irring
appeals to rouse the Germans against the oppressions of Napoleon. In
consequence he was obliged to flee to Sweden. After three years he
returned under an assumed name, and again took up his work at
Greifswald. In 1812, after the occupation of Pomerania by the French,
his fierce denunciations again forced him to flee, this time to Russia,
the only refuge open to him. There he joined Baron von Stein, who
eagerly made use of him in his schemes for the liberation of Germany. At
this time his finest poems were written: those kindling war songs that
appealed so strongly to German patriotism, when "songs were sermons and
sermons were songs." The most famous of these, 'What is the German's
Fatherland?' 'The Song of the Field-marshal,' and 'The God Who Made
Earth's Iron Hoard,' still live as national lyrics.

Arndt was also constantly occupied in writing pamphlets of the most
stirring nature, as their titles show:--'The Rhine, Germany's River,
but Never Germany's Boundary'; 'The Soldier's Catechism'; and 'The
Militia and the General Levy.' After the disasters of the French in
Russia, he returned to Germany, unceasingly devoted to his task of
rousing the people. Though by birth a Swede, he had become at heart a
Prussian, seeing in Prussia alone the possibility of German unity.

In 1817 he married Schleiermacher's sister, and the following year was
appointed professor of history in the newly established University of
Bonn. Shortly afterward suspended, on account of his liberal views, he
was forced to spend twenty years in retirement. His leisure gave
opportunity for literary work, however, and he availed himself of it by
producing several historical treatises and his interesting
'Reminiscences of My Public Life.' One of the first acts of Frederick
William IV., after his accession, was to restore Arndt to his
professorship at Bonn. He took a lively interest in the events of 1848,
and belonged to the deputation that offered the imperial crown to the
King of Prussia. He continued in the hope and the advocacy of German
unity, though he did not live to see it realized. The ninetieth birthday
of "Father Arndt," as he was fondly called by his countrymen, was
celebrated with general rejoicing throughout Germany. He died shortly
afterward, on January 29th, 1860.

Arndt's importance as a poet is due to the stirring scenes of his
earlier life and the political needs of Germany. He was no genius. He
was not even a deep scholar. His