Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/320

STE belonged to that higher class of nobility which, according to the old German constitution, held immediately of the empire. This descent doubtless influenced the position which Stein afterwards assumed. Intended for the public service, he was sent in 1773 to Göttingen to study civil law and history, and then to Wetzlar, the seat of the imperial chamber. The glories of the empire had, however, faded, and Frederick the Great had made Prussia seem the loadstar of the youthful aspirations after German unity and nationality. In 1779 Stein entered the Prussian service as director of the mines at Wetter in Westphalia. In 1784, on the formation of the "Princes' League," he was sent as ambassador to Aschaffenburg. Two years later, on the death of Frederick, Stein accompanied two friends to England, where the republican opinions which he had cherished were greatly modified by what he saw. The enjoyment of rights and liberties which made England prosperous, was based upon custom and tradition rather than on written law; and Stein's sterling sense at once perceived that mere elaborate formulas and schemes of government projected for a people were useless in comparison with the simple regulations that leave room for self-development and self-government. On his return home he was enabled partially to apply his observations to the benefit of his countrymen in Westphalia, both in his administration of the mines, and in the capacity first of director and ultimately (1796) of president of the Westphalia chambers at Wesel, Hamm, and Minden. In 1804 he was called to Berlin to succeed Struensee as minister of finance and trade—an office which he held until the opening of 1807. His zeal and energy were conspicuous during this short tenure of office. He abolished the system of internal custom duties which hampered trade and manufactures; he gave a vigorous opposition to the introduction of paper money; and having all the impetuosity of a man of single purpose, he unfortunately quarreled with his colleagues. After the battle of Jena, being then with the king at Königsberg, he gave in his resignation. The battle of Friedland and the peace of Tilsit, by which Prussia was shorn of large territories and well-nigh reduced to the condition of a French province, necessitated the recall of Stein before the year had ended, and his nomination to the office of prime minister. If this recall was, as has been surmised, made at the suggestion of Napoleon, the conqueror had no reason to rejoice at his selection. To raise fallen Prussia to her place among the nations—to make her greater than ever—to make her Germany—but above all to expel the detested French from the German fatherland—was the all-absorbing thought of Stein's fiery soul. To this end he formed and fostered the Tugend Bund, the society which played so important a part in the liberation of Germany. He proceeded at once, to use his celebrated phrase, "to make up for the state's loss in extensive greatness, by intensive strength." He broke down the feudal privileges of the nobility which had trammeled the march of the nation; abolished serfdom and class distinctions in legal proceedings; and introduced a more liberal system of promotion in the army. "Stein's system," as it is still called, had vast ramifications, intended to embrace all parts of the commonwealth, administrative and political. But Napoleon grew suspicious of this earnest, wilful man; and in November, 1808, Stein was compelled to resign his post into the hands of the more cautious Hardenberg. He retired to Prague, where, in the society of other German and French emigrants, he kept alive the fire of patriotism and hatred of Napoleon. In 1812, after the meeting of kings and emperors at Dresden, Stein made his way, not without risk, to St. Petersburg, where he was soon joined by the patriot Arndt, who acted as his secretary. At the ear of Alexander I. Stein was a formidable foe to the French emperor. He followed the czar into Germany; was at the battles of Bautzen and Lutzen; and found much to blame in the conduct of Austria and the German princes. He was continually comparing the cold, cautious Metternich with the Stadions, men more of his own stamp. During the year 1813 Stein occupied the official position of supreme director of the interim central board of administration of the conquered provinces of Germany, till arrangements should be made for their final disposal in a general congress. His own ardent desire was to profit by the state of things, and make at most two powerful empires (one not being feasible) of Austria and Prussia, by the mediatizing of all the lesser kingdoms and duchies. With regard to France, he would have exacted from her much severer retribution than was actually demanded of her. Such views found small favour with the allies. After accompanying the sovereigns to Paris in 1814, he went to Vienna, and has characterized the work of the congress there as "a farce." The jealousy of Stein's comprehensive plans, felt by the minor German states, was expressed in the person of Montgelas the Bavarian minister, who succeeded in overthrowing all Stein's influence. Frederick William III., the king he had served so well, gradually abandoned Stein, and receded from the constitutional promises from which the latter had hoped for the speedy and complete regeneration of Prussia. Disgusted with the tide of reaction which manifested itself in the holy alliance, the patriotic minister retired into private life, enjoying at his favourite seat of Coppenburg in Westphalia the pleasures of a country life, and occasional communications with his old friends Count Münster and Baron Gagern. To the last he retained much of the temper and tone of an English constitutional minister. The court and government at Berlin took little notice of him, save in occasional marks of attention which could not decently be withheld from a personage so distinguished. In 1816 he received the order of the Prussian eagle. Two years later he was at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1827 he was named member of the Prussian council of state, and made marshal of the first assembly of states of Westphalia. On the publication of Bourrienne's Life of Napoleon in the same year, he replied in a pamphlet to certain statements reflecting on himself. Since his death his letters to Gagern have been published, in 1833, and his correspondence with Münster in 1841. He died in his castle of Coppenburg on the 29th June, 1831, with the reputation of an earnest patriot and a far-seeing statesman.—(See Blackwood's Magazine, lviii., 328.)—R. H.  STEINLA,, an eminent German line-engraver, was born in 1791. He was the son of a clergyman at Steinla, named Müller, and assumed the name of his birthplace in order to distinguish himself from several other engravers of the name of Müller. He studied art in Dresden academy, and engraving of one Böhn. For a time he was in business with a general engraver named Baruch. He then went to Italy to study the higher branches of his profession—at Milan worked under Longhi, and at Florence under Raphael Morghen. Here he distinguished himself by an engraving of the Cristo della Moneta of Titian, and still more by one of the Pietà of Fra Bartolomeo in the Pitti palace. On his return to Dresden in 1831 he was appointed professor in the Academy, and soon after engraved Raphael's drawing of the Massacre of the Innocents. His next, and most famous prints, were Holbein's Madonna, and the Madonna di San Sisto of Raphael, both in the Dresden gallery. He also completed Raphael's portrait of Pope Julius II., and his Madonna del Pesci, to study which he visited Madrid. Shortly after he had finished this plate his health gave way, and he died, September 21, 1858. Steinla was one of the best engravers of our time. Always scrupulously faithful to his original, and true in expression, he displayed also great precision of drawing, firmness of line, and general mastery over his graver, with largeness and refinement of style.—J. T—e.  STELLA,, a celebrated French painter, born at Lyons in 1596, was the son and pupil of François Stella, a Flemish painter settled in that city. Jacques Stella went to Florence when about twenty, and there stayed for some years in the employment of Cosmo II. as decorative painter. He then went to Rome, where he obtained the friendship and imitated the manner of Nicolas Poussin. Afterwards he visited Venice and Milan, where he was offered the post of director of the Academy. In 1634 he returned to France, and at the instigation of Cardinal Richelieu was appointed painter to the king, and assigned a pension of one thousand francs, with apartments in the Louvre. Stella painted scriptural, mythological, and pastoral subjects. In design and colour Poussin was his model; but his works were in his own day more esteemed in France than those of his master. They are coldly academical in character, feeble in style, unpleasant in colour. Stella rose to be principal painter to the king, and was made a knight of St. Michael. He died April 29, 1657. There are five well-known etchings by him, and some chiaroscuro woodcuts from his designs, which some authors say were engraved by him, but which appear to be more correctly attributed to P. Maupain.—J. T—e.  STENBOCK,, a Swedish general, born in 1664. He joined the Dutch army when young, and served in several campaigns in the Netherlands and on the Rhine with the allied forces. He followed Charles XII. into Russia, Poland, and Saxony, and by his zeal and courage contributed greatly towards 