The Prussian monarchy, at present the smallest among the great powers of Europe, has been formed by the addition of divers portions and provinces of Germany to the country originally called Prussia. The latter country, although it gave its name to the monarchy, and although upon it the royal dignity was conferred, has, however, not served as the nucleus around which the state crystallized into form, this honour being allotted to the marquisate (in later times the electorate) of Brandenburg. With the history of Brandenburg, therefore, particularly since the accession to its rule of the Hohenzollern dynasty, our task will mainly lie, as we attempt to draw a short outline of the rise and progress of the Prussian monarchy.

At the beginning of the Christian era we find the territory afterwards called Brandenburg inhabited by German tribes, which, in the succeeding centuries, were carried along by that tide of migration westward and southward that led to Teutonic settlements in all parts of the Roman empire. Their place was soon filled by Slavonic races, gradually advancing as far as the River Elbe, where they remained unmolested until the kingdom of Germany was established by the successors of Charlemagne in the treaty of Verdun, A.D. 843. A kind of military colonies, called Marches, were now everywhere founded for the defence of the frontiers. Thus, in 930 we find the North March established by command of the emperor, at present the north-west corner of Brandenburg; and soon after, the East March, which corresponds to the present Nether Lusatia. Meanwhile Otto I., Emperor of Germany, had founded the bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg; and desultory warfare, aided by the labours of an active priesthood, began to extend the boundary of German jurisdiction in those parts. This forward movement found a powerful representative in Markgraf Albrecht the Bear, formerly Duke of Saxony. By his valiant exploits in 1157 against Zazio, a chieftain of the Slavonic tribe called Wends, and by the firm civil and military organization he gave to the greatly augmented territories under his rule, he became the real founder of the marquisate of Brandenburg. His family, the Ascanians, followed in his footsteps, gradually, in the course of a century and a half, Germanizing the conquered districts by the introduction of German immigrants; establishing new towns, or endowing old ones with considerable privileges; extending their territory by conquests and intermarriages to parts of Pomerania in the north, and to parts of Saxony, Lusatia, and Silesia in the south-east. On the decease of the last of this dynasty, A.D. 1320, anarchy threatened to wipe away for ever the happy germs of civilization in these parts. Feuds among the lords and barons, and devastating inroads of neighbouring princes covered the land for nearly a century with bloodshed and rapine. The Emperor Louis of Bavaria had, on the demise of the last Ascanian, bestowed the Marquisate on his son Louis, not then of age. This Markgraf Louis added the new dignity of Elector of the Holy Roman Empire (Fürst) to that of Archicamerarius Truperii (Erzkämmerer).

which his Ascanian predecessors had already held. But this great accession of rank to the German princes did not invest him or his immediate successors with that firm grasp over the unruly nobles, and that protective power against encroaching neighbours which were necessary in so exposed a situation as that of the electorate of Brandenburg. The third of these Bavarian rulers was forced by financial difficulties to cede his territories to the Emperor Charles IV., whose main object seems to have been to turn the Kur-march into a hereditary property of his own family of Luxemburg. First, his eldest son Wenceslas of Bohemia, and afterwards a younger son, Sigismund, then only eleven years old, were created electors of Brandenburg, much to the detriment of this miserable country. Sigismund, as precocious in borrowing money as he was in obtaining dignities, twice gave over his fief of Brandenburg as a mortgage for his debts. The first of these cessions was to his cousin Toderus of Moravia. This prince was more successful in the extortion of money from his impoverished subjects in Brandenburg than in the chastisement of a nobility now entirely masters of a country which they robbed and devastated at random. Fortunately for it, Sigismund was still deeper in debt, when, on the decease of Toderus in 1411, he found himself emperor of Germany, and Brandenburg again at his disposal. Frederick of Hohenzollern, Burggraf or imperial commissioner at Nurnberg, had lent the Emperor Sigismund 400,000 gold florins, and was ready to waive this demand in return for a gift which at that time would have possessed but little attractions to many,—viz., the electorate of Brandenburg. In the year 1415, Frederick having held the lands in pawn during four years, was raised to the dignity of elector, and received the solemn investiture at the Diet of Constance in 1417 with great pomp and ceremony. Providence had graciously ordained that with him this should be no idle and unmeaning pageant, but the commencement of an era of good government, of steadfast progress, and of sober attention to the labours of the state, which, handed down in his highly-gifted family, has gradually and almost insensibly raised that small and poor electorate of Brandenburg into a kingdom of the first order among European powers, and of great promise for the progress of the civilization of the world.

A few words will suffice to introduce the reader to the previous history of the Hohenzollerns. Their name is derived from the castle of Zollern or Hohen-zollern in Swabia, and their lineage is traced upwards to a Count Thasilo, who lived in the days of Charlemagne. In the year 1200 the cadet de famille, one Conrad, received the appointment of burg-graf of Nurnberg. From him the electoral and royal dynasty of Hohenzollern have descended in an unbroken line, whilst the older branch of the family, being descendants of Conrad's eldest brother Frederick, remained princes of a small territory contiguous to their ancestral castle of Hohenzollern; until in 1851 they gave over their sovereignty to the King of Prussia, and they now reside in the Prussian dominion as princes of the blood. The present (1859) prime minister of Prussia, who is also father of the Queen of Portugal, is one of these princes of Hohenzollern. The Burggrafs of Nurnberg had, before obtaining Brandenburg, become lords of Ansbach and Baireuth, two small territories in Franconia. It may be as well to state here that these territories of Ansbach and Baireuth, after having remained a much-prized property under several hands in the electoral line of Hohenzollern during many centuries, came in 1806 into the possession of Napoleon, who in 1810 incorporated them with Bavaria.

From the very beginning of his rule in 1412, Frederick had been assiduously intent upon saving the country from the effects of anarchy. "The towns, harried and plundered to skin and bone, were glad to see him, and did homage to him with all their heart. But the baronage or squirearchy of the country were of another mind. These in the late anarchies had set up for a kind of kings in their own right; they had their funds, made war, made peace, levied tolls and transit dues; lived much at their discretion in these solitary countries." On their refusing homage, "Frederick was very patient with them, hoped to prevail by gentle methods, but could make no progress in that way." Force was applied; in spite of drawbridges and thick walls, the feudal castles fell before what little artillery Frederick could muster against them, and with their destruction order and obedience to the laws entered the long-distracted country. He understood the noble art of governing men; had in him the justice, clearness, valour, and patience needed for that. Except in the Hussite wars for Sigismund and the German empire, in which no man could prosper, he may be defined as constantly prosperous. To Brandenburg he was, very literally, the "blessing of blessings; redemption out of death into life." Making every allowance for the shortcomings of several individuals in the long list of Hohenzollerns who followed Frederick on the throne of Brandenburg; there has been something in all that reminds the attentive student of the character of this founder of their dynasty: regular and unflinching progress in all essentials of policy without undue attention to externals—moderation in expense and luxury—manly perseverance in their rights—advancement of the country in the arts of peace as well as of war—protection of their people against the insolent bearing and oppression of the nobles.

Frederick I. bequeathed Brandenburg, with the electorship, to his second son Frederick II., who obtained the title of "Ironmouth" by his military prowess. New acquisitions of territory, by conquest, purchase, or intermarriage, mark his rule (1440 to 1570), as well as that of his two successors, Albrecht Achilles and John I.; the former of Elector whom becomes important by his famous family-ordinance, Albrecht, (Hausgesetz, a.d. 1477), in which it was enacted, that for the future the marches should remain undivided in the hands of the elector; also that the Franconian principalities (viz., Ansbach and Baireuth) should never go to more than two heirs. Thus a real state was formed, and a centre of gravitation provided, to which in the then chaotic state of the empire many a floating mass must needs agglutinate itself in the course of time. Albrecht Achilles' family-ordinance was afterwards confirmed and sanctioned afresh by the Elector Joachim Frederick's house-treaty of Gera. Order and progress in cultivation were on the increase throughout the country, colonists flowing into it from other parts of Germany; so that the beginning of the sixteenth century saw the last of the feudal castles fall under the powerful arm of the Elector Joachim I. (1499 Elector to 1535). The first university in the electorate of Brandenburg was founded a.d. 1506 at Frankfort on the Oder, and a supreme and independent tribunal (Kammergericht) organized at Berlin. It is strange, indeed, that this wise and intelligent prince should have carefully avoided every contact with the Reformation, which was spreading far and wide among his people, giving a new and higher tone to their tenor of life, and which was destined to become the corner-stone of his state. The noble task of introducing a more evangelical form of Christianity into the Brandenburg possessions was reserved to his son, the valiant fighter Joachim II. (1535 to 1571), called, "Hector" from the Eleothe Turkish campaigns in which he had been imperial-general-Joachim II. issimo. It was in the year 1539 that Joachim II. solemnly partook of the Holy Communion according to the Lutheran rite. The three bishoprics of Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Lebus were incorporated into the electorate, and their immense revenues applied to the endowment of schools and charitable institutions. One of his political transac- tions, though little spoken of at the time, was destined to become the germ of one of the greatest wars the world ever saw, viz., a hereditary union (Erbeverleihung) with Duke Frederick of Liegnitz, signed in 1537, by which, in a certain event, the Silesian principalities of Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau, were to become the inheritance of the Hohenzollern family. Our readers will see that we are pointing to the origin of those Silesian difficulties two centuries later, and their effect on the Seven Years' War; which, in the same degree as they redounded to the military glory of their hero, have been up to the present day represented as having sprung from an arbitrary violation of every law, human and divine. Another important step was made by this elector, when he obtained, in 1569, the co-infeftment of the country called Prussia, which had lately changed its semi-monastic character into that of a secular duchy under the feudal seigneurship of Poland, and under the immediate rule of its first duke, who was a prince of the Hohenzollern family. We shall see that, before long, the sudden decay of the ducal family of Prussia led to the complete union of the two countries under the rule of a Brandenburg elector. John George, elector from 1571 to 1598, deserves our notice, because he opened a ready hand of welcome to a numerous class of Dutchmen driven out of Holland by religious intolerance, and assisted them in settling within his dominions; an example which several of his successors have on occasion followed, much to the advantage of the country,—giving protection to refuges, respectable, hardworking, and accomplished in various branches of industry. His was a reign of thrift and order, by which he succeeded, with the help of considerable grants from his Stände (states, or provincial parliaments), in removing the consequences of his father's financial mal-administrations. Considerable acquisitions accrued to his grandson John Sigismund (1608 to 1619), who not only laid the foundation, on the far west, of the now important state possessions on the banks of the Rhine, by obtaining certain portions of the so-called Cleve inheritance; but also (in 1618) united the dukedom of Prussia to his family.

Of this Baltic country, whose destinies henceforward remained interwoven with those of Brandenburg, it behoves us now to say a few words, in order to explain how a German commonwealth had sprung up in these distant regions of the N.E. among a Lithuanian population.

The aboriginal Prussians, of a race belonging to the Lithuanian family, were the inhabitants, from time immemorial, of the territory along the coast between the Vistula and the Niemen. Many had been the attempts to introduce Christianity among this heathenish people on the part of the Polish clergy and the Polish kings; but the Prussians believing, for reasons of their own, that these missionary enterprises were but a cover to political annexation, rallied to withstand them, and finally, much irritated by military demonstrations, entered Poland in great numbers. Their inroads became so alarming that the kings of Poland resolved upon calling to their aid the Teutonic order of the Knights of St George, who would, it was thought, in the absence of Moors and Saracens, be found ready to open a crusade upon that heathenish population. The request was promptly acceded to by Hermann von Salza, the then Deutschmeister, or general of the order, who, however, before setting out, obtained from the emperor a declaration by which all the Baltic lands hereafter to be conquered by his Teutonic knights should become a possession of the order. A long, steady, and well-planned war of conquest ensued (1230 to 1283), in which, with a far smaller amount of needless cruelty than was usual in those days of extermination, the whole country of the Prussians was subjected to the order's rule. Castles and towns were built wherever security demanded or commercial advantages seemed to invite. So great a value was attached by the Teutonic knights to this profession, that in 1300 they removed the head-quarters of their order from Venice to their new palace of Marienburg, which is to this day a witness to their refined taste and their regal magnificence. In all matters the order seemed to be prosperous, and to deserve its progress. Not only did its influence and its conquests soon extend beyond the limits of Prussia, but agriculture, commerce, and the fine arts flourished within their dominions; schools were founded, and law equitably administered. At the time of their greatest prosperity, about the year 1400, the Teutonic knights owned 55 walled cities (several of them important centres of commerce), 48 castles, 19,000 villages, and a nett revenue of 800,000 Rhenish guilders (£65,000), a vast sum in those days. Luxury, however, and insolent bearing had speedily followed wealth and security, and a single defeat in the great battle of Tannenberg, A.D. 1410, lost against the united forces of the King of Poland and the Lithuanian people, sufficed, if not to drive them out of their possessions, yet to break their independent power. As soon as the great individual valour and skill of their master had procured them an honourable place they fell out among themselves, one party calling in the Poles to their assistance, and reduced their means to such an extent by intestine warfare that, in the year 1466, the western portion of Prussia was entirely delivered over to the King of Poland, and the order must needs be satisfied to retain its hold on the eastern portion as vassals to the king. In this extremity, the knightly commonwealth of the Teutonic order, in order to obtain protection from without, began the system of electing to the office of masters younger sons or cousins of powerful German dynasties. One of these masters, elected A.D. 1511, was Markgraf Albrecht of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, whose additional recommendation lay in his being the nephew of the King of Poland. Albrecht, however, met with no lenient treatment at the hands of his uncle, but was on the first opportunity attacked by an overwhelming army of the Poles. A truce was no sooner concluded in 1521 than Albrecht hastened to Germany to invoke his countrymen's assistance. He was everywhere disappointed. But the power of the Reformation was so forcibly impressed upon his mind that on his return he declared his adherence to its tenets, with the consent of several of his bishops, and under the acclamations of the nobles and the people. After his liege lord's sanction had been obtained in the peace of Krakau, Albrecht, as a consequence upon the dissolution of his religious order, was proclaimed hereditary duke in the secularized country of Prussia in the year 1525. Convinced of the necessity of establishing the Reformation on the firm basis of sound religious and national education, he opened many schools throughout the country, and founded the university of Königsberg, which continues to this day to stand in the vanguard of mental culture towards the East. But Albrecht's dynasty was not destined to last. His son and successor became hopelessly lunatic. A regency had to be appointed, which, after having been in the hands of other relatives, was conducted from the year 1608 by one elector, John Sigismund of Brandenburg, until in 1618, the dukedom falling vacant by the melancholic duke's death, he took possession of Eastern Prussia, the western part still remaining a province of Poland.

We have thus returned to the fortunate Elector John Sigismund, whose matrimonial alliance with his cousin of Prussia, and the co-infeftment bestowed upon his father, combined in procuring his family a permanent possession (although, for a long time to come, under the feudal suzerainty of Poland) in this farthest north-east corner of civilized Europe. But at this point the hereditary good fortune seemed to desert the family of Hohenzollern. Instead of uniting the north and south-west of Germany, which was almost entirely Protestant, into a league under its leadership, and thus probably saving the Germans from a terrible war, Brandenburg receded from the foremost rank in the defence of religious liberty, and suffered deservedly from the wrath and contempt of both contending powers. That fearful struggle, "from the effects of which Germany seems only now to be recovering herself"—the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) broke out during the latter years of Elector John Sigismund. His successor, George William (1624-1640), the first utterly incompetent ruler in his family, allowed a violent Papist (believed to have been in the pay of Austria), Count Schwarzenberg, to direct his councils. Neutrality seemed the only desire of this despicable prince's heart. Remaining everybody's friend in a time of unequalled fury, he saw his country trampled under foot by all princes and all armies. Forced by Gustavus Adolphus to declare himself in his favour, he very shortly broke his partizanship. Brandenburg, already impoverished and exhausted by the imperial and Bavarian troops, was now regularly fed upon by a numerous Swedish armament for a number of years. Famine and pestilence cut off the population by thousands; so that, at the time of George William's death in 1640, a traveller would see not only a large number of towns and villages utterly ruined, their trade and commerce annihilated, and even agriculture at a stand-still, but, in the literal meaning of the term, uninhabited tracts, miles after miles, of land, without a living soul upon them. To Frederick William, who succeeded in this year to the dominion of Brandenburg at the early age of twenty, the gratitude of his people and the consent of his contemporaries have ascribed the surname of the "Great Elector." Endowed with a powerful and comprehensive mind, and confident in the moral resources of his people, who soon took courage under his rule, he speedily assumed so imposing a position that the Swedes evacuated the country of their Protestant ally, whilst he cleared by armed force his Rhenish possessions. The elector's voice made itself heard again in the cause of religious toleration during the conferences which were opened at Munster and at Osnabruck in the following years. When the peace was at last concluded, Frederick William could congratulate himself on having regained possession of almost all the territories which had escaped the weak grasp of his father. Almost the only exception to his success was the refusal of the emperor to entertain his claims on the above-mentioned Silesian principalities, which had fallen vacant in 1675, during the reign of George William, and were withheld by that potentate.

To heal the wounds of so protracted and inglorious a devastation, and to secure his struggling possessions from encroachment, was no easy task. It did not escape the elector's observation that the German empire, to whose interests his family had loyally been devoted, could not, in its rotten constitution, long retain much vitality, or any protective power whatsoever. He therefore resolved to give to his state an independent position in Germany as he could. For this state he saw dangers menacing on all sides,—from the West, in the grasping tendencies of France, then fast approaching the Rhine; from the north, in the yet unbroken war-spirit of the Swedes; and from the East, in the feudal suzerainty which Poland held over his duchy of Prussia. Proceeding step by step, he formed a very efficient though small army, which soon made the name of Brandenburghers to sound as well in the ears of military men as any name in Europe. These troops, assisted by an ever adroit and temporizing policy, procured him, during the sanguinary war which Charles Gustavus waged against Poland, the full and unrestricted sovereignty over his portion of Prussia. In A.D. 1660, before the German empire or any of his German compatriots had come to his assistance, he sailed forth to recover the Rhenish possessions of his family (Cleves, &c.), which an invading army of Louis XIV. had wantonly occupied, without even a declaration of hostilities, during a war between France and Holland. So skilful was his strategy that the French, in order to deliver themselves from this most strenuous antagonist, offered subsidies to the King of Sweden for an immediate attack upon Brandenburg, left apparently defenceless by the elector's Rhenish campaign. From Pomerania, of which a portion had been consigned to them in the peace of 1648, they broke in upon Brandenburg; and committed such ravages that their name is proverbially held up in terror to the present day. Whilst they thought him still drilling his troops in the south of Germany, he suddenly attacked them, first at Rathenow, and then, following up his success, a few days later gained a decisive victory near Felberlin, on the 29th of June 1675, over a force twice his own number, under the best warriors of that day. The elector left them no time to renew their forces by fresh recruits; and in a brilliant campaign conquered Swedish Pomerania, including the island of Rugen. He reduced even the fortress of Stralsund, which the famous Wallenstein had not many years before vainly attacked with his mighty host. It availed the Swedish commanders but little to create a diversion by a descent upon the duchy of Prussia. Frederick William was soon on their track, and his troops, crossing an arm of the sea on sledges in the depth of winter, drove the enemy from a position in which they had deemed themselves unassailable. Meanwhile, however, the emperor had concluded peace with their common enemies; and thus Frederick William, left entirely alone, was obliged to sign the treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, by which almost every legitimate fruit of his labours was lost. Before he placed his signature to this deed, he gave vent to his bitter feelings against the emperor by exclaiming—"Exoriare aliquis nostris ex osibus ulter," and desired his chaplain to preach his thanksgiving-day sermon on the 9th verse of Psalm cxvi.—"It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes." Almost the last act of Frederick William's political life has a special bearing upon British history. Negotiations were carried on by him with William of Orange (afterwards King William III.), which led to a promise of active co-operation—"in the interest of the Protestant party in England, and of the liberties of that country," as in the words of one of the elector's despatches. It was stipulated also that Marshal Schomberg should be allowed to quit the Brandenburg army, of which he was at that time commander-in-chief, whenever his services might be required by William.

The Great Elector's civil government became as famous in his day as his military exploits. We must deeply regret that, instead of fostering the remains of parliamentary life that existed in every part of his dominions, he sacrificed them unrelentingly to his one supreme object of state-unity. The Stände, or provincial parliaments, consisting everywhere of the representatives of the nobility, of the burghers, and of the peasantry, were deprived, both in Brandenburg and in Prussia, of their inalienable right of voting the supplies. Their resistance was so rudely coerced that (if we pass in silence some futile attempts on their part in the following reigns to regain their lost prestige) we may date the beginning of absolutism in Brandenburg and Prussia from his days,—an absolutism that remained unbroken, or nearly so, until its hold was relaxed in the middle of the present century, when we may hope to see a stronger union of the sovereign and his people, cemented by the free participation of the latter in the rights as well as the duties of citizenship. Frederick William abandoned the old system of military levies and conscriptions in his own states, thus reserving for the use of his country all hands available for cultivation and for trade. His unremitting attention to the different branches of his army, and his wise economy, en- abled him, with comparatively small pressure on the finances of his country, to raise the military establishment to the number of 40,000 as effective soldiers as any in Europe. The distribution of taxes was effected more equitably. His own farms were managed with an eye to improvement of every kind. He received with open-handed hospitality a great number of French Protestants driven from their homes by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and found himself richly rewarded by the industrious habits and the skill of these new inhabitants. Every active employment in agriculture, in trade and commerce, in arts and sciences, met with encouragement. He ventured upon the foundation of colonies on the coast of Africa, for the defence of which he kept up a small fleet of armed vessels. He was a staunch adherent of the Protestant faith, of which his wife, the pious Louisa Henrietta, was a bright ornament, and he promoted school-education and literature in every way.

We have thus arrived at the close of the first period of Brandenburg history. From a small nucleus of some thousand odd square miles, a firmly-organized state of European importance had arisen, of nearly 50,000 square miles in extent, and with a population of a million and a half. A short summary of dates may serve as a retrospect of this gradual and almost uninterrupted progress:

About 500. Immigration of Slavonic tribes. 925. Henry I. of Germany subdues the Wends west of the Oder; conquest of their city of Brandenburg; foundation of the North March. 1136 to 1320. Ascanian Markgraves of Brandenburg. 1157 to 1170. Albrecht the Bear. 1230 to 1283. Conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic Knights. 1324 to 1373. Bavarian Markgraves of Brandenburg. 1356. Brandenburg becomes an Electorate. 1373 to 1415. Luxemburg Electors of Brandenburg. 1410. Death of the Teutonic Order at Tannenberg. 1415. Frederick, Burggraf of Nürnberg, raised to the Electorate of Brandenburg. 1415 to 1701. Hohenzollern Electors of Brandenburg. 1415 to 1440. Elector Frederick I. 1440 to 1470. Elector Frederick II. 1466. The Teutonic Order loses Western Prussia, and keeps Eastern Prussia as vassal of Poland. 1470 to 1486. Elector Albrecht Achilles. 1485 to 1499. Elector John Cicero. 1499 to 1535. Elector Joachim I. 1511. Albrecht of Hohenzollern-Culmbach, grand-master of the Teutonic Order. 1535 to 1571. Elector Joachim II. 1532. Lutheran Reformation in Brandenburg. 1562. Co-infeftment of Joachim II. for Prussia. 1571 to 1598. Elector John George. 1598 to 1608. Elector Joachim Frederick. 1608 to 1619. Elector John Sigismund. 1613. The Elector joins the Calvinistic Church. 1618. Union of the Duchy of Prussia with the Electorate of Brandenburg. 1619 to 1640. Elector George William; Thirty Years' War. 1640 to 1688. Frederick William the Great Elector. 1648. Peace of Westphalia. 1657. Treaty of Wehlau; Eastern Prussia is freed from its vassalage to Poland. 1675. The Swedes routed at Fehrbellin.

We have seen that the uppermost principle in Frederick William's political life was to raise his state into a position as independent as possible of the Hapsburg-Luxemburg family, who, filling as they did the imperial throne of Germany, seemed nevertheless deaf to all but purely dynastic interests. It was with this same view that Frederick, his son and successor, laboured to raise his extra-Germanic possession, viz., the duchy of Prussia, into a kingdom. After endless negotiations, and the application of manifest bribes at the court of Vienna, the emperor at last, desirous of securing Frederick's well-drilled battalions, assented to his demand. In the year 1701, on the 18th of January, this new European monarchy was ushered in by Frederick's placing the royal crown on his head at the principal church of Königsberg, the capital of Prussia. Not averse to regal pomp and the splendour of courts, Frederick I. on that day established the new order of the Black Eagle, which holds the first rank among the decorations of the state, and is bestowed but sparingly. The promise given to the emperor, of assistance in the forthcoming war, was faithfully kept. Frederick drove the French from their positions of Kaiserswerth and Rheinberg, on the Nether Rhine, and strenuously assisted the Duke of Marlborough in the reduction of other places. His youthful and brilliant captain, Prince Leopold of Dessau (celebrated in much later years as "the Old Dessauer"), led the Brandenburg-Prussian soldiers into Bavaria, where a terrible army had assembled under the French general Villars. Here it fell to their honourable lot to fight under the eyes of Marlborough and of Eugène of Savoy, and to take their due share in the labours and the glory of the great day of Blenheim. It is reported that, when in the very centre of the position the ranks of the allied army had been three times broken, the Prince of Dessau led his grenadiers onward single-handed, and decided the day. The same intrepidity was evinced, and the same success obtained, by the Prussians in the Italian campaign, when Leopold Dessau, under the command of the great Eugène, was the first to storm and to carry the ramparts of Turin, in the battle of the 7th of September 1706. They did acceptable service also in the battles of Ramillies (in the same year), of Oudenarde (1706), and of Malplaquet (1708).

Frederick I. left his kingdom in 1713, not inconsiderably augmented by heritages and peaceable acquisitions, to William I. His son Frederick William I., by his second wife Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, sister of our king George I., and the friend and correspondent of many of the first savans of her day. Yet neither the father's taste for the pomp and ceremony of royalty, nor the philosophic elegance of Sophia Charlotte seems to have been inherited by this sturdy prince, who was given to his country to prepare it, during twenty-seven years of unremitting labour (1713 to 1740), for the rough handling it was to go through under the succeeding reign. His name has been handed down to history as that of a mean niggard, of a ridiculous drill-sergeant, and of a cruel, half-mad barbarian. It would be impossible to deny either his parsimony, or his military propensities, or his severity and occasional bursts of impetuous rage. But we are inclined to look more leniently upon parsimonious habits in a king when they are extended to his own requirements as well as those of others, or upon outbreaks of ill-suppressed anger when this anger is the effect of a desire for the salus rei publicae. We would forgive the Prussian grenadiers their faultless regularity, and even the monstrous size of a regiment of giants, when we know that their commander never abused this terrible armament for deeds of aggression and conquest. Punctuality, frugality, and order became through him the rule and heirloom of his country; the expenditure of an army of 72,000 men pressed not a whit heavier upon its resources than half as much had done under his father's less careful government; and a well-filled and well-guarded treasury secured the means of prompt action in a country of undeveloped resources, and in an age when the improved principles of national economy were unknown. The population of the country made rapid progress, and was increased by a carefully-encouraged immigration, chiefly of Protestants, who had been thrust out of their own countries by the bigotry of their masters. The king's own pleasures lay almost exclusively in field-sports, in parades, and in the company of his drinking and smoking associates (tabak- und collegen); and his contempt of books and book-learning went so far that, during many years, the annual expenditure of the royal library did not exceed one guinea for a charwoman's occasional scrubbing of the staircase. Yet he gave proper attention to the schools of the poor, and extended the parochial system by liberal endowments. He gave a wholesome stimulus to the prompt administration of justice. Trials for witchcraft were for ever abolished by him. Frederick William I. was ever unwilling to resort to arms. He obtained Gueldres in exchange for the principality of Orange, and held Stettin by a peaceable arrangement with Sweden, until Charles XII., on his return from Turkey, forced him to a trial of arms by the repudiation of this arrangement. Charles XII., in this conflict narrowly escaped being taken prisoner in the fortress of Stralsund, and the King of Prussia remained in undisputed possession of Stettin and the mouth of the Oder. In 1735 he assisted Austria with 10,000 picked men in the war of succession in Poland, but withdrew his valuable assistance when he discovered that his confiding nature had been all along played upon by the court of Vienna, and that Austrian intrigue was at work on every point to oppose the interests of his country. This was the last time Frederick William drew the sword. The internal improvements of his dominions henceforward remained his sole object until his death, in 1740, when he left his kingdom, increased by nearly 5000 square miles of territory, and no less than 900,000 inhabitants, to Frederick II., or "the Great," the eldest of his remaining sons. Frederick had never been his favourite. From the years of his boyhood, his heir-apparent seemed to possess none of those qualities which Frederick William respected, to the exclusion of almost all others,—viz., absolute obedience to the head of the family; attention to the prosaic part only of kingly business; scrupulous punctuality in military matters, rather than tactic and strategic ingenuity; strict and undeviating adherence to every dogma of the Calvinistic or "Reformed" Church; and, finally, violent contempt of all unmanly graces of social life, of literature and the fine arts, of foreign principles and manners. After the first attempts of imparting these principles had failed, it would seem that the king formed the resolution, for what he considered the preservation of Prussia from utter ruin, of cutting off the succession of the prince-royal, either by his voluntary abdication or by actual violence. Of the latter method, the world has been filled with accounts little creditable to the character of the stern and unbending father; to the former desire, when it dawned upon the prince's mind as a fixed purpose of his royal master, Frederick opposed this characteristic answer:—"The king evidently wants me to abdicate; I will renounce my right of succession on condition that my father declares I am not his rightful son." The effect of this terrible and cruel apprenticeship on the crown-prince's mind is clearly and tragically perceptible, in the gradual change from a soft, most charming, most affectionate, and open disposition, to that character which his unworthy friend Voltaire describes as "poli et dur comme le marbre;" that coldness which wounded the enthusiastic tenderness of his beloved sister Wilhelmina; that expression of stern melancholy which settled on his brows and marred every enjoyment, even that of his later triumphs; that measured and rarely genuine submissiveness with which he met his father's advances when a reconciliation had taken place. He never lost his true attachment to poetry and the fine arts; or, what is more, his attachment to tried friends, among whom the two Scotchmen, the Lord Marshal Keith and his brother James, held a prominent place to their respective deaths. But his existence remained cheerless,—illuminated with but few rays of light,—devoted to a contended struggle with the difficulties of a government, the responsibility of which he took entirely upon his own shoulders, or of foreign wars which he had commenced in the full flush of youth and wealth, and which must have worn out any but his mind and body, when the continent of Europe combined to chastise his rashness. Beloved in his early youth, feared in his manhood, admired in his old age, he has now recovered in the hearts of his people that intense affection which his youth had inspired; and whilst Europe calls him "the Great," he lives among the Prussians as their "Old Fritz," or as Friedrich der Einzige (the Unique). None of the succeeding sovereigns of Prussia have ventured upon taking, at the time of their accession, the name of Frederick III.

Born 24th January 1712, Frederick was very soon subjected to a strict régime, every detail of which had been minutely prescribed in the autograph instructions of the king himself. Contrary to the royal expectations, the boy took to flute-playing, French wigs, and French books, instead of drilling, the grenadier's pigtail, and the catechism. Before long, the headstrong will and rather flighty disposition of the crown-prince, encouraged by unwise associates, by the indulgence of his mother, and by the affectionate caresses of his sister, led to violent altercations with the king, who, likewise urged on by evil councillors, believed that he saw the entire fabric of his state undermined and crumbling into dust by this apparent conspiracy among his own family. Driven to despair by threats and insults, and by the galling sense of constant espionage around him, Frederick resolved to flee from the presence of his father. Several schemes were formed and rejected, when at last, the occasion of a journey to Southern Germany with the king appearing favourable, every preparation was made for a flight to France and thence to England, where he hoped to find an asylum with his mother's brother, King George I. But his guardians kept too close a watch; and the unfortunate youth's chains were riveted all the faster for his rash attempt at desertion. The king declared his resolution that the young captain must be tried by court-martial, and suffer the penalty of death like any other deserter. In vain did many of the sovereigns of Europe interfere with the modern Brutus in behalf of the crown-prince; among them the Emperor of Germany, whose paid agents in Berlin had contributed but too much towards the embitterment of this animosity. It would appear that the court of Vienna thought of preventing, by means of this family disunion (which they actually did), the intended marriage of Frederick with a daughter of George II., which would certainly have been the result of a reconciliation. A close confinement at the fortress of Custrin was the only alleviation to which the king would at last consent. On quitting this, the royal prince was ordered to remain at the town of Custrin, and to give his whole mind to the details of state finances and civil government in general. The young man's stubborn mind was curbed, and although with no good grace did he apply himself to these uncongenial labours, yet he frequently reverted in after years with gratitude towards his rule taskmaster, as having laid the foundation of his skill as a governor of the country. In this state of utter prostration and subjection, he was commanded in 1733 to marry a princess of Brunswick, whom he had never seen, and never (it is believed) could have liked. As he would have complied with any command, sullenly but submissively, he married the handsome but insipid princess, in whose praise it must be said that she bore her husband's polite neglect uncomplainingly, and without bitterness of heart. At a distance from the court, although outwardly reconciled and scrupulously attentive to his duties as district-governor and as colonel of a regiment, the prince resided at Rheinsberg during the remainder of the king's life, surrounded by friends of his own choice, and devoted to literature. To this he contributed, among others, a curious treatise called *The Anti-Machiavel*, in which violent protests are raised against the dishonest principles of the great Florentine master of statescraft.

On his accession to the throne, 31st May 1740, he retained for the most part the wise and salutary enactments of his father, but freeing them from many of their asperities, and instilling new life into them. His prodigious activity made itself felt very soon in every department of his administration. The Potsdam regiment of giants was disbanded, and the fighting strength of his army increased. Frederick abolished the rack, simplified the procedures in courts of law, admitted every petitioner to his presence, and declared in his own pithy manner that, in his dominions, everybody should attend to his own soul as he pleased ("Ein jeder kann nach seiner Façon selig werden"), by which perfect religious liberty to all religious denominations was established in Prussia, before any other country.

The death of Charles VI., Emperor of Germany, in 1740, without male issue, opened the flood-gates of political intrigue and ambitious designs. Instigated by France, the Bavarian elector laid unjust claims to Austria proper, leaving to the emperor's only child, the beautiful and virtuous Maria Theresa, nothing but the kingdom of Hungary. The Saxon elector's equally doubtful claims were on Moravia. Frederick II. of Prussia considered the event a favourable opportunity for seizing by force what had been unjustly withheld by Austria from his predecessors since the Thirty Years' War,—viz., the Silesian principalities of Liegnitz, Wohlau, and Brieg. These predecessors had never desisted in their efforts to obtain them. Devolving by right of inheritance to the Hohenzollern family in 1675, they had been retained, as we have seen, by the then emperor for the augmentation of his own family property. Frederick I., like the great elector, had protested against this, declaring in a state paper,—"As for keeping my word, I must, I will, and I shall do it; the task of enforcing my claims on Silesia I leave to my successors, whom, under these circumstances of injustice, I cannot and will not in any way bind." And Frederick William I., had, on a recent occasion, expressed the hope, "that there stood the man," pointing to his son, "who would revenge the indignities that his house was suffering." Frederick II.'s demands were no sooner despatched to Vienna, than he marched across the frontier of Silesia with 30,000 picked men. Queen Maria Theresa very naturally rejected the demand thus impertinently proffered. But her long-neglected though numerous army proved deficient in every respect. Frederick had the rare good fortune of being permitted to combine his strategic book-learning with a knowledge of the realities of war in a uniform continuance of success, for which he was at first indebted mainly to the perfect organization of his soldiers, and to the leadership of the Prince of Dessau, whom we saw fighting in the battles of Marlborough, and of Field-Marshal Count Schwerin. The latter was a Pomeranian nobleman of high descent, whose great military ability and moral worth Frederick ever appreciated to their full value. Two great battles—of Mollwitz, A.D. 1741, and of Chotusitz, in the following year—mark this his first campaign, which terminated in the peace of Breslau. Nearly the whole of Silesia was delivered into his hands. The numerous Protestants of Silesia hailed their deliverance (as did likewise many years after the Jesuit order, to whom the king gave free access to his dominions, when the indignation of Roman Catholic courts and nations had driven them forth into banishment). Two years after the peace of Breslau, in 1744, Frederick occupied the important country of Ostfriesland, on the German Ocean (at this day incorporated with Hanover), which had fallen to his inheritance by the demise of the last of its princes. But meanwhile the strenuous exertions of the unfortunate Maria Theresa to raise up a Christian European coalition did not allow him to remain inactive. Frederick had declared in favour of Charles, elector of Bavaria, as a candidate for the vacant imperial throne, in opposition to Maria Theresa's amiable husband, Francis of Lotharingia. Accordingly, the former was elected emperor, under the name of Charles VII., by the German Reichstag or Diet, and Frederick, on the strength of an alliance with him and with the King of France and others, opened the second campaign in Silesia in the month of August 1744, in a war. Not so uniformly successful as in the former campaign, he yet showed the superiority of his army and of his own ripened military genius by three brilliant victories. At the close of these two first campaigns, which are known in military history as the Silesian wars, Frederick had lost almost every grenadier of his father's training, and spent every thaler that had been collected in his father's treasury. Charles VII. was dead; his rival of Lotharingia (the ancestor of the present Emperor of Austria) had been proclaimed German emperor; and Frederick now acknowledged him in the treaty of Dresden, December 1745, which again confirmed him in the possession of Silesia. Whatever difficulties the course of events might bring, they would henceforward have to be met by the resources of his own mind alone. Although he may never have anticipated to the full the terrible dangers that were destined soon to environ him on all sides, he strained every nerve to make good the years of peace and tranquillity allotted to him. The revenues of the country were increased by financial reforms, which, though very far indeed from being faultless in the light of improved science, yet were calculated to press but lightly on the productive powers of his country. Every encouragement and every device was resorted to in order to develop these productive powers. Whilst instilling new vigour into every branch of his multifarious administration, and also attending with all the zest of early manhood to the enjoyment of literature and of the society of his personal friends, he did not forget to collect, equip, and exercise an effective army of no less than 160,000 men, in the hope, perhaps, of thus preventing his enemy from further attempts to recover her lost province. But a will as energetic as his own lived in the much-tried press. A formidable coalition between Austria, Russia, and Saxony, which was soon joined by France and Sweden, crowned her untiring exertions. A partition of the Prussian monarchy was the object of this alliance, which promised France an approach to the Rhine, and Russia the possession of Prussia proper, and was to reduce Frederick to the rank of Marquis of Brandenburg. To these secret negotiations Frederick was able to oppose but one alliance, which was destined to become not only most important for him, but also most auspicious as a precursor of repeated and, as it would seem, lasting bonds of amity, viz., with Great Britain. In January 1756 a treaty was signed by both parties for the avowed purpose of "repelling foreign invasions on German soil." Fortunately for Frederick, the treachery of a clerk in the foreign office at Dresden soon disclosed to him the secret transactions of the coalition. He knew from good sources of information that Saxony, in pursuance of the articles of treaty, was filling a camp at Pirna with troops. Unwilling to give his enemies the seven advantage of further preparations, he left his capital in the autumn of 1756—not to return for full seven perilous years,—and suddenly appeared before Dresden at the head of 70,000 men. To the astonished world he gave full explanations by publishing in extenso the documents in his possession. As for Saxony, it soon became evident that he was resolved, as far as in him lay, to make her fertile plains his centre of operations, and to save his own country as much as possible from the miseries of war. In this plan, carried out with incredible tenacity throughout all the vicissitudes of the war, lies the secret of a fact that would otherwise baffle explanation, viz., that at the close of a protracted warfare, in which Prussia was the chief actor and the sole prize, this country was found to have suffered less in its resources than others of the contending parties. Very few of the battles were fought on Prussian ground: like lions at bay, he and his gallant allies, ever alert on the frontiers, caused the hostile armies to halt in their onward marches that converged towards Berlin from the south, west, east, and north. The aid of Great Britain, both in money and in men, was at first hesitatingly and insufficiently bestowed, but after the battle of Rossbach, in November 1757, large subsidies and an efficient force were willingly granted, and with such unbounded confidence that the king was requested to give to the latter a general of his own choice. This alliance was abandoned by the English court soon after the accession of George III. in 1761, and Frederick was left to cope single-handed with difficulties which were just then of the most crushing nature. Of this memorable contest, which raised Frederick to a post of honour among the great generals of all ages—which brought to light unknown qualities of noble endurance and perseverance, not only in the great leader, but among his people at large—which disclosed the rottenness of nearly all continental states that had not undergone the Spartan training of so severe a taskmaster as Frederick William I.: of this war, a fuller account has been given in another part of this work. We purpose to pass its romantic vicissitudes in rapid survey, pointing to its features rather than to its strategic details. We have already mentioned his sudden march on the capital of Saxony. Dresden was occupied without resistance; the Saxon troops that had collected in the camp of Pirna were inclosed and forced to surrender en masse; and, pushing on to attack one of the two Austrian armies before their union, he was led into the most perilous and sanguinary battle of Prague, May 6, 1757, which, but for the heroic devotion of Marshall Schwerin, must have been lost. "The day is ours," exclaimed the king, "but 10,000 of our men are no more, and Schwerin, alas! whom I reckon another 10,000." But his position in Bohemia was lost by the terrible defeat of Kolin; his British and Hanoverian allies were likewise overpowered by the French; and, to make the list of disasters complete, a victorious advance led the Russian generals to Konigsberg, where (as the wont is of Russian generals) the province of Prussia was by them, not long after, simply declared to be henceforward an integral portion of the Russian empire. Frederick, who had left his retreating troops in Silesia, joined another detachment of his army which was vainly endeavouring to stop the mighty advance of the French in Saxony. No sooner, however, had the French general, Prince de Soubise, completed (as he thought) the blockade of his enemy by the River Saale on the 5th of November 1757, than Frederick's cavalry and infantry, suddenly descending in an attack of unprecedented hardness, soon covered the extensive plain of Rossbach with the flying remnants of an army that had been three times as numerous as his own. Not until the wars of the French Revolution had re-established the prestige lost on this famous day did the memory of its shame cease to rankle in the French army. To Frederick the victory of Rossbach gained a far greater accession of fame and power throughout Great Britain and Germany, than ever so many successful exploits against the Austrians could have accomplished; he was regarded in Great Britain as the hero of Protestant independence, and by Germans as their champion against the great invaders of the West.

The same year (1767) saw Frederick victorious against the Austrians, commanded by their best general, the cautious and calculating Daun, in the battle of Leuthen, which, fought as it was under every disadvantage of number (in the proportion of 1 to 3), of quality of men, and of place, has ever been considered as among the strongest proofs of a rare strategic genius in the commander, and of the firm enthusiasm of the Prussians fighting under his banners. Both were signalized exemplified again in the following (third) year of the campaign (1758), in which Frederick chastised the Russians near the village of Zorndorf for their insolent pillage and spoliation of the country. But soon other and higher qualities than military insight and enthusiasm had to be brought into action by king and people; and it is in these sombre days of adversity which lasted (although not unbroken by brilliant achievements) until 1762, that Frederick I. rises before us in full relief of heroism. Frederick was a great man by a quality which places him infinitely higher in our eyes than that mighty Corsican conqueror who has since been seen standing before his tomb at Potsdam in 1807; and that quality is his entire and absolute devotedness to his country alone. For him, the government of Prussia ever appeared as a duty—the existence and destinies of Prussia as a sacred trust. In this subjection of his individual will and whole existence under a higher and ideal sense of duty, this "chief servant of the state," not in words only, but in reality, stands far above the class of adventurers in the history of the world who sought their own rather than their country's good, and to whom even the throne was a seat of power and of wealth rather than of duty. An autograph letter addressed to his minister of state, Count Finckenstein, containing secret instructions, has been published lately. Its orthography, it is true, is even worse than in other French compositions of his pen, but every word in it is inspired by a patriotism of the highest order. "Si j'arrive," says the king, "que je fusse tué, il faut que les affaires continuent leur train sans la moindre altération et sans qu'on saperçoive quelles sont en d'autres mains; et en ce cas il faut hâter serments et hommages tant ici qu'en Prusse et surtout en Silesie. Si j'avais la fatalité d'être pris prisonnier par l'ennemi, je défends qu'on ait le moindre égard pour ma personne, ni qu'on fasse la moindre réflexion sur ce que pourrait écrire de ma détention. Si pareil malheur m'arrivait, je veux me sacrifier pour l'Etat et il faut qu'on obéisse à mon frère, lequel ainsi que tous mes ministres et généraux me répondront de leur tête qu'on n'offrira ni province ni rançon pour moi et que l'on continuera la guerre en poussant ses avantages tout comme si je n'avais existé dans le monde."

The series of disasters between Frederick's victories of Leuthen and Zorndorf and the year 1762 was, as we said before, not without successful interludes, such as the day of Minden, in 1759, by which Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick (the commander whom Frederick's choice had placed at the head of the Hanoverian auxiliaries) drove the French army to seek shelter beyond the Rhine; or the days of Liegnitz and of Torgau, in the same year, under the personal command of the king. But the peril now assumed huge dimensions, and that web was drawn closer and closer which was to stifle the inconvenient, paroxysmal state of Prussia. The Austrian troops were at this time admirably commanded by Generals Daun and Laudon, and fought with genuine attachment to the cause of their empire. In France an able and active minister, Count Choiseul, had succeeded a rule of favouritism in the king's councils, and though public opinion in France expressed itself more strongly every day in favour of Frederick, the numbers and efficiency of the armies sent to annihilate him were greatly augmented. In Russia a strong determination prevailed at the court of the Empress Elizabeth to erase the memory of Zorndorf, and to leave Prussia proper, and possibly more, as a lasting heirloom to the czars of Russia. Spain, towards the close of the period we are speaking of, and even the Pope himself, joined the ranks of his adversaries. To this host, ever growing, as was feared, in energy and numbers, Frederick had to oppose an army consisting more and more of raw recruits, and an empty exchequer, which levies and contributions in the enemy's land lost all power of filling. Lastly, as if to try his powers of endurance to the utmost, his sole ally Great Britain, under the Earl of Bute's administration, left him to his own resources in the hour of his greatest need, A.D. 1761, and withdrew from the war altogether. Frederick's iron will was not to be crushed with adversity; fighting and retreating, or collecting occasionally his army behind unapproachable lines of defense, which his genius in fortification understood how to raise up in forty-eight hours; losing armies and replacing them; never a moment without cares but rarely oppressed by them—thus the invincible hero struggled along through upwards of three years of disappointment and defeat. He reposed a hearty confidence in his generals (his brother Prince Henry, the Prince of Dessau, Seydlitz, Ziethen), but appeared among them to take the lead in the great and decisive actions. We name the series of lost battles from 1758 to 1761, to show the destructive character of some of them. On the 14th of October of the former year a grand night-attack on his camp at Hochkirch, executed with admirable precision by the Austrians under General Daun, deprived the king of many thousand soldiers, and "of all his guns and ammunition." The next year (1759) saw the most terrible of slaughters in the two days' battle of Kunersdorf, against a combined army of Russians under Solikoff, and of Austrians under Laudon, which cost him more than half of his effective army, and again "nearly all his guns;" and must have cost him his capital, had not the jealousy of his antagonists prevented the execution of Maria Theresa's orders. First one and then another of his generals were forced to surrender to overwhelming forces; and thus the greater part of Saxony, and all his positions in Silesia, had to be abandoned. The day of Liegnitz saved a few of the latter, and that of Torgau many of the former. Nevertheless his situation improved but little. Daun in the heart of Saxony, and Laudon in the heart of Silesia; the Swedes masters in Pomerania, and the Russians in Königsberg; 150,000 French on the right bank of the Rhine; the whole of Europe (without exception) united against him or sullenly neutral—such was the position of affairs on the 6th of January 1761, when the accession of Peter III. to the throne of the czars suddenly transformed a formidable adversary into a useful ally. Unfortunately for Frederick, the life of his eccentric admirer was soon cut short by high-born assassins. But Peter's widow and successor Catherine, although her first acts were hostile to the king, soon relented in her antagonism, and this from a motive which deserves mention—namely, that letters were found in her murdered husband's portfolio in which King Frederick had seriously and repeatedly urged Peter to change his conduct towards the amiable empress his wife. The friendship, and afterwards the neutrality of Russia, coupled with the withdrawal of Sweden from the coalition, rendered Frederick's action unfettered in the north. His generals, victorious everywhere against the non-Austrian troops of the empire, caused one after the other of the German princes to raise loud solicitations for peace at the court of Vienna, and finally to abandon the cause of Austria. The "first military nation of Europe," France, looked with disgust upon the continuance of a war which brought ever fresh humiliation, at the hands of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, upon her once so glorious banners. Half broken-hearted with despair, Maria Theresa had vainly hoped that her field-marshal would recover their laurels, lost again and again at Burkersdorf and at Schweidnitz (1762). The cry of Europe became too loud; her own finances were ruined beyond repair—her resources drained to the last; Maria Theresa consented first to an armistice, and then, with long and wailing protestations, to the acknowledgment of Frederick as lord of Silesia in the peace of Hubertsburg, February 21, 1763. It is a characteristic and encouraging sign of the age in which we live, that when in 1856 a proposal was laid before the present King of Prussia, Frederick William IV., for a series of commemorations to be celebrated on each succeeding anniversary of the victories and glorious events in the Seven Years' War, his majesty wrote the following words on the margin of the paper: "With my consent, none of these anniversaries shall be celebrated in Prussia, save and except the 21st of February 1763."

Prussia had now attained a place among the great powers of Europe,—an envied and hazardous position which the scanty natural resources of the country could (and can to the present day) but ill support, without the unremitting attention, real wisdom, and rigid economy of her rulers; without willingness to sacrifices and self-devotion among well-governed and contented subjects; and without the respect of civilized Europe towards the onward mark of mental and moral culture within her dominions. Frederick's labours of peace during the rest of his life, from 1763 to 1786, were unremitting. He applied himself, with the applause, and with the willing support of his people, to the removal of every vestige of the war. His private expenses were moderate: "an absolute king," he said, "is the poorest man in the state; for whilst his subjects can spend their own as they please, he alone must feel in every trifling expenditure that so many thalers are withdrawn from application to matters of public utility." A code of laws, the present Landrecht of Prussia, was prepared (although not published in his days) by his chancellor, Count Karmer. To assist in the improvement of agriculture in his dominions, the king, much interested by Arthur Young's writings, sent over young men to study British husbandry. He attracted, by the bestowal of bounties and privileges, the immigration of many thousands of colonists who seemed likely to introduce improved methods of farming. He filled deserted villages, and built up such as had been destroyed; he opened his well-filled military granaries, founded societies for facilitating loans on deposits and on land, granted temporary freedom from taxation where most needed, and gave occupation to idle or weak hands, by encouraging the manufacture of home-grown silk. Large tracts of bog and morass were reclaimed at great expense; and the country was covered with a net-work of canals. His financial measures were manifold and ingenious, although frequently of so complicated a nature, and (according to our present views) so unsound, that many of them, instead of lightening the burden of the people, acted most oppressively. His regie or system of indirect taxation, copied from the French, and entrusted to a host of French place-hunters; his prohibitive duties, and his monopolies, were so many infractions of national well-being, although they filled the coffers of the state in an unprecedented degree. By them, in conjunction with this rigid economy, he was enabled to keep up an effective army of 225,000 men, and to leave to his successor a treasury filled with nearly L11,000,000 sterling. Many other prejudices of his age, besides the financial ones, did he retain to the last; not all of them as harmless as his dislike to good roads, "by which he did not mean to facilitate an enemy's advance in his country," or as silly as his aversion for all offices of state, or in the army, to men of noble birth. The one among his prejudices which has acquired most notoriety, is the subserviency of his mind and manners to French tastes, in language and literature, in many of the chief transactions of the state, and alas! in the terrible obstinacy with which he opposed his reasoning to most of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Filled in his early days with dislike to the dogmatic and unifying religious instruction of his father's chaplains, and then bound up in close literary friendship with Voltaire, he, although a Protestant, assimilated his own views to those of the Frenchman, for whose irreverential sarcasms an excuse (if any were possible) might at least be found in the horrible superstitions and refined mystifications of the Jesuits, then reigning paramount at the court of France. Frederick, it is true, was ready to acknowledge and to honour the serious convictions of others. History tells us that his truly pious comrade in arms, General Zieten, never had to complain of railleries on his part. It is reported also that one morning, when the king heard a Pomeranian brigade marching towards its appointed post in the battle array, under the solemn sounds of one of those noble ancient hymns ("Gott des Himmels und der Erden"), all devoutly joining in the strain, his eyes filled with tears, and, turning to one of his generals, he said—"Ah, these troops must be invincible!" Yet, into the ferment and turmoil of his soul none of the soothing comforts of religion was ever seen to enter. A true and often gentle friend of his companions, and devoted to his country, for which he was ready to give up his lifeblood, he yet enjoyed not the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.

A few words on the prominent events of these years of peace (1763 to 1786) will rapidly lead us to the reign of the next king. Frederick II joined Russia and Austria in the first partition of Poland, A.D. 1772,—a miserable expedient, in which the Emperor Joseph's as well as his own main purpose seems to have been, to prevent Russia from taking the whole instead of the lion's share of territories so dangerously contiguous to their own capitals. By this partition the king obtained Western Prussia, which the Teutonic order had lost, as we have seen, to Poland in 1466, and some fertile, already semi-German districts on the River Netz. In all, the increase of territory under Frederick's reign, by conquest, inheritance, or otherwise, amounted to 29,313 square miles; the population of the monarchy at his death numbering five and a half million souls. The last act of his political life was the formation of a German league of princes (Deutscher Fürstenbund), intended to prevent the renewal of attempts such as Joseph II had twice made during the last years,—viz., of incorporating Bavaria or other German states with the vast possessions of the Hapsburg family.

Frederick-William II, disappointed the hopes that had been entertained of him in his uncle's lifetime and on his accession. The long habit of absolute command, and the absence of tender and soothing influence upon a solitary life, had rendered Frederick peevish, capricious, and tyrannical in his latter years, and the exactions of his French excise and custom-house officers embittered large classes of the community. The new king's accession was therefore looked upon with much favour, a feeling which greatly increased when the French excisemen were ordered out of the country, the regid superseded, and other burdens removed. Soon, however, the apathy of Frederick-William, his grossly licentious habits, his carelessness of money, his intolerance in religious matters, and, more than all, the serious blunders of his foreign policy, weakened his influence at home and abroad. His army, under Duke Ernest of Brunswick, succeeded with ease in re-establishing the ascendancy of the House of Orange in the Dutch republic against the wishes of that people. Another armed intervention, purposing to prevent Russian and Austrian aggressions against Turkey, had no other result but the exhaustion of his treasury. Urged on by Russian influence, the king promised Austria his support (during a meeting with the emperor at Pillnitz, A.D. 1790) towards the restitution of royal power in France. He accordingly invaded that country with a powerful army in 1792, much against the inclinations of his own people. This invasion hastened the downfall of monarchy in France and the destruction of the royal family. Besides, all military advantages of the campaign were soon lost by an ignominious retreat after the resultless cannonade of Valmy. The shame of Prussia became still more appalling when, after two years of alternate victory and defeat, she admitted the very same republicans of France, against whom that war had solely been directed, to friendly negotiations, and secretly promised them the cession of all lands on the left bank of the Rhine, stipulating for herself and the rest of North Germany absolute neutrality during the forthcoming wars. This was accomplished in the disgraceful treaty of Basle, A.D. 1796. In the Polish difficulties of his reign, Frederick-William's policy, though more successful than on the Rhine, was equally unscrupulous and dishonourable. Poland, at first and during several years his ally, was abandoned by him to Russian encroachment, and then subjected to a second (1793) and third, final, partition (1795), Prussia's share in these successive plunderings consisting of nearly 38,808 square miles of land.

Frederick-William III, succeeded his father A.D. 1797, at a time when religious intolerance and the restrictions exercised against the liberty of the press had spread the seeds of disaffection throughout the country. The moral rectitude, the simplicity and purity of manners, the earnestness of purpose in the youthful king, and the uncommon loveliness of his queen, the Princess Louisa of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, soon restored to the throne the full attachment of the people. His father's hateful edict against dissent, and others instituting a censorship of all printed publications, were speedily rescinded, and the government entrusted to men of tried virtue. Every exertion was made to pay off a debt of L3,500,000 which Frederick-William II had bequeathed instead of a well-filled treasury. The king turned to the best account the neutrality which the treaty of Basle imposed upon his states, by attention to peaceful improvements. In the year 1801 the secret stipulations of that treaty were carried into effect in the peace of Lunéville; France definitively obtained the king's possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, and Prussia was "indemnified" in 1803 at the hands of the German empire, and at its expense, by a considerable accession of territory, which increased the bulk of her dominions by 4116 square miles of admirably situated land. But this neutrality did not long protect Prussia from aggression. Our readers will remember the Franconian principalities of Ansbach and Baireuth, which were described above as belonging to a branch of the Hohenzollern family, cousins of the electoral and royal line. These principalities had become a royal possession in 1791. Through that territory Napoleon ordered a portion of his now imperial army to pass on their march towards the Austrian frontiers, A.D. 1804. In vain did Frederick-William III remonstrate against this violation of neutrality. He now reluctantly gave ear to the counsels of the war-party at court, which included among its numbers some of the best men of his day,—Barons Stein and Hardenberg, &c., supported by the chivalrous Prince Louis Ferdinand and by the queen herself. The emperors of Russia and Austria prevailed by their entreaties in 1804. Prussia secretly joined the coalition, but was prevented from active cooperation by the conclusion of peace which immediately followed the irreparable defeat at Austerlitz, December 2, 1805. The crafty Corsican induced the king's plenipotentiary, Baron Haugwitz, to accept Hanover in exchange of Ansbach, Baireuth, Cleves, and Neuchatel; which last-named principality, situated on the frontiers of Switzerland, had become a Prussian heirloom in 1707. So great was the terror of Napoleon's name that this base scheme of robbery against the King of Great Britain was ratified and actually carried into effect by Frederick-William III. The insatiable desire after territorial aggrandisement, without regard either to treaties or to old alliances, was soon to receive a salutary chastisement at the hands of the principal accomplice. Swollen in size to 135,545 square miles, or

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1 The present size of Prussia is only 111,154 square miles, or 24,391 less. History, nearly fourteen times as large as the first Hohenzollern Kurfürst had ruled over, Prussia miscalculated her natural power. Napoleon, not satisfied with the advantages accruing to him from Prussia's conflict with Great Britain, insulted and humiliated wherever he could the king, whose character for honesty and fair dealing he had ruined by this complicity. If Frederick-William had decided upon war too late, his resolution was certainly a precipitate one in 1806. Negotiations having been broken off by Prussia, Napoleon hastened to attack her forces before further alliances could swell their number. The very first encounter, near Saalfeld, October 10, 1806, crushed the Prussian vanguard, headed by Prince Louis Ferdinand, who gallantly fell in this action. Four days afterwards, the fate of all the country between the Rhine and the Elbe was decided by the disastrous battle of Jena. The self-sufficiency of Prussian troops, drilled under Frederick II., but not commanded by his genius, received a severe lesson. No line of retreat having been marked out by the commander-in-chief, several detachments of the army were taken prisoners, and the whole country lay open to invasion, and was soon undefended even by fortresses, which overpowered by terror rather than by force, opened their gates to the enemy.

The king withdrew far into Prussia proper. His ally, Alexander I. of Russia, attempted in vain to stop the onward march of Napoleon by the sanguinary battles of Eylau (7th and 8th February 1807) and of Friedland (14th of June). A personal meeting of the three sovereigns was arranged at the town of Tilsit, near the easternmost boundary of Prussia, which led to the conclusion of a most disastrous peace (9th of July 1807). Frederick-William lost all his possessions on the left bank of the Elbe (more than half of his kingdom), and was candidly assured that if he did not lose all instead, it was done out of deference to the Emperor Alexander's "wishes." Even this small remnant of territory was farther deprived of the duchy of Warsaw (now given to the King of Saxony), and of Dantzig, which was declared a republic; it was further made to raise war contributions to the enormous amount of L22,500,000, was to pay for French garrisons in some of its fortresses, and to assist the emperor in all coming wars. And yet the prediction of that gallant Prussian, General Blücher, expressed on the morrow of the defeat at Jena, in his own uncoated language, that "masters would look up again soon, and that now more enlightened principles would put their foot into the stirrup," was fulfilled in a manner very creditable to king and country. A complete remoulding of the state commenced, proving the fallacy of the wide-spread opinion, that reforms must not be attempted in times of war and distress. Frederick-William, who, with his queen, made every sacrifice of royal state, and even common comforts, gave his confidence to Baron Stein, the best German statesman of the day, a man of high and noble birth and independent wealth, an upright, sagacious, and powerful reformer. The offices of state were simplified, the remains of feudal vassalage abolished, the sale and purchase of land set entirely free, many burdens raised that lay exclusively on the lower classes, the trades liberated from mediæval shackles, and the towns left to manage their own affairs without government interference. Stein was preparing a re-construction also of the ancient parliaments on a new basis of unity and equality, when the rage and threats of Napoleon forced him to resign his post in 1808, since when he became one of the prime movers of resistance against the usurper,—first in Austria, then at St Petersburg, and later again triumphantly in Germany. His work of internal reform was meanwhile carried on in his sense and with energy by Baron Hardenberg, the king's state chancellor. Laws were promulgated for the more equitable distribution of taxes and the abolition of privileges. Most of the civil disabilities of the Jews were abolished.

In spite of the exhausted state of his finances, the king founded and endowed a university at Berlin. There was a new hope and cheerful energy called forth by these reforms in Prussia and throughout oppressed Germany. Young men of all classes quietly joined the few regiments which the treaty of Tilsit permitted Prussia to keep on foot, and as quietly left them after having undergone the necessary training and drilling; thus deluding the vigilance of French spies. Commissions in the army were given, without consideration of birth or lineage, to all duly qualified men of education. It was during these years of deepest humiliation that the plan of general armament was formed by Scharnhorst and others which came to light in 1813, and which has rendered Prussia one of the most powerful military countries, for defensive purposes, in the world. By this military institution, all young men from eighteen to twenty-six years old are expected to enter the ranks of the army during three years, such only being privileged to serve one year instead of three as give proof of a superior education, and are able to equip themselves. Between the ages of twenty-six and thirty-two the privates, sergeants, and officers thus trained are liable to be called out from their civil occupations in case of need. This is the first Aufgebot, or levy of the landwehr. The second, consisting of men between thirty-two and thirty-nine, is subject to the same regulations, but only in case of great danger. Finally, a third Aufgebot, called Landsturm, comprises all men above that age who are expected to fight only for the immediate defence of house and home during an invasion. It was known throughout the country in those years that the king would break the bondage as soon as circumstances admitted. He visited St Petersburg to prepare a defensive and offensive alliance in 1808, and took cognisance, though not ostensibly, of the secret "league of virtue" (Tugendbund) in which most patriotic Germans joined for the expulsion of their hateful oppressors. Still, however, he refrained from hostilities against Napoleon. It was ordained by Providence that the secret powers of nature, rather than the will of man, should break asunder the tyrant's colossal power. Repeatedly victorious against the court of Vienna in the campaign of Wagram (1809), and married to a "daughter of the Caesars," Maria Louisa of Austria, standing, as it were, on the summit of his earthly glory, he was now thought to rest his feverish thoughts on the firm establishment of a hereditary empire in favour of his son, the King of Rome. Instead of this, he meditated an unprovoked attack upon Russia, and, inverting the direction of Attila's great migration of warriors thirteen centuries before, he swept the whole of trembling Europe with a host of half a million of men, to which even Austria and Prussia were constrained by treaties to add their quota. When the disasters of an early and terrible winter overtook his retreat from Moscow, and it was long before Europe was fully informed of the utter destruction of his army, the Prussian general York, who held a command on the French army's left wing in Kurland, was the first to see with his own eyes. Left without instructions from Berlin, he concluded an armistice with the pursuing Russians on the 30th December 1812, near the frontier town of Tauroggen, and speedily applied himself to the organization of a landwehr in Prussia proper (i.e., the province of Prussia), assisted by Baron Stein and Count Dohna. On the 3rd of February 1813 King Frederick-Williams, who had a short time before left Berlin, published an energetic decree calling his people to arms. In an incredibly short time the enthusiasm of the people not only filled the ranks of his army, but also contributed largely to improve the exhausted condition of his finances. An alliance was concluded with Great Britain and Russia, and a declaration of war issued on the 27th of March. Napoleon had lost no time in collecting an army far superior in numbers to the allied Prussians and Russians at that time in the field. His first encounters, at Grossgörschen and Bautzen, with the raw battalions of his enemy were crowned with success, although his generals could well discern "le commencement de la fin." Even after Austria had joined her troops to those of Russia and Prussia, the first great battle of Dresden, August 26, 1813, again ended in a defeat of the allies. But meanwhile the Prussians had found time to increase and improve their armaments in a manner which deserves the admiration of all ages. Napoleon had the chagrin to hear of four considerable defeats sustained by his generals within eighteen days,—by Marshals Ney and Oudinot on their march towards Berlin, at Grossbeeren and at Dennewitz; by Marshal Macdonald on the banks of the River Katzbach in Silesia; and by General Vandamme at Culm in Bohemia. The last-named victory of Culm, gained principally by the admirable steadiness of the Russian guards, redounded much to the credit of the Prussian general Kleist, and even more to that of King Frederick-William himself, who had acted as commander-in-chief on the occasion, and without whose urgent personal representations the battle would never have been fought at all. The other battles at once raised the names of Blucher, York, Gneisenau, and Bülow to great renown. And now the crisis was fast approaching. On both sides all available forces were collected into a huge mass of combatants in the plains round Leipzig. On a number of adjoining but separate battle-fields the French army of 180,000, directed by Napoleon's iron will, fought with great intrepidity against nearly 300,000 enemies intent upon a final deliverance of Europe, on the 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of October. How great was the slaughter of those days may be measured from the fact, that the Prussian list of casualties alone showed a number of 14,000 killed. Napoleon at last was utterly defeated, and his army dispersed. Blucher, in advance of the other allies, followed its flight, and crossed the Rhine near Caub on New Year's-day 1814. When the diplomatic and military manoeuvres of Napoleon threw confusion into the headquarters of the allied army, Blucher again resolved all difficulties by a daring march direct upon Paris. There, after a last bloody struggle on the heights of Montmartre, the cause of Europe was crowned with success by the occupation of the capital and the banishment of the usurper. King Frederick-William and Blucher, following an invitation of the prince-regent, came to England, and were received with great courtesy.—Blucher became, in fact, the hero of the day. At the Congress of Vienna, which assembled soon after, Prussia met with great opposition when she demanded for herself the whole kingdom of Saxony, on the ground of its having proved the most obnoxious to the cause of liberation. This demand, together with the divergence of opinion on the restitution of Poland, and almost every other point that required settlement, frequently endangered the temper of the congress to such a degree that Napoleon, founding his hopes on a general disunion, ventured upon a return to France. This immediately restored harmony and concord; Bonaparte, again the military master of France, but formally outlawed by Europe, was to be crushed without delay. The first in the field, favoured by geographical proximity, and still more by military readiness, were Great Britain and Prussia. Against the Duke of Wellington, therefore, and Field-Marshal (now Prince) Blucher, the army of Napoleon was forthwith set in motion, and an immediate attack upon each of them resolved upon in order to prevent their union. The first onset of the infuriated Corsican threw back the Prussians at Ligny, June 16. Confident that Blucher's defeated army must retreat in the direction of Namur, and intent upon pursuing his advantage, Napoleon prepared a concentrated attack upon the British and allied troops, whom he found in a strong position near Waterloo, but not apparently strong enough for continued resistance. Never was general more mistaken. The British army never quailed a moment before his terrible attack, nor was the duke disappointed in the firm confidence he reposed on Blucher's promise. Without giving his troops any rest after the sanguinary conflict of Ligny, through soaking roads and through an opposing French corps under Marshal Grouchy, the veteran soldier pursued his onward march, and suddenly appearing in the rear of the French lines, opened a galling fire of artillery just when the decisive moment had arrived. The battle won, Blucher and his hussars knew of no rest in their vehement pursuit, which transformed the retreat of the French army into a mad and hopeless flight. The Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher, whom the commemoration medal represents under the figures of Castor and Pollux, entered Paris together. In the ensuing negotiations of peace the Prussian plenipotentiary demanded that the two purely German countries which intrigue and violence had wrested from the empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries should now be re-united with the Germanic Confederation. This attempt at recovering for Germany its really "natural" boundaries (strictly speaking, there are none other but the Vosges and the Ardennes mountains) remained unsuccessful; France was obliged to surrender those only among her acquisitions which she had made since 1750. Soon after the conclusion of peace the labours of the Congress of Vienna were resumed, from which Prussia received that extent of territory which, with some very slight modifications, she now possesses.

The remaining years of Frederick-William III.'s reign were passed in comparative tranquillity. The king was to the end an attentive governor of his country, much respected and beloved, but not independent enough from the influence of Russia and Austria to persevere in the progress of liberal institutions that had effected such a salutary change in 1807 and the following years. His promise of a parliamentary constitution, repeatedly given in the days of adversity, was not fulfilled in those of prosperity. He thought it unsafe to go beyond the re-organization of the provincial parliaments, or Stände, which he effected by an edict of the year 1823, re-assembling, with a slight modification, the old Stände over again, as described above,—viz., a representation of the nobles, the burghers, and the peasants, each separately charged to occupy themselves with provincial matters only, and those of the most restricted nature. Although the dissatisfaction caused by this turgidification never led to serious collisions with his people, yet the educated classes in the country had an ever-growing sense of injustice committed and rights withheld, and conceived a hearty dislike of the close political intimacy between their court and the despotic rulers of Austria and Russia. Throughout his life the king remained a staunch adherent of the principles of the "Holy Alliance," a treaty concluded at Paris in 1815 between the sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, which, if divested of its religious wording (honestly meant, we are convinced, at least by Frederick-William) had no other object but to uphold at any cost, and by every means, the "divine right" and the absolute power of princes throughout Europe. These principles gave a peculiar bias to his behaviour in all European congresses, and somewhat alienated him on several important occasions from the policy of Great Britain. He was blind to the Russian encroachments on the rights of unfettered commerce, which had been guaranteed by treaty to the provinces of Prussia contiguous with Russia. Nor did he awake to a sense of his powerful neighbour's treacherous intentions even when it became known that the Emperor Nicholas had secretly promised to the court of Paris in 1829 the acquisition of all Prussian possessions on the left bank of the Rhine. In spite of these shortcomings in the king's internal and foreign policy, Prussia continued progressing during this relaxation from war. The administration of the country, though far too active and meddling, was throughout a conscientious and vigorously honest one. Justice was administered with complete independence from court or any other influence. The duty of parents to give a proper education to their children, and to send them to a public school, if unable to do so at home, was proclaimed as a fundamental principle in 1816. Another duty resulted from this,—viz., that of the parishes to endow schools, and of the state to assist in this endowment where the parishes were incompetent. A series of laws gave effect to the declaration of these duties; and they have undeniably rendered the practice of reading and writing a more general accomplishment than in any other country. Frederick-William's government, although an almost parsimonious one, never stinted public educational institutions. Normal schools or seminaries for training village schoolmasters were founded in every province. During his reign no less than seventy new gymnasia or Latin schools were founded and adequately endowed. The material interests also received every attention at the hands of government. A tariff of ad valorem duties on foreign merchandise, based on liberal principles, was published in 1818. It proved very beneficial to the interests of the people as long as it lasted. But its principles were unfortunately exchanged at a later period for more and more protective duties, in proportion as the Zollverein or German customs-unions (founded in the years from 1819 to 1836) extended farther to the south of Germany, and as its protectionist influence gained an ascendancy over the free-trade propensities of the north.

King Frederick-William occupied himself much with a settlement of the Protestant Church, to which his family and majority of his people belonged, and attempted also the still more difficult task of regulating the relations of his state with the Roman Pontiff as head of the Roman Catholics. In both directions he was but partially successful. The division of German Protestants into Lutherans on one side, and Calvinists (or Reformierte) on the other, though it had lost many of its asperities, was still an impediment to good feeling, or to the creation of a national church. Frederick-William, after earnest deliberation, pronounced his desire that each of these Protestant communities, whilst retaining its distinctive dogmas, might nevertheless admit the other into Christian fellowship, and, in order to give the example of brotherhood, he partook of the sacrament at a Lutheran Church, although himself a Calvinist (or Reformierte), on the 31st of October 1817, the third anniversary of the Reformation. Like him, the Protestants in several cities of Germany united in worship on that day. Henceforward the name "Evangelic Church" was used officially, instead of the distinctive appellations formerly in use. This union of the several Protestant churches was founded by the king in a real spirit of Christian charity, and with distinct provisos that no individual or congregation should in any way be compelled to adherence. Unfortunately, when many strict Lutheran congregations objected to the union and to the Agenda (or Book of Common Prayer), published by command of the king in his capacity of summus episcopus, acts of force were applied, and the liberty of conscience infringed. For these gross acts of injustice the greater share of blame falls on the persons entrusted with the execution of the royal will; much, however, remains to be attributed to the king's own impatience of opposition or dissent. Far graver complications met his attempts at an adjustment of his relations with Rome. A concordate having been agreed to between Prussia and the Pope in 1821, by which the former acknowledged a regular Roman Catholic hierarchy, consisting of two archbishops and six bishops, and undertook to pay a fixed sum annually towards the endowment of that church, everything seemed to progress smoothly by mutual forbearance. But after a time difficulties arose. In 1837 the Archbishop of Cologne, Baron Droste-Vischerling, declared that he would henceforth allow no marriages between Roman Catholics and others to be consecrated by priests of his diocese, except under the distinct promise, that all children should be brought up in the Roman Catholic religion. He was in vain reminded of the promise he had himself given in writing previous to his accession to the archiepiscopal see, faithfully to obey the laws of the country and the arrangements entered into by his predecessor. He obstinately refused compliance. At length the Prussian government, losing all patience, directed his forcible removal from his see as a state-prisoner, on the ground "that he had broken his word, violated the laws of the kingdom, and excited the minds of the people under the influence of two revolutionary factions." This transaction led to endless discussions, which might have been terminated more satisfactorily had the government resolved at once upon placing the archbishop on his trial on the above grounds in a public court of law.

The following is a summary of events since the elevation of Brandenburg-Prussia into a kingdom:

1701. The Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia declared King of Prussia. 1701 to 1713. Frederick I. 1713 to 1740. Frederick-William I. 1740 to 1786. Frederick II, or the Great. 1740 to 1742. First Silesian War. 1744 to 1745. Second Silesian War. 1750 to 1763. The Seven Years' War. 1763. Second partition of Poland. 1783. The German League of Princes. 1786 to 1797. Frederick-William II. 1792. Invasion of France. 1793. Second partition of Poland. 1795. Third partition of Poland. 1795. Peace with the French Republic concluded at Basle. 1797 to 1800. Frederick-William III. 1801. Peace of Lunéville. 1806. The German Empire ceases to exist. 1806. Battle of Jena. 1807. Peace of Tilsit. 1807 to 1808. Reform in Prussia. 1812. Napoleon's march against Russia; General York concludes an armistice with the Russian general. 1813. The War of Liberation; battles near the Katzbach, Kulm, Grossbeeren, Dennewitz, Leipzig. 1814. First peace of Paris. 1815. Napoleon's return; Battle of Waterloo, or of "Belle-Alliance." 1817. Union of the Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches in Prussia. 1819 to 1836. The German Zollverein gradually extends itself.

On the accession of Frederick-William IV., to his father's throne, the long-suppressed desire of the people for a direct parliamentary participation in public matters was loudly and loyally expressed. The hopes throughout the country were great, as the crown-prince had been known to entertain views opposed to the all-powerful influence of Prussia. A brilliant power of speech, mildness of disposition, and the manifold kindness to such as had latterly suffered from persecution or neglect, all combined to produce expectations of reform far beyond what the new sovereign had ever intended. Given to mediæval studies, and at the same time an admirer of English institutions, he was, it is true, averse to the severe regularity of Prussian bureaucracy and red-tapeism, and would have liked to see a brilliant assemblage of peers and knights around his throne, as in olden days; but he proved to be over-sensitive to the slightest infringement of royal prerogative, and abhorred the idea of parliamentary bodies that would have or show a will contrary to his. The consequence was a disappointment and mistrust on the part of the people, and on his a gradual relinquishment of the leniency and liberalism of his first years, a tedious, inactive, and undecided course of policy. A number of years of peace and tranquillity, of waiting and patient obedience, were allowed to pass away before any reform of the country's institutions was attempted. To the people the uncontrolled and even increased power of red-tape bureaucracy, of what was termed the police-state (Polizeistaat), became less endurable as the years advanced. And when at last, in 1847, a royal decree summoned together the members of all provincial parliaments to a combined sitting in Berlin, their power was so limited, and the tenure of this power so precarious, that the assembly, although animated with very loyal sentiments, and containing a totally unexpected amount of talent, effected none but negative results. The fulfilment of a promise of nearly forty years' standing was insisted upon; and the grants of money, even for public works of undoubted utility were refused, until a real representation of the people should be established. Nevertheless, a general belief existed, that by this important "first step" of 1847 a series of reforms was inaugurated which must lead, if not rapidly, at least surely and peaceably, to a full victory of parliamentary principles.

The loyalty of the people to their Hohenzollern dynasty, and the spread of education throughout all ranks, seemed to preclude the possibility of this progress being interrupted by sanguinary conflicts; also, the finances of the state were in so flourishing a condition, the general administration of the country so free from the taint of corruption, and on the whole so just, that it seemed unnecessary for this state to pass through violent storms of revolution. But it was decreed by Providence that these fair hopes of king and people should be destroyed. The year 1848 shook the foundations of the Prussian state, together with those of the entire continent of Europe. A time of anarchy intervened. And although its upshot was a constitution (of 1850) as liberal in all essentials as any in Europe, it gained so little vitality during the remainder of the king's reign (to 23rd of October 1858), that the country seemed on the whole to have moved backward in this respect rather than forward since the assembly of 1847.

As in this particular question such was the king throughout. Amiable, willing to conciliate, and unfortunately possessing a half-insight into the requirements of his age, he was apt to give just enough to produce a craving for more, not enough for permanent gratitude and satisfaction. He showed attainments of no ordinary character; and among his personal friends are numbered some of the most enlightened men of his age and country. Yet the liberty of speech, and that of the press, were never more cramped than it was after the halcyon days of his first popularity. The king's orthodoxy in religious matters has proved inoffensive, and always tolerant to the belief of others. Yet his policy in this direction was influenced more and more by men of the narrowest and most exclusive opinions.

The first part of Frederick-William IV.'s reign (1840 to 1848) was one of rapid development in all arts of peace, in manufacture, in trade, commerce, and navigation. A comprehensive system of turnpike-roads (for the most part made and kept up by the state), on which his father had bestowed much attention, was brought to completion. Railway companies and other associations for most branches of industry spread over the whole country, and commenced to change its aspect. Prosperity seemed to keep pace with the labour of man. Yet, nevertheless, the spirit of sullen discontent was brooding over the country when the news arrived in February 1848 of a complete bouleversement in the neighbouring state of France. Its effect throughout Germany was, in the first moments, simple and patriotic. Cries of "A la frontière" had been frequently heard in the streets of Paris; and the first spontaneous burst of sentiment therefore, created by a vivid recollection of long years of invasion and oppression, was expressed in the cries of "Defence against the common enemy," "Close alliance of all German states," "Recovery of the unity of Germany, lost since 1806." This agitation, though most violent in the smaller states, broke forth actively, and at first beneficially, in Prussia. But soon, and almost together with it, a very different pulsation appeared to pervade the people. In France the masses had obtained their will, and were apparently all-powerful. The same then was attempted by the masses in Germany. Every class of labourers and workmen combined for a settlement of their real or imagined grievances. At that time, had the governments possessed the full confidence of the middle classes, all who had anything to lose would have rallied round the thrones to ward off the common dangers of society; but that confidence was gone. The middle classes demanded reforms, on the whole, it may be said, of a moderate nature. With scarcely any resistance, these were accorded in the smaller states. Men of liberal opinions were called to offices; but the danger proceeding from the lower classes was on the increase. There appeared but one hope of protecting society,—viz., if the King of Prussia would declare his assent to the same reforms, and promise to use his best efforts towards a more efficient defensive union of Germany. Delegates from all the minor governments, including the Bavarian, proceeded to Berlin in the beginning of March to implore the King of Prussia, who had as yet experienced comparatively small pressure at the hands of his subjects. The king's scruples were at last overcome after the arrival of the astounding news of Prince Metternich's fall at Vienna (15th March). A royal proclamation, eloquently expressing all that had been demanded, was prepared, signed, and published, on the morning of the 18th, to the great joy of the Berliners, who assembled before the palace to express their satisfaction. Then suddenly two shots, fired nobody knows by whom, produced a commotion. French and Polish barricaders, who were everywhere in great numbers in those days, raised a hue and cry after arms throughout the city, and in a short time all the elements of confusion of a populous town were in readiness; two hundred thoroughfares stopped by barricades, and the masses in conflict with the king's troops. A street fight ensued. The combat lasted through the night, and ended towards morning, when nearly all the barricades were evacuated by the insurgents. In this juncture of affairs an unexplained, and in fact inexplicable, command to the troops was issued from the palace early in the morning, ordering them to march out of the capital. The effect was such as might have been supposed. The insurgents came forth victorious, parading through the streets the bodies of those who had fallen; galling insults were heaped upon the king and queen; complete anarchy was triumphant. All hopes of protection from this quarter were now abandoned. Revolution had full sway, and ran its course during a time; not a bloody one on the whole, yet so subversive, that the higher and a great part of the middle classes abstained from its doings altogether. Its effects have not been salutary. It brought to light a hidden animosity of all classes against each other. In Prussia, as in most other German states, it led in the end to restrictive measures, which, in their turn, overshot the mark, and have rendered the easy comfortable rule of past years almost an object of regret to the people at large.

King Frederick-William IV. had called the leaders of the former liberal party to his councils. They willingly came and did their best. The old parliament was for the last time convoked in April, to give its sanction to general elections for a new one, which was to frame a constitution in conjunction with the king's government. The result of the ultra-democratic elections was discreditable to so educated a country as Prussia. After committing every kind of extravagance, and baffling the attempts of divers sets of ministers, this so-called constituent assembly was dissolved in October 1848 by a new cabinet, which had the worthy general Brandenburg (an illegitimate son of King Frederick William II.), and a man of not so stainless a reputation, Baron Manteuffel, among its leading members. The king, in dissolving the assembly, published a constitution of the monarchy, and issued writs for the election of another parliament, with a view to its revision and final settlement. Everything had changed meanwhile. A directly opposite class of members now filled the benches,—i.e., noblemen and employés,—quite as eager to protect their interests, and, if possible, to restore the old condition of things, as the former members had been to diminish their power in the state. Thus Prussia was thrown from the hands of silly democrats into those of an aristocratic clique and of partizans of the divine right of kings, so well known in the history of our own Restoration. Under the general dread of revolution and anarchy which pervaded the possessing classes, and with a king more and more averse to liberal measures, this party of nobles and zealots became the most powerful in the country, and has remained so during the succeeding years.

We had occasion to mention the defensive and unitary movement throughout Germany on the first outbreak of the third French revolution in 1848. Under the influence of an unruly democracy, this movement, when all danger of French invasion had passed over, took the shape of a fixed plan for proclaiming a German republic, after an overthrow of all thirty-three German sovereign thrones. The opposite extreme to this was a desire (entertained by very few at that time) that matters should remain as they had been since 1815, viz., thirty-three monarchies and four free cities, independent in their action, and bound together by a federal tie—a constitution which had shown, as must be confessed, little or no vitality except for the suppression of liberty in the different states. A third party, which gradually numbered among its members nearly all men of moderate views, and some even among the German sovereigns, proposed to re-establish the German empire without removing the landmarks of any of the single states; leaving every sovereign and every city intact in all except the common affairs of Germany, namely, war, diplomacy, customs. These common affairs were to be directed by the new emperor with an imperial ministry responsible to a national parliament. The main difficulty of this patriotic scheme, that in fact which would alone have necessitated its failure, was the existence of two such states as Austria and Prussia within the German Confederation. Of Austria it was said that her interests were entirely of a European, not of a German character. The kingdom of Prussia, on the contrary, had no non-German population (with the exception of about a million Poles) or interests, and accordingly that party looked to Prussia as containing the most appropriate dynasty for the future German empire. The leaders of the German constituent assembly, which proceeded from general elections, and met at Frankfurt-am-Main on the 15th of May 1848, were mostly of this opinion, and so were the leading men in most governments of Germany at the time, including also (although strange to say, not prominently) the Prussian cabinet. By the time they had finished their long-winded debates on secondary matters, most sovereigns in Germany had sufficiently recovered from their terror to dismiss their councillors, and to oppose the inconvenient scheme of unity. At length, on the 28th of March 1849, the party thought their labours crowned, by carrying the election of the King of Prussia to the headship of the new German empire. The king's answer to the deputation sent to offer him this new dignity was to the effect, "That he could not accept it without the free consent of all German sovereigns; that it lay with these sovereigns to consider whether the proposed constitution was conclusive to the welfare of each individually, and of all collectively, and whether it would enable him to direct the destinies of Germany with a firm hand."

In the evening Schiller's play of "The Robbers" was acted in the royal theatre, to which the members of the deputation were ex officio invited. Little edified either with his majesty's refusal or with those theatrical insinuations, the deputation returned to Frankfurt. On their report, resolutions of "standing by" the new constitution were passed in the assembly. But the fatal motto of those days, the "trop tard!" again showed its truth. The Prussian members, as well as the Austrians, were revoked by royal command, and the remainder, a kind of "rump parliament," having withdrawn to Stuttgart, were soon finally dispersed. Instead of simply leaving the matter alone, King Frederick-William IV. committed the incredible folly of attempting a more united organization of part at least of Germany, "with the free consent of its sovereigns!" The failure of these attempts, at a time when princely prerogative was again in the ascendant, and all feeling of immediate danger had passed away, was inevitable. Backed by the middle states of Germany (Bavaria, Hanover, Württemberg, and Saxony), Austria advanced to oppose these Prussian half-measures, which were but despondingly supported by the nation at large, and a complete humiliation of Prussia was the result. All further attempts have ceased since the convention of Olmütz, 29th of November 1850. The confederation is again just what it was; its old assembly of delegates (Bundestag), convoked again in its former composition by Austria in 1850, was acknowledged by Prussia in 1851. Its influence has again shown itself only in recommending the suppression of liberal constitutions in Germany. Still it deserves attention, as the only acknowledged bond of union among the totality of German states.

The Prussian constitution fared somewhat better. Its paragraphs were carefully revised, and the king took the prescribed oath on the 6th of February 1850. Numerous modifications in it have taken place since, under the influence of violent "legitimist" majorities. It would be vain also to say that the king and his government were rendered less absolute by its provisions than they had been before,—which was the apathy of the country following the revolution of 1848. Yet it is an advantage to Europe that we can still name Prussia among the constitutional countries where no money can be spent, no law promulgated, without the assent of a representation of the people; in which every grievance must find a hearing, even if it does not always find redress. This is perhaps the chief gain to Prussia of the turbulent years of 1848 and 1849. Another gain, and not of smaller benefit perhaps, is the abhorrence now existing among Prussians, and in fact throughout Germany, against political and social theories, ever since their entire failure in 1848. Yet another advance, which it would be difficult to explain, is the greater activity imparted to all industrial and commercial undertakings within the years 1850 to 1858, which (to give only one example) has more than doubled the production of native Prussian iron within five years. It would seem as if the country had tried to forget, in this busy trading and commercial activity, the intense chagrin which maladministration was everywhere engendering. All the faults of the régime previous to 1848 were now exaggerated tenfold. The court-party ruled the king and his ministers, and crept into all places of importance in the state; hypocrisy in religious and political matters was rewarded by distinctions and employment; religious dissent was repressed and punished by disabilities; even bribery and corruption, from which Prussia had been pre-eminently free, began to assume the functions of a regular principle of government; the police exerted a kind of discretionary power; the servants of government in the provinces seemed to imitate the example of French préfets; the elections were ruled by intimidation, and brought into the Chamber of Representatives an incredible number of men in the pay of, and dependent upon, government. In foreign politics the king's disposition was directed through life to the maintenance of peace. He visited England at the invitation of Queen Victoria to stand sponsor to the Prince of Wales in 1842, and ever professed a great admiration for British institutions. He made an exception to his peaceful policy, in 1848, when he attacked a Danish army by order of the German Confederation, to protect the duchy of Holstein, which is one of the states of that confederation. On account of these proceedings, the king has been suspected of ambitious motives, and of a desire to annex that duchy, and its closely-united neighbour Schleswig, to his own dominions. Of this he was innocent. The truth seems to be, that a deep-rooted animosity of the German population, both in Holstein and Schleswig, led them to an untimely attempt at separation from the Danish monarchy, instead of waiting for an opportunity which time must have brought, viz., the extinction of the male line of rulers in Denmark, and, contingent upon this, the accession (by the Salic law) of a separate dynasty in the duchies. The war has embittered the sentiments on both sides to an irremediable extent, without any redress of grievances, and has brought upon Prussia and the Germanic Confederation the profound humiliation of having created hopes, sent armies and generals (in 1848 and 1849), and then (1850) pusillanimously abandoned those whom they had declared to be in the right and had undertaken to protect. Another short but bloody war was forced upon King Frederick-William by an insurrection among his Polish subjects, the explosion of which had been adroitly prevented by the government in 1847, but which broke out and assumed rather formidable dimensions in the disastrous spring of 1848. It was suppressed, but not before a series of sanguinary combats had proved to the Polish insurgents how unavailing scythes are against rifle-balls and shrapnel. A considerable Prussian army marched into South Germany in the summer of 1849, at the request of the Grand Duke of Baden, whom a widespread mutiny among his own troops had forced to abandon his country to a clique of republicans and their besotted followers. Baden and the Rhenish possessions of Bavaria (also in the power of insurgents) were occupied after a short resistance; and similar outbreaks in Württemberg and Bavaria proper prevented by this timely aid. In the oriental war (1853 to 1855) Prussia abstained from military co-operation; and was admitted to the Congress of Paris only when its work was finished and all but ready for signature. The territory of Prussia underwent no important changes during this king's reign, excepting that the provinces of Prussia proper and Posen (the latter so far as its population is German) were formally introduced into the Germanic Confederation in 1846, and as formally replaced on their old footing in 1850, it being gravely asserted by the politicians of the day, that the position of Prussia as a European power depends in a degree upon her possessing lands without as well as within the said confederation. Another change, implying a trifling loss, must be transitortily mentioned, viz., the resolution of the little canton of Neufchâtel in 1848 to belong henceforward to Switzerland alone, independent of the King of Prussia, who had inherited it, and very mildly exercised his sovereignty. The king set a great value on the recognition of his right, and all European powers gladly recognised them; but when he threatened actual warfare, to back the attempts of the royalist party in the canton (A.D. 1856), the same powers interposed, and the canton was amicably left to itself and to Switzerland early in 1857.

In the autumn of the same year the king was visited by several strokes of apoplexy, which impaired his power of speech, and in part also his reasoning capacities. The sympathy with this melancholy downfall of a highly-gifted and amiable sovereign was general among all classes of the people. But their indignation was soon kindled by the artful intrigues of the court party, who caused the unfortunate monarch nominally to retain the government, merely desiring his eldest brother William (who had borne the title of "Prince of Prussia" ever since the late king's death, as heir-apparent to the throne) to conduct the affairs of state "in accordance with his (the king's) known intentions." The meaning of this was absolute power concentrated in the hands of the then cabinet, under the presidency of Baron Manteuffel, whose to dismiss would have been, on the prince's part, to overstep his instructions. Fortunately for Prussia, no European event of grave import occurred in this first year of the king's malady; and the country, although without a ruler, and oppressed by the host of ministerial police, passed through this agonizing twelvemonth, outwardly at least, unharmed. On the expiration of that term in October 1858, the king, in accordance with a paragraph of the constitution which makes provisions in case of a king being "lastingly incapacitated," signed an order conveying to his brother the full and unrestricted powers of regency, and left Potsdam soon after to pass the winter in a southern climate. Since then public matters in Prussia seem to take a more favourable turn. A new cabinet, containing the leaders of the opposition, is ably supported by the majority of a newly-elected Chamber of Representatives. Divers practices of the former administration have been simply dropped, and bills introduced to prevent their recurrence. Reforms are firmly demanded, and will be honestly granted. The prince shows no precipitation in his actions, but gains confidence rather by well maturing his plans. Many are they who would fain hope that Regent William will prove a worthy follower in the footsteps of his namesake, our William of Orange; and that the children of the Princess-Royal of Great Britain may reign over a country blessed with the same institutions as our own, and governed by that obedience to the laws which has rendered our island prosperous and mighty beyond all nations of the earth.

The Prussian monarchy is composed of three territories, very different from each other in size. The first or eastern portion extends from nearly the centre of Germany to the frontiers of Russia and the Baltic. The second or western portion, smaller in extent, and divided from the former by a stripe of land between 30 and 40 miles in width, begins on the frontier of Holland, Belgium, and France, and reaches the course of the River Weser. The third portion consists of the small principalities of Hohenzollern on the Danube, which have belonged to the royal line of that family only since 1850, inclosed within the states of Baden and Württemberg. The two first and principal portions are situated between 55°, 52°, and 49°, N. Lat., and 6°, 22°, 50°, E. Long. Its greatest extent is from the French to the Russian frontier, a line, though not quite unbroken, of nearly 800 miles. The principal frontier is the Baltic Sea, washing the shores of Pomerania and of Prussia proper, about 520 miles in extent. A waste stripe of coast (the Jade-port) having being purchased from Oldenburg in 1855 for the construction of a naval port, the Prussian state now has access also to the German Ocean. The land frontiers are—1st, Of the eastern portion, Russia and Poland, on the east; Austria, Saxony, and Thuringia, on the south; Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, on the west. 2nd, Of the western portion, Holland and Hanover, on the north; Lippe, Brunswick, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Waldeck, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, and Rhenish Bavaria, on the east; France on the south; Luxemburg, Belgium, and Holland, on the west.

In point of size, Prussia, as at present constituted, nearly equals the area of Great Britain and Ireland. The King of Prussia's territory comprises 111,154 square miles, compared to the 121,050 square miles of the United Kingdom. Statistics. (For the size of each of the above-mentioned provinces, see Table III.)

Outward configuration.

The western portion, including Hohenzollern, is mountainous; the other (with two exceptions, viz., Upper Silesia, and the country bordering on Thuringia) belongs to that interminable plain which characterizes Eastern and North-Eastern Europe. In Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Prussia proper, the plain goes down lower and lower as it approaches the Baltic, against whose ravages it is in many parts protected only by natural or artificial sand-banks. Over this monotonous plain a few small lines of hills are seen stretching along. The land, in part sandy, in part extremely fertile, is intersected by some powerful rivers, large lakes, morasses, and forests of pine and fir. The highest point of this country is the island of Rügen, famous for its white chalk cliffs, which remind the traveller of Dover. Upper Silesia contains a mountainous district separating that province from Bohemia. It bears the names of Wahlenburger-Gebirge, Glatzer-Gebirge, and, raised above the rest, the Riesen-Gebirge: the Schneekoppe, its highest point, measures 4931 feet, which is more than the height of any non-Alpine mountain in Germany. Parts of the Thuringian hills are Prussian ground, and likewise a part of the Harz Mountain, with its ghost-haunted Blocksberg or Brocken. The western portion also begins with flat country in the north; soon, however, the Weser hills rise above the plain, followed to the westward by the Teutoburgwald, and farther on by the Westerwald, which ends where it touches the Rhine in the picturesque Sieben Gebirge, 1429 feet high, and its marked promontory the Drachenfels. The hilly countries to the left of the Rhine are divided into groups by its tributaries,—viz., the Hobe Venn (a part of the Ardennes), between Maas and Mosel; then the volcanic Eifel, north of the Mosel; and the Hundsrücken, south of it. The Hohenzollern country forms part of the Swabian Alps, and is crowned by the ancestral castle of the family on the summit of the Zollern hill (2663 feet high).

The sea.

The Baltic Sea is too shallow to offer any first-rate ports; there are, however, good roadsteads along its shores. Its commerce is carried on mainly by the following Prussian towns,—viz., Memel, Königsberg, Pillau, Elbing, Dantzig, with Weichselmünde, Swinemünde, Stettin, and Stralsund, some of which are obliged to send their merchandise along the shallow waters of a half. These hafhs (the Kurische, Frische, and Stettiner) are broad lakes or river-outlets formed by the streams on their sluggish exit into the sea, and so close to the shore that there remains only a narrow stripe or Nehrung, through which the river then finds its way out. The water of the Baltic contains five times less salt than the Atlantic. It is ice-bound during three or four, and sometime five, months of the year.

Lakes and rivers.

The number and extent of lakes is considerable: there are 389, of more than 200 acres each, which occupy in all an area of 775 square miles. The land of man has reclaimed by drainage, and turned into splendidly fertile land, immense tracts of bog and morass. These bogs derive their names from the rivers whose course they accompany: thus the Oder Bruch, most effectually drained by Frederick the Great; the Warthe Bruch, now almost entirely a fertile district 60 miles in length by 10 in width; some 60 square miles of the Obra Bruch, in the province of Posen, are at present under operation. All great Prussian rivers flow into the Baltic or into the German Ocean, excepting the Danube, which in its upper course traverses Hohenzollern. Beginning from the last, the principal rivers of Prussia are the following,—1. The Niemen or Memel, which enters the Baltic near the town of Memel, after traversing the Kurische Haff, the northernmost of those mighty river-outlets mentioned above. On its banks lies the famous town of Tilsit. 2. The Pregel, which passes into the Frische Haff 5 miles below Königsberg, and into the sea near Pillau. 3. The Statitler, Weichsel or Vistula, 13 feet deep in the Baltic port of Weichselmünde, near Dantzig, but mostly shallower higher up; its width is 2850 on its entrance into Prussian territory, and increases to 5000 feet. Two other branches of the river (one of them called the Nogat) flows into the Frische Haff; its course is defended by the fortresses of Thorn, Kulm, Graudenz, and Dantzig. 4. The Oder, a mighty stream of 625½ miles in length, 583½ of which belong to Prussia, collects its waters from no less than 52,267 square miles of land. Silesia, Brandenburg, and Pomerania are traversed by the Oder; among the towns on its banks may be mentioned Oppeln, Breslau, Frankfurt, and Stettin. Its principal tributary is the Warthe, coming from the eastward, 600 feet wide near the fortress of Custrin, where it joins its waters with those of the Oder. Another tributary became famous in history, viz., the Katzbach, which flows from the westward. 5. The Elbe, an important landmark, inasmuch as it separated, and to a certain extent even now separates, the purely Germanic population on its left from a country gradually re-conquered, colonized, and Germanized, after a great immigration of Slavonic races. Having crossed Bohemia and Saxony, it enters Prussia as a navigable river 6 to 10 feet deep, passes the fortified cities of Torgau and Wittenberg, and then flows into Mecklenburg territory. The waters of the Saale, from the left, and of the Havel, combined with the Spree, from the right, swell the stream of the Elbe, which measures 1000 feet after the junction with the Havel. 6. The Weser, a small part of whose course, that which passes the town of Minden, belongs to Prussia, 3 to 6 feet deep, and 140 to 200 feet wide. 7. The Ems must, like the former, be called a Hanoverian river; it has, however, a course of 112 miles in Prussian Westphalia. 8. The Rhine washes Prussian soil from Bingen to the frontier of Holland, a distance by water of 233 miles, or nearly one-third of its entire length, which is 816 miles. Its fall within these limits is no less than 226 feet. Near Bingen it has a width of 1608 feet, which is diminished to 840 feet near Unkel, and then widens out again gradually to 2544 feet near the Dutch frontier. Its principal tributaries are,—from the west, the Nahe, which passes by Kreuznach; the Mosel, with its many cities; and the highly romantic Ahr; and from the east, the Lahn, the Wupper, the Ruhr, and the Lippe,—all four now rising into great importance by the mining and manufacturing activity of its valleys.

It was a matter of just pride among the Prussians in former times that they possessed a large net-work of canals, connecting their principal rivers and lakes between the Elbe and the Niemen. They are, however, now losing much of their value by the competition of railways.

The climate of Prussia is on the whole temperate and healthy. In Königsberg the mean temperature shows 43°52'; in Berlin, 40°2'; in Aachen, 48°875'; in Bonn and Treves, 50°. The thermometer does not anywhere rise above 100°, or fall lower than 25° below zero. In the provinces of Prussia proper and Pomerania the winter lasts seven months; there the middle of May is usually considered the beginning of spring; whilst the sun of the Rhine ripens the grape, the almond, and the chestnut. The eastern portion, on the other hand, has more constancy of weather both in summer and in winter. The fall of rain in some of the principal localities of the monarchy, beginning from the east, is as follows:—

| Location | Rainfall | |-------------------|----------| | Tilsit | 19743 | | Dantzig | 18140 | | Pozen | 18863 | | Breslau | 15818 | | Frankfurt-on-Oder.| 20055 | | Stettin | 16376 | | Berlin | 20795 | | Halle | 18094 | | Münster | 25226 | | Cleves | 27018 | | Cologne | 24190 | | Treves | 25702 |

The average annual fall of rain throughout being 21000 inches. Statistics. I. Population of Prussia at the close of each Reign, since the beginning of the eighteenth century.

| Sovereigns | Population | Square Miles | Average Sq. Miles | |------------|------------|--------------|------------------| | Frederick I. (1713) | 1,731,000 | 45,680 | 38-4 | | Frederick-William I. (1740) | 2,496,000 | 47,911 | 51-8 | | Frederick the Great (1786) | 8,430,000 | 77,224 | 70-8 | | Frederick-William II. (1797) | 8,700,000 | 110,128 | 71-8 | | Frederick-William III. (1840) | 14,928,501 | 116,986 | 154-5 | | In the year 1853 | 17,202,831 | 111,174 | 154-5 |

II. Increase of Population since 1816.

| Year | Total Population | Increase during Three Years | Average Increase in each of these Three Years | Yearly Increase in percent of the Population | |------|-----------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------| | 1810 | 10,349,631 | | | | | 1819 | 10,981,934 | 632,903 | 210,967 | 1-93 | | 1822 | 11,664,133 | 682,199 | 227,399 | 1-95 | | 1827 | 12,256,725 | 592,592 | 197,530 | 1-60 | | 1829 | 12,728,110 | 469,385 | 156,461 | 1-23 | | 1831 | 13,038,960 | 312,850 | 104,234 | 0-80 | | 1834 | 13,509,927 | 470,967 | 156,989 | 1-16 | | 1837 | 14,098,125 | 588,198 | 196,066 | 1-39 | | 1840 | 14,929,501 | 830,376 | 276,792 | 1-85 | | 1843 | 15,471,681 | 542,183 | 180,861 | 1-17 | | 1846 | 16,112,488 | 641,804 | 213,931 | 1-33 | | 1849 | 16,939,448 | 826,960 | 275,653 | 0-66 | | 1852 | 16,325,420 | 537,972 | 179,324 | 1-06 | | 1855 | 17,202,831 | 267,411 | 93,137 | 0-53 |

The increase from 1853–55 is thus accounted for:

| Excess of births over deaths | 353,195 | 117,731 | |-------------------------------|---------|---------| | Immigration | 8,650 | 2,883 | | Registered emigration | 65,735 | 120,615 | | Non-registered emigration | 28,699 | 94,434 | | | 207,411 | 89,137 |

III. Present Population of Prussia.

| Provinces | Extent in Square Miles | Proportion of Extent to that of the Monarchy | Population in 1853 | Proportion of Population to that of the Monarchy | |-----------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------------------------------------------| | Prussia proper | 25,654 | ... | 2,636,768 | ... | | Posen | 11,678 | ... | 1,392,636 | ... | | Brandenburg | 15,990 | ... | 2,254,305 | ... | | Pomerania | 12,560 | ... | 1,288,964 | ... | | Silesia | 16,154 | ... | 3,182,496 | ... | | Saxony | 10,034 | ... | 1,861,535 | ... | | Eastern portion | 92,070 | 0-828 | 12,616,702 | 0-7335 | | Westphalia | 8,014 | ... | 1,527,252 | ... | | Rhineland | 10,605 | ... | 2,983,305 | ... | | Western portion | 18,519 | 0-168 | 4,510,557 | 0-2620 | | Hohenzollern | 400 | 0-004 | 63,316 | 0-0040 | | Bay of Jutland | 5 | ... | 227 | ... | | Troops in garrison at Mainz, &c. | ... | ... | 12,029 | 0-0005 | | Prussian monarchy | 111,154 | ... | 17,202,831 | ... |

Besides Germans, there are in the Prussian dominions at present 2,250,000 inhabitants of divers Slavonic races—Poles, Wends, &c.; also 150,000 Lithuanians, 20,000 French colonists (12,000 of these in Berlin), 10,000 Walloons, and nearly 235,000 Jews. In Silesia, the German population is four-fifths of the whole; in Prussia proper, two-thirds; and in the province of Posen it is a constantly increasing moiety, as more and more land is sold to Germans, and the trade and commerce of cities becomes almost exclusively German. The Polish population amounts to 840,000.

There are 2,509,220 women living in wedlock in Prussia. The average number of children to each family is 3—a good deal more than France, which has an average of 2½. In 1855, 131,911 couples were married, 83,053 of which belonged to Protestant churches, and 46,997 to the Roman Church. The number of births in the same year was... The majority of Prussians, viz., 10,534,754, belong to Statistics, one or other of the Protestant churches; the rest are for the most part Roman Catholics (6,418,310 in number, or Religious about 3ths of the entire population), some Mennonites, a denomination of the Greek Church, and, finally, 234,248 Jews. Protestantism is greatly dominant in the provinces of Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, and the eastern part of Prussia proper, and is in a majority in the Silesian departments of Liegnitz and Breslau, in the Westphalian departments of Minden and Arnsberg, and in the western part of Prussia proper. The Roman Catholics prevail in Hohenzollern, in Rhineland and Posen, in Upper Silesia, and in the department of Münster. Under the head of Protestants are comprised—1st, The members of the United or Evangelical Church, which may be considered as the national church; 2d, The so-called Old Lutherans, who have their separate establishment; and 3d, The Moravian Brethren. The Mennonites derive their name from a certain Menno, a mild Anabaptist reformer, whose efforts, from 1536, when he left the Church of Rome, to his death in 1561, had been to unite all those who were in favour of adult baptism into one church of saints, living at peace with all men. His followers, like the Society of Friends, reject the use of arms and decline taking oaths; and the state grants them dispensation from both, a certain income-tax of about 3 per cent. being fixed in lieu of their military duties, and their solemn affirmation being accepted in courts of law wherever an oath is required from others. The Jews are most numerous in the province of Posen, where every eighteenth inhabitant belongs to that religion. In Berlin they are as 1 to 38, in Rhineland as 1 to 95, and in the province of Saxony as 1 to 355. The last remnant of their civil disabilities has legally ceased altogether since the promulgation of the constitution of 1850; nevertheless they remained practically excluded from several employments, such as the office of judges; but henceforward the law is to be carried out to its letter, which undoubtedly excludes them from no dignity in the state whatsoever.

The number of churches and other places consecrated for divine worship was, in 1855, 9203 belonging to Protestants, and 7622 to Roman Catholics; which is an unfavourable proportion on the Protestant side; for, whilst their numbers in the country are, roughly speaking, as 5 to 3 compared to those of the Romanist persuasion, their places of worship are not quite as 4 to 3. A similar disproportion exists as regards the ministers of each church, the Protestants numbering 6199, and the Roman Catholics 5796. There are 30 Mennonite meeting-houses, 3 Greek churches, and 928 Jewish synagogues.

The outward government of the Protestant United Church belongs, as in England, to the king, as Summus Episcopus. His attributes of power are now entrusted to a supreme council (Ober-Kirchenrath), consisting of clerical and lay members, appointed by him, and responsible only to himself. Those points alone in which a contact is established between the state and the church fall under the cognisance of one of the king's responsible ministers,—of public instruction, &c. Each province has a board similarly constituted, called Consistorium,—the special control over the clergy, and their doctrine, being entrusted to superintendents-general, one for each province, and superintendents, of which every province has several. The nomination to a cure of souls (subject always to the candidates having duly qualified themselves by examination) belongs in some places to the king, in others to country gentlemen, in others to the municipal authorities, in others, again, to the free election of each congregation. This last-named method forms the rule among the Protestants of Rhineland and Westphalia, who have a presbyterian constitution similar to that of the Established Church of Scotland. They have synods and general synods, in

Statistics, which clergy and laity are equally represented, and manage their local government also in a peaceable alliance of the lay with the clerical element. It is believed that similar representative institutions and local self-government will in time become general in Prussia and in the rest of Protestant Germany.

The Roman Church has eight episcopal sees in Prussia, which do not correspond to the eight provinces of the state. Two of these sees—viz., that of Cologne and that of Gnesen and Posen—are governed by archbishops; the see of Breslau by a "prince-bishop;" the "exempt" see of Ermland, extending over the east of Prussia proper, by a bishop; and so likewise the rest of the sees,—viz., Culm (containing parts of Prussia proper and Pomerania), Münster, Paderborn, and Treves, by bishops. The Archbishop of Cologne exercises jurisdiction over the sees of Treves, Münster, and Paderborn, as well as his own immediate diocese; and likewise the Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen over that of Culm. In the sees immediately committed to their care the archbishops are assisted by Weih-Bischöfe. The prince-bishop of Breslau and the bishop of Ermland, whose sees are therefore called "exempt," receive their orders direct from Rome.

Prussia is essentially an agricultural country. More than two-thirds of her population are devoted exclusively or principally to the cultivation of the soil. Whilst the manufacturing industry, on a larger scale at least, is of modern growth in this country; several districts have ever been exporters of grain, rape-seed, flax, &c. Still Prussia has not attained to that degree of excellence for which she seems to be peculiarly fitted, by the fair conditions of climate and of soil, and by the general intelligence of her inhabitants. In nearly all districts of Prussia the production of grains is so much the one object of agriculture that the art of breeding and fattening cattle suffers from neglect. Meat being sold by weight mainly, and not sorted according to quality, fat cattle are not profitable property. Instead of large outlay and large crops on a small surface, we meet on the whole with oversized farms, costing little and producing little. There is an expenditure generally on extensive and massive buildings out of all proportion to the cost of everything else, and to the disposable capital. The nobles, although they possess very large estates, and although many of these are under their own management, contribute but little to the progress of agriculture. After all the shackles of vassalage and serfdom have been removed, there were, until lately, two principal causes regarding agricultural progress: first, the scarcity of good roads and other means of communication; and, secondly, the scarcity of ready capital. Both causes of inferiority to other countries are now disappearing, and Prussian agriculture will, it may be anticipated, speedily rise to the first place on the continent of Europe. The improvements of Scotch and English agriculture have been carefully watched, and to a considerable degree introduced. Farms of moderate size, with appropriate rotations of crops, with good buildings and implements, using guano and other purchasable fertilizers largely, are becoming more and more general. Breweries, sugar-factories, and distilleries are to be found on many of these farms, raising the value of the raw produce of the land, and delivering over immense quantities of food for the fattening-stall and the cow-house. Out of the number of about seventeen millions of acres which represented the uncultivated area of the monarchy in 1849, nearly three millions were reclaimed by the end of 1852; and these three millions of acres have become principally grazing land. The fertile province of Saxony stands highest in agricultural improvement generally. It is followed by Brandenburg, which is almost the poorest by nature. The rest can be ranked as follows—Rhineeland, Silesia, Westphalia, Pomerania, Prussia proper, and Posen. Brandenburg and Silesia are the principal sheep-breeding provinces. Every possible care and refinement are brought to bear on the production of wool, which is the finest in the world, but scarcely any on that of mutton, which is very bad.

Large farms are the rule in Prussia. With the exception of the Rhine-valley and the Eichsfeld (on the borders of Franconia), where land is subdivided to a very minute degree, farms varying from 400 to 1200 acres form the majority. They are usually let to tenants. The cultivation of estates in the hands of the proprietor himself, however, is by no means rare, and becomes almost the rule in some districts, in the same measure as the taste for agricultural pursuits increases among the higher classes of society. The provinces of Rhineeland and Posen contain the largest number of let farms; there are few such in Saxony, and scarcely any in Pomerania. As regards the duration of leases, they are restricted to nine, six, or even three years, on the Rhine and in Posen; show an increase in Westphalia, where nine to twelve years form the rule; and are longest in the eastern provinces (Posen excepted), viz., twelve to twenty-four years. The rental averages L.1.7s. per acre in the fertile and much-subdivided valley of the Rhine; and in the sugar districts of the Saxon province, where even L.4.10s. and L.6 rent per acre is not unfrequently paid. On the dreary hills of the Eifel and of the Westerwald (Rhineeland) you meet with farms that are let at 5s. to 7s. an acre. The average rental in the eastern portion of the monarchy (excepting Saxony) may be estimated at from 9s. to 18s. for large farms, and from 12s. to 24s. for smaller holdings. In speaking of the price of land, we necessarily include meadows and woods, with the arable portions. From L.7 to L.12 per acre may be taken as a fair average price of land in Prussia. In the Saxon province, however, the average cannot be rated lower than from L.12 to L.18. The greatest extremes in the value of land may be observed in Rhineeland; here estates are sold for L.1 to L.5 an acre along the hills of the Westerwald, Eifel, and Hundsrück, whilst in the valley of that noble river the price varies from L.18 to L.35 an acre for large farms, and from L.40 to L.100 for single fields.

The extensive meadows in the districts of Gumbinnen and Königsberg offer an excellent opportunity for the breeding of horses. Accordingly, most proprietors keep private studs. The principal stud of the monarchy is Trakehnen, in this province, formerly belonging to the royal family, and now to the state, with 1300 brood-mares, and a farm of 9363 acres adjoining. From this immense establishment the royal stables are provided with carriage and saddle horses, and the rest sold in great annual auctions to buyers from all parts of the world. There are two other great studs in the kingdom, viz., Neustadt in Brandenburg, and Graditz in Saxony. Eight less extensive studs, with 1050 stallions, are distributed over the country. Wheat, peas, and potatoes form the principal produce of this province. In the district of Ermland there is also a considerable cultivation of flax. Emancipation from bare fallow, and from the miserable implements of the country, is traceable everywhere. But owing to its commercial disadvantages, viz., its inconvenient and ice-bound harbours, and the exorbitantly high protective duties imposed by Russia; owing also to the sluggishness of its Slavonic and Lithuanian inhabitants, that progress is but slow.

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1 The proportion of cost of farm-buildings to the whole capital invested in an estate is calculated at 15 to 20 per cent. in Great Britain, and at 30 to 40 per cent. in Prussia.

2 There were 167,395 cwt. of wool sold altogether in Prussia in 1858, at prices varying from L.17, 5s. down to L.4, 19s. per cwt. A marked difference exists between the eastern districts of the province of Posen, where proprietors as well as cultivators of land are Poles, and its northern and western parts. In the latter an improved system of occupation and cultivation has been introduced by German purchasers, and their imported foremen and labourers. In the Polish districts the rule of letting a farm for three years prevails, and with it the most slovenly and exhausting practices of husbandry. Rye in the first year, and oats in the next, and occasionally a crop of peas in the third or fallow year; that is the rule of Polish farms, large or small.

Mr Albert Thaer, whom the Germans proclaim as the great regenerator of their husbandry, has left a lasting memorial of his practice and theory in the present high condition of farming in Brandenburg, where his example and teaching (1804 to 1828) were most closely observed and followed, and where sandy deserts are since his days covered with abundant crops. Careful cultivation of the potato, very extensive sheep-breeding, and marling of the soil, are characteristics of Brandenburg agriculture. Barley and rye are the principal grains produced. The soil possesses too little solidity for wheat and mangel-wurzel, and the climate is too dry for turnips. Mr Albert Thaer's sheep produced wool of such exquisite delicacy that they attained the highest prices yet known; and this pre-eminence has been strenuously kept up by his followers. The wool of the province of Brandenburg is reckoned the best in the world. In its turn, the stimulus given to sheep-breeding could not but improve the general condition of the land. If the number of sheep has doubled since 1816, the appearance of this sandy desert has also been completely transformed. The state keeps a model herd at Frankenthal.

The system of farming in Pomerania consists, like that of Mecklenburg, in laying down the land to grass during three out of every seven years. The farms are mostly very large, and cultivated in a steady, old-fashioned manner.

Silesia has the most extensive sheep-breeding in Prussia. Taking the whole acreage of this province, 1£ sheep is reckoned to every acre. Above 70,000 cwt. of wool (second only to that of Brandenburg) and L3000 worth of rams are sold annually. Prince Lichnowsky's herds in Kuchelna are the largest and best of all. The old staple produce of Silesia, viz., flax, has almost ceased to exist. The linen had been manufactured for export, principally to Spain; but the King of Prussia having declined to acknowledge Queen Isabella, because her majesty had been raised to the throne by a revolution, the Prussian commerce with Spain lost all the privileges it had formerly enjoyed; and with that the cultivation of flax first slackened, and finally all but ceased. Wheat, rye, rape-seed, and tobacco are grown with advantage, and better modes of cultivation are gradually supplanting the rule of fallow, or the still more frequent absence of all rule.

Prussian Saxony owes its agricultural fame principally to the careful production of, so to say, non-cereals, viz., the beet-root for sugar, poppies, chicory, mustard-seed, cumin, anise-seed, tobacco, flax—all very extensively cultivated. The necessity of improved appliances for their production has raised the standard of husbandry in this province generally. There are some farms here (that of Herr Rimpa in Schlanstedt, and Herr Nathusius at Hundsbürg) which are conducted with as much order, economy, and intelligence, as any in Great Britain. Of beet-root, the average of a yearly crop has lately been three million cwt. There is very little cattle or horse breeding in this province, the requisite quantity being imported mostly from Olden-burg, and of horses also from Hanover. The ravages of the pneumonia or lung-disease among cattle were more extensive in this than in any other portion of the monarchy; the disease is giving way, however, to inoculation. The wool is inferior to that of Brandenburg and Silesia; but attempts have been effectually made of late to improve the Statistics, wretched mutton of the country by crossing the wool breed with our Southdowns and Leicesters.

As their Saxon forefathers of old, the present cultivators Westphalia of Westphalia continue growing white crop after white crop, with the slightest possible attention to root crops or to improved implements. Immense farm-buildings, in which nearly all the labourers are lodged and fed, help to preserve to this country its peculiar semi-patriarchal aspect and régime. The farmer, whether tenant or proprietor, is mostly too careful of his expenses to fall into actual poverty; but in consequence of the habit of allowing his savings to stagnate in strong boxes, instead of being invested in securities, he never, or very rarely, acquires wealth. A very favourable exception to this general character may be found in the district of Siegen, measuring less than 300 square miles, in which the best systems of irrigating meadows have been carried on with ingenuity for the last thirty years. The same district is remarkable on account of the "Heuberge," a peculiar system of wood-culture, according to which the plantations, after standing eighteen or twenty years, are cut down, the soil first burnt, and then sown with rye; in the following year the young trees are sure to shoot up again of themselves in great abundance, and then are allowed to grow as before for eighteen or twenty years. Westphalia pigs, like all other cattle, are sadly neglected as to nicety of breeding or feeding. Nevertheless, the hams enjoy a world-wide reputation, for which they are indebted to a peculiarity of the farm-houses, the smoke of their immense wood fires, instead of finding its exit through a chimney, being forced along the roof of the spacious hall before its exit, and thus enveloping innumerable hams that are suspended along its rafters.

Agriculture has remained stationary on the borders of Rhineland. The Rhine. It stood highest, perhaps, three centuries ago. But whoever reads Dr Heresbach's amusing book Rei Rusticae, liber iv., published in 1571, giving an account of his Düsseldorf farm, will be struck with the close similitude between what was then and is now the rule. The Code Napoleon, which continues to be law on the left bank of the Rhine, has strengthened the habit of equally subdividing the soil among all the children of the testator; a habit which seems to belong to the Franconian race everywhere, and which that law has sanctioned rather than created. In the hilly districts bare and exhausting fallows are adhered to; in the plains a continuance of as exhausting white crops. More attention begins to be paid to the cultivation of wheat. Rape-seed, flax, tobacco, cardoons, and latterly also the sugar-beet, are cultivated for sale and manufacture. Drainage and the creation of new meadows is changing the aspect of the country; and although this province keeps a larger stock of cattle in proportion to its acreage than any other, yet on the whole but little attention is paid to breeding.

In the dry and light soil of Brandenburg and other Eastern provinces, the potato is undoubtedly a better root-crop than either turnips or mangel-wurzel. For any over-production of potatoes a distillery seemed to offer the only advantageous employment; and hence the number of private distilleries. No less than 20,000,000 cwt. of potatoes are used for distilling every year. The excise-duty on distilled liquors produces about L750,000 a year.

In Saxony, Silesia, and a few other localities, many farmers devote their best fields to the production of the sugar beet-root. There were 101 sugar factories in 1851, using 11,109,728 cwt. of beet-root; and latterly that number has increased by about one-fourth. It is intended to raise the present excise-duty of 7½d. to 9d. per cwt. of beet-root. When this increase will have been effected, the protection afforded to home-grown sugar against the competition of colonial sugars will be but trifling. Those among the owners of sugar factories who have a sufficient command Statistics of capital, declare that they do not fear that competition any longer.

About one-fifth of the entire acreage of Prussia, viz., 14,406,945 acres, is covered with wood. Of this number, again, two-fifths belong to the state, and the rest to private individuals or corporations. The former are in admirable preservation; large tracts of the latter class have suffered much by the greediness and maladministration of their owners. A law for the better protection of woods and forests is now in preparation. A good deal of unproductive land has of late years been converted into green forests by means of a special fund voted by parliament. The proceeds from the state forests were very trifling until lately, if we take the average of the whole country, viz., only 2s. 3½d. per acre; but the rapid development of the mining industry, of railways, &c., begins to improve the value of wood property. Rhineland possesses the greatest amount of woodland, and next to it Silesia.

As in England in former days, a board of agriculture, General presided over by a member of government (Landwirthschaftliches Ministerium) conducts the agricultural affairs, so Agricultural far as they regard the state. One of its principal cares is the improvement of agricultural education throughout the country. For this purpose, five agricultural colleges for gentlemen, managers, and large farmers have been founded, viz., Möglin in Brandenburg (commenced by Mr A. Pfaer, and the property of his family), Eldena in Pomerania, Proskau in Silesia, Waldau in Prussia proper, and Poppelsdorf in Rhineland; the latter four being entirely endowed by the state. Besides these, there are 23 agricultural schools for smaller occupiers of land.

V. Land Cultivated and Uncultivated in 1855.

| Provinces | Gardens, Orchards, and Vineyards | Land under Tillage | Meadows | Pasture Land | Woods and Forests | Uncultivated Land | Total | |-----------------|----------------------------------|--------------------|---------|--------------|------------------|-------------------|-------| | Prussia proper | 215,807 | 7,323,380 | 1,652,689| 1,470,385 | 2,655,762 | 3,559,384 | 16,877,400 | | Posen | 114,437 | 3,856,444 | 544,704 | 536,441 | 1,424,750 | 1,269,757 | 7,650,533 | | Brandenburg | 101,553 | 4,297,931 | 842,282 | 657,792 | 2,310,005 | 2,208,190 | 10,517,933 | | Pomerania | 60,085 | 3,670,946 | 647,395 | 1,129,425 | 1,436,883 | 1,317,932 | 8,202,666 | | Silesia | 133,028 | 4,418,522 | 571,330 | 214,301 | 2,313,402 | 2,976,383 | 10,626,866 | | Saxony | 70,487 | 3,343,735 | 424,701 | 394,597 | 962,177 | 1,403,702 | 6,599,400 | | Westphalia | 84,815 | 2,465,900 | 363,249 | 601,458 | 1,272,193 | 903,118 | 5,271,733 | | Rhineland | 163,687 | 2,888,320 | 626,540 | 730,295 | 2,631,773 | 638,555 | 6,979,200 | | Total | 943,999 | 31,846,179 | 5,572,963| 5,734,394 | 14,406,945 | 14,317,051 | 72,821,731 |

VI. Cultivators of Land, classified (1855).

| Provinces | Number of Persons whose chief Occupation is the Cultivation of Land | Number of those with whom the Cultivation of Land is a Secondary Object | |-----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Proprietors | Their Families | Their Servants | Their Labourers | Proprietors | Their Families | Their Servants | Their Labourers | | Prussia proper | 137,022 | 611,439 | 199,323 | 150,010 | 239,119 | | | | | Posen | 74,916 | 355,293 | 100,476 | 85,441 | 110,051 | | | | | Brandenburg | 52,271 | 377,546 | 100,082 | 64,670 | 251,186 | | | | | Pomerania | 47,911 | 214,400 | 76,978 | 180,838 | 154,959 | | | | | Silesia | 179,967 | 774,774 | 190,785 | 27,333 | 444,652 | | | | | Saxony | 89,240 | 311,141 | 86,561 | 74,890 | 301,974 | | | | | Westphalia | 74,465 | 323,096 | 85,159 | 51,396 | 304,502 | | | | | Rhineland | 195,873 | 694,652 | 108,649 | 74,294 | 423,552 | | | | | Hohenzollern | 9,149 | 28,125 | 2,913 | 1,086 | 15,864 | | | | | Prussian monarchy | 884,815 | 3,671,758 | 951,832 | 754,295 | 2,316,759 | | | |

VII. Size of Separate Holdings of Land.

| Provinces | Holdings of and above 100 Acres | 200 to 400 Acres | 20 to 200 Acres | 14 to 20 Acres | Under 14 Acres | Sum-total of all Holdings of Land | |-----------------|---------------------------------|------------------|-----------------|---------------|----------------|----------------------------------| | | Number | Average Size | Number | Average Size | Number | Average Size | Number | Average Size | Number | Average Size | Number | Average Size | | Prussia proper | 3943 | 1457 | 4241 | 83,477 | 42,554 | 46,418 | 180,633 | | Posen | 2630 | 1409 | 1088 | 45,457 | 31,118 | 21,850 | 102,141 | | Brandenburg | 2263 | 1943 | 2065 | 48,646 | 45,609 | 65,318 | 163,921 | | Pomerania | 2349 | 1686 | 1463 | 20,398 | 27,469 | 31,992 | 89,811 | | Silesia | 2242 | 1196 | 1157 | 45,232 | 104,588 | 115,958 | 270,867 | | Saxony | 1160 | 1285 | 1450 | 40,014 | 63,557 | 105,761 | 211,942 | | Westphalia | 676 | 1120 | 1414 | 46,352 | 73,259 | 115,376 | 237,068 | | Rhineland | 1431 | 990 | 1547 | 49,475 | 202,833 | 537,874 | 793,160 | | Hohenzollern | 91 | 919 | 38 | 1,690 | 7,216 | 11,679 | 20,611 | | Prussian monarchy | 17,675 | 1479 | 14,481 | 387,741 | 598,134 | 1,052,1261 | 2,070,157 |

It would be an error to suppose, on account of the large numbers in this column, that each of these Lilliputian plots really represent the property of a man. In the Land-Register (or Kataster) a separate number is given to every plot of land which belongs to a different proprietor from the surrounding ones, without reference to the circumstance, that ten or twenty or more of these different plots may belong (as they usually do) to one owner. Yet it is a striking fact, that two-thirds of all pieces of land in the Rhenish province should be under ¼ acre, and that the average size of all other holdings in the same province put together does not reach 20 acres.

VIII. Number of Horses and Cattle in 1855.

| Provinces | Horses | Proportion to Population | Horses | Proportion to Population | Sheep | Proportion to Population | Pigs | Proportion to Population | |--------------------|--------|--------------------------|--------|--------------------------|-------|--------------------------|-----|--------------------------| | Prussia proper | 461,504| 571 | 967,023| 267 | 2,642,268| 69 | 599,512| 5-06 | | Posen | 153,442| 9-07 | 481,418| 2-89 | 2,199,177| 6-03 | 163,258| 8-53 | | Brandenburg | 193,531| 11-64 | 618,605| 3-64 | 2,343,969| 6-66 | 285,255| 7-90 | | Pomerania | 150,241| 8-57 | 450,642| 2-83 | 2,651,030| 6-48 | 182,992| 7-04 | | Silesia | 190,547| 10-60 | 906,443| 3-30 | 2,431,687| 1-30 | 127,058| 25-04 | | Saxony | 152,485| 9-20 | 522,389| 3-56 | 1,838,946| 1-01 | 332,490| 5-59 | | Westphalia | 121,259| 7-29 | 548,908| 2-78 | 461,046| 3-31 | 242,647| 6-29 | | Rhineland | 122,511| 7-45 | 889,789| 3-36 | 492,354| 0-68 | 242,283| 12-26 | | Hohenzollern | 5,224 | 3-12 | 40,732| 1-55 | 10,658| 0-29 | 9,495| 6-66 | | Bay of Jable | 35 | | 143 | | 80 | | ... | | | Prussian monarchy | 1,359,879| 11-09 | 5,605,285| 3-12 | 15,071,425| 1-14 | 2,106,013| 8-16 |

IX. Average Price of Beef and Pork, 1852-55.

| Provinces | 1852 | 1855 | 1854 | 1855 | |--------------------|------|------|------|------| | Beef (Per.) | Short. | Pork | Beef (Per.) | Short. | Pork | | Prussia proper | 28 | 4-9 | 3-1 | 4-8 | 3-9 | 5-7 | 4-3 | 5-5 | | Posen | 33 | 4-3 | 3-6 | 4-8 | 4-1 | 5-6 | 4-6 | 6-0 | | Brandenburg | 37 | 4-4 | 3-8 | 5-1 | 4-3 | 5-9 | 4-8 | 6-2 | | Pomerania | 31 | 4-4 | 3-4 | 5-3 | 3-9 | 5-0 | 4-3 | 5-8 | | Silesia | 39 | 4-4 | 3-6 | 5-0 | 3-9 | 5-6 | 4-1 | 5-8 | | Saxony | 38 | 4-4 | 3-4 | 5-0 | 4-4 | 6-0 | 4-7 | 6-2 | | Westphalia | 33 | 4-4 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 4-0 | 5-7 | 4-5 | 6-2 | | Rhineland | 34 | 4-2 | 4-0 | 5-6 | 4-7 | 5-4 | 4-0 | 7-0 | | Prussian monarchy | 33 | 4-4 | 3-6 | 5-1 | 4-1 | 5-8 | 4-5 | 6-1 |

X. Average Price of the four principal sorts of Grain in the different Provinces of Prussia, in the year 1858.

| Provinces | Wheat | Rye. | Barley | Oats | |--------------------|-------|------|--------|------| | Prussia Proper | 37 | 19 | 21 | 11 | 20 | 3 | 15 | 7 | | Posen | 40 | 5 | 24 | 6 | 21 | 2 | 18 | 0 | | Brandenburg | 40 | 7 | 25 | 6 | 24 | 0 | 19 | 3 | | Pomerania | 40 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 17 | 10 | | Silesia | 42 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 18 | 7 | | Saxony | 39 | 7 | 31 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 20 | 7 | | Westphalia | 42 | 11 | 30 | 6 | 27 | 4 | 21 | 9 | | Rhineland | 41 | 10 | 31 | 5 | 28 | 6 | 22 | 2 |

XI. Average Price of the four principal sorts of Grain in the Prussian Monarchy during the last Ten Years.

| Year | Wheat | Rye. | Barley | Oats | |------|-------|------|--------|------| | | s. d. | s. d. | s. d. | s. d. | | 1849 | 32 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 8 | | 1850 | 31 | 3 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 0 | | 1851 | 33 | 2 | 20 | 8 | 19 | 11 | 11 | 16 | | 1852 | 41 | 10 | 22 | 11 | 24 | 11 | 16 | 5 | | 1853 | 45 | 11 | 36 | 3 | 27 | 2 | 18 | 0 | | 1854 | 57 | 10 | 44 | 5 | 32 | 6 | 21 | 6 | | 1855 | 63 | 9 | 48 | 10 | 34 | 0 | 21 | 11 | | 1856 | 60 | 7 | 45 | 4 | 33 | 4 | 20 | 11 | | 1857 | 46 | 1 | 29 | 5 | 25 | 11 | 17 | 8 | | 1858 | 40 | 9 | 27 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 19 | 2 |

Vineyards. The grape ripens occasionally in the neighbourhood of Berlin. There are vineyards also, producing very sour wine, in Silesia and the Saxon province. But the principal production of wine takes place in the Rhenish province, where 30,902 acres of land are devoted to this laborious cultivation along the banks of the Rhine, the Ahr, the Moselle, the Nahe, and the Saar. In the years 1857 and 1858 the vintage was both excellent and plentiful, after nine years of continued disappointment. The number of hogsheads of white and red wine, in the vintage of 1857, is officially given at 260,259.

The mineral wealth of Prussia is immense, particularly in Miners' Silesia and Rhineland, but cannot be said to have been more than touched upon as yet. The increase of production during the last years alone, since capitalists have been induced to turn their attention towards its development, would show the capabilities of this branch of industry. There existed, at the close of 1857, 89 mining companies with a paid-in capital of L15,600,000, 50 of them working foundries and mines generally, and 39 coal-mines alone; 499 coal-mines were in activity. The quantity of coal produced in 1851 was 4,413,000 tons, and in 1857 it reached 9,003,817 tons. Besides coals, lignite, or Braunkohle, is extensively found in the tertiary formations of Brandenburg and Saxony. This lignite, (being a bituminous vegetable mass less completely carbonized) has a heating effect equal to one-third of that of coals. Applying that ratio to the produce of lignite in 1857,—viz., 3,467,500 tons,—we receive an addition of 1,155,833½ to the above quantity of coals extracted from the earth. This would give us 10,159,650½, or a little more than one-seventh of the production of coal in Great Britain. In spite of this enormous difference, the rapid progress of the last years has already raised Prussia to the second rank among coal-producing countries.

The increase has been yet more rapid in iron ore,—viz., Iron, from 2,820,000 cwt. in 1851 to 18,939,844 cwt. in 1855, and 28,739,936 cwt. in 1857. The demand, however, being even greater than the supply, foreign iron came in abundantly,—viz., 2,600,000 cwt. in 1855, and nearly double as much, viz., 4,161,357 cwt., in 1857.

Almost all zinc manufactured in the world is of Prussian, Zinc, lead, and especially of Silesian origin: 4,377,789 cwt. of zinc copper, &c., ore were obtained in 1857. The lead-mines of Commern in Rhineland promise one day to become the most productive in Europe; at present (1858) their produce is 648,183 cwt. Westphalia and Silesia also contain some lead-mines of no importance. Copper is found most in the Saxon province; its entire production does not exceed 1,308,465 cwt.

The entire production of coals in the year 1857 represented a value (taking the average price paid at the mouth mineral of the pit) of L3,322,802; that of lignite, L393,330; of iron produce, L359,605; zinc ore, L457,808; lead ore, L237,662; copper ore, L93,614; other minerals, L27,000;—sum total,

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1 This sum represents the entire produce of lead in Rhineland; about 25,000 cwt. must be deducted from it for a few very insignificant mines besides Commern. The value of mineral produce had increased 63 per cent. from 1854 to 1857; 113,134 miners were employed in extracting the above mineral produce in 1857, to 89,254 in 1854. And what is more curious still, each one of them, in the former year, produced on an average the value of L.45; whilst in 1854 the value of each workman's labour had only amounted to L.35. The number of women and children finding employment was 195,930.

The production of salt is 2,771,720 cwt., four-fifths of which are produced from works belonging to the state. Besides the above, beds of rock-salt begin to attract much notice,—one at Stassfurt, 7 miles from Magdeburg, discovered a few years ago, already produces 250,000 cwt. of nearly pure salt.

Amethysts, chrysoprases, and agates are found in Silesia; alabaster in Saxony; marble principally in Silesia and Westphalia; excellent porcelain near Halle; fossil amber among the lignite or Braunkohle; and sea-amber on the coast of the Baltic between Dantzig and Memel, partly washed on the shore during the storms together with the sea-weed, partly pulled up with long hooks, and partly dug out of the earth. About 600 cwt. is the yearly produce of sea-amber.

Prussia contains 108 mineral springs, among which Salzbrunn and Warmbrunn in Silesia, and the sulphur-baths of Aix-la-Chapelle, are most famous.

There are about 265 high furnaces now in operation. The production of raw iron amounted to 5,858,072 cwt. in 1855, and to 7,072,766 in 1856; cast-iron amounted to 2,265,827 in 1855, and to 2,354,649 in 1856; bar-iron and nails to 4,810,000 in 1855, and to 5,333,730 in 1856. It may be interesting to compare the average price of British iron on its arrival in Prussia with that of Prussian iron at the works, during the three years 1865-57:

| Year | Total | |------|-------| | 1865 | 6 11s | | 1866 | 6 21s | | 1867 | 6 21s |

The chief reason for this comparative cheapness of British iron is briefly this: that in one only out of ten or more cases in Prussia are coal and iron met with together, and in all others they require an expensive carriage to and fro.

Silver is not found anywhere in a pure state, but extracted out of its accompanying metals (lead and copper), particularly in the mines near Eisleben, Luther's birthplace. Those among our readers who have travelled in Prussia may remember occasionally coming upon thaler-pieces with the inscription, "Segen des Mansfelder Bergbaues." The entire native production does not exceed L.122,190 worth of silver. Gold is similarly extracted to a trifling amount (L.867).

The value of all iron-works,—lead, copper, silver, gold, brass, smelt, nickel, arsenic, antimony, alum, and vitriol works put together,—was L.11,971,658; the number of men employed in these works, 59,510; of women, 124,441.

The centres of manufacturing industry in Prussia are,—Berlin, which may be considered at present as the second among the manufacturing towns on the Continent; parts of Westphalia and the Rhinish department of Dusseldorf; and some districts in Silesia.

The manufacture of iron occupies above 40,000 persons in Prussia. In steel, especially cast-steel, the Prussians bid fair to surpass all other nations: we name the towns of Solingen, Essen, Hagen, Remscheid, and the districts of Siegen, whose admirable spath-ironstone offers advantages enjoyed by no other steel factories. Sword and knife blades Statistics, and guns are manufactured in Solingen and in the Thuringian city of Suhl; guns also in Potsdam. Berlin has risen to celebrity by the neatness of its cast-iron mouldings, and yet more latterly by its engine-foundries, one of which, that of Herr Ad. Borsig, sold 500 locomotive engines for railways in four years.

The manufacture of cotton goods has found its way into Prussia only within the last few years, and does not nearly suffice for home consumption. In 1857, 701 factories occupied 76,700 workmen on 2061 hand-looms, and 16,827 looms worked by machinery. That of linens, on the contrary, has an old-established fame. Spinning flax continues a favourite occupation in the winter evenings, and produces more yarn on an aggregate, even now, than spinning-machines. Of hand-looms also, worked in leisure hours, there are still 500,000, against 204 weaving establishments provided with machinery. Silesian linen is considered the best in the world for lightness and elegance of design; Westphalian or Bielefeld linen for its strength. Excellent damask is also made in the Saxon provinces. Wool has now almost ceased to be worked by hand. There were nearly 60,000 spindles at work in 1857; also 796 cloth factories, with 8227 workmen. Rhineland, Silesia, and Brandenburg are prominent in this branch of industry, the export of the former being principally to the United States. To render Prussia, a silk-producing country was, as our readers already know, one of Frederick the Great's favourite ideas, and it is now again a hobby of modern economists; but German summers being usually too short for a double crop, the raw material of other countries must needs continue to be cheaper. Accordingly, almost all silk is imported for manufacture. Eleven and a quarter millions of yards of silk, of mixed articles, and of velvets, make up the amount of annual exportation; and twelve millions are sold for home consumption. The principal factories exist in Rhineland, producing about six-sevenths of the above quantity; others in Berlin. The capital also contains the largest silk-dyeing establishments.

The art of dyeing in Turkish red is an important branch of industry in the two sister cities of Elberfeld and Barmen, averaging 90,000 lb. a week. In Rhineland, principally along its western frontier, raw leather is extensively prepared. Taw-factories are to be found in the neighbourhood of Magdeburg. The glove trade was introduced by French Protestant immigrants at the end of the seventeenth century, and continues to flourish among their descendants in Berlin. The paper factories of Rhineland and Westphalia have lately begun to export largely. Among the 115 glass-works in Prussia, two are justly famed,—one of Zechlin in Brandenburg for chemical apparatuses, and that of Count Schaffgotsch at Schreiberhau in Silesia for what is so universally admired under the name of Bohemian glass, now in a great measure the produce of this excellent establishment. The beer of Prussia, as German beer altogether, is lighter, and more appropriate perhaps to that climate, than that produced in Great Britain. There were no less than 7226 breweries in 1856,—a number, alas! even exceeded by that of distilleries, viz., 8006; of which, however, 1665 are employed in the distillery of spirits of wine. There are 22 houses in the city of Cologne all pretending to distil the famous eau-de-Cologne, besides that of its original inventor, Jean Marie Farina, 23 Zülichplatz. The sugar-factories on farms were mentioned before. Among the sugar-refineries, one,—viz., that of Messrs Vom Rath, Joest, and Carstanjen at Cologne,—is considered the most extensive on the Continent; and the different charges to the state, in the shape of customs, excise, taxes, &c., are rated at L.150,000 a year. The consumption of home-grown and imported tobacco is very great, and can be but inadequately represented by the number of tobacco and cigar factories, viz., 711. German printing used to excel more Statistics by quantity than by quality; but Berlin (with Leipzig) has retrieved the honour of the country which first invented that noble art. Berlin also excels in its lithographic establishments, furniture, and general upholstery, and its wool-mosaic, which has rendered Berlin wool a subject of considerable trade to foreign parts. Berlin porcelain also preserves its ancient reputation,—the largest factories being those of Schumann and the royal one. As a general rule, and with very few exceptions, Prussian manufactures are dependent upon Prussian capital. One of these exceptions is the grand plate-glass and mirror factory of Aachen (or Aix-la-Chapelle), which belongs to a French company called St Gobain.

In all commercial affairs Prussia has almost entirely ceased to exist as a separate state, her special interests having blended in those of the Zollverein, under which head all matters relating to export and import will be fully treated. Only a portion of goods being objects of trade enter the Prussian dominions, or leave them by Prussian seaports, or along the frontiers touching upon countries not belonging to the Zollverein. Again, a portion only of the imported articles remains in Prussia, the rest travelling across the country into foreign or Zollverein states. Generally speaking, the Prussian seaports export corn and timber, and import coals, iron, and salt. According to the best sources of information, the amount of all more notable goods imported into Prussia in 1857 (although not of course for Prussian consumption only) may be calculated as follows:

| Goods | Quantity | |------------------------|----------| | Coals | 12,940,333 | | Raw-iron generally | 4,161,357 | | Wrought-iron, steel, &c.| 1,852,809 | | Copper and brass, unprepared | 92,671 | | Flax, hemp, and tow | 390,755 | | Hemp-seed, linseed, and rape-seed | 1,111,155 | | Aloe, gall-nut, resin, &c. | 526,136 | | Logwood | 391,407 | | Soda | 107,698 | | Potash, &c. | 108,788 | | Oil in casks | 208,197 | | Coconut oil, palm oil, and spermaceti | 288,244 | | Tallow oil | 166,517 | | Pitch, tar, &c. | 138,652 | | Hides | 217,923 | | Charcoal | 188,276 | | Salt | 959,959 | | Wool | 251,631 | | Raw cotton | 327,205 | | Cotton yarn, wadding, &c.| 393,756 | | Linen yarn and linen | 69,514 | | Tobacco in leaves | 21,834 | | Unrefined sugar | 312,324 | | Coffee and cocoa | 704,243 | | Tea | 21,161 | | Rice | 440,098 | | Wine, cider, &c. | 165,269 |

The total amount of the above goods, together with divers others not here enumerated, was 27,025,669 cwt. Also,

| Goods | Quantity | |------------------------|----------| | Wheat | 3,200,285 | | Rye | 3,371,052 | | Oats, buckwheat, and spelt | 600,009 | | Barley and malt | 339,897 | | Beans, peas, &c. | 177,225 |

The following list gives the number of sea-going vessels which entered or left the Baltic ports in 1857:

| Flags | Entered | Left | |---------------|---------|------| | Prussian flag | 3974 | 3880 | | Other flags | 4559 | 4561 | | Total | 8533 | 8441 |

In these numbers the coasting trade has not been included, which is carried on by smaller vessels, above 500 in number, and with an aggregate burden of about 16,000 tons. Stettin, Stralsund, Königsberg, and Dantzig are the most frequented ports.

The abolition of the British navigation laws would have given a far greater impulse to ship-building in the Prussian ports, did not the high protective duties afforded by the Zollverein to the native iron enhance the price of this indispensable metal. Only 271 sea-going vessels were built in the three years 1855 to 1857, leaving 77 on the stocks at the end of that year. An improvement is, however, traceable in the number of Prussian vessels participating in the traffic between Prussia and British ports, as will be seen from the following official list:—Number of Prussian vessels entering British ports in 1855, 1205; tonnage, 278,350; in 1856, 1238; tonnage, 296,362; in 1857, 1353; tonnage, 319,196. Number of Prussian vessels quitting British ports in 1855, 1302; tonnage, 286,404; in 1856, 1395; tonnage, 326,162; in 1857, 1661; tonnage, 354,412. The total number of Prussian sea-going vessels, not including the coasting trade, was 953 vessels, of 278,251 tons in 1854, 29 of them steamers; and 1033 vessels of 326,569 tons in 1857, 63 of them steamers; showing an increase of 80 vessels, and 48,318 tons. During this period 42 vessels had been sold into other countries, and 113 had been lost at sea. A new and most salutary stimulus to navigation in these parts was given by the treaty of 14th March 1857, in which the King of Denmark renounced the sound dues for the payment of sums apportioned to the amount of shipping of each country. If little advantage has been taken as yet (1858) of this dearly-bought liberty of the seas, the reason is to be found in the distress occasioned by the great commercial crisis of 1857.

The miserable condition, and in some parts the absence Roads of roads, in the beginning of this century, has given way to plentiful and excellent means of communication. Turnpike roads, of which Frederick II. had professed so great a horror, were never seriously taken in hand until the general peace of 1815; and since that time no trouble or money has been spared to render the net-work complete. In 1857 Prussia possessed 14,331 miles of first-rate macadamized and mostly turnpike roads, or about one mile of macadamized road to every 7.76 square miles of land; 5992 of which belong to trusts or corporations, and 8340 to the state. The gross yearly cost of keeping up the latter is L.330,000, of which sum L.195,000 are covered by tolls, &c.

Prussia possesses 26 railways belonging to private companies, and 5 belonging to the state. The aggregate length of railways (finished in 1858) is 2725 miles, which makes 1 mile of railway to every 193 square miles of land. The increase since the end of 1848 has been of 938 miles, or of 84 per cent. The railways of the state have cost the sum of L.10,726,665. For the rest, L.16,516,380 were raised by ordinary shares, and L.13,746,120 by preferential shares and debentures; making a total expenditure of L.30,262,500 for private railways, and L.40,987,500 for all railways together. Seventeen more railways are to be finished by the end of 1860, 988 miles in length, which will increase the length of railways in Prussia to 3663½ miles. All state railways lie in districts where the expense of construction has been in too unfavourable a proportion to the traffic of the line. Thus the principal state railway—that to Königsberg, 289 miles long—required works of gigantic dimensions in the crossing of the Vistula and the Neogat, and passes through districts but thinly peopled. Yet the necessary sums were cheerfully voted on grounds of general utility. The lines belonging to the state consequently are not paying ones. The condition of the pri-

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1 In Great Britain, the ratio was given as 1 mile of railway to every 65; and in France, 1 to every 213 square miles. 2 The above-mentioned Eastern Railway produced a nett profit of 2·17 per cent. in 1857.

The Bank of Prussia (Preussische Bank) was instituted by Frederick the Great in 1765, and the following year, first, by a loan of L.1,200,000, and then by directing that all deposits of tribunals and other public offices should be paid to one of the bank's offices, and deposited there at an interest of 3 per cent., and at a week's notice. The operations of the bank soon became extensive, and so profitable that its directors were enabled to repay the loan in the reign of Frederick's successor. After a partial suspension of payment in 1806, the bank resuscitated in 1815, and has ever since been increasingly beneficial. In 1846 the capital of private shareholders was admitted to the amount of L.1,500,000, and leave given to issue bank-notes, one-third of the amount to be covered by bullion. By an act passed May 6, 1856, the bank has been permitted to double its capital, and to increase its circulation of notes very considerably. The maximum of circulation in 1857 was L.11,055,600, and nearly L.15,000,000 in 1858. The bullion collected reached the sum of L.6,000,000 in 1857, and L.10,849,836 in 1858. Deposits were nearly L.3,000,000 at the close of the latter year. Originally the bank had two offices, in Berlin and Breslau; gradually the number has increased to 103. There are eight joint-stock banks in the monarchy licensed to issue notes at the rate of L.150,000 each. The number of private banks and money-offices (some of them very insignificant) is 512.

In Prussia the army is in a certain sense co-extensive with the people. All men capable of bearing arms are expected to co-operate, if need be, to the country's defence. We shall have to speak,—1st, Of the standing army, with its reserve; 2d, Of the landwehr or militia; and 3d, Of the landsturm. The standing army consists of two distinct classes, to the higher of which belong the commissioned officers, who are gentlemen by birth and education and the non-commissioned officers or sergeants; to these commissioned and non-commissioned officers the military service is a profession for life, as in any other army in the world. The privates of the standing army, on the contrary, are recruits of one, two, and three years' standing, and comprise all able-bodied youths in the country, excepting the only sons of poor widows, or others similarly situated. They enter the army at the age of twenty, are drilled during three years, and then during the two following years are subject to be called back to their regiments regularly for a few weeks' exercising, and, if necessary, for war. By means of this reserve, the standing army can be increased by two-thirds of its numbers at three days' notice. One class of Prussians is, however, privileged to serve in the ranks only one year, after which they are at once placed on the lists of the reserves; to it belong all young men of superior education without distinction of birth or parentage, who are able to pay for their own sustenance, uniform, &c. If they prove themselves capable, and if they are admitted by the officers, these young "Freiwillige," as they are called, afterwards enter the landwehr, with a commission as landwehr officers. All the rest, at the expiration of five years from their first entrance into the army, become privates or sergeants in the landwehr. This land armament or militia is composed of all the drilled men during a further term of thirteen years, after they have quitted the standing army and reserve. Six years out of these thirteen constitute the first Aufgebot or levy, and the rest, the second Aufgebot. The first Aufgebot is called under arms every three or four years for several weeks' practice in manoeuvring. All the landwehr lists, accoutrements, &c., are kept in such perfect order that a lost night's notice will suffice to equip them ready for war. After attaining his thirty-ninth year a Prussian is free from military service, excepting in cases of extreme need, when the king is by law empowered to call upon every man, up to his fiftieth year, to rise and take arms for the defence of the district in which he lives. This last-named formidable levy would, if ever called out, constitute the landsturm.

The education of officers and sergeants for their military profession is attended to as carefully as in most other well-organized armies, by military and cadet schools for the infantry and cavalry, as well as for the artillery and engineers. No officer can, however well qualified, enter a regiment, even with a royal commission in his pocket, unless the officers of that regiment declare their willingness to receive him as a man of unimpeached honour. Sergeants are picked men from the rank and file, induced to remain in the service by the certainty of being provided for by the state when disabled by wounds or old age to serve any longer. The privates of the Prussian militia or landwehr make better soldiers on the whole, at any given time, than those of the standing army. This may seem a paradox, as the latter are actually under arms, whilst the former return to their banners, each from his civil employment. But in the landwehr you have men perfectly drilled, and in the prime of life, against recruits who have scarcely outgrown their boyish years. Of the officers of the landwehr the same cannot be said. One year's training, and after that a few weeks of field practice, with long intervals between, do not enable the majority of those even in the position of subalterns to act independently of officers of the standing army. A partial reform of the militia institution has therefore been considered necessary. The landwehr, instead of being combined into separate regiments, is to form additional (4th, 5th, and 6th) battalions of each regiment in the standing army. With this view, the staff of officers in the latter is being greatly augmented, in order that every regiment may be able to grant a sufficient number of them to their respective landwehr battalions, whenever the militia may be called out.

The standing army, with its reserve and the militia (we may omit the landsturm in our further remarks) is divided into 9 army corps, 1 of which is formed by the household troops, and each of the 8 others belonging to one of the princes of the monarchy. The first army corps d'armée is stationed in Prussia proper, the eighth in Rhineland. An army corps is divided into 2 divisions, of 2 brigades each. Again, it consists of 4 regiments of infantry, 4 regiments of cavalry (the guards only have 6 cavalry regiments), 1 regiment of artillery, 1 rifle battalion, and 1 detachment of pioneers. The Prussian infantry consists of 144 battalions of the standing army, including 10 rifle battalions, and 116 of landwehr, of the first aufgebot. Nearly all regiments contain 3, but some of them have 2 battalions of 1000 men each. In the cavalry the numbers are,—152 squadrons of the standing army, and 144 of landwehr, 4 squadrons to a regiment, and each squadron of 120 horses in times of peace, 160 horses in its war strength. The artillery also is divided into regiments, 9 in number, and consisting of 16 batteries each, with 5 additional, making 149 batteries in all. There are in time of peace 216 guns, fully equipped, belonging to the horse artillery (a corps first instituted by Statistics. Frederick the Great), 648 to the foot artillery, and 10 to the fortress companies,—874 in all.

Without further enumerating pioneers, &c., &c., we shall now state the numbers of the Prussian army. Its real numbers in times of peace amount to 161,000 officers and men. In case of war, this can be instantly increased to an effective force of 347,000. Sealed orders for completing this number ("mobilizing," as it is termed) always lie ready in the office of every officer holding a separate command. In warlike contingency, a telegram would direct him to open the sealed packet, and then the work of producing his troops, complete in every respect, must be done in a fortnight's time. In addition to the above number, there would further be 246,000 men armed and equipped for doing the service in the interior, ready for any emergency.

Thus the Prussian army, in case of war, can at any time be raised to the formidable number of 603,000 men, all perfectly drilled,—a popular army, such as no other country possesses, unassailable for defence in a cause of undoubted necessity and justice. Many people were of opinion that this popular institution contains elements which might prove dangerous to the state, or at least not be available under all circumstances and for every purpose alike. The latter of these doubts seems to be well-founded; for it may be asserted that for any prolonged war merely for dynastic interests,—in fact, for any war not absolutely forced upon the country,—an army so composed would be no suitable instrument. But there is no fear of this militia being turned to purposes subversive of public order and tranquillity. When the king called out part of the landwehr in the midst of the revolutionary commotion of 1848, they assembled under their banners as willingly as they would at any other time. Exception is also frequently taken to the rawness of these troops, which must, it is believed, place them in disadvantages if opposed to elder men. It would seem that there must be advantages as well in the greater youthfulness of part at least of the Prussian troops (for the landwehr are grown-up men), for it is a historical fact, that the greatest general of modern days, on being asked which of the three armies, the Russian, Austrian, or Prussian, he would most like to command, declared unhesitatingly, "They are all three very good, but I should prefer commanding the Prussian army."

The pay of a Prussian soldier in times of peace is very small, and his keep as economical as possible. The private receives twopence-worth in kind, and 3½d. in money, or 5½d. a day, which is even less than the Frenchman's pay of 6d. per day, and only ½ the of an English private's pay. For officers of the lower grades also the emoluments are so trifling that it would appear almost impossible for any of them to clothe and feed themselves without some private fortune. A great many of them, however, manage to exist upon that pittance, without any such extra help, proud of their profession and the social distinctions it confers upon them. Nevertheless, the cost of the military establishment swallows up nearly one-fourth of the entire annual expenditure of the state.

Prussia keeps federal garrisons (alone or jointly with Austria and other German states) in the fortresses of Luxemburg, Mainz, and Rastadt. Her own fortresses are numerous, and some among them of the first magnitude. Towards France, Saarlouis holds the first line of defence, then Jülich, Wesel, Cologne, and Coblenz, with Ehrenbreitstein. Towards Russia the line of fortifications has been more attended to of late, but is far from complete yet. Here the fortress of Posen forms the principal bulwark against aggression. Königsberg on the Baltic will soon equal it in strength. Further on, the line of the Vistula is defended by Thorn, Culm, Grandenz, and Dantzig; and Statistics, the Oder line by Neisse, Cosel, Glatz, Glogau, Custrin, Stettin; the Elbe line by Torgau, Wittenberg, and Magdeburg. Besides these, Pillau, Colberg, and Stralsund must be mentioned as maritime defences, and Schweidnitz and Silberberg as defences against Austria. Among this large number, six are of first magnitude (in italics), nine other of second, and the rest of third rank.

The total absence of a fleet had placed the coasts of Naval Prussia and Germany at the mercy of their Danish neighbours. In 1848. Hence the general desire in Prussia that the coasts should be adequately protected, and that there should be a small number of armed vessels of the best description, to prevent a third-rate power from again seriously damaging the trade of their large and mighty country. Accordingly, Dantzig and Stettin, Stralsund and the island of Rugen, received additional fortifications on the sea-side. These places were not, however, considered as sufficiently good harbours; and the Prussian government purchased the Bay of Jahde, a waste stripe of coast, from the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, which is eventually to become the naval port of Prussia. The Prussian flotilla at present consists of 2 frigates, 3 corvettes, 3 steamers of 12 guns each, 3 schooners, 42 gunboats, a transport vessel of 292 guns altogether, 90 officers, 1300 sailors, and a battalion of marines, with 622 officers and men.

Prussia has strenuously laboured to earn the reputation of being inhabited by a better-educated people than any nation in the world. "Every child shall be taught to read and write and to make sums:" such is the principle of Prussian law—by its parents, or if not, by professional masters and mistresses, and at the expense of every parish. The state providing,—1st, Normal schools and examiners for the schoolmasters, no schoolmaster being licensed to teach publicly who has not passed the prescribed examination; 2nd, Supplementary means, where the parish funds do not suffice, in which cases the government has the appointment, or a share in it; and 3rd, The strong hand of the law, if parents disobey the country's injunction to send their children to school. In 1855, out of 2,943,251 children of school age in all stations of life then living in the monarchy, 2,758,472 went to elementary schools. The number of schools was 24,292; of schoolmasters, 31,467; of schoolmistresses, 1523. The pay of all elementary schoolmasters and schoolmistresses together throughout the monarchy, from private and government funds, amounted to L.900,000 in 1857, which is more by L.64,500 than the sum-total was in 1852. In this the contributions of government are only L.60,000. A Prussian schoolmaster or mistress receives, on an average, L.28, 13s. a year of fixed salary, besides lodging and some other emoluments and occasional helps. The cry for increased salaries is becoming very loud (the government board is now, 1858, granting relief at the rate of L.5,500 a year), and there seems to be a growing inclination to enforce an improvement by law.

Normal schools (Seminare) were first instituted in 1820; their number is at present 39 for the education of masters, and 4 for mistresses. Of these, 43 were Protestants, and 15 Roman Catholic. There are 2398 pupil teachers educated in them, at a cost to the state of L.29,731, or about L.12, 15s. each.

Another higher class of schools, also entirely supported by parishes (or nearly so), is comprised under a variety of names, beginning from middle-schools (Progymnasien), and rising up to Höhere Bürgerschulen or Realcollegien. Their number was 512 for boys, with 2394 teachers and 72,653 scholars; and 382 higher schools for girls, with 2015 teachers and 54,753 scholars in the year 1852. The in-

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These words fell from the lips of the late Duke of Wellington in an after-dinner conversation in the year 1849. Statistics. Instruction in these schools is grounded principally on mathematics, and not on the classics, and is carried on with a constant and almost exclusive view to those practical occupations in after-life for which most of the pupils are brought up. The highest of this class, called Realschulen (mathematical schools, as we should call them), 56 in number, have the right of giving certificates to their pupils on leaving. The number of gymnasia or classical schools is 131, with about 1000 ordinary masters, 700 assistants, and 34,000 pupils. Only a few of these gymnasia have accommodation for the pupils; among them is the famous old school of Pforta, in the Saxon province, founded in 1543. These are mostly ancient foundations, and self-supporting; nearly all the rest require very large assistance at the hands of government, if they are not entirely supported by it.

The Prussian universities, alike in every respect to those of the rest of Germany, are divided into four "faculties," according to the principal branches of learning; the first of theology (subdivided in Breslau and Bonn into an evangelical and Roman Catholic faculty), the second of jurisprudence, the third of medicine, and the fourth of philosophy, which comprises all studies, without exception, not taught under any of the above heads. The number of students is subject to considerable fluctuations. The following table for 1856-57 can be taken as tolerably near the average of the last years:

### VII. Attendance at the different Prussian Universities, 1856-57.

| Universities | Divinity | Jurisprudence | Medicine | Philosophy | Total Number of Students | Number of Students in 1855 | Professors | Yearly Expenditure | |--------------|----------|--------------|----------|------------|-------------------------|---------------------------|-----------|-------------------| | Berlin | 292 | ... | 694 | 905 | 319 | 1570 | 1832 | 149 | L 19,258 | | Bonn | 61 | 211 | 213 | 95 | 247 | 823 | 835 | 71 | 16,985 | | Breslau | 83 | 263 | 202 | 138 | 158 | 784 | 875 | 72 | 14,074 | | Halle | 445 | ... | 125 | 47 | 79 | 606 | 777 | 74 | 12,508 | | Königsberg | 94 | ... | 123 | 86 | 46 | 349 | 430 | 60 | 12,600 | | Münster | ... | 301 | ... | ... | 148 | 449 | 255 | 16 | ... | | Greifswalde | 35 | ... | 46 | 101 | 55 | 137 | 204 | 41 | 10,284 | | **Total** | **1010** | **715** | **1403** | **733** | **1052** | **4813** | **5208** | **483** |

On a comparison of these numbers with those of previous years—for instance, 1836—we find that in almost every university, and particularly in the faculties of divinity, a decided diminution has taken place, the only exception being the university of Münster, and these just in its theological faculty. The cause of this lies mainly in the circumstance, that all learned professions are at present overstocked in Prussia, and that the progress of industrial and commercial activity in the country carries many young men straight from school into practical life. As for the exception (viz., Münster), it is explained by the decided predilection evinced by Romanist bishops for a place where their students should be free from contact with any other but their own doctrine.

The highest literary body in the country is the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, instituted by Frederick I. in 1706, after an elaborate plan of the great Leibnitz, much encouraged (though in imitation of the Parisian model) by Frederick II. Its publications are of the highest order both in physical science, mathematics, &c., and in classical philology, geography, &c. Its membership is much coveted in Prussia, as well as in other countries; the present numbers are,—50 German members, 20 foreign members, 185 corresponding members. There is a Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin, and a Royal Academy for Painting at Dusseldorf. Veterinary schools, deaf-and-dumb schools, and blind asylums abound.

The criminal law of the country was entirely codified and proclaimed as one and the same for the whole monarchy, in 1851. Not so the common law; in this there exists a considerable diversity, according to provinces and districts. In parts of Pomerania, and near Ehrenbreitstein, for instance, the old laws of the Empire still exist; local customs prevail unimpaired in other districts; in the greater portion of Rhineland the French code has remained in force, and is much esteemed for its distinctness and simplicity; and in the rest of the monarchy the landrecht (essentially instituted by Frederick the Great, but promulgated only in 1794) holds its sway, except where more modern statutes have modified its tenets.

The law acknowledges no inequality amongst Prussians. All special jurisdictions are by law abolished, excepting the military code for persons in actual military service, and a special tribunal for students of universities, before which, however, only matters of discipline are brought.

The highest court of the monarchy is the Ober Tribunal in Berlin, to the decrees of which distinguished body the judges of other courts invariably refer in questions of precedents. The next class of tribunal is formed by twenty-two Appellations-Gerichte, to which parties may appeal from the judgments of the Stadt- or Kreis-Gerichte. The former of these exist in the five most populous towns; and of the latter there are 238, or nearly one to every administrative Kreis or district in the realm. Assizes, with trial by jury (instituted since 1848 throughout the monarchy, and imitating rather too closely the French instead of the English model), are held four times a year, in eighty of the towns.

The kingdom of Prussia is a limited monarchy. We have seen above that on February 6, 1850, King Frederick William IV. solemnly took the oath required by the new law of the country, "to observe faithfully and unswervingly the constitution of his country and monarchy, and to govern in accordance with it and the laws." Thus the new order of things was inaugurated; and the constitution (called, after the day of its publication, that of the 31st of January 1850) has existed ever since; painfully, it is true, and subject to several modifications, but beneficially, if we consider what the country would have been without it, and hopefully, too, for the future. The usual form and character of continental constitutions is well known to our readers, and on the whole, it is adhered to in the Prussian fundamental law as now in force; we will therefore extract those points only which merit special attention. The king is inviolable and irresponsible. The signature of a responsible minister is necessary for the validity of every act of government. His majesty, the ministers, and all civil servants of the state, are required to swear an oath on the constitution; also the members of parliament, but not the army, whose oath is to the king only. Parliament consists of two houses—the Herrenhaus (literally House of Lords), and the House of Representatives (Abgeordneten). In the composition of the Prussian House of Lords, which now numbers a little more than 200 members, four elements are mixed up—birthright, dignity, nomination, and, finally, election. By right of birth, seats in this house belong to 51 persons in all—viz., the princes of Hohenzollern, the heads of 14 ancient... mediatized families, whose possessions lie within Prussia, and some other princes, counts, and lords of extensive patrimony; to this number of hereditary peers the king can add new lords at his pleasure, as in England. There are four members in virtue of official dignity, each occupying one of the medieval high dignities of Prussia proper, which have outlived the reforms of modern days. The princes of the blood take their seat in the house for life, of course. Of real life-peers there are at present 31 in the house, law-advisers of the crown, and others. Lastly, the right of election (subject to his majesty's approval of the elected candidate) is granted to the universities, to certain large towns, and in each province to three bodies of noblemen who are landed proprietors—viz., 1st, Counts; 2d, Noblemen of considerable property; 3d, Noblemen, and others, of ancient landed property; each of these classes electing a life-peer, and presenting him for the king's approval. The Lower House consists of 352 representatives of the people, returned by a peculiar kind of double election which we will elucidate in a few words. The franchise being extended to every man twenty-five years old (who has not lost the right of voting in the parish elections), the electors first of all meet in their respective parishes, divided into three classes, according to property. Each class of electors then choose, not the member, but a man of confidence, who is now called a Wahlmann, within the parish. On a later day these men of confidence assemble at the town appointed for polling, and return a member for the electoral district, every Prussian thirty years old being eligible for this distinction.

The constitution accords to the houses of parliament the following fundamental rights, without which, indeed, it would be worthless:—1st, The right of originating laws, as well as deliberating upon such as have been proposed by the crown, no law being valid without the assent of both houses; 2d, The right of voting the yearly budgets; 3d, Of investigating by commissions any public matter; 4th, Of accepting or rejecting, before ratification, every commercial treaty, and all such conventions with foreign powers which may in any way affect the financial obligations of the country. No member of parliament can be arrested or put on his trial without leave given by the house to which he belongs. The Upper House is not permitted to propose amendments to the budget, but must accept or reject it as a whole. The Lower House is elected for three years. Both houses are annually convoked by royal summons; the usual period is about New-year.

Besides this general parliament (Landtag) Prussia still possesses some antique assemblies of Stande for each province and district, which have been mentioned in our historical introduction. Their deliberations extend to local matters only; and besides these, they have the management of certain local funds. It is probable that they will soon make room for local elective bodies differently constituted.

The king's cabinet consists seven of ministers, viz.:—1. Of Foreign Affairs; 2. Of the Interior; 3. Of Finance; 4. Of Justice; 5. Of War; 6. Of Commerce, Trade, and Public Works; 7. Of Church Affairs, and Public Education. Besides these, the cabinet contains a president, or even, as at present, two presidents, without special office. Not belonging to the cabinet are—the minister of the Royal Household, and the president of the Board of Agriculture.

The government of the interior is entrusted under the minister to eight presidents of provinces (Ober-Präsidenten); under each of them to Regierungs-Präsidenten, presidents of departments; and under these again to Landrathen, or commissioners of districts. These Kreise or districts correspond to our hundreds; their number is 335.

The management of the woods, forests, &c., forms part of the functions of the minister of finance. The minister of commerce, trade, and public works, is responsible also for the general post-office. In the bureaucratic country of Prussia, the most dreaded public office, the object of a profounder awe than either the king, or laws, or police can command, is the Ober-Rechnung-Kammer, or General Board of Accounts, to whose radamanthine scrutiny every official account of money, without exception, has to be submitted.

Prussia never was and never can be a rich country. Economy, not to say parsimony, and strictest order alone, have preserved a firmness to Prussian credit, even in the times of great calamity, such as few other states possess, and enabled her to furnish means for the exigences of war and for national progress in times of peace. The country's debt, which Frederick-William III. had brought down to the trifling sum of L.3,750,000 in 1806, had risen to L.43,125,000 during the disasters and triumphs of war following that year. But ever since 1815 it continued steadily decreasing under the careful hands of that monarch, who paid off no less than L.18,825,000 during the twenty-five remaining years of his reign. In order to give every security to the native and foreign holders of Prussian stock, he declared, on the 17th January 1820, that no new loan should be raised for the state without the consent and under the guarantee of an assembly of representatives of the people. Accordingly, no new loan was made until 1848, since when, every succeeding parliament has listened but too indulgently to the increasing demands on the country's purse by the king's ministers, some of them very useful (as, for instance, for the Eastern Railway, mentioned above), others of a more doubtful nature. In 1851 the public debt had already increased to L.28,892,832; in 1855, to L.36,415,292; in 1856, to L.37,177,726; in 1857, to L.38,038,745. There seems now to prevail a decided inclination to stop in this headlong progression; indeed the year 1858 shows already a diminution of about 1½ million pounds sterling. The public credit of these securities never suffered to any considerable extent during the late years of revolution and panic, either within the limits of the country or without. Besides this debt, for which interest is paid, another debt of L.2,488,852, paying no interest, should be mentioned in this place,—i.e., the convertible paper-money of the state. The property of the state in woods and forests, &c., from which profit can be made, is officially calculated at L.12,832,704. Taxation is by no means light in Prussia, and almost in the same unfavourable proportion as the public debt, the taxes of the country have increased in an exorbitant degree. The direct taxation comprises,—1st, A land and house tax, worth about 1½ millions pounds. 2d, Income-tax, paid by all whose income is above L.150 a year, classified under thirty heads, and so arranged as to be a little below 3 per cent. for each class. The highest amount of income-tax paid in Prussia is L.1080, corresponding to an income of L.30,000 a year. This tax produces to the state

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1 All calculations regarding the wealth of a given population must needs be of a precarious nature. This want of exactitude has not diminished since the introduction into European states of income-taxes, but rather increased. We prefer, therefore, to take the lists of 1859 (the year previous to the introduction of income-tax) to all the more specific accounts to be found in recent statistical publications. In that year the number of rate-payers was 4,950,454. Of this number only 19,988, or 0·4 per cent., appear from official lists to have been rated as enjoying an income of more than L.180; 159,985, or 3·23 per cent., between L.60 and L.180 a year; 359,390, or 7·29 per cent., L.20 to L.60; 833,537, or 16·88 per cent., L.15 to L.20; 3,675,380, or 72·23 per cent., L.3, 15s. to L.15. Only 180,000 heads of households, therefore, or persons living singly throughout Prussia, or 4 per cent. of all rate-payers, had an income above L.60 in the year 1859. Another fact worth mentioning in this place, perhaps, is this: taking the larger estates (Rittergüter) of the Prussian monarchy all together, the mortgages officially registered against them amount to four-fifths of their rated value, or to two-thirds of the selling price which they would fetch in the market. Statistics about L450,000. 3d, The Classteuer, a misnomer, by which is understood another and older kind of income-tax, averaging about 2 per cent., laid upon those persons or householders whose yearly income does not reach L150. These are divided into three classes. From this tax are exempt the poor, children, and old people; soldiers, &c., on active service; all foreigners; and lastly, the citizens of larger towns, in consideration of the octroi (see below). Its result to the state is about 1½ million. 4th, A tax on trades (Gewerbe-Steuer), producing about L450,000 a year. 5th, A railway-tax of very modern date, raised on the yearly dividend in a progressive ratio, which produces about L100,000. In the chapter of indirect taxation, custom-house and transit dues rank first in productiveness, viz., L1,800,000; then follows the malt-tax, with the excise on brandy and beet-root sugar, worth 1½ million pounds sterling; the stamp-duty contributes L600,000; the octroi, or Mahl und Schlachtsteuer, raised at the gates of 83 Prussian towns on cereals and butcher's meat, about L350,000; turnpike roads, nearly L200,000; tolls and port dues, about L140,000; shipping dues, L65,000.

The yearly expenditure of the state for raising these sums of direct and indirect taxation, which amount in the aggregate to above eight and a half million pounds sterling, is only L780,000. There are two state monopolies still in existence, both contrasting strangely with the general and financial progress of the country, the one raising the price of one of the first necessaries of life, the other pandering to an unruly love of gain. We mean the monopoly on salt, which produces L1,350,000, at a cost of no less than L450,000, and which is relaxed in its severity only in favour of cattle-salt; and the state-lottery, whose evil effects on the lower classes the government have in vain fancied to conjure by the high price of lots, and the slowness of its operations (only four times a year)—a monopoly in the strictest sense of the word, as all other public gambling, roulette, &c., is prohibited in the Prussian dominions. The wages of this six to the state are L200,000, gained at a trifling cost of L15,000. The share of state profit in the operations of the Bank of Prussia was about L150,000 latterly.

The Domänen (woods, forests, &c., according to our nomenclature) are royal estates which Frederick-William III. gave over to the country in that same memorable decree of 17th January 1820, which we had occasion to mention above. They are administered by the minister of finances. A sum of L385,965 is deducted first of all from their rental, for the maintenance of his majesty and the royal family, and all the expense of their different households. It should be remarked that this sum of L385,965, although partaking of the nature of a civil list, is not subject to an annual vote by the legislature, but is deducted at once from the receipts under the form of a standing and inalienable charge. The Prussian Chamber of Representatives, without ever calling into doubt this prerogative of the crown, which is, moreover, sanctioned by the constitution; and without claiming the power of reducing that sum, have, however, willingly taken it upon themselves to raise it (March 1859) by L75,000, in consideration of the altered value of money.

Having premised these few preliminary explanations of Prussian finance, we now give the budget of 1858, contracting a number of its minuter details:

**Receipts**

1. Minister of finance .................................................. L11,890,954 Woods and forests, &c. (minus) L385,965 for crown, as above) L1,409,061 Diplomatic service ................................................. 3,813,549 Indirect taxation .................................................... 4,847,139 Salt monopoly .......................................................... 1,355,625 State lottery ............................................................. 197,115 Share of profit in the Bank of Prussia, &c. &c. .............. 102,900 Carry forward .......................................................... L11,890,954

**Brought forward ....................................................... L11,890,954**

2. Minister of commerce, trade, and public works .................. 5,192,690 General post-office ................................................... L1,700,070 Electric telegraph ..................................................... 105,751 Mines, &c. ................................................................. 2,077,619 State railways, &c. ..................................................... 1,262,789 3. Minister of justice ...................................................... 1,445,084 4. Minister of the interior ............................................... 117,772 Prisons ................................................................. L78,459 5. General Board of Agriculture ...................................... 222,072 Studs of Trakehnen, &c. ............................................. L65,443 6. Minister of church affairs and public education ................. 13,738 7. Minister of war ......................................................... 45,725 8. Minister of foreign affairs (consular and passport dues) .... 1,345 9. Receipts from Hohenzollern ....................................... 31,286

Total of receipts ......................................................... L18,961,466

**Expenditure**

1. Public debt .............................................................. L1,979,977 Interest ................................................................. L1,341,835 Sinking fund ............................................................ 570,938 2. Parliament .............................................................. 35,250 3. Council of ministers (Staats ministerium) ......................... 37,133 4. Minister of foreign affairs .......................................... 127,092 Diplomatic service .................................................... L68,817 Consular service ....................................................... 16,189 5. Minister of finances ................................................... 2,828,951 a. General expenses .................................................. 1,937,176 b. Special expenses .................................................. L1,871,785 Woods, forests, &c. .................................................. L574,729 Direct taxation ..................................................... 328,811 Indirect taxation .................................................. 628,289 Salt monopoly ....................................................... 487,677 State lottery ......................................................... 16,515 6. Minister of commerce, trade, and public works ................. 4,974,810 a. General expenses .................................................. L798,318 b. Special expenses .................................................. L4,176,491 Post-office ........................................................... L1,409,466 Mines ................................................................. 1,583,636 Electric telegraphs ................................................ 69,571 State railways, &c. .................................................. 1,091,902 7. Minister of justice ..................................................... 1,698,738 8. Minister of the interior .............................................. 813,724 General ................................................................. L395,729 Police ................................................................. 298,490 Statistical and meteorological office only ....................... 2,716 9. General Board of Agriculture ..................................... 337,130 Studs of Trakehnen, &c. ............................................. L95,721 10. Minister of church affairs and public education ............... 539,617 Affairs of the Evangelic Church .................................. L61,071 Affairs of the Roman Catholic Church ......................... 11,312 Universities ............................................................ 75,668 Grammar and mathematical schools (Gymnasien und Real- und Realschulen) .................................................. 47,144 Elementary schools .................................................. 66,817 Science and art ....................................................... 30,936 11. Minister of war ...................................................... 4,549,120 12. Board of Admiralty .................................................. 92,159 13. Expenditure on Hohenzollern .................................... 28,885 14. Special credits for 1858 ............................................ 917,830

Total of expenditure .................................................. L18,961,466

The budgets of Prussia have, like her public debt, been rapidly increasing of late years. The first budget published by authority was that of 1821. It amounted, in receipt and expenditure, to L7,500,000, and was followed by as moderate ones during the reign of Frederick-William III. In 1844 it had risen by rather more than L1,000,000, and in 1850 it was L13,695,353. From 1851 to 1854 there were successive deficits to cover. The balance was re-established in 1855, when it was L16,774,165; it was L17,829,610 in 1856; L18,036,346 in 1857; and L18,961,466 in 1858. If we distribute the expenditure equally over its entire population at given epochs, we shall find that the contribution of each inhabitant would have been, in the years from 1821 to 1844, 11s. 6½d.; in 1849, 16s. 2½d.; in 1852, 17s. 7½d.; in 1855, 19s. 6d.; in 1856, 20s. 7½d.; in 1857, 20s. 9½d.; in 1858, 21s. 8½d.

(G.v.B.)

a province of the kingdom of that name, forming its most easterly portion, bounded on the N. by the Baltic, E. by Russia, S. by Poland and the province of Posen, and W. by those of Brandenburg and Pomerania. The division into E. and W. Prussia, historically of considerable importance, is now only used as a convenient way of designating the two chief parts of the province, as they have long ceased to be two distinct provinces. Extreme length from E.N.E. to W.S.W. about 300 miles; greatest breadth, 150 ; area, 24,967 square miles. The surface is in general low, but not by any means flat; for a chain of hills, on an average 300 or 400 feet high, extends in a curved line from the vicinity of Goldap, near the Russian frontier, to that of Marienburg on the Vistula. Of these hills, and of the whole province, the highest point is the Hasenberg, near Landsberg, to the S. of Königsberg, which attains the height of 725 feet. Along the coast of the Baltic there are on the west of the Vistula many well-wooded hills, from 150 to 500 feet high; but to the east of that river the shores are perfectly flat, except where shifting sand-hills break the level. The Gulf of Dantzig and the arms of the sea called the Frische and the Kurische Haff, indent the coast of this province. The largest rivers are the Vistula, flowing northwards from Poland into the Gulf of Dantzig by several arms; the Passarge from the south and the Pregel from the east, flowing into the Frische Haff; the Memel, the Mange, and the Dange, flowing westwards from Russia into the Kurische Haff. Of lakes the province contains a great number, distributed in three principal groups. The largest of these groups lies near the eastern extremity of Prussia, between the basins of the Pregel and Vistula, in a valley more than 300 feet above the sea, and it includes Lake Spirding, 45 square miles in extent. Another group of lakes, smaller in size and lower in elevation, lies between the Passarge and the Vistula; while the third group lies to the west of the latter river. There are several extensive swamps and moors, especially towards the north-eastern extremity of the province. The soil is in general very fertile; and no other province in the kingdom has such an extent of good land. About two-thirds of the surface is good land; the rest being mostly sandy ground. Of the whole area of the country, 6,930,985 acres consisted in 1852 of arable land; 204,240 of gardens, vineyards, &c.; 2,955,726 of meadows and pastures; 2,518,460 of forests; and 3,368,667 of waste land. Wheat is one of the principal crops raised, especially in the low country along the Vistula, Pregel, and Memel; rye is also raised of such excellence as to be much exported. Besides these, most of the common crops are grown in the province. Prussia contained in 1855, 461,504 horses, 987,023 horned cattle, 2,642,268 sheep, 17,143 goats, and 520,512 swine. Manufactures are not very extensively carried on in the province, the whole number of hands employed being 128,568; less in proportion to the population than there are in any other province of the kingdom. The only important mineral found here is iron, which is plentiful in various places; but on the shores of the Baltic amber is obtained in greater abundance than anywhere else in the world. The trade is considerable; three of the chief seaports in the kingdom, Dantzig, Königsberg, and Memel, being in this province. Corn, timber, hides, tallow, and other articles are exported. Though there are numerous excellent educational institutions in the province, the percentage of those receiving instruction is considerably under the average of the kingdom. There is one university, that of Königsberg; 8 normal seminaries; 14 gymnasia, with 188 teachers and 4207 scholars; 6 progymnasia; 42 middle schools; and 4417 elementary schools, with 5059 teachers and 338,516 scholars. In regard to religion, the most of the inhabitants belong to the Evangelical Church. Besides these, who are 1,885,256 in number, there are 703,252 Roman Catholics, 1204 of the Greek Church, 12,693 Mennonites, and 34,351 Jews. For administrative purposes the province is divided into the governments of Königsberg, Gumbinnen, Danzig, and Marienwerder. The Æstui, who are described by Tacitus as a nation largely employed in collecting and trading in amber, seem from this fact to have been the original occupants of this province. After this, however, the history of the country is for a long period involved in almost total obscurity. Bands of Goths and Scandinavians in the third century, and of Letts and other nations in the sixth, settled here, and mingled with the original inhabitants. The Prussians, as they were called from a very early period, resisted for a long time all the efforts made to convert them to Christianity. St Adalbert, who was the first to attempt it, suffered martyrdom in 997. Bruno, a monk, who renewed the attempt, met with a similar fate; and neither the persuasions of these and similar missionaries, nor the sword of the kings of Denmark and Poland, professedly drawn in the service of the church, could induce the Prussians to abandon a religion believed to be inseparable from their freedom, till the Teutonic Knights in 1230 entered the country. Little by little this crusade proved successful, and the knights possessed themselves of the whole country; the grand-master establishing his seat at Marienburg in 1309. On the introduction of Christianity, many Germans settled in the country; thriving towns rose; and commerce began to extend itself. But the prosperity of the country excited the envy of the Polish sovereigns, who proceeded to open hostilities, which resulted in the battle of Tannenberg in 1410, so decisively against the Teutonic order that Prussia became then actually, and afterwards also formally, a fief of the Polish crown. The contest, however, did not cease here; and the fortune of war still proving adverse to the knights, they were obliged by the peace of Thorn in 1466 to give up West Prussia entirely to Poland, retaining the eastern portion as a fief from the crown. The office of grand-master afterwards became hereditary in the Brandenburg family; and in 1525 the Margrave Albert, having adopted the Protestant faith, had the office changed into a dukedom. The victory of Warsaw, gained in 1656 by the Elector Frederic William over the Poles, enabled him to get rid of the Polish supremacy over East Prussia; and the western part of the province was restored to the kingdom of Prussia by degrees in the successive partitions of Poland. It was from this province that Frederic III., the elector of Brandenburg, took, in 1701, the title of King of Prussia. Pop. (1855) 2,636,766.