THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
fessional revolutionist, and who spent his time mainly in blaming
others for not doing what had to be done. He was soon
obliged to give up his post, and the command then passed
temporarily into the hands of a military commission composed
of former Prussian officers, Techow, Beust, Schimmelpfenning,
and Anneke. These were well-trained men, but better
fitted to take command of bodies of troops already
organized and equipped than to create an army in a country
the population of which was little accustomed to discipline
and ready obedience, and to whom Prussian officers with their
systematic ways and abrupt methods were not very
sympathetic. Still this commission accomplished all that could have
been expected of it. Meanwhile the provisional government
had engaged for a considerable sum of money the services of
an old Polish general by the name of Sznayde, of whom it
was rumored that he was really not a Pole, but a German by
the name of Schneider. Men who had served as officers in the
great Polish revolutionary wars appeared at that time with
a sort of a halo of revolutionary heroism around their heads.
The popular legend attributed to them not only extraordinary
bravery, but also all possible military talent, and exceptional
familiarity with the secrets of the military art. It was as if
at the rallying places of the Polish refugees, especially in Paris
and Switzerland, a stock of generals was kept in store, to be
occasionally disposed of for revolutionary enterprises in any
part of the world. Among these Polish officers there were
undoubtedly men of very respectable ability, such as Dembinsky,
Bem, Mieroslawski, and others; but also much worthless
and time-worn material. How the provisional government of
the Palatinate hit upon General Sznayde I do not know. It
was said that in the Polish-Russian war of 1830-1831 he had
been a very brave cavalry officer, but in the year 1849 it would
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