of German history as one of the noblest achievements which any nation ever made in the cause of science and literature.  It took away the sting of military ascendency, and raised men of genius to an equality with nobles; and as the universities were the centres of liberal sentiments and all liberalizing ideas, they must have exerted no small influence on the war of liberation itself, as well as on the cause of patriotism, which was the foundation of the future greatness of Prussia.  Students flocked from all parts of Germany to hear lectures from accomplished and patriotic professors, who inculcated the love of fatherland.  Germany, though fallen into the hands of a military hero from defects in the administration of governments and armies, was not disgraced when her professors in the university were the greatest scholars of the world.  They created a new empire, not of the air, as some one sneeringly remarked, but of mind, which has gone on from conquering to conquer.  For more than fifty years German universities have been the centre of European thought and scholastic culture,—­pedantic, perhaps, but original and profound.

Before proceeding to the main subject, I have to speak of one more great reform, which was the work of Scharnhorst.  This was that series of measures which determined the result of the greatest military struggles of the nineteenth century, and raised Prussia to the front rank of military monarchies.  It was the levee en masse, composed of the youth of the nation, without distinction of rank, instead of an army made up of peasants and serfs and commanded by their feudal masters.  Scharnhorst introduced a compulsory system, indeed, but it was not unequal.  Every man was made to feel that he had a personal interest in defending his country, and there were no exemptions made.  True, the old system of Frederic the Great was that of conscription; but from this conscription large classes and whole districts were exempted, while the soldiers who fought in the war of liberation were drawn from all classes alike:  hence, there was no unjust compulsion, which weakens patriotism, and entails innumerable miseries.  It was impossible in the utter exhaustion of the national finances to raise a sufficient number of volunteers to meet the emergencies of the times; therefore, if Napoleon was to be overthrown, it was absolutely necessary to compel everybody to serve in the army for a limited period, The nation saw the necessity, and made no resistance.  Thus patriotism lent her aid, and became an overwhelming power.  The citizen soldier was no great burden on the government, since it was bound to his support only for a limited period,—­long or short as the exigency of the country demanded.  Hence, large armies were maintained at comparatively trifling expense.