Berlin.
The Prussian army at present, according to my information, consists of
180,000 men. If twenty, or even thirty thousand are deducted from this
account, on the supposition that it is exaggerated, still the remainder
will be very great; and the expence of such an establishment in time
of peace, seems to many almost incompatible with the King of Prussia’s
resources. Although the revenues of this monarch are much greater than
is generally imagined, yet the armies he has supported, and continues to
support; the palace he has built, and other expensive undertakings which
he has completed, are not such proofs of the greatness of his revenue,
as of the prudence with which it has been managed. Many other Princes
have greater revenues, which, like water spilt on uncultivated land, and
assisting the growth of useless weeds, are dissipated without taste or
magnificence on the trumpery of a court and their dependents. Perhaps
it was never known what miracles, œconomy, and assiduity through all
the departments of government could perform, till this monarch made it
apparent.
In the King of Prussia’s dominions, there are none of those polls which
enrich individuals at the expence of the public; places suited to the
abilities and the luxury of the great, where the salary is large, because
the application and talents requisite are small. If those who hold the
most lucrative places in this court, can support a becoming dignity by
the emoluments of their office, and lay up a very moderate provision for
their families, it is the utmost they ever expect.
All commodities are highly taxed in the Prussian dominions. At Berlin,
though money is a great deal scarcer than at London or Paris, a stranger
will find very little difference in the ordinary expence of living.
There are no means by which his revenue can be augmented, which this
King has not tried. He has taxed even the vanity of his subjects, and
drawn considerable supplies since the beginning of his reign from that
plentiful source. The rage which the Germans, above all men, have for
titles, prompts many of the wealthy citizens to purchase that of some
office about court; and although the King employs no person void of
abilities, he never scruples to permit this kind of traffic. The title,
however, is literally all that is sold, for with regard to the real
business of the office, the purchaser has as little connection with it
after the bargain as before. Though his Majesty scarcely ever consults
with any body, he has more nominal privy-counsellors than any King in
Christendom.
The taxes in general are invariably fixed; but methods are found of
drawing contributions from the proprietors of the very great estates,
which do not affect the smaller landlords, or the rest of the subjects.
The spirit of the government is not favourable to great and independent
Lords. But both the great and the small landlords are prevented from
squeezing or oppressing the peasants. As the soldiery are drawn from
them, care is taken that they shall not be deprived of the chief source
of health and vigour, and there is no peasantry in Europe better fed than
the Prussian.
The army is chiefly composed of provincial regiments. The whole Prussian
dominions being divided into circles or cantons; in each of these, one
or more regiments, in proportion to the size and populousness of the
division, have been originally raised, and from it the recruits continue
to be taken; and each particular regiment is always quartered, in the
time of peace, near the canton from which its recruits are drawn.
Whatever number of sons a peasant may have, they are all liable to
be taken into the service except one, who is left to assist in the
management of the farm. The rest wear badges from their childhood, to
mark that they are destined to be soldiers, and ready to serve when the
state requires them. If a peasant has only one son, he is not forced into
the service, except he has the misfortune to be uncommonly stout and
well-made. The King, however, endeavours to save his own peasantry, and
draw as many recruits as he can from other countries:—For this purpose,
there are Prussian officers employed at Hamburgh, Frankfort, and other
free towns of Germany. I have seen them also at Neufchatel, and at places
near French garrisons, attempting to inlist men, and pick up deserters.
The recruits procured in this manner, remain continually with the
regiments in which they are placed; but the native Prussians have every
year eight or nine months of furlough, during which they return to their
fathers’ or brothers’ houses, and work at the business of the farm, or
gain their livelihood in any other way they please. Here is at once an
immense saving in the expence of the army, and a great gain to the state
from the labour of so many men.
From this it appears, that the Prussian army is neither more nor less
than a standing militia, embodied for two or three months every year, and
then dispersed to their usual labours as farmers.
I think this decides our old dispute on the subject of standing armies
and militia. I expert therefore that you will, by the return of post,
fairly and candidly acknowledge that I was in the right, and that all
your arguments to prove, that a militia could not be depended on in
the time of actual service, are built on false principles, and that my
opinion was just and well-founded.
Before closing this letter, I will inform you of a very singular
incident, the circumstances of which I relate, not so much with a design
to illustrate the character or sentiments of the vulgar of this place in
particular, as to furnish you with a curious fact in the history of human
nature in general.
I went a few days since with Mr. F—— to see a man executed for the
murder of a child.—His motives for this horrid deed were much more
extraordinary than the action itself. He had accompanied some of his
companions to the house of a fellow, who assumed the character of a
fortune-teller, and having disobliged him, by expressing a contempt of
his art, the fellow, out of revenge, prophesied, that this man should die
on a scaffold.—This seemed to make little impression at the time, but
afterwards recurred often to this unhappy creature’s memory, and became
every day more troublesome to his imagination. At length the idea haunted
his mind so incessantly, that he was rendered perfectly miserable, and
could no longer endure life.
He would have put himself to death with his own hands, had he not
been deterred by the notion, that God Almighty never forgave suicide;
though, upon repentance, he is very ready to pardon every other crime.
He resolved, therefore, to commit murder, that he might be deprived of
life by the hands of justice; and mingling a sentiment of benevolence
with the cruelty of his intention, he reflected, that if he murdered
a grown person, he might possibly send a soul to hell. To avoid this,
he determined to murder a child, who could not have committed any sin
which deserved damnation, but dying in innocence, would go immediately
to Heaven. In consequence of these ideas, he actually murdered an infant
of his master’s, for whom he had always shewn an uncommon degree of
fondness. Such was the strange account which this infatuated creature
gave on his trial;—and thus the random prophecy proved, as in many other
cases, the cause of its own completion.
He was executed about two miles from Berlin. As soon as he ascended
the scaffold, he took off his coat and waistcoat;—his shirt was rolled
down below his shoulders;—his night-cap was pulled over his eyes;—he
was placed on his knees, and the executioner with a single stroke of a
broad sword severed his head from his body.—It was the first time this
executioner had performed:—there were two others of the same trade on
the scaffold, who exhibited an instance of insensibility more shocking
than the execution.—While the man’s head rolled on the scaffold, and the
arteries of the trunk poured out their blood, those men, with the gayest
air you can imagine, shook their brother by the hand, wished him joy,
and clapped him on the back, congratulating him on the dexterous and
effectual manner in which he had performed his office.