112 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



" The French, we hear to-day, have refused the terms 

 of armistice offered by Prussia with their usual insolence, 

 imagining they can change the face of things by a 

 few high-sounding words, and have forthwith made a 

 proclamation telling Prussia to come on and do their 

 worst, so that next time they come to terms they will be 

 much more ill-treated, and it really seems as if it would 

 be their fate to suffer what Prussia had to bear in 1806 

 and be occupied by a German army till they come to 

 terms. As for the Germans, they are I think making 

 use of Prussia to become a great nation, and the ele- 

 ment which will be added by Wurttemberg, Baden, Ba- 

 varia will, with the opposition in Prussia, counterbal- 

 ance much of the power of the Prussian nobility. But 

 of course there is great danger of their becoming 

 overrun by military rule, instead of tending to a central 

 German Diet, a German army, navy and customs, as 

 they all hope now. The German papers are now begin- 

 ning to get worked up ; they were calm enough at first, 

 but now, after their successes and the inability of the 

 French in understanding their situation, they are begin- 

 ning to smart under their losses, and will make France 

 pay the full penalty of all the suffering they have had. 

 If Napoleon could only be made to pay his share. In 

 Switzerland they have behaved very well, and have really 

 done more in assisting the French and German wounded 

 and the regulars, than has been done in the whole of 

 France to save their country." 



The end of October saw the Agassizs again in Lon- 

 don, which they had reached by way of Germany and 

 Ostende. 



