456 
A CRUISING VISIT TO SOME GERMAN BATTLE-FIELDS. 
Now I think it is of very considerable interest to follow that sequel to the 
history of those times and .of those great men of whom our friend Mr. Poultney 
Bigelow has been speaking to us; because from generation to generation the same 
story is repeated. Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and all these men had, as Mr. Bigelow 
has been telling us, to fight through all sorts of pedantic opposition from the 
King and the men who were around him in order to make Prussia strong enough to 
win her independence from Napoleon. The lesson did not last for two generations. 
A long peace followed. All that they had done was forgotten. Within little 
more than 30 years their work had collapsed and the whole thing had to be rebuilt 
again, as it has been rebuilt in our time by a few resolute men setting to work on 
the lines that Scharnhorst and others had laid down, but restoring and strengthening 
the superstructure with those wonderful results of which we know. What, how¬ 
ever, is most remarkable, is that in each period the subsequent strength of the 
Prussian army was due to the discovery of its weakness. Jena led to the creation 
of the army by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The collapses of 1848 and 1859 led 
to the modern German army of to-day. The army which remained in 1860 as a 
tradition from the time of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would have been absolutely 
incapable of winning the campaign of 1866 in Bohemia, or even the campaign of 
1864 in Denmark, still less the 1870 campaign against Prance. Those victories were 
due to a complete re-vivifying of the whole of their institutions by men who realised 
the causes of their previous disasters. In the years that followed 1859 and 1860, 
when the grandfather of the present Emperor was the heir apparent to the Prussian 
Throne and practically, since the King, his brother, had become incapable of 
ruling, was the Governor of the Kingdom, he and the men he gathered round 
him, Bismark, Von Moltke, Von Boon, created the modern German army amid 
difficulties and opposition as great as those with which Scharnhorst and 
Gneisenau had met. The case of a weak King is exactly balanced by that of a 
chattering and do-nothing legislature, opposing the reforms of a strong King. 
In 1860 the renovation of the country was due to a patriotic and able King. 
His Ministers carried out their schemes at great risk nevertheless, because of a 
popular opposition which did not realise the necessities and requirements of the 
times (cheers). 
Chairman —If any other officer or gentleman would like to say anything we 
shall be very pleased to hear him. If not, it is only left for me to say that I am 
sure I cannot adequately express to Mr. Poultney Bigelow the thanks of the 
meeting for the very interesting lecture he has delivered this evening and for so 
kindly coming down here, and also for those valuable relics he has so kindly left 
us. I am sure we are all very grateful to him, and in expressing the feeling 
of the meeting, I beg to thank him for his great kindness (great applause '). 
