shouted thousands and thousands of voices, till the air trembled with joy. From every window handkerchiefs were waving numberless; the guilds and corporations displayed their glittering banners; hats with green branches were elevated on long poles, or on the points of swords, or were thrown into the air with shouts of joy. All the bells sounded, and from every quarter guns and muskets thundered the friendly salute; and hurrah again, and vivat, from a thousand and a thousand voices. From every side the people crowded around us, and dressed the horses of the officers who led the procession with green boughs, and the ladies threw flowers and wreaths from every balcony. Many I saw weeping for joy; friends and strangers embraced, and wished each other joy to have lived and seen such a day. To have lived and seen this, is indeed enough to inspire the most sceptical with faith in fatherland. What, has not all been done to annihilate our German nationality? and, alas! we must confess it did we not advance halfway to meet the French, adopting with pure eagerness their fashions, their follies, and their flattering arts, so that their own tyrant found us half tamed to his yoke, and seemed to place his iron foot only where a footstool was already placed for him? But, God be praised! there flows yet sound blood in German veins; we recover our recollection and our self-esteem; and the German name will yet come to honour in the history of the world."* We return to Dresden. The following letter exhibits Marshal Blücher announcing himself to the Saxons in the character of a liberator from the censorship of the press. Literally the spy-system of Napoleon was so terrible and so severely felt through all Germany, that even military Prussia could stand forward against him with something like the front of free-mouthed Britain. In the Congress of Vienna also, something was said about freedom of the press in Germany; and there is a vague clause to the same effect in the act of confederation; but these words have not yet become deeds. "F. to THEOdore. "Dresden, 1st April 1813. "Just this minute am I come from General Blücher; and I give my counsel to every one who wishes to do any thing substantial here, to apply to this old hack-blade (haudegen;) a more noble nature was never incarnated in the shape of a Prussian hussar. I know you will laugh at the important business I transacted with the Prussian generalissimo; but I must tell my tale :-I had written about a dozen other songs in the same burschikose tone as that which I sent you; + but though Davoust was off and away, and the Cossacks held both the old and new town, the small anxiety of the censorship refused the necessary imprimatur. In this need, what could be more opportune for me than the proclamation of General Blucher, in which he expressly announces to the Saxons the return of the FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. Accordingly, as soon as he arrived here in person, I took the liberty to send him my MS., requesting his sanction to put it to press; and, of course, not forgetting to appeal to the terms of his own proclamation. The next morning I received my MS. with the following * The Hamburgh episode is well sketched in "The Year of Liberation. London: Duncan, 1832."-A graphic and vigorous work, attributed to Dr Croly. Some of Förster's songs will be found in most of the common collections of patriotic melodies. They will live long after more finished compositions shall have been forgotten. With those of Arndt, Follen, Körner, and others, they form a sort of lyrical Iliad of the time. Candidatus Theologia with whom we had so many excursions among the hills! From him I learned enough to encourage me to proceed immediately to Blücher's quarters, and return thanks personally for his attention. I found the old gentleman at breakfast, assisting his digestion by receiving various reports. Among so many brilliant hussars and jägers I looked very blank. When I was presented to him, and had thanked him formally, he laid his hand with great friendliness on my shoulder. Nur immer munter, drauf los gesangen !'—' Be always hearty, and ever have a song ready,' he said: 'it scatters fire among the people-this is a time when all sleepers must be roused, this man with a song, that man with a sword.' • Your excellency does not imagine,' I replied, that I have not an arm as well as a throat. I am waiting for Lutzow's corps, which I intend to join.' So much the better,' cried he; we may hobnob it (austossen) immediately as full brothers.' And with that he forced me to drink good fellowship with him. A better omen to commence my campaign with I could not have desired. . "After this, I went to Arnold's printing establishment, and the songs will be out to-morrow. "The king's address has had a wonderful effect here. He appeals to all Germany; and every where he will find the public heart reiterate to his call. Soon to meet again, "Thine, "F. F. "From to-day a Royal Prussian Volunteer." The next letter is on the march; and, as a lucky omen on such fateful expedition, Förster rejoices to encounter-GOETHE. "F. to his Sister in A. "Bivouack near Merseburg, "DEAR SISTER-The 11th April, the birth-day of our dear father, was the day of my march out of Dresden. Oh, it is a noble life this soldier's life! I cannot conceive how any man can allow himself to be shut in behind the desk and behind the stove, in civil fashion! What I knew only as poetry, or as past, whose return was impossible, I now experience as real present truth; I feel myself transported into the time of the crusades; I know that faith in fatherland also is a religion. And what an inward transformation of the whole man, has this crusade for freedom and fatherland not worked in all! You would scarcely know them again, these old renowners of Jena and Halle, who formerly knew no more glorious boast than to drink out so and so many mugs of beer, to scratch their cheeks in so and so many boyish duels, and so and so many times to have smashed the rector's windows. They stand now proper men, in rank and file, obedient to a wise command; and our whole existence has received a practical conseeration, of which formerly we had no conception; with all this we are merry enough-mad if you will, at times. We sing our old Burschen songs,' auf der goldenen Freiheit wohl!' as before, but the Landesvater, and the sword laden with caps, have now a meaning altogether different from what they had beside the famous tun of Heidelberg, or at the election of a magister bibendi at Lichtenhain. "What was my joy, you may guess, in meeting Theodore again!-The leave-taking from his parents, from his sister, and yet more from his be loved bride, was hard. Verily, when one has made such offerings as these, one's own bleeding heart can weigh but little in the scale. "On the day before the march, I sat an hour with him; his sister, a fond kind-hearted girl, was painting his portrait; she is a scholar of the famous Graff, and paints excellently in oil. On a sudden, with a loud scream, she drops the brush, and falls into a convulsive fit of weeping. For God's sake, what's the matter?' cried the poet, and sprang towards her. She took her handkerchief, and, still weeping and trembling, pressed it to his brow. Here it is gushing,' she said, sobbing. I saw it; you are wounded; you bleed!'-and then by degrees recollecting herself, she said, Alas, my sick fancy, my indescribable love for thee! As I was painting, and pictured you out to my thoughts more than to my eye, I lost all perception of reality; I saw you wounded in battle; with open eyes I dreamt!' Theodore, with his ready cheerful humour, sought to turn off the evil omen. It is plain you are gifted with clairvoyance, dear sister. I deal in the black art-get me a cup of coffee as black as you can make it, and paint on while I am sipping.' Emma went and brought the beverage; and Theodore was inexhaustible in all sorts of playful prophecies. "Concerning my first march, I must give you a few incidents. I am one of a company which a venerable professor from Berlin, by name Markwort, commands, not as captain, but as corporal; we are to choose our officers afterwards ourselves, when we have seen who is the man of most fire and firmness for the occasion. We marched, fifty men strong, as the avant-guard. Early in the morning, and as soon as we were clear of the city, we formed ourselves in a circle; the old corporal in the centre pronounced a short prayer; and after that we sang the old church hymnVerzage nicht du häuflein klein.' A beautiful and impressive hymn, most appropriate for us, and remarkable no less for its historical than for its moral significancy; for Gustavus Adolphus himself composed it, and his brave Swedes sang it on the morning before the battle of Lützen. Then, on the road, we sang all sorts of merry jäger-songs-the most popular is Fouque's. Frisch auf zum fröhlichen Jagen, Es ist schon an der zeit.' "That Theodore is not behindhand in supplying us with first-rate songs, you may well suppose. Some of mine also are received into the noble fellowship. Our first night's quarters were at Meissen. A good shake-down of straw was prepared; for, from this day forward, we are all bound to sleep no more on down. The sooner a soldier learns to endure hardness' the better. With the dawn of day, the jäger-horns woke us; and presently we stood all again in rank and file. Some, however, made very sour faces; and W. said to me, in all seriousness, That sounds very pretty, with God, king, and fatherland; but, without coffee, I don't think we can make much way.' Some of those who had had the good fortune to enjoy their comfortable cup before starting, hailed this remark with a hearty laugh; for my part I rejoice on the present occasion, that I am a slave neither of coffee-cups nor of cherry-stick. My father surely foresaw that I should early be rejoiced to act the soldier. "We had just finished our morn ing hymn before the Gasthof, where our corporal was quartered, when I saw a man mounting into an extra post, whose features appeared familiar to me. Scarcely could I believe my eyes when I saw-GOETHE. As the friend of his son, and as a favourite beau of his dance-loving wife at balls, I had been often in his house; but how he, who of all men loves peace, should have got himself into the middle of our war hurly-burly, I know not how to explain. I thought I must be mistaken; the more that he had drawn the military cap far over his face, and had wrapped himself up in a Russian general's cloak, with red collar: but when I saw his little secretary, friend John, mount the curricle after him, I was assured there could be no blunder; so I made the important dis. covery straightway to my comrades. I then, assuming the air of an orderly officer, approached the carriage, and said I intimate to your Excellency that a division of the Royal Prussian Volunteers of the Black Jäger, on their march to Leipzig, is drawn up before your quarters, and wishes to pay the honours to your Excellency.' The corporal gave the word of command -present arms!-and I called 'LONG LIVE GOETHE, THE POET OF POETS!' The whole company then joined with hurrah and horn. He touched his cap with the air of a general, and nodded kindly. A second time I approached him, and said,- Your incognito has proved no defence to your Excellency. The Black Jäger have sharp eyes; and to encounter Goethe at the outset of our march, was too good an omen to be neglected. We crave your blessing on our arms.' • Right heartily,' he replied. I gave him my rifle and hunting-knife he laid his hand on it, and said March with GOD, and all good attend your stout German courage!' With that we gave him another vivat; he waved his hand and was gone. Where was he going?" : Where was Goethe going?-to Carlsbad, of course, to drink drumly waters, and study stones and stratification. He had seen cannon-balls enough at Valmy in 1792. Our next letter is from the famous Arndt, the most popular among the popular singers of that stirring age. We have been induced to insert it, both as a characteristic of the writer, who still lives and writes, and as containing, in a few lines, a very graphic sketch of "ERNEST MAURICE ARNDT to his "Dresden, 24th April 1813. "DEAR BROTHER,-Here am I now for two weeks. My last from Königsberg you will have received. We are now on the Elbe, in dear old Deutschland, in the full hurly-burly and quick march of the things that are, and shall be. You know by what a concurrence of circumstances I became connected with the minister Von Stein. I now belong to his diplomatico-military headquar. ters, so to speak, and we are billeted with the most worthy man in the town, the superior appeal councillor, Körner, who has given us something much better than good lodgings-a gallant singer and soldier, in the person of his only son Theodore, fit for business when God begins to move powerfully in the great world. And where God moves, God's diaconus also (the devil, as you used to say) begins his by-play. Your worthy brother is besieged by a whole flood of madness and folly in all shapes, rattling in upon us like very hail. What do they not expect from one of us?—as if a sensible man had nothing to do in the world but execute nonsense as fast as idle brains can scheme it! And then my master-a singular old gentleman, not easily to be dealt with, I warrant you. Have I ever painted him for your edification? He is a real spurting fire-head, a sort of esquire Luther, (ritter Luther,) no unworthy twin-brother of the monk Luther; violent, abrupt, looking straight through things a mighty heart, and a yet more mighty conscience for God and fatherland-one that will never take a prudent roundabout, much less a sneaking backroad to a place; and for all the treasures of the world, will not budge one inch from the straight line of what is right; and yet it is but seldom that one can march straight up to a point. Now you may imagine, in these days, what a host of very zealous people we have got, who think they have a peculiar-each the most peculiar vocation from Heaven, to forge the dislocated limbs of the age into propriety. A fiery man, like Stein, must be goaded into madness, one should think, by the multitudinosity of absurdities with which even the best men will besiege him. But it is amazing how he has trained himself to patience. He says quite coolly- Die kanonen und trompeten werden das schon zurecht blasen,' The cannons and trumpets will blow all that right soon;' and I think he is right. But I am not so easily acquitted of my duties. All the dust and dirt and stench must first come through my hands, (no smell of powder can be half so bad.) Page upon page of written monstrosity I must wade through, and give a report of to him. The greater part of these supererogations he then, after scanning them for a few minutes with his eyes, falls upon like an enraged lion, tears them into the smallest pieces, and scatters them about his chair. "And I, great and important personage!--what am I here? An individual tone in the world-trumpet concert-a single stone sticking by the ribs of the great mountain of the age. Ludicrous enough, that some fine gentlemen conceit themselves I have diplomatic talent. Scarcely might I say that my master has it. "Adieu! "P.S. "E. M. A. through every day-gallant youths ;The Lutzowers pass some, too, from our quarter; among others Ludwig Mühlenfels, our neighbour's son. "At this very moment, there is a loud trumpeting. I and the Korners rush to the window. Milaradowitch is riding through with ten thousand dragoons and cuirassiers. I keep busy at my old trade, sending out fiery dragons to the Rhine and to the Danube ; the south and west of Germany are still immovable-the fire must burn their nails a little more closely before they budge." We are now on the eve of great actions. Neither party was willing infinite importance to each; to Nato delay a first decisive blow was of poleon, every thing; to the Allies, much. fought on the 2d May. It is not our tains. Our aim has been, to show the spirit out of which the war arose; and the reader will doubtless agree with us in thinking, that it was a spirit which a few reverses in the field could never subdue. Not an army or armies stood now up against Napoleon, but a whole PEOPLE. Hence the determined and unflinching resistance which every where met him: he gained two battles, Lützen and Bautzen, but he did not beat the enemy. At Lützen, in the face of superior numbers, and fresh troops, the Allies kept their ground firmly, and maintained the field of battle all night, as Wellington would doubtless have done had Blucher not arrived, at Waterloo; at Bautzen, they were forced to yield the ground; but retreated in the best order, and with unbroken spirit. Both parties required rest after such bloody encounters; but Napoleon required the armistice more than the Allies. Our letters do not carry us farther than this first act, or two acts let us rather say, of the drama. Hostilities were remitted on the 4th June; but after that date, the French most shamefully attacked the troop of Black Jägers, as they were returning to Silesia, at Kitzig, near Zeitz, in Saxony; and in this encounter, Körner was severely wounded. Our collection closes with a letter from Förster to the poet's father, written on the day after the affair :— "F. to THEODORE's Father. "19th June 1812. We "Never has the right of nations been more shamefully violated. Theodore was dispatched to parley with General Fournier. The general received him with the cry,L'armistice pour tout le monde excepté pour vous! and before Theodore could draw his sword, he had receiv ed a heavy blow on the head. We struck in with repeated blows, and cut out him and the major from the thickest ranks of the enemy. The major was lying, having been torn from his horse, on the ground; a trusty uhlan gave him his horse, and we hastened on to save Theodore. It was already dark; our little band was scattered; but we had the advantage of a near wood to cover us. bore Theodore off, bound for the moment, as we best could. Two woodcutters supplied us with some suits of boors' clothes. Under this disguise we brought Theodore into the village of Gross Zschocher, in the possession of the French. From this place I sent information to Dr Wendler, in Leipzig: and, dangerous as the business was for this true German, he at once received the sufferer into his house: and there he is safe. Every preparation has been made to bring him to Carlsbad. With the assistance of the Saxon lieutenant, Von C-z, I am to enter the French camp to-morrow with a contribution of straw, disguised as a country lad; and as soon as I shall have reached the banks of the Elbe, I will swim over to our friends. "Keep yourself easy: Theodore is safe. I owe my own safety to a Saxon officer, who has undertaken to bring these lines surely and speedily. to you. "A more shameful piece of treachery than Napoleon has perpetrated against us, is not to be found in his whole history. The landwirth Hofer, the Duke d'Enghien, the bookseller Palm, the officers who accompanied Schill,-all these were, at least, condemned according to the forms of justice before they were delivered over to his hangmen. Against us he has let out the long leash of his bloodhounds, after his generals had given Major Lutzow their word of honour that no hostile movement should be made against us; and, when we were lying quite defenceless, he sent five thousand against five hundred, and began to butcher us systematically. "Armistice, therefore, be it; but no peace! For this shameful deed we must first have our revenge. "Thine, F." And their revenge came. The fate of Napoleon, we agree with the Marquis of Londonderry, was "decided entirely and irrevocably " at Leipzic. Should the German Pandora, among its many gifts, furnish us with any sketches of the progress and conclusion of the war, in any way equal in interest to these pictures of its grand rising, we shall not fail to do our duty in making the English reader aware of their existence. Were it only for the sake of variety, we imagine the veriest devotee of fashionable fiction in three volumes will be ready to receive, with hearty welcome, such glowing pages from the great book of reality. |