SoO Ten Years of ray Life. 



foundation of the magazine I established, for tlie example set 

 by Baron Oppenheim found many imitators. Deputies from 

 Elberfeld, Barmen, Hamburg, Bremen, Crefeld, and other 

 places, arrived with an abundance of supplies. There was an 

 immense number of bottles of fine wines, barrels of spirits, bales 

 of tobacco, cigars, woollen and linen clothes of every kind, &c. 

 The knights of St. John became rather jealous and annoyed 

 when these gentlemen arrived with the special order to deliver 

 their gifts into the hands of the Princess Salm, and under no 

 circumstances into those of the knights, who had made them- 

 selves rather unpopular by the supercilious manner in which 

 they often treated the brave men who volunteered to bring 

 these supplies to the army, which was by no means an easy or 

 a pleasant task. My stores were therefore replete with every 

 kind of good thing, whilst the depots of the knights remamed 

 distressingly empty. Many of them reproached me with ac- 

 cepting those provisions instead of letting them be sent to 

 their depots, which had been established to receive them, but 

 as many of the delegates declared that they would rather take 

 their supplies back if I refused them, I should have acted very 

 fooHshly in doing so. Some of the knighrs condescended to 

 request me tq lend them part of my abundance, as they were 

 ashamed .of the emptiness of their store rooms, and 1 did so ; 

 but not one of them demeaned himself so much as to remem- 

 ber such debts. 



It was natural that sometimes the donors of voluntary gifts 

 desired that they .-^ould chiefly benefit the soldiers from their 

 city or district, and so it happened that those whose homes 

 were near the Rhine were well supplied, whilst the soldiers 

 from Pomerania, East and West Prussia, or Silesia, were 

 neglected in this respect on account of the great distance. I 

 therefore took care to make up for this disadvantage whenever 

 I had goods at my disposition for general use. How well 

 supplied my stores were, may be judged from the fact that I 

 twice supplied a whole brigade of the second army corps, — 

 General von Fransecky's Pomeranians, — with tobacco, cigars, 

 and spirits. 



Indeed the German people took good care of their army ; 

 but as their gifts were voluntary they were supposed to have a 

 right to inquire into the manner in which they were applied, 

 which offended the pride of the knights of St. John, who were 



