Prussia. 



398 PRUSSIA, 



there being a president, who serves as a medium, or cuique." The king is always grand-master ; the num. 

 connecting link between the provinces and the sove- ber of knights, exclusive of the members of the royal 

 reign. The affairs of the government, in all its depart- family, is limited to thirty ; and all admitted into this 

 ments, are managed with the strictest regard to econo- order, with the exception of foreign princes, must pre- 

 my, insomuch that, probably with the exception of viously be members of the " Order of Generosity." 

 the United States, it scarcely finds a parallel in the 

 world. 



The present code of laws was originally formed by 

 Frederick the Great upon the ancient customs and usa- 

 ges of the people, but not reduced to a regular and 

 complete system till the time of his successor. There 

 are courts of every gradation of dignity and authority ; 

 and the whole system is extremely simple, expeditious, 

 and economical. Feudal or baronial jurisdiction is 

 either entirely abolished, or contracted within very 



Prussia. 



narrow limits. The nomination of the judges of the 

 lower courts, which resemble our justice-of-peace 

 courts, is vested either in the king, in the ecclesiastical 

 dignitaries of the district, or, in those places obtained 

 from Germany, by the mediatised princes.* The deci- 

 sion of these courts, except in very petty and unim- 

 portant cases, is not final. The second stage of jurisdic- 

 tion is the Oberfandefgerichlen, which are established in 

 each government, and to which appeals from the lower 

 courts are made : and the -final appeal is to the High 

 College of Justice in Berlin. ,The police is under se- 

 parate jurisdictions, whose influence is extensive and 

 various to a degree unknown in Britain. The police 

 courts, for example, not only perform most vigilantly the 

 duties which in this country are peculiar to them, but 

 they also have the superintendence of the examination 

 of those who wish licence to enter the medical profes- 

 sion, take cognizance of the assurance offices against 

 losses by fire, and of the engines and other implements 

 tor preventing fires from extending. With all this di- 

 versity of interests, however, the police department is 

 managed with much mildness and efficiency, greater 

 attention being paid to the prevention than the punish- 

 ment of crime. In the cities are Boards, under whose 



viously be members of the " Order 

 Frederick the Great founded three orders, namely, the 

 " Order of Merit," in 1740; the " Order of St. Stephen," 

 in 1754; and the Order of St. John," in 1756. The 

 " Order of Merit" is the most celebrated, and was in- 

 stituted with the express design of rewarding merito- 

 rious individuals in arms, in literature, or in science, 

 without regard to birth, religion, rank, or country. 

 " Pour le Merite" is the simple but appropriate motto. 



It may not be improper to mention in this place, 

 that few countries in Europe are more destitute of an- 

 tiquities than Prussia. Nor can such be expected to 

 exist in a country where the arts and sciences were 

 totally unknown till a comparatively recent period ; 

 and where neither the Romans nor any civilized people 

 ever penetrated to leave behind them monuments of 

 their ingenuity and skill. There are, however, some 

 Sclavonic idols, cast in brass ; some pieces of coin as 

 old as the twelfth century ; and remain* of castles and 

 churches, of considerable elegance and magnificence. 

 Berlin, Konigsburg, and Dantzick, (the last particu- 

 larly, from its great antiquity,) contain many specimens 

 of ancient architecture, which would do honour to Bri- 

 tain or to France. 



The original inhabitants of Prussia were the Slavi or 

 Sarmatae, in the east and north-east ; the Vandals on 

 the shores of the Baltic, or the north of Pomerania 

 and the Suevi in the remainder of the kingdom. (Vide 

 Murray's History of European Languages, Suevi ei 

 Sarinaticae.') These people, particularly the first, have 

 been represented as extremely savage and barbarous, 

 insomuch that they used to drink the blood of the 

 lower animals ; were ignorant of the art of construct- 

 ing huts, and lived in caves or under the shade of trees. 

 Such rude tribes cannot be expected to afford materials 

 for history ; and hence little certain is known respect- 

 ing them till the thirteenth century, when the territo- 



Antiqui- 

 ties. 



superiritendence, buildings, sewers, the supplies of water 

 and of food are placed. The affairs of the church are 



managed by provincial consistories. Commercial af- ries which they occupied were wrested from them by 

 fairs are under the direction and control of a board of the knights of the Teutonic order. This celebrated 

 merchants, in several of the large cities, particularly 

 Breslau, Konigsburg, and Swinemunde in Pomerania. 

 Royal arms The royal arms of Prussia are representative and em- 

 ami orders blematical of the different provinces of which the king* 

 o* knight- ( j om j g corn p os ed. Thus, for Ducal Prussia, urgent, an 

 eagle displayed sable, crowned or ; for Brandenburg, ar- 

 gent, an eagle display ed,g/w, with semi-circular wreaths. 

 There are various orders of knighthood, of which the 

 most important are the following : " The Order of 

 Generosity," instituted by Frederick, elector of Bran- 

 denburg, the first king of Prussia, in 1685. The motto 

 is " La Generosite." The same prince, on the day of 

 his coronation at Konigsburg, in 1701, instituted the 

 " Order of the Black Eagle," with the motto ** Suum 



hood. 



fraternity must be known to every reader. The Ger- 

 mans, after the death of Barbarossa, behaved with 

 so much bravery in the Holy Land, that Henry, 

 King of Jerusalem, the patriarch, and other princes, 

 rewarded their valour by conferring on them certain 

 privileges. The order in question was thus instituted. 

 The persona belonging to it were originally called the 

 knights of St, George ; they afterwards were denomi- 

 nated Equites Mariani, or Knights of St. Mary. In 

 1190, they elected Henry Walpol, their first grand- 

 master, a German, who had distinguished himself for 

 wisdom and bravery ; and in the subsequent year the 

 Pope (Celestine III.) confirmed to them the privileges 

 they already enjoyed, and conferred on them the title 



Knights 

 of the 

 Teutonic 

 Older, 



* The appellation mediatised is applied to those German princes who, by the terms of the Confederation of the .Rhine, (1 806,) confirmed 

 by the Congress of Vienna, (1814 and 1815,) were reduced from the rank of petty sovereigns to that of nobles, and were declared to hold no 

 longer immediately of the Emperor, (originally of Germany, but since 1806 of Austria,) whose power was at the same time confined to 

 his hereditary states. The number of the mediatised princes amounts to eighty ; and they, together with the various sovereigns to whom 

 they belong, and among whom Germany has been parcelled, are now formed into a federative body, denominated the Germanic Confedera- 

 tion, governed by a diet The original number of votes were sixty-nine, of which Prussia had four ; but as this put the smaller states 

 nearly on a footing with the larger, seventeen have lately been fixed as the number of votes. It is thus evident that the petty^states have 

 in a great degree merged into the larger. So much indeed is this the case, that the influence of Prussia extends over nearly a half of the 

 Confederation, and that of Austria over the other. The military force of this body is fixed during peace at 120,000 men ; but in time of 

 war it is to amount to 301,000, (making one to a hundred of the whole population,) of whom Prussia contributes 79,234, and Austria 

 leaving 126,344 to be supplied by Hacover and the remaining states. 



