Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
When the clamour and rejoicing amongst the students had a little
subsided, their teacher again addressed them. All were silent. Twisting
a small silver pencil-case between his thin fingers, he began as
follows: "My young friends! It would be difficult to resume the thread
of a lecture thus abruptly broken by the sound of the war-trumpet. At
this moment our country demands of us other things than a quiet abode in
the halls of study. I propose to you, therefore, that we all, without
exception, at once join the ranks of our country's defenders, and
henceforward wield the sword instead of the pen." This patriotic
proposal was received with joyous applause. Professor Steffens and
hundreds of his hearers left the lecture-room, exchanged the university
gown for the uniform, and from that day were the pith and marrow of the
black band of Lutzow. It is matter of history how Henry Steffens, at the
head of his wild Jägers, greatly distinguished himself in the field, won
the Iron Cross, and by his animated eloquence and noble example, drew
thousands of brave defenders around the standard of German independence.
Thirty-two years later, at Berlin, Baron von Rahden followed his mortal
remains to their last resting-place.
Other examples of devotion, less known but not less touching, are cited
in the volume before us. When the King of Prussia's celebrated
proclamation "TO MY PEOPLE," had raised German enthusiasm to its highest
pitch, and the noble-hearted women of Silesia sent their jewels to the
public treasury, replacing them by iron ornaments, a young girl at
Breslaw, who had nothing of value to contribute, cut off the luxuriant
golden tresses that adorned her graceful head, and sold them, that she
might add her mite to the patriotic fund. The purchaser gave a high
price, but yet made an enormous profit; for no sooner was the story
known, than hundreds of those then arming for the fight flew to obtain a
golden hair-ring, to wear as a talisman in the battle-field. This
heroine, Baron von Rahden believes, was a Fraulein von Scheliha, a name
noted in the annals of Prussian patriotism. The three sons of a Herr von
Scheliha, officers in various regiments, fell in the campaign of 1813.
Their mother and only sister died of broken hearts, and the father,
bowed down under his grief, sold his estate and country-house, which now
only served to remind him of his losses. The King of Prussia sent him
the Iron Cross; and that and the sympathy of all who knew his sad
history, were the only remaining consolations of the bereaved old man. A
Silesian count, named Reichenbach, wrote to the King in the following
terms: "If it please your majesty to allow me, I will send five thousand
measures of corn and my draught oxen to the military stores for rations,
and my best horses to the ---- regiment of cavalry; I will equip all the
men on my estates capable of bearing arms, and they shall join the ----
regiment of infantry, and I will pay ten thousand thalers into the
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