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186 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY,
raifes the greateft outcry, namely, the monopoly of wood. The company whois i
poffeffion of this large tum of money, pays the King, or what is the fame thing, the
ftate, for the King has neither ftables of fix thoufand horfes, nor coach-houfes witli
coaches in them worth 50,000 livres, nor a table of fifty covers, nor miltreffes, nor
hunts, nor journies which coft feveral millions. This company is not allowed to fet an
arbitrary price on its commodity, but the wood is taxed, and it is obliged to furnith the
beft fort. ‘Though the price of the weod be high, it keeps pace with the wages of the
manufacturers ; fo no man feels it but thofe who live upon their own eftates without
doing any thing, or thofe who receive ftipends from the court. If the former of thefe
would work like the other parts of the induftrious public, they would reckon the articles
of fire-wood in their account; as they do not, they are very properly punihed for their
lazinefs. As to the latter, to be fure they do not get much, but what they get is fuf-
ficient for the decent purpofes of life, and the King’s maxim is, that every man fhall
have enough, but no man fhall have too much. © To the farmer the monopoly is of fers
vice, for the company is obliged to fell him the wood as cheap as if there was no mono«
poly, and befides, he is himfelf allowed to carry a certain portion of it to market, where
the regulations enable him to fell it to better advantage than he would do otherwife.. The
monopoly alfo ferves to preferve the forefts, which all Europe has long lamented the
diminution of. The fcarcity of wood makes people more cautious how they grub up
and burn. Nor does the monopoly affect any but the inhabitants of Berlin and PotI-
dam, who have great advantages over the reft of the country, from the refidence of
many officers of {tate in them, and the facility with which money circulates. Strangers
indeed, who reafon from the {tate of their own purfes, and fee that the materials for fire
are as dear at Berlin and Potfdam as Brafil and Campeachy wood, form no prejudices
in favour of the Pruffian monopolies, and thus far they are in the right ; but when they
build upon fuch grounds to call the King of Pruffiaa tyrant, as Mr. Wraxall does, it is
going a little too far.
The other monopolies are like thofe we meet with in other countries, to wit, on to+
bacco, falt, cards, and the like. The King encourages every kind of manufacture and
trade which does not militate with the whole fy{tem of his adminiftration, but he endeas
vours chiefly to promote the exportation of fuch articles as are of real advantage to the
country, and leaft likely to be affected by a competition with other powers, or the varie
ations of fafhion. Of this kind are the woollen ftuffs of this place, the Silefian linens
and cloths, tobacco, and various other articles ; the prime materials of which grow in
the country, and find an eafy admittance every where. Befides thefe primary articles,
the manufactures of filk, wrought iron, and fteel, looking-glafles, china, fugar, and
above all, the trade in wood bring great fums of foreign gold into the country. The
Poles pay a large tribute to Pruffian induftry ; and, indeed, every where the balance is
in favour of the Pruffian merchant, in confequence of that frugality and abftinence,
which follows from the King’s fyftem of excife,
The King’s treafury, into which fo much money flows every year, is commonly looked
upon as one of the greateft ob{ftacles to the trade of the country. This may be true
with regard to the common Jewith fort of trade, which, though favourable to lazinefs
and avarice, isin faét, as hurtful to the ftate as the fale of mountebank and quack medi-.
cines; but in my opinion, the King’s treafury is one of his wifeft inftitutions. He yearly
lays by in it a {um of money, which bears a fixed proportion to that which the balance
of trade in his favour brings. him in from the ftranger. It is generally thought that the
fum thus fet by amounts to 100,000. or as much as the new buildings, the payment of
the troops, and the improvements made in the country refpectively coft; but if we con-
fider
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