was shot; that out of deference,
however, to the Duke's wishes, he will abstain from this measure; but
that the Duke must take on himself the responsibility of its
non-enforcement." In another letter he wrote: "When the Duke of
Wellington declares himself against the execution of Bonaparte, he
thinks and acts in the matter as a Briton. Great Britain is under
weightier obligations to no mortal man than to this very villain; for,
by the occurrences whereof he is the author, her greatness, prosperity,
and wealth have attained their present elevation. The English are the
masters of the seas, and have no longer to fear any rivalry, either in
this dominion or the commerce of the world. It is quite otherwise with
us Prussians. We have been impoverished by him. Our nobility will never
be able to right itself again." There is much of the _perfide Albion_
nonsense in this. In a letter which Gneisenau, in 1817, wrote to Sir
Hudson Lowe, then Governor of St. Helena, he said: "Mille et mille fois
j'ai porte mes souvenirs dans cette vaste solitude de l'ocean, et sur ce
rocher interessant sur lequel vous etes le gardien du repos public de
l'Europe. De votre vigilance et de votre force de caractere depend notre
salut; des que vous vous relachez de vos mesures de rigueur contre _le
plus ruse scelerat du monde_, des que vous permettriez a vos subalternes
de lui accorder par une pitie mal entendue des faveurs, notre repos
serait compromis, et les honnetes gens en Europe s'abandonneraient a
leurs anciennes inquietudes." An amusing instance of his prejudice
occurs in another part of the same letter, where he says: "Le fameux
manuscrit de Ste. Helene a fait une sensation scandaleuse et dangereuse
en Europe, surtout en France, ou, quoiqu'il ait ete supprime, il a ete
lu dans toutes les coteries de Paris, et ou meme les femmes, au lieu
nuits a le copier." Gneisenau was in this country in his youth,--one of
those Hessians who were bought by George III. to murder Americans who
would not submit to his crazy tyranny. That was an excellent school in
which to learn the creed of assassins; for there was not a Hessian in
the British service who was not as much a bravo as any ruffian in Italy
who ever sold his stiletto's service to some cowardly vengeance-seeker.
It ought, in justice, to be added, that Sir Walter Scott states that in
1816 "there existed a considerable party in Britain who were of opinion
that the British government would best have discha