It was no longer true that the French had a monopoly of the blessed
principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity, for which to fight. It
was no longer a fact that they were the only nation defending their
homes, their lands, and their rights. By 1810 the despotism of Napoleon
was more selfish and more directly galling to the Prussian people than
had been the threatened tyranny of Austrian and Prussian monarchs to an
emancipated French nation in the dark days of 1792. Prussia was
bankrupt, shorn of half her provinces, enduring the quartering of
foreign soldiers, and suffering the ruin of her crops and the paralysis
of her trade. Thanks to the Continental System, which had been none of
their doing, the Prussian people witnessed the decay of their seaports,
the rotting of their ships in their harbors, paid exorbitant prices for
tobacco, and denied themselves sugar, coffee, and spices. They were
grumbling and getting into a temper that boded ill to the author of
their injuries.
[Sidenote: Liberalism in Spain]
[Sidenote: The Spanish Constitution of 1812]
Meanwhile the warfare in Spain dragged on.
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