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.
222 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
Struenfee, and every other man who had a grain of penetration, thought that the
beft principles of government which the court of Denmark could adopt, would be to
make retrenchments of the fums expended on foreign affairs ; not to meddle with the
difputes fubfifting between the other German powers ; to limit its own eftablifhment to
what would fuffice for the maintenance of the internal tranquillity and the police, and
to employ all its ftrength in the cultivation of the wa{te lands, and the promotion of in-
duftry. This is indeed all that experience and patriotifm united can recommend ; for
in the prefent circumftances of the two countries, Denmark has nothing to apprehend
from Sweden, or if it had, a word from Ruflia or Pruffia would fet every thing
to rights there. But on the other fide of the country, the firft elector of Germany
who fhall fet himfelf to oppofe an extenfion of the Danifh power, would reduce the
country to great difficulties. The lofs of a fingle magazine or treafury would put an
end to their whole war apparatus: nay, even if moft of their operations did not depend
upon foreign {ubfidies, they would noz be able to keep the field long againft a middling
German army. ‘The militia of the country, in which the ftrength of the army princi-
pally confifts, is raw and unformed, and the German forces, which have been raifed at
a great expence, would defert the inftant they fet foot out of the country ; for they all
deteft a climate in which, by reafon,of the unwholefomenefs of the air, the bad and un-
ufual food, and the little attention fhewn to their health, they are expofed to perifh like
fo many fleas. Whenever I had occafion to converfe with Germans in the Danifh fer-
vice, the tears ufed to run down their cheeks, when they recounted how they had been
decoyed away by crimps, and defcribed the miferies of their prefent {tate. Indeed the
inftances of the extraordinary means they have made ufe of to get out of the detefted
country, are almoft incredible. Befides all this, there is a want of cavalry, which in
the prefent time is fo ferviceable, and conftitutes a fourth part of the German armies.
Innumerable fubfidies indeed would be required to put that of this country upon a re-
fpectable footing. It cannot be raifed out of nothing in a minute, on the breaking out
of a war; and the maintenance of it in time of peace demands an expence which the
refources of the ftate, with all the fubfides they can procure, are not equal to. ‘The
times are paft, in which wonders could be done with a handful of undifciplined and dif-
obedient troops, who were maintained at the coft of the enemy. The mode of war
Now in ufe requires preparation, and a provifion for fuch and fo many wants as would
make the Danifh minifter’s hair ftand an end, if an account of them were to be fet be-
fore him. Suppofing the Danith court to receive a fubfidy of even a million of thalers *
per annum, which is more than the French or Englifh courts have ever given to the
courts of Stockholm or Copenhagen, this would hardly be fufficient to enable it to keep
the field one campaign with an army of 40,000 men, and it would be completely ruined
by the lofs of a fingle battle. ‘The fhort campaign in the Bavarian war fome years ago,
though no extraordinary ftroke was ftruck in it, coft the court of Vienna feventy-two
millions of Rhenifh guilders *, exclufive of the fums expended on previous prepara-
tions, which are always neceflary. The army was at leaft three hundred thoufand men
ftrong. Calculate what the proportion will be for forty thoufand men—but what would
forty thoufand men do, if, what however is impoffible, the court of Denmark alone
was to carry on any operations for a length of time out of its own territories; The
King of Pruffia would {wallow up this army in a moment, let him have ever fo much
occupation ; for it isa maxim, that when a man is once engaged with great enemies,
he will do well to add leffer ones to them, asa fingle {troke may get fromythefe all that
* 1,400,0C0l,
is
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
