42 The
Confessions
of
which is ever consolatory, luminous, courageous,
dispassionate, and inexhaustible as Nature.
which is ever consolatory, luminous, courageous,
dispassionate, and inexhaustible as Nature.
Treitschke - 1915 - Confessions of Frederick the Great
org/access_use#pd-us
? 28 Introduction
Elsewhere in this book it will be seen how
Frederick excelled himself on this occasion by
ordering Podewils to find excuses because he had
already given orders to his troops. The doctrine
of the active power has been exploited for all it is
worth by von Bernhardi in his Germany and the
Next War.
Treitschke is not very convincing upon the
subject of Poland. His complaints of "the Poles'
horrible outrages in the Weichsel district, with
that insolent disregard of the rights of others and
the nationality of others which distinguishes the
Poles above all the nations of Europe," leaves us
cold, when our paper every morning brings news
of fresh devastation in Poland. And the sentence
in which Treitschke complains that: "Others re-
peated credulously what Poland's old confederates,
the French, invented to stigmatize the partitioning
Powers," simply kills Treitschke 's reputation as
an impartial historian. The world of honest men
has never ceased to condemn the Partition of
Poland, and hailed with almost religious delight
Russia's proclamation that the ancient nation of
the Poles should be reconstituted as a practically
autonomous people under the shield of the Lion
of the East, the great protector of Slav nationality.
Any criticism, which Germany might have to make
on the subject, is discounted by the fact that she
at once proceeded to suggest a German parody of
the movement, a highly improved province to
embrace Russian Poland as well as Prussian Po-
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? Introduction 29
land. And any advantages, which may have been
latent in this suggestion, are rendered difficult of
realization by the Belging of Russian Poland.
The question of the Balance of Power, which is
handled so destructively by von Bernhardi, comes
up a good deal in Treitschke's life of Frederick
the Great. I think von Bernhardi was right, but
I arrive at my conclusions from a standpoint which
he would hardly share. The European balance
of power for many years has been like a wooden
garden fence, whose bottom under the soil has
rotted. From time to time -- the last time was
during and after the Balkan War against Turkey
-- Europe has been on the verge of a conflagration
like the present because Austria has resisted any
intelUgent solution of the Balkan question. Now,
if the war goes as we all hope and believe it will go,
the question will be settled. The Turk, who has
no business in Europe, because he is incapable of
sharing European ideas, will be driven out of
Europe. Russia will have Constantinople, essen-
tial to her as giving her that free entrance to the
Mediterranean which is her right. England will
take the Persian Gulf and make the Euphrates
Valley as prosperous as the Nile Valley, and Egypt
also will be managed in a less anomalous fashion.
Servia wiU have her sea-board on the Adriatic.
Bulgaria, if she is not seduced into sharing the
suicide of Turkey, will have her port on the
iEgean. Greece will get back all the islands in
which the races of ancient Greece, who taught the
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? 30 Introduction
world its civilization, have remained so much
purer than in Athens itself. Rumania will annex
all the Rumanian districts which lie outside of
its present borders, and Italy, if she joins the
Powers of the Triple Entente, will not only get
back the Italian provinces which still remain under
the rule of Austria, but will have a footing on the
Balkan Peninsula, lower down, which will enable
her to fulfil her natural mission of being the channel
of commerce and civilization for all the Balkan
nations.
For many years this has been the natural solu-
tion of the Eastern Question, but Austria has
stood in the way -- Austria, which just as naturally
pictured herself overrunning the Balkan Pen-
insula, and finding her way down to the great
southern port of Salonika. Germany backed up
Austria, in the hope perhaps that Austria, con-
taining so many people of German nationality,
would one day come into the German Empire.
The difficulty was that the Balkan Peninsula was
all in Slav hands or a natural inheritance for the
Slavs. Without conquering Russia, the Austrian
dreams were unrealizable, and rather than allow
the Balkan Slavs to fulfil their mission, Austria
preferred to perpetuate a state of wars and rumours
of wars. Turkey's suicidal entrance into the arena
has rendered a settlement possible.
If Frederick had foreseen this he would doubtless
have left us his warnings on the subject. He was
free enough with his warnings as to the trouble
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? Introduction 31
which might ensue from the restless energy of the
Emperor Joseph the Austrian.
It would not be right for me to conclude this
brief survey of Treitschke's judgment on Frederick
without quoting the intelligent anticipation of the
Dane Bernstorff, writing to Choiseul, one of the
trifling Frenchmen whose employment by Louis
XV rendered Frederick's task so much easier
in his wars with France. "Everything which you
undertake to-day to prevent the rise of an entirely
military Monarchy in the middle of Germany,
whose iron arm will soon crush the minor princes --
is all labour wasted! "
Douglas Sladen.
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? The Confessions of Frederick
the Great
33
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? The Confessions of Frederick
the Great
The spirit of these Confessions and the principles
advocated by Frederick are very closely in line with
the teachings of Treitschke and with the national
policy championed by Bernhardi.
MORNING THE FIRST
ORIGIN OF OUR FAMILY
IN the times of disorder and confusion, amidst
barbarous nations, there was seen to spring up
a new arrangement of sovereignties. The govern-
ors of different countries shook off the yoke of
subjection, and soon became powerful enough to
overawe their masters; they obtained privileges,
or, to come nearer to the truth, it was with the
form of one knee on the ground that they ran
away with the substance. Among those daring
ones, there were several who laid the foundations
of the greatest monarchies; and perhaps, on a
fair calculation, even all the emperors, kings, and
foreign princes at this very time owe their respec-
tive states to them. As for us, we are, most
35
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? 36 The Confessions of
undoubtedly, in that case. I see you blush at this.
I forgive you for once ; but let me advise you never
to play the child so again. Remember, once for
all, that, in matter of kingdoms, he catches them
that can; and that there is no wrong but in the
case of being forced to return them.
The first of our ancestors, who acquired some
rights of sovereignty over the country of which
he was governor, was Tassillon, of Hohenzollern.
The thirteenth of his descendants was Burgrave of
Nuremberg; the twenty-fifth of them was Elector
of Brandenburg, and the thirty-seventh. King of
Prussia. Our family, as well as all the others, has
had its Achilles', its Ciceros, its Nestors, its
drivellers and its drones, its mothers-in-law, and,
without doubt, its women of gallantry. It has
also often aggrandized itself b}^ those kinds of
right, which are only known to princes at once in
luck, and in force enough to exert them; for in
the order of our successions, we see those of con-
veniency, or expectancy, and of protection.
From the time of Tassillon to that of the great
Elector, we did little more than vegetate. 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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? 28 Introduction
Elsewhere in this book it will be seen how
Frederick excelled himself on this occasion by
ordering Podewils to find excuses because he had
already given orders to his troops. The doctrine
of the active power has been exploited for all it is
worth by von Bernhardi in his Germany and the
Next War.
Treitschke is not very convincing upon the
subject of Poland. His complaints of "the Poles'
horrible outrages in the Weichsel district, with
that insolent disregard of the rights of others and
the nationality of others which distinguishes the
Poles above all the nations of Europe," leaves us
cold, when our paper every morning brings news
of fresh devastation in Poland. And the sentence
in which Treitschke complains that: "Others re-
peated credulously what Poland's old confederates,
the French, invented to stigmatize the partitioning
Powers," simply kills Treitschke 's reputation as
an impartial historian. The world of honest men
has never ceased to condemn the Partition of
Poland, and hailed with almost religious delight
Russia's proclamation that the ancient nation of
the Poles should be reconstituted as a practically
autonomous people under the shield of the Lion
of the East, the great protector of Slav nationality.
Any criticism, which Germany might have to make
on the subject, is discounted by the fact that she
at once proceeded to suggest a German parody of
the movement, a highly improved province to
embrace Russian Poland as well as Prussian Po-
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? Introduction 29
land. And any advantages, which may have been
latent in this suggestion, are rendered difficult of
realization by the Belging of Russian Poland.
The question of the Balance of Power, which is
handled so destructively by von Bernhardi, comes
up a good deal in Treitschke's life of Frederick
the Great. I think von Bernhardi was right, but
I arrive at my conclusions from a standpoint which
he would hardly share. The European balance
of power for many years has been like a wooden
garden fence, whose bottom under the soil has
rotted. From time to time -- the last time was
during and after the Balkan War against Turkey
-- Europe has been on the verge of a conflagration
like the present because Austria has resisted any
intelUgent solution of the Balkan question. Now,
if the war goes as we all hope and believe it will go,
the question will be settled. The Turk, who has
no business in Europe, because he is incapable of
sharing European ideas, will be driven out of
Europe. Russia will have Constantinople, essen-
tial to her as giving her that free entrance to the
Mediterranean which is her right. England will
take the Persian Gulf and make the Euphrates
Valley as prosperous as the Nile Valley, and Egypt
also will be managed in a less anomalous fashion.
Servia wiU have her sea-board on the Adriatic.
Bulgaria, if she is not seduced into sharing the
suicide of Turkey, will have her port on the
iEgean. Greece will get back all the islands in
which the races of ancient Greece, who taught the
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? 30 Introduction
world its civilization, have remained so much
purer than in Athens itself. Rumania will annex
all the Rumanian districts which lie outside of
its present borders, and Italy, if she joins the
Powers of the Triple Entente, will not only get
back the Italian provinces which still remain under
the rule of Austria, but will have a footing on the
Balkan Peninsula, lower down, which will enable
her to fulfil her natural mission of being the channel
of commerce and civilization for all the Balkan
nations.
For many years this has been the natural solu-
tion of the Eastern Question, but Austria has
stood in the way -- Austria, which just as naturally
pictured herself overrunning the Balkan Pen-
insula, and finding her way down to the great
southern port of Salonika. Germany backed up
Austria, in the hope perhaps that Austria, con-
taining so many people of German nationality,
would one day come into the German Empire.
The difficulty was that the Balkan Peninsula was
all in Slav hands or a natural inheritance for the
Slavs. Without conquering Russia, the Austrian
dreams were unrealizable, and rather than allow
the Balkan Slavs to fulfil their mission, Austria
preferred to perpetuate a state of wars and rumours
of wars. Turkey's suicidal entrance into the arena
has rendered a settlement possible.
If Frederick had foreseen this he would doubtless
have left us his warnings on the subject. He was
free enough with his warnings as to the trouble
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? Introduction 31
which might ensue from the restless energy of the
Emperor Joseph the Austrian.
It would not be right for me to conclude this
brief survey of Treitschke's judgment on Frederick
without quoting the intelligent anticipation of the
Dane Bernstorff, writing to Choiseul, one of the
trifling Frenchmen whose employment by Louis
XV rendered Frederick's task so much easier
in his wars with France. "Everything which you
undertake to-day to prevent the rise of an entirely
military Monarchy in the middle of Germany,
whose iron arm will soon crush the minor princes --
is all labour wasted! "
Douglas Sladen.
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? The Confessions of Frederick
the Great
33
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? The Confessions of Frederick
the Great
The spirit of these Confessions and the principles
advocated by Frederick are very closely in line with
the teachings of Treitschke and with the national
policy championed by Bernhardi.
MORNING THE FIRST
ORIGIN OF OUR FAMILY
IN the times of disorder and confusion, amidst
barbarous nations, there was seen to spring up
a new arrangement of sovereignties. The govern-
ors of different countries shook off the yoke of
subjection, and soon became powerful enough to
overawe their masters; they obtained privileges,
or, to come nearer to the truth, it was with the
form of one knee on the ground that they ran
away with the substance. Among those daring
ones, there were several who laid the foundations
of the greatest monarchies; and perhaps, on a
fair calculation, even all the emperors, kings, and
foreign princes at this very time owe their respec-
tive states to them. As for us, we are, most
35
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? 36 The Confessions of
undoubtedly, in that case. I see you blush at this.
I forgive you for once ; but let me advise you never
to play the child so again. Remember, once for
all, that, in matter of kingdoms, he catches them
that can; and that there is no wrong but in the
case of being forced to return them.
The first of our ancestors, who acquired some
rights of sovereignty over the country of which
he was governor, was Tassillon, of Hohenzollern.
The thirteenth of his descendants was Burgrave of
Nuremberg; the twenty-fifth of them was Elector
of Brandenburg, and the thirty-seventh. King of
Prussia. Our family, as well as all the others, has
had its Achilles', its Ciceros, its Nestors, its
drivellers and its drones, its mothers-in-law, and,
without doubt, its women of gallantry. It has
also often aggrandized itself b}^ those kinds of
right, which are only known to princes at once in
luck, and in force enough to exert them; for in
the order of our successions, we see those of con-
veniency, or expectancy, and of protection.
From the time of Tassillon to that of the great
Elector, we did little more than vegetate. 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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