1017 



FREDERICK II. (OF PRUSSIA). 



FREDERICK WILLIAM (OF BRANDENBURG). lojs 



on which he raised the siege of Prague, and retreated into Saxony 

 Meanwhile the French compelled the Duke of Cumberland to abandon 

 Hanover, of which they took possession ; and about the same time 

 the Russians and Swedes invaded Prussia from the north : but though 

 Frederick's affairs were supposed by his enemies to be desperate, he 

 was not dismayed. He first attacked the united French and Austrian 

 army, twice as numerous as his own, at Rosbach, and gave them a 

 total and most disgraceful defeat. He then marched into Silesia, 

 where the Austriaus had taken Breslau, gained a great victory over 

 them at Lissa, and recovered Breslau. The Russians and Swedes had 

 retreated from the Prussian territories, and the Hanoverians had 

 assembled a large force under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, to 

 co-operate with the Prussians. Thus at the close of 1757 the king's 

 affairs were so far restored, that he might have hoped for success in 

 the next campaign, if he could have kept back the Russians ; but the 

 enmity of the Empress Elizabeth was inveterate. However the admi- 

 ration which Frederick's conduct had excited in England, and confidence 

 in his ability, induced the English government to grant him a subsidy 

 of 670,000?., which became an annual grant. In the campaign of 

 1758 the principal event was the sanguinary battle at Zorndorf, 

 between the Prussians and the Russians, in which the latter were 

 defeatt'l, but the loss on both sides was immense. In 1759 the king's 

 first object was to stop the progress of the Russians, who advanced 

 to Frmnkfurt-on-the-Oder. On the 12th of August was fought the 

 battle of Kunnersdorf. At the beginning of the day, the King of 

 Prussia thought himself eo sure of the victory, that he despatched a 

 letter to that effect to the queen at Berlin ; but in the end, he was 

 obliged to quit ihe field, and wrote a second letter to the queen, 

 desiring her to send away the royal family, and to have the archives 

 removed, adding, that the city might make terms with the enemy. 

 But Berlin was saved. Frederick's skilful conduct after his defeat 

 induced the Russian general, instead of entering Brandenburg, to join 

 the Austrians in Lusatia ; but soon afterwards, General Finck, with 

 15,000 men, was taken prisoner by the Austriaus, and a smaller corps 

 shared the same fate. Frederick however received reinforcements, 

 and Marshal Daun was contented to occupy the camp at Pirna and 

 cover Dresden. In the following spring some fruitless negociations 

 for peace took place. In this campaign the city of Dresden suffered 

 very severely from a bombardment, by which Frederick destroyed the 

 finest part of the city. On the other hand, the Russians and Austrians 

 entered Berlin, which was saved from plunder by a composition, but 

 had to pay heavy contributions. Berlin was soon evacuated, and 

 Frederick, who was hastening to its relief, turned into Saxony, where 

 he wa-* induced, by the desperate condition of his affnirs, to venture 

 to attack the Austrians, who were strongly posted at Torgau. He 

 defeated them, after an obstinate battle, which compelled them to 

 retreat. The Russians and Swedes also quitted his dominions, and 

 he was able to recover strength in winter quarters in Saxony. 



At the commencement of 1761 it was evident that the king of 

 Prussia's situation was most critical. He confessed himself that, after 

 the great losses he had sustained, his army was not equal to what it 

 had formerly been. He accordingly occupied a strong camp in Silesia, 

 where he remained immoveablc, watching his enemies, but was un- 

 able to previ-nt Marshal Laudohn from taking Schweidnitz, and the 

 UuKsians, Colberg. Frederick's situation was now so desperate, that 

 he appears to have seriously contemplated suicide : in this critical 

 state, the only event perhaps which could have saved him occurred. 

 This was the death of the empress Elizabeth on the 5th of January 

 1762, and the accession of Peter III., who was an enthusiastic admirer 

 of Frederick, with whom he immediately concluded a treaty of alliance. 

 Peace was also made with the Swedes, and though Peter was soon 

 deposed, yet Catharine, who succeeded him, observed a strict neutrality 

 during the remainder of the war. The king and bis brother, prince 

 Henry, gained several advantages in 1762 and 1763, and peace having 

 been concluded between Great Britain and France, Austria was left 

 alone, and the empress queen obliged to conclude peace with Prussia. 

 The two powers mutually guaranteed the whole of each other's German 

 dominions, Frederick only promising to give his vote to Joseph as 

 king of the Romans. The king of Poland was restored to his dominions 

 without compensation. Thus ended the Seven Years' War, which, 

 after immense sacrifices of human life and treasure, left the political 

 balance of Europe unchanged. 



The issue of this great contest, in which the genius of Frederick had 

 been so eminently distinguished, secured to him a decisive influence 

 in the affairs, not only of Germany, but of all Europe. Returning to 

 his capital after an absence of more than six years, he seriously directed 

 hii attention to repair the evils inflicted on his dominions by the war. 

 He opened his magazines to give his subjects corn, both for food and 

 for seed. He distributed horses among the farmers, rebuilt at his own 

 expense the houses which had buen burnt, founded colonies, erected 

 manufactories, and made canals for the convenience of inland trade. 

 Silesia was exempted from the payment of all taxes for six years, and 

 the New Mark and Pomerania for two years. To relieve the nobility 

 in those three provinces, a system of credit was introduced, by which 

 the value of estates was raised, and. the rate of interest reduced. In 

 1704 he founded the bank of Berlin, to which ho gave eight millions 

 of dollars as its first fund. Though he really desired to promote trade, 

 from hi* ignorance of true commercial principle*, uud liis desire to 

 BIOO. IV. TOL. II. 



increase the revenue, he was induced to take measure?, some of which 

 were injudicious, and others decidedly unjust : for instance, the debase- 

 ment of the current coin. Meantime he continued to maintain a very 

 large army. In March 1764 he concluded an alliance with Russia, by 

 which he supported the election of the new king of Poland, Stanislaus 

 Poniatowski, and the cause of the oppressed dissidents in Poland. In 

 1772 he agreed to the first partition of Poland, by which ho obtained 

 all Polish Prussia (which was ceded in 1466 by the Teutonic Order to 

 Poland) and a part of Great Poland, as far as to the river Netz, but 

 with the exception of Danzig and Thorn. Frederick has been accused 

 of having first suggested the partition of Poland ; but the fact is, that 

 Frederick I. had formed a plan for the partition of Poland, drawn up 

 in the year 1710. From that time the kingdom of Prussia was divided 

 into East and West Prussia. In 1778, on the death of the elector of 

 Bavaria, without children, Frederick interfered to prevent Austria from 

 partitioning that country. The war was however terminated without 

 a battle, by the treaty of Teschen, in May 1779, by which Austria 

 renounced its intentions, and consented to the union of the Fran- 

 conian principalities with Prussia. In 1785, the emperor havingformed 

 a plan to obtain Bavaria in exchange for the Low Countries, Frederick 

 defeated it in conjunction with Saxony and Hanover, by concluding 

 the alliance between the German princes, called the ' Fiirstenbund," 

 which has been considered as the masterpiece of his policy. In 1786 

 he concluded a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States 

 of America. Though he had long suffered from gout and asthma, 

 which terminated in confirmed dropsy, not a little aggravated by his 

 indulgence in the pleasures of the table, he continued his unremitted 

 attention to public affairs till within two days of his death, the 

 approach of which he contemplated with composure : he died on the 

 17th of August 1786, at his favourite palace of Sans Souci, in the 

 seventy-fifth year of his age, and the forty-seventh of his reign, leaving 

 to his nephew, Frederick William II., a kingdom enlai-ged, from 2190 

 to 3515 German square miles ; about 70,000,000 of dollars (10,000,000k 

 sterling) in the treasury, and an army of 200,000 men. 



The character of Frederick II., and his public and private life, have 

 furnished the subject for numerous publications in all the European 

 languages, which are perfectly familiar to most classes of readers. One 

 of his great merits was, that he did not contract any public debt, and 

 though he raised a very large revenue, yet a considerable part returned 

 into the pockets of his subjects through various channels. Among his 

 defects may be reckoned his contempt for religious institutions. He 

 was avowedly an unbeliever in revealed religion, and his notions 

 respecting natural religion appear to have been vague and fluctuating. 

 With respect to his temper, he seems to have been deficient in real 

 sensibility ; and though many examples of his clemency and placability 

 are recorded, he was at times harsh and even cruel. His moral con- 

 duct was guided generally by his pleasure, and his interest, and in that 

 respect, as well as his religion, he was greatly influenced by his predi- 

 lection for French literature, and especially his intimacy with and 

 admiration of Voltaire. Proud as the Germans in general are of 

 Frederick, they cannot help regretting his contempt of German litera- 

 ture. It must however be owned that German literature, at the com- 

 mencement of Frederick's life, was in a very low state, and it may be 

 doubted whether the literature and language of Germany did not gain 

 rather than lose by his neglect of them. Frederick was essentially a 

 despot, and his interference with what ho confessedly did not under- 

 stand, would probably have done more harm than good. His volumi- 

 nous works, all in French, would have entitled him to a certain amount 

 of distinction in the literary world, even if he had not been a king. 

 Besides the works already mentioned, he published military iustruc- 

 tions, and some miscellaneous pieces in 4 vols. 8vo. Hi3 posthumous 

 works, in 15 vols., contain the history of his own times, the history of 

 the Seven Years' War, and memoirs, from the treaty of Hubertsburg, 

 1763, to the end of the partition of Poland. 



FREDERICK WILLIAM, Elector of Brandenburg, surnamed the 

 Great Elector, was the son of the Elector George William. In the 

 distracted state of Germany during the Thirty Years' War, and the 

 necessary absence of his father with the army, the young prince saw 

 but little of the splendour and indulgences of a court, and passed tho 

 first years of his life in retirement with his tutors, who were men of 

 learning and experience, and with his mother, first at the castle of 

 Litzliugen, in the forests of the Alt mark, and afterwards at Custrin. 

 The adventures and the singular fortunes of the family of his mother 

 (who was sister of Frederick, King of Bohemia, husband of the Princess 

 Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England), tho cruel and barbarous 

 manner in which the war was carried on, and the dangers to which he, 

 and his family were exposed, necessarily made a deep impression on 

 liis mind. At tha age of fifteen ho was sent to the University of 

 Leyden, where he especially devoted himself to the classics and to 

 jistory. Of modern languages! he was a proficient in the French, 

 Dutch, and Polish. He was afterwards in the camp of Frederick 

 Henry, prince of Orange, during the siege of Breda, and was much 

 loticed by the prince for his amiable manners and exemplary conduct, 

 as well as for his sound understanding. About this time a society of 

 young persona of both sexes (called Media Nocte) endeavoured to 

 draw the prince into ita circle; but his friend and tutor, the Baron 

 Schulenberg, making him aware of the immoral nature of tlie society, 

 ,lie prince resolved immediately to quit the Hague. The Prince of 



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