202 



PRUSSIA. 



Prussia. 



vented, was not to be forgiven, and was one of the 

 great causes of the hostility in which his future life 

 was spent. At one time he entered the Austrian do- 

 minions, carrying devastation and victory along with 

 him wherever he advanced. At another, his own ter- 

 ritories were invaded, and even his capital was more 

 than once in the hands of his enemies. And at one 

 period, when Austria, France, Russia, Poland, and 

 Saxony, had formed a coalition against him ; when at 

 length the king of Sweden, his relation and ally, form- 

 ed a junction with his enemies; when he had lost his 

 favourite brother, and some of his bravest generals ; 

 when Memel had fallen into the hands of the Russians ; 

 when the French had seized the electorate of Hanover, 

 (the hereditary dominions of his ally, the king of Great 

 Britain,) and the Austrians were ravaging Silesia, 

 and had obtained possession of his capital, in such 

 desperate circumstances, courage and hope seemed to 

 have forsaken him, and he even meditated self-murder, 

 which, however, he was prevented from committing, 

 by the affectionate and spirited remonstrances of the 

 Marquis d'Argens, his most intimate favourite and 

 friend. He was roused from despair; he was animat- 

 ed to farther efforts; and by his own personal abili- 

 ties, the rapidity and wisdom of his movements, the 

 courage and the discipline of his troops, aided and se- 

 conded by a large subsidy from Great Britain, he op- 

 posed a force superior in numbers, and conducted with 

 eminent talents; and at length saw himself victorious 

 over all his enemies. After seven years of uninter- 

 rupted war, in which, in addition to other calamities, 

 upwards of 500,000 combatants had fallen in the field, 

 peace was concluded at Hubertsburg in February 

 1763, securing to him Silesia, but in other respects 

 leaving affairs nearly in the same situation in which 

 they were at the commencement of this sanguinary 

 struggle. And at the date just mentioned, Frederick, 

 after an absence of six years, returned to his capital 

 amid the loudest acclamations of the inhabitants, and 

 with a name for personal bravery, military skill, and 

 unquenchable ardour, of which few examples are to be 

 found in the history of the world. 



But Frederick was not continually at war previously 

 to the peace of 1763; nor was he engaged in any very 

 serious or extensive hostilities after this date. He enjoy- 

 ed, accordingly, many intervals and many years of tran- 

 quillity and repose. And he did not dedicate these pe- 

 riods to the indulgence of luxurious indolence or sensual 

 gratifications. On the contrary, every moment of his 

 time was spent in promoting the true interests and wel- 

 fare of his subjects. He was occupied in adopting mea- 

 sures for the prosperity of commerce, agriculture, 

 manufactures, literature, and the arts ; he founded 

 academies and seminaries of learning ; he invited learn- 

 ed men from every country in Europe to settle in his 

 dominions, though it has been remarked that he treat- 

 ed them rather as a regiment of soldiers, than as phi- 

 losophers, and endeavoured to regulate matters of 

 taste and literature by regal legislation; he cleared 

 wastelands; constructed canals ; rebuilt and repaired 

 the cities that had been desolated by the enemy; reward- 

 ed men of merit in every department of enterprise; and in 



short spared no time, expence, or labour, in promoting Prussia, 

 the internal resources and improvement of his kingdom. 

 One of his chief objects was, a reform in the courts of 

 justice, which he effected, chiefly as far as regards the 

 delay and expence of law proceedings; and in 1746, 

 he published the famous Frederician Code, which was 

 adopted throughout the kingdom, and which being the 

 result of one reign, and of the wisdom of one individual, 

 commands our applause and admiration. But the rul- 

 ing passion of his life was war, and the perfection of 

 his army, in both which departments he has been de- 

 nominated an inventor. His army amounted to 

 200,000 men in 1763, even after the sanguinary and 

 lengthened warfare in which he had been engaged. 

 He carried discipline among his troops to a degree of 

 rigour and severity unknown in Europe till his time, 

 but of which experience has shown the propriety and 

 necessity. 



Nor, amid all his avocations, did he lay aside his 

 early attachment to letters and to study. For this pur- 

 pose, indeed, he devoted in times of peace a portion of 

 every day. And he is the author of various works of 

 such merit, that the influence of his high rank was not 

 necessary to introduce them to the world. Some of 

 them would do honour to men whose sole profession 

 was literature. An account of his literary character 

 may be found under the article FREDERICK III. : but 

 we may mention here, that his chief works are, Me- 

 moirs of the House of Brandenburg ; Memoirs of hii 

 own Time, from the year 1740 to the peace of Dresden; 

 A History of the War of Seven Years. His Poem on 

 the Art of War, published at first separately, is now 

 printed with other poems and epistles, in a volume 

 entitled (Eitvres Melee du Philosophe de Sans SoucL * 



But the king of Prussia, not otherwise engaged in 

 war after the peace of 1763, co-operated with Russia 

 in the invasion and destruction of Poland, and found 

 means to obtain a share of that kingdom when it 

 was dismembered. This event was first contemplated 

 and suggested by Frederick; but carried into effect 

 chiefly by the exertion of the Russian monarch. Aus- 

 tria took almost no active part in the hostilities which 

 led to it, yet shared liberally in the partitions that en- 

 sued. The result of three successive partitions was as 

 follows : 



To Russia, 

 To Austria, 

 To Prussia, 



Square miles. 

 168,000 

 64,000 

 52,000 



284,000 



Population. 

 6,700,000 

 4,800,000 

 3,500,000 



15,000,000 



Prussia had to deliver up a considerable portion of 

 her Polish acquisitions in 1807; but by the treaty of 

 Vienna in 1815, she is guaranteed in the possession of 

 29,000 square miles, with a population of 1,800,000. 



Frederick, who died in 1786, at the age of 75, was Frederick 

 succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II. This William II. 

 prince, on his accession, found himself possessed of the 

 finest army in the world, of subjects enthusiastically 

 attached to his person and government, and of a trea- 



was introduced into Silesia in the ninth century. It afterwards became tributary to Poland, and subsequently to Bohemia. It was an- 

 nexed with Bohemia to the house of Austria early in the sixteenth century, and continued till the invasion of Frederick as above stated. 

 By a treaty of peace in 1745, Frederick was secured in the possession of Silesia, and though in 1756, Austria, with the combined assist- 

 ance of France, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden, endeavoured to regain it, yet by the peace of 1763 it was again guaranteed to Prussia. In 

 1807 it was overrun by the French, but finally made over to Prussia by the congress of Vienna in 1815. 

 * Sans Souci was the palace he usually resided in, about a mile from Potsdam. 



