328 



FREDERICK IV. 



FEEEDOM OF THE PRESS. 



him the last sad honors was such as has seldom 

 been witnessed. 



FREDERICK WILLIAM IV., late King of 

 Prussia, born at Pottsdam, Prussia, Oct. 15, 

 1795, succeeded his father Frederick William 

 III. on the 7th June, 1840, died Jan. 1, 1861. 

 He received a careful and thorough education 

 under the instruction of some of the most 

 eminent scholars of the time, being taught mili- 

 tary science by Scharnhorst and Knesebeck ; 

 philosophy and letters by J. F. 0. Delbriick 

 and Ancillon ; public and national law by Sa- 

 vigny ; and the principles of the fine arts by 

 Schinkel and Rauch. In the campaigns of 

 1813 and 1814 he was present at most of the 

 great battles ; and on coming of age was ad- 

 mitted into the Council of State. Not long 

 after he was appointed military governor of 

 Pomerania. On ascending the throne he re- 

 paired many of the injuries which his father's 

 rigorous system had inflicted upon the people ; 

 proclaimed an amnesty for political offences, 

 and recalled a large number of eminent schol- 

 ars and professors who had been exiled or dis- 

 placed for political reasons. The University 

 of Berlin was greatly improved by his efforts ; 

 and he determined to make his capital the lit- 

 erary and scientific centre of Europe. His fos- 

 tering care was never withheld from the Uni- 

 versity, and no man who had attained eminence 

 in science elsewhere failed to receive the offer 

 of a professorship or official appointment there. 

 His father had presented a constitution to his 

 people, but had delayed to grant it, and Fred- 

 erick William IV. long refused to fulfil the 

 promise, while at the same time he was willing 

 to grant a considerable degree of freedom to 

 his people. The revolution of 1848 induced 

 him to grant a constitution, but after his terror 

 was over he wished to revoke it. From that 

 period his course seemed constantly to become 

 more vacillating and insincere, and he lost the 

 good opinion of the adjacent nations by his 

 manifestation of these traits of character. In 

 the Crimean war he temporized and made 

 pledges to both parties, which lost him the 

 confidence of each, and at the Congress of 1856, 

 Prussia was only admitted as a member at the 

 earnest solicitation of Napoleon III. His course 

 in relation to the Duchy of Schleswig Hoi- 

 stein, was also marked by the same vacillating 

 spirit ; after encouraging the Holsteiners to 

 commence the war with Denmark, by the 

 promise of the assistance of Prussia, he aban- 

 doned them to their fate. He reorganized the 

 Lutheran Church of Prussia, giving it the name 

 of the " Reformed Church," and though not 

 intolerant to other forms of faith, he was a 

 great stickler for uniformity. In 1857 he was 

 attacked with apoplexy, and though he recov- 

 ered so far as to enjoy tolerable health of body, 

 his mind was permanently impaired, and his 

 brother, the Prince of Prussia, was appointed 

 Regent of the Kingdom. 



FREDERICKTOWN, a small town of south- 

 east Missouri, the capital of Madison Co. Near 



this place, on the 21st October, the Confeder- 

 ate troops under Gen. Jeff. Thompson and Col. 

 Lowe, from 3,500 to 4,000 in number, were at- 

 tacked by a Federal force, consisting of the Sev- 

 enteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first, and Thirty- 

 third Illinois and Eleventh Missouri regiments, 

 six companies of the First Indiana Cavalry, and 

 one section of Schofield's battery, the whole un- 

 der the command of Col. J. B. Plummer, of the 

 Eleventh Missouri, and numbering about 3,000 

 men. An engagement followed, which contin- 

 ued two hours and a half, when the Confederate 

 troops were routed along their whole line and 

 fled in disorder, seeking protection in the woods. 

 They were pursued 22 miles. Their loss was 

 very heavy, Col. Lowe was slain and about 

 170 of their killed left on the field were buried 

 by the Federal soldiers. Col. Plummer cap- 

 tured 80 prisoners, of whom 38 were wounded. 

 He also took one 42-pounder and a considerable 

 quantity of small-arms. The Federal loss was 

 six killed, (among them Major Gavitt and Capt. 

 Highman, of the First Indiana Cavalry,) and 60 

 wounded. 



FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. A weekly 

 newspaper, called the "Democratic Standard," 

 published at Concord, New Hampshire, was 

 attacked by a mob of soldiers on the 8th of 

 August, and the office completely stripped of 

 its contents. The soldiers belonged to the First 

 Regiment of returned volunteers. An article 

 was published in the paper which reflected 

 upon them. A retraction was demanded, and 

 refused defiantly. 



On the 12th of August, the office of the 

 "Democrat," a weekly newspaper, published 

 at Bangor, Maine, was completely cleared by a 

 crowd of people. No one was injured. The 

 objections against the print by the people were 

 that its views favored the Confederate States. 



On the 14th of August, Gen. Fremont declar- 

 ed martial law in St. Louis, and appointed 

 Major J. McKinstry provost-marshal. On the 

 next day the marshal suppressed the publica- 

 tion of the "War Bulletin," and the "Mis- 

 sourian," two newspapers published in that 

 city, which had been, as it was charged, 

 "shamelessly devoted to the publication of 

 transparently false statements respecting mili- 

 tary movements in Missouri." 



On the 24th of August, the editor of the St. 



Louis " Christian Advocate" addressed a letter 



to Marshal McKinstry, stating that he had been 



' informed suggestions were made to him to 



suppress the publication of the "Advocate," &c. 



To this, on the next day, the marshal re- 

 plied : " In reference to the course of the St. 

 Louis 'Christian Advocate,' permit me to say 

 that in my judgment, in these times of political 

 excitement, and heated discussion, and civil 

 war, it would be more becoming, as well as 

 more consistent, that a public newspaper, be- 

 longing to and advocating the doctrines and 

 principles of the Church of Christ, should ab- 

 stain from publishing articles of a political char- 

 acter, calculated to inflame the passions of 



