No More Learning

I will now give up to you the knowledge of man,
though at his expense. Believe me, he is always
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? Frederick the Great 65
delivered up to his passions; vanity is at the bot-
tom of all his thirst after glory, and his virtues
are all founded on his self-interest and ambition.
Have you a mind to pass for a hero ? Make boldly
your approaches to crimes. Would you like to be
thought virtuous? Learn to appear artfully what
you are not.
s
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? MORNING THE FIFTH
ON POLITICS OF THE STATE
THESE politics may be reduced to three heads,
or principles. The first, self-preservation,
and aggrandizement, according to circumstances.
Second, alliances never to be made but for one's
own advantage. And the third, to make one's self
respected and feared in the most difficult times.
PRINCIPLE THE FIRST
OF SELF-PRESERVATION AND AGGRANDIZEMENT
On my ascending to the throne, I visited the
coffers of my father. His great economy, I found,
had put me in a condition of conceiving great
projects. Soon afterwards I made a review of my
troops, and fine ones they appeared to me: upon
which I returned to my coffers, and took out of
them wherewith to double my military force.
As I had then just rendered my power twice as
great as it was before, it was natural for me not
to be contented with only preserving what I had,
so that I was q,uickly determined to avail myself
of the first opportunity that should offer. In the
meanwhile I exercised my troops, and used my
66
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? Confessions of Frederick the Great 67
best endeavours to draw the eyes of all Europe
on my manoeuvres; I renewed them every year,
in order to appear more and more master of the
art of war; and at length I obtained my wish of
procuring a general attention.
I turned the head of all the powers, and all the
world gave themselves up for lost, if their military
did not move head, legs, and arms, a la mode of the
Prussian exercise. All my soldiers and my officers
took it into their heads that they were twice the
men they were before on seeing they were every-
where aped.
When my troops had thus acquired an advan-
tage over all the others, I had nothing to do but to
examine what pretensions it was possible for me
to form upon different provinces. Four different
points offered themselves to my view: Silesia,
Polish Prussia, Dutch Gueldre and Swedish Pome-
rania.
I fixed, however, on Silesia, both because that
object deserved my attention more than all the
others put together, and because the circumstances
were more favourable to me.
I left to time the care of the execution of my
projects on the other points. I will not here
enter on a demonstration to you of the validity of
my pretensions on Silesia, I took care to have it
established by my orators. The empress-queen
opposed hers to them, and the cause was pleaded
and decided by great guns, small arms, and sabres.
But let me return to those favourable circum-
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? 68 The Confessions of
stances I intimated: thus it was that they pre-
sented themselves. France wanted to take the
empire out of the hands of the House of Austria : --
there was nothing I wished for more. France also
had a mind to form in Italy a state for the Infant :
-- this too I liked, because it could not be done but
at the expense of the empress-queen. In short,
France had conceived the noble project of march-
ing to the gates of Vienna: -- that was the very
point I waited for, that I might seize upon Silesia.
Be then, my dear nephew, provided of money;
wait for circumstances; and be assured of not
barely preserving your dominions, but of aggran-
dizing them. There are certain small politicians
who pretend, that, when a state is arrived at a
certain point, it ought not to think of aggrandize-
ment, because the system of the balance of power
has limited each state to a certain fixed extent.
I remember that the ambition of Lewis XlVth
had like to have cost France dear, and I am not
insensible of all the disquiet that mine has given
me : I know, also, that France, in the midst of her
greatest disasters, disposed of a crown, and pre-
served the provinces she had conquered; and
you may, as to myself, see, that, amidst all the
storm that threatened me, I have lost nothing;
so that everything depends on the circumstances
of the times, and on the courage of him that takes
and holds.
You cannot, my dear nephew, conceive how
important it is for a king and a state to go often
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? Frederick the Great 69
out of the common road; it is only by the mar-
vellous that one can strike an awe into others, or
get a great name.
The Balance is a word that has subdued the
whole world, by the light in which it was con-
sidered of its securing a constant possession;
and yet, in truth, this same Balance is no more
than a bare word, an empty sound; for Europe
is a family in which there are too many bad brokers
and quarrelsome relations.
I go farther yet, dear nephew : it is by the con-
tempt of this system that one must come at any-
thing that is great. Behold the English, they
have put the sea in chains; that fierce unruly
element no longer dares carry any vessels but
with their permission.
From all this, it results, that it is good policy to
be always attempting something, and to be per-
fectly persuaded that we have a right to everything
that suits us.
You must only take care not to make, with too
much vanity, too open a proclamation of such
pretensions; and especially to maintain at your
court two or three persons of eloquence, and leave
it in charge with them to justify you.
PRINCIPLE THE SECOND
ON ALLIANCES
To form alliances for one's advantage is a great
maxim of state, and there are no powers that can
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? 70 The Confessions of
answer to themselves a neglect of it. Thence, by
clear inference, it follows, that you should break
an alliance as soon as ever it becomes prejudicial
to you.
In my first war with the Queen of Hungary, I
abandoned France at Prague, because I got Silesia
by the bargain. If I had escorted the French
safe to Vienna, they would never have given me
so much. Some years after I renewed with them,
because I had a mind to attempt the conquest of
Bohemia, and thought it best to keep measures
with this power, against I might have occasion for
its assistance. Since that time I have neglected
that nation, in order to come in with another
that offered me more.
When Prussia, dear nephew, shall have made
her fortune, it will be time enough for her to give
herself an air of fidelity to engagements and of
constancy; an air, which, at the most, becomes
none but great states or little sovereigns. I have
already, dear nephew, told you that politics and
villainy are almost synonymous terms, and I told
you the truth. And yet you will, on this head,
find some people who have formed to themselves
certain systems of probity; so that you may
hazard anything by means of your ambassadors.
I have found some that have served me in very
delicate occasions, and who, to come at a mystery,
would have rummaged or picked the pockets of
a king.
Let your choice fall especially on those who have
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? Frederick the Great 71
the talent of expressing themselves in vague,
indefinite, terms, or in squinting and perplexed
phrases. You would not do amiss to have at your
devotion some political physicians and locksmiths ;
they may sometimes be of great use to you. I
know, by experience, all the advantages that may
be gained by their means.
PRINCIPLE THE THIRD
OF INSPIRING RESPECT AND FEAR
To make one's self respected and feared by one's
neighbours is the very summit of high policy.
This end is to be achieved by two means: -- the
first, is to have a real force and effectual resources;
-- the second, is to make the most of the strength
one has. -- Now we are not within the first case,
and that is the reason of my having neglected
nothing that might make me shine in the second.
There are powers who imagine that an embassy
should always be sent with great splendour, and
cut a great figure. Monsieur de Richelieu, how-
ever, only served at Vienna to put the French
into a ridiculous light; for the Austrians con-
cluded, that the whole nation smelt as strong of
musk and amber as he that represented it.
As for me, I rather hold that it is more by the
noble manner in which an ambassador makes his
master speak, than by the parade of his equipages
or retinue, that he gains a true or valuable respect;
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? 72 The Confessions of
-- ^it is for this reason that I propose never more
to employ ambassadors, but only envoys. Besides,
the first of these characters is too difficult to fill
suitably, as it requires a man of great note or
distinction, very rich, and who understands politics
perfectly; whereas, with this last advantage only,
an envoy may serve sufficiently for the purpose.
By adopting this system, you will every year
save a considerable sum, and your business will
be as well done. There are, however, some occa-
sions, in which it is necessary to show away with
some magnificence; as, for example, when you
come to a rupture with a court, or make an alliance,
or for a nuptial ceremony. But these embassies
must be ever considered as extraordinary.
Never ask faintly, but seem rather to demand.
If you have any cause of discontent given you,
reserve your revenge for the moment in which you
may obtain the most complete satisfaction, but
especially do not stand in fear of reprisals; your
glory will not suffer for it, it will only be so much
the worse for those of your subjects on whom
the damage may fall. It must, then, be your great
aim that all your neighbours should be persuaded
that you fear nothing, and that nothing can as-
tonish you.
Endeavour, above all things, to pass with them
for one of a dangerous cast of mind, who knows no
other principles but those that lead to military
fame. Manage so that they may be fully con-
vinced that you would sooner lose two kingdoms
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? Frederick the Great 73
than not play a part that may transmit you to
posterity. As these sentiments are those of a
soul above the common order, they strike, they
confound, the greatest part of mankind; and it
is this that, in truth, constitutes in the world the
greatest monarchs.
When a stranger comes to your court, overwhelm
him with civilities, and especially try to have
him always near you ; this will be the best way to
keep concealed from him the defects of your
government.
If he is a military man, let the exercise of your
regiments be performed before him, and let it be
yourself that commands them. If he is a wit who
has composed a work, let him see it lying on your
table, and talk to him of his talents. If he is in a
mercantile life, listen to him with affability, caress
him, and try to fix him in your country.
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? MORNING THE SIXTH
MILITARY
A CELEBRATED author has compared the
mihtary to mastiffs which ought to be
chained up carefully, and ought not to be loosed
except when necessary. The comparison is rather
strained, but, for all that, it will serve you, not as a
maxim, but as a warning.
You have been able to learn in the two cam-
paigns which you have made with me the spirit of
officer and soldier, and you have been able to per-
ceive that in general they are veritable machines,
with no other forward movement than that which
you give them.
You persuade these troops that they are superior
to those whom you oppose to them; a mere no-
thing makes them believe that they are weaker;
it is, however, these nothings which make the
glory or disgrace of a general.
Therefore apply yourself to get a good know-
ledge of the causes which produce them. I go
further, and say that it is the nothings which create
the enthusiasm, and if once you can confer it on
your army, you can count on victory.
I will not recall here that which you will have
74
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? Confessions of Frederick the Great 75
noticed in history, but remember only the Rus-
sians, and you will acknowledge that only inspired
beasts could stand being slaughtered like them.
My kingdom, by its nature, is military, and,
shortly speaking, it is only by its assistance that
you can hope to sustain and aggrandize your-
self. It is necessary, therefore, that your atten-
tion should always be fixed on this. But you
must take care that the military should not per-
ceive that they are your only resoiu"ce. When I
took over the reins of Government, I looked into
this to the bottom, and corrected it ; but it was not
without much trouble that I arrived at the goal
of my design, for your officer does not readily bend
to new regulations, above all when it touches his
own personal interest. You can judge of this by
two examples.
The captains had each a district (canton) for
recruiting. Every male infant who was born in
that canton was by right his captain's soldier, and
was registered as such from the cradle.
It is true that his father could buy him out,
but if that captain happened to die, the buying out
was annulled, and the infant became once more by
right the soldier of the new captain.
You understand well what authority this captain
exercised in this unhappy canton; he became its
tyrant.
During the lifetime of my father I was several
times offended with this, and when I became the
Master, I resolved to abolish such an oppression.
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? 76 The Confessions of
However, you must not offend the old soldiers who
know nothing but their routine, above all, when
it is advantageous to them.
I amassed proofs, therefore, and soon had more
than I wanted. They showed me, among others,
that Captain Colan, of the Regiment of Opo (in-
fantry), had drawn from his canton in ten years
more than fifty thousand crowns, and they made
me see that there was in general no captain who
did not derive a revenue of two thousand crowns
from the cotmtry under him.
Accordingly, I reformed this abuse, but, believe
me, most of my generals wished to prove to me
that it was a great advantage for me, because by
it one was surer of training a soldier as one wished,
and one knew his character from his infancy. And,
in fine, a thousand other like stupidities.
Believe me, also, that in spite of the most abso-
lute orders, there were majors who always went
this way, and that I was obliged to cashier two or
three who would not submit.
My father had a passion for tall men : he adored
the captains who got most of them : it was enough
for a soldier to be six feet two or three inches
for him to be allowed to do anything, and a captain
who had twenty of this height was sure to enjoy
the good graces of the King. From this sprang
a lax and very variable discipline, and a service
of parade.
As I did not have the same taste, I did not make
any exceptions. I wished the tall to be punished
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? Frederick the Great 77
in the same way as the short: I only took into
consideration the goodness of the soldier, and not
his height.
This conduct displeased my officers
very much, as well as my giants. The former were
alarmed by the desertions, which, in truth, were
then considerable. Because the great statures
were not respected, they had even the effrontery
to tell me that a man of six feet two or three
inches deserved consideration, and ought not to be
subjected to ordinary discipHne. I asked them the
reason for it: they did not know what to reply:
in consequence of which the difference soon ceased
to exist.
You can see by these two examples how much
the particular interest is reckoned above the gen-
eral interest, and at the same time the attention
which you ought to pay to the representations
of the military, when you touch their pockets.
You must take great care, my dear nephew, not
to confuse the word discipline: it is a word which
can only draw its signification from the spirit of
the faculties and the situation in the state of
which you employ it. It means that each state
ought to have its special discipHne, and it is mad
for it to wish to adopt that of its neighbour. I
am going to make you understand this by my own
position.
A very wise regulation made by my father was
the foiindation of our modem discipline. Listen
to it well. Following this rule each captain is
obliged to have two thirds of his company foreign-
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? 78 The Confessions of
ers. But to make these foreigners feel more like
citizens, and to make their lot, which is really
rather an unhappy one, since they have no hope of
seeing it finish, pleasanter, we have thought that
we ought to bestow upon these poor people that
air of freedom and authority over the rest of man-
kind which they like to assume.
And in consequence we do not pay much atten-
tion to the little tricks which they play in the
garrisons: we grant them in this respect a sort
of independence which makes them forget their
misfortunes: they think themselves somebodies,
and this idea alone saves them from despair.
This discipline does not agree badly with my
subjects who are soldiers: by this means they
contract an advantageous idea of their trade, and
little by little they accustom themselves to regard
it as a profession.
We believe that discipline alone constitutes a
soldier. We are mistaken; it is oftener the tone
which we give him: I have proved this in my
recent wars, where I had not already done so in
my former wars.
The armies of the Empire and Sweden filled my
ranks every day, and these men had no sooner
donned my uniform than they were Prussians,
and in the first encounter one could only recognize
them by their singular valour. Discipline itself
must be subordinate to such circumstances, it
could not be so good if it was always equal.
When I commenced war my troops recognized
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? Frederick the Great 79
me, and most of my soldiers loved me, because I
paid them, fed them and entertained them well.
At the same time, I was severe, and expected my
orders to be executed with the utmost rigour; I
passed nothing, especially when they were under
arms.
After two campaigns I changed this severity for
pleasantness. I had nothing but deserters for
recruiting my army. I could neither pay them
nor feed them nor maintain them well. I was
obliged to pay them in debased money. It was
my belief that I ought to attach them to myself by
some means at some point. I tried to inspire
them with an air of jollity, and relaxed my hand on
marauding: I pretended not to mind when they
took the roof off a house to make their fires, and
I spared no effort to make them think well of
themselves; I shut my eyes to many small negli-
gences in their service; I only punished them
lightly. When a regiment played up a little too
much, I sent it to Saxony, and my brother Henry,
who was in the secret, put matters on a proper
footing, because his army was only engaged in
observation.
Your principal object, my dear nephew, ought
to be to create good officers and good generals,
so you ought to make a plan of discipline, and
still more, of conduct for them. Behold what I
have done up to the present in this line.
In time of peace as well as in time of war, I go
into the smallest details with them. Every officer
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? 8o The Confessions of
is under the belief that he is known to me person-
ally, and there is no general with whom I am not
in relation. Although they play the chief role in
my dominions, they are no more than the head
slaves. An officer and a general cannot leave his
post without proper permission; and if either did
leave it without my permission, it is a hanging
matter. By this means, when I have a valuable
man, I keep him always.
The most fortunate officers have three years of
misery and humiliation to go through (at the
beginning of their careers). Of misery because
they have wretched appointments, and of humilia-
tion because the discipline is terrible. To recom-
pense them, I make their lot very honourable when
they come to the higher ranks. But, even then,
they have no chance of retiring.
In the present war I have not named one of
them to a command, to a provincial governorship
or a headquarters' appointment which has fallen
vacant. To give my officers ambition, I give them
great distinction for brilliant performances. In
the battle of Rosbach I embraced a cavalry major
in the middle of the action, and I conferred the
Order of True Merit on an officer in the field. At
Dresden I sent my carriage for the lieutenant in
the Guards who had been wounded after having
attacked the same entrenchment four times. And
I gave him his company.
To inspire them with a contempt for death, I
had the famous ode of General Keith recited to
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? Frederick the Great 8i
them, and I had the libre avoitre preached to them
all through the war.
While I had the money I paid them well, and
when my resources were diminished, I debased the
coinage. But I overlooked some of the little
tricks which they played upon their hosts, when
times became harder, and I let them be witnesses
of my misfortimes; I gave them the idea that
their constancy was the only thing which could res-
cue us from our embarrassments, which have really
been very lamentable in the latest campaigns.
I do not know how I succeeded in reducing to
the greatest exactitude in the army those who
were regular bandits, and who had an air of the
greatest arrogance. I appeared to inspire them
with a way of thinking to suit the circumstances.
They were Arabs who crushed the country but won
the battles.
The same spirit animated, more or less, the
general officers: I closed my eyes to all the op-
pressions which they committed ; they worked for
me in working for themselves. In which way
it was necessary that we should live together.
Everyone told me that Major Keller, the Com-
mandant at Leipzig, was feathering his nest. I
knew it well, but other people did not know that
he was worth millions a year to me.
As one gets accustomed little by little to his
ease, and as one learns more and more how to live
well, I had generals who were not too anxious to
seek glory in the heat of the fray. I knew them
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? 82 The Confessions of
well, and I explained to them generally the neces-
sity of showing themselves well and confronting
the greatest dangers. I preached by shewing them
the way, and made two or three examples. From
this moment everybody was dauntless.
When you give a command, leave nothing to
be brought home by your generals: confer an air
of superiority always on the Profession of Arms.
But always attribute to your generals the disaster
of a battle, or the disastrous result of a campaign.
You have seen how I punished Le Kizel^ and
Fink^ for the surrender at Maxin, Zartroit^ for the
surrender at Schweidnitz, and Roule"* for having
advised the surrender of the citadel of Gratz. ^
In point of fact, none of these were their fault:
they were mine.
You are not, my dear nephew, in a position to
exercise a very rigorous discipline, and you are
obliged to avoid increasing the yoke; real men
are rare in your dominions, and foreigners cost too
much for you to take them. You need not alter
the administration of justice in your regiments,
but you should make the death penalty very rare.
Make your surgeons observe the same principles
as I have impressed upon them, with regard to
the arms and legs of your soldiers and your officers.
Do not demand from a subaltern anything more
than good routine, because you have no need for
^ A misspelling which cannot be identified. * Should be
FiNCK. 3 Should be Zastrow. * Should be Fouquet. s Should
be Glatz.
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? Frederick the Great 83
him to know anything more. But demand from
a higher officer genius and theory; and, above all,
make a point of not confusing details with great
principles, and especially make a great difference
between a good quartermaster and a great general,
because you can be one without being the other.
I am now coming to the point of my theories
about common soldiers and subaltern officers. It
is a question now of laying before your eyes the
ideas I have maintained in my recent campaigns.
When I saw that France, the Queen of Hungary
(Maria Theresa) and Russia were against me, I
abandoned half my dominions in order to concen-
trate and put myself in a condition to be able
to invade Saxony.
This manoeuvre was universally attributed to a
fine stroke of politics. It was really due to neces-
sity, because I should none the less have lost all
my dominions if I have been crushed in defending
them.
Before the commencement of the war I laid down
a system which I have never abandoned: I have
always hung on with the greatest obstinacy to
part of Saxony: and though I have been sur-
rounded on all sides, I have never been willing to
retire from this country, and I was well advised,
for I should have been lost without power of
recovery.
I know well that it is considered extraordinary
that I have allowed Berlin to be laid under contri-
bution twice, and that all the towns in my kingdom,
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? 84 The Confessions of
except five or six, have been taken. But every-
thing has been given back to me, as the price of
retiring from Saxony.
If you were to consult my subjects at the present
moment, I believe that you would find that the
enthusiasm is a little dwindled. I am persuaded
myself that they have long ago begun to reckon the
obligations of a prince to his subjects.
I had made the late war as a pupil. Marshal
d'Anhalt^ and Marshal de Schwerin gave battle;
I only figured in the battles. In this campaign
my amour propre had desired to play the leading
part. I had need of Marshal Schwerin ; I felt that
he was necessary; but I was jealous of his glory.
It is certain that if he had not been killed, I should
have been ungrateful.
People pay me, my dear nephew, a little more
honour than I deserve. For since his death I
have made several bad mistakes. I lost the battle
of Kollin and raised the siege of Prague quite un-
necessarily; I made a false move when I arrived
in Moravia, and Marshal Daun, like a good Gen-
eral, had secured Olmiitz before he left Vienna.
At Maxin I lost fifteen thousand men by pig-
headedness, and ignorance, because I did not see
that Marshal Daun had advanced with his army.
General Laudon profited by a false move which
I made to take me in the- flank at Schweidnitz;
I let him crush poor Fouquet before Glatz.
I should have lost the battle of Torgau if Mar-
* Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau -- the old Dessauer.
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? Frederick the Great 85
shal Daun had not been wounded, and the Russians
have beaten me three times out of four; I have
never been able to retake Dresden; and I have
been fifty-nine days in the open trenches before
Schweidnitz.
For all that, I am a general, and no one could
dispute that I have great abilities, for, if I have
lost battles, I have won them also, and I have
niade retreats which have won me infinite honour ;
I have discovered admirable expedients for extri-
cating myself from the most cruel embarrassments.
But, my dear nephew, what has saved me is my
desperateness and my vanity. I have preferred
to be buried under the ruins of my kingdom to
yielding, and it is my obstinacy which has worn
everyone out. A man can try this once, but if he
is wise he does not expose himself to it a second
time.
At present, while I am in cold blood, I see all my
glory vanishing in smoke; I have made a noise,
but what have I gained? Nothing! On the con-
trary, I have lost much since the election of the
King of the Romans has taken place.
You know the ambition of our house, and I
assure you that I shall die of grief if I do not
make the Empire pass to some Protestant Prince.
But what afflicts me most is the state of affairs
in my own dominions. When I compare the situa-
tion of my kingdom in '56 with its situation to-
day, I am confounded. I must lay it before you
in order that, in advance, you may come to the
? ? 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
? 86 The Confessions of
resolution of sacrificing everything to re-establish
it.
Since '56 I have lost by fighting more than three
hundred thousand men. The population is de-
creased by more than one third, the number of
horses and other animals by more than a half;
the treasure accumulated by my father has been
consumed, and my coinage is debased by one
tenth. All the Provinces pay twice as heavily as
they did in '56, by the interest of the money which
they have been obliged to borrow for the contribu-
tions of which it is impossible for me to keep count.
I have no commerce outside of my kingdom,
because my money loses too much in exchange
abroad, and the bankruptcy of M. Donenville has
made me lose all my credit.
The majority of my magazines are empty, my
artillery is very bad, and I have very few muni-
tions of war left; it is this which determines me
to demolish most of my fortifications: for I am
no longer in a condition to put the places which
I have abandoned in a state of defence.
Otherwise, in a moment, if I were to come to
have war, it would be absolutely impossible for
me to guard them.
You see by this that you have no more than one
step to take to be ruined, and that would be to
undertake a new war, for however glorious it might
be for you, it would crush you.
The only way of re-establishing yourself is to
make an alliance with England to pay you heavy
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? Frederick the Great 87
subsidies to conduct the campaign, and to keep
within your borders as long as possible.
It would not be a question of waging an offensive
war; you would no longer be in a condition to
reassemble large armies, because you could not
supply them either with provisions or with muni-
tions of war. It would only, therefore, be in the
last extremity that you ought to advance.
In what situation would you find yourself, if
your dominions were once more the prey of the
enemy? How would your dominions pay in the
future the interest on the contributions they had
borrowed? To what extent would your people
not suffer, and how far would the deficiency in
animals not go?
As for me, I cannot resist the sad ideas which
this picture presents to me. I know the reputa-
tion which I bear throughout Europe, of loving
war, and I confess that it is my passion, but I
know its calamities, and I yield to the evidence.
It is not possible to do this, because I should risk
the entire ruin of my dominions.