that only personal regard for Alexander had prevented him taking severe steps. Golz then wrote to Königsberg, stating that it would be highly advisable for Stein to retire voluntarily, and settle his estates on his wife or one of his daughters. He could still reside in the proximity of the court, and give the king the benefit of his counsels; but on his decision the security of his property and the king's welfare would depend, for Napoleon had only refrained from ordering Stein's dismissal that he might be able to judge the king's policy from his conduct. At length matters were settled as regarded the evacuation, and Golz reported home, that, by the Emperor of Russia's instances, twenty million francs had been remitted from the war contribution. The total amount of the French exactions, so far as they had passed through Daru's hands, amounted, according to that officer's own statement, to 513,744,410 francs in money-of which forty millions remained to pay at the close of 1808 and 90,483,511 francs in the shape of provisions, clothing, horses, and wood; forming a sum total of just twenty-five million pounds sterling, without taking into calculation what the different towns had been obliged to give to the commanders, officers, commissaries, and soldiers. The Emperor Alexander visited Königsberg on his return from Erfürt, and still strongly advised friendship with France; he also agreed with Count Golz's idea that Stein should be allowed to retire, without giving up his communication with the king. The news of Stein's retirement was received by the patriots with great alarm, and petitions flocked in to the king, begging him to retain the only minister who would be able to save Prussia from destruction. But the thin edge of the wedge had been inserted, and Stein's enemies pressed for the acceptance of his resignation; a cabal succeeded in carrying over the queen to the opposing faction, and at last, on the 24th of November, 1808, the king wrote to his "dear minister of state, Baron von Stein," and told him that his retirement had become a political necessity, and hence his resignation was accepted. But Stein was not cast down by this measure; he wrote in the best possible spirits to the Princess William, urging her not to feel alarmed at the present aspect of affairs, and adds, "I am certain that the exertions of the good and the patriotic men are not lost, and it is an eternal truth that The firm patriot, Who made the welfare of mankind his care, Though still by faction, vice, and fortune cross'd, On the 5th of December, the day of Napoleon's entry into Madrid, Stein quitted Königsberg for Berlin, and neither himself nor any of his contemporaries had the remotest idea that Heaven destined him four years later to return to that city, to lay hand again to the good work of the regeneration of Germany, and carry it to a successful issue. Stein intended to remain in Berlin for awhile, and then retire with his family to Breslau, to accept a residence offered him there by the bishop, and await patiently the events which every one expected would distinguish the year 1809. But, at the commencement of January, the new French ambassador, M. de Marsan, arrived at Berlin, bringing with him Napoleon's latest decree. It was as follows: DÉCRET IMPERIAL. 1. Le nommé Stein cherchant à exciter des troubles en Allemagne, est déclaré ennemi de la France et de la Confédération du Rhin. 2. Les biens que ledit Stein posséderait, soit en France, soit dans les pays de la Confédération du Rhin, seront sequestrés. Ledit Stein sera saisi de sa personne, partout où il pourra être atteint par nos troupes ou celles de nos alliés. En notre camp impérial de Madrid, ce 16 Décembre 1808. (Signé) NAPOLÉON. This proscription was also posted up in every portion of Germany occupied by French troops, in German and French. The population read with astonishment and timid anxiety the declaration of war published by the conqueror of Europe against one powerless Prussian. But the measure was far from producing the effect anticipated by Napoleon, and his enmity against Stein pointed out the natural leader of the German party. Countless persons read the imperial proclamation who had never even heard of Stein, but the proscription immediately invested him with a crown of martyrdom. How strange that six years later Stein should be the instigation of that European proscription which overthrew the emperor of the Hundred Days! Surely, the whirligigs of time bring strange revenges. But the French ambassador was a merciful man, and though he stated that he was authorised to break off all communication with the Prussian king if he found Stein still residing in Prussia, or engaged in the public service, he hinted to him that if he would depart at once he would assume his absence at the period of his arrival. Stein was obliged to form a speedy decision, and after writing to the king and stating that he was going to the Bohemian frontier, where he would await further orders through Scharnhorst, he quitted Berlin. But there was no chance of safety in Prussia: on the 12th of January he was compelled to cross the frontier, the last letter he wrote being the following, addressed to the Princess Louise: "In a few hours I quit a country to whose service I have devoted thirty years of my life, and in which I now find my Possessions which have belonged to my family for 675 years are torn from me-connexions of every sort which have influence on my life are severed-and I am banished from my country, without any certainty of a place of safety for myself and family. If, however, my ruin prove of any benefit to my unhappy country, I will endure it with a joyful spirit. I beg your royal highness to receive kindly and sympathisingly the expression of my deepest veneration for your great and noble character, for your powerful and developed mind may it ever exercise a beneficial influence over those who are in immediate contact with you. I trust I shall always deserve a nook in your remembrance." ruin. Stein then proceeded to Prague, and was granted permission to reside in the Austrian dominions by the government. Here he devoted much of his time to speculating on the future prospects of his country with the celebrated Gentz, and consoled himself in his exile by the feeling so gloriously described in Schiller's "Song of the Bell :" Einen Blick July-VOL. CX. NO. CCCCXXXIX. T Sendet doch der Mensch zurück- Und sieh! Ihm fehlt kein theures Haupt. In the mean time, the French carried out to the fullest extent the confiscation of Stein's property; and Napoleon even went so far as to employ Prussia as the implement of his revenge. The king must be compelled not only to dismiss his minister, but must even persecute and deliver him up. And so wretched was the condition of Europe at this disgraceful period, that the king, although enjoying personal safety at the capital of his powerful ally, Alexander, did not dare to reject such a demand on the part of Napoleon. How bitterly must Stein have felt the truth of the warning, "Put not thy faith in princes," when he received the following letter as the reward of all the sacrifices he had made for Prussia: "MY DEAR BARON VON STEIN,-I had already been informed of the measures which the Emperor Napoleon had taken against you when I received your letter of the 16th ultimo, and I had requested the Emperor of Russia to apply on your behalf to the Emperor Napoleon. The former has promised me to do everything which circumstances will permit: still I have renewed this request, and I hope from my heart that the affair will have a favourable result. It is very pleasing to me that you formed the resolution to quit my states immediately, so that now no evil or compromising consequences can ensue. I must request you also, for the future, to remain faithful to this determination, as, owing to imperious and very melancholy circumstances, no other measure is reconcilable with your personal safety. "St. Petersburg, 16th January, 1809.” "FREDERICK WILLIAM. To this letter, written by Scharnhorst, the king added, in his own handwriting: "The emperor will be very willing to grant you an asylum in his states; but he wishes you to enter the Russian Empire through Gallicia." Even Scharnhorst seemed afflicted by the general fear of being compromised; for, although he assured Stein that his pension would be paid him, and told him to write if he required money or anything, he added: "When you write, I must recommend you to be cautious about using your family seal." Thus, then, ended Stein's energetic attempts to rescue Prussia from the foreign yoke: he had been forced to yield to the power of his great opponent. Years will elapse before the time comes for his revenge, but it is rendered the more overwhelming by the delay. How often must Napoleon have thought, as he gazed over the sea from his rocky exile, of the man whom he contemptuously called le nommé Stein, and in whom he could not foresee the chosen minister, predestined to overthrow all his plans, foil all his intrigues, and who never ceased for a moment in his endeavours to requite Napoleon for the injury done himself, by forcing the great powers to drive him into a still more hopeless exile than his own had been. THE COUNTRY WOMAN AND THE CHILD. BY THE AUTHOR OF “ASHLEY." THERE appeared one day before the gate of a rather handsome house in St. John's Wood, a countrywoman carrying a child and a bundle. The moment she was inside the gate, she put the child down, and, with a movement that bespoke fatigue, led him to the door and rang—a humble ring. "I want to see the missus, please," she said to the maid-servant who answered it, her accent being very broad. "What for ?" inquired the girl, scanning the applicant; who, however, looked far too respectable for one of the begging fraternity. "She's not at liberty to anybody this morning. I can't admit you." "Then I must just sit down with the child on this here step, and wait till she can see me," returned the woman, in a perfectly civil, but determined voice. "It's not of any use your waiting. This is the day the new people come in, and the rooms arn't ready for them, consequence of missis being called out last week, to stop with her sister, who was took ill. Me and the cook and missis are all busy, and she can't be interrupted." "I'm sorry to hinder work," returned the stranger, "but it's your missus's own fault, for changing her house and never telling me. If it's not convenient for me to sit down in the kitchen, I'll wait here, but see her I must, for this is a'most my last day. Perhaps, young woman, you'd be so obleeging as mention that it's Mrs. Thrupp with little Ran." The servant began to think she might be doing wrong to refuse, and leaving the visitor standing there, proceeded to inform her mistress. She returned almost immediately. "You are to walk in," she said; "but my missis says she don't know anybody of your name.' The countrywoman was shown into a nicely furnished parlour, and Mrs. Cooke came to her. A tall, stately widow in a black silk dress that rustled as she walked, quite a lady. She had recently lost her husband, and, with him, a large portion of her income. Unwilling to vacate her house, which was her own, and by far too large for her reduced means, she had come to the resolution of letting part of it. The country woman dropped a curtsey. "I should be glad, mum, if you please, to see the missus." "I am the mistress," answered Mrs. Cooke. The stranger looked confounded. She put the child down, whom she had again taken in her arms, and telling him to be still, searched in her pocket, and drew forth a piece of paper. "Be so obleeging as to read it, mum," she said. "That's the direction as they give me, and I'm sure I thought I had come right. If not, perhaps you'd direct me, for I'm a'most moithered in this great Lunnon town, and half dead a carrying of the child. There seems to be no end to the streets and turnings." "This is my address, certainly," said the lady, looking at the paper. "Who gave it you? What is your business? I have lived here many years. I am Mrs. Cooke." "The missus I want is not you at all, mum. She is young. They told me she lived here. She used to live there," showing the back of a letter," and that's where I went after her, yesterday. But they said she had left them some weeks, and had got a house of her own, and it was here; and they only knew it by the man as came for her piano telling them where he was going to take it to, for she did not tell them herself." "Now it is explained," said Mrs. Cooke. has taken part of my house. Mrs. Lyvett." "The lady you speak of "That's not the name," quickly observed the woman. "Perhaps not the one you knew her by. She is just married." "Married again, is she! Well, mum, I must see her, if you please." "She is not here yet. They are in the country, and are coming home to-day." "That's bad news for me," said the stranger, after a pause. time is she expected ?" "What "It is uncertain. Probably not much before six. They have ordered dinner for that hour." "Good patience! what am I to do? And the ship a going to sail on Saturday, and not a thing yet got together! Mum! if you'd let me leave them with you?" "Leave what?" "The child and his bundle of things, and a little matter of money I have got to return.” 66 My good woman," said Mrs. Cooke, "I do not understand you. Leave them for what purpose ?" "To hand over to-what did you please to say her name was now?" "Mrs. Lyvett." Ay, Mrs. Lyvett. I am a rare bad one at minding names. He's a year and nine months old, and we have had the care of him since he was born. But now, me and my husband have joined the Land Emigrant Society to Sydney, and I can't keep him no longer." "Whose child is it?" inquired the astonished Mrs. Cooke. "It's hers. Over young she was when it was born, and her husband was abroad, fighting. A soldier officer he was. I nursed her and kept the child, and she went back to Lunnon." The woman stopped to wipe her hot face, and Mrs. Cooke listened in a maze of perplexity. "A month or more ago," proceeded the woman, "there come a man down to our country; a agent, they called him, of the Foreign Land Society, and he persuaded a many of us to go out; so I wrote to tell her of it, and that she must find another place for little Randy. No answer came, mum, and we wrote again, and then we wrote a third time, and still no notice was took. Very ill-convenient it was for me to keep him while we sold off our things and journeyed up here, but what was I to do? We got up yesterday, and I went to the place where she used to live, and found she had moved here." "I think there must be some mistake. I do not believe we can be speaking of the same party," said Mrs. Cooke. |