any years.

Napoleon had blue-penciled the demand for independence of most of these
little countries, and only fifty-two out of a total of more than three
hundred had survived the year 1806. During the years of the great
struggle for independence, many a young soldier had dreamed of a new
Fatherland that should be strong and united. But there can be no union
without a strong leadership, and who was to be this leader?

There were five kingdoms in the German speaking lands. The rulers of
two of these, Austria and Prussia, were kings by the Grace of God. The
rulers of three others, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurtemberg, were kings by
the Grace of Napoleon, and as they had been the faithful henchmen of the
Emperor, their patriotic credit with the other Germans was therefore not
very good.

The Congress had established a new German Confederation, a league of
thirty-eight sovereign states, under the chairmanship of the King of
Austria, who was now known as the Emperor of Austria. It was the sort of
make-shift arrangement which satisfied no one. It is true that a German
Diet, which met in the old coronation city of Frankfort, had been
created to discuss matters of "common policy and importance." But in
this Diet, thirty-eight delegates represented thirty-eight different
interests and as no decision could be taken without a unanimous vote
(a parliamentary rule which had in previous centuries ruined the mighty
kingdom of Poland), the famous German Confederation became very soon
the laughing stock of Europe and the politics of the old Empire began to
resemble those of our Central American neighbours in the forties and the
fifties of the last century.

It was terribly humiliating to the people who had sacrificed everything
for a national ideal. But the Congress was not interested in the private
feelings of "subjects," and the debate was closed.

Did anybody object? Most assuredly. As soon as the first feeling of
hatred against Napoleon had quieted down--as soon as the enthusiasm
of the great war had subsided--as soon as the people came to a full
realisation of the crime that had been committed in the name of "peace
and stability" they began to murmur. They even made threats of open
revolt. But what could they do? They were powerless. They were at the
mercy of the most pitiless and efficient police system the world had
ever seen.

The members of the Congress of Vienna honestly and sincerely believed
that "the Revolutionary Principl