall him 1" He then bent forward, 
 
334 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 and with a quick grasp, tore the watch and chain from the neck of 
 Roberjot's fainting wife. 
 
 His task was now accomplished, and he galloped to the second 
 carriage, to which the other hussars had just dragged the torch- 
 bearer, and which they had completely surrounded. 
 
 "Bonnier, alight!" howled the hussars, furiously— " Bonnier, 
 
 alight 1" 
 
 "Here I am!" said Bonnier, opening the coach door ; "here—" 
 
 They did not give him time to finish the sentence. They dragged 
 him from the carriage, and struck him numerous blows amidst loud 
 laughter and yells. Bonnier did not defend himself; he did not 
 parry a single one of their strokes ; without uttering a cry or a 
 groan, he sank to the ground. His dying lips only whispered a 
 single word. That word was, "Victoria!" 
 
 The six hussars who crowded around him now stopped in their 
 murderous work. They saw that Bonnier was dead — really dead — 
 and that their task was accomplished. Now commenced the appro- 
 priation of the spoils, the reward that had been promised to them. 
 Four of them rushed toward the carriage in order to search it and 
 to take out all papers, valuables, and trunks ; the two others searched 
 and undressed the warm corpse of Bonnier with practised hands. 
 
 Then the six hussars mshed after their comrades toward the third 
 carriage — toward Jean Debry.. But the others had already out- 
 stripped them. They had dragged Debry, his wife, and his daugh- 
 ters from the carriage ; they were robbing and searching the lady 
 and the children, and cutting Jean Debry with their sabres. 
 
 He dropped to the ground ; his respiration ceased, and a convul- 
 sive shudder passed through the bloody figure, and then it lay cold 
 and motionless in the road. 
 
 " Dead ! dead !" shouted the hussars, triumphantly. " The three 
 men are killed ; now for the spoils ! The carriages are ours, with 
 every thing in them ! Come, let us search the fourth carriage. We 
 will kill no more ; we will only seize the spoils !" 
 
 And all were shouting and exulting, " Ho for the spoils ! for the 
 spoils ! Every thing is ours !" And the wild crowd rushed forward, 
 and Jean Debry lay motionless, a bleeding corpse by the side of the 
 carriage. 
 
 Profound darkness enveloped the scene of horror and carnage. 
 The torch had gone out ; no human eye beheld the corpses with their 
 gaping wounds. The ladies had been taken into the carriages by 
 their sei-vants ; the hussars were engaged in plundering the three 
 remaining carriages, the inmates of which, however, forewarned 
 in time by the shrieks and groans that had reached them from the 
 
JEAN DEBRY. 235 
 
 scene of Roberjot's assassination, had left and fled across the marshy 
 meadows to the wall of the castle garden. Climbing over it and 
 hastening through the garden, they reached the city and spread 
 everywhere the terrible tidings of the assassination of the ambassa- 
 dors. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 JEAN DEBEY. 
 
 As soon as the report of the dreadful occurrence had been circu- 
 lated, a dense crowd gathered in the streets of Rastadt, and for the 
 first time for two years the ambassadors of all the German powers 
 were animated by one and the same idea, and acting in concord and 
 harmony. They repaired in a solemn procession to the Ettlinger 
 gate, headed by Count Goertz and Baron Dohm ; the others followed 
 in pairs, Count Lehrbach, the Austrian ambassador, being the only 
 one who had not joined the procession. But the guard at the gate 
 refused to let them pass, and when they had finally succeeded, after 
 long and tedious negotiations, in being permitted to leave the city, 
 they were met outside of the gate by the Austrian Captain Burkhard 
 and his hussars. 
 
 Count Goertz went to meet him with intrepid courage. " Did 
 you hear that an infamous murder has been perpetrated on the 
 French ambassadors not far from the city ?" 
 
 " I have heard of it, " said the captain, shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 "And what steps have you taken in order to save the unfortunate 
 victims, if possible?" 
 
 " I have sent an officer and two hussars for the purpose of ascer- 
 taining the particulars. " 
 
 "That is not sufficient, sir!" exclaimed Count Goertz. "You 
 must do more than that ; you must strain every nerve on this occa- 
 sion, for this is not an ordinary murder, but your honor, sir, is at 
 stake, as well as the honor of yom- monarch and the honor of the 
 German nation !" 
 
 "The honor of the German nation is at stake," shouted the am- 
 bassadors, unanimously. " Our honor has been sullied by the assas- 
 sination !" 
 
 But the captain remained cold and indifferent. " It is a deplor- 
 able misunderstanding, " he said. " It is true, the patrols were going 
 the rounds at night, and such things may occur at this time. The 
 French ministers should not have set out by night. The crime has 
 
336 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 been committed, and who is to blame for it? It was not done by- 
 anybody's order. " * 
 
 " Who would deem it possible that such an outrage should have 
 been committed by order of any commanding oflacer?" exclaimed 
 Count Goertz, indignantly. 
 
 "Ah, yes, an outrage indeed!" said Burkhard, shrugging his 
 shoulders. '' A few ambassadors have been killed. A few of our 
 generals, too, were killed during the last few years, "f 
 
 Count Goertz turned to the other ambassadors with an air of pro- 
 found indignation. " You see, " he said, " we need not hope for much 
 assistance here ; let us seek it elsewhere. Let some of us repair in 
 person to Colonel Barbaczy's headquarters at Gemsbaoh, while the 
 rest of us will go to the spot where the murders were committed. 
 If the captain here declines giving us an escort for that purpose, 
 we shall repair thither without one ; and if we should lose our lives 
 by so doing, Germany will know how to avenge us !" 
 
 " I will give you an escort, " said Burkhard, somewhat abashed 
 by the energetic bearing of the count. 
 
 While the ambassadors were negotiating with the captain at the 
 Ettlinger gate, the hussars were incessantly engaged in plundering 
 the six carriages. After finishing the first three carriages, they 
 ordered the ladies and servants to reenter them and to await quietly 
 and silently what further would be done in relation to them. No 
 one dared to offer any resistance — no one was strong enough to op- 
 pose them. Dismay had perfectly paralyzed and stupefied all of 
 them. Madame Debry lay in her carriage with open, tearless eyes, 
 and neither the lamentations nor the kisses of her daughters were 
 able to arouse her from her stupor. Madame Roberjot was wring- 
 ing her hands, and amidst heart-rending sobs she was wailing all 
 the time, " They have hacked him to pieces before my eyes !" | 
 
 No one paid any attention to the corpses lying with their gaping 
 woimds in the adjoining ditch. Night alone covered them with its 
 black pall ; night alone saw that Jean Debry all at once commenced 
 stirring slightly, that he opened his eyes and raised his head in order 
 to find out what was going on around him. With the courage of 
 despair he had been playing the rdle of a motionless corpse as long 
 as the hussars were in his neighborhood ; and now that he no longer 
 heard any noise in his vicinity, it was time for him to think of 
 saving himself. 
 
 He remained in a sitting position in the ditch and listened. 
 
 * The literal reply of Captain Burkhard.— Fide " Report of the German Am- 
 bassadors concerning the Assassination of the French Ministers near Eastadt." 
 + Ibid. 
 X ^^Ils Vont hache devant vies yeux ! '' — Lodiacus, vol. iii., p. 195. 
 
JEAN DEBRY. 237 
 
 His head was so heavy that he had not sufficient strength to hold it 
 erect, it dropped again upon his breast ; from a burning, painful 
 wound the blood was running over his face into his mouth, and it 
 was the only cooling draught for his parched lips. He wanted to 
 raise his arm in order to close this wound and to stanch the blood, 
 but the arm fell down by his side, heavy and lame, and he then felt 
 that it was likewise severely injured. 
 
 And yet, bleeding and hacked as he was, he was alive, and it 
 was time for him to think of preserving his life. For over yonder, 
 in the carriage, there resounded the wail of his children, and the 
 lamentations of his servants. His wife's voice, however, he did 
 not hear. Was she not there? Had she also been assassinated? 
 
 He dared not inquire for her at this moment. He had to save 
 himself, and he was determined to do it. 
 
 He arose slowly, and heedless of the pain it caused him. Every 
 thing around him remained silent. No one had seen him rise ; night 
 with its black pall protected him. It protected him now as he 
 walked a few steps toward the forest, closely adjoining the high- 
 way. At length he reached the forest, and the shades of darkness 
 and of the woods covered the tall, black form that now disappeared 
 in the thicket. 
 
 But his enemies might be lurking for him in this thicket. Eveiy 
 step forward might involve him in fresh dangers. Exhausted and 
 in despair, Jean Debry supported his tottering body against a tree, 
 the sturdy trunk of which he encircled with his arms. This tree 
 was now his only protector, the only friend on whom he could rely. 
 To this tree alone he determined to intrust his life. 
 
 Heedless of his wounded arm and the racking pains of his other 
 injuries, Jean Debry climbed the knotty trunk ; seizing a large 
 branch, he raised himself from bough to bough. A few birds, 
 aroused from their slumbers, arose from the foliage and flitted away. 
 Jean Debry followed them with his eyes, and whispered, "You ^%'ill 
 not betray me !" 
 
 On the highest bough, in the densest foliage, he sat down, gasp- 
 ing with exhaustion, and gi-oauing with pain. In his utter prostra- 
 tion after the extraordinary effort he had just made, he leaned his 
 head against the trunk of the tree, the dense branches of which 
 closely enveloped him, and gave a roof to his head and a resting- 
 place to his feet. 
 
 "Here I am safe— here no one will look for me !" he muttered, 
 and he fell asleep, prostrated by his sufferings and loss of blood. 
 
 Night with its dark mantle covered him up and fanned his 
 feverish brow with its cooling air ; the foliage of the tree laid 
 itself soft and fresh around his burning cheeks, and delightful 
 
238 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 dreams descended from heaven to comfort this poor, tormented hu- 
 man soul. 
 
 After several hom-s of invigorating sleep, Jean Debry was 
 awakened, not, however, by the rude hands of men, but heaven 
 itself aroused him by the torrents of a heavy shower. 
 
 Oh, how refreshing were these cold drops for his parched lips ! 
 How gently did this soft and tepid water wash the blood and dust 
 from his wounds I How delightfully did it bathe his poor benumbed 
 limbs ! 
 
 He felt greatly invigorated, and courageously determined to 
 make further efforts for the preservation of his life. He slowly 
 glided down from the tree and stood once more on the ground. 
 
 The shower was constantly on the increase, and the rain became 
 now, at daybreak, Jean Debry 's protector. When men forsake their 
 poor, tormented fellow-beings. Nature takes pity on them and en- 
 circles them with her saving and protecting maternal arms. 
 
 The rain protected Jean Debry ; it washed the dust and blood 
 from his garments, and made him resemble the other men who had 
 gathered in a large crowd on the road, not far from where he 
 emerged from the forest. All of them were looking with pale faces 
 and expressions of unbounded horror at some objects lying in their 
 midst. What was it that rendered this crowd, generally so noisy 
 and turbulent, to-day so silent and grave? 
 
 Jean Debry penetrated further into their midst, and he discovered 
 now with a shudder what riveted the attention of the vast gathering 
 on the road. 
 
 He beheld the bloody and mutilated corpses of his two friends — 
 the dead bodies of Roberjot and Bonnier. 
 
 Jean Debry closely compressed his lips in order to keep back the 
 cry that forced itself from his breast ; with the whole energy of his 
 will he suppressed the tears that started from his eyes, and he turned 
 away in order to return to Rastadt. 
 
 The rain protected Jean Debry. The rain had driven the soldiers 
 at the gate into the guard-room, and the sentinel into the sentry- 
 box. No one took any notice of this wet and dripping man when he 
 entered the gate. 
 
 He quietly walked up the street, directly toward the house in- 
 habited by Count Goertz, the Prussian ambassador. He entered the 
 house with firm steps, and hastened into the anteroom which, as he 
 formerly used to do, he wanted to cross in order to walk to the 
 count's room without sending in his name. 
 
 But the footmen kept him back ; they refused to admit this pale 
 man with the lacerated face and tattered clothes to their master's 
 private room, 
 
JEAN DEBRY. 339 
 
 "Don't you know me any longer, my friends?" he asked, sadly. 
 " Am I so disfigured that no one of you is ahle to recognize Jean 
 Debry?" 
 
 The footmen now recognized his voice, and the valet de eharribre 
 hastened to open the door of the count's study, and to shout, in a 
 loud voice, " His excellency, the French ambassador Debry !" 
 
 Count Goertz uttered a joyful cry, and hastily rose from the sofa 
 on which, exhausted by the efforts of the terrible night, he had 
 sought a little rest. 
 
 Jean Debry entered the room. He made a truly lamentable ap- 
 pearance as he approached the count, and fixed his dimmed, blood- 
 shot eyes upon him with an expression of unutterable anguish. 
 
 "Are my wife and children safe?" he asked, breathlessly. 
 
 "Yes, they are safe I" exclaimed the count. 
 
 And Jean Debry, the austere republican, the scoffing infidel, 
 Jean Debry fell upon his knees 1 Lifting up his arms toward heaven, 
 his eyes filled with tears, he exclaimed: "Divine Providence, if I 
 have hitherto refused to acknowledge thy benefits, oh, forgive me !" * 
 
 "And punish those who have perpetrated this horirble crime !" 
 added Count Goertz, folding his hands, and uttering a fervent 
 prayer. " O God, reveal the authors of this misdeed ; let us find 
 those who have committed this outrage, lest it may remain a bloody 
 stigma on the fame of our country ! Have mercy on poor Germany, 
 on whose brow this mark of infamy is now burning, and who will 
 be obliged to pour out rivers of her best blood in order to atone for 
 this crime, and to clear her sullied honor ! Have mercy on all of us, 
 and give us courage to brave the storms which this horrible event 
 will assuredly call down ! Have mercy, O God ; punish only the 
 assassins, but not our native land !" 
 
 This prayer of Count Goertz was not fulfilled. The real instiga- 
 tors of the murder were never detected and punished, although the 
 Austrian court, in a public manifesto to the German nation, prom- 
 ised a searching investigation of the whole affair, and a rigorous 
 chastisement of the assassins. But the investigation was but a very 
 superficial proceeding, and its results were never published. The 
 Sczekler hussars publicly sold, on the following day, the watches, 
 snuff-boxes, and valuables they had stolen from the French ambas- 
 sadors. Some of them even acknowledged openly that they had 
 perpetrated the murder, at the instigation of their officers. But 
 nobody thought of arresting them, or calling them to account for 
 their crime. It is true, after a while some of them were imprisoned 
 and tried. But the proceedings instituted against them were never 
 
 * He exclaimed : " Dimne Providence, si fai miconnu tea bienfaita jusquHci, 
 pardonne/ "— Lodiacus, iii., p. 195. 
 
340 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 published, although the Austrian court had expressly promised to 
 lay the minutes of the commission trying the prisoners, and the 
 results of the whole investigation, before the public. In reality, 
 however, the Austrian authorities tried to hush up the whole affair, 
 so that the world might forget it. And it was forgotten, and re- 
 mained unpunished. In diplomatic circles, however, the real insti- 
 gators of the outrage were well known. "It was," says the author 
 of the " Memoirs of a German Statesman" (Count Schlitz), "it was 
 a man who, owing to his exalted position, played a very prominent 
 part at Rastadt ; not a very noble one, however. He was actuated 
 by vindictiveness, and he was determined to seize the most secret 
 papers of the ambassadors at any price. The general archives, how- 
 ever, had been forwarded to Strasburg several days before. He had 
 found willing tools in the brutal hussars. These wretches believed 
 that what a man of high standing asked them to do was agreeable 
 to the will of their imperial master. Baseness is easily able to mis- 
 lead stupidity, and soldiers thus became the assassins of unarmed 
 men, who stood under the sacred protection of international law. " 
 
 The excitement and indignation produced by this horrible crime 
 were general throughout Europe, and every one recognized in it the 
 bloody seeds of a time of horrors and untold evils ; every one was 
 satisfied that Fi'ance would take bloody revenge for the assassination 
 of her ambassadors. In fact, as soon as the tidings from Rastadt 
 penetrated beyond the Rhine, there arose throughout the whole of 
 France a terrible cry of rage and revenge. The intelligence reached 
 Mentz in the evening, when the theatre was densely crowded. The 
 commander ordered the news to be read from the stage, and the furious 
 public shouted, " Vengeance ! vengeance ! et la mart aux Allemands ! " * 
 
 In Paris, solemn obsequies were performed for the murdered am- 
 bassadors. The seats which Bonnier and Roberjot had formerly 
 occupied in the hall of the Corps Legislatif were covered with their 
 bloody garments. When the roll was called and their names were 
 read, the president rose and replied solemnly: "Assassinated at 
 Rastadt !" The clerks then exclaimed : " May their blood be brought 
 home to the authors of their murder !" 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE COALITION. 
 
 Count Hattgwitz, the Prussian minister of foreign affairs, had 
 just returned from a journey he had made with the young king to 
 Westphalia. In his dusty travelling-costume, and notwithstanding 
 
 * " Vengeance 1 vengeance I and death to the Germans 1 " 
 
THE COALITION. 241 
 
 Iiis exhaustion after the fatigues of the trip, as soon as he had entered 
 his study, he had hastily written two letters, and then handed them 
 to his footman, ordering him to forward them at once to their ad- 
 dress, to the ambassadors of Prussia and England. Only then he had 
 thrown himself on his bed, but issued sti-ict orders to awaken him 
 as soon as the two ambassadors had entered the house. 
 
 Scarcely an hour had elapsed when the footman awakened the 
 count, informing him that the two ambassadors had just arrived 
 at the same time, and were waiting for him in the small reception- 
 room. 
 
 The minister hastily rose from his couch, and without devoting 
 a single glance to his toilet and to his somewhat dishevelled wig, 
 he crossed his study and entered the reception-room, where Lord 
 Grenville and Count Panin were waiting for him. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the count after a hurried bow, "be kind 
 enough to look at my toilet, and then I hope you will excuse me for 
 daring to request you to call upon me, instead of coming to you as 
 I ought to have done. But you see I have not even doffed my trav- 
 elling habit, and it would not have behooved me to call on you in 
 such a costume ; but the intelligence I desire to communicate is of 
 such importance that I wished to lose no time in order to lay it be- 
 fore you, and hence I took the liberty of inviting you to see me. " 
 
 " As far as I am concerned, I willingly accepted your invitation, " 
 said Lord Grenville, deliberately, " for in times like these we can 
 well afford to disregard the requirements of etiquette. " 
 
 "That I was no less eager to foUow your call," said Count Panin, 
 with a courteous smile, " you have seen from the fact that I arrived 
 at the same time with the distinguished ambassador of Great Brit- 
 ain. But now, gentlemen, a truce to compliments ; let us come to 
 the point directly, and without any further circumlocution. For 
 the six months that I have been here at Berlin, in order to negotiate 
 with Prussia about the coalition question, I have been so incessantly 
 put off with empty phrases, that I am heartily tired of that diet and 
 long for more substantial food. " 
 
 " Your longing will be gratified to-day. Count Panin, '' said Count 
 Haugwitz, with a proud smile, inviting the gentlemen, by a polite 
 gesture, to take seats on the sofa, while he sat dovm in an arm-chair 
 opposite them. "Yes, you will find to-day a good and nourishing 
 diet, and I hope you will be content with the cook who has prepared 
 it for you. I may say that I am that cook, and believe me, gentle- 
 men, the task of preparing that food for you has not been a very 
 easy one. " 
 
 " You have induced the King of Prussia at length to join the 
 coalition, and to enter into an alliance with Russia, England, and 
 
242 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Austria against the French Republic?" asked Count Panin, joy- 
 fully. 
 
 "You have told his majesty that England is ready to pay large 
 subsidies as soon as Prussia leads her army into the field against 
 France?" asked Lord Grenville. 
 
 "Gentlemen, " said Count Haugwitz, in a slightly sarcastic tone, 
 " I feel greatly flattered by your impetuous inquiries, for they prove 
 to me how highly you value an alliance with Prussia. Permit me, 
 however, to communicate to you quietly and composedly the whole 
 course of negotiations. You know that I had the honor of accom- 
 panying my royal master on his trip to our Westphalian possessions, 
 where his majesty was going to review an army of sixty thousand 
 men. " 
 
 " It would have been better to send these sixty thousand men 
 directly into the field, instead of losing time by useless parades," 
 muttered Count Panin. 
 
 The minister seemed not to have heard the words, and continued : 
 
 "His majesty established his headquarters at Peterhagen, and 
 there we were informed that Archduke Charles of Austria was 
 holding the Rhine against Bemadotte and Jourdan, and that the 
 imperial army, under the command of Kray, in Italy, had been 
 victorious, too ; it is true, however, the Russian auxiliary army, 
 under Field-Marshal Suwarrow, had greatly facilitated Kray's suc- 
 cessful operations. This intelligence did not fall to make a power- 
 ful impression upon my young king, and I confess upon myself too. 
 Hitherto, you know, I had always opposed to a war against France, 
 and I had deemed it most expedient for Prussia to avoid hostilities 
 against the republic. But the brilliant achievements of Russia and 
 Austria in Italy, and the victories of Archduke Charles on the Rhine, 
 seem to prove at length tha.t the lucky star of France is paling, and 
 that it would be advantageous for Prussia openly to join the adver- 
 saries of the republic in their attack. " 
 
 "Avery bold and magnanimous resolution," said Count Panin, 
 with a sarcastic smile. 
 
 "A resolution influenced somewhat by the British subsidies I 
 have promised to Prussia, I suppose?" asked Lord Grenville. 
 
 " Let me finish my statement, gentlemen, " said Count Haugwitz, 
 courteously. " The king, undecided as to the course he ought to 
 pursue, assembled at Paterhagen a council of war, our great com- 
 mander, Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, of course, having been in- 
 vited to be present. His majesty requested us to state honestly and 
 sincerely whether we were in favor of war or peace with France. 
 The duke of Brunswick was, of course, the first speaker who replied 
 to the king ; he voted for war. He gave his reasons in a fiery and 
 
THE COALITION. 243 
 
 energetic speech, and demonstrated to the king that at a time when 
 England was about to send an army to Holland, an advance into 
 Holland by our own army would be highly successful. For my 
 part, I unconditionally assented to the duke's opinion, and Baron 
 Kockeritz declaring for it likewise, the king did not hesitate any 
 longer, but took a great and bold resolution. He ordered the Duke 
 of Brunswick to draw up a memorial, stating in extenso why Prussia 
 ought to participate in the war against France, and to send in at 
 the same time a detailed plan of the campaign. He instructed me 
 to return forthwith to Berlin, and while he would continue his 
 journey to Wesel, to hasten to the capital for the purpose of inform- 
 ing you, gentlemen, that the king will join the coalition, and of 
 settling with you the particulars — " 
 
 At this moment the door of the reception-room was hastily opened, 
 and the first secretary of the minister made his appearance. 
 
 "Pardon me, your excellency, for disturbing you," he said, 
 handing a sealed letter to the count, " but a courier has just arrived 
 from the king's headquarters with an autograph letter from his 
 majesty. He had orders to deliver this letter immediately to your 
 excellency, because it contained intelligence of the highest impor- 
 tance. " 
 
 " Tell the courier that the orders of his majesty have been carried 
 out, " said Count Haugwitz ; " and you, gentlemen, I am sure you 
 will peiTiiit me to open this letter from my king in your presence. 
 It may contain some important particulars in relation to our new 
 alliance. " 
 
 The two gentlemen assured him of their consent, and Count 
 Haugwitz opened the letter. When he commenced reading it, his 
 face was as unruffled as ever, but his features gradually assumed a 
 graver expression, and the smile disappeared from his lips. 
 
 The two ambassadors, who were closely watching the count's 
 countenance, could not fail to notice this rapid change in his 
 features, and their faces now assumed likewise a gloomier air. 
 
 Count Haugwitz, however, seemed unable to master the contents 
 of the royal letter ; he constantly read it anew, as though he were 
 seeking in its words for a hidden and mysterious meaning. He 
 was BO absorbed in the perusal of the letter that he had apparently 
 become entirely oblivious of the presence of the two gentlemen, 
 until a slight coughing of the English ambassador aroused him 
 from his musing. 
 
 "Pardon me, gentlemen," he said, hastily, and in evident embar- 
 rassment; "this letter contains some intelligence which greatly 
 astonishes me. " 
 
 " I hope it will not interfere with the accession of Prussia to the 
 
244 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 coalition?" said Panin, fixing his eyes upon the countenance of the 
 minister. 
 
 "Not at all," said Count Haugwitz, quickly and smilingly. 
 " The extraordinary news is this : his majesty the king will reach 
 Berlin within this hour, and orders me to repair to him at once. " 
 
 "The king returns to Berlin !" exclaimed Count Panin. 
 
 " And did not your excellency tell us just now that the king had 
 set out for Wesel?" asked Lord Grenville, with his usual stoical 
 equanimity. 
 
 " I informed you, gentlemen, of what occurred two weeks ago, " 
 said Count Haugwitz, shrugging his shoulders. 
 
 "What! Two weeks ago? Nevertheless, your excellency has 
 just arrived at Berlin, and are wearing yet your travelling-habit?" 
 
 "That is very true. I left Minden two weeks ago, but the im- 
 passable condition of the roads compelled me to travel with snail- 
 like slowness. My carriage every day stuck in an ocean of mire, 
 so that I had to send for men from the adjoining villages in order 
 to set it going again. The axle-tree broke twice, and I was obliged 
 to remain several days in the most forsaken little country towns 
 until I succeeded in getting my carriage repaired. " 
 
 "The king seems to have found better roads," said Count Panin, 
 with a lurking glance. "The journey to Wesel has been a very 
 rapid one, at all events. " 
 
 " The king, it seems, has given up that journey and concluded 
 on the road to return to the capital, " said Count Haugwitz, in an 
 embari'assed manner. 
 
 " It would be very deplorable if the king should as rapidly change 
 his mind in relation to his other resolutions !" exclaimed Lord 
 Grenville. 
 
 " Your excellency does not fear, then, lest this sudden return of 
 the king should have any connection with our plans?" asked Panin. 
 " The king has authorized you to negotiate with the English am- 
 bassador. Sir Thomas Grenville, and with myself, the representative 
 of the Emperor Paul, of Russia, about forming an alliance for the 
 pui'pose of driving the rapacious, revolutionary, and bloodthirsty 
 French Republic beyond the Rhine, and restoring tranquillity to 
 menaced Europe?" 
 
 " It is true the king gave me such authority two weeks ago, " 
 said Count Haugwitz, uneasily, " and I doubt not for a single mo- 
 ment that his majesty is now adhering to this opinion. But you 
 comprehend, gentlemen, that I must now hasten to wait on the 
 returning king, in order to receive further instructions from 
 him." 
 
 " That means, Count Haugwitz, that you have invited us to call 
 
THE COALITION. 245 
 
 on you in order to tell us that we may go again?" asked Panin, 
 frowning. 
 
 " I am in despair, gentlemen, at this unfortunate coincidence, " 
 said Count Haugwitz, anxiously. "It is, however, impossible for 
 me now to enter into further explanations. I must repair immedi- 
 ately to the palace, and I humbly beg your pardon for this unex- 
 pected interruption of our conference. " 
 
 " I accept your apology as sincerely as it was ofEered, and have 
 the honor to bid you farewell, " said Panin, bowing and turning 
 toward the door. • 
 
 Count Haugwitz hastened to accompany him. When he arrived 
 at the door, and was about to leave the room, Count Panin turned 
 around once more. 
 
 " Count Haugwitz, " he said, in a blunt voice, " be kind enough 
 to call the attention of the king to the fact that my imperial master, 
 who is very fond of resolute men and measures, prefers an open and 
 resolute enemy to a neutral and irresolute friend. He who wants 
 to be no one's enemy and everybody's friend, will soon find out that 
 he has no friends whatever, and that no one thanks him for not 
 committing himself in any direction. It is better after all to have 
 a neighbor with whom we are living in open enmity, than one on 
 whose assistance we are never able to depend, and who, whenever 
 we are at war with a third power, contents himself with doing 
 nothing at all and assisting no one. Be kind enough to say that to 
 his majesty. " 
 
 He bowed haughtily, and entered the anteroom with a sullen 
 face. 
 
 Count Haugwitz turned around and met the stern, cold glance 
 of the English ambassador, who was also approaching the door with 
 slow and measured steps. 
 
 "Count Haugwitz," said Lord Grenville, quietly, "I have the 
 honor to teU you that, in case the King of Prussia will not now, 
 distinctly and unmistakably, declare his intention of joining the 
 coalition between Russia, Austria, and England, we shall use the 
 subsidies we had promised to pay to Prussia for an army of twenty- 
 five thousand men, in some other way. Besides, I beg you to 
 remind his majesty of the words of his gi-eat ancestor, the Elector 
 Frederick William. That brave and great sovereign said : 'I have 
 learned already what it means to be neutral. One may have ob- 
 tained the best terms, and, in spite of them, will be badly treated. 
 Hence I have sworn never to be neutral again, and it would hurt 
 my conscience to act in a different manner. ' * 1 have the honor, 
 count, to bid you farewell. " 
 
 *Hausser's "History of Germany," vol. ii.,p. 381. 
 
246 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 And Lord Grenville passed the count with a stiflf bow, and dis- 
 appeared in the door of the anteroom. 
 
 Count Haugwitz heaved a profound sigh, and wiped off the 
 perspiration pearling in large drops on his brow. He then took the 
 king's letter from his side-pocket and perused it once more. 
 
 "It is the king's handwriting," he said, shaking his head, "and 
 it is also his peculiar laconic style. " And, as if to satisfy himself 
 by hearing the contents of the letter, he read aloud : 
 
 "Do not enter into any negotiations with the ambassadors, of 
 Russia and Great Britain. We will hold another council of war. I 
 am on my way to Berlin. Within an hour after receipt of these 
 lines, I shall expect to see you in my cabinet. Yours, affection- 
 ately, 
 
 "Frederick William." 
 
 "Yes, yes, the king has written that, "said Haugwitz, folding 
 the letter ; " I must hastily dress, therefore, and repair to the palace. 
 I am anxious to know whence this new wind is blowing, and who 
 has succeeded in persuading the king to change his mind. Should 
 my old friend, Kockeritz, after all, be favorable to France? It 
 would have been better for him to inform me confidentially, and we 
 might have easily agreed ; for I am by no means hostile to France, 
 and I am quite ready to vote for peace, if there be a chance to 
 maintain it. Or should the young king really have come to this 
 conclusion without being influenced by anybody? Why, that would 
 be a dangerous innovation ! We should take quick and decisive 
 steps against it. Well, we wiU see ! I will go and dress. " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE FRIEND OP PEACE. 
 
 The king, with his wonted punctuality, had reached Berlin pre- 
 cisely at the specified time, and when Count Haugwitz arrived at 
 the palace he was immediately conducted to the king, who was 
 waiting for him in his cabinet. 
 
 Count Haugwitz exchanged a rapid glance with Baron Kockeritz, 
 who was standing in a bay window, and then approached the king, 
 who was pacing the room with slow steps and a gloomy air. 
 
 He nodded to the minister, and silently continued his promenade 
 across the room for some time after his arrival. He then stepped to 
 his desk, which was covered with papers and documents, and sit- 
 ting down on a plain cane chair in front of it, he invited the gentle- 
 men to take seats by his side. 
 
THE FRIEND OF PEACE. 247 
 
 "The courier reached you in time, I suppose?" he said, turning 
 to Count Haugwitz. 
 
 " Your majesty, your royal letter reached me while holding a 
 conference with the ambassadors of Russia and Great Britain, and 
 just when I was about to inform them of your majesty's resolution 
 to join the coalition. " 
 
 "You had not done so, then?" asked the king, hastily. "It was 
 your first conference, then?" 
 
 " Yes, your majesty, it was our first conference. I invited the 
 ambassadors immediately after my return to call on me. " 
 
 " It took you, then, two weeks to travel from Minden to Berlin !" 
 
 "Yes, your majesty, two weeks." 
 
 "And yet these gentlemen are in favor of an advance of the 
 army!" exclaimed the king, vehemently. "Yes, if all of my sol- 
 diers were encamped directly on the frontier of Holland and had 
 their base of supplies there ! But in order to send a sufiBcient army 
 to Holland, I should have to withdraw a portion of my soldiers 
 from the provinces of Silesia and Prussia. They would have to 
 march across Westphalia, across the same Westphalia where it took 
 you with your carriage two weeks to travel from Minden to Berlin. 
 And my soldiers have no other carriages but their feet. They 
 would stick in that dreadful mire by hundreds and thousands ; they 
 would perish there of hunger, and that march would cost me more 
 men than a great, decisive battle. I had given you my word that I 
 would join the coalition. Count Haugwitz ; I had even authorized 
 you to negotiate with the ambassadors of Russia and Great Britain, 
 but on the road to Wesel I was obliged to change my mind. Ask 
 Baron Kockeritz what we had to suffer on the first day of our jour- 
 ney, and how far we had got after twelve hours' travelling. " 
 
 "Yes, indeed, it was a terrible trip, " said General von Kockeritz, 
 heaving a sigh. "In spite of the precautions of the coachman, his 
 majesty's carriage was upset five times in a single day, and finally 
 it stuck so firmly in the mud that we had to send for assistance to 
 the neighboring villages in order to set it going once more. We 
 were twelve hours on the road, and made only three German miles 
 during that time. " 
 
 " And we had to stop over night in a miserable village, where we 
 scarcely found a bed to rest our bruised and worn-out limbs, "said 
 the king, indignantly. "And I should expose my army to such 
 fatigues and sufferings ! I should, heedless of all consideration of 
 humanity, and solely in obedience to political expediency, suffer 
 them to perish in those endless marshes, that would destroy the 
 artillery and the horses of the cavalry. And all that for what pur- 
 pose? In order to drag Prussia violently into a war which might 
 17 
 
248 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 be avoided by prudence and by a sagacious reserve ; in order to 
 hasten to the assistance of other powers not even threatened by 
 France, and only in return to draw upon ourselves her wrath and 
 enmity !" 
 
 " But at the same time the sympathies of all Europe, " said Gen- 
 eral von Kockeritz, eagerly. " Your majesty has permitted me to 
 speak my mind at all times openly and honestly, and I must there- 
 fore persist in what I previously said to you. Now or never is the 
 time for Prussia to give up her neutrality, and to assume a decided 
 attitude. France has placed herself in antagonism with all law 
 and order, and with all treaties consecrated by centuries of faithful 
 observance ; she is threatening all monarchies and dynasties, and is 
 trying to win over the nations to her republican ideas. And at the 
 head of this French Republic there is a young general, whose glory 
 is filling the whole world, who has attached victory to his colors, 
 and who intoxicates the nations by his republican phrases of liberty 
 and fraternity, so that, in their mad joy, they overturn thrones, 
 expel their sovereigns, and awake them from their ecstasy under 
 the republican yoke of France. Your majesty, I believe it to be 
 the duty of every prince to preserve his people from such errors, 
 and, jointly with his people, to raise a bulwark against the evil de- 
 signs of France. Austria and Russia have already begun this holy 
 task ; their heroic armies have driven back on all sides the hosts of 
 the overbearing French, who have been compelled to abandon their 
 conquests in Italy and Switzerland. If your majesty should join 
 England, occupy Holland, restore that country to its legitimate 
 sovereign, and menace the northern frontier of France, while Aus- 
 tria is menacing her southern frontier, the arrogance of the republic 
 would be tamed, the overflowing torrent would be forced back into 
 its natural bed, and Europe would have at last peace and tran- 
 quillity. " 
 
 "First of all, every one ought to think of himself," said the 
 king, sharply. "Prussia has hitherto enjoyed peace and tranquil- 
 lity, and I believe it to be my principal task to preserve these bless- 
 ings to my country. I am no ruler hankering after glory and 
 honors ; I do not want to make any conquests, nor to acquire any 
 new territory, but I will content myself with the humble renown 
 of having fulfilled my duties as a ruler to the best of my ability, 
 and according to the dictates of my conviction, as the father and 
 friend of my people. Hence I have not dared to identify my name 
 with that of my great ancestor, Frederick the Second, and call my- 
 self Frederick the Third, for a name imposes obligations, and I 
 know very well that I am no hero and genius, like Frederick the 
 Great. I assumed, therefore, the name of Frederick William, as 
 
THE FEIEND OF PEACE, 349 
 
 the successor of my peaceable father, Frederick William the Second. 
 It is true, Frederick William the Second has waged a war 
 against France, but precisely that war has satisfied me that a war 
 with France may involve Prussia in the greatest dangers and 
 calamities. I participated in the campaign of 1793, gentlemen, 
 and I must honestly confess that I feel little inclination to resume 
 a war which, at best, will only pi-oduce sacrifices for us, and no 
 reward whatever. " 
 
 " There is a reward, however, your majesty, " said Count Haug- 
 witz, solemnly. "It is the preservation of the thrones, and of 
 monarchical principles. We cannot fail to perceive that the thrones 
 are being menaced, and those republics of America, France, and 
 Italy are teaching the nations very dangerous lessons — the lessons 
 of self-government and popular sovereignty. That insatiable Gen- 
 eral Bonaparte has attached these two words to his colors, and if 
 the princes do not combat him with united strength, and try to 
 take those colors from him, he will soon carry them into the midst 
 of all nations, who will rapturously hail him, and desire to follow 
 the example of France. " 
 
 " I have no fears for myself, " said the king, calmly ; " but even 
 if I should be so unfortunate as to be obliged to doubt the love and 
 fidelity of my people, the thought of my personal safety and of the 
 fate of my dynasty ought not to exert a decisive influence upon my 
 resolutions concerning the welfare of my country. I told you be- 
 fore, I want to be the father of my country ; a good father always 
 thinks first of the welfare of his children, and tries to promote it ; 
 only when he has succeeded in doing so he thinks of himself. " 
 
 "A good father ought to strive, first of all, to preserve himself to 
 his children, " exclaimed Count Haugwitz. " An orphan people is 
 as unfortunate as are orphan children. Your people need you, sire ; 
 they need a wise and gentle hand to direct them. " 
 
 "And yet you want to put the sword in my hand, and that I 
 should lead my people to war and carnage, " said the king. 
 
 " In order to make peace bloom forth from war and carnage, " said 
 Count Haugwitz, gravely. " The bloody monster of war is stalking 
 now through the whole world, and, as it cannot be avoided, it is 
 better to attack it, and to confront it in a bold manner. Russia, 
 Austria, and England are ready to do so, and they stretch out their 
 hands toward you. Eefuse to grasp them, and, for the doubtful 
 and dangerous friendship of France, you wiU have gained three 
 powerful enemies. " 
 
 "And if I grasp their hands I shall not advance the interests ot 
 Prussia by shedding the blood of my people, but only those of Aus- 
 tria and Russia," replied the king. "If Fi-ance should be greatly 
 
250 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 weakened, or even entirely annihilated, serious dangers would arise 
 for Prussia, for Austria and Russia would unite in that case, for the 
 purpose of menacing our own security. They would easily and 
 quickly find compensations for themselves, and Austria especially 
 would profit by the losses of France ; for she would recover the 
 Netherlands, which Prussia is to conquer now by the blood of her 
 soldiers, and acquire, perhaps, even Bavaria. But what compensa- 
 tion would fall to the share of Prussia? Or do you believe, perhaps, 
 Austria, from a feeling of gratitude toward us, would cede to Prus- 
 sia a portion of her former hereditary possessions in the Nether- 
 lands? No, no — no war with France 1 Let Russia and Austria fight 
 alone ; they are strong enough for it. I say all this after mature 
 deliberation, and this is not only my opinion, but also that of dis- 
 tinguished and experienced generals. General von Tempelhof, 
 too, is of my opinion, and confirmed it in a memorial which I 
 asked him to draw up for me. " 
 
 "Your majesty requested the Duke of Brunswick, also, to write 
 a memorial on the intended coalition against France, " said General 
 von Kookeritz, hastily. " On our arrival I received this memorial 
 and read it, according to your majesty's orders. ' The duke persists 
 in the opinion that it is neoessaiy for the honor, glory, and safety 
 of Prussia to join the coalition, and to oppose France in a deter- 
 mined manner. Your majesty, I must confess that I share the view 
 maintained by the duke. " 
 
 "So do I !" exclaimed Count Haugwitz, "and so do all your sub- 
 jects. Sire, your whole people ardently desire to chastise this 
 arrogant France, and to sweep these hosts of Jacobins from the soil 
 of Germany. Oh, my king and lord, only make a trial, only raise 
 your voice and call upon the people to rally around your standards, 
 and to wage war against France ! You will see them rally enthusi- 
 astically around the Prussian eagles and fervently bless their cour- 
 ageous king. And when you begin this struggle, sire, you and 
 your army will have a formidable, an invincible ally. That ally 
 is public opinion, sire ! Public opinion requii'es this war, and 
 public opinion is no longer something dumh and creeping in the 
 dark, but something that has a voice, and that raises it in ringing, 
 thundering notes in the newspaper and magazine. One of these 
 voices spoke a few weeks ago in the Political Journal, as follows : 
 'Can our monarch abandon the German empire? Can he look on 
 quietly while France is making preparations for attacking Prussia 
 as soon as her turn shall come? It is only necessary for us to think 
 of Italy, Switzerland, and Holland in order to appreciate the friend- 
 ship of France. ' * This voice has reechoed throughout Prussia, and 
 ♦ " Political Journal." Berlin, 1798. 
 
THE FRIEND OF PEACE. 351 
 
 every one is looking up to the throne of your majesty anxiously and 
 hopefully ; every one is satisfied that you will draw the sword for 
 the honor and rights of Germany. Sire, at this moment I am noth- 
 ing but the voice of your people, and therefore I implore your majesty 
 to tate a bold and manful resolution. Draw the sword for Prussia's 
 honor and Germany's safety." 
 
 "I implore your majesty likewise to do so,'' exclaimed General 
 von Kockeritz. " I dare to implore your majesty, in the name of 
 your people. Oh, sire, take a bold and manly resolution ! Draw 
 the sword for Prussia's honor and Germany's safety." 
 
 The king had risen and paced the room with violent steps. His 
 features, usually so quiet and gentle, were not uneasy and agitated ; 
 a gloomy cloud covered his brow, and a painful expression trembled 
 on his lips. He seemed to carry on a violent and desperate inward 
 struggle, and his breath issued painfully and gaspingly from his 
 breast. Finally, after a long pause, he approached the two gentle- 
 men who had risen and were looking at him with evident anxiety. 
 
 "I am unable to refute all these reasons," said the king, sighing, 
 "but an inward voice tells me that I ought not to break my word, 
 and commence hostilities. If the welfare of the state requires it, 
 however, I shall join the coalition, but only on condition that the 
 Austrians attack Mentz in force, take the fortress by assault, and 
 thereby cover the left flank of my base of operations. * And now 
 we will close our consultation for to-day. Go, Count Haugwitz, and 
 resume your negotiations with the ambassadors of Russia and Great 
 Britain. As for you. General von Kockeritz, I beg you to bring 
 me the memorial of the Duke of Brunswick, and then you may 
 return to your house and take some rest, of which you doubtless 
 stand greatly in need after the fatigues you have undergone. " 
 
 He greeted ihe gentlemen with a hasty nod and turned his back 
 to them, without paying any attention to the deep and reverential 
 bows with which the minister and the general withdrew toward the 
 door. 
 
 When the two gentlemen had reached the anteroom, they satis- 
 fled themselves by a rapid glance that they were alone, and that no- 
 body was able to hear them. 
 
 "He was quite angry, " whispered General von Kockeritz; "he 
 only yielded with the utmost reluctance; and, believe me, my 
 friend, the king will never forgive us this victory we have obtained 
 over him ; it may produce the worst results and endanger our whole 
 position. " 
 
 "It is true," said Count Haugwitz, sighing, "the king dismissed 
 
 *The king's own words.— Vide "Memoiren zur Gesohichte des Preuss. Staats." 
 By Col. Massenbach. Vol. iii., p. 88. 
 
353 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 us in a more abrupt and harsh manner than ever before. It would 
 have been better for us to yield, and let the king have his own way. 
 Who knows but he is right, and an alliance with France, perhaps, 
 would be more advantageous than this coalition with Austria and 
 Russia? It startles me somewhat that Austria should be so anxious 
 to obtain the accession of Prussia to the coalition, for Austria cer- 
 tainly would feel no inclination to propose any alliance that might 
 prove profitable to Prussia. It may be best for Prussia, after all, to 
 side with France. " 
 
 " But public opinion would execrate such an alliance, " said Gen- 
 eral von Kockeritz, sighing. " Public opinion — " 
 
 " My dear friend, " interrupted Count Haugwitz, angrily, " public 
 opinion is like the wind, changing its direction every day. Success 
 alone influences and decides public opinion, and if France should 
 vanquish the three powers, the same public opinion which now urges 
 us to join the coalition would condemn us. Public opinion should 
 not induce us to endanger our position and our power over the king 
 for its sake. And I tell you, I am uneasy about this matter. The 
 king was greatly irritated ; he seemed angxy with us, because he 
 felt that he is not entirely free and independent, and that he has 
 granted us some power over his decisions. " 
 
 " "We should yield even now, " said General von Kockeritz, anx- 
 iously. " We should confess to the king that his reasons have con- 
 vinced MS, that we have been mistaken — " 
 
 "So that he would feel with twofold force that not his own free 
 will, but our altered opinion, decided his action?" asked the minis- 
 ter. "No, we must give the king a chance to decide the whole 
 question by his own untrammelled authority, and to prove that he 
 alone is the ruler of Prussia's destinies. You can give him the 
 best opportunity for so doing, for you have a pretext to return to 
 him at once. Did not the king order you to bring him the memorial 
 of the Duke of Brunswick ?" 
 
 " Good Heaven ! that is true ; the king is waiting for the memo- 
 rial!" exclaimed the general, in terror. "In my anxiety, I even 
 forgot his orders. " 
 
 "Hasten, my friend, to bring it at once to him," said Count 
 Haugwitz, " and with your leave I shall take a little rest in the room 
 which the king has been kind enough to assign to you here in the 
 palace. He will perhaps countermand the instructions he has just 
 given me. " 
 
 A few minutes afterward General von Kockeritz, with the me- 
 morial in his hands, reentered the cabinet of the king, who was 
 still slowly pacing the room, without noticing the arrival of his 
 adviser. 
 
THE FRIEND OF PEACE. 253 
 
 " Your majesty, " said the general, timidly, " here is the memorial 
 of Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick. " 
 
 "Just lay it on my desk there," said the king, continuing his 
 promenade. 
 
 General von Kockeritz stepped to the desk and planed the me- 
 morial on it. Just at that moment the king had arrived at the desk 
 too, and paused in front of the general. He fixed a long and 
 mournful glance upon him and slowly shook his head. 
 
 '■ You have deserted me also, " said the king, sighing. " You 
 may be right, gentlemen. I have yielded to your more profound 
 sagacity for the time being, but an inward voice tells me that it is 
 wrong to break the peace because France at the present time is being 
 threatened on all sides, and because her armies have been defeated. " 
 
 "Your majesty alone has to decide the whole question," said 
 Kockeritz, solemnly. " Your conviction is our law, and we submit 
 in dutiful obedience to your majesty's more profound sagacity. It 
 is for you to command, and for us to obey. " 
 
 A sudden gleam beamed in the eyes of the king, and a deeper 
 blush mantled his cheeks. The general saw it, and comprehended 
 it very well. 
 
 " Moreover, " he added, with downcast eyes and with an air of 
 confusion, "moreover, I have to make a confession to your majesty 
 in my own name and in that of Count Haugwitz. While trying to 
 win your majesty by our arguments for the war and for the coali- 
 tion, it has happened to us that we were converted by the arguments 
 your majesty adduced against the war and against the coalition, 
 and that your majesty convinced us of the fallacy of our opinion. 
 It is, perhaps, very humiliating to admit that our conviction has 
 veered around so suddenly, but your majesty's convincing elo- 
 quence — " 
 
 " No, not my poor eloquence, but the truth has convinced you, " 
 exclaimed the king, joyfully, "and I thank you for having the truly 
 manly and noble courage to admit that you were mistaken and have 
 changed your mind. I am grateful to Count Haugwitz, too, and I 
 shall never forget this generous and highly honorable confession of 
 yours. It is a new proof for me that you are faithful and reliable 
 friends and servants of mine, men who are not ashamed of acknowl- 
 edging an eri'or, and who care more for the welfare of the state than 
 for carrying their own point. I therefore withdraw my previous 
 instructions. I shall not join the coalition. Hasten to Haugwitz, 
 my friend. Tell him to go forthwith to the Eussian ambassador 
 and inform him that my army will not assist the forces of the coali- 
 tion, and that I shall take no part whatever in the war against 
 France. Haugwitz is to say the same to the English ambassador, 
 
254 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 and to inform him that I shall not claim the subsidy of six million 
 dollars, which England offered to pay me for my auxiliary army. 
 Six million dollars ! I believe General Tempelhof was right when 
 he said the siege of a second-rate fortress would cost a million dol- 
 lars, and in Holland we should have to take more than ten fortresses 
 from the stubborn and intrepid French. This would cost us more 
 than ten million dollars, and, moreover, we should have to use up 
 the powder and ammunition destined for our own defence. Those 
 six million dollars that England would pay me would not cover our 
 outlay ; I should be obliged to add four million dollars more, and 
 to shed the blood of my brave and excellent soldiers without obtain- 
 ing, perhaps, even the slightest advantage for Prussia. Hasten, 
 general, to communicate my fixed and irrevocable resolution to 
 Count Haugwitz. Prussia remains neutral, and takes no part 
 whatever in the war against France !" 
 
 " I hasten to carry out your majesty's orders, " exclaimed General 
 von Kockeritz, walking toward the door, " and I know that Count 
 Haugwitz will submit to the royal decision with the same joyful 
 humility and obedience as myself. " 
 
 The king's eyes foUowed him with an expression of genuine 
 emotion. 
 
 "He is a faithful and honest friend," he said, "and that is, in- 
 deed, a rare boon for a king. Ah, I have succeeded, then, in averting 
 this bloody thunder-cloud, once more from Prussia, and I shall pre- 
 serve the blessings of peace to my people. And now, I believe, I 
 may claim some credit for the manner in which I have managed 
 this delicate affair, and repose a little from the cares of government. 
 I will go to Louisa — her sight and the smiles of my cbildren will 
 reward me for having done my duty as a king. " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE LEGITIMATB WIFE. 
 
 The Prince von Reuss, Henry XIV., Austrian ambassador at 
 Berlin, had died an hour ago. A painful disease had confined him 
 to his bed for weeks, and Marianne Meier had nursed him during 
 this time with the greatest love and devotion. She had never left 
 his bedside, and no one except herself, the physicians, and a few 
 servants had been permitted to enter the sick-room. The brothers 
 and nephews of the prince, who had come to Berlin in order to see 
 their dying relative once more, had vainly solicited this favor. 
 The physicians had told them that the suffering prince was un- 
 
THE LEGITIMATE WIFE. 255 
 
 able to bear any excitement, there being great danger that imme- 
 diate death would be the consequence of a scene between them. 
 The prince, moreover, had sent his trusted valet de chambre to his 
 brother, and informed him, even if he were entirely well, he would 
 not accept the visits of a brother who had shown him so little fra- 
 ternal love, and caused him so much grief by opposing his faithful 
 and beloved friend Marianne Meier in the most offensive and insult- 
 ing manner. 
 
 The distinguished relatives of the prince, therefore, had to con- 
 tent themselves with watching his palace from afar, and with 
 bribing a few of his servants to transmit to them hourly reports 
 about the condition of the patient. 
 
 And now Prince Henry XIV. was dead, and his brother was his 
 successor and heir, the prince having left no legitimate offspring. 
 It was universally believed that he had never been married, and 
 that his immense fortune, his estates and titles, would devolve on 
 his brother. It is true there was still that mistress of his, fair 
 Marianne Meier, to whom the prince, in his sentimental infatua- 
 tion, had paid the honors of a legitimate wife. But, of course, she 
 had no claims whatever to the inheritance ; it would be an act of 
 generosity to leave her in possession of the costly presents the prince 
 had made to her, and to pay her a small pension. 
 
 The prince had hardly closed his eyes, therefore, and the doctors 
 had just pronounced him dead, when his brother, now Prince Henry 
 XV. , accompanied by a few lawyers, entered the palace of the de- 
 ceased in order to take possession of his property, and to have the 
 necessary seals applied to the doors. However, to give himself at 
 least a semblance of brotherly love, the prince desired first to repair 
 to the death-room, and to take a last leave of the deceased. But in 
 the anteroom he met the two footmen of his brother, who dared to 
 stop his passage, telling him that no one was allowed to enter. 
 
 "And who dares to issue such orders?" asked the prince, without 
 stopping a moment. 
 
 " Madame has done so, " said the first valef de chambre. " Ma- 
 dame wants to be alone with the remains of her husband. " 
 
 The prince shrugged his shoulders, and, followed by the legal 
 gentlemen, he walked to the door, which he vainly tried to open. 
 
 "I believe that woman has locked the door, "said the prince, 
 angrily. 
 
 "Yes, sir, madame has locked the door," said the valet de 
 chambre; "she does not want to be disturbed in her grief by mere 
 visits of condolence. " 
 
 "Well, let us leave her, then, to her grief," exclaimed the prince, 
 with a sarcastic smile. "Come, gentlemen, let us attend to our 
 
256 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 business. Let us take an inventory of the furniture in the several 
 rooms and then seal them. You may be our guide, valet. " 
 
 But the valet de chambre shrugged his shoulders and shook his 
 head. " Pardon me, sir, that is impossible. His highness, our late 
 prince and master, several days ago, when he felt that his end was 
 drawing near, caused every room to be locked and sealed by the first 
 attacM of the legation in the presence of all the members of the 
 embassy. The keys to all the rooms, however, were handed by 
 order of the prince to madams, his wife. " 
 
 The new prince, Henry ZV. , turned somewhat uneasily to the 
 legal gentlemen. 
 
 "Have we a right to open the doors forcibly?" 
 
 " No, that would be contrary to law, " said one of the lawyers, in 
 a low voice. "The late prince has doubtless left some directions in 
 relation to this matter and intrusted them to the officers of the lega- 
 tion. Your highness ought to apply to those gentlemen. " 
 
 " Is the first attache of the legation. Baron Werdem, in the pal- 
 ace?" said the prince to the valet de chambre. 
 
 " No, your highness, he has just gone out with a few other gentle- 
 men of the legation to request the attendance of two officers of the 
 law, that the will may be opened and read in theij- presence. " 
 
 "My brother has made a will, then?" asked the prince, in a 
 somewhat frightened tone. 
 
 "Yes, your highness, and he laid it, in the presence of every 
 member of the legation, of two officers of the law, and of every 
 servant, three days ago, in a strong box, the key of which he handed 
 to the officers of the law, when the box was deposited in the 
 archives of the legation. " 
 
 " And why did Baron Werdem go now for the officers of the law?" 
 
 "In order to request their attendance in the palace, the late 
 prince having left the verbal order that his will should be opened 
 two hours after his death. The baron was going to invite your 
 highness likewise to be present. " 
 
 "Well, let us wait here for the arrival of the gentlemen, " said 
 Prince Henry XV., shrugging his shoulders. "It seems a little 
 strange to me, however, that I must wait here in the anteroom like 
 a supplicant. Go and announce my visit to madame !" 
 
 The valet de chambre bowed and left the room. The prince 
 called the two lawyers to his side. "What do you think of this 
 whole matter?" he asked, in a low voice. 
 
 The two representatives of the law shrugged their shoulders. 
 "Your highness, every thing seems to have been done here legally. 
 We must wait for the return of the gentlemen and for the opening 
 of the will." 
 
THE LEGITIMATE WIFE. 25? 
 
 The valet de chambre now reentered the room, and approached 
 the prince, "Madame sends her respects to the prince, and begs 
 him to excuse her inability to admit her brother-in-law just now, 
 as she is di-essing at the present moment. She will have the honor 
 to salute her gracious brother-in-law at the ceremony." 
 
 "Does that woman call myself her gracious brother-in-law?" 
 asked the prince, with an air of the most profound contempt, turn 
 ing his back to the valet de chambre. " We will wait here, then 
 gentlemen," he added, turning to the lawyers. "It seems that 
 woman intends to take a petty revenge at this moment for the con- 
 tempt with which I have always treated her. I shall know, how- 
 ever, how to chastise her for it, and — " 
 
 "Hush, your highness, " whispered one of the lawyers, "they are 
 coming !" 
 
 In fact, the large folding-doors were opened at that moment, 
 and on a catafalque, liung with black cloth, the remains of the 
 prince were lying in state ; on both sides of the catafalque large 
 tapers were burning in heavy silver chandeliers. 
 
 Prince Henry, awed by this solemn scene, walked forward, and 
 the grave countenance of his brother, with whom he had lived so 
 long in discord, and whom he had not seen for many years, fiUed 
 his heart with uneasiness and dismay. 
 
 He approached the room, followed by the legal gentlemen, with 
 hesitating, noiseless steps. On the threshold of the door there now 
 appeared the first attache of the legation. Baron Werdern, who, 
 bowing deeply, invited the prince whisperingly to come in. 
 
 The prince walked in, and on crossing the threshold, it seemed 
 to him as if his brother's corpse had moved, and as if his half- 
 opened eyes were fixed upon him with a threatening expression. 
 
 The prince averted his eyes from the corpse in dismay and saluted 
 the gentlemen standing around a table covered with black cloth. 
 Two large cbandeliei'S, with burning tapers, a strong box, and 
 writing-materials, had been placed upon this table ; on one side, 
 two arm-chairs, likewise covered with black cloth, were to be seen. 
 
 The baron conducted the prince to one of these arm-chairs, and 
 invited him to sit down. Prince Henry did so, and then looked 
 anxiously at the officers of the law, who were standing at the table 
 in their black robes, and behind whom were assembled all the mem- 
 bers of the legation, the physicians, and the servants of the late 
 prince. 
 
 A long pause ensued. Then, aU at once, the folding doors 
 opened, and the prince's steward appeared on the threshold. 
 
 "Her highness the Princess Dowager vou Reuss," he said, in a 
 loud, solemn voice, and Marianne's tall, imposing form entered the 
 
258 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 room. She was clad in a black dress with a long train ; a black 
 veil, fastened above her head on a diadem, surrounded her noble 
 figure like a dark cloud, and in this cloud beamed her expansive, 
 thoughtful forehead, and her large flaming eyes sparkled. Her 
 features were breathing the most profound and majestic tranquillity ; 
 and when she now saluted the gentlemen with a condescending nod, 
 her whole bearing was so impressive and distinguished that even 
 Prince Henry was unable to remain indifferent, and he rose respect- 
 fully from his arm-chair. 
 
 Marianne, however, paid no attention to him, but approached 
 the remains of her husband. With inimitable grace she knelt down 
 on one side of the catafalque. The priest who had entered with her 
 knelt down on the other. 
 
 Both of them muttered fervent prayers for the deceased. Mari- 
 anne then arose, and, bending over the corpse, imprinted a long kiss 
 upon the forehead of her departed husband. 
 
 " Farewell, my husband !" she said, in her full, melodious voice, 
 and then turned around and stepped toward the table. Without 
 deigning to glance at the prince, she sat down in the arm-chair. 
 
 " I request the officers of the law now to open the strong box, " 
 she said, in an almost imperious voice. 
 
 One of the officers handed the key to Baron Werdem ; the latter 
 opened the strong box, and took from it a sealed paper, which he 
 gave to the officer. 
 
 " Do you recognize the paper as the same yourself locked in this 
 strongbox?" she asked. "Is it the same which his highness the 
 late Prince von Reuss, Henry XIV., handed to you?" 
 
 " Yes, it is the same, " said the two officers ; " it is the will of the 
 late prince. " 
 
 "And you know that his highness ordered us to open it immedi- 
 ately after his death, and to promulgate its contents. Proceed, 
 therefore, according to the instructions of the deceased. " 
 
 One of the officers broke the seal, and now that he unfolded the 
 paper, Marianne turned her head toward the prince, and fixed her 
 burning eyes piercingly upon his countenance. 
 
 The officer commenced reading the will. First came the pream- 
 ble, to be found in eveiy will, and then the officer read in a louder 
 voice, as follows : 
 
 "In preparing to appear before the throne of the Lord, I feel 
 especially called upon to return my most heart-felt thanks, in this 
 public manner, to my wife, Princess Marianne, nee Meier, for the 
 constancy, love, and devotion which she has shown to me during 
 our whole married life, and for the surpassing patience and self- 
 abnegation with which she nursed me during my last sickness I 
 
THE LEGITIMATE WIFE. 359 
 
 deem myself especially obliged to make this acknowledgment, in- 
 asmuch as my wife, in her true love for me, has suffered many un- 
 deserved aspersions and insults, because, in accordance with my 
 wislies, she kept oiu- marriage secret, and in consequence had to 
 bear the sneers of evil-disposed persons, and the insults of malicious 
 enemies. But she is my lawful wife before God and man, and she 
 is fully entitled to assume the name of a Princess Dowager von 
 Beuss. I hereby expressly authorize her to do so, and, by removing 
 the secret that has been observed during my life in relation to our 
 marriage, I authorize my wife to assume the title and rank due to 
 her, and hereby command my brother, as well as his sons and the 
 other members of my family, to pay to the Princess Dowager von 
 Eeuss, nee Meier, the respect and deference due to her as the widow 
 of the late head of the family, and to which she is justly entitled 
 by her virtue, her blameless conduct, her respectability, beauty, 
 and amiability. The Princess Dowager von Eeuss is further author- 
 ized to let her servants wear the livery and color of my house, to 
 display the coat-of-arms of the princes von Reuss on her carriages, 
 and to enjoy the full privileges of her rank. If my brother Henry, 
 the heir of my titles, should have any doubts as to her rights in this 
 regard, the officer reading my will is requested to ask him whether 
 or not he desires to obtain further evidence in relation to the legiti- 
 macy of my marriage. " 
 
 "Does your highness require any further evidence?" asked the 
 officer, interrupting the reading of the will. 
 
 " I do, " said the prince, who had listened to the reading of the 
 will with a pale and gloomy mien. 
 
 " Here is that evidence, " said the priest, beckoning the sexton, 
 who stood on the threshold of the door. The latter approached 
 the priest, and handed him a large volume bound in black 
 morocco. 
 
 " It is the church reigster, in which I haA-e entered all the mar- 
 riages, christenings, and funeral masses performed in the chapel of 
 the Austrian embassy, " said the priest. " On this page you find the 
 minutes of the marriage of the Prince von Eeuss, Henry XIV., and 
 Miss Marianne Meier. The ceremony took place two years ago. I 
 have baptized the princess myself, and thereby received her into the 
 pale of the holy Catholic Church, and I have likewise performed the 
 rite of marriage on the occasion referred to. I hereby certify that 
 the princess is the lawful wife of the late prince, as is testified by 
 the minutes entered on the church register. The marriage was per- 
 formed in the chapel, and in the presence of witnesses, who have 
 signed the minutes, like myself. " 
 
 "I witnessed the marriage, " said Baron Werdern, "and so did 
 
260 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the military counsellor Gentz, who, if your highness should desire 
 further testimony, will be ready to corroborate our statements. " 
 
 " No, " said the prince, gloomily, " I require no further testimony. 
 I am fully satisfied of the truth of your statements, and will now 
 pay mv respects to my sister-in-law, the Princess Dowager von 
 Eeuss, nee Meier. " 
 
 He bowed, with a sarcastic smile, which, for a moment, caused 
 the blood to rush to Marianne's pale cheeks, and then carelessly 
 leaned back into his arm-chair. 
 
 " Be kind enough to proceed, " he said, turning to the officer. 
 
 The latter took up the will again and read its several sections and 
 clauses. The prince bequeathed his palace, with every thing in it, 
 to his wife Marianne, and likewise his carriages, his horses, and the 
 family diamonds he had inherited from his mother. The remainder 
 of his considerable property he left to his brother, asking him to 
 agree with the Princess Marianne on a pension corresponding with 
 her rank and position in society. Then followed some legacies and 
 pensions for the old servants of his household, a few gifts to the 
 poor, and last the appropriation of a sum for which a mass was to 
 be read on every anniversary of his death, for the peace of his soul. 
 
 The ceremony was over. The officers of the law and the members 
 of the embassy had left the death-room, and on a sign from Mari- 
 anne the servants had also withdrawn. 
 
 The prince had exchanged a few words in a low voice with his 
 two lawyers, whereupon they likewise had left the room. No one 
 except the brother and the wife of the deceased remained now in 
 this gloomy room, illuminated by the flickering tapers. Marianne, 
 however, seemed to take no notice of the presence of her brother-in- 
 law ; she had approached the corpse again, and gazed at it with the 
 most profound emotion. 
 
 " I thank you, Henry, " she said, loudly and solemnly. " I thank 
 you from the bottom of my heart ; you have given back to me my 
 honor ; you have revenged me upon your haughty relatives, and 
 upon the sneering world 1" 
 
 " Do not thank him, respected sister-in-law, for he has left you 
 poor, " said the prince, approaching her, and contemplating her with 
 a freezing smile. " My bi'other has made you a princess, it is true, 
 but he has not given you the means to live as a princess. He has 
 bequeathed to you this palace, with its costly furniture ; he has be- 
 queathed to you his carriages and diamonds ; but a palace and 
 furniture are no estates, and in order to keep carriages one has to 
 feed men and horses. It is true, you can sell the palace and the 
 diamonds, and obtain for them several hundred thousand florins. 
 That sum would be amply sufficient for a person leading a retired 
 
THE LEGITIMATE WIFE. 361 
 
 life, but it is very little for one who desires to keep up a princely 
 household, and to live in the style becoming a lady of your beauty 
 and social position. My brother has foreseen all this, and he indi- 
 rectly gave us a chance to come to an understanding, by asking me 
 to agree with you on a pension to be paid you. Hence I ask you, 
 how much do you demand? How high will be the sum for which 
 you will sell me your mourning veil, your name, and your title of 
 princess dowager? For you doubtless anticipate, madame, that I 
 do not propose to acknowledge you publicly as my sister-in-law, and 
 
 to receive a Marianne Meier among the members of my family. 
 
 Tell me your price, therefore, madame. " 
 
 Marianne looked at him with flaming eyes, a deep blush of anger 
 mantling her cheeks. "Prince von Reuss," she said, proudly, "you 
 wiU have to permit the world to call me your sisterin-law. I am 
 your sister-in-law, and I shall prove to the world and to you that it 
 is unnecessary to have been born under a princely canopy in order to 
 live, think, and act like a princess. My husband has rewarded me 
 in this hour for years of suffering and humiliation. Do you believe 
 that my reward is for sale for vile money? And if you should offer 
 me millions, I should reject them if, in return, I were to lead a name- 
 less, disreputable, and obscure existence. I will sooner die of star- 
 vation as a Princess Dowager von Reuss than live in opulence as 
 Marianne Meier. This is my last word ; and now, sir, begone ! Do 
 not desecrate this room by your cold and egotistic thoughts, and by 
 your heartless calculations ! Honor the repose of the dead and the 
 grief of the living. Begone !" 
 
 She proudly turned away from him, and bent once more over the 
 corpse. While she was doing so her black veil, with a gentle rustle, 
 fell down over her face and wrapped her, as well as the corpse, as in 
 a dark mist, so that the two forms seemed to melt into one. 
 
 The prince felt a shudder pervading his frame, and the presence 
 of the corpse embarrassed him. 
 
 " I wiU not disturb you now in your grief, madame, " he said ; " I 
 hope your tears will flow less copiously as soon as the funeral is 
 over, and I shall then send my lawyer, for the purpose of treating 
 further with you. " 
 
 He bowed, and hastened to the door. She seemed neither to 
 have heard his words, nor to have noticed that he was withdrawing. 
 She was still bending over the remains of her husband, the black 
 cloud surrounding her and the corpse. 
 
363 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH OP BRUMAIRE. 
 
 "News from France!" exclaimed Counsellor Gentz, entering 
 Marianne's boudoir in breathless haste. "Do you already know 
 what has occurred? Did you hear, Marianne, how France has 
 closed the eighteenth centiu-y ?" 
 
 Marianne looked up into the face of her friend, with a gentle and 
 peculiar smile. " That must have been exciting intelligence, " she 
 said, " inasmuch as it was even able to arouse the dreamer, Frederick 
 Gentz, from his political sleep, and to cause him to take interest 
 again in the affairs of the world. Well, let us hear the news ; what 
 has occurred in France?" 
 
 "General Bonaparte has overthrown the Directoiy, and dispersed 
 the Council of Five Hundred. " 
 
 "And you call that news?" asked Marianne, shmgging her 
 shoulders. "You tell ine there the history of the ninth and tenth of 
 November, or, as the French republicans say, of the eighteenth and 
 nineteenth of Brumaire. And you believe that I have not yet heard 
 of it to-day, on the twenty-sixth of December? My friend Gentz, 
 Bonaparte's deeds need Hot more than a month in order to penetrate 
 through the world ; they soar aloft with eagle-wings, and the whole 
 world beholds them, because they darken the horizon of the whole 
 world. " 
 
 " But you have only heard the preamble of my news, " ejaculated - 
 Gentz, impatiently. " I have no doubt that you know the history of 
 the eighteenth of Brumaire, and that you are aware that France, 
 on that day, placed herself under the rule of three consuls, one of 
 whom was General Bonaparte. '' 
 
 " The other two consuls are Sieyes and Ducos, " interrupted Mari- 
 anne. "I know that, and I know, too, that Lucien, Bonaparte's 
 brother, president of the Legislative Assembly, upon receiving the 
 oath of office of the three consuls, said to them : ' The greatest nation 
 on earth intrusts you with its destinies ; the welfare of thirty mill- 
 ions of men, the preservation of order at home, and the reestablish- 
 ment of peace abroad, are j'om- task. Three months from to-day 
 public opinion will expect to hear from you how you have accom- 
 plished it. ' " * 
 
 " "Well, M. Bonaparte did not make public opinion wait so long, " 
 
 said Gentz ; " or rather, he asserts public opinion had not given him 
 
 • 
 * " Histoire du Consulat et de TEmpire," par A. Theirs, vol. i., p. 16. 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH OF BRUMAIRE. 263 
 
 time to wait so long, and that it was public opinion itself that called 
 upon him to proclaim himself sovereign of France. " 
 
 "Sovereign of France?" asked Marianne, in surprise. "Bona- 
 parte has made himself king?" 
 
 " Yes, king, but under another name ; he has caused himself to 
 be elected consul for ten years 1 Ah, he will know how to shorten 
 these ten years, just as he knew how to shorten those three months I" 
 
 "And this report is reliable?" asked Marianne, musingly. 
 
 " Perfectly so. Bonaparte was elected first consul on the twenty- 
 fifth of December, and on the same day the new constitution was 
 promulgated throughout France. That is a very fine Christmas 
 present which France has made to the world ! A box filled with 
 dragon's teeth, from which armed hosts will spring up. It is true 
 the first consul now pretends to be very anxious to restore peace to 
 Europe. He has sent special ambassadors to all courts, with pro- 
 fuse assurances of his friendship and pacific intentions, and he sent 
 them off even previous to his election, in order to announce the 
 news of the latter to the foreign courts on the same day on which he 
 was proclaimed first consul at Paris. Such a peace -messenger of 
 the general has arrived at Berlin ; he has brought us the strange and 
 startling news." 
 
 " What is the name of this peace-messenger of the modern god of 
 war?" asked Marianne. 
 
 "He sent his adjutant. General Duroc ; the latter reached Berlin 
 yesterday, and appeared even to-day as the petted guest of our court, 
 at the great soiree of the queen. Oh, my friend, my stupid German 
 heart trembled with anger when I saw the kind and flattering atten- 
 tions that were paid to this Frenchman, while German gentlemen of 
 genius, merit, and ability were kept in the background, neither the 
 king nor the queen seeming to take any notice of their presence ! 
 There were Count Hardenberg, and the noble President of West- 
 phalia, Baron Stein ; they stood neglected in a bay window, and 
 looked sadly at the royal couple, who treated the Frenchman in the 
 midst of the court in the most distinguished manner ; there were 
 Blucher and Gneisenau, overlooked by everybody, although their 
 uniforms were no less brilliant than that of the French envoy ; and 
 there was finally Frederick Gentz, myself, who had only appeared 
 at this court festival owing to the special desire and order of the 
 queen, and whose presence she had entirely forgotten, although 
 Gualtieri reminded her of it at least three times, and told her that I 
 was there, and had only come because the queen had expressly 
 ordered it so. But what did her beautiful majesty care that a Ger- 
 man writer was vainly waiting for a smile of her affability, and a 
 gracious nod of her lovely head ? The French envoy was by far more 
 18 
 
264 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 important than all of us. For the sake of the Frenchman, even 
 ' Madame Etiquette, ' the Countess von Voss, mistress of ceremonies, 
 had been silenced, and the plain adjutant of the first consul was 
 received with as much distinction as if he were a minister plenipo- 
 tentiary, while he only came as the simple agent for a private indi- 
 vidual. They asked him to tell them about the battle of the Pyra- 
 mids, about the battles of Mount Tabor and Aboukir, and the whole 
 court listened to him with a suspense as though Bonaparte's adju- 
 tant were preaching a new gospel. Whenever he paused in his nar- 
 rative, the queen, with her fascinating smile, constantly addressed 
 new questions to him, and praised the achievements of General 
 Bonaparte as though he were the Messiah sent into the world to de- 
 liver it from the evils of war ! In short, he had a perfect success ; 
 and at last, by means of an adroit trick, he managed to render it as 
 magnificent as possible. The queen told General Duroc of our Ger- 
 man customs, and informed him that this was the day on which 
 the Germans everywhere made presents to each other, and that gifts 
 were laid under Christmas-trees, adorned with burning tapers. At 
 that moment Duroc turned to the king, and said, with his intolerable 
 French amiability : 'Sire, if this is the day of universal presents in 
 Germany, I believe I will be courageous enough to-day to ask your 
 majesty for a present in the name of the first consul. General Bona- 
 parte, if your majesty will permit me to do so. ' The king, of course, 
 gave him the desired permission, and Duroc continued : ' Sire, the 
 present for which I am to ask your majesty, in the name of the first 
 consul, is a bust of your great ancestor, Frederick the Second. The 
 first consul recently examined the statues in the Diana Gallery at the 
 Tuileries ; there were the statues of Csesar and Brutus, of Coriolanus 
 and Cicero, of Louis XIV. and Charles V. , but the first consul did 
 not see the statue of Frederick the Great, and he deems the collection 
 of the heroes of ancient and modern times incomplete as long as it 
 does not embrace the name of Frederick the Great. Sire, I take the 
 liberty, therefore, to ask you, in the name of France, for a bust of 
 Frederick the Great !"' * 
 
 " Very adroit, indeed, " said Marianne, smiling ; " these republi- 
 cans seem to be excellent courtiers. " 
 
 "Yes, very adroit!" exclaimed Gentz ; "the whole court was in 
 ecstasy at this tremendous fiattery, at this compliment paid by the 
 great republic to little Prussia ; but I could not stand it any longer 
 in those halls, and in the presence of these fawning Germans, and I 
 hastened away in order to unbosom to you my rage, my indigna- 
 tion, and my grief. Oh, my fair friend, what is to become of Ger- 
 many, and what will be the end of all these troubles? Ruin is 
 
 * Historical. 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH OF BRUMAIRE. 265 
 
 staring us in the face, and we do not see it ; we are rushing toward 
 the precipice, and must fall a prey to France, to this wolf in sheep's 
 clothing, which will caress and pet us until it will be able to 
 devour us I" 
 
 ■' I like to hear you talk in this strain, " said Marianne, joyfully. 
 "That is again the friend of my heart, who is now talking to me. 
 Listen to me. I have to communicate news to you, too, and you 
 must not be surprised if I reply to your important political intelli- 
 gence by a reference to my petty personal interests. But there is a 
 connection between them, and you will see it by and by. Listen, 
 then, to the news concerning myself. " 
 
 "Yes, Marianne," said Gentz, kneeling down before her, and 
 leaning his head upon her knees, "yes, tell me about yourself , my 
 beautiful fairy queen ; lull my political pains a little by the magic 
 song which is flowing from your red lips like a fresh source of love. 
 Oh, my charming princess, now that I am looking up into your 
 radiant face, I feel a burning shame that I should have desecrated 
 the delightful moments I passed by your side by such trivial com- 
 plaints about the misery of German politics. What have we to do 
 with politics? What do we care if Germany is going to be ruined? 
 Aprds nous le diluge! Let us enjoy the bliss of the fleeting 
 hour !" 
 
 Marianne played smilingly with her slender fingers, covered 
 with sparkling diamond rings, in his hair, and looked upon him 
 with a wondrous air. 
 
 "Enthusiast!" she said ; " now an ardent politician, then an im- 
 passioned lover, and ready at all hours to exchange one role for the 
 other ! Will you not listen to my news? My quarrel with my dear 
 brother-in-law, Henry XV., is ended; we have come to an agree- 
 ment. " 
 
 " And I hope my sagacious and prudent Marianne has subdued 
 her proud and bold heart this time, and had a little regard for her 
 advantage, " replied Gentz. "A woman as beautiful and radiant as 
 Marianne Meier needs no empty aristocratic title, for your beauty 
 makes you the queen of the world ; but you need wealth in order to 
 3,dd power to your beauty, and to adorn it with a cloak glittering 
 with gold and purple. Well, my queen, are you again Marianne 
 Meier and a millionaire besides?" 
 
 "What a fool !" she exclaimed, proudly, "what a fool you are to 
 believe I would crawl back into the Jews' quarter and expose myself 
 to the sneers of my enviable friends ! No, my friend, money and 
 beauty are insufficient for those who desire to play a rSle in the 
 world ; they stand in need of rank and titles, too, for these are the 
 magic words opening to us the doors of royal palaces, and placing 
 
266 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 us on a par with the privileged and inacessible. I, for one, want to 
 play my role in the world ; henoe I must have a distinguished title. 
 It is true I also stand in need of wealth, and by means of a skilful 
 arrangement I have secured both. The mote in my Jewish eye 
 appearing to my aristocratic relatives like a very large beam, I have 
 yielded and renounced the title of a Princess von Keuss ; but, in 
 spite of that, I remain a princess and retain the title of highness. 
 The prince, my brother-in-law, has given me a splendid estate in 
 fee-simple, the annual revenues of which amount to no less than 
 twenty thousand dollars ; in return, however, I surrender to him the 
 family diamonds, this palace, the carriages with the coat-of-arms 
 of the Reuss family, the horses and liveries, and last, the name and 
 title of a Princess Dowager von Reuss. " 
 
 "And now, like all the fairies in the children's books, you area 
 wondrous child without name and rank, but showering with your 
 snowy hands golden suns and glittering stars upon mankind?" 
 
 " No, I am no nameless woman now, but I adopt the name of my 
 estate of Eibenberg, and from this day forward I shall be the Princess 
 Marianne of Eibenberg, the Emperor of Germany himself having 
 recognized my new title. The documents, signed by the emperor 
 himself, are on the table there. The prince brought them to me to- 
 day as a Christmas-present. Now, my friend, my real life is to 
 commence ; I have acquired wealth and a distinguished name. The 
 poor Jewess, the daughter of the Ghetto, has moved into the palace 
 of the aristocracy and become a princess. " 
 
 " And I will be the first to do you homage as though you were my 
 princess and queen!" exclaimed Gentz, "the first who will call 
 himself your vassal. Come, my princess, let me place the sweet 
 yoke upon my neck ; let my forehead touch the ground on which 
 you are walking ; place yom- foot upon my neck, so that I may feel 
 the sweet burden of your rule. " 
 
 And bending down his head until his brow touched the floor, he 
 placed her tiny foot, encased in a beautiful silken shoe, upon his 
 neck. Marianne did not interfere with him, but looked down on 
 him with a proud, triumphant smile. 
 
 "Youlieat my feet, Frederick Gentz, "she said, "nevertheless! 
 will lift you up to me ; you shall stand by my side, my equal, famous 
 and great as you ought to be, owing to your genius ! But a truce to 
 tender trifling, my friend ; both of us have to accomplish great pur- 
 poses, and oui- thoughts and actions should be grave and stem. 
 Come, rise from your knees, my vassal ; you shall be a prince by my 
 side, and we will rule the world together." 
 
 She withdrew her foot from his neck, but Gentz seized it with 
 both hands and kissed it. He then quickly rose from his knees, 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH OF BRUMAIRE. 267 
 
 and dre-sv himself up to his full height, looking at her sternly and 
 almost angrily. 
 
 "You hare often told me that you loved me," he said, "but it 
 was a lie ; you do not understand love, your heart is cold and your 
 senses are silent, only your pride speaks. " 
 
 " It is possible that you are right, " she replied, " but, in that case, 
 I love you with my pride and with my mind, and that is worth 
 something, at all events. I want to see you honored, famous, and 
 influential ; is not that also love?" 
 
 "No, it is a mockei-y !" ejaculated Gentz, mournfully. "It is 
 malice, for you see I am a poor, despised man, without money, 
 without fame, without rank ; a miserable military counsellor, out- 
 ranked by every private counsellor, and persecuted day by day by 
 my creditors, as if they were vultures following a poor dove whose 
 wings have been clipped. " 
 
 " But your wings shall grow again, so that you may escape from 
 the vultures !" exclaimed Marianne, " and that you may soar, eagle- 
 like, above the miseries of the world, and exercise a commanding 
 influence over it. The time of dreams and expectations is over, the 
 time for action has come for all energetic and able minds. Two 
 years ago I asked you, as I do to-day, if you would not devote your 
 services to Austria, and if you would not seek for fame and happi- 
 ness in that country, in wliich your genius would be appreciated and 
 rewarded. Do you remember what you replied to me at that time ?" 
 
 "Yes, I remember," said Gentz, with a sarcastic smile; "I was 
 foolish enough to reject 3'our ofl'ers, and to declare that I would stay 
 here at Berlin, and see if my native country would not need my 
 abilities and my services, and if our rulers here would not avail 
 themselves of my talents and of my pen. And thus I have lost, 
 again, two years of my life, and only my debts have increased, but 
 not my fame. " 
 
 " Because you were an enthusiast, and expected to be appreciated 
 in Prussia ; believing this good king (who would like to make his 
 people happy and prosperous, but who timidly shrinks back from all 
 energetic resolutions) would be very grateful to you for exhorting 
 him to grant freedom of the press to his subjects, and, in general, 
 to introduce liberty and equality in liis states. Do you still believe 
 that Frederick William the Third will do so?" 
 
 " No, he will not, " replied Gentz, mournfully ; " no, this king 
 does not understand the present age, and instead of being a step in 
 advance of it, he will always remain a step behind it, and thus 
 involve Prassia in untold misery and suffering. I have hoped and 
 waited long enough ; the time of patience and idleness is now over, 
 and I therefore renounce, to-day, at the end of the eighteenth cen- 
 
268 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 tury, my native state, in order to become a citizen and son of a 
 larger fatherland. I cease to be a Prussian, in order to become a 
 German ; and Prussia having no desire to avail herself of my abili- 
 ties, I am going to see whether or not Germany has any use for them. 
 My beautiful Marianne, you shall be the priestess who receives the 
 oath which I make on the altar of the fatherland : ' I swear to devote 
 all my powers and talents to Germany ; I swear to be a faithful and 
 untiring son to my great fatherland !'" 
 
 " I have heard your oath, Frederick Gentz, and I accept it in the 
 name of Germany," said Marianne, solemnly. "You shall be the 
 champion of the honor and rights of Germany ; your weapon, how- 
 ever, shall not be the sword, but the pen. " 
 
 " But where wiU the lists be opened to my tournament?" asked 
 Gentz, musingly. 
 
 " In Austria, " replied Marianne, quickly ; " the Emperor of Ger- 
 many is expecting you, the son of Germany ; the Emperor of Germany 
 is calling you to serve and promote the interests of your fatherland. 
 I am authorized to tell you that. The new Austrian envoy, Count 
 Stadion, has requested me to do so ; he has asked me to win you for 
 Austria, that is, for Germany. For, believe me, the welfare of 
 Germany is nowadays consulted in Austria, and not in Prussia !" 
 
 "No, not in Prussia!" exclaimed Gentz, mournfully. "Our 
 government shuts its eyes in order not to behold the terrors wJiich 
 are rushing toward us with irresistible force, and will soon, like an 
 avalanche, roll over Germany and annihilate us all, unless we 
 skilfully calculate the danger, and raise sufficient bulwarks against 
 it. They admire Bonaparte here, and only behold a hero, while I 
 scent a tyrant — a tyrant who wants to subjugate us by his revolu- 
 tionary liberty and his Jacobin's cap, which is but a crown in 
 another shape. I hate Bonaparte, for I hate the revolution which, 
 notwithstanding its phrases of liberty and equality, is but a bloody 
 despotism that does not even grant freedom of opinion to the citizen, 
 and drags such ideas as are distasteful to it upon the scaffold. I 
 hate the revolution, I hate Bonaparte, and I hate every form of 
 tyranny, and shall oppose it as long as I live I" 
 
 "And I shall be a faithful squire by your side, and sharpen the 
 bolts which you are going to hurl at the enemy, " said Marianne, 
 with fei-vent enthusiasm. "We are both going to Vienna, in order 
 to serve Germany. In Vienna a new century and a new country 
 will open their arms to us. Thanks to my title, to my rank, and to 
 my connections, every door will be open to us there, and the Jewess, 
 Marianne Meier, princess of Eibenberg, will not even find the apart- 
 ments of the emperor and empress closed ; on the contrary, their 
 imperial majesties will receive me as an honored and welcome guest, 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH OF BRUMAIRE. 369 
 
 for I am a princess by the act of the emperor, and the friend of the 
 empress; Victoria de Poutet Colloredo is also my friend. And 
 whithersoever I go, you shall go, too, my friend, and the doors that 
 will open to me shall not be closed to you. My rank opens them to 
 me, and your genius opens them to you. Come, let us be faithful 
 allies ; let us swear to support each other firmly and immovably, and 
 to walk together step by step. " 
 
 " Oh, my noble and generous friend, " exclaimed Gentz, sadly, 
 " how delicately you try to veil your protection ! In such an alli- 
 ance, I am unable to offer you any compensation, for I should find 
 all doors closed if you should not open them to me. I have neither 
 rank, money, nor friends at court !" 
 
 " Well, let me protect you now, and at some later period you will 
 protect me," said Marianne. "Let us swear to pursue our path 
 together. " 
 
 "I swear it by all that is sacred to me!" exclaimed Gentz. "I 
 swear that I will remain faithful to you and to Germany for my 
 whole life. I swear that I will follow you everywhere ; that I will 
 serve you wherever and whenever I can, and to love you to my last 
 breath. " 
 
 " The alliance is closed, " said Marianne, solemnly. " Henceforth, 
 we will fight jointly, and pursue our goal together. It is our own 
 greatness, and the greatness of Germany. The country is in danger 
 — let us see if we cannot contribute something to its preservation, 
 and if it does not need our hands and our heads in order to weather 
 the storm. If we should be able, while assisting the country, to 
 pick up a few laurels, titles, decorations, and treasures for ourselves, 
 we would be fools not to avail ourselves of the opportunity. " 
 
 "Yes, you are right," said Gentz, smiling, "we would be fools 
 not to do so ; and you are right, too, as to the perils of the country. 
 Germany is in danger. The new century will dawn upon her with 
 a bloody morning sun, and it will arouse us from our sleep by a 
 terrific cannonade. But as for ourselves, we will not wait until the 
 roar of the strife awakens us ; we will be up and doing now and 
 work on the lightning-rod with which we will meet the approaching 
 thunderstorm, in order that its bolts may glance off harmlessly and 
 not destroy Germany. I will be an untiring warrior in the great 
 struggle against the revolution, and my pen, which is my sword, 
 shall never be idle in the strife. From this hour I cease to be the 
 insignificant Prussian counsellor, Frederick Gentz ; from this hour 
 I will strive to become the great political writer of Germany. May 
 the genius of Germany be with me in my endeavors !" 
 
 "Amen!" said Marianne, fervently. "May the genius of Ger- 
 many bless us and the new century. Amen !" 
 
THE PEACE OF LUlsTEYILLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 JOHANNES MULLER. 
 
 The minister, Baron Thugut, was pacing his cabinet in an 
 excited manner. His face, usually so cold and immovable, was 
 painfully agitated to-day ; his shaggy white eyebrows were closely 
 contracted, and his eyes were casting angry glances on the dispatch 
 which he had just thrown on his desk, and which a courier from 
 General Melas, in Lombardy, had brought to him a few minutes 
 ago. 
 
 "Another battle lost!" he muttered; "another laurel-wreath 
 placed on the defiant head of General Bonaparte ! This man will 
 make me mad yet by his impudent good luck. It is dreadful only 
 to think that he was already defeated at Marengo* — so surely de- 
 feated that General Melas issued orders for the pursuit of the enemy, 
 and rode to Alessandria to take his supper in the most comfortable 
 manner. That fellow Melas is a jackass, who only scented the roast 
 meat which he was going to have for supper, but not General Desaix, 
 who arrived with his troops in time to snatch victory from our grasp, 
 and to inflict a most terrible defeat upon our triumphant army. All 
 of our generals are short-sighted fools, from that ridiculously-over- 
 rated Archduke Charles down to General Schwarzenberg, and what- 
 ever the names of these gentlemen may be — these gentlemen with 
 the golden epaulets, and decorated breasts, and empty heads — I have 
 no confidence in a single one of them. At the moment of danger as 
 well as of victory they regularly lose their senses, and thereby turn 
 our victories into defeats ; while they render our checks in the same 
 way only more disastrous and decisive. I am entirely opposed to 
 placing any more archdukes at the head of our armies. Fortunately, 
 I have succeeded in getting rid of Archduke Charles, and I hope 
 that Archduke John, too, will be badly beaten at no distant period, 
 so that we may remove him, like his brother, from his position at 
 the head of his troops. It will never do. Well — " he interrupted 
 himself in his soliloquy, casting an angi-y glance on his private 
 
 * The battle of Marengo was fought on the 14th of June, 1800. 
 
JOHANNES MtJLLER. 371 
 
 Becretary, Hudlitz, who was just entering the room—" well, whj- do 
 you disturb me without being called for?" 
 
 " Pardon me, your excellency, " said Hudlitz, humbly, " but your 
 excellency had instructed me to inform you immediately of the ar- 
 rival of the custodian of the imperial library, whom your excellency 
 had sent for. " 
 
 "And he is there now?" asked Thugut. 
 
 "Yes, your excellency, Mr. MuUer, the aulic councillor and 
 custodian of the imperial library is waiting in the anteroom. " 
 
 "Admit him, then," said Thugut, waving his hand toward the 
 door. 
 
 Hudlitz limped out, and a few minutes later the announced 
 visitor appeared on the threshold of the door. He was a little, 
 slender man, with a stooping form, which had not been bent, how- 
 ever, by the burden of years, but by the burden of learning, of 
 night-watches and untiring studies. His head, covered with a pig- 
 tail wig, according to the fashion of that period, was slightlj' bent 
 forward. His expansive forehead was indicative of the philo- 
 sophical turn of his mind ; his large eyes were beaming with deep 
 feeling ; his pleasing, yet not handsome features, were expressive to 
 an almost touching degree, of infinite gentleness and benevolence, 
 and a winning smile was playing constantly on his thin lips. 
 
 This smile, however, disappeared now that he felt the small, 
 piercing eyes of the minister resting upon his countenauce. Hat in 
 hand, and without uttering a word, he remained standing at the 
 door ; he only raised his head a little, and his eyes were fixed on the 
 minister with a calm and proud expression. 
 
 "You are the aulic councillor, Johannes Mtiller?" asked Thugut, 
 after a short pause, in a somewhat harsh voice. 
 
 " Yes, I am Johannes Muller, " said the latter, and the smile had 
 already returned to his lips. "I thank your excellency for this 
 salutary question. " 
 
 "What do you mean by that, sir?" asked Thugut, wonderingly. 
 "Why do you call my question salutary?" 
 
 " Because it involves a good lesson, your excellency, and because 
 it informs me that they are wrong who, from motives of mistaken 
 benevolence, would persuade me that I was a well-known person, 
 and that everybody in Vienna was familiar with my name. It is 
 always wholesome for an author to be reminded from time to time 
 of his insignificance and littleness, for it preserves him from giving 
 way to pride, and pride is always the first symptom of mental 
 retrogradation. " 
 
 Thugut fixed his eyes with a sullen air on the countenance of the 
 savant. 
 
272 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Do you want to give me a lesson?" he asked, angrily. 
 
 " By no means, your excellency, " said Johannes Mtiller, calmly ; 
 "I only wished to mention the reason why I was grateful to you for 
 your question. And now I trust your excellency will permit me the 
 question— to what am I indebted for the honor of being called to 
 your excellency?" 
 
 "Well, I wished to make your acquaintance, Mr. Aulic Council- 
 lor, " said Thugut. " I wished no longer to remain the only inhabi- 
 tant of Vienna who had not seen the illustrious historian of 
 Switzerland and the author of the 'Furstenbund. ' * You see, sir, I 
 know your works at least, even though I did not know your person. " 
 
 "And your excellency did not lose anything by not knowing the 
 latter, for it is a person that is not worth the trouble to become 
 acquainted with. We men of learning are less able to speak with 
 our tongues than with our pens, and our desk alone is our rostrum." 
 
 " And there you are a powerful and most impressive orator, Mr. 
 Aulic Councillor !" exclaimed Thugut, in a tone of unaffected and 
 cordial praise. 
 
 An air of joyful surprise overspread the gentle face of Johannes 
 Mtiller, and he cast a glance of heart-felt gratitude on the minister. 
 
 Thugut noticed this glance. "You are surprised that I am able 
 to appreciate your merits so correctly and yet suffered years to elapse 
 without inviting you to call on me ? I am a poor man, overburdened 
 with business and harassed with the dry details of my administra- 
 tion, and the direction of political affairs leaves me no leism-e to be 
 devoted to literature. " 
 
 "At least not to German literature," said Miiller, quickly; "but 
 every one knows your excellency to be a profound connoisseur of 
 oriental languages ; and it is well known, too, that you devote a 
 great deal of attention to them, notwithstanding the immense burden 
 of business constantly weighing you down. ' 
 
 Thugut smiled, and his harsh features assumed a milder expres- 
 sion. Johannes Miiller, without intending it perhaps, had touched 
 the chord that sounded most sweetly to Thugut 's ears ; he had 
 flattered him by referring to his profound oriental studies. 
 
 "Well," he said, "you see I am taking likewise a lively interest 
 in German literature, for I invited you to come and see me ; and 
 you are a German author, and one of the most illustrious at that. 
 Now, sir, let us speak frankly and without circumlocution, as two 
 men of science ought to do. Let us mutually forget our titles and 
 official positions, and chat confidentially with each other. Come, 
 my dear sir, let us sit down in these two arm-chairs and talk like 
 
 ♦"The League of the Princes," one of the celebrated works of Johannes von 
 Mttller. 
 
JOHANNES MtJLLER. 373 
 
 two German gentlemen ; that is, frankly and sincerely. Nobody is 
 here to hear us, and I give you my word of honor nobody shall learn 
 a word of what we are going to say to each other. Perfect irrespon- 
 sibility and impunity for every thing that will be spoken during 
 this interview. Are you content with this, and will you promise 
 me to open your mind freely to me?" 
 
 "I promise it, your excellency, and shall reply truthfully and 
 fearlessly to whatever questions you may address to me, provided 
 I am able to tell you the truth. " 
 
 "Yes, sir," replied Thugut, shrugging his shoulders. "Every 
 thing has two sides, and both are true according to the stand-point 
 from which one is looking at them. You have two sides yourself, 
 sir, and they are contrasting very strangely with each other. You 
 are a native of Switzerland, and yet you depict the Hapsburg princes 
 in your works with more genuine enthusiasm than any of our Aus- 
 trian historians. You are a republican, and yet you are serving a 
 monarchy, the forms of which seem to agree with you exceedingly 
 well. You belong to the orthodox reformed church, and yet you 
 have written ' The Voyages of the Popes, ' and ' The Letters of Two 
 Catholic Prelates. ' You are a friend of justice, and yet you have 
 even discovered good and praiseworthy qualities in that tyrannous 
 King of France, Louis XL Now tell me, sir, which is your true 
 side, and what you really are ?" 
 
 "lam a man," said Johannes Mtiller, gently; "I commit errors 
 and have my failings like all men, my heart is vacillating, but not 
 my head. With my head I am standing above all parties, and above 
 all individual feelings ; hence I am able to write ' The Voyages of the 
 Popes,' and 'The Letters of Two Catholic Prelates,' although, as 
 your excellency stated, I am a member of the orthodox reformed 
 church ; and hence I am able to praise the Hapsburgs and serve 
 a monarchy, although I am a republican. But my heart does not 
 stand above the contending parties ; my heart loves mankind, and 
 takes pity on their failings ; hence it is able to discover praiseworthy 
 qualities even in Louis XI. of France, for in the bad king, it con- 
 stantly follows the vestiges of the man whom nature created good 
 and humane. " 
 
 "Those are the views of Jean Jacques Eousseau!" exclaimed 
 Thugut, contemptuously; "but these views are inapplicable to the 
 world and to practical life ; he who desires to derive advantages 
 from men, first, of all things, must avail himself of their bad quali- 
 ties and flatter them. To hold intercourse with perfectly virtuous 
 men is tedious and unprofitable ; fotunately, however, there are very 
 few of them. I should have no use whatever for such patterns of 
 virtue, and, instead of admiring them, I should try to annihilate 
 
374 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 them. He who is to be a welcome tool for me, must either have a 
 stain by which I may catch him at the slightest symptom of diso- 
 bedience, like an insect tied to a string, and draw him back to me, 
 or he must be so narrow-minded and ignorant as not to understand 
 me fully, and to be unable to divine and penetrate my hiddep 
 thoughts and intentions. " * 
 
 " In that case I must hope never to be a welcome tool of your 
 excellency, " said Milller, gravely. 
 
 "Are you so sure of your virtue? Are you unconscious of any 
 stain on your character?" 
 
 " If principles be virtue, yes ; in that case I am sure of my 
 virtue," said Mtiller, calmly. "I shall never be unfaithful to my 
 principles, and I hope never to have a stain on my conscience. " 
 
 "Who is able to say that?" exclaimed Thugut, laughing ; "many 
 a one has become a murderer, who was unwilling to tread on a 
 worm, and many a one has become a perjurer, who protested sol- 
 emnly that he would never utter a lie. But a truce to philosophical 
 discussions. I like to go directly at my aim, and to utter my 
 thoughts clearly and precisely. Listen, then, to me, and learn what 
 I want you to do. You are a great mind, an illustrious historian, 
 a very learned man, and you are pining away among the shelves of 
 your imperial library. The greatest historian of the centmy is 
 nothing but the custodian of a library, and is subordinate to a chief 
 whom he must obey, although the latter is mentally a pigmy com- 
 pared with him. Such a position is unworthy of your eminent 
 abilities, or tell me, do you feel contented with it?" 
 
 Johannes Muller smiled sadly. " Who is able to say that he feels 
 contented?" he asked. "I am, perhaps, a bad custodian, and that 
 may be the reason why the prefect of the Imperial Library, Baron 
 Fenish, is not on good terms with me, and profits by every oppor- 
 tunity to mortify me. A German savant never was an independent 
 m_an, for he generally lacks the most indispensable requisite for an 
 independent position : he generally lacks wealth. " 
 
 "Then you are poor?" asked Thugut, with flashing eyes. 
 
 " I have no other means than my salary. The Muses will adorn a 
 man, but they will not feed him. " 
 
 " I will deliver you from your subordinate position, " said Thugut, 
 
 hastily ; " you shall be independent, free, and rich. You are a fool 
 
 to bury yourself, with your glory and with your pen, in the dust of 
 
 old books. Life and history are calling, and offering you their 
 
 metal tablets to write thereon. Write, then ; write the histoiy of 
 
 our times ; render yourself an organ of the age ; assist us, by your 
 
 * Thugut 's own words.— Fide Hormayer, " Lebensbilder aus dem Befreiungs- 
 krieg," voi. i., p. 823. 
 
JOHANNES MULLER. 275 
 
 writings, in preserving the government and law and order. Defend, 
 with your ringing -voice, the actions of the government against the 
 aspersions of this would-be wise, noisy, and miserable people, and 
 you shall have a brilliant position and an annual salary of four 
 thousand florins. You are silent? You are right ; consider well 
 what I am proposing to you. I offer you a brilliant position. I 
 will make you the gi-eat historian of our times. It affords you 
 always so much pleasure to praise and commend ; well, sir, praise 
 and commend what we are doing. Assist me, at least, in mystify 
 ing our contemporaries and posterity a little, and I will reward you 
 in the most liberal manner. A good title, a large salary, and we 
 will, moreover, pay your debts. " 
 
 " Ah ! your excellency knows that I have debts, and you believe 
 that to be the string by which you may draw me to you like an 
 insect?" asked Miiller, smiling. "To become the historian of our 
 times is an honorable and welcome offer, and I confess to your ex- 
 cellency that I have already finished many a chapter of it in my 
 head, and that I have devoted a great deal of attention to the special 
 history of Austria. It would be agreeable to me if your excellency 
 would permit me to recite to you a few passages from the history of 
 Austria, as I have elaborated it in my head. This will be the best 
 way for your excellency to obtain the conviction whether I am really 
 able to fill so brilliant a position as your excellency has offered me, 
 and whether my services deseiwe so liberal a salary. " 
 
 "Well, sir, let me hear a few passages from your 'History of 
 Austria. ' I am very anxious to listen to them. " 
 
 "And your excellency remembers the promise that there is to be 
 irresponsibility and impunity for whatever will be said during this 
 interview?" 
 
 " I do, sir, and I swear that your words shall never be repeated 
 to any one, and that I shall only remember them when I have to 
 reward you for them. I swear, besides, that I will quietly and pa- 
 tiently listen to you until you have concluded. " 
 
 "I thank your excellency," said Johannes Miiller, bowing grace- 
 fully. " I should like to recite to your excellency now a chapter that 
 I desire to write on the literature of Austria. I turn my eyes back 
 to the days of Maria Theresa and Joseph the Second. Both of them 
 were lovers of literature, art, and science, which both of them pro- 
 moted and fostered. Joseph expelled darkness from his states and 
 uttered the great words, ' The mind shall he free! ' And the mind 
 became free. It became active and exalted in every art ; the poets 
 raised their voices ; the learned sent the results of their studies into 
 the world, and labored powerfully for the advancement and enlight- 
 enment of the people. The mind tore down the barriers that stupid 
 
376 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 fear had raised between Austria and the other German states, and 
 the great poets who had lately arisen in Germany now became, also, 
 the poets and property of Austria. Austria called Lessing and 
 Klopstock her poets ; like the rest of Germany, she enthusiastically 
 admired Schiller's 'Robbers, ' and wept over 'Werther's Sorrows;' 
 she was delighted with the poetry of Wieland ; she learned to love 
 the clear and noble mind of Herder, and the writings of Jean Paul 
 admonished her to learn and to reflect. It was a glorious period, 
 your excellency, for a young nation had arisen in Austria, and it 
 was drawing its nourishment from the breasts of a young literature. " 
 
 "And sucking from these breasts the revolutionary spirit, and 
 the arrogance of independent thinkers, " interrupted Thugut, rudely. 
 
 Johannes Miiller seemed not to have heard him, and continued : 
 " Joseph the Second died ; scarcely a decade has passed, and what 
 has this decade made of Austria? The mind has been chained 
 again ; the censor with his scissors has taken his stand again by the 
 side of the Austrian boundary-post ; and the wall severing Austria 
 from Germany has been reerected. Every thing now has become 
 again suspicious ; even the national spirit of the Austrian, even his 
 hatred of foreign oppression, and his hostility to foreign encroach- 
 ments. In this hatred itself the government sees the possibility of a 
 rising, and a spirit of opposition, for it sees that the people are no 
 longer asleep, but awake and thinking, and thought in itself is even 
 now an opposition. Every manifestation of enthusiasm for a man 
 who has spoken of the freedom and independence of Germany is 
 looked upon with suspicion, and the noblest men are being proscribed 
 and banished, merely because the people love them, and hope and 
 expect great things from them. The people, according to the wishes 
 of government, shall do nothing but sleep, obey, and be silent ; the 
 people shall manifest no enthusiasm for any thing; the people 
 shall love nothing, desire nothing, think nothing ; the people shall 
 have no heroes, to whom they are attached; for the glory of the 
 heroes might eclipse the emperor, and the shouts of love sound like 
 shouts of insurrection. " 
 
 " You refer to the Archdukes Charles and John, " said Thugut, 
 quietly. "It is true, I have removed Archduke Charles from his 
 command, for his popularity with the army and people is very great, 
 and would have become dangerous to the emperor. We must con- 
 quer through tools, and not through heroes ; the latter are very 
 unpleasant to deal with, for they do not gratefully receive their 
 reward as a favor, but they impudently claim and take it as a right. 
 The imperial throne must be surrounded by heroes, but these heroes 
 must never eclipse the imperial throne. Pardon this note to your 
 chapter, and proceed. " 
 
JOHANNES MtJLLER. 277 
 
 "The heroes of the sword are cast aside," continued Johannes 
 Miiller, " but neither the heroes of thought nor the heroes of litera- 
 ture are spared. The government tries to disgrace and insult lit- 
 erature, because it is unable to assassinate it entirely ; it drags 
 literature into the caves of unworthy censors, and mutilates its most 
 beautiful limbs and destroys the most magnificent splendor of its 
 ideas. The government is afraid of the mind ; hence it desires to kiU 
 it. A government, however, may commit many mistakes, but it 
 never ought to show that it is afraid, fear exposing it to ridicule. And 
 if we ought not to weep over the persecutions which the apprehen- 
 sions of the government have caused to be instituted against litera- 
 ture, we ought to laugh at them. Whole volumes of the most sub- 
 lime works of Gibbon, Robertson, Hume, and other great historians 
 have been prohibited ; and there is not one of our German poets — 
 neither Goethe, nor Schiller, nor Herder, nor Wieland, nor Lessing, 
 nor Jean Paul — whose works are not ostracized in German Austria. 
 Fear and a bad conscience scent everywhere allusions, references, 
 and hints. Hence history is banished from the stage ; for the history 
 of the past constantly points with a menacing finger at the sore 
 spotsof the present. Shakespeare's 'King Lear' has been prohibited, 
 because the public might believe princes would lose their heads if 
 weighed down by misfortunes. 'Hamlet, ' 'Richard the Third, ' and 
 'Macbeth' must not be performed, because people might get accus- 
 tomed to the dethronement and assassination of emperors and kings. 
 Schiller's 'Mary Stuart' is looked upon as an allusion to Marie 
 Antoinette; 'Wallenstein' and 'Tell' are ostracized, because they 
 might provoke revolutions and military mutinies. The 'Merchant 
 of Venice' must not be performed, because it might give rise to 
 riotous proceedings against the Jews ; and in Schiller's 'Love and 
 Intrigue, ' President de Kalb has been transformed into a plebeian 
 viecdomus, in order to maintain the respect due to the nobility and 
 to the government functionaries. It is true, it is permitted to 
 represent villains and impostors on the stage, but they must never be 
 noblemen ; and if men of ideal character are to be brought upon the 
 stage, they must be either princes, counts, or police-directors. For 
 even more sacred than the dignity of the highest classes is the holy 
 police, the great guardian of the government, the great spy watching 
 the people, who are being deprived of every thing ; to whom every 
 intellectual enjoyment, every free manifestation of their enthusiasm 
 is forbidden, and who are yet required to deem themselves happy, 
 and that they shall be faithfully attached to their government ! If 
 the government enslaves the people, it must expect that these slaves 
 will lose all sense of honor and justice, and willingly sell themselves 
 to him who holds out to them the most glittering offers, and knows 
 
378 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 best how to tempt them by golden promises !— I am through, yout 
 excellency, " said Johannes Milller, drawing a deep breath ; " I have 
 recited to you my whole chapter on the literature of Austi-ia, and 1 
 thank you for having listened to me so patiently. Now it is for 
 your excellency alone to decide whether you deem me worthy of 
 filling the honorable position you have offered. I am ready to accept 
 it, and to write the history of our times in this spirit, and shall be 
 very grateful if your excellency will grant me for this purpose your 
 protection and a salary of four thousand florins. " 
 
 Thugut looked with an air of pride and disdain into his glowing 
 face. 
 
 " My dear sir, " he said, after a long pause—" my dear sir, I was 
 mistaken in you, for I believed you to have a clear head and a strong 
 mind, and I perceive now that you are nothing but a weak enthu- 
 siast, dreaming of ideal fancies which one day will turn out entirely 
 differently ; to become spectres, from which you will shrink back in 
 dismay. You will not always remain the enthusiastic admirer of 
 freedom as at present ; and the proud republican will one day, per- 
 haps, be transformed into the obedient servant of a tyrant. You 
 assui-ed me quite haughtily that you had no stain on your conscience ; 
 let me tell you, sir, that there is a stain on your character, and I 
 should have profited by it — you are vain. I should not have tried 
 to bribe you with money, but with flattery, and I had been success- 
 ful. I had too good an opinion of you, however. I believed you 
 had a vigorous mind, capable of comprehending what is necessaiy 
 and useful, and of preferring the practical and advantageous to the 
 ideal. Although a native of Switzerland, you are a genuine German 
 dreamer, and I hate dreamers. Go, sir, remain custodian of the 
 Imperial Library and complete your catalogues, but never imagine 
 that you will be able with your weak hand to stem the wheel of 
 history and of political affairs ; the wheel would only destroy your 
 hand and what little glory you have obtained, and hurl you aside 
 like a crushed dog. Farewell !" 
 
 He turned his back upon Johannes Miiller, and placed himself at 
 the window until the soft noise of the closing door told him that 
 the historian had left him. 
 
 "What a fool!" he said. Then, turning around again— "a 
 genuine German fool ! Wanted to lecture me— me .' " 
 
 And, amused by the idea, Thugut burst into loud laughter. He 
 then rang the bell violently, and as soon as the valet de chambre 
 made his appearance he ordered him to get the carriage ready for 
 him. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later the minister left the chancery of state for 
 the purpose of repairing, as was his custom every evening, to his 
 
THUGUT'S FALL. 279 
 
 garden in the Wahringer Street. The streets through which he had 
 to pass were crowded with citizens, who were talking with ill 
 concealed rage about the fresh defeat of the Austrians at Marengo, 
 and were loudly calling out that Minister Thugut was alone to 
 blame for Austria's misfortunes, and that he was the only obstacle 
 that prevented the emperor from making peace. And the people 
 suiTounded the well-known carriage of the minister with constantly - 
 increasing exasperation, and cried in a constantly louder and more 
 menacing tone : " We do not want war ! We want peace ! peace !" 
 
 Thugut was leaning back comfortably on the cushions of his 
 carriage. He seemed not to hear the shouts of the people, and not 
 to deem them worthy of the slightest notice. Only when the tumult 
 increased in violence, and when the incensed people commenced 
 hm-ling stones and mud at his carriage, the minister rose for a 
 moment in order to look out with an air of profound disdain. He 
 then leaned back on his seat, and muttered, with a glance of inde- 
 scribable contempt : 
 
 " Canaille ! " * 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THUaUT'S FALL. 
 
 TrDDJGS of fresh defeats had reached Vienna ; more disasters had 
 befallen the army, and the great victory of Marengo had been fol- 
 lowed, on the 3d of December, 1800, by the battle of Hohenlinden, 
 in which Moreau defeated the Austrians under Archduke John. 
 
 Even Thugut, the immovable and constant prime minister, felt 
 alarmed at so many calamities, and he was generally in a gloomy 
 and spiteful humor. 
 
 He felt that there was a power stronger than his will, and this 
 feeling maddened him with anger. He was sitting at his desk, 
 with a clouded brow and closely compressed lips, his sullen eyes 
 fixed on the papers before him, which a courier, just arrived from 
 the headquarters of the army, had delivered to him. They contained 
 evil tidings ; they informed him of the immense losses of the 
 Austrians, and of the insolence. of the victorious French general, 
 who had only granted the Austrian application for an armistice on 
 condition that the fortresses of Ulm, Ingolstadt and Fhilipsburg be 
 Slu-rendered to him ; and these humiliating terms had been complied 
 with in order to gain time and to concentrate a new army. For 
 Thugut's stubbornness had not been broken yet, and he still obsti- 
 * Hormayer's " Lebensbilder," vol. i., p. 230. 
 19 
 
380 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 nately refused to conclude the peace so urgently desired by the 
 whole Austrian people, nay, by the emperor himself. 
 
 "No, no, no peace !" he muttered, when he had perused the dis- 
 patches. " We will fight on, even though we should be buried under 
 the ruins of Austria I I hate that revolutionary France, and I shall 
 never condescend to extend my hand to it for the purpose of making 
 peace. We will fight on, and no one shall dare to talk to me about 
 peace !" 
 
 A low rap at the door leading to the reception-room interrupted 
 his soliloquy, and when he had harshly called out, " Come in, " his 
 valet de chambre appeared in the door. 
 
 " Your excellency, " he said, timdly, " Counts Colloredo, Saurau, 
 and Lehrbach have just arrived, and desire to obtain an interview 
 with your excellency. " 
 
 Not a muscle moved in Thugut's face to betray his surprise, and 
 he ordered the servant in a perfectly cakn voice to admit the gentle- 
 men immediately. He then hastily walked to the door for the 
 purpose of meeting them. They entered a few minutes later : first. 
 Count Colloredo, minister of the imperial household ; next. Count 
 Saurau, minister of police ; and last. Count Lehrbach, minister 
 without portfolio. Thugut surveyed the three dignitaries with a 
 single searching glance. He perceived that good-natured Count 
 Colloredo looked rather frightened ; that the ferocious eyes of Count 
 Lehrbach were glistening like those of a tiger just about to lacerate 
 his victim ; and that Count Saurau, that diplomatist generally so 
 impenetrable, permitted a triumphant smile to play on his lips. 
 With the sure tact which Thugut never lost sight of, he saw from 
 the various miens of these three gentlemen what had occasioned 
 their call upon him, and his mind was made up at once. 
 
 He received them, however, with a pleasant salutation, and took 
 the hand of Count Colloredo in order to conduct him to an arm- 
 chair. Colloredo's hand was cold and trembling, and Thugut said 
 to himself, "He is charged with a very disagreeable message for me, 
 and he is afraid to deliver it. '' 
 
 "Your excellency is doubtless astonished to see us disturb you 
 at so unexpected an hour, " said Count Colloredo, in a tremulous 
 voice, when the four gentlemen had taken seats. 
 
 " No, I am not astonished, " said Thugut, calmly. " You, gentle- 
 men, on the contrary, have only anticipated my wishes. I was 
 just about to invite you to see me for the purpose of holding a con- 
 sultation, very disastrous tidings having arrived from the head- 
 quarters of our army. We have lost a battle at Hohenlinden— Arch- 
 duke John has been defeated. " 
 
 "And Moreau has already crossed the Inn and is now advancing 
 
THUGUT'S FALL. 381 
 
 upon Vienna," said Count Lehrbach, with a sneer. "You have 
 made some terrible mistakes in your hopes of victory, minister. '' 
 
 "Yes, indeed, you have made some terrible mistakes, my dear 
 little bai-on, " said Coimt Saurau, laying particular stress on the last 
 words. 
 
 Thugut fixed a laughing look on him. "Why," he said, "how 
 tender we are to-day, and how big your beak has grown, my dear 
 little count ! You seem but slightly aflQicted by the misfortunes of 
 the empire, for your face is as radiant as that of a young cock that 
 has just driven a rival from its dunghiU. But it must have been a 
 very stupid old cock that has condescended to fight with you. Now, 
 my dear Count Colloredo, let us talk about business. We have been 
 defeated at Hohenlinden, and Moreau is advancing upon Vienna. 
 These are two facts that cannot be disputed. But we shall recover 
 from these blows ; we shall send a fresh army against Moreau, and 
 it will avenge our previous disasters. " 
 
 " However, your excellency, that is a mere hope, and we may be 
 disappointed again, " replied Colloredo, anxiously. " The emperor, 
 my gracious master, has lost faith in our victories, unless we should 
 have an able and tried general at the head of our forces — a general 
 equally trusted by the army and the nation. " 
 
 "Let us, then, place such a general at the head of the army,'' 
 said Thugut, calmly ; " let us immediately appoint Archduke Charles 
 commander-in-chief of the Austrian forces. " 
 
 "Ah, I am glad that you consent to it," exclaimed Colloredo, 
 joyfully, " for the emperor has just instructed me to go to his dis- 
 tinguished brother and to request him in the name of his majesty 
 to resume the command-in-chief. " 
 
 "Well, he will accept it," said Thugut, smiling, "for command- 
 ing and ruling always is a very agreeable occupation ; and many a 
 one would be ready and willing to betray his benefactor and friend, 
 if he thereby could acquire power and distinction. Are you not, 
 too, of this opinion, my dear little Count Saurau? Ah, you do not 
 know how tenderly I am devoted to you. You are the puppet which 
 I have raised and fostered, and which I wanted to transform into a 
 man according to my own views. I am not to blame if you have 
 not become a man, but always remained only a machine to be 
 directed by another hand. Beware, my dear, of ever falling into 
 unskilful or bad hands, for then you would be lost, notwithstanding 
 your elasticity and pliability. But you have got a worthy friend 
 there at your side, noble, excellent Count Lehrbach. Do you know, 
 my dear Count Lehrbach, that there are evil-disposed persons who 
 often tried to prejudice me against you, who wanted to insinuate 
 you were a rival of mine, and were notoriously anxious to supplant 
 
383 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 me and to become prime minister in my place? Truly, these anx- 
 ious men actually went so far as to caution me against you. " 
 
 " And did not your excellency make any reply to them 1" asked 
 Count Lehrbach, laughing. 
 
 " Parhleu, you ask me whether I have made a reply to them or 
 not?" said Thugut. "I have always replied to those warning 
 voices : 'I need not break Count Lehrbach's neck ; he A\ill attend to 
 that himself. I like to push a man forward whom I am able to hang 
 at any time. ' " * 
 
 " But you have not taken into consideration that the man whom 
 you are pushing forward might reach back and afford you the same 
 pleasure wliich you had in store for him," exclaimed Lehrbach, 
 laughing boisterously. 
 
 "Yes, that is true, "said Thugut, artlessly; "I ought to have 
 been afraid of you, after all, and to perceive that you have got a 
 nail in your head on which one may be hanged very comfortably. 
 But, my friends, we detain Count Colloredo by our jokes, and you 
 are aware that he must hasten to the archduke in order to beg him 
 to become our commander-in-chief and to sign a treaty of peace 
 with France. For I believe we will make peace at all events. " 
 
 " We shall make peace provided we fulfil the conditions which 
 Bonaparte has exacted, " said Count Colloredo, timidly. 
 
 "Ah, he has exacted conditions, and these conditions have been 
 addressed to the emperor and not to myself?" asked Thugut. 
 
 "The dispatches were addressed to me, the minister of the im- 
 perial household," said Count Colloredo, modestly. "The first of 
 these conditions is that Austria and France make peace without 
 letting England participate in the negotiations. " 
 
 " And the second condition is beaming already on Count Lehr- 
 bach's forehead," said Thugut, calmly. "Bonaparte demands that 
 I shall withdraw from the cabinet, as my dismissal would be to him 
 a guaranty of the pacific intentions of Austria, f Am I mistaken?" 
 
 "You are not; but the emperor, gratefully acknowledging the 
 long and important services your excellency has rendered to the 
 state, will not fulfil this condition and incur the semblance of 
 ingratitude. 
 
 " Austria and my emperor require a sacrifice of me, and I am 
 ready to make it, " said Thugut, solemnly. " I shall write imme- 
 diately to his majesty the emperor and request him to permit me 
 to withdraw from the service of the state without delay. " 
 
 Count Colloredo sighed mournfully ; Count Saurau smiled, and 
 Count Lehrbach laughed in Thugut's face with the mien of a hyena. 
 
 * Thugut's own words.— Hormayer's " Lebensbilder," vol. i., p. 333. 
 ■t HSusser's " History of Germany," vol. u., p. 324. 
 
THUGUT'S FALL. 283 
 
 "And do you know who will be your successor?" asked the 
 latter. 
 
 "My dear sir, I sliall have no successor, only a miserable imi- 
 tator, and you will be that imitator, " said Thugut, proudly. " But 
 I give you my word that this task will not be intrusted to you for a 
 long while. I shall now draw up my request to the emperor, and I 
 beg you, gentlemen, to deliver it to his majesty. " 
 
 Without saying another word he went to his desk, hastily wrote 
 a few lines on a sheet of paper, which he then sealed and directed. 
 
 " Count Colloredo, " he said, " be kind enough to hand this letter 
 to the emperor. " 
 
 Count Colloredo took it with one hand, and with the other he 
 drew a sealed letter from his bosom. 
 
 "And here, your excellency," he said — "here I have the honor to 
 present to you his majesty's reply. The emperor, fully cognizant 
 of your noble and devoted patriotism, was satisfied in advance that 
 you would he ready to sacrifice yourself on the altar of the country, 
 and, however grievous the resolution, he was determined to accept 
 thesacrifice. The emperor grants your withdrawal from the service 
 of the state ; and Count Louis Cobenzl, who is to set out within a few- 
 hours for Luneville, in order to open there the peace conference witli 
 the brother of the First Consul, Joseph Bonaparte, will take along the 
 official announcement of this change in the imperial cabinet. Count 
 Lehrbach, I have the honor to present to you, in the name of the 
 emperor, this letter, by which his majesty appoints you minister of 
 the interior. " 
 
 He handed to Count Lehrbach a letter, which the latter hastily 
 opened and glanced over with greedy eyes. 
 
 "And you, my dear little Count Saurau?" asked Thugut, com- 
 passionately. " Have they not granted you any share whatever in 
 the spoils?" 
 
 " Yes, they have ; I have received the honorable commission to 
 communicate to the good people of Vienna the joyful news that 
 Baron Thugut has been dismissed, " said Count Saurau ; " and I shall 
 now withdraw in order to fulfil this commission." 
 
 He nodded sneeringly to Thugut, bowed respectfully to Count 
 Colloredo, and left the minister's cabinet. 
 
 "I am avenged," he muttered, while crossing the anteroom; 
 "henceforward the shipbuilder's son will call me no longer his 'dear 
 little count. ' " 
 
 "And I shall withdraw, too," said Count Lehrbach, with a scorn- 
 ful smile. " I shall withdraw in order to make all necessary prepa- 
 rations, so that my furniture and horses can be brought here to- 
 morrow to the building of the chancery of state. For I suppose, 
 
284 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Baron Thugut, you will move out of this house in the course of to- 
 day?" 
 
 "Yes, I shall, and you will withdraw now, sir," said Thugut, 
 dismissing the count with a haughty wave of his hand. 
 
 Count Lehrbach went out laughing, and Count CoUoredo re- 
 mained alone with Thugut. 
 
 " And you, " asked Thugut, " do not you wish to take leave of me 
 by telling me something that might hurt my feelings?" 
 
 " I have to tell you a great many things, but nothing that will 
 hurt your feelings, " said Colloredo, gently. " First of all things, I 
 must beg you not to deprive me of your friendship and advice, but 
 to assist me as heretofore. I need your advice and your help more 
 than ever, and shall do nothing without previously ascertaining 
 your will. " 
 
 " The emperor will not permit it, " said Thugut, gloomily. "He 
 will require you to break off all intercourse with me. " 
 
 "On the contrary," whispered Colloredo, "the emperor desires 
 you always to assist him and myself by your counsels. The emperor 
 desires you to be kind enough to call every day upon me in order to 
 consider with me the affairs of the day, and there, accidentally of 
 course, you will meet his majesty, who wants to obtain the advice 
 of your experience and wisdom. You will remain minister, but 
 incognito. " 
 
 A flash of joy burst forth from Thugut's eyes, but he quickly 
 suppressed it again. 
 
 "And shall I meet in your house sometimes your wife, the beau- 
 tiful Countess Victoria?" he asked. 
 
 "Victoria implores you, through my mouth, to trust her and 
 never to doubt of her friendship. I beg you to receive the same 
 assurance as far as I am concerned. You have rendered both of us 
 so happy, my dear baron ; you were the mediator of a marriage in 
 which both of us, Victoria as well as myself, have found the highest 
 bliss on earth, and never shall we cease to be grateful to you for it ; 
 nor shall we ever be able or willing to do without your advice and 
 assistance. You are our head, we are your arms, and the head 
 commanding the arms, we shall always obey you. Victoria implores 
 you to tell her any thing you desire, so that she may give you forth- 
 with a proof of her willingness to serve you. She has charged me 
 to ask you to do so as a proof of your friendship. " 
 
 " Well, " said Thugut, laughing, " I accept your offer, as well as 
 that of your beautiful wife Victoria. Count Lehrbach has been ap- 
 pointed minister and he wants even to move to-morrow into the 
 chancery of state. We will let him move in early in the morning, 
 but, in the course of the day, the emperor will do well to send him 
 
THUGUT'S FALL. 285 
 
 his dismissal, for Count Lehrbach is unworthy of being his majesty's 
 minister of state. His hand is stained -with the blood which was 
 shed at Rastadt, and a minister's hand must be clean." 
 
 "But whom shall we appoint minister in Lehrbach's place?" 
 
 " Coimt Louis Cobenzl, for his name will offer the best guaranty 
 of our pacific intentions toward France. " 
 
 "But Count Cobenzl is to go to Luneville to attend the peace 
 conference. " 
 
 " Let him do so, and until his return let Count Trautmannsdorf 
 temporarily discharge the duties of his office.'' 
 
 " Ah, that is true, that is a splendid idea !" exclaimed Count 
 Colloredo, joyfully. " You are a very sagacious and prudent states- 
 man, and I shall hasten to lay your advice before the emperor. You 
 may rest assured that every thing shall be done in accordance with 
 your wishes. Lehrbach remains minister until to-morrow at noon ; 
 he then receives his dismissal. Count Louis Cobenzl will be appointed 
 his successor, and Count Trautmannsdorf will temporarily discharge 
 the duties of the office until Cobenzl's return from Luneville. Shall 
 it be done in this manner?" 
 
 " Yes, it shall, " said Thugut, almost sternly. 
 
 "But this does not fulfil Victoria's prayer," said the count, anx- 
 iously. "I am able to attend to these matters, but "Victoria also 
 wants to give you a proof of her friendship. " 
 
 " WeU, I ask her to prepare a little joke for me and you, " replied 
 Thugut. " Count Lehrbach wiU move early to-morrow morning 
 with his whole furniture into the chancery of state. I beg Victoria 
 to bring it about that he must move out to-morrow evening with 
 his whole furniture, like a martin found in the dove-cote. " * 
 
 "Ah, that will be a splendid joke," said Count Colloredo, laugh- 
 ing, " and my dear Victoria will be happy to aflord you this little 
 satisfaction. I am able to predict that Coimt Lehrbach will be com- 
 pelled to move out to-morrow evening. But now, my dearest friend, 
 I must hasten to Archduke Charles, who, as you are aware, is pout- 
 ing on one of his estates. I shall at once repair thither, and be 
 absent from Vienna for two days. Meantime, you will take care of 
 Victoria as a faithful friend. " 
 
 " I shall take care of her if the countess will permit me to do so, " 
 said Thugut, smiling, and accompanying Coimt Colloredo to the door. 
 
 His eyes followed him for a long while with an expression of 
 haughty disdain. 
 
 * Thugut's wishes were fulfiUed. Count Lehrbach lost on the very next day his 
 scarcely-obtained portfolio, and he was compelled to remove the furniture which, in 
 rude haste he had sent to the chancery of state in the morning, in the course of the 
 same evening.— Vide Hormayer's " Lebensbilder," vol. i., p. 330. 
 
386 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " The fools remain, " he said, " and I must go. But no, I shall not 
 go ! Let the world believe me to be a dismissed minister, I remain 
 minister after all. I shall rule through my creatures, CoUoredo and 
 Victoria. I remain minister until I shall be tired of all these mis- 
 erable intrigues, and retire in order to live for myself. " * 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 FANNY VON AENSTBIN. 
 
 The young Baroness Fanny von Amstein had just finished her 
 morning toilet and stepped from her dressing-room into her boudoir, 
 in order to take her chocolate there, solitary and alone as ever. 
 With a gentle sigh she glided into the arm-chair, and instead of 
 drinking the chocolate placed before her in a silver breakfast set on 
 the table, she leaned her head against the back of her chair and 
 dreamily looked up to the ceiling. Her bosom heaved profound 
 sighs from time to time, and the ideas which were moving her 
 heart and her soul ever and anon caused a deeper blush to mantle 
 her cheeks ; but it quickly disappeared again, and was followed by 
 an even more striking pallor. 
 
 She was suddenly startled from her musings by a soft, timid rap 
 at the door leading to the reception-room. 
 
 "Good Heaven !" she whispered, "I hope he will not dare to come 
 to me so early, and without being announced. " 
 
 The I'apping at the door was renewed. " I cannot, will not receive 
 him, " she muttered ; " it will be better not to be alone with him any 
 more. I will bolt the door and make no reply whatever. " 
 
 She glided with soft steps across the room to the door, and was 
 just about to bolt it, when the rapping resounded for the third time, 
 and a modest female voice asked : 
 
 " Are you there, baroness, and may I walk in ?" 
 
 " Ah, it is only my maid, " whispered the baroness, drawing a 
 deep breath, as though an oppressive burden were removed from her 
 breast, and she opened the door herself. 
 
 * Thugut really withdrew definitely from the political stage, but secretly he re- 
 tained his full power and authority, and Victoria de Poutet-Colloredo, the influential 
 friend of the Empress Theresia, constantly remained his faithful adherent and con- 
 fidante. All Vienna, however, was highly elated by the dismissal of Thugut, who had 
 so long ruled the empire in the most arbitrary manner. An instance of his system is 
 the fact that, on his withdrawal from the cabinet, there were found one hundred and 
 seventy unopened dispatches and more than two thousand unopened letters. Thugut 
 only perused what he believed to be worth the trouble of being read, and to there- 
 mainder he paid no attention whatever.—" Lebensbilder," vol. i., p. 327. 
 
FANNY VON ARNSTEIN. 387 
 
 "■Well, Fanchon," she asked, in her gentle, winning voice, ''what 
 do j'ou want?' 
 
 "Pardon me. baroness," said the maid, casting an inquisitive 
 look around the room, " the baron sent for me just now ; he asked 
 me if you had risen already and entered your boudoir, and when I 
 replied in the affirmative, the baron gave me a message for you, 
 with the express order, however, not to deliver it until you had 
 taken your chocolate and finished your breakfast. I see now that I 
 must not yet deliver it ; the breakfast is still on the table just as it 
 was brought in. " 
 
 " Take it away ; I do not want to eat any thing, " said the baroness, 
 hastily. " And now Fanchon, tell^me your errand. " 
 
 Fanchon approached the table, and while she seized the silver 
 salver, she cast a glance of tender anxiety on her pale, beautiful 
 mistress. 
 
 " You are eating nothing at all, baroness, " she said, timidly ; 
 "for a week already I have had to I'emove the breakfast every morn- 
 ing in the same manner ; you never tasted a moi'sel of it, and the 
 valet de chambre says that you hardly eat any thing at the dinner- 
 table either ; you will be taken ill, baroness, if you go on in this 
 manner, and — " 
 
 "Never mind, dear Fanchon," her mistress interrupted her 
 with a gentle smile, " I have hardly any appetite, it is true, but I 
 do not feel unwell, nor do I want to be taken ill. Let us say no 
 more about it, and tell me the message the baron intrusted to you. " 
 
 " The baron wished me to ask you if you would permit him to 
 pay you immediately a visit, and if you would receive him here in 
 your boudoir. " 
 
 The baroness started, and an air of surprise overspread her fea- 
 tures. " Tell the baron that he will be welcome, and that I am wait- 
 ing for him, " she said then, calmly. But so soon as Fanchon had 
 withdrawn, she whispered: "What is the meaning of all this? 
 What is the reason of this unusual visit? Oh, my knees are trem- 
 bling, and my heart is beating so violently, as though it wanted to 
 burst. Why? What have I done, then? Am I a criminal, who is 
 afraid to appear before her judge?" 
 
 She sank back into her arm-chair and covered her blushing face 
 with her hands. "No," she said, after a long pause, raising her 
 head again, "no, I am no criminal, and my conscience is guiltless. 
 I am able to raise my eyes freely to my husband and to my God. 
 So far, I have honestly struggled against my own heart, and I shall 
 struggle on in the same manner. I— ah ! he is coming, " she inter- 
 rupted herself when she heard steps in the adjoining room, and her 
 eyes were fixed with an expression of anxious suspense on the door. 
 
288 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The latter opened, and her husband, Baron Arnstein, entered. 
 His face was pale, and indicative of deep emotion ; nevertheless, he 
 saluted his wife with a kind smile, and bent down in order to kiss 
 her hand, which she had silently given to him. 
 
 "I suppose you expected me?" he asked. "You knew, even be- 
 fore I sent Fanchon to you, that I should come and see you at the 
 present hour?" 
 
 Fanny looked at him inquiringly, and in surprise. " I confess, " 
 she said, in an embarrassed tone, " that I did not anticipate your 
 visit by any means until Fanchon announced it to me, and 1 only 
 mention it to apologize for the dishabille in which you find me. " 
 
 "Ah, you did not expect rue, then?" exclaimed the baron, 
 mournfully. "You have forgotten every thing? You did not re- 
 member that this is the anniversai-y of our wedding, and that five 
 years have elapsed since that time?" 
 
 " Indeed, " whispered Fanny, in confusion, " I did not know that 
 this was the day. " 
 
 " You felt its burden day after day, and it seemed to you, there- 
 fore, as though that ill-starred day were being renewed for you aU 
 the year round," exclaimed the baron, sadly. "Pardon my im- 
 petuosity and my complaints, " he continued, when he saw that she 
 turned pale and averted her face. " I will be gentle, and you shall 
 have no reason to complain of me. But as you have forgotten the 
 agreement which we made five years ago, permit me to remind you 
 of it. " 
 
 He took a chair, and, sitting down opposite her, fixed a long, 
 melancholy look upon her. " When I led you to the altar five years 
 ago to-day," he said, feelingly, "you were, perhaps, less beautiful 
 than now, less brilliant, less majestic ; but you were in better and 
 less despondent spirits, although you were about to marry a man 
 who was entirely indifferent to you. " 
 
 "Oh, I did not say that you were indifferent to me, " said Fanny, 
 in a low voice ; " only I did not know you, aad, therefore, did not 
 love you. " 
 
 " You see that want of acquaintance was not the only reason, " he 
 said, with a bitter smile, "for now, I believe, you know me, and 
 yet you do not love me. But let us speak of what brought me here 
 to-day — of the past. You know that, before our marriage, you 
 afforded me the happiness of a long and confidential interview, that 
 you permitted me to look down into the depths of your pure and 
 noble soul, that you unveiled to me your innocent heart, that did 
 not yet exhibit either scars or wounds, nor even an image, a souvenir, 
 and allowed me to be yom- brother and your friend, as you would 
 not accept me as a lover and husband. Before the world, however, 
 
FANNY VON ARNSTEIN. 389 
 
 I became your husband, and took you to Vienna, to my house, of 
 which you were to be the mistress and queen. The whole house was 
 gayly decorated, and all the rooms were opened, for your arrival 
 was to be celebrated by a ball. Only one door was locked ; it was 
 the door of this cabinet. I conducted you hither and said to you, 
 'This is j^our sanctuary, and no one shall enter it without your per- 
 mission. In this boudoir you are not the Baroness Arnstein, not 
 my wife ; but here you are Fanny Itzig, the free and unshackled 
 young girl, who is mistress of her will and affections. I shall never 
 dare myself, without being expressly authorized by you, to enter 
 this room ; and when I shall be allowed to do so, I shall only come 
 as a cavalier, who has the honor to pay a polite visit to a beautiful 
 lady, to whom he is not connected in any manner whatever. Before 
 the world I am your husband, but not in this room. Hence I shall 
 never permit myself to ask what you are doing in this room, whom 
 you are receiving here ; for here you are only responsible to God and 
 yourself. ' Do you now remember that I said this to you at that 
 time?" 
 
 "Ida" 
 
 "I told you further that I begged you to continue with me one 
 day here in this room the confidential conversation which we held 
 before our marriage. I begged you to fix a period of five years for 
 this purpose, and, during this time, to examine your heart and to 
 see whether life at my side was at least a tolerable burden, or 
 whether you wished to shake it off. I asked you to promise me that 
 I might enter this room on the fifth anniversary of our wedding- 
 day, for the purpose of settling then with you our future mode of 
 living. You were kind enough to grant my prayer, and to promise 
 what I asked. Do you remember it?" 
 
 " I do, " said Fanny, blushing ; " I must confess, however, that I 
 did not regard those words in so grave a light as to consider them as 
 a formal obligation on your part. You would have been every day 
 a welcome guest in this room, and it was unnecessary for you to 
 wait for a particular day in accordance with an agreement made 
 five years ago. " 
 
 "Your answer is an evasive one," said the baron, sadly. "I im- 
 plore you, let us now again speak as frankly and honestly as we did 
 five years ago to-day ! WiU you grant my prayer?" 
 
 "I will," replied Fanny, eagerly ; "and I am going to prove im- 
 mediately that I am in earnest. You alluded a few minutes ago to 
 our past, and asked me wonderingly if I had forgotten that inter- 
 view on our wedding-day. I remember it so well, however, that I 
 must direct your attention to the fact that you have forgotten the 
 principal portion of what we said to each other at that time, or 
 
290 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 rather that, in your generous delicacy, and with that magnanimous 
 kindness which you alone may boast of, you have intentionally 
 omitted that portion of it. You remembered that I told you I did 
 not love you, but you forgot that you then asked me if I loved 
 another man. I replied to you that I loved no one, and never shall 
 I forget the mournful voice in which you then said, ' It is by far 
 easier to marry with a cold heart than to do so with a broken heart ; 
 for the cold heart may grow warm, but the broken heart — never!' 
 Oh, do not excuse yourself, " she continued, with greater warmth ; 
 "do not take me for so conceited and narrow-minded a being that I 
 should have regarded those words of yours as an insult offered to 
 me I It was, at the best, but a pang that I felt. " 
 
 "A pang?" asked the baron, in surprise; and he fixed his dark 
 eyes, with a wondrously impassioned expression, on the face of his 
 beautiful wife. 
 
 "Yes, I felt a pang," she exclaimed, vividly, "for, on hearing 
 your woi'ds, which evidently issued from the depths of your soul, 
 on witnessing your unaffected and passionate grief, your courageous 
 self-abnegation, I felt that your heart had received a wound which 
 never would close again, and that you never would faithlessly turn 
 from your first love to a second one. " 
 
 " Oh, my God, " murmured the baron, and he averted his face in 
 order not to let her see the blush suddenly mantling it. 
 
 Fanny did not notice it, and continued : " But this dead love of 
 yours laid itself like the cold hand of a corpse upon my breast and 
 doomed it to everlasting coldness. With the consciousness that you 
 never would love me, I had to cease striving for it, and give up the 
 hope of seeing, perhaps, one day my heart awake in love for you, 
 and the wondrous flower of a tenderness after marriage unfold itself, 
 the gradual budding of which had been denied to us by the arbitrary 
 action of our parents, who had not consulted our wishes, but only 
 our fortunes. I became your wife with the full conviction that I 
 should have to lead a life cold, dreary, and devoid of love, and that 
 I could not be for you but an everlasting burden, a chain, an obsta- 
 cle. My pride, that was revolting against it, told me that I should 
 be able to bear this life in a dignified manner, but that I never 
 ought to make even an attempt to break through this barrier which 
 your love for another had erected between us, and which you tried 
 to raise as high as possible. " 
 
 " 1 1" exclaimed the baron, sadly. 
 
 " Yes, you, '' she said, gravely. " Or did you believe, perhaps, I 
 did not comprehend your rigorous reserve toward me? I did not 
 understand that you were wrapping around your aversion to me but 
 a delicate veil? You conducted me to this room and told me that 
 
FANNY VON ARNSTEIN. 391 
 
 you never would enter it, and that you would only come here when 
 specially invited by myself to do so. Well, sir, you managed very 
 skilf uUy to conceal your intention never to be alone with me, and 
 to lead an entirely separate life from me under this phrase, for you 
 knew very well that my pride never would permit me to invite you 
 iiere against yovir wiU. " 
 
 " Oh, is it possible that I should have been misunderstood in this 
 maimer?" sighed the baron, but in so low a voice that Fanny did 
 not hear him. 
 
 " You further told me, " she continued, eagerly, " that I should 
 only bear the name of your wife before the world, but not in this 
 room where I was always to be Fanny Itzig. Y^ou were kind enough 
 to give to this moral divorce, which you pronounced in this manner, 
 the semblance as though you were the losing party, and as though 
 you were only actuated by motives of delicacy toward me. I under- 
 stood it all, however, and when you left this room after that con- 
 versation, sir, I sank down on my knees and implored God that He 
 might remain with me in this loneliness to which you had doomed 
 me, and I imploi'ed my pride to sustain and support me, and 1 swc jre 
 to my maidenly honor that I would preserve it unsullied and sacred 
 to my end. " 
 
 " Oh, good Heaven !" groaned the baron, tottering backward like 
 a man suddenly seized with vertigo. 
 
 Fanny, in her own glowing excitement, did not notice it. 
 
 " And thus I commenced my new life, " she said, " a life of splen- 
 dor and magnificence ; it was glittering without, but dreary within, 
 and in the midst of our most brilliant circles I constantly felt 
 lonely ; surrounded by hundreds who called themselves friends of 
 our house, I was always alone— I, the wife of your reception-room, 
 the disowned of my boudoir ! Oh, it is ti'ue I have obtained many 
 triumphs ; I have seen this haughty world, that only received me 
 hesitatingly, at last bow to me ; the Jewess has become the centre 
 of society, and no one on entering our house believes any longer 
 that he is conferring a favor upon us, but, on the contrary, receiv- 
 ing one from us. It is the ton now to visit our house ; we are being 
 overwhelmed with invitations, with flattering attentions. But tell 
 me, sir, is all this a compensation for the happiness which we are 
 lacking and which we never will obtain? Oh, is it not sad to think 
 that both of us, so young, so capable of enjoying happiness, should 
 already be doomed to eternal resignation and eternal loneliness? Is 
 it not horrible to see us, and ought not God Himself to pity us, if 
 from the splendor of His starry heavens He should look down for a 
 moment into our gloomy breasts? I bear in it a cold, frozen heart, 
 and you a coffin. Oh, sir, do not laugh at me because you see tears 
 
29a LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 in my eyes— it is only Fanny Itzig who is weeping ; Baroness von 
 Arnstein will receive your guests to-night in your saloons with a 
 smiling face, and no one will believe that her eyes also know how 
 to weep. But here, here in my widow-room, here in my nun's cell, 
 I may be permitted to weep over you and me, who have been chained 
 together with infrangible fetters, of which both of us feel the burden 
 and oppression with equal bitterness and wrath. May God forgive 
 our parents for having sacrificed our hearts on the altar of their 
 God, who is Mammon ; I shall ever hate them for it ; I shall never 
 forgive them, for they who knew life must have known that there 
 is nothing more unhappy, more miserable, and more deplorable 
 than a wife who does not love her husband, is not beloved by 
 him. " 
 
 " Is not beloved by him !" repeated the baron, approaching his 
 wife who, like a broken reed, had sunk down on a chair, and seiz- 
 ing her hand, he said : " You say that I do not love you, Fanny ! 
 Do you know my heart, then? Have you deemed it worth while 
 only a single time to fix your proud eyes on my poor heart? Did 
 you ever show me a symptom of sympathy when I was sick, a trace 
 of compassion when you saw me suffering? But no, you did not 
 even see that I was suffering, or that I was sad. Your proud, cold 
 glance always glided past me ; it saw me rarely, it never scmght 
 me ! What can you know, then, about my heart, and what would 
 you care if I should tell you now that there is no longer a coffin in 
 it, that it has awoke to a new life, and — " 
 
 "Baron!" exclaimed Fanny, rising quickly and proudly, "will 
 you, perhaps, carry your magnanimity and delicacy so far as to 
 make me a declaration of love ? Did I express myself in my impru- 
 dent impetuosity so incorrectly as to make you believe I was anxious 
 even now to gain your love, and that I was complaining of not 
 having obtained it? Do you believe me to be an humble mendicant, 
 to whom in your generosity you want to throw the morsel of a dec- 
 laration of love? I thank you, sir, I am not hungry, and do not 
 want this morsel. Let us at least be truthful and sincere toward 
 each other, and the truth is, we do not love each other and shall 
 never do so. Let us never try to feign what we never shall feel. 
 And if you now should offer me your love I should have to reject 
 it, for I am accustomed to a freezing temperature ; and I should 
 fare like the natives of Siberia, I should die if I were to live in a 
 warmer zone. Both of us are living in Siberia ; well, then, as we 
 cannot expect roses to bloom for us, let us try at least to catch sables 
 for ourselves. The sable, moreover, is an animal highly valued by 
 the whole world. People will en vy our sable furs, for they know 
 them to be costly ; they would laugh at us if we should adorn our 
 
FANNY VON AKN8TEIN. 293 
 
 heads with roses, for roses are not costly by any means, they are 
 common, and every peasant-girl may adorn herself with them." 
 
 " You are joking, " said the baron, mournfully, " and yet there 
 ai-e teai-s glistening in your eyes. However, your will shall be 
 sacred to me. I shall never dare to speak to you again about my 
 neart. But let us speak about you and your future. The five years 
 of our agreement have elapsed, and I am here to confer with you 
 about your futm-e. Tell me frankly and honestly, Fanny, do you 
 wish to be divorced from me?" 
 
 She started and fixed a long and searching look on her husband. 
 
 " Your father died a year ago, " she said, musingly, " you are now 
 the chief of the firm ; no one has a right to command any longer 
 what you are to do, and being free now, you may offer your hand 
 to her whom you love, I suppose?" 
 
 The baron uttered a shriek, and a death-like pallor overspread his 
 face. -'Have I deserved to be thus deeply despised by you?" he 
 ejaculated. 
 
 Fanny quickly gave him her hand. " Pardon me, " she said, cor- 
 dially. " I have pained you quite unintentionally ; the grief of this 
 hour has rendered me cruel. No, I do not believe that you, merely 
 for your own sake, addressed this question to me ; I know, on the 
 contrary, that you entertain for me the sympathy of a brother, of a 
 friend, and I am satisfied that your question had my happiness in 
 view as well as yours. " 
 
 " Well, " he said, with the semblance of perfect calmness, " let 
 me repeat my question, then : do you want to be divorced from 
 me?" 
 
 Fanny slowly shook her head. "Why?" she asked, sadly. "I 
 repeat to you what I told you once already ; we are living in Siberia 
 — let us remain there. We are accustomed to a freezing tempera- 
 ture ; we might die, perhaps, in a warmer zone." 
 
 " Or your heart might exult, perhaps, with happiness and delight, " 
 said the baron, and now his eyes were fixed inquiringly upon her 
 face. "You called me just now your friend, you admitted that I 
 felt for you the sympathy of a brother ; well, then, let me speak to 
 you as your brother and friend. Do not reject the offer of a divorce 
 so quickly, Fanny, for I tell you now I shall never renew it, and if 
 you do not give me up to-day, you are chained to me forever, for I 
 shall never be capable again of a corn-age so cruel against myself. 
 Consider the offer well, therefore. Think of your youth, your 
 beauty, and your inward loneliness. Remember that your heart is 
 yearning for love and pining away in its dreary solitude. And now 
 look around, Fanny ; see how many of the most distinguished and 
 eminent cavaliers are surrounding you, and longing for a glance, for 
 
294 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 a smile from you. See by how many you are being loved and 
 adored, and then ask yourself whether or not among all these cava- 
 liers no one would be able to conquer your heart if it were free? 
 For I know your chaste virtue ; I know that, although chained to an 
 unbeloved husband, you never would prove faithless to him and 
 avow love to another so long as you were not free. Imagine, then, 
 you were free, and then ask your heart if it will not decide for one 
 of your many adorers. " 
 
 " No, no, " she said, deprecatingly, " I cannot imagine a state of 
 affairs that does not exist ; as I am not free, I must not entertain 
 the thoughts of a free woman. " 
 
 Her husband approached her, and seizing her hand, looked at 
 her in a most touching and imploring manner. 
 
 " Then you liave forgotten that five years ago, on our wedding- 
 day, you promised me always to trust me?" he asked. "You have 
 forgotten that you took an oath that you would tell me so soon as 
 your heart had declared for another man?" 
 
 Fanny could not bear his look, and lowered her eyes. 
 
 "It has not declared for another man, and, therefore, I have 
 nothing to confide to you, " she said, in a low voice. 
 
 The baron constantly held her hand in his own, and his eyes 
 were still fixed on her face. 
 
 " Let us consider the matter together, " he said. " Permit me to 
 review your cavaliers and admirers, and to examine with you if 
 there is not one among them whom you may deem worthy of your 
 love. " 
 
 "What!" ejaculated Fanny, having recourse to an outburst of 
 merriment in order to conceal her embarrassment, " you want to 
 make me a Portia, and perf oi-m with me a scene from the ' Merchant of 
 Venice?'" 
 
 "Yes, you are Portia, and I will play the rdle of your confidant," 
 said Baron Arnstein, smiling. "Well, let us begin our review. 
 First, there is Count Palfy, a member of the old nobility, of the 
 most faultless manners, young, rich, full of ardent love for — " 
 
 "For your dinner-parties and the rare dishes that do not cost 
 him any thing, " interrupted Fanny. " He is an epicure, who prefers 
 dining at other people's tables because he is too stingy to pay for the 
 Indian birds' -nests which he relishes greatly. As for myself, he 
 never admires me until after dinner, for so soon as his stomach is 
 at rest his heart awakes and craves for food ; and his heart is a 
 gourmand, too — it believes love to be a dish ; voila tout ! " 
 
 " Next, there is the handsome Marchese Pallafredo, " said her 
 husband, smiling. 
 
 " He loves me because he has been told that I speak exceUeut and 
 
FANNY VON ARNSTEIN. 395 
 
 pure German, and because he wants me to teach him how to speak 
 German. He takes me for a grammar, by means of which he may 
 become familiar with our language without any special effort. " 
 
 "Then there is Count Esterhazy, one of our most brilliant cava- 
 liei-s ; you must not accuse him of stinginess, for he is just the re- 
 vei-se, a spendtlirift, squandering his money with full hands ; nor 
 must you charge him with being an epicure, for he scarcely eats 
 any thing at all at our dinner-parties, and does not know what he 
 is eating, his eyes being constantly riveted on you, and his thoughts 
 being occupied exclusively with you. " 
 
 "It is true, he admires me," said Fanny, calmly, "but only a 
 few months ago he was as ardent an adorer of my sister Eskeles, 
 and before he was enamoured of her, he was enthusiastically in love 
 with Countess Victoria Colloredo. He loves every woman who is 
 fashionable in society for the time being, and his heart changes as 
 rapidly as the fashions. " 
 
 " Besides, there is the prebendary. Baron Weichs, " said her hus- 
 band ; "a gentleman of great ability, a sai-anf. and withal a cava- 
 lier, a — " 
 
 " Oh, pray do not speak of him !" exclaimed Fanny, with an air 
 of horror. "His love is revolting to me, and fills me with shame 
 and dismay. Whenever he approaches me my heart shrinks back 
 as if from a venomous serpent, and a feeling of disgust pervades my 
 whole being, although I am unable to account for it. There is 
 something in his glances that is offensive to me ; and although he 
 has never dared to address me otherwise than in the most respectful 
 and reserved manner, his conversation always makes me feel as 
 though I were standing under a thunder-cloud from which the 
 lightning might burst forth at any moment to shatter me. As you 
 say, he is a man of ability, but he is a bad man ; he is passionately 
 fond of the ladies, but he does not respect them. " 
 
 " And he does not even deserve mentioning here, " said the baron, 
 smiling, "for, even though you were free already, the prebendary 
 never could enjoy the happiness of becoming your husband, and I 
 know that your heart is too chaste to love a man who is unable to 
 offer you his hand. Let us, then, look for such a man among the 
 other cavaliers. There is, for instance. Prince Charles, of Lichten- 
 stein, the most amiable, genial, and handsome of your admirers ; a 
 young prince who is neither haughty nor proud, neither prodigal 
 nor stingy ; who neither makes love to all ladies so soon as they be- 
 come fashionable as does Count Esterhazy, nor wants to learn Ger- 
 man from you, as does the Marchese Pallafredo ; a young man as 
 beautiful as Apollo, as brave as Mars, modest notwithstanding his 
 learning, and affable and courteous notwithstanding his high birth. 
 20 
 
296 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Well, Fanny, you do not interrupt me? Your sharp tongue, that 
 was able to condemn all the others, has no such sentence for the 
 Prince von Lichtenstein. You suffer me to praise him. Then you 
 assent to my words?" 
 
 " I can neither contradict you nor assent to your words, " said 
 Fanny, with a forced smile ; " I do not know the prince sufficiently 
 to judge him. He has been at Vienna but a very few months—" 
 
 " But he has been a daily visitor in our house during that period, " 
 said her husband, interrupting her, " and he is constantly seen at 
 your side. All Vienna knows that the prince is deeply enamoured 
 of you, and he does not conceal it by any means, not even from 
 myself. A few days ago, when he was so unfortunate as not to find 
 you at home, because you were presiding over a meeting of your 
 benevolent society, he met me all alone in the reception-room. 
 Suddenly, in the midst of a desultory conversation, he paused, em- 
 braced me passionately, and exclaimed : ' Be not so kind, so courte- 
 ous, and gentle toward me, for I hate you, I detest you— because I 
 hate every thing keeping me back from her ; I detest every thing 
 that prevents me from joining her ! Forgive my love for her and 
 my hatred toward you ; I feel both in spite of myself. If you were 
 not her husband, I should love you like a friend, but that accursed 
 word renders you a mortal enemy of mine. And still I bow to you 
 in humility — still I implore you to be generous ; do not banish me 
 from your house, from her, for I should die if I were not allowed to 
 see her every day !'" 
 
 Fanny had listened to him with blushing cheeks and in breath- 
 less suspense. Her whole soul was speaking from the looks which 
 she fixed on her husband, and with which she seemed to drink every 
 word, like sweet nectar, from his lips. 
 
 " And what did you reply to him?" she asked, in a dry and husky 
 voice, when the baron was silent. 
 
 " I replied to him that you alone had to decide who should appear 
 at our parties, and that every one whom you had invited would be 
 welcome to me. I further told him that his admiration for you did 
 not astonish me at all, and that I would readily forgive his hatred, 
 for—" 
 
 The baron paused all at once and looked at his wife with a sur- 
 prised and inquiring glance. She had started in sudden terror ; a deep 
 blush was burning on her cheeks, and her eyes, which had assumed 
 a rapturous and enthusiastic expression, turned toward the door. 
 
 The baron's eyes followed her glance, and he heard now a slight 
 noise at the door. 
 
 " I believe somebody has knocked at the door, " he said, fixing 
 his piercing eyes on his wife. 
 
THE RIVALS. 297 
 
 She raised her head and whispered, " Yes, I believe so. " 
 
 "And it is the second time already," said the baron, calmly. 
 " Will you not permit the stranger to walk in ?" 
 
 " I do not know, " she said, in great embarrassment, " I — " 
 
 Suddenly the door opened, and a young man appeared on the 
 threshold. 
 
 " Ah, the Prince von Lichtenstein, " said the baron, and he went 
 with perfect calmness and politeness to meet the prince who, evi- 
 dently in great surprise, remained standing in the door, and was 
 staring gloomily at the strange and unexpected group. 
 
 "Come in, my dear sir," said the baron, quietly; "the baroness 
 will be very grateful to you for coming here just at this moment 
 and interrupting our conversation, for it referred to dry business 
 matters. I laid a few old accounts, that had been running for five 
 years, before the baroness, and she gave me a receipt for them, that 
 was all. Our interview, moreover, was at an end, and you need 
 not fear to have disturbed us. Permit me, therefore, to withdraw, 
 for you know very well that, in the forenoon, I am nothing but a 
 banker, a business man, and have to attend to the affairs of our 
 firm. " 
 
 He bowed simultaneously to the prince and to his wife, and left 
 the room, as smiling, calm, and unconcerned as ever. Only when the 
 door had closed behind him, when he had satisfied himself by a 
 rapid glance througli the reception-room that nobody was there, the 
 smile disappeared from his lips, and his features- assumed an air of 
 profound melancholy. 
 
 "She loves him," he muttered; "yes, she loves him! Her hand 
 trembled in mine when I pronounced his name, and oh ! how radi- 
 ant she looked when she heard him come ! Yes, she loves him, and 
 I?_I will go to my counting-house !" he said, with a smile that was 
 to veil the tears in his eyes. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE RIVALS. 
 
 The baron had no sooner closed the door of the boudoir when the 
 young Prince von Lichtenstein hastened to Fanny, and, impetuously 
 seizing her hand, looked at her with a passionate and angry air. 
 
 "You did that for the purpose of giving me pain, I suppose?" he 
 asked, with quivering lips. "You wished to prove to me that you 
 did not confer any special favor upon me. Yesterday you were 
 kind enough to assure me that no man ever had set foot into this 
 
298 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 room, and that I should be the first to whom it would be opened to- 
 day ; and I was such a conceited fool as to believe your beatifying 
 words, and I rush hither as early as is permitted by decency and 
 respect, and yet I do not find you alone. " 
 
 ■' It was my husband who was here, '' said Fanny, almost depre- 
 catingly. 
 
 " It was a man, " he ejaculated, impetuously, " and you had given 
 me the solemn assui-ance that this door had never yet opened to any 
 man. Oh, I had implored you on my knees, and with tearful eyes, 
 to allow me to see you here to-day ; it seemed to me as though the 
 gates of paradise were to be at last opened to me ; no sleep came 
 into my eyes all night, the consciousness of my approaching bliss 
 kept me awake ; it was over me like a smiling cherub, and I was 
 dreaming with open eyes. And now that the lazy, snail-like time 
 has elapsed, now that I have arrived here, I find in my heaven, at 
 the side of my cherub, a calculating machine, desecrating my para- 
 dise by vile accounts — " 
 
 " Pray do not go on in this manner, " intermpted Fanny, sternly. 
 "You found my husband here, and that, of course, dissolves the 
 whole poetry of your words into plain prose, for she, whom in your 
 enthusiastic strain you styled your cherub, is simply the wife of 
 this noble and excellent man, whom you were free to compare with 
 a calculating machine. " 
 
 "You are angry with me !" exclaimed the young prince, discon- 
 solately. "You make no allowance for my grief, my disappoint- 
 ment, yea, my confusion ! You have punished me so rudely for my 
 presumption, and will not even permit my heart to bridle up and 
 give utterance to its wrath. " 
 
 " I did not know that you were presumptuous toward me, and 
 could not think, therefore, of inflicting punishment on you, " said 
 Fanny ; " but I know that you have no right to insult the man whose 
 name I bear. " 
 
 "You want to drive me to despair, thenl" retorted the prince, 
 wildly stamping on the floor. "It is not sufficient, then, that you 
 let me find your husband here, you must even praise him before me ! 
 I will tell you why I was presumptuous. I was presumptuous inas- 
 much as I believed it to be a favor granted to me exclusively to 
 enter this room, and you have punished me for this presumption by 
 proving to me that this door opens to others, too, although you 
 assured me yesterday that the contrary was the case." 
 " Then you question my word ?" asked Fanny. 
 "Oh," he said, impetuously, "you do not question what you see 
 with your own eyes. " 
 
 " And, inasmuch as you have satisfied yourself of my duplicity 
 
THE RIVALS. 299 
 
 with your own eyes, as you have seen that every one is at liberty to 
 enter this room, and as you consequently cannot take any interest 
 in prolonging your stay here, I would advise you to leave imme- 
 diately," said Fanny, gravely. 
 
 "You show me the door? You turn me out!" exclaimed the 
 prince, despairingly. " Oh, have mercy on me ! No, do not turn 
 away from me 1 Look at me, read in my face the despair filling my 
 soul. AVhat, you still avert your head? I beseech you just grant 
 me one glance ; only tell me by the faintest smile that you will for- 
 give me, and I will obey your orders, I will go, even if it should 
 be only for the purpose of dying, not here before your eyes, but out- 
 side, on the threshold of your door. " 
 
 "Ah, as if it were so easy to die!" ejaculated Fanny, turning 
 her face toward the prince. 
 
 " You look at me — you have forgiven me, then !" exclaimed the 
 young man, and impetuously kneeling down before her, he seized 
 her hands and pressed them to his lips. 
 
 " Rise, sir, pray rise, " said the baroness ; " consider that some- 
 body might come in. You know now that everybody is permitted 
 to enter this room. " 
 
 "No, no, I know that nobody is permitted to enter here !" he ex- 
 claimed, fervently; "I know that this room is a sanctuary which 
 no uninitiated person ever entered ; I know that this is the sacred 
 cell in which your virgin heart exhaled its prayers and complaints, 
 and which is only known to God ; I know that no man's foot ever 
 crossed this threshold, and I remain on my knees as if before a 
 saint, to whom I confess my sins, and whom I implore to grant me 
 absolution. Will you forgive me?" 
 
 "I will," she said, smilingly, bending over him ; "I will, if it 
 were only to induce you to rise from your knees. And as you now 
 perceive and regi'et your mistake, I will tell you the truth. It was 
 an accident that the baron entered this room to-day, and it was the 
 first time, too, since we were married. Nor did he come here, as 
 he said, in delicate self -derision, for the purpose of settling accounts 
 with me, but in order to fulfil a promise which he gave me five years 
 ago, and which, I confess to my shame, I had forgotten, so that, 
 instead of expecting my husband, I permitted you to come to me. " 
 
 " I thank you for your kind words, which heal all the wounds of 
 my heart like a soothing balm, " replied the prince. " Oh, now I 
 feel well again, and strong enough to conquer you in spite of the 
 resistance of the whole world. " 
 
 "And do you know, then, whether you will be able to conquer 
 me in spite of my resistance?" asked Fanny, smiling. 
 
 " Yes !" he exclaimed, " I know it, for in true love there is a 
 
300 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 strength that will subdue and surmount all obstacles. And I love 
 you truly ; you know it, you are satisfied of it. You know that I 
 love you ; eveiy breath, every look, every tremulous note of my 
 voice tells you so. But you? do you love me? Oh, I implore you, 
 at length have mercy on me. Speak one word of pity, of sympathy I 
 Let me read it at least in your eyes, if your lips are too austere to 
 utter it. I have come to-day with the firm determination to receive 
 at your hands my bliss or my doom. The torment of this incerti- 
 tude kills me. Fanny, tell me, do you love me?" 
 
 Fanny did not answer at once ; she stood before him, her head 
 lowered, a prey to conflicting emotions, but she felt the ardent looks 
 which were resting on her, and her heart trembled with secret de- 
 light. She made an effort, however, to overcome her feelings, and, 
 raising her head, she fixed her eyes with a gentle yet mournful ex- 
 pression upon the young man, who, breathless and pale with anxiety, 
 was waiting for her reply. 
 
 " You ask me if I love you, " she said, in a low but firm voice ; 
 " you put that question to me, and yet you are standing now on the 
 same spot on which my husband stood fifteen minutes ago and also 
 asked me a question. I must not answer your question, for I am 
 a married woman, and I have taken an oath at the altar to keep my 
 faith to my husband, and I have to keep it, inasmuch as my heart 
 has no love to give him. But I will, nevertheless, give you a proof 
 of the great confidence I am reposing in you. I will tell you why 
 my husband came to see me to-day, and what was the question 
 which he addressed to me. Hush, do not interrupt me ; do not tell 
 me that my conversations with the baron have no interest for you. 
 Listen to me. The baron came to me because the five years, which 
 we had ourselves fixed for that purpose, had elapsed to-day, and 
 because he wanted, to ask me whether I wished to remain his wife, 
 or whether I wanted to be divorced from him. " 
 
 "And what did you reply?" asked the prince, breathlessly. 
 
 "I replied to him as I replied to you a little while ago : 'I have 
 taken an oath at the altar to keep my faith to my husband, and I 
 have to keep it, inasmuch as my heart has no love to give to him. '" 
 
 "Ah, you told him that you did not love him?" asked the prince, 
 drawing a deep breath. " And after this confession he felt that he 
 ought no longer to oppose your divorce, for his heart is generous 
 and delicate, and consequently he cannot desire to chain a wife to 
 himself who tells him that during the five years of her married life 
 she has not learned to. love him. Oh, Fanny, how indescribably 
 happy you render me by this disclosure. Then you will be free, 
 your hands will not be manacled any longer. '' 
 
 " I did not tell you the reply I made to my husband when he left 
 
THE RIVALS. 301 
 
 it to me again to say whether I would be divorced from him or not, " 
 said Fanny, with a mournful smile. " I replied to him that every 
 thing should remain as heretofore ; that I did not want to inflict the 
 disgrace of a divorce upon him and upon myself, and that we would 
 and ought to bear 'these shackles which, without mutual love, we 
 had imposed upon each other in a dignified, faithful, and honest 
 manner until our death. " 
 
 "That is impossible!" exclaimed the prince. "You could not, 
 you ought not to have been so cruel against yourself, against the 
 baron, and also against me. And even though you may have uttered 
 these words of doom on the spur of that exciting moment, you will 
 take them back again after sober and mature reflection. Oh, say 
 that you will do so, say that you will be free ; free, so that I may 
 kneel down before you and implore you to give to me this hand, no 
 longer burdened by any fetters ; to become my wife, and to permit 
 me to ti-y if my boundless, adoring love will succeed in conferring 
 upon you that happiness of which none are worthier than you. Oh, 
 speak, Fanny, say that you will be free, and consent to become my 
 wife !" 
 
 " Your wife I" said Fanny, lugubriously. " You f oi'get that what 
 separates me from you is not only my husband, but also my religion. 
 The Jewess can never become the wife of the Prince von Lichten- 
 stein. " 
 
 "You will cast off the semblance of a religion which in reality is 
 yours no longer, " said the prince. " You have ceased to be a Jewess, 
 owing to your education, to your habits, and to your views of life. 
 Leave, then, the halls of the temple in which your God is no longer 
 dwelling, and enter the great church which has redeemed mankind, 
 and which is now to redeem you. Become a convert to the Chris- 
 tian religion, which is the religion of love. " 
 
 "Never!" exclaimed the baroness, firmly and decidedly— "never 
 will I abandon my religion and prove recreant to my faith, to which 
 my family and my tribe have faithfully adhered for thousands of 
 years. The curse of my parents and ancestors would pursue the 
 renegade daughter of our tribe and cling like a sinister night-bird 
 to the roof of the house into which the faithless daughter of Judah, 
 the baptized Jewess, would move in order to obtain that happiness 
 she is yearning for. Never— But what is that?" interrupting her- 
 self all at once ; "what is the matter in the adjoining room?" 
 
 Two voices, one of them angrily quarrelling with the other, 
 which replied in a deprecating manner, were heard in the adjoining 
 room. 
 
 " I tell you the baroness is at home, and receives visitors I" ex- 
 claimed the violent and threatening voice. 
 
303 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " And I assure you that the baroness is not at home, and cannot, 
 therefore, receive any visitors, " replied the deprecating voice. 
 
 " It is Baron Weichs, the proud prebendary, vrho vpants to play 
 the master here as he does everywhere else, " said the prince, dis- 
 dainfully. 
 
 "And my steward refuses to admit him, because I have given 
 orders tfiat no more visitors shall be received to-day," whispered 
 Fanny. 
 
 The face of the young prince became radiant with delight. He 
 seized Fanny's hands and pressed them impetuously to his lips, 
 whispering, " I thank you, Fanny, I thank you !" 
 
 Meantime the voice in the reception-room became more violent 
 and threatening, " I know that the baroness is at home, " it shouted, 
 "and I ask you once more to announce my visit to her !" 
 
 "But you know, sir," said the gentle voice of the steward, "that 
 the baroness, when she is at home, is always at this hour in the 
 reception-room, and receives her visitors here without amy previous 
 announcement. " 
 
 "That only proves that the baroness receives her visitors in 
 another I'oom to-day, " shouted the voice of Baron Weichs. " I know 
 positively that there is a visitor with the baroness at this very mo- 
 ment. Go, then, and announce my visit. It remains for the 
 baroness to turn me away, and I shall know then that the baroness 
 prefers to remain alone with the gentleman who is with her at the 
 present time. " 
 
 " Ah, this prebendary, it seems, is growing impudent, " exclaimed 
 the prince, with flashing eyes, walking toward the door. 
 
 The baroness seized his hand and kept him back. "Pay no 
 attention to him, "she said, imploringly; "let my steward settle 
 this quan-el with that insolent man. Just listen 1 he is even now 
 begging him quite politely, yet decidedly, to leave the room. " 
 
 " And that fellow is shameless enough to decline doing so, " said 
 the prince. " Oh, hear his scornful laughter ! This laughter is an 
 insult, for which he ought to be chastised. " 
 
 And as if the words of the prince were to be followed imme- 
 diately by the deed, a third voice was heard now in the reception- 
 room. It asked in a proud and angry tone, " What is the matter 
 here? And who permits himself to shout so indecently in the recep- 
 tion-room of the baroness?" 
 
 " Ah, it is my husband, " whispered Fanny, with an air of great 
 relief. "He will show that overbearing Baron Weichs the door, 
 and I shall get rid of him forever. " 
 
 "He has already dared, then, to importune you?" asked the 
 prince, turning his threatening eyes toward the door. " Oh, I will 
 
THE RIVALS. 303 
 
 release you from further molestation by this madman, for I tell you 
 the gentle words of your husband will not be able to do so. Baron 
 Weichs is not the man to lend a willing ear to sensible remon- 
 strances or to tlie requirements of propriety and decency. He has 
 graduated at the high-school of libertinism, and any resistance 
 whatever provokes him to a passionate struggle in which he shrinks 
 from no manifestation of his utter recklessness. Well, am I not 
 right? Does he not even dare to defy your husband? Just listen !" 
 
 '■ I regret not to be able to comply with your request to leave this 
 room, " shouted now the voice of the prebendary. Baron Weichs. 
 " You said yourself just now, baron, that we were in the reception- 
 room of the baroness ; accordingly, you are not the master here, but 
 merely a visitor like the rest of us. Consequently, you have no 
 right to show anybody the door, particularly as you do not even 
 know whether you belong to the privileged visitors of the lady, or 
 whether the baroness will admit you. " 
 
 " I shall take no notice of the unbecoming and insulting portion 
 of your remarks, baron, " said the calm voice of Baron Arnstein ; " I 
 only intend at this moment to protect my wife against insult and 
 molestation. Now it is insulting assuredly that a cavalier, after 
 being told that the lady to whom he wislies to pa)' his respects is 
 either not at home or will not receive any visitors, should refuse 
 to withdraw, and insist upon being admitted. I hope the preben- 
 dary, Baron Weichs, after listening to this explanation, will be kind 
 enough to leave the reception-room." 
 
 " I regret that I cannot fulfil this hope, " said the sneering voice of 
 the prebendary. " I am now here with the full conviction that I shall 
 never be able to reenter this reception-room ; hence I am determined 
 not to shrink back from any thing and not to be turned away in so 
 disgraceful a manner. I know that the baroness is at home, and I 
 came hither in order to satisfy myself whether the common report 
 is really true that the baroness, who has always treated me with so 
 much virtuous rigor and discouraging coldness, is more indulgent 
 and less inexorable toward another, and whether I have really a 
 more fortimate rival !" 
 
 "I hope that I am this more fortunate rival," said Baron Arn- 
 stein, gently. 
 
 " Oh, no, sir, '' exclaimed the prebendary, laughing scornfully. 
 "A husband never is the rival of his wife's admirers. If you were 
 with your wife and turned me away, I should not object to it at all, 
 and I should wait for a better chance. But what keeps me here is 
 the fact that another admirer of hers is with her, that she has given 
 orders to admit nobody else, and that you, more kind-hearted tlian 
 myself, seem to believe that the baroness is not at home. " 
 
304 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "This impudence surpasses belief," exclaimed the prince, in 
 great exasperation. 
 
 " Yes, " said Fanny, gloomily, " the Christian prebendary gives 
 full vent to his disdain for the Jewish banker. It always affords a 
 great satisfaction to Christian love to humble the Jew and to trample 
 him in the dust. And the Jew is accustomed to being trampled 
 upon in this manner. My husband, too, gives proof of this enviable 
 quality of our tribe. Just listen how calm and humble his voice 
 remains, all the while every tone of the other is highly insulting to 
 him !" 
 
 " He shall not insult him any longer, " said the prince, ardently ; 
 "I will — but what is that? Did he not mention my name?" 
 
 And he went closer to the door, in order to listen in breathless 
 suspense. 
 
 " And I repeat to you, baron, " said the voice of the prebendary, 
 sneeringly, "your wife is at home, and the young Prince von Lich- 
 tenstein is with her. I saw him leave his palace and followed him ; 
 half an hour ago, I saw him enter your house, and I went into the 
 coflfee-house opposite for the purpose of making my observations. 
 I know, therefore, positively, that the prince has not yet left your 
 house. As he is not with you, he is with your wife, and this being 
 the usual hour for the baroness to receive morning calls, I have just 
 as good a right as anybody else to expect that she will admit me." 
 "And suppose I tell you that she will not admit you to-day?" 
 "Then I shall conclude that the baroness is in her boudoir with 
 the Prince von Lichtenstein, and that she does not want to be dis- 
 turbed, '' shouted the voice of the prebendary. " Yes, sir ; in that 
 case I shall equally lament my fate and yours, for both of us are de- 
 ceived and deprived of sweet hopes. Both of us will have a more 
 fortunate rival in this petty prince— in this conceited young dandy, 
 who even now believes he is a perfect Adonis, and carries his ludi- 
 crous presumption so far as to believe that he can outstrip meu of 
 ability and merit by his miserable little title and by his boyish 
 face — " 
 
 "Why is it necessary for you to shout all this so loudly?" asked 
 the anxious voice of the baron. 
 
 "Ah, then you believe that he can hear me?" asked the voice of 
 the prebendary, triumphantly. "Then he is quite close to us? 
 Well, I will shout it louder than before : this little Prince Charles 
 von Lichtenstein is a conceited boy, who deserves to be chastised I" 
 The prince rushed toward the door, pale, with quivering lips and 
 sparkling eyes. But the baroness encircled his arm with her hands 
 and kept him back. 
 
 "You will not go, " she whispered. "You will not disgrace me 
 
THE RIVALS. 305 
 
 so as to prove to him by your appearance that he was i-ight, and 
 tliat you were with me while I refused to admit him. " 
 
 "But do you not hear that he insults me?" asked the young 
 prince, trying to disengage himself from her hands. 
 
 "Why do you listen to other voices when you are with me?" she 
 said, reproachfully. "What do you care for the opinion of that 
 man, whom I abhor from the bottom of my heart, and whom people 
 only tolerate in their saloons because they are afraid of his anger 
 and his slanderous tongue? Oh, do not listen to what he says, my 
 friend ! You are here with me, and I have yet to tell you many 
 things. But you do not heed my words ! Your eyes are constantly 
 fixed on the door. Oh, sir, look at me, listen to what I have to say 
 to you. I believe I still owe you a reply, do I not? Well, I will 
 now reply to the question which you have so often put to me, and to 
 which I have heretofore only answered by silence !" 
 
 •' Oh, not now, not now !" muttered the prince. 
 
 " Yes, I will tell you now what has been so long burning in my 
 soul as a sweet secret, " whispered Fanny, constantly endeavoring 
 to draw him away from the door. " You have often asked me if I 
 loved you, and my heart made the reply which my lips were afraid 
 to pronounce. But now I will confess it to you : j'es, I love you ; 
 my whole soul belongs to you ! I have secretly longed for the hour 
 when I might at last confess this to you, when my heart would exult 
 in pronouncing the sweet words, 'I love you!' Good Heaven ! you 
 hear it, and yet you remain silent — you avert your face ? Do you 
 despise me now because I, the married woman, confess to you that 
 I love you? Is your silence to tell me that you do not love me any 
 longer?" 
 
 He knelt down before her and kissed her dress and her hands. 
 "I love you boundlessly," he said with panting breath ; "you are to 
 me the quintessence of all happiness, virtue, and beauty. I shall 
 love you to the last hour of my life !" 
 
 " If Prince Charles von Lichtenstein should be near, " shouted the 
 voice of the prebendary, close to the door, " if he should be able to 
 hear my words, I want him to hear that I pronounce him a coward, 
 a fool, and impostor — a coward, because he silently suffers himself 
 to be insulted — " 
 
 The prince, unable to restrain his feelings any longer, rushed 
 forward and impetuously pushing back the baroness, who still en- 
 deavored to detain him, he violently opened the door. 
 
 "No," he shouted, in a threatening and angry voice. "No, 
 Pi-ince Charles von Lichtenstein does not allow himself to be insulted 
 with impunity, and he asks satisfaction for every insult offered to 
 him 1" 
 
306 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " Ah !" exclaimed the prebendary, turning with a wild, trium- 
 phant laugh to Baron Arnstein, " did I not tell you that the prince 
 was concealed in your house?" 
 
 " Concealed !" ejaculated the prince, approaching his adversary 
 with eyes sparkling with rage. " Repeat that word if you dare !" 
 
 "I shall do so," said the prebendary, with defiant coolness. 
 " You were concealed in this house, for nobody knew of your pres- 
 ence, neither the steward nor the baron. You had crept into the 
 house like a thief intending to steal valuables, and this, indeed, was 
 your intention, too ; however, you did not want to purloin the dia- 
 monds of the fair baroness, but— " 
 
 " I forbid you to mention the name of the baroness !" exclaimed 
 the prince, proudly. 
 
 " And I implore you not to compromise the baroness by connect- 
 ing her with your quarrel,'' whispered Baron Arnstein in the 
 prince's ear ; then turning to the prebendary, whose eyes were fixed 
 on the prince with a threatening and defiant expression, he said : 
 
 " You are mistaken, sir ; Prince Charles von Lichtenstein did not 
 come here in a stealthy manner. He wished to pay a visit to the 
 baroness, and the latter, as you know, being absent from home, the 
 prince did me the honor to converse with me in that room, when 
 we were interrupted all at once by the noise which you were pleased 
 to make in the reception-room here. " 
 
 " And being in that room, you were pleased to enter the recep- 
 tion-room through this door," said the prebendary, sneeringly, 
 pointing to the two opposite doors. "But why did not the prince 
 accompany j^ou V It would have been so natural for one friend of 
 the baroness to greet the other !" 
 
 " I did not come because I heard that you were there, " said the 
 prince, disdainfully, " and because I am in the habit of avoiding any 
 contact with your person. " 
 
 •' Ah, you are jealous of me, then ?" asked the prebendary. " Why 
 is my person so distasteful to you that you should always escape 
 from me?" 
 
 '■I escape from no one, not even from venomous sei-pents, nor 
 from an individual like you," said the prince, haughtily. "I 
 avoided you, however, because I dislike your nose. Do you hear, 
 my impertinent little prebendary? I dislike your nose, and I de- 
 mand that you never let me see it again !" 
 
 "Ah, I understand," replied the prebendary, laughing. "In 
 order to spare the feelings of the fair baroness, and not to injure 
 her reputation. Pardon me, for, in spite of your prohibition, I am 
 constantly compelled to defer to this amiable lady. You wish to 
 give another direction to our quarrel, and my innocent nose is to be 
 
THE RIVALS. 307 
 
 the me de smiffrance. But you shall not entrap me in this manner, 
 prince ; amd you, my dear Baron Arnstein, can you allow us to con'- 
 tinue the quarrel whioh we commenced about your lady, now about 
 my nose, and to conceal, as it were, the fair BaronessArnstein be- 
 hind it?" 
 
 " Baroness Arnstein has no reason whatever to conceal herself, " 
 said the baron, coldly and proudly. "As she was not the cause of 
 this quaiTel, I do not know why you are constantly dragging her 
 name into it. You behaved here in so unbecoming a manner, that 
 I had to come to the assistance of my steward. You were then 
 pleased to utter insults against the Prince von Lichtenstein in his 
 absence, and being in the adjoining room and overhearing your 
 offensive remarks, he came to call you to account for them. " 
 
 "And to tell you that I dislike your nose, and tliat I must take 
 the liberty to amputate its impertinent tip with my sword," ex- 
 claimed the prince, pulling the prebendary's nose. 
 
 It was now the prebendary's turn to grow pale, wliile his eyes 
 flashed with anger. " You dare to insult me ?" he asked menacingly. 
 "Yes, I confess that is exactly my intention !" replied the prince, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Ah, you will have to give me satisfaction for this insult !" 
 shouted the prebendary. 
 
 " With the greatest pleasure, " said the prince. " This is not the 
 place, however, to continue this conversation. Come, sir, let us 
 leave this house together in order to make the necessary arrange- 
 ments—" 
 
 At this moment the folding- doors of the anteroom were opened, 
 and the voice of the steward shouted : " The baroness !" 
 
 An exclamation of surprise escaped from the lips of the three 
 gentlemen, and their eyes turned toward the door, the threshold of 
 which Fanny Arnstein was crossing at that moment. She seemed 
 just to have returned home ; her tall form was still wrapped in a 
 long Turkish shawl, embroidered with gold ; a charming little bon- 
 net, adorned with flowers and plumes, covered her head, and in her 
 hand she held one of those large costly fans, adorned with precious 
 stones, which were in use at that time in the place of parasols. She 
 greeted the gentlemen with a winning smile ; not the slightest tinge 
 of cai-e or uneasiness was visible in her merry face ; not the faintest 
 glimmer of a tear darkened the lustre of her large black eyes. 
 
 "Gentlemen will please accept my apology for making them 
 wait, although this is the hour when I am in the habit of receiving 
 visitors, " said the baroness, in a perfectly careless manner. " But I 
 hope my husband has taken my place in the mean time and told you 
 that I had to preside over a meeting of our Hebrew Benevolent So- 
 
308 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 ciety, and you will acknowledge that that was a duty which I ought 
 not to have failed to fulfil. Ah, you smile, Baron Weichs ; you must 
 explain to me what is the meaning of this smile, if you wish to 
 intimate thereby, perhaps, that there are no important duties at 
 all for us ladies to perform. Come, gentlemen, let us sit down and 
 hear in what manner Baron Weichs will be able to defend his smile. 
 Sit down here on my right side, prince, and you. Baron Weichs, on 
 my left, and my husband may take a seat opposite us and play the 
 rdle of an arbiter. " 
 
 " I regret that I cannot comply any longer with your amiable in- 
 vitation," said the prebendary, gloomily. "You have made me 
 wait too long, baroness ; my time has now expired, and I must 
 withdraw. I suppose you will accompany me, Prince Lichten- 
 stein?" 
 
 "Yes, I shall accompany you," said the prince, "for unfortunately 
 my time has also expired, and I must go. " 
 
 " Oh, no, " exclaimed the baroness, smiling, " you must stay here, 
 prince. I dare not prevent the prebendary from attending to hia 
 important affairs, but you, prince, have no such pretext for leaving 
 me ; I therefore order you to remain and to tell me all about yester- 
 day's concert at the imperial palace." 
 
 "I regret exceedingly that I am unable to obey your orders," 
 said the prince, mournfully. " But I must go. You just said, dear 
 lady, that an important duty had kept you away from home ; well, 
 it is an important duty that calls me away from here ; hence I can- 
 not stay. Farewell, and permit me to kiss your hand before leaving 
 you. " 
 
 She gave him her hand, which was as cold as ice and trembled 
 violently when he took it. He pressed his glowing lips upon this 
 hand and looked up to her. Their eyes met in a last, tender glance ; 
 the prince then rose and turned toward the prebendary, who was 
 conversing with Baron Arnstein in a low and excited tone. 
 
 " Come, sir, let us go, " he said, impetuously, and walked toward 
 the door. 
 
 "Yes, let us go, "repeated the prebendary, and bowing profoundly 
 to the baroness, he turned around and followed the prince. 
 
 Fanny, who was evidently a prey to the most excruciating 
 anguish, followed them with her distended, terrified eyes. When 
 the door closed behind them, she hastily laid her hand on her hus- 
 band's shoulder, and looked at him with an air of unutterable terror. 
 
 "They will fight a duel?" she asked. 
 
 "I am afraid so," said the baron, gloomily. 
 
 The baroness uttered a shriek, and after tottering back a few 
 steps, she fell senseless to the floor. 
 
THE RIVALS. 309 
 
 Early on the following morning, four men with grave faces and 
 gloomy eyes stood in the thicket of a forest not far from Vienna. 
 
 Two of them were just about divesting themselves of their heavy 
 coats, embroidered with gold, in order to meet in mortal combat, 
 tlieir bare breasts only protected by their fine cambric shirts. These 
 two men were Prince Charles von Lichtenstein and the prebendary, 
 Baron AVeichs. 
 
 The other two gentlemen were engaged in loading the pistols 
 and coimting oflf the steps ; they were Baron Arnstein and Count 
 Palfy, the seconds of the two duellists. When they had performed 
 this mournful task, they approached the two adversaries in order to 
 make a last effort to bring about a reconciliation. 
 
 " I implore you in my own name, " whispered Baron Arnstein in 
 the ear of the Prince von Lichtenstein — " I implore you in the name 
 of my wife, if a reconciliation should be possible, accept it, and 
 avoid by all means so deplorable an event. Remember that the 
 honor of a lady is compromised so easily and irretrievably, and that 
 my wife would never forgive herself if she should become, perhaps, 
 the innocent cause of your death. " 
 
 " Xobody will find out that we fight a duel for her sake, " said the 
 prince. " My honor requires me to give that impertinent fellow a 
 well-deserved lesson, and he shall have it !" 
 
 Count Palfy, the prebendary's second, approached them. "If 
 yoiu- highness should be willing to ask Baron Weichs to excuse your 
 conduct on yesterday, the baron would be ready to accept your 
 apology and to withdraw his challenge." 
 
 "I have no apology to offer, " exclaimed the jirince, loudly, "and 
 I am unwilling to prevent the duel from taking its course. I told 
 the prebendaiy that I disliked his nose, and that I wished to ampu- 
 tate its impertinent tip. Well, I am now here to perform this 
 operation, and if you please, let us at once proceed to business. " 
 
 "Yes, let us do so," shouted the prebendaiy. "Give us the 
 pistols, gentlemen, and then the signal. When you clap for the 
 third time, we shall shoot simultaneously. Pray for your poor soul. 
 Prince von Lichtenstein, for I am a dead shot at one hundred yards, 
 and our distance will only be twenty paces. " 
 
 The prince made no reply, but took the pistol which his second 
 handed to him. " If I should fall, " he whispered to him, " take my 
 last greetings to your wife, and tell her that I died with her name 
 on my lips !" 
 
 " If I should fall, " said the prebendaiy to his second, in an under- 
 tone, but loud enough for his opponent to hear every word he said, 
 "tell the dear city of Vienna and my friends that I have fought a 
 duel with Prince Lichtenstein because he was my rival with the 
 
310 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 beautiful Baroness Arnstein, and that I have died with the convic- 
 tion that he was the lover of the fair lady. " 
 
 A pause ensued. The seconds conducted the two gentlemen to 
 their designated places and then stood back, in order to give the 
 fatal signals. 
 
 When they clapped for the first time, the two duellists raised the 
 hand with the pistol, fixing their angry and threatening eyes on each 
 other. 
 
 Then followed the second, the third signal. 
 Two shots were fired at the same time. 
 
 The prebendary stood firmly and calmly where he had discharged 
 his weapon, the same defiant smile playing on his lips, and the same 
 threatening expression beaming in his eyes. 
 
 Prince Charles von Liohtenstein lay on the ground, reddening 
 the earth with the blood which was rushing from his breast. When 
 Baron Arnstein bent over him, he raised his eyes with a last look 
 toward him. " Take her my last love-greetings, " he breathed, in a 
 scarcely audible voice. " Tell her that I — " 
 
 His voice gave way, and with the last awful death-rattle a 
 stream of blood poured from his mouth. 
 
 " Hasten to save yourself, " shouted Count Palfy to the preben- 
 dary, who had been looking at the dying man from his stand-point 
 with cold, inquisitive glances. "Flee, for you have killed the 
 prince ; he has already ceased to breathe. Flee ! In the shrubbery 
 below you will find my carriage, which will convey you rapidly to 
 the next post-station. " 
 
 "He is dead and I am alive !" said the prebendai-y, quietly. "It 
 would not have been worth while to die for the sake of a woman be- 
 cause she has got another lover. It is much wiser in such cases to 
 kill the rival, and thus to remove the obstacle separating us from 
 the woman. But I shall not escape ; on the contrary, I shall go to 
 the emperor myself, and inform him of what has occurred here. 
 We are living in times of war and carnage, and a soul more or less 
 is, therefore, of no great importance. Inasmuch as the emperor 
 constantly sends hundreds of thousands of his innocent and harmless 
 subjects to fight duels with enemies of whom they do not even know 
 why they are their enemies, he will deem it but a matter of couree 
 that two of his subjects, who know very well why they are enemies, 
 should fight a duel, and hence I am sure that his majesty will forgive 
 me. Brave and intrepid men are not sent to the fortress. I shall 
 not flee :" 
 
THE LEGACY. 311 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE LEGACY. 
 
 Three days had passed since that unfortunate event. Early on 
 this, tlie third day, the corpse of the prince had been conveyed to 
 the tomb of his family ; a large and brilliant funeral procession had 
 accompanied the coffin ; even the carriages of the emperor, the 
 archdukes, and high dignitaries of the state had participated in the 
 procession, and the Viennese, who for three days had spoken of 
 nothing else but the tragic end of the young and handsome Prince 
 Charles von Lichtenstein, derived some satisfaction from the con- 
 viction that they were sharing the sympathy of the imperial family 
 for the deceased ; thousands of them consequently joined the proces- 
 sion and accompanied the coffin. 
 
 But this manifestation of sympathy did not seem sufficient to the 
 good-hearted and hot-blooded people. They did not merely wish to 
 show their love for the deceased ; they also wanted to manifest their 
 hatred against the man who had slain him ; and, on their return 
 from the funeral, the people rushed to the Kohlmarkt and gathered 
 with loud shouts and savage threats in front of the house of the 
 prebendary. Baron Weichs. 
 
 It was reported that the prebendary, whom the people charged 
 with having assassinated Prince Lichtenstein, was constantly in 
 Vienna ; and as this fact seemed to indicate that the emperor did 
 not intend to punish his misdeed, the people wanted to take it upon 
 themselves to chastise him, or to give him at least a proof of the 
 public hatred. 
 
 "Smash the murderer's windows !" shouted the people, who were 
 constantly reenforced by fresh crowds appearing on the Kohlmarkt. 
 And, passing from threats to deeds, hundreds and hundreds of busy 
 hands tore up the pavement in order to hurl the stones at the house 
 and windows of the prebendary. And the rattling of the windows, 
 the loud noise of the stones glancing off on the walls, increased the 
 rage and exasperation of the people. Soon they were no longer con- 
 tented with doing this, but wished to get hold of the malefactor 
 himself, and to punish him for his crime. The crowd rushed with 
 wild clamor toward the closed street-door of the baron's house ; one 
 among them quickly climbed on the shoulders of another, in order 
 to tear down the coat-of-arms of the prebendary, fixed over the 
 entrance, and thundering applause greeted him when he had accom- 
 plished his purpose. The infuriated men then commenced striking 
 21 
 
312 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 at the door itself, which offered, however, to aU attacks, a firm and 
 unyielding resistance. 
 
 Suddenly a stern, imperious voice shouted : " Stop ! Stand back 1 
 stand back !" 
 
 The people turned around in terror, and discovered only then 
 that a carriage, surrounded and followed by twenty mounted police- 
 men, was approaching from the alley on which the principal door 
 of the prebendary's house was situated. This carriage, with its 
 sinister escort, could make but slow headway through the dense 
 mass of the people, who looked inquisitively through the lowered 
 windows into the interior of the coach. Every one was able to rec- 
 ognize the three gentlemen who were seated in the carriage, and 
 who were none other than the prebendary, Baron Weichs, and two 
 of the best known and most feared high functionaries of the police. 
 The baron's face was pale and gloomy, but the defiant, impudent 
 smile was still playing on his thin lips. He looked, with an air of 
 boundless contempt, at the crowd surging around his carriage and 
 staring at him as if it wished to read in his pale features the sen- 
 tence that had been pronounced against him. 
 
 "How inquisitive is the populace !" said the prebendary, disdain- 
 fully. " They are so anxious to find out whether I am now being 
 conveyed to the place of execution, which would be a most welcome 
 spectacle for them. You ought to have mercy on this amiable rab- 
 ble, gentlemen, and inform them of the evil tidings that I have 
 unfortunately not been sentenced to be hanged on the gallows, nor 
 to be broken on the wheel, but only to be imprisoned in a fortress 
 for ten years, which I shall pass at the beautiful citadel of Komorn. " 
 
 The two officers only replied to him by silently nodding, and the 
 carriage passed on. But some compassionate and talkative police 
 agent had informed the people that the emperor had sentenced the 
 prebendary. Baron Weichs, to ten years' imprisonment in a fortress, 
 and that he was at this moment on his way to Komorn. The people 
 received this intelligence with jubilant shouts, and dispersed through 
 the city in order to inform their friends and acquaintances of the 
 welcome news, and then to go home, well satisfied with the day's 
 amusements and diversions. 
 
 And the waves of life closed over the lamentable event, and car- 
 ried it down into the abyss of oblivion. A few days passed by, and 
 another occurrence caused the colloquies concerning the duel of 
 Prince Lichtenstein and what had brought it about to cease, as some 
 new subject of conversation took its place. 
 
 One heart alone did not console itself so rapidly ; one soul alone 
 bewailed him on comfortless days and restless nights, and paid to 
 him the tribute of tears and sighs. Since that last meeting with the 
 
THE LEGACY. 313 
 
 prince, Fanny Arnstein had not left her cabinet again ; its doors 
 had been closed against everybody, and she had wept and sighed 
 there dui-ing these three days, without taking a morsel of food. 
 
 Vainly had her husband often come to her door in order to im- 
 plore her to open it at last, and to take some nourishment. Fanny 
 had never answered him ; and if he had not, constantly and stealthily 
 retui-ning to her door at night, heard her low sobs and half-loud 
 wailing, he would have believed that grief had killed her, and that 
 love had intended to unite her in heaven with him to whom her 
 heart belonged, as they had been so hopelessly separated on earth. 
 
 To-day, after the prince's funeral, the baron again entered the 
 reception-room adjoining his wife's cabinet, but this time he did 
 not come alone. A lady, whose face was covered with a large black 
 veil, accompanied him, and walked at his side to the constantly 
 closed door. 
 
 The baron knocked at this door, and begged his wife, in words 
 of heart- felt sympathy, to open it to him. 
 
 There was no reply ; not a word was heard from the imhappy 
 baroness. 
 
 " You see, your highness, " whispered the baron, turning to the 
 veiled lady, " it is as I told you. All prayers are in vain ; she does 
 not leave her room ; she will die of gj-ief . " 
 
 "No, she will not die, " said the lady, "she is young, and youth 
 survives all grief. Let me try if I cannot induce her to admit 
 us." 
 
 And she knocked at the door with bold fingers, and exclaimed : 
 " Pray, Fanny, open the door, and let me come in. It is I, Princess 
 Eibenberg ; it is I, your friend, Marianne Meier ; I want to see my 
 dear Fanny Itzig. " 
 
 Every thing remained silent ; nothing stirred behind that locked 
 door. Marianne removed her veil, and showed her proud, pale 
 countenance to the baron. 
 
 " Baron, " she said, gravely, " at this hour I forgive you the insult 
 and contempt you hurled at me five years ago on your wedding-day. 
 Fate has avenged me and punished you cruelly, for I see that you 
 have suffered a great deal during the last three days. My heart does 
 not bear you any ill-will now, and I will try to restore your beauti- 
 ful and unhappy wife to you, and to console her. But I must re- 
 quest you to leave this room. I know a charm, by which I shall 
 decoy Fanny from that room ; but in order to do so I must be alone, 
 and nobody, save herself, must be able to hear me. " 
 
 " Very well, I will go, " said the baron, mournfully. " But permit 
 me first to ask you to do me a favor. My request will prove to you 
 the confidence I repose in you. Please do not tell Fanny that you 
 
314 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 saw me sad and deeply moved ; do not intimate any thing to her 
 about my own grief. " 
 
 "She will perceive herself, from your pale face and hoUow 
 cheeks, poor baron !" exclaimed Marianne. 
 
 "No, she is not accustomed to look at me attentively; it will 
 escape her, " said the baron, sadly, " and I would not have it appear 
 as though I were suffering by her grief, which I deem but natural 
 and just. I beg you, therefore, to say nothing about me. " 
 
 "I shall fulfil your wish," said Marianne. "Fanny will, per- 
 haps, thank you one day for the delicacy with which you are now 
 behaving toward her. But go now, so that I may call her. " 
 
 The baron left the room, and Marianne returned to the door. 
 " Fanny, " she said, " come to me, or open the door and let me walk 
 in. I have to deliver to you a message and a letter from Prince 
 Charles von Lichtenstein. " 
 
 Now a low cry from the cabinet was heard ; the bolt was drawn 
 back, the door opened, and Baroness Arnstein appeared on the 
 threshold. Her face was as pale as marble ; her eyes, reddened by 
 weeping, lay deeply in their orbits ; her black, dishevelled hair fell 
 down on her back like a long mourning veil. She was still beauti- 
 ful and lovely, but hers was now the beauty of a Magdalen. 
 
 "You bring me a message from him?" she asked, in a low, 
 tremulous voice, and with tearful eyes. 
 
 " Yes, Fanny, " said Marianne, scarcely able to overcome her own 
 emotion, "I bring you his last love- greetings. He believed that 
 he would fall, and on that fatal morning, before repairing to the 
 duelling-grounds, he paid me a visit. We had long been acquainted 
 and intimate ; both of us had a great, common goal in view ; both 
 of us were pursuing the same paths ; this was the origin of our 
 acquaintance. He knew, too, that I had been a friend of yours 
 from your childhood, and he therefore intrusted to me his last mes- 
 sage to you. Here, Fanny, this small box contains all the little 
 souvenirs and love-tokens which he has received from you, a,nd 
 which he deemed much too precious to destroy or to take into his 
 grave ; hence he requests you to preserve them. They consist of 
 withered flowers which you once gave him, of a ribbon which you 
 lost, of a few notes which you wrote to him, and from which the 
 malicious and slanderous world might perceive the harmless and 
 innocent character of your intercourse, and, last, of your miniature, 
 painted by the prince himself, fjrom memory. This casket the 
 prince requests you to accept as his legacy. It is a set of pearls, an 
 heirloom of his family, which his dying mother once gave to him 
 in order to adorn with it his bride on his wedding-day. The prince 
 sends it to you and implores you to wear it as a souvenir from him, 
 
THE LEGACY. 315 
 
 because you were the bride of his heart. And here, Fanny, here is 
 a letter from him, the last lines he ever wrote, and they are ad- 
 dressed to you. " 
 
 The baroness uttered a cry of joy ; seizing the paper with pas- 
 sionate violence, she pressed it to her lips, and knelt down with it. 
 
 " I thank Thee, my God, I thank Thee !" she murmured, in a low 
 voice. " Thou hast sent me this consolation ! Thou dost not want 
 me to die of despair !" 
 
 And now, still remaining on her knees, she slowly unfolded the 
 paper and read this last glowing farewell, this last tender protesta- 
 tion of his love, with which the prince took leave of her. 
 
 Marianne stood, with folded arms, in a bay window, watching 
 her friend with grave, sympathetic eyes, and beheld the pallor and 
 blushes which appeared in quick succession on her cheeks, the im- 
 petuous heaving of her bosom, the tremor of her whole frame, and 
 the tears pouring down like rivers from Fanny's eyes on the paper, 
 with a mingled feeling of pity and astonishment. 
 
 "It must be beautiful to be able to love in such a manner," she 
 thought. "Beautiful, too, to be able to suffer thus. Enviable the 
 women living with their hearts and deriving from them alone their 
 happiness and grief. Such a lot has not fallen to viy share, and I 
 am almost afraid that I do not love any thing but myself. My life 
 is concentrated in my head, and my blood only rushes from the latter 
 to my heart. Who is more to be pitied, Fanny with the grief of 
 her love, or I, who will never know such a grief? But she has wept 
 now, and her tears might finally cause me to weep, too, and to 
 awaken my love. That must not be, however. One who has to 
 pursue great plans, like myself, must keep a cool head and a cold 
 heart." 
 
 And she approached with quick steps the baroness, who was yet 
 on her knees, reading and re-reading the farewell letter of the 
 prince. 
 
 " Rise from your knees, Fanny, " she said, almost imperiously. 
 "You have paid the tribute of your tears to the departed friend, you 
 have wept for him for three days ; now bury the past in your heart 
 and think of your future, my poor girl. " 
 
 "My future?" said Fanny, permitting her friend to raise her 
 gently. " My future is broken and darkened forever, and there is a 
 cloud on my name, which will never leave it. Oh, why is there no 
 convent for the Jewess, no lonely cell whither she might take refuge, 
 with her unhappiness and disgrace?" 
 
 " Do as I have done, " said Marianne ; " let the whole world be 
 your convent, and your reception-room the cell in which you do 
 penance, by compelling men to kneel before you and adore you, 
 
316 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 instead of kneeling yourself, and mortifying your flesh. Lay your 
 uniiappiness and your disgrace like a halo around your head, and 
 boldly meet the world with open eyes and a proud mien. If you 
 were poor and nameless I should seriously advise you to become a 
 Catholic, and to take refuge in a convent. But you are rich ; you 
 bear a distinguished, aristocratic name ; your husband is able to 
 give sumptuous dinner-parties ; consequently people will pardon hie 
 wife for having become the heroine of an unfortunate romance, and 
 they will take good care not to turn their backs on nor to point their 
 fingers at you ; and whenever you pass them in the street, not to 
 laugh scornfully and tell your history in an audible voice. I, my 
 child, formerly had to bear such contumely and humiliation, and I 
 took a solemn oath at that time that I would revenge myself upon 
 this world, which believed it had a right to despise me — that I 
 would revenge myself by becoming its equal. And I have fulfilled 
 my oath ; I am now a princess and a highness. Tlie proud world 
 that once scorned me now bows to me ; the most virtuous and aris- 
 tocratic ladies do not deem it derogatory to their dignity to appear 
 in my reception-room ; the most distinguished princes and cavaliers 
 court the friendship and favor of the Princess von Eibenberg, nee 
 Marianne Meier. Follow my example, therefore, Fanny ; brave the 
 world i appear in your reception-room with serene calmness and 
 ease ; give even more sumptuous dinner-parties than heretofore, 
 and the small cloud now darkening your name will pass by unno- 
 ticed. People will come at first from motives of curiosity, in order 
 to see how you bear your aifiiction and how you behave under the 
 iclat produced by the deplorable occurrence ; next they will come 
 because your dinners are so very excellent, and because this and 
 that princess or countess, this and that prince, minister, or general, 
 do not disdain to appear in your reception-room, and thus the whole 
 affair will gradually be forgotten. " 
 
 " But my heart will not forget it," said the baroness, mournfully ; 
 •'my heart will never cease to weep for him, and when my heart is 
 weeping, my eyes will not laugh. You have had the courage to 
 conceal your tears under a smile, and not to suffer your head to be 
 weighed down by the disgrace and contumely which they tried to 
 heap on it. I shall have the courage not to conceal my tears, and to 
 walk about, bending my head under the disgrace and contumely 
 which have undeservedly fallen to my share. If I were guiltier, I 
 should be able, perhaps, to brave the world ; but having to mourn, 
 not over a guilty action, but only over a misfortune, I shall weep I 
 Let the world condemn me for it ; I shall not hear its judgment, for 
 I shall retire into solitude. " 
 
 "Oh, you foolish woman!" exclaimed Marianne, fervently 
 
THE LEGACY. 317 
 
 " Yes, foolish, because you believe already at the beginning of your 
 life that you are done with it. My child, the human heart is much 
 too weak to be able to bear such a grief for many years. It gradu- 
 ally grows tired of it and finally drops it, and perceives then all at 
 once that it is quite empty. Tedium, with its long spider-legs, wiU 
 then creep over you and draw its dusty nefrsvork around and no one 
 will tear away this network, because nobody will be there to do 
 this salutary service, for you will have driven people away from 
 your side and preferred loneliness to their society. Beware of soli- 
 tude, or rather learn to be alone in the midst of the world, but not 
 in the privacy of your deserted boudoir. You have to fulfil a beauti- 
 ful and grand mission here in Vienna. You have to emancipate the 
 Jews— in a manner, however, different from the course I have pur- 
 sued. I have proved to the foolish world that a Jewess may very 
 well be a princess and worthily represent her exalted rank, notwith- 
 standing her oriental blood and curved nose ; but in order to be able 
 to prove it to the world, I had to give up my religion and to desert 
 my people. It is your mission to finish the work I have commenced, 
 and to secure to the Jews a distinguished and undisputed place in 
 society. You shall be the mediator between the aristocracy of blood 
 and of pedigTee and the aristocracy of money — the mediator between 
 the Christians and the Jews. You shall give to the Jews here in 
 Vienna a position such as they are justly entitled to : free, respected, 
 and emancipated from the degrading yoke of prejudices. Such is 
 your mission. Go and fulfil it !" 
 
 "You are right, Marianne," replied Fanny, with glowing enthu- 
 siasm. " I will fulfil the mission, for it is a grand and sacred one, 
 and it will comfort and strengthen my heart. The happiness of my 
 life is gone forever ; but I may, perhaps, be happy in my unhappi- 
 ness, and I will now try to become so by consoling the unhappy, by 
 assisting the suffering, and by giving an asylum to the disowned 
 and proscribed. To dry tears, to distribute alms, and to scatter joy 
 and happiness around me — that shall be the balm with which I will 
 heal the wounds of my heart. You are right ; I will not retire from 
 the world, but I will compel it to respect me ; I will not flee with 
 my grief into solitude, but I will remain with it in the midst of 
 society, a comfort to all sufferers, a refuge to all needing my assist- 
 ance !" * 
 
 * Fanny von Amstein kept her word. Her house became the centre of the most dis- 
 tinguished intellectual Ufe; her hands were always open and ready to scatter charities 
 and to spread blessings. She did not, however, give merely with her hands, but also 
 with her heart, and only thereby she became a true benefactress ; for she added to her 
 gifts that pity and sagacity which know how to appreciate the true sort of relief. 
 To many people she secured lasting happiness; to many she opened the road to 
 wealth, and to some she gave sums which, in themselves, were equivalent to an in. 
 
318 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "That is right ! I like to hear you talk thus, " exclaimed Mari- 
 anne, embracing her friend, and tenderly pressing her to her heart. 
 "Now my fears for you are gone, and I may bid you farewell with 
 a reassured and comforted heart. My travelling-coach is waiting 
 for me, and I shall set out in the course of the present hour. " 
 
 "And where are you going?" asked Fanny, sympathetically. 
 
 "That is a secret— a profound political secret, "said Marianne, 
 smiling ; "but I will confide it to you as a proof of my love. I go 
 to Paris for the purpose of delivering to the first consul a letter from 
 the poor Count de Provence, whom the royalists, and consequently 
 myself, also call King Louis the Eighteenth of France. That, Fanny, 
 is the legacy Prince Charles von Lichtenstein has bequeathed to me. 
 Through him I became acquainted with some of those noble Emigres 
 who preferred to give up their country and their possessions, and to 
 wander about foreign lands without a home, instead of proving 
 faithless to their king, and of obeying that despotic republic and 
 the tyrant who now lays his iron hand upon France. It was the 
 Prince von Lichtenstein who, two weeks ago, brought the Duke 
 d'Enghien to me, and initiated me' into the great plans of the un- 
 fortunate Bourbons. " 
 
 "The Duke d'Enghien was here in Vienna?" asked Fanny, in 
 surprise. 
 
 " Yes, he was here ; he kept himself concealed in the palace of 
 your friend Lichtenstein, and only his devoted adherents knew 
 where he was. The prince belonged to his most enthusiastic fol- 
 lowers and friends. Oh, what plans those two fiery young men 
 conceived in the safe asylum of my reception-room ! what great 
 things did they expect from the future for the cause of the Bourbons 
 and for France ! You ought to have see Prince Charles von Lichten- 
 stein in such hours, Fanny ; then you would have really understood 
 and boundlessly loved him. His cheeks, then, were glowing with 
 noble impetuosity ; his eyes flashed fire, and sublime words of soul- 
 stirring eloquence dropped from his lips. Never has an enemy been 
 hated more ardently than he hated Bonaparte, the first consul ; never 
 has a cause been more passionately adhered to than the cause of his 
 unhappy fatherland and that of the exiled Bourbons. If the Count 
 de Provence could boast of a hundred such defenders as was the 
 Prince von Lichtenstein, he would have reconstructed the throne of 
 the fleur-de-lis within a week in Paris. Dry your tears, Fanny, for 
 you are not most to be pitied. You only lost a lover, but the Bour- 
 
 dependent fortune. Her hospitality equalled her benevolence, and she exercised it 
 with rare amiability and to a remarkable extent. Every day numerous gueets were 
 received in her house in the city as well as in her villa, where they enjoyed the ad- 
 vantages of the most attractive, enlightened, and distinguished society. 
 
THE LEGACY. 319 
 
 bons lost a champion and Germany a true and valorous son ; these 
 two are more to be pitied than you. You may find a hundred other 
 lovers, if such should be your desire, but the Bourbons liave but few 
 champions, and the number of the true and noble sons of Germany 
 is constantly on tlie decrease. " 
 
 ■'And he said nothing to me about his plans and hopes?" ex- 
 claimed Fanny, reproachfully. " He never made me suspect that—" 
 
 •' That he had not only a heart for love, but also for politics and 
 for the cause of the fatherland !" interrupted Marianne, smiling. 
 "My child, beloved with his heart; hence, so long as he was with 
 you, all the schemes of his head were silent. Still he knew that 
 the beloved of his lieart was able and worthy, too, to be the friend 
 of his head ; and when he took leave of me, he instructed me to 
 initiate you into all his plans, and to let you participate in his 
 hopes. Fanny, your friend greets you througli my mouth ; he wishes 
 to transfer his love and his hatred, now that he has left us forever 
 to yourself. As he was a faithful son of his German fatherland, 
 you shall be its faithful daughter and guardian, and watch over the 
 welfare of your country, and devote yourself to its service with 
 yoiu- whole strength. As he was an inexorable enemy of that new, 
 blood-stained France and of her dictator, you shall forswear all con- 
 nection with that country, which soon will pour its torrents of blood 
 and fire over our own unhappy fatherland. You shall do whatever 
 will serve and be useful to the fatherland, and you shall abhor, perse- 
 cute, and combat every menace to subjugate Germany. Your house 
 shall be open to all German patriots ; it shall be closed against all 
 enemies of Germany, no matter whether they are Germans or French, 
 or to whatever nation they may belong. Such, Fanny, is the legacy 
 which Prince Charles von Lichtenstein, the noble German patiiot, 
 has bequeathed to you with his love, and which is to comfort and 
 strengthen you in your grief. " 
 
 •' I accept this legacy, '' exclaimed Fanny, radiant with enthu- 
 siasm. " Yes, I accept this legacy and will fulfil it faithfully ! To 
 Germany I will transfer the love which I once devoted to him ; I 
 will love and honor him in each of our German brethren. Like 
 him, I will hate the enemies of Germany, and never shall my house 
 be opened to them— never shall they cross its threshold as welcome 
 guests ! As I cannot be a happy wife, I will try to be a faithful 
 daughter of my counti-y, to love its friends faithfully, and to hate 
 its enemies bitterly !" 
 
 "That is right," said Marianne, joyfully. "Now you have re- 
 ceived your- best consolation, and the grief of your love will be 
 transformed into deeds of love. The blessing of your departed friend 
 will be with you, and the love of your fatherland will reward you 
 
330 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 for what you will do for it. And you shall assist our despised and 
 down-trodden Jews, too, by proving to those who scorn us and con- 
 temptuously treat us as aliens, that we feel like natives and children 
 of the country in which we were born, and that we do not seek for 
 our Jerusalem in the distant Orient, but in the fatherland we share 
 with all other Germans. Let us prove to these Christians that we 
 also are good patriots, and that we love our fatherland like them, 
 and are ready to make any sacrifice which it may require from us. " 
 
 "Yes, I will prove that I am a good patriot as he was a good pa- 
 triot," said Fanny, enthusiastically. "I will hate whatever he 
 hated ; I will love whatever he loved 1" 
 
 "Amen !" exclaimed Marianne, solemnly. "And now, farewell, 
 Fanny. I go to fulfil the legacy which Prince von Liohtenstein has 
 bequeathed to me. He had taken it upon himself to deliver this 
 letter to Bonaparte, and to see what the Bourbons have to expect 
 from him, and whether Bonaparte is a Monk or a Cromwell. I fear 
 the latter. The Bourbons and Liohtenstein hoped for the former. 
 They believed he would be the Monk of the restoration, and he had only 
 placed himself so near the throne in order to restore the latter to Louis 
 XVIII. , as Monk had done in relation to Charles II. Well; we shall 
 see ! I will go now and deliver the letter which Prince Liohtenstein 
 has intrusted to me. Farewell, Fanny, and remember your legacy !" 
 
 " I shall remember it as long as I live, " said Fanny, fervently. 
 " And as I never shall forget my love, I shall never forget my father- 
 land either. Both shall live indissolubly united in my heart !" * 
 
 * The history of Baroness Arnstein and the tragic end of Prince Charles von 
 Liohtenstein do not belong to romance, but to reality, and created a great sensation 
 at that time. Every one in Vienna knew that love for Baroness Arnstein had been the 
 cause of the duel and of the death of the Prince von Liohtenstein, but every one knew 
 also that Fanny von Arnstein was not to blame for this event; hence the sympathy 
 and compassion felt for the unhappy lady were universal. The imperial court and the 
 city took pains to do homage to her and to manifest their respect for her. But Bar- 
 oness Arnstein was not to be consoled by such proofs of public sympathy; the afllic- 
 tion which had befallen her was too terrible, and she did not endeavor to conceal 
 her grief. She caused the cabinet in which he had seen her on the day preceding his 
 death to be hung in black like a death-room ; all the souvenirs and every thing re- 
 minding her of him were preserved in this room. She spent there every anniversary 
 of his death in deep mourning, and at other times she frequently retired thither to 
 pray for him. Except herself no one was ever permitted to enter this cabinet, con- 
 secrated as an altar for the religion of her reminiscences.— Vide Varnhagen von 
 Ense'B Miscellanies, vol. i., p. 412. 
 
THE FIRST CONSUL. 321 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THE FIRST CONSUL. 
 
 "Then you have seen and conversed with our poor, unhappy- 
 king?" said Madame Bonaparte to the beautiful and richly-dressed 
 lady who was sitting on the sofa at her side, and who was none 
 other than the Princess Marianne von Eibenberg. 
 
 "Yes, madame, I have of ten had the good fortune to converse 
 long with him, " said the princess, heaving a sigli. " I passed a few 
 weeks in his neighborhood, and touched by his resignation, his un- 
 faltering patience, and calm greatness, I offered hi'm my mediation ; 
 I wished to be the messenger whom the poor unfortunate would send 
 out in order to see whether the shores of his country will never 
 again be visible to him, and whether the great and intrepid pilot 
 who is now steering the ship of France with so fii-m a hand has no 
 room left for the poor shipwrecked man. The Count de Provence 
 accepted my services ; he gave me a letter which I was to deliver to 
 the First Consul himself, and I set out for Paris provided with 
 numerous and most satisfactory recommendations. All these rec- 
 ommendations, however, were useless ; even the intprcession of 
 Minister Talleyrand was in vain ; the First Consul refused to grant 
 me an audience. " 
 
 " He had been told, perhaps, how beautiful and charming a mes- 
 senger had been this time sent to him by the Count de Provence," 
 said Josephine, smiling, "and he was, therefore, afraid of you, 
 madame. For Bonaparte, the most intrepid hero in battle, is quite 
 timid and bashful in the presence of beautiful ladies, and not having 
 the strength to withstand your smiles and prayers, he evades you 
 and refuses to see you. " 
 
 " Oh, madame, " exclaimed the princess, quickly, " if the First 
 Consul is unable to resist the smiles of the most beautiful lady, I 
 predict to you an even more brilliant future ; for in that case he 
 will lay the whole world at your feet to do you homage. He who 
 has remained at the side of Josephine a hero and a man of iron will, 
 need not fear the beauty of any other woman. " 
 
 "You know how to flatter, " said Josephine, smiling. "You for- 
 get, however, that we are in a republic here, and that there is no 
 court with courtiers in the Tuileries, but merely the humble house- 
 hold of a citizen and general, which, I trust, will soon give way to 
 the splendor of royalty. " 
 
 " Do you believe so, madame ?" asked the princess, eagerly. " Do 
 you believe that the hopes which the Count de Provence has built 
 
323 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 on the noble and gi-and spirit of General Bonaparte are not illusory ? 
 Oh, let us be frank and sincere toward each other, for I know you 
 sympathize with the siifEerings of the royal family, and the terrible 
 misfortunes of the august exiles find an echo in your heart. Hence, 
 when I did not succeed in obtaining an ■ intei'view with the First 
 Consul, and in delivering my letter to him in person, I applied to 
 you, and the Count de Provence himself authorized me to do so. 
 ' If Bonaparte refuses to hear you, ' he said, ' go to Josephine. Bring 
 her the greetings of the Count de Provence ; remind her of the happy 
 days of Versailles, where, as Viscountess de Beauharnais, she was 
 always welcome at the court of my lamented brother. Ask her if 
 she still remembers how often we joked and laughed together at 
 that time. Ask her whether my present misfortunes shall last for- 
 ever, or whether she, who holds my destiny in her hand, will restore 
 me to mirth and joy. ' " 
 
 "Oh!" exclaimed Josephine, bursting into tears, "if I held his 
 destiny in my hand, he would not have to wait long for his throne 
 and for happiness. I should be the first to jubilantly welcome him 
 to France, the first to joyously leave these Tuileries, this royal 
 palace, the grandeur of which frightens me, and in the walls of 
 which it always seems to me as though I were a criminal adorning 
 herself with stolen property, and stretching out her hands toward the 
 holy of holies. And yet I am innocent of this outrage ; my con- 
 science is clear, and I am able to say that King Louis XVIII. has 
 no more devoted, faithful, and obedient subject than the wife of 
 the First Consul of France. " 
 
 "The king knows it, and depends on you," said the princess. 
 "Bonaparte's heart is in your hands; you alone are able to move 
 it." 
 
 "But do I know, then, whether he has yet a heart or not?" ex- 
 claimed Josephine, passionately. " Do I know, then, if he loves any 
 thing but his gloiy? Man cannot serve two gods, and his god is 
 glory. He soars aloft with the glance of an eagle, and the radiance 
 of the sun does not dazzle him. Where will he finally rest and build 
 his aerie? I do not know. As yet no rock has been too lofty for 
 him, no summit too steep and sufficiently near the sun. I follow 
 his flight with anxious eyes, but I am unable to restrain him. I 
 can only pray for him, for myself, and for the unhappy king ; I can 
 only pray that the bold eagle may not finally conclude that the 
 vacant throne will be an aerie worthy of himself, and occupy it. " 
 "But you believe that he will do so?" asked the princess, quickly. 
 "Oh, my dear," replied Josephine, with a melancholy smile, 
 "no one is able to know at the present time, nay, even to conjecture, 
 what Bonaparte will do ; no one, not even myself. His mind is 
 
THE FIRST CONSUL. 323 
 
 impenetrable, and he only speaks of what he has done, not of what 
 he is going to do. His plans lie inscrutable and silent in his breast, 
 and nobody can boast that he is aware of them. He knows that I 
 am a royalist at heart, and he often mocks me for it, but more fre- 
 quently he is angry with me on this account. Since the Fi-ench 
 people have elected him First Consul for life, I see him tremble and 
 frown whenever I dare to mention our exiled king, and to call him 
 our master. He has strictly ordered me to receive no stranger unless 
 he has given me permission to do so, and all friends of mine, whom 
 he knew to be enthusiastic royalists, have already been banished by 
 him. I must feign to forget all I owe to friendship and gratitude, 
 and yet aU those cherished reminiscences will never be effaced from 
 my heart. But I must obey my master ; for Bonaparte is no longer 
 only my husband, but he is also my master. Thus impeded in all 
 her inclinations, the wife of the First Consul must swallow her 
 grief and seem ungrateful, although she is not. State it to those 
 who believe my fate to be an enviable one ; state it to the Count de 
 Provence, who deems my influence greater than it really is. He is, 
 and always remains for me, the legitimate king of France, and I 
 call God to witness that I do not long for the cro^^Ti which is his 
 legitimate property. I call God to witness that I have improved 
 every opportunity to promote the interests of the Count de Provence, 
 and that I have always taken pains to remind Bonaparte of his duty 
 to his legitimate king. But my success has been insignificant, and 
 to-day for the first time since a long while I dare again to entertain 
 a glimmer of hope. Bonaparte knew that I wanted to receive jou 
 to-day, and he did not forbid it, although he had already been in- 
 formed that the Princess von Eibenberg was highly esteemed as a 
 devoted friend at the court of Coblentz, that she had made a journey 
 to Mitau for the express purpose of seeing the Count de Provence, 
 that she had been sent by the latter with letters and messages to 
 Paris, and that the Duke d'Enghien, who some time ago had secretly 
 been at Vienna, had been every day at your house. " 
 
 "What ! The First Consul is aware of all that?" asked Marianne, 
 wonderingly. 
 
 "His spies serve him well," said Josephine, heaving a sigh, 
 "and Bonaparte has got spies everywhere, even here in the Tuileries, 
 here in my own rooms — and I should not wonder if he should learn 
 even within the next quarter of an hour what we have conversed 
 about here, although it may have seemed to us as though we were 
 alone. " 
 
 " But if the First Consul learns that the Count de Provence wants 
 to avail himself of my services for the purpose of promoting his in- 
 terests here in Paris, and if he has, nevertheless, permitted you to 
 
324 LOUtSA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 receive me, it seems to mie a favorable symptom, " said Mariaime 
 Eibenberg, musingly. 
 
 " Of course, be has some object in view in permitting it, " replied 
 Josephine, sighing, " but who knows what ? I am unable to fathom 
 his intentions ; I content myself with loving him, admiring him, 
 and endeavoring cautiously to lead him back to the path of duty. 
 But hush !" she interrupted herself all at once, " I hear steps in the 
 small corridor. It is Bonaparte ! He comes hither. He will see 
 that I have wept, and he will be angry with me !" 
 
 And after breathing into her handkerchief in anxious haste, 
 Josephine pressed it against her eyes, and whispered tremblingly, 
 " Can it be seen that I have wept?" 
 
 Marianne was about replying to her, when quick steps were heard 
 in the adjoining room. "He is coming, " whispered Josephine, and 
 she rose from the sofa for the purpose of going to meet her husband. 
 
 He just opened the door by a quick pressure of his hand and 
 appeared on the threshold. His eyes swept with a quick glance 
 over the room and seemed to pierce every corner ; a slight cloud 
 covered his expansive marble forehead ; his thin lips were firmly 
 compressed, and did not show the faintest tinge of a smile. 
 
 "Ah, I did not know that there was a visitor with you, Jose- 
 phine, " he said, bowing to Marianne, who returned his salutation 
 by a deep and reverential obeisance, and then fixed her large dark 
 eyes upon him with an air of admiration. 
 
 "My friend," said Josephine, with a fascinating smile, "the 
 Princess von Eibenberg has been recommended to me by persons of 
 the highest distinction, and I confess that I am very grateful to 
 those who gave me an opportunity to make the acquaintance of this 
 beautiful and agreeable lady. It is true, I hear that the princess is 
 a native of Germany, but she has got the heart of a Frenchwoman, 
 and speaks our language better than many of the ladies whom I hear 
 here in the Tuileries. " 
 
 "Ah, she doubtless speaks that language of ancient France, 
 which always pleases you so well, " exclaimed Bonaparte ; and now 
 there appeared on his finely formed lips a smile, illuminating and 
 beautifying his face like sunshine. " I suppose, madame, " he said, 
 suddenly turning to Marianne, "you have come hither in order to 
 bring to my dear Josephine greetings from a cavalier of that ancient 
 France which has forever fallen to ruins?" 
 
 "No, general," said Marianne, whose radiant eyes were con- 
 stantly and fearlessly fixed on Bonaparte— " no, general, I have come 
 hither in order to admire the New France, and never shall I be able 
 to thank Madame Bonaparte sufficiently for the happiness she has 
 
THE FIRST CONSUL. 325 
 
 procured me at this moment. It is the first time in my life that I 
 have been able to see a great man, a hero !" 
 
 "And yet you were in London and Mitau and there saw the 
 Counts d'Artois and Provence,'' replied Bonaparte, sitting down in 
 an arm-chair by Marianne's side, and requesting the ladies by a 
 wave of his hand to resume their seats on the sofa. 
 
 " And in London, in Mitau, in Coblentz, everywhere they admire 
 the hero who has risen like a new sun with the young century !" said 
 Marianne, with in-esistible grace. 
 
 " Those gentlemen of ancient France spoke of me, then?" asked 
 Bonapaite. "You see, madame, I speak without circumlocution. 
 I am nothing but a good soldier, and always strike directly at my 
 aim. I have been told that you have come hither as an emissary of 
 the Bourbons, and I confess to you that to-day for the first time I 
 feel grateful to those gentlemen, for they have made a very beauti- 
 ful selection. The emissaries sent hither heretofore were less beau- 
 tiful and less amiable. Those Bourbons know the foibles of the male 
 heart better than anybody else, and they want to fascinate me in 
 order to seduce me afterward the more surely. " 
 
 " Pardon me, general, they were not so bold as that, " said the 
 princess, smiling. " Let me say that I am not gifted with the magic 
 power of Armida, nor are you with the sentimental weakness of 
 Einaldo. " 
 
 "You do not deem me worthy to be compared with Einaldo?" 
 asked Bonaparte, casting so glowing a glance on the fair emissary 
 that Josephine almost regretted having brought this fascinating 
 beauty in contact with her husband. 
 
 " I do not deem Rinaldo worthy to be compared with Bonaparte, '' 
 said the princess, with a charming smile. "Binaldo did not con- 
 quer any countries ; he did not cross the bridge of Arcole, holding 
 aloft the waving colors ; he did not see the pyramids of Egypt ; he 
 did not conquer at Marengo !'■ 
 
 "Ah, madame, you seem to have a good memory," exclaimed 
 Bonaparte, merrily, "and you do not only know ancient France, 
 but are also quite familiar with her recent history. " 
 
 " General, it is owing to you that the history of France is that of 
 the whole world, and that the victories of France signify the defeat 
 of the remainder of Europe. But you have brought about an even 
 greater miracle, for those whom you have vanquished do not hate 
 you for it, but they admire you, and while cursing their own mis- 
 fortune, they are astonished at your heroism and surpassing great- 
 ness as a military chieftain. There is no one who does not share 
 this feeling of admiration, and there is no one who entertains it in 
 
336 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 a livelier manner than the two men who have reason to complain 
 most of France, and who do so least !" 
 
 " Ah, you skilfully return to the charge, " exclaimed Bonaparte, 
 smiling. " You would make a good general : you make a short cut 
 on the field of flattery and so reach the more rapidly the straight 
 road on which you want to meet the Counts de Provence and Artois 
 in order to praise them before me. '' 
 
 "No, Bonaparte," said Josephine, hastily, "the princess, on the 
 contrary, wishes to tell you how those gentlemen praise you, and 
 with how much admiration they speak of you. — Oh, pray, madams, 
 repeat to Bonaparte what the Count d'Artois told you the other day, 
 and mention the honors and distinctions he would like to confer on 
 my husband. " 
 
 " Well, I should really like to know the honors and distinctions 
 which that little Emigre, M. de Bourbon, is able to confer on the 
 First Consul of France," said Bonaparte, with a sarcastic smile. 
 "Tell me, madame, what did the Count d'Artois say, and what that 
 statement of yours is that has filled the ambitious heart of Madame 
 Bonaparte with so much delight V" 
 
 "Oh, you want to mock me, my friend," said Josephine, re- 
 proachfully. 
 
 " By no means, I am in dead earnest, and should like to know 
 what the pretenders did say about me. State to us, then, madame, 
 with your seductive voice, the tempting promises of the Bour- 
 bons. " 
 
 " General, there was no talk of promises, but of the admiration 
 the Count d'Artois felt for you," said Marianne, almost timidly, 
 and with downcast eyes. " We conversed about politics in general, 
 and Madame de Quiche, in her charming innocence, took the liberty 
 to ask the Count d'Artois how the First Consul of France might be 
 rewarded in case he should restore the Bovirbons. " 
 
 "Ah, you conversed about this favorite theme of the emigris, 
 about the restoration question !" said Bonaparte, shrugging his 
 shoulders. " And what did the prince reply ?" 
 
 "The Count d'Artois replied : 'In the first place, we should ap- 
 point the first consul Connetable of France, if that would be agree- 
 able to him. But we should not believe that that would be a suffi- 
 cient reward ; we should erect on the Place du Carrousel a lofty and 
 magnificent column to be surmounted by a statue of Bonaparte 
 crowning the Bourbons !'" * 
 
 " Is not that a beautiful and sublime idea?" exclaimed Josephine, 
 joyfully, while the princess searchingly fixed her eyes on Bonaparte's 
 (ace. 
 
 * Las Cases, " Memorial de Sainte-HfilSne," vol. i., p. 837. 
 
THE FIRST CONSUL. 337 
 
 "Yes, " he said, calmly, " it is a very sublime idea ; but -what did 
 you reply, Josephine, w hen this was communicated to you?" 
 
 "What did I reply?" asked Josephine. "Good Heaven! what 
 should I have replied?" 
 
 " Well, " said Bonaparte, whose face now assumed a grave, stem 
 expression, " you might have replied, for instance, that the pedestal 
 of this beautiful column would have to be the corpse of the First 
 Consul. " * 
 
 " Oh, Bonaparte, what a dreadful idea that is !" exclaimed Jose- 
 phine, in dismay — "dreadful and withal untrue, for did not the 
 Coimt d'Artois say the Bourbons would appoint you Connetable of 
 France?" 
 
 " Yes, just as Charles II. of England conferred the title of duke 
 on Monk. I am no Monk, nor am I a Cromwell. I have not injured 
 a single hair on the head of the Bourbons, and my hand has not been 
 stained by a drop of the blood of the unfortunate king who had to 
 atone for the sins of his predecessors. He had ruined France, I saved 
 her ; and the example of Monk teaches me to be cautious, for the 
 English people had confided in him, and he gave them a king who 
 made them unhappy and oppressed them for twenty years, and 
 finally caused a new revolution ; I want to preserve France from the 
 horrors of a new revolution, hence I do not want to become another 
 Monk. " 
 
 " And who should dare to compare you with Monk or Cromwell, 
 general?" exclaimed Marianne. "If there is a man worthy to be 
 compared with the first consul of France, it is only the great Wash- 
 ington, the liberator of America. " 
 
 " Ah, you think so because we are both presiding over a republic, " 
 replied Bonaparte, with a sarcastic smile. " As I do not want to be 
 a Monk, it is hoped that I shall be a Washington. Words cost 
 nothing, and those who utter them so easily do not consider whether 
 the circumstances of the two nations, the time and occasion may be 
 as weU compared with each other as those two names. If I were in 
 America, it would be my highest gloiy to be another Washington, 
 and I should deserve but little credit for it, after all, for I do not 
 see how one could reasonably pursue there any other course. But if 
 Washington had been in France, with its convulsions within and 
 an invasion from abroad, I should not have deemed it advisable for 
 him to be himself ; if he had insisted upon remaining himself, he 
 would have been an idol, and only prolonged the misfortunes of 
 France instead of saving the country. " 
 
 "You confess, then, that France ought not to remain a republic?" 
 asked Josephine, joyfully. " You want to restore the monarchy?" 
 * Bonaparte's own words.— Ibid., vol. ii., p. 337. 
 22 
 
328 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Wait for the things to come," said Bonaparte, gravely. "To 
 ask me prematurely to do things incompatible with the present state 
 of affairs would be foolish ; if I should announce or promise them it 
 would look like charlatanry and boasting, and I am not addicted to 
 either. " 
 
 " But you give us hopes, at least, that you will do so one day, 
 when the time has come, I suppose, my friend?" said Josephine, 
 tenderly. "You will not let this beautiful lady depart from Paris 
 without a kind and comforting reply? She will not have entered 
 the Tuileries, the house of the kings, in order to be obliged to inform 
 on her return those to whom it justly belongs that there is no longer 
 any room for them under the roof which their fathers have built. 
 I am sure, Bonaparte, you will not send such a reply to the legiti- 
 mate King of France from his oivn rooms. " 
 
 Josephine, glowing with excitement, had risen from her seat; 
 stepping close up to Bonaparte, she encircled his neck with her 
 beautiful arms, and laid her charming head on his shoulder. 
 
 "Oh, Josephine, what are you doing?" ejaculated Bonaparte, 
 angrily. " Will not the princess tell the Count de Provence that the 
 Tuileries are now inhabited by a downright bourgeois and hen- 
 pecked husband, who treats his wife sentimentally even in the 
 presence of other persons, and in return for her caresses has always 
 to comply with her wishes? And shall we not be laughed at, my 
 child?" 
 
 " I should like to see the Titan who would dare to laugh at the 
 First Consul !" exclaimed Marianne, eagerly. "You would do like 
 Jove ; you would hurl down the audacious scoffer into the abyss 
 with a flash from your eyes. " 
 
 Bonaparte fixed so long and glowing a look on the princess that 
 Marianne blushed, while tlie jealous heart of Josephine began to 
 ache. 
 
 " Bonaparte, state the reply you are going to make to the Count 
 de Provence, " she said, anxious to withdraw his attention from the 
 contemplation of this fascinating beauty. 
 
 "A reply?" asked Bonaparte. "What shall I reply to?" 
 
 "General, to this letter, which the Count de Provence has in- 
 trusted to me, and which I have solemnly pledged myself to deliver 
 to you personally," said Marianne, handing Bonaparte a sealed 
 paper, with an imploring glance. 
 
 Bonaparte did not take it at once, but looked sternly at the two 
 ladies who stood before him, turning their beautiful and deeply 
 moved faces toward him with an air of supplication. 
 
 "It is a perfect conspiracy, then, ladies? A complete surprise of 
 the fortress?" he asked. "You want to compel me forcibly to open 
 
THE FIRST CONSUL. 339 
 
 the gates of my eyes to you? Do you not know, then, Josephine 
 tliat I have sworn not to accept any letters from the Pretender, in 
 order not to be obliged to make a harsh reply to him?" 
 
 " Keep your oath, then, " said Josephine, smiling ; " do not accept 
 the letter, but permit me to do so, and let me read the contents of the 
 letter to you. " 
 
 "Oh, women, women !" exclaimed Bonaparte, smiling. "They 
 are bom sophists, and I believe they would be able to outwit the 
 devil himself ! Well, I wiU comply with your request ; take the 
 letter and read it to me. " 
 
 Josephine uttered a joyful cry, and took the letter from Mari- 
 anne's hands. While she broke the seal and unfolded the paper, 
 Bonaparte had risen from his ai-m-chair, and commenced slowly 
 pacing the room. He knew, perhaps, that Marianne's eyes were 
 fixed upon him with a searching expression, and her glances were 
 disagreeable to him. 
 
 Josephine read as follows : 
 
 "Men like you, sir, never inspire suspicion and uneasiness, 
 whatever their conduct may be. You have accepted the exalted 
 position which the French people offered to you, and I am grateful 
 to you for so doing. You know better than anybody else how much 
 strength and power are required to secure the happiness of a great 
 nation. Save France from her own fury, and you will have fulfilled 
 the foremost and greatest desire of my heart ; restore her king to 
 her, and future generations will bless your memory. But you hesi- 
 tate very long to give my throne back to me, and I almost fear you 
 will allow the opportunity to pass by unimproved. Hasten, there- 
 fore, and designate the positions you desire for yourself and for your 
 friends. You will always be too indispensable to the state for me 
 ever to be able to discharge the obligations of my ancestors and my 
 own, even by means of the most influential positions. My char- 
 acter, as well as motives of sound policy, will induce me to pursue 
 a liberal course. We are able to secure the happiness of Fi-ance. I 
 say we, for you cannot secure the happiness of France without me, 
 and I cannot do any thing for France without you. General, Europe 
 has fixed her eyes on you, and immortal glory awaits you. " * 
 
 " Always the same strain, " muttered Bonaparte, " always the 
 story of the column surmounted by the statue of the First Consul 
 crowning the Bourbons, while his bleeding corpse is to be the foun- 
 dation of the column !" 
 
 " He is reflecting, " whispered Josephine to the princess. "That 
 shows, at least, that he has not yet made up his mind to reject the 
 offer of the Count de Provence. " 
 * This letter is historical.— Vide "Mfimoires d'un Homme d'iltat," vol. vii., p. 393. 
 
330 liOtnsA or PRUSSIA. 
 
 At this moment Bonaparte turned toward the two ladies and ap- 
 proached them rapidly. 
 
 " Are you authorized to receive my reply 1" he asked, turning his 
 gloomy eyes toward the princess. 
 
 " I shall feel happy and honored by any message you may be 
 pleased to intrust to me, " said Marianne. 
 
 Bonaparte nodded to her. 
 
 " Will you permit me to write a letter here, Josephine ?" he asked. 
 
 Instead of making a reply, Josephine hastened to her desk, in 
 order to take out some paper, to draw a chair to the table, and then 
 to hand the pen to Bonaparte, with a fascinating smile. When he 
 commenced writing, she supported herself in breathless suspense on 
 the back of his arm-chair and looked over the Consul's shoulder, 
 while the Princess von Eibenberg, standing not far from them, 
 looked at both with sparkling eyes. 
 
 Bonaparte hastily wrote a few lines, threw the pen aside, and 
 turning around to Josephine, he handed her the letter. 
 
 " There, read it, " he said, " and read it aloud, so that the beauti- 
 ful emissary of your M. de Bourbon may learn my reply, and know 
 the contents of the message she is to deliver to him. " 
 
 Josephine took the paper, and read, in a tremulous voice, fre- 
 quently interrupted by her sighs : 
 
 " I have received the letter of your royal highness ; I have con- 
 stantly felt a lively sympathy for you and for the misfortunes of 
 your family. But your royal highness must not think of coming to 
 France ; you would have to pass over a hundred thousand corpses 
 before reaching it. In other respects, I shall constantly take pains 
 to do whatever will be calculated to alleviate your condition and to 
 make you forget your misfortunes. " 
 
 "Well, Josephine, you are silent?" asked Bonaparte, when she 
 ceased reading. "You are dissatisfied with my letter? And you, 
 too, madame, have a dark shadow on your beautiful face I How 
 could you expect another answer from me ?" 
 
 "General, I believe the royal princes really hoped for another 
 answer, " said Marianne, heaving a sigh. 
 
 "And what justified such a hope?" asked Bonaparte, sternly. 
 "What have I done to give rise to such chimeras?" 
 
 " General, the favorable answer you gave to Prussia — " 
 
 "Ah!" said Bonaparte, shrugging his shoulders, "the wind is 
 blowing in that direction, then? Prussia asked me if she would 
 cause us any trouble by tolerating the French princes within her 
 boundaries. I replied in the negative; and when Prussia went 
 further and asked whether we should feel offended or not, if she paid 
 an annual pension to the Bourbons, I permitted even that on condi- 
 
THE FIRST CONSUL. 331 
 
 tion that the princes remained quiet and did not carry on any 
 intrigues. They believed, then, that because I suffered distressed 
 persons to be relieved and an asylum to be gi-anted to the homeless, 
 I should be ready, also, to make the beggars masters again, and to 
 lay France at the feet of the exiles !" 
 
 "Bonaparte, your words are very harsh and very unjust," ex- 
 claimed Josephine, sadly. 
 
 "They may be harsh, but they are true," he said, sternly. "I 
 will not permit them to entertain any illtisions concerning myself ; 
 hence I have spoken so long and plainly. It would be harsh and 
 cruel to hold out hopes to the Bourbons which I shall never fulfil. 
 France is lost to them, and they wiU never recover her. State that 
 to the princes who have sent you to me, madame. Let the Bourbons 
 be on their guard, for France is wide awake and keeps her eyes and 
 ears open. I am willing to forgive that little Duke d'Enghien for 
 not considering me a great general, and for criticising my exploits, 
 but I should neither forgive him nor either of his uncles in case 
 they shoiild try to trouble France with their senseless schemes. I 
 know that the Bourbons have long been trying to find means and 
 ways to reconquer the sceptre of St. Louis. So long as their schemes 
 are floating in the air like cobwebs, I forgive them ; but if they 
 intend to act, let them weigh the consequences ! He who menaces 
 France is a traitor, whatever may be his name, and traitors will be 
 punished to the full extent of the law. State that to the Bourbons, 
 madame; state it especially to the Duke d'Enghien. And now be 
 kind enough to deliver my reply to the Count de Provence. When 
 do you intend to start?" 
 
 " In a few days, general. " 
 
 " Oh, that will not do. That poor Count de Provence will be 
 eager to get a reply, " said Bonaparte, " and it would be very cruel 
 not to transmit it to him as soon as possible. You especially will 
 not wish to make him wait, and I therefore advise you to set out to- 
 day, within the next hour ! I shall issue orders that horses be kept 
 in readiness for you ; and in order that you may not be detained 
 anywhere, I shall instruct two officers to escort you to the frontier. 
 Hasten, therefore, madame; in half an hour everything will be 
 ready for your departure. " 
 
 He nodded to her, and left the room. 
 
 The two ladies were alone again and looked at each other >with 
 mournful eyes. Marianne's face was pale ; a gloomy flre was burn- 
 ing in her eyes, and a contemptuous smile was visible on her lips. 
 Josephine seemed greatly embarrassed, and her gentle eyes were 
 filled with tears. 
 
 "I am to be transported beyond the frontier like a criminal I" 
 
332 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 ejaculated Marianne at last, in a voice trembling with anger. " I 
 am to be treated like a dangerous intriguer, and yet I have only de- 
 livered a letter which had been intrusted to me by the king. " 
 
 "Forgive him," said Josephine, imploringly. "He has been 
 prejudiced against you, and the numerous plots and conspiracies, 
 which have already been discovered, cause him to deem rigorous 
 precautions altogether indispensable. But I beg you especially not 
 to be angry with me, and pray beseech the Count de Provence not to 
 hold me responsible for the deplorable message you are to deliver to 
 him. I have opened my heart to you, and you know it to be filled 
 with the most faithful devotion and with the most reverential aflFec- 
 tion for the unfortunate prince, but I am not strong enough to 
 change his fate ; I — " 
 
 Just then the door opened ; M. de Bourrienne, chief of the cabinet 
 of the First Consul, made his appearance and approached the prin- 
 cess with a respectful bow. 
 
 " Madame, " he said, " the First Consul sends you word that every 
 thing is ready for your departure, and he has instructed me to con- 
 duct you to your carriage. " 
 
 Josephine uttered a groan, and, sinking down on a chair, she 
 covered her face with her handkerchief in order to conceal her tears. 
 
 Marianne had now recovered her proud and calm bearing, and a 
 bold and defiant smile played again on her lips. She approached 
 Josephine with soft and quiet steps. 
 
 " Farewell, madame, " she said. " I shall faithfully report to the 
 Count de Provence every thing I have seen and heard here, and he 
 wiU venerate and pity you as I shall always do. May the First 
 Consul never regret what he is doing now, and may he not be obliged 
 one day to leave France in the same manner as he compels me to 
 depart from Paris ! Come, sir, accompany me, as it cannot be 
 helped !" 
 
 And drawing herself up to her full height and as proud as a 
 queen, Marianne, princess of Eibenberg, walked toward the door. 
 
 Josephine followed her with her tearful eyes, which she then 
 raised to heaven. "Oh, my God, my God, " she whispered, "ordain 
 it in Thy mercy that my worst forebodings may not be fulfilled ! 
 Guide Bonaparte's heart and prevent him from going on in his am- 
 bition, from stretching out his hand for the crown of the Bourbons, 
 and from staining his glory with the blood of— Oh, Thou knowest 
 my fears ; Thou knowest what I mean, and what my lips dare not 
 utter. Protect Bonaparte, and guide his heart !" 
 
TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 333 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 
 
 A POST-CHAISE, drawn by four horses, had just driven up to the 
 hotel of TTie German Emperor, the first and n-ost renowned inn in 
 the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main. The porter rang the door- bell as 
 loudly and impetuously as he only used to do on the arrival of aris- 
 tocratic and wealthy guests. Hence the waiters rushed to the door 
 in the greatest haste, and even the portly and well-dressed landlord 
 did not deem it derogatory to his dignity to leave the dining-room, 
 for the purpose of welcoming the stranger in the post-chaise, drawn 
 by the four horses. 
 
 In this post-chaise he perceived a gentleman of prepossessing and 
 jovial appearance, and with a handsome and tolerably youthful face. 
 His large blue eyes looked gayly and boldly into the world ; a genial 
 smile was playing on his broad and rather sensual-looking lips ; and 
 his voice was clear, strong, and sonorous. 
 
 " May I find here with you comfortable rooms, and, above all, a 
 good supper?" he asked the landlord, who, pushing aside his waiters 
 and the stranger's footman, stepped up to the carriage, in order to 
 open the door. 
 
 " Sir, " replied the landlord, proudly, " The Oerman Emperor is 
 noted for its good rooms and excellent table !" 
 
 The sti-anger laughed merrily. " Truly, " he said, gayly, " these 
 are splendid prospects for Germany. If T)ie German Emperor 
 furnishes good rooms and an excellent table, I am sure Germany 
 would be unreasonable to ask for any thing else ! Well, my dear 
 landlord, give me, then, good rooms and a supper. " 
 
 "Do you want rooms on the first or on the second floor?" asked 
 the landlord, respectfully walking behind the stranger, who had 
 just entered the hall. 
 
 " Of course, on the first floor ; Heaven forbid that I should have 
 to climb two flights of stairs !" replied the stranger. " I like to live 
 in comfortable and elegant rooms. Give me, therefore, three fine 
 rooms on the first floor. " 
 
 " Three rooms 1" said the landlord, hesitatingly. " I must observe 
 to you, sir, that all the rooms on the flrst floor have been reserved 
 for the Duke of Baden, who will arrive here to-morrow or day after 
 to-morrow, and stop at The German Emperor, like all princes com- 
 ing to our city. I do not know if I can spare three rooms. " 
 
 "Oh, you surely can, as the duke will only arrive to-morrow or 
 day after to-morrow, while I am here to-day, " said the stranger. 
 
334 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Give me the rooms you had intended for the duke ; then I shall be 
 sure to get good ones, and I shall take them at the same price you 
 will charge him. " 
 
 The landlord bowed respectfully, and snatched the silver candle- 
 stick from the hand of the head- waiter, in order to have the honor 
 of conducting the stranger up-stairs to his rooms. The waiters, who 
 had stood on both sides of the hall in respectful silence, now hastily 
 rushed toward the post-chaise, in order to assist the stranger's foot- 
 man in unloading the trunks and packages belonging to his master. 
 " As far as the supper is concerned, pray imagine I were the ex- 
 pected Duke of Baden, and make your arrangements accordingly, " 
 said the stranger, ascending the staircase. " I particularly enjoy a 
 good supper. If you have any pheasants to serve up to me, I shall 
 be content with them ; only see to it that they be well larded with 
 ti-uffles." 
 
 And his voice died away in the large corridor which he was now 
 walking down, preceded by the landlord, in order to take possession 
 of the best rooms in the hotel. 
 
 The waiters were engaged in unloading the trunks, and improved 
 this opportunity to inquire of the stranger's footman, clad in a rich 
 livery, the rank, name, and title of his master. 
 
 He told them the gentleman had just arrived from London, where 
 he had been living for a year ; he was now on his way to Vienna, 
 and would leave Frankfort on the following day. 
 
 " This trunk is very heavy, " said one of the waiters, vainly trying 
 to lift from the carriage a small trunk, mounted with strips of brass, 
 and covered with yellow nails. 
 
 "I should think so," said the footman, proudly. "This trunk 
 contains my master's money and jewelry. There are at least twelve 
 gold watches, set with diamonds, and as many snuff-boxes. The 
 Queen of England sent to my master on the day of our departure a 
 magnificent snufif-box, adorned with the portrait of her majesty, 
 and richly set with diamonds ; and the snuff-box, moreover, was 
 entirely filled with gold pieces. Come, take hold of the trunk on 
 that side ; I shall do so on this, and we wiU take it directly up to 
 my master's rooms. " 
 
 Just as they entered the hall with their precious load, another 
 carriage drove up to the door. But this time it was only a miser- 
 able, rickety old basket-chaise, drawn by two lean jades with 
 lowered heads and heaving bellies. 
 
 The porter,, therefore, did not deem it worth while to ring the 
 bell for this forlorn-looking vehicle ; but he contented himself with 
 leisurely putting his hands into his pockets, sauntering down to the 
 chaise, and casting a disdainful glance into its interior. 
 
TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 335 
 
 There was also a single gentleman in it, but his appearance was 
 less prepossessing and indicative of liberality than that of the former 
 stranger. The new-comer was a little gentleman, with a pale face 
 and a sickly form. His mien was grave and care-worn ; his dark 
 eyes were gloomy and stern ; his expansive forehead was thoughtful 
 and clouded. 
 
 "May I have a room in your hotel?" he asked, in a clear, ringing 
 voice. 
 
 " Certainly, sir, as nice and elegant as you may desire, " said the 
 porter, condescendingly. 
 
 " I do not require it to be nice and elegant, " replied the stranger. 
 "Only a small room with a comfortable bed; that is all I care 
 for. " 
 
 "It is at your disposal, sir, " said the porter ; and beckoning the 
 youngest waiter to assist the stranger in alighting, he added ; " Take 
 the gentleman to one of the smaller rooms on the first floor. " 
 
 " Oh, no, " said the stranger, " I do not ask for a room on the first 
 floor ; I shall be satisfied with one on the second floor. Be kind 
 enough to pay my fare to the coachman ; he gets ten florins. You 
 may put it down on my bill. " 
 
 "And will you give me no drink-money?" asked the coachman, 
 angrily. " The gentleman will assuredly not refuse me drink-money 
 after a three days' journey?" 
 
 " My friend, I did not agree to pay you any thing but those ten 
 florins, " said the stranger. " I will comply with your demand, how- 
 ever, for you have been an excellent driver. " 
 
 He handed half a florin to the coachman, and entered the hotel 
 with measured steps. 
 
 "Do you want supper?" asked the waiter, conducting him up- 
 stairs. 
 
 " Yes, if you please, " said the stranger ; " but no expensive sup- 
 per, merely a cup of tea and some bread and meat. " 
 
 "A poor devil!" muttered the porter, shrugging his shoulders 
 disdainfully, and following the stranger with his eyes. " A very 
 poor devil I only a room on the second floor ; tea and bread and meat 
 for supper I He must be a savant, a professor, or something of that 
 sort. '' 
 
 Meantime the footman and the waiter had carried the heavy 
 trunk, with the gold and other valuables, up- stairs to the rooms of 
 the stranger on the first floor. These rooms were really furnished 
 in the most sumptuous manner, and worthy to be inhabited by 
 guests of princely rank. Heavy silk and gold hangings covered the 
 walls ; blinds of costly velvet, fringed with gold, veiled the high 
 arched windows ; precious Turkish carpets adorned the floor ; gilt 
 
336 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 furniture, carved in the most artistic manner and covered with 
 velvet cushions, added to the splendor and beauty of the rooms. 
 
 The stranger lay on one of the magnificent sofas when the trunk 
 with his valuables was brought in. He ordered the footman with a 
 wave of his hand to place the trunk before him on the marble table, 
 wrought by some Florentine artisan, and then he leisurely stretched 
 out his legs again on the velvet sofa. 
 
 Scarcely had the door closed again behind the footman and the 
 waiter, however, when he hastily rose, and drawing the trunk 
 toward him, opened it with a small key fastened to his watch-chain. 
 
 " I believe I will now at length add up my riches, " he said to 
 himself. "The time of the golden rain, I am afraid is over, at 
 least for the present; for, in Germany, an author and savant is 
 never taken for a Danae, and no one wants to be a Jove and lavish a 
 golden rain upon him. The practical English, who are more saga- 
 cious in every respect, know, too, how to appreciate a writer of 
 merit, and pay him better for his works. Thank God I was in Eng- 
 land ! Let us see now how much we have got. " 
 
 He plunged his hands into the small trunk and drew them forth 
 filled with gold pieces. 
 
 •' How well that sounds!" he said, throwing the gold pieces on 
 the table, and constantly adding new ones to them. " There is no 
 music of the spheres to be compared with this sound, and no view 
 is more charming than the aspect of this pile of gold. How many 
 tender love-glances, how many sumptuous dinners, how many pro- 
 testations of friendship and love-pledges, how many festivals and 
 pleasures do not flash forth from those gold pieces, as though they 
 were an enchanted mine I As a good general, I will count my 
 troops, and thus enable myself to draw up the plans of my battles." 
 
 A long pause ensued. Nothing was heard but the music of the 
 gold pieces, which the traveller arranged in long rows on the marble 
 table, and the figures which he muttered, while his countenance 
 grew every moment more radiant. 
 
 "Five hundred guineas!" he exclaimed joyfully; "that sum is 
 equivalent to three thousand three hundred and thirty-three dollars 
 in Prussian money ; there are, besides, two thousand-pound notes in 
 my wallet, amounting to over thirteen thousand dollars, which, 
 together with my guineas, will amount to over sixteen thousand 
 dollars cash. Oh, now I am a rich man ! I no longer need deny to 
 myself any wish, any enjoyment. I can enjoy life, and I ivill enjoy 
 it. As a stream of enjoyment and delight my days shall roll along, 
 and to enjoyment glory shall be added, and throughout all Germany 
 my voice shall resound ; in all cabinets it shall reecho, and to the 
 destinies of nations it shall point out their channel and direction. 
 
TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 337 
 
 For great things I am called, and great things will I accomplish. 
 I will not allow myself to be used by these lords of the earth as a 
 journeyman, to whom the masters assign work for scanty pay. 
 Their equal and peer, I will stand by their side, and they shall rec- 
 ognize it as a favor which they cannot weigh up with gold, if I take 
 the word for them and their interests, and win battles for them with 
 my pen. " 
 
 There was a gentle knock at the door, and quickly he threw his 
 silken handkerchief over the gold pieces and papers, and closed the 
 cover of his casket before he gave permission to enter. 
 
 It was only a few waiters, who carried a well-spread table, in 
 the midst of which a splendid pheasant stretched its brownish, shin- 
 ing limbs, and filled the whole room with the odor of the truffles 
 with which it was stuffed. By its side shone, in ciystal bottles, the 
 most precious Rhine wine, looking like liquid gold, and a silent, 
 still undisclosed pie gave a presentiment of a piquant enjoyment. 
 
 The traveller sipped the several odors with smiling comfort, and 
 took his place at the table with the full confidence that he would be 
 able to fill the next half hour of his life with enjoyment and to 
 advantage. 
 
 In this confidence he was not disappointed, and when he finally 
 rose from the table, on which nothing but bones had remained of 
 the pheasant, and nothing but the bare crust of the pie, his counte- 
 nance beamed with satisfaction and delight. 
 
 The waiters made haste to remove the table, and the head waiter 
 made his appearance with the large hotel register, in which he 
 asked the traveller to enter his name. 
 
 He was ready for it, and already took the pen to write his name, 
 when suddenly he uttered a cry of surprise, and excitedly pointed 
 with his finger to the last written line of the book. 
 
 "Is this gentleman still in your hotel, or has he already left?" he 
 asked, hastily. 
 
 " No, your honor, this gentleman arrived only an hour ago, and 
 he will stay here to-night, " said the head waiter. 
 
 "Oh, what a surprise," said the traveller, starting up. "Come, 
 please to conduct me at once to this gentleman. ' 
 
 And, with impatient haste, he ran to the door, which the head 
 waiter opened to him. But upon the threshold he suddenly stopped 
 and seemed to pause. 
 
 " Pray wait for me here in this hall ; I shall follow you imme- 
 diately, " he said, as he returned to his room, closed its door, and 
 hastened to the table in order to put his gold and his papers into the 
 casket and to lock it. 
 
 In the mean while, the traveller in the small room of the seconc' 
 
338 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 floor had finished his frugal meal, and was now occupied with 
 making up his account and entering the little travelling expenses 
 of the last few days into his diary. 
 
 " It is after all an expensive journey, " he muttered to himself ; 
 "I shall hardly have a few hundred florins left on my arrival at 
 Berlin. It is true the first quarter of my salary will at once be paid 
 to me, but one-half of it I have ah-eady assigned to my creditors, 
 and the other half will scarcely suffice to furnish decently a few 
 rooms. Oh, how much are those to be envied, the freedom and 
 cheerfulness of whose minds are never disturbed by financial 
 troubles !" 
 
 A loud knock at the door interrupted him ; he hastened to put 
 back his money into his pocket-book, when the door was hastily 
 opened and the stranger of the first story appeared in it with a smil- 
 ing countenance. 
 
 "Frederick Gentz!" exclaimed the owner of the room, in joyful 
 surprise. 
 
 " Johannes Mtiller!" smilingly exclaimed the other, running up 
 to him with outstretched arms, and tenderly embracing the little 
 man, the great historian. " What good fortune for me, my friend, 
 that I put up at this hotel, where I was to have the pleasure of meet- 
 ing you ! Accidentally I found in the hotel register your name, 
 and at once I rushed to welcome you. " 
 
 " And by coming you afford to my heart a true joy, " tenderly 
 said Johannes Mtiller, " for nothing can afford a greater joy than the 
 unexpected meeting with a beloved and esteemed friend, and you 
 know you are both to me. " 
 
 " I only know that you are both to me .' " exclaimed Gentz. " I 
 only know that during my present journey I am indebted to you for 
 the most precious hours, for the most sublime enjoyments. I had 
 taken along for my i-eading your work on the ' Fiirstenbund' ('Alli- 
 ance of Princes') . I wished to see whether this book which, on its 
 first appearance, so powerfully affected me, would still have the 
 same effect upon me after an interval of twenty years. The world 
 since then has been transformed and changed, I myrelf not less ; 
 and I was well aware how far my views on many most important 
 topics would differ from yours. This, indeed, I found to be the 
 case, and yet the whole reading was for me an uninterrupted cur- 
 rent of delight and admiration. For four weeks I read in my leisure 
 hours nothing but this book, and I felt my mind consecrated, 
 strengthened, and nerved again for every thing great and good. " 
 
 " If you say this, " exclaimed Miiller, " I have not labored in vain, 
 although a German author feels sometimes tempted to believe that 
 all his labors, all his writing and thinking were useless efforts, and 
 
TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 339 
 
 nothing but seed scattered upon barren and sterile soil, and unable 
 to bear fruit. Oh, my friend, what unfortunate days of humilia- 
 tion and disgrace are still in store for Germany ! But let us not talk 
 of this now, but of you. Come, let us seat oilrselves side by side 
 upon this divan. And now tell me of your successes and your glory. 
 The report of it has reached me, and I have learned with unen vying 
 delight with what enthusiasm the whole literary and political world 
 of England has received you, and how the court, the ministers, and 
 the aristocracy of London have celebrated the great German writer 
 and politician. " 
 
 " It is true I have met in London with much kindness and a flat- 
 tering reception," said Gentz, smilingly. "You know a German 
 writer must go abroad if he lays claim to recognition and reward, 
 for, as the proverb says, 'The prophet is not without honor, save in 
 his own country. ' I had, therefore, to go to England in order to 
 secm-e for my voice, which until then was little heeded, some au- 
 thority even in Germany. " 
 
 " And now, when you have so eminently succeeded in this, you 
 return I hope forever to Germany?" 
 
 " It almost seems so. I follow a call of the Austrian minister, 
 Cobenzl, and have been appointed in Vienna as Aulic councillor, 
 with a salary of four thousand florins. " 
 
 "And in which ministry will you work?" 
 
 "Not in any particular one. I have been engaged for extra- 
 ordinary services exclusively, with no other obligation than, as 
 Minister von Cobenzl expressly writes, to work by my writings for 
 the maintenance of the government, of morals, and order. " 
 
 A smile stole over the delicate features of Mtiller. 
 
 "Exactly the same words which the Minister von Thugut said to 
 me two years ago. And you have had the courage to accept the 
 position?" 
 
 " Yes, I have accepted it, because I hope thus to render a service 
 to the fatherland, and to be of advantage to it. I have forever cast 
 off my Prussianism, and shall henceforth become an Austrian with 
 body and soul. " 
 
 " How wonderful are the dispensations of fate ! for I must reply 
 to you that I have cast off forever my Austrianism, and shall hence- 
 forth become a Prussian with body and soul. " 
 
 "Ah, you go to Prussia 1 You leave the Austrian sei-vice?" 
 
 " Yes, forever. I follow a call to Berlin. " 
 
 "Oh," exclaimed Gentz, "I have not the courage to complain 
 that I have to do without you in Vienna, for fate in its wisdom has 
 disposed of both of us, and it will make us available for the great, 
 sublime cause of Germany. Being both stationed at one place, our 
 
340 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 efforts could not be so far reaching, so powerful, and therefore fate 
 sets you up in the north of Germany, and me in the south, in order 
 that our voices may resound hither and thither throughout Ger- 
 many, and awaken all minds and kindle all energies for the one 
 grand aim, the deliveiy and the honor of Germany. " 
 
 " You still believe, then, in the honor of Germany and the possi- 
 bility of its delivery, " Miiller inquired, with a sigh. 
 
 "Yes, I still believe in it," Gentz exclaimed, with enthusiasm; 
 "but to that end many things must yet be done, many things must 
 be aimed at and changed. Above all, two things are necessary. In 
 the first place, the old enmity between Austria and Prussia must 
 disappear, and both must firmly unite with each other and with 
 England against France. It is this which I in Vienna and you in 
 Berlin must never lose sight of — which we must aim at with all the 
 power of our spirit and of our eloquence ; for it is one of the last 
 measures which are left for maintaining the independence of Europe 
 and for averting the deluge of evils which break forth more terribly 
 every day. From the moment when Austria and Prussia shall stand 
 upon one line and move in one direction, there will be nowhere in 
 Germany particular interests. All the greater and lesser princes 
 would at once and without hesitation place themselves under the 
 wings of this powerful alliance — the well-disposed cheerfully and 
 out of conviction, and the unpatriotic ones through fear. So much 
 of the constitution as has been rescued from this last shipwreck, 
 would be safe for the duration of this alliance ; and so much of it as 
 must be altered, would be altered according to the principles of jus- 
 tice and of the common weal, and not according to the disgraceful 
 demands of French and Russian land agents. " 
 
 " You ai-e right, " exclaimed Johannes Miiller ; " a close alliance 
 of Austria and Prussia is necessary, and only through it, and 
 through it alone, the maintenance of the European equilibrium is 
 possible, but for the present we must lean on the power of Russia 
 and the resources of England. " 
 
 " No, no, " Gentz exclaimed, vehemently ; " no communion with 
 Russia ! Russia is a friend who can never be trusted, for whenever 
 it shall be her advantage she will at any moment be ready to become 
 the most bitter enemy of her friends. But really we have had a 
 striking and terrible example of this when the Emperor Paul sud- 
 denly separated from Germany and England in order to ally himself 
 with France. But the union of France and Russia is the most 
 threatening and terrible combination for the whole remainder of 
 Europe. Of all the wounds which during the last ten years have 
 been inflicted upon the old political system, and in particular upon 
 the independence of Germany, those which were caused by the tem- 
 
TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 341 
 
 poraiy agreement between France and Russia were the deepest and 
 most incurable. If this comet should rise a second time over our 
 heads, the world will go up in flames. What is to resist the com- 
 bined power of these two colossuses imless the united weight and 
 the united bulk of Germany hinders their embrace? The western 
 colossus has long since broken through its old barriers ; all the out- 
 posts are in its power, all the fortresses which do not belong to it are 
 dismantled, all the points of military defence are outflanked. From 
 Switzerland and Italy, from the peaks of the conquered Alps, it may 
 irresistibly pounce upon the centre of the Austrian monarchy and 
 invade the exposed provinces of the undefended Prussian kingdon). 
 And now let it please Providence to elevate upon the Russian 
 throne a prince full of ambition and thirst of conquest, and the sub- 
 jugation of Germany, the dissolution of all the empires still existing, 
 a double universal monarchy would, under the present circumstances, 
 be the next consequence ; and if the present system, or rather the 
 present hopeless languor should continue for several more years, 
 this must sooner or later be the inevitable destiny of Germany. " 
 
 " There is now for Germany only one enemy, " Johannes Miiller 
 said, vehemently, " and this enemy is France— is Bonaparte ! A 
 new crisis approaches ; of this I am convinced. Bonaparte will not 
 be satisfied with the title and the ofl[ice of a First Consul for life ; 
 he will place a crown upon his head, and threateningly oppose him- 
 self with his sceptre to all monarchies, and they will either have to 
 humble themselves before him or to unite against him. Therefore, 
 no other, no possible future enercy, should be thought of at this 
 time, but only the universal foe and his government, so incompati- 
 ble with general tranquillity. Let all the hatred of the nation be 
 poured down on him, and on him alone, by everywhere spreading 
 the conviction that nothing interferes with the preservation of peace 
 throughout the world but his existence. " * 
 
 " There is something else I would wish for Germany, " said Gentz, 
 musingly. " I will now reveal to you my innermost thoughts, my 
 friend, for I am satisfied that our meeting here was a dispensation 
 of fate. Providence has decreed that we, the intellectual champions 
 of Germany, should agree here on the plans of our campaign and 
 concert measures for our joint action. Therefore, you shall descend 
 with me into the depths of my heart and see the result to which I 
 have been led by many years' reflection concerning the causes and 
 progress of the great convulsions of our day, and by my own grief 
 at the political decay of Germany. The result is the firm belief that 
 it would be by far better for Germany to be united into one state. 
 Oh, do not look at me in so surprised and angry a manner ! I know 
 * Mailer's own words.— Vide " M6moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. vii., p. 39. 
 
343 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 very well, and I have reflected a great deal about it, how salutary 
 an influence has been exerted by the dismemberment of Germany 
 on the free development of the individual faculties ; I acknowledge 
 that, considered individually, we might very probably not have 
 reached, in a great and centralized monarchy, the proud and glorious 
 eminence we are occupying at the present time, and so far, as a 
 nation, after all, only consists of individuals, I am unable to per- 
 ceive exactly how ours, without anarchy, could have acquired the 
 distinction which it might boast of if it were a nation ! But when- 
 ever I think that it is no nation— whenever I think that France and 
 England, with greatly inferior faculties and means, have grown up 
 to that true totality of human life— to that true nationality which 
 nothing is able to destroy — whenever I think and feel that foreigners, 
 on whom we may look down from our exalted stand-point, in mat- 
 ters of politics, trample on our necks, and are allowed to treat us aa 
 though we were their servants, all consolations derived from our 
 grand and magnificent individuality vanish and leave me alone with 
 my grief.* I am free to confess to you that I have already gone so 
 far on the road of those mom-nf ul reflections as to consider it very 
 doubtful whether the whole history of Germany was ever treated 
 from a correct point of view. I know but too weU that the princes 
 of the house of Austria seldom, if ever, deserved to be the rulers of 
 Germany ; but I do not believe that there are any reasons why we 
 should exalt at the discomfiture of their plans. It is a matter of 
 great indifference to me whether a Hapsburg, Bavarian, Hohenzol- 
 lern, or Hohenstaufen succeed in bringing the empire imder one 
 hat ; I only place myself on an Austrian stand-point because that 
 house has the best prospects and is under the highest obligations to 
 accomplish the unity of Germany. Now you know my innermost 
 thoughts ; criticise and correct them, my friend !" 
 
 "I will neither criticise nor correct them,'' said Mtiller, offering 
 his hand to Gentz with a tender glance ; " I will only exchange 
 views with you. I imagine, therefore, at this moment, we were 
 pacing, as we did a year ago, previous to your journey to England, 
 the splendid hall of the imperial library, where the sixteen statues 
 of the Hapsburg emperors reminded us of their era. Before which 
 of them will we place ourselves and say : 'What a pity that you, 
 wise and noble prince, are not the sole ruler of Germany ; you were 
 worthy, indeed, that the moral and political welfare of the whole 
 nation should be left to the decision of your wiU, and that every 
 thing should be submitted to your power !'" 
 
 " It is true, " muttered Gentz, mournfully ; " in the history of 
 
 * Gentz's own words.— Vide "Mfimoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. vii., p. 20. 
 
TWO GERMAN SAVANTS. 343 
 
 Germany there is no emperor, king, or prince to whom we might or 
 should talk in this manner. '' 
 
 "Nor is that the cause of our misfortimes, " said MilUer; "the 
 want of one ruler has not produced them, and it is not so bad that 
 we have not got but one neck, and cannot consequently be struck 
 down at one blow. The fault, on the contrary, is our own. If we 
 had a single great man, even though he were neither an emperor 
 nor a king, if he were only a Maurice of Saxony, a Stadtholder of 
 Holland, he would attract the nation in times of danger and distress ; 
 it would rally around him and he would stand above it. That we 
 have not such a man is owing to our deplorable system of education, 
 and to the wrong direction which our mode of thinking has taken. 
 Every thing with us has fallen asleep, and we are in a condition of 
 almost hopeless stagnation. The old poetry of fatherland, honor, 
 and heroism, seems to be almost extinct among us ; we are asleep, 
 and do not even dream. In order to recover our senses, a conceited 
 tyrant, who will mock us while plundering our pockets, is an indis- 
 pensable necessity. Providence, perhaps, has destined Bonaparte 
 to become the tyrant who is to awaken Germany from its slumber 
 by means of cruelties ; he is, perhaps, to revive among the Germans 
 love of honor, liberty, and country ; he is, perhaps, to be the scourge 
 that is to torture us, so that we may overcome our indolence, and 
 that our true national spirit may be aroused. I hope the tyrant will 
 accomplish this, and deliver Germany. God knows I would not 
 like to serve him, but to the liberators of the world I should willingly 
 devote my ideas and my feelings, nay, my blood.* Then let us 
 hope, wait, and prepare. Let us not occupy ourselves with Germany 
 as it might be, perhaps, in its unity, but with Germany as it can be 
 with its confederate system. The Germans are not qualified, like 
 the English or French, to live in a single great state. The climate, 
 their organization, that miserable beer, the insignificant participa- 
 tion in the commerce of the world, prevent it ; the somewhat phleg- 
 matic body of the state must have an independent life in each of its 
 parts; the circulation issuing from a single head would be too 
 imperceptible. We must be satisfied with the glory which a Joseph, 
 a Frederick the Great, and the enthusiasm of the whole people gave 
 to us, and if the next sti:uggle should terminate successfully, will 
 give to us to the greatest extent, f We must struggle on for the 
 welfare of the entire people, and the individuals should unite into 
 one great harmonious whole. Like myself, you consider concord 
 between Austria and Prussia at present the only remedy for the ills 
 
 * " M6moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. vii., pp. 39, 40. 
 tibid., vol. vii, p. 45. 
 
344 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 of Germany ; let us, therefore, strive for it, let us direct our whole 
 strength to this point, to this goal. " 
 
 "Yes, let us do sol" exclaimed Gentz, enthusiastically. "We are 
 both destined and able to be the champions of Germany ; let us fulfil 
 oui- task. No matter how much greater, how much more exalted 
 and brilliant your name may be than mine, for my part I am proud 
 enough to believe that I have certain talents which ought to unite 
 our political efforts. Hence, you cannot and must not reject and 
 neglect me ; you must accept the hand which I offer you for this 
 great and holy compact, for the welfare of Germany. We must 
 keep up an active and uninterrupted correspondence with each 
 other, and freely and unreservedly communicate to each other our 
 views about the great questions of the day. It seems to me wise, 
 necessary, and truly patriotic that such men as we should hold 
 timely consultations with each other as to what should be done, 
 and how, where, and by whom it should be done. The wholesome 
 influence we may exert, stationed by fate as one of us is in Berlin, 
 and the other in "Vienna, by faithfully uniting our efforts, will be 
 truly incalculable. Now say, my friend, will you conclude such a 
 covenant with me? Shall we unite in our active love for Germany, 
 in our active hatred against Pi-ance?" 
 
 "Yes, we will !" exclaimed Johannes Miiller, solemnly. "I truly 
 love and venerate you ; I will struggle with you incessantly until 
 we have reached our common noble goal. Here is my hand, my 
 friend ; its grasp shall be the consecration of our covenant. Perhans 
 you do not know me very intimately, but we must believe in each 
 other. All our studies, all our intellectual strength, our connec- 
 tions, our friendships, every thing shall be devoted to that one great 
 object, for the sake of which alone, so long as it may yet be accom- 
 plished, life is not to be disdained. " * 
 
 "Yes, be it so," said Gentz, joyfully. "The covenant is con- 
 cluded, and may God bless it for the welfare of Germany I" 
 
 * " Mfimoires d'un Homme d'jStat," vol. vii., p. 40. 
 
THE THIED OOALITIOIT. 
 
 CHAPTEE XLII. 
 
 THE EMPEEOK NAPOLEON. 
 
 A NEW era had dawned for France 1 On the eighteenth of May, 
 1804, she had changed her title and commenced a new epoch of her 
 existence. 
 
 On the eighteenth of May, 1804, the French Republic had ceased 
 to exist, for on that day Bonaparte, the First Consul, had become 
 Napoleon, the first Emperor of France. There was no more talk of 
 liberty, equality, and fraternity. France had again a master — a 
 master who was firmly determined to transform the proud republi- 
 cans into obedient subjects, and to restore law and order if necessary 
 by means of tyranny. Woe to tliose who wanted to remember old 
 republican France under the new state of affairs ; woe to those who 
 called Napoleon Bonaparte the assassin of the republic, and wished 
 to punish him for his criminal conduct ! George Cadoudal and 
 Pichegru had to atone with their lives for such audacious attempts, 
 andMoreau, Bonaparte's great rival, was banished from his country. 
 
 Woe to those, too, who hoped that the old royal throne of the 
 fleur-de-lis would take the place of the dying republic ! the royalists 
 as well as the republicans were punished as traitors to their country, 
 and the Duke d'Enghien was executed in the ditch of Vincennes be- 
 cause he had dared to approach the frontier of his country. Sen- 
 tence of death had been passed upon him without a trial, without 
 judgment and law ; and even the tears and prayers of Josephine had 
 been unable to soften Bonaparte's heart. The son of the Bourbons 
 had to die the death of a traitor, that the son of the Corsican lawyer 
 might become Emperor of France. 
 
 Europe was no longer strong enough to punish this bloody deed ; 
 it was not even coui-ageous enough to denounce it and to ask the 
 First Consul, Bonapai-te, by virtue of what right he had ordered his 
 soldiers in the midst of peace to enter a German state in order to 
 arrest there the guest of a German prince like a common felon, and 
 to have him executed for a crime which was never proved against, 
 him. The sense of honor and justice seemed entirely extinct in 
 
346 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Germany, and the princes and people of Germany were solely actu- 
 ated by the all-absorbing fear lest powerful France might assume a 
 hostile attitude toward them. 
 
 Not a voice, therefore, was raised in Germany in favor of the 
 Duke d'Enghien, and against a violation of the German territory, 
 directly conflicting with the existing treaties and the tenets of in- 
 ternational law. The German Diet, upon whom it was incumbent 
 to maintain the honor and rights of all the German states, received 
 the news of this bloody deed in silence, and were only too glad that 
 none of the members of the empire arose in order to complain of the 
 proceedings of France. It was deemed most prudent to pass over 
 the matter, and to accept what could not be helped as an accom- 
 plished fact. 
 
 But from this lazy quiet they were suddenly startled by the warn- 
 ings of Russia and Sweden, who, having warranted the maintenance 
 of the constitution of the German empire, now raised their voices, 
 and loudly and emphatically pointed out " the danger which would 
 arise for every single German state if Germany should allow meas- 
 ures to be taken which threatened her quiet and safety, and if deeds 
 of violence should be deemed admissible or be passed over without 
 being duly denounced. " * 
 
 A sudden panic seized the German Diet, for these Russian and 
 Swedish voices rendered further silence out of the question. The 
 Diet were, therefore, compelled to speak out, to complain, and to 
 demand an apology and redress, for Russia and Sweden required it, 
 by virtue of their relation to the empire ; foreign powers required 
 the German Diet, much to its disnaay, to maintain and defend the 
 honor of Germany. 
 
 But the Diet dared not listen to them, for Fi-ance asked them to 
 be silent ; it threatened to consider any word of censure as a declara- 
 tion of war. The ministers of the German princes, greatly embar- 
 rassed by their position between those equally imperious parties, 
 found a way not to irritate either, and to maintain their silence and 
 impartiality ; they deserted ! That is to say, the German Diet, sud- 
 denly, and long before the usual time, took a recess, a long recess, 
 and when the latter had at length expired, the unpleasant affair was 
 not taken up, and the Diet considered a more important question of 
 the day.f This more important question was to congratulate France 
 on having elected an emperor, who, as the Austi'ian minister said, 
 at a meeting of the Diet, " was so precious to all Europe, and by 
 whose accession to the throne his colleagues could only feel honored. " 
 
 The Diet had been silent about the assassination of the Duke 
 
 * Vide HSusser's " History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 518. 
 tlbid.,p, 525. 
 
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 347 
 
 d'Enghien, but they spoke out and proffered their coDgratulations 
 when Bonaparte had become emperor, and they pretended to be glad 
 to hail him as the founder of a new dynasty. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, therefore, had now attained his object ; he 
 had reestablished the throne in France ; he had placed a crown on 
 his head. More fortunate than Caesar, he had met with no Brutus 
 at the steps of his throne, but had ascended it without being hin- 
 dered, amidst the acclamations of France, which called him her 
 emperor; amidst the acclamations of Italy, which called him her 
 king, and had willingly cast aside her title of Cisalpine Republic in 
 order to become the kingdom of Lombardy, and to adorn Napoleon 
 at Milan with the iron crown of the old Lombard sovereigns. 
 
 Napoleon had just returned to France from this coronation at 
 Milan, and repaired to the vast camp at Boulogne, where an army 
 comprising a hundred and fifty thousand infantry and ninety thou- 
 sand cavalry, eager for the fray, were waiting for the word of Na- 
 poleon which was to call them forth to new struggles and new 
 victories. 
 
 The immense rows of the soldiers' tents extended far across the 
 plain and along the sea-shore, and in the centre of this city of tents, 
 on the spot where lately the traces of a camp of Julius Caesar had 
 been discovered, there arose the emperor's tent, looking out on the 
 ocean, on the shore of which the ships and gunboats of France were 
 moored, while the immense forest of the masts and flags of the 
 British fleet was to be seen in the distance. 
 
 But this forest of British masts did not frighten the French 
 army ; the soldiers, as well as the sailors, were eager for the fray, 
 and looked with fiery impatience for the moment when the emperor 
 would at length raise his voice and utter the longed-for words : " On 
 to England ! Let us vanquish England as we have vanquished the 
 whole of Europe !" 
 
 No one doubted that the emperor purposed to utter these words, 
 and that this camp of Boulogne, this fleet manned with soldiers and 
 bristling with guns, were solely intended against England, the 
 hereditary foe of France. 
 
 The emperor, however, hesitated to utter those decisive words. 
 He distributed among the soldiers the first crosses of the Legion of 
 Honor ; he drilled the troops ; he accepted the festivals and balls 
 which the city of Boulogne gave in his honor ; he stood for hours on 
 the sea-shore or on the tower of his ban-ack, and with his spy-glass 
 looked out on the sea and over to the English ships ; but his lips did 
 not open to utter the decisive words ; the schemes which filled his 
 breast and clouded his brow were a secret, the solution of which was 
 looked for with equal impatience by his generals and by his soldiers. 
 
348 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 It was a delightful morning ; a cool breeze swept from the sea 
 through the tents of the camp, and, after the preceding spell of de- 
 bilitating hot weather, exerted a most refreshing and invigorating 
 effect upon the languishing soldiers. The sun which had scorched 
 every thing for the last few days, was to-day gently veiled by small, 
 vphitish clouds, which, far on the horizon, seemed to arise, like 
 swans, from the sea toward the sky, and to hasten with outspread 
 wings toward the sun. 
 
 The emperor, whom the warm w^eather of the last few days had 
 prevented from riding out, ordered his horse to be brought to him. 
 He wished to make a trip to the neighboring villages, but no one 
 was to accompany him except Eoustan, his colored servant. 
 
 In front of the emperor's barrack there stood, however, all the 
 generals and staff-officers, all the old comrades of Napoleon, the 
 mien who had shared his campaigns and his glory, who had joyfully 
 recognized the great chieftain as their emperor and master, and 
 who wished to do him homage to-day, as they were in the habit of 
 doing eveiy morning so soon as he left his barrack. Napoleon, 
 however, saluted them to-day only with a silent wave of his hand 
 and an affable smile. He seemed pensive and absorbed, and no one 
 dared to disturb him by a sound, by a word. Amid the solemn 
 stillness of this brilliant gathering, the emperor walked to his horse, 
 who, less timid and respectful than the men, greeted his master 
 with a loud neigh and a nodding of the head, and commenced im- 
 patiently stamping on the ground.* 
 
 The emperor took the bridle which Eoustan handed to him and 
 vaulted into the saddle. He raised his sparkling eye toward the 
 sky and then lowered it to the sea with its rocking ships. 
 
 "I will review the fleet to-day, " said the emperor, turning to his 
 adjutant- general. "Let orders be issued to the ships forming the 
 closing line to change position, for I will hold the review in the 
 open sea. I shall return in two hours ; let every thing be in readi- 
 ness at that time. " 
 
 He set spurs to his horse and galloped away, followed by Roustan. 
 His generals dispersed in order to return to their barracks. The 
 adjutant-general, however, hastened to Admiral Bruix for the pur- 
 pose of delivering the orders of the emperor to him. 
 
 The admiral listened to him silently and attentively ; and then 
 he raised his eyes to the sky and scanned it long and search- 
 ingly. 
 
 " It is impossible, " he said, shrugging his shoulders ; " the orders 
 of the emperor cannot be carried out to-day ; the review cannot take 
 
 * Napoleon's favorite horse, who always manifested in this manner his delight on 
 seeing his illustrious master. — Constant, vol. ii., p. 81. 
 
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 349 
 
 place. We shall have a storm to-day, which will prevent the ships 
 from leaving their moorings. " 
 
 "Admiral," said the adjutant, respectfully, "I have delivered 
 the orders of the emperor to you ; I have informed you that the em- 
 peror wishes that every thing should be ready for the review on his 
 retiu-n, within two hours. Now you know veiy well that the wish 
 of the emperor is always equivalent to an order, and you will make 
 your preparations accordingly. " 
 
 "In two hours I shall have the honor personally to state to 
 his majesty the reasons why I was unable to comply with his 
 ordei-s, " said Admiral Bruix, with his wonted composure and cool- 
 ness. 
 
 Pi-ecisely two hours later the emperor returned from his ride. 
 The generals and staflE-officers, the whole brilliant suite of the em- 
 peror, stood again in front of his barrack, in order to receive the 
 retjiming sovereign. 
 
 Napoleon greeted them with a pleasant smile ; the ride seemed 
 to have agreed with him ; the cloud had disappeared from his brow ; 
 his cheeks, generally so pale, were suffused with a faint blush, and 
 his flaming eyes had a kind glance for every one. 
 
 He dismounted with graceful ease, and stepped with kind salu- 
 tations into the circle of the generals. 
 
 "Well, Leclerc, is every thing ready for the review?" he asked 
 his adjutant. 
 
 General Leclerc approached him respectfully. " Sire, " he said, 
 "Admiral Bruix, to whom I delivered the orders of your majesty, 
 replied to me that the review could not take place to-day because 
 there would be a storm. " 
 
 The emperor frowned, and an angry flash from his eyes met the 
 face of the adjutant. 
 
 " I must have misunderstood you, sir, " he said. " What did the 
 admiral reply when you delivered my orders to him?" 
 
 " Sire, he said it was impossible to carry them out, for a storm 
 was drawing near, and he could not think of ordering the ships to 
 leave their moorings. " 
 
 The emperor stamped violently his foot. " Let Admiral Bruix be 
 called hither at once !" he exclaimed, in a thundering voice, and 
 two orderlies immediately left the circle and hastened away. 
 
 Several minutes elapsed ; Napoleon, his arms folded, his threat- 
 ening eyes steadfastly turned toward the side on which the admiral 
 would make his appearance, still stood in front of his barrack, in 
 the midst of his suite. His eagle eye now discovered the admiral 
 in the distance, who had just left his boat and stepped ashore. No 
 longer able to suppress his impatience and anger. Napoleon hastened 
 
350 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 forward to meet the admiral, while the gentlemen of his staff fol- 
 lowed him in a long and silent procession. 
 
 The emperor and the admiral now stood face to face. Napoleon's 
 eyes flashed fire. 
 
 "Admiral, " exclaimed the emperor, in an angry voice, "why did 
 not you carry out my orders?" 
 
 The admiral met Napoleon's wrathful glance in a calm though 
 respectful manner. " Sire, " he said, " a terrible storm is drawing 
 near. Your majesty can see it just as well as I. Do you want to 
 endanger unnecessarily the lives of so many brave men?" 
 
 And as if Nature wanted to confirm the words of the admiral, 
 the distant roll of thimder was heard, and the atmosphere com- 
 menced growing dark. 
 
 Napoleon, however, seemed not to see it, or the calm voice of 
 the admiral and the rolling thunder, perhaps, excited his pride to 
 an even more obstinate resistance. 
 
 " Admiral, " he replied, sternly, " I have issued my orders. I ask 
 you once more why did not you carry them out? The consequences 
 concern only myself. Obey, therefore !" 
 
 " Sire, " he said, solemnly, " I shall not obey !" 
 
 "Sir, you are an impudent fellow!" ejaculated Napoleon, and, 
 advancing a step toward the admiral, he menacingly raised the 
 hand in which he still held his riding- whip. 
 
 Admiral Bruix drew back a step and laid his hand on his sword. 
 A terrible pause ensued. The emperor still stood there, the riding- 
 whip in his uplifted hand, fixing his flaming, angry eyes on the 
 admiral, who maintained his threatening, manly attitude, and, 
 with his hand on his sword, awaited the emperor's attack. The 
 generals and staff-offlcers, pale with dismay, formed a circle around 
 them. 
 
 The emperor suddenly dropped his riding- whip ; Admiral Bruix 
 immediately withdrew his hand from his sword, and, taking off his 
 hat, he awaited the end of the dreadful scene in profound silence. 
 
 "Rear- Admiral Magon," said the emperor, calling one of the 
 gentlemen of his suite, " cause the movements I had ordered to be 
 carried out at once ! As for you, " he continued, slowly turning his 
 eyes toward the admiral, "you will leave Boulogne within twenty- 
 four hours and retire to Holland. Begone !" 
 
 He turned around hastily and walked toward his barrack. Ad- 
 miral Bruix looked after him with an aggrieved air, and then turned 
 also around in order to go. While walking through the crowd of 
 generals and ttafl-offioers, he offered his hand to his friends and 
 acquaintances in order to take leave of them ; but few of them, 
 however, saw it, and shook hands with him ; most of them had 
 
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 351 
 
 arerted their eyes from the admiral, whom the sun of imperial 
 favor did not illuminate any longer, and who consequently was so 
 entirely cast in the shade, that they were unable to perceive him. 
 
 Rear- Admiral Magon had in the mean time carried out the orders 
 of the emperor. The ships which before had been at anchor near 
 the outlet of the harbor, keeping it entirely closed, had moved farther 
 into the sea, while the other vessels in the harbor were going out. 
 
 But Admiral Bruix's prediction began already to be fulfilled ; the 
 sky was covered with black clouds from which lightning was burst- 
 ing forth in rapid succession. The thunder of the heavens drowned 
 the roar of the sea, which arose like a huge, black monster, hissing 
 and howling, and fell back again from its height, covered with 
 foam, and opened abysses into which the ships seemed to sink in 
 order to be hurled up again by the next wave. The storm, with its 
 dismal yells, attacked the masts and broke them as though they 
 were straws, and lashed the ships, which had already left the harbor, 
 out into the sea, to certain ruin, to certain death. 
 
 The emperor had left his ban-ack and hurried down to the beach 
 with rapid steps. "With folded arms and lowered head, gloomy and 
 musing, he walked up and down in the storm. He was suddenly 
 aroused from his meditations by loud screams, by exclamations of 
 terror and dismay. 
 
 . Twenty gunboats, which the rear-admiral had already caused to 
 be manned with sailors and soldiers, had been driven ashore by the 
 storm, and the waves which swept over them with thundering noise 
 menaced the crews with certain death. Their cries for help, their 
 shrieks and supplications were distinctly heard and reechoed by the 
 wails and lamentations of the masses that had hastened to the beach 
 in order to witness the storm and the calamities of the shipwreck. 
 
 The emperor looked at his generals and staff-ofiicers who sur- 
 rounded him, dumbfounded with horror ; he saw that no one had 
 the courage or deemed it feasible to assist the poor drowning men. 
 All at once the gloomy air vanished from his face ; it became radiant 
 with enthusiasm ; the emperor was transformed once more into a 
 hero, daring every thing, and shrinking back from no danger. 
 
 He immediately entered one of the life-boats and pushing back 
 the arms of those who wished to detain him, he exclaimed in an 
 almost jubilant voice : " Let me go, let me go I We must assist 
 those unhappy men !" 
 
 But his frail bark was speedily filled with water; the waves 
 swept over it with a wild roar, and covered the whole form of the 
 emperor with foaming, hissing spray. He still kept himself erect 
 by dint of almost superhuman efforts ; but now another even more 
 terrible wave approached and swept, thundering and with so much 
 
353 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 violence over the bark, that the emperor, reeling and losing his 
 equilibrium, was about falling overboard, when his generals dragged 
 him from the boat and took him ashore. He followed them 
 unliesitatingly, stunned as he was by the wave, and as he stepped 
 ashore, a flash burst forth from the cloud ; a majestic thimder-clap 
 followed ; the howling storm tore the hat from the emperor's head 
 and carried it, as if on invisible wings, high into the air and then 
 far out into the sea where the waves seemed to receive it with roars 
 of exultation, driving it down to their foaming depth. 
 
 But the courageous example given by the emperor had exerted an 
 electric effect on the masses which heretofore had apparently been 
 stupefied with horror. Every one now felt and recognized it to be 
 his sacred duty to make efforts for the rescue of the unfortunate 
 men who were still struggling with the waves and shouting for 
 help ; officers, soldiers, sailors, and citizens, all rushed into the life- 
 boats or plunged into the sea in order to swim up to the drowning 
 men and save them in time from a wateiy grave. 
 
 But the sea was not willing to surrender many of its victims. 
 It wanted, perhaps, to prove its superior divine majesty to the im- 
 perial ruler which had defied it, and pimish him for his presump- 
 tion. 
 
 Only a few were rescued, for the storm did not abate during the 
 whole day ; it lashed up the sea into waves mountain-high, or 
 opened abysses frightful to behold. Night finally descended on the 
 angry waters and spread its black pall over the scene of death and 
 despair. 
 
 In the morning the beach was covered with hundreds of corpses 
 which the sea had thrown ashore. An enormous crowd thronged 
 the shore ; every one came to look with fainting heart and loud 
 lamentations among the mute, pale corpses for a husband, a friend, 
 or a brother ; shrieks and wails filled the air and even penetrated to 
 the emperor's barracks. 
 
 He had not slept during the whole night ; he had been pacing 
 his rooms, restless, with a gloomy air and pale cheeks : now, early 
 in the morning, he once more hastened down to the beach. Thou- 
 sands of persons, however, had preceded him thither. When they 
 beheld the emperor they stepped gloomily aside ; they did not receive 
 him, as heretofore, with loud exultation and joyful acclamations ; 
 they looked at him with a reproachful air, and then turned their 
 eyes in mute eloquence to the corpses lying in the sand. 
 
 The emperor was unable to bear the silence of the crowd and the 
 sight of these corpses ; pale and shuddering, he turned away and 
 walked back to his barrack slowly and with lowered head. But he 
 did not fail to hear the murmurs of the crowd which had only been 
 
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 353 
 
 silent so long as it had seen his face, and which, now that he had 
 turned away, gave free vent to its grief and indignation. 
 
 The emperor heai-d painful sighs when he reached his barrack, 
 and sent immediately for Roustan, in order to give him secret in- 
 structions. Thanks to these instructions, Roustan 's agents hastened 
 all day through the city of Boulogne and through the camp for the 
 purpose of distributing money in the name of the emperor wherever 
 pei-sons were lamenting and weeping, or where gloomy glances and 
 mourners were to be met with, thus allaying their grief by means 
 of the shining magic metal which heals all wounds and dries all 
 tears. 
 
 The emperor, however, had still a more eflfeotual charm for allay- 
 ing the indignation of the crowd, or at least for stirring up again 
 the jubilant enthusiasm of his soldiers. 
 
 Telegraphic dispatches of the highest importance had reached 
 the camp ; courier after courier had followed them. Tlie emperor 
 assembled all his generals in the council-chamber of his barrack, 
 and when they left it, after a consultation of several hours, the 
 rumor spread through the cam.p that the emperor would now at 
 length utter those longed-for words and lead his army to new strug- 
 gles, to new victories. 
 
 These joyful tidings spread like wildfire among the troops ; every 
 one hailed them with a radiant face and merry glances. Every one 
 saw himself on the eve of fresh honors and spoils, and only asked 
 whither the victorious course of the emperor would be directed this 
 time — whether to England, which constantly seemed to menace 
 France with its forest of masts, or whether to Austria, whose hostile 
 friendship might have been distrusted. 
 
 The emperor had not yet spoken the decisive words to any mem- 
 ber of his suite, but he had sent for the grand-marshal of the palace 
 and ordered him to hold every thing in readiness for his departure ; 
 to settle all accounts and bills against the emperor, and to beware 
 on this occasion of not paying too much to any one. 
 
 On the day after receiving these orders, the grand-marshal, 
 without being announced, appeared before the emperor, who was 
 in the council-chamber of his barrack, engaged in studying atten- 
 tively the maps spread out on the large table before him. 
 
 Napoleon only looked up for a moment, and then continued to 
 stick pins into the maps, thus designating the route which his army 
 was to take. 
 
 "Well, Duroc," he asked, "is every thing ready for our depar- 
 ture? Have all bills been paid?" 
 
 " Sire, they are all paid except one, and I must dare to disturb 
 your majesty in relation to this one bill. " 
 
354 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "I suppose it is very high and fraudulent?" asked the emperor, 
 hastily. With these words he rose and approached the grand- 
 marshal. 
 
 "Sire," said the latter, "I do not know whether it is fraudulent 
 or not, but it is very high. It is the bill of Military Intendant 
 Sordi, who built this barrack, and to whom its fitting up had been 
 intrusted. " 
 
 "Well, how much does he charge for it?" asked Napoleon. 
 
 " Sire, he asks fifty thousand francs. " 
 
 "Fifty thousand francs!" exclaimed Napoleon, almost in terror. 
 "I hope you have not paid this impudent bill?" 
 
 "No, sire, I have not; on the contrary, I requested M. Sordi to 
 reduce the sum. " 
 
 "And he has done so, of course?" exclaimed Napoleon, gloomily. 
 " Just like these men. They ask us to confide in them, and yet they 
 try on every occasion to cheat us. How much did he deduct from 
 his bill?" 
 
 " Nothing at all, sire. M. Sordi asserts that he did not charge 
 too much for a single article ; he was unable, therefore, to make 
 even the slightest deduction. " 
 
 " And so you have paid the bill?" 
 
 " No, sire, I said that I could not pay it until your majesty had 
 given me express orders to do so. " 
 
 " Well done, " said the emperor, nodding to him. " Send word to 
 the military intendant that I want to see him immediately. I wish 
 to talk to him myself. " 
 
 The grand-marshal withdrew, and Napoleon returned to his 
 maps. He continued to mark them with long rows of pins, and to 
 draw circles and straight lines on them. 
 
 "If the Austrians are bold enough to advance," he said to him- 
 self, in a low voice, " I shall beat them in the open field ; should 
 they remain stationary and wait for me to attack them, I shall in- 
 flict upon them a crushing defeat at Ulm. It is time for me to 
 make these overbearing Germans feel the whole weight of my wrath, 
 and, as they have spurned my friendship, to crush them by my 
 enmity. That little Emperor of Austria dares to menace me ; I shall 
 prove to him that menacing me is bringing about one's own ruin. 
 I shall assemble my forces here in this plain, and here — " 
 
 "Sire, the military intendant, M. de Sordi, whom your majesty 
 has ordered to appear before you," said the emperor's aide-de-camp, 
 opening the door of the council-chamber. 
 
 " Let him come in, " ejaculated Napoleon, without averting his 
 eyes from the map. 
 
 The aide-de-camp retired, and the tall, powerful form of Inten- 
 
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 355 
 
 dant Sordi appeared in the door. His face was pale, but calm ; his 
 features indicated boldness and a fixed purpose ; he was evidently 
 conscious of the importance of the present moment, and felt that it 
 would decide his whole future. 
 
 The emperor continued scanning his maps. M. de Sordi stood at 
 the door, waiting for the emperor to address him. When he saw 
 that the latter tarried very long, he advanced a step, and, as if acci- 
 dentally, pushed against the chair standing at his side. 
 
 The noise aroused Napoleon from his meditation, and reminded 
 him of the person he had sent for. 
 
 He therefore hastily turned around to him. " Sir, " he said, " you 
 have spent a great deal too much money for the decoration of this 
 miserable barrack ; yes, indeed, a great deal too much. Fifty thou- 
 sand francs! What do you mean, sir? That is frightful ; I shall 
 not pay that sum !" 
 
 M. de Sordi met the flaming glances of the emperor with smiling 
 calmness. 
 
 " Sire, " he said, lifting up his hand and pointing at the ceiling, 
 " I may truthfully say that the clouds of gold brocade adorning the 
 ceiling of this room, and surrounding the propitious star of your 
 majesty, have cost alone not less than twenty-five thousand francs. 
 Had I consulted, however, the hearts of your subjects, the imperial 
 eagle, which now again will crush the enemies of France and of 
 your throne, would have spread out its wings amidst the most mag- 
 nificent and precious diamonds. " * 
 
 Napoleon smiled. " Veiy well, " he said ; " you believe the hearts 
 of my subjects to be very prodigal. I am not, however, and I repeat 
 to you I shall not pay that sum now. But as you tell me that this 
 eagle, which costs so much money, will crush the Austrians, you 
 wiU doubtless wait until it has done so, and then I will pay your 
 biU with the rue-dollars of the Emperor of Germany and the Fred- 
 ericks d'or of the King of Prussia."! 
 
 He dismissed him smilingly with a wave of his hand, and re- 
 turned to his maps. 
 
 A few hours later Napoleon, followed by all his generals and 
 adjutants, repaired to the camp. Ascending a small mound, spe- 
 cially prepared for the occasion, he surveyed with radiant eyes the 
 surging, motley, and brilliant sea of soldiers who surrounded him 
 on all sides, and who greeted his appearance with thundering shouts 
 of exultation. 
 
 * The ceiling of the room was decorated with golden clouds, amidst which, on a 
 blue ground, was an eagle, holding a thunderbolt, and pointing it at a star, the star 
 of the emperor.— Constant, vol. i., p. 246. 
 
 t Napoleon's own words.— Constant, vol. i., p. 246. 
 
356 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 A wave of his hand commanded them to be still, and, as if fasci- 
 nated by a magician's wand, the roaring masses grew dumb, and 
 profound silence ensued. Amidst this silence. Napoleon raised his 
 clear, ringing -voice, and its sonorous notes swept like eagle-wings 
 over the sea of soldiers. 
 
 "Brave soldiers of the camp of Boulogne," he said, "you will 
 not go to England. The gold of the English government has seduced 
 the Emperor of Austria, and he has again declared war against 
 France. His army has crossed the line of demarcation assigned to 
 it, and inundated Bavaria. Soldiers, fresh laurels are awaiting you 
 beyond the Ehine; let us hasten to vanquish once more enemies 
 whom we have already vanquished. On to Germany !" * 
 
 "On to Germany!" shouted the soldiers, jubilantly. "On to 
 Germany !" was repeated from mouth to mouth, and even the sea 
 seemed to roar with delight and its waves, thundering against the 
 beach, to shout, " On to Germany !" 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 NAPOLEON AND THE GERMAN PRINCES. 
 
 The Emperor of France with his army had crossed the bounda- 
 ries of Germany. He had come to assist his ally, the Elector of 
 Bavaria, against the Austrians who had invaded Bavaria; not, 
 however, in order to menace Bavaria, but, as an autograph letter 
 from the Emperor Francis to the elector expressly stated, to secure 
 a more extended and better protected position. 
 
 The Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian Joseph, had declared, in a 
 submissive letter to the Austrian emperor, that he was perfectly 
 willing to let the Austrian regiments encamp within his dominions. 
 " I pledge my word as a sovereign to your majesty, " he had written 
 to the Emperor of Germany, " that I shall not hinder the operations 
 of your army in any manner whatever, and if, what is improbable, 
 however, your majesty should be obliged to retreat with your army, 
 I promise and swear that I shall remain quiet and support your pro- 
 jects in every respect. But I implore your majesty on my knees to 
 permit me graciously to maintain the strictest neutrality. It is a 
 father, driven to despair by anguish and care, who implores your 
 majesty's mercy in favor of his child. My son is just now travel- 
 ling in southern France. If I should be obliged to send my troops 
 into the field against France my son would be lost, and the fate of 
 the Duke d'Enghien would be in store for him, too ; if I should, 
 * Napoleon's own words.— Constant, vol. 1., p. 282. 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE GERMAN PRINCES. 357 
 
 however, remain quietly and peaceably in my states, I should gain 
 time for my son to return from France. " * 
 
 But on the same day, and with the same pen, on which the ink 
 with which he had written to the Emperor of Germany was not yet 
 dry, tlie elector had also written to the Emperor of France and in- 
 formed him " that he was ready to place himself under his protec- 
 tion, that he would be proud to become the ally of France, and that 
 he would thenceforward lay himself and his army at the feet of the 
 great and august Emperor of France. " 
 
 And the courier who was to deliver the letter with the sacred 
 pledges of neutrality to the Emperor of Germany, had not yet 
 reached Vienna when the Elector of Bavaria secretly fled from 
 Mimich to "Wurzburg, where his army of twenty-five thousand men 
 was waiting for him. 
 
 He sent his army, commanded by General Deroy, to meet the 
 Emperor of the French ; it was not to attack him as the enemy of 
 Germany, but to hail him as an ally and to place itself under his 
 direction. He then issued a proclamation. 
 
 "We have separated from Austria," he said, "from Austria, 
 who wanted to ensnare and annihilate us by her perfidious schemes, 
 and to compel us to fight at her side for foreign interests ; from 
 Austria, the hereditary foe of our house and of our independence, 
 who is just now going to make another attempt to devour Bavaria, 
 and degrade her to the position of an Austrian province. But the 
 Emperor of the French, Bavaria's natural ally, hastened to the 
 rescue with his brave warriors, in order to avenge you ; your sons 
 will soon fight at the side of men accustomed to victory ; soon, soon 
 the day of retribution will be at hand. " f 
 
 Thanks to the hatred of the Germans against their German 
 brethren, thanks to the hati'ed of the Bavarians against the Aus- 
 trians, this proclamation had been received with joyful acclama- 
 tions throughout the whole state, and Bavaria felt proud and happy 
 that she should fight under the Emperor of the French, her "natural 
 ally, " against the Emperor of Germany. 
 
 The French army was drawn up in line in the plain near Nord- 
 lingen, in order to solemnly receive its German auxiliaries. They 
 were the first German troops that Napoleon had gained over to his 
 side, and therefore he wished to welcome them pompously and with 
 all honors. Amidst the jubilant notes of all the bands of the Fi-ench 
 army, amidst the enthusiastic shouts of the French soldiers, the 
 Bavarians marched into the French camp. The emperor, in full 
 uniform, surrounded by all his generals, welcomed General Deroy 
 
 * "Mfimoires sur I'lnt^rieur du Palais de Napolfion," by De Bausset, vol. i., p. 59. 
 t Hiiusser's " History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 611. 
 
358 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 and the Bavarian oflBcers ; accompanied by a wave of his sword, he 
 said to them : 
 
 " I have placed myself at the head of my army in order to deliver 
 your country, for the house of Austria intends to annihilate your 
 independence. You will follow the example of your ancestors, who 
 constantly preserved that independence and political existence 
 which are the first blessings of a nation. I know your valor, and 
 am sure that I shall be able after the first battle to say to your sov- 
 ereign and to my people, that you are worthy to fight in the ranks 
 of the grand army. " 
 
 The Bavarian soldiers hailed this proud address with the same 
 exultation with which the Bavarian people had received the procla- 
 mation of the elector ; and never had the French soldiers manifested 
 greater enthusiasm for their chieftain and emperor than did these 
 German soldiers, the first German auxiliaries of the emperor. 
 
 Napoleon received their jubilant shouts with a gracious smile. 
 
 " Duroc, " he said, turning to his friend and comrade, who was 
 riding at his side — " Duroc, listen to what I am going to say to you. 
 The Germans are not good patriots ; they are capable of loving the 
 conqueror of their country just as well as their legitimate sovereign. 
 Even at the time of Julius Cajsar there was no harmony among the 
 Germans ; and while Arminius opposed the Romans heroically, 
 Segestes declared in favor of them. If, as a modem Julius Caesar, 
 I should wish to conquer Germany, I believe I should find there no 
 Arminius, but certainly many Segesteses. " 
 
 " But, perhaps, a few Thusneldas, sire, *' said Duroc, laughing ; 
 "and your majesty knows full well that it was Thusnelda, after 
 all, who filled her husband with so undying a hatred against the 
 Romans. " 
 
 "And the son of Thusnelda became a prisoner of the Romans!" 
 exclaimed Napoleon ; "he became a miserable slave of the Romans, 
 and preferred a life of humiliation and disgrace to an honorable 
 death. The Germans are great talkers ; they are always ready to 
 fight with their tongues for the honor of their country, but they do 
 not like to die for it. But who are the Thusneldas with whom you 
 threatened me? Did you allude to Queen Caroline of Naples, the 
 daughter of Maria Theresa?" 
 
 " Oh, no, sire ; she is no longer a German, but an Italian 
 intriguer — a — " 
 
 "She is, as I told her own ambassador in Milan, a modern 
 Athalia, a daughter of Jezebel," said Napoleon, interrupting him 
 vehemently. "But patience, patience, I shall punish her for her 
 bitter hatred and intrigues. " 
 
 " Sire, it was in your power to receive ardent love at the hands 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE GERMAN PRINCES 359 
 
 of Queen Caroline, instead of her hatred, which is, perhaps, nothing 
 but concealed love. I suppose your majesty knows what the queen 
 said only a few years ago to the French minister?" 
 
 " No, I do not, or perhaps I have only forgotten it, " replied Na- 
 poleon, carelessly. "Did she want to make a postilion d'amour of 
 him?" 
 
 " Nearly so, sire. She told him she would willingly travel four 
 hundred leagues in order to see General Bonaparte. She added that 
 you were the only great man in the world, and none but idiots were 
 seated at the present time on all the thrones of Europe. " * 
 
 "A very flattering remark for her husband and for her nephew, 
 the Emperor of Austria, " said Napoleon. " She referred, however, 
 only to those who are seated on thrones, but the tender queen has 
 been able to discover a few real men by the side of her husband's 
 tlirone. I have never hankered after becoming the rival of Acton 
 and Nelson. I do not like passionate and ambitious women. They 
 must be gentle and charming like Josephine if they are to please 
 me." 
 
 " I wish the empress were here and able to hear your words, " ex- 
 claimed Duroc. 
 
 " Does she again doubt my constancy ?" asked Napoleon, quickly. 
 "Have my brothers again frightened her by threats of a divorce? 
 Let her be reassured, I do not think of a separation from her, and 
 all the Thusneldas of Germany cannot become dangerous to me. 
 But you have not yet told me the names of those Thusneldas. Let 
 me hear them. " 
 
 " Sire, first there is the beautiful Queen of Prussia. She is said 
 to be a bitter enemy of France. " 
 
 "Yes, a bitter enemy of mine!" exclaimed Napoleon, with a 
 gloomy and threatening glance ; " a short-sighted woman, who does 
 not see that she will ruin her good-natured, weak, and irresolute 
 husband if she carries him along with her on this path of hostility 
 and hatred. She will repent one day having scorned my friend- 
 ship, for, if she succeeds in gaining her husband over to an alliance 
 with Russia, I shall be inexorable, and mercilessly trample the 
 whole vacillating and fickle Prussia in the dust. And do you still 
 know of another Thusnelda?" 
 
 "Yes, sire; it is the wife of the Elector Frederick of Wurtem- 
 berg, who is also said to have filled her husband with ardent hatred 
 against France, and with fervent patriotism for Germany. The 
 elector and electress are reported to have taken a solemn oath in 
 the presence of their whole court never to bow or submit to Fi-ance, 
 and never to prove recreant to the interests of Germany. " 
 * Queen Caroline actually said this to the French minister. 
 24 
 
360 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " I shall compel them to believe that the interests of Germany 
 require them to bow to France and to become our allies !" exclaimed 
 Napoleon, proudly. " The electress of Wurtemberg is a daughter of 
 George the Third of England, a daughter of my mortal enemy ; 
 hence, she shall bow to me or feel my pow^r and my wrath. The 
 time for hesitation and procrastination is over. I want to have my 
 friends at my side and my enemies opposite me. Let the German 
 princes choose whether they will go with France against Austria, 
 their common despot, or whether, like Austria, they wished to be 
 conquered by France ! We shall see which side Wurtemberg will 
 espouse, for Ney is already with his corps on the road to Stuttgart, 
 and in the course of a few days I shall pay a visit to the elector and 
 electress at their own palace. " 
 
 And a few days later Napoleon really kept his word : he paid a 
 visit to the elector and electress at Louisburg, after Ney had com- 
 pelled the government of Wurtemberg to open the gates of Stuttgart 
 to his troops. 
 
 The elector received the emperor at the foot of the palace stair- 
 case, where only an hour ago he had assured his courtiers he would 
 not receive the upstart Napoleon as an equal and shake hands with 
 him ; but as Napoleon now saluted him with a kind nod, and gave 
 him his hand, the elector bowed so deeply and respectfully that it 
 almost looked as if he wished to kiss the small, white, imperial 
 hand which he had seized so joyfully and reverentially.* 
 
 The electress, who entered at the side of her husband, received 
 the emperor in the large and brilliant throne-room of the palace. 
 Her face was pale and gloomy when she bowed ceremoniously to the 
 hereditary foe of her house, and not the faintest tinge of a smile 
 was to be seen on her lips when she replied to the emperor's address. 
 
 Napoleon's face, however, was strangely mild and winning to- 
 day, and yet radiant with dignity and grandeur. It was the face 
 of a conqueror who does not intend to treat those whom he has 
 subjugated with arrogance and rigor, but desires to win their affec- 
 tion by gentleness and love. Hence, his eyes had only mild and 
 kind glances, and on his finely-formed lips there was playing that 
 smile which the Empress Josephine said was the sunbeam of his 
 face, and irresistible to any woman. 
 
 Nor was the electress able to withstand this smile and this kind 
 bearing of Napoleon. She had expected to find in the emperor an 
 ardent enemy of her native England, and he now paid a glowing 
 and eloquent tribute to the English, to their country, to their 
 institutions and character. Napoleon had been described to her as 
 a barbarian, taking interest only in warfare and every thing con- 
 * " Memoirs of General de Wolzogen," y. 24. 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE GERMAN PRINCES. 3G1 
 
 nected with it; and now she found him to be an admirer of the 
 English poets, and heard him expatiate enthusiastically on Ossian, 
 some of whose most magnificent verses he recited to her in a French 
 translation. 
 
 The stern features of the electress gradually began to relax ; the 
 smile gradually returned to her lips, and she bent her proud head 
 more graciously to the " upstart" Napoleon. 
 
 " Oh, sire !" she exclaimed, joyfully, and for the first time she 
 did not avoid addressing him with the title due to his rank — "oh, 
 sire, he who admires the English poets so enthusiastically cannot 
 possibly be an enemy of England !" 
 
 " I am not by any means, " said Napoleon, smiling ; " I know no 
 enmity whatever ; peace is the sole aim of my efiforts, and I'believe 
 Fate has sent me to mankind for the purpose of establishing eternal 
 peace. It is true, I have to conquer peace by wars and commotions, 
 but I shall conquer it, and you, princess, you and your husband 
 must help me to do so. I intrust to your hands a noble task, which 
 the high-minded and proud daughter of England is worthy of, and 
 the German elector will not hinder the noble endeavors of his wife, 
 especially as the honor and welfare of Germany are at stake. " 
 
 "I am ready and willing to do for Germany what I can, and 
 whatever your majesty may command me to do, " exclaimed the 
 elector. "Will your majesty now tell me what I inust do?" 
 
 "You must conclude an alliance with France, in order to save 
 Germany, " said the emperor, almost sternly. 
 
 "Sire, I have not the power to conclude such an alliance — I am 
 unable to do so, " said the elector, sighing. 
 
 "Your state can if you cannot," said Napoleon, quickly. 
 
 "But the representatives of my people will not consent. " 
 
 "I shall protect you against these representatives of your people. 
 You will tell them, besides, that you have saved Wurtemberg by 
 becoming my ally. For he who is not for me is against me, and I 
 shall annihilate those who are against me, and their states shall fall 
 to ruin. Those, however, who are for me I shall elevate, and it 
 seems to me I see already a royal crown on the noble brow of the 
 electi-ess. I suppose, " asked Napoleon, turning again with a smile 
 toward the electress, "' your royal highness would not be dissatisfied 
 if you should become the queen of your people ; it would be agree- 
 able to you to be called 'your majesty, ' and if it were only because 
 it would remind you in so pleasant a manner of your royal parents 
 who are addressed with the same title?" 
 
 "Oh, sire," exclaimed the electress, with radiant eyes, and 
 unable to conceal her joy—" oh, sire, you are right, it would remind 
 me most pleasantly of my paternal home and of England. " 
 
362 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " But would not a royal crown crush my state which is too small 
 for it?" asked the elector. 
 
 ■' Well, -we shall enlarge it so as to render it able and worthy to 
 support a royal crown, " exclaimed Napoleon, hastily. "I believe I 
 shall have the power and opportunity to bestow on my ally, the 
 elector of Wurtemberg, some aggrandizements in Germany to com- 
 pensate and reward him for the auxiliaries which he is to furnish 
 to me. Besides, your task is a truly grand one. You shall assist 
 me in subduing Austria, that arrogant Austria which would like to 
 treat all Germany as her property, and who considers all German 
 princes as her servants and vassals. '' 
 
 " You are right, " said the elector, vehemently ; " Austria con- 
 stantly endeavors to meddle with my prerogatives in an unbecom- 
 ing and arrogant manner. She would like to degrade us to the 
 position of vassals who must always be ready to obey their emperor, 
 but who, when they are themselves in danger, never can count on 
 the assistance and support of their emperor. " 
 
 •'Let us, then, dispel Austria's illusion as though she were your 
 master, '' said Napoleon, smiling. " Become my ally, and believe 
 me, we shall have the power to teach the Emperor of Austria to 
 respect the King of Wurtemberg, my ally. Will you be my ally for 
 that purpose? Will you assist me, as a German prince, in deliver- 
 ing Germany from the yoke Austria has laid around her neck?" 
 
 "Sire, I am ready to save Germany with my life-blood!" ex- 
 claimed the elector, " and as your majesty has come to deliver Ger- 
 many from Austria, it would be a crime for any German prince to 
 withhold his assistance from you. Hence, I accept your alliance. 
 Here is my hand ! I shall stand by you with my troops and with 
 my honor !" * 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 QUEEN LOUISA'S PIANO LESSON. 
 
 The queen sat at the piano, practising one of Reichardt's new 
 songs which her singing-teacher, the royal concei-t-master and com- 
 poser, Himmel, had just brought to her. The queen wore a most 
 brilliant costume, which, however, seemed calculated less for her 
 silent cabinet and for the music-teacher than for a great gala-day 
 
 * The whole account of thi.s interview is strictly historical. Vide " Memoirs of Gen- 
 eral de Wolzogen," and Hausser's" History of Germany," vol. ii.,p, 613. The Elector 
 of Wurtemberg became the third German ally of the French emperor, the Electors 
 of Bavaria and Baden having preceded him. He furnished ten thousand Ger- 
 man troops to Napoleon. 
 
QUEEN LOUISA-S PIANO LESSON. 363 
 
 and an aristocratic assemblj- at court. A white satin dress, inter- 
 woven with golden iiowers, and closely fitting, according to the 
 fashion of that period, surrounded her noble figure. Her splendid 
 white arms were bare, and her wrists were adorned with two brace- 
 lets of gold and precious stones. Her neck and shoulders, showing 
 the noble lines and forms of a Venus of Melos, were uncovered like 
 her arms, and adorned only with jewelry. Her hair, surrounding 
 a forehead of classical beauty in waving masses, was fastened be- 
 hind in a Grecian knot holding the golden diadem, set with 
 diamonds, which arose on the queen's head.* A gentle blush man- 
 tled her cheeks, and a smile of melancholy and tenderness trembled 
 on her pui-ple lips. She had her hands on the keys, and her eyes 
 were fixed on the music-book before her ; but she had suddenly 
 ceased singing in the middle of the piece, and her voice had died 
 away in a long sigh. 
 
 Mr. Himmel, the concert-master, stood behind her ; he was a man 
 more than forty years of age, with a broad, full face, beaming with 
 health, and a tall and slender form which would have been more 
 fitting for the head of an Apollo than for this head, which reminded 
 the beholder of a buffalo rather than of a god. 
 
 When the queen paused, a .joyful smile overspread his features, 
 which had hitherto been gloomy and ill at ease. "Your majesty 
 pauses?" he asked, hastily. "Well, I wish your majesty joy of it. 
 That Mr. Eeichardt, of Halle, is too sentimental and arrogant a com- 
 poser, and never should I have dared to lay these new pieces of his 
 before jour majesty if you had not asked me to bring you every 
 thing written by Reichardt. Well, you have seen it now ; it dis- 
 pleases your majesty, and I am glad of it, for — ■" 
 
 "For, "said the queen, gently interrupting him, "for the great 
 composer Himmel is again jealous of the great composer Reichardt. 
 Is it not so?" 
 
 She raised her dark-blue eyes at this question to Himmel' s face, 
 and he saw to his dismay that there were tears in those eyes. 
 
 "What !" he asked in terror, "your majesty has wept?" 
 
 She nodded in the aflftrmative, smiling gently. "Yes," she said, 
 after a pause, " I have wept, and hence I could not continue singing. 
 Do not scold me, do not be angry with me, my dear and stern 
 teacher. This song has moved me profoundly ; it is so simple and 
 yet so touching, that it must have come out of the depths of a truly 
 noble heart. " 
 
 Mr. Himmel replied only with a low sigh and an almost inau- 
 dible murmur, which the queen, however, understood very well. 
 
 * A portrait, representing the queen precisely in ttiis costume, may be seen at the 
 royal palace in Berlin. 
 
364 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " Perhaps, " she said, trying gently to heal the jealous pangs of 
 the composer, "perhaps I was so deeply moved by the words rather 
 than by the music ; these words are so beautiful that it seems to me 
 Groethe never wrote any thing more beautiful. " 
 
 And bending over the music-book, she read in an undertone : 
 
 " Wer nie sein Brod mit Thranen ass, 
 Wer nie die Icummervollen Nachte 
 Auf seinem Bette einsam sass, 
 Der kennt eueh nicht, Ihr himmlisclien Machtel" * 
 
 " Say yourself , Mr. Himmel, is not that beautiful and touching?" 
 she asked, looking up again to her teacher. 
 
 " Beautiful and touching for those who have wept much and suf- 
 fered much, " said Himmel, harshly ; " but I cannot conceive why 
 these words should touch your majesty, whose whole life has hitherto 
 illuminated the world like an uninterrupted sunny spring morning. " 
 
 "Hitherto," repeated the queen, musingly, "yes, hitherto, in- 
 deed, my life was a sunny spring morning, but who is able to fathom 
 what clouds may soon appear on the horizon, and how cloudy and 
 gloomy the evening may be? This song reechoes in my soul like a 
 melancholy foreboding, and clings to its wings as if it wanted to 
 paralyze their flight. 'He who never ate his bread with tears, ' ah, 
 how mournful it sounds, and what a long story of suffering is con- 
 tained in these few words !" 
 
 The queen paused, and two tears, glistening more beautifully 
 than the diamonds of her golden diadem, slowly ran down her 
 cheeks. 
 
 Concert -master Himmel was not courageous enough to interrupt 
 the silence of the queen, or, may be, he had not listened very atten- 
 tively to her words, and his thoughts perhaps were fixed on matters 
 of an entirely different character, for his air was absent and gloomy ; 
 his eyes glanced around the room, but i-eturned continually to the 
 lovely form of the queen. 
 
 Suddenly Louisa seemed to arouse herself violently from her 
 gloomy meditation, and after hastily wiping the tears from her eyes 
 she forced herself to smile. 
 
 " It is not good to give way to melancholy forebodings, " she said, 
 " particularlj- in the presence of a stem teacher. We must improve 
 our time in a more useful manner, for time is a very precious thing ; 
 and if I had not judiciously profited by my short leisure to-day, I 
 should not have had a single hour to spare for my teacher, for there 
 
 * "He who never ate his bread with tears, 
 He who never, through nights of affliction. 
 Sat on his lonely bed, 
 He does not know you, powers of heaven 1 " 
 
QUEEN LOUISA'S PIANO LESSON. 365 
 
 will be a reception in the palace to-night, and I must previously 
 give audience to several visitors. I have, therefore, made my even- 
 ing toilet in the afternoon, and thereby gained time to take my dear 
 singing-lesson. But now let us study, so that your pupil may re- 
 dound to your honor. " 
 
 " Oh, your majesty, " ejaculated Himmel, " my honor and my 
 happiness !" 
 
 " Hush, hush, " said Louisa, interrupting him, with an enchanting 
 smile, " no flattery ! no court-phrases ! Here I am not the queen, 
 nor are you my devoted subject ; I am nothing but an obedient pupil, 
 and you are my rigorous roaster, who has a right to scold and grum- 
 ble whenever I sing incorrectly, and who very frequently avails 
 himself of this privilege. Do not apologize for it, but go on in the 
 same manner, for I will then only learn the more. " 
 
 " Your majesty sings like an angel, " murmured Himmel, whose 
 eyes were fixed steadfastly on the queen. 
 
 "Well, as far as that is concerned, you are a competent judge," 
 exclaimed Lousia, laughing, "for being Himmel (heaven), you 
 must know how the angels sing, and your opinion cannot be dis- 
 puted. The angels, then, sing incorrectly, like your obedient pupil? 
 Let the angels do so, but not your pupil. Come, Mr. Himmel, sit 
 down. It does not behoove the viaestro to stand at the side of his 
 pupil. Sit down. " 
 
 She pointed with a graceful wave of her hand at the chair stand- 
 ing at her side, and Mr. Himmel, complying with her order, sat 
 down. His glances returned involuntarily to the queen, whose 
 beauty only now burst on his short-sighted eyes, and whom he be- 
 lieved he had never seen so lovely, so fascinating and graceful. Her 
 beautiful face seemed to him like that of a fairy queen, and her 
 wonderful shoulders, her superb, dazzling neck, which he had never 
 seen unveiled and so very near, appeared to him like the bust of a 
 goddess, moulded by Phidias from living marble. 
 
 " WeU, let us commence, " said tlie queen, calmly. " Pray play 
 the melody in the treble and let me play the accompaniment a few 
 times : I shall then be better able to sing the song. " 
 
 She commenced eagerly playing the prelude, while a deeper 
 blush mantled her cheeks. It was Himmel's tumnow to begin with 
 the melody ; his eyes, however, were not fixed on the music, but on 
 the queen, and hence he blundered sadly. 
 
 "Well?" asked tlie queen, looking at him in charming confusion. 
 "You do not play correctly. " 
 
 "Yes, I have blundered, your majesty," said Himmel, gloomily ; 
 " I have blundered, for I am only a man after all, and cannot look 
 into the sun without having a ooi/^i de soleil. Your majesty, I have 
 
366 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 had such a coup de soleil, and you see I have lost my reason in conse- 
 quence. " 
 
 With these words he bent over the queen and imprinted a glow- 
 ing kiss on her shoulders ; then he hastily rose, took his hat, and 
 rushed out of the room.* 
 
 The queen's eyes followed him with an air of surprise and em- 
 barrassment ; then she burst into ringing, charming laughter. 
 
 " Ah, " she said, " if that austere ' Madame Etiquette, ' the mistress 
 of ceremonies, should have seen that, she would have either died 
 with horror, or her wrath would have crushed the criminal. I be- 
 lieve I will confess the terrible crime to her. Oh, my dear mistress 
 of ceremonies ! my dear mistress of ceremonies !" she cried. 
 
 The door of the adjoining room opened immediately, and the 
 Countess von Voss made her appearance. 
 
 "Your majesty has called me,'' she said, and, after looking 
 around the room, she cast a glance of surprise on the clock. 
 
 " Ah, my dear countess, you are surprised that Mr. Himmel, my 
 singing-master, has already left, although the hour has only half 
 expired?" asked the queen, merrily. 
 
 "Your majesty, " said the countess, sighing, "I really ought no 
 longer to be surprised at any thing, nor wonder at any violation of 
 etiquette, for such things, unfortunately, occur every day and every 
 hour. Your majesty knows, moreover, that this Mr. Himmel is 
 altogether distasteful to me. " 
 
 " And why ?" asked the queen, gayly. 
 
 " Your majesty, because it is contrary to etiquette for a queen to 
 take lessons, and to have a teacher. " 
 
 "What!" exclaimed Louisa. "According to etiquette, then, a 
 queen is not permitted to learn any thing after ascending the 
 throne?" 
 
 "No, your majesty, for it is entirely unbecoming that one of 
 your subjects should become the teacher of his queen, and that any- 
 body should be permitted and dare to censure her. " 
 
 "Well, do not you do so very often, my dear countess?" asked 
 the queen, good-naturedly. 
 
 "I dare not censure the queen, but merely to defend and main- 
 tain etiquette, as my duty and official position require me to do. 
 But a queen who takes lessons must descend from her throne so long 
 as her teacher is with her ; must renounce her exalted position, and 
 obey instead of commanding. In such a case, therefore, etiquette 
 is altogether out of the question. " 
 
 "You are right," said Louisa, merrily. "Mr. Himmel, the 
 concert-master, at least, entirely coincides with you, and he takes 
 
 * Historical. 
 
QUEEN LOUISA'S PIANO LESSON. 367 
 
 no notice whatever of etiquette. Shall I confess to you, my dear 
 countess, why Mr, Himmel has run away to-day half an hour before 
 the regular time?" 
 
 " Run away ?" asked the m istress of ceremonies, in dismay. " He 
 has dared to run away in the presence of your majesty?" 
 
 "Yes, he has dared to do so, but previously he has dared to do 
 something a gi-eat deal worse. He has— but, dear countess, sit 
 down ; you might turn giddy. " 
 
 "Oh no, your majesty, permit me to stand. Your majesty was 
 going to communicate graciously to me what Mr. Himmel— this 
 teacher of a queen is not even a nobleman— has dared to do in the 
 presence of your majesty. " 
 
 "Well, listen to me," said the queen, smiling; and bending 
 down closely to the ear of the countess, she whispered : " He has 
 kissed my shoulder !" 
 
 The misti-ess of ceremonies uttered a piercing cry and tottered 
 back in dismay. 
 
 " Kissed !" she faltered. 
 
 "Yes, kissed, " sighed the queen; "I really believe it is still to 
 be seen. " 
 
 She walked with light, swinging steps to the large looking-glass, 
 and looked at her shoulder with a charming, child-like smile. 
 
 "Yes, that small red spot there is Mr. Himmel's crime!" she 
 said. " Tell me what punishment he has deserved, countess. " 
 
 "That is a question for the courts alone to decide, " said the mis- 
 tress of ceremonies, solemnly ; "for we shall bring the occurrence, of 
 course, at once to their notice. Orders should be issued imme- 
 diately to arrest him, and his punishment should be as unparalleled 
 as was his offence. Your majesty will permit me to repair at once 
 to the king in order — " 
 
 " No, my dear mistress of ceremonies, " said the queen, who was 
 still standing in front of the looking-glass and contemplating her 
 own form, not with the contented looks of a conceited woman, but 
 with the calm, stem eyes of a critic examining a work of art — " no, 
 my dear mistress of ceremonies, we shall take good care not to raise 
 a hue and cry about it. And Mr. Himmel is not so culpable, after 
 all, as he seems to be. " 
 
 " What ! Your majesty intends to defend him?" 
 " Not to defend, but to excuse him, my dear countess. He was 
 at my side as my dear old teacher, and I was to him not a queen, 
 but a pupil ; and, moreover, a pupil with very beautiful shoulders. 
 My dear countess, I am really more culpable than poor Himmel, for, 
 if the queen becomes a pupil, she must remember that her teacher is 
 a man, and she must not treat him merely as an automaton instruct- 
 
368 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 ing her. The only judge who is able to decide this matter is ray 
 husband, the king. He shall pronounce judgment on it, and if he 
 permits Mr. Himmel to come back, I shall go on with my singing- 
 lessons. However, " added the queen, smiling, and blushing deli- 
 cately, " in future I shall wrap a shawl around my shoulders. And 
 now, my dear countess, pray let us not mention this little affair to 
 anybody. I shall submit it to the king and ask him to decide it. " 
 
 " I shall be silent because your majesty orders me to keep the 
 occurrence secret," sighed the countess. "But it is unheard-of, it 
 is dreadful. It is rank treason, and the offended royal majesty 
 will forgive without punishing." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I will !" exclaimed the queen, joyfully. " Forgiving 
 without punishing, is not that the most sacred and sublime power 
 of a queen ; is it not the most brilliant gem in our crown? How 
 miserable and deplorable would monarchs be if God had not con- 
 ferred the right of mercy upon them ! We stand ourselves so much 
 in need of mercy and forbearance, for we commit errors and faults 
 like other mortals, and yet we judge and punish like gods. Let us 
 be merciful, therefore, that we may be judged mercifully." 
 
 The door of the anteroom opened at this moment, and the cham- 
 berlain-in-waiting entered. 
 
 "Your majesty, " he said, "Prince Louis Ferdinand and Minister 
 von Hardenberg beg leave to wait on your majesty. " 
 
 " I expected these gentlemen at this hour, '' said the queen, glanc- 
 ing at the clock ; " let them come in, therefore. And you, my dear 
 countess, fai'ewell. " 
 
 "Your majesty orders me to withdraw?" asked the mistress of 
 ceremonies, hesitatingly. "Etiquette requires that the queen should 
 give her audiences only in the presence of her mistress- of ceremo- 
 nies, or of one of her ladies of honor. " 
 
 " My dear countess, " said the queen, with a slight tinge of impa- 
 tience, " I am not going to give any audience, but merely to receive 
 a friendly visit from my royal cousin and his friend ; as I know it 
 is their intention to communicate to me matters which no one except 
 myself can hear, I shall receive them alone. Hence be so kind as to 
 withdraw. " 
 
 " His royal highness Prince Louis Ferdinand and his excellency 
 Minister von Hardenberg !" shouted the footman, opening the fold- 
 ing-doors. 
 
 The queen nodded a parting greeting to the mistress of ceremo- 
 nies, and advanced a few steps to meet the visitors, while the 
 countess, heaving mournful sighs, disappeared through the side- 
 door. 
 
THE CONFERENCE. 369 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 THE CONFERENCE. 
 
 Prince Louis Ferdinand, a nephew of Frederick the Great, and 
 Minister von Hardenberg, were at that time the most popular men 
 in Prussia, because tliey were kno-(vn to be the leaders of the party 
 which at the court of Berlin considered the accession of Prussia to 
 the coalition of Russia, England, and Austria, as the only means to 
 save the countiy, while Minister von Haugwitz, Lombard, the first 
 secretary of foreign affairs, and General Kookeritz, constantly 
 renewed their efforts to win the king to an alliance with Fi-ance. 
 
 Prince Ferdinand, a fine- looking young man, scarcely thirty 
 years of age, in his brilliant uniform, in which his tall and noble 
 form presented a veiy imposing appearance, and in which he looked 
 like the incarnation of an lieroio warrior, was consequently the 
 special favorite of the soldiers, who told the most astonishing and 
 incredible stories about his intrepidity and hardihood. He was, 
 besides, the favorite of the ladies, who called him the best-looking 
 and most amiable man in the whole monarchy ; and, with amiable 
 indulgence, attributed his many adventures and acts of inconstancy, 
 his wild and dissipated life, his extravagance and numerous debts, 
 to the genius of the prince. He was, indeed, an extraordinary man, 
 one of those on w^hose brow Providence has imprinted the stamp of 
 genius, — not to their own good, but to their misfortune, and who 
 either miserably perish by their genius, or constantly inflict with it 
 the most painful wounds upon others. 
 
 Minister von Hardenberg, who now, after a long struggle, had 
 succeeded in overcoming the influence of Minister von Haugwitz, 
 and, with him, that of the French party, was one of those rare and 
 extraordinary statesmen who have made diplomacy not a business, 
 but the task of their whole life, and who have devoted to it all the 
 strength, all the thoughts and feelings of their soul. A native of 
 Hanover, and receiving rapid promotion at the hands of the govern- 
 ment of that country, he had, nevertheless, soon entered the service 
 of the Duke of Brimswick, who had charged him, after the death of 
 Frederick the Great, to take the king's will, which had been de- 
 posited in the ducal archives at Brunswick, to Berlin.* King 
 Frederick William the Second, who was so sagacious as to perceive 
 and appreciate the diplomatic talents of the young ambassador, had 
 induced him to enter his service, and intrusted to him the difficult 
 mission of negotiating the annexation of Baireuth to Prussia, of 
 * "Mfemoires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol, i., p. 302. 
 
370 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 settling the claims of the margrave, of paying the crushing burden 
 of the debts of Baireuth as speedily as possible, and of restoring the 
 country, which had suffered so much, to its former prosperity and 
 content. Afterward he had been appointed minister of state and 
 war in Prussia, and since that time he had always displayed the 
 greatest activity and zeal in serving Prussia according to the dic- 
 tates of his honest conviction, but at the same time also to guard the 
 interests of the great fatherland, the interests of Germany. The in- 
 fluence of Fi-ance, above all, seemed to him to endanger these inter- 
 ests ; hence he believed it to be specially incumbent upon him to 
 preserve at least Prussia from this noxious influence and to push her 
 over to the other side, to the side of the coalition, than to allow her 
 to be devoured, like a poor little bird, by the French basilisk. These 
 endeavors, which kept up a continual conflict between him and the 
 special favorites and confidants of the king, Haugwitz and Kocker- 
 itz, had gained him the love and esteem of all Prussian patriots, and 
 secured him an extraordinary popularity. These two favorites of 
 the Prussian people now entered the queen's cabinet. 
 
 Louisa replied to the familiar and friendly — rather than respect- 
 ful — greeting of the prince with a smile and a nod, and received the 
 respectful bow of the minister with the calm and proud dignity of a 
 queen. 
 
 "Well, my merry and reckless cousin, " she said, turning to the 
 prince, " are there again some sins to be confessed, some neglects of 
 discipline to be hushed up, some tears to be dried, and the mercy of 
 the king to be implored for the extravagant freaks of our genius? 
 And is it for that reason that you have brought along so eloquent an 
 advocate and attorney ?" 
 
 " No, your majesty, " said the prince, heaving a sigh, " this time, 
 unfortunately, I have to confess to you no merry freaks and agree- 
 able sins, and I am afraid I am about to become a steady man, and 
 to turn my back on all extravagant pranks. Hence, the minister 
 has not accompanied me this time in order to defend me and to im- 
 plore the gracious intercession of my royal cousin, but we have 
 come for the purpose of repeating to your majesty Prussia's cry of 
 anguish and distress, and of beseeching you to assist us in saving 
 her from the ruin on the verge of which she is tottering at the present 
 time !" 
 
 The queen looked alternately at the prince and at the minister 
 with grave, wondering eyes. "It is a political conference, then, 
 you wish to hold with me ?" she asked ; and when the two gentlemen 
 made no reply, she continued more rapidly and in a slightly agitated 
 voice — " in that case, gentlemen, I must request you to leave me, for 
 
THE CONFERENCE. 371 
 
 I am no politician, and I do not aspire to the rdle of a political 
 intriguer. I am the wife of the reigning king, but not a reigning 
 queen ; my sole endeavor is to render the king a happy husband at 
 home, and to cause him to forget at my side politics and the vexa- 
 tions of his oflBcial position. " 
 
 " I am afraid, your majesty, " said Minister von Hardenberg, sol- 
 emnly—" I am afraid the time for such an idol on the throne is past ; 
 and instead of causing the king to forget the vexations of his position, 
 it wiU now be the great task of your majesty to bear them with 
 him." 
 
 " And we have come to beg my noble and magnanimous cousin 
 to do so, " exclaimed the prince, enthusiastically. "We have come 
 to implore your assistance and cooperation in the name of Prussia, 
 in the name of all German patriots, and in the name of your 
 children !" 
 
 "In the name of my children?" ejaculated the queen, turning 
 pale. "Speak ! speak ! what has happened? what calamity threatens 
 my children? I decline listening to you as a queen, but I will do 
 so as a mother, who anxiously desires to secm-e the happiness of her 
 children. What evils, what calamities do you refer to?" 
 
 " The independence, nay, perhaps the wliole existence of Prussia, 
 is menaced, " said Minister von Hardenberg, solemnly. " We have 
 to choose whether Prussia is to be an isolated state, shunned by 
 everybody, and despised by everybody — a state which France will be 
 able to devour with impunity and amid the jeers of the whole world, 
 as she has devoured Italy, Holland, and the left bank of the Rhine 
 — or whether Prussia will preserve her power, her independence, 
 and her honor, by not staving off a division any longer, but meeting 
 her friends as well as her enemies with open visor, and by assuming 
 at length an active and resolute attitude instead of the vacillating 
 and hesitating course she has so long pursued !" 
 
 " We ought to oppose the Emperor of France in a manly manner, " 
 exclaimed the prince, energetically. " If we do not interfere with 
 his proceedings, he will soon be our master as he is of all those who 
 call themselves his allies, and who are really nothing but his slaves. 
 My heart kindles with rage when I now see all Germany trembling 
 with fear before this son of a Corsican lawyer, this tyrant who 
 assassinated the noble and innocent Duke d'Enghien, and who, not 
 contenting himself with chaining France, would like to catch the 
 whole world in his imperial mantle so as to fatten its golden bees on 
 it. And he will succeed in doing so, unless we resist him, for his 
 word is now already the law of half the world, and this emperor 
 carries out whatever he wants to do. Truly, if he should feel some 
 
372 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 day a hankering for a dish of princes' ears, I should no longer deem 
 my own ears safe, nor those of your young princes either !" * 
 
 The queen did not smile at this jest which the prince had uttered 
 in an angry voice, but she turned once more with a grave and 
 anxious air to the minister. 
 
 "Tell me, has any thing occurred?" she aslied. "Has there been 
 a, change in the political situation?" 
 
 "Yes, your majesty," replied the minister, "there has been a 
 change in the political situation ; the Emperor Napoleon has dared 
 to violate our neutrality, and if Prussia should not now demand 
 satisfaction she either loses her honor, or she places herself before 
 the whole world as the ally of France, and defies thereby the open 
 hostility of Austria, Eussia, and England. " 
 
 "You dare to say that Prussia's honor has been attacked, and to 
 doubt that the king will hold the offender responsible for such an 
 outi-age?" exclaimed the queen, with flashing eyes. "The king, 
 who is the incarnation of honor, will not permit even the shadow of 
 a stain to fall on Prussia's honor ; in generous anger he will hurl 
 back the insolent hand that will dare to shake the palladium of cm- 
 honor. " 
 
 " Oh, if you think and speak thus, " said the prince, enthusiasti- 
 cally, " I have no longer any fears, but consider Prussia as saved 
 already from the dangers now menacing her. As I see your ihajesty 
 now, in your wondrous beauty, with those eyes reflecting your in- 
 ward heaven, with this face so radiant with enthusiasm, you seem 
 to be the genius whom Providence has sent to Prussia to guard and 
 protect her, and to guide her on the right path and to the right goal. 
 O, queen ! fulfil the mission which Providence has inti'usted to 
 you ; follow your noble and sacred vocation ; be the genius of 
 Prussia ; and impart to the vacillating and timid, firm, manly 
 courage and energetic resolution ! Queen, I implore you, on my 
 knees, have pity on Prussia, have pity on your children : be the 
 genius of Prussia !" 
 
 And quite beside himself, his eyes filled with tears, his lips 
 quivering with emotion, the prince knelt down before the queen 
 and raised his folded hands imploringly to her. 
 
 "Your majesty, permit me also to bend my knees before you," 
 said Minister von Hardenberg, solemnly, "to adore and worship 
 you as the genius of Prussia, from whom we expect our salvation, 
 our peace, and our honor ! Oh, queen, you alone have the power 
 to touch the heart of the king and to remove the doubts of his noble 
 and honorable mind ; you alone will be able to accomplish what 
 
 *Prince Louis Ferdinand said this to the queen. — Vide " Rahel and her Friends," 
 vol. i. 
 
THE CONFERENCE. 373 
 
 neither our arguments nor our supplications could bring about ; you 
 alone will be able to elevate the vacillation of your husband to the 
 strength of high-spirited and courageous resolution !" 
 
 "No, not a word against the king !" exclaimed the queen, almost 
 sternly. " Let no one dare to assert that the king lacks manly deter- 
 mination and vigorous courage. If he is hesitating when you 
 would wish to act, it is because he looks into the future more pru- 
 dently and sagaciously than you, while you only think of the present 
 time; it is because he weighs and calculates the consequences, 
 while you only care for the action of the moment. But arise, gen- 
 tlemen : let us not perform a sentimental scene at a time when it is 
 of the highest importance to be prudent and to reflect. Let us con- 
 verse, therefore, gravely and soberly ; explain to me what has hap- 
 pened, and what danger is menacing Prussia and my children. I 
 comply now with your wish ; let us hold a political conference. Let 
 us sit down, then, and commence. " 
 
 She took a seat on the sofa, and invited the gentlemen to sit 
 down on the two chairs opposite her. 
 
 "Now tell me what has occujred, and what has changed the 
 political situation. Minister von Hardenberg, pray give me a full 
 and plain account of the state of our political affairs, for I have 
 already told you that I never meddle with politics, and do not know 
 much about them ; indeed I have been too happy, and my life too 
 much absorbed by my happiness, to have made it necessary for me 
 to think of politics. But I see very well that the time of quiet liap- 
 piness is over now ! Let us, then, speak of politics. You said, a 
 few minutes ago, Prussia had been insulted by Fi-ance?" 
 
 "Yes, your majesty, Prussia has been insulted. Her most sacred 
 right, her neutrality, has been violated, " replied Hardenberg. " The 
 king, in his generous endeavor to preserve the blessings of peace to 
 his people, intended to maintain a strict neutrality amid all these 
 wars and storms agitating the world, and, the friend and ally of no 
 party and no power, to rely exclusively on his own strength. He 
 wanted to wait, to mediate, and conciliate, but not to attack, act, 
 and decide. There may be times when such a role is a weighty and 
 dignified one — may secure the peace of the world ; but it always de- 
 pends on those between whom one wishes to act as a neutral 
 mediator. One may remain neutral between men of honor, between 
 princes, to whom their word is sacred, and who do not dare to 
 violate treaties, but not between those to whom their word is sacred 
 only so long as their own advantage requires it, and who do not 
 violate treaties only so long as they do not interfere with their 
 selfish plans. It is a principle of neutrality not to open one's terri- 
 tory to either of the contending powers, and this principle has 
 
374 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 always been strictly observed. When Russia, now that she is going 
 to send her troops for the second time to Germany for the purpose of 
 assisting the Austrians, informed the king that she would march 
 these troops through Southern Prussia and Silesia, the king deemed 
 this information equivalent to a declaration of war, and his majesty 
 immediately ordered the whole army to be placed on the war footing. 
 We should now be at war with Russia, if the Emperor Alexander 
 had not sent on the day after the first dispatch had arrived here, 
 another dispatch to the king, in which he apologized, and declared 
 that he had been too rash in making the above-named demand.* 
 But this step of Russia, this mere threat of violation of our neu- 
 trality, had sufiiced to induce Prussia to place her army on the war 
 footing, and to do so against the coalition of Austria, Russia, and 
 England. A cry of horror resounded throughout Germany when 
 the people heard of this first step by which Prussia seemed to declare 
 publicly for France and against the coalition, and this cry was 
 reechoed abroad, of which the conduct of the King of Sweden gave 
 us a striking proof. Your majesty is aware that this king, through 
 his ambassador, M. de Bernstorf, returned to his majesty the King 
 of Prussia the order of the Black Eagle which he had received from 
 the late lamented king, accompanying it by an insulting letter in 
 which he stated, that 'he could not wear an order which the king 
 had recently also sent to Monsieur Bonaparte. '" 
 
 " And on the same day that this offensive return of the highest 
 Prussian order took place, '' exclaimed Prince Louis Ferdinand, with 
 a harsh, angry laugh, " on the same day the King of Prussia received 
 from the Emperor of France the grand cordon and seven other grand 
 crosses of the Legion of Honor to be distributed among the princes 
 and ministers. And not only did we receive these seven orders, but 
 in return for them we sent seven orders of the Black Eagle to Paris. " f 
 
 " But you forget to add that the king returned on the same day 
 the Seraphine order to the King of Sweden, and recalled his am- 
 bassador, so that we are now in a state of war with Sweden, " said 
 the queen, eagerly. 
 
 " Oh, my royal cousin, you betray your secrets, '' exclaimed the 
 prince, joyfully, "'you wanted us to believe that your majesty did 
 not care at all for politics, and now you know the most minute 
 details so accurately. " 
 
 " I take a lively interest in every occurrence which grieves the 
 heart of my husband, " said the queen ; " and that event made a very 
 painful impression upon him. " 
 
 * Vide HHusser's " Histoiy of Germany," vol. ii., p. 635. " Mfimoiresd'un Homme 
 d'fitat,'' vol. viii., p. 474. 
 
 t Hausser's " History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 576. 
 
THE CONFERENCE. 375 
 
 "Oh, TOur majesty, it was only a prelude to other mortifications 
 and insults which we shall have to suffer if the king will not avenge 
 them," said Hardenberg, energetically. "It has been said that 
 Prussia was siding with France merely because she would not grant 
 Russia a passage through her neutral territory, and because she 
 placed her aviay in a menacing position against Russia. But what 
 would the world say if it should learn what has now occurred?" 
 
 "Well, what has occurred?" asked the queen, breathlessly. 
 
 " The Emperor of France has carried out what Russia only threat- 
 ened to do. The Emperor of France, without applying for permis- 
 sion, has marched a portion of his army, commanded by Bernadotte, 
 through Prussian teixitory. He has marched his troops, contrary to 
 treaties and to international law, through Prussian Franconia, 
 Anspach, and Baireuth. " 
 
 The queen uttered a cry of surprise, and her cheeks turned pale. 
 
 "Does the king already know it?" she asked. 
 
 " He has known it since yesterday, " said Hardenberg, gravely. 
 "We kept the matter secret, because we would only lay it before the 
 public together with the decision of his majesty. " 
 
 "And has the king come already to a decision?" asked the queen. 
 
 " He has, your majesty, " sa id Hardenberg, solemnly. " When 
 Russia threatened to violate our territory, we placed our army on 
 the war footing, and it is still in arms. Now that France dares to 
 do what Russia only threatened to do, we do not turn our arms against 
 her in order to avenge the insult, but we take our pen and write and 
 ask France to explain her startling proceedings. It is true we 
 threaten, but do not strike !" 
 
 "No, we do not strike!" exclaimed the prince, laughing scorn- 
 fully ; " we mobilize our army against our natural friends and allies, 
 but we do not draw the sword against our natural enemies and ad- 
 versaries. The army of Frederick the Great is ready for war, and 
 yet it remains idle and looks on quietly while the insatiable con- 
 queror is penetrating farther and farther into the heart of Germany ; 
 while he is scattering broadcast the seeds of treachery, discord, 
 and mischief ; while he is persuading the German princes to turn 
 traitors to Germany; while he is poisoning and corrupting the 
 hearts of the people and degrading their characters to such an extent, 
 that the sense of fidelity, honesty, and constancy will soon become 
 extinct in Germany, and all the Germans will be nothing but a 
 horde of slaves, who will be happy if this tyrant does not apply the 
 lash too often to their backs, and who will kiss his feet, so that he 
 may step at least mildly and gently on their necks 1 If the tyrant 
 should succeed now in humiliating Austria, who alone has been 
 courageous enough to oppose him ; if Napoleon should defeat the 
 25 
 
376 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Austrian army, Germany would be lost and become nothing but a 
 French province like Italy and Holland : all the German princes 
 would.lay their crowns at the feet of Napoleon, and be glad if he 
 should suffer them only as governors in their former states, or leave 
 them at least their empty titles after depriving them of their pos- 
 sessions !" 
 
 "No, no," exclaimed the queen, "we must not, we shall not 
 permit that ! Prussia is ready to maintain the honor of Germany ; 
 Prussia will rise like a hero accustomed to victory ; she will drive 
 the invader from her territory, and compel him, with arms in her 
 hands, to keep the peace, if she is unable to obtain it with her pen. 
 You are right, the time of neutrality and hesitation is past, and 
 henceforth we must act. I shall no longer remain neutral, I shall 
 act too. You have appealed to the mother and wife and shown her 
 the danger threatening her children and her husband ; you have re- 
 minded the daughter of Germany of the hoiTors menacing her father- 
 land ; you have pointed out to the Queen of Prussia the evils im- 
 pending over her people ; the mother, the wife, and the queen has 
 heard and understood you. The time of neutrality is past ; we must 
 move the heart of the best and most magnanimous king by our 
 prayers and remonstrances, in order that he may listen to us, and 
 no longer to the insinuations and flatteries of his enemies, so that 
 he may discern his friends as well as his enemies. The king is 
 hesitating only because, in generous self-abnegation, he prefers the 
 happiness of his people to his own wishes and to the gratification of 
 his own desires. A soldier by nature and predilection, he compels 
 himself to be a peaceable ruler, because he believes it is necessary 
 for the happiness of his people. Let us prove to him that his sub- 
 jects refuse to accept this generous sacrifice, and that they are joy- 
 fully ready to remove the stains from their honor with their heart's 
 blood. Let public opinion speak out and come to our assistance. 
 I say, 'to our assistance,' for henceforth I shall side with you, I 
 shall be a member of your party, and a determined and out-spoken 
 enemy of France ! 
 
 " May God bless your majesty for these words !" said Hardenberg, 
 deeply moved ; " I am once again in hopes that Prussia wiU be 
 saved, for she has now won an ally who brings more to her than 
 armies and arms, and who places the enthusiasm and indomitable 
 determination of a great chieftain at the head of our people. " 
 
 " And with this chieftain at our head we shall vanquish every 
 Fi-ench army, " exclaimed Prince Louis, enthusiastically ; " with 
 this chieftain at our head we shall triumphantly march against the 
 enemy, and one idea, one sentiment will animate all of us : Queen 
 Louisa is watching and praying for us 1 Oh, my queen, wovdd that 
 
THE CONFERENCE. 377 
 
 that blessed day of battle could dawn for us ! Command the sun of 
 that day to rise and to shine into all Prussian hearts, and to fire 
 them with patriotism so as to shrink back no longer from death and 
 wounds, but only from dishonor and degradation ! Oh, my blood 
 bm-ns like fire in my veins ; it would like to burst forth in a fiery 
 torrent and drown and burn every Frenchman. Queen, have mercy 
 on me — let the solemn day when I may shed my blood for the 
 fatherland dawn without delay !" 
 
 " Live and labor for the fatherland !" said the queen, with flam- 
 ing eyes, and her face radiant with enthusiasm. " It is not the most 
 exalted and diflScult task to die an heroic death for a great idea, 
 but it is even more noble and difficult to nourish and preserve this 
 idea in the gloomy days of adversity, and not to abandon it and 
 give it up in a period of affliction, but to remain its guardian and 
 priest, even though fate may seem to reject it and to humiliate us 
 with it. Now that I am entering a new life-path, I say to you, 
 from the bottom of my heart, we will struggle for the honor, liberty, 
 and independence of Prussia and Germany, but we will be deter- 
 mined, too, not only to die for these ideas, but also to suffer and 
 bear affliction for them. Oh, it seems to me as though I were look- 
 ing at this moment into the future, and as though I did see there 
 much misery and distress in store for us, many storms and thunder- 
 clouds !" 
 
 " But the sun is hidden behind the thunder-clouds, and when the 
 thimder has died away it will shine again," said Hardenberg. 
 
 " And it will then shine on the heads of my husband and of my 
 children !" exclaimed the queen, raising her radiant eyes to heaven. 
 
 " Above all, it will shine on the Prussian people from the face of 
 their adored Queen Louisa, " said the prince. 
 
 The queen smiled sadly. " Let us not speak of the sun, but of 
 the thunder-clouds preceding it. They are gathering around us ; 
 let us see how we can break through them. You may count on my 
 earnest assistance. My husband and my children are in danger, I 
 feel and see it. France is the enemy menacing them. Hencefor- 
 ward we will oppose this enemy with open visor. I promise it to 
 you in the name of Prussia, in the name of my husband, and of my 
 children. Here, take my hand ; we will stand by each other, and 
 struggle together against France for the honor and glory of Prussia. 
 You will flght with your sword and with your pen, and I shall do 
 80 with my word and my love. May the people support us, may 
 God bless us !" 
 
 " May God bless us I" repeated the prince and the minister, rev- 
 erentially kissing the queen's hands. 
 
 "And now, gentlemen, go," said the queen, after a short pause 
 
378 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "Let us not desecrate this solemn moment by any additional words. 
 Every thing for Prussia ! Let that be our watchword ! and so I bid 
 you farewell for to-day. Every thing for Prussia !" 
 
 " Every thing for Prussia!" repeated the two gentlemen, taking 
 leave of the queen. 
 
 Louisa sent a long, melancholy look after them ; then she turned 
 hastily around and crossed the room with rapid steps ; the sudden 
 draught produced by her quick passage blew the music-paper from 
 the piano to the floor ; it fell exactly at the queen's feet. 
 
 She picked it up ; it was the song she had sung an hour ago. A 
 painful smile played on the lips of the queen, and raising her eyes 
 sadly to heaven, she whispered, in a low voice : 
 
 " Oh, my God, grant that this may not be an omen, and that I 
 may not be compelled to eat my bread with tears, and to weep 
 through nights of affliction ! But if it must be, O God, give me 
 strength to bear my misfortunes uncomplainingly, and to be a com- 
 fort to my husband, a mother to my children !" 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 THE OATH AT THE GEAVE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 
 
 The wishes of the queen had rapidly been fulfilled ; public opin- 
 ion had declared in Berlin with rare energy and emphasis against 
 France, and the people had received the news of the violation of 
 Prussia's neutrality with a rmanimous cry of rage and horror. The 
 inhabitants of Berlin, usually so peaceable and addicted to pleasure, 
 seemed all at once transformed into heroes grave and eager for war, 
 who no longer knew any other aim than to avenge as speedily as 
 possible the insult offered to them, and to call France to account 
 for the outrage she had committed against Prussia. 
 
 "War I war I" That was the word of jubilee and supplication 
 now resounding on every street, and in every house ; like one 
 exulting prayer of the whole nation, it rose to the windows of the 
 royal palace, and seemed to rap gently at them, so that the king 
 might open them and let it penetrate into his heart. 
 
 The people spoke everywhere of this one great affair ; they asked 
 each other, in conversation: "Shall we take up arms? Shall we 
 declare war against France?" 
 
 Those who answered these questions iri the negative were treated 
 in the most contemptuous manner ; the people turned their backs on 
 them with angry glances and threatening murmurs ; to those, how- 
 
THE OATH AT THE GRAVE. 379 
 
 ever, who replied in the affirmative, they offered their hands joy- 
 fully and greeted them as friends and allies. 
 
 Minister von Haugwitz was known to be an adherent of the 
 French and an opponent of the war ; the people rushed to his house 
 and broke his windows, shouting loudly and angrily, "We do not 
 want peace ! Let all the Fi-ench and friends of the Fi-ench perish !" 
 
 Minister von Hardenberg, on the other hand, was hailed by the 
 people with the moet enthusiastic applause wherever he made his 
 appearance; and on their return from the house of Minister von 
 Haugwitz, they hurried to Hardenberg's humble residence in order 
 to cheer him and to shout, "War! war! We want war with 
 France !" 
 
 Not only the people in the streets, however, but also the best 
 classes of the public participated in this general enthusiasm, and 
 did not hesitate to give vent to it in public. Even the royal fimc- 
 tionaries found suddenly sufficient energy to show themselves as 
 German patriots, and it was certainly not unintentional that " Wal- 
 lenstein's Camp," by Schiller, was to be performed at the Royal 
 Theatre dm:ing those days of general excitement. 
 
 Everybody wished to attend this performance ; all Berlin rushed 
 to the Royal Theatre, and the fortunate persons who had succeeded 
 in obtaining tickets were envied by the thousands unable to gain 
 admission. The theatre was crowded ; the pit was a surging sea, 
 the gallery was filled to suffocation, and in the boxes of the iirst and 
 second tiers the aristocratic, elegant, educated, and learned world 
 of all Berlin seemed to have met. All faces were glowing, all lips 
 were smiling, all eyes were sparkling ; every one was aware that 
 this was to be a political demonstration, and every one was happy 
 and proud to participate in it. 
 
 When Prince Louis Ferdinand made his appearance in the small 
 royal proscenium-box, all eyes turned immediately toward him, 
 and when he bent forward from his box, and seemed to greet the 
 audience with his merry eyes and winning smile, there arose a 
 storm of applause as though a favorite singer had just concluded an 
 aria di bravura and received the thanks of the enraptured listeners. 
 Suddenly, however, the loud applause died away, perhaps because 
 the prince had waved his hands as if he wished to calm this roaring 
 sea — perhaps because the attention of the audience was attracted by 
 somebody else. The eyes of the crowd turned from the prince 
 toward an adjoining box. Four gentlemen, in brilliant uniforms, 
 had just entered it ; but these uniforms were not those of the Prus- 
 sian army, and the broad ribbons which these gentlemen wore across 
 their breasts, were not the ribbons of Prussian orders. The new- 
 comers, who had entered the box, were the members of the French 
 
380 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 embassy — General Lefevre, with his attaches, and General Duroc, 
 whom Napoleon had recently again sent to Berlin in order to 
 strengthen the friendly relations of France and Prussia. It was 
 certainly a mere accident that Prince Louis Ferdinand, just at the 
 moment when these gentlemen intended to salute him, turned to the 
 opposite side, and did not see and acknowledge their greetings ; it 
 was certainly a mere accident that the audience, which had just 
 now shouted and applauded jubilantly, all at once commenced hiss- 
 ing loudly. 
 
 The members of the French embassy took good care not to refer 
 this hissing to themselves ; they took their seats quietly near the 
 balustrade of the box, and seemed to take no notice of the loud 
 murmurs and the threatening glances of the audience. 
 
 The band now struck up the overture. It was a skilfully arranged 
 medley of well-known popular war-songs, interlarded with the 
 Dessauer and Hohenfriedberger march, as if the enthusiasm of the 
 audience were to be carried to the highest pitch by brilliant reminis- 
 cences of the heroic deeds and imperishable glory of Prussia. 
 
 All at once a joyful murmur spread through the pit, the boxes, 
 and the gallery. "The king, the queen!" whispered everybody, 
 and all those hundreds of faces turned toward the small proscenium- 
 box which the royal couple had just entered. 
 
 The queen, radiantly beautiful, with rosy cheeks and sparkling 
 eyes, greeted the audience with an enchanting smile ; the king, 
 whose brow seemed unusually gloomy and clouded, cast only a hesi- 
 tating and anxious glance over the house, and then withdrew be- 
 hind the crimson curtain of the box. 
 
 The stage-curtain rose ; the performance commenced. The audi- 
 ence followed it with the most ardent sympathy ; every word 
 referring to the liberty and independence of Germany, was hailed 
 with thunders of applause, and jubilant shouts resounded at every 
 allusion to foreign tyranny and despotism. The actors had now 
 reached the last part of the piece, the merry, soul-stirring horseman's 
 song concluding the whole. " Wohlauf, Eameraden, auf's Pferd, 
 auf's Pferd!" sang the chorus on the stage, and the audience 
 followed every verse, every line, with breathless attention. All at 
 once people looked in great surprise at each other, and then listened 
 with the utmost suspense to the singers, who had added to the merry 
 horseman's song a verse which had not been heard heretofore. 
 And when the last words of this verse had died away, the whole 
 audience shouted and roared, "Da capo! da capo!" In the pit, in 
 the boxes, in the gallery, in short, every one rose to their feet, and 
 all eyes again turned to the box in which the members of the French 
 embassy were seated, and thus, standing, in a jubilant tone and 
 
THE OATH AT THE GRAVE. 381 
 
 with threatening glances, the whole audience joined the chorus of 
 the actors on the stage ; for they knew already the words of the 
 additional verse by heart, and sang in a thundering voice ; 
 
 " Wohlauf, Eameraden, zur Schlacht, zum Krieg, 
 In's Feld, in die Freiheit gezogen. 
 Zur blutigen Schlacht, zum rachenden Sieg 
 Uber den, der uns Freundschaft gelogen ! 
 Und Tod und Verderben dem f alschen Mann, 
 Der treulos den Frieden breohen kann I " * 
 
 And the audience repeated once more the last two lines 
 
 " Und Tod und Verderben dem falschen Mann, 
 Der treulos den Frieden brechen kann ! " 
 
 All eyes then turned to the royal box. The king was still hidden 
 behind the small curtain. The queen had risen. Folding her 
 hands, as if praying, she had raised her eyes to heaven, and two 
 tears ran slowly down her cheeks. 
 
 Prince Louis Ferdinand bent toward Minister von Hardenberg, 
 who had just entered his box. " Do you see the queen?" he said, in 
 a low voice. " Does she not look really like a genius praying for 
 Prussia?" 
 
 "Ah, and, perhaps, weeping for Prussia!" whispered Harden- 
 berg. " But let us not give way now to gloomy anticipations. I am 
 the bearer of good and unexpected news. Listen to me. The king 
 and the queen will rise in a few minutes in order to leave the box, 
 and who knows whether the audience will be patient and calm 
 enough to witness the whole ballet, which is just commencing? I 
 see some of my agents already below in the pit, where they have 
 made their appearance in order to circulate my news. " 
 
 " I beseech your excellency, be here your own agent, and communi- 
 cate the news to me. " 
 
 Minister Hardenberg bent closer to the prince's ear. "I suppose 
 you know that, thanks to the influence of the queen, I have induced 
 the king to sign a tolerably warlike and threatening note to the 
 Emperor of the French?" 
 
 "But will this note really be forwarded to Napoleon?" 
 
 " It has already been forwarded. But I had sent also a messenger 
 to the Emperor of Bussia with a copy of this note, and the emperor, 
 it seems, has understood my mission, for— But, just look, my proph- 
 
 * "On, comrades, to battle, to war— let us march into the field and fight tor liberty ! 
 To bloody battle, to avenging victory over him who has Ued friendship to us I And 
 death and destruction to the false man who has perfidiously broken the peace !" 
 
 This whole scene is strictly in accordance with history ; and the additional verse, 
 if not literally the same, renders at least the sentiment of the lines which were sung 
 on that memorable evening.— Vide " Mfimoires d'un Homme d'fitat,"T0l. viii., p. 
 496, and " Napoleon; a Memoir," by , vol. ii., p. 73. 
 
383 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 eoy commences being fulfilled. The king and the queen rise and 
 leave their box ; and notice, too, the migration beginning in the 
 pit, and among the occupants of the orchestra-stalls. The beautiful 
 ballet-girls will soon dance before empty benches. " 
 
 " But do not let me die with curiosity, your excellency. Tell me 
 at length what has occurred. " 
 
 " A surprise, prince. The Emperor Alexander will reach Berlin 
 within an hour !" 
 
 ■'Are you not jesting? Do you speak in earnest?" 
 
 "la dead earnest, prince. The emperor comprehends that the 
 favorable hour must be improved, and he comes in order to conquer 
 the friendship of Frederick William, and to overcome his indecision, 
 so that they may then vanquish the French invader with their united 
 forces. The emperor is a very sagacious man, and being half a 
 German, he knows doubtless the German proverb, ' Strike while the 
 iron is hot. ' Our noble queen, with both of us and our excellent 
 people, will help the emperor to strike the iron. Look, the people 
 commence striking already. They rush from the theatre in order 
 to receive the Emperor Alexander at the gate, and to cheer him 
 while he is riding to the palace. Let us follow the example of the 
 people of Berlin. Let us go to receive the Emperor Alexander — if 
 it please God, our ally — at the gate. " * 
 
 Hardenberg's predictions were to be fulfilled this time. Thanks 
 to the powerful allies who were fighting for his policy and for 
 Prussia, the king summoned up sufficient courage to take a decisive 
 resolution. Those allies of Hardenberg and Prussia were now not 
 only the queen, Prince Louis Ferdinand, and public opinion, but 
 they were joined by the Emperor Alexander, who had arrived from 
 Poland, and the Archduke Anthony, whom the Emperor of Austria 
 had sent to Berlin at the same time for the purpose of winning the 
 friendship of the king. But still another ally suddenly and unex- 
 pectedly entered the lists for Hardenberg's policy and for the coali- 
 tion, and this ally was the good forttme and genius of Napoleon. 
 
 Dreadful tidings reached Berlin simultaneously with the arrival 
 of Archduke Anthony. Napoleon had gained another victory ; he 
 had defeated the Austrians at Ulm ;f twenty-three thousand Aus- 
 trians had laid down their arms at the feet of the Emperor of the 
 French, and then started as prisoners of war for France. 
 
 Surrounded by a brilliant staff, Napoleon made the humiliated, 
 vanquished Austrians file o£E before him, between the French army, 
 
 * The Emperor Alexander arrived in Berlin quite unexpectedly on October 23, 1805; 
 the courier who had announced his arrival had reached the Prussian capital only a 
 few hours previously, 
 t October 20, 1605. 
 
THE OATH AT THE GRAVE. 383 
 
 which was drawn up in two lines. "When thej' laid down their arms, 
 and when this flashing pile rose higher and higher, Napoleon's face, 
 which, amidst the hail of bullets and the dangers of the battle, had 
 preserved its marble, antique calmness, became radiant, as if lighted 
 up by a sunbeam, and he turned with a gracious smile toward the 
 Austrian generals and officers, who approached him humbly and 
 with lowered heads, in order to thank him for giving them permis- 
 sion to return to Austria, and for not compelling them to accompany 
 their soldiers as prisoners of war to France. 
 
 But this smile disappeared rapidly from the emperor's coun- 
 tenance, which now became threatening and angry. In a voice 
 rolling like thunder over the heads of the humiliated Austrians, the 
 emperor said : " It is a misfortune that men so brave as you, whose 
 names are honorably mentioned wherever you have fought, should 
 now become the victims of the stupidities of a cabinet which only 
 dreams of senseless schemes, and does not hesitate to endanger the 
 dignity of the state and of the nation. It was an unheard-of pro- 
 ceeding to seize me by the throat without a declaration of war ; but 
 it is a crime against one's own people to bring about a foreign inva- 
 sion ; it is betraying Europe, to draw Asiatic hordes into our com- 
 bats. Instead of attacking me without any good reason whatever, 
 the Austrian cabinet ought to have united with me for the pm-pose 
 of expelling the Russian army from Germany. This alliance of 
 your cabinet is something unheard of in history ; it cannot be 
 the work of the statesmen of your nation ; it is, in short, the alliance 
 of the dogs and shepherds with the wolf against the sheep. Had 
 France succumbed in this struggle, you would have speedily per- 
 ceived the mistake you have committed. " * 
 
 Such were the tidings which Archduke Anthony had brought 
 with him from Vienna ; such was the new ally Hardenberg had won 
 for his policy and for Prussia. 
 
 This new victory, this new conquest Napoleon had made in 
 Germany, loomed up before the king as a danger which menaced 
 himself, and compelled him to take up arms for his own defence. 
 The threatening and defiant language of the French emperor sounded 
 truly revolting to the heart of the German king, and instead of be- 
 ing intimidated by this new and unparalleled triumph, by this 
 threatening language Napoleon had made use of, he was only pro- 
 voked to offer him resistance ; he perceived all at once that he could 
 only be the servant and slave of this powerful man, or his enemy, 
 and that Napoleon never would tolerate any one as an equal at his 
 side. What were those three German princes who had found 
 three crowns on the battle-field of Ulm ? Those new Kings of Wur- 
 * " MSmoires du Due de Bovigo," vol. ii., p. 153. 
 
384 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 temberg and Bavaria, that Grand-duke of Baden, were only vassals 
 and servants of the Emperor of France, who had first given, and 
 then permitted them to wear these crowns. 
 
 King Frederick William needed no such crown. A genius stood 
 at his side and breathed with a heavenly smile into his ear : "It is 
 better to die in an honorable struggle for freedom than to live in 
 splendor and magnificence, but with a stain on your honor. " 
 
 And the king listened to the voice of his genius : he listened to 
 the voice of his minister, who implored him to defend the integrity 
 of his state for the sake of the honor and welfare of Prussia and 
 Germany ; he listened to the voice of his people, who demanded war 
 loudly and ardently ; he listened to the voice of the Emperor Alex- 
 ander, who vowed to him eternal love and eternal friendship ; he 
 listened, finally, to the voice of his own heart, which was the heart 
 of a true German, and felt deeply the insult offered to him. 
 
 King Frederick "William listened to all these voices, and resolved 
 at length on war against France. 
 
 On the 3d of November the Emperor Alexander and King Fred- 
 erick William signed at Potsdam a secret treaty, by which Prussia 
 agreed to intervene between Napoleon and the allies. By virtue of 
 this treaty Prussia was to summon the Emperor of the French to 
 reestablish the former treaties, and to restore the former state of 
 affairs ; that is to say, to give up almost all his conquests, to 
 indemnify Sardinia, to recognize the independence of Naples, of the 
 German empire, of Holland, of Switzerland, and to separate the 
 crown of Italy from that of France. If France should not consent 
 to these conditions, Prussia agreed to ally herself openly and un- 
 reservedly with the coalition, and take the field with an army of 
 180,000 men. A Prussian negotiator was to lay these conditions 
 before the Emperor Napoleon, and the term at which Prussia should 
 be obliged to act should expire four weeks after the date of the treaty. * 
 
 The king, who, in his kindness, was anxious to indemnify Min- 
 ister von Haugwitz for the coldness with which he had been latterly 
 treated, and for his broken windows, had commissioned him to 
 deliver a copy of the treaty of Potsdam to Napoleon, and to negotiate 
 with him. Haugwitz, therefore, left Berlin in order to repair to 
 the emperor's headquarters. It is true, he did not know exactly 
 where to find them, but he was satisfied that Napoleon would take 
 care to make his whereabouts known to him by fresh deeds of heroism 
 and victories, and Count Haugwitz, therefore, set out. 
 
 According to the wishes of the King of Prussia, the treaty of 
 Potsdam, for some time at least, was to be kept secret ; only those 
 immediately concerned should be informed of its contents, but not 
 * Hausser's " History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 652. 
 
THE OATH AT THE GRAVE. 385 
 
 the public generally, and no one was to suspect that Prussia had at 
 length given up h^r policy of neutrality. 
 
 This secrecy, however, was distasteful to the Emperor Alexander ; 
 moreover, it made Minister von Hardenberg fear lest the king, at 
 the decisive moment, might be once more gained over to his former 
 favorite policy of neutrality by the French party at court. It would 
 be wise, therefore, to force the king so far forward as to render it 
 impossible for him to recede, and to betray so much of the secret of 
 the concluded alliance as was required to fasten the king to it. 
 
 Hence, the emperor, at the hour of his departure for Austria, 
 requested the Queen and King of Prussia to accompany him to the 
 grave of Frederick the Great. At midnight, on the 5th of Novem- 
 ber, they repaired, therefore, to the garrison church at Potsdam, 
 the lower vault of which contains the coffin of the great king. A 
 single torch-bearer accompanied the three august visitors, whose 
 steps resounded solemnly in the silent, gloomy halls. 
 
 Arriving at the king's coffin, the emperor knelt down ; his face, 
 lighted up by the glai'e of the torch, was radiant with enthusiasm. 
 On the other side of the dark vault stood the king and the queen, 
 both with folded hands ; the king with a gloomy and reserved sir, 
 he queen with her eyes turned to heaven, and her face beaming 
 with pious emotion and joy. 
 
 Alexander, still remaining on his knees, now raised his folded 
 hands toward heaven. " At the grave of the most heroic king, " he 
 said in a loud and solemn voice — "at the grave of Frederick the 
 Great, I swear to my ally, the King of Prussia, an oath of everlast- 
 ing love and constancy ; I swear an oath of everlasting constancy 
 and love to the sacred cause which has united us for the most exalted 
 purpose. Never shall my constancy waver; never shall my love 
 grow cold 1 I swear it !" 
 
 He kissed the coffin and rose from his knees ; his eyes, glistening 
 with tears, then turned toward the king, as he said : 
 
 " It is your turn now, my brother, to swear the oath. " 
 
 The king hesitated. 
 
 The queen laid her hand gently on his shoulder, and bent her 
 beautiful face so close to him that he felt her breath, like the kiss of 
 an angel, on his cheek. 
 
 " Swear the oath, my friend, my beloved," she whispered; "swear 
 to be faithful to the holy alliance against the French tyrant ; swear 
 everlasting constancy and love to our noble ally. " 
 
 The king hesitated no longer ; he raised his head resolutely and 
 approached the coffin. Laying his hand upon it, he repeated in a 
 grave and calm voice the words which the queen had uttered before, 
 and which she now whispered with trembling lips. 
 
386 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 All three then grasped each other's hands over the coflBn ; thus 
 they stood a long while, deeply moved and silent. 
 
 All at once this silence was interrupted by the loud, ringing notes 
 of the church clock, announcing the first hour of the new day. The 
 sounds died away, and the chime of the bells now commenced play- 
 ing in clear and sweet notes the old German hymn, Ueh immer Treu 
 und Redlichkeit, Ms an dein kuhles Chrdb ! " * 
 
 The king inclined his head, as if in silent prayer ; an almost im- 
 perceptible, sti'ange smile overspread the noble features of the em- 
 peror. The queen, however, glowing with enthusiasm, exclaimed : 
 
 " God and the spirit of Frederick the Great give us the motto of 
 our alliance : ' Ueb immer Treu und Bedlichkeit, bis an dein kUhles 
 Orab ! ' Let us remember it as long as we live !" 
 
 " Let us remember it, " repeated the two sovereigns, with a firm, 
 manly gi-asp. . They looked at each other, and with their eyes bade 
 each other a last farewell. 
 
 Then they turned silently away and left the royal vault. 
 
 Five minutes later, the Emperor Alexander of Russia was on his 
 way to Olmtitz, in order to join there the Emperor Francis of Austria, 
 who had fled thither from Napoleon and his victorious army. 
 
 At Olmiitz the plan for the campaign of the third coalition against 
 Napoleon was to be agreed upon. 
 
 * Holty's beautiful hymn, " Be honest and faithful until they lay thee in thy cool 
 graTe." 
 
THE FALL OF THE GEEMAT^ EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. 
 
 It was in the last days of November, 1805. After the victory of 
 Ulm, the Emperor Napoleon had established his headquarters in 
 Briinn, where he seemed to wait for his adversaries to attack him. 
 There was no longer one enemy opposed to him ; he had no longer 
 to cope with Austria aloQe, but also with Russia, whose emperor 
 was now at Olmtitz with the Emperor of Austria, for the purpose of 
 agreeing with him on the plan of operations by which Napoleon was 
 to be defeated. The Russian army had already formed a junction 
 with the Austrian forces, and even the Russian life-guards, the elite 
 of their army, had left Russia in order to accompany their emperor 
 to the great decisive battle. 
 
 But Napoleon had likewise brought his guards along, and these 
 splendid troops were impatient and eager to fight the last decisive 
 battle with the Austrians and with " the hordes of the Russian bar- 
 barians. " 
 
 Napoleon, however, still hesitated ; his plans apparently had not 
 been matured, and he seemed undecided whether to advance still 
 further or to content himself with the victories he had already 
 obtained. 
 
 This last alternative was urged on him by his generals, who be- 
 lieved the victory of Ulm to be so brilliant a triumph that the French 
 army might repose on its laurels, instead of drawing the sword once 
 more. 
 
 Napoleon, however, did not assent to these views of his generals. 
 
 "If we had to cope only with the Austrians we might be satisfied, 
 but there are the Russians, too, and it will be necessary for us to 
 send them home. We must give them their passports." 
 
 Greatly elated at this idea, the emperor ordered his horse to be 
 brought to him. 
 
 " We will examine the country a little, " he said to his generals ; 
 "accompany me, gentlemen." 
 
 And surrounded by his brilliant staff, consisting of the most 
 
388 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 illustrious and victorious officers of his army, the emperor rode out 
 far into the plain between Brilnn and Viohau, crowned all around 
 with hills and mountains. His bold, searching glances surveyed 
 the country in every direction ; not a height, not a tree, not a ravine, 
 escaped- his attention ; he examined every thing, and seemed to 
 engrave them on his soul. It was near nightfall when he returned 
 with his generals from this long ride to his headquarters. He had 
 all day been taciturn and absorbed, and none of his generals had 
 been permitted to participate in his plans and observations. He 
 had only sometimes directed their attention by a laconic word or 
 by a wave of his hand to some peculiarity of the landscape, and the 
 generals had received these words and gestures like the mysterious 
 hints of an oracle, with the most respectful attention, in order to 
 weigh them in their minds, and to indelibly engrave them in their 
 memory. On his arrival at the door of his headquarters, the em- 
 peror turned his pale, grave face once more to the plain which they 
 had just left. 
 
 " Gentlemen, " he said, in a loud voice, " study that part of the 
 country as closely as possible ; you will have to play a rdle in it 
 within a few days. General Suchet, on the left side of your division 
 there is an isolated mound, comraanding your entire front. Cause 
 fourteen cannon to be placed on it in the course of the present 
 night. " * He nodded to the gentlemen and entered his cabinet. 
 
 He paced his room for a long while with folded arms, compressed 
 lips, and a gloomy air. 
 
 " I need a few days more, " he muttered. " If they should attack 
 me now, quickly and resolutely, I must succumb ; if they give me 
 three days' time, however, I shall defeat them. " 
 
 When he then stooped musingly before his desk, he suddenly 
 noticed the papers lying on it. 
 
 " Ah, " he said, hastily seizing a large, sealed letter, " a courier, 
 who has brought dispatches in my absence ! From the minister of 
 the navy — news from the fleet !" 
 
 He broke the seal hurriedly and unfolded the paper. While 
 reading it his mien became still more gloomy ; a cloud of anger 
 settled on his expansive brow, and his cheeks, which had hitherto 
 only been pale, turned livid. 
 
 The glance which he now cast toward heaven would have re- 
 minded the spectator of the Titans who dared to hurl their missiles 
 even at the Sovereign Deity ; the words muttered by his quivering 
 lips were an angry oath. 
 
 With this oath he crumpled up the paper in his hand, threw it 
 down and stamped on it ; then, as if ashamed of his own violence, 
 * Napoleon's own words. Vide " M§moires du Due de Rovigo," vol. ii., p. 169. 
 
EVIL TIDINGS. 389 
 
 he sank down on a chair, and laid his hands slowly, and with a deep 
 sigh, on his trembling, pale face. The modern Titan had now found 
 out for the first time that there was a God enthroned in heaven more 
 powerful than himself; for the first time an invisible hand had 
 stopped him in his hitherto victorious course. 
 
 The paper he had just trampled under foot announced to him 
 the first great defeat, the first check his grand schemes had met 
 with. 
 
 The French fleet had been completely beaten and almost annihi- 
 lated by the English at Trafalgar.* England, the only enemy who 
 had constantly oppposed Napoleon in a menacing and fearless man- 
 ner, detested England had gained a magnificent triumph. She had 
 destroyed the whole naval power of France, and won a brilliant 
 victor}- ; a victory which humiliated France and overwhelmed her 
 with disgrace. It is true it was a dearly-bought victory for Eng- 
 land, for Nelson, her greatest naval hero, had paid for his immortal 
 triumph with his life. The French admiral, Villeneuve, who was 
 defeated at Trafalgar, had not even been lucky and wise enough to 
 expiate his ignominy by his death ; he had fallen, a despairing 
 prisoner, into the hands of the English, and served as a living 
 trophy to the triumphant conquerors, f 
 
 Such were the terrible tidings which Napoleon had just received ; 
 it was the first thunderbolt which the God of heaven had hurled 
 down upon the powerful Titan. 
 
 But the Titan did not feel crushed by it ; the thimderbolt only 
 served to fan the fire in his breast. > 
 
 He rose from his seat, and his eyes flashed with anger. 
 
 " I cannot be everywhere, " he said, aloud, " but my enemies shall 
 soon find out that I am here, and I shall know how to avenge the 
 disgrace of Trafalgar by a brilliant victory. " i 
 
 The door behind him opened at this moment, and the chief of the 
 imperial cabinet, M. de Bourrienne, entered. 
 
 " Sire, " he said, " the two Austrian envoys. Count de Giulay and 
 Count Stadion, have returned, and beg your majesty to grant them 
 an audience. " 
 
 " So late at night !" exclaimed the emperor. " Why did they not 
 come in the daytime ?" 
 
 " They pretend to have been detained by the impassable state of 
 the roads, but assert to be able to lay before your majesty some 
 
 •October 21, 1806. 
 
 t Admiral Villeneuve was released by the English government. Napoleon banished 
 him to Rennea, where he committed suicide on the 26th of April, 1806, by piercing his 
 heart with a pin. 
 
 t Napoleon's own words. 
 
390 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 highly important intelligence, which would seem entirely calculated 
 to bring about the conclusion of peace so longed for by Austria. " 
 
 "Let the gentlemen come in," said the emperor, after a short 
 reflection, and he placed his foot again on the crumpled paper, as if 
 he wished to choke the secret of its contents, so that it might not be- 
 tray itself to the Austrians. 
 
 Bourrienne had gone out, and the two Austrian envoys. Count 
 Giulay and Count Stadion, now appeared on the threshold. 
 
 " You retm-n to me, " said the emperor, hastily, to them ; " my 
 conditions have been accepted, then? I told you I should not nego- 
 tiate separately with Austria, but that I should require Russia to 
 participate in the negotiations, and to be included in the treaty of 
 peace on which we might agree. You come, then, in the name of 
 the Emperors of Austria and Russia?" 
 
 " No, sire, " said Count Stadion, respectfully, " we come only in 
 the name of Austria. " 
 
 "The emperor, our august master," began Count Giulay— but 
 Napoleon interrupted him quickly. 
 
 " I shall listen to you only if you are authorized to speak in the 
 name of the two emperors, " said Napoleon. " I already told you so 
 yesterday, and I do not see what should induce me to-day to change 
 my mind. The state of affairs is precisely the same. " 
 
 "Pardon me, sire, it is not," said Count Giulay, firmly. 
 
 The emperor fixed a piercing glance on him, as if he wished to 
 read in the innermost recesses of his heart. 
 
 "And why i%it not the same?" he asked, while his eye slowly 
 turned toward the foot, under which he concealed the sinister 
 dispatch. 
 
 "Your majesty was yesterday pleased to say that Austria, 
 although she might boast of the active support of Russia, could 
 never count on the assistance of Prussia, and that Prussia's neu- 
 trality was as useful to France as Russia's active support to Austria. " 
 
 "Why do you repeat the words I uttered yesterday?" asked the 
 emperor, impetuously. 
 
 " Sire, because Prussia is no longer neutral, " said Coiint Stadion, 
 solemnly. 
 
 " Because Prussia is ready to become, like Russia and England, 
 the active ally of Austria, " added Count Giulay. 
 
 Napoleon's flashing, gloomy eyes looked alternately at the two 
 Austrian envoys. 
 
 "How did you obtain that information?" he asked at last. 
 
 "Sire, from his majesty the Emperor of Russia. He has con- 
 cluded a treaty with the king at Potsdam, by which Frederick 
 WiUiam III. declares his readiness to participate in the campaign 
 
EVIL TIDINGS. 391 
 
 and to assist Austria, unless your majesty should condescend to 
 accept the conditions which the King of Prussia is to propose as 
 mediator between the coalition and France. " 
 
 "Ah, the King of Prussia is going to propose conditions to me?" 
 exclaimed Napoleon, shi-ugging his shoulders. " Do you know those 
 conditions?" 
 
 " The King of Prussia will propose to your majesty to surrender 
 the crown of Italy, not to disturb the princes of Italy in their pos- 
 sessions and independence, to recognize the independence of the 
 German empire, of Holland, of Switzerland, to — " 
 
 "Enough!" said Napoleon, impatiently. "The Emperor Alex- 
 ander has taken the liberty to teU you a story, and your credulity 
 must have greatly delighted him. Can you seriously believe that 
 the King of Prussia would in his infatuation go so far as to hope 
 that I should accept propositions of so ridiculous a description? 
 Truly, even if I were a vanquished and humiliated emperor, I should 
 stab myself with my own sword rather than submit to such a dis- 
 grace. It seems I have not yet engraved my name deeply enough 
 into the marble tablets of history, and I shall prove to these over- 
 bearing princes, who believe their legitimacy to be the Goi'gon's 
 head they only need show in order to crush me — I shall prove to 
 them who I am, and to whom the future belongs, whether to them 
 or to me ! However, it is unnecessary to say so much about things 
 which do not exist. " 
 
 "Sire, the treaty of Potsdam does exist," said Count Stadion. 
 "The envoy whom the King of Prussia has sent off to lay its stipu- 
 tions before your majesty would have reached your headquarters 
 already if he had travelled as rapidly as the Emperor Alexander, 
 who left Potsdam simultaneously with him. " 
 
 " Well, let him come ; I shall see, then, whether you have told 
 me a story or not, " replied Napoleon. " If the King of Prussia has 
 dared to do this, by God, I will pay him for it ! * But this does not 
 change my resolutions and plans in any respect. I shall enter into 
 negotiations with Austria only on condition that Russia participates 
 in them. State it to those who have sent you, and now fareweU. " 
 
 He nodded to the two gentlemen, and timiing his back to them, 
 stepped to the window. Only when a slight jarring of the door told 
 him that they had withdrawn, the emperor turned around and com- 
 menced again, his hands folded behind his back, slowly pacing the 
 room. 
 
 He then stopped before the large table in the middle of the 
 room, and unrolled one of the maps lying on it. It was a map of 
 
 * Napoleon's own words.— Vide Hormayer, vol. i., and Hausser's " History of Ger- 
 many," vol. Ji., p. 680. 
 26 
 
392 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 southern Germany. After spreading it on the table, the emperor 
 commenced marking it with pins, the variously-colored heads of 
 which designated the different armies of the Russians, Austrians, 
 and French. 
 
 The emperor was engaged all night in this task, in studying the 
 map, and in measuring and calculating the distances some of his 
 troops would have to march before reaching the field of action. The 
 wax-candles in the silver chandelier burned down, but he did not 
 notice it ; the fire in the fireplace had gone out, but he did not feel 
 it ; the door of his cabinet was softly opened from time to time, and 
 the pale face of his valet de chanibre Constant, who was evidently 
 exhausted with long waking, appeared, but the emperor did not 
 heed it. His soul was concentrated on one idea, on one aim, viz. , 
 to pursue the glorious course of his victories, to humiliate Germany 
 as he had humiliated Italy, and to drown the echoes of Trafalgar by 
 a brilliant triumph. 
 
 Morning was already dawning, when Napoleon at length rose 
 from the table and commenced again slowly pacing the room. 
 
 "Time, time!" he said, "I only need three days for moving up 
 the third corps, which is already on the march from Bohemia. 
 Time ! And yet I must gain a great and brilliant victory before 
 Prussia allies herself openly with Austria and Russia against France. 
 If I should not succeed in doing so, the army of my enemies would 
 be increased by one hundred and fifty thousand men. Hence, " he 
 said, after a pause, quite merrily and hopefully, "hence, I must 
 succeed. " 
 
 He returned to the map and pointed his finger at it. 
 
 " The Austrians are over there at Olmtitz, " he said, quickly. 
 " Here, the Russian guards ; there, the united corps of Kutusof and 
 Buxhowden ; farther on, the vanguard under Prince Bagration. If 
 they should advance now rapidly, resolutely, directly toward my 
 front, the odds would be too overwhelming ; if they should tarry, or 
 if I should succeed in causing them to hesitate until I have got my 
 Bohemian corps in line, I should defeat them. l«t us try it, there- 
 fore ; let us feign inactivity and timidity, so that they may not be- 
 come active. Cunning is the best ally of a general ; let us try to 
 deceive them. " 
 
 He went to his desk, and taking some gilt-edged paper, com- 
 menced writing rapidly. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later an orderly requested General Savary to 
 repair to the emperor's cabinet. 
 
 Napoleon received the general with a kindly smile, but he was 
 silent, and looked almost irresolutely at the letter he held in his 
 hand. Suddenly, however, he seemed to come to a firm resolution, 
 
EVIL TIDINGS. 393 
 
 and handing the letter to Savary, he said: "Take this letter to 
 Ohnutz ; deliver it to the Emperor of Russia, and tell him that, 
 having learned that he had arrived at the headquarters of his army, 
 I had sent you to welcome him in my name. If he should converse 
 with you, and put questions to you, you know the replies that should 
 be made under such circumstances. Go. " * 
 
 "And now," said the emperor, when Savary had left him, "now 
 we will sleep a little. Constant !" 
 
 The door opened immediately, and the valet de chambre entered. 
 
 "Ah, I am afraid you have had a bad night of it, " said the em- 
 peror, kindly. 
 
 "Sire, your majesty has again been awake all the night long, 
 and—" 
 
 " And consequently, '' said Napoleon, interrupting him — " conse- 
 quently you have been awake, too. Well, console yourself ; we 
 shall soon have more quiet nights ; console yourself, and do not re- 
 port me to the Empress Josephine when we have returned to Paris. 
 My dear Josephine hates nothing so much as sleepless nights. " 
 
 "Sire, the empress is right ; she ought to hate them, " said Con- 
 stant, respectfully. " Your majesty, taking no rest whatever in the 
 daytime, needs repose at least in the night. Your majesty sleeps 
 too little. " 
 
 " By doing so I am better oflf than the sluggards, inasmuch as my 
 life does not only consist of days, but also of nights, " replied Na- 
 poleon, good-humoredly. " I shall have lived eighty years then in 
 the space of forty. But be quiet. Constant, I will now comply with 
 your wishes and sleep. " 
 
 Constant hastened to open the door leading to the bedroom. 
 "Oh, no," said the emperor, "if I say I will sleep, I do not mean 
 that I will go to bed. Beds are, on the whole, only good for old 
 women and gouty old men. When I was second lieutenant, I once 
 made the experiment not to go to bed for six months, but to sleep 
 on the floor or on a chair, and it agreed very well with me. Give 
 me the handkerchief for my head, and my coat. Constant. " 
 
 Constant hun-ied with a sigh to the bedi-oom in order to fetch the 
 articles Napoleon had ordered; and while he was wrapping the 
 silken handkerchief around the emperor's head, and assisted him 
 in putting on his gray, well-lined, and comfortable cloth-coat 
 instead of the uniform, the emperor softly whistled and hummed 
 an air. 
 
 He then snugly stretched himself in his arm-chair, and kindly 
 nodding to Constant, he said: "As soon as General Savary has 
 returned, let him come in." 
 
 * Napoleon's own words.— Vide " MSmoires du Due de Rovigo," vol. ii., p. 171. 
 
394 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Constant softly glided into the anteroom. He met there some of 
 his acquaintances. 
 
 "I have important news for you, gentlemen," he said. "We 
 shall fight a battle in two or three days. " 
 
 " Did the emperor tell you so?" 
 
 " No, he is not in the habit of speaking of such things. But 
 during the night-toilet he whistled Marlborough's air, and he does 
 so only when there is to be a battle. " * 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 BEFORE THE BATTLE. 
 
 Five hours later General Savary reentered the emperor's cabinet; 
 he was still lying on his arm-chair and sleeping ; but when the 
 general accosted him in a low voice. Napoleon opened his eyes and 
 asked eagerly : "Well, did you see the czar?" 
 
 " Yes, sire, I saw him and conversed with him. " 
 
 "Ah," exclaimed Napoleon, quickly, "tell me all about it; do 
 not omit any thing. How did he look when he read my letter?" 
 
 " Sire, when I had delivered your letter to the Emperor Alexan- 
 der, he went with it into an adjoining room, from which he returned 
 only half an hour later, with a reply in his hand. " 
 
 "Give me the letter, Savary !" 
 
 " Sire, here it is. " 
 
 Napoleon took it hastily ; but when he fixed his eyes on the 
 address, he frowned. 
 
 "Ah, this emperor 'by the grace of God' believes he need not 
 address me with the title conferred upon me by the French nation, " 
 he said, hastily. " He does not write to the Emperor of the French, 
 but 'to the chief of the French government.'! Did you read the 
 address, Savary?" 
 
 " The Emperor Alexander called my attention to it himself, sire. 
 I remember his words distinctly. They were as follows: 'The ad- 
 dress does not contain the title which your chief has assumed since 
 then. I do not set any great value on such trifles ; but it is a rule 
 of etiquette, and I shall alter it with pleasure as soon as he has given 
 me an opportunity for doing so. '" X 
 
 " And what did you reply to him ?" 
 
 "Sire, I replied, 'Your majesty is right. This can only be a 
 
 * " Mfimoires de Constant," vol. iv., p. 109. 
 
 + Historical.— Vide " M§moires du Due de Rovigo," vol. ii., p. 187. 
 
 t Alexander's own words.— Vide " Mfimoires du Due de Rovigo," vol. ii., p. 187. 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 395 
 
 jrule of etiquette, and the emperor will not judge it in any other 
 way. When he was general-in-ohief of the Italian army he already 
 gave orders and prescribed laws to more than one king ; contented 
 with the homage of the French, he only deems it a satisfaction for 
 them to be recognized. ' " * 
 
 " Your reply was fitting and to the point, " said Napoleon, with a 
 pleasant nod, while he opened the emperor's letter and glanced over 
 it. " Phrases, empty words, " he then exclaimed, throwing the letter 
 contemptuously on the table. " Talleyrand was right when he said 
 language was given to us for the purpose of concealing our thoughts. 
 Those men use it for that purpose. " 
 
 " Sire, the emperor did not conceal his thoughts during our inter- 
 view, " replied the general. " I conversed with him long and freely, 
 and I may say that he uttered his opinions very frankly. The Em- 
 peror Alexander said: 'Peace was only to be thought of if your 
 majesty should stipulate reasonable terms which would not hurt 
 anybody's feelings, and which would not be calculated to weaken 
 the power and importance of the other princes and to increase that 
 of France. France was a power already large enough ; she needed 
 no aggrandizement, and the other powers could not tolerate such a 
 one.'" 
 
 " Ah, I shall teach them to tolerate it nevertheless ; I shall prove 
 to all of them that France is at the head of all monarchies, and com- 
 pel them to recognize the Emperor of France with bowed heads !" 
 
 He paced the room hastily with angry eyes and panting breast. 
 His steps, however, became gradually more quiet, and the furrows 
 disappeared from his forehead. 
 
 "I need two days more," he muttered to himself — "two days, 
 and I must have them, Savary. '' He then said aloud, turning to 
 the general: "Did you make no further observations? Did you not 
 notice the spirit animating the Russian camp?" 
 
 " Sire, the whole youth of the highest Russian nobility were at 
 the emperor's headquarters, and I conversed with many of them ; I 
 heard and observed a great many things. " 
 
 "Well, and what do they think of us?" 
 
 Savary smiled. "Sire," he said, "those young men did not 
 breathe any thing but war and victory, and they seemed to believe 
 that your majesty wished to avoid active hostilities since the Rus- 
 sians had formed a junction with the Austrians. " 
 
 "Ah, did they seem to believe that?" exclaimed Napoleon, joy- 
 fully. " Well, we will try to strengthen their belief. General, take 
 a bugler along and return to the headquarters of the emperor. Tell 
 him that I propose to him an interview for to-mon-ow in the open 
 * Historical.— Vide " Mfimoires du Duo de Rovigo," toI. ii., p. 187. 
 
396 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 field between the two armies, the time and hour to be designated by 
 himself, and a cessation of hostilities to take place for the next 
 twenty-four hours. Go !" 
 
 " I believe, " said the emperor, when he was alone again, " I be- 
 lieve I have gained my second day also, and I only want a third one, 
 in order to be able to vanquish all my enemies. Those arrogant 
 Russians believe, then, that I wish to avoid a battle, and to remain 
 in my present position? I will try to strengthen this opinion of 
 theirs ; earthworks shall be thrown up, and the batteries shall be 
 fortified. Every thing must have the appearance of anxiety and 
 timidity. " 
 
 And Napoleon summoned his generals and gave them aloud these 
 new orders, but, in a whisper, he instructed them to begin the 
 retrograde movement, and to let the troops occupy the positions he 
 had selected for them on the extensive ground he had reconnoitred 
 yesterday. 
 
 And the night expired, and half the next day, before General 
 Savary returned from his mission. In the mean time Napoleon had 
 changed his quarters. He had repaired to the camp of his army, 
 and a bundle of straw was now his only couch. He had impatiently 
 looked for Savary, and went to meet him with hasty steps. 
 
 "Why so late?" he asked. 
 
 "Sire, it was almost impossible for me to reach the emperor. 
 He had left Olmiitz. All the night long I was conducted from 
 bivouac to bivouac, in order to find Prince Bagration, who could 
 alone take me to the emperor. " 
 
 "And you have seen the emperor?" asked Napoleon, impatiently. 
 
 "Yes, sire, after overcoming many obstacles and difficulties, 1 
 succeeded in penetrating to the emperor. I submitted your ma- 
 jesty's proposition to him. The emperor replied : 'It would afford 
 him the greatest pleasure to see and make the acquaintance of your 
 majesty, but time was too short for it now. Moreover, before enter- 
 ing into such negotiations, he would have to consult the Emperor of 
 Austria, and learn your majesty's views, so as to be able to see 
 whether such an interview would be advisable or not. Hence, he 
 would send one of his confidential advisers with me, and intrust him 
 with a mission to your majesty. The reply which he would bring 
 to him from your majesty would decide the matter. '" 
 
 "Ah, and the third day will pass in this manner!" exclaimed 
 Napoleon, joyfully. "Where is the emperor's envoy? and who 
 is it?" 
 
 "Sire, the emperor sent his first aide-de-camp, Prince Dolgo- 
 rouki, with me. " 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 397 
 
 "Sire, I left him with the grand- guard ; he is waiting there for 
 your majesty's orders. " 
 
 Napoleon rose hastily from the straw, on which he had been 
 sitting with folded arms. 
 
 " My horse !" he shouted ; and when Koustan had brought his 
 charger, he vaulted into the saddle and galloped so rapidly forward 
 that his suite were scarcely able to overtake him. On arriving close 
 to the grand-guard, he halted and alighted, and while he sent off 
 Savary to conduct Prince Dolgorouki to him, he muttered : " Only 
 a third day !" 
 
 He received the prince with the calmness and composure of a 
 proud imperator, of a chieftain accustomed to victory. A wave of 
 his hand caused his suite to stand back ; and when the officers had 
 withdrawn, he commenced conversing with Prince Dolgorouki, 
 while walking up aud down with him. 
 
 The emperor suddenly approached the members of his suite, and 
 they heard him say in a loud and angry voice : 
 
 "If that is all you wish to say to me, hasten to inform your em- 
 peror that I had not thought at all of such conditions when I applied 
 for an interview with him ; I should only have shown him my 
 army ; and, as to the conditions, relied on his honesty. He wishes 
 a battle ; very well, let us fight. I wash my hands of it !" * 
 
 He turned his back to Prince Dolgorouki with a slight wave of 
 his hand ; and fixing his flaming eagle-eyes on his generals, he said, 
 shrugging his shoulders : 
 
 "Russia will make peace if France will give up Belgium, and, 
 first of all things, cede the crown of Italy to the King of Sardinia. 
 Oh, those men must be crazy ! They want me to evacuate Italy, 
 and they will find out soon that they cannot even get me out of 
 Vienna. What would have been their terms, and what would they 
 have made of France, if they had beaten? Well, let things turn out 
 as it may, please God, but in less than forty-eight hours I will pay 
 them well for their arrogance !" f 
 
 And instead of mounting again on horseback, he continued walk- 
 ing on the highway, muttering to himself, and with his riding- whip 
 knocking off the small grass-blades he met on the road. He had 
 now reached the first infantry post of his army. The sentinel was 
 an old soldier, who was unconcernedly filling his pipe while holding 
 his musket between his legs. 
 
 The gloomy eyes of the emperor turned to him, and pointing 
 over to the position of the enemy, he said, angrily : " Those arrogant 
 fellows believe they can swallow us without further ceremony !" 
 * Napoleon's own words.— Vide " M6raoires du Due de Rovigo," vol. ii., p. 196. 
 t Ibid, p. 198. 
 
398 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The old soldier looked smilingly at the emperor with his shrewd 
 eyes, and quietly continued filling his pipe with the small finger of 
 his right hand. 
 
 " Oh, oh, they cannot swallow us so fast I We shall lie down, 
 your majesty ! — " 
 
 The emperor laughed loudly, and his face became radiant. 
 " Yes, " he said, " you are right, we will lie down as soon as they try 
 to swallow us ; and then we wiU choke them !" 
 
 He nodded to the soldier, and vaulting into the saddle he re- 
 turned to headquarters. Night was coming on already, and looking 
 up to the moonlighted sky, the emperor murmured : " Only one more 
 day, and then I shall defeat them !" 
 
 And fate gave him that day. It is true, the combined forces of 
 the Austrians and Russians approached his positions, but did not 
 attack them. They drew up in a long line directly in front of the 
 French camp, and so close to it that their movements could be 
 plainly seen. 
 
 Napoleon was on horseback all day ; he inspected every regiment 
 of his whole army ; his eyes beamed with enthusiasm, and a won- 
 drous smile played on his lips. 
 
 The Bohemian corps had arrived ; the delay of three days had 
 borne fruits ; he now felt strong enough to defeat his enemies. 
 
 He spoke in a merry tone to the soldiers here and there, and they 
 replied to him with enthusiastic shouts. He inspected the artillery 
 parks and light batteries with searching glances, and then gave the 
 necessary instructions to the officers and gunners. 
 
 Only after inspecting every thing in person, after visiting the 
 ambulances and wagons for the wounded, he returned to his bivouac 
 in order to take a frugal meal. He then summoned all his marshals 
 and generals, and spoke to them about every thing they would have 
 to do on the following day, and about what the enemy might do. 
 To each of them he gave his instructions and assigned his position ; 
 and already on the evening of this day he issued to his soldiers a 
 proclamation, admonishing them to perform deeds of heroism on the 
 following day. 
 
 " Soldiers, " he said to them in his proclamation, " the Russian 
 army appears before you to average the Austrian defeat of Ulm 
 They are the same battalions that you beat at Holabriinn, and, that 
 you have since been constantly pursuing to this spot. 
 
 " The positions which we occupy are formidable ; and while they 
 are marching to turn my right, they will present their flank to me. 
 
 " Soldiers, I shall myself direct your battalions. I shall keep out 
 of the fire, if, with your usual bravery, you throw disorder and 
 confusion into the enemy's ranks. But, if the victoiy should be 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 399 
 
 for a moment uncertain, you will see your emperor the foremost to 
 expose himself to danger. For victory must not hang doubtful on 
 this day, most particularly, when the honor of the French infantry, 
 which so deeply concerns the honor of the whole nation, is at 
 stake. 
 
 " Let not the ranks be thinned upon pretext of carrying away the 
 wounded; and let every one be thoroughly impressed with this 
 thought, that it behooves us to conquer these hirelings of England, 
 who are animated with such bitter hatred against our nation. 
 
 " This victory will put an end to the campaign, and we shall then 
 be able to return to our winter quarters, where we shall be joined 
 by the new armies which are forming in France, and then the peace 
 which I shall make will be worthy of my people, of you, and of 
 myself. " 
 
 The soldiers received this proclamation with jubilant shouts ; and 
 when Napoleon, after night had set in, rode once more through the 
 camp, the first soldiers who perceived him, eager to light him on 
 his way, picked up the sti-aw of their bivouac and made it into 
 torches, which they placed blazing on the tops of their muskets. In 
 a few^ minutes this example was followed by the whole army, and 
 along the vast front of the French position was displayed this singu- 
 lar illumination. The soldiers accompanied the steps of Napoleon 
 with shouts of " Vive VEmpereur ! " promising to prove on the mor- 
 row that they were worthy of him and of themselves. Enthusiasm 
 pervaded all the ranks. They went as men ought to go into danger, 
 with hearts full of content and confidence. 
 
 Napoleon retired, to oblige his soldiers, to take some rest. With 
 a feeling of the most unbounded satisfaction, he threw himself on 
 the straw in his tent, and smilingly rejecting the services of his 
 valets de chambre, Eoustan and Constant, who implored him to 
 perimt them to wrap him in warmer clothes, he said : 
 
 " Kandle a good fire and let me sleep as a soldier who has a hot 
 day before him on the morrow ought to sleep. " 
 
 He pressed his head into the straw and fell asleep ; and he was 
 still sleeping when the marshals and generals at daybreak came to 
 the emperor's tent to awaken him as he had ordered them to do. 
 
 They surrounded the open tent in respectful silence and looked at 
 the chieftain who was to fight a great battle to-day, and who was 
 now lying on the straw with a calm, serene face, and with the gentle 
 slimiber of a child. 
 
 But they durst not let him sleep any longer, for the emperor, 
 who had regulated every movement of the present day by the hour 
 and minute, would have been very angry if any delay had occurred. 
 General Savary, therefore, approached the sleeping emperor and 
 
400 
 
 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 bent over him. Then his loud and earnest voice was heard to say : 
 " Sire, the fixed hour has come. " 
 
 Napoleon opened his eyes and jumped up. Sleep had suddenly 
 fallen from him like a thin veil ; as soon as he rose to his feet he 
 was once more the great emperor and general. He cast a long, 
 searching look on the gray, moist, and wintry horizon, and the 
 dense mist which shrouded every thing at a distance of ten paces 
 caused his eyes to sparkle with delight. 
 
 " That mist is an excellent ally of ours, for it will conceal our 
 movements from the enemy. Issue your orders, gentlemen ; let the 
 whole army take up arms as silently as possible. " 
 
 The emperor then mounted on horseback and rode through the 
 camp to see the infantry and cavalry form in column. 
 
 It was now seven o'clock in the morning. The mist began to 
 rise ; the first feeble rays of the December sun pierced it and com- 
 menced gradually illuminating the landscape. 
 
 The emperor placed himself on a small knoll, where his eye em- 
 braced the whole field of battle ; his marshals were on horseback at 
 his side, anxiously awaiting his order to commence the combat. 
 
 Profound silence reigned eveiy where ; but suddenly it was inter- 
 rupted by a very brisk fire of artillery and musketry. A radiant 
 flash seemed to light up the emperor's face, and proudly raising his 
 head, he said, in an imperious voice : 
 
 " To your posts, gentlemen ; the battle is about to commence !" * 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 "GOTT EEHALTE FRANZ DEN KAISER!" 
 
 For three days the utmost uneasiness and commotion had reigned 
 in Vienna. Nobody wanted to stay at home. Everybody hastened 
 into the street, as if he hoped there to hear at an earlier moment the 
 great news which the people were looking for, and as if the fresh 
 air which had carried to them three days ago the thimdering echoes 
 of the cannon, would waft to them to-day the tidings of the brill- 
 iant victory supposed to be achieved by the Emperors Francis and 
 Alexander. 
 
 But these victorious tidings did not come ; the roar of the cannon 
 had a quicker tongue than the courier who was to bring the news of 
 the victory. He did not come, and yet the good people of Vienna 
 were waiting for him with impatience and, at the same time, with 
 proud and joyful confidence. It is true no one was able to state 
 • The battle of AusterUtz, Dec. 2, 1805. 
 
"GOTT BEHALTE FRANZ DEN KAISER." 40I 
 
 positively where the battle had been fought, but the people were 
 able to calculate the spot where the great struggle had probably 
 taken place, for they knew that the allies had occupied the imme- 
 diate environs of Olmtltz, and then advanced toward Brtinn and Aus- 
 terlitz, where the French army had established itself. They calcu- 
 lated the time which the courier would consume in order to reach 
 Vienna from the battle-field, and the obstacles and delays that might 
 have possibly impeded his progress were taken into consideration. 
 But no one felt anxious at his prolonged absence ; no one doubted 
 that the allies had obtained a great victory. 
 
 For their two armies were by far superior to the French army, 
 and Napoleon himself had not hoped for a victory this time ; he had 
 fallen back with his army because he wished to avoid a battle with 
 the superior forces of the enemy ; he had even gone so far in his 
 despondency as to write to the Emperor of Russia and to sue for 
 peace. 
 
 How could people think, therefore, that Napoleon had won the 
 battle, the thunders of which had filled the Viennese three days ago 
 with the utmost exultation ? 
 
 No, fate had at length stopped the onward career of the conqueror, 
 and it was on Austrian soil that his eagles were to be struck down 
 and his laurels to wither. 
 
 Nobody doubted it ; the joyful anticipation of a great victory 
 animated every heart and beamed from every eye. They longed for 
 the arrival of the courier, and were overjoyed to celebrate at length 
 a triumph over those supercilious French, who had latterly humili- 
 ated and angered the poor people of Vienna on so many occasions. 
 
 It is true the Fi-ench embassy had not yet left Vienna. But that 
 Was only a symptom that it had not yet been reached by a courier 
 from the battle-field ; else it would have fled from Vienna in the 
 utmost haste. 
 
 But the people did not wish to permit the overbearing French to 
 depart from their city in so quiet and unpretending a manner ; they 
 wanted to accompany them at least with loud jeers, with scornful 
 shouts and curses. 
 
 Thousands, therefore, surrounded the house of the French em- 
 bassy, where Talleyrand, Napoleon's minister of foreign affairs, had 
 been staying for some days, and no longer did they swallow their 
 wrath and hatred, but they gave vent to it loudly ; no longer did 
 they threaten only with their glances, but also with their fists, 
 which they raised menacingly toward the windows of the French 
 
 minister. 
 
 And while thousands had gathered around the embassy buildmg, 
 other thousands strolled out toward Mohringen, and stared breath- 
 
402 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 lessly down the road, hoping to behold the longed-for messenger 
 who would announce to them at length the great victory that had 
 been won. 
 
 An at once something in the distance commenced stirring on 
 the road ; at times glittering objects, resembling twinkling stars, 
 were to be seen, and then motley colors were discerned ; it came 
 nearer and nearer, No doubt it must be a column of soldiers ; per- 
 haps some of the heroic regiments which had defeated the French 
 army were already on their homeward march. 
 
 Ah, the proud and sanguine people of Vienna regretted now ex- 
 ceedingly that there were no longer any French regiments in the 
 capital, and that they had left their city only a week ago and rejoined 
 Napoleon's army. Now there would have been an opportunity for 
 them to take revenge for the hospitality which they had been com- 
 pelled for the last two weeks to extend to the French. Now they 
 would have chased the French soldiers in the most ignominious 
 manner through the same streets which they had marched hitherto 
 with so proud and confident a step. 
 
 The soldiers drew nearer and nearer ; the people hastened to meet 
 them like a huge boa constrictor with thousands and thousands of 
 movable rings, and thousands and thousands of flashing eyes. 
 
 But all at once these eyes became fixed and dismayed ; the joyful 
 hum, which hitherto had filled the air as though it were a vast 
 multitude of gnats playing in the sun, died away. 
 
 Those were not the uniforms of the Austrians, nor of the Rus- 
 sians either ! Those were the odious colors of France. The soldiers 
 marching toward Vienna were French regiments. 
 
 And couriers appeared too, the longed-for couriers ! But they 
 were no Austrian couriers ; the tri-colored sash was wrapped around 
 their waists, they did not greet the people with German words and 
 with fraternal German salutations. They galloped past them and 
 shouted "Victoire! victoire! Vive I'Empereur Napoleon!" 
 
 The people were thunderstruck ; they did not stir, but stared 
 wildly and pale with horror at the regiments that now approached 
 to the jubilant music of their bands, and treated the Viennese to the 
 notes of the Marseillaise and the air of Va-t-en-guerrier ; they stared 
 at the sullen, ragged men who marched in the midst of the soldiers, 
 like the Roman slaves before the car of the Triumphator. These 
 poor, pale men wore no French uniforms, and the tri-colored sash 
 was not wrapped around their waists, nor did they bear arms ; their 
 hands were empty, and their eyes were fixed on the ground. They 
 were prisoners, prisoners of the French, and they wore Russian 
 uniforms. 
 
 The people saw it with dismay. The good Viennese had sud- 
 
«GOTT ERHALTE FRANZ DEN KAISER." 403 
 
 denly been hurled from their proud hopes of victory into an abyss of 
 despair, and tliey were stunned by the sudden fall, and unable to 
 speak and to collect their thoughts. They stood on the road, pale 
 and breathless, and witnessed the spectacle of the return of the vic- 
 torious columns with silent despondency. 
 
 All at once the brilliant column, which had filed through the 
 ranks of the people, halted, and the band ceased playing. An officer 
 galloped up and exchanged a few words with the colonel in com- 
 mand. The colonel made a sign and uttered a few hurried words, 
 whereupon four soldiers stepped from the ranks, and forcing a pas- 
 sage through the staring crowd, walked directly toward a small 
 house situated solitary and alone on the road, in the middle of a 
 garden. 
 
 Every inhabitant of Vienna knew this house and the man living 
 in it, for it was the residence of Joseph Haydn. 
 
 When the four soldiers approached the door of the popular and 
 well-known maestro, the people seemed to awake from their stupe- 
 faction, a unanimous cry of rage and hon-or resounded, and thou- 
 sands and thousands of voices shouted and screamed, "Father 
 Haydn ! They want to arrest Father Haydn !" 
 
 But, no. The four soldiers stopped at the door, and remained 
 there as a guard of honor. 
 
 And the band of the next regiment, which had just come up, 
 halted on the road too, and, in stirring notes, the French musicians 
 began to play a melody which was well known to everybody, the 
 melody of the great hymn from the " Creation, " " In verdure clad. " * 
 
 It sounded to the poor Viennese like a cruel mockery to hear a 
 band of the victorious French army play this melody composed by a 
 German maestro, and tears of heart-felt shame, of inward rage, 
 filled many an eye which had never wept before, and a bitter pang 
 seized every breast. 
 
 The French musicians had not yet finished the tune, when a 
 window in the upper story of the house was opened, and Joseph 
 Haydn's venerable white-haired head appeared. His cheeks were 
 pale, and his lips trembled, for his footman, who had just returned 
 home, had brought him the news that the French had been victori- 
 ous again, and that Napoleon had defeated the two emperors at 
 Austerlitz. 
 
 Joseph Haydn, the old man, was pale and trembling, but Joseph 
 Haydn, the genius, was courageous, joyful, and defiant, and he was 
 filled with noble anger when he heard that the trumpeters of the 
 French conqueror dared to play his German music. 
 
 This anger of the eternally -young and eternally-bold genius now 
 
 * Historical. 
 
404 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 burst forth from Haydn's eyes, and restored to his -whole bearing 
 the vigor and elasticity of youth. 
 
 Leaning far out of the window, he beckoned the people with 
 both arms, while they were looking up to him and waving their 
 hats to salute him. 
 
 " Sing, people of Vienna !" he shouted, " oh, sing our favorite 
 hymn !" 
 
 The music had just ceased, and Joseph Haydn now commenced 
 singing in a loud, ringing voice, " Oott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, 
 unsern guten Kaiser Franz J " 
 
 And thousands of voices sang and shouted all at once, "Outt 
 erhalte Franz den Kaiser, unsern guten Kaiser Franz ! " 
 
 Joseph Haydn stood at the window, and moved his arm as 
 though he were standing before his orchestra and leading his choir. 
 
 The people sang their favorite hymn louder and more jubilantly, 
 and to the notes of this prayer of a whole people, of this jubilant 
 hymn, by which the Viennese honored their unfortunate, vanquished 
 emperor in the face of the conquering army, the French marched 
 up the road toward the interior of the city. 
 
 Joseph Haydn was still at the window ; he led the choir no 
 longer ; he sang no more. He had folded his hands and listened to 
 the majestic anthem of the people, and the tears, filling his eyes, 
 glistened like diamonds. 
 
 The people continued shouting and singing, in spite of the 
 French, the hymn of " Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, unsern guten 
 Kaiser Franz ! " 
 
 And the victorious French marched silently through the opened 
 ranks of the people. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 Princess Marianne von Eibenberg had just returned from a party 
 which the British ambassador. Lord Paget, had given in her honor, 
 and which was to celebrate at the same time the victory which the 
 two emperors, the allies of England, were firmly believed to have 
 achieved over the usurper. 
 
 Marianne Eibenberg, therefore, wore a brilliant toilet. She was 
 adorned with diamonds and costly jewelry, and looked as beauti- 
 ful and proud as a queen. She had now reached the acme of her 
 career. She was still lovely, and besides she had become, as it were, 
 the protectress of the most refined society of Vienna and the centre 
 
PATRIOTISM. 405 
 
 of the intellectual as well as aristocratic circles. She had accom- 
 plished her purpose. Marianne Meier, the Jewess, was now a noble 
 lady, to whom everybody was paying deference ; and Marianne, 
 princess von Eibenberg, felt so much at home in her new position, 
 that she had hei-self almost forgotten who and what she had been in 
 former times. Only sometimes she remembered it," only when such 
 recollections secured a triumph to her, and when she met with per- 
 sons who had formerly, at the best, tolerated her with proud disdain 
 in good society, and who did not deem it now beneath their dignity 
 to solicit an invitation to her reception-room as a favor. 
 
 This reception-room was now the only resort of good society in 
 Vienna, the only place where people were sure to meet always 
 amidst the troubles and convulsions of the times with the most 
 refined and patriotic men, and where they might rely on never find- 
 ing any persons of doubtful patriotism, much less any French. 
 
 But, it is ti'ue, since the imperial family had fled from Vienna, 
 the reception-room of the Princess von Eibenberg had gradually be- 
 come deserted, for the menibers of the aristocracy had retired to 
 their estates and castles, and the ministers and high functionaries 
 had accompanied the emperor and the imperial court to Olmiitz. 
 The ambassadors, too, were about to repair thither ; hence, the party 
 given by the British minister. Lord Paget, to his adored friend the 
 Princess von Eibenberg, was to celebrate not only the supposed vic- 
 tory, but also his departure from the capital. 
 
 Marianne, as we stated already, had just returned from this 
 party. With rapid steps, absorbed in profound reflections, she was 
 pacing her boudoir, muttering, now and then, inaudible words, and 
 from time to time heaving deep sighs as if feeling violent pain. 
 When she walked past the large Venetian mirror, she stopped and 
 contemplated the brilliant and imposing form it reflected. 
 
 "It is true," she said, mournfully, "the Princess von Eibenberg 
 is a beautiful and charming lady ; she has very fine diamonds and a 
 very aristocratic title ; she is living in grand style ; she has very- 
 many admirers ; she is adored and beloved on account of her enthu- 
 siastic patriotism ; she has got whatever is able to beautify and 
 adorn life, and yet I see a cloud on this forehead which artists com- 
 pare with that of the Ludovisian Juno, and diplomatists with that 
 of Pallas Athene. What does this cloud mean? Reply to this ques- 
 tion, you, whom I see there in the mirror ; reply to it, proud woman 
 with the precious diadem, how does it come that you look so sad, 
 although the world says that you are happy and highly honored?" 
 
 She paused, and looked almost expectantly at her own image in 
 the looking-glass. The clock commenced all at once striking twelve. 
 
 "Midnight!" whispered Marianne; "midnight, the hour in 
 
406 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 •which ghosts walk I I will also call up a ghost, " she said, after a 
 short pause ; " I will call it up and compel it to reply to me. " 
 
 And raising her arm toward the glittering, radiant image in the 
 looking-glass, she said in a loud and solemn voice : " Marianne 
 Meier, rise from your grave and come hither to reply to my ques- 
 tions ! Marianne Meier, rise and walk ; it is the Princess von 
 Eibenberg who is calling you I Ah, I see you — it is you, Marianne ; 
 you are looking at me with the melancholy eyes of those days when 
 you had to bear so much contumely and disgrace, and when you 
 were sitting mournfully by the rivers of Babylon and weeping. 
 Yes, I recognize you ; you still wear the features of your ancestors 
 of the tribe of Levi ; men pretend not to notice them any longer, 
 but I see them. Marianne Meier, now listen to what I am going to 
 tell you, and reply to me : tell me what is the matter with the Prin- 
 cess von Eibenberg? What is the reason she is not happy? Look 
 around in her house, Marianne Meier ; you wiU behold there such 
 opulence and magnificence as you never knew in the days of your 
 childhood. Look at her gilt furniture, her carpets and lustres ; look 
 at the beautiful paintings on the walls, and at the splendid solid 
 plate in her chests. Look at her velvet and silk dresses, adorned 
 with gold and silver embroidery ; look at her diainonds, her other 
 precious stones and jewelry. Do you know still, Marianne Meier, 
 how often, in the days of your childhood and early youth, you have 
 longed, with scalding tears, for all those things? Do you know 
 still, Marianne Meier, how often you have wrung your hands and 
 wailed, 'Would to God I were rich I For he who is rich is happy !' 
 The Princess von Eibenberg is rich, Marianne Meier ; why, then, is 
 she not happy? If it had been predicted to you at that time, when 
 you were only sighing for wealth, Marianne Meier, that you would 
 be a princess one day, and carry your Jewish head proudly erect in 
 the most aristocratic society, would you not have believed that this 
 was the acme of happiness, and that your boldest wishes had been 
 fulfilled? Ah, Marianne Meier, I have reached this acme, and yet 
 it seems to me that I am much more remote from happiness than you 
 ever were at that time ! You had then something to atraggle for ; 
 you had a great aim. But what have I got? I have reached my 
 aim, and there is nothing for me to accomplish and to struggle for ! 
 That is the secret of my melancholy ; I have nothing to struggle for. 
 I have reached the acme of my prosperity, and every step I advance 
 is a step down-hill toward the grave, and when the grave closes 
 over me nothing will remain of me, and my name will be forgotten, 
 while the name of the hateful usurper will resound through all ages 
 like a golden harp! Oh, a little glory, a little immortality on 
 earth ; that, Marianne Meier, is what the ambitious heart of the 
 
PATRIOTISM. 407 
 
 Princess von Eibenberg is longing for ; that is the object for which 
 she would willingly sacrifice years of her life. Life is now so 
 boundlessly tedious and empty ; it is nothing but a glittering phrase ; 
 nothing but a smiling and gorgeous but dull repetition of the same 
 thing! But, hark! What is that?" She suddenly inten-upted her- 
 self . " It seemed to me as if I heard steps in the small corridor. 
 Yes, I was not mistaken. Somebody is at the door. Oh, it is he, 
 then ; it is Gentz. " 
 
 She rushed toward the door, and opening it hastily, she said, "Is 
 it you, my beloved friend ?" 
 
 " If you apply this epithet to me, Marianne, yes, it is I, " replied 
 Gentz, entering the room. 
 
 "And to whom else should I apply it, Frederick?" she asked, 
 reproachfully. " Who but you has got a key to my house and to this 
 door? Who but you is allowed to enter my house and my room at 
 any hour of the day or night?" 
 
 " Perliaps Lord Paget, my powerful and fine-looking rival, " said 
 Gentz, carelessly, and without the least shade of bitterness, while 
 he sat down on the sofa with evident symptoms of weariness and 
 exhaustion. 
 
 "Are you jealous of Lord Paget?" she asked, taking a seat by his 
 side, and placing her hand, sparkling with diamond-rings, on his 
 shoulder. " Remember, my friend, that it was solely in obedience 
 to your advice that I did not reject the attentions of the dear lord 
 and entered into this political liaison. " 
 
 "I know, I know," said Gentz, deprecatingly ; "nor have I come 
 to quarrel with you about such trifles. I have not come as a jealous 
 lover who wishes to upbraid his beloved with the attentions she has 
 shown to other men, but as a poor, desponding man who appears 
 before his friend to pour his lamentations, his despair into her 
 bosom, and to ask her for a little sympathy with his rage and grief. " 
 
 "My friend, what has occurred?" asked Marianne, in dismay. 
 " Where have you been during the week, since I have not seen you ? 
 You took leave of me in a hurried note, stating that you would set 
 out on an important journey, although you did not tell me whither 
 you were going. Where have you been, Fi-ederick ?" 
 
 "I was in Okniitz with the emperor and with the ministers," 
 sighed Gentz. " I hoped to promote there the triumph of the good 
 cause and of Germany ; I hoped to witness a brilliant victory, and 
 now — " 
 
 "And now?" asked Marianne, breathlessly, when Gentz paused. 
 
 "Now I have witnessed a disgraceful defeat, " groaned Gentz. 
 Marianne uttered a cry, and her eyes flashed angrily. " He has 
 conquered again?" she asked, in a husky voice. 
 27 
 
408 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " He has conquered, and we have been beaten, " exclaimed Qentz, 
 in a loud and bitter tone. "The last hope of Germany, nay, of 
 Europe, is gone ; the Russians were defeated with us in a terrible 
 battle. The disaster is an irretrievable one, all the armies of Prussia 
 being unable to restore the lost prestige of the coalition ! * The Rus- 
 sians have already retreated, and the Emperor Alexander has set 
 out to-night in order to return to his dominions. " 
 
 "And he,''' muttered Marianne, ''he is celebrating another tri- 
 umph over us ! He is marching onwaid proudly and victoriously, 
 while we are lying, crushed and humiliated, in the dust of degrada- 
 tion. Is it Thy will that it should be so, God in heaven ?" she asked, 
 turning her eyes upward with an angry glance. " Hast Thou no 
 thunderbolt for this Titan who is rebelling against the laws of the 
 world? Wilt Thou permit this upstart to render all countries un- 
 happy, and to enslave all nations?" 
 
 "Yes, God permits him to do so," exclaimed Gentz, laughing 
 scornfully. " God has destined him to be a scourge to chastise us 
 for our own impotence. We do not succumb owing to his great- 
 ness, but owing to our weakness. The Austrian cabinet is respon- 
 sible for our misfortunes ! I have long since perceived the utter lack 
 of ability, the contemptible character, nay, the infamy of this cabi- 
 net ; in former times I used to denounce our Austrian cabinet to the 
 other cabinets of Europe as the real source of the calamities of our 
 period, and to unveil to them the whole terrible truth. Oh, if they 
 had heeded my warnings, when I wrote last June, and as late as in 
 the beginning of August, to many prominent men, 'Beware with 
 whom you enter into a coalition ! Do not be deceived by an illusory 
 semblance of improvement. They are the same as ever ! With 
 them no great undertaking, either in the cabinet or in the field, will 
 succeed ; their rejection is the conditio sine qua nan of the preser- 
 vation of Europe. It was all in vain I Finally, I was left alone 
 with my warnings ; every one deserted me !" •!■ 
 
 " I did not desert you, Frederick, " said Marianne, reproachfully, 
 " and I compelled Lord Paget, too, to support your views. Thanks 
 to our united efforts, that stupid Count Colloredo, at least, was forced 
 to withdraw from the cabinet. " 
 
 " That is a consolation, but no hope, " said Gentz. " So long as 
 the other ministers will retain their positions, every thing will be 
 in vain. Every thing is so diseased and rotten that, unless the whole 
 be thrown away, there is no reasonable hope left. I hoped the Em- 
 peror of Russia would boldly denounce the incapacity of the cabinet, 
 
 * Gentz's own words.— Vide Gentz's " Correspondence with Johannes von Miiller," 
 p. 150. 
 
 tGentz's " Correspondence," etc., p. 144. 
 
PATRIOTISM. 409 
 
 and by his powerful influence succeed in cleansing our Augean 
 stable, but he is too gentle for such an undertaking, and has no man 
 of irresistible power and energy at his side. He beheld our misery ; 
 he greatly deplored it, but refused to meddle with the domestic 
 aflfaii-s of Austria. Thus every thing was lost, and he was himself 
 disgracefully defeated. " 
 
 "And now we have submitted altogether?" asked Marianne. 
 "We have made peace with the usurper?" 
 
 "We have begged him to make peace with us, you mean, and he 
 will dictate the terms in which we shall have to acquiesce. Oh, 
 Marianne, when I think of the events of the last few days, I am 
 seized with rage and grief, and hardly know how I shall be able to 
 live henceforward. Just listen how we have begged for peace ! 
 Yesterday, two days after the battle, the Emperor Francis sent 
 Prince Jokn of Lichtenstein to Napoleon, who had established his 
 headquarters at Austerlitz, in a mansion belonging to the Kaunitz 
 family, to express to the conqueror his wish to have an interview 
 with him at the advanced posts. Napoleon granted it to him, and 
 the Emperor of Germany went to his conqueror to beg for peace. He 
 was accompanied by none but Lamberti to the meeting, which was 
 to take place in the open field. Bonaparte received him, surrounded 
 by all his generals, chamberlains, and masters of ceremonies, and 
 with the whole pomp of his imperial dignity. " ^ 
 
 "Oh, what a terrible disgrace and humiliation!" exclaimed 
 Marianne, bursting into tears, while she tore the diadem with a 
 wild gesture from her hair and hurled it to the floor. " Who dares 
 to adorn himself after events so utterly ignominious have occurred?" 
 she ejaculated — " who dares to carry his head erect after Germanj' 
 has been thus trampled under foot ! The Emperor of Germany has 
 begged the invader to make peace ; he has humbly solicited it like 
 a beggar asking alms ! And has the conqueror graciously granted 
 his request? Oh, tell me every thing, Frederick ! What took place 
 at that interview? What did they say to each other?" 
 
 " I can tell you but little about it, " said Gentz, shrugging his 
 shoulders, "for the two emperors conversed without witnesses. 
 Bonaparte left his suite at the bivouac fire kindled by his soldiers, 
 and Lamberti also went thither. The two emperors then embraced 
 each other like two friends who had not met for years. " \ 
 
 " And the Emperor Francis had not sufficient strength to strangle 
 the fiend with his arms?" asked Marianne, ti'embling with wrath 
 and grief. 
 
 * This account of the interview of the two emperors may be found verbatim in a 
 letter from Gentz to Johannes von Miiller. Vide " Correspondence," etc., p. 154. 
 + Historical. 
 
410 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "He had neither the strength nor the inclination, I suppose," 
 said Gentz, shrugging his shoulders. " When Napoleon released the 
 unfortunate Emperor Francis from his arms, he pointed with a 
 proud glance toward heaven and said : 'Such are the palaces which 
 your majesty has obliged me to inhabit for these three months. ' 
 
 '"The abode in them,' replied the Austrian monarch, makes 
 you so thriving that you have no right to be angry with me for it. ' 
 
 " 'I only ask your majesty, ' said Napoleon, hastily, 'not to renew 
 the war against France. ' 
 
 " ' I pledge you my word as a man and a sovereign that I shall do 
 so no more, ' replied Francis, loudly and unhesitatingly. The con- 
 versation then was continued in a lower tone, and neither Lamberti 
 nor the French marshals were able to understand another word. " * 
 
 "The interview lasted two hours, and then the two emperors 
 parted with reiterated demonstrations of cordiality. Th« Emperor 
 Francis returned silently, and absorbed in his reflections to his 
 headquarters at Austerlitz. Hitherto he had not uttered a word; 
 but when he saw the Prince von Lichtenstein, he beckoned him to 
 approach, and said to him in a low voice, and with suppressed 
 anger, ' Now that I have seen him, he is more intolerable to me than 
 ever. ' f That was the only utterance he gave to his rage ; as for the 
 rest, he seemed contented with the terms he obtained. " 
 
 " And were the terms honorable?" asked Marianne. 
 
 "Honorable!" said Gentz, shrugging his shoulders. "Napoleon 
 demanded, above all, that the Russian army should retire speedily 
 from the Austrian territories, and the emperor pi-omised this to him. 
 Hence, the Emperor Alexander has departed ; the Russian army is 
 retreating ; one part of it is going to Prussia, while the other is re- 
 turning to Poland. The cabinet of Vienna, therefore, is free ; that 
 is to say, it is left to its own peculiar infamy without any bounds 
 whatever, and thus peace will be made soon enough. Those con- 
 temptible men will submit to any thing, provided he gives up 
 Vienna. Finance -minister Fichy said to me in Olmiitz yesterday, 
 'Peace will be cheap, if we have merely to cede the Tyrol, Venice, 
 and a portion of Upper Austria, and we should be content with 
 such terms. ' Ah, if they could only be got rid of, what a splendid 
 thing the fall of the monarchy would be ! But to lose the provinces, 
 honor, Germany, Europe, and to keep Fichy, Ungart, Cobenzl, 
 Collenbach, Lamberti, Dietrichstein — no satisfaction, no revenge — 
 not a single one of the dogs hung or quartered,— it is impossible to 
 digest that! "i 
 
 * " Mfimoires du Due de RoTigo," vol. ii., p. 215. 
 tHausser's " History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 690. 
 
 tGentz'sownwords.— Vide his "Correspondence with Johannes von MtUler," p. 
 155. 
 
PATRIOTISM. 411 
 
 " It is true, " said Marianne, musingly, and in a low voice, " this 
 is a boundless disgrace ; and if men will submit to it, and bow their 
 heads, it is time for women to raise theirs, and to become lionesses 
 in order to tear the enemy opposing them ! And what do you in- 
 tend doing now, my friend?" she then asked aloud, forcibly dispel- 
 ling her painful emotions. "What are your prospects? What plan 
 of battle will you draw up for us?" 
 
 " I have no prospects at aU, and I have given up drawing plans of 
 battle, " said Oentz, sighing. " After exhausting my last strength 
 for five days during my sojourn in Olmtitz, I am done with every 
 thing, and I have withdrawn weary and satiated ad nauseam. Our 
 ministers have gone to Presburg, for the purpose of negotiating there 
 with the plenipotentiaries of Bonaparte about the terms of peace. " 
 
 "And where is he at present — where is the proud triumplmtor 1> " 
 asked Marianne, hastily. 
 
 "He left Austerlitz to-night, and will reside again at Schonbrunn 
 until peace has been concluded. " 
 
 "Ah, in Schonbrunn!" said Marianne, "that is to say, here in 
 Vienna. And you, Frederick, will you remain here, too?" 
 
 "After making peace, they will banish me, of course, from 
 Vienna ; for Bonaparte knows my hatred against him, and more- 
 over, he knows it to be implacable. Hence, I prefer going volun- 
 tarily into exile, and shall repair to Breslau, where I shall find 
 plenty of friends and acquaintances. There I will live, amuse my- 
 self, be a man like all of them, that is to say, gratifj' nothing bui 
 my egotism, and take rest after so many annoyances and struggles. " 
 
 "That cannot be true — that cannot be possible!" exclaimed 
 Marianne, ardently. " A patriot, a man like you, does not repose 
 and amuse himself, while his country is plimged into misery and 
 disgrace. I repeat to you what Arnauld said to his friend Nicole, 
 when the latter, tired of the struggle for Jansenism, declared to him 
 that he would retire and repose: ' Vous reposer f Eh! n'avez-vous 
 pas pour vous reposer I'etemite toute entiere ? ' If those men were 
 filled with so imdying an enthusiasm for an insipid quarrel about 
 mere sophistries, how could you take rest, since eternity itself, 
 whether it be repose or motion, offers nothing more sublime than a 
 struggle for the liberty and dignity of the world?" 
 
 " God bless you for these words, Marianne ! " exclaimed Gentz, 
 enthusiastically, while he embraced his friend passionately, and 
 imprinted a glowing kiss on her forehead. " Oh, Marianne, I only 
 wished to try you ; I wanted to see whether, with the ardor of your 
 love for me, the ardor of the holy cause represented by me, had 
 also left you ; I only wanted to know whether, now that you love 
 me no longer—" 
 
412 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 "And how can you say that I love you no longer?" she inter- 
 rupted him. " Have I deserved so bitter a reproach?" 
 
 " It is no reproach, Marianne, " said Gentz, mournfully ; " you 
 have paid your tribute to the vacillating, changeable, and fickle 
 organization peculiar to every living creature ; and so have I, per- 
 haps. We are all perishable, and hence our feelings must be perish- 
 able also. Above all, love is a most precious, fragrant, and 
 enchanting rose ; but its life lasts but a day, and then it withers. 
 Happy are those, therefore, who have improved this day and en- 
 joyed the beauty of the rose, and passionately inhaled its fragrance. 
 We did so, Marianne ; and when we now look back to our day of 
 blissful love, we may say, 'It was delightful and intoxicating, and 
 with its memories it will shed a golden, sunny lustre over our whole 
 life. ' Let us not revile it, therefore, for having passed away, and 
 let us not be angry with ourselves for not being able to prolong it. 
 The rose has faded, but the stem, from which it burst forth, must 
 remain to us ; it is our immortal part. That stem is the harmony 
 of our sentiments ; it is the consonance of our ideas ; in short, the 
 seeds of friendship have ripened in the withered flower of our love. 
 I have not, therefore, come to you, Marianne, to seek for my be- 
 loved, but to find my friend — the friend who understands me, who 
 shares my views, my grief, my despair, and my rage, and who is 
 ready to aspire with me to one goal, and to seek with me for it in 
 one way. This goal is the deliverance of Germany from the chains 
 of slavery. " 
 
 "Above all, the annihilation of the tyrant who wants to enslave 
 us!" exclaimed Marianne, with flashing eyes. "Tell me the way 
 leading to that goal ; I will enter it, even if it should be necessary 
 for me to walk on thorns and pointed swords !" 
 
 "The goal lies before us clearly and distinctly," said Gentz, 
 sadly ; " but the way leading to it is still obstructed, and so narrow 
 and low that we are compelled, for the time being, to advance very 
 slowly on our knees. But we must take spades and work, so that 
 the way may become wider and higher, and that we may walk on 
 it one day, not with bowed heads, but drawn up to our full height, 
 our eyes flashing, and sword in hand. Let us prepare for that day ; 
 let us work in the dark shaft, and other laborers will join us, and, 
 like us, take spades and dig ; and in the dead of night, with curses 
 on our lips and prayers in our hearts, we will dig on, dig like moles, 
 until we have finally reached our goal, and burst forth into the sun- 
 shine of the day which will restore liberty to Germany. At the 
 present time, secret societies may become very useful. I always 
 hated and despised whatever bore that name ; but necessity knows 
 no law, and now I am obliged to hail them as the harbingers of a 
 
PATRIOTISM. 413 
 
 blessed future.* Like the first church, the great secret society of 
 Germany ought to be enthusiastic, self-reliant, and thoroughly 
 organized ; its aim ought to be the destruction of Bonaparte's tyr- 
 anny, reconstruction of the states, restoration of the legitimate 
 sovereigns, introduction of a better system of government, and, last, 
 everlasting resistance to the principles which have brought about 
 our indifference, prostration, and meanness. And now, Marianne, 
 I come to ask you as the worthiest pati-iot, as the most intrepid and 
 generous vian I know and revere — Marianne, will you join this 
 secret society ?" 
 
 He gave her his hand with a glance full of the most profound 
 emotion ; and she returned his glance with her large, open eyes, 
 warmly grasping his hand. 
 
 " I will, so help me God !" she said, solemnly ; " I will join your 
 secret society, and I will travel around and win over men to our 
 league. I will seek for catacombs where we may pray, and exhort, 
 and encourage each other to struggle on with unflagging zeal. I 
 will enlist brethren and adherents in all circles, in the highest as 
 well as in the lowest ; and the peasant as well as the prince, the 
 countess as well as the citizen's wife, shall become brethren and 
 sistei-s of the holy covenant, the aim of which is to be the deliver- 
 ance of Germany from the tyrant's yoke. My activity and zeal to 
 promote the good work you have begun shall prove to you, my 
 friend, whether I love you still, and whether my mind has compre- 
 hended you. " 
 
 " I counted on your mind, Marianne, after I ceased building my 
 hopes on your heart!" exclaimed Gentz, "and I was not mistaken. 
 Your mind has comprehended me ; it is the same as mine. Let us, 
 therefore, go to work with joyful courage and make our first steps 
 forward. The time when there was still a hope that the sword 
 might save our cause is past ; the sword lies broken at our feet. 
 Now we have two weapons left, but they are no less sharp, cutting, 
 and fatal than the sword. " 
 
 "These weapons are the tongue and the pen?" said Marianne, 
 smiling. 
 
 "Yes, you have understood me," said Gentz, joyfully, "these are 
 our weapons. You, my beautiful comrade, will wield one of these 
 weapons, the tongue, and I shall wield the other, the pen. And I 
 have already commenced doing so, and written in the sleepless 
 nights of these last few days a pamphlet which I should like to flit, 
 like a pigeon, over Germany, so that everywhere it may be seen, 
 understood and appreciated. The title of this pamphlet is Germany 
 in her Deepest Degradation. It is an outcry of my grief, by which 
 ♦ Gentz's own words.— Vide "Correspondence," etc., p. 168. 
 
414 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 I intend arousing the German people, so that they may wake up at 
 last from their long torpor, seize the sword and rise in the exuber- 
 ance of their vigor for the purpose of expelling the tyrant. But, 
 alas ! where shall I find one who will dare to print it ; a censor who 
 will not expunge its most powerful passages; and, finally, book- 
 sellers who will venture to offer so bold a work to their customers?" 
 
 " Give your manuscript to me ! " exclaimed Marianne, enthusias- 
 tically ; " I will cause it to be printed, and if there should be no 
 booksellers to circulate it, I will travel as your agent throughout the 
 whole of Germany, and in the night-time secretly scatter your pam- 
 phlet in the streets of all the German cities, so that their inhabitants 
 may find it in the morning— a manna fallen from heaven to nourish 
 and invigorate them. Give your manuscript to me, Frederick 
 Gentz ; let it be the first solemn act of our secret league 1" 
 
 " Just see how well I understood you, and how entirely I counted 
 on your cooperation, Marianne, " said Gentz, drawing a small pack- 
 age from his side pocket and placing it in her hands. " Here is my 
 manuscript ; seek for a printer and for a bookseller to publish it ; 
 give it the blessing of your protection, and promote its general 
 circulation to the best of your ability. " 
 
 "I shall do so most assuredly," replied Marianne, placing her 
 hand on the package, as though she were taking an oath. "In less 
 than a month's time the German people shall read this pamphlet. 
 It shall be only the first comet which tlie secret league of which we 
 are now members causes to appear on the dark firmament. Count on 
 me ; your manuscript will be published. " 
 
 Gentz bent over her hand and kissed it. He then rose. 
 
 " My purpose is accomplished, " he said ; " I came to Vienna only 
 to see you and enlist you as a member of my secret society. My 
 purpose is accomplished, and I shall set out within an hour. " 
 
 "And why are you in such a hurry, my friend? Why depart in 
 so stormy and wintiy a night?" asked Marianne. "Remain with 
 me for another day. " 
 
 "It is impossible, Marianne," said Gentz, deprecatingly. 
 " Friends like ourselves must have no secrets from each other, and 
 are allowed fearlessly to tell each other every thing. The Countess 
 of Lankoronska is waiting for me ; I shall set out with her for 
 Breslau. " 
 
 "Ah," exclaimed Marianne, reproachfully, "Lord Paget, too, is 
 going to leave Vienna, but I do not desert you in order to accompany 
 him ; I remain. " 
 
 " You are the sun around which the planets are revolving, " said 
 Gentz, smiling; "but I am nothing but a planet. I am revolving 
 around my sun. " 
 
PATEIOTISM. 415 
 
 "You loTo the Countess of Lankoronska, then?" 
 
 "She is to me the quintessence of all womanly and of many- 
 manly accomplishments !" exclaimed Gentz, enthusiastically. 
 
 "And she will also join our secret society?" asked Marianne. 
 
 " No, " said Gentz, hastily. " My heart adores her, but my mind 
 will never forget that she is a Eussian. Next to cold death and the 
 French, I hate nothing so cordially as the Russians. " 
 
 " StiU you have lived for a month with a Russian lady, of whom 
 you are enamoured. " 
 
 "And precisely in this month my hatred has increased to an 
 astonishing extent. I despise the Austrians ; I am indignant at 
 their weakness, but still I also pity them ; and when I see them, as 
 was the case this time, trampled under foot by the Russian barba- 
 rians, my German bowels turn, and I feel that the Austrians are my 
 brethren. During the last few days I have frequently met Constan- 
 tine, the grand-duke, and the other distinguished Russians ; and 
 the blind, stupid, and impudent national pride with which they 
 assailed Austria and Germany generally, calling our country a 
 despicable part of earth, where none but traitors and cowards were 
 to be found, cut me to the quick. I know very well that we are at 
 present scarcely allowed to maintain our dignity as Germans ; our 
 government has reduced us to so degrading a position : but when we 
 keep in mind what the Russians are, compared with us ; when we 
 have mournfully witnessed for two months that they are unable, in 
 spite of the bravery of their troops, to make any headway against 
 the French, and that they have injiu:ed rather than improved our 
 condition ; when we see those insulting and scorning us who cannot 
 even claim the merit of having saved us, only then we become fully 
 alive to the consciousness of our present degradation and abject 
 misery I" * 
 
 " God be praised that such are your thoughts !" exclaimed Mari- 
 anne, " for now I may hope at least that the Countess of Lankoronska, 
 even though every thing should fail here, will not succeed in entic- 
 ing you to Russia. I am sure, Gentz, you will not accompany her 
 to the cold, distant north !" 
 
 " God forbid !" replied Gentz, shuddering. " If every thing should 
 fail, I shall settle somewhere in the southern provinces of Austria, 
 in Carinthia or in the Tyrol, where one may hear the people speak 
 German, and live there with the plants and stars which I know and 
 love, and with God, in some warm nook, no matter what tyrant or 
 proconsul may rale over me.+ And now, Marianne, let us part. 
 I do not promise that our meeting will be a joyful one, for I hardly 
 * Gentz's own words,—" Correspondence," pp. 159, 167. 
 i Ibid., p. ler. 
 
416 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 count on any more joyful days, but I say that we will meet at the 
 right hour. And the right hour will be for us only the hour when 
 we shall have reached the goal of our secret league ; when we shall 
 have aroused the German people, and when they will rise like a 
 courageous giant whom no one is able to withstand, and who will expel 
 the invader with his hordes from the soil of Germany ! Farewell !" 
 
 " Farewell, " said Marianne, feelingly. " My friend will always 
 be welcome, and cordial greetings will be in store for him whenever 
 he comes. Remember that, my friend ; I say no more 'my beloved, ' 
 for the Countess of Lankoronska might be jealous !" 
 
 " And she might inform Lord Paget of it, " said Gentz, smiling. 
 He then kissed Marianne's hand, and took his hat and overcoat. 
 " Farewell, Marianne, and do not forget our league and mj'- manu- 
 script. " 
 
 " I shall not forget any thing, for I shall not forget you, " she re- 
 plied, giving him her hand. 
 
 Thus, hand in hand, they walked to the door ; then they nodded 
 a last silent greeting to each other, and Gentz left the room. 
 
 Marianne listened to his steps until they had died away. She 
 then drew a deep breath, and commenced once more slowly pacing 
 the room. 
 
 The tapers on the silver chandeliers had burned down very low, 
 and their liquid wax trickled slowly and lazily on the marble table. 
 Whenever Marianne passed them, the draught fanned them to a 
 blaze ; then they shed a lurid light on the tall, queenly form in the 
 magnificent dress, and grew dim again when Marianne stepped back 
 into the darker parts of the long room. 
 
 Suddenly she exclaimed in a joyful voice: "Yes, I have found 
 it at last ! That is the path leading to the goal ; that is the path I 
 have to pursue. " With rapid steps she hastened back to the looking- 
 glass. " Marianne Meier, " she cried aloud — " Marianne Meier, listen 
 to what I am going to tell you. The Princess von Eibenberg has 
 discovered a remedy to dispel her weariness and dull repose— a 
 remedy that will immortalize her name. Good-night, Marianne 
 Meier, now you may go to sleep, for the Princess von Eibenberg 
 will take care of herself I" 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 JUDITH. 
 
 Maeianne was awakened after a short and calm slumber by the 
 low sound of stealthy steps approaching her couch. She opened her 
 eyes hastily, and beheld her mistress of ceremonies, who stood at 
 
JUDITH. 417 
 
 her bedside, holding in her hand a golden salver with a letter 
 on it. 
 
 "What, Camilla," she asked, in terror, "you have not yet dis- 
 patched the letter which I gave you last night? Did I not instruct 
 you to have it delivered by the footman early in the morning?" 
 
 "Yes, your highness, and I have faithfully carried out your 
 ordei-s. " 
 
 "WeU, and this letter?" 
 
 " Is the major's reply. Your highness ordered me to awaken you 
 as soon as the footman would bring the answer. " 
 
 Marianne hastily seized the letter and broke the seal. 
 
 " He wiU come, " she said, loudly and joyfully, after reading the 
 few lines the letter contained. "What o'clock is it, Camilla?" 
 
 "Your highness, it is just ten o'clock. " 
 
 " And I am looking for visitors already at eleven o'clock. Quick, 
 Madame Camilla, tell my maid to ai-range every thing in the dress- 
 ing-room. Please see to it yourself that 1 may find there an elegant, 
 rich, and not too matronly, morning costume. " 
 
 "Will your highness put on the dress which Lord Paget received 
 the other day for you from London ?" asked Madame Camilla. " Your 
 highness has never yet worn it, and his lordship would doubtless 
 rejoice at seeing your highness in this charming costume. " 
 
 "I do not expect Lord Paget," said Marianne, with a stern 
 glance ; "" besides, you ought to confine your advice to matters relat- 
 ing to my toilet. Do not forget it any more. Now bring me my 
 chocolate, I will take it in bed. In the mean time cause an invigo- 
 rating, perfumed bath to be prepared, and tell the cook that I wish 
 him to serve up a sumptuous breakfast for two persons in the small 
 dining-room in the course of an hour. Go. " 
 
 Madame Camilla withdrew to carry out the various orders her 
 mistress had given her, but she did not do so joyfuUy and readily as 
 usual, but with a grave face and careworn air. 
 
 " There is something going on, " she whispered, slowly gliding 
 down the corridor. "Yes, there is something going on, and at 
 length I shall have an opportunity for spying and reporting what I 
 have discovered. Well, I get my pay from two men, from the 
 French governor of Vienna and from Lord Paget. Would to God I 
 could serve both of them to-day ! As for Lord Paget, I have already 
 some news for him, for Mr. von Gentz was with her last night, and 
 remained for two hours ; my mistress then wrote a letter to Major 
 von Brandt, which I had to dispatch early in the morning. And 
 this is exactly the point, concerning which I do not know whether 
 it ought to be reported to my French customer or to the English 
 lord. Well, I will consider the matter. I will watch every step 
 
418 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 of hers, for it is certain that something extraordinary is going on 
 here, and I want to know what it is. '' 
 
 And, after taking this resolution, Madame Camilla accelerated 
 her steps to deliver the orders of the princess to the cook. 
 
 An hour later, the lady's maid had finished the toilet of the 
 princess, who approached the large looking-glass in order to cast a 
 last critical look on her appearance. 
 
 A charming smile of satisfaction overspread her fair face when 
 she beheld her enchanting image in the glass, and she said, withja 
 triumphant air, "Yes, it is true, this woman is beautiful enough 
 even to court the favor of an emperor. Do you not think so, too, 
 Madame Camilla?" 
 
 Madame Camilla had watched, with a very attentive and grave 
 face, every word her mistress uttered, but now she hastened to smile. 
 
 " Your highness, " she said, " if we lived still in the days of the 
 ancient gods, I would not trust any butterfly nor any bird, nay, not 
 even a gold-piece, for, behind every thing. I should suspect Jove 
 disguised, for the purpose of surprising my beautiful mistress. " 
 
 Marianne laughed. " Ah, how learned you are, " she said. " You 
 refer even to the disguised bull of poor Europa and to the golden 
 rain of Danae. But fear not ; no disguised god will penetrate into 
 my rooms, for unhappily the time of gods and demi-gods is past.'' 
 
 "Nevertheless, those arrogant French would like to make the 
 world believe that M. Bonaparte had restored that time," said 
 Madame Camilla, with a contemptuous air; "they would like to 
 persuade us that the son of that Corsican lawyer was a last and be- 
 lated son of Jove. " 
 
 "Oh !" exclaimed Marianne, triumphantly ; "the world shall dis- 
 cover soon enough that he is nothing but a miserable son of earth, 
 and that his immortality, too, will find sufficient room between six 
 blackboards. I know, Camilla, you hate the usurper as ardently, 
 as bitterly and vindictively as I do, and this hatred is the sympa- 
 thetic link uniting me with you. Well, let me tell you that your 
 hatred will speedily be gratified, and that your vindictiveness will 
 be satiated. Pray to God, Camilla, that He may bless the hand 
 about to be raised against the tyrant ; pray to God that He may 
 sharpen the dagger which may soon be aimed at his heart ! The 
 world has suffered enough ; it is time that it should find an avenger 
 of its wrongs !" 
 
 " Major von Brandt, " announced a footman, entering the room. 
 
 " Conduct the major to the drawing-room, " said Marianne, has- 
 tily ; " I will join him directly. " 
 
 She cast a last triumphant look on the mirror, and then left the 
 room. 
 
JUDITH. 419 
 
 Madame Camilla watched her, with a scowl, until the door had 
 closed behind her. " Now I know whom I have to inform of her 
 doings, " she muttered. " They concern the French governor ; I have 
 to take pains, however, to find out more about her schemes, so that 
 my report may embrace as much important information as possible. 
 The better the news, the better the pay. " 
 
 Marianne had meanwhile gone to the drawing-room. A tall, 
 elderly officer, in Austrian uniform, with the epaulets of a major, 
 came to meet her, and bent down to kiss reverentially the hand 
 which she offered to him. 
 
 Marianne saluted him with a fascinating smile. "You have 
 entirely forgotten me, then, major?" she asked. "It was necessary 
 for me to invite you in order to induce you to pay me a visit?" 
 
 "I did not know whether I might dare to appear before you, 
 most gracious princess," said the major, respectfully. "The last 
 time I had the honor of waiting on you, I met your highness in the 
 circle of your distinguished friends who used to be mine, too. But 
 nobody had a word of welcome, a pleasant smile for me, and your 
 highness, it seemed to me, did not notice me during the whole 
 evening. Whenever I intended to approach you, you averted your 
 face and entered into so animated a conversation with one of the 
 bystanders, that I could not venture to interrupt it. Hence I with- 
 drew, my heart filled with grief and despair, for I certainly believed 
 that your highness wished to banish me from your reception-room 
 forever. " 
 
 "And you consoled yourself for this banishment in the reception- 
 room of the French governor whom the great Emperor Napoleon had 
 given to the good city of Vienna, I suppose?" asked the princess, 
 with an arch smile. " And you would have never come back to me 
 unless I had taken the bold resolution to invite you to my house?" 
 
 " By this invitation you have rendered me the happiest of mor- 
 tals, most gracious princess, '' exclaimed the major, emphatically. 
 "You have reopened to me the gates of Paradise, while, in my de- 
 spair, I believed them^to be closed against me forever. " 
 
 "Confess, major, "said Marianne, laughing, "that you did not 
 make the slightest attempt to see whether these gates were merely 
 ajar or really closed. Under the present circumstances we may 
 speak honestly and frankly to each other. You believed me to be an 
 ardent patriot, one of those furious adversaries of the French and 
 their rule, who do not look upon Napoleon as a hero and genius, but 
 only as a tyrant and usurper. Because I was the intimate friend of 
 Lord Paget and M. von Gentz, of the Princesses von Carolath and 
 Clary, of the Countess von Colloredo, and Count Cobenzl, you be- 
 lieved that my political sentiments coincided with theirs?" 
 
420 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " Yes, your highness, indeed that is what I believed, " said Major 
 von Brandt, " and as you want me to tell the truth, I will confess 
 that it was the reason why I did not venture to appear again in your 
 drawing-room. I have never denied that I am an enthusiastic ad- 
 mirer of that great man who is conquering and subjugating the 
 whole world, because God has destined him to be its master. 
 Hence, I never was able to comprehend the audacity of those who 
 instigated our gracious and noble Emperor Francis to wage war 
 against the victorious hero, and as a true and sincere patriot I now 
 bless the dispensations of fate which compels us to make peace with 
 Napoleon the Great, for Austria can regain her former prosperity 
 only by maintaining peace and harmony with France. The war 
 against France has brought the barbarian hordes of Russia to Ger- 
 many ; after the conclusion of peace, France will assist us in ex- 
 pelling these unclean and unwelcome guests from the soil of our 
 fatherland. " 
 
 Marianne had listened to him smilingly and with an air of un- 
 qualified assent. Only once a slight blush, as if produced by an 
 ebullition of suppressed anger, had mantled her cheeks — only for a 
 brief moment she had frowned, but she quickly overcame her indig- 
 nation land appeared as smiling and serene as before. 
 
 " I am precisely of your opinion, my dear major, " she said, with 
 a fascinating nod. 
 
 "Your highness assents to the views I have just uttered?" ex- 
 claimed the major, in joyful surprise. 
 
 "Do you doubt it still?" she asked. "Have I followed, then, the 
 example of all my friends, even that of Lord Paget and Gentz? 
 Have I fled from the capital because the Emperor Napoleon, with 
 his army, has turned his victorious steps toward Vienna? No, I 
 have remained, to the dismay of all of them ; I have remained, 
 although my prolonged sojourn in Vienna has deprived me of two 
 of my dearest friends, and brought about an everlasting rupture be- 
 tween myself and Lord Paget, as well as Herr von Gentz. I have 
 remained because I was unable to withstand any longer the ardent 
 yearning of my heart — because I wished to get at length a sight of the 
 hero to whom the whole world is bowing. But look, my footman 
 comes to tell me that my breakfast has been served. You must con- 
 sent to be my guest to-day and breakfast with me. " 
 
 She took the major's arm and went with him to the dining- 
 room. In the middle of it a table had been set, on which splendid 
 pdtes, luscious tropical fruits, and well-spiced salamis agreeably 
 surprised the major by their appetizing odor, while golden Rhenish 
 wine and dark Tokay in the white decanters seemed to beckon him. 
 
 They took seats at the table in elastic, soft arm-chairs, and for a 
 
JUDITH. 421 
 
 •while the conversation was interrupted, for the pastry and the other 
 dainty dishes absorbed their whole attention. The major, who was 
 noted for his epicurism, enjoyed the delicacies served up to him 
 with the profound seriousness and immovable tranquillity of a 
 philosopher. Besides, the princess shared his enjoyment after a 
 while by her conversation, sparkling with wit and humor ; she was 
 Inexhaustible in telling piquant anecdotes and merry bon-mots; she 
 portrayed her friends and acquaintances in so skilful a manner that 
 the major did not know whether to admire their striking resem- 
 blance or the talent with which she rendered their weak traits most 
 conspicuous. 
 
 When they had reached the dessert, the princess made a sign to 
 the footman to leave the room, and she remained alone with the 
 major. With her own fair hand she poured fragrant Syracusan 
 wine into his glass, and begged him to drink the health of Napoleon 
 the Great. 
 
 "And your highness will not do me the honor to take wine with 
 me?" asked the major, pointing at the empty glass of the princess. 
 
 She smiled and shook her head. " I never drink wine, " she said ; 
 " wine is a magician who suddenly tears the mask from my face and 
 compels my lips to speak the truth which they would otherwise, 
 perhaps, never have uttered. But I will make an exception this 
 time ; this time I will fill my glass, for I must drink the health of 
 the great emperor. Pour some wine into it, and let us cry : 'Long 
 live Napoleon the Great ! ' " 
 
 She drank some of the fiery southern wine, and her prediction 
 was fulfilled. The wine took the mask from her face, and loosened 
 the fetters of her tongue. 
 
 Her eyes beamed now with the fire of enthusiasm, and the rap- 
 turous praise of Napoleon flowed from her lips like a torrent of the 
 most glowing poetry. 
 
 She was wondrously beautiful in her enthusiastic ardor, with the 
 flaming blush on her cheeks, with her flajshing eyes and quivering 
 lips, the sweet smile of which showed two rows of pearly teeth. 
 
 "Oh," exclaimed the major, fascinated by her loveliness, "why 
 is the gi-eat emperor not here— why does he not hear your enchant- 
 ing words — why is he not permitted to admire you in your radiant 
 beauty !" 
 
 " Why am I not allowed to hasten to him in order to sink down 
 at his feet and worship him?" exclaimed Marianne, fei-vently. 
 " Why am I not allowed to lie for a blissful hour before him on my 
 knees in order to beg with scalding tears his pardon for the hatred 
 which formerly filled my soul against him, and to confess to him 
 that my hatred has been transformed into boundless love and ecstatic 
 
432 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 adoration ? Where shall I find the friend who will pity my longing, 
 and open for me the path leading to him ? Such a friend I should 
 reward with a gold-piece for every minute of my bliss, for every 
 minute I should be allowed to remain near the great emperor. " 
 
 "Do you speak in earnest, your highness?" asked Major von 
 Brandt, gravely and almost solemnly. 
 
 "In solemn earnest!" asseverated Marianne. "A gold-piece for 
 every minute of an interview with the Emperor Napoleon. " 
 
 " WeU, then, " said the major, joyfully, " I shall procure this in- 
 terview for you, your highness, and your beauty and fascinating 
 loveliness will cause the emperor not to count the minutes, nor the 
 hours either, so that it will be only necessary for me to reduce the 
 hours to minutes. " 
 
 "A gold-piece for every minute !" repeated Marianne, whose face 
 was radiant with joy and happiness. " Oh, you look at me doubt- 
 ingly, you believe that I am only joking, and shall not keep after- 
 ward what I am now promising. " 
 
 "Most gracious princess, I believe that enthusiasm has carried 
 you away to a promise the acceptance of which would be an abuse 
 of your generosity. Suppose the emperor, fascinated by your wit, 
 your beauty, your charming conversation, should remain four hours 
 with you, that would be a very handsome number of gold-pieces for 
 me!" 
 
 Instead of replying to him, Marianne took the silver bell and 
 rang it. 
 
 " Bring me pen, ink, and paper, a burning candle and sealing- 
 wax, " she said to the footman who entered. 
 
 In a few minutes every thing had been brought to her, and Mari- 
 anne hastily wrote a few lines. She then drew the seal-ring from 
 her finger and affixed her seal to the paper, which she handed to the 
 major. 
 
 " Read it aloud, '' she said. 
 
 The major read : 
 
 " I promise to Major von Brandt, in case he should procure me 
 an interview with the Emperor Napoleon, to pay him for every 
 minute of this interview a louis-d'or as a token of my gratitude. 
 " Marianne, Princess von Eibenbekg. " 
 
 "Are you content and convinced?" asked the princess. 
 
 " I am, your highness. '' 
 
 "And you will and can procure me this interview?" 
 
 " I will and can do so. " 
 
 "When will you conduct me to Schonbrunn?" 
 
 The major reflected some time, and seemed to make a calculation. 
 
 " I hope to be able to procure for your highness to-mon-ow even- 
 
JUDITH. 423 
 
 ing an interview with the emperor, " he said. " I am quite well 
 acquainted with M. de Bausset, intendant of the palace, and I be- 
 sides know Constant, his majesty's valet de chambre. These are the 
 two channels through which the wish of your highness will easily 
 reach the emperor, and as his majesty is a great admirer of female 
 beauty, he wiU assuredly be ready to grant the audience applied 
 for. " 
 
 "Will you bring me word to-day?" asked Marianne. 
 
 "Yes, princess, to-day. I will immediately repair to Schon- 
 brunn. The emperor arrived there yesterday. " 
 
 " Hasten, then, " said Marianne, rising from her seat — " hasten to 
 Schonbrunn, and remember that I am waiting for your return with 
 trembling impatience and suspense. " 
 
 She gave her hand to the major. 
 
 " Good Heaven, your highness !" he exclaimed, in terror, " your 
 hand is as cold as marble. " 
 
 " All my blood is here, " she said, pointing to her heart. " Hasten 
 to Schonbrunn. " 
 
 He imprinted a kiss on her hand and left the room. 
 
 Marianne smiled until the door had closed behind him. Then 
 her features underwent a sudden change, and assumed an air of 
 hoiTor and contempt. 
 
 " Oh, these miserable men, these venal souls !" she muttered. 
 "They measure every thing by their own standard, and cannot com- 
 prehend the longings and schemes of a great soul. Accursed be all 
 those who turn traitors to their country and adhere to its enemies I 
 May the wrath of God and the contempt of their fellow-creatures 
 punish them ! But I will use the traitors as tools for the purpose of 
 accomplishing the sacred task which the misfortunes of Germany 
 have obliged me to undertake. I will put my house in order, that I 
 may be ready when the hour has come. " 
 
 Madame CamiUa was right, indeed ; something was going on, 
 and she was able to collect important news for the French governor. 
 
 The Princess von Eibenberg, since her interview with the major, 
 had been a prey to a feverish agitation and impatience which caused 
 her to wander restlessly through the various rooms of her mansion. 
 At length, toward evening, the major returned, and the news he 
 had brought must have been highly welcome, for the countenance of 
 the princess had been ever since radiant with joy, and a wondrous 
 smile was constantly playing on her lips. 
 
 During the following night she was incessantly engaged in writ- 
 ing, and Madame Camilla as well as the maid were waiting in vain 
 for their mistress to call them ; the princess did not leave her cabinet, 
 and did not go to bed at all. Early next morning she took a ride in 
 28 
 
424 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 her carriage, and Madame Camilla, who had heretofore invariably 
 accompanied the princess on her rides, was ordered to stay at home. 
 When Marianne returned after several hom-s, she was pale and ex- 
 hausted, and her eyes showed that she had wept. Then officers of 
 the city courts made their appearance, and asked to see the princess, 
 stating that she had sent for them. The princess locked her room 
 while confening with them, and the officers withdrew only after 
 several hours. At the dinner-table, to which, by her express orders, 
 no guests had been admitted to-day, she scarcely touched any food, 
 and seemed absoi-bed in deep reflections. 
 
 Soon after dinner she repaired to her dressing-room, and never 
 before had she been so particular and careful in choosing the various 
 articles of her costume ; never before had she watched her toilet 
 with so much attention and anxiety. At last the work was finished, 
 and the princess looked radiantly beautiful in her crimson velvet 
 dress, floating behind her in a long train, and fastened under her 
 bosom, only half veiled by a clear lace collar, by means of a wide, 
 golden sash. Her hair, framing her expansive brow in a few black 
 ringlets d la Josephine, was tied up in a Greek knot, adorned with 
 pearls and diamonds. Similar jewels surrounded her queenly neck 
 and the splendidly-shaped snow-white arms. Her cheeks were 
 transparently pale to-day, and a gloomy, sinister fire was burning 
 in her large black eyes. 
 
 She looked beautiful, proud, and menacing, like Judith, who 
 has adorned herself for the pui"pose of going to the tent of Holof ernes. 
 Madame Camilla could not help thinking of it when she now saw 
 the princess walk across the room in her proud beauty, and with her 
 stern, solemn air. Madame Camilla could not help thinking of it 
 when she saw the princess draw an oblong, flashing object from a 
 case which the mistress of ceremonies had never beheld before, and 
 hastily concealed it in her bosom. 
 
 Was it, perhaps, a dagger, and was the princess a modern Judith, 
 going to kill a modern Holof ernes in her voluptuous arms? 
 
 The footman now announced that Major von Brandt was waiting 
 for the princess in the reception-room, and that the carriage was at 
 the door. A slight shudder shook the whole frame of the princess, 
 and her cheeks turned even paler than before. She ordered the foot- 
 man to withdraw, and then made a sign to Madame Camilla to give 
 her her cloak and bonnet. Camilla obeyed silently. When the 
 princess was ready to depart, she turned to Camilla, and, drawing 
 a valuable diamond ring from her finger, she handed it to her. 
 
 "Take this ring as a souvenir from me," she said. "I know 
 you are a good and enthusiastic Austrian ; like myself, you hate the 
 tyrant who wants to subjugate us, and you will bless the hand 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER. 435 
 
 which -vvill order him to stop, and put an end to his victorious 
 career. Farewell !" 
 
 She nodded once more to her and left her cabinet to go to the 
 reception-room, where Major von Brandt was waiting for her. 
 
 " Come, " she said, hastily, " it is high time. I hope you have 
 got a watch with you, so as to be able to count the minutes. " 
 
 "Yes, your highness," said Major von Brandt, smiling, "I have 
 got my watch with me, and I shall have the honor of showing it to 
 you before you enter the imperial cabinet. " 
 
 Marianne made no reply, but rapidly crossed the room to go 
 down-stairs to the carriage waiting at the door. Major von Brandt 
 hastened after her and offered his arm to her. 
 
 Madame Camilla, who had not lost a single word of her short 
 conversation with Major von Brandt, followed the princess down- 
 stairs, and remained standing humbly at the foot of it till the prin- 
 cess and her companion had entered the carriage and the coach door 
 had been closed. 
 
 But no sooner had the brilliant carriage of the princess rolled out 
 of the court-yard in front of her mansion, than Madame Camilla 
 hastened into the street, entered a hack, and ordered the coachman 
 to drive her to the residence of the French governor as fast as his 
 horses could run. 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 NAPOLEON AND THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER. 
 
 Napoleon had left Austerlitz, and had, for some days, again 
 resided at Schonbrunn. The country palace of the great empress 
 Maria Theresa was now the abode of him who had driven her grand- 
 son from his capital, defeated his army, and was just about to dic- 
 tate a peace to him, the terms of which would be equivalent to a 
 fresh defeat of Austria and a fresh victory for France. 
 
 The plenipotentiaries of Austria and France were already assem- 
 bled at Presburg to conclude this treaty, and every hour couriers 
 reached Schonbrunn, who reported to the emperor the progress of 
 the negotiations and obtained further instructions from him. 
 
 But while Austria now, after the disastrous battle of the 2d of 
 December, was treating with Napoleon about the best terms of 
 peace, the Prussian envoy. Count Haugwitz, who was to deliver to 
 Napoleon the menacing declaration of Prussia, was still on the road, 
 or, at least, had not been able to lay his dispatch before the emperor. 
 Prussia demanded, in this dispatch, which had been approved by 
 
426 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Russia, that Napoleon should give up Italy and Holland, and recog- 
 nize the independence of both countries, as well as that of Germany. 
 Prussia gave France a month's time to take this proposition into 
 consideration ; and if it should be declined, then Prussia would de- 
 clare war against the Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 This month had expired on the 15th of December, and, as pre- 
 viously stated. Count Haugwitz had not yet succeeded in delivering 
 his dispatch to the Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 It is true, he had set out from Berlin on the 6th of November ; 
 but the noble count liked to travel as comfortably as possible, and 
 to repose often from the hardships of the journey. He had, there- 
 fore, travelled every day but a few miles, and stopped several days 
 in every large city through which he had passed. Vainly had Min- 
 ister von Hardenberg and the Russian and Austrian ministers in 
 Berlin sent courier upon courier after him, in order to induce him 
 to accelerate his journey. 
 
 Count Haugwitz declared himself unable to travel any faster, be- 
 cause he was afraid of stating that he was unwilling to do so. 
 
 Now, he was unwilling to travel any faster, because the message, 
 of which he was the bearer, was a most oppressive burden to him, 
 and because he felt convinced that the energetic genius, by some 
 rapid and crushing victory, would upset all treaties, change all 
 standpoints, and thereby render it unnecessary for him to deliver to 
 him a dispatch of so harsh and hostile a description. 
 
 Thanks to his system of delay. Count Haugwitz had succeeded 
 in obtaining a first interview with Napoleon on the day before the 
 battle of Austerlitz. But instead of presenting the ominous note to 
 the emperor, he had contented himself, after the fashion of a genu- 
 ine courtier, with offering incense to the great conqueror, and 
 Napoleon had prevented him from transacting any business by put- 
 ting off all negotiations with him until after the great battle. 
 
 After the battle of Austerlitz, the emperor had received the envoy 
 of the King of Prussia at Schonbrunn, and granted him the longed- 
 for audience. Napoleon greeted him in an angry voice, and re- 
 proached him violently for having affixed his name to the treaty of 
 Potsdam. But Haugwitz had managed, by his skilful politeness, 
 to appease the emperor's wrath, and to regain his favor. Since then 
 Count Haugwitz had been at Schonbrunn every day, and Napoleon 
 had always received him with especial kindness and affability. For 
 the emperor, who knew very well that Austria was still hoping for 
 an armed intervention by Prussia, wished to delay his decision, as 
 to the fate of Prussia at least, until he had made peace with Austria. 
 Only when he had trampled Austria under foot, he would think of 
 chastising Prussia for her recent arrogance, and to humiliate her as 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER. 437 
 
 he had hitherto humiliated aU his enemies. Hence he had received 
 Comit Haugwitz every day, and succeeded gradually and insensibly 
 in winning him for his plans. To-day, on the 13th of December, 
 Count Haugwitz had repaired to Rohonbrunn to negotiate with Na- 
 poleon. He wore his full court-costume, and was adorned with the 
 grand cordon of the Legion of Honor, which he had received a year 
 ago, and which the Prussian minister seemed to wear with especial 
 predilection. 
 
 Napoleon received the count in the former drawing-room of 
 Maria Theresa, which had now become Napoleon's study. On a 
 large round table in the centre of the room, there lay maps, dotted 
 with variously colored pins ; the green pins designated the route fixed 
 by Napoleon for the retreat of the Russian army ; the dark-yellow 
 pins surrounded the extreme boundaries of Austria, and according 
 to the news which Napoleon received from Presburg, and which 
 informed him of constantly new concessions made by the Austrian 
 plenipotentiaries, who declared their willingness to cede several 
 provinces, he changed the position of these pins, which embraced 
 every day a more contracted space ; while the blue pins, designating 
 the boundaries of Bavaria, advanced farther and farther, and the 
 red pins, representing the armies of France, seemed to multiply on 
 the map. 
 
 Napoleon, however, was not engaged in studying his maps when 
 Count Haugwitz entered his room, but he was seated at the desk 
 placed close to the table with the maps, and seemed to write assidu- 
 ously. On the raised back part of this desk the busts of Frederick 
 the Great and Maria Theresa had been placed. Napoleon some- 
 times, when he ceased writing, raised his gloomy eyes to them, and 
 then it seemed as though these three heads, the two marble busts and 
 the marble head of Napoleon, bent threateningly toward each other, 
 as though the flashes bursting from Napoleon's eyes kindled the fire 
 of life and anger in the marble eyes of the empress and the great 
 king ; their frowning brows seemed to ask him then, by virtue of 
 what right the son of the Corsican lawyer had taken a seat between 
 their two crovmed heads, and driven the legitimate Emperor of 
 Austria from the house of his fathers. 
 
 When Count Haugwitz entered, Napoleon cast the pen impetu- 
 ously aside and rose. He saluted the count, who bowed to him 
 deeply and respectfully, with a pleasant nod. 
 
 "You are there," said the emperor, kindly, "and it is very lucky. 
 I was extremely impatient to see you. " 
 
 "Lucky?" asked Count Haugwitz, with the inimitable smile of a 
 well-bred courtier. "Lucky, sire? It seems to me as though there 
 were neither luck nor ill-luck in the world, nay ; I am now more 
 
428 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 than ever convinced of it. Have not I heard men say more than a 
 hundred times, 'He is lucky ! he is lucky !' Since I have made the 
 acquaintance of the great man who owes every thing to himself, I 
 have become convinced that luck should not be taken into considera- 
 tion, and that it is of no consequence. '' 
 
 Napoleon smiled. " You are a most adroit and well-bred cavalier 
 and courtier," he said, "but it is a rule of wisdom for princes not to 
 repose any confidence in the words of courtiers and flatterers, but 
 always to translate them into the opposite sense. Therefore, I 
 ■translate your words, too, into the contrary, and then they signify, 
 'It seems, unfortunately, as though luck had deserted us, and par- 
 ticularly the third coalition, forever, but still sticks to the colors of 
 France.'" 
 
 " Oh, sire, " exclaimed Count Haugwitz, in a tone of grievous re- 
 proach, " can your majesty really doubt my devotion and admira- 
 tion? Was I not the first man to congratulate your majesty, the 
 indomitable chieftain, on the fresh laurels with which you had 
 wreathed your heroic brow, even in the cold days of winter?" 
 
 " It is true, " said Napoleon, " you did so, but your compliment 
 was intended for others ; fate, however, had changed its address.* 
 Of your sincerity I have hitherto had no proofs whatever, but a great 
 many of your duplicity ; for, at all events, you have aflixed your 
 name to the treaty of Potsdam ?" 
 
 " I have done so, and boast of it, " said Count Haugwitz, quickly. 
 ''A glance into the heart of Napoleon satisfied me that he who stands 
 at the head of human greatness knew no higher aim than to give 
 peace to mankind, and thus complete the great work which Provi- 
 dence has intrusted to him. " 
 
 ""Words, words!" said Napoleon. "Let me see actions at last. 
 The instructions that were given to you before leaving Berlin have 
 been annulled by the recent events in Moravia ; we are agreed about 
 this point. Now, you are a member of the Prussian cabinet. By 
 sending you to me, the king has intrusted to you alone the welfare 
 of his monarchy. We shall see, therefore, whether you will know 
 how to profit by a rare, perhaps never-recurring opportunity, and to 
 crown the work which Frederick II. , notwithstanding his victories, 
 left unfinished. Come hither and see. " 
 
 He stepped rapidly to the table with the maps, and in obedience 
 to a wave of his hand. Count Haugwitz glided, with his imperturb- 
 able smile, to his side. 
 
 "See here," exclaimed Napoleon, pointing at the map ; "this is 
 Silesia, your native country. The king does not rule over the whole 
 
 * The whole conversation is strictly in accordance with history.— Vide " M§moires 
 infidits du Comte de Haugwitz," 1837. 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER. 429 
 
 of it, the Emperor of Austria still retaining a portion of it ; but that 
 splendid province ought to belong exclusively to Prussia. We will 
 see and consider how far your southern frontier ought to be extended. 
 Just follow my finger on the map ; it will designate to you the new 
 boundaries of Prussian Silesia."* 
 
 And Napoleon's forefinger passed, flashing like a dagger-point, 
 across the map, and encircled the whole Austrian portion of Silesia, 
 from Teschen to the Saxon frontier, and from the mountains of 
 Yablunka to the point where the Riesengebirge disappears in 
 Lusatia. t 
 
 " Well, " he then asked, hastily, " would not such an arrangement 
 round off your Silesian province in the most desirable manner?" 
 
 Count Haugwitz did not reply immediately, but continued gazing 
 at the map. Napoleon's eagle glance rested on him for a moment, 
 and then passed on to the busts of Maria Theresa and Frederick the 
 Great. 
 
 " Oh, " he exclaimed, with a triimiphant smile, pointing to the 
 bust of Frederick, " that great man would have accepted my proposi- 
 tion without any hesitation wliatever. " 
 
 "Sire," said Count Haugwitz, hesitatingly, "but that great 
 woman, Maria Theresa, would not have permitted it so easily." 
 
 " But now, " exclaimed Napoleon, " now there is no Maria Theresa 
 to hinder the King of Prussia ; now I am here, and I grant the 
 whole of Silesia to your king if he will conclude a close alliance 
 with me. Consider well ; can you be insensible of the glory which 
 awaits you?" 
 
 And his eyes again pierced the embarrassed face of the count like 
 two dagger-points. 
 
 "Sire," said Haugwitz, in a low voice, "your proposition is 
 tempting, it is admirable ; but as far as I know his majesty the 
 king, I must — " 
 
 " Oh, " said Napoleon, impatiently, " do not allude to the king and 
 his persons We have nothing to do with that. You are minister, 
 and it behooves you to fulfil the duties which yom- position demands 
 from you, and to embrace the opportunity which will never return. 
 One must be powerful, one can never be sufficiently so, believe me, 
 and consider well before replying to me. " 
 
 " But, perhaps, sire, it would be better for us to seek for aggran* 
 dizement on another side, " said Haugwitz. 
 
 "On the side of Poland or France, I suppose?" asked Napoleon, 
 harshly. "You would like to deprive me again of Mentz, Cleves, 
 and the left bank of the Rhine, and you flirt with Russia and Aus- 
 * Napoleon's own words.—" Mfimoires Infidits," p. 17. 
 t Ibid., p. 18. 
 
430 LOUISA OF PBUSSIA. 
 
 tria because you hope they might assist you one day, after all, in 
 obtaining those territories? But, on the other hand, you would not 
 like to quarrel with me, because there is a possibility that your 
 hopes will not be fulfilled, and because, in such an eventuality, you 
 would fear my enmity. You Prussians want to be the allies of 
 every one ; that is impossible, and you must decide for me or for 
 the others. I demand sincerity, or shall break loose from you, for 
 I prefer open enemies to false friends. Your king tolerates in Hano- 
 ver a corps of thirty thousand men, which, through his states, keeps 
 up a connection with the great Russian army ; that is an act of open 
 hostility. As for me, I attack my enemies wherever I may find 
 them. If I wished to do so, I might take a terrible revenge for this 
 dishonesty. I could invade Silesia, cause an insurrection in Poland, 
 and deal Prussia blows from which she would never recover. But 
 I prefer forgetting the past, and pursuing a generous course. I will, 
 therefore, forgive Prussia's rashness, but only on condition that 
 Prussia should unite with France by indissoluble ties ; and as a 
 guaranty of this alliance, I require Prussia to take possession of 
 Hanover. " * 
 
 "Sire," exclaimed Haugwitz, joyfully, "this was the desirable 
 aggrandizement which I took the liberty of hinting at before, and 
 I believe it is the only one which the king's conscience would allow 
 him to accept. " 
 
 "Very well, take Hanover, then," said Napoleon, "I cede my 
 claims on it to Prussia ; but in return Prussia cedes to France the 
 principality of Neufchatel and the fortress of Wesel, and to Bavaria 
 the principality of Anspach. " 
 
 " But, sire, " exclaimed Haugwitz, anxiously, " Anspach belongs 
 to Prussia by virtue of family treaties which cannot be contested ; 
 and Neufchatel — " 
 
 "No objections," interrupted Napoleon, sternly ; "my terms must 
 be complied with. Either war or peace. War, that is to say, I 
 crush Prussia, and become her inexorable enemy forever; peace, 
 that is to say, I give you Hanover and receive for it Neufchatel, 
 Wesel, and Anspach. Now, make up your mind quickly ; I am 
 tired of the eternal delays and procrastinations, I want you to come at 
 length to a decision, and you will not leave this room until I have 
 received a categorical reply. You have had time enough to take 
 every thing into consideration ; Jience you must not equivocate 
 any more. Tell me, therefore, quickly and categorically, what do 
 you want, war or peace?" 
 
 "Sire, "said Haugwitz, imploringly, "what else can Prussia want 
 than peace with France. " 
 
 * Napoleon's own words.— "Mfimoires infidits," p. 30. 
 
NAPOLEON AND THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER. 431 
 
 " Indeed, it is an excellent bargain you make on this occasion, " 
 exclaimed Napoleon. " Neuf chatel is for Prussia a doomed position, 
 to which, moreover, she has got but extremely doubtful rights. In 
 return for it, for Wesel and Anspaoh, with their four hundred 
 tliousand inhabitants, you receive Hanover, which is contiguous to 
 Prussia, and contains more than a million inhabitants 1 I believe 
 Prussia ought to be content with such an aggrandizement. " 
 
 " Sire, " said Haugwitz, " she would be especially content if she 
 should obtain the faithful and influential friendship of France, and 
 be able to retain it forever. " 
 
 " You may rely on my word, " replied the emperor, " I am always 
 faithful to my enemies as well as to my friends. I crush the former 
 and promote the interests of the latter whenever an opportunity 
 offers. We will, however, prove to each other that we are in earnest 
 about this alliance, and draw up its stipulations even today. Grand- 
 marshal Duroc has already received my instructions concerning this 
 matter, and he will lay before you the particulars of the offensive 
 and defensive alliance to be concluded between France and Prussia. 
 Be bind enough to go to him and settle every thing with him, so 
 that we may sign the document as soon as possible. Go, my dear 
 count ; but first accept my congratulations, for at this hour you have 
 done an important service to Prussia : you have saved her from de- 
 struction. I should have crushed her like a toy in my hand if you 
 had rejected my offers of friendship. Go, the grand-marshal is 
 waiting for you. " * 
 
 He nodded a pai'ting greeting to the confused, almost stunned 
 count, and returned to his maps, thus depriving the Prussian min- 
 ister of the possibility of entering into further explanations. The 
 latter heaved a profound sigh, and, walking backward, turned 
 slowly to the door. 
 
 Napoleon took no further notice of him ; he seemed wholly ab- 
 sorbed in his maps and plans ; only when the door closed slowly be- 
 hind the count, he said, in a low voice : "He will sign the treaty, 
 and then Austria's last hope is gone ! Now I shall assume a more 
 
 * The offensive and defensive alliance between the Emperor of France and the 
 King of Prussia was concluded agreeably to the demands of Napoleon. Count 
 Haugwitz, without obtaining further instructions from his sovereign, signed it on 
 the 15th of December. The same day, in accordance with the treaty of Potsdam, he 
 was to have delivered to Napoleon Prussia's declaration of war. Owing to the con- 
 clusion of this alliance, the position of Austria became utterly untenable, and she 
 was obliged to accept the humiliating terms of Napoleon, and to sign, on the a6th of 
 December, 1805, the peace of Presburg. This treaty deprived Austria of her best pro- 
 vinces which were annexed to France, Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden. It is true, 
 Pnissia obtained the kingdom of Hanover by virtue of the treaty with France, but 
 this was an illusory aggrandizement which Pnissia would have to conquer, sword 
 in hand, from England. 
 
432 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 decided attitude in Presburg, and Austria will accept aU my condi- 
 tions ; she will be obliged to cede to me the Netherlands, Venice, 
 and Tuscany, for now she cannot count any longer on Prussia's 
 armed intervention. " 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 JUDITH AND HOLOPERNES. 
 
 Napoleon was still engaged in studying his maps and in chang- 
 ing the positions of the pins on it. From time to time he was inter- 
 rupted in this occupation by couriers bringing fresh dispatches from 
 Presburg or France, but he constantly returned to his maps, and his 
 finger passing over them extinguished kingdoms and boundaries to 
 create new states in their places. 
 
 Evening was already drawing near, and the emperor was still in 
 his cabinet. The door had already been opened repeatedly in a cau- 
 tious manner, and Constant, the valet de chambre, had looked in 
 with prying eyes, but seeing the emperor so busily engaged, he had 
 always withdrawn cautiously and inaudibly. At length, however, 
 he seemed tired of waiting any longer, and instead of withdrawing, 
 again he entered and closed the door noiselessly. 
 
 The noise caused the emperor to start up. 
 
 "Well, Constant, what is the matter?" he asked. 
 
 " Sire, " whispered Constant, in a low voice, as though he were 
 afraid the walls might hear him, " sire, that distinguished lady has 
 been here for an hour ; she is waiting for the audience your majesty 
 has granted to her. '' 
 
 " Ah, the countess or princess, " said Napoleon, carelessly, " the 
 foolish person who asserts that she hated me formerly but loves me 
 now?" 
 
 " Sire, she speaks of your majesty in terms of the most unbounded 
 enthusiasm !" 
 
 " Ah, bah ! Women like to be enthusiastic admirers of somebody, 
 and to worship him with the gushing transports of their tender 
 hearts ! Would so many women go into convents and call Christ 
 their bridegroom, if it were not so? But what is the name of this 
 lady who has been pleased to fall in love with me?" 
 
 " Sire, I believe, the only condition she stipulated was that your 
 majesty should not ask for her name. " 
 
 The emperor frowned. "And you would persuade me to receive 
 this nameless woman ? Wlio knows but she may be a mere intriguer 
 anxious to penetrate to me for some dark purpose?" 
 
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES. 433 
 
 "Sire, one of the most faithful adherents and admirers of your 
 majesty, M. von Brandt, formerly major in the Austrian service, 
 pledges his word of honor that she is not, and—" 
 
 At this moment the door was opened violently, and Grand- 
 marshal Duroc entered. 
 
 " Ah, your majesty is here stiU !" he exclaimed, joyfully. " Your 
 majesty has not yet received the lady?" 
 
 "Well, does that concern you?" asked Napoleon, smiling. "You 
 are jealous, perhaps? This lady is said to be very beautiful. " 
 
 "Sire," said Duroc, solemnly, "even though she were as beauti- 
 ful as Cleopatra, your majesty ought not to receive her. " 
 
 "I ought not?" asked Napoleon, sternly. "What should prevent 
 me from doing so?" 
 
 "Sire, the sacred duty to preserve yourself to your people, to 
 your empire. This lady who tries to penetrate with so much pas- 
 sionate violence to your majesty is a dangerous intriguer, a mortal 
 enemy of France and your majesty. " 
 
 Napoleon cast a triumphant glance on Constant, who, pale and 
 trembling, was leaning against the wall. 
 
 "Well," he asked, "will you defend her still?" 
 
 Without waiting for Constant's reply, he turned again to the 
 grand-marshal. 
 
 "Whence did you obtain this information?" 
 
 " Sire, the governor of Vienna, M. de Vincennes, has just arrived 
 here in the utmost haste. His horse fell half dead to the ground 
 when he entered the court-yard. He feared that he might be too 
 late. " 
 
 "How too late?" 
 
 " Too late to warn your majesty from this lady, who has evidently 
 come to carry out some criminal enterprise. " 
 
 "Ah, bah! she was, perhaps, going to assassinate me?" 
 
 "Sire, that is what M. de Vincennes asserts." 
 
 "Ah !" exclaimed Napoleon, turning once more toward Constant, 
 "did you not tell me that she was deeply enamom-ed of me? Is the 
 governor here still?" 
 
 "Yes, sire ; he wants to know whether he shall not immediately 
 arrest the lady and closely question her. " 
 
 Napoleon was silent for a moment, and seemed to reflect. 
 
 " Constant, " he then said, " tell M. de Vincennes to come hither. 
 I myself want to speak to him. " 
 
 Constant went at once into the anteroom and returned in a 
 minute, to introduce the governor of Vienna, M. de Vincennes. 
 
 Napoleon hastily went to meet him. " You have come to warn 
 me, " he said, sternly. " What are your reasons for doing so?" 
 
434 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 "Sire, the intentions of this lady are extremely suspicious. 
 Since I have been in Vienna she has been incessantly watched by 
 my agents, because she is the intellectual head of all the dangerous 
 and hostile elements of the city. All the enemies of your majesty, 
 all the so-called German patriots, meet at her house, and by closely 
 watching her, we could learn all our enemies' plans and actions. 
 Hence, it was necessary for us to find an agent in her house who 
 would report to me every day what had been going on there, and I 
 was so fortunate as to enlist the services of her mistress of cere- 
 monies. " 
 
 "By what means did you bribe her?" asked Napoleon. "By 
 means of love or money 1" 
 
 "Sire, thank God, money alone was suflScient for the purpose." 
 
 The emperor smiled. "The woman is old and ugly, then?" 
 
 "Very ugly, sire." 
 
 "And she hates her mistress because she is beautiful. For, I 
 suppose, she is very beautiful?" 
 
 " Extremely so, sire ; a most fascinating woman, and conse- 
 quently the more dangerous as an intriguer. " 
 
 Napoleon shrugged his shoulders. " Proceed with your report. 
 You had bribed her mistress of ceremonies, then?" 
 
 " Yes, sire ; she kept an accurate diary, containing a statement 
 of what her mistress had been doing every hour, and brought it to 
 me every evening. For the last few days the conduct of her mistress 
 has seemed to her particularly suspicious ; hence she watched her 
 more closely, and my other agents dogged her steps in disguise 
 whenever she left her mansion. All symptoms appeared suspicious 
 enough, and pointed to the conclusion that she was meditating an 
 attack upon some distinguished person. But I did not guess as yet 
 whom she was aiming at. All at once, two hours ago, her mistress 
 of ceremonies came to bring me her diary, and to report to me that 
 her mistress had just left her mansion with Major von Brandt, and 
 that her last words had indicated that she had gone to see your 
 majesty at Schonbrunn. While I was still considering what ought 
 to be done, another agent of mine made his appearance ; I had com- 
 missioned him specially to watch M. von Brandt ; for, although he 
 seems to be extremely devoted to us, I do not trust him. " 
 
 "And you are perfectly right," said Napoleon, sternly. "Trai- 
 tors ought never to be trusted, and this M. von Brandt is a traitor, 
 inasmuch as he adheres to us, the enemies of his country. What 
 was the information brought to yOu by your agent?" 
 
 " Sire, my agent caused one of his men, who is a very skilful 
 pickpocket, to steal the major's memorandum-book just at the mo- 
 ment when he was entering the lady's house. " 
 
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES. 435 
 
 "Indeed," said Napoleon, laughing. "Your agents are clever fel- 
 lows. What did you find in the memorandum-book? Love letters 
 and unpaid bills, I suppose?" 
 
 "No, sire, I found in it an important document; an agreement, 
 by virtue of which the lady is to pay the major, in case he should 
 obtain for her an interview with your majesty, a gold-piece for 
 every minute of its duration. " 
 
 Napoleon laughed. "The lady is as rich as Croesus, then?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes, sire, the princess is said to—" 
 
 " Princess ! What princess ?" 
 
 " Sire, the lady to whom your majesty has granted an audience is 
 the Princess von Eibenberg. " 
 
 "The Princess von Eibenberg," replied Napoleon, musingly. 
 "Did I not hear that name on some former occasion? Yes, yes, I 
 remember, " he said, in a low voice, after a short pause, as if speak- 
 ing to himself ; " the agent of the Count de Provence, who delivered 
 to me the letter, and whom I then expelled from Paris. " 
 
 "Have you got the diary of the mistress of ceremonies and the 
 other papers with you?" he then asked the governor. 
 
 " I have, sire, here they are, " replied M. de Vincennes, drawing 
 a few papers from his bosom. " Here is also the singular agreement 
 of the princess. " 
 
 " Give them to me, " said Napoleon ; and taking the papers, he 
 looked over them and read a few lines here and there. " Indeed, " 
 he then said, " this affair is piquant enough ; it begins to excite my 
 curiosity. Constant, where is the lady ?" 
 
 "Sire, M. de Bausset has taken her to the small reception-room of 
 your majesty ; she is waiting there. " 
 
 " Well, " said Napoleon, " she has waited long enough, and might 
 become impatient ; I will, therefore, go to her. " 
 
 "But, sire, you wiU not see her alone, I hope?" asked Duroc, 
 anxiously. "I trust your majesty will permit me to accompany 
 you?" 
 
 " Ah, you are anxious to see the famous belle ?" asked Napoleon, 
 laughing. " Another time, M. grand-marshal — but this time I shall 
 go alone. Just remember that the princess is passionately enamoured 
 of me, and that it, therefore, would terribly oflfend her if I should 
 not come alone to the interview with her. " 
 
 He advanced a few steps toward the door. But now Constant 
 rushed toward him, and kneeling before him, exclaimed, in a voice 
 trembling with anguish: "Sire, your majesty must have pity on 
 me. Do not expose your priceless life to such a danger ! Do not 
 plunge my poor heart which adores your majesty into everlasting 
 
436 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 despair ! It was I who first dared to request your majesty to receive 
 this lady ! Now, sire, I implore your majesty on my knees — do not 
 receive her !" 
 
 " Sire, I venture to unite my prayers V7ith those of Constant, " 
 said Duroo, urgently. "Sire, do not receive this lady !" 
 
 "Your majesty, permit me rather to arrest her immediately,'' 
 exclaimed M. de Vincennes. 
 
 Napoleon's flaming eyes glanced in succession smilingly at the 
 three men. " Truly, " he said, " on hearing you, one might almost 
 believe this beautiful woman to be a mine, and that it was merely 
 necessary to touch her in order to explode and be shattered ! Re- 
 assure yourselves, I believe we will save our life this time. You 
 have warned me, and I shall be on my guard. Not another word, 
 no more prayers ! My resolution is fixed ; I will see this beautiful 
 woman, and, moreover, alone !" 
 
 "Sire," exclaimed Constant, anxiously, "suppose this crazy 
 woman should fire a pistol at your head at the moment when your 
 majesty appears before her?" 
 
 "In that case the buUets would harmlessly glance off from me, 
 or the pistol would miss fire, " replied Napoleon, in a tone of firm 
 conviction. " Fate did not place me here to fall by the hands of an 
 assassin ! Go, gentlemen, and accept my thanks for your zeal and 
 sympathy. M. de Vincennes, return to Vienna ; I shall keep your 
 papers here. Is Count Haugwitz still at your rooms, Dm-oc?" 
 
 " Yes, sire, we were just engaged in drawing up the several sec- 
 tions of the treaty, when M. de Vincennes sent for me. " 
 
 "Return to the count, and you. Constant, go to M. von Brandt 
 and count with him the minutes which his lady will pass in my com- 
 pany. I should not be surprised if he should earn a great many gold- 
 pieces, for I do not intend dismissing the interesting belle so soon. " 
 
 He nodded to them, and hastily crossing the room, passed through 
 the door which Constant opened. With rapid steps, and without 
 any further hesitation, he walked across the two large reception- 
 halls, and then opened the door of the small reception-room where 
 the lady, as Constant had told him, was waiting for him. 
 
 He remained for a moment on the threshold, and his burning 
 glances turned toward Marianne, who, as soon as she saw him com- 
 ing in, had risen from the arm-chair in which she had been sitting. 
 
 " It is true, " murmured Napoleon to himself, " she is really beau- 
 tiful I" 
 
 He advanced a few steps ; then, as if remembering only at this 
 moment that he had left the door wide open, he turned around and 
 closed it. " I suppose you want to speak to me without witnesses?" 
 he asked, approaching Marianne. 
 
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES. 437 
 
 "Sire, the words of love and adoration fail too often in the pres- 
 ence of others, " whispered Marianne, casting a flaming glance on 
 him. 
 
 Napoleon smiled. "Well, why did you hesitate, then, just now 
 to write the words of love and adoration between my shoulders?" 
 ne asked. " I turned my back to you intentionally ; I wished to 
 give you an opportunity for carrying out your heroic deed. " 
 
 "What?" exclaimed Marianne, in terror, "has your majesty any 
 doubts of my intentions?" 
 
 " No, " said Napoleon, laughing, " I have no doubts whatever of 
 your intentions ; on the contrary, I am quite sure of them. I know 
 that you have come hither to translate the Bible, the truth of which 
 has been questioned so often, into reality. You intended to make 
 of the chapter of Judith and Holof ernes a tragedy of our times. But 
 although you are as beautiful and seductive as Judith, I am no 
 Holofemes, who allows himself to be ruled by his passion, and for- 
 gets the dictates of prudence in the arms of a woman. I never was 
 the slave of my passions, madame, and it is not sufBcient for a 
 woman to be beautiful in order to win my heart ; I must be able, 
 too, to esteem her, and never should I be able to esteem a woman 
 capable of loving the conqueror of her country. You see, therefore, 
 that I am no Holof ernes, and that I should not have opened my arms 
 to you if I should have believed you to be a recreant daughter of 
 yoiu: country. But I know that you are a patriot, and that alters 
 the case : I know that I may esteem you ; hence, I do not say that I 
 cannot love you, for it is true, you are enchantingly beautiful. " 
 
 " Sire, " said Marianne, indignantly, " if you have only received 
 me to insult and mortify me, pray permit me to withdraw I" 
 
 "No, I have received you because I wanted to give you good ad- 
 vice, " said Napoleon, gravely ; " I, therefore, pray you to remain. 
 You must choose your servants more cautiously, madame ; you must 
 confide in them less and watch them better ; for slavish souls are 
 easily led astray, and money is a magnet they are unable to with- 
 stand. Your mistress of ceremonies is a traitress ; beware of her !" 
 
 "Then she has slandered me?" asked Marianne, with quivering 
 lips. 
 
 " No, she has only betrayed you, " said Napoleon, smiling. " Even 
 the diamond ring which you gave her as a souvenir did not touch 
 her heart. Do you yet remember what you said to her when you 
 handed it to her?" 
 
 "Sire, how should I remember it?" asked Marianne. 
 
 " Well, I will repeat it to you, '' exclaimed Napoleon, unfolding 
 the papers which M. de Vincennes had given to him, and which he 
 had kept all the time rolled up in his hand. " Here it is. You 
 
438 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 said : 'I know you are a good and enthusiastic Austrian ; like my- 
 self, you hate the tyrant who wants to subjugate us, and you will 
 bless the hand which will order him to stop, and put an end to his 
 victorious career. ' Well, was it not so, madams?" 
 
 Marianne made no reply ; her cheeks were pale, and her eyes 
 stared at the emperor, who looked at her smilingly. 
 
 " A moment before you had concealed a flashing object in your 
 bosom, " continued Napoleon. " That object which your mistress of 
 ceremonies did not see distinctly was a dagger which you had 
 bought this forenoon. Shall I tell you where?"— He glanced again 
 at the papers, and then said : " You bought this dagger in a gun 
 store on the Kohlmarkt, and paid four ducats for it. You have now 
 got this dagger with you ; truly, it occupies an enviable hiding- 
 place, and I might be jealous of it. Why do you not draw it forth 
 and carry out your purpose? Do you really believe what so many 
 fools have said about me, viz. , that I was in the habit of wearing a 
 coat-of-mail? I pledge you my imperial word, my breast is unpro- 
 tected, and a dagger will meet with no resistance provided it is 
 able to reach my breast. Just try it !" 
 
 Marianne, who, while the emperor was speaking, had dropped 
 on a chair as if stupefied, now rose impetuously. " Sire, " she said, 
 proudly, " it is enough. Your officers doubtless await me in the ad- 
 joining room, in order to arrest me like a criminal. Permit me to 
 go thither and surrender to them." 
 
 She was about turning toward the door, but Napoleon seized ber 
 hand and kept her back. " Oh, no, " he said, " our interview is not 
 yet over ; it has scarcely lasted fifteen minutes, and remember that 
 M. von Brandt would consequently get only fifteen gold-pieces. Ah, 
 you look at me in surprise. You wonder that I should be aware of 
 that, too? I am no magician, however, and have acquired my 
 knowledge of this laughable incident in a very simple manner. 
 Look here, this is the written agreement you gave to M. von 
 Brandt !" 
 
 He offered the paper to Marianne ; she did not take it, however, 
 but only glanced at it. " Your majesty may see from it how ardently 
 I longed for an interview with you, " she said. " Had M. von Brandt 
 asked half my fortune for this interview with your majesty, I should 
 have joyfully given it to him, for an hour in the presence of your 
 majesty is worth more than all the riches of the world. " 
 
 " And yet you were going to leave me just now !" exclaimed Na- 
 poleon, reproachfully. "How ingenuous that would have been 
 toward your friend who is standing in the anteroom with Constant, 
 and, watch in hand, calculating the number of his gold-pieces. We 
 will be generous and grant him three hours. Three hours — that is a 
 
JUDITH AND H0L0FERNE8. 439 
 
 good time for a rendezvous ; when you leave me, then, you will pay 
 M. von Brandt one hundred and eighty louis-d'or, and I shall receive 
 the congratulations of my confidants. " 
 
 Marianne's eyes flashed angrily, and a deep blush mantled her 
 cheeks. " Sire, " she exclaimed almost menacingly, " call your ofiS- 
 cers — have me arrested like a criminal — take my life if I have 
 deserved it, but let me leave this room !" 
 
 " Ah, you would die rather than that people should believe you 
 had granted me a rendezvous of three hours' duration, " asked Napo- 
 leon. " It is true, this rendezvous, if it should result peacefully and 
 without the dclat which you hoped for when you came hither to play 
 the part of Judith, would discredit you with your friends ! Your 
 party will distrust you as soon as it learns that, after being three 
 hours with me, you left Schonbrunn in the middle of the night, 
 while I was not found on my couch with a dagger in my heart. I 
 cannot spare you this humiliation ; it shall be the only punishment 
 I shall inflict on you. You remain here !" 
 
 " Sire, let me go, " exclaimed Marianne, " and I swear to you that 
 I will never dare again to approach you ; I swear to you that I will 
 live in some remote comer in the most profound retirement, far 
 from the noise and turmoil of the world. " 
 
 " Oh, the world would never forgive me if I should deprive it in 
 this manner of its most beautiful ornament," said the emperor, 
 smiling. "You are too lovely to live in obscurity and solitude. 
 You will now grant me three hours, and you are free to tell every- 
 body during the whole remainder of your life that you hate me; 
 but it is true, people will hardly believe in the sincerity of your 
 hatred." 
 
 "Then you will not permit me to withdraw?" asked Marianne, 
 with quivering lips. "You want me to stay here?" 
 
 " Only three hours, madame ; then you may go. Let us improve 
 this time and speak frankly and honestly to each other. Forget 
 where we are ; imagine we were the heads of two parties, meeting 
 on neutral ground and telling each other the truth with respectful 
 frankness for the purpose of thereby bringing about peace, if possi- 
 ble. Well, then, tell me honestly : do you really hate me so ardently 
 as to have come hither for the purpose of assassinating me?" 
 
 " You ask me to tell you the truth, " exclaimed Marianne, her 
 eyes sparkling with anger, " well, you shall hear it 1 Yes, I hate 
 you ; I swore to you in Paris, at the time when you sent me like a 
 criminal to the frontier, the most ardent and implacable hatred, and 
 in accordance with my oath I came hither to accomplish a work 
 which would be a boon for Germany, nay, for the whole world. 
 Yes, I wanted to assassinate you, I wanted to deliver the world from 
 29 
 
440 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the tyrant who intends to enslave it. Yes, I had concealed a dagger 
 in my bosom to kill you as Judith killed Holofernes. Had I accom- 
 plished my purpose, the world would have blessed me and paid the 
 highest honors to my name ; but now that I have failed in carrying 
 out my plan, I shall be laughed and sneered at. Now I have told 
 you the truth, and in order that you may not doubt it, I will show 
 you the dagger which was intended for your breast, and which I 
 shall now hurl down at your feet as the dragon's feet, from which 
 one day full-grown warriors will spring for our cause in order to 
 combat you. " 
 
 She drew the dagger from her bosom, and, with a violent ges- 
 ture, threw it at Napoleon's feet. "Sire," she then asked, in an 
 imploring voice, "will you not yet order me to be arrested?" 
 
 "Why?" asked Napoleon. " Words falling from the I'ips of beau- 
 tiful women are never insulting, and I do not punish thoughts which 
 have not yet become actions. Your hands are free from guilt, and the 
 only criminal here in this room is that dagger on the floor. I 
 trample it under foot, and it is unable to rise any more against me. " 
 
 He placed his foot on the flashing blade, and fixed his piercing 
 eyes on the princess. " Madame, " he said, " when you came to me in 
 Paris, it was the Count de Provence who had sent you. He sent me 
 a letter through you at that time. Tell me, did he send me this 
 dagger to-day?" 
 
 " No, I will take the most solemn oath that he knows nothing 
 about it, " replied Marianne. " Nobody knew of my undertaking ; 
 I had no confidants and no accomplices. " 
 
 " You had only your own hatred, madame, " said Napoleon, mus- 
 ingly. " Why do you hate me so bitterly ? What have I done to all 
 of you that you should turn away from me?" 
 
 "Why I hate you?" asked Marianne, impetuously. "Because 
 you have come to trample Germany in the dust, to transform her 
 into a French province, and to defraud us of our honor, our good 
 rights, and independence. What have you done, that all honest 
 men should turn away from you? You have broken your most 
 sacred oaths — you are a perjurer !" 
 
 " Oh, that goes too far, " cried Napoleon, passionately. " What 
 hinders me, then — " 
 
 "To have me arrested?" Marianne interrupted him, defiantly— 
 " please do so. " 
 
 " No, I shall not do you that favor. Proceed, proceed I You 
 stand before me as though you were Germania herself rising before 
 me to accuse me. Well, then, accuse me. When have I broken my 
 oaths?" 
 
 " From the moment when you raised the banner in the name of 
 
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES. 441 
 
 the republic which you intended to upset ; from the moment when 
 you called the nations to you in the name of liberty, in order to rule 
 over them as their tyrant and oppressor !" 
 
 " To those who wanted to keep up the despotism of liberty under 
 which France had bled and groaned so long, I was a tyrant, " said 
 Napoleon, calmly ; " to those who entertained the senseless idea of 
 restoring the Bourbons, under whom France had bled and groaned 
 as long and longer, I was an oppressor. The family of the Bourbons 
 has become decrepit ; it resembles a squeezed lemon, the peel of 
 which is thrown contemptuously aside, because there is no longer 
 an}' juice in it. Did you really believe I should have been such a 
 fool as to pick up this empty peel, which France had thrown aside, 
 and to clothe it in a purple cloak and crown ? Did you believe I 
 had, like those Bourbons and all legitimate princes, learned nothing 
 from history, and not been taught by the examples it holds up to all 
 those who have eyes to see with? I have iearned from history that 
 dynasties dry up like trees, and that it is better to uproot tlie hollow, 
 withered-up trunk rather than permit it, in its long decay, to suck 
 up the last nourishing strength from the soil on which it stands." 
 
 " Sire, you do not only uproot the decaying trunk, but with the 
 axe of the tyrant you deprived this trunk of its fresh, green branches 
 also, " exclaimed Marianne. 
 
 "Ah, you refer to the Duke d'Enghien, " said Napoleon, quietly. 
 " It was an act of policy, which I do not regret. The Bourbons had 
 to imderstand at length that France wanted to give them up and 
 create a new era for herself. I stood at the head of this new era, 
 and I had to fill in a becoming manner the position Providence had 
 conferred on me. Providence destined me to become the founder of 
 a new dynasty, and there will be a day when my family will occupy 
 the first thrones of the world. " * 
 
 " That is to say, you declare war against aU princes, '' exclaimed 
 Marianne. 
 
 " Against the princes, yes," said Napoleon, "for they are nothing 
 but over-ripe fruits only waiting for the hand that is to shake them 
 off. I shall be this hand, and before me they will fall to the ground, 
 and I shall rise higher and higher above them. You call me a con- 
 queror, but how could I stop now in my work? If I should pause 
 now in my conquests and sheathe my sword, what should I have 
 gained by so many efforts but a little glory, without having ap- 
 proached the goal to which I was aspiring? What should I have 
 gained by setting all Europe in a blaze if I should be contented with 
 having overthrown empires and not hasten to build up my own em- 
 pire on solid foundations? It is not birth that entitles me to im- 
 * Napoleon's own words. -Vide "Le Normand," vol. 11., p. 29. 
 
442 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA 
 
 mortality. The man who is possessed of courage, who does good 
 service to his country, and renders himself illustrious by great ex- 
 ploits, that man needs no pedigree, for he is everything by himself. " * 
 
 " But in the eyes of the legitimists he is always nothing but an 
 upstart, " said Marianne, shrugging her shoulders. 
 
 " In that case he must overthrow and annihilate all legitimists, " 
 said Napoleon, quickly ; " so that a new dynasty may arise, of 
 which he will be the founder. I am the man of Destiny, and shall 
 found a new dynasty, and one day the whole of Europe will be but 
 one empire, my empire 1 All of you, instead of cursing me, should 
 joyfully hail my coming and welcome me as your liberator sent by 
 Providence to raise you from your degradation and disgrace. Just 
 look around, you Germans, and see what sort of princes and govern- 
 ments you have got. Are you being ruled by noble, high-minded 
 sovereigns ; are men of ability and character at the head of your 
 governments? I only behold impotence, infamy, and venality 
 everywhere in the German cabinets. The system of nepotism is 
 everywhere in force ; offices are gifts of favor, and not rewards of 
 merit ; intrigues and corrupt influences succeed in placing the fore- 
 most positions of the state into the hands of incapable men, and 
 great minds, if there be any at all, are utterly ignored. The result 
 of this system is, of course, that men cease cultivating their minds, 
 and that the virtues and talents which are not rewarded with a just 
 tribute of glory, lose their vigor and enthusiasm ; nay, often their 
 very existence. When a nation sees none but incapable favorites 
 and venal intriguers at the head of the various departments of its 
 administration and of its armies, how is it to prosper and expand, to 
 increase its wealth, and to win victories ! Woe to the nation which 
 allows itself to be governed by such ministers, and to be defended 
 by such generals as I have found everywhere in Gei-many ! As the 
 man of Destiny, I have come to devote to her my hand, my mouth, 
 and my heart for the purpose of liberating her and delivering her 
 from her disgraceful chains. " f 
 
 "And to load her with even more disgraceful ones," exclaimed 
 Marianne, her eyes flaming with anger ; " for there is nothing more 
 disgraceful on earth than a nation submitting to a foreign barbarian 
 and humbly kissing the feet of its oppressor, instead of expelling 
 him by the majesty of its wrath. If you, a modern Attila, go on 
 with your murderous sword, Europe is ruined, and all dignity of 
 the nations, all the centres of scientific eminence, all the hopes of 
 humanity are lost. For nations can only perform great things, and 
 create gi-eat things, when they are independent ; and freedom itself 
 
 * Napoleon's own words.— Vide "Le Normand." vol. ii., p. 49. 
 t Ibid. , p. 39. 
 
JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES. 443 
 
 is of no use to them if they must receive it as a favor at the hands of 
 their conqueror. '' 
 
 " Earth ought to have but one ruler, as heaven has but one God, " 
 said Napoleon, solemnly. " I have only begun my task ; it is not 
 yet accomplished. Hitherto I have subjected only France, Italy, 
 Switzerland, and HoUand to my sceptre, but my goal is even more 
 sublime than that. And vrho will prevent me from seizing West- 
 phalia, the Hanseatic cities, and Rome, and from annexing the 
 Illyrian provinces, Etruria, and Portugal to France? I do not 
 know yet where to fix the boundaries of my empire. Perhaps it 
 wiU have no other boundaries than the vast space of the two hemi- 
 spheres ; perhaps, like Americus Vespucius and Columbus, I shall 
 obtain the glory of discovering and conquering another unknown 
 world !" * 
 
 "And if you should discover a third world, " exclaimed Marianne, 
 "God may decree, perhaps, that in this new world, an avenger of 
 the two old worlds may arise and tell you in the thundering voice 
 of Jehovah : ' Here are the boundaries of your empire ! So far and 
 no farther !'" 
 
 "But I should not shrink back," said Napoleon, smiling, "but 
 advance to fight for my good right with the avenger sent by Provi- 
 dence, for I was also sent by Providence ; I am a chosen son of 
 Heaven, and if there is a misfortune for me, it is that I have come 
 too late. Men are too enlightened or too sober ; hence, it is impos- 
 sible to accomplish great things. " 
 
 " Ah, you say so, " exclaimed Marianne, " you, whose fate is so 
 brilliant and exalted? You, who once were a humble officer of 
 artillery, and now are seated as emperor on a mighty throne?" 
 
 "Yes, " said Napoleon, in a low voice, as if to himself, " I admit, 
 my career was briUiant enough, —I have pursued a splendid path ! 
 But how much difference there is between me and the heroes of 
 antiquity ! How much more fortunate was Alexander ! After con- 
 quering Asia, he declared he was the son of Jove, and the whole 
 Orient believed it, except Olympias, who knew very weU what to 
 think of it, and except Aristotle, and a few other pedants of Athens ! 
 But if I, who have made more conquests and won greater victories 
 than Alexander,— if I should declare to-day I were the son of God, 
 and oflfer Him my thanksgiving under this title, there would be no 
 fishwoman that would not laugh at me. The nations are too en- 
 lightened and too sober; it is impossi'ile to accomplish great 
 things. " t 
 
 * Napoleon's own words.-"Le Normand, MSmoires," vol. ii., p. 69. 
 + Napoleon's own words.-Vide "MSmoires du Marshal Due de Eaguse, vol. 
 ii. , p. 343. 
 
444 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " There will be a day, sire, when the nations will rise and prove 
 to you that they are able to accomplish great things !" 
 
 "And on that day they will trample me in the dust, I suppose?" 
 asked Napoleon, with an almost compassionate smile. "Do not 
 hope too sanguinely for this day, for your hopes might deceive you. 
 I have spoken so freely and frankly to you, " he continued, rising, 
 " because I knew that, by speaking to you, I was speaking, through 
 you, to the most eminent, high-minded, and patriotic men of your 
 nation, and because I wished to be comprehended and appreciated 
 by them. Go, then, and repeat my words to them — repeat them to 
 those, too, who believe that the throne which I have erected belongs 
 to them, and that the tri-colored flag would have to disappear one 
 day before the lilies. Go, madame, and teU those enthusiastic 
 Bourbons the lilies were so dreadfully steeped in the misery and 
 bJ,ood of France that nobody would recognize them there, and that 
 everybody was shrinking back from their cadaverous smell and 
 putridity. Empires and dynasties, like flowers, have but one day 
 of bloom ; the day of the Bourbons is past ; they are faded and 
 stripped of their leaves. State it to those who one day sent you 
 certainly to me, and perhaps again to-day. If you relate to them to- 
 day's scene, they may deplore, perhaps, that fate did not permit you 
 to become a Judith, but they will have to acknowledge at least that 
 I am no Holof ernes. For although the most beautiful woman of 
 my enemies came to my couch to visit me, she did not kill me, and 
 her dagger lies at my feet ! I shall preserve it as a remembrancer, 
 and Grand-marshal Duroo, M. von Brandt, and Constant, my valet 
 de chambre, who are waiting for you in the anteroom, will believe 
 that dagger to be a souvenir of your love and of a delightful hour of 
 my life. We will not undeceive them ! Farewell, madame !" 
 
 He gave Marianne no time to answer him, but took the silver 
 bell and rang it so loudly and violently that Constant appeared in 
 evident terror in the door. 
 
 " ConstarPb, " said the emperor, " conduct the lady to her carriage ; 
 she will return to Vienna ; and as for M. von Brandt, tell him the 
 princess had allowed me to be her paymaster, and to pay him in her 
 place for the happy minutes of our interview. " 
 
 " Sire, " ejaculated Marianne, in dismay, "you will — " 
 
 "Hush," the emperor interrupted her proudly, "I will pay my 
 tribute to Dame Fortune I Farewell, madame ; remember this hour 
 sometimes !" 
 
 He waved a parting salutation to her with his hand, and then 
 disappeared through the door leading to his bedroom. 
 
 Marianne stared at him until he was gone, as though she had 
 just seen a ghost walking before her, and as though her whole 
 
JUDITH AND HOLOPERNES. 445 
 
 soul were concentrated in this look with which she gazed after 
 him. 
 
 " Madame, " said Constant, in a low voice, " if you please !" And 
 he approached the large hall-door which ho opened. 
 
 Marianne started when she heard his words as if she were awak- 
 ing from a dream ; she left the room silently, and without deigning 
 to glance at Constant, and followed her smiling guide through the 
 halls. In the first anteroom she beheld Grand-marshal Duroc and 
 several generals, who looked at the princess with threatening and 
 sorrowful glances. Marianne felt these glances as if they were dag- 
 gers piercing her soul, and daggers seemed to strike her ears when 
 she heard Constant say to Major von Brandt : " You will stay here, 
 sir ; for the emperor has ordered nie to pay you here for the hours 
 his majesty has spent with the princess. " 
 
 By a violent effort, Marianne succeeded in overcoming her emo- 
 tions, and with a proudly erect head, with a cold and immovable 
 face, she walked on across the anterooms and descended the stair- 
 case until she reached her carriage. 
 
 Only when the carriage rolled along the road toward Vienna 
 through the silent night, the coachman, notwithstanding the noise 
 of the wheels, thought he heard loud lamentations, which seemed to 
 proceed from the interior of the carriage. But he must have cer- 
 tainly been mistaken, for when the carriage stopped in the court- 
 yard in front of her mansion, and the footman hastened to open the 
 coach-door, the princess alighted as proud and calm, as beautiful 
 and radiant as ever, and ascended the staircase coolly and slowly. 
 At the head of the staii-s stood Madame Camilla, muttering a few 
 words with trembling lips and pale cheeks. Marianne apparently 
 did not see her at all, and walked coldly and proudly down the 
 corridor leading to her rooms. 
 
 She ordered the maids, who received her in her dressing-room, 
 with an imperious wave of her hand, to withdraw, and when they 
 had left the room she locked the door behind them. She then went 
 with rapid steps to the boudoir contiguous to the dressing-room, 
 and here, where she was sure that no one could see or overhear her, 
 she allowed the proud mask to glide from her face, and showed its 
 boundless despair. With a loud shriek of anguish she sank on her 
 knees and raising her folded hands to heaven, cried, in the wailing 
 notes of ten'ible grief : 
 
 " Oh, my God, my God ! let me succumb to this disgrace. Have 
 mercy on me, and let me die !" 
 
 But after long hours of struggling and despair, of lamentations 
 and curses, Marianne rose again from her knees with defiant pride 
 and calm energy. 
 
446 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " No, " she muttered, " I must not, will not die ! Life has still 
 claims on me, and the seoi'et league, of which I have become the 
 first member, imposes on me the duty of living and working in its 
 service. I was unable to strike the tyrant with my dagger ; well, 
 then, we must tiy to kill him gradually by means of pin-pricks. 
 Such a pin-prick is the manuscript which Gentz has intrusted to me 
 in order to have it published and circulated throughout Germany. 
 Somewhere a printing-ofiice wiU be found to set up this manuscript 
 with its types ; I will seek for it, and pay the weight of its types in 
 gold." 
 
 Early next morning the travelling-coach of the princess stood at 
 the door, and Marianne, dressed in a full travelling-costume, pre- 
 pared for immediate departure. She had spent the whole night in 
 arranging her household affairs. Now every thing was done, every 
 thing was arranged and ready, and when about to descend the stair- 
 case, the princess turned around to Madame Camilla, who followed 
 her humbly. 
 
 " Madame, " she said, coldly and cahnly, "you will be kind enough 
 to leave my house this very hour, in order to write your diary some- 
 where else. The French governor of Vienna will assign to you, 
 perhaps, a place with his mouchards ; go, therefore, to him, and 
 never dare again to enter my house. My steward has received in- 
 structions from me ; he will pay you your wages, and see to it that 
 you will leave the house within an hour. Adieu !" 
 
 Without vouchsafing to glance at Madame Camilla, she descended 
 the staircase calmly and haughtily, and entered her carriage, which 
 rolled through the lofty portal of the court-yard with thundering 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 THE FALL OP THE GERMAN EMPHIB. 
 
 The peace of Presburg had been concluded; it had deprived 
 Austria of her best provinces. 
 
 The oflfensive and defensive alliance between Prussia and France 
 had been signed ; it had deprived Prussia of the principalities of 
 Cleves, Berg, and Neufchatel. 
 
 Germany, therefore, had reason enough in the beginning of 1806 
 to mourn and complain, for her princes had been humiliated and 
 disgraced ; her people had to bear with their princes the ignominy 
 of degradation and dependence. 
 
 Germany, however, seemed to be joyful and happy; festivals 
 
THE FALL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 447 
 
 were being celebrated every where-festivals in honor of the Emperor 
 Napoleon and his family, festivals of love and happiness. 
 
 After the victory Napoleon had obtained at Austerlitz over the 
 two emperors, after the conclusion of the treaty of Presburg and the 
 alliance with Prussia, all causes of war with Germany seemed re- 
 moved, and Napoleon laid his sword aside in order to repose on his 
 iaui-els in the bosom of his family, and, instead of founding new 
 states, to bring about marriages between his relations and the scions 
 of German sovereigns— marriages which were to draw closer the 
 links of love and friendship uniting France with Germany, and to 
 make all Germany the obedient son-in-law and vassal of the Em- 
 peror of France. 
 
 In Munich, the wedding-bells which made Napoleon the father- 
 in-law of a German dynasty, were first rung. In Munich, in the 
 beginning of 1806, Eugene Beauharnais, Napoleon's adopted son, 
 was married to the beautiful and noble Princess Amelia of Bavariai 
 daughter of Maximilian, Elector of Bavaria, who, by the grace of 
 Napoleon, had become King of Bavaria, as Eugene, by the same 
 grace, had become Viceroy of Italy. 
 
 All Bavaria was jubilant with delight at the new and most fortu- 
 nate ties uniting the German state with France ; all Bavaria felt 
 honored and happy when the Emperor Napoleon, with his ^^•ife 
 Josephine, came to Munich to take part in the wedding-ceremonies. 
 Festivals followed each other in quick succession in Munich ; only 
 happy faces were to be seen there, only jubilant shouts, laughter, 
 and merry jests were to be heard ; and whenever Napoleon appeared 
 in the streets or showed himself on the balcony of the palace, the 
 people received him with tremendous cheers, and waved their hats 
 at the emperor, regardless of the blood and tears he had wiimg but 
 a few days before from another German state. 
 
 No sooner had the wedding-bells ceased ringing in Munich than 
 they commenced resounding in Carlsruhe; for Napoleon wanted 
 there, too, to become the father-in-law of another German dynasty, 
 and the niece of Josephine, Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais, 
 married the heir of the Elector of Baden, who now, by the grace of 
 Napoleon, became Grand-duke of Baden. 
 
 And to the merry notes of the wedding-bells of Munich and 
 Carlsruhe, were soon added the joyful sound of the bells which 
 announced to Germany the rise of a new sovereign house within her 
 borders, and inaugurated the elevation of the brother-in-law of the 
 Emperor of France to the dignity of a sovereign German prince. 
 Those solemn bells resounded in Cleves and Berg, and did homage to 
 Joachim Murat, who, by the gi'ace of Napoleon, had become Grand- 
 duke of Berg. Prussia and Bavaria had to fm-nish the material for 
 
448 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 this new princely cloak ; Prussia had given the larger portion of it, 
 the Duchy of Cleves, and Bavaria, grateful for so many favors, had 
 added to it the principality of Berg, so that these two German states 
 together formed a nice grand-duchy for the son of the French inn, 
 keeper — for Joachim Murat, for the brother-in-law of the French 
 emperor. 
 
 And when the joyful sounds had died away in Munich, Carls- 
 ruhe, and the new grand-duchy of Berg, they resounded again in 
 Stuttgart, for in that capital the betrothal of Jerome, youngest 
 brother of Napoleon, and of a daughter of the Elector of Wurtem- 
 berg, who now, by the grace of Napoleon, had become King of 
 Wurtemberg, was celebrated. It is true Jerome, the emperor's 
 brother, wore no crown as yet ; it is true this youngest son of the 
 Corsican lawyer had hitherto been nothing but an " imperial prince 
 of Fi'ance, " but his royal father-in-law of Wurtemberg felt convinced 
 that his august brother. Napoleon, would endow the husband of his 
 daughter in a becoming manner, and place some vacant or newly- 
 to-be-created crown on his head. Napoleon, moreover, had just 
 then endowed his elder brother Joseph in such a manner, and made 
 him King of Naples, after solemnly declaring to Europe in a mani- 
 festo, that " the dynasty of Naples had ceased to reign, and that the 
 finest country on earth was to be delivered at length from the yoke 
 of the most perfidious persons. " And in accordance with his word, 
 Napoleon had overthrown the Neapolitan dynasty, expelled King 
 Ferdinand and Queen Caroline from their capital, and placed his 
 brother Joseph on the throne of Naples.* 
 
 Hence, the King of Wurtemberg was not afraid ; he was sure 
 that Napoleon would discover somewhere a falling crown for his 
 brother Jerome, and give to the daughter of the most ancient German 
 dynasty a position worthy of the honor of her house. 
 
 But the joyful bells were not only rung in Germany ; they re- 
 sounded also from the borders of Holland, which now, by the grace 
 of Napoleon, had become a kingdom, and to which, again by the 
 grace of Napoleon, a king had been given, in the person of Louis, 
 another brother of the Emperor of France. They resounded, too, 
 from Italy, where, in this blessed year of 1806, so productive of new 
 crowns, on one day, March 30, 1806, suddenly twelve duchies sprang 
 
 * Napoleon rewarded his generals and ministers, besides, with duchies, which 
 he created for them in Italy, and the rich revenues of which he assigned to them. 
 Thus Marmont became Duke of Eagusa; Mortier, Duke of Treviso; BessiSres, 
 Duke of Istria; Savary, Duke of Eovigo; Lannes, Duke of Montebello; Berna- 
 dotte, Prince of Pontecorvo ; Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento; FouchS, Duke of 
 Otranto; Maret, Duke of Bassano ; Soult, Duke of Dalmatia ; Berthier, Prince of 
 Neufchatel ; Duroc, Duke of Frioul, etc. 
 
THE FALL OF THE (JERMAN EMPIRE. 449 
 
 from the ground and placed as many ducal crowns on the heads of 
 Napoleon's friends and comrades. 
 
 The year of 1806, therefore, was a blessed and happy year ; joy 
 and exultation reigned everywhere, and Napoleon was the author of 
 all this happiness. 
 
 Still there was in the German empire a city which, in spite of 
 all these recent festivals and demonsti-ations of satisfaction, main- 
 tained a grave and gloomy aspect, and apparently took no part what- 
 ever in the universal joy, but lived in its sullen, dull quiet as it had 
 done for centuries. 
 
 This city was Ratisbon, the seat of the German Diet, and now 
 the property and capital of the archchancellor of the German em- 
 pire, Baron Dalberg. 
 
 For centuries Ratisbon had enjoyed the proud honor of having 
 the ambassadors of all the German states meet in its old city-hall, for 
 the purpose of deliberating on the welfare of Germany. From the 
 arched windows of the large session -hall the new laws flitted all 
 over Germany, and what the gentlemen at Ratisbon had decided on, 
 had to be submitted to by the princes and people of Germany. 
 
 And, just as hundreds and hundreds of years ago, they were still 
 in session at Ratisbon — the ambassadors of the emperor, of the 
 kings, electors, dukes, free cities, counts, and barons of the German 
 empire. There met every day in their old hall the states of Austria, 
 Prussia, Bavaria, Hanover, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse -Darmstadt, 
 Mecklenberg, Brunswick, and whatever might be the names of the 
 different members of the great German empire. 
 
 They met, but they did not deliberate any longer ; they merely 
 guessed what might be the fate of Germany, how long they would 
 sit there in gloomy idleness, and when it might please the new pro- 
 tector of Germany, the Emperor of France, to remember them and 
 say to them : " Go home, gentlemen, for your time has expired. 
 The German Diet has ceased to exist, and I will deliver Germany 
 from this burden. " 
 
 But neither the Emperor of France nor the sovereigns of Ger- 
 many seemed to remember that there was a Diet stiU in session at 
 the ancient city-hall of Ratisbon, which formerly had to sanction 
 all treaties of peace, all cessions of tenitory, and all political 
 changes whatever, so that they might be recognized and become 
 valid in the German empire. 
 
 Now, the Emperor of Germany had not even deemed it necessary 
 to submit to the Diet at Ratisbon the treaty of peace concluded with 
 Napoleon at Presberg for ratification, but had contented himself 
 with merely notifying the Diet of its conclusion. In the same 
 manner, and on the same day, the ambassadors of Bavaria and 
 
450 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Wurtemberg had risen from their seats to announce to the Diet that 
 they were now no longer representatives of electors, but of kings — 
 Bavaria and Wurtemberg, -with the consent of the Emperor of 
 France, having assumed the royal title ; and when these two gentle- 
 men had resumed their seats, the ambassador of the Elector of 
 Baden rose for the purpose of declaring that he was representing no 
 longer an electorate, but a grand-duchy — the Elector of Baden, with 
 the consent of the Emperor of France, having assumed the grand- 
 ducal title. 
 
 The Diet had received these announcements silently and without 
 objection ; it had been silent, also, when, a few days later, the 
 French ambassador, M. Bacher, appeared in the session-hall and 
 announced that Murat, as Duke of Cleves, had become a member of 
 the German empire. Every ambassador, however, had asked him- 
 self silently how it happened that the new member of the empire 
 did not hasten to avail himself of his rights, and to send an ambas- 
 sador to take his seat at the Diet of Ratisbon. 
 
 The Diet, as we have stated already, received all these announce- 
 ments in silence, and what good would it have done to it to speak? 
 Who still respected its voice? Who still bowed to its name?" 
 
 Only for appearance sake, only for the purpose of conversing 
 with each other in a low tone about their own misfortunes, their 
 weakness and impotence, did the ambassadors of the German princes 
 and cities meet still, and instead of giving laws to Germany, as 
 formerly, they only communicated to each other their suppositions 
 concerning the fate that might be in store for Germany and the 
 German Diet at Ratisbon. 
 
 The gentlemen were assembled again to-day in the large session- 
 hall, and all the German states, which elsewhere were bitterly quar- 
 relling with each other, were sitting peaceably around the large 
 green-table and chatting about the events that had taken place in 
 the German empire, and might occur in the near future. 
 
 " Have you read the new 'pamphlets which are creating so great 
 a sensation at the present time?" said Prussia to Saxony, who was 
 seated by her side. 
 
 " No, I never read any pamphlets, " replied Saxony. 
 
 "It is worth while, however, to read these pamphlets," said 
 Prussia, smiling ; " for they treat of an absurd idea in a most elo- 
 quent and enthusiastic manner. Just think of it, they advocate in 
 dead earnest the idea of placing the German empire, now that the 
 power of Austria has been paralyzed, under the protection of Bavaria, 
 and of appointing the new King of Bavaria chief of Germany. " 
 
 "The idea is not so bad, after all, " said Saxony, smiling; "the 
 Bavarian dynasty is one of the most ancient in Germany, and its 
 
THE FALL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 451 
 
 power is greater than ever, inasmuch as it may boast of the friend- 
 ship and favor of the Emperor of Fi-ance. The Emperor Napoleon 
 would, perhaps, raise no objections in case the King of Bavaria 
 should be elected Emperor of Germany." 
 
 "Oh, no, " whispered Brunswick, Saxony's neighbor on the left; 
 "I received late and authentic news yesterday. The Emperor 
 Napoleon intends completely to restore the German empire of the 
 middle ages, and will himself assume the imperial crown of 
 Germany. " * 
 
 "What," exclaimed Hesse, who had overheard the words, "the 
 Emperor Napoleon wants to make himself Emperor of Germany?" 
 
 And Hesse had spoken so loudly in her surprise that the whole 
 Diet had heard her words, and every one repeated them in great 
 astonishment, while every face assumed a grave and solemn air. 
 
 "Yes, you may believe that such is the case, " said Bavaria, in 
 an audible tone ; " important changes are in store for us, and I know 
 from the best source that Minister Talleyrand said the other day, 
 quite loudly and positively, ' That the fate of the German empire 
 would be decided on toward the end of this month. '" f 
 
 "And to-day is already the 33d of May," said Oldenburg, mus- 
 ingly ; " we may look, therefore, every hour for a decision. " 
 
 "Yes, we may do so, " exclaimed Wiirzburg ; " I know for certain 
 that they are already engaged in Paris in drawing up a new consti- 
 tution for Germany. " 
 
 " It might be good, perhaps, " said her neighbor, " if we should 
 also commence to draw up a new constitution for Germany, and 
 then send it to Minister Talleyrand, because we are certainly more 
 familiar with the customs and requirements of the German empire 
 than the statesmen of France. We ought to consult with the arch- 
 chancellor, Baron Dalberg, about this matter. But where is the 
 ax'chchancellor ; where is Dalberg?" 
 
 " Yes, it is true, the archchancellor has not yet made his appear- 
 ance, " exclaimed Oldenburg, wonderingly. "Where can he be? 
 Where is Dalberg?" 
 
 And the question was whispered from mouth to mouth, " Where 
 is Dalberg?" 
 
 Formerly, in the glorious old times of the German empire, it 
 had been the German emperor who, at the commencement of the 
 sessions of the Diet, had always asked in a loud voice, "Is there no 
 Dalberg?" And at his question, the Dalbergs had come forward 
 and placed themselves around the emperor's throne, always ready 
 to undertake great things and to carry out bold adventures. 
 ♦Hausser's "History of Germany," vol. li., p. 731. 
 tibid., p. 723. 
 
453 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Now, it was not the emperor who called for his Dalberg, but the 
 Diet that whispered his name. 
 
 And it seemed as if the man who had been called for, had heard 
 these whispers, for the large doors of the old session-hall opened, 
 and the archohancellor of the empire, Baron Dalberg, entered. 
 
 Clad in his full official costume, he stepped into the hall and ap- 
 proached his seat at the green table. But instead of sitting down 
 on the high-backed, carved arm-chair, he remained standing, and 
 his eyes glided greetingly past aU those grave and gloomy faces 
 which were fixed on him. 
 
 " I beg the august Diet to permit me to lay a communication be- 
 fore it, " said the archohancellor of the empire, with a bow to the 
 assembly. 
 
 The grave faces of the ambassadors nodded assent, and Dalberg 
 continued, in a loud and solemn voice : " I have to inform the Diet 
 that, as I am growing old and feel a sensible decline of my strength, 
 I have deemed it indispensable for the welfare of Germany and my- 
 self to choose already a successor and coadjutor. Having long 
 looked around among the noble and 'Worthy men who surround me 
 in so great numbers, I have at length made my selection and come 
 to such a decision as is justified by the present state of affairs. The 
 successor whom I have selected is a worthy and high-minded man, 
 whose ancestors have greatly distinguished themselves in the fif- 
 teenth and sixteenth centuries in the service of the German empire. 
 It is the Archbishop and Cardinal Fesch, uncle of the Emperor of 
 France." 
 
 A long and painful pause ensued ; the members of the Diet looked, 
 as if stupefied with terror and astonishment, at this man who, him- 
 self a German prince, dared to inform the German Diet that he had 
 invited a foreigner to share with him the high dignity of a first 
 German elector and of inheriting it after his death. 
 
 Dalberg read, perhaps, in the gloomy mien of the gentlemen the 
 thoughts whicli they dared not utter, for he hastened to communi- 
 cate to the Diet the motives which had influenced him in making 
 the above-named selection. He told them he had acted thus, not in 
 his own interest, but in order to maintain the menaced constitution 
 of the German empire, and to place it under Napoleon's powerful 
 protection. He then informed them joyfully that the Emperor of 
 the French had already approved of the appointment of his uncle, 
 Cardinal Fesch, and promised, moreover, that he would devote his 
 personal attention to the regeneration of the German empire and 
 always afford it protection. 
 
 The members of the Diet had moodily listened to him ; their air 
 
THE FALL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 453 
 
 had become more and more dissatisfied and gloomy ; and when the 
 elector paused, not a single voice was heard to propose the vote of 
 thanks which Dalberg, on concluding his remarks, had asked for, 
 but only a profound, ominous stillness followed his speech. 
 
 This, however, was the only official demonstration which the 
 German Diet ventured to make against the appointment of Cardinal 
 Fesch, and their silence did not prevent the consummation of this 
 unparalleled measure. A foreigner, not even familiar with the 
 German language, now became coadjutor of the archchancellor of 
 the German empire— a foreigner became the first member of the 
 German electoral college— a foreigner was to have the seals of the 
 empire in his hands, keep the laws of Germany in his archives, and 
 preside at the election of the emperors and at the sessions of the Diet 1 
 And this foreigner was the uncle of the Emperor of the French, of 
 the conqueror of the world. But the German Diet was silent and 
 suffered on. 
 
 The horizon of Germany became more and more clouded ; the 
 Diet continued its sessions quietly, calmly, and inaudibly in the old 
 city-hall at Ratisboa 
 
 It was reported everywhere that the Emperor of France was 
 about to give a new constitution to the German empire, and that the 
 Emperor of Germany had pledged himself in the treaty of Presburg 
 not to oppose the plans of Napoleon in relation to Germany. 
 
 The Diet paid no attention to these rumors ; it remained in ses- 
 sion, and did not interrupt its silence. It remained in session while 
 the secondary German princes, whose ambassadors were assembled 
 in Ratisbon, hastened in person to Paris, in order to appear there as 
 humble supplicants in the anterooms of the emperor and Talleyrand, 
 and to win the favor of Napoleon and his minister. This favor, 
 they hoped, would gain for them crowns and states, render them 
 powerful and influential, and give them a brilliant position. For 
 Talleyrand had secretly whispered into the ears of all of them : 
 "Those who oppose the emperor's plans, and refuse to accept his 
 protection, will be mediatized!"* Every one of these secondary 
 German princes hoped, therefore, that the others would be media- 
 tised, and that he would receive the possessions of his neighbors. 
 
 Every one, therefore, was most jealous in protesting his entire 
 submission to the emperor's will, and in trying to gain as much as 
 possible by flattery, bribery, and humble supplication. It seemed 
 as though in Paris, in the anterooms of the emperor and his minister 
 Talleyrand, a market-booth had been opened, in which dice were 
 * Mediatized position of the small German states, when their princes were 
 under an emperor 1 
 
454 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 being thrown for German states and German crowns, or where they 
 were sold at auction to the highest bidder ! * 
 
 The Diet heard only rumors, vague rumors, about these proceed- 
 ings, and remained quietly in session. It met every day and waited. 
 
 And at length, on the 1st of August, 1806, the large doors of the 
 hall, in which the ambassadors of the German empire were assem- 
 bled, opened, and the minister of the French emperor appeared in 
 their midst, and approached in solemn earnest the green table, on 
 which hitherto Germany alone had had the right to depose her notes 
 and declarations, and on which hitherto the German Diet alone had 
 written laws for Germany. 
 
 But Bacher, the French minister, came to force a new law upon 
 the German Diet — the law of the French emperor. 
 
 The representative of the French emperor addressed the German 
 Diet in a solemn tone, and as the vast session-hall echoed the loud, 
 imperious voice of the foreigner, it seemed as if he called up from 
 their graves the ghosts of past centuries, and as if they then placed 
 themselves like a protecting gray cloud before the menaced Diet. 
 
 "The German constitution," said the minister of France — "the 
 German constitution is now but a shadow ; the Diet has ceased to 
 have a will of its own. Hence his majesty, the Emperor of France 
 and Italy, is not obliged to recognize the existence of this German 
 constitution any longer ; a new confederation of German princes will 
 be formed under his protection, and his majesty will assume the 
 title of Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. In order to 
 maintain peace, he declared formerly that he would never extend 
 the boundaries of France beyond the Rhine, and he has faithfully 
 kept his word. " \ 
 
 And after Bacher had uttered these words, sixteen members of 
 the Diet, twelve princes, and four electors, rose from their seats. 
 The first of the German electors, the archchancellor of the empire, 
 Charles Theodore von Dalberg, was their speaker, and he explained 
 to the Diet, in the name of his fifteen colleagues, their intentions 
 and views. 
 
 * Enormous bribes were paid by the German princes to win tlie favor of tlie 
 prominent functionaries of the French empire, in order to be saved by their in- 
 fluence from being mediatized^ and to obtain as valuable additions to their terri- 
 tories as possible. Diplomatic gifts were not even secretly distributed, but the 
 business was carried on as publicly as if the persons concerned in it had been on 
 'change. Everybody knew that the Prince of Salm-Kyrburg had bought of one of 
 the French ministers two hundred thousand bottles of champagne at an enormous 
 rate ; that LabesnardiSre, Talleyrand's first secretary, had received half a million 
 of francs from Hesse Darmstadt ; and that the Duke of Mecklenburg had promised 
 him one hundred and twenty thousand Fredericks d'ors if he should retain his 
 sovereignty.— Vide Montgaillard, "Histoirede France," vol. x., p. 115. 
 
 t "M6moires d'un Homme d'fitat," vol. ix., p. 160. 
 
 / 
 
THE FALL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 455 
 
 "Tlie last three wars have demonstrated," he exclaimed, "that 
 the German empire is rotten and virtually destroyed; hence we 
 Gei-man princes of the south and west of Germany will sever our 
 connection with a constitution which has ceased to exist, and place 
 ourselves under the protection of the Emperor of the French, who is 
 anxious to secure the welfare and prosperity of Germany. We have 
 formed a confederation among ourselves, and the Emperor of the 
 Fi-ench will be the head and protector of this league, which will be 
 called the Confederation of the Rhine. Solemnly and forever do 
 we, princes of the German Confederation of the Rhine, renounce 
 the German empire and the German Diet, acknowledging none but 
 the Emperor of the French as our head and protector. " 
 
 "Yes, we renounce the German empire and the Gei-man Diet," 
 exclaimed the sixteen princes, in one breath. " We renounce them 
 now and forever !" 
 
 And they noisily pushed aside the high-backed arm-chairs, on 
 which the representatives of their states had sat for centuries, and 
 left the session-hall in a solemn procession, headed by the arch- 
 chancellor of the empire. * 
 
 The remaining members of the Diet gazed on them in profound 
 silence, and when the door closed behind the disappearing princes 
 of the Confederation of the Rhine, it seemed as though strange 
 sounds and whisperings filled the old hall, and as though low sighs 
 and lamentations resounded from the walls where the portraits of 
 the emperors were hanging. 
 
 The remaining members of the Diet were filled with awe ; the 
 sixteen vacant chairs struck terror into their souls ; they rose silently 
 from their seats and left the hall with hasty steps. 
 
 But on the following day the German Diet met again. It wanted 
 to consult and deliberate as to what ought to be done in relation to 
 the desertion of sixteen of its members. 
 
 And it consulted and deliberated for six days without coming to 
 any decision. But on the sixth day a stop was put to the debates. 
 
 On the 6th of August a special envoy of the Emperor of Germany 
 appeared at the city-hall of Ratisbon while the Diet was in session. 
 
 He approached the green table and saluted the small remnant of 
 the great assembly, and producing a large letter bearing the em- 
 peror's privy seal, said in a loud and solemn voice : " In the name 
 of the emperor !" 
 
 And the members of the Diet rose from their seats to listen rever- 
 
 * The members of the Confederation of the Rhine were Bavaria, Wm-temberg, 
 
 Baden, the archchancellor with his territory. Berg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nasaau- 
 
 Weilburg, Nassau-Usingen, HohenzollemHechingen, Hohenzollem-Sigmaringen, 
 
 Salm-Salm, Salm-Kyrberg, Isenbm-g, Aremberg, Lichtenstein, and Von der Leyen. 
 
 30 
 
456 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 entially to the imperial message which his majesty had addressed 
 to the German Diet in an autograph letter. He had commissioned 
 his envoy to read the letter to the Diet, and the minister read as 
 follows : 
 
 " Feeling convinced that it is impossible for us to exercise our 
 imperial rights any longer, we deem it our duty to renounce a crown 
 which was of value to us only so long as we enjoyed the confidence 
 of the electors, princes, noblemen, and states of the German empire, 
 and so long as we were able to fulfil the duties they imposed upon 
 us. Hence we are obliged to declare by these presents in the most 
 solemn manner, that, considering the ties which united us with the 
 German empire as broken by the Confederation of the Ehine, we 
 hereby give up the imperial crown of Germany ; at the same time 
 we release by these presents the electors, princes, and states, as well 
 as the members of the supreme court and other magistrates from 
 the duties which they owed to us as legal head of the German em- 
 pire. Given imder our own hand and seal. Francis the Second, 
 Emperor of Austria, and ruler of the hereditary states of Austria. " * 
 
 A long and awful silence greeted the reading of this letter, which 
 put an end to the ancient German empire after an existence of one 
 thousand and six years, from Charlemagne, crowned in 800, to 
 Francis II. , dispossessed in 1806. 
 
 The members of the German Diet then rose from their seats; 
 they were as silent and shy as night-owls startled from their dark 
 hiding-places by a stray sunbeam. They left the old session-hall at 
 Eatisbon in gloomy silence, and when the door closed behind them, 
 the German Diet had been buried, and the lid on its coflfin had been 
 closed. 
 
 The last night-owls of the deceased German empire hurried in 
 mournful silence from the session-haU at Eatisbon, where the old 
 portraits henceforth watched alone over the grave of the German 
 empire. 
 
 When they stepped out into the market-place, a carriage just 
 rolled past the city-hall, and the gentleman seated in it leaned 
 smilingly out of the coach-door, and saluted kindly and affably the 
 pale, grave, and sad men who came from the city-hall. 
 
 This gentleman was Count Clement Metternich, who was going 
 to Paris as special envoy of the Emperor of Austria for the purpose 
 of offering to the Emperor of France on his birthday the congratu- 
 lations of the Emperor of Austria. \ 
 
 On the 6th of August the German empire had died and was 
 buried ! 
 
 * "Mfimoires d'lin Homme d'fitat," toI. ix., p. 16a 
 t Ibid., p. 163. 
 
THE FALL OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 457 
 
 On the 15th of August the Emperor of the French celehrated his 
 birthday ; and the princes of the Confederation of the Rhine, the 
 Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, and all the sovereigns 
 who had been members of the late German empire, celebrated the 
 great day in the most solemn manner. 
 
 Napoleon had a new victory — a victory which laid the whole of 
 Germany at his feet. He had bm-ied the German empire, but stood 
 on the grave of the august corpse as its lord and master. 
 
THE BATTLE OF JENA. 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 A GERMAN BOOKSELLER AND MARTYR. 
 
 It was long after nightfall ; in the narrow, gloomy streets of the 
 ancient free city of Nuremberg all noise had long since died away, 
 and all the windows of the high houses with the gable-ends were 
 dark. Only on the ground-floor of the large house in the rear of St. 
 Sebald's church a lonely candle was burning, and the watchman, 
 who was just walking past with his long horn and iron pike, looked 
 inquisitively into the window, the shutters of which were not en- 
 tirely closed. 
 
 "H'm!" he said to himself in a low voice, "the poor woman is 
 kneeling and weeping and praying ; I am sure it is for her husband. 
 In her grief she did not notice, perhaps, that it is already midnight. 
 I will remind her of it, so that she may go to bed. " 
 
 He placed himself on the street in front of the house, blew his 
 horn noisily, and then sang in a ringing voice : 
 
 "Hiirt, Ihr Herren, und lasst eucli sagen. 
 Die Glock hat zwolf geschlagen; 
 Ein Jeder bewahr sein Feuer und Licht, 
 Dass dieser Stadt kein Harm geschicM I" * 
 
 " So, now she knows it, " muttered the watchman ; " now she will 
 go to bed. " 
 
 And he sauntered down the long and tortuous street, to repeat 
 his song on the next corner. 
 
 He had really accomplished his purpose ; his song had interrupted 
 the prayer of the young wife, and she had risen from her knees. 
 
 " Midnight already !" she murmured, in a low voice. " Another 
 day of anguish is over, and a new one is beginning. Oh, would to 
 God I could sleep, always sleep, so as to be at least imconscious of 
 the dangers that are menacing him ! Oh, my God, my God ! protect 
 my poor, beloved husband, preserve the father of my children ! And 
 
 * The ancient song of the German watchman. — "Listen, gentlemen, and let me 
 tell you : the clock has struck twelve ; every one must take care of his fire and 
 light, that no harm may befall this city 1" 
 
A GERMAN BOOKSELLER AND MARTYR. 459 
 
 now I will go to bed, " she added, after a pause. " God will have 
 mercy on me, perhaps, and grant me a few hours of rest !" 
 
 She took the brass candlestick, on which a taper was burning, 
 and went slowly and with bowed head to the adjoining room. 
 When she had entered it, her face became calmer and more joyful, 
 and a gentle smile lighted up her charming features when she now 
 approached the small bed, in which her two little girls lay arm-in- 
 arm, sweetly slumbering with rosy cheeks and half -opened crimson 
 lips. 
 
 " God preserve to you your peace and innocence, " whispered the 
 young mother, after contemplating her children long and tenderly. 
 "God, I fondly trust, will cause this cloud to glide past without 
 your hearing the thunder roll, and being shattered by the lightning. 
 Good-night, my children !" 
 
 She nodded smilingly to the slumbering girls, and then glided 
 noiselessly to her couch. She commenced undressing slowly and 
 sighing, but when she was just about to open the silver buckle of 
 her sash, she paused and looked anxiously toward the window. 
 
 It seemed to her as though she had heard a soft rapping at this 
 window, which opened upon the garden in the rear of the house, 
 and as though a low voice has uttered her name. 
 
 Sure enough, the sound was repeated, and she now heard the 
 voice say quite distinctly : " Open the window, Anna. " 
 
 She rushed toward the window and opened it, pale, breathless, 
 and almost out of her wits. 
 
 "Is it you, Palm?" she cried. 
 
 " It is I, " said a low, male voice ; and now an arm became visi- 
 ble, it encircled the crosswork of the window ; in the next second 
 the whole form of a gentleman appeared, and vaulted cautiously 
 into the room. 
 
 "God be praised, I am with you again !" he said, drawing a deep 
 breath ; " it seems to me as if all danger were past when I am again 
 in our quiet house with you and the children. " 
 
 " No, my beloved husband, it is just here that dangers are threat- 
 ening you, " said the young wife, sinking into the open arms of her 
 husband, and reposing her head on his breast. " My God, why did 
 you return ?" 
 
 " Because I was afraid when I was far from you, while I feel 
 here with you courageous enough to brave the whole world, " said 
 her husband, almost cheerfully, imprinting a glowing kiss on the 
 forehead of his young wife. " Believe me, Anna, a husband always 
 lacks the right kind of courage when he believes his wife and chil- 
 dren to be in danger. For six days I have been separated from you ; 
 weU, in these six days, which I have spent in perfect security at 
 
460 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Erlangen, I have not passed a minute without feeling the painful 
 palpitation of my heart, nor have I slept a minute. I always 
 thought of and trembled for you. " 
 
 " But we are in no danger, while you are, my beloved, '' said the 
 young wife, sighing. " Our house is closely watched, you may de- 
 pend upon it. I have seen French gens-d'armes hidden behind the 
 pillars of the church, and staring for hours at our street-door. Oh, 
 if they knew that you were here, they would arrest you this very 
 night !" 
 
 " They would not dare to aiTest me !" exclaimed Palm, loudly. 
 " We do not yet belong to France, although the Emperor of France 
 has assumed the right of giving the ancient free city of Nuremberg 
 to Bavaria, as though she were nothing but a toy got up in our fac- 
 tories. We are still Germans, and no French gens-d'armes have 
 any right to penetrate into our German houses. But look, the chil- 
 dren are moving ; little Sophy is opening her eyes. What a barba- 
 rian I am to speak so loudly, and not even to respect the slumber of 
 our little ones !" 
 
 He hastened to the small bed, and bending over it, nodded smil- 
 ingly a greeting to the little girl, who was staring at him, still half 
 asleep. The child whispered, in a low voice : " Dear, dear father !" 
 and fell quietly asleep again. 
 
 "Come, Anna," whispered Palm, " let us go to your room, in order 
 not to disturb the children. " 
 
 "But the spying eyes of our enemies might see you there," said 
 his wife, anxiously. "No, let us stay here, even though we should 
 awaken the little girls. They will not cry, but be happy to see their 
 beloved father, and what we are speaking to each other they cannot 
 understand. Come, let us sit down here on the small sofa, and 
 permit me to place the screen before it ; then I am sure nobody will 
 be able to see you. " 
 
 She conducted Palm to the small sofa in the corner of the room, 
 and placed the screen as noiselessly as possible before it. 
 
 "So," she said, nestling in his arms, "now we are here as if in a 
 little cell, where only God's eye can find us. So long as we are in 
 this cell I shall not be afraid. " 
 
 " I believe it is unnecessary for you to be afraid at all, " said Palm, 
 smiling. " We carry our apprehensions to too great a length, you 
 may depend upon it, and because we see M. Bonaparte putting whole 
 states into his pocket, we believe it would be easy for him likewise 
 to put a respectable citizen and bookseller of Nuremberg into it. 
 But, be it spoken between us, that is rather a haughty idea, and M. 
 Bonaparte has to attend to other things than to take notice of a 
 bookseller and his publications. Remember, my child, that he has 
 
A GERMAN BOOKSELLER AND MARTYR. 461 
 
 just got up the Confederation of the Rhine, and, moreover, is said 
 to be preparing for a war with Prussia. How should he, therefore, 
 have time to think of a poor bookseller?" 
 
 " Do you think, when the lion is going to meet his adversary and 
 to struggle with him, he will leave the wasp which he has met on 
 his way, and which has stung him in the ear, unpunished, because 
 he has more important things to attend to?" 
 
 "But I did not sting him at all," said Palm, smiling. "Lotus 
 calmly consider the whole afifair, dearest Anna, and you will see 
 that I have in reality nothing to fear, and that only the accursed 
 teiTor which this M. Bonaparte has struck into the souls of all Ger- 
 mans has caused us this whole alarm. A few months ago I received 
 by mail, from a person unknown to me, a large package of books, 
 enclosing a letter, in which the stranger requested me to send the 
 copies of the pamphlet contained in the package immediately to all 
 German booksellers, and to give it as wide a circulation as possible. 
 The letter contained also a draft for one thousand florins, drawn by 
 a banker of Vienna, Baron Franke, on a wealthy banking-house of 
 our city. This sum of one thousand florins, said the letter, was to 
 be a compensation for my ti-ouble and for the zeal with which, the 
 writer stated, he felt convinced I would attend to the circulation of 
 the pamphlet. " 
 
 "But the veiy mystery connected with the whole transaction 
 ought to have aroused your suspicion, my beloved. " 
 
 " Why ! Are not we Germans now under the unfortunate neces- 
 sity of keeping secret our most sublime thoughts and our most sacred 
 sentiments ? And ought not, therefore, every one of us to take pains 
 to honor and protect this secrecy, instead of suspecting it?" 
 
 "But the very title of this pamphlet was dangerous, 'Germany in 
 her Deepest Degradation. ' You might have guessed whom this 
 accusation was aimed at. " 
 
 "At Germany, I thought, at our infamy and cowardice, at the 
 pei-fldy of our princes, at the torpid, passive indifference of our 
 people. It is high time that Germany, which is now tottering about 
 like a somnambulist, should be aroused by a manful word from her 
 slumber, so as to take heart again and draw the sword. The title 
 told me that the pamphlet contained such words ; hence, I was not 
 at liberty to keep it out of circulation. It would have been a rob- 
 bery peipetrated upon Germany, a theft perpetrated upon him who 
 sent me the money, and to whom I could not return it, because I 
 was not aware of his name. " 
 
 " You ought to have thought of your wife and your children, " 
 murmured Anna, sighing. 
 
 " 1 thought of you, " he said, tenderly ; " hence, I did not read the 
 
462 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 pamphlet, in order not to be shaken in what I thought my duty. 
 First, I had to fulfil my duty as a citizen and man of honor ; then 
 only I was at liberty to think of you and my personal safety. I 
 sent, therefore, in the first place, a certain number of copies of the 
 pamphlet to M. Stage, the bookseller, and requested him to circulate 
 them as speedily as possible among his customers. " 
 
 "And, God knows, he has done so," sighed Anna, "and, like 
 you, he was not deterred by the title. " 
 
 " He did his duty, like myself, and sent the pamphlets to lovers 
 of books. In this manner it reached a preacher in the country, and 
 unfortunately there were two French officers at his house; they 
 understood German, read the pamphlet, and informed their colonel 
 of its character. The latter paid a visit to the preacher, and learned 
 from him that M. Stage, the bookseller of Augsburg, had sent him 
 the pamphlet. The colonel thereupon repaired to Augsburg and saw 
 M. Stage." 
 
 " And Stage was cowardly and perfidious enough to betray your 
 name and to denounce you as being the bookseller who had sent him 
 the pamphlet, " exclaimed Anna, her eyes flashing with indignation. 
 "Your friend, your colleague betrayed you !" 
 
 " I had not requested him not to mention my name, " said Palm, 
 gravely ; " he had a right to name it, and I do not reproach him 
 with doing so. I was informed that the French minister in Munich 
 had bittei'ly complained of me and demanded that I should be pun- 
 ished ; and as we are Bavarians now, I hastened to Munich in order 
 to defend myself. " 
 
 "And while you were there, four strangers came hither, "Anna 
 interrupted him. " They asked for the pamphlet, penetrated in the 
 most outrageous manner, in spite of my remonstrances, into your 
 store, searched it, and left only when they had satisfied themselves 
 that not a copy of the unfortunate pamphlet was there. " 
 
 " You wrote this to me while I was in Munich, and at the same 
 time I heard that Stage had been arrested in Augsburg. Impelled 
 by my first terror, I fled from the capital and hastened to Erlangen, 
 which is situated on Prussian soil, and where neither the Bavarian 
 police nor the French gens-d' armes could lay hands on me. But in 
 Erlangen I reflected on the matter, and I confess to you I was 
 ashamed of having fled, instead of confronting an examination 
 openly and freely. My love, my yearning attracted me toward you ; 
 I, therefore, took carriage last night and rode home to my beloved 
 wife and to my children. This is a plain statement of the whole 
 afl'air, and now tell me what should I be afraid of?" 
 
 " You may fear the worst, '' exclaimed Anna, sadly ; " for our 
 French tyrants will not shrink from any thing. " 
 
A GERMAN BOOKSELLER AND MARTYR. 463 
 
 "But fortunately we do not live yet under the French sceptre,'' 
 repiled Palm, vividly ; " we are Germans, and only German laws 
 are valid for us. " 
 
 " No, " said Anna, mournfully, " we are not Germans, but Bava- 
 rians, that is to say, the allies, the humble vassals of France. Not 
 the King of Bavaria, but the Emperor of France, is ruling over us. " 
 
 " Well, even were it so, I could not see what crime I should be 
 charged with. I neither wrote nor published this pamphlet; I 
 merely circulated it, and cannot, therefore, be held responsible for 
 its contents. Possibly, they may arrest me as they have arrested 
 Stage, and may intend thereby to compel me to mention the name of 
 him who sent me the pamphlet, as Stage mentioned my own name. 
 Fortunately, however, I am able to prove that I know neither the 
 author nor the publisher ; for I have got the best proof, of it, viz. , 
 the letter which I received with the package. I shall lay this letter 
 before the court, and the judges will then perceive that I am entirely 
 innocent. What will remain for them but to caution me not to 
 circulate henceforth books sent to me anonymously, and then to 
 release me?" 
 
 "But if they should not release you, my beloved husband?" asked 
 his wife, anxiously clasping him in her arms ; " if in their rage 
 at being imable to lay their hands on the real criminal, they 
 should wreak their vengeance on you for having circulated the 
 pamphlet first of all, and punish you as though you were its author?" 
 
 " Oh, you go too far, " exclaimed Palm, laughing ; " your imagina- 
 tion calls up before you horrors which belong to the realm of fable. 
 We still live in a well-regulated state, and however great the influ- 
 ence of France may be, German laws are still valid here ; and as we 
 live in a state of peace, I can be judged only in accordance with 
 them. Fear not, therefore, dearest wife. The worst that can be- 
 fall me will be a separation for a few days, at the most for a few 
 weeks, if our authorities should really carry their fawning submis- 
 sion to Bonaparte to such a length as to call a German citizen to 
 account for having, in his business as a bookseller, circulated a 
 pamphlet— understand me well, a German pamphlet, destined only 
 for Germany, and which does not flatter, perhaps, the Emperor of 
 the French quite as much as is being done by our German princes 
 and our German governments. " 
 
 " Oh, my God, my God, " wailed Anna, in a low voice, " the pam- 
 phlet is directly aimed at Napoleon, then?" 
 
 "Yes, at him who has placed his heels on the neck of Germany 
 and trampled her in the dust," exclaimed Palm. "This pamphlet, 
 called 'Germany in her Deepest Degradation, ' must have been writ- 
 ten against him alone. Oh, during the days of my sojourn in 
 
464 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Erlangen, I have read this pamphlet, and whatever may befall me, 
 1 am glad it was I who circulated it, for a noble German spirit per- 
 vades the whole of it, and it is truth that raises the scourge in it to 
 lash the guilty parties. It is a vigorous and glowing description of 
 the condition to which all the German states have been reduced by 
 Bonaparte's arbitrary proceedings. Just listen to this one passage, 
 and then you may judge whether the pamphlet tells the truth or 
 not." 
 
 He drew a few printed leaves from his side-pocket, and unfolded 
 them. 
 
 "You have got a copy of the dreadful pamphlet with you?" asked 
 Anna, in dismay. "Oh, how imprudent ! If they should come now 
 to arrest you, they would obtain a new proof of your guilt. I im- 
 plore you, my friend, my beloved, if you love me, if your children 
 are dear to you, be cautious and prudent ! Bum those terrible 
 leaves, so that they may not testify against you. Remember that I 
 should die of grief if your life should be threatened ; remember that 
 our poor children then would be helpless orphans. " 
 
 " Oh, my poor, timid roe, " said Palm, deeply moved, encircling 
 his weeping young wife with his arms. " How your faithful, inno- 
 cent heart is fluttering, as if the cruel hunter were already aiming 
 his murderous arm at us, and as if we were irretrievably doomed ! 
 Calm yourself, dearest, I pledge you my word that I will comply 
 with your wishes. We will burn the pamphlet ; but previously you 
 shall learn, at least, the spirit in which this pamphlet, for which 
 your poor husband will have to suffer, perhaps, a few days' impris- 
 onment, is written. Just listen to me ! The author is speaking here 
 of Bavaria, and of the oppressions to which she is a prey since we 
 have concluded an alliance with France. He says : ' Since that time 
 the Bavarian states have become the winter quarters, and been 
 treated in a manner imheard of since the Thirty Years' War. At 
 that time the Austrians, under Tilly and Wallenstein, were pursuing 
 precisely the same course now followed by the French, and if their 
 emperor draws no other lessons from that war, he has closely copied, 
 at least, the system of obtaining supplies for an army which was 
 then in use. Trustworthy men have assured us that the French 
 ruler, when in Munich the most urgent remonstrances concerning 
 the oppressions under which the people of Bavaria were groaning 
 were made to him, replied in cold blood : " My soldiers have not 
 done so. These are times of war — let me alone, and do not disturb 
 my plans. " Already in December last the treaty of Presburg was 
 signed, and from that moment Austria had the prospect of getting 
 rid of her enemies. Had Bavaria not an equal right to enjoy the 
 advantages of this treaty? These advantages could be none other 
 
A GERMAN BOOKSELLER AND MARTYR. 465 
 
 than that the French army left the Bavarian territories and relieved 
 the people from further oppressions. But just the reverse took place. 
 The French withdrew from the states of the German emperor to oc- 
 cupy Bavaria, and celebrate here, by the ruin of all the inhabitants, 
 their victories in orgies and carousals continued for many months. 
 If I refer to the ruin of the inhabitants, the words should be taken 
 in their literal meaning, and not as an expression merely chosen to 
 depict the misery the French have brought upon Bavaria. It is not 
 yet five yeare since a hostile army of the same nation lorded it over 
 that country. And nobody will venture to assert that the wounds 
 then inflicted upon the inhabitants should have been healed in so 
 short a time. Tlae farmer, deprived of hia animals, had scarcely 
 commenced to provide himself again with horses and cattle, when 
 the passage of the French, in every respect equal to an invasion, 
 took from him again this important portion of his personal property. 
 Fraud, cunning, and force were alternately resorted to for this pur- 
 pose. Tears and the most humble supplications were rejected with 
 sneers, and even blows. The French called themselves "preservers 
 of Bavaria." Forsooth a preservation similar to the fate of the 
 patient whom one doctor would have sooner sent into the grave, and 
 who is dying more slowly under the hands of another. If friend- 
 ship ever was a mockery, it was so on this occasion. But it is part 
 of Napoleon's plans to exhaust Germany to such an extent as to ren- 
 der her incapable of becoming dangerous for him even in the most 
 remote future. He selected several highly effective expedients for 
 this purpose. Dynasties, the ancestors of which date back to the 
 most remote ages, and one of which long since produced emperors 
 and kings, were united with Bonaparte's family by the closest ties 
 of blood, and th\is the ruler of France has already become the rela- 
 tive of the courts of Baden, Bavaria, Sweden, and Russia. Not 
 content with this, he offered royal crowns to Bavaria and Wurtem- 
 berg, and the German emperor had to assent to this measure in the 
 treaty of Presburg. Thus Germany has got two new kingdoms, 
 and—'"* 
 
 " Oh, I implore you, do not read any further, " exclaimed Anna, 
 suddenly interrupting her husband. " It frightens me to hear you 
 repeat those threatening and angry words ; they fall upon my heart 
 like a terrible accusation against youl Believe me, my beloved, if 
 that proud and ambitious Emperor Napoleon should hear of this ter- 
 rible pamphlet— if its contents should be communicated to him, you 
 would be lost: for, having no one else on whom to wreak his 
 vengeance, he would revenge himself on you !" 
 
 " But he will not have me either, " said Palm, smiling, " for I 
 * From the celebrated pamphlet, "Germany in her Deepest Degradation." 
 
466 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 shall take good care not to set foot on French territory ; I shall not 
 leave Nuremberg, and thank God, that is German territory. " 
 
 " But the French frontier is close to us, for wherever there are 
 French troops there is France. Napoleon's arm reaches far beyond 
 her frontiers, and if he vrants to seize you he will do so in spite of 
 all boundary-posts, German laws, and your own citizenship. " 
 
 " There is really something so convincing in your fears that it 
 might almost infect me!" said Palm, musingly. "It would have 
 been better, perhaps, after all, for me not to have come back, but to 
 remain in Prussian Erlangen !" 
 
 " Return thither, " exclaimed Anna, imploringly ; " I beseech you 
 by our love, by our children, and by our happiness, return to 
 Erlangen !" 
 
 " To-morrow, dearest Anna !" said Palm, smiling, clasping his 
 young wife in his arms — " to-morrow it will be time enough to think 
 of another separation. Now let me take a few hours' rest, and 
 enjoy the unutterable happiness of being at home again ! — at home 
 with my wife and with my dear little ones !" 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 THE AKKEST. 
 
 On the following morning the rumor spread all over Nuremberg, 
 that Palm, the bookseller, had returned and was concealed in his 
 house. The cook had stated this in the strictest confidence to some 
 of her friends when she had appeared on the market-place to pur- 
 chase some vegetables. The friends had communicated the news, 
 of course, likewise in the strictest confidence, to other persons, and 
 thus the whole city became very soon aware of the secret. 
 
 The friends of the family now hastened to go to Mrs. Palm for 
 the purpose of ascertaining from herself whether the information 
 were true. Anna denied it, however ; she asserted she had received 
 this very morning a letter written by her husband at Erlangen ; but 
 when one of the more importunate friends requested her to commu- 
 nicate the contents of the letter to him, or let him see it at least, she 
 became embarrassed and made an evasive reply. 
 
 " He is here !" whispered the friends to each other, when they 
 left Mrs. Anna Palm. " He is here, but conceals himself so that the 
 French spies who have been sneaking around here for the last few 
 days may not discover his whereabouts. It is prudent for him to do 
 so, and we will not betray him, but faithfully keep his secret. '' 
 
 But a secret of which a whole city is aware, and which is being 
 
THE ARREST. 467 
 
 talked of by all the gossips in town, is difficult to keep, and it is 
 useless to make any effort for the pui-pose of preventing it from 
 being betrayed to the enemy. 
 
 Palm did not suspect any thing whatever of what was going on. 
 He deemed himself entirely safe in his wife's peaceful, silent room, 
 tlie windows of which, opening upon the garden, were inaccessible 
 to spying eyes, while its only door led to the large store where his 
 two clerks were attending to the business of the firm and waiting on 
 the customers who ordered or purchased books of them. 
 
 Anna had just left the room to consult with her servants about 
 the affairs of the household and kitchen ; and Palm, who was com- 
 fortably stretched out on the sofa, was engaged in reading. The 
 anxiety which had rendered him so restless during the previous days 
 had left him again ; he felt perfectly reassured, and smiled at his 
 own fear which had flitted past him like a threatening cloud. 
 
 All at once he was startled from his comfortable repose by a loud 
 conversation in the store, and rose from the divan in order to hear 
 what was the matter. 
 
 " I tell you I am unable to assist you, " be heard his book-keeper 
 say. " I am poor myself, and Mr. Palm is not at home. " 
 
 " Mr. Palm is at home, and I implore you let me see him, " said a 
 strange, supplicating voice. " He has a generous heart and if I tell 
 him of my distress he will pity me and lend me his assistance. " 
 
 " Come back in a few days, then, " exclaimed the book-keeper ; 
 " Mr. Palm will then be back, perhaps, from his journey. " 
 
 "In a few days!" ejaculated the strange voice — "in a few days 
 my wife and child will be starved to death, for unless I am able to 
 procure relief within this hour, my cruel creditor will have me taken 
 to the debtors' prison, and I shall be unable then to assist my sick 
 wife and baby. Oh, have mercy on my distress ! Let me see Mr. 
 Palm, that I may implore his assistance !" 
 
 " Mr. Palm is not at home as I told you already, " exclaimed the 
 book-keeper in an angry Voice. " How am I to let you see him, 
 then? Come back in a few days— that is the only advice I can give 
 you. Go now, and do not disturb me any longer !" 
 
 " No, people shall never say that I turned a despairing man away 
 from my door, " muttered Palm, rapidly crossing the room and open- 
 ing the door of the store. 
 
 " Stay, poor man, " he said to the beggar, who had already turned 
 around and was about to leave the store — " stay. " 
 
 The beggar turned around, and, on perceiving Palm, who stood 
 on the threshold of the door, uttered a joyful cry. 
 
 " Do you see, " he said, triumphantly to the book-keeper—" do you 
 eee that I was right? Mr. Palm is at home, and will help me. " 
 
468 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " I will help you if I can, " said Palm, kindly. " What does your 
 debt amount to?" 
 
 "Ah, Mr. Palm, I owe my landlord a quarter's rent, amounting 
 to twenty florins. But if you should be so generous as to give me 
 half that sum, it would be enough, for the landlord has promised to 
 wait three months, provided I paid him now ten florins. " 
 
 " You shall have the ten florins, " said Palm. " Mr. Bertram, pay 
 this man ten florins, and charge them to me. " 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Palm, how kind you are !" exclaimed the beggar, joy- 
 fully. " How shall I ever be able to thank you for what you have 
 done for me to-day?" 
 
 " Thank me by being industrious and making timely provision 
 for your wife and child, in order not to be again reduced to such 
 distress, " said Palm, nodding kindly to the stranger, and returning 
 to the adjoining room. 
 
 With the ten florins which the book-keeper had paid to him, the 
 beggar hastened into the street. No sooner had he left the threshold 
 of Palm's house than the melancholy and despairing air disappeared 
 from his face, which now assumed a scornful and malicious mien. 
 With hasty steps he hurried over to St. Sebald's church, to the pillar 
 yonder, behind which two men, wrapped in their cloaks, were to 
 be seen. 
 
 " Mr. Palm is at home, " said the beggar, grinning. " Go into the 
 store, cross it and enter the adjoining sitting-room — there you will 
 find him. I have spied it out for you, and now give me my 
 pay. " 
 
 " First we must know whether you have told us the truth, " said 
 one of the men. " It may be all false. '' 
 
 " But I tell you I have seen him with my own eyes, " replied the 
 beggar. " I stood in the store, and cried and lamented in the most 
 heart-rending manner, and protested solemnly that my wife and 
 baby would be starved to death, unless Mr. Palm should assist me. 
 The book-keeper refused my application, but then I cried only the 
 louder, so as to be heard by Mr. Palm. And he did hear me ; he 
 came out of his hiding-place and gave me the ten florins I asked him 
 for. Here they are. " 
 
 " Well, if you have got ten florins, that is abundant pay for your 
 treachery," said the two men. "It is Judas-money. To betray 
 your benefactor, who has just made you a generous present; for- 
 sooth, only a German could do that. " 
 
 They turned their backs contemptuously on the beggar, and 
 walked across the street toward Palm's house. 
 
 There was nobody in the hall, and the two men entered the store 
 without being hindered. Without replying to the book-keeper and 
 
THE AREEST. 4:69 
 
 second clerk, who came to meet them for the purpose of receiving 
 their orders, they put off their cloaks. 
 
 "Flench ge^is-d'armes," muttered the book-keeper, turning pale, 
 and he advanced a few steps toward the door of the sitting-room. 
 One of the gens-d'amies kept him back. 
 
 "Both of you will stay here," he said, imperiously, "we are 
 going to enter that room. Utter the faintest sound, the slightest 
 warning, and we shall aiTCst both of you. Be silent, therefore, and 
 let us do our duty. " 
 
 The two clerks dared not stir, and saw with silent dismay that 
 the two genns-d' armes approached the door of the sitting-room and 
 hastily opened it. 
 
 Then they heard a few imperious words, followed by a loud cry 
 of despair. 
 
 " Oh, the poor woman !" muttered the book-keeper, with quiver- 
 ing lips, but without moving from the spot. 
 
 The door of the sitting-room, which the gens-d'armes had closed, 
 opened again, and the two policemen stepped into the store ; they 
 led Pahn into it. Each of them had seized one of his arms. 
 
 Palm looked pale, and his brow was clouded, but nevertheless he 
 walked forward like a man who is determined not to be crushed by 
 his misfortunes, but to bear them as manfully as possible. 
 
 When he arrived in the middle of the store, near the table where 
 his two clerks were standing, he stopped. 
 
 "Then you will not give me half an hour's time to arrange my 
 business affairs with my book-keeper, and to give him my orders?" 
 he asked the policemen, who wanted to drag him forward. 
 
 "No, not a minute," they said. "We have received stringent 
 orders to take you at once to the general, and if you should refuse 
 to follow us willingly, to iron you and remove you forcibly. " 
 
 " You see I ofifer no resistance whatever, " said Pahn, contemptu- 
 ously. "Let us go. Bertram, pray look after my wife— she has 
 fainted. Remember me to her and to my children. Farewell !" 
 
 The two young men made no reply; their tears choked their 
 voices. But when Palm had disappeared, they rushed into the sit- 
 ting-room to assist the unhappy young wife. 
 
 She was lying on the floor, pale, rigid, and resembling a lily 
 broken by the storm. Her eyes were half opened and dim ; the 
 long braids of her beautiful light-colored hair, which she had just 
 been engaged in arranging when the gens-d'armes entered, fell down 
 disheveUed and like curling snakes on her face and shoulders, from 
 which the small, transparent, gauze handkerchief had been removed. 
 Her features, always so lovely and gentle, bore now an expression 
 of anger and horror, which they had assumed when she fainted on 
 
470 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 hearing the French policemen tell her husband that they had come 
 to arrest him, and that he must follow them. 
 
 They succeeded only after long efforts in bringing her back to 
 consciousness. But she was not restored to life by the salts which 
 her servant-girl rubbed on her forehead, nor by the imploring words 
 of the book-keeper, but by the scalding tears of her little girls which 
 melted and warmed her frozen blood again. 
 
 She raised herself with a deep sigh, and her wild, frightened 
 glances wandered about the room, and fixed themselves searchingly 
 on every form which she beheld in it. When she had satisfied her- 
 self that lie was not among them, he whom her glances had sought 
 for so anxiously, she clasped her children with a loud cry of horror 
 in her arms and pressing them convulsively against her bosom, 
 sobbed piteously. 
 
 But she did not long give way to her grief and despair. She 
 dried her tears hastily and rose. 
 
 "It is no time now for weeping and lamenting, " she said, draw- 
 ing a deep breath ; " I shall have time enough for that afterward, 
 now I must act and see whether I cannot assist him. Do you know 
 whither they have taken him?" 
 
 " To the headquarters of Colomb, the French general, who is sta- 
 tioned in this city, " said the book-keeper. 
 
 "I shall go to the general, and he will have to tell me at least if I 
 cannot see my husband in his prison, " she said, resolutely. " Quick, 
 Kate, assist me in dressing ; arrange my hair, for you see my hands 
 are trembling violently ; they are weaker than my heart. " 
 
 She rose to go to her dressing-room. But her feet refused to serve 
 her ; she turned dizzy, and sank down overcome by a fresh swoon. 
 
 It was only after hours of the most violent efforts that the poor 
 young wife succeeded in recovering from the physical prostration 
 caused by her sudden fright, and in becoming again able to act reso- 
 lutely and energetically. Then, as bold and courageous as an angry 
 lioness, she was determined to struggle with the whole world for 
 the beloved husband who had been torn from her. 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 A WIFE'S LOVE. 
 
 Anna went in the first place to General Colomb, and begged him 
 to grant her an interview. 
 
 About four hours had passed since Palm's arrest when the general 
 received her. 
 
A WIFE'S LOVE. 471 
 
 " Madame, " he said, " I know why you have come to me ; you are 
 ^looking for your husband, but he is no longer here at my head- 
 quarters. " 
 
 " No longer here ?" she ejaculated in terror. « You have sent him 
 to France? You intend to kill him, then?" 
 
 "The law will judge him, madame," said the general, sternly. 
 "I have myself examined him and requested him to give us the 
 name of the author of this infamous libel which Mr. Palm has 
 brought into general circulation. Had he done so, he would no 
 longer be held responsible, and would have been at liberty to return 
 to his house and to you. But he refused firmly to state the names 
 of tlie author and printer of the pamphlet. " 
 
 "He does not know either!" exclaimed Anna; "oh, believe me, 
 sir, Palm is innocent. That pamphlet was sent to him, together 
 with an anonymous letter. '' 
 
 " He ought to have taken care, then, not to circulate it, " replied 
 the general. " It is contrary to law to circulate a printed book, the 
 author and printer of which are unknown to him who circulates it. " 
 " No, general, it is not contrary to the laws of the German free 
 city of Nuremberg. By an order of the Emperor of France, Nurem- 
 berg has been given to Bavaria, but the laws and privileges of our 
 more liberal constitution were guaranteed to our ancient free city. 
 Hence, Pahn has done nothing conti'ary to law. " 
 
 " We judge according to our laws, " said the general, shrugging 
 his shoulders ; " wherever we are there is France, and wherever we 
 are insulted we hold him who insults us responsible for it, and pun- 
 ish him according to our laws. Your husband has committed a 
 great crime ; he has circulated a pamphlet reviling Fi-ance and tlie 
 Emperor of the French in the most outrageous manner. He refused 
 to mention the author of this pamphlet ; so long as he persists in his 
 refusal, we take him for tlie author, and shall punish him accord- 
 ingly. As he declined confessing any thing to me, I have surren- 
 dered him to my superiors. Mr. Palm left Nm-emberg two hours 
 ago for Anspach, where Marshal Bernadotte is going to judge him. " 
 " Then I shall go to Anspach, to Marshal Bernadotte, " said Anna ; 
 and without deigning to cast another glance at the general, she 
 turned around and left the room. 
 
 She intended to set out this very hour, but her endeavors to find 
 a conveyance to take her to Anspach proved unavailiag. All the 
 horses of the postmaster had been retained for the suite and baggage- 
 wagons of Marshal Berthier, who was about setting out for Munich, 
 and the proprietors of the livery-staljles, owing to the approaching 
 darkness and insecurity of the roads, refused to let her have any 
 of their carriages. 
 31 
 
472 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Anna had to wait, therefore, until morning, and improved the 
 long hours of the night in drawing up a petition, which she intended 
 to send to Marshal Bernadotte, in case he should refuse to grant her 
 an interview. 
 
 Early next morning she at length started, but the roads were 
 sandy and bad; the horses were lazy and weak, and she reached 
 Anspach only late at night. 
 
 She had again to wait during a long, dreary night. No one 
 could or would reply to her anxious inquiries whether Palm was 
 really there, or whether he had been again sent to some other place. 
 
 Trembling with inward fear and dismay, but firmly determined 
 to dare every thing, and leave nothing untried that might lead to 
 Palm's preservation, Anna repaired in the morning to the residence 
 of Marshal Bernadotte. 
 
 The marshal's adjutant received her, and asked her what she 
 wanted. 
 
 "I must see the marshal himself, for I shall read in his mien 
 whether he will pardon or annihilate my husband, " said Anna. "I 
 beseech you, sir, have mercy on the grief of a wife, ti-embling for 
 the father of her children. Induce the marshal to grant me an 
 auidence. " 
 
 " I will see what can be done, " said the adjutant, touched by the 
 despair depicted on the pale face of the poor lady. Bui he returned 
 in a few minutes after he had left her. 
 
 "Madame," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "I am sorry, but 
 your wish cannot be fulfilled. The marshal will have nothing what- 
 ever to do with this affair, and declines interfering in it. For this 
 reason, too, he did not admit Mr. Palm, who yesterday, like you, 
 applied for an interview with the marshal, and I had to receive him 
 in the place of the marshal, as I have now the honor to receive you. " 
 
 " Oh, you have seen my husband ?" asked Anna, almost joyfully. 
 "You have spoken to him?" 
 
 ,"I have told him in the name of the marshal what I am now tell- 
 ing you, madame. Th 3 marshal is unable to do any thing whatever for 
 your husband. The order for his arrest came directly from Paris, 
 from the emperor's cabinet, and the marshal, therefore, has not the 
 power to revoke it and to prevent the law from taking its course. 
 Moreover, Mr. Palm is no longer in Anspach, as he was sent to 
 another place last night. '' 
 
 "Whither? Oh, sir, you will have mercy on me, and teU me 
 whither my unfortunate husband has been sent. " 
 
 "Madame," said the adjutant, timidly looking around as if he 
 were afraid of being overheard by an eavesdropper, " he has been 
 sent to Braunau. " 
 
A WIFE'S LOVE. 473 
 
 Anna uttered a ciy of horror. "To Braunau 1" she said, breath- 
 lessly. " To Braunau, that is to say, out of the country. You do 
 not wish to try a citizen and subject of Bavaria, for a crime which 
 he is said to have committed in his own country, according to the laws 
 of Bavaria, but according to those of a foreign and hostile state? 
 My husband has been sent to Austria !" 
 
 "Pai-donme, madame," said the adjutant, smiling, "the city of 
 Bi-aunau does not yet again belong to Austria ; up to the present 
 hour it is stiU French ten-itory, for we took and occupied it during 
 the war and have not yet given it back to Austria ; hence, Mr. Palm 
 will be tried in Braunau according to the laws of France." 
 
 " Oh, then he is lost, " exclaimed Anna, in despair ; " there is no 
 more hope for him. " 
 
 " If he be guilty, madame, he has deserved punishment ; if he be 
 innocent, no harm can befall him, for the laws of France are impar- 
 tial and just. " 
 
 "Oh, sir," said Anna, almost haughtily, "there are things which 
 may seem deserving of punishment, nay, criminal, according to the 
 laws of your country, but which, according to the laws of a German 
 state, would not deserve any punishment, but, on the contrary, 
 praise and acknowledgment. " 
 
 " If what Mr. Palm has done is an offence of this description, I 
 am sorry for him," said the adjutant, shrugging his shoulders. 
 " But, " he added, in a lower voice, " I will give you some good ad- 
 vice. Hasten to the French ambassador at Munich. If he should 
 decline granting you an audience, send him a petition, stating the 
 case of your husband truthfully and with full details, and asking 
 for his intercession. " 
 
 " And if he should not reply to my petition ; if he should refuse 
 to intercede for me?" 
 
 " Then a last remedy will remain to you. In that case, apply to 
 Marshal Berthier, who is now also at Munich. He has great power 
 over the emperor, and will alone be able to help you. But lose 'no 
 time." 
 
 "I shall set out this very hour, sir, and I thank you for your ad- 
 vice and sympathy. I see very well that you oannot do any thing 
 for me, but you have granted me your compassion, and 1 thank you 
 for it. Farewell, sir. " 
 
 An hour later, Anna was on the road to Munich. After an ex- 
 hausting journey of four days— for, at that time there were no turn- 
 pikes, much less railroads, in Bavaria— she reached Munich, where 
 she stopped at a hotel. 
 
 She was utterly unacquainted in that capital ; she had no friends, 
 no protectors, no recommendations, and, as a matter of course, all 
 
474 LOUISA OF PEaSSIA. 
 
 doors were closed against her, and nobody would listen to her. No- 
 body felt pity for the poor, despairing lady ; nobody would listen to 
 her complaints, for her complaints were at the same time charged 
 against the all-powerful man who now held his hand stretched out 
 over Bavaria, and was able to crush her whenever he chose to do so. 
 
 Anna, therefore, met with no encouragement at the hands of the 
 German authorities, who even refused to hear a statement of her 
 application. She went to all the ministers, to all those on whom, 
 according to their official position, it would have been incumbent 
 to intercede for her. She even ventured to enter the royal palace, 
 and stood for hours in the anteroom, always hoping that her sup- 
 plications would be heeded, and that some door would be opened to 
 her. 
 
 But all doors were closed against her, even that of the French 
 ambassador. She had vainly applied to him for an audience ; when 
 her request had been refused, she had delivered to his attacM a peti- 
 tion which an attorney had drawn up for her, and in which all the 
 points for and against Palm were lucidly stated. For a week she 
 waited for a reply ; for a week she went every morning to the resi- 
 dence of the French ambassador and asked in the same gentle and 
 imploring voice, whether there was any reply for her, and whether 
 no answer had been returned to her application? 
 
 On the eighth day she was informed that no reply would be made 
 to her petition, and that the French ambassador was unable to do 
 any thing for her. 
 
 Anna did not weep and complain ; she received this information 
 with the gentle calmness of a martyr, and prayed instead of burst- 
 ing into lamentations. She prayed to God that He might grant her 
 strength not to despair, not to succumb to the stunning blow ; she 
 prayed to God that He might impart vigor to her body, so that it 
 might not prevent her from doing her duty, and from seeking for 
 further assistance for her beloved husband. 
 
 Strengthened and inwardly relieved by this prayer, Anna now 
 repaired to the residence of Marshal Berthier ; her step, however, 
 was slower, a deep blush mantled her cheeks, which had hithero 
 been so pale, and h* hands were no longer icy cold, but hot and red. 
 
 She did not apply for an audience on reaching the marshal's resi 
 dence, for she already knew that such an application would meet 
 with a refusal ; she only took thither another copy of the petition 
 which she had delivered to the French ambassador, and begged 
 urgently for an early reply. 
 
 Her supplications were this time not destined to be unsuccessful, 
 and she received a reply on the third day. 
 
 But this reply was even more terrible than if none whatever had 
 
A WIFE'S LOVE. 475 
 
 been made. Marshal Berthier sent word to her by his adjutant 
 that Palm had been placed before a court-martial at Braunau, and 
 that no intercession and prayers would be of any avail, the decision 
 being exclusively left with the court-martial. 
 
 A single, piercing cry escaped from Anna's breast when she re- 
 ceived this information. Then she became again calm and com- 
 posed. Without uttering another complaint, another prayer, she 
 left the marshal's residence and returned to her hotel. 
 
 With perfect equanimity and coolness, she requested the waiter 
 to bring her the bill and get her a carriage, so that she might set 
 out at once. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later, the landlady herself appeared to present to 
 Madame Palm the bill she had called for. She found Anna sitting 
 quietly at the window, her hands folded on her lap, her head lean- 
 ing on the high back of the chair, and her dilated eyes staring va- 
 cantly at the sky. Her small travelling-trunk stood ready and locked 
 in the middle of the room. 
 
 The landlady handed her the paper silently, and then turned 
 aside in order not to show the tears which, at the sight of the pale, 
 gentle young wife, had filled her eyes. 
 
 Anna rose and quietly placed the money on the table. " I thank 
 you, madame, for all the attention and kindness I have met with at 
 yom- house, " she said. " It only seems to me that my bill is much 
 too moderate. You must have omitted many items, for it is impos- 
 sible that I should not have used up any more than that during my 
 prolonged sojourn in Munich. " 
 
 "Madame," said the landlady, deeply moved, "I should be happy 
 if you permitted me to take no money at all from you, but I know 
 that that would oflfend you, and for that reason I brought you my 
 bill. If you allow me to follow the promptings of my heart, I 
 should say, grant me the honor of having afforded hospitality to so 
 noble, brave, and faithful a lady, and, if you should consent, I 
 should be courageous enough to utter a request which I dare not 
 make now, because you would deem it egotistic. " 
 
 "Oh, tell me what it is," said Anna, mildly; "for the last two 
 weeks I have begged so much, and my requests were so often refused, 
 that it would truly gratify me to hear from others a request which 
 I might be able to fulfil. " 
 
 "Well, then, madame," said the landlady, taking Anna's hand 
 and kissing it respectfully, " I request you to stay here and not to 
 depart. Afford me the pleasure of keeping you here in my house, 
 of taking care and nursing you as a mother would nurse her daugh- 
 ter. I am old enough to be your mother, and you, my poor, beloved 
 child, you need nursing, for you are sick. " 
 
476 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 " I feel no pain — I am not sick, " said Anna, with a smile which 
 was more heart-rending than loud lamentations. 
 
 " You are sick, " replied the landlady ; " your hands are burning 
 with fever, and the roses blooming on your cheeks are not natural, 
 but symptoms of your inward suflerings. During your whole 
 sojourn in my house you have scarcely touched the food that was 
 placed before you ; frequently you have not gone to bed at night, 
 and, instead of sleeping, restlessly paced your room. A fever is 
 now raging in your delicate body, and if you do not take care of 
 yourself, and use medicine, your body will succumb. " 
 
 " No, it will not succumb, " said Anna ; " my heart will sustain 
 it." 
 
 "But your heart, too, will break, if you do not take care of your- 
 self, " exclaimed the landlady, compassionately. " Stay here, I be- 
 seech you, do not depart. Stay as a guest at my house !" 
 
 Anna placed her burning hand on the shoulder of the landlady, 
 and looked at her long and tenderly. 
 
 "You were married?" she asked. "You loved your husband?" 
 
 "Yes," said the landlady, bursting into tears, "I was married, 
 and God knows that I loved my husband. For twenty years we lived 
 happy and peacefully together, and when he died last year, my 
 whole happiness died with him. " 
 
 "He was sick, I suppose, and you nursed him?" 
 
 " He was sick for a month, and I did not leave his bedside either 
 by day or by night. " 
 
 "Well, then, what would you have replied to him who would 
 have tried to keep you back from your husband's death-bed, and to 
 persuade you to leave him in his agony, because it might have in- 
 jured your health? Would you have listened to him?" 
 
 " No, I should have believed him, who had made such a proposi- 
 tion to me, to be my enemy, and should have replied to him : 'It is 
 my sacred right to stand at my husband's death-bed, to kiss the last 
 sigh from his lips, to close his eyes, and no one in the world shall 
 prevent me from doing so !'" 
 
 " Well, then, dear mother, I say as you have said : it is my sacred 
 right to stand at my husband's death-bed and to close his eyes. My 
 husband's death-bed is in Braunau ; I am not so happy as you have 
 been ; I cannot nurse him, nor be with him and comfort him in his 
 agony ; but I am able, at least, to see him in his last hour. My 
 mother, will you still ask your daughter to stay here and take care 
 of her health, instead of going to her husband's death-bed in 
 Braunau?" 
 
 " No, my daughter, " exclaimed the landlady, " no ; I say to you, 
 go ! Take not a minute's rest until you reach your husband. God 
 
THE WOMEN OF BRATJNAU. 477 
 
 will guide and protect you, for He is love, and has mercy on those 
 whose heart are filled with love ! Go, then, with God ; but, for the 
 sake of your husband, take some nourishing food ; try to eat and 
 sleep, so as to gain fresh strength, for you will need it. " 
 
 "Give me some nourishing food, mother, I will eat," said Anna, 
 placing her arms tenderly around the landlady's neck; "I will try- 
 also to-night to sleep, for you are right: I shall need my whole 
 sti-ength ! But after I have eaten, I may set out at once, may I not?" 
 
 " Yes, my poor, dear child, then you may set out. Now come to 
 my room— your meal is already waiting for you. " 
 
 Half an hour later the landlady herself lifted Anna into the car- 
 riage, and said to her in a voice trembling with tearful emotion : 
 "Farewell, my daughter. God bless you and grant you strength. 
 When alone one day, and in need of a mother, then come to me ! 
 May the Lord have mercy on you !" 
 
 "Yes, may the Lord have mercy on me, and let me die with 
 him !" whispered Anna, as the carriage rolled away with her. 
 
 At noon on the following day, August 26th, 1806, she arrived at 
 Braunau. 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 THE WOMEN OF BRAUNAU. 
 
 In the mean time Palm had constantly been in the French prison 
 at Braunau. During the sixteen days since he had been in jail, he 
 had only twice been taken out of it to be examined by the court- 
 martial, which General St. Hilaire had specially convoked for his 
 trial. 
 
 This court-martial consisted of Fi-ench generals and staff-oiHcers ; 
 it met at a time of peace in a German city, and declared its compe- 
 tence to try a German citizen who had committed no other crime 
 than to circulate a pamphlet, in which the misfortunes of Germany, 
 and the oppressions of German states by Napoleon and his armies, 
 had been commented upon. 
 
 The whole proceedings had been carried on so hastily and secretly, 
 that the German authorities of Braunau had scarcely heard of them 
 at the time when the French court-martial was already about to 
 sentence the prisoner. 
 
 The French, however, wanted to maintain some semblance of 
 impartiality ; and before Palm was called before the court-martial, 
 it was left to him either to defend himself in person against the 
 charges, or to provide himself with counsel. 
 
 Palm, who was ignorant of the French language, had preferred 
 
478 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 the latter, and selected as his counsel a resident lawyer of Braunau, 
 with whom he was well acquainted, and even on terms of intimacy, 
 and whom he knew to be familiar with the French language. 
 
 But this friend declined being a " friend in need. " He excused 
 himself on the pretext of a serious Indisposition which confined him 
 to his bed, and rendered it impossible for him to make a speech. 
 
 Palm was informed of this excuse only at the moment when he 
 entered the room in which the trial was to be held ; hence he had to 
 make up his mind to conduct his own defence, and to have his 
 words translated by an interpreter to the members of the court. 
 
 And he felt convinced that his defence had been successful, and 
 satisfied the men who had assumed to be his judges, of his entire 
 innocence. 
 
 He had, therefore, no doubt of his speedy release ; he was looking 
 every day for the announcement that his innocence had been proved, 
 and that he should be restored to liberty and to his family. This 
 confident hope caused him to bear his solitary confinement with 
 joyful courage, and to look, in this time of privations and pain, 
 fondly for the golden days to come, when he would repose again, 
 after all his trouble and toil, in the arms of love, gently guarded by 
 the tender eyes of his affectionate young wife, and his heart glad- 
 dened by the sight of his sweet children. 
 
 From dreams so joyous and soul-stirring he was awakened on the 
 morning of the 26th of August by the appearance of the jailer and 
 of several soldiers who came to summon him before the court-mar- 
 tial which would communicate his sentence to him. 
 
 " God be praised !" exclaimed Palm, enthusiastically. " My sen- 
 tence, that is to say, my release. Come, let us go ; for, you see, it 
 is hot and oppressive in my cell, and I long for God's fresh air, of 
 which I have been deprived so long. Let us go, then, that I may 
 receive the sentence which I have so ardently yearned for. " 
 
 And with a kind smile he offered his hand to the jailer who stood 
 at the door with a gloomy, sullen air. " Do not look so gloomy, 
 Balthasar, " he said. " You always used to be so merry a companion 
 and have often agreeably enlivened the long and dreary hours of my 
 confinement by your entertaining conversation. Accept my thanks 
 for your kindness and clemency ; you might have tormented me a 
 great deal, and you have not done so, but have always been accom- 
 modating and compassionate. I thank you for it, Balthasar, and 
 beg you to accept this as a souvenir from me. " 
 
 He drew a golden breastpin richly set with precious stones from 
 his cravat, and offered it to the jailer. 
 
 But Balthasar did not take it ; on the contrary, he averted his 
 head sullenly and gloomily. 
 
THE WOMEN OF BRAUNAU. 479 
 
 "I am not allowed to accept any presents from the prisoners," he 
 muttered. 
 
 "Well, then, I shall come and see you as soon as I am free, and 
 from the free man, I suppose, you will accept a small souvenir?" 
 asked Palm, kindly. 
 
 The jailer made no reply to this question, but exclaimed, impa- 
 tiently : "Make haste, it is high time !" 
 
 Palm laughed, and, nodding a farewell to the jailer, left the 
 prison in the midst of the soldiers. 
 
 " Poor man, he suspects nothing, " murmured the jailer to him- 
 self, and his features now became mild and gentle, and his eyes 
 were filled with tears. " Poor man, he believes they wiU^set him at 
 liberty- ! Yes, they will do so, but it is not the sort of liberty he is 
 looking and hoping for !" 
 
 Palm followed the soldiers gayly and courageously to the 
 room where the members of the court-martial were assembled 
 seated on high-backed arm-chairs which had been placed in a 
 semicircle on one side of the room, awaiting the arrival of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 He greeted them with an unclouded brow and frank and open 
 bearing ; not a tinge of fear and nervousness was to be seen in his 
 features ; he fixed his large and lustrous eyes on the lips of General 
 St. Hilaire who presided over the court-martial and now rose from 
 his seat. The secretary of the court immediately approached the 
 general and handed him a paper. 
 
 The general took it, and, bending a stern glance on Palm, said : 
 " The court-martial has agreed to-day unanimously on your sentence. 
 I will now communicate it to you. " 
 
 The other officers rose from their seats to listen standing to the 
 reading of the sentence. It is true, their faces were grave, and for 
 the first time Palm was seized with a sinister foreboding, and asked 
 himself whether his judges would assume so grave and solemn an 
 air if they were merely to announce to him that he was innocent 
 and consequently free. 
 
 A small pause ensued. The general then raised his voice, and 
 read in a loud and ringing tone : " Whereas at all places where there 
 is an army it is the first and most imperious duty of its chief to 
 watch over its safety and preservation ; 
 
 "Whereas the circulation of writings instigating sedition and 
 murder does not only threaten the safety of the army, but also that 
 of the nation generally ; 
 
 " Whereas nothing is more urgent and necessary than the preven- 
 tion of the propagation of such doctrines which are a crime against 
 the rights of man and against the respect due to crowned heads— an 
 
480 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 insult to the people submissive to their government — and, in short, 
 subversive of law, order, and subordination : 
 
 " The military commission here assembled declares unanimously 
 that all authors and printers of libellous books of the above-named 
 description, as well as booksellers and other persons engaged in cir 
 culating them, shall be deemed guilty of high-treason. 
 
 " In consideration whereof the defendant, John Frederick Palm, 
 convicted of having circulated the pamphlet, 'Germany in her 
 Deepest Degradation, ' has been charged with the crime of high- 
 treason, and the commission has unanimously found him guilty of 
 the charge. 
 
 " The penalty incurred by the traitor is death. 
 
 " Consequently the traitor, John Frederick Palm, will suffer death, 
 which sentence will be carried out this afternoon at two o'clock, 
 when he will be shot. " * 
 
 " John Frederick Palm, " added the general, " you have heard your 
 sentence, prepare for death !" 
 
 The interpreter repeated to the unhappy prisoner the sentence of 
 the court-martial slowly, impressively, and emphasizing every 
 word ; and every syllable fell like a cold tear on Palm's heart and 
 froze it. It was, however, not only cold with terror and dismay, 
 but also with determination and calmness. 
 
 Before these strangers, with their cold, indifferent faces, he re- 
 solved at once not to betray any weakness. He did not want to 
 afford his assassins the pleasure of seeing him tremble. 
 
 His bearing, therefore, only manifested firm determination and 
 grave calmness. He cast a single flaming glance, full of proud 
 disdain, on his jiidges. 
 
 " Very well, " he said, loudly and firmly, " I shall die ; I shall go 
 to God and accuse yen before his throne, — you who trample on all 
 state and international laws, and have not judged, but murdered me. 
 My blood be on your heads !" 
 
 "Prisoner," said General St. Hilaire, quietly, "if you desire 
 any thing before your death, mention it now, and if able to comply 
 with it, we shall gi'ant it. " 
 
 " I have but one desire, " said Palm, and now his voice trembled a 
 little, and a shadow passed across his forehead. " I only wish that 
 my wife may be permitted to spend these last hours with me, and to 
 take leave of me !" 
 
 " Your wife ?" asked the general. " Is your wife here, then ? And 
 if she be here, who has dared to advise you of it?" 
 
 "Nobody has advised me of it," replied Palm, "nor do I know 
 whether she is here or not, but I believe it. Moreover, it would be 
 * "M6moires d'un Homme d'fita.t," vol. ix., p. 247. 
 
THE WOMEN OF BRAUNAU. 481 
 
 but natural that she should have followed me hither. Permit me, 
 then, to see her when she comes. " 
 
 " Your request is granted. Return to your prison. A preacher 
 will be sent to you to prepare you for death. Soldiers, remand the 
 prisoner. '' 
 
 Palm saluted the gentlemen with a haughty nod, and slowly and 
 solemnly raised his hand toward heaven. "I simimon you to ap- 
 pear before the awful tribunal of God Almighty !" he said, in a loud 
 and ringing voice. " Here you have assumed to judge me; there God 
 will judge you ! " 
 
 He turned around and left the room at the head of the soldiers. 
 
 " It only remains for us now to inform the municipal authorities 
 of this city of what has to be done, " said the general, after a short 
 pause. " They must be present at the execution, for this act of jus- 
 tice shall not take place under the veil of secrecy, but openly under 
 the eyes of God and men. Let the authorities, let the %\ hole city 
 witness how France punishes and judges those who, in their ti-aitor- 
 ous impudence, have offended against her honor and glory !" 
 
 He adjourned the court, and returned to his rooms to repose from 
 so exhausting a session, and to prepare, by partaking of an epicurean 
 repast, for the unpleasant duty that awaited him, viz. , to be present 
 at an execution. 
 
 The general was just sipping a glass of malmsey with infinite 
 relish, and eating a piece of the excellent pdte de foie gras which 
 had been ordered from Strasburg, when a strange and long-continued 
 noise on the street suddenly disturbed him in his epicurean enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 He placed his glass angrily on the table, and turned his eyes and 
 ears toward the windows opening on the market-place. The noise 
 continued all the time ; it soimded singular and extraordinary, as 
 though immense swarms of bees were filling the air with their 
 humming. 
 
 The general rose and hastened to the window. 
 
 A strange spectacle, indeed, presented itself to his eyes. The 
 whole market-place was crowded with people, not with threatening, 
 violent men, rushing forward with clinched fists and flashing eyes, 
 but with persons whose eyes were filled with tears, and who raised 
 their arms in an Imploring manner. 
 
 They were women and children, who had marched in solemn 
 procession to the market-place, and now entirely filled it. The news 
 that the court-martial had agreed on a sentence, and that Palm was 
 to be shot by virtue of it this afternoon at two o'clock in the large 
 ditch of the fortress, had spread like wildfire through the whole city 
 of Braunau. 
 
482 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The citizens had received the news with intense rage and silent 
 horror ; the authorities and members of the municipality had re- 
 ceived orders to repair at the stated hour in their official robes to the 
 place of execution for the purpose of witnessing the dreadful scene. 
 
 Too weak to offer any resistance, and well aware that they could 
 not count on the assistance of their own German superiors, they had 
 to submit to the order. Bowing to the stem law of necessity, they 
 declared, therefore, their readiness to comply with the behests of 
 the French general, and to appear at the place of execution. 
 
 But while all the men were giving way to cowardly fear ; while 
 they timidly swallowed their rage and humiliation, the women 
 arose in the genuine and bold enthusiasm of their grief and compas- 
 sion. They could not threaten, nor arm their hand with the sword, 
 like men, but they could beseech and supplicate, and in the place of 
 weapons in their hands they had tears in their eyes. 
 
 " If you will not go to demand justice for a German citizen, I 
 shall do so, " said the wife of the burgomaster of Braunau to her hus- 
 band. "You have to watch over the welfare of the city, but I shall 
 save its honor. I will not permit this day to become an eternal dis- 
 grace to Braunau, and history to speak one day of the slavish fear 
 with which we humbly submitted to the will of the French tyrant. 
 You men refuse to intercede with the general for Palm ; well, then, 
 we women will do so, and God at least will hear our words, and 
 history will preserve them. " 
 
 She turned her back to her husband and went to inform her 
 fi'iends of her determination, and to send messengers all over the 
 city. 
 
 And from street to street, from house to house, there resounded 
 the shouts : " Dress in mourning, women, and come out into the 
 street. Let us go to General St. Hilaire and beg for the life of a 
 German citizen !" 
 
 Not an ear had been closed against this sacred appeal ; not a 
 woman's heart had disregarded it. They came forth from all the 
 houses and from all the cabins, the countess as well as the beggar- 
 woman, the old as well as the young ; the mothers led their children 
 by the hand, and the brides lent to their grandmothers their shoul- 
 ders to lean upon. 
 
 The procession formed in front of the burgomaster's house ; then 
 the women walked in pairs and slowly as the weak feet of the totter- 
 ing old dames and the delicate children required it, through the 
 long main street toward the market-place. 
 
 General St. Hilaire was still at the window, gazing in great 
 astonishment on the strange spectacle, when the door opened and 
 his adjutant entered. 
 
THE WOMEN OF BRAUNAU. ' 483 
 
 " Come and look at this scene, " said the general to him, laughing. 
 " The days of the gi-eat revolution seem to find an echo here, and the 
 women rebel as they did at that time. Oh, well do I remember the 
 day when the women went to Versailles in order to frighten the 
 queen by their clamor and to beg bread of the king. But I am no 
 Antoinette, and no corn-fields are growing in my hands. What do 
 they want of me?" 
 
 " General, a deputation of the women has just entered the hotel, 
 and beg your excellency to grant them an interview. '' 
 
 "Are the members of the deputation pretty?" asked the general, 
 laughing. 
 
 " The wife of the burgomaster and the first ladies of the city are 
 among them, " said the adjutant, gravely. 
 
 "And what do they want?" 
 
 " General, they want to implore your excellency to delay the exe- 
 cution of the German bookseller, and grant him a reprieve so as to 
 give them time to petition the emperor to pardon him. " 
 
 "Impossible," exclaimed St. Hilaire, angrily. "It is time to 
 bury and forget this unpleasant affair. No delay, no reprieve ! 
 State that to those women. I do not want to be disturbed any 
 longer. Of what importance is this man Palm ? Have not thousands 
 of the most distinguished and excellent men been buried on our 
 battle-fields, and has not the world quietly pursued its course? It 
 will therefore do so, too, after Palm is dead. Ti-uly, they are wail- 
 ing and lamenting about the sentence of this German bookseller as 
 if he were the only copy of such a description in this country so 
 famous for writing and publishing books ! Go and dismiss the 
 women ; I do not want to listen to them. But if the youngest and 
 prettiest girl among them will come up to me and give me a kiss, 
 she may do so. " 
 
 The adjutant withdrew, and the general returned to the window 
 to look down on the surging crowd below. He saw that his adju- 
 tant had left the house and walked toward a group of women 
 standing at some distance from the others and apparently looking 
 for him. He saw that his adjutant spoke to them, and that the wo- 
 men then turned around and made a sign to the others. 
 
 All the women immediately knelt down, and, raising their 
 folded hands to heaven, began to sing in loud and solemn notes a 
 pious hymn, a hymn of mercy, addressed to God and the Holy 
 Virgin. 
 
 The general crossed himself involuntarily, and, perhaps unwil- 
 lingly, folded his hands as if for silent prayer. 
 
 The door opened and the adjutant reentered. 
 
 " What does this mean 1" exclaimed the general. " I ordered you 
 
484 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 to send the women home, and instead of that, they remain here and 
 sing a plaintive hymn. " 
 
 "General, the women persist in their request. They persist in 
 their demand for an interview with your excellency in order to hear 
 from your own lips whether it is really impossible for them to ob- 
 tain a reprieve— a pardon for Palm. They declare they will not 
 leave the place until they have spoken to your excellency, even 
 should you cause your cannon to be pointed against them. " 
 
 " Ah, bah ! I shall not afford them the pleasure of becoming mar- 
 tyrs, " exclaimed St. Hilaire, sullenly. " Come, I will put an end to 
 the whole afifair. I will myself go down and send them home. " 
 
 He beckoned his adjutant to follow him, and went with hasty 
 steps down into the market-place, and appeared in the midst of the 
 women. 
 
 The hymn died away, but the women did not rise from their 
 knees ; they only turned their eyes, which had hitherto been raised 
 to heaven, to the general, and extended their folded hands toward 
 him. 
 
 At this moment a dusty travelling-coach drove through the dense 
 crowd on the main street, and entered the market-place to stop in 
 front of the large hotel situated there. A pale young woman leaned 
 out of the carriage, and looked wonderingly at the strange spectacle 
 presented to her eyes. 
 
 The kneeling women, who filled the whole market-place, took no 
 notice of the carriage ; they did not think of opening their ranks to 
 let it pass ; it was, therefore, compelled to halt and wait. 
 
 The pale young woman, as if feeling that what had caused all 
 the women here to kneel down must concern her, too, hastily 
 alighted from the carriage and approached the kneeling women. 
 
 All at once she heard a loud and imperious voice asking ; " What 
 do these ladies want to see me for? You applied for an interview 
 with me : here I am ! What do you want?" 
 
 " Mercy !" shouted hundreds and hundreds of voices. " Delay of 
 the execution ! Mercy for Palm !" 
 
 A piercing, terrible cry resounded from the lips of the pale young 
 traveller ; she hurried toward the general as if she had wings on her 
 feet. 
 
 A murmur of surprise arose from the i-anks of the women ; they 
 perceived instinctively that something extraordinary was about to 
 occur ; their hearts comprehended that this pale young woman, who 
 now stood before the general with flaming eyes and panting breast, 
 must be closely connected with the poor prisoner. Every one of 
 them held her breath in order to hear her voice and understand her 
 words. 
 
THE LAST HOUR. 485 
 
 "They ask for mercy for Palm?" she asked, in a voice in which 
 her whole soul was vibrating. "They speak of execution? Then 
 you are going to murder him ? You have sentenced him infamously 
 and wickedly?" 
 
 And while putting these questions to the general, her eyes pierced 
 his face as though they were two daggers. 
 
 "Pray choose your words more carefully," said the general, 
 hai-shly; "the court-martial has sentenced the ti-aitor; hence, he 
 will not be murdered, but punished for the crime he has committed. 
 And for this reason, " he added, in a louder voice, turning to the 
 women, " for this reason I am unable to grant your request. The 
 court-martial has pronounced the sentence, and it is not in my 
 power to annul it. The Emperor Napoleon alone could do so if he 
 were here. But as he is in Paris, and consequently cannot be 
 reached, the law must take its course. Palm will be shot at two 
 o'clock this afternoon !" 
 
 '■ Shot !" ejaculated the young woman ; for a moment she tottered 
 as if she were about to faint, but then she courageously overcame 
 her emotion, and stretching out her arms to the women, exclaimed : 
 "Pray with me, my sisters, that I may be permitted to see Palm 
 and bid him farewell ! I am his wife, and have come to die with 
 him !" 
 
 And like a broken lily she sank down at the general's feet. The 
 mass of the women was surging as if a sudden gust of wind had 
 moved the waves ; murmurs and sighs, sobs and groans, filled the 
 air, and were the only language, the only prayer the deeply-moved 
 women were capable of. 
 
 The general bent down to Anna and raised her. " Madame, " he 
 said, so loudly as to be heard by the other women, " madame, your 
 prayer is granted. The only favor for which the prisoner asked was 
 to see YOU before his death, and we granted it to him. Follow, 
 therefore, my adjutant : he will bring you to him. Pahn is waiting 
 for you !" 
 
 " Ah, I knew very well that he was waiting for me, and that God 
 would lead me to him in time !" exclaimed Anna, raising her radiant 
 eyes toward heaven. 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 THE LAST HOUK. 
 
 Palm had returned to his cell without uttering a complaint, a 
 reproach. Nothing in his bearing betrayed his profound grief, his 
 intense indignation. He knew that neither his complaints nor his 
 
486 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 reproaches were able to change his fate, and consequently he wanted 
 to bear it like a naan. 
 
 He greeted Balthasar with a touching smile ; the jailer received 
 him at the door of his cell, and concealed no longer the tears which 
 filled his eyes. 
 
 " My poor friend, " said Palm, kindly, " then you already knew 
 what was in store for me, and it cut you to the quick to see me so 
 merry and unconcerned ! Well, now you may accept my gift, for 
 now I shall be free, so free that no shackles and chains will ever be 
 able to hold me again. And you promised me not to reject my gift 
 when I should be restored to liberty. I have got it, my friend, — 
 take my present, therefore !" 
 
 He took the breastpin from the table and handed it to the jailer. 
 The latter received it with a scarcely suppressed groan, and when 
 he bent down to kiss the hand which had given it to him, a scalding 
 tear fell from his eyes on Palm's hand. 
 
 " Oh, " said Palm, feelingly, " I gave you only a small trinket, 
 and you return to me a diamond for it ! I thank you, my friend ; I 
 know you will pray for me in my last moments. Now leave me 
 alone for an hour, for I must collect my thoughts and consult with 
 God about what is in store for me. Are you allowed to give me pen 
 and ink?" 
 
 " I have already placed writing-materials in the drawer of your 
 table, " said Balthasar, in a low voice, " for all prisoners like you 
 have the right to draw wp their last will for their family, and I 
 solemnly swear to you that I will forward what you are going to 
 write to its address. " 
 
 " I thank you, my friend ; leave me alone, then, so that I may 
 write. But listen ! Do not go too far away ; remain in the corridor 
 so that you can open the door to her as soon as she comes. " 
 
 " She ! " asked the jailer. " Who is it ?" 
 
 Palm hesitated ; he was unable to utter the word at once, for the 
 tears arose from his heart and paralyzed his tongue. " My wife !" he 
 said, painfully, at last. "Go and await her, for I am sure she will 
 come !" 
 
 He motioned Balthasar to withdraw, and then sat down, weary 
 and exhausted, in his cane-chair. For a moment he was over- 
 whelmed by the whole misery of his position, and his grief rolled 
 like an avalanche on his poor heart. He dropped his head on his 
 breast ; his arms hung down heavy and powerless, and a few tears, 
 as large as those of children, and burning like iire, rolled over his 
 cheeks. But this did not last long, for these scalding drops aroused 
 him from the stupor of his grief. 
 
 He raised his head again and dried the tears on his cheeks. "I 
 
THE LAST HOUE. 487 
 
 have no time to spare for weeping, " he said to himself in a low 
 voice ; " my hours are numbered, and I must write to my poor Anna 
 my will for her and my children !" 
 
 He took from the drawer the writing-materials which Balthasar 
 had kindly placed there, and took a seat at the table in order to 
 write. He placed his chair, however, in such a manner that he 
 was able to see the door of his cell, and frequently, while writing, 
 raised his eyes from the paper and fixed them anxiously on the door. 
 
 Now he really heard approaching steps, and the key was put into 
 the lock. 
 
 Palm laid his pen aside and rose. 
 
 The door opened — Anna entered. She glided toward him with a 
 heavenly smile ; he clasped her in his arms, and, kissing her head 
 which she had laid on his breast, whispered : " God bless you for 
 having come to me ! I knew that I should not look for you in vain !" 
 
 The jailer stood at the open door and wept. His sobs reminded 
 Palm of his presence. 
 
 " Balthasar, " he said, imploringly, and pointing his hand at Anna 
 who was still reposing on his breast, " Balthasar, I am sure you will 
 leave me alone with her, my friend ?" 
 
 " I have received stringent orders never to leave prisoners under 
 sentence of death alone with others, " murmured Balthasar. " They 
 might easily furnish arms or poison to them ; that is what my 
 superiors told me. " 
 
 Palm placed his hand on his wife's head as if going to take a 
 solemn oath. "Balthasar,'' he said, "by this sacred and beloved 
 head I swear to you that I shall not commit suicide. Let my mur- 
 derers take my life. Will you now leave me alone with her?" 
 
 "I will, for it would be cruel not to do so," said Balthasar. 
 " God alone ought to hear what you have to say to each other ! I 
 give you half an hour ; then the officers and the priest will come, 
 and it will no longer be in my power to keep this door locked. But 
 until then nobody shall disturb you. " 
 
 He left the cell and locked the door. 
 
 Man and wife were alone now ; they had half an hour for their 
 last interview, their last farewell. 
 
 There are sacred moments which, like the wings of the butterfly, 
 are injured by the slightest touch of the human hand, and which, 
 therefore, must not be approached ; there are words which no human 
 ear ought to listen to, and tears which God alone ought to count. 
 
 Half an hour later the jailer opened the door and reentered. Palm 
 and his wife stood in the middle of the cell, and, encircling each 
 other with one arm, looked calmly, serenely, and smilingly at each 
 other like two spirits removed from earth. 
 32 
 
488 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The paper on which Palm had written was no longer on the 
 table ; it reposed now on Anna's heart ; the golden wedding-ring 
 which Palm had worn on his finger had disappeared, and glittered 
 now on Anna's hand near her own wedding-ring. 
 
 " The priest is there, " said the jailer, " and the soldiers, too, are 
 already in the corridor. It is high time. " 
 
 "Go, then, Anna," said Pabn, withdrawing his arm from her 
 neck. 
 
 But she clung with a long scream of despair to his breast. " You 
 want me to live, then?" she exclaimed, reproachfully. "You want 
 to sever our paths? Oh, be merciful, my beloved; remember that 
 we have sworn at the altar to share life and death with each other ! 
 Let me die with you, therefore !" 
 
 " No, " he said, tenderly and firmly. " No, Anna, you shall live 
 with me ! My children are my life and my heart ; they will live 
 with you. Every morning I shall greet you from the eyes of our 
 children, and when they embrace you, think it were my arms encir- 
 cling you. Live for our children, Anna ; teach them to love their 
 father who, it is true, will be no longer with them, but whose soul 
 will ever surround you and them ! Swear to me that you will live 
 and bear your fate firmly and courageously !" 
 
 " I swear it, " she said in a low voice. 
 
 "And now, beloved Anna, leave me 1 My last moments belong to 
 God !" 
 
 He kissed her lips, which were as cold as marble, and led her 
 gently to the door. 
 
 Anna now raised her head in order to fix a long, last look on him. 
 "You want me to live, " she said ; " I shall do so long as it pleases 
 God. I bid you, therefore, farewell, but not forever, nor even for a 
 very long while. All of us are nothing but poor wanderers whom 
 God has sent on earth to perform their pilgrimage. But at length 
 He opens to us again the doors of our paternal house and calls us 
 home ! I long for my return home, my beloved ! Farewell, then, 
 until we meet again !" 
 
 " Farewell until we meet again !" 
 
 They shook hands once more, and gazed at each other with a smile 
 which lighted up their faces like the last beam of the setting sun. 
 
 Then Anna, walking backward in order to see him still, and to 
 engrave his image deeply on her heart, crossed the threshold as the 
 jailer hastily closed the door behind her. 
 
 Palm heard a heart-rending cry outside ; then every thing was 
 silent. 
 
 A few minutes later the door opened again, and a Catholic priest 
 entered. 
 
THE LAST HOUR. 489 
 
 " My -wife has fainted, I suppose?" asked Palm. 
 
 "No, a sudden vertigo seemed to seize her when the door closed, 
 hut she overcame her weakness and hurried away. May the Lord 
 God have mercy on her 1" 
 
 " He will, " said Palm, confidently. 
 
 "May He have mercy on you, too, my son," said the priest. 
 •* Let us pray ; open to me your soul and your heart. " 
 
 " My soul and my heart lie open before God ; He will see and 
 judge them," said Palm. "I do not belong to your church, my 
 father ; I am a Protestant. But if you will pray with me, do so ; if 
 you will give me your blessing, I shall thankfully accept it, for a 
 dying man always likes to feel a blessing-hand on his forehead. " 
 
 The clock struck two, and now the drums commenced rolling, 
 and the death-knell resounded from the church-steeple. An awful 
 silence reigned in the whole city of Braunau. All the houses were 
 closed ; all the windows were covered. 
 
 Nobody wanted to witness the dreadful spectacle which the 
 despotism of the foreign tyrant was preparing for the citizens of 
 Braunau. The women and children had returned to their houses, 
 and were kneeling and praying in their darkened rooms. The 
 men concealed themselves in order not to show their shame and 
 rage. 
 
 Nobody was, therefore, on the street when the terrible procession 
 approached. A miserable cart rumbled along in the midst of sol- 
 diers and gens-d'armes. Palm was seated in this cart, backward, 
 and his hands tied on his back ; opposite him sat the priest, holding 
 the crucifix in his hand and muttering prayers. 
 
 The German inhabitants of Braunau had done well to close their 
 doors and cover their windows, for the disgrace and humiliation of 
 Germany were at this hour rumbling through their streets. 
 
 But not all of them had been so happy as to be permitted to stay 
 at home. The will of the foreign despot had forbidden it, and the 
 members of the municipality and other authorities, in their full 
 oflBcial robes, had repaired to the place of execution. 
 
 There they stood, dumb with shame, astonishment, and horror, 
 with downcast eyes, like slaves passing under the yoke. 
 
 About a hundred spectators stood behind them, but not persons 
 to whom executions are merely a piquant spectacle, a rare amuse- 
 ment, but men with sombre, angry eyes — men who had come to 
 swear secretly in their hearts, on this spot where the last remnant 
 of German honor was to bleed to death, a terrible oath of vengeance 
 to the foreign despot. The blood of the martyr was to stir up their 
 enthusiasm for the long-deferred, sacred deed of atonement. 
 
 Palm had alighted from the cart, and walked with rapid, reso- 
 
490 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 lute steps to the spot which was indicated to him, and behind which 
 an open grave was yawning. 
 
 Refusing the assistance of the provost, he himself took off his 
 coat and threw it into the open grave. He then turned his eyes to the 
 side where the authorities of Braunau and his German brethren 
 were standing. 
 
 " Friends, " he said, aloud, " may my death be a blessing to you ; 
 may my blood not be shed in vain, but make you — " 
 
 A loud roll of the drum drowned his words. 
 
 The general waved his hand ; six guns were discharged. 
 
 Palm sank to the ground, but he rose again. Only one bullet had 
 struck him ; the blood was gushing from his heart, but he still lived. 
 
 Another file of soldiers stepped forward, and once more six guns 
 were discharged at him. 
 
 But the soldiers, who were accustomed to aim steadily in battle, 
 had here, where they were to be executioners, averted their eyes, 
 and their hands, which never had trembled in battle, were trembling 
 now. 
 
 Palm rose again from the ground, a panting, bleeding victim, 
 and seemed, with his uplifted and blood-stained hands, to implore 
 Heaven to avenge him on his murderers. 
 
 A third volley resounded. 
 
 This time Palm did not rise again. He was dead ! God had 
 received his soul. His bleeding remains lay on the German soil, as 
 if to fertilize it for the day of retribution. 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 PRUSSIA'S DECLAEATION OF WAR. 
 
 King Frederick William III. had not yet left his cabinet to- 
 day. He had retired thither early in the morning in order to work. 
 Maps, plans of battles, and open books lay on the tables, and the 
 king sat in their midst with a musing, careworn air. 
 
 A gentle rap at the door aroused him from his meditations. The 
 king raised his head and listened. The rap was repeated. 
 
 "it is Louisa," he said to himself, and a smile overspread his 
 features as he hastened to the door and opened it. 
 
 He had not been mistaken. It was the queen who stood before 
 the door. Smiling, graceful, and merry as ever, she entered the 
 cabinet and gave her hand to her husband. 
 
 " Are you angry with me, my dear friend, because I have dis- 
 turbed you?" she asked, tenderly. "But, it seemed to me, you had 
 
PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR. 491 
 
 worked enough for the state to-day and might devote a quarter of 
 an hour to your Louisa. You know whenever I do not see you in 
 the morning, my day lacks its genuine sunshine, and is gray and 
 gloomy. For this reason, as you have not yet come to me to-day, I 
 come to you. Good-morning, my king and husband !" 
 
 " Good-morning, my queen !" said the king, imprinting a kiss 
 on the white, transparent forehead of the queen. "Add to it, good- 
 day, my dear Louisa, for a wish from so beautiful and noble lips I 
 hope will exorcise all evil spirits, and cause this day to become a 
 really good one. I hope much from it. " 
 
 The king's forehead, which the queen's appearance had smoothed 
 a little, became clouded again, and he assumed a grave and sombre 
 air. 
 
 The queen saw it, and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. 
 
 " You are downcast, my friend, " she said, affectionately. " Will 
 you not let me have my share of your grief? Is not your wife en- 
 titled to it? Or will you cruelly deprive me of what is my right? 
 Speak to me, my husband. Let me share your grief. Confide to me 
 what is the meaning of those clouds on your noble brow, and what 
 absorbs your soul to such an extent that you even forgot me and your 
 children, and deprived us of your kind morning greeting. '' 
 
 But even these tender words of the queen were unable to light up 
 the king's forehead ; he avoided meeting her beautiful, lustrous 
 eyes, which were fixed on him inquiringly, and averted his head. 
 
 " Government aflfaii-s, " he said, gravely. " Nothing interesting 
 and worthy of being communicated to my queen. Let us not em- 
 bitter thereby the happy minutes of your presence. Let us sit 
 down. " 
 
 The queen knew her husband's peculiarities to perfection. She 
 knew that no one was allowed to contradict him whenever he assumed 
 this forbidding tone, and that it was best then not to take any notice 
 of his moroseness, or, if possible, to dispel it. 
 
 She, therefore, followed him silently to the sofa and sat down, 
 inviting him, with a charming smile, to take a seat by her side. 
 
 The king did so, and Louisa leaned her head tenderly against his 
 shoulder. "How sweet it is to lean one's weak head against the 
 breast of a strong man !" she said. " It seems to me, as long as I am 
 near you, no misfortune can befall me, and I cling to you trustingly 
 and happily, like the ivy covering the strong oak. " 
 
 " The comparison is not correct, " said the king. " Ivy does not 
 bloom, nor is it fragi-ant. But you are a peerless rose, the queen of 
 
 flowers !" 
 
 "What! my king condescends to flatter me?" said the queen, 
 laughing merrily, while she raised her head from the king's shoul- 
 
492 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 der and looked archly at him. " But, my king, your comparison is 
 not correct either. Roses have thorns, and wound whosoever touches 
 them. But I v/ould not pain and wound you for all the riches of 
 the world ! Were I a rose, I should shake o£E all my fragrant leaves 
 to make of them a pillow on which your noble head should repose 
 from the toils and vexations of the day, and on which you should 
 find dreams of a happy future. " 
 
 " Only dreams of a happy future, " said Frederick "William, mus- 
 ingly. " You may be right ; our hopes for a happy future may be 
 but a dream. " 
 
 " No, " exclaimed the queen, raising her radiant eyes toward 
 heaven, " I firmly believe in the happiness of our future ; I believe 
 and know that God has selected you, the most generous and guiltless 
 of princes, to break the arrogance of that daring tyrant, who would 
 like to chain the whole world to his despotic yoke, and who, in his 
 ambitious thirst after conquest, raises his hands against the crowns 
 of all the sovereigns. Your crown he shall not touch! It is the 
 rock on which his power will be wrecked, and at the feet of which 
 his proud waves wiU be broken. Prussia will avenge the disgrace 
 of Germany ; I am sure of it, and for this reason I am so happy and 
 confident since you, my king and husband, have cast off the mask 
 of that false friendship for the tyrant, and have shown him your 
 open, angry, and hostile face. A heavy cloud weighed down my 
 heart so long as we still continued mediating, occupying neutral 
 ground, trying to maintain peace, and hoping to derive advantages 
 from that man so devoid of honesty, sincerity, and fidelity. " 
 
 " Still, who knows whether I was right, after all, in taking such 
 a course!" sighed the king. "Peace is a very precious thing, and 
 the people need it for their prosperity. " 
 
 " But your people do not want peace !" exclaimed the queen. 
 " They are enthusiastic and clamorous for war, and long for nothing 
 so much as to see an end put to this deplorable incertitude. You 
 have now caused your army to be placed on the war footing, and all 
 faces have already brightened up, and all hearts feel encouraged ; 
 announce to your people that you will declare war against the 
 usurper, and all Prussia will rise jubilantly and hasten to the battle- 
 field, as if it were a festival of victory. " 
 
 "You refer to the army, but not to the people," said the king. 
 " It is true, the army is ready for the fray, and it is satisfied also 
 that it will conquer. But who can tell whether it may not be mis- 
 taken? It is long since we have waged war, while the armies of 
 Napoleon are experienced and skilled, and ready to take the field at 
 any moment." 
 
 "The army of Frederick the Great, the army of my king has 
 
PRUSSIA'S DECLAEATION OF WAR. 493 
 
 nothing to fear from the hordes of the barbarian !" exclaimea the 
 queen, with flaming eyes. 
 
 The king shrugged his shoulders. " I stand in need of allies, " he 
 said ; " alone I am not able to sustain such a struggle. If the courts 
 of Northern Germany should comply with my invitation, if they 
 should ally themselves with me, finally, if Austria should accept 
 my proposition and unite with me, in that case I should hope for 
 success. All this will be decided to-day, for I am now looking for 
 the return of two important envoys — for the return of Hardenberg, 
 who has delivered my propositions in Vienna, and for the return of 
 Lombard, whom I have sent to the smaller German courts to offer 
 them an offensive and defensive alliance in opposition to Napoleon's 
 Confederation of the Rhine. I confess to you, Louisa, I await their 
 replies tremblingly ; I cannot think of any thing else ; this feeling 
 has haunted me all day, and now you know why I even forgot to 
 greet you this morning. I intended not to betray the uneasiness 
 filling my heart, but who is able to withstand such an enchantress 
 as you? Now you know every thing !" 
 
 "And do you know already the new misdeed which the tyrant 
 has committed ?" asked the queen. " Do you know that he is ruling 
 and commanding on German soil as if Germany were nothing but a 
 French province, and all princes nothing but his vassals? In a 
 time of peace he has caused a German citizen to be dragged from 
 his house ; in a German state he has ordered a court-martial to 
 meet, and this court-martial has dared to pass sentence of death 
 upon a German citizen merely because he, a German bookseller, had 
 circulated a pamphlet deploring Germany's degradation 1" 
 
 " I have already known it for three days, " said the king, gloomily. 
 "I concealed it from you in order not to grieve you." 
 
 "But public opinion now-a-days conceals nothing," exclaimed 
 Louisa, ardently, "and public opinion throughout Germany cries 
 for vengeance against the tyrant who is murdering German honor 
 and German laws in this manner ! In every city subscriptions have 
 been opened for Palm's farnily, for his young wife and his little 
 girls. The poor as well as the rich hasten to offer, according to 
 their means, gifts of love to the widow and orphans of the martyr ; 
 and believe me, the money which Germany is now collecting for 
 Palm's family will be dragon's seeds from which armed warriors 
 will spring one day, and Germany's vengeance will blossom from 
 this blood so unjustly shed. Permit me, my friend, to conti-ibute 
 my share to these seeds of love and vengeance. They brought to me 
 this morning a list on which the most distinguished families had 
 subscribed considerable sums for Palm's family, and I was asked 
 whether my ladies of honor and the members of my household would 
 
494 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 be allowed to subscribe for the same purpose. I should like to allow 
 it and do even more — I should like to contribute my mite, too, to 
 the subscriptions. Will you permit me to do boI" 
 
 " They will take that again for a demonstration, " said the king, 
 uneasily ; " they will say we were stirring up strife and discontent 
 among the Germans. I believe it would be prudent not to make a 
 public demonstration prematurely, but to wait and keep quiet till 
 the right time has come. " 
 
 "And when will the right time come, if it has not come now!" 
 exclaimed the queen, mournfully. "Eemember, my beloved hus- 
 band, all the mortifications and humiliations which you have r^ 
 ceived of late at the hands of this despot, and which, in your noble 
 and generous resignation, did not resent in order to preserve peace 
 to your people. Eemember that he alone prevailed on you to occupy 
 Hanover, that he warranted its possession to you, and then when 
 your troops had occupied it, applied secretly, and without saying a 
 word to you, to England, offering to make peace with her by propos- 
 ing to restore Hanover to her. " 
 
 " It was a grievous insult, " exclaimed the king, with unusual 
 vivacity ; " I replied to it by placing my army on the war footing. " 
 
 " But our armies remain inactive, " said the queen, sadly, " while 
 General Knobelsdorf is negotiating for peace with Bonaparte in 
 Paris. " 
 
 " He is to negotiate until I am fully prepared, " said Frederick 
 William — "until I know what German princes will be for and 
 against me. Above all, it is necessary to know our forces in order 
 to mature our plans. Hence, I must know who is on my side. " 
 
 " God is on your side, and so is Germany's honor, " exclaimed the 
 queen ; " moreover, you may safely rely at least on one faithful 
 friend. " 
 
 " You refer to the Emperor of Russia?" asked the king. "True, 
 I received yesterday a letter from the emperor, in which he announced 
 'that he would come to my assistance with an army of seventy 
 thousand men under his personal command, as a faithful friend and 
 neighbor, and appear in time on the battle-field, no matter whether 
 it be on the Rhine or beyond it. '" 
 
 "Oh, the noble and faithful friend I" exclaimed the queen, joy- 
 fully. 
 
 " Yes, '' said the king, thoughtfully, " he promises a great deal, 
 but Russian promises march more rapidly than Russian armies. I 
 am afraid events will carry us along so resistlessly that we cannot 
 wait until the Emperor of Russia has arrived with his army. As 
 soon as Napoleon suspects that my preparations are meant for him, 
 he will himself declare war against me. He is always prepared ; 
 
PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR. 495 
 
 his army is always ready for war. Whatever he may be, we cannot 
 deny that he is a brave and great general ; and I do not know, " 
 added the king, in a low voice, "I do not know whether we have 
 got a general able to cope with him. Oh, Louisa, I envy your 
 courage, your reliance on our cause. Do you feel then, no uneasi- 
 ness whatever?" 
 
 " Uneasiness?" exclaimed the queen, with a proud smile. " I be- 
 lieve and feel convinced that now only one thing remains to be done. 
 We must struggle with the monster, we must crush it, and then 
 only will we be allowed to speak of uneasiness ! * I believe, besides, 
 in divine Pi-ovidence— I believe in you, my noble, high-minded, and 
 brave king and husband, and I believe in your splendid army, 
 which is eager for war ! I believe in the lucky star of Prussia !" 
 
 " Oh, it seems to me that many clouds are veiling that star, " said 
 the king, mournfully. 
 
 "The thunder of battle will dispel them!" exclaimed Louisa, 
 enthusiastically. " The smoke of powder purifies the air and destroys 
 its noxious vapors. " 
 
 Just then the door opened, and the king's valet de ehambre 
 entered. 
 
 "Your majesty," he said, "his excellency. Minister Baron von 
 Hardenberg, requests you to grant him an audience. " 
 
 "You see the decision is drawing near, " said the king, turning 
 to his wife. '' I shall request the minister to come in dii-ectly. " 
 
 The valet de ehambre withdrew. The king paced the room several 
 times, his hands folded on his back, and without uttering a word. 
 Louisa dared not disturb him, but her radiant eyes followed him 
 with an expression of tender anxiety and affectionate sympathy. 
 
 All at once, the king stopped in the middle of the room and drew 
 a deep breath. " I do not know, " he said, " I feel almost joyful and 
 happy now that the decisive moment is at hand. Francis von Sick- 
 ingen was right in saying, 'Better an end with terror, than a terror 
 without end !'" f 
 
 " Oh, " exclaimed the queen, joyfully, '' now I recognize my noble 
 and brave husband. When no longer able to avert terrors by mild 
 words and gentle prudence, he raises his chivalrous arm and crushes 
 them. But as we must not keep your minister waiting, I will with- 
 draw. One word more. Will you permit me to add my subscrip- 
 tion to the list of contributions for Palm's widow? I do not wish 
 to do so as Queen of Pi-ussia, but as a woman sympathizing with the 
 misfortunes of one of her German sisters, and anxious to comfort 
 
 * The queen's own words— Vide Gentz's "Writings," vol. iv. , p. 169. 
 tThe motto of the celebrated knight, Francis von Siclcingen: "Sesser ein JBnde 
 mit Schrecken, als ein Schrecken ohne Ende 1 " 
 
496 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 her in her distress. I shall not mention my name, but cause our 
 dear mistress of ceremonies to subscribe for me. Will you permit it, 
 my friend?" 
 
 " Follow your noble and generous heart, Louisa, " said the king, 
 "contribute for the relief of the poor woman !" 
 
 "Thanks, my friend, a thousand thanks,'' exclaimed Louisa, 
 offering her hand to her husband. He kissed it tenderly, and then 
 accompanied the queen to the door. 
 
 Louisa wanted here to withdraw her hand from him and open 
 the door, in order to go out, but her husband kept her back, and his 
 features assumed an air of embarrassment. 
 
 " I want you to do me a favor, " he said, hastily. " When you 
 have caused the mistress of ceremonies to subscribe in your name, 
 please order your grand-marshal to contribute the same sum. I 
 will return it to him from my privy purse. " * 
 
 The queen made no reply ; she encircled the king's neck with her 
 beautiful white arms, and imprinted a glowing kiss on his lips : she 
 then hastily turned around and left the room, perhaps, in order not 
 to let her husband see the tears that filled her eyes. 
 
 The king, who had gazed after her with a long and tender look, 
 said in a low voice to himself : " Oh, she is the sunshine of my life. 
 How dreary and cold it would be without her 1 But now I will see 
 the minister. " 
 
 He hastened to the opposite door and opened it. " Request Min- 
 ister von Hardenberg to come in, " he said to the valet de ehambre, 
 waiting in the anteroom. 
 
 After a few minutes Hardenberg entered. The king went for- 
 ward to meet him, and looked at him inquiringly. 
 
 "Good news?" he asked. 
 
 "Your majesty, 'good' has a very relative meaning, " replied Har- 
 denberg, shrugging his shoulders. "I believe an open and categori- 
 cal reply to be good. " 
 
 " Then you are the bearer of such a reply, " said the king, quietly ; 
 " first tell me the result of your mission. You may afterward add 
 the particulars of the negotiations. " 
 
 "I shall comply with your majesty's order. The result is that 
 Austria wants to remain neutral, and will, for the present, engage in 
 no further wars. Her finances are exhausted, and her many defeats 
 have demoralized and discouraged her armies. Napoleon has van- 
 qu ished Austria, not only militarily, but also morally. The Austrian 
 soldiers look on the Emperor of the French and his victorious armies 
 
 * Palmes widow received large sums of money, which were subscribed for her 
 everywhere in Germany, England, and Russia, In St. Petersburgthe emperor and 
 empress headed the list.— Vide "Biography of John Philip Palm," Munich, 1842. 
 
i-KUSSlA'B DECLARATION OF WAR. 497 
 
 with an almost superstitious terror ; the emperor is discouraged and 
 downcast, and his ministers long for nothing more ardently than 
 a lasting peace with France. His generals, on the other hand, are 
 filled with so glowing an admiration for Napoleon's military genius 
 that tlie Archduke Charles himself has said : 'he would deem it a 
 crime to continue the war against Napoleon, instead of courting his 
 friendship. '" * 
 
 "He may be right," said the king, "but he ought to have called 
 It an imprudence instead of a crime. I know very well that we are 
 unable to retrace om- steps, and that the logic of events will compel 
 us to draw the sword and risk a war, but I do not close my eyes 
 against the serious dangers and misfortunes in which Prussia might 
 be involved by taking up arms without efficient and active allies. I 
 have taken pains for years to save Prussia from the horrors and 
 evils of war, but circumstances are more powerful than I, and I 
 shall have to submit to them. " 
 
 "On the contrary, circumstances will have to submit to your 
 majesty and fate. " 
 
 " Fate !" the king inteiTupted him, hastily. " Fate is no courtier, 
 and never flattered me much.*' 
 
 "Your majesty, I was going to imitate fate,— I did not want to 
 flatter you, either, " said Hardenberg. " I was merely going to say 
 that fate seems to favor us suddenly. I have received letters from 
 Mr. Fox, the English minister. King George the Third, now that 
 he sees that Prussia is in earnest, and is preparing for war, is more 
 inclined to form an alliance with Prussia. The first favorable 
 symptom of this change of views is the fact that England has raised 
 the blockade of the rivers of northern Germany ; a British envoy will 
 soon be here to make peace with Prussia, and to conclude an alli- 
 ance, by virtue of which England will furnish us troops and money. " 
 
 "Would to God the envoy would arrive speedily," sighed the 
 king, " for we need both, auxiliaries as well as money. " f 
 
 When Minister von Hardenberg left the king's cabinet, his face 
 was radiant with inward satisfaction, and he hastened with rapid 
 steps to his carriage. 
 
 "To Prince Louis Ferdinand," he said to the coachman. "As 
 fast as the horses will run !" 
 
 * Vide "Libensbilder atis dem Befreiungskriege," vol. iii. 
 
 t The British envoy, Lord Morpeth, unfortunately arrived too late ; it was only 
 on the 12th of October that he reached the king's headquarters at Weimar. But 
 the French party, Minister Haugwitz, Lombard, and Lucchesini, managed to pre- 
 vent him from obtaining an interview with the king ; and dismissed him with the 
 reply, that the results of the negotiations would depend on the issue of the battle 
 which was about to be fought.— Vide HSusser's "History of Germany," vol. ii. , p. 
 766. 
 
498 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Prince Louis Ferdinand was in the midst of his friends in his 
 musio-room when Minister Hardenberg entered. He was sitting at 
 the piano and playing a voluntary. His fancy must have taken a 
 bold flight to-day, for in the music he evoked from the keys there 
 was more ardor, vigor, and enthusiasm than generally, and the 
 noble features of the prince were radiant with delight. Close to 
 him, her head leaning gently on his shoulder, sat Pauline Wiesel, 
 the prince's beautiful^and accomplished friend, and listened with a 
 smile on her crimson lips, and tears in her eyes, to the charming 
 and soul-stirring melodies. In the middle of the room there stood 
 a table loaded down with fiery wines and tropical fruits, and twelve 
 gentlemen, most of them army officers, were seated around it. They 
 were the military and learned friends of the prince, his daily com- 
 panions, who, like Hardenberg, were always allowed to enter his 
 rooms without being announced. 
 
 The minister hastily beckoned the gentlemen who were going to 
 rise and salute him, to keep their seats, and hurried quickly and 
 softly across the room toward the prince, whose back was turned to 
 the door, and who consequently had not noticed his arrival. 
 
 " Prince, " he said, gently placing his hand on his shoulder, " it is 
 settled now : we shall have war !" 
 
 " War 1" shouted the prince, jubilantly, and rose impetuously to 
 embrace the minister and imprint a kiss on the lips which had 
 uttered the precious word. 
 
 " War !" exclaimed the gentlemen at the table, and emptied their 
 glasses in honor of the news. 
 
 "War!" sighed fair Pauline Wiesel, and clinging closely to the 
 prince's shoulder, she whispered: "War, that is to say, I shalllose 
 
 you 
 
 I" 
 
 " No, it is to say that I shall gain every thing, " exclaimed the 
 prince, with flashing eyes. " I beseech you, Pauline, no weakness 
 now, no sentimentality, no tears. The great moment is come. Let 
 us appreciate it. At length, at length we shall avenge our disgrace, 
 at length we shall be able to raise our humiliated heads again, and 
 need not feel ashamed any longer of saying, 'I am a German !'" 
 
 "Your royal highness will now be able to say, 'I am a German 
 hero!'" said Hardenberg. 
 
 " Would to God you were right !" exclaimed the prince. May He 
 grant me an opportunity to earn a small laurel- wreath, even had I 
 to atone for it with my blood, nay, with my life ! To die for the 
 fatherland is a sublime death ; and should I fall thus, Pauline, you 
 ought not to weep, but sing jubilant hymns and envy my happy 
 fate. Tell me, friend Hardenberg, when is the war to commence?" 
 
 "As soon as the various army corps can be concentrated, " replied 
 
PRUSSIA'S DECLARATION OF WAR. 499 
 
 Hardenberg. " We know positively that Napoleon is arming for the 
 purpose of attacking us, and that he intends to declare war against 
 us. We shall hasten and try to outstrip him. Prussia has been in- 
 sulted too often and too grievously ; hence, the challenge ought to 
 come from her. " 
 
 •'And we will take revenge on M. Bonaparte,'' exclaimed the 
 prince, with flaming eyes. " It shall be an American duel, and only 
 the death of either of the duellists shall put an end to it ! Friends, 
 take your glasses and fill them to overflowing. Hardenberg, take 
 this glass ; Pauline shall present it to you. Now, let us drink to the 
 honor of Prussia and shout with me, three cheers for the war, for an 
 heroic victoiy, for an heroic death !" 
 
 " Three cheers for the war, for an heroic victory, for an heroic 
 death !" shouted the friends. They emptied their glasses ; the eyes 
 of the men were radiant, but Pauline's eyes were filled witli tears.* 
 On the evening of that day the king went, as usual, to the queen 
 to take a cup of tea which she herself served up to him. Notwith- 
 standing the objections of the mistress of ceremonies, they paid at 
 this hour no attention to the rules of etiquette, and their intercourse 
 was as cordial and unceremonious as that of a common citizen's 
 family. 
 
 The queen, therefore, was alone when her husband entered the 
 room. None of her ladies of honor were allowed to disturb the en- 
 joyment of this pleasant tea-hour ; only when the king wished it, 
 the royal children were sent for to chat with their parents and to 
 receive their supper at the hands of their beautiful mother. 
 
 The queen went to meet her husband with a pleasant salutation, 
 and offered him her hands. "Well," she asked, tenderly, "your 
 brow is clouded still? Come, let me kiss those clouds away. " 
 
 She raised herself on tip-toe, and smiled when she still was 
 unable to reach up to her husband's forehead. 
 
 " You must bend down to me, " she said, " I am too small for you. " 
 
 " No, you are great and sublime, and must bend down to me as 
 
 angels bend down to the poor mortals, " said the king. " Ah, Louisa, 
 
 I am afraid, however, your kiss will no longer be able to drive the 
 
 clouds from my brow. " 
 
 "Have you received bad news?" asked the queen. "Have your 
 ambassadors returned?" 
 
 "They have. No assistance from Austria! That is the news 
 brought by Hardenberg. No league of the princes of Northern Ger- 
 many ' That is the news brought by Lombard. Every one of them . 
 pursues his separate interests, and thinks only of himself. The 
 * Prince Louis Ferdinand was killed in the first battle of the war, at Saalfeld, 
 on the 10th of October, 1806. 
 
500 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 Elector of Saxony would like to be at the head of a Saxon league ; 
 the Elector of Hesse promises to ally himself with us if, above all, 
 we secure to him a considerable enlargement of his territory ; Olden- 
 burg is going to wait and see what the other states will do ; Waldeck 
 and Lippe desire to join the Confederation of the Rhine, because 
 they might derive greater advantages from it ; and the Duke of 
 Meoklenburg-Schwerin replied, quite haughtily, he would remain 
 neutral : if he were in danger, he would gratefully accept the pro- 
 tection of Prussia, but he would have to reject any application for 
 supplies in the most decided manner. " * 
 
 " Oh, those narrow-minded, egotistic men, " exclaimed the queen, 
 indignantly. " They dare to call themselves princes, and yet there 
 is not a single exalted thought, not a trace of the spirit of majesty 
 in their minds. Bad seeds are being sown by the cowardly spirit of 
 the princes. Woe unto Germany if these seeds should ripen one day 
 in the hearts of the people ! But you did not say any thing about 
 my father ; what did Mecklenburg- Strelitz reply?" 
 
 " She is on our side ; your father is faithful to us. " 
 
 " But, ah, he is able only to give us his great, true heart and 
 brave, friendly advice !" sighed the queen. " His state is too small 
 to furnish us any other aid. Oh, my husband, I could now give my 
 heart's blood if I only were the daughter of a mighty king, and if 
 my father could hasten to your assistance with an army. " 
 
 "A single drop of your heart's blood would be too high a price 
 for the armies of the whole world," said the king. "Your father 
 has given to me the most precious and priceless treasure earth con- 
 tains : a noble, beautiful wife, a high-minded queen ! Your father 
 was the richest prince when he still had his daughter, and I am the 
 richest man since you are mine. " 
 
 He clasped the queen in his arms, and she clung to him with a 
 blissful smile. 
 
 " For the rest, " said the king, after a pause, " there is at least 
 one German prince who stands faithfully by us, and that is the 
 Duke of Saxe- Weimar. " 
 
 " The friend of Goethe and Schiller !" exclaimed the queen. 
 
 " The duke places his battalion of riflemen at our disposal, and 
 will accept a command in the war. " 
 
 " There will be war, then?" asked the queen, joyfully. 
 
 " Yes, there will be war, " said the king, sadly. 
 
 " You say so and sigh, " exclaimed Louisa. 
 
 "Yes, I sigh,'' replied the king. "I am not as happy as you and 
 those who are in favor of war. I do not believe in the invincibility 
 of my army. I feel that we cannot be successful. There is an in- 
 * HSusser's "History of Germany," vol. ii. , p. 770. 
 
A BAD OMEN. 501 
 
 describable confusion in the affairs of the war department ; the 
 gentlemen at the head of it, it is true, will not believe it, and pre- 
 tend that I am still too young and do not understand enough about 
 It. Ah, I wish from the bottom of my heart I were mistaken. The 
 future will soon show it. " * 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 A BAD OMEN. 
 
 Thk decisive word had been uttered! Prussia was at length 
 going to draw the sword, and take revenge for years of humiliation. 
 The army received this intelligence with unbounded exultation 
 and the people embraced every opportunity to manifest their martial 
 enthusiasm. They demanded that Schiller's "Maid of Olreans" 
 should be performed at the theatre, and replied to every warlike 
 and soul- stirring word of the tragedy by the most rapturous applause. 
 They again broke all the windows in Count Haugwitz's house, and 
 serenaded Prince Louis Ferdinand, Minister von Hardenberg, and 
 such generals as were known to be in favor of war. 
 
 All the newspapers predicted the most brilliant victories, and 
 gloated already in advance over the ti'iumphant battles in which 
 the Prussian army would defeat the enemy. 
 
 But the proudest and happiest of all were the officers who, in the in- 
 toxication of their joy, saw their heads already wreathed with laurels 
 which they would gain in the impending war, and whose pride 
 would not admit the possibility of a defeat. The army of Frederick 
 the Great, they said, could not be vanquished, 'and there was but 
 one apprehension which made them tremble : the fear lest war 
 should be avoided after all, and lest the inevitable and crushing de- 
 feat of Bonaparte should be averted once more by the conclusion of 
 a miserable peace. " f 
 
 The old generals who had served under Frederick the Great were 
 the heroes in whom the officers believed. "We have got generals 
 who know something about war, " said the haughty Prussian officers ; 
 "generals who have served in the army from their early youth. 
 Those French tailors and shoemakers who have gained some distinc- 
 tion only in consequence of the revolution, had better take to their 
 heels afl soon as such generals take the field against them. " J 
 
 And in the enthusiasm inspired by their future victories, the 
 officers gave each other brilliant farewell festivals, and indulged in 
 
 * The king's own words. —Vide Henchel von Donnersmarlc. 
 
 + Vide Vamhagen's "Denkwiirdigkeiten," vol. i. , pp. 389, 390i 
 
 t HBusser's "History of Germany," vol. ii., p. 358. 
 
503 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 liberal potations of champagne and hock in honor of the impending 
 battles, singing in stentorian voices the new war-songs which 
 E. M. Arndt * had just dedicated to the German people. When their 
 passions had been excited to the highest pitch by dreams of victory, 
 by wine and soul-stirring songs, they went in the evening to the 
 residence of the French minister to whet their sword-blades on the 
 pavement in front of his door. 
 
 "But what should we need swords and muskets for?" shouted 
 the officers up to the windows of the French minister ; " for wlien 
 the brave Prussians are approaching, the French will run away 
 spontaneously ; cudgels would be sufficient to drive the fellows back 
 to their own country. " f 
 
 But there were among the officers, and particularly among the 
 generals, some prudent and sagacious men who shared the king's 
 apprehensions, and who looked, like him, anxiously into the futm'e. 
 These prudent men were aware of the condition of the Prussian 
 army, and knew that it was no longer what it had been in the 
 Seven Years' War, and that there was no Frederick the Great to 
 lead it into battle. 
 
 It is true, there were still in the army many generals and officers 
 who had served under Frederick the Great, and these, of course, 
 were experienced and skilled in warlike operations. But they were 
 weighed down by the long number of their years ; old age is opposed 
 to an adventurous spirit, and in favoi' of the comforts of life. 
 Nevertheless, these men believed in themselves and felt convinced 
 that victory would adhere to them, the warriors of Frederick the 
 Great, and that no army was able to defeat soldiers commanded by 
 them. 
 
 The more prudent men looked with feelings of reverence on these 
 ruins of the magnificent structure which the great king had erected, 
 but they perceived at the same time that they were decayed and 
 crumbling. They well knew that the Prussian army was behind 
 the times in many respects, and not equal to the occasion. Not 
 only were the leaders too old, but the soldiers also had grown hoary 
 —not, however, in wars and military camps, but in parading and 
 garrison life. They knew nothing of active warfare, and were only 
 familiar with the duties of parade-soldiers. They were married, 
 and entered sullenly into a war which deprived their wives ana 
 children of their daily bread. 
 
 The Prussian army, moreover, was still organized in the old- 
 fashioned style, and none of the improvements rendered indispensa- 
 
 * E. M. Arndt, the celebrated author of the German hymn, "Was ist des Deut- 
 sohen Vaterland?" 
 
 t Bishop Bylert, "Frederick William III.," vol. iii., p. 8. 
 
A BAD OMEN. 503 
 
 ble by the rapid progress of the art of war had been adopted by the 
 Prussian ministers of war. 
 
 The arms of the infantry were defective and bad j the muskets 
 looked glittering and were splendidly burnished, but their construc- 
 tion was imperfect. They were calculated only for parades, but not 
 for active warfare. Besides, the infantry was drilled in the old 
 tactics, which looked very fine on parade, but were worse than use- 
 less in battle.* 
 
 The artillery was well mounted, but its generals were too old and 
 disabled for field service ; the youngest of them were more than 
 seventy years of age. 
 
 The clothing of the army was of the most wretched description ; 
 it was made of the coarsest and worst cloth, and, moreover, entirely 
 insuflScient. The rations were just as scanty, and fixed in accord- 
 ance with the economical standard of the Seven Years' War. 
 
 Besides, there was no enthusiasm, no military ardor in the ranks 
 of the army. The long period of peace and parade-service had 
 diminished the zeal of the soldiers, and made them consider their 
 duties as mere play and unnecessary vexations, requiring no other 
 labor than the cleaning of their muskets and belts, the buttoning of 
 their gaiters, and the artistic arrangement of their pigtails. Every 
 neglect of these important duties was punished in the most merciless 
 manner. The stick still reigned in the Prussian army, and while 
 cudgelling discipline into the soldier, they cudgelled ambition and 
 self-reliance out of him. Not military ardor and manly courage, 
 but discipline and the everlasting stick accompanied the Prussian 
 soldiers of 1806 into the war. f 
 
 The commander-in-chief of this dispirited and disorganized army 
 in the present war was intrusted to the Duke of Brunswick, a man 
 more than seventy years of age, talented and well versed in war, 
 but hesitating and timid in action, relying too little on himself, and 
 consequently without energy and determination. His assistant and 
 second in command was Field-Marshal MoUendorf , one of the bravest 
 officers of the Seven Years' War, but now no less than eighty years 
 
 of age. 
 
 Such was the army which was to take the field and defeat Napo- 
 leon's enthusiastic, well-tried, and experienced legions I 
 
 The apprehen&ions of the prudent were but too well founded, and 
 the anxiety visible in the king's gloomy mien was perfectly justified. 
 But all these doubts were now in vain ; they were unable to stem 
 the tide of events and to prevent the outbreak of hostilities. 
 
 The force of circumstaaces was more irresistible than the appre- 
 * "The War of 1806 and 1807." By Edward von Hopfner, vol. i. , p. 46. 
 -tlbid., vol. i., p. 86. 
 33 
 
504 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 hensions of the sagacious ; and if the latter said in a low voice this 
 war was a misfortune for Prussia, public opinion only shouted the 
 louder : " This war saves the honor of Prussia, and delivers us from 
 the yoke of the hateful tyrant I" 
 
 Public opinion had conquered; war was inevitable. General 
 von Knobelsdorf was commissioned to present to the Emperor of the 
 French in the name of the King of Prussia an ultimatum, in which 
 the king demanded that the French armies should evacuate Germany 
 in the course of two weeks ; that the emperor should raise no obsta- 
 cles against the formation of the confederation of the northern 
 princes, and give back to Prussia the city of Wesel, as well as other 
 Prussian territories annexed to France. 
 
 This ultimatum was equivalent to a declaration of the war, and 
 the Prussian army, therefore, marched into the field. 
 
 The regiments of the life-guards were to leave Berlin on the 2l8t 
 of September, and join the army, and the king intended to accom- 
 pany them. 
 
 In Berlin there reigned everj^where the greatest enthusiasm. 
 All the houses had been decorated with festoons and flowers, and 
 the inhabitants crowded the streets in their holiday-dresses to greet 
 the departing life-guards with jubilant cheers and congratulations. 
 
 The king had just reviewed the regiments, and now repaired to 
 his wife to bid her farewell and then leave Berlin at the head of his 
 life-guards. 
 
 The queen went to meet him with a radiant smile, and a won- 
 drous air of joy and happiness was beaming from her eyes. The 
 king gazed mournfully at her beautiful, flushed faoe, and her cheer- 
 fulness only increased his melancholy. 
 
 " You receive me with a smile, " he said, " and my heart is full of 
 anxiety and sadness. Do you not know, then, why I have come to 
 you? I have come to bid you farewell I" 
 
 She placed her hands on his shoulders, and her whole face was 
 radiant with sunshine. 
 
 "No," she said, "you have come to call for me !" 
 
 The king looked at her in confusion and terror. " How so, to 
 , call for you?" he asked. " Whither do you want to go, then?" 
 
 Louisa encircled her husband's neck with her arms, and clinging 
 to him she exclaimed, in a loud and joyous voice : • 
 
 " I want to go with you, dear husband !" 
 
 "With me?" ejaculated the king. 
 
 " Yes, with you, '' she said. " Do you believe, then, my friend, 
 I should have been so merry and joyful if this had not been my hope 
 and consolation? I have secretly made all the necessary prepara- 
 tions, and am ready now to set out with you. I have arranged every 
 
A BAD OMEN. 505 
 
 thing; I have even," she added, in a low and tremulous voice— "I 
 have even taken leave of the children, and I confess to you I have 
 shed bitter tears in doing so. Part of my heart remains with them, 
 but the other, the larger part, goes with you, and remains with 
 you, my friend, my beloved, my king. Will you reject it? Will 
 you not permit me to accompany you?" 
 
 " It is impossible, " said the king, shaking his head. 
 
 "Impossible?" she exclaimed, quickly. "If you, if the king 
 'ihould order it so?" 
 
 " The king must not do so, Louisa. I shall cease for a while to 
 be king, and shall be nothing but a soldier in the camp. Where 
 should there be room and the necessary comforts for a queen?" 
 
 " If you cease to be king, " said Louisa, smiling, " it f oUows,' as a 
 matter of course, that I cease to be a queen. If you are nothing but 
 a soldier, I am merely a soldier's wife, and it behooves a soldier's 
 wife to accompany her husband into the camp. Oh, Frederick, do 
 not say no ! — do not deprive me of my greatest happiness, of my 
 most sacred right ! Did we not swear an oath at the altar to go 
 hand in hand through life, and to stand faithfully by each other in 
 days of weal and woe? And now you will forget your oath? You 
 will sever our paths?" 
 
 " The path of war is hard and rough, " said the king, gloomily. 
 
 " Therefore I must be with you, to strew sometimes a few flowers 
 on this path of yours, " exclaimed the queen, joyfully. " I must be 
 with you, so that you may enjoy at least sometimes a calm, peaceful 
 hour in the evening, after the toils and troubles of the day I I must 
 be with you to rejoice with you when your affairs are prosperous, 
 and to comfort you when misfortunes befall you. Do you not feel, 
 then, dearest, that we belong indissolubly to each other, and that 
 we must walk inseparably through life, be it for weal or for woe?" 
 
 " I am not allowed to think of myself, Louisa, " said the king, 
 greatly affected, " nor of the joy it would afford me in these turbu- 
 lent and stormy days to see you by my side — you, my angel of peace 
 and happiness ; I must only think of you, of the queen, of the mother 
 of my children, whom I must not expose to any danger, and whom 
 I would gladly keep aloof from any tempest and anxiety.'' 
 
 " When I am no longer with you, anxiety will consume me, and 
 grief will rage around me like a tempest, " exclaimed the queen, 
 passionately. " I should find rest neither by day nor by night, for my 
 heart would always long for you, and my soul would always tremble 
 for you. I should always see you before me wounded and bleeding, 
 for I know you will not regard your safety, your life, when there is 
 a victory to be gained or a disgrace to be averted. Bullets do not 
 spare the heads of kings, and swords do not glance off powerlessly 
 
506 LOUISA OP PRUSSIA. 
 
 from their sacred persons. In time of war a king is but a man I 
 Permit the queen, therefore, at this time, to be but a woman — your 
 wife, who ought to nurse you if you should be wounded, and to 
 share your pain and anxiety! Oh, my beloved husband, can you 
 refuse your wife's supplication?" 
 
 She looked at him with her large, tearful, imploring eyes ; her 
 whole beautiful and great soul was beaming from her face in an ex- 
 pression of boundless love. 
 
 The king, overwhelmed, carried away by her aspect, was no 
 longer strong enough to resist her. He clasped her in his arms, and 
 pressed a long and glowing kiss on her forehead. 
 
 "No," he said, deeply moved, "I cannot refuse your supplica- 
 tion. We will, hand in hand, courageously and resolutely bear the 
 fate God has in store for us. Nothing but death shall separate us ! 
 Come, my Louisa, my beloved wife, accompany me wherever I may 
 go!" 
 
 The queen uttered a jofyul cry ; seizing the king's hand, she 
 bent over it and kissed it reverentially, before the king could prevent 
 her from doing so. 
 
 "Louisa, what are you doing?" exclaimed the king, almost 
 ashamed, "you — " 
 
 Loud shouts resounding on the sti'eet interrupted him. The 
 royal couple hastened hand in hand to the window. 
 
 On the opposite side of the street, in front of the large portal of 
 the arsenal, thousands of men had assembled ; all seemed to be 
 highly excited, and, with shouts and manifestations of wild curi- 
 osity, to throng around an object in the middle of the densest part 
 of the crowd. 
 
 Some accident must have happened over yonder. Perhaps, a 
 stroke of apoplexy had felled a poor man to the ground ; perhaps, a 
 murder had been committed, for the faces of the bystanders looked 
 pale and dismayed ; they clasped their hands wonderingly, and 
 shook their heads anxiously. 
 
 The king rang the bell hastily, and ordered the footman, who 
 entered immediately, to go over to the arsenal and see what was 
 the matter. 
 
 In a few minutes he returned, panting and breathless. 
 
 "Well," said the king to him, "has an accident occurred?" 
 
 "Yes, your majesty, not to anybody in the crowd, however. 
 The statue of Bellona, which stood on the portal of the arsenal, has 
 suddenly fallen from the roof. " 
 
 "Was it shattered?" asked the queen, whose cheeks had turned 
 pale. 
 
 "No, your majesty, but its right arm is broken." 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 507 
 
 The king beckoned him to withdraw, and commenced pacing 
 the room. The queen had returned to the window, and her eyes, 
 which she had turned toward heaven, were filled with tears. 
 
 After a long pause, the king approached her again. "Louisa " 
 he said, m a low voice, "will you still go with me? The day is 
 clear and sunny ; not a breath is stirring, and the statue of Bellona 
 falls from the roof of our arsenal and breaks its arm. That is a 
 bad omen ! Will you not be warned thereby?" 
 
 The queen gave him her hand, and her eyes were radiant again 
 with love and joyfulness. "Where you go, I shall go," she said, 
 enthusiastically 1 " Your life is my life, and your misfortunes are 
 my misfortunes. I am not afraid of bad omens !" * 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 BEFORE THE BATTLE. 
 
 It was long after nightfall. A cold and dismal night. The 
 mountains of the forests of Thuringia bordered the horizon with 
 their snow-clad summits, and a piercing wind was howling over 
 the heights and through the valleys. 
 
 The Prussian army seemed at length to have reached its destina- 
 tion, and here, on the hills and in the valleys of Jena and Auerstadt, 
 the great conflict was to be decided, for the Prussian army was 
 now confronting the legions of Napoleon. 
 
 The principal army, with the commander-in-chief, the Duke of 
 Brunswick, the king, and the staff, was encamped at Auerstadt. 
 
 The second army, commanded by the Prince von Hohenlohe, was 
 in the immediate neighborhood of Jena. 
 
 It was still firmly believed that Prussia would accomplish her 
 great purpose, and defeat Napoleon. The disastrous skirmish of 
 Saalfeld, and the death of Prince Louis Ferdinand, had made a bad 
 impression, but not shaken the general confidence. 
 
 It is true, the Prussians were cold, for they had no cloaks ; it is 
 true, they were himgry, for, owing to the sudden lack of bread, 
 they had received only half rations for the last few days ; but their 
 hearts were still undismayed, and they longed only for one thing — 
 for the decisive struggle. The decision, at all events, could not but 
 put an end to their hunger, either by death or by a victory, which 
 would open to them large army magazines and supplies. 
 
 • Another bad omen occurred on that day. Field-Marshal von Mollendorf, who 
 was to accompany the troops, after being lifted on the left side of his charger, 
 fell down on the other. 
 
508 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The Prussian troops encamped at Jena stood quietly before their 
 tents and chatted about the hopes of the next day ; they told each 
 other that Bonaparte with his French, as soon as he had heard that 
 the Prussians were already at Jena, had hastily left Weimar again 
 and retreated toward Gera. 
 
 " Then it will be still longer before we get hold of the French, " 
 exclaimed several soldiers. "We thought we had got him sure at 
 last, and that he could not escape any more, and when he scented 
 us, he again found a mouse-hole through which he might get away. '' 
 
 " But we wiU close this meuse-hole for him, so that he cannot 
 get out of it, " said a powerful voice behind them, and when the 
 soldiers turned anxiously around, they beheld their general, the 
 Prince von Hohenlohe, who, walking with his adjutants through 
 the camp, just reached their tents. 
 
 The soldiers faced about and respectfully saluted the general, 
 who kindly nodded to them. 
 
 "You would be glad then to meet the French soon?" he asked 
 the soldiers, whose conversation he had overheard. 
 
 "Yes, we should be glad, " they exclaimed ; " it would be a holi- 
 day for us. " 
 
 " Well, it may happen very soon, " said the prince, smiling, and 
 continued his walk. 
 
 " Long live the Prince von Hohenlohe 1" shouted the soldiers. 
 
 The prince walked on, everywhere greeting the soldiers and re- 
 ceiving their salutations ; everywhere filling the men with exulta- 
 tion by promising them that they would soon have a battle and 
 defeat the French. 
 
 Now he stopped in front of the grenadiers, who were drawn up 
 in line before him. 
 
 " Boys, " he said, loudly and joyously, " you will have to perform 
 the heaviest part of the work. If need be, you must make a bayo- 
 net charge, and I know you wiU rout the enemy wherever you meet 
 with him. I am sure you wiU do so !" 
 
 "Yes, we will!" shouted the grenadiers; "most assuredly we 
 wiU ! Would we had already got hold of the French !" 
 
 " We will soon enough, " exclaimed the prince ; and when he then 
 walked along the ranks, he asked a tall, broad-shouldered grenadier 
 "Well, how many French soldiers will you take?" 
 
 " Five, " said the grenadier. 
 
 "And you?" said the prince, to another grenadier. 
 
 "Three," he replied. 
 
 " I shall not take less than seven !" shouted another. 
 
 " I shall not take less than ten !" said still another. 
 
 The prince laughed and passed on. 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 509 
 
 Wlien the night had further advanced, he rode with his staflE to 
 a hill near Kapellendorf, where he had established his headquarters. 
 
 From this hiU he closely scanned the position of the enemy, 
 whose camp was marked only by a few lights and bivouac-flres. 
 
 " We shall have nothing to do to-morrow, " said the prince, turn- 
 ing to his officers. " It seems the principal army of the French is 
 moving toward Leipsic and Naumburg. At the best, we shall have 
 a few skirmishes of no consequence to-morrow. We may, there- 
 fore, calmly go to bed, and so may our soldiers. Good-night, gen- 
 tlemen. " 
 
 And the prince rode with his adjutants down to his headquarters 
 at KapeUendorf, to go to bed and sleep. An hour later, profound 
 silence reigned in the Prussian camp near Jena. The soldiers were 
 sleeping, and so was their general. 
 
 And profound silence reigned also in the Prussian camp at 
 Auerstadt. The king had held a council of war late in the even- 
 ing, and conferred with the Duke of Brunswick, Field-Marshal von 
 MoUendorf , and the other generals about the operations of the follow- 
 ing day. The resut of this consultation had been that nobody be- 
 lieved in the possibility of a battle on the following day ; and hence, 
 it had been decided that the army was quietly to advance, follow 
 the enemy, who seemed to retreat, and prevent him from crossing 
 the Saale. 
 
 The council of war had then adjourned, and the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick hastened to his quarters, in order, like the Prince von Hohen- 
 lohe, to go to bed and sleep. 
 
 An hour later, profound silence reigned also in the Prussian 
 camp at Auerstadt. The Duke of Brunswick slept, and so did his 
 soldiers. 
 
 The king alone was awake. 
 
 With a heavy heart and a gloomy face, he was walking up and 
 down in his tent. He felt indescribably lonesome, for his wife waa 
 no longer with him. Yielding, with bitter tears, to the supplica- 
 tions of her husband, she had left the camp to-day and gone toward 
 
 Naumburg. , . , , , , 
 
 The king had implored her to go, but his heart was heavy ; and 
 
 when he at last, late at night, repaired to his couch, slumber kept 
 
 aloof from his eyes. 
 
 At the same time, while the Prussian army and its generals were 
 
 sleenine a wondrous scene took place not far from them, and a 
 
 singular procession moved across the fields at no great distance from 
 
 ^'silence darkness, and fog reigned all around. But suddenly the 
 fog parted, and two torch-bearers, with grave faces, appeared. 
 
510 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 accompanying a man clad in a green overcoat, with white facings, 
 with a small three-cornered hat on his head, and mounted on a 
 white horse. The blaze of the torches illuminated his pale face ; his 
 eyes were as keen as those of an eagle, and seemed to command the 
 fog to disappear, so that he might see what it was concealing from 
 him. At his side, whenever the torches blazed up, two other horse- 
 men, in brilliant uniforms, were to be seen ; but their eyes did not 
 try to pierce the fog, but to fathom the face of the proud man at 
 their side ; their eyes were fixed on him, on his pale face, on which, 
 even at this hour of the night, the sun of Austerlitz was shedding 
 his golden rays. 
 
 "While the Prussian army and its generals were sleeping. Napo- 
 leon was awake and was arranging the plans for the impending 
 battle. The postmaster of Jena and General Denzel were his torch- 
 bearers ; Marshal Lannes and Marshal Soult were his companions. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon was reconnoitring, in the dead of night, 
 the ground on which he was to gain a battle over the Prussians on 
 the morrow, as he had recently gained a battle over the Austrians. 
 
 Austria had had her Austerlitz ; Prussia was to have her Auer- 
 stadt and Jena. 
 
 Napoleon had fixed his plan ; to-morrow was the day when ho 
 would take revenge on the King of Prussia for the treaty of Potsdam 
 and the alliance with Russia. 
 
 AiTiving at the foot of the hiU of Jena, the emperor stopped and 
 alighted, in order to ascend it on foot. Wlien he reached the sum- 
 mit, he stood for a long while absorbed in his reflections. The two 
 torch-bearers were at his side ; the two marshals stood a little be- 
 hind them. The emperor's eyes were fixed on the mountains, 
 especially on the Dornberg which he had previously passed. 
 
 The mountain lay dark and silent before him — a lonely, sleeping 
 giant. 
 
 The emperor raised his arm and pointed at the Dornberg. " The 
 Prussians have left the heights, " he said, turning slowly to Marshal 
 Lannes ; " they were probably afraid of the cold night-air, and have 
 descended into the valley to sleep. They believe we shall not take 
 advantage of their slumber. But they will be dreadfully mistaken, 
 those old wigs I * As soon as the fog has descended a little post your 
 sharpshooters on the heights of the Dornberg, that they may bid 
 the Prussians good-morning when they want to march up again !" 
 
 He turned his eyes again to the gorge ; suddenly his eyes flashed 
 flre and seemed to pierce the darkness. 
 
 "What is going on in the gorge below?" he asked, hastily. 
 
 The torch-bearers lowered their torches ; the emperor and the 
 * Napoleon said: "lis se tromperont formidablement ces vieux perruques." 
 
BEFORE THE BATTLE. 511 
 
 marshals looked anxiously at a long black line moving forward in 
 the middle of the gorge, illuminated here and there by a yellow pale 
 light which seemed to burn in large lanterns. 
 
 Napoleon turned with an angry glance to Marshal Lannes. His 
 face was pale — his right shoulder was quivering, a symptom that 
 he was highly incensed. " It is the artillery of your corps, " he said. 
 " It has stuck in the gorge 1 If we cannot get it oflE, we shall lose to- 
 morrow's battle ! Come 1" 
 
 And he hastened down-hill in so rapid and impetuous a manner 
 that the torch-bearers and marshals were scarcely able to follow 
 him. 
 
 Like an apparition, with flashing eyes, with an angry, pale face, 
 his form suddenly emerged from the darkness before the artillerists 
 who vainly tried to move the field-pieces, the wheels of which sank 
 deeply into the sand. The whole column of cannon and caissons 
 behind them had been obliged to halt, and an inextricable confu- 
 sion would have ensued unless immediate and energetic steps had 
 been taken to open a passage. 
 
 This was to be done immediately, for Napoleon was there. 
 
 He called in a loud voice for the general commanding the artil- 
 lery ; he repeated this call three times, and every time his voice 
 became more threatening, and his face turned paler. 
 
 But the of&cers he called for did not appear. The emperor did 
 not say a word ; his right shoulder was quivering, and his eyes 
 flashed fire. 
 
 He commanded all the gunners in a loud voice to come to him, 
 and ordered them to get their tools and light their large lanterns. 
 
 The emperor had himself seized the first lantern that was lighted. 
 
 " Now take your pick-axes and spades, " he shouted. " We must 
 widen the gorge in order to get the field-pieces off again." 
 
 It was hard and exhausting work. Large drops of perspiration 
 ran down from the foreheads of the gunners, and their breath issued 
 painfully from their breasts. But they worked on courageously and 
 untiringly, for the emperor stood at their side, lantern in hand, and 
 lighted them during their toilsome task. 
 
 At times the gunners would pause and lean on their spades— not, 
 however, for the purpose of resting, but of looking with wondering 
 eyes at this strange spectacle, this man with his pale marble face 
 and flaming eyes, this emperor who had transformed himself into 
 an artillery officer, and, lantern in hand, lighted his gunners.* 
 
 Only when the wagons and field-pieces, thanks to the energy of 
 the gunners, had commenced moving again, the emperor left the 
 gorge and returned to his bivouac. He took his supper hastily and 
 » "Mfimoires du Due de Eovigo," vol. ii., p. 278. 
 
512 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 thoughtfully ; then he summoned all his generals and gave them 
 their instructions for to-morrow's battle as lucidly and calmly as 
 ever. 
 
 " And now let us sleep, for we must be up and doing to-morrow 
 morning at four o'clock !" said the emperor, dismissing his generals 
 with a winning smile. 
 
 A few minutes later profound silence reigned all around ; the 
 emperor lay on his straw and slept. Roustan sat at some distance 
 from him, and his dark eyes were fixed on his master with the ex- 
 pression of a faithful and vigilant St. Bernard's dog. The flames of 
 the bivouac-flre enveloped at times, when they rose higher, the 
 whole form of the emperor in a strange halo, and when they sank 
 down again the shades of the night shrouded it once more. Four 
 sentinels were walking up and down in front of the emperor's 
 bivouac. 
 
 Morning was dawning ; it was the morning of the 14th of 
 October, 1806. 
 
 The Prussians were still asleep in their tents. But the French 
 were awake, and the emperor was at their head. 
 
 At four o'clock, according to the orders Napoleon had given, 
 the divisions that were to make the first attack were under arms. 
 
 The emperor on his white horse galloped up ; an outburst of the 
 most rapturous enthusiasm hailed his appearance. 
 
 " Long live our little corporal 1 Long live the emperor !" shouted 
 thousands of voices. 
 
 The emperor raised his hat a little and thanked the soldiers with 
 a smile which penetrated like a warm sunbeam into all hearts. He 
 waved his right hand, commanding them to be silent, and then his 
 powerful, sonorous voice resounded through the stillness of the 
 autumnal morning. 
 
 "Soldiers,'' he shouted in his usual imperious tone, "soldiers, 
 the Prussian army is cut off, like that of General Mack a year ago at 
 Ulm. That army will only fight to secure a retreat and to regain its 
 communications. The French corps, which suffers itself to be de- 
 feated under such circumstances, disgraces itself. Fear not that 
 celebrated cavalry ; meet it in square and with the bayonet !" 
 
 "Long live the emperor 1 Long live the little corporal I" shouted 
 the soldiers jubilantly on all sides. The emperor nodded smilingly, 
 and galloped on to give his orders here and there, and to address the 
 soldiers. 
 
 It was six o'clock in the morning ; the Prussians were still asleep I 
 But now the first guns thundered ; they awakened the sleeping 
 Prussians. 
 
THE GERMAN PHILOSOPHER. 513 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 THE GERMAN PHILOSOPHEK. 
 
 Peofoxjnd silence reigned in the small room ; books were to be 
 seen everywhere on the shelves, on the tables, and on the floor ; they 
 formed abnost the only decoration of this room which contained 
 only the most indispensable furniture. 
 
 It was the room of a German savant, a professor at the far-famed 
 University of Jena. 
 
 He was sitting at the large oaken table where he was engaged in 
 writing. His form, which was of middle height, was wrapped in 
 a comfortable dressing-gown of green silk, trimmed with black fur, 
 which showed here and there a few worn-out, defective spots. A 
 small green velvet cap, the shape of which reminded the beholder 
 of the cap of the learned Melanothon, covered his expansive, intel- 
 lectual forehead, which was shaded by sparse light-brown hair. 
 
 A number of closely- written sheets of paper lay on the table be- 
 fore him, on which the eyes of the savant, of the philosopher, were 
 fixed. 
 
 This savant in the lonely small room, this philosopher was George 
 Frederick William Hegel. 
 
 For two days he had not left his room ; for two days nobody had 
 been permitted to enter it except the old waitress who silently and 
 softly laid the cloth on his table, and placed on it the meals she had 
 brought for him from a neighboring restaurant. 
 
 Averting his thoughts from all worldly affairs, the philosopher 
 had worked and reflected, and heard nothing but the intellectual 
 voices that spoke to him from the depths of his mind. Without, 
 history had walked across the battle-field with mighty strides and 
 performed immortal deeds ; and here, in the philosopher's room, the 
 mind had unveiled its grand ideas and problems. 
 
 On the 14th of October, and in the night of the 14th and 15th, 
 Hegel finished his " Phenomenology of the Mind, " a work by which 
 he intended to prepare the world for his bold philosophical system, 
 and in which, with the ringing steps of a prophet, he had accom- 
 plished his first walk through the catacombs of the creative intellect. 
 
 All the power and strength of reality, in his eyes, sprang from 
 this system, which he strove to found in the sweat of his intellectual 
 brow,— and his system had caused him to forget the great events 
 that had occurred in his immediate neighborhood. 
 
 Now he had finished his work ; now he had written the last word. 
 
514 LOUISA OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 The pen dropped from his hands, which he folded over his manu- 
 script as if to bless it silently. 
 
 He raised his head, which, up to this time, he had bent over the 
 paper, and his blue eyes, so gentle and lustrous, turned toward 
 heaven with a silent prayer for the success of his work. His fine, 
 intellectual face beamed with energy and determination ; the 
 philosopher was conscious of the struggle to which his work would 
 give rise in the reahn of thought, but he felt ready and prepared to 
 } } meet his assailants. 
 
 " The work is flnsished, " he exclaimed, loudly and joyfully ; " it 
 shall now go out into the world !" 
 
 He hastily folded up his manuscript, wrapped a sheet of paper 
 around it, sealed it and directed it. 
 
 Then he looked at his watch. 
 
 "Eight o'clock," he said, in a low voice ; "if I make haste, the 
 postmaster will forward my manuscript to-day. " 
 
 He divested himself of his gown, and dressed. Then he took his 
 hat and the manuscript and hastened dovsm into the street toward 
 the post-office. Absorbed as he was in his reflections, he saw 
 neither the extraordinary commotion reigning in the small univer- 
 sity town, nor the sad faces of the passers-by ; he only thought of 
 his work, and not of reality. 
 
 He now entered the post-office ; all the doors were open ; all the 
 employes were chatting with each other, and no one was at the desk 
 to attend to the office business and to receive the various letters. 
 
 Hegel, therefore, had to go to the postmaster, who had not noticed 
 him at all, but was conversing loudly and angrily with several gen- 
 tlemen who were present. 
 
 " Here is a package which I want you to send to Bamburg, " said 
 the philosopher, handing his package to the postmaster. "The 
 stage-coach has not set out yet, I suppose?" 
 
 The postmaster stared at him wonderingly. " No, " he said, " it 
 has not set out yet, and will not set out at all !" 
 
 It was now the philosopher's turn to look wonderingly at the 
 postmaster. 
 
 " It wiU not set out ?" he asked. " Why not ?" 
 
 "It is impossible, in the general confusion and excitement. 
 There are neither horses nor men to be had to-day. Everybody is 
 anxious and terrified. " 
 
 "But what has happened?" asked the philosopher, in a low voice. 
 
 "What? Then you do not know yet the terrible events of the 
 day, Mr. Professor?" exclaimed the postmaster, in dismay. 
 
 " I do not know any thing about them, " said the philosopher, 
 timidly, and almost ashamed of himself. 
 
THE GERMAN PHILOSOPHER. 515 
 
 " Perhaps }'0U did not hear, in your study, the thunders of the 
 artillery?" 
 
 " I heard occasionally a dull, long-continued noise, but I confess 
 I did not pay any attention to it. What has occurred?" 
 
 " A battle has occurred, " exclaimed the postmaster, " and when I 
 say a battle, I mean two battles ; one was fought here at Jena, and 
 the other at Auerstadt ; but here they did not know that a battle 
 was going on at Auerstadt, and at Auerstadt, like you, Mr. Pro- 
 fessor, they did not hear the artillery of Jena. " 
 
 "And who has won the battle?" asked Hegel, feelingly. 
 
 "Who but the conqueror of the world, the Emperor Napoleon!" 
 exclaimed the postmaster. "The Prussians are defeated, routed, 
 dispersed ; they are escaping in all directions ; and when two French 
 horsemen are approaching, hundreds of Prussians throw their arms 
 away and beg for mercy I The whole Prussian army has exploded 
 like a soap-bubble. The king was constantly in the thickest of the 
 fray ; he wished to die when he saw that all was lost, but death 
 seemed to avoid him. Two horses were killed under him, but neither 
 sword iior bullet struck him. He is retreating now, but the French 
 are at his heels. Grod grant that he may escape ! The commander- 
 in-chief, the Duke of Brunswick, was mortally wounded ; a bullet 
 struck him in the face and destroyed his eyes. Oh, it is a terrible 
 disaster ! Prussia is lost, and so is Saxe-Weimar, for the Emperor 
 Napoleon will never forgive our duke that, instead of joining the 
 Confederation of the Rhine, he stood by Prussia and fought against 
 France. Our poor state will have to atone for it !" 
 
 Hegel had listened sadly to the loquacious man, and his features 
 had become gloomier and gloomier. He felt dizzy, and a terrible 
 burden weighed down his breast. He nodded to the postmaster and 
 went out again into the street. 
 
 But his knees were trembling under him. He slowly tottered 
 toward his residence. 
 
 All at once a brilliant procession entered the lower part of the 
 street. Drums and cheers resounded. A large cavalcade was now 
 approaching. 
 
 At its head, mounted on a white horse with a waving mane and 
 quivering nosti-ils, rode the man of the century, the man with the 
 marble face of a Roman imperator, the Julius Caesar of modern 
 
 history. 
 
 His eyes were beaming with courage and pride ; a triumphant 
 smile was playing on his lips. It was the triumphator making his 
 entry into the conquered city. 
 
 The philosopher thought of the history of ancient Rome, and it 
 
616 LOUISA OF PEUSSIA. 
 
 seemed to him as though the face of the modem Caesar were that of 
 a resuscitated statue of antiquity. 
 
 Napoleon now fixed his fiashing eyes on the philosopher, who 
 felt that this glance penetrated into the innermost depths of his 
 heart.* 
 
 Seized with awe, Hegel took off his hat and bowed deeply. 
 
 The emperor touched his hat smilingly, and thanked him ; then 
 he galloped on, followed by the whole brilliant suite of his marshals 
 and generals. 
 
 The German philosopher stood still, as if fixed to the ground, and 
 gazed after him musingly and absorbed in solemn reflections. 
 
 He himself, the Napoleon of ideas, had yet to win his literary 
 battles in the learned world of Germany. 
 
 The emperor, the Napoleon of action, had already won his bat- 
 tles, and Germany lay at his feet. Vanquished, crushed Germany 
 seemed to have undergone her last death-struggle in the battles of 
 Jena and Auerstadt. 
 
 * The writer heard the siccount of this meeting with the Emperor Napoleon 
 from the celebrated philosopher himself in 1839. He described in plain, yet soul- 
 stirring words, the profound, overwhelming impression which the appearance of 
 the great emperor had made upon him, and called this meeting with Napoleon one 
 of the most momentous events of his life. The writer, then a young girl, listened 
 at the side of her father with breathless suspense to the narrative which, precisely 
 by its simplicity made so profound an impression upon her, that, carried away 
 by her feelings, she burst into tears. The philosopher smiled, and placed his hand 
 on her head. "Young folks weep with their hearts," he said, "but we men wept 
 at that time with our heads." 
 
 The AuTEOBEsa. 
 
 THE END.