The results, however, which flowed from the successful exertions of those writers, who thus incurred the mighty displeasure, and the affected contempt, of Napoleon, are well known. But, no sooner had the Allied Monarchs reaped the fruits which had been created for them by the powerful confederacy of intellect which had espoused their cause, than they turned upon the authors of their own advantages,-treated them with every contumely,reproached them with having formerly been Republicans,—and, forgetting the solemn compromise between the Monarchical and Republican principles into which they had entered, not only dispensed with their future services, but violated their own Royal and Imperial engagements. The retort of these men, as plainly indicated in their conduct, was simply this:-"If you will not forgive us our old sins, all that we have to do is to sin again!" They kept their resolution! All the ferment which has been excited in Germany, since the downfall of Napoleon, has been occasioned by the exertions of those very men whom the Allied Monarchs were so impolitic as to detach from their interests! Professors Arndt, Jahn, and Oken, in return for the invaluable services which they rendered to the common cause of Europe, are now immured in Prussian dungeons; and the ungrateful and cruel treatment of these eminent characters, not less than the influence of their writings, has contributed to produce the present fermentation in Germany! When will Governments cease to struggle with the overwhelming power of intellect? When will they learn that all their efforts against it must ultimately be worse than fruitless, by recoiling upon themselves? When will they have the wisdom to avail themselves of the lessons of experience, of which the very period of which I have been speaking presents one of the most instructive; and by the discovery that the alliance of intellect is the best security for their power, erect their thrones in the hearts and affections of their subjects? It is a reflection which may be applied with justice to all Governments without exception, that they are less disposed to reward than to punish! It is a truth, of the importance of which they cannot be too soon convinced, that if they were as ready to reward as to punish, there would be a speedy and a most gratifying diminution of discontent in the world! The non observance of this plain and practical maxim is the chief cause of the discontents in Germany, and with the conduct All Europe recollects the strenuous exertions which were made, during that dreadful crisis, by the German Literati, and especially those of Prussia, viz. Professors Arndt, Jahn, and Oken, the first of whom was the Author of the celebrated pamphlet called Geist der Zeit (The Spirit of the Times), for the mere publication of which Palm was shot by order of Buonaparte. Indeed Arndt not only contributed by his own writings to rouse the public mind, but he was directed by the Emperor of Russia, during the German and Russian invasions of the French in 1812, to translate also every thing that had been written by me against Napoleon and his military system; and it was after being informed of this circumstance, that I wrote a pamphlet entitled "An Appeal to the Germans on the Necessity of Outlawing Buonaparte," which I sent to the Prussian Minister Baron De Stein, through the medium of his Excellency Count Minster, then and now the Hanoverian Minister at our Court. It was in this work that I had the courage, and I will say the honesty, to advance and maintain opinions respecting the means of getting rid of Napoleon, for which I was anathematized in both Houses of Parliament; but on the precise principles of which the Allied Sovereigns felt themselves compelled to act in 1815, as appeared by the well-known State Paper called The Declaration of Vienna. I had long been of opinion that the outlawry of Buonaparte, and his consequent separation from the people of France in the objects of the war, would be found the most effectual means of breaking his power to pieces; and it is well known that The Declaration of Vienna contributed most materially to the final issue of the contest. It was also through my writings, then translated in Germany, and through the hints and suggestions which I had communicated to poor Kotzebue, that the Tugend Bund was established in Germany, which then counted amongst its Members the most celebrated characters in Prussia, viz. Baron De Stein, Justus Gruner, Privy Councillor, Generals Blucher, Gneisenau, De York, Bulow, &c. My writings, as well as the proceedings of this Society, had such an effect on the mind and apprehensions of Buonaparte, that in a Paris Paper called the Journal de l'Empire, of the 22d October, 1813, he betrayed his fears by the publication of the following article:: "Leipsic, Oct. 16, 1813. "The Allied Sovereigns have for some time been issuing Proclamations, which may literally be denominated Pamphlets. It is inconceivable that these Sovereigns should so far forget their rank, as to sign productions issuing from the brains of a Kotzebue, a Schlegel, a Goldsmith, &c. &c." The results, however, which flowed from the successful exertions of those writers, who thus incurred the mighty displeasure, and the affected contempt, of Napoleon, are well known. But, no sooner had the Allied Monarchs reaped the fruits which had been created for them by the powerful confederacy of intellect which had espoused their cause, than they turned upon the authors of their own advantages,-treated them with every contumely,reproached them with having formerly been Republicans,—and, forgetting the solemn compromise between the Monarchical and Republican principles into which they had entered, not only dispensed with their future services, but violated their own Royal and Imperial engagements. The retort of these men, as plainly indicated in their conduct, was simply this: "If you will not forgive us our old sins, all that we have to do is to sin again!" They kept their resolution! All the ferment which has been excited in Germany, since the downfall of Napoleon, has been occasioned by the exertions of those very men whom the Allied Monarchs were so impolitic as to detach from their interests! Professors Arndt, Jahn, and Oken, in return for the invaluable services which they rendered to the common cause of Europe, are now immured in Prussian dungeons; and the ungrateful and cruel treatment of these eminent characters, not less than the influence of their writings, has contributed to produce the present fermentation in Germany! When will Governments cease to struggle with the overwhelming power of intellect? When will they learn that all their efforts against it must ultimately be worse than fruitless, by recoiling upon themselves? When will they have the wisdom to avail themselves of the lessons of experience, of which the very period of which I have been speaking presents one of the most instructive; and by the discovery that the alliance of intellect is the best security for their power, erect their thrones in the hearts and affections of their subjects? It is a reflection which may be applied with justice to all Governments without exception, that they are less disposed to reward than to punish! It is a truth, of the importance of which they cannot be too soon convinced, that if they were as ready to reward as to punish, there would be a speedy and a most gratifying diminution of discontent in the world! The non observance of this plain and practical maxim is the chief cause of the discontents in Germany, and with the conduct of the Congress of Vienna has produced a state of things of which it is painful to contemplate the termination! From these causes, in conjunction with the conduct of the illomened Congress of Vienna, to which I shall hereafter advert, the prevalence of discontent in Germany may be said to be universal. In France, however, the state of the public mind is very different, very different, indeed, from what is pretty generally represented and believed. It is supposed that the Bourbons are unpopular with all classes. and all parties in France. This, however, is not the fact. The only discontented parties are the half-pay officers, and a few emigrants who have lost their property by the Revolution. All that the former want is to be led on to fresh acts of pillage; and if at the same time an assurance were given, that the revolutionary principle of promotion would be again adopted and acted upon, the French army would fight with as much zeal under the white flag, as they did under the tri colored! As for the poor unfortunate emigrants, all that they want, is, that the Charter should be destroyed, in order that they may regain the possession of their property :-But the number of these persons is so insignificant, that their hostility is not of any importance; and if the French Government were to assign an adequate fund for their maintenance or indemnity (and surely it is no more than justice that such a fund should be provided), I am very well assured that their opposition, such as it is, would easily be overcome. These are the two principal parties that are disaffected to the present French Government. On the other hand, the whole of the Landed Interest, not only those who have purchased national domains, but even those origi nal proprietors who have retained their property throughout the Revolution, are sincerely attached to the existing order of things, -the reaction either of Ultra Royalism or of Jacobinism, which might be produced by a change, being equally dangerous to them. -The Cri de ralliement, in most countries, but especially in France, is self-interest; and all the French Ministers who have succeeded each other since the restoration of the Bourbons,-whether Talleyrand, or De Cazes, or De Richelieu, or De Villele,have found the necessity of governing France constitutionally,that is, of quieting the apprehensions, not only of the landed interest, but of the possessors of all other revolutionary interests, such as state pensions and places, and of religiously abstaining from disturbing all existing property and rights. So long as a Bourbon Ministry act upon this principle, they may defy all the croakings of the pseudo-liberals, and will assuredly be able to defeat the plots of the Messieurs of the demie solde. All other considerations, as to the degree of freedom allowed to the press, &c. &c. are of minor importance, as every body knows that there is infinitely more liberty in France now, than there was under Buonaparte. But even if there were less, it would be of little consequence, as Frenchmen of any property would never revolt for such insubstantial causes as these. The condition of Spain and Portugal also requires a few observations en passant. In the former country, as is known, a Constitution was concocted, while the King was a prisoner in France! It was a Constitution good enough, perhaps, for an absent King, but was certainly never intended to be compatible with the actual presence of a Sovereign who was capable of exercising the functions of his Government; for it offered conditions to Royalty, to which scarcely a Corregidor could have been expected to accede! The truth is, that the nominal recognition of a King in the Spanish Constitution was a mere farce; and as a proof that the Spanish Cortes never wished for the presence even of a nominał King amongst them, they not only refused to ratify the Treaty which Ferdinand during his captivity in France had entered into with Napoleon Buonaparte, although it would have enabled him instantly to return to his dominions, but they even threatened to destroy the Duke de San Carlos, who was the bearer of the Convention, and who was actually obliged to steal back to France, without having been able to obtain even an interview with the Spanish executive. It is no justification of this perfidious conduct to say, that the Treaty was injurious to Spanish interests; since the Spaniards knew very y well that the Treaty was nothing more than waste paper, that it was signed by Buonaparte when he knew that his power was on the eve of dissolution, when his own downfall was at hand, and when he was conscious, therefore, that he could no longer retain Ferdinand a prisoner; and the truth of this, indeed, he himself demonstrated by setting Ferdinand at liberty, notwithstanding the refusal of the Cortes to ratify the Treaty! Is it then to be wondered at, that Ferdinand, on his return from France, dissolved a Government which had plainly proved its disposition to subsist altogether independently of him? Is there any reflecting man who can blame him for having freed himself from the Constitution, and from the Authors of it, who had refused to confirm an act which was to give him his liberty, and to render the Constitution itself complete, by the actual appearance of that King, whose functions the Constitution pretended to recognise ? |