reality, the only place where the fine arts inspired a national interest, which served for a bond of fraternal union among different ranks of society. A liberal court habitually sought the acquaintance of men of letters; and literature gained considerably in the influence of good taste which presided there. A judgment might be formed, from this little circle, of the good effect which might be produced throughout Germany by such mixture, if generally adopted.

CHAPTER XVI.

PRUSSIA.

In order to be acquainted with Prussia, you must study the character of Frederick II. A man created this empire which nature had not favored, which became a power only because a warrior was its master. In Frederick the Second there are two very distinct persons -a German by nature, and a Frenchman by education. All that the German did in a German kingdom has left durable traces; all that the Frenchman attempted has failed of producing fruit.

Frederick the Second was fashioned by the French philosophy of the eighteenth century; this philosophy does injury to nations, when it dries up in them the source of enthusiasm; but where there exists such a thing as an absolute monarch, it is to be wished that liberal principles may temper in him the action of despotism. Frederick introduced into the north of Germany the liberty of thinking; the Reformation had already introduced there the spirit of inquiry, though not of toleration; and, by a singular contradiction, inquiry was only permitted in imperiously prescribing, by anticipation, the result of that inquiry. Frederick caused to be held in honor the liberty of speaking and writing, not only by means of those poignant and witty pleasantries, which have so much effect on men wher ⚫roceeding from the lips of a king; but also, still more power

fully, by his example; for he never punished those who libelled him, whether in speech or by publication, and he displayed in almost all his actions the philosophy whose spirit he professed. He established an order and an economy in the administration which have constituted the internal strength of Prussia, in spite of all its natural disadvantages. There was never a king who displayed so much simplicity in his private life, and even in his court: he thought himself bound to spare as much as possible the wealth of his subjects. He entertained on all subjects a feeling of justice, which the misfortunes of his youth and the severity of his father had engraved on his heart. This feeling is perhaps the most rare of all a conqueror's virtues; for they in general would rather be esteemed generous than just, because justice supposes some sort of equal relation with others.

Frederick had rendered the courts of justice so independent, that, during his whole life, and under the reign of his successors, they have been often seen to decide in favor of the subject against the sovereign, in suits relating to political interests. It is true that it would be almost impossible to introduce injustice into a German tribunal. The Germans are well enough disposed to make themselves systems for abandoning politics to arbitrary power; but in questions of jurisprudence or administration, you cannot get into their heads any principles but those of justice. Their very spirit of method, to say nothing of their uprightness of heart, secures equity by the establishment of order in all things. Nevertheless, Frederick deserves praise. for his integrity in the internal government of his country; and this is one of his best titles to the admiration of posterity.

Frederick did not possess a feeling heart, but he had goodness of disposition; and qualities of a universal nature are those which are most suitable to sovereigns. Nevertheless, his goodness of Frederick's was as dangerous as that of the lion, and one felt the talon of power in the midst of the most amiable grace and coquetry of spirit. Men of independent characters could, with difficulty, submit themselves to the freedom which this master fancied he gave them, to the familiarity which he imagined that he permitted them; and, even in their

admiration of him, they felt that they breathed more freely at a distance.

Frederick's greatest misfortune was, that he had not sufficient respect for religion or morals. His tastes were cynical. Notwithstanding the love of glory had given an elevation to his ideas, his licentious mode of expressing himself on the most sacred subjects was the cause that his very virtues failed of inspiring confidence; they were felt and approved, yet they were believed to be the virtues of calculation. Every thing in Frederick appeared necessarily to imply a political tendency; thus, the good that he did ameliorated the state of the country, but did not improve the morality of the nation. He affected unbelief, and made a mockery of female virtue; and nothing was so un suitable to the German character as this manner of thinking. Frederick, in setting his subjects free from what he called their prejudices, extinguished in them the spirit of patriotism; for, to attach inhabitants to countries naturally gloomy and barren, they must be governed by opinions and principles of great severity. In those sandy regions, where the earth produces nothing but firs and heaths, man's strength consists in his soul; and if you take from him that which constitutes the life of this soul, his religious feelings, he will no longer feel any thing but disgust for his melancholy country.

Frederick's inclination for war may be excused by great political motives. His kingdom, such as he received it from his father, could not have held together; and it was almost for its preservation that he aggrandized it. He had two millions and a half of subjects when he ascended the throne, and left six millions at his death.

The need he had of an army prevented him from encouraging in the nation a public spirit of imposing energy and unity. The government of Frederick was founded on military strength and civil justice: he reconciled them to each other by his wisdom; but it was difficult to combine two spirits of a nature so opposite. Frederick wished his soldiers to be mere military machines, blindly actuated, and his subjects to be enlightened citizens, capable of patriotism. He did not establish

in the towns of Prussia secondary authorities, municipalities such as existed in the rest of Germany, lest the immediate action of the military service might be impeded by them; and yet he wished that there should be enough of the spirit of liberty in his empire to make obedience appear voluntary. He wished the military state to be the first of all, since it was that which was most necessary to him; but he would have desired that the civil state might support itself collaterally with the military. Frederick, in short, desired to meet everywhere with supports, and to encounter obstacles nowhere.

The wonderful amalgamation of all classes of society is hardly to be obtained but through the influence of a system of laws the same for all. A man may combine opposite elements, so as to make them proceed together in the same direction, "but at his death they are disunited." The ascendency obtained by Frederick, and supported by the wisdom of his successors, was still manifested for a time; but in Prussia there were always to be perceived two distinct nations, badly united together to form an entire one; the army, and the civil state. The prejudices of nobility subsisted at the same time with liberal opinions of the most decided stamp. In short, the figure of Prussia presented itself, like that of Janus, under a double face—the one military, the other philosophical.

One of the greatest errors committed by Frederick, was that of lending himself to the partition of Poland. Silesia had been acquired by the force of arms; Poland was a Machiavelian conquest, "and it could never be hoped that subjects, so got by slight of hand, would be faithful to the juggler who called himself their sovereign.' Besides, the Germans and Sclavonians can never be united by indissoluble ties; and, when a nation admits alien enemies into its bosom, as natural subjects, she does herself almost as much injury as in receiving them for masters; for the political body then no longer retains that bond of union, which personifies the State, and constitutes patriotic sentiment.

1 Suppressed by the censors.

2 ibid..

These observations respecting Prussia, all bear upon the means which she possessed of maintaining and defending her self; for there was nothing in her internal government that was prejudicial to her independence, or her security; in no country of Europe was knowledge held in higher honor, in none was liberty, at least in fact, if not by law, more scrupulously respected. I did not meet, throughout Prussia, with any individual that complained of arbitrary acts in the government, and yet there would not have been the least danger in complaining of them; but when, in a social state, happiness itself is only what may be called a fortunate accident, when it is not founded on durable institutions which secure to the human race its force and its dignity, patriotism has little perseverance, and men easily abandon to chance the advantages which are believed to be owing to chance alone. Frederick II, one of the noblest gifts of that chance which seemed to watch over the destiny of Prussia, had known how to make himself sincerely beloved in his country; and, since he is no more, they still cherish his memory as if he were still alive. The fate of Prussia, however, has but too well taught us what is the real influence even of a great man, who, during his reign, has not disinterestedly labored to make his country independent of his personal services: the entire nation confidently relied on its sovereign for its very principle of existence, and it seemed as if that nation itself must come to an end with him.

Frederick II would have wished to confine all the literature of his dominions to French literature. He set no value on that of Germany. Doubtless it was, during his time, by many degrees short of having attained its present distinction; yet a German prince ought to encourage every thing German. Frederick formed the project of rendering Berlin in some respects similar to Paris, and flattered himself with having found among the French refugees some writers sufficiently distinguished to create a French world of literature. Such a hope was necessarily to be deceived; factitious culture never prospers; some individuals may struggle against the difficulties of nature, but the mass always follows the bent she gives them.