Baron Hardenberg thus became the representative of the alliance between Russia and Prussia. Frederic William having been obliged to evacuate Berlin, had fallen back with the ruins of his army upon the Russian troops, and then commenced the campaign in the midst of wintry snows, the fiercely-contested and sanguinary battle of Prussisch-Eylau, where first paled the star of Napoleon! Friedland, however, saved the audacious eagle, as Austerlitz had preserved it two years before, and treaties were again had recourse to. Who can express the humiliating conditions dictated by the victor to Prussia? Who describe the cold sarcastic conduct of the fortunate soldier towards the heroic queen, the idol of the universities?
Baron Hardenberg, being again compelled to retire, resigned his portfolio to the new cabinet formed by Napoleon, from which every mind possessed of any degree of independence or elevation was excluded. Prussia became almost a department of France, traversed in every direction by military roads; the whole population of some districts was carried away by the generals of Buonaparte, with blows and violence; the universities were closed, and the provinces reduced to the last extremity; while such heavy military contributions were imposed, that they wrung from the peasant his last hard-earned crown, and even his plough and his oxen. People must not treat a country thus, when they are desirous of governing it; they should recollect that the superiority of a power does not result from violence, but from the moral ascendancy produced by protection and support.
But at the side of the public government of Prussia, bowed down before the wrath and violence of Napoleon, a number of secret associations had been brought into existence, by the oppression of the conquerors; and taking the Fatherland for their watchword, they only awaited a crisis for vengeance. After the death of their noble-hearted queen these associations greatly increased, and the most eminent among the patriots, as well as the statesmen out of favour, participated in them, for the salvation of the country was at stake. It is incontestable that Hardenberg was the _mind_ of this national conspiracy, as Blucher and Gneisenau were its _sword_; this secret and magnificent undertaking, this moral resistance, advanced with indescribable and undeviating energy, during the period which elapsed between 1808 and 1811, and then, by a capricious will of the Emperor Napoleon, Hardenberg was again destined to receive a mark of confidence from his sovereign, and the government of Prussia was once more placed in his hands. I consider this to have been the most critical period for Northern Germany; the provinces, constantly traversed by French troops, were completely in the power of their generals, and that fine country was now nothing but a magazine of forage, provisions, and money for the French troops. In the midst of these disastrous circumstances, the minister applied himself particularly to reinstating some little degree of order in the complicated administration of Prussia; he relieved the people as far as it was possible, and above all, he endeavoured to reorganise the army, firmly, but not openly, for this Napoleon would not have permitted, but by a military system which constantly summoned the young soldiers to their duties, and then shortly afterwards restored them to their families and their homes; a plan which permitted him to have a fine army in preparation for future events, at a very moderate expense. The system of military reserves is essentially Prussian, because it realizes the double idea of a considerable army in time of war, and a limited contingent during peace; by this means every Prussian is a soldier.