mber, 1808) that the Prussian army
should never exceed 42,000 men, a measure which did not hinder the
formation of an effective reserve, and was therefore complied with to
the letter, if not in spirit.

In fact, in the previous month a plan of a popular insurrection had
been secretly discussed by Stein, Scharnhorst, and other patriotic
Ministers. The example of the Spaniards was everywhere to be followed,
and, if Austria sent forth her legions on the Danube and England
helped in Hanover, there seemed some prospect of shaking off the
Napoleonic yoke. The scheme miscarried, and largely owing to the
interception of a letter in which Stein imprudently referred to the
exasperation of public feeling in Germany and the lively hope excited
by the events in Spain and the preparations of Austria. Napoleon
caused the letter to be printed in the "Moniteur" of September 8th,
and sequestered Stein's property in Westphalia. He also kept his grip
on Prussia; for while withdrawing most of his troops from that
exhausted land, he retained French garrisons in Stettin, Glogau, and
Kuestrin. Holding these fortresses on the strong defensive line of the
Oder, he might smile at the puny efforts of Prussian patriots and hope
speedily to crush the Spanish rebels, provided he could count on the
loyal support of Alexander in holding Austria in check.

To gain this support and to clear away the clouds that bulked on their
oriental horizon, Napoleon urgently desired an interview with his
ally. For some months it had been proposed; but the Spanish Rising and
the armaments of Austria made it essential.

The meeting took place at Erfurt (September 27th). The Thuringian city
was ablaze with uniforms, and the cannon thundered salvoes of welcome
as the two potentates and their suites entered the ancient walls and
filed through narrow streets redolent of old German calm, an abode
more suited to the speculations of a Luther than to the
world-embracing schemes of the Emperors of the West and East. With
them were their chief warriors and Ministers, personages who now threw
into the shade the new German kings. There, too, were the lesser
German princes, some of them to grace the Court of the man who had
showered lands and titles on them, others to hint a wish for more
lands and higher titles. In truth, the title of king was tantalizingly
common; and if we may credit a story of the time, the French soldiery
had learnt to despise it. For, on one occasion, when