"Your Highness has taken me by the hand. Your father declared that he
would never voluntarily offer his hand to me or my confederates,
although it were necessary to do so if we meant to give him a pledge of
our allegiance.

"You cannot remember the circumstance.

"After being imprisoned for five years, we were pardoned, and I and two
of my prison-mates were elected members of the Parliament.

"The Jurists objected to our assuming the privileges of citizenship.

"The House which acknowledged our election was dissolved, naturally
enough, by Metternich's order. A new one met, and, as we had in the
meanwhile been re-elected, it confirmed the validity of our election.
Your father--I fully acknowledge his many acts of benevolence--was
obliged to extend his hand to us in order that we might take the oath.

"There are no words that fitly describe the wicked man who lived in the
imperial city, and to whom the sovereign German princes were obedient
subjects. In future days it will seem incredible, that, in obedience to
orders from Vienna, the German princes ordered our youth, under heavy
penalties, to desist from improving their physical strength by
gymnastic exercises.

"Perhaps you never knew that even singing clubs were forbidden, and
that officials who had been connected with them were regarded with
suspicion.

"Is it conceivable that a government which forbids physical development
by means of gymnastics, and spiritual elevation by means of song, can
for a moment have faith in its own stability?

"I am not easily moved to hatred; but, even now, the name of that man
fills me with indignation.

"What crime had we been guilty of? Why, only this: with a youthful
confidence in solemn promises, we had simply held fast to the idea that
Germany had freed itself from the Corsican yoke in order to become a
free, united empire.

"You cannot conceive, your Highness, how many noble-hearted men were
thrown into dungeons, or driven into exile in those days. Who can
measure what noble gifts ran to waste.

"When I think of these things, a sad picture presents itself to my
mind's eye.

"Among our fellow-prisoners at the fortress, there was a young man who
had already begun to lecture at the university.

"His father was an eminent philologist, and had been removed from his
professorship for permitting himself, while lecturing, to indulge in
expressions in favor of liberty. In a material sense, he was,
fortunately, well-to-do. H