By degrees luxury
has increased, and money has become more plentiful,
so that it has become really expedient to manufacture
these same goods in the country.
has increased, and money has become more plentiful,
so that it has become really expedient to manufacture
these same goods in the country.
Treitschke - 1915 - Confessions of Frederick the Great
50,000
Consequently there remains for the farmers 200,000
Through the enquiries which we have made,
we know that the Tax-Farmers disburse on the 200,000
^ The arithmetic is again unintelligible.
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? io8 The Confessions of
(i) For the production of a million livres.
pounds of Salt at i sou the pound 75,ooo
(2) Interest on advances both for the
75,000 livres and for the 50,000 livres
given to the King, about 6,800
(3) Expenses of Distribution at I sou
per pound 50,000
131,800
Leaving for the Tax-Farmers 68,000
It is this 68,200 livres which the King proposes to
divide with you and your Province, by giving the
dealer for right of sale the 50,000 livres which it costs
the Tax-Farmers in salaries for distribution of this
commodity in your Province. We imagine that your
dealers will be well satisfied.
Tobacco
sous.
We allow our tax-farmers to sell tobacco to the public
at the rate per pound of 45
It costs them the following: --
sous.
(i) Payment to Your Majesty 10
(2) Purchase in leaf 12
(3) Carriage 2
(4) Manufacture 3
(5) Packing (or making up) and waste 2
(6) Extraordinary expense and interest on ad-
vances 3
(7) Wages and expense of distribution 4
- 36
There consequently remains as net gain to the tax-
farmers on every pound 9
According to the total of the past year, this con-
sumption has amounted to eight million pounds.
Thus, our Tax-farmers have made 3,600,000 livres.
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? Frederick the Great 109
In order to secure for ourselves a portion of these
profits, we are establishing a General Depot in each
Province, to which the Tobacco is brought in the first
instance in leaf, to be then manufactured, and finally
sold at a fixed price to whoever wants it.
According to the calculation we have ourselves
made, based upon that of the Farmers-General, each
sous,
pound should cost us not more than 20
(1) For the purchase in leaf 12
(2) Carriage i
(3) Manufacture 3
(4) Packing and waste 2
(5) Interest and advances , 2
-- 20
We shall sell it to the public at 35
Consequently, we shall gain 15
which makes a gain of 2,000,000 livres for us.
There remains 10 sous, which will be re-absorbed in
commerce, and which will be shared, naturally, be-
tween the public and the dealer, for the latter will
certainly be content to make four or five sous per
pound.
Forestry
livres.
This Department is farmed for 2,500,000
Upon this sum we pay 800,000
to an endless number of officials, created formerly for
the purpose of keeping order, exclusive of the cost of
their oflficial reports, which are made at our expense,
and which amount to more than 400,000 livres per
annum.
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? no The Confessions of
livres.
Therefore, from the sum of 2,500,000
we must deduct 1,200,000
Consequently there only remains to
ourselves i ,300,000
In order thoroughly to understand the value of this
source of revenue, we have sent Surveyors into each
Province, who have drawn plans of all our forests, have
produced specimens of them, have analysed the quali-
ties of the woods, have noted the price of each, and
have observed the best method of selling them.
One can judge by the Report on one of our Pro-
vinces the result of their investigations throughout
the Kingdom.
Province of Minden
Report Sent to the Council by the Surveyor
There are in this Province 8,000 acres of Wood.
These 8,000 acres consist of three forests, to wit : --
acres.
That of 4,000
That of. 2,000
And that of 2,000
The forest of is composed of ,
2,000 acres of firs
1,000 " " oaks
and 1,000 " " beeches.
Its situation, close to the Weser, enables all the wood
to be sold at a reasonable price, to wit : --
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? Frederick the Great iii
livres.
That of Firs, which are cut down every
sixty years, at 800 per acre.
That of Oaks, which may be cut down
every twenty years, at 150 "
That of Beech, which one may cut down
at the same periods, at 180 "
According to my calculations, cutting so regulated,
will bring in : --
livres.
Firs, about 33! acres at 800 Hvres, the sum of 26,666
Oaks, about 50 acres, at 150 livres 7, 500
Beech, about 50 acres, at 180 livres 9,000
Total per annum 43, 166
The Forest of . . . is composed of 2,000 acres,
to wit: --
acres.
Oaks 1,400
Beech 200
Chestnuts 200
And White Wood 200
This Forest is not well situated, because there are
no large rivers or big towns in the neighbourhood,
thus I don't cut the wood for sale, but to make the
following use of it : --
Every year I take 24 acres of Oaks, which I have
made into planks,'^ and I find that after deducting
all expenses each acre brings in 250 livres, making a
total of 6,000 livres.
' Or stave- wood -- merrain in the dictionary.
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? 112 The Confessions of
Uvres.
Carried forward 6,000
Then I take 13I acres of beech and of white wood,
because I have divided the 400 into thirty parts, and I
make a Hme-kiln, provided I find in the forest itself the
right kind of material for this purpose. By the sale of
the lime I find that each acre is worth, less expenses, 30
livres, which makes 13 1 acres worth 400
Of the 200 acres of Chestnuts, I cut 8 acres every
year, and I have them made into barrel hoops: I
find that each acre brings in 80 livres, which makes
on the 8 acres the sum of 640
7,040
The Forest of is composed of
acres.
Oaks 600
Beeches 1,200
White Wood 200
It is situated in a plain, easy of access, and within
easy reach of three small towns.
I divide the 600 acres of Oak into 100, and I find
that I can cut 6 acres every year. Since these three
small towns must of necessity supply themselves with livres
wood and building material, I sell these six acres for. . 9,000
Carried forward 7,040
9,000
Of the 1,200 acres of Beech trees, I take 800, which
I cut every 25 years, to make firewood, which makes 32
acres every year, which I sell at 160 livres, bringing in 5,120
For the 400 acres remaining of Beechwood, and
the 200 acres of White Wood, I cut them every
13 years, making each year 15 acres, and I make
them into brushwood, which is done up into large
faggots, for the convenience of the poor. I find that
the sale of this brings me in per acre 120 livres, making
in all for the '50 acres 6,000
Total 27,160
* The arithmetic is again unintelligible.
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? Frederick the Great 113
Schedule of the District of
This District contains two large and enormous
forests, which embrace a considerable extent of
country. These two forests are situated partly on the
plain, and partly on the mountain. They are both of
them far distant from any large rivers, and have,
properly speaking, no outlet, so that the property is
useless to the King.
But the examination which has been made of these
two forests has shown that they can be made use of.
(i) There are districts in which it would be an easy
matter to establish glass and china works, because
there is there plenty of fern and earth, and no lack of
water.
(2) There are large streams, collected or dammed in
good beds for the formation of canals, especially at the
times when the snows are melting, or during the
periods of the heavy rains.
In order that the undertaking may cost us nothing,
a Company might be formed, wherein we would be
represented by an Agent, and to which we would sub-
scribe a quarter of the funds; this Company would
make the necessary advances for the Canals, and for
this purpose it would have the use of the wood for a
period of . . . years.
As there are valleys which are situated at too great
a distance from these canals, the woods there should
be burnt out, and villages built on the clearings, which
would soon be peopled, since the land will be excellent
for pasture, and the inhabitants would find plenty of
occupation in the regular felling of the wood which
will be established, and in the upkeep of all the canals.
We believe this project to be good, Sire, because,
8
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? 114 The Confessions of
however weak may be the Navy of our Kingdom, it
will be able to obtain thereby a great deal of wood, and
even for export to France ; which would be a matter
of great importance to our dominions, since by this
means we open up a very considerable source of
exportation and of revenue.
MEMORANDUM OF THE POSTAL SERVICE TO THE KING
We have no suggestions to make concerning the Ad-
ministration of the Postal Service, because, all things
considered, it is good in our Kingdom. The only
transaction which we would beg of you is to place this
department under the Excise, since you would then
gain yearly at least the amount of the tax-farmer's
profit. You are the better able to do this, that the
department is a well-equipped machine and not liable
to much change. Moreover, the same employes
would serve under the Excise, and the general manage-
ment can be left to the present official.
Your Postal Service is in the hands of six tax-farmers
and a dozen subordinates (partners).
livres.
The tax-farmers each make at least 60,000 livres,
which for the six amounts to 360,000
The 12 subordinates each make 15,000 livres
or together 180,000
In all 540,000
From this amount we must take that of 140,000
to wit: --
livres.
For the General Manager 60,000
Four Directors-General attached to
the Excise Office 80,000
There remains as profit to Your Majesty. . 140,000 400,000
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? Frederick the Great 115
POST-HOUSES
The Postal Service is divided into two branches:
Letter-Posts and Post-Houses.
The Post-Houses are onerous to us, and the Letter-
Posts are not so advantageous as they should be. We
have, therefore, to find a means of improving con-
ditions in every respect.
The Post-Houses are a burden to us, because they
involve for all the Post-masters salaries exception
from Poll-tax, and qualification for compensation in
case of accident, and because no profit accrues to us
therefrom.
Let us now examine the reasons which led my father
to institute this arrangement.
Vanity was the principal reason. He believed that
it appertained to the dignity of a king to have public
posts established in all parts of his kingdom. He did
not regard these establishments as existing only for
the distribution of letters, but much more for giving
greater facilities to the nobility and to wealthy com-
moners for the display of pomp.
The following are the arrangements which we have
made in this matter : --
(i) We have taken an exact survey of all the roads
in the Kingdom ; and after a complete and very minute
enquiry, having found four hundred posting-routes
which are hardly ever used by carriages or coaches,
we have reduced them to one stage-horse and three
saddle-horses each.
(2) As our intention is to revive a branch of industry
in our Kingdom, we desire, so to speak, to force every-
one to use the public conveyances, and to this end we
are reducing the remainder of the posts to half the
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? ii6 The Confessions of
number of horses, and at the same time doubling the
cost of posting to everyone except our ordinary and
extraordinary couriers, our Ambassadors, our Gen-
erals, and our Agents, on Royal business requiring
expedition.
By these two regulations, the Post-masters will no
longer be surcharged, and the couriers, being paid
double by the public will certainly profit, to an ex-
tent which should enable us to take from them ex-
emption from Poll-tax, and to reduce their salaries
by one-half.
That is the scheme, and this is the manner in which
it should be of use to us and to the public.
To us, because it is certain that upon two
thousand Post-masters, we should gain
livres.
through diminution of salaries, about 100,000
and through rescinding their tax-exemption 300,000
making a total of 400,000
With regard to the Public: We presume that
there are yearly 4,000 persons to whom posting
is rather a matter of appearances than of necessity;
these 4,000 persons will save, one way and another, livres.
at least 72 livres each, which makes in all the sum of . . 288,000
These same 4,000 persons by traveUing in the
public conveyances will benefit the drivers and the
innkeepers to the extent of at least 30 livres each,
making in all 120,000
Making a total of 408,000
We would observe to Your Majesty that the public
service will in no way suffer, since upon all the fre-
quented routes we shall leave the posting well enough
equipped for no loss of time to be occasioned.
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? Frederick the Great 117
STAMP OFFICE AND REGISTRATION OF DEEDS'
After a labour of some length, and the com-
pilation of an abstract of all the registers of the
past year, we have arrived at some measure of
information as to the amount brought into the
revenue by each Controller, and we have found
that, all told, these tax-farmers raise an amount livres.
of 4,000,000
of which four millions they spend : livres.
^ Given to us 2,200,000
In Salaries 400,000
Extraordinary Expenses 200,000
Advances at the rate of 5 per cent. . . 80,000
3,280,000
Profits 720,000
We shall oblige each individual Receiver to
bring us the same sum that he brought to the
Farmers-General, paying it direct and free of
cost of sending, and we will give him a third more livres.
salary; which might make a stmi of 150,000
We shall nominate further four Directors-General
at a salary of 25,000 livres each, in all 100,000
And 12 Inspectors-General at 6,000 livres each 72,000
Leaving for the King 322,000
livres.
By this operation, we gain, in the first place 720,000
Of which, in order to ensure a thorough service,
we spend out 322,000
Leaving a balance for us of 398,000
STAMPED PAPER
Throughout our dominions during the
past year there have been sold 16,000,000
sheets of stamped paper, yielding, at i sou livres. s. d.
the sheet, the svun of 800,000
* Frederick's addition is hopeless.
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? ii8 The Confessions of
livres s. d.
The Tax-farmers have paid us 200,000
The 16,000,000 sheets of
paper have cost them, livres. s. d.
at 4 deniers the sheet. . . 133,333 6 8
For Stamp, at i denier
per sheet 33,333 6 8
Distribution at 2 denier
per sheet 66,666 13 4
Advances of about 400,000
hvres at 5 per cent 20,000
Office and Extraordinary
Expenses 50,000 303,333 6 8
Remains to the Farmers-General 503,333 6 8
MODUS OPERANDI (Schedule)
Every year there are manufactured in
one of our mills 16,000,000 sheets of paper
at 3 deniers the sheet, amounting to the livres. s. d.
sum of 100,000 o o
These are stamped at i denier per sheet 33,333 6 8
(3) In every Province we establish a
General Dep6t in the ofBce of the Registrar-
General of the chief town, who is responsible
for the distribution. We allow him to
charge i denier per sheet; those who distri-
bute after him being allowed to charge 2
deniers per sheet, the total cost amounts to
3 deniers per sheet, in all 100,000 o o
Making a full total of 233,333 6 8
By this you will see that by selling our paper our-
selves, we shall make, at 2 sous a sheet, 566,666 livres
13 sous 4 deniers.
But, as our principal object is for the Public to gain
as well as ourselves, it shall not be sold at more than
I sou the sheet, and thus the Public will profit by the
transaction to the amount of 141,660 livres, and we
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? Frederick the Great 119
ourselves to the amount of 425,000 livres, instead of
the 200,000^ livres which the tax-farmer gives us.
CUSTOMS-DUTY ON FOREIGN GOODS
The Tax-farmers in this department raise every livres.
year the sum of 1,200,000
They hand over to us 400,000
So that there remains to them 800,000
The object of these Customs was to impede foreign
trade, so that the money should not leave the Kingdom,
and to oblige the inhabitants to dress in material
manufactured in the Kingdom.
By degrees luxury
has increased, and money has become more plentiful,
so that it has become really expedient to manufacture
these same goods in the country.
We have manufactures of every description. The
owners of these factories have the deepest interest
in impeding the sale of foreign goods. Why, then,
should we not come to an understanding with them as
to the matter of Customs Dues ? The following is the
action which we have taken in the matter.
We have had an exact Abstract of the different goods
which come into the Kingdom each year made, as well
as of the duties which are collected upon these goods.
From this enquiry it appears that our Tax-farmers
receive at least
livres.
On Silk materials, Ribbons and the like 400,000
On Cloth and other woollen goods 400,000
On Cloth of Gold and of Silver, and on Gold and
Silver jewellery 200,000
On Iron and Steel goods 100,000
And on Copper and Tin goods 100,000
Making a total of 1,200,000
' The arithmetic is again faulty.
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? 120 The Confessions of
Having made this Abstract, we have proposed to all
the Manufacturers to pay us, direct and free of all
Charges, the sum of 600,000 livres; and we have
promised them, in the name of His Majesty, a Law,
forbidding, under the most rigorous penalties, anyone
soever, whether of His Majesty's subjects or a for-
eigner, bringing into our realm any goods for which
there are factories established in our dominions; and
we have given them permission to carry this law
into effect themselves and through their accredited
agents. And in order to prevent any confusion in the
matter of the payment of the 600,000 livres, we have
put a tax upon every species of manufactured goods:
to wit: --
livres.
All Silken Manufactures, Materials, Ribbons,
and the like 2,000,000
All Manufactures of Cloth and Other Woollen
Goods 200,000
Gold and Silver Goods and Jewellery 50,000
Copper and Tin Goods 50,000
In all 2,300,000
All the manufacturers have agreed to this pro-
position, and therefore we gain 200,000 livres, but it
is impossible to estimate the benefits which we shall
confer by this arrangement, in the first place, because
money will no longer be taken out of the country,
and secondly, because our subjects will profit to the
same extent by each other as the foreigners formerly
did by them.
OCTROI DUTIES IN THE TOWNS
We leave unaltered the established Octroi duties in
the Towns, upon commodities and goods of which we
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? Frederick the Great 121
have made no mention. They are just and necessary,
because it is through them that trade contributes to
the upkeep of the State. But we propose that each
town should compound these dues. We know, more
or less, by the Abstract of the Registers of these
districts how much they can afford to pay, so
that we should not be liable to any injury by this
arrangement.
My father, after having examined the Scheme
for this new Administration, followed his own
opinion on the subject, and continued to collect
the Subsidies upon the basis of the Land-Survey
register, and allowed the local and general receivers
to continue.
To simplify the administration of all these
taxes, payment of toll was permitted at the town
gates on tobacco, coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar,
wheat, flour, spirits, beer, liqueurs, and generally,
on all the necessities and luxuries of life.
For this purpose he established in every town
an Excise Office, the staff of which, in large
towns, consisted of a Receiver, a Cashier, a Super-
intendent, an Inspector, and ten clerks, and in
small towns, of a Receiver and two clerks. He
then formed Departments, over which he placed
Commissaries.
To ensure respect for his employees, he gave
them honoiirable social rank, which made it pos-
sible for him to insist on their taking lower salaries,
and being content with modest profits.
With regard to Salt, he undertook the manufac-
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? 122 The Confessions of
ture of it himself, distributing it at his own cost
and expense.
The Stamping of Documents was a Department
which he considered too delicate for his interfer-
ence. He would not even touch that of Stamped
Paper.
As regards the Forestry scheme, he adopted it
more or less as it stood.
This new source of revenue only brought him in
a profit of two millions.
And it was only by putting the interior of his
house in order that he placed himself in a position
to pay his debts. It is true that he introduced
into it an order so economical that it could not
be improved upon.
So long as I have had any money I have never
thought about my finances. It is only since this
War that this subject has claimed my constant
attention.
I should like to continue further with you the
Memorial of the Council of my father, but circum-
stances do not permit of my doing so, and I have
not time to enter into such long and minute par-
ticulars; in the meantime, this is what I myself
have done:
I have suggested to all the Commissaries of the
Department to compound with all the towns. I
have instituted a reform amongst all the Tax-
collectors, and I have lowered their commission
by one-half per cent. ; all this will bring me in
about 20,000,000 livres.
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? Frederick the Great 123
Secondly, I have found means to establish the
poll-tax in those provinces which were the least
overburdened, on the pretext of equalizing the
impositions for payment of contributions. This
little ruse will bring me in about 400,000 livres a
year.
ARMY
livres.
By retrenching five men per com-
pany, I make a yearly gain of 1,000,000
On the 2 sous which I deduct from
each soldier for commissariat bread,
I save 600,000
On hair powder and lodging 720,000
On Clothing 800,000
On Riding Hacks 180,000
On Staffs, Governments and Com-
mands 300,000
In all 3,600,000
When I was certain of economizing 6,000,000
a year, I began to think of paying off my debts,
and this is how I do so :
livres.
Reckoning everything, I am in
debt for 100,000,000 ;
the point is how to settle for this
amount.
To this end, I borrow from the
Dutch, in four years, at 4 per cent. ,
the sum of 74,057,500
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? 124 Confessions of Frederick the Great
I add to this sum that of my livres.
savings 24,000,000
and with the two I repay the 100,000,000 livres*
of my debt.
When this transaction is concluded, I shall take
out another loan of 60,843,025 livres, at 3 per
cent. ; I shall add to this amount 12,000,000
livres of savings; and I hope that in two years
I shall find myself in a position to repay the
74,057,500 livres. ^ In this way, by the year 1771,
I shall only owe, by the reduction of the interests,
the sum of 60,843,025 livres. The subjoined table
will afford you proof of this.
If there is no War in 1771, what will become of
all these Repayments? That is the moment, my
dear nephew, for which I am most earnestly
looking, in order to introduce into my realm a
new kind of currency.
I intend to circulate among the public a certain
amount of paper; if this is taken up, I shall
increase the amount; and if it is not taken up, I
shall withdraw it, rather than allow it to become
depreciated. I shall try this experiment several
times, and I am firmly convinced that in the end
money (specie) will become (a glut? ) and the
paper will take its place (or will rise? ).
This transaction is a very delicate one, for,
strictly speaking, paper has only a momentary
and uncertain vogue. But it is very useful when
one knows how to make good use of it.
^ The king's arithmetic is again unintelligible.
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? 126 Confessions of Frederick the Great
If I can once succeed in launching it properly,
I shall attempt the plan of repaying the loans
partly in coin and partly in paper; and then,
in three years I shall be able to extinguish the
60,843,025 livres.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-05 01:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/loc. ark:/13960/t5h99vc8g Public Domain in the United States / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us
? The Life of Frederick the Great
By
Heinrich von Treitschke
127
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? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-05 01:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/loc. ark:/13960/t5h99vc8g Public Domain in the United States / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us
? The Life of Frederick the Great
By
Heinrich von Treitschke
FREDERICK WILLIAM'S reign fell in the mis-
erable, Boeotian, idea-less age of the Peace of
Utrecht; the small tricks of Fleury, Alberoni, and
Walpole governed European politics. The upright
Prince was helpless amid the cunning intrigues
of the diplomatists. With old-German fidel-
ity he held to his Kaiser, wanted to lay swords
and pistols in the cradles of his children, in order to
banish foreign nations from the Imperial soil.
How often, with the beer- jug of the Fatherland in
his hand, had he cried out his ringing: "Vivat
Germania, Teutscher Nation! " Unsuspecting by
nature, he now had to experience how the Court
of Vienna, with its two ambitious neighbours,
Hanover and Saxony, would come to a secret
understanding on the division of Prussia, and how
they would then help the Albertiners to the crown
of Poland, deliver Lorraine to the French, and in
his own home stir up discord between father and
son, while they at last treacherously tried to wrest
from him his right of succession to Berg and
Ostfriesland.
9 129
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? 130 The Life of
So for his whole life he was pushed backwards
and forwards between enemies and false friends;
only at the end of his days did he see through
Austria's cunning, and admonish his son to avenge
a betrayed father. But at foreign courts it was
said that the King stood continually on the watch
with his gun at full cock, without ever letting it
go ojEf ; and when occasionally a latent fear of the
sentry at Potsdam overcame the other Germans,
they were cheered by the sneer: "The Prussians
won't shoot as quickly as all that! "
But the sneering was silenced when Prussia
found a ruler who, by the happy practical sense
of the HohenzoUerns, with a sense of the possible
united the daring and clear vision of genius.
The bright sunshine of youth illuminates the
beginning of the Frederician period, when at last,
after much faltering and trepidation, the obstinate
mass of the benumbed German world got on the
move again, and the mighty contrasts which it hid
measured themselves in the necessary struggle.
Since the days of that Lion of the Midnight Sun
Germany had had no picture of a hero to whom
the entire nation could look up with awe; but he
who now, in proud freedom, as once Gustavus
Adolphus had done, strode through the middle of
the Great Powers, and forced the Germans to
believe again in the wonder of heroism, he was a
German.
The mainspring in this mighty nature is the
ruthless, terrible German directness. Frederick
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? Frederick the Great 131
gives himself as he is, and sees things as they are.
As in the long row of volumes of his letters and
writings there is not one line in which he attempts
to extenuate his deeds, or to adorn his own picture
for posterity, so his statesmanship, even if it did
not despise the small arts and ruses of the age as
means to an end, bears the stamp of his royal
frankness.
As often as he draws his sword, he announces
with candid exactitude what he demands from
the enemy, and lays down his weapon only when he
has reached his goal. From the moment that he
awakes to thinking, he feels himself glad and
proud that he is the son of a free century, which,
with the torch of reason, shines in upon the dusty
comers of a world of old prejudices and lifeless
traditions; he has the picture of the Sun-god,
who climbs up through the morning clouds, victo-
rious, on the ceiling of his gay Rheinsberger Hall.
With the bold confidence of an apostle of en-
lightenment, he approaches the apparitions of
historical life, and tests each one, to see how it
will stand the judgment of a penetrating intellect.
In the severe struggles of the various States for
power, he notices only realities, and esteems only
force cleverly used with presence of mind. "Ne-
gotiations without weapons are like music without
instruments," he says calmly, and on the news of
the death of the last Habsburg, he asks his advis-
ers, "I give you a problem to solve; when one has
the advantage, shall one make use of it or not? "
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? 133 The Life of
The swaggering impotence which poses as power,
the senseless privileges which make a show of
historical right, the faineants, who mask their
helplessness behind empty platitudes, could never
find a more arrogant contemner; and nowhere
could this inexorable realism operate so cleansingly
and disturbingly, so revolutionarily, as in the great
fable of the (Holy) Roman Empire. Nothing
could be more pitiless than Frederick's derision of
the holy Majesty of the Kaiser Francis, who is
toddled round on the apron-strings of his wife, and
(a worthy King of Jerusalem) executes lucrative
contracts for the armies of the Queen of Hungary :
nothing more fierce than his mocking of "the
phantom" of the Imperial army, of the conceited
futility of the minor Courts, of the peddling formal-
ism of "these cursed old fogies of Hanover," of
the empty pride of the estate-less petty feudal
nobility {Junkertum) in Saxony and Mecklenburg,
of "the whole breed of princes and peoples in
Austria" -- "who bends his knee to the great
ones of this world, he knows them not! "
In full consciousness of superiority, he holds out
the healthy reality of his modern State beside the
shadowy conceptions of the Imperial Law ; a sullen
ill-nature speaks from his letters when he lets "the
pedants of Regensburg" experience the iron
necessity of war. Frederick fulfils in the deed
what the wrangling publicists of the past centuries,
Hippolithus and Severinus, have attempted only
with words; he holds the "fearfully corpse-like
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? Frederick the Great 133
face of Germany" up to the mirror, proves before
all the world the irretrievable rottenness of the
Holy (Roman) Empire.
Well-meaning contemporaries may have blamed
him, because he delivers up the time-honoured
community to ridicule; posterity thanks him,
for he brings truth to honour again in German
politics, as Martin Luther once brought it in
German thought and faith.
Frederick had appropriated that severe Pro-
testant view of German history and Imperial
politics which had prevailed among the freer in-
tellects of Prussia since Pufendorf and Thomasius,
and then, with the embittering experiences of his
tyrannized youth, cultivated them further, rigor-
ously and independently.
In the rising of the Schmalkaldener, in the
Thirty- Years' War, in all the confusion of the last
two centuries, he saw nothing but the unceasing
struggle of German freedom against the despotism
of the House of Austria, which governed the weaker
princes as slaves "with an iron rod, " and left only
the strong free to do as they chose. Not without
arbitrariness he arranged the facts of history
according to this one-sided view; one-sidedness
turned towards light and life is, after all, the privi-
lege of the creative genius.
Consequently there remains for the farmers 200,000
Through the enquiries which we have made,
we know that the Tax-Farmers disburse on the 200,000
^ The arithmetic is again unintelligible.
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? io8 The Confessions of
(i) For the production of a million livres.
pounds of Salt at i sou the pound 75,ooo
(2) Interest on advances both for the
75,000 livres and for the 50,000 livres
given to the King, about 6,800
(3) Expenses of Distribution at I sou
per pound 50,000
131,800
Leaving for the Tax-Farmers 68,000
It is this 68,200 livres which the King proposes to
divide with you and your Province, by giving the
dealer for right of sale the 50,000 livres which it costs
the Tax-Farmers in salaries for distribution of this
commodity in your Province. We imagine that your
dealers will be well satisfied.
Tobacco
sous.
We allow our tax-farmers to sell tobacco to the public
at the rate per pound of 45
It costs them the following: --
sous.
(i) Payment to Your Majesty 10
(2) Purchase in leaf 12
(3) Carriage 2
(4) Manufacture 3
(5) Packing (or making up) and waste 2
(6) Extraordinary expense and interest on ad-
vances 3
(7) Wages and expense of distribution 4
- 36
There consequently remains as net gain to the tax-
farmers on every pound 9
According to the total of the past year, this con-
sumption has amounted to eight million pounds.
Thus, our Tax-farmers have made 3,600,000 livres.
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? Frederick the Great 109
In order to secure for ourselves a portion of these
profits, we are establishing a General Depot in each
Province, to which the Tobacco is brought in the first
instance in leaf, to be then manufactured, and finally
sold at a fixed price to whoever wants it.
According to the calculation we have ourselves
made, based upon that of the Farmers-General, each
sous,
pound should cost us not more than 20
(1) For the purchase in leaf 12
(2) Carriage i
(3) Manufacture 3
(4) Packing and waste 2
(5) Interest and advances , 2
-- 20
We shall sell it to the public at 35
Consequently, we shall gain 15
which makes a gain of 2,000,000 livres for us.
There remains 10 sous, which will be re-absorbed in
commerce, and which will be shared, naturally, be-
tween the public and the dealer, for the latter will
certainly be content to make four or five sous per
pound.
Forestry
livres.
This Department is farmed for 2,500,000
Upon this sum we pay 800,000
to an endless number of officials, created formerly for
the purpose of keeping order, exclusive of the cost of
their oflficial reports, which are made at our expense,
and which amount to more than 400,000 livres per
annum.
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? no The Confessions of
livres.
Therefore, from the sum of 2,500,000
we must deduct 1,200,000
Consequently there only remains to
ourselves i ,300,000
In order thoroughly to understand the value of this
source of revenue, we have sent Surveyors into each
Province, who have drawn plans of all our forests, have
produced specimens of them, have analysed the quali-
ties of the woods, have noted the price of each, and
have observed the best method of selling them.
One can judge by the Report on one of our Pro-
vinces the result of their investigations throughout
the Kingdom.
Province of Minden
Report Sent to the Council by the Surveyor
There are in this Province 8,000 acres of Wood.
These 8,000 acres consist of three forests, to wit : --
acres.
That of 4,000
That of. 2,000
And that of 2,000
The forest of is composed of ,
2,000 acres of firs
1,000 " " oaks
and 1,000 " " beeches.
Its situation, close to the Weser, enables all the wood
to be sold at a reasonable price, to wit : --
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? Frederick the Great iii
livres.
That of Firs, which are cut down every
sixty years, at 800 per acre.
That of Oaks, which may be cut down
every twenty years, at 150 "
That of Beech, which one may cut down
at the same periods, at 180 "
According to my calculations, cutting so regulated,
will bring in : --
livres.
Firs, about 33! acres at 800 Hvres, the sum of 26,666
Oaks, about 50 acres, at 150 livres 7, 500
Beech, about 50 acres, at 180 livres 9,000
Total per annum 43, 166
The Forest of . . . is composed of 2,000 acres,
to wit: --
acres.
Oaks 1,400
Beech 200
Chestnuts 200
And White Wood 200
This Forest is not well situated, because there are
no large rivers or big towns in the neighbourhood,
thus I don't cut the wood for sale, but to make the
following use of it : --
Every year I take 24 acres of Oaks, which I have
made into planks,'^ and I find that after deducting
all expenses each acre brings in 250 livres, making a
total of 6,000 livres.
' Or stave- wood -- merrain in the dictionary.
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? 112 The Confessions of
Uvres.
Carried forward 6,000
Then I take 13I acres of beech and of white wood,
because I have divided the 400 into thirty parts, and I
make a Hme-kiln, provided I find in the forest itself the
right kind of material for this purpose. By the sale of
the lime I find that each acre is worth, less expenses, 30
livres, which makes 13 1 acres worth 400
Of the 200 acres of Chestnuts, I cut 8 acres every
year, and I have them made into barrel hoops: I
find that each acre brings in 80 livres, which makes
on the 8 acres the sum of 640
7,040
The Forest of is composed of
acres.
Oaks 600
Beeches 1,200
White Wood 200
It is situated in a plain, easy of access, and within
easy reach of three small towns.
I divide the 600 acres of Oak into 100, and I find
that I can cut 6 acres every year. Since these three
small towns must of necessity supply themselves with livres
wood and building material, I sell these six acres for. . 9,000
Carried forward 7,040
9,000
Of the 1,200 acres of Beech trees, I take 800, which
I cut every 25 years, to make firewood, which makes 32
acres every year, which I sell at 160 livres, bringing in 5,120
For the 400 acres remaining of Beechwood, and
the 200 acres of White Wood, I cut them every
13 years, making each year 15 acres, and I make
them into brushwood, which is done up into large
faggots, for the convenience of the poor. I find that
the sale of this brings me in per acre 120 livres, making
in all for the '50 acres 6,000
Total 27,160
* The arithmetic is again unintelligible.
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? Frederick the Great 113
Schedule of the District of
This District contains two large and enormous
forests, which embrace a considerable extent of
country. These two forests are situated partly on the
plain, and partly on the mountain. They are both of
them far distant from any large rivers, and have,
properly speaking, no outlet, so that the property is
useless to the King.
But the examination which has been made of these
two forests has shown that they can be made use of.
(i) There are districts in which it would be an easy
matter to establish glass and china works, because
there is there plenty of fern and earth, and no lack of
water.
(2) There are large streams, collected or dammed in
good beds for the formation of canals, especially at the
times when the snows are melting, or during the
periods of the heavy rains.
In order that the undertaking may cost us nothing,
a Company might be formed, wherein we would be
represented by an Agent, and to which we would sub-
scribe a quarter of the funds; this Company would
make the necessary advances for the Canals, and for
this purpose it would have the use of the wood for a
period of . . . years.
As there are valleys which are situated at too great
a distance from these canals, the woods there should
be burnt out, and villages built on the clearings, which
would soon be peopled, since the land will be excellent
for pasture, and the inhabitants would find plenty of
occupation in the regular felling of the wood which
will be established, and in the upkeep of all the canals.
We believe this project to be good, Sire, because,
8
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? 114 The Confessions of
however weak may be the Navy of our Kingdom, it
will be able to obtain thereby a great deal of wood, and
even for export to France ; which would be a matter
of great importance to our dominions, since by this
means we open up a very considerable source of
exportation and of revenue.
MEMORANDUM OF THE POSTAL SERVICE TO THE KING
We have no suggestions to make concerning the Ad-
ministration of the Postal Service, because, all things
considered, it is good in our Kingdom. The only
transaction which we would beg of you is to place this
department under the Excise, since you would then
gain yearly at least the amount of the tax-farmer's
profit. You are the better able to do this, that the
department is a well-equipped machine and not liable
to much change. Moreover, the same employes
would serve under the Excise, and the general manage-
ment can be left to the present official.
Your Postal Service is in the hands of six tax-farmers
and a dozen subordinates (partners).
livres.
The tax-farmers each make at least 60,000 livres,
which for the six amounts to 360,000
The 12 subordinates each make 15,000 livres
or together 180,000
In all 540,000
From this amount we must take that of 140,000
to wit: --
livres.
For the General Manager 60,000
Four Directors-General attached to
the Excise Office 80,000
There remains as profit to Your Majesty. . 140,000 400,000
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? Frederick the Great 115
POST-HOUSES
The Postal Service is divided into two branches:
Letter-Posts and Post-Houses.
The Post-Houses are onerous to us, and the Letter-
Posts are not so advantageous as they should be. We
have, therefore, to find a means of improving con-
ditions in every respect.
The Post-Houses are a burden to us, because they
involve for all the Post-masters salaries exception
from Poll-tax, and qualification for compensation in
case of accident, and because no profit accrues to us
therefrom.
Let us now examine the reasons which led my father
to institute this arrangement.
Vanity was the principal reason. He believed that
it appertained to the dignity of a king to have public
posts established in all parts of his kingdom. He did
not regard these establishments as existing only for
the distribution of letters, but much more for giving
greater facilities to the nobility and to wealthy com-
moners for the display of pomp.
The following are the arrangements which we have
made in this matter : --
(i) We have taken an exact survey of all the roads
in the Kingdom ; and after a complete and very minute
enquiry, having found four hundred posting-routes
which are hardly ever used by carriages or coaches,
we have reduced them to one stage-horse and three
saddle-horses each.
(2) As our intention is to revive a branch of industry
in our Kingdom, we desire, so to speak, to force every-
one to use the public conveyances, and to this end we
are reducing the remainder of the posts to half the
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? ii6 The Confessions of
number of horses, and at the same time doubling the
cost of posting to everyone except our ordinary and
extraordinary couriers, our Ambassadors, our Gen-
erals, and our Agents, on Royal business requiring
expedition.
By these two regulations, the Post-masters will no
longer be surcharged, and the couriers, being paid
double by the public will certainly profit, to an ex-
tent which should enable us to take from them ex-
emption from Poll-tax, and to reduce their salaries
by one-half.
That is the scheme, and this is the manner in which
it should be of use to us and to the public.
To us, because it is certain that upon two
thousand Post-masters, we should gain
livres.
through diminution of salaries, about 100,000
and through rescinding their tax-exemption 300,000
making a total of 400,000
With regard to the Public: We presume that
there are yearly 4,000 persons to whom posting
is rather a matter of appearances than of necessity;
these 4,000 persons will save, one way and another, livres.
at least 72 livres each, which makes in all the sum of . . 288,000
These same 4,000 persons by traveUing in the
public conveyances will benefit the drivers and the
innkeepers to the extent of at least 30 livres each,
making in all 120,000
Making a total of 408,000
We would observe to Your Majesty that the public
service will in no way suffer, since upon all the fre-
quented routes we shall leave the posting well enough
equipped for no loss of time to be occasioned.
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? Frederick the Great 117
STAMP OFFICE AND REGISTRATION OF DEEDS'
After a labour of some length, and the com-
pilation of an abstract of all the registers of the
past year, we have arrived at some measure of
information as to the amount brought into the
revenue by each Controller, and we have found
that, all told, these tax-farmers raise an amount livres.
of 4,000,000
of which four millions they spend : livres.
^ Given to us 2,200,000
In Salaries 400,000
Extraordinary Expenses 200,000
Advances at the rate of 5 per cent. . . 80,000
3,280,000
Profits 720,000
We shall oblige each individual Receiver to
bring us the same sum that he brought to the
Farmers-General, paying it direct and free of
cost of sending, and we will give him a third more livres.
salary; which might make a stmi of 150,000
We shall nominate further four Directors-General
at a salary of 25,000 livres each, in all 100,000
And 12 Inspectors-General at 6,000 livres each 72,000
Leaving for the King 322,000
livres.
By this operation, we gain, in the first place 720,000
Of which, in order to ensure a thorough service,
we spend out 322,000
Leaving a balance for us of 398,000
STAMPED PAPER
Throughout our dominions during the
past year there have been sold 16,000,000
sheets of stamped paper, yielding, at i sou livres. s. d.
the sheet, the svun of 800,000
* Frederick's addition is hopeless.
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? ii8 The Confessions of
livres s. d.
The Tax-farmers have paid us 200,000
The 16,000,000 sheets of
paper have cost them, livres. s. d.
at 4 deniers the sheet. . . 133,333 6 8
For Stamp, at i denier
per sheet 33,333 6 8
Distribution at 2 denier
per sheet 66,666 13 4
Advances of about 400,000
hvres at 5 per cent 20,000
Office and Extraordinary
Expenses 50,000 303,333 6 8
Remains to the Farmers-General 503,333 6 8
MODUS OPERANDI (Schedule)
Every year there are manufactured in
one of our mills 16,000,000 sheets of paper
at 3 deniers the sheet, amounting to the livres. s. d.
sum of 100,000 o o
These are stamped at i denier per sheet 33,333 6 8
(3) In every Province we establish a
General Dep6t in the ofBce of the Registrar-
General of the chief town, who is responsible
for the distribution. We allow him to
charge i denier per sheet; those who distri-
bute after him being allowed to charge 2
deniers per sheet, the total cost amounts to
3 deniers per sheet, in all 100,000 o o
Making a full total of 233,333 6 8
By this you will see that by selling our paper our-
selves, we shall make, at 2 sous a sheet, 566,666 livres
13 sous 4 deniers.
But, as our principal object is for the Public to gain
as well as ourselves, it shall not be sold at more than
I sou the sheet, and thus the Public will profit by the
transaction to the amount of 141,660 livres, and we
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? Frederick the Great 119
ourselves to the amount of 425,000 livres, instead of
the 200,000^ livres which the tax-farmer gives us.
CUSTOMS-DUTY ON FOREIGN GOODS
The Tax-farmers in this department raise every livres.
year the sum of 1,200,000
They hand over to us 400,000
So that there remains to them 800,000
The object of these Customs was to impede foreign
trade, so that the money should not leave the Kingdom,
and to oblige the inhabitants to dress in material
manufactured in the Kingdom.
By degrees luxury
has increased, and money has become more plentiful,
so that it has become really expedient to manufacture
these same goods in the country.
We have manufactures of every description. The
owners of these factories have the deepest interest
in impeding the sale of foreign goods. Why, then,
should we not come to an understanding with them as
to the matter of Customs Dues ? The following is the
action which we have taken in the matter.
We have had an exact Abstract of the different goods
which come into the Kingdom each year made, as well
as of the duties which are collected upon these goods.
From this enquiry it appears that our Tax-farmers
receive at least
livres.
On Silk materials, Ribbons and the like 400,000
On Cloth and other woollen goods 400,000
On Cloth of Gold and of Silver, and on Gold and
Silver jewellery 200,000
On Iron and Steel goods 100,000
And on Copper and Tin goods 100,000
Making a total of 1,200,000
' The arithmetic is again faulty.
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? 120 The Confessions of
Having made this Abstract, we have proposed to all
the Manufacturers to pay us, direct and free of all
Charges, the sum of 600,000 livres; and we have
promised them, in the name of His Majesty, a Law,
forbidding, under the most rigorous penalties, anyone
soever, whether of His Majesty's subjects or a for-
eigner, bringing into our realm any goods for which
there are factories established in our dominions; and
we have given them permission to carry this law
into effect themselves and through their accredited
agents. And in order to prevent any confusion in the
matter of the payment of the 600,000 livres, we have
put a tax upon every species of manufactured goods:
to wit: --
livres.
All Silken Manufactures, Materials, Ribbons,
and the like 2,000,000
All Manufactures of Cloth and Other Woollen
Goods 200,000
Gold and Silver Goods and Jewellery 50,000
Copper and Tin Goods 50,000
In all 2,300,000
All the manufacturers have agreed to this pro-
position, and therefore we gain 200,000 livres, but it
is impossible to estimate the benefits which we shall
confer by this arrangement, in the first place, because
money will no longer be taken out of the country,
and secondly, because our subjects will profit to the
same extent by each other as the foreigners formerly
did by them.
OCTROI DUTIES IN THE TOWNS
We leave unaltered the established Octroi duties in
the Towns, upon commodities and goods of which we
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? Frederick the Great 121
have made no mention. They are just and necessary,
because it is through them that trade contributes to
the upkeep of the State. But we propose that each
town should compound these dues. We know, more
or less, by the Abstract of the Registers of these
districts how much they can afford to pay, so
that we should not be liable to any injury by this
arrangement.
My father, after having examined the Scheme
for this new Administration, followed his own
opinion on the subject, and continued to collect
the Subsidies upon the basis of the Land-Survey
register, and allowed the local and general receivers
to continue.
To simplify the administration of all these
taxes, payment of toll was permitted at the town
gates on tobacco, coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar,
wheat, flour, spirits, beer, liqueurs, and generally,
on all the necessities and luxuries of life.
For this purpose he established in every town
an Excise Office, the staff of which, in large
towns, consisted of a Receiver, a Cashier, a Super-
intendent, an Inspector, and ten clerks, and in
small towns, of a Receiver and two clerks. He
then formed Departments, over which he placed
Commissaries.
To ensure respect for his employees, he gave
them honoiirable social rank, which made it pos-
sible for him to insist on their taking lower salaries,
and being content with modest profits.
With regard to Salt, he undertook the manufac-
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? 122 The Confessions of
ture of it himself, distributing it at his own cost
and expense.
The Stamping of Documents was a Department
which he considered too delicate for his interfer-
ence. He would not even touch that of Stamped
Paper.
As regards the Forestry scheme, he adopted it
more or less as it stood.
This new source of revenue only brought him in
a profit of two millions.
And it was only by putting the interior of his
house in order that he placed himself in a position
to pay his debts. It is true that he introduced
into it an order so economical that it could not
be improved upon.
So long as I have had any money I have never
thought about my finances. It is only since this
War that this subject has claimed my constant
attention.
I should like to continue further with you the
Memorial of the Council of my father, but circum-
stances do not permit of my doing so, and I have
not time to enter into such long and minute par-
ticulars; in the meantime, this is what I myself
have done:
I have suggested to all the Commissaries of the
Department to compound with all the towns. I
have instituted a reform amongst all the Tax-
collectors, and I have lowered their commission
by one-half per cent. ; all this will bring me in
about 20,000,000 livres.
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? Frederick the Great 123
Secondly, I have found means to establish the
poll-tax in those provinces which were the least
overburdened, on the pretext of equalizing the
impositions for payment of contributions. This
little ruse will bring me in about 400,000 livres a
year.
ARMY
livres.
By retrenching five men per com-
pany, I make a yearly gain of 1,000,000
On the 2 sous which I deduct from
each soldier for commissariat bread,
I save 600,000
On hair powder and lodging 720,000
On Clothing 800,000
On Riding Hacks 180,000
On Staffs, Governments and Com-
mands 300,000
In all 3,600,000
When I was certain of economizing 6,000,000
a year, I began to think of paying off my debts,
and this is how I do so :
livres.
Reckoning everything, I am in
debt for 100,000,000 ;
the point is how to settle for this
amount.
To this end, I borrow from the
Dutch, in four years, at 4 per cent. ,
the sum of 74,057,500
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? 124 Confessions of Frederick the Great
I add to this sum that of my livres.
savings 24,000,000
and with the two I repay the 100,000,000 livres*
of my debt.
When this transaction is concluded, I shall take
out another loan of 60,843,025 livres, at 3 per
cent. ; I shall add to this amount 12,000,000
livres of savings; and I hope that in two years
I shall find myself in a position to repay the
74,057,500 livres. ^ In this way, by the year 1771,
I shall only owe, by the reduction of the interests,
the sum of 60,843,025 livres. The subjoined table
will afford you proof of this.
If there is no War in 1771, what will become of
all these Repayments? That is the moment, my
dear nephew, for which I am most earnestly
looking, in order to introduce into my realm a
new kind of currency.
I intend to circulate among the public a certain
amount of paper; if this is taken up, I shall
increase the amount; and if it is not taken up, I
shall withdraw it, rather than allow it to become
depreciated. I shall try this experiment several
times, and I am firmly convinced that in the end
money (specie) will become (a glut? ) and the
paper will take its place (or will rise? ).
This transaction is a very delicate one, for,
strictly speaking, paper has only a momentary
and uncertain vogue. But it is very useful when
one knows how to make good use of it.
^ The king's arithmetic is again unintelligible.
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Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-05 01:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/loc. ark:/13960/t5h99vc8g Public Domain in the United States / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us
? 126 Confessions of Frederick the Great
If I can once succeed in launching it properly,
I shall attempt the plan of repaying the loans
partly in coin and partly in paper; and then,
in three years I shall be able to extinguish the
60,843,025 livres.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-05 01:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/loc. ark:/13960/t5h99vc8g Public Domain in the United States / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us
? The Life of Frederick the Great
By
Heinrich von Treitschke
127
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? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-05 01:02 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/loc. ark:/13960/t5h99vc8g Public Domain in the United States / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us
? The Life of Frederick the Great
By
Heinrich von Treitschke
FREDERICK WILLIAM'S reign fell in the mis-
erable, Boeotian, idea-less age of the Peace of
Utrecht; the small tricks of Fleury, Alberoni, and
Walpole governed European politics. The upright
Prince was helpless amid the cunning intrigues
of the diplomatists. With old-German fidel-
ity he held to his Kaiser, wanted to lay swords
and pistols in the cradles of his children, in order to
banish foreign nations from the Imperial soil.
How often, with the beer- jug of the Fatherland in
his hand, had he cried out his ringing: "Vivat
Germania, Teutscher Nation! " Unsuspecting by
nature, he now had to experience how the Court
of Vienna, with its two ambitious neighbours,
Hanover and Saxony, would come to a secret
understanding on the division of Prussia, and how
they would then help the Albertiners to the crown
of Poland, deliver Lorraine to the French, and in
his own home stir up discord between father and
son, while they at last treacherously tried to wrest
from him his right of succession to Berg and
Ostfriesland.
9 129
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? 130 The Life of
So for his whole life he was pushed backwards
and forwards between enemies and false friends;
only at the end of his days did he see through
Austria's cunning, and admonish his son to avenge
a betrayed father. But at foreign courts it was
said that the King stood continually on the watch
with his gun at full cock, without ever letting it
go ojEf ; and when occasionally a latent fear of the
sentry at Potsdam overcame the other Germans,
they were cheered by the sneer: "The Prussians
won't shoot as quickly as all that! "
But the sneering was silenced when Prussia
found a ruler who, by the happy practical sense
of the HohenzoUerns, with a sense of the possible
united the daring and clear vision of genius.
The bright sunshine of youth illuminates the
beginning of the Frederician period, when at last,
after much faltering and trepidation, the obstinate
mass of the benumbed German world got on the
move again, and the mighty contrasts which it hid
measured themselves in the necessary struggle.
Since the days of that Lion of the Midnight Sun
Germany had had no picture of a hero to whom
the entire nation could look up with awe; but he
who now, in proud freedom, as once Gustavus
Adolphus had done, strode through the middle of
the Great Powers, and forced the Germans to
believe again in the wonder of heroism, he was a
German.
The mainspring in this mighty nature is the
ruthless, terrible German directness. Frederick
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? Frederick the Great 131
gives himself as he is, and sees things as they are.
As in the long row of volumes of his letters and
writings there is not one line in which he attempts
to extenuate his deeds, or to adorn his own picture
for posterity, so his statesmanship, even if it did
not despise the small arts and ruses of the age as
means to an end, bears the stamp of his royal
frankness.
As often as he draws his sword, he announces
with candid exactitude what he demands from
the enemy, and lays down his weapon only when he
has reached his goal. From the moment that he
awakes to thinking, he feels himself glad and
proud that he is the son of a free century, which,
with the torch of reason, shines in upon the dusty
comers of a world of old prejudices and lifeless
traditions; he has the picture of the Sun-god,
who climbs up through the morning clouds, victo-
rious, on the ceiling of his gay Rheinsberger Hall.
With the bold confidence of an apostle of en-
lightenment, he approaches the apparitions of
historical life, and tests each one, to see how it
will stand the judgment of a penetrating intellect.
In the severe struggles of the various States for
power, he notices only realities, and esteems only
force cleverly used with presence of mind. "Ne-
gotiations without weapons are like music without
instruments," he says calmly, and on the news of
the death of the last Habsburg, he asks his advis-
ers, "I give you a problem to solve; when one has
the advantage, shall one make use of it or not? "
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? 133 The Life of
The swaggering impotence which poses as power,
the senseless privileges which make a show of
historical right, the faineants, who mask their
helplessness behind empty platitudes, could never
find a more arrogant contemner; and nowhere
could this inexorable realism operate so cleansingly
and disturbingly, so revolutionarily, as in the great
fable of the (Holy) Roman Empire. Nothing
could be more pitiless than Frederick's derision of
the holy Majesty of the Kaiser Francis, who is
toddled round on the apron-strings of his wife, and
(a worthy King of Jerusalem) executes lucrative
contracts for the armies of the Queen of Hungary :
nothing more fierce than his mocking of "the
phantom" of the Imperial army, of the conceited
futility of the minor Courts, of the peddling formal-
ism of "these cursed old fogies of Hanover," of
the empty pride of the estate-less petty feudal
nobility {Junkertum) in Saxony and Mecklenburg,
of "the whole breed of princes and peoples in
Austria" -- "who bends his knee to the great
ones of this world, he knows them not! "
In full consciousness of superiority, he holds out
the healthy reality of his modern State beside the
shadowy conceptions of the Imperial Law ; a sullen
ill-nature speaks from his letters when he lets "the
pedants of Regensburg" experience the iron
necessity of war. Frederick fulfils in the deed
what the wrangling publicists of the past centuries,
Hippolithus and Severinus, have attempted only
with words; he holds the "fearfully corpse-like
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? Frederick the Great 133
face of Germany" up to the mirror, proves before
all the world the irretrievable rottenness of the
Holy (Roman) Empire.
Well-meaning contemporaries may have blamed
him, because he delivers up the time-honoured
community to ridicule; posterity thanks him,
for he brings truth to honour again in German
politics, as Martin Luther once brought it in
German thought and faith.
Frederick had appropriated that severe Pro-
testant view of German history and Imperial
politics which had prevailed among the freer in-
tellects of Prussia since Pufendorf and Thomasius,
and then, with the embittering experiences of his
tyrannized youth, cultivated them further, rigor-
ously and independently.
In the rising of the Schmalkaldener, in the
Thirty- Years' War, in all the confusion of the last
two centuries, he saw nothing but the unceasing
struggle of German freedom against the despotism
of the House of Austria, which governed the weaker
princes as slaves "with an iron rod, " and left only
the strong free to do as they chose. Not without
arbitrariness he arranged the facts of history
according to this one-sided view; one-sidedness
turned towards light and life is, after all, the privi-
lege of the creative genius.
