"By idle words and dastard wiles
Hath he the mastery gained;
He holds our sacred fatherland
In slavery enchained.
Fear hath rendered truth discreet,
And Honor croucheth at his feet.
Is this his work? ah no! 'tis thine!
This thou alone hast done.
For him thy banner waved, for him
Thy sword the battle won
By thy disputes he gaineth strength,
By thy disgrace full honor,
And 'neath the German hero's arm
His weakness doth he cover:
Glittering erewhile in borrowed show,
The Gallic cock doth proudly crow.">[
[Footnote 7: The states of Würtemberg imparted, among other things, the following piece of information to the house of Habsburg: "That the heads of a democratical government should spread principles destructive to order among its neighbors was easily explicable, but that Austria should take advantage of the war to derange the internal mechanism of neighboring states was inexcusable."—Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 113. The Bavarian proclamation (Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 135) says, "Princes of the blood royal unblushingly subscribed to proclamations placing them on an equality with the men of the Revolution of 1793." The Moniteur, Napoleon's Parisian organ, said in August, 1809, after the conclusion of the war, "The mighty hand of Napoleon has snatched Germany from the revolutionary abyss about to engulf her.">[
[Footnote 8: Posselt's Political Annals at that time contained an essay, in which the attempt made by the Austrian cabinet to call the Germans to arms was designated as a "crime" against the sovereigns "among whom Germany was at that period partitioned, and in whose hearing it was both foolish and dangerous to speak of Germany." Derision has seldom been carried to such a pitch.]
[Footnote 9: The finest feat of arms was that performed by the Austrian infantry, who repulsed twelve French regiments of cuirassiers. This picked body of cavalry was mounted on the best and strongest horses of Holstein and Mecklenburg (for Napoleon overcame Germany principally by means of Germany), and bore an extremely imposing appearance. The Austrian infantry coolly stood their charge and allowed them to come close upon them before firing a shot, when, taking deliberate aim at the horses, they and their riders were rolled in confused heaps on the ground. Three thousand cuirasses were picked up by the victors after the battle.]
[Footnote 10: Napoleon proclaimed independence to the Hungarians, but was unable to gain a single adherent among them.]
[Footnote 11: Aretin about this time published a "Representation of the Patriots of Austria to Napoleon the Great," in which that great sovereign was entreated to bestow a new government upon Austria and to make that country, like the new kingdom of Westphalia, a member of his family of states. A fitting pendant to John Müller's state speech, and so much the more uncalled-for as it was exactly the Austrians who, during this disastrous period, had, less than any of the other races of Germany, lost their national pride.]
[Footnote 12: They were afterward condemned to hard labor in the
Hieres Isles, nor was it until 1814 that the survivors, one hundred
and twenty in number, were restored to their homes.—Allgemeine
Zeitung, 1814. Appendix 91.]
[Footnote 13: Vide Napier's Peninsular War for an account of the military achievements of the Spaniards.—Trans.]