But now the friends of the Gleichen brought a complaint before the Imperial chamber. But the repeated mandates of the Chamber to Duke Anthony Ulrich and his government, to give freedom to the Gleichens and to proceed according to law, were not obeyed. After that Duke Friedrich III. of Gotha, received a commission from the same tribunal to defend _Frau von_ Gleichen and her husband from farther violence, and to deliver them from imprisonment in Meiningen, yet keep them in honourable custody. Duke Friedrich demanded the delivery of the prisoners from Meiningen, but his commissioners were not admitted into the city, nor his letter accepted; but it was signified to him, that if Gotha should attempt to free them by force, there was plenty of powder and shot at Meiningen. Betwixt Meiningen and Gotha there were endless quarrels and great bitterness. Thereupon Duke Friedrich of Gotha prepared himself for armed intervention. He was a warlike Prince, who maintained a subsidiary force of six thousand infantry and fifteen hundred horse in the Dutch and Imperial service. He had, besides a large number of guns, a strong corps of officers and several Generals. On the other hand the military strength of Meiningen was small; it consisted almost entirely of the old fortifications and unskilled militia. These were assembled, and Meiningen was fortified as well as was possible in such haste. But it was not destined that Meiningen itself should become the scene of action, for the fury of war raged only about the town of Wasungen. It was indeed a remarkable coincidence that this place should become the theatre of war, for scandal says that it was considered the shield or place of refuge of Meiningen; and in the country there is a lying story about its councillors and a large gourd. The councillors mistook the gourd for the egg of a foreign horse which was to be hatched for the good of the town by the united powers of the councillors. The struggle which then took place in the centre of Germany, between the Thuringian states of Gotha and Meiningen, is known by the name of the Wasunger war. In a military point of view it is of no importance, but is characteristic of the period. All the misery in the German Empire, the decaying state of the burgher life, the coarse immorality of the politics of that time, the meannesses, pedantry, and helplessness of the Imperial army, are shown to such an extent, that they might be a source of amusement, if they did not give rise to a more serious and better feeling, bringing to light the helplessness of the German Empire. The narrative is here given by Lieutenant Rauch of Gotha, who took part in the war. He speaks in his diary as follows:--