Heinrich Friedrich Karl Vom Und Zum Stein - Exile

Exile

Shortly afterwards the reformer had to flee from Prussia. In August 1808 the French agents, who swarmed throughout the land, had seized one of his letters, in which he spoke of his hope that Germany would soon be ready for a national rising like that of Spain. On 10 September, Napoleon gave orders that Stein's property in the new kingdom of Westphalia should be confiscated, and he likewise put pressure on Frederick William to dismiss him. The king evaded compliance but the French emperor, on entering Madrid in triumph, declared (16 December) Stein to be an enemy of France and the Confederation of the Rhine and ordered the confiscation of all his property in the Confederation. Stein saw that his life was in danger and fled from Berlin (5 January 1809). Thanks to the help of his former colleague, Count Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Reden, who gave him an asylum in his castle in the Riesengebirge, he succeeded in crossing the frontier into Bohemia.

For three years, Stein lived in the Austrian Empire, generally at Brno, but in May 1812, in danger of being surrendered by Austria to Napoleon, he received an invitation to visit Saint Petersburg from Emperor Alexander I of Russia, who saw that Austria was certain to range herself on the side of France in the forthcoming Franco-Russian War. At the crisis of that struggle, Stein may have been one of the influences which kept the tsar determined never to treat with Napoleon. When the miserable remains of the Grand Army reeled back into Prussia at the close of the year, Stein urged the Russian emperor to go on and free Europe from the French domination.

Events now brought Stein rapidly to the front. On 30 December 1812, the Prussian general Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg signed the Convention of Tauroggen with the Russian general Hans Karl von Diebitsch for neutralization of the Prussian corps at and near Tilsit, and for the free passage of the Russians through that part of the king's dominions. The Russian emperor thereupon requested Stein to act as provisional administrator of the provinces of East and West Prussia. In that capacity he convened an assembly of representatives of the local estates, which on 5 February 1813, ordered the establishment of a militia (Landwehr), a militia reserve and a final levy (Landsturm). The energy which Stein infused into all around him contributed not a little to this important decision, which pushed on the king's government to more decided action than at that time seemed possible. Stein now went to Breslau, whither the King of Prussia had proceeded, but the annoyance which Frederick William felt at his irregular action lessened his influence.

The 1813 Treaty of Kalisz between Russia and Prussia cannot be claimed as due to Stein's actions, which were reprehended in court circles as those of a fanatic. At that time the great patriot fell ill of a fever and complained of total neglect by the king and court. He recovered, however, in time to take part in the drafting of a Russo-Prussian convention (19 March 1813) respecting the administration of the districts which should be delivered from French occupation. During the varying phases of the campaign of 1813 Stein continued to urge the need of war a outrance against Napoleon. The Allies, after the entry of England and Austria into the coalition, conferred on Stein the important duties of superintending the administration of the liberated territories.

After the great Battle of Leipzig (16–19 October 1813) Stein entered that city the day after its occupation by the Allies and thus expressed his feelings on the fall of Napoleon's domination:

There it lies, then, the monstrous fabric cemented by the blood and tears of so many millions and reared by an insane and accursed tyranny. From one end of Germany to the other we may venture to say aloud that Napoleon is a villain and the enemy of the human race.

Stein wanted to see Germany reconstituted as a nation, but was frustrated by Metternich, who gained the alliance of the rulers of south and central Germany for his empire, on the understanding that they were to retain their old powers. Austria and the secondary German states resisted all such proposals, and Stein blamed the Prussian chancellor Hardenberg for vacillation. Stein shared in the desire of Prussian statesmen to absorb Saxony; in that too he was doomed to disappointment. On 24 May 1815, he sent to his patron, the emperor Alexander, a detailed criticism of the federal arrangements proposed for Germany. He retired after the Congress of Vienna, and disliked the postponement of the representative system of government which Frederick William had promised to Prussia in May 1815.