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192 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
nual review time, the latter has not far to go to join his regiment. It is inconceivable
how, after this, fuch clamours can be raifed again{ft the King of Pruffia, on account of
his army, and how it can be reprefented as hurtful to the country. Thofe of the fol-
diers who are natives, do not {pend a longer time with the army than their fellows in
the Englifh or Swils militia’s. Indeed the maritime fervice in one of thefe countries, °
and the cu{tom of letting out troops for hire, which prevails in the other, tend to de-
prive them of hands to till the foil, whereas the Pruflian army increafes the number of
cultivators.
The Pruffian army confifts of about one hundred and ninety thoufand men, and cofts
the King yearly about 20,000,000 of florins, or 52,000,000 of our livres*. Thefe
men are, indeed, difciplined into a {late of mere mechanics, nor can it be denied, that
the hardfhip of the fate of the common men will make one of our modern philofophers
fhudder; and yet, without thefe hardfhips the army would not be what it is, fo that the
King mult be content to bear with it as a neceflary evil, in order to fecure the tranquil-
lity of the country. What would thofe who feel fo much for the Pruffan foldiers have
faid, if they had feen the troops of Alexander, or Czefar, which, in all probability, and
from all we can gather from hiftory, had not a milder fate than the Pruffians ?>—what
do I fay a milder fate ? Some intelligent men are of opinion, that both the difcipline of
Cefar’s troops, and the labour required of them, was greater than thofe the Pruffian
foldier is expofedto. Be this.as it may, there is a diftinction to be made between the
Pruflian troops. ‘The fate of the native foldiers is not fo hard as is generally thought
by a ftranger travelling poft; nor are they, as I have already obferved, more than a well-
regulated militia.
Another obfervation I have made on thefe men is, that they are not by any means fo
infenfible and fulky as they have been commonly thought to be. On the contrary, I
have obferved amongft them, a great deal of good will, and a great deal of affeCtion both
for their king and their country. As during their furlows they have other occupations
befides arms, and keep company with other people befides their corporals and compa-
nions, they are civiller and freer in their intercourfe than the foreigners. Thele
laft are enlifted in confequence of a voluntary contract, (for it will be unjuft to lay to the
King’s charge the decoys of profeffed enlilters,) the conditions of which are exactly ad-
hered to.
No fovereign pays more punctually or more fparingly than the King of Pruffia; nor
is any man obliged to ferve beyond the time for which he is enlifted, as has been falfely
pretended. It is true, indeed, that the officers employ all their powers of perfuafion to
retain a good foldier ; but a ftiff and ftubborn denial puts an end to their entreaties.
The neceflaries of life are dealt out-very fparingly to thefe people, and you may read
upon many of their meagre faces, the extremes of poverty, added to the extreme of la-
bour. But the failors, who ferve other ftates in time of peace for the purpofes of trade,
have hardly a milder fate ; nor is it lefs ridiculous to reproach the King of Pruffia, on
account of the hardfhips to which his foldiers are expofed, than it would be to compel.
thefe nations to relinquifh their navy on account of the lofs of men they are fubject to
by ftorms, falt provifions, change of climate, fcurvy, and the other accidents of a fea-
faring life. Without frugality and labour, the King of Pruffia’s foldiers could not be
fuperior to thofe of other powers ; but as he is furrounded by enterprizing and jealous
neighbours, he mu/? endeavour to procure himfelf, by art, what others enjoy in confe-
quence of their natural ftrength. ‘The fufferings of a fmall number is no evil, but a
* About 216,666l. ‘
good
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