No More Learning

The son of the Elector, the first King, did not
impress himself upon the history of the time ; while
the service of the grandson, Frederick William I,
was rendered in the form of saving up the re-
sources in men and in money which were to be
utilized so effectively by his son Frederick II,
known as Frederick the Great.
The Confessions of Frederick were brought into
t print in an English edition in the latter part of the
^ eighteenth century, shortly after the death of the
King. In the frank obliviousness of any moral
responsibility for human, or at least for royal,
action, they recall the famous letters written by
* Lord Chesterfield for the guidance of his godson.
There is, of course, a wide difference between
the subjects considered by the two writers. The
Englishman is giving counsel, based upon his own
\ experience, for the success of his godson in social
and political life, while the Prussian is impressing
upon the young man who is to succeed him in the
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? X Foreword
control of the kingdom the principles and the
policies by which such kingdom should be main-
tained and developed. The letters are, however,
curiously similar in their frank -- one may say
their naive -- disregard of moral principle as hav-
ing anything to do either with the Ufe of an
English courtier or with the work of a Prussian
King.
With this utterance of King Frederick has been
associated a biographical and critical study written
by the historian Treitschke, who made himself the
exponent of the HohenzoUern spirit. From these
two works, so different in purpose and in character,
the reader is able to secure a distinct and fairly
complete picture of the nature, the methods, and
the policy of Frederick the Great. He secures
further an indication of the principles upon which
Frederick's successor, William II, appears to have
planned the policy of Germany with the purpose of
shaping the destinies of Europe. In his Confes-
sions, Frederick remarks that
it is not to eminence in virtues that our family owes
its aggrandizement. The greater part of our princes
have been rather remarkable for misconduct, but it
was chance and circumstances that have been of
service.
He complains that
his kingdom is not well situated and that the different
portions of the territory are not well arranged to each
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? Foreword xi
other. They are dispersed or divided in such manner
that they cannot mutually assist each other.
The series of wars waged by Frederick had for
their purpose the correction of this troublesome
irregularity of boundary; and he succeeded,
through the appropriation from his neighbours of
the pieces of territory needed, in rounding out the
dominions of Prussia.
The principles set forth by Frederick for the
guidance of his nephew in the development of the
Prussian realm, principles based upon the King's
own experience, are affirmed in substance one
hundred and fifty years later, in their philosophic
relation, by Nietzsche, Says Nietzsche:
A good war will sanctify any cause. . . . Active
sympathy for the weak is more dangerous to the
human race than any crime. . . . At the bottom of
all distinguished races, the beast of prey is not to be
mistaken. To demand of strength that it should not
assert itself as strength, that it should not be a will
to oppression, a will to destruction, a will to domina-
tion, that it should not be athirst for foes and opposi-
tion and triumph, is precisely as senseless as to demand
of weakness that it assert itself as strength.
A writer in a recent number of the Unpopular
Review points out that Frederick was no hypocrite.
There never was a straighter monarch. He merely
had the Prussian conscience. His suspicions of for-
eign powers are facts to be acted on, and he feels
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? xii Foreword
that an act which in a foreign nation is that of a cut-
throat is, when done in the behoof of Prussia, not only
justified, but holy.
(We may compare with this the "scrap of
paper," and the havoc wrought in Belgium for
holy ends. )
The article in the Review says further:
This kind of conscience is general in grim, martial,
partially civilized nations which have been forged
tough in the struggle for existence. Such peoples
trust to their suspicions and their hates and they
readily justify their own worst aggressions as simple
anticipatory measures of self-defence. If such a na-
tion can acquire the inventions and the resources of
civilization without permitting civilization to abate
these suspicions and hates, or impair the conviction
that the nation can do no harm, such a nation will be
more formidable in arms than any truly civilized
state can hope to be.
Frederick tells his nephew that "religion is
absolutely necessary in the state," but goes on to
say that "it would not be wise in a King to have
any religion himself . . . . "
There is nothing [he says] that tyrannizes more
over the head and heart than religion, because it
neither agrees with our passions nor with those great
political views by which a monarch ought to be
guided. The true religion of a prince is his interest
and his glory.
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? Foreword xiii
Under the heading of "Justice," Frederick
emphasizes with his nephew that,
we must do justice to all men, and especially to our
own subjects when so doing would not overset or
interfere with our own rights or wound our own
authority. There ought to be no sort of equality
between the right of the monarch and the right of the
subject or slave.
Under the heading of "Pohtics," he expresses
the opinion that,
to cheat or to deceive one's fellow-creatures is a mean
and criminal action. . . . The term that has been in-
vented to describe such action is Politics. . . . I under-
stand by this, dear nephew, that we are ever to try to
cheat others. This is the way to secure the advantage,
or, at least, to be on a footing with the rest of man-
kind; for you may rest persuaded that all the states
of the world run the same career. . . . Never be
ashamed of making alliances, but do not commit the
stupid fault of not abandoning these alliances when-
ever it is to your interest so to do. . . . Stripping
your neighbours is only to take away from them the
means of doing an injury to yourself.
In a later chapter on what might be called
"Applied Politics, " the King tells the nephew that
he "will not trouble him with" a demonstration of
the validity of the pretensions under which Silesia
had been seized, but that he had "taken care to
have these duly estabHshed by his orators. " "It
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? xiv Foreword
is good policy," continues Frederick, "to be
always attempting something, and in any case to
be perfectly persuaded that we have a right to
everything that suits us. " "To form alliances for
one's advantage is a great maxim of state, and
there are no powers that can excuse themselves
for a neglect of this. . . . " It is evident, however,
that "an alliance should be broken as soon as it
becomes prejudicial. I have already, my dear
nephew, told you that politics and villainy are
almost synonymous terms. " This is quite in Hne
with the teachings of Chesterfield.
When a stranger comes to your court, overwhelm
him with civilities, and take pains to have him con-
stantly near you. . . . This is the best way to keep
concealed from him the defects of your government.
One would suppose that in this counsel Frederick
was foreshadowing the ingenious plan of his suc-
cessor William II for the establishment of exchange
professorships.
Under the heading of "Military Counsel,"
in his account of the management of his army
Frederick says:
I ascertained who in the army were regular bandits.
. . . I closed my eyes to the oppressions committed
by the general officers. . . . They work for me in
working for themselves.
Visitors to Germany have been impressed, and
particularly since 1871, with the general recogni-
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? Foreword xv
tion insisted upon by the military authorities, and
accepted by the populace at large, of the superior-
ity of the profession of arms. It is the belief of
not a few friends of Germany that the dominating
manner which actuates the army officers, and
particularly those of Prussia, is not merely an
annoyance to the civilians, but has proved a very
bad training for the officers themselves, but this
right to dominate has been insisted upon consist-
ently in a long series of utterances of William II.
In like manner Frederick says, "Always confer an
air of superiority on the profession of arms. "
A century and a half later, Nietzsche writes:
" The future of German civilization rests on the
sons of the Prussian officers. " It is because this
principle was accepted by Frederick and has been
developed by Frederick's successors, that the word
has gone forth to Germany and the world that
the German officer was something sacrosanct, and
that for the safety and the development of the
state he must be permitted to dominate the
civilian. He was to be accepted as an awe-inspir-
ing representative of the Kaiser. Any temporary
annoyance to the civilian population was to be
fully atoned for later by the glorious success of
''the Day. "
The Confessions close with a chapter having to
do with "Finance," in which Frederick places
before his nephew with considerable detail his
principles of taxation and the methods under which
he managed the resources of the realm. It is
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? xvi Foreword
evident from a study of these tables that the King
was a wonderful organizer, and a good man of
business. One may judge that he was a difficult
bargainer to get the better of or to impose upon.
It is probable that for the purpose of building
up the realm of Prussia, a better instructor than
Frederick could not have been found. It may be
questioned to-day, however, whether the principles
and policies which have been handed down to his
successors by this the greatest of the Hohen-
zoUerns may not in the end prove disastrous to
Germany.
Macaulay, analyzing the successive wars of
annexation of Frederick, says that "his selfish
rapacity gave the signal to his neighbours. . . .
His example quieted their sense of shame. " The
historian proceeds :
On the head of Frederick is to be placed all the
blood which was shed in a war that raged during many
years and in every quarter of the globe. . . . The
evil produced by his wickedness was felt in lands where
the name of Prussia was unknown; and in order that
Frederick might rob a neighbour whom he had sworn
to defend, black men fought on the coast of Coro-
mandel and red men scalped each other by the Great
Lakes of North America.
The historian Treitschke on the other hand
finds Frederick a hero after his own heart. He
takes the same actions that had formed the text
for Macaulay's excoriation and describes these in
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? Foreword xvii
such manner as to show that in his judgment they
were necessary for the development of Prussia and
of Germany, and for the proper carrying out of the
destiny of the HohenzoUerns. Says Treitschke:
Since the days of Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the
Midnight Sun, Germany had had no picture of a hero
to whom the entire nation could look up with awe. . . .
Frederick strode through the middle of the Great
Powers and forced the Germans to believe again in
the wonder of heroism. . . . He was a German, and
the mainspring in this mighty nature is the ruthless,
terrible German directness.
The historian remarks that
not without arbitrariness Frederick arranged the facts
of history according to a one-sided view, but one-
sidedness, turned towards life and light, is, after all,
the privilege of the creative genius. . . .
And again :
Frederick recognized that it had become a necessity
to enlarge the territory of his state . . . and his policy
was to lift the new German state into expansion and
power through the frightfulness of its weapons.
It may be noted that this term "frightfulness" has
been utilized to-day in the instructions given to the
generals who are occupying conquered territories
in Belgium and in eastern France, as necessary
for the terrorizing of the people.
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? xviii Foreword
Treitschke finds no ground for criticizing his
hero "because no treaty or league could make him
resign the right of deciding for himself, " that is to
say, of selecting his own time for the breaking of
his obligation. The historian points out, and with
truth, that as early as 1756 Frederick had recog-
nized that the continuing issue in Germany was
whether it was to accept the supremacy of Prussia
or of Austria. The question was decided for Ger-
many a century later at Koniggratz by William I,
Bismarck, and Moltke. The soldier, reading the
account of the campaigns of the Seven Years'
War, cannot withhold a full measure of admiration
for the pluck, the persistence, the patience, and the
genius which carried the little army intact through
defeats, and through victories which were hardly
less exhausting than defeats, and which saved the
existence of the little kingdom; but the courage of
the troops and the genius of their leader had, of
course, nothing whatsoever to do with the morality
of the cause for which they were fighting, a cause
which for the larger portion of all the campaigns
of Frederick was simply the appropriation of the
territory of his neighbour.
Treitschke writes in reference to the "educa-
tional power of war" that the "alert self-reliance
of the Prussians contrasted strongly with the in-
offensive kindly modesty of the other Germans. "
The quality that Treitschke terms "self-reliance"
has in later years been described by those less
sympathetic with the Prussian spirit as self-
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? Foreword xix
sufficiency or dominating arrogance. The truth
of either definition depends, of course, upon the
point of view.
Treitschke says, naively,
that there then dawned upon Frederick the idea of the
partition of Poland. It was his purpose to combat
the grabbing land-greed of Russia. . . . The Poles
were, in any case, deserving of no sympathy, for [says
Treitschke] they were distinguished above all the na-
tions of Europe by an insolent disregard of the rights
and the nationalities of others.
In Treitschke's reference to the organization
given by Frederick to his army, he refers to the
decision to place the officers' commissions ex-
clusively in the hands of the nobility. He goes on
to say:
In the noble officers' corps there arose an aristocratic
arrogance (Junkersinn) , which soon became more
intolerable to the people than the coarse roughness of
earlier times.
It is the belief of many that this characteristic
of the corps of noble Prussian officers is stronger
and more troublesome in the twentieth century
than it was in the eighteenth.
Treitschke writes with full approval of Freder-
ick's upholding of Christian toleration. He cites
this as an old Prussian policy, and quotes Freder-
ick's own words, " the people's conceptions of God
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? XX Foreword
and godly things cannot be made subject to a
coercive law. "
The defenders of the war policy of Germany of
to-day contend that undue weight has been given
to the utterances of the historian Treitschke, of the
military scientist Bernhardi, and of the philosopher
Nietzsche. When, however, it is possible to make
clear that the germ of the teachings of historian,
philosopher, and militarist is to be found in the
recorded utterances of the greatest of the Hohen-
zoUems, and when the HohenzoUem of to-day
says frankly that he is doing what he can to carry
out the ideals of the King who made Prussia a
European power, it is not inaccurate to contend
that the spirit and principles of Frederick, Treitsch-
ke, Nietzsche, and Bernhardi are expressed by
the policies and enforced by the military power of
William II.
Frederick did not dread the antagonism of his
neighbours and had no fear of their criticism. He
was prepared to realize that he could hardly expect
friendliness of feeling from the states whose terri-
tory had been despoiled to make Prussia greater.
The defenders of the policy of Kaiser William II
point out that Germany is surrounded by a "steel
ring of enemies," states which are opposed to her
natural development. Every nation is, of neces-
sity, in touch with neighbouring nations; and
whether these nations are to hold one of their
neighbours in friendship or in enmity depends, of
course, largely, if not chiefly, upon her own
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? Foreword xxi
conduct and upon her observance in international
relations of the principles of justice or of fair
consideration. It is difficult to imagine that
Germany should expect sympathetic friendship
from Denmark (one third of whose territory had
been snatched from her in 1864), or from France
after the appropriation of Alsace-Lorraine and the
institution in old French Lorraine of the great
fortress of Metz threatening as it were with a
mailed fist the heart of France. If Germany
succeeds in the present struggle so that the
annexation of Belgium as a province of the
Empire {Reichsland) may be confirmed, it is
hardly to be expected that for generations to
come the Belgians, devastated by ruthless in-
vasion and by the official burning of their cities,
left in starvation through the appropriation of
their food supplies, and crushed with heavy
indemnities, some of which were imposed even
after the territory had in form become a part
of the German Empire, can regard with affec-
tion or with a feeling of loyal relation, their new
rulers.
The reign of Frederick is a great example of
the results of doctrines of efficiency carried to
the nth. power without scruples or limitations, or
consideration for the rights of others. It is this
Hohenzollern ideal of efficiency which has pro-
duced the finest fighting machine that the world
has ever seen, and which has placed back of that
machine the magnificently organized resources of
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? xxii Foreword
a great Empire. It is for Europe to decide
whether it will permit itself to be dominated by
the ideals, the policy, and the methods of the
Hohenzollerns
Geo. Haven Putnam.
New York, January, 191 5.
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? CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword . . . . . . . iii
Preface . . . . . . . xix
Introduction i
Morning the First:
ORIGIN OF our family . . . . 35
the situation of my kingdom . . . 37
OF the soil of my TERRITORIES . . 38
of the manners of the inhabitants , 38
Morning the Second:
ON religion . . . . . . 40
Morning the Third:
on justice . . . . -49
Morning the Fourth:
ON politics 54
on private politics . . . . 55
on literature . . . . . 59
conduct in the smaller matters of life 61
as to dress . . . . . . 62
as to pleasures 63
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? xxiv Contents
PAGE
Morning the Fifth:
on politics of the state . . . 66
principle the first -- of self-preserva-
tion and aggrandizement , . 66
principle the second -- on alliances . 69
principle the third -- of inspiring
respect and fear . . . -71
Morning the Sixth:
military 74
Morning the Seventh:
concerning finance . . . . 93
the memorial of the council . . 94
subsidies . . . . . . 98
memorandum . . . . . 99
the reply of the province of magde-
BURG lOI
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BURGOMASTERS OF
MAGDEBURG IO3
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BURGOMASTERS OF
VILLAGES . . . . . . 105
METHOD OF WORKING . . . , IO6
MEMORANDUM SENT TO THE PROVINCE OF
MINDEN . . . . . . 107
TOBACCO . . . . . . 108
FORESTRY . . . . . . IO9
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? Contents xxv
PAGE
PROVINCE OF MINDEN -- REPORT SENT TO
THE COUNCIL BY THE SURVEYOR . . IIO
MEMORANDUM OF THE POSTAL SERVICE TO
THE KING . . . . . ? ir4
POST-HOUSES 115
STAMP OFFICE AND REGISTRATION OF DEEDS 1 1 7
CUSTOMS-DUTY ON FOREIGN GOODS . . II9
OCTROI DUTIES IN THE TOWNS . . 120
ARMY 123
Life of Frederick the Great . . . 129
By Heinrich von Treitschke
? ?