These states, however, did not enjoy unchallenged independence. Each had to work out its own religious settlement, and—if it embraced the Reformation—had to repel12, with whatever help it could find, the rescue-work of the Pope and his allies. To the end of the sixteenth century, through the careers of Charles V., Elizabeth, William of Orange, Henry of Navarre, Romanist and Protestant States always tended to fall apart into two hostile camps. Even in Frederick’s time religious affinity13 always counted for something. He had laid history to heart and, as we shall see, profited in his dealings with England by the old cry of “Church in danger.” On his lips the cry was a mere15 ruse16. The day of crusades was over. In the sixteenth century Spain, Austria, and Italy rejected the Reformation; England established its own Church; France came to terms with the Huguenots. At the great Peace of Westphalia Germany established parity17 between the warring creeds18, a boon19 tardily20 won by thirty years of desolation. Thenceforward affairs of state came first in every58 land. Louis XIV.’s revocation21 of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 proved that religious aggression22 was to be feared only as the sequel of undue23 political preponderance. From the birth of modern states down to our own time, the bugbear of the nations has been world-rule and their watchword equilibrium24.
The first prince who threatened to restore in fact if not in form the world-rule which had broken down in the Middle Ages was Charles V., the scion25 and pattern of the House of Hapsburg, whose career is the narrative26 of European politics from 1519 to 1556. France, which he threatened most, took the lead against him, began the long duel27 between Bourbon and Hapsburg, and thus guarded the liberties of Europe till the close of the Thirty Years’ War (1648). Then Louis XIV. threatened to make France in her turn mistress of the world. The equilibrium which he, as absolute ruler of the foremost State of Europe, seemed to have overthrown28, was painfully re-established at Utrecht (1713). A new and greater Thirty Years’ War was thus brought to an end. It left the States weary and timid, dreading29 France as a century earlier they had dreaded30 Spain, clinging to peace lest the whole fabric31 of Europe should collapse32 and with it the gains which they had made or hoped to make should vanish. France, conscious of weakness in spite of the glories of Louis XIV., turned to diplomacy33 and won Lorraine. England, ridden on a loose rein34 by Walpole, followed her natural bent35 towards the sea. For Austria and the Hapsburg Charles VI., the great59 problem was to keep what had already been heaped together. Only Spain was not afraid to break the peace, and in the long run she gained parts of Italy by her boldness.
Most of the territorial36 profits made by European Powers during the years 1713–1740 were made at the expense of Charles VI., either as head of the Hapsburgs or as Emperor. As it became certain that he would have no son, he grew more and more reckless in sacrificing the welfare of the Empire to that of his House. The future of his heir was indeed precarious37. For there was not and never had been an Austria in the same sense in which there was an England, a France, or a Spain; that is, a well-knit nation, preferring ruin to dismemberment. “Austria” meant the dominions38 of the elder branch of the House of Hapsburg just as “Prussia” under Frederick I. meant the dominions of the elder branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In the case of the Hapsburg agglomeration39, however, the subjects were too many, too miscellaneous, and too rich for the work of a Frederick William to be possible. Germans, Hungarians, and Italians were only the chief among a motley crowd of races which had come under the sceptre of Charles VI.’s ancestors and which he strained every nerve to hand down to his daughter undispersed.
The method which Charles selected was to proclaim that his dominions were one and indivisible, and descended40 to a female heir if no male were forthcoming. This he did by the famous Pragmatic Sanction, a document which for fifteen years, from60 1725 to 1740, was the pivot41 of European politics. From State after State Charles purchased a guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, which amounted to an undertaking42 to recognise his daughter, Maria Theresa, as heir to the Hapsburg dominions. For this he yielded to Spain broad lands in Italy, for this he sacrificed commercial prospects43 to the sea-powers England and Holland, for this he consented that Lorraine should pass from Germany to France, for this he followed Russia into a Turkish war which cost him great tracts44 on either side the Danube. For this, too, he committed what was perhaps the most dangerous of all his blunders. He played fast and loose with a time-honoured ally, and estranged45 the King of Prussia.
Ever since the Peace of Westphalia had given them freedom to make alliances where they would, the policy of the Hohenzollerns had been to maintain a good understanding with Austria. It might, indeed, happen, as after 1679, when Louis XIV. hired them, that some other course became so advantageous47 that for the moment they adopted it. In general however, the Emperor had most to give. To him the German princes still looked for investiture, for arbitration48, and for promotion49, and if a State desired to exercise its troops, who was so likely as the lord of the long Hapsburg frontiers to be at war? King Frederick William might reasonably hope that the Power which had given his father the crown, which had led Prussians to victory before Turin, and which had permitted him to keep conquests in Swedish Pomerania (1720), would reward his devoted61 service by favouring his pretensions50 to inheritance on the Rhine.
Though a forceful squire51, as a statesman the King lacked imagination. He was master of the finest soldiers in Europe, yet he dared not vindicate52 his claims to Jülich-Berg without the help of the Emperor, and he could not understand that the Emperor might be reluctant to help the master of the finest soldiers in Europe. Such was, however, the truth. The rise of the Hohenzollerns had long been watched at Vienna with not unnatural53 jealousy54. Even against the Turk Prussians were but sparingly enlisted55. The gift of the crown had been hotly opposed and bitterly regretted. When Frederick William cried, “The Emperor will have to spurn56 me from him with his feet: I am his unto death, faithful to the last drop of my blood,” it was already a Hapsburg maxim57 that a new Vandal kingdom must not arise on the shores of the Baltic.
The statesmen at Vienna valued the Prussian alliance enough to employ Grumbkow and the Austrian ministers at Berlin to hoodwink Frederick William. As we have seen, they lavished58 pocket-money and sacrificed a bride in the hope of securing ascendancy59 over his son. But they blundered greatly when to please England and thereby60 to further the Pragmatic Sanction, they bade the King break off a marriage which all the world knew was fixed61 for the very next day, and they blundered still more when to please France and Holland with the same end in view they withdrew the promise of supporting him in Jülich-Berg. In 1732 Frederick William, for the only time62 in his life, met Charles VI. face to face and the truth with regard to the relations between Hapsburg and Hohenzollern began to dawn upon him. All his life he had been the vassal62 of an Emperor whom he had imagined as a German overlord, heir to the dignity of the C?sars, who when the time was ripe would look with paternal63 complacency upon the Prussian claims. The vision faded and revealed a rival monarch64, pompous65, contemptuous, and shifty. The shock of disillusionment was terrible, but before his death he saw clearly. Once, it is said, he pointed66 to Frederick with the words, “There stands one who will avenge67 me.” It is certain that with failing breath he warned his son against the policy of Vienna.
Thus, even supposing that Frederick’s view of politics had been no wider than his father’s, that he had come to the throne resolved merely to keep up a great army and to win Jülich-Berg, he would none the less have possessed68 remarkable69 freedom of action. In foreign politics he was fettered70 by only one great treaty, that of Berlin (December, 1728), by which Prussia undertook to maintain the Pragmatic Sanction. But it was possible to contend that this agreement, which was made in secret to secure the Emperor’s assistance in Jülich-Berg, became void in 1739, when Austria entered into conflicting engagements with France.
Circumstances, too, were favourable71 to Frederick’s liberty. The very existence of the Pragmatic Sanction, a violent remedy against dissolution, was a guarantee that Austria would be harmless for years to come. If Charles VI. and his heir were63 loath72 to uphold Prussia on the Rhine, they would be very unlikely to risk their own existence by taking up arms against her. In other quarters Prussia had little to fear. Hanover, the parvenu73 electorate74 which lay like a broad barrier across the direct road from Berlin to the West, had become a dependency of England in 1714, and therefore was not dangerous. Whatever might be the wishes of George II., it was certain that Walpole would not spend blood and treasure to maintain the House of Pfalz-Sulzbach, Prussia’s rival in Jülich-Berg, at Düsseldorf. The Dutch, it is true, felt themselves menaced by a Prussian garrison75 in Cleves, but their course had by this time become that of a mere cock-boat in the wake of Great Britain. France alone remained to be considered, and France, with a frontier fifty leagues from Berg, was guided by a Walpole of her own, Cardinal76 Fleury, now nearing the close of his eighty-seventh year. If then Frederick elected to make Prussia more considerable among the Powers of the West by pressing his claims to Berg he could fling his sword into the scales of justice without great fear that a stronger hand would turn the balance against him.
Adventure in the Rhine countries had much to commend it to the young King. His House undoubtedly78 possessed some title to Berg, and it had been the secular policy of the Hohenzollerns to forego no claim without arguing to the death. The busy and fertile Rhineland was a gold-mine in comparison with the sterile79 Mark. Frederick, as an enthusiast80 for the higher civilisation81 of the West, might well64 feel drawn82 towards a duchy which lay more than half-way along the direct line from his capital to Paris. And, greatest merit of all in the eyes of a dynasty of merchants, Berg was eminently83 salable84. The Rhenish duchies were like good accommodation-lands in the midst of thriving farms. Many rulers would always be glad of them and their price would therefore be high.
But the arguments against staking all on Berg were also strong. A statesman trained between the Elbe and the Oder could hardly be unaware85 that Prussia’s heritage in the West was a mere windfall and that by interest as by situation she belonged to the system of the North. Her natural outlook was towards the Baltic, which formed the only free road between her centre and her eastern wing. It was by foregoing lands on the Baltic that she had gained rich bishoprics to the westward86 in 1648. Baltic Powers, Poland, Russia, and above all Sweden, had steadily87 influenced her politics since the advent77 of the Great Elector. History and geography alike seemed to beckon88 young Frederick to the sea. Let us therefore cast a glance at those among his neighbours whom he had to take account of, whatever plan he might devise.
FREDERICK WILLIAM THE FIRST.
AFTER THE PAINTING BY F. W. WEIDEMAN.
Just as the traditional enemy of the Bourbon was the Hapsburg, so the traditional enemy of the Hohenzollern was the Vasa. This gifted House had ruled in Sweden since 1520 and had chosen for their country a path which it was not strong enough to follow to the end. They had striven to turn the Baltic into a Swedish lake by conquering all its65 coasts. Success seemed nearest when in 1630 Gustavus landed in Germany, and at the point of the sword compelled his kinsman89 of Brandenburg to favour his adventure. The result of these bold steps was for Sweden a swift blaze of glory; for Brandenburg a decade of misery90 inflicted91 in great part by Swedish hands. In 1648 the great treaty compensated92 the Swedes for their work by driving the Great Elector from the mouth of the Oder. Their ambition to be masters of the Baltic shores, however, remained, and the Great Elector suffered much at their hands before the Peace of Oliva (1660) confirmed his sovereignty over Ost-Preussen. What happened at Fehrbellin and after it has been already told. The meteoric93 career of Charles XII. (1697–1718), who began by humbling94 Prussia, but ended by losing Stettin to her, is no part of our story, except in so far as it interested and influenced young Frederick. It suffices that in 1740 Sweden was factious95 and impotent, and that her aged96 King still held that part of Pomerania which Prussia did not possess. To acquire Western Pomerania was therefore a possible object for Frederick’s ambition.
The central mass of the Hohenzollern dominions touched along almost the whole of its eastern frontier a Power whose decline was even more visible than that of Sweden. The Polish Republic, which almost encircled Ost-Preussen, formed perhaps the strangest spectacle that Europe has ever seen. A vaster country than any of the Western Powers, Poland remained in the Middle Ages. Her constitution, indeed, seemed to have no other end than to make66 progress impossible. There were only two classes, nobles and serfs, the free and the unfree. But where every freeman was noble, many nobles were poor. These served for hire, and were distinguished97, it is said, from men of lower birth by the privilege of being flogged upon a Turkey carpet. The direction of this vast country rested with a few thousand feudal98 chiefs who elected a nominal99 King from within their own body or outside it. They made the laws themselves, but a single dissentient voice could wreck100 the work of a whole Diet, as the annual session of Parliament was termed, and of late years this right had commonly been exercised. What trade there was, was left to the despised class of German burghers. The fighting force grew every year more feeble. While Austria could boast a Eugene and Russia a Peter, while the parade-ground at Potsdam was trodden by ever-growing masses of men who handled modern weapons with the precision given by daily practice, the Poles were blindly trusting in feudal levies101 generalled by a puppet King.
At Frederick’s accession, however, Poland still possessed two elements of strength besides her vast bulk and the knightly102 courage of her sons. These were the Saxon connexion and the port of Danzig. Two years earlier, at the price of war with France (1733–1738) and loss of lands in Italy, Charles VI. had secured the Polish crown for the son of the late King, Augustus III., the Elector of Saxony. The Emperor made this sacrifice to win support for the Pragmatic Sanction and to propitiate103 Russia, who looked upon Poland as her own if the French candidate67 were expelled. And, as the road from Dresden to Warsaw passed through the Hapsburg province of Silesia, Augustus had good reason to be faithful to the daughter of Charles VI.
Poland none the less promised much to a king of Prussia who could wait. Her artificial connexion with Saxony, established by foreign Powers against the will of a majority of the Poles, could only weaken the frail104 bonds which bound the State together. Poland, all the world had long known, would one day fall in pieces, and who should hinder Prussia from gathering105 some of them? For the moment, however, Augustus could defend his new dominions. A king of Prussia in a fever to act at once could not assail106 Poland without laying bare his flank to Saxony and to her Imperial ally.
But could Prussia in 1740 afford to wait? If Augustus’s dream were to be fulfilled would not she be in jeopardy107? The Elector hoped that the Emperor would cede108 to him a part of Lower Silesia, so that Prussia might be for ever divided and hemmed109 in by a Saxon-Polish State. Had we no other guide than the map, we might be tempted110 to guess that it was to avert111 this peril112 that Frederick seized Silesia. If it were true it were a grievous fault. Augustus, who was no statesman, might dream of a hereditary113 crown, but a firm Saxony-Poland was in fact impossible. Dresden and Warsaw were centuries apart. Out of two such halves no strong whole could be compounded. The one was German, the other Slav; the one industrial, the other primitive114; the one Lutheran, the other partly Romanist and partly68 Orthodox. Compounds so discordant115 could have found no abiding116 unity117 in a monarchy118 based on the treason of their common head against the constitution of each. Nor could such a State have barred for a decade the path of the Muscovite Colossus which Peter had already roused and which Catherine and Alexander were soon to reinspire.
In weighing Frederick’s wisdom we must not forget that the share of Poland which he might expect that Prussia was destined120 to acquire, and which did, in fact, fall to her during his own lifetime, would change Ost-Preussen from an isolated121 province into a strong limb of a well-knit State. It gave her the lower waters of a third great arterial river—the Vistula. But it came to her in 1774 shorn of its chief glory, the old portal of the Vistula and strong tower of Poland, the matchless town of Danzig. Frederick had seen that fair city, a hearth122 of German culture among the Slavs, with its giant Marienkirche towering over a mass of battlements and gates and churches of stately civic123 halls and mansions124 hardly less stately, the whole forming a Venice of the North beside which his capital was but a market town. He must have taken note of the foundation of all this grandeur125, great warehouses126 on busy wharves127, canals crowded with masts and hulls128 from many lands. And he cannot have been blind to the fact that within a few miles of this prize lay Ost-Preussen, and that, since Augustus had surrendered Curland, within a few miles of Ost-Preussen lay Russia. Seldom has a king had clearer warning to look before he leaped.
69 Thus, without departing from the policy of the men who had made Prussia what she was, the young King had his choice between adventure on the Rhine or across the Peene and a policy of expectant watchfulness129 on the Vistula. But if he were capable of building upon the foundations of his forefathers130 the loftiest structure that they would bear, then a still more glorious conquest might be his. Lord of Stettin and of the ports of Ost-Preussen, he might claim a share in what all the nations coveted131, the empire of the sea.
It is one of the most grotesque132 facts in history that the Emperor William II., when he cried, “Our future lies upon the water,” should have been uttering as prophecy what ought to have been commonplace for a century and a half. Even in 1740 the truth that the New World offered a fairer career than the Old was not hidden from statesmen less astute133 than Frederick. Since the Armada foundered134 in 1588, the nations of Europe had been realising it one by one. Spain and Portugal, the first in the field, still held a vast heritage across the ocean, but their monopoly was not as unchallenged as of old. First the Dutch, who as subjects of Spain had monopolised that carrying-trade which seemed to be beneath the dignity of an Iberian gentleman, enriched themselves so rapidly that they were able to throw off the yoke135 of Philip II. and to establish a colonial and commercial empire of their own. Then England, tardily comprehending the changing conditions of life, grappled with their little republic in a long and doubtful struggle. Finally weight told, and after70 the Revolution of 1688 England under her Dutch King led the way and Holland followed in a campaign against a rival dangerous to both. For France had been guided by Colbert into the path of greatness beyond the seas, and it was by grasping at Spain and the Indies that Louis XIV. aroused the keenest apprehensions136 that he might become dictator of the world. Only at the cost of two mighty138 wars had the danger from France been averted139 for a generation. By the Peace of Utrecht (1713) the Sea Powers gained security for themselves and for their commerce, but the prize of North America still remained to be fought for between France and England.
In the early years of the eighteenth century other competitors put to sea. Under Peter the Great, the new land Power, Russia, struggled to become maritime140, though her horizon, as yet, hardly extended beyond European waters. But in 1722 the Emperor Charles VI. made his port of Ostend the headquarters of a new Imperial East India Company, and England, France, and Holland joined in an outcry against German competition. Nine years later they were appeased141. The Hapsburg sacrificed the future of his House to its past. To purchase guarantees of the Pragmatic Sanction he withdrew his support from the Company, which none the less was able to maintain itself for more than sixty years.
If then the tide had set so strongly towards distant continents that even conservative ill-knit Austria was swept along with it, we may well ask, what of Prussia? The history of our own time makes the question more pertinent142. North Germany71 has shown beyond dispute not only that she can now build ships, a fact which proves little or nothing as to her powers in the past, but also that she can fill them with brave and skilful143 seamen144, whose character only many generations of worthy145 forefathers could create. These forefathers were the Prussians of Frederick’s day, poor, fearless, and docile146, living on the borders of the Baltic, speeding and welcoming its fleets at Memel, at Pillau, at Colberg, and above all at Stettin. Why, it may be wondered, was Frederick blind to the signs of the times? Why did not he at the very outset of his reign hasten to employ the power of the Crown, which Frederick William had raised so high, to equip a Prussian Baltic Company, a Prussian West Africa Company, even a Prussian East India Company?
Never was the political situation more favourable to such an enterprise than when Frederick grasped the reins119. No neighbour could enforce a veto upon Prussian maritime enterprise. Poland was in the last stage of impotence and decay. Russia, who might form a good customer, was not yet equipped for conquest. Austria could not afford to offend a German ally. Sweden had lost her sting and her province of Pomerania was a hostage at Frederick’s mercy. The Sea Powers would view the enterprise askance, but they too had given hostages to Prussia. If England played foul147, the master of eighty thousand men could overrun Hanover in a fortnight and the Dutch would think twice ere they provoked the lord of Cleves. Of all Powers Denmark, the surly janitor148 of the Baltic, was perhaps the best able to72 injure Prussian commerce with impunity149, but the heir of the Great Elector might be trusted to find a way with Denmark. Thus Europe seemed to invite Prussia to follow the destiny which nature prescribed, and which led to wealth. Firmly governed, armed to the teeth, learned, Protestant, and rich, she might have pursued her old opportunist policy on the mainland with full confidence that the future would bring her wider boundaries and yet greater strength.
In an earlier generation and with smaller means the Great Elector had perceived that the true path for Prussia lay across the seas. Balked150 of Stettin, he strove to make Pillau and Memel his London and Amsterdam. His little Armada of ten frigates151 attacked the Spaniards with success. In a humble152 way there began to be Brandenburgish West Indies, and in 1683 Fort Great-Fredericksburgh was built upon the Brandenburgish Gold Coast. But the Great Elector’s son and grandson lacked either his firm hand or his imagination. While Frederick I. was squabbling with the Dutch about armchairs, the Dutch were driving his subjects from West Africa. Frederick William, the apostle of domestic economy, was impatient of flunkeys, universities, and colonies, the several extravagances of his father and of his grandfather. Would Frederick II. prove himself more enlightened?
We see with amazement153 that he did not. A prince who was accounted clever, who had spent the first decade of manhood in pondering on high politics, who revered154 the memory of the Great73 Elector, and followed the fortunes of England with keen interest—how could such an one ignore what the movement of the times and the course of after events seem to point out so clearly? Among his first acts was the establishment of a new department of manufactures. He commanded the head of it to take measures for improving the condition of existing industries, for introducing new ones, and for bringing in foreign capital and foreign hands. Why did he not at the same time establish a department of marine155? Why did he wait till East Frisia fell to Prussia before making even a half-hearted effort to win profit from the sea?
A partial explanation may lie in the fact that Frederick lacked the inspiration drawn from travel. The stupid fears of Frederick William that his son would become too Frenchified in his life or too Austrian in his politics had closed to Frederick the doors of the best school of his time. Who knows how much profit the Great Elector brought to his State from his education in Holland, or Peter the Great from his journeys in the West? Save at Danzig, Frederick had hardly seen with his own eyes the dignity which commerce might create. Save for two stolen days in Strasburg in the first months of his reign, a secret visit to Holland in 1755, and a meeting with the Emperor in Moravia in 1770, he was fated never to gain fresh knowledge of what would now be foreign lands except at the head of his army.
Again, Frederick’s political economy was unfavourable to Prussian commerce. At Cüstrin he learned from Hille that the only trade by which a74 country can profit is that which adds to its stock of gold and silver. His father had carried this idea to its logical conclusion. He had seized the precious metals and locked them up. Like a timid farmer who thinks that the bank will break, he had hidden in his cellars the hoard156 which represented the economies of a lifetime. Frederick therefore found a treasure of more than twenty-six million marks, at a time when the weekly wage of a common soldier hardly exceeded one.
It seems clear that a policy of hoarding157 could be wise only when war was in sight. In time of war that Government would be happiest which had most coined money with which to pay its troops. But in time of peace not even Frederick William could take a breed from barren metal by keeping it locked up. Profit could be drawn from it in either of two ways. The coined metal might be spent to advantage, so that the State bought something, such as a school, or a farm, or a flock of sheep, which would in the future be worth more than the sum laid out. Or it might be lent to citizens who would pay for the use of it and establish with its aid some business which might be taxed. By locking up the surplus funds of the country, however, the King stifled158 commerce at the birth. Frederick did not detect the fallacy, and Germany waited till the nineteenth century for her commercial rise.
Though nimble-witted and fond of philosophy, the King was hardly profound. His lector, the Swiss de Catt, tells a significant story of his first discussion with a singular stranger on a Dutch75 vessel159, whom he did not suspect to be the lord of Prussia. Frederick, he says,
“tried to prove that creation was impossible. At this last point I stood out in opposition160. ‘But how can one create something out of nothing?’ said he. ‘That is not the question,’ answered I, ‘the question is, whether such a Being as God can or cannot give existence to what has yet none?’ He seemed embarrassed and added, ‘But the Universe is eternal.’ ‘You are in a circle,’ said I, ‘how will you get out of it?’ ‘I skip over it,’ said he, laughing; and then began to speak of other things.”
He wrote incessantly161 on history and politics, always with the clearness and sprightliness162 that seem inseparable from the French tongue which he employed, and always with the confidence of a journalist and of a king. Of his ancestor Joachim I. he says: “He received the surname of Nestor in the same way as Louis XIII. that of ‘the Just’; that is, for no reason that any one can discover”—and this is a very fair example of his style. Sense, lucidity163, concise164 statement, even wit, distinguish his writings. He made so many confident generalisations on political affairs that some have almost of necessity proved correct. But of deep insight, still less of great constructive165 power, there is little trace.
In freedom from illusions, however, Frederick surpassed some rival statesmen. This was abundantly illustrated166 at the very outset of his reign. He saw, as Charles VI. could not, that the claim of the Emperor to be lord of the world rested on no firm76 basis. Early in 1737 he had written: “If the Emperor dies to-day or to-morrow, what revolutions will come to pass! Every one will wish to share his estate, and we shall see as many factions167 as there are sovereigns.” The discovery, indeed, was by no means new. More than a century earlier Gustavus Adolphus had told the Germans that their constitution was rotten. But Frederick informs the Emperor pointedly168 that he is only first among his peers. He was equally clear-sighted in the choice of means to spread his views. William the Silent had perceived a fact dark to many statesmen since his time—that the public opinion of Europe is worth much and that it may be courted through the Press. Frederick had already composed the earliest of his many pamphlets, which he intended to publish anonymously169 as the work of an Englishman, to rouse the Sea Powers against France.
More significant than all else was the fact that he viewed his own strength with clearer eyes than his father’s. Frederick William had never been able to convince himself that Prussia was a strong State: Frederick wears no blinkers and with his accession the day of half measures is over. Two years before this he had written to Grumbkow words which express his real opinion of the old policy of his House. The affair of Berg, which he as Crown Prince earnestly hoped would enable him to win fame on the battle-field, had then entered upon a phase adverse170 to Prussian expectations. Austria had been prevailed on to join with France and the Sea Powers in claiming that it should be referred to77 the arbitration of a congress, and Frederick William, though disgusted, had decided171 to give way. Of this decision Grumbkow approved, writing, “I am persuaded that a King of Prussia, like a King of Sardinia, will always have more need of the fox’s hide than of the lion’s.” Frederick replies (March, 1738):
“I confess that I perceive in the answer a conflict between greatness and humiliation172 to which I can never agree. The answer is like the declaration of a man who has no stomach for fighting and yet wishes to seem as if he had. There were only two solutions, either to reply with noble pride, with no evasions173 in the shape of petty negotiations174 whose real value will soon be recognised, or to bow ourselves under the degrading yoke that they wish to lay upon us. I am no subtle politician to couple together a set of contradictory175 threats and submissions176, I am young, I would perhaps follow the impetuosity of my nature; under no circumstances would I do anything by halves.”
Close observers held that a change of king would be followed by a change of policy and that Frederick was likely to attempt great things. What these would be no one, with the possible exception of the young King himself, had the least idea. What in the opinion of the present writer they should have been is sufficiently177 indicated above. What they were, will be shown in the following chapter.
At first, for all his determination to lose no time, the results of his accession seemed but small. No78 human being could maintain that he was swayed by his affections. Though Duhan, Keith, and Katte’s father received some measure of compensation for their sufferings, Frederick’s behaviour towards those concerned in his early struggles emboldened178 the wits to say that his memory was excellent as far back as 1730. His Rheinsberg friends expected to share the spoils of office. They were disappointed in a way that has reminded Macaulay of the treatment of Falstaff by Henry V. Frederick was as masterful as his father. The aged Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, who had created the Prussian army, and the aged General von Schulenburg, who had risked all rather than condemn179 Katte to death, were humiliated180 by royal reprimands. Grumbkow, with whom he had corresponded for more than eight years in terms of affectionate intimacy181, might have caused him a moment’s embarrassment182, but he had just died—“for me the greatest conceivable gain,” the King assured his sister. He broke up his father’s useless and costly183 regiment184 of giant grenadiers, a measure which Frederick William had himself advised, but he increased the effective strength of the army by nearly ten thousand men. At the same time he sounded, more clearly even than his ancestor George William, the note of religious toleration for which Brandenburg had been honourably185 distinguished in the time of her greatest peril. “In this country,” he instructed his officials, “every one shall get to heaven in his own way.”
VIEW OF GLATZ IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
FROM AN OLD PRINT.
The crowned philosopher always recognised the79 difference between the things which were C?sar’s and the things which were God’s. The scion of a Calvinist House, he began his reign by authorising the Lutherans to restore their ritual, which had been arbitrarily simplified by his father. He was soon to court the favour of Breslau by supplying her with Protestant preachers, and of Glatz by bestowing186 vestments upon a statue of the Virgin187. When Romanist Europe expelled the Jesuits, he seized the opportunity of picking up well-trained teachers cheap. Some of his papist subjects had a fancy for buying handkerchiefs which bore the effigies188 of saints. Frederick, eager to encourage the linen189 manufacture, bade his officials find out which saints were the most popular and adjust the supply to the demand.
A story cited by Carlyle illuminates190 Frederick’s views upon the relations between Church and State. He was questioning the monks191 of Cleve, to whom the old dukes had assigned an income from the royal forest-dues for masses to be said on their behalf. “‘You still say those masses then?’ ‘Certainly, your Majesty192.’ ‘And what good does anybody get out of them?’ ‘Your Majesty, those old sovereigns are to obtain heavenly mercy by them, to be delivered out of purgatory193 by them.’ ‘Purgatory? It is a sore thing for the Forests, all this while! And they are not yet out, those poor souls, after so many hundred years of praying?’ Monks have a fatal apprehension137, No. ‘When will they be out, and the thing complete?’ Monks cannot say. ‘Send me a courier whenever it is complete!’80 sneers194 the King,” and leaves them to finish the Te Deum which they had begun to greet his arrival.
Lastly, the forms with which Frederick took up the kingship showed that the fears of his father and the hopes of enlightened men were alike without foundation. It became clear that the philosopher-king, though he relieved famine and tempted learned foreigners to Berlin, would not revert195 to the ill-timed pageantry of his grandfather. Nor—though he freed the press and restricted to a few cases the use of torture—would he anticipate the glory of some Hohenzollern who is still unborn by fostering a spirit of individual liberty among his people. Impatient of coronation, which he classed among the “useless and frivolous196 ceremonies which ignorance and superstition197 have established,” he received the homage198 of his subjects by proxy199 everywhere save in Ost-Preussen, Brandenburg, and Cleve. At K?nigsberg he paid homage to the memory of liberties which his ancestors had crushed, and which he had no intention of animating200 anew. The ceremony at Berlin was made memorable201 by one of his rare displays of feeling. When he appeared on the balcony of the Castle and looked down upon the surging crowd in the square below, he was so affected202 that he remained standing46 many minutes, silent and buried in thought. Then, recovering himself, he bowed to the multitude, and rode off to attend a military review.
EUROPE 1740
G. P. Putnam’s Sons. London, & New York.
It is, however, on his journey to Wesel, his Rhenish capital, that he reveals most clearly how the Crown Prince has changed into the King. Wilhelmina had found him of late so careless, even so uncivil, a correspondent81 that the news of his coming to Baireuth prostrated203 her with joy. He seemed to her so altered in countenance204 and developed in form that, just as after his imprisonment205 at Cüstrin, she hardly recognised him. But a less welcome change was only too perceptible. Wilhelmina found her brother’s caresses206 forced, his conversation trivial, their sister, the Margravine of Ansbach, more favoured than herself. The remainder of the journey proved that Frederick at least remained true to the French. At Frankfort he disguised himself for a flying visit to Strasburg. There his little party put up at an inn, sent the landlord to invite officers to their table, and visited the theatre. The mask was penetrated207 by a runaway208 Prussian whose tall brother had been kidnapped for the army and who recognised the son of his former King. The greatest pleasure of all came last. At Wesel, besides dealing14 with the affair of Herstal, which will be described in the next chapter, Frederick for the first time paid homage in person to Voltaire.
At the end of October Wilhelmina visited Berlin, but her brother welcomed her coldly. She found abundant proofs that he had become inscrutable. She describes in her Memoirs209 how the Queen Mother had shut herself up, equally astonished and mortified210 at her complete exclusion211 from affairs of State. “Some complained of the little care he had to reward those who had been attached to him as prince royal; others, of his avarice212, which they said surpassed that of the late King; others of his passions; others again of his suspicions, of his mistrust,82 of his pride, and of his dissimulation213.” This criticism from an unwonted quarter may possibly be explained away. It has been suggested that the King’s treatment of his sister at Baireuth was due to the same policy of repelling214 every possible claimant to influence his policy, which may be held to excuse the snubs inflicted upon Dessau and Schulenburg and the dignified exile of Frederick’s mother and wife. His conduct at Rheinsberg, whither Wilhelmina followed him, does not admit of the same excuse.
“The little spare time that he had,” she complains, “was spent in the company of wits or men of letters. Such were Voltaire, Maupertuis, Algarotti, and Jordan. I saw the King but seldom. I had no ground for being satisfied with our interviews. The greater part of them was spent either in embarrassed words of politeness or in outrageous215 witticisms216 on the bad state of the Margrave’s finances; indeed he often ridiculed217 him and the princes of the empire, which I felt very much.”
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1
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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6
crumbled
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| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
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dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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attenuated
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| v.（使）变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）变薄；（使）变小；减弱 | |
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heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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ruse
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| n.诡计，计策；诡计 | |
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parity
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| n.平价，等价，比价，对等 | |
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creeds
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| （尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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tardily
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| adv.缓慢 | |
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revocation
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| n.废止，撤回 | |
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aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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scion
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| n.嫩芽，子孙 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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30
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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31
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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agglomeration
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| n.结聚，一堆 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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41
pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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42
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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43
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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44
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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45
estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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46
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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47
advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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48
arbitration
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| n.调停，仲裁 | |
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49
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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50
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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51
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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52
vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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53
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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54
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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55
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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56
spurn
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| v.拒绝，摈弃；n.轻视的拒绝；踢开 | |
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57
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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58
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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60
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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61
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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62
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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63
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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64
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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65
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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66
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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67
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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68
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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69
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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70
fettered
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| v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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72
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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73
parvenu
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| n.暴发户，新贵 | |
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electorate
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| n.全体选民；选区 | |
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75
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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76
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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77
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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78
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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79
sterile
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| adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的 | |
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80
enthusiast
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| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
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81
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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82
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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83
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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84
salable
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| adj.有销路的，适销的 | |
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85
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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86
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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87
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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88
beckon
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| v.(以点头或打手势)向...示意，召唤 | |
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89
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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91
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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92
compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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93
meteoric
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| adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的 | |
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94
humbling
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| adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气 | |
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factious
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| adj.好搞宗派活动的，派系的，好争论的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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100
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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101
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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102
knightly
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| adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
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103
propitiate
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| v.慰解，劝解 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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106
assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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108
cede
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| v.割让，放弃 | |
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hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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110
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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111
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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112
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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113
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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114
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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115
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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116
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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117
unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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118
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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119
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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120
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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121
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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122
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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123
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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124
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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125
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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126
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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127
wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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128
hulls
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| 船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚 | |
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129
watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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130
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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131
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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132
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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133
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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134
foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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135
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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136
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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137
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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138
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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139
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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140
maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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141
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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142
pertinent
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| adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的 | |
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143
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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144
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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145
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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146
docile
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| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
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147
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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148
janitor
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| n.看门人，管门人 | |
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149
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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150
balked
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| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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151
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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152
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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153
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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154
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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155
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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156
hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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157
hoarding
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| n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 ) | |
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158
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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159
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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160
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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161
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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162
sprightliness
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| n.愉快，快活 | |
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163
lucidity
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| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
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164
concise
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| adj.简洁的，简明的 | |
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165
constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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166
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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167
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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168
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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169
anonymously
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| ad.用匿名的方式 | |
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170
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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171
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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172
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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173
evasions
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| 逃避( evasion的名词复数 )； 回避； 遁辞； 借口 | |
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174
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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175
contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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176
submissions
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| n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据 | |
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177
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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178
emboldened
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| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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179
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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180
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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181
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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182
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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183
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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184
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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185
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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186
bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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187
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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188
effigies
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| n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 ) | |
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189
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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190
illuminates
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| v.使明亮( illuminate的第三人称单数 )；照亮；装饰；说明 | |
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191
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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192
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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193
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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194
sneers
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| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
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195
revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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196
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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197
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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198
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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199
proxy
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| n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人 | |
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200
animating
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| v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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201
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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202
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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203
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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204
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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205
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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206
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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207
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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208
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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209
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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210
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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211
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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212
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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213
dissimulation
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| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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214
repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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215
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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216
witticisms
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| n.妙语，俏皮话( witticism的名词复数 ) | |
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217
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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