A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Germany from the Earliest Period Vol. 4

W >> Wolfgang Menzel, Trans. Mrs. George Horrocks >> Germany from the Earliest Period Vol. 4




Napoleon, completely deceived by Winzingerode and Tettenborn, who had
remained behind with merely a weak rearguard, first learned the
advance of the main body upon Paris when too late to overtake it.
After almost annihilating his weak opponents at St. Dizier, he reached
Fontainebleau, where he learned the capitulation of Paris, and, giving
way to the whole fury of his Corsican temperament, offered to yield
the city for two days to the license of his soldiery would they but
follow him to the assault. But his own marshals, even his hero, Ney,
deserted him, and, on the 10th of April, he was compelled to resign
the imperial crown of France and to withdraw to the island of Elba on
the coast of Italy, which was placed beneath his sovereignty and
assigned to him as a residence. The kingdom of France was
re-established on its former footing; and, on the 4th of May, Louis
XVIII. entered Paris and mounted the throne of his ancestors.

Davoust was the last to offer resistance. The Russians under Bennigsen
besieged him in Hamburg, and, on his final surrender, treated him with
the greatest moderation.[9]

On the 30th of May, 1814, peace was concluded at Paris.[10] France was
reduced to her limits as in 1792, and consequently retained the
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, of which she had, at an earlier
period, deprived Germany. Not a farthing was paid by way of
compensation for the ravages suffered by Germany, nay, the French
prisoners of war were, on their release, maintained on their way home
at the expense of the German population. None of the _chefs-d'oeuvres_
of which Europe had been plundered were restored, with the sole
exception of the group of horses, taken by Napoleon from the
Brandenburg gate at Berlin. The allied troops instantly evacuated the
country. France was allowed to regulate her internal affairs without
the interference of any of the foreign powers, while paragraphs
concerning the internal economy of Germany were not only admitted into
the treaty of Paris, and France was on that account not only called
upon to guarantee and to participate in the internal affairs of
Germany, but also afterward sent to the great Congress of Vienna an
ambassador destined to play an important part in the definitive
settlement of the affairs of Europe, and, more particularly, of those
of Germany.

The patriots, of whom the governments had made use both before and
after the war, unable to comprehend that the result of such immense
exertions and of such a complete triumph should be to bring greater
profit and glory to France than to Germany, and that their patriotism
was, on the conclusion of the war, to be renounced, were loud in their
complaints.[11] But the revival of the German empire, with which the
individual interests of so many princely houses were plainly
incompatible, was far from entering into the plans of the allied
powers. An attempt made by any one among the princes to place himself
at the head of the whole of Germany would have been frustrated by the
rest. The policy of the foreign allies was moreover antipathetic to
such a scheme. England opposed and sought to hinder unity in Germany,
not only for the sake of retaining possession of Hanover and of
exercising an influence over the disunited German princes similar to
that exercised by her over the princes of India, but more particularly
for that of ruling the commerce of Germany. Russia reverted to her
Erfurt policy. Her interests, like those of France, led her to promote
disunion among the German powers, whose weakness, the result of want
of combination, placed them at the mercy of France, and left Poland,
Sweden, and the East open to the ambition of Russia. A close alliance
was in consequence instantly formed between the emperor Alexander and
Louis XVIII., the former negotiating, as the first condition of peace,
the continuance of Lorraine and Alsace beneath the sovereignty of
France.

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


[Footnote 1: His principal thesis consisted of "We are not Prussians,
Westphalians, Saxons, etc., but Germans."]

[Footnote 2: This prince took the title not of stadtholder, but of
king, to which he had no claim, but in which he was supported by
England and Russia, who unwillingly beheld Prussia aggrandized by the
possession of Holland.]

[Footnote 3: Even in the May of 1813, an ode given in No. 270 of the
Allgemeine Zeitung, appeared in Switzerland, in which it was said,
"The brave warriors of Switzerland hasten to reap fresh laurels. With
their heroic blood have they dyed the distant shores of barbarous
Haiti, the waters of the Ister and Tagus, etc. The deserts of Sarmatia
have witnessed the martial glories of the Helvetic legion."]

[Footnote 4: Shortly before this, a report had been spread of the
nomination of Marshal Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, as perpetual
Landammann of Switzerland.--_Muralt's Reinhard_.]

[Footnote 5: Out of two thousand six hundred and fifty-four Badeners
but five hundred and six returned from Spain.]

[Footnote 6: Beamisch, History of the Legion.]

[Footnote 7: Several regiments sacrificed themselves in order to cover
the retreat of the rest. Napoleon ordered a twelve-pounder to be
loaded and twice directed the gun with his own hand upon the crown
prince.--_Campaigns of the Würterribergers._]

[Footnote 8: Blücher's conduct simply proceeded from his impatience to
obtain by force of arms the most honorable terms of peace for Prussia,
while the other allied powers, who were far more indulgently disposed
toward France and who began to view the victories gained by Prussia
with an apprehension which was further strengthened by the increasing
popularity of that power throughout Germany, were more inclined to
diplomatize than to fight. Blücher was well aware of these reasons for
diplomacy and more than once cut the negotiations short with his
sabre. A well-known diplomatist attempting on one occasion to prove to
him that Napoleon must, even without the war being continued, "descend
from his throne," a league having been formed within France herself
for the restoration of the Bourbons--he answered him to his face, "The
rascality of the French is no revenge for us. It is we who must pull
him down--we. You will no doubt do wonders in your wisdom!--Patience!
You will be led as usual by the nose, and will still go on fawning and
diplomatizing until we have the nation again upon us, and the storm
bursts over our heads." He went so far as to set the diplomatists
actually at defiance. On being, to Napoleon's extreme delight, ordered
to retreat, he treated the order with contempt and instantly
advanced.--_Rauschnick's Life of Blücher_. "This second disjunction on
Blücher's part," observes Clausewitz, the Prussian general, the best
commentator on this war, "was of infinite consequence, for it checked
and gave a fresh turn to the whole course of political affairs."]

[Footnote 9: Görres said in the Rhenish Mercury, "It is easy to see
how all are inclined to conceal beneath the wide mantle of love the
horrors there perpetrated. The Germans have from time immemorial been
subjected to this sort of treatment, because ever ready to forgive and
forget the past." Davoust was arrested merely for form's sake and then
honorably released. He was allowed to retain the booty he had seized.
The citizens of Hamburg vainly implored the re-establishment of their
bank.]

[Footnote 10: Blücher took no part in these affairs. "I have," said he
to the diplomatists, "done my duty, now do yours! You will be
responsible both to God and man should your work be done in vain and
have to be done over again. I have nothing further to do with the
business!"--Experience had, however, taught him not to expect much
good from "quill-drivers."]

[Footnote 11: The Rhenish Mercury more than all. It was opposed by the
Messenger of the Tyrol, which declared that the victory was gained,
not by the "people," as they were termed, but by the princes and their
armies.--_July, 1814_.]



CCLXIII. The Congress of Vienna--Napoleon's Return and End


From Paris the sovereigns of Prussia[1] and Russia and the victorious
field-marshals proceeded, in June, to London, where they, Blucher most
particularly, were received with every demonstration of delight and
respect by the English, their oldest and most faithful allies.[2]
Toward autumn, a great European congress, to which the settlement of
every point in dispute and the restoration of order throughout Europe
were to be committed, was convoked at Vienna. At this congress, which,
in the November of 1814, was opened at Vienna, the emperors of Austria
and Russia, the kings of Prussia, Denmark, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and
the greater part of the petty princes of Germany, were present in
person; the other powers were represented by ambassadors
extraordinary. The greatest statesmen of that period were here
assembled; among others, Metternich, the Austrian minister, Hardenberg
and Humboldt, the Prussian ministers, Castlereagh, the English
plenipotentiary, Nesselrode, the Russian envoy, Talleyrand and
Dalberg, Gagern, Bernstorff, and Wrede, the ambassadors of France,
Holland, Denmark, and Bavaria, etc. The negotiations were of the
utmost importance, for, although one of the most difficult points, the
new regulation of affairs in France, was already settled, many
extremely difficult questions still remained to be solved. Talleyrand,
who had served under every government, under the republic, under the
usurper, Napoleon; who had retaken office under the Bourbons and the
Jesuits who had returned in their train, and who, on this occasion,
was the representative of the criminal and humbled French nation,
ventured, nevertheless, to offer his perfidious advice to the victors,
and, with diabolical art, to sow the seed of discord among them. This
conduct was the more striking on account of its glaring incongruity
with the proclamation of Calisch, which expressly declared that the
internal affairs of Germany were wholly and solely to be arranged by
the princes and nations of Germany, without foreign, and naturally,
least of all, without French interference.[3] Talleyrand's first
object was to suppress the popular spirit of liberty throughout
Germany, and to rouse against it the jealous apprehensions of the
princes. He therefore said, "You wish for constitutions; guard against
them. In France, desire for a constitution produced a revolution, and
the same will happen to you." He it was who gave to the congress that
catchword, legitimacy. The object of the past struggle was not the
restoration of the liberties of the people but that of the ancient
legitimate dynasties and their absolute sovereignty. The war had been
directed, not against Napoleon, but against the Revolution, against
the usurpation of the people. By means of this legitimacy the king of
Saxony was to be re-established on his throne, and Prussia was on no
account to be permitted to incorporate Saxony with her dominions.
Prussia appealed to her services toward Germany, to her enormous
sacrifices, to the support given to her by public opinion; but the
power of public opinion was itself questioned. The seeds of discord
quickly sprang up, and, on the 3d of January, 1815, a secret league
against Prussia was already formed for the purpose of again humbling
the state that had sacrificed all for the honor of Germany, of
frustrating her schemes of aggrandizement, and of quenching the
patriotic spirit of German idealists and enthusiasts.[4]

The want of unanimity amid the members of the congress had at the same
time a bad effect upon the ancient Rhenish confederated states. In
Nassau, the _Landwehr_ was, on its return home after the campaign,
received with marks of dissatisfaction. In Baden and Hesse, many of
the officers belonging to the army openly espoused Napoleon's cause.
In Baden, the volunteer corps was deprived of its horses and sent home
on foot.[5] In Wurtemberg, King Frederick refused to allow the foreign
troops and convoys a passage along the highroad through Cannstadt and
Ludwigsburg, and forbade the attendance of civil surgeons upon the
wounded belonging to the allied army. In Wurtemberg and Bavaria, the
Rhenish Mercury was suppressed on account of its patriotic and German
tendency. At Stuttgard, the festival in commemoration of the battle of
Leipzig was disallowed; and in Frankfort on the Maine, the editor of a
French journal ventured, unreprimanded, to turn this festival into
ridicule.

Switzerland was in a high state of ferment. The people of the Grisons,
who had taken possession of the Valtelline, and the people of Uri, who
had seized the Livinenthal, had been respectively driven out of those
territories by the Austrians. The Valais, Geneva, Neufchatel, and
Pruntrut were, on the other hand, desirous of joining the
confederation. The democratic peasantry were almost everywhere at war
with the aristocratic burghers. Berne revived her claim upon Vaud and
Aargau, which armed in self-defence.[6] Reinhard of Zurich, the Swiss
_Landammann_, went, meanwhile, at the head of an embassy to Vienna,
for the purpose of settling in the congress the future destinies of
Switzerland by means of the intervention of the great powers.
Talleyrand, with unparalleled impudence, also interfered in this
affair, threatened to refuse his recognition to every measure passed
without his concurrence, and compelled the Swiss to entreat him to
honor the deliberations with his presence. On Austria's demanding a
right of conscription in the Grisons alone, France having enjoyed that
right throughout the whole of Switzerland at an earlier period,
Talleyrand advised the Swiss to make a most violent opposition against
an attempt that placed their independence at stake. "Cry out," he
exclaimed, "cry out, as loud as you can!"[7]

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

The allied sovereigns were still assembled at Vienna, and at once
allowed every dispute to drop in order to form a fresh and closer
coalition. They declared Napoleon an outlaw, a robber, proscribed by
all Europe, and bound themselves to bring a force more than a million
strong into the field against him. All Napoleon's cunning attempts to
bribe and set them at variance were treated with scorn, and the
combined powers speedily came to an understanding on the points
hitherto so strongly contested. Saxony was partitioned between her
ancient sovereign and Prussia, and a revolt that broke out in Liege
among the Saxon troops, who were by command of Prussia to be divided
before they had been released from their oath of allegiance to their
king, is easily explained by the hurry and pressure of the times,
which caused all minor considerations to be forgotten.[9] Napoleon
exclusively occupied the mind of every diplomatist, and all agreed in
the necessity, at all hazards, of his utter annihilation. The lion,
thus driven at bay, turned upon his pursuers for a last and desperate
struggle. The French were still faithful to Napoleon, who, with a view
of reinspiring them with the enthusiastic spirit that had rendered
them invincible in the first days of the republic, again called forth
the old republicans, nominated them to the highest appointments,
re-established several republican institutions, and, on the 1st of
June, presented to his dazzled subjects the magnificent spectacle of a
field of May, as in the times of Charlemagne and in the commencement
of the Revolution, and then led a numerous and spirited army to the
Dutch frontiers against the enemy.

Here stood a Prussian army under Blucher, and an Anglo-German one
under Wellington, comprehending the Dutch under the Prince of Orange,
the Brunswickers under their duke, the recruited Hanoverian Legion
under Wallmoden. These _corps d'armée_ most imminently threatened
Paris. The main body of the allied army, under Schwarzenberg, then
advancing from the south, was still distant. Napoleon consequently
directed his first attack against the two former. His army had gained
immensely in strength and spirit by the return of his veteran troops
from foreign imprisonment. Wellington, ignorant at what point Napoleon
might cross the frontier, had followed the old and ill-judged plan of
dividing his forces; an incredible error, the allies having simply to
unite their forces and to take up a firm position in order to draw
Napoleon to any given spot. Wellington, moreover, never imagined that
Napoleon was so near at hand, and was amusing himself at a ball at
Brussels, when Blucher, who was stationed in and around Namur, was
attacked on the 14th of June, 1815.[10] Napoleon afterward observed in
his memoirs that he had attacked Blucher first because he well knew
that Blucher would not be supported by the over-prudent and
egotistical English commander, but that Wellington, had he been first
attacked, would have received every aid from his high-spirited and
faithful ally. Wellington, after being repeatedly urged by Blucher,
collected his scattered corps, but neither completely nor with
sufficient rapidity; and on Blucher's announcement of Napoleon's
arrival, exerted himself on the following morning so far as to make a
_reconnaissance_. The duke of Brunswick, with impatience equalling
that of Blucher, was the only one who had quitted the ball during the
night and had hurried forward against the enemy. Napoleon, owing to
Wellington's negligence, gained time to throw himself between him and
Blucher and to prevent their junction; for he knew the spirit of his
opponents. He consequently opposed merely a small division of his army
under Ney to the English and turned with the whole of his main body
against the Prussians. The veteran Blucher perceived his
intentions[11] and in consequence urgently demanded aid from the Duke
of Wellington, who promised to send him a reinforcement of twenty
thousand men by four o'clock on the 16th. But this aid never arrived,
Wellington, although Ney was too weak to obstruct the movement, making
no attempt to perform his promise. Wellington retired with superior
forces before Ney at Quatre Bras, and allowed the gallant and
unfortunate Duke William of Brunswick to fall a futile sacrifice.
Blucher meanwhile yielded to the overwhelming force brought against
him by Napoleon at Ligny, also on the 16th of June. Vainly did the
Prussians rush to the attack beneath the murderous fire of the French,
vainly did Blucher in person head the assault and for five hours
continue the combat hand to hand in the village of Ligny. Numbers
prevailed, and Wellington sent no relief. The infantry being at length
driven back, Blucher led the cavalry once more to the charge, but was
repulsed and fell senseless beneath his horse, which was shot dead.
His adjutant, Count Nostitz, alone remained at his side. The French
cavalry passed close by without perceiving them, twilight and a misty
rain having begun to fall. The Prussians fortunately missed their
leader, repulsed the French cavalry, which again galloped past him as
he lay on the ground, and he was at length drawn from beneath his
horse. He still lived, but only to behold the complete defeat of his
army.

Blucher, although a veteran of seventy-three, and wounded and
shattered by his fall, was not for a moment discouraged.[12] Ever
vigilant, he assembled his scattered troops with wonderful rapidity,
inspirited them by his cheerful words, and had the generosity to
promise aid, by the afternoon of the 18th of June, to Wellington, who
was now in his turn attacked by the main body of the French under
Napoleon. What Wellington on the 16th, with a fresh army, could not
perform, Blucher now effected with troops dejected by defeat, and put
the English leader to the deepest shame by--keeping his word.[13] He
consequently fell back upon Wavre in order to remain as close as
possible in Wellington's vicinity, and also sent orders to Bulow's
corps, that was then on the advance, to join the English army, while
Napoleon, in the idea that Blucher was falling back upon the Meuse,
sent Grouchy in pursuit with a body of thirty-five thousand men.[14]

Napoleon, far from imagining that the Prussians, after having been, as
he supposed, completely annihilated or panic-stricken by Grouchy,
could aid the British, wasted the precious moments, and, instead of
hastily attacking Wellington, spent the whole of the morning of the
18th in uselessly parading his troops, possibly with a view of
intimidating his opponents and of inducing them to retreat without
hazarding an engagement. His well-dressed lines glittered in the
sunbeams; the infantry raised their tschakos on their bayonet points,
the cavalry their helmets on their sabres, and gave a general cheer
for their emperor. The English, however, preserved an undaunted
aspect. At length, about midday, Napoleon gave orders for the attack,
and, furiously charging the British left wing, drove it from the
village of Hougumont. He then sent orders to Ney to charge the British
centre. At that moment a dark spot was seen in the direction of St.
Lambert. Was it Grouchy? A reconnoitring party was despatched and
returned with the news of its being the Prussians under Bulow. The
attack upon the British centre was consequently remanded, and Ney was
despatched with a considerable portion of his troops against Bulow.
Wellington now ventured to charge the enemy with his right wing, but
was repulsed and lost the farm of La Haye Sainte, which commanded his
position on this side as Hougumont did on his right. His centre,
however, remained unattacked, the French exerting their utmost
strength to keep Bulow's gallant troops back at the village of
Planchenoit, where the battle raged with the greatest fury, and a
dreadful conflict of some hours' duration ensued hand to hand. But
about five o'clock, the left wing of the British being completely
thrown into confusion by a fresh attack on the enemy's side, the whole
of the French cavalry, twelve thousand strong, made a furious charge
upon the British centre, bore down all before them, and took a great
number of guns. The Prince of Orange was wounded. The road to Brussels
was already thronged with the fugitive English troops, and Wellington,
scarcely able to keep his weakened lines together,[15] was apparently
on the brink of destruction, when the thunder of artillery was
suddenly heard in the direction of Wavre. "It is Grouchy!" joyfully
exclaimed Napoleon, who had repeatedly sent orders to that general to
push forward with all possible speed. But it was not Grouchy, it was
Blucher.

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