82 



Among the mortgagees, the King of Prussia and 

 some of his monied subjects are by far the greatest, 

 in that part of Poland which was included in his 

 dominions, till Poland was erected into a Grand 

 Duchy by Buonaparte, under the government of the 

 King of Saxony. It had long been the practice of 

 the Court of Berlin to assist agriculture, by loans to 

 the proprietors of estates. This practice began under 

 Frederick the Great, and was continued to the dis- 

 astrous period that followed the battle of Jena. This 

 assistance was extensively afforded to the newly 

 acquired subjects of the part of Poland, which, in the 

 division of that unfortunate country, fell to the share 

 of Prussia. Though the King of Prussia has lost 

 the government, his claims, and those of his subjects, 

 on the individuals indebted to them, have been re- 

 cognized ; and though in many instances the interest 

 has gone on increasing, the claims have not been 

 rigidly enforced. It was rumoured in Warsaw, but 

 not on any authority, that the Emperor Alexander, 

 in his character of King of Poland, was negociating 

 a treaty with the Court of Berlin, which had for its 

 object the relief of the Poles, by purchasing the claims 

 of the Prussians and assuming the debts to himself. 



The amount of the claims of Prussia was stated to 

 me to be two millions of Prussian dollars, or three 

 hundred thousand pounds sterling, secured on various 

 estates extending over near fifteen hundred thousand 

 acres. 



A more numerous class of mortgagees comprises 

 the corporations of cities and towns, the trustees 

 of hospitals, schools, colleges, monasteries, convents, 

 and charitable institutions. Whatever capitals these 

 may possess is lent on land ; and the difficulty of 

 obtaining the interest as it accrues, and, in some 

 instances, of getting any, causes those establishments 

 to languish, and decrease in their capacity to relieve 

 distress. 



