gh the entire army. Several of their
greatest generals were killed, many more dreadfully or fatally wounded:
Prince Louis, Ruchel, Schmettau, among the former; the Duke of Brunswick
and Prince Henry both severely wounded. The Duke survived but a few
days, and these in the greatest suffering; Marshal Moellendorf, the
veteran of nigh eighty years, had his chest pierced by a lance. Here was
misfortune enough to cause dismay and despair; for unhappily the nation
itself was but an army in feeling and organization, and with defeat
every hope died out and every arm was paralyzed. The patriotism of the
people had taken its place beneath a standard, which when once lowered
before a conqueror, nothing more remained. Such is the destiny of a
military monarchy: its only vitality is victory; the hour of disaster is
its deathblow.

The system of a whole corps capitulating, which the Prussians had not
scrupled to sneer at when occurring in Austria, now took place here with
even greater rapidity. Scarcely a day passed that some regiment did not
lay down their arms, and surrender _sur parole_. A panic spread through
the whole length and breadth of the land; places of undoubted strength
were surrendered as insecure and untenable. No rest nor respite was
allowed the vanquished: the gay plumes of the lancers fluttered over the
vast plains in pursuit; columns of infantry poured in every direction
through the kingdom; and the eagles glittered in every town and every
village of conquered Prussia.

Never did the spirit of Napoleon display itself more pitiless than in
this campaign; for while in his every act he evinced a determination to
break down and destroy the nation, the "Moniteur" at Paris teemed with
articles in derision of the army whose bravery he should never have
questioned. Even the gallant leaders themselves--old and scarred
warriors--were contemptuously described as blind and infatuated
fanatics, undeserving of clemency or consideration. Not thus should he
have spoken of the noble Prince Louis and the brave Duke of Brunswick;
they fought in a good cause, and they met the death of gallant soldiers.
"I will make their nobles beg their bread upon the highways!" was
the dreadful sentence he uttered at Weimar. And the words were never
forgotten.

The conduct and bearing of the Emperor was the more insulting from its
contrast with that of his marshals and generals, many of whom could not
help acknowledging in their acts the devotion