1763-66. were 'Stores (granaries d'abondance,' Government establishments gathered from plentiful harvests against scarce, according to old rule) 'taken the supplies for food of the people and sowing of the ground: 'the horses intended for the artillery, baggage and commissariat,' 60,000 horses we have heard, were distributed among those who ' had none, to be employed in tillage of the land. Silesia was dis'charged from all taxes for six months; Pommern and the Neumark 'for two years. A sum of about Three Million sterling' (in thalers 20, 389,000) 'was given for relief of the Provinces, and as acquittance ' of the impositions the Enemy had wrung from them. 'Great as was this expense, it was necessary and indispensable. 'The condition of these Provinces after the Peace of Hubertsburg re'called what we know of them when the Peace of Münster closed the 'famous Thirty-Years War. On that occasion the State failed of help 'from want of means; which put it out of the Great Elector's power 'to assist his people: and what happened? That a whole century elapsed before his Successors could restore the Towns and Champaigns 'to what they were. This impressive example was admonitory to the King: that to repair the Public Calamities, assistance must be prompt ' and effective. Repeated gifts (largesses) restored courage to the poor 'Husbandmen, who began to despair of their lot; by the helps given, 'hope in all classes sprang up anew: encouragement of labour produced activity; love of Country rose again with fresh life: in a word' (within the second year in a markedly hopeful manner, and within seven years altogether), 'the fields were cultivated again, manufacturers had resumed their work; and the Police, once more in vigour, cor' rected by degrees the vices that had taken root during the time of anarchy." 6 6 " To Friedrich's difficulties, which were not inconsiderable, mark only this last additament: During this War, the elder ' of the Councillors, and all the Ministers of the Grand Di' rectorium' (centre of Prussian Administration), 'had succes'sively died: and in such time of trouble it had been impossible to replace them. The embarrassment was, To find 'persons capable of filling these different employments' (some would have very soon done it, your Majesty; but their haste would not have tended to speed!)-'We searched the Pro'vinces (on fouilla, sifted), where good heads were found as 'rare as in the Capital: at length five Chief Ministers were 'pitched upon,'-who prove to be tolerable, and even good. Three of them were, the Vons Blumenthal, Massow, Hagen, unknown to readers here: fourth and fifth were, the Von Wedell as War-Minister, once Dictator at Züllichau; and a Von 9 Euvres de Frédéric, vi. 74, 75. 1763-66. der Horst, who had what we might partially call the Home Department, and who may by accident once or so be namable again. Nor was War all, says the King: 'accidental Fires in 'different places,' while we struggled to repair the ravagings of War, 'were of unexampled frequency, and did immense 'farther damage. From 1765 to 1769, here is the list of places burnt: In East Preussen, the City of Königsberg ' twice over; in Silesia, the Towns of Freystadt, Ober-Glogau' (do readers recollect Manteuffel of Foot and “Wir wollen ihm was"!), 'Parchwitz, Naumburg-on-Queiss, and Goldberg; in 'the Mark, Nauen; in the Neumark, Calies and a part of 'Lansberg; in Pommern, Belgard and Tempelburg. These 'accidents required incessantly new expenditures to repair ' them.' ་ : Friedrich was not the least of a Free Trader, except where it suited him and his continual subventions and donations, guidances, encouragements, commandings and prohibitions, wise supervision and impulsion,- —are a thing I should like to hear an intelligent Mirabeau (Junior or Senior) discourse upon, after he had well studied them! For example: 'On rendit les • Prêtres utiles, The Priests, Catholic Priests, were turned to use by obliging all the rich Abbeys to establish manufactures: 'here it was weavers making damasks and table-cloths; there oil-mills' (oil from linseed); or workers in copper, wiredrawers; as suited the localities and the natural products,'the flaxes and the metals, with water-power, markets, and so ' on.' What a charming resuscitation of the rich Abbeys from their dormant condition! I should like still better to explain how, in Lower Silesia, we (on) managed to increase the number of Husbandmen by 4,000 families. You will be surprised how it was possible 'to multiply to this extent the people living by Agriculture in a Country where already not a field was waste. The reason " was this. Many Lords of Land, to increase their Domain, had imperceptibly appropriated to themselves the holdings (terres) of their vassals. Had this abuse been suffered to go on, in time a great' But the commentary needed would be too lengthy; we will give only the result: 'In the long-run, every Village would have had its Lord, but there would have 'been no tax-paying Farmers left.' The Landlord, ruler of these ་ March 1765-June 1766. Landless, might himself (as Majesty well knows) have been made to pay, had that been all; but it was not. • To possess something; that is what makes the citizen attached to his Country; those who have no property, and have nothing to lose, what tie have they?' A weak one, in comparison! All 'these things being represented to the Landlord Class, their ' own advantage made them consent to replace their Peasants ' on the old footing.' * * • To make head against so many extraordinary demands,' adds the King (looking over to a new Chapter, that of the Military, which Department, to his eyes, was not less shockingly dilapidated than the Civil, and equally or more needed instant repair), 'new resources had to be devised. For, besides 'what was needed for reëstablishment of the Provinces, new Fortifications were necessary; and all our Cannon, évasés (worn too wide in the bore), needed to be refounded; which 'occasioned considerable new expense. This led us to im'provement of the Excises,'-concerning which there will have to be a Section by itself. Of Friedrich's new Excise System. In his late Inspection-Journey to Cleve Country, D'Alembert, from Paris, by appointment waited for the King;10. picked up at Geldern (June 11th), as we saw above. D'Alembert got to Potsdam June 22d; stayed till middle of August. He had met the King once before, in 1755; who found him "a bon garçon," as we then saw. D'Alembert was always, since that time, an agreeable, estimable little man to Friedrich. Age now about forty-six; has lately refused the fine Russian post of Tutor to the Czarowitsh' (Czarowitsh Paul, poor little Boy of eight or nine, whom we, or Herr Büsching for us, saw galloping about, not long since, in his dressing-gown,' under Panin's Tutorage); refuses now, in a delicate gradual manner, the fine Prussian post of Perpetual President, or Successor to Maupertuis;-definitely preferring his frugal pensions at Paris, and garret all his own there. Continues, especially after this two-months visit of 1763, one of the King's chief correspondents for the next twenty years.11 A man of much clear intel 10 In Euvres de Frédéric, xxiv. 377-380 (D'Alembert's fine bits of Letters in prospect of Potsdam, Paris, 7th March-29th April 1763; and two small Notes while there, Sans-Souci, 6th July-15th August 1763'). 129th October 1783,' D'Alembert died: born 16th November 1717;'--a Found March 1765-June 1766. lect; a thought shrieky in his ways sometimes; but always prudent, rational, polite, and loyally recognising Friedrich as a precious article in this world. Here is a word of D'Alembert's to Madame du Deffand, at Paris, some ten or twelve days after the Cleve meeting, and the third day after his arrival here: * 'Potsdam, 25th June 1763. Madame,—* I will not go into 'the praises of this Prince,' King Friedrich, my now Host; in my 'mouth it might be suspicious: I will merely send you two traits of ' him, which will indicate his way of thinking and feeling. When I spoke to him' (at Geldern, probably, on our first meeting) of the 'glory he had acquired, he answered, with the greatest simplicity, 'That there was a furious discount to be deducted from said glory; 'that chance came in for almost the whole of it; and that he would 'far rather have done Racine's Athalie than all this War:-Athalie is 'the work he likes, and re-reads oftenest; I believe you won't disapprove his taste there. The other trait I have to give you is, That ' on the day' (15th February last) of concluding this Peace, which is 'so glorious to him, some one saying, "It is the finest day of your Majesty's life:" "The finest day of life," answered he, "is the day on which one quits it." -Adieu, Madame. '12 * * The meeting in Cleve Country was, no doubt, a very pretty passage, with Two pretty Months following;-and if it be true that Helvetius was a consequence, the 11th of June 1763 may almost claim to be a kind of epoch in Friedrich's later history. The opulent and ingenious M. Helvetius, who wrote De l'Esprit, and has got banished for that feat (lost in the gloom of London in those months), had been a mighty Tax-gatherer as well; D'Alembert, as Brother Philosophe, was familiar with Helvetius. It is certain, also, King Friedrich, at this time, found he would require annually two million thalers more;-where to get them, seemed the impossibility. A General Krockow, who had long been in French Service, and is much about the King, was often recommending the French Excise system;he is the Krockow of Domstädtl, and that Siege of Olmütz, memorable to some of us :-"A wonderful Excise system," Krockow is often saying, in this time of straits. Who completely understands it?" the King might ask. "Helvetius, against the world!" D'Alembert could justly answer. "Invite ling, as is well known; 'Mother a Sister of Cardinal Tencin's; Father,' accidental, 'an Officer in the Artillery.' 12 Euvres Posthumes de D'Alembert (Paris, 1799), i. 197:' cited in Preuss, ii. 1766. Helvetius to leave his London exile, and accept an asylum here, where he may be of vital use to me!" concludes Friedrich. Helvetius came in March 1765; stayed till June 1766:13 -within which time a French Excise system, which he had been devising and putting together, had just got in gear, and been in action for a month, to Helvetius's satisfaction. Who thereupon went his way, and never returned;-taking with him, as man and tax-gatherer, the King's lasting gratitude; but by no means that of the Prussian Nation, in his tax-gathering capacity! All Prussia, or all of it that fell under this Helvetius Excise system, united to condemn it, in all manner of dialects, louder and louder: here, for instance, is the utterance of Herr Hamann, himself a kind of Custom-house Clerk (at Königsberg, in East Preussen), and on modest terms a Literary man of real merit and originality, who may be supposed to understand this subject: And so," says Hamann, "the State has declared its own subjects incapable of managing its Finance system; and "in this way has intrusted its heart, that is the purse of its subjects, to a company of Foreign Scoundrels, ignorant of everything relating to it !"'14 This lasted all Friedrich's lifetime; and gave rise to not a little buzzing, especially in its primary or incipient stages. It seems to have been one of the unsuccessfulest Finance adventures Friedrich ever engaged in. It cost his subjects infinite small trouble; awakened very great complaining; and, for the first time, real discontent,-skin-deep but sincere and universal,—against the misguided Vater Fritz. Much noisy absurdity there was upon it, at home, and especially abroad: " Griping miser," " greedy tyrant," and so forth! Deducting all which, everybody now admits that Friedrich's aim was excellent and proper; but nobody denies withal that the means were inconsiderate, of no profit in proportion to the trouble they gave, and improper to adopt unless the necessity compelled. Friedrich is forbidden, or forbids himself, as we have often mentioned, to impose new taxes and nevertheless now, on calculations deep, minute and no doubt exact, he judges That for meeting new attacks of War (or being ready to meet, which will oftenest mean averting them),—a thing which, as he has 13 Rödenbeck, ii. 254; Preuss, iii. 11. 14 Hamann to Jacobi' (see Preuss, iii. 1-35), 'Königsberg, 18th January 1786.' |