Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY. 189
his on mots, and the anecdotes of what paffes in his family, with as much pleafure as
they do the account of his expeditions. Even they, however, impartial as they are,
form quite a falfe opinion of the King. when they confider his military conduct as the
greateft of his exertions, and think his principal merit confifts in being the greatelt ge-
neral of hisday. It is natural enough for the love of {plendid actions to make us more
attentive to the buftle which has attended his fervices in the field, than to his {till and
benevolent occupations. But we could not therefore afcribe to him a love of this buf-
tle, and a delight in the occupations of war, which no king upon earth likes lefs than
he does.
Nourifhed in the arms of the mufes, and attentive only to the progrefs of philofophy,
fcarce had he afcended the throne, when one of the moft extraordinary events of this
century happened, an event which muft naturally call his attention very ftrongly to it.
He was one of the many princes who had pretenfions to the fucceflion of Charles VI.
What he claimed was fome Marquifates in Silefia. The point was how effectually to fe-
cure thefe rights. Moft probably he would have taken the part of Maria Therefa, at-
tacked as fhe was on all fides, had a proper attention been paid to his requifitions ;
but the Auftrian miniltry, ever blinded by its own confequence, only anfwered his ma-
nifeltoes with infolence and contempt. “The confequence was, that after having de-
feated the Imperial troops in the field, he made free with all Silefia, which gave ‘great
offence. Then however he ddecvened the moderation of his nature; for it would
have been eafy for him, by fupporting Charles VII. to have funk a houfe, which was
the moft dangerous to him in all Europe. But his politics did not allow him to coms
mit an injuttice.
Tt was neither the King of Pruffia’s love of plunder, nor any thing indeed, except
the pride of the Auftrian miniftry, and the little knowledge it had of the ftrength of
the Pruffian dominions, that was the true caufe of the lofs of Silefia. The Aultrians
defpifed a court which had no princes and dukes in its pay, but only merchants and
Knights @ quaranto Ecus * for minifters and generals. ‘They faw no further than the
outfide of the court of the prefent King’s father, who, under the mafk of a ridiculous
fingularity, had laid the foundation of the Pruffian greatnefs; they laughed at his un-
powdered hair, his dirty boots, his turnip dinners, and his tall men. People knew not
that thefe tall men, whom they looked upon only as his particular amufement, were
under the belt of difcipline; they knew not that his unbetitled and unbeftringed minitters
were the molt enlightened patriots; that the moft exact ceconomy had made the fmall
country of Pruffia richer than the proud and mighty Auttria. In fine, they knew not that
Spartan ceconomy, and Spartan fubordination, which this ridiewlous King was making
the charatteriftic of the nation, muft get the better of indolence, effeminacy, and
profufion, even though the tribe of gentlemen had not been fo numerous in Auitria, as
it was.
This ignorance was the true thing which fome perfons have affected to call the good
fortune of the prefent King of Pruifia.
The invafion of Bohemia, which took place fome time after the conquett of Silefia,
was undertaken in confequence of the molt prefling and repeated inftances of the Em-
peror, the head of the German Empire, of which the King was a member.
I have converfed with an old and refpeCtable Dutch officer, who accompanied Count
Seckendorff, as adjutant, to Berlin, when he went to defire the King to help the Em-
peror out of the diftrefs which he mutt otherwife have funk under. The King was
* Knights worth fifty crowns.
for
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
