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MEN WHO HAVE MADE THE NEW
GERMAN EMPIRE.

LONDON :
H. OLAT, SONS, AND TATLOK, PRINTERS,
BRICAD STREET HILL.

MEN WHO HAVE MADE THE NEW
GERMAN EMPIRE.

A SERIES OF

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.

G. L. M. STKAUSS.

vvV* IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME II.

partisan :
TINSLEY BEOTHEES, 8, CATHEEINE STEEET, STEAND.
1875.

C 0 N T E N T S.

PAfiE

Edward Lasker . . . 1
V.
Field-Marshal Von Wrangel ... 19
VI.
The Crown Prince of Prussia and Germany . 33
VII.
Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia . . .81
VIII.
King Albert of Saxony . . . . .106
(The Late King John of Saxony, 107 — 121.
IX.
Field-Marshal General Herwarth Von Bittenfeld 140

V1 Contents.

X.
Field-Marshal Steinmetz . 15l"

XI.
Field-Marshai. Manteuffel XII
General Vogel Von Falckenstein XIII.
General Goben

XIV.
General Werder

XV.
General Von der Tann XVI.
General Hartmann XVII.
General Alvensleben II.

a.h:

163

. 181

192

. 203

236

258

266

Contents. vii

XVIII.

PAQ1C

General Hindersin . , . . 271

The Money Marshals . . ... 277
XIX.
Heydt . . . 278
XX.
Camphausen . . . .286

.D1SMAKCK S DTAFF ...... 294
XXI.
President Delbruck ..... 295
XXII.
Lothar Bucher , .  307

viii Contents.

Special Arms and Victualling Department . 318
XXIII.
Dreyse . . . . 319
XXIV
Krupp . . 328
XXV.
Grunberg  333

se, „ 13
„ „ 15

JO.

EEEATA TO VOL. II.
Page 5, line 12 from the bottom, fcr "Fnebel," read '¦"^U)A
6 g 1 ,, for " superior,' 'read " chiefs.
A " in- ,, top, dele "of."
for " Emperor,'' read " Emperors. '
,',' after " Kiirnberp," dele " ,".
bottom, lefore " 1218 " and "1230," insert " d."
<> ',', toP. /"'¦ "Prittnitz," read "Prittwitz."
is' ' 9 " „ for "Elbcrfeldes."r«id " Elberfelder. "
49,' " 13 ,'j bottom, /or" 100,000," read" 130,000."
51 * ' 8 ,, top, after "Austrian," insert "corps."
59' " 11 ,, bottom, for "pieces," read "guns."
65, ,, 12 ,, „ after " July," insert ","
69, H&15., top, for "considerable," read "numerous."
80, 1 „ bottom, for "delight in," read "predilection."
83 , 3 ,, ,, for " was formed," read " sprung up. "
85, ,, 13 ,, top, for "chances, "read "chance."
9i, ,, 11- „ top, and in other places, for " Colin," read "Kolin.
112, „ 1 „ ,, for "Amelia," read "Amalia."
115, „ 14 „ „ for "present," read "late."
131, ,, 3 „ „ for "in through," re ad "through in."
150, „ 8 „ „ for "healthy," read "hale."
172, „ 12 ,, ,, for "unsoldierly," read "suddenly."
177, „ 8 ,, ,, after "placed," dele "in."
179, „ 8 ,, ,, after " was," dele " to be."
184, „ 3 ,, „ for "orders," read " order."

MEN WHO HAVE MADE THE
NEW GERMAN EMPIRE.

EDWARD LASKER.
The leader of the most important section of the great
National-Liberal party in the German Eeichstag,
upon whose decision seemed to hinge some time back
the momentous question of a possible renewal of the
old conflict between crown and parliament, so happily
terminated on a former occasion by the indemnity
vote given in 1866, occupies such a prominent
position just now in German and. indeed, in European
politics, that a few facts and notes anent the man
and his career will not be out of place.
There is no need here to discuss the great question
of the German Army Bill. Such a discussion would
lead us too far. Suffice it just to hint, that the
motives which induced the German government to
insist upon the project of law being carried intact as
proposed, and as a permanent and not merely a
triennial or quinquennial measure, lay much deeper
VOL. II. -B

Men who have made the

than was apparent on the outside. Moltke had been
compelled to put forward what has been termed the
" French plea "as the chief, if not the sole, cause of
the necessity of the new Army Bill. He could not
well be expected, under the circumstances, to hint at
possible hostile coalitions against the German empire.
But the Emperor William, the great chancellor,
Moltke, and the other military advisers of the crown
were painfully conscious of the probability, rather
than the simple possibility, of certain by no means
distant contingencies that might be expected to try
and test to the utmost stretch all the vigour and
resources of the new empire.
Had Bismarck been able to plead the cause of
government personally before the Beichstag, there
can barely be a doubt but he would have fully
succeeded in carrying with him the votes of the
National-Liberals and the more reasonable of the
progressists. Unhappily, the chancellor's illness had
thrown the entire machinery out of gear. When
Atlas bends, however slightly, the burthen he carries
must necessarily begin to oscillate.
It was not very surprising, then, that Lasker,
who before 1866 was himself one of the most
advanced and uncompromising progressists, should
dislike to grant the government such an extensive
vote of confidence as was implied in the Army Bill,
especially in the absence of the all-conquering influ
ence of the sole supreme chief of that government.

New German Empire.

The vile suggestion which has been thrown out in
some quarters, that disappointed ambition had some
thing to do with Lasker's reluctance to vote the Army
Bill, must be repudiated with scorn. Lasker is the
last man in the world to be guided by unworthy
motives. The matter is happily settled now. There is
reason to believe that the " septennial " compromise
was first suggested to Bismarck by Lasker.
It was in August, 1866, that the writer had the
pleasure of meeting M. Lasker for the first time. It
was at Baron Keudell's office we met, where Professor
Tellkampf, member of the Prussian House of Lords
for the University of Breslau, kindly introduced
me to a small, rather insignificant-looking gentle
man of unmistakable. Hebrew cast of countenance,
with delicate features, fine, intelligent eyes, and
high, thoughtful brow. This was Lasker. Al
though only in his thirty- seventh year at the time,
his dark hair began to show slight tinges of grey.
After listening for half an hour or so to the charms
of his marvellous eloquence, there remained no longer
the least trace of insignificance about the man in my
eyes. He stood fully revealed to me as a giant in
intellect, power, and aspirations.
Edward Lasker was born on the 14th of October,
1829, in the small township of Jarocin, near the
Polish frontier. He was one of a rather numerous
family. His father, a Hebrew merchant in a small,
way of business, justly enjoyed a high reputation for
B 2

Men who have made the

integrity. His mother, an excellent wottian, gifted
with much natural shrewdness, bestowed the utmost
care upon the moral training of her children. A
young Hebrew teacher was engaged as house tutor
to the children, to teach them the Hebrew language
and the Talmud and other sacred books of the Jews.
Little Edward made very rapid progress in his
educational course. He was barely eight years old
when he agreeably surprised his parents and his tutor
with a really meritorious Hebrew translation of one
of Schiller's poems.
In his fourteenth year he had the misfortune to
lose his beloved mother. Soon after this sad loss
his father sent him, together with his elder brother, to
Breslau, to enter the gymnasium there, where he was
admitted to the fourth form.
He here bestowed upon the acquisition of Latin
and Greek the same untiring zeal and unwearying
diligence with which he had studied Hebrew, and so
rapid was his progress in learning that the fastest
permitted routine advance from class to class was
much too slow for him. So he left the gymnasium,
resolved to prepare himself by private study for
the severe examination to be passed by young men
who wish to enter a Prussian university as students.
Had he continued to pursue his career at the gym
nasium, it would have taken him till the age of nine
teen before routine would have allowed him to show
that he was ripe for the University. But the young

New German Empire.

enthusiast passed brilliantly at the age of seventeen
and a half, thus gaining a clear saving of eighteen
precious months of the best part of his life.
He had at first intended to study medicine, but
his father for some reason objected, and, obedient to
the paternal wish, he turned his chief attention to
mathematics instead. This was in the year 1847.
Like most young students of the period, Edward
Lasker was an ardent and enthusiastic Liberal. He
joined the Burschenschaft. The great events of 1848
stirred him to his inmost depths. In October of
that annus mirabilis he went to Vienna to hear
the lectures of the famous Professor Endlicher.
These were the sad times when the unhappy
city of Vienna was besieged by Windischgratz
with overwhelming forces, and defended by a
mere handful of brave men under Bem, Franck,
Messenhauser, Bobert Blum, Julius Fralbel, and a
few more stanch champions of freedom. Edward
Lasker threw himself heart and soul into the cause :
he joined the famous academic legion, and narrowly
escaped sharing the fate of Robert Blum, who was
basely and cowardly murdered by Windischgratz
on the morning of the 9th of November, 1848.
Lasker, with his clear head, soon understood that
revolutionary risings, such as those of Berlin, Vienna,
and other German cities, were not exactly calculated
to promote the great cause of true liberty and rational
progress. He withdrew from political agitation and

Men who have made the

devoted himself with all the energy of his character
to the study of the law. In less than eighteen months
he was ready to pass his first examination as auscul-
tator (the first step, by the by, in Bismarck's career),
and less than two years after (in 1852) he brilliantly
passed his final state examination.
At this period of his career he had the grievous
misfortune to lose his beloved and revered father.
He sought solace for his deep grief in foreign travel,
and came to England.
Here he was powerfully attracted by the social
and political life of the nation. He found firmly
established here that constitutional liberty which
formed the object of his most ardent aspirations, and
he resolved to make the institutions of this favoured
land the subject of a searching study. He remained
in England nearly three years and a half. It is not
too much to say, that there is hardly another German
to be found who can justly boast of anything even
remotely approaching the profound and absolute
knowledge of England and everything English which
Edward Lasker possesses.
In 1856 he returned to Prussia, and re-entered
the service of the state. Of course he had to begin
again on the lowest steps of the ladder. In 1858
he obtained the appointment of assessor at the Berlin
City Court, where the heaviest and most complicated
affairs were constantly thrown on his shoulders, as
his superior had soon discovered his singular abilities

New German Ejnpire.

and his marvellous working energy and endurance.
He cheerfully bore the burthen of all these arduous
labours, although his office was a mere titular one
in a pecuniary sense, and though he was quite aware
of how little chance of promotion and lucrative em
ployment there was for him — the Jew Lasker. I
shall have occasion to return to this point to show
that there are still powerful social and religious
prejudices of which the enlightened Germans will
have to get rid \$£ before they can justly claim to
rank among the most civilized nations.
When Prince William was named regent, and the
wretched rule of Frederick William IV. and Eliza
beth was thus brought to a close, Lasker again began
to occupy himself earnestly with political questions.
He wrote some of the most remarkable political
papers of the day. In an article from his pen, which
appeared in Oppenheims Political and Literary
Annual for the year 1861, under the title "The
Powers of the Police and the Protection of the Law,"
he severely and caustically castigates the monstrous
principle of the Prussian law of the 11th of May, 1842,
which refers all complaints against police officers for
abuse of power and excess of duty to the decision of
the police authorities themselves whose officers are
complained against !
"England," Lasker says in this paper, "has attained
to mighty power, not on account of her insular posi
tion, not by the strength of her wide commercial

Men who have made the

connections ; not, as is sometimes said by those who
do not think deeply upon the matter, despite of the
.narrow legality within which her movements are
confined, but by the very force of that narrow
legality, that absolute supremacy of the law. It
is this absolute supremacy of the law which has
made England great, and which has bestowed true
freedom upon her. The certainty of finding protec
tion in the law of the land against all attempts to
commit arbitrary acts inspires the English citizen
with that noble self-consciousness and self-reliance
which more excites the envy of the sensible continental
citizen than the wealth and the many other advan
tages possessed by England. This proud self-con
sciousness and self-reliance constitute the chief source
of the Englishman's energy of thought and action,
of his prosperity, of his active participation in the
political life of the nation, of his cheerful willingness
to bear his share of the national burthens, of his
moderation, of the power of the state, and of the
undisturbed order which reigns through the land."
High praise this, indeed ; a pity the picture should
*Jsie so glarmgty overdrawn and overcoloured. There
is, however, some excuse for Lasker's somewhat
extravagant praise. At the time when he penned
this marvellous panegyric upon the supremacy of law
and justice in England, and the total absence <3f all
arbitrary will and power in this highly-favoured
country, the Tichborne trial and its sad lessons lay

New German Empire. 9
still buried in the womb of the future. Now of
course we know better.
Lasker soon became renowned as one of the most
eminent political writers of the day. In every
article from his pen it was clearly apparent that he
had thoroughly mastered the subject he was writing
upon. His clear exposition, lucid diction, and ner
vous style gave even to his lightest and most
fugitive papers the character of political essays of
the highest order.
All this time the great writer continued in his
humble office of assessor, without pay, to the Berlin
City Court. Being a man of singularly simple and
frugal habits, he has always found it easy to defray
the expenses of his living, &c, out of the proceeds
of his literary labours and his chamber practice as a
jurisconsult. Had he ever felt disposed to turn his
immense talents and knowledge and his indefatigable
working powers to profitable account in the manner
of so many of his contemporaries, he might easily
have acquired wealth. But Lasker is cast in an
antique mould : the eager pursuit of wealth has
no charms for him ; he freely gives his best services
to his country and his fellow-men with rare disin
terestedness. If I mistake not he is still a bachelor. He is of
a most amiable temper and most affectionate dis
position ; children more especially he loves dearly.
I do not know whether he still continues to lodge

10 Men who have made the
with his old landlord and landlady, with whom he
lived for years in the third story of a most un
pretending mansion, and whom he followed to
even more modest quarters when the unconscionable
rise of rents in Berlin compelled them to " move on ; "
but I should believe so.
In 1862, if I mistake not, Lasker became a member
of the Berlin Press Union, also of the great Berlin
Workmen's Union, where he soon took a leading part
as a public lecturer on the subjects most interesting
to working men.
When the great conflict between crown and parlia
ment was raging, Lasker treated the constitutional
and budget questions in a series of papers, published
in the " German annuals," which excited universal
attention and made the great Liberal and Progressist
party anxious to secure the writer for one of their
champions in parliament.
This was, however, much more easily conceived
to be a most desirable thing to do than to be
carried into effect. There was a formidable obstacle
in the path — the same obstacle, in fact, which opposed
itself to Lasker's promotion in the legal profession, of
which he yet was universally admitted to be one of
the brightest ornaments. As has already been men
tioned, Lasker is a Jew.
Here in England, where we have only recently
bestowed the second highest equity office in the land
upon a Jew gentleman, who, be it said without dis-

Neiv German Empire. 1 1
paragement of his legal attainments, cannot possibly
claim comparison with such a giant of the law as
Lasker is, we can barely conceive that Germany
should still lag so far behind in true civilization and
enlightenment as to be actually capable of tabooing
for years one of her greatest men simply and solely
because he claims descent from the ancient Chaldean
warrior princes of Palestine, and holds fast by the
faith of his fathers. os-.'-sA T /••,'. '•¦
There are a great many most excellent institutions
and customs in Germany, more particularly in Prussia;
but it must be confessed that there are also a great
many glaring abuses and defects blotting the political
and social system of the land; and this extremely
stupid professed prejudice against Jews is assuredly
one of the most glaring of these blots.
When King Frederick William III. appealed to his
people in 1813, his Jewish subjects obeyed the call
with the same alacrity as the followers of Christ, and
fought as bravely and as well.
A few years after, in 1817, a Jew, bearing the
unmistakable name of Joshua Aaron, who had greatly
distinguished himself in the war of liberation, and who
felt strong within him the fierce spirit of his illus
trious ancestors, presented himself before the exami
nation commission with a modest request to allow
him to pass his examination for an officer's commission
in the army.
Lieutenant-Gcneral von Holtzendorff, the president

12 Men who have made the
of the commission, stood literally aghast at the
Jew's impertinence. He rushed incontinently into
the king's presence to shock his majesty's reformed
Christian ears with the dire report. What ! a Jew
wanting to be an officer in his majesty's forces !
The thought was madness. The horrified monarch at
once issued an order sternly prohibiting the children
of Israel from daring to repeat Joshua Aaron's bold
experiment. o:i <' isA'*- e*5ev'A« <*¦ <?.•* 'V„. ¦¦.-- •¦- 'fe ">>.•*¦»
This was some sixty years ago, you will per
haps say, and does not apply to the present time.
Well, some fourteen years ago, if my memory serves
me right, General Steinmetz, who is now a field-
marshal, obtained a somewhat unenviable notoriety
by issuing an order forbidding certain classes of men,
Jews among the number, to apply for officers' com
missions in his division. I remember the case very
well, because poor Otto Hagen, the then editor of
the Insterburger Zeitung, got into sore trouble for
publishing the obnoxious order in his paper; for
Steinmetz, having performed his good and heroic
deed in secret, blushed to find it fame, and came
down heavily upon the poor journalist for his
indiscretion. At last, on the 3rd of July, 1869, a kind of Bill of
Bights and removal of religious and other disabilities
was passed, which, one would certainly have supposed,
ought to have rendered impossible the repetition of
.such foolish tricks as those played by Steinmetz

New German Empire. 13

and Holtzendorff. But volenti nil difficile : when
a fool has made up his foolish mind to perpe
trate an act of folly he is safe to succeed in his
purpose. A Jewish gentleman, named Gottfried Hirsch,
having duly passed his examination, entered the
Prussian army in 1866 as a one-year volunteer. He
was present at the battle of Sadowa and Chlum,
where he distinguished himself by his cool bravery.
He served at the time in the famous division of
General Fransecky, to whose heroic endurance the
success of the day was mainly due. Well, in 1870
Gottfried Hirsch was called out again, and again
he fought bravely throughout the campaign, but
especially in the desperate encounter before Belfort,
where General Werder gained his well-earned laurels.
Gottfried Hirsch aided might and main in achieving
the great and glorious result. Indeed, so brilliantly
did he distinguish himself that his captain and his
major, both of them Christian gentlemen, warmly
recommended the brave sub-officer for a commission.
But if they expected to see Gottfried Hirsch soon
one of themselves, and if the man Gottfried Hirsch
himself indulged in the flattering thought, they calcu
lated without their divisional commander, one Herr
von Debschiitz, who felt as horrified as Holtzendorff
had felt of old at the audacious presumption of a Jew
wanting to be an officer !
This excellent Herr von Debschiitz accordingly

] 4 Men who have made the
sent back an indignant refusal to sanction the major's
and the captain's recommendation, accompanied by a
remarkably stiff official intimation, that he must beg
never to be troubled again with recommendations of
Jews for officers' commissions !
So Gottfried Hirsch, who, to say the least of it,
had certainly distinguished himself quite as much as
the sublime Debschiitz, whose name most likely would
never have been handed down to fame but for this
curious little episode, had to take his leave in his
old non-commissioned capacity, the stupid divisional
commander being left untouched and unreproved,
because poor old Boon, with all his brilliant attain
ments, and despite his real greatness, happened to be
just as brimful of foolish class prejudice as Debschiitz
himself; and Bismarck, with a multitude of hornets
swarming and buzzing about his ears, of course felt
reluctant to put his fingers into another nest of the
interesting insects. Well, luckily, Boon is gone at
last, and Kamecke is said to be pretty free from his
predecessor's foibles.
Still, such men as Holtzendorff, Steinmetz, Deb
schiitz, Roon, and others of the same stamp, might
plead inveterate class prejudice in extenuation of
their ridiculous conduct. But what can possibly be
urged in excuse of the so-called Ultra-Liberal electors
in Prussia, who for a long time declined admitting the
candidature of Edward Lasker, pleading that they
must draw the line somewhere ; and that they

New German Empire. 15

sincerely believed they ought to draw it at Jews !
And, mark, not alone the provincial liberal con
stituencies acted upon this almost incredibly stupid
notion, but the most highly intelligent first electoral
district of Berlin, the capital of intelligence, where ,.
only the most advanced champions of progress ever
have a chance of election, repeatedly rejected Lasker
the Jew for infinitely smaller men of the Christian
persuasion. Yet many of the electors of this first
district would be angry indeed if their freedom from
all religious prejudice and superstitious taint were
called in question.
So it was only in March, 1865, when Professor
Temme resigned his seat in the Prussian parliament,
that Edward Lasker was at last chosen to represent
the fourth electoral district of Berlin.
On the 27th of March, 1865, the newly elected
deputy delivered his maiden speech. It was late in
the afternoon, and the house was more than tired — in
fact, completely knocked up. Parliamentary practice
had not then of course polished Lasker's organ and
attuned it to the sensitive ears of his hearers ; there
was, it is said, even a little of the Jew dialect in his
enunciation. No wonder, then, that the maiden
speech, like our own Disraeli's, turned out anything
but a success.
Yet, strange to say, within a few brief months after,
Edward Lasker had overcome all drawbacks, and' the
members of the house were placed in a position to

16 Men who have made ihe

freely and ungrudgingly admire the marvellously
clear intellect and the amazing extent of knowledge
of the new representative of the fourth electoral
district of Berlin. Lasker had of course joined
the Progressists, and he fought his first great battles
under the venerable Waldeck, the supreme leader of
that fraction of the house.
With his clear head and lucid understanding,
Edward Lasker soon discovered that the Progressists,
with all their sincere honesty of purpose and their
undoubted high talents, were too closely wedded to
party prejudices and crotchets ever to lay down a
thoroughly intelligible and practical programme, and
to carry it out. So when, after the great events of
1866, the first electoral district of Berlin sent him at
last into the new parliament, he seceded from the
Progressist fraction and became one of the chief
founders and leaders of the National Liberal party,
to which he continues to belong.
His secession from the Progressists, and his open
declaration that the passing of the constitution of the
North German Confederation was of paramount im
portance, and ought to override all party considera
tions, cost him the confidence of his constituents.
However, this was a matter of very little importance
to him, as there were now plenty of constituencies
only too happy to secure the Jew Lasker for their
representative. From that time forward it may be truthfully said

New German Empire. 17

that no law of any importance, touching either the
Prussian kingdom, the North German Confedera
tion, or the German empire, has been passed that
does not bear the stamp of Lasker 's mind. The
great tribune has, ever since 1866, honestly en
deavoured to give the chancellor of the North
German Confederation and of the German empire
his most powerful support.
In the early part of last year Edward Lasker
rendered one of the most signal services to his
country by laying bare with a firm and unsparing
hand the cancer of corruption in the Ministry of
Commerce, that was threatening to eat into the
very heart of the official machinery of the state in
Prussia. It would have been difficult indeed to
find another man equally fit for the delicate task,
and one so absolutely free from the remotest sus
picion of taint as Lasker may honestly claim to be.
Although the Jew has been permitted at last to
find his way into parliament, the door of official
promotion is still kept jealously closed against him.
Yet after the removal of Lippe from the Ministry
of Justice, one would have thought Dr. Leonhardt,
Lippe's successor, would have been proud to push
a man like Lasker. But the great lawyer is still
left standing on the lowest steps of the ladder. The
city of Berlin, however, has bestowed upon him a
somewhat remunerative appointment. The state
would seem to find it difficult indeed to get rid of
VOL. II. c

Men who have made the

its anti-Jewish prejudices. It is very true that the
late Dr. Stahl, who was a Jew by birth, was per
mitted to attain high office in the Prussian state ;
but then he had Manningized from the ancient faith,
and had become a shining light of ultra-orthodox
Prussian Protestantism of the most exclusive and
intolerant description. So the instance does not
apply to Lasker's case.
Iu 1871 an anecdote was told in Berlin, and was
much commented upon at the time, as to how the
chancellor on the occasion of one of his meetings
with Lasker, having listened with rapt attention
to one of the great parliamentarian's lucid disqui
sitions on a question of the day, had warmly shaken
hands with him, saying, " My dear Herr Lasker, de
cidedly we must be colleagues one of these days."
To which Lasker was reported to have replied, " How
so, your highness ? Can it really be your intention
to return once more to the noble profession of the
law 1 " What might have seemed a joke then, may,
perchance, now ere long acquire the substantial pro
portions of a reality. It is well known that Bismarck
is entirely free from the narrow prejudices of his class.
Lasker certainly would make a very good minister of
justice, or, better still, an excellent home secretary.
In 1872, if my memory serves me right, the Law
Faculty of the University of Leipzig bestowed the
diploma of Honorary Doctor of Laws upon Edward
Lasker.

New German Empire. 19

FIELD-MARSHAL VON WRANGEL.
In the memoir of Bismarck, mention has been made
of a certain illuminated transparent scroll, seen by
the writer in Elberfeld at the celebration of the
first anniversary of Sedan, recording the rearing of
the "noblest structure of the world's history," to
wit— the new German empire.
As the foundation pillars of this noble edifice, the
scroll recited — Civism, education, industry, intelli
gence, order, faith, honour, loyalty, patriotism, dis
cipline, duty, endurance, fortitude, active obedience,
valour. It is as the typical representative — the very
incarnation, in fact — of many of these high qualities
that old Field-Marshal Wrangel finds a place assigned
him here among the makers of the new German
empire. Whoever has attentively followed the victorious
career of the Prussian armies from 1864 to 1871, and
has intelligently endeavoured to trace the effects
c 2

20 Men who hare made the
back to their causes, cannot but have been struck
with the large share which must be assigned in the
latter to the ingrained stern discipline, the deep sense
of duty, the tenacious endurance and fortitude in
doing and suffering, the intelligent, active obedience
(so very different from the mere stolid, passive
submission to the word of command found in certain
other continental armies), which have throughout
characterized the Prussian soldier.
Now these high qualities existed in the old Prussian
army long before Boon and Prince William had con
ceived their reorganization plan, which was not
indeed intended to create a new soldiering spirit ; but
simply contemplated turning to the best and most
efficient account the splendid material in that line
already abundantly existing, and strenuously and
incessantly cultivated many long years by the old
school of officers dating from the great liberation war,
of whom Field-Marshal Wrangel may fairly be taken
as the prototype.
This tough old soldier, Frederick Henry Ernest
Count von Wrangel, was born on the 13th of April,
1784, at Stettin, in Pomerania. His education was
slightly defective, and although the popular notion
is founded in error, that the field-marshal is even
very indifferently up in High Dutch, and can express
himself with proper fluency only in Pomeranian
patois and in vernacular Berlin cockney, yet it is said
to be very questionable whether he could ever at

New German Empire. 21
any period of his career have passed the mildest
competitive examination in any but the rudimentary
branches of knowledge.
He certainly forms a curious contrast with such
men as Moltke, Boon, Goben, Voigts-Rhetz, Blu-
menthal, Sperling, Zastrow, Fransecky, Podbielski,
Wartenberg, Holleben, and an almost innumerable
host of others of the same high class of brilliant
attainments. At the very early age of twelve he entered the
military service of his country. However, the
regiment of dragoons in which he served was onljs
mobilised after the defeat of Jena, and he was full
twenty-three years of age before he had the first
opportunity afforded him of fleshing his maiden
sword. Of this opportunity he availed himself to
such excellent purpose in the campaign of 1807, more
particularly in the fight at .Heilsberg, that the king
bestowed upon him the distinguished military order
pour le merite.
This order was originally created under the style
and title of Ordre de la Generosite, by Mar
grave Frederick of Brandenburg, afterwards Elector
(Frederick III.) and King of Prussia (Frederick I.).
It was reorganized in 1740 by King Frederick IL,
under the style and title of Ordre , pour le Merite
Civil et Militaire. Subsequently, in 1810, King
Frederick William III. reorganized it anew, as Ordre
du Merite Militaire. Frederick William IV. added

22 Men who have made the
a civil class to it for eminent artists and distinguished
men of learning (31st of May, 1842).
After the peace of Tilsit the dragoon regiment in
which young Wrangel served was completely re
organized, or, more correctly speaking, two new
regiments were formed out of its material. In
one of these, the East Prussian Cuirassiers, Wrangel
was appointed captain.
In the campaign of 1813, Captain Wrangel did
good service at Hainau, Liebertwolkwitz, and Leipzig,
for which he was raised to the rank of major.
In 1814 he first assisted in the blockade operations
round Luxemburg, then took a prominent share in
the hard fighting in February. On the retreat to
Etoges he was complimented by Blucher upon the
excellent manner in which he had led his regiment
and kept his men in hand. He gained honourable
distinction also at Laon and Sezanne.
In short, wherever he appeared in the field he
showed himself a most valuable and efficient officer ;
so in April of the same year (1814) he was promoted
to a lieutenant-colonelcy, and made commander at the
same time of the 2nd West Prussian Regiment of
Dragoons. This new regiment took no part in the campaign of
1815, which was always a very sore point with
Wrangel, who used to declare, with comic indignation,
that " old Blucher had no business to finish the matter
right slick off at Belle Alliance (Waterloo), thereby

New German Empire. 23
depriving a poor fellow of all chance of coming in for
his legitimate share of the slashing. He would like
to know what old Marshal Forward would have
said if he (Wrangel) had played him such a mean
trick as that. Why, he would have sworn like a
trooper ; and so would he (Wrangel), only that
he knew he must not, as it , was against the rules
of the service."
But though Wrangel thus took no part in the
campaign of 1815, he was promoted in the same year
to the rank of full colonel.
In 1821 he obtained the command of the 10th
Cavalry Brigade, and two years after, ere he had
reached his fortieth year, he was made major-
general. In 1834 he was appointed commander of the 13th
Division. The head-quarters of this division was at
Miinster, in Westphalia.
Three years after the whole of Bhineland-Westphalia
was plunged in sad religious troubles ; for it is a
grievous error to suppose that there were no difficulties
with the Ultramontane clergy in Prussia before the
days of Bismarck.
Even as early as 1837, the then Archbishop of
Cologne (Droste-Vischering) tried his hand at
something like the same game Messieurs Forster,
Krementz, Martin, Ledochowski, and Melchers are
now trying their hardest to play against the imperial
government, to the greatest possible damage to the

24 Men ivho have made the
t 
state, and the deepest injury to that very religion in
whose name and interest they profess to act.
Frederick William III. was always very stiff in
matters touching the supremacy of the crown, and
he speedily made the recalcitrant archiepiscopal
dignitary feel that he was determined to submit to no
imperium in imperio, to no self-assumed license on
the part of an antagonistic Roman establishment in
Protestant Prussia.
The Ultramontanists, who have never yet hesitated
to act wherever practicable upon the beautiful Jesuit
maxim, that where the end may seem good and
desirable, all means conducive to that end are equally
allowable, did their worst to support the archbishop's
falling cause by the argument of religious disturbance
and riot in Rhineland- Westphalia.
General Wrangel's position at Munster was one of
very considerable difficulty, which required equally
delicate and energetic handling. He showed himself
fully up to the occasion, however, and managed to
keep the province under his especial guardianship in
most excellent order.
It is said that he sent for the dignitaries of the
Roman Church in Westphalia, more especially in
Munster, and that he addressed these gentlemen in
very good and unmistakably plain and intelligible
High Dutch, telling them that he should hold them,
collectively and individually, personally responsible for
all popular disturbances that should require the strong

Neio German Empire. 25
hand to put them down. He was not going to shoot
down an ignorant, priest-excited, and misguided fanat
ical mob in the streets of Munster, or elsewhere ; but
he would, with inexorable severity and unwavering
firmness, strike down the priestly plotters and wire
pullers who were directing the moves of the pawns
in the game. He assured them that he would be as
good as his word, and they wisely believing him, the
dreaded troubles were nipped in the bud.
It was partly to reward him for the signal services
he had rendered the crown in this emergency that
Wrangel was made lieutenant-general in 1838.
The year after, he was appointed to the command of
the 1st Army Corps at Konigsberg, in Prussia. Here
his military bluntness, it would appear, led to a clash
with some of the high authorities of the province,
which induced the government to transfer him to the
command of the 2nd Army Corps at his own native
city of Stettin.
In autumn, 1842, he commanded the evolutions of
fifty-six squadrons of cavalry, with thirty-two guns,
which took place near Berlin, before the late Emperor
Nicholas of Bussia, who personally expressed to the
general his warmest approbation of the thorough
efficiency of the troops under his command. Three
years after King Frederick William IV. reviewed the
2nd Army Corps under Wrangel's command. He
was so delighted with the splendid appearance of
the corps, that he presented Wrangel with the

26 Men who have made the
3rd Regiment of Cuirassiers as a mark of his royal
satisfaction. At the outbreak of the war between Germany and
Denmark in 1848, General Wrangel was appointed
commander-in-chief of the Prussian and German
confederate forces, in which capacity he gained a
victory over the Danes at Schleswig on the 23rd of
April, 1848. He subsequently invaded Jutland, but
the war was conducted languidly by Prussia, and the
authorities in Berlin did everything to impede and
thwart the military operations in the Elbe Duchies
and in Jutland. So Wrangel was glad indeed when
he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Marches
in September, 1848.
It had at that time become perfectly clear that
the revolutionary party, who had so easily suc
ceeded in the spring of the year in overthrowing
the old absolutist government, had played their
cards badly ever since, and had now finally lost
the game ; and the only question was how to trium
phantly lead the inevitable reaction back to Berlin
without incurring the risk of those deplorable scenes
of bloodshed and cruel oppression which, unhappily,
but too often attend " victories " of this nature.
The task required a man of proved energy and
good sense, with a certain amount of kindly feeling
in him.
Wrangel was selected for the post, and a better
choice could hardly have been made.

New German Empire.

Having carefully made all necessary preparations,
and collected a sufficient military force to make the
utter futility of attempted resistance perfectly clear
to the common sense of all but the most exalted of
the revolutionary leaders, the general marched into
Berlin on the 9th of November, 1848, proclaiming
the state of siege. He speedily restored the authority
of the government, without disgracing his name
and fame by the establishment of murdering courts-
martial and Satory shambles.
For his eminent services on this critical occasion,
King Frederick William IV. made him general of
cavalry, and conferred upon him, in addition to his
command in the Marches, also the command-in- chief
of the 3rd Army Corps.
In 1856 General Wrangel celebrated the sixtieth
anniversary of his service in the Prussian army, on
which occasion he was raised to the highest military
rank of field-marshal (15th of August). The honour
thus conferred was the more distinguished, as Field-
Marshal Wrangel was then the only officer of that
highest rank in the Prussian army (Prince Charles,
the king's brother, was Master-General ofthe Ordnance,
and Prince William, the present German emperor,
was Colonel-General of Infantry, two high military
charges held to rank equal with the field-marshalate).
In 1864, when the war broke out between Austria
and Prussia and Denmark, Wrangel, then eighty
years old, took the command of the allied Prussian

28 Men icho have made the
and Austrian forces. He retained it till after the
storming of Diippel, when he asked to retire on
account of his great age. He had, in fact, originally
accepted the proffered command with reluctance ;
but these were the days when venerable age was
still, occasionally at least, thought an indispensable
condition in a commander of the forces in the field.
The subjoined historic reminiscence may serve to
show how far this strange notion was occasionally
carried : —
In 1813, when the question was mooted of ap
pointing General Blucher to the command of the
Silesian army, there were objections urged on the
king from all sides against the proposed appointment,
some declaring the general to be a man of over-
sanguine disposition, and much given to boldness,
bordering dangerously on temerity ; others that he
was too old and too cautious (!), and too much given
to act upon the advice of others. But the strangest
objection urged against him certainly was, that he
was too young, the general being about seventy-one
at the time.
Old Field-Marshal Mollendorf, a veteran then
nigh upon ninety years old, felt particularly sore
upon the excessive juvenility of General Blucher.
" Sir ! " he exclaimed to a high officer with whom he
was discussing the appointment, then just completed,
of the general to the command of the Silesian army —
" Sir ! the service is going to the dogs — to the dogs,

New Germa.n Empire. 29

sir, I say. What but defeat and disgrace can be
expected in the field when they intrust high command
to a mere youth like Blucher 1 "
It must be admitted, however, that in stiff old
Mollendorf 's notion General Blucher had at the time
only had twenty-six years' service in the army.
Captain Blucher had been passed over in a promo
tion by Frederick II. , a younger and by no means
a meritorious officer having, thanks to his powerful
family influence, been made major over Bliicher's
head. This had led to the fiery captain's resignation
of his commission (in 1772) ; and it was only in 1787
that Frederick II.'s successor, Frederick William II. ,
succeeded in inducing Blucher to re-enter the service
as major.
In the instance of the Dano-German war, moreover ,
Wrangel was the only officer whose appointment to
the chief command would not be likely to rouse
international jealousies and heartburnings between
the allies.
With his resignation of the command of the allied
forces in the Elbe Duchies, Field-Marshal von
Wrangel, though still nominally retaining his seat
in the state council and the chief command in the
Marches, with the governorship of Berlin, may be
said to have retired from the political and military
stage, but certainly not from the busy scenes of active
life, in which even now, with the snow of ninety
winters upon his brow, he is found to the fore.

30 Men who have made the
In 1866, when the war between Prussia and the
Austro-German coalition broke out, nothing would
satisfy the old man but he must accompany the army
to the field — as a volunteer !
The writer remembers having seen the green old
man on one occasion at Nachod, in the military
hospital, where he was dispensing kind words of
sympathy and encouragement, and trifling money
gifts to the unhappy wounded.
The writer saw him again on the 20th of Septem
ber, the day of the triumphant entry of the Prussian
army into Berlin, high on horse, firm in the saddle,
riding with the nerve and skill of an accomplished
young cavalier, and gallantly blowing kisses to every
pretty girl his lively eyes could espy in his ride along
the Linden.
And five years after, in 1871, the well-nigh nona
genarian was still to the fore, on horseback, and still
gallantly blowing kisses !
In January, 1872, the late Count Bernstorff, then
German ambassador to the Court of St. James's, made
a temporary stay at Berlin, where he had taken up
his quarters at the H6tel Royal. Here the old
field-marshal paid the count a friendly visit. He
came on foot. It was one of the coldest winter
days — something like twenty degrees of cold. Yet
there the old man was in his thin military undress
coat, without great-coat or wrapper about him, and
with his spiked helmet, which must really begin

New German Empire. 31
to weigh heavy upon his head, tightly fixed on
as usual.
The day after, he went to visit the crown prince,
this time in an open carriage, in which he might be
seen sitting stiff and grim, with the same scanty pro
tection against the cold as the day before, yet
apparently not the least heeding the cutting, icy
wind blowing right through him !
His last public appearance was at the funeral of
the late Queen Dowager Elizabeth, when he is said to
have looked just the least little bit shaky, but for
all that, likely to hve long enough to add another
instance in confutation of the anti-centenarian
theory. Field-Marshal Wrangel is Knight and Chancellor
of the Order of the Black Eagle in brilliants, Knight
of the Order of St. John, of the Ordre pour le Merite,
and a heap of others too numerous to mention ; Chief
of the East Prussian Cuirassier Regiment, No. 3, and
of the Brandenburg Fusilier Regiment, No. 35 ; pro
prietor of the Imperial and Royal Austrian 2nd
Regiment of Dragoons, and of the Imperial Russian
33rd Infantry Regiment. He had only one son,
Frederick, born in 1821, who died in 1867, leaving
an only son behind, Gustavus von Wrangel, born
the 21st of October, 1847, who is now an officer in
the Prussian army.
• On the 13th of April last, Field-Marshal Wrangel
celebrated his ninetieth birthday, when he is reported

32 Men who have made the
to have looked as green and as jolly as ever. The
emperor and empress, the crown prince, and all the
princes of the royal house, the ministers, &c, and
the municipal council of the city of Berlin sent
their hearty congratulations to the veteran. Ob
serving that one of the members of the municipal
council, who came with the burgomaster to present
the congratulations of the city, did not look quite
well, "My dear sir," said green old ninety, "you
must take care of yourself. I hope you will be in
better trim when you are deputed again next year
upon the same pleasant errand to me," — taking it
as a matter of course that he would have to be con
gratulated upon his ninety-first birthday! Where
does the old man intend to stop ?

New German Empire. 33

VI.

THE CROWN PRINCE OF PRUSSIA AND
GERMANY.
The arduous and perilous match for the great
" German Unity " stakes had to be played chiefly
on the battle-field. At least two out of the three
great military powers of Europe had to be over
thrown by Prussia and cleared off the ground ere
the foundations of the new German empire could be
securely laid. The accomplishment of this feat re
quired the highest military leadership.
Now Prussia had, indeed, an almost incalculable
advantage on her side in the stupendous struggles
with Austria and France, in the possession of the
greatest military strategist the world has ever yet
seen. Still, this was not of itself sufficient to secure
victory to her arms. War nowadays is a game of
the nicest combination — every possible contingency
had to be foreseen and provided for, and it is indis
pensable to be equally armed at all points.
The supreme chief and leader of the host may be
a strategist of transcendent genius, yet to secure the
VOL. II. D

34 Men who have made the
success of his plans he requires the support of a suf
ficient number of sub-leaders of the highest tactical
ability. Failure on the part of even only one of the
sub-leaders may seriously compromise, if not altogether
imperil, the whole plan of campaign.
The defeats of Oudinot and Ney at Grossbeeren
and Dennewitz more than counterbalanced Napoleon's
half-victories of Bautzen and Liitzen — Macdonald's
defeat at the Katzbach overthrew all the emperor's
ingenious combinations. Vandamme's blunder at
Kulm made Napoleon lose all the prospective brilliant
fruits of his great victory at Dresden over Schwarzen-
berg, and Marmont and Macdonald's failure at
Mockern decided the defeat of the French at Leipzig.
Moltke has enjoyed, in his two great campaigns,
the singular — one would almost be tempted to say the
phenomenal — good luck of being supported through
out by military commanders of the highest ability,
who always thoroughly understood their instructions,
and knew how to carry them out most effectively.
Indeed, with the single exception of Bonin's blunder
ing1 at Trautenau, the work intrusted to the tactical
leaders of the Prussian and German host in the
Austro- and Franco-German campaigns of 1866 and
1870-71 was neatly and cleverly done throughout,
though partial failure might perhaps be imputed alone
to Herwarth von Bittenfeld and Manteuffel. The
tactical leaders of the Prussian and German armies in
the two great wars are therefore justly entitled to

Neio German Empire. 35
claim a place among the men who have made the
new German empire. The principal of these leaders
are the Crown Prince of Prussia and Germany, Prince
Frederick Charles, King Albert of Saxony, General
Vogel von Falckenstein, Field-Marshals Herwarth von
Bittenfeld, Steinmetz, and Manteuffel, General von
der Tann, and Generals von Goben and Werder.
First and foremost among these ranks the Crown
Prince of Prussia and Germany, not because he
happens to be the heir apparent of the Emperor
William, but simply because he is really the greatest
and most genial of the German generals — with the
single exception, perhaps, of the great Vogel von
Falckenstein, who affords a most rare combination of
the highest strategic genius with the highest tactical
ability. The house of Hohenzollern is one of the oldest and
most renowned houses in Europe. The Hohenzollerns
trace their origin back to the end of the eighth century,
when, as family tradition avers, Count Thassilo, one
of the Suabian magnates of the time, built the strong
castle of Zolre, upon the summit of the Zolrenberg or
ZoUernberg, which lies about an English mile south
of the present town of Hechingen. The ZoUernberg
rises 2,663 feet above the level of the sea, and about
900 feet above the level of the city of Hechingen.
One tradition, as just now mentioned, attributes the
building of the castle to Count Thassilo; another
tradition, which may claim a safer foundation, says
D 2

36 Men who have made the
the castle was erected in the eleventh century. The
old chapel of St. Michael, which exists to the present
day, forming part of the castle, belongs to the style of
architecture of that century. In fact, it was in the
eleventh century that the Counts of Zolre were first
heard of in history.
Burchard and Wenceslas of Zolre were slain in
1061, in the troubles which distracted poor Germany
during the minority of Henry IV. From Burchard
descended Frederick I. of Zolre, who was the ancestor
of the first Zollern Burgraves of Niirnberg. Frederick
III. of Zolre was one of the most intimate friends and
councillors of the Emperor Barbarossa and Henry VI.
He espoused Sophy of Batz, daughter of Conrad, last
Burgrave of Niirnberg, of the Austrian family of
Ratz. Sophy brought her husband, besides the
burgraveship, the rich allodial possessions of the Ratz
family in Austria and in Franconia. As Burgrave of
Niirnberg this Frederick III. is called Frederick I.
In the old documents of the period he figures first
as burgrave on the 8th of July, 1192. He left two
sons, Frederick II. (1218) and Conrad I. (1230), who,
according to the custom of these old times, enjoyed
their paternal estates in common, and were both of
them jointly Counts of Zolre and Burgraves of Niirn
berg. It was only eight years after Frederick's
death, in 1226, that Conrad divided the estates with
his nephew.
There were now two distinct lines of Zollern, the

New German Empire. 37
Suabian and the Franconian. Conrad, of the Fran-
conian line, was the first Zollern who styled himself
simply Burgrave of Niirnberg. His son, Frederick
III., married Elizabeth, one of the allodial heiresses
of the last Count of Meran, who brought her husband
the greater portion of the Meran estates, more particu
larly Baireuth, with its rich mines.
From the earliest times of. their known history the
Zollerns have been famous for their frugal lives and
their wise economy. Frederick III. was therefore
already possessed of much cash, which the proceeds
of the Baireuth mines increased considerably. He
was mainly instrumental, in conjunction with Arch
bishop Werner of Mayence, in placing Budolph
of Hapsburg (Hawksburg) upon the imperial
throne of Germany (1273). He was also mainly
instrumental in inflicting the crushing defeat of the
Marchfield upon the Bohemians and their King
Odoaker, or Ottokar (1278). He bore the banner
of the empire in this battle. Some historians assert
that the Emperor Rudolph had promised to bestow
the Austrian Duchies upon him, which the death of.
Frederick of Austria, basely butchered, together with
Conradin of Hohenstaufen, by the monster Charles
of Anjou, had rendered vacant.
However this may be, Rudolph thought better of
it, and gave fair Austria, with Styria and Carniola,
to his own sons, indemnifying the burgrave for the
disappointment of his brilliant hopes by bestowing

38 Men who have made the
upon him a considerable number of estates and
privileges, to which that wise and far-seeing prince
added many more estates, purchased with the fruits
of his own and his ancestors' wise economy. He
died in 1297. His son and second successor, Frede
rick IV., continued the same policy. He cleverly
used the necessities of the Emperors Albrecht, Henry
VII., and Louis the Bavarian, to increase his posses
sions and strengthen his influence. He bought
Ansbach of Count CEttingen, and many other towns,
castles, and estates. He was the most powerful
dynast in Franconia. Frederick V., called the Con
queror, largely increased the possessions of the Fran-
conian branch of the Hohenzollerns, and prevailed
at last upon the Emperor Charles IV. to raise him to
the highest dignity of an hereditary prince of the
empire. His son, Frederick VI. , lent the Emperor
Sigismund a large sum of money, for which the
emperor gave him the Electorate of Brandenburg,
at first in pledge (1411), but a few years after, in
1415, upon a further advance of cash, in full legiti
mate possession. The purchase-money amounted alto
gether to 60,000^., a most moderate sum, even making
the fullest allowance for the high value of money
in the early part of the fifteenth century. As first
Elector of Brandenburg of the house of Hohenzol
lern, Frederick VL, Burgrave of Niirnberg, ranks as
Frederick I. He was one of the shrewdest men of
the age. Not content with his new acquisition, he

New German Empire. 39
aspired actually to acquire the Electorate of Saxe in
addition to it ; but so soon as he found the matter
more difficult and perilous than he had anticipated
he wisely withdrew. After the death of the Emperor
Sigismund he put himself forward as a candidate for
the imperial throne, with very fair chances of success
at first ; but when the Archbishop of Mayence began
to exert his powerful influence in favour of Albrecht
of Austria, the son-in-law of the late emperor, the
Elector of Brandenburg gracefully abandoned his pre
tensions, and spent the money which he had intended
to bestow in electoral manoeuvres upon the acquisition
of a number of additional estates. He died in 1440.
Some eight years after his removal to the banks of
the Spree, the old ancestral castle of the Hohenzollerns
came to grief. It was taken on the 8th of May,
1423, by the league of the Suabian cities, and was
demolished, with the exception of the Chapel of St.
Michael. The castle was rebuilt some thirty years
after, the foundation stone being laid by Margrave
Albrecht of Brandenburg oh the 24th of May, 1454.
Being considered a point of the greatest strategic
importance, it was repeatedly besieged and taken in
the course of the Thirty Years' War by the Swedes
and by the Wurtembergers, and was in the end
demolished, with the exception of the chapel. King
Frederick William IV., with his mediaeval predilec
tions, had the castle rebuilt in the style of the
fourteenth century. The famous architect Stliler

40 Men who have made the

designed the plan of the building. It was begun
in 1850, and completed in 1855. It is a magnificent
royal castle, with five towers, and contains, besides
the restored old Catholic chapel, an elegant small
Evangelical church. It was strongly fortified by
General Prittnitz, and fully armed in 1856. The
notion of using it as a fortified place has, however,
been abandoned since, and no garrison has ever been
sent to it.
Nearly all the successors of Frederick I. in the
Electorate of Brandenburg were men of considerable
ability. Even George William, the father and pre
decessor of the great elector, who is generally repre
sented by historians as a weak and vacillating prince,
managed, with singular prudence and success, to keep
his electorate comparatively free from the worst
plagues and terrors of the Thirty Years' War, and to
hold aloft the banner of the Reformation. All these
princes added more or less to the possessions of the
house, until the eleventh successor of the first Frede
rick (Frederick III. of Brandenburg) found himself
actually powerful enough to place the royal crown of
Prussia on his head. This was King Frederick I. of
Prussia, twelfth Elector of Brandenburg of the
Hohenzollern line. The Emperor William is his
sixth successor.
The Crown Prince is the eighteenth in the line of
succession from the Elector Frederick I. Of the
eighteen Hohenzollern princes who have preceded

Neio German Empire. 41
him, five at least may be truly called great men, to
wit, the first Frederick, the founder of the line, the
great elector, King Frederick William I., King
Frederick II. , and the Emperor William. To say,
then, that the Crown Prince fairly promises to be
the greatest of all Hohenzollerns may seem extra
vagant praise. The brief sketch of the Crown
Prince's past career, which it is intended to give
here, will show, however, that the fact simply is so.
Frederick William Nicholas Charles, Crown Prince
of the German Empire and of Prussia ; Field-
Marshal-General, Inspector-General of the Fourth
Inspection of the Army of the German Empire ;
Field-Marshal-General in Russia; Chief of the 1st
Grenadier Regiment Crown Prince, of the 5th West-
phalian Infantry Regiment, and the 2nd Silesian
Dragoons ; First Commander of the 1st (Berlin)
Battalion of the Landwehr Guards ; attached
to the 1st Begiment of Foot Guards, and to the
2nd Begiment of Silesian Grenadiers ; Chief of the
11th Regiment of Russian Hussars (Isum) ; pro
prietor of the Austrian Infantry Regiment, No. 20 ;
Lord-Lieutenant of Pomerania ; Doctor and Rector
of the University of Konigsberg; Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Germany ; Knight Grand
Cross of the Iron Cross of the high Military Ordre
pour le MSrite, &c, and member of the honourable
craft of Typos, was born on the 18th of October,
1831, at the new palace in Potsdam. He is the

42 Men who have made the
eldest and only son of the Emperor William and the
Empress Marie Louise Augusta Catherina, one of the
daughters of the late Grand Duke Charles Frederick
of Saxe- Weimar. His only sister, Princess Louise
Marie Elizabeth, born the 8th of December, 1838,
was married on the 20th of September, 1856, to
Frederick William Louis, reigning Grand Duke of
Baden. Like all the princes of the royal house of
Hohenzollern, the young prince had to embrace the
military career from his earliest boyhood. His uncle
— the then Crown Prince, afterwards King Frederick
William IV. — had been married since 1823. How
ever, as direct issue from this marriage seemed very
doubtful, the young prince was most carefully
educated, with a view to his ultimate accession to
the throne. He had the best masters in every
department of learning, and he amply requited their
labour and care by the most unwearying diligence
and industry. It is not too much to say that there
is barely a branch of human lore in which the
Crown Prince of Prussia does not excel. History
he has made his special study, and it may be
fairly hoped that Germany and the world will one
day reap the benefit of the lessons inculcated by
that study. He is a doctor of the University of
Konigsberg, of which university he is also rector.
History tells us that the Persian princes of old
used to be taught some handicraft, so that they
might not be quite helpless in the not altogether

New German Empire. 43
impossible event of their being driven into exile
and misery. The royal house of Hohenzollern has
always acted upon the same wise rule. At the
age of fourteen, Prince Frederick William chose
typography for his trade. He learned the business
practically at Hsenel's Boyal Printing Office in Berlin,
and it is said that he is a first-rate compositor.
Some years ago the writer met one of Hsenel's old
hands at the office of the Elberfeldes Zeitung, who
told him that he had had the distinguished honour
of setting up a triglot book (German, Greek, and
Latin) jointly with his royal highness, and that he
had found it no easy task to hold his own against
his exalted competitor ; so that the Crown Prince
of Prussia will not find himself thrown helpless
upon the world and without resources, even should
the French communists, the Marxes, Hasenklevers,
Bebels, Mendes, &c, of Germany, and our own
radical reformers ever succeed in sweeping away
the old fabric of society.
The young prince led a quiet, studious life,
diligently preparing himself for his high vocation.
His name has never figured in the Chronique scan-
daleuse. In fact, except in court and military circles,
it was hardly ever prominently mentioned ; although
all who had the happiness of coming in contact
with him spoke enthusiastically of the kindliness
of his disposition, his frank cordiality, his simple
and unassuming manners, his vast and varied know-

44 Men who have made the
ledge, and the charm of his society and conver
sation. On the 28th of January, 1858, he married
Victoria, Princess Royal of England — a happy union
in more than one respect, but more particularly as
forming a new fast bond between the two great
Protestant powers of the world, and the two
natural champions of the safe and gradual develop
ment of freedom of thought and conscience, and of
political, social, and religious liberty and progress.
The royal houses of England and of Prussia are
the two oldest houses in Europe. Our own Victoria
can trace her descent back to Egbert of Wessex,
and through him to the old Anglo-Saxon princes.
Prince Albert was also descended from a very
ancient and most renowned house, and the Guelphs
can go back to the Frankish Count Warin of
Altorf, who flourished in the time of Charlemagne,
and whose son Isenbrand had bestowed upon him
by his contemporaries the, in our view perhaps,
by no means flattering nickname of Whelp, or
young hound, on account, it is said, of his quarrel
some and somewhat currish disposition. In those
days, however, when might was right and force was
law, the name might have been held in very different
estimation. At all events, Isenbrand of Altorf had
his eldest son and heir christened Welp, or Welf
(Guelph), who figures in history as the first of the
name. We are justified, then, in saying that the
royal houses of England and of Prussia are indeed

New German Empire.- 45
the oldest houses in Europe. The descent claimed
by the houses of Hapsburg and Lorrain from the
Frankish Duke Eticho of Alsatia, who died about
the year 690, is very doubtful at the best, and the
Bourbons and Delmenhorst-Romanoffs date not very
far back, comparatively. We may also take some
pride and pleasure in the fact that the descendants
of our own beloved Queen will one day rule over the
great German empire, and that the two countries,
united by the strong and lasting bond of com
munity of rehgious faith and political interests, may
be expected to march together for centuries to come
at the head of Europe in the path of progress and
enlightenment. In the year 1864 the Crown Prince had the first
opportunity afforded him of gathering actual mili
tary experience on the battle-field. He had then
reached the grade of lieutenant-general, and com
manded the first infantry division of the Guards.
His position in the Dano-German war was, however,
almost purely observant, the chief command being
intrusted to Field-Marshal Wrangel, and subsequently,
after the resignation of that commander, to the Crown
Prince's cousin, Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia.
It was two years after, in 1866, that the
Crown Prince was permitted to appear on the field
as a leader of armies, and to afford the world bril
liant proof of his high military genius.
The Prusso-German war was certainly not of his

46 Men who have made the
seeking, nor of his liking. He looked upon that
war as a fratricidal contest, and there was a strong
feeling in him of honourable repugnance to imbrue
his hands in the blood of his German brethren.
Moreover, it may be taken for granted that he was
sincerely opposed at the time to Bismarck and his
policy. The great minister had not yet been able
to show to the world the true side of his character,
and to reveal the true tendency of his pohtical ideas
wishes, and aspirations.
Heirs to the crown are proverbially apt to pro
fess unbounded liberalism, though, as a rule, their
conduct after they have come to the throne is
equally apt to give the lie to their former profes
sions. Now, indeed, the case is very different with
the Imperial Crown Prince of Germany. Although
he is in his forty-third year, it would be difficult
indeed to say, from any " professions " ever made by
him, what his true political creed may happen to be.
He has always scrupulously abstained from all inter
ference in state matters — at all events, from all overt
interference. His profound filial piety and his un
bounded reverence for his great father, who is known
to be jealously tenacious of his supreme power; have
always sufficed to suppress all outward manifestations
at least of any antagonistic feeling he might harbour
against that father's policy. So it would appear a
very difficult question to decide whether the Crown
Prince's political leanings and tendencies are liberal.

New German Empire. 47
or otherwise. But it is known that in his religious
belief he is an advanced member of the Reformed
Church, of large and enlightened views on all
questions of faith, and a most uncompromising foe
equally to popery and Romish pretensions and
superstitions, and to Muckerdom and "evangelical"
bigotry, from which even men like Roon and the great
Moltke are not absolutely free. The Crown Prince
has not the slightest pietistic taint in his compo
sition. He is also a freemason — not one who simply
plays at freemasonry, but an earnest, sincere, and
active brother of the craft. He is Grand Master of
the Prussian Lodges and of the Grand Land Lodge
of Germany. The latter celebrated its first cen
tenary on the 24th of June, 1870, on which occasion
the Crown Prince, in his capacity of master of the
order and representative of the protector of the
lodges — his father the king — delivered a remarkable
address, to which we shall have occasion to recur
more at length in the course of this memoir, when
it will be clearly seen that the large views and
enlightened sentiments of the speaker would be
altogether incompatible with his holding narrow poli
tical ideas, and being chained to mediaeval, illiberal,
feudalist, and absolutist notions and principles.
However, be this as it may, this much is certain,
that the Crown Prince did *not like the projected
war against Austria and the German Confederation.
The anecdote-mongers of the time made capital out

48 Men who have made the
of the prince's patent repugnance to the war : they
invented a cock-and-bull story about a stormy
encounter between the prince and Bismarck in
presence of the king, in which the minister was
stated to have actually advised his majesty to
send his royal highness to the fortress of Spandau !
It need hardly be stated that there was not a
semblance of foundation for this pretty little tale.
The Crown Prince's honourable repugnance to the
war never rose to such a height or intensity as the
"story" would indicate. Any difference of opinion
on his part anent the "propriety" of the intended
war notwithstanding, the Crown Prince nobly did
his duty to his king and country. There is also
every reason to believe that he* soon learned to
appreciate more correctly the true position of affairs,
and the honesty and patriotism of his father's great
minister. It was even currently reported at the
time, that the Crown Prince and Bismarck had had
a meeting before the battle of Sadowa, at Miliutin,
in Bohemia, where a perfect and cordial understand
ing was arrived at between the two eminent men.
It may safely be averred that this understanding
has never been disturbed since, and that the Crown
Prince has not a more loyal friend than Bismarck,
nor the great chancellor a more sincere admirer and
well-wisher than his imperial and royal highness.
The Austrian army, under the supreme command
of Feldzeiigmeister (Master-General) Benedek (at

New German Empire. 49
least nominally, although not in reality, for the
emperor and his military cabinet were constantly
interfering with the plans of the commander-in-
chief), consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th,
and 10th corps, numbering altogether some 200,000
men, with 762 guns. Besides these forces, Benedek
could draw reinforcements from the garrisons of
Cracow, Olmutz, Theresienstadt, Josephstadt, and
Koniggratz, numbering altogether close upon 60,000
men. And in the night of the 15th-16th of June
the Saxon army of some 40,000 excellent troops,
well found in every way and amply provided with
artillery, crossed the Saxon frontier into Bohemia
and joined Benedek's forces. Some 10,000 Austrians
had been sent also to swell the hosts of the German
Confederation, calculated in the rough at about
100,000 men.
Against this formidable hostile array Baron
Moltke, the chief of the Prussian staff, had formed
four distinct armies, to wit, the so-called first army,
under the command of Prince Frederick Charles,
consisting of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th corps of the
Prussian army, and one cavalry corps ; the so-called
second army, under the command of the Crown
Prince, consisting of the Guards, and the 1st, 5th,
and 6th corps of the army ; the army of the Elbe,
under the command of General Herwarth von Bit
tenfeld, consisting of the 8th corps of the army,
the 1st division of the 7th corps, and a reserve
VOL. II. E

50 Men who Iiave made the
corps of Landwehr ; and the army of the Main,
under the command of General Vogel von Falcken
stein, consisting of the other division of the 7th
corps, the Prussian garrisons withdrawn from May
ence and Rastatt, reserves, and a variety of other
troops. The Crown Prince was the youngest of the four
chief commanders of the Prussian forces, his cousin
Frederick Charles being his senior by three years.
To him was intrusted the arduous task of leading
his army through the so-called three gateways to
Bohemia" — the mountain defiles of Trautenau,
Braunau, and Nachod.
He collected his forces in a camp round the
strong fortress of Neisse. On. the 22nd of June
this camp was broken up. About noon that day
the writer had the pleasure of listening to one of
the prince's most telling simple speeches, which was
delivered to the military and civil authorities of the
fortress and city of Neisse in the courtyard of the
War School. Every word of that brief patriotic
address went home to the hearts of the hearers.
A series of elaborate manoeuvres, and marches
and counter-marches, intended to puzzle and mis
lead the Austrians in Bohemia, occupied the time
from the 23rd to the 26th June. On the evening
of that day the 6th corps, under General Mutius,
had taken up its position about Habelschwerdt, in
the Glatz district, which was then threatened by

New German Empire. 51
the 2nd Austrian corps under Count Thun's com
mand. The 1st corps, under General Bonin's com
mand, was ready to march into Bohemia through
the Trautenau defile. The Guards, under the com
mand of Prince Augustus of Wurtemberg, through
the Braunau Pass ; and the 5th corps, under the
command of General Steinmetz, through the
Nachod defile. The 10th Austrian under the
command of General Gablentz, had been detached
by Benedek to guard Trautenau ; the 6th corps,
under the command of General Ramming, had
been directed to Skalitz to protect Nachod ; and
the 8 th corps, under the command of the Archduke
Leopold, to Jaromierz, to support Ramming in case
of need. Subsequently Benedek sent the 4th corps,
under the command of General Festetics, to the
same point.
On the morning of the 27th of June the Guards
and the 1st and 5th corps effected their entry into
Bohemia through the three passes of Braunau,
Trautenau, and Nachod.
The comparative failure of the 1st corps, under
General Bonin, has been related in the memoir of
Moltke, so we need not further recur to it here.
The vanguard of the 5th corps, under the command
of General Lowenfeld, had hardly passed the narrow
defile of Nachod into Bohemia when it found itself
confronted by vastly superior forces forming part
of the 6th Austrian corps under Ramming. A
E 2

52 Men who have made the
desperate struggle ensued. Two squadrons of Prussian
cavalry had to encounter the fierce onset of the
celebrated Windischgratz regiment of riders and of
another cuirassier regiment. The two squadrons
were driven bapk into the defile just at the very time
when the Prussian artillery was somewhat slowly
and painfully wending its way through the pass.
This was a most critical moment. The Austrians
might have improved the advantage gained by them,
and crushed the small force under Lowenfeld, in
which case it might afterwards have been found
impracticable for the 5th Prussian corps to force
the pass.
It is related that it was General Steinmetz's
coolness and excellent tactical command which saved
the day.
But the writer heard another version of the affair
at the time. He was told by some officers that at
the critical juncture when the Prussian cavalry had
just been swept back into the defile, the Crown Prince,
attended by General Blumenthal, his chief of the
staff, arrived on the spot, and that his royal highness
passed some severe strictures upon the curious tactics
of blocking up a narrow mountain defile with artillery
when it must seem of the utmost importance to push
the infantry and cavalry through ; but his highness
forbore adding another word the instant he was in
formed that the general commanding the corps was
responsible for the arrangement.

New German Empire. 53
His royal highness dismounted, clambered over the
guns, made his way to the front, ordered the artillery
back, pushed a few battalions of infantry rapidly
through the cleared pass, and ordered them to occupy
certain commanding knolls at the Bohemian outlet
of the defile, with instructions to hold and defend
these positions to the last extremity. Battalion after
battalion of infantry was then marched through the
pass in the most beautiful order. Two regiments of
cavalry followed, which made short work of the two
Austrian cuirassier regiments, whose two standards
were taken by the victorious Prussians. •
Up to this time there had been considerable ap
prehension in the Prussian army, lest their cavalry
should not be able to hold its own against the Aus
trian crack riders. From the day of Nachod this
fear was dissipated for ever. The Austrian light
cavalry did not fare much better in subsequent en
counters with the Prussians, although a distinguished
war correspondent of a leading English journal would
persist in scoring victory after victory for their com
mander, Edelsheim — a pity only that every one of
these " victories " should have eventuated in a more or
less rapidly-accelerated retreat of the victorious forces.
So soon as the Prussians had once secured a fair
hold of the other side of the pass, the needle-gun
began to tell fearfully upon the Austrians. But it
was not this new formidable weapon alone which de
cided the fate of the day ; it was also the bayonet.

54 Men who have made the
The strong positions of the Austrians were carried
one after another, and in the evening of the day
Ramming found that his corps had sustained such
fearful losses in the desperate struggle that he would
be unable to hold Skalitz, the next station on the
Austrian line of defence, unless very largely rein
forced. The despatch to this effect, which he sent off in
the evening to the Austrian headquarters, was inter
cepted by the Prussians. However, Archduke Leopold
came up to Ramming's aid with the 8th Austrian
corps from Jaromierz (suburb of Josephstadt). The
two corps combined took up strong positions around
Skalitz, where they were attacked next day by the
5th Prussian corps under the command of the
Crown Prince and General Steinmetz.
That corps had suffered much the day before at
Nachod, and the odds seemed largely in favour of the
Austrians, who greatly outnumbered the Prussians,
and had, besides, a large proportion of fresh troops
to oppose to their harassed and jaded assailants. But
the noble Poseners went into the fight undismayed;
they drove the Austrians from all their strong posi
tions, and carried ultimately the important stronghold
of the railway station, and the town of Skalitz. On
the evening of the 28th of June both the 6th and
the 8th Austrian corps might be considered fully
accounted for.
On the same day, the 28th of June, 1866, the

New German Empire. 55

Guards, under the command of Prince Augustus of
Wurtemberg, went in for their innings, and a pretty
game they played. Gablentz, who had been victorious
the day before against Bonin and the 1st Prussian
corps, had made his position at Trautenau as strong
as circumstances would admit ; he had also taken up
very strong positions at Alt-Bognitz, Neu-Rognitz,
and Burgersdorf.
When the Prussian Guards made their first onset
they found sixty-four Austrian guns opposed to twelve
of their own pieces, and they had the odds very much
against them, too, in infantry and cavalry. But the
men of this truly splendid corps carried everything
before them in fine style. They took the positions of
Burgersdorf and Alt-Bognitz, and finally carried
Trautenau by storm, despite the most desperate
resistance of the enemy.
Of the magnificent 10th corps, which Gablentz had
led forth to battle on the morning of the 27th, to the
number of nigh upon 50,000 men, there remained on
the evening of the 28th only a mass of some 25,000
men that could claim to be considered anything hke a
compact body.
On the 29th of June the same irresistible Prussian
Guards stormed Koniginhof {Dwor Kralowe, Queen's
Court), a most important position. This opened the
way to a proximate union of the second army, com
manded by the Crown Prince, with the first army and
the Elbe army, under the command severally of Prince

56 Men who have made the
Frederick Charles and General Herwarth von Bittenfeld,
which had entered Bohemia from the side of Saxony,
and were fighting their way up to Koniggratz.
On the same 29th day of June the Sth Prussian
corps advanced from Skalitz upon Schweinschadel,
where a fresh Austrian corps, under the command of
the brave General Festetics, had taken up a strong
position. This corps, the 4th of the Austrian army,
shared the same fate with the 6th, the 8th, and
the 10th. It was badly beaten.
The general commanding, Festetics, was so severely
wounded in one of his legs, that the limb had to be
amputated. The operation had just been performed,
and the nerves of the poor sufferer were still writhing
with the pain of the saw slowly biting its way through
the acutely sensitive bone membrane, when the general
caught sight of his servant, a brave old Magyar
Honved, whose eyes were suffused with tears,
which the poor fellow tried to hide by turning his
face the other way. "Ah, you rascal," said Festetics,
with a good-humoured shake of his finger at the old
soldier, " ah, you pretend to weep, when your heart
is actually leaping with joy at the happy thought that
you will now have only one boot to clean for your
maimed master."
On the 30th of June the 6th Prussian corps, under
the command of General Mutius, then one of the
most distinguished officers in the Prussian service, and
the beau ideal of a preux chevalier of ancient times,

New German Empire. 57
came up to join the Sth corps at Gradlitz. Poor
General Mutius, who a few days after did eminent
service at Sadowa, was not permitted to see the end
of this war. Soon after the battle of Koniggratz he
was carried off by an attack of cholera.
The 6 th, or Silesian corps, which General Mutius
commanded, was then, as it continues to the present
day, one of the best in the Prussian army, and the
two sub-commanders at the time, Generals Zastrow
and Prondzynski, ranked even then already among
the most accomplished officers in the service.
On the same day that the union of the 5th and 6 th
corps was effected, the dragoons of the Guard, sent
on by Prince Frederick Charles to open communica
tion with the second army, came upon the right wing
of that army, thus fully establishing the connection
between the two hosts.
Next day, the 1st of July, a section of the second
army reached Miliutin, or Miletin, where the famous
interview between the Crown Prince and Bismarck
is said to have taken place in the night from the 1st
to the 2nd of July. (This alleged meeting between
Bismarck and the Crown Prince is looked upon by
many as a mere historic fiction. The writer will not
undertake to decide whether it really did take place
or not. He can only say that at the time he heard
the statement repeatedly upon good authority.)
Benedek, half stunned by the great successes of the
three Prussian armies, now fairly established in the

58 Men who have made ihe
heart of Bohemia [the exploits of the first Prussian
army and the Elbe army will be found recorded in
the memoirs of Prince Frederick Charles and General
Herwarth von Bittenfeld], resolved to concentrate the
whole of his forces in a well-chosen position near
Koniggratz, and leaning upon that strong fortress.
Here the Austrian positions along the line of the
Bistritz were attacked early in the morning of the
3rd of July, at Sadowa, by Prince Frederick Charles,
at Przim and Nechanitz, by General Herwarth von
Bittenfeld. In the memoirs of these two commanders we shaU
have occasion to give a brief description of this part
of the operations. Suffice it here to state, that the
Elbe army made only slow progress on the left flank
of the attack, and that Prince Frederick Charles
fought desperately all the morning in the centre,
with but indifferent success upon the whole.
The prince had, in fact, occasion to wish by noon
for the advent of the Crown Prince on the right
flank, as ardently as Wellington wished for the
promised arrival of his Prussian allies at Waterloo.
It was, indeed, said at the time that Prince
Frederick Charles had rashly begun his attack
upon the Austrian positions in the centre two hours
too soon.
The Crown Prince, who had had to dispose first of
the corps of Legeditch, in his advance over Kukus,
and had had to contend against formidable difficulties

New German Empire. 59

of the road, arrived at last on the right flank in the
early part of the afternoon.
With the eagle eye of the born commander in the
field he took in the whole position at a glance. With
prompt decision he ordered the 6 th corps under
Mutius to cross the Trotina brook, and two battalions
of the Guard to storm the hill of Chlum, which his
inborn military genius perceived to be the true key of
Benedek's position, instead of Sadowa, which Prince
Frederick Charles had been so fiercely assailing all the
morning. Mutius executed the order given him with brilliant
success. He forced the passage of the Trotina, and
compelled Benedek to change and shift the position
of his right wing — in itself a difficult operation, and
a hazardous proceeding in the face of a brave and
skilful enemy.
The Guards, on their part, carried Chlum in fine
style, capturing some thirty Austrian pieces defending
the position, and killing most of the gunners at their
pieces. The two storming battalions lost fearfully.
Out of some 1,600 men, 884 were left on their way
up, killed or wounded. But the capture of Chlum de
cided the fortune of the day.
The victorious Crown Prince was decorated on the
battle-field by his enraptured father with the highest
Prussian mihtary order, Pour le Merite.
Had Herwarth von Bittenfeld with the Elbe army
been as brilliantly successful as the Crown Prince, the

60 Men who have made the
fate of Benedek's army had been sealed. The bulk of
it could barely have escaped capture; a few stragghng
bands alone might have found their way into Moravia.
(It must once more be observed here that the fault
was generally said at the time to have lain at the
door of Frederick Charles, and not of Herwarth von
Bittenfeld.) Even as matters actually stood, it is difficult to
account for the extreme laxness and supineness of the
Prussian pursuit of the defeated enemy.
After Waterloo the Prussians drove the fugitive
French before them in merciless, never-ceasing, never
even relaxing, chase throughout the fearful night of
the 18th-19th of June, hurling them in headlong
flight over the bridge and through the village of
Genappe, through Quatre-Bras, and beyond Frasnes,
and leaving them at last to regain the left bank of
the Sambre only as a thoroughly broken and dis
organized mob ; whereas, after Koniggratz, the
defeated Austrians were almost tenderly left to a
comparatively safe retreat.
After Waterloo the British army was so thoroughly
exhausted by its stupendous toils and sufferings
during its Titanic struggle on that appalling field,
that it was physically incapacitated for further
exertion in pursuit of the enemy. Moreover, the
Prussians were quite fresh, and the pursuit might
well and safely be handed over to them.
But at Koniggratz, although two out of the three

New German Empire. 61
Prussian armies engaged had severally suffered in the
long and arduous contest, and the third army, besides
some most severe fighting, had done much hard
marching that day, there surely remained some
reserve force to push the victory achieved to its
extremest consequences.
Dis aliter visum, it would appear, however : and
so Benedek was permitted to effect his retreat with
comparative ease.
Still the Austrian losses were enormous. Some 180
guns fell into the hands of the victors, and what with
killed, wounded, and prisoners, and the somewhat
large item of missing, the day of Koniggratz cost
Benedek some 60,000 men.
Altogether the seven days' campaign had knocked
off more than one clear half of the powerful host
which a few brief weeks before had so proudly taken
the field.
Benedek was truly a great general. It may even
be left a moot question for future historians to discuss
whether the Bohemian campaign would have eventu
ated as it did had the master-general been left per
fectly free to act as he listed, and had he not had,
among other impediments, three archdukes thrown in
his path as sub-commanders, not to mention Thun
and Clam-Gallas.
His retreat, at least, after the battle, was masterly.
He led the bulk of his forces in rapid marches side
ways to Olmutz, leaving only the 10th corps, under

62 Men who have made the
Gablentz ; the Saxons, under Crown Prince Albert ;
three divisions of heavy cavalry, and the light horse,
under Edelsheim, to proceed in the direction of
Vienna. He expected to draw the whole Prussian army after
him. He was grievously disappointed, however, in
this expectation; Moltke simply directed the second
army, under the Crown Prince, to follow Benedek,
and pushed the first army, under Prince Frederick
Charles, rapidly on to Brunn, and the Elbe army,
under Herwarth von Bittenfeld, to Iglau, on the
direct road to Vienna.
Although the battle of Koniggratz had terminated
the famous seven days' Bohemian campaign of 1866,
the war continued a few weeks longer.
General La Marmora had disloyally communicated
to the French emperor the plan of campaign which
had been recommended to Italy by the chief of the
Prussian staff (through the Prussian ambassador to
the Italian court) — a plan which, taken in connection
with the Prussian convention with Klapka and other
Hungarian leaders, must have totally destroyed the
power of Austria had it been implicitly followed by
the Italian chiefs.
The immediate result of La Marmora's act
had been, that Louis Napoleon had urgently advised
the Emperor Francis Joseph to consent to the
cession of Venetia. The emperor had taken the
advice, and had thereby set free the Austrian army

New German Empire. 63
of the south, and its skilful commander, the victor
of Custozza.
The Archduke Albrecht, named by the emperor
commander-in-chief of the whole of the Austrian
forces, had given general Benedek imperative orders
to leave Olmutz with the troops under his command,
and endeavour to make his way to Florisdorf, to join
there in the defence of the Austrian capital.
The Crown Prince had, as already stated, been
sent, with the greater part of the second army, after
Benedek. The prince sent the cavalry division Hartmann and
the infantry division Malotki to Prerau to cut of
Benedek's line of communication with Vienna. A
severe fight ensued, on the 15th July, at Tobitschau,
in which the Prussians, who had found before them
the 8th Austrian corps, suffered severely, but de
feated the enemy with great loss. It was here that
the 8th Cuirassiers took twenty Austrian guns in fire.
Large masses of troops (the 1st Austrian corps)
being observed in the act of marching off, General
Hartmann advanced at the head of eight squadrons
to reconnoitre. It was here where the Prussian forces,
having ventured too far forward, ran considerable
risk of being cut off, and where their retreat was
so nobly covered by the regiment of hussars of the
Landwehr. Benedek's line of march to Vienna was, however,
cut off at another important point — Lundenburg — on

64 Men who liave made the
the 16th of July, by Horn's division of the first
army, under command of Prince Frederick Charles.
Benedek was forced to cross over to the left bank
of the river March, and to try to make good his
retreat to Vienna over the lesser Carpathian moun
tains. This retreat the Austrian general effected
successfully with consummate skill.
Soon after, the armistice and peace preliminaries
of Nikolsburg, followed by the treaty of Prague, put
an end to the war, leaving the Crown Prince free
to return once more to the enjoyment of his quiet
and happy family life.
On the 24th of June, 1870, the Grand Land Lodge
of Germany celebrated its first centenary. On this
occasion the Crown Prince, in his capacity of Grand
Master of the order and representative of the
protector of all Prussian lodges, his father the king,
delivered a remarkable address to tbe brethren
assembled, full of the noblest sentiments and the
largest and most liberal views, and breathing
throughout an exalted spirit of enlightenment.
He spoke of the lodge in its connection with the
Swedish Parent Lodge, from which it had sprung,
and with the Universal Lodge of St. John.
He pointed out to the brethren how, in the age of
general progress in which we were living, it was
indispensable that the venerable order should also
advance beyond certain antiquated notions, and, more
particularly, should not so persistently continue to

New German Empire. 65

cultivate mystery as had been the case through the
past. He invited the brethren to strive to the best of
their power and ability to shed the rays of the
higher intelligence and knowledge possessed by them
over a wider field than certain antiquated narrow
rules would now seem to allow. The entire tenor
of the prince's speech showed, in fact, that liberty,
progress, and enlightenment could have no warmer and
no more powerful champion than his royal highness.
A few weeks after the delivery of this address,
the Crown Prince had to tear himself away once
more from his household gods. France had rashly
declared war against Germany, and the prince had
intrusted to him the chief command of one of the
three great armies directed upon France by Moltke,
and the leadership of the south German contingent.
The Crown Prince left Berlin on the 26th of July
travelling by Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart, and Karl
sruhe to the head-quarters of the third army. The
people received him everywhere with enthusiastic
acclamations. The manliness of his character, his
frank cordiality, and his affable manner, quite free
from all studied or ostentatious condescension, gained
him all hearts. The south German soldiers more
particularly, whom he came to lead against the here
ditary enemy of the great Fatherland, were delighted
with him, and felt proud to be commanded by the
true victor of Nachod, at least, and Chlum.
VOL. II. f

66 Men who have made the

On the 2nd of August three French divisions, under
the personal eye of the Emperor Louis Napoleon,
had made a fierce onset upon the town of Saar-
brucken, the centre of the famous coal-basin, which,
if all the truth of the matter were fully known,
would have to be held chiefly responsible for the
outbreak of the Franco-German war. At least there
can hardly be a reasonable doubt that if Prussia
had consented to the cession, or even to the sale, of
these rich coal mines to France, the Hispano-Hohen-
zollern imbroglio might have been peaceably settled.
The town was held by a few companies of the
Hohenzollern Fusiliers, who fought so bravely, and
with such consummate skill, that it took the as
sailants several hours to force this handful of gallant
men to retreat at last.
The telegraph had played strange pranks with this
very small military achievement, trumpeting it forth
to the world as a most signal French success, the
herald and pledge alike of many others to follow.
On the 4th of August, a little after five o'clock in
the morning, the Crown Prince of Prussia left Lan
dau, attended by his staff and suite. The army
under his command had been directed to advance
upon Weissenburg.
Weissenburg had always been held a point of
considerable importance, and some of the fiercest
fights had been fought for its possession in the
French revolutionary war.

New .German Empire. 67
On this occasion the city was occupied by the
division of General Abel Douay, who had the reputa
tion of being one of the best leaders of the French.
The division belonged to the corps, of Marshal
M'Mahon, to whom two flukes, in the Crimea and at
Magenta, had given an exaggerated reputation of
high tactical skill. It numbered sixteen battalions
of very excellent infantry, among them two battalions
of Zouaves and one of Turcos, and had a numerous,
powerful, and well-served artillery.
The important eminence of the Gaisberg, which
commands Weissenburg from the south side, had
been very strongly fortified, and was held by a large
body of troops.
A little after nine o'clock in the morning, the Crown
Prince arrived on the heights at the east of Schweigen,
just when the vanguard of the German division Both-
mer were making their first attack upon the city.
About half an hour or so later the 17th Infantry
Brigade (of the famous 5th corps, that had fought
so well in 1866 at Nachod, Skalitz, Schweinschadel,
&c), having crossed the Lauter, made its appearance
at St. Remy and Waghausel, and proceeded to assault
the heights opposite.
Soon after, the 18th brigade of the same corps
took its position on the right of the 17th brigade,
attacked and carried Altenstadt, and, making its
way to the southern bank of the Lauter, prepared
to attack the Gaisberg. F 2

68 Men who have made the
The 9 th division having thus crossed the Lauter,
it became practicable to attack the town of Weissen
burg also from the south-east. Two battalions of the
57th regiment and one of the 58th were sent for
ward from Altenstadt for the purpose of this opera
tion. At twelve o'clock the town of Weissenburo;
was vigorously assailed by these troops and by
Bothmer's division, and, after a desperate struggle,
carried. Half an hour later, the 18th Infantry Brigade, of
the 5th corps, and the 41st, of the 11th corps,
delivered a fierce assault upon the Gaisberg, the
King's Grenadier Regiment leading the van.
The Germans suffered severely, more especially
from the chassepot fire of the French tirailleurs, who
occupied the vineyards all around.
The superior carrying power of the chassepot, as
compared with that of the needle-gun, was made
clearly manifest here, whilst the much-vaunted mitrail
leuses were found wanting:
The Prussian infantry, however, marched up the
steep height steadily and without flinching, and
carried the fortified farm and the castle behind at
the first onset, despite the desperate resistance
opposed by the French.
At one o'clock in the afternoon the Gaisberg
had changed masters. Half an hour after, the
Crown Prince rode up the heights to express
to the noble infantry of the 5th and 11th corps

New German Empire. 69
his warmest acknowledgments of their undaunted
bravery. The Gaisberg being the centre and key of the
French position, after its plucky capture by the
Germans there was nothing left for the defeated
corps to do but to effect its retreat in an orderly
manner. This the French succeeded in accomplish
ing, moving off in three columns in a south-westerly
direction, pursued by the two cavalry regiments of
the 5th and 10th divisions.
General Douay had been killed in the fight. The
loss of the French amounted to some 1,200 killed
and wounded. The victorious Germans, whose losses
in killed and wounded were even more consider
able (no wonder, considering the strength of the
positions captured and the superiority of the chasse
pot over the needle-gun), captured some 1,000 un-
wounded prisoners, with thirty officers, the French
camp, baggage, &c, and one gun, taken by the 5th
battalion of rifles.
The capture of the Gaisberg and the lines of
Weissenburg was the first real deed of arms in the
campaign. The day after the battle the Crown Prince advanced
to Sulz, to follow up his first success.
Marshal M 'Mahon with his entire corps, reinforced
by divisions from De Failly and Canrobert's corps,
had taken up an advantageous position all along the
hilly ground surrounding the small town of Worth,,

70 Men who have made the
The village of Froschweiler formed the centre and
key of the French position.
The Crown Prince had under his command the two
Bavarian corps, the Wurtemberg division, and the
5th and 11th Prussian corps. The battle began at
nine in the morning, and lasted till night, though
Froschweiler had been carried before four o'clock in
the afternoon, by a combined attack of the Bava
rians from the north, the Prussians from the east
and the west, and the Wurtembergers from the
south. The French army was totally routed. It suffered
enormous losses in killed and wounded and war
material. Six thousand unwounded prisoners, two
eagles, some thirty guns, and six mitrailleuses fell
into the hands of the victors.
At Reichshofen the Wurtemberg cavalry cut in
upon the French line of retreat and inflicted further
losses upon the fugitives, taking from them four guns,
vast military stores, &c.
The Germans also had suffered most severely, the
French having defended their positions with des
perate bravery.
Prussians, Bavarians, and Wurtembergers alike had
fought with the same steady determination.
When the Crown Prince took occasion, after the
victory, to express to the Bavarians his very particular
satisfaction with their admirable conduct in the battle,
a Bavarian sergeant told the prince it was all a

New German Empire. 71
question of leadership. " Under your royal highness's
command we can go anywhere and do anything," said
the simple-minded soldier ; then added naively, " Had
we been commanded by you in 1866, instead of by a
muff, we should have given those Prussians the
greatest hiding they ever got ! "• — a curious comment,
apparently, upon the union of all Germany, just
cemented on the battle-field.
The Crown Prince pursued his victory with the
most consummate skill. He gave M 'Mahon no
breathing time.
Besides, after the crushing defeat inflicted upon
General Frossard's corps at Spicheren, on the day
of the battle of Worth, by Generals Kameke and
Goben, the French marshal had really no chance
left him of making a successful stand anywhere on
the Alsatian side of the Vosges. So there re
mained nothing for him to do but to save the
remnant of his army by a rapid retreat, and to
re-form it at the Chalons camp.
In the great Bohemian campaign of 1866 the
victories achieved by the Crown Prince were by
many entirely placed to the credit of General
Blumenthal, the Crown Prince's chief of the staff.
Now there can be no doubt that General Blumen
thal is one of the most highly accomplished
military leaders of the day ; in fact, he ranks im
mediately after Moltke and Vogel von Falckenstein,
with such men as Voigts-Rhetz, Stiehle, Goben, and

72 Men who have made the
Werder. Notwithstanding, it would be gross in
justice to say that he had. organized the Crown
Prince's victories.
Blumenthal himself never advanced any such
pretension : he is a truly great man, who knows
that he need not covet the palm justly belonging
to another. The writer has good reason to know
that General Blumenthal often spoke with enthu
siastic admiration of the high military genius
displayed by his royal chief in the Bohemian
campaign. The general, who is a thorough soldier every
inch of him, would occasionally complain, indeed,
of what he was pleased to call the Crown Prince's
indolence in military pursuits. He even once wrote
a letter in English to this effect to his wife, who
is an English lady, which letter was unfortunately
intercepted by the Austrians, who were mean
enough to publish a German translation of it.
With a smaller man than the Crown Prince, this
might have tended to produce a certain' coldness
between the chief of the army and the chief of
the staff. Not so with the Crown Prince, who
quietly admitted to Blumenthal that he was quite
aware of his laxness and personal laziness in military
matters ; but he must beg the general's indulgence
for his shortcomings in this respect, as he really
could not help it. He did not like the occupation
sufficiently well to give his whole soul and mind

New German Empire. 73
to it. With this the matter was passed over, and
the cordial friendship between the prince and the
general suffered no interruption or diminution.
In the French campaign General Blumenthal was
again chief of the staff to the Crown Prince ; yet,
with all due respect to the high talents of the
general, it certainly did not occur to anyone to
attribute the organization of the victories of
Weissenburg and Worth to the chief of the
staff, at the expense of the genial leader of the
host. The third German army followed in the wake
of the retreating French, although it would appear
that touch with the latter was soon lost.
The small fortress of Lichtenberg, in the Vosges,
was summoned to surrender by a corps of Wurtem
bergers on the 8th of August. Upon the command
ant's refusal a heavy destructive cannonade was opened
upon the place. It capitulated two days after.
Another of the small fortresses in the Vosges,
Liitzelstein, or La Petite Pierre, was hastily aban
doned by the French, and occupied by troops of
the 2nd Bavarian corps on the 9th of August.
In such hot haste had the French evacuated the
place, that large stores and much war material were
found there by the conquerors.
Nancy was abandoned by the French on the 1 2th of
August, and soon after taken possession of by four
German lancers. The small fortress of Marsal also

74 Men who have made the
was speedily reduced by troops of the 2nd Bavarian
corps. On the 16th of August the Crown Prince took up
his head- quarters at Nancy. Here he remained with
his army, to cover the operations of the first and
second German armies before Metz, and to be
ready at hand in case of need.
After the battle of Gravelotte, when Bazaine was
securely shut up in Metz, the Crown Prince moved
on again, westward, over Commercy, Bar-le-Duc,
Point-du-Jour, and Vitry, upon Chalons, which was
reached on the 24th of August, when it was dis
covered that the camp on the Mourmelon had been
abandoned by the French. Vitry capitulated on the
morning of the 25 th of A.ugust.
It' was speedily ascertained that Marshal M'Mahon
was not retreating upon the French capital, but was
moving, at the head of 150,000 men, in the direc
tion of Rheims and Rethel, with the evident inten
tion of endeavouring, in co-operation with Bazaine
and his host of 200,000 then shut up in Metz, to
fall upon the Germans before that great fortress, and
to crush them by the force of overwhelming numbers.
The plan of this campaign had been bunglingly
conceived in Paris by Palikao (Montauban). Its
execution was attempted still more bunglingly by
the present chief of the French government.
The Crown Prince retraced his steps with the
utmost rapidity, and effected his junction with the

New German Empire.

newly-formed army of the Meuse, under the com
mand of the Saxon Crown Prince Albert, the
present King of Saxony, in ample time to con
tribute to the victory of Beaumont, and share in
the " crowning mercy " of Sedan.
The future impartial historian alone, who can
keep his pen equally free from personal predilec
tion as from prejudice, will be able to assign to
the memory of the Crown Prince of Prussia the due
share of glory that ought to fall to his name in
connection with this most marvellous achievement.
Here we need say simply, that the Crown Prince's
excellent tactics contributed largely to crown Moltke's
splendid strategy with the fullest success.
M'Mahon had set out from the camp of Chalons
with a fine army of 150,000 men. Of all this
formidable host there escaped only a small fraction
of some 3,000 across the Belgian frontier. About
115,000 men, including about 4,000 officers, fell
into the conquerors' hands as prisoners of war in the
battles of Beaumont and Sedan, and by the sub
sequent capitulation. Fourteen thousand wounded
were also found in Sedan. The rest lay stretched
stiff and cold on the bloody fields of Beaumont
and Sedan, and at Nouart and Mousson.
From Sedan the united victorious German armies
(the 3rd under command of the Crown Prince
of Prussia, and the army of the Meuse under
command of the Crown Prince of Saxony) moved

76 Men who have made the

on in the direction of Paris, under the personal
leadership of King William, who established his
head-quarters in the old French coronation city of
Rheims on the 5th of September.
It is an incalculable blessing for Germany and
Europe that the Crown Princa of Prussia — as has
been more than once before observed in the course
of this memoir — is not a soldier through and through,
and from natural inclination.
He goes to the field of battle as a matter of
duty. Under the conscious inspiration of his deep
sense of duty, he, indeed, gives the widest and fullest
scope and play to his high military genius ; but the
fight once done, he is not the man to revel in the
intoxication of victory. He shudderingly beholds
the stern realities of the unspeakable miseries of
war, and instead of insatiably striving, like a
Napoleon Bonaparte, to add fresh leaflets to the
laurel crown encircling the victor's brow, he bethinks
him only of how to soften the miseries, how to
assuage the sufferings inflicted by the awful deity
whose dread rites he has just been solemnizing as
hierarch. So, no wonder that we should find the Crown
Prince of Prussia, five short days after the storming
of Sedan, issuing a pleading and warm appeal to
every German man and woman in the great Father
land to put their shoulders energetically to the
wheel to establish a general fund for the relief of

New German Empire. 77
invalided warriors and their families — an appeal so
gloriously seconded by his august wife, our own
Princess Royal.
On the 17th of September the vanguard of the
Germans reached Paris. With the same strange,
wilful blindness to the most patent facts which
characterized the Austrians in their Bohemian cam
paign of 1866, when, to give one instance out of
many, they ruthlessly destroyed a wooden bridge
leading over the Elbe at Kukus, where the width
of the river is not quite that of a moderately-
sized brook, and the depth about knee-deep, the
French had sternly sacrificed all bridges, viaducts,
and other facilities of communication on roads and
railways, without being able to impose thereby one
single hour's delay upon the irresistible advance of
the foe.
On this day (17th of September) a portion of the
17th brigade overthrew several battalions of the
French to the north of the Brevannes forest ; on
the day after the French were driven back again
at Bic&tre ; and on the 19th the Crown Prince
effected the inclosing of Paris all along the line
from Versailles to Vincennes, having on the after
noon of that day beaten off three divisions of General
Vinoy's army, which had taken up a strong position
on the heights of Sceaux.
The 2nd Bavarian corps and the 5 th Prussian
corps were engaged in this feat of arms, under the

78 Men who have made the
personal command of the Crown Prince. The French
suffered heavy loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners,
besides leaving seven guns in the hands of the con
querors. General Vinoy was the French commander
on the occasion.
From this day, the 19th of September, forward to
the termination of the siege of Paris, the Crown
Prince held the line Bougival, Sevres, Meudon,
Bourg l'Hay, Chevilly, Thiais, Choisy-le-Roi, and
Bonnevil. He again in person directed the fight
against Vinoy on the 30th of September, when the
French were driven back with heavy loss.
On the 27th of October Metz capitulated to the
besieging German army under Prince Frederick
Charles. The momentous importance of this event,
taken in connection with the glorious days of
Weissenburg, Worth, and Sedan, induced King
William to depart, for the first time in the his
tory of the Hohenzollerns. from the old traditionary
custom of the family, which excluded princes of
the reigning house from attaining the highest mili
tary grade.
King William himself, when Prince of Prussia,
had only held the position of Colonel-General of
infantry, whilst his brother, Prince Charles, had
been made Master- General of the Ordnance, both
with the rank of field-marshal, indeed, but without
the full title. Now, the king resolved for the first
time to raise the Crown Prince and Prince Frederick

New German Empire. 79

Charles to the full rank and title of general field-
marshals in the army.
In tlie several desperate attempts made by
the French in the course of November and
December, 1870, and more particularly on the 19th
of January, 1871, the Crown Prince firmly main
tained the position before Paris intrusted to his
keeping. The day before the last effort of General Trochu
to break through the iron lines which the Germans
had drawn round Paris, to wit, the 18th of January,
1871, his majesty King William of Prussia, having
on that day assumed the imperial crown and sceptre
of the ancient German empire, issued a decree raising
the Crown Prince of Prussia to the high state of
Crown Prince of the German empire.
After the happy conclusion of peace, the Crown
Prince, always eager to bid adieu to war and strife,
left Versailles on the 7th of March, 1871. On the
11th of March he passed through Rouen, on the 14th
through Nancy, and so on, in a veritable blaze of
triumph, which his unassuming and unpretending
modesty would gladly have eschewed, to the
Prussian capital, where his happy royal father
bestowed upon him, on the 22nd of March, the
high insignia of Grand Cross of the Order of the
Iron Cross.
On the 16th of June he took the lion's share of
popular enthusiasm and admiration in the triumphal

80 Men who have made the
entry into Berlin, and, exactly one month after, in
the triumphal entry into Munich.
Since that time the imperial and royal Crown
Prince of Germany and Prussia has once more —
and how gladly ! — effaced himself, as it were, from
the great political stage, and taken a happy refuge
from its troubles and turmoil in the bosom of his
family, where his wife and his children are all
the world to him.
There is no need to dwell here upon the deep
devotion which all under his genial command have
ever borne him, and how the hearty " Good morn
ing," with which he likes to greet the assembled
regiments, finds an equally hearty responsive echo
in all ranks of the great host. Nor need we ex
patiate upon the affectionate love felt for him
everywhere by the people of Germany. The pro
found, racking anxiety with which his illness last
year was watched throughout the land afforded
ample proof of this.
In the love and affection of the people, his wife,
our own Princess Boyal, shares most fully and
most deservedly. This august lady, unassuming
and unpretending, like her noble husband, delights
only in setting a bright example to all the women
in the land, in her household, in her nursery, in
the schoolroom of her children, and in that glorious
little model farm of hers and her husband's at
Bornstadt, near Potsdam, a delight in which her

New German Empire.

imperial and royal highness has inherited from
her great father, the late Prince Consort. The
august lady has also given to Berlin a museum
of art, in imitation and emulation of the South
Kensington Museum in London ; and she is always
striving in every way to improve the condition of
the poor and suffering of her own sex, and to
devise new means and channels of female occupa
tion. Need any excuse be pleaded here for thus intro
ducing the name and person of the Crown Princess
in this memoir 1 May it not be honestly affirmed,
indeed, that her beneficent influence has also largely
contributed to the making of the new German
empire ?

VOL. IT.

82 Men who have made the

VII.
PRINCE FREDERICK CHARLES OF PRUSSIA.
Prince Frederick Charles is unquestionably a
great military commander, who deserves to be placed
high among the tactical leaders who have so largely
contributed to make the new German empire. But
to claim for him, as some military writers have
attempted to do, the first and foremost rank among
the successful commanders in the wars of 1864,
1866, and 1870-71, seems really an exaggerated
stretch of appreciation of the merits of the man.
With some of these adulatory admirers of the
prince it has, indeed, become the fashion to throw
sneering doubts upon the high military capacity and
tactical genius of the Crown Prince, who, to believe
these would-be detractors, has simply reaped what his
chief of the staff had sown.
In the memoir of the Crown Prince I have already
demonstrated the utter groundlessness of this
gratuitous assertion, and I have also shown that
" Our Fritz," as the old emperor so affectionately calls
his first-born, has not committed a single blunder in

New German Empire. 83
the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, but that he has,
on the contrary, displayed a rare aptitude for re
pairing the grievous mistakes of others, including,
for instance, Prince Frederick Charles's patent
miscalculation at Sadowa.
The Crown Prince is a born general, with no war
like predilections ; his cousin is a soldier through and
through, with the most emphatic military proclivities.
Prince Frederick Charles Nicholas was born at
Berlin on the 20th of March, 1828. He is the eldest
and only son of Prince Charles of Prussia, only
surviving brother of the German emperor, and
Princess Marie of Saxe- Weimar, sister of the Empress
Augusta. As a prince of the house of Prussia he was, of
course, from early infancy, intended for and brought
up in the military career.
His education was most carefully attended to. He
enjoyed in his military and scientific studies the
guidance of the most eminent and most renowned
teachers, more particularly of Major Roon, subse
quently Minister of War.
The major was expressly selected by Prince Charles
to attend the young prince in his studies at the
University of Bonn, where Frederick Charles remained
about two years, from 1846 to 1848.
An intimate friendship was formed here between
the brilliant major and his young charge, who, it is
not too much to say, formed himself almost exclusively
6 2

84 Men who have made the
upon the model of his teacher, in his high qualities
as well as, unhappily, also in his glaring defects. The
prince's somewhat exaggerated notions of his high
princely rank and position, and his slightly ex
travagant insistance upon the blindest and most abso
lutely submissive obedience to his will and command
on the part of all who happen to be placed under his
rule, may truly be said to have been instilled into his
mind by Roon.
In 1848 he was made captain of cavalry, and
appointed in that capacity to the staff of General
Wrangel, whom he attended accordingly in the
Schleswig campaign. A valiant soldier, like all
Hohenzollerns, and a fearless rider, he gained some
personal distinction in the fight of Schleswig.
In 1849 he was raised to the rank of major, and
attached to the staff of his uncle, Prince William of
Prussia, whom he attended in the Baden campaign.
In the fight of Wiesenthal (June 20), where Franz
Sigel was very near snatching a victory over the
Prussian troops opposed to him, the young hussar
officer made several brilliant charges at the head of
his squadron.
Here he was severely wounded in the arm and
shoulder. His recovery was rather long and tedious.
He, however, turned the time of this enforced leisure
to most excellent account; he studied hard, more
particularly military sciences and history, the lives
and campaigns of Frederick the Great and of the

Neiv German Empire. 85
first Napoleon forming the subject of his special
predilection. After his recovery he returned to his military
duties, and advanced gradually to the rank of lieu
tenant-general of cavalry.
In 1854 he married Princess Maria Anna, daughter
of Duke Leopold Frederick of Anhalt Dessau, one of
the wealthiest of the princes of Germany.
In 1859 his uncle, the Prince Regent, placed him
at the head of the 3rd army corps.
Francis Joseph's obstinate dislike of Prussian
assistance deprived Frederick Charles of the eagerly
anticipated chances of trying conclusions with the
French. But, although thus compelled to look on as
an idle spectator of the deeds of others, he yet
managed to turn the Austro-Italian campaign to the
most profitable account for his military schooling.
He eagerly watched the French tactics in this war,
and, with the lessons of his great teacher (Roon)
impressed on his mind, he easily detected their
palpable defects.
He clearly saw that it was certainly not the
superior prowess of the French or the high military
ability of their commanders which had overthrown the
Austrians in the field, but that it was chiefly, if not
even exclusively, the gross incapacity of Giulay, and
the still grosser incapacity of Francis Joseph himself
and the gentlemen of his military cabinet, which had
led to the catastrophes of Magenta and Solferino.

86 Men who have made the
The prince gathered round him a somewhat ex
tensive circle of superior officers, to whom he
explained his views, and with whom he discussed the
many important questions arising therefrom or in
connection therewith. Those privileged to join in
the prince's dissertations on strategic and tactical
questions soon began to entertain the highest opinion
of this young general's ability.
Some of the most prominent of his military essays
Frederick Charles had lithographed for private
circulation among his own circle.
However, one of these essays obtained a wider
publicity, much against the will and wish of the
prince. It appeared at Frankfort-on-the-Main,' in 1860, with
the unpretending title, "A Military Memorial, by
P. F. C." It was simply an essay on the ways and
means of the Prussian army to overcome the French
in fight. It created great stir, more especially in
France, where it made much bad blood, it would
seem, and provoked several " victorious refutations,"
en attendant the chance of teaching the presuming
Prussians better at the first opportunity on the field
of battle.
Frederick Charles himself was greatly annoyed by
the unauthorized publication of his essay. He even,
against the advice of his friends, brought an action
against the publisher, who had taken the unwarrant
able liberty to add a preface of his own manufacture

New German Empire. 87

to the prince's essay — a preface thoroughly alien to
Frederick Charles's own personal views. The action
ended in the prince's discomfiture ; the publisher
being triumphantly acquitted.
In 1861 Frederick Charles attained the high rank
of general of cavalry in the Prussian army.
When the Danish war broke out in 1864 the prince
had intrusted to him the command of the right
wing of the Prussian corps.
Wrangel was appointed commander-in-chief of the
allied Austro-Prussian forces. Considering the great
age of the old marshal, it was almost transparent that
the command was meant to be more nominal than
real, and that it had been bestowed upon the old
man simply to guard against hurting Austrian sus
ceptibilities. At all events, Prince Frederick Charles might fairly
be considered to be almost independent in his sub
command, and to have pretty free hand to devise
and execute his own plan of campaign, so that the
unsuccessful attempt upon Missunde (2nd of February)
must be put down entirely to the debit side of the
prince's account.
However, he soon retrieved this first failure by
turning off to the right and marching on Amis,
where he successfully crossed the Schley on the 6th
of February — a clever strategic move, which com
pelled the Danes to evacuate the famous Dannewerk.
The prince now marched upon the fortified position

88 Men who have made the
of Diippel, which he found a very hard nut to crack.
It took, in fact, a regular siege of two months' dura
tion to prepare the way for the final storm upon the
Diippel lines, which were gallantly carried at last on
the 18th of April.
Preparations had now to be made to cross over to
Alsen ; this operation, however, was not executed
by the prince, for after Wrangel's resignation (the old
man thought he had no business there), the prince suc
ceeding to the command-in-chief, General Herwarth
von Bittenfeld, his successor in the command of the
right wing of the Prussian corps, effected the capture
of the important island of Alsen.
All things duly considered, and taking into ac-
account also, and more especially, the very great
disproportion of the forces engaged on both sides,
no conscientious historian would venture to claim
a very large laurel wreath for Frederick Charles
because of his high deeds in the Danish campaign
of 1864.
But two years after, in 1866, the prince had a
much better and more promising opportunity afforded
him to gain the reputation of a great commander,
and it must be conceded by all, even by those whose
belief in the prince's military ability is by no means
absolute, that Frederick Charles fully and most suc
cessfully availed himself of this opportunity.
He was intrusted by the king with the command
of the first Prussian army, formed of the 2nd,

New German Empire. 89
3rd, and 4th corps, numbering altogether 93,000
effectives. With this army the prince started from
his head-quarters in Saxon Lusatia on the 22nd of
June, and crossed into Bohemia the day after, where
he was speedily joined (28th of June) by General
Herwarth von Bittenfeld with the army of the Elbe,
numbering some 46,000 effectives, so that the prince
had under his supreme command altogether about
140,000 men.
Three days before the junction of the two armies
the prince had defeated part of the Austrian forces
opposed to him at Liebenau.
This first encounter was almost entirely limited
to an artillery fight, and of no very great importance.
But the day after (26th of June) he attacked the
Austrians again at Podol, where a most obstinate and
bloody fight ensued, which ended only at midnight,
when Podol was at last finally taken by the Prussians.
It was at Podol where the needle-gun for the first
time came into terrible play. An entire battalion of
Austrian rifles was annihilated here almost to a man.
On the 28th the prince, having now effected his
junction with the army of the Elbe, made a grand
attack upon the corps of Clam-Gallas and the Saxon
army which had joined it.
The battle took place at Miinchengratz. It ended
in the defeat of the Austrians and Saxons, and in
their retreat to Gitschin, where they took up a for
midable position on a steep rock before the town.

90 Men who have made the
Next day (29th of June) the prince had this position
attacked by two Prussian divisions, which, after a most
obstinate and bloody fight, in which heavy loss was
inflicted and suffered on both sides, drove the Aus
trians from it headlong into the town of Gitschin.
The victorious Prussians relentlessly pursued the
defeated enemy, and continued the fight in the
streets of Gitschin. After one of the fiercest struggles
in the history of this war the Austrians were ulti
mately driven out, and compelled to retreat to
Horziz. The corps of Clam-Gallas had suffered fearfully in
these battles. It was almost disorganized. But the
Austrian general had bravely done his duty. Bene
dek's faulty dispositions had contributed most largely
to bring about the catastrophe.
But Benedek was unfortunately, to the grievous
damage of his own reputation, mean enough to en
deavour to cover his own responsibility by sacrificing
his sub-commander, whom he accused in his reports
to Vienna of having, by his want of military capacity,
caused the overthrow and dissolution of his corps,
adding that this grievous failure of Clam-Gallas alone
had compelled him (Benedek) to relinquish offensive
operations, and to concentrate his army rearward
upon Koniggratz.
This false charge led to the summary dismissal of
poor Clam-Gallas from his command, which he had
lo hand over to Count Gondrecourt. Clam-Gallas

New German Empire.

afterwards succeeded in proving the " unfairness,"
to use no harsher word, of Benedek's conduct to
him in the affair.
On the 2nd of July, King William, attended by
Roon, Moltke, and Bismarck, arrived at Gitschin.
It had been intended to give the Prussian army
one or two days' rest, but on the evening of the 2nd
of July General Voigts-Rhetz, chief of the staff to
Prince Frederick Charles, and, soit dit en passant,
one of the most brilliant and accomplished officers of
the Prussian army, reported to his chief that the
Austrians were crossing the Bistritz over to Sadowa.
This report decided General Moltke to bring on a
general engagement the next day.
Orders were immediately despatched to the Crown
Prince to come up from Kukus, and to take up his
position on the right flank, Prince Frederick Charles
occupying the front, and General Herwarth von
Bittenfeld the left flank or wing.
The ball was opened by Prince Frederick Charles
in the centre early in the morning of the 3rd
of July ; indeed, report will have it, two hours
sooner than General Moltke had contemplated, and
in the very teeth of the general's injunctions to
that effect.
The prince, it is asserted, is a man of towering
ambition, and not without jealousy of his royal
cousin, the Crown Prince. He was eager, it is
said, to snatch a complete victory over the Austrians

92 Men who have made the
before his cousin should be able to come up to share
in the laurels gained by him.
The time has not yet come, nor are all the requisite
materials at hand, to decide whether there is actually
some foundation for this accusation made against the
prince, or whether it ought to be relegated into the
extensive domain of historic fictions.
It has been pleaded that it was not the premature
attack upon the Austrian position made by the
prince, but the " unforeseen " delay of the Crown
Prince in his advance from Kukus to Chlum, that
imperilled for a time the fortune of the day. This
plea is peremptorily rejected by Prince Frederick
Charles's critics, who maintain that there was nothing
unforeseen in the delay of the Crown Prince's march,
but that Moltke had previously, in fullest anticipa
tion of such delay, fixed the time of attack at two
hours later.
If Prince Frederick Charles really allowed himself
to be led away in the matter by his ambition, he
certainly must have discovered, at an inconveniently
early period of the day, that ambition is a most
unsafe guide, and he must have longed for the
advent of his royal cousin on the right flank as
ardently as Wellington did for the coming of
Blucher 's Prussians at Waterloo.
It must be conceded, however, by all parties,
even those with a strong bias against the prince,
that he bore himself right valiantly throughout the

New German Empire. 93
fierce fight of Sadowa, and that his tactical dis
positions were most masterly.
His army, also, did its fighting with desperate
valour, and with unswerving, toughest firmness
throughout. General Fransecky's division, more
especially, gained high distinction in the battle, and
the heroic courage of the 26th and 27th regiments
(Magdeburgers), in the capture of the small wood of
Sadowa, was truly beyond all praise.
Still the fate of the day remained suspended in
the scales of Fortune, and as noon came there was
clearly a preponderating incline to the Austrian
side. Herwarth von Bittenfeld advanced but slowly
from the left wing, and the king, who acted as com
mander-in-chief of the combined armies, was over-
long detained on Problus-hill, where he had taken up
his station early in the morning. His majesty also
ardently longed for the arrival of his son and heir,
but did meanwhile his best to keep the fight in
suspense, at least, by the most formidable display
of artillery.
To this latter splendid branch of the Prussian
service belonged unquestionably a considerable share
of the glory of the ultimate victory, which, as has
been stated already in the memoir of the Crown
Prince, was finally gained by the magnificently-
executed movement of the Silesians under Mutius
across the Trotina — compelling Benedek, at a most
critical juncture, to change the position of his right

94 Men ivho have made the
wing — and by the heroic capture of Chlum, effected
by the Augusta and Elizabeth battalions of the guard.
To return once more to the precipitation of the
attack in the morning imputed to Prince Frederick
Charles, the prince's critics maintain fhat it was owing
in a great measure, at least, to the exhaustion of his
and Bittenf eld's forces that the battle did not
eventuate in the total destruction of the Austrians,
which might have led to more surprising results even
than those achieved in the end.
The prince's alleged " mistake, or miscalculation "
has by some of his critics been compared in its issue
and results with the famous blunder of General
Manstein, at Colin, in the Seven Years' War.
Now I must candidly confess that this seems to me
a stretch far beyond anything ever yet before at
tempted to throw discredit upon the achievements
and reputation of a truly great commander in the
field. To make this clear I will give a brief sketch here
of the political and military position of affairs at
the battle of Colin.
At the time of that battle, Frederick the Great,
having just before (6th of May, 1757) gained the
great victory of Prague, with the prospect of com
pelling the surrender of the beaten Austrian army,
which had taken refuge in that city, held apparently
a most promising position, politically and militarily.
Of the great coalition formed against him, one

New German Empire. 95
of the most important members, Saxony, was abso
lutely in his hands. The French were only just
making their appearance on the scene, the Russians
were still far off, and the princes of the Holy Roman
Empire were just being frightened into the speediest
withdrawal from the anti-Prussian coalition by
Colonel Meyer's expedition into Franconia.
Had the great king succeeded in defeating the
other Austrian army in the field, which was com
manded by Marshal Daun, and had taken up a
formidable position at Colin, Prague must have
surrendered ; the Holy Roman Empire must have
accepted any conditions of peace it might have
pleased the victorious Borussian king to impose
upon its members ; France and Russia would have
thought twice before they had gone on with the
war ; and Maria Theresa would have been compelled
to make peace again, at the additional sacrifice,
perhaps, of another province ceded to the con
queror. I have said Marshal Daun had taken up a for
midable position at Colin. The Austrian front,
or centrum, looking to the north, was, in fact,
unassailable to all intents and purposes. Not so
the right wing, which, if properly attacked by over
whelming forces, could hardly avoid being rolled
up and forced upon the centre.
The execution of this tactical manoeuvre was in
trusted by the king to Generals Ziethen and Hiilsen

96 Men who have made the
who commanded the left Prussian wing. The Prus
sian centre, under Maurice of Dessau, and the right
wing under the Duke of Bevern, were strictly ordered
by the king to abstain from all offensive operations
upon the Austrians opposed to them, and to hold
themselves in readiness to give the most energetic
support to the attacking left wing of the Prussian
army. One of Prince Maurice's sub-commanders in the
Prussian centre, a General Manstein, a man of
towering ambition, under pretext of an order from
the king alleged to have been brought him by M.
de Varennes, a French refugee in the king's service,
engaged the fight in the centre, where the Austrian
position was absolutely unassailable.
This gross blunder proved fatal. The Prussian
army was badly defeated, despite the most heroic
courage and endurance ; it suffered enormous losses,
and the siege of Prague had to be raised at once and
Bohemia evacuated by the Prussians.
General Manstein had committed a similar blunder
at the battle of Prague, but with less dire results,
and the king, in the joy of victory, had forborne to
visit with deserved punishment the general's want
of strict obedience to commands.
To pretend to detect the least similarity between
Prince Frederick Charles's premature attack on the
morning of the 3rd of July, even admitting the
justice of this charge against him (which I for one

New German Empire. 97
will not concede), and Manstein's bold defiance of
orders at Colin, seems to me positively monstrous.
After the battle of Koniggratz, Prince Frederick
Charles moved with his army into Moravia upon
Briinn, Herwarth von Bittenfeld being directed upon
Iglau, both in the direct road to Vienna.
The Archduke Albrecht, having meanwhile taken
the chief command of all the Austrian forces, ordered
Benedek up from Olmutz to Florisdorf, to see whether
Vienna might not be successfully defended there.
The Crown Prince tried to cut off Benedek's direct
line of march to Vienna, but he failed, as has been
stated already in his memoir. Prince Frederick
Charles was more successful. He sent the division of
Horn to Lundenburg, where he succeeded (16th of
July) in forcing Benedek to cross to the left bank of
the March river. The Austrian general had there
fore to effect his retreat to Vienna across the
lesser Carpathian mountains.
The last deed of arms performed in this war by
the army of Prince Frederick Charles was the battle
of Blumenau. Here General Fransecky vigorously
attacked the Austrians in front (22nd of July), whilst
General Bose undertook to turn them by a masked
march over the hills. This operation succeeded fully,
and there was every prospect of another great vic
tory, which would have laid Hungary open to the
Prussians, when, at noon, the news was brought of
the conclusion of an armistice at head-quarters.
vol. n. H

98 Men who ha,ve made the
Four days after followed the preliminaries of peace.
In the Franco-German war of 1870-71, Prince
Frederick Charles had the command of the Second
German Army intrusted to him.
He left Berlin on the 26 th of July for his head
quarters. He first appeared actively on the scene on the
16th of August, in the fierce fight of Mars-la-Tour.
He had been moving swiftly upon the French line
of retreat. In co-operation with this movement,
General Steinmetz had, on the 14th of August,
engaged the retreating French at Courcelles, and had
forced them back behind the fortifications of Metz.
This had given the prince an additional day, which
he had turned to the best account.
The 3rd corps, under the command of General
von Alvensleben IL, bore the brunt of this engage
ment at Mars-la-Tour, which was one of the fiercest
and bloodiest battles of the war. It stood opposed
for hours to overwhelming French forces ; at last it
was supported by part of the 10th corps, and of
the 8th and 9th corps, under the personal command
of the prince. Even then the French forces were
numerically greatly preponderating over the Germans.
Yet, after twelve hours' incessant struggle, the French
were thrown back into Metz.
It was in this terrible battle of Mars-la-Tour that
six squadrons of German cavalry (7th Cuirassiers and
16th Lancers) made the famous dashing attack upon

New German Empire. 99
the French centre at Vion ville, which delayed Can-
robert's attempt to break through until it was too
late. Surprise has often been expressed how this attack,
however dashing, made by so small a force, could
possibly have hindered the French centre, consisting
of two entire corps, from forcing a way through
its Prussian opponents.
Quite lately the Milit. Wochenblatt contained a
query in this same sense, with a suggestion added,
whether the leaders of the French were not perhaps
completely confounded and misled by the dash of
the attack.
To this Count Schmettau, who had himself com
manded one of the two attacking regiments (the
7th Cuirassiers), replied in the same military journal,
that he had had occasion, some time after the capitu
lation of Metz, to discuss this very affair with the
French General Henri, who was chief of the staff
of Marshal Canrobert on the 16th of August, 1870
(the day of the battle of Mars-la-Tour), and who
was present in the field during this attack. General
Henri, in reply to a question addressed to him by
General Schmettau, said, " We could not think that
two regiments would so madly ride into the open
jaws of death unless they knew themselves powerfully
supported." It would seem, accordingly, that it was the slender
force of the attacking horse which misled the French,
H 2

100 Men who have made the
and made them hesitate at the very time when they
might have succeeded in their object, since the weak
Prussian forces then opposed to them could not pos
sibly have hindered them, as Count Schmettau fully
admits. The count claims for the commander of the
Prussian corps, General Alvensleben IL, the high
credit of having with prompt decision made up his
mind to incur the risk of the certain loss of two
regiments of cavalry — but of only two — to purchase
thereby, perchance, a very great success.
At Gravelotte also the prince was present, and
contributed much to the favourable result of the
day. Personal dissensions between the prince and General
Steinmetz, which will be found mentioned more at
length in the memoir of the general, led to the
latter's withdrawal from the army before Metz,
leaving the prince in undivided and undisturbed
command of the German besieging forces.
Here, with some 120,000 men, he kept Bazaine shut
up in the fortress and fortified camp of Metz, with
close upon 180,000 men, victoriously repulsing the
repeated most desperate attempts of the French
marshal to break through the iron circle he had
drawn round him and his host.
The two most formidable of these French sorties
were made on the 31st of August and the 1st of
September, and on the 7th of October, the former, in
which the fight raged almost incessantly from the

Neio German Empire. 101
morning of the 31st of August till noon of the 1st of
September, is known in the history of the war as
the battle of Noisseville. In this, as well as in the
latter sortie, when the French attacked from the
direction of Woippy, the noble division Kummer had
the lion's share of the fighting.
At last, on the 27th of October, Bazaine capitulated
with his whole army, some 173,000 men, including
three marshals of France and over 6,000 officers,
whilst the conquerors did not much exceed 110,000
effectives at the time of the surrender — a capitulation
unique in the annals of history ; for at Sedan the
circumstances were vastly different, and the surrender
of Paris also affords no true point of comparison.
The day after the capitulation of Metz the king
raised both Prince Frederick Charles and the Crown
Prince to the highest rank in the army, that of field-
marsh al-general.
In the oldest traditions of the house of Hohen
zollern the attainment of this highest military
position had never before been open to a prince
of the royal family. The king's brother, Prince
Charles, the father of Frederick Charles, figures in
the rank list of the army simply as master-general
of ordnance, and the king himself, when Prince
of Prussia, had only held the position of colonel-
general of infantry. But the extraordinary events
and the stupendous successes of the French war
might well be deemed by the king to fully justify

102 Men who have made the
this double departure from the old traditionary rule
of the family.
The surrender of Metz was a most opportune event ;
for just about that time Gambetta's patriotic exertions
were beginning to succeed in sending fresh French
armies into the field.
On the 9th of November General d'Aurelle de
Paladines forced the Bavarians, under Von der Tann,
to evacuate Orleans. Although he was himself com
pelled to stop the pursuit, as General Wittich, Prince
Albrecht (father), and the Grand Duke of Mecklen
burg rapidly joined Von der Tann, yet this new army
of the Loire became a real danger to the Germans
besieging Paris.
To meet this threatening peril effectively, Frede
rick Charles received orders from head- quarters to
march as rapidly as possible from Metz to the
Loire. On the 2nd of November already the prince had
transferred his own head-quarters from Corny, where
they had been since the 7th of September, to Pont-a-
Mousson. On the 10th of November he was at
Troyes. He advanced rapidly over Sens, Rambouillet,
Nemours, and Pithiviers, until he came in collision,
on the 28th of November, with d'Aurelle's army (the
army of the Loire), at Beaune-la-Rolande.
He here inflicted a severe defeat on the French,
who lost some 5,000 killed and wounded, and about
2,000 unwounded prisoners.

New German Empire. 103

On the 3rd of December the prince, in conjunction
with the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, defeated the
French again at Chevilly and Chilliers-aux-Bois,
driving them back upon Orleans, which important
city was re-taken by the Germans on the 5th of
December. On this grand occasion more than 10,000 un-
wounded prisoners were made, and close upon eighty
pieces of artillery taken, together with four gunboats,
each of them armed with a 24-pounder.
The prince continued his advance upon Tours. On
the 12th of December he transferred his head-quarters
to Beaugency, where the Grand Duke of Mecklen
burg had had several days' hard fighting against
vastly preponderating French forces. Blois was
occupied on the 13th of December, Vend6me on the
16th of December.
By this time the Loire army, commanded now by
General Chanzy, had been reduced to about half its
original formidable strength. On the 4th of January,
1871, Prince Frederick Charles, having completed his
preparations, moved forward to meet General Chanzy.
He came upon the army of that general advancing
on Vend6me, and threw it back beyond Azay and
Montoire (6th of January).
The day after, the French were, by a series of
obstinate fights, driven successively back to Nogent-
le-Rotrou, Sarge-, Savigny, and La Chartre, and on
the 8th beyond St. Calais and Bouloire. On the 12th

104 Men who have made the
of January, finally, Le Mans was taken by the
victorious prince, who also carried the French posi
tions at St. Corneille, to1 the north-east of Le Mans.
The losses of Chanzy's army in the seven days'
incessant fighting, from the 6th to the 12th of
January, were enormous. Twenty thousand un-
wounded prisoners fell into the hands of the victors,
together with many guns and large war stores, &c.
The famous camp of Conlie was occupied on the
14 th of January.
With this last successful operation we may fairly
close here our brief account of Prince Frederick
Charles's glorious campaign on the Loire.
On the 28th of January the armistice was concluded,
which was followed, less than a month after, by the
signing of the preliminaries of peace.
On the 22nd of March Prince Frederick Charles
received from the emperor and king, as a crowning
proof and most signal mark of his high regard
and his full appreciation of the prince's great
achievements in the field, the Grand Cross of the
Iron Cross.
The prince is now in his forty-seventh year, in the
prime and vigour of manhood. He is one of the
most prosperous among the prosperous, one of the
most fortunate among the fortunate.
Although, owing no doubt to his somewhat haughty
bearing towards those placed under his command, and
his rigorous enforcement of the sternest and most

New German Empire. 105

unbending discipline, it cannot be said that he enjoys
the devoted love of the army as the Crown Prince
does, yet officers and soldiers alike look up to him
with the most respectful esteem, and they will follow
his lead blindly, and with the most absolute con
fidence in his high military capacity.
They have bestowed upon him the name of the "Iron
Prince," but he is more generally known still as the
" Red Prince," from the colour of the hussar uniform
which he most affects to wear.
What may the future still have in store for this
favourite of Fortune ? Who can tell ? Of late his
name has been brought forward again more than once
and in several quarters, with evident intention, in
connection with the throne of Spain. Well, Quien
sabe ? Of course his truest friends can only wish the
prince a lucky escape from such a windfall of fortune
as the glittering bauble of the Spanish crown and
sceptre ; but ambition is a strange and most
dangerous passion — and so again, who knows ?

106 Men who have made the

VIII.
KING ALBERT OF SAXONY.
Though placed here third in our list of leaders of
the German host in the ever-memorable Franco-
German war of 1870-71, yet ranking second to none
in that glorious galaxy of great commanders, King
Albert, a namesake of our own unforgotten and
never-to-be-forgotten Prince Consort, springs also
from the same most ancient and most noble house
of Wettin.
Wettin is now only a small, wholly unimportant
place, of some four thousand souls. Yet a thousand
years ago it was the (legendary) cradle and chief
seat of power of the mighty Wettinkind, or Widukin,
the antique Saxon hero, who for thirteen years nobly
withstood the overwhelming giant power of the
Frankish King Charles, dubbed Carolus Magnus by
that capricious jade Clio, who so dearly likes to
adulate success. I A > ' - ' A1 <* - i-y '"\, ; ¦"'¦' ¦'¦'>'.•&
However little substantial foundation in truth there
may be for the legendary connection between Wettin
and Wettinkind, thus much is certain, at all events,

New German Empire. 107
that Wettin was the ancestral seat of the Thanes, or
Counts, of that ilk, to whom all the royal and ducal
Saxon and Thuringian houses of the present day trace
their origin and pedigree.
King Albert's father, the late King John of Saxony,
played an important part in the great events of the
last few years. It was more especially dread of his
action in the matter which induced King Louis of
Bavaria to be beforehand with him in tendering the
crown of a new German empire to King William of
Prussia. Had the Bavarian not taken time by the
forelock on the occasion, there can be little doubt
that the new empire would have been established
at the time at once upon a much more rational and
satisfactory basis than that on which it happens to
stand now, and without the wretched trammels of
those foolish reserved sovereign rights of its king
lets and princelets, which may yet unhappily prove
the fruitful source of internal convulsions and foreigii
intrigue complications. For this reason King John
may well claim a place among the men who have
been instrumental in creating the new German
empire. A brief biographic sketch of the father
may therefore serve here as a suitable introduction
to the memoir of the son.
THE LATE KING JOHN OF SAXONY.
It is a trite old saying, that the people have rarely
cause to mourn when kings die. Still there are excep-

108 Men who have made the
tions from time to time, just to prove the rule. One
of such rare exceptional instances had to be chronicled
in the annals of history on 29th of October, 1873,
when King John of Saxony departed this life.
The deceased monarch was not a great king in any
of the generally received senses and acceptations of
the term. His dominions did not quite cover the
limited area of six thousand English square miles,
whilst the number of his subjects fell far short of
the figure of the population of the British metropolis.
No warrior-king was he ; no new provinces annexed
he to his realm. He did not gather round him poets,
artists, and musicians, that he might bask in second
hand reflected " intellectual " glory ; ay, he did not
even start an international exhibition of works of
industry and art, that . his name might thereby be
made great and renowned among men.
But he was emphatically a noble specimen of the
noblest work of the Almighty Father of all — an
honest man, and a worthy king of men. Indeed, of
him and of his life and deeds the truth may be
recorded undisguisedly, without fear of offending
against the spurious old canon that naught should be
spoken of the dead but the things redounding to their
praise. John — for a truly great man such as the father of
the present King of Saxony needs not the benefit of
that full string of baptismal belongings which is
generally bestowed upon Catholic princes ; and with

New German Empire. 109
his people " Our King " and " Father John " had for
many years past become interchangeable terms — was
one of the younger sons of Duke Maximilian of
Saxony and Caroline Maria Theresa of Parma, of the
Italian- Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon. He
was born on the 12th of December, 1801, and had
the misfortune of losing his mother when not much
more than two years old. His father, Duke
Maximilian, was not a great prince, but he was an
excellent parent, and he bestowed the utmost care
and solicitude upon the proper education of his
children. Prince John's instructors were distinguished officers
and scholars, such as Generals Forell and Watzdorf,
Councillor Stiibel, the famous criminalist and legist,
who fired his young pupil with his own ardent love
for the law, and that noblest priest of the non-Romish
Catholic Church, Baron Ignatius Wessenberg, Vicar-
General of Constance, the intimate friend of the great
Chancellor Dalberg, and the man who strove so hard
to establish in Germany a National Catholic Church
— a German Catholic Church, under an independent
German Primate, and free alike from all connection
with the Baal of Borne and the poisonous teachings
of the Vatican. He failed : the time was not ripe
for his high and noble aspirations. But, happily, a
greater and stronger man than he has taken up the
glorious work anew, and, with God's blessing, will
carry it to a glorious consummation. Bismarck is

110 Men who have made the
the St. Patrick who will ultimately chase the Romish
vipers out of the fair land.
Under the intelligent guidance of these and other
kindred teachers, Prince John gathered a rich store of
sound knowledge in nearly every field of human lore
and branch of human knowledge. The great and
wise men who presided over the political and social
department of his studies used their best endeavours
to teach him practical statesmanship in preference to
mere hollow statecraft. And they succeeded marvel
lously well in their endeavours. Ere yet he had
reached the twentieth year of his life he was fit to
enter the Board of Finance as an adept, and he there
soon shone as one of the most clear-headed and
hardest workers.
His assiduous labour affecting his health, his anx
ious father insisted upon his accompanying his elder
brother Clement on a journey which the latter was
then just about to make to their deceased mother's
native land (1821). The two Saxon princes made a
long stay in Italy, where the elder of them died.
It was here where Prince John imbibed that pas
sionate admiration and love of Petrarch, Ariosto, and
more especially of the divine Dante, which he
retained through life.
After his return to his native land he resumed
his old position on the Board of Finance (1823), of
which he became vice-president a few months after.
Even the surprising amount of sterling work which

New German Empire. Ill
he did in this department, and of which the little
kingdom reaped the benefit, did not satisfy his eager
craving for doing. In his rare leisure hours he pro
duced a German version of the first ten cantos of
Dante's Inferno, done in blank Hendecasyllabics,
with critical annotations that fully showed the ripe
scholar. This work was printed for private circu
lation among his personal friends. It was signed
" Philalethes," a signature which soon became known
as that of a distinguished contributor to several of
the leading literary periodicals of Germany.
It was about this time that the Saxon Antiquarian
and Archaeological Society was formed, which he
eagerly joined, and of which he was soon made presi
dent, a position held by him for many years after —
not in the mere honorary way in which so many
princes accept titular positions of this nature, but truly
and actually as the facile princeps of the members.
About this time he found that his estate of
Jahnishausen did not yield him a revenue corre
sponding to what practical landowners obtained from
their properties ; so he threw himself, with his accus
tomed ardour, upon the study, theoretical and
practical, of farming and rural economy, and with
such brilliant success that his Jahnishausen estate
in a few brief years, from worse than indifferent, as it
had long been, leaped to the high position of a perfect
model farm on a large scale.
On the 21st of November, 1822, Prince John married

112 Men who have made the
Princess Amelia Augusta, one of the daughters of
King Maximilian I. of Bavaria, who survives him.
By her he had issue three sons and one daughter. One
of the sons is dead. The Crown Prince, now King
Frederick Augustus Albert, was born the 23rd of April,
1828; his sister Maria Elizabeth, Dowager Duchess
of Genoa, was born the 4th of February, 1830, and his
only surviving brother, Frederick Augustus George,
who also distinguished himself in the late Franco-
German war, and commanded the Saxon corps after
his brother Albert had been appointed general-in-
chief of the army of the Meuse, was born the 8th of
August, 1832.
Prince George is married (since the 11th of May,
1859) to the Portuguese Infanta Maria Anna, daughter
of King Ferdinand (ofthe house of Saxe-Coburg Gotha)
and Queen Maria II. da Gloria, by whom he has issue
three sons and two daughters. The present king has
no issue.
The revolutionary wave which swept over a great
part of Europe in 1830 struck also the little kingdom
of Saxony.
Old King Anton was not a good king by any
means, so his subjects politely requested him to hand
the reins of government over to Prince Frederick
Augustus, John's elder brother, and the next prince
in succession, the father, Duke Maximilian of
Saxony, having resigned his claim to the throne, by
Act of the 13th of September, 1830. On the same day

New German Empire, 113
Prince Frederick Augustus was named co-regent:
Prince John took the command of the Communal
Guard, which he retained for many years after. He
also entered the Privy Council, and after the dissolu
tion of the latter he accepted the proffered presidency
of the Council of State, together with the presidency
of the Board of Finance.
In all these high and important offices, his clear,
practical mind, his urbane and conciliatory manners,
and his immense working capacity, gained him golden
opinions from all quarters. He took a most active
part and share in the framing of the new liberal and
representative constitution of the realm.
After the passing of that constitution he took his
seat in the Upper House as a prince of the blood.
His statesmanlike views, his simple, natural eloquence,
and his power of clear exposition, soon gained him
a prominent place in the foremost rank of the leaders
of that august assembly. Many of the most prac
tical and liberal measures of the time originated with
him, or owed their success to his energetic support.
His wisdom and moderation carried him through
the revolutionary excitement of 1848 with his per
sonal popularity undiminished. In 1839-49 he pub
lished a splendid German version of Dante's " Divina
Commedia " in three volumes, with numerous critical
and historical notes.
After the death of King Anton, who since Sep
tember, 1830, had simply continued the nominal head
VOL. II. i

114 Men who have made the
of the state, Prince Frederick Augustus, the co-re
gent, succeeded to the Saxon throne, 6th of June,
1836. On the 9th of August, 1854, King Frederick
Augustus II. came to an untimely death, universally
mourned and regretted by his people. As he left
no issue, Prince John inherited the crown.
The new king expressed his firm resolve to tread
in the footsteps of his late lamented brother
and predecessor ; and this resolve he kept reli
giously from the day of his accession to the last
day of his life.
Among the most glorious measures of his reign,
most of which proceeded from his own initiative,
may be mentioned more particularly the new law
organization ; an extensive and comprehensive series
of codifications of the laws and statutes of the land ;
the removal of all obsolete and vexatious trammels
that impeded the free development of trade and in
dustry, and the extension and improvement of the
great Saxon railway net.
Every year, up to the end of his life, he made an
annual journey of careful and conscientious inspection
through the length and breadth of his small king
dom, more particularly through the manufacturing
districts ; seeing everywhere with his own eyes, and
hearing with his own ears — quite against the ordi
nary custom of kings — and suggesting and carrying
out everywhere measures admirably calculated to bene
fit the working classes.

New German Empire. 115

No wonder they so affectionately called him
" Father John." He was indeed a father to them.
That he was not so successful in foreign politics
as in the internal administration of his kingdom was
truly not so much a fault of his, but was owing
almost entirely to a fortuitous combination of fatal
circumstances over which he had but little control.
Both his late brother and he had married prin
cesses of the house of Bavaria, daughters of King
Maximilian I. His brother's wife was a twin sister
of the Archduchess Sophia of Austria, the late mother
of the Emperor Francis Joseph ; his own wife was a
twin sister of the present Queen Dowager of Prussia.
These four Bavarian princesses exercised for many
years a most pernicious action and influence upon
German affairs.
Sophia. of Austria was the moving and guiding
spirit of the palace intrigue which compelled poor
Emperor Ferdinand to abdicate, and threw the whole
power of the state into her own hands. It was she
who committed the horrible murders of the Hungarian
patriot generals at Arad, and all those atrocities for
which the London draymen assaulted Haynau.
Queen Elizabeth of Prussia had gained complete
mastery over the weak and uxorious mind of
Frederick William IV. It was her fatal influence
which brought the humiliation of Olmutz upon the
land that had the misfortune to call her queen.
The two Saxon queens, the dowager and the wife
I 2

116 Men who have made the
of King John, worked in all political questions
hand in hand with their Austrian and Prussian
sisters ; and with them, and inspired and guided by
the four, laboured Baron Beust, the leading minister
of state of Saxony, an,d the ministers of Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, and Hesse — all joining in the noble
task of curbing and if possible destroying the rising
and growing power of Prussia.
King John of Saxony, with his clear mind, saw
indeed through their intrigues, and for a time at
least did his best to discourage and counteract them.
Thus, in 1862, when the continued existence ofthe
Prussian Customs Union was gravely imperilled by
Austria's machinations, he was the first to declare
for the renewal of that union, and to give his ad
hesion to the Franco-Prussian Treaty of Commerce.
He also adhered to the Prusso-Italian Treaty of
Commerce, and disregarding alike the solicitations
and the remonstrances of the two queens and the
wily counsel and insinuations of the minister of state,
frankly recognized the new kingdom of Italy.
But King John was a loyal member of the Ger
man Confederation, and a sincere professor of the
Roman Catholic faith ; for, Btrange to say, the kings
of Saxony, although descended from what may well
be called the oldest Protestant house in Germany,
and ruling over a Protestant people (the number of
Catholics in Saxony barely exceeds 2 per cent, of the
population), have been Roman Catholics ever since

New German Empire. 117
the Elector Frederick Augustus of Saxony was
beguiled into placing the glittering but worse than
worthless bauble of the Polish crown upon his
head (1697).
Now the smaller kings and princes of the Ger
man Confederation had, from the first, always shown
a leaning to Austria and distrust of Prussia. Joining
their votes to that of the former power, their anti-
Prussian policy could always secure a majority in the
councils of the Confederation. The kings of Saxony
had always voted with the majority, and King John
thought himself in honour bound to go with that
majority, at least in all important questions. As a
Romanist, also, he preferred the interests of Catholic
Austria to those of Protestant Prussia.
Upon the death of King Frederick of Denmark, the
old Schleswig-Holstein question, which had been per
mitted to slumber for a time, came suddenly again to
the surface, as lively as ever.
After some ineffectual attempts at a settlement
with the new Danish king, the German Confedera
tion passed a resolution to occupy the Duchy of Hol
stein militarily (7th of December, 1863), Saxony and
Hanover being selected by the Confederation to carry
out the decree. A mixed Saxon and Hanoverian
corps accordingly took military possession of Holstein.
Soon after, Otto von Bismarck made the first great
move in his surprising political game, in persuading
Austria to join with Prussia in a war against Den-

118 Men who have made the

mark, with a view to settle the Schleswig-Holstein
question for ever, by taking the Elbe Duchies away
from Denmark.
Austria and Prussia carried matters with a high
hand, and paid but scanty respect to the Confedera
tion, which saw itself soon compelled to order the
withdrawal of the Saxon and Hanoverian forces from
Holstein (by resolution of the 5th of December, 1864).
There can be no doubt that the king felt per
sonally hurt by the slight put upon the Confedera
tion and upon himself, which he attributed almost
wholly to the agency of Prussia and of Bismarck.
So when the complications of 1866 arose, he was
easily prevailed upon by the petticoat coterie and
the whisperings and promptings of Beust to take the
side of Austria in the diplomatic conflict roused in
the bosom of the Confederation. Beust had perfectly
free hand now.
Urged on blindly by his froggy ambition, and en
dowed by nature with an intriguing spirit and with
all the mischievous restlessness of the squirrel Rata-
tasker of the mythic fable, this shallow politician,
this Brummagem Briihl of the nineteenth century,
patted on the back by the four Bavarian princesses,
devised a pretty little scheme to bring the house of
Hohenzollern to humiliation and grief.
As he was joined in this scheme by Von der
Pfordten, Varnbiiler, Dalwigk, and the representative
of the physically, morally, and intellectually blind

New German Empire. 119
King of Hanover, and, lastly, by the great Victor
Strauss, the mighty plenipotentiary of the powerful
Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, he succeeded in splitting
Germany into two hostile camps.
The first effect of this success was to drive King
John from his kingdom, which was taken possession
of by the invading Prussians. Indeed Bismarck,
Roon, and Moltke had planned so well that had it
not been for the fatal delay of one day's respite
granted to Saxony and Hanover (from the 15th to the
16th of June) by King William, in compliance with
the vehement prayer of the Dowager Queen Elizabeth,
the whole Saxon army of 40,000 effectives would pro
bably have been cut off from Bohemia and compelled
to surrender, and the battle of Langensalza need not
have been fought.
I have placed the effective strength of the Saxon
army which marched into Bohemia to join Benedek
at 40,000 men, a figure which I think corresponds
with the fact of the case. Certain Saxon historians
would appear to place it much higher, from patriotic,
but surely most unhistoric, motives. They assert that
60,000 Saxons joined Benedek, although they are
compelled to admit that the Saxon army consisted
of only two infantry divisions of four regiments each,
one cavalry division, and the corresponding force of
artillery. The same historians also assert that the
Saxons were never defeated in the Bohemian war, but
had to retire from the field by Benedek's special orders

120 Men who have made the
— at Gitschin, for instance. This, though not true,
might be indulgently passed over, and put down to
an excess of laudable patriotic pride. But to exalt the
bravery of the Saxons and the military talents of
their commander at the expense of the Austrians and
of Benedek, and to say, as these historians do, that
the Saxons constituted the backbone of Benedek's
forces, and were the only troops who fought valiantly
and well and were properly led, seems to me a most
reprehensible open perversion of the truth and the
facts of the case. However, enough of this in this
place. After the defeat of Benedek, King John retired to
Vienna; subsequently to Teplitz. When peace was
concluded, he returned to his little kingdom amidst
the joyful acclamations of his faithful and loving
people (November, 1866).
When Saxony had become a member of the North
.German Confederation, King John showed the most
. steadfast loyalty to Prussia.
In 1870 he promptly sent his army, under the
command of his two sons (Crown Prince Albert, and
Prince George), to swell the German host.
The high deeds wrought in France by the Saxon
contingent and its heroic leaders are matters of his
tory, and will, in slight part at least, be found
recorded also in the memoir of King Albert shortly
to follow.
It must indeed have been a proud day for King

New German Empire. 121

John when the 23rd division made its triumphal
entry into Dresden (11th of July, 1871), and when
he, the happy father, acting as representative and
in the name of the German emperor, placed the
field-marshal's staff in the hands of the victor of
Beaumont, his own beloved son Albert — the same
golden staff of command which John Sobiesky had
so proudly waved in his chivalrous right hand on
his triumphal entry into Vienna, freed by his
gallantry and skill from the Turkish besiegers.
A few months later there came another great
national celebration — the unveiling of Theodore
Korner's statue, 18th of October, 1871, the anniversary
of the great victory over the French at Leipzig.
And, finally, some thirteen months after, on the 21st
of November, 1872, King John celebrated his own
" golden " day, the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage
with his wife Amalia, amidst the warmest congratu
lations sent by all the princely houses of Europe, and
the heartiest and most loving manifestations of sym
pathy and kindest wishes of his own true Saxon people.
Altogether, the last two years of King John's life
were peaceful and happy.
He now sleeps with his fathers, a good king and
a worthy man.
There is small need to perpetuate his memory in
stone or marble, or in brass or bronze ; he has raised
for himself an everlasting monument in the faithful
hearts of his loving people.

122 Men who have made the
After this brief biographic sketch of the father,
we will now proceed with the memoir of the son.
Frederick Augustus Albert was born on the 23rd of
April, 1828. He received a most careful education
under the immediate supervision of his royal father
and of his grandfather Duke Maximilian, who, how
ever, departed this life ere his young grandson had
completed his tenth year.
Albert had for his chief guides in the paths of
learning Lieutenant-Colonel Minkwitz and General
Engel, both of them highly accomplished officers ;
Dr. Langern, afterwards president of the High Court
of Appeal, one of the leading legists of Germany, as
well as one of the most eminent historians of the age ;
Dr. Schneider, afterwards Minister of State, also an
eminent legist, and some other men of the same
high intellectual stamp.
Prince Albert showed from a very early age a
decided predilection for the military career. When
barely fifteen (1843) he entered the Saxon artillery
as lieutenant. Two years after, another distin
guished officer, Major Mangoldt, afterwards general,
was appointed the prince's military tutor ; he also
went with him to Bonn in the fall of 1847. Here,
in this favourite resort of royal students, Prince
Albert attended the lectures of Dahlmann and Perthes,
and other celebrities, but the revolutionary outbreak
of 1848 cut short his stay at that highly-favoured
seat of the Muses.

Neiv German Empire, 123
On his return to Saxony he preferentially sought
the society and conversation of distinguished officers,
such as Fabrice, Stieglitz, Abendroth, Montbe, and
others, and eagerly seized every opportunity to in
crease his store of military knowledge.
In the Schleswig-Holstein war of 1848-49 he was
attached to the staff of the Prussian General Pritt-
witz. It is said he distinguished himself in that
most melancholy of all campaigns, that most lugu
brious of all farces. His uncle, King Frederick
Augustus, bestowed upon him as a reward the mili
tary Saxon Order of St. Henry.
In 1849 Prince Albert was advanced to the rank
of major, and the year after to a lieutenant-colonelcy
and the command of the 3rd infantry brigade. " In
1851 he was made major-general, and the year after
lieutenant-general and commander of the 1st infantry
division. He was then twenty-four years old. It
may be remarked here, en passant, that princes of
the royal house of Prussia do not advance quite so
fast as this in the Prussian army. Even Prince
Frederick Charles, who was born in the same year
with King Albert, and whose advancement was ex
ceptionally rapid, had to wait a few years longer for
the high rank of lieutenant-general.
On the 18th of June, 1853, Prince Albert married
Princess Carola, or Caroline, daughter of Gustavus
Prince of Wasa, whom Louis Napoleon had the year
before wished to espouse, it was at the time generally

124 Men who have made the
reported, but only to see his suit contumeliously
rejected by the proud Lackland of the old Swedish
king family. Had Gustavus Wasa been less stiffly
proud and more yielding, and had Carola become
the modern Caesar's wife — instead of Euge'nie Montijo
— how immense would have been the effect upon the
history of the last fifteen years or so ! However, Dis
aliter visum. So there is an end of it, and no use
whatever to speculate upon what might have been if.
In 1861 Crown Prince Albert of Saxony (his
father had succeeded his uncle on the throne of
Saxony some seven years before) was sent to Konigs-
berg in Prussia, to witness the coronation of King
William I. It was here where he met for the first
time the then darling of Fortune, M'Mahon, Marshal
of France, Duke of Magenta. Nine years after, he
was destined to meet him again on the battle-field of
Beaumont, the portentous precursor of the cataclysm
of Sedan !
In 1866 the Crown Prince of Saxony commanded
the Saxon army of 40,000 effectives, in every way
well found and equipped, and provided with a well-
schooled artillery, which was marched into Bohemia
to swell the Austrian host there under Benedek, and
to help to break the Prussian columns that were
invading the old battle-ground again in the style
of the Seven Years' War.
On the 22nd of June the Saxons joined the corps
of Clam G alias, and shared the subsequent grievous

New German Empire. 125

defeats of that corps. The Saxons fought with
desperate bravery, and were extremely well handled
by their royal leader. This is the simple truth ;
but to assert that they did all the fighting, and the
Austrians little or none of it, as has been attempted
to be done, and that they (the Saxons) would have
carried the day repeatedly, more especially at Gitschin,
had they not been compelled by Benedek's express
orders to retire from the field, victoriously held by
them at the time, is really a stretch over-much
beyond what is admissible and allowable even in
historic fiction. Such things ought to be left to the
French. At Koniggratz Prince Albert and his Saxons again
shared the defeat of Benedek and the Austrians.
Here also the Saxons fought extremely well, and
the Saxon artillery contributed largely to cover the
retreat of the defeated army.
The royal family of Saxony, the Crown Prince
included, now took up their residence in Vienna
till the conclusion of peace, after which they returned
to Dresden.
The king and the Crown Prince both declared
that they would henceforth be as loyal to the North
German Confederation, under the leadership of
Prussia, as they had proved themselves to the now
defunct old German Confederation. The Crown
Prince showed such vigorous good will in aiding in
the reorganization of the Saxon army as an integral

126 Men who have made the
part of the great North German host, that King
William I. at once bestowed upon him the inde
pendent command of the 12th (Saxon) Army Corps.
The Crown Prince and his friend, General Fabrice,
the Saxon Minister of War, were both indefatigable
in doing everything to bring the Saxon Contingent
to the highest state of perfection, and their efforts
succeeded to the fullest extent, as the Franco-German
war amply proved.
In this war Crown Prince Albert continued at first
simply in the command of the 12th corps. His
orders were to bring up his force to Mayence by the
2nd of August. He and his men were on the ap
pointed spot in perfect readiness two days before
the time fixed ! — no mean achievement, considering
that the exacting demands made by the general staff
of the Prussian army upon the physical and moral
powers of doing and enduring of the soldiers do not
leave much margin for the performance of such tours
deforce. Prince Albert, with his corps, reached the great
army before Metz on the 1 6th of August, in the even
ing, and just when he was presenting himself before
King William at Pont-a-Mousson, news of the hard-
fought glory of Mars-la-Tour came in.
On the clay of Gravelotte the Saxons had their
first innings : here the Crown Prince of Saxony had
the first real opportunity given him to make good
his claim to the title of a great military commander.

New German Empire. 127
Both he and his troops came gloriously out of the
ordeal. The Saxons fought at St. Privat with the same
death-daring boldness and the same unconquerable
tenacity as their forefathers of old had combated
under Widukin and Alboin against the ruthless
Franks ; under great King Henry, the builder of
cities, and his son, the Emperor Otto, against the
savage Magyars ; under Duke Magnus against the
united power of all other German tribes, and on
so many other occasions. Prince Albert proved him
self a consummate commander. He closed up the last
possible loophole through which Bazaine's army might
have crept away from the trap in which Moltke's
sublime skill and the unyielding bravery of the
Germans had caught the great French host of the
Rhine, ere it had fairly set out yet on its anticipated
triumphal promenade militaire d Berlin!
King William knew how to appreciate at their
true value the immense services rendered to the
German cause by Prince Albert and his Saxons on
the decisive day of Gravelotte. When he met the
prince in the evening of that hot day, he affixed to
his breast with his own hand the Order of the Iron
Cross; and the day after he intrusted to him the
command over a new army, formed of the Saxon
corps, the Prussian guards, under their glorious chief,
Prince Augustus of Wurtemberg, the 4th corps, com
manded by General Alvensleben, and the cavalry

128 Men who have made the
divisions Rheinhaben and Duke William I. of Meck
lenburg. This new army, a true corps d'elite in the
fullest sense of the term, received afterwards the
name of Meuse army. For his chief of the staff
Crown Prince Albert had assigned him General Schlo-
theim, the very same staff officer who, some four
years back, had, under Herwarth von Bittenfeld, stood
opposed to him at Prim and Problus in the battle
of Koniggratz. In sober truth, the whirligig of time
performs strange gyrations, and brings with it mar
vellous changes and wonderful mutations !
At the time it was believed at the German head
quarters that the whole of the disposable French
forces would be found concentrated for the protection
of Paris. So the so-called third army, under the
Crown Prince of Prussia, was pushed on rapidly to
the old Catalaunian fields, where, in 450, Theodorick
the Visigoth had gained for the Roman Aetius his
decisive victory over Attila the Hun, the scourge
of God.
The so-called fourth army, under Prince Albert,
was ordered to cross the Meuse and move on in the
same direction. More than half the march was done
already, when Lieutenant- Colonel Verdy du Vernois,
of the general staff, one of Moltke's most distinguished
and most trusted aids, suddenly, in the night of the
2 5 -2 6 th of August, appeared at the prince's head
quarters, with the startling news that M'Mahon was
marching over Rheims in the direction of Mezieres,

New German Empire. 129
with the evident intention of raising the siege of
Metz. It was imperative then to make a complete change
in the disposition of the army, and to march off,
with the utmost rapidity, northward, to the right, a
movement which was executed by the seven corps
comprised in it with a skill, swiftness, and precision
unparalleled in the history of war.
On the 26th of August Prince Albert took up his
head-quarters at Clermont-en- Argonne ; a little later
on in the evening King William established his own
head-quarters general in the same place.
At 10 o'clock that night Schlotheim had an inter
view with Moltke, upon whom he waited again, in
company this time with Prince Albert, at 7 o'clock in
the morning of the 27th of August. Here the prince
and his chief of the staff received their last instruc
tions from the great strategist.
On the 27th occurred the brilliant cavalry encounter
of Buzancy, when the French were taken completely
by surprise. They clearly had not expected to meet
an enemy in their path here.
On the 29th the vanguard of the Saxons had a
successful fight with the French at Nouart, and the
day after the Meuse army gained the most important
victory of Beaumont, which decided the fate of
M'Mahon's army. It was here where Failly allowed
himself to be completely surprised by the advancing
Germans, and where M'Mahon showed that the lesson
VOL. II. K

130 Men who have made the
of Worth had been taught him in vain. Yet Failly
has not been called before a court-martial, and
M'Mahon sits in the presidential chair of France,
whilst poor Bazaine, who at least has shown himself
vastly superior in every respect to these men, after
languishing in prison, is an exile with "tarnished
honour. The French are indeed a queer people.
A few days after, on the ever-memorable 1st of
September, 1870, Crown Prince Albert gloriously com
pleted at Sedan what he had so brilliantly initiated
at Beaumont.
On the 4th of September the prince went to King
William's head-quarters general at Vendresse, where
the old warrior received him with a warm and cordial
embrace, and, with the heartiest acknowledgment of
his high deeds at Beaumont and Sedan, presented
to him the rare distinction of the Iron Cross of the
first class. Prince Albert also received the warm
congratulations of General Moltke upon the brilliant
manner in which he had carried out the conceptions
of the great strategist. It was on this occasion that
the distinctive name of " Army of the Meuse " was
given to the several corps combined under the
prince's chief command.
On the 5th of September the Germans moved once
more forward upon the French capital. Before Prince
Albert left, he went to express his warm regretful
feelings of sympathy to poor Marshal M'Mahon
who was lying grievously wounded in Sedan. The

New German Empire. 131
statement, said to have been made by the wounded
French marshal on the occasion, that he had intended
on the 1st of September to break in through the
direction of Montme'dy, instead of Mezieres, as had
been erroneously thought at German head-quarters,
cannot be discussed here. It would be travelling
beyond our record ; and the avowed sketchy nature
of these brief memoirs must necessarily preclude all
attempts of the kind.
On the forward march on Paris there occurred, on
the 9th of September, the sad catastrophe of Laon,
where a maddened French artillery sergeant, Henriot
by name, treacherously blew up the powder magazine
in the duly surrendered citadel, killing and wounding
thereby about one hundred Germans and some three
hundred of his own countrymen.
On the 19th of September, 1870, the Meuse army
took up its position in the great iron zone of in
closure thrown round Paris by Moltke. The right
wing of the Meuse army, formed by the 4th corps,
embraced the western part of Paris, from Chatou,
Bezons, Argenteuil, Epinay, Pierrefitte, to the ridge of
the high road from St. Denis to Luzarches ; the guards
extended from Stains, over Dugny, Le Bourget, and
Blanc-Mesnil, to Aulnay ; the left wing (the Saxons),
from Sevran, over Sivry, Clichy, and Montfermeil, to
Chelles. The Crown Prince of Saxony took up his head
quarters at Grand Tremblay, where they remained
K 2

132 Men who have made the

till the 8th of October, when they were transferred
to Margency.
Prince Albert justified most fully the high confi
dence which King William reposed in him. Through
out the long and tedious siege he was never once
caught napping, and the vigour and decision of his
character served more than once to nip in the bud
what might otherwise have proved later on an annoy
ance or even a danger to the besieging army. Thus,
when the French had, in the morning of the 28th
of October, succeeded in carrying the village of Le
Bourget, and it was represented to the prince that
the position was barely of sufficient importance to
justify the expenditure of many human lives upon
its recapture, he, seeing at once, with his clear
military mind, how dangerous the place might turn
out in the end should the enemy establish powerful
and well-supported batteries there, gave peremptory
orders to re-take it at any cost — orders which were
brilliantly executed by the guards, unhappily with
heavy loss.
On the 30th of November the Saxons and the
Wurtembergers (who had by this time been added
to the forces constituting the army of the Meuse)
had to bear the brunt of the fierce sortie made by
General Ducrot. About 1,000 Saxons and 1,500
Wurtembergers fell, killed and wounded, in that most
hotly-contested encounter, which still left the import
ant positions of Brie and Champigny in the hands of

Neiv German Empire. 133
the French. This was the so-called first battle of
Villiers-sur-Marne. Two days after, on the 2nd of December, Ducrot
made his second great effort to break through the
besieging lines. It was on this occasion that the
French general, in French theatrical fashion, parodied
the Spartan mother's farewell address to her son
departing for the battle — "With this shield, or on
this shield " — by a grandiloquent proclamation that
Paris should see him return victorious, or brought
back dead ! He returned neither victorious nor dead,
but in a perfectly satisfactory state of comparative
physical well-being. The great effort may be said to
have been doomed to failure from the first, as the
Crown Prince of Saxony was not only fully prepared
to receive the onset of the enemy, but had even been
beforehand with the French, and had already re
captured Brie and Champigny before they came out.
But the French sortie en masse had been planned
with great military skill notwithstanding, and the
French fought most bravely, as the great losses
suffered by the Germans amply showed. One Saxon
regiment alone lost nearly forty officers and nine
hundred men in the fight !
The attempts made from the 20th to the 25th of
December proved equally fruitless.
On the 27th of December Mont Avron was bom
barded, and on the 30th the works erected by the
French were destroyed by Prince Albert's troops.

134 Men who have made the
On the 18th of January Prince Albert attended the
proclamation of the new German Empire, when the
new emperor bestowed upon him the high Ordre
pour le Merite, with oak leaves. The day after,
the artillery of the 4th corps, under the prince's
orders, aided General Kirchbach's 5th corps in re
pulsing Trochu's last desperate attempt to break
through. On the 9th of March the army of the Meuse and
the third army, up to this date led by the Crown
Prince of Prussia and Germany, were joined together,
and the chief command over the whole force before
Paris intrusted to the hands of Crown Prince Albert
of Saxony, who took up his head-quarters at Com
piegne, where his forty-third birthday was celebrated
on the 23rd of April with jousts and quadrilles on
horseback, and other similar military rejoicings and
amusements. Prince Albert had to keep his eyes open during
the troublous days of the Commune and the fierce
struggle between the latter and the Versailles govern
ment. On the 1 7th of May he was forced to retrans-
fer his head-quarters from Compiegne to Margency, to
be nearer the scene of the actual conflict.
On the 28 th of May he received, the second time
within four months, the news of the capture of
Paris. On the 9 th of June he set out on his return to
Germany. He received most hearty welcome from

New German Empire. 135
the people of Berlin on the day of the triumphal entry,
when the emperor bestowed upon him the rare dis
tinction of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross.
On the 11th of July he held his triumphal entry
into Dresden, where he received the staff of a field-
marshal general of the German empire, as has
already been stated.
After the death of King John, his father, on the
29th of October, 1873, he ascended the throne of the
kingdom of Saxony.
Now a few words about the future. It would be
a singular misapprehension of the political situation
of the present to believe it at all likely that the
military career of a general like King Albert can
be at an end. He will have to appear in the field
again sooner or later. The question may seem of
some importance, then, whether he has ever frankly
accepted the result of the war of 1866.
There are many people in Prussia, even among
the officers of the army, who seem at least to doubt
the absolute sincerity of the present King of Saxony
in his submission to the lead of Prussia. They will
not beheve that the bitter antagonist of 1866, the
man who then threw the whole ardour of his soul
into the contest with Prussia, can have altogether
dropped and .forgotten his former intensely hostile
feelings, and taken instead to a frank and sincere
friendship a toute epreuve for his former foes.
There is to be found in the history of Saxony an

136 Men who have made the
awkward episode — in 1813, at the battle of Leipzig,
when the Saxons went over in a body from the
French to the German camp in the midst of the
fight. It may be called over and over again a daring
deed of unconquerable patriotism that they did so;
still there is always something revolting to the moral
feeling in an act of treachery. If the Saxons had
boldly declared before the battle that they would
no longer consent to be led into the fight against
their own fellow-countrymen, the matter would have
stood very differently. But to wait till the battle
was fairly engaged, and then to go over to the other
side, may be defended, indeed, upon the score of
prudence, or rather of serpent wisdom. But before
the forum of conscience it must be condemned as
a most immoral act notwithstanding.
That the then King of Saxony had no direct con
nection with this act of treachery of his army
seems to have been pretty conclusively established
at the time. Personally he remained faithful to the
fallen man whose fortunes he had shared in the
times of his phenomenal prosperity. Still he did
not altogether escape what I, in this particular
instance, feel disposed to call the brand of calumny.
There were people unbelieving enough in his sincerity
to impute to him a crafty calculation to secure a
friendly footing in both camps.
Be this as it may, however, to return to the present
King of Saxony, there were not few, it appears, who

New German Empire. 137
looked suspiciously upon the dangerous delay which
occurred in the attack of the Saxon corps in the
battle of Gravelotte. The 1st brigade of the Prus
sian guards had made desperate attempts to carry
the key of the enemy's position at St. Privat ; but
the French fire had proved too murderous. The
Saxony artillery, which was expected to come up
from Roncourt, to take the French positions in flank,
did not come up for hours, it is said, and the
Prussian guards had a most anxious time of it.
He who remembers how the French at the Alma,
exposed to a murderous Russian artillery fire, felt
much inclined to quarrel with us for our apparent
delay in coming effectively to their aid, and how
the aides-de-camp of the French commander were
riding up to the English lines shouting, "Mais
Dieu de dieux, que faites-vous done, vous autres t
Vous ne voyez done pas qu'on nous ecrase ! " — he
who remembers this, I say, will easily understand
also the impatient feelings of the Prussian guards
before St. Privat ; and will not find it altogether
inexplicable, perhaps, that a momentary doubt should
have taken possession of some minds whether the
Crown Prince of Saxony might not be meditating
a coup de Leipzig.
I, for one, feel most fully convinced that anything
more absolutely unfounded could not well be conceived.
Yet I have heard the assertion made, and in more
than one quarter. The explanation of the delay in

138 Men who have made the
the appearance of the Saxon artillery on the field is
very simple. The wood between Malancourt and
Roncourt was in the hands of the French, who had to
be driven out first, before the Saxon artillery could
take up its proper position behind Roncourt. This
was accomplished at last by two battalions of the 7th
infantry, led on by Colonel Abendroth and Captain
Brezecki. So soon as the wood had been taken,
sixteen Saxon batteries took the French position in
flank, and soon after the Prussian guards and the
Saxon grenadiers combined carried St. Privat in
right good style.
The least shadow of a foundation for the grave im
putation insinuated by some upon the present King
of Saxony's secret contingent intentions on the day
of Gravelotte may therefore fairly be dismissed.
Still, on the other hand it would certainly be going
too far to claim for King Albert any very warm and
sincere feeling for the new German empire and for
the emperor. King Albert and his brother George —
the latter, perhaps, still more than the former — con
tinue to the present day Saxon particularists,
omitting no opportunity, fitting or unfitting, to show
that they are but lukewarmly-inclined towards the
empire, and that they are always ready to go in for
the defence of their reserved rights and privileges,
both real and fancied.
King Albert continues to the present the very
warm friend of the Austrian emperor, and, in the

Neiv German Empire. 139
event of certain contingencies and complications, it
might not be altogether wise, perhaps, to intrust
this very hot Austrian and Romanist, and warm
admirer of Beust and his most fatal anti-German
policy, with the command of the Saxon portion of
the great German army. At least, this seems to be
the feeling in more than one German military circle
in which the writer of this memoir has had occasion
to move.

140 Men who have t made the

IX.

FIELD-MARSHAL GENERAL HERWARTH
VON BITTENFELD.
At the time when the Franco-German war of 1870-
71 broke out, the Prussian army numbered only
one field-marshal general, to wit, old Father Wrangel,
and one master-general of ordnance, to wit, Prince
Charles, the only now surviving brother of the
present emperor of Germany.
On the 28th of October, 1870, the Crown Prince
and Prince Frederick Charles were raised to the
rank of field-marshal general. On the 16 th of June,
1871, the great Moltke was invited to shed additional
lustre upon the highest rank and position in the army
by joining his own name to the glorious list. Prince
Albert, a younger brother of the emperor, was at
the same time named colonel-general of cavalry,
with the rank of field-marshal in the army (he died
on the 14th of October, 1872). On the 11th of
July, 1871, the present King of Saxony received the
marshal's bdton.
The rank of field-marshal general has been bestowed

New German Empire. 141
also by the emperor-king upon Generals Steinmetz
and Herwarth von Bittenfeld, with date of the 8th of
April, 1871 ; upon General Roon at the end of the
year 1872, and, lastly, upon General Manteuffel and
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands.
Field- Marshal Herwarth von Bittenfeld is a scion
of the ancient noble house of the Herwarths von
Hohenburg, an old Catholic family of Wurtemberg.
The grandfather of the field-marshal seceded to the
Protestant faith in the first part of the 18th cen
tury, and took service in the Prussian army. He fell,
bravely fighting at the head of his regiment (Prince
of Wied), in the murderous battle of Kolin. One of
his sons fell in the disastrous battle of Jena, 1806,
whilst the other son, the father of the field-marshal
and of General Hans (John) von Bittenfeld, was
grievously wounded the same day at Auerstadt. He
recovered, however, and died afterwards at Berlin as
general, in 1832.
Charles Eberhard Herwarth von Bittenfeld, the
subject of this memoir, was born on the 4th of
September, 1796, at Grosswerther, in the Prussian
province of Saxe. At the age of fifteen he entered
the then so-called normal infantry battalion in the
simple capacity of a private soldier (15th of October,
1811). The year after, he was made ensign, and on
" the 21st of February, 1813, second lieutenant.
At the outbreak of the war of 1813, the second
regiment of the foot guards was formed, Herwarth's

142 Men who have made the
battalion being one of the constituent parts. The
young officer gained some distinction in the campaign
of 1813, and more especially in 1814, when he was
present at the storming of Montmartre, on the 30th of
March, and took two French guns near the village of
Pantin. After the definitive conclusion of peace in 1815,
Lieutenant Herwarth acted as adjutant up to 1821,
when he attained his captaincy. It took him fourteen
years to move up another step in the army, so that
his advancement could not be called very rapid. It
was on the 30th of March, 1835, that he was trans
ferred as major to the Landwehr infantry regiment
of the guard (reserve), with whom he joined in the
Kalisch manoeuvres that same year. Twelve years
after, on the 27th of March, 1847, he was made lieu
tenant-colonel and commander of the 1st regiment
of foot guards, having previously held the temporary
command of the Emperor Francis regiment.
In 1849 he attained his full colonelcy, and the
year after the command of the 16th infantry brigade
was conferred upon him.
When, somewhat later on, the signs of the times
seemed to point unmistakably to war with Austria,
Herwarth received the command of the combined
brigade of the division Bonin, concentrated at
Kreuznach in anticipation of the event — which after
all did not take place, the whole affair ending in
smoke and in the disgrace of Olmutz.

New German Empire. 143
Colonel Herwarth exchanged the command of the
combined brigade for that of the Prussian garrison
of Frankfort-on-the-Maine.
On the 23rd of March, 1 852, the king made him
major-general ; and two years after, the highly import
ant position of governor of the fortress of Mayence
was intrusted to him. In 1856 he took the command
of the 7th division of the Prussian army. Two
years after he was made lieutenant-general, and
appointed to the inspection of the Austrian con
tingent of the German federal army.
In 1860 he was promoted to the command of the
7th corps of the Prussian army (the Westphalians),
which he led the year after in the great autumn
manoeuvres on the Bhine. As a special mark of his
satisfaction with the excellent state of his corps,
King William bestowed upon General Herwarth von
Bittenfeld the chiefship of the 1st Westphalian
infantry regiment, No. 13.
On the 27th of March, 1863, Herwarth von
Bittenfeld attained the rank of general of infantry.
In 1864 he led a division of his corps in the
Danish war, and after the transfer of Prince
Frederick Charles to the chief command of the
allied Austrian and Prussian forces, vice Field-
Marshal Wrangel, retired from service, he had the
command of the Prussian corps intrusted to his
hands. After the lamentable fiasco of the London Con-

144 Men who have made the
ference, and its final ending in smoke, the 25th of
June, Herwarth resolved to take the Island of Alsen.
He made his dispositions entirely upon his own
personal responsibility, but with such transcendent
skill and such absolute foresight of every possible
contingency, that the operation was triumphantly
accomplished, 29th of June, 1864. This capture of
Alsen stands forth brilliantly as one of the rarest
deeds of arms in the history of war. It would of
itself suffice to establish Herwarth von Bittenfeld's
claim to the name and fame of a great commander
in the field.
After the conclusion of the peace of Vienna,
Herwarth von Bittenfeld was appointed to the
supreme command in the Elbe duchies. He took
up his residence at Kiel. He had by no means
an easy position there, as he found himself brought
constantly into collision with the foolish Pretender
of Augustenburg, whose overweening conceit, joined
to his blind reliance upon Austria and the Frankfort
clique, under the leadership of Beust, made it a
matter of extreme difficulty to keep on terms of
even common courtesy with him.
Herwarth did not see the last of it, however.
Even before the conclusion of the convention of
Gastein, in 1865, he was recalled from the duchies,
and appointed to the command of the 8th corps of
the Prussian army, with head-quarters at Coblentz.
In 1866, when General Moltke, in conformity with

New German Empire. 145
his great principle, to march in separate columns, but
strike the decisive blow with united forces, formed
three distinct armies for the projected Bohemian
campaign, the distinguished honour of leading one of
these armies, to which Schlotheim and Brandenstein
afterwards gave the distinctive name of the army
of the Elbe, was conferred upon General Herwarth
von Bittenfeld.
The army of the Elbe numbered from 40,000 to
43,000 effectives. The Austro-Saxon army, whicli
had the special task assigned to it to defend the line
of the Iser, and interpose between the junction of
the Elbe army with the first army under Prince
Frederick Charles, exceeded this number by nearly
70 per cent.
The rapidity of Herwarth's movements seems to
have disconcerted the Austrian general, Clam-Gallas,
under whose chief command the Saxon corps under
Prince Albert had also been placed. Already as
early as the 26th of June the Prussian general made
his appearance with part of his forces at Htihner
wasser, a small place in the Bunzlau district in
Bohemia. The Austrian brigade Leiningen, forming the left
wing of the Austro-Saxon Iser army, pushed forward
from Mtinchengratz, had taken up a very strong posi
tion here. Count Gondrecourt, the adlatus of Clam-
Gallas (and subsequently his successor), commanded
in person.
VOL. it. t,

146 ' Men who have made the
The fight commenced on the morning of the 26th
of June with a most vigorous attack of the Prussians
upon the wood situate before Huhnerwasser, in the
direction of the frontier. The Austrians were, after
hard fighting, driven from the wood into the small
town, and from there again into the open beyond,
the Prussians having by noon succeeded in taking up
an advanced position in the direction of Weisswasser
and Miinchengratz. In the evening Count Gondre-
court made several desperate attempts to dislodge
the Prussians, which ended, however, in his total
discomfiture, his forces being driven back across the
Toperberg and beyond Upper Gruppay
There was now no further obstacle in the way
of an advance of the Elbe army upon Miinchengratz,
to effect its junction there with the army under
Prince Frederick Charles.
It must be admitted that Benedek's strangely con
fused and contradictory orders (for which the general
was perhaps not altogether responsible, however, as
he was driven nearly to his wits' ends by the emperor
and his military cabinet's constant stupid interference
with his plans and projects) placed Clam-Gallas and
Albert of Saxony in an extremely difficult position.
They had had orders to hold the Iser line to the last
extremity ; yet barely had the news of the disaster of
Huhnerwasser reached the ears of Benedek, when
that general at once gave the opposite order — to wit,
that Clam-Gallas and the Saxons should at once

New German Empire. 147
retire upon Gitschin, a most difficult operation, which
they were called upon to execute in the face of a
victoriously advancing foe.
They had no choice, however. So they accepted
the battle at Miinchengratz.
This small town, of about four thousand souls,
lies also in the Bunzlau district, on the left bank of
the Iser, on the Kralup and Turnau Railway line,
some seven English miles south-west of Turnau.
The corps of Clam-Gallas and the Saxons under
Albert stood here opposed to a portion of the army
of Prince Frederick Charles, and part of the former
under Herwarth von Bittenfeld. The latter had to
take the Kloster village, the former Musky Hill and the
village of the same name. Herwarth crossed the Iser
above Miinchengratz on a pontoon bridge, stormed
the village, climbed up the steep heights of the
Austro-Saxon position before Miinchengratz, and
almost entirely turned the corps of Clam-Gallas ;
whilst Prince Frederick Charles carried Musky Hill,
the villages of Musky and Dneboch, and the ruins
of Bossin. There remained but little more fighting
to be done to occupy Miinchengratz, and to complete
the junction of the two Prussian armies and the
capture of the line of the Iser. The Austrian losses
were very heavy. Fourteen hundred unwounded
prisoners fell into the hands of the victors, who paid
for their great success the comparatively small price
of some 330 men killed and wounded, almost equally
L 2

148 Men who have made the
distributed between the first army and the army of
the Elbe.
In the decisive battle of Koniggratz, Herwarth
von Bittenfeld played a most prominent part. It has
been said, indeed, by some critics, that in this battle
he had not carried out thoroughly Moltke's instruc
tions, and that the lack of vigour shown by him had
subsequently made possible the escape of Benedek's
beaten army. It is not easy to see how these critics
could support this charge against the marshal were
they seriously called upon to prove it. Herwarth von
Bittenfeld acted with the utmost vigour throughout
that hot day of the 3rd of July. By storming the
villages of Problus and Prim (or Przim), he absolutely
crushed the Austrian left wing. It seems to me that
all these charges brought against different generals
and troops may in the end find their answer in
Frederick Charles's alleged precipitate opening of
the ball two hours sooner than the other leaders had
been led to expect.
Be this as it may, King William showed his appre
ciation of the general's great services on the 3rd of
July, by bestowing upon him even in the evening of
that glorious day the high distinction of the Order of
the Black Eagle, a sad consolation, after all, for the
loss of a dearly-beloved son who fell in the attack
on Problus.
After the conclusion of peace with Austria, General
Llerwarth von Bittenfeld was placed d la suite of the

Neiv German Empire. 149

second regiment of foot guards. He resumed his
command of the Sth corps.
In 1870 the king intrusted to him the highly re
sponsible and most important charge of governor-
general on the Rhine and of all the western provinces
of the kingdom. He proved himself worthy of the
high trust reposed in him, by organizing with the
utmost vigour and rapidity, and with consummate
skill, an effective defence of the land placed under
his protecting care. Happily, the war took a
very differeut turn ; but the excellent defensive
measures taken on the Rhine by Herwarth von
Bittenfeld excited the admiration of all men able to
judge of such matters ; and they would no doubt
have brilliantly stood the test of an actual French
invasion. Herwarth von Bittenfeld had lost a son in 1866, at
Problus, as we have seen. In 1870 he was doomed to
suffer other most grievous losses. A second son fell
at Vionville, a third at St. Privat, whilst a fourth was
grievously wounded at Coureelles. Military glory is
an expensive luxury, and the price to be paid for it is
occasionally most bitter.
On the 8 th of April, 1871, Herwarth von Bittenfeld
was finally raised to the highest rank in the army,
and permitted to rest at last on his well-earned
laurels. He took up his residence at Bonn, where he cele
brated, on the 15th of October, 1871, in rare bodily

150 Men who have made the
and mental vigour, the jubilee of the sixtieth anniver
sary of his taking ser Ace in the army. Congratu
lations poured in on him from all sides on this festive
occasion. The field-marshal, who is now in his seventy-
ninth year, continues still in vigorous health. His
younger brother, John, who is seventy-five, is also
still a healthy, active man. He retired from the
service some time since, as general of infantry. In
1866 he was military governor of the province of
Saxony. He has taken up his residence in the
Prussian capital.
A cousin of the two, Frederick Adrian, who is also
seventy-four, retired from the service some time ago,
as general of infantry. Up to 1870 he was governor
of Konigsberg. He now lives at Merseburg.

New German Empire. 151

X.
FIELD-MARSHAL STEINMETZ.
Charles Frederick von Steinmetz was born at
Eisenach, on the 24th of December, 1796. He was
a mere youth of sixteen when, the momentous events
of 1812-13 called him, along with thousands upon
thousands of other sons of Germany standing equally
on the very threshold of youth, under the glorious
banner of liberation, unfurled to free the great father
land from the vilest and most crushing yoke an
insolent conqueror had ever yet in the history of
the world attempted to fasten upon a noble people.
Having been originally destined and educated for
the military career, he entered the Prussian army
as lieutenant. His daring bravery gained him the
rare distinction of the Order of the Iron Cross
(1814). When peace was at last concluded, in 1815, young
Steinmetz eagerly and assiduously took up again
the pursuit of his military studies, interrupted by
the war. His advancement in the service was by

152 Men who have made the
no means rapid, as we find him in 1835 still a
simple captain, in command of a company of grena
diers in the Emperor Francis regiment.
A few years after he was promoted to the rank
of major, and placed in command of the Diisseldorf
Landwehr battalion of the guards. This position
he exchanged soon after for the command of the
reserve battalion of the guards, then in garrison
at Spandau.
In 1848 we find him lieutenant-colonel in command
of the 2nd regiment of infantry. At the head of
two battalions of this regiment he took his fair share
in the Berlin street fight of the 18th of March.
He afterwards went with his regiment to the war
in Schleswig-Holstein.
After the armistice of Malmo, Colonel Steinmetz
was appointed Governor of the Berlin Cadet-house,
and promoted to the rank of major-general. He
commanded for a time a brigade of the guards, then
a division in the army, being raised to the rank of
lieutenant-general, until he was finally named general
of infantry, and had the command of the 5th Prussian
corps bestowed upon him, with head-quarters at
Posen. It was only in 1866, when he was near seventy
years old, that the first real opportunity was afforded
him to justify the high trust reposed in him. His
5th corps formed part of the second army, under the
command of the Crown Prince. With this corps,

New German Empire. 153
aided only by a brigade of the 6th corps, General
Steinmetz defeated successively at Nachod, Skalitz,
and Schweinschadel, the 6th Austrian corps under
Ramming, the Sth under the Archduke Leopold, and
the 4th under Festetics, taking from them two ban
ners, two standards, eleven guns, and six thousand
unwounded prisoners. Altogether the losses inflicted
upon these three corps, which constituted nearly the
half of Benedek's army, were most crushing ; and
it may well be said that the three days of Nachod,
Skalitz, and Schweinschadel, so disastrous to Austria,
prepared and initiated as it were the great final defeat
at Koniggratz.
The battles of Nachod, Skalitz, and Schweinschadel
have been sufficiently recorded already in the memoir
of the Crown Prince. The meed of glory justly
claimed there for the royal commander of the second
army does not detract, however, from the high merit
of General Steinmetz, which was indeed most fully
acknowledged by the noble chief himself, who de
manded and obtained for the general the rare dis
tinction of the Order of the Black Eagle, gained
on the field of battle.
After these hard days Steinmetz and his corps
were placed in the reserve, so that they took no
active share in the battle of Koniggratz. Steinmetz
was one of the generals upon whom the gratitude
of the king and nation bestowed a handsome dotation
after the conclusion of peace.

154 Men icho have made the
Soon after the termination of the war of 1866,
he attended the Crown Prince on his visit to St.
Petersburg, where the Emperor Alexander II. be
stowed upon him the Order of Alexander Newskji
in brilliants.
In 1867 General Steinmetz was elected a member
of the constituent assembly of the North German
Confederation. He represented the district of Ziilli-
chau-Krossen. He took his seat on the Conservative
benches, but did not join very actively in the discus
sion of the business before the assembly. He was
also subsequently elected a member of the first Diet
of the Confederation.
In the Franco - German war of 1870, Steinmetz
was intrusted with the command of the first army,
which consisted of the 1st corps under General
Bentheim, the 7th corps under General Zastrow, the
Sth corps under General Goben, and the 1st and
3rd cavalry divisions. The 1st corps was, however,
at first retained in Germany (along with the 2nd
and 6th), as the intentions of Austria looked suffi
ciently doubtful then to justify every possible measure
of precaution against an Austrian surprise. Subse
quently, about mid-August, when this threatening
danger might be considered at an end, the 1st corps
joined Steinmetz's army before Metz, together with
the division Kummer, and (temporarily) the Meck
lenburg division.
The first great feat of arms which fell to the

New German Empire. 155
share of the army under Steinmetz was the cap
ture of the heights of Spicheren, near Saarbrucken,
and the crushing defeat of a French army of
four divisions, under command of General Frossard.
This battle was fought on the 6 th of August, on
the same day as the battle of Worth.
Frossard's corps, supported by nearly the whole
of two more French divisions, and by a most
powerful artillery, had taken up a strong position
on the Spicheren heights and in Spicheren wood.
The 7th German corps was on the morning of the
6th of August stationed at Guichenbach, some six
English miles from Saarbrucken on the German side.
About noon the cavalry division of Rheinhaben
passed through the town of Saarbrucken, which had
been evacuated by the French. The 14th division
of infantry, under command of General Kameke,
followed. The Germans having passed through the
town, and issuing from the other side, were received
by a warm artillery and infantry fire.
General Kameke at once ordered the attack on
the heights. The German troops had to make their
way to the foot of the hills, across an open which
afforded no protection whatever against the fierce
French fire from the heights ; notwithstanding which
formidable obstacle, they advanced steadily and with
the utmost intrepidity from the Winterberg southward
upon the steep heights held by the French.
They made some progress up to three o'clock in

156 Men who have made the
the afternoon, although fighting against fearful odds.
At last the thunder of the cannons brought portions
of the divisions of Barnekow and Stiilpnagel to the
aid of the desperately struggling, sadly overmatched
14th division.
General Kameke now tried to take the French in
the left flank, moving down upon them over Stiring.
This attempt was frustrated by the French. Fortu
nately General Goben arrived with further reinforce
ments, and took the command.
At this time the French had, indeed, been driven
from Spicheren wood, but powerful reserves coming
up, the Prussians had to give way again for a time.
Soon after six o'clock in the evening, the French
left wing began to press hard upon the Prussians
round Stiring, when the arrival of a few regiments
of Brandenburg infantry, belonging to the second
army (Prince Frederick Charles), changed the face
of affairs, the Prussians now succeeding at last in
carrying the rocky wood-covered declivities of the
heights. Spicheren wood was taken once more, and General
Goben ordered the final attack upon the top of
the Spicheren hill. The 6th division succeeded in
getting two batteries along a mountain path up to
this top, and the assault was crowned with com
plete success.
It was at this period that General Steinmetz
arrived on the field of action. He completed what

New German Empire. 157
his great lieutenant, Goben, had so gloriously begun.
The defeated French were forced to retreat.
At first Frossard retired in good order. He in
tended to fall back upon St. Avoid, where due pre
parations had been made for such a contingency.
But Steinmetz rapidly pushed forward the 13th
division (Gliimer), which cleverly managed to inter
pose between the French general and St. Avoid.
Complete demoralization set in now in Frossard's
corps. The orderly retreat degenerated into some
thing very like wild flight, so that important military
magazines, the camp of an entire French division,
numerous pieces of artillery, a complete pontoon
train, 10,000 woollen rugs, some 200 tons of pro
visions and tobacco, &c, were allowed to fall into
the hands of the victorious Germans. Two thousand
five hundred unwounded French prisoners were
taken by the Prussians.
The French had fifty-two strong battalions in the
fight, supported by a most powerful artillery. The
Germans had only twenty-seven battalions, with the
artillery of a single division ; besides which, the
French had in their favour the immense advantage
of an extremely strong position. Yet the Germans
carried the day. Their losses were fearfully heavy ;
215 officers and 5,034 men killed and wounded — an
enormous percentage upon the numbers engaged.
The French losses in killed and wounded may be
estimated at about 6,000, as Frossard admitted a

158 Men who have made the
loss in his own special corps alone of 270 officers
and 4,000 men.
The battle of Spicheren gave rise at the time to
considerable controversy and comment. It was main
tained that Steinmetz had allowed the fight to be
engaged in in the very teeth of strict instructions
to the contrary received from General Moltke, who,
it was said, had intended to cut Frossard's corps
off by a series of strategic manoeuvres.
In times of excitement the most extraordinary
statement will pass current and find believers. I, for
one, am convinced that there was no foundation what
ever or truth for the serious imputation made upon
the old general, that he had deliberately and of malice
prepense set at naught an explicit command from
head-quarters. Nor can I believe in the other version of the story,
which was started at the time, to wit, that Kameke
had attacked the French position without orders,
and that Goben, instead of breaking off the attack,
had continued it against express orders. Both
Kameke and Goben have been brought up in too
good a school of military discipline and subordination
ever to allow the excitement of the moment to run
away with their discretion.
I think these stories had their origin at the time
chiefly in the regret naturally felt at the fearful losses
suffered by the Germans in this desperate battle.
The French had apparently intended to defend a

New German Empire. 159
carefully-prepared position on the French Nied ; but
on the 11th of August, the fifth day after the battle
of Spicheren, they retreated to the other bank of the
Moselle at Metz, where they took up a new position
under the protection of the fortress. Steinmetz
followed. On the 14th of August, the first army under
General Steinmetz occupied the following positions : —
The 1st corps, 1st division, was placed at Cour-
celles-Chaussy, on the road leading from Metz to
St. Avoid ; the second division at Les Etangs, on
the road leading from Metz to Boulay.
The 13th division (7th corps) was placed at Dom-
maugeville. The 8th corps was placed in reserve at Varize, near
Vianville. The 3rd cavalry division had its station
on the right wing, at St. Barbe ; the first cavalry
division, on the left wing, at Frontigny. The 14th
division and the 18th division, belonging both to the.
second army, under Prince Frederick Charles, were
leaning on the left wing of the first army.
Well, in the afternoon of the 14th of August, the
vanguard of the first army thought there were signs
of an intended move of the French encamped under
the walls of Metz.
Now, as it was a matter of the utmost importance
for the Germans to keep the French in their actual
position before Metz until Prince Frederick Charles
could move upon their line of retreat, Steinmetz at

160 Men who have made the
once gave orders to the brigade Goltz to attack the
rear-guard of Decaen's departing corps (which had
formerly been commanded by Bazaine).
The attack was made with such spirit and deter
mination that the corps was compelled to halt, and
to make front. Parts of Frossard's corps had also to
join in repelling the Prussian onset. Immediately
General Gliimer was sent forward with the brigade
Osten-Sacken, to support Goltz. Kameke and Wrangel
joined in the fray on the left wing, and the final result
was that the French had to abandon for the nonce all
notion of moving away from their encampment.
The French corps Ladmirault had meanwhile
endeavoured to make an impression upon the right
wing of the 1st c^rps, but the assailants were met
by General Manteuffel at the head of his reserves
with such determination, that they had also to retire
ultimately behind the fortifications. The result of
this battle of Courcelles was, that Prince Frederick
Charles had an additional day given him to bring his
army up, which he turned to most excellent account.
On the 18th of August, Steinmetz and the army
under his command again took a prominent share in
the glory of Gravelotte.
Steinmetz joined afterwards in the siege of Metz.
If the least reliance could ever be placed upon camp
reports and military gossip, one might be led to
believe that General Steinmetz had given offence at
head-quarters by acting too much upon his own

New German Empire. 161
impulse, instead of yielding proper obedience to
superior orders.
Other reports, more likely to have some foundation
in truth, would simply have it that the obstinate old
man (seventy -four) could not be brought to see
that he owed obedience to Prince Frederick Charles,
to whom the command of the siege of Metz had been
intrusted. Be this as it may, however, it was suddenly dis
covered at head-quarters that Russian neutrality
might after all not be implicitly relied upon, and
that it would only be a wise measure of precaution
to send an energetic and skilful chief back to Prussia,
to watch over the safety of the frontier. General
Steinmetz was the very man for iA, as the king said.
So the old man was graced with the high title and
full power of Governor- General of Posen and Silesia
— and sent back to Germany.
The new Governor- General of Posen and Silesia
must somehow have seen through the matter after
wards, for he repeatedly tendered his resignation to
the king.
It was, however, only after the conclusion of peace,
on the 8th of April, 1871, that his majesty granted the
general's request, bestowing upon him at the same
time the highest rank in the army — that of field-
marshal general.
Field-Marshal Steinmetz also had his share in the
dotations voted subsequently by parliament and
VOL. II. m

162 Men who have made the
bestowed by the king. He lives now in Gorlitz,
Lower Silesia, in the enjoyment still of excellent
health. In 1870 he received also once again the high Order
of the Iron Cross, which he had received first in 1814
when a mere stripling. He is the only man in the
Prussian army who can boast of having had bestowed
upon him, at an interval of nearly sixty years, the two
classes of the same order.

New German Empire. 163

XI.
FIELD-MARSHAL MANTEUFFEL.
This is one of the latest of his German and Prussian
majesty's marshal creations, and, as has indeed been
the case with every other mark of favour ever
bestowed upon Manteuffel by the king and his
predecessor, the one most coldly received and
most adversely commented upon, not alone by the
general public, but also in high and low military
circles. It is, indeed, altogether difficult to account for the
very large measure of apparently groundless popu
lar dislike that seems to have fallen to the share
of this man. Surely one would think that his very
distant relationship, or, perhaps, rather his mere
namesakeship with Otto Theodor von Manteuffel, who
steered the Prussian state bark, foolishly confided to
his guidance by King Frederick William IV., right
under the Caudine Forks of Olmutz, should not in
itself be deemed such a very heinous offence, and
that the enjoyment of even the very highest court
M 2

164 Men who have, made the
favour could barely warrant the attempted clouding
and staining of his name and fame in the estimation
of the people.
Yet the fact would seem to be so ; for certainly the
life and the acts and deeds of the man, who has
throughout his career proved himself a loyal servant
of his king and his country, afford no patent clue
to this deep-rooted general hostility which the masses
bear him, and in which so many persons moving in
the higher circles of society seem to join with equal
bitterness — unless it be, perhaps, in some slight
measure, at least, his action as president of the
military cabinet, to which reference will be made
hereafter in the course of this memoir.
Karl Rochus Edwin, Baron von Manteuffel, was
born at Magdeburg on the 24th of February, 1809.
He was intended and educated for the military
career. In 1826 he entered the regiment of dra
goons of the guard, and he obtained his lieutenancy
in the same regiment two years after.
Having served fifteen years as a lieutenant, he was
promoted to a squadron in 1843. Soon after, he
became adjutant to Prince Albrecht.
In 1848 his good fortune brought him into personal
contact with the king. This was in the days of the
great March rising in Berlin, during which Frederick
William IV. betrayed the whole deplorable weakness
of his character. The young cavalry officer stood
manfully by the poor trembling king's side, and

Neio German Empire. 165
tried hard to instil some of his own courage into the
king's heart.
When the worst was over, the grateful monarch
made Manteuffel his personal aide-de-camp : from this
time forward his fortune was secured. Six years later
we find him already in full command of the 5th
regiment of lancers, then in garrison at Dusseldorf.
As his majesty fancied he could detect under the
outer shell of Manteuffel's military ruggedness a fine
talent for diplomacy, the cavalry colonel was in
trusted with' several diplomatic missions, particularly
to Vienna, which, it is said, he performed to the
perfect satisfaction of the king and the government.
In 1857 Major-General Manteuffel was appointed
to the performance of somewhat delicate and rather
invidious functions. He was named chief of the so-
called military cabinet, in which capacity he had to
deal principally with the " personalia " of the army.
He had to recommend officers for promotion, and to
propose the removal of officers from active service, &c.
If we are to judge General Manteuffel's action and
conduct in this most ticklish position by the results
of the wars of 1864, 1866, and 1870-71, we shall
surely feel inclined to believe that he must have been
guided in his weedings — ruthless, no doubt, more
particularly regarding the higher ranks of the army —
by a most sincere and anxious desire to consult the
truest and best interests of the country.
Unluckily for him, people felt little inclined to

166 Men who have made the
believe so at the time ; and even now they will sneer
at his assertion, apparently founded in fact, however,
that he had been the first to clearly and thoroughly
discern Moltke's high genius, and that he can justly
claim as his doing the appointment of that distin
guished man to the highest place on the general staff
of the Prussian army.
There are, indeed, many officers who will fully
admit the beneficial character of Manteuffel's man
agement of the military cabinet ; but they will add,
with a bitter sneer, that the chief had stopped short
in his work of salutary weeding, and that, whilst
he had avowedly removed many incapable and in
competent officers from the Prussian active service,
he had unhappily left himself untouched— the most
incompetent, the most incapable, the most inefficient
of all — which sweeping assertion they will then
proceed to support by numerous references to the
patent inefficiency betrayed by the general in the
wars of 1866 and 1870-71.
However, the candid historian, who duly examines
the material placed before him, soon discovers that
most of these proffered references are not references to
actual facts, but to more or less baseless and ground
less fictions, and that Manteuffel, so far from betray
ing gross incapacity, as is so roundly asserted by his
detractors, has shown himself on several leading
occasions a most efficient commander in the field.
At the time of Manteuffel's greatest activity in

Neiv German Empire. 167
the military cabinet, his close connection with the
high Conservative military party, and his almost
over-ostentatiously displayed feudalist and absolutist
professions and tendencies, joined to his singularly
inconciliatory, haughty, and arrogant bearing towards
political opponents, excited against him the bitterest
and intensest hostility of the whole Liberal party,
which the circumstance that the prince regent con
tinued to show the general the same favour as his
brother the king had done before him, was certainly
not calculated to lessen or appease.
Thus, in 1858 Manteuffel was made general a la
suite; and in 1861, after the accession of King
William to the throne of Prussia, he was raised to
the rank of lieutenant-general.
It was about this time that Councillor Twesten,
one of the leaders of the Liberal party, who, however,
was not yet much known at the time beyond his
own circle, published a pamphlet, destined to become
temporarily famous, under the title, " What may still
preserve us." In this pamphlet Twesten, among
other things, made a sharp direct attack upon
Manteuffel, whom he qualified as "a disastrously
fatal man in a disastrously fatal position."
The chief of the military cabinet felt stung to
the quick. He sent a friend to the bold councillor
to demand satisfaction for his wounded honour. A
duel was the consequence, in which poor Twesten
was wounded. The general had to suffer a short

168 Men who have made the
imprisonment, but he was left undisturbed in his
position as chief of the military cabinet.
In 1863 Bismarck (so it is asserted, at least) turned
to the best account the great "popularity" — if such
an expression may be allowed under the circum
stances — which the general was known to enjoy at
the Hofburg of Vienna, where he certainly was looked
upon as a persona gratissima — not a very strange
or surprising fact, indeed, considering the strong
pro-Austrian proclivities which Manteuffel professed
in common with his cousin Otto Theodor. It is
said that Manteuffel had a considerable share in
bringing about the temporary alliance between
Austria and Prussia against Denmark.
In the early part of 1864, when signs were be
coming apparent of a certain lack of vigour in
the conduct of the war, the general was sent to
Vienna to stimulate the Austrian cabinet. He was
successful in so far, that the occupation of Jutland
by the allied forces was resolved upon.
After the conclusion of peace, when difficulties
arose between the two good allies, Manteuffel was
always active in endeavouring to smooth them away.
The Gastein convention, which postponed for a time
the inevitable final settlement between Austria and
Prussia on the field of battle, was in a great measure
Manteuffel's work.
From Gastein the general proceeded direct to
Schleswig. He had been appointed governor of that

New German Empire. 169

duchy and commander-in-chief of the Prussian army
of occupation. Bismarck had willed it so.
The great statesman, who clearly foresaw the in
evitable issue of affairs between Austria and Prussia,
and was equally conscious of the almost insuperable
difficulties in his way to convince King William of
the unavoidable necessity of war with Austria,
selected Manteuffel, the stanchest Austrophile in
Prussia, and the man most after Francis Joseph's
own heart, to represent Prussia in the jointly-con
quered, jointly-occupied Elbe duchies, and to try to
find a modus vivendi between the joint-occupants.
There could be no doubt that if even Man
teuffel failed in his honest endeavour to find such
a modus vivendi, the king would take it as the most
decisive proof of Austria's determination not to come
to a fair and equitable understanding with Prussia.
And this conviction once fairly established in King
William's mind, the minister might hope to convince
the monarch of the absolute necessity of this war
from which his majesty was so sensitively shrinking.
Manteuffel had a hard stand in Schleswig. Gablenz,
the Austrian commander in Holstein, had a much
easier task of it. He might readily enough conciliate
the Holsteiners and the Augustenburg pretender,
the more readily as the policy of Austria pointed to
the ultimate acknowledgment of the latter as sove
reign duke of the two duchies.
Manteuffel, on the contrary, had to oppose the

1 70 Men who have made the
wishes of the people of Schleswig, which were at
that time pointing in the same direction. In his
dealings with the Augustenburg pretender, who, in
his ineffable conceit, dared to treat Prussia with
contemptuous disregard, the general had also to
show the rough side of his character.
What Bismarck had foreseen came to pass very
speedily. Manteuffel's eyes were opened to what
Austria really wanted, and the general, who with all
his Austrian proclivities had still a very sound foun
dation of Prussian patriotism in him, was rapidly
cured of his illusions anent the noble and chival
rous feelings entertained at the Vienna Hofburg.
He acted with proper spirit and energy to guard
the interests of his country. When the Augustenburg
pretender, feeling secure of the support of Austria,
Hanover, and Saxony, coolly proceeded to have him
self proclaimed duke, on the 14th of October, 1865,
at Eckernforde, Manteuffel briefly informed his
highness, on the 16th of October, that if he did
not at once desist from his aggressive proceedings,
he (the general) would be compelled to have him
arrested. From this time forward the last spurious shade of
the- imaginary entente cordiale between the two great
German powers was gone — irretrievably gone; and
matters rushed on henceforth irresistibly to the final
appeal to ordeal by battle.
When General Gablenz, in violation of the Gastein

Neio German Empire. 171

convention, and in most flagrant encroachment upon
Prussia's good right, summoned the Holstein Estates
to assemble in general meeting at Itzehoe on the 11th
of June, 1866, Manteuffel, by order of his king,
sent word to Gablenz that, Austria having chosen
to tear the Gastein convention asunder, he (Man
teuffel) was resolved to assume the co-government in
both duchies ; and that he would accordingly march
into Holstein with his corps on the 7th of June.
Upon this Gablenz evacuated Holstein, taking the
Augustenburg pretender away with him.
On the 7th of June Manteuffel occupied Itzehoe,
which of course put an end to the intended meeting
of the Estates.
On the 11th of June Gablenz evacuated Altona,
and recrossed the Elbe.
The nice little plan hatched between King George
of Hanover, the Austrian Gablenz, and the Augus
tenburg pretender had been to call the Schleswig-
Holsteiners to arms, and to march them jointly
with Gablenz 's corps and the Hanoverian army direct
upon Berlin !
Manteuffel was beforehand with these poor plotters.
On the 15th of June he entered the kingdom of
Hanover, and on the 18th he occupied Stade, the
very place which had been intended for the joint
gathering of the " three hosts " that were to march
upon Berlin. He found at Stade large stores of
munitions of war, &c, which he took possession of.

172 Men who have made the
As he was moving rapidly forward, General Gablenz
retreated precipitately over Harburg to Cassel.
General Manteuffel was present at the affair of
Langensalza. He was under the supreme command
of General Vogel von Falckenstein, with whom he
made that marvellous one month's campaign in
Hesse and Francony, which must always be looked
upon as the most glorious episode in the great
war of 1866.
On the 19th of July, 1866, Vogel von Falckenstein,
who on the 16th had entered the free city of Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, was most easeMfasly- and un
expectedly recalled from his command, under the
very colourable pretext, to say the least of it, that
certain circumstances and contingencies imperatively
demanded the presence of an energetic Prussian
g;overnor-general in Bohemia !
Manteuffel succeeded Vogel von Falckenstein in
the command of the army of the Main. It was an
unlucky advancement for him, as Falckenstein's
strange recall from the scene of his triumphs was
by many imputed to Manteuffel's machinations, an
imputation which must now be considered to have
been utterly groundless, although it would appear
that one of the parties most interested in the affair,
Falckenstein himself, believed in it.
Years after, in 1871, when the great dotation
question was being eagerly and warmly discussed,
more especially in connection with the share the king

New German Empire. 173
intended to bestow on Manteuffel, an injudicious
friend of the general's ventured to allege, in a paper
sent to the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, and
to the Kreuz Zeitung, among other things, that
Vogel von Falckenstein had, in 1866, from personal
hostiUty to Manteuffel, given the latter no chance of
exchanging shots, or crossing swords with the
enemy. It became soon patent now to all the world that
Vogel von Falckenstein had not forgotten 1866, and
that he retained still his original impression of
Manteuffel's complicity in his removal, for the article
in the two journals at once brought old " rough-and-
ready" into the field in full armour and red-hot
fighting humour.
In a brief cavalier missive to the Kreuz Zeitung,
he said, with a covert sneer, that the writer of the
Manteuffel laudation was evidently not aware that
the general had had the occasion given him on the
day of Kissingen, and the day after, to exchange
shots with the enemy, and the troops of Manteuffel
had also been engaged at Langensalza — in the latter
battle, indeed, not by his (Falcken stein's) orders.
To perceive the force of this sneer, it must be
borne in mind that the days mentioned ranked not
among the most brilliant achievements of the cam
paign of 1866.
Falckenstein then went on to observe, that if the
writer of the article in question could succeed by no

174 Men who have made the
other means in glorifying General Manteuffel than
by assailing the reputation of other men, he was
certainly rendering no good service to the general.
He (Falckenstein) must call upon the writer to
produce proof in support of his assertions ; and if
he should fail to do so, he could only look upon
his production in the light of a paid article, written
by a hired scribe, and accordingly beneath contempt.
Vogel von Falckenstein is not the only openly-
avowed foe of the former chief of the military
cabinet. The unfortunate affair with General Groben
also lives still in the public recollection. By the
by, the authorship of the famous letter in the Frank
furter Zeitung, which questioned the soldiership of
General Manteuffel in the war of 1870-71, was
attributed to General Groben — rightly or wrongly,
it would be difficult to prove ; but I believe without
a shadow of foundation in fact.
General Manteuffel is said to have borne himself
towards the poor conquered Frankforters with undue
severity and haughty arrogance. He might, perhaps,
plead in justification that he acted upon explicit
instructions. Great indignation was at -the time felt
against the Frankforters in the highest quarter.
Manteuffel was instructed to insist upon a war
contribution of some £2,000,000, in addition to
about £500,000 already exacted by Vogel von
Falckenstein. A demand of so much hard cash was certainly

New German Empire. 175
not the way best calculated to ingratiate himself
with the good Frankforters.
With regard to the war in South Germany, Vogel
von Falckenstein had left his successor very little
to do.
When the armistice was concluded, Manteuffel was
sent on a special mission to St. Petersburg, where
he succeeded in conciliating the Russian government,
and obtaining its tacit assent to the contemplated
annexation to Prussia of Schleswig-Holstein, "Hanover,
Nassau, Electoral Hesse, and Frankfort.
After his return from St. Petersburg, he, for a
time, took the command again of the Prussian
troops in the Elbe duchies.
Then he temporarily resigned his military functions,
and retired to Naumburg, where he happens to enjoy
a, rich prebend. " One leg in the army, the other in
the church, his head in diplomacy, and his heart
nowhere" — so runs the bitter sneer of one of his
most prejudiced and unjust enemies.
In August 1868, General Manteuffel was appointed
to the command of the 1st corps of the Prussian
army, vice Vogel von Falckenstein retired.
In 1870 he led the 1st corps to Metz, to join
the 1st army under Steinmetz. He arrived on the
14th, when he at once joined in the fight of that
day, repulsing all attacks made upon his corps by
Ladmirault, and driving the French back behind thfe
fortifications of Metz.

176 Men who have made the
In the subsequent siege of Metz, Manteuffel held
the eastern line of inclosure. Here it was his good
fortune to fight the battle of Noisseville, on the
31st of August and 1st of September, when Marshal
Bazaine made his first desperate attempt to break
through the iron chain drawn around him and
his army.
The' French call this battle the battle of St. Barbe.
Early in the morning of the 31st of August, Bazaine
led the French guards, with the 4th and 6th corps,
numbering altogether some 90,000 men, across the
Moselle. It took the French marshal nigh upon
twelve hours to effect this movement ; and the attack
upon the German positions began only about half-
past four o'clock in the afternoon, languidly at first.
Manteuffel had only the 1st corps, the Division
Kummer, the Grand Duke of Hesse division, one
cavalry division, and a few regiments of the 10 th
corps, to oppose to the overwhelming French forces.
At half-past six o'clock in the evening the French
carried Noisseville and Nouilly, drove the Germans
back upon Retonfay, and occupied Coincy, and
subsequently also Servigny.
At nine o'clock in the evening the Germans had
retaken Noisseville and most of the other important
positions, when General Changarnier (it is said) led
another furious French attack at ten o'clock at night,
which succeeded in driving the Germans back upon
the plateau of St. Barbe. Servigny was, indeed,

New German Empire. 177
retaken by the Germans, but Noisseville, Coincy, and
Flanville remained in the hands of the French.
Next morning, the 1st of September, the 1st corps
and Kummer's division held the first line on the
battle-field of the day before ; the 25th division (the
Hessians) and the 9 th corps (Mannstein) held the
second line. The 7th and Sth corps were placed in
a cheval south and west of the river. The 2nd, 3rd,
and 10th corps held the left bank of the Moselle, in
the direction of Montme'dy.
At four in the morning the Prussians began their
attack upon Noisseville, which in the space of four
hours was taken and retaken three times. The
French directed all their efforts upon the plateau of
St. Barbe, which they were evidently resolved to
carry by storm.
Prince Frederick Charles, from his head-quarters at
Malancourt, ordered the 7th corps up to Noisseville, the
8th being directed to take up the position left vacant
by the 7th. Kummer was ordered to place himself
at Manteuffel's disposition with his entire division.
Flanville and Coincy were carried by storm ; Noisse
ville was partly burned, and, after seven hours' hard
fighting, the valiant 3rd French corps, which this day
had joined in the attack upon the German positions,
was finally forced to retreat.
At four in the afternoon the French were driven
back everywhere, at Noisseville, Mercy -le-Haut, in the
centre and on the right wing, and soon after the
VOL. II. N

178 Men who have made the
Germans fully re-occupied the same positions which
they had held on the 31st of August before the
French sortie en masse.
The losses of the Germans in this fierce fight were
120 officers and 2,358 men killed and wounded. The
French lost 141 officers and 2,664 men.
After the capitulation of Metz the old first army
was formed anew (1st, 7th, and 8th corps, 3rd
reserve division, and three cavalry divisions), Man
teuffel being appointed commander-in-chief over it.
Leaving the 7th corps behind, Manteuffel started
on the 7th of November over Rheims, in the direction
of Compiegne, when he suddenly turned off, and
marched rapidly upon Amiens. Here he defeated
a French army of 30,000 men on the 27th of
November, throwing them back across the Somme
upon Arras. On the 30th of November the citadel
of Amiens surrendered.
La Fere had been taken on the 27th already.
On the 5th of December General Manteuffel
occupied Rouen. He then concentrated his army,
and, after a series of hard fights on the Hallue, to
the north-east of Amiens, on the 23rd and 24th of
December, he defeated the French north army under
Faidherbe, compelling the enemy to retire into the
northern fortresses.
Upon a renewed attempt of Faidherbe, Manteuffel
gained another victory over him, at Bapaume, on the
2nd-3rd of January, 1871.

New German Empire. 179
In all these battles the French army of the north,
whose object it was to march to the relief of the
besieged Parisians, outnumbered the forces under
Manteuffel in the proportion of two to one.
On the 8th of January, 1871, the king intrusted
to General Manteuffel the command over a newly-
formed army, called the army of the south, whose
arduous task it was to be to march across the
mountains to the aid of General Werder, then
threatened by overwhelming French forces under
General Bourbaki.
That General Moltke should ever have given his
consent to intrust the command of an expedition of
such momentous importance as this to an " inefficient,
incapable, and incompetent " leader, is really a little
too much to be asked to believe.
Moreover, the brilliant manner in which the trust
reposed in him was justified by Manteuffel, ought
surely to be held a sufficient answer to the calumnies
of his detractors.
Despite the severe cold and the heavy snowfalls,
the general led some 45,000 men with marvellous
rapidity over the Cote d'Or {Mons Duranus) and the
Jura, cut off the French army of the east under
Bourbaki from all its fines of retreat upon Lyons, and
forced it finally, by the fight at Pontarlier, where the
Germans took two eagles, nineteen guns, and some
15,000 prisoners, to cross over into the neutral
territory of Switzerland.

180 Men who have made the
It was this final catastrophe which determined
Gambetta to give way, and may thus be said to have
had a leading share in the conclusion of peace.
The king appreciated General Manteuffel's great
services at this critical juncture. The Grand Cross
of the Iron Cross and the Order of the Black Eagle
were bestowed upon him.
After the dissolution of the army of the south,
Manteuffel was appointed commander of the second
army (30th of March), and subsequently, on the 20th
of June, 1871, commander-in-chief of the German
army of occupation remaining on French soil. His
head-quarters were established at Nancy.
In this position General Manteuffel certainly proved
himself the right man in the right place.
After the final evacuation of France, his majesty
the emperor and king raised Manteuffel to the
highest military rank, and bestowed upon the new
field-marshal also the important post of Governor
of Berlin.

New German Empire. 181

XII.
GENERAL VOGEL VON FALCKENSTEIN.
Next to Moltke this is unquestionably the greatest
strategist and the most accomplished staff-officer of
the Prussian and German armies, also the most con
summate tactical leader in the field, and altogether
the first of the great military captains of the age,
though not yet a field-marshal.
Ernest Frederick Edward Vogel von Falckenstein
was born at Breslau (I believe) on the 5th of
January, 1797. His father was a retired Prussian
major, who unfortunately died early, leaving his
family in extremely embarrassed circumstances. The
widow having no means to pay for the education
of her son, was forced to claim the assistance of a
relative of the family, who occupied the high position
of Prince-Bishop of Breslau.
The worthy prelate willingly consented to take the
boy off the poor mother's hands, but on condition
only that he should devote himself to the clerical
profession, for which the unhappy lad had not the

182 Men who have made the
least vocation nor the slightest liking or inclination.
Seeing no other way before him, however, the boy
consented, and devoted himself eagerly and assiduously
to those studies which were to prepare and fit him
for his intended future career.
Meanwhile came the great year 1813, with the
universal uprising of the Prussian people to shake
off the detested French yoke. Young Edward, though
only sixteen then, felt that he was a Prussian and
the son of a soldier. He was resolved to join in
the war of liberation. With rare firmness he resisted
the bishop's most powerful arguments, and even his
mother's passionate prayers and tears.
After a hard struggle he at last succeeded in
extorting his family's reluctant consent to enter the
army. But here again he had to contend against
formidable difficulties. The boy looked sickly, and
his appearance clearly betrayed a weak constitution.
He was therefore rejected by corps after corps to
which he applied for admission.
At last Colonel Kliise, an old friend of his late
father, took compassion upon young Falckenstein, and
obtained for him admission as volunteer in the West
Prussian Grenadiers. From the instant he had the
chance given him the new volunteer proved his nature
and character as a true soldier by the calm, resolute
courage whieh he showed on every occasion.
After the battle on the Katzbach he was made
ensign, and in December, 1813, lieutenant.

New German Empire. 183
With Blucher he crossed the Rhine at Caub, in
the New Year's night of 1814. He distinguished
himself on every occasion, more especially in the
affair of Montmirail, where every officer of his
battalion fell, so that the command ultimately
devolved upon him. Here the youth of seventeen
conducted himself with the cool self-possession of
an old officer, and showed the most consummate
skill in the handling of his men. By way of
reward he was made first lieutenant on the spot,
besides receiving the rare distinction of the Iron
Cross Order.
When the war was over, there was of course no
more talk of the clerical profession. Young Falcken
stein stuck to the army. He was, however, painfully
conscious of his nearly total lack of everything in
the shape of military training, and of all technical
knowledge of his profession. He therefore threw
himself with ardour upon the study of the military
art and science in all its branches, and he succeeded
so well in his efforts that he was soon sent to the
topographic bureau.
Here he suddenly discovered that he had a real
talent for design and also for painting. This talent he
cultivated with his accustomed ardour and assiduity.
He tried his hand more especially at oil-painting.
His really excellent productions in the various
branches of the art attracted the attention and
gained the young officer the favour of the then Crown

184 Men who have made the
Prince, who subsequently ascended the Prussian throne
as Frederick William IV.
By orders of this prince, Falckenstein established
at a later period the Royal Institute for Painting
on Glass, of which he himself remained for a time
the distinguished head. The magnificent painted
window in the church of St. Mary, near Dantzic, is
a sample of Falckenstein's art-productions in this line.
His military advancement was rapid at first, for
we find him as early as 1818 in command of the
battalion of the Emperor Francis Grenadiers, which,
jointly with a battalion of the Emperor Alexander
Grenadiers, formed the guard of honour of the mon
archs at Aix-la-ChapeUe during the congress which
assembled there on the 29th of September of that year.
After this he had to wait a long time for further
promotion, for in 1848 he was stiU only a lieutenant-
colonel. On the 18th of March of that year he was
wounded in the great BerUn street fight, which did
not prevent him, however, from joining in the Hol
stein campaign.
Soon after, he obtained his fuU colonelcy, together
with the command of the rifles of the guard. He
subsequently was appointed chief of the staff to
General Wrangel.
In 1864 Vogel von Falckenstein, who had mean
while attained the rank of general, was Wrangel's
chief of the staff in the Schleswig-Holstein war,
till after the capture of Diippel, when he was

New German Empire. 185
appointed Governor of Jutland, — Moltke taking his
place as chief of the staff.
It was in this Danish campaign that Vogel von
Falckenstein first had the opportunity afforded him
of displaying his rare strategic and tactic gifts on
a wider field. Up to this time he had simply been
known as a most meritorious, hard-working, and
painstaking staff-officer, and a most exceUent artist
on glass and porcelain. Now he suddenly jumped to
the foremost front rank of leaders in the field.
After the conclusion of peace with Denmark,
General Vogel von Falckenstein was intrusted by the
king with the command of the 7th army corps.
In 1866 the danger which threatened Prussia
from the side of the Austrian allies in the German
Confederation was real and formidable, though the
plot hatched between Gablenz, George of Hanover,
and the Augustenburg pretender had been stifled
ere its possible full development.
There remained, however, the Hanoverian army,
numerous, brave, and well appointed and provided
in every way — except in its direction and guidance
— and the armies of the south German states,
which, on paper, reached the formidable figure of
above 200,000 men, and numbered even in sober
reality some 120,000 to 130,000 effectives.
Vogel von Falckenstein was the general chosen
to meet this formidable danger. The forces placed
at his disposal were simply one division of the

186 Men who have made the
7th corps, the Prussian garrisons withdrawn from
Mayence and Rastatt, and a few regiments of the
reserve, with some Thuringian and other troops, the
whole never exceeding 50,000 effectives at any one
time whilst he held command, and falling most of
the time considerably short of this figure.
He succeeded first in disposing of the Hanoverians,
whose surrender he compelled. This was no doubt
a very good beginning; but it was not all — far
from it ; for the immensely hard problem was now
placed before the general, how to wedge himself
between two hostile armies, each of them very
greatly exceeding in numbers the whole force at
his command.
Falckenstein's campaign in 1866 was so crowded
with marches and countermarches and manoeuvres
of every kind, and with actual encounters in the
field, that even a mere outline, to be at all intelli
gible to the reader, would occupy considerably more
space than we can afford to give here. Besides, a
brief sketch of the campaign will be found in the
memoirs of Generals von der Tann and Hartmann.
Let it suffice then to say in this place, that Vogel
von Falckenstein in this marvellous campaign, where
he Uterally stood always one to three on the as
sumption most favourable to his forces, displayed the
highest genius as a military captain.
The boldness of his plans, the precision of his
operations, the rapidity of his movements, the skiU

New German Empire. 187
of his dispositions, and the vigour of hia attacks,
more than neutralized the formidable advantage of
threefold numbers and of exceUent positions on the
other side.
He wedged himself7 successfully between the two
opposing hosts, badly beating each of them alter
nately in detaU. When, on the 16th of July, about
one month after he had first taken the field, he
entered the ancient free city of Frankfort-on-the-
Main as conqueror, there remained very little to be
done to complete the utter discomfiture and mUitary
annihilation of Austria's south German allies.
It has been said that Vogel von Falckenstein, in
his dealings with the conquered Frankforters, showed
over-ostentatiously the very roughest side of his
character. However, there would seem to be good
reason for the probable supposition that he acted
in this upon express instructions from the highest
quarter, and that he did so with the greatest reluct
ance only. Nay, it would even appear that he took
upon himself to lower the demand of twenty-five
miUions of florins war contribution, which he had
been instructed to make, to six millions, and that
he gave thereby great offence in the highest quarter.
Whatever may be the real facts of the case, thus
much is certain, that on the 1 9th of July, three days
after his triumphant entry into Frankfort, General
Vogel von Falckenstein was recalled from his com
mand most suddenly, and upon the very colourable

Men who have made the

pretext that the state of affairs in Bohemia absolutely
required the immediate presence in that province of
a most energetic and skUful commander. General
Manteuffel, who was appointed his successor,
speedUy showed by his harsh and haughty bearing
towards the Frankforters, and by the infliction of
a war fine of £2,000,000, in addition to Falcken
stein's demand of £500,000, that the old general had
certainly not been removed from the command he
had held so gloriously on account of any reprehensible
roughness in his behaviour to the citizens that had
excited disapprobation in the higher quarters.
Take it as we may, we cannot but look upon it
as a very strange proceeding, to say the least of it, to
remove from his command an approved general after
a most brilliantly successful campaign, with all the
work fully accomplished by him, and nothing re
maining for him to do but to cuU his hard-earned
and weU-deserved laurels.
After the conclusion of peace, Vogel von Falcken
stein was of course included in the list of com
manders to whom the grateful king and nation voted
and gave dotations. With the sum voted to him he
purchased the Dolzig estate.
In the autumn of the year he exchanged the
command of the 7th corps for that of the 1st,
on which occasion the troops up to this under his
command manifested their high regard for him by
presenting him with a magnificent testimonial.

New German Empire. 189
The city of Konigsberg, the head-quarters of his
new command, elected him for its representative in the
constituent assembly of the North German Confedera
tion. He took his seat on the Conservative benches.
In the debates upon the organization of the con
federate army, he strongly insisted upon the three
years' term of service in the Une, declaring it to be
of the utmost importance in war that a commander
should know and feel that he had under his com
mand soldiers who fully knew the service and could
be absolutely relied upon. The consciousness of this
would inspire a commander with courage to dare even
venturesome enterprizes, as he (Falckenstein) could
tell the house from his own personal experience.
In 1868 Falckenstein retired from active service,
and went to reside on his Dolzig estate.
But in 1870, when the war with France broke
out, the old general, who was then seventy-three, had
once more a high trust confided to him.
Prussia had no adequate fleet to cope with the
French navy, and it was to be foreseen then that
the French would be likely to endeavour to turn their
vast naval superiority to the most profitable account,
by harassing the North German coasts, and per
haps attempting landings here and there; nay, it
seemed even probable that they would try to throw
some fifty thousand men upon some inviting spot of
the coast, which might have proved a very serious
diversion indeed.

190 Men who have made the
It was indispensable, then, to have a most skilful and
energetic commander on the spot, to whom the defence
of the coast lands might confidently be intrusted.
There was truly only one man in the Prussian
army of whom it could be said that he fulfilled aU
the conditions required for this high and most diffi
cult position — Vogel von Falckenstein.
So he was chosen for the trust. He was appointed
governor-general of all German coast lands — that is to
say, of the entire region of the 1st, 2nd, 9th, and
10th corps of the army of the North German
Confederation. The 1 7th division, belonging to the 9th corps, was
left behind to form the nucleus of the coast defences.
The 25th division (Hessians) took the place of the
17th in the 9th corps.
Vogel von Falckenstein, who made the city of
Hanover his head-quarters, displayed all the energy of
his character and the wonderful resources of his high
military genius in providing, within a surprisingly
short space of time, a most efficient system of coast
defence. He organized a numerous and effective
sea-coast guard ; he completely shut up the mouths
of the rivers and the entrances to the harbours ; and
he established so thoroughly efficient a system of
communication and rapid connection all along the
coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic, that the
French fleet did not succeed in even a single
attempt to land.

New German Empire. 191
In his internal administration he energetically put
down aU attempts at socialist agitation, and he also
speedily made the French officers interned within the
bounds of his government sensible that all attempted
misuse or violation of their word of honour was a
dangerous game to play with him.
When the war was over, and General Vogel von
Falckenstein was relieved from his command, his ma
jesty the emperor and king rewarded the great man
by bestowing upon him the Order of the Black Eagle,
whilst Steinmetz, Herwarth von Bittenfeld, and
Manteuffel were made field-marshals — all three no
doubt good men and exceUent efficient officers, but
assuredly not one of the three the equal, even
approximately, of Vogel von Falckenstein.
It must be left to the future historian to find the
cause for Vogel von Falckenstein's sudden removal
from his command in 1866, and the reason for his
being passed over in the marshals' promotion
of 1871.

192 Men who have made the

XIII.
GENERAL GOBEN.
This is another of the most highly theoretically
and practically accomplished general officers in the
German army.
Augustus Charles von Goben was born on the
10th of December, 1816, at Stade, in the then
kingdom of Hanover. His father was a retired
half-pay captain, who subsequently obtained the
honorary rank of major.
When the boy was about ten years old, he was
sent to the gymnasium at CeUe, which at the time
enjoyed a well-deserved high reputation as one of
the best educational institutes in the north of
Germany. Here he devoted himself most diligently
to the acquisition of solid learning in the several
branches of knowledge that then constituted a sound
education, with special reference to a future military
career. In October, 1833, young Goben entered the Prus
sian service as a military aspirant. He joined the

j\ew Lrerman empire. 193

24th regiment of infantry (musketeers), then stationed
at New Ruppin.
About a twelvemonth after, he attained his ensigncy,
and on the 15th of February 1835, he was gazetted
Ueutenant. Goben was a born soldier in the fullest sense of
the word. His theoretical military studies, which
he pursued with the greatest ardour, could not quite
satisfy his soldierly craving. He thirsted for an
opening that might enable him to practise his
darling profession in actual warfare. As there
seemed but little hope that the Prussian service
would for a long time to come afford any such
opening, the young officer resolved, after mature
reflection, to resign his commission in the Prussian
army, and to carry his sword to Spain, where just
at that time Don Carlos and Donna Christina (in
the name of her daughter Isabel), or rather their
respective partisans, were fighting for the crown.
This was in the year 1836.
Considering that of the two pretenders to the
thorny throne of Spain, Don Carlos might at least
fairly be looked upon as the more legitimate and the
more respectable, or rather the less disreputable,
young Goben resolved to offer his sword and service
to him.
The appearance of an accomplished young officer
was hailed with pleasure at the pretender's head
quarters. Goben received a commission as second
VOL. II. o

194 Men who have made the
lieutenant, and found at once employment on the
staff. In the first year of his service he had an oppor
tunity of distinguishing himself at the battle of
Fuentarabia, which gained him his promotion to
a first lieutenancy.
The year after, he was present at the battles and
encounters of Peralta, Zembrano, Segovia, Navreda,
Lerma, VaUadolid, and Aranda.
In 1838, he joined as captain in the expedition
to Castile, in which he was severely wounded at
Sotoca, In 1839, he served at first in the engineers, but
ter a time he was transferred to the infantry. He
led his company with great distinction in the fights
of Chulilla and Carboneras, and in the winter
campaign in Valencia and Aragon.
In 1840, Major Goben was again severely wounded
at Teruel. He was now promoted to the rank of
lieutenant- colonel in the engineer corps ; but with
this promotion his promising military career in
Spain came to a close. He remained, indeed, faith
ful and loyal to the last to the cause which he had
espoused, and it was only after the pretender himself
had given up the struggle in despair that Goben
took his leave of him and of Spain.
Besides the two severe wounds which he had
received at Sotoca and Teruel, he had been wounded
more slightly three times in the course of the war.

New German Empire. 195

He had also twice fallen into the hands of the
Christinos, but he had each time been speedily
exchanged again.
Ex-Lieutenant- Colonel Goben had to leave Spain
almost penniless, and to wander through France on
foot. It was a painful journey, full of bitter
privations. But he bore all with stoic calm, cheer
fully, with the buoyant light-heartedness of a true
soldier of fortune.
He reached his father's house in September, 1840.
The year after, he published his war adventures,
under the title, " Four Years, in Spain." This book
created some sensation at the time in military and
political circles.
His inborn passionate love of a soldier's life left
him no rest untU he had succeeded in obtaining
permission to re-enter the Prussian service. He
had of course to begin de novo at the foot of
the ladder.
On the 26th of February 1842, he was gazetted
to a commission in the 8th, regiment of infantry, but
ordered at once on the general staff of the army.
The high reputation which he had gained, his
extensive and sound knowledge of the military
sciences, and his practical experience smoothed the
path for him to a more rapid advancement than
falls ordinarily to the share of young officers without
powerful influence to push them.
In three years he passed through the grades of
o 2

196 Men who have made the
second lieutenant and first lieutenant to the rank of
captain on the staff.
In 1848, he was sent to the head-quarters of the
4th corps at Magdeburg.
In May 1849, he was attached to the division
Hanneken, which was charged to put down the
insurrection in Westphalia.
He was afterwards ordered on the staff of the
commander-in-chief of the army sent into Baden.
Here he had occasion to prove his high military
capacity in the several affairs of Ludwigshafen,
Waghausel, Ubstadt, Bruchsal, Durlach, Kuppen-
heim, and Rastatt.
After a brief period of service in the 16th
infantry regiment, Goben, promoted to the rank of
major, was ordered back to the staff.
In 1855, he was made lieutenant-colonel and
chief of the staff of the 6th corps, from which he
was transferred, in May 1858, to the 8th corps.
In 1860, he was promoted to the rank of colonel,
and sent with several other Prussian officers to the
Spanish army operating under O'Donnell in Morocco.
Here he met many of his former antagonists in the
Carlist war.
He remained with the Spanish army throughout
the campaign of 1860, and was present at the
fights at Samsa and Uad-Ras.
Soon after his return from this expedition he was
raised to the rank of major-general, and in 1863,

New German Empire. 197
he obtained the command of the 26 th infantry
brigade, which he led in the campaign of 1864
against Denmark, before Diippel, in the storm of
the fortifications, in the crossing to Alsen, and in
the capture of that island, everywhere in such
brilliant fashion that he was rewarded with the
Ordre pour le Merite, as well as with other
Prussian, German, and Austrian orders and war
decorations. He was also promoted to the command of the
10th division, from which he was soon after (in
May 1865) transferred to that of the 13th division,
with the rank of lieutenant-general.
His advancement was altogether most exceptionally
rapid. In twenty-three years he attained the same
rank of lieutenant-general which it had taken such
men as Vogel von Falckenstein, Herwarth von Bitten
feld, and Steinmetz forty-seven long years to climb
up to. Even the so highly-favoured Manteuffel had
been quite thirty-five years about it.
This fact, whilst affording irrefragable proof of
Goben's brilliant talents and his high military
capacity, speaks also volumes in favour of the
system which thus permits the most rapid pro
motion of a deserving officer, though he happens
to be altogether unsupported by the accident of
rank or wealth, or by powerful family connections.
In 1866, Goben operated first in Hanover at the
head of his division ; subsequently he was Vogel

198 Men who have made the
von Falckenstein's most efficient aid in the cam
paign on the Main. That great general knew
how thoroughly to appreciate him at his just high
value. Goben commanded the forces in the suc
cessful affairs of Dermbach, Kissingen, Laufach,
Aschaffenburg, Werbach, Tauber-Bischofsheim, and
Gerchsheim. He subsequently published a series of papers on
some of these fights (in the Allgemeine Militar-
zeitung), which by competent judges are held to
rank among the most sterling productions in the
military literature of the day.
When the Franco-German war broke out, Goben,
promoted to the rank of general of infantry, had
the command of the 8th corps intrusted to him.
The Sth corps formed part of the first army under
Steinmetz. In the memoir of that leader will be found -a
brief record of the great battle of Spicheren, which
was fought on the very first day of the opening of
the campaign, and in which General Goben again
brilliantly proved his high military genius.
General Goben took a glorious part also in the
tremendous fights of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte,
on the 16th and 18th of August.
The 8 th corps formed part of the army under
Prince Frederick Charles, which kept Bazaine shut
up in Metz from the 19th of August to the 26th
f October 1870.

New German Empire. 199
After the capitulation of Bazaine's army and of
the fortress of Metz, the 8 th corps formed again
part of the first army, which was reconstituted under
the command of General Manteuffel, and sent to the
north of France, to watch the new French army of
the north formed there under the command of General
Faidherbe, one of the best and most skilful among
the French leaders.
The battles of Amiens, on the Hallue, and of
Bapaume were fought and gained by three divisions
only of Manteuffel's army, as the entire 7th corps
had been, left behind at Metz ; and out of these
three divisions Goben commanded two. The success
may fairly be set down then, in great part, to his
share. On the 8th of January 1871, General Manteuffel,
having been appointed commander-in-chief of the
new army of the south, intended for the relief of
General Werder, handed over the command of the
first army to General Goben.
The new chief had barely been ten days in
command when he dealt the French army of the
north the crushing blow of St. Quentin.
The city of St. Quentin had been occupied and
held for twenty-four hours by the army of the
Meuse, on the 21st of October 1870.
On the 26th of , December it was re-occupied
by troops of the first army, who had to abandon
it again on the 15th of January, when General

200 Men who have made the
Faidherbe, by a strategic move threatening a diver
sion in the rear of the first German army, compelled
General Goben to change his position.
On the 17th of January General Faidherbe took
possession of St. Quentin with the bulk of his army,
which consisted of the 22nd and 23rd French corps,
and greatly exceeded in numbers the forces under
Goben, who only had present the 8th corps, part of
the 1st corps, part of the 3rd cavalry division, the
Saxon cavalry division under Count Lippe, the 6th
battalion of Saxon rifles, and the 2nd Saxon horse
battery. On the 18th there was a preliminary encounter
between the vanguards of the two armies, which
terminated in the retreat of the French from
Beauvais to St. Quentin.
On the 19th General Goben attacked the French
most vigorously in their positions at Javy, Gougis,
Neuville, St. Amand, and Gauchy.
There was a radical fault in Faidherbe's position :
the two corps of his army -were separated by the
canal of Crozal, so that they could only come to the
aid and support of one another by the circuitous
wray through St. Quentin.
After several hours' hard fighting, the villages held
by the French were carried by Goben's forces, both
wings of Faidherbe's army being turned, and the en
tire French host being thereby forced back. At two
o'clock Faidherbe made a last desperate effort with

New German Empire. 201
the 22nd French corps, supported by a most powerful
artillery force, to recover the lost ground ; but it
was all in vain, and at four o'clock in the afternoon
the French were in full retreat, which soon de
generated into wild flight in the direction of Cam-
bray and Guise, Valenciennes and Lille.
The Saxon cavalry contributed to the success of
the day by several brilliant attacks.
On the evening of the same day the railway
station of St. Quentin was most valiantly carried
by the 19th regiment of infantry, under the lead
of a younger brother of the commander-in-chief.
In this battle of St. Quentin the German loss in
kUled and wounded was 94 officers and about 3,400
non-commissioned officers and privates. The French
left several thousand wounded behind in St. Quentin.
Their total loss in killed and wounded must have
been about 6,000. Besides this, 12,000 unwounded
prisoners fell into the hands of the victorious pursuers.
The French also lost six guns.
The French army of the north, the last hope of
besieged Paris, had literally ceased to exist.
Goben's victory of St. Quentin forms, indeed, one
of the greatest feats of arms in this war, so rich in
glorious triumphs.
In June 1871, when the first army was dis
solved, General Goben received, besides many other
orders, the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, and
was presented also with the 2nd Rhenan Infantry

202 Men who have made the
Regiment, No. 28. The city of Minden made him
an honorary citizen.
General Goben continues still in command of the
8th corps of the German army, and has his head
quarters at Coblenz.

New German Empire. 203

XIV.
GENERAL WERDER.
Though placed here among the last in our gallery of
glory, this general ranks incontestably in every way
the equal of the most distinguished war chiefs of the
new German empire — with the single towering ex
ception of Vogel von Falckenstein,
Augustus von Werder, a scion of an ancient, noble
family, settled since the fourteenth century in the
old Wenden land between the rivers Elbe and Havel,
was born on the 12th of September 1808, at Schloss-
berg, Bailiwick Norkitten, in Eastern Prussia, where
the regiment of dragoons in which his father (died in
1837, at Glogau, as lieutenant-general) was then a
captain was lying in cantonments after the disastrous
campaign of 1807.
The boy received his first education partly at home,
partly at the military divisional school in Glogau,
the father himself taking a prominent share in the
mental and intellectual training of his son. An
earnest man, and a hater and despiser of all mere

204 Men who have made the

superficial show, he took the most anxious care that
Augustus should be thoroughly grounded in every
branch of his studies. The boy had considerable
natural gifts, and great facility of apprehension.
Assiduous and diligent withal, he soon gathered a
rich store of varied, sound, and solid information, so
that ere he had yet completed his seventeenth year,
he was in every way well prepared for his intended
profession — the army.
On the 14th of June 1825, young Augustus von
Werder entered the regiment of Gardes du Corps,
in the initial capacity of avantageur, or aspirant.
In March 1826, he got his commission of sub
lieutenant ; at the express desire of his father he was
transferred at the same time to the 1st foot-guards,
where it was probably thought there would not be
so many temptations to pleasure, calculated to with
draw the young man from his more serious studies,
as in the more brilliant Gardes du Corps.
Young Werder remained for seven years in the
foot-guards, acquiring a thorough practical know
ledge of the service. He continued all the while
also his theoretical studies with such excellent
success, that in 1833 he was selected as one of the
favoured few in the Prussian service who are sent
to the General War School in Berlin to finish their
scientific military education.
After the completion of the customary course of
three years at the war school, young Werder was

New German Empire. 205

sent back to his regiment for two more years'
practical service. He was then transferred, in 1838,
to the Sth pioneer division, that he might acquire
practical knowledge also of that highly important
branch of the service.
In 1839 he was attached as instructor to the cadet
school in Berlin.
In 1840 he was sent to the topographic bureau,
and had several important surveys intrusted to him.
In 1842 he gained his first step in promotion,
being made first lieutenant, after stopping sixteen
years on the lowest rung of the ladder — another
signal instance of slow advancement in the initial
stages of the Prussian service.
At this time holy Russia was hard at work
civilizing the barbarians of the Caucasus, and
endeavouring to overcome the stubborn opposition of
the Lesghians, Tschetschenzes, and other tribes,
who were clinging to their assailed independence with
desperate tenacity.
Here was a splendid opportunity for the new
lieutenant to learn something of actual warfare, which
his superiors determined should not be lost. So
Lieutenant Werder was duly provided with credentials,
and sent to the Caucasus as a kind of Prussian
military commissioner unattached, that he might
study mountain warfare and the mode of fighting of
both parties.
He fully justified the choice which had fallen upon

206 Men who have made the
him. He was indefatigable in the fulfilment of the
many and varied duties which his position imposed
upon him. Thus he would ride or march along
with the Cossacks on their reconnoitring expeditions
into the inmost depth of the mountains, or attend the
Russian infantry and Asiatic militia in their perilous
marches through ravines and defiles. Every pause
which occurred in the active operations of the
Russians he turned to good account by visits to
Tiflis, Kertsch, and the Russian coast defences.
The lessons which he learnt, more especially respecting
the proper mode of using artillery to the greatest
advantage in the defence of long lines of mountain
positions, he turned some thirty years after to
brilliant account in his desperate struggle against
Bourbaki's overwhelming forces.
On the 24th of June 1843, he was present at a
fight between the Tschetschenzes and Cossacks, near
the fortress which the Russians were then erecting
on the banks of the river Kefar. Here a ball, fired
from an ambush of the Tschetschenzes, struck him in
the left upper arm, smashing the bone. This -brought
his services in these quarters to an involuntary close.
He luckily escaped amputation, however, and re
covered his health completely by the beneficial heal
ing action of the waters of Patigorsk and Teplitz.
The Emperor of Russia bestowed the Order of St.
Wladimir upon him, to which his own king added
that of St. John.

New German Empire. 207 .
In March 1846, Werder was promoted to the
rank of captain, and attached to the general staff of
the army. Soon after, he was attached to the general
staff of the 1st corps. In August 1848, he was
ordered to take his place as captain in the 1st
regiment of infantry.
In March 1851, he gained another step, being
promoted to the rank of major, and appointed to the
command of a battalion of the 33rd regiment of
infantry. In October 1853, he was called to the
command of the Landwehr battalion Grafrath (40th
regiment), whence he was again transferred, in
February 1856, to the 4th battalion of rifles.
In October 1856, he attained the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, and about a year after, he was
appointed to the command of the fusilier battalion
of the 2nd regiment of foot-guards.
In May 1858, he was made deputy inspector (with
full performance of the inspectorial functions) of the
rifles and carabineers, and also commander of the
corps of royal field couriers. The year after, he
was promoted to the rank of full colonel, and
appointed inspector of the rifles and carabineers, the
functions of which office he had performed already
since the year before. He was at the same time
named also a member of the directorial board of
the Central Army Institute of Gymnastics at Berlin.
In January 1863, Colonel Werder was appointed to
the command of the Sth infantry brigade, stationed

208 Men who have made the
at Bromberg. Three months after, he was made
major-general, and in January 1864, transferred to
Berlin as commander of the 4th infantry brigade
(guards). In May 1865, he was charged with the command
of the 3rd division, stationed at Stettin, and the year
after he was definitely appointed to the command
of this division, the appointment being followed
a few weeks later by his promotion to the rank of
lieutenant-general. It had accordingly taken Werder
forty years to reach the same rank which Goben had
attained in twenty-three years, or, if we go back even
to Goben's first connection with the service, in thirty-
two years, a convincing proof of the extraordinary
rapidity of the latter's promotion in the army, which
I have pointed out in his memoir.
I have given General Werder's promotions and
transfers thus minutely here in illustration of the
Prussian military system, which sends a promising
officer from regiment to regiment, as it were, and
from one branch of the service to another. That
officers thus trained and schooled must necessarily be
superior to others who have not had the same
opportunities afforded them to gather experience and
expertness in every branch of their profession is
self-evident. It is this exceUent system to which Prussia may
be said to owe, in a great measure at least, her
present military preponderance. In this admirable

New German Empire. 209
practical school the conquerors of 1866 and 1870-71
were formed.
In the Prusso-German War of 1866, General
Werder commanded the 3rd infantry division,
which took a prominent share in the victory of
Gitschin, where it forced the corps of the Austrian
General Ringelheim back upon the line of retreat
of Count Clam-Gallas. At the battle of Konig
gratz, again, General Werder's Pomeranians gained
great and well-deserved glory by the cool and
steady courage with which they, unshaken and un
dismayed, withstood a most heavy and destructive
artUlery fire. General Werder had the Ordre pour
le Merite bestowed upon him for his services in
this campaign.
After the conclusion of peace, General Werder
was sent back to Stettin, as commander of the 3rd
infantry division.
At the outbreak of the Franco-German war of
1870, General Werder was specially attached to
the staff of the Crown Prince of Prussia, com
mander-in-chief of the third German army. In the
battle of Worth he commanded the combined corps
of Wurtemberg and Baden.
General Beyer, to whom the siege of Strasburg
had been intrusted, falling ill, General Werder was
appointed to succeed him in the command of the
army collected before Strasburg, which consisted of
the Baden division (eighteen battalions of infantry,
VOL. 11. p

210 Men who have made the
twelve squadrons of cavalry, and ten batteries), the
Prussian Landwehr of the guards division, the first
Prussian Reserve-Landwehr division (under the com
mand of General Treskow, who subsequently con
ducted the siege of Belfort), the 37th company of
fortress artillery, one battalion of Prussian pioneers,
and one company of Bavarian pioneers, — the whole
numbering above 50,000 effectives.
It would lead us too far here to give the details
of the siege of Strasburg. Suffice it to state that
that fortress capitulated on the 27th of September
1870, after a siege of about six weeks. On the
day of the capitulation of Strasburg, Lieutenant-
General Werder was raised to the rank of general
of infantry.
The forces set free by the capitulation of Stras
burg were now formed into a separate new corps,
the fourteenth of the German army, which was
placed under the command of General Werder.
To this new corps was joined also the 4th
Prussian reserve division, which had meanwhile
been organized at Freiburg, in the Breisgau.
General Werder had the arduous task assigned
him to complete the conquest of Alsatia, watch
over the safety of the conquered province, and pro
tect the lines of communication of the great German
army before Paris.
To this latter end it was indispensable to stifle
in the germ, if possible, the organization of fresh

New German Empire. 211

French armies, which was just at this critical junc
ture beginning to assume tangible shape and sub
stance, and might speedily attain to formidable
proportions if not resolutely met at once, and
effectuaUy crushed. The fortresses, the natural
centres of such organization, were therefore neces
sarily also the first and chief object of Werder's
new campaign.
With a clear and correct appreciation of the actual
circumstances and of the foe opposed to him, General
Werder determined upon a bold offensive.
The grand total of the forces under his command
might reach some 55,000 effectives. But the Land
wehr of the guards division had to be left in Stras
burg as a garrison ; and the 4th reserve division was
required to besiege and reduce the fortresses of
Schlettstadt and Neu Breisach. So it was with a
comparatively very slender force that the general
had to open the campaign.
The first task was to clear the Vosges of the
numerous bands of franc-tireurs who were endea
vouring to establish themselves in these quarters.
On the 1st of October the brigade Degenfeld, which
formed the vanguard of the 14th corps, moved
forward on its march through the Vosges, closely
followed by the main body of the corps. The German
troops had to remove enormous abatis and barricades
from their line of march through the passes ; but there
was no fighting. v 2

212 Men who have made the

The first serious encounter with the French took
place on the western slope of the mountain, between
Raon L'Etape and St. Did. Six battalions of Baden
infantry, numbering barely 4,000 men, had a hard
fight with a portion of General Cambriel's army
(French army of the east), newly formed for the
defence of the Vosges.
The French forces, commanded by General Dupre",
consisted of some 8,000 regulars of the line and about
the same number of franc-tireurs ; they were amply
provided with artillery. Yet, after seven hours'
desperate fighting, General Degenfeld, with his 4,000,
drove them headlong from the field. The French
losses exceded 2,000 men, of whom 300 were killed,
and 600 made prisoners of war. The Degenfeld
brigade lost about 400 men in kUled and wounded.
The discomfited French fled in the greatest disorder
to Besangon. The blow had so demoralized them, that
Cambriel's corps was in a few brief days reduced,
chiefly through wholesale desertion, from 55,000 to
24,000 men !
General Werder had origin aUy been instructed by
Moltke to march upon Troyes. However, as Cam-
briel was making desperate efforts to reorganize his
forces under the shelter of Besangon and Belfort,
the commander of the 14th corps deemed it the
wiser course first to deal effectively with this enemy
before starting in search of adventures in the interior
of France.

New German Empire. 213
Having obtained General Moltke's sanction to
extend his operations to Besangon, Werder marched
upon Vesoul, which was occupied by the 14th corps
on the 18th of October, the French retreating pre
cipitately to Belfort and Dijon.
Meanwhile the French army of the east, re-organized
by Cambriel and considerably increased in numbers,
had taken up a strong position on the river Ognon, or
Oignon (an affluent of the Sa6ne), at Ruoz and
Etuz. General Beyer was directed by Werder to dislodge
them and throw them back into Besangon. Beyer
had with him only the Degenfeld brigade, with part
of Keller's brigade, and the brigade of Prince William
of Baden and two battalions of regiment No. 30.
Yet, notwithstanding the very great disproportion of
numbers, he defeated Cambriel, carrying all his
positions, driving him in disorder across the river,
and finally compelling him to seek shelter once more
behind the strong walls of Besangon.
This battle, which was fought on the 22nd of
October, disposed effectively of the French army of the
east for the next fortnight to come at least, in so far
as regarded the possible resumption of the offensive by
Cambriel. Moltke's latest instructions had directed
Werder to march over Dijon to Bourges, a most
perilous task even for a much larger force than
Werder had with him then, considering, more par
ticularly, the dangerous fact that he would have to

214 Men who have made the
leave in flank and rear the important strongholds of
Belfort, Besangon, Langres, and Auxonne.
However, the march to Dijon and Bourges had to
be postponed for the time at least, as a new enemy had
meanwhile made his appearance on the scene. Gari
baldi, to wit, to whom Gambetta had intrusted the
formation of a new corps, together with the supreme
command over all bands of franc-tireurs and other free
corps in the Vosges.
The famous Italian chieftain was just then hard at
work at D61e to put something like organization into
his omnium-gatherummob of franc-tireurs de I'egalitS,
du Midi, du Doubs, des Vosges, de Nice, de la croix,
&c. ; Compagnies de la revanche, de la demi-lune, des
vengeurs, espagnole, polonaise, grecque, egyptienne {!),
franco-espagnole, &c. ; Carabiniers de Genes, Chas
seurs de Caprera, de Marseille, d'Oran, du Mont
Blanc, de I' Atlas, &c.
To provide effectively against any danger that might
threaten from this quarter, General Werder recrossed
the Sa6ne, and took up a suitable position at Gray.
This apparently retrograde movement was hailed by
the French population around as the result of a total
defeat inflicted upon the Germans by the army of the
east. So they arose in insurrection. Numerous
bands of franc-tireurs and other volunteers were
formed. As this movement among the people threatened to
become dangerous, the general resolved to put it

New German Empire. 215
down at once with a strong hand. He proclaimed
that he would shoot any man taken with arms in his
hands who should be unable to show that he belonged
to a corps possessed of some degree of organization
and forming part of the French army.
The attempted rising was speedUy put down, and
the country aU around disarmed. Only four men,
convicted of having treacherously slain German
soldiers, were shot by the general's orders.
Garibaldi not yet having completed his organiza
tion, it was not thought prudent at Tours to leave
the great Italian chieftain at D61e, where he was
exposed to a crushing attack by Werder. So Gari
baldi was ordered with his corps to Autun, to
complete his organization there.
Werder was thus left free to resume his advance
upon Dijon. As his scouts had brought him certain
news of the formation of fresh French armies
proceeding rapidly behind the front of the Gari-
baldians, and as he found the difficulties of the
transport of his supplies increasing with every league
of advance, he resolved to content himself for the
time being with the capture and occupation of
Dijon, and the holding of a strong position at
Vesoul. On the 27th of October, Prinee WUliam of Baden's
brigade came upon the newly-formed Armie de la
Cdte d'Or. This corps, which was commanded by
Lavalle, president of the Dijon committee of defence,

216 Men who have made the
barely awaited the attack of the German vanguard,
but retreated at once precipitately to Dijon.
The total effective force of General Werder 's ex
peditionary corps amounted at this time to twenty-
three battalions of infantry, twenty squadrons of
cavalry, and seventy-two pieces of artillery.
It had before it the Armee de la Cdte d'Or;
to the south the fortress of Auxonne ; at Besan
gon the army of the east, under Cambriel, some
30,000 strong; on the right flank the fortress of
Langres, with a garrison of 6,000; in the rear,
Belfort, with a garrison of 10,000. Adding the
Garibaldians and the numerous bands of franc-tireurs,
&c, to these, there were certainly French forces
enough to crush the smaU German corps among
them. On the 30th of October 1870, General Beyer and
Prince William of Baden assailed Dijon.
The French had brought up 10,000 men by rail,
and the citizens, even the women, joined most
energetically in the defence. The resistance was
obstinate in the extreme, and the Germans suffered
heavy losses. But Prince William of Baden carried
the heights of St. Apollinari in gallant style, and
occupied the suburbs, from which the Germans
ultimately forced their way into the city, where
fierce fights from barricade to barricade, from house
to house, lasted tUl midnight.
On the morning of the 31st of October, the ancient

New German Empire. 217
capital of Burgundy was formally surrendered by the
mayor. The loss of Dijon was a heavy blow and
sad discouragement to the French.
The possession of Belfort being deemed indispen
sable to the safety of Alsatia, the 1st reserve division
under command of General Treskow, was detached
to lay siege to this most important fortress.
General Schmeling, who commanded the 4th reserve
division, had meanwhile paid a visit to Miihlhausen,
and after an unsuccessful attempt to carry the
fortress of Neu Breisach by what might be termed a
coup de bombardement, occupied Colmar, after which
he laid siege to Schlettstadt, a most important
point on the railway line from Strasburg to Bale,
which commands moreover the road to Luneville
and Nancy.
Schlettstadt surrendered on the 24th of October,
two days after Werder 's victory on the Ognon.
After the capture of Schlettstadt, Schmeling re
sumed the siege of Neu Breisach with the greatest
vigour, and compelled this fortress also to capitulate
(10th of November). Fort Mortier had surrendered
three days before. Pfalzburg and Bitsch were thus
the only two strong places in Alsatia still remaining
in the hands of the French.
The fall of Metz having set free Prince Frederick
Charles's large army, which was at once pushed on by
forced marches towards the Loire, there was no longer
need now of Werder 's advance into the interior of

218 Men who have made the
France, and the general could freely make his dis
positions to encounter the many enemies who sur
rounded him.
Werder resolved upon a vigorous offensive in all
directions. He had only about 22,000 men to
oppose to some 70,000 foes.
The French, however, thinking the general had
received large reinforcements from the army of Metz,
gave way at once on all sides.
On the 14th of November IS 70, Werder concen
trated his small force about Dijon, ordering the 4th
reserve division under Schmeling up to Vesoul.
Garibaldi had meanwhUe completed the organiza
tion of his corps, and had again advanced from
Autun to the C6te d'Or. He meditated a coup de
main upon Dijon.
Werder, who was admirably served by his scouts,
knew that a large French force was being concen
trated about Lyons ; he also knew that the army
of the east, now under command of General Michel,
who had replaced Cambriel, was about to resume the
offensive. He knew also all about Garibaldi's in
tended surprise of Dijon, and he took his precautions
accordingly. The mayor of Dijon was duly warned
that the first attempt at a rising would inevitably
lead to the total destruction of the ancient city, and
the warning had its due effect.
On the 26th of November, early in the morning,
General Degenfeld, out upon a reconnoitring expo-

New German Empire. 219
dition, discovered that Menotti Garibaldi was ad
vancing with a numerous body of Garibaldians from
the direction of Pasques.
Just as night was setting in, the outposts of the
fusilier battalion of the 3rd regiment were vehemently
attacked. They fell back upon the main body
of their own battalion, and the battalion Unger.
These steady soldiers let the assailants come up
to within fifty yards, when they suddenly opened
upon them a terribly close and fast fire, which drove
the Garibaldians back in disorder.
Three times the same manoeuvre was repeated ;
after the third repulse the Garibaldians took to flight
in a complete panic, wildly throwing away their arms
and baggage.
Next day, General Werder, at the head of three
brigades, assumed the offensive. He came np near
Pasques with a rear-guard that turned out to be a
portion of the French army of the Loire. The Gari
baldians had fled back to Autun. General Keller,
sent forward in pursuit of the enemy, found a fresh
French corps posted in a strong position at Nuits,
south of Dijon. This corps, then some 12,000
strong, was commanded by General Cremer, late
captain of the staff in M'Mahon's army. This
officer was one of the prisoners of Sedan who had
disgracefully broken his plighted parole, and had been
raised by Gambetta per saltum to the rank of general
of division.

220 Men who have made the
Cremer, though he had broken his parole, was yet
an excellent officer. He endeavoured, with great skill
and pertinacious bravery, to intercept the return of
Keller's corps to Dijon ; but the men of Baden
proved more than a match for the utmost efforts of
the French, and Keller brilliantly effected his junction
with Werder at Dijon, where the 14th corps was now
once more concentrated.
From here Werder despatched General von der
Goltz with a small corps to lay siege to the fortress
of Langres. This officer came upon the French,
strongly posted at Longeau, on the 16th of De
cember. He at once attacked them, and, after three
hours' hard fighting, drove them back into Langres,
to which he then laid siege.
General Werder 's force at Dijon was now reduced
to 16,000 effectives, against whom more than 50,000
French, with a large artillery force, were advancing
from the south and the Cote d'Or.
The most immediately dangerous foe was Cremer,
who had meanwhile raised his force to above 20,000
men, and was holding a naturally very strong posi
tion at Nuits and Pesmes, which he had skilfully
strengthened stUl more by field-works.
Werder resolved to dislodge him from this position.
The lead of this expedition was intrusted to General
Gliimer. Werder could only spare him 11,000 men,
as he was compelled to retain a firm hold upon .
Dijon.

New German Empire. 221
On the 1 8th of December, General Gliimer attacked
the French, who outnumbered his small force in the
proportion of two to one at least. Cremer defended
his position most valiantly, and with no mean skill.
The battle lasted six hours, and it was only at night
that Nuits was finally carried by the Germans, who
made some 600 prisoners.
Cremer retreated upon Chalons-sur-Sa6ne, pursued
by the victorious Germans. The French acknow
ledged a loss of 2,200 men. Cremer 's corps was so
shaken by this blow that it took a long time to make
it fit again for offensive operations. The Germans
also had suffered heavy losses — amounting to close
upon 1,100 kiUed and wounded, including many high
officers. Prince William of Baden also was severely
wounded in this battle of Nuits.
It was about this time that Gambetta conceived
his truly brilliant and most threatening plan of an
invasion of South Germany, which, had it been suc
cessful, must not alone have brought unspeakable
miseries upon the invaded land, but might have
turned out a most formidable diversion, and would
have protracted the war for many months.
Long ere it was known at head-quarters that
General Bourbaki had commenced his threatening
movement, General Werder received authentic in
formation from the German envoy at Eerne, Baron
von Eoder, that the French were concentrating their
new army of the east, consisting of the 15th, 18th,

222 Men who have made the
20th, and 24th corps, between Dole and Besangon,
and that it was clearly their intention to relieve
Belfort, and cut the lines of communication of the
German armies. When General Werder received the
alarming news of the imminent approach of Bourbaki
with some 160,000 men, he was not quite sure
whether it might not be the French commander's
intention to march upon Nancy, to break the German
line of communication there ; or whether he really
purposed to endeavour to raise the siege of Belfort,
and make his way into Alsatia and thence into the
southern part of Germany.
But he fully saw and realized at oiice the im
mensity of the danger threatening the cause of
Germany from that quarter, no matter which of
the two, Nancy or Belfort, might form the proximate
object of Bourbaki's intended operations.
With prompt decision he determined to abandon
Dijon immediately. He ordered General von der
Goltz to raise the siege of Langres, and rejoin him with
his corps. On the 27th of December, the Germans
left Dijon, and made their way by forced marches to
Vesoul. The 4th reserve division, set free by the capitu
lation of Schlettstadt and Neu Breisach, was ordered
up to Villersexel, some eighteen English miles to the
west of Belfort.
In this well-chosen flank position at Vesoul and
Villersexel, which was admirably adapted to meet

New German Empire, 223
all eventualities, Werder resolved to watch the course
of events.
General Treskow, in command of the 1st reserve
division, had laid siege to Belfort on the 3rd of
November. Exactly one month after the German
batteries had opened their fire upon the place.
To cover the operation of the siege in the west,
General Debschitz had been ordered up with eight
battalions of Landwehr.
From the 3rd to the Sth of January, 1871, the
Germans were victorious in a series of small recon
noitring fights at Vellefaux, Villersec, LeVrecy, and
Velle le Chatel, from which Werder gained the
certainty that the immense army of the east (some
160,000 men) was moving to the right upon Belfort.
It was of the utmost importance that he should
arrive there before them. He had already con
templated an eventuality of this nature, and had
partly provided against it, by selecting an excellent
position on the Lisaine or Luxienne, which was well
adapted to cover the siege of Belfort.
On the 7th of January 1871, Werder resolved to
attack the enemy's left wing. The French de
clined the combat, which fully confirmed Werder's
opinion that they were moving to the right upon
Belfort. So on the 9th of January, he fell upon Bourbaki's
left flank with fierce impetuosity. On the German
side the Baden division was chiefly engaged, on

224 Men who have made the
the French side the 18th and 20th corps. Bourbaki
commanded in person.
The possession of Villersexel was the chief object
of the fight.
VUlersexel is a small place in the arrondissement
Lure, Haute-Sa6ne. It lies at the confluence of
the rivers Ognon and Scey, on the road from Vesoul
to Hericourt and Montbdliard.
The German attack was made with extraordinary
vigour. Villersexel was carried by storm, Moimay
and Marat sharing the same fate. This latter place
was taken in the evening. All attacks made by the
French, who brought more and more considerable
forces into the field, were victoriously repulsed.
The whole French army was brought to a stand
still. Bourbaki was thoroughly convinced that the
German attack would be renewed in the morning
of the 10th, and made his dispositions accordingly.
His conviction that a renewal of the battle was
intended for next day was strengthened by the
entire apparent bearing of Werder, who actuaUy
had a bridge thrown over the Ognon, in Bourbaki's
right flank.
Werder, however, having thus craftily misled his
antagonist, marched quietly off in the night of
the 9th-10th of January, the general with his
staff hastening on in advance to the position marked
out from Delle to Lure, to make his final prepara
tions for the impending, titanic struggle.

New German Empire. 225
A forced march, rendered peculiarly difficult by
the deep snowdrifts and the slippery state of the
roads, brought the whole of the troops to the
intended position on the 11 th of January.
On the morning of the 10th of January Bourbaki
had found, to his intense amazement and grief, that
the Germans were clean gone.
The battle of Villersexel had inflicted severe losses
upon the French. Besides many killed and wounded,
they lost also two guns, two eagles, and some 800
unwounded prisoners, with two superior officers and
fourteen subalterns.
The whole of Werder's forces, with every man
counted whom Treskow could possibly spare from
the siege of Belfort, amounted to forty-eight weak
battalions, with whom the general had to hold a
most extended position. The force of the assailants
was fourfold stronger. The defence had to be made,
moreover, with a strong well-garrisoned hostile for
tress in the rear, and under the threatening clanger
of a sortie en masse from that fortress, which would
place the German defenders of the extended line
from Lure to Delle between two fires.
General Werder was not a whit dismayed, how
ever. His old Caucasian experience of the defence
of extended mountain positions stood him in ex
cellent stead now. He knew he could fully rely
upon General Treskow, to whom he left the difficult
task of watching and engaging the Belfort garrison,
VOL it. q

226 Men who have made the

and warding off any danger that might threaten
from that quarter.
The position chosen covered not alone the siege of
Belfort, but also Alsatia and southern Germany.
The Lisaine, or Luxienne, a brook some three to
four feet deep, flanked on both banks by marshy
meadows, constituted the principal line of defence,
extending some eight English miles in length. The
left flank rested on the Allaine and the Bhine and
Rhone canal, which runs parallel with it. The left
wing found a most valuable point of support in
the old castle of Montbeliard, which Werder had
mounted with heavy artillery, garrisoned by an ade
quate force, and amply stored with provisions and
ammunition for twenty-one days.
General Werder established his head-quarters at
Brevilliers, near Hericourt, which formed the centre
and key of the position.
Hericourt lies in the valley of the Luxienne,
which is commanded, in the direction of Belfort as
well as in that of Arcey, by thickly-wooded moun
tains, and through which runs the high road from
Besangon to Belfort.
To guard against all chances of being outflanked,
the German line of defence had to be extended from
Frahier over Echevanne, Chenebier, and Chagey to
Lure ; thence to Hericourt, the key of the posi
tion ; from Hericourt southward, over Bussarel and
Bethoncourt, to Montbeliard, and from Montbeliard

New German Empire. 227
finally eastward to Delle, or Dattenried, on the
Swiss frontier.
General Treskow had sent up thirty-six heavy
position guns, which were judiciously placed on
Mont les Baragues, at Chalonsvillars, and other
important points. Other parts of the line were held
by battalions of infantry, with field-batteries placed
at proper intervals between them. All villages and
places along the line were thoroughly got ready for
the most obstinate defence, rifle-pits being dug,
and barricades and abatis placed at all suitable
points. By noon of the 13th of January all preparations
were fully completed. Whilst the front of the
position was defended by the Baden division, the
4th reserve division, and part of the 1st reserve
division, eight battalions of Landwehr, under com
mand of General Debschitz, covered the ground south
of the AUaine up to the Swiss frontier. Three regi
ments of cavalry, under Colonel Willisen, were
pushed forward in front of the right wing, to harass
the left flank of the advancing enemy.
To General von Schmeling, the conqueror of
Schlettstadt and Neu Breisach, was intrusted the
command of the centre at HeAcourt ; General von
Debschitz commanded on the left wing, General
von der Goltz on the right, where General von
Degenfeld was placed with the Baden division.
Generals Gliimer and Keller led the reserves. Q 2

228 Men who have made the
General Werder himself took up his position
in the centre of the line of defence, near Les
Baragues, where he could keep up constant com
munication with the field-telegraph at BreVilliers
through cavalry relays.
The prelude to the ball was opened on the morn
ing of the 13th of January, when the small German
vanguard, which had been stationed on the other
bank of the Lisaine, was attacked by overwhelming
numbers, and compelled to fall back across the
brook. On the morning of the 14th of January the
Germans stood in their position, fully prepared and
ready to receive the French onset.
A simple change in the weather had meanwhile,
in the course of the preceding night, very consider
ably altered the aspect of affairs, and changed the
prospects of the German defence very much for the
worse. The thermometer had suddenly dropped to zero
on Fahrenheit's scale, which means 14 to 15 degrees
cold on Reaumur's scale. The Lisaine and the
swampy meadows along its banks, which had the
day before constituted the chief bulwark of the
defence, were now solidly frozen over, opposing thus
no further obstacle to the advance of the French.
General Werder correctly estimated the full import
of the change. He did not conceal from himself the
danger which he might incur of the destruction of

New German Empire, 229
his corps, or, at least, the loss of his artillery, if he
accepted the fight in this position against an enemy
four times his own numerical strength under the
now so vastly altered circumstances of the case.
His mind, indeed, was not shaken in the least.
He was not dismayed by the extreme danger of his
position. He remained fully resolved to fight to
the last man and the last bullet for the safety of
South Germany. But he wished not to incur the
sole, undivided responsibUity of the event ; so he
telegraphed to head-quarters for instructions. The
answer, which fully accorded with his own resolu
tion, reached him only on the evening of the 15th
of January, when the first fierce onslaught of the
French masses had been triumphantly repulsed.
The struggle began on the 15 th of January, 1871.
Bourbaki directed the 20th corps coming up from
Villersexel against the right wing of the Germans,
the 18th corps, with the 24th corps in reserve, against
the centre at Hencourt, and the 15th corps against
the left wing. Numerous field-batteries and several
batteries of mitraiUeuses were brought to the French
front. The French attack was made with the utmost
vigour. The artillery played the principal part in
it. The battle raged for nine hours — from 8.30 a.m.
to 5.30 p.m. Of course, with the overwhelming
superiority of numbers on the side of the French,
there could be no question of offensive operations

230 Men who have made the

on the part of the Germans, who had, on the con
trary, to strain every nerve to hold their extended
line of defence, and more especially Hencourt, the
key of the position, the fall of which would certainly
have led to the most disastrous consequences for
them. After a hard struggle the French succeeded in
gaining possession of Champey and some others
of the less important points. They also succeeded
in establishing field batteries at Byan and Tavez,
and on the wooded heights around, which up to four
in the afternoon hailed down an incessant storm of
projectiles upon the ground in front of them, the
French infantry trying meanwhile their utmost
to break through the German positions, but without
success. The destructive fire of the German batteries,
and the cool, steady bravery of the German infantry,
which was brought up incessantly and indefatigably
to every point seriously threatened by the enemy,
proved too much for the French. They could not
even gain an additional foot of ground. Their last
attempt was made upon Chagey. It failed like the
rest. When night put an end to the struggle, the
position of the two armies remained still nearly the
same as it had been in the morning.
The Germans had to bivouac on the battle-field,
without fire, the whole of the bitterly cold nfght of
the 15th-16th of January, when the therrfPometer
fell to sixteen degrees cold on Reaumur's scale.

Neu) German Empire. 231
At break of day the Germans were ready again
in their old positions. A thick fog covered the valley
of the Lisaine, which cleared up only at noon suf
ficiently to permit the artillery to join in the
struggle. But despite the fog, the small-arms fire began at
7.30 a.m. The French tried hard to break through
the German positions in the centre and on the left
wing. They made most desperate efforts to seize
the old Castle of Montbeliard.
At five o'clock in the afternoon the battle was
suspended, but at eight o'clock it was renewed once
more with the utmost fierceness, more especially on
the left wing, where the French tried to carry by
nocturnal surprise the positions from which they
had been repulsed in the day. Here the fight lasted
till two o'clock in the morning of the 17th.
All assaults of the French upon the centre and
the left wing had been gallantly repulsed.
On the right wing, however, the assailants had
been partially successful. Here the 18th French
corps and Cremer's two divisions had thrown
themselves upon General Degenfeld's three bat
talions and three batteries, and had, after ten
hours' fierce fighting, succeeded at last in com
pelling Degenfeld to leave Chenebier and Frahier
in their hands, and retreat to a strong position in
the rear, which had been provided and prepared
for such a contingency.

232 Men who have made the

Werder, who fully understood the disastrous con
sequences that must result from further successes
of the enemy on the right wing, and who had no
more reserves to bring up, ordered General Keller
to recapture the lost positions without delay by
nocturnal surprise. The general's attack proved
eminently successful. Frahier was carried by storm,
and Chenebier by surprise. In the latter viUage
seven French officers and 400 men were made
prisoners. General Treskow sent also three twenty-four
pounder position pieces from Belfort to strengthen
the defences on the right wing. These heavy pieces
had to be dragged up all the way by men.
On the morning of the 17th of January, at about
eight o'clock, the French made repeated attacks upon
Chagey, which were repulsed. A vehement assault
upon Bethoncourt, and several fierce attacks upon
Montbeliard, shared the same fate.
About noon the French offensive began to slacken
perceptibly. Columns of the enemy were seen to
march off in a westerly direction. Rifle-pits were
being dug at many points, and other defensive
measures adopted by the French.
At four io'clock in the afternoon the French
essayed a last overwhelming attack upon the positions
occupied by General Keller. They succeeded in
retaking Chenebier, but failed in their most desperate
assaults upon Frahier.

New German Empire. 233
Soon after a general advance of the German forces
over Chagey and Echevanne ended in the final repulse
of the French along the whole line.
Bourbaki, thus foiled in his most desperate efforts
to break through the German line of defence thrown
between him and Belfort, saw at last that there
was naught left him now but to secure a safe
retreat. The fortress of Belfort had remained all the whUe
perfectly quiescent, though the garrison must have
heard the incessant thunder of artillery.
On the morning of the 18th of January it was
found that the great French host had marched off.
General Werder immediately ordered the movements
of the retreating enemy to be vigilantly followed.
A pursuit en masse was altogether out of the
question. The German troops required a few days'
rest at least after their almost superhuman exertions.
It was only on the 20th of January that the Baden
division could start in pursuit, executing a general
evolution to the left, in order to compel the French
to fall back in the direction of the Doubs.
The French had suffered very heavy losses in this
three days' desperate struggle. Their casualties in
killed and wounded amounted to some 7,000 men,
besides which they lost 2,000 prisoners. Two French
eagles and one standard were also taken.
The German losses amounted altogether to some
60 officers and 2,200 men killed and wounded.

234 Men who have made the
The ulterior operations of Werder and his corps
were executed in conjunction with the army of the
south under Manteuffel, of which the 14th corps
formed part since the 9th of January.
Werder had saved South Germany from the un
speakable horrors of a French invasion. Manteuffel
completed subsequently what Werder had so well
begun. Manteuffel's part of the task was com
paratively easy, as Bourbaki's defeat before Werder's
line of defence had well-nigh thoroughly demoralized
the huge French force commanded by that general.
The Emperor William — the new German empire
had been proclaimed at Versailles on the 18th of
January, the day after Bourbaki's last desperate
attempt to break through Werder's position — appre
ciated at its just value the immense service rendered
to Germany by General Werder through his stubborn
and heroic defence.
He tendered his warm thanks to the general in a
special letter written with his own hand. He sent
him also the oak-leaves to wear with the Ordre pour
le MSrite, and the Grand Cross of the Red Eagle,
with swords; and on the 22nd of March he
bestowed upon him, as a crowning distinction, the
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, which Werder shares
with only six other leaders of the German army,
viz., the Crown Prince of Germany, Prince Frederick
Charles, King Albert of Saxony, Field-Marshals
Moltke and Manteuffel, and General Goben.

New German Empire. 235

Altogether General Werder is grand cross of eight
of the principal orders.
After the conclusion of peace General Werder was
definitively appointed to the command-in-chief of the
14th corps of the German army, which consists
chiefly of the Baden contingent. The head-quarters
are at Carlsruhe.
General Werder is also chief of the 4th Rhenan
infantry regiment, No. 30.
The German people, more especially those of the
south of Germany, have worthily manifested their
deep sense of gratitude to the general.
Many cities have proudly enrolled him among
their honorary citizens. The University of Freiburg
has bestowed upon him the honorary degree of doctor
of laws. Swords of honour, silver helmets, silver
shields, silver cups, magnificent editions of the Bible,
consignments of rare wines, and other precious gifts
have literally rained in upon him.
The sculptor, Moest, of Carlsruhe, is at present
engaged upon a memorial monument, which is
shortly to be erected at Freiburg in honour of
General Werder and his brave troops.

236 Men who have made the

XV.
GENERAL VON DER TANN.
The Bavarian troops played a prominent part, and
had a very considerable share, in some of the hardest-
fought fights and the most dearly-bought successes
of the ever- memorable Franco-German war of
1870-71. The two commanders of the Bavarian
contingent, Generals von der Tann and Hartmann,
are therefore justly entitled to figure in the glorious
list of the great war-chiefs who have contributed so
largely to the creation of the new German empire.
Baron Ludwig Samson von der Tann-Rathsam-
hausen is descended from one of the principal branches
of an ancient baronial family, widely spread through
Francony and Hesse.
He was born on the 18th of June, 1815, on the
day of the great battle of Waterloo, which finally
put to rest all apprehensions of the possible resump
tion of the detested French sway over the fair land
of Germany.
His father, Baron Heinrieh von und zu der Tann,
who died in 1848, was chamberlain to King Louis L

New German Empire. 237
of Bavaria, a lieutenant-colonel in the Bavarian army,
and one of the chief district inspectors of the national
militia. He enjoyed the intimate friendship of the
king, who appointed young Louis one of his own
pages when almost in his cradle, and had the boy
educated with the greatest care at the Pages' Institute.
Young Louis, however, declined to enter the
briUiant court career so temptingly opening before
him. His mind was set upon sterner and more
arduous pursuits. He was resolved to be a soldier,
and with characteristic firmness carried his point
against the wish of his father and the will of the
king. He was barely eighteen when he obtained a com
mission as second lieutenant in the Bavarian artillery.
Unlike most young officers of noble birth who were
serving at that time in the South German armies,
more for the allurement of the glittering outer
trappings and the charm of an idle, indolent life of
pleasure than for love of the service, the young
artillery lieutenant took his pursuit au grand
serieux, and threw himself into the study of all
branches of the profession of his choice with all the
ardour of his temperament and all the assiduous
steadfastness of his disposition.
He soon gained the reputation of a singularly
well-informed officer ; and in 1840 he was, despite his
youth, and although he had only attained the rank of
first lieutenant, appointed to an important position on

238 Men who have made the
the general staff of the army. His promotion to the
rank of captain followed soon after.
In 1844, the king, who by this time had got over
his disappointment about the slighted pageship, and
who remained to the last day of his life Tann's well-
affected patron, made the brUliant young staff officer
adjutant to the Crown Prince Maximilian.
This position, in which he was after a time promoted
to the rank of major, he held four years, up to 1848,
when the German rising in Schleswig-Holstein
impelled him irresistibly to devote his sword and his
talents to the patriotic cause of the Elbe duchies. lie
obtained King Maximilian's permission (King Louis
having abdicated in March, 1848), and the sanction
of the Ministry of War, to take the command of a
German free corps in the duchies, where he gained
some brilliant successes over the Danes, more
especially in the great surprise of Hoptrupp, on the
7th of June, 1848. The government of Schleswig-
Holstein bestowed his name upon one of their new
gunboats in graceful acknowledgment of his important
services in the wTar.
In 1849 he acted as chief of the staff to Prince
Ernest of Saxe-Altenburg, who commanded one of the
divisions of the Schleswig-Holstein forces. In 1850
he was made colonel and chief of the staff of the
army under General Willisen.
After the sad collapse of the German cause in the
duchies, Colonel Tann returned to Bavaria, resuming

New German Empire. "¦ 239
his old position as aide-de-camp to King Maximilian,
with whom he continued as great a favourite as he
had been with King Louis.
He was soon promoted to the rank of major-
general, and in 1860 he was made lieutenant-general,
and had the command of a division bestowed upon
him. His promotion had been exceptionally rapid :
it had only taken him twenty-seven years to reach
the high grade of divisional commander, whereas it
took his friend and fellow-commander Hartmann more
than fifty years to achieve the same position ; but
then Hartmann, who certainly was in nearly every
way as brilliant an officer and as excellent a soldier as
Tann, was not so much of a special royal favourite
as the latter had the good fortune to be.
King Maximilian, one of the best and most en
lightened rulers of the small kingdom of Bavaria,
died on the 10th of March, 1864, at the early age
of fifty-three. He died, unhappily, at a most critical
juncture — just when the temporary forced league
between Austria and Prussia for the conquest of the
Elbe duchies was laying the germ for the fierce
war almost sure to follow between these two most
unnatural allies. Had King Maximilian lived, the
chances of the possible avoidance of the great in
testine contest in Germany, which broke out subse
quently in 1866, would certainly have been much
more promising than they turned out to be after.
King Maximilian would surely have given Von der

240 Men who have made the
Pfordten very different instructions from those given
to the Bavarian ambassador to the German Confedera
tion by his son and successor, Louis, who was really
too young and inexperienced at the time to fuUy
realize the actual position of affairs, and to under
stand the true interests of South Germany, and who
was surrounded and ear-wigged by a most uncom
promising Ultramontanist, anti-Prussian clique.
Baron von der Pfordten finding himself abso
lutely unrestricted by pacific or cautious instructions
from his king and court, joined with Beust, Varn-
biiler, Dalwigk, and the Hanoverian Platen in the
nefarious and ill-considered plot to humble Prussia.
The participation of South Germany in the war of
1866 was the natural consequence of this most
absurd policy.
General von der Tann, a man of the warmest
German feelings, bitterly deplored the share which
his beloved country was going to take in this
fratricidal war. The Ultramontanist scribblers and
gabblers prated insanely of the formidable military
force which the South German states, jointly with
Saxony and Hanover, could put into the field — exceed
ing half a million of effectives, it was asserted by
those ignorant twaddlers and their aiders and abettors
in the British press of that day. Tann knew better.
He knew that the boasted South German host
was a huge myth and gross deception, and that
150,000 men was the highest figure the South

New German Empire. 241
German states could possibly put into the field.
He also knew that, although the soldiering material
might do well enough, the command was safe to be
placed in such incompetent and incapable hands, that
there would be but little chance of success against
the Prussians under the leadership of the smartest
and most efficient commanders of the age.
He clearly foresaw the whole disastrous issue and
result of the affair, and he consented only most
reluctantly to take upon his shoulders the highly
responsible office and duties of chief of the staff to
Field-Marshal Prince Charles of Bavaria, to whom
the supreme command over the Bavarian army and
the whole of the South German forces, including
an Austrian division under Neipperg, had been
intrusted, with the stupid Austrian proviso that
the commander-in-chief should always act in accord
ance with the instructions that were to come to
him from the Austrian head-quarters and from the
Emperor Francis Joseph's military cabinet — a pro
viso which could not but helplessly lame the initia
tive of the commander of the South German forces
and his chief of the staff.
The command of the 8th corps of the German
Confederation army, consisting of the contingents
of Baden, Wurtemberg, Hesse, electoral and grand-
ducal, Nassau, and Frankfort, were given by King
Charles of Wurtemberg, with whom the appointment
lay, to another incapable — Prince Alexander of Hesse,
VOL. II. R

242 Men who have made the
to wit, who was said to have distinguished himself
greatly at Solferino !
Tann knew beforehand how little chance there
was of the Bavarian commander-in-chief and his
Hessian coadjutor pulling weU together, and that
there was stiU less likelihood of concerted action of
the mixed host in obedience to his own directions
and instructions. He felt convinced, also, that the
fault and blame of the disastrous failure which he
foresaw would be laid at his door ; so no wonder that
he went into the struggle half-hearted, and with the
saddest forebodings, destined to be soon realized even
beyond the extent of his direst apprehensions.
The first great trouble he had to deal with was the
Hanoverian army. The neat little plot hatched be
tween Gablentz, the Augustenburg pretender, and the
King of Hanover, to march with united forces upon
Berlin, had been nipped in the bud by Manteuffel's
rapid and energetic proceedings. The Hanoverian
forces, cut off from Stade, where vast stores and
supplies had been coUected for their use, were
marched into the province of Gottingen, with a
view to their hasty organization for war.
This Hanoverian army was as fine a body of
men as were ever marched into the field. Had
they been boldly pushed forward through the
Thuringian forest from Eisenach, where they had
taken up their station on the 21st of June, they
might safely have joined the Bavarian forces, which

New German Empire. 243
were coming up to the Saxon duchies to meet
them. But this troop of lions was led by .blind
King George and his equally blind military advisers.
The king had the conceited notion that he could
outwit Bismarck in diplomatic negotiations. He
rejected Prussia's very fair offers of an understand
ing with him, yet he kept on treating with the
Prussians, in the foolish expectation that the whole
of the Bavarian army would come bodily up to
him, to drive the Prussians out of the land ; and
whUst thus idly negotiating, he led his splendid
army in purposeless marches from Eisenach to
Langensalza, back again to Eisenach, then once more
to Langensalza. Meanwhile, the active Prussians were
rapidly bringing up troops from Berlin, Erfurt, and
Torgau, until nearly every loop-hole of escape,
through which the Hanoverians might have forced
their way to the Bavarian army, was effectuaUy
shut up.
On the 27th of June, when time and opportunity
might fairly be considered aU but gone, the king
and his advisers resolved at last to make an effort
to go to the Bavarians, as it was quite clear the
Bavarians were not coming to them. But General
Flies, with only 9,000 men under his command,
boldly attacked the Hanoverians, who outnumbered
his troops in the proportion of two to one at least;
and, although he was defeated by numbers, and
by the brilliant valour of the Hanoverians, more
R 2

244 Men who have made the
especially their truly splendid cavalry, he succeeded
in retaining the Hanoverian forces at Langensalza,
whUst Vogel von Falckenstein was closing the
net around them. On the day after, the 28th of
June, the army of King George, surrounded on all
sides, capitulated to the Prussian general.
Among the many false and foolish charges which
were subsequently insinuated against General von
der Tann, figured, of course, also this, that he had
wilfully and corruptly abandoned the Hanoverians to
their fate ! The general would have deserved to be
ignominiously dismissed the service had he advised
his commander to march his troops into Hanover.
The blame of the failure of the projected junction
of the Bavarians and Hanoverians must be laid
entirely at the door of King George and his generals,
who spoUed everything by their gross incapacity
and helpless irresolution.
Having thus satisfactorily disposed of his Hano
verian opponents, Vogel von Falckenstein prepared
at once for a most vigorous offensive against the
numericaUy much more formidable hostUe hosts of
the South German states. He had only three divi
sions under his command, to wit, the divisions of
Manteuffel, Goben, and Beyer, the whole of his
available forces not exceeding 50,000 effectives.
The Bavarian army, under the command of Prince
Charles of Bavaria, might number some 60,000
effectives. On paper the figure reached 80,000.

New German Empire. 245
The Sth corps, under Prince Alexander of Hesse,
numbered between 60,000 and 70,000 effectives.
Either host was accordingly much stronger than
the entire force of the so-ealled Prussian army of
the Main, whilst the two bodies combined seemed
sufficiently powerful to easily crush the Prussians
between them.
But the great Prussian commander, after concen
trating his forces at Eisenach on the 1st of July,
pushed them like a wedge between the two South
German armies. The Sth corps under Prince Alex
ander of Hesse was holding a position at the time
to the north of Frankfort-on- the- Main, whilst the
Bavarians under Prince Charles occupied the valley
of the Fulda, with two divisions pushed forward to
Dermbach. A strong body of Bavarian cavalry
was ordered to seek to establish a junction with
the Sth corps.
This plan, devised by General von der Tann,
seemed clearly indicated by the actual position of
affairs, and might have placed the Prussians in an
awkward strait, had only the execution even re
motely equalled the conception. But, unluckily for
the chief of the staff, the event turned out far
otherwise. Indeed, it may fairly be said that,
throughout this campaign, so disastrous to the South
German armies, the glaring incapacity and the gross
blundering of the tactical leaders in the field thwarted
nearly every one of Tann's strategic conceptions.

246 Men who have made the
It was on the 4th of July that the vanguard
of Beyer's division, advancing along the high road
to Geysa, came into collision with the strong body
of Bavarian cavaky ordered to seek to establish
a junction with the Sth corps. When this body
of cavalry found itself suddenly and unexpectedly
assailed by a heavy artillery fire, it was thrown into
disorder and retreated precipitately, leaving the
Prussians free to rush on between the two corps.
At the same time General Goben had received
orders to advance beyond Dermbach and drive back
any hostile forces he should come across there ; after
which he was to break off the fight and return to
Dermbach, that he might afterwards prepare for the
further advance of the army by taking his station
en echelons at Geysa. Goben executed the order most
brilliantly : he took Wiesenthal, Zella, and Neidharts-
hausen, and finaUy also the strong position which the
Bavarians held on the Nebelberg.
Having accomplished his object, he fell back upon
Dermbach in obedience to the orders of his commander-
in-chief. This the poor Bavarians mistook for a
"retreat," and indulged in somewhat overloud songs
of triumph accordingly. They soon discovered their
mistake, however, and hastened to move back south
ward, with a view to find some other way to join
the 8th corps, which on its part drew nearer to
Frankfort. The advancing Prussians found Fulda abandoned.

New German Empire. 247
The Bavarian army had taken up a strong position
along the Franconian Sale river, behind the Rhon
Mountains. This position also had been veiy weU
selected by General Tann, as it enabled the Bavarians
to threaten the left flank of the Prussians. But on
the 9th of July, Vogel von Falckenstein, moving
suddenly to the left, crossed into Bavaria, and on
the 10th of July, General Goben took Kissingen
and 'the heights behind by storm, and kept his
conquest against the repeated desperate efforts of
the Bavarian reserves, whilst Beyer had a successful
engagement at Hammelburg, and Manteuffel, who
had foUowed, defeated the Bavarian troops opposed
to him at Waldaschach and Hausen. In the fierce
fight at Kissingen, General Tann was slightly
wounded. Prince Charles now retreated to Schweinfurt, when
Vogel von Falckenstein quite unexpectedly marched
upon Aschaffenburg. Prince Alexander of Hesse,
at last thoroughly roused to the danger of this
Prussian move, despatched the Hessian and Aus
trian divisions in hot haste from Frankfort to defend
the most important position of Aschaffenburg, and
keep the Prussians if possible from getting across
the Main.
But the Hessians were defeated on the 13th of
July at Frohnhofen and Laufach, and the Austrians
on the 14th before Aschaffenburg, which place was
ultimately stormed by the Prussians. Hereupon

248 Men who have made the
Prince Alexander evacuated Frankfort in great haste,
and the Prussian general entered the ancient free
city on the 16th of July. Bieberich and Darmstadt
also were occupied by the victorious Prussians.
How Manteuffel replaced Falckenstein on the 19th
of July has already been narrated in the memoirs
of the two Prussian commanders.
Meanwhile, the junction of the Bavarians with the
8th corps had been effected at last near Wurzburg.
The Prussian army of the Main, now reinforced to
some 60,000 effectives, followed the South Germans,
and on the 24th of July crossed the Tauber, carrying
the Hessian position at Wertheim, the Wurtemberg
position at Tauberbischofsheim, and the position of the
Baden division at Werbach. The fight at Tauber
bischofsheim was particularly severe. Five times the
Wurtembergers, commanded by General Hardegg,
the Minister of War for the kingdom, tried their
hardest to regain the positions lost to the Prussians ;
but it was all in vain. In this hot fight the Wiir
temberg division suffered a loss of sixty men (nine
officers among them) kiUed and 450 wounded.
The Sth corps now took up a strong position at
Gerchsheim, the Bavarians at Helmstadt and Uet-
tingen, with Wurzburg in the rear.
On the 25th of July Goben attacked the 8th
corps at Gerchsheim, Beyer the Bavarians at
Helmstadt. Pushed up in a corner as it were, Prince Charles

New German Empire. 249
now resolved to assume the offensive. He carried
this resolution into effect on the 26th of July, relying
upon the aid and support of the Sth corps. But the
same fatality which had pursued the South Germans
throughout this campaign was experienced here once
more : the Prince of Hesse failed to join in the fray,
and, after a hotly-contested fight at Uettingen and
Rossbrunn, the advance of General Beyer from Helm
stadt, threatening the left flank and the line of retreat
of the Bavarians, compelled the South German forces
to retreat behind the Main, and take up their posi
tion east of Wurzburg. This latter city, or rather the
fortress of Marienberg which defends it, was can
nonaded from field -pieces on the 27th of July
Soon after, the news of the armistice concluded
between the belligerents put a stop to further
hostilities. When the war was over the disappointed Ultra-
montanists set all their organs in the press to
work at assailing the reputation of General Tann
— stupendous incapacity was the mildest charge in
sinuated against him ; most of these vile assailants
accused him point-blank of premeditated corrupt trea
son to his king and his country. The general saw
himself literally compelled to seek the protection of
the law against these unscrupulous calumniators ; and
the law, appealed to, came to his aid, clearing his
unsuUied reputation, and punishing the loudest and
vilest yelpers of the pack.

250 Men who have made the
In January, 1869, Tann was made general of
infantry, and received the command of the 1st
corps of the Bavarian army. When the Franco-
German war broke out in 1870, the whole of the
Bavarian contingent, consisting of the 1st corps
under General von der Tann, and the 2nd corps
under General Hartmann, was placed as part of the
third army under the orders of the Crown Prince
of Prussia.
General von der Tann and the corps commanded
by him took a leading share in the great battles of
Worth, Beaumont, and Sedan. In this last crowning
victory over M'Mahon's army it fell to the share of
the Bavarians to carry BazeUles, a small place of
some 2,000 inhabitants, situate upon the right
bank of the Meuse, a little more than half an
English mile from Sedan. The fight here ranked
among the most hotly contested of the cam
paign. It began at 4.30 a.m., and raged uninter
ruptedly for six fuU hours. The inhabitants took
part in it by firing at the Bavarians from the win
dows. They also cruelly ill-used some unhappy
wounded Germans who were at their mercy. This
led to some excesses afterwards on the part of the
enraged Bavarian soldiery, to which Tann ener
getically put a stop.
It was asserted at the time in certain organs of
the British press that BazeiUes had been razed to
the ground by the vengeful Germans, who had also

New German Empire. 251
made a general massacre of. the inhabitants — men,
women, and children. There were even some Eng
lish gentlemen found seemingly so lost to all moral
sense of veracity as to vouch for horrors pre
tended to have been perpetrated by the Germans,
which had no foundation whatever in truth, but
were the merest shadowy offspring of the excited
imagination of the narrators. A great French noble
man of Stuart extraction — the Duke Fitzjames —
was not ashamed to stamp these baseless inventions
with the authority of his own high name as a
pretended eye-witness of the cruelties perpetrated
by the German barbarians.
General Tann's name and fame were thus covered
with obloquy and ignominy. The general never
protested against the gross injustice done him. He
patiently bided his time, which came the year after,
when the mayor and corporation of BazeiUes, of their
own free accord, published a plain statement of facts,
which triumphantly showed how wilfully the general
and his troops had been maligned.
When it became evident, in the beginning of
October, that the government of Tours were massing
considerable forces behind the Loire, with the mani
fest intention of trying to raise the siege of Paris,
ah expeditionary army was formed, consisting of the
1st Bavarian corps, the 22nd infantry division, and
the 2nd and 4th cavalry divisions, and placed under
the command of General von der Tann, with orders

252 Men who have made the
to break if possible the projected organization of a
strong French army on the banks of the Loire,, and to
clear the country north of the river of all hostile
forces. On the 6th of October Tann set out on his
mission. On the 8th he advanced to the heights
of Etampes ; on the 9th, to Angerville, without
meeting any more serious opposition than desultory
attempts to delay his advance made by bands of
franc-tireurs. It was reported, however, that the
French were concentrating a force of 40,000' men
at Orleans.
On the 10th of October General von der Tann
came upon the enemy at Artenay, where some
20,000 French troops of all arms tried to make a
stand. They were, however, speedily driven back
in disorder upon Orleans, where they joined the
newly-formed 15th corps of the French army. They
left three guns and over 1,000 unwounded pri
soners in the hands of the vietors.
On the 11th of October General von der Tann
advanced upon Orleans, with the 22nd infantry
division and the 2nd Bavarian division in the first
line, the 1st Bavarian division in reserve, and the
two cavalry divisions on both wings in observation.
At 10.30 a.m. the German vanguard came first into
collision with the French, who fought most valiantly
and obstinately, so that it was not before late in the
evening, after a nine hours' arduous struggle, that they
could be driven back across the Loire. Fortunately

New German Empire. 253
for the Germans, the bridges over the river had been
left intact, so that they could cross over and carry t
the city by storm. In this battle again the French
had heavy losses in killed and wounded, besides some
2,500 unwounded prisoners taken by the victorious
Germans. The total loss suffered by the latter in
the two fights at Artenay and Orleans amounted to
60 officers and more than 1,200 men killed and
wounded. The French retreated to Bourges. Gambetta,
undismayed by losses and crosses, continued his
efforts to organize a new French army. He ap
pointed to the chief command General AureUe de
Paladines, one of the best and most meritorious officers
of the French service. Neither of these two truly
great men have as yet been treated with common
fairness by contemporary report. Impartial history
will in the end do justice to both of them, and
vindicate their well-earned fame to posterity.
General von der Tann was instructed from head
quarters to content himself with the position gained,
and not to carry operations beyond the Orleans line.
In the latter days of October and the beginning of
November it became clear that the new French army
of the Loire had assumed formidable proportions.
AureUe de Paladines determined to take the offensive
against the Germans in and about Orleans, and a
general move in advance was made by the French
on the 3rd and 4th of November.

254 Men who have made the
It was now reported to General von der Tann by
his scouts, that AureUe de Paladines was advancing
against him at the head of more than 60,000 men,
to whom he could at the most oppose some
28,000 effectives, as the 22nd infantry and a cavalry
division had meanwhile been withdrawn from his
command. The general resolved at once to recon
noitre the true position of affairs, and ascertain the
actual strength of the French opposed to him.
Leaving a regiment of infantry in garrison at
Orleans, he in the night of the 8th-9th of Novem
ber concentrated his forces at Coulmiers, awaiting
the French attack.
Coulmiers is a small place in the department of
the Loiret, circle of Orleans, from which city it is
some fifteen English mUes distant. Here Tann was
attacked in the morning of the 9th of November by
an overwhelming French force under Aurelle de
Paladines. After a most obstinate fight — in which
the French, according to their own account, suffered
a heavy loss of some 2,000 men killed and wounded,
whUst the Germans lost only 42 officers and some
700 men killed and wounded — General von der
Tann broke off the fight, and retreated in perfect order
to St. Pe"ravy, on the road from Orleans to Paris.
At noon he had withdrawn the small garrison from
Orleans. One thousand sick and wounded Germans
had to be left behind. The next day a small detach
ment of artillery ammunition reserve lost its way,

New German Empire. 255
and fell into the hands of the French, with two guns
without carriages. These were the only trophies the
French had to show of the hot fight of Coulmiers.
Tann effected his retreat with consummate skill.
Indeed, this retreat to St. Peravy and, the day after,
when the 22nd infantry division under Wittich had
again joined the Bavarians, to the safer position of
Toury, has been acknowledged by friend and foe alike
to deserve to rank with the highest strategic achieve
ments, and is of itself sufficient to mark General von
der Tann as one of the greatest military leaders of
the age.
The cavalry division commanded by Prince Albrecht
the elder (one of King William's brothers), coming up
from Chartres, also joined the Bavarian corps on the
10th of November, and the day after the Mecklenburg
division came up under the Grand Duke Frederick
Francis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a nephew of the
Prussian king, to whom the command over the
combined force was given — over the head of Von der
Tann, who, without a chance of contradiction, was
immeasurably and incomparably the greater mUitary
leader of the two. Moltke had taken care, however,
to limit his royal highness's power of command to
the mere empty title, the real leadership being vested
in General von Stosch, the chief of the grand duke's
staff, one of the most highly accomplished officers of
the Prussian service, who is now holding the important
position of First Lord of the Prussian Admiralty.

256 Men who have made the
Under these circumstances Tann might put up with
the slight apparently put upon him by placing a mere
grand duke in command over him ; and he nobly
did his duty in the new campaign, which was
victoriously opened at Dreux on the 1 7th of October,
just eight days after the affair at Coulmiers. He and
his Bavarians distinguished themselves more par
ticularly at Bazoches-les-Hautes on the 2nd of
December, at Orleans on the 3rd and 4th of
December, and at Beaugency on the 7th and 10th
of December.
At the end of December the 1st Bavarian corps
under Von der Tann rejoined the besieging army
around Paris, where it replaced the 2nd Prussian
corps, sent forward to the east, to join. Manteuffel's
forces intended to act against Bourbaki.
After the termination of the war, General von der
Tann shared in the glory of the solemn entry of the
German army into Berlin on the 16 th of June,
1871. A month after, on the 16th of July, he
commanded the Bavarian army on its triumphant
entry into Munich.
In the beginning of October, 1872, General von
der Tann was sent on an extraordinary mission to
Stockholm, to represent King Louis of Bavaria at the
funeral of King Charles XV. of Sweden, who had
died on the 17th of September, 1872.
General von der Tann, who has had a profusion of
military orders and decorations bestowed upon him

New German Empire. 257
by his own king and other rulers, continues still in
command of the 1st corps of the Bavarian army.
There is good reason to believe that it had been the
intention of the Emperor William to include the
names of Von der Tann and Hartmann in the list of
general officers upon whom monetary grants were to
be conferred, but that the emperor had to give up
this intention reluctantly, in deference to certain
objections urged against its execution by the King of
Bavaria. At least, so the writer of this memoir has
been informed.

VOL. II.

258 Men who have made the,

XVI.
GENERAL HARTMANN.
Jakob (James) Hartmann was born on the 4th of
May, 1795, at Maikammer, in the Palatinate. He
was a posthumous child. His adoptive father, the
French General Geither, provided for his education
at the French military schools of Bonn and St. Cyr.
In 1806, General Geither was charged by the
Emperor Napoleon with the organization of the
military forces of the newly-created Grand Duchy of
Berg, which the ruler of France had just then be
stowed upon his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat. The
general at once entered the name of the boy, who
was then only eleven years old, on the muster-roll
of the 1st regiment of the Grand Duchy of Berg as
volunteer, promoting him afterwards, whilst still re
maining at the schools of Bonn and St. Cyr, suc
cessively to the grades of corporal, sergeant, and
sub-lieutenant, until ultimately, in 1811, the lad, then
barely sixteen, joined the regiment in active service
as first lieutenant — a striking illustration of the power

New German Empire. 259
of patronage and the pernicious influence of favourit
ism in the much-vaunted military system of imperial
France and its dependencies. That the boy-lieutenant
in the end turned out an exceUent soldier and most
eminent commander in the field, was certainly no
merit of the system.
From 1811 to 1815, young Hartmann did faithful
service to the French empire. Upon the disarmament
of the military contingent of the Rhine Confederation,
he entered the 27th French infantry regiment. In
1814, he distinguished himself by a most cleverly-
devised, successful ambush, in which a detachment
of Cossacks advancing from Montargis upon Orleans
was caught. In 1815 he fought most bravely
at Planchenoit, in the great battle of Waterloo,
saving the eagle of his regiment from capture by
the advancing Prussians.
After the final overthrow of the empire, young
Hartmann, who, despite his French education, was
a most ardent lover of his native land, and had
continued to serve the emperor only from an over
powering sense of military loyalty, resigned his
commission in the French army in 1816. A few
months after, he obtained a Ueutenancy in the 10th
Bavarian infantry regiment. His sterling soldierly
qualities and brilliant mUitary acquirements soon
attracted the attention of his chiefs, so that he was
appointed in 1818 to a place in the Topographic
Bureau. After four years' arduous work in this most
s 2

260 Men who have made the

important department, he was transferred to the corps
of engineers; and two years after, in 1824,; he was
appointed on the general staff of the army.
In 1827 he was promoted to the rank of captain,
and attached to the Ministry of War as reporter to
the board of administration.
Having in the course of these first ten years of
his service repeatedly been charged with military
missions necessitating journeys to various parts of
Europe, and having also turned his occasional leaves
of absence to excellent account, by travelling about
in search of information upon subjects connected with
or bearing upon the art and science of war, Captain
Hartmann, though then only thirty-two years old,
enjoyed already the deserved reputation of being one
of the most solidly informed and most highly accom
plished German officers.
He had by no means confined himself to the
pursuit of military knowledge, but had assiduously
studied also many branches of science, and kindly
taken, besides, to the faithful cultivation of the fine
arts, more especially painting, in which he may
truly be said to have been as skUful and successful
an adept as the great Vogel von Falckenstein himself.
The writer of this memoir has seen some battle pieces
painted by General Hartmann, which convincingly
showed that the artist was just as expert in illus
trating episodes of war as the warrior was in taking
an active part in them.

New German Emj/ire. 261

In 1842 Captain Hartmann was promoted to the
rank of major, and appointed one of the Crown
Prince's adjutants by King Louis, by whom he was
held in the highest esteem both as an eminent artist
and a brilliant officer. His promotion had not been
very rapid, it will be seen. He had been sixteen years
a first-lieutenant and fifteen years a captain. But
from this time forward he ascended the rungs of the
military advancement ladder more rapidly, six years
sufficing to transform the simple major into a full
major-general and one of the chief aides-de-camp of
the king.
In 1846 he submitted to the Ministry of War an
excellent plan for the re-organization of the Bavarian
army, which was much lauded by the minister and
the military cabinet, but was only very partially
acted upon.
In 1853 he elaborated a new code of service regu
lations for the infantry — with somewhat similar
results, it would appear. The time for thorough
going reforms in the Bavarian service had not yet
come. The year after, in 1854, General Hartmann, who
had now for five years commanded a brigade, was
sent on a military mission to the Camp de Boulogne.
Here he turned his opportunities to the best account.
He carefully studied the organization and condition
of the French army, and took note of its glaring
defects and shortcomings. He also closely observed

262 Men who have m,ade the

the system of fortifications around Paris and all along
the eastern frontier of France.
The results of these studies and observations he
submitted, some six years after, in 1860, to the rulers
of the German states in a memoir treating exhaustively
of the military power, and the offensive and defensive
strength, of the French empire. There can be no
doubt that both Bismarck and Moltke, each in
his own special way, fully availed themselves subse
quently of the facts, hints, and inferences given in
this exceUent treatise.
In 1861 Hartmann attained the high rank of
lieutenant-general. In the war of 1866 he com
manded the 4th infantry division, and fought
brilliantly though not victoriously at Rossdorf. At
Kissingen he could do but little, owing to the gross
blundering and the glaringly faulty dispositions of
the incapable commander-in-chief of the Bavarian
army. In the final encounter at Wurzburg, on the
27th of July, he did his best at least to guard the
honour of the Bavarian arms.
With Hartmann's known patriotic German feelings,
he must have been heartUy glad of the termination of
this fratricidal war, into which Louis of Bavaria had
allowed himself to be dragged by the wretched set
of Ultramontanist and Particularist advisers who were
then exercising supreme sway over the land and the
king. The overthrow of this anti-national cabal by
the victories of Prussia must have proved a healing

New German Empire. 263
balm for his heart, so grievously struck and wounded
by the sad display of incapacity and folly in the
highest quarter of the army command.
In 1867 King Louis bestowed upon Lieutenant-
General Hartmann the proprietorship of the 14 th
infantry regiment, in acknowledgment of the great
services rendered by the general, more especially of
the briUiant bravery with which he had fought at
Rossdorf and Wurzburg.
Two years after, in 1869, the lieutenant-general
was finally raised to the full rank of general of
infantry, and appointed commander of the 2nd corps
of the Bavarian army.
When the war broke out in 1870 between France-
and Germany, both the corps of Hartmann and that
of Von der Tann were incorporated in the army
under the command of the Crown Prince of Prussia
— the so-called third army.
General Hartmann had now for the first time in
his military career in the German army the fullest op
portunity afforded him of giving practical proof of his
high tactical skiU in the field, in entire harmony with
his ardent patriotic German feelings ; and nObly and
grandly did he avaU himself of this opportunity. It
was he who contributed most largely and prominently
to the winning of the first great victory at Weissen
burg ; and again he who, by his skilful and energetic
attack upon the left French flank, initiated the still
neater victory of Worth, which he completed by

264 Men who have made the

the taking of Froschweiler, the railway station at
Reichshofen, and ultimately of Niederbronn.
On the 14th of August, 1870, he forced Marsal to
surrender. In the battle of the 1st of September, one
of the divisions under his command took the village
of Ballan, whilst the other was pushed forward to
the very foot of the glacis of the fortress, the artillery
of the corps assailing the citadel with a shower of
projectiles. To General Hartmann's share it fell to gain the
first successes before Paris, on the 16th, 17th, and
18th of September, at Corbeil and Petit-Bicetre.
On the 19th of September, the 2nd Bavarian corps
-joined the 5th Prussian corps in a most successful
attack upon General Vinoy's forces, posted on the
heights of Sceau. General Hartmann carried the plateau
Moulin de la Tour (Chatillon), which highly important
position, commanding the south forts, and, in a certain
measure, the city of Paris, the general set at once
to work to provide with the most effective defences
against all possible attacks on the part of the French.
These defences were completed in the briefest time,
and the 2nd Bavarian corps was thus placed in a
position to victoriously repulse all attacks made upon
the plateau from the forts, although throughout the
siege ship guns of the very heaviest calibre kept on
deluging the parts held by the Germans under Hart
mann in their entire length and breadth with a perfect
shower of the most destructive projectiles, and several

New German Empire. 265
desperate attempts were made by the French to force
the Germans from their post by the crushing weight
of overwhelming numbers. The formidable attack
made upon Clamart, in the night of 14th-15th
January, 1871, was one of the last of these attempts.
It failed like the rest.
After the termination of the war, General Hart
mann returned to his headquarters at Wurzburg.
King Louis bestowed upon him, as a signal mark of
his high appreciation of the most important services
rendered by the general in the campaign, tbe rare
distinction of the Grand Cross of the military Maxi
milian Joseph order, which had not been con
ferred on anyone since the days of the War of
Liberation. He also raised him to a free hereditary
barony. The cities of Speyer and Wurzburg were
proud to enrol him among their citizens. The
Emperor of the Germans and King of Prussia gave
him the orders of the Iron Cross of the first class
and the second class, and of the Crown with Swords.
So when the old general departed this life, on the
22nd of February, 1873, it might well be said of
him that he died full of years and honours.

266 Men who have made the

XVII.
GENERAL ALVENSLEBEN II.
As this general, by his prompt decision, energetic
action, and high tactical skill, contributed so largely
to the successful issue of the fierce battle of Mars-
la-Tour, a brief memoir of his career may not be
deemed out of place here.
Constantine von Alvensleben is descended from an
ancient noble family. He was born on the 26th of
August, 1809. Like many other scions of the Prussian
nobility, he received his education at the great Insti
tute of the Cadet Corps at Berlin. At the age of
eighteen he obtained his commission^ as second lieu
tenant. His promotion was rather slow, for he was
past forty-four before he attained the rank of major.
At the time of the Danish war in 1864, he had
reached the grade of colonel. In this war he dis
tinguished himself by his personal bravery and the
consummate skill with which he handled his regiment
in the various encounters with the Danes. After the
war he was made a major-general, and had the com-

New German Empire. 267

mand of a brigade of the guards given to him, at
the head of which he gained great distinction in
the Bohemian campaign of 1866, more particularly at
the battle of Koniggratz, where, after the fall of
General Hiller von Gartringen, he took the command
of the 1st division of the guards, left, unhappily,
vacant by the death of that heroic leader on the
battle-field. King William showed his due appreciation of the
eminent services rendered by Alvensleben, by raising
him to the rank of lieutenant-general, and bestowing
upon him the actual command of the 1st division
of the guards, whicli he had temporarily led at
Koniggratz. In 1870, when the war with France
broke out, and Prince Frederick Charles had intrusted
to him the lead of the so-called second army, Lieu-
tenant-General von Alvensleben was promoted to
replace the prince in the command of the 3rd corps
of the Prussian army.
It was in one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles
of the Franco- German war, at Mars-la-Tour, on the
16th of August, 1870, that General Alvensleben had
a glorious opportunity afforded him of showing his
high military qualities on a field which could not
possibly be more favourable for the display, and
most gloriously did he avail himself of this op
portunity. With his single corps (the 3rd) unsupported till
the battle was far advanced, he fought for hours

268 Men who have made the
against overwhelming French forces (the corps of
Decaen, Ladmirault, Frossard, Canrobert, and the
French imperial guard), holding his tenacious grasp
upon them until at length Prince Frederick Charles
could bring up part of the Sth, 9th, and 10th corps,
and, though still greatly inferior in numbers to the
French host, after twelve hours' incessant fighting
force the enemy back into Metz.
There was a most critical moment in this battle of
Mars-la-Tour, when Canrobert was on the point of
breaking through the feeble Prussian force which
was so desperately striving to hold him fixed to
the ground. He was just preparing to throw forward
the two corps which formed the centre of his army
at Vionville. Had he succeeded in accomplishing
this move, the French army of the Rhine might have
made good its escape from the meshes of the net
so skilfully thrown round it by Moltke's genius.
But General Alvensleben was equal to the occasion.
With marvellously prompt decision he resolved to
risk the total loss of two regiments of cavalry, by
hurling them against the French centre at Vionville
before Canrobert should be able to execute his pro
jected movement in advance.
Six squadrons of Prussian cavalry, three of the
1 6th Lancers, and three of the 7th Cuirassiers, were
selected by the general for the purpose. The lead
of the attacking force was intrusted to Count Schmet
tau, colonel of the 7th Cuirassiers, who threw his

New German Empire. 269

smaU force with a desperate dash upon the French
centre at Vionville, completely confusing Canrobert,
and effectually staying the intended advance until
the favourable moment for it had passed away. The
gallant Prussian cavalry got safely back afterwards
out of the seemingly inevitable jaws of death, albeit
with heavy loss of killed and wounded.
This magnificent tactical stroke fully deserves to
rank with those brilUant inspirations of genius by
which Claudius Nero snatched the assured victory
from great Hasdrubal in the decisive battle of the
Metaurus, and Kellerman turned the Austrian victory
at Marengo into a disastrous defeat.
At Gravelotte the 3rd corps, under Alvensleben,
formed the reserve along with the 1 Oth corps ; the
artiUery of the 3rd corps, and part of its infantry,
took an active share in the actual fight.
The 3rd corps joined subsequently in the siege of
Metz, where it participated in the repulse of
Bazaine's last attempt, of the 7th of October, 1870,
to break out of the iron circle thrown round his
army by the Germans. Later on the corps took an
effective part in the fights at Beaune-la-Rolande,
Chevilly and Chilliers-aux-Bois, Orleans, Vendomc,
&c, and finally in the crowning victory of Le
Mans. If the past may be looked upon as a pledge for
the future, there is certainly every reason to con
jecture that General von Alvensleben, who is only

270 Men who have made the
in his sixty-sixth year, may have a still more brilliant
career before him.

Here our list of commanders in the field must
end, although many other generals who have also
largely contributed to make the new German em
pire might fairly claim a place, — Prince Augustus
of Wurtemberg, for instance, the excellent com
mander of the Prussian guards, Generals Alvens
leben I., Blumenthal, Barnekow, Beyer, Bose,
Craushaar (who fell at St. Privat, on the 18th of
August, 1870), Degenfeld, Frangois (who fell at
Spicheren, on the 6th of August, 1870), Fransecky,
Gliimer, Goltz, Keller, Kirchbach, Kummer, Man
stein, Mutius (who died of cholera in 1866), Ober-
nitz, Rheinhaben, Schlotheim, Schmeling, Sperling,
Stiehle, Stosch, Treskow, Ttimpling, Voigts-Rhetz,
Waldersee, Wartensleben, Wedell, William of Baden,
Wittich, Zastrow, and a host of other leaders, the
briefest sketches of whose achievements would fill many
volumes, but whom we are compelled to pass over, as
we have barely left space sufficient for brief memoirs
of General Hindersin, the late chief of the Prussian
Board of Ordnance ; Heydt and Camphausen, the
two great financiers who found the nervus rerum
in 1866 and 1870; President Delbriick and Coun
cillor Lothar Bucher, and, lastly, Dreyse and Krupp,
of needle-gun and steel cannon fame ; and Grunberg,
the intelligent cook who concocted the pea sausage.

Neio German Empire. 271

XVIII.
GENERAL HINDERSIN.
In the memoir of Field-Marshal Roon it has been
explained at greater length how the new military
organization initiated and perfected by Scharnhorst
and Gneisenau, which had so successfully stood the
test of the great Liberation War, had in the course of
time grown antiquated and rusty, and must of neces
sity have proved a disastrous failure if tried when
no longer kept up by the burning patriotism and the
deep hatred of the foreign oppressor that had per
vaded the great citizen host throughout the campaigns
of 1813-15 ; and how the brilliant genius of Roon had
succeeded in converting this somewhat clumsy and
inefficient weapon into the exquisitely tempered arm
with which Bismarck and King William had wrested
supremacy in Germany from the strong and tenacious
grasp of Austria in 1866, and, some few years later,
supremacy in Europe from the proud hold of France.
But even with his brilliant genius and his immense
power of organization, Roon might have found

272 Men who have made the
success impracticable in the gigantic task undertaken
by him, had he not been most ably seconded by
many other men of his own high stamp of intellect.
Among his most efficient helpers we may cursorily
mention here the late Prince Adalbert of Prussia, the
chief creator of the infant navy of Germany, which
whenever the time for a first trial of its strength shall
come, is sure to prove itself an infant Hercules ; the
late Prince Albrecht of Prussia, brother of the emperor,
who has contributed most largely to ensure the marvel
lous efficiency of the Prussian cavalry in the field ;
Generals Etzel, Holleben, Kameke, Ollech, Peucker,
Podbielski, Wartenberg, and, more particularly, the
subject of this memoir, Hindersin, to whose high
capacity and patient perseverance the Prussian
artillery owes its actual vast superiority over any
other gunnery force on the continent of Europe.
Gustavus Edward Hindersin was the son of a
Lutheran clergyman, who held a small curacy at
Wernigerode, in the Harz district. Born on the 18th
of July, 1804, he was carefully educated by his father,
and embraced the military career at the early age of
sixteen, from natural predilection for the profession
of arms.
In October, 1820, he entered the 3rd artillery
brigade, then in garrison at Erfurt. The young
aspUant had to wait five years before he obtained
his first commission as second lieutenant. However,
his evident high capacity, sober and studious character,

New German Empire. 273
and solid acquirements soon attracted the attention
of his chiefs, and he was sent to the general War
School at Berlin, to complete his scientific military
education. After this he was ordered to join the topographic
section of the general staff of the army.
In 1841 he obtained his promotion to a first lieu
tenancy, and was appointed on the general staff. The
year after, in 1842, he was made a captain, and four
years later, in 1846, he was promoted to the rank
of major, and made chief of the topographic section.
In this position he remained till the summer of
1849, when he was ordered to join General Peucker's
combined German corps in the campaign against the
Baden insurgents, first as assistant-chief, soon after as
principal chief of the staff. He was present at the
encounters at Lautershausen and Ladenburg. During
the latter fight he had occasion to ascend the city
tower, to be better able to reconnoitre the forces of
the enemy. At this juncture the insurgents obtained
a temporary success, and Major Hindersin was cut
off before he could effect his retreat from his high
observatory. He was carried a prisoner to Rastatt,
but released soon after by his captors when the in
surrection had collapsed.
After the termination of the campaign, Major
Hindersin was appointed on the staff of the 6th
corps at Breslau. In 1850 he was entered as major
on the muster-roll of the 6th artillery regiment, and
vol. n. t

274 Men who have made the
four years after, in 1854, he was made lieutenant-
colonel and commander of the 2nd artillery regiment.
The same year he was promoted to the rank of full
colonel, and four years later, in 1858, he was made
major-general and inspector of the 3rd artillery
inspection. On the 18th of October, 1861, Hindersin was named
lieutenant-general by King William, and appointed
inspector of the 2nd artillery inspection at Berlin ;
also president of the board of examiners for first-
lieutenancy commissions in the artillery.
In the Danish war of 1864, General Hindersin
organized the engineer and artillery attacks upon the
works of Diippel, and the successful issue of the
operations, and of the final assault, delivered on the
18 th of April, was due in a great measure to his
skill and energy.
King William, wishing to bestow upon the general
a signal mark of his high appreciation of his long
and eminent services, raised him to the Prussian
peerage, and appointed him in December, 1864, first
and sole inspector-general of artillery, and curator of
the high school for artillerists and engineers.
General Hindersin entered now upon the most suc
cessful and productive period of his career. It is
not too much to say that he revolutionized the entire
Prussian gunnery system — nay, that he created anew
the Prussian artillery such as it is at the present day.
He organized the systematic artillery practice at

New German Empire. 275
Berlin. He directed and superintended with the
most anxious care the substitution of the most effi
cient rifled cannons for the much less perfect ordnance
of the past. He introduced the Kriegsspiel, or war
game, among the obligatory branches of the edu
cation of artillery officers, himself inventing a new
variation of the game as applied more especially to
sieges. He organized extensive exercises in siege
operations, and in the defence of fortresses. He in
sisted most strongly upon the tactical improvement
of the officers under his inspection, and never ceased
caUing their most serious attention to the high im-
portance of a proper comprehension and appreciation
of gunnery practice. He laid it down as an axiom
in artillery firing, that no shot should be thrown
away or fired at random.
When the war of 1866 broke out, the great reforms
carried out since then by General Hindersin were
still in the period of initiation ; besides, except per
haps at Koniggratz, the Prussian artillery had not a
fair opportunity afforded it in the Bohemian cam
paign to show what it might be able to do in case
of need . General Hindersin, however, attended the
king at the royal head-quarters from the beginning
of July to the end of the campaign. He was then
promoted to the rank of general of infantry.
In 1868 he was appointed a member of the land
defence commission. In September, 1869, King
William bestowed another signal mark of his high
T 2

276 Men who have made the
appreciation of Hindersin's eminent services upon the
general, by conferring upon him the chiefship of the
Pomeranian regiment of field artUlery No. 2.
In the war of 1870-71, General Hindersin attended
the king at royal head-quarters from first to last as
general-in-chief of the German artillery. He was
present at the battles of Gravelotte and Sedan, and
during the siege and bombardment of Paris, and
shared personally in the fights of la belle St. Cloud,
and beneath Mont Vale'rien.
On the 18th of July, 1871, General Hindersin
celebrated the jubilee of the fiftieth anniversary of
his entering the Prussian military service, having been
unable to do so on the proper day, the 18th of
October, 1870, on account of the war then waging.
It was a most glorious festival for the old man — his
majesty the emperor and king, the Crown Prince, and
the other princes of the imperial and royal house, the
German kings and princes, and the general's brothers-
in-arms eagerly vieing with each other to pour their
sincerest congratulations and best gifts and wishes
upon him. Six months and eight days after, on
the 25th of January, 1872, he departed this life,
universally regretted, more especially by his "chU
dren," as he used to affectionately call the officers, non
commissioned officers, and men of the artiUery force,
which owes its actual high efficiency chiefly to his
solicitous care.

New German Empire. 277

THE MONEY MARSHALS.
The great Baymond Montecuculi, one of the most
distinguished Austrian commanders of the seventeenth
century, the worthy rival and competitor of Turenne
and Conde, in his famous work on the art and science
of war (published first in the original Italian by Ugo
Foscolo, in 1807, at Milan, and subsequently once
more by Grassi, in 1821, at Turin), lays it down as a
leading axiom, that he who would indulge in the en
ticing but perilous pursuit of armed strife should, first
and foremost, make ample provision of three things
— money, to wit, in the first place ; money, again,
in the second place ; and MONEY, finaUy, in the
third place. Long ere the brilliant Modenese had
penned this sage maxim, its truth had been prac
tically Ulustrated many and many times by the
experience of all preceding ages.
Now, as the chief part of Bismarck's perilous
venture for the Imperial German Unity Stakes had

278 Men who have made the
to be played on the battle-field, the two eminent
men to whom the guidance of the financial depart
ment of the state was intrusted in these critical times
may well and deservedly claim a niche in this Wal-
halla of German worthies.

XIX.
HEYDT.
" Der's vacuum maxime deflendum, die horrible Leere,
Den thalerlosen Abgrund, von Bodelschwingh ihm hinterlassen,
So wunderbarlicli ausgefiillt ; zu seines Namens ew'ger Ehre
Heydtmassig viel des Gelds geschafffc in die geleerten Kassen."
(Which may be brierly paraphrased, in vernacular prose un
adorned : — He who so wondrously filled up the deplorable
vacuum, the horrible hollow, the dollarless abyss, left him
by Bodelschwingh ; and, to his name's undying honour, made
a rich Pactolean stream flow into the empty treasury.)
Augustus von der Heydt was born on the 15th
of February, 1801, at Elberfeld, where his father
was chief of one of the leading banking establish
ments of Rhineland- Westphalia. Brought up almost
from infancy to mercantile pursuits, he from an
early age displayed signs of the marvellous aptitude
for business that distinguished him through life.
After finishing his commercial education in Germany,
he worked a few years as clerk and correspondent

New German Empire. 279

in several leading houses of commerce and finance in
France and in England.
Having passed through this excellent practical
school, he, in conjunction with his brothers Charles
and William, entered upon the management of the
parental banking house in Elberfeld.
He was still a very young man at the time, but
his manifest sound practical sense, and his eminent
capacity for active work, soon drew upon him the
attention of his fellow-citizens, who elected him a
member of the municipal council of Elberfeld, at
an age when most young men of wealth and sta
tion would barely think of extending the display
of their gifts beyond the social circle and the ball
room. He at once became one of the most active
and painstaking members of the corporation, and
strove from the very commencement of his municipal
career to fulfil his civic duties to the best of his trans
cendent ability. Heydt was truly a great citizen in
the fullest sense of the term.
He took a leading share in every measure of public
improvement. The admirable system of administer
ing to the wants of the indigent, which makes the
Elberfeld poor-law regulations the marvel and model
of all communities with philanthropic aspirations,
owes its origin and elaboration chiefly to him.
He had only just attained the legal age for the
office when he was elected one of the judges of the
Tribunal of Commerce of Elberfeld, and soon after,

280 Men who have made the
he was raised to the presidential chair of the Court,
which he occupied uninterruptedly for many a long
year, it may fairly be said, with the universal appro
bation of all who had occasion to have recourse to
that high tribunal.
In 1841 he was elected to represent his native
city at the Rhenan Provincial Diet; and in 1842
he attended the sittings of the United Committees
of the collective Prussian Estates at Berlin. He was
sent also to the United Provincial Diet of 1847.
Here he was one of the most active members. He
warmly advocated the conversion of the old cum
brous Provincial Estates into a real constitutional
representation of the whole land.
When 1848 came, with its violent commotions and
perturbations, Heydt, with his excellent sense, foresaw
at once the lame and impotent conclusion to which
the ill-considered, extravagant, revolutionary projects
and aspirations of that tempestuous period were
inevitably tending. So he resolved to have naught
to do with the political movement of the time, and
accordingly declined to accept the mandate of deputy
tendered to him, to represent Elberfeld at the National
Assemblies of Frankfort-on-the-Main and Berlin. He
also declined the seat proffered him in the Prussian
Cabinet by the Pfuel-Eichmann administration. He
knew that the time had not yet come for useful
collaboration in the regeneration of Prussia.
It was only after the translocation of the van-

New German Empire. 281
quished assembly from Berlin to Brandenburg that
he could be prevailed upon to accept the proffered
mandate. On the 4th day of December, 1848, the
day of the dissolution of the Prussian National
Assembly, he accepted the office of President of the
Board of Trade and Public Works in the Branden-
burg-Manteuffel cabinet.
In this capacity he brought his rare energy and
great talents to bear upon the arduous task before him,
and rendered the most eminent services to the govern
ment and the country. In 1851 he accepted also
the chairmanship of the Bank of Prussia, to the
manifest advantage of that great institution.
Upon the retirement of the Manteuffel cabinet,
on the 6th of November, 1858, Heydt retained his
old office in the new Hohenzollern ministry, and
subsequently in the Auerswald-Schwerin adminis
tration, until the 18th of March, 1862, when the
Liberal cabinet resigned, in consequence of Hagen's
motion to have a specified budget submitted to the
House being carried.
Hohenlohe-Itzenplitz, who succeeded, offered Heydt
the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, which he
accepted. This was, unhappily, the time when the
conflict between parliament and crown anent Roon's
military reorganization plan was raging most fiercely.
Heydt, who, though with preponderating Con
servative leanings, had still a considerable admix
ture of constitutional Liberalism in the composition

282 Men who have made the

of his political character, strove hard to steer a
middle course between the two opposing currents.
He wrote a letter to Roon, then Minister of War,
in which he endeavoured to persuade his colleague
to drop the proposed additions to the taxes, and
consent to economise in the budget of the Ministry
of War instead. This letter somehow found
its way into publicity, most likely through Heydt's
own instrumentality. But it failed in its evident
purpose to conciliate the Liberal majority of the
chamber. Heydt's offer to submit a specified budget to the
House, in conformity with Hagen's motion, proved
equally unsuccessful, and the attempted conversion
of the i\ per cent, loans of 1850 and 1851 into
4 per cent, consols gave also a negative result.
To fill up the measure of Heydt's failures and
disappointments at this critical juncture, the king
turned a deaf ear to the counsels of concession and
conciliation tendered him by his Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Thus foiled at all points, the unlucky Minister
of Finance took the pretext of Bismarck's appoint
ment to the Premiership, on the 23rd of September,
1862, to tender his resignation to the king, which
his majesty was pleased to accept, graciously bestow
ing upon the retiring minister an hereditary peerage
as a mark of his royal favour.
Baron von der Heydt took his seat on the Con-

New German Empire. 283
servative benches, and voted with the government on
most questions.
At the end of May, 1866, when war with Austria and
her German abettors had clearly become inevitable,
and Bodelschwingh, Heydt's successor, who had held
the Chancellorship of the Exchequer since the 1st
of October, 1862, had the cool assurance to drily
inform his majesty the. king that there was not
a thaler in the treasury to defray the expenses of
the intended war, Bismarck, who has always shown
a singular aptitude in choosing the fittest instruments
for his work, advised the king to send for Baron
von der Heydt, who was thus once more made
Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the 2nd of June,
1866. He had a most difficult task before him. Money
must be had for the impending war, yet a loan was
clearly out of the question, considering the hostile
feelings of the majority of the Prussian Commons.
Von der Heydt was equal to the task. By the
judicious sale and transfer of certain railways belong
ing to the state, he obtained funds sufficient to defray
the heavy expenses of the war ; and, by a wise ad
ministration of the resources of the country, he
succeeded in rescuing the Prussian exchequer from
the slough of despond into which the incapable
feudalist and Austrophile Bodelschwingh had plunged
it de gaiete" de cceur.
Indeed, so thoroughly did the new Chancellor of the

284 Men who have made ihe
Exchequer succeed, that he could appear on the 5th
of August, 1866, before the Chambers with a highly
satisfactory budget for 1867, which showed the
finances of the country to be in a most brilliant and
truly healthy condition, unexampled in the history of
the Prussian exchequer, not only providing amply for
all current wants, but even enabling the minister to
gratify many legitimate wishes which, up to this, had
had to be ignored of necessity for lack of means.
Tt was at this time also that Von der Heydt
rendered a most signal service to the cause of con
stitutional liberty in Prussia, by standing manfully
by Bismarck in the hard fight waged by the great
man with the reactionary majority in the cabinet and
the stiff-necked old king to force their reluctant con
sent to acknowledge that the king's government had,
since 1862, violated the constitution, albeit in the true
interests of the country, and that the only proper and
constitutional way to purge this infraction of the
great fundamental law of the land was to ask the
representatives of the people to grant a bill of
indemnity for the past.
The biU of indemnity, drawn up by Von der
Heydt, was granted by the Commons, and thus a
happy end was put at last to the lamentable conflict
which had for years divided the government and the
country into two hostile camps.
The House, thus judiciously put into the very best
and most yielding humour, granted the Chancellor of

New German Empire. 285
the Exchequer all he wanted to carry on his majesty's
government — to wit, a vote of 9,000,000/, for the
extraordinary army and navy budget, and the
creation of the state treasure upon a new legal basis.
From 1866 to 1869, Von der Heydt remained at
the head of the Prussian exchequer, the king re
peatedly declining to accept the resignation tendered
by the baron on account of his fading health.
But it was not alone that the Prussian Finance
Minister's health was giving way — the condition of
the country also had been changing for the worse.
Trade and commerce were beginning to show alarming
signs of stagnation ; several bad harvests in succession
had interfered sadly with the prosperity of the land.
The incorporation of the new provinces was necessarily
attended with financial embarrassments and difficul
ties, which seemed to require a more vigorous hand to
effectively deal with them than that of an old man
close upon seventy, and in indifferent health.
So it came to pass that the budget for 1870
showed a deficit of some £800,000 upon the finan
cial year, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
proposed to cover by additions to the direct taxes ;
and this the Prussian Commons were not disposed
to grant.
Von der Heydt, feeling his absolute inability to
grapple with the difficulties of his position, tendered
his resignation once more to the king, who was at
last graciously pleased to accept it, bestowing upon

286 Men who have made the
the retiring statesman the rare distinction of the
Order of the Black Eagle as a most signal mark of
the royal appreciation of his eminent services.
Baron Von der Heydt died last June in Berlin,
leaving an immense fortune to his family, and
several large bequests for charitable and philanthropic
purposes. It may not be altogether out of place here to men
tion that Von der Heydt was for many years a leading
member of the board of directors of the principal
Rhenan railways, which may be truly said to owe
their actual prosperity, in a very great measure at
least, to his wise, skilful, and energetic management
of their affairs.
XX.
CAMPHAUSEN.
" Wie er, verstand's wohl je ein Finanzier so gut,
Den Manco umzuwandeln in den Ueberfluss ;
Der Kasse seichte Ebbe in die hohe Fluth,
Das schlimme Deficit in schb'nen Ueberschuss 1 "
(Did ever financier know so well as he how to convert lack into
abundance, the exchequer's dry ebb into a rich high tide of
cash, the sad deficit into a handsome surplus 1)
In 1866 Von der Heydt had boldly taken the
helm of the tempest-tossed financial state bark, and
steered it brilliantly through the storms and rocks
and shoals and quicksands of these most critical

New German Empire. 287

times to the secure harbour of success. But ad
vancing age and infirmities had since then somewhat
dimmed the clear sight of the experienced old
helmsman, and his hand retained no longer the
same firm grasp upon the tiller as of old.
But as has always been Prussia's good fortune,
uno avulso, non deficit alter. At the perilous junc
ture, in the fall of the year 1869, another still
greater financier was ready to take the helm of the
exchequer from Heydt's relaxing grasp.
Otto von Camphausen was born on the 21st of
October, 1812, at Hunshoven, in the district of Aix-
la Chapelle. As his family ranked among the
wealthiest people in Rhineland, he could follow the
bent of. his own inclination in the choice of his
future career in life. Two elder brothers of his
having taken to mercantile and financial pursuits,
and founded in 1825 a great banking business at
Cologne, under the style of A. and L. Camp
hausen, young Otto elected to devote himself to the
study of law and of political economy in all its
branches, extending his course of reading also to
history, philosophy, and art.
Although the great wealth of his family might
have exempted him from all thought of ever having
to turn his university pursuit to practical account
for getting a living, he worked at his studies even
harder than many of the poorest students. The result
was that he passed a most brilliant examination.

288 Men who have made the
He made it speedily manifest also that he purposed
to devote the exercise of his talents to the service
of his country. Soon after passing his examina
tion, in the autumn of 1834, he took his station
on the lowest rung of the bureaucratic ladder in
the general government department of the state
at Cologne, where he remained about three years.
His brother Ludolf, his senior by nearly ten
years, one of the chief partners in the great bank
ing house of A. and L. Camphausen at Cologne,
induced Otto to turn his special attention to the
serious consideration of questions connected with
trade, commerce, and industry.
In 1837 young Otto Camphausen was transferred
to Magdeburg, where he remained nearly three years
in the capacity of assessor. He then entered the
Ministry of Finance for a short time, as assistant in
the treasury department. In December, 1840, he was
sent to the government board at Coblenz, whence
he was in February, 1842, transferred to Treves.
In 1844, he was raised to the rank of councillor, and
attached to the Ministry of Finance at BerUn. The
year after, in 1845, at the early age of thirty-three, he
was made Privy Councillor of Finance.
As he showed himself gifted with remarkably quick
comprehension of the most difficult and knotty
questions in the domain of political economy, and
with equally remarkable power of lucid exposition,
the draft of the important law respecting the in-

New German Empire. 289

troduction of an income tax into the Prussian mon
archy was confided to his care. Both the project of
law submitted by him to the first united Prussian
Diet of 1847, and the explanatory and elucidatory
memoir accompanying the draft, were perfect models
of clearness.
In 1848 his elder brother, Ludolf Camphausen,
stepped suddenly, per saltum, from his banker's desk
¦at Cologne to the presidential chair of the Ministry
of State at Berlin, being called by King Frederick
William IV. to succeed Count Arnim-Boitzenburg as
prime minister, on the 29 th of March. Ludolf
availed himself largely of his younger brother's
splendid business talents, and the two might, indeed,
have succeeded at the time in tiding over this
• most critical epoch in the constitutional history of
the land, had they not had to encounter the deep
insincerity of the monarch on the one side, and the
(very excusable) profound distrust of the Badical
and Progressist majority of the Assembly on the
other side.
Both Ludolf and Otto Camphausen were moderate
Liberals — too honestly Liberal to suit the views of the
king and of the reactionary feudalist clique around him,
and too honestly Conservative for the impatience of
the men of progress. Less than three short months
sufficed to convince Ludolf Camphausen of this fact,
and already on the 20th of June he tendered his
resignation to the king.
vol. n. u

290 Men who have made the
One month after, at the end of July, 1848, Ludolf
Camphausen wsls sent as Prussian representative to
the new German central power at Frankfort-on-the-
Main. Here he remained till April, 1849, when
he finaUy resigned, and went back to his banking
business at Cologne, a wiser and a sadder man,
thoroughly disenchanted of the alluring illusions of
power and office.
Otto Camphausen was a member of the Second
Prussian Chamber from 1849 to 1852. He was also
elected to the Erfurt Parliament in 1850. He dis
tinguished himself greatly as reporter on financial
and politico-economical questions. A moderate Liberal
in politics, he kept also in his views and opinions on
trade and commerce the right middle between the
two extremes of prohibitive protection and absolute
and unrestricted free trade.
In 1854 Otto Camphausen exchanged the active
state service for the quasi-independent, highly im
portant, and influential position of president of the
Seehandlung, or institute of maritime commerce, in
which he succeeded Baron Bother, late minister of
state. A bachelor, and possessor of a very large private
fortune, not to mention the rich emoluments of his
high office, President Camphausen could now freely
indulge in the gratification of his social and artistic
tastes, and also in the exercise of a wise and
truly benevolent philanthropy, devoting large sums

New German Empire. 291
annually to the encouragement of literature and art,
and to the support of charitable institutions.
But in the fall of 1869 he had to quit this happy,
easy life at the call of duty. The Chancellor of* the
Exchequer, Baron von der Heydt, had failed to
grapple successfully with the financial embarrass
ments of the state treasury, and had thereupon ten
dered his resignation. Bismarck asked Camphausen
to take the vacant seat in the Prussian cabinet.
A few days after his installation in office, the new
Chancellor of the Exchequer appeared before the
Second Chamber with the welcome announcement
that he withdrew his predecessor's proposal of an
increase of the direct taxes, deeming it the more
expedient course to cover the deficit of £800,000
out of the fund annually devoted to the reduction
of the national debt.
' He made a provisional declaration on this occasion,
that, in his opinion, a wise financial policy should
strive to give the government of the state a wider
latitude of action in its measures and operations
for the reduction of the national debt. He could
not see the wisdom of paying off annually some
£1,200,000 to £1,500,000, at the very time when
the necessities of the state might actually require the
raising of new loans, most likely upon more onerous
terms than those of the existing old debt. The
state should, on the contrary, have the free choice
of devoting in good years larger, in bad years smaller
u 2

292 Men who have made the
sums, even down to nothing, to the reduction of the
debt. The rights and privileges of the state creditors
need not be infringed upon in this proceeding.
A few days after, at the sitting of the 4th of Novem
ber, 1869, the minister further illustrated .his views
upon this highly important question. He explained
how the creditors of the state might, by the offer
of a premium, be easily prevailed upon to consent
to the conversion of the whole of the old 4-| per cent.
and 4 per cent, state debt of the old provinces of
Prussia into a consolidated funded debt paying
the holders 4^ per cent, interest per annum. This
would leave the state at full liberty to devote
any available funds to the purchase of consols,
thereby reducing the national debt in the simplest
manner, whilst it would free the government from
the onerous obligation of paying back a stipulated
fixed sum every year. In this sense Camphausen
drew up a series of resolutions, which the Parliament
subsequently adopted. So soon as he had thus
freedom of action given him, he set vigorously and
skilfully to work, and speedily effected the proposed
conversion and funding of the debt with brilliant
success. Camphausen's administration of the finances of
the country was equally successful in all other
respects. In the most important question of the
revenue, the Prussian Chancellor of the Exchequer
advocates the healthy development of the system

New German Empire. 293
of indirect taxation, and he is the most uncom
promising opponent of all attacks levelled against
the fundamental principles of that system.
He is also an advocate of a moderate increase of
the tax upon coffee and similar articles of con
sumption which cannot properly be regarded in
the light of indispensable necessaries of life. On
the other hand he would free all raw materials, &c,
required for the purposes of industry as much as
possible from the trammels of taxation.
Camphausen's management of the Prussian ex
chequer has been most brilliantly successful ever
since he came into office. In 1870, more especially,
he repeated, more grandly still, Heydt's great
achievement of 1866, by his financial skill and
wise statesmanship enabling the treasury to bear
without embarrassment the immense burden of the
war. Since then he has made his appearance before
the Prussian Parliament year after year with a
glorious budget showing a large surplus, in lieu
of the sad deficits of old. A1-.' "a •-¦-.-. <v •; v.*"'. A 'Aa
Camphausen is also one of the leading Prussian
members of the German Federal Council, and Vice-
President of the Prussian ministry, and he may be
said to be practically one of the Vice-Chancellors
of the German empire, Delbruck being the other. As
a signal mark of his high consideration, the emperor
has bestowed upon him the Order of the Red Eagle
of the first class.

294 Men ivho have made the

BISMARCK'S STAFF.
In his titanic task of reconstructing the political system
of Prussia and Germany — and of Europe — Bismarck
has been most efficiently seconded throughout by a body
of able men, such as it has perhaps never before in
the world's history been the good fortune of empire
or kingdom to possess for state servants, conjointly at
one and the same period of time.
Among the most eminent of this body, which may
truly be called the staff of the great leader Bismarck,
rank Biilow, Thile, Abeken, iEgidi, the two Philips-
borns, Keudell, Hatzfeld, Michaelis, and, most es
pecially, Delbruck and Lothar Bucher. AU these
and many more of the same exalted order of inteUect
have largely shared in the making of the new German
empire. Brief memoirs of the two last named, by
way of general illustration of the class, may there
fore well be permitted to find a small corner here.

New German Empire. 295

XXI.
PRESIDENT DELBRUCK.
"Des inneren Gefiiges Boon,
Ein treuer, starker Arbeitsheld,
Ob auch von seinern stillen Thun
Man wenig hb'rt nur in der Welt.''
(Which may be briefly paraphrased : — The " Boon " of the em
pire's inner structure ; a valiant, indefatigable worker, albeit
the trumpet of fame may not loudly sound the praises of his
silent achievements.)
Martin Frederick Budolf Delbrijck;, now Prussian
minister of state, and President of the German
Imperial Chancellery Office, was born in Berlin in
1817. His father, John Frederick Gottlob (i.e.
Praise God) Delbruck, who died in 1830, at Zeitz,
as pastor and superintendent, had been for nine years,
from 1800 to 1809, tutor to the two eldest princes
of the royal house ' of ' Prussia, the Crown Prince,
afterwards King Frederick William IV, and Prince
William, the present German emperor. The two
princes always bore their first teacher in grateful
remembrance, bestowing many signal favours upon
the son.
Young Delbruck lost his mother when he was
barely six, and his father when he had only just
attained the age of thirteen. Fortunately, Pastor

296 Men who have made the
Delbruck, ere he died, had himself thoroughly
grounded his son in all the branches of a sound
practical preparatory education, so that the boy of
thirteen was a marvel of solid learning and extensive
knowledge. After attending the excellent gymnasium of Halle
for about three years longer, young Delbruck, at the
exceptionally early age of scarce sixteen, entered upon
the study of law and political economy, first at Bonn,
then at Gottingen, and lastly at Berlin, where he also
served his year as a volunteer in the army, along
with his most intimate friend, young Philipsborn,
who was afterwards for many years Postmaster
General of Prussia, until he was at length succeeded,
some four years ago, by Stephan, the actual Post
master-General of the German empire.
At the age of twenty, Delbruck passed his first
law examination, when he was attached as auscultator
(the initiatory step on the law-ladder in the Prussian
state service) to the county and city court of Halle.
Two years after, in 1839, he was transferred to the
administrative branch, and sent to Merseburg, where
he remained two years, working his hardest to acquire
a thorough practical mastery of the business and
routine in every department of the administration
accessible to the ardent young official, and adding
largely to his store of political, economic, and
financial knowledge.
One of the most gratifying results of his ardent

New German Empire. 297
and intelligent labour at this important period of his
life was that, when he presented himself, in 1842, to
pass the second, higher state examination, he both
surprised and enchanted his examiners, as much by
his manifest sagacity and penetration, as by the
extent and soundness of his lore, more especially in
the vast domain of political economy.
The first consequence of his brilliant success was
his immediate transfer from his subordinate position
at Merseburg to a much more important office in
the general revenue department of the Ministry of
Finance at Berlin. Here he had the good fortune
to find himself placed under the immediate guidance
and tuition of one of the soundest administrative
officials in the Prussian service, Privy-Councillor
Kiihne, whom he took for his model in his own
official career.
A year after, in 1843, Delbriick was promoted to a
higher position in another branch of the exchequer —
the section for trade and commerce, to wit— which
was then presided over by Privy- Councillor Beuth,
another great administrator of the time, and the actual
founder of the commercial policy of Prussia. Beuth
was a man of singularly wide, liberal, and advanced
views in political economy, who, although himself too
much trammelled and confined then by the old pig-
taU element rampant under the feeble-minded King
Frederick William IV. to give full practical expres
sion and effect to his own enlightened conceptions,

298 Men who have made the
yet did implant in the mind of his favourite pupil and
follower, Delbruck, the seed which has borne such
excellent fruit since, in giving freedom of expansion
and motion to trade and industry in Germany.
In 1844 Delbruck was transferred to the new Board
of Trade, then first constituted in Prussia under the
direction of Privy-Counciller Ronne, another man of
liberal views and high administrative capacity.
Four years after, in March, 1848, Delbruck, though
only thirty-one years old then, was appointed a
ministerial director in the Camphausen ministry, and,
after the retirement of the latter, chief of the newly-
created Ministry of Commerce, with the rank and title
of an actual privy superior councillor of government —
a splendid position to be achieved by one compara
tively so young, and after only eleven years of office,
and certainly one of the rarest instances on record of
most exceptionally rapid promotion in the Prussian
state service.
Although still sadly fettered and restrained in his
freedom of action by the unpropitious conditions of
the heavy times through which Prussia was then
passing, Delbruck, in his new, comparatively inde
pendent, and highly influential position, strove, not
withstanding, to the best of his ability and power, and
with marked success, to give to the commercial policy
of Prussia, confided to his guidance, the impulse of
his own enlightened views and liberal aspirations.
In 1851 the clouds of a great peril were gathering

New German Empire. 299
over Prussia. Austria, not satisfied with having im
posed upon her hated rival the moral degradation of
Olmutz, sought also to inflict upon the Prussian
exchequer a heavy material loss.
The Austrian minister, Brack, suddenly proposed
the accession of the entire Austrian monarchy to the
German Customs Union (Zollverein), of which Prussia
was the ostensible head and leader. Now, the Austrian
crown lands might safely be calculated to consume a
very small proportion only of goods liable to duty,
whilst the total proceeds of the duties raised in all
the lands of the Union were, according to this pretty
Austrian scheme, to be distributed among the
members of the Union in proportion to the number
of inhabitants in the several countries — which of
course would give Austria just the one clear half of
the total revenue !
Even leaving out of consideration the enormous
accession of political power Austria must necessarily
derive from being placed at the head of a customs
association numbering some 70,000,000 souls, it was
not likely that Prussia, even under the baneful
influences then swaying her destiny, should consent
to submit quietly to the heavy sacrifice of money
involved in the proposal.
So Delbruck found it comparatively easy to decline
the proferred honour of Austria's accession to the
Zollverein. And, most likely, Brack had never even
dreamt of a possible success of his arrogant scheme

300 Men who have made the

but had simply put it forward by way of intro
duction to a much more insidious and dangerous
proposal which followed soon after — the offer, to wit,
of a treaty of commerce with Prussia and the
Zollverein. The offer was clogged simply with the
trifling proviso that the Zollverein should renounce
the right of making alterations in the tariff without
the express consent and sanction of Austria !
As the South German states of the Zollverein had
been gained over to Austria's views, Delbruck found
himself placed in a most ticklish position. However,
he skilfully temporized to gain a little time, which
he turned to the best account by opening secret
negotiations with the Steuerverein, a Customs Union
then existing between Hanover, Oldenburg, and Lippe,
which lay just like a wedge between the eastern and
western provinces of Prussia.
His untiring energy and consummate skill carried
the day, and in September, 1851, Hanover, Olden
burg, and Lippe acceded to the Prussian ZoUverein.
The territorial extension of the Union thus gained in
the north left it no longer a matter of primary and
paramount importance to retain the South German
states d tout prix, and Prussia saw herself accord
ingly placed in a position to leave to the recalcitrants
the alternative of consenting to the renewal of the
treaty with her, or submitting to be cut off entirely
from the sea-shore.
They preferred, of course, to do the former, and

New German Empire. 301
Delbruck had the satisfaetion of concluding at Berlin,
on the 4th of April, 1853, a new treaty for twelve
years embracing all the states of the Union.
Soon after this great achievement, Delbruck, moving
resolutely onward in the path of commercial reform
and progress, concluded a treaty of commerce with
France, which placed the Zollverein on the same trade
footing in that country as England and Belgium.
In 1862 the renewed machinations and intrigues
of Austria again gravely imperilled the continued
existence of the Prussian Zollverein.
On the 29th of March of that year Delbruck had
signed the draft of a new commercial treaty with
France, and Austria was now using her most malig
nant efforts to procure the rejection of this treaty
by the South German states, and the ultimate
secession of the latter from the Prussian Customs
Union. Misled by Austria's evil counsels, and mis
guided in a great measure by their blind political
enmity to the great'' North' ""German kingdom, the
South German states showed themselves more than
half disposed to break up the Union, to the sacrifice
even of their own interests.
But Delbruck, finding himself now most efficiently
supported and upheld in his commercial policy by the
new Prussian premier, Bismarck, who had definitively
taken the helm of the state on the 9th of October,
1862, battled vigorously and victoriously against the
crafty machinations of Austria, and the patent ill-will

302 Men ivho have made the
of the South German states. In his efforts to over
come the malevolent opposition of these latter, he
received most valuable aid at the hands of the late
King John of Saxony, who, disregarding alike the
solicitations and promptings of the pro-Austrian
court and camarilla petticoat clique around him, and
the wily counsels of Beust, declared for the renewal of
the Prussian Customs Union and the ratification of
the new Franco-Prussian treaty of commerce.
So Delbruck in the end victoriously overcame all
obstacles thrown in the way of the ratification of the
treaty by all the states of the Union, which was ac
complished on the 12th of October, 1864.
In the course of the same year he negotiated a
treaty of commerce with Austria, and three years
later, after successful negotiations with England and
Belgium, he concluded a treaty of commerce with
Italy, on the 31st of August, 1865.
But, whilst thus brilUantly successful in his efforts
to consolidate the Zollverein, and to improve its
external relations, Delbruck found that he could
make but scant progress in another at least equally
important direction — to wit, the improvement of the
inner rules and regulations, and the tariff arrange
ments of the Union, as he had constantly and in
variably to meet on this field the most stubborn
opposition on the part of the ministers of the several
governments constituting the Union, who were full
of individual whims and prejudices in commercial

New German Empire. 303

and financial matters and politico-economic questions,
and most uncompromising and unyielding in the
assertion of their own opinions.
However, when the great events of 1866 had in
calculably increased the power and influence of
Prussia, Delbruck at once seized the favourable
opportunity to strengthen his own hands in the coun
cils of the Union, by proposing to summon a Customs
Parliament, to give the people in the several states
an equal share with their governments in the
deliberations and resolutions of the general council.
Delbriick's demand was acceded to by the other
members of the Union, and a new treaty] was con
cluded at Berlin on the Sth of July, 1867, which
vested the direction of the affairs of the Zollverein
jointly in the Customs Federal Council and the
Customs Parliament.
The beneficial results of this great step in advance
soon became manifest in more than one direction.
Delbruck, powerfully supported now by the Cus
toms Parliament, naturally so much better able than
a conclave of narrow- viewed, prejudiced officials could
possibly be expected to be to justly appreciate the
practical chief's wise measures, found it no longer
impracticable to give the fullest effect to his own
enlightened views and aspirations.
On the 11th of August, 1867, Delbruck was named
President of the Chancellery Office of the North Ger
man Confederation. This office was created to conduct

304 Men who have made the
the affairs of the new North German Confederation
under the supreme guidance of the Federal chancellor,
who took upon himself the sole and undivided
responsibility of the office.
Bismarck, who has barely ever yet blundered in
the choice of the fittest instruments for his purpose
(not even excepting Arnim, who, moreover, was not
his own uncontrolled choice), hit upon Delbruck as
the best man for the new office, and the event
has since amply proved the sagacity of the selec
tion. Delbriick's advanced Liberal views on political
and economic questions, his enlightened mind and
clear, practical intellect, his vast knowledge and
extensive acquirements, his immense business ca
pacity and marvellous power of working, found the
freest scope now for the most beneficial exercise.
Delbruck, in his capacity as Chief of the Federal
Chancellery, had to act also as the representative of
the chanceUor at the Diet and in the ministerial
cabinet, and in the discussion and determination of
all questions relating to the chancellor's German
policy and the promotion of the chanceUor's own
views. Indeed, President Delbruck, who was named
also Prussian minister of state, to enable him to
maintain undisturbed the indispensable harmonious
action between the Federal and the Prussian govern
ment, might well be called Bismarck's own special
minister. In this highly important position, Delbruck

New German Empire. 305
speedily found the welcome opportunity also of dis
playing another of his great statesmanlike qualities ;
he revealed himself as an accomplished parliamentary
speaker and excellent debater. There is no dazzling
ornamentation, no filagree work, about his speeches
in Parliament ; they always go straight to the point,
as they are succinct, clear expositions of what the
speaker has to say and intends to convey to the
hearer's mind and understanding.
Among Delbriick's most brilliant oratorical suc
cesses may be mentioned, more particularly, the great
speech delivered by him on the 5th of December,
1870, in which he reported on the treaties concerning
the accession of the South German states to the
Federation, lucidly explaining the origin and nature
of these treaties, and expressing his fervent hope to
see accomplished at length the political union of the
great German Fatherland.
Upon the establishment of the new German empire,
Delbruck at once assumed the function of President
of the new Imperial Chancellery office, which he
retains to the present day.
When, in the spring of 1871, the great dotation
question was submitted to the new German Parliament,
the House voted an amendment, proposed by the com
mittee with the assent of the government, sanctioning
the grant of dotations also to German statesmen who
had prominently contributed to the creation of the
new empire. It was universaUy felt at the time that
vm. n X

306 Men who have made the
Delbriick's name ought to stand first and foremost
on the list.
Field-Marshal Blucher reposed the most unbounded
confidence in his chief of the staff, General Gneisenau,
and had the most implicit faith in his universal know
ledge and the infinite versatility of his talents. It
is said that when the university of Oxford, on the
occasion of Bluchers visit to England, presented to
him the doctorate of laws, the old marshal, in whose
mind all doctors were indissoluhly connected with
physic, would only consent to accept the proffered
honour on condition that Gneisenau should be ap
pointed his dispensing apothecary. The good old
man, who was conscientious in his way, and naturally
misdoubted his own skiU in the leech line, trusted
that Gneisenau would safely see him through all
difficulties that might attend the exercise of the new
profession so unexpectedly thrust upon him.
Bismarck is in the habit of calling Delbruck his
"Gneisenau." It would certainly be impossible to
show a higher appreciation of the great president
and his eminent services.

New German Empire. 307

XXII.
LOTHAR BUCHER.
Lothar Bucher, Actual Privy Councillor of Lega
tion, and CouncUlor Reporter in the Prussian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, is universally and rightly believed
to be Bismarck's most intimate and most trusted
adviser. He is a man of vast capacity and extensive
acquirements, and, next to Delbruck, the hardest
worker in Germany.
Lothar Bucher was born on the 25th of October,
1817, at Neustettin, where his father was professor at
the Hedwig gymnasium. In 1821, Professor Bucher
was transferred to the gymnasium at Koslin, in
Pomerania, where his son received accordingly his
preparatory education. Gifted with quick appre
hension and a retentive memory, the boy distin
guished himself greatly at school, and advanced rapidly
through the several classes and forms of the gym
nasium, until, at the age of eighteen, in 1835, he
passed a brilliant examination of fitness for higher
university studies.
He was sent to Berlin, where he devoted himself to
the very hardest and most persevering study of the
law, cultivating also, with ardent zeal, the philosophy
of Hegel.
x 2

308 Men who have made the
In the autumn of 1838 he passed his first law ex
amination, and was soon after appointed auscultator
at the upper provincial court at Koslin. Some five
years after, he was appointed to an assessorship,
and, about midsummer 1843 he was sent to Stolp,
where he was attached to the provincial and city
court, and had also intrusted to him the adminis
tration of justice in several so-caUed patrimonial
courts, or manor courts.
In the latter capacity, more especially, he obtained
a clear insight into the actual condition of the farmers,
the peasantry, and the cultivators of the soil, and
the many glaring abuses which the old feudal system
still flourishing there made the unhappy land under
its sway endure. Bucher, a man of vast, kindly
sympathies, soon took a generous dislike to the
objectionable state of things he found existing in
his justiciary district ; so he naturally became a re
former. A small provincial town in Pomerania is not
exactly the place where one may expect to find great
literary and scientific treasures and resources. Now,
there are some exceptionally rich inteUectual natures
that find it next to impossible to give their faculties
even an instant's absolute repose. There is a noble
lord living now, an ex-chancellor, one of England's
most eminent legislators, and one of the kindliest and
best of men, who could not abstain from active
mental work even during the few brief minutes of

New German Empire. 309
his daily shaving, but must turn them to profitable
account by committing to memory, among other
things, the -whole of Milton's immortal epic.
Bucher belongs to the same high category of men.
With his immense capacity for work and his insa
tiable craving for intellectual occupation, he, hap
pening to come across " Rotteck and Welcker's State
Lexicon," took the curious notion into his head to
go through the bulky work from the first line to
the last.
The radical constitutionalism and the constitutional
radicalism of this famous production of the two
Liberal professors exercised a decisive influence upon
his mind, made specially receptive for this kind of
teaching by the very large dose of Hegelian philo
sophy which had been administered to it whilst
Bucher was pursuing his studies at the university
of Berlin. His political ideas were thus naturally
directed into an ultra-radical channel.
No wonder then that when, in the spring of 1848,
the town and district of Stolp elected him their
representative at the new National Assembly at
Berlin, he should take at once a leading position
among the most advanced radical reformers. In
November, 1848, he joined in the revolutionary re
fusal of the Assembly to grant the crown the right
of levying taxes.
After the dissolution of the National Assembly,
Bucher was, in the spring of 1849, elected by his

310 Men who have made ihe
former constituents a member of the Second Prussian
Chamber. Here he added to his old sins and offences
against the now all-powerful royal and feudalist re
actionary party, his stinging report on the motion
declaring Ulegal the royal decree which placed Berlin
in a state of siege.
In 1850 the reaction thought fit to arraign Bucher
and some forty other leaders in the old tax-refusal
movement of November, 1848, before the public
tribunals. Bucher was aware that he was the prin
cipal accused in the matter, the other forty being
drawn in simply for decency's sake, that the proceed
ing might not look too monstrous. He also knew
that at that particular juncture, and under the pecu
liar circumstances of the case, there was reaUy no
chance of an acquittal, and that his state career in
Prussia might fairly be considered at an end, even
should he abide the almost certain condemnation, and
submit to his sentence without murmuring.
He resolved, therefore, to withdraw himself from
the power of his enemies. WhUst the jury empanelled
to try him had retired to deliberate upon their ver
dict, he cunningly gave the police officer set to guard
him the slip, and made his escape to England.
It would seem to have been his intention at first
to try for a position at the English bar. A brief
sojourn in London sufficed to open his eyes to the
fact, that the realization of this intention would take
him long years. So, as he had to work for his living,

New German Empire. 311
he preferred becoming a member of the fourth estate.
For some ten years he supplied certain leading news
papers in Germany with a series of brilliant articles.
His contributions to the Berlin National Zeitung,
more especially, attracted general attention through the
soundness of the information given in them as much
as through the lucid style in which they were written.
But Bucher was always a man of very clear mind.
In London he had most excellent opportunities
afforded him of becoming intimately acquainted with
the history of the British constitution, and of study
ing the apparently so complicated, yet in reality so
beautifully simple, wheelwork of that marvellous
growth and maturation of ages. His eyes soon
opened to the real value of the doctrines imbibed
by him out of the pages of Rotteck and Welcker,
and conned over in his former intercourse with the
ultra radicals of the whilom famous National Assem
bly at Berlin.
Bucher was also always a most sincere man. It
would have been impossible for him to conceal the
gradual change in his political views from the Ger
man papers to whom he was sending contributions
from London. This gave rise to dissensions between
him and these journals, and led, among other things,
to a long-protracted polemical discussion between
him and the Berlin National Zeitung, then the
uncompromising organ of the most advanced Liberal
section in politics and political economy in Prussia.

312 Men who have made the

The quarrel was slightly envenomed by certain here
tical deviations of Bucher's from his former pro
fessions of pure faith in the doctrines of absolute
free trade.
StiU, these polemics notwithstanding, Bucher con
tinued to contribute articles to most of the papers
with which he was connected at this time. In 1856
Bucher went to Paris, where he remained till the
close of the first Paris International Exhibition, as
reporter and correspondent for several leading papers
in Germany.
During his residence in London, Bucher had come
into contact with a multitude of Englishmen ; also with
a great many political refugees from other countries
than Germany. He had intimately known Joseph
Mazzini, Ledru Rollin, Kossuth, Louis Blanc, Gar-
rido, and many other non-German exiles from the
land of their bUth, and he found the whole batch of
them intensely national, and every one of them most
warmly enthusiastic for the special people to whom he
happened to belong. The German refugees alone
seemed to constitute an exception from this general
rule of particularism, and to wish to embrace the
whole world within the wide range and reach of their
universal sympathies.
From his experience of men and things in this line,
clear-headed Lothar Bucher had already in London
drawn the great lesson for himself, that it behoves a
sensible practical man to restrict his patriotic mani-

New German Empire. 313
festations and aspirations in the first place rather to
his own particular country and nation, and more
especially not to indulge overmuch in the bubble
of so-called "nationalities." His Paris experience
confirmed him thoroughly in his new opinion on
this matter. No wonder, then, that he now dropped
absolutely the hollow, sentimental, and thoroughly
anti-historic theories anent the rights of every small
nation, race, and tribe, to keep up an arbitrary inde
pendent existence within the great conglomeration
to which it might happen to belong.
This extraordinary doctrine was much advocated
at the time in Germany. Bucher boldly maintained,
on the contrary, that the great German people, who
had actually bestowed upon certain alien races and
tribes settled in Germany all the blessings of civili
zation enjoyed by them, had also an indefeasible
right to exert a preponderating political influence
over them.
Now this doctrine of Bucher 's went right against
the grain of the German Liberals, and Bucher, who
had meanwhile returned to Berlin in consequence of
the general amnesty proclaimed by King William,
found himself very soon at loggerheads with his
former political associates and friends.
StiU he continued his contributions to the National
Zeitung for about a twelvemonth longer, after which
he tried to obtain employment in the Berlin Tele
graph administration.

314 Men who have made the

Conscious of the extent and soundness of his legal
attainments, he made up his mind at last to apply for
his reinstatement into the law service of the state,
his intention being at the time to qualify himself for
the position of a barrister or pleader before the courts
of law.
A friend of Lothar Bucher 's undertook to sound
Bismarck about this. Now the great minister had
been peculiarly struck with the sound sense and
marvellous logic of Bucher's articles, more especially
in the National Zeitung. He, wdth his sharp sight
and clear insight, reckoned up the man who had
penned these articles, and divined the great spirit
in him, kindred to his own.
So he sent word to Lothar Bucher that, if he
would consent to pass a period of probation in the
service of the Foreign Office, it was his (Bismarck's)
opinion that he would do much better there than
in the law career.
Bucher eagerly accepted the opening thus offered
to him, and entered the Foreign Office in December,
1864. Of course, he very soon made his mark.
A man of such transcendent abilities, and such
enormous working capacity, could not possibly have
failed in securing a firm footing within the briefest
possible period of time. The year after, already,
in 1865, he was raised to the rank of Councillor
of Legation, and definitively appointed to a high
position in the Foreign Office.

New German Empire. 315

In December, 1866, he acted as recorder of
the minutes at the conference of the plenipoten
tiaries charged to draw up the constitution of the
North German Federation; and in 1867 he was
appointed Actual Privy Councillor of Legation and
CounciUor Reporter in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs — which may faniy be instanced as an
almost unheard-of rapidity of promotion in one of
the most difficult departments of the state service
in Prussia.
Bismarck, who by this time fully knew the im
mense value of such a man as Lothar Bucher, made
it a point to have the brilliant councillor always
as much as possible in his own immediate vicinity.
Thus, in 1869, Lothar Bucher was full five months
with Bismarck at Varzin, and in 1870 he was again
at Varzin, with the chanceUor, from May up to the
outbreak of the war with France, on both occa
sions taking a vast amount of hard work off the
chancellor's shoulders.
When Bismarck left for France, Bucher remained
behind, intrusted with the management of the most
intimate affairs of the Foreign Office. But even
in September already, when Councillor Abeken was
seized with his fatal illness, Bismarck sent for
Bucher to replace this trusty counsellor and aid
near his person.
Bucher joined the Chancellor of the North Ger
man Confederation at Ferrieres, and remained thence-

316 Men who have made the
forward with him up to the conclusion of peace,
giving the chancellor the most valuable aid of his
brilliant talents, and his marvellously sound poli
tical knowledge and clear insight into the innermost
nature of affairs.
In March, 1871, again, Lothar Bucher attended
Bismarck at the final conference of Frankfort-on-
the-Main, which terminated so smoothly in the
conclusion of the definitive peace between Germany
and France on the 10th of May, 1871.
Three years and a half have passed since then,
and Lothar Bucher still retains his position and
influence with the great chancellor. Strange to
say, perhaps, these two men, starting from diame
trically opposite extremes in political life, seem to
have met exactly half-way on their course, Bis
marck having dropped by the way all his spurious,
declamatory ultra - royalism and Junkerdom, and
Lothar Bucher having rid himself of the fearful
encumbrance of Hegel, Rotteck, and Welcker, and
of all the other ultra-radical impediments of his
hot youth.
There are but too many political pretenders in
Germany coveting the inheritance of the great Bis
marck. Most of these ambitious aspirants are the
veriest pigmies — very clever men, no doubt — aye,
almost as clever as Harry Arnim; for all that,
lacking the least approach to the great chanceUor's
genius. Lothar Bucher has more of Bismarck in

New German Empire. 317
his composition than all the Savignys and Arnims,
and the other still smaller cattle that would follow
in their wake, and whom the eminent Berlin corre
spondents of certain London papers are so foolishly
bent upon parading daily in their Berlin letters.

318 Men who have -made the

SPECIAL ARMS AND VICTUALLING DEPART
MENTS.

" Die Kruppische Kanone,
Des Dreyse sein Gewehr,
Die waren gar nicht ohne,
Die Erbswurst auch half sehr.''
— Kutsohkb's Soldatenlied.
(Krupp's cannon and Drevse's needle-gun were by ¦ aa ,-»eanr mum ¦¦
jportant adjuncts, asMsT/the pea-sausage also contributed largely
to the great success.)
In all wars, from the earliest antiquity, the' quality of
the weapons of the combatants has formed a most
important item of consideration in the calculation
of the chances of success. In modern warfare, when
arms of precision play so preponderating a part, the
condition of the general and special armaments of
the troops must necessarily fall with double weight
into the scale.
The living machines of war that had come forth from
the skilful hands of the Roons, the Albrechts, the

Neiv German Empire. 319

Hindersins, the Hollebens, and many others of the
same high capacity of organization, were unquestion
ably of the most admirable make and the fullest
efficiency. Yet, suppose they had had to take the
field with the old percussion gun and the venerable
smooth-bore, muzzle-loading, bronze cannon of the
past, surely their chances of success would have been
much less promising than the perfection of their
armament actually made them.
The ingenious inventors and makers of this arma
ment may therefore weU be permitted to bring up
the rear here, at least, of the German notabilities
of the present day. XXIII.
DREYSE.
John Nicholas Dreyse was born on the 20th
of November, 1787, at Sommerda, a small township
in the Erfurt district. His father, John Christian
Dreyse, was a master locksmith, pretty well to do for
a man in his position. From his seventh to his
fourteenth year Nicholas went to the city school
of Sommerda, where he received a sound primary
education. Being naturally fond of mechanics, he
took to his father's trade from choice. At the age
of fourteen he became an apprentice in his father's
workshop.

320 Men who have made the
He had soon completely mastered the elements of
the craft, and agreeably surprised his father by his
manual dexterity, as well as by the happy ingenuity
of his improvements in locks and other articles in
his line of business.
When his apprenticeship was over, young Nicholas,
after the universal manner of German workmen of
the period, went forth to wander into the world
in search of work, and to acquire a more extensive
and perfect knowledge of his craft. This was in
1806. On his wanderings he happened to come upon the
great slaughter field of Jena, on the 1 Sth of October,
the very day after the battle which had laid Prussia
in the dust. He was then a youth of nineteen. The
awful sight of heaps of dead bodies all around made
a very powerful and most sad impression upon his
young mind, the sadder, as he was a youth of ardent
patriotism. He took up from the ground a Prussian
gun, of the venerable old Brown Bess type, and
examined it with the eye of a skilful mechanist.
He found it sadly wanting in everything required to
constitute an effective arm. Whenever he related
the story afterwards, he used always to add that
this Prussian gun seemed to him at the time to have
been expressly made with a view of shooting
round the corner. It was the worst article of the
kind then in existence.
Here, on this field of death, the first thought came

New German Empire. 321

into his mind, to improve the mechanism of the
Prussian fire-arms. Soon after, he had occasion to
see a French infantry gun of the so-called pattern
of 1779, which was then the most perfect of its
kind in the world.
He now worked at his trade for three years at
Altenburg, Dresden, and some other places in
Germany, striving more particularly, and whenever
the opportunity offered, to improve his knowledge
and skUl in the construction of fire-arms. He was
always trying one improvement or other, but with
only indifferent success, as the French 1779 pattern
seemed to him then the most perfect model.
In 1809 he was at last enabled to gratify the
most ardent wish of his heart — to go to France,
which at the time enjoyed the deserved reputation
that the most ingenious and skilled locksmiths, and
the best makers of fire-arms in the world, were to be
found there.
Soon after his arrival in Paris he had the good
fortune to obtain employment in the famous gun-
factory of the Swiss officer Pauli, then under the
special patronage of the Emperor Napoleon I. Pauli
took a great liking to young Dreyse, whom he found
a most excellent craftsman and an indefatigable
worker. He confided to him that the Emperor had
ask?d him to try to construct a breech-loading gun.
This notion, which Napoleon might possibly have
taken from the toy-guns of children, or from having
vol. ii. y

322 Men who have made the

accidentally come across some of the breech-loading
cannons that would seem to have been in partial use
about the year 1770, flashed upon Dreyse's mind as a
complete revelation. He knew now at once where he
had to direct his attention first in his intended con
struction of an improved infantry gun.
Pauli succeeded, after infinite labour, in producing
a breech-loading gun, but of such complicated con
struction that it required most skilful handling to
use it with proper effect, and was entirely unsuited
to the common run of soldiers. Napoleon was so
pleased, nevertheless, that he bestowed upon the
inventor a gift of 800?. and the Cross of the Legion
of Honour. However, Pauli felt so discouraged by
his comparative failure, that he gave up the breech-
loading notion altogether.
Not so Dreyse, who was of a most persevering turn
of mind. All the time he remained in France, up to
1814, he turned every spare hour to the best account
in thinking of what had now become the all-absorb
ing object of his life — the construction of a simple
breech-loading gun that might be handled and used
effectively by any private soldier.
In 1814 he returned to Sommerda, to his father's
workshop. In 1821 he married, and established soon after, in
partnership with a merchant of the name of Kronbie-
gel, a factory for the making of iron nails, buttons,
and other articles in the so-called cold way, by

New German Empire. 323

machinery. After Kronbiegel's death, a Mr. Collen-
busch joined Dreyse in the business, which continues
in existence to the present day. Dreyse was the
first in Germany to produce these machine-made
articles. Meanwhile the percussion-gun had been invented,
in 1815, in England, and the percussion-caps also,
though two Frenchmen, Pidat and Debonbert, have
since then successfully claimed the latter invention for
theirs. In 1822 the new invention found its way
into Germany, where extensive experiments were at
once instituted, more particularly in Prussia, with a
view to substitute the new percussion lock for the
old flint lpck.
Dreyse naturaUy became at once one of the most
eager and persevering experimenters on this field. He
more especially brought all his technical knowledge
to bear upon the preparation of igniting or exploding
material for the discharge of percussion-guns. Aided
by the chemical knowledge of a friend of his, Baudius,
an apothecary in Sommerda, he succeeded in turning
fulminate of mercury to account for this purpose.
In 1824 he established a factory of percussion-caps
at Sommerda, in partnership with Collenbusch. The
Prussian government granted the firm a patent for the
new cap's. In the same year Dreyse also obtained a
patent for his newly-invented "steam generator." For
this patent he was indebted chiefly to the patronage
of Privy Councillor Beuth.

324 Men who have made the

After this, Dreyse turned his particular attention
to devising the means of carrying into practical
effect an old favourite notion of his, which had for
its chief object to change the place of the igniting
or exploding process from the outer to the inner
part of the gun, and also the construction of a
cartridge that should contain within itself the whole
of the materials required for the charge of the gun.
After some three years' hard work, and many
bitter disappointments, he succeeded at last, in 1827,
in producing a percussion needle-gun — only a muzzle-
loader, however.
He sent models of his new invention to the
Prussian minister of war, who speedily informed
him that the weapon had been found unfit for
practical use in the army, and that he was at liberty
to dispose of it elsewhere. He thereupon sent models
to several other governments, also to the Austrian
minister of war — who sent it back with contemp
tuous scorn, telling the presumptuous Prussian gun
smith that there was no lack of clever men in
Austria ! Had this conceited minister only been a
wise man in his generation, and had he accordingly
tried his hardest to secure the ingenious inventor
for Austria ! . . . many things might be different,
perhaps, now from what they are, and even the great
fact of the new German empire might still remain
a bright dream in the pondering brains of German
patriots !

New German Empire. 325

The present Emperor of Germany, then Prince
William, happening to be at Weimar in 1829, sent
for Dreyse. The prince felt much interested in the
new invention, and induced the Prussian minister of
war to take the matter up anew.
From 1830 up to 1833, a series of experiments
were made with Dreyse's gun by a commission of
officers under the presidency of General Thiele and
Colonel Neumann, the results of which led to the
admission of Dreyse into the official service of the
state, with a sufficient subvention to enable the
man to devote himself entirely to the improvement
of his invention.
The. year 1835 saw the birth of the first breech-
loading needle-gun. But, unhappily, Messrs. Redtape
and Routine, if they have it not quite their own
way in Prussia as much as in certain other lands,
are yet not without most powerful influence whenever
they choose to indulge in their favourite practice of
throwing a wet blanket upon a new discovery or in
vention beyond the very limited comprehension of their
own narrow brains. So it took the patient inventor
some five years longer, and all the benevolent exertions
in his favour of General Witzleben, Colonel Priem,
and some other distinguished officers, to obtain at
last the king's sanction for a final trial of the
efficiency of the new arm. The trial commission
was presided over by Prince Augustus of Prussia,
who, as well as most of the other general officers,

326 Men who have made the

was firmly convinced in his own mind that Dreyse's
gun would faU practically, as the cartridges must of
course explode of their own accord after the eighth
or tenth discharge of the gun. These learned gentle
men were grievously disappointed. The new weapon
stood the test most brilliantly.
It was only after this great success, in 1840, that
King Frederick William IV. ordered 60,000 of Dreyse's
guns, granting the inventor at the same time sufficient
funds to establish a large needle-gun and ammunition
factory. On the 15th of October, 1841, just tlUrty-five years
after the first idea had entered Dreyse's head to pro
duce an efficient gun for the Prussian infantry, the
new factory entered upon active work.
Up to 1863 it had supplied 300,000 needle-guns
to the Prussian army.
In 1843 Nicholas Dreyse had conferred upon him
the Order of the Red Eagle of the fourth class; in
1846 he was named a Councillor of Commission, and
decorated with the Red Eagle of the third class.
He persevenngly continued his experiments in
fire-arms, turning his attention successfully also to
improvements in rifled cannon. Even the most cur
sory enumeration of his numerous inventions and
improvements in fire-arms must be omitted here for
want of space.
In 1864 the war in Schleswig-Holstein afforded
a grand opportunity for testing the excellence of

New German Empire. 32",

Dreyse's needle-gun. The new weapon stood the
test admirably. King William was delighted with
the result, and gratefully bestowed upon the ingeni
ous inventor the Prussian Crown Order of the third
class, and a patent of nobility for himself and his
descendants. The productive power of Dreyse's works at Som
merda was considerably increased in the years
1864-65. In the latter year, more especially, the
number of hands employed reached the high figure
of 1,500.
Dreyse lived to witness the splendid success of
his creation in the war of 1866. He died on
the 9th of December, 1867, in the eighty-first year
of his age. His gun-factory, and other works and
establishments at Sommerda, are now conducted by
his only son and heir, Francis, who had already
for long years had the technical direction of the
works. This gentleman, who was born on the 2nd of
March, 1822, continues to conduct the paternal busi
ness with considerable skill and talent.
Since the Franco-German War of 1870-71, the
needle-gun has been very considerably improved, as
the old pattern had been found inferior in effi
ciency, range, and rapidity of firing to the French
chassepot-gun. After many and most varied ex
periments, the supreme military authorities of the
German empire have now finally decided to supply

328 Men who have made the
the whole of the German army — with the excep
tion of the Bavarians, who have a most excellent
weapon already in the Werder gun — with a gun
of a new pattern, made by a Wurtemberg gun
smith of the name of Mauser, who lives at Obern-
dorf. This new pattern is called the Mauser gun
or rifle. This Mauser gun is said to be in every
way vastly superior to the chassepot.
However, as the supply of so large a number as
the arming of the immense German host requires must
necessarily be a work of years, the old pattern
needle-gun has meanwhUe been altered and improved,
to fit it for immediate service. This improved
needle-gun is also said by competent judges to be
superior to the chassepot of the French infantry.
Large numbers of the French chassepots which
had fallen into the hands of the victors in the
late war, have also been converted for provisional
use in the German army. The carbine, for instance,
with which the light cavalry and a portion of the
lancers are armed now, is simply a shortened
chassepot. XXIV.
KRUPP'
Alfred Krupp was born at Essen, in the district
of Dusseldorf, on the 12th of April, 1812. His
father, Frederick Krupp, was the same as Dreyse's,

New German Empire. 329

a locksmith and worker in steel, in a small way.
This poor man had an inventive genius, overcast by
the sad fate of incessant failure in all his efforts
to improve the quality of the steel used by him
for the manufacture of cutting instruments. He
died in 1827, not yet forty, leaving his business,
such as it was, to his son Alfred, then a boy of
under fifteen.
At the time of Alfred's birth, Essen was a very
small place ; indeed, the entire estate of the old Stift
(Chapter) of Essen, covering an area of some sixty-
five to seventy English square miles in extent, had
then only about 18,000 inhabitants at the most.
Now the population has multiplied sevenfold, and the
city of Essen is going on fast towards 60,000 souls !
This splendid development of the city and circle
of Essen may faUly be said to be, in a very great
measure at least, the result and natural concomitant
of the extraordinary success of Alfred Krupp's great
industrial undertaking there.
After the father's death the boy continued the
business, aided by two workmen only. But whilst
naught but failure had attended all Frederick Krupp's
most earnest efforts, fortune smiled upon everything
the son touched. And so it has come to pass, in
the course of less than fifty years, that the humble
workshop, which may be seen on the premises to
the present day, has expanded. into one of the most
gigantic establishments in the world, covering an

330 Men who have made the

area of more than an English square mile, and
occupying 12,000 workmen !
Alfred Krupp's is the largest steel-casting establish
ment to be found anywhere. It numbers some 600
furnaces, and close upon 1,000 machines for the making
of tools and implements alone. There are nigh upon
a quarter of a mUlion melting crucibles. Some 300
steam engines, from 1,000 horse-power down to 2
horse-power, and about 80 steam hammers, from
50 tons weight down to 2 cwt., are incessantly
at work. The daily consumption of coal exceeds
1,700 tons.
Articles of cast steel are manufactured here of
every kind, size, and weight, to the total amount of
something like 80,000-100,000 tons a year.
The merest cursory description of such an establish
ment as Krupp's is of course altogether out of the
question here ; nor can space be afforded for the
slightest sketch of the man's career.
We must rest content, then, with merely stating
that Alfred Krupp is a man of high intelligence, vast
inventive genius, the most patient perseverance and
endurance, and extraordinary working powers. He
was the first to devise an efficient system of cast
ing steel successfully in immense blocks and enor
mous masses, and remains even to the present day
without a serious competitor in his line.
Alfred Krupp exhibited the first great cast-steel
block of his manufacture in 1851, at London. This

New German Empire. 331

block weighed 2^ tons — a weight unheard of before.
The largest block competing with Krupp's, whicli
was sent to the Exhibition by a Sheffield firm,
weighed only a ton. Eleven years after, in 1862,
Krupp sent a block of 25 tons weight to the London
Exhibition; and in 1867, he sent another to Paris,
weighing 40 tons. It is said that solid masses of
steel up to 200 tons weight and above can now
be cast at Essen !
In 1847 Alfred Krupp first conceived the idea of
casting cannon of steel. In 1851 he sent the first
six-pounder cast in his factory to the great Exhibition
at London. The article was not perfect, however, as
it was cast in two pieces. In 1854 the first trial was
made to test the power of resistance of "Krupp's
infants." They stood even some of the most unfair
tests. In 1856 Krupp overcame the last difficulties
in the way of producing steel breech-loaders cast in
a single piece.
His first customer for steel cannon was the Viceroy
of Egypt ; Prussia and Russia soon after followed
the example set them by the African ruler. Up to
1858, however, the business was rather slack, no
more than 100 pieces of ordnance altogether being
cast at the Essen works. During the seven years
following, Krupp furnished close upon 3,000 cast-steel
cannon of all sizes, some of them capable of throwing
projectiles of a quarter of a ton weight.
In 1867 Krupp astonished the world by his giant

332 Men who have made the
cannon exhibited at Paris, which was intended to
throw projectiles of half a ton weight, with a charge
of 1 cwt. of gunpowder.
Of late years the manufacture of cast-steel rifled
breech-loading ordnance at the Essen establishment
has taken still greater expansion.
That Krupp's cannon have vastly aided in achieving
the great Prussian and German victories in the field
is universally admitted. Their efficiency was bril
liantly proved as early as 1864 in the Schleswig-
Holstein campaign.
However, Alfred Krupp is thoroughly cosmopolitan
and mercantile in the supply of these splendid engines
of war — perhaps even beyond what might properly
be deemed compatible with loyal allegiance to his
own country, for he freely furnishes the prospective
enemies of Germany with his rifled ordnance.
The King of Prussia has bestowed upon Krupp
the title of Privy Councillor of Commerce. He also
offered him a patent of nobility, which, however, the
stiff-necked manufacturer declined accepting.
The Essen establishment pays in rates and taxes
something like £24,000 a year. In the early part of
the present year, Krupp wished to raise a loan of
£1,500,000. In a few days the subscriptions to this
loan exceeded £5,000,000 !
In conclusion, it remains now simply to briefly
note that singularly important article of food so

New German Empire. 333

largely used by the German commissariat in the war
of 1870-71 — the pea-sausage, to wit, and its inge
nious compounder. XXV.
GRUNBERG.
That the purveying and victualling department
must always claim a paramount share of attention
.and care on the part of the leaders of an army in
the field, is so self-evident a proposition, that no proof
or argument need be adduced here in support of it.
No apology can be needed, then, for just tagging
to the memoirs of the inventor of the needle-gun and
the cast-steel rifled cannon, a passing mention of the
name of the man whose ingenuity and knowledge
as a cook devised the preparation of a savoury, nutri
tious preserve for the German army in the field —
Grunberg, a culinary artist of Berlin.
The pea-sausage, which he compounded, consists
of pea-flour, best beef-suet, bacon (two parts of lean
to one of fat), onions, salt, and spices. It is one of
the most nutritious articles of food. Properly made,
and fitted into paper cases specially prepared for the
purpose, it will keep unchanged for years in airy
places. For eating, it may either be cut into small
cakes, and boiled with water into soup, or it may be
boiled whole and eaten as a sausage.

334 Men who have made the New German Empire.

The Prussian government made the inventor,
Grunberg, a present of 10,0 00 A and had a manu
factory of the article built at Berlin, at the expense
of the state. At first only about 14,000 lbs. of pea-
sausage were daily produced at this establishment ;
this was soon increased, however, up to ten times the
quantity, 2,400 males and females being employed
in the production of this large supply.

INDEX.

Abeken, ii. 294.
^Egidi, ii. 294.
Albert, King of Saxony, ii. 106 —
139.
Albert of Saxony in the Bohemian
Campaign of 1866, ii. 124, 125 ;
during the Commune, ii. . 134 ;
before Paris, ii. 131 ; at St. Privat,
ii. 127 ; triumphal entry into Dres
den, ii. 135.
Albrecht, Archduke, ii. 63.
Alexander of Hesse, Prince, Com
mander-in-Chief of the 8th corps
of the German Confederation army
in 1866, ii. 241—249.
Alsen, capture of, ii. 144.
Alvensleben I., General, ii. 270.
Alvensleben IL, General, ii. 266 —
t 270 ; at Mars-le-Tour, ii. 98—100 ;
267—268.
Amiens, battle of, ii. 178.
Annexation of Hanover, Hesse-
Cassel, &c to Prussia, i. 161.
Anton, King of Saxony, ii. 112.
Army Bill, ii. 1—2.
Army Organisation Bill, i. 251.
Aschaffenburg, defeat of the Austrians
at, ii. 247.
Augustenburg, Prince Frederick of,
i. 129, &c.
Aurelle de Paladines, ii. 102 ; and
the Army of the Loire, ii. 253.
Austro-Prussian alliance and war
against Denmark in 1864, i.
129.
Bapaume, German victory at, ii,
179.
Barnekow, General, ii. 270.

Beaumont, battle of, ii. 75, 129.
Beaune-la-Rolande, battle of, ii. 102.
Benedek, ii. 48, 57, 61, 63.
Benedetti, i. 159.
Bernard, parish priest of Kiefers-
felden, i. 279.
Beust, ii. 116, 118.
Beyer, General, ii. 213, 216, 243.
Bismarck, i, 88—257.
Bismarck, cabal against, i. 227 — 246.
Bismarck's staff, ii. 294.
Bismarck of Osterburg, i. 188.
Blanckenburg, i. 258.
Blois, occupation of by the Germans,
ii. 103.
Blucher, Marshal, ii. 28.
Blum, Robert, ii. 5,
Blumenau, battle of, ii. 97.
Blumenthal, General, ii. 71—73,270.
Bockum-Dolffs, j. 126.
Bohemian campaign of 1866, ii. 48 —
62
Bonaparte at Campo Formio and
Tilsit, i. 176.
Boniface VIII., Unam Sanctam Bull,
i. 272.
Bonin, General, i. 62 — 64.
Bose, General, ii. 97, 270.
Bourbaki's movement, ii. 221 ; attack
upon Werder's position before
Belfort, ii. 229—233.
Brandenburg, Count, i. 111.
Bucher, Lothar, ii. 307—317.
Bulow, ii. 294.
Cambriel, General, ii. 212, 213,
-218.
Camphausen, Chancellor of the Ex
chequer and Vice - President of

336

Index.

the Prussian Ministry, ii. 286 —
293.
Canrobert at Vionville, ii. 268, 269.
Cast-steel cannon, ii. 331.
Catholic journals and books in Ger
many, i. 287—292.
Celibacy of priests — Pope Gregory
VII., i. 317, 318.
Chanzy, General, series of defeats of,
ii. 103, 104.
Charge of Prussian cavalry at Vion
ville, ii. 98, 99.
Charles of Bavaria, Prince, Com
mander-in-Chief of the Confede
rate South German army in 1866,
ii. 241—249.
Chevilly, defeat of the French at, ii.
103.
Chilliers - aux - Bois, defeat of the
French at, ii. 103.
Civil Marriage Law, i. 249.
Clamart, attack upon, ii. 285.
Clement XI. and King Frederick I.
of Prussia, i. 276.
Clement XIV. (Ganganelli), i. 213.
Cohen (Ferdinand), attempt on Bis
marck's life, i. 144.
Conlie, camp of, taken by the
Germans, ii. 104.
Contarini, Cardinal, i. 330, 331.
Coulmiers, battle of, ii. 254.
Council of Constance, i. 327 ; of
Pisa, i. 327 ; of Trent, i. 328, 332,
333.
Courcelles, fight at, ii. 160.
Craushaar, General, ii. 270.
Cremer, General, ii. 219, 221.
Crown Prince of Prussia and Ger
many, i. 147, ii. 33 — 81 ; and
Bismarck, meeting between, ii. 48,
57 ; Grand Master of the Prussian
Lodges, ii. 47; address to the
Grand Land Lodge of Germany, ii.
64 ; at Nachod,ii. 52 ; a printer,
ii. 43.

Dalberg, ii. 109.
Debschitz, General, ii. 13, 213.
Degenfeld, General, ii. 212, 218.
Delbruck, President, ii. 295 — 306.
Diet, German, at Frankfort — Vote
of 14th of June, 1866, i. 145.
Dijon, capture of by the Germans, ii.
216—217.
Dinkel, Bishop of Augsburg, i. 296
— 2UW.

Dollinger and his coadjutors in the
Old-Catholic movement, i. 312,
&c.
Dominus ac reclemptor noster Bull, i.
213.
Donchery, the "Va? Victis'' of, i. 72
—87.
Douay, Abel, General, ii. 67, 69.
Dreyse, Francis, ii. 327.
Dreyse, John Nicholas, ii. 319—328.
Droste-Vischering, Archbishop of
Cologne, ii. 23.
Ducrot's second sortie, ii. 133.
Diippel, capture of, ii. 88.
Dupre, General, ii. 212.
Eichhorn, i. 205.
Elizabeth, Queen of Prussia, i. 9, 10,
33—41, 143, 152.
Ems, punctuation of, i. 259 — 262.
England, Lasker on, ii. 7, 8.
Etzel, General, ii. 272.
Faidherbe, General, at Bapaume, ii.
179 ; at St. Quentin, ii. 199.
Failly, General, at Beaumont, ii. 129.
Falckenstein, General Vogel von, ii.
181—191 ; an artist, ii. 183, 184 ;
chief of the staff in the Schleswig-
Holstein war of 1864, ii. 184;
governor of Jutland in 1864, ii.
185 ; in 1866, ii. 185—188 ; at
Montmirail, ii. 183 ; defence of the
Coast lands in 1870, ii. 190.
Festetics, General, ii. 56.
Flies, General, at Langensalza, i.
158, ii. 243.
Forster, Prince-Bishop of Breslau, i.
299—302.
Frangois, General, ii. 270.
Frankfort-on-the-Main, meeting of
German princes at, in 1863, i. 127 ;
peace of, i. 181.
Fransecky, General, ii. 93, 97.
Frederick Augustus, King of Saxony,
ii. 114.
Frederick Charles, Prince, ii. 82 —
105 ; essays on strategic and sta
tistic questions, ii. 86 ; at Mis-
sunde, ii. 87.
Frederick William IL, i. 3, 206.
Frederick William III., i. 2 — 8.
Frederick William IV., i. 2, 8, 13,
20, 204.
Frohnhofen, defeat of the Hessians at,
ii. 247.

Index.

33'.

Frossard, General, at Spicheren, ii.
155- 157.
Fulda, Episcopal meeting at, i. 201
—211.
Gablentz in Holstein, ii. 169; at
Trautenau and Rognitz, i. 03, ii. 55.
Gambetta, ii. 102 ; plan of an in
vasion of South Germany, ii. 221.
Garibaldi, ii. 214, 215,218.
Garibaldi, Menotti, ii. 219.
Gastein, convention of, i. 132.
Gitschin, victory at, ii. 90.
Gliimer, General— Victory of Nuits,
ii. 221.
Goben, General, ii. 192-202 ; with
Don Carlos in Spain, ii. 193—195 ;
in Morocco in 1860, ii. 196 ; in the
Danish war of 1864, ii. 197 ; m
the campaign on the Main, ii.
197, 198 ; victorious at Derm
bach, ii. 246 ; victorious at Gerchs
heim, ii. 248 ; takes Kissingen,
ii. 247 ; at Amiens, on the Hallue,
and at Bapaume, ii. 199 ; at Mars-
la-Tour and Gravelotte, ii. 198 ; at
Spicheren, ii. 156, 198 ; victory of
St. Quentin, ii. 199—201.
Goltz, General von der, at Longeau,
ii. 220.
Gravelotte, battle of, ii. 126.
Grunberg, ii. 333 — 334.
Hagen, Otto, of the Insterburger
Zeitimg, ii. 12.
Hallue, battle on the, ii. 178.
Hartmann, General, ii. 258—265 ; an
artist, ii. 260 ; an officer in the
French service from 1811 — 1815,
ii. 259 ; during the siege of Paris,
ii. 264—265 ; at Waterloo, ii. 259 ;
at Weissenburg and Worth, ii.
263—264.
Hartmann, Prussian General, at
Tobitschau, ii. 63.
Hatzfeld, ii. 294.
Herwarth von Bittenfeld, Field-Mar
shal, ii. 140—150 ; capture of
Alsen, ii. 144 ; commander of the
Army ofthe Elbe in 1866, ii. 145 ;
at Koniggratz, 148 ; Governor-
General of the Rhine Provinces in
1870, ii. 149 ; jubilee of sixtieth
'anniversary of taking service in
the army, ii. 150 ; loss of three
sons at Problus, Vionville, and St.
Privat, ii. 149.

Heydt, Von der, Prussian Chancellor
of the Exchequer, ii. 278—286.
Hindersin, General, ii. 271 — 276.
Hohenzollern, house of, ii. 35 — 40.
Hohenzollern, Prince Leopold of, i.
172.
Holleben, General, ii. 272.
Holtzendorff, General, ii. 11.
Huhnerwasser, battle of, ii. 146.
Huss, John, i. 307—312, 327.
Indemnity, Bill of, i. 162, 167.
Infallibility, Papal, i. 198, &c.
Jerome of Prague, i. 328.
Jesuits, i. 211.
Jesuit Expulsion Law, i. 201, 211.
Jesuits, abolition ofthe orderof,i. 213.
Jesuit teaching in France, i. 202.
Jews, treatment of, in Prussia, ii.
11.
John, King of Saxony, ii. 107—121.
Josepii IL, Emperor of Germany, i.
213.
Kaiser. Catholic army chaplain, i.
304.
Kameke, General, at Spicheren, n.
155.
Karolyi, Count, Austrian Ambassa
dor at Berlin, i. 124.
Keller, General, ii. 219, 220 ; cap
ture of Frahier and Chenebier by,
ii. 232.
Kettler, Bishop of Mayence, i. 216,
258, 270.
Keudell, ii. 294.
Kirchbach, General, ii. 270,
Klapka, Prussian convention with,
ii. 62.
Koniggratz, battle of, n. 58, 91.
Koniginhof, capture of, ii. 55.
Krementz, Bishop of Ermeland, i.
264,272—278.
Krupp, Alfred, ii. 328 — 332.
Krupp, Frederick, ii 328, 329.
Kullmann, attempt on Bismarck s
life, i. 253.
Kummer, General, va. the battle ol
Noisseville, ii. 176—178.
Ladmiratjlt, General, at Courcelles,
ii. 160.
La Fere, capture of, n. 178.
La Marmora, i. 156, n. 62.
Langensalza, battle of, i. 158, u. 243.

VOL. II.

Index.

Lasker, Edward, i. 247, ii. 1—18 ;
on England, ii. 7, 8.
Laufach, defeat of the Hessians at,
ii. 247.
Ledochowski, Archbishop of Posen,
i. 252.
Legeditch, General, ii. 58.
Leopold of Hohenzollern. i. 172.
Lichtenberg, cnpture of, ii. 73.
Liebenan, victory at, ii. 89.
Local Government Bill, i. 223.
Louise, Queen of Prussia, i. 3, 6.
Loyola, i. 211.
Luther, i. 312, 329, 330.
Luxemburg question, i. 168.
Liitzelstein, capture of, ii. 173.
MacMahon, ii. 69, 74, 75 ; first
meeting with Albert of Saxony,
ii. 124 ; second meeting with Al
bert of Saxony, ii. 130 ; at Sedan,
ii. 129.
Manstein, General, his blunder at
Kolin, ii. 94—96.
Manstein, General, ii. 270.
Manteuffel, Field-Marshal, ii. 163—
1 80 ; commander of the Army of
the South, ii. 179 ; at Courcelles,
' ii. 160, 175 ; and Falkenstein, ii.
173 ; succeeds Vogel von Falcken
stein in the command of the Army
of the Main, ii. 172 ; and the
Frankforters, ii. 174 ; at Gastein,
ii. 168 ; invades Hanover, ii. 171 ;
at Langensalza, ii. 172 ; at Nois
seville, ii. 176—178 ; and Prince
Frederick of Augustenburg, ii.
170 ; in Schleswig, ii. l(jy ; and
Twesten, ii. 167 ; Commander-in-
Chief of the German Army of
Occupation in France, ii. 180.
Marsal, capture of, ii. 73.
Mars-la-Tour, battle of, ii. 98, 207,
268.
Mauser gun, ii. 328.
Maximilian, Duke of Saxony, ii.
109.
Melanchthon, i. 331.
Melchers, Paulus, Archbishop of
Cologne, i. 267, 2S2— 287.
Metz, siege of, ii. 103; c lobulation
of, ii. 101.
Michaelis, ii. 294.
Michel, General, ii. 218.
Michelis, Professor, i. 264.
Missuncie, unsuccessful attempt upon,
by the Prussians, in 1864, ii. 87.

Mollendorf, Marshal, ii. 28.
Moltke, Field-Marshal, i. 54.
Money Marshals, The, ii. 277.
Moutauban, General (Palikao), ii.
74.
Mulder, i. 193, 208.
Miinchengratz, battle of, ii. 147.
Mutius, General, ii. 56, 59.
Nachod, battle of, ii. 51, &c.
Namszanowski, Bishop of Agath-
opolis, i. 302 — 305.
Nancy and the four lancers, ii. 73.
Napoleon III. at Saarbrucken, ii. 66.
Needle-gun, ii. 325.
Neu Breisach, capture of, by the Ger
mans, ii. 217.
Nicholas of Russia, i. 111.
Nikolsburg, preliminaries of, i. 160.
Noisseville, battle of, ii. 176—178.
Nuits, battle of, ii. 221.

Obernitz, General, ii. 270.
(Ecumenical Council, i. 198.
Ognon, battle on the, ii. 213.
Old-Catholic Movement in Ger
many, i. 308 — 336 ; Programme
of " Free Catholic " radical section,
i. 314 — 316; of advanced moderate
section, i. 316—320; of Ddllinger-
ian section proper, i. 320 — 326.
Ollech, General, ii. 272.
Orleans, battle of, ii. 252, 253 ;
retaken by the Germans, ii. 103.
Paris, advance upon, ii. 75 ; sur
rounded, ii. 77.
Patriarchate, German, i. 271.
Paul III., Pope (Farnese), i. 328.
Pea-sausage, ii. 333, 334. '
Peucker, General, ii. 272.
Pfordten, Von der, i. 160.
Philipsborn, ii. 29-1.
Pius IX., Allocation on St. John's
Day, 1872, i. 276 ; letter of, i. 178.
Podbielski, General, ii. 272.
Podol, victory at, ii. 89.
Pontarlier, light at, ii. 179.
Prague, peace of, i. 160.
Prim, i. 171.
Princess Royal of England, ii. 80 ;
descent of, ii. 44.
Prondzynski, General, ii. 57.
Protest of sixty-seven Bishops against
Vatican decrees, i. 263.

Index.

339

Queen Carola Wasa of Saxony,
ii. 123.
Queen Elizabeth of Prussia, i. 9, 10,
33—41, 143, 152, 204 ; ii. 115.
Queen Louise of Prussia, i. 3, 6.
R.\s, Bishop of Strasburg, i. 217,
278.
Reinkens, Old-Catholic Bishop, i. 300.
Renftle, parish priest, i. 296.
Rheinhaben, General, ii. 270.
Ricci, General of order of the Jesuits,
i. 215.
Rognitz, battle of, ii. 55.
Romish Bishops in Germany, i. 269.
Romish Episcopate in Germany, i.
258—306.
Romish Episcopate and Old-Catholic
Movement in Germany, i. 258 —
336.
Roon, Field-Marshal, i, 42—53;
Prime Minister of Prussia, i. 239.
Rouen, occupation of by the Ger
mans, ii. 178.
Roumania, Prince Charles of, i. 137.
Saarbrucken, French attack upon,
ii. 65.
Sadowa and Chlum, battle of, ii. 58.
St. Barbe, battle of, ii. 176—178.
St. Privat, engagement at, ii. 127.
St. Quentin, battle of, ii. 199—201.
Saxon army at Leipzig in 1813, ii.
136.
Scherr, Archbishop of Munich, i.
266, 279—282.
Schleswig-Holstein question, i. 128,
&c.
Schlettstadt, capture of by the Ger
mans, ii. 217.
Schlotheim, General, ii. 270 ; inter
view with Moltke, ii. 129.
Schmeling, General, ii. 217.
Schmettau, attack on French centre
at Vionville, ii. 99, 268, 269.
School Inspection Bill, i. 201, 209.
Sedan, battle of, ii. 75.
Sedlnitzki, Prince,-Bishop of Bres
lau, i. 273.
Senestry, Bishop of Ratisbon, i. 298.
Society of Jesus, i. 211.
Sophia of Austria, ii. 115.
Special Arms and Victualling Depart
ments, ii. 318—319.
Sperling, General, ii. 270.
Spicheren, battle of, ii. 155 — 158.
Stahl, ii. 18.

Stangl, i. 281.
Stein on public institutions in Prus
sia, i. 203.
Steinmetz, Field-Marshal, ii. 151 —
162 ; at Nachod, Skalitz, and
Schweinschadel, ii. 153 ; at Cour-
celles, ii. 159, 160 ; at Gravelotte,
ii. ICO ; Governor-General of
Posen and Silesia, ii. 161.
Stiehle, General, ii. 270.
Stosch, General, Chief of Staff to
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, ii.
255.
Strasburg, capitulation of, ii. 210.
Strossmayer, Bishop, i. 267.

Tann, General Von der, ii. 236 —
257 ; victory at Artenay, ii. 252 ;
at BazeiUes, ii. 250 ; Chief of
the Staff to Prince Charles of
Bavaria in 1866, ii. 241—249;
masterly retreat after battle of
Coulmiers, ii. 254, 255 ; wounded
at Kissingen, ii. 247 ; in Schleswig-
Holstein, ii. 238.
Tauberbischofsheim, fight at, ii.
248.
Thile, ii. 294.
Thun, Count, Austrian Ambassador
at Frankfort, i. 107.
Tobitschau, fight at, ii. 63.
Trautenau, battle of, i. 62.
Treaties with Bavaria, Wurtemberg,
and Baden, publication of by
Bismarck, i. 169.
Treskow, General, besieges Belfort,
ii. 223.
Trochu, General, ii. 79, 134.
Tiimpling, General, ii. 270.

" V^i Victis ! " the, of Doncherv. i.
72—87.
Vatican Council and Decrees, i. 197.
Vendome, occupation of by the Ger
mans, ii. 103.
Vergerius, Paul, i. 329.
Villersexel, battle of, ii. 223—224.
Villiers-sur-Marne, battles of, ii. 132
—133.
Vionville, fight at, ii. 98, 99, 268.
Vinoy, General, ii. 78.
Vitry, capture of, ii. 74.
Vogel von Falckenstein (see Falck
enstein).
Voigts-Rhetz, General, ii. 270.

340

Index.

Waldeck, ii. 16.
Waldersee, General, ii. 270.
Wartenberg, General, ii. 272.
Wartensleben, General, ii. 270..
Wedell, General, ii. 270.
Weissenburg, battle of, ii. 66 — 69.
Werder, General, ii. 203—235 ; in
the Caucasus, ii. 205, 206 ; defence
of the position before Belfort, ii.
225—233 ; at Koniggratz in 1866,
ii 209 ; promotions and transfers,
ii. 207, 208 ; before Strasburg in
1870, ii. 209, 210 ; victory at
Villersexel, ii. 223, 224.
Wessenberg, ii. 109.'

William of Baden, Prince, ii. 213,
215, 216, 221, 270.
William I., Emperor of Germany, i.
1— 32.
William I., King of Prussia, pro
claimed Emperor of Germany, i. 29.
Wittich, General, ii. 270.
Wollmann, i. 272.
Worms, Synod of, i. 259.
Wrangel, Field-Marshal, ii. 19—32.
Wiirtemberg, Augustus, Prince of, ii.
55.
Zastrow, General, ii. 57.
Zealot, a Jesuit, and his ravings, i.
293—296.

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