[Footnote 1: His principal thesis consisted of "We are not Prussians, Westphalians, Saxons, etc., but Germans."] [Footnote 2: This prince took the title not of stadtholder, but of king, to which he had no claim, but in which he was supported by England and Russia, who unwillingly beheld Prussia aggrandized by the possession of Holland.] [Footnote 3: Even in the May of 1813, an ode given in No. 270 of the Allgemeine Zeitung, appeared in Switzerland, in which it was said, "The brave warriors of Switzerland hasten to reap fresh laurels. With their heroic blood have they dyed the distant shores of barbarous Haiti, the waters of the Ister and Tagus, etc. The deserts of Sarmatia have witnessed the martial glories of the Helvetic legion."] [Footnote 4: Shortly before this, a report had been spread of the nomination of Marshal Berthier, prince of Neufchatel, as perpetual Landammann of Switzerland.--_Muralt's Reinhard_.] [Footnote 5: Out of two thousand six hundred and fifty-four Badeners but five hundred and six returned from Spain.] [Footnote 6: Beamisch, History of the Legion.] [Footnote 7: Several regiments sacrificed themselves in order to cover the retreat of the rest. Napoleon ordered a twelve-pounder to be loaded and twice directed the gun with his own hand upon the crown prince.--_Campaigns of the Würterribergers._] [Footnote 8: Blücher's conduct simply proceeded from his impatience to obtain by force of arms the most honorable terms of peace for Prussia, while the other allied powers, who were far more indulgently disposed toward France and who began to view the victories gained by Prussia with an apprehension which was further strengthened by the increasing popularity of that power throughout Germany, were more inclined to diplomatize than to fight. Blücher was well aware of these reasons for diplomacy and more than once cut the negotiations short with his sabre. A well-known diplomatist attempting on one occasion to prove to him that Napoleon must, even without the war being continued, "descend from his throne," a league having been formed within France herself for the restoration of the Bourbons--he answered him to his face, "The rascality of the French is no revenge for us. It is we who must pull him down--we. You will no doubt do wonders in your wisdom!--Patience! You will be led as usual by the nose, and will still go on fawning and diplomatizing until we have the nation again upon us, and the storm bursts over our heads." He went so far as to set the diplomatists actually at defiance. On being, to Napoleon's extreme delight, ordered to retreat, he treated the order with contempt and instantly advanced.--_Rauschnick's Life of Blücher_. "This second disjunction on Blücher's part," observes Clausewitz, the Prussian general, the best commentator on this war, "was of infinite consequence, for it checked and gave a fresh turn to the whole course of political affairs."]