Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume One).djvu/248

 a favorable consideration of that offer, and that if he instead of his brother had been king of Prussia, the crisis might have taken a turn much more propitious to the realization of German unity, was at that time not yet known; nor would it have found much belief, for the prince of Prussia was then generally thought to be an honest and inflexible absolutist, who candidly and firmly believed that kings were ordained by God and had to render account only to God; that the people must have nothing to do with the business of the government; that resistance to the kingly power was equivalent to a direct offense against God Himself, and that it was an important duty of those in power to impose upon such a crime the heaviest possible penalty. So in the minds of the people the prince appeared as a fanatical soldier to whom the Prussian army was a very idol; who saw in it the “sword of God,” the bulwark of the order of the universe; in whose eyes the Prussian subject that fought against the Prussian army committed an unpardonable crime not less accursed than patricide itself, and from whom such a criminal could expect no grace. We natives of Prussia, therefore, if we fell into the hands of that prince, had the best possible prospects of being condemned to death by a drumhead court-martial and of being shot. With these dismal thoughts I went to bed. Nevertheless I slept soundly and awoke long after sunrise.

The duties assigned to me by the governor were not onerous. I had to spend certain hours on the highest gallery of the tower of the castle, armed with a telescope, to observe the enemy and to make report of what I might see. Then I had, periodically, to visit certain bastions and gates, and to inspect certain watches, and in addition to do such other things as the governor might see proper to entrust to me. To fit me for that duty I donned the uniform of a regular infantry