His resolution and
perseverance had raised Prussia to a high position among the kingdoms of
Europe, and laid the foundations of the present empire of Germany.
_THE PATRIOTS OF THE TYROL._
On the 9th of April, 1809, down the river Inn, in the Tyrol, came
floating a series of planks, from whose surface waved little red flags.
What they meant the Bavarian soldiers, who held that mountain land with
a hand of iron, could not conjecture. But what they meant the peasantry
well knew. On the day before peace had ruled throughout the Alps, and no
Bavarian dreamed of war. Those flags were the signal for insurrection,
and on their appearance the brave mountaineers sprang at once to arms
and flew to the defence of the bridges of their country, which the
Bavarians were marching to destroy, as an act of defence against the
Austrians.
On the 10th the storm of war burst. Some Bavarian sappers had been sent
to blow up the bridge of St. Lorenzo. But hardly had they begun their
work, when a shower of bullets from unseen marksmen swept the bridge.
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