I intend to keep a standing army of 15,000 men there."[305] His plan was ruthlessly carried out.

The wealth of Hamburg was systematically extorted in order to furnish means for a completer subjection.

Boundless exactions, robbery of the bank, odious oppression of all classes, these were the first steps.

Twenty thousand persons were thereafter driven out, first the young and strong as being dangerous, then the old and weak as being useless; and a once prosperous emporium of trade became Napoleon's chief northern stronghold, a centre of hope for French and Danes, and a stimulus to revenge for every patriotic Teuton.[306] Yet the patriots were not cast down by recent events.

Their one desire was for the renewal of war: their one fear was that the diplomatists would once more barter away German independence.