as established facts. Of this, however, we feel assured that after the inquiries of these historians, the hope must be abandoned of clearing Thugut's memory from the charge, that his intrigues originated an Austrian policy, which, instead of a safeguard, became a standing danger to the peace of Europe. For it was Thugut who, while contemptuously neglecting the internal affairs of the monarchy, created for it that anomalous condition of existence, which bore in it the seeds of future decay. And this he effected, not because he steadily pursued fixed aims, or persistently defended his sovereign's throne against real dangers. The Secret Declaration was not his own work; and it remained in nearly every point a dead letter. His fear of a Prussian invasion was nothing less than a nightmare. His scheming activity brought to Austria no real accession of strength, while it led her back into the dangerous paths out of which she had been kept by the wiser self-restraint of Leopold II. He revived the worse half of the policy of Joseph II.; and his restless efforts to make Austria reap the results of a confusion which he had helped to foster, produced as their ultimate result, the exclusion of Austria from Germany. That exclusion is one of the deplorable fruits of the misconducted Revolutionary War. Deplorable because, although Kleindeutschthum may have its historical justification, even its partisans, if they are the true patriots which we believe them to be, can hardly regard it as other than an unhappy necessity. On the other hand, it has been once more proved by this narrative, that, while in the Revolutionary War, Germany was abandoned by Austria, Prussia did less than nothing towards establishing a claim to the hegemony forfeited by her rival. If her Government indulged the hope of developing the Treaty of Basle into a general peace, and yet retaining the whole of the territory of the Empire,'* that hope was frustrated, not only because Thugut regarded this treaty as a sign that Prussia was concocting the broadest and blackest schemes against Austria,'t but because Prussia was trembling for her illgotten Polish gains, and was half-hearted in every cause that did not concern her own immediate aggrandisement. Suffering and sacrifice alone were to make her worthy of the destiny which awaited her, but which she had as yet failed to recognise. In taking leave, for the present, of this remarkable work, we trust we need say no more to commend it to the attentive study of English readers. The welcome which they will accord to this History,' will not be dimished by the satisfaction, which they * History,' vol. iv. p. 289. Polens Untergang,' &c., p. 140. will will derive from its justification of the conduct of England in the earlier passages of the war. Professor von Sybel, as he has proved in his parliamentary, as well as in his literary career, is no blind worshipper of English institutions; and this gives a double value to his vindication of the sincerity of the great English minister who, more fully perhaps than any of his predecessors or successors, represented the nation whose affairs he directed. Were space left us, we would endeavour to show wherein he seems to us to have done justice to Mr. Pitt, and wherein to have passed with singular leniency over his political errors. We would attempt to indicate how he has insufficiently marked the results of the conversion of a just war for the defence of English interests and the peace of Europe into an unjustifiable interference with a foreign nation's settlement of its own destiniesan omission dangerous in days when Lord Macaulay's antithetical platitude still finds acceptance; that if Pitt 'did not choose to oppose himself, side by side with Fox, to the public feeling, he should have taken the advise of Burke, and should have availed himself of that feeling to the full extent.' But these points will naturally attract the attention and consideration of English readers. We may therefore conclude by congratulating the latter on the circumstance, that Professor von Sybel should have found so competent an interpreter as Dr. Perry. The highest praise to be bestowed upon a translator is that of bene latuit; and an acknowledgment of the extreme rarity of the occasions on which we have found it necessary to contrast Dr. Perry with his original,* is the sole tribute which we need pay to the former, and, we dare say, the only one which he has desired in return for his arduous labours. * The translation of a remarkable passage, vol. iv., p. 73, is marred by a doubtful version of the author's expression: Der gegenseitige Hass lag hier seit vier Jahrhunderten in den Seelen.' This passage is rendered by Dr. Perry: Mutual hatred had glowed in the minds of Poles and Prussians for centuries.' Of what Prussians is Dr. Perry speaking with reference to the first of the four centuries thus vaguely indicated? Of the members of the Prussian League of 1440, which led to the peace of Thorn, or of the Knights of the German Order, whom that peace reduced to vassals of the Polish Crown? Again (vol. i. p. 364) the English Translator, but not his original, has antedated the creation of the electorate of Hesse-Cassel, which only took place in 1803, three years before the extinction of the Empire. ART. ART. VII.-1. Deutschland's Kampf- und Freiheitslieder. Illustrirt von Georg Bleibtreu. Leipzig, 1865. Berlin, 1860. Berlin, 1842. 2. Lieder zu Schutz und Trutz. Berlin, 1870. Darmstadt, 1870. YERMANY has at every period of its history been rich in Tacitus notices the war songs of the national songs. Germans as a peculiarity too striking to be overlooked. should find little difficulty in putting together the whole history of Germany, so far as it is known, in all its boldest and most striking outlines, in contemporary patriotic songs; that is to say, in songs inspired by the great crises, whether of misfortune or triumph, through which the race has been called to pass, and familiar to the men whose doings or whose dangers made the history of their times. But the present is not the place or the time for giving our readers, even in the most interesting succession of ballads, a résumé of the history of nearly half the continent of Europe. Our eyes are too intently fixed on the immediate theatre of the great events of 1870, to care very much for the history of bygone ages, except so far as it may serve as a commentary on, or supply an explanation of, some of the peculiarities we may notice in the times themselves, and more notably, in accordance with the title of our article, in the patriotic songs of the period. The works, titles of which we have placed at the head of our article, are, with the exception of those by individual writers, collections, large and small, of patriotic and war songs. 'Deutschland's Kampf- und Freiheitslieder' is a very beautifully illustrated work, the date of which shows it to be anterior to the German war of 1866, but it is notwithstanding, in its whole scope and execution, most appropriate to the present time. The campaign of 1870 will render necessary a much enlarged edition, but will by no means put the present one out of date. The second publication on our list, the Songs of Defence and Defiance,' has been prepared in aid of the German Sick and Wounded Fund, and consists of contributions from a vast number of the living poets of Germany, inspired by the circumstances of the time, and printed, for the most part, in facsimile from the autographs of the songwriters themselves. We shall allow our extracts to speak for themselves as to the spirit of these productions. There is naturally a prejudice against charity contributions,' in a literary sense. They are often given, like the doubtful shilling or sixpence at a Vol. 129.—No. 258. 2 K church church collection, as the only way of getting rid of a sort of incubus which is felt to be too nearly had to circulate boldly, and too nearly good to throw quite away. In fact, as we shall have occasion to see, there are some very good songs, among a number that are fairly respectable, though not specially interesting to English readers. The 'Lieder für das deutsche Volk in Waffen' is the most comprehensive of a vast number of similar compilations in the pamphlet form which have come under our notice, containing almost every song which is to be found in any of its smaller rivals. In all these collections, Arndt and Körner, by the best of rights, take the chief and most prominent places; and though the former has been dead ten years, and the latter died a hero's death in 1813, a few hours after writing his most famous 'Battle Song,' the national ideas which both entertained have been so mighty in their influence on the men and the songs of to-day that we cannot leave them altogether without notice. Arndt's song of the Fatherland' is too well known to be quoted here. But we pass on to the one which he wrote when Thiers was stirring up the French to war, in 1841. It is an advance on the 'Fatherland' song of 1813: the former was a call to his fellow-men to break the yoke of an intolerable slavery; the latter is a mustering of united Germans to invade France, and breathes a spirit of vengeance, which the conquest of Paris and the hostile occupation of France had not assuaged. WAR-SONG AGAINST THE FRENCH. If the Frenchmen again must provoke us to fight, And the storm-wind of war sweep our Assemble, my Germany, rise in thy might, From hill and from valley, from far and from near, And shout: To the Rhine, cross the river, advance! All Germany, on, into France! They choose it. Then, patience of Germany, break! From the Belt to the Rhine beat the drum! The debt they have owed us so long we will take, Up, Frenchmen, bestir you, we come! To the singing of swords and the tilting of lances, We'll lead you the wildest, the bloodiest dances, And shout: To the Rhine, cross the river, advance! All Germany, on, into France!' Mein einiges Deutschland, mein kühnes, heran ! Wir wollen ein Liedlein euch singen, Von dem, was die schleichende List euch gewann, Von Strassburg und Metz und Lothringen! Zurück sollt ihr zahlen, heraus sollt ihr geben! So stehe der Kampf uns auf Tod und auf So klinge die Losung: Zum Rhein ! Uebern Alldeutschland in Frankreich hinein !' Mein einiges Deutschland, mein freies, heran ! Sie wollen, sie sollen es haben! Auf! Sammle und rüste dich stark wie Und bringe die blutigen Gaben! Du, das sie nun nimmer mit Listen zer- Erbrause wie Windsbraut aus schwarzen So klinge die Losung: 'Zum Rhein ! Uebern Alldeutschland in Frankreich hinein!' Our readers will not fail to notice, from the words printed in italics, that the present popular demand in Germany for the restoration of Alsace and Lorraine, which presents such formidable obstacles to the conclusion of peace, dates from an earlier period than the existing war. The very word restoration has a plausible sound, and serves to cover a great injustice. There can be no doubt that the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine are Frenchmen to the back-bone, and view with horror and detestation the idea of being annexed to Germany. It would be an outrage upon modern civilisation, an affront to the whole of Europe, and a perpetual disgrace to Germany herself, if she annexed to her dominions an alien population, against their will, simply by the right of conquest. It appears to us that a possession of two hundred years gives nearly as good a title as one of two thousand; and if nations are to demand back territory, of which they have been deprived in former ages, the French might, with almost as much justice or injustice, claim the whole of the left bank of the Rhine on the plea that it had once belonged to the Gauls before Ariovistus and the Germans crossed the river. This period also gave birth to Arndt's additional verses to his 'Fatherland' song, written on the occasion of the great Arminiusfest, in the summer of 1841. We venture to give them as being little known even to English readers who are familiar with the song itself: |