Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/773

 01 PRUSSIA.] practical life. To this period belongs his Memoires pour seri ir d, Vhistoire de Brandeboury, and his poem L Art de la Guerre. The latter, judged as literature, is intolerably dull ; but the former is a narrative of some value, throwing considerable light on his personal sympathies as well as on the motives of important epochs in his career. He con tinued to correspond with French writers, and induced a number of them to settle in Berlin, Maupertuis being pre sident of the Academy. In 1752 Voltaire, who had re peatedly visited him, came at Frederick s urgent entreaty, and received a truly royal welcome. The famous Hirsch trial, and Voltaire s vanity and caprice, greatly lowered him in the esteem of the king, who, on his side, irritated his guest by often requiring him to correct bad verses, and by making him the object of rude banter. The publication of Doctor Akakia, which brought down upon the president of the Academy a storm of ridicule, finally alienated Fre derick; while Voltaire s wrongs culminated in the famous arrest at Frankfort, the most disagreeable elements of which were due to the misunderstanding of an order by a subordinate official. The king lived as much as possible in a retired mansion, to which he gave the name of Sanssouci, not the palace so called, which was built after the Seven Years War, and was never a favourite residence. He rose regularly in summer at five, in winter at six, devoting himself to public business till about eleven. During part of this time, after coffee, he would aid his reflections by playing on the flute, of which he was passionately fond, being a really skilful performer. At eleven came parade, and an hour afterwards, punctually, dinner, which continued till two, or later, if conversation happened to be particularly attractive. After dinner he glanced through and signed cabinet orders written in accor dance with his morning instructions, often adding marginal notes and postscripts, many of which were in a caustic tone. These disposed of, he amused himself for a couple of hours with literary work; beUveen six and seven he would con verse with his friends or listen to his reader (a post held for some time by La Mettrie) ; at seven there was a concert ; and at half-past eight he sat down to supper, which might go on till midnight. He liked good eating and drinking, although even here the cost was sharply looked after, the expenses of his kitchen mounting to no higher figure than 1800 a year. At supper he was always surrounded by a number of his most intimate friends, mainly Frenchmen ; and he insisted on the conversation being perfectly free. His wit, however, was often cruel, and any one who responded with too much spirit was soon made to feel that the licence of talk was to be complete only on one side. At Frederick s court ladies were seldom seen, a circum stance that gave occasion to much scandal for which there seems to have been no foundation. The queen he visited only on rare occasions. She had been forced upon him by his father, and he had never loved her ; but he always treated her with marked respect, and provided her with a generous income, half of which she gave away in charity. Although without charm, she was a woman of many noble qualities ; and, like her husband, she wrote French books, some of which attracted a certain attention in their day. She survived him by eleven years, dying in 1797. Maria Theresa had never given up hope that she would re cover Silesia ; and as all the neighbouring sovereigns were bitterly jealous of Frederick, and somewhat afraid of him, she had no difficulty in inducing several of them to form a scheme for his ruin. Russia and Saxony entered into it heartily; and France, laying aside her ancient enmity towards Austria, joined the empress against the common object of dislike. Frederick, meanwhile, had turned towards England, which saw in him a possible ally of great importance against the French. A convention between 737 Prussia and Great Britain was signed in January 1756, and it proved of incalculable value to both countries, lead ing as it did to a close alliance during the administration of Pitt. Through the treachery of a clerk in the Saxon foreign office, Frederick was made aware of the future which was being prepared for him. Seeing the importance of taking the initiative, and, if possible, of securing Saxony, he suddenly, on the 24th August 1756, crossed the frontier of that country, and shut in the Saxon army between Pirna, and Konigstein, ultimately compelling it, after a victory gained over the Austrians at Lowositz, to surrender. Thus began the Seven Years War, in which, supported by England, Brunswick, and Hesse-Cassel, he had for a long time to op pose Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden. Virtu ally, the whole Continent was in arms against a small state which, a few years before, had been regarded by most mea as beneath serious notice. But it happened that this small state was led by a man of high military genius, capable of infusing into others his own undaunted spirit, while hia subjects had learned both from him and his predecessors habits of patience, perseverance, and discipline. In 1757, after defeating the Austrians at Prague, he was himself de feated by them at Kolin; and by the shameful convention of Closter-Seven, he was freely exposed to the attack of the French. In November 1757, however, when Europe looked upon him as ruined, he rid himself of the French by his splendid victory over them at Rossbach, and in about a month afterwards, by the still more splendid victory at Leuthen, he drove the Austrians from Silesia. From this time the French were kept well employed in the west by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who defeated them at Crefeld in 1758, and at Minden in 1759. In the former year Frederick triumphed, at a heavy cost, over the Russians at Zorndorf ; and although, through lack of his usual foresight, he lost the battle of Hochkirchen, he pre vented the Austrians from deriving any real advantage from their triumph, Silesia still remaining in his hands at the end of the year. The battle of Kunersclorf, fought on August 1 2, 1 759, was the most disastrous to him in the course of the war. He had here to contend both with the Russians and the Austrians ; and although at first he had some success, his army was in the end completely broken. &quot;All is lost. Save the royal family,&quot; he wrote to his minister Friesenstein ; &quot; the consequences of this battle will be worse than the battle itself. I shall not survive the ruin of the Fatherland. Adieu for ever ! &quot; But he soon recovered from his despair, and in 1760 gained the important victories of Liegnitz and Torgau. He had now, however, to act on the defensive, and, fortunately for him, the Russians, on the death of the czarina Elizabeth, not only withdrew in 1762 from the compact against him, but for a time became his allies. On October 29 of that year he gained his last victory over the Austrians at Freiberg. Europe was by that w time sick of war, every power being more or less exhausted. The result was that, on February 15, 1763, a few days after the con clusion of the peace of Paris, the treaty of Hubertusburg was signed, Austria confirming Prussia in the possession of Silesia. It would be difficult to overrate the importance of the contribution thus made by Frederick to the politics of Europe. Prussia was now universally recognized as one of the great powers of the Continent, and she definitely took her place in Germany as the rival of Austria. From this time it was inevitable that there should be a final struggle between the two nations for predominance, and that the smaller German states should group themselves around one or the other. Frederick himself acquired both in Germany and Europe the indefinable influence which springs from the recognition of great gifts that have been proved by great deeds. IX. - 93