PRUSSIA. 



201 



russia 

 erected 

 into a 

 kingdom 



Prussia, sovereigns ever attained to greater celebrity, or enjoyed 

 sy^ more deeply the affections of their subjects, and the re- 

 apect of foreign countries. An embassy was sent him 

 by the Cham of the Tartars, craving his alliance. The 

 Protestants, who in 1685 fled from France, took re- 

 luge, as we formerly mentioned, in Brandenburg, where 

 they were received with affection and kindness. The 

 Duke died in HJ88, carrying to the grave the love and 

 regret of his subjects. Prussia, before his time, was 

 held as a fief of the Polish monarchs; but in Ki.Vi, he 

 compelled the king of Poland to declare it an inde- 

 pendent state. The great PufTendorf thought the life 

 of this duke a subject not unworthy of his pen : and 

 Frederick the Great, in his Memoirs of the House of 

 Brandenburg, regards him as the chief founder of the 

 power of that family. 



lerickl. His son Frederick, who succeeded him, finding 

 himself possessed of extensive dominions, and of no in- 

 considerable influence among the nations of Europe, 

 and being besides fond of show and splendour, aspired 

 to the regal dignity. For this purpose, he used every 

 means to insinuate himself into the favour of the em- 

 peror, and at the suggestion of William III. king of 

 Britain, joined with the emperor in an alliance against 

 France. The object of his ambition was at length ob- 

 tained on terms sufficiently liberal and honourable, and 

 he was crowned king at Konigsberg in January, 1701, 

 under the name of Frederick I. the emperor himself 

 placing the crown on his head. Some of the terms on 

 which this dignity was acquired were, 1st, That Fre- 

 derick should not separate from the empire those por- 

 tions of his dominions which had formerly been de- 

 pendent on it ; 2d, That in the emperor's presence he 

 should not experience any marks of honour superior to 

 those he had before enjoyed ; but that his ministers at 

 Vienna should be treated with the same distinction as 

 those of other crowned heads; 3d, That Frederick should 

 maintain at his own expense 6000 men in Italy, in 

 case the emperor should be obliged to make war on ac- 

 count of the claim of the house of Bourbon to the throne 

 of Spain, and that these troops should be continued 

 there while the war lasted. Such were the most im- 

 portant of the terms on which Prussia was erected into 

 a kingdom. Frederick showed himself not unworthy 

 of the honours he attained. He was a pacific and pa- 

 triotic prince, and exerted himself to improve the in- 

 ternal advantages, and to secure the stability of his pos- 

 Frederick sessions. He was succeeded, in 1713, by his son Fre- 

 Wiliiam I. derick William, sometimes called Frederick II. a great 

 statesman, and with dispositions decidedly military, 

 though he never was engaged in actual hostilities. He 

 devoted himself, however, to the augmentation of his 

 army, already great, and to the discipline of the troops. 

 The army was composed of the tallest men he could 

 find in his own dominions, and he did not scruple to 

 violate national faith in picking up the subjects of other 

 states to answer his purpose ; a circumstance which was 

 more than once the occasion of altercations, and almost 

 of hostilities. Before his death the Prussian army was 

 not only one of the most numerous, but the best dis- 

 ciplined and accoutred of any in Europe. This ob- 

 ject he kept steadily in view, both from the inherent 

 taste and tendency of his mind, and from the necessity 

 of maintaining an attitude of preparation and of readi- 



ness to keen the house of Austria in awe, which WAS 

 now regarded as the natural enemy and rival of Prus- 

 - : - During Frederick William's time, though some 



si a. 



misunderstandings took place, war never was declared 

 between these powers ; but from the state in which he 

 left his army, and from the funds he had accumulated, 

 he put it in the power of his son to perform exploits not 

 surpassed in number and in brilliancy in modern times. 



His son, Frederick II. commonly and deservedly Frederick 

 styled the Great, came to the throne in 1740. His the Great, 

 mother was Sophia, daughter of George I. king of 

 Great Britain. He was born on the 24th of January, 

 1712 ; and was entrusted in his infancy to the care of 

 Madame de Rocoule, who spoke only in French ; a 

 circumstance that has been regarded as the origin of 

 his uncommon taste for that language, and his dislike 

 of the German, his native tongue. As he advanced in 

 years he was put under more accomplished tutors, to 

 whose instructions he uniformly paid the most marked 

 attention ; but as his father's object was to inspire him 

 with a love of military glory, and to teach him the an of 

 war in all its departments, he made at first but compara- 

 tively little progress in science and literature. Ana, in- 

 deed, though a man of uncommon genius, and of very 

 general attainments, his erudition was at best but li- 

 mited, being acquainted, for instance, with the classical 

 writers of antiquity chiefly through the medium of 

 French translations. The branches in which he excel- 

 led were the belles lettres and moral science. He was 

 also an adept in music, and passionately fond of it ; an 

 accomplishment which his father seems to have rec- 

 koned incompatible with the profession of a soldier, as 

 he strictly forbade him to practise it a restriction 

 which was the chief cause of that misunderstanding 

 which obtained between them for several years previ- 

 ously to the death of Frederick William. In conse- 

 quence of this misunderstanding, he retired to the cas- 

 tle of Rheinsberg, where he devoted his time to study, 

 to the most refined and elegant amusements, and to the 

 society and conversation of the learned from almost 

 every country. When he ascended the throne in 1740, 

 he was welcomed by the unanimous acclamations of his 

 subjects, who entertained hopes of his future greatness 

 and celebrity, which were not disappointed. Under 

 the article FREDERICK III. in this work, (Vol. IX. page 

 748,) we have given a full and minute account of the 

 military achievements of this distinguished monarch ; 

 and referring our readers to that article for farther in- 

 formation on this subject, we shall at present state, in 

 the most cursory and brief manner, only the most im- 

 portant transactions of his reign. In accordance with 

 the uniform policy of his family, the early and great 

 object of his life was to increase his dominions; and 

 the first step he took in the accomplishment of his wish- 

 es, was the invasion of Silesia on the death of the em- 

 peror of Germany. Disregarding the Pragmatic Sanc- 

 tion, by which all the powers of Europe had engaged 

 to secure the emperor's hereditary claims to his eldest 

 daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, he took 

 possession of Silesia with an army of 30,000 men. And 

 after reducing several cities, and defeating the Aus- 

 trians at Molwitz, he entered Breslau the capital, and 

 received the homage of the Silesians. t 



This invasion of Silesia, though it could not be pre 



This monarch is mote properly designated Frederick II. than Frederick III. as in the regal genealogy the name of Frederick alone 

 is regarded as distinct from Frederick William. In this case, the father of Frederick the Great is denominated Frederick William I. 

 and not Frederick II. 



f- The history of Silesia, though not very important, requires not to be passed over in silence. The original inhabitants (of Suevic dfrira- 

 tion) were displaced in the 6th century by a Sclavonic tribe named Zlcsy, whence the name in the Polish speech is Zlesien. Christianity 



YOL. XVII. PART I. 2 C 



