PRUSSIA. 49? 



After the last division of Poland, and before the'treaty of Tilsit, the 

 revenue was annually about 30,000,000 of dollars. In 1808 it amount- 

 ed to but 13,150,000 dollars. 



This revenue arises from the contributions, domains, salt-works, 

 excise, posts, tolls, and various taxes and duties. The duty on amber 

 alone is said to produce above 26,000 dollars annually. 



Notwithstanding his numerous army, and other state expenses, 

 Frederic II had no national debt, but on the contrary in the last years 

 of his reign, expended annually, in the improvement of his dominions, 

 to the amount of §2,330,000; and between the years 1763 and 1784 

 1 5,555,000 dollars. 



In 1809 the national debt amounted to 25,920,000 dollars. 



Army. ...The Prussian army, even in time of peace, consisted for- 

 merly of about 220,000, including 40,000 cavalry, of the best disciplin- 

 ed troops in the world ; and during the seven year's war, that force 

 was augmented to 300,000 men. But so great a military force, how- 

 ever it may aggrandise the power and importance of the king, is 

 utterly inconsistent with the interest of the people. The army is 

 chiefly composed of provincial regiments ; the whole Prussian domi- 

 nions being divided into circles or cantons ; in each of which, one or 

 more regiments, in proportion to the size and population of the divi- 

 sion, have been originally raised, and from it the recruits continue 

 to be taken : and each particular regiment is always quartered, in, 

 time of peace, near the canton from which its recruits are drawn* 

 Whatever number of sons a peasant may have, they are all liable ta 

 be taken into the service, except one, who is left to assist in the 

 management of the farm. The rest wear badges from their child- 

 hood, to mark that they are destined to be soldiers, and obliged to 

 enter into the service whenever they are called upon. The main- 

 taining so large an army, in a country naturally so little equal to itj 

 occasioned, however, such a drain from population, and such a with- 

 drawing of strength from the labours of the earth, that Frederic II, 

 endeavoured in some degree to save his own peasantry, by drawing as 

 many recruits as he could from other countries. These foreign 

 recruits remain continually with the regiments in which they are 

 placed ; but the native Prussians have every year some months of 

 furlough, during which they return to the houses of their fathers of 

 brothers, and work at the business of the farm, or in any other way 

 they please. 



The Prussian army was, after the treaty of Tilsit, very much 

 reduced ; not consisting, in 1808, of more than 80,000 men. When 

 Prussia joined the coalition against France, in 1813, she was not able 

 to bring above 70,000 troops into the field, until her treasury had been 

 replenished by Great Britain. At the close of the war her army con- 

 sisted of 100,000 men. 



Arms. ...The royal arms of Prussia are, argent, an eagle displayed 

 sable, crowned or, for Prussia. Azure, the imperial sceptre or, for 

 Courland. Argent, an eagle displayed gules, with semicircular 

 wreaths, for the marquisate of Brandenburg. To these are added 

 the respective arms of the several provinces subject to the. Prussian 

 crown. 



Orders of KNiGHTHooD—There are six orders of knighthood: the 

 " Order of Concord," was instituted by Christian Ernest, margrave of 

 Brandenburg, in the year 1660, to distinguish the part he had acted 

 in restoring peace to many of the princes of Europe. Frederic IIX 5 



Vol. I. 3 S- 



