er
of a Hanoverian. I have only one fatherland, and that is Germany; and
as, according to the ancient constitution, I belonged only to my
_whole_ country, and not to any particular part of it, so my heart is
given still to the German fatherland, and not to this or that
province. In this moment of important development, the dynasties are
in fact quite indifferent to me; I view them only as instruments. My
wish is, that Germany should become great and strong, and regain its
ancient integrity, independence, and nationality; and that it should
attain and firmly maintain this position, between France on the one
hand and Austria on the other, is as much the interest of Europe in
general as of this particular part of it; and it seems to me equally
plain, that this great European object cannot possibly be attained by
means of the present rotten and crumbling old machinery. This were to
erect the system of an artificial military boundary on the ruins of
the old baronial castles, and the walls and towns of fortified
cities, and to throw aside altogether the ideas of Vauban, Cohorn,
and Montalembert.

"My confession of faith in this matter is contained in one
word--UNITY. And if my plan does not please you, take another: Put
Austria in the place of Prussia, and make it lord of Germany--if this
be practicable--only don't bring back the old Montagues and Capulets,
and the halls of the old barons. If the bloody contest which Germany
has already stood for twenty years, and is now called upon to undergo
again, be to end in a FARCE, ('_mit einem possenspiel endigen_,') I
for one shall prefer to have nothing to do with the matter, and will
take myself back into private life with all possible speed and
comfort."

In this letter we see applied to the political constitution of Germany, as
it was to be arranged at the peace, all that comprehensive grandeur of
idea, combined with decision and despotism (it would be false to use a
milder word) of execution, which had, in the single year 1808, done such
wonders in reconstructing the social fabric in Prussia. But it was one
thing to deal despotically with the internal government of one
state--especially after a battle of Jena!--and another thing to apply the
same over-riding principle to the complex relations of many states. It was
one thing to say to the debase