"The prince, as well as General von der Tann, who was with him, fully acknowledged the importance of a union of the Bavarian with the Hanoverian army--they were ready to do everything in their power--as indeed had been intended at the outset of the march. At the same time his royal highness, as well as the chief of the general staff, expressed great dissatisfaction at the march of the Hanoverian army; it was then really not known where it was, and, according to information brought in, the greatest strategical faults had been committed. The prince asked me about the strength of our army, and when I replied that, according to my estimation and to the intelligence I had heard, about nineteen thousand men were under arms, he replied, 'With nineteen thousand men you should cut your way through the enemy, and not march hither and thither into positions where you must be surrounded.' General von der Tann nodded approval."
The emperor bent his head and sighed.
"I heard this with great sorrow," added the general, "and my grief was greater since I could not deny the truth of the judgment pronounced at the Bavarian headquarters. I am a general staff officer, your majesty," he said, with a sigh, "but I must own the marches which our army have made are to me quite incomprehensible, and that it would have been much easier on our part to reach the Bavarians by a hasty march, than to await their advance with these apparently aimless runnings to and fro."
"The poor king!" cried the emperor, in a sorrowful voice.
"Naturally," continued von Knesebeck, "I did not utter these ideas in the Bavarian head-quarters; on the contrary, I urged a hasty advance for the relief of the Hanoverian army--the only course as matters then were which could possibly save it. Prince Karl, in spite of his displeasure, was quite ready to comply; he immediately commanded an advance by the forest of Thuringia upon Gotha, and informed Prince Alexander of his movements, that the eighth army corps might march at the same time. But," he added, with a sigh, "the Bavarian army had been reduced to a peace footing."
"Impossible!" cried the emperor. "Bavaria urged upon the confederation so strongly the policy that led to war."
General von Knesebeck slightly shrugged his shoulders.
"Under the circumstances," he said, "the Bavarian army was not in a condition to act rapidly and forcibly. However, they set out. Prince Karl removed his headquarters to Meiningen, and with a heavy heart full of misgivings I accompanied him thither. The following day we were to proceed; then Count Ingelheim arrived, and brought the news of the catastrophe of Langensalza!"
"What a melancholy combination of disastrous events!" cried the emperor.
"Under these circumstances," continued the general, "Prince Karl was quite right in abandoning his onward march and ordering flank movements, through which to join the eighth army corps at Friedberg, seventeen miles from Meiningen. I returned here with a sorrowful heart, and found, alas! the news of the still heavier blow which has smitten your majesty and our cause."