Among the many influences that urged on the Czar to a war for the liberation of Prussia and Europe, not the least was that wielded at his Court in the latter half of 1812 by the staunch German patriot, Stein.  His heroic spirit never quailed, even in the darkest hour of Prussia’s humiliation; and he now pointed out convincingly that the only sure means of overthrowing Napoleon was to raise Germany against him.  To remain on a tame defensive at Warsaw would be to court another French invasion in 1813.  The safety of Russia called for a pursuit of the French beyond the Elbe and a rally of the Germans against the man they detested.  The appeal struck home.  It revived Alexander’s longings for the liberation of Europe, which he had buried at Tilsit; and it agreed with the promptings of an ambitious statecraft.  Only by overthrowing Napoleon’s supremacy in Germany could the Czar gain a free hand for a lasting settlement of the Polish Question.  The eastern turn given to his policy in 1807 was at an end—­but not before Russia had taken another step towards the Bosphorus.  With one leg planted at the mouth of the Danube, the Colossus now prepared to stride over Central Europe.  The aims of Catherine II. in 1792 were at last to be realized.  While Europe was wrestling with Revolutionary France, the Muscovite grasp was to tighten on Poland.  It is not surprising that Alexander, on January 13th, commented on the “brilliance of the present situation,” or that he decided to press onward.  He gave little heed to the Gallophil counsels of Romantzoff or the dolorous warnings of the German-hating Kutusoff; and, on January 18th, he empowered Stein provisionally to administer in his name the districts of Prussia (Proper) when occupied by Russian troops.

So irregular a proceeding could only be excused by dire necessity and by success.  It was more than excused; it was triumphantly justified.  Four days later Stein arrived at Koenigsberg, in company with the patriotic poet, Arndt.  The Estates, or Provincial Assemblies, of East and West Prussia were summoned, and they heartily voted supplies for forming a Landwehr or militia, as well as a last line of defence called the Landsturm.  This step, unique in the history of Prussia, was taken apart from, almost in defiance of, the royal sanction:  it was, in fact, due to the masterful will of Stein, who saw that a great popular impulse, and it alone, could overcome the inertia of King and officials.  That impulse he himself originated, and by virtue of powers conferred on him by the Emperor Alexander.  And the ball thus set rolling at Koenigsberg was to gather mass and momentum until, thanks to the powerful aid of Wellington in the South, it overthrew Napoleon at Paris.