e Nostitz is beyond doubt
the most zealous, ardent, and capable of the three chiefs. I do not know
him personally, but I know he is one of those men best calculated to
obtain unbounded influence over all with whom he comes in contact. He
succeeded in gaining such dominion over M. Stein, the Prussian minister,
that the latter placed two of his secretaries at the disposal of Baron de
Nostitz to prepare under his direction the pamphlets with which Germany
is flooded; but I cannot too often repeat," continued M. Gentz, "that the
hatred against the French avowed by these various societies is simply an
accidental thing, a singular creation of circumstances; since their prime
object was the overthrow of the government as it existed in Germany, and
their fundamental principle the establishment of a system of absolute
equality. This is so true that the question has been earnestly debated
amongst the members of the Tugendverein of proclaiming the sovereignty of
the people throughout Germany; and they have openly declared that the war
should not be waged in the name of the governments, which according to
their belief are only the instruments. I do not know what will be the
final result of all these machinations; but it is very certain that by
giving themselves an assumed importance these secret societies have given
themselves a very real one. According to their version it is they alone
who have decided the King of Prussia to openly declare himself against
France, and they boast loudly that they will not stop there. After all,
the result will probably be the same as in nearly all such cases,--if
they are found useful they will be promised wonderful things in order to
gain their allegiance, and will be abandoned when they no longer serve
the intended purposes; for it is an entire impossibility that reasonable
governments should lose sight of the real end for which they are
instituted."

This is, I think, an exact summary, not of all M. Gentz said to me
concerning the secret societies of Germany, but of what I recall; and I
also remember that when I gave the Emperor an account of this
conversation, his Majesty deigned to give most earnest attention, and
even made me repeat certain parts, which, however, I do not now remember
positively. As to the Carbonari, there is every reason to think that
they belonged by secret ramifications to the German societies; but as I
have already said, I have not been able to obtain exact information as t