ia the warlike enthusiasm of the people was carried to the
very highest pitch. The Court, the aristocracy, but more powerful than
either, the press, stimulated national courage by recalling to their
minds the famous deeds of the Great Frederick, and bidding them remember
that Rossbach was won against an army of Frenchmen. The students--a
powerful and an organized class--stood foremost in this patriotic
movement. Their excited imaginations warmed by the spirit-stirring songs
of Kerner and Uhland, and glowing with the instincts of that chivalry
which is a German's birthright, they spread over the country, calling
upon their fellow-subjects to arise and defend the "Vaterland" against
the aggression of the tyrant. So unequivocally was this feeling
expressed, that even before the negotiations had lost their pacific
character, the youthful aristocracy of Berlin used to go and sharpen
their swords at the door-sill of the French ambassador at Berlin.

To the exalted tone of patriotic enthusiasm the beautiful Queen of
Prussia most powerfully contributed. The crooked and tortuous windings
of diplomatic intrigue found no sympathy in her frank and generous
nature. Belying on the native energy of German character, she bade an
open and a bold defiance to her country's enemy, and was content to
stake all on the chances of a battle. The colder and less confident mind
of the king was rather impelled by the current of popular opinion than
induced by conviction to the adoption of this daring policy. But once
engaged in it, he exhibited the rarest fortitude and the most unyielding
courage.

Such, in brief, was the condition of that people, such the warlike
spirit they breathed, when in the autumn of 1806 the cry of war
resounded from the shores of the Baltic to the frontiers of Bohemia.
Never was the effective strength of the Prussian army more conspicuous.
Their cavalry, in number and equipment, was confessedly among the first,
if not the very first, in Europe; while the artillery maintained a
reputation which, since the days of Frederick, had proclaimed it the
most perfect arm of the service.

The Emperor knew these things well, and did not undervalue them; and
it was with a very different impression of his present enemy from that
which filled his mind in the Austrian campaign, that he remarked to
Soult, "We shall want the mattock in this war,"--thereby implying that,
against such an adversary, fieldworks and intrenchments would be nee