In Berlin, from Tuesday, 31st May, 1740, day of the late King's death,
till the Thursday following, the post was stopped and the gates closed;
no estafette can be despatched, though Dickens and all the Ambassadors
are busy writing. On the Thursday, Regiments, Officers, principal
Officials having sworn, and the new King being fairly in the saddle,
estafettes and post-boys shoot forth at the top of their speed; and
Rumor, towards every point of the compass, apprises mankind what immense
news there is. [Dickens (in State-Paper Office), 4th June, 1740.]
A King's Accession is always a hopeful phenomenon to the public; more
especially a young King's, who has been talked of for his talents
and aspirings,--for his sufferings, were it nothing more,--and whose
ANTI-MACHIAVEL is understood to be in the press. Vaguely everywhere
there has a notion gone abroad that this young King will prove
considerable. Here at last has a Lover of Philosophy got upon the
throne, and great philanthropies and magnanimities are to be expected,
think rash editors and idle mankind. Rash editors in England and
elsewhere, we observe, are ready to believe that Friedrich has not only
disbanded the Potsdam Giants; but means to "reduce the Prussian Army one
half" or so, for ease (temporary ease which we hope will be lasting)
of parties concerned; and to go much upon emancipation, political
rose-water, and friendship to humanity, as we now call it.
At his first meeting of Council, they say, he put this question, "Could
not the Prussian Army be reduced to 45,000?" The excellent young man.
To which the Council had answered, "Hardly, your Majesty! The
Julich-and-Berg affair is so ominous hitherto!" These may be secrets,
and dubious to people out of doors, thinks a wise editor; but one thing
patent to the day was this, surely symbolical enough: On one of his
Majesty's first drives to Potsdam or from it, a thousand children,--in
round numbers a thousand of them, all with the RED STRING round their
necks, and liable to be taken for soldiers, if needed in the regiment of
their Canton,--a thousand children met this young King at a turn of
his road; and with shrill unison of wail, sang out: "Oh, deliver us from
slavery,"--from the red threads, your Majesty. Why should poor we be
liable to suffer hardship for our Country or otherwise, your Majesty!
Can no one else be got to do it? sang out the thousand children. And
his Majesty assented on the spot, thinks the rash editor. [_Gentleman's
Magazine_ (London, 1740), x. 318; Newspapers, &c.] "Goose, Madam?"
exclaimed a philanthropist projector once, whose scheme of sweeping
chimneys by pulling a live goose down through them was objected to:
"Goose, Madam? You can take two ducks, then, if you are so sorry for the
goose!"--Rash editors think there is to be a reign of Astraea Redux in
Prussia, by means of this young King; and forget to ask themselves, as
the young King must by no means do, How far Astraea may be possible, for
Prussia and him?
At home, too, there is prophesying enough, vague hope enough, which for
most part goes wide of the mark. This young King, we know, did prove
considerable; but not in the way shaped out for him by the public;--it
was in far other ways! For no public in the least knows, in such cases:
nor does the man himself know, except gradually and if he strive to
learn. As to the public,--"Doubtless," says a friend of mine, "doubtless
it was the Atlantic Ocean that carried Columbus to America; lucky for
the Atlantic, and for Columbus and us: but the Atlantic did not quite
vote that way from the first; nay ITS votes, I believe, were very
various at different stages of the matter!" This is a truth which kings
and men, not intending to be drift-logs or waste brine obedient to the
Moon, are much called to have in mind withal, from perhaps an early
stage of their voyage.
Friedrich's actual demeanor in these his first weeks, which is still
decipherable if one study well, has in truth a good deal of the
brilliant, of the popular-magnanimous; but manifests strong solid
quality withal, and a head steadier than might have been expected. For
the Berlin world is all in a rather Auroral condition; and Friedrich too
is,--the chains suddenly cut loose, and such hopes opened for the young
man. He has great things ahead; feels in himself great things, and
doubtless exults in the thought of realizing them. Magnanimous enough,
popular, hopeful enough, with Voltaire and the highest of the world
looking on:--but yet he is wise, too; creditably aware that there are
limits, that this is a bargain, and the terms of it inexorable. We
discern with pleasure the old veracity of character shining through
this giddy new element; that all these fine procedures are at least
unaffected, to a singular degree true, and the product of nature, on his
part; and that, in short, the complete respect for Fact, which used to
be a quality of his, and which is among the highest and also rarest in
man, has on no side deserted him at present.
A trace of airy exuberance, of natural exultancy, not quite repressible,
on the sudden change to freedom and supreme power from what had
gone before: perhaps that also might be legible, if in those opaque
bead-rolls which are called Histories of Friedrich anything human could
with certainty be read! He flies much about from place to place; now at
Potsdam, now at Berlin, at Charlottenburg, Reinsberg; nothing loath
to run whither business calls him, and appear in public: the gazetteer
world, as we noticed, which has been hitherto a most mute world, breaks
out here and there into a kind of husky jubilation over the great things
he is daily doing, and rejoices in the prospect of having a Philosopher
King; which function the young man, only twenty-eight gone, cannot but
wish to fulfil for the gazetteers and the world. He is a busy man; and
walks boldly into his grand enterprise of "making men happy," to the
admiration of Voltaire and an enlightened public far and near.
Bielfeld speaks of immense concourses of people crowding about
Charlottenburg, to congratulate, to solicit, to &c.; tells us how he
himself had to lodge almost in outhouses, in that royal village of hope,
His emotions at Reinsberg, and everybody's, while Friedrich Wilhelm
lay dying, and all stood like greyhounds on the slip; and with what
arrow-swiftness they shot away when the great news came: all this he has
already described at wearisome length, in his fantastic semi-fabulous
way. [Bielfeld, i. 68-77; ib. 81.]' Friedrich himself seemed moderately
glad to see Bielfeld; received his high-flown congratulations with a
benevolent yet somewhat composed air; and gave him afterwards, in the
course of weeks, an unexpectedly small appointment: To go to Hanover,
under Truchsess von Waldburg, and announce our Accession. Which is but
a simple, mostly formal service; yet perhaps what Bielfeld is best equal
to.
The Britannic Majesty, or at least his Hanover people have been
beforehand with this civility; Baron Munchhausen, no doubt by orders
given for such contingency, had appeared at Berlin with the due
compliment and condolence almost on the first day of the New Reign;
first messenger of all on that errand; Britannic Majesty evidently in a
conciliatory humor,--having his dangerous Spanish War on hand. Britannic
Majesty in person, shortly after, gets across to Hanover; and Friedrich
despatches Truchsess, with Bielfeld adjoined, to return the courtesy.
Friedrich does not neglect these points of good manners; along with
which something of substantial may be privately conjoined. For example,
if he had in secret his eye on Julich and Berg, could anything be fitter
than to ascertain what the French will think of such an enterprise?
What the French; and next to them what the English, that is to say,
Hanoverians, who meddle much in affairs of the Reich. For these reasons
and others he likewise, probably with more study than in the Bielfeld
case, despatches Colonel Camas to make his compliment at the French
Court, and in an expert way take soundings there. Camas, a fat sedate
military gentleman, of advanced years, full of observation, experience
and sound sense,--"with one arm, which he makes do the work of two, and
nobody can notice that the other arm resting in his coat-breast is
of cork, so expert is he,"--will do in this matter what is feasible;
probably not much for the present. He is to call on Voltaire, as he
passes, who is in Holland again, at the Hague for some months back; and
deliver him "a little cask of Hungary Wine," which probably his Majesty
had thought exquisite. Of which, and the other insignificant
passages between them, we hear more than enough in the writings and
correspondences of Voltaire about this time.
In such way Friedrich disposes of his Bielfelds; who are rather numerous
about him now and henceforth. Adventurers from all quarters, especially
of the literary type, in hopes of being employed, much hovered round
Friedrich through his whole reign. But they met a rather strict judge
on arriving; it cannot be said they found it such a Goshen as they
expected.
Favor, friendly intimacy, it is visible from the first, avails nothing
with this young King; beyond and before all things he will have his
work done, and looks out exclusively for the man ablest to do it. Hence
Bielfeld goes to Hanover, to grin out euphuisms, and make graceful
courtbows to our sublime little Uncle there. On the other hand,
Friedrich institutes a new Knighthood, ORDER OF MERIT so called; which
indeed is but a small feat, testifying mere hope and exuberance as yet;
and may even be made worse than nothing, according to the Knights he
shall manage to have. Happily it proved a successful new Order in this
last all-essential particular; and, to the end of Friedrich's life,
continued to be a great and coveted distinction among the Prussians.
Beyond doubt this is a radiant enough young Majesty; entitled to
hope, and to be the cause of hope. Handsome, to begin with; decidedly
well-looking, all say, and of graceful presence, though hardly five feet
seven, and perhaps stouter of limb than the strict Belvedere standard.
[Height, it appears, was five feet five inches (Rhenish), which in
English measure is five feet seven or a hair's-breadth less. Preuss,
twice over, by a mistake unusual with him, gives "five feet two inches
three lines" as the correct cipher (which it is of NAPOLEON'S measure in
FRENCH feet); then settles on the above dimensions from unexceptionable
authority (Preuss, _Buch fur Jedermann,_ i. 18; Preuss, _Fredrich der
Grosse,_ i. 39 and 419).] Has a fine free expressive face; nothing
of austerity in it; not a proud face, or not too proud, yet rapidly
flashing on you all manner of high meanings. [Wille's Engraving after
Pesne (excellent, both Picture and Engraving) is reckoned the best
Likeness in that form.] Such a man, in the bloom of his years; with such
a possibility ahead, and Voltaire and mankind waiting applausive!--Let
us try to select, and extricate into coherence and visibility out of
those Historical dust-heaps, a few of the symptomatic phenomena, or
physiognomic procedures of Friedrich in his first weeks of Kingship, by
way of contribution to some Portraiture of his then inner-man.
FRIEDRICH WILL MAKE MEN HAPPY: CORN-MAGAZINES.
On the day after his Accession, Officers and chief Ministers taking the
Oath, Friedrich, to his Officers, "on whom he counts for the same zeal
now which he had witnessed as their comrade," recommends mildness of
demeanor from the higher to the lower, and that the common soldier be
not treated with harshness when not deserved: and to his Ministers he
is still more emphatic, in the like or a higher strain. Officially
announcing to them, by Letter, that a new Reign has commenced, he uses
these words, legible soon after to a glad Berlin public: "Our grand care
will be, To further the Country's well-being, and to make every one of
our subjects (EINEN JEDEN UNSERER UNTERTHANEN) contented and happy. Our
will is, not that you strive to enrich Us by vexation of Our subjects;
but rather that you aim steadily as well towards the advantage of the
Country as Our particular interest, forasmuch as We make no difference
between these two objects," but consider them one and the same. This
is written, and gets into print within the month; and his Majesty, that
same day (Wednesday, 2d June), when it came to personal reception, and
actual taking of the Oath, was pleased to add in words, which also were
printed shortly, this comfortable corollary: "My will henceforth is, If
it ever chance that my particular interest and the general good of my
Countries should seem to go against each other,--in that case, my will
is, That the latter always be preferred." [Dickens, Despatch, 4th June,
1740: Preuss, _Friedrichs Jugend und Thronbesteigung_ (Berlin, 1840), p.
325;--quoting from the Berlin Newspapers of 28th June and 2d July,
1740.]
This is a fine dialect for incipient Royalty; and it is brand-new at
that time. It excites an admiration in the then populations, which
to us, so long used to it and to what commonly comes of it, is
not conceivable at once. There can be no doubt the young King does
faithfully intend to develop himself in the way of making men happy; but
here, as elsewhere, are limits which he will recognize ahead, some of
them perhaps nearer than was expected.
Meanwhile his first acts, in this direction, correspond to these fine
words. The year 1740, still grim with cold into the heart of summer,
bids fair to have a late poor harvest, and famine threatens to add
itself to other hardships there have been. Recognizing the actualities
of the case, what his poor Father could not, he opens the Public
Granaries,--a wise resource they have in Prussian countries against the
year of scarcity;--orders grain to be sold out, at reasonable rates, to
the suffering poor; and takes the due pains, considerable in some cases,
that this be rendered feasible everywhere in his dominions. "Berlin, 2d
June," is the first date of this important order; fine program to his
Ministers, which, we read, is no sooner uttered, than some performance
follows. An evident piece of wisdom and humanity; for which doubtless
blessings of a very sincere kind rise to him from several millions of
his fellow-mortals.
Nay furthermore, as can be dimly gathered, this scarcity continuing,
some continuous mode of management was set on foot for the Poor;
and there is nominated, with salary, with outline of plan and other
requisites, as "Inspector of the Poor," to his own and our surprise, M.
Jordan, late Reader to the Crown-Prince, and still much the intimate of
his royal Friend. Inspector who seems to do his work very well. And in
the November coming this is what we see: "One thousand poor old women,
the destitute of Berlin, set to spin," at his Majesty's charges;
vacant houses, hired for them in certain streets and suburbs, have been
new-planked, partitioned, warmed; and spinning is there for any diligent
female soul. There a thousand of them sit, under proper officers, proper
wages, treatment;--and the hum of their poor spindles, and of their poor
inarticulate old hearts, is a comfort, if one chance to think of it.--Of
"distressed needlewomen" who cannot sew, nor be taught to do it; who, in
private truth, are mutinous maid-servants come at last to the net upshot
of their anarchies; of these, or of the like incurable phenomena, I
hear nothing in Berlin; and can believe that, under this King, Indigence
itself may still have something of a human aspect, not a brutal or
diabolic as is commoner in some places.--This is one of Friedrich's
first acts, this opening of the Corn-magazines, and arrangements for
the Destitute; [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 367. Rodenbeck, _Tagebuch aus
Friedrichs des Grossen Regentenleben_ (Berlin, 1840), i. 2, 26 (2d June,
October, 1740): a meritorious, laborious, though essentially chaotic
Book, unexpectedly futile of result to the reader; settles for each Day
of Friedrich's Reign, so far as possible, where Friedrich was and what
doing; fatally wants all index &c., as usual.] and of this there can
be no criticism. The sound of hungry pots set boiling, on judicious
principles; the hum of those old women's spindles in the warm rooms:
gods and men are well pleased to hear such sounds; and accept the same
as part, real though infinitesimally small, of the sphere-harmonies of
this Universe!
ABOLITION OF LEGAL TORTURE.
Friedrich makes haste, next, to strike into Law-improvements. It is but
the morrow after this of the Corn-magazines, by KABINETS-ORDRE (Act
of Parliament such as they can have in that Country, where the Three
Estates sit all under one Three-cornered Hat, and the debates are kept
silent, and only the upshot of them, more or less faithfully, is made
public),--by Cabinet Order, 3d June, 1740, he abolishes the use
of Torture in Criminal Trials. [Preuss, _Friedrichs Jugend und
Thronbesteigung_ (Berlin, 1840,--a minor Book of Preuss's), p. 340.
Rodenbeck, i. 14 ("3d June").] Legal Torture, "Question" as they mildly
call it, is at an end from this date. Not in any Prussian Court shall
a "question" try for answer again by that savage method. The use of
Torture had, I believe, fallen rather obsolete in Prussia; but now the
very threat of it shall vanish,--the threat of it, as we may remember,
had reached Friedrich himself, at one time. Three or four years ago, it
is farther said, a dark murder happened in Berlin: Man killed one night
in the open streets; murderer discoverable by no method,--unless he were
a certain CANDIDATUS of Divinity to whom some trace of evidence pointed,
but who sorrowfully persisted in absolute and total denial. This poor
Candidatus had been threatened with the rack; and would most likely have
at length got it, had not the real murderer been discovered,--much
to the discredit of the rack in Berlin. This Candidatus was only
threatened; nor do I know when the last actual instance in Prussia was;
but in enlightened France, and most other countries, there was as yet
no scruple upon it. Barbier, the Diarist at Paris, some time after
this, tells us of a gang of thieves there, who were regularly put to
the torture; and "they blabbed too, ILS ONT JASE," says Barbier with
official jocosity. [Barbier, _Journal Historique du Regne de Louis XV._
(Paris, 1849), ii. 338 (date "Dec. 1742").]
Friedrich's Cabinet Order, we need not say, was greeted everywhere, at
home and abroad, by three rounds of applause;--in which surely all of
us still join; though the PER CONTRA also is becoming visible to some
of us, and our enthusiasm grows less complete than formerly. This
was Friedrich's first step in Law-Reform, done on his fourth day of
Kingship. A long career in that kind lies ahead of him; in reform of
Law, civil as well as criminal, his efforts ended with life only. For
his love of Justice was really great; and the mendacities and wiggeries,
attached to such a necessary of life as Law, found no favor from him at
any time.
WILL HAVE PHILOSOPHERS ABOUT HIM, AND A REAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
To neglect the Philosophies, Fine Arts, interests of Human Culture, he
is least of all likely. The idea of building up the Academy of Sciences
to its pristine height, or far higher, is evidently one of those that
have long lain in the Crown-Prince's mind, eager to realize themselves.
Immortal Wolf, exiled but safe at Marburg, and refusing to return
in Friedrich Wilhelm's time, had lately dedicated a Book to the
Crown-Prince; indicating that perhaps, under a new Reign, he might
be more persuadable. Friedrich makes haste to persuade; instructs the
proper person, Reverend Herr Reinbeck, Head of the Consistorium at
Berlin, to write and negotiate. "All reasonable conditions shall be
granted" the immortal Wolf,--and Friedrich adds with his own hand as
Postscript: "I request you (IHN) to use all diligence about Wolf. A man
that seeks truth, and loves it, must be reckoned precious in any human
society; and I think you will make a conquest in the realm of truth if
you persuade Wolf hither again." [In _OEuvres de Frederic_ (xxvii. ii.
185), the Letter given.] This is of date June 6th; not yet a week since
Friedrich came to be King. The Reinbeck-Wolf negotiation which ensued
can be read in Busching by the curious. [Busching's _Beitrage_ (?
Freiherr von Wolf), i. 63-137.] It represents to us a croaky, thrifty,
long-headed old Herr Professor, in no haste to quit Marburg except for
something better: "obliged to wear woollen shoes and leggings;" "bad at
mounting stairs;" and otherwise needing soft treatment. Willing, though
with caution, to work at an Academy of Sciences;--but dubious if the
French are so admirable as they seem to themselves in such operations.
Veteran Wolf, one dimly begins to learn, could himself build a German
Academy of Sciences, to some purpose, if encouraged! This latter was
probably the stone of stumbling in that direction. Veteran Wolf did
not get to be President in the New Academy of Sciences; but was brought
back, "streets all in triumph," to his old place at Halle; and there,
with little other work that was heard of, but we hope in warm shoes and
without much mounting of stairs, lived peaceably victorious the rest of
his days. Friedrich's thoughts are not of a German home-built Academy,
but of a French one: and for this he already knows a builder; has
silently had him in his eye, these two years past,--Voltaire giving
hint, in the LETTER we once heard of at Loo. Builder shall be that
sublime Maupertuis; scientific lion of Paris, ever since his feat in the
Polar regions, and the charming Narrative he gave of it. "What a feat,
what a book!" exclaimed the Parisian cultivated circles, male and
female, on that occasion; and Maupertuis, with plenty of bluster in him
carefully suppressed, assents in a grandly modest way. His Portraits are
in the Printshops ever since; one very singular Portrait, just coming
out (at which there is some laughing): a coarse-featured, blusterous,
rather triumphant-looking man, blusterous, though finely complacent for
the nonce; in copious dressing-gown and fur cap; comfortably SQUEEZING
the Earth and her meridians flat (as if HE had done it), with his left
hand; and with the other, and its outstretched finger, asking mankind,
"Are not you aware, then?"--"Are not we!" answers Voltaire by and
by, with endless waggeries upon him, though at present so reverent.
Friedrich, in these same days, writes this Autograph; which who of men
or lions could resist?
TO MONSIEUR DE MAUPERTUIS, at Paris.
(No date;--datable, June, 1740.)
"My heart and my inclination excited in me, from the moment I mounted
the throne, the desire of having you here, that you might put our Berlin
Academy into the shape you alone are capable of giving it. Come, then,
come and insert into this wild crab-tree the graft of the Sciences, that
it may bear fruit. You have shown the Figure of the Earth to mankind;
show also to a King how sweet it is to possess such a man as you.
"Monsieur de Maupertuis,--votre tres-affectionne
"FEDERIC" (SIC). [_OEuvres,_ xvii. i. 334. The fantastic "Federic,"
instead of "Frederic," is, by this time, the common signature to French
Letters.]
This Letter--how could Maupertuis prevent some accident in such a
case?--got into the Newspapers; glorious for Friedrich, glorious for
Maupertuis; and raised matters to a still higher pitch. Maupertuis is on
the road, and we shall see him before long.
AND EVERY ONE SHALL GET TO HEAVEN IN HIS OWN WAY.
Here is another little fact which had immense renown at home and abroad,
in those summer months and long afterwards.
June 22d, 1740, the GEISTLICHE DEPARTEMENT (Board of Religion, we may
term it) reports that the Roman-Catholic Schools, which have been in
use these eight years past, for children of soldiers belonging to that
persuasion, "are, especially in Berlin, perverted, directly in the teeth
of Royal Ordinance, 1732, to seducing Protestants into Catholicism;"
annexed, or ready for annexing, "is the specific Report of
Fiscal-General to this effect:"--upon which, what would it please his
Majesty to direct us to do?
His Majesty writes on the margin these words, rough and ready, which we
give with all their grammatical blotches on them; indicating a mind
made up on one subject, which was much more dubious then, to most other
minds, than it now is:--
"Die Religionen Musen (MUSSEN) alle Tollerirt (TOLERIRT) werden, und Mus
(MUSS) der Fiscal nuhr (NUR) das Auge darauf haben, das (DASS) keine der
andern abrug Tuhe (ABBRUCH THUE), den (DENN) hier mus (MUSS) ein
jeder nach seiner Fasson Selich (FACON SELIG) werden." [Preuss,
_Thronbesteigung,_ p. 333; Rodenbeck, IN DIE.]
Which in English might run as follows:--
"All Religions must be tolerated (TOLLERATED), and the Fiscal must have
an eye that none of them make unjust encroachment on the other; for in
this Country every man must get to Heaven in his own way."
Wonderful words; precious to the then leading spirits, and which (the
spelling and grammar being mended) flew abroad over all the world: the
enlightened Public everywhere answering his Majesty, once more, with its
loudest "Bravissimo!" on this occasion. With what enthusiasm of admiring
wonder, it is now difficult to fancy, after the lapse of sixscore years!
And indeed, in regard to all these worthy acts of Human Improvement
which we are now concerned with, account should be held (were it
possible) on Friedrich's behalf how extremely original, and bright with
the splendor of new gold, they then were: and how extremely they are
fallen dim, by general circulation, since that. Account should be held;
and yet it is not possible, no human imagination is adequate to it, in
the times we are now got into.
FREE PRESS, AND NEWSPAPERS THE BEST INSTRUCTORS.
Toleration, in Friedrich's spiritual circumstances, was perhaps no
great feat to Friedrich: but what the reader hardly expected of him
was Freedom of the Press, or an attempt that way! From England, from
Holland, Friedrich had heard of Free Press, of Newspapers the best
Instructors: it is a fact that he hastens to plant a seed of that kind
at Berlin; sets about it "on the second day of his reign," so eager
is he. Berlin had already some meagre INTELLIGENZ-BLATT (Weekly or
Thrice-Weekly Advertiser), perhaps two; but it is a real Newspaper,
frondent with genial leafy speculation, and food for the mind, that
Friedrich is intent upon: a "Literary-Political Newspaper," or were it
even two Newspapers, one French, one German; and he rapidly makes the
arrangements for it; despatches Jordan, on the second day, to seek some
fit Frenchman. Arrangements are soon made: a Bookselling Printer, Haude,
Bookseller once to the Prince-Royal,--whom we saw once in a domestic
flash-of-lightning long ago, [Antea, Book vi. c. 7.]--is encouraged
to proceed with the improved German article, MERCURY or whatever they
called it; vapid Formey, a facile pen, but not a forcible, is the Editor
sought out by Jordan for the French one. And, in short, No. 1 of
Formey shows itself in print within a month; ["2d July, 1740:" Preuss,
_Thronbesteigung,_ p. 330; and Formey, _Souvenirs,_ i. 107, rectified by
the exact Herr Preuss.] and Haude and he, Haude picking up some grand
Editor in Hamburg, do their best for the instruction of mankind.
In not many months, Formey, a facile and learned but rather vapid
gentleman, demitted or was dismissed; and the Journals coalesced into
one, or split into two again; and went I know not what road, or roads,
in time coming,--none that led to results worth naming. Freedom of the
Press, in the case of these Journals, was never violated, nor was any
need for violating it. General Freedom of the Press Friedrich did not
grant, in any quite Official or steady way; but in practice, under him,
it always had a kind of real existence, though a fluctuating, ambiguous
one. And we have to note, through Friedrich's whole reign, a marked
disinclination to concern himself with Censorship, or the shackling
of men's poor tongues and pens; nothing but some officious report that
there was offence to Foreign Courts, or the chance of offence, in a poor
man's pamphlet, could induce Friedrich to interfere with him or it,--and
indeed his interference was generally against his Ministers for having
wrong informed him, and in favor of the poor Pamphleteer appealing at
the fountain-head. [Anonymous (Laveaux), _Vie de Frederic II., Roi de
Prusse_ (Strasbourg, 1787), iv. 82. A worthless, now nearly forgotten
Book; but competent on this point, if on any; Laveaux (a handy fellow,
fugitive Ex-Monk, with fugitive Ex-Nun attached) having lived much at
Berlin, always in the pamphleteering line.] To the end of his life,
disgusting Satires against him, _Vie Privee_ by Voltaire, _Matinees du
Roi de Prusse,_ and still worse Lies and Nonsenses, were freely sold
at Berlin, and even bore to be printed there, Friedrich saying nothing,
caring nothing. He has been known to burn Pamphlets publicly,--one
Pamphlet we shall ourselves see on fire yet;--but it was without the
least hatred to them, and for official reasons merely. To the last, he
would answer his reporting Ministers, "LE PRESSE EST LIBRE (Free press,
you must consider)!"--grandly reluctant to meddle with the press, or go
down upon the dogs barking at his door. Those ill effects of Free Press
(first stage of the ill effects) he endured in this manner; but the good
effects seem to have fallen below his expectation. Friedrich's enthusiam
for freedom of the press, prompt enough, as we see, never rose to the
extreme pitch, and it rather sank than increased as he continued his
experiences of men and things. This of Formey and the two Newspapers
was the only express attempt he made in that direction; and it proved a
rather disappointing one. The two Newspapers went their way thenceforth,
Friedrich sometimes making use of them for small purposes, once or twice
writing an article himself, of wildly quizzical nature, perhaps to
be noticed by us when the time comes; but are otherwise, except for
chronological purposes, of the last degree of insignificance to gods or
men.
"Freedom of the Press," says my melancholic Friend, "is a noble
thing; and in certain Nations, at certain epochs, produces glorious
effects,--chiefly in the revolutionary line, where that has grown
indispensable. Freedom of the Press is possible, where everybody
disapproves the least abuse of it; where the 'Censorship' is, as it
were, exercised by all the world. When the world (as, even in the freest
countries, it almost irresistibly tends to become) is no longer in
a case to exercise that salutary function, and cannot keep down loud
unwise speaking, loud unwise persuasion, and rebuke it into silence
whenever printed, Freedom of the Press will not answer very long, among
sane human creatures: and indeed, in Nations not in an exceptional case,
it becomes impossible amazingly soon!"--
All these are phenomena of Friedrich's first week. Let these suffice as
sample, in that first kind. Splendid indications surely; and shot forth
in swift enough succession, flash following flash, upon an attentive
world. Betokening, shall we say, what internal sea of splendor,
struggling to disclose itself, probably lies in this young King; and
how high his hopes go for mankind and himself? Yes, surely;--and
introducing, we remark withal, the "New Era," of Philanthropy,
Enlightenment and so much else; with French Revolution, and a "world
well suicided" hanging in the rear! Clearly enough, to this young
ardent Friedrich, foremost man of his Time, and capable of DOING its
inarticulate or dumb aspirings, belongs that questionable honor; and a
very singular one it would have seemed to Friedrich, had he lived to see
what it meant!
Friedrich's rapidity and activity, in the first months of his reign,
were wonderful to mankind; as indeed through life he continued to be
a most rapid and active King. He flies about; mustering Troops,
Ministerial Boards, passing Edicts, inspecting, accepting Homages of
Provinces;--decides and does, every day that passes, an amazing number
of things. Writes many Letters, too; finds moments even for some verses;
and occasionally draws a snatch of melody from his flute.
His Letters are copiously preserved; but, as usual, they are in swift
official tone, and tell us almost nothing. To his Sisters he writes
assurances; to his friends, his Suhms, Duhans, Voltaires, eager
invitations, general or particular, to come to him. "My state has
changed," is his phrase to Voltaire and other dear intimates; a tone of
pensiveness, at first even of sorrow and pathos traceable in it; "Come
to me,"--and the tone, in an old dialect, different from Friedrich's,
might have meant, "Pray for me." An immense new scene is opened, full of
possibilities of good and bad. His hopes being great, his anxieties,
the shadow of them, are proportionate. Duhan (his good old Tutor) does
arrive, Algarotti arrives, warmly welcomed, both: with Voltaire there
are difficulties; but surely he too will, before long, manage to arrive.
The good Suhm, who had been Saxon Minister at Petersburg to his sorrow
this long while back, got in motion soon enough; but, alas, his lungs
were ruined by the Russian climate, and he did not arrive. Something
pathetic still in those final LETTERS of Suhm. Passionately speeding on,
like a spent steed struggling homeward; he has to pause at Warsaw, and
in a few days dies there,--in a way mournful to Friedrich and us! To
Duhan, and Duhan's children afterwards, he was punctually, not too
lavishly, attentive; in like manner to Suhm's Nephews, whom the dying
man had recommended to him.--We will now glance shortly at a second and
contemporaneous phasis of Friedrich's affairs.
INTENDS TO BE PRACTICAL WITHAL, AND EVERY INCH A KING.
Friedrich is far indeed from thinking to reduce his Army, as the Foreign
Editor imagines. On the contrary, he is, with all industry, increasing
it. He changed the Potsdam Giants into four regiments of the usual
stature; he is busy bargaining with his Brother-in-law of Brunswick,
and with other neighbors, for still new regiments;--makes up, within the
next few months, Eight Regiments, an increase of, say, 16,000 men. It
would appear he means to keep an eye on the practicalities withal; means
to have a Fighting-Apparatus of the utmost potentiality, for one thing!
Here are other indications.
We saw the Old Dessauer, in a sad hour lately, speaking beside the mark;
and with what Olympian glance, suddenly tearless, the new King flashed
out upon him, knowing nothing of "authority" that could reside in any
Dessauer. Nor was that a solitary experience; the like befell wherever
needed. Heinrich of Schwedt, the Ill Margraf, advancing with jocose
countenance in the way of old comradeship, in those first days, met
unexpected rebuff, and was reduced to gravity on the sudden: "JETZT
BIN ICH KONIG,--My Cousin, I am now King!" a fact which the Ill Margraf
could never get forgotten again. Lieutenant-General Schulenburg, too,
the didactic Schulenburg, presuming, on old familiarity, and willing
to wipe out the misfortune of having once condemned us to death, which
nobody is now upbraiding him with, rushes up from Landsberg, unbidden,
to pay his congratulations and condolences, driven by irresistible
exuberance of loyalty: to his astonishment, he is reminded (thing
certain, manner of the thing not known), That an Officer cannot quit his
post without order; that he, at this moment, ought to be in Landsberg!
[Stenzel, iv. 41; Preuss, _Thronbesteigung;_ &c.] Schulenburg has a
hard old military face; but here is a young face too, which has grown
unexpectedly rigorous. Fancy the blank look of little Schulenburg; the
light of him snuffed out in this manner on a sudden. It is said he had
thoughts of resigning, so indignant was he: no doubt he went home to
Landsberg gloomily reflective, with the pipe-clay of his mind in such a
ruinous condition. But there was no serious anger, on Friedrich's part;
and he consoled his little Schulenburg soon after, by expediting some
promotion he had intended him. "Terribly proud young Majesty this,"
exclaim the sweet voices. And indeed, if they are to have a Saturnian
Kingdom, by appearance it will be on conditions only!
Anticipations there had been, that old unkindnesses against the
Crown-Prince, some of which were cruel enough, might be remembered now:
and certain people had their just fears, considering what account stood
against them; others, VICE VERSA, their hopes. But neither the fears nor
the hopes realized themselves; especially the fears proved
altogether groundless. Derschau, who had voted Death in that Copenick
Court-Martial, upon the Crown-Prince, is continued in his functions,
in the light of his King's countenance, as if nothing such had been.
Derschau, and all others so concerned; not the least question was
made of them, nor of what they had thought or had done or said, on an
occasion once so tragically vital to a certain man.
Nor is reward much regulated by past services to the Crown-Prince, or
even by sufferings endured for him. "Shocking ingratitude!" exclaim
the sweet voices here too,--being of weak judgment, many of them! Poor
Katte's Father, a faithful old Soldier, not capable of being more, he
does, rather conspicuously, make Feldmarschall, make Reichsgraf; happy,
could these honors be a consolation to the old man. The Munchows of
Custrin,--readers remember their kindness in that sad time; how the
young boy went into petticoats again, and came to the Crown-Prince's
cell with all manner of furnishings,--the Munchows, father and sons,
this young gentleman of the petticoats among them, he took immediate
pains to reward by promotion: eldest son was advanced into the General
Directorium; two younger sons, to Majorship, to Captaincy, in their
respective Regiments; him of the petticoats "he had already taken
altogether to himself," [Preuss, i. 66.] and of him we shall see a
glimpse at Wilhelmina's shortly, as a "milkbeard (JEUNE MORVEUX)" in
personal attendance on his Majesty. This was a notable exception. And
in effect there came good public service, eminent some of it, from these
Munchows in their various departments. And it was at length perceived to
have been, in the main, because they were of visible faculty for doing
work that they had got work to do; and the exceptional case of the
Munchows became confirmatory of the rule.
Lieutenant Keith, again, whom we once saw galloping from Wesel to save
his life in that bad affair of the Crown-Prince's and his, was nothing
like so fortunate. Lieutenant Keith, by speed on that Wesel occasion,
and help of Chesterfield's Secretary, got across to England; got into
the Portuguese service; and has there been soldiering, very silently,
these ten years past,--skin and body safe, though his effigy was cut in
four quarters and nailed to the gallows at Wesel;--waiting a time that
would come. Time being come, Lieutenant Keith hastened home; appealed
to his effigy on the gallows;--and was made a Lieutenant-Colonel merely,
with some slight appendages, as that of STALLMEISTER (Curator of the
Stables) and something else; income still straitened, though enough to
live upon. [Preuss, _Friedrich mit Verwandten und Freunden,_ p. 281.]
Small promotion, in comparison with hope, thought the poor Lieutenant;
but had to rest satisfied with it; and struggle to understand that
perhaps he was fit for nothing bigger, and that he must exert himself to
do this small thing well. Hardness of heart in high places! Friedrich,
one is glad to see, had not forgotten the poor fellow, could he have
done better with him. Some ten years hence, quite incidentally, there
came to Keith, one morning, a fine purse of money from his Majesty, one
pretty gift in Keith's experience;--much the topic in Berlin, while a
certain solemn English gentleman happened to be passing that way (whom
we mean to detain a little by and by), who reports it for us with all
the circumstances. [Sir Jonas Hanway, _Travels,_ &c. (London, 1753), ii.
202. Date of the Gift is 1750.]
Lieutenant Spaen too had got into trouble for the Crown-Prince's sake,
though we have forgotten him again; had "admitted Katte to interviews,"
or we forget what;--had sat his "year in Spandau" in consequence; been
dismissed the Prussian service, and had taken service with the Dutch.
Lieutenant Spaen either did not return at all, or disliked the aspects
when he did, and immediately withdrew to Holland again. Which probably
was wise of him. At a late period, King Friedrich, then a great King,
on one of his Cleve Journeys, fell in with Spaen; who had become a Dutch
General of rank, and was of good manners and style of conversation:
King Friedrich was charmed to see him; became his guest for the night;
conversed delightfully with him, about old Prussian matters and about
new; and in the colloquy never once alluded to that interesting passage
in his young life and Spaen's. [Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ vi. 178.] Hard as
polished steel! thinks Spaen perhaps; but, if candid, must ask himself
withal, Are facts any softer, or the Laws of Kingship to a man that
holds it?--Keith silently did his Lieutenant-Colonelcy with the
appendages, while life lasted: of the Page Keith, his Brother, who
indeed had blabbed upon the Prince, as we remember, and was not entitled
to be clamorous, I never heard that there was any notice taken; and
figure him to myself as walking with shouldered firelock, a private
Fusileer, all his life afterwards, with many reflections on things
bygone. [These and the other Prussian Keiths are all of Scotch
extraction; the Prussians, in natural German fashion, pronounce their
name KAH-IT (English "KITE" with nothing of the Y in it), as may be
worth remembering in a more important instance.]
Old friendship, it would seem, is without weight in public appointments
here: old friends are somewhat astonished to find this friend of theirs
a King every inch! To old comrades, if they were useless, much more if
they were worse than useless, how disappointing! "One wretched Herr [name
suppressed, but known at the time, and talked of, and whispered of], who
had, like several others, hoping to rise that way, been industrious in
encouraging the Crown-Prince's vices as to women, was so shocked at
the return he now met, that in despair he hanged himself in LobeJun."
(Lobegun, Magdeburg Country): here is a case for the humane! [Kuster,
_Characterzuge des &c. von Saldern_ (Berlin, 1793), p. 63.]
Friend Keyserling himself, "Caesarion" that used to be, can get nothing,
though we love him much; being an idle topsy-turvy fellow with revenues
of his own. Jordan, with his fine-drawn wit, French logics, LITERARY
TRAVELS, thin exactitude; what can be done for Jordan? Him also his new
Majesty loves much; and knows that, without some official living, poor
Jordan has no resource. Jordan, after some waiting and survey, is
made "Inspector of the Poor;"--busy this Autumn looking out for vacant
houses, and arrangements for the thousand spinning women;--continues
to be employed in mixed literary services (hunting up of Formey, for
Editor, was one instance), and to be in much real intimacy. That also
was perhaps about the real amount of amiable Jordan. To get Jordan a
living by planting him in some office which he could not do; to warm
Jordan by burning our royal bed for him: that had not entered into the
mind of Jordan's royal friend. The Munchows he did promote; the Finks,
sons of his Tutor Finkenstein: to these and other old comrades, in whom
he had discovered fitness, it is no doubt abundantly grateful to him
to recognize and employ it. As he notably does, in these and in other
instances. But before all things he has decided to remember that he is
King; that he must accept the severe laws of that trust, and do IT, or
not have done anything.
An inverse sign, pointing in the same way, is the passionate search he
is making in Foreign Countries for such men as will suit him. In these
same months, for example, he bethinks him of two Counts Schmettau, in
the Austrian Service, with whom he had made acquaintance in the Rhine
Campaign; of a Count von Rothenburg, whom he saw in the French Camp
there; and is negotiating to have them if possible. The Schmettaus are
Prussian by birth, though in Austrian Service; them he obtains under
form of an Order home, with good conditions under it; they came, and
proved useful men to him. Rothenburg, a shining kind of figure in
Diplomacy as well as Soldiership, was Alsatian German, foreign to
Prussia; but him too Friedrich obtained, and made much of, as will be
notable by and by. And in fact the soul of all these noble tendencies
in Friedrich, which surely are considerable, is even this, That he loves
men of merit, and does not love men of none; that he has an endless
appetite for men of merit, and feels, consciously and otherwise, that
they are the one thing beautiful, the one thing needful to him.
This, which is the product of all fine tendencies, is likewise their
centre or focus out of which they start again, with some chance of
fulfilment;--and we may judge in how many directions Friedrich was
willing to expand himself, by the multifarious kinds he was inviting,
and negotiating for. Academicians,--and not Maupertuis only, but all
manner of mathematical geniuses (Euler whom he got, at Gravesande,
Muschenbroek whom he failed of); and Literary geniuses innumerable,
first and last. Academicians, Musicians, Players, Dancers even; much
more Soldiers and Civil-Service men: no man that carries any honest "CAN
DO" about with him but may expect some welcome here. Which continued
through Friedrich's reign; and involved him in much petty trouble,
not always successful in the lower kinds of it. For his Court was the
cynosure of ambitious creatures on the wing, or inclined for taking
wing: like a lantern kindled in the darkness of the world;--and many
owls impinged upon him; whom he had to dismiss with brevity.
Perhaps it had been better to stand by mere Prussian or German
merit, native to the ground? Or rather, undoubtedly it had! In some
departments, as in the military, the administrative, diplomatic,
Friedrich was himself among the best of judges: but in various others
he had mainly (mainly, by no means blindly or solely) to accept noise of
reputation as evidence of merit; and in these, if we compute with rigor,
his success was intrinsically not considerable. The more honor to him
that he never wearied of trying. "A man that does not care for merit,"
says the adage, "cannot himself have any." But a King that does not care
for merit, what shall we say of such a King!--
BEHAVIOR TO HIS MOTHER; TO HIS WIFE.
One other fine feature, significant of many, let us notice: his
affection for his Mother. When his Mother addressed him as "Your
Majesty," he answered, as the Books are careful to tell us: "Call me
Son; that is the Title of all others most agreeable to me!" Words which,
there can be no doubt, came from the heart. Fain would he shoot forth
to greatness in filial piety, as otherwise; fain solace himself in doing
something kind to his Mother. Generously, lovingly; though again with
clear view of the limits. He decrees for her a Title higher than had
been customary, as well as more accordant with his feelings; not "Queen
Dowager," but "Her Majesty the Queen Mother." He decides to build her a
new Palace; "under the Lindens" it is to be, and of due magnificence:
in a month or two, he had even got bits of the foundation dug, and the
Houses to be pulled down bought or bargained for; [Rodenbeck, p.
15 (30th June-23d Aug. 1740); and correct Stenzel (iv. 44).]--which
enterprise, however, was renounced, no doubt with consent, as the
public aspects darkened. Nothing in the way of honor, in the way of real
affection heartily felt and demonstrated, was wanting to Queen Sophie
in her widowhood. But, on the other hand, of public influence no vestige
was allowed, if any was ever claimed; and the good kind Mother lived in
her Monbijou, the centre and summit of Berlin society; and restricted
herself wisely to private matters. She has her domesticities, family
affections, readings, speculations; gives evening parties at Monbijou.
One glimpse of her in 1742 we get, that of a perfectly private royal
Lady; which though it has little meaning, yet as it is authentic, coming
from Busching's hand, may serve as one little twinkle in that total
darkness, and shall be left to the reader and his fancy:--
A Count Henkel, a Thuringian gentleman, of high speculation, high
pietistic ways, extremely devout, and given even to writing of religion,
came to Berlin about some Silesian properties,--a man I should think of
lofty melancholic aspect; and, in severe type, somewhat of a lion, on
account of his Book called "DEATH-BED SCENES, in four Volumes." Came
to Berlin; and on the 15th August, 1742, towards evening (as the
ever-punctual Busching looking into Henkel's Papers gives it), "was
presented to the Queen Mother; who retained him to supper; supper
not beginning till about ten o'clock. The Queen Mother was extremely
gracious to Henkel; but investigated him a good deal, and put a great
many questions," not quite easy to answer in that circle, "as, Why he
did not play? What he thought of comedies and operas? What Preachers
he was acquainted with in Berlin? Whether he too was a Writer of
Books? [covertly alluding to the DEATH-BED SCENES, notes Busching].
And abundance of other questioning. She also recounted many fantastic
anecdotes (VIEL ABENTEUERLICHES) about Count von Zinzendorf [Founder of
HERNNHUTH, far-shining spiritual Paladin of that day, whom her Majesty
thinks rather a spiritual Quixote]; and declared that they were strictly
true." [Busching's _Beitrage,_ iv. 27.]' Upon which, EXIT Henkel, borne
by Busching, and our light is snuffed out.
This is one momentary glance I have met with of Queen Sophie in her
Dowager state. The rest, though there were seventeen years of it in all,
is silent to mankind and me; and only her death, and her Son's great
grief about it, so great as to be surprising, is mentioned in the Books.
Actual painful sorrow about his Father, much more any new outburst of
weeping and lamenting, is not on record, after that first morning.
Time does its work; and in such a whirl of occupations, sooner than
elsewhere: and the loved Dead lie silent in their mausoleum in our
hearts,--serenely sad as Eternity, not in loud sorrow as of Time.
Friedrich was pious as a Son, however he might be on other heads. To
the last years of his life, as from the first days of his reign, it was
evident in what honor he held Friedrich Wilhelm's memory; and the words
"my Father," when they turned up in discourse, had in that fine voice of
his a tone which the observers noted. "To his Mother he failed no day,
when in Berlin, however busy, to make his visit; and he never spoke to
her, except hat in hand."
With his own Queen, Friedrich still consorts a good deal, in these first
times; is with her at Charlottenburg, Berlin, Potsdam, Reinsberg, for a
day or two, as occasion gives; sometimes at Reinsberg for weeks running,
in the intervals of war and business: glad to be at rest amid his old
pursuits, by the side of a kind innocent being familiar to him. So it
lasts for a length of time. But these happy intervals, we can remark,
grow rarer: whether the Lady's humor, as they became rarer, might not
sink withal, and produce an acceleration in the rate of decline? She was
thought to be capable of "pouting (FAIRE LA FACHEE)," at one period! We
are left to our guesses; there is not anywhere the smallest whisper
to guide us. Deep silence reigns in all Prussian Books.--To feel or to
suspect yourself neglected, and to become MORE amiable thereupon (in
which course alone lies hope), is difficult for any Queen! Enough, we
can observe these meetings, within two or three years, have become
much rarer; and perhaps about the end of the third or fourth year, they
altogether cease; and pass merely into the formal character. In
which state they continued fixed, liable to no uncertainty; and were
transacted, to the end of Friedrich's life, with inflexible regularity
as the annual reviews were. This is a curious section of his life;
which there will be other opportunities of noticing. But there is yet
no thought of it anywhere, nor for years to come; though fables to the
contrary were once current in Books. [Laveaux, &c.]
NO CHANGE IN HIS FATHER'S METHODS OR MINISTRIES.
In the old mode of Administration, in the Ministries, Government Boards,
he made no change. These administrative methods of his wise Father's are
admirable to Friedrich, who knows them well; and they continue to be so.
These men of his Father's, them also Friedrich knows, and that they were
well chosen. In methods or in men, he is inclined to make the minimum of
alteration at present. One Finance Hofrath of a projecting turn, named
Eckart, who had abused the last weak years of Friedrich Wilhelm, and
much afflicted mankind by the favor he was in: this Eckart Friedrich
appointed a commission to inquire into; found the public right in
regard to Eckart, and dismissed him with ignominy, not with much
other punishment. Minister Boden, on the contrary, high in the Finance
Department, who had also been much grumbled at, Friedrich found to be a
good man: and Friedrich not only retained Boden, but advanced him; and
continued to make more and more use of him in time coming. His love of
perfection in work done, his care of thrift, seemed almost greater than
his late Father's had been,--to the disappointment of many. In the
other Departments, Podewils, Thulmeyer and the rest went on as
heretofore;--only in general with less to do, the young King doing more
himself than had been usual. Valori, "MON GROS VALORI (my fat Valori),"
French Minister here, whom we shall know better, writes home of the new
King of Prussia: "He begins his government, as by all appearance he
will carry it on, in a highly satisfactory way: everywhere traits of
benevolence, sympathy for his subjects, respect shown to the memory
of the Deceased," [_Memoires des Negociations du Marquis de Valori_ (a
Paris, 1820), i. 20 ("June 13th, 1740"). A valuable Book, which we shall
often have to quote: edited in a lamentably ignorant manner.]--no change
made, where it evidently is not for the better.
Friedrich's "Three principal Secretaries of State," as we should
designate them, are very remarkable. Three Clerks he found, or had known
of, somewhere in the Public Offices; and now took, under some
advanced title, to be specially his own Private Clerks: three vigorous
long-headed young fellows, "Eichel, Schuhmacher, Lautensack" the obscure
names of them; [Rodenbeck, 15th June, 1740.] out of whom, now and all
along henceforth, he got immensities of work in that kind. They lasted
all his life; and, of course, grew ever more expert at their function.
Close, silent; exact as machinery: ever ready, from the smallest clear
hint, marginal pencil-mark, almost from a glance of the eye, to clothe
the Royal Will in official form, with the due rugged clearness and
thrift of words. "Came punctually at four in the morning in summer, five
in winter;" did daily the day's work; and kept their mouths well shut. A
very notable Trio of men; serving his Majesty and the Prussian Nation
as Principal Secretaries of State, on those cheap terms;--nay almost as
Houses of Parliament with Standing Committees and appendages, so many
Acts of Parliament admittedly rather wise, being passed daily by his
Majesty's help and theirs!--Friedrich paid them rather well; they saw no
society; lived wholly to their work, and to their own families. Eichel
alone of the three was mentioned at all by mankind, and that obscurely;
an "abstruse, reserved, long-headed kind of man;" and "made a great deal
of money in the end," insinuates Busching, [_Beitrage,_ v. 238, &c.] no
friend of Friedrich's or his.
In superficial respects, again, Friedrich finds that the Prussian King
ought to have a King's Establishment, and maintain a decent splendor
among his neighbors,--as is not quite the case at present. In this
respect he does make changes. A certain quantity of new Pages, new
Goldsticks; some considerable, not too considerable, new furbishing of
the Royal Household,--as it were, a fair coat of new paint, with gilding
not profuse,--brought it to the right pitch for this King, About "a
hundred and fifty" new figures of the Page and Goldstick kind, is the
reckoning given. [_Helden Geschichte,_ i. 353.] So many of these; and
there is an increase of 16,000 to one's Army going on: that is the
proportion noticeable. In the facts as his Father left them Friedrich
persisted all his life; in the semblances or outer vestures he changed,
to this extent for the present.--These are the Phenomena of Friedrich's
Accession, noted by us.
Readers see there is radiance enough, perhaps slightly in excess, but of
intrinsically good quality, in the Aurora of this new Reign. A brilliant
valiant young King; much splendor of what we could call a golden or
soft nature (visible in those "New-Era" doings of his, in those strong
affections to his Friends); and also, what we like almost better in him,
something of a STEEL-BRIGHT or stellar splendor (meaning, clearness
of eyesight, intrepidity, severe loyalty to fact),--which is a fine
addition to the softer element, and will keep IT and its philanthropies
and magnanimities well under rule. Such a man is rare in this world; how
extremely rare such a man born King! He is swift and he is persistent;
sharply discerning, fearless to resolve and perform; carries his great
endowments lightly, as if they were not heavy to him. He has known hard
misery, been taught by stripes; a light stoicism sits gracefully on him.
"What he will grow to?" Probably to something considerable. Very
certainly to something far short of his aspirations; far different
from his own hopes; and the world's concerning him. It is not we, it is
Father Time that does the controlling and fulfilling of our hopes; and
strange work he makes of them and us. For example, has not Friedrich's
grand "New Era," inaugurated by him in a week, with the leading spirits
all adoring, issued since in French Revolution and a "world well
suicided,"--the leading spirits much thrown out in consequence! New
Era has gone to great lengths since Friedrich's time; and the leading
spirits do not now adore it, but yawn over it, or worse! Which changes
to us the then aspect of Friedrich, and his epoch and his aspirations,
a good deal.--On the whole, Friedrich will go his way, Time and the
leading spirits going theirs; and, like the rest of us, will grow
to what he can. His actual size is not great among the Kingdoms: his
outward resources are rather to be called small. The Prussian Dominion
at that date is, in extent, about four-fifths of an England Proper, and
perhaps not one-fifth so fertile: subject Population is well under Two
Millions and a Half; Revenue not much above One Million Sterling,'
[The exact statistic cipher is, at Friedrich's Accession: PRUSSIAN
TERRITORIES, 2,275 square miles German (56,875 English); POPULATION,
2,240,000; ANNUAL REVENUE, 7,371,707 thalers 7 groschen (1,105,756
pounds without the pence). See Prenss, _Buch fur Jedermann,_ i. 49;
Stenzel, iii. 692; &c.]--very small, were not thrift such a VECTIGAL.
This young King is magnanimous; not much to be called ambitious, or not
in the vulgar sense almost at all,--strange as it may sound to readers.
His hopes at this time are many;--and among them, I perceive, there is
not wanting secretly, in spite of his experiences, some hope that he
himself may be a good deal "happier" than formerly. Nor is there any
ascetic humor, on his part, to forbid trial. He is much determined
to try. Probably enough, as we guess and gather, his agreeablest
anticipations, at this time, were of Reinsberg: How, in the intervals of
work well done, he would live there wholly to the Muses; have his chosen
spirits round him, his colloquies, his suppers of the gods. Why not?
There might be a King of Intellects conceivable withal; protecting,
cherishing, practically guiding the chosen Illuminative Souls of this
world. A new Charlemagne, the smallest new Charlemagne of Spiritual
type, with HIS Paladins round him; how glorious, how salutary in the
dim generations now going!--These too were hopes which proved signally
futile. Rigorous Time could not grant these at all;--granted, in his own
hard way, other things instead. But, all along, the Life-element,
the Epoch, though Friedrich took it kindly and never complained, was
ungenial to such a man.
"Somewhat of a rotten Epoch, this into which Friedrich has been born, to
shape himself and his activities royal and other!"--exclaims Smelfungus
once: "In an older earnest Time, when the eternally awful meanings of
this Universe had not yet sunk into dubieties to any one, much less
into levities or into mendacities, into huge hypocrisies carefully
regulated,--so luminous, vivid and ingenuous a young creature had not
wanted divine manna in his Pilgrimage through Life. Nor, in that case,
had he come out of it in so lean a condition. But the highest man of us
is born brother to his Contemporaries; struggle as he may, there is no
escaping the family likeness. By spasmodic indignant contradiction of
them, by stupid compliance with them,--you will inversely resemble, if
you do not directly; like the starling, you can't get out!--Most surely,
if there do fall manna from Heaven, in the given Generation, and nourish
in us reverence and genial nobleness day by day, it is blessed and well.
Failing that, in regard to our poor spiritual interests, there is sure
to be one of two results: mockery, contempt, disbelief, what we may call
SHORT-DIET to the length of very famine (which was Friedrich's case);
or else slow-poison, carefully elaborated and provided by way of daily
nourishment.
"Unhappy souls, these same! The slow-poison has gone deep into them.
Instead of manna, this long while back, they have been living on mouldy
corrupt meats sweetened by sugar-of-lead; or perhaps, like Voltaire,
a few individuals prefer hunger, as the cleaner alternative; and in
contemptuous, barren, mocking humor, not yet got the length of geniality
or indignation, snuff the east-wind by way of spiritual diet. Pilgriming
along on such nourishment, the best human soul fails to become very
ruddy!--Tidings about Heaven are fallen so uncertain, but the Earth and
her joys are still Interesting: 'Take to the Earth and her joys;--let
your soul go out, since it must; let your five senses and their
appetites be well alive.' That is a dreadful 'Sham-Christian
Dispensation' to be born under! You wonder at the want of heroism in
the Eighteenth Century. Wonder rather at the degree of heroism it had;
wonder how many souls there still are to be met with in it of some
effective capability, though dieting in that way,--nothing else to be
had in the shops about. Carterets, Belleisles, Friedrichs, Voltaires;
Chathams, Franklins, Choiseuls: there is an effective stroke of work,
a fine fire of heroic pride, in this man and the other; not yet
extinguished by spiritual famine or slow-poison; so robust is Nature the
mighty Mother!--
"But in general, that sad Gospel, 'Souls extinct, Stomachs well alive!'
is the credible one, not articulately preached, but practically believed
by the abject generations, and acted on as it never was before. What
immense sensualities there were, is known; and also (as some small
offset, though that has not yet begun in 1740) what immense quantities
of Physical Labor and contrivance were got out of mankind, in that
Epoch and down to this day. As if, having lost its Heaven, it had struck
desperately down into the Earth; as if it were a BEAVER-kind, and not a
mankind any more. We had once a Barbaossa; and a world all grandly true.
But from that to Karl VI., and HIS Holy Romish Reich in such a state of
'Holiness'--!" I here cut short my abstruse Friend.
Readers are impatient to have done with these miscellaneous preludings,
and to be once definitely under way, such a Journey lying ahead. Yes,
readers; a Journey indeed! And, at this point, permit me to warn
you that, where the ground, where Dryasdust and the Destinies, yield
anything humanly illustrative of Friedrich and his Work, one will have
to linger, and carefully gather it, even as here. Large tracts occur,
bestrewn with mere pedantisms, diplomatic cobwebberies, learned
marine-stores, and inhuman matter, over which we shall have to skip
empty-handed: this also was among the sad conditions of our Enterprise,
that it has to go now too slow and again too fast; not in proportion to
natural importance of objects, but to several inferior considerations
withal. So busy has perverse Destiny been on it; perverse Destiny,
edacious Chance;--and the Dryasdusts, too, and Nightmares, in Prussia as
elsewhere, we know how strong they are!
Friedrich's character in old age has doubtless its curious affinities,
its disguised identities, with these prognostic features and indications
of his youth: and to our readers,--if we do ever get them to the goal,
of seeing Friedrich a little with their own eyes and judgments,--there
may be pleasant contrasts and comparisons of that kind in store, one
day. But the far commoner experience (which also has been my own),--here
is Smelfungus's stern account of that:--
"My friend, you will be luckier than I, if, after ten years, not to
say, in a sense, twenty years, thirty years, of reading and rummaging
in those sad Prussian Books, ancient and new (which often are laudably
authentic, too, and exact as to details), you can gather any character
whatever of Friedrich, in any period of his life, or conceive him as a
Human Entity at all! It is strange, after such thousand-fold writing,
but it is true, his History is considerably unintelligible to mankind at
this hour; left chaotic, enigmatic, in a good many points,--the military
part of it alone being brought to clearness, and rendered fairly
conceivable and credible to those who will study. And as to the Man
himself, or what his real Physiognomy can have been--! Well, it must be
owned few men were of such RAPIDITY of face and aspect; so difficult to
seize the features of. In his action, too, there was such rapidity, such
secrecy, suddenness: a man that could not be read, even by the candid,
except as in flashes of lightning. And then the anger of by-standers,
uncandid, who got hurt by him; the hasty malevolences, the stupidities,
the opacities: enough, in modern times, what is saying much, perhaps
no man's motives, intentions, and procedure have been more belied,
misunderstood, misrepresented, during his life. Nor, I think, since
that, have many men fared worse, by the Limner or Biographic class, the
favorable to him and the unfavorable; or been so smeared of and
blotched of, and reduced to a mere blur and dazzlement of cross-lights,
incoherences, incredibilities, in which nothing, not so much as a human
nose, is clearly discernible by way of feature!"--Courage, reader,
nevertheless; on the above terms let us march according to promise.