SOMETHING ABOUT PRUSSIA AND GERMANY.
Dr. Winstock grasped the hand of the principal when they met in Moscow,
and briefly reported the incidents of his trip down the Volga, with the
little party.
"Of course you knew that De Forrest and Beckwith left us at Tver?"
added the doctor.
"Yes; Mr. Agneau informed me, and, poor man, he was very much worried
about the absentees," replied Mr. Lowington.
"I concluded they had gone down the Volga to Nijni. I asked the police
to detain them, and they did so. On my return from Kazan, I found them
in custody, and not at all satisfied with the results of their runaway
excursion. I brought them up with me, so that they are all right now.
They claimed to have been left by the train at Tver by accident."
"I suppose they tried that plan because they thought it succeeded in
Norway and Sweden; but I did not punish those because they made a full
confession, and seemed to be sorry for what they had done. Where are
the runaways?"
"They are here, sir. I saw them come into the hotel with the others."
The word was passed along for De Forrest and Beckwith, but they were
not there to answer. A dozen had seen them come into the house, and a
party who were standing at the door were sure they had not gone out.
They could not be found, and the doctor was even more chagrined than
the chaplain had been.
"Never mind, doctor; I shall not run after them. Running away has been
so common that I have ceased to worry about it," said the principal.
"They will come back when their money is all gone, if not before."
"Probably they intend to see Moscow," added the surgeon; "and they may
appear before the fourth division returns."
The Volga party returned to St. Petersburg with the second division,
and the next afternoon were on board of their vessel, attending to
their studies, for the students on board were kept at work, because it
is easier to be busy than to be idle.
On the 25th day of June, all hands had returned, having seen all of
Russia it was practicable to see, and the squadron went seaward, bound
for Königsberg. The officers below Beckwith and De Forrest were moved
up two grades, to fill the vacancies caused by the absence of the
runaways, and the two highest in rank in the steerage were sent into
the cabin. On the passage there were two examinations in seamanship, in
which Cantwell obtained very high marks. On the voyage, which lasted
four days,--for there was very little wind,--the captain performed his
duty to the entire satisfaction of the principal, and without being
obliged to ask for instructions.
On Tuesday afternoon the squadron anchored off Pillau, a town of four
thousand inhabitants, having a strong fortress at the entrance of the
_Haff_, a nearly landlocked bay, at the head of which Königsberg is
situated.
"All hands, attend lecture," called the boatswain, after breakfast the
next morning, and while the signal was flying on the ship.
The students gathered in the steerage, where the professor of geography
and history had hung up a map of Prussia on the foremast, which he had
colored to suit the occasion, so as to show the rapid enlargement of
the country by annexation.
"Young gentlemen," Mr. Mapps began, "Prussia is now one of the most
powerful states of Europe. We may say of her as of the United States,
'Westward the course of empire takes its way,' for Prussia had a
small beginning in the eastern part of its present territory, and now
extends westward beyond the Rhine. Contrary to my usual custom, I
shall commence with the history of the country. At the present time,
Prussia is divided into eleven provinces, the most eastern of which is
Prussia Proper--the part in which we now are. The region was originally
inhabited by the Lithuanians, who were conquered by the Goths. They
were compelled to embrace Christianity by the Poles in the eleventh
century; but the conquerors were soon repelled, and in their turn
defeated, the barbarians holding a part of Poland for a time. In the
thirteenth century they were the terror of the adjoining countries, and
repelled an army sent against them by Germany. The Teutonic Knights
finally conquered Prussia."
"What were they, sir?" asked a student.
"They were a powerful military order, formed during the crusades, who
fought for the Holy Sepulchre in Palestine. After the siege of Acre, a
charitable society for the care of the wounded and sick was organized
by the people of Lübec and Bremen, which was made into an order of
knighthood similar to the Templars. Only nobles were admitted to its
membership, and the Grand Master lived in Jerusalem at first, then in
Venice, and afterwards in Germany. After the crusades, they regarded
themselves as called to convert the heathen, which benignant work
they did, by first conquering the pagan territory. The order became
immensely rich and powerful, holding the territory from the Oder to the
Gulf of Finland, and deriving from it an immense revenue. They were
constantly at war with Poland, which, with their extravagant demands
upon the people, turned the nobility and the people against them. The
oppressed called upon the King of Poland for assistance, and a war of
twelve years followed, in which the order lost West Prussia, holding
the rest by paying tribute to the conquerors. The knights were deprived
of much of their power and wealth, though they still retained vast
possessions. The Grand Master became a kind of spiritual potentate
in Germany, and collected his revenues till 1805, when they went to
the Emperor of Austria. In 1809 Napoleon abolished the order, and its
territories reverted to the sovereigns in whose dominions they were
located.
"The nucleus of the present kingdom of Prussia was the margraviate of
Brandenburg, of which Berlin is near the centre. By the extinction of
the family of its ruler, it was inherited by Sigismond, Emperor of
Germany, who sold it to Frederick VI., Burgrave of Nuremburg, in 1417.
He was of the house of Hohenzollern, from which the present King of
Prussia is descended, and with the territory the electoral dignity was
conferred upon him. His successors ruled the electorate for over two
hundred years, one of whom signed the protest at Spires, from which the
Protestants obtained their name.
"Poland held Prussia after it had conquered the Teutonic Knights, and
in 1525 gave the sovereignty of the country to Albert of Brandenburg;
but it was not till 1656 that Prussia was declared independent by
treaty. In 1618 John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, acquired the
Duchy of Prussia, in the right of his wife, who was the daughter of
Duke Albert II. By the Thirty Years' War the united country was reduced
to misery and desolation, when, in 1640, Frederick William, commonly
called the Great Elector, succeeded to the government. He annexed
considerable territory to his dominion, and added greatly to its power
and influence. His son Frederick, the third elector of that name,
by the consent of Leopold, Emperor of Germany, obtained by a bribe,
tendered through the imperial confessor, raised his domain into a
kingdom, and placed the crown upon his own head at Königsberg, in 1701,
taking the title of Frederick I. This was the origin of the kingdom of
Prussia. Frederick I. extended his domain, which has been the policy
of all his successors. He was succeeded by his son, Frederick William
I., who reigned twenty-seven years, and left a well-disciplined army,
and six millions of dollars in cash in the treasury, to enable his son
Frederick II. to commence business. This son was the renowned Frederick
the Great. He used his capital stock to the best advantage for himself,
wrested Silesia from Austria, and took part in the partition of
Poland. He reigned forty-six years, and at his death had increased his
territory from forty-eight thousand to seventy-seven thousand square
miles.
"Prussia now ranked as one of the great powers of Europe. Frederick
the Great left for his successor an army of two hundred and twenty
thousand men, and treasure to the value of fifty million dollars.
He was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II., in 1786, who
added forty thousand square miles to his kingdom by engaging in the
second and third partitions of Poland. In 1797 he was followed by his
son Frederick William III., who was the father of the present King
of Prussia. He lacked the decision necessary to carry his kingdom
safely through the troubles of his time. His armies were defeated by
Napoleon, and for six years the conqueror held him in subjection, and
deprived him of half his domain. The Prussian soldiers under Blucher,
however, took an important part in the overthrow of the Emperor of the
French, and in the Congress of Vienna, when the affairs of Europe were
readjusted, his territory was restored, and even increased, so that
the kingdom, at his death, consisted of one hundred and seven thousand
square miles. In 1840 he was followed by his son Frederick William IV.
In 1848 an insurrection broke out in Berlin, the result of which was
a considerable modification of the absolutism of the government. A
constitution was adopted, and repeatedly altered and amended. But the
king had the best of it in the end, and Prussia was finally pacified.
In 1857 the king was attacked by disease of the mind, and his brother
William became regent, and in 1861 succeeded him as king, under the
title of William I. He is decidedly absolute in his tendencies, and
claims to hold his crown by the grace of God, and not by the will of
the people.
"In speaking of Denmark, I told you in what manner the war of 1866,
between Prussia and Austria, was produced. In the terrible battle of
Sadowa, Austria was completely humiliated. Prussia dictated her own
terms of peace, and annexed a territory nearly equal in size to the
state of Maine, including Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse Cassel,
Nassau, and other German states. The population of Prussia, with these
additions, is nearly twenty-three millions. The real engineer of
Prussia's magnificent fortunes is not the king, but Bismarck--Count
Otto von Bismarck-Shönhausen. He was born in 1814, was liberally
educated, and elected a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1848. He
served as minister or ambassador to Russia, France, and the Diet at
Frankfort, and was appointed minister of foreign affairs and chief of
the ministers in 1862.
"Prussia is a constitutional monarchy, and the crown is hereditary
in the male line, in the Hohenzollern family. The executive and part
of the legislative power are vested in the king, who is of age at
eighteen. The legislature is composed of a House of Lords and a Chamber
of Deputies. A bill passing both branches and being approved by the
king becomes a law. Bills may originate with the king or either of
the chambers. A bill vetoed by the king, or rejected by either house,
cannot be moved again during the same session. The upper house is
composed of the princes of the royal family who are of age, and a few
other princes; the heads of certain noble families, life peers chosen
by the king from rich land-owners, great manufacturers, and celebrated
men, eight noblemen chosen by the eight former provinces of Prussia;
representatives of universities, the burgomasters of towns having over
fifty thousand inhabitants; and any number of members nominated by the
king for life, or for a limited period. The lower house consists of
four hundred and thirty-two members, chosen indirectly by the people.
"The royal family of Prussia are Protestants, but all denominations of
Christians have equal rights and privileges. Nearly two thirds of the
people are Protestants, and about one third Catholics. Education is
universal, and compulsory. Every town must maintain schools, and all
parents are obliged to send their children to them. A small tuition fee
is charged,--about two or three cents a week,--but this is not exacted
when the parents are too poor to pay it. The compulsion applies only
to the elementary schools; but the higher schools are open to the poor
at a very small charge. There are eleven grades of schools, from the
elementary up to the university, including normal, industrial, and
veterinary, schools for agriculture, mining, and architecture.
"The military system under which Prussia has obtained such tremendous
successes in war was established in 1814, on the principle that every
man capable of bearing arms should be instructed in military tactics,
and actually serve in the army for a specified period. No substitutes
are allowed, and there are very few exemptions, and these only of
the most obvious character. Every man is enrolled as soon as he is
twenty, and must serve seven years, the first three in the regular
army, and the other four in the reserve. At the end of this term he
belongs to the Landwehr, or militia, for nine years, during which time
he is liable to be put into the regular army in case of war. At the
expiration of this period he is thirty-six years of age, and then he
is enrolled in the Landsturm, until he is fifty; but this body are
not sent out of the country, and are called into service only in case
of invasion. For thirty years of his life, therefore, the Prussian is
a soldier. The military organizations, such as companies, regiments,
brigades, divisions, corps d'armée, are always kept up; the officers
are ever ready, and in case of war it is only necessary to call in the
men. It requires only two weeks to organize the reserves and Landwehr.
On a peace footing, the army consists of about four hundred thousand;
on a war footing, double this number.
"Nearly the whole of Prussia is in the great plain of Northern Europe.
It contains no high mountains, the most important range being the
Harz, the highest elevation of which is thirty-five hundred feet. The
acquisition of Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover has added largely to the
extent of Prussian sea-coast. There are but few good harbors on the
Baltic, for the water is shoal, and full of sand-banks. There are many
_haffs_, or lagoons, like the one on which Königsberg is situated.
Prussia has an immense number of lakes, especially in the eastern part,
the largest of which is the Spirding See, with an area of thirty-seven
square miles; but all these lakes are too shoal for navigation. The
rivers of Prussia flow into the Baltic and North Seas. The principal
are the Niemen or Memel, the Weichsel, or Vistula, the Oder, the Elbe,
the Weser, and the Rhine, all of which are navigable. These river
systems are connected by canals.
"The climate of Prussia is healthy, the average temperature varying in
different parts from forty-three degrees to fifty degrees. The soil is
generally fertile, though there are some sandy plains, and desolate,
hilly regions. The agriculture, fostered by the government, is of the
highest efficiency. All kinds of grain are produced in abundance, and
largely exported. Two hundred million pounds of sugar were made from
beets ten years ago. Thirty million tons of coal were mined last year,
and the country is rich in minerals. In its agriculture, commerce,
and manufactures, Prussia is remarkably prosperous. The country has a
complete network of railroads, about seven thousand miles in all.
"Berlin has a population of seven hundred and two thousand, and is
the fifth city of Europe. Next to it is Breslau, with one hundred and
seventy-two thousand. Cologne has one hundred and twenty-five thousand;
Königsberg, one hundred and six thousand. All the others have less than
a hundred thousand. New York has a larger German population than any
German city except Berlin.
"The money of Prussia is in thalers, silver, or new _grosschen_ and
_pfennings_. A thaler is about seventy cents of our money. Thirty new
grosschen, of two and one third cents each, make a thaler, and twelve
pfennings make a new grosschen.
"And now, young gentleman, I will close with a brief statement in
regard to the Germanic Confederation, which is a union of states for
certain purposes, similar to that of the United States. In modern times
the two most powerful members have been Austria and Prussia; but the
events of 1866 broke up the confederation, and caused the expulsion
of Austria, leaving Prussia as the ruling power. The North German
Confederation, consisting of twenty states, was then formed under the
leadership of Prussia. The six remaining states, the principal of
which are Bavaria, Baden, and Würtemberg, cannot be said to be united.
Prussia had ratified treaties with the three states mentioned, by which
each of the contracting powers guarantees the integrity of the others'
territory. In other words, in case of war, each is to assist the
others; but it is stipulated that Prussia is to have the command of the
armies.
"A German Parliament, elected by the people, at the rate of one
member for every hundred thousand inhabitants, met at Berlin in 1867,
and adopted a charter, or constitution, drawn up by the Prussian
government, which means Bismarck."
Mr. Mapps proceeded to explain the nature of the constitution, which
has again been changed by the events of 1870. After the humiliation
of Austria in 1866, and Prussia's consequent increase of power and
influence, France, which has always held a commanding place among the
powers of Europe, felt that her position was threatened. Prussia had
attained a degree of power and influence which overshadowed France.
A war in the future was certain, and it came in 1870. The desire on
the part of France to check the ambition of Prussia, to cripple her
power, and diminish her influence, was the real cause of the war,
and the immediate events which led to the conflict are now of little
consequence. The attempt to place Leopold of Hohenzollern on the throne
of Spain was undoubtedly a real grievance to France. The French and
their supporters say he was brought forward to provoke a quarrel;
that Bismarck desired a war, in order to complete the unification of
Germany. The prince was withdrawn from the candidacy for the Spanish
throne, but France was not satisfied without a guaranty, which Prussia
would not give. France seemed to be determined to fight, and declared
war. Probably Louis Napoleon depended upon the coöperation of Austria
and Italy in humiliating a power whose rapid growth threatened the
integrity of all her neighbors' territory. But Italy had practically
received Venetia from the hands of Prussia, after the struggle of
1866, and Austria was not in condition to carry on another war with
her powerful opponent. The emperor counted, too, upon the disaffection
of Bavaria, Baden, and Würtemberg, if not Saxony and Hanover, all of
which had been hardly used by Prussia in the war of 1866; but the South
German states promptly placed themselves on the side of Fatherland,
led by Prussia. France was obliged to fight her battles all alone. She
was thoroughly beaten, and absolutely crushed, by the vast legions
of Germany. France, which had been demanding the Rhine provinces, so
that the river should be her boundary line, was deprived of the greater
portion of Alsace and Lorraine, lying next to Germany, and on the Rhine.
Bismarck's plan to unite all Germany under one emperor was fully
realized, for, while the army of King William was still laying siege to
Paris, the King of Bavaria proposed to the sovereign princes of Germany
to urge William to assume the title of Emperor of Germany. A bill
passed the German Parliament at Berlin, almost unanimously, by which
all the states were united into an empire. The king was elected emperor
by the Diet, and accepted the honor; Bismarck was appointed chancellor
of the empire.
The members of the Diet, or Parliament, are elected for three years
by the people. As in the United States, each of the sovereignties is
independent in its local government, and exercises all powers which are
not expressly delegated to the Diet. All legislation relating to trade,
commerce, emigration, colonization, and insurance companies, belongs
to the Parliament. The empire also regulates the tariff, coinage,
weights and measures, banking, patents and copyrights, navigation, both
internal and external, post office and telegraphs, the army and navy,
and laws relating to the press.
The legislature consists of two branches, the Federal Council and
the Diet, or Parliament, the latter of which has nearly four hundred
members. The Federal Council is composed of the representatives of
the several governments. Prussia has seventeen votes in this body;
Bavaria, six; Würtemberg and Saxony, four each; Baden and Hesse, three
each; Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Brunswick, two each; and all the others,
one each, making fifty-eight in all. Each state may send as many
members as it has votes, but all from one state must vote together,
representing but one opinion.
The emperor represents the empire, concludes treaties, sends
ambassadors, and receives the ministers of other powers. He declares
war in the name of the Confederacy, but unless its territory is invaded
or menaced, he must have the consent of the Federal Council. The
executive power is practically delegated to the King of Prussia, whose
navy now belongs to Germany, and the army is under his command. To all
intents and purposes Prussia is Germany.
The Zollverein, or Customs Union, controls all matters relating to
the trade and commerce of the German states. It has a council and
parliament, like those of the empire. Its object is to levy uniform
duties on imported merchandise, to superintend the collection of the
revenues, and to regulate trade. All the receipts of the Zollverein
are paid into a common treasury, and distributed according to the
population among the several states.
As soon as the professor finished his lecture, a steamer came
alongside, and took off the students who were to make an excursion to
Königsberg.