al, political, and religious sects enthusiastically accepted
the republican doctrines, and the successes of our first generals have
often been attributed to the secret efforts of the members. When
Bonaparte, who was acquainted with these groups, and was even said to
have belonged to them, exchanged his general's uniform for an emperor's
cloak, all of them, considering him as a renegade and traitor, not only
rose against him at home, but tried to raise enemies against him abroad;
as they addressed themselves to noble and generous passions, they found a
response, and princes to whom their results might be profitable seemed
for a moment to encourage them. Among others, Prince Louis of Prussia
was grandmaster of one of these societies.

The attempted murder by Stops, to which we have already referred, was one
of the thunderclaps of the storm; but its morrow brought the peace of
Vienna, and the degradation of Austria was the death-blow of the old
Germanic organisation. These societies, which had received a mortal
wound in 1806 and were now controlled by the French police, instead of
continuing to meet in public, were forced to seek new members in the
dark. In 1811 several agents of these societies were arrested in Berlin,
but the Prussian authorities, following secret orders of Queen Louisa,
actually protected them, so that they were easily able to deceive the
French police about their intentions. About February 1815 the disasters
of the French army revived the courage of these societies, for it was
seen that God was helping their cause: the students in particular joined
enthusiastically in the new attempts that were now begun; many colleges
enrolled themselves almost entire, anal chose their principals and
professors as captains; the poet, Korner, killed on the 18th of October
at Liegzig, was the hero of this campaign.

The triumph of this national movement, which twice carried the Prussian
army--largely composed of volunteers--to Paris, was followed, when the
treaties of 1815 and the new Germanic constitution were made known, by a
terrible reaction in Germany. All these young men who, exiled by their
princes, had risen in the name of liberty, soon perceived that they had
been used as tools to establish European despotism; they wished to claim
the promises that had been made, but the policy of Talleyrand and
Metternich weighed on them, and repressing them at the first words they
uttered, compelled them to shelter their