THE YOUNG KING.
The king rapidly walked through the rooms and across the hall,
separating his own apartments from those of the queen. He had scarcely
entered his cabinet, when he opened the door of the ante-room, and
exclaimed:
“Pray, come in, my dear Kockeritz.”
A corpulent little gentleman, about fifty years of age, with a kind,
good-natured face, small, vivacious eyes, denoting an excellent heart,
but little ability, and large, broad lips, which never perhaps had
uttered profound truths, but assuredly many pleasant jests, immediately
appeared on the threshold.
While he was bowing respectfully, the king extended his hand to him.
“You have received my letter, my friend?” he asked.
“Yes, your majesty. I received it yesterday, and I have been studying it
all night.”
“And what are you going to reply to me?” asked the king, quickly. “Are
you ready to accept the position I have tendered to you? Will you become
my conscientious and impartial adviser--my true and devoted friend?”
“Your majesty,” said the lieutenant-colonel, sighing, “I am afraid your
majesty has too good an opinion of my abilities. When I read your truly
sublime letter, my heart shuddered, and I said to myself, ‘The king is
mistaken about you. To fill the position he is offering to you, he needs
a man of the highest ability and wisdom. The king has confounded your
heart with your head.’ Yes, your majesty, my heart is in the right
place; it is brave, bold, and faithful, but my head lacks wisdom and
knowledge. I am not a learned man, your majesty.”
“But you are a man of good common sense and excellent judgment, and
that is worth more to me than profound learning,” exclaimed the king.
“I have observed you for years, and these extended observations have
confirmed my conviction more and more that I was possessing in you a man
who would be able one day to render me the most important services by
his straightforwardness, his unerring judgment, his firm character, and
well-tried honesty. I have a perfect right to trust you implicitly. I am
a young man, as yet too ignorant of the world to rely exclusively upon
myself, and not to fear lest dishonest men, in spite of the most earnest
precautions, should deceive me. Hence every well-meant advice must be
exceedingly welcome to me, and such advice I can expect at your hands.
I pray you, sir, remain my friend, do not change your bearing toward me,
become my adviser. [Footnote: Vide “A letter to Lieutenant-Colonel von
Kockeritz, by Frederick William III.”] Kockeritz, will you reject my
request?”
“No,” exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz; “if that is all your majesty asks
of me, I can promise it and fulfil my promise. Your majesty shall always
find me to be a faithful, devoted, and honest servant.”
“I ask more than that,” said the king, gently. “Not only a faithful
servant, but a devoted FRIEND--a friend who will call my attention to my
short-comings and errors. Assist me with your knowledge of men and human
nature. For nobody is more liable to make mistakes in judging of men
than a prince, and it cannot be otherwise. To a prince no one shows
himself in his true character. Every one tries to fathom the weaknesses
and inclinations of rulers--and then assumes such a mask as seems best
calculated to accomplish his purposes. Hence, I expect you to look
around quietly, without betraying your intentions, for honest and
sagacious men, and to find out what positions they are able to fill in
the most creditable manner.” [Footnote: Ibid.]
“I shall take pains, your majesty, to discover such men,” said Herr von
Kockeritz, gravely. “It seems to me, however, sire, that fortunately you
have got many able and excellent men close at hand, and for that reason
need not look very far for other assistants.”
“To whom do you allude?” exclaimed the king, sharply, and with a slight
frown.
Herr von Kockeritz cast a rapid glance upon the king’s countenance and
seemed to have read his thoughts upon his clouded brow.
“Your majesty,” he said, gravely and slowly, “I do not mean to say any
thing against Wollner, the minister, and his two counsellors, Hermes and
Hiller, nor against Lieutenant-General von Bischofswerder.”
The frown had already disappeared from the king’s brow. Stepping up
to his desk, he seized a piece of paper there, which he handed to his
friend.
“Just read that paper, and tell me what to do about it.”
“Ah, Lieutenant-General von Bischofswerder has sent in his resignation!”
exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, when he had read the paper. “Well, I must
confess that the general has a very fine nose, and that he acted most
prudently.”
“You believe, then, I would have dismissed him anyhow?”
“Yes, I believe so, your majesty.”
“And you are right, Kockeritz. This gloomy and bigoted man has done a
great deal of mischief in Prussia, and the genius of our country had
veiled his head and fled before the spirits which Bischofswerder had
called up. Oh, my friend, we have passed through a gloomy, disastrous
period, and seen many evil spirits here, and been tormented by them. But
not another word about it: It does not behoove me to judge the past, for
it does not belong to me. Only the future is mine; and God grant when
it has, in turn, become the past, that it may not judge ME!
Lieutenant-General von Bischofswerder was the friend and confidant of
my lamented father, the king, and in that capacity I must and will honor
him. I shall accept his resignation, but grant him an ample pension.”
“That resolution is highly honorable to your majesty’s heart,” exclaimed
Herr von Kockeritz, feelingly.
“As to Minister Wollner,” said the king, frowning, “in respectful
remembrance of my lamented father’s partiality for him, I shall not at
once dismiss him, but leave it to himself to send in his resignation.
Let him see if he will be able to reconcile himself to the new era,
for a new era, I hope, is to dawn for Prussia--an era of toleration,
enlightenment and true piety, that does not seek faction in mere
lip-service and church-going, but in good and pious deeds. Religion is
not an offspring of the church, but the reverse is true; the church
is an offspring of religion, and the church therefore, ought to be
subordinate to religion, and never try to place itself above it.
Henceforth there shall be no more compulsion in matters of faith, and
all fanatical persecutions shall cease. I honor religion myself; I
devoutly follow its blessed precepts, and under no circumstances would
I be the ruler of a people devoid of religion. But I know that religion
always must remain a matter of the heart and of personal conviction,
and if it is to promote virtue and righteousness, it must not, by a
mere methodical constraint, be degraded to an empty and thoughtless
ritualism. Hereafter Lutheran principles shall be strictly adhered to in
religious affairs, for they are entirely in harmony with the spirit and
Founder of our religion. No compulsory laws are necessary to maintain
true religion in the country and to increase its salutary influence upon
the happiness and morality of all classes of the people. [Footnote:
Vide “Menael’s Twenty Years of Prussian History,” p. 534.] These, I am
afraid, are principles which Minister Wollner cannot adopt; and if he
is an honest man, he will consequently send in his resignation. If he
should not do so in the course of a few weeks, of course I shall dismiss
him. You see, Kockeritz, I am speaking to you frankly and unreservedly,
as if you were a true friend of mine, and I am treating you already as
my adviser. Now tell me who are the men of whom you wished to speak, and
whom you believe to be able and reliable.”
The face of Herr von Kockeritz assumed an embarrassed and anxious air,
but the king was waiting for an answer, and therefore he could not
withhold it any longer.
“Well, your majesty,” he said, somewhat hesitatingly, “I alluded to the
minister of foreign affairs, Herr von Haugwitz, whom I believe to be
an honest man, while I am equally satisfied that his first assistant,
Lombard, is a man of excellent business qualifications and great
ability.”
The king nodded his assent. “I am entirely of your opinion,” he said;
“Minister von Haugwitz is not only an honest man, but an able-minded and
skilful diplomatist, and an experienced statesman. I stand in need of
his experience and knowledge, and as I moreover believe him to be a good
patriot, he may remain at the head of his department.”
A gleam of joy burst from the eyes of Herr von Kockeritz, but he quickly
lowered them, in order not to betray his feelings.
“As to Lombard,” said the king, “you are likewise right; he is an
excellent and most able man, though a little tinctured with Jacobinism.
His French blood infects him with all sorts of democratic notions. I
wish he would get rid of them, and I shall assist him in doing so, in
case he should prove to be the man I take him for. His position is too
exalted and important that I should not deem it desirable to see him
occupy a place in society in accordance with the old established
rules. I want him to apply for letters of nobility. I shall grant the
application at once. Please, tell him so.”
Herr von Kockeritz bowed silently.
“Is there anybody else whom you wish to recommend to me?” asked the king
with an inquiring glance.
“Your majesty,” said Kockeritz, “I do not know of anybody else. But I
am sure your majesty will always find the right man for the right place.
Even in my case, I trust, your majesty has done so, for if it is of
importance for you to have a faithful and devoted servant close to your
person, who values nothing in the world so greatly, who loves nothing so
fervently, and adores nothing so much as his young king, then I am the
right man, and in this regard I do not acknowledge any superior. And
further, if it be of importance that your majesty should at all times
hear the truth, then I am the right man again, for I hate falsehood, and
how should I, therefore, ever be false toward your majesty, inasmuch as
I love your majesty?”
“I believe you, I believe you,” exclaimed the king, taking the
lieutenant-colonel by the hand. “You love me and are an honest man; I
shall, therefore, always hear the truth from you. But you shall inform
yourself also of the state of public opinion concerning myself and my
government, weigh the judgment passed on me and my counsellors, and if
you believe it to be correct, then discuss it with men whom you know
to be impartial and able to speak understandingly of the matter. Having
thus ascertained public opinion and familiarized yourself with every
thing, I expect you to lay the matter before me and tell me your opinion
firmly and unreservedly. I shall never question your good intentions,
but always endeavor to profit by your advice. And I shall now directly
give you a trial. What do you think of the congress which met a few
weeks ago at Eastadt, and at which the German empire is to negotiate a
treaty of peace with France?”
“Your majesty, I believe it will be good for all of us to live at peace
with France,” exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, earnestly. “If Prussia
should quarrel with France, it would only afford Austria an opportunity
to carry out its long-standing designs upon Bavaria, while Prussia would
be occupied elsewhere; and in order not to be hindered by Prussia in
doing so, Austria, who now has just concluded so favorable a treaty of
peace with France at Campo Formio, would become the ally of France and
thus strengthen her old hostility toward Prussia. A war between Austria
and Prussia would be the unavoidable consequence; the whole of Germany
would dissolve itself into parties favorable or hostile to us, and this
state of affairs would give France an opportunity and a pretext to carry
out her own predatory designs against Germany; and, while we would be
fighting battles perhaps in Silesia and Bavaria, to seize the left bank
of the Rhine.”
“I am entirely of your opinion,” exclaimed the king. “I am very glad to
find my views in complete harmony with yours.”
It is true Lieutenant-Colonel von Kockeritz was well aware of this, for
all he had said just now was nothing but a repetition of what the king,
while yet a crown prince, had often told him in their confidential
conversations. But of this he took good care not to remind the king, and
merely bowed with a grateful smile.
“Yes,” added the king, “like you, I believe prudence and sound policy
command us to remain at peace with France, and to form a closer alliance
with this power. That is the only way for us to prevent Austria
from realizing her schemes of aggrandizement Austria, not France, is
dangerous to us; the latter is our natural ally, and the former our
natural adversary. Every step forward made by Austria in Germany, forces
Prussia a step backward. Let Austria enlarge her territory in the south,
toward Italy, but never shall I permit her to extend her northern and
western frontiers farther into Germany. The peace of Campo Formio has
given Venice to the Austrians but they never shall acquire Bavaria.
It is Prussia’s special task to induce France not to permit it, and,
precisely for that reason, we must force a closer alliance with France.
That, my dear Kockeritz, is my view of the political course that we
should pursue in future. Peace abroad and peace at home! No violent
commotions and convulsions, no rash innovations and changes. New
institutions should gradually and by their own inherent force grow from
the existing ones, for only in that case we may be sure that they
really have taken root. I shall not head the world in the capacity of a
creative and original reformer, but I shall always take pains to adopt
such reforms as have proven valuable, and gradually to transform
and improve such institutions as at present may be defective and
objectionable. And in all these endeavors, my dear Kockeritz, you shall
be my adviser and assistant. Will you promise me your aid?”
He looked earnestly and anxiously at the lieutenant-colonel and gave him
his hand.
“I promise it to your majesty,” exclaimed Herr von Kockeritz, gravely,
and grasping the king’s hand.
“Well,” said the king, “with this solemn pledge you may enter upon
your official position, and I am satisfied that my choice has been a
judicious one. Remain what you are, sir, an upright, honest man! As far
as I am concerned, you may always be sure of my heart-felt gratitude; on
the other hand, however, you should remember that you not only oblige
me personally, but that I request you, as it were, in the name of the
state, to labor for the latter. At some future time you will gain the
sweet conviction and satisfaction that you have done not a little for
the welfare of the commonwealth and thereby earned the thankfulness of
every well-meaning patriot. I am sure there cannot be a sweeter reward
for a man of true honor and ambition like yourself.”[Footnote: Vide the
king’s letter to Lieutenant-Colonel von Kockeritz]