The Prussian rule has been to treat the occupied cities
of Germany with great forbearance, only making requisitions for the food of the soldiery. They have, however, made one great exception, the city of Frankfort. That city, for some unknown reason, it has been resolved to punish, and a contribution has been ordered of either 3,100,000/., or 2,500,000/., to be paid in the first instance by the bankers of the town. The bankers refused, threatening to sus- pend payments, whereupon General Falkenstein threatened to give the place up to pillage. This, however, was forbidden from Berlin, and 50 soldiers were billeted in every prominent citizen's house, with orders no doubt to make themselves unpleasant. The whole transaction seems such a piece of meaningless tyranny that theories are invented to account for it, Count von Bismark, for instance, who just now "fills the butchers' shops with large blue flies," being credited with a personal animosity to Frankfort. A depu- tation of bankers, with a Rothschild at• their head, has gone to Berlin to remonstrate, and this treatment of a great com- mercial city has irritated both France and England. The real fault probably may be divided between the General in command, the same who gutted Jutland, and the Prussian Treasury.
Previous page
