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




The melancholy business, commenced by the empire at the congress of
Rastadt, and which had been broken off by the outbreak of war, had now
to be recommenced. Fresh compensations had been rendered necessary by
the robberies committed upon the Italian princes. The church property
no longer sufficed to satisfy all demands, and fresh seizures had
become requisite. A committee of the diet was intrusted with the
settlement of the question of compensation, which was decided on the
25th of February, 1803, by a decree of the imperial diet. All the
great powers of Germany had not suffered; all had not, consequently, a
right to demand compensation, but, in order to appease their jealousy,
all were to receive a portion of the booty. The three spiritual
electorates, Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, were abolished, their
position on the other side of the Rhine including them within the
French territory. The archbishop of Mayence alone retained his
dignity, and was transferred to Ratisbon. The whole of the imperial
free cities were moreover deprived of their privileges, six alone
excepted, Lubeck, Hamburg,[10] Bremen, Frankfort, Augsburg, and
Nuremberg. The unsecularized bishoprics and abbeys were abolished. The
petty princes, counts and barons, and the Teutonic order, were still
allowed to exist, in order ere long to be included in the general
ruin.

Prussia retained the bishoprics of Hildesheim and Paderborn, a part of
Munster, numerous abbeys and imperial free towns in Westphalia and
Thuringia, more particularly Erfurt. Bavaria had ever suffered on the
conclusion of peace between France and Austria; in 1797, she had ceded
the Rhenish Pfalz to France and a province on the Inn to Austria; by
the treaty of Luneville she had been, moreover, compelled to raze the
fortress of Ingolstadt.[11] The inclination for French innovations
displayed by the reigning duke, Maximilian Joseph, who surrounded
himself with the old Illuminati, caused her, on this occasion, by
Bonaparte's aid, to be richly compensated by the annexation of the
bishoprics of Bamberg, Wurzburg, Augsburg, and Freisingen, with
several small towns, etc.; all the monasteries were abolished. Bavaria
had formerly supported the institutions of the ancient church of Rome
more firmly than Austria, where reforms had already been begun in the
church by Joseph II. Hanover received Osnabruck; Baden, the portion of
the Pfalz on this side the Rhine, the greatest part of the bishoprics
of Constance, Basel, Strasburg, and Spires, also on this side the
Rhine; Wurtemberg, both Hesses (Cassel and Darmstadt); and Nassau, all
the lands in the vicinity formerly belonging to the bishopric of
Mayence, to imperial free towns and petty lordships. Ferdinand,
grandduke of Tuscany, younger brother to the emperor Francis II., was
compelled to relinquish his hereditary possessions in Italy,[12] and
received in exchange Salzburg, Eichstädt, and Passau. Ferdinand, duke
of Modena, uncle to the emperor Francis II. and younger brother to the
emperors Leopold II. and Joseph II., also resigned his duchy,[13] for
which he received the Breisgau in exchange. William V., hereditary
stadtholder of Holland, who had been expelled his states, also
received, on this occasion, in compensation for his son of like name
(he was himself already far advanced in years), the rich abbey of
Fulda, which was created the principality of Orange-Fulda.[14] The
electoral dignity was at the same time bestowed upon the Archduke
Ferdinand, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the duke of Wurtemberg, and
the Margrave of Baden.

Submission, although painful, produced no opposition. The power of the
imperial free cities had long passed away,[15] and the spiritual
princes no longer wielded the sword. The manner in which the officers
of the princes took possession, the insolence with which they treated
the subject people, the fraud and embezzlement that were openly
practiced, are merely excusable on account of the fact that Germany
was, notwithstanding the peace, still in a state of war. The decree of
the imperial diet can scarcely be regarded as the ignominious close of
a good old time, but rather as a violent but beneficial incisure in an
old and rankling sore. With the petty states, a mass of vanity and
pedantry disappeared on the one side, pusillanimity and servility on
the other; the ideas of the subjects of a large state have naturally a
wider range; the monasteries, those dens of superstition, the petty
princely residences, those hotbeds of French vice and degeneracy, the
imperial free towns, those abodes of petty burgher prejudice, no
longer existed. The extension of the limits of the states rendered the
gradual introduction of a better administration, the laying of roads,
the foundation of public institutions of every description, and social
improvement, possible. The example of France, the ever-renewed
warfare, and the conscriptions, created, moreover, a martial spirit
among the people, which, although far removed from patriotism, might
still, when compared with the spirit formerly pervading the imperial
army, be regarded as a first step from effeminacy, cowardice, and
sloth, toward true, unflinching, manly courage.


[Footnote 1: Scenes during the War of Liberation.]

[Footnote 2: Jourdan might easily have been annihilated during his
retreat by the imperial cavalry, twenty-seven thousand strong, had his
strength and position been better known to his pursuers.]

[Footnote 3: Scenes during the War of Liberation.]

[Footnote 4: The celebrated Lavater was, on this occasion, mortally
wounded by a French soldier. The people of Zurich were heavily mulcted
by Massena for having aided the Austrians to the utmost in their
power. Zschokke, who was at that time in the pay of France, wrote
against the "Imperialism" of the Swiss. Vide Haller and Landolt's Life
by Hess.]

[Footnote 5: Concerning the wretched provision for the Austrian army,
the embezzlement of the supplies, the bad management of the magazines
and hospitals, see "Representation of the Causes of the Disasters
suffered by the Austrians," etc. 1802.]

[Footnote 6: The contest lasted the whole day: the French already gave
way on every side, when Desaix led the French centre with such fury to
the charge that the Austrians, surprised by the suddenness of the
movement, were driven back and thrown into confusion, and the French,
rallying at that moment, made another furious onset and tore the
victory from their grasp.]

[Footnote 7: The impregnable fortress of Hohentwiel, formerly so
gallantly defended by Widerhold, was surrendered without a blow by the
cowardly commandant, Bilfinger. Rotenburg on the Tauber, on the
contrary, wiped off the disgrace with which she had covered herself
during the thirty years' war. A small French skirmishing party
demanded a contribution from this city; the council yielded, but the
citizens drove off the enemy with pitchforks.]

[Footnote 8: The ancient ones, Berne, Zurich, Basel, Solothurn,
Freiburg, Lucerne, Schaffhausen; the re-established ones, Uri, Schwyz,
Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus, Appenzell, St. Gall (instead of Waldstätten,
Linth, and Säntis), Valais (instead of Leman), Aargau, Constance,
Grisons, Tessin (instead of Lugano and Bellinzona). The Bernese
Oberland again fell to Berne. The ambassador, attempting to preserve
its independence, was asked by Napoleon: "Where do you take your
cattle, your cheese, etc.?" "À Berne," was the reply. "Whence do you
get your grain, cloth, iron, etc.?" "De Berne." "Well," continued
Napoleon, "de Berne, à Berne, you consequently belong to Berne."--The
Bernese were highly delighted at the restoration of their
independence, and the re-erection of the ancient arms of Berne became
a joyous fête. A gigantic black bear that was painted on the broad
walls of the castle of Trachselwald was visible far down the valley.]

[Footnote 9: Murald, in his life of Reinhard, records an instance of
shameless fraud, the attempt made during a farewell banquet at Paris
to cozen the Swiss deputies out of a million. After plying them well
with wine, an altered document was offered them for signature;
Reinhard, the only one who perceived the fraud, frustrated the
scheme.]

[Footnote 10: Hamburg was, however, compelled to pay to the French
1,700,000 marcs banco, and to allow Rumbold, the English agent, to be
arrested by them within the city walls.]

[Footnote 11: The university had been removed, in 1800, to Landshut.]

[Footnote 12: Bonaparte transformed them into a kingdom of Etruria,
which he bestowed upon a Spanish prince, Louis of Parma, who shortly
afterward died and his kingdom was annexed to France.]

[Footnote 13: He was son-in-law to Hercules, the last duke of Modena,
who still lived, but had resigned his claims in his favor. This duke
expired in 1805.]

[Footnote 14: Which he speedily lost by rejoining Napoleon's
adversaries. Adalbert von Harstall, the last princely abbot of Fulda,
was an extremely noble character; he is almost the only one among the
princes who remained firmly by his subjects when all the rest fled and
abandoned theirs to the French. After the edict of secularization he
remained firmly at his post until compelled to resign it by the
Prussian soldiery.]

[Footnote 15: The citizens of Esalingen were shortly before at law
with their magistrate on account of his nepotism and tyranny without
being able to get a decision from the supreme court of judicature.--
Quedlinburg had also not long before sent envoys to Vienna with heavy
complaints of the insolence of the magistrate, and the envoys had been
sent home without a reply being vouchsafed and were threatened with
the house of correction in case they ventured to return. Vide Hess's
Flight through Germany, 1793.--Wimpfen also carried on a suit against
its magistrate. In 1784, imperial decrees were issued against the
aristocracy of Ulm. In 1786, the people of Aix-la-Chapelle rose
against their magistrate. Nuremberg repeatedly demanded the production
of the public accounts from the aristocratic town-council. The people
of Hildesheim also revolted against their council. Vide Schlözer,
State Archives.]



CCLIII. Fall of the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire


A great change had, meanwhile, taken place in France. The republic
existed merely in name. The first consul, Bonaparte, already possessed
regal power. The world beheld with astonishment a nation that had so
lately and so virulently persecuted royalty, so dearly bought and so
strictly enforced its boasted liberty, suddenly forget its triumph and
restore monarchy. Liberty had ceased to be in vogue, and had yielded
to a general desire for the acquisition of fame. The equality enforced
by liberty was offensive to individual vanity, and the love of gain
and luxury opposed republican poverty. Fame and wealth were alone to
be procured by war and conquest. France was to be enriched by the
plunder of her neighbors. Bonaparte, moreover, promoted the prosperity
and dignity of the country by the establishment of manufactures,
public institutions, and excellent laws. The awe with which he
inspired his subjects insured their obedience; he was universally
feared and reverenced. In whatever age this extraordinary man had
lived, he must have taken the lead and have reduced nations to
submission. Even his adversaries, even those he most deeply injured,
owned his influence. His presence converted the wisdom of the
statesman, the knowledge of the most experienced general, into folly
and ignorance; the bravest armies fled panic-struck before his eagles;
the proudest sovereigns of Europe bowed their crowned heads before the
little hat of the Corsican. He was long regarded as a new savior, sent
to impart happiness to his people, and, as though by magic, bent the
blind and pliant mass to his will. But philanthropy, Christian wisdom,
the virtues of the Prince of peace, were not his. If he bestowed
excellent laws upon his people, it was merely with the view of
increasing the power of the state for military purposes. He was ever
possessed and tormented by the demon of war.

On the 18th of May, 1804, Bonaparte abolished the French republic and
was elected hereditary emperor of France. On the 2d of December, he
was solemnly anointed and crowned by the pope, Pius VII., who visited
Paris for that purpose. The ceremonies used at the coronation of
Charlemagne were revived on this occasion. On the 15th of March, 1805,
he abolished the Ligurian and Cisalpine republics, and set the ancient
iron crown of Lombardy on his head, with his own hand, as king of
Italy. He made a distinction between _la France_ and _l'empire_, the
latter of which was, by conquest, to be gradually extended over the
whole of Europe, and to be raised by him above that of Germany, in the
same manner that the western Roman-Germanic empire had formerly been
raised by Charlemagne above the eastern Byzantine one.

The erection of France into an empire was viewed with distrust by
Austria, whose displeasure had been, moreover, roused by the arbitrary
conduct of Napoleon in Italy. Fresh disputes had also arisen between
him and England; he had occupied the whole of Hanover, which
Wallmoden's[1] army had been powerless to defend, with his troops, and
violated the Baden territory by the seizure of the unfortunate Duc
d'Enghien, a prince of the house of Bourbon, who was carried into
France and there shot. Prussia offered no interference, in the hope of
receiving Hanover in reward for her neutrality.[2] Austria, on her
part, formed a third coalition with England, Russia, and Sweden.[3]
Austria acted, undeniably, on this occasion, with impolitic haste; she
ought rather to have waited until Prussia and public opinion
throughout Germany had been ranged on her side, as sooner or later
must have been the case, by the brutal encroachments of Napoleon.
Austria, unaided by Prussia, could scarcely dream of success.[4] But
England, at that time fearful of Napoleon's landing on her coast,
lavished her all-persuasive gold.

The Archduke Ferdinand was placed at the head of the Austrian troops
in Germany; the Archduke Charles, of those in Italy. Ferdinand
commanded the main body and was guided by Mack, who, without awaiting
the arrival of the Russians, advanced as far as Ulm, pushed a corps,
under Jellachich, forward to Lindau, and left the whole of his right
flank exposed. He, nevertheless, looked upon Napoleon's defeat and the
invasion of France by his troops as close at hand. He was in
ill-health and highly irritable. Napoleon, in order to move with
greater celerity, sent a part of his troops by carriage through
Strasburg, declared to the Margrave of Baden, the duke of Wurtemberg,
and the elector of Bavaria, his intention not to recognize them as
neutral powers, that they must be either against him or with him, and
made them such brilliant promises (they were, moreover, actuated by
distrust of Austria), that they ranged themselves on his side.
Napoleon instantly sent orders to General Bernadotte, who was at that
time stationed in Hanover, to cross the neutral Prussian territory of
Anspach,[5] without demanding the permission of Prussia, to Mack's
rear, in order to form a junction with the Bavarian troops. Other
corps were at the same time directed by circuitous routes upon the
flanks of the Austrian army, which was attacked at Memmingen by Soult,
and was cut off to the north by Ney, who carried the bridge of
Elchingen[6] by storm. Mack had drawn his troops together, but had,
notwithstanding the entreaties of his generals, refused to attack the
separate French corps before they could unite and surround him. The
Archduke Ferdinand alone succeeded in fighting his way with a part of
the cavalry through the enemy.[7] Mack lost his senses and capitulated
on the 17th of October, 1805. With him fell sixty thousand Austrians,
the elite of the army, into the hands of the enemy. Napoleon could
scarcely spare a sufficient number of men to escort this enormous
crowd of prisoners to France. Wernek's corps, which had already been
cut off, was also compelled to yield itself prisoner at
Trochtelfingen, not far from Heidenheim.

Napoleon, while following up his success with his customary rapidity
and advancing with his main body straight upon Vienna, despatched Ney
into the Tyrol, where the peasantry, headed by the Archduke John, made
a heroic defence. The advanced guard of the French, composed of the
Bavarians under Deroy, were defeated at the Strub pass, but,
notwithstanding this disaster, Ney carried the Schaarnitz by storm and
reached Innsbruck. The Archduke John was compelled to retire into
Carinthia in order to form a junction with his brother Charles, who,
after beating Massena at Caldiero, had been necessitated by Mack's
defeat to hasten from Italy for the purpose of covering Austria. Two
corps, left in the hurry of retreat too far westward, were cut off and
taken prisoner, that under Prince Rohan at Castellfranco, after having
found its way from Meran into the Venetian territory, and that under
Jellachich on the Lake of Constance; Kinsky's and Wartenleben's
cavalry threw themselves boldly into Swabia and Franconia, seized the
couriers and convoys to the French rear, and escaped unhurt to
Bohemia.

Davoust had, in the meanwhile, invaded Styria and defeated a corps
under Meerveldt at Mariazell. In November, Napoleon had reached
Vienna, neither Linz nor any other point having been fortified by the
Austrians. The great Russian army under Kutusow appeared at this
conjuncture in Moravia. The czar, Alexander I., accompanied it in
person, and the emperor, Francis II., joined him with his remaining
forces. A bloody engagement took place between Kutusow and the French
at Durrenstein on the Danube, but, on the loss of Vienna, the Russians
retired to Moravia. The sovereigns of Austria and Russia loudly called
upon Prussia to renounce her alliance with France, and, in this
decisive moment, to aid in the annihilation of a foe, for whose false
friendship she would one day dearly pay. The violation of the Prussian
territory by Bernadotte had furnished the Prussian king with a pretext
for suddenly declaring against Napoleon. The Prussian army was also in
full force. The British and the Hanoverian legion had landed at Bremen
and twenty thousand Russians on Rugen; ten thousand Swedes entered
Hanover; electoral Hesse was also ready for action. The king of
Prussia, nevertheless, merely confined himself to threats, in the hope
of selling his neutrality to Napoleon for Hanover, and deceived the
coalition.[8] The emperor Alexander visited Berlin in person for the
purpose of rousing Prussia to war, but had no sooner returned to
Austria in order to rejoin his army than Count Haugwitz, the Prussian
minister, was despatched to Napoleon's camp with express instructions
not to declare war. The famous battle, in which the three emperors of
Christendom were present, took place, meanwhile, at Austerlitz, not
far from Brunn, on the 2d of December, 1805, and terminated in one of
Napoleon's most glorious victories.[9] This battle decided the policy
of Prussia, and Haugwitz confirmed her alliance with France by a
treaty, by which Prussia ceded Cleves, Anspach, and Neufchâtel to
France in exchange for Hanover.[10] This treaty was published with a
precipitation equalling that with which it had been concluded, and
seven hundred Prussian vessels, whose captains were ignorant of the
event, were seized by the enraged English either in British harbors or
on the sea. The peace concluded by Austria, on the 26th of December,
at Presburg, was purchased by her at an enormous sacrifice. Napoleon
had, in the opening of the campaign, when pressing onward toward
Austria, compelled Charles Frederick, elector of Baden,[11] Frederick,
elector of Wurtemberg, and Maximilian Joseph, elector of Bavaria (in
whose mind the memory of the assassination of the ambassadors at
Rastadt, the loss of Wasserburg, the demolition of Ingolstadt, etc.,
still rankled), to enter into his alliance; to which they remained
zealously true on account of the immense private advantages thereby
gained by them, and of the dread of being deprived by the haughty
victor of the whole of their possessions on the first symptom of
opposition on their part. Napoleon, with a view of binding them still
more closely to his interests by motives of gratitude, gave them on
the present occasion an ample share in the booty. Bavaria was erected
into a kingdom,[12] and received, from Prussia, Anspach and Baireuth;
from Austria, the whole of the Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Lindau, the
Margraviate of Burgau, the dioceses of Passau, Eichstädt, Trent, and
Brixen, besides several petty lordships. Wurtemberg was raised to a
monarchy and enriched with the bordering Austrian lordships in Swabia.
Baden was rewarded with the Breisgau, the Ortenau, Constance, and the
title of grandduke. Venice was included by Napoleon in his kingdom of
Italy, and, for all these losses, Austria was merely indemnified by
the possession of Salzburg. Ferdinand, elector of Salzburg, the former
grandduke of Tuscany, was transferred to Wurzburg. Ferdinand of Modena
lost the whole of his possessions.

The imperial crown, so well maintained by Napoleon, now shone with
redoubled lustre. The petty republics and the provinces dependent upon
the French empire were erected into kingdoms and principalities and
bestowed upon his relatives and favorites. His brother Joseph was
created king of Naples; his brother Louis, king of Holland; his
stepson Eugene Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy; his brother-in-law
Murat, formerly a common horse-soldier, now his best general of
cavalry, grandduke of Berg; his first adjutant, Berthier, prince of
Neufchâtel; his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, was nominated successor to the
elector of Mayence, then resident at Ratisbon. In order to remove the
stigma attached to him as a parvenu, Napoleon also began to form
matrimonial alliances between his family and the most ancient houses
of Europe. His handsome stepson, Eugene, married the Princess Augusta,
daughter to the king of Bavaria; his brother Jerome, Catherine,
daughter to the king of Wurtemberg; and his niece, Stephanie, Charles,
hereditary prince of Baden. All the new princes were vassals of the
emperor Napoleon, and, by a family decree, subject to his supremacy.
All belonged to the great empire. Switzerland was also included, and
but one step more was wanting to complete the incorporation of half
the German empire with that of France.

On the 12th of July, 1806, sixteen princes of Western Germany
concluded, under Napoleon's direction, a treaty, according to which
they separated themselves from the German empire and founded the
so-called Rhenish Alliance, which it was their intention to render
subject to the supremacy of the emperor of the French.[13] On the 1st
of August, Napoleon declared that he no longer recognized the empire
of Germany! No one ventured to oppose his omnipotent voice. On the 6th
of August, 1806, the emperor, Francis II., abdicated the imperial
crown of Germany and announced the dissolution of the empire in a
touching address, full of calm dignity and sorrow. The last of the
German emperors had shown himself, throughout the contest, worthy of
his great ancestors, and had, almost alone, sacrificed all in order to
preserve the honor of Germany, until, abandoned by the greater part of
the German princes, he was compelled to yield to a power superior to
his. The fall of the empire that had stood the storms of a thousand
years, was, however, not without dignity. A meaner hand might have
levelled the decayed fabric with the dust, but fate, that seemed to
honor even the faded majesty of the ancient Caesars, selected Napoleon
as the executioner of her decrees. The standard of Charlemagne, the
greatest hero of the first Christian age, was to be profaned by no
hand save that of the greatest hero of modern times.

Ancient names, long venerated, now disappeared. The holy Roman-German
emperor was converted into an emperor of Austria, the electors into
kings or granddukes, all of whom enjoyed unlimited sovereign power and
were free from subjection to the supremacy of the emperor. Every bond
of union was dissolved with the diet of the empire and with the
imperial chamber. The barons and counts of the empire and the petty
princes were mediatized; the princes of Hohenlohe, Oettingen,
Schwarzenberg, Thurn and Taxis, the Truchsess von Waldburg,
Furstenberg, Fugger, Leiningen, Lowenstein, Solms, Hesse-Homburg,
Wied-Runkel, and Orange-Fulda became subject to the neighboring
Rhenish confederated princes. Of the remaining six imperial free
cities, Augsburg and Nuremberg fell to Bavaria; Frankfort, under the
title of grandduchy, to the ancient elector of Mayence, who was again
transferred thither from Ratisbon. The ancient Hanse towns, Hamburg,
Lubeck and Bremen, alone retained their freedom.

The Rhenish confederation now began its wretched existence. It was
established on the basis of the Helvetian republic. The sixteen
confederated princes were to be completely independent and to exercise
sovereign power over the internal affairs of their states, like the
Swiss cantons, but were, in all foreign affairs, dependent upon
Napoleon as their protector.[14] The whole Rhenish confederation
became a part of the French empire. The federal assembly was to sit at
Frankfort, and Dalberg, the former elector of Mayence, now grandduke
of Frankfort, was nominated by Napoleon, under the title of Prince
Primate, president. Napoleon's uncle, and afterward his stepson,
Eugene Beauharnais, were his destined successors, by which means the
control was placed entirely in the hands of France. To this
confederation there belonged two kings, those of Bavaria and
Wurtemberg, five granddukes, those of Frankfort, Wurzburg, Baden,
Darmstadt, and Berg, and ten princes, two of Nassau, two of
Hohenzollern, two of Salm, besides those of Aremberg, Isenburg,
Lichtenstein and Leyen. Every trace of the ancient free constitution
of Germany, her provincial Estates, was studiously annihilated. The
Wurtemberg Estates, with a spirit worthy of their ancient fame, alone
made an energetic protest, by which they merely succeeded in saving
their honor, the king, Frederick, dissolving them by force and closing
their chamber.[15] An absolute, despotic form of government, similar
to that existing in France under Napoleon, was established in all the
confederated states. The murder of the unfortunate bookseller, Palm of
Nuremberg, who was, on the 25th of August, 1806, shot by Napoleon's
order, at Braunau, for nobly refusing to give up the author of a
patriotic work published by him, directed against the rule of France,
and entitled, "Germany in her deepest Degradation," furnished
convincing proof, were any wanting, of Napoleon's supremacy.

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