Shall I

here

arch

Leave me not so lonely here,

2.

Whither goest, whither comest, Take, O take me on thy way; Ah! they vanish, me deserting, In the distance float away. Lonely roam I, sad and distant,

My fond longing in my heart; Ah! by thee was joy persistent,

All my bliss and joy thou art.

Some of the finest of the German songs are sung in praise of the Fatherland; the following, which is one of the very best and noblest, is charged with a fervent, indignant, menacing, sad, but finally triumphant patriotism, and belongs, certainly in its words and possibly in its music, to an order of song which sprung from the German struggles against French invasion.

The words of this song are by Theodore Körner, a German poet who gave his life for the Fatherland. On the uprising of the Germans for the brief contest which ended at Waterloo, Körner hastened to join the army. He devoted his moments of leisure to the composition of war-songs; and many of his songs took their form from the simple melodies of his country. He also exerted himself to find melodies suited to the stirring and patriotic songs of oth

Leave me not so lonely here.

3.

Listen ye my bitter pleading,

Joyous clouds on breezes fair; As ye will not, will not take me Through the blue mist of the air, On your waving wings else-whither

Take with you my sorrow-song; Let my music with you linger,

Take the voice that grieves so long.

heaven!" says Körner in a letter, "it was a moment in which this consecration to death impelled every breast and when every heart beat heroically." The poet-soldier was killed in a charge of the Lützow Cavalry, August 20, 1813, just before which, while they were resting in a wood, he wrote his last poem, the famous "Sword-song," and "was actually engaged in reading it to a friend when the signal for the attack was made."

He was buried underneath a noble oak-a tree much loved by him and celebrated in his verse:

"Thou native oak, thou German tree,
Fit emblem, too, of German worth!
Type of a nation brave and free,

And worthy of their native earth."

It is said that he had frequently deposited verses in this same oak, composed by him while campaigning in the vicinity. The oak and the grave underneath it are walled in, and a cast-iron monument celebrates the illustrious dead. The inclosure also contains another grave, that of Körner's sister, who

died of grief for her brother's loss, surviving him just long enough to paint his portrait and make a drawing of his last resting-place. Mrs. Hemans has a poem commemorating the noble brother and sister, containing a beautiful stanza addressed to Körner:

"Fame was thy gift from others; but for her,

To whom the wide world held that only spot, She loved thee! Lovely in your lives ye were, And in your early deaths divided not. Thou hast thine oak, thy trophy. What hath she? Her own blest place by thee !"

Here is the song referred to above, entitled,

And

It drives me

my heart a

-13

far;

The earth be

2

2. And still the soul of Fatherland

Soars, like an eagle's flight,
And still all cruel chains to rend
Survives the will and might.
And as we here together stand,
In love's rejoicing came,
So shall we meet, breast close to breast,
:When hills break into flame.:[

Want of space has compelled the omission of many details and examples, so that we have said nothing about the comic and convivial folk-songs, or the student and Burschenschaft songs, and other kinds. We cannot omit, however, to give a sample of the sacred songs of this people's-music. Luther was the first to introduce metrical psalmody into the church service, and his Fatherland sup

Then courage, comrades, dare be strong!

See vengeance close at band!
When we with our own red heart's blood,
Shall wash them from the land!
And Thou who call'st the red dawn forth,
This song flies unto thee;

O lead us, Lord, e'en though to death,
The Land to victory.:]

plies some very beautiful sacred songs from its folk-melodies. Here is one most happily wedded to the words, which we have translated without rhyme, in order to preserve as literally as possible the strength and beauty of the original. For a similar reason, we give the beautiful harmony, somewhat reduced, which accompanies it in the "Deutsches Liederlexicon" of August Härtel :

Moderato.

turmoil of all

earth-ly care;

It stands by the way-side, It

German song has not been silent since the breaking out of the present war. It has poured forth much stirring devotion to the Fatherland, and many lyrics which are said to have won great admiration. The following lines refer to Körner triumphantly. They are from a song entitled 1813-1870, published in the Main Zeitung, as translated for N. Y. Evening Post:

"Rouse up, my soul, the reddening fires are flaring!"

High beats the heart; the hand the sword swung high;

From every glance flashed anger deep, and daring.

VOL. VI.-29

THE cause commonly assigned for the present war is the Hohenzollern candidature, but there are few Frenchmen and Germans who regard it as the real one. It has become quite apparent that this candidacy served only as a pretext, and that the real motive which prompted Napoleon III to declare war against Prussia was his and the French people's jealousy of Prussia.

Ever since Sadowa, and more or less before that memorable event, the French press has been busy fostering in the French people feelings of aversion and enmity to Prussia. Writers of first-class ability did not disdain to represent Prussia as the enemy of liberal progress in Europe, and as the especial antagonist of French civilization. Writers of less ability and coarser tastes excited the populace by recalling to their minds the wars of 1813-'15, in which Prussia played such a conspicuous part. Prussia, it was said, is the most aggressive power in Europe. Her ambition is boundless, and her conscience wide. She established her power on gold and cannon; she grew by treachery, war, and conquest, and holds her ill-gotten possessions by sheer force. Silesia and Poland, in the eighteenth century, Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse, &c., in the present, were alleged in evidence of the charges made, while a mere reference to the left bank of the Rhine, part of which belongs to Prussia, sufficed to remove all doubts from the French mind as to the validity of these charges.

These views of the French press and people have been adopted to some extent by American writers, and many are trying their best to make Americans look at the matter as Frenchmen do.

Thus far the sympathies of the American people have been so largely with Prussia, that there seems to be little reason to suppose that the French view

of the question will ever be popular with the majority of our people. But the opinion of the majority is not necessarily always a just opinion, and it behooves us to study carefully both sides of the question before deciding on its mertis.

There can be no doubt that the war is-or must we say has been ?—popular in both France and Germany. Correspondents from both countries agreed in stating that the spectacle presented by the people of both countries could only be compared to the uprising of our own people at the fall of Sumter in 1861. It is further certain that the German people have not the slightest doubt as to France being responsible for the war. They felt intensely indignant, and their patriotic efforts were all the more energetic for being strengthened by the consciousness of acting in self-defence only. So great was the indignation in Germany at the conduct of France, that all internal strifes were set aside for the time being, and all energies turned to the war. The declaration of war by France has thus resulted in gaining for Germany that unity which France has been so very anxious to prevent.

As regards the French, it seems at first sight strange that they should have become so excited at the prospect of war, which certainly must be accompanied with heavy, sacrifices for them. Did they really believe themselves threatened by Prussia, and therefore justified in precipitating a war that would have come sooner or later in any case? This is, indeed, the view entertained by the leaders of the French people; and if it was a correct one, our sympathies should, perhaps, not be given to Prussia, but to France. Let us see what reasons France had for accusing Prussia of hostile intentions against her.

In order to become thoroughly sat

isfied that the Hohenzollern candidacy served only as a pretext, but was by no means the real cause of the war, one should carefully study the tone of the French press ever since Sadowa in reference to the German question. In 1866 Thiers declared in the French Chamber that the success of Prussia was the disgrace of France. To prevent the union of North and South Germany at all hazards has since been the avowed object of French diplomacy. The victory of Sadowa the French regarded as a national disaster, and some, for instance the "Gaulois," went so far as to call it an insult to France. The military treaties between Prussia and the South German states were regarded as another insult. The firmness of Prussia in opposing the proposed acquisition of Luxembourg by France was a third. In order to understand why this latter affair was considered as equally threatening and insulting to France as the first two, it must be borne in mind that it is generally understood in France that Belgium must eventually become a part of France. But if Prussia would not let even Luxembourg go to France, and was ready to risk a war on that account, how much less could France expect her rival to be a silent spectator when the time for annexing Belgium should come?

The French people cite Strabo in proof that the Rhine is the natural western frontier of Gaul. They all have read enough of their own history to know that under the first Napoleon the left bank of the Rhine had been conquered and annexed by France. The idea that the countries lying west of the Rhine belong by right to France is no less firmly rooted in the convictions of the French people than the belief that it is Prussia alone which stands in the way of France getting back what she considers her rightful property.

Unfortunately for France, not only Prussia, but England, Russia, and certainly Belgium and Holland, utterly deny that the French nation has a right to claim the Rhenish province of Prus

sia, Belgium, Holland, or the Bavarian Palatinate, any more than to claim any territory on the right bank of the Rhine. Surely, it is not fair that the French should hold Prussia alone responsible for thwarting what France believes to be her legitimate aspirations and designs; but there is, manifestly, a very strong reason for them so to do. If Prussia would yield, either from complacency or from weakness, France would not have much to fear

from the other powers. But Prussia would not yield, and she was constantly increasing her strength. This explains why the French so obstinately opposed the union of Germany under the auspices of Prussia. With Germany united under so energetic and active a government as that of Prussia, France would stand but a very poor chance for the realization of her dreams of annexation,-ground enough to make Prussia unpopular in France and to attract on her all the indignation of a people thwarted in its traditional hopes and aspirations. We believe that the foregoing is an exact statement of the case as far as France is concerned; and if any one should doubt the correctness of what we have said, let him study the writings of all the prominent Frenchmen who have ever touched on this subject. If he reads carefully and critically, he will become satisfied as to the entire correctness of our view of the matter.

Knowing the feelings of the French in reference to Prussia, we need not wonder to see Frenchmen accuse her of many things that apparently concern Prussia and Germany alone, and not at all France. Let us examine the French charges against Prussia. In the first place, the case of Schleswig-Holstein is pointed out. That Prussia deprived Denmark of this province and finally annexed it, may or may not have been an act of arbitrary power; but how it could be considered a threat against France does not appear. All Germany had decided that Schleswig-Holstein, having been German territory from time immemorial, should be reunited with