And that the Holy Ghost may the clearer appear
to preside in this assembly, it will be agreed to
decide everything honestly according to common
sense.
to preside in this assembly, it will be agreed to
decide everything honestly according to common
sense.
Treitschke - 1915 - Confessions of Frederick the Great
We
could, in the empire, reckon fifty princes in no
point inferior to us; and, properly speaking, we
were but one of the branches of the great sconce
or chandelier of the empire. William the Great,
by the splendour of his actions, raised our family
into pre-eminence; and at length, in 1701 (the
date, you see, is not a very ancient one), vanity
placed a crown on the head of my grandfather; and
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? Frederick the Great 37
it is to this epoch that we ought to refer our true
existence, since it put us into a condition of act-
ing on the footing of kings, and of treating, upon
terms of equality, with all the powers of the earth.
Were we to estimate the virtues of our ancestors,
we might easily conclude, that it is not to any
eminence in them that our family owes its aggran-
dizement. The greatest part of our princes
have been rather remarkable for misconduct;
but it was chance and circumstances that have
been of service to us. I would even have you to
observe, that the first diadem that bound our
brows was placed on one of the vainest and lightest
of heads, and that head on a body crooked and
humpbacked.
And here, I am aware, my dear nephew, that
I am leaving you in the dark as to our origin. It
has been pretended that that same Coimt of
Hohenzollern was of a great family; but, in truth,
few ever appeared in the world so bare of titles.
However, at the worst, it is indisputable that we
are of an ancient noble extraction: good, good
gentlemen, in short; let us stick to that.
THE SITUATION OF MY KINGDOM
As to this point, I am not so well off as I could
wish. To convince yourself of which, cast your
eyes over the map, and you will see that the great-
est part of my territories is dispersed or divided in
such a manner, that they cannot mutually assist
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? 38 The Confessions of
each other. I have no great rivers that run
through my provinces; some border upon them,
but few intersect them. ^
OF THE SOIL OF MY TERRITORIES
A third at least of my dominions Hes in waste;
another third is in woods, waters, or marshes.
The third, which is cultivated, produces nor wine,
nor olives, nor mulberry- trees. No fruits nor
garden-stuff come to anything, without great care,
and very few to the true point of perfection. I
have only a" few parts in which the wheat and rye
have some reputation.
OF THE MANNERS OF THE INHABITANTS
Under this head I have nothing particular or
decisive to pronounce, because my kingdom is
but a kind of mosaic, made up of various pieces.
All that I can, with any certainty, say, is, that, in
general, my subjects are hardy and brave, uncuri-
ous as to eating, but fond of drinking ; tyrants on
their estates, and slaves in my service; insipid
lovers, and surly husbands ; of a wondrously cold,
phlegmatic turn, which I take to be at the bottom,
rank stupidity; good civilians, little of philo-
sophers, less of poets, and still less of orators;
' The situation, extent, and soil, of the territories of the great
Frederick, have been wonderfully changed of late years; changed
upon his own principles, too, as will appear hereafter. -- Note oj
eighteenth century translator.
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? Frederick the Great 39
affecting a great plainness in their dress, but
imagining themselves dressed in high taste, with
a little bag and a great hat, boots up to their waist,
a little cane, a very short coat, with a very long
waistcoat.
As to the women, they are almost all fat, and
special breeders; they have great gentleness, love
their domestic employment, and are commonly
faithful enough to their husbands. As to the
girls, they enjoy the privileges in fashion; to
which I have so little objection, that I have, in
my memoirs, sought to excuse their weaknesses.
I hold it good policy to give those pretty creatures
all the ease and freedom that may be, to prevent
their learning a horrid practice, by means of which
they might amuse themselves without fear of
consequences, but which would cause a notable
prejudice to the state. Nay, to encourage them
the more to population, I take care in my regi-
ments to give the preference to the fruit of their
amours; and, if the offspring of an officer, I make
him an ensign, and often raise him to higher rank
before his turn.
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? MORNING THE SECOND
ON RELIGION
RELIGION is absolutely necessary in a state.
This is a maxim which it would be madness
to dispute; and a king must know very little of
politics, indeed, that should suffer his subjects to
make a bad use of it ; but then it would not be very
wise in a king to have any religion himself. Mark
well, my dear nephew, what I here say to you;
there is nothing that tyrannizes more over the head
and heart than religion; because it neither agrees
with our passions, nor with those great political
views which a monarch ought to have. The
true religion of a prince is his interest and his
glory. He ought, by his royal station, to be dis-
pensed from having any other. He may, indeed,
preserve outwardly a fair occasional appearance,
for the sake of amusing those who are about him,
or who watch his motions and character.
If he fears God, or, to speak as the priests and
women do, if he fears hell, like Lewis XlVth,^
in his old age, he is apt to become timorous,
childish, and fit for nothing but to be a capuchin.
' And, it might be added, ewis XVI. -- Vide Madame Roland.
-- Footnote of eighteenth century translator.
40
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? Confessions of Frederick the Great 41
If the point is to avail himself of a favourable
moment for seizing a province, ^ an army of devils,
to defend it, present themselves to his imagination;
we are, on that supposition, weak enough to think
it an injustice, and we proportion in our conscience,
the punishment to the crime. Should it be neces-
sary to make a treaty with other powers, if we
remember that we are Christians, we are undone;
all would be over with us ; we should be constantly
bubbles. As to war, it is a trade, in which any the
least scruple would spoil everything, and, indeed,
what man of honour would ever make war, if he
had not the right to make rules that should author-
ize plunder, fire, and carnage?
I do not, however, mean that one should make
a proclamation of impiety and atheism; but it
is right to adapt one's thoughts to the rank one
occupies. All the popes, who had common sense,
have held no principles of religion but what
favoured their aggrandizement. It would be the
silliest thing imaginable, if a prince were to confine
himself to such paltry trifles as were contrived
only for the common people. Besides, the best
way for a prince to keep fanaticism out of his
country is for him to have the most cool indiffer-
ence for reHgion. BeHeve me, dear nephew, that
holy mother of ours has her little caprices, hke any
woman, and is commonly as inconstant. Attach
yourself, then, dear nephew, to true philosophy,
' Alas, unhappy Poland! -- Footnote of eighteenth century
translator.
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? 42 The Confessions of
which is ever consolatory, luminous, courageous,
dispassionate, and inexhaustible as Nature. You
will then soon see, that you will not have, in your
kingdom, any material dispute about religion ; for _
parties are never formed but on the weakness of
princes, or on that of their ministers.
There is one important reflection I would with
you make; it is this: your ancestors have, in
this matter, conducted their operations with the
greatest political dexterity; they introduced a
reformation which gave them the air of apostles
at the same time that it was filling their purse.
Such a revolution was, without doubt, the most
reasonable that could ever happen in such a point
as this: but, since there is now hardly anything
left to be got in that way, and that, in the present
position of things, it would be dangerous to tread
in their footsteps, it is therefore even best to
stick to toleration. Retain well, dear nephew,
the principle I am now to inculcate to you: let
it be your rule of government, that men are to
worship the Divinity in their own way; for, should
you appear in the least neglectful of this in-
dulgence, all would be lost and undone in yoiir
dominions.
Have you a mind to know why my kingdom is
composed of so many sects? I will tell you: in
certain provinces the Calvinists are in possession
of all the offices and posts; in others, the Lutherans
have the same advantage. There are some, where
the Catholics are so predominant, that the king
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? Frederick the Great 43
can only send there one or two Protestant deputies ;
and, of all the ignorant and blind fanatics, I dare
aver to you that the Papists are the most fiery
and the most atrocious. The priests in their
senseless religion are untameable wild beasts,
that preach up a blind submission to their wills,
and exercise a complete despotism. They are
assassins, robbers, violators of faith, and inex-
pressibly ambitious.
Mark but Rome! Observe with what a stupid
effrontery she dares arrogate to herself dominion
over the princes of the earth! As to the Jews,
they are little vagrants, poor devils, that at
bottom are not so black as they are painted.
Almost everywhere rebuffed, hated, persecuted;
they pay with tolerable exactness, those who en-
dure them, and take their revenge by bubbling
all the simpletons they can light on.
As our ancestors made themselves in the ninth
century. Christians, out of complaisance to the
emperors; in the fifteenth, Lutherans, in order to
seize the possessions of the church ; and Calvinists,
in the sixteenth, to please the Dutch, upon the
account of the succession of Cleves; I do not see
why we should not make ourselves indifferent to
all these religions for the sake of maintaining tran-
quillity in our dominions.
My father had formed an excellent project, but
it did not succeed with him. He had engaged the
President Laen to compose for him a small treatise
on religion, which was to procure a coalition of the
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? ;
44 The Confessions of
three sects into one. The president abused the
Pope, hinted that St. Joseph was a soft simpleton,
took the dog of St. Roc by the ears, and pulled
St. Anthony's pig by the tail; he expressed no faith
in the story of the chaste Susannah, he looked on
St. Bernard and St. Dominic as courtiers that were
refined cheats, and protested against the canoniza-
tion of St. Francis de Sales for a saint. The eleven
thousand virgins met with no more quarter from
his credulity than all the saints and martyrs of
the Jesuit Loyola.
As to the mysteries, he agreed that no explana-
tion of them should be attempted, but that good
sense ought to be put into everything, while he was
by no means for being tied up to the mere sound
of words. As to the Lutherans, he was for making
of them the centre-point of union and of rest. He
wanted the Catholics to be, in appearance, some-
what less faithful to the court of Rome; but
then he admitted that the Lutherans ought to
betray less subtility of argument in their disputes.
He insisted, that, on removing certain distinctions
out of the way, the sects would find themselves
very near to each other. He thought there would
be more trouble required to bring the Calvinists to
a reconciliation, because they had more preten-
sions than the Lutherans. In the meanwhile, he
proposed one good expedient, which was, not to
have any but God for one's confidant, on occasion
of taking the communion. He looked on the
worship of images as a bait for the commor* people,
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? Frederick the Great 45
but admitted that it was proper for a country to
have a tutelar Saint of some kind or other.
As to the Monks, he was for expelling them,
because he looked on them as an enemy that
always laid the country under heavy contributions.
But priests, he allowed them their housekeepers
for wives. This scheme made a great noise,
because those good ladies, the three mother-
churches, thought themselves each respectively
aggrieved, and that it was a sacrilege to touch
upon the holy mysteries. But if this essay of a
project had been relished, there would have been
no efforts spared to have effectuated its execution.
I have not, my dear nephew, renounced it, and
I flatter myself that I shall facilitate to you the
execution of it. The great point is, to be useful
to the whole of humankind, by rendering all men
brothers; and by making it a law to them to live
together as friends and relations, by inculcating
to them the absolute necessity of living and of
dying in commutual peace and concord, and to
seek their sole happiness in the social virtues.
When these maxims shall have once taken root
in the rising generations, the fruit of it will be
the world's forming itself into one numerous
family, and the so much celebrated golden age will
come up to that state of felicity which I ardently
wish to mankind, and which it will then enjoy
without adulteration. Now, pray mark what I am
doing for this purpose: I use my best endeavours
that all the writings in my kingdom, on religion,
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? 46 The Confessions of
should breathe the strongest spirit of contempt
for all the reformers that ever were, and I never
slip any the least occasion of unmasking the ambi-
tious views of the court of Rome, of its priests, and
ministers. Thus, little by little, I shall accustom
my subjects to think as I do, and shall detach
them from all prejudices.
But as it is necessary to have some religious
worship, I will, if I live long enough, underhand,
bring into play some man of eloquence, who shall
preach a new one. At first, I will give myself
the air of designing to persecute him: but, little
by little, I will declare myself his defender, and
will, with warmth, embrace his system. And, if
you must know the truth, that system is already
made.
Voltaire has composed the preamble to it; he
proves the necessity of abandoning everything
that has already been said upon religion, because
there is no one point of it upon which everyone is
agreed. He draws the picture of every chief of a
sect with a mildness which bears a kind of resem-
blance to truth. He has dug up certain curious
anecdotes of popes, of bishops, of priests, of
ministers, of the other sects, which diffuse a sin-
gular gaiety over his work. It is written in a
style so close and so rapid as not to leave time for
reflection: and, full as this author is of the most
subtile art, he has the air of the greatest candour
imaginable, while he is advancing the most
doubtful principles.
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? Frederick the Great 47
D'Alembert and Maupertuis have formed the
groundwork of the plan, and the whole is calcu-
lated with such scrupulous exactness, as to tempt
one to believe that they had endeavoured to
demonstrate it to themselves before they sought
to demonstrate it to others. Rousseau has been
at work for these four years past, to obviate all
objections; and I am anticipating in imagination
the pleasure I shall take in mortifying all the
ignorant wretches that shall dare to contradict
me; for there is an army of prelates and priests,
constantly assembled, who are for ever imposing
on the populace, which has neither the capacity
nor the time to reflect. ^ Thence it comes to pass
that, in those countries that swarm with priests,
the people are more unhappy and more ignorant
than in Protestant countries.
The priests are like soldiers, who do mischief
habitually and for amusement. There are already
prepared fifty consequences for every object of
dispute, and, at least, thirty reflections on each
article of the Holy Scriptures. He is even actually
taken up with furnishing proofs that everything,
at present, preached from thence, is but a fable,
that there never was a terrestrial paradise, and
that it is degrading God to believe that he made,
after his own image, a mere idiot, and his most
perfect creature a rank, lewd, jade.
For, in short, adds he, nothing but the length
of the serpent's tail could have seduced Eve; and,
^ So that more countries than one have a swinish multitude.
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? 48 Confessions of Frederick the Great
in that case, it proves there must have been a
horrid disorder of her imagination. ^ The Marquis
d'Argens and M. Formey have prepared the con-
stitution of a coimcil; I am to preside in it, but
without pretending that the Holy Ghost is to give
any the least particle of light to me more than to
the rest. There shall assist at it but one minister
of each sect of religion, and foiu" deputies of every
province, two of which to be of the nobility and
two of the commons, or third estate. All the other
priests, monks and ministers, in general, to be ex-
cluded, as being parties concerned in the matter.
And that the Holy Ghost may the clearer appear
to preside in this assembly, it will be agreed to
decide everything honestly according to common
sense.
' Oh, fie! Frederick !
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? MORNING THE THIRD
ON JUSTICE
TO our subjects we owe justice, as they owe re-
spect to us. ^ By this, I mean, dear nephew,
that we must do justice to all men, and especially
to our subjects, when it does not overset our own
rights, or wound our own authority; for there
ought to be no sort of equality between the right
of the monarch and the right of the subject or
slave. But we must be firmly impartial and just
when the point is to settle a matter of right between
one subject, whatever he may be, and another.
This is an act which is alone enough to make us
adored.
Represent to yourself Charles I brought to the
scaffold by that justice which the people implores,
and demands with a loud voice. I am born with
too much ambition to suffer in my dominion any
order that should cramp my authority, and this
most certainly is the only reason that obliged me
to make a new code of justice. I am very sensible
that I have reduced the old dame from her long
robes to a jacket and petticoat; but I was afraid
' This sentiment need not be quarrelled with, but mark the
explanation.
4 49
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? 50 The Confessions of
of her sharp sight, as I knew her weight with the
people, and knew, withal, that princes of any
dexterity might, at the same time that they were
satisfying their ambition, make themselves adored.
The greatest part of my subjects really believed
that I was moved at the grievances resulting to
them from chicanery, or the tedious processes of
the law. Alas! I own to you, nay, I sometimes
blush to myself for it, that so far from having
had such a relief in view, I am actually regretting
the little advantages those processes used to
procure me; for the taxes on them, and on the
stamped papers made use of in them, have suffered
a diminution, to the detriment of my revenues,
near five hundred thousand livres.
Do not then, my dear nephew, suffer yourself
to be dazzled with the word justice; it is a word
that has different relations, and is susceptible of
different constructions. These are the ideas that
I annex to it :
Justice is the image of God. Now who can
attain to such high perfection? Is it not more
reasonable to give up so vain a project as that of an
entire possession of her? Review all the kingdoms
of the earth, examine and mark whether she is
in any two kingdoms administered in the same
form. Consult next the principles that rule man-
kind, and see whether they and Justice agree.
What is there, then, so extraordinary in a man's
being just after his own way? When I cast my
eyes over all the tribunals of my kingdom, I ob-
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? Frederick the Great 51
served an immense army of lawyers, all presumably
honest men, and yet violently suspected of not
being so. ^
Every tribunal had its superior; I myself had
mine; for even those judgments given by my
council were liable to control or opposition. I
was not angry at this because it was a custom. ^
But on examining, or rather on observing, chican-
ery every day gaining ground, and invading the
property of my subjects, I was frightened at all
^"So are we all; all honourable men! " -- Eighteenth century
translator's note.
' The men of the law can, in process of time, come to such
a pitch, as to be a match for the monarch, to struggle with his
power, and even to overset it. Under a weak prince, surrounded
with ignorant or avaricious ministers, lawyers will start up,
and strengthen themselves with the love of the people, whose
cause they affect to embrace; and, little by little, they will
accomplish their end of breaking, and levelling in the dust, the
idols to which they publicly before burnt incense. Do not
let the shrewd management of the parUaments of France be
forgotten.
Under the pretext of disburthening from the taxes they are
loud for taking off, they exaggerate to the king the public dis-
tresses, they paint the state running to its ruin, they give fresh
spirit to the boldness of its enemies, destroy the patriotism
of the subject, and end with usurping the administration into
which they force themselves.
Instead of doing justice to the wretches whom circumstances
of oppression compel to apply to them, they drag them at their
chariot-wheels, strip them, and send them to die naked on
a dung-hill. All the philosophers of Paris loudly exclaim against
these open depredations exercised on the weak. The men of the
law in that kingdom have been ever depraved, and rapacious of
money. Read the Chancellor de I'HSpital, and you will be con-
vinced of this truth. -- Note by eighteenth century translator.
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? 52 The Confessions of
the immense bewildering labyrinths in which
thousands of my subjects were losing themselves
and being devoured aHve. But what gave me
most disquiet was, the slow, but sure and constant,
march of the people of the law, that spirit of
liberty inseparable from their principles, and that
dextrous management of theirs of preserving their
advantages, and of crushing their enemies, with all
the appearances of the most austere equity.
I made pass in review before my memory all
those acts full of rigour, and often very unaccount-
able, of the parliaments of England and Paris, and
was surprised at some of them being so disgraceful
to the majesty of the throne. It was amidst all
these reflections that I determined to strike at
the foundations of this great power, and it was
only by simplifying it as much as I could, that I
have reduced it to the point at which I wanted it.
You will, perhaps, be surprised, my dear nephew,
that men who have no arms, and who never speak
but with respect of the sacred person of the king,
should be the only people in his kingdom able to
give law to him. It is precisely for these very
reasons that it is not difficult for them to check or
set bounds to our power. There is no suspecting
them of violence, since they always speak to us
with the greatest decency, and our subjects are
soon captivated and led away in chains by that
firm eloquence, which seems never to display itself
but for their happiness and our glory.
I have often reflected on the advantages result-
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? Frederick the Great 53
ing to a kingdom from a body of representatives
of the people, which is a depositary of its laws;
I am even ready to believe that the crown is the
safer on a king's head for its having been given,
or for its being preserved, to him by such a body;
but that he must be strictly an honest man, and
made up of good principles, to permit his actions
to stand every day its scrutiny or examination.
When one has ambition, one must renounce that
plan; I should never have done anything if I
had been cramped. Perhaps I might have ob-
tained the character of a just king, but I should
have missed that of a hero.
The limited monarch is oftener exposed to the
vicissitudes of fortune than the arbitrary despot;
but then the despot must be active, enlightened,
and firm. There are more virtues required to
give a lustre to a state of despotism than to that
of monarchy.
The courtier flatters the monarch, soothes his
vices, and deceives him; the slave prostrates
himself, but gives him right information. It is,
then, of more use to a great man to reign arbi-
trarily, but more grievous to the people to live
under such a government.
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? MORNING THE FOURTH
ON POLITICS
SINCE it has been agreed among men that to
cheat or deceive one's fellow-creatures is a
mean and criminal action, there has been sought
for, and invented, a term that might soften the
appellation of the thing, and the word, wnich
undoubtedly has been chosen for the purpose, is
Politics. Now the word has only been found out
in favour of sovereigns, because we cannot quite
so decently be called rogues and rascals. But,
be that as it may, this is what I think as to politics.
I understand, then, by this word, dear nephew,
that we are ever to try to cheat others. It is the
way to have the advantage, or, at least, to be on a
footing with the rest of mankind. For you may
rest persuaded that all the states of the world run
the same career. Now this principle being once
settled, never be ashamed of making alliances, and
of being yourself the only party that draws advan-
tage from them. Do not commit that stupid fault
of not abandoning them whenever it is your
interest so to do; and especially maintain vigor-
ously this maxim, that stripping your neighbours
4 54
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? Confessions of Frederick the Great 55
is only to take away from them the means of
doing you a mischief.
It is politics, properly speaking, that found
kingdoms and preserve them; so that, dear
nephew, it is fit that you understand them thor-
oughly, and conceive them in their clearest light.
For this purpose, I shall make two divisions of
them to you, the one politics of the state, and
the other private politics ; the first turns on the
great interests of the kingdom; the other on the
particular interests of the king, and of this we shall
first treat.
ON private politics
A prince ought never to present to view but
the fairest aspect of character, and this is a point
to which you must pay a very serious attention.
When I was only prince royal, I had very little
of a military turn; I loved my ease and the
pleasures of the table, and, as to love, I made it
on all sides.
When I came to be king, I appeared the soldier,
the philosopher, the poet; I lay upon straw, I
ate ammunition-bread at the head of my camp;
I drank very little before my subjects, and appeared
to have a contempt for women.
As for my personal conduct, it is this: in my
journeys I always go without a guard, and travel
night and day; my train is far from numerous,
but well chosen. My carriage is plain, but then
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? 56 The Confessions of
it is hung upon special easy springs, and I sleep
in it as well as in my bed.
I seem to have no nicety about my eating and
drinking. A lacquey, a cook, a confectioner, are
all the menials I have for providing my table. I
order my own dinner myself, and it is not what I
acquit myself the worst of, as I know the country ;
and whatever I call for, of wild game, of fish, or
butcher's meat, it is always sure to be of the best
produce of the land.
When I come to a place of inhabitants, I have
always a fatigued air, and show myself to the
people in a very shabby surtout and a wig ill
combed.
These are trifles, but trifles that often make a
marvellous impression. I give audience to the
whole universe, except to priests, ministers of the
Church, and monks; as those gentry are used to
speak so as to be heard at a distance, I hear
them from my window; a page receives them,
and makes my compliments to them at the door.
In everything I say, I affect the air of thinking of
nothing but the happiness of my subjects; I
ask questions of the nobility, of citizens, of
mechanics, and enter with them into the minutest
particulars.
You have, my dear nephew, heard, as well as
myself, the flattering discourse of those good kinds
of people. You cannot forget him that said, that
I must be an extraordinary good king, who could
put myself to so much fatigue after having carried
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? Frederick the Great 57
on so long a war. You may also remember him,
who pities me from his heart, on observing the bad
surtout I had on, and the small dishes that were
served on my table. The poor man did not know
that I had a very good coat underneath, and could
not imagine it possible to dine anything like well
without a ham and a whole shoulder of veal on
the table.
At a review of my troops, before a regiment is
to pass muster, I take care to read over the names
of all its officers and sergeants, and I retain three
or four of them, with the names of the companies
to which they belong. I procure an exact informa-
tion of the petty abuses which may have been
committed by my captains, and I allow the soldiers
liberty of complaining.
The hour of the review being come, I set out
from wherever I am. Presently the mob gets
round me; nor do I suffer it to be kept off, but
chat by the way with the first person that is near-
est me, or that can make the most reasonable
answer. As soon as I am come to the regiment,
I see that the exercise be without too much trouble,
and rather with ease, performed throughout all the
ranks, and I speak to all the captains. When I
am over-against those whose names I have retained,
I speak to them freely, as likewise to all the
lieutenants and sergeants : this gives me a wonder-
ful fine air of memory and reflection.
You saw, dear nephew, in what manner I
mortified the major who used to furnish his com-
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? 58 The Confessions of
pany with shirts too short ; I used him so ill, that
one of the soldiers had the impudence, by way of
shewing the scanty measure, to pull his shirt out
of his breeches.
If a regiment does not acquit itself of the exercise
to my satisfaction, I have a kind of punishment
for it that is not amiss; I order it to perform the
exercise for thirteen days longer than usual, and
ask none of the ofQcers to my table. If the
manoeuvres are well executed, I have all the
captains to dine with me, and even some of
the lieutenants.
By means, then, of the reviews being conducted
in this manner, I come at a perfect knowledge
of my troops; and when I find any officer that
answers me with firmness, intelligence, and clear-
ness, I set him down in my list for making use of
his service on proper occasions.
Hitherto it has been believed by the world that
it is the stark love and kindness I bear to my
subjects that engages me to visit my dominions
as often as I possibly can. I like to leave that
same world in quiet possession of that idea; but
there enters very little of the reality of such a
motive into that trouble I give myself; the truth
is, that I am obliged to it, and this is the reason.
My kingdom is despotic, consequently I, who
am the possessor of it, am alone in charge of it.
If I did not make, at times, a tour of inspection
through my dominions, my governors would put
themselves in my place, and would, little by little,
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? Frederick the Great 59
divest themselves of their principles of obedience,
and adopt in their stead those of independence.
Besides, as my orders cannot be other than
stem and absolute, those who represent me would
usurp the same tone of tyranny. Whereas, by
visiting my kingdom from time to time, I am
enabled to take cognizance of all the abuses that
may have been committed of the powers intrusted
by me, and to keep within the botinds of their
duty such as might otherwise take it into their
head to transgress them.
Add to these reasons, that of making my sub-
jects believe, that I come familiarly among them
purely to receive their complaints, and to redress
their grievances.
ON LITERATURE
I have done everything in my power to acqmre
a reputation in literature, and, in that, have been
more successful than Cardinal Richelieu, for, thank
God, I pass for an author; but, between you and
me, and not to let it go any farther, they are a
damned set of people, those they call wits. They
are insupportable for their vanity; insolent, de-
spising the great, and yet fond of greatness:
tyrants in their opinions, implacable enemies,
inconstant friends, difficult to live with, and
often flatterers and satirists in the same day.
And yet, for all this, they are necessary beings to
a prince who would reign despotically, and who
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? 6o The Confessions of
loves glory. They are the dispensers of the
honours of celebrity; without them, there is no
acqtdring a solid reputation. They must, then,
be caressed from our need of them, and recom-
pensed from good policy.
As this is a profession, or call it, if you will,
a trade, that takes us off from the occupations
worthy of the majesty of the throne, I never
compose but when I have nothing better to do;
and to give myself the more ease in it, I keep at
my court some wits, who take care to put my
ideas into order.
You have seen with what distinction I treated
Monsieur D'Alembert in his last visit here; I
always set him at my table, and did nothing but
praise him. You even seemed surprised at the
great respect I shewed this author; but you do
not know, perhaps, that this philosopher is listened
to at Paris like an oracle ; that he talks of nothing
else there but of my talents and my virtues; and
that he maintains everywhere that I fulfil the
character of a true hero and of a great king.
Besides, there is a sort of pleasure to me, in
hearing myself praised with wit and delicacy;
and, to deal sincerely with you, I am far from
being insensible to panegyric. I cannot dissemble
to myself, that all my actions are not clearly praise-
worthy; but D'Alembert is so good-natured, that,
when he sits by me, he never opens his mouth but
to say obliging things to me.
Voltaire was not of so pliable a character; ac-
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could, in the empire, reckon fifty princes in no
point inferior to us; and, properly speaking, we
were but one of the branches of the great sconce
or chandelier of the empire. William the Great,
by the splendour of his actions, raised our family
into pre-eminence; and at length, in 1701 (the
date, you see, is not a very ancient one), vanity
placed a crown on the head of my grandfather; and
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? Frederick the Great 37
it is to this epoch that we ought to refer our true
existence, since it put us into a condition of act-
ing on the footing of kings, and of treating, upon
terms of equality, with all the powers of the earth.
Were we to estimate the virtues of our ancestors,
we might easily conclude, that it is not to any
eminence in them that our family owes its aggran-
dizement. The greatest part of our princes
have been rather remarkable for misconduct;
but it was chance and circumstances that have
been of service to us. I would even have you to
observe, that the first diadem that bound our
brows was placed on one of the vainest and lightest
of heads, and that head on a body crooked and
humpbacked.
And here, I am aware, my dear nephew, that
I am leaving you in the dark as to our origin. It
has been pretended that that same Coimt of
Hohenzollern was of a great family; but, in truth,
few ever appeared in the world so bare of titles.
However, at the worst, it is indisputable that we
are of an ancient noble extraction: good, good
gentlemen, in short; let us stick to that.
THE SITUATION OF MY KINGDOM
As to this point, I am not so well off as I could
wish. To convince yourself of which, cast your
eyes over the map, and you will see that the great-
est part of my territories is dispersed or divided in
such a manner, that they cannot mutually assist
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? 38 The Confessions of
each other. I have no great rivers that run
through my provinces; some border upon them,
but few intersect them. ^
OF THE SOIL OF MY TERRITORIES
A third at least of my dominions Hes in waste;
another third is in woods, waters, or marshes.
The third, which is cultivated, produces nor wine,
nor olives, nor mulberry- trees. No fruits nor
garden-stuff come to anything, without great care,
and very few to the true point of perfection. I
have only a" few parts in which the wheat and rye
have some reputation.
OF THE MANNERS OF THE INHABITANTS
Under this head I have nothing particular or
decisive to pronounce, because my kingdom is
but a kind of mosaic, made up of various pieces.
All that I can, with any certainty, say, is, that, in
general, my subjects are hardy and brave, uncuri-
ous as to eating, but fond of drinking ; tyrants on
their estates, and slaves in my service; insipid
lovers, and surly husbands ; of a wondrously cold,
phlegmatic turn, which I take to be at the bottom,
rank stupidity; good civilians, little of philo-
sophers, less of poets, and still less of orators;
' The situation, extent, and soil, of the territories of the great
Frederick, have been wonderfully changed of late years; changed
upon his own principles, too, as will appear hereafter. -- Note oj
eighteenth century translator.
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? Frederick the Great 39
affecting a great plainness in their dress, but
imagining themselves dressed in high taste, with
a little bag and a great hat, boots up to their waist,
a little cane, a very short coat, with a very long
waistcoat.
As to the women, they are almost all fat, and
special breeders; they have great gentleness, love
their domestic employment, and are commonly
faithful enough to their husbands. As to the
girls, they enjoy the privileges in fashion; to
which I have so little objection, that I have, in
my memoirs, sought to excuse their weaknesses.
I hold it good policy to give those pretty creatures
all the ease and freedom that may be, to prevent
their learning a horrid practice, by means of which
they might amuse themselves without fear of
consequences, but which would cause a notable
prejudice to the state. Nay, to encourage them
the more to population, I take care in my regi-
ments to give the preference to the fruit of their
amours; and, if the offspring of an officer, I make
him an ensign, and often raise him to higher rank
before his turn.
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? MORNING THE SECOND
ON RELIGION
RELIGION is absolutely necessary in a state.
This is a maxim which it would be madness
to dispute; and a king must know very little of
politics, indeed, that should suffer his subjects to
make a bad use of it ; but then it would not be very
wise in a king to have any religion himself. Mark
well, my dear nephew, what I here say to you;
there is nothing that tyrannizes more over the head
and heart than religion; because it neither agrees
with our passions, nor with those great political
views which a monarch ought to have. The
true religion of a prince is his interest and his
glory. He ought, by his royal station, to be dis-
pensed from having any other. He may, indeed,
preserve outwardly a fair occasional appearance,
for the sake of amusing those who are about him,
or who watch his motions and character.
If he fears God, or, to speak as the priests and
women do, if he fears hell, like Lewis XlVth,^
in his old age, he is apt to become timorous,
childish, and fit for nothing but to be a capuchin.
' And, it might be added, ewis XVI. -- Vide Madame Roland.
-- Footnote of eighteenth century translator.
40
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? Confessions of Frederick the Great 41
If the point is to avail himself of a favourable
moment for seizing a province, ^ an army of devils,
to defend it, present themselves to his imagination;
we are, on that supposition, weak enough to think
it an injustice, and we proportion in our conscience,
the punishment to the crime. Should it be neces-
sary to make a treaty with other powers, if we
remember that we are Christians, we are undone;
all would be over with us ; we should be constantly
bubbles. As to war, it is a trade, in which any the
least scruple would spoil everything, and, indeed,
what man of honour would ever make war, if he
had not the right to make rules that should author-
ize plunder, fire, and carnage?
I do not, however, mean that one should make
a proclamation of impiety and atheism; but it
is right to adapt one's thoughts to the rank one
occupies. All the popes, who had common sense,
have held no principles of religion but what
favoured their aggrandizement. It would be the
silliest thing imaginable, if a prince were to confine
himself to such paltry trifles as were contrived
only for the common people. Besides, the best
way for a prince to keep fanaticism out of his
country is for him to have the most cool indiffer-
ence for reHgion. BeHeve me, dear nephew, that
holy mother of ours has her little caprices, hke any
woman, and is commonly as inconstant. Attach
yourself, then, dear nephew, to true philosophy,
' Alas, unhappy Poland! -- Footnote of eighteenth century
translator.
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? 42 The Confessions of
which is ever consolatory, luminous, courageous,
dispassionate, and inexhaustible as Nature. You
will then soon see, that you will not have, in your
kingdom, any material dispute about religion ; for _
parties are never formed but on the weakness of
princes, or on that of their ministers.
There is one important reflection I would with
you make; it is this: your ancestors have, in
this matter, conducted their operations with the
greatest political dexterity; they introduced a
reformation which gave them the air of apostles
at the same time that it was filling their purse.
Such a revolution was, without doubt, the most
reasonable that could ever happen in such a point
as this: but, since there is now hardly anything
left to be got in that way, and that, in the present
position of things, it would be dangerous to tread
in their footsteps, it is therefore even best to
stick to toleration. Retain well, dear nephew,
the principle I am now to inculcate to you: let
it be your rule of government, that men are to
worship the Divinity in their own way; for, should
you appear in the least neglectful of this in-
dulgence, all would be lost and undone in yoiir
dominions.
Have you a mind to know why my kingdom is
composed of so many sects? I will tell you: in
certain provinces the Calvinists are in possession
of all the offices and posts; in others, the Lutherans
have the same advantage. There are some, where
the Catholics are so predominant, that the king
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? Frederick the Great 43
can only send there one or two Protestant deputies ;
and, of all the ignorant and blind fanatics, I dare
aver to you that the Papists are the most fiery
and the most atrocious. The priests in their
senseless religion are untameable wild beasts,
that preach up a blind submission to their wills,
and exercise a complete despotism. They are
assassins, robbers, violators of faith, and inex-
pressibly ambitious.
Mark but Rome! Observe with what a stupid
effrontery she dares arrogate to herself dominion
over the princes of the earth! As to the Jews,
they are little vagrants, poor devils, that at
bottom are not so black as they are painted.
Almost everywhere rebuffed, hated, persecuted;
they pay with tolerable exactness, those who en-
dure them, and take their revenge by bubbling
all the simpletons they can light on.
As our ancestors made themselves in the ninth
century. Christians, out of complaisance to the
emperors; in the fifteenth, Lutherans, in order to
seize the possessions of the church ; and Calvinists,
in the sixteenth, to please the Dutch, upon the
account of the succession of Cleves; I do not see
why we should not make ourselves indifferent to
all these religions for the sake of maintaining tran-
quillity in our dominions.
My father had formed an excellent project, but
it did not succeed with him. He had engaged the
President Laen to compose for him a small treatise
on religion, which was to procure a coalition of the
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? ;
44 The Confessions of
three sects into one. The president abused the
Pope, hinted that St. Joseph was a soft simpleton,
took the dog of St. Roc by the ears, and pulled
St. Anthony's pig by the tail; he expressed no faith
in the story of the chaste Susannah, he looked on
St. Bernard and St. Dominic as courtiers that were
refined cheats, and protested against the canoniza-
tion of St. Francis de Sales for a saint. The eleven
thousand virgins met with no more quarter from
his credulity than all the saints and martyrs of
the Jesuit Loyola.
As to the mysteries, he agreed that no explana-
tion of them should be attempted, but that good
sense ought to be put into everything, while he was
by no means for being tied up to the mere sound
of words. As to the Lutherans, he was for making
of them the centre-point of union and of rest. He
wanted the Catholics to be, in appearance, some-
what less faithful to the court of Rome; but
then he admitted that the Lutherans ought to
betray less subtility of argument in their disputes.
He insisted, that, on removing certain distinctions
out of the way, the sects would find themselves
very near to each other. He thought there would
be more trouble required to bring the Calvinists to
a reconciliation, because they had more preten-
sions than the Lutherans. In the meanwhile, he
proposed one good expedient, which was, not to
have any but God for one's confidant, on occasion
of taking the communion. He looked on the
worship of images as a bait for the commor* people,
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? Frederick the Great 45
but admitted that it was proper for a country to
have a tutelar Saint of some kind or other.
As to the Monks, he was for expelling them,
because he looked on them as an enemy that
always laid the country under heavy contributions.
But priests, he allowed them their housekeepers
for wives. This scheme made a great noise,
because those good ladies, the three mother-
churches, thought themselves each respectively
aggrieved, and that it was a sacrilege to touch
upon the holy mysteries. But if this essay of a
project had been relished, there would have been
no efforts spared to have effectuated its execution.
I have not, my dear nephew, renounced it, and
I flatter myself that I shall facilitate to you the
execution of it. The great point is, to be useful
to the whole of humankind, by rendering all men
brothers; and by making it a law to them to live
together as friends and relations, by inculcating
to them the absolute necessity of living and of
dying in commutual peace and concord, and to
seek their sole happiness in the social virtues.
When these maxims shall have once taken root
in the rising generations, the fruit of it will be
the world's forming itself into one numerous
family, and the so much celebrated golden age will
come up to that state of felicity which I ardently
wish to mankind, and which it will then enjoy
without adulteration. Now, pray mark what I am
doing for this purpose: I use my best endeavours
that all the writings in my kingdom, on religion,
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? 46 The Confessions of
should breathe the strongest spirit of contempt
for all the reformers that ever were, and I never
slip any the least occasion of unmasking the ambi-
tious views of the court of Rome, of its priests, and
ministers. Thus, little by little, I shall accustom
my subjects to think as I do, and shall detach
them from all prejudices.
But as it is necessary to have some religious
worship, I will, if I live long enough, underhand,
bring into play some man of eloquence, who shall
preach a new one. At first, I will give myself
the air of designing to persecute him: but, little
by little, I will declare myself his defender, and
will, with warmth, embrace his system. And, if
you must know the truth, that system is already
made.
Voltaire has composed the preamble to it; he
proves the necessity of abandoning everything
that has already been said upon religion, because
there is no one point of it upon which everyone is
agreed. He draws the picture of every chief of a
sect with a mildness which bears a kind of resem-
blance to truth. He has dug up certain curious
anecdotes of popes, of bishops, of priests, of
ministers, of the other sects, which diffuse a sin-
gular gaiety over his work. It is written in a
style so close and so rapid as not to leave time for
reflection: and, full as this author is of the most
subtile art, he has the air of the greatest candour
imaginable, while he is advancing the most
doubtful principles.
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? Frederick the Great 47
D'Alembert and Maupertuis have formed the
groundwork of the plan, and the whole is calcu-
lated with such scrupulous exactness, as to tempt
one to believe that they had endeavoured to
demonstrate it to themselves before they sought
to demonstrate it to others. Rousseau has been
at work for these four years past, to obviate all
objections; and I am anticipating in imagination
the pleasure I shall take in mortifying all the
ignorant wretches that shall dare to contradict
me; for there is an army of prelates and priests,
constantly assembled, who are for ever imposing
on the populace, which has neither the capacity
nor the time to reflect. ^ Thence it comes to pass
that, in those countries that swarm with priests,
the people are more unhappy and more ignorant
than in Protestant countries.
The priests are like soldiers, who do mischief
habitually and for amusement. There are already
prepared fifty consequences for every object of
dispute, and, at least, thirty reflections on each
article of the Holy Scriptures. He is even actually
taken up with furnishing proofs that everything,
at present, preached from thence, is but a fable,
that there never was a terrestrial paradise, and
that it is degrading God to believe that he made,
after his own image, a mere idiot, and his most
perfect creature a rank, lewd, jade.
For, in short, adds he, nothing but the length
of the serpent's tail could have seduced Eve; and,
^ So that more countries than one have a swinish multitude.
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? 48 Confessions of Frederick the Great
in that case, it proves there must have been a
horrid disorder of her imagination. ^ The Marquis
d'Argens and M. Formey have prepared the con-
stitution of a coimcil; I am to preside in it, but
without pretending that the Holy Ghost is to give
any the least particle of light to me more than to
the rest. There shall assist at it but one minister
of each sect of religion, and foiu" deputies of every
province, two of which to be of the nobility and
two of the commons, or third estate. All the other
priests, monks and ministers, in general, to be ex-
cluded, as being parties concerned in the matter.
And that the Holy Ghost may the clearer appear
to preside in this assembly, it will be agreed to
decide everything honestly according to common
sense.
' Oh, fie! Frederick !
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? MORNING THE THIRD
ON JUSTICE
TO our subjects we owe justice, as they owe re-
spect to us. ^ By this, I mean, dear nephew,
that we must do justice to all men, and especially
to our subjects, when it does not overset our own
rights, or wound our own authority; for there
ought to be no sort of equality between the right
of the monarch and the right of the subject or
slave. But we must be firmly impartial and just
when the point is to settle a matter of right between
one subject, whatever he may be, and another.
This is an act which is alone enough to make us
adored.
Represent to yourself Charles I brought to the
scaffold by that justice which the people implores,
and demands with a loud voice. I am born with
too much ambition to suffer in my dominion any
order that should cramp my authority, and this
most certainly is the only reason that obliged me
to make a new code of justice. I am very sensible
that I have reduced the old dame from her long
robes to a jacket and petticoat; but I was afraid
' This sentiment need not be quarrelled with, but mark the
explanation.
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? 50 The Confessions of
of her sharp sight, as I knew her weight with the
people, and knew, withal, that princes of any
dexterity might, at the same time that they were
satisfying their ambition, make themselves adored.
The greatest part of my subjects really believed
that I was moved at the grievances resulting to
them from chicanery, or the tedious processes of
the law. Alas! I own to you, nay, I sometimes
blush to myself for it, that so far from having
had such a relief in view, I am actually regretting
the little advantages those processes used to
procure me; for the taxes on them, and on the
stamped papers made use of in them, have suffered
a diminution, to the detriment of my revenues,
near five hundred thousand livres.
Do not then, my dear nephew, suffer yourself
to be dazzled with the word justice; it is a word
that has different relations, and is susceptible of
different constructions. These are the ideas that
I annex to it :
Justice is the image of God. Now who can
attain to such high perfection? Is it not more
reasonable to give up so vain a project as that of an
entire possession of her? Review all the kingdoms
of the earth, examine and mark whether she is
in any two kingdoms administered in the same
form. Consult next the principles that rule man-
kind, and see whether they and Justice agree.
What is there, then, so extraordinary in a man's
being just after his own way? When I cast my
eyes over all the tribunals of my kingdom, I ob-
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? Frederick the Great 51
served an immense army of lawyers, all presumably
honest men, and yet violently suspected of not
being so. ^
Every tribunal had its superior; I myself had
mine; for even those judgments given by my
council were liable to control or opposition. I
was not angry at this because it was a custom. ^
But on examining, or rather on observing, chican-
ery every day gaining ground, and invading the
property of my subjects, I was frightened at all
^"So are we all; all honourable men! " -- Eighteenth century
translator's note.
' The men of the law can, in process of time, come to such
a pitch, as to be a match for the monarch, to struggle with his
power, and even to overset it. Under a weak prince, surrounded
with ignorant or avaricious ministers, lawyers will start up,
and strengthen themselves with the love of the people, whose
cause they affect to embrace; and, little by little, they will
accomplish their end of breaking, and levelling in the dust, the
idols to which they publicly before burnt incense. Do not
let the shrewd management of the parUaments of France be
forgotten.
Under the pretext of disburthening from the taxes they are
loud for taking off, they exaggerate to the king the public dis-
tresses, they paint the state running to its ruin, they give fresh
spirit to the boldness of its enemies, destroy the patriotism
of the subject, and end with usurping the administration into
which they force themselves.
Instead of doing justice to the wretches whom circumstances
of oppression compel to apply to them, they drag them at their
chariot-wheels, strip them, and send them to die naked on
a dung-hill. All the philosophers of Paris loudly exclaim against
these open depredations exercised on the weak. The men of the
law in that kingdom have been ever depraved, and rapacious of
money. Read the Chancellor de I'HSpital, and you will be con-
vinced of this truth. -- Note by eighteenth century translator.
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? 52 The Confessions of
the immense bewildering labyrinths in which
thousands of my subjects were losing themselves
and being devoured aHve. But what gave me
most disquiet was, the slow, but sure and constant,
march of the people of the law, that spirit of
liberty inseparable from their principles, and that
dextrous management of theirs of preserving their
advantages, and of crushing their enemies, with all
the appearances of the most austere equity.
I made pass in review before my memory all
those acts full of rigour, and often very unaccount-
able, of the parliaments of England and Paris, and
was surprised at some of them being so disgraceful
to the majesty of the throne. It was amidst all
these reflections that I determined to strike at
the foundations of this great power, and it was
only by simplifying it as much as I could, that I
have reduced it to the point at which I wanted it.
You will, perhaps, be surprised, my dear nephew,
that men who have no arms, and who never speak
but with respect of the sacred person of the king,
should be the only people in his kingdom able to
give law to him. It is precisely for these very
reasons that it is not difficult for them to check or
set bounds to our power. There is no suspecting
them of violence, since they always speak to us
with the greatest decency, and our subjects are
soon captivated and led away in chains by that
firm eloquence, which seems never to display itself
but for their happiness and our glory.
I have often reflected on the advantages result-
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? Frederick the Great 53
ing to a kingdom from a body of representatives
of the people, which is a depositary of its laws;
I am even ready to believe that the crown is the
safer on a king's head for its having been given,
or for its being preserved, to him by such a body;
but that he must be strictly an honest man, and
made up of good principles, to permit his actions
to stand every day its scrutiny or examination.
When one has ambition, one must renounce that
plan; I should never have done anything if I
had been cramped. Perhaps I might have ob-
tained the character of a just king, but I should
have missed that of a hero.
The limited monarch is oftener exposed to the
vicissitudes of fortune than the arbitrary despot;
but then the despot must be active, enlightened,
and firm. There are more virtues required to
give a lustre to a state of despotism than to that
of monarchy.
The courtier flatters the monarch, soothes his
vices, and deceives him; the slave prostrates
himself, but gives him right information. It is,
then, of more use to a great man to reign arbi-
trarily, but more grievous to the people to live
under such a government.
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? MORNING THE FOURTH
ON POLITICS
SINCE it has been agreed among men that to
cheat or deceive one's fellow-creatures is a
mean and criminal action, there has been sought
for, and invented, a term that might soften the
appellation of the thing, and the word, wnich
undoubtedly has been chosen for the purpose, is
Politics. Now the word has only been found out
in favour of sovereigns, because we cannot quite
so decently be called rogues and rascals. But,
be that as it may, this is what I think as to politics.
I understand, then, by this word, dear nephew,
that we are ever to try to cheat others. It is the
way to have the advantage, or, at least, to be on a
footing with the rest of mankind. For you may
rest persuaded that all the states of the world run
the same career. Now this principle being once
settled, never be ashamed of making alliances, and
of being yourself the only party that draws advan-
tage from them. Do not commit that stupid fault
of not abandoning them whenever it is your
interest so to do; and especially maintain vigor-
ously this maxim, that stripping your neighbours
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? Confessions of Frederick the Great 55
is only to take away from them the means of
doing you a mischief.
It is politics, properly speaking, that found
kingdoms and preserve them; so that, dear
nephew, it is fit that you understand them thor-
oughly, and conceive them in their clearest light.
For this purpose, I shall make two divisions of
them to you, the one politics of the state, and
the other private politics ; the first turns on the
great interests of the kingdom; the other on the
particular interests of the king, and of this we shall
first treat.
ON private politics
A prince ought never to present to view but
the fairest aspect of character, and this is a point
to which you must pay a very serious attention.
When I was only prince royal, I had very little
of a military turn; I loved my ease and the
pleasures of the table, and, as to love, I made it
on all sides.
When I came to be king, I appeared the soldier,
the philosopher, the poet; I lay upon straw, I
ate ammunition-bread at the head of my camp;
I drank very little before my subjects, and appeared
to have a contempt for women.
As for my personal conduct, it is this: in my
journeys I always go without a guard, and travel
night and day; my train is far from numerous,
but well chosen. My carriage is plain, but then
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? 56 The Confessions of
it is hung upon special easy springs, and I sleep
in it as well as in my bed.
I seem to have no nicety about my eating and
drinking. A lacquey, a cook, a confectioner, are
all the menials I have for providing my table. I
order my own dinner myself, and it is not what I
acquit myself the worst of, as I know the country ;
and whatever I call for, of wild game, of fish, or
butcher's meat, it is always sure to be of the best
produce of the land.
When I come to a place of inhabitants, I have
always a fatigued air, and show myself to the
people in a very shabby surtout and a wig ill
combed.
These are trifles, but trifles that often make a
marvellous impression. I give audience to the
whole universe, except to priests, ministers of the
Church, and monks; as those gentry are used to
speak so as to be heard at a distance, I hear
them from my window; a page receives them,
and makes my compliments to them at the door.
In everything I say, I affect the air of thinking of
nothing but the happiness of my subjects; I
ask questions of the nobility, of citizens, of
mechanics, and enter with them into the minutest
particulars.
You have, my dear nephew, heard, as well as
myself, the flattering discourse of those good kinds
of people. You cannot forget him that said, that
I must be an extraordinary good king, who could
put myself to so much fatigue after having carried
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? Frederick the Great 57
on so long a war. You may also remember him,
who pities me from his heart, on observing the bad
surtout I had on, and the small dishes that were
served on my table. The poor man did not know
that I had a very good coat underneath, and could
not imagine it possible to dine anything like well
without a ham and a whole shoulder of veal on
the table.
At a review of my troops, before a regiment is
to pass muster, I take care to read over the names
of all its officers and sergeants, and I retain three
or four of them, with the names of the companies
to which they belong. I procure an exact informa-
tion of the petty abuses which may have been
committed by my captains, and I allow the soldiers
liberty of complaining.
The hour of the review being come, I set out
from wherever I am. Presently the mob gets
round me; nor do I suffer it to be kept off, but
chat by the way with the first person that is near-
est me, or that can make the most reasonable
answer. As soon as I am come to the regiment,
I see that the exercise be without too much trouble,
and rather with ease, performed throughout all the
ranks, and I speak to all the captains. When I
am over-against those whose names I have retained,
I speak to them freely, as likewise to all the
lieutenants and sergeants : this gives me a wonder-
ful fine air of memory and reflection.
You saw, dear nephew, in what manner I
mortified the major who used to furnish his com-
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? 58 The Confessions of
pany with shirts too short ; I used him so ill, that
one of the soldiers had the impudence, by way of
shewing the scanty measure, to pull his shirt out
of his breeches.
If a regiment does not acquit itself of the exercise
to my satisfaction, I have a kind of punishment
for it that is not amiss; I order it to perform the
exercise for thirteen days longer than usual, and
ask none of the ofQcers to my table. If the
manoeuvres are well executed, I have all the
captains to dine with me, and even some of
the lieutenants.
By means, then, of the reviews being conducted
in this manner, I come at a perfect knowledge
of my troops; and when I find any officer that
answers me with firmness, intelligence, and clear-
ness, I set him down in my list for making use of
his service on proper occasions.
Hitherto it has been believed by the world that
it is the stark love and kindness I bear to my
subjects that engages me to visit my dominions
as often as I possibly can. I like to leave that
same world in quiet possession of that idea; but
there enters very little of the reality of such a
motive into that trouble I give myself; the truth
is, that I am obliged to it, and this is the reason.
My kingdom is despotic, consequently I, who
am the possessor of it, am alone in charge of it.
If I did not make, at times, a tour of inspection
through my dominions, my governors would put
themselves in my place, and would, little by little,
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? Frederick the Great 59
divest themselves of their principles of obedience,
and adopt in their stead those of independence.
Besides, as my orders cannot be other than
stem and absolute, those who represent me would
usurp the same tone of tyranny. Whereas, by
visiting my kingdom from time to time, I am
enabled to take cognizance of all the abuses that
may have been committed of the powers intrusted
by me, and to keep within the botinds of their
duty such as might otherwise take it into their
head to transgress them.
Add to these reasons, that of making my sub-
jects believe, that I come familiarly among them
purely to receive their complaints, and to redress
their grievances.
ON LITERATURE
I have done everything in my power to acqmre
a reputation in literature, and, in that, have been
more successful than Cardinal Richelieu, for, thank
God, I pass for an author; but, between you and
me, and not to let it go any farther, they are a
damned set of people, those they call wits. They
are insupportable for their vanity; insolent, de-
spising the great, and yet fond of greatness:
tyrants in their opinions, implacable enemies,
inconstant friends, difficult to live with, and
often flatterers and satirists in the same day.
And yet, for all this, they are necessary beings to
a prince who would reign despotically, and who
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? 6o The Confessions of
loves glory. They are the dispensers of the
honours of celebrity; without them, there is no
acqtdring a solid reputation. They must, then,
be caressed from our need of them, and recom-
pensed from good policy.
As this is a profession, or call it, if you will,
a trade, that takes us off from the occupations
worthy of the majesty of the throne, I never
compose but when I have nothing better to do;
and to give myself the more ease in it, I keep at
my court some wits, who take care to put my
ideas into order.
You have seen with what distinction I treated
Monsieur D'Alembert in his last visit here; I
always set him at my table, and did nothing but
praise him. You even seemed surprised at the
great respect I shewed this author; but you do
not know, perhaps, that this philosopher is listened
to at Paris like an oracle ; that he talks of nothing
else there but of my talents and my virtues; and
that he maintains everywhere that I fulfil the
character of a true hero and of a great king.
Besides, there is a sort of pleasure to me, in
hearing myself praised with wit and delicacy;
and, to deal sincerely with you, I am far from
being insensible to panegyric. I cannot dissemble
to myself, that all my actions are not clearly praise-
worthy; but D'Alembert is so good-natured, that,
when he sits by me, he never opens his mouth but
to say obliging things to me.
Voltaire was not of so pliable a character; ac-
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