Half a dozen different tongues were daily heard in this city
of the plain, and no man knew who might be his friend and who his
enemy. For some who were allies to-day were commanded by their
kings to slay each other to-morrow.
In the wine-cellars and the humbler beer-shops, in the great houses
of the councillors, and behind the snowy lace curtains of the
Frauengasse and the Portchaisengasse a thousand slow Northerners
spoke of these things and kept them in their hearts. A hundred
secret societies passed from mouth to mouth instruction, warning,
encouragement. Germany has always been the home of the secret
society. Northern Europe gave birth to those countless associations
which have proved stronger than kings and surer than a throne. The
Hanseatic League, the first of the commercial unions which were
destined to build up the greatest empire of the world, lived longest
in Dantzig.
The Tugendbund, men whispered, was not dead but sleeping. Napoleon,
who had crushed it once, was watching for its revival; had a whole
army of his matchless secret police ready for it. And the
Tugendbund had had its centre in Dantzig.
Perhaps, in the Rathskeller itself--one of the largest wine stores
in the world, where tables and chairs are set beneath the arches of
the Exchange, a vast cave under the streets--perhaps here the
Tugendbund still encouraged men to be virtuous and self-denying for
no other or higher purpose than the overthrow of the Scourge of
Europe.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49