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Rh whose own territories meanwhile had been greatly enlarged by the valour and wisdom of Friedrich Wilhelm 'the Great Elector,' under whose fostering care arose the first standing army in central Europe. The Great Elector, dying in 1688, left a country of one and a half millions, a vast treasure, and 38,000 well-drilled troops, to his son, Friedrich I., who put the kingly crown on his head at Königsberg, on the 18th of January, 1701. The first king of Prussia made few efforts to increase the territory left him by the Great Elector; but his successor, Friedrich Wilhelm I., acquired a treasure of nine millions of thalers, or nearly a million and a half sterling, bought family domains to the amount of five millions thalers, and raised the annual income of the country to six millions, three-fourths of which sum, however, had to be spent on the army. After adding part of Pomerania to the possessions of the house, he left his son and successor, Friedrich II., called 'the Great,' a state of 47,770 square miles, with two and a half millions inhabitants. Friedrich II. added Silesia, an area of 14,200 square miles, with one and a quarter million of souls, and this, and the large territory gained in the first partition of Poland, increased Prussia to 74,340 square miles, with more than five and a half millions of inhabitants. Under the reign of Friedrich's successor, Friedrich Wilhelm II., the State was enlarged by the acquisition of the principalities of Anspach and Baireuth, as well as the vast territory acquired in another partition of Poland, which raised its area to the extent of nearly 100,000 square miles, with about nine millions of souls. Under Friedrich Wilhelm III., nearly one half of this state and population was taken by Napoleon; but the Congress of Vienna not only restored the loss, but added part of the kingdom of Saxony, the Rhinelands, and Swedish Pomerania, moulding Prussia into two separate pieces of territory, of a total area of 107,300 square miles. This was shaped into a compact state of 137,066 square miles, with a population of 22,769,436, by the war of 1866.

Up to within a recent period, the kings of Prussia enjoyed the whole income of their domains, amounting to about a million sterling per annum. Since the establishment of the new constitution, however, this arrangement has been changed, and the domains have become partly public property, in so far as a certain amount of the income is paid into the public exchequer. Nevertheless, the civil list of the sovereign does only partly figure in the budget, a sum of 2,573,000 thalers, or 384,640 ₤, being deducted directly from the produce of the domains, under the name of 'Krondotation,' or Crown allowance. From recent explanations of the ministers, it appears that the total amount of the 'Krondotation,' at present, reaches the sum of 3,073,099 thalers, or 460,964 ₤, exclusive of the cost of building and repairs of royal palaces, and similar items of expenditure.