Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries Volume Ii Part 9

Every boy became either a Cossack, or a Cossack's horse. Some of the customs, indeed, of these heroic friends were rather unpleasant, they were ill-mannered enough to pilfer, and at their night quarters it was plainly perceptible that they were not clean. Nevertheless, there long remained a fantastic glitter about them among both friends and foes, even when in the struggles that were now carried on among civilised men, they showed themselves to be plunderers, not trustworthy, and little serviceable. When later they returned home from the war, it was remarked that they had much degenerated.

The newspapers were only delivered three times in the week, and the roads from the spring thaw then were very bad; thus the news came slowly at intervals through the provinces, where it was not stopped by the march of troops and the confusion of the struggle between the advancing Russians and retreating French. But every sheet, every report that conveyed new information, was received with eager sympathy. It was talked of in families, and in all the society of the cities, but the excitement was seldom expressed with any vehemence. There was a pathetic feeling in all hearts, but it no longer showed itself in words and gestures. For a century the Germans had found pleasure in their tears, had given vent to much feeling about nothing; now that great objects engrossed their life they were calm, there was no speechifying, with bated breath they restrained the disquiet of their hearts. If important news came, the master of the house announced it to his family, and quietly wiped away the tears that were in his eyes. This tranquillity and self-control was the peculiarity of that time.

Small flying sheets were read with delight, especially what the faithful Arndt addressed to his countrymen. New songs spread through the country, in small parts, according to the custom of the ballad-singers, "printed this year;" generally bad and coa.r.s.e, full of hate and scorn, they were forerunners of the beautiful poetic effusions of youthful vigor which were sung some months later by the Prussian battalions when they went to battle. The best of these songs were sung in families to the harpsichord, or the husband played the melody on the flute--which was then a favourite domestic instrument--and the mother sang the words with her children; for weeks this was the great evening amus.e.m.e.nt. These verses had more effect on the smaller circles of the people than on the more cultivated, they soon supplanted the old street songs. Sometimes the citizens bought the frightful caricatures of Napoleon and his army which then were sold through the country as flying-sheets, but often betrayed, by their Parisian dialect, that they were composed by the French. The coa.r.s.eness and malicious vulgarity which now offend us, were easily overlooked, because they served to express hatred; it was only in the larger cities that they occupied the people in the streets, in the country they exercised little influence.

Such was the disposition of the people when they received the proclamations of their King, which between the 3rd of February and the 17th of March, calling out first volunteer riflemen, and then the Landwehr, put the whole defensive force of Prussia under arms. Like a spring storm that breaks the ice, they penetrated the souls of the people. The flood rose high, all hearts beat with emotion of pleasure and proud hope; and again at this moment of highest elevation, we find the same simplicity and quiet composure. There were not many words, but quick decision. The volunteers collected quietly in the towns of their provinces, and marched, singing energetically, to the chief cities, Konigsberg, Breslau, and Colberg, and then to Berlin. The clergy announced in their churches the proclamation of the King, but it was hardly necessary. The people knew already what they were to do. When a young theologian, taking his father's place, admonished his parishioners from the pulpit to do their duty, and added that these were not empty words, for, as soon as the service was over, he himself would volunteer as a Hussar, a number of young men stood up in the church and declared they would do the same. When a betrothed hesitated to separate himself from his intended, and at last made known his resolve to go, she told him she had secretly lamented that he had not been one of the first to depart. Sons hastened to the army, and wrote to their parents to tell them of their hasty decision, and the parents approved; it was not surprising to them that their sons had done spontaneously what was only their duty. When a youth had made his way to one of the places of meeting, he found his brother already there, who had come from the other side of the country; they had not even written to one another.

The academies for lectures were closed at Konigsberg, Berlin, and Breslau. The University of Halle, also, still under Westphahan rule, was closed; the students had gone, either singly or in small bands, to Breslau. The Prussian newspapers mentioned laconically in two lines, "Almost all the students from Halle, Jena, and Gottingen, are come to Breslau, they wish to share in the fame of fighting for German freedom."

At the gymnasium the taller and older ones were not considered always the best scholars, and the teachers of the Greek grammar had looked upon them with contempt; now they were the pride and envy of the school, the teachers gave them a hearty shake of the hand, and the younger ones looked on them with admiration as they departed. But it was not only those in the first bloom of youth who were excited to enter into the struggle, but also the officials, those indispensable servants of the State, judges and councillors, men from every circle of the civil service, from the city courts and the departments of government. A royal decree on the 2nd March set limits to this zeal, and it was necessary, for the order and administration of the State were threatened. The civil service could not be neglected; any one who wished to be a soldier was to obtain the permission of his superiors, and he who could not bear the refusal of his request must appeal to the King. The stronger minded in all circles were at the head of the movement, but the weaker followed at last the overpowering impulse.

There were few families who did not offer their sons to the fatherland; many great names stand on the regimental lists; above all, the n.o.bles of east Prussia. The same Alexander Count von Dohna-Schlobitten who had been minister of the interior in 1802, was the first man who inscribed himself in the Landwehr battalion of the Mohrungen district. Wilhelm Ludwig Count von der Groben, chamberlain of Prince William, entered into Prince William's dragoons as a subaltern officer, three of his family fell on the field of battle in this war. Such examples influenced the country people. Mult.i.tudes of them gave to the State all that they possessed--their sound limbs.

Whilst the Prussians on the Vistula in this emergency carried on their preparations independently with rapidly developed order and the greatest devotion, Breslau, from the middle of February, had been the rendezvous for the interior districts. Crowds of volunteers entered all the gates of the old city. Among the first were thirteen miners, with three apprentices from Waldenburg; these men had been fitted out by their fellow labourers, poor men, who had worked gratuitously underground until they had collected 221 thalers for this purpose.

Immediately afterwards the Upper Silesian miners followed with similar zeal. The King could scarcely believe in such self-sacrificing devotion in the people; when he looked from the windows of the government buildings on the first long train of vehicles and men, who came past him from the march and filled the Albrech-stra.s.se, heard their acclamations, and perceived the general satisfaction, tears rolled over his cheeks, and Scharnhorst asked him whether he at last believed in the zeal of his people.

Every day the throng increased. Fathers presented their sons armed; among the first the Geheime Kriegsrath Eichmann equipped two sons, and the former Secretary of Hangwitz, Burder, three. The provincial Syndic Elsner at Ratisbon offered himself, and armed three volunteer riflemen; Geheime Commerzienrath Krause at Swinemund, sent a mounted rifleman, entirely armed, with forty ducats, and an offer to arm, and pay for a year, twenty foot riflemen, and to furnish ten pigs of lead. Justizrath Eckart, at Berlin, gave up his salary of 1450 thalers, and entered the service as a trooper. One Rothkirch offered himself and two men fully equipped as troopers, besides five horses, 300 scheffels of corn, and all the cart-horses on his farm for the baggage-waggons. Amongst the most zealous was Heinrich von Krosigk, the eldest of an old family of Poplitz, near Alsleben. His property lay in the kingdom of Westphalia.

In 1807, he had a pillar erected in his park of red sandstone, with these words engraven on it, "_Fuimus Troes_," and treated the French and the government of Westphalia with bitter contempt. When officers were quartered on him, he always gave the worst wine, drinking the best with his friends as soon as the strangers were gone, and if a Frenchman complained, he was rude and ready to fight; he had always loaded pistols on his table. At last he compelled his peasants to arrest the gendarmes of his own King. Now he had just broken out of the fortress of Magdeburg, where the French had placed him, and had abandoned his property to the enemy. The heroic man fell at Mockern.

Thus it went on, and all the cities and districts soon followed the example. Scheivelbein, the smallest and poorest district in Prussia, was the first to notify that it would furnish, equip, and pay, thirty hors.e.m.e.n for three months. Stolpe was one of the first cities that announced that it would pay 1000 thalers down, and a hundred for each month for the equipment of volunteer riflemen. Stargard had collected for the same object, on the 20th of March, 6169 thalers, 585 ounces of silver; one landed proprietor, K., had given 308 ounces. Ever greater and more numerous became the offers, till the organisation of the Landwehr gave the districts full opportunity to give effect to their devotion in their own circles.

Individuals did not lag behind. He who did not go to the field himself, or equip half his family, endeavoured to help his Fatherland by gifts.

It is a pleasant labour to examine the long lists of benefactions.

Officials resigned a portion of their salaries, people of moderate wealth gave up a portion of their means, the rich sent their plate, those who were poorer brought their silver spoons; he who had no money to give offered his effects or his labour. It became common for wives to send their gold wedding rings, often the only gold that was in the house; they received afterwards iron ones with the picture of Queen Louisa; country-people presented horses, landed proprietors corn, and children emptied out their saving boxes. There came 100 pair of stockings, 400 ells of shirt linen, pieces of cloth, many pairs of new boots, guns, hunting knives, sabres and pistols. A forester could not make up his mind to give away his dear rifle, as he had promised, among some boon companions, and preferred going himself to the field. Young women sent their bridal attire, and, besides, the neck-ribbons they had received from their lovers. A poor maiden, whose beautiful hair had been praised, cut it off to be bought by the _friseur_, and patriotic speculation caused rings to be made of it, for which more than a hundred thalers were received. Whatever the poor could raise was sent, and the greatest self-sacrifice was amongst the lowest.[50]

Often has the German since then been animated by patriotic aims; but the gifts of that great year deserve a higher praise; for, excepting the great collection of the old Pietists for their philanthropic inst.i.tution, it is the first time that such a spirit of self-sacrifice has burst forth in the German people, and more especially the first time that the German has had the happiness of giving voluntarily for his State.

The sums also which were produced were, as a whole, so far beyond what has since been collected from wider districts that they can scarcely be compared. The equipment of the volunteer riflemen alone, and what was collected in the old provinces for the volunteer corps, must have cost far more than a million, and it comprehends only a small fragment of the voluntary donations made by the people.[51] And how impoverished were the lower orders!

Near together on the Schmiedebrucke, at Breslau, were the two recruiting places for the volunteer rifles and the Lutzow irregulars.

Professor Steffens and a portion of the Breslau students were the first to set on foot the rifles, Ludwig Jahn spoke, gesticulated, and wrote concerning the Lutzowers. Both troops were equipped entirely by the patriotic gifts of individuals. The contributions for the volunteer rifles were collected by Heun. Betwixt the Lutzowers and riflemen there was a friendly and manly emulation; the contrast of their dispositions displayed itself; but whether more German or more Prussian, it was the same ray of light, only differently refracted. The old contrast of character in the citizens, which had been perceptible for a century, showed itself, firm, cautious, and vigorous; and enthusiastic feeling with loftier aspirations. The first disposition was mostly the characteristic of the Prussians, the last of the patriotic youths who hastened thither from foreign parts. Very different was the fate of the two volunteer bodies. From the 10,000 rifles who were distributed in every Prussian regiment, arose the vigour of the Prussian army; they were the moral element in it, the aid, strength, and supply of the body of officers; and they not only contributed a stormy valour to the Prussia army, but gave an elevation to the character of the n.o.bles which was new in the history of the war. The irregulars under Lutzow, on the other hand, experienced the rude fate that overtakes the inspirations of the highest enthusiasm. The poetic feeling of the educated cla.s.s attached itself chiefly to them; they included a great part of the German students, of vehement and excitable natures; but owing to this they became such a large and unwieldy ma.s.s that they were scarcely adapted to the work of regular warfare, and their leader, a brave soldier, had neither the qualities nor the fortune of a daring partisan. Their warlike deeds did not come up to the high-raised expectations that accompanied their first taking arms. Later, the best portion of them were absorbed in other corps of the army. But among their officers was the poet who was destined, beyond all others, to hand down in verse to the rising generation the magical excitement of those days. Of the many touching, youthful characters that figured in that struggle, he was one of the purest and most genial in his poetry, life and death: it was Theodore Korner.

But even in the great city where the volunteers were preparing their equipments there was no noisy din of excited ma.s.ses. Quickly and earnestly every one did his duty. Those who had no money were supported by comrades who had been strangers to them, and met them accidentally.

The only wish of the new comer was to find his equipments. If he had two coats, as a Lutzower he had one quickly arranged and coloured black; his greatest anxiety was as to whether his cartridge box would be ready. If he was deficient in everything, and the bureau would not supply him with what was necessary, he ventured, but this was rare, to beg through the newspapers. Otherwise, money was of as little importance to him as to his comrades. He made shift as he best could, what did it signify now? As to high-sounding phrases and patriotic speeches he had no time nor ear for them. All hectoring and braggadocio was despised. Such was the disposition of the young men. It was a great enthusiasm, a deep devotion without the inclination to a loud expression of it. The consequential ways and bombast of the zealous Jahn disgusted many, and this bad habit soon gave him the reputation of a coward.

In many there was a disposition to enthusiastic piety, but not in the greater part. All the better sort, however, had strongly the feeling that they were undertaking a duty which was superior to every other earthly object: from this arose their cheerfulness and a certain solemn composure. With this feeling they industriously, honourably, and conscientiously performed their duty, exercising themselves unweariedly in the movement and use of their weapons in their rooms. They sung among their comrades with energetic feeling some of the new war songs, but these only kindled them because they were earnest and solemn like themselves. They did not like to be called soldiers, that word was in ill-repute from the time when the stick had ruled. They were warriors.

That they must obey, do their duty to their utmost, and perform all the difficult mechanism of the service, they were thoroughly convinced; and also that they must be a pattern and example for the less educated, who were by their side. They were determined to be not only strict themselves, but careful of the honour of their comrades. In this holy war there was to be none of the insolence and coa.r.s.eness of the old soldiers, to disgrace the cause for which they fought. With their "brethren" they held a court of honour and punished the unworthy. But they would not remain in the army; when the Fatherland was free, and the French put down, they would return to their lectures and legal doc.u.ments in their studies. For this wax was not like another; now they stood as common soldiers in rank and file, but if they lived they would another year be again what they had been.

Beside one of such volunteers was perhaps an old officer from the time of the rule of the n.o.bles and the stick. He had done his duty in unlucky wars, had perhaps been a prisoner, plundered of all he had and dragged through the streets of Berlin, the people following him with jeering and curses, and shaking their fists at him; then after the peace a court-martial had been held upon him, he was liberated but discharged with a miserable pittance. Since that he had starved, and secretly gnashed his teeth when the foreign conqueror looked down on him as insolently as he had once done on the civilian. If he had no wife or child to maintain, he had lived for years with his companions in sorrow in a poor dwelling, with disorderly housekeeping, and some of the failings of his old officer cla.s.s still clung to him; this time of deprivation had not made him softer or milder, the ruling feeling of his soul was hate, deep furious hatred against the foreign conqueror.

He had long nourished an uncertain hope, perhaps a vain plan of revenge, now the time was come for retaliation. Even he had been altered by this time of servitude. He had discovered how unsatisfactory his knowledge was, and he had in moments of earnestness done something towards educating himself; he had learnt and read, he also had been inspired by the n.o.ble pathos of Schiller. Still he looked with mistrust and disfavour on the new-fashioned warrior who perhaps stood before him in the ranks. His old grudge against scribblers was still very active, and want of discipline, together with high pretensions, wounded him.

The same antagonism showed itself in the higher as well as lower grades in the ranks. It is a remarkable circ.u.mstance in this war that he was so well restrained; the volunteers soon learnt military obedience, and to value the knowledge of service of those above them; and the officer lost somewhat of the rough and arbitrary way with which he used to treat his men. At last he listened complacently when a wounded rifleman contended with the surgeon whether the _flexor_ of the middle finger should be cut through, or when one of his men by the bivouac fire discussed with animation--in remembrance of his legal lectures--whether the ambiguous relation in which a Cossack had placed himself with respect to a certain goose was to be considered _culpa lata_ or _dolus_. On the whole, this intermixture answered excellently.

But far more important than the action of the volunteers, was the advantage to the government of Prussia, of learning for the first time, what was its duty to such a people. The grand dimensions which the struggle a.s.sumed, the imposing military power of Prussia, and the weight which this State, by the importance of its armies, acquired in the negotiations for peace, were mainly occasioned by the exalted feeling which took the world by surprise in the spring months of that year. Through it the government gained courage, and was able to expand the power of the country to the immense extent it did. East Prussia, besides its contingent to the standing army, by its own strength, and almost without asking the government, raised twenty battalions of Landwehr and a mounted yeomanry regiment, and nothing but this enormous development of power could have made the establishment of the Landwehr possible throughout the whole realm.

At the command of its King the nation willingly and obediently and in a regular way produced this second army; in the old provinces one hundred and twenty battalions and ninety squadrons of Landwehr were equipped and maintained, and this was only a portion of its exertions.

How faithfully had it obeyed the commands of its King!

The Landwehr of the spring of 1813 had little of the military aspect which it obtained by service and later organisation.[52] The men consisted of such as had not been drawn into the service of the standing army, and now would be taken by lot and choice up to forty years of age. As the youths of education, the first military spirits of the nation, had most of them either entered the volunteer rifles, or filled up the gaps of the standing army, the elements of the Landwehr would probably have been of less military capacity if a certain number of proprietors had not voluntarily entered the ranks. The solid ma.s.ses of the war consisted of common soldiers, mostly country people; the leaders, of country n.o.bles, officials, old officers on half-pay, and whoever else was selected as trustworthy by his district, also of young volunteers: a very motley material for field service, many of the officers as well as soldiers without any experience in war. The equipments also were in the beginning very imperfect; they were mostly provided by the circles. The coatee, long trowsers of grey linen, a cloth cap with a white tin cross; the weapons in the first ranks were pikes, in the second and third muskets; for the hors.e.m.e.n, pistols, sabres, and pikes. The men were put into ranks, exercised, and equipped in what was necessary in the princ.i.p.al town of the circle. In the great haste it sometimes happened that battalions were ordered to the army which as yet had no weapons and no shoes; the people went barefooted and with poles to the Elbe, resembling in appearance a band of robbers more than regular soldiery, but with cheerful alacrity, singing and giving vent to hurrahs which they had learned from the Cossacks. For some weeks the troops of the line, especially the old officers, looked contemptuously on this newly-established force, none with more wrath than the strict York. When the worthy Colonel Putlitz, at Berlin, begged for a Landwehr command,--he who had already fought valiantly in the French campaign, and in the year 1807 had collected a corps of sharpshooters in the Silesian mountains,--the staff officers asked him ironically, whether he thought of fighting with such hordes. After the war the valiant general declaimed, that the time during which he had commanded the Landwehr was the happiest of his life. In no part of the new organisation of the army did the power of the great year, and the capacity of the people, shine so brilliantly as in this. These peasant lads and awkward ploughboys became in a few weeks trustworthy and valiant soldiers. It is true that they had a disproportionate loss of men, and in their first encounter with the enemy did not always keep a firm front, and showed the rapid alternations of cowardice and courage which are peculiar to young troops; but called together from the plough and the workshop, badly clothed, badly armed, and little drilled as they were, they had in the very beginning to go through all the severe fieldwork of veteran troops. That they were in general capable of doing it, that some battalions already fought so bravely that even their opponent (York) saluted them by taking off his hat, is as well known as it is rare in military history. Soon they could not be distinguished from troops of the line; it was between them an emulation of valour.

Justly do the sons of that time boast of the men of the Landwehr who readily answered to the call; but not less was the zeal with which the people at home laboured after the command was given for the war. People of every calling, every citizen, the smallest places, the moat distant districts, bore their part in the work, often undergoing the greatest labours and sufferings, especially those on the frontiers. A simple arrangement sufficed for the business in the circles; a military commission was formed of two landed proprietors, one citizen and one yeoman, the landrath of the circle, and the burgomaster of the capital of the circle, were almost always the almost zealous members of it. It was undoubtedly an occupation for simple men which was adapted to awaken extraordinary powers. They had to deal with the remains of the French army, with their hunger and typhus, with the thronging Russians who for many months were in a doubtful position, with two languages, that of their new friends being more strange to them than that of their retreating enemies; and, added to this, the coa.r.s.eness and wildness of their new allies, whose subaltern officers were for the most part no better than their soldiers, l.u.s.ting after brandy, and at least as rapacious and more brutal than irregular troops. Soon did the commissioners learn how to deal with the wild people; tobacco chests stood open, together with clay pipes, in the office room: it was an endless coming and going of Russian officers, they filled their pipes and smoked, demanded brandy, and received harmless beer. If ever the coa.r.s.eness of the strangers broke out, the Prussian officials at last learnt to punish the ill-behaved with their own weapons, the kantschu, which perhaps a Russian officer had left him, that he might more easily manage his people. The last typhus sufferers of the French still filled the hospitals of the city, the Baschkirs bivouacked with their felt caps in the market-place; the inhabitants quarrelled with the foreigners quartered on them; every day the Russians required the necessaries of life and transport, couriers; Russian and Prussian officers demanded relays of horses, the cultivators and peasants of the neighbouring villages complained that they had been deprived of theirs, that no ploughboys were to be found, and that the cultivation of the land was impossible. In the midst of all this hurly-burly came the orders of their own government, strong and dictatorial, as was required by the times, and not always practical, which was natural in such haste; the cloth-makers were to furnish cloth, the shoe-makers shoes, the harness-makers and saddlers cartouche-boxes and saddles; so many hundred pair of boots and shoes, so many hundred pieces of cloth, and so many saddles, all in one short week, without money or secure bills of exchange. The artisans were for the greater part poor people without credit; how was the raw material to be obtained, how was the workman to be paid, how were the means of life to be obtained in these weeks in which the usual chance profit was lost? This did not go on for one week, but for a whole year. Truly the spirit of sacrifice which showed itself in gifts, and in the offer of their own lives, was among the highest and n.o.blest things of this great time; but not less honourable was the self-sacrificing, unpretending, and un.o.bserved fulfilment of duty of many thousands of the lower cla.s.ses, who, each in his sphere in the city or in the village, worked for the same idea of his State to the uttermost of his own powers.

The question is still unsolved of the military importance, in a civilised country, of a _levee en ma.s.se_. The law for the establishment of this popular force was carried to the very last possibility of demand. In the first edict, the 21st of April, there was an almost fanatical strictness, which, in the subsequent laws of the 24th of July, was much mitigated. The edict exercised a great moral effect; it was a sharp admonition to the dilatory, that it was a question for all, of life or death. It had an imposing effect even upon the enemy by its Draconic paragraphs. But it was, immediately after its appearance, severely blamed by impartial judges, because it demanded what was impossible, and it had no great practical effect. The Prussians had always been a warlike people, but in 1813 they had not the military capacity which they have now. Besides the standing army, there were, before the introduction of the universal obligation of service, only the peaceful citizens without any practice in arms or movement of ma.s.ses, or at the utmost, the old shooting guilds which handled the ancient shooting weapons. But now the nation had sent into the field all who were capable of fighting; the strength of the country was strained to the uttermost; every family had given up what they possessed of military spirit. The older men, who remained behind, who were also indispensable for the daily work of the field and workshop, were not especially capacitated to do valiant service in arms. Thus it was no wonder that this fearful law brought to light the ludicrous side of the picture; endless goodwill together with boorishness and narrowmindedness. It was read with great edification, that the whole people were to take up arms to withstand the invading enemy; that the women and children also were to be employed in certain occupations, was quite to the reader's mind, especially those who were not grown up; but doubts were excited by the sentence in which it was stated, that cowardice was to be punished by the loss of weapons, the doubling of taxes, and corporeal chastis.e.m.e.nt, as he who showed the feeling of a slave was to be treated as a slave. Then the poor little artisan, who could scarcely keep his children from hunger, had never touched a weapon, and had all his life anxiously avoided every kind of fighting, was placed in the position to put the difficult question wistfully to himself--what is cowardice? And when the law further forbade anyone in a city which was occupied by the enemy to visit any play, ball, or place of amus.e.m.e.nt, not to ring the bells, to solemnise no marriages, and to live as if in deepest mourning, it appeared to the unprejudiced minds of Germans as tyrannical--more Spanish and Polish than German.

Yet the people, in the enthusiasm of this spring-time, overlooked these hardships, and prepared themselves for the struggle. Even before the decree, patriotic feeling had, in East Prussia, established here and there similar rules. Now this zeal had spread through the cities more than in the open countries. The organisation began almost everywhere, and was carried through in many places. Beacons were erected, alarm poles rose high from Berlin to the Elbe, and towards Silesia resinous pines, on which empty tar-barrels were nailed, surrounded with tarred straw; near them a watch was posted, and they more than once did good service. All kinds of weapons were searched out, fowling-pieces and pistols, which had been cleverly foreseen in the ordinance when it directed that, "For ammunition, in case of a deficiency in b.a.l.l.s, every kind of common shot may be used, and the possessors of fire-arms must have a constant provision of powder and lead." He who had no musket, furnished himself for the levy as the Landwehr did at first, with pikes; they were exercised in companies--the butchers, brewers, and farmers formed squadrons. The first rank of infantry were pikemen; the second and third, if possible, musketeers. In this also, the intellectual leaders of the people showed a good example; they knew well that it was necessary, but it was no easy matter for them, especially if they were no longer young. At Berlin, Savigny and Eichhorn were of the Landwehr committee; in the levy none was more zealous than Fichte; his pike, and that of his son, leant against the wall in the front hall, and it was a pleasure to see the zealous man brandishing his sword on the drill-ground, and placing himself in a posture of attack. They wished to make him an officer, but he declined with these words: "Here I am, only fit to be a common man." He, b.u.t.tmann, Ruhs, and Schleiermacher drilled in the same company; but b.u.t.tmann, the great Greek scholar, could not quite distinguish between right and left; he declared that was most difficult. Ruhs was in the same condition, and it constantly happened that the two learned men, in their evolutions, either turned their backs, or looked each other in the face puzzled. Once, when it was a question of an encounter with the enemy, and how a valiant man ought to conduct himself in that case, b.u.t.tmann listened, leaning sadly on his spear, and said at last: "It is very well for you to talk, you are of a courageous nature."[53]

If this _Landsturm_ was to be mobilised for the maintenance of the security of the circle, or for service in the rear of the enemy, or in the neighbourhood of fortresses still held by them, the alarm bell was rung, and the town became in a state of stormy excitement. Anxiously did the women pack up food and drink, bandages and lint, in the knapsack, for according to the regulations no one was to forget the knapsack, bread-bag, and field-flask; it was his duty to carry with him provisions for three days; not unfrequently did the female inhabitants feel like the wife of a cutler in Burg, who stated to the commanding officer that her husband must remain behind, for he was the only cutler in the place, or like the wife of a watchmaker, who had compelled her husband to conceal himself. He was, however, traced by other women whose husbands had gone, was taken by them to the churchyard, placed on a grave, and punished in a maternal way with the palm of the hand.

Any one who was a child at that time, will remember the enthusiasm with which the boys also armed. The elder ones a.s.sembled together in companies, and armed themselves with pikes; the smaller ones, too, had good cudgels. A poor boy who was working in a manufactory was asked why he carried no weapon, "I have all my pockets full of stones," was his answer; he carried them about with him against the French.[54] And no regulation of the _Landsturm_ ordinance was so zealously obeyed by the rising generation, as the provision that every _Landsturmer_ should, if possible, carry a shrill-sounding pipe with him, in order to recognise others in the dark, and come to an understanding. By the greatest industry the boys learnt to produce shrill tones from every kind of signal pipe, and there is reason to believe that the present use of the pipe in street rows was first adopted by our youths from hatred to the French. Seldom were the _Landsturm_ employed in military service in 1813; they were more often employed in clearing the districts of marauding rabble, and as watchers, or in the messenger service; their only serious military service against the enemy was performed at that Buren, which under Frederic II. had driven back its flying sons to the King's army. There, after the peace, all the men wore the military medal. Up to the present day the people retain the memory of this feature of the great war; it has been more enduring than many others of more importance. Still do old people boast that though not in the field, yet at home they had borne arms for the Fatherland; it also is fitting that their sons should remember it. The time may come when in another form, and with stricter discipline, the general armament of the people will be an important part of German military power.

But whilst here the dangerous game was not carried on in its terrible reality, yet all eyes and ears were incessantly directed to the distance. The war had begun in earnest. Those who were left behind were in continual anxiety concerning the fate of those they loved, and of Fatherland. No day pa.s.sed without some report, no post came without the announcement of some important event; life seemed to fly amidst the longing and the expectation with which they looked forth beyond their city walls. Every little success filled them with transport; it was announced at the door of the town hall, in the church, and in the theatre, wherever men were collected together. On the 5th April was the conflict, at Zehdenick, the first undoubted victory of the Prussians; far and wide through the provinces did people hasten to the church towers to endeavour to descry the first intelligence; and when the thunder of cannon had ceased, and the joyful news ran through the country, there was no bounds to the general exultation; everything that was praiseworthy was proudly extolled, above all the valiant artillery that with guns and powder waggons had chased the enemy through the burning market-place of Leitzkau, amidst the flames that were gathering around them; also the black Hussars, with their death's-heads, valiant Lithuanians, who had ridden over the smart red Hussars from Paris at the first onset. And when the proprietor of the market-place afterwards made a collection through the newspapers for his poor people who had been burnt out, and excused himself for begging at such a time for aid to private misfortune, the country people were not forgotten who had first suffered from the war.

Louder became the din of war, more furious did the conflict of ma.s.ses rage; the exultation of victory and fearful anxiety alternated in the hearts of those remaining at home. After the battle of Grossgorschen, it was proclaimed that a.s.sistance was needed for the wounded. Then there began everywhere among the people collections of linen and lint; unweariedly did not only children but grown-up people draw out the threads of old linen, the women cut bandages, and the teachers in schools cut the rags which the little girls and boys at their request brought with them from their homes, into shape, and whilst they taught the children, these with burning tears collected the pieces into great heaps. Making lint was the evening work of families; it might be of some use to the soldiers.

In the neighbourhood of the allied armies and in the chief cities, hospitals were erected, and everywhere the women a.s.sisted--court ladies, and auth.o.r.esses like Rachel Levin. In one great hospital at Berlin there was Frau Fichte and Frau Reimer, the superintendents of the female nurses. The hospital, owing to the retreating French, had become a pest-house, bad nervous fevers were prevalent, and the strange fancies of the invalids made it a terrible abode. The wife of Fichte shuddered at these horrors, but he endeavoured to sustain her in his n.o.ble way. When she was overtaken with nervous fever, he nursed the invalid, caught the infection, and died. Reil also, the great physician and scholar, died there in the midst of his philanthropic efforts. Frau Reimer was preserved; her house had been, before the war, the resort of the Prussian patriots, now her husband had become one of the Landwehr under Putlitz; her anxieties about him and his business and her little children, neither damped her spirit nor engrossed her time; from morning to evening, spring and summer, she was actively occupied; never weary, she divided her time betwixt her family and her care of the sick, and her life appeared to herself indestructible.[55] To her husband, friends and contemporaries, this zeal seemed natural, and a matter of course. In a similar way did German women do their duty everywhere with the greatest self-denial and devotedness, and with quiet enduring energy.

The fearful battle of Bautzen took place; the armistice followed. The Prussians were full of uneasiness. Streams of blood had flowed, their army was driven back, the Emperor appeared invincible by earthly weapons. For some weeks the most intelligent looked gloomily at the future, but the people still maintained a right feeling of self-respect and elevated resolution. Trust in their own energy, and the goodness of their cause, and above all trust in G.o.d, were the source of this frame of mind. Every one saw that the strength of Prussia in this campaign was incomparably greater than in the last unfortunate war. Only a little more strength seemed to be necessary to overthrow the tyrant; if they could only make a little more exertion, he might be hurled back.

The voluntary contributions continued, late in the autumn receipts were given for them. The equipment of the Landwehr was ended, the artisan had everywhere worked for his King and Fatherland.

The war again raged, blow and counterblow, flux and reflux; the armies pressed on; now one saw from Thurm the hosts of the enemy, now the approach of friends. The cities and provinces of the west learnt from Berlin and Breslau the fate of the war. Ah, its terrible features are not strange to Germans; up to the time of our fathers, the hearts of almost every generation of citizens have been shaken by them.

There are hollow, short reverberations in the air; it is the thunder of distant cannon. Listening crowds stand in the market-place, and at the gates; little is said, only half words in a subdued tone, as if the speaker feared to speak too loud. From the parapet of the towers, and the gables of the houses which look towards the field of battle, the eyes of the citizens strain anxiously to see into the distance. On the verge of the horizon there is a white cloud in the sunlight, occasionally a bright flash is perceptible and a dark shadow. But on the by-ways which lead from the nearest villages to the high road, dark crowds are moving. They are country people flying into the wood or to the mountains. Each carries on his shoulders what he has been able to sc.r.a.pe together, but few have been able to carry off their property, for carts and horses have for some weeks past been taken from them by the soldiers; lads and men drive their herds nervously, the women loudly wailing, carry their little ones. Again there is a rolling in the air, sharper and more distinct. A horseman races through the city gate at wild speed, then another. Our troops are retreating, the crowds of citizens separate, the people run in terrified anguish into their houses, and then again into the street; even in the city they prepare for flight. Loud are the cries and lamentations. He who still possessed a team of horses, dragged them to the pole, the clothmaker threw his bales, and the merchant his most valuable chests on the waggons, and over these their children and those of their neighbours. Waggons and crowds of flying men thronged to the distant gate. If there is a swampy marsh almost impa.s.sable, or a thick wood in the neighbourhood, they fly thither. Inaccessible hiding-places, still remembered from the time of the Swedes, are again sought out. Great troops collect there, closely packed; the citizens and countrymen conceal themselves with their cattle and horses for many days; sometimes still longer. After the battle of Bautzen the parishioners of Tillendorf near Bunzlau abode more than a week in the nearest wood, their faithful pastor Senftleben accompanied them, and kept order in that wild spot, he even baptised a child.[56]

But he who remains in the town with his property, or in the performance of his duty, is eager to conceal his family and goods. Long has the case been taken into consideration, and hiding-places ingeniously devised. If the city has more especially roused the fury of the enemy, it is threatened with fire, plunder, and the expulsion of the citizens.

In such a case the people carry their money firmly sewed in their clothes.

One anxious hour pa.s.ses in feverish hope. The first announcers of the retreat clatter through the streets, damaged guns escorted by Cossacks.

Slowly they return, the number of their men incomplete, and blackened by powder, more than one tottering wounded. The infantry follow, and waggons overcrowded with wounded and dying men. The rear-guard take up their post at the gate and the corners of the streets, awaiting the enemy. Young lads run from the houses and carry to the soldiers what they have called for, a drink or a bit of bread; they hold the knapsacks for the wounded, or help them quickly to bandages.

There are clouds of dust on the high road. The first cavalry of the enemy approach the gate, cautiously looking out, the Carabiniers on the right flank. A shot falls from the rear-guard, the Cha.s.seur also fires his carbine, turns his horse, and retires. Immediately the enemy's vanguard press on in quick trot, and the Prussian Tirailleurs withdraw from one position to another firing. Finally the last has abandoned the line of houses. Once more they collect outside the gate, in order to detain the enemy's cavalry, who have again formed into rank.

The streets are empty and shut. Even the boys who have accompanied the Prussian Tirailleurs have disappeared; the curtains of the windows are let down, and the doors closed; but behind curtain and door are anxious faces looking at the approaching enemy. Suddenly a cry bursts forth from a thousand rough voices--_vive l'Empereur!_ and, like a flood, the French infantry rush into the town. Immediately they knock against the doors with the b.u.t.t ends of their muskets, and if they are not opened quick enough they are broken in. Now follow desperate disputes between the defenceless citizen and the irritated enemy--exorbitant demands, threats, and frequently ill-usage and peril of death--everywhere clamour, lamentation, and violence. Cupboards and desks are broken open, and everything, both valuable and valueless, plundered, spoiled, or destroyed, especially in those houses whose inmates have fled; for the property of an uninhabited house, according to the custom of war, falls to the share of the soldier. The city authorities are dragged to the townhall, and difficult negotiations begin concerning the quartering of the troops, the delivery of provisions and forage, and impossible contributions.

If the enemy's General cannot be satisfied with gifts, or if the town is to be punished, the inhabitants of most consideration are collected, forcibly detained, threatened, and, perhaps at last, carried off as hostages. If a larger corps is encamped round the city, one battalion bivouacs in the market-place. The French are rapidly accommodated. They have fetched straw from the suburbs, they have robbed provisions on the road, and cut up the doors and furniture for fire-wood. Disagreeably sounds the crash of the axe on the beams and woodwork of the houses.

Brightly blaze up the camp fires, and loud laughter, with French songs, sound about the flames.

When the enemy withdraws in the morning, after having remained one night through which the citizens have held anxious watch, they gaze with astonishment on the rapid devastation of their city, and on the sudden change in the country outside the gates. The boundless ocean of corn, which yesterday waved round their city walls, is vanished, rooted up, crushed and trampled by man and horse. The wooden fences of the gardens are broken, summer arbours and houses are torn away, and fruit-trees cut down. The fire-wood lies in heaps round the smouldering watch-fires, and the citizen may find there the planks of his waggon and the doors of his barn. He can scarcely recognise the place where his own garden was, for the site of it is covered with camp straw, confused rubbish, and the blood and entrails of slaughtered beasts. In the distance, where the houses of the nearest village project above the foliage of the trees, he perceives no longer the outline of the roofs, only the walls are standing, like a heap of ruins.

It was bitter to pa.s.s through such an hour, and many lost all heart.

Even for people of property it was now difficult to support their families. All the provisions of the city and neighbourhood were consumed or destroyed, and no countryman brought even the necessaries of life to the market, it was needful therefore to send far into the country for the means to appease hunger. But from a rapid succession of great events men had become colder, more st.u.r.dy and hardier in themselves. The strong partic.i.p.ation which every individual had taken in the fate of the State made them indifferent to their own hardships.

After every danger, it was felt to be a comfort that the last thing, life, was saved. And there was hope.

Before long the devastating billow surged back. Again roared the thunder of guns, and the drums rattled. Our troops are advancing; wild struggle rages round the city. The Prussian battalions press forward through the streets into the market-place against the enemy, who still hold the western suburb. It is the young Landwehr who this day receive their baptism of blood. The b.a.l.l.s whistle through the streets; they strike the tiles and plaster of the houses; the citizens have again concealed their wives and children in cellars and out-of-the-way places. The battalions halt in the market-place. The ammunition waggons are opened. The first companies press forward to the same gate through which, a few days before, the enemy had rushed into the city. The struggle rages fiercely. In the a.s.sault the enemy are thrown back; but fresh ma.s.ses establish themselves in the houses of the suburb, and contend for the entrances to the streets. Mutilated and severely wounded men are carried back and laid down in the market-place, and more than once the combatants have to be relieved. When the inexperienced soldiers see their comrades borne back from the fight, their faces blackened with powder, and covered with sweat and blood, their courage sinks within them; but the officers, who are also for the first time in close combat, spring forward, and "Forward, children! the Fatherland calls!" sounds through the ranks. At one time the enemy succeeded in storming the upper gate, but scarcely have they forced their way into the first street leading to the market, when a company of Landwehr throw themselves upon them with loud hurrahs, and drive them out of the gate.[57]

The thunder roars; the fiery hail pierces through doors and windows; the dead lie on the pavement and thresholds of the houses. Then any citizen who has a manly heart can no longer bear the close air of his hiding place. He presses close behind his fighting countrymen near to the struggle. He raises the wounded from the pavement, and carries them on his back either to his house or the hospital. Again the boys are not among the last; they fetch water, and call at the houses for some drink for the wounded whom they support; they climb up the ammunition waggons and hand down the cartridges, proud of their work they are unconcerned about the whistling bullets. Even the women rush out of the houses, with bread in their ap.r.o.ns and full flasks in their hands; they may thus do something to help the Fatherland.

The fight is over; the enemy driven back. In the warm sunshine a sorrowful procession moves through the city--the imprisoned enemy escorted by Cossacks. Hardheartedly do the troopers drive the weary crowd; they are allowed only a short rest in the open place of the suburb; the prisoners lie exhausted, weary and half fainting, in the dust of the high road. It is the second day on which they have had neither food nor drink; not once have their guards allowed them a drink from brook or ditch; they have ill-treated the weary men with blows and thrusts of their lances. These now, with outstretched hands, pour forth entreaties in their own language to the citizens, who stand round with curiosity and sympathy. They are, for the most part, young Frenchmen who are here lamenting, poor boys, with pale and haggard faces. The citizens hasten to them with food and drink; ample piles of bread are brought; but the Russians are hungry themselves; they roughly push back the approaching people, and tear their gifts from them. Then the women put baskets and flasks into the hands of their children. A courageous lad springs forward; the little troop of maidens and young boys trip amongst the prisoners, who are lying on the ground; even the youngest totter bravely from man to man, and distribute their gifts smilingly, unconcerned about their bearded guards,[58] for the Cossack does no injury to children. The German is not unkind to his enemy.

When anyone carries a wounded countryman to his house, how faithfully and carefully he nurses him. The family treat him as they would their own son or brother who is far away in the king's army. The best room and a soft bed is prepared for him, and the mistress of the house attends him herself with bandages and all necessary care.