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 PRUSSIA

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PRUSSIA

of 1 April, 17C0. The Russians plundered Berlin in Oct., 1760. At this most critical moment Fred- erick maintained himself only by the almost unex- pected victory of Torgau, 3 Nov., 1760, which en- abled him once more to occupy a secure position in Saxony. As early as 1761 the Russian interest in the war began to decline, and when in January, 1762 Peter III, an admirer of Frederick, became tsar, he took sides with Frederick (truce in March, peace 5 May, alliance 19 June). It was also an advantage to Frederick that Turkey began a war against Austria. In July, 1762, Peter III was succeeded by the famous Catherine II. She wished to have a European peace, and continualh- urged Maria Theresa to yield. On the Rhine Ferdinand of Brunswick continued to keep the French in check. As the French were also successful in their war with England, they withdrew from the struggle against Frederick by the prelimi- nary Peace of Fontainebleau (.3 Nov., 1762). The imperial army broke up. Finally Austria also grew weary of the struggle.

On 1.5 Feb., 1763, the Peace of Hubertusburg closed the Austro-Prussian war. Frederick retained Silesia, but made no new acquisitions. However, his per- sonal importance and the respect for the military prowess of Prussia were so greatlj' increased that henceforth Prussia was treated by the other coun- tries as a great power. After this Frederick's ad- ministration was a peaceful one. He was able to increase his realm by taking part in the First Parti- tion of Poland (1772), whereby he gained Polish Prussia with the exception of Danzig and Thorn. The War of the Bavarian Succession (1778-79), which Frederick declared against Austria to prevent Bava- ria becoming part of that monarchy, caused but little bloodshed. In the Peace of Teschen Austria aban- doned all claim to the Bavarian succession. In 1781 Frederick took part in the "Naval Alliance of Neutral Powers". This was formed by Catherine II, and intended mainly to limit the power of England on the Baltic, but it was of small importance. It should also be mentioned that in 1744 East Frisia became a part of Prussia by inheritance.

The most important measure of domestic policy carried out by Frederick in the first half of his reign with the help of his minister Cocceji, was the re- organization of the department of justice, which had been neglected during the reign of his father, .\fter the Seven Years' War his personal influence became more manifest in the other departments of state. It must be confessed, however, that at the same time he obstinately adhered both to the forms and princi]3les of government that he had inherited. At the most it was only in isolated cases that power was exercised with moderation or that the administration was mod- ified in harmony with the spirit of the times, although this spirit, animated by humanitarian ideas and a tolerance arising from indifference, was also alive in him. He even exaggerated many of the objection- able sides of the old system of government. He ruled the country and especially the new pro\nnces as an enlightened despot, exclusively from the cabinet, though as a writer he approved of Rousseau's ^^ew3 as set down in the "Social Contract". In addition he employed the higher officials as if they were subalterns. The officials throughout the country during his reign developed more and more of a ten- dency to treat the people and especially the middle classes with bureaucratic contempt. Though proud of their victories in the Seven Years' War, tlie people manifested no consciousness of their belonging to a unified Prussian State. It is true that in the last years of his reign Frederick regarded it as his duty to in.spire the entire Prussian people in their economic and social feelings with the sense of their direct re- lations to tlur Government, so that every Prussian in all his doings should have in view not only his

own personal advantage but also the welfare and strengthening of the state. Practically, however, this idea only led him to accentuate the social dif- ferences, the abolition of which was demanded by the needs of the time. At the end of his reign the Prussian State, of which he was more than ever the monarch, ended just as at the beginning of this rule, with the president of each district. As regards his economic policy, he held on to the worn-out mercan- tile system.

The great errors of this policy, e. g. the neglect of agriculture, the failure to abohsh serfdom, the reten- tion of the double system of taxation (direct for the country and indirect for the cities), a system that paralyzed all economic development, the maintenance of the excessively high system of protection with its many internal duties, were due to this cause. The same may be said of many of his failures, such as the mercantile enterprises which he founded, or his partial failures, such as the transfer of several industries, in particular the porcelain and silk industries, to the ieachng provinces of the state. His adherence to the mercantile system of economics was necessitated by his adherence to the one-sided conception of national finances which led the Prussian Government to pro- \ade for the economic prosperity of the population, with the intention of bringing as much money as possible into the country in order to have it for gov- ernment purposes. Frederick, therefore, made no changes in the financial theories of Prussian policy. These theories led him, for instance, in imitation of French fiscal methods, to introduce the Regie, i. e. to farm out the customs and indirect taxes, and to make the sale of tobacco, coffee, and salt absolute monopolies. The Regie made him very unpopular. It is all the more surprising that, notwithstanding the reactionary character of his internal policy, he made the country politically capable of performing all the unusual tasks that he imposed on it, that he changed his possessions into a well-regulated state, and that he succeeded, by political measures, in repairing the terrible injuries of the Seven Years' War in a com- paratively short time. Large extents of moor-land and swamp were brought under cultivation, a hundred thousand colonists were settled in deserted districts, and the revenues yielded by manufacture and indus- try were decidedly increased. The great estates were aided to pay off their debts by encouraging union credit associations, and Frederick sought to regulate and give independence to the circulation of money by founding the Prussian Bank. In harmony with the spirit of the times he also undertook a comprehensive cocfification and re\'ision of the laws of the state, which was completed after his death and culminated in the publication of the general "Prussian Statute Book" of 1794; Suarez was the chief compiler.

Towards the end of his reign he encouraged the efforts made on behalf of the Catholic public schools by the provost Felbiger, and those for the Protestants by Freiherr von Zedlitz and the cathedral canon Rochow, but he never at any time gave the schools sufficient money. The new code laid down the prin- ciple that the public schools were a state organization. Frederick's government, internal and foreign, was marked by a mixture of strong and weak character- istics. It was the policy of a man of genius who w:is entirely devoted to his task; too intellectual and en- lightened to be a reactionary, but one who showed himself greater in carrying out and in utilizing the policies of his predecessors, than in establishing what was necessary to ensure the future development of the state. Great as were his achievements, he ended by paralyzing Prussia's vital powers and engaged the resources of the country in a direction opposed to its development. Frederick gave Prussia the position of a Great Power. But, outside of his personal im- portance, this position of the state rested exclusively