[Footnote 19: Many of whom were in fact wilfully blind. Hardenberg, by whom the noble-spirited Stein was so ill replaced, and who, with all possible decency, ever succeeded in losing in the cabinet the advantages gained by Blücher in the field, the diplomatic bird of ill omen by whom the peace of Basel had formerly been concluded, was thus addressed by Blücher: "I should like you gentlemen of the quill to be for once in a way exposed to a smart platoon fire, just to teach you what perils we soldiers have to run in order to repair the blunders you so thoughtlessly commit." An instructive commentary upon these events is to be met with in Stein's letters to Gagern. The light in which Stein viewed the Saxons may be gathered from the following passages in his letters: "My desire for the aggrandizement of Prussia proceeded not from a blind partiality to that state, but from the conviction that Germany is weakened by a system of partition ruinous alike to her national learning and national feelings."--"It is not for Prussia but for Germany that I desire a closer, a firmer internal combination, a wish that will accompany me to the grave: the division of our national strength may be gratifying to others, it never can be so to me." This truly German policy mainly distinguished Stein from Hardenberg, who, thoroughly Prussian in his ideas, was incapable of perceiving that Prussia's best-understood policy ever will be to identify herself with Germany.] [Footnote 20: Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 285.] [Footnote 21: It was proposed that Lorraine and Alsace should be bestowed upon the Archduke Charles, who at that period wedded the Princess Henrietta of Nassau. The proposition, however, quickly fell to the ground.] [Footnote 22: Even in July, their organ, Görres's Rhenish Mercury, was placed beneath the censor. In August, it was said that the men, desirous of giving a constitution to Prussia, had fallen into disgrace.--Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 249. In September, Schmalz, in Berlin, unveiled the presumed revolutionary intrigues of the _Tugendbund_ and declared "the unity of Germany is something to which the spirit of every nation in Germany has ever been antipathetic." He received a Prussian and a Wurtemberg order, besides an extremely gracious autograph letter from the king of Prussia, although his base calumnies against the friends of his country were thrown back upon him by the historians Niebuhr and Runs, who were then in a high position, by Schleiermacher, the theologian, and by others. The nobility also began to stir, attempted to regain their ancient privileges in Prussia, and intrigued against the men who, during the time of need, had made concessions to the citizens.--Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 276.] [Footnote 23: The Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 349, laughs at the report of their having withdrawn from the discussion, and says that they were no longer invited to take part in it.]