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suffered greatly, Prussia declared war against France. Soon a vast army was in motion on the southern borders of her kingdom, under the command of the old Duke of Brunswick, to meet the enemy. Great was the vaunting of the officers and courtiers. A major boasted that he would make that scoundrel, Bonaparte, his groom." Every one, save the serious and reflecting men who had long remarked and deplored the degeneracy of the times, was sanguine of success. Alas! in this, as in too many other instances, achievement did not equal promise. The declaration of war was made on the 6th day of October, 1806; on the 14th, Bonaparte, with his irresistible forces, scattered the Prussians, as the chaff is driven by the wind, on the plains of Jena. On that fatal day perished both the prestige of the name of the great Frederick, and their wretched self-delusion. In a few days Napoleon was at their capital, occupying, if not revelling in, the deserted palaces of Frederick William III. The forces of the Prince of Ponte Corvo, (Bernadotte,) Soult and Murat drove a large Prussian army westward to Lübeck, and compelled them to lay down their arms, on the other side of that city, near the Danish frontier. Whilst Bonaparte, with the main body of his army, pursued the flying forces of the King eastward into Poland and Eastern Prussia, where the battles of Pultusk, Ostrolenka, Eylau, and Friedland, led to the treaty of Tilsit, and the utter prostration-not to say annihilation-of the Prussian kingdóm. The foot of the conqueror was even on the neck of the fallen and wretched foe.

Six long years of disgrace, distress, and deep humiliation, ensued. The sufferings which Prussia endured-the insults heaped upon the men, and the cruel injuries done to the women-have never been fully revealed to the world.* But these years of

Within the last few years many works, relating to this period of Prussia's humiliation, have ap peared in Germany, very few of which are known, even by title, to our American public. Many of these works are in the shape of "Memoirs" and **Records," and are more or less personal. They contain, however, very many facts of a national character, and they are deeply interesting as giving an insight into the state of things during that gloomy period. They contain details of the infamons conduct of the French officers and soldiers, which are truly appalling. It is probable, however, that the rapacity and violence of the French did not .much exceed those of the Prussians themselves in

affliction were profitable in the way of discipline. They led the good to seek help where only it could be found, in God. The their former wars with Austria, Poland, Russia, Saxony and Sweden. The retributive justice of God in the affairs of men is certain, and often wonderfully signal. The chalice which we commend to other lips will, sooner or later, be commended to

our own.

The insolence of Napoleon towards the fallen royal

house of Prussia, is well known. Neither the sex nor the beauty of the Queen, who was one of the loveliest of women, and who died of a broken heart, occasioned by the calamities of her country, could protect her against his base calumnies. On his way to St. Helena, and during the years of his confinement on that rock, he lost no opportunity of insultduct unworthy of a truly great man. Neither ing the memory of that excellent woman-a conScipio, nor Gustavus Adolphus, nor our own Wash ingion, could have been guilty of such ineffable

baseness.

That he should indulge his jeers and taunts against the King, was to be expected, considering the contempt in which he held him—a contempt which was shared by almost every other sovereign of the old dynasties of that day. One of the most amusing edge, we heard from the lips of Sir Robert Wilson, instances of this sort, of which we have any know at present the military Governor of Gibraltar. That wonderful man, whose own "Memoirs" would make one of the most entertaining books in the world, was several times sent by the British Government as "Military Commissioner," to attend the allied armies in their wars against Napoleon. In this capacity he was present in the campaign of the winter of 1806-7, in Poland and Eastern Prussia, and witnessed, we believe, the battle of Friedland. He was with the allied forces, in the same capacity, in the campaign of 1813, and saw the battle of Dresden, and that of Leipsic. He was very intimate with the late King of Prussia, and the Emperor Alexander, and ventured to accompany them to Tilsit, in the incognito of a Cossack officer. Bonaparte soon learned that he was there, and raved furiously one day at his own table, when those monarchs were his guests, declaring that he would hang Wilson, if he should catch him. The Emperor Alexander contrived to send a note to General Wilson, to apprise him of his danger, and to beseech him to fly. The Englishman immediately set out to quit the place, and on his way, with great sangfroid, passed by Bonaparte's quarters, leaning on the arm of General Worontzoff. Bonaparte, who was standing by the window, seeing him, asked the Emperor Alexander who it was that was walking with Worontzoff? He replied that it was a Cossack officer. The King of Prussia remarking that the countenance of Napoleon indicated both suspicion and vengeance, retired as soon as he could, and hastening down to the ferry, arrived just in time to see Wilson off. A moment only was spent in the King's relating to him what Bonaparte had said, and in giving him some instances of Napoleon's insolence to him and the Queen. Inter alia, he said, "To-day, at the dinner, at his own table, Bonaparte, remarking the rows of buttons on my pantaloons, (which studded the outer seams, from top to bottom, by way of ornament,) asked me, 'whether it required more time to button them from top to bottom, than from bottom to top? The insolent and unmannerly fellow " But Bonaparte cared very little about manners when he wished to insult a fallen foe, or an unyielding friend.

Among the most interesting of the works referred to at the head of this note, we may mention those written by Count Henkel, Karl Immerman, Profes

excellent King shared deeply in this conviction. A happy reaction took place; the plague of infidelity and irreligion was stayed; and a regenerating process commenced, affecting alike the court, the army and the nation. A deep sense of disgrace, combined with the indignation which in justice and oppression engendered, inflamed every heart, from the monarch on the throne, to the humblest peasant. The smothered fires gained strength year by year, until, when the proper time had come-the fatal year, to Napoleon, of 1813 -it burst forth like a volcano, and overwhelming the French, drove them out of Germany.

To say that Prussia lost everything at Jena, would be to utter what all the world has said these forty years past. To say that that defeat saved her, (by leading her in what was probably the only practicable way of regeneration,) is a paradox in which there is a pregnant meaning Another paradox has also been uttered respecting that same disastrous battle, namely, that Frederick the Great (by the blind and vain reliance of the Prussians on his name) was the cause of it.

Frederick William IV. was eleven years old when the battle of Jena was fought and his country ruined; and he was eighteen when the dreadful battle of Leipsic was fought, and the day of deliverance was come for down-trodden Prussia. And terribly was she avenged of her great enemy there, as well as at many other places, and among them the plains of Waterloo. Awaking from long years of oppression and anguish, she drove that enemy from her borders, nor ceased from the pursuit, until she saw him humbled in the dust. What a lesson of warning to the oppressor, and of hope to the oppressed, does her history teach!

In the month of May, 1840, died Fred erick William III. at his palace in Berlin. The first half of his reign was eminently

sor Steffeus, Ernest Moritz Arndt, Johannes Gustavus Droysen, Chamisso, and Varnhagen Von Ense--the last named of which has been translated into English, by Sir Alexander Duff Gordon, and was published in London, in 2 vols. 8vo., last year. This is a work full of interesting facts. The Was

ich erlebte of Professor Steffeus is even more interesting: it is quite voluminous, however, and has not en translated into English, so far as we know.

tall these works have appeared within the ven years.

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disastrous in many respects, but the last fifteen years were peaceful, prosperous, and in the main happy. Gradually the kingdom recruited its resources and its energies; its population has steadily increased; and its proper influence in the European family of nations has been recovered. The reign of the late King, however gloomy the times during the former portion of it, secured many blessings to the people. A number of important ameliorations in the administration of its affairs were effected. It is indebted to that monarch for the existence of two of its best universities—those of Berlin and Bonn*-and for the renovation of the rest. Above all, it owes to his wisdom and fostering care, both the existence and the high degree of perfection of its admirable School System, which has secured the i admiration and the imitation of all the German States, France, and several other countries.

It is true, that the nation were not well satisfied in regard to several subjects. In the first place, the King had promised, in 1815, to give his people a Constitution adapted to the demands of the age. Instead of this, he only restored provincial assemblies to those of the eight provinces of the realm which formerly had them, and created them in those which never had them. That these provincial assemblies, which are entirely consultative bodies, have been of use in directing the government, and in preparing the way for a constitutional government for the entire kingdom. cannot be denied; but they were far from fulfilling the expectations excited by the royal promise.

In the next place, the government sympathized entirely too much with Austria and Russia, in their abhorrence of everything like political agitation. In conse quence of this, many young men of the universities, as well as other suspected persons, were made to undergo severe punishments in the shape of imprisonment, fines, banishment, &c., which were alike excessive, unjust, and impolitic.

Again, the army was kept on a footing entirely too large for a nation not abounding in wealth, and having scarcely 14,000,000

*The University of Berlin was founded in 1809; that of Bonn in 1818.

of inhabitants. Indeed, the government was altogether too military in its spirit and character. By consequence, the burthens of the nation were very heavy.

Carried away by the desire of uniting the Lutheran and Reformed, or Calvinistic, Churches of his realm, in one "Evangelical Church," as it was called, he allowed measures to be employed to coerce the reluctant and the conscientiously opposed, which led to a grievous persecution, especially in Silesia.*

But whatever were the disappointments and grievances of the Prussians, they bore them patiently; for they entertained a heartfelt respect for Frederick William III. The belief was universal, that he was an honest and good man, who loved his people, and sincerely aimed at promoting his country's welfare. In that extreme simplicity of heart, for which the Germans are distinguished, the masses were ever ready to put the best construction on everything. When they heard of an instance of injustice on the part of the government officers, the common remark, especially among the peasants was, we are told, "Well, our good old Frederick knows nothing of this." They had sympathized with him, and he with them, in the great calamities which befell the nation, and which fell upon all-King as well as people;-and though they may never have esteemed him a great and capable prince, they believed him to be, what he eminently was, a good man.

*Judging from the well-known character of Frederick William III., we should come to the conelusion, that his ministers and other men of influence about him, were often much more to blaine than he, in regard to many of the unjust things done under his government. We, are quite sure that some of these men greatly abused the influence which they had with him. In particular, we believe that the cruel persecution of the Lutherans in Silesia, who could not be induced to come into the Union of the Churches on the royal basis, was greatly owing to false representations and bad counsel given him by his favorite chaplain, or court-preacher, Dr. Strauss-not to be confounded with the heresiarch of the same name. It is well known that Dr. S. was a vile flatterer of his late majesty, and a great enemy to all dissent. He is still alive. We hope the present King will be on his guard against him.

+Frederick William III. was a man of great purity of life, which is the more remarkable, inasmuch as he grew up in the midst of a court which was very dissolute, and among a people amid whom the foundations of virtue had been widely and deeply undermined by the principles of the Voltairian philosophy-which is only a euphonious and polite name for Infidelity. He loved his beautiful Queen, Louisa, (a princess of Mecklenburg Strelitz,) whom he married in 1793, and who died of

Reader! wilt thou pardon this long introduction to our subject-the life and character of Frederick William IV., the present King of Prussia? If thou wilt, we promise thee to enter at once upon it.

The youth and early manhood of this monarch, as has been seen, were passed amid scenes of painfully surpassing interest. At a very early age, he, with two of his younger brothers, William and Frederick, entered the military service of the country, and was present in several severe battles, and displayed great enthusiasm and courage in behalf of its prostrated interests and its bleeding honor. The great battle of Leipsic, in the autumn of 1813, may be said to have terminated the domination of the French in the north of Germany, for the fortresses remaining in their hands were surrendered a few weeks later.

But it was not until the battle of Waterloo had occurred, that the drama of the first Revolution of France terminated, and Germany and the world were forever delivered from the ambition and the arms of Napoleon. At this epoch Frederick William IV. was well advanced in his 20th year, and although he then felt that he might put off his arms-the exigency which had required their assumption having passed away-yet the spirit which the times had created has not even yet ceased to manifest itself in fondness for military display and the maintenance-of a large military establishment, which makes a very heavy draft annually on the treasury of the nation.

From 1815 to 1840 Frederick William enjoyed a long period of comparative leisure for the improvement of his mind and the enjoyment of domestic happiness, which it has been his good fortune to share to an extent which rarely falls to the lot of a prince, especially of one who is

grief for the losses of her country in 1810. She bore him four sons and three daughters, all of whom, we believe, still live. In the charming forest in the rear of the palace of Charlottenburg, some four miles distant from Berlin, he erected a small but appropriate mausoleum for her remains. On her tomb lies the exquisite statue which the sculptor Rauch made of purest marble. Nothing can exceed the sweet dignity of the countenance, and great propriety of drapery, which the artist has compelled the marble to express. The King was in the habit, when staying at Charlottenburg-which was often-of visiting this tomb daily, and was ever observed to "come out wiping the tears from his eyes."

heir to a throne. The leisure which he enjoyed, however, was but comparative; for being the Crown Prince, as the heirapparent is called in Germany and other Teutonic countries, he had to take more or less interest in the affairs of the government, and bear more or less of its burthens. This was more especially true of all that concerned the military department. Standing as near as he did to the throne, it was not proper for him to quit the country for any considerable periods. He visited, however, from time to time, the chief countries of Europe. With Germany he became familiar by travel. He visited Italy, France, Holland, England, Denmark, Russia, &c. To Holland and Russia he often went, having a sister married in each in the former to Prince Frederick, brother of the present King of that country, and in the latter to the Emperor. Of the institutions of England, and even of English literature, he has a considerable acquaint

ance.

and propriety of deportment, to her female subjects. It is said, by those who have means for forming a correct opinion, that she is sincerely pious. Her influence over her royal spouse has, we have reason to believe, been eminently happy.

That Frederick William IV. employed well the long period which he lived as Crown Prince, we have been assured by men who are well qualified to speak on the subject. The celebrated Baron Alexander Humboldt, the veteran traveller, himself a prince of the first rank in the scientific world, has been one of the most intimate friends of the King from his (the King's) youth. He was the intimate friend of the late King. From the lips of this distinguished man-an authority which few will be disposed to question*-we have ourselves heard the statement which we are about to give, namely: That the King received a private education from teachers who were employed in the palace for that purpose-a fact which he has never At a proper age he married a Bavarian ceased to deplore. It was his wish to go princess, with whom he has lived many to the university, and receive such an eduand happy years.* To the great regret cation as other young men, his equals in of the nation, they have no children. Of age, received there. But his father thought course his next brother, William, is heir this inconsistent with the dignity of his to the throne. The Queen was a Roman birth and position in life. By great diliCatholic at the time of her marriage. In gence he has, however, made himself a the course of a year or two she became a well-informed man. Baron Humboldt Protestant. Her conversion to the Prot- thinks that there is no monarch in Europe estant faith was an event which gave not superior to him in acquired knowledge, only her husband, but also her father-in-and styles him a "self-made man." In law, great joy. For whatever may be said of both, a want of attachment to the Protestant Religion can never with truth be charged upon either. It is the testimony of all, that her Majesty is a woman of the loveliest and purest character. Often as we have been in Prussia, we have never heard a word respecting her save what was to her praise. She is a pattern in unaffected goodness, and feminine grace

order to secure his own improvement, the King, whilst he was Crown Prince, (as he has done since he ascended the throne,) surrounded himself with literary and wellinformed men, from whose conversation, and even direct instructions, he has reaped immense advantages. We know not how many other modern languages he speaks, but we know that besides the German, his mother tongue, he speaks both French and English well, and writes the former (and probably the latter, although we canWe think it would be difficult to find a couple, not affirm this) with great beauty and fawhether in the ranks of princes or of untitled peo-cility. His intimate friends—his bosom ple, who enjoy greater domestic happiness than Frederick William IV. and his Queen. Beautiful, accomplished, and amiable, it is not wonderful that she secured from their earliest acquaintance his warmest affection. No one can be with them alone without being struck with the unaffected and sincere esteem and love which they entertain for each other. We have ourselves witnessed this, and have repeatedly heard the King address the Queen s his "Chère Elise :" her baptismal name is EliSeth.

* Nevertheless we have heard this authority called in question, and by whom do you think, dear reader? By an ignorant German quack, who came among us, not from Prussia, but from an obscure duchy in Germany, and who probably never was in Prussia at all. The reader may decide for himself which to believe-Alexander Humboldt or an illegitimate son of Esculapius!

friends, if we may so speak-during the period when he was Crown Prince, were (and they still are) Humboldt, Bunsen, Von Gerlach, (the General,) Von Græben, (the General and Count,) Von Arnim, and others of similar character; and if a man, be he prince or otherwise, is to be judged of by the company he keeps, as the old adage asserts, we think that Frederick William IV. is fairly entitled to the favorable opinion of mankind. But let this pass for what it is worth. The statement we have just made is true to the letter.

In his younger years Frederick William IV. displayed some traits of character which gave no little uneasiness to his friends, and which, in fact, made him not a few enemies. There was a certain hauteur in his manners that was offensive. His temper was quick, excitable, irritable even, and impatient. Withal, being a man of great wit and humor, he indulged too often in its use, and even sometimes in sarcasm-very dangerous weapons, whether in the hands of prince or common man. Time, and the good advice of his friends, especially the influence of the best of all his friends, his beloved Queen, have done much to overcome these infirmities and perversities of character. Still, we apprehend that there is need of further attention to this portion of the field of self-culture. Impatience, precipitation, and consequently rashness, are evils to which we are inclined to think his Majsty is peculiarly exposed.

At length, his father having gone down to the tomb, Frederick William IV. was

We have heard many anecdotes at Berlin, respecting the Queen's happy influence over her royal consort, some of them, doubtless, spocryphal enough. The following is, we have reason to believe, true; at any rate it is beautiful. The Queen early remarking the defects in the King's character referred to, endeavored to correct them, telling him that he should try to control his temper better, &c. But he used to say laughingly, “Oh, I'll do better when I become King." But she replied, "You ought to get the victory over your passions while you are a prince." It so happened that soon after he had ascended the throne, the Queen overheard him one day, talking boisterously with one of the ministers of his father, with whom he was probably displeased. Tremblingly alive to the honor of her husband, she ventured to go into the room where be and the minister were, and without taking any notice of them, she walked towards a window, apparently looking for something. The King hastened to her, and said, "My dear, what are you looking for? She replied in a low tone, "I am looking for the King!" He understood the hint, and ac companying her to the door, thanked her for her kindness, and governed his temper better during the rest of the interview with the minister.

called to ascend the throne of Prussia, (on the 7th of June, 1840,) in the 45th year of his age, and in the vigor of his strength. There were some things connected with the double event-the death of the father and the accession of the son-which were very touching. The King was from his youth distinguished for filial piety, and ever entertained for his father the greatest reverence. He was constantly with him in his last sickness, which was a painful and protracted one. Vast multitudes assembled in front of the palace when they heard that the old King was dying; and when his death was announced, they waited in silence for the new King to show himself on the elevated steps. This he did with great difficulty, being overcome with emotion.* All he could do was to bow in grateful acknowledgment to the multitude when they saluted him as their King, and cried out. God save the King." In a few days the oath of allegiance was administered in his presence, to all the great officers of state. When this was done, he came forward, of his own accord, and in the presence of a vast multitude, he swore with uplifted hand, that he would govern the kingdom according to the principles of truth and righteousness, so far as he could ascertain them.f

No sooner was Frederick William IV. seated on the throne of his fathers, than he set about the discharge of the important duties devolved upon him. Seven years and more have now passed away, during which he has been unremittingly occupied with the cares of his office. They have been seven eventful years, during which seeds have been sown that will bring forth a great harvest-whether of good or of evil remains to be seen-both in the Church

*We have been told on good authority that he not only called on his pious friends who were immediately around him, and especially his excellent wife, "to pray for him," saying "that he never needed their prayers so much in his life," but that he also wrote to an ambassador of his kingdom, in whose religious character he had great confidence, a very little time after his father's death, to this effect: "My dear, my father has just deceased, and I am going to ascend the throne! Pray for me, O pray for me, that God would give me the grace and wisdom I need to enable me to govern this people aright."

This ceremony may be considered as taking the place of the formal coronation which prevails in other monarchies of Europe; for the Kings of Prussia are never crowned. This is a remarkable exception to a custom which has long prevaied in regal governments.

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