THWAETED PLANS. 211 



CHAPTER V. 



THWAETED PLANS, AND THEIR ULTIMATE 

 ACCOMPLISHMENT. 



State of Prussia in 1797 Visit to Jena Dresden Vienna Salzburg 

 Paris Journey to Marseilles Marseilles and Toulon Wanderings in 

 Spain Madrid Corunna. 



FOR some years prior to the death of Frau von Humboldt, the 

 evils resulting from the misgovernment of the Prussian , States 

 had been gradually approaching a climax. In the political 

 coalition against France, the country had been sold for the 

 sake of the subsidy alternately to England and Austria, and with- 

 out keeping faith with either, the money thus acquired had 

 been lavishly spent. By the treaty of Basle the limits of 

 France had been extended as far as the Ehine, while the parti- 

 tion of Poland had brought the boundaries of Eussia to the 

 banks of the Vistula. Hedged in between the two, Prussia 

 rushed on without restraint towards the catastrophe of Jena. 



While the perpetual need of money produced severity, in- 

 justice, and selfishness in the home government, the rich 

 possessions acquired by the secularisation of church property 

 in Westphalia, the annexation of Franconia, and the confisca- 

 tions in the recently annexed Polish provinces, were wasted on 

 the most unworthy creatures of the Government. Notwith- 

 standing the severity of discipline, the State officials had become 

 contaminated by the evils of foreign administration, while a 

 succession of inglorious wars had completely demoralised the 

 army. Under theological despotism, the poisonous weeds of 

 official piety and hypocrisy grew rampant, and the heads of 

 orthodoxy, by means of lawsuits and the censorship of the press, 

 checked the expression of opinion and hunted down every 



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